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[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, part 16:

Fight with Mencar Pebblecrusher here.

Sorry that Pooky was caught in talk bug - what I really wanted was to break my full invisibility so that Mencar could see a character and give his speech (but I did want to enter fully invisible to position everyone as good as possible). He dies to melee attacks pretty soon anyway (no protection from weapon spells).

You all can see my biggest mistake in this fight - I didn't have the Sorceress under Improved haste, and didn't have her engage Sorcerous Amon with meteors (that could've peeled some skins). Also, could've equipped Belm off-hand to the Vagrant, increasing his APR from 8 to 10. It was a near-win, with only a microsecond before Amon's Improved Mantle scroll kicking in, which would have given him 4 rounds of invulnerability (he regenerates btw).

Re-played the fight, and yes, Belm-off and meteors did the trick - Amon was far from activating a scroll when he died. But since that wasn't in the no-reload game (simply a replay) didn't make a video.

In any case, even if he had activated Improved Mantle, the battle is still ours, but with lots of his scrolls wasted, that's all.

Loot: Ring of Invisibility, Ring +1, Borok's Fist +2 warhammer (another weapon with intact elemental damage, goes straight away to the R-C's off-hand), 10 Superior Healing potions (enemies couldn't even quaff one). Saros was running True Sight which spotted Brennan (otherwise he could backstab either PC or the Riskbreaker.

But most importantly, the party obtained: a scroll of Greater Malison (B-M didn't have this scroll bought, too greedy), 3 Scrolls of Improved Mantle (one scribed, maybe prematurely, but I think all's fine), and 3 Ruby Ray of Reversal scrolls! That's most needed in the Planar Prison, provided we can't get sorceress level 14 before the fight with the Planar Warden. PC is 45 000 xp short of level-up, sorceress accordingly 95 000.

I could have Saros memorize a Contingency as a second 6-th level spell and load it immediately with a second Emotion, but Mencar is under Magic Shielding potion effect, and Amon's saves under II are pretty good, so capturing only Smaeluv seems a small price for that. Plus, Contingency spell has an animation which breaks off any action the caster may be performing in the next couple of seconds (like attacking).

Most probably will have to go to the Planar Prison now, but I feel really greedy and really needy for that level-up. Will see if I can do something about Nalia...I think there was an option to refuse her stronghold at first and accept it later...

Swapped Mazzy for Jan. Went to Mekrath's lab, retrieved Planar Gem. Forgotten the laeral's tear here obviously (could've forged a cloak +2 prior to Mencar's fight).

Went to Nalia's tent with Jan in party (WK-De'Arnise hold), unlocked some forgotten containers inside, reported to Nalia, denied her offer...for now. She sounded unhappy, but we will return!

Torham and Captain sparrow both gained a level. Torham is now lvl 14 with one 7th level priest spell, Captain Sparrow is level 13 with the bonus to saves, extra 1/2 APR and most importantly - the first Swanmay!

Disbanded Jan (gees, does he raise levels slow), rejoined Mazzy, went to the Sea's Bonuty tavern.

The fight with pirates:

Part 1
Part 2

Decided to play it safe and pelt some of enemy's Stoneskins with double-meteors. Looks like it worked fine. Had I seen a FoD targeting one of my mages, all the strongest protective gear would've been transferred to that mage + I have a Potion of Stone Form (from Mekrath's lab) to improve saves. But it wouldn't be needed. The sorceress has a save vs death of 6, ok she might need it, but the B-M has (even malisoned) save vs death of 5, and by equipping the periapt of life protection, +2 rings and cloak, and helm of balduran, this drops to -1, which is enough to save always vs FoD (he also has Blur in minor sequencer). Anyway, even if that last spell was indeed a Finger of Death, it was disrupted by a Minute Meteor.

Edited: Re-watched my own video now, that last spell was indeed FoD, and it resolved, tarageting my B-M who obviously luckily saved. That wouldn't change the outcome of the fight much, even if he failed his save.

Just as a side note, out of interest (since I like this fight a lot), replayed the battle 7 times in a row - won 7 times in a row with the same tactic.

The "ganging" tactic will hardly work though for a party that doesn't have at least 3 fighters - grandmasters with a certain weapon.

Loot: From the static items most important to the party are: the purple Bag of Holding (capacity 200), worn out boots (can be upgraded to boots of speed - will do that in chapter 6), 4 scrolls of Absolute Immunity, Scroll of Spell Immunity (not needed anymore but cool to have), scroll of Enchanted weapon, scroll of Tenser's partial transformation (scribed), a potion of Storm Giant Strength, Red Coral Gem (important Vagrant armor upgrade ingredient, always here if PC is vagrant).

There are other static items like more spell scrolls, potions, Golden Star Garnet, Crimson Chain +5, scroll of Memory Boosting - which are either sellable or useless to the party.


From the randomized ones: Book of Infinite spells (hah, luck is on my side, after turning the first page got True Seeing! grand, one free TS is always very useful), Gnasher club +2 (useable only by Rangers with Wis 14+, important upgrade though).

Less than 33 000 xp needed for sorceress level 14 (Ruby Ray of Reversal). I think there is enough experience in the Planar Prison prior to the Warden fight, yet I'm not 100% certain it will be enough. Will make a short trip to the Planar Sphere (kill a Clay golem inside) and to the Windspear Hills dungeon level 2 (only to kill the vanilla orc archers) for some small xp boost (I think that way it will be enough).

Killed Clay golem, killed Orcs (Jan unlocked secret doors), sold a lot of stuff, ditched Jan for Mazzy (again), returned Planar gem, killed all planar monsters, when bounty hunters gated in managed to kill both on the sides (6000 xp, plate mail, some gold). Sorceress requires less than 22 000 xp to level-up, will definitely make it!

Rest, buff, enter (fully invisible! this is important)...aaaaand next chapter! You'll see how sometimes luck also helps (although even without it victory was still ours).

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 12 juin 2013 - 07:15 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, part 17:

The fight with the Elite Bounty Huntress.

Was hoping to slay her before she could turn hostile. A bit late for that, and she actually died to FoA unleashed elemental damage (she's vulnerable to the cold and acid damage obviously). If she didn't die and managed to activate one of her PFMW scrolls, party fighters would've switched to normal weapons for the finishing blow.

The Planar Hounds have a chance to dispel specific protections on hit (protection circle, proevil, chaotic commands, free action - all are included in this category) and apply confusion (also % chance). So best suited to fight them are actually the R-C with Shield of Harmony off, or the B-M while Enraged. Not sure if the Potion of Clarity's effect is dispelled too...will have to be more careful, that's all.

Killed some vanilla thralls, checked on xp (10 k short of next level-up both sorc and RB), returned to loot everything on the 1st battlefield (nearly forgot). Loot includes:

Morning Star +2 (2nd)
a bunch of scrolls, most important of them PFME, 4*PFMW, GoI (yeah).
the vanilla items (no Boots of Speed though).

Checked on a random monster spawn via Farsight. Sigh. Due to a bit higher-than-usual levels, 3 Greater Yuantis + only 1 Minotaur accompany the 2 Yuanti mages. A bit more xp, but Minotaurs drop a +2 axe, so less gold.

Gained Riskbreaker and Sorceress level-up fighting these random monsters. 14th level spell pick is obvious - Ruby Ray of Reversal. Static items from the vanilla guards include a +1 ring (can make yet another +2 at Cromwell's) and the Gloves of Weapon Skill (+1 THAC0 for the B-M, he really could use the boost). Underestimated the fighter yantis a bit, and forgot I actually had a Greater Restoration spell memorized (quaffed a couple of Extra Healing potions).

Killed Master of Thralls. Didn't go further  (even lured Master of Thralls a bit backwards) because I don't wanna trigger the second random monster spawn near the Planar Warden yet! He and his multiple Planar Hounds are a challenge enough for my party.

Shield of Harmony went to PC, Saving Grace went to R-C. R-C has better AC and skins, so less likely to be targeted in melee by the Planar Hounds. 5 of those appear once the Command Orb is destroyed. 2 more are gated by the Warden periodically (hopefully will see only his first two hounds).

The fight with the Warden:

Part 1
Part 2

Bad timing. That's why the Warden used a second PFMW scroll (first one used when he fought his slaves, and we fought the 5 Planar Hounds near the brazier). Not that we need those that much, they also don't cost 3000 gp when sold unlike Absolute Immunity scrolls (only 600). Still bad, another thing I decided to take my chances with was the triple FoD CC on sorceress. She had a 1/20 chance to fail her save at least once, but I calculated that even without her, the odds of beating the Warden are very good (had Breach and RRR scrolls). Probably should've included a Stone Form potion prebuff (in order not to waste time in the fight).

Edit: As you can see, the Warden cheats by being able to target his Chain Contingency (for a party member the best option is on Nearest Enemy or Last Hit By, my sorceress qualified for neither obviously).

Loot: Vanilla items mostly (Adjatha the Drinker, Wave shaft), but also some static IA ones (IHaste scroll, 3*PFMW scrolls, non-enchanted Girdle - ingredient, a Permanency scroll - third for the party), and 5 RRR scrolls (soon enough both mages will be casting RRR instead of using scrolls, but scrolls may always come in handy).

Now triggered the last random monster spawn - 3 Greater Yuantis, 2 Yuanti mages and 1 Minotaur - same as previous one. Have to be really careful and watch out for xp, since I have at least 2 other important places to visit, and PC shouldn't go over 2 215 000 total xp. But still, cannot miss experience from places that are unable to visit anymore, like the Planar prison.

BTW here I reloaded, since after defeating everyone, and talking to Raelis, due to fast "end conversation" button clicking only PC and R-C got the quest xp - other characters did not! Obviously a vanilla game bug. Have to watch out for more like that.

After exiting and getting the quest xp (this time everyone), PC is at 1 802 000 xp. Bad. We still have to complete the Planar Sphere, and there's lots of experience in it, and after that, the Improved Screaming Statue as well, possibly get the Golden Girdle and if it's possible (no 2 200 000 xp) - the Remove Magic scroll from Gaius too (but probably that won't be possible). The bardic stronghold will be delayed naturally.

Forged Phosphorous +4 (lost all permanency scrolls while doing it, but it's worth it), and another +2 ring. Gold is 35 000, and we have almost nothing else to sell. Still, so far we have nothing else to forge as well.

Decided before that to check on the Founder of Trademeet. With present equipment he could be defeated.

Founder of Trademeet

This is a dead arcane-magic zone, but the biggest mistake I made was the assumption that my fighters will always save vs the blades. if it was a Blade Barrier, yes, however this was a Globe (save at -2). Still, all was good in the end. However, the loot didn't include the Staff of Rynn +4 (was hoping to find it here). Still, not bad, because he drops quite a lot of valuable items (potions of Cloud and Storm giant str, gems, Protection from level Drain scroll - one out of 6 total in IA).

Tried to return mantle to the Mayor - nope, he didn't want to talk to me about it. OK, threw it away. No reputation point from here (would've been wasted already even if the Mayor accepted the mantle now, just wanted to be sure) , will have to look elsewhere in chapter 6.

OK, now it's really the time to storm the Planar Sphere. But that's for the next entry. A lot of tough fights in there...we'll see how it goes.

Edited.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 10 juin 2013 - 07:55 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, part 18 - the Planar Sphere:

The fight with improved Halflings comes first.

Let me tell you, this is not the original video. There was something scrambled with the Fraps (happens seldom, that's why I prefer to save after buffing, because buffing is tedious), but this video is as close as possible (2nd win). The battle is easy, and had Mogadish activated his Improved Mantle scroll, next Breach was waiting for him, although the Phosphorous morningstar bypasses Improved Mantle.

In neither battle was he able to waste an improved mantle scroll though (has 3, always 3 on his corpse). Only difference is that in the original win Bane consumed 2 Extra healing potions, but Entu didn't consume a Superior Healing potion as well.

Loot: All items are static. 3 Improved Mantle scrolls, one PW:Silence, two rings +1, other scrolls, Gauntlets of Ogre Power are still here, a number of Piercing arrows +4 and the Ripper longbow (Togan is a decent archer, and teleports around if given the opportunity to).

Cleared a minor improved spider spawn in the central left chamber.

Killed Taibela and Necre (slightly if not improved at all), got an Enchanted Weapon scroll.

Checking on enemies via Farsight, as always, pays off. That random encounter can be guessed with utmost precision, however I don't know the exact party XP which would trigger the appearance of a Greater Bone Golem rather than a regular Bone Golem (greater ones need even better preparations).

I feel really tempted to face these guys only with characters who have Skins. But in the meantime, other guys' buffs will expire. Will try to think of something here...

I totally messed up with the initial plan, but quick thinking on my feet and micromanaging - and this is what came out finally.

The party still has too few +3 weapons (both crushing and piercing), and is unable to use some of them at full potential - but it's still more than enough.

There are two identical to this one golem spawns in the Energy Core chamber, plus 2 initial gem and 2 coin golems on top of that. It's a total of 14 dangerous golems. We'll see how that goes.

First order of business, naturally, is Lavok.

Rested for a day (need the Enchanted +3 sword to dissolve). Created a +3 mace (need every +3 crushing weapon I can get for the oncoming fight). Buffed well.

Now I advise anyone attempting this fight with a less-than-60-HP arcane caster (and every other fight vs high-level mages) to pre-buff with Vampiric Touches up to the point where party mages are safely out of enemy's Power Word: Kill reach. My sorceress has 64 hp, which is sufficient.

The fight with Lavok:

Part 1
Part 2

As you see, Lavok refreshed SI:Abjuration, effectively negating my B-M's breach. Thankfully, the sorceress had one last RRR spell left. That extra +3 mace did a great job in the hands of the R-C who was not afraid to fight the whole time (unlike the Riskbreaker who ran like a little girl being hit only once, one more hit and possible chunk, still he too did a good job). Decided against wasting an Invulnerability potion in this fight, because at the rate I'm gulping those, will have to buy some pre-spellhold Well things aren't that bad, I still have 8 of those. PC was watching the whole time, but was ready to grab Bane's flails in case something happened to him.PC and the sorceress were the only ones running Protection from magical energy (B-M has only two 6-th level slots, sadly). Figured that Lavok has either 3*FoD CC (which could kill a sorceress with magical damage even disregarding the instakill effect) or 3*ADHW (in which case we need someone protected from magical energy engaging him). He shoot neither, probably didn't have the time for it. And I probably should've prebuffed the sorceress with Death Ward.

Fighting in the two nearby chambers (lizardmen improved a bit and carrying a +1 halberd each), R-C got 15th clerical level. Cool! Now Chaotic Commands lasts 3 turns instead of 2.

B-M is 33 000 xp short of mage level 14. Sad, because we probably have to waste another scroll here. Even worse, we just obtained the Giant Strength spell, and I really want him to cast it for 21 str.Well, decided now may be a good time to check on Tolgerias.

Thing is, Tolgerias is not here!

Well, this maybe shouldn't surprise me, since the party killed him in the very beginning in the Government building. Thought he would be raised...for some more xp, scrolls, and a second Ring of the Ram. Dunno if it's good or bad - his ally mage gives only so few xp, and the scrolls aren't something notable, yeah probably better that way, avoiding another dangerous battle.

Cleared the Fire and Cold rooms, got static items (Staff of Fire here, also GoI, Spirit armor and ice storm scrolls - latter scribed by B-M). A robe of Cold Reisistance here (those are abundant in IA).

OK we have now only two tough encounters - the demon outside and the golems inside. The golems are more xp-rewarding anyway, so first we clear the Power Core room, and then go outside to fight the demons.

Power Core Room first entrance (it's really good I keep notes for future runs):

We enter from the Cold Chamber! When entering, party's configuration is oriented facing left! This is important. Also, we have a Gem golem to the left, and 2 Coin golems to the right. So the right party composition is that one in which RB and Vagrant are in the middle, R-C is to the left (he leads the party yet again) and B-M is taking the rear positon (he has best chances vs Coin Golems).

4 initial golems slaughtered with ease, hitting only characters with Skins. Peeled one skin from Saros (have to keep track of these things at all times), and I was greedy with Bane, so he again got hit for 90. He did a couple of hits at least

Saros is only 4k experience short of level-up now, decided to leave the remaining golems for later and go check on the minor (and bigger too) demons in the Demon Plane.Cleared the minor demonns, leaving the Lea'liyl for last (checked his exact position via Farsight). Saros gained mage level 14, being now able to cast Limited Wish! Created immediately a +2 plate for the R-C.

The fight with Lea'liyl  (edit: upload successful, enjoy).

OK I've done stupid things but that beats them all! Counted 3 Lords, I knew there are 3 lords, saw 2 beating characters with skins, and what did I think, that the third one disappeared into thin air?
And here he is hitting my PC the whole time. Pure graphic misshap: Jack Sparrow's portrait's backgdound is crimson, effectively blocking blood animation. Survival on 8 HP may be epic somewhat, but is not sound no-reload wise.

Otherwise I planned to use a ruse: a non-protected by Spell Immunity PFMWed sorceress coming from below) to trigger enemy's high-level Remove Magic on her instead of the entire party. Didn't work exactly as planned, but that Greater Malison did absolutely nothing to the party anyway.

Loot: Hilt of The Truth (ingredient), scroll of Disrupt Undead (scribed by B-M). IMHO for my party configuration Disrupt Undead is hands down the most useless 7th level spell, cool as it may look on paper.

Got also a second Raise Dead scroll + some other priest scrolls (no Free Action, sadly, we need 6 of those for an upgrade and currently have only 1).

PC's experience after finishing the entire Demon Plane is 1 980 000.

Phew. Probably will be able to do everything I want (Golden Girdle, Improved Statue, Remove Magic scroll) before hitting 2 200 000 xp with PC.

Now to the Fire engine room - and to the Power Core.

Went downstairs, lured a random golem group upstairs.

Bane died here (a couple of hits from a golem were more than enough).
Was clinging to the hope that he would escape, but those golems are very fast. No chunk, as can be seen. Vagrant picked up his flail to continue the fight, but after a hit from the same Gem Golem, was forced to retreat speedily, quaffing potions. Finished the golems with no more casualties.
However now Bane's approximately 25k experience behind everyone else. PC hit a level (nothing notable at lvl 14 barring the THAC0 bonus). Only one more random golem spawn left, and we're through with the sphere. But as can already be seen, characters with Skins are the sole way to suvive on an Insane IA no-reload run - practically they do everything.

Killed the last random golem spawn in the Core Engine room. No casualties, almost solely the R-C and B-M fought here. Narrow spaces make it easy to defend, but then again - difficult to attack, so taking on more than 5 golems in a no-reload insane game is unwise (protections and IHAste will wane eventually, and Stone/Ironskins aren't eternal).

Bane leveled up. An important Riskbreaker level-up, level 15 (look at the first post).

After Lavok's death, PC's xp is 2 086 000. Will definitely make it!

Swapped Mazzy for Jan (really sorry I couldn't have him inside to get that quest xp), used him to unlock the sphere's containers with treasures. We need every bit of gold we can get now, have to forge two rings +2, the Treefolk's Arm club and also be able to pay for my apprentices' workmanship and Solamnic Knights.

From Lavok's body: Scrolls of PFME and Spell Sequencer, Ring +2, Ring of Acuity (both went to sorceress), scroll of Memory Boosting (second),  sellable items.

Rested inside the sphere once. Went to pay Ribald after that. This triggers the two mage appearances (Teos and Kholynuus) with 8-hour interval, enough to prepare a warm welcome for her.

Went back to the sphere, rested twice. Teos appeared. First task given to my apprentices was to make a magical dagger.

Went to Solamnic knights, rested once. Immediately after the rest cast PFME and IHaste on PC, and RB cast IHaste on himself. Kholynuus appeared, gave her speech, party got 45k exp and the Golden Girdle. Now is the time! You greedy wizard, die! 9000 gold, yeah? Kholynuus died in a blink. Sometimes she may turn hostile before that and activate a triple ADHW CC, that's why I wanted at least PC to be protected from that. Solamnic knights stayed in the stronghold, 7000 xp for killing Kholynuus.

Went to the apprentices. Pause-Rest or proper task management (first task dagger, second task ADHW scroll, third task ring of wizardry) or both did it again, as the ring once again was flawlessly created! And the ADHW scroll too (B-M scribed it).

Probably they could create the Staff of Power too, and it's very useful indeed, but the ring in an IA game turns out to be far more useful...

Created two more +2 rings. Have 49k gold left, and have some sellable items in pack and in container, so the Treefolk's arm can be created too. Thing is, we need a Permanency scroll for that...time to re-visit the temple sewers. But that's for a next entry.

PC's exact experience is 2 097 253. We can make it!

Edited.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 10 juin 2013 - 08:09 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, part 19: The Screaming Statue and minor stuff

The Screaming Statue fight:

Part 1

The first two waves are easy enough, but now we need every fighter we can get.
NO resting (challenge is spoiled!), buff with stronger, preserved buffs, re-distribute protective items, raise new set of 4 hasted Skeleton Warriors, and

Part 2

The Master Vampire was left alone at near-death (he regenerates fast btw) in order to gate in the first pair of 2 vampire Brides (15k xp). Any IA master vampire has an infinite number of these (gates a pair of new ones each 5-6 rounds), all give xp. Sikret stated it's already fixed though and only the first 4 waves give xp, which is still useful. However at present levels I simply cannot prolong the battle that much. Or I can, but it's not safe for a no-reload.

Now you see why I call the Disrupt Undead spell a useless spell. With casting time of 7, it would've taken my B-M 4 APR time to cast Disrupt undead on the Master Vampire, and the effect would be probably something like 23-25 damage. That's less damage than 2 successful hits. Probably good for a very mage-heavy oriented party.

Sorceress gained a level here, level 15.

New spell picks:
Level 5: Lower Resistance (really want to get Sunfire here, but I will get it soon enough on my B-M)
Level 6: Globe of Invulnerability (Chain Lightning seems cool, yet I'm fond of yet another protection vs enemy Ruby Rays).
Level 7: Mordenkainen's Sword (tried Noble Salamanders from Monster Summoning V in a previous run, didn't like them much in chapters 4 and 5. They're fast, 100% resistant to fire and wield fire-damaging spears).

Went to Cromwell and created the Treefolk's Arm +3. Gold is close to 0. However we have nothing else to forge so far.

In a previous run I made the mistake of selling a bunch of Extra Healing potions. That's not wise, because those were needed a lot in the tougher chapter 4 fights. So I'd preserve about 40 potions/fighter for chapters 4 and 5.

Despite the weapon being nerfed, and useless after the start of chapter 6, it's one of the most important (for my party configuration) weapons in chapters 4 and 5. Since I consider these chapters to be maybe the hardest in the game, any weapon that allows me to make it through them easier is a weapon worth forging.

The other thing I could create at present with that scroll is a pair of Boots of Speed - always a useful item undoubtedly, but IMHO the club is much more important.

Decided to challenge Tarnor the Hatchetman.

Video for the fight here.

The fight is easy enough, provided the party knows what to do. Here we see some stuff: First enemies quaffing Potions of Magic Shielding, second that being dispelled by a Dispel magic which works wonderfully with B-M's Spell Immunity Abjuration blocking it, next Gaius trying to peel a 3-layer onion (Spell Turning, GoI, Spell Immunity, unfortunately no more spell protections are left in IA v6 except MGoI), fourth if someone's wondering why wish for Invulnerability, the answer is simple - Unholy blight.

As you can see, that special Sequencer didn't do much, incapacitating only one of the enemies.

Again I forget to use some stuff, like that Doom spell with the R-C. Still, it was good to have his aura cleansed in order to use Vhailor's. But maybe it's time to give that helmet to the Vagrant.

Loot: That battle was fought solely for the Remove Magic scroll. Other static and somewhat valuable items include: 4 Improved Mantle scrolls (we definitely don't need any more of these, 1 needed for scribing, 1 for ingredient, but they're worth 1500 gp when sold), two??? diamond necklaces (strange, last runthrough I fought them even at lower xp and I remember getting only 1, does it check party's gold as well?), Hangarth's Axe +2 (so far never used a throwing weapon, but it might come in handy, since the Vagrant can put it to great use vs mages), other sellables. Nothing of worth here actually, barring the Remove Magic scroll. Might be useful for the B-M prior to Ust Natha (second scroll in there, Deirex's tower).

PC's xp is a bit lower than 2 150 000. Will try to bring it as close to 2 210 000 as possible.

BTW due to Mazzy's pre-buff everyone's save vs spells is at least -1, which made it irrelevant to worry about Greater Command and stuff. OK R-C's save is 2, but he's under CC prebuff. I'm really gonna miss Mazzy during chapters 4, 5 and even half of 6.

Edited.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 10 juin 2013 - 08:15 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 3, part 20:

Completed the vanilla mage stronghold.

First did the Solamnic knights quest the other way - talked to the prelate in MNORH, then talked to the knights. Upon leaving (45 000 xp more), the party slew them all (6000 xp, plate mails).

Went outside, rested a bit. Sergeant Natula appeared as a messenger. R-C intercepted him with casting-time 0 Dolorous Decay (automatic slow), which allowed for the party fighters to kill him with ease (8000 xp, full plate). Went inside the sphere, killed him again (ok obviously they raised him and gave him a new set of full plate!) and his goons. Imprisoned lord Angrim, Returned rune to Teos. Killed Teos upon departure for 8000 xp (really wanted to do that the whole time, but that guy did offer some...interesting opportunities).

Good, yet insufficient xp boost. I have relatively easy experience to obtain (Horrid Rakshasa in temple sewers, Limited Wish quest, Windspear hills level 2 dungeon), but I really wanna stay away from Windspear hills (if I come later, stronger random spawns will trigger - more xp). Also I can fight the Ashideena guardian (a Ghost spider), potentially draining it out of summons completely.

Limited wish quest fulfilled. During the quest, faced the Horrid Rakshasa in the middle of Temple Sewers level 1. B-M fought her one-on-one. PFME protected him from enemy ADHW, Spell Immunity Abjuration - vs Remove Magic, and 2*PFMW - vs enemy melee attacks. Horrid Rakshasas have only one Absolute Immunity spell. Vhailor's helm Death spell took care of all his kobold minions quickly.

Killed both Grae (after she told where to find the gong) and Dursh (after the trade). That Wand of Frost is needed for an upgrade, and it's the cheapest one to spare (that one is from Chateau Irenicus). Other Frost wands that can be found are expensive and best sold. Didn't kill Bessie the Cow (we're vegetarians).

Won the Cloak of the Sewers, may come in handy, though the rat form is significantly nerfed in v6 (only 30% physical resistance). The troll form can be of use to a significantly wounded fighter though.

After we completed the Limited Wish quest, the party managed to slay Captain Dennis and each and every Riatvin mercenary (quite a lot of xp and some plate mails here). Dolorous Decay and Spell Sequencer (3*Lightning Bolt) helped immensely.

Joined Yoshi. Traveled to De'Arnise hold. Killed a random bandit group since I walked through the city gates this time (easy fight). Talked to Nalia in hopes of accepting the Fighter stronghold now. Looks like I did a big mistake earlier...it's unavailable to my party anymore. Not that the stronghold gives any special items, but a lot of gold and experience has now been lost to me. Well, should've risked it earlier probably. Still, not big of a problem, will try to compensate the xp loss from somewhere else.

As far as I remember, the total xp from this place is something like 250-300 k. And the gold that can be obtained is something like 60k.

PC's experience is 2 204 200. If I go and fight Ashideena's guardian, it will bring me over 2 215 000, which I don't want. So we're going to Spellhold (finally).

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 10 juin 2013 - 08:30 .

[Gate70]

The Tarnor video looks a tidy fight and can see how you are using pause on round end / target dead to make it so.

Do you always click on each avatar to select them, is that just habit/for the video or are the quick select keys (1-6) not an option for you?

& a couple of times now I've seen you nip into the menu but not picked up why. This time I thought you were off into the options > auto-pause then selected nothing. Was that just something you thought about and changed your mind or is there a reason to it?

[Alesia_BH]

saros_shadow_follower wrote...
PC's exact experience is 2 097 253. We can make it!

Glad to hear you're on track!

Your run has looked excellent so far. Kudos!

Cheers,

A.

[saros_shadow_follower]

@Alesia, hopefully the more interesting parts are still ahead. Chapters 4, 6 and 7 are full of interesting fights, there are even a couple in chapter 5 (the Dracolich).

@Gate, I rarely use 1-6 quick buttons (although I use other more often). I have auto-pause on pretty much anything, since an IA game is more or less a chessboard game at cerain point, you just have to play with as many auto-pauses as possible.

Chapter 4, Part 1:

Left for Brynnlaw with more than 35k gold in pack.

Killed 3 vanilla named vampires. Be careful! Those cheat by shooting their Domination spells way off-screen at character members left safely behind on the ship.

Killed a dwarf who dropped the Stonefire battle axe +3. Also he dropped an amulet, ring and cloak +1, as well as an enchanted shield and a full plate.

From the Temple of Umberlee, bought another (third so far) Girdle of Bluntness. These girdles are priceless due to an enormous amount of golems in IA.

Helped Ginia and Ason.

Killed Perth the Adept. He is a high-level mage, but uses Immunity Abjuration, which makes him an easy RRR + Breach target. Assisted by an initial Coin Golem, gates in more each 5-6 rounds. Killed the second too, then decided to kill Perth, because he kept casting spells successfully despite being constantly bothered by melee hits/Hangarth's axe of hurling, and spell disruptions like Larloch's Minor Drain. Still an additional coin golem is worth 22k xp and 1000gp. Trying to make it for that huge xp and gold loss from the Fighter stronghold...

Perth drops 5 Absolute Immunity scrolls (well, if he doesn't waste any, and I didn't allow him to), 3 Spellstrike scrolls and some other insignificant items. Used Yoshi to open some containers in his home.

Time to finish Galvena (video here), fight is simple enough, alhough Vladek uses his Absolute Immunity scrolls fast, this didn't help them. Galvena is a weak fighter wielding a +2 flail. Nothing special looted here, barring a PW: Kill scroll.

Pirate Lord Home - killed Pirate Lord, looted the place.

Way to Spellhold - cleared minor encounters.

Edit: Really sleepy, really tired, i make stupid mistakes in my post because I can't even think right.

Further edited: Random spawns along the way to the Asylum included 9 Noble Trolls and some Spirit ones (spirit ones killed twice via Death Spell's Vhailor). Also, checking on the experience, returned to the city to slay the Priestess of Umberlee for another 14k xp. Entered the Asylum, raised Yoshimo, looted everything available (Naljier Skal created 2 Rogue Stones, Wanev and Dradeel gave some notes which are worth money), faced the dream challenge (lost 1 point of Int, in a previous run let my Wis be dropped to 13 and suffered a lot for that later, a Vagrant should keep the wisdom to at least 14), and talked to Imoen with this much experience.

Keeping Protagonist's experience below 2 350 000 when talking to Imoen (not in the dream, after that!) in Spellhold and PC's levels below 15 is the guarantee of triggering the easiest Asylum version. There are fixed improved encounters though. The "easiness" of that version is actually in the fact that resting anywhere inside the Asylum is safe (no guardians are chasing the party or interrupting rest).

Joined Imoen. Imoen's starting Spellhold experiece is 1 275 000 (sorceress level 13), with the following spell picks (static):

Level 1: Burning Hands, Identify Item, LMD, Magic Missile, Shield
Level 2: Agannazer's Scorcher, Melf's Acid Arrow, Blur, Mirror Image, Knock
Level 3: Dispel Magic, Flame Arrow, Remove Magic, Vampiric Touch
Level 4: Ray of Fragmentation, Stoneskin, Emotion, Spider Spawn
Level 5: Breach, Lower Resistance, Oracle
Level 6: Chain Lightning, Protection from Magical Energy

And she got 625 000 quest xp on joining, hitting lvl 14, new spell pick Monster Summoning V

This spell calls Salamander Nobles, which are decent. Imoen will be most useful as party PFME buffer, and for some fights she may call Salamanders. Some spell picks of hers are highly debatable, namely:

Burning Hands: I really can't imagine how and when this spell is useful.
Identify: Same, especially at this level, when we have tons of ways to identify items (as would any other party, even if consisting of 0 arcane casters would've bought long ago that pair of glasses of identification from Aledrian)
Knock: When this spell is available to any non-sorcerous arcane or any divine caster (IA makes Knock a 3-rd level divine spell as well), I don't see a reason for the Sorceress to pick it.
Dispel Magic...well, she also has Remove Magic, I don't get it. Yeah there are some effects that can only be removed by Dispel Magic only (on party members) but still...
Spider Spawn - Sword Spiders are a weak summon, very weak. And Spider Spawn wastes a precious 4th level slot, which could be either Improved Invisibility, Ice Storm or Polymorph Self - each of these far more useful
Oracle: OK I don't know what self-respecting sorcerer will pick that and still won't have Spell Immunity.

These spell picks make Imoen a really worthless addition to any team IMO (a custom sorceress would have better spell picks), but as I said, her PFME buff makes her useful to the party for now. She will be used as Mazzy - killed and raised when need for buffing arises.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 10 juin 2013 - 10:09 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 4, Part 2:

Spellhold, Riddle level:

From the Statues&chest riddle - don't forget to pick up the Worn Out Boots (can be upgraded to Boots of Haste later).

Random monster spawn near the Head - 3 Greater Yuantis, 2 Yuanti Mages, 1 Minotaur.

Random Yuanti + 1 Yuanti mage spawn after the statue.

Golem spawn near the portal - a Greater Bone, 2 Gem and 2 Coin ones.

Defeated everyone else first (left the golems, Ruhk and the mephits for last). Also temporarily killed Bane in order to summon the Limited Wish golems and slay them. Saros barely made it to level 15 after all that (PC and Bane had reached levels 15 and 16 accordingly). PC's proficiencies are: ** Short Sword *****Axe **Flails **Two-weapon, Bane's proficiencies are **Short Sword *****Flail **Two-weapon.

Ok now the fight with Ruhk, the mephits and the golems:

Part 1
Part 2

This is one of the last golem groups we're gonna face prior to getting HLAs (Hardiness), which would make the Vagrant reasonably well-resistant vs their melee attacks. Only 5 more golems + a special Mithril golem on the level below, and that's it. Gees, Golems are maybe the worst possible opponents in the starting chapters vs a party with a fighter-type protagonist on Insane difficulty. They're fast and totally capable of defeating a healthy fighter with 2 hits only.

Edit: Make that 6 golems on the level below: A Gem and a Coin from the Book challenge, 3 Amber golems from the Kobold fight, 1 Coin Golem in the Library. 3 more Coin Golems guard Gesen's bow string chest, and 1 Mithril golem guards the Token machine. Ops and I forgot Irenicus' six Asylum Scouts (Gem Golems immune to Ray of Fragmentation). Ugh, a lot more golems than I calculated yesterday.

And now for the more interesting fights on the Library level. There are three of those: the random Undead spawn near the library, the Cat'o'nine'lives + Amnestic Librarian, and the Improved Kobold fight (last one's most challenging). Those will be left for tomorrow.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 11 juin 2013 - 09:14 .

[angiras108]

Saros, I am closely following your run through IA and enjoying your carefully documented account. Keep up the good work.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Thank you, but it's no longer a no-reload. See why below.

Chapter 4, Part 3:

Spellhold, Library level.

First of all, let me note that the party cannot leave this level unless Dace and his master are defeated.
Second, don't go near Dace's coffin without a stake.
Third, it's best to carry one from Athkatla, as I did.

Entered from the central stairway, eliminated a bunch of Umberhulks. Further ahead is a random Yuanti spawn (1 mage, 5 yantis). Killed with ease (turns out Yuanti mages are level 14, now sorceress' remove magic works fine). A lone Mist Horror was guarding the S-E corner. Nothing useful here (a scroll of Tenser's Partial Transformation). Killed all but one kobold, hasted everyobne, hid under Invisibility (pixie dust fastest, but also invisibility radius 10) everyone, retreated fast and rested. Kobold follows invisible, but after resting he stays in place.

Reloaded here! This is no longer a no-reload. At least the reload was worth something.

Reason for reloading: The Book challenge is extended and grants different rewards than usual. In vanilla, the reward is the Ring of Free Action. In IA, that ring is in the possession of Sendai.

All of the Book's spawned monsters must be defeated without resting. This I did. Twice. Prior to reloading and after it. But despite the fact that I did defeat all of the enemies on the first try without resting, the book granted me as a reward only 3 items: a scroll of Remove Magic (forgot about that one), a scroll of Ruby Ray of Reversal,a potion of Vitality.

After loading and repeating the fight, the book granted me 4 additional items as a reward (total of 7): a scroll of Memory Boosting, a scroll of Giant Strength, a potion of Barbarian Essence and the Darksteel Shield +4.

Monsters fought both times: Kobold Commando, Sword Spider, Umber Hulk, Mind Flayer, Beholder, Neo-Otyugh, Skeleton Lord, Coin Golem, Gem Golem, Ghost Spider.

Both times all of these monsters were slain without any problem. Both times I took my time prebuffing a bit before the Ghost Spider fight. Both times I prolonged the fight until the Ghost Spider was out of minor spider summons. Both times on one occasion the Ghost Spider lost track of my speedy character (he sees invisible though).

Difference between buffing: No Improved Invisibility the second time. I really don't know why this makes such a big difference. Doesn't sound logical, I just tell the fact I discovered.

Since I really need the rewards from the book (more importantly the red potion and the shield), I reloaded. Frankly, I consider this to be an IA bug, because in the description of the fight it's said only that the book doesn't give full reward if resting between fights. However, here's another example where the book doesn't give full reward, and my party hasn't rested.

Torham gained a clerical level here, level 17.

Edited: OK the full invisibility turns out not to be the resson for the partial reward from the Book. Will test a bit more.

Edited: Tried the fight 5 more times, with and without full invisibility, with and without leading the spider away, with and without turning completely invisible during the fight. Never again did that bug happen. But it definitely exists, I just am unable to locate the exact condition of its triggering.

Edited: I really feel stupid of not making a video here in the first place. But I consider this to be not a notable fight. No matter how much I try, the bug doesn't appear anymore. But it was surely waiting for me the first time! Nasty.

Final edit:

A quote from the BWL forums:

Sikret wrote...

Sparrowjacek wrote...

I've encountered a problem:
The book that summons monsters in the asylum is supposed to give me some nice items, but even though I try many times and slay ALL the monsters(sk. lord, 2 golems and ghost spider at the end) it only grants me 2 weak scrolls and a potion. (without resting!)

It's not just "resting" that affects the treasure you get there. There are other factors involved as well. An actual timer is working there for example. If the whole fight takes longer than a certain amount of time, the treasure will be lowered. Later, I will check the related files to see what other factors are involved.

For now reload and do it again faster. If it still gives lowered treasure, your party doesn't qualify the full treasure set for some other reason.

And this is from IA v6's readme:

- Improved Spellhold
  - Improved Ancient Tome (New battles are added and if you rest before winning all of them, you
                           will not gain all possible treasures from the tome.)

As you can see, it's two totally different explanations about the conditions required to get the max treasure from the book. The original one, which is in the mod's description, is misleading because it doesn't reveal the entire truth about the requirements for winning max treasure. It just states "don't rest and you'll win them all" - which unfortunately turns out to be a lie. Still I count that as a reload.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 15 juin 2013 - 05:42 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 4, Part 3:

After collecting the loot from the book, went to the SE chamber where a lone Kobold (the last one) was previously positioned. Far from home he died.

Buffed extremely well (btw my original video failed due to game crash when Saros' Fireshield Red and the Witch Doctor's Fireshield blue collided). Buffing included:

4 Potions of Absorbtion and 4 of Insulation for all fighters.
2 Potions of Storm Giant Strength (for PC and for the B-M)
2 Potions of Invulnerabiity (for PC and for the Riskbreaker)
3 Potions of Heroism (for PC, B-M and Riskbreaker)
1 Oil of Speed (for the Sorceress)

Also, redistributed items - the B-M got two rings of protection, the sorceress got both the Ring of Acuity and Wizardry temporarily.

ProCold was cast on some fighters, ProFire only on B-M. Decided to test Fireshield:Red vs the Kobold Witch doctor. Turns out he's protected from fire...anyway, the fight itself:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

"Divide and conquer" is always a sound IA strategy, applicable even in the last fight (EDE). If there is room enough to maneuver, enemies are easy to trick. Here we see PFMWed B-M and a R-C approaching carefully to lure only a single Guardian Spirit + Amber Golem.

Guardian Spirits: Improved Chain Lightning also lowers a character's electrical resistance by 75%. That's why my B-M was at only 100% after being hit by 2 (150% from Insulation + Absorbtion gone in a blink). They're weak in melee as can be seen.

The kobold Witch doctor - seems like this guy has no more combat protections barring initial Stoneskin (or was unable to cast them). No PFMW either. He's pretty high-leveled to have any chance with my Remove Magic, probably clerical dispel could work. Or Creeping doom. But it's unnecessary.

Loot from this fight may seem small, but this actually is a quest-fight, because of the crystal shard that opens the door. It's also an extremely hard battle if unprepared. I forgot to prepare a Spell Sequencer with the sorceress (she has 1 scroll) with triple Ray of Fragmentation. However Magic Missiles saved the day (although I had plenty of other options, like an unused Swanmay, 1 more Mordy sword - and you see how resilient are those vs Amber golems, and party fighters were at almost full health the entire time. Fighters should be watched constantly! You saw how PC cried for help and he wasn't even targeted in melee by the golem - entire damage came from Lightning shield and Electrical discharges.

More APR are actually a curse here. Bane was with 4 APR, dealing decent damage, and taking little revenge, but Jack Sparrow was with 7, and despite his superior innate electrical resistance (+40% compared to Bane) he was actually suffering more lightning damage.

Amber golems actually can heal a bit, unlike other minor (Gem, Coin) golems.

Loot:
3 Chunks of Amber (each Amber golem in the game drops 1, need 8 for a specific upgrade, already have 4)
Ring +1
Staff Mace
three +2 longswords, three diamonds (Guardian spirits)

Those potions we used for this fight are a wise investment in IA, because:

Soon fighters will reach level 21, making Heroism potions obsolete (kinda, only a small HP boost)
Soon, mages will hit levels 18-20, and be able to cast Giant Strength for 23/24 str
Soon enough we'll get the Wish spell, which can produce an unlimited amount of potions of Insulation and/or Absorbtion. Plus, those aren't really that useful after this fight.

Besides, this is the toughest fight in chapters 4 and 5 IMO.

Next in line are some random undead. A group of 4 Skeleton Lords, a Shade Lich and 2 extra Skeleton Lords awaits our party in front of the library.

"Divide and conquer" is an obvious tactic for an enemy group in which all melee fighters are fast and powerful, and the sole arcane caster is slow as a turtle:

Video here.

Loot: Unfortunately, only one Lord dropped a Free Action scroll (now have 2).

Killed Dace, immediately staked him (if you go near the library door before that or have a character positioned outside it, the door of the library will open as Dace's spirit will try communicating with you from inside, unfortunately triggering a tough fight prematurely). On the way out, killed his master (a Vampire Lord,a tough vampire fighter with warrior HLAs, good physical and other resistances and good THAC0 and damage, but nothing special under mass NPP and after Breaching his Hardiness).

Blue Bag of Holding (capacity 100, vanilla) found on the Vampire Lord's remains, and now the party can leave the level at will!

Now is the time to engage the last of the improved enemies on this fight, the Cat-o-Nine-Lives and the Amnestic Librarian. But that's for a next entry.

Counting reloads: 1 due to bugged Book challenge.

Edit: Noticed that my B-M didn't have an Absolute Immunity spell scribed yet. Obviously thought about scribing a scroll, but forgot to do it. Did it after killing the Vampire Lord.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 12 juin 2013 - 07:27 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 4, Part 4 (the Library):

For anyone expecting an epic fight, I'm sure to disappoint you all. I'm striving to keep it here as close to a no-reload as it can be, and I'd prefer to keep my reloading to in-game bugs only (be it either IA or vanilla bugs, as with my 2 reloads already - referring to the one in Planar Prison too):

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

The Cat'o'Nine'Lives and the Amnestic Librarian can't follow the party down the stairs, which is logical - they haven't earned the right to leave the level because they didn't kill a Vampire Lord kidding.

Thing is, the last forms of the Cat are really scary - they dispel specific protections on hit, have a chance to apply confusion on hit (hence my changing of the Shield of Harmony between Vagrant and R-C despite Vagrant being under Chaotic Commands prebuff), and right after the cat has dispelled the specific protections of everyone, here comes a nasty lich with many, many hit points and starts casting dangerous offensive magic on my fighters who now lack protection from elemental/magical damage. No, thanks. If a certain victory strategy includes fleeing the fight in order to rest and rebuff, so be it.

Loot: The Amnestic Librarian drops a Scholastic Cloak if PC is a Necromancer. The Scholastic Cloak requres 18 Int and Wis, and besides being a +2 protective cloak also adds 10 HP to the wearer. In this case naturally, the cloak was not dropped. However, we still get 1 Mithril token, a scroll of Monster Summoning IV (6th level spell, calls one of Sikret's improved Minotaurs for 15 rounds) and other not so important items.

The Sorceress gained a level as can be seen, level 16. She picked Monster Summoning VI (calls 1 Elite Troll for 15 rounds) as a new spell. It's really important for the sorceress to choose one good summoning pick at levels 7, 8 and 9 (on 9 I mean besides Planetar), and the MS VI and VII (calls Greater Yuanti fighters) are extremely powerful.

In the library we find the static vanilla arcane scrolls (PW stun scribed by B-M), as well as another mithril token, and a Permanency Scroll.

Outside of the library in a container is the Clerical staff +3. Cool, now even the sorceress has a melee +3 crushing weapon.

The Cat'o'nine'lives is now a part of the party (kinda).

Opened the Statue Head's mouth. PC is now 94 000 xp short from a very important level up, level 16, and it's also very important to reach it before we enter the Mithril token machine room. It probably can be done, will try that next.

A Laeral's tear necklace was found on the table near the Statue head.

Killed Bane. Put his equipment in a Bag (some other items redistributed). Went downstairs. Killed some vanilla trolls with Death Spell Vhailors' for double xp. They don't give much anyway. Killed a bunch of improved Minotaurs. Killed a random yuanti spawn in the picture door room. Opened the door with Umberhulk painting. Fought 24 Wolfweres. Killed a Stone golem. 3 Coin Golems are the guardians of the Gesen string, killed them too. After killing these golems, an item appeared in PC's pack:

Cloak of Magic Shielding

The cloak is always fixed to appear in PC's pack after this fight is won, but only if PC is a Vagrant.

After killing 2 more vanilla trolls, PC's xp is only 37k short of a level-up. Provided there's still about 75-80 k experience to be gained from monsters on this level, and 29 500 quest xp for opening the door to the next one, a quick calculation brought Bane back to life. Fought Bodhi and her 2 Vampires only with characters protected from level drain and domination. Killed the two vampires on the sides. Killed the remaining 8 minotaurs + 1 gauth. PC gained a level (16) and got a second Swanmay (extremely important, we'll see why in the next video, I just hope we won't see PC's death there as well).

Found the oh-so-mighty Maze scroll on this level (scribed by B-M).

After killing all monsters behind the picture doors and looting all containers, B-M also got the Sunfire scroll, and the party now has 25 mithril tokens.

Bane made a level (barely), now 17th, he got Chain Breaker Stance ability. A cool one undoubtedly, but not very useful in the oncoming fight.

The Mithril golem video

This opponent is tough. First, he slays regular summons in one hit. Second, he applies Bleeding damage that bleeds for 5 (on Insane, 10). Finally, his hit dispels illusions, specific protections and combat protections. Even PFMW is no protection vs him. Even Absolute Immunity is not. Plus, the golem has extreme physical resistance. Maybe one of the best weapons vs him is the Treefolk's arm because it always inflicts 1 additional damage on successful hit (golems are unnatural).

Now then, why Elite Trolls summoned by the Monster Summoning VI spells aren't slain in a single hit, aren't they regular summons? Yes, they are. And yes, they weren't slain in a single hit. Reason being the 4th level spell, Death Ward, which effectively protects them vs the first Mithril golem hit. After that the Death Ward is dispelled, however poor designer's scripting forces the golem to change targets immediately after he hits a regular summon (presumes he's killed it, but presumptions will lead you nowhere).

That's why my trolls survived up to the end of the fight. Also, we had 2 Swanmays (the trick with killing a party member temporarily in order for PC to gain 16th level), and Swanmays have their Death Ward implemented (they're immune to instakill effects). As can be seen, their Wing Swing was extremely effective, and they too were under Improved Haste and Giant Strength buffs. R-C had 2 Mass Heals ready and 3 regular Heal spells to cure Swanmays if need be, but there was none, and so he preferred fighting till the very end. RB was prebuffed with a Defense potion, in order to improve AC for the golem not to pick him as a target. PC was wearing the Darksteel Shield, as usual. The golem prefers dispelling Stone/Ironskins and will preferably attack such characters, as well as summons which he considers to be an easy prey.

Loot from the golem are 10 Mithril tokens, needed for an important upgrade later. For now, we used 25 out of the 35 collected tokens to create Boots of Speed and of Grounding.

That's it for now, thank you for watching Spellhold's toughest fights made look like a child's play on Insane.

Next - improved Irenicus.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 12 juin 2013 - 07:38 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 4, Part 5, Irenicus:

After completing the Apparition's tasks, Torham gained a clerical level (18). Went upstairs, buffed very well, went upstairs again.

Lonk the Sane is defeated very easily via full-invisible gang attack (see Elite Bounty Huntress fight).

Irenicus, however, is not such an easy prey. He still managed to disrupt somehow my flawless no-reload tactic with a surprise Remove Magic on an inmate. Still, my RB and PC kept their max distance and thus their buffs weren't removed. Otherwise things would've gotten ugly since I would have had to face Irencius either with summons + sorceress only or with Potions of Magic shielding on the Vagrant + the Cloak of Magic shielding (Irenicus has a triple ADHW Chain Contingency).

The initial sorceress' Remove magicks were very essential, since Jon is fond of refreshing his Mirror Images and Melf's meteors (those both always dispelled by Remove Magic).

The fight itself:

Part 1
Part 2 
Part 3

A small mistake here: Should've hidden my fighters up instead of down. But I really didn't expect Jon to waste Remove Magic on an inmate.

After finishing Jon, B-M gained wizard level 16, now being able to cast one 8th level spell.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 13 juin 2013 - 04:40 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 4, Part 6, the Sahuagin City:

Killed some pirates in Brynnlaw. Sold some items to the shop here (this shop is still available in Athkatla, one-time only, City Gates district). Gold is 140 000. Killed Desharik (again) before leaving. Killed all Gith, all alive Pirates and also all five Sahuagin that spawn (Death Spell), transferring in time all important items to the Vagrant PC. Captain Jack Sparrow will need those for the Sahuagin challenge. He has to defeat a Yuanti mage alone (buffs dispelled).

The challenge

Not a very hard fight with the right items (Shield of Harmony being the most important one, but also Boots of Speed).

A band of vanilla Sahuagin waited to summon 6 times Aguilians and Undead before being killed (as promised, all unlimited xp or gold exploits will be limited to 6 times max). Sold some more items, bought 3 Polymorph self scrolls for the sorceress.

Cleared all Sahuagin rebels. Some 16-th level mages here. Very susceptible to Creeping Doom though. No scrolls, so they die easily.

Sold all their stuff to the temple. Gold is 150k.

Drow section - traps evaded with proper protection, minor improved spider spawn defeated, a bone golem too, Spectator beholder parted with chest and then killed, imp riddle solved - imps killed afterwards.

Got a Permanency scroll, and also the vanilla +2 cloak and the Boots of Etherealness - both extremely important in IA.

Prince Villynaty fight - for the next (and last chapter 4) entry.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 4, Part 7 Last entry - the Prince and the King:

The fight with Prince Villynaty was longer than expected (those videos are currently uploading):

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

As you can see, the Prince has a really excellent THAC0, and his snakes as well. I again forgot to use a ton of items and again Jack Sparrow's crimson background mislead me on how much health does he have. Also, inexplicably, those Elite Trolls turned against me...maybe I accidentally attacked one? I had entire battlefield lit with 3 Farsights in order not to lose track of summons. Still, they did one hell of a good job + Swanmays too.

I definitely messed up the tactic, should have only characters with Skins engage the prince and his snakes up to the point where he's vulnerable to melee attacks, and refresh IHaste with sorc. Being fast and greedy never pays off.

I also don't understand why Prince Villynaty was immune to weapons once all minor sahuagin were slain - probably I had to kill a score of his snakes in order for him to be vulnerable to attacks. And also, Creeping doom turned out to be great vs the snakes, probably should have a 2nd one memorized, and not GR. But all's well that ends well, hopefully this is one of the last hard fights without HLA (Hardiness).

Scrolls of Mordenkainen Sword and Soul Armor found here, as well as the spear Impaler naturally (a very good item, but no one can use spears effectively) and the Wave Blade.

BTW Soul Armor looks inferior to Spirit Armor, but that spell in IA has been nerfed.

Sorceress gained a level, she picked Spell Sequencer and ADHW as new spells at levels 7 and 8.

Sold some more stuff, reported to the king, and killed him with a double sequencer. All his remaining minions turned hostile, including the Priest of Sekolah (the shop). Killed them. Opened the treasure vault. Got another rope, and a scroll of Protection from the elements (no second Lordly Might rod sadly). But the scroll and extra xp are always worth it! Also, the king drops scrolls of Chain Lightning and Death fog, worth some coin.

Torham, Bane and Jack all gained levels here (Torham 19th clerical, Bane 18th fighter - got Risk Decrement, PC 17th Vagrant - not very important).

Imoen also gained a level (strictly from quest xp) and now has three new spells: Spell Immunity, Improved Haste, Mass Invisibility. Any spell that could benefit the party most as a pre-buff is a good choice for her. Probably could go with Animate Dead at level 15, but I can summon more than enough skeletons vs Big bandaged (a.k.a. the Dracolich) as it is. With SI I can even risk and include her into a fight if needed. Giant Strength is weak for her because she will cast it only for 21, and pretty soon my B-M will be able to do it for 23.

Be seeing you in One Big Wrapped XP present...errr, I mean, chapter 5.

Edit: Gold 153k, Invulnerability potions 8.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 15 juin 2013 - 12:09 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 5, Part 1 - The first drow ambush:

Everything is easy with the right tactic - even this not-so-easy on Insane fight:

Part 1
Part 2

Fire Storm ignores Magic Resistance, although the description doesn't say so. Of course enemy casters are protected from fire, but it takes some time before their buffs kick in. Spell Sequencer with triple Fireball, if targeted on Self, also ignores Magic resistance. Also had a Sunfire contingencied "On Hit". But the second drow mage managed to survive at near-death (hoped to kill them both).

I could refine the strategy a bit by adding a clerical Dispel Magic off-screen, but I doubt I will be able to dispel enemy clerical's buffs (probably way above level 19), and mages run SI:A and Spell Turning (they require 2 RRR before being able to dispel). But the fire eliminated tons of spiders and the 3 enemy Drow Warriors, which on insane are more than a match 1/1 for Bane or Jack Sparrow. I had Jack with an army of 3 Trolls + 2 Swanmays to wait below. He was the "reserves" in this fight, while Bane and Torham were "backup" for the main force, i.e. Saros who once again single-handedly distracted the attention of all enemies.

Well, I really was hoping to drain both Ghost spiders of minor summons, but this is dangerous at present. Probably, could do it safely at the expense of several limited items (PFMW scrolls, a potion of Free Action). Still, one being drained almost completely (lost patience in the end, didn't wanna risk it, IHaste was running low) is good.

The loot here includes 5 Drow Full Plates. This will be the best armor possible for the R-C in Underdark, even on future visits here he will have a suit. Unfortunately no Drow Elven Chain, the first such suit is found in Ust-Natha. Also, found a +3 drow flail for PC, if need be for crushing weapons (the party lacks +3 flails).

Preparations (resting, sequencers, contingencies) were made while still in the Sahuagin city. First we needed a base of operations in the Underdark, before it could be allowed for the party to rest in this unsafe region. Clearing the first drow ambush + the nearby Myconid colony (all colonies drained out of summons) provided that base, since now the Swirfneblin town is ready to give our heroes a warm welcome and safe rest whenever the need arises.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 15 juin 2013 - 06:55 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 5, Part 2:

Cleared some improved Kuo-Toans. Their warriors are frightening enough on Insane, but after applying Creeping Doom on their mages and priests, those are laughable (the mages are otherwise equal to the Drow Mages fought previously, but without their magic resistance naturally). Cleared the Victims of Imprisonment (all killed except for the swirfneblin naturally, Raevlin Strathi healed - gave Albruin, then killed). Cleared some vanilla Mind Flayers in the S-W part of this region. Cleared the elemental portals of lesser elementals (xp from those decreased, 3k each, 33 elementals total).

Got a pair of Bracers AC 4 reward from a swirfneblin.
BTW Jhor the Bleeder +2 is no longer in possession of Riti.

Those Duergar should really lower their prices, 5 250 gp for a scroll of Mass invisibility, right. And I won't even discuss their Freedom scroll prices. We'll find another way to free Vithal.

Sleep is interrupted either by a lone Umber Hulk Elder, or by a bunch of improved Lizardmen (little better THAC0 but a lot more HP compared to vanilla), so it's best to rest in the Swirfneblin village, although it's tedious going there each time the party needs to rest. But better safe than sorry. Also, this is the best way to ensure Contingencies not triggering prematurely.

The fight with the Balor.

Note to self - always buy the Knave's robe from the Adventurer's mart. Costs only 444 gp with max discount, grants that last 1 bonus to save vs Death, so needed by the sorceress as can be seen (with it, she will save 100% vs 3*FoD CC, both in this fight and vs the Planar Warden).

Anyway, the Balor would've died even with Seri Flamehair fallen, but I really don't wanna her to lose any xp.

Got some quest xp, but about 210 000 more is required for Seri to gain level 18.

Now we can do three things - go inside the Beholder tunnels (with a party, those are easiest of all Mathron Mother requests), go battle the Kuo-Toan prince (however his warriors are scary until ours get Hardiness, nothing very frightening but I'd rather wait) or battle the second drow ambush. Yes well, it most probably's gonna be the beholder tunnels - the drow ambush - the main chapter 5 plot - the kuo-toans - the drow guardians of the gate (leaving 2 skeletons, these guardians are almost vanilla) - report to Adalon.

The Elder Orb fight.

Additional items drop: Manual of Elaboration, Potions of Storm and Cloud Giant str + vanilla ones.

Either the Orb doesn't have Imprisonment, or doesn't use it. There is yet another Elder Orb living in this tunnels though, and it's vanilla I think (meaning, Imprisonment and all), so I've sent a bunch of powerful summons to deal with it and the rest of its group. Beholders give little xp though.

There is an entrance to the Deepdark Caverns inside the Beholder Caverns, but it's too early for the party to go there (we need HLAs).

Still, we're slowly yet steadily approaching that HLA border. Saros gained mage level in here (17th).

Now it's time to finally enter the drow city. Unfortunately we have to go through the bridge first. Drow are ambushing again:

Part 1
Part 2

In this fight only undispellable buffs were used as a prebuff. Giant Strength, True Sight, Enrage, Tenser's Partial transformation. Again the weight of the battle fell on the shoulders of the B-M who was well, but not perfectly protected vs the improved web (save vs spells of -3 means a chance 1/20 to fail the save vs the Web). Still even if he was Webbed, the party had 4 rounds to save him.\\

Used a small army of summons (six, because Swanmays are not added to the total of 5 summons per battle). Swanmays were Improved Hasted by Imoen and the protected from Web via Free Action. Trolls same, but Death Ward was added to three of them as a protection vs Death Spell. Some of the spiders can dispel that (and Free Action) on hit though. Mass Invisibility is an excellent way to cloak a large group of summons fast, also Chant and Bless were added. Probably should go with proEvil and Defensive Harmony too, but thought this to be overdoing it.

The ideas when the fight started:

Jack quaffing immediately Free Action potion in order for the Ghost spider (spawned near him) to see only party member+summons all immune to his Improved Web and to target it on Saros instead (which the spider did).

Saros casting PFMW and immediately switching to best protective gear (alas, only -3 save vs spells, but still, he can't fail 4 times in a row vs Improved Web with that save).

Torham, Alia and Bane working fast to ensure one more powerful and immune to Web fighter.

The rest of the fight is pretty obvious, although I did miss the priestess' death (seen quite clear on the movie btw) and I thought her to be hidden under her Invisibility potion somewhere, that's why Seri cast that Remove Magic. But counted the drow plates post factum (5) and saw that she fell too.

What I regret about this fight is the same as with the previous one - didn't plan things well enough to drain the Ghost Spider of summons completely.

Killed the lone drow standing outside of the city. He's pretty fast but if surrounded by completely invisible fighters, has nowhere to run.

Entered Adalon's cave to rest. Sorc is 130k experience short of 18th level, PC is even closer. Other chars will gain their HLAs somewhat later.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 15 juin 2013 - 04:10 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 5, Part 3: Inside the Drow city:

Upon entering we kill 2 Gith (one has a +1 longsword). No one pays any attention. We also collect an elven chain from a nearby corpse, which Saros immediately dons.

We first enter the tavern and kill a lot of opponents, collecting their elven chains and other equipment lying in the arena. Also we get the Blade of Searing +3 - an excellent weapon for the RB, who actually put * into Bastard Swords at lvl 18.

Torham gained clerical level 20 here. No HLAs, but at least all of his spells will now be very hard to dispel and most of them last really long.

We agree to help Amariel (the required answer needed for successful completion of the quest is "I cannot watch a child in distress, will do everything to help you", appears as 1st option in the middle of the conversation, only then the option about asking for her brother's name appears).

Meet Sola, buff well, go outside, mess up the tactic completely (my own Sunfire disrupting my own RRR), but N'ashtar's group is weak thankfully. That thief with the free True Sight messed up things a bit.

N'ashtar's party fight.

Here we find the Dragon Breath +4. As almost all powerful weapons with elemental damage, this halberd is nerfed as well - to unleash elemental damage only on a small % chance. That means that the Harmonium Halberd is still the preferred weapon for the B-M. Other items include some PFMW scrolls from N'ashtar and...almost nothing else (OK a couple of superior healing potions and sellable items).

Bane gained a level here, nothing special on a Riskbreaker level 19.

Next follow some vanilla tasks. Quilue's domestic mages are very lightly improved. We also finish the tavern fights. Nothing extraordinarily happens up until the point we're presented to the Matron Mother Ardulace.

PC and sorc both gained level 18. PC got yet 15% more innate elemental resistances, and first HLA chosen was Hardiness. Sorc's HLA pick is Fallen Planetar, her first 9th level spell is Wish. Using max discount from Wish, bought:

Robe of the Evil Archmagi (Sorc really needs a good robe, and it's anyone's guess when we're gonna find Vecna, so for 17k gold it seems like a good investment)
Rod of Smiting (11 k, it's the best staff so far, and can even be upgraded before the last fight, provided we get there)
Scrolls of Minor Sequencer and Mass Invisibility.
3 potions of Magic Shielding

Gold is 145k after the purchases.

Killed Slime god's followers (vanilla).

Remaining tasks in Ust-Natha:

Deirex
Noble Efreeti
House Jae'lat: Part 1 and Part 2

Efreeti bottle in Deirex's tower 2nd floor, its picking provokes the Noble Efreeti attack.
Fireshield collision trick invented by another IA player. BTW a Noble Efreeti was a very formidable opponent...until this trick was discovered.
A potion of Magic shielding found amongst other loot in Jae'lat's house.
Rescued Amariel's brother (Deirex's tower floor 1) and got some valuable scrolls - a second IHaste and a Permanency one being the most valuable. Also got a good amount of quest xp.

Sold tons of items to non-swindling merchants (BTW turns out there's no need to impress the Drow merchants for max discount other than rep and high cha).

Went outside to see what the Duergar will offer in Drow form. Not much, decided not to shop. BTW here's how the party freed Vithal.
Also, got his book'o'spells without paying 300gp (Drow form).


Gave blood to Matron Mother Ardulace, betrayed her (golem guardians of the eggs vanilla), tried to kill Ardulace and Phaere the moment the Demon Lord targeted them with Flamestrike. Worked - got the xp for killing them. Killed everyone I could inside the Drow City before exiting. Left, but didn't report to Adalon yet.

Bane and Torham gained levels (20th and 21th), and accordingly, their first HLAs are Hardiness and Foreknowledge.

Gold is nearly 200 000.

Now Saros is close to a level-up and first HLA (only 30k experience). Before reporting to Adalon, we have to clear some Kuo-Toans and gate guardians. With that amount of Hardinesses, it will be easy.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 5, Part 4 - Minor Errands:

Going upstairs, the party defeats a bunch of beholders via summons only, and two bunches of Kuo-Toans. Their mages and priests have no defense vs insects, and even the warriors are badly affected. Return, rest, repeat, this time with a larger warrior group - nothing scary since they all focus on the R-C, and party fighters are anyway under Hardiness.

Left only the Kuo-Toan prince alive (checked on him via Farsight).

Killed the Drow guarding the gate - all but 2 skeletons.

Reported to Adalon.

Adalon engaged the 2 remaining skeletons - Breach + melee killed her very fast. Killed the 2 skeletons afterwards.

Went upstairs, killed all elves. Drow too. Some elves try to speak and escape, cowards! Focused on them first, they couldn't make it.

Sold almost all adamantite weaponry and armor collected to the Swirfneblin. Didn't sell only a full plate, two elven chains and all captured crowssbow bolts (1 bolt = 1 pile of Adamantite dust). Gold is 225 000.

Saros gained 18-th wizard level here. HLA picked (after a lot of thinking) was an extra 6th level spell. I really need as many 6th and 7th level slots vs Kruin as possible.

PC also gained a level (19), picked a second Hardiness as HLA (was really torn between Hardiness and Contact with Nature), but most importantly - now he can gate a Greater Swanmay.

Last preparations are being made before the party fights the Kuo-Toan prince and possibly helps (and kills) Vithal as well.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 5, Part 5:

Buffed well before engaging the Kuo-Toan prince. Didn't wanna provoke any True Sight castings, kept illusions limited to Blur. But the mistake here was not engaging with the R-C first and not casting that initial Creeping Doom fast enough. Poisoning the tadpool delayed me a lot.

Kuo-Toan prince fight

Anyway, CC was prebuffed to everyone, and only R-C got his one dispelled, and logically, fell asleep to a Greater Command.

Loot from this fight includes an extra Permanency Scroll. Other items are vanilla (OK the prince also has a +2 flail). Until the Kuo-Toan Dukes are defeated, the prince is immune to weapons. His blood can be sold in IA for 1800 gp.

Helped Vithal, killed Vithal. -2 reputation. And the items are nothing worth it (no Time Stop scroll, no rod of Absorbtion), but at least they're expensive sellables. Still require a bit of xp before reaching next clerical level, and I don't even know if I will get another 7th level slot (have only 2 at present). Sorc will get a new level pretty soon as well.

Going to the DeepDark caverns now, and after that - to the surface (hopefully the Dracolich will be no trouble).

We enter the DeepDark caverns from here. Meet with a Drow ghost, and start navigating the maze.

The maze is similar to the WK level 3 maze, but somewhat easier to navigate. There are just two doors, will name them South and West.

Buff well, go South. Here we meet a lone Bone Devil. Those guys can sometimes gate an extra Bone Devil, which in return may gate in another, so it's good xp-wise. But relies almost solely on luck. I really don't know what prompts them to gate additional ones, but I was really hoping to get to 7. However, this time only 3 (initial one + 2 gated). It's still better than 1. Now this room's clear.

From here West. In the next chamber, a Skeleton Lord respawns each time when entering. No xp, no loot.

West again. Here we have to battle 2 Whisper spiders + a Ghost one. Ghost spider drained out of minor summons before slain.

That's just exactly the amount which Seri requires for a level up, and here she is at lvl 19, with Chain Contingency and Foreknowledge as new spell picks (Foreknowledge is an 8-th level wizard spell as well as 7-th level clerical HLA), and Improved Alacrity as new HLA.

The Western door leads us to this same room, and it's cleared now. So we take South and here we are, at the maze's beginning.

As a side note, this room with the Ghost + 2 Whisper spiders is entirely optional. BTW this Ghost Spider either lacks Improved Webs or didn't use them due to scripting errors. But extra xp is always handy, so I'd recommend first clearing this room and then navigating the rest of the maze.

Another interesting thing is that this particular Ghost spider drops a Raise Dead scroll + the usual for any Ghost spider scroll trio (Spider Spawn, Web, Neutralize poison).

From the starting room we go South.

South again from here.

Next room is an empty room. From here we prepare for a spider battle (all Chaotic Commands) and go west.

10 Whisper spiders here, nothing problematic if prepared. Also, they don't come all at once (3 starting, 1 more spawned each round). Torham gained a clerical lvl 22 here, picked Globe of Blades as HLA (think it will be most useful in recent fights).
In the pool here is an Enchanted weapon scroll + potions. Almost all pools contain potion(s).

West from here, and we're in the starting room with the Drow Ghost.

Note: This is not the quickest road through the maze, I just wanted some relatively easy xp before fighting any guardians.

From starting room: South-West (greeted again by a Skeleton Lord)-South (here we have a constantly respawning Whisper spider, just 1, no xp, each time upon entering the room). From here we prepare for now we're gonna face 6 Neo-Otyughs to the West.

The Neo-Otuygh's southern door is the exit of the maze, however we require a key to pass through. So we go West, and again West (prepare for battle).

In the last room, to the east is a Guardian ghost (a high-level cleric) accompanied by 3 Deep Shadows (much like original shadows, drain strength, but with far superior movement, attacks, THAC0 and HP, no MR though, susceptible to ADHW although one won't kill them, more likely four will). An easy fight - Breaching the ghost too. Here we find a key, and some cool potions in the pool AFTEr the Guardian Ghost has died.

One potion of Magic Shielding here. From this place there is one door leading out, so we take it and we're in the previous room. From here we go South to a room with a constantly respawning 1 Deep Shadow. Two more times to the South, and we're in the starting point again.

From here we go South-South-West-South, passing through 2 previously cleared caverns. Here we prepare for a major battle with a ton of Deep Shadows. We go through the Western door to challenge them (requires the key looted from the Guardian Ghost to enter). Everybody focuses on defense rather than offense, until the mages unleash: one Greater Malison, second 3*ADHW Chain Contingency with a devastating effect. The Globe of Blades also helps after the malison.

In the pool of this room is the Maze Sigil - the last key we need.

From here only one door leads to the West. Then we go South (Skeleton lord)-South (whisper spider)-West(previous Neo-Otyugh lair) and we're ready to face the Dracolich to the South.

I really, really want to be able to use my Chain Contingency once again, but for that I have to wait 24 hours, and rest here is interrupted by more Neo-Otyughs. What the heck, we rest.

Resting interrupted several times by Neo-Otyughs, who occasionally managed to disease Bane (on insane, if not cured=death). However we have plenty of ways to deal with disease even not including limited charge items like Staff of Curing or Potions of Vitality. No problem.

Rested for 24 hours, loaded a Contingency for Saros with Animate Dead (trigger on Hit) and same condition Chain Contingency for Seri, loaded with 2 Mordy swords + an Elite Troll.

What we're up against: Dracolich: a F/M (mage level 25) immune to spell levels 1-5, with melee attack that inflicts elemental cold damage, level-draining breath (was a Shadow dragon in previous life), and a special ability Wail, which he uses periodically (works like Wail of the Banshee, save vs death required at -5). Has almost all other nasty dragon abilities, including a good set of PFMW spells. As a lich - immune to Normal weapons.

The Wail can be heard throughout the entire cave. So we redistribute items quickly, decreasing save vs death of everyone at -4. OK we try to. Will decrease saves further with spells, if no other alternative, then Death Ward.

We have only 1 Stone Form potion, which the Sorceress will use.

 So without further adue, the battle itself:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Quite a long battle, because enemy's PFMW have to be waited out. The trick of triggering them isn't so simple...the Dracolich starts the fight under Stoneskin, it has to be removed for him to cast Spell Trigger (which has PFMW and another Skin), and the second skin again has to be removed for him to start depleting his vast reserve of PFMW spells.

Summons guidance and purpose: Best summons vs the Dracolich are the Skeleton Warriors, since they're immune to his cold damage, immune to Wail, immune to his instakill hit (each of his hits requires save vs death or target dies), immune to his lvl-draining breath. Even Swanmays aren't immune to the Wail, that's why I watched them constantly.

Unfortunately, the Skeleton Warriors are too weak to make any difference. They cannot peel enemy's skins nor can inflict enough damage after enemy protections are down.

So we used another type of summons - powerful IA monsters immune to lvl drain, with Death Ward providing protection vs Wail and melee hits. Strangely enough, Death Ward didn't provide any protection vs enemy's Death Spell to that Elite troll who died from it.

Summons have to be controlled carefully so in case of Wing Buffet they're not buffeted in the direction of the party. Best if they face backwards, but then again there is a chance of them being stuck into the deep corners of Dracolich's lair. We had enough Farsights, sure, but probably could've memorized more Limited Wishes to regain those and Death wards.

Planetars are good fighters and are immune to Wail. Unfortunately, they're not immune to lvl drain effects. BTW I forgot that Mordy Swords aren't immune to lvl drain either and was stuck with some useless spells in the B-M's spellbook (could've picked more Limited Wishes). Also, the CC should be with triple Elite Trolls.

Anacondas are much more damage resilient to the Dracolich's hits compared to Elite trolls.

Only one mistake: Thought Bane didn't need Lilarcor anymore, so there was a tight spot of him saving vs a Chaos spell. he saved, but it was nonetheless a close call. Should've left the blade in his possession until the fight ended.

Edit: It was a mistake, but after re-watching the video saw that the spell Bane saved against was an Emotion, which he can resist 100% with save vs spells of -1. There were some other mistakes - preparing an unusual number of Mass Cures, which turned out to be obsolete, preparing a Heal spell rather than another Wondrous Recall, not raising Imoen when the Dracolich was clearly out of Wails - she could help Improved Hasting summons at least or gate in Salamander Nobles. Also, should've prepared more than 2 Zones of Sweet Air - probably 4.

The Dracolich has some poor scripting - he has several Death Fogs but won't use them to get rid of summons - will only use them on a party member, which is not very clever, since Death Fog deals very little damage even on Insane and its focal point can be controlled very well by the target, as can be seen from the video.

The loot from this fight: the Mana Bow +4, and static items: Manual of Elaboration, scrolls of Hand of Undoing, Limited wish and Bless, golden star garnet, powdered body of dracolich, a Barbarian essence potion and a scroll of Protection from Level drain.

Bane gained a fighter level 21, getting his third (and last) innate Improved Haste, and picking second Hardiness as HLA.

Now we're ready to exit the Underdark.

Edit: I'd really prefer fighting the Dracolich on higher xp levels (with effective Dispel and Remove Magic), however there is an "anti-cheat" measure here far as I know which prevents the party from fighting the Dracolich in chapters 6 or 7. But I will postpone the fights with the Demon Knights and Master Brain until I get enough HLAs and high enough levels. Plus, it's not like the Demon Knights have something that valuable - girdle of Frost Giant Strength looks obsolete compared to the Giant Strength spell, which Saros now casts for 23.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 17 juin 2013 - 07:27 .

[Flamedance]

As soon as my old laptop is repaired, i might actually join you here (if that's ok with you). I stopped playing IA6 shortly after it was released and never got around to playing it again. I hate leaving things unfinished. I very much doubt i'll be able to do a no-reload, though. Well, actually i'm sure i won't be able to:) Well done so far, btw. You're past the point where i gave up in frustration.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Great that my run inspires people to try the mod. Although I have to admit that even with a perfect knowledge of it I myself often get bored (it's just not fun after a certain point). Just to make you feel better - probably I won't make it in a no-reload either.

[Flamedance]

I played (and finished) IA5 years ago. IA6 is worse, though. Which is a pity, imo, since.some of the battles are really, really well designed. Lots of cool ideas, but Sikret's obsession with removing "cheese",makes every incarnation of the mod a more frustrating experience then the previous one. IA6 may well be the most difficult game i've ever played. But hey, what's life without a challenge.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Chapter 6, Part 1:

Sold some more items to the Swirfneblin before leaving. Left the drow armor + most of the bolts in a container. Carried out 6*1 bolt, creating 6 piles of adamantite dust.

Travelled fully invisible. Encountered Drizzt. Gated a full complement of powerful summons. Surrounded Drizzt fully invisible. Talked to him. Enlisted his help vs Bodhi. Immediately after his goodbye everyone attacked him, while sorc under Alacrity started delivering quick justice around. Katti Brie is also MR 100%, so she was next melee target. Other guys fell to the sorceress' spells.

Ring of Invisibility looted from this fight should not go into a container, nor the party should rest. Went to WK, sold everything. This way, the ring is worth 9 000 gp instead of just 900.

2 Potions of Stone Giant str here. You see, it's important to kill them, since they carry ingredients for an IA upgrade.

In WK area - Mazed Sister Garlena and Odren, killed Brother Pol and the remaining 3 Vigil knights (focus on the mages first). Sellable items here. Odren and Sister Garlena went out of the Maze neutral, not knowing what happened. Party explained to them everything "Sudden mass heart attack, these things happen, hm..."

Now before engaging Kruin, we have some areas to clear of monsters (the new 3 areas for example). Also, we need some special items, so Windspear Hills is in order, hopefully we'll find what we need from Samia's group.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 17 juin 2013 - 07:08 .