Wolfweres, Werewolves, and a Return to Beregost

With the sea charts in hand and most things sewn up in Baldur's Gate for the time being, we made the day-and-a-half-long journey down to Beregost.  I had some things to wrap up, and Mendas had been waiting on me for a month or longer, so another few days isn't hurting anything.  Unfortunately, there weren't any more sets of full plate mail for sale at the Thunderhammer Smithy, so Idaen is stuck wearing the ankheg armor indefinitely.  So I stayed in town for a couple more hours, rested, sifted through some of the items I had in storage in a room at the Jovial Juggler, then hit the road once more.

This time, north to Ulgoth's Beard.  Mendas was pleased to finally have his charts, and he booked us a vessel right there on the spot.  We travel a "score" of days (ah, that's twenty...let's say three weeks) and the ship sinks in a storm.  Oh, but let me pause for a second...those days were not counted in the total on the save game screen/journal/anything else.  I really don't like that...I guess my only choice is to add on 42 days or so in my head to whatever day-count the game gives me.  Imperfect solution...damn.

Anyways, I'm sure that most readers of this blog know the story (but actually my first playthrough of it), but here it goes anyway:  After we washed up on shore, we realized pretty quickly that this was indeed the island we were looking for.  The villagers seemed real strange...I assumed it had to do with the inbreeding finally catching up to them.  Two hundred people is NOT an adequate population to maintain healthy genetic diversity...but I digress.

But if my only way off this island is to clear the northern part of it of the wolfweres, then that's what I have to do.  And they're tough, it turns out...they hit hard.  Almost lost Ajantis in the first encounter.  Resistant to magic, too, but not resistant enough to defeat a party with two high level mages.

We wiped out all of the wolfweres on the surface of the island, resting on the southern side of the island when it was necessary.  Met Dradeel, who was able to shed a little more light on the interesting circumstances of the island, and Balduran's final voyage.

Everything got a little more difficult when we entered the ship.  The whole ship, infested with wolfweres.  Yeslick fell in battle on one of the upper levels.  Hated to see it happen, but I guess I'll see him on the mainland.  So now it's just the five of us, confronting Karoug and his woman.  This battle was difficult like the rest.  I was able to have Montaron scout ahead, so we were able to pre-buff (including Haste...which frustratingly doesn't work for Spider's Bane-wielding Ajantis), raise undead, and summon some monsters.  When the battle started, we took out the mage first, quickly and decisively.  Xzar casted Emotion, which was a real help...took two of the wolfweres out of commission.  While Karoug focused on clawing apart the summoned help, we took care of the still-conscious wolfweres.  Then it became just a five-on-one confrontation with the greater wolfwere, and what do you know...none of my weapons can harm him.  No arrows from Monty or Imoen, not Spider's Bane, not my PC's two flails +1.  So, what can I do?  I guess I just reverted to a simply but effective strategy: Magic Missile barrage.  Both Imoen and Xzar are level 8 (or were close to it at the time), and Xzar has a ring that doubles his first level spells.  I think Imoen had 4 and Xzar had 6.  Karoug may have resisted a good percentage of the magic missiles, but a lot still hurt him.  And there were a lot.  Eventually, he was dead.

Returned to Dradeel before returning to the village. I was going to head straight back after giving the mage his spellbook, but I actually turned around halfway there to the village to rest and heal at Dradeel's cabin.  I had a strange feeling about the villagers, and a shipwrecked sailor-turned-villagers vaguely warned me that nothing here is as it seems.  Plus, most of the villagers would mention smells and scents.  So my guess?  Werewolves.  And what do you know, that's just what it is.  I actually wasn't opposed to Kaishas turning me into a lycanthrope and being part of the tribe...as long as I could still leave.  Unfortunately it just wasn't meant to be.  We fought our way to the ship, killed the transformed Kaishas, and set sail for home.

The toughest battle of this whole subplot was waiting for us when we docked in Ulgoth's Beard.  Mendas revealed his true identity and motivations, and before we knew it we had two loup garou on our hands.  I fled out of the house into the yard in front, and faced them there.  Again, no weapons were working.  I used magic missiles again, but eventually we ran out after the first of the loup garou died.  At some point, Ajantis gets struck down.  Now it's four of us, and it's up to the healer to do the bulk of the tankwork.  I relied heavily on Xzar's Ring of Energy and a wand of frost that was handed off to Imoen in the midst of the battle.  The second werewolf died, and the four of us who were still living could finally enjoy the solid ground we hadn't stood on in weeks.

I resurrected the Paladin and the Dwarf at the Lady's Hall in Baldur's Gate on my way down south.  It was a quick pit stop in the Grand Dukes' city, and nothing seemed to have changed much.  Again, though, I'm paranoid I'm being watched by the Iron Throne or some satellite organization, so I make the stay quick.  I sold most of my treasure at Sorcerous Sundries, including Balduran's log book for a cool 5kgp.

Next, on to Beregost.  I'm at something of a crossroads at this point.  I still think it's too soon to return to Baldur's Gate (even though it's been *ahem* more than six weeks)...not enough new experience has been gained since most of that time was spent sitting on a ship.  As I said lost post, I never really got a chance to explore the areas east and west of Beregost....so that became the plan.  If I'm truly going to be the hero of the Sword Coast, I need to know its ins and outs, especially around this central-type merchant town.  So after resting at my favorite inn, the Jovial Juggler, I head west to High Hedge.  It's been five months or more since I first ran through here, scared for my life, dodging skeleton darts.  But now look at us.  Either Imoen casts a Fireball to incinerate them all, or one of the three of us with Turn Undead just send them scattering.

Either way:  I meet Kivan.  I don't have to tell him anything about us, so I leave him standing there.  Yes, he's a warrior with high dexterity (been looking for one), but I don't want to be left with no fighters at all (multi-class or not).  Then I head into High Hedge itself.  Talked to the mage and bought Imoen a Robe of the Good Archmagi.  That'll do it.

Head west to give another shot at the flesh golem cave.  This time, after the experience of defeating dozens of wolfweres not too long ago, the golems weren't too much of a challenge.  I came out with a Manual of Bodily Health.  Then I turned north to the coast region I hadn't explored yet...met a water nymph (or something) enslaved by an ogre mage, gained the Helmet of Defense, and met the late Davaeorn's brother.


And that's where my party is at this point.  I'm about to journey to the large expanse of land east of Beregost...heard rumors of the ruins of a magic school?  Maybe some bridge ruins too.  Just fully experiencing the Sword Coast area before heading back to Baldur's Gate to start bringing all of this to a close.

The levels of the members of the group:

Idaen, lvl 7 cleric/lvl 6 ranger
Yeslick, lvl 6 fighter/lvl 6 cleric
Ajantis, lvl 7 paladin
Montaron, lvl 6 fighter/lvl 7 thief
Imoen, lvl 6 thief>lvl 8 mage
Xzar, lvl 8 necromancer

The City

I entered the city of Baldur's Gate, and just like last playthrough, it immediately felt like a whirlwind of subquests.  Remember:  my original plan was to briefly gauge the pulse of the city with regards to the political turmoil and the bandit issues, and somehow retrieve the sea charts for Mendas.

Before I can even cross the bridge, I'm approached by Scar of the Flaming Fist.  He wants me to look into the strange behavior of the Seven Suns trading roster.  Since this almost definitely has something to do with the Iron Throne (based on one of Davaeorn's letters), it's instantly intriguing.  Maybe if I have time.

So, what happened?  A lot.  I want to say I spent about a week and a half there (game-time).  I'm assuming the large majority of the readers of this blog have played through BG1 before, so I won't go into every detail of all the subquests.  I'll just add the motivations and justifications of my party as they navigated the winding streets of this large city.  Please note that the completion of all these quests were interwoven with each other, with some being put on hold and some taking priority depending on their timing.  It was all happening at the same time, but at this point I have no chance of really remembering the actual sequence of events.

• We got attacked upon entering the Merchant League's Counting House...obviously no one was buying the weak lie that Montaron was trying to sell.  However, once we got to the 2nd floor, we were able to convince the captain to give us the sea charts, as soon as we were able to get him some of the ale he liked.  Several days, multiple subquests, and 900gp later, we returned to the captain with his drug of choice, and he had the sea charts.

• We were  also led to the Thieves Guild within a few hours of entering the city.  The leader Alatos had a tasks to ask of me, seeing how we seemed like a competent enough group of adventurers.  Normally I wouldn't have taken part of it (remember the plan...in and out), but he mentioned Shandalar.  Oh yeah, that mage in Ulgoth's Beard that teleported me to that island prison, where I almost got stranded and killed.  You know, if this quest to steal flying ship artifacts is going to destroy some of his plans, then good.  He's got it coming to him...I'm just grateful I can be part of ruining his day.  I agreed to do it.  So, eventually during my week and a half in the city, I find Oberan's estate, and Shandalar's three daughters.  Montaron flawlessly pulls this quest off, almost single-handedly.  After Imoen picked the outside lock for him (she hit level 7 mage so she has her thief skills back now), Montaron sneaked in, explored the entire premises, climbed to the third floor, and stole the three artifacts while no one was the wiser.  We returned to Alatos, but his Halruaan friend still felt the need to kill us so we couldn't go spreading around the secrets of his stupid flying ship.  Unfortunately for him, when a lonely mage is ~3 feet away from my party, he's usually dead before he can fail casting a second spell.  The guildmaster was apologetic, telling me I still have the run of the guild if I want.

Fighting in the streets

• While looking for Oberan's estate to find the Halruuan skyship artifacts, we stumbled into a different estate (I was entering all nice-looking estates since there's no sign on the Oberlan one).  Doom Guards, Invisible Stalkers, Helmed Horrors...wow.  This was a long, multi-phase, bloody battle that spilled out onto the streets on a nice afternoon in the richest neighborhood of Baldur's Gate.  Xzar was struck down pretty early on...when the monsters came busting out into the streets the first time and caught him by surprise...they were chasing a recently exposed Montaron.  After that, we managed to keep it together to an extent.  Imoen's Wand of Paralyzation was VERY useful during this battle as the stalkers and horrors seemed surprisingly susceptible...good thing we have two or three more for the future.  After clearing out the first wave, we traveled back in the house to take out the rest that were standing guard.  This second battle took place mostly inside, but Ajantis and Yeslick started hurting.  I thought we had it sewn up by then, but when we reached Degrodel and refused to complete whatever task he wanted, he summoned three or four more enemies.  I was really thinking about running, but I decided to stay there and fight...for a time.  After we killed the mage (rather swiftly with help from the classic halfling backstab and a hit or two from Yeslick's warhammer), the fight was slipping out of control, so we retreated to the streets to get our bearings, maybe lose one or two of the horrors.  And somehow it worked, with some five-on-one cleanup once or twice afterwards.  We ended with almost no healing potions left, and no real useful spells (other than those that didn't fit the situation).  Phew...I brought the mad wizard back to life and rested 24 hours straight to heal, relax, and have Xzar identify the dozen or so magical items that I didn't want to bring to a shop or temple (out of principle).

In rough shape by the end of it

• Marek and Lothander.  Bumped into them very soon after entering the city.  Didn't take them seriously at all...uh-oh, but apparently I was poisoned when I was asleep.  They must have got me at some point when I was traveling down from Ulgoth's Beard, because I hadn't yet stayed at an inn in the city.  Luckily for me, Lothander was willing to risk activating his geas for the chance to be rid of it.  I went to the fortune teller, who told me to see out the Temple of Umberlee.  I knew where it was because I entered there previously to merely check it out...and was greeted rather coldly, may I add.  The head priestess (can't remember her name) wanted a tome of wisdom from the Lady's Hall.  Headed there.  Between then and some other time, I had run into Ghorak, who had asked me to retrieve a skull to bring to the Lady's Hall as well.  I figured I might be able to buy some good will to ease up the job of getting the tome...well, Ghorak was cured (never really got any of the backstory having to do with that?), but I still had to pay a large sum of gold for the tome.  Fine. I headed back to the Umberlants, and got the geas removal scroll.  Got Lothander's half of the antidote, then got Mareks.  Cured.  The Iron Throne's going to have to step their game up.

• Brielbara's child was being poisoned.  I at first told her I didn't have time (remember...in and out!) but she seemed so helpless and with no other option, so I decided to help her get Yago's spellbook.  And poisoning a child is really just a low class thing to do.  Plus, I had met Yago previously in the Low Lantern and he seemed like a d#@$.  Done and done.

• Speaking of misfortunate children, I was also tasked with (and accepted) retrieving the body of a small boy who was killed by the Umberlants.  Yup, those b!#@&e$ again.  I had about enough of them, so this time I went it, very quickly realized they weren't going to give up the body easily, then slaughtered all of them.  Too bad for them, but people really need to start showing some respect here.

• Found the Helm of Balduran at the Helm and Cloak.  Not bad at all.

• Heard some talk of a Ragefast keeping a nymph as a sex slave.  Real weird...so I had to investigate.  After dispatching the mage and freeing the nymph, I paid a visit to Ramazith, to confront that perv as well.  Well, he knew where I was going with that, so we plunged into another battle.  Montaron was killed during the climb up the tower (by hobgoblin elites of all things...I was pretty angry), but it ended up being not so much of a challenge in the long run.  My group is formidable now.

• I told a noblewoman that we would take care of a thug spreading rumors about her.  I'm not sure why exactly I took on this quest...it just seemed like the right thing to do.  Although at the end of it, I felt guilty.  I guess it was indeed a mere contract killing.  Am I Idaen the Warrior Superpriest, or a run-of-the-mill mercenary?  Ehh...moving on...

• Took care of the escaped basilik.  Heard some shouting about it, so we rested in order for Xzar to memorize Protection from Petrification.  Headed back about 8 or 9 hours later...the thing is still causing chaos.  Dispatched it without too much of a problem...and by the way, this is the very first basilik we've run into on the Sword Coast so far.

• I bump into Aldeth Sashenstar.  I think I saw him my first day in the city, but told him I wouldn't help him then.  Now that I'm putting the pieces together and see the Merchant League might be going through the same exact problem as the Seven Suns, I tell the guy I'll pose as his guests and do some investigating.  What do you know, dopplegangers posing as merchants and trying to destroy Iron Throne competition.  This whole plot is readily apparent to me.  I dispatch all the shapeshifters then head immediately to the Seven Suns.  Same thing's happening here.  I go to Scar bearing the bad news, and a lot of his suspicions are confirmed.  He wants me to head back there and kill all the dopplegangers, but I really don't want to be running any errands for him.  Of course he respects this, and soon after brings me up to Duke Eltan, who wants me to find proof that the Iron Throne is behind all of the political troubles in the region in the past several months.  Done and done, guy.  After I leave the Flaming Fist headquarters, I do indeed go back to the Seven Suns to destroy the dopplegangers...quite handily, may I add.

• The last thing I did: confronting Phandalyn the Paladin.  Pretty early on, a halfling warned me that a paladin by that name is looking for me.  He told me that he stays by one of the taverns by the docks.  Whenever I had a chance, I would search through buildings that I thought could be taverns (this is how I found the basilik, among other things).  After wrapping things up with Scar and Eltan and the trading leagues, this was the one loose end I had to tie up before leaving the city and finally returning to Mendas up north.  Normally I wouldn't really care about something like this, but after all I had been through in the city in the past 9 or 10 days, I don't need some snob paladin looking down on a powerful band of adventurers who can most accurately be described as movers and shakers.  Pretty quickly, actually, I find him in a bar.  He starts attacking the Zhentish members of the group (oh by the way, may I add, I ran into Xzar's superior in the Zhentarim in Sorcerous Sundries).  Well, Xzar and Montaron have stood by me since almost the very beginning, so this paladin has some learning to do (forcefully).  But killing a good, lawful, holy paladin in front of a dozen or so citizens will not help the reputation.  I'd be lying if I said I knew an outcome like this wasn't possible when I started looking for the guy...but I'm a chaotic type, alright?  I'm not alway going to be in sync with the rest of society.  I leave the city with a 9 rep.

Alright, so that's Baldur's Gate.  I rested, sold my wares, then got out of there.  The scholar Mendas has been waiting patiently for several weeks now, and I'm beginning to feel a little bad.  With the Cloakwood mines flooded, the trading roster plot exposed, the dopplegangers decimated, and the authorities gaining suspicion about the Iron Throne, I feel I can, and should, leave the city for a while.  Their plans are in shambles for the time being, so there's no rush to save the coast right now.  And no doubt my party's been spied on, watched in action, and evaluated on several levels in such a public forum as the streets of Baldur's Gate.  My enemies know what to expect if I'm going to face them right now...better I leave for a while, gain new items, new tactics, new weapons, etc., then come back when they're hardly expecting it.

What a week-and-a-half

This is my party ~110 days in:

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

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

The Cloakwood Journey and a Shadow Druid Alliance

We continued to march further on into Cloakwood.  The spider hive map was a little tricky, but I felt alright about it by the end.  I had Montaron lead, switching between hiding and detecting traps (after the first one almost causes death and disaster...luckily they were only huge spiders).  When he saw a group of spiders or ettercaps, he'd retreat and I'd have Imoen cast Fireball (or Xzar do something similar) while they were out of sight range.  They Monty comes and gets in a nice backstab, then it's have-at-'em with the tanks.  I know: a simplistic strategy, but it worked.

The hive/lair went generally smoothly, as well.  Another fireball maybe (we have a Wand of Fire now), raise some undead, cast Horror and the battle was over.  Ajantis is using Spider's Bane now.

Moved on to the next map.  We got waylaid by wyverns on the way there.  Not pleasant, at all.  What pained me was the poison-tipped barbs on their tails (or whatever).  The PC Idaen has Slow Poison as a skill, and I have him keep it memorized, too.  I also entered Cloakwood with each tank having two antidotes in their quickslot.  By the time I emerged from the spider map, I think only Idaen had an antidote left.  After we took care of these wyverns, there weren't any.  Oh, great...and I still haven't made it to the wyvern map yet (shhh...I don't know this yet...no metagaming!).

So I really don't know what these Shadow Druids are thinking.  At first, I try to be sly and intercept a message to the Iron Throne (I may be a ranger, but I don't automatically trust that a "protector of the forest"--might have him misquoted--is definitely an enemy of the Iron Throne).  This causes dude to attack my party, so he had to be put to rest.  I meet one or two more, but this time I finally understand they ARE enemies of the Throne, and I'm there to help.  Even met Faldorn, but just like Branwen from a week or two ago, she wouldn't really fit in the group (or would she...?  Stay tuned).

Next is Amarande.  Lecturing me about something or other nature.  As I said, I'm half-ranger, but I don't consider my character a violent environmentalist like this Archdruid here.  With my other half as a cleric, it's quite clear to me (being what I've coined a "superpriest") that nature, divinity, animals and humans, the deities, life, wisdom, the universe...it's all the same thing.  This guy is just acting like a squirrel in a tree...so you know what buddy? "Get out of my way."  Well, of course that was the nudge that pushed him off the deep end, and he forced us to kill him too.

Kept moving.  No return to civilization yet.  Montaron is running out of arrows, but that will probably work itself out at some point.  Got to the wyvern map and cleared out the nest.  Again, with two level 6 mages now, I have enough firepower to be formidable when I need to be...I usually just try not to use up all my spells in one encounter.

About to move on to the mines, the last area...when I start (uh-oh) thinking about the party.  Mostly about how I really don't like Kagain.  Sure he's a great fighter, a high master in axes, regenerates HP, and I should probably even keep him over Ajantis...but I just don't like him.  I figured I'd be stuck with him until I find another fighter...but do I even really need another fighter?  I was just talking about how magic users are making battles much easier these days...possibly add another caster (someone to complement Idaen...so he could tank more), and lose Kagain.  Hmm...it's too tempting an idea to not do it.

So I travel a ways back and invite Faldorn to the group, leaving Kagain in Cloakwood for a while.  He's sticking around, so I guess he's just going to live in the woods now, but who am I to judge?

16 Wis is not bad.  She has terrible fighting stats, but she's never going to really be fighting.  I don't even have a sling she could use as of right now.  Maybe I'm torn on this, I don't know.  I think we'll head into the mines and see what happens...it might turn out I like her less than Kagain, but at least the dwarf will be waiting there to re-invite

I head even closer to the mines.  After finishing up some scouting, I head right into the island encampment.  Drasus and his gang are waiting for us...but they get absolutely destroyed.  Chant and Protection from Evil, another Imoen fireball, some Wand of Fear action, Montaron with a sick backstab on one of the mages to kill him instantly, Faldorn contributing a Lightning, and then some good old fashion sling, bows, swords, and flails.  Overkill maybe, but I'm planning to rest up and re-memorize before we go in.  We barely lost any health, and now we're ready to camp out for the rest of the night, and then see what's lying beneath our feet.

Party:

Idaen, lvl 6 cleric/lvl 6 ranger

Ajantis, lvl 6 paladin

Montaron, lvl 5 fighter/lvl 6 thief

Imoen, lvl 6 thief>lvl 6 mage

Faldorn, lvl 5 druid

Xzar, lvl 6 necromancer

Right on to Cloakwood, plus an NPC Update

I'll be up front right off the bat: not much has happened since last post.  I traversed the north-south road, but there wasn't anything too dangerous that we ran into.  Gibberlings, kobolds, the like.  We DID run into a few units of bandits, but they were easily dispatched, and too low-level to really have any information that I could use.  But at least we were able to clear the road as best as possible, before spending some time investigating Cloakwood.


We never really finished with the Nashkel carnival...couldn't believe it was actually still going on, to be honest.  But saw some black lotus users, the Amazing Oopah, and some kobolds on the outskirts.  I guess it's good to take it low-key a little bit before diving back into the major problems that are plaguing the area, and my group.  Oh yeah: now that I have some more money, I decided it was worth it to unpetrify the "stone maiden."  Surprise, it's Branwen.  There's nothing she really could have done for me...I couldn't lose any group members for a priest right now.  The two closest options for replacement would have been my two mages, Imoen or Xzar, but I'd rather have an excess of arcane over divine.  So I refused her services...she'll be waiting there, though.


I visited Durlag's Tower briefly before heading back up north.  Heard a lot of talk about it up in Ulgoth's Beard, which I guess is the economic center of the tower's tourism business.  Strange, it would seem to me it makes more sense to focus the tourism business in Beregost...more people, closer proximity...but what do I know?  I'm just an adventurer from Candlekeep.


So, either way, we try to get a look at it, just for the sake of it.  We run into the two battle horrors almost immediately.  Montaron got a nice backstab in, but my three tanks had lost more than half their health by the end of the conflict.  I feel like I could have operated better, but how?  I used a lot of spells, buffs, whatever.  Maybe they are just that difficult, but I feel like I need to come out of these tough battles ready for another one...this wasn't the case.  We rested and decided it wasn't worth it to pursue this any further, especially with everything else going on.  It's an intriguing place, to be sure...we can return here at some unknown point down the road.


So, to the Cloakwood forest.  A large Iron Throne base of operations is almost assuredly in here somewhere, and we just need to find it.  If we go straight to the Iron Throne with swords blazing, we will find something out.  What is their plot?  Why is iron such a concern to them?  What's their endgame?  And really, most importantly, what does it have to do with me and my band of adventurers?


The first area: I meet Coran.  I invite him to the group for a short amount of time to get more information about him.  He has +++ in long bows, and ++ in two-handed Swords.  His dexterity is very high...he's the dexterous, non-constituted version of Kagain.  However, he wouldn't fit into my group well.  Kagain has high mastery in axes, now, and is pretty damn good with them.  Sure, Coran's a little better than Montaron with the bow, but Montaron can detect traps and stealth around like no one's business.  Coran can pick locks better than him, but not better than Imoen will be able to, once she stops focusing on magery exclusively.  I forgot how many hit points he had, but his main role would be to tank...and if he doesn't have any proficiency in a melee fighting style, he's not going to be of great use.  So, as it turns out, I leave Coran on the bridge.  I may or may not try to make money with wyvern heads eventually, though.


What else?  I meet Aldeth Sashenstar.  I tell him I'll help defend him from the band of ruffians coming to kill him, because damnit, that sounds like he could be talking about chumps related to the Iron Throne.  In fact, it turned out to be a pack of druids.  I went for a peaceful resolution, but they weren't hearing it...and unfortunately we had to kill them all.  So it seems like this Sashenstar will owe me a favor now out of the Merchant League.  I should have asked him about the ship they were sending out to Mendas's island, but....it wasn't a dialog option?  I have been wondering about that ship.  Will it have set sail already by the time I'm able to get inside Baldur's Gate?  If that's the case, then it is what it is.  But like I said, I doubt the ports are open if the gate is closed.  Either way, I think I'm going to have to make that a priority after we emerge from Cloakwood, assuming something more important doesn't come up.


And that's it, more or less.  Now, before I go deeper into Cloakwood, I want to give an update on all of the NPCs I've encountered or not encountered so far.  So here's my party currently:


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


Permanently Dead:


Minsc.  He attacked us in Nashkel after we wouldn't let him join the group...
Safana.  Idaen was confused or charmed or something by a siren, and killed the innocent bystander Safana before anyone was able to talk to her.
Viconia.  We wouldn't help her, and she attached us.


Encountered/Gone:


Dynaheir.  We did not want to join with her at the gnoll stronghold, and she stormed off.
Edwin.  We didn't want to join with him either in Nashkel.  I think he said he would still be there, but I never saw him again.
Garrick.  We weren't going to be bodyguards for 50gp a piece, so he politely apologized and walked off.
Xan.  He returned to Evereska after being freed in the Nashkel mines.


Encountered/Still There:


Branwen.  Should still be hanging around the Nashkel carnival.
Coran.  Still hunting wyverns in Cloakwood.  I should be able to meet him on that bridge.
Jaheira.  I let her go when I realized she and Khalid weren't doing it for me...they should be resting still, at the Beregost temple.
Khalid.  See above.


Not Encountered:


Alora
Eldoth
Faldorn
Kivan
Quayle
Shar Teel
Skie
Tiax
Yeslick

Welp...

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.