Astrid, Halfling Priest of Talos: Melissan
My characters have long suffered for my principles. I've completed multiple insane SCS-Ascension solos, and multiple SCS-Ascension solo no reloads, but I've yet to complete an insane SCS-Ascension solo no reload because I've been unwilling to bend my principles. My restrictions have always left that goal ever so slightly out of reach.
Playing a ruthless character with dubious chances in this fight, I decided to take the gloves off for once. We'll see how that turned out.
Let's begin! Here we see the opening. Astrid to the right, Balthazar, to the left, buffed with a Protection from Magic scroll.
We're ready!
Or maybe we aren't ready...Two seconds into the fight, and I've already made my first mistake. And for those who know my play, it's an especially baffling one. I forgot to equip my favorite item, The Reflex. Astrid is tagged by an Illasera arrow. A terrible way to start.
Five seconds after that, I got Balthazar chunked by losing track of him behind Mel's column. Yikes.
Astrid was all:
That's right: shake it off, Astrid. Sendai is going Alteration. We need to Focus.
Catching that Focus was a huge psychological turning point. Prior to that the battle seemed lost before it began. Suddenly I felt we had a chance again, albeit a slight one.
Whatever confidence I had was immediately undermined when an invisible Illasera trapped Astrid with the aid of a Sendai mountain bear. With Abazigal wailing away, and Yaga Shura closing in, death seemed imminent.
Astrid equips her Ring of Free Action to ward off PW:S. She activates Dimension Door, frustrating Abazigal and Yaga. It's not over yet.
Astrid quaffs a superior healer to get above the 90HP threshold. She unequips her Ring of Free Action, and equips Gaxx. We're out of the danger zone, but we are still insanely overmatched. Even with the Reflex, it's a struggle to keep our hitpoints up. We're not only facing The Five and Sarevok, but a fallen planetar, two djinnis, and a horde of cocaine bears, out of Sendai's stupidly souped up Conjure Animals. Surely we won't survive this. On the bright side, it can't get any worse, right?
Oh, yeah. We could be blind, too. Forgot about that...The only bright side is that Sarevok and the mountain bears are getting cooked by the planetar's Firestorm. It isn't much, but it's more that Astrid can do. She's too busy surviving to fight.
When things couldn't get more desperate, Astrid's destiny took a sudden, unexpected turn. Arcing northward to evade her encroaching foes, Astrid raced into an Abazigal Sphere of Chaos.
The Teleport effect landed and swept Astrid to the northeast pool. To my shock, The Five could not pursue. This it, seems, is a change in Ascension v2. The pool areas used to be connected to the main arena: now they are not. Astrid used the lull in combat to wait out the planetar and consider her options.
Getting here was a fluke. But could we get here again, by intent? Let's try Dimension Dooring to the southwest pool. Interesting.
It wouldn't be sporting to fight the Five from here, but this move is an option to be remembered. Against all odds, Astrid has a plan now. It's a good one.
We return to the arena to wear down the Five, employing the standard Death's Door tactic, bringing all the Five to near death before killing any of them. The Five's greatest tactical asset now is Sendai's stupidity. She keeps jacking herself on The Reflex, endangering her life and our plan. We take it super easy on her and allow her to heal whenever she wishes.
We drop our missile weapon AC as low as we can, using the Girdle of Piercing, the Boots of Avoidance, the Claw, the Cloak of Displacement, the Shield Amulet and the Cloak of the Shield, seeking to keep Sendai alive. We redouble our efforts with respect to the other Fivers. We need to get their HP down before Sendai kills herself.
We make progress. With the Five all near death, Astrid, anticipating Mel's arrival, sneaks off to a pool and buffs. Astrid re-engages. Go ahead, Sendai. You can join the infinite now.
Mel appears! Astrid fires a bullet at Illasera, killing her and squelching Mel's Time Stop.
We need to stay close to Mel, and lure her to the southwest pool. Can you give us a hand, Sarevok? Mind Flayer Control Circlet. Break for the pool, Sarevok! Break for the pool!
Success! Yaga Shura kills Sarevok while Melissan is right near the pool. She falls. We can safely use our aura! Dimmension Door!
And with that, Astrid is all:
Because that, my fellow adventurers, is checkmate. We've Dimension Doored to the pool while maintaining proximity to Mel, insuring we won't elicit a Teleport Without Error. Go ahead and summon your demons, Melissan: you're still screwed. We equip Mirroring to tighten the noose. The fallen solars fire away at The Reflex in desperation.
Only one of the Five remains, Yaga Shura. Down he goes.
Melissan, enraged, summons balors. Balors? Balors! Control Demon!!
Chaos ensues as Astrid seizes both of Mel's balors. Her demons are fighting among themselves now.
A balor kills one solar. Astrid finishes another, via The Reflex. Suddenly it's quiet.
We draw close to Melissan, eliciting her close quarters abilities, which she can't really use. This is a ranged fight, Melissan: that spear won't help you. Energy Blades. It's only a matter of time now.
Victory!
Astrid, true to herself, if not Balthazar, accepts Bhaal's portfolio. She's no longer a priest of Talos. She's a god unto herself. Astrid be praised.
Fun stuff! I enjoyed that run! I hope you all did too. I'll add some follow up comments soon
Cheers,
A.
