Intro

After finishing The Black Pits, let's continue our initial storyline right where we left off after defeating Sarevok.

I only played through Siege of Dragonspear once, so I don't know it as well as the other games.

Ah Imoen. Why the hell are you back here again?

Oh, that's a nice touch. All the loot from the Sarevok fight is on the ground. Not that I need it, but still.

That is a needed upgrade! Well, I could actually steal a lot of them from the guards.

The graphics are much better than the original games.

I found a gem bag. I'll keep it to try to exploit it and see if I can duplicate items with it.

Found a bottle of wine. No idea what it's for. If I remember correctly, I kept it in my bag for the whole of my previous play through.

Told Ammon how to enter Candlekeep and got some rewards. A Wand of Monster Summoning. Good to have, but I already have one.

Found this. This summons hostile creature. That might prove handy if I need to kill some bystanders.

The number of critters here is impressive

Drank a potion of Invulnerability. That makes me almost auto succeed all saves.

Korlasz and her band of mercenaries are here. Is there anything I could do to make this encounter funnier?

Well, nope, just nuking everyone.

Baldur's Gate

Back to the Ducal Palace, Imoen got attacked. As I imagined Imoen would have a plot armor and couldn't be killed, I sent 6 Fireballs in melee. Well, that killed the Assassins, but also killed her...

But holy cow. 80 Oil of Speed on Imoen's body? Well I guess killing her was a good idea!

Wow, Corwin just appeared.

Well, you can say that.

People are appearing. I never know if they'll be friends or foes. Well, Janatth and Flaming Fists. I'm pickpocketing them.

She's, like, super dead, girl. There is only her body as a non-interactive sprite on the floor.

I picked the glasses from Zaviak in the Elfsong tavern

I got Minsc in my party, mostly so I can loot him. I'll do the same thing with other members. I didn't know I could actually recruit them so early and was just clicking randomly in the discussions.

Ah shit, seems like I buggued the game. I kicked out Dynaheir from the party the moment she leveled up. And all went dark. Ah no that's ok, I managed to click through the UI and finish removing them from the party. I recruited Safana as well, to pick her cloack of non-detection and amulet of fireballs.

---

I'm picking up the game after a break of a few months. I'm not entirely sure where I left off, so I guess I'll just get out of the city and continue the main quest.

And here we go, let's get out of the city.

A hooded man talked to me. On his way out, I sent fireballs his way, just to see.

Hmm, he took damage, but disappeared. I reloaded and attacked him before he could talk and this time he fled.

I also killed a Flaming Fist guard right before Imoen talked to me. It summoned a pretty powerful mage that cast Maze on me right when the cutscene started. In this screen I'm supposed to be on the bed, talking with Skie, but I'm actually in the Maze. I don't know how this will play out.

Oh ok, I actually escaped the first "Trap the Soul", but then he cast it again after the cutscene and this time I died.

There are a lot of people outside. I'll try to cast a Cursed Scroll of Summon Monster, see how they react. Hmm, all the NPCs started casting buff spells on me, and the Flaming Fist killed the monster.

Oh right, I forgot I'm out of cash. Hmm. I'll need to find a merchant I can rob to get back on my feet.

Just for fun, I tried a little barbecue before leaving. They'll remember me.

Pfff. Trap the Soul is cheated. The mage appears, cast it, and I'm dead. Magic Protection does not have any effect. I should try with Spell Immunity: Abjuration but I don't yet have it.

Starting the war against the Crusade

Starting Chapter 8 for real. Let's get some fight ready so I can get my old habits back.

Oh! Things will get much much much easier now.

Sometimes, you say weird things in this game.

Classical quest of the deep monsters lurking in because the dwarves dug too deep.

One level deep there is this hulking skeleton immune to fire and regenerating. I'm spamming it with Skull Traps. 5000XP and a Sword to kill trolls.

I'm slowly using all the charges of my Wand of Fireballs so I'm also using the Potions of Firebreath I'm finding in creative ways.

I cleared the whole place, using my wand of fireball most of the time. I've now opened the door to the newborn lich. We'll see how we'll get rid of it.

Getting some loot back

But first, I'm leaving this area and trying to locate my loot. Maybe it's in Durlag's Tower. Maybe it's in the Friendly Arms Inn, I don't remember, it has been so long.

It was in Friendly Arms Inn. And somehow I found another Kiel's Helmet there. Not sure how I got it, but I already have one on me.

Now I'll need to get some money with my infinite loop scheme. I don't think I can get all the way to Baldur's Gate so I'll need to go to Nashkel which is the only other merchant I know I can steal.

Yeah, I was right. The bridge to the city is closed. Only way in would be using Ctrl-J but I don't want to do that. So Nashkel it is.

This should do for now. Took ~2mn of selling / stealing.

Fighting the Lich

I told the Lich I would bring him the amulets, but I also pickpocketed the key to its inner Sanctum.

I agreed to bring him the medallions of the dwarves upstairs. I don't want to kill them, so I'll just try to rest here so monsters attack them.

Well, they fight well. Apparently I can also pickpocket it from them. That will do. I'll do my part of the bargain, get the reward and THEN kill the Lich.

Lich gave me a Warhammer, I put it on the floot, cast Skull Trap on it and will attempt to lure the Lich to it. But first, I'll have to run for its phylactery.

I threw the phylactery in the Elemental Plane of Fire, running like wind away from the Lich.

Coldhearth appeared next to me. I trapped the corridor. Well, he never got out, so I had to activate the trap myself. I finally cast The Secret Revealed, the Magic Gem, on him and he died quickly. I'll keep this item for later, it seems to be doing a lot of damage.

Some damage, removing protections, and Miscast magic. I hope it will work on other Liches too.

Attempt at breaking a custcene

Back in camp, a cutscene starts as soon as one of the guards see me. I'm trying to cast some Skull Traps on the other side of the bridge to hurt and maybe kill some of Caelar agents.

I cast a Wizard Eye right behind the group and I can see that the bridge is already broken. So the cutscene is actually another map, and when it ends, I'm back to this map. So I guess if I manage to add some traps on the other side, they will trigger.

It's even better. When you walk on it it moves to the full bridge. So it's the same area, the bridge is technically always broken, but there is an illusion that makes it look like it's intact.

I managed to summon a golem on the other side of the bridge, and cast a bunch of Skull Trap on him. Then, when casting started, I moved it. Traps are set, and people are trying to attack it.

Well, Caelar and her two closest friends are immune to all damage. Only the ones in the back can be killed, but they are out of range of all my spells. I tried a lot of different approaches, using a Wizard Eye cast on the other side, explosive arrows, web, fireballs, etc but the time window between the cutscenes is very short and the enemies are too far away.

Finishing quests here

I did a few quests here, but the Menhir one was buggy. I clicked on all Menhirs and still the quest could not continue. No big deal as I had already pickpocketed the reward to the quets giver.

I also trapped people into statues, killed the mage and unstoned the people. I had a glitch where the mage suggested she could lend her golem for the final battle, but after a reload, this sentence was not available anymore. I had to reload because a wild bear attacking the camp resulted in NPCs attacking each other and the guy that handle the Inn died. And I need my Innkeeper.

I moved to the small forested area. Killed a vampire hunter; the vampire told me I'll have a reward later, but I still did kill him in his sleep. I brought the shield on the vampire killer back to the Halfelin in the previous area and got a dart +2 and also kept the shield. Those are not extraordinary loots, but still, a dart +2 is not bad.

Chapter 8

After getting attacked on my way, killing a few orcs, trolls and jellies (and getting a Sling +2), I finished Chapter 7. Now, on to Chapter 8. I'm playing as a Neutral Evil character, looking for more power and sure of himself. In a nutshell it means I'll side with anyone that is promising me magical items, and will double-cross them once the deal is done. Actually, if I could join Caelar's Crusade, I will, but the choice never was given to me.

This first map stacks on +2 weapons. Not that I'll use them, but pretty useful nonetheless. I'm also stacking on various kinds of arrows. Haven't found anyone selling the arrow of Detonation though.

On my wishlist I'm looking to a second Bag of Holding. One would be for all the stuff I need often (Wands, Arrows, etc) and the other for all the loot. I would also like a secondary hand weapon improving my attack rate, and a main one doing poison damage.

Bypassing a group of bandits stealthily.

There's a band of Trolls further north. Maybe I can force the two groups to fight?

Haha. Auto-reference joke.

Well, they ran away when they saw me, so I simply fried them.

Holy spider! I got killed by a bunch of spider that webbed me and punctured me to death.

I'm cursed. I don't what did it, nor what effect it has on me, nor how to remove it. Cure Disease, Remove Curse and Lesser Restoration have no effect. I don't see any negative impact on my stats. I guess I'll keep it as a badge of honor. Oh, after sleeping two nights, it disappeared. Still don't know what it was.

Oh great. The Vampire I killed still kept true to his promise and delivered a nice regenerating helmet.

Wyrm and Spider caves

Hmm, many wyverns around here. I don't like the Poison they have.

But they die quick and easy.

Wyverns, spiders, bugbears. Many different foes around here.

Oh, my first dragon!

Oh ok, so we don't even talk, you just attack me? Ok.

He wasn't immune to Fire and Frost, so it was an easy fight.

Bhaal Temple

Found my way to an underground temple of Cyric. Promised a follower of Bhaal to release her, as well as a Dwarf from the crusade in exchange of helping me infiltrate the crusade. Got it by a nasty Hold trap, so I'm writing this while I wait for it to finish.

Killed a bunch of cultists in various rooms, but when opening the last door: Surprise! A cultist and a demon. I forgot about that. I'm not fully prepared (not that many buffs). We'll see how it goes

Sending my golem in to distract them while I'm casting Ice Storm in the room. I waited a bit outside the room, the Demon/Dragon is not immune, and finished it with a Ice Cone.

I released Madele and told her to kill in my name.

Oh. Pretty pretty pretty. I killed it with a few Arrow of Biting. It died while keeping its zone of damage, so I lure other monsters into it and that slowly killed them.

I decided to let the Priestess of Bhaal live, but she was blocking the way to a chest. I moved her, opened the chest. I was trapped, released a lightning bolt that killed her. Well, too bad.

The fight against the Shadow Aspect of Cyric is much harder. It keeps casting Mislead. Seems to be able to cast it infinitely. This creates a double and the main one can't be killed while the double is here. Killing the double is easy: Arrows of dispelling, but then I have a very narrow window of time before it casts another one. I tried to poison it with Arrows of Biting, but it is immune to it. I should try either some Glitterdust to prevent it from go invis, or arrow of Miscast Magic. I could also try to lure it into a Skull Trap, or into the Neothelyd remains that still inflict damage.

I slept and buffed again. With Mirror Image, Blur and Stoneskin he's hitting me but not making any damage, letting me some time to try new strategies. Glitterdust didn't seem to have any effect. I'll try to hit him with Melf Meteors.

Meteors do a bit of damage to the Mislead clone. He's still basckstabbing me. I'll try to spawn some spiders to hit him.

I'm chain casting Skull Traps on myself as I'm immune, but it seems that it has not effect on him as long as the clone is alive.

I can kill clones, they seem to never attack me, but he recasts them as they die. I'm turning into a Jelly, see if it makes me more resistant to his backstabs. I'm out of Mirror Images and defensive buffs.

Oh, so Mustard Jelly is immune to backstab. That's good to know. But I have a Strength of 4 so I cannot move.

I finally cast two shields, along with being turned into a jelly and wait for him to lose HP slowly by hitting me.

It seems to be working so far, but I need to finish him quickly before the shields run out.

Finally, I think it worked. I also cast a bunch of Ice Storms to kill him faster. Seems like the Mislead is still here though.

With the shields and the Jelly, I'm mostly invincible.

I just need to wait for the Ice Storm to end. And finally, he died. That was a very hard fight.

Some random encounters

On the way back I helped a green dragon attacked by giants. I might have already killed his mother.

There are strange things written on some random trees.

I stunned the dragon after he told me where to look for treasure. I'll kill him as well. No good deed goes unpunished. 8000XP

Oh yes, that's a great cache of treasure.

On my way to the camp, I got attacked by goblins, and below them was a cave full of Myconids. I used the Greenstone amulet, and went on killing them.

Found a nice +2 sword. Too bad it's only on a critical hit, but still, this is something I'll add to my "why not" list.

Also got an Elven Chain Mail, one of the only armor I can wear and still be able to cast spells. But it's AC 5, the same as my Robe of Evil Archimagi, so I'll stay with the Robe.

And I have all this spider silk that Khalid will use to give a present to Jaheira; that I don't really need and can't put in the bag of holding. I'll put it in the chest back at the camp.

And finally found a Lower Resistance spell. I'm actually not going to learn it yet, I might need to chain cast it at some point later, I'll wait for a second scroll.

Back at the assaulted fort

Because I saved one of them they let me inside. I remembered Edwin needed to kill a mage there for him to give me a nice Robe of Fire Resistance, so I grabbed him in the group, but could not trigger the discussion. Too bad, I'll just agree to sneak in the fort and kill the refugees. If need be, I'll also kill the Crusaders.

Having a look around.

Oops. I sneezed.

And I teleport inside the fort.

I really like Neera and what she brings to the story. But this is a solo run, I'll have to let her go to the camp.

And just like that I can dismiss her and tell her to go back to the camp while all the other refugees are here, unable to leave and the main quest is actually to bring them to the camp. Well.

Speaking with someone on the roof summoned a Greater Fey. I had never seen that sprite before.

I put some traps on the other side of the bridge, hoping that will kill/maim the Crusader when the bridge will be lowered.

Haha, that worked pretty well.

So, they let the defenders leave without attacking them. I fireballed the defenders on their way out. No reputation impact. I'll now destroy the Crusader camp.

Full assault on the camp. Flaming Fist Mercenaries are getting into the fray as well, they might get killed.

Final fight on the bridge against a mage trying to explode barrels.

They invoked Fire Creatures. I did not remember that part in my first playthrough. I guessed I killed the mage quickly enough. Erf. The Barrels exploded. I have to re-do the whole camp fight.

This time I cast Fire Breath through a potion to chests and barrels, and walk around the camp. This was really quick. Unfortunately, during the bridge battle I cast Ice Storm too close to the barrels and destroyed the bridge myself.

This time I did a mix of both. My Fire Breath didn't cast and I'm unsure why. Maybe one of the targets was too far? Anyway this time I also managed to Quick Save right before heading to the Bridge. I also learned that what triggers the cutscene is the death of The Barghest.

I summoned some creatures so I have valid targets to cast spells and will hope that I can kill the ennemies with some skull trap. Well, actually I'll keep my skull traps, they're precious. Instead I simply killed the mage through Melf Meteors quickly, so she could not summon any more demons.

Paralyzed the others and finished them manually.

Exploring the camp and clicking a haystack.

I crossed the bridge. Another encounter with this hooded figure that seems to know so much about me. I fireballed him but he's invicible, I'll stop wasting resources trying to kill him.

Coalition Camp

Now on to chapter 10. The Coalition camp and the Castle.

People's pockets are pretty full around here.

Well, ok then.

And an hidden merchant with great items. That I can even steal. I'm just going to pick up everything here.

Also stock up on arrows. This almost filled the Ammo Belt. This should last me a good chunk of BG2.

My inventory is mostly containers. The Potion and Scrolls are almost full, so I have a bunch of potions in the Bag of Holding as well.

Most of my combat tactics rely on the Wand of Lightning + Wand of Fireball. That's why I have Icingdeath scimitar with its +50% Fire Resistance and two rings of fire resistance. There is no better ring for me for now, except maybe Evermemory or the Claw of Kazgaroth but Fire Resistance is too important to pass. I'll switch when I'll get the ring of Gaxx.

Feet are for Boots of Speed, the best item in the game. Belt is mostly useless. I picked Cloverleaf that is giving me Luck. I think it add a bit to hit and damage.

I took the shield giving me the best AC, but as soon as I find an off-hand that gives me better APR I'll switch.

For the helmet it's Kiel, to be used with the goblet, so I can fully heal with it (and be immune to panic). I put an amulet +2 on my neck, but can switch to the Greenstone amulet when needed.

Bracers are improved THACO and damage, but I guess I'll find better at some point. Armor is the Evil Archimagi, which is the best I can find. Great AC, some Magic Resistance. I'll switch to Vecna when I'll have it. Cloack is Balduran for the Magic Resistance.

Quick interlude on my way up the main quest. Attacked by enemies in an area where magic does not work. I made quick work of the small group of assassins, in melee combat, with some backstab and arrow of biting.

A troop of displacer beasts at Dead Man Pass. I'm still under the effect of the dead magic zone.

Oops. Ran unexpectedly into some giants.

Easy.

Found the cousin of this guy from Nashkel.

Let's try this group without a wand.

I moved all the way to Dragonspear Castle. Using the insignia I found earlier, I was able to go past the guards. Now is time for some pick pocket spree.

Actually there are too many people in the camp. I'll instead try to kill and loot them. But without turning them hostile, so I'm not interfering with the story.

I found this. Maybe it will help me stay unnoticed.

I'm actually finding a lot of weird stuff around here. I'll talk to a few more people, finish a few quests before killing everyone.

I think your Caps Lock is broken.

I got tested by a Sentry of Tempus for bringing back a blessed symbol.

Oh this is actually very good. I might be able to wear that and wear a Ring +2 instead of one of my rings of Fire resistance. This also allow me to wear a +2 THACO amulet. I would have worn the Claw of Kazgaroth instead of the ring for the +3 to Saving Throws, but it can only be removed by a spell

Also, by correctly answering a Crusade trivia test, I got this nice +1 ring, that I can wear in addition to other CA enhance items.

I met a troll that didn't answered really well to me trying to put shackled on him. Well I'll let him hurt the crusaders.

So I put on Evermemory to get more level one spells. And now I'll try to charm this camp and make them turn against each other.

I charmed a guy and will now wait for him to turn hostile and see how others are reacting.

Ok, so nobody is actually reacting. Ok, let's charm another and have him being attacked by the first one.

Oh, seems like my newly charmed friend aggroed the hostile guy, which turned everyone hostile. Well, except a few others. I'll stay hidden and see how it plays out.

Hmm it seems it didn't work. Everyone is now hostile. Well, I did all the quests. I guess I can kill them now? The only spells I have prepared are invocations and mind controls. I took a few potions, and will try to do it without the wand of fireball.

I have a pretty good AC. I guess only spells can be any kind of problem. I'll try to backstab the spell casters first.

I'm doing equipped my trusty dagger of venom and arrows of biting and killing people one by one, with backstab and other tricks. I used whatever potions I find on the ground. I consider any loot fair game.

Sometimes backstabs seems to have no effect. I wonder if the Fireshield has an impact.

I think there is an infinite supply of people coming. I saw them getting out of tents and I've been killing them for a while. So much that the game starts to slow down. I guess I'll consider this done and will now report to the camp.

I went back to camp, validated all the quests I could, then headed to the Underground river.

I met some wyverns, myconid and displacer beasts so far. Got the Wyvern through the bow (they are immune to poison, so acid arrow). The Myconid died through MMM and the beast simply on melee. I was buffed with an Oil of Speed and Potions of Heroism to increase my HP and THACO. I "only" have -6 AC with my dual wielding.

I found myself at the head of an Ogre band by killing the two rival chiefs.

Those people are trapped in some nasty vine. I could help them, but before depleting their pockets.

Oh ok. I asked for a reward and those nasty druids invoked all kind of weird stuff on me.

Oh shit, and I flee right into a group of orcs.

Ok, too late for any buff. I'll just gulp a potion of Invisibility and sneak past. I came back with a Potion of Explosion (I still have a few laying around) and finished the other archers one by one. I found a scroll of Magic Missile and one of Hold Person. Let's use them.

The druid keep calling on creatures. I charmed one of them and will try to turn the tide against them.

Well, I managed to get the charmed one almost killed. They're firing too many spells I had to use the Greenstone Amulet to protect me from any mind controlling effect. They are also hitting pretty hard so I gulped another Oil of Speed and ran.

I managed to poison the druid following me, it interrupts its casting and I'm killing the creatures using Frost arrow I found on a corpse nearby.

Finally finished them. It was a lot of fun. It is actually a lot more fun to try to beat enemies without using the fireball trick. I'm adding some handicap to the way I play now: I try to make use of whatever loot I find in a given map. This let me see some spells cast by enemies, learn what they do (and how I could use them to my advantage).

Got attacked by a bunch of creatures asking me to pay a 50gp toll. I used finally used this scroll of Hold Person.

Under the Castle

Finally got under the castle. I'd love to kill all those crusaders but... I'll first walk around, pickpocket any named NPC and then I'll see if I can lure some monsters there.

Hmm, this is weird. I spotted a group of Myconids and Umber Hulk, so I activated the Greenstone Amulet. Still, they managed to Feeblemind me while the Amulet is supposed to explicitly prevent that.

I met Ferrusk, the bad Druid. I managed to steal this from him before he moved away.

Speaking to him again triggered a conversation where I could tell him I killed the Druids above "as promised" and he gave me some (crappy) potions "as promised" as well.

Well, I didn't like him and I knew he would attack if I try to loot his stash, so I simply backstabbed him. He survived and got enough time to invoke a few friends of him. No worries, this will yield more XP. I'll see if I can lure the monsters into the Crusader camp.

I got entangled by a Web spell and then a Shambling Mound. I equipped the Ring of Free Action and am now trying to run to the camp. But this also disabled the boots of Speed.

Great, they're all attacking the thing. One way or another, this will make things easier for me.

Treants, Dryads, Shambling Mounds and Spider die easily under my arrows of Detonation. 3-4 arrows for a group like this seems a fair trade. I'm also constantly wearing my ring of free action here. Too many Web traps and Entangling Mounds.

I've been discussing with (and healing) some crusaders while being simultaneously attacking animated shrubs with fire arrows. Not sure how this will end. Well, it ends with the crusaders fleeing and me taking care of the gardening.

I then went into Kanaglym. There's a bunch of undead there. How will I kill them without a fireball. Fireball will sure be handy here.

I got them with arrrow of detonation. Their archers were stupid enough to stop early in their tracks, blocking the path for the Bladed Skeleton which in turn blocked everyone. I just had to shoot the furthest enemy and they all died one after the other.

Found a scroll of Minor Spell Turning. It only reflect 4 level of spells but as long as there is at least one level left it will reflect it. That should be helpful in reflecting high level spells.

There is a bunch of dark magicians in this crypt. They are trying to break my stealth but I'm wearing Whispers of Silence, the Cloak of non-detection and it seems that even if the spell effect registers on my sprite, it does not break my stealth.

I tried to dominate one of the Dark Magicians, but he cast a bunch a contingencies when he saw me, rendering him invisible so my spell was cancelled.

I'm taking my anti-mage quiver. Arrows of Dispel to remove protections, of Antimagic to prevent them from casting and of Detonation to explode them.

Well, this didn't turn out so good as the Ghost Dragon showed up. I started running, protecting myself from magic using a potion, and firing arrows of detonation. Somehow one of them managed to see me while invisible.

I managed to run fast enough to hide in shadows and went back killing mages one by one.

One of them was holding a jar that contained the essence of the dragon. By killing him, I released the dragon that helped me kill all the other

I also used my spectacles to liberate a lich.

Well, I actually managed to backstab it before he started talking.

I got him to near dead and then he cast all his protections so my weapons are now ineffective. And now he's time stopping me.

Hmm, I had this thing from another lich I killed. Let's see if it will work on him as well.

Oh yes, it actually worked. Well, let's try to kill him now. The time it took me to find this idea, he regenerated some HP already.

Haha, killed him with an arrow of Dispelling. Well, this Lich-killer thing is useful. I'll make sure to keep the last charge for later.

On my way out, a ghost is blocking my path. I put a Skull Trap for him.

Holy cow. This thing is draining my levels very very quickly. I had to cast Restoration on myself and finished it with arrows of detonation (this things automatically hit). Anyway, I got a nice new Robe, allowing me a minor sequencer once per day: I'll put my combat protection in it (Blur, Mirror Image and Globe of Invulnerability).

Argh, I managed to get my way almost to the castle and I failed a pickpocket attempt on a guard right in front of the doors. Well, I guess I'll just try to finish them.

A patrol walked by, and those idiots of a crusade started attacking them. One of their owns!

I also encountered a band of drows. I attacked them and they retaliated. They're fast, cast blindness and backstab. Pretty tough opponents. I draw them to the crusade camp and the first thing they did is cast a fireball into it. Ok, now I have some pissed off friends.

I finished them off with some arrows, but the initial group is still there. And they see through invisibility.

Haha, I'm having fun kiting them to the camp. The sheer number of crusaders will kill them, but they do take a fair number of opponents with them.

Finally got into the warrens, the part right below the castle. I didn't put any bwoosh, I guess I'll need to later to validate quests, but for now I'll just keep validating quests and pickpocketing people.

I overheard what can only be assumed as a meeting between managers.

Nothing really interesting on the ground floor. I got myself hauled up to the first floor and met those gentleman. I remembered from my first play through that it was a tough fight, so let's see how it goes.

Well, it wasn't that hard. I took a potion of invisibility, opened with a backstabbed, shot arrow of detonation and of biting and finished them.

I poisoned food and water, a bunch of other crusaders arrived, but never engaged with me.

I charmed one of their mages, cast some web and started shooting them from afar. Hephernaan is in the group, he'll be a tough one. Actually no. Another group came by, as they were all clustered I shot arrows of detonation and got them all. I also realized that as Web is a level 2 spell, I'm immune to it when using a globe of invulnerability. This will be much more helpful than a ring of free action that also dispels haste.

Arrows of detonation are really a life saver, I'll need to stock up on them. I'm not sure arrows of Antimagic are that useful, they should prevent people from casting, but arrows of biting do the same and are more versatile. I'll invest in more arrows of biting.

I don't know how many of them there are but I spotted them invoking reinforcement by group of 6 so maybe I need to focus on the named one to stop the flow.

There are actually a bunch of named ones left. I found a wand of paralyzation and a potion of explosions. Gonna use them.

That cleared it. Tough fight. Had to use a potion of magic protection (which is not that easily found)

But, pretty good loot. Spell Immunity is very very powerful, allowing me to stay invisible or to prevent dispel.

Now I need to go all the way back to the outside world. This means going through caves full of angry crusaders. I'll have to play that properly. Might be time to try my new spells.

Actually, I managed to bluff my way through. But now that I am all buffed, I'll still wreak some havoc here. Starting with charming an enemy mage.

After that, I asked help from my water element friends. Mostly enough of a distraction so it will use their spells while I hack them away.

Back on the surface, I found two drows amidst my new Ogre group.

Back to camp

Back to camp I did some shopping. I wanted to stock up on detonation arrows but Waizahb wasn't selling any. I was sure he was the guy I bought them from initially. Anyway, I sold most of my arrows of Antimagic and took some of Biting instead. They're expensive, but the poison damage is very useful: it slows targets down and interrupt their casting.

Back at Dead Man Pass, there is some kind of parley with Caelar. I wanted to plant some Skull Traps there to see if I could kill them, but I don't have a saved game recent enough. This taught me to do real saves once in a while, before important events.

Back at the camp, all my friends are gathered around and mercenaries and soldiers are going north. If I remember correctly, people will come from various sides and I'll have to kill them before they do too much damage.

Got help from the dwarves I helped with the lich.

First wave are some trolls. I got help from archers, fired myself two arrows of detonation and charged into the fray. And died... Shit, I wasn't buffed.

This time I buffed, and they died quickly.

Got a weird leather armor as loot.

Second group are wizards, but thenkfully I had cast some preemptive webbing in their vicinity. Asked the rogues to come with me.

The fight was hard, as my webbing ended too soon, and the rogues died when the mages manage to cast their spells. I used all the wands and potions falling from their dead bodies, but soon enough, their assault prevailed and the whole camp was assaulted. I chain casted Domination on the named enemies, hoping to turn the tide in my favor.

Ah actually no, charming didn't work and I ended up firing arrows of detonation on the barrels of Bwoosh, exploding the whole camp. Well, I guess I'll have to retry, and this time better handle my defenses.

This time I managed to kill all the mages with fire. I think I killed a few of my own rogues with it. I also stealthed at some point and this triggered the enemy losing sight of me and prompted a dialogue with my own camp saying that I had retreated too far. Which I didn't. This stopped the three breach events and got all the crusaders coming to the camp at the same time.

Shit, this failed also. The barrels exploded. Ok, I'll try again, and this time, no matter what, I'm not retreating.

This time, I asked my own mages for help.

This was way easier that way. I cast web later, so it would last longer. I also used the wand of paralyzation on the webbed mages, and that allowed me to disable more of them. Unfortunately, they dispelled my protected, so I'm gonna have to ask Dosia to rejuvenate me before the next wave.

Well actually no I don't have time to rest. Oh it seems I do. Where is Dosia? Can't find her and now I don't have time to rest.

I did not had time to prepare for this wave. This is going to be tough. I'll try a myconid diversion.

Well, I don't see any effect with the myconid. Just enough to have the enemies attack them, giving me right enough time to start incinerating them.

They hide behind they blades and sanctuaries. Can't target them with arrows. But wands work.

Managed to paralyze them. Still can't target them, so no dispel is possible. Gives me time to buff, though. I used the Suncatcher Shield to cast a Sunfire spell next to them. The resisted most of the damage and stood there. Then, their spells ended and they died. I have no idea what happened there.

And finally, during a break, I could get all the way to the center, where the group of named NPCs are.

Opened with some paralyzation that got almost all of them. Took advantage of that to kill their mage, and then cast explosions to the others.

Chapter 11

This is the last part. Now on to attacking the castle.

Another cutscene. Another area that I could have trapped.

This is my army. Ogres that I saved.

And the same, with labels.

I got attacked by the winged friend of Caelar, the combat was a blur and I think it died quickly with no interesting loot.

Got a nice Mace from Mizhena for saving her father. Immunity to fatigue, that would work well with Restoration or Haste. I'll have to check this out. Tested, and it works. If I have this mace equipped, I can cast a spell of Restoration without getting the bad effect of fatigue. This is a nice trinket I'll keep.

Now, inside the Castle I put on some traps, to see if it would kill someone during a cutscene later.

Now confronting Caelar, right before Hephernaan betrays her and open a portal to Hell.

Avernus

Now descending into Avernus.

First battle into hell. Seems like all my buffs disappeared when I went into the portal. I had to quickly rebuff with the few spells I had left. Drank a potion of Fire Resistance. Gonna try some arrows of biting on those fiends, see if it has any effect. They fucking teleport right to me. Pretty hard to hide in shadows. I don't want them to gang up on me, I need my mobility.

Ok, that was hard. Lemure take damage from arrows, but not the poison dot. They all seem to take damage from the arrow of explosion, weirdly enough. Hellcats keep getting invisible, which is a pity. I think I need a lot of AoE, and passive damage to the one attacking me.

I already had to drink 5 times into the goblet in that first fight. I'm now getting much more prepared for the next fight.

I gained a level right before the last fight.

Which allow me to always detect illusion. Not sure I'll need it in the final fight, though.

And now is the final fight. In my memories, it was a very difficult fight. I know this time I want to loot Caelar before ending it, but we'll see how it goes... Her stuff is glued to her. We'll see if I can loot her dead body.

So I tried spamming him with Magic missiles. He is resistant to magic. I spammed Lower resistance then tried Skull Trap. Did some damage, but he turns invisible, making it hard to target. Managed to make him lose some health, but he's coming back.

And I actually died from my own Skull Traps. I'll need to protect myself from them and just act as a bomb close to him.

Ah shit, second try I managed to kill it but died at the same time.

This is me, chain casting Skull Traps.

And I finally killed it with some Magic Missiles.

Looks like my trap didn't really work. Well actually it killed Skie. Before the cutscene started. Hmm.

Oh no, I guess I have broken everything. Now I can't "kill" her and get accused. I can even sleep in this cutscene but get out.

I'm reloading my save several times, hoping for her to succeed on her saving throws... I reloaded times and times again and she kept dying. Damn, I don't know what to do. I guess I'll have to re-do the whole Hell thing. Shoot.

I guess I'm at it again. I'll just turn invisible and run through it all. I don't remember any interesting loot apart from the one from the riddle.

Hmm what? This time the demon invoked friends of his? He didn't do that last time.

Ah ok, I don't know what happened but he considered that I beat them even if I didn't do anything. Fine by me.

And here we are again. This second try was easier, now that I got the hang of it.

This time I didn't kill her before I could kill her. Wait, what?

Chapter 13

This is some kind of Epilogue if I recall correctly. I put all my gear into a chest in the castle so I can get it later, so right now it's just me and my spells.

I crawled my way out through the sewers

Defended myself against an attack in the woods.

But there's nothing I can do, it's the final cutscene. The Shadow Thieves are taking me to Irenicus.

Weird stuff appeared in my journal. The BG2 intro started playing.

And then I had this screen. Managed to pause the game.

But still can't access my inventory.

Got this in my log, but there is nothing I can do.

Apparently, something glitched somewhere. Irenicus is not supposed to be here at that time.

And the bastard is still casting spells at me

Somehow Imoen was there and tried to pickpocket Irenicus, but failed.

I can play during this cutscene

I'm leveling up Imoen to see if I can pickpocket him. Nope, nothing to pickpocket.

Ok, so this seems to be extra buggy. I'm still stuck in the cage, with Imoen outside and Irenicus just standing there. I think I'll have to reload an old save to try it again.

So I'm reloading from the epilogue.

I redid the last part, with the attack from the Shadow Thieves, which is still as buggy as before. I seem to have a Bag of Holding in my own backpack but can't access it.

Well this is even buggier than I expected. I'm visually stuck on the map from the abduction, but I'm hearing some sound effects of the Chateau Irenicus attack. Hearing Shadow Thieves scream.

Ah finally I'm there. We'll see if it worked this time...

I could get out this time, but I can't zoom in/out.

And the map is absolutely buggy. I will try a save and reload.

Perfect. Zoom and map worked ok after a reload. So I guess it marks the official start of my BG2 solo run and the end of the SoD one.