Just thought I would share my rather shameful experience at the elven city here. So here goes...
There I was, flipping the walkthrough which said by this time, my party should be so experienced that whacking this pest would not be a problem. Confidently, my party entered the forest. Save game.
My priests casted the usual spells: Chaotic Commands, Defensive Harmony, Bless, Chant, Death Ward, Blade Barrier. My mages? Resist Fear, Spell Immunity (Abjuration), Protection from Magic Energy, Stoneskin, Improved Invisibility.
My fighters? Belt of Inertia Barrier and Simulacrum (Vhailor's Helm).
Then, we strode confidently to listen to the braying of that detestable dragon, and couldn't wait to whack it. Battle began soon enough.
To my satisfaction, Lower Resistance and Breach spells knocked the darn creature. But just as my fighters menacingly charged forward (kensai activated Kai ability for good measure), the entire party was stuck! All the dragon had to do was breathe some yellowish vapour and we were all completely stuck
Missile weapons had no effect on the beast and I watched helplessly as the vapour and then the dragon itself slowly annihilated my beloved party of Minsc, Jaheira, Viconia, Jan and Imoen.
Reload. Tried casting magic swords... swords were caught by yellowish vapour and again, no damage could be done from far (too near and again the party was caught in the vapour).
After several reloads, I did the shameless act.
Yup, because I had installed TOB and my party had started gaining special abilities, I got Jan to place a spike trap and 2 other traps out of the dragon's view but yet reasonably close.
To cut the story short, the spike trap itself did smtg like 70+ pts of damage, and the normal traps finished off the beast.
So the fight was won, but I felt anything but victorious. In fact, I felt real lousy, but was too sick of seeing the whole scene over and over again, to replay it the honourable way.
That explains why I'm doing SoA one more time. This time, I sure hope I make it through the right way. Wish me luck...