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[BelgarathMTH]

Captain's Log, supplemental.

Oh. My. Gods. My lord Oghma, if you care about your servants at all, please give me the strength to deal with this. Help me make sense of it all. I can't stand it, Lord. Please help me.

We made it into the palace of the fire giant king, or kings, or however or whatever they call their leaders. We obtained the Heart of Yaga-Shura. But, oh, gods, gods, at what cost?

We were doing fine. Everyone was hale and noone seemed injured very badly. We were almost to the Heart. And then, horribly, terribly, out of nowhere, something or some giant smashed Jaheira. Oh, gods, I can't describe it! The horror. One second she was there, right beside me, and the next, .... gulp .... blood, clear fluid ..... oh, gods.

Ano tried a Ressurection after it was all over. No good. Oh, gods, it didn't work. She's gone. Jaheira. My beautiful friend. My mentor since I was brought here. Gone. Forever. I must go on without her smirks, her sarcasm, her powerful fighting, her healing.

Gods, gods, I don't know what to do, please help me!

I have ordered a retreat back to Saradush through the pocket transporter beacon. We will gather and burn .... gulp ... what is ... left.... of her .... and place her into a special magical container, until I have a chance to give her a fitting release into the Nature she loved. I know she didn't believe in that sort of thing, but.... well, I'll feel better if I can release her ashes into a beautiful grove, perhaps my grove back in Amn, if I can ever find my way there again. 

I must not succumb to depression. Jaheira's sacrifice must not be in vain! I will avenge you my friend, my teacher. You and Khalid. I hope that you are reunited with him now, in joy and peace. 

*******************************
Sorcerer Level 18 -  new spell - Time Stop. HLA - Dragon Breath

Total Reloads: 3 

Modifié par BelgarathMTH, 14 juillet 2011 - 12:48 .

[corey_russell]

Hmm my only chunked character in my current BG 1 game is also Jaheira. Sorry about her loss. You say you never beat ToB but don't forget you can recruit NPCs by talking to one of the statues in your pocket plane.

[BelgarathMTH]

@Corey, yeah, I think I'm going to summon Minsc, because I need another tank.

I'm wondering whether the fire giant boss had a Disintegrate spell, or whether she just got two or three unlucky hits from fire giants at once.

Does anybody know off hand what spells the fire giant boss knows (if any - I think I saw him casting right before the disaster), in vanilla ToB?

Modifié par BelgarathMTH, 14 juillet 2011 - 02:47 .

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

@ c_r: I was thinking the same thing. Time to head for the pocket plane. I'm just wondering who will fill Jaheira's shoes as a Druid/Fighter for BMTH (I play her as Druid alone).

@BMTH: I might suggest Valygar (or do you have him already - can't remember) or Mazzy (not a tank but, maybe a Bradley)

CKT

Modifié par Charlestonian Knight Templar, 14 juillet 2011 - 03:01 .

[BelgarathMTH]

Captain's Log, Stardate 071411

I have used the "pocket plane" to summon my old friend Minsc from Athkatla. No one can replace Jaheira, but I needed another front line fighter, and Minsc and Boo never fail to bring a smile to my face. I think that Minsc will help me avoid crippling depression or sadness over Jaheira's death.

We went to the swamp temple and discovered Yaga Shura's foster mother. She tipped us off that we had overlooked one of the MacGuffins in the hall of the fire giants, her own "heart". Once we returned to her with the two MacGuffin hearts, she dispelled Yaga Shura's invulnerability - but also released herself from a spell that had apparently turned her against her "son", probably his own doing in exchange for his magical invulnerability. The end result is that she attacked us, and she was a very powerful swamp witch.

She summoned two shambling mound monsters who were very difficult to defeat. Ano got entangled by one of them such that he couldn't retreat, and he went down, unconscious and near death.

I discovered that my new Dragon Breath spell was barely worth the time it took me to learn it. Apparently shambling mounds are very wet, and are nearly impervious to fire.

In the end, we prevailed and Raised and Healed Ano.

Yaga Shura himself turned out to be very easily defeated. Aerie and I caused both him and half his supporting army to pass out through Emotion spells

 I continue to be completely underwhelmed by everything that the arcanists here consider to be "high level (7th-9th)" magic. Most of it doesn't work very well in the thick of combat. The Simulacrum ability is useful.  There may come a time when the brief Time Stop will save my life (it gives about enough time to cast three spells without interruption, but the Time Stop spell itself takes a very long time to cast, so I'm not that impressed with it.)

Emotion and good old 1st level Magic Missile continue to be the most useful magical abilities here, those and the various defensive spells; Mirror Image, Stoneskin, Improved Invisibility.

After defeating Yaga Shura, I went back to the pocket plane and discovered it had been invaded by an "archangel" type creature. It wanted to test me, of course. The celestial and demonic beings of this world always want to test me.

It put me up against an alternate, dark version of myself. The trouble was that dark me ignored my friends and kept concentrating on real me, despite any defenses I could get raised. Interestingly, what finally "killed" me in this test was my own Ring of Free Action, which prevented me from Hasting myself so I could get away from "myself".

After I awakened from unconsciousness in terrible pain, the celestial being informed me that I would have to go back, again and again, until I defeated my shadow self. Great. (plus one to the reload counter) This time, I prepared much better by getting rid of the Ring of Free Action and summoning a squad of powerful monsters to help. My shadow self and his troop went down relatively easily. It's amazing how much difference it makes to know what you're facing before you have to face it.

The celestial seemed satisfied this time, and returned control of the pocket plane nexus to me. We traveled through an oasis on the way to a city in the desert where Melissan told us to go, and had to defeat a small army of mercenaries trying to collect a bounty on my head. Melissan says she will meet us in this new town, Amkathra or something like that. (I am terrible with names.) Saradush has been wiped out by Yaga Shura's army.

We will spend the night in the pocket plane and then go through our SOP buffing (six Chaotic Command, six Death Ward, six Protection from Magical Energy, two Stoneskins, one Protection from Evil 10', one Resist Fear, and a patridge in a frackin' pear tree - very, very tedious, but better than dying), before proceding to Amkathra tomorrow.
******************************************************
18th level Sorcerer
Total Reloads: 4 (Rats!)

Modifié par BelgarathMTH, 14 juillet 2011 - 10:01 .

[corey_russell]

BelgarathMTH wrote...

  There may come a time when the brief Time Stop will save my life (it gives about enough time to cast three spells without interruption, but the Time Stop spell itself takes a very long time to cast, so I'm not that impressed with it.)

I'm pretty sure you can get more than 3 spells cast under time stop if you have auto-pause on spell cast. Don't you see all the spells the liches cast while under a time stop? This is even more truer if you are using Robe of Vecna or amulet of power

[BelgarathMTH]

@Corey, thanks, man. I'm already starting to appreciate TS more.

Captain's Log, Stardate 071511:

After weakening the grip of the Balthazaar monks on the people of Amkethran, while unfortunately making enemies of this apparently evil order, and killing a lich that had been imprisoned there, we have, based on rumors of items that may help us defeat the dark elven mistress Sendai and the dragon army leader Abazigal, traveled to Watcher's Keep, an ancient temple ruin.

There we met a group of Helmites who informed us that there is a horrific Evil imprisoned in there, and that we must make our way to the bottom level of the temple and make sure it doesn't escape into Faerun. I suspect another "devil" of the kind who may have imprisoned me here.

I still think that Bhaal may be the one who quantum leaped me here, since He is still tempting me and offering me power, but I received a clue from the Celestial who "tested" me inside the pocket plane that the body I inhabit may have actually been sacrificed at birth to Bhaal, yet saved and raised by Gorion. Therefore, I now believe that Gorion, who saved my life when I arrived here, may have also been responsible for quantum leaping me into this body. I don't know for sure yet whether to thank him or curse him, if it is indeed he who "freed" me from my old boring and lonely life back on Earth.

In any event, we have already found several invaluable weapons and other equipment to help us save this world from Armageddon.

Also, I am beginning to appreciate my new "advanced" powers more and more. The Time Stop ability is much more useful than I had first thought, probably because I have learned to use other more destructive abilities along with it. While the Dragon Breath (think phasers) did not work against Shambling Mound monsters, it works quite well against undead like liches and most other creatures here. Also, I have already learned a new one, Comet (think photon torpedoes), that does another kind of damage and tends to work where Dragon Breath does not.
 
Also, I have learned a magical ability called "Wilting", that instantly transforms any number of creatures within a small area into piles of dried out dust. Using it in conjunction with Time Stop (during which I can cast it at least three times in three areas, or stack it upon a resistant creature), leaves me very little to fear here other than dragons and other "mages".
 
All three of these new weapons, Wilting, Comet, and Dragon Breath, have the remarkable property of being guided by an infallible AI, such that they only hurt enemies and do nothing to friends. I need only think about my friends while casting to guarantee this miraculous effect. I know, it sounds impossible. Yet my years here in Faerun have changed my definition of "impossible" beyond imagination. The technology available to the "gods" and "devils" of this world, which they freely share with the native inhabitants according to their own motivations and purposes, is awe-inspiring. It's hard to find words to describe it.

I continue to strive to remain grounded and to remember my earthly identity, values and beliefs. I was given much by the thinkers and writers of my world. Arthur C. Clarke's third law is especially applicable here: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." And the motivations of those "gods" and "devils" are recognizably HUMAN. Whatever else they are, they are NOT God with a capital "G"!

Bhaal is certainly tempting me to "break the Prime Directive" or to "turn to the Dark Side of the Force". My morality and my sense of fair play and decency are becoming increasingly tested, especially since the "evil" creatures here do not hesitate to use the same weapons against my newfound friends and me.

I will report more about Watcher's Keep as we progress. I believe we will need quite a few precision attacks followed by long periods of rest in order to succeed here.
*************************************************************
Sorcerer Level 19
New Spells: ADHW, Chain Contingency, HLA Comet
Total Reloads: 4 (getting too high for my liking, but there will surely be more since I am a relative ToB noob).

Modifié par BelgarathMTH, 16 juillet 2011 - 03:05 .

[BelgarathMTH]

Well, I'm out of the challenge now. I just got my whole party wiped on the third floor of Watcher's Keep, and there is no story-based way to justify the slaughter.

What Happened: It was a combination of two things: 1), the null-magic center of the maze wiped all our carefully cast protections. 2) I was not wearing my Ring of Free Action.

Most of the party immediately fell to Symbol:Stun, even after I cast a Time Stop and got off a Comet and two Horrid Wiltings. They got hurt really bad, but not nearly enough, which is why I hate damage spells - they almost never work in a crisis. The demons were immune to the Wiltings, because I also had a Chain Contingency->Hit->Target Last Enemy Who Hit->Horrid Wiltingx3.
That didn't help a bit.

Keldorn got one Dispel interrupted, then got a Dispel cast, but it still didn't free me. The two people who did get freed almost immediately got Held again.

We had Minsc dead, three people Held, Keldorn and Faren at Badly Wounded. Then some demons and a whole bunch of summoned spiders got to me, and it was game over.

What Should Have Happened (I think): The second the head demon Detected Good and attacked, I should have activated Pocket Plane and gotten us the heck out of there! Then we could have rested and teleported back in with our protections in place, and it would have been a whole different battle.

I am going to finish this game so I can learn and have more success the next time I join a challenge, but from here on out, there are obviously going to be a ridiculous amount of reloads (already up to 6, that last one was a party wipe), so there is no way at this point to call this a "minimal reload" game. "Minimal" to me means five or less reloads over the whole trilogy, not six or ten!

My thanks to everyone for feedback during this challenge, which was the first one I had ever seriously tried to join.

Modifié par BelgarathMTH, 16 juillet 2011 - 06:43 .

[corey_russell]

Watcher's Keep can be pretty tough, doubly so if you don't know what to expect. Still pretty good job getting as far as you did. I myself get stuck on the 2nd level (and die a lot), so sounds like you did fine. I don't think "minimal" means a set #, but rather just doing reloads that are necessary (such as PC death), rather than doing one for, say trying out different dialog choices to see what happens.

[BelgarathMTH]

In the unlikely event that anyone is still interested, I 'll do a few more very, very short updates.

No more reloads tonight. Total reloads: 6.

I made it to the 4th level with the guy in the glass machine, killed everything on the main floor, found some blue fuel stuff, and went upstairs. Killed an illithid and a whole bunch of umber hulks.

Stopped for the night, will finish the illithid dungeon tomorrow, and hopefully this horrible nightmare of a module.

Got a level - took Spellstrike, Summon Planetar.

In future runs where I am trying to get through the trilogy with reloads<5, I will be skipping Watcher's Keep, because it's too dangerous and not that much fun for me. I feel the same way about Durlag's Tower in BG1. I get a sick feeling in my stomach just thinking about it.

Modifié par BelgarathMTH, 17 juillet 2011 - 04:59 .

[SapphireIce101]

Alright! After a week of being gone, and checking the forums once during my vacation. I must say: Damn! You almost had the game Belgarath, unless you plan to keep on going.

Also, Corey is right, minimal doesn't necessarily mean a set number, but reloads that are necessary. Such as PC death, and in my case...Xan getting petrified two times in the Unseeing Eye fight. (I think his romance is done if he gets petrified.)

Also, I dislike Watcher's Keep. I did it once, and theres just too many potential hazards, but for a story it does make for an interesting one. Same with Durlag's Tower. I hate that one too.

[SapphireIce101]

@Belgarath - I like that you decided to do Star Trek References when giving your journal a title!

Woot! First update since like...A week ago.

After speaking to the Duergars, Kalyinara had Imoen cast a freedom spell, and a mage was...well...Free!


After freeing the mage, and killing some drow. Kalyinara and her group came up to some sort of contraption and freed everything inside of it. However, everything that attacked her ended up dying, and only a...dark gnome(Can't spell what they're called. Haha.) escaped.






Next, Kalyinara led her group to some sort of lair thing, and found the way to the surface. However, there were demons there, and Kalyinara decided to go find another route. She also killed a Koa-toan prince.


Then the group came upon a Dark Gnome (Or is it deep gnome *shrug*) village, and talked to some of the dark gnomes. They also killed a demon, and some cambions that the demon summoned. Then, Kalyinara got a gem to go talk to someone named Adalon.






Kalyinara - Feywarden of Corellon - 16
Jaheira - Fighter/Totemic Druid - 11/12
Xan - Fighter/Mage - 11/12
Imoen - Adventurer -> Mage - 15 -> 15
Faren- Fighter -> Thief - 7 -> 19
Kivan - Archer - 14

Reloads: Two

Note: May do Illithid Lair, and Beholder Lair before going to Adalon's den.

Modifié par SapphireIce101, 17 juillet 2011 - 09:43 .

[BelgarathMTH]

@Sapphire, welcome back from vacation! Congratulations on your progress.

One thing that I will keep in mind on future runs is that the Illithid and Beholder lairs are optional if you know where they are. I will definitely be avoiding them in my next run. (I'm planning on a Diviner, which will give me the perfect justification to use metagame knowledge and even to reload.)

Sooo, today I finally finished Watcher's Keep. It's taken four vacation days of hard gaming to do it. (I take frequent breaks, and progress at a relaxed pace.)

Today was a comedy of reloads: One reload against the imp's riddle. I didn't even get my second guess because I misclicked while trying to scroll. I had to get a pen and paper out and realize that the imp was a girl to get it right after the reload. I lost her coin game the first time, but thankfully she gave me a second chance. I also needed my pen and paper to figure out the coin game.

I lost count of the reloads I needed to figure out the spirit warrior's maze. I finally got it by avoiding as much damage as possible, opening nothing, fighting nothing I didn't have to, avoiding as many monster landings as possible, so that the spirit warrior had most of his hit points upon confronting the mummy. I think it was three more reloads. It might have been two, but I'll go with three.

I didn't feel like any of those four reloads was particularly fair. I hate puzzle dungeons and would never have gotten myself into this if I had had any idea! And puzzle dungeons that kill - grrrrr.

One more reload against the Hive Mother party on the last of three seals, which I opened first. That one was fair, I guess, but I have to wonder whether any more battles will be as hard as this one.

So, that's a total of eleven reloads on my counter. It almost makes me giggle how bad that it. I really don't think mine is a "minimal reload" game any more, but I'll keep trudging on so I can meet my goal of finally finishing ToB. Watcher's keep has reminded me why I quit ToB the first time and never finished it.

I'm starting to laugh at level gains. I'm at level 22 sorcerer, Faren and Ano are at level 30. Aerie got 8th level mage spells, we've used up most of the non-repeatable HLA slots, and levels just don't mean much any more.

I left Demogorgon in the pit, sent the false Helmites to him, and read the true ritual scroll. End of story.

We basically accomplished nothing that I can see that relates to the main storyline. None of the treasure in the place was worth what we went through to get it.

I will not be doing Watcher's Keep again, ever. I find it to be a form of torture rather than fun, and a useless distraction from Charname's mission, not to mention a total waste of time. I know, some people love it, so please don't flame me for expressing my own opinion.
************************************
Level 22 sorcerer
Reloads: 11 (funny!)

[SapphireIce101]

Congo ratz (Congratulations!) On downing Watcher's Keep, and I think your right..Theres only a couple of things worth doing, and a couple of items worth getting.

You're also right about the Illithid and Beholder Lairs. They are completely and totally optional. I would never ever make someone do them. Also, on my next Trilogy run after Soren (I think hes going to be an Elf Paladin. Its a kit from Return to Trademeet Kitpack. I also need to install BGT to try it.) I'm either going to be a half-elven Cleric/Mage, or Wild Mage.

Keep up the good work Belgarath, and hope to read more of the adventure!

[BelgarathMTH]

@Sapphire, thanks, I'm really glad you're back; you're very encouraging.

Wild Mage sounds interesting. I'm wondering why anybody would play it, though? I know it has comedy value (fun, bumbling wizard), and occasionally it comes up with something great, but it can also get you killed as often as it helps you. What's the appeal, since you have basically no control over it, and you have to cast spells to neutralize it before you can even function as a normal wizard?

I started Sendai's lair and started having fun again. I'm looking forward to finishing it (I hope) tomorrow. I wish I had gone to Sendai first and skipped WK. Oh well, live and learn. I guess it would have bugged me if I hadn't tried WK and never remembered what was there.

[SapphireIce101]

@Sapphire, thanks, I'm really glad you're back; you're very encouraging.

Wild Mage sounds interesting. I'm wondering why anybody would play it, though? I know it has comedy value (fun, bumbling wizard), and occasionally it comes up with something great, but it can also get you killed as often as it helps you. What's the appeal, since you have basically no control over it, and you have to cast spells to neutralize it before you can even function as a normal wizard?

You're welcome!

I think you summed it up right there, and I think people like that half the time they can get something good, and the other half they can get something soo nasty.

Once again, keep up the good work! You'll make your goal of beating ToB before the end of the summer break!

Update on Kalyinara.

Kalyinara found the spellbook, and went back to the mage, and he went through the portals, and gave Kalyinara a third of the treasure.






On the way to...somewhere. Kalyinara came across a band of Koa-Toa, and tried to talk them out of doing something. However, that didn't work and she had to kill them.


Kalyinara entered a beholder lair, and destroyed everything, including the elder orb. She came across some stairs, but they didn't lead to the surface.



Kalyinara - Feywarden of Corellon - 16
Jaheira - Fighter/Totemic Druid - 11/12
Xan - Fighter/Mage - 11/12
Imoen - Adventurer -> Mage - 15 -> 15
Faren- Fighter -> Thief - 7 -> 19
Kivan - Archer - 14

Reloads: Two

Inventory note: Kalyinara now has the Sling of Avoreen +4


Note: Illithid Lair tomorrow, and Ust Natha.

Modifié par SapphireIce101, 18 juillet 2011 - 02:57 .

[BelgarathMTH]

@Sapphire, nice work on the Underdark mage quest.

UPDATE:

I finished the Sendai battle and the Innocence/Slayer battle today.

The Sendai battle was awesome! Just the right balance of challenging vs. frustrating. You're dead if you make a mistake; you'll get through it if you keep your concentration up. A truly epic-length boss battle.

It would have been a nightmare if Sendai had starting casting Remove Magic. Thank Oghma she didn't, so we had Chaotic Commands and Death Ward and Resist Fear on everybody through the whole battle. . I assume SCS makes her cast it. I really don't know how anybody wins the Sendai battle with her casting Remove Magic, with a party even, much less solo. More respect to the SCS NR folks.

The worst that happened was Aerie died and had to be raised. That mostly happened because I couldn't manage six characters at once. One of the Sendai statues was on her, and I was trying to keep her running away to keep the statue distracted, but I had two other battles going on in two different locations in the arena with the rest of my party.

The Innocence/Slayer battle was easy, because I knew now that all those Solar-sponsored battles in the pocket plane are dangerous. So, I cast all the usual buffs first, plus Haste. It tried to get through my friends to me, but it was slowed by the FoA, and it had no chance.

No reloads today (yay!)

Total reloads: 11 (boo!)

I made Sorcerer Level 23. Took Extra 8th Level Spell, MGoI, Pierce Shield

[SapphireIce101]

@Belgarath - Thanks!

Congo ratz on defeating Sendai. You've almost reached your goal! Sendai is a nasty piece of work. Especially with some SCS components on, and the oversight component.

Update:

After clearing the Beholder Lair, Kalyinara went exploring the next cavern. Which ended up getting her knocked out, and in an arena situation. Apparently, that wasn't the way out of the Underdark either.


After defeating some umber hulks, Kalyinara spoke with some Githyanki, and decided to team up with them.




Kalyinara freed some slaves, and ran around the Illithid City, until she found the room where a huge brain was at, and destroyed it, and its buddies. (Used Contingency which had MST (Minor Spell turning), and SS (Spell Sequencer) which had three fireballs in it. Otherwise, people were either meleeing, or shooting stuff out of ranged weapons.)



After that was all said and done, Kalyinara headed back to the Dark Gnome village to rest up.

Kalyinara - Feywarden of Corellon - 17
Jaheira - Fighter/Totemic Druid - 12/12
Xan - Fighter/Mage - 12/12
Imoen - Adventurer -> Mage - 15 -> 15
Faren- Fighter -> Thief - 7 -> 19
Kivan - Archer - 14

Reloads: Two

Notes: May do Ust Natha tonight, or tomorrow morning.

Modifié par SapphireIce101, 18 juillet 2011 - 11:51 .

[BelgarathMTH]

"Congo ratz" on finishing the illithid lair. Fireball x 3 sounds interesting, if you can keep your party out of it.

I haven't played yet today - I'll probably post a short update when I get done this evening.

Good job on that low reloads counter! I'll be interested to see how you do in ToB, if you are going to go on after SoA.

[SapphireIce101]

Thanks, on both counts! Fireball x3 is awesome.

First Update of the Day for Kalyinara

Kalyinara ran across a drow warparty on her way to Adalon. Her group killed them. Then Kalyinara spoke to Adalon, and vowed to rescue the dragon eggs. Then the group was turned into drow. Some of the party members were not amused with that. Namely Kivan, and Xan.




Kalyinara talked to the gate guardian, and using what she knew about drow. She spoke to Solaufein, and saved Phaere.







Kalyinara went to the Tavern, and spoke to Phaere, and Solaufein. She was given some time off. Only if she helped Phaere do something. Which was kill a Beholder. Kalyinara, and her group did kill the Beholder with Phaere and Solaufien by her side.




Kalyinara went to the Tavern again, and was told to kill some Deep Gnomes. However, she spared them and took their helmet to Phaere instead. Then Phaere and Kalyinara talked about killing Solaufein. However, Kalyinara spared him as well.





Kalyinara, and her group went to the temple, and learned of another task that Matron Mother sent her on, and returned the items to her.



Then Kalyinara helped Phaere get the dragon eggs. However, Kalyinara just gave her fake eggs.



Next, Kalyinara was invited to the ritual. Where both the matron mother, and Phaere were killed. Upon exiting Ust Natha, Solaufein poofed, and asked to join the party, however, Kalyinara told him to go up to the surface until she needed him.




Next, Kalyinara spoke to Adalon, and gave her the eggs. However, they had to kill the demons in the Koa-Toa tunnels, and drow that were also there. Then Kalyinara reached the surface and talked to Eltan, and said she would get the Lanthorn.







However, before going after the Lanthorn, Kalyinara and Xan got caught up in a mission for Ricar. It sent them back into Irenicus's Dungeon to look for some important documents. However, there were too many guardians there, and one followed them when they escaped. It had killed Solaufein. (I started to laugh at that point. I mean...Sorry Solaufein!) Then, Kalyinara and Xan got the task of hunting down the drow and get the documents.








Kalyinara - Feywarden of Corellon - 18
Jaheira - Fighter/Totemic Druid - 12/13
Xan - Fighter/Mage - 12/13
Imoen - Adventurer -> Mage - 15 -> 16 (Woot! Thief ablities are back!)
Faren- Fighter -> Thief - 7 -> 21
Kivan - Archer - 16

Reloads: Three
Reason for the Reload: Xan got petrified by the Lich in Jarlaxle's quest. Which was not detailed in the chronicles of Kalyinara.

Note: Will probably do Bodhi today, and perhaps the TotDG (Tales of the Deep Gardens) Quests. Depends on if I want to go to ToB or not.

Modifié par SapphireIce101, 19 juillet 2011 - 05:01 .

[BelgarathMTH]

Great progress there, Sapphire. Condolences on the reload.

UPDATE:

Killed Abazigal. His son was intense, but we made it, thanks to my Time Stops, Lower Resistance, Pierce Shield, Wiltings, and Chain Lightning x3.

Abazigal was very, very hard. (+1 to reloads). He was OMG hard. The first time, my whole party got fried by Lightning Breath, and it was hopeless from there.

The second time, I made sure we had Haste cast before walking up to him (big mistake first time - Haste wasn't cast), and we read two green scrolls of Prot from Elec onto Ano and Keldorn. (Keldorn still died when he got breathed on).

My Planetar managed to get off an Insect Swarm. Other than that, I think it was mostly just better positioning around Abby that let us win the second time, that, and the Haste that he never got Dispelled.

On the successful run, I held myself back as the "secret weapon" until my friends had killed Abby's human form and made him turn into a dragon. Aerie managed a Lower Resistance or two. I think I had to pull Keldorn back at one point and have Aerie Heal him while Abby was busy with the Planetar. Then it was Time Stop>Lower Resistance>Horrid Wilting>Horrid Wilting>Sequencer Magic Missile x2. Abby was hurt but not down. Since he was busy (thank Oghma), I did Time Stop>Horrid Wilting>Horrid Wilting> and, just to see if he was immune like I suspected, >Spell Trigger> Chain Lightning x3.

I didn't get to find out if he was immune to Elec, because he was dead before the second Wilting went off. Good riddance! I will never disrespect Time Stop again! It is now my very most favoritest spell in the world! Mmmmm, Time Stop, I wuv my Time Stop!


Then I did the Solar's Cyric test. The first time, Cyric's Favored chunked my whole party except for Minsc and me, (they got four party members instantly - poof), and then they were gone. We didn't kill them or anything. (+1 reload, sigh). I started a separate topic asking what the heck happend here. The second time, no problem, it was easy.

Tomorrow it's Balthy, and then maybe Mel. I think I will finish by week's end. (yay!)

Total Reloads: 13 (That's pathetic! I'm a laughing stock! Booooo!)

[SapphireIce101]

Thanks! Also, good job on downing Abazagal. Hes a nasty piece of work too. However, I do think Draconis is a wee bit harder. Hate the favored of Cyric fight. I think in Rogue Rebalancing theres a way to skip that fight.

A very sad update for Xan fans. (or people that like the Kalyinara and Xan pairing.)

On the way to Athkatla, Kalyinara came across another familar face. It was Drizzt Do'Urden. Kalyinara recruited him to help against Bodhi. (I wish I could recruit help like that for Irenicus.)


Kalyinara came across a Githyanki in the temple district and gave him the Silver Sword back.


Kalyinara went to the graveyard district. Bodhi tried to steal Xan to her side. However, Xan's moonblade saved him by killing him. Kalyinara knew that Xan was dying so she begged him to take her to Avarandor with him. However, the after life is no place for a soulless Bhaalspawn. Xan's last words to Kalyinara were "I love you". Kalyinara was heartbroken, and knew she had to kill Bodhi! Kalyinara picked up Xan's stuff, and put it into her Bag of Holding, even Xan's journal. (See! Sad!) Kalyinara had a dream about the elves.




Kalyinara found Bodhi, and with Drizzt's help, and killed her. Imoen now has her soul back, even though the price was too great. It did not change the fact that Xan was now gone forever.




On the way back to Elhan, Kalyinara spoke with some Chosen of Cyric, and convinced them that it was against divine ruling to kill her.


Once reaching the Elven Camp, Kalyinara spoke to Elhan. Kalyinara was upset with him! He was the reason why Xan was dead! However, in the end it changed nothing. Kalyinara still gave the Lanthorn to Elhan and he opened the way to Suldanesselar. There was only one more thing to do, and that was to kill Irenicus and end this once and for all.



Kalyinara - Feywarden of Corellon - 20
Jaheira - Fighter/Totemic Druid - 13/14
Imoen - Adventurer -> Mage - 15 -> 17
Faren- Fighter -> Thief - 7 -> 22
Kivan - Archer - 17

Reloads: Three

Inventory note: Imoen now has The Equalizer, and The Short Bow of Gesen.



Note: May do Suldanesselar tonight.

Modifié par SapphireIce101, 20 juillet 2011 - 12:57 .

[Satyricon331]

Hey, I thought I'd de-lurk and start a run.

My character's a neutral good male elf sorcerer, 10/20/7/19/18/19 (Jaheira's 88 base + 6 from BG1 tomes - 1 for the loss of the BG1 familar), 89000xp; Aeleuthrien (since, per DAO, "those elven names are such a mouthful")

My gameplay restrictions are that he won't metagame battles; if I look into inventory during a battle, the character has to stand around to simulate the time it takes; and he won't use spells that conflict with his consequentialist philosophy - no summons except Mordy's Swords and the rare Devas (to avoid creating unnecessary suffering), and minimal use of all-fire spells (a little fire is ok since it's akin to RL weaponry).  It'll be my first sorcerer run without either Animate Dead or Sunfire.

I will metagame some quest ordering decisions and make some OOC quest decisions (most especially, I want to check out what Item Revisions has done to the Ring of Gaxx).

After emerging from Irenicus' dungeon, he'll solo for awhile since he doesn't have Jaheira or Minsc and is pretty depressed and ashamed of his Bhaal taint.  I think I'll have an all-arcane caster party, so I might Shadowkeeper some people.  If I take Nalia I'll turn her into a specialist since I don't want an Imoen clone (plus I'll nerf her xp to reflect her story).

Mod overview: Fixpack, Item Revisions, 1PP Avatar fixes, Gavin, Nathaniel, Faren, Xan, various banter packs, Aurora's Shoes, Dungeon-be-Gone, Tactics' streamlined trolls, partial D0Tweak, partial SCS2, BG2 Tweaks, aTweaks

Weidu - way too long to post in full, so here are the SCS2 components:
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Initialise mod (all other components require this): v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #2000 // Allow Spellstrike to take down a Protection from Magic scroll: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #2010 // More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning): v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #2019 // Antimagic attacks penetrate improved invisibility -> Antimagic spells remain single-target, but affect the target creature whether or not it is invisible (default option): v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #2030 // Iron Skins behaves like Stoneskin (can be brought down by Breach): v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #2040 // Modify the Harm spell so it does damage rather than reducing target to 1 hp -> Enemy Harm spells reduce target to 1 hit point; player Harm spells do 150 hp of damage: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #2050 // Make individual versions of Spell Immunity available, so that players can use them in Contingencies etc.: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #2070 // Blade Barrier and Globe of Blades only affect hostile creatures: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #2080 // Cap damage done by Skull Trap at 12d6: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #2090 // Make Power-Word: Blind single-target: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #2110 // Reduce the power of Inquisitors' Dispel Magic -> Inquisitors dispel at 1.5 x their level (not twice their level): v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #2120 // Slightly weaken insect plague spells, and let fire shields block them: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #2130 // Cosmetic change: stop Stoneskins from changing the caster's colour: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #2150 // Make spell sequencers, spell triggers, and contingencies learnable by all mages: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #2160 // Add an extra copy of some hard-to-find spell scrolls: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #2170 // True Sight/True Seeing spells protect from magical blindness: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #3050 // Replace +1 magical weapons with Fine ones: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #3530 // Faster Bears: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #3980 // Allow the Cowled Wizards to detect spellcasting in most indoor, above-ground areas in Athkatla: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #3990 // Increase the price of a license to practise magic in Athkatla -> License costs 10,000 gp: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #4010 // Make Freedom scrolls available earlier: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Retrieve Dropped Items from Hell: v19~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #4050 // Make party members less likely to die irreversibly: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #4061 // Make the cleric stronghold available to all classes: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #4063 // Make the fighter stronghold available to all classes: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #4067 // Make the wizard stronghold available to all classes: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #5010 // Remove animation from the Cloak of Mirroring (leave it for other spells and effects that use the same graphic): v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #5030 // Remove the blur graphic effect from the Displacer Cloak: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6015 // More sensible choices of weapon proficiencies and kits for fighters (also fixes some errors in fighter stats): v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6020 // Potions for NPCs -> All of the potions dropped by slain enemies are recoverable: v19~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6035 // Improved golems: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6061 // Smarter genies -> Genies cast spells like normal wizards: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6070 // Give Celestials slightly more staying power: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6090 // Give dragons more staying power by increasing their hit points: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6095 // Standardise dragon immunities: dragons in Shadows of Amn get the same immunities to vorpal attacks (etc) as their Throne of Bhaal cousins: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6100 // Smarter dragons -> Dragons have fast, uninterruptable innate magic: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6108 // Enemy mages (and Elder Orbs) use Simulacrum and Project Image spells (this component will have no effect unless you install Smarter Mages or Smarter Beholders): v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6136 // Add high-level abilities (HLAs) to ToB mages -> Only selected ToB mages get HLAs: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6152 // Smarter Mages -> Mages never cast short-duration spells instantly at start of combat: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6160 // Add high-level abilities (HLAs) to ToB priests -> Only selected ToB priests get HLAs: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6182 // Smarter Priests -> Priests never cast short-duration spells instantly at start of combat: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #6900 // Make the starting dungeon slightly harder: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7040 // Improved Random Encounters: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7060 // Slightly improved Faldorn: v19
~SCSII/SETUP-SCSII.TP2~ #0 #7111 // Slightly Improved Drow -> Leave Ust Natha's defences alone: v19

Modifié par Satyricon331, 20 juillet 2011 - 03:54 .

[BelgarathMTH]

@SapphireIce: So sorry to hear about Xan! I'm interested in the mechanics of what happened. Is there something about the Xan mod that ends the character at Bodhi, or did you make some decision not to keep him in your game, or what?

@Satyr: Welcome to the challenge! You have quite a bit of difficutly increases, there. I'm barely handling vanilla ToB with a balanced six-member party! You must be much more experienced and skilled than I am.

[Satyricon331]

@Belgarath - Thank you!  BG2 has been one of my biggest games for years, but you're doing much better than I did on my first several runthroughs of ToB, and I've only played through the whole thing 2 or 3 times.  Actually, I'm not sure I'll play through ToB this time since it's not my favorite, but we'll see.  Also, I forgot to note I'm just playing on Normal since I'm really not that advanced.

_____

With Dungeon-be-Gone and Imoen's abduction, Aeleuthrien started in Waukeen's Promenade with 178500xp.  I skipped Jaheira and Minsc since I never have them for too long in Tutu.  Aeleuthrien's spellbook now is:

Lvl 1: Friends, ID, Magic Missile, Spook, PfEvil
Lvl 2: Invisibility, Mirror Image, Resist Fear, MAA
Lvl 3: MMM, Skull Trap, Remove Magic,
Lvl 4: Stoneskin, Polymorph: Self

Ael sold most of the dungeon items and spent a fortune on mostly potions since he was worried about survivability in an urban environment where he can't cast spells.  He came across a crying boy whose mother was missing in the circus tent, but decided it was a matter for the authorities.

After Gaelan Bayle, Brus directed him to the Government District, where he declined Tolgerias' quest blindly in the absence of a guarantee on Imoen.  Why trust the Cowled Wizards at this point?  Still, it left him without a job, so he decided to head back to the Promenade where all that commerce would hopefully elicit some job opportunities.  

On the way back, the Suna Seni group ambushed him.  He used an invisibility potion to facilitate his escape, but to his surprise, the mage cast a divination spell.  Since he hadn't spoken to Lady Yuth yet to know it was possible to bribe the CWs into giving a magic license, he inferred they weren't monitoring the alley for spellcasting.  He went invisible again and formulated a plan.

---------
Ael's plan:  
He's perhaps a bit suicidal after everything that's happened to him, and perhaps his heritage is peering through a bit, but he decided not to run away, and instead take out these murderous, wicked villains.  He decided to maintain invisibility until the cleric buffs wore off, and then pursue guerilla tactics - buffing himself while invisible, then attacking and recloaking as needed.

The battle:
They didn't cast any other divination spells, so Ael didn't have to cloak again before buffing.  Once the enemy's buffs wore off, he cast MMM, Poly:Self, PfEvil, and Mirror Image.  He then decloaked with a Skull Trap casting.  THe mage cast a successful Blindness spell, so Ael had to go invisible again and wait for it to wear off, which cost him all his valuable buffs (blindness last 10 turns!).  The Poly:S expiration cost him his MMMs since when that spell expires, it clears out any magically ocnjured weapons you have to clear out any animal-form attack you might still have up.

The Likely Wicked(*) had split up into 2 groups - the mage, the cleric, and a fighter at one end of the alley, and 2 others at the other end, with Suna Seni pacing around randomly.  (I was happy since it was a realistic positioning tactic after my opening with an area spell - oftentimes they move stupidly when you're invisible).  Ael rebuffed and took out the casters by decloaking with Skull Trap again, which killed the mage, and then focusing his MMMs on the cleric to prevent further casting, and then the other one.

Suna Seni was with the others, so Ael just walked up (actually, I had forgotten I hadn't recloaked) and tried to start with MMMs, but decided to even the odds a bit by casting a successful spook on one of them, and then falling back when Suna Seni approached, having to rebuff due to arrows.  Suna Seni was too close for MMMs (I swear there's an attack penalty in close range), so he switched to spider form, and drank a potion of invisibility when he ran out of stoneskins.  Luckily, Suna Seni was poisoned enough to die while he was invisible.


My justice is fatal.

Out of level 4 castings, he decided to decloak by casting spook at one of the remaining two enemies and then switching to spider form.  That let him kill them one at a time, finishing the battle.

(*) Since Ael's consequentialist, they may have extenuating circumstances that Ael would accept as good.  It's so unlikely though he still has to execute them to protect the innocent.
---------

I'm a little annoyed since the Blindness spell was my fault - my first skull trap missed hitting the mage. I think.  As a result, it cost me enough spell castings via lost buffs that I would not have been able to kill all of them if I didn't have the Gavin mod, which adds a potion merchant/herbalist to the Promenade, where I got extra invisibility potions.  (Not to mention that ridiculous move while forgetting I wasn't invisible!)

Anyway, I'll try to be more concise in the future, since that took forever for me and was probably too much for you.  I might post details on some of the more involved battles, but mostly I'll stop describing the battles.

edit: Thanks for the thumbnail posting tip, Sapphire!

Modifié par Satyricon331, 20 juillet 2011 - 07:30 .