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

[Junai]

God this game has aged badly.

 

Why are people still wasting time playing such a....

 

Bored?

Infinity. An apt name.

People play Baldur's Gate 14 yrs after its release, because it's the best game ever.

 

Did he whack Drizzt yet?

 

 

 

J.

Edited January 15, 2012 by Junai

[Walsingham]

Captain Buzzkill - strapline "he clears the officers' mess"

 

~~

 

What cracks me up hthose two are the most negative people on here, yet ostensibly they are also worse than the handful of clinically bipolar chaps around.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

 

That was a joke.

 

Can I steal that joke and pass it to a friend who (helps) run a mental health charity?

[Tigranes]

10. We At Durlag's, Part One

 

So we begin the greatest dungeon of them all, Durlag's Tower. It is not for the faint-hearted, and in my usual playthroughs, well, whenever I try to go through it quickly, we get party wipes. Every doorway, every chest, every random tile - if it can be trapped, it will be trapped; if it is trapped, it will deal enough damage to kill you. Enemies also pack a lot of punch here - not quite as bad as the werewolves, but combined with the traps, every room is a menace.

 

For reference, remember that we will stick with our party members until 3 deaths - then, go to the next in line, which I believe is TrueNeutral with a Shapeshifter, then Walsingham with I-can't-remember-what. Currently, Oner and Deraldin have died twice; Greylord and Nepenthe have died once; and Sorophyx has, for some reason, never seen the afterlife.

 

Sorophyx: I'm too beautiful to die, that's why.

 

Alright. On the ground floor, we find little of note, already picked apart by adventurers once the first few had disabled the traps (mainly, through noble sacrifice). Ike has clearly done this schtick before. He offers to sell us a MAGIC RUNESTONE for the lower floors, where GREAT TREASURES lie, but we decline.

 

Tale: Trust this guy to draw a few lines on a pebble and sell it for 300 gold.

Sorophyx: Hush, I'm taking notes.

 

Sadly, this is to be Ike's last business trip. A demon knight decides to crash the party, and fireball everyone to crisp - except us. How convenient.

 

We can't have that, and decide to venture into the lower floors in pursuit of the evil demon knight. You can see that right from the get-go, there's a fireball trap; as you skip over the wires, you will see a beautiful, faux-medieval dining room area, decorated with a beautiful piece of abstract art on your right. Yes, there on the wall. I believe it's called "Flame Grilled Chicken", a masterpiece from a long forgotten age.

 

Sorophyx: Is it a RICH demonknight?

Nepenthe: Maybe we should just leave it alone. I mean, it doesn't seem to hurt anyone that doesn't enter the Tower...

Sorophyx: I thought you Paladins were all about SMITING EVIL, man. Where's your sense of, what do you call it, justice?

Deraldin: Nep is at his most self-righteous when there's a maiden involved, really.

Sorophyx: Well, maybe some of the dwarf-women down there are still serviceable.

 

Yes, but maybe Nep isn't their type.

 

The plan is to have Sorophyx drug up on potions of perception, and go around untrapping and looting everything. Of course, it doesn't always happen in that order.

 

Sorophyx: Woo.

 

It doesn't take long until the inevitable happens. You can't see because he's died and the fog of war has set in, but I tried to disarm a chest and Sorophyx set it off instead - a lightning bolt which, uh, rebounded off the tiny room and hit him about four times before I could pause. That's count one for Sorophyx.

 

After a brief (read: annoying) trip, we're back and Sorophyx continues exploring the first level. He finds some interesting lore on Durlag. Something about an EXTREMELY POWERFUL DEMON TRAPPED IN A DAGGER.

 

Oner: Sounds like somebody's doing some foreshadowing.

 

That's what a fine arts degree gets you.

 

We are informed that the pride of a dead dwarf has been suitably appeased by our readership. This will have consequences soon enough.

 

One of the more powerful challenges on level 1 are skeleton warriors - essentially akin to Icharyd outside the Ulcaster ruins. They wield +1 Two Handed Swords, have a fair bit of HP, are immune to normal weapons and have a fair bit of spell resistance. It generally takes the whole party ganging up on one, with front liners retiring to heal up, to get them down.

 

More traps.

 

...in fact, a recurring trap. Sorophyx can't see this one, so we're now stuck on the other side until we find another route, or something.

[Tigranes]

Unfortunately, the other side is populated by phase spiders, skeletons, flesh golems, and two more skeleton warriors. One particularly persistent skeleton warrior claws Nepenthe to the afterlife - I could have run away, but might have died from the trap anyway. Strike 2.

 

Nepenthe: You can't do this to me! Oh, to fall in battle having never known a lady's bosom!

 

Sorry. Maybe we'll meet some dwarf ladies before you die again. I mean, uh, you might not die at all! We might all make it out of Durlag's Tower. Really.

 

We're nearly done exploring the first level. Having revived Nepenthe, we take on three greater dopplegangers in the library with a bit more planning. Sorophyx lobs a potion of explosion to start us off.

 

Greater dopplegangers tend to haste and mirror image themselves; while the skeletons get in their way the plan is to cast Slow...

 

Tale: ABRA-CADABRA! INDELIBLE PUMPERNICKEL! IGUANA ON A STICK!

 

...I'm starting to figure out why you haven't managed to make a single contribution to the party yet. (Just so you know, the Silence didn't even work.)

 

The skeletons fall extra-fast with the hasted dopplegangers, and we move up our fighters. Greylord has bad line of sight, so when I tell him to attack he walks up too, and immediately gets a few swings to the face.

 

Greylord: I gotta get out of here! Come on, get out of the way!

Nepenthe: TRUE WARRIORS STAND AND FIGHT!

Greylord: I'm an archer! I'm going to die! Get out!

Nepenthe: STAND AND DELIVER-

 

If this were an Advanced RPG like Neverwinter Nights, Greylord might have magically glided past his compatriots to safety. Alas, the magic of 3D model clipping has not yet been invented, and Greylord falls for the second time.

 

But the battle still rages on. Two dopplegangers eat away at HP fast, and even with Deraldin free-firing from his wand of heavens we aren't doing enough damage. Eventually Tale risks death to get in there and cast a vampiric touch.

 

She gets a hit to the face that nearly kills her, but we make it with no other losses.

[Tigranes]

Our struggles have paid dividends; we finally have access to level 4 priest spells..

 

...and even better, level 4 wizard spells. Most of us are now at level 7 or so, and near the XP cap of the original Baldur's Gate. Again, a little underlevelled for where we are, but hey, at least we aren't carrying along any Level 1 guys... yet.

 

And now we can begin to unravel the mysteries of this level. We've picked up several odd objects along the way. First, we use the anvil to combine two parts of a gong mallet;

 

Then strike a random gong elsewhere.

 

We use the switch we picked up earlier to turn on what looks like a miniature steam train...

 

...and use the power to press some wine, from grapes we found in a chest somewhere.

 

Sorophyx: The unbeatable taste of fermented fungi, am I right?

 

Finally, we rest, buff up the party (LEVEL 4 SPELLS TO THE MAX), and get ready for the showdown.

 

You see, four dwarf-construct-thingies guard the entrance to the second level. Each recite a poem that gives a clue about what we need to do. The first is Avarice, and we present him with a large gem we found in a treasure pile.

 

The second is Pride, and we have appeased him by reading of his deeds.

 

The third is Love, and I have given him the Fungi Wine.

[Tigranes]

The last is Fear, and I have awakened him with... the gong? So you can see the four represent the various aspects of Durlag Trollkiller, and we have understood something of him through this trial.

 

Sorophyx: Yeah. He's a big, huge, gigantic arse.

 

Two things, then.

 

The showdown begins as soon as we complete the four tasks; you can see Love comes pre-buffed with a globe of invulnerability. We immediatley position ourselves a fair way away from them.

 

...and here's why. Avarice immediately cloaks himself, and now has chosen to backstab a skeleton for some reason - and he's already injured from a trap Sorophyx set.

 

Avarice goes down quickly, but now Fear joins the fray.

 

We treat him to some fireworks, and are able to get him down without engaging in melee combat.

 

But now Love approaches. Deraldin's dispel magic takes too long, and doesn't hit him; we summon some Gnolls to replace the skeletons, but as you can see, these dwarfs are really hard hitting. I think Deraldin and Greylord have only been hit once each.

 

We employ the time-honoured tactic of everyone running away while Greylord shoots, and Love is down before it can get off some kind of spell.

 

Some of you may have noticed that was only three. For some reason, Pride decided to sit back and do nothing, even though the Cloudkill spell from his own allies have now injured him badly. I think we could have finished him off right here, but Sorophyx misses. Again.

 

Pride seems to be permanently hasted and starts chasing Sorophyx and chopping him down. We expend another valuable charge in a wand of paralysing to finally destroy the four dwarves.

 

Three deaths in the first level, and 3(4?) more to go. For anyone except Sorophyx, the next death... shall be their last.

 

Sorophyx: Spoooooooky.

[Deraldin]

For reference, remember that we will stick with our party members until 3 deaths - then, go to the next in line, which I believe is TrueNeutral with a Shapeshifter, then Walsingham with I-can't-remember-what. Currently, Oner and Deraldin have died twice; Greylord and Nepenthe have died once; and Sorophyx has, for some reason, never seen the afterlife.

 

Sorophyx: I'm too beautiful to die, that's why.

 

Nice try, but Sorophyx isn't getting away that easy!

 

 

Going to read the rest now.

 

EDIT: Woo! I survived level 1 and now everyone is on their last life! We are so screwed!

 

And the wait list is:

 

Gorth - Archer

Wals - Halfling mageslayer (Wizard Slayer kit?)

TrueNeutral - Shapeshifter

Edited January 17, 2012 by Deraldin

[Blarghagh]

Yesh, I am further down the waitlist.

 

For this reason I suggest you go hunt down Kangaxx RIGHT AWAY once you get to BG2.

[Pidesco]

Didn't I put myself on the wait list as well?

 

Here it is:

If, at any point, more cannon fodder is required feel free to add me.

 

As a fighter/mage, perhaps.

[Drowsy Emperor]

You need Mighty Boo the Ranger in the party to do some butt kicking for GOODNESS

Edited January 17, 2012 by Drowsy Emperor

[Tale]

Boo the Ranger?

 

 

I may have to demand your geek card.

[Gorth]

Boo the Ranger?

 

 

I may have to demand your geek card.

Minsc really was a bright guy... once Boo's dominate mind spell wore off

[Drowsy Emperor]

Boo the Ranger?

 

 

I may have to demand your geek card.

 

And you shall have it! Along with Minsc's boot in your bum.

[Nepenthe]

What?! I totally missed the first time I died. I'm sure the experience was interesting.

[Deraldin]

Didn't I put myself on the wait list as well?

 

Here it is:

If, at any point, more cannon fodder is required feel free to add me.

 

As a fighter/mage, perhaps.

 

Yup, you're right. Updated waitlist it is then!

Gorth - Archer

Wals - Halfling mageslayer (Wizard Slayer kit?)

TrueNeutral - Shapeshifter

Pidesco - Fighter/Mage

 

 

What?! I totally missed the first time I died. I'm sure the experience was interesting.

Same place that I last died. To one of the battle horrors in the Davaeorn fight.

[greylord]

Using first level characters at this point = stuck???

 

There must be someway to level them (errant wandering monsters) prior to some of the other quests and such?

 

Durlag's Tower seems foreboding for the party...

[Gorth]

It would probably depend a bit on how many you would have to substitute at a time. If the party got decimated, it might be time for a trip back to the xvart village. If it's just a single character, that one just has to "hang back" a bit and will level up at least a few levels fairly quickly at that stage. Probably won't pull it's weight either before getting a level or three under its belt.

[Deraldin]

It would probably depend a bit on how many you would have to substitute at a time. If the party got decimated, it might be time for a trip back to the xvart village. If it's just a single character, that one just has to "hang back" a bit and will level up at least a few levels fairly quickly at that stage. Probably won't pull it's weight either before getting a level or three under its belt.

 

The problem is that at this point Tig has already killed all the high value, low risk XP targets and at Chapter 6 or 7 has probably completed most of the quests which would provide a decent XP amount. It would be possible to send people out into the world to kill xvarts until they level up, but it would be really, really tedious. He'd be better off just sticking with whatever he has until the end of the game and swapping people out once we hit BG2 unless he wants to level up characters before having them join.

 

And considering we're all on our last lives, if one of us goes down, the whole team becomes less effective and more likely to lose someone.

Edited January 18, 2012 by Deraldin

[Gorth]

...or use gatekeeper to boost a level or two. It's not like the recruitable npc's doesn't come with built in level scaling either

[Tigranes]

If anybody dies now, I'll have to replace them - I'm not yet sure what I'll do, if that happens. I could start them off at, say, level ~4 so we have a fighting chance, but I'm not so keen on doing too much more in BG1 at this stage. I expect that Durlag's Tower + Endgame will take 3-4 more updates.

 

Though maybe we should visit a certain graveyard for an explosive easter egg...

[Pidesco]

If you let the low level characters hang back while the higher level ones chunk some monsters, things should go back to normal fairly quickly. Have you hit the sirens yet?

[Deraldin]

If you let the low level characters hang back while the higher level ones chunk some monsters, things should go back to normal fairly quickly. Have you hit the sirens yet?

 

The sirens came right after the Basilisks I think. They were one of the first things we went after when Nepenthe and I joined the group. It's at the end of part 5.

Edited January 18, 2012 by Deraldin

[Pidesco]

The ankhegs, then. They respawn, as far as I can remember.

[Majek]

And they kill too. :D So you'll have to get new members after that. :D

[Walsingham]

I'm happy to take my chances at level 1 until I can get dragged up by the rest of the higher level party killing stuff. If I die I die.