The Candlekeep Annex: RPed Baldur’s Gate No and Low Reload Adventures

[WiseGrimwald]

It's from NTSC. It's supposed to be a LITTLE DRAGON. Not as little as the one already killed in Cloakwood. This one only becomes available after reaching Baldur's Gate. You are given a couple of NPCs that are particularly good at Dragon Killing before the fight. I recruit them for the fight only as they can't be taken into SoD.

Some little ones a little later did FAR more damage as my buffs had worn off.

We would have received +4 to reputation but it was already 20.

Now going to face numerous undead. This is where my last run ended.

New tactics required.

Made a move on Sirene but she wasn't interested.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Alena, Halfling Priest of Lathander, Canon Party Run: The Mind Flayer City- About Those Hips

Do you remember when I said I didn't trust myself in the Mind Flayer City? I should have said I didn't trust myself yet. I was waiting for something. I was waiting for Jaheira.

As measured by XP Jaheira has been our third most effective party member. It hasn't felt that way at all. She's an afterthought in most of our battle plans, and the roles she does play tend to have an aura of make-work.

Nonetheless, I've always said that Jaheira's day would come. Today it arrived.

Jaheira has reached the all important Level 14. That's a major upgrade. For starters, she now has an L7. Divine L7s have dominated this run, ever since Alena got her first. Now Jaheira is a part of that conversation. Better yet, she brings something unique to the table, Nature's Beauty. Level 14 also brings not one but two HLAs. That makes her our second character to reach HLA land, behind Minsc. It also makes her our only character with two HLAs. What to choose?

Some players argue that the Deathblow line is underrated. I see that argument, but as a player who focuses on the difficulty spikes, most notably the Ascension battles, the deathblows have always been a low priority for me. Still, they have their uses, and if anyone should take them it's the druid multis.

With the mind flayer city still on our radar, I couldn't resist taking Deathblow followed by Greater Deathblow. The Deathblows won't take down Melissan but that doesn't mean we can't have fun with them. Today we did.

We began our adventure by stumbling into psionic slavery. Shortly thereafter we had an ever so slightly awkward moment.

Silver Sword, you say? I'm sure I haven't seen one of those.

Spoiler

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always loved the kindergarten vibes in this quest. See: All the kids are napping.

Spoiler

Then we get the juicy-juice and everyone wakes up. Yay!

Spoiler

Right. Let’s talk about those Deathblows. Everyone knows about the Fireseed trick, right? Fireseeds + Greater Deathblow = Mass Carnage. Nice work, Jaheira. This time you really, truly absolutely were the right woman for the job.

Spoiler

A couple more seeds and we are out. As an fyi, we’re running CC + Pro Magic Energy + ProFire, along with some other inconsequential stuff. Importantly, we gave Alena the Defender and skipped Minsc’s MIs. We wanted Minsc, not Alena, to be the juiciest target for Ballistic Attack.

Spoiler

With Jaheira’s GDB spent, it was Alena’s turn. Surprise, surprise she went with Firestorm. I still like Hella Good as a theme song for Alena but Burning Down the House is beginning to make sense too.

Spoiler

Onto the Master Brain. Here we brought out all the big guns. Alena on Firestorm. A Love Bird attack under ProMW. Minsc, shielded by the Love Birds, on the Silver Sword. Imoen as a secondary ProMW line protecting Jaheira and Alena. Finally, Jaheira tossing GDB Fireseeds. Looking good.

Spoiler

It’s another race, Haer’Dalis. You better win this one. No for real: your life is going to be miserable if Aerie beats you again. Who will it be?

Spoiler

Minsc steals the kill. Huh? Breathe a sigh of relief if you like, Haer’Dalis, but I’m pretty sure she’s going to claim that one. Minsc is her protector, after all.

Spoiler

Best,

A.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Journal of Hal

I THINK that I have now finished the NToSC quests.

They were tough but not ridiculously tough.

I found a way of killing Lord Daerthmarc which was not TOO difficult. I had to think outside the box rather than use brute force and ignorance.!

EDIT

We have returned to Candlekeep. The enemies are upgraded somewhat so we are spending quite a lot of time sleeping.

Prat's spells were far better than usual with the result that Dynaheir was killed. She has been raised and now has a better robe. However, we are poor for despite selling most of our surplus equipment, we spent the gold on wands whilst we still had a reputation of 20. We reserved a little gold as a reserve in case we had deaths.

Upon returning to Baldur's Gate we fought Krystin and Slythe. Quenash was killed by Krystin's spells which made the acquisition of a cloak somewhat simpler.
The location of a summoned skeleton may have influenced matters! That skeleton also killed Krystin.

The Ducal Palace battle was straightforward after which we used up all but 300gp by filling up Dynaheir's spell book and buying a few wands.

Now following Sarevok through the maze.

We are now impoverished.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Alena's Game: A Matter of Concern (Or Why I May Need to Retire Alena)

In recent editions SCS has moved further and further in the direction of altering the original adventure's game mechanics. Early in SCS's life cycle, changes were few and inconspicuous. The focus was on high leverage adjustments that offered a substantial improvement in AI performance at the cost of minimal change. The best example would be modifying attacks on magical defenses to target through Improved Invisibility, therefore weakening the power of SI:A + SI: D + II in the player's hands. I wholeheartedly supported that change and continue to. More recently, SCS has been integrating Spell Revisions like changes, sometimes to enhance the diversity of viable spell choices, sometimes as a matter of the author's personal taste. This I do not support.

The player can opt out of any and all of SCS's modifications, so in theory none of the changes are problematic. Unfortunately that doesn't always work.

David's scripting and spell slot allocations sometimes assume the changes are in place. As a consequence, the AI can become less effective if the player opts out of a particular change. It isn't always obvious which changes the player is free to omit without harming the AI's performance. This forces the player to choose between compromising the original game's mechanics or potentially compromising the efficacy of the AI, a regrettable forced decision that would or could be avoided if SCS stuck to it's original mandate of maximizing AI performance with minimal change to game mechanics.

As of v35, SCS's spell slot allocations have changed in such a way as to make the component that turns HLA spells into special abilities semi-compulsory. The L9 spell slot allocations no longer make sense without the component. Pointedly, the AI now uses Energy Blades and Planetars far less than it should without the component installed. In the past the AI would allocate Energy Blades and Planetar to its L9 slots if the component wasn't used. Now it doesn't, at least as far as I have seen. Now only Improved Alacrity appears at L9, typically alongside Imprisonment, PW:K, and Time Stop.

For my playing style in particular, this is a major, major problem. I'm unusually conscientious about using Spell Shield, GoI and the 6+ method to protect my SI:A + SI: D + II based defensive core. For example, in mage fights I'll often use Contingency: See Enemy- Spell Shield, Spell Trigger- Spell Shield, ProMW, Spell Deflection and keep one, possibly two Spell Shields in my book. Since the AI can't stock enough spell protection removes to overcome that setup without fatally compromising its offense, my SI:A + SI: D + II core will almost always stay in place. Under those circumstances, Imprisonment and PW:K are useless, and Energy Blades + Planetar is the best, possibly only, line of attack.

In other words, given my particular playing style, in v35 skipping the HLA spells into special abilities component kind of ruins the game. I didn't know that at outset. Now I do. Alena has played without the HLAs spell into special abilities component, and so has had a much, much easier time in high level mage battles than she should have.

So: Where do we go from here? I see three options: 1) Play out SoA in my current install and then retire Alena; 2) Play out SoA in my current install and then modify my setup for ToB; 3) Reinstall immediately and continue on. I'll admit that option one appeals, atm, but this run is kind of unique, at least for me, and I fear I'd miss Alena if she were gone. What does everyone else think? The battles that were effected were Lavok, Perth, Spellhold Irenicus, the Shade Lich and the Elemental Lich.

 

[Antimatter]

I never was a fan of turning HLA spells into special abilities. It's a change that is too huge for the original game. I kinda doubt that HLAs as spell slots mean the game is a cakewalk.

My own view is that the player should try and NOT use HLAs in SoA, SCS or not. I think they trivialize the challenge. And I enjoy fighting enemies who can summon Planetars without my own HLAs. But that's me.

You should only play the game the way you feel comfortable with. If you want to retire Alena, do it. If not, keep her.

If I were you, I would complete SoA as is, trying not to use HLAs much, and then modify the setup for ToB.

 

[Alesia_BH]

I kinda doubt that HLAs as spell slots mean the game is a cakewalk.

In the general case, I’d agree. This just comes down to the particulars of the allocations David chose and the idiosyncrasies of my playing style.

I’m good at remaining untargetable, and David just happened to crowd out the best tools against untargetable opponents with single target spells.

My own view is that the player should try and NOT use HLAs in SoA, SCS or not. I think they trivialize the challenge. And I enjoy fighting enemies who can summon Planetars without my own HLAs.

I agree. I think the game plays best when the SoA cap is kept in place. I considered respecting it in this run. Since this is my first party game in ages I decided to allow myself HLAs. If I were in practice, I would have respected the cap.

In my first trilogy no reload, on the old, old BioWare forums, we didn’t get HLAs until after Grominir. In theory I think that’s more or less perfect. It’s hard to give up power you already have though, lol

 

[Alesia_BH]

If I were you, I would complete SoA as is, trying not to use HLAs much, and then modify the setup for ToB.

That makes sense. I was considering something similar: continue on allowing one HLA per character

 

[Enuhal]

It would be sad to see you abandon the run after you've come this far - I agree with Antimatter's proposal. There isn't too much of SoA left (and honestly, SCS doesn't do much to make the SoA endgame very difficult in any recent version, no matter the settings - at least not in party-based runs), so you can craft your ToB run with the knowledge of the changes to the various SCS settings in mind.

I personally actually like the HLAs as special abilities because it makes me use HLAs I would otherwise consider to be wasted spell selections in the level 9/7 slot, but I can certainly see the other side of that argument.

 

[Alesia_BH]

It would be sad to see you abandon the run after you've come this far

Thanks for the input, Enuhal.

After thinking it over, I’m pretty sure I’m going to proceed. I don’t want to let Boo down.

(Getting back here wouldn’t be difficult, but I surely wouldn’t want to do two canon party runs consecutively.)

I just wish the spell slot allocations were different. After seeing Time Stop->Improved Alacrity->Cloudkill followed by nothing special in a lich battle, I took a peak at the resources files. My jaw dropped to the floor when I saw TS, IA, Imprisonment, PW:K, with Planetar, Energy Blades and Dragon’s Breath on the unusable special ability side over and over again. If they just swapped out the Imprisonment and PW:K for HLA spells those fights would be far more interesting. That’s how it’s always worked in the past, and that’s what I was expecting this time.

Imprisonment and PW:K are defensible choices if you have the HLA spells available through special ability. If not they make zero sense.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Journal of Hal the Hunter

Just after killing Sarevok I realised that I hadn't completed "The Section." Earlier I didn't do the quest to get the sword that kills doppelgangers easier.

Not major errors however. Now at start of SoD

 

[Alesia_BH]

Congrats, Wise! Best of luck in SoD!

 

[OrlonKronsteen]

Quick Note on Alena's Game: A Matter of Concern (Or Why I May Need to Retire Alena)

In recent editions SCS has moved further and further in the direction of altering the original adventure's game mechanics. Early in SCS's life cycle, changes were few and inconspicuous. The focus was on high leverage adjustments that offered a substantial improvement in AI performance at the cost of minimal change. The best example would be modifying attacks on magical defenses to target through Improved Invisibility, therefore weakening the power of SI:A + SI: D + II in the player's hands. I wholeheartedly supported that change and continue to. More recently, SCS has been integrating Spell Revisions like changes, sometimes to enhance the diversity of viable spell choices, sometimes as a matter of the author's personal taste. This I do not support.

There is a thread in the G3 SCS forum dedicated to comments re: the new release (I'm sure you already know this). DavidW seems very amenable to feedback. Maybe you could start a discussion there? I have a feeling he'd be interested in your insights, given your great knowledge and perspective of the game.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Thanks for sharing! It's a reasonable suggestion, just not for me

Long ago I made a strategic decision to not setup a G3 account. I didn't want to be nudged into lengthy theoretical or technical discussions. I prefer to keep my feet firmly planted on the player side of the player/developer spectrum.

Back on the Bioware forums, I did have some productive discussions with David and Camdawg when they stopped by. The old Potions for NPCs bottle breakage component grew out of a discussion with David. I also know of at least one instance where David made a decision based on an observation I made in one of my NR runs. The Bridge District muggers used to quaff a frack ton of potions. I had noted, mostly as a joke, the the math didn't add up. I was poor and carrying crappy gear, meanwhile they were chugging thousands of gold pieces worth of potion trying to mug me. Even if they did kill me they probably wouldn't break even. He ended up toning down the potions quaffs of because of that. There used to be notes in the read me about both of those discussions.

As for the issue of changes and when to make them, I think it's safe to assume that others have raised that. I'm sure he'll listen to the voices around him and do whatever he thinks is best. I may whinge about something or other every now and then but in the end I respect his judgment.

(I'm like literally falling asleep as I write this so I'm going to stop right here. Apologies if there are typos. I'll fix them in the morning, lol.)

 

[WiseGrimwald]

A question about Moonblades when wielded by characters who can't wield swords. For mages, clerics and the like does the blade look like a sword?

 

[Black Elk]

I frequently find myself wanting to chime in on SCS or the various difficulty settings or challenges mods peeps use, but didn't want to derail any recaps. While the door's still open though... hehe

The premier "Legacy of Bhaal" difficulty setting is an absolute joke and I really can't fathom it's purpose. Like the thing has been around for a decade now, and it's still this borked? As a returning long time player I expect to be able to crank the difficulty settings all the way and find something challenging, but Legacy of Bhaal just makes BG1 unplayable. A flat bonus of like 100 HP and then juicing enemy's THAC0 and saves? I mean that might work for BG2 with a party starting at higher levels, but in BG1 it breaks literally every combat encounter. Even ignoring almost every encounter and using standard exploits to over-level the party, the player will still be so far behind the power curve that there's virtually zero chance of killing a Carbos, or a Tarnesh, or any of the roaming bit player assassins when they're meant to be encountered. Let alone taking on a Mulahey or a Davaeorn to advance the main plot. It just doesn't even work. Like who finds it particularly thrilling to kite Tarnesh to the Friendly Arm guards and then wait 20 minutes of in-game time for them to finish him off before he can aim a magic missile to TPK the crew? Not really my idea of a good time.

My first plan was to complete a BG1 Legacy of Bhaal challenge as Wick Worthington. A sling master of some repute. His idol is local legend Canderous. Like basically we copied Canderous' hair, rep'd his same safety colors for Candlekeep team dodgeball, all primed up and ready to roll, but Legacy of Bhaal is beyond absurd. It seems like the only difficulty mods worth their salt are the ones that existed before the EEs did, which doesn't inspire much confidence at all. I'm surprised they haven't revisited this at all in the intervening years, cause it seems sloppy to me to leave that BG1 setting in place when it's this far gone. If the idea is import and character at the level cap, well to me that's just goofy and shouldn't be presented alongside difficulty modes aimed at Characters who begin the game at lvl 1.

I just picture Gorion saying "If we ever becoming separated, you must make your way to Mutamin's Garden. There you will meet Korax good dog. He won't long be your friend, and you can trust..." Actually no you can't. You can't trust anything. Just hurry up and die! lol



Ahhh the Moonblade. I think that might have been my first ever disappointment with Baldur's Gate. Realizing that I couldn't steal Xan's sword for myself! You'd think after so many moons, but nope!

Ps. Gah we fully dirt napped it to the Wolves by the Temple of Helm. I was trying to hold myself to No Reload after chunk outs as the decisive thing, but Wick just exploded so I guess that's probably some kind of sign.

I tried again. This time instead of copying Canderous' stats and attempting a full doppelganger my plan is Dual Class into Cleric from Fighter at lvl 3, like basically right in the middle of the Mutamin rush, to try and sneak in some extra Sling power lol. We rolled a respectable 90 points. STR could be bit higher but hopefully with the Tomes it won't matter much. We aspire to be as wise as Canderous, but also just jacked to the ceiling. We'll let Imoen do the talking I guess. For Legacy antics from lvl 1 I think the only real option is to click the game setting that turns off added enemy damage on higher difficulty settings than core. Not exactly ideal, since you still get the long drawn out fights from HP bloat. Insane feels like it scales better for BG1, but I wanted to try for the goofy absurd setting somehow, so I think it's hunting Basilisks and kiting like Marry Poppins, just hoping for the best. No Reload is probably tough for me, cause last time I had to reload a dozen times just to kill both Greater Basilisks, but we'll see how far we get with super slings and less enemy damage. That's the only setting we got that I could easily adjust from the gameplay options. I feel like turning off the flat HP boost to monsters would have made more sense, like the inverse thing, enemies dealing higher damage or maybe harder to hit but without the extra HP which make encounters take forever and bleed resources, but it's whatever. Going with what they gave me here. I don't have SCS or anything loaded beyond what comes standard. Sadly I keep getting a crash to desktop whenever I try to quit after saving though, which seems new. Maybe windows? Who knows, it's a little frustrating. I just did yet another wipe and install still having the same issue, but we press on.



I also don't trust myself to remain very Lawful so we went Chaotic Good this time around. Seemed apt lol

 

[Alesia_BH]

LoB mode is silly, but we’re silly creatures.

LoB mode is the Supreme brand of difficulty settings. They’ve created an elite category in the laziest possible way and people can’t resist because we’re suckers for social status competition.

It’s an easily exploited quirk of our primate brains. Whether it’s in gaming or in RL, one of the keys to living well to see those little status games for what they are. Play them if you like, but if you do, do it with eyes open. You’re usually better off just opting out.

So, no: I won’t be kiting 100hp gibberlings anytime soon. As for what the EE does with LoB mode, I have no opinion on that. The whole thing is a hard pass for me, just like a $1000 hoody.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Btw, if you’d like to continue this discussion, Black Elk, let’s move it over to the Adventurer’s Lounge

 

[Alesia_BH]

Alena, Halfling Priest of Lathander, Canon Party Run: The Guarded Compound- Hella Good

Bodhi is dead. Suldanessallar awaits. That means it's time to face all those big, bad baddies we've been saving till the end.

We began with the lowest hurdle, the Guarded Compound. I was nervous about this, but in the end that anxiety felt misplaced. This was a rout.

We approached invisible, running Haste. Imoen disarmed the traps, and we raced off to the north east side room. That's where we planned to buff.

We buffed in the side room so we could call summons we could control. We went with two fire elementals and three nymphs. Our buffs were more or less our standards. They can be read off the portraits, but if you like I can post a list. Just ask.

Ok. Let's begin. We sent the fire elementals in first, followed by the ToD. The nymphs came after. We opened with a Malison + Emotion x 2 Sequencer from Aerie and three Confusions from the nymphs. Only two targets succumbed, but they were important ones, Sion to Emotion, Koshi to Confusion. Ketta, being the fool that she is, charges the ToD, who is full buffed and running True Sight. Alena calls her Firestorm. We're looking good. As for those potions of regeneration from Maferan and Olaf, we can only laugh. You'll need to do better than that.

Spoiler

The Firestorm begins. Time to get to work on Sion's protections. He's running Spell Shield and Spell Trap. Aerie get's the party started by taking down the Spell Shield, clearing the way for Imoen's Ruby Ray. The rest of the party should be attacking Ketta with their ranged weapons, but we can already tell this is going to be a no damage curb stomp so we're playing a little loose. We'll get to it soon enough.

Spoiler

Ketta falls to Alena's Energy Blade. Having launched her Secret Word, Aerie is ready to add her Firestorm to the party. We don't envy these blokes. The slow footed Olaf reaches the ToD only to be met with a ProMW. He falls to Alena's Firestorm soon after. Imoen's Ruby Ray isn't coming out because of ranging. Don't worry, Immy. The Confused Koshi has fallen to Alena's Firestorm. We're ready to advance. The ToD gives the all clear signal. Move out.

Spoiler

Maferan falls to Alena's Energy Blades. Four kills, Alena? Not bad. Imoen, you can stand down on that Ruby Ray. Sion is almost dead, plus he's running Improved Mantle and Alena still has Energy Blades. Let's target Stalman instead. Aerie, Secret Word. Imoen, Breach. Minsc, you can keep hacking away at that Improved Mantle with the Silver Sword, but we're pretty sure Alena is going to take him down before it expires. Aerie starts casting Blade Barrier but then she realizes how ridiculous that is. This fight is basically over.

Spoiler

Sion falls to Alena's Firestorm. Five kills. We know who has bragging rights at the Flagon's tonight.

Spoiler

Aerie's Breach lands, clearing the Blade Barrier and the Physical Mirror. Stalman is beyond screwed.

Spoiler

Minsc and Aerie move into melee position, but Alena's Energy Blades give her the advantage. Alena gets the last kill, giving her a clean sweep. I'd call that a good day. Scratch that: I'd call it hella good.

Spoiler

Best,

A.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Alena, Halfling Priest of Lathander, Canon Party Run: Thaxll'ssillyia

Thaxll'ssillyia was next on the hit list. This fight went reasonably well, although Alena did take damage from a wing buffet.

Time to prep. We went with a stripped down enemy specific buff list here. It was topped off with party wide NPP via Limited Wish. Note that the djinni's NPP is schooled to Abjuration, just like the regular spell, so leave your SI:As for last.

Spoiler

We open with a round of LR from the SI:A kids. Jaheira and Alena cast Firestorm while Minsc stands back for justice. Thaxxy squanders his Remove, much to the delight of Jaheira.

Spoiler

Once the third LR lands we move onto Breach from Haer'Dalis and double Skull Trap x 3 Sequencers from Imoen and Aerie. There's a tactical error evident in this screen shot. The first clue is that Imoen's Contingency is See Enemy- Malison. The second clue is that the radius of Wing Buffet is 16' and the range of Firestorm is 120'.

Spoiler

Sorry, Thaxxy, but I don't like your odds in this one. Mr. Efreeti falls, but he was only there to trigger the encounter and possibly draw out the Remove anyways.

Spoiler

Alena's Firestorm starts to cook. She gets ready to launch another. Jaheira's is still on the way. I'm not sure why the casting time seems impossibly long here but whatever. With his Breach deployed, Haer'Dalis moves onto Tenser's. Imoen, who has drawn Thaxxy's attention, goes ProMW. Aerie calls the djinni to refresh our NPP.

Spoiler

Thaxxy's wing buffet lands, injuring Alena. Aerie, who has become Thaxxy's target after Imoen's ProMW cast, switches gears from Limited Wish to ProMW. This battle isn't going to last long enough for us to need a refresh.

Spoiler

With Remove and Wing Buffet deployed, and Thaxxy Breached, the ToD gives the signal for Jaheira and Minsc to charge. Jaheira is pleased that I've finally allowed her to rock Blackblood main Belm off, but Thaxxy falls to the Firestorm before she gets to land a blow. The good news, Jaheira, is that Alena's Firestorm won't be a showstopper in the next fight. I can promise you that.

Spoiler

Best,

A.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Alena, Halfling Priest of Lathander, Canon Party Run: Firkraag

Onto the Windspear Hills to face Firkraag, an enemy that Alena surely won't get the kill on. Right? Right? We'll see about that.

First off, I'll note that we were ambushed by rhakshasas on the way to Uncle Firkel's Pleasure Palace. I totally forgot about this, which is why we weren't running Invisbility 10' Radius. That cost us six PoIs. We could have fought them, sure, but we ain't got time for that.

Spoiler

To the main event. This battle was sloppy. Thankfully that didn't cost us.

We opened with triple LRs, like last time. Firky targeted Alena with a Lower Fire Resistance but Spell Turning from the Book of Infinite Spells stopped it.

Spoiler

I think. Let's double check that....

Spoiler

Always good to confirm. Aerie launches her Doom + MAA Minor. With Malison already in play via Contingency, the ToD signals Imoen to launch her Wiltings. Meanwhile, Alena cautiously approaches to land her Holy Word. Haer'Dalis has by now deployed his Breach and Tensered.

Spoiler

Since Firkarino is obsessed with the deva, we feel comfortable letting Jaheira and Minsc approach. Minsc is back on Ages + Defender. Jaheira is wielding Blackblood + Belm again. Aerie preps a Harm.

Spoiler

Aerie whiffs her Harm, but Imoen's Wilting connects. Don't worry, Aerie, you'll make up for it with your Skull Trap x 3 Sequencer. Just watch the ranging. The deva is in an awkward spot. Minsc, you've been here before so you know to fade. You can get back into the trenches after that Sequencer pops.

Spoiler

Jimmy Wing Buffet is on the ropes now. Imoen's second Wilting has landed. Aerie's Sequencer connects too. Miraculously, Aerie doesn't catch anyone in the AoE. She's getting better at that, I guess.

Spoiler

Now the race is on. Who will get the kill? The playing field is leveled now that Alena's Firestorms aren't in play. Alena prevails nonetheless, thanks to her Energy Blades. Give our regards to Corhvale and Bregg, Mr. F. So long and thanks for all the scales.

Spoiler

Best,

A.