Shadow Thievery Nonsense

So based on what Khellor Ahmson said, I found some damning evidence to put Isaea Roenal under investigation.  I put my case together pretty briskly and let his superior know.  Next thing I know, Nalia's back in the fold.  I hate being a snitch, but I need to get my mage back.

Speaking of mages, Aerie has been chatting with me fairly often about her amputated wings, etc.  She's getting annoying, definitely.  But, I like how she's a cleric/mage multiclass, so I'm willing to put up with it.  She's just a naive little girl, which is weird seeing how she's had so much traumatic experience in her life.  Like I said, I'm tolerating it and I'm not saying anything to truly upset her.  So far, it seems like she's liking it, which I'm actually not too excited about.

And as far as other possible romances, I spotted Jaheira by the docks outside the Harper stronghold, while I was looking for Isaea's drunk associate Barg.  No warm reunion between us, even though she's been on her own for almost two weeks or so...she's just rushing me to enter the building and talk to her colleagues.  Nope, Jaheira, that's going to have to wait.  I really, really don't see the point in it.  Even if it's just to get you back into the group...welp, I've moved on.  I don't think I can really fit in a fighter/druid right now.

Next move is heading straight to Gaelan Bayle.  I pay him the money in return for access to Aran Linvail.  Oh, I see where this is going.  It's not going to be a straight gold-for-information exchange...I was probably naive myself to even entertain that notion.  But I head to the docks, move unhindered through the lower level of the guild, and find Aran eventually.  He's got some task for me...I'm clearly just a chess piece in the guild war that's rocking Athkatla right now.  I agree, feeling slightly exasperated.  I'm not going to argue, I know how these things go.  This seems easy enough, anyhow...I watch Mook die that night, and return to Aran with the news.  Okay, next task tonight:  find out the name of the vampire guild contact, and from there figure out the guild's location.  Head to the Five Flagons Inn and violently wrangle out the information I need...leave four bodies in my wake: the two traitors, Grecen, and a strange witness bystander named Ercias.  He may have been completely innocent, but he said some weird things that I didn't like.

I now have the info that Aran wants: the location of the vampire guild's headquarters.  But I'm tired of the runaround.  Idaen the Bhaalspawn isn't about to be running menial tasks like a thug...there have to be more solutions to this Imoen problem.  I know several days ago someone approached me about meeting a mysterious "mistress" in the graveyard at night, who could offer me another option.  I'm planning on seeing if this offer is still on the table.  But by the time I emerge from the Five Flagons, dawn has broken...instead of returning to Aran, I spend the daylight at an inn and head to the graveyard at night.  But there's nothing, just darkness and rain, and someone buried alive in a grave.  Yikes...I tell the guy I really don't have time for this, but end up agreeing to try to look for someone wearing bright red...ugh, whatever.

I head down to the catacombs to the blue doors, but there's no one there.  And no way to get in.  A sense of danger so overwhelming that Yoshimo can barely bring himself to try to pick the lock.  Damn!  Offer's off the table, I guess.  Next move, I return to Aran...of course he has another task for me, this one infinitely more dangerous:  destroy an entire vampire hive and its vampire queen.  Gimme a break, guy.  I accuse him of stalling, but he doesn't blink an eye.  Pfft, whatever.  Before I leave his guildhall, I find Renal Bloodscalp, to see if there's any way he can help (don't know what I'm envisioning here).  Of course, he's no help either.  I rebuff him so quickly that it's borderline insulting.  What do I care?  He's not the real guildmaster.  Yoshimo and Korgan don't like how the situation plays out, but they're going to have to do what they're told.

I'm not going to start killing vampires on Aran's request, when I have no guarantee that I'm going to get any of the help or information I need.  I can still possibly get the help of some other major power factions in the city:  the city temples and, yes, the Harpers.  But this stupid guild war can wait.  As far as I know, a gruesome killer and evil mage fled to the Umar Hills several day ago.  I've been lax in my duties to Imnesvale...I need to get THAT figured out.  So I've decided I'm leaving Athkatla.  Imoen will have to tough it out a little longer, but I have faith that she can handle whatever the Cowled Wizards can dish out for now.

That all being said, I realize I rarely write about the weapons and equipment that my characters use.  So, at the beginning of chapter three, here's how the equipment's looking:

Idaen, the PC, is going sword and shield style.  Is this the best?  I don't know, I'm not a powergamer.  I initially envisioned him as using a shield, and as soon as I had as many proficiency points in that as I had in two weapon style, I started using a shield.  Most of my time spent on the Sword Coast, I was dual-wielding, I'll admit.  Anyways, he's using the Wyvern's Tail and a large shield +2.  He's also got full plate mail +1, the Gauntlets of Ogre Power, the Helm of Charm Protection, and the Amulet of Power.  Rounds out to a nice -7 AC with 89hp.  Oh yeah, and his racial enemies are elementals...hasn't come in super-handy yet, although he was destroying those fire elementals in the sphere.

Korgan is also going sword and shield.  He's got a battle axe +2, the Shield of the Lost +2, full plate mail, and a cloak of protection +1, the Helmet of Defense...and the Girdle of Piercing.  -4 AC and a nice 118hp.

And next is Minsc.  I'll admit, he's growing on me.  I hadn't liked him since he tried to kill me in Nashkel, but I guess that's just his style.  I guess due to Irenicus's experiments, I had no memory of traveling with him after Sarevok's death, so I parted ways with him as soon as he freed himself.  In the end, he doesn't seem that bad.  He's dual-wielding a mace +1 and a normal mace (I know, horrible, horrible).  He's wearing full plate mail, the Helm of Balduran, the Ring of Earth Control, and a ring of protection +2 that we just picked up from Linvail.  -5 AC and 83hp.

Okay, and Yoshimo:  switches between a short bow +2 and his own Katana +1.  Wears The Night's Gift +5, the Boots of Stealth, and the Ring of Danger Sense.

Nalia:  a short bow +1, a knave's robe, bracers of defense AC 7, and most importantly for her, the Amulet of Metaspell Influence.

Aerie:  a sling +2 and a small shield +2.  She also has the Ring of Acuity, bracers of defense AC 6, a traveller's robe, and yes, the Helm of Infravision.  I know she doesn't need it, but it's the only other magic helmet, and I'd rather have her wearing this one than some non-magical one.

So that's it, here's the party:

Idaen, lvl 9 cleric/lvl 9 ranger
Korgan, lvl 10 berserker
Minsc, lvl 8 ranger
Yoshimo, lvl 13 bounty hunter
Nalia, lvl 4 thief>lvl 11 mage
Aerie, lvl 9 cleric/lvl 10 mage

Recruiting Minsc and the Planar Sphere

So what's the plan?  Well, here's where I'm at:  I still need to find Imoen.  I don't have the cash to pay Gaelan Bayle, and any plan I had to warm up with the Cowled Wizards seems like it's gone, since Tolgerias was incensed I wouldn't strictly comply with his directives during the whole Valygar/planar sphere situation.  Seems like a standoff with the magic police is looming, so I'm concurrently trying to raise some funds and gain favor from other factions in Athkatla...

So to the Bridge District first.  When I first busted out of Irenicus's prison, I heard of some murders in this area of town by the local Amnish guard.  What better way to get the guards to trust me than help solve one of their murders?  They're still not solved days later, so I search out some of the locals who may have some knowledge about this.  A leads to B, and I'm pointed to the tanner's building.  I get mixed up in a wild confrontation that hints at some greater, cultish-type plot.  The murderer and his wizard friend make an escape, and Yoshimo gets backstabbed into the next world.  Eghh...I feel like this is my first real character death since I've been in Amn...could be mistaken though.  I find some documents, too, that point toward the Umar Hills.  Oooh, I don't like that, I'm the ranger-protector over there, remember?  Heading back east needs to be put on the priority list.  So long story short, the captain (don't know his real title) loves it, and I resurrect Yoshimo at the nearby Temple of Helm.

My next move?  Last post I "incepted" the idea into my mind that Mazzy should get replaced with Minsc.  I can't stop thinking about now, so it just needs to be done.  He's still hanging around the Copper Coronet, and I pick him up.  I want a tank that can be on the front lines with Korgan and Idaen...this could provide relief to Idaen, so he can step back and cast divine during larger battles.  I don't want a *3rd* archer (Yoshimo and Nalia are my other ones...just too many arrows all around).  Besides, I've already bumped into two or three Athkatlans that know and love her in the short time I've been back...I have too much hubris to have my Bhaalspawn reputation outshined by this halfling knight, as pleasant as she is.  So Minsc gets some armor, starts dual wielding maces, and Mazzy heads back to Trademeet.

So I decide that I'll head to the Temple District.  I haven't even stepped foot over there since I've been in Amn.  I'm a "warrior superpriest," so it's really my duty to check out what's happening over here.  The local priests are always an influential organization in big cities, so it wouldn't hurt to try to gain favor with them.  Before I can really dig in, we get word of Nalia's father's funeral, so we head to the Graveyard District to attend.  Same old, same old here...Isaea Roenal seems like a d**k.

So yeah...return to the temple area.  I visit each of the major three, plus the paladin headquarters.  I don't agree to really do any favors for any of them, OTHER than check out the Cult of the Unseeing Eye.  This cult is apparently just causing chaos and dissension among the people.  Now I'm definitely not a priest of Lathander, but I'm going to help out that temple in this matter.  The gods are real, and I believe that the city needs organized religion to function normally.  If anything, my character is a cleric to all of the deities, or even just "Holy Divinity" in general.  Hmm, I may even be more of a cleric of Bhaal when I think about it...well, the point is I'm on the side of the temples, so I'm going to look into this new cult.

I head down to the sewers almost immediately.  Why the rush?  I don't know...but very soon, I encounter an *extremely* tough contingent of six, hiding out in the sewers and demanding money of my party.  It was a hard, hard battle.  Possibly the hardest battle I've experienced ever, since I left Candlekeep.  Mages and spell protections...wow.  I said a few posts ago I'm not really prepared for any of this chess-move-type spellcasting strategy that's so prevalent in Amn and BG2.  But...gotta learn at some point.  Invisibility Purge, Breach, Chaos...yeah, I'm learning to use all of these and more.  Eventually, we win, and with no fatalities.  But it shows me that I need to take a step back before I go any deeper below the city....this quest can wait.

So I rest at Mithrest and debate my next move.  This Tolgerias-Sphere situation is weighing heavily on my mind, and Valygar's body is literally weighing heavily on our shoulders...so let's just head to the sphere, alright?

And that's what we do.  What an adventure it ended up being.  I think I was in there for four days or so, total.  Resting and rememorizing and healing and hiding.  Between the halfling cannibal mages, the golems, and the various planar monsters, I emerged from the sphere feeling like I might actually be ready to take on the rest of Amn.  Several battles in here were as hard or harder than the sewer battle, but we kept improving our tactics.  With Nalia and Aerie, I have a good amount of arcane firepower to complement my clerical/druidic side.

In our first encounter with Lavok, Minsc and Yoshimo were both killed.  After we disabled the necromancer, I rested for 16 hours to resurrect and heal them.  Of course we then run into Tolgerias, and he manages to kill Minsc and Yoshimo, too.  I just rest for 8 hours this time...don't know how much juice Lavok has left in him.  We take on the rest of the sphere, and hunt down a Tanar'ri to return to Faerun.  I let the necromancer die right there, instead of letting him see the sun.  Could have been a trick, you know?  I actually felt a little bad [then I thought, wait, this is just a computer game].

As soon as we emerge, bloodied and exhausted, Nalia's boyfriend shows up to arrest and abduct her.  I guess they were waiting for us to come out....  This is awful.  I like Nalia.  I'm not too annoyed by her, and I desperately need her various mageries.  Luckily someone gives me some hints on how to get her back and punish this loser noble Isaea.

So I stay at the Mithrest Inn for the better part of a day, and make a visit to various storekeeps in the promenade.  I have about 33kgp at this point...Valygar was not lying about the amount of treasure that was in the sphere.  So with my part being rested up, equipped nicely, and missing Nalia, I'm being pulled in multiple directions:

1.)  I have more than enough money for Gaelan Bayle.  I need to find Imoen.  Done first, right?
2.)  Well, if I know where Imoen is, I won't want to attempt to rescue her until I have my mage back.  I need to find one thief>mage before I find another.
3.)  The brutal serial killer from the Bridge District has probably headed to the Umar Hills.  I'm the sworn protector of that area, I can't just ignore that.  I feel like if Imoen has been in captivity for two and a half weeks, she could stand one more, right?  I'm compelled to check this out.
4.)  Oh yeah...solidifying my relationship with the city priests.  Need to investigate the blaspheming cult in the sewers.  Bleck...this can wait.

Party right now!:

Idaen, lvl 9 cleric/lvl 9 ranger
Korgan, lvl 10 berserker
Minsc, lvl 8 ranger
Yoshimo, lvl 12 bounty hunter
Aerie, lvl 9 cleric/lvl 10 mage

Ranger-Protector Status and a Return to Athkatla

So from the wolf cave, we return to the temple and make our way through it.  Mazzy is using her shortbow pretty effectively, and we eventually arrive at the Shadow Altar to confront the Shade Lord.  We had to sneak by the Shadow Dragon...no way I'd be able to handle it at this point, but I'll come back at some point in the future when I feel I have some sort of chance.  In the end, we defeated the Shade Lord, Mazzy pledged her allegience, and the light returned to the forest.  Still not sure what that werewolf I saw was about.  Did I even see one?

So I head back to Imnesvale (hope I spelled that right...).  Due to my successful adventuring work, they mayor anoints me the official ranger-protector of the Umar Hills area.  I accept graciously.  This is exactly what I need...a nice, quiet place away from Athkatla, where I happen to be trusted and treated like a hero.  I head to my new cabin and store some items and weapons that I don't want to sell, but don't necessarily want to be carrying around taking up inventory slots.

Oh, and since I'm the ranger-protector now, I feel like I can help the guy who's in love with the Cowled Wizard's daughter.  I see if I can talk to the girl's father, because I want to help, but also because I'm always eager to speak with a Cowled Wizard...the friendlier I am with them, the likelier it is that I'll be able to find Imoen, or so I think.  Well, it turns out the guy has no useful information for me, and is passively insulting me.  But, I happen to have some mimic blood that I had retrieved a few days earlier so I give it to him, hoping to have him warm up to me.  But what do you know, his golem turns on him.  We just stood there and didn't assist him at all.  He defeated the golem single-handedly, but I guess in the chaos he thought my party had helped.  This turns him around a little bit, and he leaves to reevaluate his life.  No info about Imoen, but I help out these two kids in love and strategically remove the Cowled Wizard presence in *my* new area.

Not much to do in the hills after things settled down, so I headed back west to Athkatla.  I had been gone from the city for about a week when I return (by the way, I'm about twelve days out of Irenicus's dungeon at this point).  I make a straight line to the government district, where I find Tolgerias of the Cowled Wizards, the one who commissioned me to bring back Valygar.  It seemed wise on my part to try to negotiate with the guy, now that I know exactly what the body means to them.  I sort of envisioned a scenario where they hired me to look inside the sphere, and they agree to share information about Imoen.  Instead, Tolgerias just snaps and teleports out of there, promising revenge later.  Great.  This really didn't go as planned...

So with a Cowled Wizard standoff seeming possible in the near future, I need to figure out a game plan.  But first, a visit by two messengers.  The first asks me to go see Gaelan Bayle...the cost of service is now 15000gp.  Okay.  The second is a woman who asks me to see her mistress in the graveyard at night.  It seems mysterious, and honestly I don't see the value in it.  I have a lot to worry about right now, and I have no information about this graveyard meeting: who the mistress is is, why they want to see me, and most importantly, what I can gain out of it.  Not going to go until I see a reason to go.

So 15000gp seems a little more reasonable, and I doubt I'm going to get any more help from the Cowled Wizards.  But I need to re-up on armor, weapons, and equipment, so I head to the Adventurer's Mart.  Buy everyone magical weapons, better armor, etc.  This takes me down to around 8000gp or so, so Gaelan Bayle is going to have to wait.

The sphere seems like it should be the next target.  There is most likely valuable treasure in there, and I want this Tolgerias situation to come to a head as soon as it can...I don't want to constantly be looking over my shoulder, even though that seems about normal these days.

I check out the rest of the Promenade first, as I never really got a chance to explore Athkatla with any depth. Immediately I run into a circus emergency, so being the riveting adventurer that I am I have no choice but to accept.  A few hours and a dreamworld later, a mage/cleric named Aerie has joined the group.  An extra healer and an extra mage are the two things I was looking for, so tactically she makes a great 6th member of the team.  More or less satisfied with the group now, and the first time in the game that we're at max capacity.  Mazzy's a little bit of a question mark right now, as I kind of want a warrior that's more of a tank, but whatever (++++ in short bow, really?).  Minsc is still there, right?  Eghh, I don't know if I'm ready for that...

So I'm going to take my time exploring the big city for now, while gradually drifting closer to the slums and the sphere.  The Windspear Hills are on the back of my mind...seems like an easy 10kgp (or what is 15?) from a gentleman named Firkraag.  That's if I can't save up 15kgp in the city alone in a reasonable amount of time, although I doubt that...(isn't this the "City of Coin" or something?).  The six-member team:

Idaen, lvl 9 cleric/lvl 9 ranger
Korgan, lvl 9 berserker
Mazzy, lvl 10 fighter
Yoshimo, lvl 12 bounty hunter
Nalia, lvl 4 thief>lvl 11 mage
Aerie, lvl 8 cleric/lvl 9 mage

The Hunt for Valygar Spirals Out of Control

Here we are in the Umar Hills.  We heard of some grotesque murders taking place, and how a band of adventurers is needed to figure out what's going on.  Well, I'm not one to discount fate if it's punching us in the face.  And besides, I still feel a little out of my element in Athkatla.  It's no Baldur's Gate, that's for sure.  Outside the city in the Umar Hills has the frontierish, Sword Coast feel (although I know that nothing in Amn is really a frontier).  But this is a small village where I can make a name for myself by helping out some defenseless civilians...that's right up my alley.

I check out the entire area.  I try to bring the band of refugee monsters up to speed with the mayor...that should work out nicely.  Find a cave, but not much in it (except for some "mimic blood"?  I'm going to hold on to that).  Find the ranger cabin, which points me in the direction of some temple ruins to the north.  Also been hearing about this adventurer Mazzy Fentan.  Sounds like a solid enough character.

Then, last but not least, I find the cabin of Valygar Corthala.  There were some other rangers outside, keeping guard.  I told them I had nothing to do with the Cowled Wizards, but unfortunately they did not believe me.  Either way, Nalia casting Horror took care of that fight, for the most part.  I went to confront Valygar, and got the whole story from him.  His body is the key to gaining entry to the giant planar sphere in the Athkatla slums.  That's why he's wanted by the Cowled Wizards.  Although I believed him, nothing he said did anything to sway me.  I have much more going on right now, and looting a necromancer's spaceship for whatever treasure he might have is low on the priority list.  Plus, I'm still trying to gain the favor of the Cowled Wizards...I want to carry out this task for them like I said I would.  I even have a feeling that they could possibly enlist MY help to explore the sphere, in which case it's win-win for me.  In case you don't see what this is leading up to, I killed Valygar and began to haul his body around.  I'm not ashamed of this, though it's one more NPC that I have to cross off the list of possible companions (Viconia and Jaheira are the other ones...one deceased and one just no longer trusted).

But since I'm out in the Umar Hills, I may as well solve whatever problems they're facing.  I like to be out of city anyway...as I said a paragraph or two ago, it brings me back to my glory days on the Sword Coast.  I rest in the inn, talk to Vincenzo about the Umar Witch Project, and head to the temple ruins.

Shade wolves and shadows are really no trouble for my group, even though there's only four of us.  I think I saw a Werewolf of some kind once I entered the forest, but who knows.  I went into the wolf cave, and nothing was there.  I descended into the temple ruins, had some trouble with skeleton warriors, rescued and enlisted Mazzy, and heard stories about sun gods and shade lords and shadow dragons.  Dragons?  Man...I need to rest and heal before I go any further.  So I actually returned to the wolf cave and spent 16 hours there.

I'm in too deep not to return to the temple now.  Five of us, at least.  Mazzy is ++++ with short bows and only ++ with short swords.  I really want her to be a tank, but she's level 9 so I'm not going to get another proficiency point for a little while.  Still thinking about how to use her most effectively.  Here's the party:

Idaen, lvl 9 cleric/lvl 8 ranger

Korgan, lvl 9 berserker

Mazzy, lvl 9 fighter

Yoshimo, lvl 11 bounty hunter

Nalia, lvl 4 thief>lvl 10 mage

Leaving the City, and the de'Arnise Estate

To gain some experience, and maybe some extra gold, I decided that we would stay close to the city for the time being...that is, finish clearing out Korgan's tombs.  Nalia started gently reminding us that we should head to her estate before it's too late...ah, damn.  I don't want to lose my only mage, so I should take this seriously.  I think we still have a day or two of leeway before she does something drastic, so that's just enough time to hit the catacombs.  Of course, there was no level drain or whatever in BG1, so I'm not entirely used to it.  Let me tell you, it is annoying.  I had Idaen, my cleric/ranger PC, memorize Negative Plane Protection a few times, as well as Lesser Restoration.  Good planning, but that just takes slots away from healing spells.  Egh, long story short, we trod our way through, Korgan "reminisces" about his old gang and the injustice with the Book of Kaza (a quest completed days earlier), and we hit the surface.

Next stop is Nalia's stronghold.  We left Athkatla in our dust and headed east.  The trip was much quicker than it would have been in BG1...no intermediate wilderness areas to trek across first.  This is civilized Amn, I guess.

The keep was something of a bloody adventure.  Like I said, I'm not entirely used to BG2, yet, with the complexity of the battles and the spellcasting being more advanced now.  Either way, I did what was asked of me.  I cleared the surrounding wilderness area, entered through the secret entrance, and opened the front gates.  Cleared the first level, then headed down to the cellars as per Nalia's hunch about the whereabouts of her father.

That's when things started getting a little crazy.  I was low on heal spells, low on potions, spells, health, everything.  But I figured we had to push on because there was something of a ticking clock for this one.

The room full of Umber Hulks was difficult...we ended up separating them into two or three groups, which made them beatable.  TorGal was intense, too.  Luckily, we were able to destroy him, although it was too late for Nalia's father.  This seemed to be something of a conclusion, so I headed back to the surface to speak with the troops at the palisades.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get back in to the keep again.  Which is a shame, because I feel like there are more components to the Flail of the Ages.  Does this means I'll just never get this weapon now?  Come on, my character USES flails.  Oh well, that's the danger of virgin runs and no non-essential reloads.

We rest and heal right outside the camp.  As soon as we get up and start mobilizing, Jaheira gets uppity and leaves the group.  She was summoned back to the Harper stronghold.  I told her that I'm the leader, and that I need her here.  Unfortunately, that didn't do it for her.  Maybe it had something to do with how I completely shut her down earlier...as soon as we emerged from the stronghold, she asked me if she could continue a story or answer a question that she didn't before, but also one that I didn't even remember asking about.  Ugh, I guess it was just bad timing, but I really did not care to hear it.  More important things to deal with, completely.  Either way, in a little more than eight hours she was gone.  Maybe I'll head to the Harpers to meet up with her to see what this is all about, but I doubt I'll ever want her in the group again after that terrible insubordination.  I need people I can trust, you know?

So it's on to the Umar Hills. The whole point of getting out of the city was to find this Valygar Corthala. So I head there, hear about some witch, some ogres, etc. That's where I'm at, now.

Party (only four of us):

Idaen, lvl 9 cleric/lvl 8 ranger
Korgan, lvl 9 berserker
Yoshimo, lvl 11 bounty hunter
Nalia, lvl 4 thief>lvl 10 mage

Mildly Confused Adventures in Athkatla

So we're in Athkatla.  Last place we left off was in the Copper Coronet, just having picked up Nalia, the mage.  Well, we start talking to some of the locals, and we rest finally (the first time since escaping the initial dungeon).  I have a somewhat shaky gameplan in mind...head out Nalia's estate and take care of the monsters attacking her home.  Sure, sure, sounds good.  And oh, I bump into Minsc.  Apparently he was able to escape from the dungeon as well.  Good for him, I guess.  Still not interested in having him join, though...maybe if things change in the future.

Before I leave the inn, I bump into Korgan.  A berserker?  Wouldn't hurt to have him around.  And he's looking for a valuable book, presumably worth a fortune, right here in the city.  I'm going to get on board with this...Nalia's thing can wait.

So we head on over to the graveyard district, and find the tombs right away.  Battle several groups of powerful spiders...I realize at this point that I should have had Jaheira memorize slow poison a couple of more times.  I would have brought some antidotes, but our funds are very, very low at this point...I can't even afford magical weapons for most of my team.  Either way, with two healers (one with 21 WIS), we should be good to go for an extended amount of time.  I finally make my way to the tunnel that Korgan recognizes as the one with the Book of Kaza, and we proceed to get into an "epic" battle with just too many undead.  Somehow, we manage to survive, but we're hurting and out of healing spells.  Time to get back to the surface, and heal and rest.  We'll return later, I don't see a clock ticking on this one yet.

Of course, nothing but trouble awaits us, even on the surface.  I head to the Copper Coronet to rest, but a pair of muggers start attacking us.  Bear in mind, we are almost out of spells, and not one of us is at full health.  Oh yeah, and 40% of us are level-drained by the undead.  We're able to kill one and start chasing after the other.  He only leads us up to the roof, and to Shagbag et al, Korgan's old party.  Wow...I have no chance right now.  We run away, hoping to maybe regroup and make a stand?  I'm able to kill Shagbag, but no one else.  The thugs with their crossbows are just too much.  We retreat, fast, and are able to lose them somewhere between the slums and Waukeen's Promenade.  But it seems right after we lose them, we're waylaid by a group of slavers and some of their mage-friends.  Ugh, not the best timing.  I race away and lose them, too.

Korgan lets me know that his precious book is probably just on Shagbag's body.  Oh, great, so I guess we don't have to return to the tombs underneath the graveyard.  Eh, I think I'll return there anyway of my own volition...seems like a good enough place for adventure, treasure, and experience.  Oh, and by the way, Korgan is not meshing well with the group...got into some nasty exchanges with Nalia and Yoshimo.  There might be trouble brewing, but right now the fighter is absolutely worth what he brings to the table tactically.  Jaheira is beginning to romance me pretty hard.  I'm just choosing my responses as what comes naturally, but it seems to be working out that she's just crazy for me.  It's been like 3 or 4 days since she realized Khalid was dead...and to be honest, she just seems like kind of a loser (see my BG1 experiences with her).  I'm not feeling it too much, but I couldn't see my character (who is me, pretty much) not wanting to, ahem, become more intimate with an attractive female.

I'm not exactly sure what we did next.  Rested in the promenade, sold some humble treasures and tried to re-equip as best as possible.  At some point during the previous battle, we were warned by the Cowled Wizards that spellcasting is illegal.  Of course I completely forgot when we headed back to the slums to finish the rest of Korgan's old group off and recover the book from Shagbag's body.  I think Nalia casted "Slow" or something, and I saw a Cowled Wizard teleport in...headed for the zone line again, and was able to avoid any confrontation with the mage.

I've seen two or three vampire-shadow thief battles in the streets.  Weird, even it seems it somehow relates to me personally.  Eventually I made my way to the government district and found out I need 5000gp to be able to use magic in the city limits.  I think this is going to be my next major investment...it's too important to use spells when confronting enemies, and I don't want any trouble.  I also agree to try to hunt Valygar down.  I do not mind working for the Cowled Wizards.  They know where Imoen is, they're a powerful faction in Amn, and they can grant me the ability to cast spells with immunity.  I have no qualms about bringing a supposed murderer to justice.  And oh yeah...I see a group of fanatics about to burn a drow named Viconia. I remember a Viconia from the Sword Coast.  She attacked my group when I refused to save her from a Flaming Fist mercenary.  She's in a similar situation here.  I actually would have saved her (since death by incineration is just an awful fate), but I was unclear about the mechanism for doing it...was I just supposed to start massacring the fanatics?  Either way, she was toast by the end.  I'm not too sad about it.  At least Anomen is still around if I need a healer.

So I head to the docks, and at some point I am attacked again while moving between districts.  This time, I agree to bring a poisoned man to a house in the docks.  I do this, since I'm headed to the docks anyway.  But hey!  It's Xzar.  The insulting jerk doesn't remember me, but whatever.  He say I can help rescue Montaron by infiltrating the Harper Amnish headquarters.  Nooo problem.  Hey, I could use another thief, and Xzar is probably a very powerful mage at this point.  They were great allies to me in the past, so the least I could do is help them.

Welp, it turns out the trick was on me, as both Montaron and Xzar seem to be dead by the end of this.  Oh well, all's well that ends well...for Idaen, at least.  I guess this teaches me to not really mess with the Harpers. Pretty powerful organization, and I was just a pawn (or maybe a rook or knight) in their scheming.

So now it's to Valygar's house to investigate his whereabouts.  I have a feeling I'm going have to travel outside the city soon, but no concern.

Here's the party right now:

Idaen, lvl 8 cleric/lvl 8 ranger
Korgan, lvl 8 berserker
Jaheira, lvl 7 fighter/lvl 9 druid
Yoshimo, lvl 11 bounty hunter
Nalia, lvl 4 thief>level 9 mage

What's my plan here?  Let's prioritize:

Long-term goal is to find Imoen.  Not sure how exactly to do this yet, but I'm going in two directions concurrently:  gain the trust of the Cowled Wizards, while saving up to 20kgp for Gaelan Bayle.  But my equipment is just awful right now, and my potential is far above what I'm capable of right now.  So I also need to save money for better equipment and a magic-users license...this comes almost before anything, even Imoen.  I'm not going to be able to save her if I'm impotent on the battlefield.  And for that matter, I could use a 6th member of the group.

So what do I need to actually do?  My "quests" right now are three-fold: return to the graveyard catacombs, head east to the de'Arnise keep, and track down Valygar.  I'm going to accomplish these three things first before starting anything else.  Got it!

Flashforward to Amn, and Meshing with the Canon

So here we go:  Baldur's Gate 2.  I have never completed any respectable amount of this game.  I may have escaped Irenicus' dungeon during a few playthroughs from the past, but I never got much further past that.  But that's all in the past...time to play what is sometimes called the greatest CRPG ever.

Like I said last post, I got some extra experience when I imported my Tutu final-save over to BG2.  It wasn't 240k or whatever I said in the last post, though.  It was about 63k...my cleric and ranger levels were both at around 112k.  I went back and loaded the final save from Tutu, and indeed my experience was at that level...at least at first.  After walking around a little, it dropped back to 161k for some reason.  Real weird, but I'm not going to fight it....I figure beating Sarevok gives you a healthy amount of experience that you could bring with you to BG2.

So anyways, here I am, being waken up by Imoen.  After a quick conversation with her, I was free...let's try to find a way out of here.  I immediately level up to cleric 8.  After all the tomes from BG1, my stats are very solid, to say the least:

STR 18
DEX 18
CON 19
INT 11
WIS 21
CHA 10








So before we delve into this game, we need to align the "official" canon of the game with the actual game experience I had up north on the Sword Coast.  So, when Sarevok died, Ajantis and Xzar probably left the group after a few day.  They joined me to help solve the bandit crisis, and to find out why the Zhentarim were being blamed for the bandit crisis respectively.  Both of their problems got resolved at game's end, so I can't see why they would stick around much longer.  Shar-Teel and Tiax must have eventually went their separate ways, too.  Both were chaotic and evil, so I could see them suddenly uppin' and leaving, especially since my reputation probably climbed in the time following the death of the Bhaalspawn Almost-Duke.

So then it was just Imoen and the PC Idaen.  At some point we must have run into Jaheira and Khalid again.  We had adventured with them in the beginning, but they were phased out pretty early on, right after infiltrating the old bandit camp north of Peldvale.  And then after having those two rejoin...wow, I must have met up with Dynaheir.  With a quick look back on this blog, I can remember that we saved Dyanheir from the gnoll stronghold but didn't want to join with her...she stormed off.  A few days or weeks before that, we refused to help Minsc look for his witch.  He attacked us, and we killed him.  Soooo....presumably, Dynaheir, after being freed, found her way to Nashkel, found Minsc's body, and had him resurrected.

But why would we have joined up with an insane ranger who tried to kill us once?  I don't know.  Maybe we needed a mage (to replace the necromancer) and her tank had to come along.  But it happened, that's for sure...I'll blame my confusion on some memory loss that I incurred via Irenicus.  After inadvertently rescuing him from his cage, I tell him that we're not going to be traveling together and that he's on his own.  He walks off.  I don't like the guy, his witch is dead, and his overall style seems like it just doesn't lend itself to stealth and gravity.  Will I regret it?  Maybe, but it was instinctual and there aren't any reloads.

Jaheira...I remember a little better.  She was loyal, and a friend.  She definitely joins the group.  And here we go through the dungeon...weird, weird stuff.  And I can already see how BG2 is a better game than BG1 like so many people say.  I'm sure anyone reading this has gone through Irenicus dungeon before...and I don't remember anything I did in a novel or unique fashion, at least that I know off, so it's not really worth getting into.

Find some low-level equipment, get into some fights, drink a lot of potions, tell the dryads I'll deliver their acorns, pick up Yoshimo, and eventually bust my way out of there...took about 24 hours or so in all (game-time).

Imoen gets taken by the Cowled Wizards, as does our captor...and what do you know, I'm in Athkatla, Amn.  Phew...weird.  We need to find Imoen, and many people are pointing me in the direction of the slums. Not a bad choice.  Before leaving the Promenade, I stop at a street vendor to sell some objects and buy some weapons we're all proficient in.  I also get us all healed at the Temple of Ilmater.

Next thing you know, the game keeps going.  Meet Gaelan Bayle, and realize we need 20kgp.  Just looking to rest, still, at this point.  Rememorize spells so I can head into the city to check out shops and not feel completely vulnerable.  So I head to the Copper Coronet where multiple people have also directed me for work and adventure and that ilk.  I meet Anomen but I tell him there is neither good nor evil, and something about balance.  Needless to say, he doesn't like it.  But he's still there...maybe in a pinch I could come back and profess my righteousness (which wouldn't have been a far stretch to select).  Either way, I forget about him as soon as Nalia introduces herself.  A thief>mage, great.  Nooo problem we'll go to your estate...she seems rich , which is perfect for what we're trying to do.

And on that note, I'm still looking to sleep for a night...just need to find the innkeeper.  Here's my nubile party:

Idaen, lvl 8 cleric/lvl 8 ranger
Jaheira, lvl 7 fighter/lvl 8 druid
Yoshimo, lvl 10 bounty hunter
Nalia, lvl 4 thief>lvl 9 mage

Sarevok Dies

The final battle:

Prepared to enter the Temple of Bhaal.  The party is 1.) Idaen, the Bhaalspawn.  2.) Shar-Teel.  We picked her up out near the basilisk grounds east of Beregost, pretty late in the game.  Due to her impressive fighter skills, she was recruited and has been performing great with the group since then.  3.) Ajantis, a paladin that has been with the group for a long time.  We banded together to hunt bandits many months ago, and it's evolved into something greater.  4.)  Tiax.  He joined us only a week or less ago, as a replacement for the slain Montaron.  Never been outside of Baldur's Gate with him in the group.  5.) Imoen, here since the very beginning...became a deadly mage in the few months since we left Candlekeep the first time.  6.) Xzar, evil necromancer slash crazy Zhentish agent.  He's been with us since just after Imoen joined the PC.

Tiax checking for traps in the main chamber...and there are a lot of them.  Of course, the thief is using his cleric spells to find the traps.

And it starts!  Focus on Angelo and the mage first.  Shar-Teel has to kill her father?  Hey...none of my business if she's okay with it.  Also, that Wand of Monster Summoning came in handy definitely.

Welp, Tiax just generally stood there and didn't do much of anything the whole time...maybe cast a spell or two, maybe sling some bullets.

Some doom guards spawned due to setting off a trap or entering an area I shouldn't have.  Imoen neutralizes them fairly easily with a wand of stunnin'.

And...Sarevok falls.  If I knew he would take this much damage from magic missiles, I would have just bombarded him from the start.  Either way, this all worked out just fine.

And that's it.  I've never beaten BG1 until that moment.  Of course it can be argued that, did I really complete the game since it ended before I could return to Durlag's Tower?  Well, that's for the refs to decide.  Next playthough I know I'll get to it, but this time I might have been itchin' to get the campaign moving.

This is my team at the end of the game:

Idaen, lvl 7 cleric/lvl 7 ranger
Shar-Teel, lvl 7 fighter
Ajantis, lvl 8 paladin
Tiax, lvl 5 cleric/lvl 6 thief
Imoen, lvl 6 thief>level 9 mage
Xzar, lvl 9 necromancer.

So it's onto...Amn?  Yes, it is.  I've already started playing BG2 with Idaen, so a new blog should be coming sooon.  Actually, when I imported, they gave me a lot of extra experience...like 240k or so...I'm not sure what happened but it sure is weird.  I immediately leveled up to level 8 cleric, but that's for next post.

Something of a Retreat, plus Re-Taking Baldur's Gate (Part 2 of 2)

Pickup up where we left off...

So first thing's first, I head to the Lady's Hall and make some sizable donations. See, everyboody? I'm a philanthropist and respectable citizen. My reputation levels out so I'm ready to start dealing with Sarevok as quickly and efficiently as possible. I head to the Iron Throne headquarters, kill a consort of his and get his diary, with the information that he is in the Undercellar? I may have misheard (misread) her there, though. Either way, I head down and find Sarevok's two assassins...kill them and take from one of them an invitation to Sarevok's upcoming coronation ceremony. I then head up to save Duke Eltan from his doppleganger doctor. Angelo is still staring at us as we pass him by. I took a risk coming in here, but he just gives us the same spiel as before. Whatever!

The evil members of my party finally start feeling at home, after a few Flaming Fist kills.  That won't last forever, though, once I'm about to donate some funds to a local temple.

Finding our way into the Undercellar...

Eltan saved.

Next is the coronation ceremony. Et cetera, et cetera, Sarevok is exposed to the city as the treacherous villain he really is. Just trying to start a war to tap into his murderous divinity...okay, I can see that. So I chase him down to the maze. Warned about traps almost immediately, great. I have only one or two potions of master thievery for Tiax and his damn 55 in detect traps, so after a while I decided I don't want to go on without a nice stash of those potions or a good amount of Find Traps memorized. I figured if we were to die in this maze, that's exactly what Sarevok would want. His plans were foiled and Baldur's Gate should be okay for now...the clock isn't ticking as furiously, and it seems like he has nowhere to go other than to await me at the Temple of Bhaal in the old city.

Crashing the party.

I don't like this maze.

I traveled back up to the Elfsong to rest and rememorize...we used a lot of our spells in the encounters leading up to this point. Bought some potions of master thievery and had both Tiax and Idaen memorize Find Traps several times. Should be somewhat prepared moving forward.

Sarevok has been completely exposed.  The best part?  The commoners think that he killed Rieltar, when the actual fact is that it was my party and I that did it.  We never had any qualms about it or tried to hide it, either.  Yeah, we were arrested and hunted completely legitimately.  Public opinion is a fickle thing, I guess.

Headed back into the maze and slowly navigated my way through. Didn't explore the whole area...wasn't too confident in my thief, didn't need the experience, and the plotline was calling. The gnome didn't perform half-badly, but as a level 5 cleric and a level 6 thief, he's only so useful. I headed into the old city (the "undercity"? Not sure what they're calling it). Started navigating my way through, and what do you know...Xzar gets killed by nothing less than a pack of ghasts. What the hell? Hey, my same sentiment applies from before. Sure, I can start barging forward with 5 members of my party, but that's exactly what Sarevok wants. Better let him wait while we come in at full strength...do things on my terms.

So again...went up to the surface to regroup and rest, get Xzar resurrected, etc.   Oh yeah, also bought a Wand of Monster Summoning.  Should be useful.  Headed back down.  By the way, walking back and forth through the maze gets a little tiring after a while. And we didn't explore the entire undercity area, either. We kind of stumbled upon the temple...this is it. Better not risk death and use up spells, but to just confront my nemesis when my party is strong. Of course, Tamoko got what was coming to her.

And...that's where the adventures end in this post. Waiting outside the Temple of Bhaal for the presumed final battle. I never got this far into BG1. Really making some milestones here...ha.

Party:

Idaen, lvl 7 cleric/lvl 7 ranger
Shar-Teel, lvl 7 fighter
Ajantis, lvl 8 paladin
Tiax, lvl 5 cleric/lvl 6 thief
Imoen, lvl 6 thief>lvl 9 mage
Xzar, lvl 9 necromancer

And now, an NPC update of appearances, locations, and fates:

Permanently Dead:

Faldorn/ Picked up, switched out, and accidentally left in the Cloakwood mines when it was flooded.
Minsc/ He attacked us in Nashkel after we wouldn't let him join the group...
Montaron/ Durlag's Tower trap vaporized him. Saddest perma-death of the game.
Safana/ Idaen was confused or charmed or something by a siren, and killed the innocent bystander Safana before anyone was able to talk to her.
Viconia/ We wouldn't help her, and she attacked us.

Encountered and Alive, but Not Coming Back:

Coran/ Picked him up for a brief trip up to Baldur's Gate. We ended up killing one too many Flaming Fist soldiers, so he stormed off when we let him go.
Dyanheir/ We didn't want to join with her at th gnoll stronghold, and she stormed off.
Edwin/ We didn't want to join with him either in Nashkel. I think he said he would still be there, but we never saw him again.
Garrick/ We weren't going to be bodyguards for 50gp a piece, so he politely apologized and walked off.

Encountered and Alive, with a Last Known Whereabouts:

Branwen/ Hanging around the Nashkel carnival.
Eldoth/ He's in Cloakwood. We weren't looking for a scheming bard.
Jaheira/ I let her go when I realized she and Khalid weren't doing it for me...they should be resting at the Beregost temple.
Kagain/ He is in Cloakwood, living and hunting (I guess) near the Shadow Druid hub. Replaced him with a druid.
Khalid/ Same as Jaheira.
Kivan/ Still in the High Hedge. We weren't looking for the help of a ranger at that point.
Quayle/ Outside the gates of Baldur's Gate. Didn't need his help, either.
Yeslick/ This guy was a good member of the group, but his dex wasn't helping. He's living out in the wilderness of the basilisk map.

Not Encountered:

Alora
Skie

Something of a Retreat, plus Re-Taking Baldur's Gate (Part 1 of 2)

So, with Montaron gone forever, we packed our gear up and got the hell to the surface.  Maybe one day I'll return to Durlag's Tower, but it got the best of me for now.  It all hinges on finding the right thief.  I'm not comfortable heading back into there with a character with any less than 80 in trap detection.  Like I said last post, my party has met two thieves that we could possibly enlist: Coran and Tiax.

Marching north through the Firewine ruins.

So I headed up north into Flaming Fist territory.  Because we're all wanted, I stayed east of the main road...no point in being too public.  Ran into Yeslick, adventuring or wandering or waiting up where we left him.  He was nice enough to ask if we needed his help, but we're going to stick with Shar-Teel right now.  Actually, I got the idea of maybe replacing Ajantis with the dwarf?  In fact, it would be nice to have a backup healer.  Idaen is carrying the full load right now, and half of my spell slots are straight healing spells.  But egh, now's not the time.  The paladin stays and we say bye to Yeslick.

Taking out some gibberlings on my way up.  Why am I still dealing with this??

Quick sidenote:  it's really tricky to give an in-game justification for why most NPCs just stand around for months and months in the same spot you left them when they were told to leave the group.  As you may or may not know, I'm something of a pseudo-roleplayer as I go through this game, so I want most or all of the in-game activity justified in a way cohesive with the game world.  A little difficult to try to come up with an explanation about why a spurned groupmember stays out in the woods indefinitely.  Well, I'm also definite to use the NPC Project mod next time through, and I think that it fixes this problem by having NPCs go to inns or whatnot.


So anyway, we stop in Cloakwood and grab up Coran.  He doesn't seem to mind too much about wyverns anymore...good.  Bigger and better things are happening.  But ouch; only 20 in detect traps.  Pfft, that's not really going to work.  I decided to keep him around as a sixth head until we made it up to Baldur's Gate to get a look at what Tiax's skill is.



Welcome Coran

We headed up through the Woods of Sharp Teeth.  I figure I could get lost in the crowd in Baldur's Gate, maybe slip in and out without anyone noticing.  But it's impossible...a lot of people recognize me.  Sarevok has been running amok, assassinating dukes and making power grabs.  Hmm, maybe I should have came up to the city earlier?  Actually, even if he was a Grand Duke by the time I got up there, my whole plan wouldn't really change.  I'd still march in and try to kill him. And at least then I'd have the experience and treasure of Durlag's Tower under my belt.

This guy wanted to smuggle me into the city.  I thought about it, but declined...smelled like some sort of trap to me.

But this is the way it goes.  I have no intention right off the bat of going to jail, not without a party I'm sure about.  Unfortunately, this means that I have to kill a Flaming Fist Enforcer or two or three on my way to pick up Tiax.  Eventually, I realize I just may get too much blood on my hands.  And now what?  After seeing what I've seen, I can't just leave the city.  Now, for better or worse, is the time to strike.  I let us get arrested before we find Tiax.  Fortunately, Angelo almost immediately lets us go free.  Apparently, this guy is Shar-Teel's father and there are some pangs of guilt in him?  Wasn't explained too well, but I figure I might have missed a thing or two.  He said our equipment was in the basement...but we all still obviously had it on our persons.  Weird (translation...bug or something.  Gotta roll with it).

This definitely doesn't look good to the general public...

So it's on to Tiax.  There are some more Enforcers looking for us around certain corners.  Shrug, I guess I can starting having Xzar or Imoen cast Hold on them or something.  I know that Tiax is evil, so he's not going to care about how despised I am when I eventually catch up to him.  Coran, on the other hand, probably had no idea what he was getting himself into.  He's vocally upset...don't know what to tell him.  Tiax's detect traps skill is 55...not good enough, but it's a start.  Better than Coran and a much better idea than having Shar-Teel dual class at this stage in the game.  I let Coran go...he expresses his regret for ever agreeing to adventure with us and storms off.  I'll probably never see him again.  I pick up Tiax and the group is mildly presentable again.

So that's what we're doing...deep inside the big city, standing outside the Iron Throne building, with a reputation of 1, despised by all.  Part 2 should follow soon.

Party:

Idaen, lvl 7 cleric/lvl 7 ranger
Shar-Teel, lvl 7 fighter
Ajantis, lvl 8 paladin
Tiax, lvl 5 cleric/lvl 6 thief
Imoen, lvl 6 thief>lvl 9 mage
Xzar, lvl 9 necromancer