Let's Play: Baldur's Gate Trilogy - Ch26 (Mae'Var)

[Tigranes]

Hey, i never saw the actual movie.

 

I noticed that Hareishan is the name of one of Bohdi's vampires, as well, and it is worth considering. Irenicus and Bohdi were clearly monitoring the Bhaalspawn & Sarevok during the events of BG1, and it's not too outlandish to suggest Bohdi did some corpse shopping. It's a nice little trivia.

[Gorth]

...

 

ok, we hesitate to share, but what the heck.

 

when we were at Cal in the late 80's, there were a quasi-popular punk lesbian band in town called "The Flaming Fist." gives the name a different spin for us.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

No lesbian punk bands, but I got the impression from the D&D setting, that "flaming" was sometimes used as a mild swear word. I can't remember where I got the impression from though.

[greylord]

...

 

ok, we hesitate to share, but what the heck.

 

when we were at Cal in the late 80's, there were a quasi-popular punk lesbian band in town called "The Flaming Fist." gives the name a different spin for us.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

No lesbian punk bands, but I got the impression from the D&D setting, that "flaming" was sometimes used as a mild swear word. I can't remember where I got the impression from though.

 

What would ever give you that flaming idea?

 

I don't think it's a flaming swear word. I flaming tell you, it's not!

 

Edit: Unless you're a flaming fist...then maybe it's a connotation of a flaming swear word. I know...sensitive...so don't go flaming me over it...

Edited January 10, 2012 by greylord

[Tigranes]

8. City Life

 

In a city, you are never alone. In a city, someone is always watching. And if you are the watcher, rather than the watched, there is no shortage of opportunities, and no shortage of victims. I am a creature of the night. I am silent and deadly, and also handsome and like a fox. I. am. THIEF.

 

 

Sorophyx: A creature of the night, silent and deadly. I. AM. THIEF!

Deraldin: Never took him for a bloody larper, but there's one in every party.

 

 

I rendezvous with my local contact, the first step to spreading the terror of Sorophyx down the Sword Coast. While lacking in thiefish good looks and charm in comparison, he will serve as a useful source of jobs.

 

Narlen: You'll spy the road while Rededge an I plunder within. Be on yer cautions, and yell the warnin' if ye see the soldierman!

 

Wait, what?

 

 

Disgraceful! How dare they reduce me to mere watchdog! Don't they realize that I AM THIEF?

 

Flaming Fist: It's awful late to be out and about citizen. Why are you not at rest?

Sorophyx: I, uh... I...

Flaming Fist: You best answer me now, short one, before I take you in for loitering!

Sorophyx: THE JIG IS UP! MAKE FER THE DARK!

Flaming Fist: Wha- hey! STOP THIEF!

 

Hmph. Although the local cads did not recognize my unmatchable talent, they owe their lives this night to my extraordinary wit and fleet of foot. Now, I can work alone on the real jobs without being weighed down by incompetence. The home of Shandalar shall serve as my first real prey.

 

Who's the thief? Who's the thief? THATS RIGHT. BOO YA. I mean, OK, they had no guards, locks or traps here, but hey, not everyone can rob a completely undefended mansion!

 

But why stop there, huh? Why not burgle the hall of wonders, too? Why not-

 

Alora: HEYA!

Sorophyx: Dude!

Alora: Aww nutbunnies, caught again! Hey wait, you're not a guard! HEY, YOU'RE A THIEF TOO! IM HERE TO STEAL STUFF AS WELL, YOU WANNA BE FRIENDS?

Sorophyx: No, I-

Alora: Oh, never mind, you look kind of clumsy, and if I'm caught again they'll have me clean out noblemen's latrines for another year. BUT HEY IT WAS GOOD KNOWING YA HOPE YOU DON'T GET CAUGHT BYE!

Sorophyx: ...

 

OK, alright. Alright. This won't do. My reputation as THE THIEF is at stake. I need to pull off something big here, something really challenging. And the only job truly worth the time of THE THIEF is the biggest of them all; the mansion of Duke Entar Silvershield.

 

Oh, nutbunnies.

 

Sorophyx: Who saw me, anyway?

Cook: I SEE YOU, THIEF, STEALING SOMETHING IN THE OTHER ROOM!

Sorophyx: That's ridiculous! There's a five feet thick wall between us!

Cook: Someone doesn't know his fog of war rules. Don't you know that light bounces at a perpendicular angle in tight spaces?

Sorophyx: That's ridiculous!

Cook: Fine. In that case, I have infra-red vision.

Sorophyx: But...

Cook: GUARDS!

 

I don't believe this.

 

Alright, alright. That didn't go so well. But at least some of the jobs worked out, right? It's time for THE THIEF to collect his dirty money, baby!

 

Narlen: 'ere there, good fortune ye return to us! We've 300 gold to divvy.

Sorophyx: No way. THE THIEF HUNGERS FOR TRUE LOOT.

Narlen: Dude, don't weird out on me now. Alright, we could go for another heist. A gem merchant. Should be a bit more profitable.

 

Fortune smiles on THE THIEF tonight, indeed.

[Tigranes]

Oh, nutbunnies. Who traps their valuable stash of gems and jewelry?!

 

The sound rouses the merchant, but THE THIEF is once again quick to defuse a potentially fatal situation with intelligence and charm.

 

A rogue stone nets us a tidy profit for THE THIEF tonight. We'll round up by reporting our success at Shandalar's to the locals...

 

Resar: I offer my sorrows, but you must die!

 

Oh, come on. What are you, the Godfather?

 

Luckily, our previous heists with Narlen has made us a chum, and chums don't let other chums get bummed by other chums of said chum.

 

The heroics of the mysterious THE THIEF behind us, we engage in some more sidequestery during the daytime. The mage Ramazith commissions us to recover a certain nymph from a rival mage, hopelessly in love. We all know you're just in it for her hot, smokin' body, Ragefast.

 

Deraldin: Hubbah hubbah. Come on, Tale. We should just keep her! On a leash.

Nepenthe: We can't do that! That's cruel!

Deraldin: Is it, Nep? Is it? What could be more cruel than to deny our natural needs, to deny ourselves as men, to deny what our souls cry out for every moment of our lives?

Nepenthe: Um... actually, I'm not that desperate, man. I think I'm alright.

Deraldin: Oh. But...

Nepenthe: You might need some help, though.

 

Ramazith isn't particularly pleased we lost his hubba bubba.

 

We climb his tower, each level full of rather annoying monsters like kobold commandos and slimes.

 

Soon, Sorophyx spies Ramazith. He's got his back to the wall to ward off possible backstabs, but we can still...

 

Sorophyx: SIDESTAB, BABY.

[Tigranes]

A second later, Greylord pops up from the staircase and fires an arrow in his face. (Actually, given that damage, he could have one-shotted Ramazith all on his own.)

 

Greylord: Nerf me, nerf me now, ooh yeah.

 

We stop by an inn for some rest, but are accosted by perhaps the strangest NPC in Baldur's Gate. Are they based on some P&P lore?

 

The Maulers of the Undermountain, no longer able to stomach their crazy talk, decides to attack us too.

 

These guys are actually pretty powerful, and we can't take chances even with Hind and the Merry Fools on our side. We open with a Silence, though it doesn't hit the mage in the middle.

 

Someone scrapes Tale on the toe as they run past, so she has to take cover to avoid being chunked or something. Deraldin too retreats to quaff some potions. Luckily, Tale is able to use the wand of paralysis to good effect on the two melee fighters in the cneter of the screen.

 

Tale: Come on, man. My toe really hurts!

 

Taking tavern brawls to a whole new level.

 

The mage proves troublesome, taking 4 of our party out from the fight with a single spell. Feeling the heat, we decide to use another wand...

 

Death by wild dogs.

 

But the real reason for visiting the inn; the Helm of Balduran, hidden in the recesses of a painting! We will also retrieve the Cloak in due time.

[Tigranes]

And finally, it's time for the Plot . We've been asked by the Flaming Fist to look into suspicious activities at the Seven Suns.

 

Sorophyx: Leave this to me, guys.

Tale: What? Why?

Sorophyx: Investigations call for discretion, not for six adventurers lumbering around. This requires the delicate touch of THE-

Oner: Okay, okay, stop with the screaming. Go and get yourself killed by liches or something, I'm going to go have a panini.

Nepenthe: Ham for me.

 

Unfortunately, Sorophyx's first efforts at diplomacy fall flat.

 

Sorophyx: No tour?

 

But in the basement, we find a doppleganger! Only greater dopplegangers cast spells in BG1, so we're okay.

 

Sorophyx made a little joke, and now Jhasso won't talk to us anymore, and it broke the quest - we tried killing all the merchants but we still didn't get all the clues. I eventually had to reload and make Sorophyx play nice.

 

Sorophyx: We could have tortured him for real to get the information, you know.

 

I told you before. Blue circles beneath their feet = no touchy. Unless they have big shinies.

 

I feel obligated to report the sighting of the greatest Heroe of the Land, Tiax.

 

Bioware will never be able to top this. Top notch writing. There is wit, there is pathos, there is... *sob*

 

Tale: The Seven Suns turned out to be full of dopplegangers.

Scar: You have done very well! Now, I have another job you may be interested in...

Tale: Actually, can we get on with the Iron Throne business? If we do any more sidequests today we're going to go nuts.

Scar: Oh, alright then. Meet me outside the Flaming Fist barracks.

Tale: But... this is the Flaming Fist barracks.

Scar: Yes. Meet me outside.

Tale: The door's right there. Why do we have to go outside?

Scar: Meet. Me. Outside.

 

Tale: Okay, we're outside. Can we talk now?

Scar: Of course. Duke Eltan himself wishes to speak to you about this. Will you come with me?

Tale: What... okay, fine. Where is Duke Eltan?

Scar: Inside the Flaming FIst barracks. Just follow me.

 

 

It turns out that Duke Eltan just wanted to tell us to go infiltrate the Iron Throne compound. THANKS, BUREAUCRAT. Like the Seven Suns, this will require all the tricks up our sleeves not to be exposed...

 

Oner: Hey, dude. Here's 200 gold pieces, how about you just let us in?

Guard: Let's see that gold.

Oner: Here ya go.

Guard: Good. Now. We don't take bribes! Get out of here before we thrash you.

Oner: But you just took the bribe!

Guard: No, no I didn't. *smirk*

 

Oner went into barbarian rage, killed the guard and took back the gold.

 

Oner: NONE SHALL TOY WITH ONER, THE BARBARIAN!

Deraldin: More freaking larpers.

 

Beyond several more challenges by inquisitive guards, we reach the top floor of the Iron Throne headquarters.

 

Zhalimar: Fear my wrath, for it is great indeed! Who dares intrude upon our negotiations?

Deraldin: Another freaking larper. Seriously, who says that? What if I was jsut a servant bringing cookies?

Zhalimar: Yeah, that's happened a few times. Embarrassing.

[Tigranes]

We open with a quick shot from Greylord to disrupt a spell, and position Tale out of harm's way. We can see several high level enemies emerge from the fog of war. (I'll note that with full SCS, this battle is well nigh impossible without cheese. The assassin can chunk party members with 50+ damage backstabs, and does so repeatedly using potions of invisibility; not to mention mages casting dire charms, Aasim using wand of heavens, and all that.)

 

Here, we have a fighting chance. Tale gets off a nice fireball, Deraldin silence.

 

The melee fighters, Zhalimar in particular, do a lot of damage, but by this point we've saved up a few potions of extra healing and Oner can stay in the front lines. We again use wand of paralysis to good effect; Nepenthe holds the front on the other side of the staircase, leaving Deraldin free to cast various spells in peace.

 

In the end, everyone survives. We're pretty powerful now, the party reaching Level 6 at this point, and perhaps, will be able to stay intact all the way to Sarevok.

 

If not, whoever comes in at Level 1 should be in for a wild ride...

 

We stop to do some extra shopping. Having bought most of what we need, we can indulge in an arrow of slaying, which, if it hits, instantly kills an Ogre Mage, and also ten arrows of detonation.

 

And finally, we're back where it all started. Candlekeep. Here we shall find the Iron Throne's leaders, and also engage in some delightful area recycling!

 

Tale: Oh boy!

[Deraldin]

Woo! We all survived! More importantly, I survived, but good for the rest of you guys as well! Nice job meatshields!

[Blarghagh]

"Come on, man. My toe really hurts!"

 

 

Ah Tale, you fragile thing.

[sorophx]

bump for great justice!

Edited January 10, 2012 by sorophx

[greylord]

Arrows of Detonation...oh boy!!!

[Walsingham]

You can't survive for ever. I'm here... waiting... just waiting....

[MrBrown]

"Gorpel Hind" certainly sounds like TSR.

[greylord]

bumping it along

[Tigranes]

Apologies, hope to have an update tomorrowish re. Candlekeep.

 

I will likely forego all remaining BG sidequests (there aren't that many), and instead try and cover some of the TOTSC stuff. Certainly, we will hit Durlag's Tower.

[Gorth]

I still have nightmares about those pesky dwarf guardians in the tower.

[Deraldin]

I've never actually been through Durlag's Tower. >_>

[Drowsy Emperor]

I've never actually been through Durlag's Tower. >_>

 

*gasp*

Edited January 12, 2012 by Drowsy Emperor

[Deraldin]

I've never actually been through Durlag's Tower. >_>

 

*gasp*

 

I didn't own TotSC until I picked up digital copies of all the IE games on GoG when they were on sale a while back and my only BG1 run since then has been stalled for about 8 months now. I did swing past the tower and immediately got my butt handed to me so I figured I'd stop in later, but haven't been back yet.

[Blarghagh]

In the similar boat as Deraldin, never been to Durlag's Tower. Don't own TOTSC. I "own" Baldur's Gate in that I bought it years ago, but recently I can't find it. I've got BG2+Throne of Bhaal though. No Tutu for me (or is it BGTrilogy now?).

 

I'm thinking of buying that anthology set thing, but other things have kept coming up.

[Nepenthe]

I have highly unpleasant memories from Durlag's Tower and the werewolf shipwreck. Let's hope I won't have to live them vicariously.

[Deraldin]

In the similar boat as Deraldin, never been to Durlag's Tower. Don't own TOTSC. I "own" Baldur's Gate in that I bought it years ago, but recently I can't find it. I've got BG2+Throne of Bhaal though. No Tutu for me (or is it BGTrilogy now?).

 

I'm thinking of buying that anthology set thing, but other things have kept coming up.

 

Tutu and Trilogy are two separate mods though both do more or less the same thing. I think with Trilogy you don't have to fiddle around with your character saves in order to move from 1 to 2 though. It's just done automatically after you beat Sarevok.

[Horred the Plague]

Tutu and Trilogy are two separate mods though both do more or less the same thing. I think with Trilogy you don't have to fiddle around with your character saves in order to move from 1 to 2 though. It's just done automatically after you beat Sarevok.

 

 

Yes, transition between BG1 and BG2 are seamless with the BGT mod, whereas w/ TuTu you have to manually switch characters and start a new game. Also, BGT has a far greater compatibility spread with other mods, and a greater range of mods made for it. I think it's the superior option, and not just because I helped work on it yrs ago. NTM the name of TuTu always had me envisioning Orcs in pink ballet tights (not the best image).

[Tigranes]

I stick with Tutu, as last time I tried, Trilogy introduced terrible slowdowns halfway through SOA. My new comp might be OK, but Tutu works well enough, as these days I'm pretty set on the 30-40 mods I use. And in this case, I'll use as little as possible.

 

But yes, if you want the big phat experience, BGT or even BGT+BP is the way to go.