Luck of the Zhentarim...a Shocking Ending

Right off the bat, I know...I haven't been updating as much this past month or two.  Naturally, hobbies ebb and flow and this one's experiencing a temporary downturn...no problems, I see it turning back around inevitably.

So we pick up where we left off...I'm still hacking away at Durlag's Tower...not really making any significant progress.  I believe I had just left last post re-entering the Tower to finish up the first level, after both Xzar and Montaron had fallen in battle, and I had made the two 8-hour trips to Nashkel and back to have them resurrected.  So we continued along on our way...detecting traps, opening locks, finding quest items for those dwarven specters.  Although, somehow, and at some point, Xzar gets killed by a greater doppleganger.  Just great, huh?  Once Pride and Avarice and whoever else attacked us, Montaron didn't stick around for long, either.  That's both of them dead, again.  This calls for the second humbling hike back to Nashkel to resurrect the thief and the necromancer...unbelievable.  Rinse and repeat.

Just slowly working our way through the rest of the first level.  Nothing crazy so far...

Climbing to the surface to rest, after an encounter on the first level.

At this point, Xzar wasn't going to be joining us for the exploration down this next hallway...

The second level is waiting for us, but we can't risk diving in without one of our mages, and much more importantly, without our only thief with respectable detect trap skills (Imoen has most of her skill in detecting illusions and opening locks).  I really think that the detect-traps thief is the most crucial character types in the game.

In and out of Nashkel after resurrecting our fallen Zhentarim...and maybe staying a night at the inn.

Back in and beginning the second level...looks tough, and I'm still a little shook from all the trouble we ran into on the first level.

Getting it done on level 2.  Successful battle.

I don't even want to say what happens next because it seems so incredible.  But it happens.  Xzar gets fried in a lightning trap that got set off for some stupid reason, and Monty gets cracked by a trap that he didn't detect (stupid error).  That's right, both Xzar and Montaron dead again for the third time since I entered Durlag's place of residence.  Ugh...so again, travel back to Nashkel, get them resurrected, spend too much time messing around with inventory management, and turn back east.  Head back down in there to pick it up right where we left off...I'm becoming efficient.  But now, the kicker:

What?

Wasn't I just talking about perma-death in the last post?  Damn...my thief is gone.  Wasn't I just talking about how crucial they are?  I can't even try to navigate this trap-filled tomb with Montaron gone.  And the worst part is that I sent him to disarm the trap that HE DETECTED.  And I think he actually DISARMED it...I got the experience for it.  But is it some kind of trap that never goes away?  What the hell?  Sigh...either way, it was a good run with Montaron.  I met him within a few hours of waking up the night after Gorion died and he's been with the group since.  Evil bastard, maybe, but generally dependable.  And I made him into a decent archer.

Anyway, he's gone.  My first permanent death of this playthrough.  I need to figure out what is going on with that trap, but that won't happen for a while.  Actually, it might never happen.  I may head up north and, being so close to the end of the game, may not get a chance to head back south.  So I'm thinking that I know two thieves: Coran and Tiax, and of course Shar Teel can always dual.  One is in Cloakwood, and one is in 

Baldur's Gate.  I'm going to have to see who has a higher detect traps rating, and it'll be my excuse for heading right back into the big city.  Durlag can wait for another time (or playthrough)...

Idaen, lvl 7 cleric/lvl 7 ranger

Shar-Teel, lvl 7 fighter

Ajantis, lvl 8 paladin

Imoen, lvl 6 thief>lvl 9 mage

Xzar, lvl 9 necromancer

The Durlag Experience Part I: Xzar and Montaron Die

Whew, it's been a little while since I last updated...but I have been playing.  I end up playing and playing waiting for something major to happen before I post a blog, but it always just seems that I update eventually with more than enough material to fill up a healthy-size post (due mostly to my rambling nature...on display right now).


Last time I left, I had set up the tour for Durlag's Tower in Ulgoth's Beard.  I had just found out I was a genuine true-to-life Bhaalspawn, I'm being hunted by the Flaming Fist, and I just had to battle my way through several dopplegangers that took on the form of murdered loved ones (just like Durlag!).  Also, most of my groupmates are getting very close to maxing out their experience levels here on the Sword Coast.  If now's not a good time to head to the Tower, I don't when a good time would be.

Traveling east through the carnival

So we traveled through Nashkel first...rested, sold off some wares, et cetera, then headed east to take on the Tower.  By the time we arrived at the gate, we were yelled at for being late.  Sorry?  Well, as most of you know, the tour started off alright, then started going horribly wrong.  Traps, demonknights, general chaos.

So my party took to adventuring ourselves.  Like every dungeon before this, I had Montaron scout ahead, alternating between detect traps and hide-in-shadows.  I know there are a lot of traps here, and that this is the most challenging dungeon in the entire game...so we took it slow.  I wanted to clear the superterranean levels first, which is the natural thing to do.  In the beginning, everything was going fine.  Ran into a couple of basilisks on some of the rooftops...found it was better to have Shar-Teel just use a Potion of Mirrored Eyes and absorb all the death gazes.

Everything was going pretty great in the beginning.  But of course, nothing good lasts.  We headed up to another floor, and ran into that ghost who had been indebted to Durlag.  He was able to cast Chaos at my closely-clustered unit of troops...this led to some disastrous consequences, as usual.  Most importantly of which was the killing of Xzar by Idaen.

Damn...at least I can still get him resurrected.  But now that I've mentioned that, let me sidebar for a second.  I've had NO perma-deaths that I can recall this entire game.  In my first game (for those that read playthrough 1.0), I had so many heart-wrenching perma-deaths I didn't know how I could carry on sometimes.  I am on core rules, so perma-death should still happen.  I ran some tests having to do with strength potions and Ajantis attacking weaker members of the party.  I found that the paladin could actually take characters below -10 hp, and their portrait would still be there for me to resurrect.  WTF?  Perma-death would still happen if hit points got really negative (like a 24-strength critical hit to someone with 7hp left...their hit points would decrease to maybe -30 hp or so, and then they WOULD disappear).  I'm not sure what's going on here.  Definitely something with BG2/Tutu rules being applied to BG1...but I'm not really sure.  Shrug.

So my plan was to keep trudging on with the five of us until we were out of spells or health, and had to rest.  Then I'd make the trek back to Nashkel to resurrect the necromancer, and we'd continue on.  Unfortunately, before we came to a "natural" break point, Montaron missed a trap and got fried by a lightning bolt.  Shit!  I was taking it real slow with him, but apparently not slow enough.  Time to cut our losses right now and head back.

The four of us remaining climbed back up the lobby and camped out...this seems like an ambivalent enough area for us to rest regularly...it will beat going outside every time, that's for sure.  Headed to Nashkel and got the Zhents breathing again.  We regrouped (literally) and headed straight back.  The tower may have won this past round, but we'll be able to conquer it...no doubt in my mind.  It's just going to take some time.  It's my first run through it, ever.

On our way back in, we had an opportunity to clear out the entire external surface...mostly skeleton archers and the like.  Once that was done, we head back inside.  That's where I'm at right now.  Here's the party:

Idaen, lvl 7 cleric/lvl 7 ranger
Shar-Teel, lvl 7 fighter
Ajantis, lvl 8 paladin
Montaron, lvl 7 fighter/lvl 8 thief
Imoen, lvl 6 thief>lvl 9 mage
Xzar, lvl 9 necromancer

More to come soon.

A Trip to Baldur's Gate and a Return to Candlekeep

I headed north toward the big city.  It's time to barge in on the Iron Throne and start bringing some of this chaos to an end.  Of course, there's always a quick detour...this time it's stopping at the Friendly Arm Inn, and Ulgoth's Beard.  I had to make it a point to travel to every town up the coastline to make sure there wasn't a long sword better than +1 hiding out in a shop somehwere.  In the end, no luck.  Shar-Teel is stuck with twin long swords +1.

We then swing back down south and enter the city.  I stopped at Sorcerous Sundries for the reason above, visited the Hall of Wonders (something I hadn't done my first time around, and a place I had wanted to return to one day), then headed to the Iron Throne headquarters.  A bloody, violent mess in the end.  Everyone in the Iron Thron's employ saw though my cover stories almost instantly, and most left me no choice but the slay them.  For all this trouble, I learned that the executive leadership of this organization was spending time in Candlekeep down south.

With little hesitation, I bring the news of this directly to Duke Eltan, and he suggests I head to Candlekeep immediately.  Not a problem!  I show up there four months after I had left, and so much has changed if everything stayed exactly the same.  And after making the obligatory rounds, I head into the library.  I encounter the Iron Throne leaders on level 3.  Can't particularly remember their names, but I know Rieltar is there.  These men have wanted to kill me from the beginning, and so far my overarching mission now is to protect the Sword Coast by destroying the Iron Throne.  So what do I do?  I nonchalantly apologize for interrupting them...then send a fireball in, following by Shar-Teel and Ajantis.  And you know what?  I slaughter them all, without direct provocation and with no regrets.

This gets my arrested as soon as I ascend the stairs to the fouth level.  I'm completely indignant to ths whole process.  I've been making my own rules for justice traveling the coast, now all of a sudden I'm on trial?  Psshhht, I just need to get out of here with no apologies.  Thank God Tethtoril comes to rescue us.

We battle through the catacombs, slaying dopplegangers, as well as the likenesses of those who were previously loved.  Hmm...seems very similar to a story I heard up north about a dwarf down south.  Either way, it was relatively smooth sailing until I hit a powerful contingent of Iron Throne mercenaries in the cavern area.  They were so formidable they even managed to kill Ajantis.  He is out of the picture for the time being until I head into some temple far away from here.

Eventually I break out and head east away from the coast.  My first two nights camping out: plagued by dreams.  Apparently it never had to be spelled out for me...the combination of long-dormant memories and the feeling of something terrible awakening inside of me was enough to figure out the truth all my own...I am a child of Bhaal.  I will need time to make peace with this new, introspection-driven revelation.

So the return to Baldur's Gate can wait.  My final challenge will always be waiting for me.  But what I can do to prepare is take on the most dangerous dungeon in the region, increasing my group's skill and strategy to levels we've never seen before...and interestingly, Durlag had a similar plight to one I just had...being forced to murder shapeshifters that appear to be your best friends and family.  And after going through I just did to escape from jail, it's probably safer for now to spend time in Amn rather than the shadow of Baldur's Gate, where I'm sure the Flaming Fist is on high alert looking for us.  Taking all the factors into consideration, my group's conquering of this tower is the only natural choice right now.  From the standpoint of pscyhological progression, this coming adventure will undoubtedly help my PC get in touch with his darker side...a necessary step if we're to be victorious in battles to come.

So after resurrecting Ajantis at the Beregost temple, and selling most of our magical items and wares in Beregost, we headed north to the Beard.  Since we're fugitives and all, I stay off the main roads and head through Larswood, Peldsvale, and the old bandit camp...eerily quiet, but still occupied by someone...the campfires were burning.

Once I reach Ulgoth's Beard, I rest up and book a tour for the tower.  Let me get the tourist treatment at first...I don't mind.  I also talk to the dwarf who wants his magic dagger back, and the woman who lost her son.  As long as I'm going there, I might as well fix other people's problems, too.

So down I go.  Party members are beginning to become maxed out...looks like the game is indeed wrapping up.  Here are the levels:

Idaen, lvl 7 cleric/lvl 7 ranger

Shar-Teel, lvl 6 fighter

Ajantis, lvl 8 paladin

Montaron, lvl 7 fighter/lvl 8 thief

Imoen, lvl 6 thief>lvl 9 mage
Xzar, lvl 9 necromancer

Basilisks, Shar-Teel, Firewine, and Ulcaster

It's been a little while, and I've played on-and-off periodically in the last few weeks.  I really can't lie, nothing too interesting has seemed to happen.  My party is just tying up loose ends right now...biding our time until we return to Baldur's Gate to confront the Iron Throne.  I can feel the itch to head back up there...we've been out of the city long enough, and the excitement surrounding our initial foray into town must have died down by now.  To use a cliche, now's the time they'll least be expecting us.

But not yet.  After returning to Beregost from wrapping up a few things on the coastline, we rested at the Jovial Juggler like usual.  I had been hearing about Ulcaster for months, so I decided if we really wanted to call ourselves Sword Coast adventurers, we had better check it out.

So we headed east and tromped around those areas.  Before we know it, we're facing a psycho gnome with pet basilisks.  Luckily, I usually have Xzar memorize Protection from Petrification.  With this, we were able to survive the first couple of encounters while making sure our flesh remained non-stonelike.  Eventually, we decided to rest for the night so Xzar could memorize the spell a few times, to ensure none of us would be left like statues.  In fact, Idaen the PC has several Stone-to-Flesh scrolls, so the worst-case scenario wouldn't have even been that bad.

Sometime during all of this, we ran into a fighter named Shar-Teel.  My PC soundly beat her in a fair match, and she pledged to join the group.  She's a lvl 6 fighter with high dex, something I had been looking for since Cloakwood or around there.  Yeslick's great with the hit points, no doubt about that, and Shar-Teel's at about 46 hp.  However, the only way Yeslick has respectable AC is if he's using a shield, so all his damage would be done by one one-handed weapon that he has two proficiency points in.  Hmm, but I'd rather have that same respectable AC with a fighter doing high-master type damage with two swords.  That being said, I decided to enlist the help of Shar-Teel, and leave Yeslick to find his own way.

Yeslick performed very well and I had very few complaints other than the one directly above, but events are soon going to be getting intense...confronting the Iron Throne, somehow finding out the truth behind my past, and at some point rolling into Durlag's Tower.  I need to always look to be improving and trading up, and this personnel change fits that method of thinking.

So...Shar-Teel gelled nicely off the bat, I'd say.  And now, I had 3 spellcasters to manage, not 4.  It will make action a little more fast-paced from here on out.  After a few days camping out in the wilderness and destroying monsters when we ran into them (and making a slight detour down to Nashkel to see if the shopkeep had any long swords more powerful than the +1s Shar Teel was using), we stumbled upon Gullykin.  Podunk little village.  I immediately got the impression that my crew outclassed anyone, friendly or enemy, within a few miles.  And I wasn't too far off the mark in the end...but before then, I ran into some major trouble due to my hubris...

We were drawn to the local ruins, obviously, and entered through the winery/temple entrance.  I had Montaron moving too fast and not being careful enough, and within minutes he let off a lighting trap...the bolt bounced around the tiny corridor for what seemed like a few minutes, and thoroughly fried my party.  Monty, Imoen, and Xzar all were corpses by the end.  Luckily, none were burnt badly enough that they couldn't be resurrected by the halfling priestess, conveniently on the other side of the nearby trap door.

So I made my donations to the temple to have my party members brought back to life, and we headed back in.  This time, I made sure to be careful with the traps and we cleared the entire dungeon in a cold, methodical fashion.  Even had time to liberate all the ghosts knights down there.  After this were a few more areas.  The Firewine Bridge ruins were alright to explore...skeletons, ogre mages, bards on bridges.  And we could have handled Ulcaster if we were all half our current levels...but still, it was important for us to do.

So we head back to Beregost to sell everything in our packs...they were bulging with gems, items, armor, scrolls, weapons, everything.  I got back up to a nice 21kgp after spending most of my Baldur's Gate money buying Imoen her Robe of the Good Archmagi.  Next move?  Well, easy to say.  I'm going to travel up to Baldur's Gate real soon, and make a direct line to the Iron Throne headquarters.  See where that gets me...

And a lot of members in my party, including my PC, are about to level.  Right now, my party is the following:

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

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