Part seven.
Chapter 4 had just begun, and I had just reached the docks of Brynnlaw and stepped off. Saemon Havarian betray me? Well I
never saw that one coming, turn undead made short work of the ambushing vampires though. Didn't want a long stay in this town, so I spoke to Simek, watched him die, broke into the festhall, killed Galvena, freed Claire, was informed of the Cowled Wizard in town and went up there, stopping only to help Ginia off the island and kill Chremy. Perth the Adept is a fairly annoying spellcaster, mostly because he's of a high enough level to be bestowed with the full stock of 'Smarter Mages' contingencies and triggers. Spell Trap, SI:Abjuration and dual fireshields eh? You're a fun chap aren't you Perth? I know I'm having a blast fighting people like you, think I'll go wait outside for a few turns if you don't mind. I did so, and he greeted me with his CL/RM/C Spell Trigger when I went back inside again. RM dispelled my Chaotic Commands, and I failed my save against the Chaos, fell to a Sunfire two rounds later.
Take two: What? Your Chain Contingency didn't contain an SI: Abjuration this time Perth? Well, I'm sorry for you, really am. I let him cast his protection spells, making him feel safe, then I cast 2x Dispel Magic and stripped him of it all. A single well placed Implosion caused his intestines to fly across the interior. With the ward in hand, I was off to Spellhold. Got the guided tour by Irenicus and before I knew it, I was trapped inside a glass tube, apparently had my soul drained from me, and found myself waking up in a strange labyrinth with Bodhi overlooking me. Met Imoen and told her to stay put until I had cleared out any danger and found a way out of Spellhold, and then take the next ship from Brynnlaw to Athkatla.
Took the east path first, smelled something suspicious ahead and activated HRDS. Sure enough, I walked right into an ambush of 2 trios of Umber Hulks, no sweat. I turned a pack of mummies and ghouls in the corridor and then went north and then west. Summoned a few skeletons and aerial servants by the book pedistal and they killed every single monster that appeared with ease. The Beholder used his Death ray and left me alone, but fortunately all he the following 3 seconds hit me with was harmless domination and slow spells, I managed to cast an Implosion which instantly killed him. Activated HRDS and every single protection spell I had memorized as well before I moved into the kobold cave. Not a very challenging fight, and the crystal shard was soon mine.
Went back south and then east, to the vampire crypt. Oddly enough, no lich had spawned outside the library (deprived of XP
). After turning and staking the vampire I went back to the center of the gauntlet. Headed towards the north path this time, not much here but a storage room with a clay golem who I let an Aerial Servant take care of. Finally got the Bag of Holding! Had been having a bit of inventory trouble up until then. Back to the center, this time took the west path. Cleaned a storage room full of Gibberlings with a Holy Smite, killed a pack of Yuan-Ti's with several Holy Smites, ventured back and answered the twelve riddles, played the place-items-in-their-correct-place game, and went all the way west to the weird portal. What should spawn from the portal if not a Greater Werewolf. Three skeletons was more than it could handle however. Dito for the demon that followed him, I didn't even lose any of my minions. Back to the center, turned south, killed some Yuan-Ti's, and went upstairs.
The second level was a blur for a complete lack of interesting events.
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More blur, suddenly I find myself looking at Saemon Havarian again. He tells me to release the prisoners, sure thing I say. A guy called Lonk the Sane holds the key. He's capable, or so he told me. I don't know, I had recently levelled up and got Storm of Vengeance, as well as my Holy Symbol (Ring with 5% MR, +1 STR, one extra 6th and 7th level spell). Tried out this storm against Lonk, funny, even with all his protections on, he still took quite the beating. Anyway, the fool forgot SI: Abjuration, so I stripped and killed him. Released the prisoners who began quarrelling immediately, eventually got them to turn on Irenicus. Boy was he surprised when suddenly six spellcasting psychos teleported right in front of him. He turned over the ownership of Spellhold to me and fled.
Saemon Havarian again, he says he'll help me catch Irenicus with his ship, I say, sure thing. Turns out Saemon didn't have a ship, turns out I have to get one for him, hmmpf. We try to "commandeer" Deshariks ship, but the whole thing unfortunately ends in a bloody mess that terminates the authority of Brynnlaw. So then we're away. Three hours later, we're boarded by Githyankis, all because Saemon carried some stupid silver trinket with him. Then the fish men come to join the party, eventually the whole damn ships sinks.
I woke up to find myself in the Sahuagin city. Was brought before the king and given the choice of assisting in killing some rebels, or die. I said "what rebels?". Went to have a private talk with one of the priestesses, who asked me to help the rebels instead. Now this presented an interesting moral dilemma. The king was obviously both mad and quite malevolant, but helping the prince would strengthen an entire race of a quite vile nature. I decided to help the prince, maybe the Sahuagin being stronger will help keep their equally mean neighbours in check.
I begun by going to the south to pick up some tooth symbol. Activated HRDS to take out some spiders and a bone golem on the way, and then played a game with some imps. A beholder was guarding the chest containing what I wanted, but his dedication to the task was less than stellar. Didn't take much to convince him that he should take a break from his duty. Now back in the no-mans land that is the middle portion of the Sahuagin city, I met rebel pack after rebel pack. These guys are
mean. So I pulled out all stops, cast every buffer I had available, and used the first Oil of Speed in a long time. Even so, the first pack I tried to face in melee nearly forced me to retreat. With a combined AC of -19 against piercing weapons, they were comfortably scoring hits with every fourth roll or so. When there are four of them, that means getting hit more frequently than you might like, especially when each bolt causes 30-35 dmg.
I killed the first two packs of four in this manner, but after those two uncomfortable encounters came to the conclusion that spellcasting was the way to go. I had lots of toys to play with: Holy Smites, Fire Storms, Implosions, Storms of Vengeance, and Physical Mirrors. The last spell alone could've given me victory against all the rebel packs, but I just used it as foolproof way to cast my more interesting spells uninterrupted. Fire Storm in particular was devastating to them, with their -25% vulnerability to fire, but Storm of Vengeance and Holy Smite were also successful in bringing down a few packs. Eventually, I made my way into the prince's lair and agreed to take his fake heart back to the king.
On my way back to the king, I met a hostile priestess. She summoned a scary-looking thing called the Minor Avatar of Sekolah. Best not take any chances. Activated every buffer in the book and ended up with 178 HP, 4 ApR, 25 average damage, THAC0 -14, -18 AC, immunity to fire, electricity, 75% MDR, and 25% physical damage resistance. The fight against the avatar was to be a melee showdown. He hit me a few times, but I hit him
all the time! Scored a few criticals, and after just 3 rounds of fighting he was dead.
Went back to dispose of the priestess and her followers with a Fire Storm. Now it was time for the king. I rested, summoned skeletons and servants to the limit, and buffed myself up in pretty much the same way I had done before fighting the avatar. The king was predictably displeased to hear that the heart was fake, and attacked me on the fly. I had my minions gang up on one target at a time, starting with that captain. Those that avoided being stunned killed almost as many as I did, the prince and his followers came in before I was finished and stole a kill himself though. Ok, the prince turned out to be a man of his words, so I was probably going to do mankind a disservice by being the same, but principles first.
Off I was with the rope, down into the Underdark! Part seven ends here with my Priest of Helm now being level 27. Good thing I slowed down the level progression, otherwise I'd be at the ToB cap before I reached Suldanessallar.
[ 04-13-2005, 09:20 AM: Message edited by: Rataxes ]