The blood of the gods runs through you! Well, one god anyways.

[Ravashak]

Originally Posted by Mac

For every Werewolf killed is a victory for the Horde! [/WoW Nerd]

That means every wolf killed is a victory for the Alliance.

Then again, who cares about either side as long as my beloved Kul Tiras is missing in action xP

[Thadius]

We made it! A good night's sleep, here we come!

Ahem. Run over to the east a bit will you? You'll like it, I assure you.

Oh fine, but it better be good.



Now where is that...



Bingo! Mary loot it!

Oh? What have we here?



Some sort of magical ring. I'll just cast Identify and-



This is the best ring ever. I'm never taking it off.

Never said you had to.



Just around this corner, relaxation awaits!

Hold it.

What?

There's a guy up there who WILL kill you or Imoen before he falls if you're not careful. Get over there by those trees, and wait for some guards to show up.



This enough?

Yeah now send her up the stairs, and when the guy starts talking, tell her to come back a ways.

Imoen, you ready to be bait?

So long as the one that springs the trap gets bitten, not me.



And in a matter of seconds...



Hey that was mine! Stupid guards stealing my kills.

Normally this battle is a bit harder than it looks because he casts Mirror Image, and then for a few turns he takes no damage while his illusions slowly dissipate and he blasts you away with Magic Missile. However, somehow, via incredible luck and timing, Mary managed to get her own Magic Missile off that interrupted his Mirror Image from ever getting cast. Considering that both spells take half-a-round to complete, that's some damn fine luck.



It, uh, appears that I'm wanted by the bounty hunter guild. Huh. That's less gold than I have on me. Frankly I'm offended.

He also had some minor spell scrolls that Mary decided to write to her book. Writing spells is more annoying than it sounds like because if you fail, the scroll is destroyed. And in some cases the scrolls for a particular spell are few and far between. I'm not sure if it's luck-based or skill-based, or which skill it might be based on, but it didn't take her too long, and that's what matters.



Another bit of plot dumped on us...



And this is the innkeeper of the Friendly Arm Inn. Also known as one of the most badass dwarves in the world. Along with the best fence in the world. He will take almost anything you have to sell.

Guess this means it's his lucky day then, cause we've got a few very shiny items for him.

Indeed. And if we live long enough, he'll be one of the richer dwarves in the world.



This is where you find Jaheria and Khalid.

Considering they're the only armed and armored people here, I don't know how you couldn't find them.



Well?

I'm going to regret this. Several times. But yes, take them with you.





Say hello to Jaheria. She's not really a cleric, but she'll do. Actually she's better in most ways because not only can she take a hit, she can give one.



Also, say hello to her husband Khalid. He's rough, he's tough, he's not particularly bright, and he's uglier than he really should be. But hey, he's a meatshield.



Jaheria comes with a potion of invisibility. Very handy. Imoen will be getting that.



And Khalid comes with everything metal he could lay his hands on. Which means that for now...



He'll be taking point. Jaheria stands behind him, and Imoen-

Wait where is Imoen going?

She said she wanted to do some 'shopping' and that she'd be back soon.

A few minutes later...

Ah, there you are. How was it?





Met a few dwarves that had to-do lists for us.

I se- what are you holding?



I can explain. See, there was this nobleman...



And so you just took them? Ah well. I'll identify them in the morning.

Night passes and upon Mary's awakening...





I feel silly. Let us never talk of these things again. Maybe someone somewhere wants them.

Seconded.

Oy, pick up a copy of 'The history of the Fateful Coin' while you're here. You'll need it later.

Check. How else shall I clutter my inventory?

Eh, you're good for now. But you want to run to Nashkel. There's someone you should meet there.

That's quite a ways away. How about we stop in Beregost first?

Agreed. Just go!



Oh hey, open house. Imoen?

On it.



Okay, I'll tell my friends and we'll go snag your ring.



Sure enough, north of the inn we find Hobgoblins. With Jaheria and Khalid at the front, they die in two, three rounds.



This is Joia's Flamedance ring. There are many like it, but this one is her's. It also looks exactly like every other ring, so you should be careful if you're doing a mass-jewelery dump so that you don't sell it. What do you get for returning it?



A warm fuzzy feeling. Onwards!



On the road to Beregost, we find a bandit. All bandits have bows and swords and can use both with ease. One on his own isn't a big deal, we just have the meatfighters close with him and whack him to death. If there had been two more, we would have had a problem.



We also find a kobold and his friends.



They die as quickly as you'd think. Even in large groups these guys aren't trouble. Much.



Another worthless messenger later...



Welcome to Beregost! If we can help it, we'll spend less waking time here than we did at Candlekeep. For now anyways.

I don't suppose you could find an inn for us?



This looks like a reputable establishment.



You utter ass. You're trying to get me killed.

No, I'm trying to get Jaheria wounded.



One quick battle later, we find it was another bounty hunter and the bounty's gone up.

Still less than I have on me. They aren't serious yet, I don't think.

A quick stay overnight and we're ready to exit via the south gate.



Hey, I hear chittering noises. Might be worthwhile.

NO. Spiders are a little too much right now.

Maybe another time.



On the road south, we run into this guy. Half-man, half-ogre, he's not that much of a problem on his lonesome...



...But when his friend comes along as well, it becomes interesting. Still, they both die and we keep rollin'.



This man quickly sees the light of reason, and before we leave we decide to read the letter one of our friends left us.



He may have been trustworthy but he wasn't very hardy.



More hobgoblins. And while where there's one there's a pack...



...All fall before us when we use superior tactics.



After a pointless noble spouts gibberish at us...



And a mysterious plot dump from nowhere have their way with us...



Welcome to Nashkel! We're going to try to spend very little time here. Our real goal lies to the...

West. Yes, the west. But first we have to head along main str-




Damn guard. Okay now let's go down main st-




Friggin' mayor.



I'm a woman! Stupid civic servant.



Yes yes yes! We'll look at his stats in a minute. For now, send Jaheria over the bridge. We need a...distraction.

Can do! Hey, Jaheria, go cross that bridge for no reason.

I see no reason why not.



That wasn't the reason...



There we go. Meet Noober. The most annoying NPC ever. No really. I sent Jaheria to be pestered by him for a reason...



Namely so that Imoen wouldn't be pestered while she looted this hollow dead tree. Anyways, now let's look at the new guy.



Say hello to Minsc. Despite what it says there, he's not a ranger. No, he's the best meatshield ever. He's also the best pack mule ever. And he's about as intelligent as a brick. Wait, that's doing bricks a disservice. But how'd he get that armor class of 0, you may ask?



He comes with literally nothing but his sword and his pet. So what's that he wearing?



Only what Imoen looted from the tree. Oh, wait, you'd like to look at his pet? Sure.



And if you try to take it?



Nothing can properly capture the cute little squeaking noise, though. I could sit here for hours clicking on the little guy. Anyway, time for some rest. We'll need it.



Bring it! We've got a meatshield!

Okay now something very odd happened during this fight. The assassin was a warrior cleric and she blasted Jaheria into a state of confusion. We killed her easy enough and looted the body, but Jaheria was still trippin'. So everyone else fled, and when Jaheria came to...



Yeah we're not allowed back there anymore.

I thought he was a kobold, I swear!

So we left for the wilds, hoping to find somewhere safe to make camp on our quest for the Gnoll stronghold.



This guy disagreed with us, and was promptly killed. We're saving his pelt for later.

It would make an excellent sash!

Random encounters are, you guessed it, random. I think every time you go from one area to another, a die is rolled behind the scenes, and if it lands on an unfavorable outcome, things like this happen. The further you go, the more die are rolled. We've actually been lucky to not get one until now.

Anyway with the horrible wolf of winter dead, we found a somewhat safe place to make camp.





Doing so brought on a freaky dream sequence...



And now Mary can cast a minor healing spell in half a round. Useful if not for the fact that she should never need to cast it in the first place.

I knew I should have never answered your questions on magic theory, child.

The power of the gods in the palm of my hands...



The closer we got to the fort, the more Gnolls showed up...



And not all of them were hostile. (I find it utterly hilarious this guy is talking to MINSC about the woman in the fort. Like he doesn't already know.)



Welcome to Level 1 party hell. We're doing this quick and dirty, only killing a few things if we can't avoid it.



We could have avoided this, but didn't. Why?



Hell yes. With these on Mary's AC just went from 10 to 6. Plus she now has 4 max stats.

More power! Ahahahahahem. Yes, these suit me well.



Charging boldly on, we got to here and Imoen eventually went in first to determine if the fight would be hard.



It wasn't. And now we've a full party. Of course, the real question is always, can we get out again?



Say hello to Dynaheir. She's actually a worse mage than Mary is.



She comes with nothing, not even a memorized spell. The question is, can we get her out of the fort and to the Friendly Arm Inn so that we can change that?



Oh sure, since I'm doing it for an LP, my first run was flawless. Well the random encounters could always kill us, right?



...I'm sorry, but that was just too improbable for me.



Okay people, here's our map as it stands. (I apologize for the black bar, I really do.) We could do a variety of things.

1) Go ogre-slaying for the guy who wants his belt back.
2) Go spider-slaying for the lady who wants her house back.
3) Explore an area that we haven't previously looted for all it's worth.
4) Main quest CLOSED UNTIL WE ARE HIGHER LEVEL.

What will it be?

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Go exploring. We ain't no ones' errand boys/girls/hamsters.

[RobinStarwing]

I say Spider-slaying. They aren't as bad as one thinks and besides, you team could use the gold and experience. Sooner out of Level 1, the better!

Oh and yeah, keep up the good work Mary! Make sure Minsc gets his daily dose of Justice-dealing.

[Great Cartoonist]

I like how in Baldur's Gate and its sequel you can easily get some very powerful items at early points in the game if you know where to look.

Also, Minsc is the best character in the series. Also, his racial enemy changes to vampires in the sequel for some reason. And his alignment gets changed to a more fitting Chaotic Good.

Also also, farm them Ankhegs for loot and experience!

[Flarecobra]

I vote 1.

[Wigmund]

The ogre has committed the sin of being a belt fetishist outside of a Final Fantasy game, it must die. Horribly.

[RobinStarwing]

Originally Posted by Wigmund

The ogre has committed the sin of being a belt fetishist outside of a Final Fantasy game, it must die. Horribly.

Okay, I need to ask...

WHAT? *needs translation*

[Loyal]

Square-Enix's go-to guy for character designs has a tendency to put in a lot of zippers and belts in places that they have no place being. As such there's a bit of a memetic stigma regarding belts and zippers on a character's costume, particularly on this forum and doubly so when a new Squeenix game is announced.

Nobody said it was funny, but there's your translation.

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

I vote we loot and pillage! For the glory of the miniature giant space hamster.