Next morning we wander the beach, and find that lady who was in the pod. We stole her stuff before. Our first interaction didn't go well; she threatened Ka and told her to step off, and Ka wasn't the kind to not call that bluff. A fight broke out, Ka won initiate, so ran up to her and threw her into a barrel by the rocks. She went very splat. So much for her tough-guy bravado...
https://imgur.com/bisdMAwhttps://imgur.com/FkGkkt7It was at this point that I tapped Ka on the shoulder and reminded her that we're playing a team game, we reloaded and talked her down instead. Team No-Class adds another to its membership, and we put Shadow through her initiation rite – stripping her down and taking all of her weapons. Welcome to the team!
https://imgur.com/afj1p8OWe move on, throwing our equipment at the enemies we come across. I felt that I should probably make an admission here; I had said I wasn't going to let anyone use armour or weapons, since proficiency in those comes from class... but I guess, in away, hurling suites of half-plate at my enemies to kill them is, technically speaking, using armour.
https://imgur.com/uiEB2CMIt's awkwardly effective.
https://imgur.com/giuPL3PDown the road we find, chat up, and strip naked a cute vampire boy. Welcome to the team, Astarion.
https://imgur.com/FYu6qRWNearby, we find our apparently still alive illithid friend. He's not happy to see us, so we grab him and dash his brains out by tossing him into a nearby fire.
https://imgur.com/cCG5StiUp the road, we find a handsome waterdhavian noble, and put him through the standard hazing. Team No-Class is now full up!
https://imgur.com/Gkf8alLJust around the corner, however, we come across our friend Lae'zel! Ka threatens the tieflings into leaving, and then bashes the cage open with a shortbow she found lying nearby.
https://imgur.com/xklghSFI did a quick assessment, and decided that I would need to keep Gale with me, so he could learn more of Ka's special brand of wizzarding, and we sent Astariaon to flounce around our camp and drink wine. Also, he can't carry as many boxes and crates and spare sets of armour as Gale can.
https://imgur.com/Kkppb1OThe next major encounter was supposed to be the fight outside the ruins, but, well...
https://imgur.com/OiRoXqLWe threw the halfling into the rope, and almost everyone died, immediately, leaving just Quelanna to get offended at our actions. Gale, who had been lagging behind a bit and missed the combat roll, sneaked around and shoved her off the ledge, then Ka beat her skull in with a pair of boots. So much for that.
https://imgur.com/nOhoxoshttps://imgur.com/FOaQVMuhttps://imgur.com/6wLG1XkWe walked up to the door, informed them that we'd just killed everyone outside, and were now coming to murderise them as well. Then promptly walked back and slipped in through the broken hole instead of the door they were obviously trapping. They weren't really very perceptive.
https://imgur.com/dgWNWNCI moved the exploding barrel, then attempted to open the fight by throwing a nautilod tank at the group. Unfortunately, I forgot that they don't actually explode on contact, unless there's an open flame already. They were quite surprised, but only the one whose head I broke it over got hurt.
https://imgur.com/ty12xpaI rectified my mistake with a torch, next turn, before any of them actually acted.
https://imgur.com/CHUY9CVKa is such a good wizzard.
https://imgur.com/A11yOp4The others got into the fight by throwing things at the one remaining looter, though they had some rotten luck and missed him with almost everything for a round. Ka figured maybe he'd be happier if we gave him some loot. She threw a very fancy, very heavy reliquary to him.
https://imgur.com/V8MBM9lHe didn't seem to want it. She took it back.
https://imgur.com/4MbUtWpMoving on, the next major event was the crypt itself. We threw all the bodies into a neat pile, to better search them, but then they started getting antsy when we pushed a button.
https://imgur.com/x7sZQDwHere we tried to do something clever, and and threw down a bottle of grease, then followed it up with a burning torch... but it really didn't have the impact that the nautiloid tanks have... they all got a bit toasty, but then started running out of the fire! Lae'zel cast me a disappointed look and tossed another nautiloid tank at the group.
https://imgur.com/6UznnA0That fixed it.
https://imgur.com/RGvp71YAfter a chat with a skeleton that wasn't trying to kill us, we moved along to the druid grove gates. Here's the opening initiative and scene:
https://imgur.com/LsUnUobFirst order of the day is to clear our ledge; Ka decided that the best way to kill a goblin is with another goblin.
https://imgur.com/bDDwTgjDouble kill; guess she was right.
https://imgur.com/nTcUVrsWhen Gale's turn comes around next, he winds up with a heavy iron cauldron he picked up in the ruins, and critically splatters the shaman at the back.
https://imgur.com/t9Sk3dmhttps://imgur.com/aHyaw0YWhile the Zhents are ineffectively flailing weapons around and, most importantly, forgetting to let go of them, Lae'zel and Shadow throw boxes and crates at Za'krug, taking care of him soundly, then its back to Ka for the beginning of round 2.
https://imgur.com/utJc44Ohttps://imgur.com/5qUZothShe throws some armour at the bugbear, and after they take a few ineffective swings (Wyll was useless, and I think the bugbear wore down someone's rally hp, while the allies that got hurt before healed), Gale tries for a trick shot – He hurls a suit of armour at the goblin just behind the bugbear, hitting it, but also doing impact damage to the bugbear as well as the object ploughs through him.
https://imgur.com/4lvDxkLhttps://imgur.com/jQp1g23Lae'zel and Shadowheart manage to finish off the bugbear and a goblin with expertly thrown barrels, and the allies manage between themselves, to kill one goblin.
https://imgur.com/36nLk57Round 3 begins, but Ka throws her gith Armour at the one remaining warg; it dies.
https://imgur.com/qvayi5zhttps://imgur.com/7UkD38yThe was the fastest, most efficient and most effective clearing of the grove gate that I've done, I believe – everyone survived, the enemies died quickly, and it took only two combat rounds, with one throw left over.
Also, we level up! It's at this point that I noticed that Ka's name had a typo in it, and she's got an extra 'k'. That's going to bug me for the rest of the playthrough. The level up UI tells me that I've gone from level 2 githynaki to level 3 githyanki... but it doesn't see fit to tell me why it feels the need to tell me this.
https://imgur.com/iAUhgWA
