I haven't decided whether I'll go through the entire series yet. If I do, I'll probably offer each codexer currently in the party a chance to carry on his/her character's adventures.
I'm afraid there is no dual classing in Pool of Radiance. It's just as good if you ask me, dual classing is a very imbalanced ability. The level cap is six for magic users and clerics, a little higher for fighters and thieves.
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UPDATE 11 - (Un)Death
As the party passes before the city hall, a new commission is discovered.
Adventurers Journal said:
Proclamation CLIV
Be it known that the council has
proclaimed a generous bounty for each
undead killed. Be it also known that in
addition to said bounty, the council is
willing to provide a special enchanted
item, useful in the destruction of undead,
to any group of adventurers which
accepts the commission to cleanse
Valhigen Graveyard. Apply to the city
clerk for said commission.
Hey ! We're getting to it, no need to recruit another band of adventurers !
As soon as the party enters the graveyard, the taint of evil is felt everywhere.
There's a lot of graves, and probably many undead.
Godfrey's level five Turn Undead will be most useful, he can rebuke anything but vampires.
Heading south, a large band of skeletons guard a small building.
This requires investigation.
The skeletons are dealt with easily, but the tower sounds dangerous in itself.
Indeed, as soon as the party steps inside, the air fills with noxious fumes.
But it would take more than that to stop our heroes
They manage to hold their breaths and get to the other side without suffering any damage.
They stumble on a creature, apparently responsible for the undead outbreak.
It's a specter !
Adventurers Journal said:
Specter, challenge rating VII
These are one of the most
powerful of the undead. Their touch can
drain the life out of men.
And it comes equipped with the worst ability of the undead, level draining.
Thanks to the surprise round, the party's combined power brings it down before it can even act.
A massive amount of experience is earned!
Going further into the graveyard, some zombies are guarding another tower nearby.
Zombies are still as weak as they were before, and this tower isn't filled with toxic gas.
And, as could be expected, another specter is responsible for the zombies.
Things don't go quite as planned as everyone decides to take it easy and miss their blows.
As a result, Godfrey is touched and drained of two levels!
The experience reward is still huge.
Some of the scrolls of restorations are used to restore Godfrey.
He is now back at the minimum experience for level five, and lost nearly ten thousand xp...
Further north from the zombie infested part of the graveyard, some Wights are surprised.
Adventurers Journal said:
Wight, challenge rating VI
Evil, undead humans whose
touch can drain the life out of a man.
Just great, a band of six level draining monsters.
Godfrey manages to make them flee, but they're immune to arrows, and stuck themselves in a corner.
Our fighters have to get close, and Godfrey is drained again, as well as Edward.
Another tower is discovered.
And another specter. This time the party doesn't fool around and it goes down quickly.
The party earns another large chunks of experience, but so far not a single treasure apart from gold.
Not far from the previous towers, the party is ambushed by
two specters.
This could get ugly very fast, and it does: Godfrey is drained yet again, and Edward too.
The experience reward can't even begin to compensate the experience lost.
And our Restoration scrolls are quickly running out, we're down to two.
Since temples don't offer Restoration, once they're used any level drained will be gone...
The two specters were apparently guarding an ancient tomb.
Its spirit offers our party tools to defeat the undead menace.
Well, that's nice!
To the east is an empty cross-shaped room with a coffin in the middle.
Close to it, a scroll is found :
Adventurers Journal said:
Entry 43
A loosely wrapped scroll.
'Aramalg the Good, paladin and
brother of Taimalg-the-Invincible, and
Sarasim of Teshwave, the high priestess of
Sune, attacked the denizens of
the Valhigen Graveyard with a holy
vengeance. They came in search of
Taimalg and his mercenary band, who
assault the graveyard and did not
return.
'Sarasim used her holy power to dissipate
and turn the undead that confronted
them. Aramalg wielded his vorpal sword
and slew the few that fought her power.
'Together, Aramalg and Sarasim penetrated
the graveyard to an evil marble
crypt. They found and splintered an
empty coffin, blessing the remains and
sprinkling it with holy water. Then they
confronted the owner of the coffin, a creature
of great evil and the leader of the
undead in Valhigen, an ancient vampire.
The three began a furious melee.
'The vampire was swayed by Aramalg
and Sarasim's power, but would not be
turned. The vampire shouted, "I have
defeated Taimalg and his warriors, I will
defeat the brother of Taimalg as well!"
'The vampire summoned an army of
rats and tried to charm Sarasim to his
side, but to no avail. Sarasim resisted his
charm and Aramalg charged through the
massed vermin. The vampire fell before
the mighty blow of Aramalg's holy sword
and Sarasim's enchanted mace.
'Defeated, the ancient vampire dissolved
into gas and fled to his coffin.
Finding the coffin destroyed he returned
to solid form and screamed. Seizing the
moment Aramalg grabbed the vampire
and held him with all of his strength.
Sarasim ran up and drove an oaken stake
through the vampire's heart.
'Aramalg and Sarasim performed the
proper rituals to banish the vampire forever.
Then, wounded, Aramalg and
Sarasim left Valhigen Graveyard. It was
beyond their power to completely cleanse
the evil place, but they had extracted
proper vengeance for the death of Tiamalg
and his troops.'
An interesting tale, but the coffin is anything but destroyed...
Our heroes solve this minor inconsistency before moving on.
To the northeast, some stairs lead into a pit.
The party slowly descends into it.
And a vampire is revealed before their eyes!
Aramalg and Sarasim obviously did not finish the job.
Worse still, one of them could have been bitten, then took the evil lord's place!
Our adventurers journal has this to say about our foes :
Adventurers Journal said:
Vampire, challenge rating VIII
These are one of the most
dreaded undead in the Realms. They can
drain life levels, are strong fighters, and
are sometimes powerful magic users.
A strong fighter indeed, with armor class one and more hit points that any member of the party.
The other enemies are wolves, who lack an entry in the Adventurers Journal.
Stinking Clouds take care of the wolves easily, and Excidium throws his one and only Fireball.
It deals heavy damage, but also hits Godfrey, who nearly dies in the process!
But die he does, as the vampires drains him of his life the following turn.
But the worse was yet to come, as it charmed Edward to its side.
The rest of the party attacked with all their might, but the evil thing regenerates!
Soon Excidium and Bee-chan joined the vampire as well, and Pariah stood alone next to the monster.
Predictably, he doesn't succeed...
Let's try once more. This time Godfrey moves away and the Necklace of Missiles is put to use.
It throws Fireball, an excellent item indeed. Two charges are used in quick succession.
Meanwhile, Excidium casts Fireball and uses one more from a scroll.
The party manages to bring the vampire down, but not before Bee-chan again fell under its charm.
She had to be knocked unconscious as she was desperately seeking revenge.
A rather pitiful experience reward is earned, and next to no loot.
As the tale described, the vampire turns into mist and floats away.
Our heroes know where to go !
Godfrey had used up all his Cure Light Wounds spells, so Bee-chan will have to sit this one out.
Rushing to the coffin, the vampire is found in physical form !
It is weakened and almost dead, so Edward makes short work of it.
Victory! Although we have no wooden stakes ... oops ?
Apparently Edward's blow was enough, as the rest of the graveyard seems to have found peace.
Back in town to report their success, the magic items are identified.
The ring is of Fire Resistance, useful to prevent deadly friendly fire.
The Plate Mail is enchanted and is +2.
Edward had been using it blindly to offset his lack of shield, and will keep it.
Finally, the Long Sword is +2, but has a nasty side effect.
Any character who tries to equip it is zapped with strong magic damage.
I suppose we'd need a Lawful Good character, but only Godfrey follows this way in life.
As Priests can't use swords, the blade is sold for a large amount of platinum.
The party heads to the city clerk's office.
"Some Undead" ? We patrolled the graveyard for hours and found none left.
A huge experience reward is offered, so the minor offense is forgiven.
Ah, wait, here it comes.
Ten thousand experience points each!
While our adventurers were busy training, a new proclamation was posted.
Adventurers Journal said:
Proclamation CXIV
Be it known that the council is
offering a special reward for the safe
return of the heir to the House of Bivant.
Said minor was carried off during a buccaneer
attack on the merchant ship in
which he was sailing. Apply to the council
clerk for the council's commission and
additional information as to the
abduction.
Heading back to the office, the clerk says nothing.
Oh well, there are still parts of the city to clear, so next time, our heroes head to the Podal Plaza.