[Mahlennacht]

Just relating a little incident that got me happy -

Recently I accidentally created my own quest. In the past I would have reloaded in this situation, but I think I'm starting to understand a little of what roleplaying is all about. Sorry this excerpt may be long; I was just so pleased with the outcome of the battle - it couldn't have been scripted better - that I tried to write it down as a story, forgive my neophytic, 4:00 AM prose - the battle was Kangaxx:

"...Kangaxx kept firing Imprisonment spells at Nalia, but her Spell Immunity miraculously blocked them. Jan unleashed the Ring Of The Ram and slammed the demi-lich back into the far corner, inflicting major damage. At this moment Jaheira's second fire elemental made its way round the corner and attacked Kangaxx. Nalia quickly cast a third batch of Melf's Minute Meteors and resumed throwing them relentlessly; Kangaxx must be near death by now. From my safe corner I urged Jan to throw what Meteors he had left, to help make sure the demi-lich wouldn't have a chance to recover. Also, I wasn't sure how long Nalia's second (and last) Spell Immunity would last - I had lost track of time in the excitement. We had to hurry.

Kangaxx saw the fire elemental raising its flaming arm, and Imprisoned it before the elemental could strike. Nalia hurled her Meteors as hard and as fast as she could. Jan took a step closer and threw his Meteors with all the strength his little body had. At that moment Nalia threw the final strike, and Kangaxx finally disintegrated into dusty ash. As I shouted in triumph, I thought I glimpsed a fast-moving dark blur traveling through the air. Suddenly Jan disappeared, the air seeming to swirl where he had been a moment before.

We were stunned, then I realized what had happened. In the last fraction of a second, when Nalia's fatal Meteor was literally inches away from Kangaxx's skull, the demi-lich managed to get off one last Imprisonment; whether he aimed at Jan accidentally, or purposely due to the lack of effect upon Nalia, I do not know, but there was no doubt that Jan had been teleported deep underground.

I couldn't believe it - we had Kangaxx killed - we were safe! I slumped on the steps. Jan was gone. I felt responsible - it had been my idea to take on Kangaxx. I admitted to myself I was perhaps a bit drunk with bravado after our earlier success with the previous three liches - but I had no experience with a demi-lich.

I had decided some time ago that Jan's service with us would soon be over; when we would go to rescue Imoen, we would have no room for a seventh party member, and I would have to leave Jan behind before we made the trip, as the least essential member of our group. But I didn't want his last job for me to end with him being imprisoned in the depths of the earth forever.

After Kangaxx, I had planned to use Jan's talents to help us vanquish the two dragons we had encountered earlier. A few days ago, before our sleep, as Minsc was combing Boo for fleas, I called together our spellcasters to devise a strategy for attacking dragons. Nalia told me that 3 years ago she had been sent by her aunt to a wizard's seminar. 'One of the speakers was a tactician who went by the name of Dundee, something,' she recalled. She sheepishly admitted to sleeping through most of the presentation but did rouse herself for the final recap, and remembered that the most important thing to do when fighting dragons was to first lower their formidable magic resistance, and to lessen their chances of saving against spells.

After much discussion we nervously settled upon a salvo of spells to hopefully accomplish this: Viconia could first cast Magic Resistance, which by a quirk would actually lower a dragon's very high magic resistance to only about 30% by our calculations. Nalia would then immediately follow with Lower Resistance which should leave the dragon with only about 5% magic resistance. Meanwhile, Jaheira would be casting Insect Plague, to disable any attempts by the dragon at spellcasting, and to lower the dragon's saving against spells, Minsc would cast Doom, coupled with the remaining spell in that first wave, Greater Malison, which would have to be cast by ... Jan. It would probably be too late for Nalia to cast it after her Lower Resistance was on its way. No, this plan required 5 spellcasters.

Now that plan was ruined, with Jan gone. I felt there was too much risk without his Greater Malison, and Magic Missiles; the dragons would have to wait. Perhaps Imoen could learn the Greater Malison spell if and when we got her back, and we could still have a go at the dragons then ... so the plan was still feasible, but of course, I felt remorse at Jan's loss. I could not stand the thought of leaving him buried alive, mentally twiddling his thumbs for eternity, and what was worse, all alone, with no one to talk to. Besides the fact he had our Glasses of Identification. And our Wand of Cloudkill.

Then Nalia came up to me, with one of her notebooks opened to a page. She said 'Wait, I think I can bring him back! There's a very high level spell called Freedom; supposedly it's able to reverse the effects of an Imprisonment spell.'

We spent the rest of the day visiting every shop and street merchant in Athkatla, looking for this Freedom scroll. I didn't care how much it cost, I had to free Jan. It was my impatience that led me to push him into getting too close to Kangaxx, so he could get a better shot with the Melf's Meteors, which wasn't necessary - Nalia had another two castings of MMM's left, and her Spell Immunity would have lasted for another four rounds - more than enough time, as it turned out.

To our dismay, not one seller in the whole of Athkatla had a scroll of Freedom - not even in Ribald's Adventurer's Mart, which otherwise had a particularly comprehensive selection. I asked Ribald if he knew anyone who had a Freedom scroll, and indicated the urgency of the matter. He took me aside and quietly told me that he was expecting a new shipment of very exotic items, including scrolls, within a few weeks, and I should try my luck then - otherwise, I would probably have to go outside Athkatla to locate this scroll.

We returned to Kangaxx's tomb again, and with the hilt of Daystar I rapped several times on the steps where Jan had stood. Calling downwards, I reassured Jan that I would not abandon him, that we would find a way to get him out, but he would have to wait some time. With that, we left the tomb for now, hiding his Flasher Launcher crossbow under a table in the room above, so we could readily return it to him once we had him back. As we went out the door I wrote a reminder in my journal - 'Free Jan from Imprisonment'..."

(So try not to reload unnecessarily - with a bit of imagination you might like a good setback now and then [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] )