Ironman: Watcher's Keep

[Slowtrain]

A frightening vision of the apocalypse, that particular party.

[Monte Carlo]

So into the Keep, level one is pretty easy. Tigs goes for a recce and bumps into a common-or-garden golem...

 

 

Which is swiftly dealt with by Hurlie's Hammer of Thunderbolts.

 

 

This level is full of scrolls. With clues.

 

 

Tigs recces ahead and finds a room full of mephits, an utter insult to our awesomeness and they are quickly dealt with.

 

 

And into a room with a statue. Hmmm. This is D&D. We are very suspicious of statues.

 

 

To be continued...

[Oner]

3. The sociopathic howitzer-on-legs they called Oner thinks he is the Child of Bhaal. He likes timestop because it allows him to wander around and enjoy the world he has created. Before blowing it up.

 

I'm awesome.

Also, is that Krauzer II?

[HoonDing]

249 HP? Why does that guy even need a party?

[Majek]

So that that there are other targets for Imprisonment.

 

(And playing BG2 without Item upgrade mod is boring. Someone must wield Soul Reaver +6 :3 at all times. The original is awesome but not epic.)

Edited September 1, 2010 by Majek

[Slowtrain]

How come Tigranes doesn't getting any magical effect icons. He looks absurdly naked.

[Monte Carlo]

I don't know, I gave him reasonable equipment...

 

[Tigranes]

That's reasonable for an SOA thief, but did you give him Use Any Item? If not, give it to him next level up, then at least get him Bracers of Weapon Expertise... and replace the necklace of blasting (fireball at THIS level?) with something that gives MR or Saves.

[Shryke]

Oner/Serrano i demand neverending improved hastes!

 

Shryke SMASH!

[Slowtrain]

Even after all these years, the old IE still looks pretty good.

[Monte Carlo]

Tigs, so tough he doesn't feel the need to be festooned in Gucci magical items, spots a load of traps...

 

 

...and a battle with an assortment pack of wraiths reveals that I'd forgotten to memorize any resotration spells! The battle bleeds over into a room with more statues...

 

 

More exploration reveals clues as to a Bell, Book and Candle and the ghost of a long-dead Very Important Person.

 

 

And back to a room with yet more traps... you do need a thief in WK unless you like Knock spells and glugging healing potions.

 

 

We encounter a ghost who gives us clues about how to speak to The Guardian, complete the ritual and descend to the lower levels. We decide to enter his crypt and wake him up.

 

 

Golems! Tigs seeds the area with traps. He is chaotic evil and cares not for allegations of cheese!

 

 

We wake up the long dead priest, now a lich sort of character, who demands his slippers! That's right, we could avoid this battle entirely but NO! We are the Scions of Havoc, time to DIIIEEEEEE!!! Again.

 

 

...as the lich feels the pain from trap-cheese.

 

 

A battle royale with the golems kicks off, which proves to be of little concern to the warriors in the party.

 

 

 

To be continued...

[Tigranes]

Great stuff. I've never fought the lich, by the way, we'll see if he screws us up with any Horrid Wiltings or whatnot.

[Monte Carlo]

After defeating the lich, golems and finding the last clue we go back to a room in the NW part of the level and Sorophx finds a room full of mustard jellies, which probably go well with beef sandwiches...

 

 

... but Oner decides it's time to drop a Horrid Wilting, which makes short work of the jellies.

 

 

This results in a nice warm fireside chat with a ghost and everybody levels up!

 

 

Although we've done it arse about face... the slippers the lich wanted were here but... OOOPS WE KILLED HIM.

 

 

We return to the altar and complete the bell, book and candle riddle to enter the second level and guess what? Who'da thunk it but the statues come to life and a battle royale ensues.

 

[Oner]

Go Oner go!

[Monte Carlo]

Interestingly, we discussed the creeping insect trick earlier in the thread. In a switcharoo, the evil statues use it on the party. We will cheeze them back, oh yes we will!

 

 

As Oner gets into his stride as the awesome arcane howitzer the high-level sorcerer truly is, hitting the suckaz with timestop / dragon's breath, Horrid Wilting. When we get improved alacrity this will become even twinkier, mwuahahahahaaa!!!

 

 

 

We pick up some sweet magic items and proceed to level two...

 

 

And this screen tells it's own story about Hurlie!

 

 

All in all, level one of WK is pretty easy for a party, even one on the verge of HLAs (most parties will hit HLAs in the Underdark if they are playing a reasonably modded game of BG2/ ToB). Anyhow, this changes on level two...

[HoonDing]

With the sorcerer having HLA & level 9 spells already, the entire keep is going to be a breeze. Except for those non-magic & wild-magic rooms on level 3.

 

Also, more spike trap cheese please.

[Slowtrain]

IIRC, I think I stopped playing after the statue battle. That was enough for me.

[Hurlshort]

No statue can stand in my way!

[Tigranes]

What was the problem with the statues Slowtrain? They're fairly well organised, but by this time your party is so powerful, you can beat them down with your summons alone - a Deva, an elemental and a few others, and you don't even need to wade in.

 

Great stuff with level one, L2 always pissed me off because of the puzzles but the chromatic demon should be a breeze again.

[Slowtrain]

What was the problem with the statues Slowtrain? They're fairly well organised, but by this time your party is so powerful, you can beat them down with your summons alone - a Deva, an elemental and a few others, and you don't even need to wade in.

 

 

That's a good question, and one I can't really answer. It was a long time ago. But iirc either that fight or the start of the next level was difficult enough for me that it felt like a chore rather than fun. But that's just a vague recollection.

 

Interestingly, though I am enjoying the LPs of IE games (Somebody should do a BG1/2 run as well, or even PS:T), I was never a big fan of any of them, with the lone exception of IWD1. Not that they were bad or anything, but the combat always felt a bit tedious. I remember the Underdark in BG2 almost broke me; it just felt like it went on and on. ugh.

 

But its cool to watch others play through it and just give the good bits!

[Shryke]

Moar!

 

Shryke smash silly Chromatic Demon!

[Enoch]

IIRC, I think I stopped playing after the statue battle. That was enough for me.

On my original run through ToB, I finished the whole of the Keep. But when I replayed the BGs, 6 or 7 years ago, that's right about where I stopped. It wasn't so much that particular encounter as it was the accumulated IE ennui getting to be too much. And from what I rememberd of the rest of the Keep, I didn't see much to look forward to.

[Slowtrain]

IE ennui

 

 

lol. awesome.

 

 

I enjoy the LPs, but really could never play an IE game again.

[Monte Carlo]

Sorry about the tardiness of the updates but work has been hectic. There will be one later in the week as our heroes try to remember their high school chemistry to figure out where 'Slime' fits into the periodic table.