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