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

[Zoraptor]

The latter is easy with the shield of Balduran though.

Not with default SCS it ain't. Beholders have the ability to 'steal' the SoD (and Cloak of Reflection as well) with their telekinesis.

 

And I'd go for Trademeet and Bodhi as well.

[Chilloutman]

Woohoo I didnt die! And as I dont want to die to soon either I am for Trademeet as I think its easiest of these 3 and party can gather here some great items as if I remember correctly. And then siding with Bodhi as I think I never done that. Besides she is sexy vampire, right? Am I right? Like Selma Hayek right? Also can you please make screenshot with inventary as well when someone level up?

 

And thanks for making me awesome, even tho I dont speak too much... well maybe because with wisdom 6 I am only mumbling idiot? But definetely strong one!

Edited February 27, 2013 by Chilloutman

[Blarghagh]

Planar Sphere + Siding with Bodhi.

[Enoch]

Planar Sphere + Siding with Bodhi.

Seconded.

[Calax]

 

Planar Sphere + Siding with Bodhi.

Seconded.

Thirded.

[Deraldin]

Hmm. One the one hand, vampires are pretty damn scary, especially to a caster class unless Tale sees fit to hand over that nice Amulet of Power that Linvail would offer us. If he did that, I'd probably end up on the front lines though thanks to permanent negative plane protection. This would be hazardous to my health.

 

On the other hand, thieves can backstab and every thief and their grandmother are packing multiple potions of invisibility thanks to SCS. This is also hazardous to my health. I much prefer the death I can see coming in the form of angry vampires that (hopefully) have to go through a front line before hitting the casters to the random death machines that are invisible thieves. I have a feeling that I'm going to be overruled on this one though.

 

As for the next quest, I vote Trademeet. Screw the others, go with Trademeet. Trademeet is the easiest of the major quests, has a number of fairly easy side quests that can also be completed and has by far the best loot available including a set of elven chain I believe that would be perfect for BBmorti. I vote Trademeet.

 

Trademeet.

 

As an addendum, damn my evil alignment ruining my ability to turn undead! Everyone else is going to steal all the undead kills that should rightfully be mine as the party cleric, but nooooo. I'll only be able to control undead, not blast them from existence. What a crappy mechanic. :/

Edited February 28, 2013 by Deraldin

[Blarghagh]

Avoiding a backstab isn't going to do much good if you're level drained to the point that everyone gets one-hit KO'd. Then again I don't know how it works in SCS so I may be wrong about that!

[Deraldin]

Avoiding a backstab isn't going to do much good if you're level drained to the point that everyone gets one-hit KO'd. Then again I don't know how it works in SCS so I may be wrong about that!

Typically level drain isn't a one hit kill though. You have at least some time to react to the situation by healing, or pulling the character back. In this last update we saw an assassin backstab BB for 56 damage. At the moment, that is enough to go from full health to dead for half the party. If Chillout has even a scratch on him that would be 2/3rds of the party.

 

You can also protect against level drain with spells more effectively than you can against backstabs.

[Chilloutman]

I think we have enough see invisible to deal with thiefs without too much trouble, but its true that I didnt play BG with SCS so I can't comment too much on that.matter. Also in side quest we should beef up a little bit and get some nice loot with some nice abilities.

Edited February 28, 2013 by Chilloutman

[BBMorti]

Stoneskins, more stoneskins! That image is close enough to how I look... I guess

[Chilloutman]

I must admit I am drooling through this topic very often at work. maybe you should make some ETA counter to next update to save my boss some cash

[Blarghagh]

Tiiiiiiiiigraneeeeees!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

I miss your homicidal rage through Faerun.

[Tigranes]

27. Love the Trees, Hate the Treehuggers

Click Here For Table of Contents

 

It's been a while. We are now steadily growing in power, and almost ready to cough up the money and chase after Irenicus. Just one or two more jobs, and we'll be there. Our next stop, therefore, is the animal-infested town of Trademeet. 

 

Who uses... what is that, stucco? Marble? Who lays down a giant face the size of a hundred people in the middle of the street?  

 

I have to admit, it's a nice looking city, but they could just sell half of the flooring and hire an army to conquer the Sword Coast.

 

I've seen your tiles, Coprith. The rewards better be worth it. 

 

Gorth:I guess now I can put on my CV, Mass Pest Exterminator. 

 

We are directed to a druid who is accused of spying on the city, except he's offering to spy on the druids for the city, except everyone believes he's spying on the druids for the city in order to spy on the city for the druids, and now we're going to make him spy on the druids for the city so that he can be absolved of the charges of spying, by spying. For us. 

[Tigranes]

Say hello to Cernd, probably the most boring NPC Bioware has ever written. This is because he isn't emo about the poor animals, at all. He doesn't seem to really care. We send him up ahead, meaning we will do all the work and he'll sign off the paperwork.

 

On the way out of the city, we find a... a, hand-reader? Hand-elicited hallucinator? Of course, what we get is gibberish.

 

Nepenthe:Oh, I can make sense of that for you.

 

Really?

 

Nepenthe: It means you will soon come across two men, Tale. One will be a needy type, the kind that gets you by the mother instinct. Do this for me, I can't do that. Another will be a charismatic bad boy, who's made mistakes in his life, whose life indeed has been taken from him. 

 

That's.... go on.

 

Nepenthe: And for a time you will think, oh, I have the pick of the bunch, which one shall I go for, the soft and squishy or the hard and, uh, hard? But then it turns out the bad boy's got another woman from the past, who he can't forget! Then, there's... a beast of a man, a man with exceptional prowess! And... another dark man, and...

 

Okay, I think that's far too many men in my life.

 

Nepenthe: That's why she was overwhelmed. Never read a fortune with that much man-meat in it, before.

 

Just outside the town the djinns have set up camp; they refuse to allow traders access to caravans until their own mission for a rakshasa is complete. We accept the mission, but rakshasa are extremely dangerous; they will have access to 7th and 8th level spells, have very high magic resistance, and probably tear us apart single-handedly. We will see...

 

A few hours' walk away is the Druid Grove. Charming place. Would buy real estate.

 

Pauden: BE WARNED, STRANGER! YOU SHALL FACE NATURE'S WRATH!

 

Listen, talking to us while trolls are in my face is not the best way to get my attention. 

[Tigranes]

The area is one battle after another, mostly trolls; after De'Arnise Keep, they aren't too much trouble for us.

 

A narrow corridor full of spiders. Whoever designed this map really was short on time. My mirror-imaged self blocks the path then fireballs the lot. 

 

The mop-up process is fast... then a giant spider manages to poison and web/paralyze BBMorti before it falls.

 

BBMorti: Well that's not a problem, there are no- *hurk* -enemies anymore. Just cast a couple of healing spells until it wears out.

 

Actually.... we ran out. 

 

BBMorti: What. 

 

We used the last on Nepenthe before we realised.

 

BBMorti: Was he poisoned?

 

No, but he's at full health now.

 

BBMorti: Wonderful.

 

Listen, it's not a big deal. You've got lives left. Right?

 

BBMorti: That spider was probably second level, or something.

 

Aha. A dramatic recovery. 

 

BBMorti: Wait until I dramatically cone of cold your arse next encounter.

 

Greater Earth Elementals join the menagerie.

 

Finally, we come upon a group of druids - not yet aggressive - munching on some trolls.

 

Druid: FALDORN AND HER SHADOW DRUIDS PROTECT THIS FOREST!

 

Shadow Druids?

 

Druid: YES, WE SHADOW DRUIDS, THE ONES THAT ARE NOT NICE BUT ARE TOTALLY EVIL, WHO WILL TOTALLY PROBABLY KILL YOU ALL AS SOON AS WE ARE DONE HERE-

 

Oh, I see.

[Tigranes]

For now, we stay out of it, and cast Web and Silence, then shoot down the trolls; then we can have a nice discussion about who exactly is fighting who.

 

Oh, I see. You want to attack us. While all of you are webbed.

 

Listen, evil and smart aren't mutually exclusive. Think on that.

 

After a relaxing night of rest next to their corpses, we move forward. Twenty metres away, we find another group of EVUL DRUIDS, who have obviously declined to join their comrades against the trolls or ourselves. 

 

Druid: Your careless meanderings across the great earth mother will not go unpunished.

 

I wasn't aware that walking carelessly was a crime.

 

Chaos, Web and Ice Storm in the first turn are sufficient. 

 

Next, a bridge where a set of spore colonies stand in a row, churning out myconids should anyone approach. Clearly, nobody thought about actually living and navigating this place. "Sorry, Head Shadow Druid, I was late because the colonies kept farting noxious vapours on the bridge making me confused." 

 

It's important to remove them quickly before they spawn many myconids. We launch a lightning bolt.

 

....and it comes back. Everyone shuffle-dances three steps to the left.

[Tigranes]

We finally arrive at a small, rickety shack. There's a strange air around the place, it makes me uneasy. It almost seems as if, inside, we would find a great danger...

 

...something like three pre-buffed rakshasa, maybe...

 

....yes, best not go there. 

 

(To be precise: I only went in to show you how we would be totally wiped. There is no way we are actually going to try. The problem is that with SCS buffs and their innate MR the rakshasa are practically invulnerable for at least ten turns, and in the meantime we can hardly protect ourselves from 5th-7th level spells.)

 

And so, we head further into the druid grove.

 

Told you he would show up when we were nearly done. Cernd explains that druids can challenge Faldorn, the head shadow druid, in a one on one battle to resolve the issue. 

 

Nepenthe: For once, we don't have to do everything. Right?

 

Right. It's nice.

 

Wait, what? 

 

Remember: you installed "All Strongholds" component in one of your mods, ensuring that for all stronghold-related quests you will be treated as the relevant class. In this case, a druid!

Nnnnnnngh.

This is why a careless use of unauthorised mods is discouraged! We highly encourage Baldur's Gate 2: Enhanced Edition, where a selection of modder labour is repackaged into a convenient $20 product-

Beat it.

[Tigranes]

And so we stand, alone, against Faldorn. No items, no equipment, no weapons. Our first priority should be Protection against Normal Weapons; this will make us invulnerable to all kinds of weapon damage that Faldorn could raise against us. We don't have it memorized, but we can try a wild surge...

 

Oh, that's not so bad.

 

Aha! Another monster and the spell is cast! Marvellous. Things are going my way.

 

Oh, wait. That's no good. 

 

Creeping Doom is a 7th-level druid spell; the affected has a chance to panic, and otherwise receives damage every turn, and 100% spell casting failure.

 

Quick, Mislea- oh, fine.

 

Run away!

 

Run away! Oh god.

 

Stung to death. The humiliation.

 

Let's try again, and this time, rest and memorise spells beforehand. A Spell Deflection should be sufficient against Creeping Doom.

 

Normal Weapons, too.

 

Finally, just Mislead so we can't be targeted at all- oh. Oh. 

[Tigranes]

Wait, Creeping Doom bypasses Spell Deflection? 

 

Okay, okay. No need to panic.

 

Maybe invisibility will work. When we're not making Faldorn invisible instead.

 

Or turning ourselves into wolves. 

 

Three more attempts later...

 

I got it! 

 

We just interrupt every single spell she casts until she's dead!

 

Oh, how stupid I've been.

 

Goodbye, EVUL DRUIDS. I hope you do something about these squalid living conditions, or you will all catch typhus and malaria. 

 

Our reward... is a druid-only staff. Joy. Is there a druid in our waitlist?

 

Returning to Trademeet, we need to sort out one more issue. Our failure to deal with the rakshasa. The djinn will be angry. Perhaps very angry. There's only one way we can rectify our failure...

 

...kill everybody else.

[Tigranes]

The djinn prove much squishier than the rakshasa. 

 

Our reward is a summoning bottle. Not bad.

 

Finally, we receive our rewards; a five-digit compensation, a fancy ceremony, and the title of Heroes of Trademeet. 

 

Gorth: It'll go right above Mass Pest Exterminator.

 

Our newfound fame opens the door ajar for the entry into politics. 

 

Two doors, in fact. We're moving up in the world. 

 

I level up, finally giving the party access to 6th level spells. (Azure does too, but I forgot to show.) That is usually my baseline criterion for proceeding with the storyline.

 

We consider leaving the city for Irenicus straight away, but we are immediately accosted by a pathetic peasant. Fine, we'll help you. I suppose we should do something for the masses.

 

With the Djinns gone, shopping is also on. The town's newfound liveliness is also proven by a healthy debate amongst philosophers...

[Tigranes]

...which receives a typically Greek narrative...

 

...and a very much Greek conclusion. 

 

We pick up just one object; the Belt of Inertial Barrier. You can see the immediate use; this thing is never coming off my arse for the rest of the adventure.

 

The town fountain now featurse six hastily assembled statues of the Heroes of Trademeet. We assume that the only way they completed it in a single night was by turning to that blessed, fast-acting, easy-to-use material:

 

Weeeeeee.

[Tigranes]

The peasant boy explains that his girlfriend was kidnapped by a skin-thief; to be precise, Rejiek Hidesman, who escaped our grasp and killed off a party member back in Athkatla. Revenge is near.

 

Tracking his trail yields a conveniently placed skin dancer hunter. 

 

Nepenthe: Careful. This man may be the skin dancer we're looking for. 

Gorth: But he said his name is Darsidian Moor. 

Nepenthe: So?

Gorth: Who would come up with a name like Darsidian Moor? He's clearly the real thing. 

 

Following the hunter, we finally arrive upon Rejiek's prone body, and the girl apparently safe... but of course, the ruse is obvious. 

 

BBMorti: I have no idea why anybody pulls the "Kill him now" schtick. The dude is lying there, barely conscious. You can kill him yourself!

 

We raise arms upon the two skin dancers, and Rejiek is finally dead at our hands. 

 

We also heal the girl back onto her own flesh. 

 

Well. That wasn't particularly verbose, but at least we've got the ball rolling again. Here we are. We now have the money for Bodhi, and arguably, the levels; that is probably the next step. We could try the Planar Sphere now, but I'm pretty sure the mage battle would eat us alive...

[Blarghagh]

When I first encountered Darsidian Moor I figured he must be an important character because of his badass dumb name.

 

I wanted a play-doh statue.

 

Nice to see you picked it up again! Your battle of "I suck one on one" with Faldorn was particularely funny.

[Azure79]

Nice to see you're taking a break from Anthropology to regale us with further adventures. 

[Chilloutman]

What about going for beholders under anthakla? I think we should get more XPs before going against thiefs but its up to you, good that we are still rolling