We arrived at the small harbor town of Brynnlaw with a bit of excitement. Our boisterous captain announced he was turning us over to the vampires…

There was just three of them, we were easily up to the challenge. Captain Saemon had wisely disappeared during our brief scuffle. We knew we were to meet with mage named Sanik at the Vulgar Monkey to learn how to enter Spellhold, known as the Asylum. Along the way we observed this little town had been overrun by pirates. In this case, the town being lawless may work to our advantage. We met with the young man, he was a bit of a mess! Very nervous about something; when I saw something shimmering, a golden circular disturbance. Someone was about to join us!

Get that!

Diomedes and the team were all sharp, and get it they did. An assassin said something about betraying Lady Galvena but died before any meaningful “message” was delivered. Sanik may have wet himself. Maybe he spilled his drink. We sat him down and got him calmed down. My vigilant crew standing guard helped! He did have information for us, but more urgently, Sanik had fallen in love and married one of “Lady” Galvena’s girls. Yeah, that kind of lady. His new wife was supposed to join him here and they had a boat arranged to get out, but she was now very late and it seemed obvious her *owner* had taken issue. “No problem, Sanik stay here, we’ll be back with your wife” … “wait, where is she?”
We actually could have figured it out. “Lady Galvena’s Festhall” was just down the street and had prominent signage. We knew, they’d be closing early tonight. And we weren’t subtle. We found lady Galvena and her pet mage about to execute some poor young woman, “to make an example of her”. We should have stuck around and seen to the staff’s needs after. But I was concerned there were no local “authorities” who would support us, so we took Sanik’s wife Claire with us back to the bar.
Their reunion was happy, and we learned there was a single Cowled Wizard representative in town who had a way into the Asylum.

Sanik and Claire would get out of town. Wouldn’t it be nice if our next rescue went so easily?

We found the wizard we wanted, and he was convinced to give us his wardstone to get past the Asylum’s gates. We got there quickly, and the warden greeted me by name. He offered us a tour. This didn’t seem right. I noticed my team-mates were going in and out of focus. Why would they do that? Crud. We’ve been poisoned, betrayed by Yoshimo.

I awoke in the mad wizard’s lab… again. This time we got right to the point. Well he still babbled on at length, and he told me plainly that Imoen was my sister, a Bhaalspawn like me. But soon he was activating devices and something was happening to me. I had an odd vision, Imoen telling me we could kill the beast together. A battle followed, we killed a beast that looked strangely like Sarevok. And I woke up again in a large stone chamber that seemed to be well underground. My husband and team were there. The vampire Bodhi was in an alcove high above us, and delivered the mandatory sort of villain taunts. I think we are supposed to try to escape her clutches or something? As my eyes adjusted to the dark I saw Imoen, my sister, was standing and looking a little lost nearby.

Imoen reports Irenicus has taken something important from us. He said he took our souls.

She comes around fairly quickly. Still the more subdued Imoen from Irenicus other lab. But its her, I’d know my sister anywhere. She joins with our team, and is a little surprised to see Skie is with us. I make the introduction with Aerie. Now let’s find our way out!

*****

I have the old SimDing0 Questpack installed. At least a little of it. That includes the little tweak of being able to rescue Sanik. If you can kill the assassin in one round you save your contact. We did, yay team!

2 responses to “Psyche: Update 23”

  1. Zeno Avatar

    That’s a nice one of Diomedes rushing into action. “Blurred motion” or some such I assume? That usually does pretty well for me. Particularly combined with “Action scene”. Really seems to have a strong effect on how it interprets everything else.

    Sanik and Claire leaving looks like a vacation postcard from Venice. Maybe Psyche has a post-Bhaalspawn career as a travel agent awaiting?

    I like the way “a bit older Imoen” looks in this style. She aged quickly in Spellhold. But that’s a good look for her. Really makes her look like she’s matured into a serious adventurer.

    Don’t think I’ve every even heard of the SimDing0 questpack. Wonder what else it tweaks..

    Liked by 1 person

    1. atcDave Avatar
      atcDave

      yup, blurred motion on Diomedes, it has the extra bonus of simplifying his description. Sanik was simple too, just “young man in green wizard robe”. For the village it’s “medieval Greek fishing village”, at least color wise it matches Brynnlaw.

      With Imoen I’m still mostly using your cues for BG2 to sort of suck the life out of her! I did put a small smile on her face for the portrait, but she sure does look a lot older!

      The Questpack is an oldie! The biggest part of it is a “new” AI, supposedly it is what inspired SCS. It is available and functional, I think at G3? But what I wanted it for is “Improved Oasis” in ToB, it allows for talking your way out of a fight. It also adds Saving Sanik and a Loan Shark to the Copper Coronet. There might be others? But those three are things I know I’m using.

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