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

[Nepenthe]

That's how LPs work. It would be insane to try and play this with 6 people, logistically. Although we would die a lot more.

 

How about we try? I admit it's fun to read, but I believe it'd be even more fun to actually play, don't you think?

I like it this way, but I'm sure nobody's stopping you from organizing something like that. I'm not sure I would've had the time to run bg2 mp even before adult responsibilities, never mind now.

Edited December 29, 2012 by Nepenthe

[Volourn]

rEAD THE ENTIRE THREAD. gOOD READ.

[Bester]

I like it this way, but I'm sure nobody's stopping you from organizing something like that. I'm not sure I would've had the time to run bg2 mp even before adult responsibilities, never mind now.

 

Surely there's the weekend? I'm not even proposing anything, I'm just curious why do you think people wouldn't have time.

Edited December 30, 2012 by Bester

[Blarghagh]

I don't.

[Nepenthe]

I like it this way, but I'm sure nobody's stopping you from organizing something like that. I'm not sure I would've had the time to run bg2 mp even before adult responsibilities, never mind now.

 

Surely there's the weekend? I'm not even proposing anything, I'm just curious why do you think people wouldn't have time.

Timezones.... And are you actually aware how long this game takes to complete? The last time I played it I had a save "pretty near the end" and it took me a week of nothing but eating, gaming and sleeping to complete

 

And yes, ADULT responsibilities extend to the weekend, I'm afraid.

[Tigranes]

I barely have time to slowly do this LP, and this is during my 2 weeks off, unfortunately. Hopefully I'll be able to chug on. Updating sometime today.

[SupidSeep]

 

... and it took me a week of nothing but eating, gaming and sleeping to complete

 

I like this comment; may I ask if I may use it in my sig?

[Tigranes]

22. Detective Work

Click Here for Table of Contents

 

Following our heroic pillaging of De'Arnise Keep, we decide upon our next job in our bid to raise 20,000 gold. Somehow, our paths seem to lead to the Bridge District. We have no particular reason to be here, but... it just feels like I was told to come this way.

 

Gorth: Are you hearing voices, now?

 

Well, it seems we've stumbled upon a murder mystery. Where there is crime, there is profit to be had. Perhaps we might find some kind of cartel we can leverage, a morally grey adventure where we must confront our lust for power and wealth, and its cost on humanity. A quest where we find that justice is not as easy as killing the bad guy-

 

Oh, right.

 

We find some commoners breaking wind about the murders.

 

Nepenthe: These proletariat have no awareness of their own predicament. They are surely next in line for gratuitous murder, yet they merely chatter over the dead bodies of their comrades! Revolution is not possible when the people wallow in-

 

Are you suggesting the murderer is a bourgeoisie?

 

A beggar tells us more for a gift of gold.

 

Perhaps it is true. Only a filthy capitalist deals in luxury goods like Exotic Hide.

 

Nepenthe: I wager the poor labourer who worked on this hide shall never be able to afford one for himself.

 

Our research extends to a merchant and a whore, between whom we confirm our suspicions: it is indeed a filthy bourgeois tanner that has murdered these people.

 

Gorth: Uh... a tanner isn't exactly a white collar profession, you know.

Nepenthe: Silence, capitalist dog!

 

Finding the murderous tanner involves the arduous task of visiting a house labelled The Tanner, then aggressively accusing the man of his crimes. Yes, the NYPD method really does work.

[Tigranes]

The tanner flees to his basement, and we follow; the place is lined with corpses and traps.

 

TrueNeutral casts Find Traps for us. You know what to do, Nepenthe.

 

Good boy.

 

We also find some Human Flesh. I told you Orc Leather isn't as bad as it gets. It needs to be made into proper armour to be worn, but we shall see if we get around to that.

 

We resume our pursuit, but the tanner is nowhere to be seen, while his ally blocks our path.

 

A rune assassin; in SCS they have several potions of invisibilty they can quaff to make full use of their aggressive backstab modifiers. Calax is nearly one-hitted as we set up battle stations.

 

Another assassin is found with our Detect Invisibility spell. We must take them out quickly, while the mages' stoneskin lasts, and the rest of the party-

 

Calax dies for I believe the first time, but the massive damage chunks his body into a million pieces.

 

TrueNeutral: Amazing what they do with a single dagger, these days.

Nepenthe: The Capitalist has arrayed his forces against us, but we shall persevere! Come, Calax!

Gorth: You know he's about as persevering as a raw pork chop at the moment, right?

Nepenthe: Well then. I really hope we replace him with a thief.

 

Chunking means there is no revival for poor old Calax. He's gone. Forever.

[Tigranes]

We clean up the mess, but the Tanner has already fled. We find a piece of the legendary Gesen bow amongst the cargo, but the permanent loss of Calax means it has hardly been a profitable venture.

 

Listen, all I had to do was talk to the beggar and whore that you specifically told me to go talk to. I can see you live life the way a common earthworm might - squirming and pointless.

 

With the loss of Calax we have no choice to recruit a new meatbag - an odd one that insists he is the premier Dagger Specialist in all of the Sword Coast. (I've given him 161,000 XP, which is the cap for Tales of the Sword Coast; that gives him less than half the XP of everyone else.)

 

Azure: Indeed I am! I am more Proficient in the way of Daggers than any man I've met!

Gorth: Well, nobody bothers to-

Azure: Look, I pumped up my STR and DEX, so that means I'm strong AND fast, and I'm good with daggers, which are fast. I'll be like a whirling assassin, batman style doing tornado dagger attacks-

Gorth: You do know STR and DEX bonuses don't stack in second edition rules, right?

Azure: That's OK, I'll take the Weapon Finesse feat next level. Listen, you think you know all the rules and stuff you old codger with your books and stuff, but I played KOTOR, like, nine times!

Gorth: But you don't-

Azure: It sucks you don't get lightsabers in this one, you know? There I was like zam, bwooo, zoom, bam!

http://cdn.hark.com/swfs/player_bar.swf?pid=nvzftzysrd

Azure: Anyway, I'll be awesome in a few levels, you'll see.

Nepenthe: Great. Maybe he can take over the trap duties.

 

We visit the local inn and take a night's rest before proceeding.

 

Tonight, too, I dream of Jon. His alabaster skin, his glowing eyes. Oh, Jon. I'll find you. I'll find you if it costs twenty thousand gold pieces.

 

I hear not what he says, only his voice. Speak to me Jon.

 

Jon shows me a vision of a demon destroying a copy of me. Could it be a roundabout way of showing his affection?

 

I don't know if I want the world of flesh to be beneath me, Jon. I love the world of flesh.

[Tigranes]

Now he shows me as I eviscerate several ugly opponents. Perhaps I should pay more attention to what he is saying.

 

A gift? For me? Oh, Jon. You shouldn't have.

 

My dream ends as Jon fires a lightning bolt at Imoen. Yes, I understand. You don't want that skanky ho, you want me. I'll be there soon, Jon. Just you wait.

 

Awake and refreshed, we decide to visit the playhouse beneath the tavern. I am struck by a strange lack of nudity.

 

Even worse, they keep fluffing their lines.

 

I guess the actor they had last time had the right dress code.

 

They are boo'd off the stage by noblemen and peasants alike.

 

Nepenthe: More emasculated petit-bourgeoisie.

 

Speaking to the troupe, we learn that their star performer has been kidnapped, and lies at a specific location in the sewers that they hold the key to. These guys seem to have a thing ab out having all the tools and knowledge neessary to resolve a situation, and then not doing it.

 

We pass the Order of the Radiant Heart in the Temple District. We will return to this area soon enough. For now, the sewers await.

 

(Now, I know you guys wanted me to do the Bard Stronghold questline, so I am. But I'm pretty sure we are going to face a lot of death and suffering at the hands of SCS-powered enemies... hey, it's your(our) funeral.) TrueNeutral is now the lone member with priest spell access, and uses his lone 6th level slot to summon a Fire Elemental.

 

Sorry to crash your party, guys. I'm sure you were having a lot of fun down here. Movie night, maybe.

 

I fall back, then cast Chaos, backed up by Pidesco's Web. Their saves are surprisingly low and we have several webbed and confused, while the summons soak up the damage.

 

We have to take out their powerful melee fighters quickly - the dwarf with the hammer, currently unconscious (Emotion spell), can probably kill any of our fighters in ~3 turns.

[Tigranes]

The mage casts Stoneskin, but then is re-webbed. Another one we must kill quickly before it starts buffing itself to oblivion.

 

Things go surprisingly well; I didn't expect them to be so easily susceptible to web and chaos. Luck of the draw, perhaps.

 

Cloudkill & Ice Storm make mop-up painless...

 

Except Gorth strays one step too far to try and shoot them down, and gets caught himself. We can't get to him to heal because whoever does so would be caught too...

 

But web wears off a couple of turns before Gorth commits Assisted Suicide.

 

Our haul from the one fight. Good times.

 

We think about exploring the sewers, but find a rakshasa who throws a fireball in our face. We kill him quickly, then return to our task. Clearly, Athkatla's sewers are some kind of Premium Encounter Table.

 

We do pick up, in addition to Orc Leather and Human Flesh, the Dirties Cloak in the Universe.

 

Back to our task, we find the entrance to the Totally Not Secret Lair of the Evil Wizard holding the Best Actor hostage.

 

Mekrath is alone, but taunts us with his Stoneskinned body. No doubt he has a wealth of spells and buffs, as he would be fully prepared in his own home. Even worse, the tiny room gives us no room to maneuvre, putting us at the mercy of AOE spells. We need to find some other way than direct confrontation.

 

Of course, no peaceful solution is scripted, so we must resort to proxy combat. The Fire Elemental and several war dogs are ordered to attack indiscriminately, firing off his - whoa, Spell Shield is 7th level. This guy's packing heat.

[Tigranes]

Death Spell, which I'm still not confident our party members can make saves for.

 

We do our best to keep Mekrath out of our line of sight, expending several Summon Monsters scrolls. (A little cheesy, yes.) Eventually, we run out of them, and Mekrath casts Dimension Door to find us - but by this time all of his initial buffs are down, as is his Stoneskin.

 

We don't have a lot of time. Pidesco and Tale cast magic missiles in turns, ensuring that his spells are interrupted. He had a Protection against Magic Weapons contingency, but we end up taking him down almost purely with Magic Missiles every half-turn. (From memory, SCS gives Mekrath access to pretty high level spells, including a demon summoning. I was pretty convinced charging at him up front would result in a quick party wipe.)

 

And after all that, we rescue an actor who can't rhyme. Marvellous. He tells us to recover their Planar Gem, and leaves.

 

Nepenthe: But we don't know where Mekrath put it.

Gorth: Well, there's several chests in this lair we can check.

TrueNeutral: They're probably-

 

Trapped? Yes. Yes they are.

 

TrueNeutral: Here you go, Nepenthe. Them be the traps.

Nepenthe: What's the point of Find Traps if I have to set them off anyway? And can't we make the new guy do it?

Azure: I don't have enough HP, man.

 

Azure: See? That would have killed me, that one. Look at all that green.

 

Back at the playhouse, the extraplanar troupe works on opening the portal to return to their homes - well, to their planar wanderings.

 

The portal lets in a series of monsters, first mephits...

 

...then elementals...

 

...then interplanar bounty hunters.

 

They seize our clients and hop back into the portal. So there we are. To finish things, and to earn the playhouse, we must jump through ourselves, and hope that we will survive the challenges ahead. Can we do it? Can Azure, equipped with two +1 daggers alone, hit anything?

 

Seriously, I don't know. I'm pretty sure we're all going to die.

[Gorth]

Pidesco does 13 damage to Gorth...what did I do???

 

Poor Calax. A shame TrueNeutral didn't get to turn into a werewolf in the sewer battle. Is it only the Wolfwere that has ridiculous regenerative abilities?

 

[Calax]

Can I call back into the rotation? maybe as something slightly different?

 

Like an honest to god pirate swashbuckler with scimitars?

[Deraldin]

Pidesco does 13 damage to Gorth...what did I do???

 

Poor Calax. A shame TrueNeutral didn't get to turn into a werewolf in the sewer battle. Is it only the Wolfwere that has ridiculous regenerative abilities?

 

Greater Wolfweres are the ones with the absolutely insane regeneration rates.

 

Once again the party cleric bites the dust. What's your problem with clerics Tigranes?

 

That was actual Calax's third death. He died twice in the De'Arnise stronghold. Once to a spirit troll on the first level and once to Tor'gal himself. TrueNeutral is now at 2 deaths along with Pidesco.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Deraldin

[Azure79]

Yes! I'm in. Surprisingly I'm not dead yet. I don't know how you knew but I indeed have played Kotor around nine times. Sad really....

 

Keep me alive till the Underdark and I'll become an awesome ranged kensai with Firetooth +3! In the meantime I'll deal deadly damage with poisoned throwing daggers! From the back!

[Nepenthe]

Thanks again, Tig. Fun read. You got some pics messed up around finding Haer'dalis and the extraplanar bounty hunters, though.

... and it took me a week of nothing but eating, gaming and sleeping to complete

 

I like this comment; may I ask if I may use it in my sig?

Please do.

[Tigranes]

Fixed the images.

 

Calax: Sure, if the timing is right I suppose we might have a ready source of magical scimitars for you...

[Deraldin]

Fixed the images.

 

Calax: Sure, if the timing is right I suppose we might have a ready source of magical scimitars for you...

 

Excellent. Much easier to follow along now.

 

And Calax is back at the bottom of the queue.

 

Deraldin

Chilloutman

BBMorti

Oner

Enoch

Calax

[Azure79]

Damnit, just +1 daggers? Aren't there demons in the place? Looks like I'm the new dead weight.

[Blarghagh]

Man, I forgot getting chunked is instant permadeath for a character. Poor Calax.

 

Also, pretty sure I'm not making it through the Planar Prison. I'm already thinking of what to re-apply with. Something that isn't done often... Half Orc Cleric / Thief?

[Deraldin]

I think everyone needs to apply as something other than a Cleric until Tigranes learns how to not get them killed all the time.

[Blarghagh]

Yeah but he needs the healing spells.

[Calax]

Priest? Also I'm going stabby and will be able to unlock.