-
- Forums
- Chatrooms
- Gallery
- Gameplay Videos
- Upload
- Articles
- Mod Reviews
- Shop SP: Games, Movies, Books
|
|
BLACKLAKE DISTRICT
Peppin Pollo
I go to #3 with Neeshka, and have her pickpocket the Gnome artist named Peppin Pollo for his Amulet of Acid Resistance (+20 acid resistance), which I sell to Uncus.
I then approach Peppin with just Shandra, to avoid losing influence with the other ladies in my party on account of jealousy issues. I then encourage Peppin to do a portrait of Shandra, and pay 500gp for it in order to increase my influence with Shandra.
*Evil* Peppin Pollo
I start off the video by having Zarathos speak with Shandra. He selects the "look a little lost" option, and then deliberately insults her. That results in a -1 loss of influence.
He then goes through with the painting as well, but deliberately insults the whole project as a waste of time in order to lose another -2 influence with Shandra.
City Watch Undercover
I bring along Casavir, Neeshka, Shandra and Qara for the next quest. Captain Brelaina has another job for me, to pull an undercover sting on Shadow Thieves trying to make a recovery. The sting itself takes place inside the building at #10 on the Blacklake District map. I buff with the usual, Stoneskins, Greater Magic Weapon, Keen Weapon, Weapon of Impact, Mirror Images, etc.
I enter inside, and begin the sting. The sting is easier to pull off through use of skills like Perform, Bluff, Diplomacy, and Appraise. Valeria has three of them, so she has little trouble at all. I get a 300xp bonus which is available only when I complete the sting by getting the gold and merchandise to change hands. That's when combat begins.
Valeria begins with Bladeweave and then goes on the attack. Casavir uses Divine Might begins swinging away immediately.
Neeshka activates the Displacement Power from her Robe of Scintillating Colors, and then positions herself for backstabs.
Qara first protects herself, and then lets loose with Firebrand spells. The battle is won in short order.
There's plenty of loot to collected here, most of which I'll sell. It includes a couple of Daggers +2, a Dagger +3, a Dagger +1, plenty of Shurikens +2, a Greater Cloak of Protection vs. Law, and Rogue Links (Chainshirt +3, +6 Hide, +6 Move Silently, Rogues only). I'll sell all of it.
Captain Brelaina rewards me with 1,000xp for completing the task.
*Evil* Arms Deal
The reverse version of the quest whereby it's Axle who gives the job, and I'm the one the Watch is trying to shake down. Bringing the price down depends on clicking on the merchandise tables, and then using various skill checks to notice deficiencies in the equipment, as follows:
It's then a matter of finalizing the price with Lord Gannish. A last Appraise check will help determine what the final offer price to Lord Gannish should be.
Except, it's not a sale. Many City Watch guards ambush me, but Zarathos and Elanee easily blow them away with offensive spells. It also helps that Grobnar switched from Inspire Competence to Inspire Defense, and then unleashed a Curse Song in order to lower the enemies' saving throws. I then report back to Axle for 4,000gp (the difference between Lord Gannish' original offer and the negotiated price) and 1,000xp.
15th Level
The 1,000xp bonus was enough to bring everyone to their 15th level of experience. There are some highlights.
Valeria gets the Extended Spell feat. When she was lower-level, she didn't have as many spells so meta-magic feats wouldn't have been as meaningful. At that time she was concentrating on things like Combat Expertise. But now she can cast Extended versions of spells like Improved Invisibility and Heroism. Others like Ethereal Visage will soon follow.
Casavir gets the Tower Shield Proficiency feat. That in turn means he can now equip the Forgotten Shield that I purchased for him earlier. He in turn passes on his Mirror Shield to Elanee.
Khelgar gets the Blind-Fight feat. For any melee-based character, getting an extra chance to strike an enemy like a Mage who is protected by Greater Invisibility or an incorporeal undead is always helpful.
Elanee gets the Natural Spell feat. I didn't bother with it during earlier levels, because the animal forms then were weaker. But now is a good time to get it, since being able to turn into a Huge Elemental is only a level away.
Qara also gets the Extended Spell feat. And again, that means buffs like Greater Invisibility and Elemental Shield and Ethereal Visage lasting twice as long if she uses them at one spell level higher.
Grobnar gets the Battle Caster feat. That, in combination with the Medium Armor Proficiency feat, means that he can now wear his Dragon Armor with absolutely no chance of arcane spell failure.
Bishop gets the Cleave feat. Strength-based melee characters are always well-advised to take the Cleave feat for the extra attacks.
Sand gets two feats. His regular feat selection at 15th level is Improved Combat Expertise. Again, with Wizards, being able to strike in melee is rarely if ever important. Doing anything you can to make a Wizard relatively less squishy on the other hand, is always helpful. He also gets a bonus Wizard feat at 15th level, for which he selects Empowered Spell. Sand does sometimes cast damaging spells. And indeed, an Empowered Disintegrate that can inflict tremendous damage on a single target can be a potent weapon in Sand's hands.
Zhjaeve also gets the Extended spell feat. That means she'll be able to cast buffs like Battle Tide and Stone Body for twice the duration as long as she memorizes them at one spell level higher. It's also a prerequisite for the Persistent Spell feat.
Shandra gets the Improved Parry feat, which will improved her chances of making a Riposte attack following a successful Parry check.
+5 Armor and Shield
Now that everyone is at 15th level, I can now add +5 enhancement bonuses to either armors or weapons.
Valeria places her Mithral Chain Shirt into the Magician's Workbench, along with a Blue Diamond, a Glowing Earth Essence, and a Glowing Power Essence. Qara casts Light on the Workbench to add a +5 enhancement bonus to the Mithral Chain Shirt.
I repeat exactly the same process to add a +5 enhancement bonus to Valeria's Zalantar Light Shield.
Cain Lethellon
I bring Grobnar along for this as an opportunity to increase influence with him. At #4 is a cocky Bard named Cain Lethellon who welcomes all challengers to a battle of lutes.
Each round starts off with Cain playing a tune, with the onus shifting on me to play it back perfectly. If I botch the tune, then Cain wins that round. If I play it perfectly, and Cain plays the same tune perfectly a second time, the round ends in a draw. If I play the tune perfectly, but Cain botches his retry, then I win the round. Whoever wins the most rounds wins the challenge.
If you want to get the tunes down the hard way, you either need a high enough influence with Grobnar or a good enough Perform skill, to have the tune repeated to you for free.
Be that as it may, the sequences of lute strings for each tune are:
*Evil* Cain Lethellon
Zarathos accomplishes the same result, but by making an Intimidation check during the first two rounds. I also increase my influence with Sand by +1 by having him heckle Cain during the last round. Another alternative was to increase my influence with Qara by +1 by having her put on a pyrotechnics display during the last round, but my long term plan was to have Qara instead of Sand leave me during the climax.
It is also possible to get the Lute after losing the duel by setting Cain on fire. This won't earn the 250xp and also earns evil points in terms of alignment.
Temple of Lathander
Now I enter the Temple of Lathander at #2 on the map. I go to the left side of the Temple, looting its various containers. My discoveries include:
Natrisse's Request
Now I ask Dawnbringer Natrisse about Brother Merring and accept her request to bring a lockbox to Brother Merring in West Harbor. A thieving character with good enough Disable Device and Search skills can safely open the lockbox and help him or herself to the 300gp, Emerald and Obsidian in the box, and get 100xp to boot. It won't have any consequence for the quest itself. If you try to open the box without the needed skills, the box will blow up without leaving behind anything that can be pilfered.
I bring the lockbox to Brother Merring in West Harbor and get a 1500xp reward, even in spite of having pilfered it.
An Imp's Dilemma
I do this quest both to earn some Chaotic points for my alignment, and to increase my influence with Qara a little. I go to #5 on the map, where somebody named Jenk shoos away an Imp. I then speak with him for a bit, and deliberately choose the response that encourages Qara to attack him so as to gain +1 influence with her. *Evil* Zarathos instead chooses the reponse of how "... the Flagon is no dive, kennel man" in order to lose -1 influence with Qara.
I then go to #9, where an Imp named Kiggo wants me to free his fellow Imps from the crates near Jenk. He gives me the Kennel-Key to accomplish the goal.
I go back to #5, and open the crates to free the Imps and get 10 Chaotic points on my alignment. I return to Kiggo, and he rewards me with scrolls of Fireball, Lightning Bolt, and Cone of Cold. I inscribe all of them.
Dayne Lynneth
I head over to the Blacklake District, and get welcomed by Sergeant Blackburn.
I then head over to #6 on the Blacklake District map. I purchase the following from Dayne's regular stock:
Blacklake Merchants
There are two merchants near Dayne. Neeshka cleans one of them out for her gold.
Neeshka pickpockets the second one for 750 Gold Rings, a Gold Necklace, and a Diamond. By the way, you don't have to pickpocket the merchant 750 times to get each ring. All 750 rings will come on one successful pickpocket attempt.
I sell the pickpocketed goods to Uncus. As for the 750 Gold Rings, I get the most value for them by splitting them apart into sets of 125 Gold Rings, and then selling each set one at a time.
Disturbing Connections
I bring along Casavir, Elanee and Neeshka for the next quest.
I go to Castle Never, the entrance to which is at #11 on the Blacklake District map. Sir Nevalle has a new quest for me, to uncover Larim's and Lord Temar's connection to Luskan agents. The entrance to Lord Temar's estate is at #13 on the map. Valeria and Elanee do their usual buffs before I go in.
It doesn't matter which dialogue options I choose, combat is inevitable. Lord Demar, Larim, and several of Lord Demar's bodyguards will swarm me. The situation calls for offensive spells that won't hurt the party, like Valeria's Firebrand and Elanee's Firestorm. Those two spells pretty much suffice to win the battle by itself.
They leave a fair amount of loot behind, which I sell unless otherwise noted below:
My next destination is the Ruins of Arvahn.
