Journal with some details & tactics (hints for beginners & spoilers), Necro, Kensai, K/T, Cernd, Neera + DD Options

[pekkae]

Hi Everyone.

Another Necro journal with some details of the fights. With my latest incarnation of "the most powerful party possible". The idea is to give the reader some concrete things to defeat the respective encounters IA throws at you. We will utilize either our tremendous strengths or enemy weaknesses. On almost all fights, we'll try to overpower the enemy instead of relying on "just surviving" the fights.

The Rules:

* Core Rules
* No personal equipment for "K/T", that means no Jansen Adventurewear no "Sword of the Rashemi" (They also seemed to be responsible for inconsistencies in my last game)
* Simplified Economy (we'll console in the trinkets for the equipment we need)
* Max HP's for everyone incl. NPC's.
* IATweks for modifying classes, Imoen => Kensai & Korgan => DD.
* An item pack the supplement a few missing items (e.g. a club +5, which we otherwise wouldn't have)

We will end up with:
PC: Necro
Imoen: Kensai
Korgan: DD
Cernd
Neera
Custom: K(13)/T.
=> We'll end up with two fighters who are able to reach around -22 & -30 Thac0 and the best tank (fighter) in the game in DD with the most effective spell casters possible.

Chapter 0. The Dungeon.

Join Minsc
Join Jaheira
Join Yoshimo (Berserker)
Join Custom made Kensai (to be swapped for Imoen later on)

Exit Dungeon, no "flaming sword" but we do get a "staff spear +2". It goes to Kensai.
Purchase scroll of "friends"
Sleep
Cast friends inside the inn.
Purchase "chaos", so now Necro has a level 5 spell.

To Slums
Meet Gaelan Bayle, accept quest
To Copper Coronet
Kill ruffians
Take quest from Firkraag

to Governmen District
Talk to Delon, accept quest
Talk to Tolgerias, accept quest
Save Viconia, don't join with her
Save Jan, don't join with him

To City Gates

To Umar hills
Accept ranger quest
Accept "find mimic's blood"
Talk to Madaulf
Talk to minister lloyd
go to ranger cabin
go to umar cave & finish Mimic
Finish "find Mimic's blood"

Go to temple ruins
talk with Anoth (or what's her name), Whack some shadows.
Return to Umar Hills, talk to Madaulf

Go to Trademeet
whack some animals
accept quest from high merchant
Join Cernd

Off to Druid Grove
Kill spiders & trolls
we need two rests in the area
Faldorn
Necro goes full offence, no protections needed.
3x Magic missile (interrupts 3 first spells)
2x Vampiric Touch (interrupts & causes a lot of damage)
Faldorn dies

We return to trademeet
Finish animal trouble & gain some very nice exp

Return to Druid Grove
Adratha's cottage
Prebuff outside with resist fire & cold's, Kensai quaffs an oil of speed, Stoneskins for Jaheira & Cernd
Inside we summon a clan spirit "up stairs"
Initiate fight by attacking "Adratha" with everyone. "Adratha"manages to get absolute immunity up.
Clan spirit takes care of the spawning rakshaha's and the rest of the crew just whacks away
Cernd nullifies the cloud with zone of sweet air.
Jaheira takes aggro of Adratha, takes a hit & renews Iron Skins.
(I'm beginning to like this Jaheira)
Keep whacking & "Adratha" soon dies, no problem!

Return to Trademeet
Drop raksasha head to ground, buy amulet +1 & potion of absorption from genies.
Pick up head from ground & return head to genies
Go to temple & purchase four points of reputation so reputation is at 15 (and gold at about 0)
Meet with high merchant & accept praise, gain almost 20k in gold & 1 point of reputation (reputation now 16)
Buy "Breach" from Kich.
Sleep in Vyatri's to prepare for next encounter

Back to Amn
Land at Waukeen's promenade
Get invitation with Valen
Start "cernd's child" quest

Move to docks
meet Suna Seni on the way
First fight with problems but manage after a few tries:
Rd1. Necro: ironskins, Jaheira: call lightning on cleric, Cernd: Emotion, Kensai Kai & attacks, berserker enrage & attack Cleric . DD switches to thrown axes & goes for Cleric.
Rd2. Necro: Greater malision, Jaheira summon clan spirit, Cernd "chain lightning"
Rd3. Necro "hold person", jaheira attack, Cernd: Emotion
Rd4. 'All of the enemies are pretty much either unconscious or held, so we whack the mage, then the cleric, then Suna Seni.
Rd5. Necro breach & Cernd: Emotion

to Waukeen's Promenade
Go for circus tent, *meh*
Kalah dies to simultaneous flame arrows from Necro & Cernd
(I didn't remember that this was so simple).
Go to Cernd's former house, then the next house (luckily PC has charisma of 17)

to Government District
Finish cern'd child (the evil mage get PfMW up so whack with non-magical weapons).
Cernd leaves for Grove & we leave to retrieve Cernd from the Grove

Next to Docks
Visit Shadow Thieves & start the Mae'var quest line, which means that to Temple District we go

Temple District
We visit temple district and buy all scrolls of "protection from poison" we can find & girdle of bluntness from weathermistress from the temple of Talos.
gold at 25k ( Kensai has Thac0 of 1!)
Since we can't continue the Mae'Var quest line we
1. Finish sir sales
2. return neb's head
3. get dawn ring quest
4. do the "fallen paladins" quest
Then Sleep at Copper Coronet
Finish mae'var and reject thief stronghold, since it's quite shit. We get a nice sword for our effort. Sweet.

Exp now at 500k or so, gold at 60k and we haven't even started chapter 3. Since Jaheira's quest line didn't trigger we have to kill some time.

to trademeet
pick up Rasaad (your quest is terrible & we don't like it).
Finish abandoned theater and Vagrant blades (they have some useful items)
Finish Tears of Selune on the way to the Heretic Temple & do everything there.
Let go of Rasaad.

to the waukeen's promenade
cast friends & purchase scroll of "hold monster" as well as all of the "polymorph other" scrolls they have. We like polymorph other.
Go to Copper Coronet & join with Korgan
Next up GraveYard district
Loot everything besides "king & queen"
Accept Tirdir quest
Kill Uncle Lester

Go to lower tombs

some problems with spiders on the way because of ill-preparations. We finish with 2 used haste's meaning we are fatigued before we even reach the lower tombs

Back to slums to sleep

but Jaheira's quest is triggered on the way. We can't win it. Our fatigued & out-of-spells party with low-hp's can't finish it (tried 3 times or so). But what do you know, you can sleep at the graveyard outside. So we sleep and save the poisoned man on the first try.

to Docks we go
Return poisoned man
activate harper quest
go to Prebek's & "death spell" finishes everyone.
Return Montaron
Sleep in Copper Coronet
Get back Jaheira, visit Docks & Harper Hold
Party at 600k exp. Need 250k more to get IH & recruit Neera.

Note. Jaheira is very useful still, we are planning on swapping her for Neera after 850k exp. Though we need her quests to be triggered because one of her frenemies has an amulet of protection +1, which we will need (as we are planning on forging the talisman of greater protection, grandmaster of flowers & pendant of recovered light).

We sleep & investigate activities in the backrooms of copper coronet
Beastmaster is no problem
prebuff: summon clan warrior, skeleton warrior & berserker. defensive harmony barkskin for Kensai, acid shields for druids
Rd1. Cernd flame arrow on beastmaster, necro: Breach, everyone focuses on beast master
Rd2. Cernd "death spell" for the small monsters, Necro: Magic missile to interrupt
Rd3. Cernd: Unleash Energy on beastmaster, Necro: Flame Arrow
Rd4. Beastmaster dead, pretty much all of the animals dead -> everyone focuses on Tabitha. It falls soon after

We pay Gaelan Bayle and hop to Chapter 3.

Do Wellyn-quest
Solve skinner murders in the bridge district (Korgan takes the lead here and takes aggro of Bone Golem with Defensive Stance)
Do Mook
Then "guild contacts", where the "vampire bride" has magical ability to scan which of our characters has a permanent "negative plane protection". Cernd gets level drained and it's our 3rd visit to a temple in 24 hrs.
Then Mithrest Inn (Amon falls for greater malision + emotion), Mencar Pebblecrusher takes forever to take down even though we have a Kensai with us.

We are about 50k exp short of next level, where with Improved Haste a number of encounters will open up. Gold at 70k. Reputation 20.

So off to the sewers below the temple district we go. Avoid the sewer gang for now, do roger the fence & do the rest

Cult of the eyeless

The lower vault requires numerous reloads, as the Yuan-Ti Mage manages it's saves for 3x emotion 4(!) times. The beholder lair requires even more reloads, due to the crew being ill-prepared.

However, groups of Gauths are easiest dismantled by greater malision + hold monster, while fighters are focusing on one foe at a time. The "blind priest" are vulnerable to horror & emotion. Unseeing eye: we haste & attack with Kensai & DD, once ADHW hits us we move the rest of the group to melee. Unseeing eye falls before it has a chance to cast the 2nd ADHW.

Necro levels up, so now we get 6th level spells so we can start doing the actual quests. But first, before we drop Jaheira, we go to Trademeet & have a date with Chaos (DD defensive stance & both Druid's call lightning x 4 to finish it off). Founder of trademeet; contingency Haste, mass-cures & a death spell for little enemies.

We then sleep outside to force Dermin to appear, Jaheira leaves for harper hold and we go and we go and get Hexxat, letting berserker solo Dragomir. We leave hexxat in the tomb, pick her cloak & Then to docks and pick up Jaheira.

We wonder around for a few days, visit Trademeet, sell some stuff and go to Druid Grove where we sleep in order to force Dermin to appear. Otherwise we would have left ur friend Jaheira at Harpers Hold, but one friend of Dermin carries an all-important item for us (an amulet of protection +1, which we'll need 6). After Dermin is done, we go to hidden refuge and say goodbye to Jaheira and welcome Neera.

So we do Neera's quest(it's horrible and we don't like it),but Gull Dukeem's store has a merchant selling wands & has a wand of polymorphing which we purchase for mere 5k in gold. We'll see later on if the wand actually works. We whack everything in the red wizard compound & move on.

Lilarcor is quite straightforward: use greater malision + emotion for the rats & full prebuffs & piercing weapons for shadow lover.


But now off to the actual quests. Yeah!

Party ,everyone just below 1m exp.

Necro (PC): Level 12, AC 1, Thaco 14, Dmg 4-9, Lupine Sling/martialStaffKnave's Robe, Bracers to the death, meta spell influence amulet
Kensai (Custom): Level 11, AC -1, Thaco -3, Dmg 19-24, Staff of Rhynn/Ilbratha/Spear of Kuldahar, 2xRoP +1, Destroyer of Hills, Cloak of Balduran
Berserker (Custom): Level 11, AC -8, Thaco 6/7, Dmg 5-10, Flame Tongue, Palte of Dark, Amulet +1, Helm of Balduran, 2xRoP +1,
Cernd: Level 12, AC 3, Thaco 11, Dmg 5-10, Bracers to Death, Wooden Horse - necklace, Cloak of high forest, Staff of Arundel
DD*: Level 11, AC -9, Thaco 4, Dmg 11-17, Dwarven Thrower, Full Plate, Amulet +1, Eyes of the Beholder, 2xRoP +1, Clasp of Bron's Cloak (15% physical resistance)
Neera: Level 12, AC 5, Thaco 16, Damage 2-7, Robe of Invocation, Amulet of Power, Bracers of defence 5, Neera's staff + wand of polymorph

(The plan was to use Korgan for the DD but since he's too mean we scrap him and use Minsc with Korgan's stats & class and everything. That way the dialogue is more interesting as well)


Slaver Stockade

We enter through sewers, prebuff; IH on fighters, Berserker also gets free action, potion of acid resistance & PfF , Skins for everyone + mirror images for Neera, Cernd + Kensai (from Ilbratha). Acid Shield for Cernd + Minor globe of invulnerability (from the belt).

Rd1. Neera Greater Malision Cleric, Cernd Flame Arrow Cleric, Necro: Launch MS with 2xweb on Cleric (after GM hits them). Berserker, summons berserker warrior near Haegan & moves in to whack the cleric (Berserker has "free action"). Every enemy is held near Cleric. Korgan goes for Haegan & activates defensive stance. Kensai summons Joolon near Haegan and attacks Haegan.
Rd2. Neera Greater malision Haegan, Cernd emotion Haegan, Necro Lower Resistances (LR) on Haegan.
Rd3. Neera LR on Haegan, Cernd Emotion Haegan, Necro LR Haegan. Cleric is dead so Berserker goes for Haegan as well, leaving minor enemies in the web. Korgan quaffs a potion of rejuvenation (he's taking the aggro)
Rd4. Neera hold person on haegan, Cernd doom Haegan, Necro: Contagion Haegan (all enemies besides Haegan are held / unconscious)
Rd4. Neera flame arrow haegan, Cernd: Dolorous Decay on Haegan Necro: Contagion on Haegan (it hits)
Rd5. Neera flame arrow on Haegan, Cernd moves to cast heal on Korgan, Necro: Cloudkill on where the Cleric used to be
Rd7-8. (or so) Haegan falls. Every enemy is held. Some of them are taking damage from the cloudkill.

No-one was in any danger at any phase.

We finish enemies in the cloud with Berserker (who is resistant to acid which helps a lot), Korgan with Dwarven Defender, Kensai takes out everyone else.Once the wizard appears Neera & Necro: secret word, then remove magic & breach. Cernd drops a chain lightnings to interrupt and an unleash energy.

Very nice fight.


De'Arnise Keep

Greater Yuan-Ti
whack spider, while 2x Secret word, breach on greater yuan-ti & then whack. we also greater malision + doom + hold monster (2x) and 2nd one sticks so it is easy prey after that.

Tor'Gal

Prebuff: Improved Haste on Fighters, summon 2x invisible stalkers (before sleeping, they last for 9(!) hours), skins + mirror images, haste on everyone else so stalkers + joolon + berserker. Barkskin on Cernd + Kensai.

Off we go

Rd1. Cernd moves in to hug gem golem & death spell on Trolls (they fall instantly) & attacks Tor'Gal. Necro Breach Tor'Gal, Neera: Lower Resistances (LR) on Gem, everyone else attacks Tor'Gal
Rd2. Cernd Doom on Gem Golem, Necro & Neera: LR on Gem golem (Tor'Gal fails storm of Vengeance)
Rd3. Necro & Neera: LR on Gem golem . We are hit with dispel from Tor'Gal
Rd4. Cernd: Iron Skins, Neera: IH on Kensai, Necro: IH on DD
Rd5. Cernd mirror image, Necro: Greater Malision on Gem Golem, Neera: PO on Gem Golem
Rd6. Cernd attacks Tor'Gal, Necro: PO on Gem (it hits, yes!), Neera (we interrupt her PO on Gem golem) and start a flame arrow on Tor'Gal. Gem Golem dies. 2nd Dispel hits us. Tor'Gal near death.
Rd7. Cernd attacks Tor'Gal, Necro: Haste, Neera: Flame Arrow
Rd8. (or so). Tor'Gal falls.

We currently have 4 scrolls (3 from Amon or whatshisname and 1 form copper coronet) of "Ruby Ray of Reversal (RRoR)" and our decision on "what to do next" is sort of dependant on us having adequate number of those scrolls.

Sewer party

We do the sewer party first. It would be humongously easier, if we could spare a single RRoR scroll, but we won't since I don't recall where additional ones are and finishing the next quests is impossible without RRoR's.

We summon invisible stalkers & sleep. Summon berserker & joolon, haste everyone (IH on fighters), defensive harmony. Summons move in first, then fighters we start with the easiest enemy first while casters

The fight is quite straightforward:

Rd1. remove magic (for the potions's effect), breach, insect plague (on the cleric)
Rd2. greater malision, breach, insect plague (on the cleric again)
Rd3. emotion, lower resistances x 2 (on the dwarf)
Rd4. emotion, lower resistances x 2 (on the dwarf
Rd5. doom, contagion, emotion
Rd6. death spell, contagion, ray of enfeeblement

or something like that. Essentially we first breach them, then LR so that the dwarf is vulnerable & try to get him with emotion. The mage is the hardest, summons & whack works.

Next up is planar prison

With 4 scrolls of RRoR, it's quite easy. The "greater bounty hunter" takes 2 and Warden takes 2, but you have to be very careful. Enemies in between are dealt with full buffs on fighters, so Chaotic Command, Improved haste + mirror image (on Kensai), casters mostly try Greater Malision + Emotion + PO's (PO's work sometimes). The only thing about warden is, that it starts to cast a 2nd "SI:Abjuration" which we can't remove since we're at this point out of RRoR scrolls because our 2 scroll are used to take down Spell Turning & SI:Abjuration, launched from a trigger/contigency.

Then to Temple Ruins.

Shadow Jailor. Nothing special. Summon, haste everything, breach shadow jailor & 1 heal from Cernd. Then to liches. There's a scroll of RRoR, which we forgot. Nice. Should have had it in the previous fight. sheesh.

I hate these liches, they are beyond annoying. But we defeat them after, what must have been like 50 reloads. In the end, it's quite simple. We do the "2nd" group first, near the corridor, it's a lot easier this way.

1. Summon invisible stalkers x3 (all slots for animate dead & spider spawns & invisible stalkers). Sleep.
2. Prebuff with haste & defensive harmony
3. Berserker runs so lichee casts dragon's breath & we dodge it's effects
4. Run around so lich uses trigger, after trigger is launched activate "berserking", maybe an oil of speed
5. Isolate Skeleton Lord
6. Defeat mummies with summons & berserker
7. (usually at this point lich gets time stop away so Berserker is dead, because it's in liches sights so it gets hit with 3xADHW)
8. use summons to make lich drain spells
9. Kill lich with Kensai (with IH & PfME active)

After 30 tries on Shadow Dragon we decide to do something else. This was horrible.

Planar Sphere

So we're off to the planar sphere, hoping to make a level for everyone in order for Necro to learn RRoR & Nnera would probably take either Mordekainen's Sword or RRoR. We'll decide later.

Halflings, nothing special, summon 3x stalkers, sleep, IH on fighters, haste for the rest. Summon Jooually works)lon. Summons go for halflings while fighters concentrate on 1 enemy at the time, starting with the one spawning south of our group (with insanely effective missile weapon). Other than that greater malision, emotion, slow, contagions and a death spell where enemies & summons are concentrated and we're all good.

Time machine room: Summon 3 stalkers, sleep. IH on fighters, spirit armour for Cernd. We barricade the doorway. Cernd takes the aggro of 2 golems (I think), fighters take out a gem while mages turn one gem into a a chicken (4xLR, Greater Malision, 2x PO us. Cernd uses all iron skins, but doesn't get hit before the gems are dead. Then it's just a coin & bone golem left, we open the barricade & whack bone golem, coin goes for Necro. Necro + Neera LRx3-4 + POx2-3 coin golem into a chicken. All good. Heal for DD and we're back in full health.

Looks like Lavok next. We have 4 RRoR's left. Kensai & DD level up, so they get to lvl 13 giving us a much needed + 0.5APR. In Lavok fight fighters + fire elemental take out Skeleton Lords (2 spawns), Necro + Neera first turn the gem into a chicken, then use all(!) of our remaining RRoR's on Lavok who is pestered by Skeleton Warriors & summons (it get's SI:Abjuration up after we disable it) then breach + PfME + IH on Kensai who whacks Lavok to death. No ADHW's triggered.

Tolgerias; summon 3 stalkers & sleep. IH on fighters, haste on everyone. Protection from fire & cold on fighters. Initiate fight. Fighters focus on "mage", while spell caster doom, gm + flesh to stone on planetar (it doesn't work), then breach plantar & try po on planetar while Cernd tries "insect plague". They don't work. it doesn't matter, Mage falls quickly & we switch to nonmagical weapons and Tolgerias falls quickly, since it has PfMW up but he isn't protected against normal weapons.

Engine Room: We enter through the ice chamber and are met with 1 gem and 2 coins. Cernd tanks 2 coins, while fighters dismember one coin. Necro tanks a gem, while Necro + Neera proceed to turn it into a squirrel. Another gem appears halfway through the fight and Necro + Neera proceed to turn it into a squirrel as well. We just had one spawn with 2 coins + 2 gems. We'll be back here at a later stage to finish the rest (2 spawn with 2x gems, 2x coins and 1 bone devil each)

Lae'liyl: Summon 3 stalkers, sleep, summon 2 fire elementals. Haste on everyone (incl. summons), IH on fighters, defensive harmony + barkskins + mirror images. Summons keep main enemies busy while fighters eliminate enemies one by one. Neera is casting Acid Arrows and Necro is summoning. Our mages get silenced at some point so we use staves of air / fire to summon elementals in the end as we have both air & fire staves. We use maybe 2 skeletons, 3 spider spawna, 2 x conjure animals + 4 elementals from the staves all in all.

One RRoR scroll left (we found one in a container, probably in the Shadow Temple). Maybe Conster has a few more? And where do I find worn out boots?

Since we have a date at the sphere the next day we decide to (finally) do

Pai'na.

Prebuff with Free action (FA) + IH on fighters, FA on cernd.
Move in
Rd1. Necro: Emotion, Neera; Flame Arrow Pai'Na, Cernd: Death Spell. After 1st rd almost all enemies are dead (luckily, Necro/Neera are also not webbed)
Rd2. Necro; flame arrow Pai'Na, Neera: Breach, Cernd: Flame arrow. Fighters: pound Pai'Na
Rd3-4, Pai'na is dead.

So off to "Windspear hills we go".

The plethora of mists are taken down with fighters with IH, Chaotic commands & negative plane protection. We get level drained still. So we visit Temple @ Trademeet. Then back to Windspear Hills and for the Rukh Conjurer, the most insanely annoying fight in the game. Neera tanks it with SI:Abjuration, mirror image + stoneskin. We remove magic & pound but are forced to runaway in circles still. I'd pay 50k for an item that would instantly kill the thing.

We finish everything and then are met with Conster. Our 5 first tries lead to a complete failure, as our plan was to just knock Conster out with greater malision + emotion / chaos or so. The easy version of this fight includes using 2 RRoR's, to take down ST + SI:Abjuration. We have one scroll of RRoR left. We try the fight 5 times with Greater Malision + Emotion + Chaos and Conster makes his saves every single time. It seems idiotic, as yet again this fight is only difficult because of lack of RRoR scrolls. So we bend the rules and erase Necro's already learned RRoR from spellbook and console in a scroll of RRoR.

The fight itself is quite simple. Figters pound Skeleton Lords, Neera + Necro debuff then Breach. Cernd summons a few fire elementals + throws a few flame arrows to interrupt as much as possible. Conster falls easily. We find 5 scrolls of RRoR and re-learn RRoR.

We go to cabin and Kensai, DD + Neera + Necro level up. Necro learns RRoR so we finally have it. Neera takes Mordekainen's Sword.

We go back to Shadow Temple.

Shadow Dragon

We prebuff with Death Ward on casters, Defensive Harmony, Spirit Armout for Kensai, Strength potions & IH for fighters + mirror images for Kensai + Neera

Rd1. Fighters attack, Necro: Spellstrike, Neera: Breach, Cernd: Flame Arrow
Rd2. Fighters attack, Necro: Breach, Neera: Breach, Cernd: Flame Arrow (Neera gets silenced)
Rd3. Fighters are wing buffeted away & attack, Necro: Breach, Neera: Melf's minute meteors (from a cloak), Cernd: Flame Arrow (Dragon heals itself)
Rd4. Fighters attack, Necro: Breach, Neera: Minute meteors, Cernd: Flame Arrow
and so on... Dragon heals itself maybe 2 times, our fighter get level drained (negative plane protection doesn't even help against this), but we make it at some point. Strength potions help immensely.

Shade Lord

Prebuff with IH on fighters, skins on everyone, SI:Divination & mirror image on Neera, Mirror image on Cernd. Spirit armour on Kensai & Barskins on Neera & Cernd

Rd1. Fighters: Summons Joolon, Berserker Warrior & Kitthix near Shade Lord, then attack Shadow Patrick. Necro & Neera: RRoR & Secret Word on Shade Lord. Cernd: Conjure Animals near Shade lord.
Rd2. Fighters: Pound Patrick, Necro: ST GM+Secret Word+Contagion on Shade Lord. Cernd: Flame Arrow on Shade Lord. Neera: Summons a sword (shadow Patrick dies)
Rd3. Fighter go for Skeleton Lord. Necro & Neera: LR on Shade Lord, Cernd: Flame Arrow on Shade Lord
Rd4. Necro & Neera: LR on Shade Lord, Cernd: Flame Arrow on Shade Lord, Fighter go for Skeleton Lord #2.
Rd5. Necro: Feeblemind, Cernd: Flame Arrow on Shade Lord Neera: Summon a sword (we get dispelled at about this point)
Rd6. Only a few shadows remain, Necro tries Feeblemind on Shade lord, Neera casts PfME on Kensai, Cernd Summons an elemental
Rd7. We use ring of ram to throw shade lord to the sides, swords go after it while fighters destroy the altar.
Rd8--> Casters: Flame Arrows & anything on Shade lord, fighter with PfME pound shade lord.

(Shade lord was a lot easier than the Shadow Dragon).

Not much troubles, besides the Shadow Temple so far. We pick up stuff from Cabin & scrolls from "messenger of light" and meet with Marvella and order a scroll of chain lightning from the apprentices.

Dawn Ring & Borinali

Prebuff: IH's, mirror images, skins for everyone + true sight. Neera II + SI:Divination. Necro has a trigger with Greater Malision + 2x Polymorph Other.

Rd1. Fighters: Summons Joolon, Berserker Warrior & Kitthix near Borinali, then take out rune assassins one by one.. Necro & Neera: LR on amber golem. Cernd: Conjure Animals near Borinali
Rd2. Necro & Neera: LR on amber golem, Cernd takes Amber Golem's Aggro & Iron Skins. Fighters are almost through all of the Rune Assasins
Rd3. Necro: ST GM+2xPO on Amber Golem (the Greater Malision hits after PO's, so it would have been better to let Neera cast GM and have a trigger with 3xPO). Cernd: Doom on Amber. Fighter move to pound Borinali
Rd4. Necro & Neera: PO on Amber (the 2nd one hits), Cernd: Summon Fire elemental near Borinali
Rd5 .(I think this is where we got additional Rune Assasins?). Necro: Hold person on Rune Assassin spawn, Cernd: Dolorous Decay on Borinali (it's not effective), Neera: Breach Borinali
Rd6. Borinali dies as well as the Rune Assasins. 1 fire elemental isn't even hurt. We used 2 healing potions + 1 antidote.

We get Water's Edge. Great. We can forge Water's Edge +4 before Spellhold.

PC at 1.8Mexp. Gold at 246k. We need to probably forge at least Cernd's & Hexxat's clocks, Waters Edge +4 & Necro amulet before heading to Spellhold. Oh that reminds me, we have Bodhi to do as well.

We sell some extra stuff, return the dawn ring & activate paladin quests. Gold now 280k.

Back to Windspear Hills we go.

Samia

( This was terrible, almost on the level of lichee & rukh conjurer. Should have postponed this as the last fight but in the end we manage. )

Pre-sleep: Summon 3 invisible stalkers. Prepare spell trigger's (ST). Neera uses a scroll of ST, we have one left for the fight.

Sleep & then prebuff: Summon 2 fire elementals. IH on fighters, defensive harmony, stoneskins, bless, SI:Abjuration on both mages + minor globes on Necro & Neera (from the belt), haste on everyone who does not have IH + all of the summons. Mirror Images for Neera + Kensai. Spirit Armour for Kensai + Barskins for Cernd + Neera. Potion of Cloud Giant Strength for DD & Kensai.

Rd1. Neera: ST 1xGM + 2xslow, Necro: ST 3xemotion, Cernd: Emotion. One of the enemies falls to emotion. Fighters + Cernd take out enemies one by one, while mages are casting breaching & summoning. Neera blocks the doorway with casting PfMW from scrolls (we have 7 all in all).

I'm not sure what happens but out summons manage to interrupt the Cleric's & Druid's casting, while fighters make quick work of the enemies starting with Samia I guess. Berserker almost falls to the thief (Ferrick Ironbalde), who activates assassination - but we throw him back with ring of the ram and escape to heal.

In the end, Kaol is taken down by our Kensai with PfME + IH, while DD is out of reach of ADHW with the dwarves thrower and every other member is out of sight.

No Vecna. Too bad, would have loved to get my hands on memory of apparent pre-spellhold.

** Status **

Party ,everyone just below 2m exp at 1.85m or so. Gold at almost 300k.

Necro (PC): Level 14, 81 HP, AC -2, Thaco 13, Dmg 4-9, Lupine Sling/martialStaffKnave's Robe, Bracers to the death, amulet of charon + belt of inertial barrier
Cernd: Level 13, 80 HP, AC 2, Thaco 9, Dmg 5-10, Bracers to Death, Wooden Horse - necklace, Cloak of high forest, Staff of Arundel, destroyer of hills
Korgan: Level 13, 168HP, AC -11, Thaco 0, Dmg 11-17, Dwarven Thrower, Full Plate, Amulet +1, Eyes of the Beholder, 2xRoP +1, Clasp of Bron's Cloak (+5% physical resistance), while of harmony
Neera: Level 14, 64HP, AC 4, Thaco 14, Damage 2-7, Robe of Invocation, Amulet of Power, Bracers of defence 5, Staff of Air, Arla's Dragonbane, Cowl of Stars, RoP +1 and the ring of acuity

*Kensai (Custom Half-Orc / will be swapped for Imoen the Kensai in spellhold): Level 14, 175HP, AC -1, Thaco -9, Dmg 21-26, Staff of Rhynn/Ilbratha/Spear of Kuldahar, 2xRoP +1, Destroyer of Hills, Cloak of Balduran
*Berserker (Will be replaced by the K/T in spellhold): Level 14, 128 HP, AC -8, Thaco -3/1, Dmg 14-19/10-15, FoA, Blade of Roses Short Sword +3, , Plate of Dark, Amulet +1, Helm of Balduran, 2xRoP +1, Hands of Takkok

Neera's Spellbook:

Lvl1: magic missile, chromatic orb, protection from evil, charm person, nahal's reckless dweller
Lvl2: blur, glitter dust, self's acid arrow, mirror image, resist fear,
LVl3: flame arrow, remove magic, slow, vampiric touch
Lvl4: greater malision, improved invisibility, polymorph other, stoneskin
Lvl5: breach, lower resistances, spell immunity
Lvl6: improved haste, protection from magic energy
Lvl7: mordekainen's sword

Our "to-do" list consists of at least the following (writing these up so I'll remember to do these): Screaming Statue, Grave Yard, Fighter & bard Stronghold quests, pirate cave etc.

To be forged pre-spellhold, at least: Cernd's cloak, Necro Amulet, Water's Edge +4, some rings of protection

Will try to finish the game within the next 12 months. Or so .

This post has been edited by pekkae: Nov 13 2021, 07:30 AM