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

[WiseGrimwald]

Journal of Firebeard Bloodaxe

In the battle with Sarevok Semaj teleported into a cluster of traps and died.

Sarevok chased Coran, but when taking a shortcut to catch him up ran into Dynaheir's web spell.

Meanwhile, she cast Cloudkill which was fairly effective whilst I and Firthgill fired arrows of spell dispelling.

Jet' Laya and Tenya used wands of the heavens.

Result: Victory.

Missed out on experience by only killing Semaj and Sarevok, but killing them was the only improvement that I could have made. Missed out Balduran's Isle as not worth the time.

Perhaps should have collected more potions of magic protection and the like, but not a major issue.

Siege of Dragonsphere

A Flaming Fist Healer raised Coran before I realised that he was dead! That happened when a horde of undead materialised when he opened a chest.

We have arrived at the Ducal Palace safely, but Coran and Dynaheir have disappeared.

 

[Finarfin]

Fusrodah, Elven Dragon Disciple: part 6

Difficulty challenges:

• Insane SCS 34 (Installed all SCS components except for improved vampires and shade lord)
• Max hp on level up, no double damage.
• Allowed
  • Robe of Vecna
• Not allowed
  • Cloak of Mirroring
  • Scroll of protection from undead
  • Project image/simulacrum/wish. Only exception is final fight in ToB if I ever get there
  • Not using Planetar in SoA. Only exception is when enemies use them first

---

After defeating Irenicus, nothing seemed capable of standing in Fusrodah’s way. Illasera the Quick, Gromnir Il-Khan, Yaga-Shura—all fell, one after the other, as if fate itself had resigned to his power. Confidence turned to overconfidence. Overconfidence to recklessness. And recklessness… leads to mistakes.


Fresh from the battlefield, blood still warm from the Yaga-Shura fight, Fusrodah stepped into another pocket plane challenge. His spells were nearly depleted, but pride whispered, "You’ve come this far. You don’t need them."
It was a mistake.


Because if nothing in the world can beat you—then the only one who can… is you.


There he was. An evil reflection. Armed to the teeth with gear Fusrodah had deliberately avoided—like the Cloak of Mirroring, discarded in the name of self-imposed challenge. A noble gesture, perhaps. A foolish one, definitely.


The battle began. Somehow, through grit and guile, Fusrodah took down Angelo and Tamoko. But Semaj and his twisted twin remained, and Fusrodah had no more spells to cast. For a moment, he nearly gave up. But survival instinct kicked in.


Using the last of his summon scrolls and invisibility potions, he pulled Semaj and Evil Fusrodah to the far end of the arena. Desperate, cornered, out of options, he broke his own rule—for the first time.
He used his only Wish scroll.


It failed to grant him the rest he’d hoped for.


Cloaked in invisibility from Kangaxx’s ring, and with no spells to detect him remaining, Fusrodah made a bold decision. He crept behind a rock formation and—relying on the last of his trust in luck—took the magical equivalent of a sleeping pill.


"What’s the worst that could happen?" he muttered. He was as good as dead anyway.


To his disbelief, he awoke. Rested. Recharged. Alive.


And furious.


Fully buffed and more focused than ever, he stormed back into the fray. Semaj fell quickly. Then came his dark reflection—boosted by Blackrazor, Cloak of Mirroring, hasted, and dangerous. But not dangerous enough. With Improved Alacrity, four swords at his side, and a lingering Planetar from before, Fusrodah overwhelmed his dopplegänger.


The battle was over. Barely.


There are no screenshots of this near-disaster—thankfully. What began as a confident march forward nearly ended in ruin. I have never truly struggled on this second challenge with a party before even with Insane SCS. But solo, as a Sorcerer and half-spent—it was a different beast entirely. I was surprised the game let me rest there, it almost felt like cheating, but with the invisibility I thought it was 'within the rules'. I did break one of my rules with the Wish spell (which did not really do anything), but to be honest at that point I was ready to give the run up (for some reason I haven't tried to rest yet). Anyway - I will be really careful with this challenge in the future solo no reload runs.


Sometimes, it seems, a brush with death is the only thing sharp enough to cut through arrogance.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Journal of Dh'arlome, chaotic evil human Conjurer.

Being the cousin of Dh'arlome, the rather weak mage for whom the Robe of Dh'arlome was made, my own preservation is top of my agenda.
Despite his robe, perhaps BECAUSE of the robe, enemies were queuing up to kill the current owner. My only hope is that I will survive due to being slightly more powerful.
When Gorion told me to equip myself, my onLy possessions were a cursed robe and a cursed staff. He suggested that I not only meet up with Khalid and Jaheira, but also Artemis Enterai, Jarlaxle, and the Cleric/Illusionist Mystrala.
I used my gold to buy a sling and bullets, my staff currently being powerful enough.

This is the robe that I started with. I was curious to know whether it was possible to play the game with it. I found it during my last play-through.

EDIT

I got as far as Nashkel and back to Beregost, reaching level 3 in the process. I took the letter to Mirianne and returned the Colquetle amulet. I then returned Perdue's sword and bought a magic missile scroll which I memorised. I then fought the ogre north of Nashkel. I thought that his weapon would not be effective, but it was! Had to flee to the FAI to rest.

I was able to defeat Zordral, but clearly such enemies such as Greywolf and Silke will currently be impossible.

The game is certainly very different from my other games, one major difference being that battles are long-winded.

I upgraded my sling to +1 and memorised 3 level 1 spells that I found.

To my surprise Tarnesh was killed easily, as were the zombies further north.

I reached level 3 safely. Bought blind.

That made the ogre that I had to flee from easy.

I am not enjoying this run much. Just having a character who is immune to most damage takes away from the enjoyment.

 

[Borco]

Mephala, half-elven mage/thief: Part 2

By successfully scribing all the scrolls available at High Hedge, plus Glitterdust from Feldepost's, Mephala has officially passed the bar exam. At mage level 2, she had four available L1 slots thanks to the Ring of Wizardry—her default set-up being 2x Blindness, 1x Sleep, 1x Shield. It was time to put our improved book to test.

Melicamp got an upgrade within the food chain with a backstab + trap damage, while Shield and the Girdle of Piercing took care of the defense.

Spoiler

Zargal and friends were disposed of via Sleep + Blindness. For contingency purposes, Mephala kept an Elixir of Health at the ready, and you may also spot her fallback trap to the east.

Spoiler

Bjornin's half-ogres voted unanimously in favor of a group nap. You might note Mephala's use of her familiar against helpless foes—canned dragon food can be expensive and feeding it some extra protein never hurts.

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I used to always skip the dig site quest until @Finarfin pointed out to me that it's a low-hanging fruit in terms of early experience and reputation. Since the diggers are half-elves, we didn't bother with Sleep and took them out with stealth and Blindness instead.

Spoiler

Despite his rampaging issues, Brage is a lovely fellow - he gave us a ride to Nashkel, a level-up, and a reputation boost to 18. Mephala's thieving points were split between Find Traps (50) and Set Traps (80), and also earned a proficiency pip in darts as well as her first L2 spell slot.

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Is it just me or have these antichickenators become extremely unstable lately?

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After splashing some gold on a Potion of Magic Blocking, a +1 shortbow, and +1 arrows, Mephala proceeded to the agreed rendez-vous point with Korax. With arcane ProPetrification and her familiar's immunities, Mephala had a super fun time with the basilisks.

Spoiler

The main risk here was that the one-hour duration of ProPetrification would expire mid-combat. To mitigate that, Mephala applied her Shield a few rounds prior to casting it, to serve as an early warning. Buffed with Mephala's Strength spell, Korax KO'ed Mutamin while she observed from the shadows.

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As I said—super fun time. And since Mephala was hungry for more, our next stop was Durlag's Tower. We bought some Darts of Stunning and potions of Master Thievery and Perception from Erdane and entered the tower, avoiding the battle horrors and ghasts using Invisibility. Mephala disarmed the Chromatic Orb trap, applied her ProPetrification, and moved on to the rooftop.

Spoiler

Korax had been a fantastic mentor when it comes to hunting basilisks, although unfortunately we didn't have Ghoul Touch in our book at the time to honor his legacy. Blindness + backstabs + traps had to suffice.

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By scoring three more greater basilisk pelts, Mephala reached levels 5/6. Our time here was not yet over, however. We rested, picked up Rasaad's Talon and acid arrows from the chimney, punked the remaining basilisk, and rushed into the cellar to trigger the undetectable Fireball trap while running ProFire via our newly available L3 spell slot.

Spoiler

Instead of proceeding deeper into the dungeon, Mephala returned to the tower interior to clear out the ghasts on the uppermost level by deploying her full arsenal, including Blindness, Magic Missiles, backstabs, and traps.

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Following another rest, we retrieved the Tome of Wisdom from the altar, relying on Minor Spell Deflection to absorb the Dire Charm trap. After boosting her thieving abilities with 1x Potion of Master Thievery and 1x Potion of Perception, Mephala was able to safely loot the locked containers on floors 2 to 4.

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Her crowning achievement, however, was pickpocketing Kirinhale for the Staff Spear +2.

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You may note the Luck spell for slightly increased chances of success. We could have used Mind Focusing as well; however I'm a bit stingy with those when playing mages or bards in case I'm going to need these for scribing spells. Despite its slower speed factor (which can be partially offset by the two-handed weapon style), Staff Spear is a fantastic backstabbing weapon and, as such, it's going to be Mephala's melee weapon of choice until she'll be able to get hold of Staff of Rhynn in SoA.

With the Fireball trap already gone, and active thieving potions active, we basically had a free pass to loot the majority of the dungeon's first level. By disarming countless traps along the way, Mephala eventually made it all the way to the treasure horde and the master bedroom, scoring a vast array of magical ammunition (including two dispel arrows and two detonation arrows), potions, Wand of Monster Summoning, and sellable goodies. Barring a lone ghast, she avoided all the enemies with stealth and Invisibility.

Hooray, we're officially rich!

Regards,

B.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

I tried a Blackguard armed with a cursed katana. The curse causes berserk state. I was doing OK until an ogre had a lucky strike- game over.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Journal of Firebeard Bloodaxe

In the battle with Sarevok Semaj teleported into a cluster of traps and died.

Sarevok chased Coran, but when taking a shortcut to catch him up ran into Dynaheir's web spell.

Meanwhile, she cast Cloudkill which was fairly effective whilst I and Firthgill fired arrows of spell dispelling.

Jet' Laya and Tenya used wands of the heavens.

Result: Victory.

View attachment 17056


Missed out on experience by only killing Semaj and Sarevok, but killing them was the only improvement that I could have made. Missed out Balduran's Isle as not worth the time.

Perhaps should have collected more potions of magic protection and the like, but not a major issue.

Siege of Dragonsphere

A Flaming Fist Healer raised Coran before I realised that he was dead! That happened when a horde of undead materialised when he opened a chest.

We have arrived at the Ducal Palace safely, but Coran and Dynaheir have disappeared.

Every time I try to leave Baldur's Gate, the game crashes!

I started a new SoD game an it crashed once more.

Looks like a fresh installation id the order of the day.

Not tonight though.

I'll save as much as I can before doing a re-installation.

I have recently had a computer crash which could be the source of the problem,

I tried getting rid of non-standard NPCs, but that didn't help. It crashes after this screenshot!!

EDIT
I am hoping that it was just my previous game that was corrupted and not the set-up. If my next game crashes, it looks like I will have to have a re-install.

Before continuing with the game below, I will try a new SoD game rather than going through the whole of the Sword Coast first.

I will use an overpowered character to speed the game up.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Trying a Dwarven Cavalier.

Journal of El Tel'lerian

When Gorion found me, my entire family had been slaughtered and all possessions looted apart from a katana inscribed with the name El Tel'lerian. It had probably been left because none of the raiders were skilled in katanas.

Having no other identification I was named after the sword.

 

[Finarfin]

After his humbling near-death experience in the pocket plane, Fusrodah approached everything with newfound caution. He made it a priority to rest often and enter every fight fully refreshed. No more reckless spellcasting marathons. Not this time.

The path to Abazigal—his half-brother, and one of the last remaining Bhaalspawn—was littered with dragons and lizardmen. Fusrodah carved through them methodically, conserving resources and preparing for what he knew would be a brutal showdown.

The battle with Abazigal began promisingly. Despite his immense power, the dragonspawn wasn’t exactly a tactical genius. He repeatedly used Whirlwind Attack… on one of Fusrodah’s summoned Swords:

Spoiler

While the Planetar and Fusrodah cleaned up the frost salamanders, Abazigal was busy wasting energy:

Spoiler

Once Abazigal transformed into his full dragon form, Fusrodah sprang into action. The plan was simple: open with Pierce Shield to break his magical defenses and lower his resistance:

Spoiler

Then unleash hell using a Spell Trigger and Spell Sequencer packed with Flame Arrows and a bunch of other offensive spells from his spellbook. He cast Improved Alacrity, ready to unload his entire arsenal.

Then everything went sideways.

Just as Fusrodah began his Improved Alacrity casting, Abazigal let loose a breath attack—interrupting the entire plan while locked in melee with the Planetar. So much for that.

Spoiler

Not wanting to waste his limited precious Level 9 spells, Fusrodah abandoned Alacrity plan and instead tried a slower approach: Pierce Shield, then the triggers and spells manually. Abazigal didn’t like that either. Another breath attack. More disruption:

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It was at this point that Fusrodah did what he should have done from the start: he equipped the Cloak of Reflection and changed back to Boots of Speed, pushing his lightning resistance above 100%. With his health more secure, he took a more measured approach—summoning his forces cautiously, wary of Death Spell or Protection from Magic Weapons. This tactic has not let Fusrodah down yet in his life. The Wing Buffet, meanwhile, was an ever-present nuisance, scattering allies all over the arena:

Spoiler

Eventually, the sequencer landed. With the Planetar tanking like a divine wall and even tossing out Insect Plague for good measure, the battlefield began to shift. Abazigal’s defenses crumbled, and it was time to press the advantage:

Spoiler

Fusrodah cast Haste on his remaining Swords and went all-in:

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But there was a lesson waiting—one learned the hard way: the magic resistance reduction from Pierce Shield doesn’t last long. His precious sequencer fizzled as the magic protection returned just in time.

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The first Sword was unsummoned. The others still had some fight in them, and Fusrodah had two more waiting—but the window was closing fast. He just had to hope Abazigal didn’t throw up fresh buffs or start healing.

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Fortunately, luck—or maybe grim determination—was on Fusrodah’s side and Abazigal fell:

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I’d always considered Abazigal the easier of the two, which is why I chose to face him first. In my mind, if this run was going to end, it might as well end closer to the final battle. I’ve never felt fully confident going into the SCS version of Sendai fight. Even though Sendai is my favorite fight in the trilogy, it's always a mess for me.

 

[Borco]

Mephala, half-elven mage/thief: Part 3

Following her recent visit to Durlag's Tower, Mephala's investors were eagerly awaiting her earnings call. The results exceeded even the most bullish analyst forecasts and, with a robust net cash position of 18k, she was ready to reap some dividends. Our shopping list included defensive potions and green scrolls from High Hedge, potions of Genius and Mind Focusing from FAI, and the Cloak of Displacement, Greenstone Amulet, and II scroll from Ulgoth's Beard.

Spoiler

On our way north, we also took a quick detour through the ankheg lair. With Mephala sitting exactly at 40 HP, the mission was not without risks. Our plan was to sneak in, strike down the two ankhegs close to the treasure horde fast, and escape. Here we see Mephala and her familiar working on the first ankheg under Sleep - with the right timing, and unless they make their save vs. death at -3, it is possible take them out before they can make their first attack. Mephala was wearing Girdle of Piercing + traveler's robe for extra missile AC on top of Shield and Mirror Images.

Spoiler

The second ankheg resisted two Sleep attempts, and although it got brushed by our trap, it remained a threat, especially since our MIs were about to expire. Since you can't really backstab them with a solo character, Mephala opted for Larloch's Minor Drain* -> Vampiric Touch to create an additional cushion of 20+ HP.

Spoiler

*Note that one of the SCSv35 spell components slightly improves LMD's damage with caster levels, up to 5d4 at L10. I'm wondering whether this may impact Foebane's life drain as well.

She managed to finish it with Wand of Missile charge at close range, although we did suffer one ugly hit there.

Spoiler

We collected the loot and retrieved the body using Strength spell and reported back to Brun to reach maximum reputation just in time for the upcoming shopping spree in Ulgoth's Beard.

Pickpocketing Dushai (for the Ring of Free Action and Web scroll), Hurgan (for sellable loot), and Shandalar (for L4 scrolls) was Wall Street-level greedy, however the gains were just too good to pass on. We did this under a Potion Master Thievery, Potion Perception, Potion of Mind Focusing, and the Luck spell, reaching PP score of 115.

Spoiler

By adding Potion of Genius into the mix, Mephala was also able to scribe her newly acquired spells, with the notable additions of Web, II, and Spirit Armor, among others.

Spoiler

Our next stop was to be Firewine Bridge. In Gullykin, we raided a few houses for Potion of Stone Form, Potion of Defense, and ProPoison scroll. Meilum fell to Mephala's Hold Person—thank you for the gauntlets; we'll spare you a thought with each and every augmented backstab.

Spoiler

Picking Dushai's pocket earlier on opened up an entirely new tactical avenue that we first tested against Sendai. Mephala was pleased with the result.

Spoiler

Caldo and Krumm performed their classic Old Testament piece—Genesis 4:1-16. Mephala played the part of God, however she didn't read the Script beforehand and instead of banishing Krumm into exile, she unceremoniously dropped him with Hold Person.

Spoiler

Once again, there was loot to be sold and equipment to be bought. Mephala got the Amulet of Protection +1 from the carnival vendor and the Claw from Thalantyr, which were to become parts of her new jewellery set-up, along with the Ring of Wizardry (which can be swapped for the Ring of Free Action whenever needed).

Having obtained the Claw, we needed the CON tome to offset the HP penalty. If there's one easy job for a mage/thief, it's raiding a cave filled with traps and slow-moving golems (especially when you can avoid the sirines at the beach with Invisibility and rely on Girdle of Bluntness for extra safety).

Spoiler

The session was concluded in the company of Prism and Greywolf, when the latter got pinned down by Mephala's Dart of Stunning.

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By doing so, she's just hit the mark for level 6 mage/level 7 thief. Here's the current character sheet and inventory for the record.

Regards,

B.

 

[Borco]

Ryland (human blade) & Kalam (halfling assassin by @Finarfin), multiplayer run: Part 4 - Nashkel Mines

We kicked off the session on the rooftop of Durlag's Tower where we had recently reached our L7s at 40k XP. That, among other things, meant access to L3 spells through Ryland's book. As investing precious thieving points into Find Traps wasn't yet on Kalam's list of priorities, our prospects of being able to loot the tower's interior didn't seem very promising. After collecting Rashad's Talon under arcane ProFire, the decision was taken to abort the mission and proceed to the Nashkel Mines instead.

Spoiler

Pre-casting 2x Invisibility prior to resting allowed us to bypass the kobold hordes in the mines, while preserving Ryland's two available L2 slots for Mulahey. Despite his lower FT score, Kalam managed to remove both traps at the bridge in the 3rd level, while the traps near the exit to level 4 were simply avoided.

Spoiler

When discussing the strategy for Mulahey, the word 'backstab' featured most prominently. Mulahey wears chain and therefore would not benefit from any positive AC modifiers against Kalam's short sword. Still, we were not ready to put all our eggs into one basket with the backstab attempt. Ryland thus buffed Kalam with ProFire, applied Mirror Image and readied his Wand of Fire, while Kalam placed his two traps towards the northern and the north-eastern sections of the cave. For contingency purposes, each of us carried a Potion of Freedom and a PoI.

Spoiler

And here we go—Kalam's opening hit landed.

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Mulahey's incoming reinforcements got obliterated by one of the traps.

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Note: You might notice that some of the kobolds remained blue-circled. This doesn't normally happen in my install, although apparently Finarfin has seen this behaviour in his single-player games before. I suspect that this may have something to do with the fact that each of us is running a slightly different install, e.g. SCSv35 vs SCSv34, a few different SCS components and BG tweaks, etc. (the technical notes in the introductory post refer to my set-up, since I'm hosting the game). So far I've been surprised at how well our games got integrated, despite the few crashes here and there.

Ryland finished Mulahey with the Wand of Fire scorcher in the first round, without firing a single shot from his crossbow.

Spoiler

Back at the surface, Kalam used the ProUndead scroll from Drienne to take down the Revenant and loot the tombs for potions and the Wand of Monster Spamming, while Ryland was taking a smoke break outside.

Spoiler

While we were eager to report our first major achievement, we decided to briefly stop by Hafiz, who happens to be the most generous denizen of Faerûn—after all, giving away a scroll of which there are only two copies in all of Amn requires a wholly different level of altruism. Naturally, the Ring of Fire Protection was collected as well while in the area.

Upon returning to Nashkel, we rested at the carnival grounds, broke the news to Mr Ghastkill, and checked in with Nimbul. Our core buffs here were MSD for Ryland and Greenstone Amulet charge for Kalam, plus each of us was running Shield (spell + Shield Amulet) and Resist Fear. As I've already noticed during Mephala's run, the SCSv35 Nimbul is now pre-casting MGoI instead of MSD used by his predecessors. That's a serious upgrade against spellcasters, since it effectively stops all the spells available to the party at the time, barring a few exceptions like Emotion: Hopelessness or divine L4s (such as Call Woodland Being and their Hold Monster), and strategies revolving around bypassing his protections with Hold Person or AoE spells no longer work. The flipside of it is that MGoI squeezes out one of his other L4 spells, which in the previous versions had usually been Stoneskins and Emotion.

Nimbul opened with Hold Person on Ryland. A very respectable move in itself, but Ryland was ready to counter with a Potion of Freedom.

Spoiler

We activated our Offensive Spin and Poison Weapon, respectively, and closed on him in melee to offset his missile AC advantage.

Spoiler

Given how surprisingly quickly he fell to our coordinated assault, I'm suspecting he wasn't running Stoneskins (though I don't recall it in detail and can't tell from the screenshots either). If that's the case, then his MGoI upgrade might actually be a double-edged sword, since he'll now have to rely solely on Shield and Mirror Images to repel melee attackers.

Spoiler

With the Potion of Freedom still active, we decided to pay a visit to Neira as well.

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Our party of two then continued to Beregost, where we had scheduled appointments with Tranzig and Silke. Tranzig was a nuisance—he managed to muscle his way through Ryland's MSD and still managed to keep one Dire Charm in reserve. Fortunately, he picked Kalam as his target and ran into the wall of our halfling's robust saves.

Spoiler

For Silke, we used similar pre-buffs comprising MSD, Shield, and Resist Fear. She quickly got pinned down with Kalam's Darts of Stunning, although the lack of autopause, combined with the slight delay that sometimes occurs when pausing the game manually (possibly due to occasional lags), gave her the initiative at the beginning of the combat.

Spoiler

We concluded the session in Thunderhammer's by purchasing the Shadow Armor for Kalam and the Army Scythe + lightning bolts for Ryland. At last, the stage was set for confronting the bandits.

Spoiler

Regards,

B. & F.

 

[Borco]

Mephala, half-elven mage/thief: Part 4

Fun fact: I've got 1,148 screenshots from Mephala's BG1 run. Nashkel Mines begin at #520, so that's roughly the midpoint of the adventure. I suppose it illustrates how solo playthroughs tend to accelerate once you dive into the main questline, at least for my characters.

Anyway, since it's now obvious that Mephala's already cruising through Amn, I've got some catching up to do in terms of the coverage. In the mines, we proceeded in accordance with the published guidelines, or "Nine Easy Steps How to Meta Nashkel Mines, Mage/Thief, 2nd Edition":

Step 1: Use stealth to reach Mulahey's hideaway undetected.

Spoiler

Step 2 (optional, but cool): Chunk this fella.

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Step 3: Prepare a snare for the enemy spawn.

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Step 4: Buff with ProUndead scroll, Potion of Strength, Potion of Freedom, ProFire (arcane), Shield, MSD, ProEvil, and Mirror Image.

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Step 5: Backstab Mulahey with the Staff Spear.

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Step 6: Listen for the trap to spring.

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Step 7: Apply disablers.

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Step 8: AoE via Wand of Fire.

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Step 9: Clean up.

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Back in town, our spellbook loaded with Burning Hands and Hold Person became a laughing stock when we saw Nimbul's running MGoI instead of his usual MSD.

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To make things worse, prior to the fight I realized (contrary to what I incorrectly reported before) that we hadn't actually bought the Greenstone Amulet. This meant that our only available counter against Fear or Emotion in this battle was the Potion of Clarify from Candlekeep. Buffed with MSD, Shield, and ProEvil, Mephala sent forth her summons and observed the scene from the shadows.

Spoiler

Nimbul's divination cast came in shortly after his opening MGoI expired, giving us an opportunity window to tag him with Hold Person, albeit unsuccessfully.

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We called in a second group of monsters to replace their dead or unsummoned comrades and tried to lead Nimbul towards the trap that Mephala had prepared behind the shop. Gotcha!

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Sorry, Nimbul, but your Hold Person's not going to work on that dire wolf.

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In fact, this mistake is going to cost you your life, since you've got a Wand of Paralyzation charge coming your way.

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Even though Rasaad tried his best not to get in the way this time, it wasn't nearly enough to justify his continued existence in this game world. See you in Trademeet!

After Nashkel, Mephala had to endure the long walk to Ulgoth's Beard and back to Beregost just rectify my Greenstone Amulet fiasco. We even met some fellow hikers, but since we're travelling exclusively under Invisibility these days to pre-empt the assassin ambushes, we didn't bother to say hi.

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I am happy to report that Mephala delivered the most hassle-free Tranzig encounter in a long time.

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Silke fell to our opening Dart of Stunning. After the battle, we briefly recruited Garrick, who managed to lift two additional Potions of Defense from Faltis & Co before they disappeared into the Red Sheaf.

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Regards,

B.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

I thought that I'd tracked down an installation that worked in would you believe it? A backup folder.

Sadly, I was wrong.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Yahoo! I have managed to solve my installation problem!

I copied the videos from an unmodded installation, overwrote the ones in the installation that I was using. Now the game doesn't crash and I have arrived at The Coast Way Crossing.

Clearly, all that was the matter was a corrupted video file.

Disappointed that I couldn't keep Coran in the party.

I think that for my next game I will play a duo, a tank plus a fighter/thief or perhaps illusionist/thief.

 

[Finarfin]

After cutting through an endless tide of slaves, drow, liches, mind flayers—and who knows what other horrors—Fusrodah finally stood before Sendai’s lair. This was it: the fight he’d dreaded most.

He opened strong: summoning a Planetar to anchor the field, then immediately imprisoning Sendai’s Deva. It cost him two of his precious five Level 9 spells, but controlling the field early felt worth the price—better that than being buried under a swarm of reinforcements:

Spoiler

Once the battle erupted, one lesson became obvious again: natural fire resistance is an unsung hero in Baldur’s Gate II. He could have stacked it with spells, but not needing to worry about every fireball or dragon’s breath freed his mind for bigger problems:

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Seeing the growing chaos, Fusrodah decided it was time—Improved Alacrity. A risky move with only three Level 9 spells left, but he knew if he didn’t push now, he’d be overrun later:

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The first thing he cast? Resist Fear—something he’d completely forgotten before the fight. Better late than never, especially surrounded by chanting drow and summoning circles:

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The battlefield lit up in flames—his Dragon’s Breath plus his Dragon Disciple’s innate version, His innate version unleashed for the first time in Throne of Bhaal. To be honest, he barely knew how he even remembered to use it. With explosions, summons, and AoE raining down, it was a wonder he could see anything. Unfortunately Improved Alacrity was cut short as one of the Sendai statues decided to cast time stop:

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But even the best plans slip. Pinned in place and nearly cornered, Fusrodah thought it might be over—until, in a stroke of luck, one of the Sendai clones had cast Teleport Field before, giving him just enough pull to escape the blockade.

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Down to his last Level 9 slot, he called in a second Planetar—better to have divine backup than hoard power he’d never live to spend:

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Contingencies and sequencers were still ready:

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Even in the middle of the battle and surrounded, he tried to put up his spell shield up as it could potentially be a disaster without it:

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A mistake by Fusrodah cost him one summoned sword and a bunch of HP:

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It was time to face the real Sendai. (I was seriously afraid as on my last playthrough with party (same SCS version and insane) she opened up with Fallen Planetar, Fallen Deva and Imprisonment on one of my remaining 3 chars). Fusrodah had no Level 9 spells left—but he’d prepared for this. Two Imprisonment scrolls waited at the bottom of his pack like hidden aces. He kept his distance, counting the meters like his life depended on it—because it did: (btw as you can see I use one of tweaks mods for bigger stacks of ammo and potions)

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What followed was a brutal duel of debuffs and dispels:

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Sendai’s Death Fog backfired—she walked through her own toxic cloud and paid for it, a small blessing that made Fusrodah smirk mid-cast:

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He’d learned from Abazigal, too: when the lightning came, he swapped on his Cloak of Reflection without hesitation.

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And with the last stone thrown, Fusrodah managed to take down even Sendai:

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Honestly, I think this is the hardest fight in the entire game—and at the same time, the best. It is Baldur’s Gate II distilled into a single encounter: fighting your way through endless waves of minions until you reach the final arena, where the statues awaken one by one. The atmosphere, the music, the pure chaos—it’s all perfect. It couldn’t capture the spirit of the game any better.

Facing it solo this time had me genuinely worried. I never really know exactly what spells the enemies will use—some parts feel unpredictable every time. In my last playthrough with party, the real Sendai opened with both a Fallen Deva and a Fallen Planetar—I didn’t even realize that was possible—then followed up with Imprisonment. Not to mention you have to get through the statues and an army before that. I was half-expecting her to have Freedom ready too. If she did, my plan would’ve probably fallen apart instantly, and that might have ended the run right then and there. Counter to that was supposed to be Otiluke's Resilient Sphere and wait out the summons, no idea how that would go though as I have actually never tested the spell (luckily for me I guess). She used Time Stop few times, which was much better than Deva-Planetar-Imprisonment.

To make matters worse, there are two Balors lurking in that arena—something I only discovered the hard way when I cast Freedom after the fight during a party run. Surprise! Not exactly the kind you want.

My last no-reload run last week—a Cavalier—actually met its end here. Just buried under sheer numbers and relentless waves.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Greetings, fellow wayfarers!

I've mostly been skimming of late, so I have a lot of catch-up reading to do. I will say that we're privileged to have two talented players active right now, and I look forward to following the adventures to come.

For those who are wondering whether I'll be joining the party, the answer is an emphatic maybe. I've been reunited with my computer, but there are a few moving parts in my life right now and I'm not certain they'll align in such a way as to allow a run. We'll see. In the interim, Finarfin and Borco, know that I'm your biggest fan- even if I haven't read all the posts yet.

Best wishes, and good hunting!

Cheers,

A,

 

[WiseGrimwald]

As per above I have started a new game with a fighter and a thief and decided to try Jarlaxle and Artemis with their stats. Obviously I don't have as good proficiencies as they had,

I couldn't believe it when Zordral's spell panicked Jarlaxle and subsequently killed him.

Then I discovered that when I created Jarlaxle I neglected to correct his resistances. Now corrected

 

[Borco]

Mephala, half-elven mage/thief: Part 5

We were ready to hit the bandit camp. Your move, Raiken - bring in the Trojan horse!

Thanks to her VIP festival pass, Mephala was able to scout the premises, collect some intel and even prepare a couple of snares before resting. We'll strike after nightfall.

Spoiler

Our buffs were Potion of Strength, Potion of Defense, 100% cold resistance (via green scroll and potion), Shield, ProFire, Oil of Speed, MSD, ProEvil, Mirror Image, and Greenstone Amulet. Mephala's wearing Girdle of Piercing + Cloak of Displacement + Boots of Avoidance + Claw + Traveller's Robe for stratospheric missile AC, and she's also keeping a Potion of Regeneration at the ready.

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The plan: Enter the main tent under stealth. Land a backstab on Venkt. In case he survives, immediately tag him with our only Firebreath Potion (from Durlag's) to get him off the field as quickly as possible and thus eliminate the risk of getting dispelled. Burn down the remaining enemies inside the tent with the scorcher. Should anyone survive, finish them in melee. While costly, Firebreaths can punch through Venkt's fire resistance more easily than the Wand of Fire, which in some of my previous runs had already proven to be somewhat unreliable finisher here. Additionally, we were also hoping to score two Firebreaths in the camp, so resourcing was less of an issue at that point.

Mephala's execution was flawless. Venkt got impaled for 50 damage, which is something his system couldn't handle.

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That's one more Firebreath for us, since we were more than comfortable to deploy the 6D6+6 damage Wand of Fire for the rest of the bandits instead.

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By the time its duration expired, the ranks got noticeably thinner. Hooray for the hasted scorcher!

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One critical hit from the archers found its way through Mephala images and forced out a Potion of Regeneration quaff, while panicked Hakt fell shortly to our Staff Spear.

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Ouch! Another ugly crit that once again our MIs failed to stop.

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Mephala quickly chugged a minor healer and finished the two surviving Blacktalons at range. It's clear that we should have been more patient and altogether avoid melee combat, where the THAC0/AC ratio was not so obviously skewed in Mephala's favor. One more such critical hit could've meant serious trouble.

Spoiler

Additionally, we were totally supposed to be running Luck here, either via L2 slot or scroll, to ensure this didn't happen. The problem with Luck is its short duration and sometimes it can be tempting to skip it in favor of other, more impactful spells when preparing your book. Later on, with Minor Spell Sequencer, deploying it becomes less of a constraint. Then again, the upside of gaining 100% reliable images is partially offset by the fact that you'll likely have access to Stoneskins by then. I actually have a related question regarding the possible uses of MI+Luck instead of Stoneskin/PfMW that I'll post into the Lounge.

Anyway, with the main tent cleared, we released Ender Sai, collected the evidence, reapplied MI and ProEvil, and moved on to the second stage of the battle.

Spoiler

Hello there!

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I'm sorry, dude, it's nothing personal, but we just didn't want to waste our free backstab on Taurgosz - we had different plans for him and we needed him to be as strong and healthy as possible. Because we wanted him to become our champion.

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Clad in his full-plate and wearing that large hammer, he couldn't look more glorious as he charged the swollen enemy ranks ahead. It was almost touching.

But if there's one rule you should adhere to as a warrior when heading into battle, irrespective of whether you're a bandit or the King of Gondor, then it's wearing a helmet dammit! I mean, of course the same applies to many other activities - ferratas, whitewater kayaking, construction work, you name it - but lethal combat is somehow explicitly calling for it. And some people still don't get it.

And so it was that instead of steamrolling through the army of archers, Taurgosz was shot down in just a few rounds before we could properly join the fray.

Spoiler

I suppose that's the pitfall of delegating tasks - sometimes it's just better to do things on your own. And Mephala still had a plenty of arsenal to deploy. Hey ho, let's go, Wand of Fire!

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Since she's also a thief, we couldn't omit traps either.

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Or backstabs, for that matter.

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But the truth is that when you want to work fast, then AoE is your best friend.

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And there goes the last bandit! We were finished before the regeneration timer expired.

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We spent some time scouring the battlefield for magical arrows and Taurgosz potions (Oil of Speed + Firebreath), collected a Fireball scroll from one of the smaller tents, and released a second Firebreath potion from its locked chest using a Potion of Master Thievery.

Time to find a secluded place and rest. We'll be ready to depart for FAI in the morning.

Regards,

B.

 

[Borco]

@Alesia_BH Hey, hey! It's always great to hear from you and thanks for the support. I wish everything works out nice and smooth for you and feel free to join in whenever might be the right time - you'll know where to find us.

 

[Alesia_BH]

@Alesia_BH Hey, hey! It's always great to hear from you and thanks for the support. I wish everything works out nice and smooth for you and feel free to join in whenever might be the right time - you'll know where to find us.

It's always good to reconnect, B!

I'm basically in between adventures atm. I'm back from Japan and getting ready to return to Peru. I'll leave for Peru as soon as my cold weather hiking gear arrives from the States and I'm not sure how long that will take. I may start a run in the next couple days, but there's a chance I'll end up ditching it abruptly if my puffy and quilt arrive sooner than expected.

As for what character I'll play, I'm not sure. I love M/Ts but I also have a habit of abandoning them these days- probably because I already have a M/T success. I'm thinking thief, swashie or assassin. A paladin could be interesting too. I haven't run one in ages, since Alessandra, if you remember her.

In any case, best wishes and good hunting! I enjoyed your bandit camp post.

Cheers!

A.

 

[Alesia_BH]

As per above I have started a new game with a fighter and a thief and decided to try Jarlaxle and Artemis with their stats.

Glad to see you chugging away, Wise!

I love how you always come up with an interesting character concept, sometimes original, sometimes inspired by lore.