18 replies to this topic

[Zyraen]

Minimal Reloads Journal / Challenge

I had lost interest in BG2 for perhaps the Xth time when I came across Social Bioware No-Reload Challenge.
Was like wow.. but what really did it for me was the screenshots and all the detailed stuff that they were talking about the game, that really made me itch for a piece of the action. And I've never tried a No-Reloads run before, so I thought it might be cool.

For those who like to read more-pro No-Reloads - and some are really great playing No Reloads with SCS installed!! - here's the link http://social.biowar...index/3120942/1

Anyway, I'm not that hardcore so I decided to do some adaptations and see if folks at SHS might like it. Regardless I will probably still try to do a run and see how far it goes. It isn't really a Competition, more like sharing a game, so I'll just call it a Journal. I've missed my old BG2 NPCs as well, including the one I first solo-ed successfully with (he's called Kova) albeit with Reloads GALORE.

So, here's the rules...

Rules

1. If you keep your Reloads to 0, then obviously its a No-Reloads run. 3 Reloads is generally considered to be "struck out", but of course you can keep playing and update your journal, so long you have fun. In general however, you can only Reload when...
- obviously when you stop to attend to other things...
- when your game glitches / crashes
- you lose the game due to your Main Character / Whole Party dying etc
- any "important" NPC is chunked : important is subjective, but generally someone you rely on for the run. I suggest limiting it to no more than 2 other NPCs, but its totally up to you
- a "Game-breaking" event happens that will make further playing of the game fairly meaningless, ie. the entire Athkatla turns hostile, etc.
- everytime you Load due to losing the game, losing a character, or encountering a Game-Breaking event (usually triggered by bungled pickpocketing) you increase your Reloads by 1.

2. Play on "Core" rules or higher. You can play on Hard or Insane if you like, just post that it is so.

3. You can install, ShadowKeeper, CLUAConsole:CreateItem or otherwise implement any of the following
- give yourself a Bag of Holding
- install mods that give you infinite Potion Stacking
- Maximum Health on level Up
- 100% Scroll Memorisation
No one likes an Inventory Management game, especially on a Solo

4. If you want to skip the opening dungeon, you can use the Dungeon-Be-Gone mod.

5. Post your character stats (abilities) on your initial post and any changes you might have made with Shadow Keeper. You can use a character with multiple 18s in the Stats, so long you feel its realistic.
Tweaking Classes, Proficiencies once upon Character joining is considered ok, as long as its not illegal. This includes minor changes to Bioware Characters and other Multiplayer Characters that you may bring along. Generally, try to keep the changes reasonably true to character ( Jaheira as a Cleric/Fighter is ok, but as a Sorcerer is pretty off. Just like Aerie as a Berzerker is probably a bad idea). If you're using a custom Kit, post the details in a Spoiler Tag.

6. Don't start with Overpowered Items, Gear and Experience Levels. In general, start with 89000 XP and no gear. Avoid using NPCs / Mods that provide very powerful items and gear. If you're doing a Solo, maybe an Overpowered Kit is ok, but if its a party run please avoid.

7. Post your mods installed

8. Post intermittent progress reports about your progress through SOA.

9. Clearly post whenever you make a Reload (bar crashes and stops) and why you made the Reload.

10. Have fun!

Guidelines:

1. Complete BG2 : SoA. You can carry on to ToB.
No "required" subquests - those who want the additional challenge and reward can take on subquests as they wish.

2. Players may take advantage of ToB functionality (tab key, wild mage kit, extended XP cap, etc) if they so wish.

3. Players are encouraged to take screenshots of their best fights. To facilitate this, Auto-Pausing is recommended.

4. Players are encouraged to Roleplay if they so wish.

5. Players are encouraged to share their strategy they planned for a "big" fight, and what went right / wrong

6. Players can add under "Others:" regards all the above details for their game. They can also list what exploits / game-breaking abilities and items they decide not to use, and anything regards alignment, plot and meta-gaming.

7. If you decide to no longer update, please let us know

I'm going to post an example soon, but without screenshots since I'm not at home.

PS : can a moderator post if they would like us to post to this one thread, or if we have a few journals running in external threads and I'll update the progress here? tentatively I'll assume that its limited to this thread only.

Edited by Zyraen, 20 June 2011 - 11:12 PM.

[Zyraen]

My Run


Kova
Chaotic Good Elf
Mage / Thief
Str 16 / Dex 19 / Con 14 / Int 18 / Wis 12 / Chr 12

Proficiencies (tentative)
Short Sword, Katana, Quarterstaff, Single Weapon


Kiyone
Lawful Good Elf
Archer
Str 14 / Dex 19 / Con 15 / Int 14 / Wis 17 / Chr 15

Proficiencies (tentative)
Short Bow, Axe, Dual Wield

The duo will eventually be joined by Imoen, who has a lot in common with Kova. If they bothered to try and save her, I doubt they'd travel without her.

Difficulty : Core

Planned Mods
(not in order of installation)
Official Patch
G3 BG2 Fixpack
G3 BG2 Tweaks
Banter Packs
Unfinished Business
Dungeon-Be-Gone : they'll effectively start only in Waukeen's Promenade
SCSII : yes, I will actually try it... wish me luck
Weimer's Item Upgrade Mod : will only use Ring of Preservation +1 / +2, Citadel Helmet, Tower of Iron Will, Azuredge +4, Shield of Harmony +3, Gloves of the Master Thief, Golden Girdle
Zyraen's Miscellany : Improved Statue of Riddles, Item Nerfs & Balancing, Expanded Spell Progression for Rangers, Stage-based XP Cap (2.95M for SoA, 8M for ToB), XP Evener, Halves Weapon To-Hit & damage Bonuses
Virtue : still pending, under careful Consideration......

General Strategy
Kova will set up traps while Kiyone draws attention. If the traps don't kill the ones coming for her, he will backstab them. Characters will be prebuffed most of the time, especially with Strength. In any case, both character Classes are quite capable as individual solo-ers, so they're basically mutual contingencies.

Other Notes
The party is primarily Good and discrete, they tend to approach things carefully, preparations are a must with them. They do not like to exhaust all their resources and will look for more gold rather than rationing themselves and compromising their lifespan. Running is a great idea when the odds don't look good. I will try not to metagame with them but some essential things do require some metagaming. They'll go straight for Imoen once they feel equipped to take on the person they saw took out so many Cowled Wizards at once.
This is my first run with SCSII so I'll be doing an alternate game with a Reaver holding an Uberweapon to observe the AI.

Edited by Zyraen, 21 June 2011 - 12:44 AM.

[Zyraen]

Journal #1

Spent about 1.5 hrs setting up the run including Virtue installation (I had some problems with Fixpack so didn't install it), and another 30 minutes setting up the chars.

In the end I went slightly min-maxed Kiyone (lowering her non-essential stats by a bit and tweaking up others) but keeping the Stat total same, then altering Kova so that his point total matched Kiyone. Kiyone ended up with massive 94 HP and 4 Thac0 with a Shortbow (4 stars) at the START! Definitely my kind of tank.




Confirming that Kova can't use Axes, Kiyone went Axes and Shortbow with Dualwielding, while Kova went Short Sword, Quarterstaff, Dagger (so he has a ranged weapon later), and shortly after that picked up Katana Prof. They started with 14 Virtue and 10 Reputation, which I'm sure suited both of the internally Good but externally low-key characters very well.

This was my first SCSII run, so I was very nervous. I remember thinking to myself, I'll just try to pretend Enemies are just like player characters, they use everything they can generally get their hands on. And K&K both know that. So after using Dungeon-Be-Gone, I backtracked and paid a little "sample" visit on the last group of Thieves in Irenicus' Dungeon.

Chateau Irenicus' last 3 Assassins
A short while ago, I'd be terribly ashamed that I had to list this here. But anyway, it was 1230 midnight, I was eager to play and much less awake than I should have been for a no-Replay game.

Plan : Kova lays 2 snare traps, and sets up a Skull Trap. Kiyone fires at them, they may go invisible but the traps and stuff will finish them off. Kova remains invisible in the corner while Kiyone tanks them if they survive, and will backstab the stragglers as they melee her.

Actual :
1) Kova screwed up one Set Trap roll, unsurprising since it was only 35 (main points in Stealth), so it was 1 Snare Trap and 1 Skull Trap. Kiyone fired the first shot then retreated backwards Stealthing, they didn't see her but they DID all go invisible. To make her visible, I dropped an item and picked it up, then moved forward again so they could see me. The dialogue initiated (game paused) where my "Heroes" tried to sue for peace but gave up. Not surprising considering we attacked them first.

2) The Thieves moved in almost immediately as they saw Kiyone, and I couldn't see them, leading to a premature Skulltrap release, hurting Kiyone. Fortunately / unfortunately, at such low levels it does a very low damage. All the Thieves were alive, and were hurt by the Snare Trap.
I realised I had never set Auto-Pause due to the way I normally play, and my spacebar was somewhat faulty, even as Kova (from round the corner where no one could see him) failed his re-Hide in Shadows and appeared. Uh oh, I gaped and tried to reformulate a plan while trying to press Pause.

3) The Melee / Magic Using Assassin engaged Kiyone who just shot him point blank calmly, and Kova was backstabbed to near death since he only has 38 Life. My heart was beating fast as he went running and Kiyone took out the first Assassin, then his assailant that was heading back to her. The 3rd Assassin had gone MIA, and Kova restealthed. Kiyone shortly then got attacked by the last person, Kova headed back to backstab him but Kiyone killed him while he was still strolling over. I guess he must be still in trauma after that near-death experience.

A horrible start to a no-reloads run, but I survived. Lessons learnt
A) set Auto-Pause on, especially if your spacebar is screwy
b) a mental plan for contingencies prevents Player panic when things go wrong
c) Kova needs to improve his set traps
d) Kova is a priority target, being a Mage. this can be very useful.

===========

Kalah's Circus
Kova was reluctant to get caught up, but Kiyone insisted on helping the boy looking for his mother. After selling their spare gear, the duo went in. Aerie convinced them with her voice and ridiculous story about the Winged Elf - who would talk about something so weird while trying a lie? - and the story tallied with the Spider, who warned them about the peasants.

The two peasants were easy. I basically opted for the "better safe than sorry" approach though it appeared unnecessary. Kova had levelled up and had decent set traps as well. He set one trap near Hannah the Spider, then used Skull Trap near Peasants, before Stealthing. Kiyone fired to the first peasant, who promptly got killed by the spell.
The second peasant got shot a few times before setting off the Snare Trap, hitting a morale failure then falling helplessly to arrows. There is no shame in fighting safe

Kova stealthed and stood behind Aerie while Kiyone gave her the sword. It seemed most appropriate, when giving an Ogre the sword.

Plan : For the next bit was simple. Kova and Kiyone would go in stealthed, and Kiyone would hit the nearby Shadow with a Staff+1 (no +1 arrows), getting its attention before Kova backstabbed it, then if it was still up after a while, Magic Missile and finish it. After that, Kova would use his Thief Detect Illusions Skill, though it was a low score but the werewolves couldn't hurt me, when they were all gone they'd stealth and kill the other Shadow. Great Plan, yeah?

Actual : The first part went smoothly, Kova backstabbed the Shadow until to my horror, Kiyone started taking damage from the Werewolves. They were ALL doing REAL damage!! ( I think its an SCSII thing ) It didn't help that while Kova detected illusions (at a score of 10...), his Stealth would rapidly reduce until he was visible. I decided to remain calm and use my mental contingency, which was to simply run. We reduced the first Shadow to Near Death before leaving for the first time.

It was 2-3 Rests to kill both Shadows before eventually dispelling a few Werewolves with Kiting, but there were 2 left. In the middle I got bored and picked up the scrolls before going out to memorise them, then the duo conferred and decided the smarter thing was to just waltz through unseen by the other werewolves and see what's next.

Plan : Ignore the other units and focus on Kalah. Traps were out of question, so Kiyone would first go near Kalah, putting her further from the Werewolf and 2 Shadows, before shooting him. After she's revealed and everyone is trying to kill her, Kova would proceed to Magic Missile Kalah as much as possible while Kiyone would step back and shoot him every few steps, making sure none of the beasties went after Kova.

Actual : The plan worked like a charm and Kalah went down. Kiyone was glad that Hannah was reunited to her son, in fact so glad they forgot to talk to the Guard, while as usual Kova lay low. They did pick up Unfinished Business' Genie Lamp. As rich pickings, the party obtained the Stoneskin scroll, which finally went into Kova's Mage spellslot, doubtless it would be a lifesaver in future.

=================

After meeting Gaelan, the duo went to talk to Arledrian with Kiyone holding the Ring of Human Influence. The price was still horrendously high. They decided they would spend some coin try to raise their reputation a little first, they would need supplies at a reasonable price to stay alive. Dropping by the Inn, I considered my options as I wanted to get rid of Bregg and Cohrvale before going in. No magical protections or Skull Trap as I didn't want Cowlies on me.

Plan : Kova would set Traps and wait in the shadows beside the Inn Door while Kiyone pulled them over. If they survived the trap, hopefully one would be near death and killed, before she'd manuever the other guy into a position for Kova to backstab. Ok.

Actual : Kiyone tried to hurry out of their way, but not quickly enough it seems for Bregg. The fight went very smoothly initially, and this performance confirmed that I didn't need Kiyone with Strength 18/50 for most part, she was plenty dangerous already. Cohrvale cried for Help after they both set off the Snare Trap, to be silenced by Kiyone. She manuevered a badly injured Bregg so his back was to Kova, who stepped out of the shadows and... appeared, just BEFORE he even managed to Attempt stab. Yep, he didn't even swing. Such is life without Boots of Speed and a Short Sword...
Kiyone probably gave another verbal "WTFH are you doing you idiot!?" at him, but Kova remained calm, expecting Bregg to turn on him, which he did. He calmly did a side way waltz, figuring his Mage robe would catch the fellow's eye, and leading the aggressive shortie away while Kiyone, no longer fettered by moving around, brought Bregg's murderous temper quickly to an end. I just remembered to take a screenshot here, will try to take more in future.



In any case, the duo decided to head in for a rest to rememorise spells, and Kova would henceforth use less Stealth and more Invisibility. Its too bad he was 90 in Hide in Shadows already, but he was still all right overall. They would travel around with him invisible and stoneskinned and her Stealthed, in case there were bandits or assassins (which were more likely from their Baldur's Gate experiences) and buy some Rep before going to see what else lay in store for them.

Journal Entry #1

Kova thought about his "sis" Imoen but assured himself she could take of herself for a while. Two corpses couldn't rescue her, they would have to bide their time. Meantime... 20,000 Gold. Man, that sucked. He didn't mind collecting that amount, but then having to pay it to someone else.. geez that hurt.
Kiyone wondered how she ever let herself be persuaded into playing nanny for this wimp. At least his battle plans were reasonably sound and from the last round, his nerves were still OK.

=================

As a side note, I found a No-Reloads (well, so far...) run an immensely refreshing experience It does make Roleplaying seem very natural as well, a very immersive feel for a game long past its release date.

Edited by Zyraen, 23 June 2011 - 11:43 PM.

[Zyraen]

Eh as a side note, feel free to leave your comments here if any ^^; short tactical ideas, suggestions, and past experience sharing also welcome

Naturally, new sign ups to include your own Journal is also Great

[Eric P.]

One bit of advice for Kova: keep Stoneskin up as often as possible. As for having paid Gaelan, you might have done better to get the discount. I never pay the full 20k, but that's just me When backstabbing, my understanding is that it doesn't matter if you're visible or not, as long as you're behind your intended target.

[Zyraen]

Journal #2

Note : many Pictures ahead

Taking a rest in the Copper Coronet after picking up bottles, buffing up and leaving the place for the Graveyard, the duo expected to be waylaid on each transition. They got safely to the Graveyard getting a few XP helping out the orphan girl and Paladin, saved a dude from being buried alive, and Kiyone got her Axe +2. Not letting their guard down, they stealthed and headed to Waukeen's Promenade ( not least for the Rep I forgot to take... ). As expected, they got ambushed, by a party with Suna Seni, Eldarin and a Mage (worth 86 XP, I only found out much later... else that would have changed my tactics).

Suna Seni Ambush

Plan : The main threat is the enemy Mage and Kova cannot backstab her because she'll probably have Stone Skin and he'll be surrounded by the enemy even if she dies. Instead run away from them while Stealthed, set Traps and use Skull Trap. Hopefully 1 out of 2 Skull Traps will kill the enemy Mage. Otherwise, use Magic Missile while Kiyone shoots her.

Actual : The beginning went well, the only problem was that I expected them to pull as a group, but they did not, and I couldn't rest. They came as pairs and individuals, though they cast a few unexpected spells, but the irritating thing was wasting all my Traps and Skull Traps, while the Mage was still left alive (and invisible, I later found out). When I first noticed she was alive, everyone else was killed and she just did an Unholy Blight on us. That took Kova down to 23 Life.

I figured I could keep Kova hidden while Kiyone soaked up the damage, so I ran her near the Mage with 2 unenchanted Axes in
case she had Prot from Magical Weapons on. Halfway she fell to an Emotion, lying down, but Kova fell back on the initial plan by Magic Missiling her. That didn't do anything, oddly, so I switched to Spook, but she somehow saved the first Spook. She then pulled off a Hold Person, but I managed to Save that, in between she was Melf's Minute Meteoring me. Then I used my second Magic Missile, again to no effect. I was contemplating Spooking or Invisible, but she completed her second spell which turned out to be a Skull Trap! I quickly downed a Major Healing potion of 27 HP (should have drunk potion invisibility when I could) but that wasn't enough, or he didn't drink as his Aura is unclean, I'm not sure. Yeowch...

You can still see the pieces of the Skull Trap on the floor.

Well, that's the end of my No Reloads run. Next time I'll actively scout out the enemy Mages AI before committing to a battle plan and execution, and I must remember that Kiyone is expendible whereas Kova is not and he should stay hidden while she is down. I also did consider fleeing with both of them after picking up the loot but opted to stay.

Hereafter, its a Minimal Reloads run with 1 Reload. Hopefully I won't strike out. SCSII indeed...

Player1 Died. Reloads : 1

Plan : Skull Trap the Mage, but first pick off everyone else using Kiyone and Arrows, nothing else. If she tries casting something, try to use Magic Missiles to disrupt her, hopefully, before she gets her first spell off.

Actual : Kiyone did well, except 1 of the Slavers unexpectedly had a Backstab, causing her some pain. The last pull with Suna Seni got the Mage aggroed and she got off a Horror casting while Invisible, but the Magic Missile worked and she died easily enough. I was walking over to loot when I decided to take a screenshot.

Yep, she's only 86 XP. I really wonder why 2 earlier Magic Missiles didn't kill her.

Shortly after, my game crashed so I decided to refight the battle and see if I could do it with more finesse, again without Reloads, but be more careful in pulling. Kiyone did her stuff, killing most of them on the spot, and the Mage was unseen. I had 2 Skull Traps, so I took aim at her invisible position and fired. Easy win.

I really should have been more careful the first time round... If only I knew they came individually.

Kova got an upgrade to Arbane's Sword. The flamesword animation is simply exquisite! Check it out!

Kova initially complained it was too loud and attention-grabbing, but later he didn't mind so much.

===================

The duo stuck to their plan, and invested 2100 GP in bringing their Rep to 13. Talking to the Guard made it 14, pretty decent for a pair who has done almost nothing yet. They kept their loot, though gold was low, it was not critical. Kiyone bought a few antidote potions in case.

They conferred and decided to stick to their plan of adventures that would make them stronger with minimal fusses for now, especially things that didn't involve wizard run-ins. Breaking my plan of going back to the Copper Coronet, they went to the bridge to get free XP and Reputation, Kiyone solving the Skinner murders and clearing the Traps without ever once stepping into the dangerous basement. Kova as usual was patiently lurking in the shadows.

There was the matter of the Buried-Alive man to be attended to. Kiyone wouldn't let the chance slip, and with Stoneskin Kova didn't mind.

Am-Si's "Friends" Camitis and Reti

Plan : Kova would plant 2 traps at the exit, and Kiyone would shoot them turning them red and triggering the traps while they were on them. Kova would backstab the rest while Kiyone shot them.

Actual : I must have accidentally clicked Camitis for the first time, ie a Dialogue talk before selecting attack, because Kiyone didn't fire until I stopped her and retargeted, by then they were almost gone. They both turned red, fortunately, and came for her.

See how far they have wandered from the Traps that Kova laid (right next to him). The good thing was, Kiyone could position them such that they got close together, before triggering the traps...
They were both badly injured and Kiyone got Camitis to near death, so I figured Kova could backstab Reti.

Quadruple Damage from a STR 17 Character with a +2 Shortsword (albeit only giving +1 damage and +1 Thac0 bonus) gives a measly 13 points!! Well, at least he didn't miss.
Kiyone took a few consecutive hard hits, and had to withdraw.


Kova calmly took it in stride as Reti goes down. LOVE that pose.


His Stoneskin has worn off but so has Camitis' luck. That blade looks incredible (Erephine are you reading this!? Lol THANK YOU), hopefully, it will live up to the appearance soon.

(I'll have to go back and save the girl, I forgot to free her after resting in the Inn...)

=====================

Returning to the Copper Coronet, they uncovered a grave injustice. Closing the door to the main inn before engaging the Jail guards, Kiyone picked them off one by one taking little damage except from 2 Magic Missiles. Kova remained in the Shadows.

Copper Coronet Rescue - Beastmaster

Plan : Kiyone to stealth into the first 2 Creature Room and shoot the other beasts to death, before engaging the Beastmaster. Kova would lay traps at a distance and open with a Skull Trap. Kiyone will pick him off if he survives.

Actual : Many thanks to DavidW for the awesome SCSII.
The Beastmaster sensed something amiss when his Grizzly Bear started yowling and opened all the doors. Improvise, think on your feet! Kiyone closed her cell door, but then everyone else went rushing for the Stealthed character in the main room behind...


SCSII : If you can't see them, pin them...

Kova fled back to the jail cells of the humans, and cast Invisibility on himself in relative safety. At least that wouldn't wear off suddenly on a bad roll while the Panther, Leopard and Tabitha were on to him. He went back in and scouted the area out.

See the very nice space labelled with the big sign with the "Please Skull Trap here"?
Well, its right past the Beastmaster yet can be fired without ever letting him see you thanks to the corner.

Kiyone cleared out the area outside her cell seeing that it was quite "coast clear" and Kova did the due honors, more or less heavily injuring everyone. The Beastmaster took a trap in his stride (the other trap failed to set)

but Kiyone proved herself the better Archer. Besides, you're a bad Beastmaster if you let so many of your animals die... heh.

Kiyone got a very hefty upgrade in form of the Tuigan Bow. Now she's really rocking.

===================

Freeing Hendak, the pair rested and went into the Sewers. The Hobgoblin troupe was scouted out and mostly slaughtered with a well placed Skull Trap. Kiyone picked off a panicked Shaman and a potion guzzling Captain, then Kova went looting. And looting, when suddenly...


Man, I hate my Player1 being surprised like that. And the Shaman is only injured and he's an SCSII caster! oh no!


Kova shows that his Magic Missile is faster than Kiyone's draw, even with the Tuigan Bow!
Notice Kiyone hasn't moved an inch, her arrow has just left her bow, but Kova has not only killed the target, he has already moved away...

The duo proceed to clear the Sewers, Kiyone taking care of most of the threats, demonstrating the Tuigan Bow's power, though it is Amazing to see how Kobolds can backstab you.
Kova solves the riddle and Lilarcor joins them eager for action! Only to be shoved into the bottomless Bag of Holding. The pair now see an entrance to an upcoming area, likely the Slavers, and take a break from the action.

Journal Entry #2

Kova : Progress has been slow, but we are relatively safe. I don't like to be well known but we have little choice to get supplies on a reasonable basis. At least the trade off is reasonable.
Kiyone is every bit as reliable as Gorion's friend assured us she would be, if not more. She seems a bit slow to draw on non-hostile people, that's understandable but I don't want that getting in the way of our survival. I hope Imoen's still alive, hopefully she would be since if they imprison rather than kill her, presumably they don't want her dead.. Well yeah maybe...
Enemy Mages are also a huge threat. I will have to prepare more Skull Traps and find a way to get those off before they get THEIR spells off. We will need magical protections but I don't know how. I think I'll have to check and recharge these wands from Irenicus' Dungeon soon, they could be useful.

Kiyone : Most enemies are no match for my arrows, but for those that are, I used to be worried. Still, I've seen him perform under pressure, lightly stepping back from axes, keeping a cool head while being surrounded, and that was a very fast Magic Missile... maybe we'll both get through this.
I wonder how is Imoen doing? I used to think I'll like her if only she talked more seriously, but now I'm not so sure... She seemed a strong girl, I hope she'll get through.
I never will understand why people enslave children. Sigh, why? If they wanted them for things, they're certainly more useful as adults... Well, I'll just have to put an end to them, all of them. Its either me or them.

Edited by Zyraen, 23 June 2011 - 11:42 PM.

[Zyraen]

@VonTop : glad you like it

As for having paid Gaelan, you might have done better to get the discount. I never pay the full 20k, but that's just me

Nor me, lol. Kova is just mentally complaining about it. He asked Gaelan not once but twice for the discount and got a nil. He kinda guesses the Bargaining situation isn't quite ideal.

When backstabbing, my understanding is that it doesn't matter if you're visible or not, as long as you're behind your intended target.

Actually it matters everything. Both matter.

I just updated the Journal, more pics now (I can't help noticing that as I take more pics, I actually die less... maybe it means I'm more calm). Hope you guys like reading it.

Edited by Zyraen, 22 June 2011 - 09:15 PM.

[Zyraen]

Journal #3

Reloads So Far : 1

The duo set off from the Sewers to bring justice to dirty no good Slavers. Woe to those who would hurt children!

Slaver Ship - Haegan & Co

Plan : There are 2 anticipated main threats - Capt Haegan with his throwing axes and the SCSII Cleric. To deal with this, both will enter in invisible, and Kiyone will use her Ring of Human Influence on Capt Haegan, followed by Kova casting Dominate. After that, Capt & Kiyone will take out the Cleric while blocking off the rest from Kova. When all are dead, move Haegan aside and shoot him to death. If he comes running over, Spook him or kite with Kova who should still be stoneskinned and kill him.

Actual : The Ring failed but it did make everyone target Kiyone. That was great because no one struck Kova as he cast Dominate on Haegan, right as he came beside Kova. Perfect. The Cleric went down a few seconds later. Kiyone did some kiting while Haegan struck out first with his axes then his Two-Handed Sword as the guards got nearer. Eventually I did the smarter thing and switched Kova to kiting while Kiyone shot and Haegan Melee-ed. It was great to melee also because the AI didn't attack Haegan, maybe hoping to last out the Dominate duration.

They didn't so I put Haegan in the corner and stealthed Kova. At this point I regretted not using more of his throwing axes, so he couldn't throw them at me, he still had a few left. Anyway, he turned hostile after being shot 2 times - Kiyone shoots really fast with the Tuigan Bow - and he went over to toe-to-toe with her. She got hit hard once, then I decided to go back to the plan and Spook him. Shortly after, Kiyone finished him.


Capt Haegan probably doesn't appreciate dying now, but he ought to.
If Kiyone had seen that the child was in a pen with TWO trolls, he'd probably be tortured considerably before dying... maybe, if that were allowed in the game.

===================

There were 2 Trolls here and the party had hardly used any spells at all, just 1 Dominate and 1 Spook. The plan was that if the Trolls ran away and we couldn't fire at them, to move Invisible Kova in the doorway and just shoot them with Kiyone, and if one got past he would backstab them. Well in practice, Kiyone picked them off easily through the grill. The second troll in fact barely reached the grill before falling over.
Kiyone's scary. I think talking to the child made her scarier, too.

Slaver Ship - Slaver Mages & Co (SCSII)

Plan : I did a run through with the Z#DIE item to see their behaviour, as usual plenty protections. Plan was to stand outside and then Skull Trap them from beyond vision. As they were hurt they would rush to Kova, who would head towards the shadowed north room and stealth before leaving. Skull Trap a few more times to finish.

Actual : The first shot was picture perfect, the Wizards didn't come for Kova but the Guards DID. The net result was that the small square chamber was occupied for a while with guards passing through then a straggling guard. Meantime, both the Wizards kept casting summoning spells like mad. Kiyone finally got impatient and sniped at the last wandering guard, killing him and clearing the way for Kova's 2nd Skull Trap. Before that, she went to scout the room.


Oooh, very nice. More XP. It may not be obvious, but see the big space on the top side of the room?
Kova could stand at the bottom of the next room and not be seen by both...

The second Skull Trap killed the taller wizard and almost all the summons as Kova walked off to Stealth, but the smaller one came wandering over. Great, except that I didn't notice Kiyone failed her Stealth roll while Kova was casting, and the Mage attacked her. Kova opened with his second and last Spook but the wizard got his Magic Missile off first, to Kiyone's great pain. It worked, but he started wandering around, and Kova Magic Missiled him to no avail while Kiyone tried to get a clear line of fire. Then he went for the top room where most of the guards had peeked into earlier, leaving Kova with no choice but to fire off a Skull Trap. It MISSED the Wizard who came fleeing back towads Kova, but killed most of the Guards, Kiyone was about to shoot him again when he went back to his starting room, still in fear. Spook time was almost up, so Kova blew his last Magic Missile on the Mage, killing him.


They're not powerful Mages, but they're still evil...

The rest of the place was a simple mop up operation, and Kova got off his second decent backstab, 29 Damage.

Finally, the 17 STR character was pulling more weight instead of just carrying more baggage (in every sense of the word).
I also noticed, he still had his Stoneskin, which he never recast. What a guy.

====================

The pair now had +1 Rep from the girl and another +1 Rep from Hendak. Very nice to be at 17 Rep and 19 Virtue.
Kova kept invisible all the time the Reputation accumulated, so it may have been circulating that Kiyone was the real hero of Sword Coast and all the other good things. That suited him, it irritated her but she knew it was better that way, so. Considering their next move, they decided to go to Trademeet, it had the richest reward, probably would gain them lots of Reputation and Discounts, and granted the ever-so-important Shield of Harmony for handling Mages, as well as Bow of Tansheron. Before skipping town, they went to visit Jafir with Kalah's Lamp to see what was up.

Jafir the Rakshasha

Plan : Kova would not participate, just wait by the stairs away from Cloudkill. The Rakshasha was immune to spells below Level 6, but he was susceptible to his own Cloudkill and while he was casting Kiyone would get off free shots. He also didn't use any Stoneskin and Mirror Images (probably since Unfinished Business was installed after SCSII) Use +1 arrows as he's immune to normal.

Actual : I did many rounds around him, and drank one potion, before realising he doesn't surrender. I used Ctrl-Y and it didn't work. So I reloaded, obviously a bug. After a few reloads I realised he would never surrender unless Kova was visible and he could see Kova. So a final run did it, this time with no potion drunk.

At this point, I wasn't taking any screen shots, I just wanted to get it over and done with.
( This was the first time my Run would prove immersion-breaking, and wouldn't be the last... )

====================

The duo went on to summon the Genie and free him, gaining +1 Rep along the way. Very good. Off they went to Trademeet hopeful to get the Bow of Tansheron and Shield of Harmony to get some protection against Mages. Along the way, they were ambushed by the group of brigands "killing" Renfeld, but with the usual care, Kova was invisible while Kiyone was Stealthed.

Kova's Skull Trap took care of the mage and Kiyone took care of everyone else. Along with her high Dex, Studded Leather +2, Ring of Protection, Helm of Balduran, Cloak of Protection, Girdle of Piercing and also Boots of Avoidance, the Melee fighters got only one hit on her - its very satisfying to see a backstabbing thief miss - before she took them all down. Kova refreshed all his Stoneskin and Invisibility before they moved on. They're getting very systematic and calm now...

After meeting the mayor and Cernd - Kiyone was reluctant to take him along, he gave her an uneasy feeling - the party left for the Druid grove. The plan was simply to pick off trolls one by one, and then systematically slaughter their way up to Faldorn. Simple, yeah?

It started out with Kiyone killing 2 normal trolls and 2 ice trolls, and easily dropping 3 Baby Wyverns - the first hint there would be problems - but then it became a nightmare. A Spirit Troll showed up right at the start and my normal arrows couldn't hurt him and my magical arrows caused him to flee, regen, then come back again. He apparently had something like the reverse of True Sight - he automatically became invisible at the start of each round. None of my characters could True Sight and Kiyone had very few magical arrows.

Kova who had been watching from invisibility, took a judgment call and decided to withdraw from the area, that's when Kiyone realised she got "stuck" inside a little grove unable to get out. I was faced with a dilemma - reload, or not? It wasn't exactly a bug though, and I couldn't scout the Spirit Trolls out as my Scout couldn't see invisible things.

After a while, I decided it wasn't a bug, and Kiyone just had to find a way out or die. Kova tossed her his 2 spare Invisibility Potions before backstabbing the Troll - didn't do much good - then she chugged hers, causing him to go after Kova and freeing her from the Grove. The pair calmly proceeded out of grove from there.

From there they travelled to Watcher's Keep to try and find magical arrows, but to no avail. Kiyone considered going back to buy Azuredge, but Kova (probably correctly) surmised the Spirit Trolls would simply run away and regen. Nerfed Azuredge was almost worthless for killing undead anyway. A bit of consideration, and the plan was - enter the Druid Grove and stealth past that first Spirit Troll. If things got hairy for Kiyone, Kova would cast Invisibility on her, then on himself, if it broke invisibility then the Trolls probably couldn't get through his stoneskin in time to stop him from casting it on himself.

The pair went past the first Spirit Troll without incident, only to find there were another two that noticed Kiyone who was seen due to daylight. Kiyone retreated triggering the first Spirit Troll, so there were 3 coming at them, and Kova invisibled her, becoming visible and moving before concealing himself.

The pair proceeded to walk through the entire Druid Grove, and it soon became apparent that SCSII had improved this place dramatically or simply tweaked up the level-sensitive spawns (hey, K&K are not that high level.. she's only a level 9 Archer and they both have the same XP...) . Lots more of Trolls, few more spiders, Greater Earth elementals, half-random cluster of Spirit trolls, a trail of Myconid clusters leading up to Adratha's hut. The pair ducked in for a break and said hi to the nice potion selling lady and her two sons.

Since I never played SCSII and it was becoming increasingly apparent that it almost completely changed the game - that Druid Grove would easily be up there with the unmodded sewer Evil Party, if not harder, in terms of relative difficulty - I decided to scout out this thoroughly.

Ihtafeer and her Sons

Pre-Scout & Plan : Equipping the Uberweapon and testing the encounter, revealed a few interesting notes.
- Their Cloudkill did hurt themselves, and Ihtafeer and her son on top, I think was Jamaal, cast it more. But if they killed themselves I got no XP and they were worth plenty.
- The son at the side, Saadat, did more direct damage and used Web Entangle and only one Cloudkill.
- Their protection spells that I was too low level to remove meant Kiyone couldn't hurt them and they did too much damage in meantime to sit out the effects.
- Their Rakshasha status meant Skull Trap couldn't hurt them. That left me with only 1 thing - Traps.
- Mass Traps is cheesy but I think I could do it and was left with little choice unless I wanted to travel back to Athkatla to get the Azuredge, and even then the battle would be long and hard with the spell protections I couldn't break. I could also skip the questline but frankly I was starting to doubt there were any "easy" quest chains left at this point.
- The Myconids outside meant I couldn't retreat outside for a break, and though I could go out and kill the Myconids it didn't appeal to me at that point since I felt sure I could solve the puzzle
- When attacking Ihtafeer, she turns hostile first, then about 1 second later Jamaal, then 1 second later Saadat.
- However, Saadat was placed such that traps placed furthest away from Jamaal and meant for Saadat, would hit Jamaal first. In other words, Saadat would always survive a Mass-Trap strategy no matter how I placed them.
- Placing a second set of Traps meant that Saadat would get killed as he drew near Kiyone, yes? No, apparently he absorbed them maybe onto his Mirror Image / Stoneskin. Whatever.
- Saadat stayed relatively stationary when casting spells so long he could see his target. When he ran out of spells he would move into Melee.
- It might be a bug but they can't see invisible.
- Final Plan : Place 5 Traps next to Ihtafeer and Jamaal. Trigger Ihtafeer with Kiyone in the corner such that Saadat cannot see her. Stealth her and move her near Saadat so that his Web / Entangle ends up on her. Then use my Wand of Cloudkill with only ONE charge of Cloudkill to kill him, trusting that his own spells and the room structure will keep him from escaping my Cloudkill

Actual : Just to penalise myself for all of that, I spent about 2/3 of my gold first on Ihtafeer (forgot her human name) buying 10 potions of invisibility, 10 oils of speed and 6 antidotes. I had wanted to wait till 20 Rep to spend money for supplies.

The first 2 fell as expected. Kiyone was going to trigger Saadat when his spell minor sequencer went off, casting Entangle and Web around him, probably as a defence against invisible backstabbing enemies. So she remained invisible as Kova equipped the Wand of Cloudkill, still keeping outside of his sight as he cast Cloudkill and restealthed. For my own sadism's sake, I moved invisible Kiyone closer to see how he struggled to get out of the Cloudkill, but kept being held by his own Entangle and Web. Eventually, it was a Win. Not very satisfying in execution, but in planning, definitely.

As a side note, it might be some bug that the Rakshashas are hurt by their own spells, can't see invisible (they're masters of illusions after all, deceiving even Djinni), and despite being immune to below level 6 spells, they are held by Web / Entangle. I'm not sure about Mirror Image absorbing Traps, might or might not be a bug.

I was so tired after all that, I almost forgot to took a screenshot. I took it after I looted everything.


Kova & Kiyone look back to pay respects to their most fearsome opponents to date.
Notice 2 bodies are human and only 1 is a Rakshasha body.

========================

Journal Entry #3

Kova : I'm glad I persuaded Kiyone we could rest just about anywhere, or we couldn't have survived that. Good thing she discerned their nature with her sense of something amiss and those dodgy answers the woman gave. I really wonder if they were that wicked, since they didn't eat us when we rested here. Well, what's done is done.
Imoen seems a far away figure now. I never thought I'd come across a forest with these many monsters. I think there were at least 2 groups of 3 Spirit Trolls, if not more, back there... we'll have to come back some time and clear this place of vermin. I need to get stronger as well, I've never felt my spells were more inferior than today.

Kiyone : Outclassed, outmatched, probably outfired too if it had come down to that. Never been so glad that Kova is with me. I thought I was top of the class after all our heroics in Athkatla, but here... its totally different, its not like I'm still training under my Guildmistress. He's saved me with his cool thinking as well, and I naively thought I was strong. There's no telling what's out there, it seems I'm in a wild new world now, and with no one else to rely on but...
I think I'll go for a break back North at home after rescuing Imoen. I might miss travelling in a group, but I'm sure he'll understand that I need to stretch and extend my abilities, or I'll just be literally another dead weight along the road.

===============

Author's Notes : I understand if you don't consider scouting out a challenge to be a Minimal Reloads game, and wish to stop reading this. It is really my first time on SCSII and I find myself wondering what questline to follow to not have to resort to pre-scouting and cheesing. Basically, once I equip the uberweapon (it gives huge protective benefits as well) before engaging, I treat it as a separate game, just want to understand their abilities and immunities. Thank you.

Edit : I just realised I probably could have trap-cheesed all of them by attacking Saadat first, causing him to turn red first and be killed... Lol.

Edited by Zyraen, 23 June 2011 - 11:44 PM.

[Eric P.]

Impressive and informative effort. I look forward to reading more...

[Zyraen]

Journal #4

After obtaining Ihtafeer's head, Kova & Kiyone press on towards the evil forces behind the corruption of the druid grove...

Stepping out, the duo took some time to clear Myconids. With Kova invisible, presumably Kiyone would be fine even if she was confused right? Well, things don't always work out so well.


Kova disappearing in the nick of time. Notice his Stoneskins are no more...

After they get more accustomed to things, Kova first kills off all the Shambling Mounds using Traps, Skull Traps and Magic Missiles, then Kiyone settles the rest. Next up, the trio of protectors before the entrance...

Druid Trio

Plan : Dalok seems to have better saves, so Kova will Dominate the other spellcaster, and Kiyone will kite Adherent and try to kill Dalok. After dominating the other druid, cast Call Lighting, Insect Swarm followed by summoning more Werebears to the fight. Before everything, set a few traps near Cernd just in case.

Actual : Kova got the Dominate off before Shadow Druid cast Werebears, so there were ony Dalok's pets to contend with. Dalok got off a few worthless spells (can't even remember them except Call Woodland Beings) as the converted Shadow Druid casts Call Lightning then Insect Swarm. One Werebears goes after Kova next to them and ignore Kiyone (who is busy killing Dalok's nymph before its iron-skinned Dalok's turn), while the other sadly turns to attack the Shadow Druid.


The Werebear manages to interrupt my new recruit's casting before he summons more Animal Allies as Kiyone tries to distract everyone else so the Shadow Druid can get off more spells. Kova more or less stands and watches his handiwork with satisfaction.


Dalok goes down to a good Call Lightning.


His pets avenge him and I have one less target to kill.


Kova gets tired of watching Kiyone dodge-shoot Adherent and finishes him with Magic Missile.

Thereafter, the duo retreat back to Cernd, setting off the traps but the 2 Werebears are barely injured then uninjured. The battle ends with a Out-Of-Sight Stealth followed by a Rest, unsummoning the Werebears. Faldorn was the usual pushover.

Returning to Trademeet, the pair are revered as Heroes. They save Raissa as well from Riejek Hidesman and Darsidian Moor and get 20 Reputation! From there they get the Bow of Tansheron +3, Shield of Harmony, and Secret Word spell. I considered my odds and decided to let the Skeletons rest in the Crypt a while more. Azuredge will return!

We follow up with a long selling/shopping spree back in Athkatla. Blade of Roses, Azuredge, Robe of Vecna, various spells, Belt of Hill Giant Strength. Wheee!

They return to Athkatla to hand in the poor, long-dead Renfeld (remember him from past Journal. I think Kova's traps killed him). From there, its Prebek and Sanasha and their Flesh Golem / Ghasts.

Xzar's Apprentices

Plan : Again, without SCSII they wouldn't be on this list. Regardless, they are here, as wizards. Kova will open the door such that Kiyone is stuck between the Door and the side corridor, so no one can reach her. Then Kova will enter and backstab Prebek, after killing him Sanasha will hopefully not turn hostile since there's no Shout, before fleeing and Stealthing. Kiyone will shoot whoever arrives from the safety of "behind the door" that no one can reach. Its cheap but its safe. Finally, we'll backstab Sanasha / shoot her.

Actual : Prebek splattered. Whew. After that, only the Flesh Golem came out, which was perfect.


Yep, nothing is too cheap for a Minimal Reloads. Even if Kova weren't there, he wouldn't be able to hit Kiyone. Poor dude. Kova goes back in, backstabbing a Ghast, slipping out but no one follows him, so he goes in and backstabs the other. Finally he lures them to a corner as...


The cavalry bursts in through the doors and drop both Ghasts in a 19 Str blink. Pew-Pew!


Finally, Sanasha. Kova seems to have used up his backstabbing luck but Kiyone takes care of that. Like Prebek, she dies blue.. its hard to be cheerful while dying.

From there, they drop by to visit Renal, taking the commission and heading down to explore the Harper hold. I was tempted to kill the Harper Spirits using the "Guard" exploit with the Bow of Tansheron, but it didn't feel right from an RP perspective. So they looted Xzar's corpse and went to meet Maevar, buying a Ring of Protection from Gorch along the way (he won't be sticking around much longer, I figure) and clearing most of the 2nd floor's "Thief freebie challenge".

So that's about that! Next up we will probably be clearing Maevar's questline before going back to clear the Crypt.

===========

Journal Entry #4

Kova : Man, what a journey. It feels really weird to be all well-known and all that. At least I'm just Kiyone's sidekick for most part, that makes me really glad somehow. I hate being in the limelight after all, so its really great having her around. I hope folks are thinking of her as a Bhaalspawn, same as me, heh.
Imoen really seems very distant. I fear I'm letting the good fortunate get up to my head. We're already broke again, it seems, but our odds are much better... We'll need to pick up more gear and improve our pace to deal with all the Cowled Wizards, and all this Shadow Thief intrigue had better yield some good results.
Imoen is still waiting, Or maybe she's dead, or... anyway I think the Thieves' our best chance so we can't afford to screw up for Renal. I wonder if Gaelan will come through with a Good Discount after we're done helping Renal. I've been putting off meeting him and the Graveyard Lady... probably a good thing, since we're broke.

Kiyone : This is what I've always wanted - Heroism, Recognition.. yes it came with much hardship, but it could have been much worse. Funny thing is, I thought I never wanted it all that much, but now its here its hard not to feel that rush. The feeling as people give me that look when I step into that shop, and that other look when I give them that smile before asking about the goods. Really good prices too.
I'm seeing him less and less. Its strange but I think I'm busy soaking up the attention. Maybe its too much, but even when just the two of us travel the long roads I feel better knowing he's there, even if he's not always quite visible. It's pretty strange, I really should be pissed off knowing that he's letting me take the centrestage because I'm really just a convenient meatshield, but I think I really don't mind anymore.
I really wonder what sort of person is he. Yes, the gear was great, but he insisted we spend as much as necessary, which means we're now even more broke than when we got out. I wonder if he's really urgent to rescue Imoen, I think he is, but he seems awfully into preparation. And if he's like that towards his sister, he's probably much the same towards me...
I don't like all this Shadow Thief plotting but we haven't much choice, since I'm not all that excited about the other guild. We ought to quickly get Imoen out of the whole thing and then I'll take that vacation. I'm really starting to get more nervy and all this attention is wearing me out, fast.

Author's Note : I am currently travelling and BG2 is very jerky on my netbook. I may put aside the Minimal Reloads game for until I get home. I'm sure no one minds.

[princesspurpleblob]

I love reading this Keep them coming please. Makes me want to go back to BG2 again... never gets old

[Zyraen]

@princesspurpleblob : thanks for the support glad you enjoy it.
Well I'm back from my trip So I decided to get back to this, cuz well its fun!
Lol at least till I strike "out"
WARNING : PICTURE OVERLOAD

Journal #5

Reloads So Far : 1

Considering the odds, it was far better to visit the Temple of Talos at night, and since there was still time, the duo decided to go visit Riejek's hide-out once more, to take out the Rune Assassins. After all, even if Riejek was dead, who knows what was left behind yes?

Rune Assassins & Ghasts

Pre-Scout & Plan : The Rune Assassins didn't follow Kiyone upstairs to where I planned to place traps, no matter how many times I tried. So traps were out. I could send Kiyone first but she wouldn't last long, or I could send Kova first with his Stoneskin. The choice was obvious. So the strategy.
Kova would head down, stealthed, and the undead would ignore him as he walked to one of the docks. His objective was to position himself so that only one Assassin could hit him, and the other would be close by and focused on him while Kiyone would shoot the visible Assassin and ward off the Undead. Kova would just Magic Missile accordingly as well.

Actual
Kova moved smoothly to the eastern / rightmost dock, and one Assassin engaged him in a Short Sword fight.


Kiyone moves in, chased by Ghasts.

Looked good, until I realised the Ghasts were hitting on Kiyone. She got all her saves off, and I swapped some gear to her, didn't mind her being hemmed in so long the Assassin couldn't reach her, right?

WRONG, the 2nd Rune Assassin backstabbed her. What a world of pain, as if being Trapped wasn't bad enough! Kova quickly repositioned himself such that both could attack him at one time, and thank goodness the Rune Assassin went over to him. Kiyone sniped while chugging a Healing Potion.


Finally the first one went down.

At this point it was clear Kova had enough Stoneskins to hold out, but Kiyone was going to cost me a fortune in potions and that was IF she didn't end up Held, because that was a truly bad position chosen.


I manuevered Kova over and between Azuredge and Arbane's Sword, they managed to finish both Ghasts as Kova put on another layer of stoneskin.


And the final KO goes to a Magic Missile.

In retrospect, I should have let Kova attract everyone then moved Kiyone in, snipe off an Assassin while dodging Ghasts if they were near her. I fear my trip has made me rusty, and I almost forgot to consider that SCSII (should) target someone else if the main target was stoneskinned. Oddly enough as well, the Rune Assassins never re-invisibled...

The duo relieves the hide out of its ill-gotten gains, and it is not yet night, so they take a hike to the Temple District, the only district they had not been to. Along the way they are waylaid by 2 Slavers with their huge band of Pet Orogs. They are duly felled by instantly-cast Skull Traps and Kiyone snipes out the rest. That's one less brigand band to go preying on adventurers!

Gaal and his captive audience amused the pair enough, at least until the whole sightless version. They wouldn't otherwise bother, but the promise of reward drew them to the Temple of Lathander. Slightly reluctant, they eventually decided to look into the matter, but not with much urgency. After all, religious freedom was for everyone, and neither of them like the way the churches regularly fleeced their congregation. That, and the promise of "intangible" rewards.

I decided to go look up the Rakshasha in the sewers. He shouldn't be that difficult, even with SCSII, plus the Cloak of Sewers would vastly increase my tactical options, and provide Kiyone with Stoneskin (ratform) in a pinch, or Kova with magic resistance (jelly).

One Rakshasha and his Sad Band

Pre-Scout & Plan : The Rakshasha was immune to Skull Traps, he had Stoneskin so no backstabs, and Traps absorbed on his Stoneskin too. He had a tendency to open with Minor Sequencer Web and Stinking Cloud, and then he Shadow Doors and uses Improved Invisibility, before charging into Melee. After that he fired sporadic AoEs like Cloudkills, nothing much of a big deal to reposition safely outside of.
So it was decided that Kiyone would snipe her way through the kobolds and then "pull" him before stepping back and invisibling. Trigger his AoE sequencers, then step further back before letting Kova "tank" him with Stoneskin while sniping through the Rakshashas protections. If he AoEs, we simply move out and carry on tank and spank.

Actual : The plan goes properly, initially...


Kiyone pulls the Rakshasha out, along with one Kobold Captain who is literally stopped cold by the Web + Stinking Cloud.


Tank & Spank Part #1. The Rakshasha's 2nd Stoneskin is used.


Cloudkill goes off and Repositioning. The Rakshasha takes another spell and I expect to reposition. Oh no, its Skull Trap! This is the only major hiccup in the plan so far...


Kiyone steps further away, and Kova pulls off his Save! The Rakshasha isn't so lucky - how come he's hurt by his OWN Skull Trap but not by mine!?


But hey, I'm not complaining, its a frag in the bag
Meantime the unseen Kobold Captain is now stopped dead in his tracks. Aww, such sweet dedication.

Kiyone proceeds to wipe up the Kobold gang easily, and then they pre-scout out the Sewer Party. I thought it wouldn't be possible to kill them, but maybe with the Cloak of Sewers, it is possible... But first, I must make sure that Gaius is not Stoneskinned.

Evil Sewer Party

Pre-Scout & Plan : Gaius' absence of Stoneskin will prove fatal for his own party. However, even with Belt of Hill Giant Str (19 STR) Kova's damage was still dismal, so I would finish him with Magic Missile or Acid Arrow + Magic Missile (if Kova didn't do enough damage say above 35-37 to instant-kill him with MM) and/or Skull Trap. Zorl the Cleric now casts more intelligently (I think), including a full Heal that will restore any severely injured party members. He is vulnerable to Magic Missile or just normal Arrow shots disrupting his attacks, and same applies for Rengaard who uses offensive spells. Tarnor and Gallchobhair were most dangerous with their ranged attacks, but Tarnor never hurls his hatchets if you kept yourself near to him, he just chases you, making him no more than a slightly different looking Draug Fea.
After a few considerations and observing the move, I decided to rest properly first before taking them on.
Normal Skull Trap Lure would not be possible as I wouldn't be able to set it up against them in advance, Backstab Gaius then escape THROUGH my own Skull Trap, it'd kill me first. And if I were to go through as a Mustard Jelly, then I just wasted the Skull Traps.
So I would set 3 traps, use Stoneskin, Rest (to regain the Stoneskin), in between heading upstairs to get the Amulet of Talos, then set another 3 traps and then go backstab Gaius. While retreating out, if my Aura was clean from killing Gaius (ie not using MM or Acid Arrow) I would Skull Trap them while retreating backwards.
Once that was all done, I would Dominate (I had x3), aiming for the most dangerous one, Gallchobhair, and between him and Kiyone suppress Fire both Zorl & Rengaard, but focusing to kill the one who got more severely injured. Where necessary, Kiyone would shift into anti-magic mustard jelly or anti-melee rat, and Kova would just MM the rest. If required, we would retreat above-ground, rest and return to mop them up.
Easy!

PS : As a side note, assuming cheese is not used in the fights, I consider this Evil Party followed by the Slaver Compound and Twisted Runes as the 3 hardest overall fights in vanilla SoA (where Dragons are less powerful than in SCSII) . Completing this would be a very significant landmark for me, personally.

Actual:


Kova backstabs for 40+ Damage, followed by Magic Missile, ending Gaius abruptly.


And followed immediately by a successful stealth!!!!
To quote Jeffrey Archer, the Perfect Murder.
Textbook Case for Mage-Thief, kiddos! (though with Robe of Vecna, instant-casting an Invisible works just as well)

This opens up a lot of strategic options. I pull Kova back and set up 2 Skull Traps between Kova & the Evil Party, then started by pulling them with 1 blast that injures everyone except Zorl. I didn't know it yet, but I would rue this "option".


In the face of collapsed "negotiations", Draug Fea charges into his Skull-faced death. All considered, this is poor use of an AoE spell that could do much more overall damage to multiple members.


Tarnor chugs a Healing potion, which saves him from death by Traps (only 2 fired at him, I guess Draug set off the rest... again, poor judgment and complacency at work here)
Kova gets off a crucial Dominate on Badly Injured Gallchobhair.
VICTORY IS AT HAND!


Tarnor tries to harass Kiyone, but Kova makes a more attractive target.
Kiyone moves forward to extend her view to the 2 Clerics, but Zorl has got off his Physical Mirror while Rengaard attempts to complete a Flame Strike.


Zorl's Physical Mirror proves fatal for Rengaard, who Kiyone and Gallchobhair make extremely short work of.
Physical Mirror would stop Kiyone's attacks and Kova was running out of offensive spells, left with 3 MMs and 2 Acid Arrows.
Zorl summons an Aerial Servant as Kova & Kiyone retreat and Gallchobhair shoots Tarnor.


The Aerial Servant appears, doing a massive 32 damage to Gallchobhair bringing him to Near Death.
Kova decides to put him out of his misery with Magic Missile, getting the XP as they beat a retreat.


Along the way Kiyone snipes down Tarnor. Looks like an Easy Win, 2 against 1 Zorl and 1 Aerial Servant.
But to be safe, they both continue to head out to the corner. There I would place Kova at the corner, tanking the devastatingly strong Aerial Servant with Stoneskin, while Kiyone shot it to ribbons, safe from the sight of Zorl.
Great plan...


NOT. Kova is too eager and positions himself visible to Zorl, who gets off a Mental Domination!
The Battle dynamics instantly change, but Kiyone keeps cool and chugs an Invisible potion.
Great idea, until the Aerial Servant (hitting for about 30-35 damage per hit.. dunno how he does it) starts to Wail on Stoneskinned Kova ! Not Good - breaking the Stoneskin then 2 hits would lose me the game...
Fortunately, she has already repositioned herself down South, keeping room to run away while firing and revealing herself.


Possibly for the first time in his life, Kova chases Kiyone.
Meantime, Zorl sends Unholy Blight after Unholy Blight against Kiyone. Kova is damaged slightly along the way.


Just north of the Rakshasha's old spot, Kiyone pulls off a classy Stealth.
Great, just as Kova is hit...


"Stop Hitting on my Guy!" Yeah but its your life on the line, Babe.
Fortunately, Kova shortly recovers his senses, and the pair flee for the exit.
Zorl starts casting yet ANOTHER Unholy Blight and it catches both of them yet again. More assured now, Kiyone starts to whittle down the Aerial Servant, bringing it to Badly Injured, even as Kova fires Magic Missile at it and signals her for a retreat.


Complacency is fatal. Though heavily injured, the Aerial Servant catches up on the Bow of Tansheron with its slower reload time, just as Kiyone is reloading. If it were Tuigan Bow, it would be different, but magic arrows are expensive...
In the best of movies, Kova yells, NOOO! (especially since Kiyone basically just saved his ass many times over and over in the past 1 minute) and charges the Aerial Servant.

NOT. He retreats upstairs for a break, keeping his head cool as he would need to be alive to revive Kiyone. After all, she's just another party member, right?
No respite is given as the Aerial Servant shows up in the Temple District. This was Bad, but Kova is now officially PISSED.
Quick thinking - Stoneskin and Melee would win him the fight, BUT he needed the Belt of Hill Giant Strength that Kiyone had worn. Great, back to the Sewers.


More by Necessity than out of Romance, Kova takes up a "last stand" next to Kiyone's fallen body.
Somehow, it seems to improve his melee rolls ridiculously... but maybe that's just the Belt.


And he stabs the Thing Critically into Oblivion!
This is looking a lot more fishy than I thought... maybe he DOES have a thing for her.

Screw Resting, Vengeance comes upon Zorl.
With 2 Magic Missiles and 2 Acid Arrows, Kova would backstab, fight in melee and cast when Zorl started casting, to interrupt him. Great.
Kova opens with a pathetic backstab, then uses Magic Missile, then Acid Arrow, then another Magic Missile.
Zorl's spells are all but depleted it seems, but then he uses Sanctuary which the Acid Arrow fails to interrupt. That said, its satisfying to damage him while he's still sanctuaried. Kova retreats, but does not Rest.
Vengeance will be Mine! No no, he explains to me. Resting would give Zorl time to prepare HIS spells (SCSII).
Right well, so that's the "official" reason. No Romance, None, Zilch.


Sanctuary wears off and stealthed Kova waltzes in again. His spell repertoire is limited, but he is determined, angry, and toting wands.
Zorl starts casting after being (weakly) backstabbed, and this time, Acid Arrow puts that spell to rest. Kova heads around the starting corner to Stealth, but while chasing him Zorl attempts another spell that sounds awfully like Necromancy (aka Healing).


With no offensive spells left, Kova charges out and its a GOAL!... I mean, Coup-de-grace.

Kova does a victory dance... well NO, he simply resurrects Kiyone and apologises shame-facedly.
She listens quietly and then gestures for them to just go loot what they have earned painfully.
It is a sobering reminder of a great plan, almost perfectly executed against heavily stacked odds, yet gone completely awry because of mutual complacency.
Neither of them are really proud, both know where they have bungled (fatally for both) and how the other has completely put his/her life on the line... Needlessly.

That said, depression is a great way to lock out other thoughts.

======================

Mekrath's Lair

The pair proceeded to meet with Keldorn and dismiss him, then venturing into their earlier commissioned search for Haer'Dalis. A temporary acceptance of Mekrath's quest gave some good examination of the area, before considering "options".

Mekrath was Stoneskinned, and hence protected against Backstabs and also Traps. He was however, vulnerable to Skull Traps. Kova opened with 1 Skull Trap then moved back, and fired another one in (courtesy of Robe of Vecna). That ended the contest quickly. Dishonorable but efficient, besides Kiyone had determined he wasn't the good sort anyway.

After meeting Haer Dalis, there was a slightly less delectable option of 2 Salamanders and invisible, unseen, stone-skinned Yuan-Ti Mage.

Recognising that Salamanders would likely not work in full cohesion with a Yuan Ti, Kiyone skillfully drew them out one at a time, then killed both of them with +3 arrows from Tansheron's Bow. To deal with the Yuan Ti, Kova snuck in with an Invisibility (his Stealth was often dropped while Detecting Traps), and his Detect Illusions revealed the Yuan Ti.

Pre-Scout / Plan : The Yuan-Ti mage had improved invisibility, was full of Confusion spells, Enfeeblement, some Flame Arrows and somehow immune to Skull Traps (well Kova only had one left after Mekrath anyway). Though it wasn't supposed to be as dangerous as Mekrath, it probably was. It also had the usual Stoneskin combo up, making traps and backstabs useless. The plan was to sneak in Kiyone with Shield of Harmony and Azuredge and start firing at it, so that she would be largely immune to its spells. Kova would be backup, slashing to bring down Stoneskin where possible and and ready to drop spells once the enemy's Improved Invisibility wore off.

Actual : The plan went well initially, the Yuan Ti not using Confusion but rather Enfeeblement against Kiyone. Geez, what gives? But she heroically made 3 saves, after the first Stoneskin was whittled away and as they were almost halfway through the second. Then the Yuan-Ti got off a Spook that sent Kiyone running.

Biting his lips, Kova went toe-to-toe with the snake, carefully preserving his spells to interrupt his opponent's casting. 4 Times the Yuan-Ti tried to cast while fleeing away, and 3 times he interrupted it, once failing with Acid Arrow ( I regret not memorising Spook ) but he made the Confusion Save. By then, Kiyone was back, and firing on the Yuan Ti, this time trusting to Kova's spell-interruption so using her Tuigan Bow and ordinary arrows. After being slashed many times, interrupted a few more rounds, the Yuan Ti eventually tried to flee presumably out of spells, before falling to arrows in its back.

Not everything went as planned, but decently well done. Yes, it was harder than Mekrath.

After that they went on to help Roger with his little Sea Troll problem, then back for the reward. Kova kited while Kiyone fired.

======================

Journal Entry #5

Kiyone : I... I died. I didn't expect to die. This wasn't suppose to happen, at least not yet.
Seriously, what am I doing here? Why am I hanging out with this... this BHAAL spawn?
Yes, I was his meatshield, yes I was his weapon. But he doesn't need me anymore, that much is clear. He even told that Paladin to hit the road, well sort of. With his spells he can now stand up to more hits than I could, and he can do more damage than I can. I thought he needed my protection, but things are changing.
So... why did he return me from the dead? That rod.. it must have been costly. Its just for me, isn't it? I mean, there isn't anyone else to use it on.
Well, yes I died for him, yes and... no. I didn't, we got through it, we were on our way out, and I got.. careless. That's the word. Careless, with my own life... I wonder why? After all, it has always been like this, but I'm just starting to realise this.
Sigh, maybe I should just rest... rest in peace, that is. Maybe after Imoen is back with him.

Kova : They say death is a sobering experience, and they were right.
I should have died, but I didn't. She should have lived, but she died instead. True, not exactly for me, but if not for me she wouldn't have been in that situation. She wouldn't have died if not for me...
I don't think I've ever felt so panicked in that brief moment. It was like, I almost couldn't believe it. She did the impossible, saving me from certain death and then she just.. died? Like that?
Life is a frail thing. My life is, so is hers. Just because I have a Rod of Resurrection doesn't cheapen her life.
I need to remain calm. I don't owe her anything, she saved me just as I would save her, just as I have brought her back. Yes, that's it, that's all there is to it. I'm going to get Imoen, and then that's it, no more silly deaths for her, no more masquerading as the party's head. We'll part ways, and she'll be fine after that, and so will Imoen.
Right, let's do this!
...
I'm sorry, Kiyone.

[Ithildur]

Nice read. SCSII definitely changes the game.

One question; are you attacking blue/non hostiles? You realize they don't have stoneskin/other protective spells prebuffed if they're not hostile? i.e. you're bypassing the SCS scripts if you do that; believe me, it's a totally different game if you wait until they're hostile (and much better from a RP perspective imo)

[Zyraen]

Glad you enjoy it I'm sorry I can't update while travelling, but the next time I travel I'll bring them along. I got BG2 to run more-or-less-unlagged on my travelling computer now.

One question; are you attacking blue/non hostiles? You realize they don't have stoneskin/other protective spells prebuffed if they're not hostile? i.e. you're bypassing the SCS scripts if you do that; believe me, it's a totally different game if you wait until they're hostile (and much better from a RP perspective imo)

Actually, yes I am. I've found that many creatures still have Stoneskin (Mekrath), not all (like Gaius doesn't) and K&K will take every edge they can get. They don't have that many tactical options at this stage (eg. no True Sight, no Pierce Magic)

Maybe I can play my Evil Party complete as Reaver and Hidden Kits and see how it goes, they can probably take more crap but they'll level up more slowly as well.

[Ithildur]

You may as well play without SCS scripts for prebuffing then (maybe you don't have prebuffing installed anyway, which makes it even more cheesy to attack them while blue). Not trying to trash your 'tactics', but you do realize the SCS scripts do not fire until the creatures are hostile, right? Kinda defeats half the challenge/point of installing SCS2 to begin with, but I suppose if you're new to SCS and trying to do a no reload a bit of cheese is understandable... But you might as well play with the vanilla scripts then if you're trying to make things easier for yourself.

Edited by Ithildur, 08 August 2011 - 07:01 PM.

[Zyraen]

You may as well play without SCS scripts for prebuffing then (maybe you don't have prebuffing installed anyway, which makes it even more cheesy to attack them while blue).

You're right on both counts

I suppose if you're new to SCS and trying to do a no reload a bit of cheese is understandable...

Right again!

For a proper SCSII run, I'd like to have at least 2 mages in the party, I think... from my experience so far.

[PinchIt]

I suppose if you're new to SCS and trying to do a no reload a bit of cheese is understandable..

Dude, I'm on my second SCS and SCS II Run and I still use as much cheese as I can to survive...

[Zyraen]

BTW Ithildur, maybe you'd also like to do a BG2 Gameplay Journal with SCSII? Whether its No Reloads, Minimal Reloads or just a Game Journal, it'd be slick to see how someone who plays with SCSII thinks and plans towards tactics

For example, the only thing I can think of for most part is either using AoE Spells, or in some cases, Secret Word (SCSII modified with AoE to affect invisible chars). The rest of the tactics involve crazy crap that I don't have spell access to right now.