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CHAPTER 1 | CHAPTER 2 | CHAPTER 3 | CHAPTER 4 | CHAPTER 5 | CHAPTER 6 | CHAPTER 7 | CHAPTER 8 | CHAPTER 9 | CHAPTER 10 | |
Shadow Thieves | Joining Bodhi | Catacombs | |
CATACOMBS
Pai'Na and her Spiders
Now the party travels to the Graveyard District, and then goes down a doorway towards the northeast corner.
There will be several groups of Spiders including Sword Spiders, Giant Spiders, Wraith Spiders, Phase Spiders, and smaller Spiders, throughout the middle portion of this level. I found that straight physical combat works well enough. If you're having trouble, you can try something like a Fireball from outside of their fog of war to soften them up.
There will be a doorway in the middle that I go through at about 5:15 of the video. On the other side will be a Drow woman named Pai'Na. Combat naturally ensues. The humans surrounding her will burst open to reveal many Spiders that are capable of poisoning party members. Avastrian carefully aims a Fireball to take out as many of the Spiders as he can.
Minsc and Yoshimo train their bows on Pai'Na. Avastrian then rushes ahead to finish her off. After that, it's mopping up on the spiders that are left. This video also serves as a reminder to save a few 2nd-level priest spell slots for Slow Poison.
Pai'Na leaves behind a Kitthix Figurine, which summons a spider that can inflict poisoning. It isn't anything special, but it can be improved considerably as part of the Item Upgrade mod.
A treasure cache leaves behind:
The video concludes with the party rounding the bend, and killing more Spiders along the way. Yoshimo also continues to disarm traps and loot chests for treasure and scrolls as well.
Haz
Now I head northwards and center. A Mage named Haz has his pet Golem named Fleshy open the door to the north for me. Haz gets killed as soon as the door is opened. Fleshy and myself kill off the Grimward Archers on the other side. Haz leaves behind a Staff Mace +2, which Jaheira will use as an interim weapon.
Gellal
To a corridor to the left will be a Fledgling Vampire named Gellal, and a Fledging Vampire. Note how I have Avastrian go to the fight by himself as he's protected against physical damage by Stoneskin and Mirror Image, against Domination by a Chaotic Commands from Anomen, and against level draining by the Amulet of Power. Gellal summons some Dire Wolves, but they're nothing to worry about. Avastrian, enhanced by Haste, brings down the Fledgling Vampire and the Wolves by himself. But Vampires can regenerate, so once he brings Gellal to 'badly wounded', the rest of the party brings up the cavalry to finish him off. Yoshimo is level-drained, but Anomen easily undoes this with a Lesser Restoration spell.
Mace of Disruption
I rest up and send the uber-protected Avastrian by himself against the Vampires in a room to the west. He kills off a Fledgling Vampire, and then clicks on the pool to get the Mace of Disruption (+1 Mace, +3 for purposes of being able to hit magical creatures, +4-16 damage vs. undead, undead must save vs. death at -4 or be killed instantly). He'll use this as his weapon against the Vampires for the time being.
Another vampire named Durst arrives, but the Hasted party finishes him off before he can do much damage.
Tanova
There's a hallway that runs east from the table room. First I have a buffed-up Avastrian inch ahead and kill off a Fledgling Vampire.
The party rests up again. I had Yoshimo plant traps at the start of the hallway, but it didn't do much good.
I then add the following buffs to Avastrian: Protection from Fire, Protection from Electricity, Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, Spell Immunity: Necromancy, and Spell Immunity: Abjuration. The reason is that there's a vampire mage named Tanova further down the hallway, and I want Avastrian to be protected as much as possible. Tanova starts off with several protections in place, including a Minor Globe of Invulnerability that will negate Keldorn's Dispel Magic.
Now I have him step up and then guzzle a Potion of Invisibility once Tanova is in view. This forces her to waste a spell or two, and then cast True Seeing. (Keep in mind she sometimes summons a Glabrezu) At around the same time Jaheira summons a Fire Elemental. Avastrian then retreats and regroups with the rest of the party.
This is beneficial in the sense that the Fire Elemental forces her to expend more of her spells on it. The party waits patiently. Once she arrives her Minor Globe of Invulnerability has worn off, so Keldorn promptly hits her with a Dispel Magic. The party then closes in. Jaheira also hits her with an Insect Plague to prevent her from casting any more spells. The party eventually wears her down.
I realize players may not necessarily have the same party composition as myself. But if you want to beat Tanova this early in the game (and the reason I'm doing it this early is cause I want to get Imoen back as soon as possible), you need to find a way to safely make it through her initial onslaught of spells until her Minor Globe of Invulnerability wears off.
Lassal
The party now heads down the stairs towards the northeast corner. They easily kill off a pair of Greater Ghouls along the hallway.
On the other side of a doorway to the north will be several Vampires and Grimward Archers. There's too many for Avastrian to solo this, so I have to make this a team effort. He casts Haste on the party, and then goes north by himself initially. He softens up the monsters with a Fireball, and leads them back to the party. I then rely on Haste to kill them off as quickly as I can. I don't mind a level draining or two, as long as it isn't Anomen.
I then investigate the room with a pool of blood in the middle. A chest to the left has Ashen Scales +2, and a Katana +2 which Avastrian equips in his off-hand. The room to the right has Lassal, who bids me to meet him in the room of blood upstairs.
I then go back upstairs. I buff up Avastrian again, and he heads down the hallway where he first found Tanova. At the other end of the room is a large room with a spiked floor and a pool of blood in the middle. Lassal will be at the far end of the room. I have Avastrian do this alone to avoid risk to the other party members. He Hastes himself. Once Lassal summons a pair of Dire Wolves, Avastrian casts Slow on them. It's only a matter of time before he finishes off Lassal.
Bodhi's Introduction
Now I head for the crypt towards the southwest. Standing guard will be a Clay Golem. A Clay Golem can Haste itself, and can only be harmed by magical blunt weapons. Anomen and Jaheira go in by themselves and bring it down. Anomen of course protects himself with Armor of Faith. Yoshimo then searches the room to the south for treasure.
The room that had the Clay Golem has three sarcophagi in it. This is where the first encounter with Bodhi will take place. First, the party goes back to where they first met Haz. Avastrian then gets himself buffed up, including Mirror Image, Stoneskin, Chaotic Commands, and Protection from Fire. Avastrian then goes to the room with the three tombs in it. The rest of the party stays well away. Avastrian then casts Haste on himself. He then stakes the two tombs to the left and the right.
He then stakes the tomb on the south end of the room. This prompts Bodhi to show up, along with several Grimward Archers. The key here is not necessarily to defeat Bodhi then and there, but simply to last long enough before her script clock runs its course and she leaves of her own accord. Surviving long enough is not necessarily easy though. Bodhi is an especially powerful vampire. What she shows for now is being surrounded by a Fire Shield: Blue effect that will always surround her, cannot be dispelled, and will inflict cold damage on anybody who attacks her. Her attacks will also score extra magical damage, even through a Stoneskin spell. The Grimward Archers make things even worse.
My first priority is to take out her Archers. Avastrian softens them up with a Fireball spell, which he can without concern for placement since he is protected by Jaheira's Protection from Fire spell. He then casts Slow, and then pecks off the Archers one by one. Once this happens, he doesn't attack Bodhi in order to avoid taking damage from her Fire Shield: Blue effect. He simply waits it out, drinking a Potion of Extra Healing or putting up a buff as needed. She eventually leaves. I am now ready to report back to Aran Linvail.
Anomen's Knighthood
The party leaves the Catacombs, whereupon Sir Ryan Trawl informs Anomen that the time has come for his initiation into the Order as a Knight. So I head over to the Temple District, and get attacked by some Bandits. Keldorn keeps the backstabbing thief honest with True Seeing. Jaheira takes the Mage out of it with an Insect Plague. It then becomes a matter of overwhelming them in melee combat.
I then head the Order. If Anomen took revenge for his sister's murder he'll get cast out of the Order and his alignment becomes Chaotic Neutral. He'll also eventually come to blows with Keldorn if in the party. However, I chose to talk Anomen out of revenge. The party gets 10,000xp, and Anomen gets a personal xp bonus of 50,000. Anomen's alignment changes to Lawful Good, and his Wisdom is raised to 16 as well.
The video concludes with me selling off my loot, including buying back Yoshimo's Katana and selling off the Arbane Sword. I now have enough to purchase Balduran's Shield (+3 Large Shield, -1 Strength, reflects Beholder Rays), which will become useful when I head for the Underdark.
Sansuki and Del
I travel to the Docks, and somebody named Habib apparently likes to throw scimitars at me.
I continue on, and a Shadow Thief named Sansuki pleads for my help. Avastrian immediately begins casting Haste. The party is thus able to kill Del and the other vampires as quickly as possible and keep the level-draining (i.e. Minsc only) to a minimum.
To Spellhold by Ship
Now I report on my confrontation with Bodhi to Aran Linvail, and every party member gets 50,000xp.
The video then shows Irenicus, having taken control of the Asylum, subjecting Imoen to painful rituals.
The video concludes with Aran Linvail hiring Saemon Havarian to bring me by ship to Spellhold. This brings me to Chapter 4.
