1504 replies to this topic

[Jarno Mikkola]

Is there a way to know for sure which mod this area comes from?

Well, yes, the area link is added in the .tp2 or tpp... or other files, as is the copying of the .are files etc. The best place to start hunting that info like this is to push the x -key while you play the area, you get the area info that way, and have something to start hunt with.

Edited by Jarno Mikkola, 22 August 2012 - 12:40 AM.

[Usurper]

23 Hammer, 1370

Even though Firebead is dead, my spirits cannot be crushed. I know now that the Weave was trying to send me a message through him - that even though he may know higher-level magic than I, and even though he may have seen more than I, it is not he that the Weave favors. It is myself. I am the chosen child, I am the Golden Goddess. I am the Avatar of the Weave. None shall stand against me!



And for now, it is the will of the Weave that Firebead be resurrected. He fought well, and ably, and he helped me when I needed it. His service will not be forgotten.

As we leave this hall, I see a skeleton. I rush to kill it, and a trap springs! I am fried by a lightning bolt.



But it is just another sign that the Weave is with me, for I am not dead. We kill the skeleton, Yeslick heals me up, and we continue on our way. Our well-traveled way.



When we get to the temple, we end up having to sell one Black Opal to afford resurrecting Firebead Elvenhair.



And after resurrecting him, I teleport to the Refuge and decide to leave him there, by the table. He will be safe, and I'm sure he'll have enough reading materials. This place is practically like Candlekeep, he'll be fine!



Please wait here. I have no room for you right now.

He has no objections. Our next stop is, of course, the Jovial Juggler. I haven't talked to Finch in a while, but I'm sure she is going to be happy to adventure with us again... right? I look at Imoen. She shrugs.

I want to see how the commoners are faring these days, so I talk to a few on my way to the Jovial Juggler.





Hehe! Little does he know...

Gameplay note: A friendly modder at the Spellhold Studios Forums has told me how to change Finch's dialogs to remove a timer check. This causes Finch to immediately ask me if she can join the party when I see her again. Unfortunately it is EVERY time I see her, and since she's in the Jovial Juggler that means I might become annoyed with her constant neediness. I might just tell her to go to the Friendly Arm Inn instead of staying at the Jovial Juggler if she dies again, to avoid that annoyance. But at least she'll show her dialog now!



Certainly! It was just not the same without the constant scratching of a quill in the air!

Oh! It is so nice to have one's strengths appreciated. (blush)

I can't hold back, so I show her the rare book we found. The Tailor of something. She practically explodes.



Let us give this to the people of Nashkel to enjoy, Syvishtara. A true luxury for their library!

Gameplay note: This brings the grand total of Finch's books to 3: She has Transcribed Volumes, Primer of Faerun, and The Tailor of Calimshan. We need 3 more to complete her quest to open up a library in Nashkel.

We stop by the Refuge to outfit Finch. It has been a truly long time since she was in the party, but I remember that she likes slings and flails. I give her two good flails, Flaming Death and the blinding Flail +2. They don't seem to match her personality, but what can you do? Yeslick also turns over the Sling +2 that he was carrying, substituting it for a Sling +1. He doesn't begrudge it, he says gnomes get slings better anyways. Because of her low strength score, she can't lift any of the platemails we have available, so she settles for a Leather Armor +3. She also takes up a Medium Shield +2 that we found somewhere. She can use the Helm of Mind Warding, and places it upon her head. She's going to be using that True Sight ability all the time, I can tell. And strangely enough, she is able to use the Wand of Domination that casts Dire Charm. The only other person I've seen able to use it was Faldorn. After getting outfitted like that, we take a look at her. She seems ready to go!



Then we tell her about the lost school of Ulcaster. Her eyes light up. She is definitely interested. A short trip later and we are back!



This time we decide to check out the rooms along the west wall. I send Kagain in, and we are all shocked when he triggers a trap! Him most of all.



The lightning bolt bounces around inside the room for a bit, but Kagain is out of there, so he is safe. After it goes away he wanders back in. He says there's a locked cabinet in there that he can't get to. Imoen goes in to help him, and screams.



She says he didn't mention the dead bodies and all the flies. Kagain just shrugs. He opens the cabinet and finds a scroll of Dispel Magic, which he passes on to me with a disappointed grunt. I put it in with the rest and we move on.

The next room is just dead bodies; no loot.



The same goes for the third room. We now have nowhere else to go but up the hallway that Anton Valor was guarding.



We advance cautiously, worried about traps. And by that I mean Kagain goes ahead alone.



I think making him go first to search for traps puts him in a bad mood, because Kagain doesn't even tell us when he runs into a ghoul. He just strikes it down in one blow.



We see the other ghouls running down the hallway to ambush him, though, and rush to help.



The ghouls drop fast.



I think back to the time in the Valley of the Tombs when we struggled to kill ghouls. How times have changed.

Imoen kills the last ghoul, and we are done.



We go back to the Kagain-first method of trap detection. He finds some scrolls in the next room. There are 1 of Cloudkill, 2 of Lightning Bolt, and 2 of Neutralize Poison. Neither Edwin nor Imoen know Cloudkill, so I hold on to that. It seems the perfect thing for Firebead to transcribe for us. The Neutralize Poisons aren't workable for me - I can't figure them out. I hand them over to Finch and she seems to understand them perfectly. Must be a divine thing. I have an inkling of a feeling that I should be miffed by that. Why is there magic that I cannot use? It irks me.

Kagain explores some more. He finds more of these weird, empty, bench-lined rooms.



But at the end of the hall, he finds something more chilling. A Helmed Horror!



We are all tense, but it turns out there was no need to be. The Helmed Horror simply cannot touch Kagain, and never tries for any of us. When it falls, Finch lets out a long "oooooooohhhhhh!"









Gameplay note: 8 hit points, great! And please note the new pip in Sword and Shield style. Girl is getting better at everything, seems like.

We keep on going down the hallway, but other than empty rooms we don't find anything else except more hallway.



Hey, never let it be said that the Avatar of the Weave left a hallway unexplored! We stride down it grandly. At the end of the hallway, we find more ghostly figures. The ghost of another mage named Garrett and three ghost knights.



I shout out a quick command, and cast Ice Storm. They seem to be immune to its effects! But they are not immune to Imoen's Arrows of Detonation, and so we get a few good hits in.

We do our old fire-n-fade tactic, and by the time we get back to the end of the hallway our enemies are pretty soft.



Kagain manages to take out the first one, and we all focus on the second.



I throw out another Blade Shower, doing some damage.



The last ghost knight turns on Finch, then myself, then Imoen. I am out of any other options, so I shoot my Staff of Fire at it. It is damaged slightly by it, so I keep doing it until Kagain and I take it out.



It was wearing a Helm of Charm Protection, a Medium Shield +1, and a Full Plate Mail. All good enough to keep around.

Edwin can't stop talking about some minutiae of magic that he realized by watching the fight.







Gameplay note: The guy can cast 3 level three spells now, but we still don't have any Fireball scroll for him to memorize. He's going to have to stick with Lightning Bolt, Slow, and Haste.



When we advance up the hallway again, we see the final ghost knight. We all mob it, and it drops pretty fast.



It is just wielding a battle axe, just like the second one. Nothing special there.

We rush into the main room and find... nothing. Where did Garrett go?



Finch uses her Helm of Mind Warding to look around with True Sight, but we don't see anything.



So we tell Kagain to explore the right-hand path. It turns out to be a dead end.



When Kagain comes back and goes to the next hallway straight ahead, he sees the fleeing form of Garrett. Aha!



We all rush him as fast as possible, and he casts Stoneskin.



I use Rhialto's Holy Book to cast Dispel Magic. It is exquisite timing, as a bubble of Invulnerability flashes on and off in an instant around Garrett.



Edwin manages to squeeze out an Acid Arrow. It hits! Meanwhile, Garrett casts Ghost Armor.



Then I pull out the spell I've been waiting to cast for days now. I do everything right, and cast Corporeal Instability at Garrett.



YES! What was a ghost of formidable spellcasting ability is now just a puddle of goop!

[Usurper]

Of course he is only vulnerable to magical damage... Edwin hits him with some magic missiles.



I want to let Imoen take the kill, so I let her cast Burning Hands on him. It doesn't have any effect, though.



He must still have some magical resistance. I mutter a curse under my breath for all magical resistance, and then activate my Ring of Force. Garrett dies like a chump.



I loot his still-amorphous form. Much like his predecessor Anton, he's got 5 scrolls of Lightning Bolt and 5 of Magic Missile. He also has a second Elemental Staff of Fire, a twin to mine own. I decide to keep it. I don't want to give it to Edwin, and Imoen probably prefers her poison staff.

We proceed down the hallway. We find a room full of dead bodies, with a few risen skeletons as well. They are less than a threat.



Yeslick sees more skeletons further down the hallway.



We kill them all as well.



These rooms full of dead bodies are absolutely disgusting. Why are they even here?



I am almost ready to turn away when a glitter of gold catches my eye. Gingerly I wade in amongst the bodies to find a treasure!



1500 gold! Gems! An Excellent Warhammer, which I give to Yeslick. Potions of Frost Giant Strength, Stone Form, and Fortitude! And best of all another Wand of Fire! These ghosts are not good at looting the corpses of their victims.

This is the end of the hallway, so we return to the main room and choose the last hallway.



We send Kagain in first, as usual. This time he actually finds a trap!



He also finds a ghast, but doesn't call for help until its friend shambles up beside it.



When we rush up to help we see a third has come behind him. This was supposed to be some kind of ghast ambush I think.



We kill the one blocking our way, but more of them are streaming out side passages.



I recall the melee fighters and cast Random Spell II down the hallway.



Not my best work. I tell everyone to get behind me and try again.



Not really appropriate either. I suppose the Weave is telling me that we can take these ghasts no problem. And it must be true, because in a few seconds we are standing in front of a pile of ghast corpses.



Kagain goes back to exploring. He rushes into the next room to the left, and springs 3 traps! But he is too fast to be hit by them all. He gets minor damage.



He also destroys the Burning Dead in the room, and calls out the All Clear.



Imoen comes in and takes a look around. There's some kind of altar here with a compartment, but that compartment is locked. She casts Knock and then lets Kagain open it.



Kagain is getting tired of being the trap-finder. He does find some good loot in there though.



There is a Protection from Acid scroll, a magical ring, and a magical book. We will have to look at them later, when Finch's glasses are recharged.

Then we send Kagain down more hallways to find more traps. He does find another one.



It bounces back and hits him, then bounces again and again and ends up hitting him 4 more times! He turns back to run to the healers to try to not die.

Back at the group, Finch and Yeslick are deep in conversation.



Cough it out, girl. At my age, I haven't time to waste on stammer and dust-kicking.

I have been considering our battles and the foes we face. Does it ever give you pause, being so small, wielding your hammer against some of the giant creatures? I confess, I feel like a speck looking up at a gnoll or an Ogrillion.

There's a dwarven saying: small frames falter after small courage. Ye've the skill to swing that flail home and more learning of strategy than any gnoll. Why do ye let yer spine tremble at the thought of a battle cry?

I simply do not believe I have the gift of fierceness with which Clangeddin blesses you.

Oh, don't ye? Not a bit of the righteous fight? In that case, I'll be taking yer bag of useless books and throwing them on the next campfire. Ne'er saw such a waste of effort. It'll do me good to see 'em burn.

Burn them?! My books?! Why, I gave you my trust! How dare you! How dare you threaten my book! Give them back to me. or... or!

Or ye'll what?

I'LL TAKE THEM BACK!

Heh. Whew. Scream like a banshee ye have. My beard's on end from the brunt of it. Take back yer bag and learn yer lesson as I tell it.

You... you were testing me?

Ne'er doubt ye've been blessed fierce in battle, child. Ye've just need to remark what yer fighting for.

Next time ye face a tall beastie, remember: 'tis yer books at stake. If ye fall at their hand, yer pretty pages will be plundered as wiping paper the next time the ogre relieves itself.

Then Kagain gets back, and Yeslick busies himself with healing his fellow dwarf. Afterwards, Kagain decides to check out another hallway. He finds some kind of mausoleum, and more undead.



There's a trap that resets itself and fires again when the next person steps through - Yeslick. So we all stop and see if the two dwarves can take out the bad guys. They do.



The sarcophagus inside is locked somehow, and neither dwarf can open it. So Kagain quaffs a Potion of Cloud Giant Strength and rips off the cover.



But the thing is trapped, and a Lightning Bolt hits him several times as he opens it.



Imoen really needs to get her trap-sensing powers back ASAP. They get the potions and magic scroll from the sarcophagus and we move on.

Kagain explores some more, and almost dies to another lightning bolt trap with a Burning Dead supporting it. But he manages to survive the one and take out the other.



Too bad the hallway leads to nowhere. Kagain comes back once more, obviously irritated at always being point-dwarf. We are also worried that he might not make it, so we pump him up with potions and healing.



Then we send him down the final hallway.

Why me?

He still gets hit with another Lightning Bolt trap.



And when he goes into the room with all the undead, he still triggers a Web trap.



But at least none of them can see him since he's invisible!

He manages to make it out of the Web and into the final room, where he sees Arch Mage Natas standing there with her undead minions around her. It is an intimidating sight. He also triggers yet another trap, this one a Fireball trap!



We are going to have to rest before we take on this final fight. I activate the Rod of Refuge and pull us all to the Refuge.



Then I realize that I pulled Kagain out from right in front of Arch Mage Natal, and when he goes back he'll be right there still. We must make sure he is invisible when he goes back.

We rest and regain our spells. We also identify our items. We have another Protection from Magic scroll. We have a Wand of Fire, of course. And we have a Tome of Understanding.



Gameplay note: I remember what an outcry went up the last time I misused a Tome. So rest your little powergamer hearts, I'll put this tome up to a vote at the end of the update.

Finch and Yeslick cast Aid on everyone in the group.



Then I cast Improved Invisibility on Kagain.



And finally, I give him the Scroll of Protection from Magic, the Potion of Magic Blocking, and the Potion of Magic Protection from the mule. He is going to be juuuust fine.

When we get back to the real world, Kagain waits for us without moving.



We experience a few hiccups getting over there.



I realize that I was not hit when I went down the hallway, while Finch was. The difference between us is the speed at which we are going. I tell this to Edwin and he casts Haste on the remaining members of the group.

[Usurper]

They all manage to navigate the hallway without incident.



When we get there, Edwin strikes up a conversation.



You like my outfit? Really? It's funny, nobody else seems to...

Nonsense, child, mindless blabber, brought on by envy and nothing more. You may trust my judgment and flawless taste. Most assuredly, pink is not quite as impressive as red, but it is a very good place to start.

I don't know, Edwin, I don't really like red all that much...

Dearest Imoen, allow for some more time. (Indeed, red on one so young and not of noble Thayvian descent would hardly be befitting now.) Red is the color of colors, the summit of style and the pinnacle of elegance. Of course, being of such tender years, you might not see it yet, but despair not! I have high hopes for you.

Er... Sure, Edwin. Whatever you say.

Then, I begin the offensive. With the Wand of Fire.



And again.



I throw a third Fireball into the room just to be sure. The only things in there are immune Skeleton Warriors.



Kagain makes his way to us then. On the way he triggers a Web trap. Just in time, he reads the Scroll of Magic Protection and avoids the effects.



But it also cancels his invisibility, so he attracts the attention of two skeleton warriors.



I try to cast Blade Shower, a proven effective technique against magic-resistant enemies. But instead of blade, my hand fills with fire.



Oh holy shitballs.



Kagain is the only one not affected. At least it hurt our enemies as well as us. Yeslick is able to take out the first skeleton warrior pretty easily.



The second skeleton warrior is actually caught in the Web trap! We beat it to a pulp.



Then Yeslick tells us to let him go ahead. He says he will cast Silence upon Natas, and our problems will be over. He steps out in front and tries to do so, but a Fireball trap goes off and he loses his spell!



I try to cast my own spell of shutup at Natas...



AND IT WORKS! Again! Woohoo!



I follow it up with a Fireball from the Wand of Fire, but it doesn't work out so great.



Gameplay note: I must have crashed about 20 times at this point. There's something wrong with these death knights/greater ghouls/red skeleton warriors down here, because I kept getting assertion errors again and again, every fight, until I CTRL-Yed them. Sorry again for an imperfect play, but I had to get rid of these guys.

After taking care of the remaining undead, we assault Natas' goop pile. But nothing seems to be able to hurt it.



Imoen tries to burn her, but only gets Finch.



However, Edwin IS able to get some damage in via Magic Missile.



He is only able to get one off before Natas reconstitutes himself and casts Stoneskin.



So he uses something else.



With that, Kagain is able to take her out.



Since Kagain still has the Scroll of Magic Protection around him, Imoen lets him open the cabinet in this mausoleum after she casts Knock. Again.



It is a Fireball trap, but Kagain doesn't care. We find some pretty hefty treasures, including a Rogue Stone. We also get a Cloak of Protection +2, a Manual of Gainful Exercise, and Ulcaster's Amulet.







I put on Ulcaster's Amulet immediately. Yes! Now I can be just like all these mages I fight!



The Cloak of Protection +2 goes on Yeslick, giving him -10 AC. The Manual I save. Also, as we check the undead bodies on the way out, one of them is carrying a scroll - it is Incendiary Cloud. I'll have to give this to Firebead as well for transcribing.

On the way out we realize that we missed a hallway. We send Kagain down it, of course.



There's a Burning Dead at the corner. Kagain don't care.



He runs over a Magic Missile trap. Kagain don't care.



And he finds one more grave, one that he can't open.



Imoen is forced to go to him. She triggers the Lightning trap and gets half fried.



But otherwise she makes it ok.



Kagain finds two amulets and a ring.



Then we decide that we should make our way out of here, because we've come to the end of the line.



It is painful getting out of here, but not fatally so.





Heh.

As we leave the area, Yeslick says that he's learned more about fighting than he ever thought possible.







Gameplay note: That's 7 new hit points. Not too shabby.

We make our way out, and out, and back to the maze of twisty passages.



I think it is time for a rest, so I take us to the Refuge.

The next morning, I cast Stoneskin for the first time.



I get the feeling that I'm going to be doing this a lot. Then I turn to the pile of loot that I need to identify. I start with the easy stuff - some Arrows of Fire and some generic Two-Handed Swords +3. The arrows go to Imoen and the swords go in the armory. Then I take a closer look at a flaming sword that I picked up from one of the undead. Turns out it is Fire Biter.



We really need to get someone who uses Long Swords out front more often. Next up is the Kagain picked up near the very end. My jaw drops open. It is Evermemory.

[Usurper]

I have just doubled my effectiveness in battle.









I am now officially better than Edwin. Hell, I'm now better than Keiria Silverstring! Wow. This is going to be huge!

I suddenly wonder if the other jewelry is just as powerful. I identify the next amulet.



Not nearly as powerful, but useful nonetheless. I give it to Finch. She can probably use it more than Yeslick. Then I check out the last amulet.



Uh... wow. That's pretty good. Which one of us likes wyverns the best? Actually, after I look everyone over, everyone is already wearing a necklace or amulet of some sort. Imoen cautiously raises her hand and says she'll give it a try. The wyvern goes to her then!

Then I turn to other business - namely, those scrolls. Too late, I realize that both Cloudkill and Incendiary Cloud are Evocation spells, and thus Firebead will have nothing to do with them. And since I already have Cloudkill in my own spellbook, I give it to Edwin. Imoen doesn't want it.



Incendiary Cloud, however, I keep for myself.



Gameplay note: These spells are remarkably similar. For Cloudkill, it immediately kills anything that's too weak and then deals 1d10 poison damage per round to higher-level stuff. Incendiary Cloud does 4d6 damage, or the same damage as Fireball cast by a level 8 mage, every round for 1 turn, which is 10 rounds. So it is the same as 10 Fireballs.

I prepare my new spells, and rest, and relax. The next morning when we wake, I say that we have one thing left to do. We still have to finish exploring the first part of the Ulcaster school.

So we do. We explore another twisty passage, but it reveals nothing.



We go east in this endless maze, and find a dead body. It doesn't look good.



And right next to the dead body, we get a Fireball trap!



It only really hurts Edwin. The body has a Cloak of Displacement on it.



Kagain takes that. He can definitely use the extra AC. There are arrows of biting and arrows of piercing on the body as well.

Kagain gets the cloak and then whips around the corner, activating it as he goes. Around the corner both undead and wolfweres.



I order us back around the corner and we take them as they come after us.



I throw Minute Meteors, Edwin starts dealing out Magic Missiles, and Imoen turns one of the Shadows into an orb of air.



I take out the other shadow and move on to the skeleton warrior.



Finch is the one to drop the Skeleton Warrior.



The wolfwere manages to get inside our lines and lands a mighty blow on the gnome.



But Finch manages to both heal herself and kill the beast!



After that, the final Shadow drops quickly.



We go around the corner, and I see another small passage leading off. It feels like there isn't much left to this dungeon, and if there was a big bad wolf or something in here, it would be nearby. So Edwin and I buff ourselves.



Yeslick and Finch give everyone Aid. Then Yeslick gives us a Chant too. I shield myself with Minor Globe of Invulnerability.



And finally, Yeslick Draws Upon Divine Might.



If anything is in there its going to regret this day. Rue it even. I step up to cast a spell on the area. Then a giant Wolf of Ulcaster attacks me!



I hit it with a fire dart from my staff. It howls loud enough to wake the dead, and does.



It howls again, and all of our magic enchantments just disappear.



We need to kill this thing fast. I reach for an unprepared spell - Rhialto's Random Missiles.



But what comes out is a Lightning Bolt.



Thankfully it doesn't hit anyone else. It seems to singe the wolf pretty bad. Edwin steps forward and does an extremely sensible thing - he casts Slow on all of the wolves.



I also use Rhialto's book to cast another set of random missiles. But before they go off, the Wolf of Ulcaster hits us with a horrible howl.



Thankfully, then my missiles come to me, and go to the wolf, and it is struck down.



The rest of the ghouls drop, and the dread wolves seem to be under control as well. But where are they coming from?



Oh well, it doesn't matter. The last one is dead.



Imoen says she could feel how the Wolf of Ulcaster was doing his magic - kinda. She says she understands things better at least.







Gameplay note: She's now halfway to getting her Rogue abilities back! That extra xp is probably going to fly by the way things are going. We'll have our old Imoen back in a jiffy!

Since Edwin is the one with his Mirror Images still intact, I make him go look around the corner.



Oh shit. Another mage? And of course he has a spell trigger, just like everyone else.



Screw this, I'm going to sleep.



After a good night's rest, I am much more prepared to take on that stupid mage that won't move around.



Let's do this.

I walk in and begin to cast Remove Magic. But the damn mage casts a Fireball that goes through my spell protections! Oh, wait, that's Sunfire.



The bastard! Then, as I'm lining up a Blade Shower salvo on this guy, he casts Shadow Door and disappears!



So I disappear too, by walking away, until Finch can cast True Sight.



Then I hear him casting Fire Shield Blue, so I cast Fire Shield Red. I go back in, and he tries to cast Lightning Bolt at me. Ha!



Then he tries to cast Fireball at me. Pitiful.



The only problem is I can't quite get a lock on where he is. I can't really cast a spell at him.



When he casts Invisible Stalker at me, I use the Holy Book to cast Dispel Magic behind him.



I lose my Minor Globe of Invulnerability, but the Greater Skeleton Mage loses everything. I fire a thick shaft of flame at him with the Wand of Fire.



Then I follow it up with all of the Minute Meteors in my hand.



And after that, another Fireball from the Wand of Fire. The Greater Skeleton Mage activates a contingency - Call of the Vampire. It looks like a Shadow Door and two vampiric wolves were summoned too.



I get Yeslick to come in to heal me.

[Usurper]

And I get Finch to come reveal this guy.



But he hits me with Acid Arrow!



I move up closer so that my Fire Shield can retaliate every time I get hit with acid damage. And I use my Wand of Fire to hit the bastard one more time. He explodes in a column of red light.



But there is still the Invisible Stalker and the Vampiric Wolves to deal with. They frighten me, to be honest.



Yeslick tries to heal me but he can't move. He is Diseased, and it drops his strength so that he can't walk around in his armor. He has to drop his armor and shield before he can move to heal me.



Finch kills the vampiric wolf that had frozen Edwin. Good thing too, or he would have died.



Things are crazy. Imoen and I are afraid, running around like crazy people. Yeslick is trying to melee with his armor off. Finch and Kagain are being beaten up by an Invisible Stalker. The place is a madhouse.



Edwin and his magic missiles is the one to finally destroy the Invisible Stalker and bring sanity back to this madness.



I look around and realize that half my continent is diseased - all of the little people. I can't go on like this. We have to rest. Again.



After sleeping, Yeslick cures everyone's diseases.



Then we go back to the real world, and he is able to lift his armor again!



Finch says she will never look at wolves the same way again.







Gameplay note: She gets level 3 spells now!



A decent selection. Not as much as Yeslick, but enough. She's got the basics.

We go back to look at the pile of corpses behind the Greater Undead Mage. We find the Mail of the Dead +2 and a lot of potions.



There is also a book called Sisters of Light and Darkness, something that Finch has not seen before. She adds it to her library collection. Then a dirty, under-handed, low-down trick is played on us. I move away from the dead corpses and we are hit with a Fireball trap!



There is a Greater Wolfwere that has been standing in the doorway this whole time, never moving even if it got injured. It must have been put there by magical means. We will have to remove it.



It looks like it isn't damaged by regular attacks, only by magic attacks. We slowly wear it down.



And finally, after magic missiles and blade showers and acid arrows, the beast that is a door falls.



Beyond, there are only two shadows, which are pretty easy to kill.



Did something happen here that I missed? We look around for a few minutes but can't find any secret doors or missed passages. It looks like the Greater Wolfwere door was just a distraction, or a misunderstanding. We make our way out. On the way we find a few smaller undead.



Nothing big though. Then it is time to go, the Ulcaster Ruins behind us.



Outside we find a giant snake waiting for us.



Kagain kills it.



And then we're off! The Ulcaster Ruins are defeated! Time for, oh... where can we find a vampire sword?



The Lonely Peaks? Why not!

Gameplay note: Ok guys, that was a huge update. We have some voting to do. We have two permanent stat-boosting consumables. The first is the Tome of Understanding, which gives +1 Wisdom permanently to one character. The second is the Manual of Gainful Exercise, which gives +1 Strength permanently to any one character. What we have to vote on is who to give those to. Who needs more STR, and who more WIS? It can be any character that we now have, including Syvishtara, or you can even vote to keep it for now and use it later on a character that we haven't met yet. So let me know your choices.

1. Who should we give the TOME OF UNDERSTANDING (+1 WIS) to?
2. Who should we give the MANUAL OF GAINFUL EXERCISE (+1 STR) to?

Let me know your choices soon!

[Beleg33]

Holy cupcakes of doom, Finch never ceases to amaze me... All her script blocks with PartyHasItem("%questbook%") miss a InParty(Myself) so she'll keep spamming you to trigger the dialog about the book. But since she's out of party she doesn't have the correct dialog file assigned, thus she spams the joining dialog as long as you have the book in your possession.

Hotfix provided here. To apply it, open SUFINCH.BCS in NI, overwrite everything starting from (including it)

IF
AreaCheck("AR6757")
!Dead("Karlat")
Allegiance(Myself,NEUTRAL)
Allegiance("Karlat",ENEMY)
Global("SUFinchKarl", "GLOBAL", 0)
THEN
RESPONSE #100
EquipMostDamagingMelee()
SetGlobal("SUFinchKarl", "GLOBAL", 1)
Attack("Karlat")
END

with the content of provided SUFINCH.BAF, compile and save.


EDIT: Looks like that Greater Wolfwere got his script erased somehow. He's supposed to use WTASIGHT, which is legit vanilla attack script. Vault stuff, along with other wolfweres in there, he's supposed to be really tough when he attacks...
I love the Ulcaster ghost, from SCS IIRC. That skeleton mage I've never seen before though.

Edited by Beleg33, 24 August 2012 - 09:51 AM.

[AmyAE]

1. Syvishtara gets this Tome of Understanding, and any other Tome of Understanding she may find in her travels (I think with mods there's like four or five, plus at least one more in BG2). Maybe when her wisdom is up to non-minmaxed levels, she will gain some insight on the Weave.

2. Syvishtara again for the Manual of Gainful Exercise. With NPCs coming in and out of our party at all hours, she's the only one who will consistently benefit from using tomes, so this is my answer for any tome we find. I just had more of an in-character justification when it came to raising her wisdom.

[Lurker of the north]

1. Syvishtara
2. Syvishtara

[Beleg33]

Right, I erased my previous votes with editing hotfix details.

1. Syvishtara
2. Syvishtara

Really no point using tomes on NPCs.

[Yovaneth]

As Beleg

-Y-

[hook71]

I'll be a bit boring as well:

1. Syvishtara
2. Syvishtara

[Tempest]

1. +1 Wis to Viconia
2. +1 Str to Syv.

[Usurper]

Ok, I think there is a pretty strong mandate in the votes:

1 +1 WIS tome goes to:

Branwen .
Finch ...
Imoen .
Save for Later ..
Syvishtara .......................
Viconia ..
Yeslick ..
Viconia ........

2 +1 STR tome goes to:

Finch .
Kagain .
Minsc ......
Shar-Teel .
Syvishtara .............................
Viconia .
Yeslick ...

Unless there is a rash of vote-changing or an influx of last-minute Shar-Teel supporters (I know you're out there), I will probably give the tomes to Syvishtara. Voting is STILL OPEN though, because I can't play another update quite yet.

I hope it doesn't take me 5 years to finish this game, holy shit that'll be a long time.

[Usurper]

It has almost been an entire year of me making this Let's Play. On the main thread, one poster brought up an idea:

Maybe as an anniversary gift, you can have people do some of the more tedious work to help you out? Of course, this could just slow down the process instead of speed it up, but it's just a thought.

I've been thinking about how this could work, and I'd like to share the idea with this thread as well. What would be doable by a third party would be making the images of items and spell scrolls before I need them. What I end up doing is taking two or three screenshots of a new item or a spell scroll to capture all the text. Then I crop those screenshots with a cropping script, which is extremely simple. But I still have to manually open those screenshots in GIMP and copy/paste them on top of each other to create the amalgamated image. It is tedious work since I haven't been able to fully automate the process. But it is also work that can be done at any time by anyone.

If a kind soul were persistent enough to do it manually or savvy enough to automate it they could create a zip file with all the arcane spell scroll descriptions, divine spell scroll descriptions, and items in the game pregenerated as jpgs with the name of the item and organized into directories. Then I could simply search the item directory for the jpg file and upload it in a fraction of the time it takes to do it now.

That would be a huge project though so it really is a lot to ask. But even just level 5 arcane spells or level 4 divine spells would be a huge help and a much smaller workload. If anybody would be willing to help me out like that the updates would come much faster!

You know, these images:

Edited by Usurper, 27 August 2012 - 07:13 AM.

[Usurper]

On the main thread, Tzarnal has created a .net application that automatically generates almost in-game screenshots of all spells and items.



It uses the ItemList.txt and SpellList.txt generated by Shadowkeeper for the text, and it also has a Process All button to generate all of the images beforehand:



Using it I created almost-perfect images of both all the spells and special abilities in the game, even ones that don't appear in any spellbook like Abazigail's Shockwave and Elven Privilege:





They are only missing the icons at the top of the image.

The program also made an output page for every item in the game too, even ones that we haven't seen yet:





They are missing the sketched image on the left-hand side and the icon, but I think that the time savings is worth it. This is going to save me SO MUCH TIME!

Edited by Usurper, 30 August 2012 - 05:39 PM.

[Usurper]

1 Alturiak, 1370

It has been quite a long time since we had the luxury to listen to Finch read a book when we camped out, and it brings a smile to all our faces when we reach the end of our journey to the Lonely Peaks and she gathers us all around the campfire. She chooses the book we found in the ruins of Ulcaster - the Sisters of Light and Darkness.



"...Eventually this primordial essence coalesced into twin beautiful goddesses who were yin and yang to each other; they were so close they thought of themselves as one being. The Two-Faced Goddess created the heavenly bodies of the crystal sphere and together infused them with life to form the Earthmother, Chauntea. (Although Chauntea has since contracted her essence to encompass only Abeir-Toril, in the beginning she embodies all matter in Realmspace.) This new universe was lit by the face of the silver-haired goddess, who called herself Selune, and darkened by the welcoming tresses of the raven-haired goddess, Shar, but no heat or fire existed within it.

Chauntea begged for warmth so that she could nurture life and living creatures upon the planets that were her body and limbs, and the two sister-Who-Were-One became divided, as for the first time they were of two minds. Silvery Selune contested with her dark sister over whether or not to bring further life to the worlds. During this great conflagration, the gods of war, disease, murder, and death, among others, were created from residues of the deific battle. At one point during the battle, Selune seized the advantage and reached across time and space to a land of eternal fire. Fighting the pain of the blaze, which burned her sorely, she broke off a fragment and ignited one of the heavenly bodies so that it burned in the sky and warmed Chauntea.

Incensed, Shar redoubled her attack on her injured twin and began to snuff out all light and heat throughout the crystal sphere. Again Selune gave of herself and tor the divine essence of magic from her body, flinging it desperately at her sister in defense of life in the sphere. This essence entered Shar, ripped an equal portion of energy from her, and reformed behind her as the goddess of magic, known now as Mystra, but then as Mystryl. Though Mystryl was composed of both light and dark magic, she favored her first mother Selune initially, allowing the silver goddess to win an uneasy truce with her more powerful, dark twin. Consumed by bitterness at her defeat, Shar vowed eternal revenge.

The twin goddesses contested for eons as life struggled into existence on Toril and the other planets under Chauntea's watchful gaze. Shar remained powerful, but bitterly alone, while Selune waxed and waned in power, often drawing strength from her allied daughters and sons and like-minded immigrant deities. Over time, Shar grew strong again, aided by the shadevari who preferred night to blinding light and who stalked the Realms seeking to meld light and dark into shadowy chaos once again. Shar's plot to reform the world after her own desires was undone when Azuth, the High One, formerly the greatest of all mortal spellcasters and now consort to Mystra (incarnate successor to Mystryl), found a way to imprison the shadevari in a pocket-sized crystal sphere located beyond the edges of the world by creating the illusion of a realm of shadows. The Lords of Shadow were drawn to investigate, and before they discovered the trick, Azuth imprisoned the shadevari with the Shadowstar, a key of shadows forged by Gond. The High Lord then hurled the key into the endless reaches of the cosmos allowing life to flourish on in Chauntea's loving hands."

By the time she gets done, my head is full of visions of gods and goddesses fighting their impossibly remote, incredibly eternal battles. They seem so alien to me, so much larger than I could ever hope to be. I claimed to be a Chosen of Mystra not two weeks ago, but can it ever be really true? Can she who was born in the primordial chaos of the eternal fight between light and darkness even recognize that I exist? The Weave, of course, knows me. We talk all the time. But Mystra is... something else. Or is she?

Gah, I should have paid more attention in the upper class metaphysics courses. Imoen and I made way too many spitballs back then. Besides, none of those old stuffy mages ever seemed to describe to me a relationship that I could relate to. They were all about making the Weave work for them, never letting the Weave do what it wants.

Letting the Weave do what it wants... You know, I've been taking too much of a controlling hand with the Weave lately. I hardly reach out with Nahal’s Reckless Dweomer at all anymore. I need to do that more often. I need to let the Weave show me the way. From now on, I will begin every fight with Nahal's Reckless Dweomer, and let the Weave truly speak through me. After all, I can cast 10 of them now.



Can't let all that raw potential go to waste! So we'll rest, and the Weave will show me what it wants to work in the Lonely Peaks!



But after just one hour of rest, we are awakened by a very noisy wolf pack running by.



They are not hostile, and we have no need to kill them. So we just watch them go by, and then get back down to sleep. We are not further interrupted. The next morning I wake and come to a decision. I've been carting these books around for a long time.





I've thought long and hard about what to do with them, but in the end the choice is clear. They go to me. I take stock of myself as I am now.



Then, I use the books.



Gameplay note: Carry weight stayed at 120 lbs. We're going to need more strength tomes to make a difference.

Then we are ready to head out! I have no idea what this place is, so I put everybody in a line and we go exploring.



But we soon run into an impassable cliff.



So we choose to go east. But apparently, there is a toll for going east...



Take my life if you will but I warn you now: make one move and your own is forfeit.

Then let these subtle games begin! Fire, comrades, and let us be richer for their folly!

Wow, what an eloquent bandit. I almost feel bad doing this...







Billy is a banditcicle. Edwin takes out the incomparable Ioin.



Dribben injures Finch!



Kagain shatters Billy while on the way to kill Dribben.



And pretty much shatters Dribben too!



Their weapons and equipment are lackluster, as are their gems. I guess nobody told them that we had destroyed the bandit camp. We continue on our way. The next set of enemies we find is a bunch of hasted ogres, buffed in some way by an ogre mage with them. I try to do my worst.



It's pretty bad.



I try to bring it back with another spell, but the Weave weakens me.



Ok, I admit it, I'm trying to screw around with these guys. I let my companions take them out. They do fine until the ogre mage shows up.



I try to remove magic from the equation, but once again get shut down.



Then the ogres turn on Edwin. He doesn't feel so good.



And in the blink of an eye he is dead!



Oh no! What was I thinking?! I was screwing around and now someone is dead. Again. I try to avoid the same fate as Edwin.



But I still have to run away from the monsters after me. I try to turn and pull off something easy then, like Magic Missile. I get more than I bargained for.



It only hits one of the mirror images and is practically wasted. We are reduced to beating the mirror images off the ogre mage.



Finally, Kagain chunks him.



Then it is back to the temple...



kill some wolves...



raise Edwin...



and pick up Xzar time.



As much as your mental state unnerves me, I do have need of your company once more.

Hurrah! I'd have us all sing with joy, but I'm sure such an outpouring would come dangerously close to making me sick. Onward, and all that.

He fits right into the equipment Edwin dropped. Robe of the Evil Archmagi, Gnomish Boots, and everything. Wow.



Gameplay note: Wow, Xzar is level 2 with 6 hit points, and he can only cast 3 level 1 spells. I hope I can keep the poor fool alive!

Then he just can't stay quiet. He has to burst out into song.



Hey! Pipe down, Xzar. There's still a lot of guards around. You want 'em all here in the room with us?

Pfah! They are nothing. Yon agent of wickedness has met his term. Is that not due cause for joy? A song? A birthday party?

Okay! We'll throw a real wing ding when we get topside. But let's get there first; this place creeps me out.

Your fussy practicality has slain joy in this place as dead as that wizard. Let us, then, take your implicit advice, instead. Loot and begone!

Is Imoen buying into Xzar's fantasies now? What the hell are they talking about? I shake my head and for some reason take pity upon the poor mageling. I give him all my spare mage scrolls. He can use them for offense. I tell him to memorize Armor and Shield for defense. He's going to need it.



Then of course a short jaunt and we are back in the game.



This time I am more careful. I don't want to lose another mageling so quickly. I yell STOP!



But it is just a cow. We also come across five bears! We keep well away from them.

[Usurper]

We finally run into trouble in the southeast corner of the area.



I know that Kagain, who is running in first, has almost 50% magic resistance, so I cast Fireball at the crowd. But the Weave does not approve.



I smile to see Finch really taking Yeslick's pep talk to heart as she smashes an ogre to bits completely fearlessly.



One strike from Kagain and the last hobgoblin screams and runs.



But it does not save him.



Behind the corpses of these monsters, we find a sad sight. The corpse of a brave adventurer lies propped up against the tree.



It has a small amount of treasure and gold. We head north, to see a really grumpy tiny person.



I tell her that we already took care of the problem.



Well that's rude. I am about to tell her so but she just turns around and takes off. Fine!

The next threat we see is a rather suspicious-looking half-ogre.





You don't really want to kill us, do you?

Yeah, we kill you. Maybe eat you later, once iron smelted.

These guys are so last year. I thought everyone had heard that we destroyed the bandit camp and flooded the Cloakwood Mines! Oh. I guess maybe that second part put LESS iron on the market.







The Weave does not approve of half-ogres threatening to eat me. Good to know. I open up on these bastards. They are all dead in a matter of seconds.



It's really nice to know that what once made you fear to wander outside is now just a boring walk in the park. Bandits with names? Pshaw!

We also find another courier rushing off to Amn. He is a sign that we really haven't changed much of anything yet.



As we continue to walk through the trees I feel the energy of expended magic.



I ask the Weave for help. I ask to be able to detect invisibility. But the Weave has other ideas.



Kagain runs, screaming about goldphages coming after him.



The ogre mages reveal themselves and cast ... something. Both Yeslick and Xzar fall to the ground.



I'm able to dispel the effects of one of them, though.



Mageling down! Mageling down! I hope we're going to be able to pull this off. Finch kills the ogre berserker as Imoen tries to turn the vulnerable ogre mage into a puff of air.



He disappears, so it probably worked! The remaining ogre mage hits us with Color Spray. And at the same time, Finch hits him with the Wand of Charm!



As she falls unconscious, the ogre mage becomes our servant. Awesome! I tell him to walk away from us and hit himself in the face with Chromatic Orb.



When he does, I gloop him.



Booyah! Stupid ogre mage! Imoen hits it with her Ring of Energy.



I... try... to use Rhialto's Random Missiles.



But then the other ogre mage comes back from being a puff of air and hits Yeslick!



Then everybody else wakes up too. Finch and Yeslick are hitting on the close ogre mage, while Xzar moves off to practice his high-level spellcasting at the goop-pile. The closer ogre mage hits Finch with Color Spray, and she goes down again!



We melee him for a bit, but then he casts another spell, and charms Yeslick!



A second later, Imoen kills the mage, but Yeslick still attacks us.



I use Rhialto's Holy Book to fix it, though, so it's all good!



Xzar starts pounding the ogre mage goop pile with magic missiles. They seem to do the best against it.



And in fact, he is the one to kill it.



Then, Kagain shows up again. He had been too far away to contribute to the battle this whole time. Heh.

The only other things we find at the Lonely Peaks are an abandoned house...



and a cave.



Inside the cave is an... ettercap! There is also a web trap, but with careful placement of myself, we are able to kill it.



Kagain is poisoned and held by the web, but I reach within myself and Cure his Affliction... a moment before I am held as well.



The box contains extremely minor treasures.



And with that, we declare the Lonely Peaks explored!



Next stop, the Cloud Peaks!



When we get there, we try to rest, but gibberlings come screaming out of the darkness!



One of them immediately savages Xzar!



But Finch manages to heal him!



After that, the fight becomes much more manageable.



We kill all the gibberlings and manage to sleep until morning.



We set out to explore, and immediately see more gibberlings!



They are no match for Xzar!

[Usurper]

A little ways away from there, we find a lady in distress!



Take us to this friend, we're always ready to aid a lady in distress.

This is him right here on the ground.

This is Samuel; he's so sick right now. -sob- I don't know how much longer he has to live. Could you take him to the Friendly Arm Inn. If you were to take him to Gellana Mirrorshade at the Temple of Wisdom, she'd help him. Please, can you do this?

Okay, okay! We'll take Samuel to the Temple of Wisdom at the Friendly Arm Inn.

Thank you, thank you so much. When you pick him up, be sure to be gentle. Please take him to the temple right away; I don't know how much longer he'll live.

We pick him up.



He seems surprisingly heavy for sick person. In fact, he's so heavy that none of us can carry him! We have to stash him in the Refuge.



We go back and begin to explore more areas around the Cloudpeaks. We find a huge horde of gibberlings and wild dogs bearing down upon us!



Come on Weave, don't let me down!



Ooh gems! Fine, I'll use the bottle of fire elixir that I have in my pocket.



Xzar is getting a whole lot of gibberling deathblows.



Another group of gibberlings just makes us roll our eyes.



Later on, we find a very serious gnome who wants to speak with us.



Sure, what do you have to tell us, gnome?

Thank you... just let an old man catch his breath... Now then, let me introduce myself. I am Hafiz bin Watat, astrologer, scientist and mage. Please, tell me your name.

Sure, my name's Syvishtara.

Syvishtara! Yes, that's the name I remember. I've seen your face in my dreams. Mmmmm. The dreams of you are always ones of blood and death, and there is another man who watches, an evil man. They always end with your death or mine. It is so strange that I should meet you, the focus of these dreams. You must be very special. Tell me about yourself, perhaps I can help you.

I'm feeling confident. I have braved the Ulcaster School and won. It doesn't matter if this guy wants to kill me or not, he simply can't. I don't care what I tell him.

There's quite a bit to say. I don't really know if I have the time to go into all the details. I used to live at Candlekeep with my father Gorion. A little while back we were forced to flee. Seems like there's someone out there who really wants me dead. In trying to kill me, he... killed my dad.

I am sorry to bring back such painful memories. I wish to help you, and in doing so, end these dreams that plague me. Here, take this. When you do battle against the eight who serve your father's killer, read this scroll and it will protect you from their wrath. Goodbye now; perhaps we shall meet again.

The scroll he gives me is Protection from Magic. A great gift, always useful! Perhaps even more useful than one might think... I place it with the other one. We only have two.

A little ways away from where we spoke to Hafiz, we find a Flaming Fist mercenary.



We killed about a million gibberlings today, and I'm in quite the good mood, so shout out...

We're a rampaging horde of Tarrasques. Krie! Krie!

Your sarcasm isn't appreciated, so just shut your mouth before it gets you into trouble.

Sorry sir, I guess my mouth sometimes gets ahead of my brain.

Nice apology. Before we leave I'd better warn you; there are bandits that have been causing trouble along the Coast Way, you'd be best to avoid them. Also, I've been searching for someone: a Flaming Fist man who stole a magical ring and a couple of expensive gems from our barracks and then deserted. His name is Samuel, and he should be traveling with a woman, so if you see him, remember: there's a 50 gold reward for his capture.

HA! I don't even think about turning Samuel in for a moment. No way the parade-rainers of the Flaming Fists are going to get cooperation from me, not after they shut down my Tarrasque performance! They probably act like Monks when they're alone, too.

Another truly epic battle against gibberlings ensues post-haste.



Things get dicey when Xzar calls out for his mommy.



I try to heal him but the Weave has other plans for me today.



So Yeslick does it.



The gibberlings are gone again almost as quickly as they came.



Strangely enough, there doesn't seem to be a way to go south of here. I can see well enough, but the land just goes to forest and rolling hill as far as the eye can see. Kagain does say that there is a city somewhere south of here, called Esmeltaran, but he doesn't know how to get there from here. He says the woods are probably filled with pansy elves.



Gameplay note: Anybody know about this area, and the city of Esmeltaran? Supposedly this is a completely accurate 2nd edition D&D Forgotten Realms Sword Coast map, but I haven't heard of Esmeltaran before. Any stories would be appreciated!

I try to get some cooperation from the Weave during our next gibberling slaughter, but I get nothing.



We end up having to kill them the old-fashioned way. You know, gibberlings don't even carry any loot. All other monsters manage to carry at least a few coins or a weapon or two, but gibberlings don't carry anything. Its quite rude of them, I'd say!

That turns out to be the last pack around, and we consider the area clear. We declare the Cloud Peaks to be safe for all travelers!



Gameplay note: Alright, we are actually almost done with the wilderness areas. I have taken an amalgamated screenshot of what we know of the world map so far:



I guess that is an acceptable number of places to have thoroughly explored and documented in one year of real time, yah?

We have a bit of a problem, though. In order to do the next series of faffs about the countryside, we will have to suspend normal party rotation. Kivan has a quest in the Shipwreck Coast, so to see that we will have to pick him up. Coran has a quest at Firewine Bridge, so we should pick him up to see that content too. And, most complicated, we will meet Jet'laya the elven cleric the next time we travel to the Friendly Arm Inn. She will ask us to help her find her sister. We must say yes and add her to the party or we'll never see any Dark Side of the Sword Coast content. Then we are on a wild wild roller coaster ride of adding more and more new NPCs to our party in order to, uh, kill stuff. Big stuff. Lots of big stuff. We generally *have* to add these NPCs to advance the quests.

So we're going to have to add Kivan back to the party and go to the Shipwreck Coast. Then add Coran to the party and go to the Firewine Bridge. And, finally, we are going to have to add Jet'laya, Conchobhair Strongblade, Burdo Furfoot, CúChoinneach (with wolf), and Ferthgil Trollslayer to the party in order to finish the Dark Side of the Sword Coast. Also, I reserve the right to throw Bjornin the Dragonslayer into the mix if we have to kill any dragons. You know. Just in case.

So the only question left is which order do we use to replace our current party members? We can either go from most popular to least popular, or the other way around. So which will it be?

1. In which order should we replace our current party members with necessary quest party members?

A. Most popular to least popular – this means replace Imoen with Kivan first, then replace Yeslick with Coran, Kivan with Jet'Laya, and then Kagain, Finch, Xzar, and Coran disappear in that order to make way for new party members.
B. Least popular to most popular – this means replace Xzar with Coran first, then replace Coran with Kivan, then replace Finch with Jet'Laya, and after that Kagain, Kivan, Yeslick, and Imoen disappear in that order to make way for new party members.
C. Most xp to least xp - this means replace Yeslick with Coran first, then replace Imoen with Kivan, Coran with Jet'laya, and after that Kivan, Kagain, Finch, and Xzar disappear in that order to make way for new party members.
D. Least xp to most xp - this means replace Xzar with Kivan first, then replace Finch with Coran, Kagain with Jet'laya, and after that Kivan, Coran, Imoen, and Yeslick disappear in that order to make way for new party members.

Edited by Usurper, 31 August 2012 - 09:23 PM.