Help with the Harpies(**SPOILER**)

[Peytin of Rothmire]

**SPOILER**
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I've entered the door in the Jackal cave (TOL) that leads to the harpies. These things weren't bad up top out in the open or even when I faced them in the one tower but here they're killing me (Yes-literally!!!). My bard is playing the "sound protection" song and that seems to work sometimes but not always. Or perhaps they are hitting me with something else. I generally go after the infernals first and leave the regular ones for last. I beef up as best I can before entering and have the healing and disease potions ready. I last for awhile but usually finish the fight with just my paladin and one other character that is never my cleric so there goes resurrection! Is there something I'm missing that can hit these things hard? They usually save vs the webs I throw (my usual favorite tactic) and I end up hurting myself with other area spells. If it helps my party is pal, fighter, cleric/ranger, illusionist/fighter, thief/gen mage, bard. The mages have most spells up to level 6 as they have each been through separate games. I've come this far and I definately don't want to toss in the towel now, but after about 10 tries it's becoming quite frustrating.

[Cyril Darkcloud]

Peytin, I found this to be one of the toughest fights in TOL. Try making a dash to a more easily defensible location. Fighting the harpies at the entrance essentially means being surrounded very quickly. I made my stand in a smaller chamber in this cave, putting my fighters up front to hold off the harpies while my casters concentrated on getting their spells off.

It's a long fight and notorious for making machines run very slowly -- don't be surprised if you experience this. The sheer number of enemies coupled with spell effects can really drag a systems graphics performance!

BTW - You probably know this already, but I'll toss it out just in case. Whenever an opponent tends to save against spells like web, one counter to this is to cast multiple web spells [or toss in a movement slowing spell like grease or slow] -- essentially you force the enemy to save multiple times thus increasing the odds of the spell working.

Good luck with the battle -- let us know how you ultimately pull it off.

[ 11-20-2002, 01:13 AM: Message edited by: Cyril Darkcloud ]

[the new JR Jansen]

You could also summon some stuff to keep some of them busy while you go pound on the others.

[Cyril Darkcloud]

In case you'd like to know a bit more about what you're up against here .....

SPOILER
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..... I did some poking around with the Near Infinity editor. This is what I found:

Infernal Harpy
HP: 113
Effective AC: -8
# Attacks: 3

Resist Fire: 100
Resist Magic Fire: 100

Saving Throws:
- Death: 3
- Wands: 5
- Poly: 4
- Breath: 4
- Spell: 6

Innate Spells:
Magic Missile - 1X
Aganazzar's Scorcher - 1X
Flame Arrow - 1X
Dire Charm - 1X

The Fiendish Harpies have similar stats [120hp; AC -4] and identical saving throws. They do not, however, have any special resistances or the innate spells of the infernal harpies.

Those high hit point totals explain why it took forever to drop these things when I ran through this part of TOL!

Needless to say, you'll probably want to make sure your characters are hooked up with fire and charm resistances while they're slugging it out with these critters. I found that multiple cloudkills and acid fogs were helpful here as well as they get chopping the hit points down on the harpies that I was not immediately targeting.

[Cloudbringer]

Oh yes, I remember that one! I sent my party in, called fodder and then sent acid fog to one side and ...oh what the heck is it called...the horrid wilting... to the other side, had ranged attacks going at the same time and then bolted out of the cave a few minutes later. Had to do this a few times, but finally got the harpies down to manageable numbers and just hit them with everything I had.

[Peytin of Rothmire]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Here goes...

[Peytin of Rothmire]

The deed is done. It was a combo of JR Jansen's summs and Cyril's advice on prot from fire that did it. It was aganazzer's that was getting to me. I also switched to the bard immunity to fear song and that seemed to work better then the other one. I can't say I didn't come away with out a scratch but at least everyone lived! Thanks again. I was inspired to start a related post!

[Ar-Cunin]

If you have bought any of the 'arrows of holding(?)' (that entagles the victim), his battle becomes much easier - 1 or 2 good archers should stop all the harpies - just remember to change targets.

[SirWillow]

I gotta agree that this is one tough battle. And the arrows of holding didn't do to much for me on the first time through it. I ditched them all together the second time through and did much better using spells instead.

Lots of summoned creatures throughout to provide a shield between my chars and the harpies. Lots of area affect spells (web, entangle, cloudkill, spike stones, death fog, etc) concentrated on where I managed to pin the harpies. War chant of the sith for the healing.

I managed to come through it with all 6 of my chars alive the second time, though my fighter/druid at one point was down to 1 (!) hp. That was a scare. I can see why it would take a few run throughs for most tho.