Gnyah...Improved Ilyich

[shamrock_uk]

Grrrr...frustration!

How do you keep these guys split up??

I've successfully disposed of Rasputin and the Jailkeep Golem. I have managed to get rid of the Glabrezu three times but his mates have always barreled in to ruin my fun.

When they're together I have no chance against them, yet when I split them up Ilyich and Crew will happily run around the entire dungeon to get me into a pincer movement. It's like they're drawn to their comrades by magnets! Aaargh!
And what's with *&%$ Karamazov and that dang crossbow - even with a -4 penalty for it in melee he still hits every time and four hits = dead character.

Unfortunately my three dire charm scrolls went because of their excellent spell saves and I haven't managed a successful domination either so that tactic seems to be out of the game. What I wouldn't give for a Greater Malison scroll!

Any suggestions would be greatfully received! I've spent too long on it to consider restarting to utilise Six's hints and killing them individually isn't too much of a problem - I just can't keep them on their own!

[Rataxes]

Think I've described the behaviours of Ilyich & Co in some other post, but since I can't find it now...

Whenever one member of the party spots you, the rest will immediately rally to the spot where you were spotted, where they will remain for a turn (I think, could be a shorter time) before they either return to patrolling, or, if you're still within sight of one of their party members, rally to the spot where the one within sight of that party member is located at that moment. Anyone in their party who has one of you in his sight will always immediately retreat back to the latest rally point if you escape his sight.

So what this means in practice is that if you're standing in one end of the library when one of them comes patrolling and spots you, you can make him follow you back to the circular room while the rest hang around at the point where you were first spotted for a turn before they come to aid the one that followed you. That's how long you have to kill that lone member and then move away to wait for the rest of them to resume their patrolling.

Other than that, some info on party setup would be nice for specific tactics.

[ 04-18-2005, 08:13 PM: Message edited by: Rataxes ]

[shamrock_uk]

That's not much time to do the dirty deed! Damn this good AI [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Sorry for the omissions:

The PC is a Ranger, then his current companions are Minsc, Imoen and Yoshimo. Jaheira got killed straight after the genie room unfortunately. Now if I could just grab those acorns to replace her! The whole party is about level 10, Imoen is level 9. I even tried charming some war dogs and using them as fodder to soak up spells but they don't really save long enough.

The main problem is when Ilyich and Karamozov turning up together. Eugh. I find disrupting the Deva summoning not to be too difficult and as long as I avoid the Symbol spells the cleric isn't too much of a problem.

I shall have a crack at them again tomorrow and see if the sewer room is more fruitful. (I'd moved more to the area left of the library as simply dodging around the walls a couple of times is often sufficient to give my pursuers the slip - makes for more frequent attempts!)

Thanks for the advice!

[ 04-18-2005, 08:36 PM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

[Rataxes]

Separating Ilyich and Karamazov shouldn't be too tricky. I'd have Minsc (or you if you're better) use his stealth ability to see in what order they enter the library. Ilyich is faster than both Zhivago and Karamazov, so if they appear in the library together, just wait until they return again, this time separately. Once you have Ilyich's attention (the other two are tricky to lure back to wherever you want the battle to take place since they are ranged attackers), get ready for his Classic Blunder ability, move as far straight away from him as quickly as possible (haste is required here) the instant he casts it, and you should be able to escape it. Once you're certain you escaped the effect, immediately move back to make him spot you and then get him to follow you back. To kill Ilyich you want to pull out every gun you have. Use DUHM on your PC, cast Imp Invisibility on Minsc and PC, haste everyone, use everything that will somehow help you kill him. Most importantly is to have Imoen bombard him with every offensive spell (including scrolls like Fire Arrow) she has memorized, since that's your most reliable source of damage. Have Yoshimo repetedly move away to stealth (no backstab multiplier, but at least he'll hit more often), and you should be able to kill him before the rest come to the rescue. If you still have Imp Invisibility active you might consider taking out the remaining two right away, just concentrate on Karamazov and stop only to disrupt Zhivago when needed. Otherwise, you could just rest and then use the acorns to take them out later.

[ 04-19-2005, 05:43 AM: Message edited by: Rataxes ]

[shamrock_uk]

Well I got him down to Near Death after he drank all his potions so almost there! Had to lure him right down into the room with the cages in, used all my potions and was almost there when his friends showed up from both sides. One Symbol:Fear and it was all over [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Identified the rest of Immy's wands for some extra firepower but haven't been able to repeat it yet. Will have another stab this evening, but must try and do some work today!

Thanks again for your help [img]smile.gif[/img]

[shamrock_uk]

Schweet...Ilyich is dead and with no cheese too! 3 lightning bolts, lots of healing potions, an aghanazar's scorcher and much stabbing with a long sword and he lies dead [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Keldin]

Grats! I know what a PITA he is to pull. It took me a lot of reloads to finally get him single. When I killed him I let out a huge sigh of relief, looted and quickly ran away for fear of the others showing up which they did about 5 seconds later. I barely made it to the portal. It took me 7 days to get out of that friggin dungeon. Was actually quite fun to do once but never again for me lol.

Pat yourself on the back. The dungeon and Ilyich are IMHO the hardest part till the final Irenicus - then again I never did Faldorn which I heard is impossible. Improved Torgal, Maevar, Bodhi, Twisted Rune are challenging but at least you have the option of backing out and getting more toys/spells/levels if you can't handle them. The best part of leaving Chateau Irenicus is not being hasseled everytime after you rest. Well, just keep an eye out at night in the city now if you enabled the random city encounters [img]smile.gif[/img]

Here's my pic. Wand of monster summoning was great for me [img]smile.gif[/img]



[ 04-19-2005, 01:34 PM: Message edited by: Keldin ]

[shamrock_uk]

Nicely done! I never got round to identifying that wand - it didn't seem worth the assault I'd get after resting!

[whathuh]

*Ahem*

Skull traps anyone?

Get rid of the jailkeep golem first by luring him out. Kill him, then promptly set all the traps you can (both skull and thief). RUN AWAY! Watch your game lag for .5 seconds as the traps go off in ilyich, karamazov, zhivago, rasputin, or the glabrezu's face. Hopefully, you will get more than one on all the traps. Is Illy and co really going to see the skulls floating to the side of their fallen golem? In that light, I have a hard time seeing it, and I think they might be looking around for snipers or trying to help out poor jailkeep.

Honestly, I think better names should have been in store for the three compatriots of Ilyich. I'd say Vissarionovich as the level 22 cleric, Davidovich as the monk, and Ivanovich as the archer. Though I suppose that might be a bit too repetetive and practically impossible to discern unless someone happened to know who Ilyich actually was. But as long as we are keeping with soviet middle names, I'd say it makes sense. After all, Vissarionovich would be the backstabbing deva summoner that can cast firestorm and kill the entire party.

And yes, I had to look up those names [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[ 04-19-2005, 07:51 PM: Message edited by: whathuh ]

[shamrock_uk]

Doh, I must've missed that skulltrap scroll! Ah well, they all lie dead, although at a terrible cost