18 replies to this topic

[Acheron]

So I'm goign to post my running commentary on playing through CA. The PC is an elven mage/thief (normally I'd have been a wild mage or enchanter, but I want the freedom to choose any characters and so need to have thieving skills). I've never played CA before and have no experience with the modules from pnp (I have looked over the forums to determine which NPC's I might want). There will be spoilers.

Current level: M/T 1/1
Current chapter: 1 - just climbed down the tree
Current Party: PC, Dirbert, Shadow, and Rurik

The mayor gives me the quest, there is a small inconsistancy concerning the overall goal of the mission (procure apples early or procure more than 1 apple), while the objectives are not in conflict it would be nice for the mayor to sort out which is more important. The mayor gives some background about other events in the region, very nice. He then presents me with Shadow, whose dialog with the mayor is well written. I took her into the party. I then picked up Dirbert, who will have a lions share of the kills. I bought my equipment (shortbow and longsword for me) and recruited Rurik into the party, his experience. I talked to the woman whose relatives went into the chasm and never returned and then went north (I missed talking to the farmer about the monsters attacking his animals or recruiting Chaarna, whom I wouldn't take anyway as she is an invoker... At high levels I don't miss enchantment magic too much but at low levels I do). We then rescued Paraway from the kobolds and I allowed him to join the party. The first goblin we ran into hit him with its first two arrows and killed him... so he left the party (since I have the feedback on I know the goblin got lucky). I really like that the  PC can't raise the dead, it's very refreshing not to have a high level cleric on every other town, plus it would make the plot nonsense. We had no other problems on the surface, the party decended into the chasm and walked through that with ease as well; having three characters with bows allows us to mow down goblins and kobolds pretty easily.

We met Meepo and he introduced us to his "queen". I was polite and agreed to help recapture the dragonling. I also got abit of surprise that I could ask about the monsters attacking the farmers animals. I'd had no real introduction to this quest so it didn't really make sense though it's easy enough to piece togeather what the farmer would have said had I talked to him. I rejected taking Meepo in the party (Deekin from NWN was enough kolbold loving for me). We found the dragon, and I told the dragon I wouldn't recapturee it (to double cross the kobolds) but Dirbert piped up about stealing from the dragon and it got pissed, so we fought until it surrendered. I'm not sure, but it looks like the only way to deal with the dragon is to either kill it or enslave it, it might be nice for the PC to have the option to really just let it go. After returning the dragons we took the key and went and fought the Dragonpriest. I don't mind the white troll avatar for the dragon priest, but it was kind of funny that it still uses troll death rules (I had to waste my one exploding potion to kill the thing).

We then went through the rest of the goblin portion of the citadel and rescued but did not keep Erky (feel like trying my luck with 4, plus I know I need Althon and want to take Aesdale and Blush too (Rurik will probably be replaced). I attacked the room full of many goblins by getting them to cluster and then sneaking up with my M/T and casting color spray to incapacitate all but one. The rest of the party poured into the room and shot the one still awake and we butchered the rest with swords (after this I realised we could just go around this room). We killed the remaining enemies in the next room as the marched into the teeth of the parties archery. We gave way before them as needed (archery tore apart the unique goblins). Skeletons have been the most difficult foes, their fear affect can make things very hard for such a low level party. Also something strange I've never noticed before is that fear affacted party members seem to run through closed (and sometimes locked/trapped) doors without actually opening them (possibly an engine bug, I can't recall every seein it in vanilla but there aren't many locations that have a lot of doors and enemies that cause fear).

Impressions: The NPC's have had a small amount of banter (but I've only played a short while so that's not surprising). The banter between Shadow and Dirbert about the PC's leadership ability sadly played only a short time after Paraway died so it seemed a bit out of place, but their isn't really any way around that (plus I'm guessing most people would have reloaded). The NPC stats looks a bit on the high side to me, I'd perfer they were more modest (for instance 17 of the 22 possible NPC's in CA have constitution of 15 or higher). The quest (well at least so far) makes sense and it's pretty easy to see why the player would want to do these things, that said, I do think that the story makes more sense for a good/neutral PC than an evil PC. The dialog is a bit forced at times and the PC often has only 1 choice to reply, and at least with the dragonling quest as far as I can see all the choices end the same way (thouhg I suppose it is poosible that without Dirberts intervention the situation could have neded peacfully (at least between PC and the dragon if not between the PC and the kobolds). The area design so far has been very nice. I recognise Oakhurst (Umar Hill's map) but the buildings have all been refinished and look very well done. Overall I've liked the new story and the new characters and am looking forward to continuing the story.

-Acheron/Starcrunch

Edited by Acheron, 02 November 2007 - 01:32 PM.

[Acheron]

Current level: M/T 2/3
Current chapter: 2 - have just returned from clearing the "haunted" house
Current Party: PC, Dirbert, Shadow, and Rurik

We killed our way through the rest of the citadel. Had a very tough time with those fire worms. Finally had to rest and have Rurik buff up and just wade in (a critical hit one hit kill on the first worm really evened the odds). We eventually found the evil druid and his "friends" and fought. I had found another exploding potion that instantly killed the two enslaved enemies and hurt the tree and druid quite a bit. Focused fire from Dirbert, the PC, and Shadow combined with a buffed Rurik brought down his Iron Skins and then made short work of him. The tree was difficult to hurt but eventually we killed it (after occationally killing the spawns). The story told by the druid about the apple was quite interesting and while it was madness to think the twigblights would take over, the plan for getting them into the world is rather inspired (why did the outcast not plant them himself?)

We got bcak to town, everyone taken or dying. Talked to the mayor, and he gave a nice rundown of what we need to do next. Took a bit of work to find the exit that gives the ability to travel to Saltmarsh it's to the left of the marked exit on the map. Then we had a CTD that could only be solved by breifly removing 0.43, after that I got to see the chapter narration. I immediately reinstalled 0.43 and everything seems fine for now. Talked to mayor and gotquest to go out and lok at the haunted house. Entered it and got tricked by the traitor (can't recall his name). Killed everything in the house and freed the lost kids. Went through the caves killing smugglers. Fought the mages party, if the PC talks to him about telling all he uses his wand of missiles in a scripted event that breaks the rules for using that wand (the wand is only supposed to fire 1 missile instead of the three that fire in the sequence). I chugged a potion and survived (wish I had cast the shield spell). Dirbert took down the mage, Rurik (in +1 plate he made for the party; low level enemies have a very, very hard time hitting Rurik) went toe to toe with the smuggler and gnolls(?), Shadow and the PC (and after the mage was dead Dirbert) went after the traitor.

We returned and cronfronted the mayor. He confessed and spilled the beans. Right now we're waiting on the council meeting. I'll probably poke around town a bit, but I don't want to find Althon until I rescue Aesdale. I haven't decided who to drop from the party (Shadow or Rurik; I'd rather drop Shadow but the PC may not be ready to assume all thief duties yet) to make way for Althon, Aesdale, and Blush.

-Acheron/Starcrunch

[leahnkain]

Acheron, if you want to have a different start, talk with Chaarna (instead of going to the ravine)and accept her quest. I think her quest is the kind of adventure you are looking to play. The NPC's do have alot of banters, it is the game engine which is the limitation. As the game moves on, they will begin talking lots to you.

[Sir BillyBob]

Banters only trigger once per 8 hours (game time hours) if I remember correctly. This means you can get alot done between banters. BioWare seems to get around this by making you travel so often between areas so that should eat up some of this time. You won't be doing that kind of traveling until you head to the swamps and beyond. We speed up some of this by forcing more dialogs into the game in certain places (triggered events).

Interesting that you made the plate mail so Rurik could use it. The original idea of course was that it was for the PC, therefore I had to allow chain or splint mail in case the PC couldn't wear plate. Sneaky....

[Acheron]

@Sir BillyBob: Thank you for the Saltmarsh area fix. Now that I'm traveling more I'm seeing banters more regularly and the Blush/Asedale/Athon story is happening as well (interesting about the banter, I never knew it was on the game time, I figured it was tied to real time like the love talks). Athon's a right devious bastard, he really seems very reasonable, just evil. It's nice to see a genuinely lawful evil character and I love the fact that he talks about honor... It's quite nice. Also since I've become more established in Saltmarsh the townspeople have been treating me differently in there little dialog snipets; a very nice touch.

@leahnkain: I'll keep that in mind, though this PC wouldn't be one to turn aside from the mayor's task, I plan on playing through again with a PC that is less honorable (maybe not evil, but definitely less moral)


Current level: M/T 4/5
Current chapter: 2 - about half way thorugh exploring level 2 of the Sunken Fortress
Current Party: PC, Dirbert, Rurik, Aesdale, Blush, and Athon

We went to the council meeting and got sent to the ship. The battle on the first deck was relatively tough and the captain was quite strong. He suffered a bit of an AI glitch in the sense that he got hemmed in by the PC and Rurik but kept trying to disengage to attack Dirbert who was launching arrows like mad into him. Normally it would have been very good to try to get to Dirbert and engage in melee but since he was hemmed in he didn't really attack at all. A few previous attempts at this battle had shown me that he could regualarly hit even Rurik and usually kill him with ease. I could mostly ignore the other pirates as the party was buffed and the normal pirates THAC0 isn't very good (and I could pop a potion or two as needed). The next level of the pirate ship we took down the mage (he has a formidable amulet; very handy for the PC), with bow fire while Rurik meleed the other pirate. Protection from normal missiles would really help mages. The lizard men guards are very, very tough. They seem to have very good THAC0, great damage, and high HP's. In the ship it was possible to get them into melee pretty easily since their are a lot of obstacles (they have fewer attacks per round and do less damage as far as I can tell, in melee). It took a few tries to win this fight, but we got it done eventually. We then went down into the hold and rescued Aesdale from the dire rats. I accepted Aesdale into the party.

We returned to town (after killing the pirates on the top deck just for the hell of it) and reported to the acting mayor (does she have a name?). We then went to the inn, and I got a quest to help the man with his voice (the cognate of the little event that happens in the Athkatala Inn on the Promenade where the PC can do nothing to help the singer; I like that and the innkeeper's dialog about her worthless husband). Went to the magic shop and found out about the flowers in the swamp (now I hadn't gone to the next meeting so I had no idea that there was a swamp in the near future). We also had the Aesdale/Blush encounter. There was a bug at this point but I got around it*. We did some trading and attended the meeting and went and picked up Athon (dropping off Shadow).

*BUG: When Aesdale first ran off with Blush I went to the inn, and rested then when they hadn't reappeared I went upstairs. Aesdale spawned but Blush did not. He acts as though she did but when her turn in the conversation comes up the convo ends and Aesdale rejoins without Blush. I tried it a couple of times and got the same result. Finally I decided to immediately go upstairs in the inn and just [CTRL]+[T] until the spawn time came. This time Blush and Aesdale spawned and the conversation made sense and both joined the party.

We then went out to the swamp. The lizard men guards in the swamp were very, very tough, but I discovered that they were susceptable to Hold Person spells so after a rest in the tower to have both Rurik and Blush memorize a lot of those we were set. The strategy that emerged was to have Dirbert and the PC use stealth to get into melee range and then melee the gurads (usually the PC did this as he has pretty good AC). As soon as they are in melee Blush or Rurik steps forward and launches a Hold Person spell (sometimes they save in which case the other steps forward and launches a second one). Then the party kills the lizard men at leisure. I also encounterd some spiders (very easy), a "strange creature" which was cut down easily in 6 vs. 1, and 1 troll which also fell easily in 6 vs. 1 with Dirbert using an acid arrow to finish it off. We entered the Lizard man lair expecting a fight, but I was happy to see they decided to talk it over. We had our audience and agreed to help the lizard men against their foes.

The wyvern lair brings back memories of BG1. Low level party, a lot of annoying flying things with a ton of hit-points. Blush's two potions (the ones that cause a scorcher-like effect) proved the difference in this battle, and I managed to win it the first time through with no deaths (though they hit Athon and Rurik rather hard). Fortunately I had antidote potions (and the PC could cast cure poison as a special ability because he'de learned it from some tomb he'd nicked from the smuggler mansion). We reported success to the Lizard men and learned more about their problems, then went back and reported to the acting-mayor of Saltmarsh.

EDIT: Added rest of account.

I also delivered the flowers to the magic shop and got the voice soothing potion for the singing mage. His reward is very handy for the PC (who gave the nice HP bonus ammy to Aesdale).

We assaulted the sahuagin fortress next (note: the surface areas that look like they use area from Diablo II are very dark on my computer, perhaps it is only because of a hardware issue though). We talked to Lizard man king and then the councilman, before entering the fortress. I debated briefly using stealth to sneak through the fortress and down to kill the engineer and had 4 invisibility spells memorized for this purpose (Dirbert and the PC would use stealth rather than magic) here. But in the end my Bhaalspawn training from normal BG2 kicked in and I slaughtered everything instead. Primarily used Athon and Rurik as tanks while Dirbert, the PC, and Blush fired from behind; Aesdale stood around twiddling his thumbs since he had no throwing daggers and I needed to conserve his spells as I wanted to go the whole way without resting in the fortress (as a rule I hate resting in dungeons, it's dumb unless there is a plausible place the PC could rest undetected) and I saw no point wasting magic in encounters I could win without it (this isn't too unusual for my mages, they very often spend a lot of time doing nothing). On level 1 I had to use magic only in an ambush encounter where two mages, a priest, and some other sahuagin appeared. Rurik and Blush fired off Hold Person spells (only one worked); Aesdale cast invisibility on Blush who was nearly dead. I had selected Blush's spells wrong, too much healing, not enough defensive spells (in fact she only had healing spells and Hold Person spells readied). We went down the stairs and have to the point of this update cleared the top half of the second level. I have scouted the chieftain and will detail his assault in the next post. The treasury had perhaps a bit too much good stuff in it (in particular there are 40 dispelling arrows down there and those are really, really powerful).

-Acheron/Starcrunch

Edited by Acheron, 05 November 2007 - 06:02 AM.

[Sir BillyBob]

We don't have a name for the captain yet. I had always hoped someone would create an NPC mod or something for her but I'll leave that open for later development and future add-ons.

Aesdale/Blush bug: Can you list the exact steps you went through to experience this? I have refixed this several times now and I haven't come across any way that this should still be happening, at least not in .43. You did reinstall it right?

[Acheron]

We don't have a name for the captain yet. I had always hoped someone would create an NPC mod or something for her but I'll leave that open for later development and future add-ons.

Aesdale/Blush bug: Can you list the exact steps you went through to experience this? I have refixed this several times now and I haven't come across any way that this should still be happening, at least not in .43. You did reinstall it right?

Correct, I reinstalled 0.43.

1.) I got Aesdale, we entered the Magic Shoppe and talked to the owner. Blush hit on Aesdale and they both left to have lunch or what not.
2.) I wandered around for a bit doing nothing in particular, shopping at Rurik's, talking to the town folks, scaring that little kid in front of the inn, stuff like that (I don't really know how much time I wasted). I skipped this step the seond time I tried this.
3.) Then I went into the inn and rested with the inn keeper.
4.) Then I immidiately walked upstairs. Aesdale spawned but Blush did not.

If I did the same thing but skipped resting (and time wasting) and walked upstair both spawned normally after a few hits of [CTRL-T] to pass a few hours (I'd say 3 or 4, but I had waited some time upstairs before that) can't really recall. I doubt it has anything to do with resting, I was guessing it had to do with whether or not the PC is present in the upstairs of the inn when the timer for them to return is up.

-Starcrunch

Edited by Acheron, 05 November 2007 - 06:19 AM.

[Sir BillyBob]

The timer is actually just 6 game hours from when they leave together. The interesting part to this bug is that I actually bring her back before Aesdale. Therefore he should be the one that isn't spawning.

[Acheron]

The timer is actually just 6 game hours from when they leave together. The interesting part to this bug is that I actually bring her back before Aesdale. Therefore he should be the one that isn't spawning.

I tried it from a save after they leave and before they return. I also checked that 0.43 is installed (it is), so I don't know. Maybe something screwy happened because of the Uninstall/Reinstall of 0.43? I'll try it out next time through just to see is a new game helps.

ACCOUNT-

Current level: M/T 5/6
Current chapter: 2 - 2nd floor of the Myth Drannor academy of magic
Current Party: PC, Aesdale, Athon, Rihn, Vildamyr, and Rivian

We killed the sahuagin chieftain, Dirbert and the PC equipped stunning arrows to stun the chief (he did a good amount of damage to Althon first) then dirbert gunned down the mage. Blush and Rurik both used Wand's of the Heavens to flame strike the priest and mage. Took the loot (some good spears; almost make me wish I had Paraway). We cleared and looted the rest of the fortress, the only difficult room was the room of Lizardmen zombies. Rurik and Althon stood in the door while the PC, Blush, and Dirbert fired away from behind. Evnetually we got them all (Aesdale twiddled his thumbs). I did find a throwing dagger for Aesdale somwhere in the fortress (can't really remember where). We then went up and reported success to the chief and then back to Saltmarsh to report success to the acting mayor who paid me the money and informed me the Lizardmen had sent some food.

Upon leaving the mayor's house (did the real mayor really get executed mor piracy as Lord Balthis suggests?) I saved a little girl from being taken to an "orphanage" by a priest, the dialoge options for the PC suggests something is off about him (well even more off than Umberlee's faithful) but nothing he says seems particularly unreasonable, I think he should say something amiss (it isn't really good enough that he's mean as that fits all of Umberlee's faithful) that can justify the PC's response. I talked to the inn keeper and paid her a 1000 gold to take the child, she cried, but she still gives her usual less than polite dialog when the PC talks to her next ("Another member of the male species..."). Also it would be nice if the dialog to discuss the little girl wasn't burried beneath the normal "can I ask you a question" dialog; it would be clearer if the PC had the option to talk about the girl from the first menu the player selects a topic from. I then went to talk about the priest at the Temple of Umberlee, the priestess gave a suitably dark reply to my inquirey so I went upstairs. It was disapointing to see one of the upstairs NPC's clearly identifyed as a Cleric of Bane, that gave away the mystery just a bit early and made finding the book of Bane rituals much less surprising. I tried to confront the nasty priest about the book but no dialog presented itself so I went back to the Priestess of Umberlee and asked her about the book. She gave a totally useless answer... I'll meet you outside later. She really needs to specify what later means (later -> tonight perhaps?) and it wouldn't hurt for her to say near the stables outside the temple. Otherwise the player is left to guess where to go and when to go there. I waited around for ages outside the Temple door and she never showed but finally I wandered south during the night and there she was. She then gives me a key but doesn't tell me what it's for and again leaves (there is no possible way the PC could learn this is the crypt key as far as I can tell, the only way I found out was reading the key's item description, where it appears the PC should already know what the key is for.) The drunk gave me his speil and then mysteriously dies (how?). He also doesn't say anything about the graveyard. Anyhow after mucking about for awhile I read the key's item description and knew where to go so went to the crypt and entered. What a spectacular first area, I'm not sure if this was designed by someone for the mod are taken from another game, but it was really nice (some of the side areas I was less impressed with because they didn't stylistically match the first). I fought the monsters met the Banites who are trying to create a Banelich. We fought, I won. Rurik and Blush pushed hard with their Wands of the Heavens after opening with a tandem of Holy Smite spells (sadly I didn't know about the acolytes and I possitioned the Holy Smite spells too far infront of them to catch them), Dirbert was in top form, after the Holy Smiting, Athon waded in for the finishing touches. The PC backed away to hide in shadows and then charged in to back stabbed the preist, and used invisibility spells (he had 2) to disappear and back stab targets as needed. We then finished killing everything in the side areas and returned to inform the mayor of our success. She was less than awed so it appeared we'd over stayed our welcome and I decided to head to Mistmoor, but first I released Rurik to work in his shop, it seemed wrong to take him from his home. He had done his part for his city, now the battle was moving on to other things (plus I knew Vildamyr and Rihn are up and coming).

44 hours later everyone was exhausted (it's always annoyed me that travel times don't include resting, I mean if it's 8 hours that's fine, but 44 hours and the characters aren't smart enough to rest?!?). I scouted the entirety of the town, met a little girl who lost her cat in the process, being a great hero I had to accept the quest for finding a little girls lost cat because that's what heros do (thankfully the cat was still alive; I considered killing it and trying to take her the cat's body to relive BG1's finest moment, but I resisted the urge). I met Rilithar as he was being accosted about money (haha I love the reason behind his debts being called!). I agreed to help him but did not let him join the party. I rested and then headed out to the manor after entering all the town buildings and talking to the people (I got the quest from the farmer about his nervous cows). We scouted the exterior and noticed the statue was missing (the grounds are awfully well kept up for the manor being abandoned for 200 years). We entered the manor and went up stairs (I periodically got a CTD when transitioning between areas in the manor, but it was never reproducable), seraching each floor. I found Vildamyr's flail but couldn't find any clues in that room. Eventually I found the Viscount's skull and the body of the last sister (I had talked to folks around town and Rilithar so I understood this part, I'm not sure it would be clear without all of these conversations). I noticed the mirror at this point too and rightly surmised that it was the valut entry point. I then went downstairs into the basement where we fought the wyrven (easy kill) and "saved" Vildamyr (it's a big tip off that he's in the area because the message that he is protected from evil plays when the PC enters). I allowed Vildamyr to join, after he told me about a "lovely thief". Vildamyr has about 100000 XP on the PC, this seems quite excessive (~35000 versus ~130000, IIRC). I found Rihn but, sent her back to the inn after promissing to look for something to help he lover (incedentally she never brings this issue up when the PC sees her next, even if you bring her to the statue with a scroll of Stone to Flesh; I know it won't work but some dialog where she tries to bring him back would be nice). We entered the tomb and got the speak with dead scroll, which Vildamyr casts. We interrogate the ghost and learn about the two passwords (haha, it's quite a dirty little trick played on the Shar priest). We enter teh vault and take on the ghost. AoE spells (Holy Smite and an undead specific spell introduced in CA) made quick work of the fodder undead. Wand's of the Heavens and Dirbert went after the shade of the Shar priest and Althon engaed the better skeleton archers (boy were those tough, Althon had to chug potions to keep himself alive). Dirbert died in the battle so I raised him with the Rod of Ressurection (I decided not to raise the preist... imagine that). I looted most everything of value and then returned to town and rested and talked to Rilithar. The reward was interesting, but he didn't offer the PC the title (kind of dissapointing). His dialogs with Blush, Aesdale, Althon, Vildamyr were very enlightening. Upon leaving Rilithar's house Blush leaves the party (I had an bug here where she could take Aesdale with her...). I returned the cat (the cat's inventory description is that of a PC's cat familiar BTW), talked to the farmer, and declined the 10 gold (this cow quest shows as active and also shows as completed in the journal after declinign the gold). I talked to the drunk about the watered down booze but the innkeeper (who I don't want in the party) doesn't have any dialog options available to dicuss this, nor does the Iron Throne caravan man. I accept the Iron Throne man's offer to guard his caravan and off we go to Selgaunt after I take Rihn into the partry in Blush's spot.

We meet Elminster and Storm, and Storm gives Vildamyr a hard time. El then talks to Rihn, who rebuffs his offer to join the Harper's. So we go into the inn and decide to help the Harpers. Before leaving we explore the rest of the bridge (well up until we get sent to Myth Drannor). After arriving the rest of the party the Vyshaan elf (can't recall his name; but I definitely don't trust him) wants me to take appears; I ask him for Aesdale in addition to that. I almost have him bring in Dirbert but decide to go with Rivian mostly just to see what she is like (plus this is Myth Drannor, her knowledge might be handy). The Vyshaan explains about Rhin's lover (so he was a real statue) and tells us a lot of interesting things, I also quite enjoyed his dialog with Athon, but the delay timer is a bit short meaning you have to read very fast... It would be better if this were in real dialog (the same is true of the Athon/Blush cutscenes)

We then depart the vault and learned about Myth Drannor for some experience. The scenery dialog with Rihn is quite nice. The Myth Drannor exterior is really nice, I like it very much. We encountered the Alhoon and since their request seemed modest and reasonable I agreed, plus they seem to know Vildamyr... interesting, once I have what they want I'll reevaluate whether or not to give it to them. I encountered the demon... He wants elf hearts or the Alhoon, I decided to tell him he wants too much and that I'm going to kill him; the orcs turned hostile, but the demon did not, instead Rivian turns hostile but just stands there (bug). So I reloaded and this time agreed to kill the Alhoon. I then talked to the demon again and he and the orcs properly turned hostile and attacked me due to incompetence (exactly what I wanted him to do in the first place). Obviously the party isn't much of a match for a demon but the PC had a secret weapon, a wand of stunning. Aesdale launched a web spell as his opening move, this held the demon for the first three rounds (his magic resistance is useless against Web). All the while Rivian and the PC exchanged the stunning wand until they beat the demon's spell resistance and he failed his save (4 charges expended to get the job done) meanwhile Vildamyr was holy smiting the orcs (and when he ran out of magic one was still alive so ne nailed it with a wand of the heavens strike) and Aesdale was magic missiling them. Rihn used a fireball that I aimed poorly and only hit one orc due to the shielding of the building. Athon stood well back and did nothing. With the orcs dead and the demon stunned the PC, Rihn, Aesdale, and Vildamyr pelted it with magical ranged weapons until it died (meleeing would have meant entering the web). We went into the basement but found nothing of interest (Rihn suggest there might be something there in a dialog; is there a secret area in the basement under this tower?). Note: Rhin's dialog played twice, once when we were outside the tower the demon inhabited and once when we were outside another tower next to the entrance to the mage school (as far as I can tell this second playing was in error).

We next led the shade woman to the magic school and then entered the school itself. We decended to the second level which is now fully explored. On a whim when asked who ruled the city I chose the Vyshaan mages name, this caused the golem to attack me (I killed it; this dialog is one of the main reasons I don't trust the Vyshaanti wizard, the other being that he is Vyshaanti). Even after it was dead I was asked the question against the ruler. After answering the question we advanced to the stairs after searching the remaining rooms. We met the imp who claims to be an adventurer but is really an imp. After he dies the PC finally leveled up and we're ready to decend to the next level.

-Acheron/Starcrunch

[leahnkain]

You are the first player to notice Ilewtharyn?s history is a little shady. I am glad you aren?t blissfully following him trusting his every word. I did a lot of research when writing the Myth Drannor quest. I hope you enjoy how the history is incorporated. Here is a challenge for you?Pel?ja (the priestess and Ilewtharyn?s consort) her last name is Hune. What kind of elf subrace is she? (This is true forgotten realms trivia.) Expect more quests in forgotten realms in the future. I love Myth Drannor as a backdrop for adventures. BTW who are your favorite NPC?s, did you try any of Ilewtharyns option NPC?s besides Riv? Did you take Blodgett or Ilhara?

[Acheron]

You are the first player to notice Ilewtharyn?s history is a little shady. I am glad you aren?t blissfully following him trusting his every word. I did a lot of research when writing the Myth Drannor quest. I hope you enjoy how the history is incorporated. Here is a challenge for you?Pel?ja (the priestess and Ilewtharyn?s consort) her last name is Hune. What kind of elf subrace is she? (This is true forgotten realms trivia.) Expect more quests in forgotten realms in the future. I love Myth Drannor as a backdrop for adventures. BTW who are your favorite NPC?s, did you try any of Ilewtharyns option NPC?s besides Riv? Did you take Blodgett or Ilhara?

I thought it odd that her name when I first saw her reminded me of the drow Hivemaster druid in Athkatla (Pai-na, I can't really remember exactly how it's spelled), now I know why, I just hadn't quite put it togeather yet. I really liked the Myth Drannor quest, I like even better that it can be solved with little combat. Even though I chose to fight the demon it's nice to see you can play the Alhoon off against the demon, or solve both quests by tricking the demon into thinking the Alhoon are dead. I only tried Riv, right now I think my party is pretty much set and, I'm already having pangs about dropping Dirbert (if Althon weren't important for the plot I think I'd have dropped him instead). Favorite is probably Aesdale.

I'll say a breif word on all the ones I've tried in the mod:

Dirbert: I like him, and he's very, very powerful (maybe on par with Althon if you can buy him time). He's a bit naive, but I don't mind that and he gets on really well with the PC. I dropped him mainly to see Rivian's romance and the other slots were full of people that were needed for the Myth Drannor quest and Aesdale. If it were just a matter of choosing NPC's I'd like in my party for a generic adventure without other plot critical NPC's (or all the interrelating ties between Vildamyr, Rihn, Althon, Blush, and Aesdale) he'd make it for sure but he fades a bit in the face of all those other ties and all those people who have history together.

Paraway: Died too early to get any sense for him.

Shadow: I like her tone and dialog a lot, and she has a very interesting history that I'd love to learn more about. From what I understand she will have more content in future releases, and she might be the one I'd want to have the most. If the PC weren't a thief I'd certainly have kept her as she looks the most appealing out of the thief NPC's. She got dropped because I wanted to make way for the tangled web of intrigue that is Althon, Blush, and Aesdale.

Rurik: Opening tank, interesting to hear what he has to say, and he has some very informative scenery dialogs where he tells the PC about the clear metal that he can make armor out of, and comments on the dwarven text. Down the road when the Dwarven stronghold quest is added I'd gladdly bring him back on board or keep him. It seems rather natural to leave him after you help Saltmarsh. His home is now safer and he's done a lot for the community that he is part of. It seems wrong to drag him away from his shop and home. He also seemed to become more silent after leaving Oakhurst.

Aesdale: Poor, poor Aesdale. Loves a woman who leaves him after admitting that she only ever pretended to love him at the command of another (whom Aesdale is forced to be around constantly). I like Aesdale a lot, he's a bit like Dirbert but much more central to the plot. It's nice to have a feeling that at least one of the NPC's in my group is on my side and Aesdale provides that.

Blush: Yeah... Can't say I liked her. The only things she ever did were pretend to love Aesdale and stare doe eyed at Althon. I've tried to figuer out what's good about her but I'm at a loss... It's pure con-artistry. I think it may have been better to not show the cut-scenes, that way it may not be as clear to the player that she is toying with Aesdale for some political game. Personally I'm glad she's gone. [Likewise, Elminster may give away too much when he talks to Aesdale and tells him not to follow his family, the foreshadowing is nice but coming from a character of Elminster's authority it becomes too obvious that his family is up to no good.]

Althon: Well written, but not a great fit for my current party. This PC wouldn't normally allow a character that is divisive and hurtful as Althon in the party, particularly one that obviously has other motives that don't even appear to line up well with mine. Althon's falsely polite relationship with Aesdale is a strain on the party I'd rather not have, and I'm kind of worried Aesdale may do something stupid like attack Althon. I thought the Blush incident would be the final straw, as Blush basically informs Aesdale of Althon's role. I'm quite intrigued by his relationship with Ilewtharyn and he gets on well with Rihn (the healing scene was interesting). All in all he's grown more complicated. I still veiw the PC-Althon relationship as somewhat frosty, (I rarely listen to his advice) and he's clearly well written evil, but he does occationally say things that make me wonder, and I do want to know about this girl.

Vildamyr: Biggest downside to him is that he's so high level when you get him. He has a lot of dialog and gets on well with the other NPC's. He has history with some of the other characters and knows a lot about the world. His backstory is interesting, I think it's a nice story of what happens when a person is 'chosen' at a young age and they end up bying into their own hype. He's trying to be different, but he's not having a huge amount of success from what I gather (he tells Aesdale he's in 2 or 3 meaningless relationships). He intereacts with the other NPC's a lot and I like that.

Rihn: She's kind of lost in the world, but was central to the Myth Drannor quest. Haven't been around her much outside of that where obviously she has a lot to say. Clearly both Althon and Vildamyr like her, so we'll see how it plays out.

Rivian: I just got her. I've used her PID topics pretty extensively though so we've chatted a lot. She's also made a few nice interjections. As get further along in Chapter 3 we'll see how things go. The ability to learn more about her via PID topic is quite nice and makes it easier for the player to 'bond' with the NPC which is important as she is likely 'competing' for a spot on the team against more established NPC's.

-Acheron

[Sir BillyBob]

Not sure why Vildamyr appeared in your party so much higher than you expected. He and Rihn both appear on the map based on the XP amount of your PC. There is a lower XP version if your PC has less than a given amount and a higher version if you have more. I base it on your XP, not level since in your case, the PC is multi-level. The game spawned the higher level version of him and that would be because your PC is probably at or going above level 8 (combining your mult-levels). He and Rihn should be at around the same level which could be slightly higher than your PC but no more than 1 level, again it is your total XP amount that calculates this.

[Acheron]

Not sure why Vildamyr appeared in your party so much higher than you expected. He and Rihn both appear on the map based on the XP amount of your PC. There is a lower XP version if your PC has less than a given amount and a higher version if you have more. I base it on your XP, not level since in your case, the PC is multi-level. The game spawned the higher level version of him and that would be because your PC is probably at or going above level 8 (combining your mult-levels). He and Rihn should be at around the same level which could be slightly higher than your PC but no more than 1 level, again it is your total XP amount that calculates this.

Vildamyr joined with something like 130000 XP. The player had a total of ~35000 XP (17000 in each class). I can't imagine where the player could get anywhere close unless they solo. Rihn joined with 80000 XP when the PC was still shy of 40000 total XP.

EDIT: Rivian had approximately the same XP as the player.

-Acheron/Starcrunch

Edited by Acheron, 07 November 2007 - 01:14 PM.

[leahnkain]

I am very pleased to hear you are enjoying the NPC?s. Myth Drannor has been fun to research and write.
Spoiler

Spoiler

Hune was a major clan of dark elves before the dark elves were banished to the underdark. That is why Pel?ja?s skin and hair aren?t drow colors. She is ancient, Ilewtharyn and her will have more quests in the future for the group.

Edited by leahnkain, 08 November 2007 - 12:35 AM.

[Acheron]

I am very pleased to hear you are enjoying the NPC?s. Myth Drannor has been fun to research and write.
Spoiler

Spoiler

Hune was a major clan of dark elves before the dark elves were banished to the underdark. That is why Pel?ja?s skin and hair aren?t drow colors. She is ancient, Ilewtharyn and her will have more quests in the future for the group.

Spoiler

How was Pel'ja spared the curse that transformed the dark elves into the drow and Ilewtharyn is who he says he is? I was half suspecting he was lying about his background and was considering attacking him (after saving of course) just to gague his power level. I also meant to cast know alingment or detect evil to learn more about him but I forgot to memorize the spells before returning to his lair.

If it's an big important secret, please, don't answer!

Current level: M/T 5/6
Current chapter: 3 - slaver temple; just exited underground area back to the surface
Current Party: PC, Aesdale, Althon, Rihn, Vildamyr, and Rivian

We entered the dragon's lair and battled the white abishai after they ambushed me. I didn't actually have too much trouble with them, and the party cut through them with a little magic and some decent sword work. The battle took a bit of time but all the characters have good AC and the abishai had a lot of trouble hitting them. We talked to the dragon and decided after a careful calculation of a few seconds not to attack it, plus it was rather polite and certainly made no hostile moves. I agreed to help the dragon with the shrinking problem. I had trouble finding my way into the next level but managed to find it eventually (it's very hard to see and isn't marked on the map). On the next level I explored and looted. I also found out what I needed to know for Ilewtharyn from the mad lich who mistook Vildamyr for his grandfather, and the formula for the slippery potion for the Alhoon. There was tough fight down here with a monster but I can't recall the type (it fired rays like a beholder), it's using some sort of forced scripting to attack because even when held by web or stunned it attacks continually with it's eye rays (this really should be changed, IMO; if the animation for stunning or being held by a web plays and the monster stops moving it should no longer attack like all the other stunned monsters, if the monster is meant to be immune to these attacks then just grant it immunity). We killed it eventually by just bum rushing it with three chracters and then once it was occupied stepping worward with casters to kill it with magic. Anyhow we went and sized down the dragon and took it into the PC's pack and headed back to the surface and released it (after taking the good treasures from the bodies).

I thought for sure the dragon would eat me after we released it (and I'm not sure about how I feel about releasing a green dragon into the world, but based on our limited interaction it seemed not to come across as particularly awful). Imagine my surprise when it politely thanked me and flew off. Will it come back later and eat a village? No one in the party seemed to suggest the PC made a mistake here so I'll have to hope for the best (I also considered trying to kill it while it was tiny, but this seems to be impossible as it enters and leaves the pack and there is no way to get rid of it into the world as a small dragon; this would be a nice option for evil characters). I took the alhoon their formula and they also rewarded me rather than eating my brain (which was pretty much what I figured they might try). I took the ioun stone. I really liked all the dialog options here, but most of them shouldn't apply sense I had already slaughtered the demon and his pet orcs. We reported back to Ilewtharyn (I meant to cast Know Alignment on him or Detect Evil, but forgot to memorize the spells). We returned to Selgaunt and I did some last minute business around the map (revisiting Saltmarsh to see the book dealer and do a bit of shopping (like that mattered in the end).

We then took the ship, fought the pirates and were drugged. The sequence where Vildamyr's holy symbol is thrown overboard was kind of funny in a perverse way. We apparently wroked the oars, but I never found out if they had to raise anyone from the dead who died while doing so. We docked outside Westgate (Westgate or at least where we were is every bit the cesspool it's always made out to be). The ogre, being as bright as most ogres, leaves us alone while the PC picks some locks and procures some weapons. Since the party had a full contingent of spellcasters (everyone but Althon is a caster) we elected to go after the barracks immediately despite our poor armament. It took 2 reloads to get the battle right (2nd try I had it basically won but Vildamyr died so I redid it). We entered and after scouting with the PC via stealth, drew every ones attention using a summoned dog from Aesdale that we had run right for the enemy leader, this nicely collected most dangerous foes togeather just outside the visual range of the party (one person came for the party but Althon taught him the error of his ways and we snagged a bit more equipment). The main fight was a salvo of web spells from outside visual range of the enemies main group (Aesdale, Rihn, and the PC; overlapping for three chances each round to hold every enemy) followed the next round by a salvo of AoE attack spells (fireball from Rivian and Holy Smite from Vildamyr; sadly none of my other mages can cast fireball or any AoE damage spells). The pirate captain wasn't held and charged the party Vildamyr hit him with a Hold Person spell that he failed to save against after one round of combat (and Althon and Rihn sliced him up as the others dealt with the held foes). Vildamyr next fired off another Holy Smite on the held party killing some of the lesser enemies (all foes but the overseer are badly wounded or near death at this point). The overseer broke free and everyone hit him with all the single attack magic they had (I tried to blind him but his saves are pretty good, so Aesdale, the PC, Rivian, and Rihn turned to launching every magic missile at their disposal at him (most had two memorized). As the minotaur switched targets each one would run from it, until finally we killed it (bow fire from Rhin helped too and Althon could land a blow now and then). We polished off the rest of the foes (having looted the captain for some decent gear with ease). The PC backstabbed and used invisibility (spell cast from memory) to fade away and do it again to kill the ogre in two swings. We collected the gear and after scouting the town and killing other slavers headed for the inn to rest (I ID'ed a building that was gaurded by slavers so that was to be the next target).

We saw Rilithar in the inn but he has nothing to say to anyone, this is a bug I think. We rested (first time I had Vildamyr memorize many healing spells so I could use them before the second rest; then traded them out for attack magic as there is more killing to come). Strangly when assaulting the building in the north of the Westgate area I made a buffing decision that would make this nigh impoosible fight much easier; Vildamyr cast protection from evil 10ft radius on the party... We entered and the party was attacked by a high level mage. Surprisingly Rivian's Remove Magic spell took out his mirror image (but not his stone skin). The rest of the enemies in here were tough but nothing compared to that mage. His second round though he made an enormous tactical mistake; he gated in a Nabassu. If he'd cast protection from evil first and dispelled out own it might have been boring (well not really as enemies can never figure out not to attack what they gate in even if they are protected from evil). The Nabassu ignored me and went after his master. The party killed the other enemies (Vildamyr laid down some Holy Smites to help a lot, before having Althon charge in. The PC stole the Nabassu's kill of the mage (ice bolt I think was the spell I used) and we quitely crept into the corner to wait for the Nabassu to go home. After it did so we looted the room and bodies. Went to the store and agreed to free the owners slave (which I did after resting until it was dark). Sold off useless gear to get cash and bought a wand of frost for the coming campaign (those are among the best wands as they do good damage and are easy to use without hitting the party downside is they can destroy equipment unless gore is turned off in the options menu).

Next it was off to the abandon temple. A lot of orcs in this area, most were easy, but care had to be taken with orc mages and priests. We entered the courtyard and saughtered everything that moved with relative ease (no spell casters and just standard crappy orc gear made this battle pretty easy). Enter the temple, had a relatively tough battle with the shar preistess. Some summoned monsters from Aesdale broke up the archers who chose to try to move rather than melee the monsters and that bought me time. Aesdale meleed early and the PC and Rihn pelted the priestess with arrow (boy would Dirbert have helped in this battle). After all were dead we searched the place and went down stairs. No trouble on this level; the PC did a lot of hide in shadows, backstab, and run around the corner to hide again work; mostly he worked unsupported, and while it was slow relative to just fighting it out with the party I needed to conserve healing spells and this pretty much eliminated the danger. After looting we went down to the next level; tougher fights on this level for sure. We freed slaves as we went (here and on previous levels) and worked our way to the leader. The PC backstabbed him (tripple damage on a lucky critical hit hurt him really, really bad) but then his help arrived and the PC was forced to cast invisibility to escape; additionally he was trapped in the room. The party hit the barracks and killed the foot soldiers by drawing them into the hallway that enters. Althon took some damage, but Vildamyr patched him up at the expense of ignoring his own wounds which made him have to sit back for the rest of the battle (after which healing potions were found to bring the party back into pretty good health). Aesdale brought 3 new pets in and sent them after the mages who used their big attack spells to kill them (they really didn't have a choice, even with stone skins they had no fighters to defend them and the monster would tear through their stone skins and kill them). Two mages were drawn out by Althon and slaughtered. The PC emerged from invisiblity and one hit killed the last one using a backstab (she didn't have stoneskin up) then he entered melee with the badly wounded leader. The party rushed into the room and quickly overpowered the fool (who recognized Althon...). After collecting the info from various documents, we rested at the water hole and then freed the slave who watched over the party.

We next went after the shar preistess but Vildamyr talked us out of this fight; I think the priestess gave in too easily... she really should've put up a more gradual changing of her mind. Also Vildamyr's relationship with this famous priest of Shar needs to be clarified (incedentally does Shar have male clergy?). He seemed to hold an awful lot of sway over the priest. The orcs left but the one man attacked so I killed him. The priestess left. We then entered the undead zone, Vildamyr held most of the undead off with turning while we used arrows to pelt them until dead. Then we ran into the Bone Golem (good thing I saved; this one took a retry). Central to the strategy was a distraction provided by Aesdales summons (two batches of Monster Summoning I and a spider from the 4th level spider summoning spell; the only 4th level combat spell he knows). Meanwhile Melf's meteors from the PC and Rivian aided a lot (bone golems are immune to the fire damage but not the weapon damage). Althon meleed until injured and retreated to get healing, with pursuit blocked by the PC who now had his sword out, after the PC was hit he retreated and Althon returned. Althon deliverd the killg blow earning us 18000 XP for the party. We then used the second exit.

-Acheron/Starcrunch

[Sir BillyBob]

incidentally does Shar have male clergy?

Next time, try the Silver Princess quest (Chaarna's quest), you can have a male Shar priest join your party.

Interesting about Rilithar, I thought I had fixed his dialog at the Westgate inn. I'll have to check it again.

The grell (tenacled creature in Myth Drannor) has some similarities to beholders. I don't think you can get web to work on them either. Haven't tried in ages so I am not positive.

[leahnkain]

Spoiler about Pel'ja

Spoiler

Pel?ja died during the crown wars before the dark elves were corrupt. According to the timeline her family was major supporters of Ilewtharyns family. Her family was all killed during this time. She was restored to life by Ilewtharyn. (A few thousand years after the decent of the drow, so she was able to avoid the curse.) She still follows elven gods, she is not evil. In fact after centuries of imprisonment, both Ilewtharyn and Pel?ja have become rather neutral in their views. More modules with them are planned. It was wish you didn?t attack Ilewtharyn. I assure you your group would be slaughtered.

Timeline-9000 The Crown Wars: The Crown Wars of the Elves are fought during this period, pitting nearly four generations of elf against elf. The two greatest events of the Crown Wars that still have impact on the Realms are the Dark Disaster and the Descent of the Drow. The Dark Disaster utterly destroyed the forest realm of Miyeritar, leaving the blasted plains that are now the High Moors. Perhaps due to the savagery of the Crown Wars or other factors long lost to time, the Dark Elves became corrupt during this era, broke away from their brethren, and after much warfare and cruelty they descended beneath the planet's surface to become the Deep Elves, the drow.

[Acheron]

@Sir BillyBob: In vanilla BG2 Beholders can be held by web (how stupid is that). The only mod that I positively know changes this is SCSII, but I don't often use tactical mods and I have no idea if it was changed in BP or BGT.

@leahnkain: Thank you for the info. That explains much.

-Account; didn't have much time to play so it's a short one.

Current level: M/T 5/6
Current chapter: 3 - back in Westgate after Slaver Temple
Current Party: PC, Aesdale, Althon, Rihn, Vildamyr, and Rivian

Rivian was invisible (she used invisibility because she was injured badly in the fight with the bone golem) so she scouted the surface (outside the 2nd entrance to the Slaver Temple) and I marked down where enemies were located on the map and then we killed them (an old BG1 habit; scout the area mark down every thing then attack or prepare proper spells, ect.). We entered the Ankheg tunnles and killed many Ankhegs (does anyone make armor from them in the Westgate area?). Surface map has three entrances while the underground one only has two (not that BG2 doesn't do this at times as well; Temple distric sewers are the worst). When we walked off the west edge of the map I saw the option to head to the slaver fortress (BTW the slaver fortress appeaed on my map when I left westgate to go to the slaver temple; it probably shouldn't appear until after getting the docs at the Temple). I elected to see if leaving from other directions would cause other map areas to show up. When I used the south exit from this map I noticed a new wilderness area appeared near the slaver fortress area (it's possible it was already there but I didn't see it). After this I returned to Westgate. The store owner doesn't seem to be working his job at any hour now, it seems he didn't return after my nighttime "raid" to free his slave. Rested at the inn and sold off my jewlery to the inn keep, next I'm off to the wilderness looking area near the Slaver Forterss to see what's there. That's it for today.

-Acheron/Starcrunch

[Sir BillyBob]

Note - no armorer in Westgate, only Rurik can make the armor and you won't see him for awhile longer (and if in party, he doesn't have his tools). You'll probably find better armor later.

Thanks for pointing out the map issue. I thought I had that fixed in 0.42, it can't be corrected now until .45 (next Worldmap update).