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Vorgen posted:Working on the next update. It is titled "Drizzt". Are you gonna kill him? I was telling this friend of mine that also played BG and he got really angry that I had done that  He appreciated neither the difficulty nor the tactics involved in achieving it
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Oct 16, 2013 23:58
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Dice Dice Baby posted:Are you gonna kill him? I think it makes you a hero. Mary Sue killing is good for all of us.
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Oct 17, 2013 00:25
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Dice Dice Baby posted:Are you gonna kill him? Well no, he's heard of my incomparable skills as a demon hunter, so we're going to go demon-hunting together!
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Oct 17, 2013 02:32
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Vorgen posted:Well no, he's heard of my incomparable skills as a demon hunter, so we're going to go demon-hunting together!
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Oct 17, 2013 06:08
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Vorgen posted:Working on the next update. It is titled "Drizzt". I for one am glad that modders saw fit to put even more Drizzt content into the series. I can only hope that we also get to go on a pub crawl with Elminster at some point because boy howdy do I love hanging out with those guys.
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Oct 17, 2013 11:36
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sebzilla posted:I for one am glad that modders saw fit to put even more Drizzt content into the series. I can only hope that we also get to go on a pub crawl with Elminster at some point because boy howdy do I love hanging out with those guys. Funny you should mention Elminster, cuz I just saw him. We chatted for a bit.
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Oct 17, 2013 12:10
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 30 Eleint, 1370 We walk underneath the outer gate to leave Durlag's Tower, and I feel like I'm leaving something behind. I feel lighter.  This whole brown monstrosity is a gigantic testament to one hero's bad, bad end.  He cared for those around him too much, and didn't protect and arm them enough. He felt guilt and fear and more guilt for the bad way things ended, so much so that his ghost haunts those halls still. Hell, his WIFE's ghost haunts those halls still. How unquiet of a dead thing do you have to be to keep your wife's ghost up too? I can't... I just can't end up like that. There's going to be some changes around here. People are going to have to learn to deal with Archmage Syvishtar, Last Student of the Lost Magical School of Ulcaster, Golden Avatar of the Wild Will of the Weave, and Slayer of Demon Knights! Especially the Golden Company. Can't have them pussyfooting around anymore. They knew what they were signing up for when they read the contract. Well, okay, some probably didn't. And there never was a contract. But they do now. Or, at least, they will. Ok I'll tell them, just as soon as I get back there. And make a contract. At least I'm sure people will soon hear of my demon-slaying exploits and other great adventurers will be asking for my... Drizzt? What's he doing here?   Drizzt, my friend, I would be happy to join with you, however first I must find a suitable abode for my current travelling companions. Meet with me at the inn at Ulgoth's Beard in three days time and I will happily go with you. Very well then, I will see you there.SEE!! It's happening already!! I hurry back to the Elfsong Tavern to drop off the Golden Company. They deserve a vacation after what they've been through anyways. Daddy's gotta take care of a little business, so they can just have a little naptime. We are only ambushed once on the trip home.  It's not a problem. Coming back to civilization after so long slogging through a dwarf's sadness is like spring after a winter of discontent.  When we get back to the Elfsong Tavern, I let everybody stand down. Then I give them a little speech. "Listen," I say, "There's going to be some changes around here in the Golden Company. I'm not going to mollycoddle you lot like I have been. There's going to be responsibility, and discipline, and other important stuff. Just as soon as I get back. Don't burn the place down while I'm gone."  Everybody seems to understand the point. I think it went well, actually! I'm not sure why they were all kindof looking sideways at Imoen and not me but oh well! After a good night's sleep, I head off to Ulgoth's Beard to meet up with my new best buddy, Drizzt! The trip is uneventful. But, when I get to Ulgoth's Beard, a strange mage confronts me.  Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the dagger. Why should I give you the dagger? That dagger holds the focus of all our prayers. Our god may finally return. I must have it!Wait a second, isn't this the dagger that Islanne trapped a demon in? Isn't that the demon that turned Durlag's friends into ghouls? I don't think I should give it to someone who PRAYS to it! I will never give you the dagger. It will be mine!Then the cultist and a friend of his try to start casting at me. At ME!  I pull a Scroll of Cloudkill from my backpack and read it aloud.  Then it is a Fire Shield: Red.  And after that, a little djinni help.  The djinni begins to cast his own spells to aid him in battle.  Including summoning his own minion to aid him. My minions summon minions!  As my djinni servant casts Haste on all 3 of us, I do something I rarely do, summon Divine Might.  I still don't really understand how I do this. It just seems to come naturally. The assassins who are fruitlessly trying to reach me through the flames wreathing my form don't look so hot.  Heh, bad choice of words. I casually throw out chaos shards at my assailants next. Two of them fall.  I manage to kill another with my sword. En garde!  The last cult assassin seriously injures the djinni, so what does it do? It does what all djinnis do when they are hurt, turn into a puff of smoke!  The djinni's summoned elemental finishes the job.  Then we are alone. There is nothing special on the cultist corpses. I check for the dagger... but it is gone! That first cultist teleported away, he must have stolen it somehow! Crap! Well hrmm, I wonder if Drizzt is in the Inn? He is!  I'm as ready as I'm likely to ever be. Let's go, shall we? Let's go!And I join Drizzt's party. Gameplay note: The little shiver down your spine should be familiar from back when we joined up with CuChoinneach. Once again the plot armor is leaving us and latching onto Drizzt. We are now the party wizard to a 15th level ranger!  Gameplay note: He is also something that we have never seen before - a Ranger that can cast spells!    Gameplay note: He also has a few nice items.  Gameplay note: The swords are unmovable, so we can't steal them. He's got a Chain Mail +1, a Cloak of Elvenkind, and a Black Panther Figurine.    I have better stuff in the Golden Company armory, but hey - I'm just the party wizard now. Time to take a break from all that equipment management. Just sit back and cast some sweet, sweet wild magic. So, I guess we're headed off to Icewind Dale? We step outside the Inn and I begin to ask him which direction we should go, when a halfling shows up.  What? The Nine Hells! No time for chat, I nicked a scroll in all haste just before a Tanar'ri was about to chop me head. Quickly follow me, the scroll grants one a passage into the foul pit of the Nine Hells.Oh yeah, this is the big time now baby! Into the heat then, so to speak! The scroll has already been cast, it is up to you and Drizzt now. Forgive me for not following, however, I would not be of any use there. Come now, good speed!And with that, the swirl of magic grips me and we are thrown outside of space and time and into... The Nine Hells!  An imposing, scary figure emerges from the red glare and addresses us. I first think demon, but then, no, not demon.  From a battle with some gnolls who could have guessed that it would lead me into the Nine Hells. That is a common thing if one takes the adventuring road side by side with Drizzt. Come now, let us combine our steel and bury it deep into the flesh of these demonic beings.Gameplay note: And Wulfgar, level 18 barbarian, joins us next! Woohoo! (Remember, I am only level 11.)  Gameplay note: He has much, much better equipment than Drizzt. I don't exactly know why.  His weapon is the famed Aegis-Fang!  [/i]Gameplay note: Is it famed? I actually don't know. Also holy poo poo a +5 weapon! Did Bruenor Battlehammer really stop making stuff after this hammer? Also, he wears some Mithril Chain Mail +4.  He carries with him, but does not use and refuses to let go of, his old fur armor too.  On his back is a perfect winter wolf pelt.  His helmet and small shield are unremarkable. Since there are only 3 of us, Drizzt summons his black panther, Guenhwyvar.  And then we begin to explore this disgusting place (I like it). Immediately we see a demon!  A *lesser* Demonknight? Pssshhhhhhh please! He is down in a moment.  A little further down the passageway are some Demonic Guardians. But the mad duo just charge into those too.  Wulfgar beats them to pieces and the pieces fly everywhere!  I see a corpse half melted into/eaten by the wall. Disgusting!  It has a nice axe, though.  Gameplay note: Okay we don't have very many of these throwing axes. And one that isn't quite complete yet and requires a scroll to fully unlock its potential? OOooh! Drizzt and Wulfgar don't play around, though. They charge on down the passageway. I follow behind them to see... another demonknight! Crap!  As the black panther charges it, the demonknight dispels magic on us. Good thing I didn't put any on yet, eh?  It immediately follows that up with a fireball, but that doesn't even faze me or drizzt or wulfgar. It destroys the panther, though.  Wulfgar and Drizzt attack and the demonknight gets an incredible hit on the drow!  But I throw him a healing potion and he keeps on trucking. I decide to try out my new ring on the Demonknight, but Drizzt kills it before my spell is finished. I flamestrike a corpse.  See, if I had this kind of help just yesterday, things would have been sooo much easier! I trot after Drizzt and Wulfgar, who waste no time jumping from rock to lava-surrounded rock. I gasp as a Greater Tanar'ri demon rushes at us, too fast for a human body!  The two engage for a while, but it looks like the demon is getting the best of them. I don't quite know what to do vs. a demon, so I just watch. They are injured, and retreat back across the rocks. I decide to give Wulfgar a bunch of potions. Potions of Defense, Speed, Stone Form, Invulnerability, Magic Blocking, Cloud Giant Strength... he takes them all.  Then he goes in alone. It doesn't go so well for the tanar'ri, but also not so great for Wulfgar.  The demon can't follow for some reason. Maybe the rocks are too weak for its weight? At any rate, it stays in the center of the lava room while we heal Wulfgar back up with spell and potion.  Then we send him in again for round 2. And this time Drizzt finds the footing to back him up. They take the demon down!  I wonder why it didn't just teleport. Don't demons teleport at will? Well, who knows. We have killed a tanar'ri! We decide to take it easy after that, replenish our spells.  We drink Oils of Speed and rush down the next passageway. The lesser demonknights don't know what hit them.  Then we see that the mouth widens into an open area. We walk in and see the grotesque insectoid form of Belhifet!  The only head that will be removed is yours! Demons far worse than you have fallen by Drizzt's Twinkle.Why did I just say that? Anyway, I am going to need to help this time, so I cast some random magic at the big insectoid dude.  At the same time, Drizzt summons Guenhwyvar again. We retreat to give the bad guys some time to take the bait. Belhifet takes it a little TOO well.  My next spell is no help either.  Drizzt and Wulfgar take out the two lesser demonknights, while Belhifet continues on to try to kill the Hakeashar. But the demon seems unable to touch the misty... magic-draining... creature. What exactly is a hakeashar again?  But Drizzt, we ARE IN the Nine Hells. I don't follow... Drizzt and his friend attack the demon, which turns around and tears into Wulfgar. Ouch!  Wulfgar is being killed by an extremely fast-acting poison. I throw him an Elixir of Health and he drinks it while running away. Also Belhifet manages to connect with my Hakeashar!  My next random spell is Chaos, which really doesn't do us much good. Drizzt is now poisoned.  He is barely able to drink the elixir and get out of there without dying. Man, that's some virulent stuff!  Belhifet has the same weakness to lava as the tanar'ri did. We are safe for now. We consider how to beat this one. I think the key is summoned minions. With great reluctance I open my spellbook and replace Random Spell III with Conjure Lesser Air Elemental, Conjure Lesser Earth Elemental, Conjure Lesser Fire Elemental, and Animate Dead. Then I suggest we rest. Wulfgar and Drizzt nod without a word - I guess they're used to being party to a caster?  After resting, I go on ahead of the party and prepare my little army.  Belhifet sees them rising and rushes as the third is being summoned.  I finish summoning the Air Elemental, then go for Animate Dead. Usually you get one skeleton with it, but sometimes you get two. I smile in personal satisfaction as two rise to answer my call.  A few seconds later I am less satisfied, as my elementals start to fall! I tell Drizzt and Wulfgar to get in there quick.  I try some direct damage with Rhialto's Random Missiles. Some get through.  Wulfgar is poisoned again and must retreat. Drizzt heals him while he drinks a potion, and I try to Flamestrike the demon. It doesn't work.  I feel increasingly desperate, so I start going back to wild magic. It is what it is.  I manage to bring more monsters to the fight.  The Weave takes pity on me by lowering the demon's magic resistance!  I try the Weave again, and Hold Monster comes out. But it doesn't work.  Drizzt and Wulfgar are dealing with Wulfgar's third poisoning. I manage to bring in another elemental.  And some additional cannon fodder.  My last random spell might have made Behlifet feel bad. But that's about it.  I turn to Drizzt and Wulfgar and tell them to wait until the demon has beaten down all the cannon fodder. They nod. While we wait, I help heal Wulfgar up.  Then as the last of the ogres are falling Drizzt and Wulfgar run right back into melee, newly potioned up.  This time, this time it is enough. Wulfgar deals the killing blow, and Belhifet drops.  He drops a weapon, which I immediately recognize as Belhifet's Sword of Grief +5.  So that's what was doing all the poisoning. I pack that little bastard away for a rainy day. We see some interesting places to investigate in Belhifet's lair.  Unfortunately there's just a healing potion and one gold piece. Cheapskate! We decide to move on, but the way ahead is guarded by another demonknight!  He removes the Haste and Fireballs my companions!  Wulfgar takes several hits and falls back to survive. The demonknight comes after him, but Drizzt takes it out before it does.  Gameplay note: Each of these demon knights has been dropping the same equipment that we got from the one in Durlag's. A +3 sword and a +1 full plate mail. We're going to be drowning in +3 swords soon. We decide that perhaps it is time yet again to rest.  I've been in hell one full day so far. I didn't know the place was so ... crowded. We pop potions of speed and move forward. We are assaulted by a couple of Slayer shadows. I've never heard of that type of demon before...  They take about 20% of Wulfgar each.  After we are done with them, Drizzt heals Wulfgar up.  And we take a look behind.  Gameplay note: Man we just carved a loving swathe through Hell yah? Then, not looking back any further, we decide to move on.  We stop when we see boobies.  After what we've just been through? HA! Drizzt has sparred with demons before so the threats from your foul snake tongue ring hollow!Yah! Take that snake-arm-boobie-woman! I test her magic resistance with Rhialto's Random Missiles.  No dice. Time to summon again. I like Earth best I think. But, sadly enough, by the time I get the portal open the snake-arm-boobie-woman-demon is dead.  Uh.. go team? I occupy myself by picking through the evil eyes that are scattered around the room.  I find the motif of the Nine Hells to be quite disturbing (soothing). And I find that one of the eyes is wearing a helm!  I'm sure this will not be necessary very soon. We decide to rest here again before moving on to wherever. Gameplay note: This run through of hell may seem to be too easy, and that is because I ended up having to reload whenever Wulfgar died. His non-removable hammer screwed up any time I resurrected him, so he ended up punching demons instead of hammering them. I couldn't figure out how to fix that and actually select the hammer, so I just reloaded if he died. After we rest, I notice that there's what looks to be a demonic scull sticking out of the wall.  I think it is like some sort of hellish maid, probably a floor-cleaner. I decide to go talk to it.  What's this? A riddle? Sounds easy. Soul. You have learned a little. You may yet survive.Hey you little poo poo! That's Durlag's line! This little demon thingie is trying to make fun of him! But before I can smack it upside the head, it teleports us away. Once again we are caught up on the black wings of magic and transported back to Ulgoth's Beard. Ulgoth's Beard where, apparently, Elminster is waiting for us.  It seems that our roads cross once again. I surely hope that you haven't come with anything leading to something along the lines of the trip I just barely survived. The words I hold are meant for Drizzt. Syvishtar has another path to wander. The road Syvishtar chooses to wander should be decided by his own mind, and not by another. Fair enough child, now Drizzt you must journey to Icewind Dale with all haste to your companion Bruenor's house. The Dale is covered with darkness. The balance has been replaced with chaos. I am not in a position to interfere. I can only offer myself to teleport you outside his house. You speak of darkness, but what does that involve? My eyes are sealed to reach that far. The answers are yet to be found. Though the time is short, so let the teleportation begin.And with not another word...  Wow, snow! I wonder if this counts as the furthest I've been away from home? Vorgen fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Oct 18, 2013 |
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Oct 17, 2013 17:12
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Oh Baldur's Gate mods  Also I love how the modders somehow manage to consistently gently caress up what kind of evil outsider goes where. Way to fight a ton of Tanar'ri where you should have fought Baatezu. Guess you were cleaning up the victors of a skirmish in the Blood War 
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Oct 17, 2013 17:26
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That usage of the word "wouldst" is.... Just awful. And Drizzt doesn't actually talk that way, making it more stupid. And yeah, Tanar'ri live in the Abyss, not the Nine Hells.
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Oct 17, 2013 18:08
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Serifina posted:And yeah, Tanar'ri live in the Abyss, not the Nine Hells. Not the worst example. One point that comes up in the base game: why would a Lawful Evil deity make his home realm in the Abyss? It's not even the home realm specified in the tabletop materials.
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Oct 17, 2013 18:39
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Cythereal posted:Not the worst example. One point that comes up in the base game: why would a Lawful Evil deity make his home realm in the Abyss? It's not even the home realm specified in the tabletop materials. Yeah that appears to be the result of someone loving up (more likely). Although in-universe it could well be a result of the thing sliding around thanks to being tied to a certain Chaotic Evil somebody I won't name.
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Oct 17, 2013 18:46
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Gotta love when they don't even bother pretending you have a choice by giving you a second line of mindless out-of-character praise for Drizzt.
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Oct 17, 2013 19:56
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Vorgen posted:
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Oct 17, 2013 21:55
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I just wanted to say that Drizzt's armour from vanilla BG (I just finished the Enhanced Edition) is actually quite good. My main character was a Blade (Bard kit) and it was basically the best armour in the game that I could use for him, but I was really disappointed to find that it did not allow spellcasting. That might seem like an odd complaint, but there is a suit of Elven Chain in the Enhanced Edition that does allow the use of arcane magic, and since Drizzt's armour is supposed to be thin and feather-light, I had rather hoped that it wouldn't block spellcasting like that.
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Oct 17, 2013 23:32
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Shugojin posted:Oh Baldur's Gate mods So are demonknights Tanar'ri then? What about the marilith? I'm not up on my demonology.
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Oct 18, 2013 04:22
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I've never heard of demoknights before, but mariliths are tanar'ri.
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Oct 18, 2013 04:31
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Vorgen posted:So are demonknights Tanar'ri then? What about the marilith? I'm not up on my demonology. Tanar'ri = Demons, and demons live in the Abyss. The made-up name came about because people were complaining about D&D and Satanism back when they were making the transition to 2nd edition. Similarly, Baatezu = Devils, and devils live in Hell. Mariliths are a type of demon, and I would presume that demon knights are also demons.
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Oct 18, 2013 04:36
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How about that cornugon that Syvishtar always summons via wild surge or successful Gate?
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Oct 18, 2013 05:23
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Cornugons are baatezu, aka devils. Which is funny, 'cause devils are the Lawful Evil outsiders. (Demons are Chaotic Evil.)
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Oct 18, 2013 05:27
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The Cornugon signed a contract with Bhaal and forgot to read the fine print (that was added after the signatures were on the paper but before the Now he's bound to Syvisthar's summonings and wild magic surges. It's the simplest explanation, so clearly it must be the proper one.
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Oct 18, 2013 05:47
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Shei-kun posted:The Cornugon signed a contract with Bhaal and forgot to read the fine print (that was added after the signatures were on the paper but before the I would read an lp written from the perspective of this hapless cornugon. In fact, I may just go back through the lp and see where it turns up. Dammit, I have work to do today!
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Oct 18, 2013 11:39
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Fruits of the sea posted:I would read an lp written from the perspective of this hapless cornugon. You have to do it man. What is this cornugon's story?
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Oct 18, 2013 16:47
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 This will be less painful if I just go and bash my head gently against a wall for a while, won't it. Call me back when we're done with the mod.
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Oct 20, 2013 21:39
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Great LP, Vorgen. Your democratic party approach is impressive and can't make the game any easier. Now we really need to rotate through all the party members so they can stake our their perma-loot. Hopefully that will help with your inventory management woes. Although I only played through BG once, I recall BG2 as being really large by comparison (maybe just in scope? It's been a long time, but I played BG2 through many, many times). Thia may end up being a very long-lived thread. Any estimate for the next update? Can't wait! fake edit: Which battle has given you the most trouble? And was it a function of party composition, bad wild surges, or just general difficulty?
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Oct 27, 2013 19:12
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quarkodoom posted:Any estimate for the next update? Can't wait! Right now! quarkodoom posted:fake edit: Which battle has given you the most trouble? And was it a function of party composition, bad wild surges, or just general difficulty? I think the one that gave me the most trouble was the one in the Wood of the Dead when Jet'Laya's sister the banshee just kept wailing and killing everyone. I couldn't even think of anything approaching a strategy for a long time. Then thinking of summoning the demon, and the subsequent shenanigans of running away from it after it killed her, was hilarious/difficult. Another difficult battle was Davaeron, and that time when the Amazons killed the entire party right after we got out of the Nashkel Mines. Ahh, those were good times.
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Oct 27, 2013 20:26
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 5 Marpenoth, 1370 We are attacked by winter wolves!  By we of course I mean my new best bud Drizzt and his best bud Wulfgar. Who have no problems beating the wolves to death.  Four new winter wolf pelts should fetch some good coin back home! I think we're all done here and are ready to move on, but just a few more steps into the woods shows us a clumsy ambush of orcs, ogres, and even a cyclops!  It's enough to make us pop Oils of Speed. I see some magic flashing off to the side, and suspect ogre mages. I throw a Dispel into the mix as they reveal themselves. Ha!  The cyclops is one of the few remaining combatants then, so I rip the last remaining drops of life out of him and let the murder twins focus on the mages.  Wulfgar turns the last one into a fine red mist, and the snow-covered forest is once again quiet.  Then we see a small cabin in the woods ahead, so we move forward to get a clearer picture. A man on the ground cries out.  You are wounded badly, what has happened? Your words are unclear, try again. I feel cold... I'm dying... As you are the last living ones I will see before I pass on... let me mark the location of our village on your map. We have always been able to take care of ourselves, driving away any threat though now... we... we... May the Bear Spirit bring us strength against th.....May he indeed. I guess. Who's the Bear Spirit again? Poor guy didn't even have any good loot. Only a jade ring. We decide to check out Bruenor's cabin. That's where we just got teleported to, after all. We go iniside.  And are immediately greeted by that cowardly thief from before!  How did you manage to get to Icewind Dale with such haste. The same way as you I figure, no less than Elminster of course. We could chatter all day but urgent matters call. Neither Bruenor nor Catti-Brie are to be found and the sun has an unnaturally piercing gaze today. We should check Bruenor's chest to see if perhaps there are any clues to be found. Agreed.Gameplay note: When I spoke to Elminster and again during this conversation I have had the option to say the equivalent of "well good luck with that!" I assume its a conversational way to get done with the mod early. But who would want that? It's Drizzt! And company! (Full disclosure: the Baldur's Gate games are the only time I've ever encoutered these characters. I never read their books.) Gameplay note: In other news, Regis is a level 12 going on 13 thief.  Gameplay note: He's got excellent thief points all around and complete crap for equipment.  Gameplay note: Sucks to be him, cuz he ain't gettin' any of my lewts! Little thiefman seems to know what's up, so we check the chest and find a few healing potions and Bruenor's Diary!  Bruenor's Diary posted:Day 3 That makes me wonder, how did Wulfgar end up the Nine Hells to begin with? Why hasn't anybody asked him that? I don't know. We decide to head out, so we leave the area of Bruenor's cabin and start walking.  Gameplay note: For the first time in ever, we are finally at a corner of the map! This Icewind Dale area is in the NW corner of the gigantic map that we've been traipsing around in for literally years. I feel that running up against a boundary in this gigantic Let's Play is something to be celebrated. Sixteen cold, grueling hours later, we end up at Bear Tribe Village.  Oh crap, what's attacking?  Holy poo poo what is that thing?!  Ahh, a Frost Giant. Never seen one up close before. Or far away. Or even in pictures, for that matter. Just heard about them via their potions.  They don't seem to be THAT tough, though. At least compared to Wulfgar. We walk further into the village. We see scenes of death and destruction, dead bodies and even dead horses! Then we see another Frost Giant.  He is also quickly felled by my intrepid comrades!  We find a third Frost Giant behind the houses. He attacks the thief first!  We take him out too with minimal loss of health. This place is pretty small. There are four houses and a lighthouse. All of the doors to the buildings are blocked by rocks, save for one. Perhaps the Frost Giants were sieging the town?  We go into the single accessible dwelling, searching for clues. It is the Inn!  Gameplay note: Hey, its the Inn from Icewind Dale 2! I heard the words from your messenger, the words were broken but I have now witnessed what he was talking about. A river of blood has drowned our tribesmen. We are the only few survivors left. Our great tribe leader has joined the fallen... the future of our tribe is on its way to be unwritten. The only hope lies with the child of our leader now in the hands of the giants. What has awakened this bloodbath and the action of capturing this child? The balance once held between our Bear Spirit and the Winter Wolf Spirit has broken. The Winter Wolf Spirit now lusts eagerly to sit alone on the throne of the forest. The Frost Giants act as its henchmen and the child of our tribe leader holds the source of the Spirit Bear within him. By killing the child in a certain ritual the Bear Spirit will be no more. Our future lies within this child... I see... Our last warriors fight to save the village and I can only stay here to guard our last survivors. I have cast a spell upon this house that holds the Frost Giants at bay but I couldn't hinder them from capturing the child. We are now in a desperate need of a heroic act from such as you.Child-sacrificing giants? No way am I gonna let that stand! I will find the child before they manage to start the ritual. Don't worry, I have managed to overcome dangers far worse than this. May the Spirit Bear guide your path and if the wounds of battle come over you then I will aid with healing. I thank you for this.Then, before we venture out again, I talk to the locals. They are very hopeful.  There's also a little one who doesn't look like a local. I go talk to him too.  And who might you be if I may ask? You can call me Dipnose, and by all rights I surely have dipped my nose in the wrong place this time. Thought I had a fair escape plan from here with this windwalker scroll. A windwalker scroll? Aye, a windwalker scroll is a kind of teleportation scroll that already has a written destination on it. And what prevents you from using it then? Because its written location is the Storm March Mountains. I wouldn't trade this location for that, but you look like an adventurer that might be interested in such a matter. I could teleport you there with the use of the scroll for a sum of 100 gold coins. Why can't you just sell the scroll to me? It is bound to its finder and can not be cast by anyone else. Mayhaps later when the time is right and my pockets allow it.Do I even want to go to the Storm March Mountains? Place is probably full of, like, storm giants. Marching around. All the time. We need to save the child first! Onwards!  Looks like we have two new possible destinations, the Dragon Caves and also the Frost Giant Hills. I'm pretty sure the Frost Giant Hills are where the Frost Giants are, so we go there first.  Four hours later, we stand before more decimation.  We quickly come across a Frost Giant and his winter wolf companion. We attack!  They go down pretty quickly, and we drink a ton of tiny healing potions to recover from the ordeal.  But there are two of them at once guarding the passage north. These might be dangerous.  We fade back a bit, trying to get them separated. One does come after us faster than the other, and we surround him and take him down quick.  We fade back, drink a potion or two, and attack again. The second one goes down just as fast.  We find still another Frost Giant just around the bend. It's amazing how still and silent they can be.  Before our next fight, I decide to summon a fire elemental to help out.  I'm not sure it really helps that much.  Regis says he has a great plan to climb up one of the rocks while staying hidden and then stabbing one of the giants in the neck. We nod, and tell him to go for it.  I don't think that went according to plan. Gameplay note: These giants hit like several trucks. I have to resurrect him in my normal way.  It costs 1200 gp. I am suddenly very self-conscious that the Vault Sentry calls me Nosferatu. What if Drizzt gets it into his head that I'm evil? We check out the wagon behind the giant corpse, but there is nothing good.  I try to help out with Rhialto's Random Missiles for the next fight. I am happy with the results.  Quite a crop of young missiles we have this year! The rest of the team is able to take the giant out no problem. Near the site of the battle is what looks to be half of an old ship. Way up here?  We go inside and get burped at.  Who are you and how did this ship get here since there isn't water closer than miles away from here? This ship does not travel by water, it takes its journey through the sky.Awesome!!! The sky eh? Eh... yes, of course a finely crafted airship it was before those filthy frost giants threw a rock of ice on it. My cousin Jan Jansen in Waterdeep will be rather upset, since he built more than half of this ship. You gnomes never stop surprising me with your inventions... Is that so? Though, since my pockets need gold to rebuild this piece then perhaps you would be interested to see my wares? Yes, show me what you have for sale.He sells holy symbols of Lathander, Helm, and Talos. Wonder where he got those? And potions of healing and death ward. He also sells two weapons, the Ice Star and the Warblade. Both of them are +4 weapons. Finally he's got an amulet called Amulet that is +20% to Find Traps and Pick Locks, and +3 to AC. I might have to visit this guy again sometime! But for now we have a child to save. North of his wreck is a cave, which we decide to enter. Children are often sacrificed in caves, I hear.  Through the cave and out the other side we find a strange wooden walkway.  Some winter wolves draw us out onto a bridge, and a giant attacks us there. He almost completely destroys Regis in one blow!  But we retreat and heal the poor little halfling, and get our revenge.  Then we heal up and follow the bridge west. There is of course another Frost Giant/Winter Wolf strike team. We take them on.  And, of course, we take them out. Things take a turn for the worse, though, at the end of the bridge. That's when we see several winter wolves, two Frost Giants, and a Were Winterwolf. Oh my!  I decide that this needs the intervention of the Weave, so I ask everyone to stand back. Then I invoke its wild will.  The Were Winterwolf Spirit comes after us, while the others are distracted by our summons. Drizzt and Wulfgar take it down together.  Another random spell from my hands becomes Cone of Cold, but Wulfgar is the only one I hurt. The Were Winterwolf Spirit and Drizzt are both resistant.  I am able to introduce more random elements into the fight. I hope it helps!  Unfortunately it does not seem to help Regis.  That's two times now. Ouch! The rest of us are able to take out the rest of them, though.  Maybe I should give Regis a bow. At the end of the bridge, we find... a baby!  He looks so cold and vulnerable sitting on the bare rock in the winter on top of a mountain. I scoop him up right away.  There's nothing else left to do here.  So we go back to the Bear Tribe Village.  I feel more popular with the locals as well (+1 rep!). The Bear Tribe Horn seems pretty cool.  I kinda thought we'd find Drizzt's friends during that quest, but we haven't found anything. I wonder if they are somewhere else. We rest, recuperate, and then go back out to explore further. We decide to check out... the Dragon Caves!  When we arrive we are attacked en masse by goblins and worgs. We all pop Oils of Speed.  The chunks never stop raining down.  Strangely enough I find myself in a position that I haven't been in for a long while - alone and surrounded by goblins. I do now what I did back then, which is to summon my wild horde to protect me.  But now I don't have to run from them. Their fiery vengeance will wash over me like water and I will laugh, and laugh, and laugh...  Oh yes. It has been too long since I used the suicidal death bunnies. Why did I ever stop? The heroes of the Dale wipe up everything else.  Then the hardest part of this fight begins. Looting everything.  We head north and eventually find a duo of cyclopses, barring the way forward. I guess together they make a whole person.  A werewolf sneaks out of the trees and ambushes us while we fight them.  Still, they are all dead in a moment.  More werewolves later and Drizzt makes a comment about not breaking a sweat.  The werewolves keep coming, and we keep mowing them down.  They all seem to be coming down this forest path. We go back down their tracks and find a stronger one at the end of the path.  We kill the last one too. I think we just took out another tribe of werewolves. I feel no regrets. Werewolves are assholes. Another cyclops falls to Drizzt's blades a bit later.  And before his corpse is even cold, a swarm of werewolves ambushes us. I guess they aren't all dead yet?  Some of them come after me personally, so I Mirror Image myself and prepare for combat.  I run to the other side of the melee, and by the time its all done everyone is covered in blood.  I'm trying to decide if werewolves not carrying loot is good or bad. On the one hand I don't have to pick it all up. On the other hand it makes killing them feel more pointless. Hmm, deep insights to contemplate. We find a cave at the far edge of the forest. But we decide to loop back and check out the rest of the surrounding area before going in.  A few isolated goblins annoy us.  Then we are surprised to see a baby dragon flying around plain as day!  It attacks! But Wulfgar manages to slay it.  Looks like a mother dragon died here. Did the babies hatch after she passed? No way to tell.  We find a second baby dragon on the other side of the mother, one that breathes fire on us. It hurts Wulfgar.  Behind the mother is a second cave that we could enter.  I guess that's why they call this area the dragon caves rather than just cave. Well, with the whole forest thoroughly explored, we have no reason to stay out of the cave.  So we go in. Once we get inside I see a hostile version of my spirit bear buddy.  A couple of them, in fact.  But Wulfgar and Drizzt take them out, just like everything else.  The place is also haunted by ghosts. Spooky!  They try to frighten us, but Wulfgar just kills them like he has killed everything else.  One of the ghosts gets off a kind of cone of scary cold spell. It frightens Wulfgar and Regis.  But magic doesn't really affect Drizzt and I all that much, so we take care of business together.  After the last ghost is dead, we find a passage leading further into the ice.  So we drink all our healing potions and move on ahead. We come out of the tunnel into a widening area that my sword seems to be impressed with.  It must be a tomb, because there is a ghoul here.  Some skeleton warriors also join in the fight.  Regis seems to fall under the sway of one of the enemies. Do ghouls do that?  No, no they don't. VAMPIRES DO!!  I dispel the mind control from Regis. I gotta be careful about that. The poor halfling dude is pretty vulnerable to vampires.  I don't really think that this is a place where traps would be, so I'm really surprised when one triggers and hits Regis with a lightning bolt.  He is able to find and disarm the thing, though.  The locked altar, though, doesn't seem to have anything cool in it.  We find a door leading north, and Regis finds a trap blocking it. He's useful after all!  Through the door is a true tomb, one that looks ancient.  The sarcophagus looks like it could be opened. But there's probably some kind of undead monstrosity in there, so I cast some preventative spells.  Then Wulfgar tries to open the sarcophagus.  Hmmmm, an intelligent undead thing wants us to bring it it's skull. I don't find anything suspicious about this at all. But where would we find one? Probably in the other cave. We wind our way out of this cold prison of death and back out to the bright snowy world outside. Another ambush by werewolves eats up a little of our time.  Then we enter the other, larger cave.  In this cave we find the greater werewolf leader. He falls too easily.  We do find a skull in his lair, though.  The cloak is another Cloak of the Werewolf. I put it into the Bag of Holding. The skull is appropriately creepy.  This must be it! We head back to the other cave. More werewolves ambush us, and again we turn them into a fine mist. When we get back to the tomb, I begin to suspect treachery. So I summon some backup and get ready for a fight.  Then I hand the skull over to Drizzt, who hands it to Wulfgar. He places the skull in the sarcophagus. The voice says, "You found it, free at last!" Then the body gets out of the sarcophagus.  What foul trick is this? Here you will fall!Then he bursts with magical energy and strikes us all with a lot of... stuff.  I rarely see anyone who can approach my level of proficiency with the Weave, so I am incredibly shocked. He stripped us of every protection and hit us with a half a dozen offensive spells all at once. What can I even... Before I even realize it I have cast a random spell at Kangaxx. The Weave gifts me with Breach.  But Kangaxx hits AGAIN with a terrifying barrage of offensive magics.  Regis looks rather singed. Drizzt is stunned. I try for another random spell, praying that the Weave helps me and not Kangaxx.  On the third round I begin to wonder if this was a mistake. I have only been able to cast, what 2 spells? And Kangaxx has cast at least a dozen.  On the third round both Drizzt and Regis are down.  I abandon my plans to cast a spell and Wulfgar and I just try to drag our comrades' bodies out of this room of death. We barely make it. Resurrecting Drizzt is 1400 gold,  and Regis is again 1200.  Wulfgar managed to get Drizzt's weapons, but not any of the armor. Regis is completely naked. I tell them not to worry about it. I suggest that we focus on finding Cattie-Brie and Bruenor first and then come back to this guy later. They nod in agreement. Then I decide to show them the Armory. It is time to suit up.  I welcome them to my personal pocket plane. They look around in amazement. But they react with disbelief when I show them the catalog of magical equipment I've managed to collect. Armors of every shape and size, weapons of every type. Magical rings and amulets beyond anything they'd encountered so far. They start to compare me to Elminster. I have to smile at that. Does even Elminster have this kind of a stash? I don't feel comfortable putting them in the Golden Company uniform. They aren't part of us, after all. So I just show them the normal armors we have found. After several hours of arranging, identifying, comparing, and other equipment-related business, we get the high-level guys decked out in appropriate gear. Drizzt ends up wearing the Woodland Armor, with the Gift of the Woods on his hands, a Wyvern Head helm on his head, and a Bluestone Necklace of Dexterity on his neck. On his fingers are The Unfailing Missile Deflector and a Ring of Regeneration. He has a Cloak of Protection +2 on his back and the Improved Girdle Elves' Bane on his waist. He walks in Boots of the Forest. He uses the Mirror of Illusion and Imoen's Artifact, but promises to give them back. He of course keeps his scimitars.  Gameplay note: He is a beast with -24 AC, 85 hit points, 24 STR and 24 DEX.  Wulfgar the barbarian keeps his Mithril Chain Mail +4, but adds to it with Warrior Gloves and the other Bluestone Necklace of Dexterity. He carries our favorite tanking Shield of the Falling Stars +1, and with the Boots of Health and the Helm of the Flame he is a solid wall of barbarian. He has a Ring of Protection +2 on each hand, and a Girdle of Defense to round things out. He keeps his hammer and his Winter Wolf Pelt cloak.  Gameplay note: The combo of shield, helm, and boots push his hit points up to 161. Insane.  Regis has the most radical change. The best item he had before was an excellent short sword. Now he has Bala's Leather, the Bracers of the Night, a Deep Red Ioun Stone, and a Greenstone Amulet. On one ring finger he has a Ring of Protection +2, while on the other he has a Ring of Invisibility. He drapes the Cloak of the Assassin around his shoulders, and wears Boots of Displacing that we got from those assassins in Durlag's Tower. He also wears a Girdle of Defense. Finally, I give him Arla's Dragonbane +3 sling, and a plethora of magical sling bullets. The little dude won't die again.   Now let us leave this ridiculous lich for a while and go find Drizzt's other friends. Perhaps they are in the Storm March mountains? Gameplay note: Both of the maps I've traveled to after the Bear Clan Village have lacked world map transition exits. I've been having to use cheat codes to move back to the village. I hope this doesn't screw any quests up. When we get back to Bear Tribe Village, we talk to Nibby Dipnose again.  Very well, cast the spell, but my blade will respond to any foul tricks.No foul tricks seem to occur, though, and we are wisked with the gentle whisk of the Weave to our destination. An ettin greets us coldly.  Two more ettins back up the first, but they all three die quickly to our might.  I climb the little stairs nearby to see what there is to see. I find a thieves' hood. Very interesting!  This is much better than anything else we have for thief heads, so I give it to Regis. He puts it on immediately. This place also seems to have a harpy infestation.  But of course the two powerhouses take them out.  An orc of all things comes up to back up the harpies.  And then ettins back up the orcs. This is quite a strange menagerie. They leave blood-red chunks on the snow.  We find even more cyclopses behind a hill. I'm not sure how, but Regis ends up behind them, and they step on him. He dies.  Gameplay note: I think it was a scripted event. Any time I walked my party anywhere near these guys, Regis just seemed to teleport instantly into the middle of the cyclopses, and then get himself killed the next round. Is this some sort of inside Drizzt joke I'm not getting? I hoped this guy would stay out of trouble, but no. After the cyclopses are dead,  I resurrect him. The area is full of twisty turns, and it is hard to see far ahead. So when a bunch of orcs ambush us I am not surprised.  I am also not surprised when we kill them all instantly. There is a door at the top of the path. I guess we go in?  The horror that I see when we enter the door chills me to my very bone. Not 1, or 3, but 5 Cornugons gaze at us.  Before I can cast anything, though, one of them speaks to us.  I have to keep up a brave front. Step back, I hold more power than you could ever imagine. Ahh, now I smell the presence of Syvishtar, the result of Bhaal's seed. Your death will grant me the power I need to come out as the champion of the ongoing Blood War. Come now, Cornugon brothers, we have ourselves the finest blood to drink here today!Then the speaking demon hits us with some dispelling magic.  Regis summons a Spirit Bear and then enters melee for some drat fool reason. I summon an elemental and tell him to pull back, but not before he is hit.  I try to call another elemental while the Cornugons bear down on me, but the Weave causes roots to entangle my feet! Is it trying to kill me?!  I quickly wrap myself in Mirror Images and pray that the Cornugons aren't that smart.  I manage to make it until Drizzt and Wulfgar can kill all the demons. It doesn't really take long.  I don't even know what this place is, but there is a dragon statue with something in its mouth at the far end.  Inside is a Cornugon's Goblet, and a Rod of Resurrection!   This will definitely come in handy! Now I will be able to resurrect people in combat! I have no idea what the Cornugon's Goblet does though, and I'm not sure I want to. I look around the room, idly wondering what the Cornugon tried to imply about me. Bhaal's seed? What does that even mean? I'm disappointed that there are none of Drizzt's companions here. Where could they be? Do I have to fight the lich first? We go back to the Dragon Caves and look for other clues.  Gameplay note: Okay, after long experimentation I determined that there should be an exit from the north of the Dragon Caves map, but there isn't, just like there isn't an exit in the south where we start out after traveling there. So I'm going to teleport us to the correct location after killing the lich.[i] We make our way back to the lair of the lich. With our new equipment and preparation I'm sure we can take him out now.  I give everyone potions of fire resistance, absorption, invulnerability, speed, and magic blocking. We drink them all.  Then we charge in. As soon as we enter the Lich hits us with his Fireball/Lightning Bolt/Cloudkill superspell, but this time it barely fazes us.  Wulfgar gets stunned, but Drizzt and Regis are okay. I use the Orb of Storms that I decided to pick up earlier. It is quite impressive-looking.  And, a few moments later, Kangaxx the Lich is dead by Drizzt's hand.  On his corpse I find nothing but a single ring.  Of course I put it on. Now on my left hand, the Claw of Kazgaroth. On my right, the Ring of Kangaxx. In my hand, a Rod of Resurrection. Surely all must fear me now!
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Oct 27, 2013 20:27
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We go back outside to the fresh air. After some deliberation, Drizzt thinks he has found a trail, which leads north. We leave these caves and journey north again. We follow an increasingly obvious trail, one that leads us straight towards some towering ruins. When we get there, a dwarf calls out to Drizzt.  The demonic content seems to appear as a common pattern... Demonic or not, whoever is responsible for Catti-Brie being lost will answer with an axe cleaving their skull! I found the dead bodies of the rangers Catti-Brie traveled with, though no signs from her except for some small clues leading me to this location. But the tracks end here. We must proceed with haste. I suspect the worst. Agreed to that.Gameplay note: Again I had the option to say "gently caress this noise" and peace out. But I chose to stick with the quest. And with that, we are joined by Bruenor, level 18 dwarven fighter!  Gameplay note: He's got some pretty good equipment already. A Mithril Field Plate Armor +2, his own helmet, and his own Battle Axe +3.    I greet him and look over his equipment. He seems to be pretty well kitted out. But if he runs into any trouble, I'll hook him up with some extra stuff. Beyond where Bruenor was standing, though, things get really... weird. He wasn't joking when he said the Nine Hells were bursting out onto Icewind Dale!  A Demonknight guards the entrance to some literal hellhole. But we know how to deal with his type.  He falls before he can get his first Fireball off.  I bag his equipment, and we enter the demon's nest.  Lava. Lava everywhere.  Regis finds a trap.  After it is disarmed, we move forward on this unsteady bridge. We are confronted with drow warriors!  Oh, so THAT's who is behind all this. Too bad they die so quickly.  We gather on the far side of the lava-spanning bridge, and that's when a Tanari demon attacks with a Fireball!  We move in to attack and that's when I see my nightmares from the darkest pits of my own fears become real and attack my friends.  Gameplay note: HOLY poo poo Demonic Astral Spiders the size of dragons with the long spindly legs and you can't hear it but they have this horrifying keening wail when they attack my god who thought this up I don't know whether to shake their hand or kill them before they implement any other ideas. Kill them kill them kill them aaaallllll!  Gameplay note: Their keening wail repeats and repeats its like some sort of flock of demonhellbirds with too many legs goddamn this is freaking me the gently caress out. I don't even know what I'm casting. I just try to cast it all and right away. I just plead with the weave to burn them, burn them all, burn them until their ashes fly away never to be seen again. Meanwhile, Drizzt and co. are cleaning up.  I don't know what's wrong with me, but I can't seem to put any magic together.  I'm close to full-on panic here. What can I possibly do if I can't cast spells?! With a moment of inspiration i remember the Ring of Fire. I pull off Kangaxx's Ring and put the Ring of Fire back on. Surely it must work?  Bruenor manages to break out of the webbing sticking to him, and a good thing too, because he had just been poisoned. He drinks an Elixir of Health and clears his system.  The ring isn't working for me either. I stand and do nothing, uselessly trying to get the Weave to work for me, as Wulfgar kills the demonic spider queen.  I hope that is enough to stop the spawning of my nightmares. I finally get something to work for me, as I call up my Divine Might and switch to my sword.  There WILL be burned spiders this day. Bruenor kills the spiders going after him and runs up to help me with the two on me.  Drizzt and Wulfgar seem to be thinning out the ranks of the demonspawn near them.  And Bruenor kills one of the ones on me.  I think we might be able to get through this! In a few rounds, the only demonic spider is the one attacking me.  And then, we are alone, free to survey this horrifying battlefield. I manage to loot something off of the demonic spider queen's corpse.  Only phase spiders? Please let them be only phase spiders. We take a look around. There seems to be some sort of exit behind where the demonic spider queen was standing. We take it with some trepidation.  Immediately more Demonic Astral Spiders teleport to all sides of us. We are surrounded!  And while we are occupied with that fight, Fireballs start shooting in from far away. Regis realizes that they are fireball skull golems.  He rushes the first one to try to put it out of commission. But he gets hit with 2 Fireballs in answer.  He turns indecisively as if thinking about going back, and then once again turns towards the nearest skull. That indecision costs him his life, for another Fireball takes it.  Gameplay note: Regis has some really wonky AI going on. I think he has the undocumented ability to teleport behind enemies. Maybe trying to simulate a backstab? But he gets really indecisive in battle and keeps ending up backing the wrong target. In this situation his AI seemed to want to fight spiders, while I was trying to order him to attack those fireball golems. I lost that fight. But so did he I guess? Bruenor and Wulfgar disengage with the demon spiders and rush to try to take out the Fireball golems themselves. The golems seem to cover each other, each one sending a Fireball to hit the combatant going after the other golem.  Drizzt kills the last of the demon spiders, and he and I also split up to try to kill the Fireball Golems. One of them goes down.  We resist a couple more Fireballs trying to take down the second golem. It isn't looking pretty for us, but also it isn't looking pretty for the golem.  Finally Wulfgar manages to take it out.  I don't have enough money to resurrect Regis through the Vault Keeper, so I do it via the Rod of Resurrection. He's fine. We get our act together, heal everybody up, rest in the pocket plane, and are prepared for the next stage of our Hell invasion.  No, please, not more Demonic Astral Spiders.  But a loud voice addresses us from further away. It is some sort of drow spellcaster.  Is that what all this is? A bounty hunt? Well, good to know that I'm not the only one with bounty hunters constantly on my rear end. Although none of them are demons... yet... I don't know what this drow mage is capable of, so I take the defensive. When he casts protective spells on himself, I Remove them.  Then I throw a wide scatter of random magic missiles at him.  That is enough to make sure that the melee dudes kill off everyone. I need do nothing more.  The poor little drow mage had nothing more than a Robe of Fire Resistance. I almost pity him. This is not the end of the ordeal, though. There is another door here, one that leads deeper into the maw of madness.  We take it. When we enter, we finally meet Catti-Brie.  Catti-Brie, at last we have found you! We had to battle our way through the Nine Hells and old foes. And not to mention all the drow that seem to be involved in whatever has fallen upon us here. And there is more to come. The darkness from the sky has been drained and used to open a portal to the Abyss, with the intention to summon forth the Tanar'ri Balor known as Errtu. The one Drizzt banished to the Abyss for a hundred years. Artemis and Jarlaxe are the ones behind it all because of their hatred for Drizzt and their struggle to see him joining the fallen. The beast has awakened! Friends, the final fight is on!Then Jarlaxle, who stands next to a Tanar'ri demon on the other side of the room, speaks up.  Our plan worked like a charm, and Drizzt has taken the bait. His loyalty to his friends is his weakness. Today it will result in his death. Say hello to your old friend Ertu, Drizzt. He is rather upset with you, and I am just here for the pleasure of witnessing your fall at last! Oh, and don't forget Artemis, my old friend. I understand that you two have some issues to settle. Yes indeed, he like me is rather sickened by your unnatural loyalty to your friends. You and your sidekicks better be able to back up the words spewing from your foul tongue. You will see that I do in a few moments when the last thing you witness is my handsome grin as you die!Finally, Catti-Brie joins the party just in time to begin the fight.  She has a quiver of arrows that never runs out, a good bow, some good chainmail, and the will to use them. What more could you ask for when demons are coming after you?  BAM! Spiders in everybody's faces!  Everything happens so fast that it is hard to record what's going on. All the drow and the demon rush us, and the grand melee starts. I try to break things up with Horror, but it doesn't seem to affect anyone.  Bruenor is sorely hurt and retreats to try to patch himself up. The drow Jarlaxle comes Bruenor's and my way, so I summon the bunnies to block him in his tracks.  But it doesn't work. Jarlaxle cuts down Bruenor with an axe maybe?  I also notice that the demon Errtu is no longer present. I wrack my recent memory for what happened, and seem to recall Wulfgar striking the killing blow.  My bunnies are distracting Jarlaxle for now, so I retreat and reach deep into the weave, to the deepest level, and try to throw out an Arc of Death at him.  I try again, through hiccups.  But it looks like it was unnecessary, because Catti-Brie manages to take him down. Sweet!  The teleporting phase spiders are quite instrumental in mopping up the remaining drow warriors.  Heh, I bet those fool drow thought that their goddess turned on them today. Good. We stand victorious in the heart of drow darkness - my bunnies, my spiders, and Drizzt and company.  Artemis' body yields good loot - Snake Soul, Snake Bite, and Boots of Haste.    Jarlaxle's body also has some good stuff.   Gameplay note: This is an awesome weapon! On an altar at the far end of the room, we find a Winter Rune Scroll.  I wonder how I can combine these two things? I guess I'll have to find a blacksmith or something? I resurrect Bruenor with the last charge of the Rod of Resurrection, which crumbles to dust in my hand. Oops? Then we decide to make our way out. But on the way out I realize that there is a door that we missed before, to the right of the way we came.  With drow guarding it I guess it is important. We attack!  Then we enter this other door cautiously.  We see some strange kind of drow chamber, bathed in the light of lava.  There are priestesses here, who summon skeleton warriors.  Somehow Regis gets behind everyone again. I gave him some potions of invisibility earlier, hopefully those will keep him alive in his drat fool quest to get himself killed. I stand beside Catti-Brie and call lightning down on our foes, as Wulfgar, Bruenor, and Drizzt clean house.  Every time Regis attracts the attention of an enemy, he drinks a Potion of Invisibility. It keeps him alive.  Long enough for the rest of us to wipe out everything.  There's nothing special in this room except for a plain quarterstaff and some healing potions. Strange. We make our way out through the lava-infested rooms.  And then we go out and back into the winter wonderland of Icewind Dale. We see a robed figure waiting for us as we exit. I brace for combat.  But he seems nice enough.  Yep, this is officially Drizzt's adventuring party. Not mine. No way. So I let Drizzt do the talking. And who might you be then? No less or more than a wanderer, though at this time also a bearer of a worried mind... And why is that? The dark creatures crawl up from their ancient graves, the artifact is within their dark tomb. Troubled times in the Dale... troubled times. Light we had every moment of the day, though now it is turning the other way. They have awakened. The artifact, this statue with its heritage from the Abyss itself, awakens them and commands them to wander the surface with the intention of pulling us all into its dark chambers. The only way to stop all this is to remove the artifact from the dark pit within the Mountain of the Dead. Either you are a very good teller of fairy tales or mayhaps you lack common sense. But if there is a portion of reality in what your tongue shares here then I would like to know how to get to where you have witnessed all this. I am a holder of true words. I can teleport you to the location outside the mountain where this darkness lurks within. Very well, but be assured, I am prepared for any tricks that you might try to pull on me.SOMEONE doesn't trust teleporters. I don't know why he'd have to pull a 'trick' per se, when the greatest trick of all is to unceremoniously dump us into a hostile location with nothing but a few sentences of exposition to prepare us. Which he does.  We try to rest before taking on this next challenge, but we are awakened by a wail.  It sounds like the call of a siren, but there is no water here. Only ice and death. We kill it, then head to the pocket plane to rest. After relaxing for 15 or 16 hours, we come back to see what we've got to take care of. Skeleton warriors come from all over and attack us. The battle is on.  It is another knock-down drag-out fight with little hurt on our side.  These guys almost seem to simply not need my magic. That takes some getting used to. I am sitting back and hoping they save me from the horrors we face, and not the other way around. Also, the trees look like bodies and there are faces hidden in the ice. Creepy.  We find a way down into a cave.  We descend a staircase, deep into the earth. At the bottom we find a shadow fiend!  Many shadow fiends!  But they are no match for us.  Regis scouts ahead and tells us that he sees wonders!  We go to check them out. We find another dwarf down here, Varlag Silverhammer.  Greetings, how come you still inhabit this mountain even though it seems the undead walk in every shadow? Because of the excellent ore it offers of course. The undead don't seem to show any interest in me, and if they start to then I would greet them with my hammer, crushing their rotten skulls! Words of truth I suspect. Mayhaps do I carry anything that you could forge into an item? Well, show me what you carry then. Here, I possess the Ice Slasher and a Winter Rune Scroll. By Moradin's Hammer, the old recipe of Frostbeard. I could forge this weapon into one of the most devastating weapons made of the finest steel ever to be known in this realm. Dwarven smithy at its highest level. It would cost ye 10,000 gold. My pockets won't allow it for the moment. Here, have a look at this winter wolf pelt. Aye, I could enchant it so ye would never freeze again, and any magic with coldness involved in it would slip ye by leaving you unhurt. All for a sum of 3,000 gold. My pockets won't allow it for the moment either.I need to raise some money. I've been collecting tons of equipment off of fallen Drow to sell, but I've found no one to sell it to. And that crazy gnome Jansen guy doesn't buy anything I want to sell. I'm going to have to look for someone and come back here later. We decide to explore this mine further. We find more vampires around the next corner.  Surprisingly enough, they are also dead before they can hurt us.  Some ghouls attack also and meet the same fate.  Four more vampires ambush us next to a trapped sarcophagus.  Regis manages to disarm the trap, but the vampires also manage to dominate Wulfgar.  I dispel the domination on him, but they get Bruenor next!  We defeat the vampires, but Bruenor is still dominated. So we have to run away from him until he comes to his senses.  Also, Regis and Bruenor have been energy drained. But without a cleric or fat stacks of cash there's nothing we can do about it now. One of the vampires dropped a scroll of Mantle. A new spell! I haven't seen anything like that in a long time. I copy it into my spellbook quickly.  In a basin by the pillar we find a belt.  It is a Girdle of Frost Giant Strength. Wow!  I give it to Bruenor, since he's not wearing a belt already. Then we move deeper into the caves, finding more valen vampires on the way.  They dominate Regis this time, which saves him from death.  The charmed Regis goes against Catti-Brie, and the last vampire charms Wulfgar as it dies, who then goes after Drizzt. This may be a problem.  Once again we run away, leaving the two magiced ones to walk it off.  Then, after they do, we go deeper into the belly of the beast.  That puts us in a long corridor, empty save for the beating of our own hearts.  The right door is hiding more vampires, though.  We cut them down, and Regis discovers a trap.  He discovers another down the hall near some sarcophagi.  The only thing in those sarcophagi is one gold piece. I guess a vampire lost some pocket change while sleeping. It happens to the best of us. Regis scouts out the opposite room and sees a whole lot of mummies and two wailing death. Gameplay note: Regis TOTALLY has some sort of script working on him that causes him to teleport behind enemies. When I used him to scout, he was invisible. One moment he was walking where I told him to, the next he was standing behind the furthest mummy. This is really annoying because the game engine doesn't allow for re-stealthing when people can see you, so he ends up becoming visible and then getting gangraped by everyone assembled. Thats why he keeps dying all the drat time.  I decide to try something different, something magicky. I summon some undead creatures to take on the other undead creatures. Gameplay note: The reason that I'm doing this is that the Wailing Death in there cast the Death spell every round. They slaughtered the whole party on several occasions. Its the Banshee in the Wood of the Dead all over again, but this time with a friend.  Then, as a follow-up, I try for a big finisher spell.  Well poo poo. Okay, Fireball from the Ring of Fire!  The mummies are coming up on me, so I give them a Fire Shield to deal with.  Then I try for my old standby - Cacofiend. Instead the Weave entangles one mummy.  I think that it is time for Plan B, so I retreat and let the mummies come to the group. They beat them down easily enough.  Then I give a Potion of Magic Protection to Drizzt, and he rushes the two Wailing Deaths.  Their spells of death are resisted by the ranger. He moves in for the kill. Five hits and the first one is down.  And the other is down just as fast.  We rush in to help him with the leftover mummies.  In one of the sarcophagi there is Storm Star +3.  Down the hallway are more vampires, of course.  Ghosts also come to disturb us.  Catti-Brie seems stronger after they're all dead.   More mummies attract another Fireball from me.  And then it is a rush and a slaughter by Drizzt and co.  Three more vampires...  This time they don't charm anybody.  Another herd of shadow fiends swarm us, but we are stronger.  Then Drizzt cures everybody's wounds,  and we are about to march on. But I feel as though great evil is ahead. I call break time, and we teleport to the Armory to rest. Gameplay note: The final fight is next. And I got my rear end thoroughly kicked the first time I tried it. Total party wipe. So I have to try to prepare for what comes. First things first. Drizzt knows Dispel Magic, and prepares it. Then we rest. After we wake, he casts it on the party. It gets rid of their energy drain!  Then comes the question of equipment. I equip myself first. I've been slacking in my equipment loadout. I've been sentimental, wearing Gorion's Amulet that Imoen gave to me, instead of the best choice Ulcaster's Amulet, which boosts the number of spells I can memorize. Also, I've been wearing the Claw of Kazgaroth and the Ring of Kangaxx on my hands as points of pride, instead of the Ring of Archwizardry and the Ring of Wizardry 1st thru 5th. I cut down on the number of spells I could cast because, well, I could, and wearing the Claw felt cooler. But I think that the fight coming up will test my abilities thoroughly, so I rectify these errors now. With the best rings and amulets available to me, I feel confident in my ability to memorize 18 level one spells, 18 level two spells, 24 level three spells, 10 level four spells, and 10 level five spells. And I'm going to need them. I also re-arrange my spellbook. For the first time in a long time I take the Random Spells out. I strongly feel that I am going to need some specific spells ready. For first level, I prepare all Nahal's Reckless Dweomers. For second level, I prepare Chaos Shield, a couple of Mirror Images, Remove Fear, Detect Invisibility, and a mixture of Blade Showers and Rhialto's Random Missiles. For third level, I turn to steady spells I know. First is Gymlainac's Lightbend, an invisibility-equivalent spell that also boosts armor and saving throws, and can't be dispelled by True Seeing or Detect Invisibility. I have had this spell in my book for a long time, but haven't used it much. Then I take two of Invisibility Sphere as well. My friends need some protection. I also take Halt Undead, 3 copies. We need to stop vampires in their tracks. I take two Melf's Minute Meteors in case I need some, and another wild magic spell - Vile Word of Discord. Then I load up a few Fireballs and make the rest Random Spell II. Fourth level is important, because here are a lot of my defensive spells. Stoneskin, Fire Shields, and Minor Globe of Invulnerability are located here. I memorize them all. Plus there are the really fun spells like Corporeal Instability and Glyph of Wild Magic. Fifth level gives me Paithan's Lucky Streak, Chaos, Spell Turning, Shadow Door, Vortex, and 6 copies of Random Spell III. I need the possible advantages that summoning a djinni or a beholder can bring. I am pretty confident of my spell selection. I hope I get to cast a majority of these spells... Next is Bruenor. He has some good equipment, but I give him more. He get Warrior Gloves, the Clasp of Bronn's Cloak, Rings of Free Action and Fire Resistance, the other Shield of Falling Stars +1, a Cloak of Protection +2, and the Boots of Fast Protection.  Catti-Brie also gets some upgrades. She gets Gauntlets of Dexterity, the Helm of Charm Protection, the Amulet of Wyvern Summoning, Rings of Free Action and Fire Resistance, a Girdle of Hill Giant Strength, Boots of Speed, and a Holy Cloak.  Finally, I pass out potions to everyone. But then I get another idea. I check my scroll case, and pull out 3 copies of Protection from Magic, and 3 copies of Protection from Undead. Myself, Drizzt, and Cattie-Brie, who can cast spells, can get the Protection from Undead on them. Then Bruenor, Wulfgar, and Regis can get Protection from Magic on them, since it blocks all magic coming into and out of its area. Hopefully that will keep everybody alive long enough to weather the coming storm. I cast the spells.  Then we enter into what may very well be the final battle. We are greeted by a familiar figure.  Gameplay note: He's got Irenicus' voiceset! Its Jonaleth!! You! You're the one who teleported me here in the first place. I should have seen through your deceit. Show yourself, who are you, hiding under that hood?! Who I am is not for you to worry about. It is who you are that matters, Syvishtar.What? He addresses me? What about Drizzt, the obvious party leader? Stop your riddles! You must have felt it, the heritage running in your veins. Now at my disposal...Heritage? What? Does this guy want to get into Candlekeep? You won't get to me with your hollow threats. I fear that I have had an advantage over you from the start. I have planned your arrival from the beginning. It could be no other way.Gameplay note: This line is also voiced as Jon. I will ruin whatever plans you have in mind. I bid you farewell Child of Bhaal, we shall not meet again.Then an absolute torrent of magical energy flows out from this figure and almost blinds both my physical eyes and magical senses.  I still manage to see the Wailing Death that appears in front of us. I target it first with a huge barrage of Rhialto's Random Missiles.  It is enough to kill it. Now, we should kill the vampires. Don't want them taking over the party. Too late.  My Dispel Magic gets rid of the Domination for now, but will it last?  The demon summoned kills Catti-Brie. I can't mourn.  I'm able to disappear from the public consciousness just in the nick of time.  I am almost dead, but I stop by Catti-Brie's corpse and take a healing potion from her. It keeps me alive a moment longer. The vampires are almost all dead.  I tell everyone to kill the last vampire, the one following me. They converge on it, and it stops following. Bruenor also takes out the demon nearby. I see an opening in the fighting, and shoot some more magic missiles at the Robed Figure.  I strike him down!  The murder troupe takes care of the remaining skeleton warriors, and I think that I have never seen such an extraordinarily executed battle!  Gameplay note: This was about the 5th time I tried this battle. This is one of those rare battles that you have to fight over and over to get the hang of it. Previous attempts were all complete party wipes. It was brutal. On the ground I find scrolls of Project Image and Stone to Flesh. I copy the second into my spellbook.  Among some crystals at the end of the room we find some items: An Abyssal Idol, and a Handwritten Letter.  The Abyssal Idol is awesome.  I can summon a demon of my very own? This is too good to be true! The letter, on the other hand, is the foulest of lies.  Sarevok, that evil guy who took over the trading company and was using its resources to hunt me down? That guy is my brother? HA! Yeah right. This poor old man was more deluded than I thought. Gameplay note: Ok so the note is signed "I". I guess we know what that means... I wish I had the resources to resurrect Catti-Brie. Oh well. Wait a second... will the Vault Sentry buy items from me? I summon him and ask. HE WILL!  Not all items, but enough to raise enough money to resurrect more people. And he buys gems too. Not only that, but he's the only person I've ever see who buys potions. After selling half of my remaining Oils of Speed, and 200 of my 356 Elixirs of Health, I think I have enough money to do everything I need to. We resurrect Cattie-Brie, first of all.  Then we go back to that dwarf, Varlag.  Mayhaps do I have anything you can forge into an item? Well show me what you carry then. Here, I possess the Ice Slasher and a Winter Rune Scroll. By Moradin's Hammer, the old recipe of Frostbeard. I could forge this weapon into one of the most devastating weapons made of the finest steel ever to be known in this realm. Dwarven smithy at its highest level. It would cost ye 10,000 gold. Very well, let's do it. In a magical haste here ye are and a fine piece of work it is.And with that, he gives it to me.  Gameplay note: This is starting to look like the weapon that people make fun of in Planescape Torment. It's a +5 throwing axe that boomerangs back to you and does 1d6 +3 +2 cold damage, plus sets your STR to 25 and instantly slays ogres. Not only that but it can be wielded as a melee weapon if you want. This thing is an army all by itself. I talk to Varlag again. Here, have a look at this winter wolf pelt. Aye, I could enchant it so ye would never freeze again, and any magic with coldness involved in it would slip ye by leaving you unhurt. All for a sum of 3,000 gold. Very well, let's do it. In a magical haste here ye are and a fine piece of work it is.It is a great cloak, just like Wulfgar's!  On the way out, I notice that I missed something. One of the stone faces has a loose area that I can look in. I check it out.  It is a Pale Gren Ioun Stone.  Going further out, I also realize that I missed something else. The skull on this dragon corpse frozen in ice is actually loose.  I take the skull. Then I wonder if the dwarf would be interested in it. I go back and ask him. Here, have a look at this dragon skull. By Moradin's Hammer! How did you manage to get yer hands on such a rare thing? I could forge a plate from the scales if ye wish. All for a sum of 5,000 gold. Very well, let's do it. In a magical haste here ye are and a fine piece of work it is.It is a fine piece of work indeed.  Then, evil defeated, bad guys gone, we set off into the wide world once more.  Saying goodbye to Icewind Dale,  we make our way back to Baldur's Gate.  And the warm, familiar embrace of the Elfsong Tavern.  I invite them to stay, but they seem to be impatient to be on their way. Even when I'm holding all of their equipment that I can get my hands on.  I feel that it is time to say farewell.And with that, he walks out. Each of the others in turn say the exact same thing. It was really nice of Catti-Brie to leave her bow though.  And Bruenor his armor.  And Wulfgar his cloak.  They just don't think like they're into being a part of the Golden Company. Still, the experiences I had with them will last me a lifetime.  Gameplay note: I'm 100K from level 12, I might get there before the end of BG1! Vorgen fucked around with this message at 02:03 on Jan 13, 2014 |
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Oct 27, 2013 20:27
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Maugrim posted:Call me back when we're done with the mod. Somebody call Maugrim and tell him we're done with the mod.
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Oct 27, 2013 20:42
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Ahahahaha holy poo poo those loving items.
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Oct 27, 2013 21:33
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Well this was a special mod. Why was Wulfgar in the Nine Hells? He did spend some time in the Abyss during the books, so I have to figure this is just more of the mod author's confusion over this issue. Also he gets bonus poo poo points for having a fight in which Drizzt and company fight Jarlaxle, Artemis Entreri and Errtu all at once. At that point he was just name dropping all of Drizzt's most popular enemies. Speaking of names, this mod author actually seems to have done some modifications to some of these areas, so kudos for that. But he didn't bother to change the names and even dialogue of a lot of the characters he imported from BG2. Having Kangaxx and hordes of Valen's is pretty lazy overall. All in all, this mod seems to have been a bad Drizzt fan fiction written by someone who is obsessed with Drizzt, but doesn't understand the books at all. Which is saying something, cause R.A. Salvatore isn't exactly subtle.
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Oct 27, 2013 21:42
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I have no words for how much bullshit that entire mod was, remember, this is content you access from BG1! just the kangaxx fight alone just stupid. Also did you just stop SoA from happening at all ? sigh.
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Oct 27, 2013 22:08
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Jesus Christ almighty. How much money do you have now? Also the Forgotten Realms Sperg in me is wincing at... well, everything plotwise in that mod. For reference, in the latest series of books, Entreri and Jarlaxle are Drizzt's allies.
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Oct 27, 2013 22:16
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Cat Army 
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Also Jarlaxle pretty much dismissed trying to get Drizzt's bounty as a net loss several book series ago. I might be wrong, it's been a thankful number of years since I stopped reading Salvatore books.
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Oct 27, 2013 22:20
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Shugojin posted:Also Jarlaxle pretty much dismissed trying to get Drizzt's bounty as a net loss several book series ago. I might be wrong, it's been a thankful number of years since I stopped reading Salvatore books. Well this mod came out a while back, so there will be some things that are out of date. But Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri giving up on killing Drizzt happened a loooong time ago.
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Oct 27, 2013 23:24
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Yeah, this mod did seem like a bit of a slog. I don't understand why it seemed less fun than others. The areas just felt less substantial than normal game or other mod areas. They all seemed to be tiny little spaces with bad sight lines not from map design but from something done to lightmaps or whatever it is that qualifies as a navmesh in ie games. Also each area only seemed to have one entrance or exit which added to the feeling of claustrophobia. The battles were challenging, but basically required reloads to win. The final result that you read in the LP might even seem easy, but that is the product of a lot of reloads. The astral spider demon fight required you to kill the Queen fast or die to an endless stream of respawning enemies. The fight against Robed Figure was a horrible clusterfuck if you left the wailing death alive too long because it would straight up murderize one party member a round until killed. Then the vampires pulsed a charm/dominate aura every round, even if they were Held. That could easily take 3 party members away from you. The last fight recorded above makes it seem easy. The demonic astral spiders were cool, though. For those of you who have never played bg2 before, we just supposedly killed the second games boss before we killed the first games boss. He was hooded and in disguise, and apparently not into protective spells at all, and now he's dead. I guess? He doesn't have a soul so I don't know how he would get resurrected to renemesis us down south but killing him before we get to Sarevok really screws up the story. Vorgen fucked around with this message at 03:33 on Oct 28, 2013 |
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Oct 28, 2013 02:51
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I dunno, Project Image or Simulacrum or whatever. Some magic bullshit, as always with Jon.
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Oct 28, 2013 02:55
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Nothing like having wizards cast half their goddamn spellbooks at once to make a fight interesting!
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Oct 28, 2013 02:55
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Vorgen posted:They just don't think like they're into being a part of the Golden Company. Still, the experiences I had with them will last me a lifetime. Wait, when did you become female again? I must have missed it.
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Oct 28, 2013 06:12
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I'm wearing the gender-bending belt of lore so that I can identify items without using spells. Yah. Definitely for that reason and not for others.
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Oct 28, 2013 06:59
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Just reading this, I can tell there's something deeply stupid about a person who makes a mod like this. The final boss instantly casts 18 spells when the fight starts? When you force a player to reload a save repeatedly, that's not clever game design. That's just being a dick.
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Oct 28, 2013 08:54
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