Tigranes

19. Profit Margins Click Here for Table of Contents Free from Irenicus, our first task is shopping. All of our equipment, it seems, has been sold off to fund the mage's sci-fi harems and poorly constructed traps- Nepenthe: Oh, they were very well constructed. -so we need an upgrade. We're pretty short on gold, of course, so we must be selective. Did you know that speaking to townspeople can earn you tips about available sidequests? Yes, yes I did. Would you like a large, shiny arrow pointed towards your next quest objective, so that you don't need to remember anything or use the map? No. Can I turn you off, or something? Alright. Don't worry, if you change your mind, I'll check with you again in 8 minutes! Looks like 'prudent shopping' just turned to 'no shopping'. We're going to have to earn some dough. By earn, I mean engage in socially accepted forms of pillaging. Apparently a circus has gone haywire. Listen, kid. I doubt you can help me here, the Robe of Vecna costs 22,000 gold pieces. Gorth: You've changed, Tale. You used to be so helpful to Commoners in Distress. Tale: Back then, I was adventuring. Now? Now, I have a purpose. The circus turns out to be pretty nice inside. Nice architecture. Whoever is inside is clearly a master of illusions. Our first obstacle is a riddle, which presents no real difficulty. The answer is... Pidesco levels up. The experience of solving a riddle has granted him new insights in the ways of Fighting. An orc with a hideous voice and even worse fashion sense begs us for help, but we don't really have time for you. Nor for you, pixelated boobs. We're here for gold and XP. Nepenthe: Are you sure we don't have time for- Calax: Yeah, Tale, I think we could all take some time to- Pidesco: I might level up from this! TrueNeutral: Wait, are we all going at once, or taking turns? Because whoever goes last- Nepenthe:Uh, alright. I guess we're moving on. The next room features a formidable cast of werewolves and shadows. I try to cast mirror image, but entangle myself instead. A Dispel Magic is sufficient to destroy most of the illusions. (I don't know if Bioware put these guys in here to teach players about debuffs and dispels - if so, pretty clever.)

....give us money because people that think we suck are nasty fellows! I had thought what they were trying to do was suck some $ out of unfortunate people who didn't know what exactly this new 'black isle' was, but I guess they're making it even harder for themselves.

I think for any problem, when we as outsiders are exposed to communiques like this, we can't help but think they are petty and silly. Actually, they're not - or, at least, I think as outsiders who Hurlshot has asked candidly for advice, we should be careful about running with such biased impressions. After all, 'petty stuff' is what family is made out of, and if several people in the extended family have a problem with the situation, then there is a problem somewhere. I think anyone accusing anyone of being petty is the very last thing that should happen, within Hurlshot's family. The main difficulty I think is that it's been ten long years, and the impressions will have hardened. Hurlshot correct me if I'm wrong, but I also find it impossible to imagine that your wife had not been aware of this in some way - if not that they have a problem with her, then perhaps she feels on her side that she does her best but they are rather brusque? I think at this stage the family would be waiting to see some significant changes in behaviour from your wife, and the question is whether you think you can nudge your wife towards such, or it's not worth it / it is not a good idea. You say she's been keyed in on some of this - what is her thought and what is she willing to do / not do for the sake of repairing the relationship? But I'm too young to have gone through this stuff, so I shouldn't talk so much. Hurlshot I hope you are OK going through it all, I'm sure it's tough to be in the middle, and for you to listen to all this as well.

We have a 3-death rule (each party member is resurrected twice, then replaced), but hard-coded Bhaalspawn rules mean we can't do that with Tale - so, we reload. If the entire party is wiped, or Tale dies and we had very little chance of surviving, it would constitute a game over. But my intent is not to powergame and really work the mechanics - I'm already letting you guys pick my party, and I don't think that kind of stuff really works well with LPs. It's just a nice way for us to have some tension, and to keep on rotating the cast. I certainly don't need to cheese much at this difficulty.

It's all cool, you're not being obnoxious about it or anything. Looks really good, and the design is 'historical' enough not to be nerd-magnet either.

The Nabassu was summoned by Tale's fireball getting a wild surge, as you can see in the text-box in the screen. I rested twice, once in each level, and drank several potions of healing - healing was the main problem, rather than running out of spells. Also, I'm happy to take suggestions on what sidequests/areas you'd like to see first/next.

Some robed wizards appear. Their coordinated lack of fashion sense reveal their bureaucratic nature. All involved will be held. This disturbance is over! Must I be interrupted at every turn? Enough of this. Party time. This mage's power is immense! We must overcome him quickly. Your pathetic magics are useless. Let this end. Even if we fall, our numbers are many. You will be overwhelmed. What? No! I've done nothing wrong! You have been involved in illegal use of magic. You will come with us. Uh... Well. At least we all leveled up. Except me. Pidesco, did you- Pidesco: Pid-up! Great. (P.S. Yes, I wrote that cutscene dialogue from memory, too. Oh boy...)

We finally get a Dispel Magic off, but it didn't manage to breach her defenses. (I believe that Dispel Magic has a % chance to breach certain protections, and here she has Mirror Image, Minor Globe of Invulnerability, and who knows what else.) Still, one mage with a depleted spellbook is no match for us. And at last, the end is in sight. We have escaped Irenicus' Dungeon! To freedom, nonlinearity and sidequests we go! ...Or, another cutscene. Irenicus, with the benefit of Improved Alacrity and Cutscenitis, eviscerates his opponents in a whirlpool of stacked spell animations. I am now convinced. Clearly, this bastard knows power. He has it. I must have it. So, child of Bhaal, you have escaped. You are more resourceful than I had thought. You're not going to torture us any longer. Torture? Silly girl, you just don't understand what I'm doing, do you? I don't care what you're doing, let us go! I won't let you leave, not when I'm so close to unlocking your power. Yeah. Magic missiles. That'll do it, Imoen. Enough! I will no longer listen to the babble of ignorant children.

Next, we come upon a room where the decorated floor is full of traps, fired from wand pedestals on the left; the arsenal include magic missiles, fireballs, lightning bolts, cloudkills- Nepenthe: Wait, wait, what? -all of which are disabled by inserting the various keys we found throughout the dungeon. Of course, the fact that we can run along the left side to insert the keys means we could just bypass the traps this way. This is why you don't want to cut corners with your dungeons, really. There are only a few rooms left to search before we exhaust the second level. A fireball should take care of these goblins- Oh, my. Pidesco: Run run time. We dispatch the goblins easily on the other end of the corridor, but within there is an ominous silence. Gorth: Alright, I can hide in shadows, I'll go have a peek. ...turns out Nabassu can see through hide in shadows. I will remind you that their arsenal include paralysis, death gaze... ...and that they are too fat to fit through standard issue corridors. Problem solved. Another room, another decor style, another creature type. Yep. Everywhere we see signs that multiple factions and allegiances are conflicting even in their common desire to assault Irenicus. The vampire drains two assassins within four turns, but it is just enough for hasted Gorth to pump some +1 crossbow bolts (which we use up entirely). As the vampire turns to smoke and flees for a hiding place, the remaining assassin-mage turns on us. Using SCS AI's precision, it lobs a Melf's Minute Meteor at Calax, disrupting his Dispel Magic casting.

And now, finally, we arrive at the second level of Irenicus' dungeon. (I've been using the Dungeon-Be-Gone mod for years, but actually, it's a pretty well made dungeon, as far as starter dungeons go. It doesn't really have any atmosphere because there are so many different things crammed into it, but there's some nice foreshadowing, some interesting set pieces, and if you're new to the game, or you're playing with a weird underpowered party, and/or have SCS installed, there are some challenges...) Yoshimo the Bounty Hunter threatens to keep us trapped in a neverending dialogue loop, but luckily, we know just the right way to get out of it: select the only answer that is the Right One. Oh, Bioware. Look! It seems to be a body lying upon the table! Try clicking on things when your cursor turns into a question mark to learn more about the world! Bite me. All the wanton killing is sufficient to have TrueNeutral level up. (I keep forgetting he can shapeshift now, but we'll see if it's bug-free.) It is important that my minions continue to grow in power, that I may wield them for greater uses. The dungeon also features various clones Irenicus had been making of Ellesime, that chick that totally dumped him couple centuries back. What a skank. And, of course, TrueNeutral: I found a trap. Everyone get back to a safe distance, and let Nepenthe do his thing. Nepenthe: Seriously, guys? You can't, like, jump? Don't be silly, this isn't a FPS. Whoever heard of an RPG where you can jump? Nepenthe: Steam this time, I see.

(I will mention that we also pick up this nifty little fellow. Actually, the Equalizer is a pretty mediocre weapon, as Special Craftable Item Sundered In Three Pieces go, but it's the thought that counts.) Last rest, we also remembered to have Calax memorize Draw Upon Holy Might to increase his strength... Calax: My muscles, they are as deep and rugged as the Applachian Mountains! The last thing we do on this level is check out the strange locked door, which is opened using the Air Elemental Statue... ...ah. This might be a lengthy detour. The Pocket Plane of Air is full of mephits, who are mostly annoying, but dangerous to our low-level, equipment-less party when in groups. One of the mephits disable me and Nepenthe with... dust, or something. There's a fire mephit pumping out Aganazzar's Scorchers, a frost mephit- and we rely on some lucky heal spells not being interrupted to stay in business. My flame arrow shorts out, but thankfully, the explosion is harmless. We mop up. The djinn in a bottle asks for a flask to be freed, in exchange for a weapon. Obviously, it had to be at the very opposite corner of the dungeon, with the naked women. The reward, for some reason, is a Sword of Chaos +2, Sarevok's former blade. We hand it over to Nepenthe, as reward for his recent usefulness to the cause. Nepenthe: I assume this does not mean the end of my trap detection duties. Pidesco levels up. Again.

Nepenthe: Guys, gonna die, brb. Tale: No, no. I think you got it all now. Heal up just in case we come across some more. Nepenthe: Wonderful. We recover, from the gazillions of gold worth of loot that mysteriously disappeared in our imprisonment, one Helm of Balduran. Bunch of naked women ask for our help. Obviously, we accept. The acorns, in fact, are found in Ilyich's corpse; returning them is enough for yet another Pidesco-Up. Pidesco: THAC0 16, here I come! (These alarms call two golems to action, but of course, we destroyed them beforehand.) Nepenthe, you're up. Nepenthe: Son of a- Nepenthe: These ones hurt even more! Tale: Okay, okay. This is going to take us forever. TrueNeutral? Nepenthe: Wait, we could do that all this time? But- Tale: Well, we still need someone to trigger those traps. I didn't think you'd want to know they were there. I mean, isn't it worse now, knowing you are walking into giant, fiery balls of pain? Whatever works for you, I guess. Nepenthe: Right, there's the key to the portal for the second floor. Can we go now?

Returning to the other side of the dungeon, we come across a beautifully furnished room. Hey, listen! Who the hell are you? Something here is not what it seems! Maybe you should DETECT TRAPS? You've got to be kidding me. Click me to learn how to DETECT TRAPS! Oh for- we don't have a thief, you moron. Thieves are highly recommended in the party! Did you know they can be used to DETECT TRAPS? ... Okay, look. We don't have a thief, but we need whatever's in those chests and shelves. We're gonna have to make do. You, cast whatever buffs we have on Nepenthe. Nepenthe: What? Why me? Tale: You're the tank. TrueNeutral: All we have is Resist Fire/Cold. Hope there aren't any spike traps there. Or steam. Or swirling blades. Or- Nepenthe: I hate my job. Nepenthe: Yup. Hatin'. Nepenthe: Oh, look! A strange statue! Nepenthe: Still hatin'. Nepenthe: Yep.

18. An Efficient Use of Human Resources Click Here for Table of Contents Guys, I've had a premonition. We go round that corner unbuffed, I'm- uh, we're gonna die. Now, I know some people say buffing is boring, that they'd rather go in there and press the Awesome button until things drop dead. But in my party, we do things old school. Web and Chaos, Animate Dead and Cloudkill. You see? Not a scratch on me, uh, us. Gorth: With the Duergar's incredibly low saves, we could have just fired the Cloudkill straight away. No, we couldn't. Ilyich, a duergar so useless I assume Irenicus only kept him around for end of year parties requiring stumpy dwarves in costumes, falls soon enough. Beyond Ilyich, though, there isn't much. A locked door we can't open - and a strange machine, whose only purpose seems to be to keep the Cambion in stasis, whose only purpose for being here seems to be to be kept in stasis. Pidesco: Great dungeon design, that. Well, let's get to it. That thing isn't earning us XP staying like that. Nepenthe is turning out to be quite the chunker.

Replacing No Thief In Party with Thief Too Lazy To Do Anything seems appealing. I will update fairly frequently during the winter break, since I imagine BG2 will take forever anyway. I don't know if there are any forumers who haven't played BG2 several times, but I'll try to show the lesser known quests and paths, also.

-crap. Welcome back. It has, indeed, been 9 months since the Obsidianites successfully completed the semi-ironman run of SCS-boosted Baldur's Gate. It is now time for us to embark on the big daddy: Shadows of Amn. The same rules will apply as before. Anybody can post on this thread asking to feature as a specific class, race, gender, personality style, meta-game role, etc. When party members die a third time, or are chunked, they will be replaced with the next person in line. I will only load saves when there are bugs, or when Tale dies (since this automatically causes game over), and try not to 'cheese' too much, as it sucks the fun out of LP's. I will use a modest, SCS-centric installation: Baldur's Gate II + ToB (GOG) TOB 26498 Patch Gibberlings 3 BG2 Fixpack v9 Ascension v1.4.21 Unfinished Business v19 Sword Coast Stratagems II v21 Gibberlings 3 BG2 Tweaks Widescreen Mod As with BG1, we are interested in a 'prudent' level of mods that adds necessary bug-fixes, then the tactical sophistication and challenge a selective installation of SCS gives us. Basically, SCS's greatest benefit is that it implements actually smarter AI; enemies call for help more effectively, make more effective use of their resources, etc., nearly always only by using the same rules and resources that are available to players. There is, in my opinion, zero reason not to use it - especially since our semi-ironman challenge is meant to produce casualties. Mods like Unfinished Business only make small restorations to developer content. That said, I selected only sensible fixes and tweaks from all mods - e.g. free action now protects against stun, antimagic attacks can target invisible enemies, minute meteors are nerfed (from +6 to hit to +2), etc. I have also made strongholds available to all classes. Ascension I consider to be semi-canon given it is Gaider's creation, but I have left out the Tougher Bhaalspawns components except Gromnir (tip of the hat), because they are monstrous combined with SCS. Usually, I would add between a dozen and two dozen mods on top, but this time we are still going for a fairly 'vanilla' experience; in any case, I'm not a big fan of mods that actually add substantial fan content, like NPCs or new areas, as they tend to be pretty meh. There we are. Comments are welcome, the typewriter monkeys need to know somebody loves them.

The Otyugh is big, strong, and slows/diseases with every hit. Calax soaks up the pressure as we fling some of our best spells at it. Oh, I see, Sewage Golem. We'll just fight the big ugly thing on our own while you run around, shall we? You'll use your gigantic, magic-enhanced muscles to OPEN SOME DOORS? Nepenthe: Inefficient workflow. Yet another evidence of the failings of capitalist bureaucracy. Calax strongarms some doors, sucks up some poison. Hey, if you didn't want this, you'd have trained to be a thief. Finally, we come upon Ilyich and his duergar, one of the tougher engagements on this level. Still, we haven't had any difficultlies thus far, and we still have many spells at the ready... A stray sling-bullet interrupts my Chaos spell. But no matter, we will just retreat a little around the corner and regroup-

Moving quickly to take advantage of haste, we send our less wounded members up front to clean out the dilapidated library. We also stop by to pick up the activation stone. Rielev, a groveling puddle of goo, tells us little of import. (Is BGII dialogue better than DA2? Discuss!) We decide to return to the Sewage Golem and risk a long rest. It doesn't make sense for us to waste too much time in our escape, but we simply will not survive with our injuries and depleted spells. Achievement: Fetched MacGuffin. Now all we have to do is follow the golem as it opens all the doors for us. Crap.

In a nearby room, we find some inactive golems. Tale: Alright, everyone surround the golems, and get ready to attack. Gorth: But they're inactive? Tale: If they're here, it probably means they will be made active at some point. It makes sense for us to destroy them now. Nepenthe: But they haven't done anything to us? Tale: That's no reason to stop. The golem responds immediately, and they hit heavy. The advantage we gain by having five hasted members bash on them is only just enough. Tale: Faster, fleshbags! The two golems fall, one after another - and only just in time. Spells running low, we now turn to my specialty: wild magic. Wait, wrong target? Thankfully, the retargeting flaw settles on another goblin, and narrowly misses me. A little less luck and it might have been a half-party wipe.

...the power of GEOMETRY. Gorth: Sorophyx might be gone, but my ranger abilities still allow me to sneak. TrueNeutral: Then you will LEAP OUT from the shadows and take the life of the enemy in one precise attack? Gorth: Well, no. I get zero backstab modifiers. Calax: Ha! 'Tis nothing for a physically superior being such as I. Muscular yet slim, masculine yet gentle. Pidesco: Great, another crazy. Puzzle #1: Fetch activation stone, activate golem. Truly, quests were elaborate and nonlinear back in the day. Another mephit, and a magic missile nearly takes me out. Only more evidence that I cannot be complacent.

Our only solution is to take the Southern path. Nepenthe: Nobody ever wants to talk to me. Except women. They can't wait to talk to me. I've got them lined up in a cue. It's a pity my tragic past prevents me from loving again, but perhaps that is all for the best. Such is the fate of the revolutionary- Ah, another being who wishes to teach the lesson of morality. But I will no longer answer to such, djinn. The only thing that matters in this world is the ability to inflict death, and I will not be swayed from its wisdom. Our next encounter pits us against some goblins. For such fodder, a single Aganazzar's Scorcher will do. Observe...

....okay, somebody's gonna have to multiclass to thief. (Actually, I checked - nobody even knows the Knock spell.) Gorth: Look! Our first enemy! Tale: I can't see! I'm blind! Nepenthe: All leaders are blind to their own greed, as are managers and human resources personnel. Their blindness is what oppresses the workers. TrueNeutral: What? Nepenthe: Sorry. Just disillusioned with my job. TrueNeutral: Your job is to get hit in the face until we kill things. Nepenthe: Yes. Pidesco draws first blood by rolling 20... ...and proceeds to level up. It must be nice being low level. Pidesco: Look, guys! 17 THAC0! Calax: Alas, it seems not even my well-toned, 18-strength muscles will force this door. I know it's hard to believe, but even my powers are not unbounded.

I quickly retrieve the rest of the crew. While I formerly considered them allies, comrades, even friends, I now see them for what they truly are: bags of flesh whom I shall stack one upon another to reach my rightful position of glory. Nepenthe, the blueskin, is our giant, fleshy sponge in the front, a Cavalier. Gorth, in slimming manure-grey, is an Archer, and fires arrows from our rear to penetrate our enemies. TrueNeutral, the blonde, is a Shapeshifter, meaning he can't wear armour. You would think by that logic that he can't wear any clothes, either, but I suppose we all compromise in our own ways. Actually, we've never seen him shapeshift - something about 'badly implemented rule modifications'. If he isn't any more useful now we might have to find some solutions. Pidesco, the stumpy Snow White at the back, is a Fighter/Illusionist that joined us just after Durlag's Tower. In practice, that means he's about as good a fighter as a goblin and about as good an illusionist as my mother. The problem, of course, is that we lack a thief. When Sorophyx killed himself on a double-lightning trap back in the Maze, we recruited Calax. The circumstances which persuaded me to hire a cleric to replace a thief is unclear, and more problematically, he keeps insisting he's some kind of dashing blonde charmer. You'd think people would have told him before now that he's a stumpy dwarf cleric with bad fashion sense. But back to the present. This giant cretin appears to believe that we are his 'friends' and we will 'help' him out of his cell. MINSC WILL BE FREE! THESE BONDS WILL NOT HOLD MY WRATH! BUTTS WILL BE LIBERALLY KICKED IN GOOD MEASURE- ...it's probably bad I can recite that from memory. I'd love to take you on as our spare flesh-sponge, but we've reached our Men In Blue quota for the party. We find a convenient stash of Basic Weaponry and Armour nearby , including one of each type.

This guy can teleport? This guy can fire giant green balls of goo to destroy his enemies? Okay, this is too much. My prison cell door opens, without warning. It might have been structural damage from the experiments. No matter. Pain has brought me clarity of mind. Now I see that while I traipsed around the Sword Coast 'adventuring', others have ventured far ahead, gaining extraordinary power. Being the hero of the sword coast means nothing. What I must have is power. Power to kill. To dominate. I must...

That's what momma used to tell me, too, every time we went to the doctor's. Then came the leeches. I know these days some clerics are talking about phasing out healing spells, so that "they're not reduced to walking bandage dispensers." Yeah, look, I don't think you guys quite understand what happens to our quality of life when bandages don't get dispensed. Clearly, it's not very tapped if I'm sitting here getting camped. I need some tapping up. I'll 'realize my potential' on your S&M strap-bare arse when I get out of here. You'll see. This guy has golems?