Kerkes' IA5 walkthroughs, qwerty Options

[Sikret]

Ancient dragon was a wuss I'm affraid, I barely lost HP's there (if you can keep SI up, pfmw up, and drink fire res potions, he can't do nothing about it.

Well, the Ancient one can easily take care of your fire resistance potions with his lower fire resistance ability. The problem is that some players drink a dozen of fire resistance potions which due to a glitch in the vanilla game stack with each other and result in a ridiculously high fire resistance (ex: 300% fire res). This exploit is effectively blocked in v6.

[Kerkes]

planar Prison

Note - I forgot to mention some preperations (these apply to battles with both Firkraag and Conster) - both my sorcs know Minor spell trigger (I can afford it with 5 arcane casters) and f/ms also. So, prior to battle, I set 5 minor triggers loaded with (usually) magic missiles. When released, you have 50(!) of them in air, practically wasting buggers like Conster in a single round..

SPOILER!

The same thing I did here with Bounty Hunter Elite. However, I only had 1 "Chaotic Commands" casting, so she knocked both sorcs AND fmc unconciuss right off the bat..
Regardless, I succesfully survived with f/i's (Lirarcor and Harmony shield) untill Bounty Hunter's SI wore off (I don't waste scrolls here, simply survive for a minute or so). When sorcs woke up, it was over. 3x Lower res, breach, release triggers, cast maghic missiles, game over.
Warden was...hard. Since he leaves behind some nice scrolls, I avoid using SI here.
The battle was a bloodbath, even tough I killed him (relatively - before he cast damaging spells at least) quickly. he constantly dished out not Breach, but far more deadly "remove magic", which affected everyone. However, he doesn't have that much Hps or MR, so goes down quite fast.
1 sorc was down to Emotion, fmc and 2nd sorc were confused, and f/i's won the day.
Even after he was dead, the battle wass hard since I had no more Stoneskins, and I ended up drinkin over 15 healing potions and casting "lover resistance" at Hounds since I could barely hit them melee.
It was a fun, exciting battle at this lvls, and the most consuming for healing potions.

Next I did Unseeing eye. On a sidenote, play this BEFORE Planar Prison.

Went to kill Thaxsillya.
Not.

SPOILER!

Thax buffs up with his regular wazoo - stoneskins, Turning, Spell Shield
protag - secret word
f/i - secret word
Thax - fog
fmc - sweet air
thax - Silence on f/i
sorc - lower res
Thax - True sight
- Ruby ray on f/i
f/i - SI.abj
Thax - fog
fmc - air
both sorcs - lower res
Thax - RR on prot
prot - SI
Thax - RR on f/i
everybody - magic missile triggers
Thax kills someone, after that everyone dies, undoable doe to constant fogs, lvl drain and melee attacks, + he buffs up his MR

.
Left him for a later date.

Went to planar Sphere, had no trouble whatsoever. Picked up a lot of loot from Magical Container (most important Spell Triggers!!!) and forged some +2 cloaks and Phosphorous.

Went to fight Shade Lord.

SPOILER!

buffed up, enter battlefield.
fmc, both sorcs - RUby ray
f/i's - melee on Skeleton, he dies very fast
fmc - lover res on Shade
sorc1 - lower res
sorc2 - breach Shade
f/i's go for 2nd Skeleton
Shade - RR on prot
prot tries for SI, Patricks hits him and causes spell failure
Shade - RR on f/i
f/i - SI
1sorc - lower res
2nd sorc - magic missile
fmc attacks Patrick melee
Shade - Breach - protagonist
prot - SI:conj (low HP)
fmc stonskin - both Shade and Patrick are on her
sorcs both cast missiles
Patrick kills fmc

I reload.

2nd time around:
SPOILER!

all f/m's (including fmc) attack skeletons, both sorcs RR
Shade RR on prot
prot SI, disrupted by:Patrick
sorc RR
f/i -breach
both sorcs lower resistance
f/i attacks Patrick
1st Sorc - lower res
2nd sorc - remove magic
fmc - magic missile
Shade - RR on f/i
f/i - SI - disrupted, his strenght is now 16
sorcerers, fmc, protag all release minor triggers with magic missiles
Shade attacks melee
f/i drinks a potion, rest cas magic missile
Shade Breach on protag
f/i re-casts stoneskins
fmc attacks melee
sorcerers dish out Flame arrows
Shade attacks f/i melee, str is now 10
Everybody casts magic missile, Shade replies with PFMW and triggers Chain Lightnings, no harm done
prot casts Acid arrow
fmc Flame arrow
sorcs magic missiles
f/i magic missiles
Shade triggers Chain Con 3x ADHW

Game over, protag died.

Ok, 3rd time.
SPOILER!

Practically the same,few differences:
fmc casts True sight in buffs
prot no longer tries to refresh SI
instead, we go offensive, forcing him to play defence -
both sorcs open with RR, fighters go for skeletons
Shade RR on prot, as always
now, sorc casts breach on Shade, 1 skeleton is dead, fighters SWITCH target from skeleton to Shade, thus forcing him to cast pfMW.
2nd sorc has a clean aura - Breach on Shade, Shade pFMW again, fighters kill 2nd Skeleton, refresh Stoneskins, 1st sorc now Breaches him
Fighters kill him, the rest was easy.

I liked this battle, since it proves - the more offensively you play, the easier the game gets.

@ Sikret

I din't do that. When Dragon cast his Lower res, I drank a potion. No need to drink healing for f/m's here, since Dragon can't touch pfmw.

@Raven

No, but I played it at practically the same lvls of experience. It's much different than Thieflings however.

lvls after Shade

prot - 11/11 - gem golem
f/i - 11/11 - torgal
fmc 10/11/10 - gem
sorc -13 - Firk and Adamantine golem


Pirates Hideout. A bit long, but I enjoyed it a lot.

SPOILER!

Killed Captain melee, he din't activate Hardiness but a WW
coordinator opened with TS, sice we had illusions running
fighters kill pirates melee
coor - RR on prot
everybody spreads out, sorcs stay in backl
prot - SI
coor - RR on f/i
f/i - SI
coor - Breach at fmc (she doesn't know SI, poor gal, since I haven't yet visited Pai-na)
we wait
coor - malison at prot
coor - Chain Con -3x FoD at f/i, he saved (save vs Death is 1, has prot mag energy so 0 dmg done)
coor - Slow at prot, saves at -2
coor - Dragon Breath at f/i (has 70% fire res), he drinks healing
coor - Chaos at prot, save at -3 (Spirit Armor!!!)
coor - mordy sword
fmc - Death spell
coor - emotion at prot, save at 11
coor - ADHW at fmc (only target viable for this. I was beginning to wonder will he ever cast it!)
fmc drinks a potion
coor - breach at prot (SI wore off)
breach at f/i
f/i - monster summoning 1 - Ogrillon appears and attacks a lvl 20+ mage under SI, woo-hooo!
coor - remove magic at f/i
ogrillon attacks. In dire danger, Coordinator casts Apsolute Immunity
protag - SI
coordinator - emotion at prot, Ogrillon falls down
coor - animate dead (prot goes melee)
coor - Comet at f/i (he drank a potion)
skeleton dies
f/i drinks another potion
prot uses Protection from Lihtning Scroll
coor - Chain Lighning at f/i (AAAArgh!!! he fooled me!!)
coordinators SI wore off
fmc Oracle
f/i - Breach
coord - contingencied Stoneskin
1st sorc Lower res
2nd sorc the same
f/i drinks a potion, to be on the safe side even tough he has over 60 HP
coor breaches one sorc
both sorcs Lower res again
coor - emotion at fmc, she saved but it doesn't matter anymore
prot - trigger -2x magic missile (should have put Acid here)
f/i - trigger, missiles again
fmc - trigger, missiles, spell failure on Coordinator
sorc1 - trigger, Acid
sorc2 - trigger, missiles, again spell failure on Coordinator
everyone - magic missile
Coordinator - dead

Did graveyard, Tanova was a joke with SI, sorcs hit lvl 14.
One chooses RR for 1st spell, the other one - Mordy sword.

went for Temple Sewers party, SPOILER!

very easy now with Mordys, just use prot lightining and no

problem.

Since now I had Mordys (verryyy nice spell) I went for Ilithid hideout immediately, found it to be very easy. - SPOILER!

actually, any such battle (melee mostly with a single mage who gets RRayed and Breahed in 1 round - therefore, dead in 3 rounds) is now very easy. Fmc disrupted cleric's deadly storm, golems were a joke.
Now Alhoon.
There's an interesting thing about him, he usually doesn't cast pfmw - imp,haste, SI:abj, melee through his stoneskin - whatever, he dies. Simply rush him. The same tactic I used against that mage in Planar Sphere who wants to kill Valygar, buff up, kill him before he casts pfmw. Work like a charm, instead of refreshing SI, RRaying him or whatnot.
Elemental golem was somewhat a challenge, but not much. Sorcs were great here with anti-golem spells

Unfortunately, I found nothing useful in this area, but sold a lot of things, and had over 100 000 gp.

Went for Thax, yet again.
SPOILER!

I'm not going to write how to "magically" kill him, since I simply could not (if I had Cernd here, I'd waste him for sure, since Cernd can Sweet Air and Death Ward a lot) but with these guys - undoable. fog, lvl drain, 3x FOD CC, his (now fixed) illegal trigger with Spell Turning...impossible.
So, I went melee, killed him with little trouble. Still, I reduced his MR so I could "doom" him.
This was 1 single time where I found Shade lord easier than Thax

.

Also did Trademeet Tomb (melee), Teshal (melee, not a single HP lost), did Pai'na (finally SI for fmc), sorcs were great here with Chain Lightning and Larloch's spells.

Sailed for Brynlaw, at lvls:
prot 11/12
f/i 11/12
fmc 10/11/10
sorcs 14

I don' t know why Mithril golem is a problem, SPOILER!

he does have a decent AC, but he has much problems with illusionary spells (I do use mirrors vs.golems), killed him melee, Mordys don't live long but they help.

Most of Underdark was not a problem, but I feared Demon Knights.
Anyway, faced them at lvls:

13/13
13/13
11/12/12
17
17

SPOILER!

this was very fun and exciting, and f/m's are perfect here, since they can keep their imp.haste up unlike single class fighters, due to SI.
Took 6 reloads, after that I decided to use Spell Trigger scrolls, which proved decicive! Having something like prot fire (I do cast it in a trigger, don't know wether you can finish some battles without Trigger with fire prot), pfmw, Heal in a Trigger is awsome this early. The main thing was to kill one of them before he even casts TS, to kill the 2nd one before they kill all summoned Skeletons (both sorcs know this spell, it's a must have) and take the 3 left while sorcs re-summon skeletons. Skeletons lived long, since Demons could not find a target for their spell barrage.

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention - this game included cheating, in a way. Since I didn't reload if somebody died, I Ctrl-R'ed the dead after the battle (if my prot was alive of course, and fmc was dead - it happened quite often, actually) so I don't have to drag the stuff to a temple and
raise there. I didn't pick up Raise dead scrolls, to counter this somewhat. Yes, I cheated using Ctrl key, sorry, but dragging all that stuff is too taxing for my nerves.

Dracolich

SPOILER!

This was so far, the most difficult battle as some players noted - I believe f/m is the worst choice here. Relatively bad save vs death means you have to use some potions (I hade very few DW castings), relatively bad THAC0 means you can't hit Draco. Took some reloading, left the battle for sorcs once they hit 18, then overwhelmed him (using 1 Wish-make if rested) with Mordys and Skeletons, all hasted. I usually don't mind lvl drain, but do on f/mages, since they loose entire spelbook, and will die to next wail.. so I used a lot of lvl drain protection scrolls (which made Orcus a no-no).
It was hard, and impossible without a lot of summons.
Prot got the final blow in, (had 24 str with Phosphorous. Awsome weapon!)

and we exited Underdark at
14/14 Draco
14/14 elemental golem
12/12/12 Amber golem
18 Firk
18 adamantine golem

Did Samia, very easy (SPOILER!

Breach everyone via Wish, good-bye...)

Kruin Gith mage

SPOILER!

I tought it will be hard, since he's got a ton of RRays.
Well, it could be.
But it wasn't.
Took 4 reload, simple - buff up, rush him, with some luck he'll die before his trigger kicks in.
Tried some magic on him....my my, I suggest you don't. Fight him melee, much better.
Another option - instead of SI, use a lot of pfmws, stoneskins etc. I believe he has less Breach and Remove magic spells than Ruby Rays.
An interesting thing is that he usually doesn't cast "remove magic" if you attack with single-class fighters under heavy buffs like pfme, imp haste etc., which is odd.

This post has been edited by Kerkes: Jan 29 2009, 11:15 AM

[Sikret]

I din't do that. When Dragon cast his Lower res, I drank a potion.

And what do you do when he casts his second and third lower fire resistance abilities? One potion can't keep the fire resistance high for long and multiple potions exploit is blocked. So, I hope that the battle will be a lot more challenging in v6, not only for blocking the potion-exploit but also for a couple of new surprises the dragons in general (and the Great Wyrm in particular) will have in their sleeves.

[Kerkes]

Forgot about Drow ambushes..
I didn't find them hard, altough during the 1st one not all Drow (4 of them I believe) din't attack immediately so it wasn't a "complete Drow ambush experience". I noticed this late, so I didn't reload.
On a sidenote, SPOILER!

Drow don't have 100%Mr, so ADHWs are still useful.

@Sikret

What sholud I do? Drink another one. Check character sheet, search for Fire res, if below 100 drink potion.... They last for a while.
There is one thing you can do, actually. I believe (altough this I haven't tested) that Sunfire SETS FireRes on 100 and then a fireball hits you. So, sunfire will block all fire dmg regardless of fire resistance. As I said, I don't use it, but I'm sure it sets Fire res to 100. So, you can avoid Breaths by it, due to fast casting speed, and the Dragon usually stops a bit, casts lover res and then fireballs you. With experience, you can avoid it.

This post has been edited by Kerkes: Jan 29 2009, 12:32 PM

[Sikret]

@Sikret

What sholud I do? Drink another one. They last for a while.

Yes, that won't work in v6. The multiple potions exploit is blocked.

EDIT:

There is one thing you can do, actually. I believe (altough this I haven't tested) that Sunfire SETS FireRes on 100 and then a fireball hits you. So, sunfire will block all fire dmg regardless of fire resistance. As I said, I don't use it, but I'm sure it sets Fire res to 100. So, you can avoid Breaths by it, due to fast casting speed, and the Dragon usually stops a bit, casts lover res and then fireballs you. With experience, you can avoid it.

LOL, yes it will work if you can manage the timing accurately, because the sunfire spell sets fire resistance to 100% only for one second. It's too risky to rely on this and waste 5th level slots on sunfire in a battle against enemies who are totally immune to fire.

This post has been edited by Sikret: Jan 29 2009, 01:02 PM

[nicoper]

@ Kerkes:

Another attempt at guessing most difficult battle with your party, presuming it done soon after spellhold;

One can be postponed till you reach a high enough level:
- greater elemental golem in guarded compound, mostly due to magic purges and AC/thac0 issue with your party

One "mandatory to be done after spell hold":
- Mind flayer boss (don't remember exact name), but IIRC golems which are summoned need to be done with on melee, deal quite a lot of damage, and where not that easy to touch + mind flayers and aloon psionic attacks and spells very nasty for mages .

[Arkain]

Viper Queen, perhaps?

[Sikret]

Viper Queen, perhaps?

Yeah, I would vote for this too. Viper Queen can be very tough for a non-warrior-oriented party.

[Kerkes]

well done Arkain!!!

yes, it was Viper Queen, Sikret got it right also.

You'll both recieve a pm with your reward, hope you'll like it, in a week or so
will post more tomorrow or Monday

Viper Queen took 34(!) reloads (would be less with Power pootions, but I decided not to, just to check it out), I had 1 single Critical strike (fmc), fighter-illusionistz had none., it was very hard indeed, + her fog etc. Really hard, and she seems to be untouchable by magic.
Interesting thing was, when I finally succeded, the battle lasted only about 30 seconds. The longer she lived, chances for my party decreased (no endless Wishing).
You wouldn't believe the difference someone like kensai(in my previous party) does vs. Viper Queen. Good battle, altough I don't see how magic can kill her, she seems to have immunties to any MR lowering spell, + elemental resistance I believe.

This post has been edited by Kerkes: Jan 30 2009, 06:17 PM

[Sikret]

LOL, yes, I had Viper Queen in mind since the very first time you raised the question, but I didn't want to write it (I thought it might be unfair, because I know my own creations better than others) and was just waiting for someone else to mention it so that I can jump in to second his answer.

I think Arkain has not played IA for a long time (haven't read any reports from him since long ago), but he has a very good memory. Well done, Arkain!

[Raven]

well done Arkain!!!

yes, it was Viper Queen, Sikret got it right also.

Ah yes that does make sense. About the clouds, can you not just use Spell Immunity: Evocation? Or did the battle last such a long time that it needed renewing too many times?

[Kerkes]

@ Raven
I did use SI for cloud, however, if the battle lasted longer than SI, it was over. I managed once to kill her after a few minutes with refereshing SI, however refreshing SI takes time (Queen regenerates incredibly fast), and I'd run out of PFMWs + so many lesser vipers spawned that it was impossible to kill them all before they kill me.
In the final attempt, I believe luck was the deciding factor to finish it that fast, so only 10 or so vipers were left to finish off. I could have waited for a few more HLA's but I needed something from her.

And an explenation about Demilich in WK, or why was it so hard - he has also amazing AC, didn't even notice this before. Another problem, fmc (the only one with Death Ward casting) had only SI as a spell protection, she failed to learn Globe, Deflection AND Turning...and only she could cast Sweet Air.
It was pretty much like Viper Queen, mostly luck to finish it, + I learned his script by hand since I had to cast spells like SI before he even hit someone with Ruby Ray, since he has ultra-fast imprisonment castings. The battle lasted so long that even figh-illusionists' SI wore off before he died. Hard, and took some real concentration on counting rounds, + some luck to actually hit him hard before he Imprisonments someone, since that scrolls of Freedom can be sold for a lot of money.
As for Dracolich and why it was hard, LZJ described it very well indeed so I have nothing more to add.

@ Sikret
for Sunfire-fire res, yes, it would be difficult of course. However, the Dragon has a behaviour like this - Wing buffet - stop for a second - turn to target - breath attack. It's not impossible to guess when Sunfire needs to be cast.
But, I'll leave it alone anyway, and will not try it.

Forgot to mention the battle in Slaver Compound, did this after Lirarcor
SPOILER!

The strange thing here is that cleric here casts True Sight as a part of his prebuff sequence, therefore all illusions were automatically dispelled as soon as you enter his LoS.
I believe he is the only oponnent who casts TS in such a manner. It wasn't hard, but an interesting change, since his TS cannot be disrupted.

anway
after Kruin I forged some equipment, did most of the "rest of the stuff", finished various Strongholds, failed to save Pasha from getting killed (shouldn't he be a bit stronger in EDE? he dies so fast), did Green Wyrm in melee after 6 reloads (I fought him with magic 1st time, found it too easy since I had triggers, sequencers and minor seq on 4 out of 5 characters + both sorcs have Alcatry....overkill.) Melee was quite a bit harder, proved quite a challenge. A sorcerer can solo him without any help if you have Dragon's Breath or use Wish to refresh spellbook, Vecna is recommended but I had not found it yet I'm affraid.

Thieflings

SPOILER!

this took 1 reload, but otherwise it was a very fun battle. Problem here were those hounds, since I could barely hit them in melee, and they regenerate so fast. I had 0 critical strikes here, since as 1st HLA for figh-mages I usually choose extra spell slots. Took some time to actually kill them, and some luck due to Wild magic. Say, you cast pfmw, affects everyone and such stuff like "caster is spell target". It's a very fun battle (unpredictable) and I enjoyed it very much. I suggest having a Wand with Breaches ready for this one.

A suggestion : why not make that dog (I believe he's vanilla oponnent) a bit more powerful - say some spell abilities, dmg resistance (druidic spells like Creeping doom for example, wild magic doesn't affect him).

[Sikret]

failed to save Pasha from getting killed (shouldn't he be a bit stronger in EDE? he dies so fast),

SPOILER!

He is of course a lot stronger and tougher when he comes to your aid in EDE (he wears his family ring in EDE; something he doesn't have with himself in planar sphere. He also gains a few levels before you meet him again in EDE); keeping him alive in planar sphere is a part of the challenge of that quest and it's needless to mention that he won't appear to help you in EDE if already killed in planar sphere.

[Kerkes]

@ Sikret

SPOILER!

yes, I know. What I wanted to say that in EDE battle he dies too fast, in Planar Sphere I understand that he needs protection. I ment that in EDE he should be a bit tougher. If Prince targets him, he's as good as dead in 15 seconds.

[Sikret]

SPOILER!

Did you know that Pasha Mahmoud is actually immune to all of the nasty effects Prince's scimitar can cause (except the physical damage of course)? But yes, Pasha is no match for a greater god if left alone at his mercy. The player (if wants to keep him alive and see his final dialogue after the victory) should not leave pasha alone in the middle of so many enemies. He is very tough (he has 80% resistance to physical damage and 90% resistance to all other damage types and also has a big number of potions), but he can't survive for long without your help, specially if the prince concentrates on him (as you said). Some players simply start to run as soon as the battle begins; they can't hope to keep Pasha Mahmoud alive. I know you don't run, but still you should keep an eye on his health conditions and distract enemies from surrounding and overwhelming him. I know that it's easier said than done, but it's doable with concentration.

[Kerkes]

Will try next time, SPOILER!

but if Prince targets him even for a single round, even golems will chunck him in no-time from my experience.

He is a nice addition, tough.

Back to some writzing.
Most of the battles encountered with this party proved to be too easy, but there were still a few worth mentioning


Green Wyrm
SPOILER!

As I wrote before, too easy via magic, did melee, 5+ reloads, challenging enough, even tough Wyrm doesn't have such an exellent AC, mostly due to clouds.
It's much easier with use of magic I suppose.

Vanya's quests

Asassins
SPOILER!

5 reloads. If there are battles which cannot be won by only mages, this is a battle which cannot be won without them.
I still needed melee, but once (for the 5th time I reloaded) I put my sorcs to good use (DB + Wiltings), and f/m's usually cast fireballs, I finished it in no-time.
Last few rounds are usually, using Sikret's expression, a chessmach with the Coordinators.
It's a fun battle, and the only thing I mind here is inventory management.

Vipers

SPOILER!

As I wrote, one of the hardest battle for this party. Wish my fighters could have regeneration like that. The moment I stop hitting her to refresh SI, she gets back from "near death" to "injured".
So I had to kill her before SI runs out.
Hard, and had to rely on luck rather then relying on anything else.
The thing which "needed" to happen was as follows
only fmc had a single Critical Strike. So, under cover of imp.invisibility, we rush her, the moment she appears, fmc uses CS, both sorcs open with Wish, "make if rested" is a must, fmc uses CS again, Viper is near death if I get lucky. With a bit of more luck, f/i's also score a critical and voila. only 10 or so snakes managed to spawn.

Githyanki

SPOILER!

I once wrote that I don't reload here anymore, now I did for 3 times, since I really wanted to fight them with magic. Let's just say that either my knowledge of sorcerer's usage sucks or this battle is 10 times easier (actually, I have no idea how to kill Mlar and Hracknir with magic. I tried even TS+Shapechange to Mind Flayer (not in this run, in one of my first Anvil runs, I actually skipped Wish and choose Shapechange for Imoen, don't do it.) does nothing, they seem to be practically immune to magic), Lower Resistance is useless, but then again, I had Critical Strikes. For the final time I went melee on them, finished without trouble. This was the single time I had to use Mirror Image as a battle protection against a non-golem oponent, since f/m's got all their protections dispelled.
Pure fighters (barbarians rule this battle) are the way to go here, if anyone knows how to kill Mlar, Hracknir and Kruin with only magic before you get yourself killed, let me know via PM, will be grateful.

Demilich in WK

SPOILER!

Horrible. Figh-illusionists had everything - turning, deflection, globe, SI, sorcs had SI+turning, fmc had only SI + DW.
What does Demilich do?
RR on fmc
fmc does nothing, otherwise she's gone underground (SI has a long casting time, I had no Vecna yet)
remove magic on fmc
fmc DW on herself
Lich RR on sorc 2x
sorc refreshes his SI before 2nd ruby is cast (accurate timing was crucial. I had to cast spells in advance here, since I hate getting someone Imprisonmented)
fmc soon must cast fog
etc.etc.
In the meantime, f/i's must kill 2 golems, and do melee vs.Lich which lasted a while. Unlike Kangaxx, this guy has a very low AC.
Also, they must find time to refresh SI before it expires.
Which was hard, due to clouds, and fmc died in one of them.
Hard, and it would be much easier if fmc had learned a few more spell protections.
Decided never to play Anvil again without a single-class fighter, cause this battle really started to annoy me.

Saladrex

SPOILER!

This came pretty much like Melisan after EDE.
Usually I do it with a sorcerer, but not this time, since I wanted to try something else. Buff up fighters, run down, attack melee, sorcs stand ready for Breach once he pulls out PFMW.
Sal only managed to cast a RR on fmc, and died. Very easy (much easier thanm Green Wyrm), I hope this will be improved (how about giving him a permanent Fireshield? Some helpers?) somehow, such a late-game oponnent, has nice loot, yet falls so fast.

Twisted Rune

SPOILER!

I had my fighter-illusionists on mage lvl 18 here. 4x Time stop. 1 Wish, another 4x Time Stop. This will be impossible to do in Anvil6, but here is. Of course, it may be considered unfair, but Draconis and Abazigal do the same.
Anyway, found it too stupid for my liking, reloaded, and put Apsolute Immunity instead TS in my spellbook.
Found it challenging enough, f/m's are great here, since they can make themselves invurnerable to pretty much anything. We also had some Critical Strikes, decent weaponry like Wounding Sword and Poseidon, Elemental robe (protagonist) so it wasn't that hard. A nice battle,which gets 3 times easier once you use Critical Strike on Vaxall to kill him fast.
I don't know how to kill Vax with magic. I tried, Lower res works on him, however he seems to be immune to magic dmg, great elemental resistance etc.
Layene got scorched as per usual.
The others are more of a distraction. With Vaxall gone, you can play this automatically.

After Twisted Rune, went back to WK to do the Orc Horde. ISPOILER!

used my sorcs Time Stops constantly and the battle was under constant TS (no real fighting was done).

Lame....yes. Ah well, it works, perhaps it won't in IA6.
Went for Ancient Dragon.

Took abot 15 reloads before I gave up on him, I lacked Greater WW HLA to kill Nishruu quickly, otherwise it would be doable even at this stage.

Oh yes. For the most of the late-game, my sorcerers had 2 things to do - Wish and cast imp.haste. Why?
Say you fight a Rakshasa - your regular, ordinary every-day Horrid Rakshasa. (You have one in the Sewers beneath Temple District, go check him out!!)
Now, say you want your mage to kill him.
Ok, you buff up your mage (pfme, some fire protection, pfmw, SI:abj) so Rakshasa can not touch him.
You want to hurt Rakshasa.
You can't. Not only is he immune to elemets (all elements I believe) but is immune to Horrid Wilting also. And to all spells beneath a certain (8th I believe, perhaps 7th)
The 2 spells which work (perhaps there is more, but I don't know any) are Bigby's spells.
Now, my sorc knows 9th (powerful?!) lvl Bigby spell.
He casts it.
Rakshasa gets hurt for 7 - 10 HPs which he regenerates almost instantly.
I don't know just what can mages do vs.Rakshasa. Even 6 of them casting Bigby's will die before 1 Rakshasa does. Not to forget that Noble ones spawn more Rakshasa in the battlefield.
However, a fighter-mage can kill them without taking any dmg as long as he's under pfmw, pfme, fire prot and SI. (and wields some powerful weaponry)

I quit my former party (mage-heavy) for a number of reasons, not the least of which are, not in this order - boring, constant prebuffing with a ton of different spell protections, and mainly, due to the fact that game became very unbalanced (this was actually a valid point for throughout the game. Any enemy spellcaster behaved in a somewhat strange manner. One of the best examples of this was Firkraag. The only spell he cast was RR (aside from his silence), while we pumped magic missiles at him until he died. I also had more money than ever, some hot items never needed to be forged, all armor could be sold, so I focused mainly on rings of protection/whatnot, so even protection spells like Chaotic Commands were quite useless. Even Poseidon halberd was not all THAT useful). I quit playing after defeating Sendai and Draconis, right before facing Abazigal. Both Sendai and Draconis (I killed him in Time Stop. He has the same tactic, and I have no moral or gameplay issues wether I'll do the same to him (if I have a figh-mage, of course) proved to be very little challenge (I had finished WK, as I said, Ancient Dragon was very easy fight. However, it's the Drow fights in Sendai's enclave which made me really hate f/m multiclasses since those were not even "fights", merely a slaughter under pfmw. I doubt I'll play a multiclass figh-mage any time soon. If anybody wishes details of some late-game fights like Twisted Rune, WK or whatever feel free to ask.), and therefore, I quit. One interesting thing worth mentioning is that in battle vs.Sendai (everybody was deaf) a sorc managed to cast Wish. I can't remember which option I chose, however deafness was cured. The first time this happened anyway.

Regardless, I haven't played Anvil for some time due to RL work. Now I have some spare time on my hands, so decided to give it a go, in the anticipation if IA6. Since I find that I usually play better if I'm pausing the game for writing, I'll also write notes about progress. Hopefully, some good will come out of it.

I'll also post screenshots, even if I have a slow internet speed my girlfriend does not anymore so I'll post pics also. Of course, screenshots by themselves are spoilerish. So, don't look if you don't want to.
Also, some "hard" fights like say Demon Knights, Dracolich, etc. will be described in full detail, round by round, with pics and all so - enjoy.

Due to my experience (with mage-heavy party) I decided to go with a different (and much more standard, for that matter) party, including:

protagonist - dwarf, berserker, true neutral, name Mephisto (what can I say? Either you like Goethe or you haven't read him!)

18/98
17
19
13
14
2

started ith 5* in flails, * in dual wielding, at lvl 9 * in bastard sword, later we'll see. Probably dual wielding Phosp and DoTC, at least until ToB.
He uses a shield in the off-hand for the beginning and is to be my AC tank. He's cool. Doesn't look like a dwarf, but that's him. Party leader, 1st in line.
There is a reason why I didn't go with a good aligment - I don't like JD sword. It's awsome and all, but no tnx. Turning a single class fighter into a figh/mage with constant stoneskin/mirrors/turning/whatnot is not for me. Fighters are fighters and IMO, should not be able to cast stoneskin (even more, spell turning) on themselves unless they're f/m. (speaking of which, I also don't think druids should cast RR! a forest dweller, casting Ruby Ray, which is pure magecraft? I understand this is important spell for Anvil, but still..) So, no JD.

custom - kensai, dwarf, neutral, name Loren


18/84
17
19
15
15
2

2* 2handed, 2*sword, 2*staff, at 9 3rd for sword, at 12 and later max halberd. After that, max out staff. Has Montaron's portrait. Also doesn't look dwarvish, but that's him.


custom sorc, Dynaheir's portrait, name Sofia

10
16
16
18
10
9

and 3 NPCs from Bioware

Valygar
Nalia (1st time in Anvil for me!)
Anomen (1st time I'll make him good!)


The reasoning behind this is as follows:

1. AC is great early on. Really, it is. Even mid game (Underdark, for example) it's an awsome benefit. A berserker can go very low very fast, even lower with a shield, so there you go, my mega-tank is here. As for wpn proficiencies...I believe the single wpns in which grandmastery from start is useful are either flails or clubs. Since Valy uses clubs, prot took flail. There's no enemy in this game which a +4 blunt can not hurt (actually, there is. Magic golem!!).
2. Kensai is the coolest guy for 2handed wpns in Anvil, and is the only fighter kit who can use GWW HLA with a devestating effect on those hard-to-hit monsters. The fact these 2 fighters are dwarves is for 2 reasons:
1)I like dwarves, even tough I'm not a small person.
2)under Spirit armor and few rings, they have no fear of Web, confusion, Emotion, Slow...whatever. I have yet to see a dwarf failing his save vs. Wail of Dracolich, even if under Malison.
3. sorcerer needs no explanation. I will not supstitute her for Imoen, because Imoen has some spells I don't need (like prot fire, Oracle...) and lacks Spirit Armor, which I need. I have played Anvil without single class fighters, clerics, thieves, whatever. Yet, I cannot imagine myself playing without a sorcerer.
4.Valygar is the best Bioware Npc in Anvil. A bit low on Hp, but nobody's perfect.
5. Nalia - I tend to play wit 2 sorcerers and no thief, regardless of my party. However, I wanted a thief also so I chose her over Jan, for obvious reasons. I have not yet played her in Anvil, I used her in vanilla once I believe, incredibly annoying with her "less fortunate" outlook. Unlike a sorc, Nalia has a customizable spellbook, so she'll certainly come in handy. I redistributed her thieving skills however so she can disarm traps and can not unlock anything, for locks I cast "knock". Maybe I'll switch her for Imoen, I haven't decided yet.
6.Anomen. Ah well. Since I took Nalia and am stuck with "For the needy!" I can as well live with him as his awful banters.
His shield is a double-edged sword however, since he becomes the only one who gains immunites provided with Harmony shield.
Will forge it anyway, after a certain WK battle, and prior to another WK battle. He is also (actually, will be eventually) the main dispeller.
Nalia and Anomen are the reason why I usually play with my headphones on, listening to Pink Floyd.

That's it.

Difficulty is core after lvl 9 (I hate when I have that feeling as if I missed out on something), the usual and standard no cheese philoshopy is used, I guess. No cheap tactics (altough, I know that backstabbing is sometimes considered somewhat unfair. I also know that many people say that it's not that useful or powerful. It is as far as I can tell, if you know who to backstab.. I use it since that's what Valy is here for anyway.), no running away from fights etc.
As for Wishes, we'll see. In the previous run-through, one Wish Make if rested... casting was enough. Don't know about this party since I rarely used such strong melee oriented parties in Anvil (I prefered at least one multiclass, either a f/t - rarely or f/ill, blade or something that can fight melee under mage buffs.) We'll see how it goes anyway. Mirror images are a no-no, only for prebuff and golem/melee tanking fights, along with everything else no cheese written throughout several pages of this post.
I'll try to make this as detailed as I can, so some battles description will probably be very long. (for example, Draco)
My suggestion (if you want to read this, that is) - print it. Less eye-strain.

1 more thing - I posted some pics because of the text in window, not because they're so cool! Read carefully each picture for complete satisfaction!


Left dungeon (2 best mods for BG2: Anvil and Dungeon-be-gone!), did Circus quest, sold loot and bought Amulet +1 and some scrolls. Slums, CC, told Nalia I'll meet her later, Gov.District, Gates, Imnesvale, picked up Valy and did Mimic Blood quest. Went to Trademeet, got quest and went to wilderness.
Faldorn
Dear me...
8 reloads. But doable, even with a berserker with no proficiency in staff. Therefore, I used fist.
The main thing here are Bhaal abilities. Being True Neutral, protagonist had these innate abilites:
2x cure light wounds
1x Vampiric Touch
2x Horror

In addition with 2 Enrages as an 8th lvl berserker. Only 1 is to be used, however.
SPOILER!

Key to winning this battle was "Horror". It can disrupt several spells. It allows a save, which is bad.
Faldorn opens with Ironskins and Flame blade. As far as I can tell, there's no way to disrupt this, and there's no point in it anyway, since she has a lot of Flame blades.
She attacks melee, followed by Animal summoning. Now this has got to be disrupted, since my protagonist can not Charm animals. I had to use Horror here, not Vampiric since I had not been hurt yet. If she makes her save, reload.
If not, she'll fail to cast a few more spells.
She'll also summon Nymphs. Not as deadly as Bears, but buggersome. It has to be disrupted also. With "Horror", again.
She makes a save, reload.
One more spell has to be disrupted - "Regeneration". Since my protagonist was already badly hurt, I used Vampiric touch to disrupt this.
After that, I use Enrage ("Winded" state can kill you here, so waiting to Enrage is important) and finish her off.
With some luck with dice rolls (protagonist could hit her on a roll of 8 and higher when not Enraged), I managed to kill her.

Did Rakshasas also.

Returned to Trademeet, got reputation, sold loot.
Went to De'Arnisse keep and picked up Nalia, cleared 1st lvl of keep.
Gone to Docks and went for Beastmaster and Tabitha (do you know what a Berserker and kensai can do to Tabitha?!), finished very easilly.
Went in slums for Lirarcor at fighters lvl8, Anomen 8, sorcceres 9, Nalia 9.

Greater Crawler
SPOILER!

Protagonist had no +3 wpn to actually hurt him (I don't use Enchanted wpn spell, ever). Yet, he was still a crucial figure here. With a +1 Medium Shield and Ilbratha, Enraged he tanked the beast while Valygar and kensai attacked him. Sorceres lowered his MR (her 1st lvl5 pick is "Lower Resistance") so Anomen can Doom him, which helped a little.
With a bit of luck, he died.

Rats
I had no "Emotion". However, "Slow" worked very well also, and it comes with a -4 penalty. Protagonist got diseased, but Anomen saved him.

Shadow Lover
SPOILER!

Summons - Valhalla Warrior, Monster Summoning 2, Skeletons
Fighters attack under prot evil and haste (protagonist used a +2 axe, even tough he has no * in axes. He might hit a critical), Anomen casts Doom, Nalia casts Flame Arrows at him.
He killed my sorceres, but did not much else.

The Talking Sword is mine!
 Baldr002.bmp ( 1.37mb ) Number of downloads: 40


pics are the same. my bad, sorry

1st ambush
SPOILER!

Prebuffed in Thieves Guild as follows :
Spirit Armor for kensai, Nalia, sorceress and my protagonist
Prot evil
Protagonist Enrages
Valygar gets Chaotic Commands
Haste

Sorceress and Nalia both opened with Magic missile, aimed at Cleric. Failed to interrupt his Command casting, so he knocked sorceress out. Nalia got confused and wandered off. Fighters were still kicking, however. Anomen got badly hurt (he also got slowed) so he cast Sanctuary to survive without using up healing potions.
Kensai, protagonist and Valygar moped the floor with them even without mage support.

2nd ambush
SPOILER!

No prebuffs, they were gone since they ambushed me in forest. Protagonist's Enrage turned into "Winded" state from the start of the battle.
Again, failed to disrupt Cleric. He knocked out Anomen, Nalia and sorceress immediately.
Protagonist got confused, probably for the first and last time in game, and wondered off.
Valygar got slowed.
Yet, him and kensai (he made all saves) were enough to kill all of them.

Did Shadow Thieves, but forgot to report back for the reward. No matter. Payed 15K to Shadow thieves, finished 1st quest. Went fof Guild contact. A bit early, but still doable.
SPOILER!

Anomen gets AoP, Harmony shield and tanks the Bride.
Sorceress casts "remove magic" to open Contact for magic missiles.
Valygar backstabs him
Protagonist Enrages to avoid getting stunned.
We just fight him melee, while mages cast magic missiles at him
Took 1 reload, since at 1st try he killed Valygar (he sees invisible, and Valy failed to save vs Power attack).

Went back to Aran, fought Pai'na so my kensai gets a helmet.
Prebuffs are on the screenshot, as well as a crucial moment of this battle. Go Sofia!
Cleared out the rest of the Vampires on 1st lvl, not Tanova since I have no prot magic energy yet.

Pai na


Greater Yuan-ti

SPOILER!

buffs:
prot evil
haste
spirit armor for kensai and protagonist, Enrage
si:enchantment for spellcasters
Chaotic Commands for Valygar
Summon Kittix, Berserker and 2 skeletons

We kill Whisper fast.
Greater Lizard shows up, casts monster summoning 3, and attacks Kittix
Nalia - Oracle
sorceres - Secret Word

Greater - remove magic at protagonist, everything dispellable is gone
Nalia - Breach
Fighters attack summons

Greater casts malison
Nalia - Secret Word
Fighters attack melee

Greater fires his sequencer and activates stoneskins
Nalia casts Breach
Sorceres Lower Resistance

Greater - Chain Lighning via scroll
sorceress Lower resistance
Nalia waits

Greater casts pfmw
Nalia casts Breach
sorceress Lower resistance

Nalia casts haste
Greater drinks potion and attacks melee

Nalia casts Malison
Anomen casts Doom
sorceress casts Magic missile
Greater casts stoneskins

Nalia casts Slow, lizard fails his save
Greater starts casting Feeblemind at protagonist
Sorceress - Larloch's, but failed to interrupt

Protagonist made his save.
Greater tries for another spell, but gets interrupted and dies to my kensai.

Lvls prior Torgal battle

protagonist - 10 - Crypt King, 30%
Valygar - 10 - Ihtafeer, 30%
kensai - 10 - Shadow Lover, 38%
Anomen - 10 - bandit
Nalia - 11 - bandit - 0%
sorceress - 11 - nobody!!


Took 1 reload. This is probably a bit early for Torgal, but it's doable.
SPOILER!

1st time I failed to interrupt Storm of Vengeance, and he killed Anomen, Valygar and sorceress. I still won, but the losses were too heavy so I reloaded.
2nd time it went quite smoothly. I made a slight mistake a used SI:conj (pressed the wrong button) with my sorceress instead SI:enchantment. It didn't matter anyway, just a waste.
Protagonist drank Fire Giant strenght potion, Valy Hill giant
prot evil, haste, Enrage.
Sorceress and Nalia enter first, so golem goes after them
Anomen goes in 2nd, to draw Trolls on himself (this almost killed him!)
Torgal started True Sight to dispel Mirror images
Fighter bunch rushes in, and interrupts his True Sight. Victory is at hand.
Trolls hit Anomen badly, so he drank healing.
Torgal died fast, he managed to summon 2 bears and 2 panthers, but that's all - no Vengeance.
Nalia and sorceress simply re-cast mirrors and stoneskins, sorceress also fired 2x Fragmentation at golem.
Fighters killed summons, then trolls, and Valy got the final blow in to kill the golem.

Slavers

Got in through the Slums (a back door attack!)
SPOILER!

prebuffs:
prot evil
spirit armor for protagonist and kensai
spellcasters are under SI:enchantment
Valygar has Chaotic Commands on himself
haste

Enter

Protagonist Enrages (forgot to do this beforehand)
Valygar summons Kittix near Haegan
Kensai goes for Cleric
Anomen casts Raise Dead near Cleric
Nalia and sorceress cast magic missiles at Haegan

Protagonist attacks Haegan
Valygar drinks invisibility potion and backstabs Heagean
kensai attacks Cleric
Anomen Doom at Heagan
Spellcaster duo does nothing, they just wait

Fighters are involved in melee
Anomen casts "Chant" near kensai
Nalia cast "Slow" near kensai ( to a lethal effect!)
Sorceress magic missile at Haegan

Haegan does heavy dmg to Valygar
Valygar drinks healing potion
Nalia and sorceres cast magic missile at Haegan
Anomen goes up to heal Valygar
Slaver wizard shows up

Heagan dies to my protagonist
Anomen is still casting Heal
Wizard casts malison on kensai, who had taken 0 (!) dmg so far, 6 slowed assasins are on him and a thief is shooting arrows at him
Protagonist goes to help kensai
Valygar attacks assassins near now dead Haegan
Nalia casts malison near Cleric
Sorc casts Melf's at an asassin

Priest dies to my protagonist
Heal is cast. Anomen joins Valygar to battle asassins near Haegan
Wizard casts Emotion at kensai, both he and protagonist saved (protagonist is still Enraged)

Wizard casts Spider summons.
Figters and Anomen are still fighting asassins.
Spellcasters do nothing, I have no Rubys.

Wizard cast Chain Lightning at my protagonist, 10 dmg done.

Wizard casts Chain Lighning again, not much (12 dmg done)
Fighters are still fighting asassins.

Wizard casts Flame arrow at kensai
Anomen casts prot fire on kensai

3 asassins to go.
Wizard casts Melf's at my protagonist.
Enrage is off.

Wizard dispels our Haste and wizard buffs. Spirit armor on kensai is still on, however.

Wizard casts Flame arrow at Valygar
Anomen casts Mass Heal

Valygar got backstabed for 22 damage.
Wizard casts Breach on my sorceres.

Fighters kill last asassin.
Wizard casts Breach on Nalia.
Wizard's SI wore off.
Nalia casts Breach at him.
Sorceres casts Remove magic.

Wizard hits Anomen with Flame arrow for big damage
Valygar drinks invisibilty potion and backstabs Wizard for 12(!) Hp.
Contingency with Stoneskins triggers on him.

Nalia casts Breach
Wizard casts Acid arrow at my protagonist
We attack him melee (No spell removal spells memorized)
He dies.

Nalia and sorceres refresh stoneskins

Nalia casts Haste and disarms traps

Valygar backstabs 2nd (gnome) wizard for 80 HP with a critical hit and chunks him. However, he got very badly hurt (backstabbed for 26 HP, so he had less than 20 left) so he drank healing potion.

Fighters all go for the golem, he dies fast (I still had not reported to Shadow Thieves to get +3 shortsword!), kill the last 3 asassins and Yuan-ti, and get out

.


scnd picture is Torgal btw

Went to kill Thaxsillya.

Shadow Jailor

SPOILER!

Summons - Nalia 2x summon Earth Elemental
Anomen - Bears
buffs:
haste, prot evil, protagonist is imp.hasted and Enraged (Nalia, sorceress has prot magic energy as 1st lvl6 pick)

Fighters go for Jailor
Skeletons made really short work of summons, but so did my fighters did short work of Jailor
He still hurt Valygar very very badly (has 32 Hp)
Anomen started Heal on Valygar, however, one Skeleton switched target to Valygar and killed him immediately with 2 hits.
Luckily, they can barely hit my protagonist so him and kensai killed them without getting hurt very bad.

Finished the rest of Dungeon without trouble, no Liches were there (I had quite a few Chain Lightning scrolls however)
Did the rest of minor Alkathla stuff.

Thaxsillya

SPOILER!

No problem. Anomen gets AoP, all slots are Zone of Sweet Air.
Fighters are under haste and prot evil, spirit armor, Chaos Commands on Valygar, Enrage, DUHM
sorceress has no Breach yet (has Lower resistance and SI), but I have scrolls for that
Fighters surround him and attack
Sorceress casts Lower resistance to remove his Spell Shield, he Silences sorceress
Sorceress - Vocalize
Fighters bash him really good, so he casts his Trigger and Fog
Anomen - ZoSA
sorceress - Breach
Thax attacks my kensai
Nalia immediately starts Breach
sorceress's Breach reached him. He immediately re-casts his pfmw, but Nalia's Breach is already in air
sorcerss started another Breach, but too soon, Thax's Contingency with stoneskins kicks in
Thax casts fog
Nalia - Breach
Anomen - ZoSA
Thax casts Heal on himself, followed by pfmw. Bugger!
sorceress - Breach
kensai drinks a potion
Thax fog
Anomen - ZoSA
Thax - remove magic, sequencer malison slow, confusion at my protagonist, no harm done but Haste is off
Nalia casts Haste
Thax casts Cure Critical Wounds, followed by Fog
Anomen - ZoSA
Enrage is over, I just hope he doesn't use his Breath attack
Thax Breach at Nalia
Nalia, instead of refreshing Stoneskins, makes a kamikaze decision (she's standing right next to Thax) - imp.haste on kensai!
Thax hits Valygar for severe dmg.
Both him and Valygar are badly injured, Valy drinks a potion
Lirarcor - You deal, I'll cut!
Thax - fog
Anomen - ZoSA
Thax casts imp.haste on himself
Valygar runs in fear (Thax hit him for 60+ dmg very fast), Thax follows him
Kensai rolled a(n) (un)lucky 13 and killed the Dragon.

lvls:

protagonist - 12 - wielding FoA+3 and Saving Grace shield
Valygar - 11 - Treefolk, +3 Club
kensai - 12 - Lirarcor
Anomen - 12, +2 Morningstar
Nalia - 12
sorc - 12

Mencar's party


SPOILER!

prebuff:
prot evil, def.harmony, haste, Enrage

Fighters attack Orcslicer
sorceress casts remove magic
Pooky - malison at protagonist
Nalia casts Malison
Pooky casts slow, Valy failed save
Amon - Mordy Sword

Orcslicer dies. We attack Brennan (or something, a thief)
Nalia starts Slow.
Anomen - Chant
Sorceress magic missile at Mencar
Amon - remove magic, my protagonist's buffs are still on

Brennan dies
Nalia does something, however I seem to be unable to read my own writings , probably Haste
Fighters attack Mencar
Pooky - Chaos at Valygar, kensai failed save but he has Lirarcor
Amon - Breach at Nalia

Pooky - Hold person at Valygar, he saved
Mencar dies
Amon - PW stun at Nalia

Fighters attack Pooky
sorceress "remove magic"
Anomen - remove paralysis

Pooky dies
Nalia - imp.haste on Valygar
Valygar - prot fire/cold on himself
Protagonist and kensai attack Mordy sword
Amon fires his trigger 3x Lightning, Valygar is near death, so goes near Anomen to get healing
Anomen - starts Heal on Valygar

Amon starts another spell, I tought it's ADHW - not! PW:stun on Valygar. Anomen has no more "remove paralysis" memorized.
Protagonist and kensai both drink healing potions, and take distance from each other. There's no point in attacking Amon, only Valygar could hurt him (Treefolk) and he is stunned. Sorceress can't do nothing vs him offensivly.

Amon - ADHW on protagonist, 20 damage
Protagonist drinks a potion, Enrage is off
Nalia tries Emotion, Amon saved

Amon casts Emotion at kensai, he also saved

Amon Flame Arrow at protagonist
we wait

Amon - acid at Anomen, spell failure (tried prot fire on protagonist)
- acid at kensai
- acid at kensai
- magic missile at protagonist
Protagonist drinks potion
sorceress - mirror img

Amon - magic missile at protagonist
Amon's SI is off

Nalia casts Oracle
Amon casts Oracle

Sorceress casts Breach
Protagonist and kensai attack
Nalia and sorceress cast magic missile

Amon - imp.mantle, he's near death
Nalia - breach (a mistake, actually. I'd be better of with a magic missile, but it didn't matter)
sorceress - magic missile
Amon - death
Not all that great, but I didn't reload. Had no "Hold monster" and didn't want to buy it or restart and have Nalia memorize it.

Did Windspear Hills, forged Horn of Valhalla, bought 9x resurgence, 3 potions of Fire Giant Strenght, went to fight Conster

Conster

Once I wrote that some battles are more fun if someone is dead. This is one such battle:

SPOILER!

buffing - regular:
spirit armor for kensai and Valygar
fighters drink potions of strenght, not Resurgence
haste, NOT imp.haste (I don't know why, I simply forgot)
prot evil

Fighters stand near entrance, Anomen stands at the door, mages go for Conster (they have no SI running, but have mirror img)

sorceress - RR
Nalia - RR
Conster - True Sight
Sorceres - RR
Nalia - Breach
sorceress - magic missile
Anomen - mass heal
Conster starts Breach at Nalia
Nalia - magic missile
sorceress - magic missile, spell failure on Conster
Anomen - Heal on Valygar
Valygar and kensai drank Resurgence
Nalia disrupted Conster's another spell
Conster - fires a trigger 3x Lightning at Nalia, killing her, sorceress was out of range (I completely forgot about this. As I said, I haven't played in a while)
sorceress does nothing now
Conster - a purple spell is being cast very fast. Sounds like Conjuration. Yup, PW:kill on Valygar. Anomen's Death Ward arrived too late.
Valy is dead, but so are the skeletons.
Now, the thing was - all Breach spells are with Nalia, and I need some for Firkraag. Therefore, my sorceress killed Conster solo while not allowing him to cast a single spell off with Acid arrows and Vampiric Touches, since she knows no Breach.

Rasied dead, went for Firkraag.
SPOILER!

haste, prot evil, spirit armor on kensai, Enrage
Spread out, Anomen has AoP, Nalia and sorc are away from each other, fighters surround and attack him
sorceress - lower resistance for Spell Shield
Firk - silences sorceress
- True Sight
sorceress - Vocalize
Firk - wing buffet on protagonist, stoneskin
Firk - RR on sorceress
Sorceress - SI
Firk - RR on Nalia (Nalia has no more SI memorized)
- RR on sorceress
sorceress - SI
Firk - pfmw
Nalia - Breach
Firk - RR on sorceress
- pfmw
sorceress - SI
Firk - pfmw (fighters switch to normal wpns. Kensai rolled a critical!)
Nalia - Breach
Firk - remove magic at protagonist
Nalia - imp.haste at protagonist
Firk - RR on sorceress
pfmw
Sorceress - Breach scroll
Firk - malison, contingencied stoneskins trigger on him
Nalia - her last Breach
Firk starts a Necromancy spell, but dies to my protagonist before he cast it.
Healing potions used - 0.

Sorceress and Anomen hit lvl 13. 2nd pick is Imp.haste.

Visited Cromwell, forged Red Dragon Scale and Shadow Dragon Scale (Red is for my protagonist, Shadow is for Anomen)

Planar Prison

1st fight with Elite Bounty Hunter (EBH)
SPOILER!

mages are under SI:enchantment
Valygar has Harmony shield
prot is Enraged
prot evil, haste, spirit armor for kensai

sorceress, Nalia - magic missile at Yuan-ti
protagonist and Valygar go to attack Hounds
kensai goes for Yuan-ti
Anomen attacks a Bounty Hunter

Valygar gets really badly hurt (I believe he failed his save vs.Blade Barrier. Ouch!) so drank a potion
Nalia casts mirror image
sorceress casts stoneskin (Pixie halfling is on them)
EBH - Breach on sorceress
Anomen - Death Ward on sorceress
kensai attacks Pixie guy

sorceress casts stoneskins
Valygar drinks Resurgence
EBH - Breach on sorceress
Anomen - DW on sorceress
Hounds are now both dead

Anomen starts Heal on Valygar
kensai and protagonist drink Fire resistance potions and attack melee with normal weapons
Nalia - imp.haste on protagonist
Valygar - protection fire/cold on kensai

Anomen - protection from fire on Valygar
EBH - sequencer - malison, emotion, slow - Valygar failed to save vs.Slow
Sorceress - imp.haste on Valygar

EBH - stoneskins
sorceress - imp.haste on kensai
Anomen - mass heal
kensai drank a healing potion (EBH is attacking him)

Anomen - def.harmony
EBH - Greater Command - Anomen takes a nap

EBH - pfmw
sorceress - imp.haste on protagonist

EBH - Greater Command, Valygar joins Anomen on the ground
EBH's SI wore off
Nalia - Breach

EBH - hold person at kensai, he saves

- Hardiness

Sorceress - Breach (she knows it now)
kensai drinks a potion
Nalia - imp.invisibility on kensai

EBH - Hardiness
sorceress - Breach
kensai is near death, drinks a potion

EBH - death

Warden
SPOILER!

I forgot to take battle screenshots (got too involved in playing!), however, the battle went on exactly as follows:

buffs:
prot evil, protagonist and kensai get Spirit armor, haste, imp.haste on protagonist and kensai, stoneskin - no SI

Break the orb
killed 2 Hounds there very quickly
we wait

Nalia and sorceress go in front
As soon as Warden comes (along with his dogs and a Mordy) 2x Ruby is fired at him
Warden uses his lasso on Nalia, but she goes back into formation
Fighters attack hounds
Warden casts pfmw and attacks kensai

sorceress 2nd RR
Nalia casts Breach

sorceress casts "remove magic" for his mirrors
Warden - Breach at sorceress

Fighters all leave Hounds, and attack Warden, he gets badly injured ASAP
Warden - Hardiness
sorceress - Breach

Nalia - magic missile at Warden (2 of which got past his MR)
Warden - dead as soon as Breach hit him
Anomen - mass heal

Enrage is off, Anomen Chaotic Commands on my protagonist
Mordy is attacking Nalia, she refreshes her stoneskins
2 more rounds, and all of the Hounds are dead
We all go for Mordy, and kill it.

Kensai, protagonist and Nalia hit lvl13.

Temple Sewers party

This was the most pleasureble battle thus far.
lvls:

protagonist - 13 - Firkraag
Valygar - 12 - Gem Golem
kensai - 13 - Thaxll'ssillya
Anomen - 13 - Greater Wraith
sorceress - 13 - Conster
Nalia - 13 - bandit

SPOILER!

prebuff:
haste & Spirit Armor for Valygar
protagonist and kensai get imp.haste and Spirit Armor
protection from Evil
Valy used a green Prot Electricity scroll
mages are under SI:abj
Protagonist is Enraged, DUHM is on
sorceress is mirror imaged

Talk to them, they want gold, I ain't giving it, battle errupts

protagonist and kensai attack the nearest cleric - Zorl
Anomen summons the Berserker warrior
Nalia starts RR on Gaius
Valygar goes to attack 2nd cleric, Rengaard
sorceress casts "remove magic"

Zorl is dead (the beauty of having a kensai)
Berserker appeared
All fighters go for 2nd cleric
sorceress casts RR on Gaius
Nalia casts Malison
Gaius casts RR on sorceress

Anomen casts Mass heal
sorceress casts Breach at Gaius
Rengaard dies to my kensai
Nalia starts "Slow"
Gaius casts RR on Nalia
Fighters attack Draug Fea

Nalia's "Slow" had a devestating effect - Draug Fea, Aerial servant and Gallchobhair all failed their saves
Hatchetman made his save, Gaius was out of Area of effect

Draug Fea is dead
kensai and Valygar drink healing potions
Anomen summons bears
Nalia starts Emotion
sorceress casts "remove magic" for mirrors on Gaius

Hatchetman started attacking my sorceress, kensai attacked him to help my sorc
protagonist and Valygar go for Gaius
Bears appear
Emotion is cast
sorceress does nothing, wait
Anomen nothing, he also waits to see what will happen

Gaius failed vs.Emotion! Go Nalia! For the needy!
Protagonist and Valygar immediately switch targets to attack Hatchetman, who activates Hardiness
sorceress - Breach at Hatchetman
Anomen started Heal at kensai

Kensai is near death, drinks healing (Gallchobhair is attacking him)

Heal arrived in time.
Hatchetman is dead.
All fighters attack Gallchobhair, who fails to save vs. Flail of Ages' "slow" effect, and dies in no time.

We attack and kill the now unconciuss Gaius and Aerial Servant.

Enrage ends, and Gaius joins the rest of his comrades in the afterlife.
The big winner of the fight - Nalia! Her "slow" and "emotion" had more effect on the battle than a Fireball ever will.

Took loot, sold a lot of it, now had exactly 108,169 gold. I also had everything I need to forge Phosphorous (just needed to upgrade Morning Stars and buy Mauler's Arm)
However, I also had a ton of rings and Cloaks.
Decided not to forge anything, but instead, went for Shade Lord.

What follows here is a rather comprehensive report of how I lost this really awsome fight - Anomen was still lvl 13 and I had no Greater Restoration yet. Nice screenshots included! Somewhat tragic...
Doable, and took 1 single reload.

SPOILER!

prebuff:
prot evil, Spirit armor for all fighters, prot mag energy for fighters, Chaotic Commands for Valygar
Nalia and sorceress Death Ward + SI:abj
imp.haste on all fighters
Enrage, DUHM
Valy drinks 1 Resurgence
Attack!

Anomen summons a Berserker Warrior near Shade
Nalia reads a scroll of Ruby
Sorceress - Air elemental via staff, near Shade
protagonist - attacks Patrick
kensai and Valygar - attack Skeleton Lord
Shade - True Sight

Anomen - Summon Bears near Shade
sorceress - RR
Valygar - badly hurt, drinks big healing potion
kensai got strenght drained (I used no strenght potions here, I had only Storm Giant for Phosphorous and decided to save money)
Shade - RR on Nalia and attacks kensai

Anomen starts Heal on kensai
Patrick is badly injured, protagonist is uninjured
one Skeleton Lord is near death
Shade - RR on sorceress

Valygar's morale broke
kensai dies before Heal is cast
Anomen dies immediatly after kensai (Skeleton Lords, 3 hits and he's gone)
Patrick dies
Protagonist attacks the near death Skeleton Lord and kills him
sorceress - Breach on Shade
Nalia - SI
Shade - Breach on sorc

sorceress - Remove fear on Valygar, Valygar composes himself and attacks the 2nd Skeleton with my protagonist

Shade - RR on Nalia
sorceress - RR on Shade
protagonist and Valygar killed 2nd Skeleton Lord, 5 shadows are attacking us

sorceress started "remove magic"
Shade - remove magic - Valygar's buffs are all gone, but protagonist's buffs are still on
Protagonists attacks Shade, Valygar attacks altar

Nalia casts imp.haste on Valygar
protagonist gets strenght drained and drinks healing potion
sorceress started Lower resistance
Valygar is still attacking Altar, has no more Protection from Magic Energy on

Shade Lord casts pfmw
Protagonist attacks altar and destroys it. His strenght is 15.

Nalia goes to Valygar, to cast pfme on him
sorceress cast Breach
Shade cast Emotion, and Valygar hugs the ground.
Protagonist drank big healing potion.

Nalia does not cast pfme, since Valy is out. Instead, cast "slow". Most of the shadows failed their saves.
Breach reached Shade, sorceress started Lower resistance

Protagonist attacks Shade.
Shade Lord cast Finger of Death at Nalia, she saved.

sorceress casts another Lower resistance
Enrage wore off
Nalia just waits
Shade casts pfmw

Nalia casts Breach
Sorceress casts Melf's acid arrow
Protagonist attacked a shadow, there's no point in attacking Shade through his pfmw

Protagonist's strenght is 12.
Nalia starts Malison.
sorceress casts magic missile.
Breach is cast

Shade casts yet another pfmw
protagonist attacks shadow again

sorceress cast magic missile
Shade is barely injured.
Nalia casts her last Breach.

Valygar wakes up.
Shade Lord rolls great dices and kills my protagonist via strenght drain.
AAAAARGH!!

Reload.

Get back up there, and change the approach:
SPOILER!

Valygar - Valhalla warrior near Patrick
kensai - Kittix near Patrick
Anomen - Bears near Patrick
sorceress - Air elemental near Patrick (let's see how long before Patrick handles all of this..)
protagonist - rushes in front, to meet the mighty Skeleton Lords head-on, as a brave Dwarvish berserker should!
Nalia - RR on Shade
Shade - RR on sorceress (I had no illusions!)

All fighters attack 1st Skeleton Lord, and he dies really fast. We go for 2nd.
sorceress started Ruby ray.
Protagonist drank big healing potion.
Anomen started Raise dead near Patrick
Nalia waits

2nd skeleton Lord dies.
sorceress casts "remove magic" for mirrors
Shade casts RR at Nalia
Nalia casts Breach at Shade Lord
1 bear and Kittix are still alive near Patrick. Cool. Little skeletons also appeared.

kensai and Valygar go to attack Patrick
Protagonist got strenght drained to 18/98 (DUHM is still on. Skellies died really fast.)
Nalia casts pfme on sorceress (via scroll) and moves near Patrick

Patrick is near death
Shade casts pfmw and attacks my protagonist

Shade casts Breach at Nalia
Anomen started Heal at Valygar (Patrick hit him)
kensai goes to attack Shade
sorceress casts Breach
Nalia waits

Breach reached Shade
Protagonist and kensai hit him
Valygar is healed and joins my protagonist and kensai
Anomen starts attacking the altar

Shade Lord is badly injured, protagonist's strenght is 15. OK.
Shade casts pfmw
Nalia - Breach
sorceress waits

Shade is now only injured, since he regenerates
Breach is cast.
sorceress started Breach, since I know what Shade's next move is

Enrage is over
Shade of course casts pfmw (he must, or he's dead), but Breach from my sorceress is already cast - his pfmw lasts for 1 second before it reaches him
protagonist's strenght is 14.

Shade dies. Go Valygar!

We all attack altar, sorceress imp.hastes Valygar.
Victory!

Sold some loot from there I don't need, forged Phosphorous.

Now, what to do?
Pirates are very doable by now, I still have to visit Planar Sphere, and fight Vampires.
But I'd also like to finish Ilithid Hideout in Sewers and Slavers in Temple district to get Celestial Fury for Valygar. (yes, it's hard, and yes, it's doable, even at this lvls, even with this party, and yes, I did it.)
Also that undead cleric with Ghoul Armor (+4 vs Death!!! Draco, where's thy sting?)
I have no RR as a spell yet however, and am left with 3 RR scrolls. No Mordy sword (this is really bad, btw). No Greater Restoration. We'll see how it will go, since I don't like Spellhold V2.

Decided to go for Pirates, since it's near Cromwell, some stuff from there is badly needed, and I won't get much exp there anyway.


Pirates Hideout

Strange thing happened here anyway - I'll explain when it comes to that. No reloads. it's on screenshot anyway.

SPOILER!

prebuff:
prot evil, Spirit armor for Valygar and kensai
imp.haste on protagonist and kensai
Death Ward, Prot magic energy, SI:abj for sorceress
Nalia forgot to memorize SI, but she's also under DW
haste
sorceress in under mirror img

Enter

sorceress rushes in front, so Coordinator concentrates on her and she casts "remove magic"
Coordinator - True sight
all fighters attack Captain
Captain hurts my protagonist somewhat, he activates WW attack but dies fast
protagonist drank healing potion
Anomen casts Chant
Nalia starts "Slow"

Fighters kill 1 pirate (protagonist rolled a critical for 58 dmg!)
Coordinator - Ruby at sorceress
Fighters attack 2nd pirate
Anomen casts Mass Heal
Sorceress - SI

All pirates are dead (protagonist rolled another critical, 56 dmg!)
We spread out.

Coordinator - RR at sorceress
sorceress - SI

Coordinator - remove magic at kensai
we wait

Coordinator - malison at kensai, he drinks potion of healing

Coordinator - "slow" at Valygar, he saved
sorceress - "remove magic"

Coordinator - ADHW for 38 dmg on kensai, he drinks a potion

Coordinator - Dragon's Breath at protagonist, 26 dmg

Coordinator - Chaos at Valygar, Valy failed his save and attacked Coordinator

Coordinator - Apsolute Immunity

Haste wore off
sorceress - SI
Coordinator - Tensers Partial

Coordinator - Mordy Sword

Coordinator - Emotion at protagonist, he saves

Coordinator - Animate Dead
sorceress - imp.haste on kensai, he attacks Mordy sord

Coordinator - Chain Contingency - 3x FoD at sorc
Now - she rolled only once (19) and saved, but did not have to roll 3 times?! First time I saw this happen. A bug?
She had prot magic energy on, but still suffered spell failure

Coordinator - Comet at kensai - yikes! DEADLY. Valygar also got affected, but took much less dmg than kensai
kensai has 29 Hp left, he drinks big healing potion
Anomen casts Death Ward on Valygar (Valy had 33 Hp)

The worst part of battle is over.
Coordinator - Apsolute immunity
kensai drinks another potion (Mordy hit him also)

sorceress started Vampiric Touch on Mordy
Anomen - Chaotic Commands on sorceress

Mordy sword dies.
Coordinator - Emotion at Valygar, both him and protagonist saved

Coordinator's SI finally wore off
Coordinator - Chain Lightning at sorceress
sorceress drinks a potion, so she's still above 59 HP (Anomen has no more DW)
Nalia casts Oracle
kensai and Valygar drink healing potions

Oracle is cast
sorceress starts Lower resistance
Coordinator - Breach at Nalia
Anomen - starts Heal on kensai
protagonist drinks a potion (I drank this much potions since I know what's going to happen very soon)

Nalia - Breach, failed, since Coordinator's sequencer kicked in.
sorceress casts stoneskins

Nalia - Oracle
sorceress waits
Coordinator - Emotion, kensai failed his save and goes down

Coordinator - starts an Abjuration spell at sorceress (her SI is off, wore out), I figured it's Breach
sorceress - Larloch's, to interrupt
failed to interrupt - Coordinator cast Spellstrike!! I don't understand how this happened, or why, she had not a single spell protection on her anymore

sorceress starts Lower resistance
Nalia casts Breach

protagonist attacks him, contingencied stoneskins trigger on him, he casts Apsolute Immunity

Nalia casts imp.haste on protagonist
Coordinator - Breach at sorceress

Coordinator - Emotion at protagonist, he saves
sorceress - Breach via scroll

sorceress casts magic missile
Nalia casts Acid arrow

Coordinator - dead, my protagonist killed him, yet he managed to fire his trigger 3x Lightning, which we barely survived, Valygar was left with 10 or so HP (that's why I drank healing!)

Nice loot, however, 1 very useful item and Valygar gets it. Sold everything else (well, not EVERYTHING) but preserved a certain item for a very important upgrade later on.

Now I had 3 Ruby scrolls (badly needed for Sphere) and 38K gold.
Did the Vampires without problem, reported back, Anomen finally hit lvl14.
sorceress still needs 220 000 exp to reach that magic lvl 14.

Went to Planar Sphere.
Had to reload once (Engine room golem battle) since Valygar got chunked. Nothing more to be said since this area is very easy.
Nalia and sorceress are now both at 14 lvl.
After selling loot from Sphere, I had 86 000 gold.

Did Teshal, very easy. SPOILER!

Not much to be said, simply rush him.

Bought 6 Resurgence potions, 3x Magic Shielding, Frost Giant, Magic Protection and some Invulnerability potions
Went for Ilithid Hideout

This was a mistake actually, but how could I had known they had such crappy loot - nothing I can use, just 1 item which is not so useful by itself anyway. Bah. And a +3 Hammer, of course, but nobody uses hammers yet.
It's a risk, and I always take it, regardless of the party composition.

Anyway, here's the battle:

Note: I don't know wether this is "cheesy", it's not for me but I use 1 character to lure the enemies into the big round room near entrence, since otherwise strange things happen like your fighters will be untouchable by golems (way will be blocked) or some other enemies. So, I fight in the big, clean area, which is fair as far as I can say.

SPOILER!

prebuff:
mages - stonskin, SI:enchantment
imp.haste for fighter
Spirit armor for fighters
protection from evil
DUHM, Enrage

Protagonist charges in front to trigger the battle, then runs back, goons follow him

sorceress and Nalia - RR at mage
fighters attack the asassin
Anomen does nothing

Asassin activates his "asassination", but dies immediately
We attack a fighter, Gem Golems appear
Cleric is also here. Kensai immediately charges on him, but casting of Storm of Vengeance was too fast! Kensai returned to attack the fighter
Storm of Vengeance is headed for sorceress. I can only hope she makes her save and does not get poisoned. Nalia and Anomen are out of Area of effect.
Nalia starts RR scroll

Fighter is dead.
Fighters attack 2nd fighter (he activated Power attack I believe, it doesn't matter)
Fighters still took - 0 dmg!! What can I say - AC!!
kensai now attacks Cleric
mage casts RR at Nalia
Anomen summons 2 bears near mage

Fighter is dead.
Protagonist now tries to attack the mage, but cannot reach him. Bah. I hate this. So, protagonist starts attacking a Gem Golem.
sorceress is in the Storm. Therefore, uses a Breach scroll on mage.
mage cast Breach at Nalia.

kensai drinks a potion
Breach is cast.
sorceress is near death, she drinks a potion
we just press on the attack

mage casts pfmw
Nalia, sorceress and Anomen just wait, no point in Breach since I cannot reach mage
kensai drinks a potion (Golem)
Cleric finally dies
kensai attacks Deva

sorceress drinks another potion
Valygar joins my protagonist, and they both bash a Gem (Gem is badly injured)
Nalia and Anomen wait

Deva finally dies. Way to mage is open!
sorceress starts Breach
Golem dies, Valygar and protaginst attack 2nd one
mage - remove magic, only Valygar's buffs are still on

Breach is cast
Nalia casts haste (she has no more imp.haste memorized)

kensai attacks mage, forcing him to play defence

2nd golem is near death, we are still fairly high on Hp. No need for Greater Restoration.
mage - uses a scroll
sorceress - starts imp.haste on kensai

mage-pfmw
Golem dies
Nalia - breach

mage fires his sequencer - malison, emotion, slow, we all saved
Enrage is over

mage - Hardiness
sorceress - Breach

mage - death, kensai rolled a deadly critical

Alhoon
and Valy did not survive!
3 reloads.

SPOILER!

prebuff - prot evil, summon 2 bears + 2 skeletons
spirit Armor on protagonist, kensai and Valygar
imp.haste on fighters

Charge!

It didn't work this way.
Ok, let's try a different approach.
This is a nasty area, the battelfield is very small and tends to get crowded with summons, Golems, and Mind Flayers.
Speed is more than essential. Your best friend is imp.haste.
In my game, Chaotic Commands offer no protection in this area. Perhaps this is a bug, but whatever. Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings will not fail their saves, but Valygar, Anomen and others will. Therefore, Valygar had to drink Magic Shielding.
You can kill Alhoon fairly easily, actually, he doesn't use pfmw. He does use remove magic, however. No problem, as long as he doesn't hit everyone with it. You can actually kill him (if lucky enough) before he does anything. But this is a bit cheesy, so no. He also blocks the way for golems since he appears at the door, so you can simply kill one by one as they come through the door.
Since I wanted to fight without such help, I triggered dialogue and retreated back to the room, we'll have some space there, and so will he.
Fighters go back to the main room, where our spellcasters and summons are waiting.
I'll mostly describe this with pictures, not round by round. It is still a long read, if you know what to look at

I decided to write something about these pics. SPOILER!

Anyway, the main tactic is - Alhoon dishes out "remove magic" very soon. The best way is to have 1 character take it - my protagonist, since he's got the best saves and fears no Psionics. He rushes back to the room, gets buufed again and fighters then attack. It's not crucial to kill Mind Flayers before Umberhulks or whatever - however, attacking ONE enemy at the time is crucial. If an Ulitharid manages to cast his illusions, you're playing it bad. If 3 imp.hasted fighters attack 1 single Ulitharid, chances are he'll die before he casts anything.
Leave Alhoon for last. He takes at least 2 rounds to kill, and have summons keep Elemental Golem at bay. You don't have to fire Ruby on Alhoon, just bash through his defences. Also - keep moving, be quick or be dead.

pic 094 is basically how I lost Valygar here. SPOILER!

Poor guy can survive only 1 hit from an Elemental, protagonist and kensai only 2. Therefore, some potions (BIG potions) had to be used.

This is the 2nd battle where I had Anomen actually fight in melee.


Pic 96 is when Elemental finally went down. Sorceress and Nalia are crucial here.

Pic 98 is the end of the battle. And interesting thing was that Anomen did not use his Greater Restoration in this battle, I always tought "I'll use it later" so I never actually did. Could have saved Valygar, perhaps? Actually, no. Valygar took a hit from an ordinary Golem and immediately took 2nd from an Elemental, and died before I could do anything.
All had full HP anyway, and saving Valygar was not an option I'm affraid.

A mistake was I did not use Ilbratha mirrors on Valygar, however.

some more of Alhoon:

Bought some Resurgence potions, and Potions of Apsorption.

Getting Celestial Fury

SPOILER!

Protagonist drank one Apsorption, Valy also one, Valy also gets Girdle of Bluntness.
All fighters drink Oil of Speed.
Mages are under stoneskin and mirrors.

Enter door. Had a very brief conversation.
"Let's have it then!"

Opening -

protagonist rushes in front, to trigger the Horde of Golems, asassins, various crap summons (Nalia, my dear Nalia. Death spell is her job) and Skeleton Lords.
They appear, protagonist goes back into formation.
Nalia reads a Death spell scroll, target - Nishruu.
All minor troops die.
Fighters attack a Skeleton Lord, and drink 1 Resurgence each.
Golems can hardly hit us, of course. Kensai still took big dmg from asassins (had no Spirit Armor), and every figter got poisoned. Still, no problem - kill Lords, than Asassins, finally golems. It's a good idea to use Vampiric Touch on them, to boost up HP prior to the main battle.
Spells wasted downstairs - 1 Heal, on kensai. 2nd 6th lvl spell are Bears.
Potions - 1x big healing, 9x minor healing, 1 resurgence
Anomen still has his Greater Restoration and Mass heal. Wait and see just how USEFUL this was!

Main group


SPOILER!

prebuff for upstairs:
sorceress - Death Ward, SI:abj, mirror img
Nalia - stoneskin, SI:abj
protection from Evil
Valygar - 1x Resurgence, Potion of Invurnerability (I don't want any failed saving throws in this battle. It was a waste, actually. Ah well.)
kensai - Spirit Armor, 1x Resurgence
protagonist - 2x Resurgence, since he's the one who will take the hits on himself.
haste
imp.haste for all fighters
Enrage
Def.harmony on top of it all

Mages go to the right side of battlefield to keep Sion busy
Anomen holds his ground. He is to take on Ketta.
Fighters must fight the main bunch, obviously.

Bad start.
Ketta backstabs Anomen for big dmg. Anomen attacks her (has Ages), Slows her, and drinks healing.
Stalman launches his Storm of Vengeance, targeted on my protagonist.
sorceress and Nalia cast Ruby at Sion

Anomen is really badly hurt. Valygar breaks formation, and goes back up to help him.
Anomen dies to a backstab.
No Restoration anymore (I said it was useful! )
Protagonist and kensai are still attacking Skeleton Lords.

Ketta dies. Way to go, Valygar!
Sion threw a Ruby at my sorceress.

Nalia starts Breach at Sion.
1st Skeleton Lord dies to protagonist.
Valygar gets back into the fray, protagonist kills the 2nd Skeleton (he was injured, kensai hit him).
we all attack Deva, protagonist drinks a healing potion, he took some dmg.

sorceress casts Lower resistance at Sion
Deva dies.
Breach reached Sion

Charge!
Protagonist, Valy and kensai rolled hits and killed Sion before he could cast his AI, and before Lower Resistance was cast. His scrolls are mine!
We go for Cleric.

sorceress started "remove magic"
Nalia waits

Cleric dies very fast. Next is Koshi (Celestial Fury is a great wpn, for as long as you're wielding it!)

remove magic is cast
Nalia starts Slow
Koshi is badly injured, and activated Hardiness.
No matter, no need for breaching him. We just bash him.

Slow is cast. Magic resistance stopped it's full effect, but asassins got slowed. Nice move, Nalia.
Valygar drinks small healing, kensai big healing.

Koshi is dead. RIP, dear fellow.
Now, next would be asassins. But they're slowed, and are not a threat. Therefore, Olaf Rasmusen is next.
Sorceress and Nalia go into the fray.

Sorceress started Ray of Fragmentation at a Coin Golem (I lack piercing, oh do I)
Coin started attacking her. Gem Golem is on my protagonist. Perfect!

Olaf dies. We killed 2 asassins very fast, go for Maferan.

Maferan activated Hardiness. Nalia starts Breach.
2nd golem switched target from sorc to kensai.

Maferan is near death, Breach is in air.
Sorceress started another Fragmentation at Coin.

Maferan dies.
We attack Gem.

We just attack.
sorceress stoneskins.

Gem golem is dead.
Enrage ended! see how fast this battle was (speed, speed, and more speed! Your best friend!).
Sorceress casts another Fragmentation.
Coin attacks kensai for 45 damage.
kensai drinks a big potion.
We all attack coin.

Coin hit kensai for 49 Hp. He has 69 hp left, and does not drink a potion.
Coin is injured.
Sorceress starts Fragmentation again.

Coin switched target to sorceress, he's dead soon
sorc starts final Fragmentation
Protagonist rolls an attack roll of 2 (!) and kills him before Ray is cast.

Valygar now gets Celestial Fury, I sold most of the other loot.

Pic 102 is the death of Ketta. SPOILER!

She did most harm to us in the whole battle. I usually cast True Sight right before I enter this area, however, Anomen had 0 memorized so...ah well.

pic 106 is basically the winning point of the battle. a party without a mage is a dead party.

pic 110 is pretty much fighting with the leftovers. mages were very useful, and saved quite a few healing potions

Protagonist is very close to lvl 15. Had about 120 000 gold.
Forged:

bastard +3
Improved Dragon Helm for Valygar
ring +2
cloak +2

Now I was left with 5120 gold pieces, and sailed for Spellhold.
things to do and I didn't since I had too much exp:

Returning false Ilithium and 2nd Cleric quest
Trademeet Tomb
Perhaps, Troll family (would think about this. It's hard, but doable even prior Spellhold, and is too easy after)

Party equipment:

protagonist:
Red Dragon scale, Gauntlets of dexterity, Helmet of Balduran, +1 amulet, Phosporous, Saving Grace shield, 2 rings +2, cloak +2, Girdle of Bluntness
most powerful killed - Elemental Golem

Valygar: his own armor, Weapon Skill gauntlets, Improved Dragon Helm, amulet +1, ring +2, ring +1, cloak +1, Belt of Inertial Barrier, dual wields Celestial Fury and Treefolk
- Gem Golem

kensai: Pale green Ioun stone, amulet +1, ring +1, ring +2, cloak +1, Girdle of piercing, Lirarcor, +3 staff - Thax Shadow Dragon

Anomen - FoA, Greater Wraith

sorceress - Conster

Nalia - bandit!

Brynlaw

Only interesting thing here was - I didn't fight Galvena festhall battle. Too much exp. So, I only fought Perth the Adept, but am not going to describe it since there's really nothing special about it.

Protagonist hit lvl 15 after he confronted the depths of his soul.
Still, I got "easy" Asylum. Phew...

As for Asylum, one big fight - Crystal Shard.
Had to relod once, since Valygar got chunked immediately. SPOILER!

Next time, he used Ilbratha. Otherwise not very hard. Just use prot electricity (Nalia), kill minor troops first, next Kobold Wich Doctor and finally Golems. And use summons!
Some screenshots anyway

Underdark Ambush - made easy!
SPOILER!

prebuff:
protection from evil
Spirit Armor for all fighters
imp.haste for fighters
2 skeleton warriors
protection from fire on kensai
Enrage

Protagonist rushes in front to trigger the fight, gets pulled in Lariat, no problem
Anomen starts Free action on Valygar
kensai rushes in combat vs.spiders

Valygar joins with my 2 dwarves
Drow casts "remove magic" - buffs on Valygar are gone, but imp.haste is still on, he drinks Invurnerability potion.
we all attack spiders, our skeletons ar Webbed
Nalia summons a Mordy sword
we all drink potions, due to spell barrage, but I decided to simply take it

kensai goes to the right flank, to attack the now-webbed Devas (2 of them)

Spiders are history. Only one killer spider is alive, but I can't reach him.
Valygar took a good deal of damage, he drinks a potion.

1 Deva is gone. Kensai goes for the 2nd one.
Valygar is simply too exposed, he drinks another potion and repositions himself to my protagonist's left hand side

Enrage is over, AC is now -16, effectivly at -18 with prot evil.

Protagonist and Valygar kill the nearest priestess.
Anomen casts Free action at Nalia.
Valygar and protagonist just wait, we're surrounded by a bunch of summons, there's no point in attacking them
2nd Deva is dead, kensai killed her

Nalia starts "Death spell"
Valygar goes to join my kensai on the right side, some Drow are trying for a back door attack
Protagnist is now alone on the left side, near the main Drow force

Death spell is cast. Protagonist now has breathing room.
Kensai and Valygar go to the right side, and encounter yet another Deva and a Priestess
Kensai attacks Deva, Valygar goes for priestess
Protagonist kills last Killer Spider. All spiders are gone.

Valygar gets badly hurt by Priestess, he drinks a potion.
Imp.haste on kensai is off.
sorceress - imp.haste on kensai
Nalia - starts another Death spell - a Mordy and a bear were still alive

Protagonist gets hit by magic missiles for big damage (has no prot mag energy), now has 68 hp. Decided not to use Cat figurine yet.
Kensai killed last Deva, he joins with Valygar to kill a Priestess

Protagonist is hit by magic missiles again, he uses Cat figurine.
Anomen starts "Heal" on Valygar
Protagonist attacks a Priestess, his imp.haste is off
sorceress started imp.haste on protagonist

Anomen gets hit by Flamestrike, spell failure. He starts another Heal on Valygar
Right flank is now clear.
Kensai goes to left side, to help my protagonist, but takes a pit-stop at my sorceress, she casts pfme on him
protagonist is hurt again, he drinks healing

sorceress started imp.haste on Valygar
Heal is cast
Protagonist finally killed a priestess, he's badly hurt again. Only 1 more priestess, and 2 mages. Protagonist attacks the last priestess.
Anomen starts his 1st Greater Restoration (has 1 more left! ended up not even using it.)

Priestess drinks invisibility potion.
sorceress started Ruby on a mage
Nalia summoned a skeleton near mages
fighters just wait, no point in attacking mages yet.
Restoration is cast.

Anomen started True Sight
mage fired a Breach at Nalia
Ruby is cast

sorceress starts "remove magic"
Drow's SI expired

True Sight is cast, we attack the now visible priestess (she tried to heal herself, but failed)
mage Breached my sorceress

Last priestess is gone
All fighters attack a mage
mage casts Vampiric touch on my skeleton

mage casts pfmw, fighters switch target to 2nd mage and kill him fast
sorceress casts Breach
fighters take damage (from Lightning I believe), Valygar is badly wounded

mage is breached, and dies immediately.

Anomen casts 2nd Greater Restoration, and we go exterminate some Fungus while still hasted.


pic 125 is the very start of the battle on the left flank. SPOILER!

It's important here to kill the spiders quickly, and to summon something to keep em busy while you kill spiders

pic 128 is the right side of the battlefield. Both kensai and Valygar did a great job here, but that was nothing compared to the job my protagonist had to do - to keep the main force busy. SPOILER!

I also beleive that "Drow Priestess" are fighter/clerics, and they have a rather decent THAC0. Not enough to punch an AC of -20 (+ another -4 to blunt) , however.

pic 129 is taken a few rounds before the end. Both sorceress and Drow mage are casting Breach at each other, and the now-visible Priestess is just about to get killed.

Dracolich battle

lvls:
protagonist 17
Valygar 15
kensai 17
Anomen 17
sorceress 16
Nalia 16

SPOILER!

No prebuffs, of course. Not even used prot lvl drain scrolls. No reloads also.
Just 1 thing - Nalia set up a trigger 3x Skeleton. Didn't help much, unfortunately.
Anomen equips Ghoul Armor, so he fears no Wail.

Protagonist, Valygar and kensai go in front
Anomen casts Death Ward on sorceress
Sorceress and Nalia - SI:abj

dialogue

fighting starts
protagonist goes into Rage
Anomen casts DW on Nalia
sorceress - summon skeleton
Draco fires his sequencer at Valygar, he saved but is Malisoned.
Valygar drinks Invurnerability potion
Nalia starts haste

Draco silences Nalia, spell failed
Nalia opens a scroll of Vocalize
Draco fires his Breath at kensai! level drain.
Draco casts Death spell on skeleton - "your lackeys will not save you!" We'll see..

Valygar is badly hurt, he drinks a potion.
Draco fires his trigger, and a Fog. (I didn't cast Zone of Air for his 1st)

Nalia casts haste.
Protagonist drinks potion
Valygar - Zone of Air
kensai drinks big healing
we all attack, for no effect

Anomen summons a skeleton
Draco casts RR on sorceress
sorceress - SI
Draco - Wail, no effect
- Emotion on Valygar, he saved
- Fog, skeleton is gone
Valygar - Zone of Air

Draco - RR on sorceress
sorceress - SI
protagonist and kensai drink healing

Draco - RR on sorceress
sorceress - SI
Fighters are badly hurt (in addition to lvl drain on kensai).
Anomen casts Greater Restoration, and gives Amulet of Power to Valygar

Draco's pfmw expired.
remove magic on sorceress! (SI is not yet cast)
Anomen immediately wanted to start DW, but his Aura is not yet clean. Damn!
Valygar's morale broke, he is hasted and runs away.

Draco - pfmw
- Breath at protagonist (Enrage is on)
- Chain Con - 3x FoD at sorceress
Death Ward arrives just in time!
Nalia uses her trigger with 3x skeleton.
sorceress casts imp.haste on kensai

Anomen casts Remove Fear at Valygar, however, Valygar is hasted and it didn't reach him.
Draco - Wail (no effect)
- fog (kills summons. Crap.)

Enrage ended.
Protagonist is very badly injured, and uses Cat figurine.
Anomen casts Zone of Air
Nalia summons skeleton
sorceress casts imp.haste on kensai
Valygar is still running in fear

Anomen hit Valygar with "remove fear"
Draco is attacking my protagonist
protagonist drinks a big healing potion

Draco casts pfmw
Anomen refreshes Death Ward on Nalia (she has some more skeletons, so she must stay alive, sorceress spent her 5th lvl spells casting SI, She's expendable now. But I take care of my men )
protagonist equips Mace of Disruption +2 in off-hand (has 2* in dual wielding)
Draco - Wing buffet
- Breath at protagonist (see why I equiped MoD?)
kensai drinks Resurgence

Protagonist is near death
Nalia summons a skeleton
Anomen casts 2nd (last) Greater Restoration
Protagonist still drinks a potion

sorceress summons a Mordy sword
Nalia's skeleton appeared
protagonist Enrages, switches MoD for shield
Draco - Breath at Valygar

Draco - pfmw
- Wail (no effect, but Mordy died. DW is on both Nalia and sorceress)
Anomen summons a skeleton
Nalia summons a skeleton
sorceress - imp.haste on Valygar
Valygar drinks healing potion

Anomen casts DW on sorceress (was to be expired soon)
sorceress - imp.haste on protagonist
Draco attacks a skeleton. Finally! Some breathing room.

We just attack, his pfmw is still on. Skeletons work great, however.

Another pfmw.
Nalia summons another skeleton.

Draco switched target to Valygar, and hits him severely.
Valygar runs in fear, with 20 Hp left
Anomen goes after him (Valygar is moving fast again, he's under imp.haste)

Draco - Breath attack at skeleton
Anomen reached Valygar and hit him with Remove fear
Protagonist and kensai are still attacking, no effect, they both drink healing

Anomen starts Heal at Valygar

pfmw is off. He doesn't recast anymore.

Heal is cast.
Valygar attacks.
Draco - Wing buffet at Valygar
protagonist removes shield, equips MoD
Anomen tries for Mass heal, gets hit by Wing buffet, spell failure. Skeletons are badly damaged by Wing Buffet.
Protagonist drinks big healing potion, and hits Draco for 21 Hp.

Draco attacks a skeleton, fighters also attack him very good.
Protagonist takes heavy damage again, another big healing potion, equips shield.
Draco's Contingency with stoneskins kicks in.
AAAAAGH!!!

Anomen starts Mass heal
Sorceress casts her last imp.haste on protagonist
Nalia casts imp.haste on kensai (they still have it on, but is to be expired soon)
Draco attacks skeletons again

Mass heal is cast, and skellies are also healed a bit. Great!
Protagonist is out of reach for Mass heal, drinks a normal healing potion

Draco's stoneskins are gone, he's badly injured, and attacking a skeleton. Exellent!
We press on our attack.

Skeleton rolls a critical for 9 dmg.
Protagonist hit him very good, 18 dmg
Valygar rolled 2 misses
Kensai - rolls a 17, 13 dmg done
Dracolich - DEAD!!!
Die, die, die, die, dieeee!!!!

Phew.

Victory!

pic 132 is what you see, taknig on a Chain con.

pic 134 represents Anomen's failed casting of "mass heal" just before we started to hurt Draco badly. SPOILER!

Skeletons are durable, however, Wing Buffet really hurts them badly

.

pic 136 is the end of the battle. Note, in one run, a summoned Skeleton rolled the last hit vs.Dracolich, therefore killing it. I don't have a screenshot, I'm affraid.

Mind Flayers' Elemental Golem fight

SPOILER!

Nothing much to be said, it's not that much different from Ilithid hideout, actually it's easier since I had Mordys and Skeleton Warriors. "Purge" is a bugger, but not all that deadly. Chaotic Commands work here.

Another battle which deserves a special mention is, naturally, Demon Knights.
Did this prior to Ust Natha and 2nd drow ambush, kensai wanted Girdle and Soul Reaver!.
Here's the Spoilers!
No "out of the ordinary" tactics, also.

SPOILER!

prebuff:
Anomen casts prot fire on kensai
sorceress - prot mag energy on her and Nalia
protection from evil
spirit armor for kensai
Protagonist equips helmet of Defence (has Darksteel shield also)
Nalia is mirror imaged
haste, not imp.haste
Anomen - resist fire/cold on himself
SI:Abj for spellcasters
Nalia also Globe of Invurnerability (a real winner!)
kensai and Valygar equip rings with Fire resistance
Enrage

summoned :
4 Skeletons (1 sacrificed) and Mordy

battle starts

Protagonist, Anomen, Valy and kensai attack the nearest one (on the middle left side), he runs SI:abj, we just bash through
3 Skeletons are up north, keeping 3 of them busy
1 demon casts Lower Fire Resistance at Nalia.
Another casts remove magic at fighters (buffs are still on, only Valy is dispelled. He drinks Oil of Speed)
The one we attacked fired his Chain - Bigby, ADHW, Fear at Valygar
All fighters and Anomen are badly hurt (no prot magic energy)
A Demon cast RR at sorceress
sorceress started SI

Anomen panicks, he's near death - at this moment, I tought I had lost the battle again
Nalia - remove fear
We still attack the demon, he dies
Anomen - Greater Restoration

We attack the one on the far south side (has SI:div), but Nalia does not have "remove magic" memorized, so we have to destroy his mirrors also (sorceress has to keep aura clean, this is more important than dispeling mirrors).
Anomen also attacks him
Demon Knight fired a trigger - 3x Fireball at sorceress
Magic resistance (has only 5 %, but hey!) stopped one, she survives, drinks big healing.
Nalia is unaffected (Globe)
Demon fires Lower Fire Resistance at my protagonist.
Fire resistance is now:

Protagonist - + 30
Valygar - + 10
Anomen - - 30
kensai - - 50!
(meaning, Anomen and kensai are below 0)

All of them drink magic resistance potions, only kensai drinks Shielding.

The Demon we're attacking fires his Chain - Bigby, Finger of Death and Inc.Cloud, target - Anomen
Anomen is held and has 7 HP
Kensai and Valygar drink healing immediately.
Demon dies, but Anomen is now standing in a burning Cloud!
One Demon casts Slow at sorceress (save, Nalia cannot be affected)
One cast Chaos at sorceress (both her and Nalia saved)

Kensai is badly hurt, he drinks Resurgence
Anomen is still held, his MR keeps him alive in cloud.
Nalia summons a Mordy Sword
sorceress casts imp.haste on my protagonist
Demons are attacking summons
Valygar casts Zone of Air.

Anomen is free. Altough he has only 7 Hp, he does nothing. Need his aura clean, and only kensai and himself are badly hurt.
Protagonist and Valygar go up north.
A skeleton warrior died.
kensai drinks a big healing potion (that Insane Dwarf warrior had 15 of them!)
Mordy appears, 1 skeleton is still alive.
sorceress summons another skeleton.

Demon casts "remove magic" at Valygar, his buffs are off, imp.haste on protagonist is still on, but no more magic resistance!
I also had no more of these potions.
Regardless, we bash through his Fireshield.
kensai now has decent health, and joins us up north.

Demon (the one we're attacking) - Chain - Bigby, ADHW, Fear at Valygar! Valygar took little dmg, but protagonist took heavy.
Anomen - Greater Restoration
sorceress - imp.haste on kensai

Demon knight dies. 2 are left. We attack the one closer to us, the other is busy with a Skeleton.
Demon - Chain - Bigby, ADHW, Fear at kensai
Protagonist drinks big healing, Valygar's ok for now, kensai is held

Demon is near death (he uses Critical Strike), the last one casts Meteor Storm on skeleton
Nalia summons a skeleton again

Valygar killed the Demon.
1 more is left, under SI:div.
sorceress started "remove magic" for his mirrors
we all drink minor potions and attack him through the Meteor Storm

remove magic is cast, Demon's barely injured, but so are we.
Damn!
Chain - Bigby, ADHW, Fear
Enrage is over.
Big DAMN!
Trigger - 3x Chain Lightning, we have no prot lightning
protagonist uses Cat figurine (near death he is)
sorceress also got affected by lightning, she's near death.
Valygar is barely hurt, kensai is hurt somewhat.

Demon Knight is badly injured.
Kensai and Valygar drink potions.

Demon Knight dies.

Finished! I also forgot to use my trigger with 3x skeleton. Nalia took 0 dmg in this battle.

Took 2 reloads. 1st time they obliterated me in 1st round, 2nd time was better but I lost mages to 2 triggers 3x lightning.

Did the Gnome village Demon SPOILER!

(AC is relly good, btw.)

without problem, 2nd ambush was also easy regardless of the fact that buffs get dispelled. SPOILER!

An interesting thing here is just how good ADHW is. Drow have MR, but spiders don't, and even some Drow usually get hit by it.

One other Underdark battle I'll mention is Noble Genie in Ust Natha, since I like this battle

SPOILER!

Summoned 1 Skeleton
protection from Fire on sorceress and Nalia + SI:abj
haste
Nalia has a trigger 3x Chain Lightning and a sequencer with 3x Acid arrow
Sorceress has a trigger with 3x Lower resistance, and sequencer 3x Acid

Genie appears, says I made a grave mistake. Great. Low AC is not that great here, he hit my protagonist even on a roll of 4

Nalia - Ruby Scroll
fighters attack a summoned Genie, he dies

sorceress - trigger 3x Lower resistance
fighters attack him
Nalia just waits

Nalia - trigger - 3x Lighning
sorceress - sequencer - 3x Acid
Anomen - Greater Restoration (fighters are badly hurt)

sorceress - Chain Lighning
Nalia - sequencer - 3x Acid
protagonist uses Cat Figurine
fighters are still attacking, getting burned
kensai drinks a potion

Anomen - Greater Restoration
sorceress and Nalia both start Chain Lightning

Genie dies to Acid damage. Bravo Nalia!

Pic 150 is killing of 2nd Demon, and Anomen getting very close to dying. Actually, Valygar's Air zone probably saved his life.

pic 152 is rushing the 3rd Demon. Not much to be said, no time for buffs, and a Greater Restoration badly needed.

pic 152 is where only 1 demon (actually, the worst one) remained. When I saw the message displayed - trigger - 3x Chain lightning I tought I was gone. Cat figurine was so good, I almost forgot I had it.

Exited Underdark at lvls

19
17
19
20
17
17

Went to Trademeet, sold loot, did Trademeet Tomb
Reported back to Umar Hills Mayor, accepted Ranger Stronghold, did first 2 quests in fighter stronghold
No one leveled up, I still have no HLA's.

Decided to go to Windspear Hills anyway, to fight Samia. Long post!

SPOILER!

prebuff:

Nalia - trigger 3x Lightning
sequencer Malison, Slow, Slow (ended up not using it)
sorceress - trigger 3x Lower resistance
spirit armor on kensai
Anomen casts Chaotic Commands on himself
sorceress SI:abj
Nalia SI:abj, spell turning
summoned 2 skeletons
imp.haste for fighters
protection from evil

Protagonist goes in front to say that I'll take the treasure for myself, and rushes back to the main room, and Enrages. Pursuit is on.
Ferric Ironblade is the fastest, fighters attack him really good

Ferric is dead. He can only hit my protagonist if he scores a critical!
We attack Akae
Samia is attacking a skeleton
Kaol casts "remove magic", buffs are dispelled, protagonist's imp.haste is still on
sorceress casts trigger 3x Lower resistance at Samia
Nalia casts haste
Anomen summons Berserker Warrior
Chak and Legodril cast some crappy spells like summon Woodland and Hold, Kaol positioned himself at the door and I cannot reach them in melee. Bugger!

Kaol casts RR at sorceress
Akae hits Valygar badly, he drinks a potion
Valygar is near death
Anomen casts Greater Restoration
Akae activates Hardiness (we also hurt him or her very nicely)

Nalia fires her trigger 3x Lighning on Samia, little dmg done but druid and cleric are also affected
Akae dies, I decided not to breach her
Kaol casts "Breach" at sorceress
sorceress starts imp.haste on kensai
all fighters go for Samia

Samia activates her GWW, but she can also barely hurt my protagonist!
Creeping doom is on it's way to Nalia. She retreats so no one gets affected but her, her SI abj is still on and sorceress can not remove it since her aura is not clean.

Samia activates her Critical Strike, and attacks protagonist
sorceress refreshes her SI (I'll need it for Death Ward).
Kaol casts Malison at Valygar
Druid and Cleric cast crap spells again

Protagonist is near dying (Critical Strike by Samia is quite deadly without Hardiness on) and uses Cat Figurine
sorceress starts imp.haste on Valygar
Anomen - Chaotic Commands on Valygar

Samia is badly injured, even tough we hit her often she takes very little dmg
sorceress starts ADHW, Nalia drinks healing
Kaol casts Slow, Valygar fails his save

Samia is back to only injured. Hmm.
Valygar drinks Oil of Speed
Kaol fires his trigger 3x Lightning at protagonist, we all took very little damage

Here I wondered, wether I had missed that Samia activated her Hardiness already, since she took very little dmg, and is still only injured. Decided to Breach her.
sorceress - breach at Samia
Samia gets Near death immediately. Ahh, here we be.
Kaol casts ADHW, big damage
Anomen casts Mass heal (I wanted to Death Ward my sorc, but ADHW hit protagonist, kensai and Anomen for 47-52 dmg. Valy has nice resistance to magic dmg, 50)
Nalia potion - she's still out

Samia is dead.
Kaol - Finger of Death at sorceress
sorceress has Amulet of 5 % MR equiped, and it stops it! pure luck! Took a screenshot of it immediately
protagonist and Anomen kill an Aerial Servant (druid and Cleric are summoning crap, casting Hold, miscast magic etc. I cannot reach them.)

Kaol - ADHW on protagonist
Anomen is near death, he casts Death Ward on himself
we just wait
sorceress casts protection from magic energy on kensai (he has long weapons, and can reach behind Kaol)
sorceress is now out of 6th lvl spells
Nalia composes herself and drinks a potion

Kaol - ADHW on Valygar, 28 dmg, no problem
protagonist is also affected, he drinks a potion
kensai attacks summons behind Kaol (I still cannot reach cleric or druid)
bear dies, and Legodril is in reach, so kensai whacks him, he summons a Deva
Anomen starts Heal on himself

A bear hit kensai for 18 hp
Kaol cast Comet at kensai, he drinks a potion and switches target to Bear

kensai drinks Resurgence, has 86 hp left and attacks Deva (he killed Bear really fast)
Kaol - another Comet!!
kensai is at 14 Hp
Anomen - Greater Restoration

Deva dies, but does 46 dmg to kensai (Globe of Blades, kensai was under Malison and failed his save)
he drinks a small healing potion and attacks Legodril again
Anomen starts True Sight

SI is off on Kaol
Kaol - PW: silence on sorceress (Anomen has Amulet of Power)
Legodril dies
True Sight is cast


Nalia casts Breach on now-visible Kaol
sorceeres - vocalize
protagonist and Valygar take distance from Kaol, no prot magic energy spells left

Kaol - pfmw
Nalia starts Pierce Shield (she has no Lower resistance memorized)
sorceress started Lower resistance

bugger!
Kaol goes imp.invisble again, spell cancelled! Nalia has no more magic resistance lowering spells.
Anomen's True sight reveals Kaol again
sorceress starts another Lower resistance

Kaol obviously knows what's going to happen to him, casts Spell Turning, but he has no chance vs.Nalia and sorceress
Nalia - Ruby
sorceress - Lower resistance
Kaol - Breach on sorceress

Kaol - pfmw
sorceress - Lower resistance

Kaol - chain Lightning, Flame arrow, both for kensai and very fast
sorceress is out of Lower resistance spells
Nalia - breach (not for pfmw, but because I want Kaol to play defence instead of casting damage spells at kensai, Anomen has no Restorations anymore, Heal will get interrupted by lightning)
sorceress - magic missile (to check out his MR - he's wide open! all went through)
kensai also hit him really really good

Kaol - pfmw. There we go. Slow and steady.
Anomen - Doom at Kaol
Nalia - Malison
sorceress - starts ADHW

Kaol - scroll of Lighning, target kensai
flame arrow, kensai
Nalia - Acid arrow (should had cast Breach, but it doesn't matter anymore)
kensai drinks healing
Adhw did 14 dmg.

Kaol - magic missile, Anomen
Anomen - Mass heal
sorceress and Nalia - Acid arrow (does more dmg than ADHW!)

Kaol - dead
Nalia - haste
Fighters attack Chack and mop the floor with him.

No one leveled up, but we're close to HLA's.

pic 167 is when my sorc took FoD with 5% MR.

pic 171 is Kaol forcing a waste of Nalia and sorceress' spells. He didn't live much longer and it's on pic 172.

Also note that I really dislike fighting in such cramped situations, I prefer a clean battlefield. I could also SPOILER!

simply attack Kaol with normal wpns, or run away,

or whatever, but I decided to take his blows of ADHWs, Comets, simply for the fun of it. Adds some flavour to this battle anyway. The worst thing about Kaoul's positioning was the fact that Legodril and Chack lived for much too long - usually, I prioritise killing the first.

Went back to Alkathla docks, Kruin was there waiting.
I have a way of killing him really fast, and it does not require HLA's anyway - it's right on the screenshot. No one died, Valygar got to 10 HP while Kruin was still alive but Anomen DWarded him ASAP.
No problem.
This tactic I also use on Tolgerias, btw.

Visited Crom, had to go back to Underdark because I forgot to pick up Equilizer Hilt, forged
Indigo stone
2x Speed boots
Crom Faeyr (kensai's back to his original strenght)
Adamantine Valhalla horn
Wave
Imp.Cat Figurine

Still had a lot of money left. A note about money - I don't erase spells to get exp for scroll writing, I sell them. I sell every little Spellstrike, Chain Lighning (once Nalia hit 13lvl), more than a few Absoulte immunities (if I don't have a f/m in party) etc. I also never use missile wpns. There's no spell disruptor like Larloch's!
Did Bodhi, returned Lanthorn, Troll Family - this is too easy for a party with HLA's, however got only crap loot
Did Umar Wich and 1st lvl WK, Spider queen also altough I won't forge Noble Spider since it's simply too weak

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[Baronius]

Glad to see this topic so active, Kerkes!

Just one note: I think the forum automatically displays thumbnails for .jpg, .png (and possibly other) formats in attachments, and users can click those images to view them. With the .bmp format you use, it does not work so easily (at least in my browser -- if someone has different experience, please share). Just a suggestion, of course; if you prefer BMP, I don't want to change your mind.

[Kerkes]

@ Baronius

whish I knew how...if someone knows, please share!

[Kerkes]

Yeah. I forgot to mention this - would like some feedback!

I added some pic description to some battles.

Anyway, if someone wishes for some more details on a battle (for example, Planar Sphere. I find this to be very easy, perhaps some players have different experience) ask away. Note that I have a lot of more screenshots, so, if there's a particular moment you'd like to see, ask away. I probably saved it (for example, Ferric Ironblade of Samia missing my protagonist on a roll of 17, Tazok not being able to hit my protagonist on a roll of 18....whatever, there are many such pictures).

I'll post some more progress next week probably, since I have to write it down on the computer.

there were several very nice fights indeed, including:

Rune Asassins hideout - battle vs. 2 Coordinators - brilliant screenshot and will be described (as well as the outcome) in a very long detailed post which I'll try to make as interesting as I can

Supreme Leader - with a bonus - no Whish casting! 3 9th level spells left unused! Barely doable, but not impossibe, and forced a single reload due to a tragic mistake! Still in SoA

Demilich (or Anomen's shock therapy)

Valygar - a sadistic approach to a Stalker ranger - be sure to view pic 202.

Twisted Rune & Nalia's demise - Valygar's righteous fury (without Critical Strike)


Anyway, I'm now at Sendai's place, a bit bored but we'll see.

This post has been edited by Kerkes: Mar 3 2009, 06:33 PM

[matti]

Anyway, if someone wishes for some more details on a battle (for example, Planar Sphere. I find this to be very easy, perhaps some players have different experience) ask away. Note that I have a lot of more screenshots, so, if there's a particular moment you'd like to see, ask away. I probably saved it (for example, Ferric Ironblade of Samia missing my protagonist on a roll of 17, Tazok not being able to hit my protagonist on a roll of 18....whatever, there are many such pictures).

I tried Samia before Spellhold once. I've even manged to kill two divine spellcasters and that chick with rather nasty weapon before Kaol dissabled my party and then Ferric slaughterd them all one by one in like three, four hits per party member. Way to go, hehe. Lesson learned.


Anyway, nice read, Kerkes. Want more!