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Black Robe
Sep 12, 2017

Generic Magic User


Goddamnit, Sandrah, just gently caress off.

I know it's been said before, Vichan, but I am astounded that you're still managing to keep going with this. It's not even infuriating any more, just tedious. Though at least the non-Sueified content keeps the LP readable.

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Vichan
Oct 1, 2014

I'LL PUNISH YOU ACCORDING TO YOUR CRIME

Black Robe posted:

I know it's been said before, Vichan, but I am astounded that you're still managing to keep going with this.

Good question, I'm getting the sense that a lot of people tapped out ages ago and I can't say I blame them. At this point it's just become one gigantic slog.

Mostly I'm just curious as to what the post-ToB content will entail, in a weird way I'm actually looking forward to it.

Ramc
May 4, 2008

Bringing your thread to a screeching halt, guaranteed.

Vichan posted:

Mostly I'm just curious as to what the post-ToB content will entail, in a weird way I'm actually looking forward to it.

basically same

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.
I'm not even angry at this poo poo anymore. It's so dull. Just Sandrah knowing everything, sleeping with everyone, and being unstoppable. That's how it's been since she joined the party in BG1, and I'm thoroughly inured to it at this point.

Zulily Zoetrope
Jun 1, 2011

Muldoon
I do appreciate that the Caelar mod lets the PC be absolutely sick of her poo poo and tell her to go take a hike. Not everyone would think of that.

GiantRockFromSpace
Mar 1, 2019

Just Cram It


The high points have pretty much been the bigshot WTF changes introduced by Sandrah, like "Imoen becomes the Slayer", "Skie is now Bhaal's right hand lady" , "Sandrah retcons the end of BG1 so she looks better" or any of the original storylines like Shar-Teel's. The rest is just Mary Sue being perfect, ofc it gets boring eventually.

That said, I love that the party is now composed of all the Big Bads from the previous parts (okay, Caelar wad not the BIGGER Bad but she was the main opposition during most of SoD). The true villains were the friends we made along the way.

Rappaport
Oct 2, 2013

I kind of like friend-Irenicus's writing. I think the premise of him becoming your buddy is preposterous, but aside from that, he's actually sort of interesting, in contrast to our protagonist Sandrah.

vilkacis
Feb 16, 2011



Oh of course

I know some people are just feeling worn out by it at this point but personally i am able to hold on to my hatred for a while longer.


Also the vigil stone looks like a shoe.

Leraika
Jun 14, 2015

Luckily, I *did* save your old avatar. Fucked around and found out indeed.
I'm mostly sticking around for Irenicus's chats with you, though Caelar's might prove interesting too; it's good to see that both mods keep their characters' personalities intact.

e: also I'm so glad sandrah is too busy redeeming your brother to get near irenicus

Vichan
Oct 1, 2014

I'LL PUNISH YOU ACCORDING TO YOUR CRIME

Leraika posted:

e: also I'm so glad sandrah is too busy redeeming your brother to get near irenicus

:imunfunny:

Midnight Voyager
Jul 2, 2008

Lipstick Apathy
Her voice for Sarevok is DIRE, holy god.

Honestly, I'd find goddamn Irenicus more redeemable than Caelar. Her whole thing was being so utterly convinced of her own righteousness that she was completely incapable of learning from her mistakes, no matter how dire they were. She just doubled and tripled down. Having her start point be "actually I've learned and also I have maybe done something actually helpful" just threw me for a hell of a loop.

At least Irenicus had the excuse that his ex broke his soul.

Leraika
Jun 14, 2015

Luckily, I *did* save your old avatar. Fucked around and found out indeed.

[softly] noooooooooooooooooooooooo

sebzilla
Mar 17, 2009

Kid's blasting everything in sight with that new-fangled musket.


Rappaport posted:

I kind of like friend-Irenicus's writing. I think the premise of him becoming your buddy is preposterous, but aside from that, he's actually sort of interesting, in contrast to our protagonist Sandrah.

Yeah I played LR like a decade ago and have vague but generally fond memories of it. Glad to see it holds up.

Vichan
Oct 1, 2014

I'LL PUNISH YOU ACCORDING TO YOUR CRIME
Huh, I just found out that Shine On Caelar, the mod that allowed us to side with her during SoD and add her to the party in ToB is also written by Roxanne. Caelar and Sandrah still refuse to talk to each other, a weird choice considering she meddles in everyone else's affairs constantly.

And to think I almost didn't include her into the party, I guess I have to thank Iylos for bugging out as well as Imoen for getting as far away from us as possible.

Anyway, Watcher's Keep is behind me now. An extremely frustrating experience because everything kept bugging out constantly. I almost had to ditch Haiass because Sandrah kept casting healing spells on the poor thing. Next two chapters'll be up soon.

Vichan
Oct 1, 2014

I'LL PUNISH YOU ACCORDING TO YOUR CRIME
Chapter CXXIX - You are not afraid of me, you never was.



We immediately run into this guy as soon as we reach the next level.





Making deals with shapeshifting demons, what can go wrong?



I'm enjoying the poo poo out of these conversations, they're a bit wordy but it's a nice respite from Sandrah's ramblings.

This conversation was supposed to go on longer but it cut off right after Sarevok interjected, maybe it's because Imoen's not with us? Oh well, it's probably fine.



A nearby imp tells us what to do in this area.







I'm actually not getting into detail when it comes to this area, Jen'lig, Haiass and Pelligram's custom AI scripts made it a very frustrating experience. For some reason I didn't make a screenshot of the ice scepter but I'm sure you get the gist.



Gee, the demon turned on us. Who would've thought?



The key allows us to enter the portal to the next level. The place where the LP almost ended.



This area is a maze, this first area is known as the compass room.



It might be a good idea to follow this guy lest we get lost.



This guy is new, what's his deal?



Yes, this is a part of the Longer Road mod, how can you tell?



Oh, please do elaborate. These conversations are always too short!



So now we're carrying a sick Deva around, and if we don't hurry up he's going to die and we fail the quest. That's a lot of pressure. :ohdear:



For the love of God, Sandrah. Could you please leave this part of the experience alone? I was just starting to enjoy it! :argh:



Anyway, time to pursue this madman we saw earlier.



Before we even get the chance to talk to him Sandrah heals him because of course she does. :bang:



This guy was so crazy that he managed to grow a beard despite being an elf. Crazy stuff.



We pick up some items here. Not sure what the gloves are good for but we need the scepter to eventually leave this maze. The Water of Serenity is one of the items that the Deva needs.



We also find the poor guy's journal.



No need to interpret it, Sandrah does that for us.



Time to traverse this drat thing. (Again I'm not going to cover every single room, this chapter will be long enough as it is)



Lots of demons and devils fighting each other here.



I wanted to make a mental note of this place but in all the excitement of saving the LP I never got around to it. I guess this mystery will remain unsolved.



Don't want to do business with a goody-two-shoes? Big mistake, pal.



Yuck, I'm sure this'll come in handy though.



It arrives, the bane of my existence.



Talking to this guy immediately leads to a fight, I didn't know what to do so I just wailed on him.



This was obviously the wrong thing to do, forcing me to reload.

What was the solution, though? Considering the Deva's words I figured I should just let the thing have at me for a minute or two after which he'd calm down and let me progress. That didn't work. Then I had the idea of bringing him down to low health forcing him to surrender, maybe I just killed him too quickly the first time around? Nope, that didn't work either.

After doing some digging it became apparent that my game was apparently bugged, and considering the sparse information available online I couldn't find any solution. Longer Road might not be strictly necessary to complete Sandrah Saga but it is still very important to Sandrah's story so I couldn't just skip it. This really did my head in to the point that abandoning the LP crossed my mind on more than one occasion, Iylos had bugged out only a few hours earlier so maybe the wheels had finally come off.

I decided to leave the demon alone for now and continue on ahead while I figured out what the hell to do.




See? I told you the heart would come in handy!



Who's double-crossing who now, huh!? :black101: It's nice to dish it out for a change. The heart is useless to us but it makes for a nice trophy.



Roxanne sucks at staying true to any given character's voice including those of her own creation. I feel like it's especially egregious here though. Can you imagine David Warner voicing these lines?



That last conversation leads to an honest-to-God cinematic(!) but it's so blurry that it's hard to make anything out. I'm assuming that it depicts our battle with Irenicus and Sandrah does everything while we watch from the sidelines but who really knows?



For the love of God, Roxanne. What are you doing to Irenicus!?



I have no idea why these banters fired in quick succession like that but they're really not making my decision on whether not to abandon this thing any easier. :suicide:




It might be long-winded but it's a breath of fresh air, let me tell you. I regret not checking this mod out sooner, 18-year-old me would've loved it.



We've reached the final area of the mage only to be greeted by this guy.



He's actually a quite pleasant individual. Who will 'volunteer' to play his game? I'm offended that you even need to ask.



That wasn't so bad.



We lost the game but everything worked out in the end. What a great guy. :)



The scepter is complete now allowing us to leave the area. We also get one of the Deva's items and obtained a clue on how to obtain the final item somewhere along the line...

...



...I guess I'd better figure out how to unfuck this situation. :negative:



Turns out the solution was actually quite easy and only involved editing a value using EEKeeper, finding out said solution was another thing entirely but I'm glad I've got it sorted. Looks like the LP can continue and we can all rejoice...

...

...

...Right? :shepicide:

It is entirely possible that this whole situation was not a bug at all and I just suck at this whole thing. That might actually be a more plausible scenario.



Abaia follows us around now but won't go through the portal with us. Again I thought I had somehow hosed things up.



Oh, okay. You can just talk to him and tell him where to go. Great. Nothing left to do but follow him to the compass room.



I think I'm slowly but surely getting through to him and I don't even need to have sex with him. Sandrah's got nothing on me. :smuggo:



Is that a gnoll walking among us...?



Turns out this gnollYogoloth is quite a tough nut to crack. It loves to drink potions, turn invisible and backstab Irenicus in particular.



Eventually Jen'lig manages to knock him in his rear end.



Sandrah manages to finish him off, Abaia's even nice enough to help out!



After the battle we're approached by these imps who hand us our final item we need to help the Deva!





What a lovely place, it even comes with Dryads. :heysexy:



These three are all voiced, they sound especially like you'd expect from a 2000s Baldur's Gate mod. As far as those go this is actually quite a good effort.

I'm actually going to shut up now and let things play out from here.













...That was great, wasn't it? :allears:



We even gets some items out of the whole thing!



...I almost forgot Sandrah was here for a minute. Maybe that's why I'm enjoying all these other mods so much. :doh:



It's finally time to leave this area. I'm actually going to end things here because otherwise this chapter'll be way too long. The rest of Watcher's Keep will be dealt with next time!

This chapter was a complete and utter nightmare, I can't stress enough how close I was to giving up on the whole thing. Time will tell if the decision to continue will prove to be the right one.

Vichan fucked around with this message at 12:12 on Nov 7, 2021

Zulily Zoetrope
Jun 1, 2011

Muldoon

I'm not sure I like where this mod is going. Irenicus did not turn to a monster because his elf card was revoked, and if his redemption is fueled by blasting him with a lethal dose of positive energy it will be the cheapest thing.

Not that I'm all that bothered; this is still leagues ahead of any other mod content going on right now.

vilkacis
Feb 16, 2011

Vichan posted:

Turns out this gnollYogoloth is quite a tough nut to crack. It loves to drink potions, turn invisible and backstab Irenicus in particular.

Hell. I can't blame 'em.


Also



even more so than the typical mod "couldn't be arsed to even try" example on top, i am unreasonably bothered by the second one which looks like a good, normal item graphic, except it has this weird aura around it that sticks out against the background! (Contrast with the last one which doesn't have that.) There's been several of them this update and i'm just... why. If you can produce images of that quality, surely you can crop them to they don't have that. :psyduck:

Lysan Lurraxol
Jun 27, 2013
I thought the plot about the Deva & the Bebilith felt familiar --- I think it's borrowed from the old Planescape adventure, the Deva Spark. I'm enjoying how much Longer Road is riffing off the wider setting; it feels like its expanding the scope of Throne of Bhaal nicely.

I recall trying to play it years ago & getting lost (Iirc even getting Irenicus to show up requires meeting some pretty esoteric conditions?)

sebzilla
Mar 17, 2009

Kid's blasting everything in sight with that new-fangled musket.


Lysan Lurraxol posted:

I recall trying to play it years ago & getting lost (Iirc even getting Irenicus to show up requires meeting some pretty esoteric conditions?)

Yeah you need some pretty hefty INT/WIS/CHA stats for the initial conversation with Ellesime to get her to give you his mask. Maybe not all three but something along those lines.

Always struck me as a weird choice to gatekeep the mod so stringently before it even starts. Dumpstatted fighters need not apply.

It's definitely interestingly written though and the author did a pretty solid job of capturing Irenicus' voice. Certainly when contrasted with... other attempts.

Vichan
Oct 1, 2014

I'LL PUNISH YOU ACCORDING TO YOUR CRIME

sebzilla posted:

Yeah you need some pretty hefty INT/WIS/CHA stats for the initial conversation with Ellesime to get her to give you his mask. Maybe not all three but something along those lines.

Always struck me as a weird choice to gatekeep the mod so stringently before it even starts. Dumpstatted fighters need not apply.

It's definitely interestingly written though and the author did a pretty solid job of capturing Irenicus' voice. Certainly when contrasted with... other attempts.

There are multiple endings to Irenicus' story as well and I'm pretty sure I've already screwed up at least one of them. Hopefully it won't break anything post-ToB, although maybe Sandrah will be nice enough to trigger Irenicus' best ending for us.

Zulily Zoetrope
Jun 1, 2011

Muldoon
I'd honestly rather see what happens to Irenicus in the hands of a protagonist who isn't insane and devoted wholly to feeding him angel souls or whatever his best ending requires. Definitely don't worry about that. I don't know exactly how pivotal he is to the Sandrah Saga; I'm guessing quite given the amount of effort you've put into making his mod play along, but I'd rather you just eke out what content you can than break yourself trying to hack this into a perfect showcase.

Vichan
Oct 1, 2014

I'LL PUNISH YOU ACCORDING TO YOUR CRIME
Chapter CXXX - Priestess, I like to ask you about your cat.



We enter yet another level of Watcher's Keep and are immediately greeted by this monstrosity.



The monsters he summons are dealt with swiftly but we can't actually get to the man himself. :argh:



Looks like we'll just have to explore this level, that machine probably holds the key to the next one.



These oils will probably come in handy.



To the north is an area filled with mind flayers.



The key allows us access to the inner sanctum.



Vampiric mind flayers, I had no idea those existed. They die just as easy as regular ones.



If we head back to the main area and exit to the south...



Those potions are not going to save you, drat dirty apes! :black101:



Always handy, yoink.



Now I really want to know every detail about Irenicus' trials, it probably involved a lot of dialogue.



We steamroll over the last of the Githyanki and head to the next area.





On our way there we snag some more items.



God drat it, I always mess this up! Being a dick is just too tempting.

I can't even be bothered to kill him, I'm sick and tired of dragons. Let's head back to the main area.



Those tinder and oils sure came in handy!



:getin:



Success!



What a pitiful little man, not even worth killing. The journal should give us some clues as to how to operate the machine...



...Or we could just let Sandrah do it. :jerkbag:

Time to head to the next level!



That altar in front of us is our ticket out of here, we just need three keys to get it to work. Time to explore.



First up is the 'globe machine'.



You get a colored globe from it and put it in the corresponding cylinder but you have to fight a battle each time you do so. When you're finished...



One down, two to go!



Bah, we have to come back later once we find the skull.



Three doors, three challenges.



What's behind door #1?



God, I must've seen this area like 20 times by now, each time populated by orcs. These particular ones keep respawning.



After a while the ghost appears and our challenge is won.



Door #2.



...God drat it, not another dragon. And we can't avoid a fight here.



Before leaving we take the warrior's skull from the dragon's corpse. I really should've made a screenshot of it.



Third time's the charm.



Easy enough.



I've always preferred non-combat encounters.



Just one more key left.



We place the skull and...



We're thrust into an honest-to-God text adventure section. This part might get boring so feel free to scroll to the point where I get the key.























There we go, we've collected all the keys!

(I'm pretty sure there's an easter egg here that's accessed by looking at your map in this area, doing so leads to a picture of the original dev team, I couldn't get it to work this time around though)



Every time we turn a key we get to fight something. These are liches.



Not sure what these were supposed to be but they were push-overs.



And finally we're pitted against an assortiment of nasties, the hardest fight out of the three.



I love how these two are competing which one of them gets to hopskotch the plot. Too bad for Irenicus that Sandrah's way ahead of him.



I don't see these two getting together but I've been wrong before.



The portal is opened and we can enter the keep's final area.



Irenicus heads off Sandrah at the pass by telling us not to trust the Helmites. And not a moment too soon...



This goes against my better nature but I don't like being duped.



The portal in the back allows us to leave the keep, time to deal with these Helmites. :colbert:



... :suicide:

I'm so loving done with this poo poo.

Sandrah can't resist butting in on everyone's problems with sage advice she required by getting a copy of the script. I'm completely convinced that the only reason she didn't speak up during the Deva quest is because Roxanne couldn't get it to work without breaking the entire thing. Either way these conversations are really starting to get to me and I'm getting the feeling that it's only going to get worse from here. :cripes:

I completely believe that Sandrah's an expert on 'celestial aids' though. :imunfunny:



Jesus loving Christ it's like this mod is trying to get me to stop playing it. Who enjoys this poo poo!?



Ha, suckers!



That creepy ghost thing is right, though. I can't leave these guys to their fates! We'll have to go back in.



Back again, in the nick of t-



...Oh, what have I done?



Oh crap, it's the Demogorgon! Sandrah was right! How can we possibly defeat the infamous Prince of Demons?



Who needs tactics when you have Sandrah at your disposal? :smuggo:



I can't believe that actually worked!



Come on, Irenicus! You can't leave us hanging like that!



:smith:



And that was Watcher's Keep. Next time we're going to help out Caelar and make some progress with the main story!

Vichan fucked around with this message at 12:12 on Nov 7, 2021

Leraika
Jun 14, 2015

Luckily, I *did* save your old avatar. Fucked around and found out indeed.
remember like two updates ago when I was happy sandrah had nothing to do with irenicus?

Black Robe
Sep 12, 2017

Generic Magic User


Vichan posted:



... :suicide:

I'm so loving done with this poo poo.

Sandrah can't resist butting in on everyone's problems with sage advice she required by getting a copy of the script. I'm completely convinced that the only reason she didn't speak up during the Deva quest is because Roxanne couldn't get it to work without breaking the entire thing. Either way these conversations are really starting to get to me and I'm getting the feeling that it's only going to get worse from here. :cripes:

I completely believe that Sandrah's an expert on 'celestial aids' though. :imunfunny:



Jesus loving Christ it's like this mod is trying to get me to stop playing it. Who enjoys this poo poo!?

On the one hand, I sympathise completely, because this is all utterly pathetic garbage and doesn't even have the redeeming feature of occasionally being unintentionally funny any more.

On the other hand, you chose to LP this mod, I'm not sure what you were expecting :v:

On the, uh, third hand, if it's getting unbearable, just stop. For most of this there's at least been the sense that the non-Sandrah parts have been entertaining enough to keep you going, but if it's not fun any more then let it die. Nobody would blame you in the slightest. Don't torture yourself on our account, I'm amazed you didn't burn out months ago.

And by 'let it die' I mean 'choose a suitable story beat and tell Princess Snowflake to go gently caress herself so the narrative ends with her sulking off in a huff and the game refusing to continue'. Or else 'get her killed in the most amusing and/or appropriate manner available'.

Velius
Feb 27, 2001
The Irenicus mod is solid, and I’m enjoying it. It makes the Sandrah inserts all the more glaring for how awful they are. Can you ditch her and keep going instead? Please?

Black Robe
Sep 12, 2017

Generic Magic User


Someone earlier in the thread did mention they were managing a playthrough without her because they used a curse scroll to petrify her and left her standing somewhere.

TitanG
May 10, 2015

Black Robe posted:

On the one hand, I sympathise completely, because this is all utterly pathetic garbage and doesn't even have the redeeming feature of occasionally being unintentionally funny any more.

On the other hand, you chose to LP this mod, I'm not sure what you were expecting :v:

On the, uh, third hand, if it's getting unbearable, just stop. For most of this there's at least been the sense that the non-Sandrah parts have been entertaining enough to keep you going, but if it's not fun any more then let it die. Nobody would blame you in the slightest. Don't torture yourself on our account, I'm amazed you didn't burn out months ago.

And by 'let it die' I mean 'choose a suitable story beat and tell Princess Snowflake to go gently caress herself so the narrative ends with her sulking off in a huff and the game refusing to continue'. Or else 'get her killed in the most amusing and/or appropriate manner available'.

At this point I'm not sure if she's actually killable anymore though

sebzilla
Mar 17, 2009

Kid's blasting everything in sight with that new-fangled musket.


Did you not do any of the other button combinations on Lum's Machine, or just not show them off?

Not that you really need the stat boosts at this point I suppose.

Vichan
Oct 1, 2014

I'LL PUNISH YOU ACCORDING TO YOUR CRIME

sebzilla posted:

Did you not do any of the other button combinations on Lum's Machine, or just not show them off?

Not that you really need the stat boosts at this point I suppose.

Normally I would but at this point I just couldn't be bothered since Sandrah trivializes almost every encounter.

Black Robe posted:

On the one hand, I sympathise completely, because this is all utterly pathetic garbage and doesn't even have the redeeming feature of occasionally being unintentionally funny any more.

On the other hand, you chose to LP this mod, I'm not sure what you were expecting :v:

On the, uh, third hand, if it's getting unbearable, just stop. For most of this there's at least been the sense that the non-Sandrah parts have been entertaining enough to keep you going, but if it's not fun any more then let it die. Nobody would blame you in the slightest. Don't torture yourself on our account, I'm amazed you didn't burn out months ago.

And by 'let it die' I mean 'choose a suitable story beat and tell Princess Snowflake to go gently caress herself so the narrative ends with her sulking off in a huff and the game refusing to continue'. Or else 'get her killed in the most amusing and/or appropriate manner available'.

I still plan on finishing this drat thing, but boy does the mod do every possible thing to dissuade me from doing so.

I wonder how many people actually made it as far as I have?

vilkacis
Feb 16, 2011

Vichan posted:

There are multiple endings to Irenicus' story as well and I'm pretty sure I've already screwed up at least one of them. Hopefully it won't break anything post-ToB, although maybe Sandrah will be nice enough to trigger Irenicus' best ending for us.



I guarantee it.

Vichan posted:

I'm getting the feeling that it's only going to get worse from here. :cripes:

:unsmigghh:

...


:smithicide:

Vichan
Oct 1, 2014

I'LL PUNISH YOU ACCORDING TO YOUR CRIME
Chapter CXXXI - Are we nothing but pawns in a game here, Lord of the Chaos?



We have the luxury of revisiting old areas in ToB, we have to make use of it to help Caelar out.



It did lead to this bug where we could ask Drizzt to help us out with Bodhi.



Guess it's off to Kanaglym as was already suggested. Could've saved me 100gp. :(





One of Caelar's former disciples tries to impede on our progress to no avail.



A short while later we arrive at Kanaglym.







And that's that. Not really that much to it, was there?



We do run into Nederlok again while leaving but we manage to avoid having to kill him.



Time to make some more progress with the main quest!



Irenicus is a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to places like this.



Could it be...?



What's he doing? :saddowns:



Ouch!



Of course Sandrah realises what's going on immediately but for some reason doesn't to do anything to stop it.



The impostor died a painful death shortly afterwards.



He did manage to get to Sandrah after all.



Time to head into the temple.



A temple of Bhaal, it seems.




This lady seems to have lost her marbles ages ago, we do need her help though so we have no choice but to do as she says.



Huh, I was wondering why this place looked like Elminster's garden.



Next we head for the Marching Mountains.



Yep, we're definitely in the right place.





I shudder to think how these were conceived.



The temple entrance isn't hard to fight and we're slowly but surely making our way through it. (I loving loathe this area and won't be covering it in great detail)



Which one of us killed the other again, Sarevok? :smuggo:



Irenicus is extremely jealous that Sandrah gets overpowered gear.



The last of the Fire Giants put up a valiant fight but they too fall beneath our blades! :black101: (How a fire giant almost killed Sandrah in one hit while the Demogorgon couldn't even do damage is still a mystery to me)



Yaga-Shura's heart is ours, now to find Nyalee's heart.



What th-



Oh, it's just Skie.



If you pay close attention you'll notice that Sandrah just leapfrogged the plot yet again. It'd be nice if we'd be allowed to talk to her as well but no such luck, she's already gone.



Am I supposed to know who this is? No matter, he's dead within seconds.



Aren't these two the cutest? :swoon:

It's been a while since we've had a mid-dungeon sexual encounter.




We save one of Yaga-Shura's slaves and learn some stuff for our trouble.





The second heart is found in Yaga-Shura's bedroom, as well as his journal. That's all for this area.



Did I mention this mod was also made by Roxanne? Only more puzzling that she hasn't talked to Sandrah yet. I guess she only makes crossmod content with other people's mods. :jerkbag:



We head back to the temple and give the hearts to Nyalee.



She decides to grow a conscience shortly afterward but to no avail.



Not to worry, fine inhabitants of Saradush. We will attack the siege camp and break the s-



...Oh.



Oh no. :ohdear:



Yaga-Shura will pay for this! :black101:



There he is, let's get him! :black101:



Stay and fight, coward! :argh:



Yaga-Shura managed to flee but he quickly returns with reinforcements.



Eventually Sandrah's hammer finds his head and we pass out.



Back at the Pocket Plane once again.



Sandrah was...wrong?









I'm not the biggest fan of Throne of Bhaal but I always enjoyed these sequences.



We wake up back at the siege camp.




Melissan is waiting for us and points us to Amkethran.



I probably picked the wrong choice here but the other ones didn't feel right either, it's easy to gently caress up Irenicus' redemption and for reasons I can't get into right now it's important that he survives ToB.



It's good to know I have his support, at least.



Looks like we're going to have to return to Waterdeep before continuing the main quest to solve the mystery of Khalindra's second child.



Are we sure Roxanne wrote this? It's not as awful as Sandrah's dialogue, that's for sure.



Oh God, not this guy again. :cripes:



I much preferred it when these dialogues ended in combat instead of him damaging us one by one in a cutscene.



So each of the remaining Bhaalspawn is sponsored by a god. Illasera by Cyric, Yaga-Shura by Talos. Vichan by MystraSandrah.



Next time we'll pass the second trial in the Pocket Plane, after that's it's off to Waterdeep to deal with Sandrah's sibling!

Vichan fucked around with this message at 12:13 on Nov 7, 2021

biscuits and crazy
Oct 10, 2012
I hope Sandrah declares war on the gods and just gets yeeted off the Prime by one of the gods, like Torm for example. Would serve her right.

Edit. ToB is by far the worst part of the story imo, you can tell it was rushed and that bits were cut. Watcher's Keep is decent though.

biscuits and crazy fucked around with this message at 12:27 on Aug 12, 2021

Zulily Zoetrope
Jun 1, 2011

Muldoon
At least ToB had the decency to be short and focused on its scope, and it does have some cool setpieces.

Like the very next area you're supposed to visit is one of my favorite segments. I'm half-expecting Sandrah to ruin it, but I guess we'll have to wait until after whatever horrible revelations await us in Waterdeep.

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

Zulily Zoetrope posted:

At least ToB had the decency to be short and focused on its scope, and it does have some cool setpieces.

Though some notes from the modding community, back when Bioware devs hung around the modding sites, about what was envisioned for ToB when it was planned to be a full third game:

The idea was, there's a line in BG2 during the Spellhold durance where Bhaal inside your soul notes that you're fighting him inside your own soul, and are strange among your kin. And by implication, all your dreams in SoA are not actually Irenicus or Imoen but different parts of your soul. This originally wasn't a throwaway line - you would have been the lone Bhaalspawn truly possessed of free will (Imoen was originally to die in BG2). In BG3, Bhaal would have decided that the time has come and seizes control of all the Bhaalspawn in Faerun - except you, who are uniquely immune to his control.

Illasera was supposed to be a recurring antagonist before you finally killed her, she was envisioned as being the PC's dark counterpart, an adventurer with a loyal band of followers until Bhaal activated his spawn. You were supposed to be able to talk some or all of party out of siding with her, and one possibility suggested was that she might have some of your former party members in her band.

With Faerun suddenly going to smash, there's a problem: every Bhaalspawn who dies strengthens Bhaal and quickens his return. Melissan would have introduced herself early in the plot as an archmage capable of sealing the Bhaalspawn essence away upon the defeat of each one, preventing Bhaal's resurrection. Black Isle didn't expect players to trust her, and she was never meant to come across as a good guy - but for the time being, you need her.

The Master Wraith was supposed to be a recurring bad guy, not a one off, putting every member of your party through psychological hell by facing them with their regrets and the loss in their life.

The final dungeon of the game was to be the pocket plane as you face a gauntlet of trials and judgments at the hands of the Solar, culminating in you fighting the personification of your Bhaalspawn taint as Bhaal himself.

With you either destroying or completely absorbing his essence into yourself, there are no more Bhaalspawn left... just Melissan at the Throne of Blood, who has claimed the full of Bhaal's power and throne. You go to face her at Bhaal's throne to either destroy Bhaal's essence for all time, or seize control of it all to become the new Lord of Murder yourself.

Ramc
May 4, 2008

Bringing your thread to a screeching halt, guaranteed.

"if you were really Gorion you would talk about ME" - sandra

Fighting Trousers
May 17, 2011

Does this excite you, girl?

Cythereal posted:

Black Isle didn't expect players to trust her, and she was never meant to come across as a good guy - but for the time being, you need her.

*I* never trusted Melissan. :smug:

Black Robe
Sep 12, 2017

Generic Magic User


Ramc posted:

"if you were really Gorion you would talk about ME" - sandra

Vichan
Oct 1, 2014

I'LL PUNISH YOU ACCORDING TO YOUR CRIME
The next chapter (or two) will be thick with Sandrah content and will take a while to set up. I want to do a better job of showing off alternate solutions and failstates when it comes to Sandrah's quests, especially since the post-ToB content is growing ever closer.

Cythereal posted:

Though some notes from the modding community, back when Bioware devs hung around the modding sites, about what was envisioned for ToB when it was planned to be a full third game:

Thank you for sharing this. Always interesting to read about what could have been. :) It's hilarious how SoA's final cinematic never really comes up again.

I seem to recall one Bioware dev getting into BG2's cut content on one of the mod forums but to my chagrin I've never been able to track that one down. It was full of information that I haven't been able to find anywhere else and by this point I'm half-remembering bits and pieces of it.

Leraika
Jun 14, 2015

Luckily, I *did* save your old avatar. Fucked around and found out indeed.
no gods no masters sandrah is yet another shift in character, though she's always been dismissive of gods who aren't mystra.

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Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

Leraika posted:

no gods no masters sandrah is yet another shift in character, though she's always been dismissive of gods who aren't mystra.

Nah, she's always been dismissive of Mystra, too. "She's a reference, not a master."

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