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Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Tales of the Sword Coast | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | |
Valley of the Tombs | Return to Beregost | Fishing Village | Larswood | Peldvale | Bandit Camp | |
VALLEY OF THE TOMBS
Mulahey's Correspondence
I loot the two letters from the chest to start Chapter 3.
I then go back up to the fourth level, and this time I head north and east. I kill a pair of Grey Oozes in a rather easy fight.
Lamalha
I have emerged from the mines and now find myself in the Valley of the Tombs. I then go a little northwest and slaughter a pack of Wild Dogs.
To the east will be an assassination squad that consists of Lamalha, Zeela, Meneira, and Telka. Lamalha and Zeela both cast Clerical spells. Meneira and Telka are Thieves capable of backstabbing. Meneira fires Arrows of Fire, while Telka uses Darts of Wounding.
Lamalha will start off right away with an Unholy Blight spell, which can be quite damaging. Jaheira and Kivan interrupt her spell with missile fire, which is a fortunate turn for me in this battle.
Imoen starts off with Web. Odds are that it won't keep all them trapped inside the Web, but it may delay some of them allowing me to deal with others piecemeal. In other words, divide and conquer. And it works more or less.
Lamalha subsequently ends up stuck, so Kivan pelts her with his arrows. Zeela comes forward. Avastrian, Kivan, and Jaheira (after switching to her dagger) gang up on her. Imoen lends a helping hand with a shot from her Wand of Frost.
Imoen now gulps one of her Potions of Invisibility. The reason being that Meneira and Telka use different tactics now. In vanilla BG1 they would simply fire their missile weapons from a distance. In SCS they start off in stealth mode and will try to backstab party members (with vulnerable mages being a favorite target). Imoen is vulnerable at this point, so she 'retires' from the battle and stays out of view after gulping the potion. And indeed Maneira does get Avastrian with a backstab, obliging him to quaff a Potion of Healing.
But at the same, I'm half way there, as I've killed both Lamalha and Zeela. The placement of the Web spell proved fortuitous (sometimes my aim is spot on and other times it's off) as Avastrian and Jaheira now hit at Maneira on the edge of the Web spell. Maneira retreats further into the Web spell and starts throwing her darts so I now hold Avastrian and Jaheira back, and let Kivan hit her with his bow.
I have a little bit of luck on my side as Telka misses a backstab on Avastrian. He and Jaheira bear down on Telka. Kivan finishes off Maneira with his bow, then changes over to his Two-Handed Sword +1, and helps finish off Telka as well.
To reiterate, Web made the difference in this battle. It held up Lamalha, often interrupted her spells, and held up Maneira and Telka as well. This didn't last, especially after Zeela casted a Remove Paralysis spell. But it also meant that I could deal with Zeela first, and then Lamalha second, both in piecemeal fashion. They were both dead by the time Maneira and Telka managed to get out of the Web.
The group leaves behind:
I then sleep and identify items and in the process get the second nightmare, as well a second instance of Cure Light Wounds for Avastrian.
Revenant's Dagger
Now I continue towards the southwest. There will be tomb with a Ghoul inside, which by now is rather easily killed. The sarcophagus has 81 gp.
I continue to the south. A man named Hentold approaches me while I'm in the middle of killing Kobolds and Skeletons. He wants me to bring a magic dagger he stole from a nearby Revenant. I oblige for the time being.
I continue to the east and enter the Revenant's tomb. I could give the dagger back for an xp reward. But it is more worthwhile to kill the Revenant, which means even more xp at 3,000, as well as keeping the dagger. Monsters that are capable of paralyzing attacks (like the Revenant) have their AI tweaked in SCS so that they won't always attack the same character over and over again, even after that character has been paralyzed. They will spread their attacks around, thus presenting the real danger of paralyzing the whole party. In this instance Imoen makes the battle winnable by casting Blindness on it. This allows the party to outlast the Revenant, even after it paralyzes Khalid and Jaheira.
The sarcophagi hold some gold, a Mithril Ring, Potions of Freedom and Potions of Invisibility. The dagger itself is a Dagger +2. Jaheira, check.
Everybody in the party now has a magical weapon, so I'm free of the annoyance of my hand-held weapons breaking down in the middle of combat. My next objective is to recruit my last party member, Yeslick, as quickly as possible. This means blazing through Chapters 3 and 4 as quickly as possible. This can be risky, especially during SCS. But careful methods and a little luck will allow me to do it.
Narcillicus Harwilliger Neen
Now I travel eastwards. I run into four Gnoll-like creatures called Flinds. The battle is easily won after I put two of them to Sleep.
Note how I have Jaheira ready her Darts of Wounding that she acquired from Maneira, and Kivan his Arrows of Fire that he got from Telka. I continue eastwards, where I run into a maniacal mage named Narcillicus Harwilliger Neen. To get the most out this encounter (and in what amounts to the riskiest option), I choose the option that involves inviting him to share his slime control spell with me. This prompts him to summon two Mustard Jellies and then attack me. He does have some sort of spell protections in place, but it's not enough to stop Jaheira and Kivan from shooting him down with their choice ammunition.
Avastrian and Khalid meanwhile go straight ahead and start attacking the Jellies. Mustard Jellies have magic resistance, and are immune to piercing damage, so blunt or slashing weapons are best. Kivan joins in with his Two-Handed Sword +1 once Narcillicus falls. Mustard Jellies can inflict both poison and Slowness with their attacks. Jaheira is ready with Slow Poison if the need arises. Fortunately I happened to kill both of them and make my saving throws whenever a Jelly attack did happen to land.
Narcillicus leaves behind spell scrolls for Burning Hands, Lightning, and Web. Avastrian scribes both scrolls as their utility will emerge later on. Narcillicus also leaves behind an Adventurer's Robe (+1 to saving throws, +1 armor class vs. slashing weapons), which Imoen wears for the time being.
Three Ghasts in a Crypt
I continue eastwards, where there's another tomb. I kill the Skeletons guarding it.
I have Avastrian gulp the Potion of Freedom that he found earlier. There will be 3 Ghasts in the Tomb. Avastrian stands out as appropriate for drinking the potion, both because he has at the moment a lower armor class than the other fighters in the party, but he also scores more damage, so I regard as crucial to protect him from paralysis so that he can bring down the Ghasts as quickly as possible. This choice proved justified, as the Ghasts attacked him the most, and he landed the most damage on the Ghasts themselves.
The sarcophagi behind the Ghasts contain 5 Arrows +2, some random treasure, a Chainmail +1, a Wand of Summoning, and a Potion of Frost Giant Strength. I stash the latter two items for later use.
I continue northwards, killing more monsters along the way until I'm ready to leave the area.
Nimbul
Now I briefly return to Nashkel. I inform Berrun Ghastkill of my success for 1,000xp, some gold, and +1 to reputation.
I continue on westwards. An assassin and Bard named Nimbul will attack me. He is enhanced during SCS, although the fight remains decidedly winnable. He starts off with Armor, Stoneskin, and Mirror Image in place, so I won't be able to score significant damage on him right away. He does cast spells like Charm Person, Dire Charm, Sleep, Glitterdust, and Blindness. With the exception of Sleep the spells don't last very long. Also, Nimbul still isn't very good at connecting with his throwing axes. It usually isn't much trouble to simply stay on top of him until his protections are worn down, and then kill him quickly as he still has few hit points. What is cause for reloading, at least from my view, is to make sure one of my party members lands the killing blow so that I get the xp.
Nimbul will leave behind:
Now I briefly Return to Beregost.
