Ilmadia and Poquelin

Ilmadia and her Fire Giants were easy enough.  Creeping past them on the guise of just being lost – despite the entire deep being strewn with the bodies of those I’d slain over the past 10 day assauly – seems unlikely.  You’d think that once you off 2, 3, or 4 of the top lieutenants, that someone might start to come after you, or make some fortifications.  But no, please, step right up.

So we attacked Ilmadia, and offed her and her giants pretty easily.  The biggest issue I had was inventory problems, and thos were solved when I realized we had 6 slots or so devoted to non-magical missle weapons.  OUT!  More room for crossbows, halberds and potions. 

At this point I paused for a few months, busily heading to Europe, Napa Valley, Hawaii, and New England.  Ah, life is tough.  🙂

But when a day off from work presented itself, I hastily made my way back into IWD, to march up to Poquelin for the final battle.  Now my first attempt was pretty poor – I did all kinds of summons, went slowly, and hacked the monsters away.  Little did I know that the monsters come in endless waves, and you have to focus on him.  So it required a second attempt. 

On the second try I summoned EVERYthing – beetles, elementals, etc.  They all rushed Poquelin, while Spivey, Callien and Rolf hit him with missle weapons, Jaylen pelted him with spells, and Jaylen and Venecia took on the minions.  It was over so fast.  Too fast. 

We were warped into Easthaven, and after a brief heal, went about chopping down Cyclops.  This too was easy, with only Callien being stepped on for 26 damage, despite the 10 or so wandering around (one of whom was intently chasing a squirrel). 

We found Jhonen and got the +5 sword from the beginning of the game, which only Callien could use.  We then freed Everard and the prisoners.  Very odd that despite all the tough enemies fought up until here, all there are now are cyclops.  Hmm.

Eventually we headed to the tower, healing and resting on the second level while Everard meditated below.  Pomab was on the third floor, in league with Poquelin and all that.  He had these unbeatable skeletons, which was pretty ridiculous.  With all the summons available, I was having Skeletons attack the Pomabs, and having my party beat the skeletons – but only one died.  The other three stayed up and kept attacking.  For most of the group it was no biggie, especially with Pomab being useless – but Jaylen was cornered and criticaled, and was down to 1 HP twice.  The first time he used Sanctuary to rest and regroup – the second time he just barely got an Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere off and stayed in that.  Everyone went for the Pomabs, and soon he was mincement, on his way to bad shopkeeper hell.

One last rest, and then on to the crystal level, and then into a mirror (?).  Poquelin was there, and Everard did his slowly-walk-through and play-the-hero thing.  Poquelin morphed into demon form, with iron golems attacking us.  The golems fell easily, and Rolf kept Belhifet busy, chopping big chunks into him while rolling and avoiding his attacks.  More golems were coming, but Jaylen hit him hard with spells and Kaylen and Venicia closed with attacks.  Soon he wailed out in anguish and was vanquished. 

After 11 years, Icewind Dale was beaten.  One game, done completely and done well, and off my list forever.

Now, it’s just the two expansions – Heart of Winter and Trials of the Luremaster.  Hmm…

Malavon, Pale Justice

With Marketh out of the way relatively easily, I was starting to get cocky – that Umber Hulk ambush put me in my place.  I was going to take it easy, rest with the gnomes, buy some stuff from Nym, and max out my equipment.  Rhino shield is one thing, but Pale Justice for Venecia is quite another.  So we creep back into the Artian’s district, where I had previously ventured unaware and been reduced to single-digit HPs by Umber Hulks.  I figure we’ll scout around, go into the building and get the sword, and then head back.

Only thing is, I thought Pale Justice was INSIDE a building.  So I look around – killing hulks and minotaurs – until the big green building is all that is left.  And like an idiot, I walk inside – killing more umber hulks, then walking unawares into a Malavon trap.  Iron Golems, poison clouds – the whole shebang.

Wow.  Not what I intended.  Looks like I was ‘glossing over’ the walkthrough again.

Elementals and summoned skeletons form up as shock troops, while the main party blesses and takes out Umber Hulks.  Eventually the Iron Golems break through, so Rolf takes on one, while Callien uses his horn to summon berserkers to fight the other.  Beetles and monsters come out from the Orgonneys, and the golems fall.  By the time we go back into the main room, Malavon was lying dead from his own gas!  Or so it appeared.

The real Malavon appeared behind us, out of range of any of our summoned monsters.  We trained bows on him, and aimed spells, but by the time they were ready he had dimension door’d to another part of the complex.  Rolf, Venecia, and the elementals followed him, taking damage from his Cloudkill and avoiding his Web spells.  By the time they closed, he was firing off Malavon’s Rage, completely obliterating the remaining Viking warriors and damaging the elementals.  Then, before Rolf could strike, he again disappeared.

Apparently he miscalculated, because he appeared again right in front of Jaylen and Kaylen, who were keeping their distance and providing spell support.  They quickly abandoned their magic and raised their weapons – Kaylen the Frostbrand, Jaylen the Holy Mace.  With Spivey and Callien arching, the wizard was unable to get off further spells, and Jaylen ruthlessly bashed him into oblivion. 

With the remaining elementals providing cover, we slowly went through Malavon’s belongings, with Jaylen scribing about 12 spells into his book.  He drank a Potion of Genius to assist.  We also got seeds (for the Arboretum) and an oil of null effect for Ginefae.  Once Jaylen was done collecting, we visited Ginafae and cured her.  Then, we went to Nym to purchase the animals – birds and squirrels – and then set off for the Severed Hand. 

Delivering the water, seeds, squirrels and birds restored the arboretum and satisfied the spirit.  It also freed up more backpack space, allowing us to continue on our quest. 

We returned to Lower Dorn’s Deep, and immediately sought out Dirty Lew, collecting the Rhino Beetle shield and equipping it on Kaylen.  It’s meager +1 AC bonus is disappointing, but perhaps I can have it enchanted when I have more time.  For now, rested and ready, we move on to the Palace to take on Perdiem.  The walkthrough said this was relatively simple – rush in and take on the idol, avoiding all other creatures.  In practice, it turned into one of the toughest battles of the game, requiring skill, planning, and precision.

First, we came in from the courtyard, so the spiked skeletons attack, about 5 of them.  We summon monsters and elementals to assist – the elementals are torn apart quickly, but distract the skeletons long enough for us to break through.  From there we summon more creatures – undead, mainly – and gently push forward, to where Zombie Lords and Greater Mummies await.  Their spells are incredible – hopelessness, wracking pains, and then orbs, making the party useless – so we have to keep our distance.  We use area of effect spells to cause damage, and snipe while our summoned creatures go toe to toe and use all the mummies spells.  We take out the batch of lords and mummies undamaged (!!). 

Now, the great rush.  With more summoned creatures to take the brunt, we bless and haste ourselves and make a rush on the idol.  The idol is tremendously powerful – Finger of Death and other hugely damaging spells are cast several times.  Meanwhile mummies and zombie lords tear into our summoned creatures.  Just as our creatures fall, and the mummies begin to tear into us, the idol finally falls, adn order is restored.  The undead all fall, and Perdiem and his remaining followers return to their senses. 

With Perdiem’s key, I now have 5 – only Ilmadia remains.  I return to the gnome village before heading to the mines, to free Beorn and take down the Salamander king.  After that, I just have a decision to make – take down Poquelin, or head to the expansion first.  Logic would dictate the expansion would wait, but Poquelin’s destruction might end the game…so I am unsure.

Lower Dorn’s Deep

So, how do you know when you’ve reached the truly elite stages?  Nevermind tough battles.  Nevermind blogging for nearly a year about the game.  Nevermind getting to the second-to-last real area in the game. 

You know you’ve reached an elite status when you’ve found something not in the Dan Simpson Walkthrough.

Lower Dorn’s Deep is an immediate challenge.  The Tarnished Sentries, these huge, throwing-axe weilding undead, resist anything but blunt weapons, hit any AC, and see invisible/hiding characters.  They also come in packs of 3, usually aided by flaming salamanders.  This makes the whole main area of Lower Dorn’s a true nightmare, especially when 2 of my 3 spellcasters like summoning Flame Elementals.  We have to rest and reboot, give things a second go, but eventually enough is cleared out to start exploring.

First is the elevator down to the gnomes – but I’ll skip that for now.  We head through to the abandoned village, and are totally walloped by Umber Hulks.  So many.  Wow.  Packs.  Summons, fireballs, hanging on by the skin of our teeth.  We take on about 4 sets of them, surviving the feeblemind effects.  then its back outside to rest.  Whew.

At this point I decide to take the walkthrough more to heart.  We talk to the gnome Norl, gaining nothing. Then we head to the palace entrance, and Callien the bard can bluff Seth into thinking we are affiliated with the Kraken society.  We take a quick detour south to see the gnome girl with her tonge slashed out – terrible.  We take the key and head into the tower, bravely scaling the steps and killing the archers in a tough battle.  Then it’s off to the palace, first fighting screamers and mushroom people, then going on to Marketh’s minions.  Callien convinces the one to become and artist – but the other, stupider one fights us.  Summoned undead and dangerous dwarven axe tear him apart.  Thieves jump out and attack, but never more than 1 or two at a time – silly, with all the summons we have. 

After grabbing the sack of potatoes, its upstairs to clear out hiding theives, and then threaten Marketh.  He dumps his stuff and agrees to leave – but before going over all his spoils, Seth and a Kraken Society mage appear and attack.  The mage drops a robe I’ve never seen – which Jaylen collects.  And the Kraken mage is not in Dan Simpson’s walkthrough!  So, we email him about that!  Clearing out Marketh’s area is tough, as he has SO MANY potions and crap that I can’t carry. 

From here it’s back to the gnome village – I need the inventory space, so the potatoes can be dumped.  We fight several Rhino beetles (i didnt know there were SEVERAL), mostly from afar with arrows, bullets and flying axe.  Then the Umber hulks start – just one or two at first, no biggie.  I have no summons, just thinking I’ll find a passage to the rest of the gnomes.  Then, the walls fly open, and the Hulks just start pouring out.  6, 9, holy.  By the time I realize I’m in trouble, two party members are confused, and they’re closing in on Jaylen.  Callien summons an Earth elemental, and the ice lances start flying.  We lose Rolf to confusion, and everyone off and on – it ends up a very, very hard-fought battle, but we come through okay.  Finally, gnome city and relative safety. 

Some decently fun battles, but many of the one-villian-on-entire party ones that take away.

Party Review

Just a quick note to clarify that yes, my party is kicking ass.  And most of it is due to planning.  I still find some things I goof up (Jaylen can use a shield, now that his Cleric skills are back.  Jeesh) – but regardless, using the dual-class makes those two characters much, much more utilitarian.  Jaylen can cast all kinds of spells – about four screens worth.  Kaylen can go toe to toe when necessary.  Those two – fantastic.

Next tier is the great ones – Rolf, first of all.  Pure fighter, with super strength and Con and Dex.  AC of -9 (now with +4 shield).  5 Proficiency points in Axe -he’s dropped crossbows entirely with the throwing axe that always returns, and pretty much never misses.  So many attacks, so much damage.  Wow.  Callien Cane, also tremendously useful – whether firing the bow, swinging a great sword or poking with a halberd.  And then, the instant-identifying, using mage stuff, casting those extra spells – summongs, attacks, webs, etc.  Plus all the bard options in the game – all the conversations and extra bits.  Truly, this game MUST be played with a bard.

Venecia, with her -12 AC, huge strength, and paladin abilities, is great for tanking – she takes so few hits it’s incredible.  The Paladin charms don’t come in nearly as handy as I’d hoped.  It’s great that she has high Charisma and is a good lead character, and I needed someone with all these shields.  But 2 spells is all she has, and the other abilities are minor gains if any.  I love her being in the front, but slightly disappointing. 

Spivey is the wild card here – no spells or abilities, just raw thief.  I always have second thoughts, about making him fighter/thief, so he could use better armor.  There will be stretches where I don’t use him at all, then stretches where I use him immensely for scouting, trap removal, etc.  Most of my reason for keeping him as sole thief were related to role-playing, and not min/maxing everything.   I also like having a few other races besides boring humans.  However, Spivey is a weak point – but that may because I don’t backstab enough.  I’ll work on that.

Anyway, the IDEAL party for this game is definitely mostly dual-classed.  A gnome fighter would have been good, to use Helm of the Trusted Defender.  Bard is a must.  Druids are SO much more useful than clerics – but the cleric spells are good too (druids don’t get raise dead?  WTF?!?).  Having a cleric-turned-Necromancer is so incredibly awesome.  So ideally, 3 fighters, a druid, a bard, and a cleric-necromancer.  But one of the fighters needs to have thief skills….so dual?  i dunno.  Probably multi – too much thief stuff at the beginning, and too many HPs to miss out on to not be a fighter. 

Point is – this party has all kinds of strengths.  Put me in combat with any two, and I’ll find a way to eke out a win.

Wyrms Tooth

Where to start?  Wow. 

Well, first we spent tons of time cleaning out the Hall of Heroes.  So many potions and weapons to pick up – then returning to Bandoth’s shack to buy more spells.  I tried to give him his apprentice’s journal, but he doesn’t care!  Annoying.  I buy the last of his good scrolls (summons), have Jaylen and Callien split them, and head out to Kuldahar.  I attempt to sell off everything, and then also head to the Severed Hand to drop off that Elven lich’s daughter’s journal.  Poof, Larrel is happy.  Excellent. 

From here it’s up to Wyrm’s Tooth.  This icy area starts out with trolls attacking me – ice trolls, snow trolls.  I equip the normal, tons of fire stuff – but wow, these things keep popping up.  Once I finally get all the packs killed off, then its just chasing down some Yeti.  Then the outside is clear.

I’m not sure what to do from here, so I read all the guides.  Looks like I can visit the humans, get everything I need there, and then walk into the ‘Aquarium’ and present myself to the boss.  Then I get free reign of the whole area, to wander as I see fit.  Tons of ice salamanders – the kind that do area damage from their cold-ness – along with the frost-breathing wolves and more trolls.  Wow, what an annoying bunch.  Eventually, I summon a fire elemental and start wreaking havoc – and then we just roll.  I mean, roll through the whole aquarium.  Summon, roll, heal a bit, start over.  You can roam around, taking out a pack or two per summon – skeletons, goblins, beetles, elementals, etc.  I have about 9 or 10 layers of summons, with Callien, Jaylen and Kaylen each providing a few.  Eventually all is clear, the female thief is freed (after I convince that random salamander to buzz off), and I have all the treasure.  Way, too much treasure. 

I head downstairs, free the human slaves, and poof, all is done on the mainland.  Now it’s heading to the cave (fixing the bridge with the Dwarven Manual), and then another place that I can wander without any fights (well, the Yeti and the Auril priest, and his dark knights, but otherwise it’s not hostile).  So the party scopes out everything, speaks to the prisoner humans, and then marches down to the wyrm nest.  4 or 5 of these ultra-annoying things around – and these put up the biggest fight.  After we finally drop them all, the frost giants are STILL passive.  We just slaughtered the magical beasts they sacrifice humans to on an altar…and they don’t care the least bit.  Maybe they didn’t hear the fighting?

Anyway, all thats left is killing the lone guard, and then the humans can run out the path I cleared.  We quickly force-lance him and chop at his knees until he is dead, and then all is well.  Then we can mosey over to their leader, Joril – and demand that he free the slaves.  First, he’ll still talk to us – odd.  Then, he’ll agree to give us his badge and free the slaves, for more experience.  Wow.  But then we must fight him and his henchmen, so the Fire Elemental and wolves help out considerably while Rolf does his chop and roll maneuvers. 

From there is’s more of the same – go through bit by bit, summoning helpful allies, taking on 2-4 enemies at a time, rinse repeat.  Getting kind of boring.  And the treasure – so, so much, not enough room to take everything.  By the time the cave is clear every spot is filled with the best possible treasure.  So it’s back to Kuldahar to unload, and hope for a more challenging experience in Lower Dorn’s Deep.

Dorn’s Deep? Pshaw

For years I had thought of Dorn’s Deep with a mixture of fear and wonder, like it was the Mines of Moria.  I didn’t know what lurked in there – I had read some walk-throughs that mentioned Myconids (those mushroom-shaped thingies) and Drow, and that’s all I had known.  I was anticipating fighting Umber Hulks and demons, and going down through levels and levels of caves and mines.

Instead, I got some pretty wimpy fights.

First off, Jaylen was indeed dual-classed to Necromancer.  He’s been delving into those arts pretty heavily as a Cleric – summoning skeletons and other undead was how we got through many tough battles (despite Venecia’s objections).  He drank a potion of Genius and spent a furious night in Kuldahar scribbling down every scroll Callien had saved for him.  Callien’s nearing his max on spells (it takes forever to get lvl 6 spells for bard), so Jaylen will be taking over once we go through another section and have his levels up.  Odd thing: despite him dual-classing away from priest (and losing the ability to use priest weapons/armor), Jaylen can still cast all his priest spells.  !!!

Finally, Venecia’s boots of speed are negated by her Ring of Free Action – so with Venecia, Kaylen and Rolf all under Free Action, Spivey will wear the boots of speed, making him a more effective scout/archer.  With that done, we head off to Dorn’s Deep. 

——-

The Myconids are annoying, but only for their ability to enrage/confuse Venecia.  Several times she is lost in a berserk rage, only to turn on us afterwards (and she cant be held or slowed due to Free Action).  Luckily my other ACs are low enough to evade most of her attacks.  The rest of the first level is Orogs and Ettins, not much threat.  We come across the house of the wizard Bandoth, and agree to find his Razorvine extract, on the body of his apprentice.  The Ettin cave battle is dangerous, but Kaylen summons bears to aid.  However, she is pinned alone by Ettins at one point, and only Jaylen’s magic can stop the Ettins and save her.

Bandoth is still tough to deal with, but we barter some spells away from him – specifically a few powerful summons, for elementals and shadows.  Now both Callien and Jaylen have an Elemental summon in their spellbook.

The next level opens with an ambush, with Orogs and drow united to snipe at us from either side of a bridge.  Again we use summons, this time beetles (Kaylen) and undead (Jaylen) to lead the way.  Venecia marches side by side with the undead, having grown accustomed to them, and her armor, shield, and belt of blurring make her nearly unhittable.  While she plods through, the rest of the group uses ranged attacks, disrupting the spellcasters and dropping them quickly. 

Next is another pack of drow, much more challenging this time with spellswords and archers, along with a sorcerer.  Summons are again a help, as Callien summons monsters and then Kaylen summons a pack of wolves.  Rolf and Venecia take severe damage from Drow magic missles, and the Drow are annoyingly resistant to most spells, but soon they drop.  They leave behind new Mithril plate armor, which Venecia wears, improving her AC to -11 or -12.  She joyously takes the front again, rushing Orogs with the remaining wolves.  We rush through the adjoining rooms with relative ease, helped by more supporting spells from Callien and Jaylen.  The last room of Drow is hardly a challenge, as none of them can connect through Venecia’s armor, and many of them stay back from fear.

Next we proceed into a tunnel, and meet a Umber Hulk who speaks with us, claiming he was a Transmuter.  He charges us with killing an Orog general, but we clear the entire cavern, including 3 more Ettins (which always manage to hit Rolf and Venecia hard) and several packs of Orogs.  Kaylen attempts to call her magic wave, but is again hit and her spell disrupted, like the Ettins had done earlier.  That spell takes a long time in casting!  We kill Krilag and take his badge, and proceed back to the main hall. 

The dwarven roundtable, oddly untouched, is studied intently while Spivey roams the room.  He finds a secret door, and a switch/handle that he cannot activate.  We proceed through the secret door, and Spivey recognizes several symbols from the room before.  “It can’t be that simple,” Jaylen warns, but Spivey hops from one symbol to the next, and the room clicks as the machine whirrs and unlocks. 

Spivey smiles as a thunderous click bellows from the conference room.  “They’re just dwarves, Kaylen.  Nobody said they were bright.” 

Rolf knocks his crossbow, but doesn’t fire at Spivey, instead just casting him a dangerous look.

Back in the main room, Spivey activates the switch, and the circle/puzzle room opens to the floor below.  He excitedly leads us all downstairs, into a small engine room, and runs forward to a body and scroll on the floor – which activates a Fireball trap that sears all of us.  Still smoldering, we proceed to the next area, and speak with the spirit of Norlinor, who tells us of the lich Terikan inhabiting the halls.  Venecia is set on banishing the lich, so we rest under Norlinor’s watch, ready our spells and weapons, and head into the crypts.  Kaylen transforms into full Fire Elemental form, ready to do furious battle. 

The undead come in a huge wave, but Callien is ready, launching a powerful fireball that destroys many of them.  Kaylen, in fire elemental form, wades into them unaffected, sweeping skeletons and ghouls away with her massive flaming fists.  Spivey disarms traps and searches crypts while the warriors pummel undead.  Soon all is clear but the main stairway up, so Kaylen and Rolf run up, Kaylen dumping undead off the side and down to the abyss below, Rolf sniping with his crossbow.  The two are surprised at the top to see the lich, Terikan, encircled in magical protection, but Terikan is ready, casting a fireball.  Rolf rolls but is severly burned, and hides behind a crypt firing crossbow bolts.  Kaylen, however, is unaffected in Fire form, and begins tearing through undeed to express her rage at this abomination.

Terikan is surrounded by undead and summons more, so Callien counters by summoning some fearsome Lizard Men.  Wights are unaffected by Kaylen and the lizard men, so Venecia steps in and begins hacking them to bits.  Callien and Jaylen pelt Terikan with magic, but the effects are minimal – Venecia takes him on in melee, and Rolf comes up behind with the axe as Kaylen and the Lizard men distract his henchmen.  He falls, but immediately rises again, summoning more undead.  We quickly surround him and wipe him out.  We try to break down the door to the Hall of Heroes, but it is magically locked – Spivey finds a key in one of the nearby crypts, and just like that we are in. 

Terikan is again arisen and waiting for us, with more undead at the end of the Hall.  Spivey ducks into a few of the crypts, searching for where Terikan’s essence lies.  Soon enough he spurs a few traps, and snatches a book on his way out – but it is just Terikan’s journal.  He collapses in a corner, wheezing, but points Kaylen in there.  Venecia, Rolf, and Jaylen battle the undead wizard and his minions, while Callien studies the tombs, and finds one labeled as Jamoth’s.  Kaylen stumbles into Terikan’s crypt and finds nothing but mage scrolls within it – but she does find a desk, and searching it triggers yet another trap.  She grabs a small gren orb, and before succumbing to her wounds exits the crypt and tosses it to Spivey, who throws it to Callien.  As Terikan falls, Callien steps into Jamoth’s tomb and the phylactery disappears, damning Terikan forever. 

Dorn’s Deep has been conquered, the evil Lich defeated.  The party relaxes and heals, and prepares for the next challenge. 

——-

Afterthoughts:

The Orgonney siblings are truly deadly-powerful together.  Combining Fighter/Druid and Cleric/Necromancer into just two people, the abilities that ensure are astounding.  Kaylen has almost 120 HPs now, a huge range of Druid spells (she just got level 6 spells, including Summon Fire Elemental), and the ability to change into several creatures, including a Fire Elemental.  Jaylen, on the other hand, has level 4 wizard spells now, and a range of summons – skeletons, monsters, etc.  Then there’s the Cleric spells, the offensive Wizard spells, etc.  Those two back to back are a fearsome pairing.

Really the weakest character has been Spivey – good with the bow, but not as good as Rolf’s crossbow. And unlike Callien, he has a tougher time switching to melee.  His trap detection is necessary, but I feel like dual-classing away from thief (or multi-classing) would have served me better.  Still, scouting with him while hiding in shadows is useful, and truthfully I don’t use the backstab, so maybe there is more that could be done. 

At this point, I would love to split my group up into 3 sub-groups – Venecia/Callien, Spivey/Rolf, and the Orgonneys – to see how they fare.  While marching up to the Lich’s tomb I had Jaylen and Rolf take point alone, and they did fantastic.  Maybe it’s the dual-classing and spec’ing I did, but most of these big battles melt pretty easily.  This group can definitely proceed to Heart of Winter and the Luremaster after IWD is done.  Woohoo!

Severed Hand

Dragon’s Eye was difficult.  Several difficult Lizard Men battles, lots of problems with Trolls and such.  The hardest battle, which I was stuck on earlier, was the third level with the acolytes and trolls all together.  I tried summoning skeletons, fireballing, everything, but it really took me a few times to really get through.  From there, the rest of the level was painful, with the bomber beetles, poison spiders and what-not – once we got to the level with the traps and wizard, it was easy going.  JAylen’s skeleton summoning is a huge help with creatures like poison spiders and bombadier beetles.  And Rolf continues to make hell with his Axe – that cleric had no chance against him.  He criticaled and dropped her in two hits. 

Once everyone was freed and Dragons Eye cleared, we returned to Kuldahar to see Arundel – but instead found the town overrun by Orogs.  We made swift work of them, and went to Arundel – but instead found an evil doppelganger in his place.  The imposter disappeared, and Kaylen ran upstairs to find Arundel dying.  In his final moments, Arundel whispered to Kaylen and gave her his staff.  When the old druid had passed on, Kaylen announced that she would be taking up his druidic path, and tossed her armor and helm aside.  She equipped herself barely, with our magic studded leather armor, a simple shield, and scimitar/spear.  She requested a day of peace to pray for Arundel and learn what she could from his home and belongings. 

Callien again visited the wizard, picking up some more spells, while Rolf and Venecia visited the smithy, obtaining a magical hammer and outfitting themselves with new items.  Jalyen went to the church to pray for wisdom, and Spivey spent his time at the inn. 

[Note: I decided to dual-class Kaylen here, since storyline wise, Arundel passing on his staff and her taking up his mantle in defense of the great tree made sense.  Jaylen is barely level 7 as a cleric, and I will need him to stay until Kaylen has the healing power to replace him.  Callien will continue on as my main offensive spellcaster, with Jaylen doing defensive/curative, and Kaylen’s just being icing.]

When day broke, Kaylen instructed the group that the Shattered Hand was the next destination, and Arundel had marked the way for them.  It would be an intense trial, filled with undead and undead magic.  Along the way, Kaylen made remarkable progress in her Druidic studies – soon she was invoking nature powers and casting minor spells.  By the time they reached the ancient Elven tower, she was ready to contribute.    Immediately upon entering, we were fighting hordes of undead – mostly goblins and orcs.  These were much more difficult than live versions, however – their aim was much truer, hitting poor Rolf through his armor.  Their archers were especially dangerous, and had to be taken out first in many cases.  Venecia took point, with her magic shield and blurring belt making her near-unhittable, while Rolf’s big axe did most of the damage.  Roving around the crumbled tower was difficult, but soon we had cleared the first level, and then the second, despite some difficult orc shamans. 

The third level took a new turn, as huge skeletons began to attack us, along with magic-wielding skeletons, almost lich-like in appearance.   We slowly and methodically made our way through, with Kaylen’s power improving almost exponentially as we went.  Then came the bladed skeletons – these giant behemoths lashed out with two giant blades, nearly splitting Rolf in two.  They were on the lower levels too, as the elevator went down to previously inaccessible places.  Getting around the Hand was frustrating enough, but the spellcasting skeletal mages and the later, Serrated giant skeletons made things nearly impossible.

Soon they had made it to a safety zone, the fourth level of the tower, which was thanfully quiet and free of malevolent spirits.  They were able to speak to 3 or 4 of the more sentient spirits, to learn the story of the Shattered Hand and try to ascertain the status of the mage Larrel.  They learned of the 5 towerlets, and began ascending them one by one, facing hordes of elven spirits.  Archers, swordsmen, clerics and mages all attacked them, but with the aid of Kaylen’s improving spell selection, they were able to clear things out and systematically pick up pieces of the AstroLabe.  Soon they tracked down Larrel, and presented his machinist with the pieces to fix the machine.  When Larrel had returned to his senses, they gave him his daughter’s journal, and he agreed to help them, by transporting them to their next stop, Dorn’s Deep, where the Dwarves lived.

First, the party returns to Kuldahar, to give a few important books to the wizard, and gear up one more time. 

*******

HALFWAY POINT OF ICEWIND DALE!!!!

Wow, Druids are FANTASTIC!  Kaylen gained 9 levels in the Shattered Hand alone.  Her spells are so much cooler than Jaylen’s, and she is 9th level while he is only 8th as a single-class cleric!!  Ridiculous. 

Venecia and Jaylen now have -10 ACs, which at this point in the game is pretty ridiculous.  Kaylen has the worst AC, with 4, and I can’t wait for Umber Hulk or alternate good, natural armor.  Callien is doing well as the main wizard spellcaster, but at this point Jaylen is not going to tank with 55 HPs (even with a -10 AC), and his Cleric spells are losing value, so he will be dual-classed right away.  Callien has been saving all the extra wizard spells for him. 

Spivey’s skills are maxed (aside from pickpocketing), and he is pretty useful in scouting, lockpicking, and stealth (though I still havent been able to backstab).   Dorn’s Deep will be a new challenge, one I’ve never made it to in this game.  Yay for being halfway done, for the first time, after 11 years!!

Minor update

Just to keep this alive, I am still working at this.  First level of Dragon’s Eye was great – hordes of lizardmen to rampage through, but wow, Rolf came through.  Rolf was chopping them down with the huge axe, just over and over. 

Second level – beetles were annoying, killed by troll/spider combos a few times, but made it around to clear things out.  Rolf got the awesome Defender battle axe, lowering his AC while ALSO improving his damage.  But no matter what I do, I can’t make it through the final battle with 4 or 5 trolls and 3 or 4 priests in the bottom left.  I tried fireballing them, I try web and other spells, i summon skeletons, I buff and do bard songs, I give my paladin the flaming sword – no dice.  Even with 2 rings of Free Action, my guys end up held and killed – a few times I had all the trolls down, but was too cheap to throw the fire potion and off them.  Sooo stupid.

So I will buff, summon, sneak, and try it again, this time with Necklace of Missles, Wand of Armor, and so much more a-blazin.  This is one battle that I am going full-out for. 

Then, on to spec’ing so I can prepare for the dual-classing of Kaylen to a Druid.  Time for 3 spellcasters…

———————————————–

So Weapon Spec’ing:

Rolf – Dwarf Fighter.  Can specialize up to 5 slots (!!) so I am going to be FOCUSED on maxing him there.  Axes allow him to use all types – battle axe, two-handed axe, throwing axe…an axe for any occasion!

At start:

• 2 in Axes
• 2 in Crossbow

Aiming for:

• All in Axes
• 2 in Crossbow

Venecia Ashfell – Human Paladin.  Started her off with Bows/Large Swords, both specialized.  But Paladins max out at 2 proficiency slots (specialization). 

At start:

• 2 in Large Swords
• 2 in Bows
• have since added 1 in Great Swords

Aiming for:

• 2 in Large Swords
• 2 in Bows
• 2 in Great Swords
• any further in another offensive type – halberds?  short swords?

I would love for either Venecia or Rolf to use a shield, but with the bows in their weapon slots, it’s nigh impossible.  Thank goodness you can pause and re-equip in IWD.

Kaylen Orgonney – Fighter (to Druid).  Originally spec’d as a fighter, Kaylen will turn druid soon.  Until then, she can take advantage of the extra mastery slots.

At start:

• 2 in Large Swords (thinking Scimitars)
• 2 in Spears
• have since added 1 in Missle Weapons

Aiming for:

• 2 in Large Swords (Scimitars)
• 2 in Spears
• Missle Weapons (sling, darts)
• Staff (so she can use Arundel’s)
• Club?  Is there any point?

Jaylen Orgonney – Human Cleric (to specialist Mage).  Not many weapon slots to go with here.

At start:

• Maces
• Missle Weapons (slings)

Aiming for:

• Maces
• Missle Weapons (slings)
• Hammers (added)
• Staff
• Club?  Is there any point?
• Daggers (great daggers add +1 spell, etc)

Callien Cane – Human Bard. 

At start:

• Great Swords
• Bows

Aiming for:

• Great Swords
• Bows
• Halberds
• Long Swords

Vale of Shadows, Part II

The group arrived in Kuldahar, with villagers anxiously asking them for details.  Many were surprised to see them alive, but then disappointed when told that the expedition was not yet done.  Mirek’s family heirloom was returned, and in turn he gave Kaylen a magic sling to replace her normal one.  The party dispersed after that, with Venecia selling all the high-quality weapons to Conlan, Callien heading off to Orrick’s tower to buy some spells, and Rolf heading to the tavern.  Spivey headed to Gerth’s equipment shop to sell the jewels he had collected.  After a night’s rest, the party was ready to head out to the mountain crypts again. 

The fourth tomb beckoned, although this time with one less enchanted skeleton lord.  The party was soon hacking through skeletons, relying more on missle attacks.  The crypt had a second level downstairs, where a circle of coffins were placed.  The wight and zombie presence was large, but with Venecia and Rolf at the front of the party, soon all enemies fell.  They searched the catacombs and found another sanctum key, and Callien found several more scrolls stuffed in various areas – Color Spray, Invisibility were both added to his arsenal. 

Soon only the last crypt stood, a massive door towering above the party.  It lurched open, and the inside was quiet – the first time they had not been assaulted on sight since setting foot in the Vale.  Statues, flags and carpetting all seemed to swear homage to a black wolf paw symbol.  The main chamber had more skeletal guards and undead, and huge vats of green liquid with human remains in them.  They dispatched the skeletons, and Callien leafed through the book on the altar, which was made from human skin.  The writing was in blood. 

They went down passages to the east and west, Spivey ahead detecting traps.  He missed one, a trap on a coffin that stunned him with a Color Spray while the rest of the party was behind.  Skeletal guards popped out of several closets and secret rooms, and the party destroyed them all while Spivey lay unconscious.  Eventually he awoke and Callien helped him to his feet, ribbnig him about his trap detection abilities – the two rogues were forming an odd bond. 

Soon they were opening the main doors, where a skeletal mage named Mythos began questioning them, huge barbaric skeletons all around him.  Venecia took up the conversation, dismissing necromancy as an affront at its core; the two spoke for some time, a tense moment for the rest of the battle-weary group.  Finally Venecia implored him to allow them to continue without a battle, but Mytos was not up for it.  The group closed ranks and attacked Mytos with missle weapons, dropping him without much effort.  Behind him was a huge shadow, Myrkul’s Sending, which they destroyed.  Jaylen found a dagger specifically for mages in a nearby chest, and kept it for future use.

(Side note: this was a momentously bad battle on my first attempt.  Jaylen was killed, but we had made it through unscathed otherwise.  Rather than reload, I dual-classed Kaylen to a Druid, just so she could read the priest scroll and resurrect her brother.  However, I have decided it better to dual-class Kaylen during Dragon’s Eye, at level 6 or 7, to rack up those fighter HPs and bonuses.  So for now, I reloaded.  :D) 

They proceeded down a long, steep path, leading lower into the crypt depths.  Spivey noticed a secret room, where a mummy attacked; Kaylen and Jaylen fought it, cornering it together with their +1 magic weapons.  The mummy’s crypt had a few spells, again going to Callien, and Rolf picked up the Finest Light Crossbow, which shoots much faster than his regular heavy crossbow.  Jaylen healed everyone while they prepared to open the second level doors.

The long hallway that lead into the second level was trapped, which Spivey found mid-step.  Skeletal knights and huge skeletons attacked from all angles, and the party retreated to the entrance room, forcing the enemy to fight two at a time.  Eventually the flood was over, and it was on to the main chamber, where Imbued Wights and a Skeletal Mage awaited.  This battle was huge – the Magic Missles coming from the wights hurt, and the army of undead, especially the archers, were troublesome.  Eventually the heroes persevered, destroying nearly a legion of undead.  they moved on to the four passagewayd, fighting more wights, and picking up several wands – one of Magic Missle, one of Armor.  Most importantly, they picked up a Black Wolf Charm, which granted the wearer +10 hit points and +1 AC.  Rolf wore it for now, and with his 19 Constitution, he became quite the formidable warrior.

They rested in one of the lockable chambers, with Jaylen healing them all overnight.  Soon they were going through the massive gear-doors into the 3rd level, again filled with more undead.  The spectral knights attacked invisibly, but were destroyed.  Mummys were hacked by Rolf’s magical axe.  Another army of undead were smashed to bones by the group, either through protracted missle attacks or straight-up hack and slash.  Soon, the last door was open, and a giant barbarian spectre greeted us. 

Kresselack, a spirit doomed to this tomb, told us of a priestess of Auril that is threatening his Vale, and the city of Kuldahar.  We tried to avoid promising to kill her, instead focusing on the plight that ails Kuldahar, but Kresselack would not assist until we performed this service.  His stories of creatures being brought here did mesh with that Ogre issue from Kuldahar pass, however.

They went back outside of the crypt and to the Yeti cave they ransacked earlier – and as expected, there was a priest of Auril.  Venecia talked at length, gathering details of the priestess’es faith and tenets.  It became clear that she was bent on destroying Kuldahar, which they could not allow.  When her hood dropped – it was Lysan, the barmaid from the tavern!  Callien’s jaw dropped at his potential life partner being a covert priestess.  There was a quick, bloody fight, during which Auril charmed Venecia (that’ll teach her to ask about faith), and then silenced the rest of the group.  Luckily, weapons do plenty of talking, as arrows interrupted the remainder of her spells, and she and the Yeti were soon handled.  They plundered her magical morningstar and took the Yeti pelts for Conlan.  A shadow appeared, gave thanks for setting him free, but did not give more detail. 

Kresselack was pleased with the group, but admitted he was lying about knowing the source of the distrubance.  This greatly angered Venecia.  Instead, Kresselack offered the goods in his coffin – his sword, a huge Two-Handed weapon, and the Cradle of Mielikki, a scimitar which Kaylen grabbed.  They also grabbed his armor and helm, and then headed back to Kuldahar to report to Arundel. 

Arundel was not happy, but said the group should next try a cultish temple in the mountains, to obtain the Heartstone Gem, for potentially scrying the identity of the unknown aggressor.  Before heading out, they stopped at the tavern, where the bartender was good enough to hand over Lysan’s things – a cloak that protects against the cold, and several priest scrolls.  Jaylen kept them all.

The Temple of the Forgotten God was a day’s journey, and as the party arrived a Verbeeg was fleeing.  It sounded like the temple had just been attacked by another group – and upon investigating, it did appear they were ransacked.  Acolytes and Verbeegs attacked us without letting us explain.  Luckily the acolytes could always be hit by arrows, disippating their spells and rendering them harmless.  the verbeeg were nastier, but still not deadly.   Then, a ways into the temple, some traps hit, knocking people unconscious.  Jaylen had no choice but to use his new spell, Animate Dead, knowing full well that Venecia wouldn’t like it. 

Skeletons appeared, fighting off the Verbeeg for them, and the tide turned.  Afterwards Venecia exploded with rage, going on about necromancy and all the inherent evils within it.  Jaylen simply said he was saving their lives, and doing the right thing, given the circumstances and their mission.  Kaylen seperated the two, but Venecia did not take the newfound abilities of her childhood friend lightly. 

Spivey scouted out the second level, coming upon some Verbeeg and Acolytes in groups.  the single acolytes he and Rolf took out, with Bow and Crossbow respectively.  They followed a long hallway down to the third level, disarming traps in side room and gathering treasure along the way.  Callien picked up a beautiful Bastard Sword, with blue glowing jewels, which lights a flame upon a successful hit.  Spivey got a suit of Shadowed Studded Leather, improvnig his stealth abilities.  Eventually they came to the mantle where the Heartstone was – which was now empty.  An acolyte and verbeeg had been killed by poison.

On the way out, Callien went down an unexplored hallway, visiting a library to pickup some books and a scroll.  He was cornered by a Verbeeg, which he did not see until it was too late; in an impressive show of cowardice, Callien raced around the large table in the room, firing arrows at the giant while he dopily chased him around the long way.  After about 20 arrows, he dropped, and Callien escaped. 

Arundel took this news even worse – but, with the vial of poison, he was able to direct the group to the Dragons Eye volcano, marking it on their map.  Callien headed to Orrick’s tower to buy a Melf’s Acid Arrow scroll for the journey, after hearing of the trolls in those caves.  The rest of the group relaxed at the inn, none too eager for another trip into the mountains to start the newest chapter of Arundel’s search.  Kaylen decided to spend her time with Arundel, learning of the druids of Kuldahar, their precepts, and how to go about joining their ranks. 

Next: character spec’ing, Dragon’s Eye, and Too Many Trolls to Handle

Now I Remember…

While playing IWD last night (after taking a break to play a baseball sim), I remembered why IWD interest always tails off for me pretty quickly.  I do appreciate that they tried to throw in some basic interactions with townsfolk, and those other RPG pieces – monsters you don’t have to kill, attempting to work out of some situations without resorting to violence, etc.  I also appreciate that it’s a fast-paced game, supposed to throw you into high levels quickly. 

Where the problem comes in, is the speed at which you get ‘stuff’.  When you are in Easthaven, you are literally scrounging for anything – doing side quests for coin or a jem, wringing every penny you can out of selling Goblin axes, and stealing from Pomab’s upstairs living area to scrounge for any spells of level 1!  (Poor bards start with no spells!  Him being my only mage means I have to survive from scrolls ONLY!)  No one has any magical items, or any idea that they exist.  Indeed, a ‘high quality’ is all you can hope to find.  Then your companions and party leader are squished, you are run through the Goblin Gauntlet, and deposited in a new tree-city.

Kuldahar suddenly offers everything – potions, goods, scrolls, and a magical item inventory like none you’ve ever seen.  Conlan’s shop, post-HoW, has about 20 magical swords.  A daring pickpocket, like my lovely Bard, can hoard 6 treasures from 3 shopkeepers – several of them duplicates.  There is an influx of equipment available like Plate Mail for the first time.  As soon as you enter a crypt in the Vale of Shadows, High Quality items start falling off skeletons (why do undead have high quality items??).  But you can’t even keep up with them, because by the time you get to go through inventory and equip them, you already have found a +1 version – two longswords, a mace, etc. 

I seriously haven’t even cast a mage spell yet, and I’ve nearly filled up 1st level for my bard, and most of 2nd level.  I’m tossing a few scrolls for safekeeping for my 2nd spellcaster, for when I finally dual him.  I’ve cast no Priest spells besides Cures, but I have about 8 of those scrolls too.  High Quality weapons are the main issue, though – lugging around 3, 4 of several weapon types.  But by now, they’re almost passe – and I’m not even into the tomb of Kresselak yet.  Good thing is, despite all these weapons, there’s always SOMETHING I’m mis-managing, to continue to make things difficult. 

Two main errors: 1) though I specialized Venecia in Large Swords, I equipped her with a Bastard Sword, not realizing this counted as ‘Great Sword’ and not ‘Large Sword’.  So for about a whole chapter, I was always wondering why she hit things so rarely.  2) Nearly the same with Kaylen – at her Fighter creation, I specialized her in Large Swords (for scimitar) and Spears.  However, nearly the whole game I’ve had her with a sling, not realizing she’s not even proficient.  My plan was to spend Druid prof. points on missle weapons and quarterstaves…and meanwhile, she’s been equipped as a Druid – wearing studded leather, using a buckler and scimitar, but usually tossing stones badly.

So, to prevent further confusion, my next post I will spend on spec’ing out my PCs, and what my hopes are for them – from ultimate gear, to proficiences, and when to dual-class.  That way, hopefully I will goof up less, and own this game like I should be.  😀