Alesia_BH
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Thanks. The play and writing have have been casual since this isn't a proper run. I hope it helps nonetheless.
Cheers!
A.
The Candlekeep Annex: RPed Baldur’s Gate No and Low Reload Adventures
- Thread starter Alesia_BH
- Start date
Cheers!
A.
Alesia_BH
Habitué
- Messages
- 912
Alastria v. Abazigal- Or the Fall of Simmy Alastria
Well, that was strange. Really strange. Alastria has defeated Abazigal. Hooray for that. This did, however, take a few reload due to a bizarre occurrence that is either a bug or a design change that I don't support.
Here's what happened. Our plan for this battle was to leverage Tensered Simmy Alastria once again. After the second Simmy Alastria was dispatched, this strange message popped up in the battle record:
From that point on it was impossible to summon a Simulacrum again.
WTF. WTF, I say.
I'm not sure what to make of this. The dialogue sounds similar to the description of the Lesser Grimoire of Demon Bindning. I did have the Lesser Demon Binding Grimoire in my bag of holding, but I've never used it. In any case, it's surely not supposed to work that way. Using the grimoire grants you the ability to bind summoned demons (ie- turn them green circled). If you're evil, each time you bind a demon there's a 10% chance of losing your soul (ie- making your character unresurrectable). There's no way the grimoire, sitting in a bag of holding, never used, is supposed to stop you from casting Simulacrum.
I guess I could see a tortured argument for a connection. According to the DnD 2nd edition description of Simulacrum, casting Resurrection is part of the process. You use snow, a hair sample, ruby powder and the spell, Simulacrum, to create a zombie like duplicate. You then use Resurrection to give the simulacrum a life force, followed by Limited Wish to make it stronger. Accordingly, if you can't resurrect someone of something you can't make a simulacrum of that thing. It's kind of weird, though, to import that logic into BG, where Simulacrum is a straightforward illusion spell. And again: I never used the grimoire, plus there are no demons here to be bound.
Maybe David had an issue with Simulacrum use in this battle and wanted to restrict it in some way? If so, why re-use the rationale from the grimoires? It's confusing, at best.
Once I lost the ability to cast Simulacrum I reloaded and tried the fight again to see if the issue would re-occur. It did. That, to my mind, increases the likelihood that this is something David did here, in the specific battle. I'm not sure, though- not at all.
The upside of this weird occurrence is that it allowed me to sample the opening portion of the battle a couple times before playing the fight all the way through. I have no doubt that that helped, ultimately contributing to Alastria's success. From this point on I'll be posting on the successful battle, the one following the two "bug" reloads (*).
Against Abazigal, Alastria built a battle plan leveraging all of her late game kill strategies. So opened in mind flayer form, seeking to kill the drakes. This didn't work quite as well as I'd hoped. We killed two drakes. Two others saved themselves with invisibility. The biggest risk in the early portions of this fight is getting boxed in. There are a lot of enemies on this field. Some of them are quick and some use invisibility often. I'm not 100% engaging the drake in melee was worth the risk, but I do think it was wise of Alastria clear them from the field before Abazigal flipped. Mirroring protects from the drakes' breath weapon, but no Abazigal's. Meanwhile, the Cloak of Reflection protects from Abazigal's breath weapon, but not the drakes'. It's best not to face both of them at the same time, at least if you're Alastria, using Mirroring, but without Abjuration spells. Astrid, in contrast, ignored the drakes, confident that her L40 buffs, including Storm Shield, would keep her safe.
With the remaining drakes evading Alastria's mind flayer form, we decided to call in a PI to get us started on Tamah. Like most dragons, Tamah is immune to brain drain, but not level drain. PI one hit her with 3 Energy Drains, taking her down to L10. With Abazigal still in human form, Alastria is wearing Mirroring here, allowing the PI to finish the third drake with a Skull Trap barrage.
PI 2 takes down Tamah with two more Energy Drains. Tamah is less dangerous than usual in the current version of SCS, since she uses her breath weapon less. These days she'll only use it when you engage her in melee. Still, it's best to keep the Greenstone Amulet active when possible to protect against sleep.
Once Tamah was down, the second PI finished off the final drake, aided by Fairsight.
By now we were left with frost salamanders and an un-hasted human form Abazigal, all slow footed enemies that can't detect the invisible. Leveraging her speed and the SotM, Alastria snuck off for a breather. After noticing that a Quick Save worked, I decided to try using the Pocket Plane ability. To my surprise that succeeded. I kind of thought that would be blocked in this edition.
In any case, we used the opportunity to reconfigure our spell book. The only thing that really mattered was getting those Energy Drains out of the way so we could move IA up into Simmy Alastria's book. Note that this wouldn't have been necessary if it were for the EE's alphabetized spell book ordering.
On to human form Abazigal. With Alastria conserving Tenser's, we decided to use a Wand of Frost here. Abazigal's MR foiled a number of the blasts but it was still quicker than plinking away with Everard.
Finally, finally, finally, Abazigal flips.
Btw, looking at Abazigal's Chain reminded me that Alastria's opening Chain didn't work in this fight. In earlier editions of SCS/Ascension, the drakes would charge you shortly after you entered the hall. Abazigal, meanwhile, waited to the south. In the current version, the PC is force walked to Abazigal, where he is waiting near the rear of the chamber, surrounded by drakes. Initially I thought all Chains were foiled by the forced walk mechanic, but after some testing I concluded that the command was at issue. I had chosen Mordy Sword x 3 and Nearest Enemy. That does not work. Mordy Sword x 3 and Self, in contrast, works fine.
Anyhoo. Against dragon form Abazigal our main concern was Imprisonment. I've been lazy about using Alastria's SotM Spell Trap but is seemed well worth using here. Our two ProMagic scrolls were kept at the ready as well.
Our first goal was to draw out Abazigal's Removes. We lost our Oil of Speed here but everything else stuck.
Time to call in Simmy Alastria and get to work. Stoneskins were removed with the Wand of Spell Striking, a Transmuters best friend. We'll be off to WK to pick up some more ASAP.
Frustrated by all the ranged fighting, Abazigal tries a Slow. He got no joy from that. As for the Imprisonment threat, that never materialized.
Slow and steady progress here, one sling bullet at a time. The real Alastria is doing less damage than Simmy Alastria because she had cast Strength to buff her mind flayer form at the cost of overriding her Girdle of Fire Giant Strength in human form. Also, Simmy Alastria is Tensered. The real Alastria probably should have been Tensered too. We had more than enough L6s to make that work.
On occasion we slipped in Victor charges but those didn't help much due to Abby's resistances.
Once Abazigal was down to badly injured, Alastria decided to start using her Tenser's. Like I said, she should have done this earlier. She ended the fight with 4 leftover.
Here we see Alastria fighting alongside her fourth Simmy. All three of the prior Simmys had expired rather than being killed, which is how we avoided the odd Simulacrum related occurrence from earlier.
And there we have it. Abazigal is no more, the grand flames of his existence snuffed out by a Transmuter. My only question know is whether Simmy Alastria will be consumed by demons if she dies elsewhere, outside of Abazigal's chamber.
Best,
A.
* If this were a proper run, I would not see this occurrence as worthy of a reload, since it may be a weird design choice, not a bug. Bug reloads require a "game breaking occurrence that unequivocally subverts developer intent." Not being able to cast Simulacrum is game breaking for Alastria, but the unequivocal subversion of developer intent prong isn't satisfied. I'd reconsider the issue if I received confirmation from David that this wasn't intended.
Well, that was strange. Really strange. Alastria has defeated Abazigal. Hooray for that. This did, however, take a few reload due to a bizarre occurrence that is either a bug or a design change that I don't support.
Here's what happened. Our plan for this battle was to leverage Tensered Simmy Alastria once again. After the second Simmy Alastria was dispatched, this strange message popped up in the battle record:
WTF. WTF, I say.
I'm not sure what to make of this. The dialogue sounds similar to the description of the Lesser Grimoire of Demon Bindning. I did have the Lesser Demon Binding Grimoire in my bag of holding, but I've never used it. In any case, it's surely not supposed to work that way. Using the grimoire grants you the ability to bind summoned demons (ie- turn them green circled). If you're evil, each time you bind a demon there's a 10% chance of losing your soul (ie- making your character unresurrectable). There's no way the grimoire, sitting in a bag of holding, never used, is supposed to stop you from casting Simulacrum.
I guess I could see a tortured argument for a connection. According to the DnD 2nd edition description of Simulacrum, casting Resurrection is part of the process. You use snow, a hair sample, ruby powder and the spell, Simulacrum, to create a zombie like duplicate. You then use Resurrection to give the simulacrum a life force, followed by Limited Wish to make it stronger. Accordingly, if you can't resurrect someone of something you can't make a simulacrum of that thing. It's kind of weird, though, to import that logic into BG, where Simulacrum is a straightforward illusion spell. And again: I never used the grimoire, plus there are no demons here to be bound.
Maybe David had an issue with Simulacrum use in this battle and wanted to restrict it in some way? If so, why re-use the rationale from the grimoires? It's confusing, at best.
Once I lost the ability to cast Simulacrum I reloaded and tried the fight again to see if the issue would re-occur. It did. That, to my mind, increases the likelihood that this is something David did here, in the specific battle. I'm not sure, though- not at all.
The upside of this weird occurrence is that it allowed me to sample the opening portion of the battle a couple times before playing the fight all the way through. I have no doubt that that helped, ultimately contributing to Alastria's success. From this point on I'll be posting on the successful battle, the one following the two "bug" reloads (*).
Against Abazigal, Alastria built a battle plan leveraging all of her late game kill strategies. So opened in mind flayer form, seeking to kill the drakes. This didn't work quite as well as I'd hoped. We killed two drakes. Two others saved themselves with invisibility. The biggest risk in the early portions of this fight is getting boxed in. There are a lot of enemies on this field. Some of them are quick and some use invisibility often. I'm not 100% engaging the drake in melee was worth the risk, but I do think it was wise of Alastria clear them from the field before Abazigal flipped. Mirroring protects from the drakes' breath weapon, but no Abazigal's. Meanwhile, the Cloak of Reflection protects from Abazigal's breath weapon, but not the drakes'. It's best not to face both of them at the same time, at least if you're Alastria, using Mirroring, but without Abjuration spells. Astrid, in contrast, ignored the drakes, confident that her L40 buffs, including Storm Shield, would keep her safe.
In any case, we used the opportunity to reconfigure our spell book. The only thing that really mattered was getting those Energy Drains out of the way so we could move IA up into Simmy Alastria's book. Note that this wouldn't have been necessary if it were for the EE's alphabetized spell book ordering.
On to human form Abazigal. With Alastria conserving Tenser's, we decided to use a Wand of Frost here. Abazigal's MR foiled a number of the blasts but it was still quicker than plinking away with Everard.
Anyhoo. Against dragon form Abazigal our main concern was Imprisonment. I've been lazy about using Alastria's SotM Spell Trap but is seemed well worth using here. Our two ProMagic scrolls were kept at the ready as well.
Best,
A.
* If this were a proper run, I would not see this occurrence as worthy of a reload, since it may be a weird design choice, not a bug. Bug reloads require a "game breaking occurrence that unequivocally subverts developer intent." Not being able to cast Simulacrum is game breaking for Alastria, but the unequivocal subversion of developer intent prong isn't satisfied. I'd reconsider the issue if I received confirmation from David that this wasn't intended.
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WiseGrimwald
Habitué
- Messages
- 502
We recruited Tenya, killed Lethe and raided the Iron Throne. In the process Tenya was killed, but a trip to the Temple of Helm restored her.
We then recruited Jet' Laya and dropped Tenya.
We went in search of Jet' Laya's sister, Ferium, and upon discovering that she had become a banshee, we killed her.
We then left Jet outside the smithy whilst we went to kill a forest dragon.
Summoned skeletons were a big help.
We recruited Cu'Choinneach and dropped off Sirene ready for Castle Daerthmac which had a lot of undead.
We then recruited Jet' Laya and dropped Tenya.
We went in search of Jet' Laya's sister, Ferium, and upon discovering that she had become a banshee, we killed her.
We then left Jet outside the smithy whilst we went to kill a forest dragon.
Summoned skeletons were a big help.
We recruited Cu'Choinneach and dropped off Sirene ready for Castle Daerthmac which had a lot of undead.
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Borco
Habitué
- Messages
- 382
Iona, Human Sorceress: Part 13
Renal's instruction was clear enough - "Go and eliminate Mae'Var!"
Running SI: Ab and SI: Di on top of her standard set of buffs, as well as her newly acquired Fireshield: Blue and Spell Shield, Iona sneaked in through the back door and opened with Death Fog.
At first, I wasn't sure whether the thieves would be willing to pick a fight in the vapors, but luckily for us, Mae'Var spurred them into action despite knowing it was most likely a suicide mission.
He quickly disappeared under invisibility, but Iona was already preparing to launch her Fireball into the dense enemy ranks.
We finished the priest with meteors, and Mae'Var - who had broken his invisibility by attacking Iona - was tagged with Spell Thrust.
Iona's second Fireball was enough to clear the entire field, barring one of his assassins, who was shot down by her meteors shortly thereafter. Note that these boys can be fairly dangerous with SCS - they are assigned actual assassin kits and are capable of backstabs at very high multiples. This isn’t much of an issue for a mage with Stoneskins and MI like Iona, but my recently deceased bounty hunter had to be extra careful around them (Ilbratha can be your best friend).
Iona mopped up the ground floor of the guild with Death Fog + Fireball + Wand of Fire charge + Burning Hands, while the efreeti chipped in with a Flame Strike kill.
We counted the bodies (eleven, including the fat bartender) and moved on to the first floor, scoring more kills with Death Fog and Iona's refreshed Fireshield.
Iona reported back to Renal, then swung by the Temple District to purchase the Boots of Grounding from the Temple of Lathander and collect Anarg's cup from the Order. Battling the fallen paladins at the Bridge could have been a straightforward matter—were it not for two courtesans. Yes, courtesans. Here we see Iona at the beginning of the fight, ready to deploy her AoE. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen, as there were innocents on the field.
By the way, does anyone know what determines whether Reynald joins Anarg or leaves? It seems pretty random to me based on what I’ve observed so far.
Anyway, we had to move around the district a bit to find a more appropriate spot to engage. Iona managed to drop three of the fallen paladins, including Reynald and Anarg, using Burning Hands, Fireshield damage, and Fireball, but the fight was now joined by the local muggers whom we had avoided by casting Invisibility during our first visit.
Hoping to find a safe spot to drop her Death Fog, Iona entered the house with the Horn of Valhalla, only to find yet another fleeing courtesan inside. We waited for her to leave through the doors, then deployed Death Fog + Fireball to get rid of the trailing enemies.
Just as we dropped the last foe, the courtesan entered the house again. Not cool!
Iona rushed toward her, but we already knew our attempt at casting ProAcid to protect her from our Death Fog was futile. She died in front of Iona's eyes.
Now that’s an unfortunate turn of events. We were hoping the Order would understand the situation - especially since we had also completed their task and returned the cup - but Sir Trawl was all like:
I mean, come on, man! First, you send us on this dirty job, and now you claim some moral superiority? But never mind - we’ll be back in a minute!
What a bunch of hypocrites!
We're off to Umar Hills, hoping that a trip to the countryside will improve our mood.
Regards,
B.
***
Spellbook (level 13):
L1 - Burning Hands, Shield, Blindness, MM, ProEvil
L2 - Invisibility, Mirror Image, Resist Fear, Melf's Acid Arrow, Blur
L3 - Fireball, ProFire, Melf's Minute Meteors, Spell Thrust
L4 - Improved Invisibility, Stoneskin, Spirit Armor, Fireshield: Blue
L5 - Spell Immunity, ProAcid, Spell Shield
L6 - Death Fog, PfMW
Renal's instruction was clear enough - "Go and eliminate Mae'Var!"
Running SI: Ab and SI: Di on top of her standard set of buffs, as well as her newly acquired Fireshield: Blue and Spell Shield, Iona sneaked in through the back door and opened with Death Fog.
I mean, come on, man! First, you send us on this dirty job, and now you claim some moral superiority? But never mind - we’ll be back in a minute!
We're off to Umar Hills, hoping that a trip to the countryside will improve our mood.
Regards,
B.
***
Spellbook (level 13):
L1 - Burning Hands, Shield, Blindness, MM, ProEvil
L2 - Invisibility, Mirror Image, Resist Fear, Melf's Acid Arrow, Blur
L3 - Fireball, ProFire, Melf's Minute Meteors, Spell Thrust
L4 - Improved Invisibility, Stoneskin, Spirit Armor, Fireshield: Blue
L5 - Spell Immunity, ProAcid, Spell Shield
L6 - Death Fog, PfMW
Borco
Habitué
- Messages
- 382
Iona, Human Sorceress: Part 14
Shortly after arriving in Umar Village, Iona got to work tracking down the mimic. She was running ProAcid and II, and it seems the latter must have prevented the mimic from appearing at all, forcing us to blast it with Fireballs instead. For reference, unless stated otherwise, Iona typically wears her BoIB at all times, so even if the mimic had engaged, its breath weapon would have been negated by her save vs. breath.
Jermien's stone golem was taken down with meteors, though we had to conjure up a fresh batch before Iona could finish it off.
Moving on to the Shadow Temple, we avoided all enemies on the surface via Invisibility and proceeded straight into the dungeon. Iona eliminated the first group of shadows and shade wolves with a combination of Death Fog, Fireballs, and Burning Hands.
After our efreeti had softened them up, the two skeleton warriors were shot down with MMMs.
Iona then rescued Mazzy, recovered the sun gem, and, by completing the Amaunator ritual test, she reached level 14. Time to unleash Iona’s newly acquired Project Image! While PIs couldn’t handle skeleton warriors or bone golems, they did an excellent job thinning the waves of shades and mummies coming in from deeper parts of the temple.
The real Iona finished the skeletons with meteors under PfMW, while the efreeti assisted us with the first bone golem.
When we finally reached the fire pool, we saw this:
A lich - the same one that ended my cleric/mage Rissa’s run some time ago - was still there. SCS liches see through Invisibility, and until we have a way to block their single-target spells that bypass II, we weren’t going to fight them on fair terms.
Invisible, Iona carefully scouted the second undead group near the floor tiles with letters to confirm the presence of a second lich. She rested, retrieved a ProUndead scroll from her case, applied it, and conjured her PI. The image buffed with Stoneskin, ProFire, ProAcid, and MIs, then dropped two Death Fogs on the large undead group - the lich fell, though the PI was unable to deal with the remaining enemies aside from causing some minor fire damage to the mummies.
The second lich was dispatched by the real Iona with two Death Fogs and MMMs, while we made sure to stay out of range of his self-centered Remove Magic.
We used another PI to finish off the greater mummies, and then the real Iona lured the three bone golems all the way to the surface, where she kited them with multiple casts of MMMs.
With our spellbook largely depleted, we let the efreeti eliminate the remaining skeleton warriors inside the temple. The shadow guarding the final piece of the Symbol was led into the Flame Strike trap on the floor.
After another rest, Iona prepared for the Shade Lord with Spirit Armor, ProFire, ProAcid, Resist Fear, Spell Shield, ProEvil, Fireshield: Blue, MIs, II, SI: Ab, and SI: Di. For completeness - I’m not running the improved SCS component here.
We predictably opened with Death Fog, while the Shade Lord attacked Iona’s Spell Shield with Spellstrike.
Thanks to Iona’s BoIB, Cloak of Displacement, II, Blur, and ProEvil, her save vs. breath bonuses kept her safe from the actual level drain, however the short-duration blindness of the Shade Lord's ability doesn’t allow a save and therefore we had to be mindful of how it could disrupt our targeting. First things first, Iona renewed her Spell Shield before switching to offense.
We followed up with three consecutive Fireballs, detonated at Iona’s feet. The third one destroyed both the Shadow Altar and Shadow Patrick.
Finally, the Shade Lord succumbed to the last tick of acid damage from our opening Death Fog.
Time to bring the good news to the mayor and return to Athkatla.
Regards,
B.
Spellbook (level 14):
L1 - Burning Hands, Shield, Blindness, MM, ProEvil
L2 - Invisibility, Mirror Image, Resist Fear, Melf's Acid Arrow, Blur
L3 - Fireball, ProFire, Melf's Minute Meteors, Spell Thrust
L4 - Improved Invisibility, Stoneskin, Spirit Armor, Fireshield: Blue
L5 - Spell Immunity, ProAcid, Spell Shield
L6 - Death Fog, PfMW
L7 - Project Image
Shortly after arriving in Umar Village, Iona got to work tracking down the mimic. She was running ProAcid and II, and it seems the latter must have prevented the mimic from appearing at all, forcing us to blast it with Fireballs instead. For reference, unless stated otherwise, Iona typically wears her BoIB at all times, so even if the mimic had engaged, its breath weapon would have been negated by her save vs. breath.
Invisible, Iona carefully scouted the second undead group near the floor tiles with letters to confirm the presence of a second lich. She rested, retrieved a ProUndead scroll from her case, applied it, and conjured her PI. The image buffed with Stoneskin, ProFire, ProAcid, and MIs, then dropped two Death Fogs on the large undead group - the lich fell, though the PI was unable to deal with the remaining enemies aside from causing some minor fire damage to the mummies.
Regards,
B.
Spellbook (level 14):
L1 - Burning Hands, Shield, Blindness, MM, ProEvil
L2 - Invisibility, Mirror Image, Resist Fear, Melf's Acid Arrow, Blur
L3 - Fireball, ProFire, Melf's Minute Meteors, Spell Thrust
L4 - Improved Invisibility, Stoneskin, Spirit Armor, Fireshield: Blue
L5 - Spell Immunity, ProAcid, Spell Shield
L6 - Death Fog, PfMW
L7 - Project Image
Serg_BlackStrider
Habitué
- Messages
- 144
When you return to Reynald with the cup, he'll call Anarg over to see you. Anarg will ask you if you'd like to join his outfit.
- If you say yes, then Anarg will reveal that he knows about your scheme with Trawl, and he and his men will attack you. Following this path will earn you 39,500 xp total.
- If you say no, then you'll still have to fight Anarg and his men, but Reynald will take offense at Anarg's words, and he'll leave, giving you a slightly easier fight. Following this path will earn you 27,250 xp total.
Alesia_BH
Habitué
- Messages
- 912
Alastria v. Ascension Irenicus
Wow! I can't say for certain, but this may have been my best Ascension Irenicus fight ever. Considering my character's limitations, it probably was. This was smooth. Very smooth. Balthazar lived. Imoen lived. And as for Alastria, she didn't take a single hit point of damage. Smooth as smooth can be.
The Plan: Buff up in the Pocket Plane, including Shapechange and Enchanted Weapon. Set Contingency: See Enemy- Teleport Field; Chain Contingency: See Enemy- Simulacrum, Mislead, Limited Wish. Use Wish to replenish the spell book before entering The Throne. Once the fight begins, activate Bathazar's Lunar Stance, seeking Time Stop Immunity. When Jon-Jon casts his Time Stop, send Balthazar after one of the fallen solars. Shortly after Jon-Jon's Time Stop ends, select Limited Wish: I wish for control over time. Send Balthazar after the second fallen solar. Meanwhile, flip to mind flayer form and brain drain Bodhi to death. By now only Jon-Jon will remain. Let Balthazar wear him down with Dragon Fist-> Melee. As a nod to Alastria V1, finish him with a Sunfire x 3 Spell Trigger.
Execution: This battle went according to plan. Exactly. No hitches at all.
Here we see the opening. Balthazar has activated his Lunar Stance. Alastria's Mislead has headed east, hoping to distract one of the fallen solars. Simmy Alastria is headed north, out of the action, holding steady. Balthazar is headed west to the westward fallen solar. Alastria keeps her eye on Bodhi.
Jon-Jon's Time Stop begins. You're up, Balthazar. Drop that fallen solar.
Our Limited Wish djinni appears.
Bodhi is in bat form, but it doesn't matter. She's still vulnerable to brain drain. Flip and feast, Alastria.
Balthazar, you're up again. Get those dispelling arrows off the field.
Alastria steps back and observes while Balthazar unleashes Dragon Fist.
Jon-Jon counters with a ProMW, but Alastria has plenty of Wand of Spell Striking Wands, thanks to Wish- Create a random wand in the caster's inventory. Imoen leaves the field, unscathed. Simmy Alastria, under IA, begins deploying Sunfires.
Alastria gets the kill with her Sunfire x 3 Spell Trigger, a nod to Alastria v1's Ascension Irenicus opening: Spell Trigger: Sunfire x 3, Contingency: Hit- Sunfire; Chain Contingency: Hit- Sunfire x 3
Our next move will be Wish up a fresh spell book in advance of demon battle one. There's no such thing as a perfect fight, but I'm pretty happy with this one.
Best,
A.
NW: In the EE Sunfire no longer triggers Hit Contingencies. Also, Sunfire no longer ignores MR, making it a less appealing option in a Chain.
Wow! I can't say for certain, but this may have been my best Ascension Irenicus fight ever. Considering my character's limitations, it probably was. This was smooth. Very smooth. Balthazar lived. Imoen lived. And as for Alastria, she didn't take a single hit point of damage. Smooth as smooth can be.
The Plan: Buff up in the Pocket Plane, including Shapechange and Enchanted Weapon. Set Contingency: See Enemy- Teleport Field; Chain Contingency: See Enemy- Simulacrum, Mislead, Limited Wish. Use Wish to replenish the spell book before entering The Throne. Once the fight begins, activate Bathazar's Lunar Stance, seeking Time Stop Immunity. When Jon-Jon casts his Time Stop, send Balthazar after one of the fallen solars. Shortly after Jon-Jon's Time Stop ends, select Limited Wish: I wish for control over time. Send Balthazar after the second fallen solar. Meanwhile, flip to mind flayer form and brain drain Bodhi to death. By now only Jon-Jon will remain. Let Balthazar wear him down with Dragon Fist-> Melee. As a nod to Alastria V1, finish him with a Sunfire x 3 Spell Trigger.
Execution: This battle went according to plan. Exactly. No hitches at all.
Here we see the opening. Balthazar has activated his Lunar Stance. Alastria's Mislead has headed east, hoping to distract one of the fallen solars. Simmy Alastria is headed north, out of the action, holding steady. Balthazar is headed west to the westward fallen solar. Alastria keeps her eye on Bodhi.
Our next move will be Wish up a fresh spell book in advance of demon battle one. There's no such thing as a perfect fight, but I'm pretty happy with this one.
Best,
A.
NW: In the EE Sunfire no longer triggers Hit Contingencies. Also, Sunfire no longer ignores MR, making it a less appealing option in a Chain.
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Alesia_BH
Habitué
- Messages
- 912
Alastria, Human Transmuter: Demon Battle 1
Demon Battle 1 went almost -almost- as smoothly as the Irenicus fight. The only hiccup here was a buffing error. After healing Balthazar with Regeneration...
And wishing up a new spell book...
Alastria buffed up her mind flayer form, including her standard Enchanted Weapon + Tenser's + Improved Haste Trigger.
All started out well...
But then Alastria was unexpectedly kicked out of mind flayer form, forcing her to consume scroll.
We had hedged against this risk by recasting Shapechange immediately before wishing up a new book.- the assumption here being that casting Shapechage while Shapechange is already active will refresh the duration. That assumption was wrong. Casting Shapechange while Shapechange is active does nothing at all. When the first casting expires, Shapechange expires. I can't say for certain that this behavior is new, but IIRC, you could refresh the duration of Polymorph Self and Shapechange in the past.
In any event, I don't expect Alastria to use Shapechange in the final battle, so this probably won't make a difference. We'll see, though. Mind flayer form really does wreck demons. It could be a reasonable way to thin the herd at some point.
As in Astrid's case, we took care of the southeast pool first, seeking the Control Demon ability. Since this is not a no reload, but rather an experimental run, my intention is to allow Alastria to build a demon army, using Control Demon. I considered letting Astrid bring some demons into the final battle, as you may recall, but ultimately I decided to dispatch them, for fear that Mel would turn them against us. This time I'm going to try grabbing as many demons as possible. If Mel turns them, well, she turns them. If not, we may have a way of getting a lowly transmuter through the final fight.
Alastria was the star of this show, for sure, but Balthazar finished strong, landing a string of crits, thanks to one of his abilities. Roll al the 1s you want, Bathy, if they'll earn you 44hp crits.
Best,
A.
Demon Battle 1 went almost -almost- as smoothly as the Irenicus fight. The only hiccup here was a buffing error. After healing Balthazar with Regeneration...
In any event, I don't expect Alastria to use Shapechange in the final battle, so this probably won't make a difference. We'll see, though. Mind flayer form really does wreck demons. It could be a reasonable way to thin the herd at some point.
Best,
A.
Borco
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@Alesia_BH Fantastic work! Wishing Alastria strong finish!
Borco
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Iona, Human Sorceress: Final update
I'm sorry to report that, in a turn of events which have become somewhat symptomatic for my play, I've lost Iona before I could get up to speed with her progress. When I find the time, I often find myself struggling to prioritize posting over playing, although I'd say that equally enjoy both. "Let's just finish one more quest and catch up with the coverage", that's what I keep telling myself, but I rarely stick to it, lol. And so it happened that Iona was fighting Irenicus in Hell despite having only just finished Umar Hills here in the thread.
She perished in that particular battle, unfortunately. I've been able to identify several mistakes, both in our planning as well as in its execution, but in the end the main obstacle proved to be Slayer Irenicus' regeneration rate. Iona simply didn't have enough oomph to overcome it as her spellbook gradually emptied.
One of the issues was also the use PI. While the spell proved to be a great tool throughout the run, I haven't yet grasped its proper use during intense combat. More often than not, the unbuffed PI got instantly eliminated by enemy attacks or dispelled before it could meaningfully contribute to the fight. In the case of final SoA battle, our opening PI via Chain Contingency got stunned via Balor Implosion together with our Planetar. The four Mordy Swords conjured by another PI (one that also summoned the Planetar and applied some of Iona's pre-combat buffs), that were supposed to distract Jon's demons, had been buffeted away to the other side of the area when Jon entered the scene. Another PI was torn into pieces while trying to get her IA up, while another got dispelled with True Sight after opening with PfMW.
Consequently, Iona had to start burning through her own book pretty soon. She managed to get rid of the demons, imprisoned Irenicus' Fallen Planetar, but after all of that the Slayer was simply too much to handle for her steady but slow damage output.
Eventually, Iona managed to complete the fight on a second reload attempt by overcoming the regeneration problem with Energy Blades + Time Stop (via Limited Wish scroll), which is a strategy that hadn't occurred to me to pursue during the first two tries.
Still, even on the successful reload attempt, I wasn't really comfortable with what I'm doing. Probably for the first time in Iona's run, I didn't feel in control of the battle - it was like if Iona's world suddenly became 4D, while we were still trying to operate within our three dimensional perception. I suppose it's been a sign of things to come in ToB and I appreciate that learning curve ahead of me is fairly steep. I'll try do some work with Iona in ToB off-thread on a reload basis to see if I can bridge that gap a bit.
Regards,
B.
I'm sorry to report that, in a turn of events which have become somewhat symptomatic for my play, I've lost Iona before I could get up to speed with her progress. When I find the time, I often find myself struggling to prioritize posting over playing, although I'd say that equally enjoy both. "Let's just finish one more quest and catch up with the coverage", that's what I keep telling myself, but I rarely stick to it, lol. And so it happened that Iona was fighting Irenicus in Hell despite having only just finished Umar Hills here in the thread.
She perished in that particular battle, unfortunately. I've been able to identify several mistakes, both in our planning as well as in its execution, but in the end the main obstacle proved to be Slayer Irenicus' regeneration rate. Iona simply didn't have enough oomph to overcome it as her spellbook gradually emptied.
One of the issues was also the use PI. While the spell proved to be a great tool throughout the run, I haven't yet grasped its proper use during intense combat. More often than not, the unbuffed PI got instantly eliminated by enemy attacks or dispelled before it could meaningfully contribute to the fight. In the case of final SoA battle, our opening PI via Chain Contingency got stunned via Balor Implosion together with our Planetar. The four Mordy Swords conjured by another PI (one that also summoned the Planetar and applied some of Iona's pre-combat buffs), that were supposed to distract Jon's demons, had been buffeted away to the other side of the area when Jon entered the scene. Another PI was torn into pieces while trying to get her IA up, while another got dispelled with True Sight after opening with PfMW.
Eventually, Iona managed to complete the fight on a second reload attempt by overcoming the regeneration problem with Energy Blades + Time Stop (via Limited Wish scroll), which is a strategy that hadn't occurred to me to pursue during the first two tries.
Still, even on the successful reload attempt, I wasn't really comfortable with what I'm doing. Probably for the first time in Iona's run, I didn't feel in control of the battle - it was like if Iona's world suddenly became 4D, while we were still trying to operate within our three dimensional perception. I suppose it's been a sign of things to come in ToB and I appreciate that learning curve ahead of me is fairly steep. I'll try do some work with Iona in ToB off-thread on a reload basis to see if I can bridge that gap a bit.
Regards,
B.
Alesia_BH
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Condolences, Borco. I still see Iona as a step forward for you. I'm legitimately impressed with your play these days.
Everything you've mentioned here sounds familiar. Managing PIs in combat is tricky. It definitely takes experience to get it right.
In my earliest caster runs I'd always use PIs from a distance, piloting them ahead with a Wizard Eye, just as you were doing with Iona early on. Figuring out how to use them in combat was a major step forward for me as a caster.
Vecna + AoP is immensely helpful, as you might imagine. Bringing the casting time on IA down from 9 to 4 is a difference makers. Bringing the SI: D casting time down to zero is helpful, too. When True Sight is running, I'll often go SI: D first, then IA in the next round. ProMW first is an option, too, as is SI:A first.
I'm guessing you may be starting to see why I like using Contingency: See Enemy- Teleport Field; Chain: See Enemy- Limited Wish, PI, Simulacrum. The Teleport Field + bunnies combo really can seriously mess up enemy attack resolution. When I did Alanis's run, years ago, you could load multiple PIs in to Chain. I'd often set Chain: Helpless- PI x 2, Limited Wish and trigger the chain by casting PI. Note that I could have gone with PI x 3 in the Chain but there really were times when 20 bunny rabbits were more valuable a 4th PI.
In any case, I'm sure you'll find tactics that work for you in time. Have fun in ToB, and feel free to share your insights!
Cheers!
A.
WiseGrimwald
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Journal of Ham the Hammer
After seeking out a lot of orcs and their allies we discovered that Otho's Nephew was dead.
We accumulated fifteen +1 axes which we sold. This made us quite rich.
We also accumulated a lot of adamantine weaponry and armour however nobody will buy it.
We have also accumulated a lot of quite good armour but will hold on to it for now.
We have now returned to Candlekeep and am expecting little resistance.
After seeking out a lot of orcs and their allies we discovered that Otho's Nephew was dead.
We accumulated fifteen +1 axes which we sold. This made us quite rich.
We also accumulated a lot of adamantine weaponry and armour however nobody will buy it.
We have also accumulated a lot of quite good armour but will hold on to it for now.
We have now returned to Candlekeep and am expecting little resistance.
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Alesia_BH
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Quick Note on Alastria's Game:
It was not a no reload. Not even close. And it was not clean- not even close there either. But it is what it is, and what it is is a Transmuter SCS-Ascension solo on Insane. Alastria has done it.
I'll post on the fight semi-soon. For now, I need a nap.
Best,
A.
It was not a no reload. Not even close. And it was not clean- not even close there either. But it is what it is, and what it is is a Transmuter SCS-Ascension solo on Insane. Alastria has done it.
I'll post on the fight semi-soon. For now, I need a nap.
Best,
A.
Borco
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@Alesia_BH Congratulations! We're proud of you (and of Alastria, of course)!
Alesia_BH
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Thanks, Borco!
And, yes: dual congratulations are in order. Alastria couldn't have done this without me, but I couldn't have done this without Alastria, lol.
I think I can do this as a no reload, actually. My endgame strategy is cheesy as all get out, but it's also moderately satisfying, since it leans heavily on the Alteration school. Time Stop and Tenser's were the decisive spells.
I'm going to post the battle soon. When Iona gets to the Throne, she's welcome to try some of Alastria's strategies, ofc. That said, I'd strongly encourage you to avoid using the cutoff pools. You'll learn a lot more as a caster if you do. Alastria's strategy made sense for Alastria, but Iona should take more cues from Alicia. Of course, I also look forward to seeing what Iona comes up with. I'm sure she'll put her signature flair on the battle.
Cheers!
A.
Borco
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Note on Iona's game:
I wasn't comfortable with continuing the reload run through ToB knowing that I had given Iona a rather sloppy and sweaty victory over Irenicus in Hell (especially after the two unsuccessful attempts before that). She deserves better and so I fired up her last SoA save and decided to give it one more shot.
Here we can see the kick-off:
Iona's running Stoneskins, Potion of Mind Focusing, Potion of Absorption, Potion of Stone Form, Oil of Speed, ProFire*, ProAcid*, Spirit Armor*, Resist Fear*, ProEvil*, Spell Shield, Spell Deflection, Blur, MIs, Fireshield: Blue, II, SI: Ab, SI: Di, ProEnergy, and Spell Trap. Spells marked with the star were applied prior to the battle by Iona's PI, who also conjured two mordy swords and a planetar (we had it buffed with ProAcid as well) before getting chunked by them - the summons are currently waiting in the SW corner beyond the enemy line of sight. Wearing Boots of Grounding and BoIB, Iona enjoys maxed out resistances to all magic and elemental damage (barring poison). The opening contingencies were Contingency: See Enemy -> PfMW, Chain Contingency: See Enemy -> Death Fog x3. Here's the second part of Jon's pre-buffs and contingencies for the record.
Iona beings the battle by casting True Sight from a scroll - we'll want to have it up and running when Jon brings in his Fallen Planetar - and calls in her reinforcements from beyond the fog of war (via "select all party members" shortcut).
After Iona's planetar dropped its Firestorm from the edge of the sight radius, it immediately attracts Jon's attention and attacking it takes him out of our AoE zone. We want to keep him in there to disrupt his spellcasting, so the planetar lures him back into the fray at the cost of getting itself exposed to the balors' Implosion. Meanwhile, Iona tags Irenicus with Ruby Ray to remove his Spell Shield (Spell Thrust would have been the "cheaper" option, but we want to keep our reserve of L3 spells for IA Fireballs + Iona doesn't have any offensive spells at L7).
Our mordy swords and Iona's Firetooth finish the first Glabrezu and Jon's Time Stop cast gets interrupted thanks to the ticking Death Fog / Firestorm damage.
Ruby Ray No. 2 takes down Jon's Spell Trap. Iona’s PfMW has run out at that point, however her Stoneskins, MIs, effective crushing AC, and elemental resistance should keep her relatively safe. At -7 save vs. death she can also withstand balors’ vorpal blades.
We move around a bit to reduce the number of incoming APR to preserve our MIs and Stoneskins and wait for Jon’s next move. It turns to be his dark planetar, which immediately activates its II. Iona responds with PfMW while waiting for her True Sight to reveal the planetar.
There you are! Time to burn our second L9 of the day with Imprisonment.
While Iona’s been working through its long casting speed, Irenicus has wiped out her Spell Shield with Spell Thrust. We refresh it as soon as the dimensional box finally closes around the planetar.
Our opening triple Death Fog is now dispersed and we still had two balors on the field, albeit both badly injured. The AC boost via Potion of Absorption is making our Fireshield backlash less effective and we want to get rid of them quickly. We ponder the options and decide to take the costly but efficient way forward with Imprisonment. However, I completely forgot about the Fireshield vs Aura of Flaming Death chain reaction bug, which got triggered shortly after Iona initiated the long abjuration incantation, killing the first balor and then the second balor before Iona’s PfMW runs out. Bummer, they would have deserved something more kosher, but the good thing is that we’ll be facing the Slayer with three L9s left instead of only two.
Jon’s spellcasting keeps getting interrupted by his planetar’s Firestorm and Iona uses a window of opportunity to disengage and bring in her PI. The PI activates IA, buffs with few basic spells (Stoneskin, Shield, ProEvil, MIs, SI: Ab, Si: Di, II) and calls in a fresh planetar and two mordy swords. After that, it reveals the western section of the map with Farsight and lures the Slayer there, away from the real Iona to the east.
Our image activates PfMW, while Jon slays the mordy swords with Death Spell.
We follow up with Breach and Spell Thrust, removing Jon’s protections and MGoI.
I believe that this PI was out of L5s at the time, so its IA assault of PW: Blinds, Magic Missiles, and MAAs was partially hindered by the Slayer’s MR. We concluded the barrage by dropping Death Fog over the blinded Jon and brought in our planetar to terminate the PI (I might have skipped the PI’s SI: Ab to make it possible to remove it with a dispel rather than killing it).
Ok, we now have Jon where we want him to be, although he’s still far from being seriously injured. Iona conjures another PI - it buffs under IA, reveals the area with Farsight and arrives just as our planetar is getting imprisoned. Still, the planetar managed to cause meaningful damage in the meantime, getting us closer to the finish line.
The PI tags Irenicus (still blinded) with 1st Lower Resist -> PW: Blind refresh -> 2nd Lower Resist.
Time to fire up IA. Full load of MAAs comes first, followed with 5x MMs.
1x Dragon's Breath + 3x Fireball for the killing blow!
Even though it took four attempts, Iona has eventually proven that she's capable of completing SoA in a controlled and structured manner, which gives her a much better starting point for continuing into ToB, albeit only as a reload character going forward.
Regards,
B.
***
Spellbook (level 31):
L1 - Burning Hands, Shield, Blindness, MM, ProEvil
L2 - Invisibility, Mirror Image, Resist Fear, Melf's Acid Arrow, Blur
L3 - Fireball, ProFire, Melf's Minute Meteors, Spell Thrust, Remove Magic
L4 - Improved Invisibility, Stoneskin, Spirit Armor, Fireshield: Blue, Farsight
L5 - Spell Immunity, ProAcid, Spell Shield, Lower Resistance, Breach
L6 - Death Fog, PfMW, Spell Deflection, Contingency, GoI
L7 - Project Image, Ruby Ray of Reversal, Spell Sequencer, PW: Stun, Mordenkainen's Sword
L8 - ProEnergy, ADHW, Spell Trigger, PW: Blind
L9 - Spell Trap, PW: Kill, Imprisonment, Chain Contingency
I wasn't comfortable with continuing the reload run through ToB knowing that I had given Iona a rather sloppy and sweaty victory over Irenicus in Hell (especially after the two unsuccessful attempts before that). She deserves better and so I fired up her last SoA save and decided to give it one more shot.
Here we can see the kick-off:
Regards,
B.
***
Spellbook (level 31):
L1 - Burning Hands, Shield, Blindness, MM, ProEvil
L2 - Invisibility, Mirror Image, Resist Fear, Melf's Acid Arrow, Blur
L3 - Fireball, ProFire, Melf's Minute Meteors, Spell Thrust, Remove Magic
L4 - Improved Invisibility, Stoneskin, Spirit Armor, Fireshield: Blue, Farsight
L5 - Spell Immunity, ProAcid, Spell Shield, Lower Resistance, Breach
L6 - Death Fog, PfMW, Spell Deflection, Contingency, GoI
L7 - Project Image, Ruby Ray of Reversal, Spell Sequencer, PW: Stun, Mordenkainen's Sword
L8 - ProEnergy, ADHW, Spell Trigger, PW: Blind
L9 - Spell Trap, PW: Kill, Imprisonment, Chain Contingency
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Alesia_BH
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Alastria, Human Transmuter: Alastria v. Melissan- A Barefoot Dance on the Edge of Time
As you all know by now, Alastria has done it. She has attained her destiny, soloing SCS-Ascension on Insane.
Alastria's tactics weren't clean. She used Mirroring throughout this run, a major no-no for me. Also, she used the cutoff pools in the endgame. Still, soloing Ascension on Insance with a Transmuter has long been a goal of mine. I'm pleased to see it come to fruition, even if the method required me to deviate from my typical restrained, style oriented approach.
So, without further ado, here's the battle.
Some of you may recall that I had planned to bring a demon army into the final fight. That did not work. Mel gets a free, mass Control Demon at the onset of the fight with The Five. I'm not certain, but I believe this is new, as of Ascension 2.0. I do know that Saros used a demon army to good effect in the original Ascension, and I find it hard to imagine that working under the current state of play.
In the final run, the successful run, we dispatched the demons, and instead left a single skeleton warrior, brought to us by our one time friend, Ms. Marilith. Here we see said skeleton warrior doing yeomans work, drawing Illasera's fire as Balthazar and Alastria break north, arcing to the west, away from Illasera.
Fighting this fight as a Transmuter, priority number one is evading dispelling arrows. Unlike a warrior or a thief, you don't get The Reflex. Unlike a proper mage, you don't get ProMW. That leaves you insanely vulnerable to Illasera's arrows. Fortunately for Alastria, as of Ascension V2, there's a way around that problem: the cutoff pools. Alastria: Dimension Door. Balthazar: Faster than the Eye.
Having secured a base of operations, a happy place within the ever hostile Throne of Blood, Alastria and Balthazar prepared their assault. Alastria: PI; Alastria's PI: Wish; Balthazar: Lunar Stance! We had been hoping for a Wish: Rest to facilitate re-organizing our book. The Double Length Time Stop with Improved Alacrity was not unwelcome, however.
With time stopped, Balthazar was free to leap across the divide and go to town.
Alastria's PI looks on as Balthazar begins the lengthy process of wearing down The 5.
And a lengthy process it was. But time was on our side, perks of being a Transmuter and all. Balthazar leaps back to safety as Alastria's unexpected opening double length Time Stop draws to a close.
Time resumes. Alastria's PI summons a second djinni. This time we get the option we want. Wish: Rest. We now have all our slots allocated as we desire for the final battle. At L9, IA, Time Stop, Wish x 3. At L8, Simulacrum x 7. L7, PI x 5, RR x 2. L6, Tenser's x 5, IH, and TS. At L5, Cone of Cold x 5. L4, Farsight, II, Spirit Armor, Stoneskins x 3. L3, Flame Arrow x 5. L2, Melf's x 4, Blur and MI. L1, Shield, MM x 5
With our abilities refreshed, we're free to toss Balthazar a Regeneration. Given our strategy, Balthazar shouldn't be in danger, but a little regen never hurts.
Ok. We're ready for another set. You're still in Lunar Stance, right, Balthy? Very good. Alastria: PI; Alastria's PI: Wish x 3 -> Improved Alacrity -> buff -> Farsight-> Time Stop.
If you haven't figured it out by now The 5 are completely screwed. All they can does wait by the edge of the pool, listening to Alastria cast. Eventually, time stops. When it does, Balthazar teleports over and kicks the living margarine out of them while Alastria's PI unloads her single target spells, metering out damage with precision. As for those Cones of Cold at 5, those will be unleashed in big push under IA, once The Five are all down to near death. Their only hope is that Alastria will suffer gambler's ruin, but the odds of that are (0.8)^18. Like I said, they're screwed.
We start with Sendai. PI Alastria dumps her Ruby Rays.
Balthazar teleports over. Balthazar: Dragon Fist (Sendai), followed by melee, drawing out Sendai's Heal Contingency.
Time resumes. Bathazar: Faster than the Eye!
Next set. This time Alastria's PI targets Abazigal's defenses.
Go get'em, Balthy.
Balthazar comes home. IIRC, this return shot is from a different set. I don't recall how many PI sets we used, but it was more than a few. The Five have a lot of healing at their disposal.
Por ejemplo.
In the end, though, their healing would not be enough. The calculus was simple. Alastria's damage dealing is near infinite, subject to the constraint of a low probability gamblers ruin event. The Five, in contrast, had finite healing. Alastria was destined to prevail. The question was whether she'd execute her strategy as desired, taking everyone down in one great, glorious Cone of Cold blast.
The answer, sadly, was no. Balthazar got a little overzealous with his punchy-kicky on Sendai, killing her one set too early.
Alastria races in to deploy her Cones of Cold, but she's not under IA now. Abazigal falls, as does Yaga, but the all important Illasera is still standing.
With the real Alastria still at the edge of the pool, out of Illasera's range, and Illasera near the juncture, we have a way of salvaging the fight. Alastria casts Time Stop from her book, while Mel is on her keist. She awaits Mel's arrival at the pool and then DDoors across to nix Illasera in melee, with Balthazar by her side.
By now we had Mel were we wanted her, on the pool, with Alastria at the edge, within range to prevent triggering her TWE. All we need to do is drop the fallen solars and clean up the rest of The Five, without moving Alastria. The question is how? Alastria reaches into her scroll book and pulls out her Time Stop scrolls.
Even when you're solo, it's good to have friends. Under three consecutive Time Stops, Bathazar eliminates our remaining targets, including the all important fallen solars.
Time to finish this. Mel calls her demons. Alastria activates Tenser's. Balthy returns.
The divide protects Alastria from melee, but not projectiles. Bone Blades and most spells are stopped by Mirroring. Unleash and HLA spells are the threats. Here we see Alastria quaffing a Potion of Magic Shielding to cushion an incoming Comet, the Ring of Fire Control handling the rest of the damage.
Slowly but surely, Alastria, under Tenser's and Oil of Speed, wears Melissan down to badly injured. Balthazar, eager to get in on the action, leaps across the divide on a daring raid.
We couldn't even see him among all those demons, but somehow he survives. He leaps back across, having brought Mel down to near death. Alastria keeps the pressure on with her sling, while Balthazar drinks his superior healers in advance of a final do or die assault.
Balthazar crosses the divide again, engaging Mel. He is disabled, but Alastria saves the day with her sling.
And there we have it: Victory!
Like I said, it wasn't the cleanest of battles. In fact, it was the dirtiest fight I've ever fought- bar none. Still, it wasn't the easiest of plans to orchestrate or execute. And in light of my character's limitations, and the immensity of the challenge she faced, I'm content with the outcome. Well done, Alastria: Your victory is deserved- even if I merit a modicum of scorn.
What's next for me? I'm not sure. I'm thinking about giving Alastria a chance at a no reload. I'm also considering bringing back Amara, the halfling swashbuckler. Time will tell, I guess.
Best,
A.
As you all know by now, Alastria has done it. She has attained her destiny, soloing SCS-Ascension on Insane.
Alastria's tactics weren't clean. She used Mirroring throughout this run, a major no-no for me. Also, she used the cutoff pools in the endgame. Still, soloing Ascension on Insance with a Transmuter has long been a goal of mine. I'm pleased to see it come to fruition, even if the method required me to deviate from my typical restrained, style oriented approach.
So, without further ado, here's the battle.
Some of you may recall that I had planned to bring a demon army into the final fight. That did not work. Mel gets a free, mass Control Demon at the onset of the fight with The Five. I'm not certain, but I believe this is new, as of Ascension 2.0. I do know that Saros used a demon army to good effect in the original Ascension, and I find it hard to imagine that working under the current state of play.
In the final run, the successful run, we dispatched the demons, and instead left a single skeleton warrior, brought to us by our one time friend, Ms. Marilith. Here we see said skeleton warrior doing yeomans work, drawing Illasera's fire as Balthazar and Alastria break north, arcing to the west, away from Illasera.
We start with Sendai. PI Alastria dumps her Ruby Rays.
Even when you're solo, it's good to have friends. Under three consecutive Time Stops, Bathazar eliminates our remaining targets, including the all important fallen solars.
What's next for me? I'm not sure. I'm thinking about giving Alastria a chance at a no reload. I'm also considering bringing back Amara, the halfling swashbuckler. Time will tell, I guess.
Best,
A.
Alesia_BH
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Great work against Jon-Jon, Borco!
I loved seeing those Death Fogs. They’re an Iona signature.
Skipping Sunfire for Pro Acid was a bold move. I questioned it at first, but by now I respect it. Back in the days when Sunfire ignored MR it was a must have. These days not so much.
I guess the question is whether there’s another way to work Pro Acid into a book without crowding out an offensive spell at 5. In an SCS install with innate Contingencies, Sequencers and Triggers, I think I see an angle. Push LR out and then replace Contingency with Pierce Magic, Sequencer with Protection from the Elements and Trigger with Pierce Shield. That would let you take your MR reduction through 6 and 8, instead of the at times bottlenecked 5. Adding in Pro Elements, along with Pro Acid would really tighten the energy attack defenses, too. With the BoIB equipped, and Pro Energy still at 8, you’d be taking regen off everything.
I’m not certain, but I’m leaning towards trying that with my next book. Thanks for the idea!
Cheers,
A.
I loved seeing those Death Fogs. They’re an Iona signature.
Skipping Sunfire for Pro Acid was a bold move. I questioned it at first, but by now I respect it. Back in the days when Sunfire ignored MR it was a must have. These days not so much.
I guess the question is whether there’s another way to work Pro Acid into a book without crowding out an offensive spell at 5. In an SCS install with innate Contingencies, Sequencers and Triggers, I think I see an angle. Push LR out and then replace Contingency with Pierce Magic, Sequencer with Protection from the Elements and Trigger with Pierce Shield. That would let you take your MR reduction through 6 and 8, instead of the at times bottlenecked 5. Adding in Pro Elements, along with Pro Acid would really tighten the energy attack defenses, too. With the BoIB equipped, and Pro Energy still at 8, you’d be taking regen off everything.
I’m not certain, but I’m leaning towards trying that with my next book. Thanks for the idea!
Cheers,
A.
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Alesia_BH
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Althea, Gnome Illusionist/Thief: Introduction
With apologies to Amara, and Alastria's no reload hopes, I've decided to roll a new character. Enter Althea, gnome illusionist/thief.
Proficiencies: Quarterstaves, Shortbows
Mods: SCS v35.17, Ascension, G3 Fixpack- Free Action Protects Against Stun
Difficulty: Insane (No double damage, all tactical components, most nerfs, no Icewind Dale spells)
Theme Song: Althea's theme song isn't a perfect fit. The lyrics aren't exactly right but the vibe is. In any case, it's When the Summer Dies by Deadmau5 and Lights
With apologies to Amara, and Alastria's no reload hopes, I've decided to roll a new character. Enter Althea, gnome illusionist/thief.
Proficiencies: Quarterstaves, Shortbows
Mods: SCS v35.17, Ascension, G3 Fixpack- Free Action Protects Against Stun
Difficulty: Insane (No double damage, all tactical components, most nerfs, no Icewind Dale spells)
Theme Song: Althea's theme song isn't a perfect fit. The lyrics aren't exactly right but the vibe is. In any case, it's When the Summer Dies by Deadmau5 and Lights
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