The journal of Detheriel (full of spoilers)

[shamrock_uk]

No, he was just an ordinary ranger, the leather armour was for the stealthing. It was the only way to move around Chateau Irenicus without getting killed every 5 minutes, and also helped me to plan my assaults with some scouting. Minsc claimed he was just as good, but there are some things it's best to do yourself I think!

When I returned to it, I felt a bit dissatisfied with my character. Basically, I just made the usual dual-wielding fighter character masquerading as a ranger. So that, coupled with the fact that I never ever use bows in any of my games, convinced me to try an archer.

Now the remaining decision is do I dual-wield a dagger and short sword, or strap a two-handed weapon across my back...

Oh, and unfortunately windows really doesn't like not being at the centre of things, so may have to reinstall it all

[ 06-13-2005, 09:42 PM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

[shamrock_uk]

Lol El_Kalkylus, there will be an amusing tale in the next journal entry that shows how good (bad?) a ranger Detheriel is!

As for evil, I'd certainly love to do it, but think this will keep me busy for a while! If I ever find myself bored with this game, I might set up a parallel evil one (got to love multi-installs ). I certainly would enjoy fleshing out Valen for one, given her dialogue is quite sparse.

I'm all set now, just seeing if I can get these problems with Saerileth fixed before I continue on. I'm a bit wary of carrying on regardless in case it manifests itself into something worse that seriously disrupts my game (plus it would get a bit annoying [img]smile.gif[/img] ).

Edit: Huzzah! I was being stupid. After a day of windows installation woes, I didn't think of the obvious - thanks to the guys at Chosen of Mystra for such a quick response [img]smile.gif[/img] Detheriel is back on his journeys

[ 06-13-2005, 10:21 PM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

[Sillara of the Tamari]

I am looking forward to finding out how it goes!


Sillara

[Marty4]

Originally posted by shamrock_uk: Now the remaining decision is do I dual-wield a dagger and short sword, or strap a two-handed weapon across my back(

Why not just take a longsword, and use single weapon proficiency? I recently ran an archer through the game, and if I needed a spare tank he was almost as good as my main tanks with his boosted single weapon AC (and an awesome longsword, but I wont get into that).

BTW, great story thus far.

[shamrock_uk]

Longsword it is [img]smile.gif[/img] Changes to the game are an upgrade of Saerileth from v3 to v5 and the specialization of my ranger to an archer as detailed in another thread.

Part 1 of the next journal entry is below and I have notes taken for part 2. I would normally wait and give you the whole entry, but it's taken me a good two or three hours to write this much and I have a party to go to now. Seeing as you've had to wait so long, I thought that half might be better than nothing! Unfortunately, the screenshots for part 1 seem to have been lost in the move between Windows installations, but I have plenty taken for part 2 [img]smile.gif[/img]

Without further ado and many apologies for the delay:


30 Mirtul, 1369 Part 1

I am in a black mood. Utterly foul in fact. The day started so well: we arrived in Imnesvale in sunshine and morning mist, and were sent by Minister Lloyd to find out who was responsible for the deaths that have been plaguing the town. He's a good man at heart, if a little overwhelmed by events beyond his control. He does his best to keep order and calm the townsfolk though and should be commended for it. Having heard that some ogres were responsible we headed off to their camp, but upon speaking to this surprisingly intelligent creature it became clear that he was not responsible, which Saerileth confirmed with a quick spell.

We decided to press on and find the ranger's cottage but found slightly more than we bargained for along the banks of a picturesque brook: a huge tiger. It was a magnificent beast; graceful and powerful. Restraining my companions and their weapons, I confidently strode forward, talking softly to it. As a fellow creature of nature, I told him, he had nothing to fear from me. Suffice it to say that the tiger was not impressed.

Yoshi, of course, found this all terribly amusing and could not contain his snickering. Saerileth on the other hand...well actually I'm not sure if she does have a sense of humour...she's always so serious! Certainly a good thing this time though, as she threw herself in front of me, taking a mighty swat by a paw on her shield that sent her tumbling. Obviously I'm forever doomed to empathise with nothing larger than a rat.

We found the cottage just around the bend. It looked nice enough, but a bit dark and stuffy for my tastes - it needs some larger windows! We found two pieces of the puzzle here - a journal by Merella, the ranger of this village, and an adventurer named Mazzy Fentan - both which mentioned a wolf pack as being responsible for the deaths. Without further ado we set out on the journey northward to the ruins mentioned.

After several hours we arrived at the ruins in the late afternoon. I could not believe my eyes! Instead of picturesque ruins set in an overgrown jungle of nature, we found horror. The sky is not visible as the whole area is covered in a suffocating shadow. The trees are twisted and gnarled and thick branches bar any passages that might exist. We had to hack our way through the undergrowth and the branches almost seemed to clutch at us as we passed.

Then things got even worse when animals emerged from the darkness. These were no ordinary animals however, but creatures of shadow: perversions of nature with a touch like the grave. My anger rose to new heights at the damage to nature present here and I stormed ahead of the party, stumbling across a cave with yet another infernal beast outside - a werewolf. Knowing that such magicks would be beyond such a creature as her, I followed her inside and she shed some light on the situation.

Anath told me that a Shade Lord is responsible for this damage, and I might have known too! Of all the things in this world that I detest, undead are right at the top of the list. The animals that attacked us were apparently the remnants of her pack, raised from beyond the grave. I needed little persuasion to join forces with her for an assault on the ruins.

Throwing caution to the wind in my rage, I ran through the forest toward the ruins and was immediately confronted by the twisted forms of shadow creatures. I threw myself into their midst, hacking and slashing at their hideous forms, cleansing this area of their taint. Yoshimo and Saerileth made for the large mirror and were busy carrying out Anath's shouted instructions before she succumbed to the claws of the shade beasts. When the alignment of the mirror was complete, the creatures nearby were destroyed by a bright light emanating from the crystal.

I fought my way slowly towards the sanctuary of that pillar but was struck from behind by a claw, sinking deep. A chill spread down my side and I found myself unable to move! Defenceless, the shadow creatures now had a free reign and all over my body I could feel their spiteful talons digging in. Around this point I felt my vision blurring as my body got colder and I resigned myself to my fate. At least I would die bravely! I could dimly see Yoshimo trying to fight his way through to me, but he was never going to make it. Saerileth cried out in anguish and I closed my eyes.

I was suddenly aware of a heat against one side of my cheek and then a great pulsing light, growing in intensity. Opening my eyes I saw a beautiful woman clad in armour who appeared to be lit by a golden glow. It was this glow that I had felt on my cheek, washing out and enveloping me, each wave pushing back the shadow creatures who recoiled in fear. An angel! I was on my way to the afterlife! Suddenly I was no longer held, and slumped to the dirt. Looking up desperately for another glimpse of divine radiance, both the angel and the glow were gone. There was only Saerileth standing over me, who must have fought her way to my side in the meantime. I tried to struggle to my feet, but was picked up my companions who carried me down into the dungeon below, away from the hostile forest.

[ 06-15-2005, 09:49 AM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

[Gimli]

Also wanted to say thanks, this is fun reading and is getting appreciated!

[Marty4]

Nice going, but if that was your religious experience to make you dual to a cleric, you should know that archers can't dual

If it's not, then it's all good.

[Sillara of the Tamari]

Cool! Was the "angel" Saerileth turning undead? That would be cool. A good catalyst for a cleric dual, too, though, as Marty4 wrote, archers cannot dual-class.

[shamrock_uk]

You know I'm not sure I should reveal things like that; perhaps it's better leaving it up to your imagination! But yes, the angel was indeed Saerileth turning undead - it was a combination of Detheriel being close to death (therefore not really seeing reality all that clearly) and how I imagine the turn undead process to actually work.

As far as I understand it, some part of a deity's power manifests itself through the vessel of the cleric - it's perhaps not unreasonable to expect some sort of visible manifestation of that power (in this case, the glow). The turn undead ability also seems to 'pulse' at about once a round, hence the 'waves' of force that he saw driving back the undead.

Plus, it all actually happened exactly as written! Turn undead was a real desperate last resort - I was amazed it worked, and another round I would have been dead! Just a shame I lost the screenshots

As for the cleric dual, that would indeed be funny after all that Shadowkeepering work! I was only considering the dual as a way of doing something new with my PC who was a bit stale to play. But the archer has stepped into the breach and so the dual is no longer necessary. [img]smile.gif[/img]

So he's not going to have a religious experience for any kind of future dual - an archer he is now and an archer he will stay [img]tongue.gif[/img] Of course, he may well have other religious experiences in the future that are unrelated to duelling I definitely want to explore the issue in the future with this character and have several ideas floating round in my head about how this might interact with the Bhaal essence. Also perhaps Saerileth's chosen status might link into it somehow, but that all depends on what direction she takes me. The sky is the limit!

Incidentally, is there a post somewhere with background on Saerileth? I seem to remember reading one somewhere, but can't find it either in the readme or on the CoM forums...am I imagining it?

And thanks for all the feedback, glad I haven't got rusty in the break But please, criticism is also welcome - please do let me know if there are things that can be improved!

[ 06-14-2005, 08:41 PM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

[Kyrvias]

Did you try googleing Saerileth?
That might come up with some things