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Andora | Glacier | Ice Temple Level 1 | Ice Temple Level 2 | Battle Squares |
GLACIER
Phuzalon and Ougyama
The video begins with a cutscene involving a couple of Barbarians named Phuzalon and Ougyama, as well as a Master of Locks making good his escape.
Several Barbarians and a few Priests of Auril are now going to attack me. This can be a pretty dangerous fight. The Barbarians will all up their Constitution and Strength scores with their Rage ability. They can become dangerous if they surround your party en masse, especially if they land 3x damage critical hits with their axes. Crowd-control becomes expedient again. Alliria uses all 3 of Entangle, Spike Stones, and Spike Growth. Lady Elanna uses Web, and then Fireball over and over again. If you don't have a Druid in your party, you have to account for some alternative way to minimize the number of Barbarians attacking you (e.g. Hold Person, Confusion, etc.).
Notes from Zack and Oria
Now I head northwards, and at the same time run into both an Aurilite Postulant and a Remorhaz. The Postulant can be killed quicker, so I take him out first. The Remorhaz can be quite a dangerous monster, especially if it lands a critical hit that also scores extra 'fiery burst' damage as per d&d 3.5e rules. It is advisable to try and immobilize it as soon as you can. Here, I tried both Stunning Blow and Chromatic Orb. Fortunately the Chromatic Orb worked so I killed it quite quickly.
Afterwards I find some interesting messages left behind by Zack and Oria.
Aurilite Holy Symbol
Note how there's the odd Doom Guard walking around. I don't need to worry about them for now. I go north and east to the other side. Notice along the way as well that some doors have a symbol etched onto them. These can't be opened until you find the right item for them.
I head south and now run into a Crystal Golem, which is all but impervious to slashing or piercing damage. Magical blunt weapons will inflict bonus damage, however, so my warriors switch over accordingly. Alliria also equips Impact Arrows that score blunt damage and fires from a distance.
I continue on south and run into a pair of Aurilite Frosttouches, who are a little more powerful than Postulants. They can cast 3rd-level and lower priestly spells. Keep in mind that they like to cast Animate Dead, so be ready for somewhat longer fights. At some point a Remorhaz joins the party so to speak, but he's easily dealt with after Lady Elanna tags him with a Chromatic Orb.
Now I hit all 3 levers to cause rocks to pile at the bottom of the pit, and break up the blocks of ice. An amulet now appears on the floor of the pit. Now I have to go the long way around and pick up the Aurilite Holy Symbol. This is the item needed to open the symbolized doors.
Except now that I have the Symbol all of the Doom Guards, including Vrassilus, will go hostile. So I simply go around and take them out one by one. The only thing Tactics does for them is give them better stats. Vrassilus will leave behind a Flaming Star +1 (+1d6 fire damage).
Aocha
Now that I have the Symbol I go around opening the doors with symbols on them. Each time the character who opens it will get zapped with some cold damage. No way to avoid this.
Some of the rooms also have urns with missile ammunition and possibly other loot as well. Each urn has a trap that cannot be disarmed. There's no way to avoid this either if you want the ammo.
A spider named Aocha will be found in a room towards the northwest. The spider is pertinent to a quest that will be resolved very soon, but there is nothing else I can do for the time being.
Queen Remorhaz
Now I travel down a long tunnel way on towards the south side that runs east. At the end of it will be the Queen Remorhaz as well as a pair of Aurilite Frosttouches. My strategy was to take out the Queen at a distance with missile weapons. One reason is that when the Queen dies she'll explode in a Firestorm type effect, so I obviously want to be well away from her when she dies. Another reason is that with any luck I just might be able to avoid fighting the next foe right afterwards.
This is by no means easy though since the Queen herself has long-range attacks that can inflict heavy damage. I am generous with my healing potions. If a character is getting his or her hit points whittled down quickly, I put that character out of range so that he can gulp down on potions while another character can step forward and demand the Queen's attention. I rotate my characters in this fashion as I need to. Lady Elanna burns the Aurilite priests repeatedly with Fireballs as well. After one of them dies, she finishes off the other one with Magic Missiles.
Lord Rengar
Next up is the undead Lord Rengar, another tough foe in Tactics. He can teleport, and will periodically cast Fireball (without any harm to himself), or Dispel Magic to bring down my buffs, or Power Word: Stun. He also has significant damage resistance to any kind of physical attacks.
First, I am generous about drinking up on my health potions. This can be a lengthy battle and I want to brace myself for the next inevitable Fireball.
Second, my characters switch over to any two-handed weapons for this battle, simply to increase the damage range of your attacks and thereby score more damage with each hit. Trust me, every little bit of damage you can score in this battle will count. The faster I can take him down, the better.
Lord Rengar will leave behind a Longsword +2 (+1 cold damage), a welcome upgrade for Markus, as well as a spell scroll for Shout.
Cult of the Dragon Necromancers
Just a little ahead to the northeast will be a pair of Cult of the Dragon Necromancers. This can be a difficult fight for a number of reasons. First, they can cast spells like Skulltrap, Chain Lightning, Ray of Enfeeblement, and Animate Dead. Their greatest danger is that they can cast Circle of Death, which can outright kill characters who are lower than 10th level. I've periodically slept around for random monsters in order to bump up my xp, but I still haven't hit 10th level yet. Also, they will have Mage Armor and Stoneskin already in place, which makes interrupting their spells through physical attacks unlikely and gives them more time to get off more spells.
Notice how I have Stygar reconfigure his spells. He includes 1 instance of Dispel Magic and has all of his 4th level spells as Death Ward. The party then rests. Stygar casts Death Ward on himself, on Lord Markus, and on Akutagawa. This trio then goes on ahead and leaves the rest of the party well behind.
Also notice how I don't go right up to the Necromancers just yet. I stay out of their little room. Stygar then casts his Dispel Magic on the room. If they change color, it means that the Dispel Magic has brought down their Stoneskin and Mage Armor buffs. If it didn't work, I would have reloaded.
Once their buffs are down I then surround one of them and start combat. My 3 warriors enjoy immunity to the Circle of Death spell while the rest of the party is safely well out of range. The Necromancers become much easier to chop down without their buffs in place.
The video concludes with me looting their bodies for spell scrolls (Shroud of Flame, Conjure Elemental) and Darts +1. Tithian disarms and opens a chest that has some gold as well as a scroll for Emotion: Despair.
Zack Boosenberry
Towards the southeast corner I run into several Snow Trolls. Tactics means they have more hit points and better damage, etc. Given the numbers it is high time for Lady Elanna to make her first use of Melf's Minute Meteors. She waits until the other party members have brought down a Snow Troll, and then she tags it with fire damage as the killing blow. She then holds up, and waits for the next Snow Troll to go down before tagging it as well, and so on. Note that Flame Blade can also help as well during a battle like this.
I then go south and west and then kill the sleeping Remorhaz. This frees a Gnome called Zack Boosenberry, for which I get an xp bonus. He gives me:
I also get an xp bonus for telling him where I found his pet spider, Aocha. Zack will also sell potions, spell scrolls, ammunition, as well as:
I also bought the 2nd Diamond needed for the ship mending spell from Zack. As I now have all of the ingredients that Oswald needs I go back to his ship and place all of them into the table, for which I get an xp bonus.
Sherincal
Now I come back to the Glacier, just a little east of where I fought the 2 Cult of the Dragon Necromancers. It is time for one of my key fights, the Half-Dragon, Sherincal. She has a lot of hit points, and packs a lot of damage with her Greatsword, especially against good-aligned characters. She can also cast Fear, Dispel Magic, Emotion: Despair, Dispel Magic, and can fire Lightning Bolts.
She also has a fair bit of help that includes Aurilite priestesses, a couple of Cult of the Dragon Necromancers, a couple of Barbarians, a Soarsman, and a Barbarian Shaman. A Crystal Golem will also approach from the rear.
First, I have Lord Markus speak with her, and thoroughly explore dialogue options with her. One point behind this is to get her response when you ask her about the "Legion of the Chimera". The answer she gives becomes a password of sorts.
Once combat begins, the name of this game will be divide and conquer. I move back down south and head straight east for the Crystal Golem. I take it out first and foremost with blunt weapons before it has a chance to join forces with any of Sherincal's minions. A Barbarian Warrior followed me so I finish him off as well. Once this part is done I quick-save.
In my efforts to divide and conquer, Sherincal may occasionally teleport in my midst. However, she will also teleport away if I hit her enough times. If this happens, I am content to let her get away, save my game, and then resume my divide and conquer efforts.
Next, I coax forward the remaining Barbarians. They can be led away from the others.
Next, I try a Dispel Magic for the Necromancers. Akutagawa hides and then marks their location. Stygar then uses Dispel Magic from outside the fog of war. If it doesn't work, I simply reload. If it does work on at least one them, then I'm ready to go. I then retreated everybody, and had Stygar cast Death Ward on Alliria, Tithian, and Lady Elanna. My initial idea was for the trio to kill off the Necromancers with missile weapons. It turned out to be unnecessary. Alliria's use of Spike Stones and Spike Growth, and Elanna's repeated use of Fireball, turned out to be enough without them ever coming into view.
I then coax forward the Soarsman and kill it too.
Sherincal has by now had a lot of her supporting cast whittled down, so now I make a point of luring her away from her remaining minions. I have Lord Markus tease her forward. Keep in mind that she can only be hurt with +2 or better weapons. Lord Markus with his Longsword +2, Stygar with his axe, and Akutagawa with his Shortsword +2, go head to head with her. They're also willing to retreat and recoup when any one of them has taken too much damage. Alliria and Tithian also tag her with the double shot of Alicorn's Lance plus Faerie Fire, which allows me to hit her more often and thus bring her down faster. Alliria, Tithian, and Lady Elanna also switch over to +2 ammunition and fire away at Sherincal from a distance. I also make generous use of my healing potions cause this will still take time and healing. Once she goes down she'll leave behind the Winged Blight (+1 Greatsword, 3d6+1 slashing damage, +2d6 damage vs. good characters, evil characters only), and a Potion of Arcane Absorption.
I had Tithian drink the Potion. The reason being that I often have Tithian act as a decoy that can hold up several monsters by himself, allowing Lady Elanna to unleash offensive spells right over him with abandon. This works because Tithian has 2 kicks at the can, his Evasion ability as well as his Drow Spell Resistance. I thus want to augment these advantages as much as I can.
Now I finish off the Aurilite priestesses, who will be on the platform leading to the Temple, as well as the Barbarian Shaman.
The way is now open to the first level of the Ice Temple.
