Wow Lou! That particular fight there has always been tough for me even with a party of 5 or 6. You did it with 2...lol! Awesome bro.

I pointed this out in the other thread, but with HoW installed (the GOG version includes it), the opposition school to Conjuration is now Invocation (evocation spells). This means you'd miss out on a lot of good attack spells.

I saw your reply (and that sucks!), and as in the other thread I'd recommend going straight mage to have access to all the spells, especially if you're only going to have one, or perhaps a bard with it. If I was going with a mage and a bard, I would focus on a sphere that complimented his buffs and such maybe?

The worse stats and less warrior levels made physical combat less useful and made using spells necessary. I used quite some spells per day slots for raising the lower stats with bull's strength and cat's grace (the bard's favorite spell) and carrying capacity limits made inventory handling more complicated.

Here some info about the party (made from 6 of the 8 pregenerated characters) who defeated the demon without reloads and 12 resurrected characters during the game on day 100 (stats before the last battle):


human LG paladin
str 18/39 dex 16 con 17 int 10 wis 14 cha 18
2,764,527 XP, Level 17, HP 109
1248 kills, 46 percent of party XP, died 3 times


half-elf CG cleric
str 13 dex 16 con 16 int 10 wis 18 cha 14
2,765,098 XP, Level 20, HP 87
366 kills, 12 percent of party XP, died 2 times


human TN druid
str 12 dex 17 con 16 int 9 wis 18 cha 15
2,764,338 XP, Level 19, HP 78
447 kills, 17 percent of party XP, died 0 times


halfling CG thief
str 15 dex 19 con 16 int 11 wis 9 cha 12
2,760,204 XP, Level 22, HP 80, died 3 times
480 kills, 13 percent of party XP


human NG bard
str 13 dex 16 con 16 int 15 wis 9 cha 15
2,756,764 XP, Level 22, HP 81
87 kills, 1 percent of party XP, died 3 times


human LN mage
str 10 dex 18 con 16 int 18 wis 11 cha 9
2,761,110 XP, Level 17, HP 52
297 kills, 7 percent of party XP, died 1 times


deaths:
#1: cleric died when interrupted by lizardmen when resting in Dragon's Eye
#2-4: the great dwarven trap in Dorn's Deep killed paladin, thief and bard
#5: paladin made hopeless by a wailing virgin cry and killed by a drowned dead in Burial Isle caves
#6: virgin wail in Burial Isle caves caused 38 damage to the bard
#7: rhemorhaz in Gloomfrost cave killed the healthy thief with one hit
#8: harpies in TotL NE tower killed the mage
#9: bard got teleported away and killed in the crypt
#10,11: paladins and clerics died from cone of colds by the Luremaster after a bug enforced redoing the previously flawless victory
#12: thief stoned by a trap down near the HoW final battle

Kmonster, as always man, nice job. Enjoyed reading your exploits through IWD. Thanks for sharing bro.

UPDATE: Initial Area of Dorn's Deep

Not much happened here other than killing some Orogs, Orcs, and Myconids. Party met Bandoth the Recluse who hired us to find his missing Razorvine Extract as well as his missing apprentice. We agreed. Now this was actually one of the closer calls I've had cause I was extremely careless. I sent my party to the southern caves where I knew a contingent of Ettins were hanging out along with the extract.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind060.jpg

The Ettins can really hit hard so, being the thief lover that I am, I sent Valahir ahead to do a few backstabs to soften them up before bringing up the rest of my party. I had him just backstab and then run around till he could restealth. There wasn't as much room as I would've liked so things got a bit hairy...

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind061.jpg

You can't see Valahir cause he is surrounded. Thankfully his stealth engaged just in time. He was stuck though he was able to get one backstab on all of them. Mage time. I sent Tyrianna up and had her shoot a fireball into the group.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind062.jpg

Unfortunately it only killed two of them. So Valahir finished off one...

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind063.jpg

The rest of the party mopped up the last one...

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind064.jpg

As you can tell, Valahir got beat on quite a bit. Okay, we returned the extract back to Bandoth for nice reward and bought a few items from him as well. Time to go deeper into Dorn's Deep. Along the way I laid out some more Ettin's. Laid out this dude in one shot!

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind065.jpg

Party arrives in the Main Hall. There's an ambush up ahead. This section went way smoother for me than the last area. I had Valahir equip his Messenger of Sseth bow along with +1 Piercing Arrows(nasty) in which he had around 20 I think. I hasted the group sent Valahir up alone...lol. I know, I'm a complete moron. I immediately have him pepper the 2 drow mages. The piercing arrows are nasty. They went down fast.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind067.jpg

But now I had some uglies on my doorstep. I pull Valahir back and send my slashing-immune booring beetle druid forward. Thankfully the whole group of uglies takes the bait and goes for my druid.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind068.jpg

But there were still some archers back there which my mage promptly fireballed.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind069.jpg

Once the dust cleared, I sent Valahir forward into the shadows. He found a scared orc.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind070.jpg

Valahir jumped out of the shadows and said BOO!!! I think it was appropriate considering Halloween is just around the corner!

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind071.jpg

I sent the rest of the party up to take care of the remaining threat. Nobody took any damage though that is due to complete luck cause my skill is dependent upon luck...lol. Afterwards, my party had to rest. Haste is so exhausting.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind072.jpg

Okay, I decided to explore to the right side. Valahir scouted ahead and backstabbed an Org general.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind073.jpg

That pulled the whole group. Brought Valahir back to my party where my druid was waiting to be tickled.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind074.jpg

Came across another drow ambush. This time I used 2 guys: My thief and Beanbag the Mighty. I had Beanbag cast blur, mirror image, and improved invisibility on himself. I then had him haste himself and Valahir. I moved both into the chamber. I positioned Valahir behind the northern drow vanguard and Beanbag by the southern vanguard cause they shoot those nasty bolts of biting. I then had Valahir backstab the vanguard. Unfortunately it didn't drop him. I immediately had Beanbag open up on the southern vanguard while Valahir started peppering the wizard with acid arrows.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind076.jpg

Valahir was getting surrounded. His stealth kicked in right when it needed to. The two spellswords made a b-line towards Beanbag and the vanguard turned around pulled out its crossbow.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind077.jpg

Oh no you don't!

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind078.jpg

The spellswords continued towards Beanbag who can't be hit by these guys. Valahir pulls out his bow and starts firing while Beanbag melees them to death.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind079.jpg

A little bit of commando action here. That's it for now. Will update with some more action later. Peace

QUICK UPDATE: Ventured into Krilag's Cave. Ran into a Red Wizard of Thay who's been changed into an Umber Hulk. He wanted us to kill Krilag, the leader of the Orogs. We also found Bandoth's assistant, Kalabac. At any rate, we agreed to do this. I had my party pick off Krilag's goons away from the Orog leader. Afterwards, he was all by his lonesome. Valahir took care of the leader.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind080.jpg

Okay, I decided to give the 'no reload' another go now before it's too late (BG is taking all my gaming time and I don't see it slowing down in the near future, so I thought I'd better force a break). Anyway, I figured I'd start from scratch instead of carrying on with the original crew (although I may just run them through as well).

So, I rolled up a party of six, started off and promptly... had to reload. Why? Because my pick pocket attempt on the priest in Easthaven failed. I figured no big deal, as I could just run out of the temple and write it off as a source of potions or item selling. Unfortunately, the whole town is hostile, so it makes the game impossible to continue. Scratch that team.

Then I got thinking: pick pocketing is one of the skills I use on my Bards relatively often and it doesn't seem right that if I fail, my game is essentially over. So what I've decided to do is if I fail, I reload, but I don't get to try again. Success is great and I may get some items, but as soon as it fails, that's the end of the attempts on that NPC. Is this acceptable within the spirit of the 'no reload' rules?

So I rolled a new party of 6:

Khaldrik Coldiron: Male Dwarf Fighter
Uriant Valdaor: Male Human Ranger who will dual to Cleric at level 6 or 7*
Gardryk Finebark: Male Human Fighter who will dual to Druid at level 6 or 7*
Maltriet Blackclaw: Female Gnome Fighter/Thief
Lyrica Jestrea: Female 1/2 Elf Bard
Tylleryll Flaymcast: Female Elf mage

*haven't yet decided if I want to go for that extra 1/2 attack or not.

So far we've just hit the Vale of Shadows. Got a scare in the Kuldahar pass when trying to clean out the goblins, as they decided they wanted to concentrate on my mage and had her down to 1 HP. We didn't have the money for a Resurrection, so it was a bit of a nail biter. We'd sold gear and stocked up on equipment in Kuldahar prior to coming into the goblin camp, so money was tight.

I did manage to pick pocket two rings of Free Action, a necklace of Metaspell Influence, and a necklace of fireballs (from Fiddlebender). But the attempt to get more from Oswald failed, so there was a reload there, which may be contrary to the rules. But I laid out my reasoning above. I'm not certain if you can get away with killing Oswald and still be able to deal with the various other NPCs in Kuldahar, so I didn't try it and just reloaded, and gave up on the pick pocketing (no potions for me).

Anyhow, the Vale of shadows awaits. Will update later.

Coel, welcome back to the party bud. Man, you come with fantastic character names. I may have to steal some of them...lol.

Okay, so after ruminating on this for a while, I figured it's not cool to reload for a pick pocket fail. Failure is a start over, so I restarted with the same character names and classes and went for it again. Tried a pick pocket on the priest in Easthaven and failed, so back yet again to the drawing board.

This time I went again with the same classes and names (boy did I get some stellar rolls for these guys this time!), but decided a potion or two of healing just wasn't worth the risk. I did, however, try to get some items in Kuldahar. Got lucky and managed to filch the two rings of Free Action, the amulet of metaspell influence, the amulet of fireballs, and the Ring of Protection +2. I actually really wanted to try for the oils of Fiery Burning, but didn't want to press my luck yet again (I figure I already pressed it too far, anyway).

So the group is back in the Vale of Shadows and currently investigating several small tombs scattered around the area. More to come later.

***Update***

Ugh. What a time for Uriant to die. In Kresellack's Tomb, level 3, just before the final room where you meet and talk to big K himself. Down goes Uriant from a nasty underhanded blow from a mummy. I was tempted to just leave him there and put a nice stone in memoriam when we returned to Kuldahar. But no, the others would have pouted if I let him lie where he fell, so raise him we did. Just have to go in to talk to K now but it will have to wait until morning. As it stands right now:

Khaldrik: level 6 Fighter
Uriant: level 5 Ranger
Gardryk: level 6 Fighter
Maltriet: level 5 Fighter/5 Thief
Lyrica: level 6 Bard
Tylleryll: level 5 Mage

How did you handle the healing problem ? Your ranger will reach level 6 and get a first aid spell very soon, but I imagine playing almost a full chapter without healing spells like you did must be really painful, especially in a "no reload" game.

I spent a lot of coin on healing potions, and there were times I had to rest, so went back to sell loot (I compulsively pick up everything that drops that can be sold, even if it's just for one gold, so always had lots in the inventory to sell off), and rested at those times. Loooooong rests (sometimes 22 days and such).

UPDATE: Wyrm's Tooth and Ice Aquarium

Cleared the entire area of Trolls and Yeti before returning back to Kulduhar to sell and restock. Returned shorty thereafter and entered the Ice Aquarium where the party was mistaken for spies which allowed us free rein of the place. We found some slaves that had escaped but were trapped. We agreed to free them. Of course this made the whole place hostile towards us. Oh well.

We got swarmed right off the bat so I had my mage cast Emotion: Fear

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind082.jpg

My mage then fried a salamander with A's Scorcher. I love that spell!

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind083.jpg

Valahir played guinea pig so he went around the corner and pulled a large group. Luckily he was able to get ahead of the ensuing fireball from my mage.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind084.jpg

At this point I just took my time. Had my druid summon some bears and sent them forward while my thief just sat back and went pew pew pew.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind085.jpg

I continued to do this. I also had my highest backstab so far. Too bad it wasn't on a boss.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind086.jpg

After clearing the whole area we find the leader of the salamanders, Kerish, all by himself...pity.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind087.jpg

Was able to pull off a devastating backstab on him. Pretty cool.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind088.jpg

That concludes the ice aquarium. Onwards to Joril's Cave.

Well its the weekend and I am back - Well done to all of you who have played during the week. Nice to see Coelocanth back - and I do not have a problem with your re-load.

Update: Presio's Domain

Azabeth and Azaghal were making their way through Dragon's Eye when they found themselves confronted by swarms of cold wights (which cause a few tense moments - see attached) Mingled among this swarming hoard were blast skeletons, and the occasional taunting of an undead lieutenant of Presio. After clearing the level west of the bridge they made their final plans. Using her impeccable Hide in Shadows skill Azabeth slowly made her way across the bridge and into Presio's cavernous lair. Positioning herself behind her foe Azabeth used her backstab ability to land a near fatal blow to Presio and made her escape back to the bridge, where her brother (and master mage) was waiting. After seeing his sister safely across Azaghal proceeded to lay skull traps and a final web on the bridge itself. As Presio and her undead hoard made it way over the bridge the twins cleaned up the masses using ranged weapons and spells. With the battle won it was time to head back to Mother Egenia for some healing and rest. Then it will be time to meet the Eldathyn's. (Hopefully tonite) ;-)

Azaghal-Kain Fighter/Mage - Currently 8/9
Azabeth-Kain Fighter/Thief - Currently 8/10

Well, its been like a week since I last posted, and I've been kind of busy since it was my birthday this week, and playing some Starcraft II.

Good job everyone else!

Update time.

Cleared the priest tower. It was a wee bit interesting, but for Atalaya, her heart was just simply broken by the fact that there were spirits of dead elves.

There weren't really any hard spots in the tower except for getting surrounded by enemies, but the party took them on and destroyed them with the AoE spells.

Got a reward for clearing out the tower for the High Priest lady, and now Kalyin has a new sling, while Analethene gets Kalyin's old sling.

Atalaya Brightstar - Diviner - 9
Akiel Blackheart - Fighter/Thief - 7/8
Soren Syriana - Fighter/Cleric - 7/7
Kalyinara Syriana - Cleric/Ranger - 7/7
Analethene the Wise - Druid - 8
Aiko Sykora - Thief -> Mage - 8 -> 7

Resurrection Note: Soren died once, and that was because he was surrounded by enemies.

Note: May or May not do another tower tonight.