Solo Fun - Acts of Desperation!

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i like lot's of members in my party...a lot more thrill...at least you don't feel like playing diablo...and it adds the element of tactics to the game

 

Yeah, it's weird. The first three times playing through the game, I never found a single Tymora's Loop. Then on the fourth time through (with solo guy), I found two in the Severed Hand. One of them I found after the big War Tower roof fight and the other one I forget exactly where.

 

Yeah, I love the concept of random drop items. Today I found an item I have never found before - "The Lawful Hammer" - 33% chance of additional damage to chaotic creatures.

 

What I wouldn't give for a chance of a Tymora's Loop ring!

Yesterday I found a random drop that I never had before - another Every God Ring, after a surprisingly easy battle against Saablic Tan (only 1 of my 4 characters got hit - by my own spells)!

Keep up the good work Windrunner - you are so right about "specific" items for soloing!

 

Into the jungles of Chult to keep a bunch of snake people away from a attacking a giant tree and its unnaturally warm haven in the mountains. Sure, why not?

I snuck into the temple wearing robes from a slain initiate. My one goal for my disguise was to unleash the Heartless Dead where they could take part in a very personal Dawn of the Dead remake. I left them to their business, and I heard the symphony of serpent on zombie violence echoing throughout the entire complex.

My first targets were the Viper's Fang and Coiled Cabal gangs, as they represented the most skilled and threatening of the Yuan-ti force. I waltzed in invisible and Wailed, then retreated in Haste as the survivors tried to surround me. I fell back to the doorway leading to the pit trap (the far doorway, away from the gangs' room), which provided a nice place for my adversaries to congregate and receive Wiltings after Fireballs after Wiltings. Surprisingly, the two gangs fell without much hassle, as the doorway sheltered me from any gangbangs and my dark elven heritage and the Hound Collar (no fear!) shielded me from their sneaky arrow and mind tricks.

I then roamed the corridors, staining my axe with snakeguts, until I reached the scantily defended prayer room of Sseth, where the Heartless Dead had left many serpentine bodies laying dead on the floor. The remaining guards fell easily, and the leader of the compound was all by his lonesome when the Grim Widow-Through stalked into his room and sent him to Myrkul.

Even though it was unnecessary, I decided to seal the crossroads for good by confronting the Guardian. I assembled the steles and waited for the battle of my life. I was pretty disappointed!

I cast Mordenkainen's Sword and went in fully buffed (notably preparing Hound Collar[anti-fear], Improved Invisibility, Blur, Blink and 7 sets of Mirror Images), and hacked away, refreshing the images when needed. No running, no spells, no tricks. Just a straight-out hackfest with the Guardian missing a lot due to my buffs and me hitting almost every time for 34 damage. He fell without much fanfare and I even had 2 sets of Images left!

Of course, I think I angered this place, as the ground is shaking and I think it's time to get out of here.

Back to Kuldahar...

 

What has been the toughest HoF battle so far then?

 

Well, in terms of dying, I actually died twice against the Myconids in the Underdark, as I twice had a critical failure with my saves (a +8 Luck doesn't seem to prevent this). But when I didn't fail my save, it was pretty easy.

The Driders really took everything I had, and I almost died a couple of times. Lysara at the Ice Temple really messed me up, but when I hid, her group was scattered all over the place, making it pretty easy to kill them after I made the first narrow escape.

The thing is, even though it seems that some battles are easy, with the power of HoF monsters, I'm really just one hold spell away from death at all times. Also anytime I get completely surrounded with no option for escape (let's say the Dimension Door won't help), then that's pretty much it, since with the spell-lag, I can't refresh Mirror Images fast enough. I've also died several times by being impatient and trying to complete a map without resting, even with no Mirror Images left. That's just craziness

 

RETURN TO KULDAHAR

After defeating the Guardian of Chult, Iselore and I were immediately besieged by legions of yuan-ti, orogs, harpies, and their assorted allies. My first action, of course, was a massive Wail aimed at Cedra and her initial strike force that took out about two-thirds of their number. I only had time to put up a Haste and Mirror Image before that, so I cast Improved Invisibility and ran away, leaving Iselore to deal with the rest of that group.

I buffed myself up as much as I can before tackling the following groups, and used the Heartstone-juiced nigh-invincible Iselore as a meat shield whenever possible (since my character refuses to summon monsters himself).

I tried Wailing out a big group of neo-Orogs, but managed only to get 3 out of 15 or so! They almost surrounded me by the time I had finished Wailing, but managed to leave one small gap through which I fled back to my Iselore-shield. Iselore was only doing paltry damage (20-50 vs. HoF monsters?!... please!) with his Searing Orbs and such, but he took some critical pressure off of me.

I managed to use my only Mass Dominate against the Orogs, converting 4 or so to my cause, but after a while, Iselore started attacking them! I controlled them with as best as I could, making them attack only the enemy, but I could sense the danger if even one of them attacked Iselore, for the druid would know that they were under my control!

Thus, I started pitting my dominated creatures against each other, and I attacked them with Mordenkainen's Sword to break the charm. A pity, but one must not alienate druids on a natural high.

For each group, I tended to apply a mass destruction spell or two, then waited until some of them went after Iselore, at which point we would mop up the remains.

Finally, the invasion was repelled with 1 set of Mirror Images left. Of course, no useful loot to be had, but that's been true for quite a while.

To Dragon's Eye...

 

DRAGON'S EYE

Dragon's Eye went pretty much like the battles before it, as I roasted, Wailed, and cleaved my way through the enemies without too much ado, relying on Haste + Big Black Flying Death (massive 2-handed throwing axe) to do hit & run tactics when I ran out of buffs.

The big battle on Level 1, near the hidden Fire Agate-triggered stairway, was pretty difficult, as the room was chock full of enemies, including deadly rogue archers and more rogues who appeared out of thin air in the hallway behind me. I Wailed once, taking out 4-5 baddies, but the archers and a few melee troops had already beaten me close to death at this point, and I made a hasty retreat through the hallway, through the double axe trap, all the way to the treasure chests in the southwest portion of the level.

There I regrouped with potions and Trollish Fortitude, but then I found that High Commander Grisham had actually followed me! With it being only 1 on 1, I took him out, rebuffed, and slowly took out the remaining troops, who were now scattered throughout the level, looking for poor poor pitiful me.

The biggest challenge in the Dragon's Eye seemed to be finding a place to rest! I rested a couple of times with low HP and almost completely out of useful spells only to find a horde of snakes or Feyrs waiting for me. I resorted to a really painstaking manuever of equipping the Golden Heart sword for haste, running away, equipping Big Black Flying Death, attacking, then re-equipping Golden Heart to run away and start it all over again. Finally, I decided that the only place worth resting in would be back in Kuldahar, to which I made several return trips!

Another tough battle was when I lowered the drawbridge to Thorasskus' room, where I was beset by a legion of Efreeti. This made no sense to me, as their target was Thorasskus, and I had made no effort to help or hinder their assasination attempt! Why go after this random stranger who might have nothing to do with the whole thing? Why leave your assasination TARGET alone?!

In any case, I tried to use the bridge as a chokepoint, and I started casting Wail of the Banshee. Unfortunately, 3 of the Efreeti were still able to attack me at once, which caused all my images to fall away and chopped a decent size chunk into my life total, so much that it disrupted the spell! I hadn't had a spell disrupted in a while, so I stood stunned for a moment before I gathered my wits and started running away!

I fled through the halls as fast as I could but the Efreeti were pretty fast as well. I took quick breathers to refresh Mirror Image and cast Trollish Fortitude, but couldn't rest for long as some Efreeti would circle around the halls and try to catch me from the other side! I dodged them in and around the corridors, throwing up Skull Traps and Horrid Wiltings whenever I got enough of a lead on them. I still got beaten senseless by Efreeti coming at me from another direction or when I misjudged how long it would take to cast a spell! Finally, when I ran out of bombardment spells, I just resorted to Big Black Flying Death, but this took forever, and I had to refresh Haste 2 more times before they succumbed.

I confronted the little boy, who didn't even seem to be hurt, mind you -- good job, Efreeti assasins -- and when he revealed his true nature, I Wailed and ended his pitiful sermon right then and there.

On to the Dragon's Eye Level 4 Magma Chamber...

 

Nice. Glad to see you are having difficulties (that makes things more fun!)

 

Cool Windrunner. You should consider writing and publish stories based on the games on this forum.

You are a very good storyteller

 

HehE I liked how the Efreeti went straight for you! Look on the brightside - Always fun to be the centre of attention

 

It's not that fun being the center of attention when the experience is already meaningless to you! Besides, Efreeti have a certain appeal, and I don't like fighting them when I don't have to...

DRAGON'S EYE LEVEL 4

It's Back to the Future meets Days of Our Lives meets a pyromaniac scriptwriter! What surprised me most about this level is how fast you can do it, since I spent a long time the first few times here.

After seeing Venomen's suicide and looting the embassy, I went straight to the Fields of Slaughter exit, where a nasty beholder was standing guard. I played nice, went back to the strangest busboat-driver in the world and made my way back to the raised outer ledge. Fired up the Mordenkainen Sword and started going to work on the eye-beast, without even issuing a challenge.

I managed to hurt the cartoon horror pretty badly before he decided to pull out the stops and send me flying across the level to where his eager fiery minions were looking to tear me a new... windpipe?

With my protections still up, I managed to sing my siren's song of Mass Domination, and converted half of the flaming foes to my side. However, some of those nasty trolls seemed to want me exclusively, and they managed to tear down Image after Image as my horde oh so slowly tore into their life totals. Finally, with a few sets of Images still left and the help of M-Sword, we managed to defeat the unsaved heathens who hadn't yet heard the Word of Windrunner.

With my army, we marched back to the beholder, who fell quickly to our combined onslaught. I noticed that I couldn't leave through the Fields of the Slaughter exit now (clicking had no effect); I had to tell the Archon first. However, I was stuck, since the Archon was at his starting point, unreachable from the center isle!

Enter Nathaniel's Ring of the Ram to the rescue! I Dimension Door'd to the outer ledge again and made my way to the Archon. Telling him Fields of Slaughter somehow opened up the gateway to Day 4... Before I entered, however, I told me horde to start attacking each other. What did I care, I wouldn't be responsible for my actions, as I'd be going back in time

The following days progressed quite expectedly soap-opera-y. When I caught King Lothar on day 3 being a bad little giant and lying to Venomen, he wanted to fight. However, I just told the Archon to take me to the Fields of Slaughter and he obliged by sending me off to Day 2. Weeeee, I'm a lover, not a fighter!

On Day 1, Izbelah was going to make her nasty little oopsie, so I ran in Haste to her island, Dimension Door'd across the lava, and sent some Mordenkainen goodness through that sexy slithery snake. Sorry, love, it just didn't work out. I ran out to the Fields of Slaughter exit, and lo and behold!, it took me to the Fields of Slaughter!

To the Fields of Slaughter, with a brief rest in Kuldahar...

 

ICE TEMPLE REVISITED (AND THOUGHTS ON SUMMONING)

Before I managed to get back to Kuldahar, Nickademus summoned me to the Ice Temple for a little demon-killing action. You know, I've always wondered where all these summoned monsters come from; do they have lives, families, jobs? Do their friends wonder where they got off to while they're having a nice cup of tea, or playing pool by the beach? It's good to get a little perspective from the other side, and I must say, it really made me feel like a piece of meat! This only strengthened my resolve and current policy to never use summon monsters, no matter how despicable the creatures may be. I don't like being dragged into someone else's fight, so I'm not going to drag others into my fights...

In any case, the creatures in the Ice Temple were fairly tough, but they were also scattered, which meant I usually only had to deal with them 1 on 1, or 1 on 2. Going in fully buffed in those situations allowed me to just pummel them with straight melee, though I used Big Black Flying Death against the Gelugons, as they couldn't fit in the doorways! Go through a doorway, watch as they try to squeeze their massive frames through, laugh a bit, then pierce them to death with Flying Death. Good fun! When I ran out of buffs, I just used Haste (then Boots of Speed) to do hit & run with Flying Death.

AIIIIIEEEE! FIELDS OF SLAUGHTER! (part I)

Ohhhhh boy. As I entered, Saablic Tan sent a nasty squad of goons (priests, mages, yuan-ti, fighters, feyrs) after me, with the killers being those awful death-bringing Slayer Knights of Xvim. Man, those guys don't fool around.

I tried leading with a Wail, but they cut apart my images and were savagely ripping me apart as I finished it... AND the Wail only took out 4 of their number! They did leave an opening however, so I cast Mirror Image again and took off, doing some fancy hasted footwork as I downed healing potions like it was going out of style.

However, as I literally ran circles around them, I managed to get the attention of some pink and blurred Fallen Bladesingers lingering to the north, and they started charging me as well! And they were almost as fast as a hasted me! I managed to fire off a DB Fireball and did some more running, but soon enough I was cornered and dusted like one of those vampires on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Attempts 2&3 played out similarly, starting with a Wail, and on attempt 3 I got chunked before even completing the Wail!!

Finally, I decided to try using a Mass Dominate first, and this made all the difference. I got about 5 of them on my side, and some of them seemed to want to fight each other, so I quickly ordered them each to take a different target. However, the two Slayer Knights and a Feyr kept following me relentlessly, so I weaved in and out through the crowd and as my pursuers stumbled to get at me, I tossed Flying Death in their face again and again and again. THAT'S RIGHT, JUST STEP OFF, MAN!!!! Ahem (it was emotional).

The Slayer Knights and Feyr eventually died, and I joined the main battle, which was won without too much fuss, and I ended up having 3 guys left under my control. I had them turn on each other and I polished off the last with some more Flying Death. However, I was completely spent at this point (3 haste spells used up, as well as all my Mirror Images), so I retreated back to Kuldahar to rest before attempting to advance further on these god-forsaken Slaughter Fields...

Till next time...