This is the list of people who's dead. Don't read unless you've read latest posts!
(Updated 28/6)
Deaths
Montaron - killed by an ogrillon.
Xzar - slain by bandits.
Minsc - killed in a single blow by Krumm.
Jaheira - killed by Caldo.
Khalid - killed by Krumm.
Imoen - winter wolf.
Garrick - winter wolf.
Kivan - yup, winter wolf.
Ajantis - Kobold Commando/regular kobold.
Kagain - bounty hunter party outside Nashkel mines.
Shar-Teel - ankheged in the face.
Xan - ankheged in the ankles (or whatever).
Indira - skeleton dagger to the throat.
Branwen - ganged up by three ghats.
Eldoth - double bandit critical.
Dynaheir - Hobgoblin Elite/dread wolf.
Tiax - gnoll dude in Bandit Camp.
Safana - mage guy (Melf's Acid Arrow aftershock).

The premise is simple. A Wild Mage, with BG1TuTu, going on a semi-ironman game: No reloading unless the PC dies. I've imposed a second rule, to enhance the "Survivors" aspect of the game: Every time an NPC dies, I MUST kick them out of the party so they cannot be raised. Let's see how long it is before I run out of companions...

My character's name is Nahal (as in "Nahal's Reckless Dweomer"), and his stats are 9/15/16/18/12/14. He's CN; which accounts for his soon-to-be wide range of companions, and his annoying habit of kicking people out after they die. His proficiency is in darts. I have the BG1NPC mod, Finch, and Indira installed.

BG1 TuTu adds some undesirable characteristics into BG1, such as a slew of new spells, and the choice of EIGHT level one spells for beginning mages. Being hardcore, I WIPED THEM ALL FROM NAHAL'S MEMORY except three (18 Int) - Reckless Dwomer, Larloch's, and Colour Spray. I'm also not going to use any BG2 spells for any of the characters (of course, with the exception of the Wild Mage series of spells, because they're fun and not game-breaking).

Since everyone's played the game, I'm going to skip the boring bits and jump straight to conflict...

After leaving Candlekeep, we picked up Xzar and Monty and the gang continued to the FAI without any trouble, facing only a few diseased gibberlings that Xzar (expending a Larloch's), Monty and Imoen dealt with easily. We ignored Eldoth (BG1 NPC mod), hoping to pick up Khalid and Jaheira. Soon, we faced our first challenge: Tarnesh, whose Horror spell and deadly Magic Missile is the bane of many would-be adventurers. Nahal has a Colour Spray and a Reckless Dweomer prepared...

First, we sent Imoen to pick up the Ring of Wizardry, which Nahal took (of course), but that did not factor into the battle as I didn't metagame. :) Then, when the battle began, Nahal shot a Colour Spray - but alas! His level is too high! Monty lunged at him with a blade; Imoen with her arrows, and Xzar fired off his second Larloch's Minor Drain. Somebody's attack disrupted his Mirror Image, and with a lucky critical hit from Imoen, Tarnesh lay dead. We gathered the loot and Nahal attempted to scribe the spells, succeeding in MM and Burning Hands but failing at Armour.

After picking up Khalid and Jaheira, we stayed the night, and headed for Beregost. Nahal now has two Dweomers, a Colour Spray, and a Larloch's memorized. We only faced a Dire Wolf along the way, but we managed to run the hell away from it without trouble.

In Beregost, I mentally prepared ourselves for the second great challenge: Silke, whose deadly Lightning Bolt has been the bane of many would-be adventurers. Before the battle, Nahal used a Dweomer to cast Improved Chaos Shield on himself. When the battle began, Xzar and Nahal fired two Larloch's, and the rest attacked normally. She began to retreat; but we surrounded her. She began casting her deadliest spell - Lightning Bolt - but fortunately, before the battle finished, Khalid managed to finish her off with a seven-HP attack. Again, minimal casulties.

Feeling a bit frustrated at our success, and having a deathwish, we decided to enter the Red Sheaf and face Karlat - whose mighty axe has been the bane of maybe would-be adventurers. It is worth noting that I have the Finch NPC mod installed, and she aided me in this battle.

Nahal opened with a Dweomer Larloch, which sadly turned Karlat invisible. He soon attacked, exposing himself, and the party of six + Finch rounded on him together. He managed to critical on Monty, leaving him with only 1HP, but he drank a potion and patched himself up. The dramatic battle continued, and then Nahal score a critical hit with his shiny new quarterstaff +1, followed by a critical hit from Finch. Karlat began panicking and tried to flee, but Jaheira ended the battle with a mighty critical of her own, killing him. No member dead, only Xzar slightly wounded.

I find it excessively ironic that I start this party with a death wish, yet have the most success with it with any party thus far. Let's hope somebody dies in the subsequent ogrillon battle...

After dealing with Marl in Feldeposts', the group had a nice rest, and then continued on. Two mighty ogrillons blocked their path. Jaheira opened with an Entangle, with Xzar and Imoen launching spell and arrow. It soon broke free, however, and made its way towards Montaron, bringing down its powerful fist. Montaron died in a single punch, and Xzar lamented greatly (ish). Khalid and Jaheira rounded on it, and it soon died; but the second was approaching. Nahal shot a Larloch's at him, and Khalid scored a critical hit, chunking him. With the ogrillon's death, Jaheira levelled up, and as promised, we kicked Monty out of the party. May he rest in peace! We went back to town to pick up Garrick, though I forgot to check in with the quest-lady. Next time.

We then faced a Flaming Fist official, who refused to believe we weren't bandits. So, Nahal Colour Sprayed him in the face and we kicked him in the head till he was dead. We got a nice armour, and everyone had armour upgrades thanks to it (Khalid's old armour went to Jaheira's old armour went to Garrick).

The gang dealt with the hobgoblins relatively easily after a few reloads (Nahal died), but after looting their bodies, we came across a team of four bandits. Xzar died under their arrows, but the rest of us killed them in revenge. Poor Xzar...he's one of my favourite NPCs. We kicked him out of the party, and continued on. Next stop: Nashkel...

I'm taking bets as to who dies next: Imoen, Khalid, Jaheira, or Garrick? Only time will tell. ;)

That was a fun read. Good luck on your adventure! I came >< close to beating Tutu with my wild mage (regular play). But I was looking forward to a new release of the Stuff of the Magi mod. The modder who resurrected the mod changed the gear to allow for multi and dual-class mages.

So I rerolled and beat BGTutu with a half-elf cleric/wild mage (thanks Shadowkeeper designers!). Wild mage is lots and lots of fun. The only downside to my combo is my cleric spells are susceptible to surges.

I'll have to try the Iron Man method someday. I'd probably be out of party members very fast because I have a tendency to be quite reckless. Reload does tend to encourage that. Perhaps I'd learn to be more patient and put my spells to better use if I didn't have the reload option.

Then again, I'm not sure how long I'd be able to stick to that method. I reload the game just to try to save Melicamp. He exploded on me three times in a row and I gave up after that. :(

Interesting one, Deathmage; I'll be following this one closely. As an aside, you used 'bane of many would-be adventurers' in reference to all three main early challenges! ;)

@Carnifex: I know what you mean with Melicamp- it is pretty sucky that you get no EXP if the game's random number generator decides it doesn't like you.

So I rerolled and beat BGTutu with a half-elf cleric/wild mage (thanks Shadowkeeper designers!). Wild mage is lots and lots of fun. The only downside to my combo is my cleric spells are susceptible to surges.
Great idea! Having surges on Heal spells too must be fun!

Interesting one, Deathmage; I'll be following this one closely. As an aside, you used 'bane of many would-be adventurers' in reference to all three main early challenges! ;)

I know. That's because it's totally true. :p The three of them have killed many, many PCs in their time...
The next bane, I think, shall be the Kobold Commandoes, Mulahey, the Dudes Outside The Mine, and the deadly Nimbul.

Updates shall be forthcoming after this week's exams, of which I have three...or if I decide to procrastinate! Huzzah!

Personally, I think that Garrick, with his piddly 6HP, will be the next to die. I'm uncertain if I should do the mines or the Gnolls first...hopefully, someone will die on the way so I can pick up Xan... :p

By the way, I actually explored a wilderness area for a few times, and once my whole party got wiped out by skeletons after Nahal got Wild Surged into a sex change! Sadly, I wasn't able to run away and continue my adventures as Nahalla, because he...she then got shot to death herself, and had to reload an earlier save (before we dealt with Silke).

Very interesting read, I too will be keeping an eye on this one :)

Oh and my money is on Jaheira dying next ;)

That Tarnesh and his horror spell is an unbelievable pain in the bum if you're on your own, or just with Imoen. And Silke's lightning bolt...
(I'm on a run currently, though I'm just at the start of the Candlekeep catacombs. Not an ironman run, mind you).
It is good fun being low level, especially if you go back to BG after completing ToB and suddenly find things like wolves and low level spells a real threat.

Arriving in Nashkel at night, the party went to the inn first. Nahal had, at this point, a Larloch's and a Dweomer left. I wasn't too conerned about Neira - she's never been a significant problem for my party. Accordingly, she went down easily. Nahal opened with a Larloch's, but then got hit by Rigid Thinking and decided to wander around the inn aimlessly. Jaheira got hit by Hold Person, but Khalid landed some very good hits in, Garrick disrupted her Spiritual Weapon, and Imoen gave a fatal shot in the end. All in all, a very easy kill.

We then picked up Minsc, and decided to hit the stronghold first. The first wilderness was no trouble - we ran into a few xvarts that we easily dealt with (Garrick ran out of bolts, though). However, in the second area, everything went to hell.

Being people of kind hearts, we of course helped the dryad. It seemed that we have underestimated the idiotic fury of the brothers: as soon as battle begun, Krumm whacked Minsc with a 11-HP attack, KILLING HIM. Nahal shot a Larloch's, then a Dweomer'd Magic Missile - a bad idea. The wild surge was "Roll four more times": Gold Vanishes (damn!), Berries in my Pocket (Goodberries), Dizzy, and Silence.

For the rest of the battle, Nahal launched spells in vain; they all failed probably due to Dizzy (he saved vs spell against Silence). The battle continued. Bastard Krumm landed a hit on Jaheira, killing her (!), although Khalid managed to kill Caldo soon afterward. Garrick stopped singing the bardsong and jumped into melee with his blade, and Krumm landed two hits on Khalid - killing him as well! In the end, a lucky stab from Garrick killed Krumm dead.

One battle, three dead, and we only got some XP, a reputation, and a potion for our troubles. This is not going well at all. We're going to turn back to Nashkel now - hope everything goes well...

Well, we tried to rest after the battle, and Nahal got the Gorion Dream (didn't get it previously at the inn for some reason), and received CLW. The rest was awakened by a Gnoll Elite, so we ran away. Along the way a bear joined in the hunt, but we successfully fled from that too.

Getting to the carnival took a few reloads (because we got waylaid and Nahal died), but we got there without trouble in the end. Then I remembered that we had to pick up a Stone-to-Flesh, so zipped back to Nashkel. We sold some jewellry, brought some darts (for Nahal) and bolts, then went over to the carnival, where we rescued Branwen. Here, I discovered that my idiocy shall be my bane - habitually, from playing BG2 too much, I'VE FORGOTTEN TO LOOT KHALID'S PLATE MAIL! AAAAAARGH!!!!

Anyways. Knowing that the mines will be a foolish venture without any warriors, we went back to Beregost and picked up Kagain and then Kivan without any trouble. The newly formed group travelled to the Burning Wizard, where they rested, and prepared themselves for the mines...

Kagain has 15HP, Kivan and Branwen are level 2 and have 16 and 17HP, respectively. I bought shields for Kagain and Branwen even though Kagain dual-wields with BG1NPC in order to ensure his chances of survival. We also checked in with Marianne, and I gave the Ring of Prot +1 to Kagain.

(I was thinking about Ajantis and/or Shar-Teel too; but Ajantis is next to ankhegs, and Shar-Teel has low HP. She's too uber to be wasted on the mines, anyway, I'm planning on picking her up when I'm higher levelled.)
(I can't believe I forgot the stupid plate mail...Taerom sells them for 900GP! x_x)
(Made some changes to the first post.)

Ouch! That was a pretty nasty fight there. I don't remember the pair being all that hard myself either, so those deaths must have come as quite a shock.

Looks like no-one won the 'who will die next contest'.

That's a rough patch of luck. It reminds me why I love my reloads so!

This is very interesting indeed! And it is such a shame you lose three members in such a relatively easy little fight. Such things can happen in real life, even a seasoned warrior can be killed by a weak opponent in the blink of an eye, if not careful or is unlucky, and they do stay dead. It adds realism and excitement to your game, no doubt.

You may want to avoid needless challenges in the future. Three deaths for one lousy antidote potion and reputation point is not really worth it.

Worst case scenario:a burst wild surge which kills the ENTIRE party, except you. :shake: Happened to me more than once (though ofcourse I reloaded) so be careful with playing Nahal's Reckless Dweomers. :roll:

You've inspired me to give up my slightly cheesy Cleric/Wild Mage and start again as a purebred, single-class Wild Mage. I want to play with the canonical party, though, so I play differently. Anybody croaks I reload. Sort of a perfectionist game.

Can someone tell me why I'm doing this again?

Okay. So with our band of new heroes, I'm feeling pretty bold and whatnot, and so decided that - off adventuring we go! We decided to head back to High Hedge first, so Nahal could pick up some new spells. One protagonist death and reload later, we ran into a group of skeletons. Nahal cast a Larloch's (IIRC), and then the most holy crap of holy crap happened. A freaking nabassu happened. So, we decided to run the hell away. Fortunately, the skeletons were too busy dealing with it to give chase, and we soon ran into Perdue's gnolls. Nahal Colour Sprayed them in the face and they fell over and were easy pickings for the rest of the group.

At Thalantyrs, we bought Charm Person and Mirror Image. Fortunately, Nahal managed to learn both. We then headed southbound, and came across some skeletons. One Dweomer later, we had a group of squirrels on our side. Well. The party managed to rip up the skeletons, and we continued on our way. At this point, Immy levelled up: I plumped some points into find traps.

Going south, we came into some hobgoblins, which would've been easy targets for us had they not had a ghoul with them (why did they anyway?!). So, we ran the hell away, and came across some dire wolves, and a wolf, who all decided to join in the hunt. We ran, ran, ran, to the wilderness south of Nashkel (I decided to do the gnolls first), and came across some skeletons that just HAPPENED to be standing there, so we kept running away to the next wilderness area instead.

I swear this area is cursed or something. Listen.
The party came across a dire wolf, but we managed to pelt it to the ground with slings and arrows (a Hamlet reference!). But then, we ran into two winter wolves.

This should be bad news for anyone who's recently played BG1, but sadly, that is not I. In BG2, winter wolves only existed in the Copper Coronet. The following mental conversation took place:
"RUN AWAY! ...wait, they're just standing there. What are they doing?"
"Is this a glitch? Oh well. Shoot 'em!"
"HOLY CRAP I FORGOT ABOUT THAT ICE BLAST"
"CRAP IMOEN DIED"
"That's it. Revenge!"
"OMGWTF GARRICK"
"KIVAN NOOOOOOOO"
... ...
"KAGAIN STOP RUNNING AWAY COME BACK HERE!"
"Branwen, you stop the wolf!"
"Eat dart, winter bastard!"
... ...
"...at least I got a level up."

Poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, POOR Imoen. May she forever rest in peace. I love ya, little sister. :(
Looks like it's time for Safana and Shar-Teel to step up to the job.

Heh, it'll soon be a solo game at the rate you are going through companions! Kobold Commandos could be a real pain for your party.

I wondered when you would get the surge for a demon. Just as well it was in the outdoors and not in some important area where you couldn't flee!

The party, needing warriors and rogues (again), travelled up Beregost and picked up Tiax, who was relocated due to the BG1NPC mod. Then, still wanting to save Shar-Teel for higher levels, we decided to check out Ajantis. The hobgobbos were bulldozed over by the party (and Tiax's ghoul, who was VERY useful), and we reached Ajantis without encountering any ankhegs. Then, the party FINALLY set off towards the mines. Note that we're a party of five: Me, Branwen, Kagain, Ajantis, and Tiax.

The first and second levels were relatively eventless. I'm very surprised to say that Tiax was actually the most useful party member: he could scout very well, his slingshot was unerring, and his ghoul was useful in taking care of problems. On the third level, we faced a VERY scary situation where Branwen and Ajantis died; and Kagain subsequently died in a kobold strike overnight; but fortunately Nahal died. Phew...the second time round, we were more cautious, and managed to reach the bottom area without much problem. Tiax proved his worth once again by casting Command Word: Die on the two spiders, allowing the rest of us to thrack them up. The intrepid adventurers continued on; and a Kobold Commando stood in the way. It shot a flaming arrow to Ajantis, hitting him in the eye, and he screamed in pain as another kobold arrow killed him. We avenged him, however, and tearfully said our farewells as we looted his valuables.

Getting to Mulahey's was dramatic (Kagain nearly got shot to death by the commando), but ultimately uneventful. Inside, however, things started to get bad. Nahal shot a Dweomer Colour Spray at the kobolds, and got fear, so everyone save Tiax started running around. Fortunately, Tiax had Remove Fear memorize (you go, kid!) and managed to calm Branwen and Nahal down - Kagain was still running around. Then, Mulahey talked to us and attacked. Nahal shot another Dweomer Spray at the kobold group, and the skeletons started chasing Kagain. Tiax summoned a ghoul, Branwen did her Spiritual Hammer thing, and the two of them pounded Mulahey into fine Cyricist dust. The kobolds were easy to deal with, and though the skeletons almost killed Kagain, we survived well in the end. We picked up Xan, looted Mulahey's stuff, and continued on our merry way. Branwen levelled up, and got access to wonderful level two spells. I gave her the Ring of Holiness as well.

We went back to Nashkel, and after talking to Berrun, Kagain levelled up. Things are beginning to look good. Nimbul was easy; Tiax cast a Command Word Die and everyone killed him. Kagain would have liked the 20 throwing axes he carried, but they were 100 pounds (!)...

Anyways, the party poked around in the wilderness a bit, then I remember there was an adventuring party outside the mines. The battle took a few reloads because Nahal died, but in the end, Tiax summoned his ghoul, Branwen cast Hold Person, the cleric chick blew her own teammates up, and KAGAIN DIED. Yes, Kagain died. Poor guy. The worst part is, he was a second away from gulping down that potion. Being true to myself, we kicked him out, looted the platemail, and went back to Nashkel. Tiax levelled up in this fight.

We're on a lookout for warriors AGAIN. Now, we're doing odd ended quests in hopes of getting us higher levelled, taking advantage of our smaller party size.

Branwen is, btw, a very decent warrior. With her shiny new plate mail and Kagain's Ring of Protection, her AC is a whopping -1, and with the Spiritual Hammer she can get pretty poundy. But the funny thing? Xan is the best warrior in our party, because he has a THAC0 of 17 - the lowest. I distinctly remember the Moonblade being +1, not +3. In any case, he's been doing some serious damage, once criticalling for 30 damage. Crazy Xan! It's slightly unpowering, but then again he's only got 7HP, heh...

With Branwen in level 3 with her -1AC, 25HP, and multiple shots of Hold Person, things are definitely beginning to look up. Maybe Branwen will even survive to the end!

The two clerics thing is working quite well for us, and Nahal's now got two CLW's. Tiax is surprisingly useful. Fighting a ironman game is fun - it forces me to use strategy...

I'm seriously beginning to run low on warriors. Can anyone offer suggestions? Also, we've got about 4K gold now, but have no idea what to buy. Suggestions for that would be welcome too.

We did a few oddended quests (Firebead, Perdue, belt guy), and Nahal's on level three now. Nothing much's happened except for my Shar-Teel fight, which was highly amusing.

First, I figured that Branwen was the best fighter in the party. I mean, we wouldn't want Shar-Teel to go after Xan now, would we? (even though he's got the best THAC0). So, being clever, I thought "Ah-ha!" and stuck the Belt of Gender Change on Branwen.

...except Shar-Teel went after Nahal instead. Crap.

Well, some creative tactics had to be used. Nahal has level two spells now, and cast Mirror Image. She hit me anyway. I cast Dweomer MM, she's shielded. I'm beaten. Rest, try again. She wanted to fight again, I said "Not now", and she walked off and disappeared. Crap.

So then I did something rather cheap. I walked Nahal into some basilisks. Hey, I'm cheap, okay? :p

One reload later, Nahal tried to launch a few Dweomers at her. The first one was "Change Caster to Target" (??); the second DROPPED A FREAKING COW ON HER HEAD. For twenty damage. She lost, and joined the party. Victory! :D

However, she's only level two, which is annoying to say the least. And also, only 17HP. I hope she lasts.
Just after joining, she whined at me because I was too good (Rep 14), and now she's giving me a day to prove that I'm in fact an evil bugger. I guess I gotta find some random commoner to kill somewhere...

Heh heh, it is not suprising that front-line warriors are generally first to bite the dust. And clerics prove to be the most durable as they get the best armor/shields and do not rush into melee that often.

I am quite suprised that you found Xan is a useful melee fighter. With that CON and HP I never allowed him to melee and wasted his shiny and cool moonblade. I am thinking on making him a fighter/mage this time and use him though, he is already a f/m in my BG2 mod game and I think this suits him better than a lousy enchanter. Afterall, elite elven warriors are cool spellswords, powerful fighter/mages in their own right.

OMG you indeed started to run out of available NPCs. Hmm, Eldoth may be an useful addition, if you have made him a Jester via NPC kits mod. Jester suits his character very well, and a banter with Bentley also hints that his songs tend to create chaos instead of soothing spirits. And, invisibility+jester song is a very useful and safe combo to pull off, you should try it. Shar Teel is a good fighter with low CON, once again with NPC kits you can make her a berserker or barbarian. Berserk or Rage can even the odds in the middle of a losing fight. (though berserk can also end up killing her when the battle is over :p )

With the gold, you may stock on healing potions (another mod also enables a small quantity of extra healing potions to be sold in big temples) I think you mage's survival is not that important so arch-magi robs can wait forever.

Indeed, clerics tend to be very survivable. You could do with getting Yeslick on board, but he is unfortunately still some time away.

I'm considering making Xan a F/M next time I play- there's something about him (probably the moonblade) that makes me feel as though he should be standing in the thick of it.

Not sure what to suggest for your money- potions would be good if you use them a lot, but you can also get some decent gear from Thunderhammer if you continue saving up. Perhaps a wand? One of monster summoning could help even the odds in some battles, especially useful in tying up archers at very little risk to your characters.

You didn't give the Girdle of Piercing back to the guy in the Friendly Arm, did you? You need all the survivability you can get!

Unfortunately, I did. I totally forgot what it was...
Maybe I could pickpocket/kill him? Should've chose him to kill instead of a random commoner, bah.

Tiax, btw, is becoming more and more useful with the advent of Level 2 spells. There may be something to that little guy after all, especially since his ghoul is so amazingly useful that it's almost game-breaking. OTOH, Tiax has pretty pathetic stats, so I guess it balances out.

Yeslick is a good idea, and he should be a suitable frontliner too. I'm really running out of them - if Shar-Teel bites the dust next, I might have to make a dash for Coran. In fact, I think I've expended just about every half-decent frontliner character in the game. Drat. I guess I'll have to use Indira, then.

@Silverstar: I dunno, Eldoth doesn't seem that "Jestery" to me. He's just not funny...more evil. I really like his character, though. In my new evil party, he's proving to be quite a decent archer, especially with his custom poison arrows.

Who's going to die next? My money's on Xan, with his 7HP. Keep in mind, however, that he's an elf with Armour up permanently; reducing his AC to 3. Only time will tell.

Xan is doomed!

Yeslick is useful as a support tank - I have him use Bassilus' +2 hammer. Coran's a beast. With his 20 dex, he's like a machine gun. Thing is, I usually play a fighter, so use my PC as the main tank. You're in a bit of an awkward spot, from that perspective.

Very interesting game Deathmage :)

Have you considered adding some backstabbing support to your party? You could get Safana and Alora. Who needs frontline fighters when you can end the battle without the enemy knowing what happened :D

Oh and Shar-Teel will die next.

Guess what? Aegor won. Shar-Teel died. How? I'll explain.

Since we were in Beregost, we decided to beat the snot out of Tranzig (hey, why not, right?). Wrong. He whupped our asses. Nahal died. Reload. Tiax summoned his ghoul, and we slew him. That ghoul is pretty overpowered, I'm going to avoid using it too much. Next, we cleared house with the spiders: Command Word: Die and Colour Spray took out a whole lot of them. Xan levelled up, after Tranzig so we hit High Hedge for Mirror Image (which he took) and Horror (for Nahal). We even managed to deal with a few skeletons on the way, and, feeling very much like Big Boys, we decided to do something completely irrational and stupid. We decided to take on ankhegs.

We reported in with the Spider-House dude first, of course, then set off. Tiax went first to scout, and saw some little tentacles in the ground. We attacked. First round: Shar-Teel is blasted with an acid breath thing; bye bye baby. It soon got Commanded to Fall Asleep by Tiax, but another one rollicked along and killed Xan. Long story short: Colour Spray, ghoul. Without Shar-Teel, I couldn't loot both shells, so we had to leave one on the ground. With Draw Upon Holy Might Branwen could manage to lift one while slowed, but not with platemail. So, we had her take the shell, walk towards the edge, and somebody else would give her platemail back and walk towards the same direction, thereby crawling the three of us away. We managed to get to Beregost (god knows how they travelled), and I CTRL+J'ed us to the smithy (we would've gotten there eventually...) and commisioned the armour.

Why do I keep doing stupid stuff? Why? I've expended all of the warrior NPCs available to me now; looks like we're going to have to hold up for Coran and Yeslick. Tymora bless our path.

I've installed the BG Tweak Pack: NWN styled HP on level up. Also, I just remembered the existence of Indira. Looks like we have to pay Firewine a visit.

About twenty minutes after picking up Indira, we went to the High Hedge to bolster her spells, and she got killed by skeletons. That's what you get for having a piddly 8HP. Nahal looted her chain mail, which is equippable by mages and allows him to cast spells. C'est la vie, darling. Now I am officially out of fighters. Go me.

Who's Indiria? Is she a mod NPC?

Indeed she is. Made by Ghreyfain.

Quick update: Branwen's dead. Three ghasts ganged up on her. The worst part is, those ghasts weren't a match for Tiax's ghoul.

Prospect: Grim.
Deathmage: Depressed.

Oh dear. Grim could be an understatement. I wouldn't worry about the ghoul being overpowered- you need all the help you can get. At this point, you should just pick up anyone you can regardless of whether they are warriors- a couple of extra arrows could help stop another one biting the dust.

You inspire me, man. I have got to try this. I usually play with reloads to wring out storylines, but this looks like a true challenge!

DM, it seems that the ghoul is the true survivor in your party, as absurd as it seems... :)

Very interesting run.

GNOLL STRONGHOLD ATTACKED BY ADVENTURERS
As reported by: Gnoll Veteran.

Last eve, the mighty gnoll stronghold was attacked by adventurers, and many of our kinfolk were slain - including even our mighty chieftan. What's even more surprising is that there were only apparently three adventurers: two humans, and one gnome. One of the humans was a wizard, the other a bard (one survivor, Gnoll, reports the name of "Eldoth"), and the gnome was apparently a foul master of the undead, for upon the entrance on the bridge he summoned forth a deadly ghast. The beast lumbered forth, to be challenged by our two ogre gatekeepers, and Hairtooth slammed a lucky 20-HP critical hit on the ghast. 'twas lucky that he did so, otherwise the ghast would've been much more problem than it already was. However, our brave wardens soon fell under the combined missiles of the adventurers, and the beast rollicked along. The bard, Eldoth, was said to have put on the gloves, reducing his THAC0 to an impressive 16 (whatever this means). The adventurers went forth, hiding behind their fell ghast, who quickly devastated the gnolls and xvarts along the way. However, as it turned up the stairs, our brave brothers rounded upon it - and with their combined powers, slew it. The adventurers turned to flee, but it was only a ruse, for they would pause every so often to launch missiles at us. Damn the creators of the BG1TuTu mod, for otherwise our speed may have matched theirs!

Alas, the wizard charmed one of our brothers against each other, and he himself was soon put down. They continued, until they saw the group with the chieftan, who was deep in his drinks and merely ordered his men to give chase. The wizard launched a colour spray that stopped many dead in their tracks, and eventually all were wiped out by slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. The chieftan, deciding to take up arms against the veritable sea of troubles, charged forth, but the wizard spewed forth some spell that surged and caused both him and chieftan to slow down. The gnome made our courageous chieftan fall over, and the foul bard took his poisoned arrows and shot him in the chest. When the chieftan woke up, the dastardly travellers ran circles around him until the poison worked its deadly ways. The brothers behind were younguns who were similiarly dispatched with missile weapons, and the travellers managed to rescue our delicious captive.

However, after they rested, their leader was slain by a group of xvarts, and turned into a pile of dust. We are safe once more.
-
Fortunately, I had a save before talking to Dynaheir... :D
And that's how it went. Tiax is quickly becoming hugely useful, and levelled up around here. His backstab took out several gnolls. Eldoth is becoming a good archer with the gloves of dexterity. Nahal levelled up to four, and Dynaheir was also level four when we picked her up.

I didn't use cheese to lure the chieftan's mates out. I actually WANTED the chieftan to come out so I could Charm him, but, well, he didn't want to. Not my problem.

Before doing the stronghold, we cleared out the area before it too, returning the dead cat and hunting two more winter wolves (with the ghast, of course). Another 1000GP is on the way.

Tiax seems to have a strange problem. When we picked him up, he had four level four spells, but when he levelled up in Cleric, he LOST a spell slot. Strange, no? Also, Eldoth has two flavours of Fire Arrows, one of them is normal and the other has +2 THAC0. I think the latter was from Indira. Lastly, Dynaheir babbled to me about her journal (I guess it's the BG1NPC mod), but when I told her we'll look for it my journal updated with an entry about Drizzt (whom we haven't met yet). How odd.

Everyone is utterly out of spells and missiles now, so we have to hightail out of there before somebody comes along and kills us. Still, things are looking up...

Yeah, that line about Drizzt is an error. I told cmorgan about it and sent him a couple of save files. Weird bug.

I hate to say this, but... I can't WAIT to see who dies next!

I take it you chose not to restore BG1 walking speeds and do not have Hard Times installed, either. Either of those would make your game even more of a nightmare. Not that I'd mind seeing anyone try it...

Good to see you are still making progress. I guess the southern part of the map could be your best bet to clear out for EXP.

Tiax had four level 4 spells? A typo?

DM I love you - simple as that!

Going after the Gnoll's with only three People...thats really ballsy!

Cheers!

Gnoll fortress is very easy if you have a few sleep spells. Gnolls always fall for that.

I tried to make Xan a F/M but it turned out that he no longer can use his moonblade when he is a F/M. BUT, I had Xan BG2 mod and it had a version of the moonblade usable by F/M Xan. So I threw that item to TuTu's override folder, CLUConsoled it and voila! Xan was a proper F/M with his Moonblade.

Though I had to change him for Dynaheir, she is a sorcerer in my game and my wild mage can throw fireballs with her now. Two fireballs, pretty much clears out anything in a blink. Plus she romances my PC and is a decent sort. So much better than the gloomy elf, even with shield spell, a decent shield, protection from evil etc. the guy dies pretty easy when forced to melee. It may be du to the fact that I play SCS and play on hard difficulty, but, heh. :)

I'm getting rather depressed at this game...many things has happened. I shall attempt to recount them faithfully.

But first, changes: I installed BG1 Weapon Proficiencies.
Justification: It's how the game's meant to be played.
Secret Reason: Eldoth can finally use that Short Sword +1.
I had to ShadowKeeper their proficiencies to what they should be, but I did it without cheating or anything.

Anyways, we left the stronghold because we had no ammunition or whatever. I'll return later with Coran. We attempted to go to Larswood, but failed because Nahal kept getting killed by gibberlings. Yes, I said gibberlings. Shut up. So, we decided to pick up Safana. We poked around for ages in the entirely wrong area, but discovered that we could now reliably take on ogrillons, ogres, half-orcs, etc, with a combination of skill, wit, and running around. The ghast, however, is quickly becoming obsolete, and for some reason even falls to gibberling swarms. We soon found the right area and picked up Safana, whereupon we went back to Beregost. She nicked Taerom's sword from the smithy at night, and when we visited at day he gave us the ankheg plate mail. Having nobody else to give it to, we gave it to Tiax.

I may not have mentioned it before, but to keep Shar-Teel happy we broke into someone's house at Beregost and killed a commoner. I've since been using that house as my storage space, and we have some good loot as well as souvenirs there, such as Xan's Moonblade. We equipped Safana up with our spare Short Sword +1, and then set out again.

By the way, I had to ShadowKeep Safana's thieving skills back. Because of TuTu, she had a freaking 100 in Detect Illusion. What the hell is the point? That skill is useless in BG1 anyway. I had to look up her BG1 stats by going back into BG and summoning her creature. I'm a little miffed, because I shouldn't have to do this. It should be a separate component or something. Anyways, she has huge Open Locks, decent Find Traps, and lacklustre anything else, which is a shame because we could use a good scout.

We carried on, and went to Larswood after a bit of general bumming around/getting killed. One such incident involves Nahal Burst!ing his entire party to death, but he was then - happily - killed by a gibberling. Anyways, we went to Larswood and killed Treven without problem - we managed to lure him out alone, whereupon Dynaheir and Tiax pelted him with spells and Eldoth poisoned him (Eldoth's poison arrows are immensely useful; we stayed in town for a few days just so he could make a decent supply). Then, we got ready to challenge the bandits, but thought we would rest first, at the edge of the map, just in case.

...

Our rest was interrupted by bandits. Two of them - two - simultaneously scored critical hits on Eldoth, doing ten damage each. He died.

...

In fury, our party descended upon the bandits, and slew them easily. Eldoth was much mourned, and I vowed to destroy the Bandit Camp and kill every single one of the bastards.

On our way to the Bandit Camp, Safana began complaining that we haven't visited her cave yet, so we took a detour and went back to that area. Upon arrival, dread wolves jumped us. One was distracted by the ghast, the other attacked Dynaheir. She fled, into the waiting sights of a Hobgoblin Elite, who shot and poisoned her...and then she got bit on the arse by the wolf and died.

Saemon Havarian: "This is not a good tendays."

Long story short: We're now stuck, pretty much, facing a bunch of hobgobbo elites, and then further down the beach we have the freakin' sirines. Things are grimmer than they have ever been, and I can't even leave the area to pick up other NPCs least Safana becoming upset and leave.

Now, I have one final ace up my sleeve: Edwin. I plan to pick him up ASAP, hit the bandits as best I can, and then run the hell to Cloakwood for our hero, Coran. Let us hope that all goes well.

As an aside, NPC corpses apparently stay on the ground. It was depressing when we walked past Branwen and Xan's corpses. Maybe I should've dumped them all in the middle of Beregost or something.

I'm going to either go to sleep, or play more normal people games where I'm allowed to reload and not have to suffer the death of my beloved friends. :p

Mini-Poll
Will anyone survive?

Tiax
Safana
Edwin
Alora
Coran
Yeslick
Quayle


Personally, I have good hopes about Yeslick. High Con, heavy armour, good fighter, self-healing, etc. Coran might be another survivor, or at least I darn well hope he will be. Safana will probably be a goner sooner or later, as will Quayle...Tiax's endurance has been surprising the hell out of me. Edwin has a decent Con, but is a mage and will probably die to some freak accident. Alora is my favourite NPC in the BG series bar none, and so I don't really want to think about what gruesome fate she'll be forced to endure.

Vote on!

You can't go wrong with Coran. Unless you get a random encounter. Those wyverns can be a handful. Otherwise a F/T pwns the Sword Coast with hit'n run tactics...

While Coran is deadly, he doesn't wear heavy armour (at least, not if he's thieving), so I can see him dying in an accident when things were starting to go well. Of course, if you are just using him as an archer, he may well survive. But the odds are against it.

My favourite would be Yeslick- although if Tiax does as well as he has been doing, he could be The Survivor.

Aye. It seems that there is some basis behind Tiax's claim that he can rule all...

Current equipment:
Nahal: Knave's Robe, sling, Ring of Wizardry, Ring of Protection +1
Tiax: Ankheg armour (AC -2!), Ring of Holiness, Boots of Avoidance, Helm of Infravision (because it looks cool), club, shield, sling
Safana: Studded Leather Armour +1, Short Sword +1, Boots of Eletrical Resistance?
Other Nifty Stuff: Arrows of Fire, 25ish, Arrows of Biting, Arrows of Ice. We also have a spare set of Plate Mail in our hideout (formerly of Branwen).

Maybe its just me thats kinda confused, but isn't Safana a thief? I was thinking of the boots of stealth instead of the boots of grounding, but maybe you have someone else for scouting?

I haven't got the Boots of Stealth yet, so she's sticking with the second-best boot at the moment. It's been ages since I've played, I've completely forgotten where I could pick up those boots from.

You can find them in one of the areas between FAI and Beregost.

Keep up the good story.

Go Tiax! Keep the updates coming. ;)

I'm almost inspired to have a go at this myself, though I only have the vanilla BG installed (with a few components of BG1 Unfinished Business). I will get around to Tutuing it some day and adding the NPC pack.

Coran has always been awesome for me, but I generally find mages a liability and tend to do without them.

Are you planning on doing the TotSC parts as well? (I generally do Durlag's Tower before entering Baldur's Gate to get it out of the way - I must admit there's something about it I really loathe, though I can't put my finger on it as it does seem quite well designed.)
I'd be surprised if anyone makes it through Durlag's Tower in one piece, though I'm not confidant of your ability to survive Sarevok, either. But go ahead and prove me wrong. :D

This party wont survive the the full game, it's as simple as that :p

@Gholam: Thanks, I'll hit that area. The party of five (Dynaheir, Safana) hit that area shortly before the fatal events occured, and we were able to clear it out quite successfully. I think I'll have a look after picking up Edwin and maybe Coran.

@Caradhas: I think there's something behind Tiax's claim that he will rule all after all. Never again shall I mock him.

@Cal: I actually have only been able to get TotSC installed once before in my whole entire life, and I was like eight back then. Region problems, you see. Therefore, my memories of all TotSC-related areas are exceedingly dim, and so I'm not going to do those areas without knowing what I'm going to be up against.

I forgot to include Faldorn in that list, but, well...we all know she won't survive. :p Eldoth dying also destroys my chance of having Skie, so that's two NPCs gone for the price of one!

Also, I'm considering ending the game if I manage to get all my NPCs dead, the reasoning being that it'll be more like a solo game than a Survivors match that way. But you can feel free to bet on who you think will die last. :) After that, I might start a fresh round, or go on to play less traumatising games. I urge you all to try it, 'tis very fun and gutwrenching. I recommend a Cleric type, because you can never get enough healing.

I just suddenly remembered the existence of Viconia...she'll be my next choice if Tiax dies.

Oh I agree Faldorn won't survive too long (does she have a kit? a wild shapeshifter or destructive avenger suits her best IMHO), but I trust Viconia's ability to survive, she has the best DEX which grants her best AC when combined with good armor/shields, she also has very good MR which helps a lot. Though she has low CON, cleric's 8 hp/lvl is not that bad, either.

I'm not playing with NPC kits this time. Might do it next run. I agree, Avenger suits her very well, and is what I would give her if/when I do install NPC Level 1...mind you, I tried this morning, and it didn't work for me. Oh well.

Sirins!
I won't bore you with how we dealt with the hobgoblin army (spells + ghast + slings and arrows), but what we did to the sirines took several large strokes of luck, and countless relaods...

First, Nahal tried to launch a Dweomer Skull Trap into their midsts. Twice it failed, but the last scored a jackpot: Silence! Two of the sirines were silenced, thus robbing them of their invisibility. Tiax, with the boots of Avoidance, charged in and managed to summon his ghast before he got poisoned and charmed. The ghast proceeded to rip everyone up, but poor Tiax was dying slowly. Safana and Nahal returned, the former shooting missiles, the latter shooting magic missiles by way of wand. Tiax shook off the charm, with very little HP in the 2 - 3 range, and managed to CLW without being disrupted. This done, he and the ghast proceeded to kill the remaining sirens. Victory!

We continued on, hiding behind Ghasty, who tore apart the Carrion crawlers. Against the next batch of sirens he went up alone, and he made an amazing series of saves (one reload taught me that he CAN be charmed), and killed two sirins before Sil even saw us. When she did, Ghasty was standing right behind her, and satisfactorily chunked her. What a wonderful little undead beast-slave this is.

Safana levelled up, too.

Yay for Ghasty! :)

Good inspiration this. :thumb: I'll be popping in EasyTuTu for the first time in my life and go the same way, all the way with a female monk. :D

Alrighty!
We managed to steal the treasure. How? Tiax + stealth. He became encumbered, however, so he put on the Cloak, turned into a wolf, and ran the hell away. A golem gave chase, but we fled and left ghasty at the entrance to hold him off. Ghasty died, but oh well. We escaped. Along the way some worgs, apparently ignoring natural instincts, decided to attack wolfman Tiax. But, we fled.

Next up: Bandit camp.

Finding the camp itself - on the Bandit camp map, I mean - was a little difficult. We negotiated through several packs of wild dogs, skeletons, and hobgoblins, but got there without too much trouble. Tiax went ahead, to scout, and brought back scrolls of Fireball and Web. These two spells should be a godsend, but they were not, because Nahal in his retarded glory failed to copy BOTH.

Clearing the base itself out was an ordeal. Every time we approached, we would be pincushioned. Eventually, I worked out a tactic. We went into the tent - the one that stashed the scrolls - and summoned Ghasty near the entrance. Nahal threw a Mirror Image on and went outside, danced for a bit, and entered again. Bandits and Targohz Tenhammer followed. Targohz was easily charmed, and he and Ghasty managed to rip everyone else (who were Horrified thanks to Edwin) to pieces. Repeat; Credu (or whatever) and another bunch of bandits drawn in. The Charm wore off, but it was easily reapplied. Finally, Targohz snapped out of it, and, seeing his friends dead on the ground, went insane and attempted to attack us. He was put down with a few slingshots from Tiax and Magic Missiles from Nahal.

The group went outside and managed to rest (don't ask me how...I assume they just set up a tent in the middle of someone else's camp), and then it's time to brave the bosses inside the main tent.

Before the battle, Safana and Tiax quaffed Oils of Speed, and Edwin quaffed a Potion of Defence while Nahal setup a Mirror Image. We charged in.

As soon as battle began, Tiax threw out Ghasty, and I left him to his own devices. He was armed with the warhammer of the late Targohz, and could deal decent amounts of damage, and he also had -4 AC due to the ankheg plate and the Gloves of Dexterity. Safana, I loaded her with what I think is poisoned arrows and shoot people. Edwin and myself launched spells at the mage. The battle went incredibly well, and was entirely one-sided, until the end. Ghasty had managed to rip apart practically all of the enemy, while the mage was falling under barrages of Melf's Acid Arrow and Magic Missiles. However, the tide of battle turned.

Tiax got hit by the gnoll, and died.
Safana was poisoned, and heavily wounded. I got her to drink an antidote, then I intended for her to drink a healing potion, but the aftereffects of a Melf's Acid Arrow slew her, too.

And then, suddenly, the battle was over; the dust settled, and everyone but me, Edwin, and Ghasty was dead (yes, Ghasty outlived Tiax!). I was rather shocked. But, being true to my word, I removed Tiax and Safana from my party, and bid my farewells.

Nahal levelled up to 5, and received two level three slots. This might have been nice if he had, oh, I dunno, managed to learn FIREBALL or something. Geez, what a loser.

Anyways. We transported our companion's equipment into nearby boxes, but took especially the magical longbow one of the enemies dropped. Next stop: Cloakwood. Well, FAI actually, because we rested up first (and Nahal got a Horror). And then, Cloakwood.

I've actually always been able to go to Cloakwood forest, the first part, because of some mod or another. However, being cool and hard-arsed, I had refused to get Coran on basis of morality. Anyways, once in the area, we made a straight dash for him. Two bands of tasloi encountered us, but we shot Horror spells at them and they fled. And then...Coran! We gave him the longbow as a gift, and he gained a wonderful, wonderful 8 THAC0. To prove his worth, he shot every single tasloi he could see to death in a few shots.

We then headed to Peldvale, got our arses kicked by gibberlings (because Coran ran out of arrows. Heh, Coran ran), and ran away to Beregost. There, we rested and bought supplies, and I pondered if we should get Viconia or Finch to join our party next.

Now that is a surprise- I thought Tiax was going to go the full distance. In regards to getting a cleric- why not both?

Oh, and I hope the ghast was getting his fair share of party treasure! He fairly earned it.

Tiax got hit by the gnoll, and died.

Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not Tiax!!!! :(

Better get Finchy, 'cause you are going to need a healer... and Viconia might be more powerful if you pick her up later on. Darn it... I was rooting for Tiax to be a Survivor. In Tutu, he has more stuff to say/things to do, but for a crazy meglomaniacle homicidal Chosen of Cyric, he ain't that bad (rather, he is just the right amount of bad to be the FR equivalent of Dr. Evil or a slid James Bond villain).

(rather, he is just the right amount of bad to be the FR equivalent of Dr. Evil or a slid James Bond villain).

A wonderful quote! And so true!

Ghasty is the main reason I'm feeling sorry for Tiax.
I second the party treasure request that Decados made. :)

We followed Decado's advice, and picked up Finchy. However, I took one look at her stats - 8HP?! A quick check of the Record Screen shows that she was only level one. What?! Why doesn't she level up according to Nahal (5) ?!

So, we took advantage of her glasses to identify some stuff, then left her. I mean, with 8HP she's going to die in two seconds flat, and I find her funny. She'll just drag us down by taking a share of the XP, anyhow. Personally, I think 3x identify/day is a bit overpowered, what with the all-round low Lore and importance of level one spells in BG1. Most mages don't have the luxury to stuff an Identify into their spellbook because a Colour Spray is infinitely better. 1x/day might be better, IMHO.

So we left her in Beregost, and headed for Peldvale, and picked up Viconia. Our reputation fell to 8 (Disliked), which Coran wasn't too happy about. I'd like to add that I have the low reputation = better prices part of the Tweak Pack installed, for the sake of my evil party. After all, they have to deal with enough crap already, they should be able to intimidate people for cheap stuff. Anyhow, after that we made a dive straight for Gullykin, and picked up Alora, who was relocated because of the BG1NPC mod. This is a necessity because Coran's skill focuses are in stealthing, while Alora's is in Open Locks and Pickpocket. Neither can find trap competently, which is a very bad thing. The BG1Fixpack seems to have overlooked her when relocating BG1 weapon proficiencies, because hers was in Spear and Unused. I used ShadowKeeper to edit her back (Small Sword, Missile). She was level four.

The party of five went back to the bandit camp to get our loot, and here I discovered a bug in Finch. Amongst our travels we had came across some books, and when I picked this up from the stash, she started talking to me - all the way back from Beregost! The conversation that ran, however, is the one about rejoining the party. She continously did this until we put the item back in the stash. Seems like someone forgetting a check to see if she's actually in the party. While in the bandit camp, we also wiped out Mr. Crush and his hobgoblin buddies. When we were done, nary a bandit was left to be seen. Eldoth and Xzar have been avenged.

What sort of stupid idea is it to have Officer Vai disappear as soon as you have a large collection of bandit scalps due to fighting the bandits? Bah...

We would keep adventuring, but Coran started whining about wyverns. So we hurriedly ran over to Cloakwood. Note the word "hurriedly", which here means "without antidotes or healing potions". You see, I had thought the wyvern area was the one directly after Coran, but...well. It is a mistake I shall remember, as you will see.

So we hit the Spider Area of Cloakwood. Three important things are necessary for this area: 1) Find Traps 2) Antidotes 3) Fireball for the Fat Thing. We have none of the above. Viconia threw out a Find Traps spell, which happily located them, but neither Coran nor Alora were able to disable them. So we drew out the spiders and got them to cross over, where we then made mincemeat of them.

Viconia is armed with a Sling +1 (we had picked it up in Beregost for a cheap 150GP!), and as such had pretty good THAC0. She and Coran shot down many spiders in this area.

Having completely forgotten which way to go we headed down, and in a certain area we got beset by Spiders, and Viconia got poisoned. She quaffed a potion and Nahal healed her, but alas, it was no use. The poison acted too swiftly, and the drow soon died, leaving me without a cleric... (looks like I'll have to pick up Faldorn)

This is the gist of what happened last night. I must admit, however, to faltering from my cause in two occasions when Alora and Coran died. I had Nahal pull some highly unorthodox endeavours that I normally wouldn't have done, getting him killed. Okay, in layman terms, I charged him into spiders. This is completely against the spirit of Survivors and it shall not happen again. :)

Anyways, Coran is quickly proving his worth. After hunting down the wyvern, I think the four of us shall travel around the Sword Coast for a bit and pick up spare bits of equipment (Boots of Stealth, Bracers of Archery, etc). Possibly with Faldorn. Then, when Nahal is of a higher level, we shall go to the mines in hopes of picking up Level 6 Yeslick. Wait, Yeslick is multiclass, isn't he? Would he be 5/5? Or 6/6? I'm so confused...

Coran is proving to be immensely powerful, and our party's survival is dependent on him. I almost wish that Nahal is a girl so (s)he could romance Coran. Yes, I'm that grateful to him.

Re Lore and Decados: If Ghasty could have treasure, then I would give him all the gold we have and let him retire in the underworld somewhere. :)

The party of five went back to the bandit camp to get our loot, and here I discovered a bug in Finch. Amongst our travels we had came across some books, and when I picked this up from the stash, she started talking to me - all the way back from Beregost! The conversation that ran, however, is the one about rejoining the party. She continously did this until we put the item back in the stash. Seems like someone forgetting a check to see if she's actually in the party.


Yeah, I got that one too. Amusing at first, but I quickly learned to leave the books untouched.


Coran is proving to be immensely powerful, and our party's survival is dependent on him. I almost wish that Nahal is a girl so (s)he could romance Coran. Yes, I'm that grateful to him.


I'm sure there is a 'no gender requirements' buried in tweaks... :p

We finally managed to trek through the spider area without further incident, and then we hunted down Peter of the North and his two friends, which shut Coran up. Then, we grabbed Faldorn (needed a healer), and continued onwards to the mines.

The pre-mine battle with Darsus and co. went sweetly. A Stinking Cloud began the battle, while Coran pumped everyone with poison arrows. A beautiful Surge that Held one of the fighters helped immensely, and the mages were struck by a Skull Missile (the poor man's Fireball). Nobody died. All in all, very sweet.

(Ironically, we have more problem dealing with average guards.)

About here I installed the patch that lets Coran backstab with longswords, because it makes sense. The first level of the mines were cleared by him alone, with the Boots of Speed and running about backstabbing people.

The second level, with the mage chick, was incredibly difficult. We went around the long way, and picked up Yeslick first (meeting Ghasty's friends on the way - they didn't see it that way, though...). Yeslick has a wonderful 61HP. The battle took many, many reloads, but in the end, Coran lured them out into the ghast-passage, and Nahal shot a Stinking Cloud. Some of them tried to come from the other way, and were held off by Faldorn (Ankheg Plate, 0AC) and Yeslick (Full Plate Armour + Gloves of Dexterity, -4AC). However, the mage chick and some goons were still in the hall area. I won't go into detail, but it took a LOT of stealth-and-backstabs.

Coran, Alora, and Edwin levelled up here. Coran I invested a little into find traps and mostly into stealth, Alora I poured her skills all into Find Traps, and Edwin got level three spells. Unfortunately, he FAILED TO LEARN THE HASTE SPELL OFF THE MAGE CHICK. What a retard.

We rested, and continued on. The second level began with a Skull Missile to the face that cleared the room out pretty well. The rest were handled by Faldorn and Yeslick being damage sponges up front while Coran shot everyone into pincushions. The crazy half-elf reached about 120 kills around here. Clearing this level was overall quite easy.

And then, the big bad himself. Daevaeron. Alora managed to find and clear the Phoenix Guard traps, which made the battle a lot easier. Yeslick charged in after casting Spiritual Hammer, eager to get his revenge. Nahal and Edwin supported with spells (nb: Edwin had learnt Slow from Natasha, but didn't come into play here). However, just as Daevaeron was about to die, being plummeted by Magic Missiles, he managed to shoot a Melf's at Faldorn, Hold Yeslick, and summon an Ettercup. The ettercup bastard poisoned Yeslick, and killed him dead.

Killed him dead. Yeslick.

We managed to slay both ettercup and mage, and Faldorn was running low on HP. We cured her and she drank a potion, but alas, the spell was too potent. And she died.

She died. After the battle.

I sat rather stunned, because I had hoped that Yeslick would go the whole way. He had great amounts of potential. I was tempted to reload. But, nay, I persisted, cleared myself of that thought by quicksaving over my previous save, and grimly exited the game. I placated myself with the thought that both of them sacrificed themselves for a cause they believed. Yeslick got his revenge, though post-mortemly, and Faldorn died for the sake of the grove.

There are no NPCs left, except for Quayle, who is the worst cleric in the world, and Finch, who is level one. There are no frontliners left, only spellcasters, a rogue, and an archer. This journey, I fear, shall soon come to an end. Stay tuned.

Don't let the dream die!




:p

This run has been so fun, it's worthy of a blaze of glory finish. Go get them, DM! :)

Facing the Spiders on Iron-Man mode without any preparation is way dense!
If you leave the dead to remain dead, you should be more considerate toward our party!

Poor, poor Viccy!

Did you have ToTSC? Well, Durlag's tower can be extremely tricky and can end up killing whole of your party in the blink of an eye, if you act carelessly just for a second. Werewolf island also is difficult, especially what with the Greater Wolfwere bug in BG2 engine. Fun for the whole party! :D

He said earlier, no, which is just as well, really.

Go Coran!

Hmm, then it can be doable. But still it is going to be challenging. Already you have lost most of the major NPCs. A shame, really.

I want more updates...aaand, by chance, do you plan to continue this playing style to BG2:SoA and eventually to ToB? Which will be a lot harder as there are fewer NPCs available and game is much more difficult and less forgiving, with enemy mages/liches throwing death spells like confetti. :p One failed saving throw and the NPC is gone for.

Worry not, updates will be forthcoming.

I'm not currently planning to carry this onto SoA/ToB. However, I think it'll actually be easier, considering how powerful the party is by that stage. It's true that there are fewer NPCs, but it's also true that the encounters are scaled to level, so there's none of the dramatic "OMG! Vampric wolf at level one!" business you get in BG1. Also, party members have a much higher HP pool, so it's unlikely that they'll die from unlucky criticals (as Eldoth did, for example).

So: not planning it, but maybe.
(characters like Keldorn, Korgan, and Edwin are highly overpowered anyway...)

just be careful which mods you use. i had one(dont know which) that made wolves uber-bad. had 1 single wolf kill of 6 3rd level characters. we must have hit him for 100hp worth of damage & he never stopped.

I hate to say this, but... I can't WAIT to see who dies next!
Harsh ... but fair.
:clap: