Ivanfyodorovich

Not sure on the number of priests. I was planning to research on another save, but my hard drive tanked again this morning while trying to update. I’m glad for those cloud saves. I think there were 2 priests in addition to the high priest (maybe 3, but that seems too many, given the sacrificial pit fight only has 2 regular priests, iirc). Your collision hypothesis seems more likely. I’d love to test it out more.

Looking at the screenshot again, I think I see it, too. Looks like we got hit with 3 different projections at once (plus a 4th soon after). It's nice to have someone else thinking through that. I'm not sure what else there was to do to prevent that. It's almost impossible not to clump up if you're doing a doorway kind of strategy. Charging in and bursting down the casters or hard CC would work. You could also debuff them quickly enough to reduce their accuracy or might. Given my strategy of corner pulls and tight hallways, hiding behind a wall of melee, they punished me well.

Aures - Act I, Chapter 3: To Unseat a Tyrant Part 1: House Cleaning We return with Sagani to the first level of the Endless Paths to clear out the last remaining Spiders and Looters. The spiders go down easily. The looters are much more dangerous for our group. We set up around the corner, and seemingly all of them are targetting Niclesa, who is burst down before I can react. She is hobbled via a crippling strike, and then one of the rogues crits her for most of her health. We stablize with lay on hands and Holy Radiance, but then she gets hit again and drops. I think this is our first knock out. I start pulling out all of the stops to turn things around. Sagani and the fox are making progress. 31 dmg hits from him are wonderful. Consecrated ground as a last ditch. We make it through. We clear Magran’s fork, except the boars, after resting. On to Esternwood. Not much to report there. Niclesa suggests we do some reconnaissance at Raedric’s Hold, and we try to get in through the sewers, only to find we aren’t strong enough and lack the proper tools. We go back to Gilded Vale to buy a crowbar, and return to the crypts under the hold. We fight some Guls. They have enough HP that we need to manage the fight, but they drop quickly to concentrated dps. Niclesa level 4: White Worms; Veteran’s Recovery Gregoria level 4: Interdiction We clear the rest of the crypts, with the exception of Osyra. We also don’t free Giacco. We don’t want to tip off Raedric that we’re coming for him. We head to black meadow to see what resources we can gather. The first battle is against 3 trolls. We engage in formation. Reny cuts through like butter. Trolls, Wichts, and the rest we clear out. We leave the Forest Shambler. We need a little bit more XP, and the temple seems like the best option. Things are easier than expected, especially the Skuldr Kings. Chillfog is so valuable, and so far zero misplacements resulting in friendly fire. I don't want to use this spell long term without a targeting circle, but while we still have Aloth, it's doing great work. Aures confronts Wirtan and charges him with redemption. We are still not quite ready for Raedric. Time to explore the Endless Paths. Part 2: Oh no, I think I just lost the game It's time for a Xaurip party. We euthanize the poisoned xaurip and clear our way to the sacrificial chamber. In the last fight before the chamber, Niclesa ate most of the Wurm fire breath and has dangerously low health. We decide to go clear the rest of the level before engaging the final battle. Aures level 5: Liberating Exhortation We pull the room around to the west, and Niclesa uses some potions of Vital Essence to restore her health during the pull. Things are looking great until an Iconic Projection decimates the group - knocking out Eder and Itamuk. I think this is it. The run is about to end on a non-quest trip to the Endless Paths. We stabilize with consecrated ground and every heal we can find. I use one of my scrolls of protection. My heart is racing and I chain pause and re-assess each time what I can do to turn this around. Somehow we make it through! White Worms goes boom! We choose not to engage the battle at the sacrificial pit right now after that scare. Instead, we move down to level 3, where we agree to help Thulgar, and gain a level disarming a trap by the entrance. Aloth level 5: Kalakoth’s Minor Blights, Expose Vulnerabilities Pull an Ogre and kill it on the bridge. Gain more levels. Eder level 5: Weapon Specilization: Adventurer Sagani level 5: Stalker’s Link Feeling a little bit better with our gained levels, we decide to camp and go ahead and kill the last group of Xaurips on level 2 to get Measured Restraint and a little more XP. We set up in the hallway around the corner and eat our food buffs. We pull around the corner, and wait. A few come around, including the high priest. We buff and blast it. I keep waiting for the mass of other Xaurips to come around too. They never come. We somehow pulled only 3 or 4. I send one of our tanks around to pull the rest of the group. Again, only 1 or 2 come with. We move up and try again. This time the rest of the group (minus 1 wurm) comes. We grab our rewards and head back to Gilded Vale. It’s time for Raedric! Part 3: You deserve what you get, but I still feel bad . . . We climb the wall, having already scouted the sewers. Donning the robes, we bluff our way to Nedemar and agree to rescue Giacco, who we saw in the crypts earlier. We use the stairs down through the kitchen, and face down Osyra. The fight is much quicker than I expected, and she dies while I’m not looking. We let Giacco go free and return to Nedemar to give him the news. After a rest, we use the stairwell from the door in the scriptorium to get to the throne room. We want to fight Raedric in the doorway to the bedroom, but I prepare the group inside of the door by the stairs, just in case it won’t work to sneak across the throne room. I’ve died on this fight in the past, trying to run from the throne steps, back to the bedroom. We are able to sneak across, though, and we set up in the bedroom. We even drop a trap, because it can't hurt. This time we try attacking one of the guards from range, without starting a conversation with Raedric. This isn’t how Aures would prefer to do things, but Raedric is clearly crazy and very well guarded. There's no way he's going to convince us to take another resolution. I mean, there's a big tree full of dead people. Sadly, I didn’t realize this would break the encounter. Only half of the guards come with the first crossbow shot and no Raedric. We kill them and send Niclesa out again to pull the rest. This time the other half comes, but still no Raedric. Now I just feel lame. We head back and Raedric is there by himself. He chases us to the doorway where White Worms and a quick beatdown remove him from the throne. This is not how it was supposed to be, but I guess I’ve learned a lesson here. Defeating Raedric before the end of Act I was supposed to feel really good. All of the excitement of the NR just disappeared when I broke the encounter. Now I just want to keep things moving. In the future, I plan to take these kinds of things head on, even if it feels risky or I need to out-level a little to make sure. Defiance Bay awaits . . .

Aures - Act I, Chapter 2: Caed Nua or bust Part 1: Temple Time Inside the Temple of Eothas we encounter some floating balls of light. The Will-o-wisps focus Niclesa who is wearing the hermit hat. Love to see those beautiful immunes. We use some spells because I'm still not sure how dangerous this will be. Invocations are now part of our normal battle plan. We fight the Skuldr's in doorway. Smooth sailing. Aures level 4: Shielding Flames Kana level 4: Beloved Memory; Thrice Was She Wronged . . . We kill some spiders. Aloth level 4: Hardened Veil; Combusting Wounds We clear the rest of the first floor and head out to Esternwood to get Eder the last few points of XP he needs. We clear the graveyard. Eder level 4: Weapon Focus Adventurer Back to Gilded Vale to rest and prepare for Caed Nua. We take the nice room this time (+1 Perception +1 Mechanics). I'm not sure if the +2 Resolve is better here, but my reasoning was based on the relatively low endurance of the spirits. We do a little equipment shuffling to make sure everyone has a non-piercing damage source, and we game plan for the spirits. Fan of Flames scrolls for Eder to use while Disciplined Barrage is up. Scroll of Nature's Mark for Kana to lower reflex and deflection. We buy 3 stacks for food to the team and we head to Caed Nua. Part 2: Ghosts, oh my! On the grounds, we kill a phantom and a group of Fire Blights without incident. Inside the keep, we set up our formation in the front corner, 2 rows of 3 across, packed in like sardines to avoid the teleports. Aures pulls and the spirits get stuck with only 1 or 2 being able to attack us at once. We let the Shadows live as long as we can and focus attacks on the backline. Aures drinks a potion of wizard's double. Nature's Mark, Combusting Wounds, and our shock and crush invocations, plus Eder's Scroll of Fan of Flames do the work. I realize I never ate the food. I think we’re going to be just fine. Down below in the paths, the spiders are easily dispatched, but we remain in combat after clearing two groups. Aures moves south to body pull the one in the north side cell - as she is running back, she gets engaged alone. We move everyone else up to support, and let our invocations slam down, vaporizing the spiders all at once. More spiders and beetles in the doorways on the floor below. Ring of Overseeing goes to Gregoria for now. Maerwald next. Food buffs for everyone and a rest, keeping the accuracy vs. spirits. After a concerning conversation filled with cycles of violence, we flee behind the south doorway and 5 drink potion of bulwark of elements. And we wait. And wait. I realize my plan for that scroll of Defense was ill conceived. Maerwald kills a blight with no one else in the room. Not sure what happened there. Aures runs up to see what's happening. He is still slowly coming from the room. She runs back. Still nothing. She runs back north and he is stuck in the doorway behind a blight that is also stuck. A crossbow bolt loosens things up and Aures eats a fireball to minimal effect. In the doorway, our party unleashes. Did I mention that there are 4-6 spider corpses piled up here? I missed the screen cap, but Kana hits with White Worms for 108. We finish him off quickly and run back to his room to kill the remaining blights. That could have been so much worse, but we were prepared. We pop up to claim the keep, and then head back down to continue clearing our way to the Spider Queen. The group is starting to look a little worn, but we continue using our strategies from before. Combusting Wounds helps, but the real heroes are the invocations again. The stilletto sits in our inventory for now. We kill some beetles, but health is starting to run low on Niclesa. We run back to Gilded Vale for a free rest (we are out of camping supplies), and then head to Woodend Plains. On the way, Kana lets us know that he would really prefer to explore the safer parts of the keep, and continue with his research. Aloth mentions something about the group missing his fashion sense, and Kana offers his turban. Aloth accepts, giving Kana a laugh. At the cross roads we come across a dwarf hunter who is on a search. Aures thinks she could be a valuable ally, and we ask her to join. Kana heads back to Caed Nua to continue his research. The plan next is to gather resources and reach level 5 to prepare to overthrow the tyrant Raedric.

Thanks for the feedback, y'all. Question - has anyone else observed that when you use a ranged Flames of Devotion to start a fight, you will retain both uses after (most of the time)? Does anyone know why?

Aures - Act I, Chapter 1: Gilded Vale Part 1: Assembling a Team Part 2: Something need doing? We find Calisca's sister and promise to help her, as well as the blacksmith and the inn keeper. We also intervene in a dispute about grain prices. Aures is already feeling that her particular set of skills will be well used here in the Dyrwood. In Valewood we cautiously rescue Tenfrith and fight a pack of wolves to reach a dead adventurer on top of a wall. Nearby we find another minor cloak of protection that Aures dons. We make our way to a cave where we suspect the bear Nonton told us about lives. We open with a FoD arquebus shot from Aures on the Bear that hits! Gregoria - Armor of Faith; Eder - Potion of Power, Disciplined Barrage. Kana begins auto-attacking the bear. Aloth fires an arcane assault. The first young bear to engage crits Aures and I look at it's accuracy of 75. Maybe this was a bad idea. Aures uses Crucible of the Soul. The bear pulls around the side and engages Niclesa, who is now flanked by a Young Bear. The Bear crits Niclesa for 28 and the first young bear crits Aures again. Eder is making progress, though. He's crit the young bear twice now, and brings it down with a final auto attack. Gregoria casts halt and nails a 15 second stuck on the Bear. It's in melee range, but has a large penalty to deflection, allowing our ranged party members to pelt away. A few timely heals, and we down the rest of the batch. Eder deals much of the damage with his fine estoc. (I'm still getting used to taking screenshots while playing - it is getting better) From the bears we head back to Gilded Vale, check in with Nonton and send the lovers away in peace. Quick stop at the inn to collect the reward for rescuing Tenfrith, and a rest in the common room. Somewhere in here Aloth, Eder, and Kana level up to 3. Aloth: Infuse With Vital Essence, Mirrored Image Eder: Disciplined Barrage Kana: Come, Come Soft Winds of Death We head to Black Meadow to find our way south to Madhmr Bridge. We kill a troll without too much trouble, and find a pack of spiders in our way. It looks like 3 of them when we pull using a FoD arquebus shot, but 3 more are right behind. Now I'm a little worried. The spiders are hitting hard, even with Armor of Faith up. The formation holds, though, and Eder makes quick work of them, knocking them prone and following up with damage. As he moves to finish the final spider, he gets too close to a nearby Wicht. This doesn't look good. I've already used Holy Radiance this battle and have no AoE damage spells besides the Chants. Most of the Wichts cluster around Aures, who heals with a Lay on Hands and a First Aid while the rest of the team piles on the damage. A few break through the line, and one attacks Aloth, who already cast Mirror Image and Arcane Veil, reducing the damage he's taking significantly. The Wichts have very low health, and fall quickly, but that felt dangerous. Already the no-reload run is feeling much more exciting than the previous. We had to the bridge, talk with Peregrund, and easily kill two people labeled as looters. When we make our way down to the shore, we find out that these are poor people scavenging to survive and we promise them we will lie to Peregrund. This is not something Aures likes to do, but there doesn't seem to be an easier solution. A lie on behalf of those in need is one of the few she's willing to tell. I wrongly think that deception might lower my disposition and confirm that I haven't gained any reputation as deceptive, then realizing as I write this that while I gain for being honest, it's cruel and aggressive that I lose disposition for. Those should be easier to avoid. Part 3: More work? From the bridge, I head to Analogs Compass. We fend off the Xaurip attack at the entrance, and make our way to Ranga through another band of Xaurips. Standard tactics that will persist through the run. 3 melee in front, ranged in back. We agree to Ranga's request and fight the north camp of Xaurips, remembering to use our chanter invocations for the first time this run. After an iconic projection takes the the whole group to 3/4 endurance, we quickly switch to focus on the Xaurip Priest. I've been holding back Holy Radiance because the healing might make a difference in these early battles. Here it heals us right back up to full. Aloth casts magic missles twice on the Xaurip Priest to great effect. White worms is awesome. Reny Daret's ghost mops up the Champions. Turn return to Range for our next task, and Niclesa and Gregoria level up to 3. Niclesa will be our Mechanic for this run, so most of her skill points will go there. Niclesa: Blessed Was Wengridh, Quickest of His Tribe Gregoria: Level 2 spells We camp, selecting the primordial accuracy buff where we can, just in case. In the cave we successfully pull the sporeling patrol by itself. Back to Gilded Vale, and we report the truth to Aufra. As we leave her house we run into a man named Kolsc. After some questions that confirm what we suspected about him, we promise to unseat Raedric. If Kolsc intends to take the throne after, it will some corrective to the repressive and violent system in place now. We aren't strong enough to face Raedric yet, though. First we have a few other things to do. Onward to find Tuatanu's shipment. We sneak up on the camp, but they aren't hostile to us, so I hesitate to attack from stealth. In the quick second it takes to wonder if I should, we are spotted and my plan for crossbow and arquebus shot opener is gone. We brace for the thieves to reach us. This time I have Aloth buff up and cast Concelhaut's Quarterstaff. I also add Blessing to the buffs now that we have more spell casts available per rest. Gregoria tries to halt one of the thieves before it can get to the group, but Eder is engaged anyway - guess he will have an easier time with that one. The leader runs through our line with wild sprint, but comes back to attack Niclesa. It isn't until I see the reloading icon next to her portrait that I realize I didn't switch her from the crossbow. That low deflection must be why he went for her instead of Kana in his padded armor. An Outlaw was not so confused, though, and makes his way back to Kana, who is casting white worms on the first bandit dead on the frontline. My ranged attackers switch from the leader to this Outlaw. Eder finishes off his bandit, so I move him to the back to knockdown. We drop the Outlaw, finish off the leader and engage the two archers pelting us at the same time. Shipment in hand, we head south to investigate the body we noticed after the wight attack and pick up a new pair of boots for Niclesa. We return to Gilded Vale and return the shipment to Tautanu, taking advantage of the generous discount he's given us to purchase something Aures noticed the first time we came to the shop - The Outworn Buckler. There's something about this shield that just feels right to her. She tries it on - a perfect fit. Next up - that desecrated temple of Eothas that Gregoria has been asking we visit. Inventory Update:

Hi all. I've been enjoying following along with your runs. I think this is a terrific way to experience the game and to share community around it. I'm excited to join in. Feedback is welcome. Aures, Wood Elf Paladin, Shieldbearer of St. Elcga: Introduction Game Version: 3.7.0.1318 with White March I & II & Deadfire Pack Difficulty: Path of the Damned Settings: Maim Before Death: Off; Injuries: On; Expert Mode: On; Trial of Iron: On Mods: None Expert Mode: I'm going for my first Frozen Crown run with this group. I'm close to a completionist PotD run with another party using reloads, and I feel relatively good about going for a PotD NR along with expert mode. I've chosen a party to suit the lack of targeting circles (no wizard!). I also wanted to use some different companions than my current end game run, where I'm playing with all of the PoE2 companions plus Kana. This group will be all female and will feature 2 custom characters (a priest and a chanter), along with Pallegina, Sagani, and Maneha. I will use other companions until I'm able to recruit the full team. I haven't yet decided who will become the Hercule Poirot of Caed Nua yet, but easy money is usually on Durance or Kana. Main Character, Aures, Wood Elf Paladin, Shieldbearer of St. Elcga: Main Character Description: Custom Party Members: Gregoria, Mountain Dwarf Priestess of Eothas Niclesa, Wild Orlan Chanter Party Plan & Builds: