DavesGaming

Continuing on, we had been asked by Councilman Cadorna to retrieve a family heirloom that had gone missing near the old Textile House. Plus a servent of his had also gone missing while looking for the item.

While looking for the box we fought several groups of orcs.

We were right near the Kovel Mansion. We had been told it was over-run by a group of thieves.

There was no place to really rest in a manor full of thieves waiting in ambush, so we had to force our way through it. No one fight was all that difficult, but the process was exhausting. In the end, there were still six of us. No Thieves.

We returned to New Phlan to collect our rewards and rest up. We were told that the Bishop over at the Temple of Tyr wanted to meet with us.

We were happy to do that.

We cleared the temple and the surrounding area. Dirten stayed to continue resanctification of the site. We went back to civilization to get some rest before embarking on our next mission.

In the morning we hired a boat to take out east of town. The City Council was asking for us to look into several things around town. A large tribe of kobolds drew our first notice. We found their home base in a few caves near the source of a small river. They had the usual crude traps, deadfalls, large nets. It all initially posed little threat.

We all found our way to a common room (common cave?) of sorts, which triggered a series of large battles against the Kobolds.

That was a tiring fight. We will all happy to be clear of those caves.

*****

Looking at the team so far, things have gone a *little* differently than I expected. Mostly because of things I’d forgotten after nearly 30 years of playing 2E based Infinity Engine games.
Like one consequence of no weapon specialization is that physical scores have an outsized influence on how powerful a character is. So Diomedes with an 18/00 Strength is simply FAR more powerful than Garaint with an 18/30. In BG or IWD, Garaint would close some of that gap by being able to gain Mastery (and higher) in his main weapon. Diomedes as a Paladin would not.
Shuri, with no Strength bonus is simply much less powerful. She hits less often and for less damage, even using a two-handed sword. Now she is slightly tankier than Garaint (better Dexterity and Constitution). But both Garaint and Shuri are well behind Diomedes with his all 18s in physical scores.
But here comes the big surprise to me. Moya. Offensively she is only *a little* less than Shuri. She also has no Strength bonus. But like Shuri she uses a +1 melee weapon. So they both have a +1 to hit and damage. That is all. As a Cleric, her Thaco is only a couple points behind Shuri. Unfortunately, unlike an IE game, I have no stats checker here. But it seriously seem as though Moya has generally been luckier than Shuri, and has scored as many *or more* actual kills. Funny.

This works from an RP perspective too. Garaint still draws the most fire and takes the most hurt. And Moya likes Garaint in ways she won’t admit. So she will be *right there* to protect him and heal him. And that’s an amusing image!

It is a little amusing to me how even without any Specialization or Mastery, Harg is an excellent archer. Between an 18 Dexterity and a +1 bow (and occasionally +1 arrows) he hits as often as Diomedes does. And the bow always means two attacks per round. He doesn’t hit quite as hard, but against hordes of Kobolds, or even Orcs, its not a huge concern.
And wow, I really like the way spellcasting works in the Gold Box engine. You don’t have to aim your spell until it goes off (in IE you have to target when you cast). And in the turn based system and grid map (that even let’s you find center while aiming) you can take the time you need to find your aim point and launch the spell. Fireball nearly clears the map.

One other thing. The Kobold caves were actually hard! You have to fight three waves of attackers with no opportunity to cast spells or drink potions between. And right after the first wave, crossbow bolts tear through your party and everyone is hit for about ten damage. Then come more trolls and wild boars (with another 30 kobolds), then finally the Zhents (and another 30 kobolds).
This all took me three tries to get right. I first had forgotten to *buff* before entering the king’s cave. Oops. And then I was still too stingy with Strength potions and Fireball Scrolls.
Once I decided to go for broke, it wasn’t such a hard fight.