Larian Studios Forums Divinity II The Dragon Knight Saga / Flames of Vengeance (English) Divinity II - The Dragon Knight Saga Who's playing DKS on nightmare difficulty ?

I made it to FoV. I entered the HoE at lvl 35, but not before I bounced back and forth to the tower to farm my herb runner,(ha...herb runner..lol) to stock up on my high end potions.(20 heal/ 8 ea str/dex/intel/res). I also banked 10 stat pts and 4 skill points, just in case I needed to add to a certain area to keep an edge if things got a little to much to handle.

The dragon form battle was challenging at first. My health dropped to around 25%, as I dive-bombed and breathed fire on the nests, while my flying-beer-buddy distracted the swarm.

He done well and made me proud. Because I knew he was hungover from the Red Hmr Bar-B-Q the night before

Stocked up with potions and a stat/skill reserve, I made it to the arena to face all my former foes one at a time. They went down like dominoes, faster than you could say "pay me with spoons". I was expecting a little more than that. With DW at 13, Rush Att at only 6 and still packin' Razakel's Hmr, coupled with Maxos' Mal, it was RA-swing-NEXT.

The cutscene before the final fight lasted longer than the fight itself. Zandalor popped me with that initial hit of VooDoo-DooDoo (BAM! health -30%). I quickly rolled to the left and summoned Junior (call my creature Junior). I paused and slammed one of every potion in the fridge (burp) and went into my lvl 11 Bat Rage. After turning that first corner, I ran to the next corner to take cover from Zan and observe/plan my next move. (Yeah..like there was gonna be time for that) By the time I got there I was meet with...let's see 1,2,3...well, EVERYBODY! Reflex kicked in, and spamming the attack button took control.

Several hits and a lvl 1 Wrl Wnd later, the Devine Color Guard lay dead. Before the last guard hit the floor, His-Grace showed up with that, hit-me-twice-I'm-dead sword and Junior (call my creature Junior) right on his ass. I hit him twice and his health dropped enough for Junior (call my creature Junior) to trigger his lvl 10 Fatl.(SEE YA...) This only left Zan, which has yet to move from the cntr. I moved to the opening of the cntr isle. With my health at 100%, from a sucessful lvl 9 Lif Lch hit on Divine, I got ready. Before I could get him in my sights, which by this time Zan has moved to the entrance in a poor attempt to create distance, my boy Junior (call my creature Junior) nailed him with his lvl 10 RA. After I followed up, with a RA of my own, Zandalor was Zanomor.

In the end I had only used 1/ea of the go juice and didn't need my reserve stat/skill pts. Although, I probably should have put them into MR. Due to the fact that it ran nonstop to Aleroth and jumped into conv with Aug. Now I get to start off FoV w a debt of 15000+, but I'm sure it will work out.

It's a sad day for Ole Senior. I was just into FoV when I went back through a prev save, to ans a stupid question that popped into my head (no relation to any post), and reset my autosave (last save pre HoE). Thus venting in fit of rage with a child-like tantrum. I deleted all saves since the desire to replay from any point that recent was completely nonexistent.

Sooo...We shall begin a new. This time with a character from The Grey Lakes thread, named Sonoura. On another thread about suggested builds, I jokingly stated a Naked Bishop w/no weapon/no armor/preist only tree. I think I'll run with something very close. Keeping it to no helm/topless only.

OOOOOO...nastyyy...

So, Ole Senior, you now start back in Farglow ?
Good Luck with playing a naked Bishop with no weapons ?
And no armour ??? ...
And I suppose also on nightmare mode ?????

But I can say the Priest Skills are very nice !
So far I've used many of the Priest Skills. I love most of them, in particular Summon Ghost !

Again, Good Luck with 'Sonoura'

Regards, Joram (&) Jurdenson

Clearing the last opponents in southern Broken Valley and 'failing' the bandit ambush quest brought me up to level 12, a couple bandits before reaching the last of Bellegar's shrines. I then headed to the bandit camp and did a couple quests there. I entered the Temple of Doom, but my creature didn't seem very interested in going after the first skeleton, and I wasn't very interested in standing around waiting for skeletons to stay in range long enough to shoot a few times, so reloaded (intending to return when I got a head for my creature).
After that I used the scrying stone, getting some earrings from Toshan with +2 Hide in Shadows, +2 Intelligence and a level 6 Poison Aura enchantment. Right now I'm sticking to my +2 Poison Arrows earrings, but Hide in Shadows may come in handy.

The summoned demon at the ancient monument game me an amulet with +2 Ranger Stealth, +2 Heightened Reflexes, 2 charm slots and a level 1 Spontaneous Combustion enchantment. When not turning in quests, and once I get to another open area, I'll have to switch to this rather than the Talisman of the North.

With few opponents left in Broken Valley, I decided to do the quest for the miller (much easier on level 12 than doing it in D2:ED on level 4, though the resulting loot was poor, unsurprisingly), then remembered the Hellgate that I didn't even try on level 11. On the third summoning, I had trouble with the warrior Rush Attacking me, and had to reload a couple times. Then I moving a little farther away, but still in range, and he decided to switch to a bow rather than Rush Attack me multiple times, and was easy to kill (bringing me up to level 13). The demon (who probably would have been easy even on level 12) dropped a ring with a +0.05 healing rate bonus and a level 1 spontaneous combustion enchantment (it might be useful with a better enchantment, but by then I'll likely have better rings anyway).

I talked to Lovis on level 10, but reloaded when 4 tries opening the chest by the throne resulted in merely gold and potions. I returned on level 13, and started getting better loot. However, once it gave me creature parts I decided to reload looking for a ranger or mage head; in about a dozen tries (back and forth while doing dishes, etc) I was just offered a warrior head. Then I thought to myself "self, this is boring; take the warrior head or come back later", so we... um, I... decided to come back later.
I brought up my quest log, to pick some to complete, then decided I'd rather kill stuff, and headed to the fjords. Clearing down the path until just past the teleporter brought me up to level 14. I think I'll keep going and try for level 15, then head back to Lovis' tower and Maxos' temple. I just have to make sure there are enough opponents left to level before heading to Sentinel Island.

My girl has just made it to lvl 4, and we are still on nightmare. So far she has fallen in battle twice. She has summon undead and fireball. I haven't been in Farglow just yet, but the 1st part of BV is clear.

She and Rex(undead) took out Hjlmar at lvl 2 and he dropped a +1 charm bangle. That thing is gold! I got a taste of using it for the first time, with the scorpion set, and thought I could play most of the game with just that! Hit the Gob Chief with it and he takes out the whole clan! With his health then down to about 50% Rex comes in to distract and Sonoura KungPows him in the dirty bags. I've been able to use this strad all the way through the valley and a few caves.

She is not completely without armor, just no helm or cuirass.(HOT..HOT) However, she has yet to swing a weapon. We'll see how long that goes with no points yet in Unarmed.

Hi,

I like it to read this time also the "stories" of other gamers their hero/heroïn !
So great & I love reading, especially exciting and/or funny written episodes of the adventures of ...

Farglow is the place you start the game, so if Senoura & Rex are in Broken Valley, Farglow is only "past"
Lucky you finding a Bangle with + 1 to Charm ! By the way, nice strategy you're using Senoura ! Go on with it and do not fail to use a "creative mind" to find more kind of strategy steps later on ...
And tell me about them, it interests me a lot !

A side note - maybe a good suggestion for Larian :
write down in some "Books" (we can find in you next RPG) adventures of heroes like you all can read on this forum. You've already done great work with the adventures of Robin and the story of some bandits 'killing' journal - great to read !

@Raze :
decisions ... always again decisions
That's why I have decised long ago (for year's) to stop "reloading" for better gear ... when I doubt I don't look at "loot" and come back later(but make a note to find later back in an easy way), otherwise I simply take the loot, whatever it 'would be'. That's my hero's 'Destiny' : take what comes or leave it for later ... but don't cry 'my hero' if (coming later back and) the loot is NOT your "favorite" (my hero wish to see appear !)

My "common" strategy is that I always first talk with some NPC's, Mindread them (but not all right away!), trade with vendors, go to the battlefields to gain a level and back again ... I remember I only solved 1 Quest per Level the first 5 levels (or more) and all the other XP came from fighting . I did the Miller quest (fighting Penumbra) around level 11/12 and was happy with the loot.
And further on I don't make a point of making more XP via mindreading the Island . A level lower simply give me more XP killing enemies. So this time I did not go the the Orobas Fjord at all. Maybe I go there if I've the lust to kill some 'Goblins', otherwise it's for later .
I don't make a point about XP just because I wish to have Fun and not worried about XP ... "Worries" are present in my real life, that's more than enough

LOL Hey you are right!

Farglow...I meant the village....duhh

I did some limited reloading at the start of the game, but the first try is almost always the best, anyway. For Lovis' chest, though, there is a consistent creature part drop, and I need a head with a class. I'll likely reload at malachite veins, as well, but I'm not sure if I'll have the patience to hold out for 3 gems, as I mostly did in D2:ED.

I'm not terribly concerned about getting the most experience out of opponents and quests, just curious whether it will make a difference. Also, fighting opponents is more challenging on lower levels.

Sonoura has Arben's Sword...She is lvl 6 now, after sending Pevy to the can, turning in Hjal's mask, talking to Rhode, and giving Rich 5-6 harts. So far rex has 2 pts and the rest are in LP to 4 in hopes of getn' some more lucky loot. Fear would be good and Blind would be capital!

I was somewhat sceptical going into Arben's chamber with only Rex, Charm, and a lvl 1 FB.

Oh and BTW still kickn' it TOPLESS!

She took a a couple of good hits from the first Skel, before evading him with a few slick moves she picked up dancing GO-GO at the Gents Club in Aleroth. Calling up Rex and using him as a shield, pretty much like using a bouncer from the club, she was able to flank the Boned Bastard with a few cheep shots in the poop shooter.

The next two posed no real threat. Charm the 1st and 2nd goes dn with a FB or two from Rex, which is better than her FB because he can use it one after another with a very small cool dn and roughly the same dmg. Then with Rex at guard it's flank/cheepshot/rinse and repeat.

Going against Arben got a little tricky, but that's the challenge. It basically was a lot of running around playing hide and seek, while timing the cool dns between charm and Rex so that there is always at least one active. Arben hit her at the first with his FB (I guess), but no big thing.

After the 1st Bone Bastard Mage was charmed, It was only a matter of time. I didn't bother trying to charm Arben, as other bosses seem to be immune. I must say, this type of gameplay is a lot of fun so far, as it's a complete turn around from the warrior. I've played a Rang, War and a Hybrid, but this is the first time as a mage or priest only/mostly.

Only time will tell.

I'm not backing out of nightmare mode. So If it doesn't pan out with Amdu then i guess I'll pull a Joram (lol) and start over.

EDIT: One thing I've learned about Charm, if an enemy dies while under charm you do not get the EXP pnts. So you must be selective in the process. That makes sense because during the time of charm he is tagged as friend and you only rec exp for the death of foes. Therefore it does no good to just charm a particularly week guy in a crowd, as the others will just take him out and you loose the exp.

After going from level 13 to 14 on the first couple sections of the mountain path in the fjords, I cleared out the group and the next 3 that patrol in pairs, bringing me up to level 15. I had planned to leave then, but decided to try out Explosive Arrows; the damage wasn't usually a great deal more than regular arrows (at least on those opponents, and excluding the area effect), but it is still a fun attack to use. The 3 opponents left on that path and the first two on the beach across the water brought me up to level 16.

I visited Lovis again, and I'm not sure if it was my level or just luck, but got a level 6 mage head on my third reload of the chest by the throne (I took the first loot I got for the other chests there). After entering the Temple of Doom my creature still wasn't any help, but if I was paying attention the skeletons were not too much of a threat. However, if you were to stand on the raft checking the bodies for loot, let a skeleton shoot you a couple times and then jumped backwards at slightly the wrong angle so you hit the railing, slid off and fell in the water, you would die... you know, hypothetically speaking.
In the first encounter with Jagon, a single explosive arrow got rid of him. In the next, I had him almost finished off, with a reasonable amount of health left (despite a couple mistimed attacks and sidesteps), but he got a critical hit in. After reloading I hit him with an explosive arrow, stun arrow, poison arrow and then normal arrows, and he went down quickly (even though the stun arrow didn't work).

I had to destroy a (random) book and a couple food items in order to loot the chest in the cart near the end of that area. Being above level 15 now, though, I tried on each of the sets included with the North American Xbox release. The mining guild bow might be better than my current Ranger's Rest with a change of enchantment; the other sets I'll sell, and sort out the rest the next time I play.

I didn't have a lot of time to play today, and spent most of it sorting through equipment, unenchanting a couple things I was keeping just for that purpose, and selling off what I didn't need anymore.
Despite some initial reservations, I ended up going with the full Mining Guild set, and replaced my existing gloves with the slightly better Orobas Bracers. I didn't really want to give up the +2 Poison Arrows bonus on my old earrings, but I did have 3 skill points in reserve, and expect Explosive Arrows to become more dominant (though for now the lower mana cost of Poison Arrows makes it a handy backup). My old cuirass had a +3 Spirit bonus, but was otherwise equal or slightly worse than the corresponding Mining Guild piece. I considered keeping it for the extra mana (since equipping the set got rid of 7 bonus points to Spirit), but decided if I ran into trouble with mana I would use the 4 unassigned stat points I had in reserve (I also got a blessed spirit charm from a barrel on the dragon statue in the Temple of Doom).

I removed a couple useless enchantments from armour and a couple useless or proximity based auras from jewelry (don't want to randomly kill any rabbits before I decide to go after the killer bunny). In D2:ED I don't know If I found a lot more ingredients or I just have higher level enchantments in DKS, with more ingredients required, but I could only add 1 Static Charge aura (level 5) to jewelry. For armour, I added two Life Line enchantments; the first level 6 and the second (after checking merchants to find another venom stone) level 7, thanks to the merchant in the bandit camp (who didn't have any minerals at all, or formula I wanted, but did have some leggings with that Life Line enchantment).

I remembered the fight in front of Maxos temple being pretty easy in D2:ED with my level 14 melee character. In DKS I had to use 3 potions, after being hit several times with stun arrows, allowing the warrior slayer to get a couple attacks in before I could recover. I survived, but reloaded anyway to prove I could do better. Just summoning the creature made a big difference, as I wasn't the sole focus of attention (and I jumped back instead of attacking immediately).
Now I'm past the initial trials in the temple.

Sonoura is 4000 XP away from lvl 12. Her measurements are 36-24-34. She likes attending local Beheadings and the Annual Speed Dismemberment Competition (she has pl 1st 3 yrs running)

This Bustly Beauty currently graces the valley with minimal armor requirements consisting of the Blood Ech Brac coupled with the Monk's Lt Nob Legs of Spiritual Power.

She elegantly displays a wide variety of accent wares that welcomes any occasion. These items consist of but are not limited to a lovely pair of Oriential Gold Earrings w/ +1 Blind. The ever so enchanting and admired by all is The Talisman of the N. Her wrist shows off the Charming Engraved Bronze Ban of Stat Chrg w/ +1 Charm. The Girdle of Gula wraps her petite waist. She completes this ensemble with a couple of striking rings one of which is the Adventure's Band accompanied by the Helpful Bronze Ridged Ring of the Magic Gods that is apparently no help what so ever.

She went to lvl 10 with the same stats and skills she had at lvl 6. It wasn't planned that way it just kind of happened. I kept procrastinating point in case the priest thing didn't pan out, but the ole girl kept going. She had some probs with an XP glitch and had to back up a couple of lvls to fix that. So far she is still workn' it with no weapons. The dmg is min and the fights have taken longer and longer, but it has been a ton-o-fun.

BV has been cleared inside and out up to the bridge to the bandit camp and the bandit/noble fight(still need to do) She has yet to talk to Lovis and Meet Rohde and there are 3 or 4 quest to finish at the vil.

She has been very successful using a Black Widow tactic by luring the victims from the crowd with a little skin and promises of an innocent threesome w/ Rex. We were able to clear out the Gobs around West Val Shrine but had trouble w/ the Black Ring group. After several failed attempts to get to the grave for the Bld Ech Brac, she made a bold move and called up Rex to draw some of the attention and just jumped over everybody to reach the grave. Luckily she was able to loot the chest and backflip off the side of the hill to saftey.

Having obviously reached her limits w/lvl 6 stats, the next priority was to GET JUNIOR...

Not thinking about the lvl 7-8 Gob tribe across the river, She just used the jumping thing to get past the BR group and made it to the mine for the skull.(or were those Bandits...) Anyway, once inside the mine it didn't take long to realize it was time to add stat/skill pts. With 5 skill and 19 stats banked I think it was time. (OH BTW she still has on the leggings from the start of the game)

Sooo...We brought Rex up to 3 and put 5 in vital and 1 in mag mis, because FB is just too expns and the cool dn sux. The 2nd try made it w/ a little time and a lot of dodging, but we got the skull and then we got my boy JR.

Now w/ the new addition 2 da cru we cleared the baddies out to the fortune teller and the bunny chest payed off big time w/ a lvl 9 RA/FAT head (awww... he looks just like the old man...)We got our stst/skills used up ex 4 one skill.

Rex is at 4, Sum Mstr at 2, +1 Blind, +1 Charm, 2 Unarm and 1 Mag Mis.

After a few bandits and she breaks lvl 12 she can put on the BE legs and do some shoppin.

The valley is completely cleared. The only thing standing in our way of SI is... MAXOS! I mean... Amdusias. I'm thinking this might be possible yet.

Jr is almost perfect. After landing the lvl 9 fighter head from the bunny chest, we went to see Lovis. It only took a little fishing (5 reloads) to get a pair of perfect gob arms! I knew the lever chest would spawn more parts, so we headed to South Valley.

The first task was The Killer B. I triggered him earlier at the bridge near the Bandit Camp. It took a few callings of Rex and JR to get his health down to about 30%. Sonoura took a break, bathing in the river, while the boys worked on KB. Saving at this point to fish KB for some loot. The reloads payed off, after the forth try granting 2 pieces of jewelry. Some earrings w/ +2 Sum Gst and a locket w/ +2 Sum Mstr. It was as at this point that I realized that you can't have more than one summon at a time, with or without Jr. I also noticed, I could wear the +2 SG, call the Ghost, and then remove it and the Ghost stayed there. This made me wonder if the same thing would apply to the +2 Sum Mstr. Trying it out on a couple of bandits, IT WORKED!! Rex's dmg would get the bonus from it, if see has it on when he is called, and keep the bonus after she removes the locket. She can then put on the Talis ot N and get the + Wis bonus after the kill! This brings a whole new strategy into the game to be used with other items.

We moved around the Quarry area and the boys done there job getting most of the attention away from little Ms Sweet Pants. Rex would soften them up and Jr would finish with that deadly lvl 9 Fat blow. While Sonoura, played cat and mouse with the ones on the side. Drawing 1 at a time away from the crowd and hitting him with blind, she then breaks out the whoopass and just bitchslaps him to death.

The Blk Rng at the hilltop (near the summoning orb) wrere tuff at first. She went through a Rex or two to get them thinned down to just the Blk Rng Lt with the Rush Attack, but hit with Blind would bring his end. The BR Summ would call up Skel Min, only to be charmed and used against them.

Using the same tactics, we made it to the last lever to spawn the chest and fished it for about 10 min to land a perfect Gob Torso. A quick trip to the Necro and it was off to see Jagon. The Temp O Doom was literally a walkthrough as she followed Rex and Jr. When we reached Jagon, Jr hit him w/ RA and kept him focused as Rex relentlessly pounded him with energy blasts. Baby Doll hung out and lobbed a weak Mag Mis once in a while. I saved just before Jr's Kill Ya, to fish for legs. Finally, after 15-20 min Jagon dropped some perfect Goulish legs. I was hoping for Drag Elf, but fish time was O-V-E-R...

By the time Maxos' Temp was cleared to Amdus, she reached lvl 15 and STILL has yet to distribute any skill/stat pts since lvl 10. Donning the Orab brac and Orab legs (that shows off her smokn' hot ass) we set out to the OF for some of those GINORMOUS XP PTS. After charming and blinding her was down to the small boat, she broke lvl 17.

Cadby didn't make it... So, mores the pity and sux to be him...

Now it's deciding where to place 20 stat pts and 9 skill pts, before Amdusias...Flow,Flow,Flow...

Hi Senior Cinco, Rex & JR ,

nice to read your hero Sonoura maked it as a Naked biscop so far. Curious how the outcome of the fight agaist Amdusias will be

Senoura is already L 17 (!) before killing Amdusias (Jurdenson was L 14 at that time) and now Jurdenson is level 19 ... Senoura would "pass" Jurdenson sooner or later

My Creature (before taking over the Battle Tower, without any reloads!) :
A Well-Preserved Goblin Head with fireball L 6
A Clean-Cut Ghoulish Torso (100% to Magic Arm Rat,75% to Mel Arm R & Ranged Arm Rat)
Damaged Remains of Legs (40 % to CB, 25 % to HR & IW)
Perfect Remains of Arms ( 130 % to HP)

After taking over the Battle Tower I've new Legs (Fresh Dragon Elf Legs with 90 % to CB, HR & IW) & new Head (Well-Preserved Dragon Elf Head with Magic Blast L6 & Magic Missile L6) for my Creature.
The Dragon Elf Head I bought by Grimm The other body part was loot dropped by Laiken.

The Creature is really a great help !

Good luck with Sonoura, Rex and JR

Just as a test run, I went to see Amdu to check things out before I assigned any stat/skill pts. I picked up a locket w/ +1 Hide N Shadows and I wanted to see how long it took to get to the scales. So after the cutscene, with him in Dragon form, I tried to hit HnS and missed. Instead I called Jr. Amdus hit Sonoura a couple of times dropping her health down about 20%. I tried to use HnS again and it would not work. I still don't know why. I think it was just me not hitting the D-Pad properly. By flipping to dodge the incoming attacks, she made it to the scales. Hitting pause and reading the spell. BAD IDEA... that put right in front of Amdu and with 1 hit from that bow she was done.

Well, I still wasn't satisfied and wanted another shot before I added any stat/skills. If it come down to it, I could easily make her into anything,(Mag, War or Ran) with all the points I had in reserve and have the armor/weapons in inv. I knew that it doesn't take a tremendous damage output to take Amdus. The main thing is just surviving those DAMN 200+ arrows. Jr's Hp has to be around 1100 or 1200 and Rex has got to be in the neighborhood of 700 HP at least. (I'm just guessing)

2nd Try:
This time, after the first encounter with him in Drag form, I ran back into the hall to regroup. The goal is to get the scales and return to the hallway. Half naked with lvl 10 stats, she takes off running. Well actually flipping all the way to the scales and makes it with only taking 1 hit. However, she fumbles a bit picking them up and takes damage down to the auto pause (30%). Slamming a health pot and flipping back to the entrance she makes it, but not before taking more dam to 30%, but still close enough to the door as not to use another pot.

Back in the hallway, now at full health, she reads the spell and Dipshit is reduced to human form. She steps just inside the door to trigger the second cutscene. This time he remains at the alter and Her Hotness is all the way at the entrance. We waited until now to call Jr, because he can get stuck in the hallway when the door closes. Now Jr is here and while waiting for the mana to regen some, before calling Rex, (low on mana pot) Jr TAKES OFF after Amdus. She calls up Rex and chugs a mana pot. Amdus hits Jr w/a couple of shots but no big thing. Amdus goes into Melee with Jr in the mid of the bridge and Rex charges in to meet them, instead of his usual Ranged attack. Amdus is blocked from advancing on the bridge and tries two failed attempts to use Fear on them. I can assume from the high Ind Will given from the legs on JR and the maxed out lvl of Rex (possibly along with using lvl 4 Sum Mstr on Rex) they were not shaken. Sonoura took cover behind a column at the entrance anticipating an arrow shot. Amdus was too busy with the boys and had nowhere to go. By the time he got them down to 60% health, Jr checked in with that lvl 9 Fat Attack and it was over. Sonoura never took a hit and never delivered damage.

Now it's off to the island, and to get Barbados to mix up some RUM RUNNERS, before taking the tower.

Very nice strategy !!
I haven't found a Warrior's Head for my Creature. Amdusias is so much weaker in melee combat !
Also your Undead is a warrior. Hmm ... I think about next time I also hope to find a Warrior's Head for my Creature OR invest in Summon Undead .

Strange that the spell Hide in Shadows didn't work ?
But you did it very nice, anyway

Yes the Undead will do both he normally uses ranged. I guess Amdus was close enough to trigger his Melee mode.

O, okay. Then it is the same as the Summoned Ghost. He use firebal, but if enemies get close the Ghost go into melee in some way.
But the most import thing is that your Creature Jr has a Warrior Head with skill Fatality L 9 so he go to Amdusias and forces him to use his sword .
Right ?

Yes, that was the main thing, to get Amdus to go into Melle because that Explosive arrow is Bad News.

And Jr and Rex resisted Fear. So he was blocked.

Sonoura has surprisingly survived another era and still running with those lvl 10 stats!

After the fall of Amdus, we wanted to try to lvl up before talking to the Island. With a few quest left in the Village, we headed to OF for some more of those big XP's. Diving into the water and starting from the Dead Man, (took the ring, cuz Mama loves her bling) the gang cleared the beach to the water fall. It was tuff trying to keep the entire tribe from attacking, but after a couple of tries and keeping it to 3-4 enemies, the sands were clear.

Being around 5K XP from lvl 18, she got cokey and ventured into Prim Cave. Before she had time to call in the troops, that first Skel War ran in and took her down faster than a ride on the "Richard Love Train". We needed a plan...

Lucky me for the Autosave, otherwise it would have been back to Amdus for RD-3. This time she changed out jewelery to get the Sum Mst and Sum Und maxed and called the boys up BEFORE going in and put a point from the reserves into BLIND! BABY! to get it up to take out the lvl 23 Skel, and changed back to the + Wis bling to max the XPs. This time the boys spawned right beside her and the Skel made his move. Jr met the Skel w/RA and Rex was close enough to trigger his melee. Sonoura tried to take cover, (I don't know where) thinking the other Skels would be coming in soon. Thankfully, we were too far away. Her half naked and low stat self can't take more than 2-3 of their melee shots and 1 Expl Arrow and it's over. The Skel wormed his way around, after she tried to help out with a lvl 1 Mag Mis and got his attention. With his health at 75% and the boys around 50 or so, she hit him with Blind and it was a triple team beat down like a mugging in a back alley.

We took the XPs and split...

We returned to the Village to turn in two of the three quests left and broke lvl 18. Next stop was the 3 sleeping folk on the hill to trade some Mind for Mal. After the talk with the Island we were at lvl 19.

Before facing Laiken and Razi, We need a new member to pit demon vs demon and that means lvl 20, plus Jr gets hardier with each lvl. After talking to the island, I saved and played around with the skills some because I was having DW withdraws. Since Amdus's Helm was a perfect match and addition to the Orobas set, and picking up Carlin's Mace to join the Orobas Mace (both prev enchanted w/+ 50 Mag Dmg) I played around and found her able 1-2 shot any of the Drag Elves with melle or a 600+ lvl 5 Mag Mis shot ea time I hit the button, with no added stat pts. After a little venting, and now confident of being able to suit up and change tactics if need be, I reloaded and proceeded with game as planned.

Stocked up with 20 Health and 16 Mana, plus a mix of other pots, we started clearing the Island. Jr and Rex done there thing while the Naked Nun ran around trying not to get hit. Blinding anytihng that she could single out and beat down, with what seemed like 1000 hits, and charming any summoned creatures from the Mages/Summoners.

About 2 hrs later and using only 5 Health pots, the Island was clear to the barrier. Still only half way to lvl 20, we started completing quests.

BTW: I never thought about it until the meeting with Hermosa. They look just alike, with the exception of Sonoura's black hair...and the fact she's topless...mmmmmmm...you KNOW what I'm thinkn'...

With 3 side quests left and advancing the main quest up to the point where we give Sassan her ring, we decided to take down the barrier. After Sassan got her ring, that put us only 200 XPs away from lvl 20. Saving the remaining quests for later, I knew we would lvl after the first Laiken Guard.

Sassan proved to be a real pain in the arse, as she drew too much unwanted attention. Together with the fellas drawing enough of their own, the first leg to the tower proved to be too much with too many to handle.

At first...

Saving before the barrier we tried again, but Sassan still drew to much attention. Even before Sonoura called in the gang. Sassan had to be REMOVED from the equation. Soooo... After the barrier fell, (FOR THE 5TH TIME!) Sonoura runs towards the center of the island in hopes Sassan will follow like a good little NPC, and she DOES. Luckily bringing just 1 Guard with her. Lvl 20 here we come! Now Sassan is set far enough away from the action not to cause problems, and an added bonus of bringing DINO into the group. Alternating between Dino and Rex, keeps at least one active, while the other cools down after a death or a well timed force change due to near death.

It took a few tries to get a system down. If the boys were active it would be Sassan all over again. Sonoura had to try to single them out. One by one She would get them to chase her down the ramp and put him/her in the Stevie Wonder mode and hit'em with the OLD ONE TWO. (more like 1-2 hundred) With a group isolated to two or three Guards, she could call up Jr and wait for her mana to regen before calling for Rex to start at ranged until his health drope to 50% and then bring Dino in when the Guards start to get close. Even with Dino doing 70+ dam it took some time to make it to the top. He also has a fireball to work on the ones trying to get away. ( ROCK ON!)

At the top with Gabet (I think) and the group of Summoners, proved to be quite the task. Trying to isolate him also drew two Summoners along with a couple of Abominations that were called up. Still playing the same character since the exile of Sassan, and now down to 10 Health pots, Sonoura is able to make it down the ramp using Hide n Shadows, from pausing and changing out the locket to a +1 HnS, far enough to regroup and try another run. This time only drawing one Sumnr with him. After they were isolated, Sonoura ducks around the corner and slams a mana pot, calls JR, slams a mana pot, calls Dino, slams another mana pot and gets ready.

The first one around the corner was the Sumed Abomo. He was met with Charm and now it was 4 on 2. Gabet was next and was swarmed by a pack of melee. The female Sumnr came around and Sonoura hit her with Blind and tore into her with the I'LL-CLAW-YOUR-EYES-OUT-BITCH-CATFIGHT technique she picked up from working the docks at Rivertown.

With her down, it was just a matter of time before Gabet would fall, after having his RIDE PIMPED by the angry mob that had him pinned aginist a wall. Jr's hands started to glow and I knew it was over. He checked him w/Fat and a few seconds later the Charm wore off the Sumnd Abomo and he was easily taken out.

Sometimes the SummomED drops out after the SummonER falls. I'm not sure why that doesn't happen all the time.

This left a small group at the top and a couple at the main Entrance by the shrine. The barracks was cleared without much of a problem at all. Sending the guys in, the group swarmed them with a couple running at Sonoura, who was hiding in wait just outside the door. Turning the first one around with charm and Blinding the next, followed up with a little GET-YOU-SUM-A-DAT, the group was taken out.

Getting just up to the point of facing Laiken, I thought I would try to level up one more time. I knew it would be close after completing the rest of the quest. Maybe trying to take out a few more in the OF will get us there.

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