Alia, Halfling Kensai: The Underdark
Of all the areas in Baldur's Gate, the Underdark is the only one that fails, and it fails because it succeeds so well. The designers did a wonderful job of creating a dark, foreboding, oppressive world that you, the player, will want to escape. But that's just it: if you want to escape, how can you enjoy a lengthy quest like the dragon egg story line? It's hard to embrace a world that you want to get out of.
Nonetheless, in Alia's game I stuck it out through the entire dragon egg quest, and completed most of the side quests too. This went well, on balance, although Alia did suffer her closest call of her adventure.
Alia doesn't like demons. She needs buffs to thrive, and demons cast Remove at will. It's a problem. Fortunately, she has the tools to deal with an isolated demon, like the svirfneblin's balor.
Here we see Alia firing up Smite just as the balor emerges. No sense in giving him a chance.
Alia probably shouldn't be able to use these Cloak of the Stars darts, but someone forgot to block heri kit so she can and does. They're the right choice here because she doesn't have her +3 throwing dagger yet and they'll get through Stoneskins faster, and apply on hit effect more often, than Azuredge.
Now that the Stoneskins have been peeled, it's almost time to switch to Azuredge. We just need to tag this bloke with a lengthier stun first. Sorry, Mr. Balor, we're not even going to let you twitch.
Time for a whirlwind. And that is how we do that.
Kuo-toans always give me grief. I think it's because I refuse to accept that they're actually semi-formidable foes. I try to treat them like throwaway enemies, but that doesn't exactly work because they have too many problematic abilities, most notably True Sight at will and speed. Respect them and they fall as they should. Underestimate them and they'll get your goats, along with some of your healing potions.
The drow had no answer at all to Alia's throwing daggers. They went quietly, oh so quietly.
The rescue mission was going well until one of the mind flayers dropped a psionic maze on Phaere.
There was a tense moment as I wondered whether the maze effect would break Phaere's script. Happily she came back as her charming self. The quest continues.
I usually try to avoid killing the good aligned drow hunting party that stalks the PC out of the Underdark, but they were costing Alia too many invisibility charges. They had to go. This was a broken fight, mostly won with Firetooth, although the Pixie Prick made an appearance.
Speaking of Firetooth, we bought it, obviously- along with very nearly every potion in the city. Potions are life for Alia. She'll buy every useful potion in Amn before leaving for ToB.
As soon as we got some free time we started chipping away at the kuo-toan resistance. Batch by batch we worked through them all, including the prince. We also took down the majority of the exit defenders, leaving but two for Adalon. That final fight can get messy if you haven't cleared the kuo-toans first, even with Adalon's assistance.
While the kuo-toans annoyed me to tears, they never really threatened Alia. The demon knights enjoyed that distinction. So: What went wrong here? I was misled by prior experience, that's what. As some of you know, I recently ran a character very similar to our current Alia. When she fought the demon knights they went quietly. All my other characters had killed them with ease, too. What I didn't know, exactly, was why all those characters had killed the demon knights so quickly. It was RoAC II. The demon knights have a clever strategy. They cast PW:B, forcing you into melee. Then they level drain you with their melee attacks, imposing a huge save penalty, paving the way for their symbol spells. It's a dangerous idea that needs to be foiled at one phase or another, preferably at the start. That's what RoAC II does: it prevents targeting of PW:B and thus allows you to take them down at range. If you let them target you, though -and aren't aware of the level drain effect- you can quickly find yourself in hot water. That's what happened to Alia. She had used her RoAC II on the kuo-toans earlier, and so nearly fell into the trap. She never had to roll to save, thankfully, but she did have to think on her feet.
Here we see Alia, blinded, engaged in melee, taking down one of the demon knights. Note that she's been level drained. She's in trouble now. Her aura is clouded from activating GWW and her saves are in the danger zone.
The only thing to do here is run- grab the Spear of the Unicorn and run before the symbols start flying. That's what Alia did. She used a Restoration scroll as soon as she could, and then made her way to the svirfneblin village, all the while holding her Spear of the Unicorn to bring her save v death down to -4.
Alia checked in, took a nap, and then headed back to the tunnels to finish the job. But guess who showed up. Umm, hi guys? Wasn't expecting to see you here.
Fortunately Alia was able to get RoAC II off in time, thwarting PW:B and getting her save v death down to -5. From there it was just a simple matter of tossing daggers at them. They're dangerous, but they're glass canons, vulnerable to ranged attacks in particular.
With the kuo-toans cleared and Soul Reaver in hand, picking up the Greenstone Amulet for Tamah was next on the to do list. Once that was done Alia was free to finish up the dragon egg quest. I usually abandon this quest before the end, but I kind of wanted the Matron Mother's ring this time.
It was courteous of Alia to leave those two drow for Adalon. She felt like she helped. Thanks, Addy! Until next time!
Your days are numbered, Bodhi. Alia is coming for you.
Best,
A.
