DavesGaming

We’re at war with Vampires now. They can be difficult foes, obviously intelligent. And our melee team (that’s still just Diomedes and Jaheira!) is at some risk. We have that Amulet of Power from Aran, which Diomedes is wearing. So he tries to draw all attention to himself. So far that’s been an effective tactic. Athkatla’s Graveyard District had a lot more going on than just vampires though, we first found an area loaded with mummies and wraiths. Then we found the vampires. And fought a lot of spiders in between. All in all a difficult couple of hours.

All told we probably killed a dozen vampires. The last one was a whole different sort. Powerful, and I believe ancient. She claimed to be Irenicus sister? I don’t know enough about him to know how to assess that. She also made all sorts of “shocking” pronouncements about the thieves we were working with. Like apparently, the thieves guild might be a little dishonest. And they knew things they didn’t tell us. Um, duh? Why does evil so often seem to assume good equals stupid? I think all of her shocking revelations were things we’d figured out when we first talked to Gaelan.
It looks like we’ve cleared the vampires out of Athkatla for now. But the boss lady, Bodhi, eluded us. I have a feeling we’ve not seen the last of her.

Its fair to say we’ve had other business going on. Jaheira is now a sort of wanted criminal by the Harpers? I suppose that means I am too, but its more dramatic for her, she has friends in that organization. And its been impossible for us to see if that’s actually true. We were attacked by a local body of Harpers, and Jaheira questions their legitimacy to even use the name. So we’ll have took into that one day, but its WAY down our list…
Nalia was briefly arrested by her fiancé. It was part of a power play by a rival noble family to seize her lands. It didn’t last long, we exposed the massive corruption of the man in question and now he’s in custody and Nalia is free of charges.

We ran back to the castle to take care of some business before we head off to rescue Imoen. The big thing has been getting a new militia up and working.

Minsc has been making himself useful, he’s brutal for physical conditioning. And of course, looking fierce. Nalia is getting a handle on more of the administrative work, and I believe she’ll stick around indefinitely for that. She won’t accompany us when we head out next. But I feel good about her staying here. I think this place is getting more secure and safe for the residents again.

Diomedes wondered if we were the first team of adventurers to have their own stylist. He was laughing, but I’ll need to keep Skie away from him or me may not be laughing so much. The shocking thing really is how good of an archer Skie has become, she’s a natural at it.

The next day it was back to the city. First we found Yoshimo still around the Copper Coronet and asked him to come along with us. Then we stopped by a Dwarven Smith we’d met, a real master of arcane and custom weapons and gear, just to see if he could improve any of our recently acquired magic items. He liked the Mace of Disruption we’d found, its a potent undead destroyer and he had a trick to make it more so. We’ll be ready for Bodhi next time! Then it was off to meet with Aran, today was the promised day we would set off for the special prison where the Cowled Wizards imprison mages. I don’t mean to be an outlaw, but they will answer for taking my friend.

*****

Skie is already 9th level, and has Grand Mastery in Short Bow. I know how AD&D levels work, but its still amazing how fast a low level character can catch up with a higher level crew. I’ve seen it happen often in PnP too, for a number of reasons its more dramatic on the computer. It does give me an idea for a future BG run, the kernel of idea forming in my little grey cells…

Once we rescue Imoen the party will be in its final form. The gamer in me really wants to replace Jaheira with Keldorn. But the role player says no way. Psyche would never do that.