The Cloakwood Mines and Beyond

So, it had been a few days since I last played, and one of the last things I did last session was to pick up Faldorn.  As I started to load up Tutu today, I remembered I had done that and kind of groaned to myself.  I didn't like Kagain, so he got replaced...but did I trade up or trade down?  Granted, she had only been a member of the party for a very brief time, but she overwhelmingly struck me as boring, one-note, useless, etc.  And see last post about how we feel about holier-than-thou druids.  However, I convinced myself that I was too far in to go back for the dwarf, so I'd stick with Faldorn for now and at least give her a chance before I kicked her out.

And the mines were the mines.  Two major battles in there.  The first one was the second level banquet room, with the mage that casts Lightning and the dozens of Iron Throne guards and Black Talon Elites.  We managed to live through it, with a big thanks to Ajantis wearing the Boots of Grounding, and a strategic Web cast by Imoen.  The second one was Davaeorn...more on that later.

And I met Yeslick.  To be honest, this guy seems like the solution to my party woes right now.  So bear with me:  First of all, he has the same WIS as Faldorn, and I truly feel clerics have better spells the first couple of levels...he's a winner on that front.  Second, Kagain had profiency in two-weapon style, so he would wield two axes.  Yeslick has proficiency in sword-and-shield style, which means he will be better off using a shield +1 to subtract 2 AC and somewhat offset his terrible dwarvish dexterity (since Ajantis, with less HP and almost equal DEX, is still going to get the Gauntlets of Dexterity).  So there, good fit.  Faldorn helped for a little while, but I let her go.  She wanted to come to the mines, so she could freelance if she wants, but she's not part of the group anymore.  I do some armor rearranging (Ajantis goes back to wearing his ankheg armor), and now Yeslick is at -2 and the Green Paladin is at -3.

The third level wasn't much trouble.  We headed to the surface to rest halfway through it...out of healing spells and everyone's hurting.  I'm really not afraid of more troops coming to the mines in such a short time and discovering that everyone here related to the Iron Throne is methodically being killed.

We come back, and meet Davaeorn and the two battle horrors.  This was clearly the toughest battle of the mines, but again we managed to all survive it.  The mage and the two battle horrors all attacked at the same time.  Insect Swarm was a major help, as were consistently delivered Montaron-backstabs.  I believe I started this one off, as usual, with a Fireball from Imoen.  Ajantis and Yeslick took turns gulping potions, absorbing blows from the battle horrors, and making tactful retreats when things started to get out of hand.  Magic Missiles and Agannazer's Scorchers were tearing the air apart...and what's a good fight without Idaen the PC casting Doom and Chant?  I really don't remember all the details explicitly, but I know there was a little more involved...definitely ice arrows, at least.  Regardless, Davaeorn fell, then a battle horror, then another battle horror.

After learning about Davaeorn, and having most of my suspicions confirmed, I decided to flood the mines.  These were really Yeslick's mines in the end, and even he was behind the idea.  I realize that this might be the only mine pumping out supplies of ore these days, but A) Nashkel will get back on its feet pretty soon, and B) it seems much more important, especially after reading Davaeorn's letters, that the Iron Throne's plans need to be hindered as much as possible.  They are behind the region's iron problems, so anything that hurts them can only help the region.  And this will hurt them.

Of course, once I surface and am thanked for rescuing the slaves, I realize Faldorn was still down there.  I was planning to bring her up to the surface, but just forgot.  Maybe she was able to get out, but I don't know. Maybe her Shadow Druid friends will come looking for her washed-up body and resurrect her...again, I don't know.  It was unfortunate...and I won't be adventuring with her again any time soon.

Almost all of our inventories were at maximum capacity, so we emerged from the woods a couple of days and later and headed to Beregost.  We made a small fortune with all the magical items, jewels, and assorted treasure that we amassed in Cloakwood, as well as 2000gp from Kelddath Ormlyr for Coran's wyvern head.

After that, what's next?  Obviously Baldur's Gate is the next logical move, but I don't think it's the proper time to go storming in there, flails blazing.  I would like to let the past week or two sink in, digest.  The Iron Throne's plans are heavily delayed for now, but it doesn't mean they don't have other plots cooking.  And they may be expecting my group of "mercenaries" to come marching in right away, so I don't really want to do that either.

Of course, I promised Mendas in Ulgoth's Beard that I would head to an island for him with the purpose of protecting knowledge, lore, and history from the forces of greed and avarice.  And although I saved Aldeth Sashenstar's life, he rubbed me the wrong way, so I don't mind #$%!ing him over...plus, he's currently an ally to me and may make the job that much easier when I try to infiltrate the Merchant League.

I first traveled north to that tiny fishing village to make sure Mendas was still looking for the charts and that the merchant boat hadn't set sail yet.  My hunch was right...it had been around two or three weeks, and the guy was still telling me to hurry and get the charts.  I guess he was just saying that to try to light a fire, but it didn't really work.

When I was up in Ulgoth's Beard, I also stayed at the inn and bought some level 4 spells for Xzar, now that he's level 7 now (not bad).  Emotion and Greater Malison were the two he walked away with in his spellbook.

So that means I'm going to head into the big city and see what trouble I get myself into.  I'm really just planning to visit the Merchant League, deal with Mendas's island, then get back to the mainland and decide from there.  I have no idea what is going to take priority at that point.  Due to my long time avoidance of Beregost in my first weeks out of Candlekeep, I still have not explored High Hedge, Ulcaster, the Firewine Bridge ruins, a good portion of the coastline, and who knows what else.  And of course Durlag's Tower continually looms.  But like I said: for now, Baldur's Gate.  The party:

Idaen, lvl 6 cleric/lvl 6 ranger
Yeslick, lvl 5 fighter/lvl 5 cleric
Ajantis, lvl 7 paladin
Montaron, lvl 6 fighter/lvl 6 thief
Imoen, lvl 6 thief>lvl 6 mage
Xzar, lvl 7 necromancer