Good job guys! Hope everyone is doing well and having a great weekend. Happy birthday Holylight!

UPDATE: Joril's Cave

My party came upon some captured slaves that needed help. Apparently the slaves are being sacrificed to some creature. My party agreed to kill the beast and help them escape. We found the beasts and promptly attacked them. I summoned a water elemental to tank one, my druid and thief tanked one and Beanbag the mighty along with Zala Natar engaged another.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind089.jpg

Things were looking good...

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind090.jpg

but I didn't realize that the White Wyrm's attacks were crushing and my druid is weak against crushing attacks.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind091.jpg

She almost went down but I was able to get her out of there just in time. Party returned back to the slaves for a reward and then started working on securing the escape route. I sent my party through the first cave and stumbled upon an ambush that I was not expecting...lol.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind092.jpg

The troops rallied though.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind093.jpg

Also found some trolls which Beanbag tanked. They couldn't hit him cause he was blurred along with mirror image. The rest of the party just took them out with ranged weapons.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind094.jpg

Kontik was next. I had Valahir go up and greet him with a blade in the back.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind097.jpg

Once again using a buffed Beanbag, I had him tank right at the opening of their camp to form a bottleneck against the pursuing black ice knights.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind099.jpg

So we only to fight them one vs one. They all eventually fell and we found some nice items.

Went back to the slaves and freed them. Time to converse with Joril. We tricked Joril into giving us his badge. What an idiot. We then attacked him for good measure. Had my druid face Joril with Valahir behind him. Positioned Beanbag near one frost giant with Zala Natar near another and my mage in the middle.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind100.jpg

Moment later...

http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind101.jpg

My party is now in the process of killing the rest of the frost giants. If anything cool happens with that I'll post otherwise Lower Dorn's Deep is next. Thanks for reading

UPDATE: Lower Dorn's Deep

As soon as my party appeared, some Salamander's started rushing my group. I had my druid just lay down entangle and we lucky enough to snag a few of the critters.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind096.jpg

I then had my druid change into fire elemental form and she led the group tanking whatever got in her path while the rest of my party just attacked from afar.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind103.jpg

A few of the fights were a bit tough here but no real worries. Those damn sentries are pain though...geesh. Anyways my party started down the central landing. I had Valahir scout ahead and ran into Seth. Bye Seth!

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind104.jpg

I had Tyrianna and Beanbag cast blur and mirror image on themselves cause I knew some thieves would pop out. They did and I had Tyrianna cast Emotion:Hopelessness. Unfortunately my cleric caught it too.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind107.jpg

We mopped the remaing thieves and moved on towards the watchtower where we met a little girl who gave us a key to the place. I hate this next part. I basically just casted haste on whoever could be hasted and charged in hoping for the best. Had Valahir target one of the dudes up top and had Tyrianna cast Hopelessness again. The rest of the group targeted someone in front of them.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind109.jpg

We took care of them without too much incident thankfully.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind110.jpg

We then entered the main complex and took care of some Myconids and Shrieker's. No problem. We then entered Marketh's level. He had the next badge we needed.

I had Beanbag blur and mirror image himself and sent him forward to pull out the hidden thieves while Valahir followed.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind111.jpg

Came upon Fleezum. Man this guy is tough. He took a few of these:

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind112.jpg

We met a dark elf named Ginafae who apparently is the sister of Marketh and she made us promise not to hurt him. We said okay...for now...muuahhhhaaaa! We also took down some more thieves and Flozem who I forgot to take a snapshot of...lol.

Okay level 2. Found and killed more thieves.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind115.jpg

We found Marketh who I agreed to let go but could've sworn there was an option to make him hand over all his gear. I must've messed up somewhere so we had to kill him and I, once again, forgot to take that snapshot. On the plus side, we did get some cool gear and got to kill a mage...yay!!!

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind118.jpg

Party moved on to Malavon's City. We buffed up and went in.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind119.jpg

We got through the rest of it more or less intact. I hate Umber Hulks though. We entered Malavon's lair and Valahir greeted his simmy with a hearty hello.(My biggest backstab yet!)

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind123.jpg

Kept my party in the entrance way and engaged the incoming Umberhulks. The iron golems didn't move. So I was able to backstab them to death no problem. The rest was real easy. Malavon reappeared and I immediately move my party to his back room and took down some adds he sent towards us.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind125.jpg

-After the dust settle I had Beanbag cast improved invisibility on Valahir and sent him out looking for Malavon. There he is.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind126.jpg

I don't know if this is a bug but the improved invisibility let me continously backstab Malavon to death without any repercussion.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind127.jpg

That's it. Nothing real exciting and I forgot to take a few screenshots. Sorry about that. Party is just collecting loot and getting ready to move on out. We'll probably head to where the Gnomes are and see what they're up to.

I'm currently playing right now so here's yet another update...lol.

This will be a quick one. Went down the well where we met some svirfneblin who needed our help. I sent Valahir up ahead to scout...zoikes!!!! This doesn't look good.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind095.jpg

At this point I didn't really know what to do here. More than likely those Umberhulks would confuse my party members while those rhino beetles tear them a new badonkadonk! So I decided on another option. I had my cleric cast chaotic commands on Valahir and sent him in alone with 2 invisibility potions. I had him backstab the Umberhulks one at time and use the invisibility potions immediately afterwards.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind113.jpg

Close one here. It took a sec for the invisibility potion to take effect.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind114.jpg

After the last Umberhulk went down, I was outta of invisibility potions. Valahir took off hoping to hit the shadows.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind120.jpg

My stealth engaged just in time...man that was close.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind122.jpg

With his ridiculously high stealth skill he eased his way through the rhino beetles back to the party.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind124.jpg

This is where I'm stopping. The rhino beetles are next. See ya then.

-

Good stuff, Cbarchuk! Man, I've got to try to remember to take screenies. Anyway...


Sorry for the long delay in updating. I was actually too busy playing to get around to doing a proper update. Here's where we're at:

Did Dragon's Eye and had no troubles with the first level. Sailed through it nice and smooth and took out the big boss lizard with a combination of Web, Grease, Entangle, and Spike Growth (an extremely lethal brew). Only had to mop up two lizards (that were badly wounded) after the spells wore off.

Enter level 2. Things were a bit tougher here. Trolls are always a little more challenging to keep down than other mobs. But the group was sailing along nicely, taking the western portion first. Talonite priests succumbed to the barrage of spells mentioned above, after being lured into the killing zone by Maltriet (my Ftr/Thief). We suffered some damage on this one, but Mother Egenia was more than willing to let us rest while she guarded. Then it was on to the eastern side of the level. Man, on Insane, I'm sure there are more mobs. Just east of the entrance to the level, where you can head south to find the exit to level 3, there were a horde of spiders, trolls, and beetles. This is one of the toughest battles in the game on Insane setting, IMO. Multiple Sword Spiders (those suckers move fast) as well as all the other creepy crawlies makes things very intense. Poor Tylleryll went down to a spider. Since she's an Elf, she can't be raised, only resurrected. That cost a bit of quid. So much for the loot gathered on the first couple levels...

Anyhow, we got through that battle and then took on the beetles on the east side of the map. I wasn't paying close enough attention there though, because a troll sneaked up behind us while we were closing in on the body down at the end of the corridor, and down went Lyrica (so much for keeping the squishies safe at the back...) Ah well, we had a couple Raise Dead scrolls with us, so she was back in the running after we dispatched the troll. Went back to Mother Egenia for a rest, then off to level 3.

Ah, Cold Wights. Good XP and not too difficult (especially with the potent spell brew we have to toss at them). Everything went along swimmingly up to Presio. At that point, I sent Maltiret ahead, shrouded in an Invisibility spell (courtesy of Lyrica), to scout the area out. Hmmm, a ton of undead, 4 Imbued Wights, and a warrior all crowded into that little building with Presio. Gonna be a big fight here.

Took Maltiret out and sent her over to the left side of the building to wait it out in the shadows. Took the party in to start lobbing in some spells to soften up the group of baddies. At that moment, Presio's apprentice shows up over by Maltriet with a contingent of undead. She decides she wants to make our lives miserable, but Maltriet had other ideas. A very tasty backstab later and... no apprentice. We all retreat across the bridge to wait for the spells to do their work on Presio's lair. Some undead managed to stumble through and came at us across the bridge. We dispatched them in short order. So now it's just Presio left. Sneaked in with Maltriet to get off a backstab, and to my chagrin, I'd forgotten to switch weapons beforehand, so she was still equipped with a sling. Not good. Presio got off some spells as the party was rushing in, so it made things a little hairy for a bit. But the party survived, albeit with some big time damage on a couple characters. Looted some good stuff from her lair, then it was off to level 4.

Monk level: strolled about a bit on this level, conned the librarian into going out to talk to Albion, then looted the locked room. Suspicious things going on here. Things turned ugly fast, and we ended up in another pitched battle. Our spell combos made short work of most of the bad guys, so we continued on to the east, mopping up along the way. However, once we got close to the High Summoner, things got nasty fast. Ran into some Yuan-ti Elites who were very accurate with their bow shots, and 4 fully buffed Yuan-ti mages sneaked around behind the party. Non-magical missile weapons were useless against them, so it was into the fray with melee. Unfortunately, Tylleryll fell again, and I don't know how it happened so fast, but Maltriet also took a dirt nap. Another expensive Resurrection (although I still had a Raise Dead for Maltriet). Patched up as best we could and continued through the level. Another battle at the banquet hall, but no deaths and the damage sustained wasn't too harsh. Found a group of Waterdavians who told us they had been captured by the Yuan-ti. The party didn't buy it, so took them out. Got some nice gear from them, including a nifty flaming longsword that Maltriet decided would make an excellent backstabbing weapon.

Off to level 5! (I'm getting pressed for time, so I won't go blow by blow on this one.) The battle with all the Yuan-ti in the southern room was a matter of lobbing in spells and mopping up stragglers. No real problems there. Yxonumei was intended to succumb to a lovely backstab from Maltriet but I forgot to switch from a ranged to the melee weapon again. Needless to say, this made the battle go far differently than planned. Maltriet was stuck in the room, while the rest of the party were holed up in the room just north of the entrance hall. They hasted up and were lobbing out spells like crazy: web, entangle, grease, spike growth, fireball, and anything else that might even marginally be of value. There were a lot of pissed off snakes coming at us. Meanwhile, Maltriet chugged up a potion of invisibility to get herself some breathing room. Yxonumei and the rest of her contingent headed out the door towards the main party. Maltriet didn't give up though. She managed to take down 2 Yuan-ti Elites and a Yuan-ti priest with backstabs before they left the room. She then occupied herself unlocking chests while the battle raged in the other room (she couldn't get into the battle due to AoE spells that would have taken her out).

Yxonumei actually went down fairly quickly to the party, but there were a couple stubborn spell casters and Elites that didn't want to take the long sleep. They were, however, finally convinced. The party had a lot of woulnds to heal, but no one died. All in all a successful enterprise in Dragon's Eye. Off to loot Yxie's chamber, then back to Kuldahar.

Yeah, so turns out Arundel was playing us (well, not the real Arundel, but you get the picture). He was tricksy, false, O yes, preciousssss. We hatesss him, we doesss. Found the real one upstairs and he directed us to the Severed Hand before succumbing to his injuries. So, we sold loot and headed off to the Hand.

More to come later...

Nice update Coel. I love reading your reports man. Glad to have ya back. Yea I've forgotten to switch weapons before a backstab many times. When I read that, I laughed out loud. Nicely done man. Yea this is my first narrated reload so I'm still getting used to it but its been a blast so far. It's cool to see folks getting in on this cause IWD is a pretty badass game. Don't get me wrong, I love me some BG and BG2 but I do have a soft spot for IWD.

Thanks to you, I've become a real backstab junkie. Already I'm thinking of another run with a pair of Thieves for double backstab hilarity. I'm thinking a FTR/Thief (Gnome, of course, because they rock) and a Human FTR dualed to Thief at level 6 or 7. Could be a whole lot of fun times playing some of that 'spine music' with two backstabbers.

UPDATE:

All righty. Valahir backstabbed the remaining rhino beetles into submission.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind128.jpg

We then entered the hidden city of the Gnomes where me met Beorn who wanted us to save his brother Guello from the mines. We also had Dirty Llew make us a shield and then had Nym the drow enchant it for us.

THE MINES:

Had my druid in fire elemental form doing the tanking while everyone else hung back and threw shit.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind132.jpg

-We found Guello who wanted us to kill the leader of the Salamanders. We agreed and I parked my druid right in front of the railroad tracks as few stragglers came to greet us. I then sent Valahir with some oil of speed off alone again.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind133.jpg

Shikata has been laid to rest.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind135.jpg

Valahir used his rogues cowl and color sprayed his pursuers and then took them out one by one.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind136.jpg
-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind137.jpg

TIME FOR ILMADIA:

I had my tanks drinking potions of absorption, defense and something else. I can't remember.
Put Beanbag facing the bridge to the west and Zala Natar facing the bridge to the east. Zala had entropy shield going and Beanbag had blur and mirror image going. Put Tyrianna and Fel'Tass in the middle. Valahir went to greet Ilmadia.

Hello!!!!
-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind141.jpg

One hit later. Goodbye!!!
-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind142.jpg

Fire giants started pouring in from the west. My druid did some AoE's.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind143.jpg

Valahir had to fight 2 giants guarding Ilmadia by himself so he got hurt a little bit but he's the only one. He then broke out the messenger of sseth and, with 5 APR, helped take out the remaining targets.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind144.jpg

PERDIEM:

I decided to try and take out all the undead in this party mainly cause I've never tried it. Had a few close calls.

Boneguard Skeletons.
-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind150.jpg

and more Boneguard Skeletons.
-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind151.jpg

and yet...more Boneguard Skeletons.
-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind152.jpg

My druid tried to melee some and she almost got whacked. I had her gulp down a potion of absorption and hope for the best. Thankfully she didn't die. Valahir leveled and obtained x5 backstab multiplier...yummy.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind156.jpg

I then sent him out with his bow along with acid arrows and piercing arrows to see if he could take out the mummies by himself cause they love to cast hopelessness. Had him drink a potion of magic shielding as well as a potion of clarity.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind157.jpg

This is funny. The mummy casts flame strike and fries everyone but my thief who evades. Sweet!

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind160.jpg

He eventually takes out all the mummies and zombie lords and the idol is finally next.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind161.jpg

POQUELIN:

This part is cheesy I must tell ya. I forgot that improved invisibility in IWD lets you basically remain unseen for a bit. I had Beanbag cast it on Valahir who also sucked down an oil speed. Valahir raced up and backstabbed Poquelin twice back to back and it was over. Cutscene.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind162.jpg
-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind163.jpg

Party thus far:
Beanbag the Mighty: Fighter10/Ilusionist11
Fel'tass Treefall: Druid13
Valahir Nightfang Fighter10/Thief 13
Tyrianna Summerstar Mage13
Zala Natar Ranger3/Cleric13

That would be absolutely awesome!

No luck this weekend - Still waiting to hit the next section of Dragon's Eye - Keep up the posting it makes for some good reading - Happy belated Birthday to HolyLight101

Hey Lou, good to hear from you bud. Look forward to reading future tales of the brother and sister duo. Hope all is well.

BELHIFET:

Not much to report here though it was a close call. After downing Poquelin, the party was teleported back to easthaven. Had Valahir scout ahead and take out a few Cyclops. Hit a nice backstab here: Bet that hurt!

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind129.jpg

Came across Jhonen who gave us the restored Blade of Aihonen. We also found Everard in the villager camp and tells us what we must do.

Party runs into good ol' Pomab. I hate this fight but oh well. If anyone has any suggestions for this, I'm all ears. I basically just had everybody except my mage attack a different form. Valahir had the easiest time using his bow. The sentries all wanted a piece of my mage so controlled her directly and just kited the sentries around the room.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind130.jpg

It took forever but we eventually found Pomab.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind131.jpg

Okay last fight. Don't really know what to do here since he dispels everything. Party entered the chamber and after a brief interlude, I had my mage cast haste on the party and we rushed the golems dropping both very quickly.

-http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j414/cbarchuk/Icewind%20Dale/iwind134.jpg

At this point we just chased Belhifet around till he finally died. Several party members got hurt pretty badly but no one died. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to this part. I tried having party members drink potions of fire resistance or cast buffs but they would eventually be dispelled. So I just did it the old fashion way. Wasn't pretty but we did it. Hope everyone enjoyed it. Now moving on to Lonelywood where I know I'm going to have some problems.

FINAL STATS:

No reloads
No deaths (Very close several times. Alot of this is cause many times I favored one character so I wouldn't endanger the rest of my party. Pretty lame I know)

Not lame at all. Well done, sir! No deaths: that's awesome. I've a tale to tell of the Shattered Hand and Upper Dorn's, but that will be a bit later.

Re Belhifet: there are traps in the middle area of the room that cast Dispel, IIRC. The traps can't be disarmed. I always run around the perimeter. But Haste is generally all you need (or have time to cast, anyway). On Insane, he also has a couple Cornugons with him, which makes things very interesting (I seem to usually lose a character or two).

Anyway, good job. Looking forward to reading the exploits of your group in Lonelywood.

***UPDATE - Severed Hand***

Just a quick update here. We entered the Severed Hand and really managed to breeze through with hardly any issues. Even the areas with those annoying Bladed Skeletons and Severed Souls. We just launched out the spell salad and went to work. Summons were a huge help with the Orcs and Gobbos. They distracted the little buggers long enough for us to take them out with ranged weapons and/or spells.

The various towers were also easy enough when using the spell salad. No one died, and the injuries weren't all that bad. Sold a lot of stuff to the Elf merchant and bought some good ammo for the slings. I did get lucky enough to find some Elven Chain, which went to my Fighter/Thief, Maltriet. She enjoys it very much (it doesn't affect any of the thieving skills).

After that we set off back to Kuldahar to see if there was anything we needed. Stocked up and went to Dorn's Deep.

Upper Dorn's Deep or, A Lesson In Humility

Waltzed in here and mowed over the myconids left and right. Maltriet wanted to try out the new armor, so she scouted ahead, keeping to the shadows. Spotted various Ettins lurking about and proceeded to backstab them with much enthusiasm.They didn't go down with the first blow, but a second hit (not backstabbing) was enough to put them under. Interestingly, every time I backstabbed one, they would turn and get a hit on Maltriet. Without fail. Either they've got some stellar THAC0 or they always roll a 20 on the first roll. Maltriet's AC is around -2. Anyway, no biggie. She just healed up before sneaking back to play a little spine music on the next guy.

We found Bandoth's razorvine extract and bought a few scrolls and potions from him, then set off to Upper Dorn's Deep proper. When we got in there, we were ambushed, but summons and the standard spell salad kept everything nicely under control. Maltriet hasted up and went looking for victims. I figure she probably took out 2/3 to 3/4 of most of the Orogs and Orcs with backstabs. It was so much fun, I was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

And now comes the lesson in humility: I took Maltriet into the forge and managed to take out both the Vanguards, the Sorcie and one of the Spellswords through a combo of stealthy backstabs and some potions of invisibility that I'd been hoarding.

My confidence was at its peak. So I sneaked her into the room with the conference table and had her backstab one of the spellswords there. Took off running for the shadows and that's when the Haste ran out. The Drow were pissed as all get out and looking for some Gnome blood. The stealth refused to kick in, so back Maltriet runs to the party with about 8 screaming mad Drow on her heels.

The party tosses out the usual brew of spells, but they know things are going to be hairy because Drow have a nasty habit of just ignoring spells. Which they did. I did manage to get a couple summons out to distract the leaders, but they weren't taking the bait. They headed straight for the party and started beating on whoever they found first.

Those pesky Vanguards had a better plan though. They decided to fire their poisoned bolts at the squishies. In no time my caster, Tylleryll was dead. Before I could get my wits about me, Lyrica (my Bard) was stretched out on the floor as well. Not good. The rest of the party put up a hell of a defense and managed to take out all but one of those damned black elves. But that bugger decided he was going to pull a Divine Wind on us and kamikazed himself right into the group and down went my Cleric.

So there I was with half my party dead on the cold stone of Dorn's Deep, a very pissed off Drow Spellsword in our midst, and I realize there's a bloody Drow Sorcerer coming at us from the rear. Two of my remaining three survivors are still doing okay, as far as HPs goes, but Maltriet's at about 1/2 health. Things are looking grim now.

The Sorcerer is Mirror Imaged, so I know by the time I chop through all those, he's going to shove about 4 unpleasant spells up my nether regions - and that's if I can get through the Spellsword fast enough. So I get my Druid to pull back and cast a Giant Insect spell in front of the Sorcerer. I'm hoping it will distract him long enough for us to take out the Spellsword. I get Maltriet to hide in shadows with the intent of hitting the Spellsword to take him out asap. But I must have had a small bit of good karma left in the tank, because Khaldrik lands a critical at that moment and takes down the Spellsword.

I breathe a huge sigh of - not relief - but less stress. Maltriet sneaks around behind the Sorcerer. By this time, the insects have been summoned and both the Druid and my Fighter are now lobbing ranged attacks at the Sorcie to try to chew through the Mirror Image spell. It works and as soon as that last one drops, Maltriet strikes. BAM! Dead Drow.

Wow, what a battle. I raised the Bard and the Cleric via some Raise Dead scrolls my Druid was wise enough to have tucked away, then it's off to get the Elf Resurrected. A helluva battle and one where I almost managed to snatch defeat from the very jaws of victory. A good lesson in "Hey bud, don't get too cocky when things are sailing along smooth as silk".

Screenie of the aftermath below - Maltriet is standing at the south end of the Bridge. Tylleryll is the empty robe on the floor just north of the 4 party members. Note the condition of the party from their portraits. This is just after raising the Bard and the Cleric.

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/z401/CoelocanthGOG/Icewind%20screens/iwind001.jpg

Well written Coel, well written. When I read your posts I feel like I'm reading some awesome fantasy novel. Keep it up bud. I was on the edge of my seat reading it...lol.

Well done cbarchuk, good luck in HoW. How many XP did your party members have when entering the final battle ?

K, I deleted my save going into the battle so I'm not sure. I just have a fresh save starting at the expansion. Everybody is between 10-13 in their respected classes. Not sure how much XP you get for beating Belhifet.