The Cursed: Not Winning

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Meanwhile in Thay...

Alias and Arzang survey the field of the fallen and are soon joined by the survivors of the rear guard, equally amazed that the Planar Hunters have all been defeated. Even a bloodied Symm shows up from another exit and proclaims that Dennaton has been "taken care of".

Suddenly the arena scribe appears and says he is actually a sorcerer of no small power, and with Dennaton out of the way he can take them all home, away from Thay. While some are hesitant, they eventually all agree. 

Surprise!

The scribe then throws off his disguise revealing himself to be Baeloth, whom each of them has heard of from Party Girl and Sir Erland. All weakened from the fighting, they have no opportunity do anything before Baeloth opens a gate underneath each of them. As they fall in, all they can hear his evil laughter as the world goes dark.

Insight: Wow, they went with a downer ending for Black Pits 2! It's like they've been reading some of my stories! Lol.

The Cursed: The Hardest Fight

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Meanwhile in Thay...

The fallen planetar only has two allies left, so Shinordium (now an adamantine golem) goes to combat the salamander while the other, some wimpy looking mage, is ignored for now so that everyone else and their summons can focus on taking down the boss, who is weakened thanks to Gezzthemin's mass produced scrolls. Sir Erland goes in fast and hard, taking her down to less than half health before he is vorpaled (insta-killed / exploded) by her sword. A number of summons and Najim the genie meet the same end before the planetar is finally put down. 

The "wimpy" mage also turns out to be incredibly bad, slaying Dragonbait with a back stab. Party Girl sacrifices herself against his fire shield, burning herself alive, to hold him in place so Arzang can remove his shields, while Alias beheads him. In this time, the salamander has destroyed Shinordium but is equally almost dead and out of magic protections letting Arzang finish the battle with the most basic spell of all. Magic Missile!

The most reliable spell ever!

Insight: The wand of resurrection and mass resurrection abilities are almost mandatory here. I just edited out how much I actually used them (a lot). It's an insanely tough battle, the hardest in the entire series I think!

Sorry, second hardest. The hardest would winning at the tavern right at the start where they are full strength and pre-buffed while your team is surrounded and flat-footed.

The Cursed: Preparation is Half the Battle

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Meanwhile in Thay...

Gerrod, crazy Lea and Voghiln head back to assist in the rear guard while the team moves on to the next arena - this one occupied by guards led by Symm Haximus! Through careful dialogue Party Girl talks him down and with him abandoning the field, the remaining guards do the same.

They then proceed to the last arena where Dennaton awaits... with the Planar Hunters who have just returned in time to save him! Now is the time all that prep work pays off: Najim throws off his disguise, Joker suddenly turns into a man-sized mushroom and dies due to her earlier poisoning, and Shinordium uses the spirit transference scroll to trade bodies with the adamantine golem.

He then promptly smashes his old body with his new one in a single hit. It is now 7 against 3 in the parties favor. Dennaton wisely leaves his box seat to retreat elsewhere.

"The Winged" - Dennaton's Planetar still doesn't look concerned.

Insight: While not explicitly mentioned, the other preparations include being loaded with scrolls and potions to buff before entering the big fight. Since this combat system is ultimately based on math, everything counts!

The Cursed: Slave Rebellion

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Meanwhile in Thay...

The time to escape is now. Joined by Dulf, Hort, Mercy, Gezzthemin and that douchebag Timmoth Goodtree, the squad begins their escape but quickly finds guards in their way. Guards alerted by Symm Haximus. Luckily, the other guards they bribed come through and turn off the anti-magic field making it an even fight. Even the two sous-chefs join the melee.

Alas both of them and all the guards save one, as well as Timmoth are killed when a group of Thayan knights and wizards arrive. The survivors fight through to the market area and loot some supplies, including the vault now open thanks to Brother Elraish. Unfortunately, his corpse is found within.

Thayans have some pretty funky armor.

The extras decide to hold position while the main team goes through the arenas to get to Dennaton, the first of which has a match in progress - umberhulks versus Voghiln, crazy Lea and Gerrod. The monsters are easily killed and Gerrod hands over the spirit transference scroll he just completed.

Insight: You can use the NPCs to do the fighting for you, and while not very RP-ish you can also rest at particular spots to recover spells.

The Cursed: Symm Haximus

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Meanwhile in Thay...

Arzang is again one of the last standing (hiding) in round sixteen facing six fallen devas (just one step down from planetar) while Symm wins it for them somehow using insta-kill moves. Not to be outdone Hort and Dragonbait get their chance to shine against twin demi liches whose penchant for mazing doesn't work on enraged berserkers.

One of the hardest fights!

Still, it is Symm who is taken for the last two fights: the first against a trio of dragons and the second against two Bhaalspawn, one of whom goes into slayer form both made really easy as he insta-kills the "boss" creatures easily. Upon returning to the pens, they learn that the Planar Hunters are out - making this the most opportune time to escape.

As the gladiators make their way to the meeting point, Party Girl asks Symm one more time if he wants to escape with them. He flatly refuses, saying they all should get used to being gladiators and returns to the training area. Why are the strongest always so stubborn?

Insight: Don't take Symm into battles where he can get charmed or confused. Obviously his axe has an equal chance to insta-kill your party members!

The Cursed: Merciful Victories

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Meanwhile in Thay...

Apart from freeing Najim, Party Girl also meets with a guard lieutenant whom Mercy had used her charms on and bribes him 20k gold for his squad to assist in their escape. Voghiln also has a drink session with Joker and poisons her with one provided by the team (Concocter's poison). It is then back to the fight pits as the show must go on.

The next battle has monks whom "Brother" Elraish helps with, an easy fight since their speed is matched by a haste spell and they have no immunity to imprisonment. The same with the lich battle, where Dulf helps with the accompanying bone fiends and Rakshasa round where crazy Lea remembered she also has spells (she must be fighter/mage/thief)!?

Dulf also helps in the mind flayer battle, summoning a planetar of his own to aid against hapless illithids. The most difficult fight in this tier is against a clay "shattering" golem who kept splitting into two, and the team only wins thanks to Mercy's archery and skill. She and Arzang were the last ones standing, though in Arzang's case it was "just barely, invisible, and hiding in the far corner".

Are these ever in the shape of a fat dude?

Insight: Remember you still need to spell strike (or otherwise remove protections of) the magically protected foes before imprisonment will work. Always worth trying off a save for a quick win but some enemies are just immune to it, no matter what. Obviously if it works you'll get no loot though.

The Cursed: Free the Genie

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Meanwhile in Thay...

Dulf's Drow "equal", Gezzthemin, has no senility issues but is a much lousier companion to the arena team in round nine against a halfling mage and his elementals as the Drow basically acts like a shielded tank for most of it. It ultimately takes time stop and comets to bring the halfling down. Fortunately Gezzthemin is still of some use, as he can make something from the planetar's wing the team stole previously in the Hunter's Lounge: a scroll to weaken her. Due to an odd bug, he starts mass producing these - making enough for everyone!

I keep mentioning Planetars - this is what they look like.

Round ten has demons versus devils and the team in between. Luckily they mostly kill each other after eating the murderer Feldrak who was left behind as bait. The remaining enemies are planetared down. After this fight the shops have a better stock of equipment which the team eagerly purchases. Using it, they free Najim the genie and defeat the Efreeti hunter. Najim then locks up this foe into the jar that once contained him and shapeshifts to take his place to ensure that no one will notice he is missing.

Insight: Mass invisibility is very handy in the arena matches and is often one of my opening moves.

The Cursed: The Sorcerer and the Wizard

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Meanwhile in Thay...

Having scouted the Hunter's Lounge the arena squad gets back to the fights, taking the powerful warrior Hort the orc to face vampires in round six, and is very impressed by Arzang as he can now time stop, cast imprisonment, and summon a fallen planetar of his own.

Round seven is against Githyanki, and they party up with old ally and booze hound Voghiln who says a crazy mage named Irenicus restored his flayer eaten brain somehow before selling him here. More importantly, he lets on that one of the Planar Hunters, a female bard called Joker, likes drinking with him on occasion.

I suppose the "bard" class makes sense?

The eighth match is surprisingly difficult against a Sahaugin prince and his water weirds due to all their paralyzation attacks but old senile man Dulf "Dulfy" Ebonbeard, who needs a regular potion dose for his condition, saves them with his amazing array of spells. He also reveals that the adamantine golem of the Planar Hunters is a soul-switched mage: a spell that can be undone.

With his knowledge and what the team looted from his room previously, Gerrod (the wild mage befriended before) is tasked to inscribe a scroll to handle this.

Insight: Much like the previous Black Pits, your party is restored fully after each match. That's good or this would be a very short side story! :P

The Cursed: Return to Dust

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Not willing to let Bodhi escape this time, Catharina plans to bring as many people into the lair as she can for the assault - recruiting the Shadow Thieves, Paladins and even Drizzt Do'Urden and his allies who conveniently happen to be nearby.

Also recruited are Aerie, the circus Elf who is actually a cleric/mage and old Thayan frenemy Edwin Odesseiron who has ulterior motives at the graveyard district, namely the recovery of a magic scroll from a lich!

Baddies have no chance when Drizzt is around.

This team has no problem wiping out both the lich and the vampires, with Imoen staking Bodhi at the climax and retrieving her lost soul. As expected, the magic lantern is found in her coffin. All that's left to do now is to use it to find the missing Elf city!

Insight: Let the NPCs take all the drain damage. You should probably throw in some summons too (hastened Mord-swords are nice) to support them.

The Cursed: Backroom Bargains

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Meanwhile in Thay...

With the first four matches under their belt, the arena squad continues battling and recruiting allies for their escape - but also deciding who not to include. Feldrak is a murderous halfling scum who is happy to gloat upon all his past crimes and shows he has the skill to back it up by chopping up a Drow party in round five. That's not someone that should be let loose.

With some reputation and money now, Party Girl makes some deals in between matches - getting the key to the Planar Hunter's lounge by bribing fellow prisoner "Brother" Elraish, who is humorously trying hard to pretend he is a monk. She also gets disguises to access the inner areas, and acquires a variety of poisons - one to use on the megalomaniac cook who is promptly replaced by his two sous-chefs, both eager to support any escape.

Brother Elraish is kinda funny, but not as funny as Brother Silence.

There are no exits at the Hunter's lounge, but since they are all out Alias breaks some locks to try gauge what they are up against. Most importantly they find a bottle containing Najim in the room of the Efreeti hunter, but unwilling to tip their hand just yet leave him there for the time being.

Insight: No thief? You can force attack locked containers and doors to try break them open. This works  best with high strength characters.

The Cursed: Web of Connections

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Meanwhile in Thay...

Sir Erland and Party Girl spend some time meeting the other captives and it's clear that most are scum, even asking for gold (they were all given some to shop for equipment) to assist in each arena fight. One, a cleric named Timmoth Goodtree, even flatly refuses as he would rather spend his energy finding a way out. Not such a bad idea, but someone has to fight upstairs. Guess who.

The four prisoners they best get along with join the team permanently - Alias the warrior and her saurian companion Dragonbait as well as Shinordium the mage and his evil compatriot Arzang the sorcerer. For the first round against orcs, they also get the dwarven gladiator champion Symm Haximus who is the only fighter there voluntarily, for the pay and the glory. He has no interest in escape.

Symm sounds a bit like Crixus!

Round two is against Thayan gladiators and minotaurs, and the team picks the unliked wild mage Gerrod to assist. He is just happy to make friends and clearly wants out. The third round they are joined by Mercy the archer to kill lizardmen, and after the battle she agrees to keep an eye on the guard routines.

To face umber hulks in the fourth match they bring crazy Lea who is immune to their confusion due to her insanity. Unfortunately due to the same condition, they can't tell if she and her imaginary frenemy will assist in any escape attempt.

Insight: Web is very handy for these fights and the arenas are small enough to get some good coverage.

The Cursed: Rewards of Diplomacy

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Returning after doing some tasks for the sanctuary, they find it destroyed! The lone survivor says they were discovered by Thayans and the others were captured and taken to the Thayan secret base in Athkatla. Humorously, this base is right beside Irenicus' starting dungeon - posing as a shop front.

Neera wants to go all terminator within, but Catharina calms her down enough so that the team can talk their way in, even buying supplies from said Thayans and reaching the back rooms which hold some angry gladiators and underpaid mercs.

With a few underhanded tactics, the mercs are made drunk and the gladiators freed. Having the support of both groups makes the red wizards easy prey, and the surviving wild mages are freed from their cages. For safety purposes they opt to split up again, with Neera remaining in the party.

Mord Swords are fantastic tanks!

Insight: Those Thayans have some really nice spells for sale, Mordenkainen's sword summon being one of them. Be sure to get it!

The Cursed: Schools of Magic

[Part of the Cursed story line]

After a quick side trip to return the Knights of Solamnia, Valygar drives the sphere back to the Athkatla slums where it finally runs out of gas. At this point the cowled wizards show up and begrudgingly grant the Planar Sphere to Valygar, on the condition that they can use it as a school for apprentices.

Hmm, should have explored Krynn a bit more.

The team have no problem with that, and Catharina gets the first three students crafting a lowly magic items. From them she learns about a magic refuge in the Southern woods and so the team investigates and finds Neera there!

Her wild magic teleported her out of that bottomless chasm, and now she has created a refuge for other wild mages being hunted by the red wizards of Thay. The only problem is she forgot how to get in. Catharina decides to help her but soon finds this entire area is a wild magic zone, making the most regular spells go awry.

Insight: Bring health pots here. Casting heals will most likely not result in healing.

The Cursed: Black Pits Too

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Party Girl found Sir Erland drinking his sorrows away at a tavern, having been shaken with the horrible acts he committed during the siege of Dragonspear. She needed to get him straightened out quick as to meet the others to try rescue Catharina from her arrest. Fate had other ideas.

Najim the genie they rescued from Baeloth's Black Pits appeared and to give warning that they were being hunted but he was too late. A squad of hunters - "the Planar Hunters" - suddenly portaled in, led by a powerful fallen planetar (almost a minor demi-god) and easily thrashed all of them.

When they came to, they found themselves in a large, anti-magic underground facility among others victims stripped of their belongings. In short order, their "host" Dennaton made his appearance and declared that each of them was chosen because they were "champions". Now, they would fight for the entertainment of his crowd here in Thay or die. Having the fallen planetar at his side made even the most stalwart hesitate on fighting back.

"Don't worry," Sir Erland said quietly, still recovering from his bender. "We'll get out of these Black Pits too!"

The arenas aren't underground this time.

Insight: Apparently you can win that initial fight in the tavern, though I'm not clear on the "how" as those hunters are really tough and get a free round to fully buff before combat.

The Cursed: Fresh Lich of Dead Air

[Part of the Cursed story line]

While exploring the woods the team finds a nearby dwarven dig site that seems to keep spewing undead. The remaining dwarves who are barricading the entry admit to digging too deep (a common flaw according to Tolkien) and tunneling into some cursed burial chambers. Naturally, the team investigates and discovers this was intentional by the expedition leader who has transformed himself into a lich!

This fresh lich is bad news as he keeps getting up after being downed, and is only killed when the team destroy his phylactery. The tide of undead is halted, and the remaining dwarves agree to join the army. This delay also lets a few others join as well, namely Edwin the Thayan and Rasaad the monk who wants to redeem himself from his ridiculous defeat to a dart throwing bandit previously.

Catharina then scouts the bridge her force needs to cross in the morning and finds Caelar's troops already there. In the ensuing scuffle the crossing is destroyed, and Catharina and Caelar have a stare off on opposite ends of the broken bridge, both forgetting that in this world of magic a simple gap doesn't really offer much safety. It's now a race to the next crossing, Boareskyr Bridge.

Oh man if only I had some sort of ranged attack...

Insight: This turned out to be a difficult dungeon. Remember to use crushing weapons on skelies, ranged on slow things, and to return to camp to undo level drains.

The Cursed: That was Wild

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Down to half strength, the party returns to the Friendly Arms Inn to recruit Dorn the orc as well as Neera and Baeloth who (seem to be getting close) returned there from Nashkel . Neera is particularly annoying this time, saying the team owes it to her to escort her to an elder wild mage so that she can learn to control her powers.

Catharina obliges her and they follow her lead to a goblin infested area. Fortunately they pass a bluff test to convince the goblins that they are friends, letting them skip right to the boss' cave - who happens to have the elder wild mage hostage.

The boss goblin isn't fooled though and attacks, and Dorn "the ultimate warrior" is defeated by the little green man. I assume the orc was castrated before being kicked off the cliff into the underground ravine below. It's only after defeating boss gob that the Thayans chasing Neera show up, and put up a good enough fight to warrant the use of summoning wands.

Frankly, Baeloth is preferred.

Despite the victory it is ultimately all for naught as the old wild mage has zero wisdom to impart and accidentally teleports himself out of there. Possibly to the moon.

Insight: Wild mages are potentially really strong if you are willing to reload unfavorable random effects. They can literally kill themselves and their party each time they cast any spell.

The Cursed: Another Detour

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Finally convinced by Jaheira to go to Nashkel as the situation is dire (really? doesn't feel that way), Catharina and company run into more elite hobgoblins who almost kill Neera with poisoned arrows. Fortunately Jaheira can cure it, but in doing so leaves herself open to a hobgoblin backstab which cripples her. Khalid is in tears as his wife is put on a random wagon back to the Friendly Arms Inn for medical attention. As usual, Baeloth makes snide and inappropriate comments.

"At least she wasn't backstabbed with a flaming sword... up the ass!"

This results in the drow sorcerer being voted out of the party at Nashkel proper. The low HP Neera is also side lined to recover from her near death experience after defeating yet another would be assassin at the inn. Replacing them is Rasaad the monk who immediately gets along with Khalid, Minsc (and his miniature giant space hamster Boo) who want to save a woman named Dynaheir from gnolls, and the Thayan Edwin who wants to kill a woman named Dynaheir. Party Girl wonders if it's the same woman. She has low INT.

While almost everyone else is asking that the party investigate the nearby Nashkel mines to solve the iron shortage (because random adventurers are qualified to do that apparently), Catharina wants to avoid having another walk out like Montaron so they delay heading there again and instead head West to the gnoll stronghold to find Dynaheir.

Insight: If left to their own devices, party members will converse with each other. This can also lead to in party fighting if they don't get along - mainly stemming from alignment differences. If you keep everyone busy though, they'll never get a chance to act out.

The Cursed: Baeloth's Return!?

[Part of the Cursed story line]

On the way to Nashkel the party enter the town of Beregost where they immediately kill an abusive drunk, save the wild mage Neera from some Thayans, and meet Kagain the dwarven proprietor of an "escort" business. They also put the bard Garrick out of work by killing his manipulative boss.

At this point Catharina doesn't really feel like heading to the mines so she and the others opt to "see the world" and start randomly walking through wilderness areas as adventurers do.

They are caught by surprise at a ruined tower late one night when a portal opens and out pops... Baeloth!? Apparently Najim honored his final wish which was "protection from death". Being on the surface certainly seems to make the drow suffer though, so Cath and co. decide to spare him, sending him to the Friendly Arms Inn to wallow in misery.

He does seem to be suffering. Good.

Insight: Inventory management in this game is a chore. Take only the items that you need or will sell well (gems) to speed things up. Weight is also a consideration. If you want to make things easier, be sure to buy a gem bag, a potion bag and a quiver/case/bag of plenty (infinite ammo) when you can.

The Cursed: Unfair Trappers

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The next fight is really unfair, as it is against a band of thieves who have booby-trapped the arena. They cleverly stay at range with bows which makes them troublesome to deal with too.

Bows are really strong in Baldur's Gate.

It takes all manner of wands to win this fight, including some monster summoning ones just to serve as meat shields. On the plus side, the next two "difficult" battles are not really harder, since it's just a portal summoning Ogre Mage (killing the mob summoning portals first) and a band of well armed Thayan adventurers afterwards.

This completes another "tier" which both delights and frustrates Baeloth, who orders Najim to conjure up a 40,000 gold coin reward. Again, this is spent rather quickly on the even better magical gear now available at the shops.

Insight: I struggled severely with that thief fight, until I found you could replay any previous fight and get the EXP and minor gold reward. I basically farmed the ankheg battle until the party was ready both in level and gear.

Photo Story: Never Adventures (Part 7) - #IntPiPoMo2015

[Part of my photo story folder and part of IntPiPoMo2015!]

Of course there are many other dangers about.

Such as the Thayan invasion at the Dread Ring.

Which is home to my favorite looking dungeon: the Phantasmal fortress.

You can play with cute dragon pinatas!

Or go into Tiamat's Temple...

To fight the dragon goddess herself!

You can also face endless customized horrors from the foundry.

Or more familiar terrors...

Waiting within epic dungeons!

Or play the market where "heroes" sell refugees as slaves!?

Just don't complain when you get lousy loot...

Because I don't think anyone is going to hear you.

Current #IntPiPoMo2015 Count - 78 / 50