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

[Alesia_BH]

Ava, Halfling Swashbuckler: Introduction

In the interest of nudging myself in the direction of playing, I've decided to roll a character. Introducing Ava, halfling swashbuckler

Proficiencies: Scimitar/Wakizashi/Ninja-to, Shortbows

Mods: SCS v35.17, Ascension, G3 Fixpack- Free Action Protects Against Stun

Difficulty: Insane (No double damage, most tactical components, most nerfs, no Icewind Dale spells)

Personal Item: I haven't developed a backstory or personal item for Ava yet, but I feel like she needs both to feel complete. I'll think about it this afternoon.

Theme Song: Ava's theme song, See No Evil, comes from one of my favorite albums of the 1970's, Marquee Moon by Television. I've never considered using it before, but it suits the chaotic neutral rock n' roller Ava well. I'm not sure what other songs I'll pick for her, but her soundtrack will be 70's art punk, to be distinguished from Arkona's short form punk selections and Ashanti's 90's Kathleen Hana focused picks.

 

[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,

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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

I will play this again in the near future
However, I will first play a Cavalier along with some NPCs that I haven't played before: Skeezer Lumpkin VI and Valerie. Both from mods, no idea which ones. I played solo up to level 3 and then recruited Sirene, Skeezer Lumpkin VI and Valerie.

I haven't played with a good sorcerer before, and Skeezer looks interesting. I like Sirine and believe that she is available for some time.

Gavin a Cleric of Lathander has now joined us..

We went to help Farmer Brun and in the process killed many ankheg.. Sadly Valerie was also killed, but we received so much gold for the shells that the 200gp for raising her was trivial.

 

[Borco]

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.

Sounds pretty exciting! If only one could travel with the Bag of Holding, right? Summer clothes, winter gear and skis, wetsuit and scuba, camera for screenshots, all of it readily available without even clouding your aura, lol.

Reminds me of some of my characters' (especially the UAI types) struggles when choosing their equip for a particular stronghold quest in SoA prior to Spellhold - Azuredge? Leave that at home when going to the Planar Prison. Girdle of Piercing? Of course we'll need that for Torgal. It's a nightmare and you don't even have to factor in the weather!

 

[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,

View attachment 17301View attachment 17302
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

Starting this run again after correcting the resistances.

Journal of Jarlaxle

Our village was attacked during the night by Hobgoblins and Artemis and I only survived by hiding beneath our beds. The Hobgoblins looted our possessions some of which were of high quality.

Gorion found us and secreted us in Candlekeep.

While Artemis looted Winthrop's Inn, I had the task of taking on the assassins. Two of them were easy but Mendas was far from easy.

We fled Candlekeep as it was clear that our presence was known by whomsoever was sending the assassins. As we made our way to the FAI we were attacked once again and my life was only spared because that fool Gorion sacrificed his own. I won't make that mistake. Look after Number One is my philosophy.

Imoen joined up with us whereupon we took her to Beregost where we left her after giving her a long sword and leather armour.
I couldn't stand the thought of having HER company, day in and day out!

Later on we came across some of the Hobgoblins who had raided our village. Revenge was sweet!

We gladly took re-possession of our equipment.

Here are the descriptions of the equipment of note.

We went to the Friendly Arms Inn, killed Tarnesh and returned Joia's ring.

Zordral wasn't a problem.

We fought Zargos Flintblade next. It was quite a prolonged battle during which healing potions had to be used. Nevertheless, we prevailed.

We next took on Greywolf but it soon became apparent that he was stronger than us. We therefore took Aerie's advice and recruited Branwen. We are now returning.

 

[Alesia_BH]

We gladly took re-possession of our equipment.

Very cool idea, Wise! What a wonderful way to link a character's personal item with their backstory. Inspiring!

Cheers!

A.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Very cool idea, Wise! What a wonderful way to link a character's personal item with their backstory. Inspiring!

Cheers!

A.

Having thought about it a bit longer, it would probably have been better to encounter them later: perhaps after leaving the Nashkel mines. I might work on that idea for my next game.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Btw, Wise's idea reminded me of something.

We have a hall of heroes in this thread, but we haven't really done anything with it.

The concept was to honor distinguished runs based on either NR success or writing. I'd like to revamp how our hall will work to make things more inclusive and fun.

Deneir's Favorites: The Candlekeep Annex's Hall of Heroes- Revised Structure

The Candlekeep Annex's Hall of Heroes, Deneir's Favorites, is intended to honor excellence, taking a broad view of what excellence might look like. We'll have three categories: The Hall of Heroes, The Hall of Firsts, and the Hall of Funsies.

1. Hall of Heroes- This category is for conventional trilogy NR successes. Admission procedures here are more or less the same as the legacy thread, although I don't believe we ever made the procedure explicit. A reported no reload success is, by default, included in the list. Objections will be heard, but if no one says anything the run will be entered. Players are encouraged to critically examine their own work and voluntarily withhold a run from inclusion, as I did with my priest of Talos, Astrid

2. Hall of Firsts- In the interest of inclusivity, and to help our participants celebrate landmark achievements, I'd like us to honor each player's first success in any leg of the adventure, be it BG1, SoA or ToB. If you remember your first success in the thread, let me know and I'll add it to the list. A link would be super helpful, ofc.

3. Hall of Funsies- The Hall of Funsies will serve as a honorable mention category, but also a highlight real. Anything that makes you think, "Wow! That was cool!" is a viable candidate. Admission here will be by nomination and consensus. If you love something, nominate it. If we all agree, it'll get entered in the hall with a link. If we are to err here, I'd like to see us err on the side of inclusivity and fun. Lighthearted is the key word in this category- in all phases of the process.

Speaking of nominations...

I'd like to submit 3 nominations for the Hall of Funsies. Let me know it you all agree.

Alice Ashpool's Arwen, a reposted BG1 adventure, currently an honorable mention in the excellence in writing category.

Wise Grimwald's Jarlaxle and Artemis, for innovation in character development

Borco and Finarin's Ryland and Kalam, for making the dreamwork though teamwork- our first multiplayer run

Cheers!

A.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Anyway - I will be really careful with this challenge in the future solo no reload runs.

Smart move. Pocket Plane Challenges 2 can get dicey for soloist running SCS. I've had a few close calls there myself.

(I'm not 100% thrilled with the current state of the pocket plane challenges. At one point 1 & 2 felt overtuned, especially 1. Now 1 seems fine and 2 seems reasonable. As for 3, 4 & 5, they could all use an overhaul. They're a let down from 1 & 2, and far too easy for the point in the adventure where they're encountered. Worse still they're boring as all get out. I'd love to see a new tactical component addressing this.)

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

Well said!

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Journal of Jarlaxle.

Since we were outclassed by Greywolf, we recruited Branwen who cast doom and command twice. The Command spell didn't work despite "Doom." However, together we did defeat him, Artemis, being the most effective. We then took the emeralds to Oublek after dropping Branwen off at the Black Lotus tent..

Tenya joined us at level 5 and we killed a nearby ankheg that had eaten a dagger.

She helped us against Bassilus by casting a silence spell and we then moved westward killing hobgoblins.

From there we moved even further west where we helped Charlestonian Nib and Brage.

We reunited Albert and Rufie, killed Vax and Zal, and joined up with Baeloth.

We went ankheg hunting, helped Farmer Brun and then went shopping for better equipment, after which we went to the lighthouse area where we looted the cave.

The sirines and two of the flesh golems were no problem, but one of the golems got lucky. On the plus side, Artemis levelled up.

.

Tenya then asked us to search out a witch who would teach her how to use her bowl.

On the way we killed basilisks, medusae, Mutamin, a goblin who was in possession of Precious, and an evil adventuring party.

Lethe was quite powerful and her possessions which we gained when we killed her will strengthen both Tenya and Baeloth.

We survived, but only just!

A messenger from Lathander's Temple asked for Gavin's help.

We complied, but Valeria asked us to kill him.

We were already more than a little annoyed by his do-gooding attitudes and complied.

Instead of rewarding us, she teleported away. He was no great loss, but when we replaced him with Viconia, another drow, we were disappointed to find that she was of very little experience.

Still, she has some magical resistance, so it's not all bad, and she uses maces, which is good.

Upon resting she rewarded me as is the drow wont.

Strangely, she didn't recognise me as a drow!

Upon discovering how weak Viconia was, we ejected her from the party and recruited Xzar and Montaron. We splashed out on a +1 sling.

In the south Xzar collected the essence of a wood nymph.

In Beregost Montaron acquired Algernon's Cloak, and at Ulgoth's Beard he pick-pocketed even more.

We left him in Therella's house.

We then did Bjornin's quest before resting and have now proceeded to the Gnoll Stronghold where we wiped out a party of assassins and looted a cave.

I have added quite a lot to the post above since I started it.

 

[Borco]

Theme Song: Ava's theme song, See No Evil, comes from one of my favorite albums of the 1970's, Marquee Moon by Television. I've never considered using it before, but it suits the chaotic neutral rock n' roller Ava well. I'm not sure what other songs I'll pick for her, but her soundtrack will be 70's art punk, to be distinguished from Arkona's short form punk selections and Ashanti's 90's Kathleen Hana focused picks.

I hadn't really come across Television before, but since New York Dolls are right up my alley, I'm already a fan!

We splashed out on a +1 sling.

Nice! Reminds me of times when travelling on a really tight budget when even the equivalent of 100GP (or whatever +1 sling cost these days) would hit your liquidity - "We splashed out on a soup in Cairo. No bread, ofc."

 

[Borco]

Ehm, I'm not sure how to tell you this, but I'm afraid I've lost Mephala to a trapped chest in the Guarded Compound. And no, it's not the Maze trap - I had to burn a ProMagic scroll there once, so that one's already on my radar - but apparently there's another game ending trap that will instakill your character subject to a failed save vs. death (which is a weak spot good of any Claw-wearing mage/thief) here:

Spoiler

It's a bummer, since I really had high hopes for Mephala - sitting at >4m XP at the time, she's just started climbing to the peak of her power. I've tried moving on with the run on a reload basis for a while, but it just didn't feel satisfying, so I suppose it's back to the starting blocks.

 

[Borco]

Ryland (human blade) & Kalam (halfling assassin by @Finarfin), multiplayer run: Part 5 - Bandit Camp

This little snippet of a conversation basically summarizes the situation after we had bluffed our way inside the camp through Raiken and Tazok:

Kalam played it cool, blended in with the bandits, looted whatever useful gear he could find (notably including a Firebreath potion and a Fireball scroll), prepared his traps, and genuinely seemed to be having a good time. Ryland, on the other hand, was anxious to be out of here as soon as possible, concerned that their cover could blow up at any time. Following a hushed discussion, we decided to gather our strength a bit and strike at dawn.

Instinctively, our primary target was the main tent. Kalam was running Potion of Defense, Strength, Oil of Speed, and Potion of Regeneration, and we both had and Resist Fear and 90-100% fire resistance (I don't recall the exact combination here, but there must have been one arcane ProFire from Ryland's book, and Kalam would have the Ring of Fire Resistance and potion and/or green scroll). Our missile AC gear tends to be equally distributed, whereby Kalam is usually wearing the Claw + Cloak of Displacement on top of his Shadow Armor, while Ryland's using the Girdle of Piercing, the Boots of Avoidance, and the Shield spell.

Spoiler

We entered invisible, Kalam positioned himself behind Venkt and prepared his poisoned blade.

Spoiler

Oopsie!

Spoiler

We were suddenly in trouble, although the good thing was that Venkt opened with a conjuration spell, which could give us one more round before dispel. Another positive sign was that Kalam effective AC seemed to be in crit-only zone, with the archers missing when rolling <= 19. Seeing that the situation was still relatively under control, Ryland decided to hold back for now and remain invisible.

Spoiler

Venkt's Mirror Images absorbed the lasting poison damage from Kalam's well aimed second strike (only the initial 2 pts of poison damage go through).

Spoiler

With the pumped-up Britik uncomfortably close, Kalam quaffed a Firebreath and quickly darted away in a wide arc, ultimately killing five including the mage.

Spoiler

He then exchanged some quick swordplay with Hakt, though in all fairness we should admit that our halfling would’ve been disqualified in any official competition for abusing hasted regeneration.

Spoiler

While Ryland scrambled to reach his friend with Cure Minor Wounds for several rounds that followed, Kalam just moved on with the carnage.

Spoiler

And finish! Good work, pal!

Spoiler

We collected the loot, including our second pair of Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise, and moved outside, where Ryland finally broke his invisibility with a successful Charm Person cast on Taurgosz (though we were keeping the Wand of Paralyzation at the ready for contingency purposes, should our attempts at charming him fail).

Spoiler

Meanwhile, Kalam's traps went off all around the camp, adding to the growing panic. Despite the lack of Taurgosz's people skills, we managed to quickly clear the few enemies in our sight before the remainder of the army could regroup.

Spoiler

And here they come, nicely stacked in a semicircle!

Spoiler

Taurgosz led the charge, just as Ryland's Fireball was on its way towards the center of the enemy ranks. The impact was devastating.

Spoiler

The few survivors became easy targets for our bolts and arrows.

Spoiler

Cloakwood awaits!

Regards,

B. & F.

 

[Alesia_BH]

I hadn't really come across Television before, but since New York Dolls are right up my alley, I'm already a fan!

It's a shame that you've missed Television for all these years, but the upside is you're in for a treat.

Sometime soon you should set aside 45 minutes to give Marquee Moon a critical first listen. Based on the songs you've shared in the thread and your appreciation of the Dolls, I'm pretty sure you'll love it.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Ehm, I'm not sure how to tell you this, but I'm afraid I've lost Mephala to a trapped chest in the Guarded Compound.

Condolences, Borco. I, too, had high hopes for Mephala. M/Ts are well suited to the ToB endgame, and you were doing an excellent job of exploring her abilities. Sorry to see her go.

Any thoughts on your next character?

 

[WiseGrimwald]

It's a shame that you've missed Television for all these years, but the upside is you're in for a treat.

Sometime soon you should set aside 45 minutes to give Marquee Moon a critical first listen. Based on the songs you've shared in the thread and your appreciation of the Dolls, I'm pretty sure you'll love it.

When we lived in Nepal in the eighties, we "missed out" on TV for three years.

Actually it wasn't the TV that we "missed out" on. It was no electricity (therefore no Baldur's Gate), water in the taps (where we had them) not being safe to drink, only having a choice of dal with rice or rice with dal at the restaurants, and the like. What we gained however was wonderful wild life, and friends that we still have nearly fifty years later.

TV is VERY over-rated.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Journal of Jarlaxle.

We have entered the Cloakwood Mines and were able to save Miner Beldin by using a skull trap. (Sadly no reward for doing so. )

Further in we came across assassins. One with a light crossbow +1 and poisonous bolts made great inroads into our stock of potions. Clearly we should have had skeletons in our vanguard. We didn't! However, we did prevail even if we did have to withdraw temporarily to heal and restock.

On the plus side, Artemis now has a light crossbow +1 and some poisonous bolts.

When we returned we were able to kill Mulahey.

We then recruited Xan.

Tenya cast "Doom" on him. Reminds me of Frazer in Dad's Army. "We're doomed!"

 

[Borco]

When we lived in Nepal in the eighties, we "missed out" on TV for three years.

Actually it wasn't the TV that we "missed out" on. It was no electricity (therefore no Baldur's Gate), water in the taps (where we had them) not being safe to drink, only having a choice of dal with rice or rice with dal at the restaurants, and the like. What we gained however was wonderful wild life, and friends that we still have nearly fifty years later.

TV is VERY over-rated.

Amen. And what a cool experience! That country is certainly among my top 3 fave places in the world! By the way, you just got me craving for some dal bhat - I'll need to check out some Nepali places around to get some!

 

[Borco]

Condolences, Borco. I, too, had high hopes for Mephala. M/Ts are well suited to the ToB endgame, and you were doing an excellent job of exploring her abilities. Sorry to see her go.

Any thoughts on your next character?

Yes, I could see why you appreciate M/Ts so much - they're really fun and versatile and, one could say, powerful. I'll certainly want to revisit the class sooner than later.

As for the next one, I think that Iona the Sorceress could see a comeback, as her adventure still feels somehow unfinished and that are couple of adjustments that I'd like to try out in her book setup. I'll keep you posted.

 

[Alesia_BH]

TV is VERY over-rated.

Lol!

I'm not sure if you're joking, Wise, but in case you're being serious, I wasn't referring to TV. I was referring to the 1970's art punk band called Television. They were in residence at CBGB in Manhattan for years and their debut album, Marquee Moon, is considered to be one of the best albums of the 70's.

TV, the contraption, is overrated- agreed. Television, the band, is super-cool.

 

[Finarfin]

I like Sirene and believe that she is available for some time.

I played with Sirene NPC on my last party playthrough and I think it was really well written NPC with some nice side quests. One of the main reasons I took her was that you can use her from start of BG1 to the end of ToB. And it was nice to have a paladin in BG2 who isn't Keldorn