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

[WiseGrimwald]

I have decided on a party of Hanseathite dwarves. The party will be called The Dwarven Drunks

Hanseath is the chaotic neutral god of dwarven boozers, so my party consists of chaotic neutral dwarves.

Most of his followers are either berserkers or thieves, so my starting party will consist of a berserker, a cleric of Hanseath and a thief.

In the same way that priests of Helm have true sight as an innate spell, I have decided that Priests of Hanseath should have enrage as an innate spell. That was done using EE keeper.

My party are triplets and as such have very similar stats. The cleric and thief do not have the bonus strength over 18.

 

[Borco]

Orrin, human archer: Part 15 - Big Brother

With the heavy use of green ProMagic scrolls, our approach to the final showdown at the Temple of Bhall was undoubtedly lazy but efficient. Here's the full list of our pre-combat buffs:

• Orrin: ProMagic scroll, Potion of Mind Focusing, ProAcid scroll, Potion of Invulnerability, Oil of Speed, Potion of Regeneration;
• Ajantis: Remove Fear, ProEvil, ProFire (arcane);
• Montaron: ProMagic scroll, Violet Potion, Potion of Fortitude, Potion of Dexterity, Potion of Mind Focusing, ProAcid scroll, Potion of Invulnerability, Oil of Speed, Potion of Regeneration;
• Viconia: Remove Fear, ProEvil, ProFire scroll (green), Potion of Fire Resistance;
• Imoen: Remove Fear, ProEvil, ProFire scroll (green), Potion of Fire Resistance, Spirit Armor, Potion of Invisibility, Shield Amulet;
• Xzar: Remove Fear, ProEvil, ProFire (arcane), Spirit Armor, Shield, Polymorph: Self (scroll).

Our vanguard consists of the ProMagic duo, whom will be supported by the invisible Imoen in her Detect Illusion mode. The rest of the group takes a smoking break near the temple entrance. Orrin is the first to break his stealth by launching a dispel arrow on Sarevok to remove his Haste.

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His allies have arrived, but the only thing we see so far is their pre-buffs and buffs in the log. Apparently, they’re not interested in running against Orrin’s ProMagic and bide their time under invisibility.

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Imoen’s unable to reveal any of them and so it’s Xzar turn to try to draw them out with arcane Detect Illusion. Semaj’s running MGoI and Shadow Door (we don’t know about Angelo), but at least Tazok and Diarmid should be affected.

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Nothing. Hmm, can it be that their initial scripted invisibility cannot be dispelled by ordinary means? Never mind, we’ll draw them out with a decoy. Viconia, send in that skeleton warrior, if you please!

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That’s better! Tazok and Semaj both take the bait. Interestingly, Semaj’s MIs and Shadow Door are gone – how could that be? I am right to assume that MGoI will stop any illusion detection spell of L3 and lower? But even if it didn't, his improved invisibility via Shadow Door should in any case be unaffected by Xzar’s Detect Illusion. Does this mean that Imoen did manage to dispel those illusions while he was still invisible? Strange indeed.

Semaj takes his best shot at circumventing our ProMagic by summoning an earth elemental.

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Following a failed backstab on Tazok, Montaron falls back and switches to ranged attacks.

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Angelo and Diarmid arrive shortly and the latter immediately gets a taste of one of our Firebreath potions.

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Utilizing his speed advantage, Orrin performs a full loop with his scorcher. Meanwhile, Diarmid uses his own ProMagic scroll and Montaron lands an impressive critical on Tazok, killing him on the spot.

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We now turn our attention to Diarmid - blades, bullets, arrows and more Firebreaths, anything goes.

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Angelo came next. We first remove his carefully set up protections with a single dispel arrow and then finish him at range.

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Semaj's nowhere to be seen. Orrin and Montaron both use their ProUndead scrolls to avoid being harassed by the growing number of raised corpses, while Viconia summons another skeleton warrior to draw Semaj out of his hidey hole.

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We didn't not expect to fall for this so easily Semaj! Risking your life just to be able to cast Hold Person on a skeleton warrior seems like a very bad idea.

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As we've been unable to come up with anything original, Semaj gets treated with the same recipe as Angelo.

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With Sarevok as the last man standing, we remove the Helm of Balduran from Orrin’s inventory and deploy all our reinforcements, including the monsters summoned via Wand of Monster Summoning. Chant and Greater Malison goes into the mix as well.

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Unfortunately, despite the lowered saving throws, Sarevok doesn't give us the pleasure of failing his save against any of our funky tricks. We've tried Glitterdust, Poison, Hold Person, Glitterdust + Horror trigger launched by a jelly, Darts of Stunning, all to no avail.

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But where the spells have failed, Orrin's arrows have not!

See you in Amn!

Regards,

B.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

@Borco Congratulations on getting there.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Jourbal of the Dwarven Drunks

After the death of Gorion we proceeded to Nashkel where, for her safety, we dropped of Imoen. Having Locky in the party we don't really need another thief.

We proceeded to Nashkel where Valerie, a sorceress joined us. She wants to help us investigate the mines there, but with the distinct possibility of demons I deemed it wise to be a little more experienced before venturing into them.

Instead we followed the instructions of Gorion and went to the FAI. We didn't meet his friends, but we did find an extremely useful ring for Valerie and were given the task of finding Joia's ring.

Slightly to the north we bumped into both bandits and ankheg all of which we slew. The command spells that Hansea cast made the battles much safer than otherwise would have been the case.

The experience of killing the ankheg will be most beneficial as Locky has already reached level 2.

EDIT

Tenya joined us whereupon I gave her my ankheg armour whilst I donned some plate armour. Tenya's bracers of protection went to Valerie as did the sling +1 that I bought.

We then bought ammunition as everyone was running low on that commodity.

 

[Borco]

Orrin, human archer: Part 16 - Welcome to Athkatla

BG 2 Technical Notes:
Game version: BG2EE 2.6.6.0
Difficulty: Insane
Mods: SCS (v34.3); BG Tweaks (cosmetic changes)
Modified SCS components: Giant Spiders (Tactical), Smarter Beholders (Tactical), Smarter Mind Flayers (Improved), Improved Fiends and Celestials (Improved)
Omitted SCS components: Improved Vampires, Improved Shade Lord, Improved Bodhi, Improved Beholder Hive, ToB tactical challenges (Watcher's Keep, Fire Giant Temple, Sendai's Enclave, Abazigal's Lair)

The first thing I've noticed after importing Orrin's character from the final save of BG1 were the inconsistent hit points - the total HP seem to be rolled from scratch each and every time a new SoA game is started. I'm not sure whether this has always been the case. Nevertheless, I wanted to avoid making any file changes and therefore I've spent some time trying to roll a new game in order to get approximately to the same position as at BG1 finale. For the record, here's the SoA character sheet and inventory:

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If you're relying mainly on bows, the initial sections of Irenicus' dungeon are going to give you a hard time - the bows are scarce and so is ammunition, not to mention that many of the SCS duegars carry medium shields, making them rather unattractive targets for ranged attackers in general. Fortunately for Orrin, he wasn't about to do this on his own.

Although we had only met Jaheira and Minsc briefly during our time on the Sword Coast, they were still more than welcome to team up with us. We’d be much more comfortable with having trusty Viconia around instead of these two strangers - alas, she was nowhere to be found.

First, we distributed what gear we could, cleared the lightning room and dismissed the inquisitive djinni. Imoen then fries three of the four duegar guarding the western corridor with her Lightning Bolt, making the lone survivor an easy picking for our melee assault.

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We loot their shields for our warriors and a crossbow for Orrin. His archer bonuses will off-set his lacking crossbow proficiency, thus providing us with at least some ranged capabilities. We immediately put them to test against the mineral mephit in the sewage golem room.

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The "imported" magical weapon that we got based on Orrin's proficiencies was Grave Binder (Longtooth). With its 0 speed factor, it's far from being irrelevant, however we'd still rather find an ordinary short bow with a stack of non-magical arrows. I'll note that Orrin has also been allowed to "find" his personal item here - the slightly modified Ring of Animal Friendship that he had been carrying since Candlekeep.

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Orrin uses stealth to collect the golem activation stone and after that the entire party proceeds to remove the two mephits in the laboratory. That magical quarterstaff retrieved from the trapped container will be needed against the otyugh.

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Despite our best efforts, both Minsc and Jaheira suffer some injuries when we're clearing the narrow corridors leading towards the sewage room (by the way, Minsc should have been wearing chain instead of his splint mail for the extra AC vs. slashing).

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The otyugh is taken down with coordinated stealth attacks by Imoen (using her +1 staff at extra range, while running the Strength spell) and Orrin (using his fast striking Grave Binder).

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By blocking the narrow doorway leading towards Irenicus' room, we were able to take down three more duegar without significant injuries. While Orrin's finally got his hands on a short bow, he'll be saving those few arrows for later.

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We pick up the Claw from Jon's bookshelf (for some reason the cursed item icon does not show on Orrin's portrait) and Jaheira's Entangle then turns the duegar party near the portal into a target practice for Orrin's crossbow.

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Imoen's Haste gives us the necessary oomph to take out the lesser clay golems - we fought them one by one back at their station rather than by sounding the alarm at Ellesime's room.

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Taking advantage of the Haste's effects, we push through the duegar groups further north towards the library and Illych. With their calls for help, it turns up to be a bloody affair - both Minsc and Jaheira have to quaff several healing potions and Imoen needs to chip in with Monster Summoning I. The million dollar question is why we didn't simply use Imoen's Web, which is usually the most efficient course of action here and would save us a lot of trouble. Unfortunately, I don't have the answer.

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Eventually, we deploy Web against the duegar mage, but his MIs and Protection from Normal Missiles save him from being shot down at range. Instead, we send in Imoen to fight him in melee while running MGoI, finishing him with Chromatic Orb.

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We take down the cambion with ranged weapons, retrieve the Chaos Blade under stealth and proceed through the portal to the second level.

 

[Borco]

Orrin, human archer: Part 16 - Welcome to Athkatla (continued)

Yoshimo is a welcome sight, since he's got two stacks of arrows and that's precisely what Orrin needs. We agree to help each other out and take a rest before heading into the mephit portal room. Ready? Let's do this! Everyone's running Haste and Imoen buffs with Armor, Stoneskin, Strength and MGoI.

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She leads the way and rushes towards the back of the room, while Yoshimo's pre-set trap fires away and eliminates the nearest portal.

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Even though Minsc has fallen unconscious due to the color spray, we're still able to quickly destroy the remaining portals, albeit at the cost of Imoen losing all of her Stoneskins due to the mephits' attacks.

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Apparently Minsc just wanted to take a break and has been faking his condition during the entire fight. Words, not swords, haha!

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Web and our ranged weapons take care of the next duegar group.

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Huh, what's this?! Did we just find L8 spell scroll? Mr Jansen will be pleased!

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Against the shadow thieves' assassins, we use some cannon fodder via Monster Summoning to elicit opening spells and backstabs. Imoen still suffers an ugly hit in the process, but that's nothing Jaheira's nymph couldn't heal with Mass Cure.

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Finally, we clear the smithy with Web + Fireballs, eliminate Frennedan with the help of Yoshi's remaining traps, loot everything of value and proceed to the surface to watch for the hundredth time how the Cowled Wizards detain our Imoen.

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Thank you Minsc, thank you Jaheira, thank you Yoshimo - you’ve all been of valuable assistance but now it’s time to part our ways.

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But don’t you worry, Orrin’s going to be fine – he’s got his bow (finally coming with a comfortably sizable stack of arrows) and his magical dagger, he’s got RoP +1, the Claw and Girdle of Bluntness, he’s got healing points and Oils of Speed, and he’s got RoAC that we’ve just purchased at the Adventurer’s Mart. All that he needs now is a cleric and a mage, and I think I know where to find them.

Regards,

B.

 

[Borco]

@Alesia_BH Can you believe that Ribald's been trying very hard to sell this to us the moment we set foot into the A-Mart?!

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[Alesia_BH]

I've long suspected that Ribald secretly hated me. Now I know for sure.

The next time I go to the Adventurer Mart I'll be all:

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[Borco]

Orrin, human archer: Part 17 - The Priest and the Thief

Okay, so where were we? Ah, right, the Promenade! Completely broke after our visit to the A-Mart, Orrin spent the night in the cheapest room available in the Den of the Seven Vales and proceeded to the Slums.

He's got a level-up pending, but since we simply don't enough cash to pay for a curse removal at the temple, it'll have to wait until we can find a way how to remove the Claw (so that he's not robbed of the extra hitpoints due to the CON penalty).

The meeting with Gaelan went reasonably well and we're soon on our way to the Government District, where we're supposed to meet some boy from Umar Hills. However, the main reason for going there were Jan Jansen and Viconia DeVir.

Jan was the first to join. After having to spend the entirety of BG1 is the presence of a necromancer, it felt great to finally have an illusionist on board, even if lacking brevity. After we concluded our discussions on weather, illegal merchandise and Jansen recipes, we crashed the Firecam estate to apply Jan's Stoneskin and Blur away from the prying eyes of the Cowled Wizards and proceeded to disperse the angry mob outside the prison building.

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How is it possible that no matter how many times I play this game, I always forget about RoAC: II being considered as an unsanctioned use of arcane magic? Orrin had to activate it to counter Hold Person and was immediately chastised for it by the Cowled Wizard enforcer.

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After Jan's Stoneskins have been peeled away, we make sure not to repeat the same mistake twice by having him cast his MIs inside the nearby Waukeen's Temple, while Orrin entertains the remaining fanatics. Other than that, the fight went well and the only damage came from Unholy Blight.

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Long time no see, Viccy - it's good to have you back. Here, take this Mail of the Dead that Orrin's been safekeeping for you and let's be out of here.

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The three of us pay one more visit to Mrs Firecam to apply Invisibility 10' Radius and move on to the Copper Coronet, where Viconia removes Orrin's Claw so that he can finally level up to L8 and earn his first druidic spell.

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After that, we decide to take on the beastmaster. The guards near the first set of cells are taken down under ProEvil 10' Radius, Remove Fear, Chant and Improved Invisibility (Orrin), with the help of Viconia's Silence and a summoned skeleton warrior.

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We charm the winter wolf with Orrin's Ring of Animal Friend, but unfortunately it immediately turns hostile again and has to be taken down.

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Running ProElectricity, Jan casts Haste and then charges towards the animal pens to release a Lightning Bolt. Pro tip: While this a great spot to practice your lightning skills, make sure you do it AFTER the beastmaster has opened the cells (unlike myself)!

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Jan moves back and we send in the skeleton warrior to slow down the incoming horde. Viconia drops her Chant, followed by an unsuccessful Hold Person attempt on the beastmaster and Defensive Harmony.

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The skeleton warrior falls and Viconia takes some damage on account of not carrying any shield. That's what happens when you're saving money on the things you shouldn't! Meanwhile, Orrin has to kite a runaway grizzly bear in the back and the beastmaster resists another Hold Person.

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But we've got our secret weapon - Jan's Bruiser Mates.

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Despite the complete lack of style, the victory is ours and so is Orrin's endgame weapon - the coveted Tuigan.

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You're welcome, Hendak! Until next time - now we're off to the Promenade!

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Regards,

B.

 

[Borco]

Orrin, human archer: Part 18 - You Have Been Waylaid by Enemies and Must Defend Yourself

The main takeaway from the Copper Coronet was that Viconia needed a shield. Due to her low innate strength, she can only carry small shields - this could seem like a disadvantage, were it not for the fact that small shields are actually the best shields in the game. That's right, we're about to get ourselves the Reflex.

But since we're so stingy with money, we didn’t want to haggle with Ribald unless and until we'll have the Ring of Human Influence. Circus tent it is then!

Aerie gets the sword and asks Orrin a question which catches me completely unprepared.

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I mean, we've been thinking about the SoA party composition since the early Sword Coast days and Aerie has never been part of the equation, primarily because we would already have our priest and mage roles filled in by our current two companions. Secondly, the idea was that Orrin should be aiming for a different team than Alena, so that our friends wouldn't be forced to choose their loyalties, hehe.

But here we are with Aerie and she's willing to help us out. From a power gaming perspective, I can imagine that Orrin would thrive the best in a party that's heavily skewed towards arcane magic, in which case my archer's dream team could look something like Aerie + Haer'Dalis + Jan/Nalia + Imoen (possibly also Edwin). This is what's made Aerie's offer so appealing and tested my resolve. At the same time, Orrin wanted to follow his own path.

Eventually, I decide to trust his instincts - we press option 2 and never look back. But don't you worry Aerie, we'll deal with Kalah and get Qualye back!

Alright team, let's get to work! We prepare with Armor (Jan), Stoneskin (Jan), Remove Fear, ProEvil 10', Haste, ProFire (Orrin), ProLightning (Orrin), DuHM (Orrin), II* (Viconia and Jan), Polymorph Self (Jan) and Invisibility 10' and proceed to Kalah's thone room.

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*Note: Jan's currently level 8 illusionist with 3 available L4 spell slots. Therefore, with RoAC, we're technically able to cast II on all three party members, while still keeping one slot for Jan's Stoneskins.

Jan dispels the illusionary werewolf with detect illusions but otherwise we remain invisible, observing the situation. Kalah's running pre-cast Pro Normal Missiles, although his other buffs have not yet triggered. Orrin swings his dagger and immediately activates RoAC: II.

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That's a major mistake! Kalah had his minor trigger ready and unloads double Blindness on Orrin before he can disappear. Eventually, he only makes his save thanks to the ProEvil bonus, effectively offsetting Kalah's specialist penalty. Next time, we need to make sure to apply II BEFORE we attempt such heroics!

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Kalah has also triggered Stoneskin and MIs pre-buffs, however the latter gets quickly dispelled by nearby Jan. Great job, Mr Jansen!

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Viconia targets Kalah with Silence and in turn draws out his Remove Magic - Kalah wins the round by making his save and removing all of Viconia's buffs.

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Meanwhile, Orrin has popped him with three of his four +1 arrows and Jan lands his MAA.

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Under pressure, Kalah refreshes his MI. Viconia uses the window of opportunity to summon a skeleton warrior and Jan closes in with his detect mode on to remove the images.

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Orrin has ran out of magical ammunition and switches to melee, while our casters go for Hold Person + Flame Arrow.

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The skeleton warrior gets the kill before either of our spells can land.

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As in the Copper Coronet, we've played a sub-par game once again, mainly on account of that RoAC blunder. Hopefully, we'll be able to learn from these mistakes before it's too late.

Thank you Aerie - we'd like that as well, really, but our mind's made up.

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With 6k of gold on our bank account, we walk into the A-Mart with our newly acquired Ring of Human Influence to purchase the Reflex, a stack of +1 arrows, 1x PoI and 1x Potion of Freedom. After that, we take a rest in the Den until nightfall and hit the streets again to trigger the first guild war encounter.

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[Borco]

Orrin, human archer: Part 18 - You Have Been Waylaid by Enemies and Must Defend Yourself (continued)

Having had spoken to Delon already, we decided that our next destination's going to be Umar Hills. Unfortunately, travelling in Amn seems to be anything but straightforward - en route to the city gates, we're waylaid by Suna Seni. Somehow, they were able to intercept us despite our Invisibility 10'. Since we were both concerned about a possible divination cast and equally interested in their gear, we decided to take the initiative into our hands and fight.

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First, we move away from their line of sight and prepare by summoning two skeleton warriors and buffing with Armor (Jan), Blur + MIs (Jan), Remove Fear, ProEvil 10', Haste, ProFire (Orrin), II (Jan and Viconia), RoAC II (Orrin - doing it the right way this time), Chant and DuHM (Orrin).

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As we approach the enemy, the priest beings his divination incantation. That's the signal for Orrin to strike.

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The skeletons charge ahead and Viconia is tasked with casting Silence towards the main group from the distance. Jan's at the frontline, rushing towards the mage while uncorking his Firebreath potion. His invisibility is safe since Orrin has shut down the divining cleric.

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*gulp*

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Suna Seni falls to Orrin's arrow before Viconia's Silence projectile has reached its destination.

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The mage forces Jan to take a saving throw against her Slow, but that's all she can do before getting cremated under our gnome's fiery breath. I'm pretty sure this moment will become canon as far as the Jansen family stories are concerned, naturally with some minor adjustments and additions.

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Eldarin soon follows the mages' fate.

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Now where's that rogue? The log seems to be silent, but we still order everyone to switch to their melee weapons in anticipation of a backstab. There we go - he reveals himself before Jan could look him up.

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Viconia triggers Defensive Harmony to avoid any last minute injuries, however our ranged attackers are able to take him down before he can quaff further PoIs.

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Well done everyone! We collect the loot and proceed to the City Gates, where we learn about the situation in Trademeet, enjoy some anti-smalltalk with Jan and treat ourselves to a good night's sleep at the Crooked Crane's stables. While we'll reek of horses for the next few days, at least I didn't ruin our budget before heading out of town.

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Have I already mentioned that travelling in Amn is not very straightforward? Then guess what - we ran into Renfeld the moment we set foot outside Athkatla! While not very pleased with the interference, we were ready to deal with the situation.

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Taking advantage our of invisibility, we take the time to prepare in a similar manner as we did with Suna Seni, including ensuring that everyone's running II. We open with Viconia's Silence.

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By mistake, I allow Jan to get into the spell's range, but fortunately he makes his save, unlike the enemy wizard.

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With the mage's spellcasting temporarily disabled, Orrin activates Called Shot and opens fire. The skeletons are already at the helm, while invisible Jan works on removing the mage's MIs.

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With his MIs gone, the mage is first tagged with MAA and then hacked into pieces by the skellies.

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Orrin shoots down the shield-less priest and Viconia lands Hold Person on the fighter.

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Once again, only the rogue remains. We don't see him and we don’t see any mention of him in the log either. Neither Jan seems to be able to spot him with detect illusions. And then I get it! Apparently, he's got this dialogue before he turns hostile. It's like he really wanted to say something important, but then the words got stuck in this throat due to our Silence and that got him completely paralyzed. Haha, there you go! I'm sorry, but the "boys" are no longer available.

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We switch to melee and Jan draws him out with Detect Invisibility via his Spectroscopes. Our II's gone and therefore we're slightly more vulnerable.

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Viconia quickly activates Defensive Harmony, while the attacker quaffs a PoI and disappears again. We can also see that he picked Jan as his next target.

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Haven't you heard that backstab against Stoneskins is a big no-no? Blindness + Called Shot and we're done here.

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Well, it seems that despite our best efforts to get away from the city we'll be heading into the Docks. But don't worry people of Imnesvale and Trademeet, we'll get to you as soon as we can.

Regards,

B.

 

[Borco]

Orrin, human archer: Part 19 - There's a New Kid on the Block

In this session, we start our day by eliminating the Mad Cleric for spilling our morning coffee. There's no need to be afraid of Hold Person spammers when you've got Arbane!

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Hello there, Xzar! I see you're still wearing that archmagi robe that you had taken from Davaeorn's corpse before it could get cold. Never mind you don't recognize us - we've got ourselves a better mage anyway already, right Jan?

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Is there a more appropriate place to discreetly apply your arcane buffs than the Corthala family house, I ask you?

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As soon as everyone's running II, ProEvil, Remove Fear, ProElectricity, Haste and Chant (plus we have ProFire on Jan and Orrin on top of that), we're ready to pay a visit to Prebek. Hello there - prepare to get electro-fried!

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Our instant victory gets even more satisfying with this nice Lightning Bolt bounce towards the surviving goblins.

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In the Harper's HQ, we collect the Helm of Charm Protection and a healthy stack of acid arrows, among others, and proceed to report to Xzar to witness the classic the-bird-is-the-assassin trick.

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We concluded our stay in the city by purchasing few scrolls for Jan that he would then scribe under Potion of Genius + Potion of Mind Focusing. He's the full list - the only scroll that unfortunately got wasted in the process was Secret Word.

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Thanks to the recent level-ups, Viconia is now at level 9 (with access to L5 spells) and Jan's level 9/10 illusionist/thief. Orrin has just reached his level 9 as well, earning a boost to his saving throws, fourth pip in shortbows, and additional archer bonuses with ranged weapons (bringing his unbuffed THAC0 with Tuigan to 2).

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Our next destination was Trademeet. As expected, the trip was not without interference.

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This should've been a straightforward affair, however the mage did put up quite a fight. Running MGoI, MIs, Shadow Door, and Fireshield: Red, she managed to dispel Jan, forcing him to trigger his Shadow Door and rebuff, and pummeled us with Lightning Bolts (which the enemy AI can apparently target through II; that makes sense by the way).

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Despite the injuries, we were never really in serious danger, mainly since Orrin's buffs (including the all-important Chaotic Commands, which is now available to us through Viconia's L5s) remained intact throughout the fight.

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[Borco]

Orrin, human archer: Part 19 - There's a New Kid on the Block (continued)

The immediate purpose of our visit to Trademeet was twofold - befriending Cernd and dealing with the djinnis. Eventually, we managed to kill two birds with one stone (or, as we say, "two flies with one stroke"), since our new recruit would play the key role in our victory over Khan Zahraa and his djinns.

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After we had bought two Oils of Speed and a Potion of Absorption from the khan, Cernd summoned his fire elemental to do the heavy lifting against Taquee.

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At level 11, Cernd's currently two caster levels above Viconia, which makes him our best buffer when it comes to resisting enemy dispels and caster-level-dependent spell duration. Also, his L3 slots are typically not going to be overcrowded with the usual cleric staples (such as Animate Dead and Holy Smites, even though Viconia has not been using the latter), allowing him to dedicate these to spells like ProFire instead.

We entered the tent invisible, with the entire party running ProFire and Haste among other buffs (everyone but Viconia was also under ProPetrification). Jan opens with Sunfire, while Cernd calls forth his Insect Plague.

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The djinns activate their Improved Haste, forcing Jan to refresh his MIs mid-fight with their melee attacks, but the insects soon bite through their Stoneskins, allowing Orrin to join the offense with normal arrows.

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Khan Zahraa falls before our summoned reinforcements could arrive.

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With the Shield of Harmony in our hands (more precisely, in Orrin's offhand, whereby his Helm of Charm Protection goes to Cernd), we move on to the Druid Grove. Jan's Invisibility 10' takes us undetected all the way to the troll mound, where Viconia steals the Spear of the Unicorn (a useful addition to our growing collection of undispelable protections) and the Bracers of Archery under Sanctuary. Orrin's targets, say hello to zero THAC0!

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We reapply the invisibility and continue without interruptions towards Adratha's cottage and Viconia repeats the Sanctuary trick to acquire Belm from the tower. As soon as we're at the second bridge, we summon two skeletons and a fire elemental to help us deal with the shambling mounds. Once again, Cernd takes most of the credit here thanks to his powerful Call Lightning.

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To get past the grizzly bears, we use Orrin's Ring of Animal Friendship + our freshly summoned nymph's Confusion and Call Lightning.

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Finally, we reach Dalok and his two bodyguards. Our plan was simple - overwhelming them with everything we had, including the numbers, spells and weapons.

Spoiler

We open with Hold Person by the two nymphs + Silence + Insect Plague + Breach on Dalok. The buffs can be read from the screenshots, plus Orrin, Jan and Cernd are each running II.

Spoiler

The warrior type gets held and is quickly crushed by our fire elemental. As soon as Dalok gets breached, he's targeted by our ranged attackers.

Spoiler

And finish!

Spoiler

We rest ahead of the druidic challenge in which eventually Cernd scores an overwhelming victory over Faldon. Barkskin and II have brought his saves vs. death into the safe zone against Nature's Beauty, while he's also been running Iron Skins as well as Chaotic Commands to thwart any enchantments. As soon as the battle beings, he waits for Faldorn's opening move - conjuration incantation indicated that she's calling in summons rather than starting with Nature's Beauty. With the risk of permanent blindness out of play, he summons his fire elemental.

Spoiler

Faldorn morphs into her bear form and targets the elemental with Dolorous Decay. Cernd uses the window of opportunity to drop Insect Plague.

Spoiler

With Faldorn's nymph out and Cernd's nymph in, it's become clear that the Druid Grove is saved.

Spoiler

We report to Coprith, spend our reward on the Cloak of Displacement and the BoIB and we're off to Imnesvale.

Regards,

B.

 

[Borco]

Hey hey, I just wanted to let you know that while I'm slowly catching up with Orrin's progress in SoA, I'll be traveling in the next two weeks and may not be able to post much during that time. So please bear with me, I'll continue the story as soon as I can.

Cheers!

 

[Alesia_BH]

Enjoy your trip! I look forward to seeing more from Orrin when you return.

Btw: I did keep my promise of firing up Alena's save when I said I would. I didn't actually play her, though. I'm thinking I'll resume in the next few days to keep the head active while you're gone.

Btw II: Is this the hiking trip you were talking about?

 

[WiseGrimwald]

I too will be away for a while. A Three day conference followed by a fortnight in Madeira. My wife and I too will be doing more hiking than lazing on beaches. The best time of year for it. I'll leave the lazing about until we can no longer hike! I do however post until I go.

I have decided to play three dwarven triplets - identical rolls. Ham and I are lawful good worshipers of Helm: I being a wizard slayer whilst Ham is a fighter cleric. The black sheep of the family is Arne, a neutral good berserker.

I take the dwarven mistrust of arcane magic to a new level, the reason why I am a wizard slayer and the reason why arcane magic-users will not be allowed in the party.
My brothers are not so particular, so if they can use magical items, they will.

We are currently in Beregost having dropped Imoen off in the first town where she could be left safely.

 

[Alesia_BH]

A Three day conference followed by a fortnight in Madeira. My wife and I too will be doing more hiking than lazing on beaches. The best time of year for it. I'll leave the lazing about until we can no longer hike!

Great choice! Madeira is amazing. And yes, I agree with your approach: hike when you can, laze when you must.

 

[Borco]

Btw II: Is this the hiking trip you were talking about?

Well, the timing is the same, but eventually I had to opt for something less ambitious by staying in Europe and I'm headed to northern Finland instead!

 

[Alesia_BH]

I'm headed to northern Finland instead!

That sounds super cool. Feel free to share some pics in DM. Or, actually, maybe you could do it in the thread. It might be healthy if we occasionally post on our RL adventures.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

That sounds super cool. Feel free to share some pics in DM. Or, actually, maybe you could do it in the thread. It might be healthy if we occasionally post on our RL adventures.

I hope that isn't a Dad joke. what do you call a horrendous pun when it's cracked by a woman? I've never heard of Mum jokes. My wife and kids groan at my Dad jokes.

Brad's Journal

We headed south to Nashkel, picked up the ankheg armour, and chatted with Oublek and Noober.

We proceeded to the mine area and killed an assassin and Greywolf.

We were badly injured in both encounters due to still being at level 1. However prolonged rest healed us as it did after a battle with Zordral.

We then went ankheg hunting and have collected many shells.

After selling them we upgraded as many weapons as we could afford.

We are now fairly well equipped though we could do with two suits of full plate mail armour..

We won't be buying them as we know that there will soon be good armour available.