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