Next Stop Nashkel

After leaving the Friendly Arm Inn, our group headed south to Nashkel. Xzar and Montaron had some business down there due to the mining troubles, and now Jaheira and Khalid are looking to head there, too. It's only been a week or so after Gorion's murder, so I'm still careful to stay clear of the major roads...I've heard too many stories of bandits, and the murderers may still be close by waiting. Of course, from recent experience I should have know that the wilderness is really no better, as we generally just have to run for our lives until we're too far out of sight from the skeletons, tasloi, ogres, what have you.

It's a whirlwind right now for Idaen, the PC. Left home a little over a week ago, and now just seems to be stumbling down south looking for trouble. Just going where the tide takes him right now. We finally arrived at the carnival in the middle of the night. Quiet, kind of creepy. Saw the stone maiden, and got into a altercation having to do with a mage and a witch. This was the first big battle since Tarnesh, and the group painstakingly emerged victoriously. Really, not bad for a group so fresh.

Headed into town to get the official lowdown from the mayor. Heard some talk about this Brage, but that's so far off the radar right now it doesn't seem how it can ever get on it. But who knows at this point. Oh yeah, I find some Ankheg armor in a tree...not bad at all. Most interestingly, though, is when I run into Minsc. There's not room for another member in the group, especially for a seeming psychopath. Apparently this triggers a lethal reaction, and he starts attacking. Had to kill him, unfortunately (scratch the first NPC off the list).

We talked to the mayor of the Amnish town, as well as to various locals. Something is going wrong in the mines...we know this. I guess that we have to look into it? Idaen is the leader of the group, of course, being accompanied by the rest...but it really seems at this point that the group is leading him around. They were all headed to Nashkel anyway, and now the PC happens to be along for the ride. Imoen seems to be the only one who's really listening to what he has to say. But with his foster father dead, he doesn't know what else to do...and it does seem like this is the only path that he can take, so let's put the head down and keep trudging through. Living in the insular Candlekeep for his entire life, the past week and a half must have come as a shock. He murdered two would-be assassins who might have been able to kill him in his sleep had their timing been only a little better...he watched Gorion die right in front of him...right before two new companions were slaughtered by the evils of the wilderness (at least Montaron and Xzar were resurrected)...he killed another assassin at the FAI...entered a carnival tent and came out a short time later with the blood of two more mages on his hands...then killed Minsc. No one's going to be keeping count pretty soon, but it's rapidly been getting easier to face death.

So maybe this lifestyle isn't wrong path at all...and it doesn't end. We entered the inn there, and got attacked by another assassin. Luckily I had enough experience with mages (from the carnival and Tarnesh) that I had Jaheira cast her resist fear spell on the party immediately. A few of us got held but we were able to finish off the bounty hunter without losing anyone.

We wandered around the rest of the town (ran into Edwin) before resting for most of the day. We made the trip to the mines, and arrived there in the crickety silence of night (and Xzar begins complaining of the incessant noise...weird guy). I took the group around the whole map, to make sure there wasn't anything strange going on on the surface that might be causing some of the problems. Met a sculptor who wanted us to protect him from another bounty hunter. What? Again, real far off the radar at this point. No thanks buddy, no time.

So we head down into the mines. Let's find out what's going on here...that's the only tangible plan right now. There will be time to reflect on everything later. Right now, the inexplicable problem in the mines is just a microcosmal substitute.

I have Montaron scout ahead, hiding in the shadows when possible. He's not the best at it and fails a majority of the time, but that will change in time. Imoen is better at detecting traps, so her role is to stay a step behind and make sure Montaron doesn't trigger any. As a gamer, I know that there aren't any traps on the first level of the mines....but my characters don't know that, and futhermore I need to train myself to treat every dungeon like this. I will NOT have any trap deaths this playthrough (yeah right...).

So here is the party currently (not much has changed):

Idaen, lvl 1 cleric/lvl 1 ranger

Khalid, lvl 1 fighter

Montaron, lvl 1 fighter/lvl 1 thief

Jaheira, lvl 2 fighter/lvl 2 druid

Imoen, lvl 1 thief

Xzar, lvl 1 necromancer

The Return: A New Beginning (a.k.a. Playthrough 2.0)

Where to begin? I eventually got a new laptop, and re-installed the game. Unfortunately, Tiax still wasn't responding. This was some kind of bug, and reinstalling/repatching did no help whatsoever. However, I have enough OCD/perfectionism in my blood that I couldn't just have my party grab Alora, one of the few remaining NPC thieves, and go about business like the Tiax bug never happened. No, that type of thing would continuously gnaw at my gaming experience until I would be forced to just start a new game. I know this about myself, so I decided not to waste time and put myself through that, and instead just start a new game right there.

My new laptop also has this NVIDIA graphics card that is known to cause trouble with these Infinity Engine games. I was seeing black boxes around all magical effects and animations...unplayable. I eventually found a fix for this, but between that headache, the Tiax bug not resolving itself, and the amount of time I had taken off...I couldn't keep up with the same game. The options for me were to come back fresh with a new character, or not come back at all. For a month or two, I didn't come back at all...but BG has a way of inevitably pulling you back, I guess.

This time around, I'm playing with EasyTutu. I think this will be a better choice. Make the eventual BG2 import more seamless, and play the entire saga with the same core rules. I didn't choose a kit this time around, but for later plays it will be interesting to have a kit on the Sword Coast.

I decided to NOT play a berserker>druid this time around. I'll put that at the back of the queue and come back to it a some point in the future. Instead, my PC is Idaen, a Chaotic Good Half-Elf Cleric/Ranger. Now listen: I don't use Shadowkeeper, any console cheats, etc. I only rolled for about 5 minutes and got something serious (89). So here are his stats:

17 STR

17 DEX

18 CON

10 INT

18 WIS

9 CHA

I envision this character splitting time between tanking and casting priest spells. For that reason, I gave him a + in sword plus shield proficiency, in addition to ++ in flails, + in maces, + in warhammers, and the ++ in two weapon style. I may be a little mixed up here...if that's too many proficiency points, I made a mistake.

So what did I learn my first playthrough? First of all, I learned that NPC perma-death feels like a shot to the gut. I need to avoid this at all costs. Since I only reload when the PC dies, a sadly-unseen lightning bolt trap could be disaster for an entire campaign. In the early stages of that last playthrough, I would boot some characters out when they were dead and grayed, never to be able to see them again. That will NOT happen this playthrough. Sure, I spent a lot on resurrections, but I didn't realize (I don't know why) that I would start running out of NPCs. Also, I need to get deeper into this mindset to prepare for BG2, as NPC deaths are even less friendly in Amn.

So, what has happened? I started my day in Candlekeep, going through the motions at this point since I've done this so many times. I turned down the practice battle and got called a brat. No, really, guy...I know how to run a team in combat. No, I'm not the best, I'll admit...but I've done it before in previous lives and there's nothing you're gonna teach me.

Gorion gets served, I meet up with Imoen...like last time, I decided to stay away from the roads, but still want to get to the Friendly Arm Inn. I first try to go north, then east...but apparently Cloakwood is blocked off until later in the game. Alright, looks like I'm going to loop around south...retreat into the wilderness for a few days just in case they're still looking for me to kill. I figure Khalid and Jaheira will be waiting at least a week, and this detour shouldn't take that long. Unlike last time, I bump into Xzar and Montaron. I let them join the group...more people, more protection...sure I'll go to Nashkel with them, but lets get to the FAI first.

The detour turns out to be deadly. High Hedge is no place for a few level ones. Skeletons throw darts at Montaron and kill him. I had to run the hell out of there, especially as gibberlings and gnolls join in. Whoa, whoa, way too early for this type of BS. I even ran past a stranger who looked like he had something to say (it was Kivan), but there was no time to talk. I'll return here another day when I don't have to be constantly running for my life.

Slipped through Beregost, and actually spent a night at the Jovial Juggler. From a roleplay perspective, I didn't want to do this. People raise their eyes at strangers, and I know I'm currently being hunted down by someone. Once we rested, I got the hell out of Beregost and headed to the Temple to get Montaron resurrected for 100gp. Nice.

Then I head north to Larswood. Xzar died at some point...that's what 4hp will do. I wanted to make my way west to the FAI, but that route was blocked for some reason. I tried going even farther north in Larswood, but bandits started attacking me, so I zoned west...immediately I get attacked by an ogre and a gang of gibberlings. Somehow I manage to kill the ogre with Imoen's wand, and the run-in-circles strategy. Got some nice belts, too.

Make my way to the Friendly Arm Inn. Tarnesh ends up being no problem...wasn't even able to get his mirror image off...Khalid and Jaheira join the party, and I use another 100gp to res Xzar. Wow, full party.

So I'm about at 6 days and 4 hours. The detour to Friendly Arm Inn just isn't for 3 level one characters. I realize that now, but it didn't end with anything going immensely wrong. I'm going to head directly down the Nashkel now. I'm still making the decision to stay off the roads for now, so I'll travel south a little, east of that path. We'll camp out and gain experience.

Here's my NEW party, now:

Idaen, lvl 1 cleric/lvl 1 ranger

Khalid, lvl 1 fighter (dual-wielding bastard swords...man, I'm liking EasyTutu)

Montaron, lvl 1 fighter/lvl 1 thief

Jaheira, lvl 1 fighter/lvl 1 druid

Imoen, lvl 1 thief

Xzar, lvl 1 necromancer