I instantly recruited Sir Fuzzalump as transmutation wizard, gave him high Wisdom and Medicine proficiency, and have Guidance cast on him so he can double-brew potions and other bottled goods and throwables. Between him and Zenith Feur'sel, the party will be longstridered and poisonproofed every morning before setting out. (And given Mage Armour and Darkvision where applicable; at higher levels, also Freedom of Movement.)
In Jergal's temple, finally found a use for Shart's Ig-miss: lighting the braziers beyond our reach. Good for unreachable candles too.
Although Shart is criticized for having low Intelligence and high Strength by default, lore-wise she was trained with heavy weapons and medium armour, so it makes sense. Before Karlach comes along, Shart is the party packmule and Perception/Survival expert.
Seven talks a lot in Jergal's temple. I always thought it was one of the companions. (And also in the Emerald Grove. And after. Was all this added in a patch?)
Of course I accompany Alfira on her spare lute, it gives me Musical Proficiency for free. Busking (playing music in the street) is a great way to lure and distract NPCs.
Halflings get a lot double! Seven just got two bowls from Okta and appeared to get two potions from Ethel, but may have got no potions. Can't note as bug because not sure (didn't count potions in inventory beforehand, but didn't see the "Item received" dialog for them).
Detect Thoughts uses up a potion or a scroll. If both are in inventory, the scroll is used before the potion, and the scroll uses Concentration, which is broken when casting another Concentration spell.
I send Lae for a far jump across pillars to find a buried chest. She has no shovel; the main char does. Lae digs up the chest anyway. (This bug is mentioned as solved in Patch 8 notes.)
Tactician is pretty harsh, half the party was lured/downed by harpies because they are Monstrosity and the scroll/spell Protection against Evil and Good doesn't work against them. (If only I'd had the Hunting Bow.) I'm going through scrolls and healing potions fast, good thing I traded with Volo for the Ring of Whispering Promise (bless on heal) for Shart. Gale's familiar Quothe downed a harpy with Rend Vision attack, woo! Lae immediately used up Nettie's wyvern poison for dipping. Also, Cloud of Daggers FTW.
By casting Cloud of Daggers on a halted (thank you Brynna) owlbear, I also shredded a backpack lying there and its contents: supply pack, healing potion. Only the gold it contained, survived.
I finally noticed that the empty wine goblets can still be consumed for two turns of drunkenness.
To open locked doors, keys are automatically passed to not only ghouls but mage hands, and disappear, as does anything the mage hand holds, when the mage hand's duration runs out. Goodbye Toll Collector's Key.
I just tried and no, I can't put a bag inside a merchant's inventory, drag stuff into it, and take back the filled bag; that exploit is patched. I have to sell the bag to the merchant, then open the bag in the merchant's inventory, then drag items from the merchant's inventory into the open bag, which I have to buy at full price. Still good for saving valuable content when the merchant dies.
I used Speak With Dead on the tiefling that was being eaten by the three ogres, which gives me a lead to Zorru and the githyanki, in case Lae jumped ship in Avernus.
I'm so glad I didn't feed Komira's locket to Gale, its Dancing Lights cantrip is perfect for exploring dark places without lighting up the characters themselves. He got an artifact scimitar instead, as no one in my party uses scimitars.
Can Gale summon both an ordinary familiar and Shovel? No, the second summon makes the first disappear, so switch out the Call Familiar spell for something better. Also, Flaming Sphere FTW.
That rotten Shovel gave me the wrong answer for the mirror, so it would purge me.
Disguising oneself as drow female makes not only the Goblin Camp, but Blighted Village a lot easier.
Barrels are the right size to put on vents. They can be piled on each other like boxes, but you can't climb them.
Before the fight with the "Paladins of Tyr" I wanted Lae to improvisedweapon trader Cyrel to another waypoint, but Elixir of Hill Giant Strength doesn't make Lae strong enough that I can carry Cyrel far enough to type M and find a waypoint. So instead the elixir goes to Berserker Barbarian Karlach ("hit a motherfucker with another motherfucker") who can throw them all at each other. I threw elixir on whole group (lasts 10 turns) and rest of group hides while Karlach speaks to Anders, happens to be highest in initiative queue, and throws and prones Anders. Being out of combat until joining meant rest of party's elixir had timed out when convo ended, oops. Note: plunder whole house BEFORE doing battle and hit turn-based when Karlach goes haywire, or loot/charas may end up destroyed/dead.
I made sure to keep Rugan and Olly safe by luring the gnolls away from them. (Olly says they should help us, Rugan tells him to keep his head down.) There are gnolls to the south, so we set up piles of boxes to stand on north of them and throw down grease. After killing them, we move the boxes to the south side of the grease patch and lure Flind's gnolls from the cave to the north. Winning strategies: potion of speed; grease bottles and web grenades; firing arrows/spells/bombs; casting Cloud of Daggers and throwing Void Bulb to draw the gnolls into it. Concentration broken and no more spell slots? Use Barcus Wroot's smokepowder satchel on the gaggle of gnolls, the Flind deserves it. Karlach finishes the gnoll who avoided the grease and snuck round the back by Enraged-Throwing a burning hyena at it, killing them both.
In Waukeen's rest, the party splits to save Benryn and Florrick, but Seven stays downstairs in the kitchen, drinking an Elixir of Fire Resistance so that he, true to his halfling nature, can collect all the food. There seems to be a standing bundle of flaming sticks in the violently burning room next to Benryn's, as if someone started a fire there. Exploring every corner of the upper floor pays off, I finally found the chest containing Hamarhraft.
In the Zhentarim hideout, Rugan invites us to come down, but we have to jump using Feather Fall; the way down through the two iron gates is trapped. The traps are disarmed by speaking to Zarys, says the internet; I bring in Astarion to disarm them anyway. Test: after a long rest the Zhents haven't left but are still at the hideout, so, reloading the save, I'll plunder the rooms behind their backs (do NOT press button even with Mage Hand, it starts combat). Elevator to Underdark room: this is the easiest, grabbing all loot without alerting the minotaurs (a myconid voice warns us). Farthest room: Seven busks, which attracts guards and wolves, while Ast and Shart (who is concentrating on Pass Without Trace) sneak in out of the sight cones and Ast lockpicks the door, disarms the chests and steals them, after which everyone returns to camp to lockpick/open them, as doing so in the room alerts the guards. Return for other room: Seven busks, Ast/Shart break in and steal chest, finally get Beckoners of the Abyss for use with ghouls later. Now to collect enough money to free the artist.
Jumping off near the Selune altar in Blighted Village to a stone bridge leading to the Goblin Camp, near its waypoint: good thing Seven had poison resistance cast on him, because he triggered poison gas mines when picking up a treasure chest. Sending (invisible) Shovel ahead to Crusher's corner doesn't detect the waypoint, we have to go there ourselves. I make Crusher kiss my foot to get companion approval, he walks off, I have Karlach bodyslam him on the bridge and all my companions show -45 approval?? (Later observation: the drop in approval is from Crusher himself, towards the party members.) Reload save. This time, let Crusher walk further so that we're outside all sight cones. Bodyslam him again (this time, it does not initiate combat), beat him senseless (because I don't want to kill the poor chump) and rob him blind. Then go back to talk to Tracker Kirz the closet foot fetishist. According to bg3.wiki: "If defeating Crusher, Kirz wanders to the main party area and reproaches the party for bullying." This is why I like Kirz.
Checked out Grat's wares and sold him bags to stuff them in. Then Ast pickpocketed the bags.
Artist freed! Back to Goblin Camp, as Astarion is not yet good enough at pickpocketing to rob the Zhents. Discovered a back passage (cross tree trunk, jump off ledge to Addled Frog) into the swamp so we can clear it before meeting Ethel - oh damn, this seems to have removed Ethel from the Grove. Ast stole two chests from little goblin outpost, one contains the unique Potion of Vitality. Won at chicken chasing and freed owlbear cub, but used persuasion, not intimidation on Krolla, so didn't get 300 gold.
The vases in the goblin stash behind the waterfall are practically the only vases containing loot.
I tried to split 4 bottles by dragging them across inventory slots, and they disappeared?? Not doing that again.
Finally looted chest behind Pandirna that rat was complaining about; Shart healed Pandirna (for the grand reward of two (2) gold pieces!), Seven busked to lure her away, Ast sneaked behind her, opened the chest, and used the key from the chest to open the cabinet full of poisons.
Shart has her own little monologue in the Shattered Sanctum, then main chara can have a conversation with her: the bug persists that she repeats, for both dialogue options, that she should still be alert to whether all these signs of Dark Justiciars amount to anything.
To avoid seeing Sazza and committing to helping Minthara, we enter the Shattered Sanctum by having Shart cast Silence on a weakened section of wall and Wyll eldritch-blast the wall. The whole party sneaks around on the rafters, collecting loot and getting good views of what goes on there, until we jump down, undetected, into the Zhents' storage room (which we burgle) where we find both a burrow hole and a crevice. Enter turn-based: Wyll sends his Mage Hand down the burrow hole where it reconnoiters the bridge over the Mountain Pass, and the Helmet of the Shapeshifter is passed around so everyone changes into a gnome to fit through the crevice. (Shart could have disguised us all, but this saves spell slots.) Eep, we are now in the corridor leading to the passage to the Underdark, and two flights of steps up is Gut's room where Polma patrols; luckily we were not spotted.
Note: although Trickery Domain Cleric is considered weak, its disguise spells are a must in the non-enhanced game that doesn't provide the Helmet of the Shapeshifter.
The descent to Selune's underground temple is even more chilling when a halfling does it, because Seven looks like he's about to fall off the ladder.
[Patch 8 has been released. I will finish Seven's playthrough before updating.]
Summoned imp to lure the two minotaurs to the gate while we hide on the battlements, and used barrelmancy to knock off a lot of their health. Attempt 1: barrels in row down the stairs; it seems the minotaurs can't get past the barrels! Attempt 2: three rows of firewine/smokepowder barrels (oil barrels don't seem to explode), two across stone steps, one to the rocky ground on the left. Turns out minotaurs can also veer to the right! Ignis'd first trio of barrels on stairs as first minotaur ran into them; this also exploded, and therefore wasted, the second barrel trio. Killed the wounded minotaur with magic missile/eldritch blast/flaming sphere, had the imp lure the other one to the remaining barrels on the left. The minotaur charged through the barrels, breaking them (a worried voice says "that won't work", turns out it's the Dream Guardian); Ignis only exploded the barrier behind it, but at least set it on fire so we could finish it with cantrips. Imp, having been proned twice, has 1 hit point left. Stone steps covered with bits of barrel. Beelined for the altar with Phalar Aluve, little earthquakes have Seven wonder if it's a bulette.
Of all camps, the Underdark camp has the most beautiful setting. Plus, the hireling potion-brewing transmutation wizard and the hireling druid are standing next to Shart so she can cast Guidance on the wizard and the druid can enhance the wizard's wisdom, for maximum double-brewing success.
Branding, sending companions first (Wyll wants to kill Gut) because once it's Seven's turn, Gut will imprison him, be killed and no longer be able to brand: I send Astarion, Shadowheart disapproves. I send Shadowheart, Astarion disapproves. I send both to camp, but first Astarion promises me a night to remember. I guess I'm romancing him after all? Recruit only a single companion for each branding, then dismiss (and also let each pet Scratch, which I think is needed to get his summoning ball). Before getting branded myself, recruit Karlach, Gale and Wyll (the "nice" trio) to free Liam and come talk to Zevlor and Kagha with me, because they'll all approve when I offer to help Zevlor, and berate Kagha; Wyll even interrupts to compare her to a demon.
Liam is asleep in the Hollow. Remira thanks me, but all Aradin has to say is "Outta my face, runt."
Sorlock and spell slots: warlock slots scale with level, so if Seven's warlock slots are level 2, but he has sorcerer's level 1 spell slots, casting a level 1 warlock spell, like Armour of Agathys, uses the sorcerer's and not the warlock's spell slot. (By default. If I'm careful in choosing the spell, I get a choice of which slot to use.)
It's raining nonstop in the Goblin Camp, not that this dampens the celebrations.
Freeing Volo: say that he's sickly and Gribbo will worry about him, threaten to tell Minthara and she'll call you a "bloody fink" and remain angry. Leaving over the bridge: Crusher is conscious again, and grumbling. He probably doesn't want to go back to camp because he'll never live down having kissed Seven's foot.
The battle for Kagha's hidden letter, latest item for this day: Karlach chucked that mud mephit good. Again the Dream Guardian is calling out directions. And it comes to me this night (with much more text than I remember), cockblocking Astarion, to tell me to go to Moonrise Towers. Next morning, Volo knocks my eye out and runs, Scratch brings me his ball (suggesting that he was indeed waiting for everyone in camp to pet him) and I catch up on chatting with the companions; Ast even brings up Raphael's deal (but nothing about the night to remember that he promised me!).
Stealing the statue: Wyll is positioned near statue, others go to children's hideout. Wyll shoots two Arrows of Darkness at different heights (darkness has to cover both the statue and crouching Wyll), hides, nabs statue, fast-travels to camp. Passes statue to Seven who gives it to Mol for the Ring of Protection. Seven buys it back. Wyll fast-travels back to where he was, Seven passes statue to Wyll, Wyll puts it back on stone (slightly off kilter). There, everybody happy.
In the Underdark, crossed paths with bulette; after hurting it enough (and using up many healing potions) it escaped by burrowing. Drat. At least we've dropped out of combat and can return to camp. Swapped out a bruised Karlach and Shart for Ast and Lae. Due to the shortcut into the swamp, found Teahouse waypoint without the cutscene with Mayrina's brothers (they will be dead when we finally meet them anyway). Peeked into teahouse: Ethel is there with Mayrina. Busked in Emerald Grove: even Liam got up from his bedroll to applaud us. This has been a waste of time; reload from save and take the path to the right to avoid the bulette for now, and find the Myconid Colony waypoint.
I accidentally ran into the bulette while trying to circumvent it and find the Myconid Colony: I collected the party on a high path and splashed potion of Feather Fall over everyone to jump to a lower path near the colony. Seven and Shart jumped down. Rumbling started, so Karlach and Gale stayed where they were. Gale summoned Shovel to stand near Seven/Shart, Shart cast Sanctuary on Seven and ran away. So the bulette jumped on and instakilled (invisible) Shovel, I guess it doesn't rely on eyesight. Gale tossed speed potion on self and Karlach. Karlach, in this order, threw Returning Pike twice, (next turn) bonus action: dipped pike in toxin before throwing and threw twice, (next turn) bonus action: started Frenzy and threw twice, so missed chance to Enraged Throw, but due to higher ground, her throws killed the beast. Gale put a flaming sphere near the bulette to tank its attacks and shot Magic Missiles, while Seven and Shart both wasted spell slots and a Bone Chill scroll. On its death, Gale and Karlach jumped down, fortunately still featherfalled, to join the party.
When Gale jumps to where torchstalk and timmask grow, it's Karlach who tells me what they are. It's also Karlach who can jump high enough to grab some high-growing chasm creeper and thereby discover the giant bird nest on top of the rock pinnacle, so her Clever Cuckoo inspiration point is well-deserved. In the same area as this nest is the Deep Hole that was the bulette's burrow. There is another rumble as Karlach jumps to the nest, but if I call into the hole, there is no reply, so, bug? Almost walked into Dread Hollow, spotted hook horror and scrammed.
Path to Sovereign Spaw leads past Derryth Bonecloak, selling antidote for when I spot Thulla, the gnome saved by the myconids. Good thing Gale and Karlach are in the party, they approve of every promise to help. Gale even compares the myconids favourably to Kagha. Nearby mushrooms spread haste spores; the party and the duergar spore servants give off cries of excitement when passing through them, the myconids go "sproing". Although I could turn down Glut to avoid a fight later, I accept him so he can raise the bulette.
[After leaving game: the old problem where neither keyboard nor mouse work; hard restart.]
After using Glut and the spore-bulette to kill the first hook horror: long rest and hey, Astarion offers me that night to remember! Wake up in the morning to see Shadowheart spontaneously talking to Scratch! Anyway, this is sussur country, so swap Gale for Lae. I read that sussur blooms wilt if I use Send to Camp, so Karlach goes to put hers in the camp chest personally before the camp wizard can cast Longstrider etc. on her. Lae then takes it from the chest and sends it to Karlach; will this make it wilt? Not so far.
If making a batch of potions as a transmutation wizard, the Medicine check is rolled for each separate potion. No need to brew one potion at a time.
If I have Shart cast Resist Poison on herself and then swap that spell out for something else in her spellbook, her poison resistance is gone.
How to beat Filro and his pack: smash Potion of Invisibility on group, sneak to his little tent, and have someone carrying a sussur flower stand close to him. Use bulette's jump, it only affects enemies. I wanted to knock Filro out, and had non-lethal damage on, but sadly the bulette's Deadly Jump was, in fact, deadly. At least I can now use Speak With Dead and honestly lie to Filro that I didn't kill his (knocked-out) beloved, although the re-rolls needed still used up all my inspiration points.
Short rest doesn't heal bulette (duh, undead) or Glut. He might die in the duergar fight, sparing us a battle between Glut and Spaw.
Baelen Bonecloak (the fucker who must die): ungroup Karlach, she jumps on ledge and throws water on torch to douse it (Baelen shouts "why didn't I think of that" and starts running to the exit) and prevent bibberbangs exploding, then starts shooting bibberbangs to eliminate them one by one (Baelen dies) in order to reach the noblestalk. Rewards: loot from Baelen, buried chest, Lolth's Candle from little altar near exit. And dead Baelen confirms that Derryth is there to help Thulla.
Giving noblestalk to Shadowheart exploit (this may be patched out in Patch 8): main char offers noblestalk to Shart while holding it. Immediately switch to other character who pickpockets noblestalk from main char (who won't mind if the attempt fails) and then drops it, because it's used up if it's in any party member's inventory. Do this in a quiet spot to prevent patrolling myconids frustrating attempts to hide. Memory of Rennald unlocked, and Derryth gets what she came for.
After defeating the Spectator (go Returning Pike! save the day when Karlach is frightened and can't move!) in the course of which Dhourn and two of his helpers were sadly killed too, Karlach found that Petrified Drow can be knocked out, after which they can be looted, and after saving and reloading, will be lying flat on the floor, still petrified. If basilisk oil is administered, they will still be unconscious. Meanwhile, Lae, breaking crystals to mine near-worthless Fluorite Shards, found on her second attempt that the resulting fluorite shard was inaccessible even to her Mage Hand. And Seven found a chest at an altar to Lolth, but didn't remark on the altar until the chest was unlocked far away, by Ast, in camp.
Busking in the grove, near the druids: bird, boar and wolf will also come to listen. Wolf will howl as accompaniment.
Long rest: owlbear cub appeared! Instead of offering food, Seven asks if it's okay. Lae speaks as if it was fed, even though it scarpers before I get the chance to feed it.
Sussur bloom: I climb up to the forge from Underdark, it becomes a faded petal. It's passed from char in Underdark to char at forge, it becomes a faded petal. The only way it survives is by being put in the camp chest in the Underdark, and staying there. (I actually needed the bark. Oops. Made me a dagger.)
Do Bernard and animated armours drop broken machinery when killed? Tested (after using the right phrases to get ring and potion), because in this patch, making Bernard drop his weapon and then picking it up causes a fight; and, no. (If I make an animated armour drop its weapon straight after Bernard drops his, he picks his glaive up again, so it must be picked up first thing.) Animated armours are made useless by dropping sussur flowers near them, unfortunately due to my messing about with these flowers there are only three left, so three characters carry a sussur bloom each and dash to each of the six armours, two of which Karlach Enraged-Throws at Bernard. It ends in pools of oil. Sorry, Bernie & co, but I want your glaive, and your head will turn up in the Moonrise Towers lab anyway.
Before fight in Decrepit Village, I forgot to have Seven replace his boots that cast Feather Fall with the Boots of Stormy Clamour. Just as well; the first two duergar were quickly dispatched, but Lae had to jump quite a distance to hit the fourth one, and as Seven was too far away to fight, his action slot was well spent. Immediately after a short rest which completely restores Glut's health (damn!) Glut wants us to go kill Spaw with him, so we refuse and bam, combat, but the bulette stays allied (because it's too far off?) and Glut, getting burst down in one round with smites, has no chance to make new spore servants (maybe also because someone is carrying a sussur bloom nearby). So now the spore-bulette is happily rumbling and hanging out in the village. Long rest before the next two chapters of the Underdark: Grymforge and Festering Cove. (Note: when I returned to the Decrepit Village's waypoint near the bulette after a long rest, it turned "temporarily hostile" and had to be killed.)
During long rest: the fight between Shadowheart and Lae'Zel. Immediately afterwards, Shart is petting and talking to Scratch again. I'm pretty sure this was added in a later patch. Also, Ast knows Speak With Dead now; he got it from the Necromancy of Thay. More reason to sell all Speak With Dead scrolls.
As seen in first playthrough: Scratch retains Mage Armour and Longstrider cast on him by hireling camp caster after long rest. Also, combining three alchemical base ingredients manually (because they are the same type but don't stack, such as the various pieces of broken machinery) can't be done in turn-based mode because it takes too long.
[I just accidentally deleted the save before meeting Raphael, and it's not in the Recycle Bin. Oh well.]
Shart reveals childhood memory of being saved from wolf. Getting blessed by Spaw: the Bliss Spores apply only to the main character!
Entry to kuo-toa: in same area as Arcane Tower, close to toadstool rings and drow scout who fell to his death. Wiki says to lure Pooldripp away to pickpocket the Sickle of Boooal (while invisible, using the Shadow of Menzoberranzan found in Zargrim's resting place) and then interrupt the Boooal-worshipping scene. We all get on the mushroom cap overlooking the sacrifice scene. I cast Feather Fall, then Guidance on Astarion so he can jump down behind the worshippers, outside sight cones, not near enough to start cutscene; then enter turn-based. Astarion goes into hiding. I cast Minor Illusion to lure the kuo-toa away from the altar. Astarion makes himself invisible; we all have to wait a turn, kuo-toa are already walking back to the altar, then invisible Astarion pickpockets the sickle, which he sends to camp, and, why not, some money and a gem; he is now visible. I jump down too and start the cutscene, promising Boooal to kill in his name; since the sickle is gone, he gives us Boooal's Benediction instead. I exit turn-based, companions rush up to join me and oops, Astarion has to talk himself out of a pickpocketing accusation, with his Smuggler's Ring that gives -1 to his already low Charisma. Should have sent him to camp immediately after ending turn-based! Speaking of camp, time to sell crud in Goblin Camp and sea shells in Emerald Grove, and busk wherever I can. In Goblin Camp, managed to engage Warrior Sul (drum) and Tracker Tak (flute) while busking; sadly they joined in only once.
I thought Boooal's Benediction was restricted to active party members in Honour mode; this is also true on Tactician. So on this quest, take the members that will be in major Act III boss fights; in my case, the lucky ones are Ast, Shart, Karlach and Seven. Although a fifth companion armed with Boooal's sickle will have the same buff, so I should have taken Lae, as Ast can double-wield the sickle and a dagger, plus will usually use his bow. (The internet says the sickle will not lose its buff if it is put in the camp chest before every long rest.)
In camp, Shart has another new animation: she now uses her water bottle to water her plant.
Opening dialogue with Gut: she brands me a second time! But this time, no companion disapproval. Let Korrilla take care of Gut and, more importantly, Polma. Worg Pens: improvisedweaponed Vrak, Zurg and Pilg to Whispering Depths; tried to do the same to Birka and her children but they are so close to Halsin that they start the cutscene, and can't be lured away with Minor Illusion. The children were knocked out and Birka was killed. The goblins sent to Whispering Depths entered combat and dashed towards us despite being in a well in the Blighted Village, and after defeating the worgs and freeing Halsin, Pilg showed up on the map near us as an angry red dot. Better avoid her. Zurg and his summoned spider are still in Whispering Depths, we had to kill the spider on going to the waypoint. Somewhere in all of this, the party members suddenly all had exclamation marks over their heads, but apart from being able to tell Karlach about Raphael's assistant, now that Halsin is freed, no one has anything to say.
Improvisedweaponing three of the guards around the hanging cage to another waypoint is enough to free Brakkal, who doesn't like to talk to branded people, and thinks his door being open means the guards are dead. Shart doesn't approve of me telling him that the gods are fickle. Girl, you will learn.
Reddit post: sneak into the Teahouse and make Mayrina invisible before starting a conversation with the hag, so she won't be transported into the lair and put in the cage. Throw a Potion of Invisibility? If it hits the chair or anything red-outlined: combat, else the cutscene starts. Use a Scroll of Invisibility? You need to get close, so the cutscene starts. Shoot Arrow of Darkness? Combat. Only way to do it: go turn-based, keep anyone who sees invisible out of reach, separate one char (a hireling who gets the hag-eye, so as to collect Ethel's charm without damaging any eye that matters) and let the hireling talk to the hag while the others hide. As soon as dialog ends and Ethel's charm is received - due to turn-based, she is frozen while walking away - have a hidden companion sneak up and cast invisibility on Mayrina (in this case Shart with a scroll) and exit turn-based so Ethel gets away (technically, we could cast Arcane Lock on the fireplace and fight her in the house, but we want those two separated). Now Mayrina will try to run through the fireplace after the hag, but goes back to accuse us of theft because we started looting the house. So we'll jump through the fireplace and hope she stays put. Before entering the lair proper, we pop to camp to exchange the hireling for Gale.
Bug? The Studded Shield in Ethel's lair has unvoiced text. Its text is voiced after Ethel is killed in the teahouse. (Sound sometimes drops, and sound files may take a while to start playing.)
Exchanged Gale for Lae as I want to try and knock out the Masks, not kill them. Each exchange means popping into the teahouse where Mayrina is, to fast-travel to camp. After a short rest and the second descent into the hag's lair, Ethel appears at its entrance to warn us off. Which means that Mayrina has been put in the cage, and the invisibility scroll was wasted. Damn. Oh well, a good excuse to first loot the teahouse and sell it all. But on killing the hag, her trading inventory is gone! Reload to the conversation and leave it, causing Ethel, still in human skin, to send Mayrina to the cage, then later restart it, so we should fight Ethel (and her redcaps) in the house. First, find a source of Arcane Lock by hitting up all merchants for scrolls.
That "ahk" bird cry in Baldur's Gate sounds like Ethel when she discovers the tadpole is Netherese.
Bug? Ast's inspiration point "A Better Offer" comes after persuading the small spider in the Goblin Camp that we're just visiting, not after proposing the large one to eat goblins instead, which I didn't do anyway.
Sold Roah bags to put her expensive stuff in, abducted her to another waypoint to pickpocket her which started a fight; she was temporarily hostile, so could be safely knocked out and looted (long rest test; she's fine the day after, just very pissed; reloaded save). Reclassed hireling wizard to add Arcane Lock to his spells. Back to teahouse. Consistently failed to pickpocket Auntie Ethel, but if instead just entering and leaving tadpole removal dialogue in turn-based, she won't enter combat or summon redcaps when we outright attack her. Arcane Lock must be cast immediately after dialogue, not on the fireplace, but on the stairs behind it. Ethel can be killed while she tries to "unlock" the stairs, and will still have part of her inventory - or all of it, if I stuffed everything in one bag beforehand. Post-death, the traps in her lair are all inactive (although the gas vents activate if Ast fails to disarm them), the first illusion-door is gone, and the Whispering Masks can be safely worn (they're still needed for the door to the mushroom circle).
As said before, most vases are empty, but especially Sharran vases are worth checking.
People complain that Wulbren trash-talks Barcus, but if you speak to Barcus in the Grymforge, he's also quite critical of Wulbren and the Ironhands. Philomeen is a bit hard to find; sneaking past the puddles of dripping acid avoids a confrontation with slimes.
Bug! Journal, under Find explosives, Keep searching for explosives, Philomeen and the explosives are no more. (She is alive and handed us a vial, which caused the next journal entry.) Journal entries are janky anyway.
Not only Dhourn but also Clan Flameshade (the duergar) think they can claim the Adamantine Forge.
Grymforge, trapped passage where Nere came from, how to dispel poison gas when you don't have the Gust of Wind spell to clear the cloud: create a fire surface by throwing Alchemist Fire (or oil, then set it alight with Ignis) and before it burns out, throw water on it so the resultant steam cloud displaces the poison cloud. I don't have Shart in the party, but seeing the broken bridge behind the second door adds journal entries to Daughter of Darkness.
Going through the cleared passage, past the dripping acid, and exploring the part of Shar's temple where inquisitor Sybil's skeleton is found (and Ketheric Thorm's arrogant letter, announcing the destruction of Moonhaven), I open a door and find a merregon and hellboars behind it. Karlach can only throw the merregon; the hellboars are heavier?? A dead ochre jelly is in the room; did the merregon kill it? How helpful.
Getting closer to the Adamantine Forge: animated armours! I don't remember them from last playthrough. Hop back to camp to have Karlach and Shart pick up sussur flowers, then we share a shattered invisibility potion: the two sussur bearers simply stand next to the three armours with ranged weapons while a fourth comes rushing and is incapacitated as soon as it approaches. Then we all bludgeon them to death while Karlach throws them around.
Oops, focused on meeting Grym and had forgotten about the magma mephits near the mithral ore. They disarm first Karlach and then Shart, but Karlach throws them at each other and Shart uses Guardian Spirits. After our victory, we have to level up!
Levelling up resets a trader's inventory. So off we go to Blurg and Omeluum, switching out party members and trading after each level-up so as to buy as many void bulbs as possible. (These bulbs, and all illithid throwables, stack to maximally twenty.) Since now I have Nere's spider lyre (Wyll, you can have Lihala's lute), gonna busk everywhere so long as I have these Bliss Spores. (Except in the Underdark, as myconids don't throw gold.) Despite the Bliss Spores, I still need Shart's Guidance to prevent Performance fail. Wyll has been multiclassed into bardlock so he can use the Cap of Curing.
Following wiki advice, the party only venture on the forge platform to insert ore and mould, then climb on the two ledges near it and operate its lever and valve with arrows, safe on high ground as the platform descends and Grym emerges, peppering Grym with bottles of water, which from that height count as heavy bludgeoning damage. At last, a use for these water bottles that keep accumulating in inventory! Grym stomps around a lot, but only the magma mephits flying up from the lava can reach us. Knocking enemies out instead of killing them is not only the ethical thing to do, but in case of mephits, it stops them exploding in your face when they go down. After our victory, Karlach uses the boots of Mystra's Grace to cast Feather Fall on herself, jumps down, and finishes the casting with the second bit of adamantium ore; two shields, as the party already has the armours it prefers, and most companions can use shields.
How to beat an unthrowable lava elemental that regenerates ridiculously fast while standing in lava? 1. Shoot it to lure it onto solid ground, 2. cast sleet storm or anything else that causes a wide ice surface, 3. douse party, especially Karlach, in potion of speed for that double action, 4. whole party shoots elemental with ice arrows and ice cantrips, 5. elemental prones itself by slipping on the ice, 6. another round of ice attacks and 7. victory!
Wrapping up the Grymforge by setting out to find the Harper stash, we were surprised by three mimics; again, Karlach and a speed potion carried the fight. I made Shart cast Spirit Guardians followed by Sanctuary, which cancels the former - when will I learn? In all, a good use of the day's Bliss Spores, now time to sleep (and fix the owlbear cub's wounded paw).
Next morning: loot sorting time. Cheapest and nastiest stuff: to Grat, then stuff his expensive goods in one bag, improvisedweapon him to Whispering Depths, knock him out after a failed pickpocket, grab his loot and use it to mollify Roah at the waypoint where we left her. Except first it didn't work - he wasn't at the waypoint - and after reloading the save I forgot to turn off turnbased so couldn't select a waypoint and ended up throwing him on the bridge, killing him just outside any sight cones. RIP Grat. I now have a big bag of rotten goods to donate to Roah. I also donate a bag full of torches and the cheap nasty goblin weapons. Now she'll trade with me again, although I just put the stuff I want her to keep - her coin, potions, scrolls, arrows - in the backpack I donated to her. Then I go to camp to get more weapons for trading, return to the waypoint and - she's gone! Teleported back to Goblin Camp, probably.
So instead I collect as much weapons as my party can carry to sell to Dammon, and all the incense and fancy potion bottles for Arron, so I can buy ingredients for Sir Fuzzalump the transmutation wizard hireling to do some alchemy. Today, I will solely secure the Emerald Grove, by meeting Sazza, "helping" Dror with the mind flayer, taking Minthara to the Teahouse waypoint to knock her out (Seven will hide with Halsin in Worg Pens), taking Sazza to a safe waypoint, taking Dror to a secluded waypoint to kill him, and talking to Halsin (Seven) and Zevlor (Seven after escaping), then long rest and party time! Next day, Minthara will be gone from the Teahouse waypoint, but talking to Sazza, who will still be at her waypoint, summons Minthara and concludes that quest. As I've let the partying goblins live (except Grat and Birka, sorry), I didn't get much loot from the Goblin Camp, where, before offing Dror, I'll busk one last time by way of farewell, but after the party, I can scrounge the Emerald Grove for tiefling leftovers. In order to stave off Lae's stares and Asty's sweet nothings, I also plan to hit on Karlach.
Many reloads to busk in the Goblin Camp without performance fail (really missing those Bliss Spores!) then greeting Sazza, then to Dror (stole the branding iron on the way, neener neener) to make him question the dead mind flayer in a way that produces confusing answers (it was killed by prisoners escaping their pods?), then to Worg Pens where we have to knock out an angry Pilg (her friends are still in the Whispering Depths) and have a long chat with Halsin, telling him we've been in the Underdark. Seven stays with Halsin, the other three ungroup. Karlach improvisedweapons Sazza before anyone speaks, Lae chugs Hill Giant Strength elixir and takes Mint, not to the Teahouse, but to Emerald Grove Environs - of all waypoints! - twice, because the first time Mint zaps back into place to answer a subordinate, so the second time I hit turn-based as soon as they arrive; Karlach is already there; potion of speed on both before Karlach tries to pickpocket Mint: rightly so, as after one round of them both bashing Minty, she holdpersons Lae and Karlach has to knock away the last of Minty's hit points by herself. Left alone in the office, Shart can open the chest contents while sneaking, as the subordinate is now facing away from where the chest is. Seven, enjoy your Watersparkers and try not to electrocute any allies. Shart joins the other two and gets the looted Boots of Striding; she can now no longer be proned while concentrating. If she casts a concentration spell that lasts until long rest, like Detect Thoughts, she can't be proned at all.
Last visit to Goblin Camp: Dror Ragzlin. Taken to Risen Road where Karlach and Shart await him from the roof of the Tollhouse, and properly murderfied, after which Seven notified Halsin and both skipped camp; or rather, knocked out, so Seven crit-killed Dror with Spellthief to get a spell slot back, but in doing so also got access to Dror's tadpole. The Dream Guardian told Seven to embrace it, Seven stupidly did, and now everyone has another character sheet tab: Illithid Potential.
Enough excitement for today. To the Grove, then rest and party. I invited the tieflings straight over, therefore missed Halsin chewing out Kagha, and the tiefling caravan standing there ready to leave, so no last-minute selling stuff to Dammon. Ending up right next to Karlach, I instantly proposed, but Astarion still tried to reserve me for the night. Not even gonna talk to Lae, who is posturing with a sword while others party. Barcus didn't join in the party, so no firework display, but gave me an Arrow of Roaring Thunder. Chatted with Wyll, Halsin, Gale, Shart. Mol accused me of stealing the idol from her even though I'd bought it back - bug? A funny romantic scene with Karlach, who's head over heels for this ugly little halfling, and the next day, bam, Halsin wakes me: the tieflings have left, and he's decided to join my camp; next stop, Moonrise! Lae interjects that we must visit the creche first.
The party isn't a proper long rest: no food is used up, and Seven doesn't wake up bloodless (yes, we feed our vampire).
Tying up a loose end, hop to the waypoint to join Sazza, who summons Minty in underwear (Ast wears her armour now) and we go through the dialogue ending on Sazza running off after being pardoned and Seven saying there's something else he needs to do first, after which Seven receives the Assassin's Touch as reward, and Sazza and Minty disappear. And a chewing-out from all companions over having absorbed Dror's tadpole. Next, pillaging the tiefling leftovers - many still red-outlined - from the grove and collecting my reward. That insufferable Marcoryl is dissing Halsin to Loic at the table where Aradin and his mates formerly sat. The strange ox is still in the grove; I thought it was going with the tieflings to protect Dammon, as I've read Dammon doesn't make it to Last Light Inn if the ox is killed in the grove. (And also that the ox is a good ally in the final fight.) Since the druid chambers are almost deserted, I steal the druids' books and valuables too, though not their food. Much of what was red-outlined in the library is now up for grabs.
Something I've noticed: I have separate chests and bags inside the camp chest, and normally I can put an item in these containers by dragging the item over the container, either from my inventory or from the camp chest. But if the container is too heavy for my character to lift, I can't drag items from my inventory over the container icon: I have to either put the items in the camp chest and drag them from there, or open the container and drag stuff from my inventory into the open container window.
Lae finally gets her wish: we're going to Rosymorn Monastery. This may be the most beautiful setting in the game, with its sheer sunlit mountainsides, imposing architecture, picturesque cable car and overgrown roof. As Seven will say: "This view is almost worth the walk." Approaching the bridge, we run into Ellyka and then Voss, who Lae doesn't recognize, so Seven stops Voss from killing Lae for insolence by speaking on her behalf. Possibly because the encounter happened while turn-based and the rest hadn't caught up with Seven yet, the scene plays twice - although the second time there is no companion (dis)approval - and therefore costs me two inspos for failed rolls. Voss acts high and mighty; it will be a pleasure to see him grovel in Act III. I diplomatically avoid a fight, and the githyanki leave. Oh shit, this was the last chance to put the ogres to use. Maybe I'll call/kill them when I go back to the grove to trade. Gotta have that circlet.
It just occurred to me that Seven doesn't need Mage Armour cast on him, his draconic ancestry gives the same AC boost. Also, I thought the amulet that grants Detect Thoughts would save on scrolls and potions by automatically activating as needed during dialogue, but no, to use the amulet I have to cast the spell at the start of the day and then concentrate on it until long rest. (Found out later that it can be used during dialogue.)
Please bring Lae along when addressing Lady Esther as a non-githyanki for the first time, Lae's interjections are most amusing. Scouted the route towards Moonrise first; Seven broke in his Watersparkers in the undead encounter, as Lae tossed a water bottle on him and all he did for an area-of-effect was change boots. Karlach essentially won the battle by throwing undeads at each other. The corpses of the summoners are just yards away, having surprised githyanki youths who were "training" by shooting squirrels, looks like. Another reason to massacre the creche.
Our girl gang is too stupid to detect the bombs leading up to the blue jay's nest, so Lae is switched for Ast, but not before I make poor Ast, who can't play instruments, try to play the flute; Scratch and the owlbear cub keep running towards him, making sounds of distress, and running off again. Even Ast can't find all the bombs; summon Scratch. Who "discovers" the last bomb by setting it off, but he's unhurt, and also not blasted off the mountainside. Good boy. Now that we've descended to the monastery on foot, let's run back to the top and take the cable car going down. Just for fun, because we've already discovered the monastery waypoint.
Since I climbed on the monastery roof and am finding ways down rather than working my way up, I can take pot shots at the gremishkas through the ceiling, and pick them off as they come dashing up. One floor lower are the explosively flammable kobolds, who Karlach throws at each other; we knock out about half, the rest regrettably dies. Alarmingly, the barrels of firewine I collect make slurping noises; when using them for barrelmancy, will I be incinerating living kobolds? Hopefully, picking up these barrels turns them into regular firewine barrels. I've put them around camp to listen for drinking sounds - nope, quiet. I'll roleplay that the kobolds snuck out while the barrels were stored in camp.
Why did I kill the eagles, when the blue jay was probably lying? So many eagle feathers for potions of flight.
Selune's Dream amulet: the spell is a cantrip, but can only be cast once per long rest?? Luckily Mystra's Grace (group Feather Fall) and the Guidance amulet work all the time. Shart was right, Selune's gift ain't much.
Bug? When the Ceremonial Warhammer is put on its altar, it vanishes. Is it put inside the altar? I leave to explore some more, and when I return, it's visible again. Putting the ceremonial weapons in place = everyone who was present for that gets Morninglord Radiance ie. extra radiant damage, so reload from save and include Lae'Zel. Karlach will be able to wear the Holy Lance helm, and borrow the Luminous Armour from Shart.
Entering the creche through the main door that we found the inside of, somehow, so we could pull the lever to open it: when I have Lae speak to the githyanki, they actually address her and not Seven. And they're so welcoming! Dammit!! Still going to kill them, since they'll stop being nice the minute we get out of the astral pocket in the artefact. Beware, they all cause psychic damage. Bug: raider G'r'ath seems to be unvoiced. We leave through the hidden entrance, nicking what we can; later we'll scope out this place properly and let the killing begin.
Egg collected; Ko'kuu will be spared, but will his guards come after me later? Vlaakith says death is mercy; good, then I don't have to feel guilty about murdering as many githyanki as I can before seeing the doctor. I'll certainly kill the kids that are torturing a gremishka (which I'll also kill) since one of them pushed Lae over when she asked to play, though at least that stopped them tossing the poor boxed animal around. Unexpectedly, the amulet to detect thoughts that I'm wearing is used when speaking to Varrl. It works after all. Joy. And G'r'ath is now voiced. Also dead. Minor Illusion does a good job of leading them to a quiet spot to be picked off.
Killing the four near the door gets me the journal entry "We defeated the sentries guarding the creche." Apparently this was meant to happen. Some were knocked unconscious, which means they should be up again after a long rest, but they were up again after Stornugoss locked us in and we fast-travelled to the Myconid Colony (a different region) and the grove to do some trading. We've killed everyone except the children, who scarpered, and the gith in the training room as we don't want Varrl to get hurt, but the formerly unconscious ones must be killed, because we're about to tackle the inquisitor.
The tadpoles I picked up in the infirmary have gone straight to my head, pun intended; I didn't get neatly bottled ones, just "five tadpoles available".
Inquisitor W'wargaz assumes that I killed all the goblins. I emphatically did not. I WILL kill all the githyanki (except Varrl and Ko'kuu). To use the term from a Reddit post: githnocide. I love how tersely the inquisitor asks for the artifact, PLEASE, when I'm stalling by asking questions. After visiting the astral pocket, he of course attacks, and I followed a Reddit post's advice of casting Darkness to hide in (Seven is part warlock with Devil's Sight, it don't bother him none) and had Karlach instantly prone W'wargaz. The other gith fire uselessly into the cloud, run around it or climb to high vantage points, where Karlach hops up and chucks them down. I love throwzerker Karlach.
Now I want to open the room with the Blood of Lathander, but one of the statues won't budge, and presumably needs oiling. Is that why there were cups of oil all over the place? Sadly I sent them all to camp, which I can't fast-travel to unless I go back into the creche, which I wanted to do anyway since the gith from the training area still need offing. But after all the artefacts discovered here, I'll first adjust the team's equipment to take full advantage of that lovely Lathanderian one-time radiant damage perk. For Seven, the Gloves of Dexterity are better for picking locks than the Gloves of Power, they give three extra AC as opposed to the Bracers of Defence's two, and, unlike the latter, should still work if he wears (light) armour. For Laezel, the githyanki Crossbow of Arcane Force appears to be stronger than the Titanstring Bow.
The last ones to slay are the training youths and their instructor, but they'll just stand there until we enter their classroom. Back to the statues and no, cups of oil do nothing to unstick the rusted statue base, they are useless. I have to throw a grease bottle on it. After thusly completing the creche, I want to pop back to the grove but can't leave camp, and all companions not in my party are absent. So I begin to longrest, and Voss pops up to give Lae a crisis of faith. Then I continue to longrest, not needing food, and now the camp is wholly assembled again and we can go wherever.
Re-kitting time. Karlach, who carries Hamarhraft, and whose Returning Pike will be replaced by Nyrulna in act III, gets the Boots of Stormy Clamour (Reverberation when inflicting a condition, like Prone), the Gloves of Belligerent Skies (Reverberation when causing Thunder, Lightning or Radiant damage) and the Holy Lance helm (Radiant damage when an enemy fails to hit her). She wears the Ring of Flinging, the Ring of Mind Shielding (please, nobody charm this tank) and starts out wearing Amulet of Branding, which inflicts weapon vulnerabilities once per long rest. In reserve: the Moondrop Amulet (automatically disengage in battle if hitpoints low enough), the Ring of Absolute Force in case she needs a Thunderwave to reverb a pesky foe, and the Helmet of Autonomy because her Wisdom save isn't great. In addition, she carries spare gloves and boots, artefact crossbows and throwing weapons, and all mauls, pikes, greataxes and halberds she might need. With no shield and middling armour - the Hide Armour +2 increases initiative, but so does her barbarian class - she has low AC, which means she draws aggro, which is fine as she has the highest HP. When not fighting anything alive, she'll don the Oak Father's Embrace: radiant damage to undead who hit her. She's not crit-proof, but will be once she gets Balduran's helmet, which also makes her stun-proof so she can wield the Light of Creation (lightning-dealing halberd).
Lae'Zel is being squeezed into medium armour Sparkstruck gear (the non-armour options go to Seven): Jolty Vest that electrocutes anyone who hits her, Sparkle Hands which give advantage against armoured foes, the Real Sparky Sparkswall that can electrocute everyone around her, and Speedy Lightfeet that collect the lightning charges to make all these special effects happen. Two problems: the shield means she can't wield greatswords, her specialty, and she has to Dash to make the Speedy Lightfeet work, which wastes an action unless she keeps casting Expeditious Retreat. Instead, she gets all the longswords and versatile weapons, but carries all greatswords too, just in case. Her ranged weapons are Crossbow of Arcane Force and, if she should be made to drop that, Titanstring Bow. Although the Gith-specific Circlet of Psionic Defence remains in her inventory, Grym's helmet makes her crit-proof, the Bracing Band gives 1 extra AC if she shoves enemies, and the Caustic Band adds acid damage to attacks which will be great in combination with the Fleshmelter Cloak. The spare Gloves of the Growling Underdog will give her advantage on attacks if she's surrounded, and if she's overwhelmed, the Misty Step Amulet makes a quick escape, or if that is exhausted, the Absolute's Talisman will heal her a little and help her cheat death. The camp caster will give her Darkvision first thing in the morning, but she carries the Sunwalker's Gift ring, just in case.
Now that the Blood of Lathander has been found, it goes to Shadowheart, along with any mace, flail or Light Hammer so far: the Defender Flail which saw her through the Creche, the Corrosive Flail, Xyanyde until Minthara gets it back, the Shining Staver-of-Skulls she used for radiant damage until the Blood of Lathander came along, and Skybreaker for its Searing Smite, formerly supported by the Helmet of Smiting which has been shelved, waiting for a paladin. Protected by the Luminous Armour which blinds anyone struck by the radiant damage of, say, her Spirit Guardians, she has the major healing items: Hellrider's Pride gloves and Ring of Whispering Promise that buff on heal, Wapira's crown that heals her when she heals others (throwing potions at them counts too), and to save on spell slots, Amulet of Silvanus, Amulet of Restoration, even Amulet of Selune's Chosen (she has to switch between them because the last two only work once per long rest). The Boots of Striding prevent her being proned while concentrating, which she will do a lot of, while her Adamantine Shield prevents her from critical strikes. She gets the Bow of the Banshee, though she'll rarely use it, and keeps the less crucial Herbalist's Gloves (cure poison on heal) in reserve.
Wyll the bardlock, proud recipient of Lihala's Lute, wears the Blazer of Benevolence (give yourself temporary HP when bardically inspiring a party member), the Cap of Curing (add healing when bardically inspiring a party member) and the Wondrous Gloves (1 AC, 1 extra bardic inspiration). Warlocks already get temporary HP when casting Armour of Agathys, so that blazer may be replaced by the robe, given by Alfira in act II, which adds charisma to spell damage. His low AC is mitigated somewhat by the Absolute Warboard (+1 to saving throws and Heroism once per long rest) and backups, the Safeguard Shield (+1 to saving throws) and Wood Woad Shield (entangle an enemy); he'll get his pick of better shields later. A rapier enthusiast, he used the Rupturing Blade, with the Amulet of the Unworthy that protects from slashing damage, but both have been retired since Nere donated both his head and his Sword of Screams. Wyll wears the Springstep Boots for more running distance - keeping the Spiderstep Boots just in case - the Ever-Seeing Eye for Protection from Evil and Good, the Ring of Salving (2 extra HP) for when he does heal someone (mostly himself), and the Ring of Arcane Synergy (extra weapon damage after using a cantrip); in battle, he may exchange the Wondrous Gloves for the Daredevil Gloves to eldritch-blast at close range, and the Cap of Curing for the Diadem of Arcane Synergy (extra weapon damage after inflicting a condition, like Poisoned, which doesn't even require magic). As a monster hunter, he has the Hunting Bow and keeps the Monster Slayer Glaive (extra jumping distance) in reserve, the latter so he can keep up with the party, because it displaces his shield. He also gets Sorrow, a glaive that can pull enemies closer so Karlach can throw them around.
Gale possesses the second Adamantine Shield, and, so far, the Poisoner's Robe and the Robe of Summer (cold resistance). He used to wield Corellon's Grace for its +2 to saving throws, but exchanged it for Mourning Frost (deals cold damage, may inflict Chilled) to go with Winter's Clutches (when dealing cold damage, may inflict Encrusted with Frost) and, later, the Cold-Brimmed Hat; for now he must do with the Shadespell Circlet (better spell success when casting while hidden). The Necklace of Elemental Augmentation will make his cold-dealing cantrips more powerful, while the Hoarfrost Boots will stop him slipping on his own ice surfaces, although he keeps the Vital Conduit Boots (extra HP when concentrating on a spell) in reserve. His rings are the Mage's Friend to make him more useful when asked to examine something, and the Ring of Jumping to, once per short rest, help him keep up with the party, although if that's not enough, he can borrow the Swiresy Shoes from Seven. A spellslinger to the last, he wields a Sharran crossbow (light crossbow of slightly better make) in case someone silences him.
Astarion already wore the Drow Studded Leather Armour from the Underdark, when he was given Minthara's Spidersilk armour; both help with stealth, the latter also with con saves; both are complemented by the Drow hood Shadow of Menzoberranzan for occasional short invisibility. He still wears the Boots of Speed we received from Thulla, not that a Rogue needs the extra movement, but it gives enemies disadvantage on opportunity attacks; he'll get better evading boots later. He wears the gloves of Missile Snaring (work well with high dex) normally and the Gloves of Thievery, aided by the Smuggler's Ring, when lockpicking; the Ring of Poison Resistance until the camp caster druid has enough spell slots to poison-proof everyone, and the Tarnished Charm to help him cheat death. A shieldless dual-wielder, he uses the bow Spellthief and a whole row of daggers, foremost Knife of the Undermountain King and Shortsword of First Blood, supplemented by Assassin's Touch for unconscious enemies, Ritual Dagger to self-bless and Hunter's Dagger to inflict Ruptured, if surprise is not an option and/or Ast doesn't get the first hit in.
Lastly, Seven, torturer of the Spider's Lyre, tries to honour his draconic ancestry through the non-armour Sparkstruck items. He will need the Sparkswall ring (protects against lightning for free, unlike the Elemental Affinity at level 6 which uses up sorcery points), and wears the Watersparkers (get lightning charges by standing in and electrifying water) or Disintegrating Night Walkers (no surface can trip him up, plus Misty Step) and the Protecty Sparkswall armour (better spellcasting, and +1 AC and saves while all charged up), and wields the Spellsparkler (get lightning charges by spellcasting). Even without that +1 AC, with his innate AC of 13, the Gloves of Dexterity (+3 AC) and the Ring of Protection (another +1 AC and saves) he has an AC of 17, the highest in the group. Unable to use shields, he took the Dual Wielder feat, allowing him to wield another one of Gale's magical staves (like Corellon's, for a potential total of +4 to saving throws), or the Club of Hill Giant Strength for higher jumps, adding another +1 AC for wielding a weapon in each slot. His ranged weapon is the Bow of Awareness (made for halflings!) that puts him higher in the initiative list. His helmets, either the Mask of the Shapeshifter or the Circlet of Blasting (free Scorching Ray). This shortstack previously wore Crusher's Ring, the Haste Helm and the Swiresy Shoes to keep up with his companions, and now carries them as spares along with the Sussur Dagger and any boots, gloves, headwear, rings and amulets that his teammates might need, like Mystra's Grace and Komira's Locket for, respectively, free on-demand Feather Fall and Dancing Lights to get a quick look or cover a vent. His preferred amulets are The Amulet of Lost Voices (Speak with Dead), Uncovered Mysteries (Detect Thoughts), the Silver Pendant (Shartless Guidance), the Pearl of Power Amulet (restore a spell slot) and the usually worn Periapt of Wound Closure (no death throws, maximum healing). Obsolete: Lifebringer, for a paltry 3 extra HP as long as the wearer has lightning charges. Almost obsolete: the Blast Pendant, adding lightning charges to a lightning spell once per long rest, when his draconic ancestry will strengthen lightning spells from level 6 onwards, and I don't know if the two stack.
I can't fast-travel from the Mountain Pass campsite to Emerald Grove Environs: error message "A player can't currently travel". If I just leave camp, I'm at the Emerald Grove Environs waypoint. Okay then. This may be the last trade with Arron before I leave for Moonrise Towers.
I hoped to summon the ogres in the Grymforge and then lower the platform so we can shoot down at them. But after the second casting, the lever no longer moves the platform down. Seven summons the ogres, then I switch to Karlach who throws a pike at them mid-conversation while Seven stands in an electrified puddle and casts Cloud of Daggers using an easily replenishable warlock spell slot. The fight is over fast.
I'm about a thousand short to buy all of Lady Esther's good stuff. Ast gets the Graceful Cloth to help with pickpocketing. Lae gets Hoppy the self-healing war pick. Well. We may have to rob the Zhents. First, let's see if Ast, helped by Shart's Blessing of the Trickster, can pickpocket the money off Esther. Well, not money but the three remaining artefacts are easy, they're much cheaper than their asking price. Ast zips back to camp but didn't even risk being accused; Seven persuades Esther to take the owlbear egg and she walks straight off. Gale gets the Boots of Elemental Momentum. And I guess I won't have to risk robbing the Zhents.
Levelup time: since the 12th rogue level offers only a feat and I would choose Performer (for proficiency with instrument) anyway, I sacrifice that level to multiclass Ast into bard, and get some cantrips and a free flute out of it. He'll still have three feats, as rogue has an extra feat at level 10. (Also, he should be re-levelled at some point, as I gave him a useless medium armour and shield feat, and the bard class uses his very low charisma to cast spells.) Wyll has hit his sixth warlock level; one more to achieve the level 4 warlock slots, then the other levels go into bard, probably College of Valour for combat inspiration and free medium armour and martial weapons proficiency; with musical and medium armour proficiency taken care of, that's two less things to spend a feat on. In this way, he could take over the medium armour Sparkstruck gear when Lae finds good heavy armour. Gale will just be a boring wizard all the way.