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[Carinna]

My "Trapped in Faerun" challenge was cut short when I accidentally saved another game over it.  But Belgarath was right in that I don't usually role-play the NPCs, when I probably ought to.  This got me to thinking of power-gamers and trying a game where I don't role-play at all, but it wasn't much fun (and it's hard for me to not roleplay the PC).  So I wondered if it was possible to rationalize all the power-gaming choices. 

This game is a solo kensai>mage (that seems the most popular power-gaming choice).  I named him Pawn (a holdover from the non-roleplaying powergame).  Leaving the name stand, let's say his mother named him and he was old enough to answer to the name before Garion found and adopted him.  Yes, he got teased about it, when Garion wasn't around to stop it.  This teasing made him want to be the best fighter there was, so he practiced hard to do it and became a kensai.  It didn't stop him from being captured and imprisoned by Irenicus, however.

Stats:
18/62
18
18
18
11
3

(yes, I really rolled that - which is to say, I rolled the total and rearranged it power-gaming style.  It took less than five minutes to roll such a total.)  Rationalization:  Bhaalspawn - he gets 18 in the first four due to godlike heritage.  11 in Wisdom, because he's human, after all, and 3 in Charisma because the god in question is Bhaal, not the most congenial, to say the least.  And being angry about his name has not helped, either.

Neutral Good, as that is what he strives for as a human being.

Weapons:  Long sword *** .  This was the most common weapon within the limitations of Candlekeep, and on the road near Baldur's Gate.  Two stars in dual wielding.

He starts the game being tortured by Irenicus when the Shadow Thieves attack.  Imoen lets him out of his cage.  Only, she doesn't completely look and act like the Imoen of old.  Black clothing instead of pink (except for the hair), and much more somber look.  Yes, it could be from bad treatment, but Pawn has had bad treatment too and doesn't think himself so much changed (since Candlekeep yes, but not from Irenicus). Immy was always chipper.  But not now.  So is it really Immy or some new torture device?  Best not to find out.  He follows her to the weapons room, selects a good short sword for her, and bids her goodbye.  She's upset about it, but he knows she's probably got a better chance of escaping than him because she's not only got all her spells memorized (another oddity!) she still has her thief skills and can hide much better.

Once she leaves, he uses the key on the table to free Jaheira.  She, too, wants to join him, but again, he finds it odd, especially as she's unable to explain what happened to Khalid.  He takes her to the little anteroom, watches her choose a weapon and armor, and then says goodbye.  She doesn't take it well, but Jaheira wouldn't, even if she was a doppelganger.  Now he returns to Minsc, who, although he claims Dynaheir was killed in front of him, somehow still has Boo with him in the cage.  REALLY odd.  There's no lock on the cage (it's welded shut), but he gets mad enough to bend the bars and frees himself.  Another trip to the supply room for armor and a weapon, another goodbye (Minsc isn't bad about it), and Pawn is finally on his own.  But he's still effectively a prisoner until he gets out of wherever he is.  (They were each let out separately to maximize the XP gained by the solo PC).

Not going to give a blow-by-blow account (unless something interesting happens).  With a kensai (no armor), my first power-gaming move is to go after the +1 ring of protection.  As such, he does no side quests or room exploration that doesn't involve getting up to the next level to that ring.  He does kill the two guardian golems in their storage room, and he picks up the +1 longsword in the sewer golem room.  Past the otyugh to the dryads, where he finally agrees to help them (they won't take no for an answer), avoids the floor traps in "Ellisime's" bedroom (he has preturnatural senses from being a Bhaalspawn, although he can't "see" the traps in a "detect traps" manner and his senses aren't foolproof.  He also can't disarm them, so had no choice but to set off the two by/on the portal key chest.  However, he uses the Bhaalspawn "neutralize poison" to shrug off the effect.

If he was suspicious of his friends, he is doubly suspicious of Yoshimo, so tells him no he can't join.  When he finds Khalid's body, he starts to suspect that his friends were telling the truth, though he's not completely certain (he might still find Jaheira's mutilated corpse as well, for instance).  Upon reaching the hall of columns, he notices that there are six columns and he has only 4 keys (he did open chests along the way looking for heal potions, and took the keys too as they looked like something he might need to get out).  There is one hallway that doesn't involve navigating that deadly floor, so he takes it and finds it's the actual exit (after he kills a couple of unreasonable thieves).  However, now that he's found how to get out, he changes his tactics, deciding that so long as he's here, he might as well ruin Irenicus' operation before leaving.  Back at the hall of mirrors, he sees that a narrow ledge runs along the side of the room opposite the columns, and correctly deduces that he can walk along it without setting them off.  So he starts at the other end, finds the +1 ring (doesn't know what it is, and doesn't care at this point - he just puts it on, hoping it's not cursed and it isn't), then starts at that end of the dungeon and begins cleaning it out.

He wasn't able to kill Uvaryl before she turned to mist.
Frenneden:  When he saw him turn into a little boy, he knew what he was (he had plenty of experience with doppelgangers at  Durgoth's Tower), so he let him out, just to kill him.
Cambion:  He had to let it loose so he could kill it and get rid of it - not leaving it for Irenicus to use.
He did also get the acorns for the dryads and the Sword of Chaos from the genie.
Then he beat the jailer golem to "death" with a +1 quarterstaff (the only thing that would work), even though it never tried to fight back.  He wasn't leaving it for Irenicus to use, either.  He'd have killed the sewer golem as well, but nothing seemed to faze it and he didn't want to waste too much time hanging around trying to do the impossible.

When he'd messed everything up enough, and searched through the place for useable items (to open a couple of chests, he had to use Draw Upon Holy Might, so he didn't get to all of them, as there were more than two he couldn't open, even with his massive strength), he finally left.

[polytope]

Carinna wrote...

Rationalization:  Bhaalspawn - he gets 18 in the first four due to godlike heritage.  11 in Wisdom, because he's human, after all, and 3 in Charisma because the god in question is Bhaal, not the most congenial, to say the least.  And being angry about his name has not helped, either.

I admit to doing this a bit myself, my personal restriction is not to lower any stat below 9 for the sake of improving another - usually I skimp on wisdom as it's not as if the 20-yr old PC would be a font of wisdom.

I suppose K/M can be role played; the intensely focused, disciplined mind of a kensai might well be suited to study magic. It makes more sense than a berserker/mage anyway.

[BelgarathMTH]

I'm going to enjoy reading your adventures, Carinna. I don't think I've ever seen a solo run written up with the character's thoughts and motivations included.

Will this be a no-reload or a minimal reload?

[Carinna]

polytope wrote...
...my personal restriction is not to lower any stat below 9 for the sake of improving another...

Well, it's not a personal restriction (or lack of restriction) thing for this game.  Same for choosing kensai/mage (not what I'd normally use).  I did both because from what I've read here, these are the most common power-gaming choices (not everyone's power-gaming choices, just the most commonly talked about).  Likewise, I will be going with the most commonly talked about power-gaming moves, where they exist.  The only difference is that I'm rationalizing those choices into role-playing.

@ Belgarath - it will be a miracle if this ends up being a no-reload; I'm thinking of it as just a solo game, however, I will not be rationalizing death/resurrection.  So from the character's perspective, it will be no-reload - any mistakes will be mine alone.

To continue:

(neglected to mention the mods installed}:

BGT (tho playing only BG2)
Rogue Rebalancing (probably not relevant to this game)
Fixpack
Relevant changes from the Tweakpack:
100% spell learn
max HP on level up
bottomless containers
stack everything
remove XP cap

Also, Pawn went up to level 8 while still in Irenicus' dungeon
edited to add:  And I cheated in a bag of holding - rationalization - he found it in Irenicus' dungeon.

Once outside, he witnesses Imoen being re-captured, along with Irenicus, though it seemed weirdly to be a sort of planned move on Irenicus' part, which made Pawn even more suspicious.  He's still not sure it's "his" Imoen, but knows he'll have to make the attempt to find and release her anyway, just in case.  But before he gets across the Promenade, he runs into a little boy crying for his mother and so does the Circus Tent quest.  At the end, he gets another ring - and when he picked it up, he immediately got an offer from a gorgeous elf - backed by her guardian (well, he did just save them both, but with a 3 Charisma, that's never helped a lot before).  So, after politely declining, he totes the ring over to the Adventurer's Mart and has it identified - sure enough, it's a Charisma ring.  His problems are solved (well, his longstanding problems anyway, if not the ones dealing with Irenicus and Imoen).

Pawn graduated to level 9 while doing the Circus quest.  He will be dualed to mage at level 13 (9 and 13 are the most commonly talked about dualing points.  Of these, 13 should be optimum for a solo character with the XP cap removed.

Upon leaving the Promenade, Pawn finds out (from Gaelan Bayle) just how complicated and expensive it will be to rescue Imoen.  He visits the fence who lives above Bayle, but can't yet afford the item identifier he sees there.  Bayle's nephew takes him to the Copper Coronet where there's supposed to be someone inside who will hire him.  Inside, however, he immediately meets some jerk who insists on fighting him.  There seems to be an arena set up for fights of this sort.  The guy is tough, but not as good as he thinks, and despite being very wounded, refuses to surrender so Pawn ends up killing him --- and no one in the place blinks an eye (well, except the guy's friends, but even they don't call the authorities).

Somewhat bloodied, he heads over to the bar, but gets intercepted by Nalia, who hires him to save her family's castle (he tells her he'll meet her there).  Then he meets some guy who will (he says) pay him gobs of money to fight monsters off his property.  Okay.  At the bar, he finds the rather slimy owner, and inquires about what he should "spend his money" on (the fight tipped him off that the Copper Coronet is not exactly a place of law and order), and gets let into the back rooms.  Before looking into them, he goes out to the temple of Ilmater to get healed (a waitress told him where to find it).  Then back to the Copper Coronet, where he finds an opium den and a bank of slave cells.  And a hostile reception (apparently being let into the "back rooms" did not include finding the slave cells).  So he frees Hendak (killed the Beastmaster, but only enough of his beasts to get the key, as he was getting pretty bloody - he just ran from the rest and shut the door on them).  He let out the children first (in case Hendak wasn't as nice as he claimed he would be), and then Hendak rewarded him by giving him a permanent discount at the Copper Coronet (Pawn also promised to rout out the rest of the slavers).

Benefit:  I can now sell the wands and they won't disappear from Bernard's inventory as they would had I sold them to him prior to freeing Hendak.   While I could have sold them to Ribald at any time, they would have cost me more to buy back.

Next up:  1) get the glasses of identification; 2) get Daystar.

Modifié par Carinna, 12 juillet 2011 - 09:35 .

[BelgarathMTH]

Engaging reading, C. I guess Pawn has heard a rumor about Daystar and where to look for it? That battle should make for an interesting chapter.

[Carinna]

BelgarathMTH wrote...
That battle should make for an interesting chapter.

Errr.  Well.  Probably not in the way you're thinking ...

To continue:

After a trip back to the temple for more healing, Pawn set out to buy the glasses of identification and immediately ran into two jerks.  They were hard-hitting jerks, so he used a kai to take them down quickly without endangering his own life.  Then he searched them for change to pay for his healing (he's getting to know the Ilmater cleric on a first-name basis).  FINALLY he managed to buy the GoI.  He's got two magical belts in his inventory - the first one he IDs gives protection from pointy things.  Deciding that's just what he needs to avoid those pesky arrows that damage him before he can close in with his swords, he puts in on, and puts the other belt back for later.  Instead he uses the remaining two charges to ID things he intends to sell:  A +1 quarterstaff and the Tuigan bow, and then takes them back to Bernard for the cash.

It's still not near enough cash to pay Bayle, though, so he sets out for the city gate so he can go to Nalia's castle.  But before he can even get to the gate, he's attacked by slavers (Suna Seni), and uses up his last kai on them.  They've got a nice little hoard, though, even though he can't ID most of it immediately.  After another trip to the healer's he tries again, and finally makes it to the Gate District, where he finds an inn called the Crooked Crane.  The name causes him to remember something he saw when he was digging through things in Irenicus' dungeon -   Look for the Daystar at the sign of the Crooked Crane.  It had caught his eye then because of the mention of Daystar, an undead-fighting magical longsword, but he hadn't had time to study it, and had no idea what it meant by the Crooked Crane.  He thought that now he might know, however.  Daystar itself he'd certainly heard of - his specialty (kensai with the longsword) encouraged the study of longswords, and he knew the particulars of many extraordinary ones. 

He went into the inn, thinking that maybe he would take a room there to give him time to study the place, but it was really a dump, even in comparison to the Copper Coronet.  The innkeeper even mentioned that the stables were comfortable!  Good grief!    But he thought he saw something unusual near the bookshelves in the lobby, so he stood there for a moment, studying the wall, and then he saw it - a slight hairline crack indicating a secret door.  He pushed on it tentatively - the legends he'd read at Candlekeep said Daystar was guarded by a powerful lich - but it didn't open.  His sixth sense told him it wasn't likely to open, either; it was locked and only overwhelming strength could open it - even Draw Upon Holy Might would not be good enough.  A potion of Storm Giant strength would probably work, but he had no idea where to get one.  Reluctantly he filed the idea away for later and left for Nalia's castle.

He didn't get far when he was beset by the group that had poisoned a man.  Pawn eliminated them, and then had to take the poisoned man back to Athkatla, to the Docks District.  As they passed the Shadow Thief guild, someone outside greeted him and told him any friend of Gaelan's was welcome to come in.  So much fo all Bayle's secrecy about the group that would find Imoen.

He dropped the man off, then ran into Xzar (whom he didn't know as he had cut across country upon leaving the clearing where Gorion died), and agreed to find Montaron.  He just didn't say when he'd do it (it kind of sounded like the guy might have gotten what was coming to him anyway), and then went back to the thieves' guild to see if he could find out more information.  While there was nothing forthcoming about Imoen, he was offered a job of sorts, so that he thought maybe he could pay them to find her through services rendered.  So he went to see Mae'var, who told him to steal a necklace from the Temple of Talos.

Talos was not a god he really needed goodwill from in abundance, so he agreed.  It wasn't yet evening, however, so he went back to the Copper Coronet to rest (he hadn't slept since getting out of the cage at midnight).  Once he had a chance to finally sit down and breathe, he realized that he'd kept every single spell scroll he'd found, not just the protection ones he was actually able to cast.  He was, after all, up against a very powerful wizard.  He also thought about how that whenever he got in a fight against multiple enemies, he always went for the spellcasters in the group first, provided he could get to them.  Should he learn to cast spells too?  He had the potential to become very powerful, as he wouldn't forget what he'd already learned about how to fight physically, although he'd need to put the physical stuff aside for the length of time it took him to master magic.  He decided to sleep on the decision.

Sleeping made him realize that if he decided to do that (which he expected he probably would do), he wasn't quite ready to do it  yet.  He visited the Temple District, picked up the amulet, and then visited the Temple of Helm as requested by the high priest there (they'd both watched the recruiting by the Unseeing Eye cult).  He knew in advance he'd be asked to (probably stop) the cult; what he didn't realize was that someone was waiting for him in the sewers  right now!  Grumbling, he pulled open a manhole cover and crawled inside.  It was a filthy as he'd thought, but the living being he saw was not a slime, ooze, or even the paladin he was looking for, but a potion fence!  And, miraculously, the guy had a potion of Storm Giant strength for sale!  Pawn grabbed it up, then agreed to kill a Sea Troll for him (again, he just didn't say when).  After killing some slimes and oozes (they were there, just not the first thing he saw), he came to the paladin, and told him he'd meet him later at the Order.

Potion in hand, he marched happily back to the Promenade, where he'd seen a scroll-seller.  Luckily, the man did have one copy (only one, but that was enough) of Protection from Undead.  Pawn figured that even if there was no lich guarding Daystar (or Daystar was not even behind that door), that he'd eventually make use of the scroll.  So back in the Crooked Crane, he chugged the potion and then forced open the door.  Inside, as described, was a none-too-happy lich, but while it busied itself setting off a spell trigger, Pawn read the Protection from Undead scroll, which worked like a charm - the lich lost all interest and seemed to forget anyone had ever been there.  Unfortunately, the chest beside him would not yield even to a strength of 24.  But one Draw Upon Holy Might later, it burst open and inside was a golden sword.  The glasses of identification said this was it - the famous Daystar.  Pawn hefted it, and then inaugurated it on the unsuspecting lich.

[BelgarathMTH]

LOL!  I wondered after I made that last comment if Pawn was going to obtain and use a green Scroll of Easy Lich-Killing!

I love the way you write about Pawn's thoughts as he plans to learn magic. You have told the reader that this is going to be a dual-class character in a very eloquent way.

You also give notes about your general battle strategies, worked skillfully in without breaking style, such that you will have the option to "shorthand" future minor battles if you get tired and decide to do a few posts reporting your progress without having to write a lot of detail.

You have established a writing style for your story, with clear expertise, that will allow you to chronicle your progress through your game without getting too long for short story form.

Brava!

[corey_russell]

Nice story Carrina - I may not say much, but I'm reading your account.

[Carinna]

It's a good thing I didn't declare this a no-reload game; I spent my gaming time yesterday getting my behind handed to me repeatedly. But since the PC wasn't aware of how many times I had to reload, here is his account:

After acquiring Daystar, Pawn dutifully delivered the Talos necklace to Mae'var, and then was handed the task of assassinating one of the cowled wizards. While he would have liked to speak rather roughly to one (or more) of them, from a position of power, the necessity of having the murder one did not really appeal to him, so he acknowledged the request, and then went away. He hasn't completely decided against it if he can figure out some way of possibly faking it - maybe by using such a demand against the wizard? But he'll have to be careful if so, because messing it up would certainly ruin his chances of getting help from the shadow thieves, moreso than simply not following through in the first place.

Back for rest in his room at the Copper Coronet, he realizes he is caught between three fairly major quests in deciding which to fulfill first: 1) Nalia, who was the first to ask for help - her castle can't hold out indefinitely; if it could, she wouldn't need his services anyway; 2) Eradicating the slavers from Athkatla - if they had children in the Copper Coronet, they probably have more of them enslaved elsewhere; and 3) Routing out the Unseeing Eye cult. Against his gut feeling (which tells him the slavers are the most important), he reluctantly decides to rout the Unseeing Eye, reasoning that he's just unsulted one of the gods (Talos) by stealing an artifact from his temple, so he'd better appease another (Helm) by doing the requested task (and while it's true that Helm is a particularly uncaring god, Pawn remembered also seeing a priest of Lathander out trying to stop the cultists, so he figures he would get in good with Lathander by doing it).

He returned to the sewers to where he'd met Keldorn and followed the tunnel in the direction Keldorn had pointed (he didn't bother to go get Keldorn to help him, though). Sure enough, he found a somewhat cleaner tunnel that led to what appeared to be some older section of the city, now built over and no longer in official use. It didn't take long before he was attacked by some Shadows and Ettercaps. He cut through them with Daystar and continued on, until he came to some guards and the cult leader he'd seen previously. Pretending to be a convert (or at least a partial convert), he discovered that the Unseeing Eye was a Beholder that was missing its eye, but was still a powerful mage (though not as powerful as it apparently needed to be as he was immediately tasked to find some artifact for it). He agreed to get the artifact (he didn't agree to hand it over), and the cult leader gave him a key to the lower levels.

Just past the door to the lower levels, he ran into some former cultists hiding out in a crypt. The crypt itself caught his eye - it was lit, the sarcophagus was polished, and the entire setup just looked wrong. The leader of the former cultists said he sensed "great evil" coming from the sarcophagus and begged Pawn not to open it while they were hiding there. Pawn was of two minds - on the one hand he really didn't want to open the thing. On the other, he was holding Daystar and he'd just killed one powerful lich very easily. Who knew what kind of treasure was buried along with whatever else was in the crypt? But he respected the wishes of the cultists, figuring they would only need to hide there so long as the Unseeing Eye held power (which he was about to put an end to), and he could satisfy his curiosity once the blind beholder was dispatched. He would have marched right down to get the rod then and there, except the cultists warned him that they knew the way was guarded by wraiths and shadow fiends, creatures that could quickly overcome a lone adventurer. To get past them, he'd need to become much harder to hit.

He rummaged through his pack and discovered he had a Potion of Defense. Overnight, he'd also discovered he'd gotten a ring of invisibility from the Daystar-holding lich. Still, he wasn't sure they'd be enough, so he retraced his steps through the sewer tunnels to Roger, and bought two more potions - a potion of healing (to take care of more than just plain wounds), and a potion of magic protection, which advertised complete resistance to all spells (not magic, just spells) for 3 turns. He hoped those would help him get through any traps along the way.

The Potion of Defense worked wonderfully against the shadows, wraiths and shadow fiend. They also helped somewhat against the two squads of snake-people he found living beneath the sewers, although he had to chug the magic protection potion prematurely to protect himself from their mages. Still, it was still working when he inadvertently stepped on a trap on some stairs. A group of gauths gave him some problems to start with, but he activated the invisibility ring and they were unable to target him. He continued on, got the rod piece from Amanuator with a promise to return it later, and came back to where the gauths could almost, but not quite, see him. Here he was presented with a problem: Talking to Amanuator's priests broke the invisibility spell, and he cannot cast another one until the next day. The gauths' attack bypasses armor class and doesn't permit a saving throw. Taking a deep breath, he chugs an oil of speed and runs for all he's worth to get past them before falling to a paralyzing attack. He almost makes it - he manages to cross the bridge before he's brought to a frozen halt, one foot in the air. The center of his back can almost feel the killing blow strike, but nothing happens. He stands there for what seems like forever, but they don't pursue or continue their attack - they just didn't follow him and can no longer see him to target. Finally, the spell releases him and he rushes forward, shaking.

When he gets to the former cult leader, the guy tells him that to continue the quest, he will have to go down into the pit and get the rest of the rod from the Unseeing Eye itself. Pawn just does not feel up to doing that without a rest (and considerably more planning), so he returns to the Copper Coronet first. In the morning, he visits the Adventurer's Mart and buys another Potion of Defense, and an Invisibility Potion (he'd wished he'd had two the previous day and doesn't want to make the same mistake twice). He returns to the sewers and buys Roger's last Magic Protection potion (although he's not sure it will protect him from a beholder).

The pit he enters is full of undead - ghouls, ghasts, and mummies. The Potion of Defense works almost as well as it did the previous day; he does need to heal himself once from a mummy-inflicted disease, but nothing worse happens to him. When he gets to the beholder lair, he activates the invisibility ring once again and methodically cases the place. When he understands the layout, he begins searching, wishing he'd bought several of the Invisibility potions with him, but since he's found the exit, he figures he can at least get out and back in if necessary. Fortunately, the rod is in the first place he looks (guarded by a single gauth he took a chance on and managed to kill). When he picks up the rod, he can almost feel the Unseeing Eye behind him, so he chugs the magic protection potion and turns to face it.

It reacts as a mage, with a spell trigger. He activates the wand - it seems to remove all the beholder's magic protections, so Pawn wastes no time, he starts whacking. The thing counters with Abu Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, which causes Pawn to choke, but the potion slows the suffocating effect so that he has time to finish off the beholder. As it falls, he runs out of the cloud and waits for it to dissipate. Then he turns back to pick up an amulet the thing dropped.

Upstairs, the former cult leader reminds him to return the rod. Pawn gets almost to the bridge before he remembers the gauths who almost killed him are still there and he doesn't have enough invisibility to go and return. He might not be as lucky as he was the first time. But he can't take the rod back to the surface with him either. Looking around, he finds a hidden compartment in a statue. It's trapped with some sort of poison cloud effect (he runs out of the area of effect and waits for it to end), then stashes the rod inside until he can come back.

Back in the Temple District he decides not to report the success until he can actually return the rod (best for it be beyond access first, he thinks), and returns to the Copper Coronet planning how to best approach the strange sarcophagus.

---

That was a real learning curve for me. The idea of doing this quest so early is to get the Ring of Gaxx as soon as possible. Unfortunately, kensais can't use a shield, so the Shield of Cheese is out of the question. Nor can they use helmets, so the easy to find charm protection (against the "domination" spell of the yuan-ti mages, which is insta-death in a solo game) doesn't appear either.

[corey_russell]

The only thing I can think of is the "Drinker" that sword that gives you charm protection when wielding it. What about Lilacor can a Kensai use that? The drinker I think is in the Planar prison, but not certain on that.

[BelgarathMTH]

Kudos for an intense journal entry. I think I detect a reload or two that you have worked into the narrative.

I think the Unseeing Eye is one of the most deadly modules in the whole campaign, even for a full party. If you decide to try a no or minimal reload at some point, I'd save that module for much later.

[corey_russell]

The Unseeing Eye is only difficult if you accept Gaal's quest. If you attack him, it's pretty simple, but since you miss out on Kangaxx body part and gauntlets of dexterity and the shield of grace, few people do it the short way. I agree it was quite gutsy of Karinna to do this quest so early and solo at that.

[Carinna]

@ Corey - you're right about Lilarcor; I hadn't considered it because Pawn doesn't have any stars in 2-handed swords, and I was saving that cakewalk quest for the period when he is a mage but his kensai abilities are not yet reactivated. So far as "the Drinker" is concerned, I find the Planar Sphere several times harder than the Unseeing Eye; without some way to protect against several powerful mages, I don't see how I'd get through it (maybe with a lot of magic protection scrolls)?

@ Belgarath - if I ever decide to do a no reload, I won't be using a kensai, but I usually do save the quest for later. On a no-reload, with the right character (berzerker comes to mind), I'd be tempted to use the Shield of Cheese. But I've bypassed it many times before with invisibility. Despite the description above, the gauths and beholders weren't the problem - I kept falling to (first) the shadow fiend's "hold" effect, and then to the yuan-ti mages' (there were two of them) "domination."

Now for the next installment:

After some consideration, Pawn decides that the best way to approach the sarcophagus is the way he approached the lich guarding Daystar, so he goes back to the scroll seller. Unfortunately, the man does not have any more Protection from Undead scrolls, but the Adventurer's Mart has two. He buys one and returns to the crypt.

Hesitantly, he pushes the lid of the sarcophagus aside. As he rather expected, a lich appears, but instead of attacking immediately, it mumbles some strange words about a "Kangaxx" and there being "three locations." He doesn't really understand more, he just hurries and casts Protection from Undead. The lich activates a spell trigger, but then stops - it can no longer see him, so he whacks it the way he whacked the previous lich and overcomes it just as easily. Elated, he looks inside the sarcophagus and is dismayed to find only some golden skeletal remains. Worse, when he touches them, he can feel the evil from them almost burn him. But unwilling to simply walk away (not to mention he has no idea who might stumble across them now that their guardian lich is dead), he picks up some scraps of cloth from the dead lich's clothing, wraps the bones in them and shoves them into his pack, wondering what he can possibly do with them. As he leaves, however, he notes a design, or emblem, on the door - the one for which Gaal gave him a key. He's seen it before somewhere, but can't recall the exact location. It wasn't important at the time, but now he thinks it might be one of the other two locations the lich mentioned.

As he crosses the bridge to go back to the Copper Coronet, he's astonished to see the emblem engraved into the door of one of the houses there. It can't be the place he's seen it before, as this is his first time crossing the bridge on foot (he took the free ferry the other times). Curious, he rushes over to inspect the door, tries forcing it open, and only realizes after he's successful that he set off a trap of some kind - some spell that fortunately didn't affect him. Inside he finds a crypt identical to the one in the sewers, but as he doesn't have another scroll, he refrains from opening the sarcophagus at the moment. Instead, he rushes back to the Adventurer's Mart and buys the last Protection from Undead scroll. Then he returns and repeats the process he went through before. This lich also mentions Kangaxx, and goes down just as easily as the last. Inside the sarcophagus are more of the golden bones.

His mind races, wondering what to do. Trying to calm it, he focuses on another problem he hears about on the bridge - a serial killer is loose. Methodically he asks about what was seen when the last victim was killed and uncovers the killer's identity. Unfortunately, the man gets away. Pawn is hurt in the process, but not as badly as he might have been since the last vestiges of the Protection from Undead scroll were still active and two of the four accomplices were ghouls.

A visit to the nearby Temple of Helm cures him and clears his head enough for him to remember where he's seen the strange emblem - on the house next to Mae'var's guild. Returning again to the Adventurer's Mart, he now buys a scroll of Protection from Magic, realizing as he selects it that he's dangerously low on cash; he can't even afford it without selling some other items to Ribald right there. But he has enough without dipping into what he was reserving, and leaves with the scroll ... and four gold pieces to his name.

Unfortunately, when he examines the door of the house, he realizes it will not yield to normal strength, or even strength enhanced with the potions he already has plus his own Draw Upon Holy Might. He will need another Potion of Storm Giant Strength and he has no money with which to buy it. Frantically, he looks around and realizes he hasn't yet visited the house the Harpers have asked him to clear for them. He thinks it's possible that once it's cleared, there might be some items of value he can use, so he enters the house to eliminate the "creatures" and finds not only the creatures, but two hostile wizard apprentices. Unable to reason with them, he's forced to fight. When finished, they are both dead, in addition to the creatures, and he does find several items he think might give him some much-needed income. As he leaves, he looks up at the Shadow Thief guild and decides that if they wish to employ him, they should be able to finance some of what he needs, so he goes inside and helps himself to whatever isn't locked up. No one stops him. When he takes the bounty back to Bernard and cashes it in, he has what he thinks is just enough for the potion, so he rushes to Roger and buys it, then hurries back to the Docks District. Potion, DUHM, and the door yields, and the trapped latch snaps; he loses two levels, and has absolutely no money left to regain them. But he enters the house anyway, thinking that if everything goes to plan, he won't need those levels.

He's immediately forced to reconsider as the front room is guarded by four minotaurs. But using a kai, he makes short work of them anyway (and just hopes there aren't more ranks of fighting guards). There aren't; the crypt again looks identical to the last. But since he has no Protection from Undead, he decides to cast the Protection from Magic in advance, and then open the sarcophagus. When he opens it, he finds the one called Kangaxx, another lich whose body parts are missing (but now in his pack). The lich thanks him for their return by attacking (not really a surprise; he was going to kill the thing anyway). He hits it with Daystar, and it seems to connect, but takes an inordinately long time to do any lasting damage; he can see some of the wounds he makes closing almost as fast as he makes them. But he perseveres; the spells cast against him do nothing; the Protection is absolute, for which he is repeatedly thankful (as he can only imagine what effect they might have otherwise). Finally he collapses the thing only to have it shout something in triumph; it transforms into some form of magical construct and continues casting spells. Pawn keeps hitting it. And hitting it. And hitting it. After what seems like forever (and was beginning to make him worry that his Protection might wear off) the super-lich dies. He searches through the little left of it and finds an odd-looking ring, but not much else. Somewhat disappointed, he leaves, wondering how he's going to regain his levels. Worse, he wonders what possessed him to spend so much time and all of his resources on this quest when he should have been freeing children from slavery. And he remembers the evil permeating the bones, wondering if that had something to do with his obsession. Guiltily he returns to his room at the Copper Coronet, where he activates the cloak he'd gotten in the sewers the previous day, turning himself into a troll long enough to regenerate his hit points. Reluctantly, he goes to sleep, two levels down (though he thinks it's only what he deserves).

The next day, he enters the sewers beneath the Copper Coronet and fights two groups of hobgoblins. They carry enough that he believes he might finally afford a restoration spell from the temple, and he's right. He's also able to identify the ring and realizes he's found a greater treasure than he first thought - it not only protects completely from poison and disease, but offers an incredible regeneration rate - one he saw first hand while fighting the lich.

[BelgarathMTH]

Congrats on completing a really hard quest, C.

It was especially interesting to me to read about it, since I've always respected the seers in the sewer crypt room, and refrained from opening the crypt after they ask me not to. I've always wondered what people were talking about with a "Kangaxx the Lich" quest, since I've never activated it or even known where it was.

It sounds like that Kensai class is a huge disadvantage with its equipment restrictions. A lot of those reloads to enchantment/charm spells would have been very easily prevented with equipment that Kensai can't wear. I'd say that Pawn needs to find some kind of charm protection he can use, asap.

[Carinna]

BelgarathMTH wrote...
I've always respected the seers in the sewer crypt room, and refrained from opening the crypt after they ask me not to.

Yes, that's why I had to do the Unseeing Eye quest first.  Once it's completed, the seers are gone so you're free to open the crypt without betraying their trust .(I read what they say as they don't want the crypt opened because they're trying to live there.  I guess if you interpret it as they ask that the crypt never be opened it's a different story, but their wording doesn't seem to say that when I read it - I'm not trying to bend the interpretation so I can do as I wish, anyway.)

@ Corey - I agree that it's simpler just to attack Gaal, but the entire reason for doing the quest at this point is to get the Ring of Gaxx ASAP and attacking Gaal doesn't lead to that end.

Anyhow, continuing on:

(Forgot to mention before that Pawn went up to level 11 when he accepted the rod from Amanuator.)

Restored and wearing his shiny new ring, Pawn attacks the remainder of the slavers (he'd discovered their location during his last trip into the slum area sewers).    He gets pretty beaten up (and learns a lesson in reality) before he manages to kill the last one in the room he first enters.  Lesson:  Rings of regeneration - even ones with fast regeneration rates - don't heal you faster than you can take damage.  The mere fact that he killed it's previous wearer to get it should have told him that, but at least he stopped short of death in the learning process.  Unfortunately, he can see a little girl through the bars of a cage, and she is being guarded by two trolls.  Even though he now possesses the key to the cage door, he's unable to let her out as he has no method of permanently killing the trolls (there is a quiver of fire arrows in the corner, but he is unable to use a bow, so they're useless to him.  He previously used a potion of Firebreath (one he'd found in Irenicus' dungeon) to kill the Sea Troll for Roger, but he's fresh out of Firebreath potions.  Hoping he will find something he can use for the job in the rest of the hideout, he continues on, freeing two more children, and fighting some more yuan-ti (fortunately without their mages), and two human mages with a complement of fighters that hit hard, but go down fairly easily.  Looking at the stuff once he's done doesn't seem to help much with the troll problem, though.

He exits through the front door, kills the guard there, and visits the Adventurer's Mart, hoping for something he can manage to afford (he did find a lot of goods, though the problem is he can't readily identify any of it.  Ribald could do it for him, but he'd get less in the long run since he'd have to deduct the price of the identification.  But while Ribald doens't have any cheap fire swords (or any fire swords at all for that matter), he does have exactly 2 potions of Firebreath.  Since there were only two trolls, Pawn buys them both and heads back, where he kills them both easily and frees the girl.  Hendak is so pleased he gifts him with more of Lehtinan's stuff.

Now somewhat more flush with cash, Pawn sets out (once again) for Nalia's castle.  When he arrives, however, he is dismayed to discover that the problem is an infestation of trolls.  He's forced to tell her he won't be of any help as he has no way to permanently kill them.  She, of course, volunteers to join him as she says she can shoot a bow, but he bluntly asks her how good she is at hitting something with it and she's forced to admit she's not very good.  Nor is she a high-level enough mage to cast the number of spells she'd need to cast to clear the castle out.  He tells her he will come back when he's devised a solution; someone asked for his aid in Trademeet as he was leaving Athkatla - Trademeet is renown for its market so hopefully he'll find something there.

(The idea here is to get Belm next, for the extra attack.  Also, I would rather have the mage stronghold than the fighter one, and I don't think Pawn could stand up to Nalia's crying when he tells her no he doesn't want her castle.)

Edited:  And now I forgot to mention that Pawn went up to level 12 when he freed the children.

Modifié par Carinna, 16 juillet 2011 - 05:34 .

[corey_russell]

Karrina: An easy solution to kill a troll for a Kensai is the sword of flame, which you can get from the merchant in the Copper coronet (it's a long sword)

[Carinna]

corey_russell wrote...

Karrina: An easy solution to kill a troll for a Kensai is the sword of flame, which you can get from the merchant in the Copper coronet (it's a long sword)

Y'know, I looked there and I didn't see it in Bernard's inventory.  But I'm probably blind.  I know I've seen it in someone's inventory during previous games.

Oh, well, it fits role-playing wise as I wanted to delay the Free D'Arnise Keep quest anyway.  When I do get it, I can "assume" that Bernard just got in a new item.

But thank you!

[corey_russell]

Bernard's inventory changes slightly after you free Hendak. I can't remember if there's before, but I want to say it is.

EDIT: I think I see why you missed it. It shows up AFTER his main list of weapons (after some spells). Here is a screenshot of the weapon, maybe this will help you find it. It's exact name is Sword of flame +1

Modifié par corey_russell, 16 juillet 2011 - 06:19 .

[Carinna]

@ Corey - I did find it, finally. But he can't afford it anyway. Which is okay, since I want the mage stronghold, not the fighter one - I'm passing on D'Arnise keep until after I've dualed.

Continuing on:
(not going to beat a horse to death with quests everyone already knows by heart, so ...)
In Trademeet, he gets the quest to stop the druids - visits the druid grove and finds the area infested with trolls - he can't seem to get away from them! Without any fire, he uses an invisibility from one of his rings and goes through, until he sees a barn they seem to be guarding. Curious, he investigates the inside and finds a cow (!) and a box with a fancy scimitar. The glasses say it is Belm and it provides +2 and an extra attack. He's taken one point in scimitars just for fun and now he's glad, so he equips it in his off hand, then invokes his second invisibility to leave. He has no more invisibilities to use or he'd investigate the nearby house - very, very strange that the trolls wouldn't have eaten that cow long ago. But he's here to stop the shadow druids (as one who met him in secret when he arrived told him). Cernd is waiting, but he passes him up to scout ahead, and finds three druids standing just inside a circle. They are absolutely not friendly and start attacking as soon as he reveals himself. He kills the one casting spells first (ouch, that lightning stung!), and then the other two. Before going inside, however, he returns and picks up Cernd.

(I am playing this as a solo unless I need a character like Cernd to accomplish something, and then I pick them up only for the task. I'll also be doing this for the personal quests of the characters who have a personal quest that can be done without having them in the party for a long time first.)

Cernd fights the head shadow druid, Faldorn, and wins. Problem solved, so Pawn returns to Trademeet, hoping the market will reopen. Unfortunately, it doesn't - there's another problem with some genies .. blah blah blah. Since he has no idea where to find the rakshasa they want, he returns to Athkatla.

The next morning he decides to go ahead and visit the cowled wizard that Edwin wants killed. It's a little harder than he bargained for since the man has an overabundance of magical guards. When Pawn finally reaches him, the man can't be more unpleasant, and further attempts at inquiry end badly. For the wizard. Pawn isn't sure why, but none of the spells the man cast affected him in the least. Only now he's dead. And he's a cowled wizard. Pawn wonders if they will appear out of thin air and let him see first hand where they took Imoen. Nothing happens, though.

Instead of reporting back to Edwin immediately, Pawn decides he needs some time to think and consider his options (Edwin might send him to go kill someone else and pretty soon he'd just be a hired assassin). So he returns to the Bridge District to see a play he saw advertised there. It's terrible, although funny, but just when he thinks he's enjoying his escapism, the director appears and asks for help from an adventurer. Her leading man is missing.

Pawn visits Melkoth, does the task and frees Haer'Dalis. He also acquires a rod of resurrection. (and for the first time ever, I encounter a minotaur and 5 umber hulks in the bedroom instead of salamanders and a possible additional yuan-ti mage). Back at the playhouse, they all get arrested and disappear into their wormhole - um ... stargate ...um ... conduit. Pawn does not follow. He's got an overabundance of people to rescue from prison on his hands, and Imoen was first in line.

That night, Pawn makes the decision that when next he levels, he will begin his training as a mage. He'll have to face Irenicus eventually and he believes he needs to do it on his own ground. He also overhears a dwarf talking about a treasure in the lower levels of the graveyard, so he wakes up early and goes alone to see if he can find it first.

Instead he finds a lot of spiders, but they aren't as fearsome now that he is immune to poison. Still ugly though. The undead he next runs into are a bit more of a problem, but he makes it through alive, though bloody. A couple of traps don't help. He does find a tomb, though it looks as if some looters were there ahead of him; however he has no way of knowing if this is the tomb the dwarf was looking for. On the way back, he decides to eradicate the spider infestation, and finds a drow (no surprise) managing them. One sunfire from his sword fries most of the little things and she turns out to be quite easy to eliminate. He acquires a spider figurine for his trouble - and graduates to level 13.

With that, he returns to his room at the Copper Coronet to formally begin training as a mage. Putting his swords away, he takes the vow.

edited:  still can't type.

Modifié par Carinna, 18 juillet 2011 - 02:16 .

[BelgarathMTH]

Back at the playhouse, they all get arrested and disappear into their wormhole - um ... stargate ...um ... conduit. Pawn does not follow.

LOL! Another great journal entry, Carinna. It's interesting to me how Pawn keeps map-hopping. He does parts of quests that interest him, but if it gets too tough for him, he's outta there. So he seems to have a lot of business on his backburner that he probably intends to get around to when he has more equipment and power.

[Carinna]

BelgarathMTH wrote...
...he seems to have a lot of business on his backburner that he probably intends to get around to when he has more equipment and power.

Yeah, or, to put off in order to quickly level back to kensai ...

Continuing:
Pawn dutifully spends time memorizing many of the spells he's been carrying around with him, but is too anxious to begin to sleep so he can actually use the first one.  He's got a +2 staff to carry, courtesy of Edwin's dead cowled wizard, and some wands that he can now learn how to use.  But the staff reminds him also that he's never yet reported to Edwin that the wizard is dead.  He leaves immediately to remedy that (thinking that if he's sent on another assassination quest, he will simply refuse).  Feeling somewhat naked without his customary swords, he sets out for the docks.  Edwin rewards him well - he goes up five levels instantly - and then sends him on a purely courier quest.  This he can handle (although it costs him 200 gold to get the bundle of letters).  Unfortunately, for the quest after that, Mae'var has decided to make him an assassin again.  And there doesn't appear to be any clean way out of it, as Mae'var point blank told him that if he refused the job, Mae'var would have Pawn killed.

Feeling very vulnerable at the moment, and surrounded by Mae'var's goons, he reluctantly agrees, then heads on over to the tavern hoping the victim is less bullheaded than the cowled wizard and something can be worked out.  He's elated to find that it can - the man surrenders his knife immediately and vows to leave town (Pawn doesn't think he'll back out as his head is on the line too).  Interestingly, his crime was overhearing the betrayal plans Pawn was hired to investigate, but he had no hard proof.  Pawn returns to Mae'var, who returns him to Edwin, who promptly exposes Mae'var for him.  Before leaving to inform Renal Bloodscalp, Pawn scavenges everything he can access in the place, since he knows he won't be able to do so once he reports in.  When he does report to Bloodscalp, he goes up another level.

He now has enough money for one of the wands he found, so he chooses the Fire wand, remembering as he does so that he'd though if he could have used that earlier, he might have taken care of the gauths beneath the Temple District sewers.  But then that reminds him that he hasn't yet returned the rod to Amanuator.  Guiltily, he rushes to the Temple District.  He picks up the rod where he stashed it and runs up to the bridge.  It's easy to toss a fireball off of it onto the gauths, though he can't quite see them.  He's got his invisibility ring ready in case they retaliate.  

Unfortunately, it doesn't go quite that smoothly.  The fireball barely injures them, and they fire off their attack with impressive precision.  He goes invisible immediately, but still ends up paralyzed.  The only thing that saves him this time is that they stop attacking, he guesses because they finally realize they can't see anything.  After awhile, it wears off and he proceeds on to the underground temple, much humbled.  Amanuator accepts the rod, and he and his followers vanish.  Feeling somewhat left out (not that he wanted to die or anything), he returns to the surface and at last reports the success to the high priest of Helm.  And goes up yet another level.

He's rewarded well monetarily, too, and is met by a strange woman as he exists the building.  She says someone has an offer for him in the graveyard at night.  It sounds too creepy - he's fairly sure the rival guild are vampires (he remembers also the vampire in Irenicus' dungeon), though the woman here is out in the daylight.  Strangely, Bayle's nephew shows up practically on her heels, saying the deal's been made sweeter.  Nothing like competition!  Unfortunately, Pawn is not at all ready to begin his rescue of Imoen - he's just begun studying to become a mage, and he's sure he will need all sorts of equipment as well, to be successful.  If he visits either of these people now, he'll not only be committed to leaving, he won't have any money to buy what he needs for the journey.  So, instead of heading back to Bayle's, he goes to the Adventurer's Mart and buys a mage's robes he saw there called the Robe of Vecna.  It takes nearly all his cash (he's got about 700 left), but it allows him to cast spells much faster - important if they need to be cast in the midst of combat.  And it doesn't drag the floor or use yards of fabric, either.  Then he returns to his room at the Copper Coronet to think and plan his next move.

[BelgarathMTH]

Ah, the Robe of Vecna! Every mage's best friend! Congrats on obtaining it.

That purchase price is probably the economic equivalent of buying a loaded Lexus, cash.

[Carinna]

The next morning he heads over to the government district to visit an artist for the temple of Helm. The man sends him on what Pawn thinks is a wild goose chase for some metal so rare there isn't any. He finally ends up back at the Copper Coronet talking to a dwarf, who points him to the Bridge District to someone named Neb. He wonders if it's the child killer who broke him out of jail in Baldur's Gate. If so, he's liable to be very tricky, and Pawn believes he will need more flexibility than he currently possesses, so he shelves the idea for awhile and decides that so long as he's back at the Copper Coronet, he will investigate a mystery in the sewers beneath it that he didn't have time for previously. This nets him Lilarcor, which he can't use (and won't want to as a kensai), so he sells the thing to Bernard, wondering who will finally end up with the yakky sword.

Trying to think of something else not to strenuous to occupy his time reminds him that he never bothered to let Keldorn know that the cult had been routed. Even though he probably figures the man knows by now, he thinks it would be polite of him to report in person, so he goes to the Order and does so. Keldorn suggests they go out for coffee - and when they pass through the government district, he invites him to his home. Unfortunately, this creates a domestic scene that rather embarrasses Pawn. When it's resolved, he bids the paladin goodbye.

Back at the Copper Coronet, he strikes up a conversation again with Anomen (he'd met him briefly when he first arrived there). They walk outside as they talk and a messenger arrives to inform Anomen that his sister's been murdered. Pawn accompanies him, as requested, and bids him goodbye once Anomen's seen the magistrate. Pawn also starts to wonder if maybe he shouldn't strike up anymore old acquaintances, if the results will be so full of drama.

Remembering the invitation to the graveyard, Pawn's curiosity gets the better of him and he decides to visit it again, but in the daylight, to better see it (he only passed through one side of it to get to the tomb). While there he completes the "paladin adoption" quest, tries to save Nevin from his dead Uncle Lester (but doesn't make it with his fumble-fingers on the unfamiliar staff until Nevin's been killed), and finds a man that's been buried alive. He also agrees to find the men who did it, but when he gets to the Bridge District, he's beset by a mob of thugs. Fortunately, he'd already covered himself in Stoneskin when he got up that morning, and is able to use the wand of fire to overcome them. He uses it again on the men who buried Tirdir, frees their next hostage, and then heads immediately for the government building. The ambush has made him painfully aware of how dependent he is on magic for self-protection right now and he can't cast it out in public in Athkatla without a license. Since he now has another 5000 gold, he buys one and steps out of the building feeling much more secure.

[BelgarathMTH]

Good work, C. I like the way you manage to collect the xp for NPC quests in your solo game, and even write it into your story.

[Carinna]

Fresh out of ideas on what he can do in Athkatla that he believes he'll be able to accomplish, Pawn sits down and goes through his bag of holding. There, almost forgotten, are the acorns he received from the dryads. A nobleman also asked for his aid in the same area, although the request sounded a bit odd, but he figures there should be no harm in scouting out the place while delivering the acorns as the dryads requested, so he heads first for Trademeet, where he spends the night before continuing on to the Windspear Hills.

As soon as he gets there he's beset by the monsters the man had described - except they don't sound like monsters. He's reminded of the illusion on the elf girl at the circus, but has no time to ponder this because they regard him as if he were a monster himself. Confused, and not wanting to rush into anything, he activates his invisibility ring and slips away. Not far away he discovers a cabin, although no one is home. As he continues on his way, he passes more groups of oddly mismatched fighters, but he doesn't stop until he reaches the fairy pond and sees the fairy queen. She rewards him and warns of an evil that lurks nearby, but isn't more specific, making him really curious to know what is going on. The place is too far from Trademeet to be the lair of the rakshasa the djinn are hunting, so he figures it must be something else.

Since he's this far out in Amn, he decides to visit the Umar Hills to see the extent of the problem he heard about from a boy in the government district. He arrives before dawn, at 5 AM, and still runs into a town hall meeting in the village square. When it concludes, he follows the mayor back to his house for further information. Based on this information, he first visits the ranger's now-empty cabin, where he finds a journal pointing him to an abandoned temple north of there. He also visits the nearby ogre camp as the mayor's wife requested to see if that is the source of the problem. It isn't, but the ogres ask him to negotiate for them with the mayor. He doesn't believe he's far enough along in his studies to visit a temple full of undead, but he does explore the Umar Hills, finding a mimic in a nearby cave. A wizard living in the village pays him for the mimic's blood, and then promptly loses control of the golem he activates with it. Pawn helps him kill it and is rewarded again. Before leaving the area, he investigates a cabin he saw in the hills, and finds a man who claims his ancestor is responsible for the odd sphere that is sticking out of some houses in the Athkatla slums. He suggests they team up to investigate the thing.

Pawn agrees, and the two of them return to Athkatla, but it becomes quickly apparent that Valygar is extremely uncomfortable with Pawn's status as a wizard. He's not entirely comfortable with entering the sphere, either (since he believes his ancestor will try to kill him and take his body or some such), so he opens the sphere for Pawn and returns to his cabin. Not quite ready to explore such a thing on his own, Pawn quietly closes the door (which will open for him whenever he wishes now), and leaves it for another day.

That evening, before dark, Pawn returns to the graveyard, absently hoping he can find more people buried alive that he can help. Instead, he finds the ghost of a halfling child, who asks him to get his stuffed bear. Horrified by the boy's story, Pawn rushes to the Copper Coronet to confront his killer - a man Pawn has seen many times as he rents the room almost across from his. When he admits to the killing, Pawn is overcome and kills the man. He rushes back to the graveyard with the stuffed bear, not paying attention to the fact that it is now dark outside. A beautiful but cruel-looking pale woman approaches him as he enters the place; her presence makes his skin crawl. She chastises him for overspending and tells him to come back when he has 15,000 gold. Pawn delivers the stuffed bear to the boy and leaves as fast as he can, wondering what would have happened to him if he'd had the 15,000 gold and refused her offer. He vows to go to Gaelan Bayle as soon as he's made his next 20,000 - surely they will understand if he's not quite ready to act on whatever information they provide.

The next morning, he decides the quickest way to earn the money is to complete the quest Renal Bloodscalp has set him, so he returns to Mae'var's guild. As he expected, everyone in the place is now hostile. Quickly chugging a fire protection potion, he begins hurling fireballs from the wand into the front room. It doesn't take long for them to all die. When he gets downstairs, however, he sees a man in rags inside one of the cells; and while he suspects poor Lin might have died by now from the continuous torture, he can't really be sure, so he doesn't feel comfortable using area of effect spells. Instead, he casts protection from normal weapons, then magic missile on Mae'var, then closes on the priest of Cyric with an Aganazzar's scorcher, moving around so it affects more than just the priest. He repeats the process twice more, uses Flame Arrow on Mae'var, and then beats the last holdout to death with his staff. When finished he releases the prisoner, loots the chests he wasn't able to open previously (now using knock), and returns to Bloodscalp for the reward. By the time he's finished, he has just over 20,000, so he slips back to Gaelan Bayle's. By now Bayle only wants 15,000 as well, which is all to the good, except that instead of information, he gets only a key that will allow him to talk to someone else. Feeling frustrated, he takes it and heads to its destination, hoping more information will be forthcoming.

edited:  Forgot to mention, Pawn went up to level 11 (wizard)  when he completed the quest to kill Mae'var.

Modifié par Carinna, 21 juillet 2011 - 09:37 .