2nd day lurker, first time poster... help me out here guys. =-)

[Divinar]

I''ve searched back to bout page 18.... I noticed one reply in a post hinting toward the Twisted Rune (the assult with the mages, beholder, vampire, and that other weakling)...

What I dont want to do, is drop the difficulty level in order to polish this battle off...

My Party is as follows:

Me: Monk level 12ish using fists
Minsc (10ish with that +3 twohander)
Valygar (Unsure, just picked him up recently, dual weilding family sword and the dagger of backstabbing, 0 speed factor one)
Jahiera(10/10ish with Qstaff+2)
Jan (10/10ish)
Viconia(10 or 11)

My equipment does not suck... Monk only has about -2 AC, Minsc sits at -4, Jahiera/Valygar is -3

I must have loaded this battle 50 times at least...

My current "tactic" is as follows...

Buffing Viconia with Holy Might (makes her fight like a real fighter)... I use Improved Invis on Monk/Minsc/Valygar... Animal Summoning 3 and Fire Elemental from Jahiera, as well as Defensive harmony, Minor Spell turning on Jan, Draw Holy Might on the monk, and Minsc casts Bless on everyone.

I rush in, hit 2 to start the fight... and try to keep my force near the beholder spawn... I engage, obviously some of my characters get distracted... I wind up with people attacking all over, in most cases, someone gets fricking petrified and poofs (Any way to avoid this? only have one prot from petrification slot) the mage woman does her Time stop, I down the beholder, by then someone has Ravenk(close) either dead or near death... the Vampire has sucked at least someone so dry of levels that they die... but for the most part everyone is looking in good shape. This is where it all goes to hell. Shanglar casts his timestop. My protections fade on everyone... time resumes, and instantly 3 or 4 people die. Leaving me with my monk(damn I love this character) and usually Viconia.... obviously I am not going to be able to deal with a vampire, a pit fiend, a mage, AND Shanglar with only my monk (who has lost at least 4, usually more levels by now from the Vampire)... I die... rinse, lather, repeat....

I am getting good at keeping everyone near full life, dispatching the Beholder(hoping no one goes *poof!*) and usually killing the vmapire or other char.... but as soon as that second timestop ends, I have 1 or 2 people left due to whatever the hell Shanglar casts during it)

Any thoughts on this?.... I am defintely one stubborn SOB and I don't want to have to come back 3 levels later or puss out and kill the difficulty...

Any thoughts and ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks again.


-Div

[Madman-Rogovich]

Firstly WELCOME!!!!!!!

and secondly do you mean the lich and compadres in bridge district????

[CmdChicken]

Urm, AFAIK you can't leave without getting something from a dead errr, thingy. (Never did it myself) I'd...uuhhhh....wait until someone who knows stuff to answer you? [img]graemlins/1dizzy.gif[/img]

[Divinar]

The bridge District, yes....


The fight with the Twisted Rune that required a Rogue Stone to go fight...

Technincally, I paid what could have been 1500 gold to get my ass handed to me 50+ times.... heh...

[Sir ReGiN]

SPOILER
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You might want to concentrate on killing the mages first..
Dispel magic is extremly useful, and protection form evil, makes you invisible for the pit fiend..
Do you have that amulet you get from renal Bloodscalp?
If you do, that makes you immune to level drain..
Also, the priest spell, Negative plane protection, makes you immune to level drain..
So You should load to a save where your in the cisty, look through Viconia's spells, and then go in again..

[Micah Foehammer]

Try putting Negative plane protection on the person who squares off against the vampire. that should solve the level drain problem

Try putting spike growth or some area effect spell that does damage for a few rounds near the mage .. that might disrupt her spell casting a bit.

Potions of magic blocking and magic shielding can help as well.

Try buffing up more with Protection from evil 10', Bless, Courage, etc.

Also, try staying back in the first alcove and let the bad guys come to you. You can buy another round or two of spells since they can't cast while moving.

You could also equip your best fighter with the shield of balduran and have that character go toe to toe with the Beholder. The reflected spells can actually affect not only the Beholder but other members of the evil group. Shied of Balduran is available from one of the two special merchants on the special edition cds.

Hope these help out.

[Lord Ludtke]

I believe Jaheria should have insect swarm around level 10, which is very effective for disrupting spells from multiple MUs. Cast that and then get the hell out of the main room, back to the doorway. Let the summons do some damage and keep em coming. The lich will teleport over towards you so you can concentrate on it(although it is protected to the nuts, so try to remove some of them).

Minsc berserking vs. Beholder should be next, who is hopefully somewhat damaged. Vici can animate dead for some fodder and reapply protective spells.

IMHO, I think you did this one a wee bit early but hope you prove me wrong.

[J'aran]

A very handy thing to do here is to have your thief, Jan in this case, set some traps in the first alcove. So if Shangalar teleports in, he will be severely damaged or even instantly killed if you're lucky. The battle will be lots easier once the lich is out of your way.

This works best with Yoshi's special snares though. Dunno if Jan will be as much help here.

Another time-proven tactic is to cast some delayed-blast fireballs into the main room around the table before you trigger the fight, but I guess your level is too low for that. Maybe you'll just have to wait a bit.

Hope I was of some help here. Good luck.

[Divinar]

/sigh


yeah, I may be forced to accept the fact that its just too soon for me to be able to win this battle...

What also doesnt help is the fact that I have been utterly raped in terms of hp rolls on levelups... My main character (monk) has less overall life(92) now at level 11 or 12 whatever he is, than an Elven Archer I just created to attempt to solo with, and that Elf is no more than level 7 and started with 97 life... go figure.

Odd thing is, the Monk has more starting constitution than the Archer...


Anyway, thanks for the ideas... I know a couple characters have traps, I'll play with those a bit...

I've done all the quests, so I'll probably want to find out where I put that Amulet from Renal... I'll also download the merchants, and give Valygar that shield to play with the Beholder...

I am fairly close to actually finishing the battle, these tips might just be the edge I needed.


Thanks again!

[Darkscar]

Ok this one works for me evey time.Get jan to walk around the VERY edge of the room, then shangalar does not appear.Get jan toser loads of traps next to where the mage appears.Get Jaheira to cast pixie dust on your whole party and hide them in the doorway.Then get your best fighter and use a scroll off magic resistance and a scroll of protection from undead.Then send your fighter in.The mage will hopefully be killed by the traps.Then attack the beholder whos attacks will not harm you.Then kill of the fighter who will be the only other one who can see you.The vampire and lich will not be able to see you and you can kill them at your own pace.Finally remember not to use the pro undead scroll before the Dialogue as the lich will then not bee able to see you.Also remember to pick up the mages staff as it is the best staff in the game.T leave get the beholders eye and drop it in the cauldron.Then use the machine and your free!