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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Demetrios1453" data-source="post: 9721897" data-attributes="member: 6801060">Curse of the Azure Bonds (Part 42): The Mulmaster Beholder Corps (Part 2)So far, the fights in this cave have been tougher than most, but still easily manageable. But that's about to change, as the next few fights are going to be very tough (and lead to a fight that is nothing short of ridiculously tough!)After entering this part of the cavern, we move along the right wall until we reach a door.[ATTACH=full]413383[/ATTACH]Buffy picks the lock (pretty much all the doors here have been locked, and she's had no problems unlocking them so far), and we enter the hallway beyond.[ATTACH=full]413384[/ATTACH]Nah, what fun would there be in that? It's just a single beholder, so we should be able to defeat it with relative ease if initiative goes well.[ATTACH=full]413385[/ATTACH]Attack![ATTACH=full]413386[/ATTACH]It's positioned a fair distance away, but still within reach within a round for my melee.Baroness Bella runs up...[ATTACH=full]413387[/ATTACH]Then moves back, prompting an attack...[ATTACH=full]413388[/ATTACH]And goes back to get her attacks in.[ATTACH=full]413389[/ATTACH]Since it's used its attack this round, it can't start using its eye rays, and it goes down pretty quickly.[ATTACH=full]413390[/ATTACH] OK XP, but no treasure.[ATTACH=full]413391[/ATTACH]We head through the door on the right.[ATTACH=full]413392[/ATTACH]Attack, of course![ATTACH=full]413393[/ATTACH]Yet another Dark Elf Lord. Thankfully, he doesn't have magic, so we just have to run up and wear him down. After a few rounds trading blows, I'm able to position Buffy correctly, and she takes him down with a well placed backstab![ATTACH=full]413394[/ATTACH]He's got some... interesting treasure.[ATTACH=full]413395[/ATTACH]Love all the weird magical polearms randomly appearing in this game.[ATTACH=full]413396[/ATTACH]At least the longsword is useful for the moment, until the party leaves the caves and it vaporizes in the sunlight. After some deliberation, I give it to Bant, who isn't currently using a +3 weapon or better. The reason I'm worried about that will soon become apparent.[ATTACH=full]413397[/ATTACH](As you can see, that partisan was just +1. I mean, who would make a magical partisan?)On the table, we find a note:[ATTACH=full]413398[/ATTACH]Heh, "commands" instead of the usual "requests" for this sort of thing. Obviously our host doesn't take no for an answer.We head back out to the hall and to the door directly across from us.[ATTACH=full]413399[/ATTACH]As you can see, the combats have been steadily ramping up. This is where it starts getting tough. I thought about doing a full buff session, but decided against it, since, even though this will probably get a bit messy, it's reasonably survivable. The encounter after this, however...We open the door...[ATTACH=full]413400[/ATTACH]Yeah, there won't be simple local guards in this place! Time to attack![ATTACH=full]413401[/ATTACH]"Suddenly furry"? I mean, the mustaches are a bit much, but "furry"?[ATTACH=full]413402[/ATTACH]Oh.Rakshasa are basically immune to spells, but can themselves cast some spells, especially lightning bolt. They also only take half damage from weapons of +2 or below, hence me giving Bant the +5 weapon. The good news is that they have fairly low HP, so I should be able to start carving through them fairly quickly once my melee get down there. The party will probably have to eat some lightning bolts, but they probably won't get enough off to make it too dangerous.So, my melee run down there...[ATTACH=full]413403[/ATTACH]Stinking cloud? The problem there is that, while the characters are making their saves to not be incapacitated (and thus vulnerable to insta-kills), they will have negatives to their attack, which will make the already hard-to-hit rakshasa even harder to damage.And yes, that rakshasa who is casting does indeed launch off a lightning bolt.We do manage to start taking them down, but extra stinking clouds are causing issues.[ATTACH=full]413404[/ATTACH]While my melee attempt to maneuver around the clouds, my ranged are doing reduced damage due to the rakshasas' resistance.[ATTACH=full]413405[/ATTACH]Finally, Baroness Bella is able to take down the last one.[ATTACH=full]413406[/ATTACH]Not all that much XP (I would think they would give much more given their resistances!), but they had a few gems and jewelry on them.[ATTACH=full]413407[/ATTACH]Another card, with the same message, is found on their bodies.[ATTACH=full]413408[/ATTACH](As you can see, they did manage to get off a few lightning bolts, and we've taken moderate damage.)We head back out to the hall and continue through the western door. As we pass through it, though...[ATTACH=full]413409[/ATTACH]Four ogres? Pretty laughable, given all the other high-level encounters here! The only thing that will slow us down is the distance, as my melee can't reach them on the first round.Once we're able to reach them, it goes quickly. Brother Baltor is a ranger, and they're of the giant type, so he gets to do some extra damage![ATTACH=full]413410[/ATTACH]The XP is laughable.[ATTACH=full]413411[/ATTACH]After that, we reach the door on the right. This time, I'm definitely buffing up, as this is a particularly tough encounter! [ATTACH=full]413412[/ATTACH]And now to break out the new buff, as I mentioned a couple of posts ago.[ATTACH=full]413413[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]413414[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]413415[/ATTACH]22 STR is nothing to sneeze at! All my front line melee have the spell cast on them.The party looks nicely buffed. I'm not worried about the damage taken so far, as this encounter has far greater dangers than mere physical damage...[ATTACH=full]413416[/ATTACH](Enlarge has quite a long duration!)We open the doors and...[ATTACH=full]413417[/ATTACH]Beholders, plural, are much more of a danger than a single one. Hence all the buffing beforehand...[ATTACH=full]413418[/ATTACH]Everyone ages. No one but Baroness Bella cares. (Her age is currently 26 for anyone who was worried, so she's fine, and we have plenty of leeway with further uses of haste until elixirs of youth start popping up in PoD).And... even with all that preparation...[ATTACH=full]413421[/ATTACH]As we're stuck in a corner, I need Bant to go and run alongside the two beholders to the right, while we take down the one in the lower left. That part was done successfully, but Bant lost initiative to the beholder in front of him, allowing it to get off several eye rays. The disintegrate ray luckily had no effect, but the flesh to stone and death rays sure did!One re-load later...[ATTACH=full]413422[/ATTACH]Bant gets a good initiative roll and runs along the two beholders, causing them to attack, and thus keeping them from using their eye rays. Everyone else concentrates on the lower left beholder.This strategy works like a charm this time, and soon, we've taken down all three beholders![ATTACH=full]413423[/ATTACH]Excellent XP for taking them down:[ATTACH=full]413424[/ATTACH]And a few gems and jewelry.[ATTACH=full]413425[/ATTACH]Oh, a list instead of a note![ATTACH=full]413426[/ATTACH]Well, their persuasion success rate wasn't too high, thankfully. I do wonder if the lich mentioned is the one we meet in Secret of the Silver Blades. At this point, we camp and heal up, and re-memorize spells (I can't wait until the game starts saving your memorized spell lists, which I believe starts in the next game. With so many spells memorized now, it's a time-consuming chore to go through and re-pick out the spells each time). We do make one change, however...[ATTACH=full]413427[/ATTACH]Both Bragir and Brin will memorize one confusion spell each, given the upcoming encounter. While it will make this encounter only a little bit easier, it does make a lot funnier (and chaotic for the enemies!).Having rested up (thankfully no interruptions, which is very possible here), we head out and continue along the corridor.[ATTACH=full]413428[/ATTACH]We very pointedly save here. I've been saving quite often, but this is one spot you 100% definitely need to save at. Why? Well, let's see what happens when we open that door...[ATTACH=full]413429[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]413430[/ATTACH]"Throw caution to the wind" is always an interesting choice![ATTACH=full]413431[/ATTACH]Oh dear.[ATTACH=full]413432[/ATTACH]Oh my![ATTACH=full]413433[/ATTACH] We have found the fabled Mulmaster Beholder Corps! And they brought friends. Lots and lots of very dangerous friends!So, next time we'll attempt to fight this roomful of horrors!</blockquote>

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