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Shaengarne Ford | Horde Fortress Exterior | Goblin Warrens | Horde Fortress Interior |
HORDE FORTRESS – EXTERIOR
To the Horde Fortress
Before I report back to Lord Ulbrec, I managed to amass a fair amount of loot, and sell it off to get a good mass of gold. So I decided to go shopping for some interim equipment, which will be helpful when I begin my campaign against the Horde Fortress. My shopping list included:
I then head over to Lord Ulbrec's house. I buy spell scrolls for Burning Hands and Color Spray for Tithian first.
The video concludes with me speaking to Lord Ulbrec to get my xp bonus for saving Shaengarne Bridge from destruction, as well as my orders to begin a campaign against the Horde Fortress itself.
Ennelia
Now I arrive at the outside of the Horde Fortress. Immediately within view is a Ranger named Ennelia. She's there to give the party some background information on the fortress. But she also provides an xp opportunity. You can give her a Potion of Healing for xp, or a Potion of Extra Healing for xp (which Akutagawa did). Note that if you don't give her anything in the way of a healing potion, she'll end up dying, and this means missing out on other xp opportunities down the road.
I show another tactical theme in this video, having the party scout look on ahead to mark the position of the enemy, and then the arcane caster casting an area-of-effect offensive spell on them from just outside their 'fog of war'. This is a great way to get the jump on the enemy and soften them up for your warriors.
In the first fight, they're somewhat spread apart but I hit the bottom most group anyway in order to coax them all forward. Once they start coming at me, they end up more bunched together, presenting Lady Elanna a prime opportunity to crank out another Fireball.
The second fight (at around 5:12 of the video) presents an even better opportunity as they're all bunched together. Akutagawa marks their location, and then Lady Elanna hits them all with a Fireball to soften them up for my warriors.
At the northwest corner is a camp that by now will have just a single White Wolf, who's easily stopped in his tracks by Lady Elanna with a Chromatic Orb. The tent itself has a few potions and gems, as well as a Spellward Sword (immunity to Charm Person).
I accumulate treasure along the way so I don't mind coming back to Targos to sell it and relieve my inventory load. The video concludes with me selling what I found and then buying a Girdle of Beatification (Bless effect on wearer) for Alliria. Belts in IWD2 are pretty modest in their benefits so this Girdle, giving a welcome +1 bonus to attack, becomes Alliria's girdle for the rest of the game.
War Drums
There are three war drums throughout the perimeter of the fortress. The catch with the drums is, if enemies near them become aware of your presence, an Orc or Goblin Shaman will make his way towards the drum and starting beating on it. This beating of the drum will summon right next to the party a Goblin Worg Rider. The Worg Riders can accumulate pretty rapidly if the Shaman is allowed to beat the drum long enough. There's two ways to deal with this. One is to kill the Shaman that will pound on the drum. The other is to attack and destroy the drum itself.
Sometimes the drum is located across a ravine, like the first one towards the southeast side of the area. Trying to walk for it is dangerous cause it can result in a lot of Worg Riders getting summoned against me. But ... I can destroy the drum with missile weapons from across the ravine, which is precisely what Alliria and Tithian do. This does mean, however, that some of the enemies will come across the nearby bridge and then outnumber and surround me. This can be risky, but destroying the drum as soon as I can is the priority. Markus, Stygar, and Akutagawa have good enough armor class and attacking power so that they can absorb the onslaught. Lady Elanna keeps herself protected with Mirror Image. Once Alliria and Tithian finish destroying the drum, they switch over to melee weapons and join in.
Also note how Elanna and Alliria make frequent use of Chromatic Orb and Call Lightning during these fights. Elanna can stop particularly troublesome enemies in their tracks with the Orb's stun power, while Call Lightning can inflict 'passive' damage at regular intervals in outdoor areas.
There's another theme that I demonstrate here. Sometimes there will be archers atop archery towers. Here, I simply match missile weapon fire by having Alliria and Tithian take them down one at a time. Sometimes Lady Elanna will lend a helping hand with Magic Missiles against an Orc Archer Elite.
*Note* The Bridges will always have a few traps on them, so I have Tithian disarm them.
For the next fight, past the bridge, I use a familiar tactical theme. Akutagawa marks the location of the foremost Goblins after scouting ahead. Lady Elanna leads off with a Fireball, and then follows up with a second Fireball knowing that other Goblins are going to join in from the northeast. Note also how she cast Mirror Image on herself before, in the foreknowledge that her use of Fireballs is going to make her a target afterwards.
The next fight after that is a fairly simple one against a few Goblin Archers.
At around 10:50 of the video is where I find the second War Drum towards the northeast part of the area. This time Alliria manages to destroy it from across the ravine without any enemy noticing.
There is a bridge leading north across the ravine which has traps. I don't cross the bridge just yet. I have Tithian edge along just enough to bring the foremost enemies into view. Soon a number of foes are going to try and get across the bridge to attack me. This gives Lady Elanna a prime opportunity to use the bridge as a bottleneck and paste them with Fireball more than once before they manage to get across. They're softened and ready to kill for my warriors after that.
At around 14:55 I again simply take out the Archers atop the tower with my own missile fire. Better to deal with them in this fashion than to bring extra enemies needlessly into view if I had rushed forward.
The last drum (around 17:00) is close enough to the bridge that I can simply run for it and destroy it, leaving only a fairly easy fight to conclude.
The video concludes with me dealing with the traps on the last bridge.
Trugnuk
Now Akutagawa scouts out the northeast corner of the area. He finds an Orc Shaman named Trugnuk, a Goblin Shaman, an Orc Archer Elite, and a couple of Ogres. There will also be a couple of Hardened Ice Trolls. They can dish out good damage, which includes bonus cold damage. They're resistant to slashing damage but take bonus damage from blunt weapons. Here is one of your first reasons why your characters need to carry a diversity of weapons.
So I follow up with the mark 'em and then bomb 'em strategy. Most of them come forward, and then Elanna continues to tag them with more Fireballs. Trugnuk can be dangerous since he has more health than is usual for an Orc Shaman, and can also cast Call Lightning. Once the warriors have pretty much cleaned up the Trolls and Ogres, Elanna pelts Trugnuk with single-target spells while Alliria goes to work with her bow. His Call Lightning ceases to be dangerous once he's killed. He also leaves behind the Warrens Key.
It turns out that one of the Trolls and the Orc Archer Elite didn't come forward, but then they're easily killed.
Tithian then checks for traps and loots the camp. Plenty of generic items like potions and scrolls to be found. Unique ones include:
Gark
Now I go south across the bridge and towards the southeast corner. Standing at the gate are a pair of Half-Goblins that I easily kill. I open the gate with the Warrens Key that I looted from Trugnuk.
On the other side are a particularly powerful Ogre named Gark, two more Ogres, and a Troll. Note how Elanna makes effective use of Chromatic Orb, enhanced by her Greater Spell Focus: Evocation feat, to keep the other two Ogres stunned. Chromatic Orb forces a Reflex saving throw, something the Ogres will be weak at, making the stun power likely to take effect. This allows the party to concentrate on Gark first, and then the other Ogres.
The party saves the Troll for last. This way, the party isn't distracted, and choose their method of delivering the finishing blow by fire. In this instance I have everyone get out of the way so that Tithian can use Burning Hands.
The way is now clear to the Goblin Warrens.
