Enuhal
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Six Crowns for a Singer: Thayn Goron's Triple Crown Full Saga Run - Update 7: Northweald, Elmshore and more bounties
After praying against both treachery and imprisonment, even big groups with multiple adragans aren't quite as scary:
One of the adragans even gets to taste its own medicine (courtesy of the blue stone scepter):
I should be mentioned that they still can do significant work with their damaging spells, but nothing that is nearly as scary as charm/dominate or petrification effects.
Northweald, despite being further into the game, is actually easier to clear out than Elmshore, and we spare the Sky Dragon to finish Hylea's quest (or rather, we spare ourselves, because we don't know how dangerous the beast will be when upscaled, so we better not try our luck). "Hunter, Brother" also gives us Sheathed in Autumn for Cymedrol, which he will propably use for the rest of the game. The adragan groups in southern elmshore are taken down as well - aside from the prayers and a followup of blessing/dire blessing/devotions plus form of the delemgan (now firmly integrated into our buffing routine), our most powerful and often-used abilities at this point are returning storm and amplified wave. The huge group of ogres/ogre druids/ogre matrons to the north gets to taste both of these, while also being hindered by our defense/protection scrolls:
Things are going so well that I even pull more ogres into the fight because I still want to make use of those buffs (after all, scrolls cost money).
Once all that is done, the bounty inside the cave is easily collected, and we turn in some quests/tasks before making a quick trip to burial isle - no particular reason to go there, but it will feel really underwhelming if we clear out the enemies here only once we're ready to finish the game, so to get at least a little bit of fun out of it, let's do it now. Prayers against fear and imprisonment remove most of the danger, though:
Now, everything in Act 3 except for Blood Sands and Galawain's Maw is done. I remember the level scaling being fairly rough there, so we do the remaining bounties first - this also serves as a reminder to us that Lle a Rhemen exists - I completely forgot about that place, so once we take care of Glasdial we also clear out the ruins there:
Okay, that was a completely unfair trap:
Freaking spiders. One of many reminders that this place is incredibly dangerous if done at the intended level, a good reason not to side with the Dozens during Act 2. Most of the bounties are fairly easy to claim at this point (I don't believe these, unlike the White March II bounties, get scaled up), even the high level ones:
Between calling the world's maw and amplified wave, a lot of enemies spend most of the battles prone once we're able to get out our spells. I can see why the prone status effect has been severly nerfed in Deadfire (though I think they went a little bit too far).
However, we get hit by a very hard reminder not to get cocky. While we're currently doing very well, the element of surprise (and my lack of recent experience, meaning my memory of what the enemy can do isn't perfect) can absolutely catch us off guard. So, when we face the very final bounty, Sserkal, our party is hit by a surprise confusion spell (while Doador was praying against treachery and imprisonment, but not bewilderment) - this was Sserkal's first or second cast, and I was completely unprepared for it. Come to think of it, I am almost certain this exact thing has happened to me before, but I just didn't remember it. Well, the results are truly terrifying - everyone but Doador and Thayn Goron are confused, and Thayn Goron gets stunned by psychic blast as well:
The few factors in our favor: We've got quite a few defensive buffs going already, including form of the delemgan, so we're hard to hurt. We've also got some figurine summons out, and they serve as a distraction. Our positioning isn't terrible, the tanky characters are still in front and nobody walks into a truly awful position while confused. Also, we still have our priest, though he is too busy trying to keep himself alive so he can't really focus on supress affliction spam. Thayn Goron is able to somewhat turn the tables on mind altering effects with the ring of changing heart's dominate effect, and we get back Nerthol plus Sjáanda - Nerthol insect plagues the vithracks to affect their concentration and spellcasting, Sjáanda starts to gather focus:
Doador is able to survive, and Sjáanda is able to turn the tables - another hit with her new Rain of Godagh Field warbow, and she unleashes an amplified wave, just as we also gain control back of the remaining party:
Don't you love to see that? 6 critical hits. The vithracks are devasted, and we emerge victorious despite starting off the battle in a terrible position.
Well, since we are now reminded of the dangers these enemies pose, why not venture back into the Endless Paths, where there are more of them waiting down below?
After praying against both treachery and imprisonment, even big groups with multiple adragans aren't quite as scary:
Northweald, despite being further into the game, is actually easier to clear out than Elmshore, and we spare the Sky Dragon to finish Hylea's quest (or rather, we spare ourselves, because we don't know how dangerous the beast will be when upscaled, so we better not try our luck). "Hunter, Brother" also gives us Sheathed in Autumn for Cymedrol, which he will propably use for the rest of the game. The adragan groups in southern elmshore are taken down as well - aside from the prayers and a followup of blessing/dire blessing/devotions plus form of the delemgan (now firmly integrated into our buffing routine), our most powerful and often-used abilities at this point are returning storm and amplified wave. The huge group of ogres/ogre druids/ogre matrons to the north gets to taste both of these, while also being hindered by our defense/protection scrolls:
However, we get hit by a very hard reminder not to get cocky. While we're currently doing very well, the element of surprise (and my lack of recent experience, meaning my memory of what the enemy can do isn't perfect) can absolutely catch us off guard. So, when we face the very final bounty, Sserkal, our party is hit by a surprise confusion spell (while Doador was praying against treachery and imprisonment, but not bewilderment) - this was Sserkal's first or second cast, and I was completely unprepared for it. Come to think of it, I am almost certain this exact thing has happened to me before, but I just didn't remember it. Well, the results are truly terrifying - everyone but Doador and Thayn Goron are confused, and Thayn Goron gets stunned by psychic blast as well:
Well, since we are now reminded of the dangers these enemies pose, why not venture back into the Endless Paths, where there are more of them waiting down below?
