Ajantis, Ankhegs, and Magical Island Prisons

I wasn't looking for another tank for long.  As I said last post, I wanted to take the major roadway from the north to the south, being on the lookout for bandits and information about the Iron Throne.  So I head north and, as luck would have it, immediately run into the paladin Ajantis.  He happens to be trying to solve the bandit problem too.  A match made in heaven, it seems.  He's level 6, 45hp, and has ++ in two-handed swords and two-handed weapon style...not bad.  However, his dex is low...just like Kagain's.  I only have one pair of the Gauntlets of Dexterity, though.  Not too thrilled...someone's AC is going to suffer.  After some armor rearranging, I have full plate mail on Idaen, ankheg armor on Ajantis, and full plate mail and an amulet of protection +1 on Kagain.  He's only at 0 AC, though (Idaen at -2 and the paladin at -3).  I don't like this too much, since the plan is to have Idaen be the superpriest he's meant to be, not a primary tank.  I guess I will be on the lookout for another warrior indefinitely.  Until then, gotta make the most of it...and decide who I like better, the dwarf or Ajantis.

So...the north:

• We fought some ankhegs.  A lot of ankhegs.  I definitely went over my quota.  They can dish out damage, and Xzar was killed by one of the beasts.  But no problem: I'm not in a hurry.  It will take the bandits some time to re-mobilize and form a new base of operations, so I'm not on borrowed time.  That's not to say I don't intend to go to Cloakwood soon, because I do...but it's not going anywhere, and I'd like to get a first-hand experience of the bandit problem first if I can (am I being redundant about this?).
• Got involved with some fisherman and an Umberlant.  I confronted the priestess, and she told her side of the story.  Unfortunately she stayed hostile for some reason, and we had to kill her.  I let the fishermen know I wasn't too happy...but what did they care?  I walked off with another flail +1.
• Got denied from Baldur's Gate.  The bandits and Amn are still a problem, so the city's closed off right now.  I figured I would check it out to get the pulse of the city, but the gods of plotline were looking out for me.
• Cleared a farm of zombies.  Not much to it.  Can't really think of anything clever to say about this one...? (Other than "zombie apocalypse" is my favorite genre of fiction.)
• Headed to Ulgoth's Beard to visit.  The villagers here still seemed to be feeling some of the major problems that the rest of the coast was...but didn't care as much?  The biggest concern having to do with bandits seemed to be that the Durlag's Tower tourism business was hurting.  Also met Mendas and Shandalar.

And how interesting they were...I told Mendas that I would retrieve a chart from the Merchant League for him, but that's going to have to wait until some of the political turmoil dies down and the city opens back up.  He was telling me to hurry since the Merchants' ship was already being prepared...but I somehow doubt the ports are allowing free travel to and from the city during such a precipitous time...

And Shandalar wanted me to run an errand for him...and I did it.  I guess because of the way he knew something about me, it seemed like it would lead to some kind of answers.  And because the task itself seemed strange and intriguing.  But to not seem like too much of an errand boy, I at least made him wait a day or so...while I marched down to the Friendly Arm and resurrected Xzar.

I almost immediately knew we were in way over our head...when I saw we were on an ice island in the middle of nowhere.  We went inside and confronted the first group of mages...very, very difficult battle, one in which I had no business winning with a level 5ish party. [Sidenote: the PC died the first attempt, and I had to reload...again, that can't be a part of the narrative of this blog.  Why not?  I don't know.  It just can't.  In fact, there are (of course) a good number of times where the PC dies and I have to reload, but I'm only mentioning those moments sparingly.]  Xzar got fried by a Fireball, Montaron got Confused then Melfed, and Kagain...well, Kagain died too.  Somehow Idaen, Imoen, and Ajantis seemed to come out alive.  Looks like that's the group I'm stuck with now.  Let's see if we can't find this goddamn cloak and get the hell out of here.

So what was the strategy?  No way of detecting traps...so I used some magic protection potions and sent Ajantis or Idaen off to scout.  This is where the Boots of Grounding and potions of absorption came in handy too, for the lightning traps.  I got through the rest of the mages...no fight was as tough as the first one, though the ankhegs were pretty hard.  I had to rest a few times...Idaen ended up memorizing Miscast Magic (since Silence has been seemingly worthless lately) and multiple Raise Undeads (to have a nice battalion of skeletons), and Imoen memorized Invisibility for scouting purposes.

I spent a day and a half or so on that island, maybe a little bit longer...after I got the cloak, I went through and cleared the rest, since I probably wouldn't even have the chance to come here again...and hey, we're adventurer's, right?  Imoen doesn't have Identify, so I didn't even get a chance to see what powers Shandalar's cloak had.  I spoke to him immediately upon returning, and he took it from me.  Maybe I should have left and got it identified, maybe keeping it for my troubles...but too late.  So, this was a little odd...I'll come back here once I get the chart for Mendas, but let me head back down south and finish what I was supposed to be doing.

Idaen, lvl 6 cleric/lvl 5 ranger

Ajantis, lvl 6 paladin

Kagain, lvl 5 fighter

Montaron, lvl 5 fighter/lvl 6 thief

Imoen, lvl 6 thief>lvl 5 mage

Xzar, lvl 5 necromancer

Yikes...two posts today.

Kagain, Some Spiders, and a Return to the Bandit Camp

With Jaheira still dead, we visited the temple in Beregost and received our reward for bringing Bassilus to justice.  I decided NOT to resurrect Jaheira.  As I've said in the past, I didn't really like her character, she was a very light back up healer, and couldn't do any real damage what with a club or a sling.  I needed to see how we could do with just two tanks.

Then we headed west into town.  This was my first time actually visiting Beregost during this playthrough, other than a brief night we spent in the Jovial Juggler a day or two after fleeing Candlekeep.  I finally visited the Thunderhammer Smithy (where I bought a set of full plate mail) and Feldepost's Inn.  I looked for Tranzig but he had gone by now...it had been two months give or take since we emerged from the Nashkel mines, I didn't think he would stick around forever...not to worry, though.  I already had all the information I was going to need.  Also ran into Garrick...but we're a little beyond becoming mercenaries for only 300 gold at this point, so he wandered away.

But then I stumbled upon a dwarf fighter named Kagain.  He was rough around the edges, obviously, and was clearly trying to rip us off.  HOWEVER, he worked with caravans so might have some good opinions on bandit tactics and overarching strategy.  Furthermore, and more importantly, he was another fighter, and I was looking to get rid of Khalid (I didn't like him either...something of a coward, and not that special of a character).  Plus, I didn't want to kick Jaheira out when she was dead, perma-killing her, so the only way to get rid of her would be to get rid of Khalid as well.

I told Kagain to stay put for a little while, while I headed back to the temple to resurrect Jaheira.  Once she was back in the world of the living, I let both the Harpers go.  They helped me out in the beginning, being Gorion's friends and all, but I have outgrown them and need to "find my own direction," as the text box prompted me to say.  Returned and welcomed Kagain.  20 CON, dual-wielding axes, drunk and stand-offish...whew.

So I went south to look for his caravan.  I remember seeing one where I encountered Brage, so we wandered back down south for about a week (I didn't remember what map I found Brage on).  Eventually I DID find the caravan wreckage...but no dialog from the dwarf.  Fine, this isn't the one.  My plan was to head back up the bandit camp to wreak some havoc, so that's what I'll do.  That's getting more to the source of the problem anyway, and Kagain might be able to find some answers up there.  I should have returned there as soon as possible...apparently I'm getting something of a name for myself, and it only takes a little good communication before the Chill and Black Talon leaders in the Woods of Sharp Teeth catch on that the mercenary group causing so many problems is the same one that was walking freely around the camp not too long ago (nevermind the ones who had gotten into a battle in Tazok's tent).

So on the trip up, I guess Kagain just gets tired of looking for the caravan and gives up.  Okay then, simple enough.  He's traveling with us now.  Whatever works.  Before the bandit camp, I clear out Larswood and the farm map to the east, to make sure there aren't too many contingents of bandits setting up there.  The farm map (I'll call it the "spider map") was a grim scene.  A Web trap, some poisonings, and a few nasty spiders were all it took to reduce the party by 40%.  I'm not sure what happened...Idaen (the only one with Slow Poison) and Montaron were caught in the web, and I ran out of antidotes pretty quick.  Oh yeah, Xzar got a little too close and got destroyed.  At the end of the battle, it was just Idaen, Montaron, and Imoen.  I took as much as their equipment and inventory we could carry, then continued to troop on to clear the rest of the map before we returned to a temple.

I then realized: this probably wouldn't have happened if we had another tank that could have taken some of the brunt of Kagain.  Also, more importantly, it would have delayed Idaen from heading out in the front lines so early in the fight which caused him to get caught in the trap.  He could have stayed behind, casted buffs, priest spells, druid spells, whatever, then entered the fray later.  Do I regret losing Khalid and Jaheira?  Not especially, because now that the two aren't paired up, I have more freedom with the NPCs that I do encounter.

So just the three of us continue to clear out the map.  After a little while, we run into a group of "red-robed posers."  Some kind of hostile mage cult.  Of course, this looks like a tough battle for just a cleric/ranger, a fighter/thief, and a thief>mage...but it's exactly this type of situation that leads me to memorize Silence every day.  I threw that out there, Imoen Charmed another one, and the battle was quite simple, especially since Montaron is very dangerous with a bow and arrow now.  They turned into just a quartet of really bad fighters with quarterstaves after that, and we cut through them like butter.

I got our two fallen comrades resurrected, then headed straight to the bandit camp.  Luckily, they had still not put two and two together, so it must have come as a surprise when I massacred the camp.  That should throw a wrench in their plans for a while.  I rested in the gnoll cave then headed south to clear out Peldsvale too.  Ran into a drow named Viconia but decided NOT to help her.  A.) My party's already evil enough, and I want to keep it somewhat balanced, and B.) at this point in the game, I am focusing on clearing out bandits, and if the enemy of my enemy is my friend, then my friend happens to be the law now.  Sure I'm good, but chaotic, remember?  I would have played True Neutral again this game, but it's not allowed with a ranger.

Sidebar:  So I chose to play Chaotic Good instead of Neutral Good.  I think Chaotic Good is closer to True Neutral than Neutral Good is.  Agree?  They kind of balance each other out.  I also think Lawful Evil is closer to True Neutral than Neutral Evil is.  Now the question is, are CG and LE closer to TN than Chaotic Neutral and Lawful Neutral?  Hmm...

Alright...so now I'm going to walk up and down the road looking for bandits.  I cleared out the bandit camp, so that's going to be something of a stop-gap for a little while, to help out the merchants, farmers and citizens. I want to further this by also helping make the roads safer, even if this is just a temporary fix.  Obviously Cloakwood is calling, but in time...I want to find out as much as I can first about the bandits, as I've stayed out of the major roadway for most of this game so far, and haven't traveled much further north than the Friendly Arm Inn.

Idaen, lvl 5 cleric/lvl 5 ranger
Kagain, lvl 5 fighter
Montaron, lvl 5 fighter/lvl 5 thief
Imoen, lvl 6 thief>lvl 4 mage
Xzar, lvl 5 necromancer

Oh yeah, I have Idaen dual-wielding now.  Maybe it was a mistake to put a + in sword and shield style, but it's too late now.  He's got a flail +1 and Bassilus's warhammer +2 in the offhand.

Marching North, and a Semi-Accidental Infiltration

We took care of the gnoll stronghold pretty handily.  Rescued Dynaheir, but I had to spurn her.  The group was full.  Sure, she could have replaced Xzar, but I need Montaron.  She might have been a replacement for Khalid or Jaheira, but if they both left I would have been left too light on tanks.  Imoen may or may not be the weakest link in the group right now, with Monty having all of the useful, dungeon-crawling type skills, but I could not justify leaving her by herself in an abandoned, rotting fortress in the middle of nowhere.  In another world, I would start thinking about getting rid of her somehow...but I have plans.  See below.

Also, Dyanheir's "guardian" Minsc attacked me several weeks ago, and we had to kill him.  So I'm not too keen about having that eventually coming up in an awkward conversation.  I called her a witch, she trotted off to do her thing, and we continued on our way to do ours.

We went back to Nashkel to restock again.  There are still some areas in the southwest I would like to explore, but I believe we're naturally coming to the stopping point for all of this.  It's been about 40 or 45 days now, so I decided to rest in the inn (especially since Xzar and Montaron were complaining).  My plan was this:  hit up the final couple of areas in the southwest on the way to Candlekeep, where I know scimitars are sold for Jaheira.  With the Gauntlets of Dexterity, she's now at AC -3 (Idaen is at -2 and Khalid's at -1)...and after I realized a club actually does more damage than a sling and bullets, I started having her tank on the front lines with Khalid and the PC.  BUT, I gave her a + in scimitars, and they do more damage than clubs, so I'd like to find her one.  I know that I won't be able to get into Candlekeep, but my character doesn't...no metagaming here, so we're going to go up there and try to get in.  If that didn't work, I was going to head east, then swing north up to the Friendly Arm Inn and see if scimitars are sold there (and check out what else they have for sale...I have a suspicion that our experience has outgained some of our equipment...).

Plans have a way of going awry, though.  We ran into Bassilus the mad cleric and his small legion of undead.  I remember hearing something about him weeks ago from Kelddath Ormlyr (when I was getting Xzar or Montaron resurrected).  I had Idaen turn undead which sent most of the skeletons/zombies running.  Xzar hit Bassilus with a Chromatic Orb, blinding him, so I thought I was safe for the time being.  However, the cleric was still able to get out an Entangle.  Jaheira got caught up, and just started taking dozens and dozens of arrows to the grill...and she was gone.  The rest of us survived, but now we're down a member.  She's not perma-gone, so I can still resurrect her...but dead is dead, and it's not my duty to bring people back.  I will see how we do with the five of us for now, and maybe another character will come along that fills a better role.  Idaen can handle all of the divine spellcasting (cleric and druid spells plus 18 wisdom...I see him as a "superpriest" who can double as a tanker)...so possibly I'm just looking for another fighter so he can focus on that.

Furthermore, Imoen hit level 6, so I decided to dual-class her to a mage.  Maybe it's not a great idea to lose an arrow-slinger right after we lost a tank...but hey, we've got a sling and some bullets that Jaheira was holding on to that Imoen can use now.  Imoen was about 80 in opening locks and about 65 or so in detecting illusions...these will be nice bonuses that come back when she hits level 7 mage, right around the 80k exp point.  This ALSO makes Montaron that much more invaluable now, so it seems the Zhentarim have carved out a nice spot for themselves in the group.  Can't say as much for the Harpers...

So we went up to Candlekeep, and got barred from entry.  Alright.  Next stop: FAI.  Unfortunately, they didn't have much of anything to sell, either.  I guess my plan now is to go to Beregost (the temple first), see what items I can buy there for my crew.  I have about 14k in gold to spend.  I decided to take the long way, through Larswood.  You know, we've been down in the south so long, it wouldn't hurt to get acclimated to these northern areas, see what's the same, see what's different, etc.  But within minutes of entering the Woods of Sharp Teeth, I was approached by a huge contingent of bandits. Recalling the advice that Drizzt gave me a few days earlier, I decided not to fight, but to use words and guile to get the real story behind these bandits.

Next thing I know, I'm proving myself to Tazok, and have free run of the bandit camp.  Jeez...this was almost by accident.  I was holding off hunting down Tranzig, but I guess I just completely cut him out of the picture.  We wandered over to the big guy's tent after getting acquainted with some of the important players in this saga, dispatched of some other important players, and had an interesting conversation with an Ender Sai.  Combining that with the notes I found in the chest, I have a solid plan of action now (and was launched into the next chapter).

Answers to some major questions are going to be in Cloakwood.  This is going to be the inevitable direction, but are we ready for it yet?  First things first: I want to head to Beregost and stock up on some better equipment.  I know it's a merchant town and there could be some very useful weapons and armor there.  After that, it's time to deal with these bandits.  The Sword Coast is troubled, and whether we like it or not, it's our group's responsibility now to fix these problems.  I'll wait and see what we get into in town, but after that, I'm going to clear out all of Peldsvale, Larswood, and then return with a vengeance to the bandit camp.  I'll probably walk up and down the main road running through the coast, too, just "taking care" of bandit problems.  After that, who knows?  Might try out the Firewine Bridge/Ulcaster region, or just go straight to Cloakwood.

Idaen, lvl 4 cleric/lvl 4 ranger
Jaheira, lvl 4 fighter/lvl 4 druid (DEAD)
Khalid, lvl 5 fighter
Montaron, lvl 4 fighter/lvl 5 thief
Imoen, lvl 6 thief>lvl 2 mage
Xzar, lvl 5 necromancer

The Lighthouse and Other Adventures in the Southwest

We're still down in the south, far away from any civilization.  After we took care of that little problem in Nashkel, we almost immediately hit the wilderness.  Right now, my ragtag group has been kicking around between Nashkel to the east, the Sea of Swords to the west, the Cloudpeaks and Amn to the south, and High Hedge to the north.  Like I said last post, it's probably been almost a month since the last time we even stayed at an inn.  We've heard a little of the political talk involving Baldur's Gate and Amn, but nothing that seems relevant to our day-to-day tasks.  We don't even really know how our escapade in the mines affected the iron shortage situation.

That being said, we are becoming full-fledged adventurers, even though we're just wandering around in the wilderness more or less; I guess this is our occupation, now.  That doomsayer battle was something of a coming-of-age.  Soon after it, we headed northwest to the lighthouse area.  In almost no time, we ran into Sil and about seven other sirens on the beach over the course of two or three confrontations.  I won't lie; these were some sloppy battles.  Either Confusion or Dire Charm kept being cast on Idaen or Khalid, which put the weaker members of the party in lethal risk.  Luckily, we managed to clear the coast without losing any group members.  This happened with a strategy revolving around Xzar casting Web, Idaen and Jaheira casting buff spells and Doom, Imoen's stash of fire arrows, and a monster summoning or two.  It wasn't pretty, but it somehow worked.  Unforunately, while Idaen was confused, he wandered into a woman named Safana in the wilderness and smacked her with his flail +1 before any of us could talk to her...she became hostile and our only option was to kill her (there goes another NPC...).

Next was a cave full of flesh golems.  I knew we couldn't handle it after one of them took half of Khalid's life in one hit, then immediately followed it up with another hit for half of Idaen's life.  We fled out of the cave and kept running until we lost the hideous thing somewhere outside.  (To be honest, my PC kept dying after a few attempts at the cave, so I decided it wasn't worth it...of course reloads can't be a part of this blog's wonderfully consistent narrative.)  I'm going to head back to that cave at some point in the future, if I don't forget...I'm sure there's some worthwhile treasure in there.

We took care of the rest of the area, including rescuing a woman's son from a pack of worgs and running into a palm-reader that had a bizarre reaction after reading Idaen's palm.  A large armored figure had tried to abduct him, he's well-known among outlaw bounty hunters, and now this woman saw something horrifying in his past.  It's becoming readily apparent there is something unique and frightening about him, but he and the rest of the party don't know what it is...this is almost more of a reason to stay out in the wilderness, but sooner or later we will have to head back up north to face these questions head-on.  But not yet.

So I decided we would head to the the gnoll fortress in the far southwest.  I believe we can handle it now, and we will be doing a service for the entire Sword Coast by ridding the place of those vermin.  We returned to Nashkel one more time to sell some jewels and restock on ammo...in and out in the middle of the night.  We battled several small groups of ogres, ogre berserkers and the like, but eventually wound up on the one rickety bridge into the stronghold.  Cleared out the ridges and caves to the south, and prepared ourselves to storm the place...

That's where I'm at now....during this whole time, I've been thinking about my party, and my general dissatisfaction with it.  Khalid has been doing alright, and has the most HP of the group with 41, but he seems to take a lot of damage, and frankly I just really don't care for his attitude or personality.  Okay, so he's a coward who's scared to do anything?  Awesome, great character.  And Jaheira's doing alright too, but if she were to go, what would I really be missing? A few heal spells, a sling, and a club?  Pfft.  Idaen could carry that load.  And I don't like her much, either, with her holier-than-thou attitude about nature.  She hates cities, mines, Xzar and Montaron, everything.  Hey, I'm half-ranger too...can we take it down a notch?

Montaron is at a pitiful 20hp.  I finally took him off tank duty when I got a long bow for him, and he's been getting more skilled at hiding in shadows, moving silently, and detecting traps.  Imoen has been focusing on opening locks and detecting illusions.  So without another thief, I really need to keep Montaron around...which is fine.  Once he gets one more + in long bows, he'll be incredibly valuable.  Xzar, on the other hand, is driving me crazy.  He fails to copy almost every scroll we find...he's been relying on Color Spray and Larloch's Minor Drain almost exclusively, which translates into staying behind and throwing darts almost every enemy encounter.  However, Xzar goes hand-in-hand with Montaron, so I guess I need to stick with him for the present.  He recently learned Burning Hands and Chromatic Orb, so that could begin to make a difference.

But I'm thinking about dualing Imoen to a mage for all of these reasons, once she hits level 6.  As long as Monty's around, her thief skills can be out of a commission for a little while...and I would love to have a 2nd mage around to complement (supplement?) the mad necromancer.  She's at about 15 or 16k, so this decision will have to made soon...

Aaaannyways...I may get another post out by the end of the weekend about the gnoll stronghold.  Here's my paty now:

Idaen, lvl 4 cleric/lvl 4 ranger
Khalid, lvl 4 fighter
Jaheira, lvl 4 fighter/lvl 4 druid
Montaron, lvl 3 fighter/lvl 4 thief
Imoen, lvl 5 thief
Xzar, lvl 4 necromancer

West of Nashkel

But first...east of Nashkel.  I returned to the site of the ambush when we had first left the mines, after killing Mulahey.  The group of four women were still there.  This time, with Silence and with more hit points, we took care of them with no problem.  Also, this is the first I've heard of the Iron Throne...they probably have a good amount to do with everything, but who knows, right?

I still don't have much of a plan of action.  The next logical move is Tranzig and Beregost, but I still don't think it's the right time for that.  These southern plains are starting to feel like home; we haven't stayed at an inn once since before we entered the mines.  There's a lot to explore, and we need to be able to call ourselves bona fide adventurers without any eye-rolling.

So we marched to the large expanse of land between the sea and Nashkel and started turning over some rocks to see what would pop up.  After we exhaust this region, there's not a whole lot more we can do anywhere this far away from civilization, so let's enjoy it while it lasts.  We wandered around, decimated an entire xvart village, battled ogres, cave bears, skeletons...but mostly gnolls.  A LOT of gnolls.  Also ran into Brage...we cured his insanity through the answering of a simple riddle, then brought him back to the Temple of Helm so he could begin his lifetime of atonement.

I decided to have Montaron become proficient in long bows..his hit point rolls have been poor to say the least, and he's really going to be more effective long term if he can become useful with a ranged weapon.  I wish he hadn't started specialized in sword and shield style, but what are you gonna do.

Eventually I stumbled upon a suspicious archaeological excavation project.  What they were doing seemed interesting, so I told a Mr. Charleston Nib that I would stand guard for him while he delved into the long-hidden chambers.  But as soon as we entered, things took a turn for the worst.  Immediately the workers became agitated and started to attack our party; Xzar sent in a Color Spray, but it only served to knock Nib unconscious and convince him we were enemies.  After easily disposing of the workers, we had to take care of their boss, unfortunately.  We took a fairly large reputation hit for that, but I suppose it will make Xzar and Montaron more comfortable with the group.  With no information, we grabbed the idol and got out of there.  But wait: a doomsayer was waiting for us outside.  This was probably the hardest battle that we've faced in the month since I left Candlekeep, but there was no way around it.  Idaen casted Doom and Chant, Montaron chugged a strength potion, and Xzar used a wand to summon a trio of ogres and a pack of dire wolves.  It was a long struggle, but the ogres were able to land some solid blows.  The three of us meleeing took turns stepping away and being healed, returning to the thick of things when I was confident that they could take at least one solid blow without dying.  All in all, the strategy was successful and we were 4000xp richer by the end.

Idaen, lvl 4 cleric/lvl 3 ranger
Khalid, lvl 4 fighter
Montaron, lvl 3 fighter/lvl 3 thief
Jaheira, lvl 3 fighter/lvl 3 druid
Imoen, lvl 4 thief
Xzar, lvl 3 necromancer

On a side note:  I experienced a very strange bug that forced a reload.  A dialog began between Jaheira and Xzar began which would initiate the Zhentarim-Harper duel-to-the-death.  Alright, fine.  I knew what I was getting into when I invited all these people to the group, and I was actually kind of looking forward to it.  It would have allowed me to naturally fill the party with some new NPCs.  However, right as the dialog was going on, I received a phone call and had to take it.  While I was on the phone, I let the game linger on the last dialog line without ever hitting "end conversation" (or whatever).  15-20 minutes later, I return to the game and click it.  The four NPCs' circles go gray/purple, but they just stand there.  No one attacks, but I can't control them.  I tried resting/zoning/talking to them/kicking them out and trying to get them back in...but nothing.  In fact, the first time I clicked rest, it triggered Khalid to attack Montaron...but Montaron, Jaheira, and Xzar still just stood there being unresponsive.  Real weird.  I reloaded to right before the dialog, but it didn't spring up again.

Into the Cloudpeaks

So we started our exploration of northern Amn, in the land at the base of the Cloudpeak Mountains.  I figured that as long as we decided to be out in the wilderness, away from the prying eyes of society, then it would be best to get a far away as we could from Beregost, Baldur's Gate, the whole Sword Coast.  Problems are looking for us up there, but as long as we're in Amn we may luck out and not run into trouble that's over our head.

And for the most part, it didn't.  We explored most of the area south, southwest, and southeast of Nashkel.  We didn't quite get to the Gnoll Stronghold yet...there's no reason for us to get in too deep over that way, especially when the goal of the next few weeks is to just lay low and gain experience.  We raided a few tombs, met a dryad, got some nice loot, and generally did some low-key adventuring...financing the majority of our equipment upgrades with winter wolf pelts that we would sell when we would return to town.

The party came back to Nashkel twice or so to sell goods, restock on ammunition, buy some large shields +1 and platemail, and most importantly, resurrect fallen members.  We are still a low-level group that is going through some growing pains.  Montaron was initially killed by one of the largest herds of gibberlings that I had ever seen.  Khalid also died battling a pack of flinds.  There were some bumps in the road, but we're beginning to look like something you could call adventurers.  In the end, a large majority of the southern areas have been explored and rightful experience has been gained.  My next move is to return to the area surrounding the alternate mine entrance, and see if I can find that group that first attacked me almost two weeks ago.  Now that Idaen is a level 3 cleric, I now have access to Chant, Hold, and Silence.  Xzar also has a Wand of Monster Summoning at his disposal, so that both those things could prove to be a big help, especially coupled with the increased levels of the party:

Idaen, lvl 3 cleric/lvl 2 ranger
Khalid, lvl 3 fighter
Montaron, lvl 2 fighter/lvl 3 thief
Jaheira, lvl 3 fighter/lvl 3 druid
Imoen, lvl 4 thief
Xzar, lvl 3 necromancer

The First Dungeon

We progressed deeper into the Nashkel mines. Remember, I made almost a direct line down here as soon as we picked up Jaheira and Khalid. My group is far from anything remotely "experienced." We are all level 1, except Jaheira (2/2). During encounters, I've been having her stay behind the line with a sling (better than a club), while Imoen uses her short bow. The front line is Idaen with a morning star and a shield, Khalid dual-wielding two bastard swords, and Montaron with a small sword and a shield. Xzar generally stays behind and does absolutely nothing.

This really complex battle plan was unsurprisingly less-than-successful in the mines. Between the kobolds and the kobold commandos, Imoen was killed on the third level. After that, the group slowly widdled down...Khalid and then Xzar were the next two to go, also on the third level. I had to return to the surface once to rest, heal, and re-memorize spells. Wow...I really am not prepared for the Nashkel mines, the easiest dungeon in the entire saga...maybe I should have spent some time in Beregost first.

Jaheira, Montaron and the PC were actually doing well for a while. I gave Jaheira her club to use, and we were just three meleers going at it. Sadly, Montaron took a few too many fire arrows to the gut as we approached the fourth level, and also died. After that I decided to retreat for some time. I wasn't willing to go further through the dungeon with no thief, and with only two of us still alive, so it was decided that Idaen and Jaheira would head back to Nashkel to resurrect the characters we could, rest, and return at slightly better strength.

...and that's what almost happened. We were waylaid by half-ogres on our way back, and they managed to kill Jaheira...we were tired, on the run, and outnumbered. I returned to Naskhel having lost 5 of my 6 party members. It must have looked like a grim, stark scene to any onlookers. But not to give up...we made too much headway to turn back now, and Berrun Ghastkill was still expecting answers. At the Temple of Helm, Khalid, Imoen, Montaron, and Jaheira rejoined me. I let Xzar linger in the netherlife for a while longer. He wasn't helping much in the mines, and is too much of a liability at 4hp. We rested for 16 hours to regain full strength, then left south for the second time in a couple days.

No kobolds had returned to the mines, so that's a relief. We didn't have any trouble clearing the fourth level out, then headed down further. Took it very slow, very quiet, looking for the traps the whole way, and eventually met an elf named Xan. He was investigating the mining problems as well, but was captured and held against his will...he offered to join with us, but we were full, so I sent him on his way. Next was Mulahey, and this turned out to be a long, fierce battle, owing most to the horde of kobolds and skeletons that seemed to come out of the wall. But, we came out alive, and found out more about this gentleman's organization. Even pointed to someone named Tranzig staying in Beregost.

We didn't leave the mines the same way we came in, and ended up out somewhere east of Nashkel. A pack of wild dogs attacked us; the five of us were mostly at half-health, and before I knew what was happening, they ripped Jaheira to shreds. This is now the second time she's died. I had tried retreating back into the mines, but the path was blocked off. Damn...what a way to go.

It was the morning and we camped out and rested for the day. As soon as the late afternoon came, we began our journey back west. I wanted to get a quick look around the surrounding area, but very quickly we ran into a group of four women that immediately began to attack us. I saw flame arrows, and at least two mages, and knew immediately we would die if we stayed to fight. We fled, but I want to know who these attackers were.

Back in town, it seemed like the mayor and commoners were appropriately satisfied. I resurrected and welcomed back Jaheira and Xzar, the headed to the inn to rest some more and figure out our next move. Hmm, a man named Nimbul attacks...the Amnish guards help dispose of him and we find another letter from Tazok, this one specifically requesting our deaths...

So what to do? I had six group members die in the adventure in the mines, and I don't think I'm ready to be confronting any sinister organization right now, especially in busy, crowded places. Nimbul was sent to attack us because of what we did in the mines, and they knew we were in Nashkel...right now, I'm thinking the best plan is to head southeast towards the mountains and stay out of the populated areas until we gain more experience and maybe figure out what is going on. Maybe those women that attacked the group know something? But I doubt we can take them on at this point.

So we got out of the city as soon as we could, and headed south again. I might get some more information by luring some more bounty hunters out in the open? They haven't been a terrible challenge so far, and I know Prism was talking about one...unfortunately he is too focused on his work and I can barely even speak to him. Welp, I guess that's that. I head east, camp again, and prepare to spend some time out in the wilderness.

My party:

Idaen, lvl 2 cleric/lvl 1 ranger

Khalid, lvl 1 fighter

Montaron, lvl 1 fighter/lvl 1 thief

Jaheira, lvl 2 fighter/lvl 2 druid

Imoen, lvl 2 thief

Xzar, lvl 1 necromancer