The Candlekeep Annex: RPed Baldur’s Gate No and Low Reload Adventures
- Thread starter Alesia_BH
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Borco
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Sorsha, human bard: Part 25
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
In one of the earlier posts, I had indicated that there's going to be one more stronghold quest for Sorsha before moving on with the main plotline. This happened to be the Planar Prison. However, as soon as I got back into the run after several months, I was feeling rusty and generally ill-prepared to rush forward towards Bodhi's lair right away. Therefore, we decided to take another trip into the sewers, this time on a temple business of investigating the Cult of the Eyeless.
We had a promising start when Sorsha took down the two vampiric mists by the gas chamber after approaching under invisibility.
Nevertheless, the signs of rustiness were there. I mean, why would you ran PfMW against these level draining guys while wearing AoP?!
We had to refresh our facts as well, including whether Shadows (the basic version) inflict on-hit paralysis or on-hit STR drain.
Another concern - the lightning trap in the narrow corridor past the lich's crypt, which in my previous run it had fried Sassar, thus closing the route through the Beholder Hideout for good - did not materialize. In the Lower Reaches, Sorsha collected the Tenser scroll, blasted some undead and used SI: C to counter the Prismatic Spray trap at the staircase.
At the bridge, we contemplated our tactical options against the beholders (I'll note that the "Smarter Beholders" SCS component in my current install is manually tweaked to Tactical). The main issues at hand were our unbuffed human rogue saving throws and the lack of massive summoning capabilities. I'm not a fan of exploiting the Spell Shield, which had been a thing at least in the past (though I admit that I'm not aware of how it actually interacts with the antimagic ray or other rays in the current version of the game/SCS), so we're looking for another options.
Rested, Sorsha dropped Farsight to scout ahead - alas, there were no beholders present, only couple of Shadows in the corridor ahead.
We retrieved the first part of the Rod, leveled up to L21 (which marks the final reduction of Sorsha's saving throws) and rested once again. Certain that the beholders will spawn on our way back, we prepared by summoning two skeletons before scanning the horizon with another Farsight. Nothing.
With the major obstacle gone, we could swiftly proceed into the pits. We cleared the Ghoul Town with Sunfire (against combustible mummies)…
Azuredge…
Dual-wielding under IH (for the bone golems)…
and more Azuredge.
Sorsha's first beholder kill was the lone gauth close to the hive entrance.
Further ahead, the group of blind priests was blasted with Death Fog and Skull Traps.
Before proceeding to the "room" containing the second half of the Rod, Sorsha removed her Claw of Kazgaroth with Remove Curse (to manage her saves vs. death with the Death Rays at play) and scanned the area with Farsight. The lonely gauth present was an easy target for our two skeleton warriors.
Onto the Unseeing Eye itself. Even through the battle was fairly short and seemingly trivial, I still have a bad feeling in my stomach when writing this. The problem was that I did not know what I was doing really - I find it difficult to explain the choices I made, which is probably the clearest evidence of that fact. As I said, I was rusty, but also eager to make quick progress, which is clearly a deadly cocktail. So here it is and please feel free to judge for yourself. I personally feel lucky that Sorsha's alive.
With our skeletons at the helm, Sorsha opened with the Rod, while the Eye triggered its contingencies including two mordy swords.
The Eye then went for Absolute Immunity and Sorsha dropped a Skull Trap, killing one of the swords.
Our buffed saves (wearing BoIB, but without the Claw) were decent: -1, -5, 0, -3, -5. However, dispel could come at any time. The one in the form of Remove Magic failed.
Another Skull Trap from Sorsha.
And Sunfire for the finish.
I don’t know, somehow this leaves a bad taste. We should at least have had Spell Shield + SIs in place. I immediately promised Sorsha to perform better in the future, because she deserves better. Anyway, she got to L22 and finished the remainder of the quest by returning the Rod (the beholders at the bridge were already there this time, but we avoided them under invisibility).
I'm semi-inclined to hit De'Arnise Keep, but at the same time I do feel like it's the right moment to begin attending to Aran's tasks so as to secure our transport to Brynlaw.
Regards,
B.
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
In one of the earlier posts, I had indicated that there's going to be one more stronghold quest for Sorsha before moving on with the main plotline. This happened to be the Planar Prison. However, as soon as I got back into the run after several months, I was feeling rusty and generally ill-prepared to rush forward towards Bodhi's lair right away. Therefore, we decided to take another trip into the sewers, this time on a temple business of investigating the Cult of the Eyeless.
We had a promising start when Sorsha took down the two vampiric mists by the gas chamber after approaching under invisibility.
Nevertheless, the signs of rustiness were there. I mean, why would you ran PfMW against these level draining guys while wearing AoP?!
We had to refresh our facts as well, including whether Shadows (the basic version) inflict on-hit paralysis or on-hit STR drain.
Rested, Sorsha dropped Farsight to scout ahead - alas, there were no beholders present, only couple of Shadows in the corridor ahead.
With our skeletons at the helm, Sorsha opened with the Rod, while the Eye triggered its contingencies including two mordy swords.
I don’t know, somehow this leaves a bad taste. We should at least have had Spell Shield + SIs in place. I immediately promised Sorsha to perform better in the future, because she deserves better. Anyway, she got to L22 and finished the remainder of the quest by returning the Rod (the beholders at the bridge were already there this time, but we avoided them under invisibility).
I'm semi-inclined to hit De'Arnise Keep, but at the same time I do feel like it's the right moment to begin attending to Aran's tasks so as to secure our transport to Brynlaw.
Regards,
B.
Borco
Habitué
- Messages
- 382
Sorsha, human bard: Part 26
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
Alright, so we ran a test pressing of some of our new strategies to get a better grasp of what works and of what doesn't.
Please allow me to introduce our test subjects.
First, Mr Mencar Pebblecrusher, a short-fused dwarf from who knows where:
Second, Herr Captain Dennis of Riatavin, an arrogant mercenary of questionable repute:
And lastly, El Dracandros, the mighty but slightly feeble minded resident of the Bridge District:
The primary purpose of Sorsha'a scientific endeavours was to acquire deeper insight into the use of Tenser's Transformation, Contingency and Pixie Prick.
Let's begin with Mencar & Co. Our preparations for the examination involved Stoneskin, Strength, Spirit Armor, Shield, Spell Shield, ProEvil, Blur, MIs, IH, MGoI, SI: D, SI: En and DuHM. Additionally, Sorsha had prepared Contingency: "See Enemy" -> Shadow Door.
Here's the opening scene of the battle - dual-wielding Pixie Prick and Belm, Sorsha cast Malison while her contingency triggered (with a short delay after Mencar and his crew had actually turned hostile).
Smack! The first Pixie Prick sample tested 100% positive.
The sleep via PP lasts for two rounds which, despite being relatively short, is still a viable tool given our high APR that allows us to reapply the effect over time.
Sorsha got her PfMW running and after that locked herself into the Tenser's form. Mencar was finished with Kundane + Belm combo.
Despite being Malisoned earlier, Brennan's saves were bullet-proof (should I say Death Proof for Grindhouse fans?) against PP.
If I understand correctly, then saving on roll 1 means that he'll always make the save, as there is no inherent penalty applied to that save (whereas Malison is already taken into account be adjusting the actual saving throw value against which the roll is being compared).
Unfortunately for Brennan, there was no saving throw against being chunked by Kundane.
We move on to Smaeluv. He's in his berserk mode, so we don't even try to get him to sleep. That's an additional kill for Kundane.
Amon, Pooky and their spider summons were less successful in making their saves and all fell to PP.
This was fun, although Sorsha's clearly over-leveled for such encounter, so we'll need to find something slightly more challenging to really get a better sense of this style of fighting.
I'll continue with the second stage of the experiment taking place in the Delosar's Inn shortly.
Regards,
B
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
Alright, so we ran a test pressing of some of our new strategies to get a better grasp of what works and of what doesn't.
Please allow me to introduce our test subjects.
First, Mr Mencar Pebblecrusher, a short-fused dwarf from who knows where:
Second, Herr Captain Dennis of Riatavin, an arrogant mercenary of questionable repute:
And lastly, El Dracandros, the mighty but slightly feeble minded resident of the Bridge District:
The primary purpose of Sorsha'a scientific endeavours was to acquire deeper insight into the use of Tenser's Transformation, Contingency and Pixie Prick.
Let's begin with Mencar & Co. Our preparations for the examination involved Stoneskin, Strength, Spirit Armor, Shield, Spell Shield, ProEvil, Blur, MIs, IH, MGoI, SI: D, SI: En and DuHM. Additionally, Sorsha had prepared Contingency: "See Enemy" -> Shadow Door.
Here's the opening scene of the battle - dual-wielding Pixie Prick and Belm, Sorsha cast Malison while her contingency triggered (with a short delay after Mencar and his crew had actually turned hostile).
Smack! The first Pixie Prick sample tested 100% positive.
Sorsha got her PfMW running and after that locked herself into the Tenser's form. Mencar was finished with Kundane + Belm combo.
Unfortunately for Brennan, there was no saving throw against being chunked by Kundane.
I'll continue with the second stage of the experiment taking place in the Delosar's Inn shortly.
Regards,
B
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Borco
Habitué
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Sorsha, human bard: Part 26 - continued
Onto our second test subject - Captain Dennis.
This time we have slightly adjusted our pre-buffs, notably by running PfMW - "See Enemy" contingency, while improved invisibility was applied in advance via Shadow Door. We also had SI: D and SI: C running. Sorsha's opening move was PW: Silence on the mage.
Dennis quaffed a Potion of Magic Shielding and Sorsha put the mage to sleep with her PP lullaby. The PfMW contingency was overdue by now.
Ah, there we go. We make a note that it may take a full round for the "See Enemy" condition to trigger (and suspect that this may be the case with "When Hit" as well). With our defences in place, we could proceed with Malison.
The mage did not witness any of this and slept through the whole opening action. And now he was dead.
With the arcane caster out of play, we could safely move into the Tenser's form.
We quickly eliminated the cleric and proceeded to Dennis.
And made a face-palming mistake - can you spot it?
Still, Sorsha had enough steam to raze everything in her path despite my shortcomings.
With one of the remaining mercenaries confused (via Harp of Discord) and the other disabled by PP, the battle was ours.
Afterwards, we rested in the Five Flagons and prepared for the final part of our experiment with Dracandros.
Regards,
B.
Onto our second test subject - Captain Dennis.
This time we have slightly adjusted our pre-buffs, notably by running PfMW - "See Enemy" contingency, while improved invisibility was applied in advance via Shadow Door. We also had SI: D and SI: C running. Sorsha's opening move was PW: Silence on the mage.
Regards,
B.
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Borco
Habitué
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- 382
Sorsha, human bard: Part 26 - continued
For Dracandros and his band, Sorsha didn't prepare any Contingency and was running SI: D and SI: Ab in addition to her other standard buffs. We did not apply DuHM either.
Given that PW: Silence had worked nicely in the previous encounter, we tried to pull off the same trick once again.
Dracandors' invisibility triggered simultaneously and therefore we could not target him with PP. Instead, we turned our attention to the cleric - Pitre.
Sorsha's next move was to activate PfMW to ease the APR pressure from the remaining combatants - Falahar and Valeria.
Dracandros was back at the scene. Still silenced, he decided to crush Sorsha with his bare hands rather than apply Vocalize. I mean, he's not very smart, but with that 22 STR score he's no short of terrifying. We tried PP on him, but to no avail.
There you go, you might not be that dumb after all. I admit I'd love to see SCS making an exception from making this guy a "smarter mage" - just look at his stats, he's a night club bouncer, not a wizard).
We needed a bit of help via Malison to pave the way for Pixie Prick. That worked, but once again, Dracandros outsmarted us.
What about you Falahar? You're not sleepy sleepy?
No? Ok. Our subsequent Sunfire came a bit too late to prevent Pitre finish his Heal under Sanctuary.
Dracandros then removed our Spell Shield and Valeria was closing in into melee. We had not been efficient enough and still have all enemies on the field. Furthermore, our PfMW was about to expire shortly.
Sorsha needed to accelerate things. Skull Trap and Belm swing eliminates Falahar.
We had a Nishruu and a Cacofiend incoming (though it seems that we're the only ones running ProEvil). Another Skull Trap and few Belm swings take our Valeria.
We counterd Dracandros' Chaos with Lilarcor and cut down both the nishruu and Pitre in melee.
Dracandos finally succumbs to PP.
And so does his fiend.
Okay, so with our tests completed, it's time to summarize the results. First, Sorsha has completed her transformation from a hit-and-run rogue into an aggressive melee warrior. On the offensive side, this is mainly facilitated by access to IH, Tenser's, weapons with APR bonuses and strength modifiers (Strength/DuHM).
Pixie Prick works, although it requires pairing Malison to be more reliable. Also, it's far from being a universal tool against everything and we should be picking our targets carefully, ideally targeting enemies with weaker save vs. death base, such as wizards (and also note elven and half-elven sleep resistances). It's effectiveness is significantly reduced when not running Tenser's and/or DuHM to ensure that our bard's Thac0 is not an issue, since Sorsha is not proficient with daggers. Subject to the Thac0 point above, PW: Silence -> PP seems like a potentially decent strategy for taking out enemy mages.
Contigency is a great tool that provides extra flexibility for our spellbook (as well as the Tenser's form which disables other forms spellcasting and the use of innate abilities), however the delays for triggering the contingency conditions should be taken into account when planning to use it.
Tenser's is far less critical than IH, although that extra damage bonus is important and allows us to dilute the enemy lines much more efficiently (as mentioned, that extra Thac0 is also needed when using weapons without the corresponding proficiency). The downside of not being able to refresh our buffs is somewhat mitigated by the fact that Sorsha's very close to being effectively immune to Remove Magic due to level differences, however threats like True Sight, Breach and Malison combos are still real and need to be accounted for.
Overall, we're happy about the fact that these offensive capabilities can free up our spellbook a bit, so that we can squeeze in more defense oriented spells in there. Lastly, I realized we had not used Remove Magic during any of these recent encounters - had we done that, especially against Dracandros, it could have been a more relaxed ride. I'd say that this is the most important takeaway, given that dispelling our enemies can supercharge our melee combat.
Regards,
B.
For Dracandros and his band, Sorsha didn't prepare any Contingency and was running SI: D and SI: Ab in addition to her other standard buffs. We did not apply DuHM either.
Given that PW: Silence had worked nicely in the previous encounter, we tried to pull off the same trick once again.
Sorsha needed to accelerate things. Skull Trap and Belm swing eliminates Falahar.
Okay, so with our tests completed, it's time to summarize the results. First, Sorsha has completed her transformation from a hit-and-run rogue into an aggressive melee warrior. On the offensive side, this is mainly facilitated by access to IH, Tenser's, weapons with APR bonuses and strength modifiers (Strength/DuHM).
Pixie Prick works, although it requires pairing Malison to be more reliable. Also, it's far from being a universal tool against everything and we should be picking our targets carefully, ideally targeting enemies with weaker save vs. death base, such as wizards (and also note elven and half-elven sleep resistances). It's effectiveness is significantly reduced when not running Tenser's and/or DuHM to ensure that our bard's Thac0 is not an issue, since Sorsha is not proficient with daggers. Subject to the Thac0 point above, PW: Silence -> PP seems like a potentially decent strategy for taking out enemy mages.
Contigency is a great tool that provides extra flexibility for our spellbook (as well as the Tenser's form which disables other forms spellcasting and the use of innate abilities), however the delays for triggering the contingency conditions should be taken into account when planning to use it.
Tenser's is far less critical than IH, although that extra damage bonus is important and allows us to dilute the enemy lines much more efficiently (as mentioned, that extra Thac0 is also needed when using weapons without the corresponding proficiency). The downside of not being able to refresh our buffs is somewhat mitigated by the fact that Sorsha's very close to being effectively immune to Remove Magic due to level differences, however threats like True Sight, Breach and Malison combos are still real and need to be accounted for.
Overall, we're happy about the fact that these offensive capabilities can free up our spellbook a bit, so that we can squeeze in more defense oriented spells in there. Lastly, I realized we had not used Remove Magic during any of these recent encounters - had we done that, especially against Dracandros, it could have been a more relaxed ride. I'd say that this is the most important takeaway, given that dispelling our enemies can supercharge our melee combat.
Regards,
B.
Borco
Habitué
- Messages
- 382
Sorsha, human bard: Part 27
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26
Even though there was much more to be done around Athkatla (De'Arnise Keep, Windspear Hills, Planar Sphere to name a few), we could not possibly keep our friend in the Asylum waiting for much longer and decided to attend to Aran's tasks.
Before doing so, however, we wanted to close as many gaps in our inventory as possible and sent Sorsha on a brief mission to the Druid Grove to fetch the Spear of the Unicorn. While in Trademeet, we also acquired some of the missing spell scrolls, including Mislead, True Seeing, Spell Deflection.
By the way, did you know about this vendor? More than 20 years into the game and there're still things to discover (I had to look up the location of Spell Deflection scroll on BG wiki to find out that this Kich exists).
In the Druid Grove, the local troll hordes were somewhat cumbersome to fight against. Neither Greater Command nor Flame Strike by the Spirit Trolls were an issue thanks to our negative saving throws / improved invisibility, however the ability drain and regeneration still made the going difficult (as Sorsha was unable to run PfMW at all times). Most of the heavy lifting was done by Belm + Kundane under IH, however we should have brought a melee weapon for the finishing blows (something like Stonefire or Flame Tongue would do). Without these, we had to rely on Burning Hands…
Polymorph: Self...
and acid arrows.
The 'wing buffet' via Harp of Pandemonium also came across as helpful.
Not to mention Pixie Prick.
We secured the spear (to boost our undispellable saves vs death), bought a few of potions from Adratha and returned to Athkatla. There the shopping spree continued. Speaking of new discoveries, did you know about this trader at the Promenade? Another news of the day for me thanks to BG wiki. He had some nice conjuration scrolls + ProAcid that may come in handy.
In the Bridge District, we bought the individual SI scrolls (SI: D, SI: Ab, SI: C and SI: En for Contingency purposes) and scribed everything we had collected after quaffing a Potion of Genius. We also paid a visit to our theatre manager Higgold, whom we had instructed to cast the elf Iltheia into the role of Karenina for our upcoming play and supported the whole project with our own equity of 3000gp.
Afterwards, we proceeded to the Docks to catch up with Mook. Following a brief skirmish with Lassal, we reported the news to Aran. Sorsha's reward for task was level 24 and our first HLA (UAI). We also picked up weapon proficiency in slings.
With that, we could finally spend our hard earned money on Scarlet Ninja-To and Everard. Sorsha returned to the Five Flagons to reorganize her inventory (we dropped Lilarcor and Arbane's for Shield of Harmony*) and to confront the Shadow Thieves' deserters. The fight that ensued could be classified as ordinary course of business.
*Question: Does anyone know whether Harmony protects from paralysis as Arbane does? I haven't been able to reliably confirm that, although my favorite reference tool available at sorcerers.net does not list paralysis as separate effect from Hold (unlike Web overlay). Thanks!
We reported our findings to Aran and moved on to the Graveyard District. We realized that we had not yet paid a visit to Pai'Na and, while there, Sorsha took a shortcut through her domain to pick up the spider figurine.
Coming up next – Bodhi's Lair.
Regards,
B.
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26
Even though there was much more to be done around Athkatla (De'Arnise Keep, Windspear Hills, Planar Sphere to name a few), we could not possibly keep our friend in the Asylum waiting for much longer and decided to attend to Aran's tasks.
Before doing so, however, we wanted to close as many gaps in our inventory as possible and sent Sorsha on a brief mission to the Druid Grove to fetch the Spear of the Unicorn. While in Trademeet, we also acquired some of the missing spell scrolls, including Mislead, True Seeing, Spell Deflection.
By the way, did you know about this vendor? More than 20 years into the game and there're still things to discover (I had to look up the location of Spell Deflection scroll on BG wiki to find out that this Kich exists).
In the Druid Grove, the local troll hordes were somewhat cumbersome to fight against. Neither Greater Command nor Flame Strike by the Spirit Trolls were an issue thanks to our negative saving throws / improved invisibility, however the ability drain and regeneration still made the going difficult (as Sorsha was unable to run PfMW at all times). Most of the heavy lifting was done by Belm + Kundane under IH, however we should have brought a melee weapon for the finishing blows (something like Stonefire or Flame Tongue would do). Without these, we had to rely on Burning Hands…
We secured the spear (to boost our undispellable saves vs death), bought a few of potions from Adratha and returned to Athkatla. There the shopping spree continued. Speaking of new discoveries, did you know about this trader at the Promenade? Another news of the day for me thanks to BG wiki. He had some nice conjuration scrolls + ProAcid that may come in handy.
In the Bridge District, we bought the individual SI scrolls (SI: D, SI: Ab, SI: C and SI: En for Contingency purposes) and scribed everything we had collected after quaffing a Potion of Genius. We also paid a visit to our theatre manager Higgold, whom we had instructed to cast the elf Iltheia into the role of Karenina for our upcoming play and supported the whole project with our own equity of 3000gp.
*Question: Does anyone know whether Harmony protects from paralysis as Arbane does? I haven't been able to reliably confirm that, although my favorite reference tool available at sorcerers.net does not list paralysis as separate effect from Hold (unlike Web overlay). Thanks!
We reported our findings to Aran and moved on to the Graveyard District. We realized that we had not yet paid a visit to Pai'Na and, while there, Sorsha took a shortcut through her domain to pick up the spider figurine.
Coming up next – Bodhi's Lair.
Regards,
B.
Serg_BlackStrider
Habitué
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According to NearInfinity Arbane's Sword +2 grants immunity to effects: Paralyze (109) and Hold Creature (175). Shield of Harmony +2 grants immunity to effects: Charm Creature (5), Confusion (128), Paralyze (109) and Hold Creature (175).
Borco
Habitué
- Messages
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Sorsha, human bard: Part 28
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27
In the context of Bodhi's lair, one important thing to note is that I'm not running the "Improved Vampires" SCS component in my install - I've tried it before and it felt a bit too far from the original design of the game for my taste. Nevertheless, our vampires are therefore much less of a challenge.
At the entrance, Sorsha swiped through the grimwarders and entered the main hall. The first vampire - Gellal - fell before we even realized that it's Azuredge time.
Yes, that'll do. Having Harmony in the off-hand to ward off vampires' domination might seem like a belt-and-suspenders kind of approach, given our negative saves, however there was little reason to rush in with dual-wielding at this stage.
After clearing the lobby, Sorsha added Shield, Shadow Door and SI: D on top of her already active buffs and engaged with Tanova. Quick kill via Azuredge was thwarted by Tanova's PfMW - we tried to dispel it with Remove Magic, albeit unsuccessfully, and so we had to wait it out. The only casualty on our side was our Spell Shield, but we will no longer be needing it anyway.
For the clay golem protecting the sarcophagi we used our newly acquired Staff Mace with Belm, while running PfMW to prevent Cursed Wounds.
Fred Durst came next and Sorsha expanded her arsenal with MoD.
In the lower level, we used our second DuHM of the day, eliminated the vampires with Azuredge (melee) + Harmony and then the grimwarders with Scarlet Ninja-To + Belm.
Back at the pool room, Lassal got caught off guard by our Azuredge throw.
Sorsha's level up came just in time before confronting Bodhi herself. Cheesy as it was, we could not resist testing our new Time Trap right away.
You're absolutely right, Bodhi.
I promise that we'll come up with something a bit more sophisticated the next time we (hopefully) see each other in this place.
With that it was time to say goodbye to Athkatla. We did some final shopping, which included the purchase of the Robe of Good Archmagi from the Trademeet smithy, and were ready to set sail with Saemon and Sime.
In order to manage our inventory space before acquiring the Bag of Holding, we had to store some of our gear in the Five Flagons, including MoD, Ilbratha, Boots of Avoidance, Harp of Discord and Girdle of Piercing. The potentially useful items that we were still missing were mainly Reflex (the first thing to go into our shopping cart should we manage to return safely from the Underdark), Kachiko's, FoA and Defender, if not taking into account some of the harder to get pieces like Gaxx, Staff of Magi, Holy Avenger or Shadow Scale armor. On the other hand, our precious assets included Arvoreen (stun protection against psionics), Everard (our +5 weapon that can be paired with Harmony), Staff Mace (for taking out clay golems and for crushing damage in general), summoning tools (Ras, efreeti, Kitthix), Spear of Unicorn (for save vs death bonuses until we can get Avoid Death/Greater Evasion HLAs), RoAC, Sandthief Ring and a full potion case, among others.
As for our spellbook, we've been short on Death Spell (I must have had missed the scroll in the Planar Prison) and GoI, though the latter can partially be fixed through the Magic Flute HLA.
For the record, here's Sorsha's inventory and character sheet (showing unbuffed & undispellable saves) before leaving for Brynnlaw.
Regards,
B.
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27
In the context of Bodhi's lair, one important thing to note is that I'm not running the "Improved Vampires" SCS component in my install - I've tried it before and it felt a bit too far from the original design of the game for my taste. Nevertheless, our vampires are therefore much less of a challenge.
At the entrance, Sorsha swiped through the grimwarders and entered the main hall. The first vampire - Gellal - fell before we even realized that it's Azuredge time.
You're absolutely right, Bodhi.
I promise that we'll come up with something a bit more sophisticated the next time we (hopefully) see each other in this place.
With that it was time to say goodbye to Athkatla. We did some final shopping, which included the purchase of the Robe of Good Archmagi from the Trademeet smithy, and were ready to set sail with Saemon and Sime.
In order to manage our inventory space before acquiring the Bag of Holding, we had to store some of our gear in the Five Flagons, including MoD, Ilbratha, Boots of Avoidance, Harp of Discord and Girdle of Piercing. The potentially useful items that we were still missing were mainly Reflex (the first thing to go into our shopping cart should we manage to return safely from the Underdark), Kachiko's, FoA and Defender, if not taking into account some of the harder to get pieces like Gaxx, Staff of Magi, Holy Avenger or Shadow Scale armor. On the other hand, our precious assets included Arvoreen (stun protection against psionics), Everard (our +5 weapon that can be paired with Harmony), Staff Mace (for taking out clay golems and for crushing damage in general), summoning tools (Ras, efreeti, Kitthix), Spear of Unicorn (for save vs death bonuses until we can get Avoid Death/Greater Evasion HLAs), RoAC, Sandthief Ring and a full potion case, among others.
As for our spellbook, we've been short on Death Spell (I must have had missed the scroll in the Planar Prison) and GoI, though the latter can partially be fixed through the Magic Flute HLA.
For the record, here's Sorsha's inventory and character sheet (showing unbuffed & undispellable saves) before leaving for Brynnlaw.
Regards,
B.
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Borco
Habitué
- Messages
- 382
Sorsha, human bard: Part 29
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28
Sorsha made it to Brynnlaw. To be absolutely fair, the last thing she had been expecting to encounter here were more vampires. One would think that we had thought them a lesson or two just recently. Apparently not.
"Culture will defeat loutish brutes each and every time." Well said, Andante (even though we know that the statement in your case is subject to random dice rolls).
We fought couple of random pirates in the streets, nixed the assassin in the tavern, collected the Wand of Paralysis and resolved Ginia's troubles. Sorsha was of the opinion that people like Galvena don’t deserve a chance. I did not argue with that and justice was delivered by nothing less than Time Trap + Improved Haste.
Our meeting with Perth was far from being our best performance up to date. We lost one of our SIs during the pre-buff routine (everyone knows that you cannot change the screen between casting the spell and selecting the respective immunity, otherwise the spell gets cancelled) and made some awkward moves during the fight. That's not trivial, given that he's the most powerful mage that we faced up to date.
Sorsha was running ProFire, ProAcid and SI: D along with her standard buffs. She opened with PW: Silence, eager to end the fight before it began with Pixie Prick.
As soon as the game unpaused, Perth's contingencies triggered and we had to readjust our plan.
The purpose of ProAcid in our abjuration defenses was to facilitate Death Fog. On paper, that's not a completely bad idea , especially in close quarters, however the execution was floppy and Perth was able to quickly move out of the AoE.
With not much to do in between the rounds, we used Everard to go over his iMantle and peel off few skins.
Perth's Time Stop came next. With our defenses intact, it wasn't a major concern. To our benefit, both of his abjuration attacks (KWW and Secret Word) hit our Spell Shield by the time the Time Stop ended, thus not removing any other protections.
Perth's next spell, a Delayed Blast Fireball, ran against our fire resistances.
Then it was our move. Sorsha dispelled him with Remove Magic and closed in at melee with Scarlet Ninja-To + Belm.
Hack'n'Slash!
We collected the wardstone and the Book of Infinite Spells (currently opened at True Seeing) and moved on to Spellhold.
Just as Sorsha was making a quick work of the various mists and shadows beyond the bridge and at the outer courtyards, I realized that I mostly recall fighting some lizard men and (air) elementals here. Now, despite the daylight, the entire scene had these Azkaban vibes to it (like with dementors and all that), so I was wondering whether this is actually an intentional change introduced by some later versions of SCS. Apparently not - I checked and the monsters spawning should be determined by daytime, with mists and shadows scheduled to appear at night.
We entered the Asylum, did the guided tour with Irenicus and ended up dreaming about dead gods while our corporeal body was imprisoned in a glass tube.
Regards,
B.
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28
Sorsha made it to Brynnlaw. To be absolutely fair, the last thing she had been expecting to encounter here were more vampires. One would think that we had thought them a lesson or two just recently. Apparently not.
"Culture will defeat loutish brutes each and every time." Well said, Andante (even though we know that the statement in your case is subject to random dice rolls).
We fought couple of random pirates in the streets, nixed the assassin in the tavern, collected the Wand of Paralysis and resolved Ginia's troubles. Sorsha was of the opinion that people like Galvena don’t deserve a chance. I did not argue with that and justice was delivered by nothing less than Time Trap + Improved Haste.
Our meeting with Perth was far from being our best performance up to date. We lost one of our SIs during the pre-buff routine (everyone knows that you cannot change the screen between casting the spell and selecting the respective immunity, otherwise the spell gets cancelled) and made some awkward moves during the fight. That's not trivial, given that he's the most powerful mage that we faced up to date.
Sorsha was running ProFire, ProAcid and SI: D along with her standard buffs. She opened with PW: Silence, eager to end the fight before it began with Pixie Prick.
Just as Sorsha was making a quick work of the various mists and shadows beyond the bridge and at the outer courtyards, I realized that I mostly recall fighting some lizard men and (air) elementals here. Now, despite the daylight, the entire scene had these Azkaban vibes to it (like with dementors and all that), so I was wondering whether this is actually an intentional change introduced by some later versions of SCS. Apparently not - I checked and the monsters spawning should be determined by daytime, with mists and shadows scheduled to appear at night.
We entered the Asylum, did the guided tour with Irenicus and ended up dreaming about dead gods while our corporeal body was imprisoned in a glass tube.
Regards,
B.
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Borco
Habitué
- Messages
- 382
Sorsha, human bard: Part 30
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29
After all the ordeals at the hands of Irenicus, Sorsha found herself in Spellhold's labyrinth. Despite the grim prospects, it was good to see old friends. Imoen assisted us with the trapped barrel containing the Bag of Holding and thereafter we jointly decided to part ways to improve our chances of escaping the place. Resourceful as she was, we had no doubts that Imoen will be fine. And Sorsha? Let's see.
First, we lured the portal room mephits away from the ruhk and removed them for the game under MGoI.
Rakshasas are serious nuisance to Sorsha - their defenses are seriously robust and we cannot stand against their ARP in melee for prolonged periods of time. Rusty as I am, I had not realized that they're also immune to normal weapons and are using unenchanted weapons themselves, which is a fact that we only re-discovered in the course of the fight. Given ruhks' innate weapon immunities, his opening PfMW eliminates all of our offensive options as it effectively equals to Absolute Immunity.
Just as I write this, I'm thinking of what we could actually had done to harm him at that point in time. L8-L9 spells were out of question. Weapons? Forget it. Summons? Nah. Polymorphed forms? Same story. Items? Well maybe that Potion of Firebreath could get through and we had the Victor as well. Honestly, we had not thought of these back then. Instead, Sorsha took the Remove Magic route.
Our initial dispel was successful, but the ruhk was incredibly effective in refreshing his critical buffs (PfMW, Stoneskins, MIs) and did not keep any openings in his defenses for long. Here you can see Sorsha trying to hit him with non-magical bullets. Oops!
We danced around for a while, applied True Seeing (via Book of Infinite Spells) to remove his illusions and kept waiting for his PfMW to expire, with Everard at the ready.
Finally, after a protracted back-and-forth and our second Remove Magic, we cut him down with our scimitars.
It took a long time and this was just one ruhk. One of my most beloved characters had fell victim to the rakhsasas in Suldanessellar and, should Sorsha get that far, she'll be destined to be my instrument of revenge. However, in order to fulfil that historical role, we will first need to straighten out our cat-fignting tactics.
The greater wolfwere and the pit fiend that came in through the portal got Tensered.
So were the umber hulks in the second area to the east.
For the undead hordes (luckily there was no lich) we mainly used Azuredge and Ras + Everard for the bone golems*.
*Spoiler note:
Just like all the other vampires we had encountered before, Dace fell to Azuredge.
The worshiping kobolds were incinerated by Delayed Blast Fireballs via Magic Flute (while running Magic Flute GoI). I have to say that I'm very pleased with this HLA pick, as it closes many gaps in our spellbook, even though we don't get the benefit of our caster levels when using Magic Flute spells.
At the summoning tome, we faced the mind flayer with Arvoreen in hand, but he teleported away after suffering initial damage and was not seen again. With her spellbook completely dry, Sorsha then used her Time Trap against the beholder.
Time to rest and move on to the next level.
Regards,
B.
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29
After all the ordeals at the hands of Irenicus, Sorsha found herself in Spellhold's labyrinth. Despite the grim prospects, it was good to see old friends. Imoen assisted us with the trapped barrel containing the Bag of Holding and thereafter we jointly decided to part ways to improve our chances of escaping the place. Resourceful as she was, we had no doubts that Imoen will be fine. And Sorsha? Let's see.
First, we lured the portal room mephits away from the ruhk and removed them for the game under MGoI.
The greater wolfwere and the pit fiend that came in through the portal got Tensered.
We've recently discoved an interesting tool against the bone golems while figthing them in the Drow Section of the City of Caverns. Normaly it wouldn't have occurred to me to use the Polymorph: Self jelly form, but we were concerned with all the traps and wanted to trigger those with 100% MR. When the golem showed up, we tried to hit it and voilá - the crushing damage goes through in full and so does the slow effect. Nice and clean.
Time to rest and move on to the next level.
Regards,
B.
Borco
Habitué
- Messages
- 382
Sorsha, human bard: Part 30 - continued
We were expecting a yuan-ti party to guard the stone head, so we prepared with a full set of pre-buffs. However, the hallway was empty and instead we proceeded directly to the first major battle on the following level. The yuan-ti were there and so was one ulitharid and a noble djinni.
Protected with ProAcid, Sorsha opened with Death Fog, followed by Malison. She kept Arvoreen at the ready, however the mind flayer seemed to be slightly stuck and it took him a while before he joined the fray.
Our Spell Shield got removed via Spell Thrust (predictably) and we responded with a Delayed Blast Fireball via Magic Flute, killing some of the yuan-ti fodder and, interestingly, also damaging the invisible djinni.
Another Death Fog tick finished the yuan-ti mage. As soon as the djinni appeared, Sorsha played her Magic Flute once again to apply GoI.
With the exception of the djinni's Cloudkill, the battlefield was generally secure. The ulithiarid got chopped down by Arvoreen + Belm.
The djinni activated PfMW to which we answered by non-magical bullets via Everard. It took a while, with his gaseous form regeneration and everything, but eventually we came at the top without much further trouble.
More DBFs for the minotaurs and wolfweres.
We entered the golem room, set up a Time Trap, summoned Ras and attacked with Staff Mace + Belm. Our Tenser form expired just before we could finish the last clay golem and so Sorsha quaffed a Potion of Fire Giant Strength to that that finishing blow. Unfortunately, we still got hit and were affected with Cursed Wounds (we do have Remove Curse in our spellbook ever since Ulgoth's Beard though).
The trolls were blasted by DBF and finished with acid arrows.
Long time no see, Bodhi.
Sorsha leveled up to L28, gaining an additional L5 spell slot (very important) and a weapon proficiency pip that I'll keep a secret for now 
. We also got our first Greater Evasion HLA.
The tokens were exchanged for two pairs of boots (cold resistance and Boots of Grounding) and after that we breezed through the remaining tests and prepared for Irenicus.
Regards,
B.
We were expecting a yuan-ti party to guard the stone head, so we prepared with a full set of pre-buffs. However, the hallway was empty and instead we proceeded directly to the first major battle on the following level. The yuan-ti were there and so was one ulitharid and a noble djinni.
. We also got our first Greater Evasion HLA.The tokens were exchanged for two pairs of boots (cold resistance and Boots of Grounding) and after that we breezed through the remaining tests and prepared for Irenicus.
Regards,
B.
Borco
Habitué
- Messages
- 382
Sorsha, human bard: Part 31
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
Even though Sorsha is of stoic nature at the core, right now she was burning with rage. Jon Irenicus not only needed to be stopped, he was due a lesson. And to paraphrase him, this time there will be no sleep, only heroics.
We buffed to the nines, bribed Lonk and gathered around our little inmate army with Tiax at the helm. So it begins!
Sorsha was somewhat relieved to note that little Dili's not present and is spared of the impending violence. As soon as the fight started, the contingencies triggered - this involved our Mislead and Jon's opening salvo, including ADHW.
Our saves + BoIB thwarted the major chunk of the damage. Naljier Skal and Tiax were less fortunate.
While Irenicus was working on a long abjuration spell (turned out to be Spell Trap), Sorsha hit her clone (now protected by PfMW) with Flame Arrow. I have to say that I had high hopes for this spell in a bard's book, however each time it turned out to be a disappointment. We have not given up on it completely, but for now we'll continue prioritizing Skull Trap.
We followed up with 2x MAA minor sequencer.
Uhm, excuse me Aphril? Are you insane?! Oh, you actually are, sorry.
Not bare fists, but +5 weapon is the way to go against iMantle.
But thanks for revealing our invisible clone with that True Seeing - good call, Aphril. We can question your combat tactics, but we'll never question your divination talents. And we're sorry that you suffered so much because of them.
That clone was really tenacious. Sounds like Sorsha.
Eventually, and rather anti-climatically, Irenicus was persuaded to bail by our Everard. Just like that, without ever becoming a threat.
After his departure, we employed more DBFs (via Magic Flute) and True Seeing (via Book of Infinite Spells) to finish the clone and clean up incoming the assassins.
We could not wait to leave this horrible place with all the mayhem behind. On our way, we bumped into Saemon and decided to give him a second chance. Sorsha returned to Brynnlaw, stole the horn and blasted some would be pirates under Time Trap in order not to get out of practice.
Sorsha loves boats and sailing and sea, it's just that with Saemon Havarian's travel agency it never seems to be the liveaboard-in-Maldives type of experience. We avoided the githyanki ambush by casting Shadow Door and got flushed out in the City of Caverns.
I'll spare you the details of this rather dull intermezzo, of which the most entertaining part is probably this screenshot of a sleeping ettin (though the scene itself is rather sad).
While I do think that Sahuagin are a well designed and cool species, and while you can have a jolly chat with the chest guarding beholder, this whole section of the game still feels like a chore to me and I'm always looking forward to get to the Underdark asap (that's a strange statement, right?).
Here we are, ready to climb down. Okay, so maybe we're not looking forward to go there that much. We played a tune to raise our spirits and descended.
Regards,
B.
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
Even though Sorsha is of stoic nature at the core, right now she was burning with rage. Jon Irenicus not only needed to be stopped, he was due a lesson. And to paraphrase him, this time there will be no sleep, only heroics.
We buffed to the nines, bribed Lonk and gathered around our little inmate army with Tiax at the helm. So it begins!
Sorsha was somewhat relieved to note that little Dili's not present and is spared of the impending violence. As soon as the fight started, the contingencies triggered - this involved our Mislead and Jon's opening salvo, including ADHW.
I'll spare you the details of this rather dull intermezzo, of which the most entertaining part is probably this screenshot of a sleeping ettin (though the scene itself is rather sad).
Here we are, ready to climb down. Okay, so maybe we're not looking forward to go there that much. We played a tune to raise our spirits and descended.
Regards,
B.
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Borco
Habitué
- Messages
- 382
Sorsha, human bard: Part 32
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31
It may sound as an oxymoron, but being in the Underdark filled us with optimism. Considering my track record, it means that we've gotten further in SoA than at least 50% of my characters. However, not only there were dangers ahead, but we're also entering the phase of the game with which I'm less familiar, at least in the no-reloading context.
Sorsha's first test was the high octane drow party en route to the svirfneblin settlement.
We prevailed, but the battle was long and, on our part, somewhat inefficient and clumsy. Without DuHM to supercharge our Strength, Sorsha lacks the oomph! to make every hit of her scimitars count. One could fix that with potions, but that would require us to run SI: A in a situation where we can otherwise comfortably rely on our level advantage against enemy dispels. Another option is Tenser's, though with so many casters on the field it just doesn't feel safe enough. I certainly miss that Belt of Hill Giant Strength sold by Ribald - we'll know better next time.
With such a large group, the 50% chance of our DBF going through their MR did not seem that bad.
Once again, Magic Flute is proving itself to be a good choice of a HLA. Shortly into the fight, we realized that one thing would make the going easier. I vaguely recall that my divine casters had made a good use of Blade Barriers against the drow. To replicate that, Sorsha should have brought her Fireshields. And so again, the only thing I can say is that we'll know better next time.
One drow down, six to go.
Both our Spell Shield and SI: D were gone. Seeing two mordy swords joining the already overwhelming ranks, while the cleric pulled off Mass Cure on everyone, certainly did not raise our spirits.
Sorsha suffered her first injury via Cone of Cold, while the subsequent Chain Lightning was countered by equipping the Cloak of Reflection.
With the enemies closing on in melee, we activated PfMW and call on our efreeti to finish the remaining mordy sword with MM (while the first one just got blasted by Sorsha's Skull Trap).
His reward for the job well done was a FoD from the drow priestess.
Sorsha continued to pound her closest targets with Scarlet Ninja-To + Belm. Getting hit by another Cone of Cold, she was allowed to quaff a Potion of Extra Healing. We also needed to reapply our improved invisibility, which we only did after refreshing our SI: D.
True Seeing via Book of Infinite Spells served us to dispel the drows' illusions.
Altogether, we used 3x Remove Magic during the battle, only to see the drow renew their Stoneskins again and again, thus seriously delaying our advance. But slowly and surely, they kept coming down one by one.
We finished with a salvo of 3 subsequent DBFs.
Previous posts - BG1: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Previous posts - SoA: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31
It may sound as an oxymoron, but being in the Underdark filled us with optimism. Considering my track record, it means that we've gotten further in SoA than at least 50% of my characters. However, not only there were dangers ahead, but we're also entering the phase of the game with which I'm less familiar, at least in the no-reloading context.
Sorsha's first test was the high octane drow party en route to the svirfneblin settlement.
We prevailed, but the battle was long and, on our part, somewhat inefficient and clumsy. Without DuHM to supercharge our Strength, Sorsha lacks the oomph! to make every hit of her scimitars count. One could fix that with potions, but that would require us to run SI: A in a situation where we can otherwise comfortably rely on our level advantage against enemy dispels. Another option is Tenser's, though with so many casters on the field it just doesn't feel safe enough. I certainly miss that Belt of Hill Giant Strength sold by Ribald - we'll know better next time.
With such a large group, the 50% chance of our DBF going through their MR did not seem that bad.
Once again, Magic Flute is proving itself to be a good choice of a HLA. Shortly into the fight, we realized that one thing would make the going easier. I vaguely recall that my divine casters had made a good use of Blade Barriers against the drow. To replicate that, Sorsha should have brought her Fireshields. And so again, the only thing I can say is that we'll know better next time.
One drow down, six to go.
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Borco
Habitué
- Messages
- 382
Sorsha, human bard: Part 32 - continued
As Bodhi would have said, that certainly was educational. This encounter revealed a gnawing gap in our inventory, of which we had been slowly becoming aware even before, and that is lack of anti-Stoneskin weapons. The emperor has no clothes! Our idea was to rely on acid arrows, but not only we now know that these do not bypass MR of the drow, it's also not an ideal approach to equip a bow in the midst of dense enemy lines. I really wanted to wean myself off FotA, but we should have at least brought Stonefire. Oh well, we'll know better next time (sic!).
But let us finish on a more positive note. Desperately needing to rest, Sorsha made her way to the svirfneblin under invisiblity and, upon reporting to Therndle Daglefodd the safe return of his son, reached level 30. With the drow encounter still fresh on our minds, we picked up the Spike Trap HLA. Conceptually, I don't like it - it feels cheap, dumb and brutish - but Sorsha has bills to pay and fights to win. Just like with Time Traps, we plan to use it occasionally, rather than incorporating it into our core strategy. Don't get me wrong, it's a perfectly legitimate option, especially for thieves, but I know that Sorsha prefers different style. And, after all, who I am to tell what is the right fit for her.
Regards,
B.
As Bodhi would have said, that certainly was educational. This encounter revealed a gnawing gap in our inventory, of which we had been slowly becoming aware even before, and that is lack of anti-Stoneskin weapons. The emperor has no clothes! Our idea was to rely on acid arrows, but not only we now know that these do not bypass MR of the drow, it's also not an ideal approach to equip a bow in the midst of dense enemy lines. I really wanted to wean myself off FotA, but we should have at least brought Stonefire. Oh well, we'll know better next time (sic!).
But let us finish on a more positive note. Desperately needing to rest, Sorsha made her way to the svirfneblin under invisiblity and, upon reporting to Therndle Daglefodd the safe return of his son, reached level 30. With the drow encounter still fresh on our minds, we picked up the Spike Trap HLA. Conceptually, I don't like it - it feels cheap, dumb and brutish - but Sorsha has bills to pay and fights to win. Just like with Time Traps, we plan to use it occasionally, rather than incorporating it into our core strategy. Don't get me wrong, it's a perfectly legitimate option, especially for thieves, but I know that Sorsha prefers different style. And, after all, who I am to tell what is the right fit for her.
Regards,
B.
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Borco
Habitué
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- 382
Thank you - I'm truly humbled, especially since it's coming from one of the giants on whose shoulders Sorsha has been standing 
By the way, I'm slowly catching up on all of the last years' posts in this thread as so far it's been a treat, both literally and tactically! So big thanks to everyone for posting and sharing and I'm really glad that I have the opportunity to take part.
By the way, I'm slowly catching up on all of the last years' posts in this thread as so far it's been a treat, both literally and tactically! So big thanks to everyone for posting and sharing and I'm really glad that I have the opportunity to take part.
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Alesia_BH
Habitué
- Messages
- 912
Thank you - I'm truly humbled, especially since it's coming from one of the giants on whose shoulders Sorsha has been standing
If I'm the professor, you're the Ph.D student who graduated, got tenure and is now crushing it on his own, lol.
Sorsha's run is every bit as good as my bard, Alisa's. Better, actually, imo. Keep it up!
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