[Cerek the Barbaric]

I don't know how to save the screen shot or feedback at the bottom of the screen, so I'll just have to tell you about my latest battle without those sources to back up my account.

My character:
Gabriel Stone - Skald (Level 9)
Str: 16
Dex: 17
Con: 16
Int: 18
Wis: 10
Cha: 15
Hit points: 72

Battle - Improved Ilyich 20

Gabriel is my first serious attempt to solo through Chateau Irenicus (and possibly beyond - depending on how he does).

My strategy with Ilyich centers around the use of Dire Charm. Experience has taught me that Ilyich and Karamazov are the two characters that are most susceptible to the spell (which is odd since they are the two dwarves and should have a natural resistance to spells due to their race).

I've also found that a successful outcome hinges on "charming" Ilyich first. Once he is charmed, I simply have him attack his friends, then I retreat back to the Sewer Room until he is dead. For some reason, his cohorts go back to their roving patrol rather than pursuing me down the hallway once Ilyich is killed. This means that I am usually able to sneak back into the hallway and grab Ilyich's gear for myself. So I returned to the hallway and recovered Ilyich's hammer, club, the acorns and (most important) some more Potions of Extra Healing.

I then headed up the hallway until I got just inside the library. Then I simply waited for the next member of his crew to spot me on their patrol. The Jailkeep Golem was the first one to come by. I headed back down the hallway to try and lure him away from the main group, drank a Potion of Speed, then attacked him with my new Club +3 (which I took a proficiency when I created Gabriel). With the club and my extra speed, the Jailkeep Golem went down pretty quickly. Now it was time to find the rest of the group.

I started back towards the library, but didn't get far until I saw Karamazov. I immediately tried my Dire Charm spell on her (I had used a scroll on Ilyich). While I was casting, Rasputin comes running down the hallway towards me and the group's pet demon also showed up. Admittedly, it took a number of reloads before I managed to get the spell off AND have Karamazov fail her Save. In the past, I've always had the Wizard Slayer switch to her short sword when attacking her friends so that I would have as many of those +3 crossbow bolts as possible for my own use - but with a solo character, it was more important to use her best weapon to kill Rasputin (who is incredibly difficult to kill in melee' combat). Since the demon was also in melee' with me, I retreated from the hallway into the Sewer Room to get some distance between us. I then headed down the hallway to the left so that I could line up my spells and shots directly at the demon, but he turned around and went back into the library instead of following me down the second hallway. In the meantime, Karamazov and Rasputin managed to kill each other and the Meteor Swarm cast by Zhivago's Fallen Diva did far more damage to them than it did to me, because I had already cleared the hallway before the spell went off. I waited until the Deva was unsummoned, then went back into the hallway. Zhivago was hurting pretty bad from his Deva's spell and I was able to make short work of him with the club.

That just leaves the glabrezu. While I waited for him to come back down the hallway, I cast Draw Upon Holy Might (innate ability) on myself for an extra combat edge. Unfortunately, he hasn't come back down the hallway yet and my spell expired. So I've Saved the game and will finish him off later.

I realize some members will say this effort doesn't really count since I Saved the game at different stages of the combat and had to do some reloads and that is fine. I'm not interested in any "powergaming title" and I really don't care if others "approve" of my tactics or not.

But I have managed to defeat Ilyich and his companions (except for the demon, and I will kill him later when I have more time) with a solo Skald and without using the dryad's acorns to summon the moose and nymphs for help, so I'm happy with that.