The Adventures of Nad - Solo Hardcore Blog

[Jaheira's Wit]

This is a blog chronicling an attempt to solo SoA and ToB with Nad, a Human Berserker / Thief.

Warning: SPOILERS below. This is a blog charting Nad's progress. By definition that's going to contain spoilers as I document the opponents he fights and his strategy for defeating them. I suggest you do not continue reading if you're worried about having parts of the game spoiled for you.

I will be using underlined subheadings for the various sections of the game, so you can alternatively just skip sections of the game you do not want spoiled.

Also note screenshot overload. Like Cespenar says, I prefer neat pictures to words, so I will be using many in this blog. This might make some pages a little slow to load. Just so you know.

Nad's Code of Conduct

The difficulty is core rules. I have the following mods installed:





There's lots of bits and pieces there from many different mods, I tend to pick and choose the components I like. The notable mods that will make this solo attempt a tough challenge are Ascension, SCSII, and Randomiser. The Randomiser has been freshly reinstalled, so I have no idea where any equipment will be.

In addition, this will be a hardcore challenge (no reloading). Actually, I have no idea how far I will get without dying, so this might become a min-reload challenge if Nad dies but I want to continue the adventure. I will note that if it happens. Also, Nad believes in adventuring, not resting. This will also be a min-rest challenge (I will note when Nad rests - it won't be very often ).

The PC

Nad started BG1 as a Human Berserker, STR 18/81, DEX 17, CON 14, INT 14, WIS 8, CHA 16. He dualled to a Thief at Level 7. That was an interesting experience btw, suddenly becoming a Level 1 Thief halfway through BG1 . But that's another story.

I played BG1 without an XP cap but for the purpose of this adventure, Nad's XP (and level) has been reduced to 161k total to reflect the BG1 cap and to make the start of BG2 a more realistic challenge

Thanks to the various tomes in BG1, Nad starts BG2 in pretty good shape.





Nad's Bhaalspawn abilities are 2 x Cure Light Wounds, 2 x Horror and 2 x DUHM. He also has 2 Berserker rages a day and can currently (try to) set 2 traps a day.

And so the adventure begins!

Nad dismisses Imoen, and gets equipped.



He releases Minsc and Jaheira and has his first taste of combat in BG2.



Somehow I don't think all the fights are going to be this easy .

[Jaheira's Wit]

Irenicus' Dungeon Level 1

Nad declines to talk to Aataqah, sneaks past the duergar and kills the mephits in the laboratory with backstabs. He then sneaks past the second lot of duergar to free Rielev from his torment and, more importantly, collect the golem activation stone.

Sneaking back to the sewage golem room, he backstabs the radiant mephit and levels up to Thief 9. Good job too as he previously couldn't identify potions of extra healing, but now he can . He tells the golem to open the doors, collects the excellent long sword amidst the other loot, and sneaks past the duergar again all the way back to the room with weapons and armour next to the starting position. He sneaks up the corridor, backstabs the smoke mephit, and then it's the Otyugh's turn.



Unfortunately Nad cannot identify oils of speed yet, and it's bad form to use items you cannot identify, so the library is rather out of the question.

Nad uses Horror to help against the duergar in the eastern corridor and swiftly dispatches them. He loots Irenicus' bedroom (not that there's much to loot with no Helm of Balduran or Amulet of Metaspell Influence ) and declines to help the dryads. He loots the mistress' bedroom and it is high time to sneak out of level 1.



"See you; wouldn't wanna be you!"

Irenicus' Dungeon Level 2

Nad declines Yoshimo's offer to join and sneaks into the portal room.

The plan here was to sneak to the far side of the room and take out the last mephit portal first. Why? Because the last portal controls the radiant mephit, and that one's a bugger if it casts colour spray. If Nad gets knocked out by the spray, it'll be game over already.

And of course, what does Nad do? He critically misses the portal with his first attack. Frantically he keeps attacking to take the portal out asap, but it is too late. The mephit casts colour spray just as he finishes off the portal...



Phew! Made his save. It was probably game over if he didn't.

Nad takes out the rest of the portals and levels up again to Thief 10! He can now identify oils of speed. But inventory is already proving a problem, and Nad has to dump level 1 scrolls as well as the unidentified cursed scroll (it's actually worth 90gp once identified, so usually worth hanging on to if you have the inventory room).

The next challenge is the clone and initially Nad does well, hitting with his first 3 strikes while saving against Glitterdust. The clone is near death but then unfortunately she casts a sequencer of Mirror Image and Invisibility. At this stage there is nothing Nad can do against that. The clone drinks two healing potions while invisible and Nad has to stand there waiting for her to cast an offensive spell to dispel her invisibility. And she chooses...Horror . Frantically Nad tries to run out of the room, but the spell catches him before he's out. Again he saves though .

Nad leaves the clone to it so her images can expire and heads up the next corridor to deal with the mephit (meanwhile the clone starts summoning monsters, but next to herself. They too will be unsummoned by the time Nad gets back to her).

Backstabbing is sooo much fun .



Back to the clone.



Nad sneaks past the other mephit and duergar in the corridor, and collects the wands while stealthed (he drops most of them as they won't be of much use). He backstabs the duergar in the main chamber and then heads for the eaternmost corridor first. He sneaks past the first group of duergar...the mage is the threat here! Don't want to be held or panicked or whatnot. He backstabs the mage and then has to deal with the rest.

This fight is brutal. The duergar are no great shakes but there are 7 of them and Nad's AC of 3 is not much defence against their blows. Constantly rolling 1s, 2s and 3s when attacking doesn't help either. Nad eventually kills them all but he has to drink several potions of extra healing. In hindsight that fight probably wasn't worth the risk and the use of precious healing potions, but Nad wanted the girdle...(even though he can't identify that or the Ring of Protection yet ).

Nad then heads to Frennedan's room, fights him and loots the chambers. He's now having to leave behind second level scrolls too and he uses the scroll of protection from electricity and potion of master thievery (even though he doesn't need either) rather than leave them behind.

Nad uses the potion of firebreath against the assassins near the exit but unfortunately can only take 1 potion of invisibility from their corpses. That's a shame, Nad needs as many invisibility pots as he can possibly get his hands on.

And there we are. At Day 0, Hour 3, Nad is ready to leave Irenicus' Dungeon with this pack stuffed to bursting and with 182,723XP as a Thief.

[Jaheira's Wit]

Waukeen's Promenade

With his backpack bursting, Nad's first task is to sell some loot. He sells some of the scrolls and the jewellery and weapons he does not need. Some of the scrolls and the unidentified wands of cloudkill and monster summoning are retained for now...way into the future, Nad will be able to Use Any Item . Scrolls like Flame Arrow and Blur might actually be pretty handy then.

Nad visits the various merchants in the Promenade, ascertaining what they have and do not have for sale. He takes note of all the things he might want to purchase in the future. Notably, Perter has 2 bundles of arrows of dispelling (but they cost 16k each!) and Ribald has many potions Nad would like to purchase, as well as some permanent magical items. Most notably, the Randomiser has given Ribald Shadow Armour and a Ring of Regeneration for sale! The Shadow Armour costs 15.5k, so that probably isn't worth it, but the Ring of Regeneration is a bargain at just 6k. Nad will want to buy that as a priority once he has enough funds. For now, he simply purchases containers, like 2 scroll cases, a gem bag and an ammo belt, and a very cheap potion of freedom from Ribald (costs less than 400 gold).

Nad decides to make the Mithrest Inn his base in Athkatla, and leaves his scrolls and wands in the kitchen after kicking out Rebecca . For now, he is avoiding the Den of the 7 Vales and the Circus Tent (the upstairs fight in the Den is really tough for a fighter/thief; Nad needs several more levels and better equipment before he can contemplate that fight, and he needs a magical weapon to fight the shadows in the Circus Tent).

Shopping done, Nad heads to the Slums to meet Gaelan Bayle and start Chapter 2. He also purchases a second gem bag from Arledrian. Then it is time to explore the Slums.

[Jaheira's Wit]

Slums

Nad tells Brus he'll be fine on his own and explores the Slums.

The first Shady Character fight in the north of the Slums is easy, Nad dispatches the thief in one round. The second Shady Character hits harder and has a potion of invisibility, which she uses to backstab Nad. Nad doesn't like the taste of his own medicine . Nevertheless he beats her quickly enough and takes a short detour to the Temple of Ilmater to purchase another cheap potion of freedom (Nad's going to be buying a lot of drugs in this game ).

The third Slums fight against Cohrvale and Bregg is a lot tougher since they get potions and have proper kits and proficiencies. Nad applies an oil of speed for this fight and initially concentrates all attacks on Bregg (who tends to hit harder). Nad seems to have forgotten about his lousy AC3 though, and takes an absolute pasting from the two fighters, swigging extra healing potions just to stay alive. Eventually Bregg falls.



With Bregg fallen, Nad also levels up to Thief 11 and can identify the Ring of Protection and Girdle of Bluntness. He equips both and uses his speed to run, hide in shadows and backstab Cohrvale. The second backstab finishes the job.



Nad will not go to the Copper Coronet yet. Instead, he heads to the Graveyard District.

Graveyard

There are two reasons to come to the Graveyard now. Firstly, it is the only district you can go to from the Slums without triggering the first random encounter . And secondly, the main reason to come here is to begin the Buried Alive quest. Nad frees Tirdir, threatens the Gravekeeper, and learns that the man in red is sometimes in the Bridge.

And now it is time to prepare for the first random encounter...

[Jaheira's Wit]

Eldarin's Slavers

Yeah I know it's cheesy to prebuff, but this is a hardcore solo and Nad doesn't stand much of a chance if I don't prebuff him .

Nad is already hasted from his oil of speed that he took to fight Cohrvale and Bregg. He now draws upon holy might and then hides in shadows. He heads for the Temple district and is ambushed.


As well as these 4, there is an invisible thief.

Nad would dearly love to backstab the mage and take her out of the fight immediately, but as he tries to get behind and attack her, she obtains a precast stoneskin and then becomes invisible! Ok. He goes to backstab Eldarin then, and of course, you can guess what he rolls...



With a full 5 enemies to face, Nad tries casting Horror to take some out, while the mage casts Glitterdust...



It looks like the mage and thief were panicked but Nad has been blinded and quickly starts taking hits from the 2 fighters. And worse, the enemy priest then casts remove fear and the mage and thief are back in the fight! The mage then casts slow which Nad fails to save against, and he is suddenly in deep trouble.

Time to rethink . Nad swigs his one and only invisibility potion to get him out of this pickle. He then moves to the edge of the map to swig some healing potions while the mage casts some emotion and monster summoning spells but centred on herself.

Nad waits for the blindness and slow to wear off (his DUHM also wears off though) and for the summoned monsters to disappear. He can now go back on the offensive, but if this goes wrong he will have no choice but to run (he has no more invisibility).

With the mage stoneskinned, Nad goes after the dangerous Eldarin again, and this time connects with his backstab .



Immediately Nad tries to run north out of the visibility range of the rest of the group to hide in shadows, but he fails the check . And the priest casts Hold Person at him, so he has to drink one of his two potions of freedom before it reaches him.

The mage is the first to reach Nad, and he uses his haste to go to work on her stoneskins as fast as he can while sucking up the chromatic orbs she casts at him (he doesn't need to worry about stun since the free action protects against it).



Nad goes straight for the priest next before he can cast anything too nasty, and his flurry of blows demolishes the priest as the thief fails to backstab Nad .


The thief then compounds his error by drinking a potion of freedom instead of invisibility (what does he think Nad is going to cast at him? ), giving Nad the time to dispatch him. And then Nad can kill the final fighter with ease.




Phew! Nad managed to get through a tough fight which began disastrously with a failed backstab and two failed saving throws against blindness and slow. He has now obtained several strength and invisibility potions, some scrolls to sell, and a magic short sword and platemail which, once identified, will make him a much more effective fighter .

[Jaheira's Wit]

Temple District

There are two reasons to come to the Temple district: to pick up several quests and to visit the temples to see what they have for sale. In particular I want to know if any of them have protection from undead scrolls available (the Randomiser has removed them from 9 out of 10 stores, so there should be 1 or 2 stores where they are still available).

Nad agrees to look into the Unseeing Eye and Sir Sarles quests for the Temple of Helm, and to investigate the Fallen Paladins for the Radiant Heart. Unfortunately none of the three temples has protection from undead scrolls. The only potential items of interest are Boots of Grounding and a Helm of Charm Protection at the Temple of Lathander.

Government District

More of the same, Nad is here to pick up quests. He speaks to Madeen, Jan, Delon and then Tolgerias to add the Valygar and the Umar Hills missions to his journal. Giving the prison a wide berth , he then goes to the Jysstev estate to advance the Sir Sarles quest. He also takes the opportunity to leave some items on the kitchen table...random encounter #2 is coming up, and there are no merchants in the Temple or Government sectors to trade with. He needs the inventory room.

[Jaheira's Wit]

Poisoned Man

The second random encounter is not as tough as the first but Nad still needs to prepare. He chugs a potion of fortitude that he found in a barrel at the Radiant Heart and a potion of frost giant strength that he looted from the first random encounter. He cannot haste with an oil of speed because he is still under the effects of a potion of freedom (it seems unfair that if you haste first and then take free action, the haste remains; but if you free action first and then try to haste, the haste fails ).

Nad hides in shadows and heads for the Promenade. This time he is ambushed by 4 thugs, a fighter, mage, priest and a hidden thief.

This mage does not get free stoneskin and invisibility! So Nad is able to target him first and one hit, even though it is not a backstab, is enough to kill him .



Nad then takes out the priest easily and targets the thief while he is visible after a failed backstab. When the thief goes invisible again, he targets the fighter. The fighter hits hard thanks to a giant strength potion and the thief manages to get a couple of backstabs in. Nad takes a severe pounding and has to drink 5 potions of extra healing to stay alive over the course of the combat (the enemy fighter and thief also drank several healing potions). He eventually wins but it was really tough - at one stage Nad was down to 10HP and with no free aura to drink a potion . He had to retreat away from the fighter for a few seconds until his aura cleared and he could swig another potion. Fighting toe to toe without being hasted or backstabbing is not fun.

Waukeen's Promenade

Nad visits Jerlia and asks her to make some fake illithium. The next order of business is to identify some items.

Nad goes to the Temple of Ilmater and spends nearly all his gold to buy two potions of mind focusing,. He swigs these and potions of insight and genius that he found in the second random encounter . With INT 25, WIS 18, he is able to identify Plate Mail +1, Arbane's Sword and the wands he carried out of Irenicus' Dungeon. The good news is that the mind focusing potions last 12 hours and the insight for 6 hours. So he should be able to continue to identify magical items he finds in this period; and he gets bonuses to his thieving skills and AC.

Woe betide any mage that dares to cast remove magic at him .

Nad returns to the Mithrest to reorganise his equipment, and prepares to go to the Circus.

For now at least, Nad's stats are truly godly .

[Jaheira's Wit]

Circus, Waukeen's Promenade

Nad tells the guard he can deal with whatever is in the tent. But he cannot answer the genie's riddle . Fortunately the genie gives him a second chance and Nad gets that one. He agrees to help Aerie, backstabs the first peasant and kills the other in melee.

Before heading upstairs Nad equips his shiny new previously used and bloodstained plate mail and applies an oil of speed. With no way of dispelling illusions (yet), Nad has to fight the werewolves as well as the shadows (he uses Arbane's sword to kill the shadows). Heading upstairs once more, Nad kills Kalah before he's even finished his speech (literally two shots which took about a second and a half).

Unfortunately it looks like the Randomised replacement for the Ring of Human Influence is a poor substitute. It is a suit of studded leather armour which Nad with a lore of 83 cannot identify - a sure sign that it must be a cursed item. Yay.

Exiting the tent, Nad talks to Myara (Unfinished Business mod) to get the genie's flask, to the little boy to complete the quest, and to the guard for +1 rep. He dumps the armour at the Mithrest and prepares to head to the City Gates to talk to Jafir at the Crooked Crane.

At this stage, I believe there is a chance that Nad could get ambushed by more bandit groups, but I'm not sure how it works exactly or when the ambushes occur. Nad is highly buffed though, he got through the Circus so quickly that he still has all his stat buffs as well as oil of speed. So I think the plan is to go for it and use berserker rage if he gets ambushed by a high spellcasting group of bandits.

Sure enough, Nad does get ambushed.



This group consists of a mage, priest, fighter and 2 invisible thieves.

Apart from the usual enchantment spells, the other thing I'm worried about here is remove magic. Nad has a lot of potion buffs that would cost a fortune to replace. So Nad takes advantage of his speed to go straight at the mage, but she gets a precast stoneskin in place and begins casting some kind of spell. However it doesn't sound like an enchantment spell so I'm not too worried and do not enrage, instead just keep working through the stoneskins.

And she casts...remove magic .

Fortunately, Nad resists . I guess his Level 11 as a Thief might actually be higher than the mage's level. None of his buffs gets dispelled. Nad has got through the stoneskins as the mage casts another spell. Just need one or two hits to kill her. And even one hit will interrupt her.

Critical Miss.
Critical Miss.

You have to be kidding me.

The mage finishes casting Emotion . Nad's save vs spells is 10.


Wow. So lucky. 50% chance of game over right there avoided. In hindsight, I should so definitely have enraged. Really dumb to trust to a 50% shot going my way there. But then I didn't think the mage was going to be able to get that spell off...critical misses ftl.

Nad has been taking a beating from the fighter and thieves but still takes out the priest next, then the thieves, and finally the fighter. It's almost like a role reversal from vanilla BG2, when I would nearly always take out the warriors first, then the thieves, and leave the spellcasters til last .

City Gates

Nad talks to Flydian to get the Trademeet quest and enters the Crooked Crane. He tells Rilmi to shut it and goes upstairs to talk to Jafir. He pays the 500gp and gets the command word. With a WIS of 18, he uses the wish immediately. And he wishes to be rich .

Now I should probably explain this point. By far and away the obvious and natural wish here is for the powerful magic item to get full plate +2. But I feel it would be a bit cheesy and cheap to get such a powerful item for so little effort, especially as the wish here is added by a mod. So I just wished to be rich to get the four gems, which barely amount to the 500gp I paid . Broke even and completed the quest at least. Gonna have to do some real work for the armour .

Nad heads back to the Promenade to do some trading and reorganise his inventory. The plan is to go to the Bridge next, so Nad purchases a potion of regeneration from Ribald. Might need it for one of the fights there.

So it's Day 0, Hour 13. Here's an update on how Nad is equipped.

[Jaheira's Wit]

The Bridge

Nad talks to Aegisfield to get the skinner quest. He then goes round the back of the Balthis estate and stands back to watch the fallen paladins and the smugglers slug it out.



He agrees to get Anarg's Cup and then talks to Rampah, Rose and Bel to progress the skinner quest. He runs into Qadeel having an argument with his dockhands.



Nad profits to the tune of 206gp when the Ogres squash Qadeel .

Nad pays a visit to the Five Flagons and starts by looting the ground and first floor. He then goes to the cellar to watch the play, answers Raelis' call for adventurers, and loots the storeroom and treasure chest on the way out. That's one way to get compensation for having to endure such a dreadful play .

He trades with the merchants and then goes to Delosar's Inn. He agrees to stay out of Captain Dennis' way but he can't risk looting the chests on the ground and first floors with so many people around .

He pays a visit to the Temple of Helm and happily purchases the single potion of clarity they have for sale, noting they also sell wooden stakes .

Carbos beats Shank and Nad says hi to Mrs Cragmoon. Wow. Going to be making her very rich indeed. For now Nad purchases a potion case and 3 potions of invisibility. But he'll be making several trips to see her again, that's for sure.

It is time to go see the tanner. Nad finds another potion of regeneration on the ground floor; that's handy. After detrapping the floor below, he buffs for the big fight. He takes potions of defence, speed and freedom in that order, and also readies a potion of regeneration for when he needs it. With his base AC at 0 from the potion of defence, Nad can wear his leather rather than plate, and he hides in shadows and heads down.

He backstabs the first ghast and quickly dispatches the other in melee (the potion of freedom was to mitigate any risk of paralysis from their claws). The rune assassin backstabs Nad and hits him again for significant damage, so he swigs the potion of regeneration and melees. When the rune assassin quaffs another invisibility potion, Nad has only 30 odd HP remaining, so he has to swig an extra healing potion to avoid being killed by a backstab. As it is, the backstab only 26 damage and Nad is able to finish the assassin quickly. And that's it . Weird. I've always encountered two rune assassins here, not one. No idea what happened to the second. Oh well.

Nad finds the Ring of Danger Sense in one of the crates. He doesn't need it (his base find traps is 100% and is currently 130% from the potions of mind focusing) but if he finds several other thieving components he might be able to craft the Gloves of Master Thievery from Item Upgrades. So he'll hold on to the ring for now. He returns to Aegisfield to complete the quest.

Nad can now confront the man in red responsible for Tirdir's burial. As the two honchos escape the house, Nad is still highly buffed from the rune assassin fight, so he hides in shadows and goes after them. He backstabs Reti first and quickly dispatches him in melee. Camitis is still blue circled so Nad can hide in shadows again and backstab him too!



As well as the backstab, Nad gets 3 more solid hits in during the first couple of rounds of combat, thus totalling over 100 damage. Yet Camitis is still only "badly injured". Tough cookie. And he has taken potions of giant strength and speed, and starts hitting Nad back pretty damn hard! So Nad decides to drink an invisibility potion hopefully to finish the fight with one more backstab.

Unfortunately as soon as he drinks the invisibility potion, Camitis begins to run away. Nad follows but Camitis is also hasted, and when he reaches the western edge of the Bridge map he disappears completely. Dangit! Waste of a good invisibility potion, and Nad missed out on whatever potions and loot Camitis may have had.

Nad returns to the house, frees Lady Elgea and levels up to Thief 12 . He now has his final star in Two Weapon Fighting.


Nad returns to the Government district briefly to pick up the items he had left behind at the Jysstev Estate, and then to the Temple district to get Anarg's Cup from the Radiant Heart. Now he must face the fallen paladins .

[galraen]

he needs a magical weapon to fight the shadows in the Circus Tent

Spoiler I guess.

You're not supposed to, and don't have to, fight the shadows in the circus tent. Never played Ascension though, so maybe that changeit; if so, bad mod!!

[Jaheira's Wit]

Fallen Paladins

The difficulty with this fight is that there are 4 fallen paladins + Reynald + Anarg. They all have pretty good THACO and hit hard; except Anarg, who has a ridiculous THACO and would probably kill Nad in very few rounds in a straight up melee.

And the main weakness of the fallen paladins is that straight up melee is all they can do. So I'll have to ensure this is anything but melee .

Nad is still buffed with defence, speed and freedom, so he can wear his leather. He adds a potion of stone giant strength to his drug cocktail. His regeneration has expired though. The first task is to lead Anarg away from the rest of the group...



As soon as Anarg becomes hostile, Nad uses his speed to run around the corner and hide in the shadows .


Nad backstabs him for 60+ damage and immediately runs around the corner to hide again .


Nad backstabs him again for 60+ damage and that's all she wrote. Just the two backstabs did for Anarg (strangely he didn't drink any potions even though he had them - Nad loots fire giant strength, invulnerability and 2 x extra healing from his corpse).

The rest of the fallen paladins are all bunched together. Reynald is "injured" though (from the smuggler fight I guess) so Nad backstabs him first.



Reynald becomes "badly injured" so Nad runs around the corner to hide again. But...what's this?!



The fallen paladins are attacking Reynald?! What's that about. I've never seen that before, I wonder if it's a bug or a feature. They swiftly kill him and that's one fewer for Nad to worry about.

Nad backstabs one of the fallen paladins but just as he does so, his haste wears off so he cannot run away again. He also cannot haste again because of his free action.



Nad swiftly kills his target in melee and with an AC of -7, he wonders if he can also melee the other 3. One round and 3 or 4 hits later, he swiftly changes his mind (the fallen paladins were hitting on attack rolls of 14 as far as I could tell, so their THACO must be a low single figure. Yikes!). Nad swigs invisibility and heals himself. He backstabs and kills another but he can't even melee two of them, he's seriously injured again in no time. He uses invisibility and healing again, backstabs and kills the third, and finally can melee the last one (though he continues to take heavy damage). Not fun.

He returns to the Radiant Heart for his reward - Gloves of Healing. Not a lot of use to Nad, 10HP is zilch to him, so he'll probably sell them.

He returns to the Promenade to trade and reorganise his inventory. Indeed, the Gloves of Healing fetch a nice price of 1500gp, so they're gone. Nad plans to go to the Copper Coronet next, but he has 8200gp burning a hole in his pocket. I wonder what he's going to buy?



Nad's new toy on his left hand. It's going to save him a fortune in healing potions! He also purchases 2 potions of firebreath and a potion of invisibility from Ribald.

An update on Nad's achievements, including a new "Most Powerful Vanquished".

[Jaheira's Wit]

Spoiler I guess.

You're3 not supposed to, and don't have to, fight the shadows in the circus tent. Never played Ascension though, so maybe that changeit; if so, bad mod!!

You're right it is a spoiler of sorts. But then I guess the whole blog is spoilers since it documents the opponents fought and how Nad tries to deal with them. I have added a section in the first post warning about spoilers and how I suggest people who want to can avoid them.

As I understood it you're not meant to fight the werewolves rather than the shadows! I don't think any mod is changing that. I think you do have to fight the shadows (but in fairness I haven't tried heading to the top floor while ignoring the shadows, so you may be correct). The werewolves do not need magical weapons to strike (Nad's excellent and normal longswords worked just fine) - but the shadows need an enchanted weapon to strike.

[galraen]

I always run past them, hidden/invisible if possible; but I've never done a no reload game, or used the randomiser. If I was using the latter then I guess I'd have to take them on because I wouldn't know what was in the pillars at the bottom of the last flight of stairs.

[galraen]

At least you know at least one person is reading! LOL

[Jaheira's Wit]

Haha thanks! I know Claudius is also reading, so that's at least 2. Thanks for the feedback, hope you enjoy the story. Comments, feedback and discussion always welcome.

[galraen]

It's interesting to see how someone else approaches the game; one of my faults is that I'm a potion hoarder. I keep them in my backpack for when i desperately need them, so by the game's end my Potion case/BOH is stuffed to the brim with them!

[Jaheira's Wit]

Nad has the opposite problem...he uses potions like there's no tomorrow. One of the biggest challenges is going to be conserving the key potions throughout the game. Nad will be buying every single potion of invisibility, extra healing, speed, invulnerability, clarity, freedom, regeneration, magic shielding etc that he can find. The problem is that until his saving throws are safely negative, potions are his only defence...and as a human thief, his saving throws will suck big time forever .

[Jaheira's Wit]

Copper Coronet

Amalas just picked on the wrong dual-wielding, strength enhanced, regenerating sucker.




Nad agrees to meet Nalia at her keep, tells Anomen to sod off, and talks to Joluv. Joluv has nothing Nad wants...just the wrong types of weapon sadly. If Nad were a grand master in scimitars he would know where to go .

Nad accepts Lord Jierdan's quest and obtains Lehtinan's permission to explore the back rooms. He notes what is happening with some distate and buffs before entering the jail cell area. This time he chooses a cocktail of stone giant strength, speed and his last freedom potion.

He battles the guards in the jail cell area first and then the corridor (there are more of them due to Tactics' minor enhancement of this encounter). He takes some chromatic orbs, arrows and magic missiles, but his free action protects against any danger of stun. And while hasted, his ring of regeneration works at double speed - he regenerates 1HP every 3 seconds .




Interestingly the usual Copper Coronet guards and bouncers just stand and watch while the additional scripted guards fight . They won't turn hostile until Hendak is freed...



Nad talks to Hendak and agrees to free the slaves. A perennial BG1 friend gets the backstab treatment.



Nad then considers whether to melee the beastmaster and his beasts while packing platemail, or to keep his leather and go for a backstab. He opts for the backstab...



Only 52 damage of which 27 is already healed. Not good, Nad in leather could take a kicking if the beasts are released. He does have potions of invisibility to save him though, so he keeps attacking. By a stroke of fortune, Nad manages to kill the beastmaster just as he begins to open the gates! Only one gate is actually opened. So after dispatching Tabitha, Nad is able to deal with the beasts one at a time, using plenty of backstabs. Poor sods, some of them don't even know what hit them.

Nad is now in possession of the wolfskin bag; it can hold any 10 items, so is a tremendous help in managing inventory (oh for a bag of holding though). He also takes an excellent shortbow and the beastmaster was randomly given the Amulet of Metaspell Influence. That's useless to Nad and will be sold. Not much luck with the randomised items so far (except for the Ring of Regeneration).

Nad frees the children and Hendak and proceeds to demolish the rest of the Coronet guards. Hendak is actually losing to Lehtinan! Lehtinan hits him with 2 criticals in a row, so Nad helps out.



Nad agrees to deal with the rest of the slavers and prepares to enter the sewers below the Slums...yuk.

[galraen]

And while hasted, his ring of regeneration works at double speed - he regenerates 1HP every 3 seconds

Is that a mod effect or default? If it's default that's a new one glitch to me.

Hendak is actually losing to Lehtinan! Lehtinan hits him with 2 criticals in a row, so Nad helps out.

Word of caution. In the past when I've intervened in the fight Hendak has disappeared when I've returned after completing the slaver quest and I've had to use the console to create him.

[Jaheira's Wit]

I don't know, I suspect it's default. Potion of regeneration works the same way - regenerates twice as fast when hasted. I think it's all to do with the haste effect - things like blade barrier work twice a round when hasted too. And I think (not 100% sure) that a hasted character in a cloud takes the damage twice as fast too .

Ok. I hope Hendak is not affected but we shall see. He drank a healing potion after the fight so there's no reason for him to disappear...