The Candlekeep Annex: RPed Baldur’s Gate No and Low Reload Adventures
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Borco
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Sorsha, human bard: Part 33
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32
"The svirfneblin dug too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of the Underdark. Shadow and flame."
When I told Sorsha that she's about to fight demons, her response was unexpectedly pragmatic: "With what?"
It took me some time to figure out the answer. First, I had to double-check the difficulty level of the "Improved Fiends" SCS component only to find out that this had been set to "Basic". The improved demons are notoriously powerful and I'm really really far from the point where I'd want to make the game as difficult as possible.
Nevertheless, Sorsha was like "C'mon, we've got this - beef them up a bit!". Alright girl, have it your way then (but we'll not enter the Tactical nor Hardcore territories yet).
As to her initial question, we'll need at least +3 weapons for sure (Pixie Prick and Scarlet Ninja-To will do). And Tenser's to pump up the dual-wielding Thac0. And Spell Shield against Breach and Abjuration immunity to prevent the balor's high level dispels. And ProFire because you ought not to leave home without it. Not to forget Fireshield: Blue. And last but not least, PfMW to stop his vorpal blade, squeezed into Sorsha's "See Enemy" contingency. Here we are, ready as ever.
We made a conscious decision to omit the use of traps here. Sorsha's daily resources are limited and, with all the buffs that are needed for her to operate efficiently, she's at risk of becoming a one-trick pony. It's a completely legitimate approach to throw all you've got into one encounter and then rest, however I'm constantly trying to learn how to grant Sorsha a little bit more "reach" with her daily pool of spells and abilities.
Sorry, I'm babbling when I should be covering the battle with the balor already. Here we go - Sorsha's opening contingency fired up as soon as the demon arrived.
We engaged in melee and immediately knew that the poor balor was just inadvertently cheated. I had not realized that SCS balors have this Aura of Flaming Death type of ability - our first hit triggered an endless chain reaction between our respective fireshields, while Sorsha was the only one with the appropriate elemental immunity in place.
It was all over before our PfMW expired. I'm sorry, this wasn't supposed to happen and it's clearly an exploit. We'll try make up for it, I promise.
We sealed the shaft and, with our buffs still fresh, proceeded through the myconid king to assist Vithal with the portal guardians. Fun fact - pickpocketing his scrolls was actually Sorsha's first act of thievery since stealing Dushai's Ring of Free Action in Ulgoth's Beard.
Onto the kuo-toans at the southeastern bridge. With the right defenses in place, these fish are relatively easy to deal with, mainly since they are susceptible to both fire damage as well as Death Spell.
We started with Arvoreen in the off-hand to counter the stun bolts, however as soon as Sorsha examined the bolts we knew that these would run against our save vs. spells at no penalty so we should be safe anyway.
What we also found out is that Sorsha has developed a chronic problem with her saves vs. death (partly due to being addicted to the Claw of Kazgaroth) - she got poisoned by Poison spell and had to quaff a Potion of Health mid fight.
We also made a note of kuo-toans' illusion dispel abilities, which do not seem to be that much of an issue for Sorsha on a standalone basis, but could become extremely dangerous if there are other types of enemies around that could exploit her lack of II or MIs.
I was expecting the war party at the northern bridge to be as formidable as the one we had faced shortly after entering the Underdark, but apparently these drow do not scale with level - this meant that Sorha ended up being completely overbuffed and overprepared for them.
By the way, this may seem like metagaming (given that this fight is supposed to be an ambush), but actually I didn't remember what exactly happens at the bridge. We arrived invisible, but otherwise we're only carrying few residual buffs from the previous battle with the kuo toans. Once the drow party teleported in, we quietly retreated, rested and re-engaged.
The way was now clear for Sorsha to visit to Adalon and enter Ust Natha under the guise of Veldrin of Ched Nased.
Regards,
B.
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32
"The svirfneblin dug too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of the Underdark. Shadow and flame."
When I told Sorsha that she's about to fight demons, her response was unexpectedly pragmatic: "With what?"
It took me some time to figure out the answer. First, I had to double-check the difficulty level of the "Improved Fiends" SCS component only to find out that this had been set to "Basic". The improved demons are notoriously powerful and I'm really really far from the point where I'd want to make the game as difficult as possible.
Nevertheless, Sorsha was like "C'mon, we've got this - beef them up a bit!". Alright girl, have it your way then (but we'll not enter the Tactical nor Hardcore territories yet).
As to her initial question, we'll need at least +3 weapons for sure (Pixie Prick and Scarlet Ninja-To will do). And Tenser's to pump up the dual-wielding Thac0. And Spell Shield against Breach and Abjuration immunity to prevent the balor's high level dispels. And ProFire because you ought not to leave home without it. Not to forget Fireshield: Blue. And last but not least, PfMW to stop his vorpal blade, squeezed into Sorsha's "See Enemy" contingency. Here we are, ready as ever.
We made a conscious decision to omit the use of traps here. Sorsha's daily resources are limited and, with all the buffs that are needed for her to operate efficiently, she's at risk of becoming a one-trick pony. It's a completely legitimate approach to throw all you've got into one encounter and then rest, however I'm constantly trying to learn how to grant Sorsha a little bit more "reach" with her daily pool of spells and abilities.
Sorry, I'm babbling when I should be covering the battle with the balor already. Here we go - Sorsha's opening contingency fired up as soon as the demon arrived.
What we also found out is that Sorsha has developed a chronic problem with her saves vs. death (partly due to being addicted to the Claw of Kazgaroth) - she got poisoned by Poison spell and had to quaff a Potion of Health mid fight.
I was expecting the war party at the northern bridge to be as formidable as the one we had faced shortly after entering the Underdark, but apparently these drow do not scale with level - this meant that Sorha ended up being completely overbuffed and overprepared for them.
The way was now clear for Sorsha to visit to Adalon and enter Ust Natha under the guise of Veldrin of Ched Nased.
Regards,
B.
Borco
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Sorsha, human bard: Part 33 - continued
Our first task in Ust Natha was to rescue Phaere. I admit that fighting Chandrilla and her party en route to the meeting point with Soulafein is a questionable move from the role playing perspective, but unfortunately the Underdark is already a dangerous place and we didn't want to have any more red circles wandering around.
We approached invisible, running SI: D, GoI (via Magic Flute) and Fireshield: Blue in addition to our standard buffs.
Sorsha scored an early win by putting N'ashtar to sleep with her opening strike by Pixie Prick.
However, we were unable to finish the mage in melee, since his triggered pre-buffs made him instantly invisible. Instead, Sorsha dropped a DBF at her feet, shortly followed by another.
N'ashtar soon fell to Tuigan-fired acid arrows.
Skull Trap and the third DBF helped us to further dilute the remaining crowd.
The survivors were easy pickings for our dual-wielding scimitars.
For Phaere's rescue, we needed a plan. Things can easily go wrong when facing illithids alone, not to mention when there are protégés to take care of. In order to create a little distraction, Sorsha summoned an Invisible Stalker (a relatively new addition into her spellbook), whose immunities should come in quite handy. She also applied SI: C with the intention of providing extra protection against the Psionic Maze (on top of improved invisibility), although it's only afterwards I realized that this had been a mistake since the psionic abilities are actually Schoolless. Conincidently, the Psionic Maze allows for a save vs. spell and ours were fully buffed anyway to counter the other psionic abilities.
Finally, Sorsha laid a Time Trap at the expected landing site - after all, this was supposed to be our ambush. With that, we should be able to remove at least one of the mind flayers under time stop, equip Arvoreen in the off-hand and finish the survivors with the help of our summon. I'll note that our IH just expired and the intention was to quaff an Oil of Speed if needed.
When the intraplanar travelers finally arrived, something went wrong. Our Time Trap was gone - without ever triggering.
I panicked. Locked in Tenser form, Sorsha was unable to access her book and casting Improved Invisibility on Phaere was therefore out of question. We were forced to stay in melee to distract at least some of the mind flayers during the next few rounds of combat. Given the number of potential incoming APRs, we decided to prioritize Potion of Mind Focusing quaff as I was not eager to test whether or not MIs will protect Sorsha against their Devour Brain ability.
Dual-wielding Scarlet Ninja-To with Arvoreen, we managed to remove the first mind flayer.
After killing the umber hulk closest to Phaere, we quaffed an Oil of Speed and hurried to assist Soulafein. In the meantime, Sorsha's invisible stalker was doing a fantastic job of keeping the two remaining mind flayers at bay.
Gotcha.
Well, that certainly was scary, especially once we realized that our initial plan was in ruins. I'm not sure what happened with the Time Trap but it doesn't really matter - after all it's a device and devices can fail, just as humans do. My failure in this case was that I did not bother to get Sorsha hasted prior to the fight - had we been unlucky there, we could have lost Phaere and would have to find our own way out from the Underdark.
Regards,
B.
Our first task in Ust Natha was to rescue Phaere. I admit that fighting Chandrilla and her party en route to the meeting point with Soulafein is a questionable move from the role playing perspective, but unfortunately the Underdark is already a dangerous place and we didn't want to have any more red circles wandering around.
We approached invisible, running SI: D, GoI (via Magic Flute) and Fireshield: Blue in addition to our standard buffs.
For Phaere's rescue, we needed a plan. Things can easily go wrong when facing illithids alone, not to mention when there are protégés to take care of. In order to create a little distraction, Sorsha summoned an Invisible Stalker (a relatively new addition into her spellbook), whose immunities should come in quite handy. She also applied SI: C with the intention of providing extra protection against the Psionic Maze (on top of improved invisibility), although it's only afterwards I realized that this had been a mistake since the psionic abilities are actually Schoolless. Conincidently, the Psionic Maze allows for a save vs. spell and ours were fully buffed anyway to counter the other psionic abilities.
Finally, Sorsha laid a Time Trap at the expected landing site - after all, this was supposed to be our ambush. With that, we should be able to remove at least one of the mind flayers under time stop, equip Arvoreen in the off-hand and finish the survivors with the help of our summon. I'll note that our IH just expired and the intention was to quaff an Oil of Speed if needed.
Well, that certainly was scary, especially once we realized that our initial plan was in ruins. I'm not sure what happened with the Time Trap but it doesn't really matter - after all it's a device and devices can fail, just as humans do. My failure in this case was that I did not bother to get Sorsha hasted prior to the fight - had we been unlucky there, we could have lost Phaere and would have to find our own way out from the Underdark.
Regards,
B.
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Alesia_BH
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Lol, the slight irony of this is that I couldn't wait to leave the entire academia behind after finishing my master's all those years ago
Don't worry. We're a long, long way from academia here
Borco
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@Alesia_BH I know, I'm in my happy place 
Borco
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This is to report that Sorsha just avoided a near-certain disaster. Yesterday night I came home late after having a few drinks with friends and, tipsy as I was, I still had the urge to play. Luckily, silly me fell asleep before I was able to fire up my computer, but it was a close call nonetheless.
Borco
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Sorsha, human bard: Part 34
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33
By the end of the previous session, Sorsha made a peculiar HLA choice upon levelling up - the Enhanced Bard Song (EBA). Why would she need to boost her allies when she's travelling solo? While everyone loves a good tune of course, the right answer is resource management.
As mentioned before, we're well aware of the limitations of our spellbook and we're looking for ways for spreading our per-rest resources more efficiently/sustainably. That's where the EBA comes into play, or at least we believe it does, with its potential to turn our summons into respectable combatants. While Sorsha doesn't have access to Planetars nor any other potent summoning abilities, she can still deploy invisible stalkers, elementals, nishruus or wyverns at L6, skeletons at L5 or sword spiders at L4. Paired with some light touch pre-buffs, such as Haste, we're hoping to be able to unleash our own low cost army when needed.
To recap the EBA: "The song gives the bard himself a 10 point bonus to his AC and 10% magic resistance bonus due to the power of the song. The song also gives his allies +4 to hit, +4 to damage, -4 to AC, immunity to Fear, Stun and Confusion, +5% magic resistance and immunity to normal weapons."
Our tests confirmed that the ally bonuses are granted to the summoned creatures as well. Based on BG wiki, the immunities are also benefited from by the bard himself/herself. I'm not yet sure how much MR gear we'll eventually be able to acquire, but I can certainly imagine Carsomyr-wielding Sorsha wearing Gaax (10% MR) + Robe of Vecna (10% MR) + Amulet of Seldarine (10% MR), playing her theme song at the head of a skeleton army. I suppose I'll just have to find the right soundtrack to that - any suggestions? Cherrybomb, lol? Or C'mon Let's Go by Girlschool? Maybe The Clash's Death or Glory?
The testing grounds for this approach were the kuo-toa tunnels. We summoned an invisible stalker, two skeleton warriors and a sword spider, eager to see how they outperform each other, and buffed them with mass Haste (L3).
(By the way, I keep talking about sustainable resource management, but here I've just wasted six levels worth of spells on II and MIs pre-buffs which are going to get immediately dispelled by the kuo-toans' True Seeing ability. But we'll get the hang of it, don't worry.)
The first contact was looking good - with the PfNW protection up our team was able to make good progress.
Who needs mirror images when you have the AC to make up for it?
Our skeletons soon lead the scoreboard, although we lost control of the spider due to charm. We were able to keep our summons hasted, since enemy dispels kept running against Sorsha's caster level (currently at 31).
The invisible stalker took a beating from the beholders, but they could not stop our skeletons.
With our party growing a little thin, it was time for Sorsha to provide intermittent support with Delayed Blast Fireballs. Bard songs and Magic Flutes, the entire tunnels echoed with deadly music - Sorsha seemed to be at the peak of her bard game and was enjoying it to the max. And so was I.
The Prince and his Little Red Corvette fell with no interference by Sorsha whatsoever, barring the destruction of the kuo-toan tadpoles.
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33
By the end of the previous session, Sorsha made a peculiar HLA choice upon levelling up - the Enhanced Bard Song (EBA). Why would she need to boost her allies when she's travelling solo? While everyone loves a good tune of course, the right answer is resource management.
As mentioned before, we're well aware of the limitations of our spellbook and we're looking for ways for spreading our per-rest resources more efficiently/sustainably. That's where the EBA comes into play, or at least we believe it does, with its potential to turn our summons into respectable combatants. While Sorsha doesn't have access to Planetars nor any other potent summoning abilities, she can still deploy invisible stalkers, elementals, nishruus or wyverns at L6, skeletons at L5 or sword spiders at L4. Paired with some light touch pre-buffs, such as Haste, we're hoping to be able to unleash our own low cost army when needed.
To recap the EBA: "The song gives the bard himself a 10 point bonus to his AC and 10% magic resistance bonus due to the power of the song. The song also gives his allies +4 to hit, +4 to damage, -4 to AC, immunity to Fear, Stun and Confusion, +5% magic resistance and immunity to normal weapons."
Our tests confirmed that the ally bonuses are granted to the summoned creatures as well. Based on BG wiki, the immunities are also benefited from by the bard himself/herself. I'm not yet sure how much MR gear we'll eventually be able to acquire, but I can certainly imagine Carsomyr-wielding Sorsha wearing Gaax (10% MR) + Robe of Vecna (10% MR) + Amulet of Seldarine (10% MR), playing her theme song at the head of a skeleton army. I suppose I'll just have to find the right soundtrack to that - any suggestions? Cherrybomb, lol? Or C'mon Let's Go by Girlschool? Maybe The Clash's Death or Glory?
The testing grounds for this approach were the kuo-toa tunnels. We summoned an invisible stalker, two skeleton warriors and a sword spider, eager to see how they outperform each other, and buffed them with mass Haste (L3).
(By the way, I keep talking about sustainable resource management, but here I've just wasted six levels worth of spells on II and MIs pre-buffs which are going to get immediately dispelled by the kuo-toans' True Seeing ability. But we'll get the hang of it, don't worry.)
The first contact was looking good - with the PfNW protection up our team was able to make good progress.
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Borco
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Sorsha, human bard: Part 34 - continued
Onto the Demogorgon. We knew that the demon knights here would be brutal, but what makes this battle navigable is the fact that they're all the same. It's easier to manage one type of threat, even when if it's quadrupled in volume. And Sorsha can deal with brutal thugs - enter Time Trap, II, PfMW and Fireshield: Blue.
The problem was that I screwed up the pre-buffs or, more precisely, the scripting of the monster sacrifice. I thought that you need to both summon the monsters as well as to kill them, but apparently it's the summoning part alone that will bring the demon knights to life. As a result, Sorsha was only getting ready to cast her Improved Invisibility when the red circles appeared, triggering our Time Trap (note the lack of IH as well).
We immediately cancelled the II casting before Sorsha's aura cleared and opted for the much faster Shadow Door instead. There was no time to lose.
Sorsha attacked the Soulreaver bearing knight and applied IH as soon her aura permitted. There was something odd about the Time Trap, almost like it triggered twice in a row (despite there only being one trap). I don't recall precisely what occured, as once again I was in panic because of something unexpected happening (just like with Phaere earlier), and I don't have the screenshots to confirm this. I mean Sorsha could theoretically finish her IH (casting time 2, with the AoP bonus) during the 10 second time stop window, after taking the full round for her aura to clear following the opening Shadow Door. I'll make sure do some testing of the Time Traps to check the behaviour later.
Anyway, when the time resumed, we applied PfMW and closed in on the second knight. Our scimitars paired with Fireshield: Blue made the going swift.
At the first hint of conjuration invocation, Sorsha quickly applied SI: C to avoid any further surprises.
Afterwards we had to refresh our PfMW, but otherwise the remainder of the fight was fairly straightforward.
And so it was that the demon knights learned that while there is strength numbers, it's the diversity that's the key.
Onto the Demogorgon. We knew that the demon knights here would be brutal, but what makes this battle navigable is the fact that they're all the same. It's easier to manage one type of threat, even when if it's quadrupled in volume. And Sorsha can deal with brutal thugs - enter Time Trap, II, PfMW and Fireshield: Blue.
The problem was that I screwed up the pre-buffs or, more precisely, the scripting of the monster sacrifice. I thought that you need to both summon the monsters as well as to kill them, but apparently it's the summoning part alone that will bring the demon knights to life. As a result, Sorsha was only getting ready to cast her Improved Invisibility when the red circles appeared, triggering our Time Trap (note the lack of IH as well).
We immediately cancelled the II casting before Sorsha's aura cleared and opted for the much faster Shadow Door instead. There was no time to lose.
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Borco
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Sorsha, human bard: Part 34 - continued
The drow party guarding the exit was next.
We were determined to splash everything we had. This included Spike Trap…
Everard…
Dual-wielding scimitars...
Time Trap (we only had access to one Time Trap per rest at the time - the one used against the demon knights had been prepared prior to resting)…
Rod of Smiting…
Fireshield backlash…
Everard-fired non-magical bullets…
Keeping our defenses intact by refreshing key protections…
Removing enemy illusions via Book of Infinite Spells…
and our efreeti delivering the finale.
Sorsha now sits at level 32, which has earned us an additional use of Time Trap per rest (2x in total) and a proficiency pip in daggers (as Firetooth is near and I've been complaining about the lack of anti-Stoneskin weapons for some time now). Also, we're now fully up to date with her progress.
Regards,
B.
The drow party guarding the exit was next.
We were determined to splash everything we had. This included Spike Trap…
Sorsha now sits at level 32, which has earned us an additional use of Time Trap per rest (2x in total) and a proficiency pip in daggers (as Firetooth is near and I've been complaining about the lack of anti-Stoneskin weapons for some time now). Also, we're now fully up to date with her progress.
Regards,
B.
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Borco
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Re Time Traps: It's now positively confirmed that, in certain instances (but not always), our Time Trap triggers twice in a row. It's clearly a bug, but unfortunately I've not been able to find any info on this yet. The way it usually occurred is that after the first 10 second time stop window the time resumed for an instant, and then the trap trigger sound could be heard again and another 10 second window began. My suspicion is that this may have something to do with our summons, because each time it happend, some of Sorsha's summons were in the trap's vicinity, but I'll need to test this further. Until then, we'll most likely restrict the Time Trap use, given the unfair advantage.
Alesia_BH
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I've noticed this too. I'm not sure of the mechanics. I've had two theories, but I've never tested.
Theory 1: It occurs when two enemies enter the trigger radius at the same time, causing each enemy to create a projectile
Theory 2: It occurs if you pause when an enemy enters the trigger radius, causing a single enemy to generate two projectiles.
I'm not sure if either of these are right. They're just my guesses. I've definitely seen it happen without summons on the field.
I'm not sure how long this has been going on for, but it's happened for as long as I can recall- long enough that I've come to accept it as part of the game. As long as you don't deliberately try to cause it, therefore exploiting it, I think it's ok to use your Time Traps. All the rogues before Sorsha have. Of course if we could figure out what's happening, and fix it, that would be great. I'll do some testing with Amara's save when I get the chance.
EDIT: I ran some tests with Ayla, an unkitted halfling thief. I used the console to summon a troll and then led it to a Time Trap. No summons or allies were on the field. In the first set of trials I led the troll to the trap five times and paused as many times as I could as the troll approached the trigger radius. 4 out of 5 times the trap tripped twice. Interesting. Next, I ran a set of control trials, with no pausing at all. Guess what? Once again, 4 out of 5 times the trap tripped twice. So, evidently all of our theories are wrong. It's not summons. It's not multiple enemies. It's not pausing. It just is.
Theory 1: It occurs when two enemies enter the trigger radius at the same time, causing each enemy to create a projectile
Theory 2: It occurs if you pause when an enemy enters the trigger radius, causing a single enemy to generate two projectiles.
I'm not sure if either of these are right. They're just my guesses. I've definitely seen it happen without summons on the field.
I'm not sure how long this has been going on for, but it's happened for as long as I can recall- long enough that I've come to accept it as part of the game. As long as you don't deliberately try to cause it, therefore exploiting it, I think it's ok to use your Time Traps. All the rogues before Sorsha have. Of course if we could figure out what's happening, and fix it, that would be great. I'll do some testing with Amara's save when I get the chance.
EDIT: I ran some tests with Ayla, an unkitted halfling thief. I used the console to summon a troll and then led it to a Time Trap. No summons or allies were on the field. In the first set of trials I led the troll to the trap five times and paused as many times as I could as the troll approached the trigger radius. 4 out of 5 times the trap tripped twice. Interesting. Next, I ran a set of control trials, with no pausing at all. Guess what? Once again, 4 out of 5 times the trap tripped twice. So, evidently all of our theories are wrong. It's not summons. It's not multiple enemies. It's not pausing. It just is.
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Borco
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Sorsha, human bard: Part 35
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34
With the blood of the kuo-toa prince secured, our path to completing the egg quest was open. We evaluated the possibility of visiting beholders or illithids in their respective lairs, but our risk department instructed us not to do so. The internal memo mentioned something about Imprisonment-casting Elder Orbs inhabiting the former and claustrophobic Nostromo vibes of the latter. That's a pass.
The Spelljammer beholder is Ust Natha became the first victim of Sorsha's newly acquired Firetooth.
Realizing that beholder anti-magic ray does does not dispel GoI was certainly news to me, although it's somewhat deducible from the fact that regular dispel (e.g. via Remove Magic) would not affect it either. This means that SIs should be safe as well. And they are. The revelation made me slightly less concerned about getting imprisoned by an Elder Orb, which had been the fate of my Priest of Talos a few years ago, but we were still not going into those tunnels. Not this time.
Instead, we made a deal with Solaufein, delivered the blood sample to the Matron Mother and took care of Relonar and his motley group of Ghaunadaur worshippers.
Petty thieves steal under the cover of darkness, rogues extraordinare execute their heists when the time itself is stopped.
While we're not big fans of hell-spawned demons, this one certainly had a point.
Thank you, Adalon!
Bye Adalaon!
Almost there…
And, finally, the surface. The welcome that we received was not what Sorsha had expected. But yeah, I suppose that things do tend to get quite confusing under the fog of war. I can just imagine how much fed up she must have been with the constant violence brewing wherever she went. And that was just the beginning. Anyway, if we were to sum up her present bucket list, it'd go something like this:
Our brief stay in town was surprisingly pleasant. First, we had a lovely get-together with Imoen at the Copper Coronet - the drinks were on the tap and the only inconvenience was the presence of Anomen, who not only kept using that cringe language (Sorsha and Imoen had to burst out laughing every time he called them "fair ladies"), but kept acting like that annoying straight edge guy at your friend's birthday party.
Next day, still slightly hungover, Sorsha went to check on our theatre manager Higgold. Despite some petty disputes among the cast, we seemed to be on track to make the play happen. Keep up the good work, team!
But what's theater compared to the victories and tragedies of real life? Truth be told, Sorsha could not hold back her tears when she witnessed this scene in the Temple District while on her way to the Order. To celebrate the moment, she played to Cyrando and Irlana a song called "Life…Is Glorious", a piece she'd heard a long time ago from another bard in Beregost.
We're now heading to Windspear Hills.
Regards,
B.
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34
With the blood of the kuo-toa prince secured, our path to completing the egg quest was open. We evaluated the possibility of visiting beholders or illithids in their respective lairs, but our risk department instructed us not to do so. The internal memo mentioned something about Imprisonment-casting Elder Orbs inhabiting the former and claustrophobic Nostromo vibes of the latter. That's a pass.
The Spelljammer beholder is Ust Natha became the first victim of Sorsha's newly acquired Firetooth.
Instead, we made a deal with Solaufein, delivered the blood sample to the Matron Mother and took care of Relonar and his motley group of Ghaunadaur worshippers.
- get rid of the Bhaal taint;
- pull off a sold out premiere at the Five Flagons theater;
- revisit the Sword Coast (oh, how much she missed the views of the Could Peaks and the Jovial Juggler);
buy the Reflection Shield; [done]- go sailing (sans Seamon).
Our brief stay in town was surprisingly pleasant. First, we had a lovely get-together with Imoen at the Copper Coronet - the drinks were on the tap and the only inconvenience was the presence of Anomen, who not only kept using that cringe language (Sorsha and Imoen had to burst out laughing every time he called them "fair ladies"), but kept acting like that annoying straight edge guy at your friend's birthday party.
Next day, still slightly hungover, Sorsha went to check on our theatre manager Higgold. Despite some petty disputes among the cast, we seemed to be on track to make the play happen. Keep up the good work, team!
But what's theater compared to the victories and tragedies of real life? Truth be told, Sorsha could not hold back her tears when she witnessed this scene in the Temple District while on her way to the Order. To celebrate the moment, she played to Cyrando and Irlana a song called "Life…Is Glorious", a piece she'd heard a long time ago from another bard in Beregost.
We're now heading to Windspear Hills.
Regards,
B.
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Borco
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While putting together the latest post, I got this idea for a pop-up poll:
Which particular area of the entire trilogy is your favorite one (not necessarily content-wise, but more in terms of overall vibes / atmosphere or any other kind of appeal that it may have to you personally)?
It seems reasonable to maybe separate this into "outdoor" and "indoor" categories. I'll start. Even though I'm not sure if this is mere coincidence or rather a proof of how nostalgic I am, for me it's the Lion's Way (the first wilderness area east of Candlekeep) and the first level of Chateau Irenicus, both being the first areas which you get to visit (barring Candlekeep, which does not yet qualify for independent adventuring). With the former, even after all these years of playing, my characters rarely proceed to the Coast Way or High Hedge without exploring the entire map just for the sake savoring the salty breeze, the sounds of seagulls and the hum of the ocean (while it also reminds me of beloved coasts of Scotland and Ireland). As for the latter, it's mostly the crazy-but-still-coherent layout of different rooms and themes, combined with the excitement of start of SoA, that gets me every time I enter that place with a new character.
Which particular area of the entire trilogy is your favorite one (not necessarily content-wise, but more in terms of overall vibes / atmosphere or any other kind of appeal that it may have to you personally)?
It seems reasonable to maybe separate this into "outdoor" and "indoor" categories. I'll start. Even though I'm not sure if this is mere coincidence or rather a proof of how nostalgic I am, for me it's the Lion's Way (the first wilderness area east of Candlekeep) and the first level of Chateau Irenicus, both being the first areas which you get to visit (barring Candlekeep, which does not yet qualify for independent adventuring). With the former, even after all these years of playing, my characters rarely proceed to the Coast Way or High Hedge without exploring the entire map just for the sake savoring the salty breeze, the sounds of seagulls and the hum of the ocean (while it also reminds me of beloved coasts of Scotland and Ireland). As for the latter, it's mostly the crazy-but-still-coherent layout of different rooms and themes, combined with the excitement of start of SoA, that gets me every time I enter that place with a new character.
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JustKneller
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I'm looking at your screenshots and noticed that Imoen called you "little" sister. That seems odd to me. I remember the prologue of BG1 where you (can) call her "little one". If this is at a point where she knows you're related, then she should also know that you're technically twins, right (weren't all three born at the same time)?
As for your other question. I like the feel of Durlag's Tower. The traps/puzzles on top of a dungeon crawl make it a pretty tense area. In BG2, something about the Umar Hills always gets me and the Ruined Temple has a really organic flow.
As for your other question. I like the feel of Durlag's Tower. The traps/puzzles on top of a dungeon crawl make it a pretty tense area. In BG2, something about the Umar Hills always gets me and the Ruined Temple has a really organic flow.
Alesia_BH
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Interesting. Has it always been like that?
I guess it's possible. I started using Spell Shield against beholders very early in my career. It's been ages since I've seen what an anti-magic ray actually does to arcane defenses.
Borco
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I'm so sorry - I had a brutal typo there. What I wanted to say is that it does NOT dispel GoI...
Borco
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This BG wiki article corresponds to what I've observed:
"With the exception of Resist Magic, the Magic Resistance spell, its Wish equivalent and Wild Surge #26 “Globe of Invulnerability”, all spell protections are entirely unaffected by Dispel Magic and do not cease to function in dead magic areas like in the Watcher's Keep Compass Level. Conversely, they tend not to be able to protect from Dispel Magic, with the exception of Spell Immunity when the source of dispel uses a spell school — typically Abjuration."
I presume that the dispel effect of beholders' anti-magic ray works in the same manner as other in-game dispel effects.
"With the exception of Resist Magic, the Magic Resistance spell, its Wish equivalent and Wild Surge #26 “Globe of Invulnerability”, all spell protections are entirely unaffected by Dispel Magic and do not cease to function in dead magic areas like in the Watcher's Keep Compass Level. Conversely, they tend not to be able to protect from Dispel Magic, with the exception of Spell Immunity when the source of dispel uses a spell school — typically Abjuration."
I presume that the dispel effect of beholders' anti-magic ray works in the same manner as other in-game dispel effects.
Alesia_BH
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That's possible. I always thought it was a more powerful effect, capable of removing spell defenses, with the exception of Spell Shield. There are two possibilities:
1) In the past it was a more powerful effect and it has been changed by the EE or something else to be more forgiving.
2) Since I started using Spell Shield so early, and never allowed my arcane characters to approach beholders without Spell Shield, I never observed the mechanic in action. In the absence of data I assumed the worst, "use Spell Shield or lose everything."
Serg still has a Classic install. Maybe he can shed light on this.
Btw, have you tried Spell Shield? Does it persist after an anti-magic ray presently? That has gone back and forth over the years.
1) In the past it was a more powerful effect and it has been changed by the EE or something else to be more forgiving.
2) Since I started using Spell Shield so early, and never allowed my arcane characters to approach beholders without Spell Shield, I never observed the mechanic in action. In the absence of data I assumed the worst, "use Spell Shield or lose everything."
Serg still has a Classic install. Maybe he can shed light on this.
Btw, have you tried Spell Shield? Does it persist after an anti-magic ray presently? That has gone back and forth over the years.
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