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[saros_shadow_follower]

First - sorry to create a new no-reload thread, but the old one is pretty long and BTW, an IA v6 modded game is so far from the original BG2 that it's more like a whole different game.

Second - list of my WeiDu.log file:

// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // Component Name
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #0 // Infinite Weapon, Potion and Ring/Amulet Stacking
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #3 // True Grand Mastery (extra half-attack, etc.) (Baldurdash)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #4 // Shut Up "You Must Gather Your Party Before Venturing Forth"
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #5 // Faster Chapter 1&2 Cut-Scenes and Dreams (Karzak, Blucher) (SEE WARNINGS)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #9 // Un-Nerfed THAC0 Table, Saving Throws, Grand-Mastery, and Arcane, Divine Spell Progression (Blucher)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #14 // Multiple Strongholds (Baldurdash)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #15 // Bonus Merchants (Baldurdash)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #17 // No Drow Avatars On Party In Underdark
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #18 // Imoen ToB Dialogue Fix
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #21 // Romance: Bug Fixes (required for later components).
~SETUP-IMPROVEDANVIL.TP2~ #0 #0 // Improved Anvil

Third, my party composition. I made a very-quick (12 hour) run of BG1 vanilla (didn't wanna bother with SCS because I wanted to get faster to BG2) to read the tomes with two specific party members who'll benefit most of them. All my NPCs are pre-generated, two of them have the unique classes from the IA mod:

PC human Vagrant (IA kit), Captain Jack Sparrow (we need someone cool leading the team), Lawful Good, Str 18/00 Dex 18 Con 19 Wis 14 Int 11 Cha 12 (not very easy to roll these stats, took me a lot of time, but doable, saved char file when rolled successfully for future runs like this one), proficiencies *****Axes, *Flails, **Two-Weapon. Racial enemy - Golem. Level 7, 89 000 xp.

VAGRANT: Vagrants do not stay in a place for long. They spend most of their time exploring new
         wilderness areas and enjoying the beauties of nature. Woodlands and lakes are the most
         favorite places for vagrants. They are very healthy characters with exceptional stamina.
         Vagrants can develop a special kind of friendship with swanmays. Swanmays are very rare
         and special kind of lycanthrope rangers living at lakesides in woodlands and in remote
         temperate wetlands. High level vagrants can call for swanmays' help.

Advantages:

1- +1 bonus to Constitution
2- Immunity to disease and poison
3- +2 bonus to save vs. Paralyze/Death
4- 15% resistance to elemental damage for every 6 levels of experience
5- Can gain grand mastery in using axes
6- Gains the ability to summon Swanmay at levels 13 and 16
7- Gains the ability to summon Greater Swanmay at levels 19 and 22
8- Gains the ability to summon 'Swanmay Queen' at level 25
The swanmays will loyally fight at the vagrant's side for 20 rounds

Disadvantages:

1- May not wear armor greater than studded leather
2- Cannot specialize in ranged weapons
3- Requires 12 Charisma
4- Cannot dual class

A Vagrant's Swanmays are maybe the best summons in the IA game, extremely powerful fighters with various resistances/immunities, and a special Wing Swing ability which disregards PFMW and applies physical damage (probably slashing, not sure). For them more when (and IF) PC gets high enough levels to gate them.

Second char, a pre-generated custom human Berserker, who had read the STR, CON, INT and CHA  tomes from BG1. Neutral good. Str 19 Dex 18 Con 19 Int 19 Wis 18 Cha 4. Proficiencies *****Halberd *Two-handed weapon style (it's really cool that BG1 vanilla can be completed easily with any weapon prof, of course I still had a PC Ranger wielding Drizzt's scimitars for that run). Name Saros ShadowFollower (all other chars named after counterparts in Dungeon Master 2, one of the greatest RPGs ever). Level 7, 89 000 xp.

Third char, a Lawful Evil Human Sorceress named Seri Flamehair, Str 18 Dex 18 Con 17 Int 9 Wis 18 Cha 9. Proficiencies *Quarterstaff *Dart. Level 7 (89 000 xp) Spell picks:

Lvl 1: Magic Missile, *Armor, **Shield, Chromatic Orb, ***Larloch's minor Drain
*Armor spell sets AC to 6, has duration of 3 turns, casting time 1, grants additional Slashing and Piercing AC modifier of -3, doesn't stack with itself
**Shield no longer protects versus Magic Missile, duration 3 turns, sets AC to 6 and grants additional Blunt and Missile AC modifier of -3, doesn't stack with itself.
***Larloch's minor drain in IA totally ignores the target's magic resistance.

Lvl 2: Mirror Image, Invisibility, Melf's Acid Arrow
Lvl 3: *Remove Magic, Haste

*Since Remove Magic is gonna be used quite a lot in the run, some clarifications. The spell works as in vanilla, but the description there is flawed. What does this spell do(applies to Dispel Magic too):

Cannot remove (not even 1% chance, but 0%) any protections if the caster is lower-leveled than the enemy mage.
Mirror Image is always dispelled by Remove magic
Potion buffs and scroll buffs are treated as if cast by 10-level mage when calculating the odds to dispel them with Remove/Dispel Magic.
The spell won't be stopped by any spell protections (including GoI and Spell Shield, although Spell Immunity Abjuration will block it naturally), but won't affect those either.
There is still 1%chance that the spell will fail against anyone.

The hitpoints of any mage should be noted. For now Sorc has 42 HP. Very important since some enemy mages use PW kill and PW stun early in the game (and late too).

Fourth char, a custom human Ranger (level 7) who's immediately dualled to Cleric (at the beginning of SoA). Neutral good. Read the Wis and Dex tomes in BG1. Str 18/00, Dex 19, Con 18, Int 14, Wis 21, Cha 3. Proficiencies **Flail **Mace **Club **Two-weapon. Name Torham Zed.  After dual-classing 75 000 xp with inactive Ranger class (lvl 7)

Fifth char, a custom Lawful Good human Riskbreaker (IA kit).

RISKBREAKER: Riskbreakers are masters of simultaneous speed and accuracy. They have the ability to move and attack enemies in a way that only a blurred outline of their bodies can be seen. Riskbreakers have limited access to two mage spells as innate abilities. High level Riskbreakers gain unique abilities to break the risk involved in most difficult battles. The trainings required to become a riskbreaker are very demanding and require the riskbreaker to sacrifice a portion of his health and stamina during the process. Only Humans can be Riskbreakers.

Advantages:
- +2 Bonus to save vs. Breath Weapon.
- Makes critical hits at a roll of 17 or better (instead of the usual 20).
- Gains "Blur" every 5 levels.
- +2 bonus to Armor class for every 6 levels.
- Gains "Improved Haste" at levels 11, 16 and 21.
- Once the Riskbreaker reaches level 15, each of his successful hits will have 15% chance to apply a random effect picked from the following pool: "Hard Hit" on target (applies 10D6 +5 additional damage), "Risk Increment" on target (applies -4 penalty to AC for 2 rounds), "Avert Risk" (heals the Riskbreaker for 20 hp).
- Gains the ability "Chain Breaker Stance" at levels 17 and 23.
- Gains the innate ability "Risk Decrement" at levels 18, 24 and 30.

Chain Breaker Stance:
This ability applies the following effects to the caster for 5 rounds:
- +25% resistance to physical damage
- 25 strength
- Regenerating 12 hp per round

Risk Decrement:
When surrounded by lots of enemies and when most other warriors may fall or surrender in despair, a high level riskbreaker is more than capable to break the risk involved in the toughest situations.

Risk Decrement has the following effects:
- Heals the riskbreaker completely.
- Applies a massive attack to all enemies around the riskbreaker inflicting 8D10 crushing damage with no saving throw.
- Has a good chance to throw back all or some of the enemies.

Disadvantages:
- Cannot wear any armor.
- Cannot wear any helmet (other than Ioun stones).
- Cannot use gauntlets and shields.
- Cannot use ranged weapons.
- Cannot specialize in two handed weapons.
- Cannot be proficient in single weapon and Two handed weapon styles.
- Receives a -2 Penalty to constitution.
- Is immune to "Spirit Armor" and "Barkskin" spells.
- Requires 12 Intelligence.
- Cannot dual class.

Str 18/00, Dex 18, Con 16, Wis 14, Int 14, Cha 3 (again, loaded from a character file, don't have the patience to roll again such amazing stats). Proficiencies ****Flail **Two-weapon style, name Bane Blade Cleaver. Level 7, 89 000 xp.


Basically that's the party I intend to no-reload the game with. As a side note, I won't use any endless experience or gold-gaining exploits in order to try and make it more fun and realistic, but will still take advantage of many limited xp-and-gold gaining exploits like for example draining out of minor summons a powerful enemy entity, that's not very easy BTW.

Level-up and scribing scrolls will be done at lowered to easy difficulty bar, which will be immediately reset on Insane. Whole run will be done on Insane difficulty.

Lastly, if by any chance even one character is chunked (that in an IA literally means endgame, because further improved battles will be impossible to win without a crucial party member - and they all are), I will reload and will note it. But hopefully that won't be necessary since I've already devised sound no-reload tactics for all IA fights up to the end of SoA and WK with a very similar party (lower on stats even). Still, an IA game with the Item Randomizer is never the same even if parties are alike. But for that I will have to think on my feet

Also, if possible, will make video links for the more interesting and harder fights.

Wish me luck!

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 01 juin 2013 - 01:10 .

[morbidest2]

Good Luck!
Is the Swanmay Queen named Alianora? Sounds a bit like the Swanmays have the physical power of small dragons.

[saros_shadow_follower]

No name. Just "Swanmay Queen". And not quite that powerful, they're something like the equivalent of 13th, 16th and 19th-level vagrant (with various other resistances and immunities, don't know them exactly). For example, they're immune to Poison and Disease. Can't be killed by Death spell too.

Met with my first (vanilla-game) bug, because Illyich didn't drop the Mail of the Dead +2. There goes -1500 gp for me.

[Alesia_BH]

Best of luck Saros. I'm looking forward to your run.

Cheers,

A.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 1, Part 1: Chateau Irenicus:

The party storms through the place, collecting as much experience and items as possible.

Normal weapons collected from the starting table will remain in inventory until the very end of SoA, and probably in ToB.

The Lightning machine produces up to 7 mephits, all of which were slain for max xp (420 each, still counts). Many of IA v6 mephits give no experience btw (Mist Mephits, Air Mephits).

Since in IA v6 randomized item slots are nerfed seriously, we're happy to find a dagger +1 dropped from a lowly goblin. But unhappy to find that Illyich doesn't drop the Mail of the Dead +2. Clearly, a bug. Reloaded several times - no chain. OK will compensate just for that with an unlimited gold exploit a bit later!

Applied that exploit for 1800 gp, compensating for the Irenicus-Shadow thief fight loot too

Two of the vanilla goblin spawns of the 2nd floor are replaced by Lesser Spirit Spiders. Fortunately, party fighters are more than a match for them, hence easy 2*4 500 xp for the party.

Party lacks identifier at present - sorc didn't choose that pick, Berserker not yet dualled to mage. That means we cannot identify our wands and kill Ulvaryl with Cloudkill wand as usual. Oh well. Anyway that wand can be sold for 300gp. We use a band of 5 buffed Skeleton (apparently these wield +1 maces), the Sword of Chaos (Berserker has no profs in two-handed swords yet, but still 2 APR under haste and with critical hit modifier from two-handed w style). Managed to kill Ulvaryl before turning to bat. 8 000 xp are no small reward, we have to scratch and collect every bit of xp along the way.

Temporarily joined Yoshimo at certain point (so that he won't loot the party's experience) just to disarm all traps and pick all locks. He still stole 1/6 xp from the Assassin + 2 Duergars in the trapped wand hall, but that's no big deal. He was disbanded afterwards. Party left the dungeon with Jaheira. Everybody leveled up. Sorc new picks (for lvl 8 and 9) are:

Lvl 2: *Blur
Lvl 3: Melf's Minute Meteors
Lvl 4: Emotion, Stoneskin

*Tested with Strength in a previous run. Cast that spell exactly ONCE for the whole game. Meaning, it's completely useless. It cannot fix anyone of 18 natural str (and all my party has at least 18 natural str) who's been drained of strength anyway. However the party sorc was so often targeted in melee that I really regretted on many occasions not having another defensive spell, and Blur is excellent.

Currently inside Circus Tent. Managed to both answer genie's riddle AND slay him for additional 5000 xp.  Used a band of buffed Skeletons for that + party fighters + Magic Missile. Intend to kill the other Genie inside as well (5000 more xp).

Genie killed. Pleasure slave killed if only for 10 xp.

OK that's it for now, will write when I tangle with Suna Seni (which is undoubtedly one of the most fearsome IA battles ever - due to lack of proper equipment, levels, spells, and the fact that party buffs are dispelled when that fight starts)

Edited in italic

Edited in bold

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 07 juin 2013 - 07:55 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 1, Part 2 (last):
Completed Circus tent, sold some of the rewards, joined temporarily Aerie on several occasions. She helped a lot with Identify Item and Friends spell (Cha is 20, max discount in IA received by that value), Got also a reputation increase to 13 after talking to the guard. Bought several containers and only a ring of protection +1 from Ribald's stock.

IA allows one char to wear simultaneously magical armor and protective rings/cloaks if the rings/cloaks are of +2 or lower enchantment. Meaning that if a character has a +4 ring, he cannot wear another. If he wears even only a ligtly enchanted +1 armor, he still cannot wear more than +2 rings/cloaks. But for now two +1 rings (one from Chateau Irenicus) are equipped on PC without problem.

First night-time encounter:
Tried to kill everyone, failed. Two Shadow Thieves were slain by Hareisan, but she herself fell to Sorceress' Minute Meteor (R-C and Berserker engaged in close combat, protected from level drain both, and wielding +2 weapons - Berserker wields Sword of Chaos +2 in such cases, while R-C relies on Spiritual hammer, priest lvl 7 creates a +2 hammer - new proficiencies in Cleric class include * in Quarterstaff, Two-handed and Single-handed weapon style).

The idea is now to collect 15 000 gp as fast as possible - hopefully in the Slums. Don't wanna move too much inside the town, will try to gain as much xp and items as possible in one quick run.

Chapter 2, Part 1

With Aerie in party, travelled to the Slums. Talked to Gaelan. Went to Copper Coronet. Temporarily left Aerie inside the Coronet on several occasions, joining instead Yoshimo. With the Potion of Master Thievery found in Chateau Irenicus, Yoshi was able to pick all locks (and disarm all traps) now available in the Slums. Borinal's home is now empty which is a perfect opportunity to loot it. A WarHammer +1 found in there.

Also found a Wand of Magic Missiles with 10 full charges in Gaelan's home. Most of the newly-found stuff was immediately sold since it's useless.

Killed Corvale and Bregg, killed Amalas and after that - his two goons (25 xp only each, and 30-40 gp when their stuff sold, still good).

Nearing 10 000 gp, has stuff to sell (like 20 Extra Healing potions, some +1 useless for now weapons, even the Sword of Chaos if need be and some scrolls, decide not to for now). Decided to sell some scrolls carried up until now (Air Elemental, one Stoneskin - have 2, and some other) for 1 500 gp. Opened the secret door to the sewers iside the Coronet, disarmed some traps, killed some vanilla goblins and other monsters, collected and sold some minor loot (still several hundred gp).

Afterwards decided to dominate Lady Nin and Silvanas (since they carry some items of value), lead them safely away from anyone's sight (near the entrance to the sewers) and slaughter them there. Worked in two ways - they died indeed with no penalty, but a strange Copper Coronet guard appeared near that door and was slain for 2000 xp.

Strange, but I disregarded this clear sign that something is wrong. Rejoined (again) Aerie before resting, disbanded her after buffing. The moment the party enters the gladiator cells area, they're greeted by a guard who gates in some IA guards - one mage to the left, one to the right, one additional fighter to the left, one to the right. One guard appears near the secret entrance (oops whom did I kill). The newly-discovered bug is that inside was already one group of guards waiting for me, and a second identical was spawned when the greeting guard gave his speech!

THIS is not the original fight! I won it in no-reload without casualties although RB was on 28 health (he may very well be chunked). But since this now turns to be a much harder fight (having to fight twice the enemies which are intended for this battle - twice the mages!), and it was a surprise Anvil-created bug, I decided to post pictures here.

Remember, the bug is created by following the sequence: Open secret entrance to CC sewers(don't open the other door leading to the drunks!) - Charm Silvanas - Lead Silvanas near the door leading to the gladiator cells(do NOT open door yet!) - Kill Silvanas - kill the guard appearing near the sewer door - there is your bug, first group of enemies just arrived (and they're not supposed to until that guard behind the door talks to you).

Pre-buff included Aerie, disbanded temporarily once again.

Upon entering and guard talking to PC, the second group appeared. Here's the two mages next to each other. It was a really good thing that in the no-reload victory, the sorceress was running Melf's Meteors. IA's MMM fire damage penetrates MGoI and GoI, thus successfully disrupting spellcasting.

This I didn't do in the original run - didn't cast Emotion. It incapacitated one of the mages (all cannot possibly save vs it, but yeah it was a bit lucky here), and the other one soon fell to heavy melee/MMM barrage. Party fighters are far more powerful than enemy puny ones, and soon the Sorc was free to shoot another Emotion from off-screen at the remaining 2 mages and 2 fighter at the other end of the map. 3 Emotions later (checking the dialog box) went to check what's happening (rebuffed before that a bit). Turns out that both mages were incapacitated (reading the dialog box was under the impression that 3 enemies were incapacitated, but was prepared to face the 2 mages nonetheless, with refreshed MMMs and all, also sending an invisible character ahead to waste their first round on casting Oracle, in the original battle all these were incapacitated after 4 Emotions). Anyway with the two mages down, the fight was a laugh.

There was yet another CC Guard near the sewer door, whom the party again killed for 2000 xp.

So double the xp, double the items and gold from the guards (each of them has 40 gp). Mages carry +1 quarterstaff, +1 sling, +1 bullets and a scroll of Spider Spawn each. Only one warrior has a +1 two-handed sword, but all have nonenchanted chain mails and long bows. Believe me, in IA v6 these also should be picked up and sold as best as possible, even in the late-game, yes! Every bit of gp counts.

After selling all their loot, and a Bastard Sword +1, the party has 15 500 gp - enough to pay the sum to Gaelan Bayle.

Will now try performing another IA bug - pulling an Improved Minotaur out of his cell and even out of the Coronet without him actually opening the door and without angering the Beastmaster or Tabitha. For that act I'll need an IA Minotaur (oh luck - one present in the last cell, near the Beastmaster) with a +2 enchanted axe (a weapon most needed by the Vagrant).

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 02 juin 2013 - 12:48 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, Part 1:

Joining Yoshimo, went to Gaelan's home and delivered him the 15 000 gp. Reasons:

In a non-infinite xp exploit game, siding with Aran Linvail is the best possible option. The quest experience is quite different (36 k for delivering 15 000 gp to Bodhi as opposing to 45 k  for gold being delivered to Gaelan). Not only that, but there's much more profit (xp-wise) killing vampires (although it's really harder). Also, the Shadow Thieves won't escape their doom at the end of SoA by the hands of PC&party, but they have some more use until that moment, for some more gold and experience (gold is never, and I mean NEVER enough).

Another reason is that in IA v6 Renal Bloodscalp lacks Boots of Speed, Permanency scroll or other cool items. Aran Linvail doesn't have a Ring of Djinni Summoning (unlike in IA v5, where this ring and the Boots of Speed were the main reasons for siding with Bodhi).

By joining sides with Aran, the Vagrant is depried by an early powerful enchanted throwing axe (namely, the Rifthome Axe +3) which can only be obtained from Arkanis Gath's corpse (i.e. siding with Bodhi).

And now, for my magic trick, I will require a Minotaur!

Cages cleared beforehand, without drawing beastmaster's attention in any way. Summoned a Skeleton and a Nymph in the previosly-occupied by Black Bear cage (which is next to the Minotaur cage). Nymph in turn summons monsters inside Minotaur's cage (R-C doesn't have the required distance to do that from the faraway first cage). Summoned by Nymph dog was moved a bit before being slain by the Minotaur - just enough that the Minotaur can see the Nymph and the skeleton.

Party went outside and immediately rested.

Upon re-entry, Minotaur's positioning is checked. He's not in his cage! Thank you, thank you! Now, where is he? Checked along the way from his cage to the exit - nope, he's not there. Went outside and here he is! Needless to say, he was slain fast and now PC has a nice new +2 enchanted axe.

This described bug had given me numerous troubles with different IA monsters. It's actually created by the mod designer so that his improved monsters would follow the party wherever it goes if the party decides to break off a fight and retreat in hopes of resting for example. However as you can see, things turned quite differently as the bug is known, because now 1: Minotaur is slain and won't help the Beastmaster in the fight for the Cell key, and 2: party had a good xp (7 500 for each IA minotaur) and early +2 axe safely (yeah, I know an axe like that can be found in the graveyard, the fact is that all ways out of the graveyard are blocked by Suna Seni's group, don't wanna fight them yet obv).

Party's experience is 235 000 total (each), R-C Torham Zed got his ranger levels back (clerical lvl 8), all his proficiencies listed as follow (including new one at lvl 8):

**Mace **Flail **Club *Quarterstaff *Single-weapon *Two-handed weapon ***Two-weapon style.

Waiting for 250 000 xp when Berserker (at lvl 9) will dual to a Mage.

Leaving the Slums now (bought btw a scroll case from Bernard, containers are a wise IA-investment, must buy all available, and that particular one is lost forever upon freeing Hendak). Will make a full, safe circle around the city, hopefully completing some quests before engaging Suna Seni, hopefullly regaining berserker levels back (will need a lot of experience for that).

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, Part 2:

The Bridge district - travelling from the Slums to the Brige was uneventful. Yoshi in party. In the Bridge district - obtained the Horn of Valhalla and a potion of Stone Giant str from an unguarded house (thanx to Yoshi). Solved the Skinner murders - reputation went to 14 (Yoshi temporarily dropped in the district, rejoined after). Disarmed a couple more traps with Yoshi (not all - wanna save most of those for Jan, who hopefully will provide more xp). Berserker reached level 9 - chose proficiency in Two-Handed sword, dualled to Mage, scribed a lot of scrolls carried in containers up to now.

For the time being, the B-M will be useless, but still will have some minor business like identifying items or casting Invisibility.

Riskbreaker gained a level, chose proficiency in Flails (now Grandmastery - 5 stars).

Sorceress gained a level (now 10), chose Breach as new spell pick.

Ranger-Cleric lingers 89 000 xp behind compared to the rest (meaning, he has 161 000 xp with his clerical class). He still needs about 65 000 xp to gain the crucial 9th clerical level and be able to cast 5-th level divine spells.

PC needs 50 000 xp to next level.

Sorceress (strangely enough) is exactly at 60 HP, which means one more level and she's out of PW:Kill range.

Talked to Ralelis Shai, started Haer'dalis' quest.

Entered the estate of the merchant Saerk Farrahd (Yoshi waits outside). From selling only regular enemy stuff like LongBows and Chain Mails, the party gained 800-900 gp. The main reason for looting this place was a magical +1 flail and a suit of nonenchanted plate - flail for Riskbreaker, plate for R-C. There is a bastard sword +1 too. Didn't open the safe to loot it yet. That's for later. We came here for the weapons, armor and experience.

Edit: Found two new potions of Master Thievery for Yoshi inside.

Edit: Sold some stuff, have about 5000 gp now.

Yoshi rejoined, we're leaving the district soon enough. Need 245 000 more xp (per party member) before fighting Suna...

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 02 juin 2013 - 09:01 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, part 3:

Travelling from the Bridge to the Docks was uneventful.

Got AoP and Ring +2 from Aran.

Got Mae'var quest from Renal.

Got a diamond from 2nd floor of Shadow thief building (important to upgrade Horn of Valhalla).

Kill Officer Dirth in Sea Bounty tavern (full plate). He actually has part in Nalia's abduction quest but the papers we got from his body are sufficient for that quest to be fulfilled. However the quest is a bit buggy and may not even trigger at all.

Disarmed trap on Kangaxx's door.

Entered Mae'var's building, received first task. disarmed and unlocked only the container with Studded leather +1 in it - PC needs a bit better armor after all.

Bought a Ring +1, a Gem Bag and two Potions of Freedom from Gorch at a bit higher price than usual (no charming personalities like Aerie are present, so 4500 gp down the drain). Still, those are valuable items, worth investment.

Party current gold 1000 gp.

Decided to open yet another container which has 3 Potions of Master thievery and 300 gp (Yoshi consumed a MT potion to unlock it). Also unlocked Kangaxx's door with its help.

Temporarily disbanded Yoshi after resting. Decided to deal with Kangaxx's guardians. A lone Sorceress, mirror imaged, hasted, and with Free Action cast upon her entered to lure the three IA minotaurs outside. I really prefer fighting that cohort outside at present levels, due to the fact that my most powerful damaging spell is Call Lightning.

Five Call Lightnings later the Minotaurs are still alive! (despite additional ligthning bolts striking a different minotaur each round). Party fighters press forward as the sorceress is knocked back and manage to kill 1 Minotaur at a very high price - RB is badly wounded (38 hp). But R-C summoned a Nymph, which along with the sorceress provided enough distraction for the enemies to die to the fighters. Three +2 axes (off-hand weapon for PC).

Ok we have no more business at present in the Docks district. After healing everyone with Nymphs (in IA they have only 4 Cure Light wounds and 2 Cure medium wounds, but cast them at instant speed) decided to head out for the Government district (road towards the Temple district from Docks leads right into the waiting hands of Suna Seni).

Travel from Docks to Government District is uneventful.

Talked to Delon and Tolgerias.
In IA Tolgerias wears an undroppable Ring of the Ram, which he may reward to the party as payment for delivering Valygar Corthala to him. However that drops party's reputation to 1, even if it were at 20. So we have to find a more subtle way to obtain that ring.

The answer is charm spells (widely available now Mental Domination, R-C has 5 4th level slots).
Here's how the party applies Mental Domination to everyone, managing at the end to kill Tolgerias for 18 000 xp (no penalty), Chief inspector Brega not turning hostile, and also a couple of Amnish guards wearing full plate mails!

Picture 1
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Notification - Amnish soldiers will drop party reputation if killed by party members. However Tolgerias' fire shield obv doesn't count as party member...

Picture 11

Decided to expand the Domination tactic outside. Worked ok, but collected only a few nonenchanted chains. At the verge of disappointment however, one of the Aminsh soldiers dropped an enchanted morningstar +1 (random slot obv)! Great, another enchanted weapon for the Riskbreaker.

Travel from Government to City gates uneventful. Took Trademeet quest. Opened all outside areas for travel. Travelled to the Temple District - uneventful.


Here the party took the Unseeing Eye and Sir Sarles' quests from the Lathanderian temple. Killed everyone inside the Helm's temple (and outside too) Each of the helmite knights provide 4 800 xp and a plate mail. Guardian Telwyn clutches his greedy fingers around the Helm of Glory, who he unjustly keeps in his possession! Shame! Well the party took it from his cold dead fingers.,,

Berserker-Mage gained mage level 5 somewhere here. Won't press the level-up button until mage level 10 is reached since I want to distribute that 6-th mage level weapon proficiency as best as possible.

Early-game helmets that grant AC bonus are rare and should be sought out at all costs (later will buy Vhailor's helmet at quite the price as well).

Looted the Necklace of Talos. Went downstairs in the sewers. Completed Roger's sea troll quest. Sold tons of items to Roger (party members barely being able to walk despite their great str, each carrying packs of heavy armor). Gold raised to 11 500. Also met with Keldorn, took his potion of Extra Healing, and his Hallowed Redeemer sword.

In IA the Hallowed Redeemer can be sold for 1275 gp!

From the MNORH - started the Fallen paladins quest, looted some cool potions (2 heroism, 1 Fortitude - vanilla) inside.

Decided to disarm and loot the container with Wand of Heavens in Talos' temple - that wand may come in handy early-game, although each charge equals to -300 gp.

Left for the Docks district (uneventful, but I fear that I'm playing with luck now - no more in-city travels). Started completing Mae'Var's quest. After delivering necklace, B-M got a level-up invitation, disregarded.

Fought Rayic Gethrac. All the party has to enter his chambers (IA feature) and cannot leave until the wizard is slain. Reputation drops by 1 (also IA feature). Rayic himself gates in slightly-IA altered Stone and Clay golems.

First, the right conversation option is given so Rayic doesn't turn hostile prematurely.
Second,  as soon as he begins chanting for True Sight (everyone invisible - plain invisibility) R-C casts Doom via AoP, immediately transfers AoP to sorc who casts LMD (both spells casting time of 0 this way).
Rayic's starting buffs include PFMW, that's why all fighters switch now to normal weapons.
Rayic's two nasty golems deal quite a lot damage on Insane, and furthermore they're gated near PC, so PC engaged the Stone Golem (who casts Slow) and killed it, but that meant 1 less fighter pounding Rayic, and also PC got hit for 50 dmg. B-M summoned a Berserk warrior who occupied the Clay Golem's attention while party fighters finished Rayic with normal weapons. His only spell was Breach at the sorceress.
With the help of Spiritual hammer (the only +2 crushing weapon available at present) and a couple of Minute Meteors (Golem immune to missile damage but not to fire), the Clay Golem fell last.

Protection from magical energy and Chain Lightning scrolls in Rayic's home. Also a quarterstaff +2 (vanilla, still needed).

After completing the other mundane tasks, finally the R-C hit clerical level 9, right prior to Mae'var's battle (actually Yoshi had to disarm a couple more traps to help him level). Cool! He can now cast two 5-th level spells, and can pick from all powerful divine choices - Iron Skins, Pixie Dust, Greater Command, Chaotic Commands, FlameStrike, etc.

PC also gained a Vagrant level 9, choosing *Short Sword as proficiency. Sadly, cannot obtain both ** in shortswords and flails prior to the Asylum.

Current gold 12 200, current PC experience 314 100. Hopefully with priest level 5 the party will have no trouble completing first Aran Linvail task, but that's for later to be seen.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, Part 4

Finished Mae'var's quest (Mae'var drops +2 short sword and +2 dagger - both useless for my party). Denied thief stronghold (very limited gold in IA, and no Short Sword of Backstabbing if accepted, and that sword is a very important weapon up to the middle of the 6th chapter.

Got a Mace +1 for the R-C from this fight (Maevar's Cleric is improved)

Too bad that the vagrant cannot wear the Shadow Armor, he badly needs a better armor than this +1 crappy studded leather. Unfortunately Armor of the Deep Night +4 has an absurd cost (18 500 gp with max discount, same for good protective bracers AC 4 and AC 3).

Decided that I could take on Lassal with proper preparations. Worked like charm, when R-C prebuffed Chaotic Commands on self and Vagrant, and also NPP on Vagrant. Spiritual hammer present too - party has too few good +2 weapons anyway. Sorceress helped effectively with Melf's meteors. Berserk warrior also helped as a bit of a distraction. First Aran task completed.

Current PC experience is 400 000! So near, need another 100 000 to gain that wizard level 10 and regain the berserker levels of Saros ShadowFollower.

Yoshi gained a level. Nothing has changed in xp gained from traps and locks (nerfed in IA, Yoshi at lvl 12 gains 1000xp per disarmed trap and 250 xp per picked lock). keeping him in the party for now, but Dead (raised if necessary).

Gold is 31k, nothing to forge or purchase yet though (OK I have some ideas for purchases but need much better discount).

Travelled to Watcher's keep outskirts without any trouble.

From this location travelled to Umar Hills (uneventful).

The good news now is once I'm at an area outside of the city limits, travelling to other outside areas is free of fear of interception or chase by Suna Seni. Of course, had i left through the Gates, I'd most probably be in a fight right now.
This means that I most probably can without fear assemble the needed 100 000 xp per party member before tackling with Suna Seni.

Just as a side note, many of the monsters provide no experience when slain - mostly the random monster spawns. In Umar Hills for example shade-shadow fiend spawns give no xp whatsoever, so it's best to avoid those or travel day-time through the area.

Completed all quests in the area (vanilla), obtained Ilbratha (useful item indeed), also killed Jermien the Cowled Wizard after completing all his quests, for 4000 additional xp and 4000 gp.

Hit sorceress level 11. New spell picks:

Lvl 2: Resist Fear
Lvl 3: *Vampiric Touch
*Ignores magic resistance in IA, deals 6-36 magical damage, 12 points added to caster's HP total for 5 turns, this is cumulative with other castings of the same spell, but these extra HP can be dispelled by, say, Remove or Dispel magic.
Lvl 4: Improved Invisibility
Lvl 5: Spell Immunity

Travel to Windspear Hills was of course, uneventful. Killed the transformed paladins, gave acorns to faerie queen, killed her and all nymphs upon appearing (4 antidotes and a +2 dagger amongst the loot, and 4000 xp too). That location should now be referred to as Faerie Grave (not Grove).

Garren's child abducted, dealt with werewolves in human form (2400 xp each as opposed to 420 each in werewolf form). PC xp is 447 000. Hopefully will be able to gain 53 000 more from Trademeet quests. Even if not possible, will travel to the Graveyard district and complete minor quests there and kill some skeletons (ugh... forgot to get Teddy bear from Copper Coronet). Will definitely make it, even if I have to clear some vanilla shades from the Temple Ruins.

Traveled to Trademeet. Killed Genie outside of the tent for 5000 xp (if done swiftly the ones inside are not troubled, went with a single char under ProPetrication to check though - yeah I did it, Khan Zaraa neutral). Bought a Potion of Absorbtion from that guy (In IA such a potion simply grants 100% elec res for 10 turns).

Raised and disbanded Yoshi. It's time to join Cernd.

Met with Cernd, didn't allow him to join. Got 2 Extra Healing potions from the High merchant's home.

Travelled to Druid's grove. Killed a group of lightly improved Spiders (one Killer, one Spirit, one Lesser spirit, the other puny Sword). Killed a bunch of fighters battling 3 trolls (vanilla). Killed the trolls. Killed some vanilla druids. Killed some more trolls. Ithafeer managed to cast Absolute Immunity and a couple other spells (nothing frightening) Remaining two rakshasas killed before turning hostile. Avoided spore colonies (will return with Shield of Harmony a bit later). Defeated Faldorn's entrance guards (Breach and MMM on enemy druid, plus melee hits, other are fighters thus powerless vs a Ranger-Cleric's Ironskins, Emotionalized them).

Only option given to the party is for PC Vagrant to fight Faldorn naked. Ugh. On Insane, I may tell you that - unpleasant. Very. Turns out I cannot have Cernd challenge her (it would be a blast otherwise).

The main thing in a no-reload is when you know you have to call it quits. Seems like Faldorn is too great a challenge for my Vagrant at present levels - one on one, no items, the fight relies too much on luck as it is at present. I require at least 2nd level druidic spells, and hopefully - level 13 for my first Swanmay. This fight is only easy if protagonist has powerful offensive spells like Magic Missile or Flame Arrow. If there are none, the battle is very well lost on Insane.

Edit: Killed Faldorn's goons for some xp at least by charming them and leading them towards the exit.

Edit: Got an answer from a fellow IA player. Turns out the inability to challenge Faldorn with another druid like Cernd is most probably IA v6 implemented intentional bug, reserved for players who evade Suna Seni's group by visiting Watcher's keep and not leaving through the City Gates. Figures.

Went to trademeet, delivered rakshasa's head, killed Genies for some more xp, but it's still not enough! 20k short of 500 000 xp! Have to travel to De'Arnise keep it seems, then to outskirts of the Temlpe Ruins, if that's not enough to WK lvl 1, and if THAT's not enough either - to the graveyard. It should be enough.

With the newly-obtained Shield of Harmony off-hand, gained about 2000  more xp (per party member) from the spore colonies in the Druid grove (drained them out of summons).

Edit: Current gold 40 000 or a bit more.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 03 juin 2013 - 08:06 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, part 5:

Cleared the outskirts of the Temple Ruins. Killed Anath (she's immune to weapons, but doesn't regenerate, so Vampiric Touch and Larloch's minor drain spells killed her) for 2200 xp (small but we need every bit of xp).

Went to De'Arnise Hold. Killed some vanilla trolls. Killed a Killer spider guarding the stove. Killed some enemies on the yard. Neo-Otyugh there, worth 10 000 xp and 200 gp, managed to disease R-C (on insane this means death unless I make forcerest immediately) but R-C had memorized three Cure Disease spells for just this occasion, and casts them at 0 speed thanx to AoP. No problem.

Still not enough xp! Don't wanna visit the 2nd floor yet (probably will be able to slay the enemies there, still unpleasant). Don't wanna turn the wheel too. Still, got a Breach scroll and the Ring of Earth control (Breach for B-M, Ring for R-C - at least some extra protection until I have enough +1 rings for everyone).

Cooked a stew for 11 500 xp - still not enough.

From here went to the Graveyard district (uneventful - as said before the only danger of interception is when we make our way OUT of a city area, and not into it). Here we complete some vanilla quests - started Tirdir quest, killed Uncle Lester, helped Risa the orphan, also killed some skeleton warriors, mummies and shadow fiends, also descended to catacombs level one from the right entrance to kill a vanilla Mummy-ghast undead spawn. No teddy bear returned (bang my forgetful head against the wall) but still we make it! Riskbreaker gains level 10 (nothing significant here, the 11 level is what's important to him to gain Improved Haste - look the RB class description above), but more importantly - Berserker-Mage Saros Shadowfollower reaches enough xp to gain wizard level 10 thus regaining his Berserker class.

New proficiency (at wizard level 6) distributed to Quarter Staff (now **). Great! Now we're prepared for the Suna Seni fight!

Video links for the fight here, feel free to discuss if you have any questions. Buffs are dispelled when starting the fight (notice the Sorceress' Stoneskin go away).

- part 1
- part 2
http://youtu.be/LkuJufugIB4 - part 3

My biggest mistake was not actually casting Minor Globe of Invulnerability with the Berserker-Mage as second action.

Went to the promenade, forged the Iron Horn of Valhalla (as seen in the video, the Berserk warrior actually uses Enrage first-thing), sold tons of stuff, including Arbane's sword +2. It is ingredient for Mazzy Fentan's upgraded True Sword of Arvoreen. Mazzy has her uses in an IA insane run (will be seeing her a lot later), but these uses don't actually include her taking part in a fight.

Fought with the Rylock's assassins. Buffs are again dispelled. The mage and cleric are identical to Suna Seni's, but the fighters are puny. No fighters - no danger. OK Bane was Commanded, but only he (party dispersed).

Started Xzar's quest. Got bird. Killed Spectral harpists (+2 weapons, prot from level drain and fear on a couple of fighters). 9000 each! Fought the third battle of the bandit encounters - last one where buffs are dispelled. This means so little in this fight since the opponents are 2 Slaver fighters and 6 vanilla Orogs. All fell to Emotion/Greater Command at the very beginning. R-C gained priest level 10, which is great - now his Chaotic Commands lasts 2 turns (nerfed in IA to last a turn per 5 caster levels up to a maximum of 4 turns at lvl 20)

From this point forward, the intercepting bandits carry no treasure and give no xp. OK they do carry an Oracle scroll, but that one is considered as if made by Scribe Scrolls HLA (i.e. costs 0 gp) Still, can be scribed, that's why the party will probably fight such an enemy group. The mage and cleric in these groups are powerful enough, but their starting buffs exclude Chant, Bless or haste, and the fighters accompanyhig them are puny anyway.

Travelling between in-city areas always done under Haste from now on (no more buffs being dispelled, but enemy priest still has Greater Command and mage still has Chaos). However, Greater Command cannot catch a hasted party running away. When travelling to outside areas - Pixie dust or plain Invisibility provides sufficient cover (up until the enemy casts True sight, party is already exiting the battle). Real danger are two chained encouhters like that, since the party will escape the first, but not the second.

Temporarily joined Yoshi to unlock a couple of doors and chests (mostly inside Harper Hold - got Mirror Image scroll for B-M).

Did the Fallen Paladins quest (rep increased to 14). Got a +1 halberd for the B-M, and also the first Laeral's tear necklace (needed for Cloaks +2 upgrade)

Did the Sir Sarles quest. Real illithium given to Sarles for max experience. Improved Mace of Disruption is a total waste of resources in IA. I've never seen its extra damage apply vs Sikret's improved Undead, and instakill effect doesn't work vs them either. No NPP. Most of the improved Undead are also immune to +2 and lower weapons. Sell the MoD as soon as you get your hands on it, that's what I believe. Delivered head to Chief inspector Brega. No more use of Brega - dominated, lead into the SE corner of the building, slain away from prying eyes, got Splint mail +1 and 2250 xp, no rep penalty. Killed another individual inside much in the same fasion for 4 500 xp - Corgeig Axehand. Experience is where you find it

Completed Xzar's quest. Avenged Xzar's death (killed Lucette for 4000 xp). PC got level 10. And a 2nd level spell. Decided that now I have a fair chance vs Faldorn and don't need to wait anymore. Returned to Druid's grove.

This is the link to the no-reload video.

Faldorn fight

As can be seen, it's quite a dangerous fight. However, I've made 5 more attempts to win the fight subsequently - all were successful. The basic idea is to disrupt one of Faldorn's Mountain bear spells while taking control of the other two she summons. Continued pounding with Shigelah when Flame Blade expires. Doom helps bears to score more often. DUHM gives protection, str, HP and THAC0 bonus. Of course, had I played BG1 with this character, he would have had Larloch's Minor Drains instead of Cure Light Wounds, which would've made the fight much easier IMO.

Still, I don't like this strategy, although it's the closest one to a no-reload one I currently have. If I ever attempt a future no-reload run, this battle would be fought at Ranger level 13 (extra 1/2 APR, more spell slots, a Swanmay).

Got the Root of the Problem club. A cool weapon, one of the few IA weapons which actually apply elemental (acid) damage on each hit. Great troll slayer, great mage disruptor.Went to R-C who's the only one good with clubs (he's anyway wielding +1 maces so he really needs a better weapon).

Completed Trademeet quests (barring Founder of Trademeet, there is an arcane dead magic zone and he's a high level divine caster with multiple Greater Command spells and Globe of Blades). Reputation +2 (17), traders opened for business. Now the party can buy some items from trademeet traders. I'd really like to have the Robe of the Good Archmagi, but it's costly at present. Will assemble some more reputation before getting it.

Completed the Neeber quest too - talked to him until he ran out of options, 1000 quest xp for party members. Not much, but still something.

Still, started the Founder of Trademeet quest, promised to find the Mantle for lord Alibakkar. The fool! The soon PC had the key, the guards of Lord Alibakkar and then he himself fell to mighty blows. Same fate for Lluraxol guards (unfortunately the Lady herself was not present for slaughter). Sold the guards' plates and weapons for more than 2000 gp. Found an Elven Chain from lord Alibakkar, ideal for Saros ShadowFollower at present (and a good market value later).

Talked to the High Merchant - seems like the Mantle of Waukeen returning to him is foiled. Sigh, there go 8000 xp and 1 reputation point. Boo-hoo. Although later both the Mantle quest can be fulfilled and Lord Alibakkar killed, we actually need some money (and xp) right now.

Completed first Spirit of the Grove task (druid stronghold, vanilla). Some quest xp, Saros gained mage level 11. Good. Decided that I could take on Chaos with the help of Cernd, naturally (too little firepower at present levels).

Chaos fight

Chaos is unfortunately invulnerable to Lightning bolt. Only Call Lightning can damage him effectively. His Killer Insects' damage is successfully countered by IA's Oil of Resurgence (replaced vanilla potion of Mind focusing). However, despite the good regeneration rate of that Oil, my endeavours show it to be nearly useless on Insane difficulty. it's OK on Core though. Chaotic commands prebuff helped as well, as can be seen.

Someone could ask why not summons, but risking PC's life. Answer is simple. Summons are easily confused (by Chaos' aura too) and can attack Loren or another innocent. Only summons available at present that are immune to confusion are skeletons, but they last for a very short time and occupy a valuable 3-rd slot priest level (reserved for as many Call Lightnings as possible).

You can also see party's gold reserve here.

A very good progress. After this quest, PC's xp is 722 000! We need only a bit more for Riskbreaker level 11 (Improved Haste innate ability) and 50 000 on top of that (850 000) for sorceress level 12 (again, Improved haste needed ASAP).

Three places to choose from at present - De'Arnise hold, Unseeing Eye quest or the main Chapter 3 plot - Aran's second task. Frankly, I feel most ready to face the Beholders, calculating that most experience with the smallest risk is to be gained from them. But for that in another entry. Also, could complete Jaheira's sidequest, but really want to have Improved haste prior to that.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 07 juin 2013 - 08:01 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, part 6:

Went to De'Arnise hold to kill 2 vanilla trols I'd forgotten about.

Went to Slums to kill Llynis and get the teddy bear.

Completed Teddy Bear quest (talked to Wellyn's parents for additional 5 000xp) and the Tirdir kidnappers quest (the good way, no Golden Pantaloons in this run).

With Aerie's help, bought 2 scrolls for B-M - Enchanted weapon (can't be cast more than one time for 24 hours per caster), and Emotion.

Joined Yoshi. Went to sewer level 2 the long way, avoiding Tarnor's party and the Horrid Rakshasa in the center of lvl 1. Used Yoshi to disarm a couple of traps, killing him temporarily and carefully afterwards (he walks around on 1 HP, LMD doesn't chunk him).

Got a random Fireshield: Red scroll from an Ettercap.

Fought 3 improved Vampiric Mists with only R-C and B-M - immune to lvl drain. They also slow on hit, had free action, but it can be dispelled by their melee attack. Still, no trouble, especially with Improved Invisibility, which makes my own party members very hard to hit in addition to other buffs.

A trap killed Yoshi (always forget that trap's location), but not chunked him, thanx god. We'll be needing Yoshi up to chapter 4, he mustn't die. Lost 1000 xp though.

In the sewers level 3: Triggered a random spawn. Checked on the random monster spawn via farsight. Saw 5 improved Yuantis (better HP, THAC0 and damage, 7500 xp a piece), and a Yuanti mage (upgraded, level 14 I think since he has a RRR spell at his disposal). Yuanti mage is under SI:Div and illusion buffs, had one instance of PFMW spell which he wasted in the very beginning (while party fighters disrupted his only True Sight with melee hits while fully invisible in the start). PWMW wore by the time the party eliminated the Yuanti fighters, and the mage soon fell to melee attacks despite his several stoneskins.

Unleashes a Sequencer with Confusion-Emotion-Slow, which is easily evaded by buffing party member saves, those without good saves rely on items like Shield of Harmony, Berserker Rage and even a single copy of Chaotic Commands cast on the Riskbreaker. Everyone protected from fire as well - Fireshield red on Insane punishes for quite a lot.

A second random spawn triggered before resting, Sorceress went alone to check on the enemies. Turns out more Yuantis, she was protected from Divination spells thus they couldn't detect her even with True Sight. Retreated, rested, sorc again went forward alone under Invisibility and SI:D to expire enemy's True sight. Once that was done, party could position themselves as best as possible without fear of detection, however was unable to slay the Yuanti mage in the first blow. Killed fighters, killed Yuanti mage at the time the first Improved Invisibility waned and Saros became target of Breach.

Great luck with random spawns here! Each of those is worth a total of 48 000 xp, as compared to a vanilla ghast-mummy spawn of 10 300.

Had only 3 gauths spawned behind the bridge. Nevertheless, caution is required. Sikret's gauths shoot Anti-magic rays. Also they shoot somewhat slow (I think 2 per round) Cause Serious Wounds and Lightning bolt (no other rays), but on Insane that is enough to kill an unprotected party members. They have also quite a lot hp and can detect and fire rays at a fully invisible character. Lesser Air elementals and Joloon (lion figurine) ahead, mages spamming Emotion and Greater Command from behind. Soon all were down and slain.

Got the first half of the rod. The mage spell Skull trap in IA is replaced by the priest spell Find Traps, that magical scroll is found inside the temple.

Ghoul town outskirts - cleared 3 Mummy-Ghast spawns. Didn't enter (Teshal is quite bad actually, and with IA v6 improvements, you have to fight both him and the random undead spawn. Will return later).

Beholder lair - skeletons, lesser air elementals, Joloon, Emotion, Greater Command. The random spawn is 3 Gauths (+1 static there, total of 4). Bad, but not that bad, since Sikret's beholders give only 8000 xp and gauths only 4500. Killed Unseeing eye with the rod and some melee hits. Riskbreaker gains a level! Improved haste.

Rested in the Ghoul town outskirts (don't wanna any Gauths or even Beholders to interrupt resting, Mummies are far better - no xp from those btw). Returned and finished the Blind Priests and one more Beholder. Blind priests Emotionalized and Commanded from off-screen before triggering buffs (they all have Greater Commands and Chaotic Commands prebuff which is unpleasant, and various summoning spells too).

Got ProAcid, Lesser Fire elemental and Secret word scrolls here - all of them vanilla. Got the Amulet of magic res 5% too.

Returned Rift Device, got Saving Grace +3. Shields are important in SoA, but it's simply not worth it money-wise to create the strongest of them all, the Saving Grace +6. R-C hit level 11. Can now create Aerial Servants and/or Fire elementals (frankly, Aerial servants are far better with more HP, greater damage and permanent Improved Invisibility).

Left the sewers. Morning knight appeared to slaughter the prophet. Protect the prophet! Killed Morning knight for 4000 xp and no penalty. Same done with all other Morning knights appearing to kill prophets (a total of 4 on this district).

Reported to church. Reputation raised by 1. Received some gold and Cleric's stronghold. Vanilla tasks here. Sorc hit level 12, choosing Improved Haste (naturally) as next pick. Still need the B-M to reach lvl 12 as well...

Waited until nightfall, went outside and killed all prophets.At least that was the idea - found out there's only one left (others killed or ran away, dunno). Still they yield only 650xp each...

Descended to the sewers to slay all of the cultists (OK a couple managed to escape, but all guards with plate mails were slain, still bad since each cultist carries 95 gp at least).

Now there is a dilemma. Surely want to buy the Girdle of Bluntness from Talos' temple with max discount. In order to do so however have to gain 2 more reputation points - the easiest being the Slaver Ship. However in order to survive in there with all characters I need the Girdle of Bluntness + some more xp. A dead circle. OK won't be so greedy and will buy the Girdle of Bluntness now.

Swapped Yoshi for Aerie. Bought Girdle of Bluntness and a bunch of cheaper scrolls: Enchanted Weapon for Aerie, Minor Sequencer, ProCold and Melf's Meteors for Berserker-Mage. Disbanded Aerie to complete the vanilla Cleric's stronghold tasks. PC exp 910 000 (40k short from lvl 11).

Will now join Jaheira in order to complete her two quests (many protective items and potions, a halberd +2 for the B-M and sellable items will be gained from these fights). Will also try to kill the Baron Ployer quest mages twice (yeah, all of them, it's possible if the party is fast enough). Since Jaheira's quest is easy (have only 3 slightly improved mages, similar to the Yuanti mages faced already but a bit weaker) will write next entry when both Jaheiran quests are completed and she's ditched. May take a while.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 04 juin 2013 - 08:10 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, part 7:

Before getting Jaheira, decided to take on the Copper Coronet Beastmaster and his Tabitha. Their improved Minotaur ally was killed with the magical trick "pull out a minotaur out of the cage without unlocking the door" way before that (look previous posts). The fight (with Improved haste and other buffs) was as easy as one-two-three-four. Freed Hendak and the slaves, got a Summon Nishruu scroll for B-M (Death Fog is nearly useless in IA). Can't find Joluv after the fight though not that he has something valuable for the party to buy, but lots of items can be sold to him at highest prices (since his starting inventory is so small and includes only unique items).

Got the only one available in the game +3 club (for R-C), a ring and cloak of protection +1, and other insignificant items (Magical Flower Seeds and Tabitha's hide ingredients here, sold Seeds).

Joined Jaheira. Killed Meronia as soon as she talked to Jaheira (5000 xp). Rested in Rayic's home, 1st floor. Went to Sea's Bounty 2nd floor. Buffed. Prepared Minor Sequencer with 2*MM. Went downstairs with all except Jaheira. Positioned fighters as closely to supposed Dimension Door locations as I remember them. Jaheira went downstairs. Ployer gave her the speech. Mages appeared and cursed her. The party had only a short interval to act in their attempt to kill Gracien and Malcazar the moment those were trying to DD away. Malcazar succeeded, Gracien fell to a Minor Sequencer with 2*MM. He was the main target anyway, got a Cloak +1 from his body. Ditched Jaheira temporarily.

Travelled to the Government. Entered-exited the building. Killed Therece outside (5000 xp, AC 6 bracers). Travelled to slums. Killed Therece and Gracien one more time (obviously someone raised those guys in a temple and gave them new equipment, they had a +1 cloak and another pair of bracers). Also, finally killed the coward Malcazar (he didn't have anything particular of value though).

Travelled to Docks, rejoined Jaheira (got quest xp). Rested, buffed, engaged Galvarey.

All enemies barring Besen fell in the 1st round, however Bessen is slightly improved 14-level mage. Both the R-C and PC fell asleep to his initial Sequencer  - Emotion, Confusion and Slow (I don't really know how, PC had excellent saves). The other two fighters had no problem finishing him though (a little help from Minute Meteors with the sorc). The important thing is that the kensai didn't manage to consume the Potion of Fire Giant str.
No ring of Wizardry here anymore, replaced by a ring of protection +1. Sigh.

Went to Sea's bounty, rested for 4 days, buffed well (this time with 3* Chaotic commands for every other fighter barring the B-M, don't wanna warriors to fall emotionalized or even worse - being confused on the streets with so many innocents roaming around.

Went outside, Reviane appeared, gave her the right conversation option (otherwise she won't fight since the party has too high a reputation - 18), she managed to consume her Invulnerability potion (sad, wanted that for the RB), but managed to save the Heroism potion from the dwarven fighter. The mage here was less of a problem, with all fighters immune to his nasty disabling sequencer.

A Halberd +2 for the B-M from this fight, amongst other loot.

Triggered Dermin's appearance twice quickly. Jaheira left after resting outside in the district (day-time, haven't eliminated vampires yet, lack proper weapons to do it). Sneaked invisible past her on the 2nd floor with a single character in order to get Montaron's body from one of the containers in the back (previously unlocked by Yoshi). 20 000 xp and level-up for PC (now level 11, 953 000 xp). Rejoined her, buffed well, went downstairs to do battle. The mage surprised me, wasn't able to slay him fast. Turns out he's almost identical to other harper mages met so far (has nasty sequencer, level 14 apparently). Didn't protect anyone from fire, so now only R-C could buff himself with ProFire (other under II cannot be buffed) and take on the mage, with the Sorceress shooting Meteors from behind. Not a real problem.

Went to WK outskirts, waited there for Dermin and the conclusion of the Harper quest. Nothing troublesome in this fight barring the fact that the dwarven fighter quaffed his Heroism potion.

Rested for a couple of days in the Temple District (no vampires), Elminster appeared, gave Harper Pin to Jaheira. The item is significantly nerfed in IA, but still has some uses with UAI (disables thieving button permanently though). For the party - it just costs 300 gp when sold. Jaheira ditched (gees, she sounded so offended and betrayed, get over it, that's life).

Conclusion from her quests: Nice xp boost (about 30-35 000 xp per party member), everyone has two +1 rings and a +1 cloak, PC has a +1 amulet, +2 ring, +1 ring, +2 cloak (forged by Cromwell, had 1 spare cloak), got Bracers of AC 5 for the sorceress. Lots of sellable items too. Not much luck with random item slots though (they're revised but still some good options are available, got just a single Stone to Flesh scroll).

Next order of business is forging the Flail of Ages for the RB (he desperately needs a better weapon) and afterwards engaging the Shadow Jailor in the Temple ruins (Mazzy is really needed already, also a +2 morningstar, Ruby Ray scroll and most importantly  - a Ioun Stone for the Riskbreaker - can be obtained there).

Edited.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 05 juin 2013 - 08:15 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, part 8. Links to videos a bit later.

Yoshi temporarily joined.

All further city->outskirts travel in chapters 2 and 3 will be done through Watcher's Keep for safety reasons.

Travelled to De'Arnise hold.

Level 2 Library fight: Yuanti mage is identical to the two slain in Temple Sewers. A Killer Spider with him. One of the trolls splits into 2 Vengeance trolls, quite nasty at present levels. They have good AC, thac0, permanent Improved Invisibility, immunity to +1 or lower weapons, good HP and regenerate naturally. Also drain str on hit. Still the party fighters are powerful enough and have enough +2 weapons to slay them fast. Splitting troll killed last (don't wanna any Vengeance trolls draining my str and hitting me in the back while battling the Yuanti mage with his numerous protections).

Decided to take on Glaicas first - eliminated some vanilla trolls on lvl 2, opened some doors, used Yoshi (raised him) to disarm the trap to the door leading to Glaicas' quarters and unlock it. Killed him afterwards (don't wanna him stealing any of the party's xp).

Glaicas is a good fighter (has Hardiness HLA), and summons Spirit Spiders to help him. Never waited out to see how many, however in a non-exploit run every bit of xp counts (each Spirit Spider is worth 6000 xp). So positioned most of my party in the corridor where Spirit Spiders spawn (out of Glaicas' sight) and engaged him only with the B-M. After a turn or so, Glaicas had summoned 4 Spirit Spiders (all slain) and doesn't seem like any more are coming. Spirit Spiders have a chance to paralyze a target on hit (Bane Bladecleaver was held), but that didn't stop the remaining fighters to slay the spiders since they appear one at a time (at least when a character is held, Critical hits do only normal damage). Party buffed in the end, faced Glaicas 4 on 1 (Sorceress Breached his Hardiness) and thus the party won 40 000 xp from this fight instead of lousy 18 000 which would happen if they had killed Glaicas in a starting rush attack.

Ring +1 and Acid Flail Head won here.

Went outside. Buffed very well before lowering the drawbridge. Here's the battle itself:

Greater Yuanti fight

Pretty easy at these levels as can be seen. Relied on always-working Breach and True Sight rather than on Lower Resistance (not that I have this spell yet) and Emotion/Command. Of course, proper combat buffs, weapon proficiencies and weapons are required for this tactic to work, plus dispelling enemy Blur (TS).

Loot: Another +1 ring, some scrolls (he has 4 Chain Lightning scrolls, 2 True Sight, 1 PFME) and the Cold Flail head.

Went in the chapel again. Looted the Fire flail head (killer + spirit spider guardians slain). Killed all golems before looting the treasures. Did almost a fatal mistake in looting Frostreaver axe prematurely, but quickly returned it to the container. Didn't trigger Keep Viper, phew.

Rested invisible (Yuantis may interrupt rest, no mages, they cannot see invisible units, no xp gained from sleep interruptions so no need to fight), went downstairs, forged FoA +3 (full xp gained only when all three heads are brought together at the forge, don't forge partial +1 or +2 flail), went upstairs and fought the Keep Viper as easy as one-two-three. Everybody has at least one +3 weapon naturally (Frostreaver axe immediately deployed as a weapon after looting it).

Went to the town. Cromwell forged another +2 ring ( PC claims it). Went to Temple Ruins. Descended. Once this is done, no leaving allowed until the Shadow Jailor is slain. Killed some minor undead and checked on a random spawn via Farsight. No lich. Bad and good. Bad - because the Bone Golem is worth 6000 less xp. Good - because I can take on this group safely right away.

But first the Jailor.

As can be seen, I did some very big mistakes. First of all, apparently the Jailor dispels combat protection (i.e. Stoneskin, Ironskins) on hit and slows the target - forgot about this ability of his. Second, should've sent the RB and Vagrant in the fight sooner. Third, should've switched to Halberd +2 with the B-M when fighting the Jailor (quarterstaff still needed for the Skeleton Lords). Anyway all's well that ends well. +2 morningstar and a Cloak +1 amongst the loot.

Most importantly, now the party obtained the Pearly White Ioun stone - head gear for the Riskbreaker, finally!

Some priestly scrolls looted from the skeleton lords, including one Raise Dead. It's good for PC to have a couple of these in case something goes wrong with the R-C.

The random undead spawn was carefully lead to the party (positioned right behind the bridge) by a single character. There the enemies had to fight on our terms (one on four party fighters) and fell quickly one by one. Additional Bone Golem came and was also slaughtered. Obtained 2 parts of the Sun Symbol and also the Shadow Wardstone, the latter has to be in R-C's pack until chapter 6.

Skeleton Lords have a random priest scroll, which can be either Free Action, Chaotic Commands, Raise dead or Neutralize Poison.

Raised Yoshi, freed Mazzy, ditched her immediately. Got a Ruby Ray scroll from her cell too (B-M scribed it). Left the dungeon, went to Trademeet, swapped Yoshi for Mazzy, departed.

That's it for now, no level-ups. Mazzy Fentan's Invoke Courage is the main reason why she's so excellent dead NPC (mostly dead). That buff lasts for 5 turns, stacks with itself and grants not only immunity to fear, but also stackable Bless spell (+1 to hit and to all saves). Grand. Later in the game with Wish help it can be stacked 4, even 6 or 8 times for some hard fights.

Mazzy's poisoned sister quest must not be triggered until the end of SoA! Because after it's completed, Mazzy cannot be temporarily ditched, and I'll need to hire Jan Jansen on many occasions later. For those reasons Mazzy will be dead in all outside areas (raised to buff party only indoors where her quest cannot trigger).

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 05 juin 2013 - 09:12 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, part 9.

Left Mazzy alive just to complete her Gorf the Squisher subquest. Had a spare gold necklace for this quest, and I originally consider 400 gp to be a fair exchange for 20k xp.

Swapped Mazzy for Yoshi. Used him to disarm some more traps in Rejiek's home. Went to the basement with only R-C and B-M. Killed a couple of ghasts, rune assassins and a Bone golem. used Yoshi again to disarm a trap. Got Improved invisibility scroll.

Swapped Yoshi for Mazzy. using her, various buffs and the same two characters, killed all of the Vampires and Thieves in the night-time encounters. Ok Salia was most difficult since she runs away so fast. Rush attack saved the day and blasted her into oblivion faster than she could escape.

Three characters are closing on level-up. There are many easy-to-do things right now, but I'd really like to raise those characters - only 20 k exp left for each of them. Decided to clear the Catacombs level 1 from spiders with Mazzy's help.

Each of the three spider groups is identical: an Ettercap, 2 Vortex Spiders (vanilla, I think, cast Slow), 2 Mutated spiders (improved, immune to all damage types save from slashing and crushing), a Killer,a Spirit and a Lesser spirit spider for a total of 38 500 xp in each group. Three should be enough for level up, that's for sure. For future encounters I'd call such a group "Minor improved spider encounter".

Defeated the three groups one by one with ease. Saros gained mage level 12. Can now cast sixth level spells, and also has a new proficiency put in Quarterstaves (now ***).

Bane gained Riskbreaker level 12, new proficiency Short Sword (*), gained Armor class bonus reduction of 2 (kit bonus).

And finally Torham also gained clerical level 12, with new proficiency set in WarHammer (*). Borok's fist is to be obtained soon, now will be able to effectively use it at least as an off-hand weapon.

Need some items to purchase. Meaning, i need reputation of 20. Slavers, you're next! Be seeing you for the slaver ship no-reload fight (and it won't be that easy due to infinitely respawning Assassins).

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, part 10: The Slaver Ship

Videos for this fight:

Part 1
Part 2

As can be seen, I forgot to cast some important spells with the R-C (more accurately, Doom), and should have memorized more Defensive Harmonies (instead 3 slots wasted on ProLightning, afraid too much I guess, that slaver wizard cannot focus to cast a lightning spell even if he has one).

As you can see, Haegan doesn't appear until the Sorceress went to the front to see what's happening (and while he's not killed, the party can't leave and Assassins are respawning). Also, even the RB's great AC of -13 (Potion of Defense + Defensive Harmony) didn't prevent that horrible backstab from an Assassin. PC was fighting most of the time with the Saving Grace off (as can be seen he also wears Girdle of Piercing). Illusion buffs are also useful (after the cleric is slain of course).

Was hoping to trick the assassins to focus on a Stone or Ironskined character by making those characters' AC higher than a RB and a Vagrant. Seems it didn't work.

B-M is still wearing the Elven Chain. It has an AC modifier vs slashing weapons of -2, but at the same time worsens his defense against blunt attacks (+2 to crushing modifier). Still, looked to me that most of the enemies were wielding slashing or piercing weapons anyway (including Haegan).

Loot: Amongst vanilla items like Lightning Bolt scroll for B-M, the party also found the Mage Robe of Electrical Resistance (on the mage, fixed), a ring +1 also on the mage, an Improved Haste scroll on the mage, 2 Emotion scrolls (those to be sold), a Golden Star Garnet (Valygar's katana upgrade ingredient, to be sold in current run), some Extra and even Superior Healing potions. There is a permanency scroll locked in a container here, will definitely return with a thief. As you can see that nasty un-disarmable poison arrow stairs trap also hinders the party fighters a lot on Insane difficulty.

There is also a suit of Studded Leather +2 for PC.

The Studded Leather +2 and an Elven Chain (both wearable by PC) have same AC of 5. But the Studded leather's AC modifiers are superior (-2 slashing, -1 piercing, -1 missile) to the elven chain.

Freed the 2 kids in the central cells (5000 xp), at least the undisarmable Prismatic Spray trap is easy to evade. Left through the back door again after looting everything of value, this includes unenchanted Splint Mails. They may only be worth 24 gp when sold, but the ten together are worth 240! Same with scimitars.

Entered CC, rested, entered the sewers, killed a Vampiric Mist-Mist Horror spawn (only with R-C and B-M), entered the Slaver Ship from main entrance, killed yet another guard, killed 2 trolls, freed the third kid and got 1 rep point increase. Last rep point increase got from Hendak upon delivering Haegan's key. Also got the vanilla reward for the quest as well as:

4 Potions of Freedom (yay)
4 Potions of Invulnerability (great, RB has only 1 spare left)
4 Oils of Resurgence (not impressed, still can be sold for 450 gp a piece)
1 Potion of Magic Shielding (yeah!)

Swapped Mazzy for Aerie
With the help of Aerie's grand charm, bought:

Harmonium Halberd +3
Martial Staff +3
Mauler's Arm +2
Vhailor's Helm
Robe of the Good Archmagi
2 Amulets of Protection +1
4 Potions of Absorbtion (have now 5) and 2 of Insulation
A potion of Freedom
A potion of Cloud Giant Str
Scrolls of Limited Wish (despite max discount still costs 6660 gp), Farsight, Protection from Magical Weapons, Spell Sequencer, Spell Turning, Fireshield Blue
All of the remaining unbought so far containers

Really tempted to buy at least one Potion of Power, the HP and THAC0 bonus would help immensely in a certain tough fight. Decided against it, still have 3 Heroism potions, those should do the trick instead.

After the purchases, had to sell some items (even a bunch of Extra Healing potions) in order to stabilize party's gold at 45 000 gp. And there is still one item I'd like to buy....and eventually some potions, too. At least there are a lot of unopened trapped containers with quite a bit of gold and items in them.

Now going to De'Arnise keep, to finish Tor'Gal. PC simply needs to reach vagrant level 12 at 1 300 000 xp (140 000 xp short at present). At least every party fighter now has a +3 crushing weapon (except for PC naturally), needed for that fight. Also, in the basement there is probably the best non-purchaseable armor for PC currently, the Orc leather +3 (Armor of Deep Night costs 18 500 with discount - no thanks!).

Edited.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 07 juin 2013 - 07:20 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, part 11:

Travel WK-Trademeet (joined Mazzy) - De'Arnise Hold. Went to basement.

Neo-Otyugh waiting in the first room - prepared some Cure Diseases just in case.

Some vanilla trolls here slain for twice as much xp using Vhailor's helm Death Spell (it kills them outright and gives xp, then finishing them with an acid or fire spell gives also same xp).

Umberhulks fed and then killed for max xp.

Got Orc Leather +3 for PC.

Tor'Gal fight video here.

Edited: SI:Evocation does NOT protect vs Storm of Vengeance. Obviously in the video it was a fluke.

Loot: Ray of Fragmentation scroll (scribed by B-M), Barbarian essence of the Judgment Day sword, a Permanency scroll, other insignificant items. Each Gem Golem in the game drops a set of 7 gemstones - Rogue Stone, Emerald, Star Sapphire, Diamond, King's Tear, Horn Coral gem and Star Diopside gem. Total sell worth: about 2930 gp (better than a Coin Golem who drops 1000). Rogue Stones and Diamonds have to be assembled in larger quantities, 2 King's tears are sufficient, Emeralds and Star Sapphires are not needed for any of my party's upgrades.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 07 juin 2013 - 07:26 .

[Alesia_BH]

Nice work Saros!

[saros_shadow_follower]

Thanks. I know these fights may seem trivial, but believe me, up to the point where the party gets HLA, no fight is trivial since PC can die in a blink, or the Riskbreaker can be chunked just as easily.

Anyway, still a bit short on experience, have a real serious dilemma where to go next. I won't report to Nalia yet (although there's some quite nice XP boost and gold in there, but the last fight is a nightmare at present levels). Most probably am gonna try the main Chapter 3 plot (vampires), cleaning in the meantime the 2nd level catacombs and completing Korgan's sidequest. Also may do Cernd's subquest.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 07 juin 2013 - 11:13 .

[Alesia_BH]

I understand.The fights you've posted haven't looked trivial to me: they've looked like potentially murderous encounters well played. Again, nice work!

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 07 juin 2013 - 11:36 .

[Gate70]

Rather you than me Saros, looks like hard work.

Is the undisarmable prismatic spray modded in or is it just the standard trap that could be removed if you had a thief?

[saros_shadow_follower]

Gate70 wrote...


Is the undisarmable prismatic spray modded in or is it just the standard trap that could be removed if you had a thief?

Traps are mostly untouched by IA, with the slight exception that most of the dangerous ones now cast Energy Drain (for example, the one guarding the Horn of Valhalla). But undisarmable traps are still undisarmable, as in vanilla. And yeah, it could be disarmed by a thief. Provided I wanted one to steal part of my experience in there! And also, it's hard to keep a thief alive inside (as can be seen). Traps can be always disarmed later.

Anyway, continuing with the walkthrough.

Chapter 3, part 12:

Cleared the catacombs, level 2. Almost all vanilla enemies here barring one Vampire Bride (she's nothing serious though, engaged only with R-C and B-M). Got some vanilla items, including Halcyon spear (another weapon with intact elemental damage). Unfortunately no one's able to effectively use spears. Got ProElectricity scroll for B-M. Didn't disarm the traps though, will return later for Korgan's quest.

Completed Cernd's quest, killed Lagole Gon (the lich) as well, while he was trying to DD away (18 000 xp).That lich is pretty damage resistsant (probably IA tweaked) and thus required full buffs and the entire IHasted party fighters' attention to slay.

Killed a group of Amnish guards in the Government that tried to warn the party to stay off the streets at night. Huh, why? The vampires are now the ones afraid of the night...haven't seen them in quite some time.

WK-Trademeet(Mazzy joined)-Bridge-Five Flaggons Inn. Rest, buff, fight.

When Caylos and Gaehan died, there was only the sorceress in the room. 2 Aerial servants, R-C and B-M were awaiting at the entrance, RB and Vagrant safely away.

The main idea was to drain the Guild Contact out of Vampire Brides. Turns out their number total was 3 (or probably their total number is level dependent). Anyway, after the third no more came, thus the buffed a little more (Guild contact distracted by sorceress only this whole time, circling around the table in that room), and killed him in a gang attack. 7000 xp Contact, 3*7500 xp each Vampire Bride, not bad. 2 Invulnerability potions looted here + a Superior Healing one.

Have to admit, rushed it a bit and could've been in big trouble due to Guild Contact's Power Attack HLA which first hit PC. But he managed to save (has the best protective gear + mazzy's buff twice) and retreated fast. If he hadn't saved, it would've been a game over easily. Must be more careful. R-C was stunned by the Power Attack, but his skins were almost intact, so no problem.
Then again, if PC was stunned, R-C had a Remove Paralysis spell ready.

Aran gave the party 4 stakes for the last mission - one put in a container (to be taken to Spellhold eventually).

Now comes the last Aran task. In this task we have 2 vampires that call for aid additional Vampire Brides, but in a no-reload run, it's important to know if and what enemy it's possible to drain out of minor summons, and what enemy is better slain right away. In this case, since Tanova is a pretty high-leveled mage, it's best to slay her right away. Lassal, on the other hand, can be distracted until all his 4 Vampire brides are slain.

But before that - forgot to kill the spiders near Pai-Na's lair. 2 Killer and a Spirit spider were to be fought under Improved Web - no big deal with proper preparations. PC xp is 1 244 000. Just 56 k more.
Seri Flamehair is very close to a level-up at 1 275 000 xp.

Haz's golem was killed (for some xp and in order not to steal any kills. Haz doesn't die to a random monster attack early, he still could be of some use, but fearing that he may also steal a kill - killed him fast too. Cleared some of the minor vampires and ghasts only with R-C and B-M, also a single Fledgling Vampire before Tanova (must be done careful in order not to disturb Tanova prematurely).

Heh, that same Fledgling Vampire managed to dominate Bane, and thus he almost killed PC (a single hit for 72 dmg with FoA, elemental damage and all). If the target was another, a quick swap of the Harmony Shield would've prevented that, but a Riskbreaker cannot use shields, sadly.

Ok, now the fight with Tanova.

Hm, I was really fearful that her second spell is ADHW. But thought I could disrupt it since it has a very long casting time. Scored a hit before spell completed obv, but it was Animate Dead and wasn't disrupted too. Forgot to pre-buff Bane with NPP and here's what happens...still no problem naturally. ProCold is important though, and Tanova shouldn't be allowed to cast PFMW, since that way she becomes impervious to all weapons for 4 rounds.

Tanova also drops an Invulnerability potion. In IA, such a potion simply sets AC to -1 for 5 turns. Very useful for a Riskbreaker though, he's collecting these for the tougher chapter 4 and 5 fights.

The remaining of Bodhi's vampires (including Lassal and his 4 Brides) slain calmly by R-C, B-M and Aerial Servants.

Exiting, thought that I could take on the Crypt King & Queen. Big mistake, will never repeat that. NPP wore off very soon and the RB was nearly chunked (survived on 4 levels with 19 HP, one hit and chunk, Queen drains 4 levels per hit). Pure luck saved him. Never will I go again in there without having all fresh buffs (not half-expired NPP). And will focus with everyone on the Crypt Queen first thing.
No pictures here, thought it would be an easy and unremarkable fight. Actually it is.
Wasted a Superior Healing potion on this pretty easy fight, for shame!

The long sword, Namarra, casts Cure Serious Wounds (at instant speed) in IA. Silence radius 15 is obsolete anyway.

2 400 xp short of ranger level 12. Was really hoping to get there without collecting the 50k quest xp from Aran...well, ok, we go to Aran. Hm, thinking again, no. Will just complete Keldorn's sidequest and get the needed xp from there.

Yep, released Keldorn from service (he's not needed anyway), and got just enough xp for Vagrant level 12 (1 300 000 xp).

Now is the time to talk to Jan Jansen for the first time! Went outside of Keldorn's estate and talked to the little gnome, immediately enlisting him in the party. He got 1 040 000 quest xp and is at 1 200 000 xp starting!

Thing is, that is still not enough (in IA) to give more than 1000 xp per disarmed trap and 250 xp per picked lock. There go my efforts of trying to join Jan at higher levels and gain more xp from traps and locks. Sic transit gloria mundi.

Still, with 420 000 more quest xp (!), he will get to the next thief level and (probably) will be able to provide a little more xp from traps & locks. Will try to get him there, but for now, I really need him to disarm some traps and pick some locks. Will try to leave most untouched though.

Forgot to mention Sorceress' next spell picks (for level 13):

4th level: Ray of Fragmentation
5th level: Larloch's Interrupter (ignores MR completely, not stated in the description)
6th level: Protection from Magical weapons

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, part 13 - Jan Jansen:

Reported to Aran with Jan in party (got him 50000 quest xp too).

Won't specifically state what containers will be left behind and what will be unlocked (same with traps), will instead simply write down the more important items obtained from such containers:

Staff of Curing (vanilla location, Graveyard District)
ProFire scroll (blue one - catacombs level 1 chest)
Ashen Scales +2 (versus golems, it's better than a full plate due to the -2 crushing AC modifier).
Potion of Defense (catacombs level 2)
Permanency scroll (trapped container inside Slaver ship)
Storm Giant str and Insulation potions + green ProCold scroll (Temlpe of Talos)
Temple sewers: Scrolls of ProNormalMissiles, Animate Dead, Tenser's transformation, Lower Resistance, Enchanted Weapon
scroll of Invisible stalker (Prebek's house)


Went to Cromwell after looting more valuable gold containers too (i.e. those with expensive sellable items as well). Forged a Morning Star +3. BTW in the temple sewers killed Sassar and his two followers for 1000 xp and 200 gp.

WK-De'Arnise hold (nothing of note here, all sellables, including Shield amulet) - Umar hills (same) - Temple ruins (Storm Giant potion in trapped pillar near 1st random undead spawn) - Trademeet (swap Jan for Mazzy).

Killed the two mages assigned to Trademeet guards after dominating them and leading them away first. 2000 xp.

Went to WK. Buffed very well before engaging the set of 4 Noble Trolls (immune to weapons +2 or less, good fighters) and 2 Spirit trolls (decreased IA xp of 3000 per troll, still have their original abilities).

Here is what we found via farsight (no extra statues too, sadly). That monster spawn is something we can deal with (especially with the ability to leave the place at whim), but it's still pretty dangerous. So that battle will be left for chapter 6. Also, there is no point of going downstairs at these levels, so I'll just deal with the Old priest and other random monster spawns here before re-joining Jan to disarm some traps here.

Torham gained a level here, now clerical level 13, next level yields first 7th level spell.

Swapped Mazzy for Jan, returned, got the quest xp from the Old priest, Bane gained a level (13, important level for any fighter). Got the Ammo belt and some other sellable valuables, plus some Superior Healing potions naturally. An Enchanted weapon scroll obtained here.

Probably did the wrong thing when entering WK lvl 1 so early - no extra statues and weaker random spawns means a serious xp and gold loss. Still, I need to take xp from somewhere early-game.

Will now focus on completing some NPC quests - Jan's, Edwin's (Nevaziah the Lich is improved, will make a video here).

Just as a side note, for any infinite spoiled xp exploit in the game (for example, Master Vampires spawn infinite number of Vampire Brides over time) will limit the exploit to 6 times (usually, powerful IA enemies gate minion summons up to 6 times, and then stop).

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, part 14:

Decided to re-visit the Druid Grove. Killed 2 Noble Trolls guarding the entrance. Killed twice (Death spell Vhailor's) a bunch of vanilla trolls near them too.

Decided to get Belm. The fight is not so hard at present levels (Ghost spider guardian), but I really want to drain him out of summons. Still, at present levels, that's simply too risky (not worth it IMO).

Did it half way. Tactic (no video, sorry, thought it would be a lame fight anyway):

Buff Berserker-Mage optimally. Save vs spells went to -5 (with II and other buffs)
Enter, cast PFMW (only 6th level spell), kill Whisper spider first, kill Spirit spider next, kill remaining lesser spiders. Specific protections (including pre-buffed Free Action) were dispelled by Ghost spider somewhere here (PFMW expires), spider shoots Improved web, B-M saves 100% (Fireshield Red added to initial buffs to enhance damage a bit), B-M starts roaming around (but buffs will expire soon and then he would be held, plus Stoneskins and mirror images aren't endless) so at that time the second spawn appeared (Killer + lesser spirit spider). B-M killed the lesser spiders, then ran to the exit (no web there) but he can't escape until the Ghost spider is alive. Outside other chars buffed as fast and as best as possible (no time for Free Action, coped saves with Improved Invisibility, appeared right after B-M had finished the Spirit Spider from Ghosty's third spawn, killed ghosty in a gang attack (Riskbreaker suffered several hits, decided he could take it didn't waste a Defense potion), killed Lesser spirit spider last. Conclusion: +22 000 xp from extra spawns. Excellent. Belm obtained, also a potion of Magic Shielding and of Superior healing.

After deciding not to return to WK lvl 1 for now, the logical assumption was to battle Pai-Na (her death triggers a dangerous fight at WK lvl 1). Another summon (Kitthix) would be welcome, and B-M really needs a Spell Immunity scroll.

Here is the fight, as easy as one-two-three-four-five. These sword spiders yield no xp though.

Pale Green Ioun Stone went to the Riskbreaker (great, THAC0 but most importantly HP boost). B-M scribes Spell Immunity.

OK now all to the sewers!

Noisome rats - PC(immune to disease and poison) + 2 Aerial servants alone engaged them, 2 Emotions shot from off-screen and the rats were down.

Shadow Lover - PC and the B-M have good slashing weapons (Phantom Blade), other contributed with crushing damage though. And Aerial servants provided distraction. He fell quickly.

Greater Crawler - +3 weapons, Free Action, melee.

Other rats - again Vagrant PC + 2 Aerial servants + emotion.

Ditched Mazzy, joined Jan in order to get the quest xp with him.

All the time had prepared some Cure Disease and Neutralize poison spells (rats rely on heavy physical resistance, great AC and poison/disease attacks) . Not that I could target anyone but the caster himself with the II being active all of the time. Still I have the Staff of Curing (it disregards II) and the Gloves of healing.

Ditched Jan. Joined Korgan. Did Korgan's subquest. Probably could've collected a bit more experience had I put my mind into it (for example leaving the 2 Skeleton warriors in the tombs to fight them later without Korgan, or ditching him right after he gives his final speech + xp in the last battle), but played it lazy, hopefully I won't be stuck at something like 1000 xp for an important level-up later.

Now for Edwin's subquest. This subquest is really fun, really rewarding...and really tough in the very beginning.

Great fight with Nevaziah the Lich

At present levels, this is really difficult. Nevaziah is easily tricked by summons, because he lacks Death spell and won't use any of his powerful other spells vs lowly summons. Aerial servants last pretty long, and if not let kill themselves vs his Fireshield, they don't die easily to his weak melee attacks as well.

Real trouble is, Nevaziah has pretty good AC and is immune to crushing damage, plus he's highly damage resistant and regenerates. He has many nasty offensive spells, that's why the only char engaging him wore the best party protective items and was protected from all elemental and magic damage attacks beforehand. ProFire (clerical) lasts only 3 turns, it was bound to expire somewhere here, just wanted to show you his Dragon breath HLA as well (DB is easily avoidable anyway). What you didn't see (because I didn't have anyone that could be damaged by it) was his 3*ADHW CC which he soots at near-death. But really can't risk it in a no-reload to show you that, obviously

The B-M had to consume these two potions (of Heroism and of Fire Giant Str) for each hit to count (and really, each hit vs Nevaziah has to count in order to kill him that way). Plus he's the only party fighter that could effectively protect potion (and other) buffs via SI:Abjuration. Probably now will have to buy a couple more Heroism potions for Spellhold (can't risk it with the Improved Kobold fight, I need every edge there).

Minor Globe (same which prevented the Bless to take effect on B-M, bad timing really) protects the character vs Nevaziah's Slow (in sequencer). Despite B-M having excellent saves, I thought there is a slim chance of him being Slowed after the Malison in that same sequencer (save vs spells dropped to -2).

Rested with Edwin almost a week in the Graveyard district, until he polymorphed himself. Travelled to Umar Hills. Rested in and out of the cave (for quite some time) until finally Degardan showed and requested Edwin's head. OK, no problem here! Got reward, and killed Degardan as well. A wand of Monster summoning on him and a Death spell scroll too (plus other items like +2 quarterstaff, 2 potions of extra healing, etc). It pays off to be good!

B-M is 15 000 xp short of mage level 13 (hopefully will make it there prior to any improved fight), other are nowhere near it (1505000 or so xp). Gold is 100 000 at present, with nothing in the vicinity to forge. Maybe should buy that Blackblood club now...maybe not. Costs around 15 000 gp with max discount, yet it's an important ingredient.

Yeah will do so. Joined Valygar, got him to open Planar Sphere door, joined Jan, did his sidequest (the correct answer to the question "You've met Vaelag now, what do you think?" is "I think he's dead Jan, dead. And his goons too", btw killed the Hidden after he healed Jaela - we can't allow mindflayers to roam around, joined Aerie, travelled with her to Trademeet and bought Blackblood club + 2 Heroism potions with max discount (85 000 gp left), forgot to re-join Mazzy-Windspear hills (have to return for Mazzy, killed Digdag before he could escape, and a bunch of vanilla goblins). Delver's plate doesn't offer save vs spells bonus in IA.

Even with that, we're still about 10k xp short from Saros' level-up

No more NPC sidequests to be done in the near vicinity.

I could go and report to Nalia (with Jan naturally, that's quite a big xp boost) but I really don't wanna trigger the fighter stronghold prematurely. Will instead  kill a bunch of Vampiric Mists-Mist horrors in Windspear hills dungeon level 1. If that's not enough, I could go and complete Borinal & Amber golem quest (the Dawn ring, last of Temple of Lathander's tasks). Both seem reasonably easy (really want to drain Borinal out of summons - he gates in Rune Assassins, but it's extremely dangerous at present levels due their poisonous backstabs).

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, part 15:

I apparently overlooked something here, my B-M was only 7k short of level-up, and after defeating the first bunch of Vampiric Mists-Mist Horrors, he leveled (in the middle of the fight actually). A second 6th level slot, great! Now maybe a very good time to engage Ruhk Transmuter.

Video for the fight here.

As can be seen, again the B-M is the key figure in that relatively easy victory. Ruhk has only fire-based offensive spells, so as long as protections are up and running, no harm can come to us. His Kamikaze kobolds inflict terrible amounts of fire damage though, and he himself can shoot a high-level Remove magic that could strip everyone from Protection from Fire spell or potion buff. And we pretty much lack any fire-protective item at present.

The loot at present levels includes a Diamond Necklace (worth 4 500 gp when sold). Other enemies also have a chance to drop such an item, depending on the party levels when winning the fight vs them (if fought at higher levels, no necklace obv). Still, some of them won't be fought, because it's not sound no-reload wise speaking (like Samia's party for example).

Cleared the second group of Vampiric Mists/Mist Horrors on that level, got an Amulet of Protection +1.

Back to the city, challenged Borinal and his Amber golem:

Talked to Travin. Couldn't kill him, he was too quick (or more accurately my planning was sloppy). Prepared well, travelled to Borinal's home (previously looted btw).

Tricked Borinal by giving him the right conversation option. He just stood and watched as the party conjured summons and buffed in his own home!

The fight with Borinal:

Part 1
Part 2

As you can see, on Insane, Amber golems are monsters. Had I continued pounding with them, my fighters' Electrical resistance would've quickly dropped to -125%, for more than double damage from the Lightning shield for each successful strike upon the golem. Mirror Image protects the B-M in such a way that almost all lightning-shield punishment was absorbed by images rather than hitting him. But it was good that he didn't draw the Amber Golem's attention personally, because the golem dispels illusions on hit. Still, was ready with PFMW for that.

Borinal dropped a +1 ring. Excellent, now can create another +2 ring (have two +1 spare rings in pack). Other items were insignificant (though valuable), but RB got a set of 5 Superior Healing potions.

Brought Dawn Ring to the Temple of Lathander. Dawnmaster, any more tasks? No. High Morningmaster, you? No. Acolyte Lara? No. Ok, my path is clear! As a true force of balance, having previously destroyed the Talassan knights&acolytes, and the Helmite ones too, to preserve balance (this has NOTHING to do with extra experience or plate mails, I assure you!), I feel obliged now to slaughter all inside (and outside) of the temple of Lathander! Plus, I want my one Dawn Ring back (my precious!).

Inside the temple there is a Wand of Monster Summoning (3 charges, soon gonna sell some of these, they're too many now) , some gold, a Protection from Poison scroll and some potions.

About 15 000 xp per party member....errr, I mean, balance is restored and every cleric and knight inside the Temple joined their beloved God (hardly). Also got 10 plates + 10 composite bows, worth 2100 gp. Dawnmaster Kreel sells nothing of value, really, so no remorse in slaughtering him either (plus he drops a +1 mace after all).

Ring +2 forged, gold 71 000. Some items not sold yet (plate mails best assembled and sold in large quantities, otherwise soon we'll be selling those at 120 gp/piece instead of 180).

PC is 85k experience short of Vagrant level 13 (very, very important leve-up for a Vagrant really). Tempted to report to Nalia, but won't do it., instead, will go to Mekrath's lab.

Kill some mephits - kill mekrath's imp as easy as one-two-three, return to lab, report to Mekrath, went outside, rest and take on this random group (2 Yuanti mages, 2 Greater Yuantis - fighters, 2 Minotaurs). After leaving and re-entering though, some of those were occupying the same coordinates (an IA bug), a mage amongst them unfortunately. So one mage was practically out of reach until we kiled the overlapping greater Yuanti...and it was too late since one True Sight resolved. Still won the battle with ease though since they focused on the B-M's Spell Immunity with Ruby Rays, had to cast PFMW at one time, managed to Breach the B-M but...there were only two of them at the time, and they fell to normal weapon attacks. Loot: 2 axes +2 (1900 gp including the gold here).

Still short on experience, Okay won't wait any longer, really need Ruby Ray scrolls. Going to the Den of Seven Vales. But that's for another entry.