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For some reason the Mummy speaks the same snake-like S's as seen in BG1' Centeol (whose spider lair was reused for Pai'Na). Maybe they're both half yuan-ti?
Also, Centeol provides the first reference to Jon Irenicus, calling him Jon Icarus (see second screenshot).
But we are now (sadly?) back to our Solo Experience(TM), which has the advantage of solo experience, as in not divided among two party members.
Divided? You mean the dwarf stole some of my XP?
XP you would not get at all, if he had not joined the party...
Still it was MINE.
------
Update #43: Just Another Bughunt
Character Sheet update under spoiler.
After fiddling with Codex' equipment a bit, I realised that Pale Green Ioun Stone actually gave a bigger HP boost than Helm of Balduran, but it was in conflict with Paladin's Bracers - they had to be equipped in the other order (stone first) to see the correct number. I've decided to keep the helmet anyway, because of its bonuses to AC and saving throws.
Boots of the West (giving +1 Charisma and disease immunity) are replaced by Boots of Avoidance (+5 AC vs. missiles). The Codex gets disease immunity from Ring of Gaxx anyway, and Charisma is our dump stat for a reason.
Fighter level incoming. I wonder if we will get an epic ability out of it.
75 Lore allows us to identify most crap on the spot, but we still need Glasses of Identification for the major stuff.
I am more or less satisfied with Codex' saving throws at the moment.
-9 to AC vs. missiles (for a total of -13). Too bad our base -4 against everything else is crap. I will be looking into ways of improving that asap.
If equipped in the wrong order, Codex' gear only gives him 50% magic resistance.
But it is actually 75%, if we equip sword first and the other items later. This is a bit of a pain in the ass when switching weapons (between the sword and the bow).
Our current equipment. Note that we have two spider figurines. I don't really recall getting the second one (we stole the first one). But hey, more spiders.
And it seems I forgot to take a screenshot of Information sub-screen (the one with the kill count, etc.). Next time.
Temple District is our next destination.
I'm sincerely hoping I will NOT have to deal with priests again.
No, no, of course not.
Sewers.
Oh yeah, that is MUCH better.
Weren't you ever curious what is behind this secret passage? I bet you were.
Don't tell me. It's going to be the Hostile Enemy Foes. From the Red Rings organization.
We found this key in Firkraag's dungeon of all places.
Dead bodies. Looks promising.
Spoooooky.
Hey, this place looks kinda neat.
We carefully tread forward.
See, Red Rings, as I predicted.
They know I'm here! It's a trap!
More likely, a scripting error.
So, you're going to just barge in there and start slashing with the big sword?
Any problems?
Nope. Good luck.
Who could have expected?
Death Count: 203
Loading.
Damn. Am I not overlevelled enough to breeze through this place?
I think you already got your answer to that.
Fine then. I will use one spell. ONE.
Die, fucking humanoid/squid/alien thing.
Check out that sweet magic resistance cancelling out Flame Strike.
I've just killed The Hulk!
You killed a hulk. Not the same.
And that's why you don't have a job in marketing.
Ok, fine, I will use ONE MORE spell.
What is the difference between a cleric and a priest?
Is this some kind of a lame joke setup?
I'm honestly asking.
Okay. Do you mean in real life or D&D?
You know what, forget it.
If you really want to see each of these guys' deaths, feel free to click the spoiler tag.
DECAPITATION!
Backstabbing an assassin, oh the sweet irony.
TOTAL ANNIHILATION!
That was one unlucky assassin.
Unfortunately, all the loot here is shit.
They'll never see me coming.
Given your luck with women, that's very likely.
Har-har. A lame sex joke, really? Have you run out of your trademark sense of humour?
I'm saving it for post-mortem one-liners when you die. I feel like I'm going to need a lot of them today.
Unless I will summon someone something to die instead. Go, go, golem!
It seems they have devoured your golem's brain.
Seriously.
If you want something done right...
I KILL YOU!
What? Who? Why? When?
I guess I sort of implied writing something funny here. Sue me.
Death Count: 204
Load.
How could they devour a golem's brain. It doesn't have any!
Apparently it does have enough for brain devouring purposes.
What a rip-off!
Let's try with the spider. Although I don't have much hope.
Well, they did manage to confuse it. That kind of implies the victim having a brain.
Not necessarily. For example, you tend to be confused too, sometimes.
That's it for our friendly neighbourhood spider.
Fine. I'll deal with this myself, just let me change into my battle-clothes.
This is not Final Fantasy 8, you know.
Oh, you meant... Right.
Yeah.
Once more into the fray!
Actually, why don't you wear the dragon scale armour instead of this robe?
I don't think armor class is my most pressing problem here.
What is, then?
Oh, yeah, it could be this.
You want me to improve Codex' saving throws even more, game? CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
Death Count: 205
Loading that save file.
I'm sure we have some means to fight these squids effectively. You're the expert, start experting.
There is one obvious solution, but as it was suggested by the readers, it is TOO obvious and we are morally obliged to try everything else first.
I hate you so fucking much.
How about this? It worked in the huge tower and enemies there are pretty pimped-out.
Well, at least the umber hulk died.
He was the one enemy that was actually NOT trying to suck out my brain through my nostrils, so that's hardly helpful.
Do we have a plan B?
Chaaaaarge!
No shit.
Death Count: 206
Loadingo.
FFS, these are just a few regular enemies, even if kind of exotic, let's not make a try/die/reload revolving door out of this encounter. If you know that something will work, hit me.
Fine.
A magical sword does not have anything resembling a cranium, so it should be safe from brain-sucking. Theoretically.
Well, it is not safe from confusion, apparently.
These flayers do not fuck around.
While they're busy, let me summon an elemental for additional tanking.
FFS, LEE.
Even the charm of Ring of Earth Elementality (or whatever it is called) does not work, and we're forced to execute the L.E.E. for treason.
However, as magical sword seems to be holding its ground (metaphorically speaking), we decide to help it with some accurately fired arrows.
Take that, cthulhuspawn!
It's working, they drop like flies!
Wait, no! Too soon!
Missing: one brain. Founder kindly asked to return it. High reward!
Death Count: 207
Load, load, load.
All that fucking around with the earth elemental used up too much time. Whose idea was that?
Actually...
The question was rhetorical.
Let's try that again...
The sword seems to be doing fine despite its confusion.
Good.
One down.
In addition to having no brain (which is actually a good thing for once), the sword is immune to umber hulk's hits, so it's a win-win.
This is just another bughunt.
It seems that ulitharids are not much better at harming the sword than umber hulks.
Seriously, if I billed this city for all the pest control I've done here, they would need to strip all their temples of gold furnishings to be able to pay up.
No psychic domination for you, MoFo.
There is no escape!
We lost the sword.
No problem, I can handle one lesser squid.
LIKE THIS!
We levelled up sometime during this fight.
Sweet!
Sadly, no epic ability.
After careful consideration, I've decided that there is no point in improving any proficiencies beyond two dots/stars/whatever, so we use the newly gained one to become trained in warhammers.
Opening a door while hidden in shadows does not make us visible outright, but it cancels the stealth mode, requiring us to refresh it in six seconds or lose invisibility.
In this case the mind flayer closest to The Codex started following him immediately, but the rest did not react.
But this might just be some weird scripting issue.
If that's foreshadowing, I don't like it and you can go fuck yourself.
Completely by accident I made The Codex prepare two Mordenkainen's Swords before resting.
That's suspiciously convenient.
Are you complaining?
Hell no.
This sword is like a nightclub bouncer. Line up for your funeral, squids!
Yeah, not really. But it seems that psychic domination equals death, like with sirins in the first game...
Yes, master, I shall insert this huge blade into my anus.
...which kind of makes sense.
Death Count: 208
Loady-load.
I need brain bleach.
You and me both.
Let's turn up the heat!
Aren't you worried that this will make our magical sword hostile?
Should I?
Apparently not.
I hate magic resistance.
We are using it quite extensively ourselves.
You're missing the point.
This is taking too much time. Cloudkill.
Again, only umber hulks were affected.
Well, that saved us, like, ten seconds. Maybe fifteen.
Only two left! We've reached the endgame!
There's one more outside our field of view.
Meh.
Eat your heart out!
Booyah! Head-tentacle-shot!
I bet he did not expect to get promoted to endboss when he got up this morning.
And done.
Lootfest!
That silver ring. WTF. Did they steal it from Jan Jansen's niece, or what?
Nice, but I've seen better.
This hammer is quite unique even before its upgrade to Crom Faeyr, since it deals base 2d4 damage, instead of 1d4+1 as do other weapons of this class. We'll be keeping it, of course, especially since we have a shiny brand new war hammer proficiency.
A half-assed writing effort trying to make this half-assed quest seem a bit less half-assed than it is.
A wand with some entertainment potential. We might play with it a bit in the future.
Being done with ilithids, we have one more thing to take care in the graveyard, of which I forgot earlier.
The fuck.
I will take care of it, you just wait here.
Back to the slums.
Copper Coronet once again turns out to be the wretched hive of scum and villainy of this city.
Oh, I'm not leaving...
...But you are. Leaving this world!
Should have thought twice before messing with the kid.
The bear.
No problem, little bro.
We get 15500 XP for our effort.
Plus additional 5000 after talking to the parents. No reputation points, though.
---
Next time: No idea, let's roll and see!
Next quest selection details:
Let's see if Azira's trolling derails the LP, or do we make a small step in the main story.
Why in the everloving FUCK would the illithids just go ahead and write a SMALL RELEVANT PASSAGE IN SUPERSIKRIT ALIEN CORRESPONDENCE so that EVERYONE CAN READ IT?
Hawly dewly, they devoured brain in the pile of clay named golem.
They're REALLY serious threat. Like those russkies special ops that train interrogations on stones...
Why in the everloving FUCK would the illithids just go ahead and write a SMALL RELEVANT PASSAGE IN SUPERSIKRIT ALIEN CORRESPONDENCE so that EVERYONE CAN READ IT?
I don't think Swords of Mordenkainen are actually affected by Confusion, though they still get the twirly thing suggesting they are.
I'm not chaotic enough to have ever kept the Wand of Wonder (especially since it fetches a nice price). I'm curious to see how useful/harmful it can be.
After careful consideration, I've decided that there is no point in improving any proficiencies beyond two dots/stars/whatever, so we use the newly gained one to become trained in warhammers
If I did, I don't remember.
BTW, I am already playing through the shadow thieves quest (encountered a dialogue stat check earlier today - I thought I was going to cry), so you guys may vote for what's coming after that.
So the quest you're doing currently for Shadow Thieves - does that incorporate everything up to coming out of the underdark? If so I vote for WK lvl 3 afterwards.
So the quest you're doing currently for Shadow Thieves - does that incorporate everything up to coming out of the underdark? If so I vote for WK lvl 3 afterwards.
So the quest you're doing currently for Shadow Thieves - does that incorporate everything up to coming out of the underdark? If so I vote for WK lvl 3 afterwards.
Ah OK. Once that's done is there actually anything left to do in Athkatla apart from Edwin's quest? I suppose there's Anomen's thing, but that's not very interesting.
Skeleton Warriors hit hard, are pretty much immune to magic and remain with you for a long time, which makes them very useful (probably better than lesser elementals, especially since they're instantly under your control). Animate Dead is more useful to priests, since it's only a 3rd-level spell for them.
I don't think Swords of Mordenkainen are actually affected by Confusion, though they still get the twirly thing suggesting they are.
I'm not chaotic enough to have ever kept the Wand of Wonder (especially since it fetches a nice price). I'm curious to see how useful/harmful it can be.
And he would have have gotten away with it, if not for them meddling kids.
------
Update #44: Sole Survivor
First things first - as our hero's Armor Class is badly in need of improvements, I have decided to purchase Bracers of Defense AC3, which will replace Blessed Bracers.
We also replace Cloak of Displacement (+4 AC vs. missiles) with Cloak of the Sewers (+1 AC overall) and Belt of Inertial Barrier (25% resistance to missiles, 50% resistance to magic damage) with Girdle of Piercing (+3 AC vs. piercing and missiles). That gives us overall AC of -7. Still not that good, but a significant improvement from -4.
The alternative was a combo of Melodic Chain (instead of Robe of Vecna), Ring of Earth Control (instead of Ring of Protection +2) and Blessed Bracers (instead of Bracers of Protection). This would give us the same AC and 10 more HP, but worse saving throws (by 2) and magic resistance (by 10%), not to mention slower casting speed.
Any thoughts on further improving Codex's defenses will be appreciated.
Can we reach a level up today?
THAC0: -8.
Our quest for AC improvement has made some of the saving throws worse, but we can live with that.
The Codex' AC is -10 vs. piercing weapons and a respectable -15 vs. missiles. That last number should help us a lot against all those pesky archers.
We've lost some damage resistance too, but it can't really be helped, I think.
The Codex still holds 100% of total party experience, which is nice to see after our short team-up with Korgan (short team-up, get it?).
In order to make progress in the main story, we need to go to the docks.
Why exactly?
Well... I guess it was a while ago, so a flashback wouldn't be out of place.
There you go.
So, we go and find Mook.
Hey, Mook is female!
Why does it matter?
Well, I haven't spoken one-on-one with a female at night since... Um, never?
What does that tell you?
Oh. She's going to die in a moment, isn't she?
Well, she is named 'Mook'.
Hey there, gorgeous, I hope you've not been waiting too long?
Only around 45 days. She would have made a perfect viking wife.
Passing someone four times in 45 days is really no big deal. Paranoid much?
Maybe I should talk to him? No?
He's been watching her.
I heard that if you are a vampire, stalking is love.
Right. Step back, and I will...
Never mind.
Well, she should have let me do the talking, or just stayed in the kitchen in the first place.
Please don't alienate our female readers.
Our who?
Well, if you want to 'finish with me', I am available right away.
Didn't think so.
Aran does not give much of a fuck about Mook.
He's clearly a pragmatist.
Do I even have any choice here? Can I refuse?
Nope, you're pretty much on the Plot Railroad Train and Aran is the locomotive engineer.
Yeah, he could arrive any time MY ASS. I'm tempted to wait another 45 days just to call bullshit.
But of course we go there immediately.
Hey, I wonder if the theatre is still open.
I doubt that, since you have literally sent the actors to another dimension.
Oh yeah, except that gay dude with two short swords.
Haer'dalis is not gay... I guess he would be, if this game was released a few years later... Hm...
BTW, I skipped exploring the upstairs floor, because nothing of value and/or interest was found there.
Yeah, I totally want to join switch sides, because I am a shadow thief like you. Actually you'd hard pressed to find anyone more shadow-thiefy than me!
Shadow-thieving, not shadow-thiefy. I think?
You know, you are very convincing at acting as a raving lunatic. I would have been fooled.
I'm just the best at everything, simple as that.
A-ha! Fooled you!
Hostilities ensue.
But end swiftly.
And since one of the rarely occurring stat checks is incoming, The Codex will make use of Ring of Human Influence to pass it.
All it changes is one line of dialogue, as the outcome here is always combat.
Gracen is obviously no challenge.
He dropped some crap and... toiler paper?
Actually, it's a note that would ensures we got the necessary information even if we fucked up earlier.
Fuck this shit! What was the point of trying to do well then?
[Achievement unlocked] You managed to bluff Gracen into giving away crucial information.
No point.
You want to help me deal with these random hostile thugs here, my shadow thief ally? No?
Long story short: everyone except me is dead.
Well, I have superhuman strength too, but I guess that doesn't matter.
Imoen? What does she have to do with anything?
For that matter, why exactly am I working for this guy?
We have run out of dungeons and he can get us to some new ones.
Ah, ok.
'Do you see that heavily armed guy who just left the shadow thieves HQ? Let's mug him!'
'Great idea!'
True sight? How about that.
Why is everybody so keen on sending me to the graveyard?
You do not really want an honest answer to that.
Seriously, pest control is a full-time job in this city.
Hey, I had dreams like this when I was a teenager.
Obviously, our hero does not actually get sick from entering the bloody bath, because he is The Codex.
We will not be able to upgrade the mace with dilithium, but that does not matter much, as it only changes THAC0 and damage bonus to +2 from +1.
Let's try it out on that redshirt vampire.
Works quite fine, I'd say!
Hey, a spellcaster, this could be an actual challenge!
HOLY SHITFUCK!
Challenge enough for you?
Go die in a fire!
Monster Summonning I? The most sucky one? Really?
Oh no, what terrifying creatures will I have to face?
Two kobolds and a dog! The horror, the horror!
If anyone is surprised that we are killing Tanova twice, she has cast simulacrum earlier.
In case someone had doubts, we actually defeated these kobolds...
Oh, I hate this room.
I can see why.
In order to simulate spiked surface, there are numerous undetectable traps scattered around here. It is no big deal if we have active stoneskin...
...But starts to be a problem once it wears off.
MY FOOT!
This is our last stoneskin, let us not waste it.
And this little flavour text is the only thing we can find here at the moment.
What a waste of time and spells, not to mention MY BLOOD.
Vampires have a basement. Under a crypt. That's low.
And it is very untidy too.
You can't walk three steps without stepping on a ghoul.
I hope this door does not lead to another corridor. I thought this was Baldur's Gate, no Mass Effect.
Well, there is no chest-high cover anywhere, so there.
Why exactly are you using this mace?
Because I can.
Have I even used level 8 spells yet?
I do not think so.
Hello, is anyone there?
Hm, that's a lot of moving targets, could take a while.
Let me summon a combat accelerator.
Ooh, that gotta hurt.
We are purposefully ignoring the archers, because they are not much of a threat with Codex' bonus to AC vs. missiles.
Don't feel bad, vampy, better than you have tried and failed.
And the archers.
Well, that was easy.
Ambush? What ambush?
Classy.
I think this is the first trap I've found here.
I know this is a thief level up, so I am exploiting a bug by taking whirlwind, but it is just too tempting!
BTW, I tried using detect illusion on Tanova's miror image earlier, but hitting her with a dispel magic weapon was just faster.
This looks almost promising.
Yeah, almost.
Whatever.
We also grabbed this scroll (from one of the greater ghouls, I think) at some point.
I have never been good at using power word spells, though. Usually when enemy is low enough on HP for them to work, it is better to just hit them some more and end their misery than go fiddly with spells.
Not this place again...
Congratulations, you've finally made it to the top of my death list.
