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The Iron Rose posted:Pffft. That doesn't even come NEAR the levels of bullshit present in modded ToB and SoA. So what, they're going to come within about three pixels of being in sight of the party and then just drop a Cloudkill at max range in case some enemy might mysteriously happen to be nearby?
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Sep 19, 2012 13:39
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Trin Tragula posted:So what, they're going to come within about three pixels of being in sight of the party and then just drop a Cloudkill at max range in case some enemy might mysteriously happen to be nearby? Sometimes. I've fought an enemy mage that used the Time Stop/Improved Alacrity/Magic Missile trick to decimate my party. That spoilered robe isn't even the worst part of Vecna. There's a sword called Volcano which is absolutely sick. There are about five different items that give immunity to Time Stop, making that spell even more sick. There is a ring that is basically Immunity to Everything. There's another ring that is Kill Everything. And the absolute worst part of Vecna is that NONE of it is original. Every single item you can find there was taken from another mod. Some of the keys you need to use even have descriptions from the in-game. There's a key that you need to open a chest, and it's description states that it is used to open a jaildoor in Firkraags dungeon. You can fight about a score of Baphomet's (the final boss from IWD) at once, as well as a horde of Isairs and Madaes (from IWD II). Not to mention, as I said above, three loving Lolths. THREE. Even the story is non-existent. I think the only thing the modder did to make it even the slightest bit original was his text. And that sucks. The only good thing about the mod is that it really makes some overpowered gear seem like a wet tissue. Fighting a horde of Undead Tyrants who can spam Imprisonment is hell.
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Sep 19, 2012 20:39
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I've been collecting some more deaths, times when things went bad. They're getting pretty old now so i should post them before everybody forgets where they are from. These are visions... visions of things gone bad in other universes. --- Trunk and branch, twig and leaf, Memory is a reality thief. --- Then a shade of some sort of mage begins to yell at me and I don't know what is more insane, the incoming undead or conversing while it happens.   I may leave if you answer my questions first. Why are you still here haunting this place? Why? Why you ask? We were needlessly attacked by cowards who thought of us as a threat and sought to steal our knowledge. For this we remain and our dead enemies we cursed them to serve us as protectors of our knowledge. Ironic isn't it? What they came to steal, they now end up protecting as will you. You will never leave here, destroy them!Uh oh. And she was a cutie too. I feel sad that I didn't memorize Fireball today - this wide-open space with a lot of enemies would be perfect for it. Instead, all of us mages just throw the quickest offensive magic we can at the shade before SHE fireballs US.  Imoen's choice is the savior of the hour - her Orb of Air lands again! Why doesn't it ever work out like that for me?  I have a crazy idea, and run out into the crowd of undead coming after us. It would have worked too, but I trip a trap and get roasted by a lightning bolt! Ouch!  Around the same time, Edwin casts Grease, blocking off one area from possible undead advancement.  I block off another. I hope I can get away before the bunnybombs fall.  Something is wrong. We can't see Arch Mage Arias, but she can see us. She fires 5 magic missiles at Firebead!  I thought she was still locked in the Orb of Air but I guess its just normal invisibility or something. I manage to get away from the rabbits of doom and start making my way back to the rest of the group. Firebead gets hit with a second volley of Magic Missiles, and Yeslick decides to retreat to heal him.  Firebead is no stranger to combat and meets Yeslick halfway. Edwin is the next to get hit by the invisible archmage's fury.  Edwin, unable to target anything, casts Color Spray. It is unclear if he is successful or not.  Firebead is successfully healed by Yeslick, but they also see some new undead threats. Ghasts!  Firebead responds completely appropriately, with Stoneskin.  Edwin is all alone in trying to figure out how to deal with Arch Mage Arias. She figures out how to deal with him first.   I heal myself and for the second time today regret that I did not prepare Fireball.  Imoen is threatened by a ghoul shambling up to her. She responds with overwhelming force.  Firebead casts Minor Globe of Invulnerability, preparing to take on Arch Mage Arias.  I try to decide what to do as well, and go with Chaos Shield. As Firebead's Minor Globe of Invulnerability touches Arch Mage Arias's, she finally becomes visible. Now we must strike!  Arch Mage Arias' Flame Arrow hits Kagain, but he doesn't even seem to notice.  She also hits Imoen with something before anyone else can do anything. How is she casting so fast?  Then when I see what Firebead is doing, I think he may have won the day. He casts Chaos.  But then Arch Mage Arias lets loose with a Fireball and all bets are off.  And Imoen falls. In incoherent rage I run for Arch Mage Arias screaming, dragging the Weave behind me and preparing to throw something, anything, all the high-level energy I can gather into my hand. Firebead sees me coming and steps out of the way. Arias fires some magic missiles at his shield.  They fizzle harmlessly. I try to let loose a Cone of Cold. The Weave doesn't let me.  Then Archmage Arias fires a Lightning Bolt at me and I die. --- Trunk and branch, twig and leaf, Memory is a reality thief. ---  What's wrong? What is driving you to madness. Lady, if you want help, you're going to have to calm down. He... it's in my head. It won't be quiet, just keeps on whispering, and whispering. You see this jar. Do you SEE it?!!! We see the jar lady, now just calm down and tell us what's happening. My companions and I... we explored the Firewine ruins... and we found... we found, this jar. It... it drove them all mad. They hacked and they cut, and... the blood, so much blood. They're all dead now, and only I'm left. The voice... it tells me to say the name. If I say the name, it promises great rewards. But... I won't... I won't. Give us the jar, we'll know what to do with it. NO! Carsa will not give the jar. The jar is Carsa's and hers alone. Get away... get away or Carsa will say the name... and we will all die. Give us the jar Carsa. Give it to us now! You not take the jar from Carsa. It's mine. MINE!! Stay away, or I say the name. Stay away. We're taking the jar from you, whether you like it or not. NOOOoooo... KAHRK!! OH MIGHTY KAHRK!!! Whoa! That's some really creepy magic there! OH MIGHTY KAHRK!!!Then the magewoman dies and an ogre mage appears in her place.   It is so nice of him to say so. Time to die Kahrk!  Yep... just as soon as we figure out where you are...  And yet it works anyways!  We all target spells at him and begin casting. But he has a contingency set up!  He becomes visible again, and we all rush him again. But a pack of undead seem to shamble up to support him.  Yeslick throws his own Dispel Magic at the beast, just like he did in the Cloakwood Mines.  And at the same time, the ogre mage casts Confusion on us all. The most amazing thing happens. For a moment we are all confused, but then Yeslick's Dispel Magic washes over us and most of us are restored instantly!  Despite all that, Kahrk still has a stoneskin to put up. He wades into battle with us and injures Finch!  I am also hit in melee, and then Imoen screams out. Coran is still confused and is coming after her!  Finch is out of healing, so Yeslick takes care of her while the ogre mage closes in.  Then Kahrk casts another Confusion and things are looking grim.  Thankfully Coran kills a zombie this time.  A confused and wandering Kagain gets paralyzed by an attacking ghoul, and I think all is lost. But as if on autopilot, my hands have already opened up Rhialto's Spellbook and have thrown a Dispel Magic at the melee crowd. It hits perfectly.  Kahrk casts Flame Arrow at me. I take out my Sword of Flame and laugh at him.  GAHOUCHAHGAH!  Thankfully I can give myself a healing touch.  Kahrk's next victim is Finch.  Imoen hits him a good one and then he tries to put me to sleep.  Then I am hit with a Lightning Bolt and die instantly. --- Trunk and branch, twig and leaf, Memory is a reality thief. --- KAHRK!! OH MIGHTY KAHRK!!! Whoa! That's some really creepy magic there! OH MIGHTY KAHRK!!!Then the magewoman dies and an ogre mage appears where she stood.  It is so nice of him to tell us that he's weak now.  Oh. Weak in the metaphorical sense. Remove this frappery!  As I stand there waiting to cast another spell, Kagain rushes the ogre mage and gets in a good, solid hit.  By the time I do cast, though, Kahrk has become invisible again. I have to chang my spell mid-cast from Acid Arrow to Detect Invisibility.  I must have inverted a part of the spell, because it tries to blind me instead of letting me see!  Thankfully I resist the effects. We all have a moment to get back into formation before Kahrk appears again. When he does, we all strike at once. Yeslick and Finch each cast Hold Person. Imoen casts Orb of Air. Coran shoots as fast as he can. Kagain rushes into melee, and I throw some Chaos Shards at him. His answer is Confusion.  Kahrk saves against both spells. Only Finch saves against his spell.  I wander off and get attacked by something.  Finch, though, sees things as they truly are.   Let's get ready to rumble!I think I may be in trouble.  Coran, despite being confused, also seems to not be on our side anymore either.  And Finch seems to be quite hurt.  I'm not doing so great either.  Actually, I'm dead.  Gameplay note: That is an EXTREMELY RARE deathshot of myself. It takes split-second timing and lightning reflexes (and already being in the middle of taking a screenshot) to get that tiny little moment between dying and being shown the death screen. --- Trunk and branch, twig and leaf, Memory is a reality thief. --- What we find is surreal.  Is Lady Valeria at home? I am afraid that Her Ladyship is engaged in a matter that requires her undivided attention. It would be quite impossible to intrude on her privacy thusly. I suggest you go at once.I'm not really one for politeness. What does "her Ladyship" do that requires such concentration? What do you think, Bertram? Have we shown enough forbearance in the face of their inquisitiveness? Should we allow them access to the Mistress? Or maybe they should be taught that intelligence is less useful than a healthy measure of common sense? I think they are overdue for a lesson in the neglected art of "Shut the Hells Up," which I am about to administer with the help of my assistants. Would you be so good as to inform our mistress of my tutelage? But of course!Then a blinding divine light shines from the corner.   But Bertram isn't the only holy man in this room anymore.  Or holy woman.  Bertram calls several skeletons into the room to fight with him.  Then he blesses and protects everyone from evil... on his side.  He keeps taunting us through the blinding flashes of his divine might.  My response is to kill his minion Spike.  See how he likes that! He doesn't like it at all. He hits me with a Flamestrike and I die. Vorgen fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Sep 20, 2012 |
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Sep 20, 2012 00:33
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Wow. How many times have you died now? Is someone keeping a running tally?
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Sep 20, 2012 06:15
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I have no idea. I don't keep a tally, and these aren't even all the times I've died. These are just highlights. Sometimes I come home drunk and think I'll play a quick update at 2am and get my rear end handed to me 5 times in a row before just going to bed.
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Sep 20, 2012 06:31
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Those sounds like some choice updates, there!
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Sep 20, 2012 06:52
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Yeah, I'm not even trying to keep track of these for the roll of the dead.
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Sep 20, 2012 14:13
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New update teaser: Syvishtara just pulled off something that no level 8 mage should have ever been able to get away with.
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Sep 22, 2012 19:51
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Vorgen posted:New update teaser: Syvishtara just pulled off something that no level 8 mage should have ever been able to get away with. Was it casting sequencer through dweomer ?
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Sep 22, 2012 19:59
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Vorgen posted:New update teaser: Syvishtara just pulled off something that no level 8 mage should have ever been able to get away with. She casted cacofiend, didn't she, or whatever summon fiend spell she has picked up along the way.
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Sep 22, 2012 20:05
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Vorgen posted:New update teaser: Syvishtara just pulled off something that no level 8 mage should have ever been able to get away with. Let's see, 8th level means 4th level spells... Did you cast Meteor Swarm?
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Sep 22, 2012 20:32
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Oh man, this will be beautiful 
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Sep 22, 2012 21:09
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Alright, here are the final votes:code:
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Sep 23, 2012 19:04
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 2 Ches, 1370 We agree to help out this beautiful elven maiden named Jet'laya. We add her to the party and then teleport to the Armory in order to outfit her with more appropriate garb. Once there, Gavin begins speaking to Yeslick.   Thanks, laddie. Did the old heart good to be strikin' those that wronged me clan. Not that they dinae have it comin', anyways, wi' all the harm they done others besides me an' mine. True enough, my friend. Your clan was just one of the casualties of that lot. An' I must say, 'tis good to be travelin' wi' another man o' faith, even if ye be a mite long in the shanks. Why, if we had a few more o' the like about, we could clean up this mess right quick. The company would be most welcome, but I hope we'll manage well enough on our own, if we need to. I have to admit, we are making progress. Aye, laddie, I hope you're right. Too much stompin' about, though. Not that I'm complainin', mind ye! Dwarves are made for endurance. But some o' them less hardy folk seem ta flag a bit. Hmmm. We do need to keep our strength up. Let's make sure we keep an eye on everyone, make sure they're holding up all right.Was that just... just a subtle dig at female clerics? Those two guys know that Finch and Jet'laya are standing RIGHT THERE, don't they? It is now that I realize I'm traveling with four clerics. If anybody dies it will be entirely from stupidity. We set about the task of equipping Jet'laya with good equipment. She is actually outfitted pretty well already, though. Gameplay note: Jet'laya is a Feywarden of Corellon, as we voted.  She's got some pretty good equipment too.  She's already at -4 AC! Not too shabby. Let's look at each piece of eq.  A +3 weapon with bonuses against undead and extra attacks. And since Feywardens of Corellon get 2 pips in weapons, I 've given her 2 in maces. So she is not going to be bad in melee. She should go on the front line.  She's also got her own chainmail. It's no platemail, so we'll probably replace this with some.  Not a bad amulet, especially since we have no others to give her.  She's got her own custom shield too, with a bonus to hit against undead. A shield that gives a bonus to hit? Pretty crazy.  She's got a blue cloak to match her character portrait, one that gives her electrical resistance. Rare in a cloak. Only usable by her.  This is an unremovable ring. I guess it is there to either provide for some quest triggers or as an attempt to balance her out a bit. She's also got a belt, but it is a mundane belt, nothing special, and removable. We are able to help her out with some additional equipment. We give her a Full Plate Mail +2, a Helm of Glory, the Small Shield of Divinity, a Ring of Protection, a Girdle of Bluntness, some Gnomish Boots, and a sling.  Now she's at -11 AC, better than any other cleric. Huh. I guess she definitely goes on the front line. Jet'laya, as a Feywarden of Corellon, has one spell that nobody else has shown yet. It is Alicorn Lance.  Hitting people with unicorn horns. What will they think of next? Jet'laya is also high enough level to cast Level 4 cleric spells. She has 8 of them.   This is ok if you want low-level monsters to not bother your cleric. But it only lasts 1 round every 2 levels, so at Jet'laya's level it only lasts 3 rounds. Best to cast it after she's in trouble and she needs some space.  The next level of healing spells. It can heal a maximum of 52 hit points, which is enough to heal half of Yeslick's current total, almost all of my 57 and Jet'laya's 58, and will be slight overkill for everyone else.  Death Ward becomes an essential spell later on, one that is necessary to protect against the large number of death spells headed our way. But we haven't seen that many of them and probably won't until we go up against the type of powerful mages we haven't even dreamed of yet.  This is a pretty sweet spell, and can be very useful. I'm tempted to have Jet'laya memorize one of these, because she's got the best AC out of the whole group and increased attacks already from her mace.  This spell reveals the fog of war that maps usually have in places you aren't. This has happened to me a few times already as a wild surge. It is quite frightening when it happens in combat because you are taken to the area map screen and can't get back into combat until you click on an area to spy on. But if you have it memorized and cast it normally out of combat, you can see what's in an area before going there. But, the question becomes... why not just go there?  This is great when going up against enemies that will try to hinder your movement. The only problem is that it makes you immune to Haste as well. If we go up against spiders again some day, we will need to use this.  Lesser Restoration is an after-battle spell. When going up against vampires it becomes an essential spell to have. Oh my god is it essential.  It neutralizes any poison, protects against future poisons, and even protects against Cloudkill! Should be memorized by every enemy mage so that players don't exploit their stupid AI via invisible cloudkill shenanigans. After we get done with equipping Jet'laya, it is time to sleep. We decide to sleep at the Friendly Arm. It is much more sociable than sleeping in the pocket plane.  I also want to speak with Thorengrim Hammerfist, to see if he can upgrade anything we've got.  Well Thorengrim can you forge anything that we have? Maybe make it stronger? Well then Syvishtara lets see what ye have. I kin only forge certain items ye know. Sure, go ahead and take a look. Anything you can do with the Ring of Fire Resistance? Hmm I kin make it a more powerful ring, but I need a few things to do that. A scroll of fire protection, a potion of fire resistance, plus 8,000 gold pieces and I kin enhance its protection properties. How about it? No, not right now. How about the Girdle of Piercing? Can you do anything with this? The Girdle of Piercing? I could combine this with a potion of fire giant strength which would give ye that incredible strength. But this will cost you dearly. Such a powerful item nay come cheap. I be needin' 10,000 gold fer this work. How about it? No, not right now. How about this wyvern head? Can you do anything with this? Ahh ye have a wyvern head. With 6,000 gold pieces and this head I kin make a very powerful helm from it. How about it? No, not right now. Well come back when ye change yer mind.We also stop by to take a look at what Bentley Mirrorshade has to sell. Finch finds a new book, History of the Unicorn Run. She begs me to buy it, so I do. It is only 9 gold after all. Then, later that evening, as we are all relaxing by the fire, she reads it to us.  History of the Unicorn Run posted:Regardless of the truth, the elves, korreds, and halflings all agree that the Unicorn Run is sacred to life and a site of incredible purity. As a result, all three races have strong taboos about extended trips up the Run, for if the river is ever fouled, then no new races will ever be born on Toril again. We sleep. The next morning, I am awakened by what can only be called a delegation. Yeslick, Finch, Jet'laya, and Gavin form a half-circle facing me. Imoen follows them too, smiling sheepishly.  The clerics calmly and rationally explain to me that we are going to go save Gullykin from its ogre invasion. They say that they understand that I am sometimes distracted, and that I have a lot on my mind. But Gullykin needs protection and we are the only ones to do it. I really see no choice here - if 2/3rds of my party wants to go back to Gullykin, I guess we're going back to Gullykin.  When we arrive, we are immediately assaulted by ogres. Finch blesses us and we are in combat.  Finch is injured first.  She pops a healing potion. Then Jet'laya is pounded down almost to death.  She does the same thing. Yeslick calls down a Holy Smite on the group.  We keep fighting. Finch is injured yet again. What is up with these ogres? They are like supermen of their kind.  And just when we think we're done, a second group comes up to our position as we finish killing the first group.  After we finish slaying these reinforcements, Imoen says a long, drawn-out OOOOoooohhhhhhh! She must have realized something important about magic.    Gameplay note: I guess getting your first class back is based on level, not xp? We try to move a little closer to Gullykin, but we are assaulted by a pack of dread wolves. Is everything out to kill us today?  We meet more ogres again at the entrance to the village. Where are they all coming from?  We are doing okay with those, but then more come from behind! We are surrounded!  I try to pull of some more Minute Meteors when I see something strange, over there.  Eh, its just a ghost.  I call for a regroup inside the village. Thankfully everyone is able to squeeze around the slow-moving ogres and get into position. Then, when we do, we unleash a magical barrage.  But just as I cast Emotion: Despair on our enemies, an ogre mage behind us casts Sleep!  I turn to cast Remove Magic, and it goes off, but in my haste I targeted the actual Ogre Mage, and the spell removes the magical despair from all our enemies as well.  Plus, three of us are down from the Sleep! Imoen retreats from the battle and casts Dispel Magic at the whole tangle. Our allies get up again.  Then the ogre mage does us a favor. She casts Color Spray into the crowd, and mostly hits her own men. At the same time Imoen summons her pet wyvern, and it makes ready to feast!  But we do not get a break. More ogres come from behind us... again!  We reverse direction and try to retreat again. This time the wyvern runs interference for us so we again manage to make it, although Jet'laya was stuck in the tangle for a bit. This calls for an extreme measure. This calls for a Glyph of Wild Magic.  Absolute chaos breaks over the heads of the ogres.  I do not even know how to begin to describe what is happening in there.  And it just... keeps going.  But more ogres come. I let loose another fireball.  And it is also not enough. More and more come.  I don't know what to do. I don't know how we can defeat this never-ending horde. So, I teleport us away.  Gavin acts like nothing is wrong.  Reckon someone somewhere'll need a stout hammer for the good. You wouldn't think about settling down? Nah. What would I do that fer? Nothin' left, nohow. Clan's gone, an' all. Nah, son, no quiet retirement fer this old dwarf. I'll be fightin' the good fight as long as I've got room ta swing me hammer. But I'm not denyin' I might rest a bit afore goin' out ta find it. *smile* Sounds good, Yeslick.I think for a moment about what we should do, and count our resources. I make a plan and tell it to the others. Then, after a deep breath and plenty of prayers to various gods, we go back. Imoen summons another wyvern, and then we run back to the way we came.  Yep, that was the plan. Strong we may be, but we are not prepared for such an extended siege, and such a grinding assault. We will have to come back later. We should do something simple, like save Jet'laya's sister.  When we arrive at the Wood of Sharp Teeth, we are greeted by a tribe of orcs. I give them a Fireball.  We kill their fighters with little trouble, and then send their archers on a wild run.  We sleep in the Armory overnight, and get ready to explore the area come morning. We find another group of orcs. The fight goes pretty normally, with fighters in the front and ranged casters behind.  I tell Gavin to wade into melee in this fight, and he seems to do much better with his morningstar than Finch with her flail.  I ask them to switch places. Gavin finds the whole experience eye-opening.    Gameplay note: Especially now with his 10 hit point gain he has 2 more hit points than Finch! We next find a group of kobolds.  They all explode quickly. Later, a skeleton dies almost before we see it.  Gavin gets medieval on a group of orcs, freezing them and spraying chunks of orc-ice everywhere.  He even manages to do it to the last one, all stylish-like.  The next war party we meet is a little more dangerous.  But I drop a Fireball on them. They don't like that.  I can see how much they don't like it, so I do it again when they Hold Yeslick.  When they Hold Jet'laya too, I cast Dispel Magic at the group.  And Imoen drops a wyvern on them.  The orc mage does something clever. It casts Aganazzar's Scorcher at just the right time to hit a lot of people.  But then we back off and just let the wyvern take care of things.  Everything goes well until a few groups of orcs later, one of them manages to take out the wyvern.  We take its head and move on, until we find a new kind of monster we hadn't seen before - an Orog.  We don't kill it easily, but when we do we find that it was wearing platemail. No wonder it was so hard to kill. After that, there isn't much else to do. We discover the entire area and learn it well.  Then, Jet'laya leads us further into the forest to.... nowhere.  Four hours later, we come to an interesting area that looks like it might have something significant in it. At least Jet'laya says so. I can't tell which part of this oppressive forest we're in.  I think when Jet'laya said interesting, she meant undead. We find some ghasts.  We beat them down quickly.  More exploration brings more ghasts.  And more...  Jet'laya seems quite surprised that I can heal diseases. We find a few more undead, some skeletons and the like, and beat them down rather easily.  I notice that Jet'laya is leading us around in a circle, ignoring the center of the area. I ask her why and she says that powerful undead are there. I tell her that my momma said to never, ever leave powerful undead alive. She looks at me, and then the others, and then nods. She says they are skeleton lords and that they will start by casting Lightning Bolt all at the same person. We have to be ready for that. So we prepare. I cast Protection from Magic on Gavin and he walks in, stalwart. The Skeleton Lords unleash their lightning furies at Gavin, but he is protected.  Then we unleash our furies upon the skeleton lords, and Gavin turns to avoid their swords. Holy Smites from Jet'laya, Yeslick, and Finch fall in a blinding white rain.  And one of Finch's bullets takes out the first Skeleton Lord.  I let loose a fireball that is only resisted by one.  Everyone begins to throw ranged weapons, including Yeslick and Jet'laya, who use Spiritual Hammers. I throw another Fireball.  Then as Yeslick knocks down another Skeleton Lord, Imoen summons her wyvern.  The wyvern immediately makes itself useful by killing one of the skeleton lords.  And then the last one too.  Gameplay note: I only learned to do this strategy via total party wiping several times. Ouch. They have magical two-handed swords and gems, but one of them has a spell scroll - Summon Nishruu.  Once again I fear that Firebead cannot copy out these for the entire party, so I simply add it to my own spellbook. Then we keep walking around. Later on that same night, I try to create more Minute Meteors and almost end up killing myself.  As night rolls in, we find a little lake. North of the lake we see an eerie sight. There are phantoms here, and they are constantly fighting each other.  We also find, near the western edge of the pond, a creepy abandoned shack.  But other than watching the phantoms make eternal war on each other, there is nothing left to do here. Jet'laya says the trail goes north. So we follow.  We follow her to... the Forest of Forgotten Souls.  As we arrive, it begins to rain. Bad sign.  But Jet'laya looks increasingly concerned, so we press on. The undead are here too, in very large numbers.  But our cleric strike team takes them out no problem.  Then we decide to enter the little cabin we find.  It's nice, but there's a Shadow. I let the clerics take care of it.  In one of the chests there is over 500 gold and some magic items!  First, the spell scrolls. There is Phantom Blade, Control Undead, and Heal. I am exceedingly shocked to see that the Heal spell is something that I understand.  Phantom Blade is the right level for Firebead to copy out for us, so I save it for him. But Control Undead is too high level, so I copy it down.   Gameplay note: Wow, a 9th level spell that a mage can use to heal. I've never seen this before. I have finally learned my first level 9 spell!  The other item in the chest is an Apprentice's Ring.  This reminds me of a cursed ring I've seen before, so I hesitate to put it on. Instead I give it to Imoen. But it works!  Imoen and I share a grin, before Yeslick speaks up.  Studying? Me? What an odd thing to study! You needn't ruffle yer feathers, girl. I mean ye no ill will. I considered upon the notion -- I got pretty good with the ruminating in my cell -- and I see ye aren't the stranger to hard work. Ye furrow yer brow, grit yer teeth, squint for all yer worth, and ye wield that quill with a vengeance. Pity the effort is wasted on flimsy paper and blots of ink. Wasted? What do you mean, Yeslick? Surely you understand I make more than scratchings on parchment. I record ideas! I propagate knowledge! But there be nothing solid in it. Not like rock and iron -- ye build with bricks, not words. Ye forge with metal, not ideas. But someone who hasn't a shred of skill building with bricks or metal, and no one to guide them, they rely on words and ideas to make a start! And that is where ye've earned my credit, girl. There's little of substance to yer worship, but ye make a start.The other chest is locked, so Imoen has to take care of that.  It only has a couple of healing potions and one of magic protection. Then we go out and explore the area some more. There are more undead, of course.  We encounter a vampiric wolf later on, and it drains a little of Jet'laya's vitality.  But it is only temporary. There are just undead all over this place.  The name of this forest is starting to make sense.  Finch curses them all, though, so they won't be able to kill us.  On a body underneath a tree, we find a hundred gold, a healing potion, and a Protection from Undead scroll.   I think this might come in handy later. After all, there is just so much undead!  A little later on, I get a Spell Shield spell scroll.  It is outside of the purview of Firebead, so I copy it down into my spellbook. And, as dawn begins to break in the Forest of Forgotten Souls, we stumble across yet another undead. But this one speaks to us.   Ferium... Is that you? What happened tae ye? It can't be... yer hate has all but consumed ye. Why sister? Why? If we are here tae bring me back home, yer too late! I hate it there, I hate everything about it, especially that bastard Ken'lan! May he rot in the nine hells! I hope he meets a slow and painful end! Now leave me be Jet'laya... this is where I'm stayin'. But, ye aren't yerself. We can get help tae ye. There has tae be a way tae... Enough! There is no way to do anything! Now go or I will be forced to do tae ye what has been done tae me! You leave me no choice my sister! If ye won't let me help ye then... I will have to place your unquiet soul to rest. I never thought I would have tae... kill me own sister. But I can't let you exist in this undead shell of yer former self. Friends, I know this is more than ye bargained for and if ye wish tae leave now - I - I will understand. This is just something that I have tae do. We're behind you Jet'laya. It would not be the honorable thing to do to leave you to face this alone. Fools! You all shall die!Gameplay note: Ferium isn't joking around. As a banshee, Jet'laya's sister has the level 9 spell Wail of the Banshee as an innate ability. It is a save-or-die spell, and since we are a party of low-level adventurers, we die. Ferium insta-killed myself and most of the party in the first or second rounds of many successive reloads. I tried a lot of things that didn't work. I tried using Protection from Undead, which I think has been changed by a mod. Now it just gives Negative Plane Protection instead of making the target invisible to undead as it did before. I tried the kamikaze tactic of sending everyone in to cast their most powerful spell at her - she casts faster. I tried using out-of-range castings of Fireball - she's got magic resistance. I tried using a Control Undead scroll - again her casting is faster. I tried sending only Gavin in with Boon of Lathander - it was not boon enough. Each time she cast a spell, an invisible AoE effect centered on her target would rip the souls of 3 or 4 of my party from their bodies. One of those ripped souls was always mine. She was a tough nut to crack. A banshee! I call everybody back. We have to devise a plan, a strategy. A banshee could kill us all in an instant. There is absolutely nothing we can do to protect ourselves from it. So what we need is a proxy, a patsy. We need to call in something else that can handle a banshee. I think I know just the thing, and if the Weave cooperates we will be okay. I do what I can to prepare.  Then I tell everybody to back off. I tell them to back way off. I walk, carefully, until I am just within spellcasting distance of the banshee. And whispering a prayer of utmost devotion to the Weave, I call forth my proxy.  It works! By all the schools of magic it works! Gameplay note: It worked on the first try. There was no reload magic involved. Let the record show that Syvishtara summoned her first Glabrezu on 2 Ches, 1370, as a level 8 Wild Mage! I retreat from the opening Hell Gate and go back to my party. But curiosity overcomes me. I must see what happens. I cast Improved Invisibility.  Then I go back to see how a demon from hell destroys a banshee.  Yes, yes, Mirror Image. A good beginning.  Strong, solid hits the glabrezu brings. Also Power Word: Stun, but that doesn't help. My spine tingles at the thought of that hitting me or my party.  Two more hits and the evil undead is down. But now there is an evil demon standing where she was. Hmmm, I may have detected a flaw in this plan.  HOLY poo poo IT SEES ME IT SEES ME!  I shout out to everyone to run, run, for the love of life RUN! We all run north, as fast as we can, but the demon begins to catch up to us.  Additionally, there is really nowhere else to run.  We have to turn and run to the east but that just gives the horrible beast more time to catch up to us further. I feel its footsteps shaking the ground beneath us.  Is this really necessary?Yes Gavin it's a loving Glabrezu now will you shut up and run? Gameplay note: You might notice Gavin is in the leader position and that's one of the things he says when you give him orders. The demon casts another lightning bolt, and it slowly inches towards Imoen. I know the demon is laughing as we run.  Imoen downs a Potion of Magic Resistance just as the lightning bolt reaches her. I also grab the Rod of Refuge and scream the activation word.  It works. We are safe. I can barely talk. Barely think. That was a close one. But still, we manage to sleep for 16 hours.   In the morning, I can't believe my memory. Did I really pull that off? Did I really summon a Glabrezu from the deepest pits of hell? I wonder what his name was. I notice the clerics aren't really looking at me or talking to me today. Only Imoen looks at me, and gives me a weak smile. I guess they don't approve? Huh. Gameplay note: I ran the numbers on the chances of getting a Spell Cast Normally roll on a wild surge when using Nahal's Reckless Dweomer. The base chance is 1%. But with a level bonus of 8 and a Chaos Shield bonus of 15, I have a total chance of 24%. And not only for summoning demons - I have a 24% chance to cast any spell I know correctly! When we teleport back it is night again. We kill our way through more weak undead.  And make it back to the scene of the banshee's demise.   Well, mission accomplished, I guess. Too bad about the banshee being Jet'laya's sister though. Nearby we see the entrance to a small cave.  I think I should say a small entrance to a large cave. This place is not like other caves I've known.  And yet it does remind me of one or two...  Gavin shouts out during the fight, saying that his essence has been sucked out by the wraith.  And he's not wrong.  Some of these undead are really starting to freak me out.  But all the clerics are stalwart and unyielding in their attacks, so that calms me a little.  A stash in a nearby wall yields some scrolls of Protection from Electricity, Domination, Monster Summoning I, and Cure Critical Wounds.  Gameplay note: We could have used this against the Glabrezu!  Gameplay note: No options for release. This spell has the same duration as the level 3 spell Dire Charm, but ALL creatures can be affected by Domination, whereas Dire Charm has the limitation of only humanoids. Ogres cannot be Dire Charmed, but they can be Dominated.  Gameplay note: Some modder spelled out the effects of this spell in more detail. Hobgoblin archers seem like they could be useful, I suppose.  Gameplay note: This is a scroll for clerics only. They can use them to cast spells without having them prepared. Good to have around. Since these are level 5 spells, something that Firebead can write out for all of us, I stuff them into my backpack and plan to give them to him next time I see him. We decide to keep exploring the caves. As we round the next turn, I apologize to Gavin.  Looks like he gets over his spider phobia really fast, though.  The other undead simply do not bother us.  One of them drops another Invisible Stalker spell scroll. I will keep that for future use. It may be more safe to use than a glabrezu. We explore the entire area and exterminate all of the undead we see. This cave is clear... at least for now.  Then we leave the cave, and finish patrolling the rest of the Forest of Forgotten Souls. There are a few undead, but nothing big, and especially nothing as big as a banshee. This area is also temporarily safe.  Then we set off on the long, lonely road back to civilization.  As we head off, I realize that instead of saving everyone, as I had originally planned to do, we actually saved no one. No one at all. Except myself. From a demon. That I summoned. Heh. Vorgen fucked around with this message at 05:22 on Sep 24, 2012 |
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Sep 23, 2012 19:05
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No Protection from Evil memorized?
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Sep 23, 2012 19:19
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ETB posted:No Protection from Evil memorized? - Syvishtara, lying her rear end off
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Sep 23, 2012 20:37
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I'm loving these. You got me to reinstall BG1 and 2, then download this mod.
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Sep 23, 2012 20:43
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NihilCredo posted:"YOLO." Syv isn't douchy enough to use YOLO. 
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Sep 23, 2012 20:49
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"How do we get rid of this dang banshee?" Well, we summon a glabrezu. "But then we have demons breaching the prime material plane! That's even worse!" True. Thats why we then call forth a Fallen Planetar to squish the demon. "That just means you have an evil demigod running around the woods!" So then we shapechange into the avatar of the exiled God of Murder, solving the problem forever. "..."
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Sep 23, 2012 21:37
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Wow. Wild Magic is truly scary, isn't it?
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Sep 23, 2012 21:39
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That update was incredible, and I have only one question: What the hell is bird magic? I'm really curious as to what that weave disturbance did.
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Sep 23, 2012 21:55
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Portals posted:That update was incredible, and I have only one question: Summons a flock of little birds.
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Sep 23, 2012 22:01
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quote:Gameplay note: I ran the numbers on the chances of getting a Spell Cast Normally roll on a wild surge when using Nahal's Reckless Dweomer. The base chance is 1/100, or a 1% chance. But with a level bonus of 8 and a Chaos Shield bonus of 15, I have a total chance of 1/77, which is a 1.3% chance. I'll probably never be able to do this again. No, that is not how you do the maths! When a wild surge happens, a 1-100 roll is made on a table to determine what kind of wild surge it is. As you said, there is a 1% chance (rolling a perfect 100) that the spell is cast normally. The bonuses from level and Chaos Shield are added to your roll total. If the result is over 100, it's treated as 100. With a +23 bonus, any roll of 77 or higher would equal or beat 100 and make the spell cast normally. So your chance to cast normally was (1% base chance + 23% bonus) = 24%. Or in other words, a 76/100 chance to surge and 24/100 chance to succeed.
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Sep 23, 2012 23:46
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Ok, I changed that section. I wasn't thinking clearly.
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Sep 24, 2012 00:17
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Koskinator posted:24/100 chance to succeed So basically we should be doing this the whole time.
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Sep 24, 2012 00:28
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But the possible ill effects when you don't succeed are pretty scary. Some of them haven't happened yet, or have caused me to reload. I could summon 10 demons targeted at myself. I could turn myself to stone. I could turn the entire party to stone. I could (and have) hit myself with lightning bolts. I could even induce area of effect hiccups on, well, the entire party! The list goes on.
Vorgen fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Sep 24, 2012 |
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Sep 24, 2012 00:42
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Don't forget "roll 4 more times"!
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Sep 24, 2012 00:46
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That update was pure awesome. I loved the crazy demon v. Banshee battle. Out of curiosity, because you defeated the banshee in an a-typical method, did you not get the story progression or is there just no follow-up to the initial conversation with Jet'laya?
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Sep 24, 2012 00:50
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She just doesn't say anything. I can only assume she's in shock from having to kill her sister.
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Sep 24, 2012 00:57
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Vorgen posted:But the possible ill effects when you don't succeed are pretty scary. Some of them haven't happened yet, or have caused me to reload. I could summon 10 demons targeted at myself. I could turn myself to stone. I could turn the entire party to stone. I could (and have) hit myself with lightning bolts. I could even induce area of effect hiccups on, well, the entire party! The list goes on. Koskinator posted:Don't forget "roll 4 more times"! ETB posted:So basically we should be doing this the whole time.
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Sep 24, 2012 02:09
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You have to remember that the bottom 24 things on that wild magic list are never going to happen to you when you do this. As you level up and add to your modifier it will only get better. The worst things that can happen to you are almost impossible at this point.
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Sep 24, 2012 03:03
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I was reading the beginning of the thread again, and I found a post that made me laugh. Here is me, one year ago, thinking I'd be in Amn by this time.
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Sep 24, 2012 03:28
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That's just... Wow. I am impressed.
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Sep 24, 2012 04:22
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Cat Army 
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I must've missed something because apparently Imoen is a male now?
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Sep 24, 2012 04:40
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...Chloe, Kelsey, and Gavin are going to be in for a shock.
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Sep 24, 2012 04:51
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Imoen has the gender-bending lore-boosting belt on because she has the highest base lore. Did I not mention that?
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Sep 24, 2012 05:06
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Man, Imoen's got a pretty crazy stat total right now.
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Sep 24, 2012 05:15
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Vorgen posted:Gameplay note: I guess getting your first class back is based on level, not xp? Yes. As I recall, you have to hit a level equal to your first class level plus one. So when Imoen hits mage level 8, she'll get all her thief abilities back. If mage level 6 was at 40,000 XP and mage level 7 is at 60,000 XP, I'm guessing mage level 8 will be at 80,000 XP.
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Sep 24, 2012 05:21
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caleramaen posted:You have to remember that the bottom 24 things on that wild magic list are never going to happen to you when you do this. As you level up and add to your modifier it will only get better. The worst things that can happen to you are almost impossible at this point. 2 Wild color changes upon the caster 3 Squirrels appear around caster 4 The caster becomes itchy 7 The caster's sex is changed 8 The caster's color changes
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Sep 24, 2012 05:55
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NihilCredo posted:7 The caster's sex is changed I guess I should change Vorgen's subtext now, huh?
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Sep 24, 2012 06:16
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