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Veil Theater
Shadow Stone
I enter through the gate. I leave the exploration of the city itself for later on. For now I go into the Veil Theater at #3 on the Mulsantir map. Although I didn't show it in the video, I had buffed up beforehand. Greater Stoneskin, Extended Heroism, and Persistent Blade Weave for Valeria. The usual buffs for her Beetle Familiar. Persistent Haste and Premonition for Safiya.
I start off at #1, whereupon I will have to fight a Red Wizard and several Thayan Gnolls. Valeria begins with an Extended Ethereal Visage spell on herself, which will give her damage reduction 20/adamantine for a lot of rounds and won't get dissipated in the same way that Greater Stoneskin can. Between that and her Persistent Spell Weave, Valeria will be able to handle herself just fine with the Gnolls. Safiya casts an Extended Greater Invisibility on herself.
Valeria next casts a Greater Spell Breach on the Red Wizard. The key point here is that it will get rid of his Greater Stoneskin and his Greater Spell Mantle buffs. The latter is a crucial point, as it then clears the Beetle Familiar to go up to the Red Wizard and cripple him with a Touch of Idiocy spell.
Safiya meanwhile is targeting either the Gnolls or the Red Wizard with spells like Empowered Polar Ray or Empowered Disintegrate.
Once the melee Gnolls fall, Valeria and Safiya get rid of the Red Wizard and the Horned Devil with Chain Lightning spells. He leaves behind Red Wizard Robes (+2 armor class, +1 to all saving throws, +2 Concentration). The archer Gnolls fall easily afterwards.
There was a troupe of actors to the left. Their leader, Magda, expresses her gratitude and gives Valeria a Shadow Stone that will be needed to access a replica of the Theater in the Plane of Shadow.
I continue north. A chest will have two magical instruments, the Doss Lute (Ghostly Visage (3) 1 / day, Hold Person (3) 1 / day, Neutralize Poison (5) 1 / day) and the Fachluchan Bandore (Light (5) 1 / day).
Greater Robe of Eyes and Greater Mask of Persuasion
Valeria casts an Extended Greater Invisibility and an Empowered Mirror Images on herself beforehand. She goes through the door to the east to #2, whereupon she has to fight four more Thayan Gnolls. Her combination of protective spells plus the Persistent Blade Weave effect on her Shortsword means she's pretty much able to cut them down by herself.
An armoire contains the Greater Robe of Eyes (True Seeing, +10 Listen, +10 Spot), which will be Safiya's robe for much of the game.
I continue west and find a whole series of workbenches that allow me to craft items according to the crafting system of the OC, should I be so inclined. There is also a Maskmaker's Workbench that contains the Greater Mask of Persuasion (+2 Charisma, light, +5 Diplomacy, +1 Concentration), but I have no use for it as I have different helmets in mind for the characters.
Shadow Portal
I approach the Shadow Portal at #4, with the Shadow Stone in my inventory. I deliberately choose the dialogue option that involves making a Spellcraft check in order to increase my influence with Safiya.
I have to fight another Red Wizard and an Erinyes once I step through and end up at #1 on the Shadow Veil Theater map. Things will go a lot easier if I get red of the Red Wizard first and foremost. So Valeria charges him right away. Safiya hits him with an Empowered Disintegrate spell. The Beetle Familiar hits him with a Vampiric Touch spell. He goes down quickly. Should he have summoned a Horned Devil, it will disappear once he dies. And once the Red Wizard goes down, the Erinyes in turn becomes so much easier to bring down as well.
The Red Wizard leaves behind another Red Wizard Robes as well as a Dagger +3. The Erinyes leaves behind a Composite Longbow +1. There will be plenty of spell scrolls on the tables in the room. In inscribe most of them, including an Acid Fog spell scroll which will be helpful for adding acid damage to weapons. One ornate chest has a Wand of Summoning, while the other has some Potions of Heal.
Operating Table
Now I remember to pick up my Shortsword +3, and then continue south. There will be an Ornate Chest at #4 which has a pair of Boots of Hardiness (+3 Constitution, +3 dodge bonus to armor class). Safiya equips them. It's all part of the plan to have everybody wear boots that will be further enchanted to provide not just dodge bonuses to armor class, but also bonuses to Constitution, Dexterity, and Reflex saving throws.
At #3 is the Operating Table where Valeria had the last remaining Silver Shard removed from her chest. I can get 250xp for making a Constitution check so as to be able to fully experience the dream that reveals what happened. However, Valeria herself has a very low Constitution score. The way around that is for Valeria to temporarily memorize a Tenser's Transformation spell, and then cast it on herself so that it will set her Constitution to 20 long enough to get the xp bonus.
Khai Khmun
I then continue south to #5, where I witness an unpleasant verbal exchange between Safiya and a rival Red Wizard named Khai Khmun. Khai attacks along with another Red Wizard and a pair of Erinyes.
I program Valeria to first cast Sun Burst over all of the enemies in an effort to flind them, then rip down Khai's protections with a Greater Spell Breach, and then buff herself with Extended Ethereal Visage and Extended Greater Invisibility.
Safiya meanwhile makes it a priority to take out Khai and the other Red Wizard as quickly as possible with spells like Empowered Polary Ray, Empowered Disintegrate, and Empowered Chain Lightnings.
The Beetle Familiar also helps matters along by tagging Khai with a Touch of Idiocy spell.
Once the battle is over, I deliberately choose sympathetic dialogue options in order to increase my influence with Safiya, like I'm sorry to hear about her mother's death, she can go home if she wants, she helped me out a great deal in the battle.
I then loot the corpses for things like a Dagger +3, more Red Wizard Robes, a Padded Armor +4, and a Longsword +3. Khai Khmun leaves a unique item, the Belt of Raumathar (Spell Focus: Evocation, Spell Penetration, Greater Fireburst 1 / day, Magic Missile (9) 3 / day, Prismatic Spray (13) 1 / day, Sunburst (20) 1 / day). This will be Valeria's belt through the expansion. The idea is that Valeria will draw her Dexterity bonus from her Boots of the Sun Soul (after they've been enchanted further), while the Belt will provide bonus feats that will enhance her spellcasting power but without her having to spend any feat selections herself during level ups. That is a crucial point as Valeria is built as a hybrid power caster and melee combatant, and I'll take any help I can get to get her to excel at both without getting stretched too thin on either front. In other words, the Belt leaves her free to take more combat related feats during level ups. The additional spell-like abilities are nice in that they she won't have to encumber her spell slots by having to memorize them, but that's sugar on top. Combining the belt with a further enchanted Boots of the Sun Soul will provide greater aggregate benefits than would be the case with the Belt of Agility +8 that Valeria had worn during the OC.
The Wychlaran
I leave the Veil Theater, and get accosted by three Wychlaran Witches. They demand that I confront again Okku the Bear God.
*Evil* The Wychlaran
The equivalent video for the evil playthrough, where Zarathos takes a far more confrontational tone towards the Witches, which heralds things to come.
Loyalty of the Red Wizard
Valeria speaks some more with Safiya. It is after the encounter with the Wychlaran that Safiya will provide Valeria with a Loyalty of the Red Wizard feat, which requires having an influence of at least 75 with Safiya. The benefits are +1 to Intelligence and +2 DC for any spell cast by Valeria. Likewise, Safiya at 75 influence will then also get a Devotion of the Red Wizard feat which provides her with +6 Concentration, +2 Intelligence, and +2 to saving throws vs. spell.
I continue to speak with Safiya, asking her questions about her background. At one point, I make a point of choosing to thank her for telling me about the voices, for which I get an even further increase in influence.
Prodigal Daughter
Valeria gets approached by Efrem the Stag and Susah the Crow, who beseech her to find their sister, Kaelyn the Dove.
Friends of Ill Repute
A few more locations in Mulsantir now become available:
The only one I'm concerned with for the time being is the prison located at #6. Once inside, Irzah the Old warns me against one of the prisoners. Mighty Groznek and Joeb the Cutpurse aren't interested in joining me.
Ganneyev of Dreams
First, I have Valeria cast Eagle's Splendour and Extended Heroism on herself. The point is to increase as much as possible her conversational skill checks and to make a Charisma check as well.
The prisoner at the far end is the Hagspawn Spirit Shaman, Ganneyev of Dreams. Getting him to join isn't difficult, but the dialogue can be milked for a lot of influence increases with Gann as long as you can make the appropriate attribute or skill checks, including an early one that requires two Spellcraft checks that will earn influence with both Gann and Safiya.
There is also a point in the conversation where Valeria has to sell Gann on joining her against the spirit army. If you can pull it off, it is best to make the Charisma check for +11 approval, then the "slight compliment" follow up for another +6 approval.
Valeria now outfits Gann with the Shroud of the Snow Leopard and the Amulet of the Unyielding. She also gives him the Thieves' Hood, but he can't wear it until he develops his Use Magic Device skill. He also equips his Spear +4.
The video concludes with Gann teasing Tirzah the Old on the way out.
My next destination is Shadow Mulsantir.
