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CHAPTER 1 | CHAPTER 2 | CHAPTER 3 | CHAPTER 4 | CHAPTER 5 | CHAPTER 6 | CHAPTER 7 | CHAPTER 8 | CHAPTER 9 | CHAPTER 10 | |
MACHINE OF LUM THE MAD
Carston the Magnificent
The party descends to the next level. They witness several Mind Flayers and Githyanki who are fighting for the amusement of a Mage trapped in the glass bubble of a strange machine. The Mage gets bored and then drives the monsters away. He introduces himself as Carston the Magnificent, Lord of the Level. I deliberately choose the dialogue response that ends with "Nice life" in order to provoke Carston to summon more Mind Flayers (for the sake of xp). Keldorn's True Seeing and combined Greater Whirlwind Attacks from other party members suffice to win in short order.
I then head west and kill several Shadows and Devil Shades with routine methods. There will now be two portals. The one to the right leads to the next level, but I'll need to unlock it first. The one to the left leads to the exterior.
Carston's Apprentice
The door in between the two portals leads to an Illithid section. I thus make specific preparations, including Chaotic Commands for everyone in the party, and five Skeleton Warriors.
I step in through the door, and kill off a bunch of Mind Flayers and Umber Hulks. I continue south. There will be a LOT of Mind Flayers, Ulitharids, and Umber Hulks on the other side of the door. I don't hold back here. I have Anomen heal everyone up, and then invoke the Improved Haste from his Improved Cloak of Protection +2. I send Avastrian to open the door and regroup, so as to avoid a jam at the door. Keldorn starts with True Seeing. Thereupon the party uses Greater Whirlwind Attacks round after round to kill them off as quickly as possible.
The room at the other end has various loot like magical ammo, potions, and a Wand of Spell Striking. There's also a note that involves the machine. One of the smaller side rooms has Carston's Apprentice in it, who's willing to offer background information before he dies. The container behind him has a couple potions and a Wand of Magic Missiles.
Illithid Rod
The room at the south end is pretty much the same. LOTs of Mind Flayers and Umber Hulks. Imoen goes on alone, and disarms the trap in the hallway. She then gets the attention of the monsters and regroups. This way the party can fight them in a wider space. The method becomes the same. Keldorn keeps them honest with True Seeing, and then the party uses Greater Whirlwind Attacks round after round to kill the monsters as quickly as possible.
The room itself has a trapped container that holds a Wand of Striking and half of an Illithid Rod.
The party then travels over to the room towards the northwest corner. There are only a few Umber Hulks here, who are killed easily enough. The trapped container has a Wand of Cursing and the other half of the Illithid Rod. Once both halves are in my inventory, they get assembled together into the complete Illithid Rod. This Rod acts as a key that I'll be using very shortly.
Red Oil
Now I back track to the central room. Imoen then heads down the hallway leading west and disarms a trap. The Illithid Rod opens the door at the end of the hallway.
The room itself has a large vat in the middle. The party grabs a bottle of Red Oil from the vat, but this causes two Vampiric Illithids to appear. They're not very difficult for a high-level party to kill though.
The party then leaves the Illithid section of the level.
Blue Oil
Imoen checks out the cabinets just a little east of the portals. There's plenty of magical ammo and a few other odds and ends. One of the cabinets also has non-magical weapons of various sorts. I get one appropriate non-magical weapon for each of my fighting characters. There's a specific reason for this.
I continue north through the first gate, and defeat Mutated Spiders and Shadows with routine methods.
I temporarily have each of my fighting characters switch over to a non-magical weapon, and then head through the next north gate. On the other side will be two Magic Golems, that can only be harmed by non-magical weapons. Once they're dead, Imoen loots the containers to the left. The blue vat holds a bottle of Blue Oil.
The fighting characters then switch back to their usual weapons.
Flint & Tinder and Purple Oil
Now the party heads towards the door just east of the Machine. They rest and buff up, and then go through the door.
On the other side is the Githyanki section of the level. In vanilla BG2, I could deal with the Githyanki one room at a time. In SCS, they will all swarm me as soon as I step in through the door. It is a matter of the warriors going to work, and Imoen biding her time and waiting until enough Githyanki are bunched together to unleash spells like Horrid Wilting and Dragon's Breath repeatedly.
The Githyanki Captain leaves behind the Diary of Carston's Apprentice, which reveals that freeing Carston from the Machine requires tapping the glass bubble six times with a Crystal Mallet. The Captain also leaves behind Angurvadal (+4 Longsword, +1 fire damage, increase wielder's Strength to 22 for 60 seconds). Avastrian holds on to this for the time being, as it can be upgraded later on.
Imoen loots the chests in this level. It's mostly magical ammunition and potions and gems and the like. The chest near the southern door of the first room holds a Flint and Tinder, which is a quest item that I'll use very soon.
There will be two containers in the room towards the south corner. The container that resembles a dragon's mouth holds Montolio's Clasp, which can be used in an item upgrade. The vat holds a bottle of Purple Oil, which is another quest item.
Demi-Lich
The door to the west of where I found the Purple Oil has a Demi-Lich on the other side. Keep in mind that a lot of tricks that might have worked on Kangaxx won't work here. This Demi-Lich will seal the door behind whoever comes in, thus not allowing in and out to avoid spells. It will also prevent me from creating a Simulacrum. It also starts off buffed up to the max, including a Spell Immunity: Abjuration. For these reasons this Demi-Lich fight can be really tough, and it may not be winnable for certain party configurations.
Avastrian has himself buffed up, including a Spell Immunity: Abjuration. He then goes in by himself, and starts casting Time Stop. The Demi-Lich will sometimes do a summons first. But in this instance the Demi-Lich gets in a Time Stop before Avastrian finishes casting. The Demi-Lich then summons a Fallen Planetar and a Balor.
It proves fortuitous as the Demi-Lich's Protection from Magic Weapons expires just Avastrian finishes his own casting of Time Stop. Avastrian now demonstrates one of the unique perks of a Fighter/Mage build, the ability to use Greater Whirlwind Attacks inside of a Time Stop. This combination very often allows a Fighter/Mage to kill his targets outright before the Time Stop expires. Avastrian doesn't quite get there, since the Demi-Lich has damage reduction. But it is very close though, and Avastrian finishes it off soon after the Time Stop expires.
That leaves the Balor and the Fallen Planetar. Avastrian then manages to defeat them by himself with a variety of tactics, including buffing himself up when needed, using Potions of Extra Healing when needed, using more Greater Whirlwind Attacks when needed, waiting out the Planetar's Insect Plague before attacking again, and so on.
The rest of the party comes in afterwards. The Demi-Lich leaves behind the Dagger of the Star +4 (5% chance on striking target that wielder will go invisible for 60 seconds). If I give Cespenar the Dagger, plus five Star Sapphires, plus 5,000gp, it can be upgraded to the Dagger of the Star +5 (15% chance on striking target that wielder will go invisible for 60 seconds, 5% chance of +1d8 fire damage and +1d8 electrical damage). This may be an attractive choice for a backstabbing thief, since it conceivably allows a Thief to score multiple backstabs if the Invisibility power kicks in after the initial backstab. However, everybody in the good party has different weapons in mind. For the evil party, Jan Jansen will very shortly obtain what is in my view an even better backstabbing weapon.
Saladrex
Now I go through the door to the right of where I found the Purple Oil. Waiting for me is a Red Dragon named Saladrex. I converse with him for a bit. I then retreat well beyond his line of sight, and begin buffing up. My preparations include Protection from Fire or Protection from Energy for everyone in the party, as well as summoned creatures like a Skeleton Warrior, a Planetar, and a Mordenkainen's Sword.
The methods are pretty much the same as for Firkraag. I spread everybody out, and then surround Saladrex from all sides whenever possible. I retreat a character whenever he or she has taken too much damage. Anomen keeps himself busy with healing spells, especially Mass Cure, to keep everybody on the up and up. Imoen uses Breach whenever Saladrex puts up a Protection from Magic Weapons. I eventually wear him down.
Saladrex leaves behind some treasure, plus the Staff of the Ram +4 (+10 blunt damage, 10% chance of stunning target). For both the good and evil parties, I give Cespenar the Staff, plus 5,000gp, plus the Roranach's Horn that I got from Gromnir, to upgrade to the Staff of the Ram +6 (+12 blunt damage, +1d4 piercing damage, +15% chance of knocking enemy back and stunning).
One of the things to keep in mind is that the Ascension version of Melissan (the very last boss of the game) can use Absolute Immunity on herself without limit. This will make her immune to all but +6 weapons. This means that I have a definite interest in saving up +6 weapons for my final battle during Ascension. In the good party, Jaheira usually relies on either the Pitchwife or the Spectral Brand plus a shield. She saves up the upgraded Staff of the Ram specifically for Melissan.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the Staff doesn't work very well with Greater Whirlwind Attacks. Chances are pretty good that the Staff will blow back the target in the middle of the attack, leaving the monster out of reach for the remaining blows from the Greater Whirlwind Attack. It is for this reason that Jaheira will use the Staff only for Melissan.
It's a different story for the evil party. Jan Jansen can't use Greater Whirlwind Attacks, but he can use the Staff for backstabbing. The Staff is in my opinion the best backstabbing weapon in the game. It transforms Jan into a backstabbing little monster. For an Illusionist/Thief like Jan, the knockback/stun power allows Jan to combine offense and defence in the same weapon as he routinely both inflicts heavy damage on his target, and then blows it away from him.
Colored Torches
Now I return to the large central hall. This time, I go south of the Machine. I kill off a few undead spirits. The room south of the Machine has several Killer Mimics on the west side. Imoen takes advantage of the fact that they are stationery by planting an Incendiary Cloud over top of them and then retreating. They soon burn to a crisp.
The party continues south, where I soon find several large torches. This is where the colored oils and Tinder and Flint are needed. If you look at the overview map, you'll see which torches need to be lit with which color.
The order for the top row of torches from left to right is blue-purple-red. The order for the bottom row of torches from left to right is red-red-purple. The gate to the west is now open.
Rock and Garock
Now I go west through the gate. I run into a pair of Minotaur twins, Rock and Garock, who can really crank out hideous damage. Suffice to say Avastrian takes no chances and buffs himself with Protection from Magic Weapons. Jaheira casts Defensive Harmony. Imoen unleashes a Dragon's Breath once the Frost Salamanders close in. The battle is won after that.
Each of the Minotaurs leaves behind a Battle Axe +3. One of them leaves behind the Axe of the Unyielding +3 (regenerate 1 hit point every 6 seconds, +1 armor class). Avastrian will use this weapon after it has been upgraded.
Crystal Mallet
Now I loot the cabinets. The one of the right has a Clay Golem page, which I use to upgrade the Tome of Golems so that it summons a Clay Golem once a day. I recommend leaving it at that, as the Clay Golem's immunity to slashing damage far exceeds whatever benefits may come from an upgrade with the Juggernaut Golem page.
The one on the left has some magical ammunition, and the Crystal Mallet. I return to the Machine, and click on the bubble. I choose to tap it six times, thus freeing Carston. The good party chooses to let him live. The evil party has no problem with killing him. Either way, he leaves behind his journal which provides a clue.
Using the Machine
Now it is time for me to experiment with the machine. Here's what I did with it:
Now the way is open to the last level of Watche'r Keep, which has the Seal leading to the Imprisoned One.
