Let's Play! Icewind Dale

[Integrity]

hm. We'll see what happens this time - I'll go as slow as possible real-time-wise.

Edited November 27, 2010 by Integrity

[IGdood]

Wow, this shit is intense.

I've just started my own playthrough of this game and I'm getting thoroughly owned......well at a rate of quickloading every 5-6 minutes and quicksaving every 20 seconds.

I am so not used to this after playing Dragon Age: Origins.....

As for that fucking ogre in the beginning, I just spammed spells, rocks, and bolts at the fucker and ran out the dungeon when he got too close. Luckily monsters don't heal as you rest for hours at a time, so I can always go back in, shoot him, run out, rest, run in....shoot....rinse and repeat until problem is solved.

Edited November 29, 2010 by skitarii

[Integrity]

As of this A.M. I may finally be done?

I meticulously killed every single enemy between start and the villagers - and rescued the kids - and the villagers were all there and alive. I talked around to them and nobody had a damn thing to say except "were dyin" so I left. I cleared the rest of the floor - resting EXACTLY ONCE - and returned to find the villagers all gone but not dead. I rested EIGHT CONSECUTIVE TIMES in the presence of the villagers and they were still meandering around.

So? Fuck the stupid fucking villagers, at least I saved the kids. Tomorrow, real update.

EDITS: So it seems I accidentally missed something in the previous floor - I was supposed to kill the lizard king THEN proceed to the southeast and I was supposed to be approached by a villager before descending to the next floor and you know what? Fuck it. Fuck it all. I'm moving forward, straight ahead. I saved the fucking kids. I rule.

Also, the dropped weapons of summoned creatures who die in battle become permanent obstacles. AWESOME.

Edited November 29, 2010 by Integrity

[Integrity]

AND NOW THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR.

Also, nobody posted in the entire Other Games forum in the 24 hours since my last post here. Am I sustaining this entire forum myself? Cool.

----------

Discrepancies may be noted in the health bars of our intrepid adventurers. They're mostly the same level (with one exception, maybe two) but Icewind - unless you check a setting for Always Max (I didn't) - rolls dice for health like proper 2nd Edition D&D.

AND NOW THE STORY BEGINS.

"STOP!"

"Huh?"

"Hey, Luka. More talking skeletons for you."

"Oh, fuck off Furet. Hello, skeleton. Why are you talking?"

"DO NOT INSULT THIS FORM. DIE, INTERLOPER."

"What the fuck?"

"What the ...?"

Luka started laughing. "Hey, Raymond! We found their legions!"

Raymond chuckled heartily.

----------

I forgot to take pictures of the leveling process, taking Balcerzak to 7. 7 means FOURTH LEVEL SPELLS!

PLUS FOUR. That would take Raymond with shield to a -8 or so. Consider that I think the best possible AC allowed is -10. YEAH BABY.

This and Cure Serious Wounds: FINALLY.

It's....it's...

BALCERZAKIAN MIND MELD 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO.

FUCK YES

----------

"Another one of you?"

"Congratulations on passing my first legion. I'm impressed. That took me months to raise."

"Yeah, sure, cool. I honestly couldn't care less about your plans for world domination but you're freezing the damned passes and that pisses me off, so stop it."

"Passes? That isn't us. That's the Old Enemy's work."

"The what now?"

"No matter. You're trying to stop the blessed works of Talona. Die!"

"WHAT?!"

Short aside: as soon as Furetchen gets into melee, anything he stabs WILL immediately target him. ALWAYS. Even over SKITARII. Even if he MISSES. And they will NOT STOP CHASING HIM unless I can PHYSICALLY BLOCK them with everybody else - and sometimes EVEN THEN. ffffffff-

Makes for very easy melee bosses, though. Run Furetchen in circles around Raymond.

"HOW MUCH MORE OF YOU?!"

"Well, Ray, she did say first legion. That would sorta imply there're more than one."

"DAMMIT!"

Standard protocol involves everything attacking Raymond and Tarii launching a Fireball as his feet. Raymond books it away using his QUICKBOOTS before the ball reaches him, it scorches the Wights, and each one takes about two more hits to kill.

It works spectacularly. This is fucking ridiculous XP. I also forgot to take shots of Acacia's dual Thief/Mage levels and Skitarii's level 7 because I'm rusty. Tarii gained nothing for it except some spell slots cause wizards work differently and we don't have any 4th level scrolls. :(

"Okay, seriously? I figured out you're all the same stupid chick."

"Well I'm getting tired of you destroying centuries of planning."

"Yeah well fuck you, that's what."

STOP CHASING FURETCHEN FFS

"So, ah, there's probably gonna be another legion down there, eh?"

"Probably, boss."

"Hey, Zak? How long you think we'll be down here?"

"Forever, Tarii. You'll never get to go visit that mage in Kuldahar again."

"WHA?! GODDAMMIT!"

[Balcerzak]

It's....it's...

BALCERZAKIAN MIND MELD 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO.

FUCK YES

-----

"Hey, Zak? How long you think we'll be down here?"

"Forever, Tarii. You'll never get to go visit that mage in Kuldahar again."

"WHA?! GODDAMMIT!"

My grin was so wide.

And then I put on my trollface. 8]

[IGdood]

Hmm....hehehehe.

I just got through that legion part in my playthrough. Fireball is indeed a lifesaver.

[Integrity]

Aight, sorry late update today - Serenes was down or something so I delayed it 'til after my daily L4D2.

----------

"Hang on, wait a minute. This isn't even half a legion!" pointed out Acacia, helpfully. The skeleton responded by exploding.

"That doesn't look good."

"No, it doesn't. We're probably going to have to go there."

"Yeah, probably."

SO MANY BLAST SKELETONS THEY ARE ANNOYING ME. They don't give XP if they self-destruct - and they self-destruct when I deal any damage, so the only hypothetical way to kill them and get XP is to burn one of my five stun spells. Fuckers.

"HALT!"

"Fuck off, seriously."

"No. You're starting to become annoying to me. Turn back before you encounter my personal guard."

"Yeah, that won't help you. You're starting to become annoying to ME, and that makes this PERSONAL, and PISSES - ME - OFF!"

"Jesus, Luka, you don't fuck around." muttered Furetchen.

"Fuck no I don't. Let's go find this whore and kill her twice."

"...I don't want to know. Twice?"

"Have fucking Skitarii resurrect her or some shit so I can KILL HER AGAIN."

Balcerzak giggled abruptly. "Hey, now we know why that last guy didn't have a legion."

"Why's that, Zak?"

"'cause this one had two!"

Stony silence followed.

"WHY? WHY? WHY?"

"I admit, adventurer, you have exceeded my expectations. I shall grant you the courtesy of leaving intact. Now."

"WE. ARE NOT. FUCKING. LEAVING."

"Bet that bitch is over this bridge."

"aaaah-OW!" shouted Raymond, as he turned about and began running back to the party with imbued wights and poison zombies in tow. ACTION MONTAGE!

Pick 'em apart, pick 'em apart, pick 'em apart...

"KEEP MOVING, RAYMOND!"

"Huh?"

"That was Cloudkill."

Balcerzak blinked. "Wait, fuck, Cloudkill?"

"Yessir, the good old cloud of death. Guess we get to wait it out."

TIME PASSED

Raymond blinked. "Hey, what's she --"

"WHAT THE FUCK RAYMOND! OW! I'M ON FIRE!"

Acacia whipped out the Wand of Gamelon to return them to a better time.

"Okay, what the fuck just happened?"

"She gibbed Raymond. Welcome back, Ray."

"ungh."

"So how do we deal with that?"

"I got an idea!"

"Yeah, Case?"

"Bumrush her."

"Good idea, kid."

"I can drop Haste?"

"Hang a sec on that, Tarii. Let's get some summoned help."

"Gotcha."

----------

"All set?"

"Let's do this."

"CHARGE!"

"I'M ON HER! I'M ON HER!!"

"THAT'S TWO! YOU OKAY, LUKA?"

"FINE, FINE! PILE ON!"

"SHE'S DOWN!" yelled Skitarii. "CLEAR OUT! CLEAR OUT!"

"FIREBALL! FIREBALL!"

The party finally relaxed, staring at the flaming chunks of body strewn about.

"Well, that was ...messy."

"You don't say. Least we made it."

"True point. Let's see if she had anything on her."

"Dibs!" shouted Balcerzak.

"It's...it's...made and named for me." said Skitarii, a tear running down his cheek.

SKITARII IS NOW A PIMP-ASS MOTHERFUCKER.

"YEOW!"

"Casey?"

"Traps in front of the treasure too, boss. Ow. Ow."

"You alright?"

"I'll live, sure."

Skitarii sprang forward. "FOURTH LEVEL SPELL!"

Acacia blinked at the scroll a while. "Skitarii, teach me to use this one?"

"You bet, kid. Wouldn't want to give up my Fireballs anyway."

"...and some wine."

"ooh! Save that for when we finally get done with all this."

"Can do, boss."

Acacia held up the contents of the rock shelf to utter silence, finally broken by Skitarii.

"...I'm gonna start a skull collection. You still got that one from Kresselack, Luka?"

"Yeah, here you go."

"Score."

"...Luka?"

"GIVE."

[IGdood]

What the? I never got a crossbow from that stash...that bitch.<br><br>Also, not to spoil, but this is the least of your worries.  Shit only gets worse after this part.<br>

Edited December 1, 2010 by skitarii

[Integrity]

Some items are randomized, but most are fixed.

[Scarlet]

What the? I never got a crossbow from that stash...that bitch.

Same. Such a shame, though; that thing looks so epic, it isn't even funny. Had I gotten that thing even just once, I probably would actually have beaten chapter 3 for once... >_>"

[Integrity]

One of the other drops from that fight is a crossbow with an automatic double attack per round.

[Parrhesia]

Snilloc's Snowball Swarm is the dumbest spell name I've ever seen. On the upside, nice quotation by...me.

[IGdood]

Since you're playing without Heart of Winter features wouldn't our resident bard be pretty...um....limited with only 1 song?

[Integrity]

Yes. Luka has exactly one button labeled Bardsong.

It's still more useful than I think it ought to be, decreasing enemy attack rolls and damage.

[Integrity]

Good news, everybody! Today's update stretched over the 50-pictures-per-post limit, so git yo popped corn and sit yo ass down.

----------

"Sure you don't want us to rest, Case? You don't look so hot."

"Nah, man I'm totally fine."

"Riiiiight, 'kay."

A cacophony of pressure plates clicking drifted down the hallway towards the party. Shortly afterwards, Raymond ran back, bleeding from everywhere, with five zombies in tow. They were summarily dispatched with fire, and the party decided collectively that resting had become a good idea.

Click! "OW!" Click! "DAMMIT! CASEY!"

"Yeah, boss?"

"Get. Your ass. On point."

"Sure thing, boss."

"OW! Well fuck me, I missed that one. Silly me!"

"Clear to the door, folks. Shall we?"

"Yeah, let's."

"Huh. Cozy, sorta."

"Ho there, friend!"

"Heh? Who're you?"

"I am Albion, a scholar and faithful priest of Eldath. And you are?"

"Luka the Bard. How in the world did you smuggle a shrine to Eldath under a nest of trolls, lizardmen and necromancers?"

"Er, magic! That's how!"

"Uh, right. Hey, you know anything about the Heartstone Gem?"

"No sir! I heard it was kept in Kuldahar and then it was stolen some time ago."

"Huh. 'kay."

"If you require any services, please, tell us and we would be ever-so-happy to provide."

"Sure thing."

Luka started to walk past the man, then checked his stride. Treeman Arundel hadn't been very specific - maybe he could get some answers as to why they were looking for this damned thing?

"You said you're a scholar. You don't know anything else at all about the Heartstone Gem?"

"I already told you. I don't know who stole it from the Temple of the Forgotten God."

"Wwwwwwaaait. WAIT! Hang on a sec. I never said anything about the Temple of the Forgotten God."

"It's, uh, a local legend. You know how that goes."

"Fucking bullshit. Arundel said almost nobody even knows about the Temple. That's why it's FORGOTTEN!"

Albion sighed. "Foolish, foolish adventurer. Arundel should have known better than to send you to your deaths down here. I shall see him strung up by his own entrails for this."

"The fuck? CHROMATIC --"

"-- ORB! Seriously, dude? You're a fucking libraria --ho, SHIT! HEEEEEEEELP!"

Balcerzak looked sharply at Skitarii. "AGENTS ARE --"

"-- GO!" finished the necromancer.

"Haaah. How did we...?"

"No idea, Ray. Let's get some rest. That was way too much."

"INCOMING!"

"Case?"

"INCOMING LIZARDMEN! BACK IT UP!"

"R-right! Right! YOU HEARD THE MAN, BACK IT UP!"

"Too late." grunted Raymond.

"I hear chanting!" shouted Skitarii. "Something's summoning these things! We gotta pull back!"

"Right! Everybody to the floor up - we can bar that door! Go!"

The party beat a hasty retreat and recovered from their many wounds.

"Alright, let's go beat this summoner's ass."

"Damn right, Furet. First, though, let's see if my friend Albion had anything on him."

"Oh, he had a name?"

"Yessir he did."

"HEY-OH! Two better than what I got! OW FUCK WHAT?"

"...fuckers." grumbled Luka. "Thanks, Balcie."

"No problem, man."

"Bookshelves!" shouted Raymond back to the group. "All's clear!"

"Right! Go block the door and we'll have at."

"Jackpot." Luka grinned to himself as he began writing the spell down in his book.

"These summons are starting to annoy me." mumbled Skitarii. "Check the damn rooms. This had better be worth something."

"Excuse me, miss!" said Raymond, trying to emulate Luka.

"DIE, MONSTER! YOU DON'T BELONG IN THIS WORLD!"

These were Sharra the Healer's last words before she exploded into beefy chunks.

"YUAN-TI!"

"Tarii?"

"Yuan-Ti! Like lizardmen except worse!"

"What? FUCK!"

"gnaastk...." mumbled Luka. "That hurt, guys."

"Yeah, tough it out and quit being a baby. I'm about out of healing just from fixing Raymond."

"Boss!" Acacia suddenly pointed to an open door.

"Yeah, Casey?"

"I think the summoner's in there!"

"Right. Let's distract the lizards, lads. Luka, get your ass in there!"

"Gotcha, chief!"

"Get out! Now! You will ruing our plans!"

"You know what? Fuck you just like that stupid necromancer bitch."

Meanwhile, in the Distraction Corps:

"BALCERZAKIAN MIND MELD!"

The biggest of the lizardmen checked a swing aimed towards Balcerzak and turned to smack his comrade on the jaw. Skitarii took the moment to scoot past with a muttered thanks to Balcerzak.

"CASE! OUT!"

"YEP!"

As the two pushed their way through the doorway, they were roughly shoved aside by a hulking lizardman, who proceeded to carve the High Summoner grotesquely.

"CASE!"

"IN! ALREADY ON IT!"

Luka cackled madly. "How'd it feel to have your OWN PET KILL YOU?! Fucker."

Balcerzak looked forlornly at the three adventurers leaving the room. "Did you have to ..."

"Yeah, Balcie." Raymond patted him on the shoulder. "It's done."

Balcerzak sniffled. "He did good. I... I'll miss him."

"S'okay, Balcie. S'okay."

"No matter!" said Furetchen cheerily, attempting to offset Balcerzak's mood. "Onwards to victory!"

[Integrity]

"Victory and ...er, they don't seem to have noticed us."

"STOP AND BOW TO THE DESPICABLE POWER OF SSETH!"

"Oh, seriously, come now. Give us the Heartstone Gem and we'll be on out way."

"No. Even if I had it, it's a possession of our lord and master and you shall not have it. Prepare to die!"

Luka sighed. "Fine. Let me tell you something, friend."

"Hmm?"

"I've been told much the same thing by many, many before you trying to stop me from getting out of this damned tomb. Guess what happened to all of them? They. Fucking. Died. Get out of my way."

"BLASPHEMER! YOU SHALL PAY!"

This shit doesn't even need story. Confusion is an AoE. They mostly hacked each other apart while a hasted Raymond finished them off.

[IGdood]

Shit, you made this battle look easy. I had to run back and forth between resting places.

By the way, I managed to free a few invincible NPCs before i went after that High Summoner. Unfortunately he had summoned about a 100+ monsters in that fucking room of his. The NPCs did the work.

[Integrity]

I think I found your duderinos, Tarii.

----------

"There is NO WAY that's not trapped. Get on it, Case."

"Right on. ...ain't trapped, Luka."

"WOO! Stuff for you!"

"Well, we got a..."

"...hammer nobody will ever use since I cuddle up to my halberd now and a..."

Luka blinked at the knife. "A Mage Dagger, Skitarii."

"WHAT!"

"Hey, does that mean I get dibs on that poison knife?"

"Yours, Furet. Gimme that Mage Dagger!"

Acacia whistled through his teeth. "Daaaamn, nice carpet."

"That's the door down, I'd wager."

"Probably right, boss."

"Alright then! Spread out, loot everything you can then we'll go back up and rest before tackling the next floor. Go!"

Raymond threw open one unremarkable door to be greeted by a sword.

"HALT! You won't trick us like you did the caravan guards!"

"Hunh?"

"...you aren't Yuan-ti or cultists? What...who are you?"

"Raymond."

The man grunted, unimpressed. "Marchon. Of Waterdeep. And the Yuan-ti?"

"Killed 'em."

The man grunted, rather impressed this time. "ALL of them?"

"On this floor, at any rate."

"My, my. I'm...speechless. You did this ...alone?"

Raymond laughed long and loud. "Six of us."

"Ah! Much more fitting, yet still impressive. You seem wounded - would you like us to tend to you?"

Raymond made an affirmative sound.

"gr-AAAH!" Luka moaned as he stretched. "Best sleep I ever had. Thanks, Marchon."

"Think nothing of it, friends. We'll wait up here pending your return."

"Alright then, later man."

"Down, then?"

"Right behind you, boss."

"Well hello there, little girl! What're you --" began Luka.

The girl responded with nonsensical cryptic babble.

"Wait, what?"

"Okay, there was something VERY not right about her."

As the Yuan-ti noticed Raymond, the girl appeared again to deliver another portent, this time to Raymond. Raymond reacted appropriately.

Twice.

And, after resting, once again - this time to Luka.

"Okay, this is starting to get annoying and a little freaky."

"Really? I find it quite fascinating."

"Of course you do, you're a fucking necromancer and therefore messed up in the head."

"Hush, you."

SOME WORDS FOR YOU: A fucking room full of elite archers equipped with Arrows+1 IS NOT FUN, no matter how you slice it. The High Archer did, however, possess this:

...which is a longbow and therefore unusable by Thieves. No matter, I'm gonna keep it for later when Luka or Acacia can buy bow rank. Plus, it's the Messenger of Seth. I can't pass that shit up.

[IGdood]

Indeed. Those archers always seem to hit. Every fucking time.

And its annoying how you must go up a floor and look around for Marchon to make him watch us sleep....how very creepy.

[Parrhesia]

....thieves can't use longbows. GODDAMMITTTTTT

Oh well. I seem to have found my niche stabbing things, anyway.

[Integrity]

You suck at stabbing things, Furet. You're only doing it because this dungeon was factors of 10 larger than expected and we ran out of ammo. :P

----------

EDITing the update for today in!

----------

So the party backtracked to the first door we saw. I examined the map and decided that path was likely to dead-end sooner.

And click! went a plate. Acidic gasses proceeded to fill the hall, corroding Raymond's flesh. Acting intelligently, the group followed him into it. A cacophony of shouting followed.

"Ow." grumbled Furetchen. "That was bright, guys."

"Coulda been worse, eh boss?"

"Listen to the kid, Furet. We could've all walked into Cloudkill or some such."

"Whatever, guys. Let's just wait for the fog to go away.

So I got up and removed and stowed away my pants...

And I checked everybody's progress to leveling...

And I made sure everybody had the proper spells memorized...

And I sorted our inventory more efficiently...

"FINALLY! Okay, Case, you're on trap duty for this whole floor."

"Gotcha, boss!"

Weak. Skitarii leveled and I forgot to take pics. Suffice it to say he got ONE HIT POINT and nothing else. Well, an extra 3rd and 4th level spell, but yeah.

"Alright, Ray, crack open that door and let's get to." commanded Balcerzak.

Chaos ensued.

"The...fucking..." began Raymond.

"Sit down, let me fix that. Holy Christ, that looks bad."

"I'll get on looting while you two are busy." Acacia announced. "Just disarm this and heauwha?"

"Bo-oss, they're locked."

"Ha! No problem."

Furetchen leaned into the chest and pulled a magic sword out. "Luka?"

"Yeah, sure, gimme that." Luka concentrated on the sword for a moment. "...hey, Raymond? I've got a present for you."

NOTE TO CLASS: Hasted, with this new sword, Raymond attacks SIX FUCKING TIMES PER ROUND. These Yuan-ti Elites I hate? He basically just dickslapped all three of them into submission.

Raymond stared blankly at the twisted creature before him. "Lizardman...zombie?"

Raymond then grunted, utterly unimpressed.

"Hey, a dead guy." observed Luka.

"More importantly: hey, a dead guy's stuff. Yoink!"

"I knew you were going to do that, Furet. I just knew it."

"Yeah, well it was worth it. Present for Tarii!"

"Eh?"

"DIMENSION DOOR ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING?!"

"Have at, bro."

ACTION SEQUENCE OF THE DAY

Raymond yelped and fled from the room before the Yuan-ti could fully appreciate what had just happened.

"Seven or eight of 'em."

"Hm. Any treasure in there?"

"Looked like it."

"Furetchen's going to want to go in, then, isn't he?"

"Probably."

Balcerzak sighed. "Good work, Ray."

"Arright, boys! There's a bunch of them slimey bastards in the next room and something unknown they're guarding! Obviously, they're guarding it so we want it! Let's show 'em what-for!"

Spontaneous Relocation Skitarii drops fireballs on the elites. They don't last.

Luka sighed dejectedly. "Nothing in here, boys."

"Fuck? Seriously?!" Furetchen yelled.

"...nothing 'cept a NEW SUIT OF ARMOR FOR YOU!"

"Fuck you, Luka."

Luka grinned in response.

"Next door, boys. Onwards and upwards!"

Edited December 4, 2010 by Integrity

[IGdood]

We're getting more and more pimped out as we progress.

[Luna]

Gotta say I don't think I've EVER met someone other than my dad who has heard of this game... love this game... shame I only see this now... >_< you're also incidentally at my favorite part of the game. Aaaah good times... I'm totally going to follow this thread now, even though I'm not a part of it...

[eclipse]

You and me both, Luna.

[IGdood]

Should I do a Let's Play of Heart of Winter and/or Icewind Dale II for the story's sake? HAHA.