My 4 char party's way through IWD-HoW-ToTL

Remove all ads!

Part-1:

Kuldahar, Vale of Shadows:

This is a brief sketch, rather technical, about my 4 char party on their way through IWD, HoW and ToTL.
Having a little time these days I started a new game yesterday and my party just entered Dragon's Eye. That's how my chars look like now after my chars have gathered approx 40.000 xp each:

• Sir Camaris - LG halfling paladin, lvl-6
  -Proficiencies: ** in large swords, great swords (I will not use two-handed swords) and maces
  -Equipment: plate mail, helm of the trusted Defender (a must for halfling fighters), black wolf talisman, ring of protection +1, bracers of weapon skill, mace +1, longsword +1, large shield,
  -AC -7
• Alobar Steelfist - NG dwarven fighter-cleric, lvl-5/5
  -Proficiencies: ** in hammers and slings; * in flails.
  -Equipment: plate mail, standard helm, cloack of the coming storm, sling +1, hammer +1, large shield.
  -AC -2
• Messy Fentan - LG halfling bowfighter; lvl-6
  -Proficiencies: *** in bows and large swords (weird enough I wasn't able to place the 6th slot in bows )
  -Equipment: plate mail, standard helm, shortbow +1, longsword +1
  -AC -1, -2 with shield
• Svenia Svensson - CG elven fighter-mage-thief; lvl-4/4/5
  -Proficiencies: ** in large swords and bows, * in flails
  -Thieving skills: 95% in find traps, 65% in stealth; rest undeveloped
  -Equipment: ring of shadows, boots of Moander, shortbow +1
  -AC 4 with robe of cold resistance & bracers of AC 8
  -AC 2 with shadowed leather +1

First impressions:
Party played pretty smooth, levels up rather quick - no wonder in a 4 char party. I'm not yet lacking mage spells - but it is a pity I don't have a nice elven chain for my fmt - the robe only offers poor protection. The fmt's low levels are not much of a disadvantage yet - the racial bonuses for large swords and bows still compensate for that. One thing about the fmt is really annoying: only one weapon slot ... that really wasn't necessary
The halfling paladin is my primary frontliner, frequently joined by the fighter-cleric - I like to use the bowfighter as a backliner and switch over to melee only for self defence - archer support is IMO very useful for the frontliners.
It has proven to ease fighting to kill enemy spellcasters with missile fire (not very sensational news ) - like the priests in the forgotten temple and the lizardmen shamans in dragon's eye.
Vale of shadows and Kresselaks tomb were fairly easy - since my two frontliners both had blunt weapons. The forgotten temple was harder, especially with the clerics there, however, the giants there were rather esistant to missile fire so I mainly fought them in melee; I got large shields for my whole party there The first level of dragon's eye still plays rather easy but having played it before I know it will be more challenging soon.
I'll keep you informed about my progress.
********************************************

Part-2:

Dragon's eye:

My four heroes have just killed Yxunomei in a surprisingly easy fight (I found some good use for the arrows +2), did their shopping tour and are now at the gates of the Sewered Hand. Every char has by now accumulated around 171.000+ xp.

• Sir Camaris, lvl-8
  -Stats: str-17; dex-18; con-18; int-14; wis-17; chr-18 (great roll )
  -Changes: Erevain's Broadsword, the love of Black Bess. AC si still -7.
• Alobar Steelfist, lvl-7/7
  -Stats: str-18/97; dex-17; con-19; int-6; wis-18; chr-5
  -Changes: He underwent some major changes, now he wears the plate mail +1, Dead Man's Face (lowering his chr to 3), the Bitch Queen's Envoy, Hammer Flail +2, Conlan's Hammer and the Giant Killer sling. AC is -5.
• Messy Fentan; lvl-8
  -Stats: str-17; dex-19; con-18; int-8; wis-17; chr-8
  -Changes: She now wears the cloack of the coming Storm and the black plate mail and helmet from Kresselak's tomb; she got the longsword of confusion +2 and the messenger of Sseth shortbow (one extra attack). AC is -2 with bow, -3 with shield.
• Svenia Svensson; lvl-6/6/7
  -Stats: str-18/73; dex-19; con-17; int-18; wis-17; chr-10 (great roll, took me quite a while )
  -Changes: She now wears the Necromancer's robe, the rogue's cowl (giving her an acceptable AC) and the longbow +2 Protector. AC 0, lower with sword and shield - maybe I'll give her the Bitch Queen's Envoy later ...
  -I finished developing stealth and find traps and I will now focus on open locks in the next thief levels.

Summary:
All in all the various levels of Dragon's eye were rather tough - though most enemies were not so hard, the sheer mass of them made it difficult for a small party to maneuver and fight. I had some silly encounters with bombardier bugs (acid cloud),wraith spiders (desease), poison zombies (yes, poison ) and the blasting skelettons (cold damage - sometimes it's hard to keep them on distance, especially when the archer is in melee already) and imbued wights (some painful magic), anyway - my party always left the field of battle gloriously, if yet a little scratched
I needed to rest several times since I wanted to save my healing potions for quick healing in combat. My fmt is becoming increasingly vulnerable, lacking hitpoints to take damage - I need an elven chain soon )fortunately I'll do the severed hand next ...)
The lizard king was a relatively easy opponent. I found the Talonian priests and their pet trolls much more difficult to come by. I solved that by placing a skulltrap and luring them to run into it. Once they were dead I had time for the trolls.
Yxunomei was rather easy, once I my invisible thief had disarmed the traps she found when scouting the area (using a potion of invisibility). Yxunomei was quickly turned into a pincushion and the finished off by Sir Camaris' blade.
********************************************

Part-3:

The severed hand:

I have just finished the severed hand and I have to say that some items I got there significantly improved my chars, the fmt especially. Every char has by now accumulated around 335.000+ xp.

• Sir Camaris, lvl-9
  -Changes: He got some new toys, namely the shield of the hand and the boots of moander; AC is -9 by now - he still uses the same weapons - maybe I'll add the trollkiller bastard sword ... just a thought since I go to dorndeep now ...
  -Proficiencies: ** in large swords, great swords and maces - * in axes.
• Alobar Steelfist, lvl-8/8
  -Changes: He also got some new items that improved AC and melee punch: Mysery's Herald flail, Edley's sling, santified hammer +2 and ring of sanctuary - he still holds the Bitch Queen's Envoy. AC is -5, still enough by now.
  -Proficiencies: ** in hammers, flails and slings - he'll develop maces next.
• Messy Fentan; lvl-9
  -Changes: She dropped her black helm from Kresselak's tomb for Sune's laurel of favour and got the symbol of sheverash (giving infravision and IMO increasing her ranged combat range) and she received the shadowed field plate (AC 0 with missile resistance - very handy for a bowfighter without a shield). She got the longbow +2 Protector from Svenia too and switches beween it and the messenger of Sseth, tough usually I prefer the higher number of attacks to the TAHO/ damage bonuses - maybe I sell the Protector, don't know yet.
  -Proficiencies: *** in bows (I wasn't able to increase it any further ) and **** in large swords. I want to give her a blunt weapon next ... maybe maces.
• Svenia Svensson; lvl-7/8/9
  -Changes: She was the one who profited most from the items of the severed hand: Finally she got even two elven chains to choose of - and she chose Kaylessa's chain that gives +1 on dex. She also found boots of speed, the longsword of the hand +3 (I gave it to her to improve her THACO ... in melee), the longbow of action +2 that also gives +1 on dex resulting in general a THACO/ AC/ thievery bonus, really nice. I also gave her the hammerflail to be able to deal with skeletons effectively. AC is -4 with a bow, even better with a shield.
  -Proficiencies: ** in bow, longsword and flail. I think I'll add shortswords or daggers next.
  -Thief skills by now: 4x backstab, move silent and find traps 100, open locks 65 (it costed me expensive potions to get over that in Yxunomei's lair ... ), pick pockets 25

Summary:
The Severed hand was tough but well managable with 4 chars. This dungeon offers plenty of different enemies - that and the nice story are why I like this area so much. The fights against the shadowed orcs, worgs and goblins were not too hard: usually 2 missilers fought the shamans while they were defended by my melee fighters. As for the skeletons: When I only faced skelettons I meleed them with my whole party, dealing out much damage in a short time - the only way since I only have one sling - skelettons need blunt weapons, so why waste arrows on them ? The wraight spellcasters were mainly healing the skeletons rather than attacking me, making meleeing the skeletons more dangerous (and tedious as well) - so I tried to kill them first. The elves were not much diferent from the orcs except that their number of spellcasters was significantly higher, demanding more attention and coordination of my missilers. Anyway, combat often forced me to change these general rules since in IWD the enmies generally tend to rush in for melee - my archers then had to defend themselves in melee. Despite that I usually managed to keep at least Messy firing - with 4 attacks per round she fires tons of arrows, I need to resupply them a lot - fortunately I still come along with normal arrows.
My fighter-cleric has now almost reached a level where I can think about using offensive and supportive spells rather that healing only - my party got hit much less in the last fights.
My fmt is also starting to be a useful offensive spellcaster, an able thief and scout and a good backstabber - all in all pretty promising - I think that, on long term, she will be a real force.
My halflings are robust and sturdy fighters with a very good punch and they are getting better and better.
After a little shopping in Kuldahar my brave heroes will go to Dorndeep for further adventures.
********************************************

Part-4:

Dorndeep and Wyrm's tooth glacier:

So my party went to Dorndeep, trying to find replies about the evil that was plagueing the lands. That was relatively well manageable: I divide the fights in 5 categories that explain themselves:

• undead in general - easy, except for the higher mummy in the burial hall in dorndeep
• orogs, trolls, icetrolls, yetis - easy; only the orog generals were pretty tough.
• icesalamanders, winterwolves - I pretty much suffered from their cold until I started to melee them with my paladin, supported by 3 missilers. No more suffering then - and I was able to use up my limited healing spells on one char.
• frostgiants - they have a hefty punch, but they are realtively quickly killed when you concentrate fire of two archers and two melee fighter on one of them When facing several of them proper formation and clever blocking of alternate routes of aproach is essential.
• specials - Including Joril, the drow, the lich-light and the auril mage: Joril himself went down rather easy - the auril mage was somewhat toguer - and his cold knights were a pretty tough bunch. The drow sorcerers died fast in well aimed fireballs from stealth, the drow spellblades and vanguards however were a much toguer breed. The lich was stupid and had a tendency to kill all the undead he summoned in a selfmade fireball ... KI ... ... piece of cake.

That much for Dorndeep, Wyrm's tooth glacier and Joril's cave.

As for what char I like most/ use best I found a somewhat astonishing result in checking my Kill & XP stats:

• Sir Camaris, Pally - 28% kills, 33 % XP - strongest enemy killed: Yxunonei (sure, he's my primary frontliner ...)
• Alobar Steelfist, Fighter/Cleric - 21% kills, 21% XP - strongest enemy killed: Joril's bodyguard
• Messy Fentan, Fighter - 26% kills, 24% XP -
• Svenia Svensson, Fighter/Mage/Thief - 22% kills, 21% XP - frostgiant bodyguard

Actually this is about the best ballanced party I ever played I use and need all chars about equally much. Anyway, there's the trend (no wonder in hack'n'slash IWD) that pure fighter chars are superior in combat. However, the FMT's stealth, magic and thieving skills just like Alobar's healing don't show up in the stats - and they were essential sometimes. So in this party there is no char I'd like to miss. They eded up with about 890.000xp each and that's how they looked like when they were standing at the gates of Lower Dorndeep

• Sir Camaris, lvl-10
  -Changes: His Equipment now consists of the helm of the trusted defender, the mithral field plate +2, shield of the hand, gauntlets of weapon skill, the elfbone ring of kiran-hai, the black wolf talisman, boots of speed, the excellent longsword +3 holdfast (+1 on AC, chance to hold enemy), the love of black bess and the trollslayer bastard sword. He still holds the cairn blade and the celebrant's blade. AC is -12 with Holdfast, -11 with normal weapons.
• Alobar Steelfist, lvl-9/9
  -Changes: He now has the Blessed Helm of Lathander, Mithral field plate +2, large shield of strength +1, rings of sanctuary and holyness, fire flail +3, conlan's hammer and Edley's sling. AC is -7.
• Messy Fentan; lvl-11
  -Changes: She has now the Patriot helm from Joril's cave, shadowed platemail, symbol of sheverash, scimitar +3 frostbrand (looks like and is named like Drizzt's sword, but in fact has different features), Everain's broadsword, the black bow and the messenger of Sseth. At need she uses the reinforced large shield +2. AC is -7 with the bow, -10 with shield.
  -Proficiencies: She now has grandmastery in longswords and three attacks per round so she's about as formidable in melee as in ranged combat.
• Svenia Svensson; lvl-9/10/11
  -Changes: Svenia is still using the rogues cowl, Kaylessa's chain, the bitch Queen's envoy, Kontik's ring of wizardry, ring of shadows, scarab of defence, boots of Moander and the sword of the Myrloch Vale (boosting her lore by 20%). She also has the short sword of shadows +3 (+2 AC bonus!), the Mysery's Herald flail and the longbow of action. AC is -7.
  -Proficiencies: ** in bow, longsword and flail, * in shortsword.

Impressions:
The whole story had a nice scenery and some great fights: Dorndeep cavern was nice scenery and offered some nice, minor fights, including the fight for Krilag's badge. I retrieved the razorwhine extract from that mage for xp and info and made my way into Dorndeep ... and into the drow ambush. I like this fight. My F/M/T scouted the area so I was informed about my enemies number and formation - that allowed me to cast a fireball on the drow wizard and surrounding archers on the one side, followed by an immediate retreat to the entrance ... where my pally and trhe others waited, ready for combat. Then I only had to wait for the first group of my enemies to run into my trap. Easy. The only notable enemies there were the drow spellblades and vanguards (especially with their bolts of biting). I found some nice loot, namely a mithral platemail +2
Next step then was to solve the dwarven trap-riddle and to go downstairs to meed Norlinor and to fighte the undead horde and the lich. Both was quickly done and I was lucky to find Therikans phylactery in the third tomb I searched. Only the bronze guards were a bad - namely very tough - surprise near the exit. The tombs were full of rich treasures and ended my lack of quality enchanted shields there.
The outside of Wyrm's tooth galcier was easy. The inside of the temple with all the salamanders was less easy. However, using the tactic I sketched above I was able to finish that part too. Then I repaired the bridge and went to clear out Jorils pest hole. That proved to be a lengthy and dangerous but quite rewarding business.

After doing these Quests my inventory was overloaded (I had to store stuff in the grave in the wyrm hall in Joril's cave) I made two short trips to the severed hand to sell my loot (crossing the 100.000gp border) and to buy new arrows. Next destination: Lower Dorndeep!


[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited February 21, 2002).]

 

Heh good party Ragusa I will try it when I have time

 

Part-5:

Lower Dorndeep:

Entering Lower Dorndeep was hefty - hordes of guarding skeletons and salamanders gave me a warm welcome, but once I crushed the guards I turned the tide of battle. I played the varuious parts of this huge area rather randomly, doing all the little sidequests (including the one of bringing seeds, birds, squirrels and pure water and Larrel's daughter's manual back to the severed hand). I killed the firesalamanders and freed the gnomes there, just like I brought them food and killed the umberhulks and bugs that attacked their place. I also used the opportunity to kill that drow merchant who had tricked out dwarfs and elves.
When I aproached Seth I gave the wrong answers and he called in a horde of thieves ... that had no chance. I eventually found pale justice in the minotaur/ umberhulk area with Markeths palace. Marketh was a tough opponent, he as well as his simulacrum (and his iron golems) - however - like every mage in IWD he had finally had some problems with casting spells with arrows in his breast. I had some nice loot there I cleaned out the palace with the hidden thiefs behind every corner (simple, just keep moving, ready for melee - once thy step out of shadows whack them) and made some nice loot there too.
I killed the maid Imladia and her fire giant and elemental company after I stole her badge
Finally I decided to see frater Poquelin ... I entered this hall and was greeted by hordes of undead. I crushed the first (neat that - except Messy - everyone in my party has a blunt weapon proficiency. I sent out the FMT scouting and I found masses of enemies: Usually arranged in the same pattern except for one formation that drew my attention: Zombie lords and higher mummies around an idol. I casted haste, protection from evil, protection from fear and courage on my party and closed in, greeting the idol with two firemalls, flamestrike and arrows +2. Though I took some punishment from the mummies I killed the idol rather quick - getting rid of the undead horde around.
I eceived my freebie healing from the ilmater priests there, opened the stairs and entered the new area where I had to suffer Poquelin's evil-villain-rant (and that sucker complains about Yxunomei's rethorics... ). That fight was a tough one, a high number of enemies - and since I did not cordinate my party well I took some beating there, nevertheless I was victorious in the end. Poquelin himself died after a number of critical hits, dealing out 45+ damage each ... and I got teleported back to easthaven.

Easthaven and final fight in IWD:

Arriving in Easthaven I met a number of cyclops - slow, strong brutes with a good punch but no chance. I arrived there still wounded from the last fight, so I had to be careful - even when attacked by hordes of hostile squirrels. I freed Everard and I'll now search the city and go to the ice-tower.
Arriving at the ice tower I had that funny fight with Pombab and his illusions. That was quickly settled with a cloudkill , obviously his mirror images were below 8hd . Further upstairs I met Behlifet and after Everard sealed the gate I had sto suffer another evil villain rant before he opened combat. He summoned two iron golems which fell quickly under the atacks of my four heroes. Then Behlifet himself closed in, and when I started to hurt him he teleported away, threwing fireballs - since my party has excellent dex I usually only suffered half damage. I did not follow him, since I had noticed the traps on the ground. Instead I healed my party and waited for him to return - unavoidably he closed in for melee again and after three turns he fell dead. End of a stupid demon.

That's how my heroes looked when entering Easthaven and how they entered HoW:

• Sir Camaris, lvl-13 (1.610.259 xp)
  -Changes: Pale justice, Girdle of Stromnos + large shield of strength +1 = str-20,
  ; AC -11 with the shield of the hand, AC-10 with the large shield of strength +2.
• Alobar Steelfist, lvl-11/11
  -Changes: none; AC -8
• Messy Fentan; lvl-14
  -Changes: none; AC -7 w bow, -10 with reinforced shield +2
• Svenia Svensson; lvl-10/11/12
  -Changes: robe of the watcher, mithran's cloak, rogues cowl, kontiks ring of wizardry, ring of aura transfusion (fast regeneration - very handy), the argent shield from maiden Imladia, sword of the myrloch vale (soon: restored blade of Aihonen) and the fire flail,
  ; AC-8 with the Argent shield from maidem Imladia.

Observations:
In the end you mainly face enemies you have fought before, therefore you usually know how to deal with them. Actually the only bad surprises in lower dorndeep were the guard skeletons and the greater mummies when fighting the last of the rooms before you meet Poquelin. The firegiants were tough though and I needed to heal my frontliners repeatedly.
The last fight vs. Poquelin's summoned horde was pretty tough, anyway, IMO all the fights there were well managable even with a four char party

Next step of my heroes is to find out about the mysterious heart of winter ...

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited February 21, 2002).]

 

Sounds pretty good to me.

Oh, BTW, the scimitar? It's name can't be frostbrand, as it is the type of a sword enchaned to cause cold damage. Drizzt's saber is Icingdeath. I know that there is some sort of AD&D manual that gives the frostbrabnd details...

Ara
(Drizzt is good but Artemis is way better...)

 

Part-6:

HoW and the Burial Isle:

Entering HoW was a little disppointing - since I had to import all my chars ... and lost all my ceontainers, including all the handy potions I had collected but not yet used. A ToB like solution would have been favourable.
I talked to the shaman and started to explore the map. Soon I found myself mediating between the city and the barbarians. Of course, Wyldfene wasn't reasonable and I got into trouble when he accused me to be a hired assassin. When the shaman was banned to the burial isle I managed to get out of the cam clean and easy. I returned to the village and confronted the representative of ten towns with what I had found out - about him hiring an assassin.
I then went to the burial isle and I found some tough enemies there. The warding animals and drowned bodies were tough, just like the wailing virgins. The latter ones were particularly silly since they were well behind the frontline of tough monsters and difficult to hit that far away. They were able to cause massive damage from a distance, forcing me to agressively attack them first. I put backstabbing to some good use there So I battled my way through the isl, eventually finding Hjolder, presenting him the damaged plaquette I found on Wylfdene's grave. He told me o go to Gloomfrost to find out more and then to come to the camp of his tribe.

Changes in equipment after the burial isle:

• Sir Camaris, lvl-13 (1.610.259 xp)
  -Changes: Bought Three White Doves, the girdle of ogre blood - change it with the girdle of stromnos; replaced shield with Waukeen's defender (offering a saving throw bonus )
• Alobar Steelfist, lvl-11/11
  -Changes: got the shield of the revenant.
• Messy Fentan; lvl-14
  -Changes: Got a ring of free action, Svian's club +5 and put one proficiency slot * in clubs.
• Svenia Svensson; lvl-10/11/12
  -Changes: bought Edion's ring of wizardry, got boots of silence, though I think I'll sell it again - I favour regeneration over 3 more spells.

And when I returned to the village I got into the Trials of the Luremaster ...
********************************************

Part-7:

Trials of the Lurmaster:

ToTL is tough, right from the start. You encounter strong enemies right at the start, a horde of wyverns and harpies: These dificulty setting is the norm for ToTL, most enemies are like that. The story is pretty nice, so it's definitely worth to be played, and if not for that: there is plently of slaughter, bags of holding and lots of xp in that add-on .

To start ToTL I talked to the halfling in the village pub and he teleported me right in the mysterious castle, where I learned that I had to fight my way out again - on my own. After finishing four tests and some fights in the four corner towers of the castle yard. Then I went to the helm chapel, placed the holy symbol there and started to explore the lower crypt. The crypt is a huge dungeon with [/]lot's of enemies[/b] and it took me a while to explore the area, wipe out all undead there and to collect the keys to the doors to enter the final crypt. I solved the riddle there, restoring the honour of the four forgotten knights.
That opened the door to the main castle and I met another hefty opponent: Spectral guards: They deal out hefty and are resistant to quite an amount of damage ... and there are lots of them ... after two groups of them I usually ran out of healing spells, forcing me to rest - healing potions are rare period in ToTL ... I needed them for fast in-combat healing. I found the halfling that brough me there again, who eventually unmasked and showed his true face - so I found my party in another hefty fight. Uper level was fun, I met some old pals from BG-2: Beholders - usually they quickly perished under missile and melee attacks. I finally found the ghost of the lord of this castle and killed him, retrieved the key and descended to the cellars (lots of enemies again (some of them beholders and the renowned spectral guards) and eventually a huge dungeon with jackal warriors and glabrezus. The last dungeon is your key to gather all the things you need to activate a gate to your escape - but - don't worry - you'll have to fight for your freedom first
During all the exploration of the castle, the Luremaster shows up to tell you a riddle that finally explains a lot of the castles history. The final fight is - of course - tough, but managable. My chars have gathered lots of xp there and I have thoroughly enjoyed playing ToTL.

Changes in equipment after finishing ToTL, when entering gloomfrost area:

• Sir Camaris, lvl-17 (about 2.970.000 xp)
  -Changes: cloak of scintillating colours (+3 on AC, works with enchanted armor), lowering his AC to -14
• Alobar Steelfist, lvl-13/14
  -Changes: got the girdle of ogre blood and the boots of grounding.
• Messy Fentan; lvl-19
  -Changes: she got the cloak of displacement, the girdle of bluntness, the boots of avoidance, the great shield +3, the longsword of action +4 (one bonus attack, +1 AC-bonus) and the gauntlets of ogre power. Her AC is -11 with the long sword of action and great shield +3 and the AC bonuses from full plate, cloak, boots and girdle are: -13 vs piercing, -4 vs crushing and missile, -3 vs slashing) + 15% resistance to slashing/ piercing/ crushing ... neat, she's very robust in melee and has an awesome number of 9/2 attacks with the longsword of action (in ToTL only, taken out of HoW).
  Proficiencies: ***** in longswords, *** in bows, ** in clubs
• Svenia Svensson; lvl-11/12/14
  -Changes: she also got the gauntlets of ogre power and a golden girdle, no other changes. AC is -9, with a bonus -3 vs slashing from the golden girdle.
  -Proficiencies: Still no additional * specialize shortswords ... you gain proficiencies very slow as a FMT

My next destination is Gloomfrost.

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited February 21, 2002).]

 

They seem to do alot of buttkicking for goodnes! Do you have any idea why you only can put three stars in bow??

 

Ragusa ... all of this just contributes to the fact that YOU are my hero!

 

Part-8:

Gloomfrost, return to Wylfdene and Lonelywood:
I entered the area of gloomfrost and battled my way through the pass - nice scenery, easy opponents - I found tiernon's sundered shield. Entering the caves I faced a new species: Remorhaz. Having read the monster manual I was a little surprised how they came along in this cave - as simple cannon fodder. Later I also faced ice-golems that were pretty tough opponents, especiall since the deal out harder and also appear in larger numbers. Somewhere before Tiernon's forge I killed a Remorhaz in a pit and it took me a while till I had the idea to cast dimension door in it to get that amulet it had - a nead reinforcement of my FMT's abilities, it increases spellcasting speed and fire-damage. I met Tiernon and he reforged Aihonen's blade, his shield and made a neat longsword for me. I went on further and again battled some ice-golems. I eventually met the seer and she told me to show wylfdene the ice mirror Tiernon made for me.

So I returned to the barbarian camp, faced and tricked Wylfdene. The real evil appeared and the royal tent was all mayhem - the barbarian warriors of the wyrm tribe battled the other barbarians, I fought against the wyrm tribe too and got some neat and easy xp for finishing them off in cooperation with the other barbarians. Soon after I met Hjolder who convinced me about the necessity to follow the evil and to defeat it once and forever. I agreed but before doing so, I needed to go back to Lonelywood to resupply.

In Lonelywood some funny things happened: when I returned to the mayor I found out that the gravedigger was in fact an assassin, hired to kill wylfdene and that he had just finished off the mayor and his wife. That stupid fool insisted in fighting me, hoping to be able to claim he had killed Wylfdene and to get his reward in ten-towns *sigh* some people never learn.
After a rest in the pub I met a mage asking me for the innkeeper, who - as I found out before - was a mage. Since I promised him to keep that secret I provoked the mage - I was a little surprised when he teleported in some hired goons for help. They gave me a nice and difficult fight and a good loot too. After selling my loot and resting again (I used haste) I returned to the barbarian camp to get transported to the island in the ice sea, where Hjolder suspected the evil to be.

I had no notable changes in equipment this time, I just leveled up:

• Sir Camaris, lvl-19
• Messy Fentan, lvl-21
• Alobar Steelfist, lvl-14/15
• Svenia Svensson, lvl-12/13/15

Now my brave heroes are ready to change the source of evil in the heart of winter - the evil ghost of the great wyrm.

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited February 23, 2002).]

 

Ragusa, I admire your patience - and literary talent as well

 

As do I Ragusa.

 

Part-9:

Island in the sea of ice and final:
I returned to the barbarian camp to meet Hjolder wo led me to his seafaring barbarian friends and we traveled to the islanmd in the sea of ice. There we had to fight some minor monsters, namely trolls and some fishy beasts named Scrags till we reached the entrance to a cave that was guarded by two ice-golems. I fought them and once they were dead the door opened. I entered the first cave and I encountered some minor monsters - the only notable ones beeing the bone scavanger (ice wyverns, good punch) and the mountain yeti (silly breath weapon). There also were some cold undead and Scargs - no big deal - I was careful and lured the bone scavengers out one by one before I messed with the undead - unlike the wyverns the undead attack in hordes. I used fireballs a lot and put the wand of fire I found in ToTL to good use - it became one of my most effective weapons in the following fights.
The next area wasn't much different, mainly the same enemies as before and a priest that offered some healing - since I had some 200.000gp from selling my loot I found this was a good alternative to resting Then I moved to the next area:
My heroes found themself in a nicely looking sahuagin dungeon that offered a very nice and lengthy mass fight with hordes of sahuaguin and some ice golems. It was kinda difficult since there were lots of traps in the area - however, my chars had a splendid AC and plenty of hitpoints and didn't care much about that. After that fight I collected the loot, broke a gem and the doors and entered the final area.
There the evil wyrm was expecting me and after a detailed and lengthy rant the fight started: She summoned some royal sahuagin guards for aid but I just ignored them and concentrated on the big baddie. That was kinda funny: about 100% resistance to slasching weapons, the same for blunt weapon, about 95% resistance vs missile weapons ... actually meleing her only kept my two spellcasters in a safe distance. Finally their flamestrike and fireball spells decided the battle - the dragon was highly vulnerable to fire ... not really a big surprise after all this ice in her dungeon. Once I found out about her weakness she fell quickly and I then only had to kill the sahuagin and her weak soul carrier wyvern. Nice fight

That's how my party looked when the faced the final enemy:

• Sir Camaris, lvl-20 (3.619.561 XP)
  -Equipment: Helm of the trusted Defender, Mithral field plate +2, Waukeen's Defender, gauntlets of weapon expertise, the elfbone ring of Kiran-Hai, ring of missile deflection, black wolf talisman, girdle of Stromnos, boots of speed, pale justice, longsword of action +4 (1 extra attack, +1 on AC), three white doves, singing blade of Aihonen
  -Proficiencies: ** in Axes, flails, great swords, large swords, maces
• Alobar Steelfist, lvl-15/16
  -Equipment: Blessed Helm of Lathander, Full plate mail +1, The shield of the Revenant, gauntlets of weapon kill, ring of holiness, Clasp of Bron's cloak, girdle of ogre blood, boots of the north, star forget warhammer +4, Edley's sling, wand of the heavens
  -Proficiencies: ** in clubs, flails, hammers, missile weapons - slings - and * in maces
• Messy Fentan; lvl-22
  -Equipment: Patriot helm, Mithral field plate armor +2, great shield +3, gauntlets of ogre power, rings of fire resistance and free movement, symbol of sheverash, girdle of bluntness, boots of avoidance, longsword of action +4 (1 extra attack, +1 on AC), hold fast & Svian's club,
  -Proficiencies: ***** in large swords, *** in bows and in clubs
• Svenia Svensson; lvl-12/13/15
  -Equipment: Rogues Cowl, Robe of the watcher, Mithran's cloak, sundred shield of Tiernon, gauntlets of ogre power, ring of aura transfusion, Kontik's ring of wizardry, Kossut's Blood amulet (spellcasting speed bonus and improved fire damage), golden girdle, boots of stealth, Kkiss of Gloomfrost longsword, wand of fire.
  -Proficiencies: ** in large swords, short swords, flails, bow

Observations:
In hindsight it is hard to say which one of my characters was most useful - in terms of kills this certainly were my two frontliners Camaris and Messy.
However, my healer and fighter Alovbar and my scout/ thief/ mage Svenia also did an excellent job - I frequently needed the special abilities and strengths of all my chars. I'd say my party was perfectly ballanced, excellent chars altogether
And I never felt that playing with four chars only had disadvantages - to the contrary: They leveled up faster and I was able to concentrate all the neat armor and weapons on my relatively high level chars - IMO a winning combination. They always fought well, even against large numbers of enemies and in the end their punch was devastating and their AC and resistances were formidable - they didn't take much damage anymore.

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited February 23, 2002).]