New Party Progress *HUGE SPOILER TAG*

[Kylospylon]

Back on Wiz8, after a trip down Morrowind lane.

My first 4 person party, currently at Umpani Base camp.

Felpurr Fighter - currently using a shikella(sp?) with heater shield, long bow for range.

Human Ranger - just saved up and got a musket, had been using a bow.

Knome Priest - bullwip and shield, slingshot.

Elf Bishop - psionic and mage spellbooks.

A few close calls in the monestary with slime and bat groups ganging up on me. Gregor got toasted fairly easily (no deaths) at lvl 3. I drew him out of the main room and managed to grab the concussion powder before the combat with him began. That combined with a stink bomb pushed the battle in my favor. The concussion powder did not KO him, unfortunately.

Arnika Road - very tough! Lots of soldier ant battles with around 18 soldier ants each time. Corners, corners, corners!

I haven't been to Arnika yet, and I am dreading the trip. I picked up Saxx who was lvl 8, he was 3 levels above the rest of my party. Annoying thing was that I couldn't afford the musket when I first arrived at the Umpani base. I thought I'd sell some ressurection powders, but Kunar and the Bartender wouldn't buy them. So I decided to take on the rogues by the bridge in the northern wilderness so I could get their diamond and sell it.... argghhh, those stupid rhinos wouldn't buy that either. BTW - I thought I was a gonner a few times when I took on those rogues, luckily I had a few charges left on the amulet of static I found in the upper monestary.

So now I've been mixing a few potions with my ranger for sorely needed funds, and gathering resources for the trip to Arnika. Having a pathetic weapon on my fighter has hurt me a lot in this game, but now that I've got Saxx, things are looking up, I've got him a nice enchanted broadsword to swing. I do take things on at range when I can though, which is almost never so far (only with acidvines).

The rest of my party are at lvl 7 now, and I'm about to head off to Arnika to make big bucks so I can afford the Umpani's flak jackets, (and hopefully find a decent staff for my fighter). Getting to the Doom might be my only option however.

I'll keep you all posted if anything interesting happens.

[Target]

Good luck, let us know what happens!!

[Kylospylon]

The path from Umpani Base Camp to Arnika was extremely hazardous. I got caught at the intersection on Arnika Road by a Queen Ant, 9 Soldier Ants and 3 Crimson Poppies, my party was level 8.

The Queen was brutal. My missile shield(5) let all of her ranged attacks in (about 5 a round). Her first shot blinded my bishop, another sent Saxx insane, another knocked out my priest, one of the goon ants paralyzed my ranger. My fighter was all alone at the end of the 2nd round, armed with a twig.

To make a long story short, I gave up fighting when everyone except insane Saxx and my blind fighter were dead. I had to run, and fast. Saxx didn't make it, but I got my fighter out with 10 hit points to spare, but since she was blind, she ran right into 3 more Crimson Poppies that even I couldn't see! Luckily I had chugged a pickmeup potion as soon as I'd gotten enough space between the Queen of Death and myself.

Buy some miracle, my fighter stayed awake long enough to make it to the safe zone just before Arnika-Trynton Road, and the poppies retreated. Just before combat ended, I resurrected my bishop to share the experience points I gained from killing 7 of the soldier ants. I did the resurrection dance, rested and arrived in Arnika without further incident. Whew!


There was something just not right about that Queen Ant, never before have I encountered one so powerful. Anyway, I'm kicking the tin cans in Arnika for a while, I need the break.

[GMK]

queen ants are just plain horrible, my second worst monster after the early unicorns (i always seem to encounter some before i get soul shield!) It seems to me though that with higher level parties the staus effects occur less, though im not sure if it's resistance based as it is a side effect of the spit. My normal strategy is to throw every single possible status effect at it and hope one sticks long enough to wipe out the soldiers. Unfortunately not very effective [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Kylospylon]

I decided to make a run for the Doom, my fighter was just not killing things fast enough.

The Golem on the bridge was fairly easy. No resistance in the Mountain Wilderness except for flying snakes and fire ants.

I tried sneaking around the waterfall Golem, and thought I had done so successfully, before he charged me when I was in the cave. Since he was blocking the entrance, I couldn't run away. I couldn't even scratch that lvl 17 monstrosity with any of my weapons or spells. I had no choice but to equip the Doom, and drink a superman potion. Success! I could actually hit him, and he went down eventually.

Only problem now was, how was I going to take the Doom off my fighter? (My bishop wasn't powerful enough yet.) Ran back to Arnika (going "ouch, ouch, ouch" the whole way). I tried Braffit's pool and found out that his pool doesn't actually remove cursed items. Whoever posted that it does, you are mistaken. Bought some Remove Curse scrolls, and they did the trick. Yay! I can camp without dying again!

My fighter uses the Winter Wand now, equipping the Doom only when facing very tough melee opponents. The Doom will become a more permanent addition when my Bishop can remove it without a scroll, having an Amulet of Healing would be a plus too.

[Nightowl2]

Crock sells those amulets of healing sometimes; you may want to try him. Also, by the trees near the small pool in the Mine Tunnels area, an amulet is hidden on the ground. Search and you should find it.

Nightowl2

[Kylospylon]

Cheers Nightowl2, I know where they are, I'm in Trynton now, about to visit some rats. The swamp is my next stop, I've got more than enough healing potions and Remove Curse scrolls until I get to Crock, so I'm happy just following the narrative. Saxx has Bloodlust as well when he needs it, but I don't use it much because my party uses magic first, ranged second and melee only when forced.

I usually find that from this point in the game onward, the enemies slowly evolve into ranged attackers, using missiles and spells more and more often. My goal is to change as the enemies change, so I remain on an egual footing. I'll still be a force in melee, but I'd like to try something different than: [run up to monster A, kill monster A, run up to monster B, kill monster B, etc...]

On another note, I killed the 5 sprites by the intelligence fountain in Trynton and... wait for it... 2 SPRITE'S DAGGERS!! This was the first time they'd ever dropped for me there (I usually only see them occasionally on Ascention Peak). I know why though, no flippn' Faeries in my party that could use them. Figures.

[ 03-06-2004, 09:34 AM: Message edited by: Kylospylon ]

[Kylospylon]

This will probably be my final update.

My party (lvl 20 ATM) now owns most of Dominus.

Things I have learned/ would've changed had I known better:

1) The Staff of Doom can only be removed (without spell) by a Level 16+ Bishop.

2) If I ever run a staff fighter again, I'd either dual staves from the beginning, or use a sword until I get the Doom. I felt far too powerless for a good portion of the game.

3) I'd have a locks and traps guy other than an RPC. In my current game, I cannot dismiss Saxx because nobody else in my party can disarm traps. While a lot of traps aren't deadly, it's the ones that take your money and destroy your potions/scrolls that pose the real problem.

4) A powercasting priest is a very weak offensive character for 80% of the game. If you plan to use magic as your primary attack, it would probably be better to have a priest/mage bishop. My priest has a lot of spell power but it seems a bit wasted.

5)Any spellbook you find that you know you can't buy anywhere has to go to your bishop, even if the bishop isn't currently studying that spell school. I made the mistake of giving the early-found Book of Stamina to my priest. Nobody seems to sell it anywhere. My Bishop (lvl 20) still doesn't know the stamina spell, my Priest has no more spells to earn, so my Bishop misses out for no good reason.

Overall a fairly powerful party, but not THE party.

[Scatter]

3) Chest contents won't change unless you reload your first entry into that zone, but the trap type can change if you reload to just before touching the chest.

[babar]

I think Sadok sells stamina. the only ones you have to worry about are holy water (1 drop, no pun intended) and mind stab (not available anywhere other than pick or monk/psi import) other than that, you can buy every 1-3 level spell from various people. crock sells all the 4 lvl and ferro sells all the 5 lvl. Banish you can get from Braffit or find some where. no other 6 or 7 books are available