The SP IWD2 Adventure

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Well, it is possible I have no idea what I am talking about, (since I actually did not play that far, got stuck in the magma chamber and took a break from the game) but it was my impression that you can go back to Kuldahar after you pass through the Fields of Slaughter.

 

Day 149:

"Woah. Check this place out. It looks awesome!" gasped Disciple of the Watch as they caught sight of the towering spires of The Severed Hand. "It's all dark and evil. Just how I like it."

"This fortress was once a place of good. Now it feels like pure evil." growled Chevalier.

"I must bring the blessing of Selune to this forsaken house." promised Rallymama.

"What a bunch of lamos." responded Disciple. "Come on. Let's check it out."

The party is now into Chapter Six, having passed through Dragon Eye and the battle with the deadly Slayer Knight of Xvim in the Fields of Slaughter (boy, did he make mincemeat of Nakia - Rallymama used all four Heal spells on her in a row, one after another).

Current status:
Harbourboy - Human - NG - Druid 16
Nakia - Lightfoot Halfling - CG - Rogue 11 / Fighter 5
Chevalier - Human - LG - Paladin of Mystra 8 / Wizard 8
Rallymama - Moon Elf - NG - Silverstar of Selune 15
Disciple of the Watch - Human - NE - Lorekeeper of Oghma 12 / Bard 1 / Barbarian 1

 

Hey, HB, glad to see that everyone is still alive. Amazing group you have there.

 

Indeed!

Great work, Harby.

BTW, how do I get through the damn puzzle on level 4 of the Severed Hand?

 

Day 155:

“Damn. Ow! How do we get through this puzzle? It’s killing us!” moaned Disciple of the Watch as he sat on the stairs in the Wizard’s Tower of the Severed Hand.

“I’ve tried everything I can think of.” declared Chevalier. “I say we give up, before we get zapped again.”

“Men!” snorted Rallymama “Any four year old could get this one! The sign on the stairs has a star on it. There are five points in the puzzle. If we showed this to a kid, they would immediately want to join the dots. Like this.”

Rallymama proceeded to draw a simple five pointed star through the glowing spots. When she had finished, the party was able to proceed to the next level of the tower.

“I knew that.” Said Harbourboy. “I was just waiting to see if anyone else would get it.”

Current status:
Harbourboy - Human - NG - Druid 17 (Wisdom with items 24)
Nakia - Lightfoot Halfling - CG - Rogue 11 / Fighter 5 (Wisdom 10)
Chevalier - Human - LG - Paladin of Mystra 8 / Wizard 8 (Wisdom with items 16)
Rallymama - Moon Elf - NG - Silverstar of Selune 16 (Wisdom with items 25)
Disciple of the Watch - Human - NE - Lorekeeper of Oghma 13 / Bard 1 / Barbarian 1 (Wisdom with items 21)

 

heh heheheh

good

 

@disciple of the watch
What puzzle is that? in the level 4 ?

 

The one with the portal things that blast you with what looks like needles when you get it wrong.

 

Umm Lightning bolts?

 

Nope, its Alicorn Lance if im not mistaken.

 

Day 160:

"This place is a shambles" complained Disciple of the Watch, as the party ventured further into the Severed Hand "I thought it was going to a cool evil headquarters, but it's so disorganised with all these random demons, useless guards, and scheming wizards wandering around all over the place."

"And where the heck are Isair and Madae?" added Nakia.

The party seems to be spending most of their time running errands for the various oddball residents of the Severed Hand but they have had a few epic battles, including an encounter with the godlike Iyachtu Xvim and several run-ins with the hard hitting Slayer Knights of Xvim.

Constant buffing is still a must, especially Stoneskin and Barkskin, and the latest favourite offensive spell is Harbourboy's Tremor, which can often knock a horde of enemies unconscious. Strangely, melee damage is becoming a more important part of battle strategies, with even Disciple of the Watch joining in with his new Flail +5 that also does extra wounding damage.

In any case, a final showdown with the evil twins can not be far away...... (cue ominous music)

Current status:
Harbourboy - Human - NG - Druid 17
Nakia - Lightfoot Halfling - CG - Rogue 11 / Fighter 6
Chevalier - Human - LG - Paladin of Mystra 8 / Wizard 8
Rallymama - Moon Elf - NG - Silverstar of Selune 16
Disciple of the Watch - Human - NE - Lorekeeper of Oghma 13 / Bard 1 / Barbarian 1

 

Day 167:

“Shall I kill them now?” asked Isair.

“What are you waiting for?” answered Madae.

And with that, the party faced up to the final clash with the semi-demonic twins in their throne room of the Severed Hand.

The first action was for Chevalier and Disciple of the Watch to each take one of the carefully retained Protection from Magic scrolls and cast one each at Isair and Madae. This made the twins invulnerable to magic (not such a downside given the party’s lack of powerful arcane artillery), but more importantly, made them incapable of casting spells, thus neutralising an important part of their power.

Nakia then spotted a wizard summoning lost of nasty monsters so she raced over to deal with him, while Rallymama set out calling on Selune’s Holy Word.

Disciple ducked for cover (being evil, he seemed to be allergic to the Holy Word of Selune) to avoid being stunned, whilst at the same time, a bunch of monks turned up to help with the battle.

Harbourboy started hacking at some of the twins’ henchmen with the Monkey Paw of Discipline, whilst beside him, half a dozen Chevaliers flashed Cera Sumat through various summoned monsters.

Soon there were the same number of summoned monsters in the room, but now they were all Disciple’s pets, who started to shamble over to the twins. The twins had just about dealt with the pesky monks, but that had bought enough time for the party to turn their attention back to the evil pair.

Even without magic, Isair packed a massive punch with his poisonous scimitar and soon Nakia was in dire need of Rallymama’s healing. Rallymama was safe off to one side, swatting at the twins from a distance with her handy Phantom Staff, but she raced over to bring Nakia back from the brink.

Suddenly, the twins vanished to their radiant pool to replenish themselves, but to their horror, it had been blessed by Ilmater, so they turned to face the party again, now supported by more of the ever-present Slayer Knights of Xvim.

Worse, the twins now had their magic powers back and it only took one Blasphemy word from Madae to have everyone stunned! Well, not quite everyone.

“Ha!” taunted Disciple of the Watch “Your evil words have no impact on me! I laugh in the face of your pansy Blasphemy! Er… yikes!”

Disciple ducked out of the way of Isair’s scimitar and scuttled back to the throne room to gather up all his undead minions who were milling around there, not sure what to do. He dragged them all slowly back to pool room to distract the twins from gleefully slicing up the still stunned Harbourboy, Nakia, Rallymama, and Chevalier. This would have been a perfect time for Disciple of the Watch to break his habit of a life time and actually use some healing spells on the rest of the party, but luckily, they came around just in time and Rallymama managed to cast the very precious Mass Heal on them all, so he didn’t have to (not that he had any healing spells memorised anyway).

Still, even with everyone back to full health, the job was not done as Isair was still capable of despatching any one of them in three or four hits. Realising that none of his spells were going to have much impact, he gritted his teeth and called on his druidic powers to shapeshift into his little used Half Blue Dragon form. This form made him extra vulnerable, but gave him the power to wield a devastating electrical greatsword. This gave the party the extra edge they needed to actually damage the twins enough for....

… the whole fortress to start shuddering. Orrick the Grey teleported in out of nowhere to inform everyone that the whole Severed Hand was about to be sucked into another dimension now that the twins’ power over the building had been shattered. With a scream, Isair and Madae vanished and the party raced for the exit before the whole thing collapsed.

And that was how the Legion of Chimera was defeated by five misfit adventurers from Sorcerer’s Place who could barely cast an arcane spell between them. Icewind Dale was safe again. For now.

= The End =

Final status:
Harbourboy - Human - NG - Druid 17
Throughout the game, was the highest hit point character and had the widest range of offensive spell power, but at the start of the game had to act as the party tank. Static Charge, Chain Lightning, Smashing Wave, and Tremor were the most useful. Also provided the valuable Stoneskin and Barkskin protection spells. Had the ability to shapeshift into powerful wildshapes but preferred not to do so, as it disabled his spell casting power. Never used a missile weapon in the whole game.

Nakia - Lightfoot Halfling - CG - Rogue 11 / Fighter 6
Sneak attack was useful at times, but the real strength of Nakia was her dead-eye aim with her sling. At the end she had a highest hit roll of 34 which meant she pretty much never missed. Combined with special bullets like Force bullets and Stunning bullets, she was often able to turn the tide, especially in disabling enemy mages

Chevalier - Human - LG - Paladin of Mystra 9 / Wizard 8
Despite not having enough hit points for the job, he mostly took the role as the party tank, aided primarily by the uber powerful Cera Sumat greatsword that only he could wield, and protected by his ability to cast Mirror Image 4 times a day. Did not cast any offensive arcane spells. Was also the only party member with any Alchemy skills.

Rallymama - Moon Elf - NG - Silverstar of Selune 17
Rallymama’s main role was to provide healing, especially once she got access to the Heal and Mass Heal spells. She could also provide useful buffs to Chevalier like Aid, Champion’s Strength, Magic Circle Against Evil, and Ghost Armour. The animation of undead was also a bonus, although that spell took too long to cast in pressure situations. Rallymama wielded the Moonblade of Selune right down to the end, although the Phantom Staff was useful for staying at a safe distance.

Disciple of the Watch - Human - NE - Lorekeeper of Oghma 13 / Bard 1 / Barbarian 2
Disciple of the Watch was the main identifier and field tester of magic items found during the game. As a cleric, he refused to do any healing (something about not wanting to touch the others) but that just freed him up for nastier spells like Symbol of Hopelessness and Power Word: Stun. He also enjoyed summoning undead. At the end, it was his evilness that saved the day, as he was immune to Madae’s devastating Blasphemy spell.

 

Congratulations on this runthrough, Harbs! Out of curiosity, what was your hardest fight to manage?

 

Well, the classic tough encounters are the Chult Guardian dragon and the final battle with Isair and Madae, but these ones are made easier by the fact that you prepare so much for them. So probably the toughest ones are the unexpected ones. One of the ones that I had to reload for the most times was the very first one in the Field of Slaughter with all those Fallen Bladesingers. Another tough one was just around the corner with Saablic Tan and the first encounter with a deadly Slayer Knight of Xvim.

Earlier on, some of the battles outside the goblin fortress were really really tough because we always ended up being surrounded and there were one or two new and and weak team members that were hard to protect. The lack of arcane spells meant that we couldn’t just magic missile or fireball enemies either.

I’d probably say that the ones outside the Horde Fortress were toughest, due to level of the party members at the time.

 

Haha, what an irony that my evilness saved the day. Who sais evil isn't rewarding...

Hehe. "Nastier spells", I like it.

Well done, Harby. This thread was a delight to read from the first to the last post. I look foward to what you'll come up with next. You're a great writer.

 

Congratulations HB, that made a very good read- not least because of your capable writing skills.

 

Very enjoyable HB! Can't wait for your next piece

 

Congrats. What will you be playing next?

 

Reading this adventure makes me more certain than ever that I have GOT to get this game!