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

[Blarghagh]

Not only was I epic, but I am also a terrible actor in a terrible movie who still made a lot of money and makes the ladies moist. It was a good day for me. I'll gladly pass off the title of "Dead Weight" to Pidesco until he levels up some more.

 

I can't believe your luck when it comes to wild surges. I've never had that much bad luck in a single battle. :/ This is seriously one my favourite lets plays ever.

Edited December 24, 2012 by TrueNeutral

[Tigranes]

For those looking for Gibberlings 3 mods, here are sort-of-latest versions of what I consider to be pretty essential mods: SCS, WIdescreen, Tweaks, Fixpack, Spell Revisions, Level 1 NPC:

 

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/44877548/bg2mods.zip

[Nepenthe]

Is that Kalah's lamp thing a mod? Don't remember ever seeing that.

Yep, unfinished business. It mostly reinstates cut content, but they are a bit vague on how much they've had to fill in blanks themselves. Or were the last time I looked.

[Spider]

Awesome update. you're almost making me want to play the bg games again...

 

Is unfinished business also on G# or hosted somewhere else?

[Tigranes]

 

Awesome update. you're almost making me want to play the bg games again...

 

Is unfinished business also on G# or hosted somewhere else?

 

Unfinished Business (BG2) v19:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/44877548/UnfinishedBusiness-v19.exe

[Bester]

I'm going to try playing with a friend of mine over the internet. Does he need to have the same mods as me?

 

If yes, then I suppose sending him my BG2 folder would do the trick? Or does he also need to fix something in the Windows registry for the game to recognize that he's got the same version as me? Or he can just launch the exe file and not minding anything?

Edited December 25, 2012 by Bester

[Tigranes]

I don't know, but I assume you will need the same mods. He could install the same mods and same components (your WeiDU.txt in the BG2 folder contains a full list of what mods/components you installed, in order), or yeah, I suppose sending the entire folder could work, if you can do that easily. IE games multiplayer are a bit cumbersome, but they work.

[Bester]

I'm curious, are you playing with voice or just text?

[Tigranes]

21. You Be Hidin' On Tor'Gal

Click Here for Table of Contents

 

 

We're back. A quick one today, as I am still caught in the Yuletide KOTOR2 Festival. (Admission: only two and a half pounds.) We near the very end of De'Arnise Keep, wherein Head Troll Tor'Gal dwells.

 

Our last obstacle is a room full of Umber Hulks. They're not very tough, but throw around innate Confusion abilities that can be very annoying. If we had access to the Death spell we could take them all out in one go, but I am still limited to Fifth level spells. Yet another reason for the Will to Power. For now, Gorth sneaks past them towards a looped corridor on the South side. This is what we had brutally murdered Spot et al. for earlier in the Keep; Umber Hulks go crazy for dog stew, and we will be able to lure them in and lock the doors behind them.

 

Some dog bones. This is the place.

 

Gorth:Uh... I don't have the dog stew.

Tale: Oh, bloody hell. Did you leave it with us?

Pidesco: I don't have it.

Calax: I wouldn't touch the thing.

Nepenthe: ...but we definitely made it, and it has no combat uses...

Tale: ... didn't we give it to you, TrueNeutral?

TrueNeutral: Uh... no. Give me what? No, I uh... never seen it. Nope.

Tale: ... you didn't.

Gorth: Well, I suppose in his transformed state-

Tale: Don't say it. Don't.

TrueNeutral: Look, it's just umber hulks. We can take them. Right? Guys?

 

(Seriously, I have no idea where it went to. BG2 doesn't really have the kind of bugs that makes items disappear randomly, and it's not even a usable/consumable item.)

 

Still, the umber hulks prove relatively simple to overcome; three of them fail the Cloudkill save and die instantly. Our way is finally clear.

 

Searching the room yields a stylish suit of Orc Leather +3. As the only resident leather-wearer, Gorth is given the privilege.

 

Gorth:.... "Finger bones, ribs, and skulls cover the armour"? Seriously?

 

Hey, wait till we get to the Bridge District...

 

We take a quick rest before taking on Tor'Gal, and I am transported to another dream sequence. This time it is not Imoen who greets me, but Irenicus. He looms ever larger in my mind with every passing day.

 

As his cultured baritone waxes lyrical on Power, my eyes cannot help but roam over his features. The piercing eyes; the alternative fashion sense; the exposed chest...

 

...and, of course, the prominent sack front and centre, highlighting his magnificent-

 

-oh, right. The woman. Yes, right. Woman lived her life, now she is dead. Gotcha.

 

You're preaching to the choir, Jon. Can I call you Jon? I mean, this is just a dream, right?

 

Oh, Jon. Don't tempt me.

 

Jon! JON!

 

Uh... yeah. I guess I got a little excited there.

 

It is inevitable, indeed.

[Tigranes]

Right. Now we're all... fresh, we buff up like mad for the upcoming fight. We summon monsters, cast Bless, Chant, Holy Power, Haste, Mirror Image, Stoneskin, Remove Fear. Tor'Gal, buffed with SCS, is a fierce opponent.

 

In addition to the giant trolls he is accompanied by an Umber Hulk Elder, and two Yuan-ti Mages; it is the latter that are really dangerous. With SCS's pre-buffs, they activate a flurry of protections upon site - as one is doing here - then can unleash their spells on us at will.

 

Of course, I had been casting spells beforehand as well. Triggering the battle, I quickly drop back as Pidesco casts Web; we follow up with Cloudkill, which hopefully ties down and disrupts the Yuan-ti in particular. Our plan was to follow up with Chaos and Ice Storm to keep them busy while we deal with Tor'Gal. As you can see, though, the Ice Storm fires, but the Umber Hulk confuses me, on the wrong side of the door. This is bad.

 

We have no choice but to push beyond the chokepoint, and go on the offensive. Nepenthe, TrueNeutral-Wolf, and Calax tank Tor'Gal, here seen casting his periodic Cloak of Fear. First we quickly destroy the Umber Hulk before it does any more harm.

 

Then it's TorGal. Gorth breaks out his Bolt+1, and Pidesco the Arrows of Piercing, of which we only have twenty. Tor'Gal is very fast, very strong, regenerates, and hits hard. The only way is to hit him hard before the rest of the enemies enter the fray, and while we are at full strength.

 

Unfortunately, Tor'Gal has the effective power of at least three trolls. Calax succumbs within only two turns. This is Calax's second death.

 

Meanwhile, one of the Yuan-ti break out of our AOE spell combo, and breaches my spell protections - most notably, stoneskin. This is bad; only Nepenthe and TrueNeutral stand between Tor'Gal one hitting me to oblivion.

 

We redirect our bolts and arrows at the Yuan-ti, but it has its own Stoneskin on.

 

Fortunately, it casts Shadow Door as its next spell making it invisible, and my confused self wanders away from the battlefield.

 

Quickly, Nepenthe leaps and closes the door behind me, ensuring I don't come back before I am cured. Meanwhile, our good ol' fashioned beating has worked; with primary contribution from TrueNeutral and Gorth, Tor'Gal breathes his last.

 

We are not out of danger yet, however. One of the Yuan-ti has thankfully expired in the AOE zone, too slow to put up its buffs; another giant troll up North remains webbed, and of little threat. However, the living Yuan-ti reappears with globe of invulnerability, stoneskin, and who knows what else besides.

[Tigranes]

Oh, well... I guess the troll took offence at being written off. Pidesco is scratched to death from the rear while we focus on the Yuan-ti. This is Pidesco's second death.

 

Thankfully, my confusion finally wears off, and I can actually contribute to our most difficult battle yet. I take revenge on the troll.

 

There is still little we can do against the Yuan-ti until its buffs wear off. We need Breach, or at least Spell Thrust, but none of the mages know the spell. The Yuan-ti too, thankfully, is out of higher level spells; the worst it can do is a skull trap on Gorth. We've now expended all of our good healing potions, quaffing the lower efficiency ones every turn to keep HP up.

 

The teleport field kept annoying us, so we relocate, drawing the Yuan-ti out. Its globe wears off, but it seems to retain, as you can see by the blue aura around the feet, Minor Spell Turning - so we can't magic missile, etc. to interrupt spellcasting. I therefore use Wild Magic to try and cast a Nishruu - a sixth level spell that summons a ghostly entity that unmemorizes the target's spells with every hit. With it, the Yuan ti should no longer pose an offensive threat.

 

Wait, what does Wrong Target mean?

 

Ah. a hostile Nishruu.

 

We drop back again, gathering the band together as TrueNeutral returns to human form and casts Mass Heal. I try to haste everyone, but instead double my own hitpoints. Good enough, I guess.

 

Finally, everyone exhausted, the Yuan-ti's buffs run out and it falls quickly. We then take care of the Nishruu, in order to finally spell victory.

 

Nalia's father lies dead; but we are not too late...

 

...to loot the place.

[Tigranes]

Making our way out of the Keep, we rejoin Nalia. (Sorry, dialogue has been abridged.) Nalia whines a bit about how she needs a puppet Lord to underwrite the Keep so she can rule the place.

 

Sorry girl, I know better than to risk my credit rating for an inexperienced no-hoper like you. Besides, we've pretty much looted the entire place. Something tells me there's not much worth keeping here.

 

The quest reward XP sets off a flurry of level ups. (Please imagine a Sailor Moon-like wave of party members posing in the air.)

 

Neeeeepenthe!

 

Calax!

 

TrueNeutral, who can now become a werewolf six times a day!

 

And Pid-Up, again.

 

At long last, we return to Athkatla. We have a little bit of cash to spend, though the best items are still far out of our reach. 20,000 gold is not difficult to earn, but we must keep investing the cash in order to stay competitive.

 

Our primary gains are Breach,

 

and Lower Resistance, both of which I memorize. Pidesco cannot cast 5th level spells yet, and the two scrolls alone set us back 3,000 gold.

 

Next up: the Bard Stronghold... maybe. It probably means more deaths, but hey, that's what you wanted...

[Gorth]

the worst it can do is a skull trap on Gorth

 

I think our leader has grown rather callous over the last few adventures

 

Where the heck *did* the dogmeat go?... maybe it fell out of your inventory if it (protagonists) was already full when mixing the stew?

[Bester]

Are you guys using teamspeak or you just text in-game?

[Gorth]

Are you guys using teamspeak or you just text in-game?

For this particular LP, I think it's neither?

 

It's just Tigranes playing solo and sharing his experiences (and embellishing and elaborating a bit here and there). All communication happens in this thread.

[Calax]

Noooooo! Am I even wearing armor?

 

I will punch a demon in the soul, and will instantly be put back onto the waiting list as a rogue

[Deraldin]

Updated Death Count:

 

Calax: 2 (De'Arnise 1st floor Spirit Troll, Tor'Gal)

Pidesco: 2 (Random encounter slaver, De'Arnise basement Giant Troll)

TrueNeutral: 1 (Random encounter slaver)

Gorth, Nepenthe: 0

 

Excellent, excellent!

 

Hmm. We have a cleric and a fighter/mage on the cusp of perma death. The next two characters in the queue are a dagger wielding kensai and another cleric.

 

Also, just wanted to quote this so no one forgets.

 

I predict I'll be the strongest party member soon.

 

:D

Edited December 28, 2012 by Deraldin

[Blarghagh]

Words Wild Mages Fear: "Whoops, wrong target."

[Bester]

Are you guys using teamspeak or you just text in-game?

For this particular LP, I think it's neither?

 

It's just Tigranes playing solo and sharing his experiences (and embellishing and elaborating a bit here and there). All communication happens in this thread.

 

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...................... why?!?

Uhhhhhhhh... okay. Wow.

[Azure79]

I hope Pidesco has a long adventuring life. I like it when he pid-ups. Makes me chuckle.

[Blarghagh]

Are you guys using teamspeak or you just text in-game?

For this particular LP, I think it's neither?

 

It's just Tigranes playing solo and sharing his experiences (and embellishing and elaborating a bit here and there). All communication happens in this thread.

 

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...................... why?!?

Uhhhhhhhh... okay. Wow.

 

Because it's fun to read, we're involved through the stand-in characters - our own or of those we know - and because that's what a Let's Play generally is, someone playing a game. It seems pretty obvious to me. The whole thing is fairly standard - in fact a large contigent of YouTube Partners (i.e. those who make money off YouTube videos) are simply Let's Players who film or record themselves playing a game and others watch.

[Tigranes]

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.

[Bester]

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?

[Chilloutman]

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?

 

First few posts and you think you can tell moderator how to play his game? You are free to open your topic and invite people to your game but please stop trolling nice thread.

 

Also feel sad for that deads, but that mean that I am one step closer to get into game!

[Oner]

I predict I'll be the strongest party member soon.

 

:D

If you strike me down now, I will become more powerful than you know the rest.