Avlis Notebooks - a NWN multi-dynasty

[QuikSand]

This thread is dedicated to discoveries and adventures from the woirld of Avlis, a multi-server persisten world run for Neverwinter Nights. There are several FOFCers who have joined that world, and we'll post things here about our experiences there.

All are welcome to read along - but I'm thinking of this thread as a sort of "guild" for those of us on Avlis. Try not to violate the general precepts of the "in character" site, but if we can exchange experiences with one another a bit, it might enrich the gaming experience for all of us.

[Daimyo]

Has anyone ventured out of the Mikona? On their webforums they mention other states. There is one other human state that was designed to allow groups of PCs to own property and build their own keeps, but who knows if that module is up and running or not. Maybe someday we can move there and establish the FOFC guild.

I once went as far as the first portal directly north of Mikona, but was killed pretty quickly by an Ogre when I ventured off the main path. I hate ogres...

[Fritz]

Something interesting happened to me.

I was rummaging through the slums, which I thought was OK when a man (LVL 10 ranger perhaps) popped in and gave me a hard time about looting from the poor. We bickered back and forth about it and he demanded 500gold, which I eventuall gave him to end the conversation.

I offered to make the donation to a temple, but he said he wanted it. Not sure if he is a vigilante, crook, dm, or self appointed guardian. His character name is Liartes Ranorabus (The Azrai is his login name).

[Fritz]

I have been to the wilderness. You need a hackpack to get that far.

[QuikSand]

Daimyo, I have also been to Elysia, the elven city. It's apparently good deal like Mikona - varied sectors, a complex marketplace, that sort of thing. In general, there are more "toys" available there... but I'm not sure how far that goes. (You can buy healing potions there, which is nice)

Technically, you're supposed to go from Mikona to Elysia by way ofo boat - you can buy passage at the Mikona docks. However, every time I have tried, the passage doesn't work... and I have resorted to just going dorectly to that (separate) server. I'm told that when the boats are running properly, this is considered poor form - but have no first hand knowledge of that.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by QuikSand
and I have resorted to just going dorectly to that (separate) server. I'm told that when the boats are running properly, this is considered poor form - but have no first hand knowledge of that.

does it pick up your character properly this way?

[QuikSand]

Yes, you carry right over, and start out in the "start area" - and enter in the main tavern in town.

[Daimyo]

Today I did a bit of exploring in the Wastelands. There is a city/keep of Equalizers there that consists of a few merchants, a re-spawn spot and a huge castle (6 floors?) that had some interesting books, but mostly was full of Equalizers. Other than that there were just some farms in disaray.

I did hear from an NPC about a bandit cave that could be worth exploring as a party. Another PC I met on the road warned me to "be careful for the bandits looking for one who went before you".

I think you can walk to the Elvish lands via the Wastelands because another NPC told me the warzone was to the north of his farm. (Apparently the Wastelands is in such bad shape because of the war between humans and elves). I was told I would find a monastary before I got to the warzone, but I had to leave the game before I could continue to the north.

[Anthony]

i am logged in. the DM told me to change my name of Hell Atlantic becasue it wasn't fantasy enough. i will go by another name that others will be able to identify me by. perhaps that will be fantasy-eque enough for the geek DM's. just kidding.

thanks to QS for making this world known to us here at FOFC. picky DM's aside, it already seems like fun.

[ACStrider]

Interesting finds Daim. I want to venture into the woodlands, but haven't had the guts to do it alone. As of now, I can't play much because of the whole router situation with my roommate. He plays a lot (a lot more then I do) so when I want to play, he's often on. Oh well.

Fritz - Liartes is a dm. He's the one who recruited me to sing at the bard festival.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by ACStrider
Fritz - Liartes is a dm. He's the one who recruited me to sing at the bard festival.

I wish he would have broken character for a sec. I was inclined to think he was a PC-thug.


-----
Good night of gaming with HFP. His barbarian character is fantastic to adventure with and he role-plays him well.

[HornedFrog Purple]

Well as of now the boats are broken so what I do is go to the docks and log into the other server at 18 hours, so I simulate like I took the boat.

Me and Fritz had a blast messing around in the mines tonight. A fellow orc showed up who was naked so we helped him get his corpse back. We also had a fellow named Eric who was new so we gave him a bow and some arrows. (I will buy you a new bow if you need fritz)

Fritz is a crafty little wizard I must say. We took on some umber hulks that were pretty deadly for our levels and managed to kill them a few times. They have a scream that turns party members against each other if you dont save throw, so Fritz's doggies were attacking me, I had to kill one of them heh.

I have found a lot of really nice people on the server so dont be afraid to ask someone for help or information. This is actually my first experience with a roleplaying game like this and roleplaying is pretty fun.

Information: I have been messing around with smithing.

2 iron ore = 1 iron ingot
5 iron ingots = 1 shiriken

I made my first weapon today, albeit a projectile, but I was pretty happy. It is the only thing I have figured out to make thus far. :)

[Daimyo]

HFP, there are two books in the keep at the Equalizer castle that list ingredients you need for specific weapons. I believe one was for axes and I can't remember the other.

[Daimyo]

I got to play a little tonight and continued north. Eventually I got to the warzone. It wasn't very big, but dangerous as it seems both guys attack. One of the human commanders asked me to pledge my loyalty to the human side and he would protect me from his men, but I refused. Eventually I made may way into the elvish ccountry of T'Nashi and now I'm in their capital city (Le'Or T'Nanshi I think). Its like a huge version of the Ewok village. :)

[QuikSand]

Do we have the sense that in this milieu, if you want to gain "powerful" weapons and such, that you have to go track down the various ingredients, and forge them for yourself?

It would make some sense... I just hadn't read that anywhere.

[Fritz]

shoot, I don't even have "not so powerful" weapons.

[Anthony]

how do you get out of Heaven? i had to have the DM get me out the first time i died, now i'm wandering around looking for a way out now that i've died a second time.

btw, i've died twice following people on adventures that asked me to join - and i said i don't think i have enough power to be of much use - and they said don't worry, and twice i've died.

i got suckered into following 2 guys into the sewers - i was on a fire beetle quest and we agreed to help each other on our respective quests. we go all the way down, get bombarded, and the two guys were like "see ya, you're on your own". it was fun to be left by myself, cuz i could really see this happening.

another time i got stuck in a house because the door locked as soon as i stepped in. i took a vial of potion from someone's chest, and when i saw i couldn't get out i put it back thinking maybe the door locks when you steal something. nothing. i guess there were no DM's on either because my cries when unanswered. i finally picked one random person to come get me out, i had to leave little clues as to where i was and they finally bashed the door down and gave me some tips. it was boring at first but fun. i didn't have any weapons or else i would have bashed the door myself.

[Daimyo]

I saw a crypt in a small village called "Westshore" not too far north of Mikona. I didn't go inside, but later I heard some PCs talking about it, so I guess it might be kind of cool. I'm back in Mikona now so hopefully I'll run into some of you guys again.

BTW, Le'Or T'Nashi has some nice elvish weapons/armor if anyone wants to make the trip sometime. I'm not sure there is anything else to do there though as I was the only one on the server the whole time I was there.

Question: Has anyone found any of the adventure packs (other than rat raiders) to be useful yet? I'm sure I can't fo the troll, orges, or elemental ones, but maybe the beetles or spiders?

[QuikSand]

The beetles are *way* too tough. It starts harmlessly enough with a bunch of fire beetles, but they ramp up in difficulty. It ends with some kind of "den mother" beetle, and the big dude who helped me needed well over 200 HP in damage to wipe her out. (Needless to say, I was a shivering, naked passenger at that point, groveling for help in getting my belongings back)

From what I have heard - the rats are a goldmine, the goblins are a waste of time, and nothing else seems do-able. I have not heard anything about spiders.

[Fritz]

HA - there should be a trigger point you must step on. Stay out of the sewers. HFP and I got waxed there and we are good deal more powerful.

Quik - Daim and I did the Ogres when I was level 5 and he was level 3. they crushed us, but I bet 3 or 4 of us could take them.

HFP and I took out 2 Vampire Warriors (50 exp per is not bad in this world).

[Anthony]

what is everyone's name in Avlis? mine in obvious to all FOFC'ers when you see it.

[Fritz]

AC Strider has a thread with player names.

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8452&highlight=Arena

[Fritz]

FYI

http://boards.blackdagger.com/viewtopic.php?t=8834

[Daimyo]

Wow that is great fritz!

A couple of things:

I've heard about a hill full of giants and trolls near Mikona. I think it is due East as I encountered trolls there after walking up a hill.

Also, I think I may have found a longterm goal if I stay in Mikona. There is a lawful good Order in Mikona, Order of G-something (the LG god). Apparently, reading things at the in-character Mikona discussion, they pretty much control Mikona now to the point of being oppressive. I think they're the ones who rag on people for summoning within the city and apparently they've even dismissed summoned creatures outside the city walls leaving mages defenseless in hostile areas!

[QuikSand]

The Laful Goods are the Order of Gorethar (or something very similar). Yes, they are the prude police.

The Order of Valok (mostly orcs, it seems) are the ones who always talk about "getting ahead in life." They are lawful evil, but are clearly in the minority compared to the LG cabal.

Are you suggesting that a long term goal might be to help subvert the Gorethar in Mikona? My character is Lawful Neutral, but has a slight tedency to evil after I gave money to Valok. It would be in character for me to get behind that, I think.

[Thomkal]

I was able to get into Avlis this morning after fiddling with anti-aliasing. Don't know if it was a one time thing or not. Anyway I met up with Critch and a lovely lass by the name of Anaiya Greenwood. We tried our luck in the slums, but Critch and Anaiya found the monsters there much tougher than before (I had never been there). Then we killed (or watched the guards kill) a few fire beetles, before using up Critch's rat raider kits.

I made it to second level, which is a good thing, because as a cleric Critch and Anaiya were having to heal me a lot more than I was healing them.

By the way, Thomkal is Neutral Good and worships Dra'Nar, the Gods of Heroes and Orphans, so don't go doing anything against him or I'll have to kill ya. (yeah right)

Was fun Critch, thanks for letting me tag along

[Fritz]

I have goal - Get people to dress better. To many folks in bland colors. Perhaps they are in the Gorethar cult.

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by Fritz
I have goal - Get people to dress better. To many folks in bland colors.

Hmmm... my ears are ringing.

[edit for nitwitted typo]

[Critch]

If you go down to the slums today, you're in for a big surprise.

Looks like the wererats have finally worked out what all this fighting is about, they're much tougher than they have been. They've got some sort of damage reduction that makes them harder to kill off. Some of the other packs have been toughened up also, the goblins seem to be hanging around in larger packs, though they're still mincemeat.

Good seeing you on there Thomkal. A good morning. Anaiya vanished off after you left, so she must be hot for clerics. She's probably a middle-aged fat bloke anyway :)

[Daimyo]

Originally posted by QuikSand
Are you suggesting that a long term goal might be to help subvert the Gorethar in Mikona? My character is Lawful Neutral, but has a slight tedency to evil after I gave money to Valok. It would be in character for me to get behind that, I think.

Yes, that is what I'm suggesting. It is great that they have taken it upon themselves to protect the weak and maintain some order within the city, but I believe that have crossed the line between protection and oppression. (makes me wonder ooc, if there isn't some LE character in a high position warping the group for his own ends). The problem is all the worse because of a lack of any significant group to counter their influence on the city.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Critch
If you go down to the slums today, you're in for a big surprise.

Looks like the wererats have finally worked out what all this fighting is about, they're much tougher than they have been. They've got some sort of damage reduction that makes them harder to kill off. Some of the other packs have been toughened up also, the goblins seem to be hanging around in larger packs, though they're still mincemeat.

Good seeing you on there Thomkal. A good morning. Anaiya vanished off after you left, so she must be hot for clerics. She's probably a middle-aged fat bloke anyway :)

Critch, encounter size and toughness is often tied to total character level in an area. A good reason for low level characters to avoid high level ones.

[Daimyo]

I figured Thomkal was a lock to be a Paladin. ;)

[Fritz]

I DLed the character creator and played with the custome races. The half nymph gets a +5 to charisma and a -2 to intelligence.

Would make a good Sorcerer, Paladin, or Cleric.

doubt I will ever get to play one though.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by QuikSand
Hmmm... my eras are ringing.

I have some threads for you BTW

[Daimyo]

I created a half-nymph sorceror when I first got the game before I read that only experienced Avlis players could use them. :(

[Thomkal]

Originally posted by Daimyo
I figured Thomkal was a lock to be a Paladin. ;)

I certainly considered it. :) But I am playing the single player version with a Paladin, so wanted something different. Would have played a druid if someone (Daimyo) didn't pick one for himself. :) So seeing Fritz turn from a cleric to a wizard, I went cleric. Knew the group could use some healers.

And clerics are my favorite class anyway so I guess it worked out in the end.

And I tried twice this afternoon to go into multiplayer games (not Avlis) and crashed both times. Only time I was able to get in was in the morning, soon after turning on my computer. Don't know if there's a connection there or not.

And Critch, women are always hot for clerics. ;)

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Thomkal

And Critch, women are always hot for clerics.

Well, women named Tammy Faye anyhow.

[Daimyo]

New rule about adventure packs:

http://boards.blackdagger.com/viewtopic.php?t=13599

[Critch]

Not sure if this is a permanent change, but the boy who takes the fire beetle bellies has been killed.

From the chatter in the game, this may have been planned to close the "loophole" of people making vast amounts of gold from selling his potions.

Combined with the adventure pack rule changes, it'll make getting from level 1 to level 2 a fair bit more difficult.

[Daimyo]

I noticed yesterday that only one fire beetle spawns from the sewers, whereas before two spawned.

I got my Druid back after losing her to the server crash. Unfortunately I lost about 4500 XP in the process (I was only 200 away from lvl 6)... :(

[QuikSand]

It sounds liek there is a general drift away from the various loopholes that they planetd in the setting. While it's easy to say this after getting a fairly easy ramp up to my current XP, I think this is for the better.

I wandered around town for a few hours before discovering the fire beetles or the adventure packs... my progress to level two saw me become pretty familiar with a number of the locations and personalities in town, and I think that wa a pretty worthwhile experience. It also probably serves well to filter out the powergamer crowd pretty well - there are plenty of places for that group to sign on, and then pull a cord to get a level up.

And in truth, with the adventure packs - it was just a very strong incentive to use them, especially the rats. Getting something like 300XP from "rat raider" and then getting plenty of GP afterwards... it took real metagame discipline to actually go out adventuring, rather than just sitting around fighting rats. I personally think the advanture packs would be better off without the chest at the end - valuable just as a training tool, that's all.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by QuikSand
And in truth, with the adventure packs - it was just a very strong incentive to use them, especially the rats. Getting something like 300XP from "rat raider" and then getting plenty of GP afterwards... it took real metagame discipline to actually go out adventuring, rather than just sitting around fighting rats. I personally think the advanture packs would be better off without the chest at the end - valuable just as a training tool, that's all.

I am gulity of some of th3e very abuses they detailed. At 7th level, I would not run a pack for the exp, but the money can be good. Money can be hard to come by, and may partys that I have been in take a finders keepers approach to treasure. The packs were easier.

daim - they must have used a backup from the day before or so. I had a few items in my inventory that had been discarded.

[QuikSand]

Perhaps we're due for a coordinated party get-together. I'm good tomorrow evening, from about 6pm ET onward. Might we try to do something of the sort? I don't have a particular destination in mind, but with a handful of mid-level characters (several of us in the 5-7th level range) we might be able to take on one of the more dangerous tasks...

[Fritz]

Originally posted by QuikSand
Perhaps we're due for a coordinated party get-together. I'm good tomorrow evening, from about 6pm ET onward. Might we try to do something of the sort? I don't have a particular destination in mind, but with a handful of mid-level characters (several of us in the 5-7th level range) we might be able to take on one of the more dangerous tasks...

A quick one would be the vampire (and stuff) in the sewers or the ogre cave in the wilderness. Daim may have some goos destinations as he has been wandering about quite a bit.

[QuikSand]

(Posted on the guild message board)

By the way... my monk is very interested in finding some help with his armor class. I have a ring of protection, but that's it. I can't (practically) wear armor, but a nice robe would do me well, or something of that sort.

Have any of you, in your travels, come across any useful defensive items? Can you send me in a direction that might be fruitful?

[Fritz]

Originally posted by QuikSand
(Posted on the guild message board)

By the way... my monk is very interested in finding some help with his armor class. I have a ring of protection, but that's it. I can't (practically) wear armor, but a nice robe would do me well, or something of that sort.

Have any of you, in your travels, come across any useful defensive items? Can you send me in a direction that might be fruitful?

Quik, a wisdom booster may help you as well.

[Daimyo]

I would be up for a party get together. I generally get home from work around 7pm EST (except THUR when its ~11pm).

I think the hill to the east of town with the ogre's, trolls, and giants (I think it is east of town, I've only heard of it and I saw several trolls over there) would be one place. Apparently that is doable solo by an 11th level wizard or 14th level fighter, so it might be doable by several 5-7 types.

There is a crypt in Westershore in the Wilderness that I've heard people excited about, but I have no idea how challenging it is or what is there.

The sewers below Mikona seem a popular detination, although supposedly it is inhabited by a Lich that would probably give us trouble.

There is supposed to be a grotto under Elysia that is great for XP for mid-level characters, but I've never seen it.

Lastly, the best XP I ever received in my journeys was 47 XP for killing a Nanshi warrior in the warzone. It was not tough to kill at all since they're pretty much all ranged and the terrain is flat. Unfortunately they don't always attack you and when they do they don't always appear as hostile (?!). But perhaps if we joined the human side, we could kill them at will for fun and profit? (not sure how that fits my alignment though...)

[Daimyo]

Quik, there was some armor in T'Nashi for wizards that gave an AC of 3 and didn't interfere with arcane magic (I think). I'm not sure if it interfered with the wisdom bonus. Other than that I don't think I've seen anything that remotedly would help. On the road to T'Nashi I did find a lone guy in the Wilderness selling nice shields. I got a medium shield from him... no AC bonus other than the usual +2, but it can do Cure Minor Wounds five times per day and it cost less than 300 gp! (he had three other types, but I don't remember what they did.)

T'Nashi also has nice weapons. I bought a Katana of Elvin Kind for ~2000 that does the normal 1d10, plus an addition 1d4 physical. I love the description... something like "This katana is VERY sharp"

Maybe you could take a level of wizard to get Mage Armor or some cleric/druid levels to get barkskin. :)

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Daimyo

Maybe you could take a level of wizard to get Mage Armor or some cleric/druid levels to get barkskin. :)

or travel with me and I will give you stoneskin.
or travel with your wife and she will dress you in moleskin.

[Daimyo]

When stoneskin's description says damage resistance 10/+5, does that mean it prevents the first 10 damage from each hit, unless you have a +5 weapon?

[Critch]

If you go into the Mikon sanctuary in the temple grounds in the city, there's a Mikon Cleric at the west wall who sells some stuff that might help.

She's got a scarab of protection for about 2000.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Critch
She's got a scarab of protection for about 2000.

FWIW, scarabs make poor condoms.

don't ask why I know that

[Anrhydeddu]

This sounds like a great deal of fun. I can imagine the enjoyment of banding together whereas playing by yourself can be frustrating.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Anrhydeddu
This sounds like a great deal of fun. I can imagine the enjoyment of banding together whereas playing by yourself can be frustrating.

By clicking the Agree button, you warrant that you will not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-orientated, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violative of any laws.

[KWhit]

Online is just as damn frustrating, because NWN KEEPS CRASHING TO THE DESKTOP!

Every time after I log into Avlis, I get a crash between 5-10 minutes. My single player game works fine. I have connected to other internet games and they were fine. I believe I have all the hakpaks installed (AvlisHak, jess_treecity, UniversalHak, and drylands). I turned my video and audio options all the way down. Nothing helps.

What's totally wierd is that sometimes right before it crashes I end up controlling another character on the screen (usually an NPC). My character will just be standing there while I move around as someone else.

Anyone have any ideas?

[Anrhydeddu]

"by" not "with"

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Anrhydeddu
"bi" not "with"

sometimes we share too much


Originally posted by KWhit


What's totally wierd is that sometimes right before it crashes I end up controlling another character on the screen (usually an NPC). My character will just be standing there while I move around as someone else.

Anyone have any ideas?

This must be a known issue, because i have seen something similar to it posted.

If you first installed NWN a while ago I would unistall it and start the process over again.

[KWhit]

Originally posted by Fritz
This must be a known issue, because i have seen something similar to it posted.

If you first installed NWN a while ago I would unistall it and start the process over again.


That was on my list of things to try. I've been searching the Blackdagger forums, but hadn't yet found any threads that helped.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by KWhit
That was on my list of things to try. I've been searching the Blackdagger forums, but hadn't yet found any threads that helped.

dont venture into the rants forum. useless

[Eilim]

Haven't touched NWN for a few months, used to run a PW. Kwhit, thats pretty much been a known bug since the game's release. Last I knew they had tracked it down to being related to lag in some fashion, but could never fix it. It seemed to happen more often on the "well populated" servers, and with people on lower speed connections. Its one of the many reasons I put my NWN projects on indefinate hold.

I'll get in touch with some of my old NWN guru friends who are still in the development scene and see if anyone has ever come up with a solution or atleast a work-around for the problem and post back here.

-Eilim

[KWhit]

Thanks Eilim. Please do post what you find out.

I'm surprised to hear that it has to do with lag. I have a cable modem that is super fast, so I would expect it would happen to me at least LESS frequently than others, but it happens every time I play - usually within 5-10 minutes.

Sometimes I don't hit the possession bug, just a straight crash to desktop. I don't know if these are related or not, but I'm gonna do a clean install now and hope that fixes it.

[Fritz]

Kwhit.

Try pinging the address from the command prompt and see if you have packet loss. Some cable systems are a little shoddy and they suffer from packet loss. The effects is to have good ping times but not so good speed becuase you have to retransmit information.

[KWhit]

No packet loss:



C:\PING AVLIS.BLACKDAGGER.NET

Pinging BLACKDAGGER.NET [67.83.14.145] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 67.83.14.145: bytes=32 time=57ms TTL=109
Reply from 67.83.14.145: bytes=32 time=57ms TTL=109
Reply from 67.83.14.145: bytes=32 time=115ms TTL=109
Reply from 67.83.14.145: bytes=32 time=57ms TTL=109

Ping statistics for 67.83.14.145:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 57ms, Maximum = 115ms, Average = 71ms


What do those times look like to you? I don't have a frame of reference.

[Fritz]

67.83.90.43 is the ip.

[KWhit]

Are you sure? When I connect using Gamespy I use avlis.blackdagger.net:5121 (which it appears above translates to 67.83.14.145).

When I try to connect to 67.83.90.43 I get a time out error. Incidently, I get timeouts when I ping that IP as well.

So 2 questions for you:

When you connect to Gamespy what do you type in for Server IP?

If I want ot test my connection via the command line, which IP should I ping?

[Thomkal]

KWhit,

I would try posting in the Techincal Self-Help Forum from the official Bioware forums. You can reach it through the Avlis homepage. In trying to fix my own problems with NWN, I've seen several people post with similar problems to yours, but no one seems to have much in the way of answers at this point.

[Eilim]

Emailed some friends and waiting on a response. Quick question, Kwhit, does the swapping happen someone randomly or have you noticed it happening more after "zoning" through a portal?

Like I said, its been a while I but I seem to remember one group of people deducing they were having the problem soon after transer while on a busy server. Which leads me to another question, whats the average server population when you play?

This is one of those things that has been going on since release that no one ever could seem to pinpoint the exact cause. The game devs attributed it lag due to the fact they could never reproduce it on their test bed (an in-house LAN setup). Not many people bought into the lag as main cause but thought it was just one of the many ways it could be caused. Early on in the release the problem was caused by so many different things (Including certain DM tools.) that seemed to be "fixed" while it still happened in other circumstances.

Curious if you have any memory monitoring tools on the machine your running NWN on, as one early guestimate on the cause was believed to be memory leaks in NWN. If I remember correctly some people also thought the leaks were made more apparent, and related issues caused by certain "sloppy" hack packs. Might want to check the specific world's forums to see if others are having the issue, but I'd tread lightly as NWN fans (btw, even with its issues, I am a, or rather ex-fanboy of NWN.) can be rather brutal in the "If you have problems you need a better computer" way.

Anyways, enough threadjacking, when I hear backing I'll hit ya with some PMs.


-Eilim

[Daimyo]

Avlis averages about 20-25 (out of 64 max) players on the Mikona and Wilderness servers I'd guess. Probably more during peek times.

[KWhit]

Eilim - No it doesn't happen right after a portal. Usually I'm just walking around a single area.
When I am playing, there are usually 15-20 people on the server.
I don't have any memory monitoring apps on my machine (that I know of anyway) and I'll post my issues on their forums and see what they tell me. Maybe they won't be too hard on me.

Here are my system specs, FYI:
P4 - 1.5ghz
256 Ram
GForce 3 Video card


Thom - I'll give that a try too. Thanks.

[Daimyo]

Damn.. apparently nt only did I lose 4500 XP, but I always lost my journey to T'Nashi, my Elven katana and my shield that cures minor wounds... to top it off I started on the wrong server and so could do nothing for last hour!

In the meantime I made a lawful evel, half-orc fighter named "Turgh" and role played him a while. XP comes very, very slowly, but I spent a lot more time talking to people and developing some story for that character.

[Bee]

I just sent in my application. Any advice under the new rules for a new player?

[HornedFrog Purple]

Hey Fritz, sorry about what happened. My ISP had trouble all day, it took me an hour to get back on. I found the cave you were talking about, I was able to do ok in the first level but didnt venture far into the 2nd by myself. Maybe we can go there tonight?

Quiksand, while running around the wilderness, I found a place called the Order of the Way. It had some pretty cool monk-only things. I will try and retrace my steps and find it again and show Fritz if I dont see you.

[Fritz]

TUBBY!

we waited for a little while and then ventured in. I felt fairly sure going into the cave, mostly because I had cleared the top solo a little earlier.

Gregor and I were a little reluctant to go much deeper into the hole without our big green damage absorber.

The wilderness would be a good place to play tonight.

[Daimyo]

Order of the way is northwest of Mikona, south of the warzone. I went there once, but I didn't see their shops, so I'd be interested in seeing that too. :)

I went back to Le'Or T'Nashi and checked around with an eye for things a monk could use defensively. Two things that might be of interest... gauntlets that give +1 AC (deflection) and boots that give +1 AC (dodge) and -5 move silently. Also they have a pair of Kamas, Kama of the Moon and Kama of the Stars that both give bonus to attack and AC vs shapechangers. I believe monks can use their unarmed attack bonus and number of attacks with kamas.

[Daimyo]

Also there was an amulet that granted immunity to evocation spells! You have to be lvl 14 to wear it though and I didn't even ask about the price...

[Daimyo]

Hmm strange things afoot tonight. On my way back from Mikona just one map north of the city as I clicked to enter the block adjacient to eh city I suddenly ended up somewhere called "Tolgorath's Lair" in the midst of some huge battle?!?! Magic was flying around and the enemies looked like huge giants... so I did the only thing reasonable, and quickly hit the exit button since it must have been some server glitch... I went back the same server and spawned in the same place so I exited again and went to Wilderness this time. Have to wait an hour to play again, but at least I won't die in a place where I'll never be able to recover my body... Don't know what happened there, but it wasn't pretty :)

Westshore Crypt is a great place to solo through once and would have been really nice for a party of lower level types...

[QuikSand]

Can you give some general directions how to get to Westshore crypt?

[Daimyo]

Head north a couple screens in the wilderness and then west maybe two screens. It is the largest of the small wilderness towns I think. It has a sister town due East called something like Bachtown.

I found two new places I would add to the list of places that I think would be interesting to revisit as a party. The first is a Minotaur's Lair in which I was slaughtered quickly by two "overpowering" minotaurs. The second is a cave that had many blood stains (that supposedly a ranger could identify according to the examine) that I could not explore at all due to trolls near the entrance, but that I think I need to explore for some other quest.

Did you guys ever get back to the mines? I have only ever explored there that one time I played with Quik and Fritz and wondering if I would have a chance at all now by myself as a Druid(4)/Fighter(1)...

[HornedFrog Purple]

We found the crypt today. From Mikora just keep going north until you see a split going west. There is a rock on the right, right where the split is. Then keep going west a couple of times and you should run into the villages.

We found the bloodstains too and followed them but there were 4 hillgiants that decided to pound me into dust right after the cave. Hopefully tomorrow me fritz and gregor can gocheck out the cave.

The quest is that trolls are kidnapping children and old people from the village, there is a lady around there that tells you about it. There is supposed to be a rare big cat in there too. I think we will need some help in there. I can kill a hill giant but not 4 of them heh.

Oh I finally met Daimyo also just as I was about to logoff.

I have been all over the mines mostly by myself exploring. The only thing I wont mess with in there is the spider queen room which is pretty deep. I mine a lot in there so I know my way around.. ask Fritz. :)

[Daimyo]

Yeah, the big cat is the thing I'm after. I'm helping my fellow druid save the animals. :)

When do you guys usually adventure together? I'm probably a couple levels behind you guys, but I'd like to tag along some time if possible.

[Critch]

I'm having real problems all of a sudden. Yesterday I got hit by the possession bug mentioned elsewhere, now whenever I try to look at my inventory I crash to desktop. Bugger.

[QuikSand]

I might get a chance to be on for a whiel this evening.

Last night, I got out to "The Way" compound in the wilderness, and found out what they are all about. I have just tipped level 7, but am still not all that powerful by myself, and am not a great damage absorber as a tank in a party. Regardless, I can move quickly and can certainly do some scouting and combat in a party, if we can get together. I'd be game for any of the various appropriate challenges we've been discussing.

[Thomkal]

Daimyo,

The people who helped me get my stuff back after I ill-advisedly went inside the crypt just outside Mikona alone, we're talking afterwards about wanting to take on this Tolgorath person (or thing). Must be a DM run event. Not sure how you ended up there.

I'm still a struggling 2nd level cleric who's tired of the Fed'Ex missions in Mikona, but likely has no better options with many of you higher level now. (that is when I can get into the game)

[Fritz]

that West Shore Crypt mission was worth 300 exp to me. That is a heck of a windfall for Avlis. This is where i logged out, so I will be in the region when I get back online.

The crypt is not that hard. I think I could do it solo (with my beasties).

Quik - where have you been putting your feats?

[QuikSand]

My feats are all in combat stuff... I have weapon focus in unarmed combat, power strike, cleave, and something like "elusiveness." I think I have done fairly well to max out my combat abilities...

I just gripe because while I am fairly proficient in close combat, that's basicaly my only game. My missile skills are lousy, and my HP aren't so high as to be able to take a really serious beating (I'm at 63 HP, at 7th level). It's not that I am pathetic, but I just feel that until monks get to pretty high level, they lag other classes somewhat in overall power. Can't use armor, doesn't pay to use weapons, and so I end up pretty close to a naked character. It's not miserable... I can whirl up some extra attacks, and move quickly, and that sort of thing... I'm not a total loss at all.

Just my impression. The ability to summon a companion creature - especially one that sticks around for a long time and might have 2-3X the HP your character does - just seems like a monstrous advantage in this game. And I have a bit of envy as a result. While I'm working to make my monk useful (and he is) at the same time, in many situations he's not a lot more effective that a summoned dire wolf.

But, I am enjoying playing him in character. I have taken to giving "offerings" (flowers, seeds, apples, etc) to people I meet, and they can't seem to figure out what the hell I'm trying to pull on them.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by QuikSand
My feats are all in combat stuff... I have weapon focus in unarmed combat, power strike, cleave, and something like "elusiveness." I think I have done fairly well to max out my combat abilities...

I just gripe because while I am fairly proficient in close combat, that's basicaly my only game. My missile skills are lousy, and my HP aren't so high as to be able to take a really serious beating (I'm at 63 HP, at 7th level). It's not that I am pathetic, but I just feel that until monks get to pretty high level, they lag other classes somewhat in overall power. Can't use armor, doesn't pay to use weapons, and so I end up pretty close to a naked character. It's not miserable... I can whirl up some extra attacks, and move quickly, and that sort of thing... I'm not a total loss at all.

Just my impression. The ability to summon a companion creature - especially one that sticks around for a long time and might have 2-3X the HP your character does - just seems like a monstrous advantage in this game. And I have a bit of envy as a result. While I'm working to make my monk useful (and he is) at the same time, in many situations he's not a lot more effective that a summoned dire wolf.

But, I am enjoying playing him in character. I have taken to giving "offerings" (flowers, seeds, apples, etc) to people I meet, and they can't seem to figure out what the hell I'm trying to pull on them.

You do get to apply your wisdom bonus to your AC. Your Saving Throws are very strong. You are are on the splash screen when the Wilderness section loads up. Stun punch is kinda neat.

[Daimyo]

And if a monk falls in combat you already have your full combat arsenal waiting for you at the respawn point instead of needing to shell out 1000 gold to be effective again. :) (been there done that...)

However I think in general Avlis is extremely skewed toward spell casters with the lack of magic weapons.

For my character personally, taking a level of fighter worked wonders to the point I feel guilty about it and probably won't ever do it again... I have 47 HP at 5th level, an AC of 24 (assuming I have barkskin which I always do now), a strength of ~18 (assuming I have Bull's strength) as well as two pretty decent companions with ~35 HP each and solid attacks. As a 4th level druid I couldn't even kill an Ogre by myself, as a 4th level druid/1st level fighter I can take on three at once without much risk of dying. I imagine stone skin is only going to make it worse... I've heard a lot of people say cleric/fighters are broken on Avlis and at least from experience I can definately see how it is possible. (although I still imagine wizards rule all at high levels)

[Daimyo]

DOLA, the good thing about avlis is that it really doesn't matter if your character is strong or weak since its all about role-playing, and there are places for any level of character to fit in and have loads of fun.

I made a lawful evil, half-orc fighter when my main character was unavailable (planning to bring up evenly as a fighter/cleric pseudo-paladin of Valok so I imagine he'll always be weaker than those near his level). Despite being a fighter who can't actually kill anything yet, it was loads of fun to role play him!

[QuikSand]

I don't mean to suggest that I'm not enjoying the character - I definitely am. You're certainly right, Fritz - there are good things about the monk which subtly offset the glaring things I'm bemoaning. I'm not suggesting at all that my character is "broken."

I'm just offering my thought that all things equal, you'll feel better protected in a party with, say, Hornace, than you will with me, I think.

[Fritz]

Daim brings up a good point:

Quik- load up on barkskin, bulls-strenth, cat's grace, and owls wisdom potions. they should enhance you quite well for battle.

As I mentioned above, if you travel with me (or another spellcaster) I can throw protective spells on you.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by QuikSand
I'm just offering my thought that all things equal, you'll feel better protected in a party with, say, Hornace, than you will with me, I think.

I like to team with Hornus, and i think we are a good fit. Hornus and the summoned wolf provide a good frontline, esp after I enhance them. I can hover back and cast, missle (I spend feats here), or use heal packs.

---

The various classes of characters gain critical strength at different points. IMHO, Barbarians start out the best equipted for adventuring but lose ground to other classes as they go up in level.

[QuikSand]

Actually, I do get pretty mean when I get all potioned up... speed, bull's strength, and cat's grace and I'm a not-so-lean, mean, fighting machine.

[Daimyo]

We really need a massive (well 5 or 6 person) fofc party expedition. :) I bet with Hornace, Fritz, Quiksand, Pollio, and Daimyo (and the various beasts we can summon) all at levels ~5-7 we could explore a lot of mid-level areas like the Tolgrath quest near Mikona.

[Critch]

If I ever get my game working again, I'd be in as well. Currently a handful of points short of level 6, but with my crashing getting worse and worse, I may be done with the game.

[HornedFrog Purple]

Critch maybe try redownloading and reinstalling the avlis downloads and overwrite them... just a thought.

Quiksand dont give up on the monk, in a couple of levels you will kick some serious butt, much more than I will be able to.

I have 86 HP at level 7 and an AC of 20. I am also wearing a +1 constitution set of boots which gives me a little more hitpoints. I carry barkskin potions and healing kits everywhere I go. The only "downside" I see to Hornace is he can only wear medium armor. I can use a feat to use heavy armor but I like the armor he wears, it looks kinda cool.

One thing I havent figured out is how to make a new skill I learned which is taunt a hotkey. My rage is already there automatically, but I cant figure out how to add taunt. It is supposed to reduce the target's AC some if successful.

Most of the time, I am a big green damage sponge unless I luck out and wack someone with a critical hit.

I found out that the smithing is being redone so the books are obsolete for now, so I am just sticking to the basic 2 things I can make which are shirikens and a dagger until the crafting stuff gets fixed up.

[KWhit]

Originally posted by Critch
If I ever get my game working again, I'd be in as well. Currently a handful of points short of level 6, but with my crashing getting worse and worse, I may be done with the game.

I hear ya, Critch. I decided to bow out on my attempts as well. I can only play for 5-10 minutes before crash to desktop. And it sounds so dang fun too. But I've already wasted too many hours trying to get the game to work.

[Daimyo]

Wow... critch earns the award for fastest leveling :)

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by HornedFrog Purple
I have 86 HP at level 7 and an AC of 20.

Yes, I have 63 HP and AC of 15 at the same level. I kno there are differences, but maybe it's just your broad, green shoulders that are giving me these inferiority issues.

At least next level (8th) I will get STR of 18, which sould help a bit with close combat.

[Fritz]

HFP - right click on the hot key. this should bring up the spin menu. then go to special abilities, probably on the left side. then go to barbarian abilities. then go to taunt.

[WSUCougar]

Hey Guys

Sorry to intrude, but I'm trying to get in to the Avlis server and can't get my password to work. My app was accepted, but the password gets me nowhere. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

[Anthony]

what you're doing wrong is broadcasting a secret password only given to accepted members of Avlis such as myself. you should probably delete that post and PM QS or Fritz.

[Daimyo]

You need to logon twice. First you use your gamespy account and password.. then hit the direct connect button and type in avlis.blackdagger.net:5121 for the server and use the password you were given. That should either work or give you back an error.

[Chief Rum]

Do you need a gamespy account to get into this? I don't believe I have one. Where do I go to get one, and can I get that relatively fast?

I believe that was the only part of the application I didn't fill out.

Chief Rum

[Daimyo]

You can get one within NWN the first time you try to do multiplayer. I didn't have one either and it took a minute to get it. I think it asked for my name and an email account at most. Too easy and quick to really be memorable.

[Fritz]

HFP and I were going into the wilderness and ended up at the far north through some server error. We had to make our way on foot back to Mikona.

Along the way we found some canyons full of good exp ettins, but they were tough. we also found useable catpults, and a nifty store where I picked up one of those glowing staves. ask HFP to show you his new outfit.

[Daimyo]

I ended up in at a port to the far north as well. I guess everyone was getting that error. I headed west to Elysia, but I'll have to go back and try the south path it seems.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Daimyo
I ended up in at a port to the far north as well. I guess everyone was getting that error. I headed west to Elysia, but I'll have to go back and try the south path it seems.

west was elysia?

Tubby said SOUTH at the crossroads!

[HornedFrog Purple]

Originally posted by Fritz
HFP and I were going into the wilderness and ended up at the far north through some server error. We had to make our way on foot back to Mikona.

Along the way we found some canyons full of good exp ettins, but they were tough. we also found useable catpults, and a nifty store where I picked up one of those glowing staves. ask HFP to show you his new outfit.

Yeah Tubby had to get a new outfit because fritz scorched his old one blasting him with fireballs. :)

One of these days we should go back to the ettins and set the catapults for a specific range and lure them to the warzone and try and blast them while they chase me around.. that would be hilarious!

I said south to get us to mikona! Basically I was right minus a few detours!

[HornedFrog Purple]

Dola.

Quiksand last night when we were in the romini camp you said something about since your stats were even a +1 does not help you. I have never played D&D or any adventure game like this, so would you mind explaining what you meant? I was going to ask you in game but we had to get back to town.

[Fritz]

Ended up back at that boat and went straight west and then north, and then east. I ended up getting to both LeOr and Elysia.

where in the heck do you find wealth out here?

[Daimyo]

T'Nanshi warrior gave me 47 XP at 5th level for each one anf they randomly attack you in the warzone south of LeOr. Also there is one place that spawns fire beetles 5 at a time and there are 4 or 5 spawn points around the map. Those Avengers drop +1 bastard swords, as well as some special armor that was too heavy for me to carry back (I didn't kill them, but there were two Avenger bodies last time I was there)

[ACStrider]

Ok...I'm back guys. I was in Houston for three days and missed playing for a few days before that, so it will be about a week since I last joined up with anyone. My character is still a level 4 bard, but, any bard is better then no bard, so just let me know when you're planning on 'splorin'. BTW, is there something wrong with thinking that your character is hot? :) Anyway, I'll see you around!

[ACStrider]

Dola - I'm sure some of you have had a chance to team up with my roommie. He's a cleric named Pollio. It's a shame that we can't simultaneously be one due to router issues.

[Thomkal]

After having luck being in my favor the past couple of days, I was able to log in for significant amounts of time. Got my first experience in the Mines yesterday, then got to team up with Fritz for the first time and he took me back to the mines. And he didn't kill me off, so his revenge against FOBL members is not yet complete.

My favorite moment (other than getting to adventure with another FOFC member that is) was when Fritz asked a monk who joined us if he was smelly. LOL.

Fritz got me up to nearly 3rd level before he had to leave and I got the rest of the way running errands in the govt. district. so watch out Fritz and your spider, Thomkal apparantly gets a killer boar with his summon spell. :)

Most embarassing moment: I had to ask Fritz why I wasn't attacking from a distance with newly acquired sling....I had forgot to put the thing in my hand. I'm such a doof. :) So if you adventure with me in the future, you'd better make sure I have a weapon in my hand.

Thanks for the fun Fritz!

[Anthony]

thanks Daimyo for your tremendous help today in aiding me in my treck to the crypts.

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by HornedFrog Purple
Dola.

Quiksand last night when we were in the romini camp you said something about since your stats were even a +1 does not help you. I have never played D&D or any adventure game like this, so would you mind explaining what you meant? I was going to ask you in game but we had to get back to town.

The new D&D character ability rating system is based on a structure where every two points in an ability rating translates to an extra point of bonus in relevant functions. It looks something like this:

10-11 = no bonus
12-13 = +1
14-15 = +2
16-17 = +3
18-19 = +4
etc

When I first set up my character, I tried to max out these bonuses by putting all my abilities at even numbers. I have since upped one rating one point (at level 4) but everything else remains at an even number.

Adding an item that gives me a +1 in a given attribute doesn't make my character any stronger, unless I eventually find a way to boost it one more point. (i.e. in the game, STR of 17 is, in effect, the same as STR of 16... it's only getting to 18 that makes a difference)

Hope that helps.

[Godzilla Blitz]

The life and death of Godbolt Zillius?

He is just a very ordinary, default character. A chaotic good human fighter looking for adventure. Figured he should get his feet wet, so he wandered around the town of Mikona. Spent some time in the library. Neat place. Stumbled onto two jobs: delivering some message to a noble in the meeting house; and finding some holy water for this little boy who cooks in the barracks. Unfortunately, old Godbolt is a little bit slow on the draw here, as he walked around for three or four days without finding any holy water, and when he finally found the meeting house, the guy he was supposed to meet wasn’t there. So he wandered around the nobles district some more looking for more work, but there was none to be had. Maybe word had gotten out that he was such a failure at the first jobs? Who knows?

Well, sometime on the fourth day of his Neverwinter life, a penniless, hungry, disillusioned, and randomly meandering Godbolt walked up to two guards at one of those big fancy noble houses, and one of them stepped out of the way, so good old Godbolt stepped right past him, went through the door, and into the estate. Strange place. Cute maid, some cat guy who sits on the floor, and lots of guards that won’t talk to anyone. The maid is a bit out there, though. Every now and then she screams “Intruder” (is that Godbolt?), then runs to smash her fists on the exit door. And that’s where the problem begins: the exit door. What appears to be a impartial and perhaps benovolent piece of wood looks to be the end of Godbolt’s adventuring days, because it is irrevocably, stubbornly, and determinedly locked, and Godbolt Zillius doesn’t seem to have any way out.

He can’t hack the door down. He’s a fighter, so magic is out of the question. He doesn’t own any keys. He has no thieving skills, so picking the lock or stealing a key is out of the question. And it doesn’t seem to be any other way out. Looks like he is doomed to forever walk the halls of the Weston Estate, unless someone is kind enough to come rescue him. He’d offer a big reward, except he never made any money, and since he was honest and good, he never stole anything of value either. He could probably offer a few pieces of gold, but to be honest, I’m not sure he’s worth it. In four days of adventuring, he has a grand total of zero experience points. Anyway, if you wander by the halls of the place, you may hear him pounding on the walls, yelling for help, and wondering how all those dreams of plunder and glory led him to such a miserable fate.

[Daimyo]

Does anyone else find the XP in Avlis a little screwy? today Fritz and I fought several trolls. We had the two of us and a dire spider, dire wolf, and a panther all decked out with stoneskin, barkskin, bull's strength, etc, etc. We used fireballs and call lightnings and were able to defeat three trolls at a time spending every last spell we had to do so (and a good bit of HP as well). The reward was a measly 17 XP each.

Meanwhile, I can go into the mines with just my dire wolf and kill those stupid horror things for 23 pts a pop without taking a bit of damage or with a little more preparations and tactics, umber hulks for 63 (!!) pts each.

It just seems weird to me that trolls are the toughest thing I've ever fought, every battle is close, and they give such crap XP. While conversely a single trip through the first floor of the mines can yield well over 300 XP.

I understand that party size is a big part of it, but even accounting for that it all seems a bit off to me...

[Fritz]

Daimyo,

the XP is screwy, but part of that is 3rd edition rules.

I don't have the P&P DMs guide in front of me, so this may be a little off.

In third edition each encounter has two ratings, one for the party and one for the enemys "Challenge rating." A matrix of the Challenge rating and party level adjusts the exp value of your encounter.

In this example we see diminishing returns:

a 1st level fighter fighting a rat might get 10
a 2nd level fighter fighting a rat might get 9
a 3st level fighter fighting a rat might get 8

But it works the other way:

a 3rd level fighter fighting a troll might get 50
a 4th level fighter fighting a troll might get 70
a 5th level fighter fighting a troll might get 90

and of course it peaks

a 2nd level fighter fighting an orc might get 20
a 3rd level fighter fighting an orc might get 30
a 4th level fighter fighting an orc might get 20

---

At the heart of it is the Challenge rating of the monster(s) vs the party level. I think the CR of some of the mosnters is inconsistant with their toughness.

The system was created to reward players the most for facing appropriate challenges. The LVL 1 fighter who kills a dragon with a lucky arrow (yea, right) will not instantly become 7th level.

The lvl 10 fighter who kills a kobold will get little out of it (if at all) either.

Te best thing is to find "sweet spot" (I know you love that term) encounters.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Godzilla Blitz
The life and death of Godbolt Zillius?
What appears to be a impartial and perhaps benovolent piece of wood looks to be the end of Godbolt’s adventuring days, because it is irrevocably, stubbornly, and determinedly locked, and Godbolt Zillius doesn’t seem to have any way out.


Log into the Elysia server. You can't do shit.
Log out.
Wait 1 hour.
Log into the Elysia server. Now you can do shit.

Adventure here, or take a boat back to Mikona. The sewers here are easy easy. Good exp in the farms to the E/NE.

[Daimyo]

Elysia is supposedly the most newbie-friendly server anyway. I think overall it is my favorite... whatever DM is responsible for it did a great job IMO.

[Daimyo]

Fritz are you a sorcerer or wizard? I'm just wondering how meta-magic feats work for sorcerers in this game... I thought they were only for wizards in the PnP game, but the manual says sorcerers can use them here.

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by Daimyo
T'Nanshi warrior gave me 47 XP at 5th level for each one anf they randomly attack you in the warzone south of LeOr. Also there is one place that spawns fire beetles 5 at a time and there are 4 or 5 spawn points around the map. Those Avengers drop +1 bastard swords, as well as some special armor that was too heavy for me to carry back (I didn't kill them, but there were two Avenger bodies last time I was there)

Daimyo, have you actually "taken sides" in any of the ongoing battles?

I have not been to the area you mention, but I have spent some time in an around the battlegrounds in the wilderness area (just north of "The Way" camps). In there, I have occasionally been stuck with an arrow from the elven T'Nashi, but I have deliberately opted against taking a side and really engaging in any fighting.

Just curious - if you've gotten into the fighting, have there been any repercussions otherwise?

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Daimyo
Fritz are you a sorcerer or wizard? I'm just wondering how meta-magic feats work for sorcerers in this game... I thought they were only for wizards in the PnP game, but the manual says sorcerers can use them here.

I decided to play the wizard, in part because they are a little harder at low levels (fewer spells)

In PnP metamagic feats are for ALL spellcasters, but not all spellcasters can use all metamagic feats.

I dont know if I will use the metamagic feats much. Perhaps at high level when a 9th level spell would not really fit I will take an enhanced lower level spell.

As it stand I have only been taking metamagic when I get a "wizard" feat. I have been using the general feats to improve my martial abilities.
---

[Thomkal]

Hey GB,

If you had responded to my tells yesterday, you might have gone adventuring with me and dying instead of getting locked inside a noble's house....Hmmm I not sure which would have been the worse fate. ;)

Did you see my tells?

[Fritz]

Originally posted by QuikSand
Daimyo, have you actually "taken sides" in any of the ongoing battles?


Two events from my times with Daimyo up north:

1.) We were headed into the Fey Gardens (might be the wrong name) and two elves were slaughtering pixies. When they saw us they said "we can't let the human see us and live." and they attacked Daimyo. They were still-non hostile (blue) to me. This of course changed when I cooked a few.

2.) Later, outside Deglos, is when an elf or two started to take potshots at Daim. Again, the elves were not hostile to me, but I burned those guys too (and got crushed). A druid character told us to just flee and that the elves had long memories. I am not sure if that was roleplaying or a real warning about accumulating some sort of bad rep with the ai. Later, I returned to the area alone and was unmolested.

Evidently there is some sort semi random anti-human script running up north.

[QuikSand]

Oh, and lest this discussion sound like a gripe... I rather like the fact that there are places in this universe where I am in general danger from the "civiliztion" nearby. Seems like a good element to me - I'm just looking for tips on proper roleplaying.

For what it's worth... I was once in the batlegrounds in the NW wilderness, and got "arrested" (cor lack of a better word) by a couple of high-level PCs who were linked to the human fighting corps in the area. (NPC fighters would come and talk to these guys, and they were scripted to respond to them appropriately) Anyway - they approached me and gacve me some hassle about being in the area, wanted to know what "side" I was on, and gave me a raft of shit. (Appropriately, I felt) Was one of the better RP sessions I have had on the server - I felt a genuine sense that I might really be "in trouble" on a level beyond just getting waxed by a big bad guy or two.

[Fritz]

on Wizardly aquisitions:

Up near Deglos there is a gnome who sells robes. Mostly they are for sorcerers, which is a real shame because some give extra spell slots. I ended up buying a robe that was +2 vs evil.

The next day I was in the Romini camp and bought a battlerobe, which gives a mage spell resistance of 10 and a skill bonus to concentration and spellcraft and cost about 4500gp. This was a "settle for" robe but the one I wanted (Adventurers robe) was 13000gp.

A lucky find later I was back in the Romini camp buying the Adventurers robe (Soak damage 5). This costly garment has been a little disapointing. Soak damage is supposed to absorb the first 5 points of damage in a round, but it looks like it only works if the damages is 5 or less. If it breaks the "5" threshold the wearer takes full damage.

Also in the Romini camp are magic bags (20%) for about 350gp. If any of the newer characters want to buy one but are not ready for that part of the game I can run an errand for the cost of the bag + 10%.

[Bee]

Originally posted by QuikSand
Oh, and lest this discussion sound like a gripe... I rather like the fact that there are places in this universe where I am in general danger from the "civiliztion" nearby. Seems like a good element to me - I'm just looking for tips on proper roleplaying.

For what it's worth... I was once in the batlegrounds in the NW wilderness, and got "arrested" (cor lack of a better word) by a couple of high-level PCs who were linked to the human fighting corps in the area. (NPC fighters would come and talk to these guys, and they were scripted to respond to them appropriately) Anyway - they approached me and gacve me some hassle about being in the area, wanted to know what "side" I was on, and gave me a raft of shit. (Appropriately, I felt) Was one of the better RP sessions I have had on the server - I felt a genuine sense that I might really be "in trouble" on a level beyond just getting waxed by a big bad guy or two.

That's what it's all about IMO. Those types of moments is what makes the game fun for me.

[Daimyo]

I haven't taken sides in the war yet... I have been attacked by a random T'Nanshi warrior every so once in a while and I killed a few in defense, but mostly they leave me alone. The one that attacked me with fritz was the first once outside of the warzone to ever attack me. I think its probably just a human thing.

The funny thing is, I seriously considered joining the T'Nanshi side before the most recent encounter... now my character is starting to get pretty annoyed with them.

[HornedFrog Purple]

Thanks Quik for the explanation, it makes sense now.

I ventured from Elysia to Mikona through the wilderness and actually found my way back without running into ettins. Just south of Zvidreth (sp?) there is a house you can actually go inside with a locked door and a pull string. I tried pulling the rope but nothing happened and I couldnt break the door down.

I found the minotaur cave, but had to bail with one chasing me heh. There was also a portal there, but safety got the better of me. :)

Oh I went and did the beggars quest and am now fully neutral. Maybe next time I die, I wont get stuck in Hades.

[Daimyo]

I want to know where that portal goes so bad...

[Fritz]

Travel notes:

There are some easy quests around Elysia that are good for exp and suitbale for level 1-3 characters.

Farmers quests: (I found 2, but I ma sure there are more) Some farmers will ask you to harvest their crop and kill little crop rats. The quests involves running around. I don't know how strong those rats vs level 1/2 characters. I think easy, especially if there is more than one member of your party.

Sad Fairie quest: NE of NE farms. About 3 screens near a druid grove. Sad fairie has had her wand stolen. Tells you where to find it. When you do you get exp. when you return it you get exp. Maybe 350 (?) in all. Very safe.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Fritz: Thanks for the help and tips! I'll give the log-on tip a try, and will probably do some adventuring in Elysia.

Originally posted by Thomkal
Hey GB,

If you had responded to my tells yesterday, you might have gone adventuring with me and dying instead of getting locked inside a noble's house....Hmmm I not sure which would have been the worse fate. ;)

Did you see my tells?

For a while there I saw a conversation between you and Fritz, but I didn't know where you guys were, and I wasn't sure how to speak to you directly. I started to look it up in the manual, then saw Fritz say "Follow me" to you, after which your conversation never came up again. I put the manual back down and continued on my fascinating search for holy water.

I'll have to spend a few minutes with the manual to figure out the tells thingie.

[Thomkal]

Originally posted by Godzilla Blitz
Fritz: Thanks for the help and tips! I'll give the log-on tip a try, and will probably do some adventuring in Elysia.



For a while there I saw a conversation between you and Fritz, but I didn't know where you guys were, and I wasn't sure how to speak to you directly. I started to look it up in the manual, then saw Fritz say "Follow me" to you, after which your conversation never came up again. I put the manual back down and continued on my fascinating search for holy water.

I'll have to spend a few minutes with the manual to figure out the tells thingie.

GB,

I thought that might be the problem, and I told you in a tell what to do, so you must not be seeing them. I heard you outside the adventurers guild talking to a merchant, but couldn't find you right away. Then Fritz was ready to go and you hadn't responded to my tells, so I left with him in a huff. :)

Two ways to do a tell that I can think of right now. First is if you receive a tell from someone, the tell will appear in the left chat window. You'd see my character's portrait, then my name (Thomkal Forrester), then my message. If you click on my portrait that will automatically set up a tell to me in the chat bar below the two chat boxes-you just have to put the message in and hit return.

You can send a tell to someone who hasn't sent you a tell by clicking on the Player list icon in what they call the Option box in the manual. It's the area in the upper right corner with all the icons such as inventory, journal, equipment, etc. I think the Player List is the last on on the right. Clicking on that brings up a list of every player on the server currently. There's a number of boxes with icons on top there, and one of them allows you to send a tell to the person you have hilighted. Again just type your message and hit return or click send or whatever.

Hope this helps

[Godzilla Blitz]

Thomkal: Thank you much for the detailed help. Excellent explanation.

By the way, I noticed you talking to Fritz in the chat window in the lower left of my screen, but I'm sure I missed a good chunk of the first part of anything you said, which is probably when you tried to help me out with the tells.

[Fritz]

Godzilla Blitz - sorry we missed you. FYI: If you are going to go adventuring with mid or high level types you had best bring a missle weapon of some sort, unless you are studly.

--------
HFP, Quiksand, and Daimyo - thanks for coming to guard my body. I am certain you went through some gear fighting that nasty nymph and those mercs. (Have they been upgraded lately or what?) I will find away to repay you forthe gear, and perhaps for the RL time you took to get there.

---------
(for daimyo)
More on metamagics:

Some places where I might use metamagics:

Extend Spell (100% duration/ 1 slot higher)

I might use this one on something like invisibilty, which is 1 hour per level, or another "augmentation" spell - especially those that don't last long, but I expect to be in combat when it wears off.

Empowers spell (spell does 50% more damage, etc, 2 slots higher)

I might use this one on something like fireball when I get 5th level spells. At level 10 my fireball will be maxed, but an empowered fireball will do 50% more. (so 10d6 * 1.5) or up to 90 (look out tubby!). At lvl20 I can cast a flame arrow strike that does 20d6. Empowered it would do 20d6 * 1.5 or up to 180 pts of damage.

Maximize spell- (spell functions at its max (max damage) , 3 spell slots higher)

Honestly, I don't see using this, unless I have a specific task in mind. 3 spell slots higher is a lot. I may be willing imy my spell selection at a given level is poor.

Quicken Spell (spell fires off super fast, 4 spell slots higher)

hmm, I might use this if I were expecting PvP combat. I might also use it for a fast defense spell.

Silent Spell (allows caster to cast with out speaking, 1 spell slot higher)

I can see using this along with remove silence or some such. In PnP I can see more use.

Still Spell (allows caster to cast with out moving, 1 spell slot higher)

I can see using this along with remove paralysis or some such. In PnP I can see more use.

[Bee]

Is it normal to be attacked by a cleric for walking through the Temple Grounds? :D

[Daimyo]

I wonder how well silent spell works with improved invisibility in this engine? If it prevented them from locating you while invisible, I could see it being pretty cool.

[QuikSand]

Last evening was (as you may have gathere) pretty frustrating to me. I was really pleased to see that we managed to get together four FOFC characters at one time, but then we found practically nothing to do once we were together.

I'm a little frustrated that I spent about 2/3 of my on-line time with you guys sitting around, chatting about where we might go, and that sort of thing. I'm an impatient person by nature, and felt like we just blew the rare occasion that we had to actually adventure together.

I confess - I haven't done nearly as much traveling as you guys seem to have, so I don't know the landmarks very well. I wasn't helping to send us in any particular direction - so I wasn't "part of the solution so to speak. Guilty.

Anyway - perhaps we can have a plan in mind for our next chance encounter with multiple FOFC people? Keep in mind an appopriate quest for a group of 3+ mid-level characters... and when we get a critical mass of participants, we should just agree - let's go do that. That way, we might be able to take better advantage of these chances when they come along.

I enjoyed traveling with you all, and we did get to do a few things (battle a few bands of mercs, and then run like hell from the giants) but overall... I felt like we dallied more than we needed to. Then, when we decided where we needed to go, we were practically speaking out of time. That's just goin to happen - when we have an evening with many people on, it's bound to last for only an hour or two of real time.

Rant off... sorry for the grumbling.

[Fritz]

Quik,

To be fair I think that we would have gone directly to the troll caves had I not died up north. HFP and I have run through there a few times, but I am not sure we know of a specific adventure (that we can handle).

I share your general frustration about standing around, and it is one reason I don't party up with the mass groups that form outside the gates. You get 15 min of play for 45 min of sitting.

The suggestion for us set "we do this next" is a good one, and I hope it is workable.

-----------------
Daimyo - you can cast spells all day long and not become visible without any metamagics. It is the attacking part that busts the spell.

[Daimyo]

The spell won't bust, but if you make any sound (spell or otherwise) you will temporaroly lose the invisibility and appear as a ghostly image of yourself for a few seconds (that is apparently how the engine handles "hearing" you)... I haven't played a mage in NWN, but in Icewind Dale and BG, the enemies would immediately begin attacking you once that happened and would continue even after the image faded back to invisible.

I agree with Quik that we should maybe have some pre-planned places to go. Hornace and I did the troll cave and my feeling was that it is probably too easy for 3-4 of us. How about the Ice Cave or Tolgorath's lair back near Mikona? I haven't been to either, but from what I hear they may be right at our level...

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Daimyo
Hornace and I did the troll cave and my feeling was that it is probably too easy for 3-4 of us. How about the Ice Cave or Tolgorath's lair back near Mikona? I haven't been to either, but from what I hear they may be right at our level...

Did you do the whole Troll cave (lowest levels)?

I hear the Ice Cave is an ass kicker and hard to get a body back from.

[Thomkal]

For those that need more help in understanding their character class and how they are roleplayed on Avlis, make sure you sign up for your particular class forum on the Avlis boards. I just got into the clerics board and it had a lot of helpful information. Not sure if all character classes are covered. You join them by going into usergroups (at the top of the page when you first go into the forums) and then waiting to be approved. You must be playing a character class in order to gain access to that board.

In an unrelated note, a couple days ago a second character popped up in my server vault for Avlis-one that I didn't create and one I see another person playing when I look at who's on which server. What do I do about that?

And Fritz, I did the sad faery quest, got all the way back to Elysia, and clicked to go in the inn where the faery was to give her the wand back---server crashed and when I came back, the wand was gone as was the quest from my quest page, but the fairy was still asking if I found the wand. Went back to the farms to see if I could find the faery-no luck, but I did do the farmers quest there killing rats.

"Let it be Dra'Nar's plan"

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Thomkal
In an unrelated note, a couple days ago a second character popped up in my server vault for Avlis-one that I didn't create and one I see another person playing when I look at who's on which server. What do I do about that?


Just ignore it. whatever you do, don't play it.


And Fritz, I did the sad faery quest, got all the way back to Elysia, and clicked to go in the inn where the faery was to give her the wand back---server crashed and when I came back, the wand was gone as was the quest from my quest page, but the fairy was still asking if I found the wand. Went back to the farms to see if I could find the faery-no luck, but I did do the farmers quest there killing rats.


Talk to the elf boy by the wheatfield in the east. he will tell you to collect wheat and take it to an alchemist in town. The alchemist will tell you that for every 3 wheat and 1 apple he will make a potion for you. The apples are in the SE, S, SW of town.

I have not comepleted this one, so I don't know what you get in terms of potions or exp.

[Daimyo]

Originally posted by Fritz
Did you do the whole Troll cave (lowest levels)?

I hear the Ice Cave is an ass kicker and hard to get a body back from.

We went to the temple of Maleki and retreived the holy symbol for the troll.... is there more below?

On a sidenote, Call Lightning kicks ass. It does area damage like fireball, but it doesn't hurt allies AND it works indoors (?!? - I figure since lightning is just static electricity *maybe* its plausible to build up enough static inside to give an electric jolt?). I don't know if "electric" counts as an element or not for getting around resistance though...

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Daimyo
We went to the temple of Maleki and retreived the holy symbol for the troll.... is there more below?

On a sidenote, Call Lightning kicks ass. It does area damage like fireball, but it doesn't hurt allies AND it works indoors (?!? - I figure since lightning is just static electricity *maybe* its plausible to build up enough static inside to give an electric jolt?). I don't know if "electric" counts as an element or not for getting around resistance though...

that was it.

call lighting working indoors in a NWN thing. PnP is above grouns/outdoors only.

[Fritz]

worth reading:

http://boards.blackdagger.com/viewtopic.php?t=13892

[Daimyo]

In case you're in the market for a new home:

http://boards.blackdagger.com/viewtopic.php?t=8261

[Anthony]

wow, now i got something to work for other than some sick wepaons! i always wondered how one went about getting a house.


on a side, note, you guys have been cool to play alongside with. lots of fun and you guys are helpful. i'm still trying to develop a personality and history for my character. baby steps.

[Anthony]

where does one go to get the background to the whole world, so that one could be "in the know" as to what a certain race should know and where could one get basic info so when people ask about yourself IC you can have a good answer.

like someone asked me IC where i was from, and i didn't know what to answer. i assume since i'm an Elf i should say i'm from T'Nashi.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Got my character out of that mansion by logging in to Elysia. Thomkal and I explored the sewers there for an hour. Cool stuff, although I was pretty much a sightseer while Thomkal and his boar wiped out everything. Nevertheless, I now have a backpack full of fire beetle bellies. God, these things stink.

That was the first time tyring to play in character (I pretty much just walked around Mikona for two hours previous to this). Lots of fun, although I would have to say the same thing as HA: it takes a while to get used to everything, and to develop a personality for your character. The default of chaotic good does make things easier, though.

HA: I too have no idea where I'm from, or what the history of the land is all about, or who all the gods are, except for some dude Dra N'ar that Thomkal is real close with. I remember reading something on the website, but it was all just names then. I imagine I'll piece things together little by little. I feel like I was born yesterday.

Thomkal: Thanks! That was fun! Sorry I was such a load.

[Daimyo]

There is a forum for avlis (http://boards.blackdagger.com/) and it contains a TON of backstory. I try to read a little bit from there every day... the IC forums are especially nice IMO.

Today I played around with the camera hack they link to in the downloads section and after using it for an evening I'm not sure how I ever played without it! The strange thing is, appartently there is a whole system for determining when your character can spot enemies, but the camera ingame limits the player to something like only 45 feet... with the hack you can lower your camera angle and push back the fog to get a MUCH more realistic view... it actually makes ranged combat a valid strategy!

NOTE: You don't get infinite sight with it... you can see buildings off to the edge of the screen, but enemies do not appear until you "spot" them which seems to be something like 100 ft as far as I can tell... not sure if that is linked at all to wisdom though. Enemies also get a chance to spot you at that distance too... I always wondered why enemies always started charging me before they appeared on my screen.. apparently it isn't that they spot your character first, but just that the presentation isn't very good by default....

[ACStrider]

Whew...well I finally got to play a little. I have good news. My roommie and I adjusted the router settings and we can now both play together. (yeah, running two comps through one port was a little difficult for the server to handle) I think my roommie is looking to create a new character for playing just when I'm on (an elf-mage to go with my elf-bard) I look forward to running into you all. Let me know what you have in mind!

[Fritz]

Needed:

Information on alchemy, specificly looking for various formula. Will repay with something.

[Thomkal]

The About Avlis link on the main page gives some basic info about the world, its a good place to start. Then like Daimyo said the forum for avlis background info is a must read too.

GB: You weren't a load though I must admit it was nice adventuring with someone weaker than me for a change. :) Get those fire bellies to Mikona (there's a boat in the wharves that will take you there, may be too expensive at the moment though) to the boy outside the adventurers guild.

And its Dra'Nar not Dra N'ar. Get it right if you want more healing. :) Had a good time introducing you to the craziness that is Avlis.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Thomkal
GB: You weren't a load though I must admit it was nice adventuring with someone weaker than me for a change. :) Get those fire bellies to Mikona (there's a boat in the wharves that will take you there, may be too expensive at the moment though) to the boy outside the adventurers guild.


He could just taken the walk....

[Daimyo]

Last night Fritz and I ventured into the Ice Cave near Mikona with a couple other 6-8 lvl types. I think it would be a great place for an fofc excursion... It seems to have just the right balance between being doable while still having the potential to be totally wiped out. (I think mainly because you can't sleep in the cave and have to fight your way out through tough enemies which can be pretty tough if you spend all your resources on the way down)

Unfortunately the main boss of the cave was killed right before we arrived so we didn't get to do that part... judging by how weak we were when we made it out of the cave, killing the boss might be beyond us.


Later Fritz, Hornace, and I fought a little on the hills east of town and I think we did all right.... unfortunately there apparently is no place to rest nearby, so it makes it tough to get too far. I can't imagine there is no place at all to rest between the druid camp and tolgorath's lair though... that would make it nearly impossible! My feeling is that we're probably a few levels short of being able to do too much there, but definately its a place to mark for future reference and a decent place to get a quick, relatively safe combat fix in the meantime.


Tonight I think the plan is to visit the temple of Andagar under Elysia for fun and profit. I'd say there might be as many as 20 clerics down there and each carries a +1 bastard sword and holy symbol that can cast magic missile... conservatively that probably means about 40k per trip. The clerics do not attack or speak to you, but I'm sure one of us can come up with an IC reason to attack them. :) They do worship the god of evil, deceit, and trickery afterall....

[Daimyo]

DOLA.. I've never been down in the mines past where we went back when I was a lvl 2... I've talked to several lvl 5-types who said they've fought in the displacer caves below. Is that too easy for the lvl ~7-9 fofc group now? I'd be interested to check it out since I've never been.

[Fritz]

Adventure jounals:

the ice cave
Yesterday a large party of mixed low/med level characters made a venture into the ice cave. Daimyo and I, not part of the party, followed behind as a sort of security blanket.

This party managed to make it down one level, but then decided to return. It was probable a good thing Daim and I were there, because getting out was little tougher for them.

A reformed party of the stronger ones plus daimyo and I went back in and made it to the very bottom. Alas the "boss" monster had been slain by another group. Our group took a little beating on the way out, but got to the surface for a rest. As we were waking up a pack of boars attacked and, with our defenses down, incapasitated everyone but me. A quick invisibility spell and 10 med kits later (becoming a psuedo-cleric) was all that was needed to get the party back on their feet.


Later, HFP, Daimyou and I went to "giant hill." AS with other parts of this world, the level of the nearby characters affects the mosters that appear. (This is a real bitch if you are low level party and their happens to be some lvl 20s running around)

Going up the hill I expected a certain collection of monsters based upon my pervious trips up solo and with daimyo. Evidently, adding Hornus to the mix triggered the next level in monsters and we were taking a little by suprise. A few raids up and down the hill found us not far into the area, but we managed to take out several ogres, trolls, and a few giants. A reasonable exp night.

Both places are poor adventure locations for low level characters.

[QuikSand]

Thanks for the scouting, Daimyo. Can you explain (generally) how to get to the temple of Andagar from Elysia?

[Daimyo]

Just head into the sewers in Elysia. They are really, really easy (rats, dire rats, spiders, fire beetles, bombadier beetles, etc) and you can rest anywhere. Head down a couple levels and eventually you will get to a temple...

The temple contains various Kobolds (pretty good XP for me when i was lvl 6, but definately not Mikona mines level) and the clerics of Andagar.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Daimyo
DOLA.. I've never been down in the mines past where we went back when I was a lvl 2... I've talked to several lvl 5-types who said they've fought in the displacer caves below. Is that too easy for the lvl ~7-9 fofc group now? I'd be interested to check it out since I've never been.

I did the wole thing minus the displacer cave solo as a level 7 wizard...

[Daimyo]

The displacer cave is what I'm worried about. :)

I generally run through the first level of the mines a few times per session... an Umber Hulk when I'm by myself (no Baby or Dire Wolf) gives 73 XP!!! Still a pretty good 63 or 52 depending on what companions I summon... and there are four of them on the first level!! (plus many ~20 XP Hook Horrors)... Its like the rat pack for low-mid levels.

[Thomkal]

I died in the displacer cave with a non-FOFC group a few days ago. That will teach me not to play with anyone outside this forum. :)

[HornedFrog Purple]

I took Chief Rum to the mines last night. We cleared out two levels. I think Chief only fell a couple of times but Hornace healed him. I helped him get out of the hell that is level 1.

I try to grab every scroll I can and give them to Fritz. But it is a littler harder for me to get in a party since I use no magic. He knows a lot more about who they go to etc than I do. I have tried to pick up a little something for everybody when I can and get information of where to get things.

Hornace drinks potions like water. He is an expensive mofo.

[Anthony]

Hornace is a great friend in Avlis. it's good to role play with guys from FOFC, there's an immediate IC bond between the players. i have yet to see Quiksand, although he just may have me on Avlis ignore. ;)

i'm going on in about 5 minutes for all who care.

[Daimyo]

The Andagar temple under Elysia might have just gotten a bit more difficult:

http://boards.blackdagger.com/viewtopic.php?t=14072

OTOH, I was actually in Elysia when this happened shopping for a new evening gown so we might have an IC reason to go there now. I took the boat back to Mikona before logging off.

(I was in Elysia most of tonight, but nothing happened in game when I was there... I only read this when I logged off, but I'll assume my character was there when it happened and thus knows IC the stuff in that thread)

[ACStrider]

Notice: Hornace PurpleToad wanted for trespassing and accomplice to murder!!!

Today I had a rather rude awakening in Mikona. Since I last adventured I was carrying many firebeetle bellies and sought to exchange them in the market place for fire potions. After this transaction, however, I was rudely interrupted by HUNDREDS of undead flooding the Market!! Within a few minutes I was dead, unable to counter the hoard with the few friends that I had. Undead in the market place? How could this be?

Word spread quickly that this was the work of the infamous lich and 20+ warriors entered the market to put down the deeds of this evil monster. The minions of undead were finally put down, but the Lich made his way forth. He proved too much even for all of these highly skilled adventurers and desolation was made of almost the entire group. When the dust settled, and the Lich had made his point, he retreated to the underdark where he came from and the surviving heroes revived their dead.

So what had prompted this attack? Apparently several characters including Keanon, Kari Tal'Rathe and Hornace PurpleToad allegedly broke into sacred grounds in the temple district and traveled to the underdark, disturbing the premises of the Lich, who in turn exacted revenge on the market place.

As a witness to the desolation, having died three times in the conflict, and having seen the lich and Kari (I, unfortunately was standing right by Kari when the Lich himself first attacked) engage in verbal and physical argument, I can say that I have heard both sides of the argument. I was also present when Kari was arrested in the City Gate Inn.

There remains one key weakness in the claim of Mikonan officials which makes me very skeptical of the guilt of the three alleged. There was only one witness to the initial trespassing of the temple grounds, a special operations soldier, and he was conveniently absent at the arrest. At the arrest Kari vehemently denied trespassing on temple grounds and insisted that she accessed the underdark region through the sewers. Also she claimed that the lich stole property of theirs outside the underdark region and was merely attempting to retrieve it (along with the body of Kaenon). As a friend of Kari and Hornace, and knowing the propensity of both to be honorable and noble characters, I am reluctant to honor the claims of Mikonan officials.

Outstanding warrents still remain for these individuals.

[ACStrider]

Other adventures on the day...

After the incident with Kari, the Lich and the market, I ventured with a group into the giant and troll hills. We effectively cleaned out the caves and returned out safely.

Following this adventure, my roommate, Hylia, myself, and one other adventurer made for the Wilderness and came across a keep. We encountered some additional characters who asked us if we wanted to help with a mission (he was obviously friends with Hylia). My roommate eventually left the group after a chaos storm (name given for server crashes) but we had made our way into a slavery cave full of orc slave masters.

The orcs were kidnapping both elves and humans and enslaving them in these caves. It proved a very profitable adventure in several ways. First of all, each rescued person was worth 30 experience, and considering that there were about 10 people, you do the math. When the mission was all said and done, there was an additional 400 exp reward. All this is without consdering the exp from killing orcs.

Here's the really fun part...
The initial orcs that we came across all dropped a cure medium wounds. Not bad, huh. Later we came across orcs that dropped a cure medium wounds, an aid potion, an endurance potion, and a longsword +1...EACH!! In addition, the boss figures dropped even better stuff (but there weren't many boss figures). Considering that each longsword +1 is worth over 1000 gp, and I carried over 10 longswords, our strongest partner was carrying magic bags, and we evenly divided up the loot afterwards, is it not surprising that when we sold all the stuff and split it, I ended up with 30,000 GOLD!!!

Yeah, I made off like a bandit with that one! Hopefully my future adventures will be this profitable!

[Fritz]

I have started to brew. Fey Wine is my only drink, but i am sure others will follow.

If you have items that need ot be identified, I am a good person to track down. Thus far I have not found a thing that can't be figured out just by looking at it.

Prices: People I team with - Free
FOFC that I do not team with: - 25gp an Item (75% off the merchant's price)
Joe Blow: 50gp

I reserve the right to not identify for anyone for any reason.

[Bee]

Originally posted by Fritz

FOFC that I do not team with: - 25gp an Item

- 25gp? You'll give me 25 gp to identify something? Excellent! I'll track you down the next time I'm on. ;)

[Thomkal]

Has anybody been in the cave just north of Elysia? I was exploring yesterday and found it on top of a series of ridges. I went in but came right back out because I was alone at the time.

[HornedFrog Purple]

Originally posted by ACStrider
Notice: Hornace PurpleToad wanted for trespassing and accomplice to murder!!!

Today I had a rather rude awakening in Mikona. Since I last adventured I was carrying many firebeetle bellies and sought to exchange them in the market place for fire potions. After this transaction, however, I was rudely interrupted by HUNDREDS of undead flooding the Market!! Within a few minutes I was dead, unable to counter the hoard with the few friends that I had. Undead in the market place? How could this be?

Word spread quickly that this was the work of the infamous lich and 20+ warriors entered the market to put down the deeds of this evil monster. The minions of undead were finally put down, but the Lich made his way forth. He proved too much even for all of these highly skilled adventurers and desolation was made of almost the entire group. When the dust settled, and the Lich had made his point, he retreated to the underdark where he came from and the surviving heroes revived their dead.

So what had prompted this attack? Apparently several characters including Keanon, Kari Tal'Rathe and Hornace PurpleToad allegedly broke into sacred grounds in the temple district and traveled to the underdark, disturbing the premises of the Lich, who in turn exacted revenge on the market place.

As a witness to the desolation, having died three times in the conflict, and having seen the lich and Kari (I, unfortunately was standing right by Kari when the Lich himself first attacked) engage in verbal and physical argument, I can say that I have heard both sides of the argument. I was also present when Kari was arrested in the City Gate Inn.

There remains one key weakness in the claim of Mikonan officials which makes me very skeptical of the guilt of the three alleged. There was only one witness to the initial trespassing of the temple grounds, a special operations soldier, and he was conveniently absent at the arrest. At the arrest Kari vehemently denied trespassing on temple grounds and insisted that she accessed the underdark region through the sewers. Also she claimed that the lich stole property of theirs outside the underdark region and was merely attempting to retrieve it (along with the body of Kaenon). As a friend of Kari and Hornace, and knowing the propensity of both to be honorable and noble characters, I am reluctant to honor the claims of Mikonan officials.

Outstanding warrents still remain for these individuals.

These are bogus charges.

Myself Kari and Kaenon along with a couple others who will remain unnamed for protection did enter an area reachable via the sewers. We did NOT enter any temple, and we did NOT encounter any lich.

Clearly the Order of Gorethar (OoG for short) is protecting something, but our adventures did not incur any of the ramifications that apparently happened.

I have an idea what the Order is protecting down there but I will remain silent for now until I find out more.

I have to face trial apparently sometime (when Gloknall and I are both online) with whatever bogus charges the city and the Order cook up.

Apparently we were followed by an informant, but even if this informant was invisible we had someone in the party who is skilled at seeing such things. I do not believe that there was any informant and will at my trial attempt to prove so.

Rest assured I will find out the answer to what is going on beneath the city because the OoG is clearly protecting something!

PS If anyone in FOFC was affected by this lich causing all the havoc, you have my word that where we were adventuring had nothing to do with it.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Thomkal
Has anybody been in the cave just north of Elysia? I was exploring yesterday and found it on top of a series of ridges. I went in but came right back out because I was alone at the time.

this is where you can mine mithral

[Fritz]

Originally posted by HornedFrog Purple
I do not believe that there was any informant and will at my trial attempt to prove so.


If you play ic then you will have a hard time with this.

[QuikSand]

Hornace's trial is a fabulous subplot. (I mean no offense)

[Fritz]

HFP has made many contacts

[Bee]

I'd suggest not getting your character witnesses from people here...we know you too well. ;)

[HornedFrog Purple]

Originally posted by Fritz
If you play ic then you will have a hard time with this.

Yeah I know. I can only do Hornace-speak so long. The above account obviously isnt the way Hornace would tell it. I intend to ask for a defense preferably human deciphering me to plead my case.

Depending on how this goes, it may be Hornace's self-exodus from Mikona in which case he will move to Elysia and look to join the elven forces for this wrongdoing. In other words, I wont be in Mikona unless invisible to go back to the sewers, which also means I wont be able to help some of our new folk out much unless I give stuff to Fritz.

I am not sure what "penalty" I will suffer but it should be fun. I will be found guilty, I don't doubt that.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by HornedFrog Purple
Depending on how this goes, it may be Hornace's self-exodus from Mikona in which case he will move to Elysia and look to join the elven forces for this wrongdoing. In other words, I wont be in Mikona unless invisible to go back to the sewers, which also means I wont be able to help some of our new folk out much unless I give stuff to Fritz.


ah, I have been getting tired of Mikona anyway...

HFP - Yubbayubbafritzooooom may have a solution for part of your trial problems.

[HornedFrog Purple]

Does the gnome want to defend me? That would be cool.

I know that Kari was fined 5000 gold for trespassing and hasnt been sentenced yet. I may have to borrow 1000 from you fritz hehe.

Anyways I am going to post in the bulletin board over there that I will turn myself in to the authorities. I missed the whole lich killing everyone event that happened earlier (but again that wasnt our fault). I'll try to arrange a time or something so you can defend me.

I am going to try and join the tnanshi army. This means I will kill the Mchek soldiers for wronging me in the borderlands. :)

[Daimyo]

Other than the mines, my character much prefers Elysia... I considered joining the T'Nanshi army before anyway.

[Daimyo]

DOLA... plus I already wanted to work to undermine the OoG too :)

[QuikSand]

Well, I just attempted to make the land travel from Elysia to Mikona alone... that didn't go too well. I got ambushed by some half-elf thieves, and then escaped into teh arms of a wraith spider... anyway I couldn't get away, and succumbed.

I was revived in a temple in the wilderness keep, and then traveled back north and west to Western T'Nanshi, where I finally recovered my belongings. (whew)

Along the way, I got attacked by three goblins. "Heh, goblins" I say to myself - even with no gear I can wax three goblins with maces... I "examined" them and they were listed as "effortless." Well, I must have laid 60-80 HP of damage into one goblin, and he still didn't go down, so I ended up running away from them - how pathetic.

So, I have my gear back, but am stranded out in the wilderness somewhere.

[Daimyo]

Supposedly there is a map with four goblins... they still have something like 4-5HD, but their HP was edited to 200 for some reason... I think they are related to a DM plot.

[QuikSand]

Yeah, those would be the ones that faced me. It was weird - they could only do 1-2 point of damage when they hit me, so I felt like I had time... but I kicked the hell out of one little guy, and he barely felt it. 200HP sound about right... I think it took about 50 before he even got past "barely injured."

Anyway - I found them somewhere in Southwestern T'Nanshi, I'd say... and there was also a portal there (which was not open to me) and a chest (which turned out to be a trap - guared by some bugbears, I think - I was busy running away).

[Fritz]

Originally posted by HornedFrog Purple
Does the gnome want to defend me? That would be cool.

I know that Kari was fined 5000 gold for trespassing and hasnt been sentenced yet. I may have to borrow 1000 from you fritz hehe.

Anyways I am going to post in the bulletin board over there that I will turn myself in to the authorities. I missed the whole lich killing everyone event that happened earlier (but again that wasnt our fault). I'll try to arrange a time or something so you can defend me.

I am going to try and join the tnanshi army. This means I will kill the Mchek soldiers for wronging me in the borderlands. :)

You may be able to defend yourself. So that you can use your RL brainpower, I would suggest getting some spells cast you to raise INT, WIS, CHR. Then, I have some (male) formalwear you can borrow as a "suit."

But, I could defend you if you lke that approach. It would certainly be in character.

[Daimyo]

So you guys didn't go to the Underdark or Dwarven Quarters? I think IC, the OoG considers the Dwarven Quarters sacred like a temple (I think it is their original temple) and that is why they don't allow trespassing there... I assume since they are practically all-powerful in Mikona, it is against the law to go there.

If you need a character witness, Daimyo Flown would be happy to help as Hornace has always helped her in the past. I was a "reconciler" until we helped that troll the other day. :)

PS: If Fritz's formal wear doesn't work out, I've got 5 or 6 formal gowns you could borrow ;)

[HornedFrog Purple]

Well this is what happened. Gloknall is confusing two events, one of which I didnt take part in.

We did go into the dwarven quarters. They attacked Kari and Kaenon on sight because they are human, so I helped defend them (they dont attack me on sight because I am an orc) Now these dwarves before they did that told quite a different tale than what the Order is telling about the building of the city. I wont say anything more.

So this leads to two possibilities. One being the Order is lying or two being they really are protecting the city. Given what the dwarves told us, I think the Order is lying and they screwed the dwarves big time but obviously I cant prove that yet.

Anyways Kari and Kaenon met up with the lich in the underdark. The underdark from what I have been told is not illegal anyways. I never encountered the lich period.

Also remember Hornace is pretty slow, so a lot of it is over his head until Kari explained it to him. By the way, talking like a dim-witted orc is pretty difficult to do in character all the time hehe. I think Hornace's intelligence is 8.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by HornedFrog Purple

Also remember Hornace is pretty slow, so a lot of it is over his head until Kari explained it to him. By the way, talking like a dim-witted orc is pretty difficult to do in character all the time hehe. I think Hornace's intelligence is 8.

8 is not that slow. 9 to 11 is average human, so Hornace is like Marmel or just below average.

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by HornedFrog Purple
By the way, talking like a dim-witted orc is pretty difficult to do in character all the time hehe.

And yet, we have some regular FOFC posters who manage to do it all the time, without the benefit of being "in character." Heh.

[HornedFrog Purple]

Hehe more drama:

Yesterday, the Lich Carevok who resides in the underdark beneath Mikona launched another attack in the Marketplace. In his rage he slew every merchant, commoner, beggar and priest who frequent there. The Lich was immune to any from of attack brought against him, and he quickly slew the many brave adventurers who opposed him. The Lich mocked us as he rained death, warning us that any intrusion into this realm will result in more death and destruction upon Mikona.

In the aftermath of the attack, I was approached by a citizen who later identified himself as a member of the M'chek Special Forces. He told me that he has witnessed three adventurers entering the Dwarven Quarters below, slaying the tortured spirits in that complex. He stalked them silently for some time, observing thier actions.

Now it has been noted many times that the Lich claims all of the underdark under Mikona his domain. His attacks on the city are a direct result of irresponsible adventurers and looters penatrating his domain. These trepassers share at least some of the blame for the death and sorrow laid on the marketplace.

That being said I hearby charge them with Trepassing onto Church of Gorethar property, and reckless endangerment of the City Of Mikona.

The individuals charged are:

Kari Tal'Rathe
Hornace Purpletoad
Kaenon Nightstalker

I am wating for the account of the Special Forces soldier to render a verdict. Due to the nature of his duties, his identity cannot be revealed. A sworn statement will be delivered by his superiors on this matter.

I ask the City of Mikona make a statement concering adventuring in the underdark. Reckless plunderig beneath Mikona has lead to deaths of many innocent people, and is a direct threat to the well being of the entire city.

My thanks go to the many adventurers who sacrificed thier lives in defense of the city, and who help restore to life many of the slain innocents.

Once again the Order of Gorethar asks that NO ONE enter the dwarven quarters, and go below into the underdark. You are putting the entire city at risk in your greed.

May Gorethar protect us all,

Gloknall Heartcrusher, High Ordained member of the Order of Gorethar.

The "informant" obviously didnt see the 2 other members that were with us, which is why I am going to protest it being heresay and also ask for a description of where we were.

[Fritz]

no wigfecta for sachmo

[Anrhydeddu]

This is absolutely amazing. By the way, I did watch the 10 minute GameSpot video demo online and my only thought that it would have very cool if it was more of a first-person view.

[QuikSand]

Heh, as I am reading this business above ("Once again the Order of Gorethar asks that NO ONE enter the dwarven quarters, and go below into the underdark.") my character is online, and dawdling through the underdark. Great timing.

[Fritz]

Quik - I just went to Elysia to meet up with you. then you were gone.

[Fritz]

Looks like a hard crash for the Elysia server. not exactly where I want to go solo....

[QuikSand]

Yeah, I agree... I',m not too keen on the idea myself. Maybe it's time for a server trick... doesn't seem too unfair to me.

[Fritz]

yes...

I started in the docks with a 29 min freeze

[QuikSand]

I have to wait 19 minutes, but am heading back to Mikona, if I get back on this evening.

[Daimyo]

10 minutes left for me...

We should go to the ice caves or hills of tumult. Fritz, do you think entangle will work on trolls? I only used it a few times early on and it seemed incredibly useless because enemies could always see me before i could see them. Now with the camera hack I can actually see enemies before they attack me sometimes, so I could see it being useful now... I'm thinking along the lines of you and i simultaneously firing off an entangle and fireball at a group of enemies, and then the melee people taking out the ones who make it out, while you fireball/magic missile the ones caught in the entangle. (worked wonderfully in Icewind Dale at least...)

[Fritz]

we can try...

I can do part of the ice cave solo now as well, so the tow of us might be able to do more.

[Daimyo]

I was hoping Quiksand would join us there. :)

[Chief Rum]

Wow, so much going on.

The Lich: I overheard much discussion of this in the City Gate Inn (a discussion participated in by both this Glocknar, and ACStrider and his roommate, in their IC forms). I apparently just missed the fun in the marketplace, as I logged off that morning just a few hours before it occurred.

I would offer up my account of Hornace's honor and valor, but I don't think they will listen to a rogue, especially if anyone in power does any digging into my background (I really am a rogue!). Also, I am Chaotic Neutral, and inclined to spurn authority and care only for myself.

Interested to hear thoughts on the play-acting of the Lich. Is this just a very complicated beast of the system, or does someone actually play-act this fearsome and powerful monster? I have gathered from discussions both in game and here that there is a very real person controlling this fell demon's actions (and which if so, I might add, is pretty damn cool).

Hornace: I would love to talk to you more about this. If you don't want to say any more in public (even if it's here), please send me a PM.

I gather these actions of which you are accused happened in the time frame immediately following our leavetaking early Wednesday morning. Having been privy to the conversation prior to that mission, I suppose I may be able to take an educated guess at who was along with you, and also could testify as to the mention of certain things.

Of course, this will never happen. Out of character, I would never do that to you. In character, if approached, I will keep my lips sealed, for the unstated reason that I fear the great strength and power of Hornace PurpleToad, witnessed myself in person on many occasions, and that he would choose to use such qualities against my weakly rogue self. And, also, as a Neutral-leaning character, I value certain things, one of which is favors for favors. HPT has done many in our short time adventuring together, and I am deeply indebted to him.

Still, I think it would be fun roleplaying if someone were to approach me about that.

Exile From Mikona: HFP, if you are banned from Mikona, but it is your intention to return on occasion in invisible form, I can tap a seemingly endless supply of invisibility potions and even acquire an invisibility ring for you--at cost plus commission of course. I said I was a rogue, even to my friends! ;)

Dwarven Quarters: Where the hell are these? In the Temple Grounds District, I would imagine? I want to be sure to avoid them unless I have a damn good reason to go there.

Investigation: HFP, if you need any help in investigating this, I'm sure you're aware I might have skills to help you. I am also smart IC, so doing so is not a problem with roleplaying. Feel free to contact me in that regard if there is anything I can do to help.

ACStrider: Dammit! The keep kicked ass? Shit, I knew I should have gone. BTW, that romp into the giant hills was a lot of fun, although I don't know that I contributed much beyond the occasional lucky bolt. I enjoyed the experience received (some 400 or so, despite being in a party of some 8-9 individuals).

Anyone: If you hear tell IC of a Rogue's Guild in Mikona, please look for Chief Rumwolf and find a way to let him know IC where it is. I already fear I might be stepping on toes I am not aware of in Mikona.

Also, could someone explain to me the proper ettiquette for traveling to Elysia by boat? Is it wait for an hour? Or does it do this automatically? Thanks again.

I look forward to seeing you all in Avlis.

Chief Rum(wolf)

[Thomkal]

Daimyo,

Game froze up completely on me and had to bail, sorry about that. I hope we can do our first adventure together soon...when perhaps I'll be a bit more awake and coherent. :)

[Daimyo]

Anyone up for a tressure hunt? We're probably woefully underpowered for it.. but $10M is $10M.

http://boards.blackdagger.com/viewtopic.php?t=14126

[QuikSand]

I was in the Rompin' Romini bathhouses today (yeah, I know..) and found a few interesting things.

#1 - when you sit in the pools for a while, you get a serious healing boost - you gain some temporary HP well beyond your normal capacity. (I went from 63 to 167) I doin't have a sense how long this lasts, but it might be worth considering as a pre-advanture move... get buffed up in the bathhouses befdore going to slay giants or whatever.

#1 - there is a semi-secret "pressure panel" in the bathhouse. The guy with me told me that below there is a path to a secret area - lots of merchants, and apparently some sort of "Raven Guild" that I have not heard of. He might have been maing it up - this guy was a part-rogue after all, and it might have been a con to get me to give him gold - but it sounded plausible.

I don't know what it takes to go down that hatch - I could "unlock it" successfully, but was unable to lift the panel, it said.

Anyway... a potentialy interesting twist in Mikona. (The Rompin' Romini is the inn inside the Marketplace area in Mikona, right across from the Adv Guild hall)

[Daimyo]

Interesting, I have never been to the Rompin' Romini. The extra HP would definately be useful... especially considering how well we fared last night.

[KWhit]

So what's happening in Avlis?

When's the trial HFP?

[ACStrider]

UGH...yesterday was a NIGHTMARE!!! I was having a rough day anyway before I started playing, but I figured I could get some fun out of hitting NWN. My character was less then 200 exp from leveling, so leveling would provide some consolation, right?

Well, I started off and after making the chit-chat with several characters I joined with a group going to the mines (Hornace and Chief Rumwolf were with me). In the mines we ran into an in game dm character. I tried talking to him and roleplaying a bit but he seemed rather uninterested. A few minutes later he leaves and signs in as a DM.

We start running down the mines and figure "why not try and take out the spider queen while we're down here". We're preparing ourselves before we enter the area of the spider queen when the room FLOODS with spiders. There were so many that I couldn't even move (both due to lag and due to the sheer amount of spiders). I'm sure the DM got his jollies throwing that one at us.

So, anyway, we all die and recruit friends to help us retreive our bodies. To make a long story short, we make our way back down the caves an finally get our selves back out.

Now that we are done with that sordid tale, I meet up with Kari Tal'Rathe again, and with Hornace we decide to make a journey to the Darrington Keep to see what duties are needed there. Our journey turns out to be to make our way to Le'or and visit the library.

Kari leads the way and we start the journey. We make it a ways running into stuff here and there without much of a problem. Finally on the trip I get enough experience to put me to the fifth level (yea). Well the next area we enter I notice some mercs and engage in battle. No problem right? Just a couple of mercs. Here's where the trouble REALLY starts. Right after we engaged....server crash. We finally log back in to see that myself, Hornace, and Kari are ALL DEAD.

I eventually get sent to limbo, but before my body even makes it to limbo it is redirected back to the real world. I'm wondering what in the heck is going on now, and I notice Hornace right beside me. Before I can even think DIRE WOLVES SPAWN RIGHT ON TOP OF ME. I die AGAIN (unfairly for the second time).

This time I'm actually sent to limbo. I take in the surroundings (bunch of islands with mist everywhere but before I can even react, I notice that there are some summoned red slaads on the closest island. I don't even move an inch and they blast me with some spell. I die a THIRD TIME (although in the afterlife, you don't lose exp, but it's still freakin' annoying).

I resurrect and have the SAME THING HAPPEN TO ME. Spell from a slaad and I'm down. This time I recover before I go fully under, and after I recover I have the sense to run as fast as I can out of the range of the slaads.

I figure I should try to get out so I try an exit on he island that I'm on. Good idea, right? Well, after being teleported to several islands, I appear RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SLAADS. Once again, they kill me. This marks FOUR deaths in this series. I respawn in limbo...again...and decide to just wait until Kari resurrects my character.

She eventually does (had to wait almost half an hour or something rediculous like that for her to get to my body) and I see that when all is said and done I've lost 450 exp for the two times I died in the real world (650 if you count the time in the mines). On the night that means that I've actually had a -150 exp total (including having gone to level 5 and then back down to level 4).

Well, the rest of the night is spent wandering in the wilderness trying to find Le'or. We never do find Le'or as the server finally crashes for good and never reboots. The only words that I can say of this experience is *^$(&%#()%(*#$(&#$^

[ACStrider]

Dola...

I thought I should make a few notes here about roleplay.

First of all, the word is that the "ooc" phrase should be used as little as possible. Your character should be "in character" as much as possible so that the game text is as close to true roleplaying as possible. If you need to tell a group a note, use the ooc prefix, but use it as sparingly as possible. If you need to tell a member something, use the "tell" command. This is the proper etiquite from what I hear.

Second, the "tell" command really shouldn't be used to convay "in character" information. For example, "I'm dying and I need help, come to ..." or "I think I found x, it's in y, go and get it...everyone's dead"

Yesterday we had an incident much like this happen. When our characters died in the mines, our whole group was actually down in the mines, having gathered a few characters that we had run into, when I noticed that Gunter (an insanely high level character) appeared in our party. He was in the city gates. Now how in the world could he have known of our little situation? "Somehow" he made his way into the mines and saved our tails.

Here is why this is frowned upon. First of all, it is annoying to the higher level characters to get a "tell" from someone, asking them to bail them out. It defeats the spontaneoty and gameflow of roleplay, and it puts the higher level characters in an awkward situation. If you come across one, explain your situation, and they agree to help, it's an entirely different story.

Second, it can actually be a hinderance. As I mentioned before, there was a dm who was responsible for the foes we faced. It is the role of the dm in these situations to try and match the strength of the adventurers with reasonable opposition. When you throw a level 14+ character into a mix of level 8,4,2, etc. it forces the DM to raise the creature challenge rating. This was seen as we faced a couple spontaneous spawns of Dire Spiders after Gunter joined our party and finally made his way into the mines. If you die and assistance is needed, better to find it where you can and trust that you will encounter forces suitable to your challenge rating.

Whew...that was a mouthful. In sum, I guess the moral of the story is "don't do anything that is beyond the rhelm of possibility". Setting off adventure packs in building, sitting on top of respawns, telling characters from the other side of the world, all defeat the intention of the game. I can't say I'm not guilty of these things at some point, but as I've learned, I've tried to adjust accordingly.

[illinifan999]

Hey guys, even though I don't own the game (Though I might look into getting it) I've been reading. It sounds awesome. Is there any chance some of you could post some screenshots from your adventures? Would like to see what the game looks like. Thanks if you can!

[Chief Rum]

Man, AC, you are right on. The server crashes yesterday, the lag time, and allt he damn spiders sucked bigtime. I, too, of course, lost a lot of experience, making the trip about a wash in that department.

I got a question for you guys. Daimyo or Fritz, I believe, one of you, is mentioning a camera hack you have worked out. Might I ask how you did it? I am having a lot of problems with camera control. I have fiddled with it a bit, but I can't seem to get it right. The Driving Camera (the third option) gives the view I won't (from behind my character and slightly above), but I seem to be constantly turning around and going in other directions without my active choice to do so. I think part of it is following my mouse icon, and I don't want it to do that (please only move when I click the damn thing and only to the spot I clik, ugh...). This is on top of odd lag times and several occasions where I seem to get literally bumped back to where I was about 2-3 seconds before (for example, I'm about to enter a room, and the next second I'm about 50 feet down the hall from the room, in the exact spot I had been before I approached it--and thus having to make some darn trip back to the room door; very annoying).

Anyway, if you guys can help at all with that I would appreciate it. Thanks.

Chief Rum

[Fritz]

mini alert

I was recruited by Tosterone Arge to help with Drems quest. I had nothing to do so I agreed even though Tosterone seemed a little weak (lvl 6 according to the server status util.)

We were joined by Rum and then by another "Arge" character, who was weaker than Tosterone. Well these two just potioned then hacked their way to the bottom and had little difficuty with the "boss." To be fair, I was lighting the boss up with spells, but he fell very easily.

I have been with some higher level characters in there and had many more problems, so I am wondering what these two are doing.

I think I will pass on adventuring with them again.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Just a quick thanks to Quiksand for taking some time to show me around the other day. And a special thanks for the entertainment—when you tried to talk to the previously sad O'Ma fairy mosquito thingie and punched her in the nose instead, setting off all the fairies in the sector against you. Boy, you run fast. I figured I could follow after you, then revive you after you died, but then that one tiny fairy zapped both of us with that blue lightning bolt. Win some lose some. But thanks, very helpful.

And another thanks to Daimyo and Pollio for saving my ass after I ignored your advice to venture off down the road on my own (two minutes later I come running back to the two of them with bandits in chase).

Has anyone tried to get into the Castle Keep? I was told to get signatures from seven of the eleven representatives scattered about the town, and I've found a few of them. They each in turn have given me a quest before they will sign the entry writ. The quests seem of moderate difficulty, but each of them is asking me to go further away from Elysia than I have been before, and I am sure my level 2 fighter will be meat out there alone.

I'll be in Elysia tonight. Just an hour or so short of level 3.

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by Godzilla Blitz
And a special thanks for the entertainment—when you tried to talk to the previously sad O'Ma fairy mosquito thingie and punched her in the nose instead, setting off all the fairies in the sector against you. Boy, you run fast.

That was quite a scene... I must have struck the wrong key or clicked in the wrong spot, and instead of speaking to the fairy, I watched my monk give her a big chop right in the kisser. Much to my surprise!

Anyway - it was a pretty funny sight, watching my fairly big and brutish character run like a sissy away from this tiny little faerie. My initial hope was just to run away to avoid having to fight, but then I got surrounded by several faeries, and got decked pretty good.

[Thomkal]

Hmmm some interesting and some funny stories there. Is that sad fairy in the one inn there in Elysia? The last two or three days I was in Elysia (back in Mikona now) that fairy and one of the bartenders were engaged in a fight of the ages. As far as I can tell it continued non-stop for three days. The fairy was getting the better of the bartender though.

I had a somewhat embarassing situation happen to me today. My still third level cleric had finished off a rat adventure pack not too long before, and decided to step outside the gates to see what was going on. There I was greeted with a player's death corpse, and a message that I was feeling a bit damp. I hadn't seen that message before, but nothing else seemed to happen right away.

Shortly thereafter Pollio came out of the gates and noticed the corpse, and shortly thereafter I started failing saves versus disease and getting messages about feeling weak and paranoid. Pollio also started getting these messages I believe. We talked about it, and being a cleric I figured I could heal myself. Tried cure spells, a healing kit, and later a cure disease scroll. No dice. Pollio left me to go back into town and followed shortly thereafter.

As I was coming through the gates I got the most "amusing" message that I had "craps pants" complete with brown stain on the ground. Now I like to roleplay, but there are some things I draw the line at. So I logged off after the cure disease scroll didn't work.

I'm assuming it was a rat bite that gave me the disease though I saw no message at the time, and no icons indicating I had a disease or loss of stats from it. And doesn't explain how Pollio got it too unless I was contagious or it was the corpse that caused it. So anybody know what happened to me and how to cure it?

Also, those of us with Radeon ATI drivers, the new version, 3.4 came out today or yesterday, and supposedly will clear up many of the problems people were having with NWN and the ATI cards. Haven't downloaded it yet so I can't tell you how much it helps.

[HornedFrog Purple]

AC the invite to Gunter was a total accident. I was trying to reinvite Chief and Gunter showed up right at the second I was trying to reinvite him so it went to Gunter. The thing is that Gunter was going to the mines anyways to mine because he and I had been doing it the last few nights around the same time. I never told him anything in tells that we were in trouble. In fact he had asked when he got there.

I understand what youre saying but in reality you shouldnt use the map function either to trail invisible party members if you cant see them. I realize there is an invisible line but sometimes you have to jump back and forth if you want to get anything done.

My beef with the whole thing was if we all didnt get the possession bug that we could have killed the spiders we faced in the first place. Saphron and I could have done it.

The same thing happened with the dwarves that killed us in the forest. Normally they would have been toast.

[Daimyo]

Originally posted by Godzilla Blitz
And another thanks to Daimyo and Pollio for saving my ass after I ignored your advice to venture off down the road on my own (two minutes later I come running back to the two of them with bandits in chase).

Holy shit I'm an idiot!! I didn't realize that was you!! Even with the obvious hints (well they're obvious now looking back)...

[ACStrider]

HFP - Wow...that IS one heck of a coincidence. I didn't know who had invited him, but wow...yeah. Crazy. I know what you're saying on the invite going to the wrong person too. I've had that happen when you have a person selected to send a messae or invite to and someone jumps on right before you click. Annoying as all get out.

About the tp thing...from what I hear, there really isn't a problem using the tp thing to talk to players about getting together or even saying "hi". The beef people have is when you use it to convey information which the other character would have no way of knowing had they not been there (in character and present information). In other words, it's not something to use when you're suddenly given a dm quest and you want a friend to also benefit from it, or if your dead or dying and are just calling out to the nearest person to come rescue you. I hope that I've made the distinction there.

[SirFozzie]

Ok Damnit, I have now reinstalled NWN, and want to get in on this

[NAIWF]

About how long did it take you guys to get accepted? I ask because I sent in my app earlier this week, but I've only had the actual game for a week, so I still suck. But I am good at creating characters, even if they will be cannon fodder for the most part :)

[Thomkal]

Naiwf,

It took me several days to get accepted. I thought the problem was with AOL because I was getting no response to my applications or emails. If you use AOL, you might try again using just internet explorer. I got my password (or they finally got around to looking at my app) within 24 hours then.

The guy who handles apps had to go away or something and was away for several days. He's back now and working on apps again. I'd give it till Tuesday morning and resend or email if you haven't heard anything by then.

[QuikSand]

Thomkal, it seems that you have caught "the spite." Not from a rat, but probably passed to you from another character - be careful in consorting with other people, it is communicable.

Check out the message boards (search for "spite") to find some guidance on getting rid of it - it is a nuisance. As I recall, you need to consume a big bunch of stuff - some herbs and berries of some sort. Someone came along and gave me the cure when I had it back when I was first starting out - hopefully, you will get similarly lucky.


I can still hang out with you, though... I don't get sick any longer.

[Thomkal]

Ah the Spite. Had heard of it course but didn't know anything about it. Now I wish I still didn't. Sounds like the cure is worse than the disease itself. I've posted on the IC board for someone to supply me with a cure as I don't have access to the thief tunnels where the ingredients for the cure are, or likely the money to afford them.

Thanks for the tip Quik, I'll be sure to throw up on you if you visit. :)

[QuikSand]

Dammit!

I finally have a little time, spend in the game, and it gets overrun with server crashes and such. What gives? Is this place falling apart?

[Daimyo]

It was incredibly laggy for me all day yesterday to the point I couldn't really do anything... :(

If I get a chance today I'm going to jump right to Elysia... Wilderness and Mikona are on the same physical server and I think that treasure hunt might have it overloaded?

[Godzilla Blitz]

Originally posted by Daimyo
It was incredibly laggy for me all day yesterday to the point I couldn't really do anything... :(

If I get a chance today I'm going to jump right to Elysia... Wilderness and Mikona are on the same physical server and I think that treasure hunt might have it overloaded?

Elysia was empty last night. There were only three to eight players for most of the time I was there. I think you are right: everyone is off in search of treasure on the other server. Elysia server seemed to be working normally; I probably had three minor crashes/time-outs in four hours. Got to the Mikona server later in the evening, and it seemed to be working fine then (about 1AM EST).

Got three of seven signatures for entry into the Elysian Castle Keep. Tried to venture forth to get others, but either couldn't find the right thing or person, or realized that I was in over my head. I saw some BIG things west of Elysia, maybe ogres or trolls, and quickly pulled back on one quest. A second quest ended south of Elysia when I got ambushed by some turbo skeletons. Got taken to the point of semi-death, came back to consciousness, then hightailed it out of there. I don't think I'll be getting many more signatures without company, or until I hit level four.

I'm also getting very good at running away. Last night I was east of Elysia looking for a wine merchant, and got ambushed by a Crag Cat, which seemed really big, so I ran back to the previous section, where two guards took care of the problem for me. Nice guys.

Ended up going back to Mikona and starting a second character, an elf-wizard with freaky hair named Godwillian Blitzus (or something like that). He's has a wimpy 5 hit points, so it'll be a while before he does much other than running errands in the government sector.

All in all it was a very productive evening, though, with Godbolt Zillius getting his level three birthday and such. He's starting to feel like a grown-up. He's now got "Close combat archery" and "Quick shots". Gets two shots a round, and can shoot from in close without penalty. He's becoming quite the rat-killer, let me tell you. Even badgers no longer have a chance against his mightly bow.

On another note, is there a download or utility that allows you to see what level the other PCs are while you are playing? I can see the levels at the start of the game, but in-game "examining" PCs just tells me how difficult it would be to kill them. Be nice to see what level PCs are, and what they do. Or would that be considered improper role-playing? Humm.

[SirFozzie]

Hey.. You got me interested, I've put in a request to sign in.. any other new characters to the world who want to journey with Alain Stoneaxe, a doughty dwarven fighter? :)

[Fritz]

anyone been to the bugbear cave?

[Bee]

Originally posted by SirFozzie
Hey.. You got me interested, I've put in a request to sign in.. any other new characters to the world who want to journey with Alain Stoneaxe, a doughty dwarven fighter? :)

My wife and I are starting new characters...she's still waiting for her application to get approved. When she does, I'll post our character names.

B

[Fritz]

The world feels like it is getting to a stagnant point.

For those who primarily enjoy the RP aspect of a game, there is probably enough to keep you focused.

I like character development, and the super stunted exp makes leveling a greater and greater task. On a super kick ass day I could get 800-900 exp. That means 10+ days of great play to level, but of course I can't get 800-900 per day. The slow leveling could be offset by interesting magic items, but these are uncommon. Less interesting magic items must be purchased, but the only real way to generate gp seems to be formula adventuring in certain places where you can kill creatures with specific items.

This coupled with the wrteched lag we have seen the past few days and Avlis is losing its luster.

[QuikSand]

Maybe we need some sort of FOFC cabal to make things interestig. Daimyo's idea of trying to subvert the Order of Gorethar in Mikona sounds pretty intriguing to me, but I'm not sure when we'd be able to do something of that sort. Taking sides in the human-elf wars might be interesting as well... I have seen some PCs doing so, and that's a pretty aggressive event if you're in the middle.

I'm not sure what else is out there, but I think the key is some role-playing as teh focus, rather than character development. I'm with Fritz in my personal preferences, but that's clearly not the focus in Avlis. (I'm personally dying to hit level 8, where my monk makes particularly useful gains...but the XP have been tediously slow to come).

[Fritz]

in terms of simple economics, I am better off fighting a horde of things that are easy to kill because fight a few things that are hard to defeat just does not bring value.

Even at level 8 I can get 160xp sleepwalking through a rat pack, and I get a treasure at the end. To get that same 160xp I will have to fight 3-4 vampire warriors, which I can't defeat solo, and will probably see no treasure.

---
On roleplaying: I don't know that I have seen much interesting roleplaying, but then the world does not really support it. There is plenty of sterotypical roleplaying though.

[QuikSand]

There's no question that the incentives in the game are skewed. Actually, I think the setting would be far better off without adventure packs at all - it's just too tempting iboth in terms of gp and xp. Also, I think I would limit the various "messenger" quests to first level characters - anbd offer XP in bunches of 100 or so at a time. Then, you'd have the vulnerable newbies working their way through the maps and such, learnign their way around, and then getting to level two where they'd have to start really earning it.

The offset to having advancement come slowly is that there is a sense of accomplishment involved. I know that with my Avlis character, I have been muchmore deliberate about taking skills, feats, and so forth -- because I know that re-starting a character or sending this one in a different direction is a long-term effort. That sense of accomplishment is part of what they're trying to achieve here, and it does work.

That said, I've probably been on 20 times since making level 7, and still have 2,000 XP+ to go until making level 8. It's been a pretty tedious crawl, and I fail to see how it gets much better without resorting to powergaming.


Another thing with the relative abundance of GP to powerful magic: in this environment, you now see characters routinely using potions and other costly buffs very, very frequently... it's a weird economy there. Since there aren't any 30,000 GP magic items that I need to save up for, I don't think twice about blowing 3,000 GP on a bunch of trinkets, potions, and such. I imagine that the willingness to spend money on (and to use) things like potions of speed, magic arrows/bolts, and the like is greatly enhance in Avlis compared to other environments. Not necessarily bad, just different.

[Bee]

I'm curious if anyone has tried some of the other persistent worlds? I played around a little bit on www.engliton.com before I got my application accepted on Avlis and I have to admit I enjoyed it a great deal. While there is still a strong emphasis on role playing there, they don't seem to take themselves quite so seriously about it.

[QuikSand]

Since we seem to have a solid contingent of FOC people here, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibiilty to see us eventually migrating somewhere else. I don't think I have the time nor inclination to get into multiple long-term characters and settings - so I'll stick with Avlis for the time being. They are planning to "merge" with another PW server... which might well open up some new opportunities for both roleplayign and character development - that's got me interested. (I wouldn't be surprised if they end up scaling up the XP factors in the Avlis game, to keep it from being absurdly imbalanced)

[Daimyo]

I thought Avlis XP was pretty good before they installed this latest XP hack (you can tell its the new one because everything gives XP twice with the second time being 0 XP). Before I could get a level anywhere from 2 days to a week. Now I get 3 XP or less for everything I've fought except for trolls (10XP) and Umber Hulks (14XP). Umber Hulks aren't that tough, but I only know of the two in the mines...

Trolls are still tough for me. I can sometimes kill all three that spawn together in the Hills... if I use everything I've got and then run like a baby back to Drem if my companions die and one is left.

I think they had a great balance for XP when I first started and they've ruined it now in the extreme of cutting back. The character development I really love and I loved the pace before... the last few days I just haven't had much interest at all to load up NWN.

[Bee]

Hey QS,

How long did the extra HPs last from the bath?

[Thomkal]

Originally posted by Godzilla Blitz
I'm also getting very good at running away. Last night I was east of Elysia looking for a wine merchant, and got ambushed by a Crag Cat, which seemed really big, so I ran back to the previous section, where two guards took care of the problem for me. Nice guys.


Hey GB,

Where did you find that wine merchant? I figured that would be an easy one to do, since I thought I knew exactly where he was. This is with my new character, an elven ranger, Severian Greenbranch. Human FOFC characters should approach Severian with caution. :)

I created Severian for two reasons, 1) Because I was intrigued by the "other side" since so many people seem to be on the human/M'Chek side. 2) I was getting a bit frustrated finding people for Thomkal to adventure with thus still being stuck at 3rd level. And then the Spite hit, so ICly there's no way he should be adventuring.

Oh and I saw your message over on the Avlis boards, GB. Hope that other character gives you the cure for me. I can't tell you how much I hate the Spite. I like the idea of the Spite, but the cure should be much easier to acquire and the affects/aftereffects (looks like I'll be drug addicted) just kill any chance to adventure, and ooh boy its fun roleplaying being sick all the time and crapping my pants ooh boy. I also hate the Spite because I don't want to give it to anyone else-that means I stay away from everyone else. Great roleplaying opportunity there.

Fritz,

Just wondering what the difference is between stereotypical roleplaying and interesting roleplaying?

And did any FOFCer get close to finding that amulet? I see its been found now, I think by a lvl 20 character. Great.

[Fritz]

Originally posted by Thomkal
Fritz,

Just wondering what the difference is between stereotypical roleplaying and interesting roleplaying?


What I mean is you plenty of dumb half orcs (no knock on HFP), herioc pladins, and brash dwarfs. Why I do not see is more complex characters. Part of the reason for this is there is simply no value in being one.

bah, maybe I am just in a pissy mood this morning

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by Bee
Hey QS,

How long did the extra HPs last from the bath?

Ah, thanks for the reminder. I did two tests.

I logged off while in the baths, and came back after a real life hour or two, and my extra HP were still there. I left the immediate area, went over to the slums, and still had the giant HP total. I presume that as you battle, you are not able to heal past your official total... so, I just dropped from 167/63 to 155/63 to 121/53 and so forth, until eventually the effects woudl be gone from combat. I didn't play a long time, but my sense was that perhaps it is "permanent" until you take damage to get you down to your normal level. That could be very useful.

My second trial, I went back to the baths, and sat for long enough to boost my HP to something like 121. I then caught a boat to Elysia, btu upon arriving in the new server, my HP were back to normal. I'm guessing this would apply in traveling to the Wilderness as well.

That's my partial report...

[QuikSand]

I agre, Fritz... there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of deep roleplaying around. I must confess, for all the talk on the forums about these great and belove characters, I have had fairly few run-ins with anyone who did anything more than the obligatory (and stereotypical) role playing.

My monk has taken to collecting natural baubles and trinkets and giving them to people he meets. He gives away seeds, apples, flowers, and such to new acquaintances or traveling partners. Unfortunately, most people seem to think he's trying to poison them, or else sell them something... and I have to do extra explaining to just indicate that it's simply a gesture (it's not worth anything, it wont kill you, it's not magical, etc).

[Bee]

Oh great...Quiksand is a Hare Krishna. ;)

[Fritz]

other mini rants:

as part of a quest you can capture animals or skin them. A captured animal shifts your alignment towards good a little, a skinned one shifts it towards evil. I am not excatly sure why either is a good or evil act....

Anyhow, I occasionally find a skin in a market, so I buy it for a gold and go sell it to the trapper for 100, plus you get exp (and the alignment shift.) Here is the problem: why do I suffer an alignment shift for selling an already 'skun' skin? More importantly, why dos that have more of an impact on my alignment than the 50 or so healing kits I have used on non-party newbies that get in too deep? Grrrr.

(I know I am being snitty today)

[Bee]

and with all the complaining it looks like Fritz is role playing as my wife...

;)

[QuikSand]

Fritz, I don't know much about how the game is scripted (that is the term, right?) but I agree with you - alignment seems to be awfully rigid, considering there is a system of having it flow based upon actions. The only time mine budged from netutral (50) was when I made a contribution to Valok, which moved me to 48 (very slightly evil). I, too, have made numerous actions of charity to other PCs, and it has made no impact on my alignment at all. Totally agreed.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Some thoughts on role playing...

This is my first experience where true role playing is possible, and I am having a blast. However, one thing I have realized is that it is not easy to roleplay well, once you step outside of the stereotypes. I'm playing a basic character now for my first run through just to get a feel for things, but conceiving and playing a more complicated character seems like a real challenge. I get a sense it's a lot like character creation for stories, combined with improvisional acting, all done through a keyboard. Not easy stuff, especially if you are new to real roleplaying. It doesn't surprise me that the land is full of stereotypes.

Also, I have little sense of the history of the land, which makes giving a character a background difficult, and know little about what aspects of the land are permanent and what are changeable, which makes determining purpose more difficult as well. I think I need to play for a month or so to get a good feel for more complicated characters. If the interest level stays up, I think I could see myself playing a handful of characters, all of different types.

Some things that I think can help with the roleplaying aspect:

1. The IC forums are helping me a lot, both in terms of who is trying to do what, and understanding what aspects of the world are changing. It also helps to get to know some of the players' characters.

2. I think I may need to focus more on roleplaying than gaining experience for the game to be fun at higher levels. For this to happen, I think I need to get more involved in the IC boards, and try to think like my character would. Rather than doing rat packs to gain experience to make the next level, I am going to try to set realistic in-character goals and try to accomplish those. I get a sense that there is a lot to do if I focus on doing it rather than just getting to the next level.

Some frustrating things...

1. The in-game events now (The lich in Mikona, some evil thing that slaughtered everyone in an inn in Elysia, etc.) are so far beyond my level that it is laughable. I have no chance to make an impact in these events with my level 3 character, who is just now starting to feel confident with badgers. I'm not sure how much better the roleplaying is at level 15+, but it would be fun to see if we could get a group together to rid Mikona of the Lich, or take on some other seemingly impossible task. I could see that being a lot of fun.

2. The lag is dropping me out of game about once an hour, which isn't a problem now, but I could see myself getting frustrated if I lost a level 18 character in the final battle against some huge monster when the server crashes, or I get timed out in a lag. Yuck.

On a more individual note...

Quiksand, there is talk of hunting down the murderers that are killing the guards in the sewers below Elysia. Apparently someone is offing guards to get their weapons and sell them...

http://boards.blackdagger.com/viewtopic.php?t=14061

When we were exploring, you told me that the guard's swords were worth a lot of money. Um, how exactly did you know this? The gloves you gave me don't have guilty blood on them, do they?

Thomkal,

Appartently Sh'ael is dead, like really dead, so there'll be no help from him. Sorry. Maybe someone else will step up. If you can tell me what to get, I can try to find it, but I still suck, so you might die of old age before you get help from me.

The wine merchant was somewhere out in the outskirts, east of Elysia, but when I tried to give the wine I got from him to the person that gave me the quest, the conversation just ended without any XP or loss of inventory, so either the quest is broken or I found the wrong guy. Actually, it was kind of funny. I was wandering around the empty wilderness east of Elysia after midnight when this guy comes up and offers me a drink. I'm guessing this was the merchant, but I could be wrong. It wasn't a PC, that's for sure.

One last thought...

This thread seems to be a mish mash of all kinds of info and conversations. Would it be a good idea to create an IC thread here to help keep stuff separate?

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by Godzilla Blitz
On a more individual note...

Quiksand, there is talk of hunting down the murderers that are killing the guards in the sewers below Elysia. Apparently someone is offing guards to get their weapons and sell them...

http://boards.blackdagger.com/viewtopic.php?t=14061

When we were exploring, you told me that the guard's swords were worth a lot of money. Um, how exactly did you know this? The gloves you gave me don't have guilty blood on them, do they?


Well...um... er... not exactly.

I was traveling in the outer sewers when my PC partner taunted one of the clerics, who then initiated combat. Since he was then attacking us, we fought him, and then took his (valuable) stuff. There were other clerics around later on, but we did not get in their way.

I was down there another time, tryin to actually get through the whole area (which I still have not) and someone's ranged spell (a fireball, I think) injured a cleric, who then turned on us. Same thing happened, basically.

As for your gloves - no, they came from elsewhere. Not to worry.