New to the game and I am stuck (spoilers)

by **Beyonder1610** » Sat Aug 29, 2009 10:58 pm

Played the demo of this game for about 10 minutes and bought it right afterwards.

Been playing it for many hours since. I am now in the Orc stockade and I am having great difficulty getting any further.
I have killed all the orcs up until the dragon which is my problem. How am I supposed to take him out? I let the officer live and got the dragon killing arrows, but
they sure dont help me. My two knights arent exactly skilled archers and miss all the time. The dragons acid attack then kill my party.

I am level 6. I have 2 knights, 1 cleric and 1 wizard. Finally starting to feel somewhat powerful and then this big dragon comes along and just kills the pleasure.

Could any of you fine folks help me out a little?

by **NFLed** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 3:20 am

I had to reload several times before the arrows did the trick. I used True Strike on my mage and then shot an arrow and it's a matter of luck whether it works or not; if True Strike is not a known spell then just use both fighters and they should hit around 50% of the time, you get a free surprise round in this battle which makes a big difference.

I am stuck in a later part of the Orc Fortress. My party tries to exit at the end and is surprised by a lot of tough enemies who web, sound burst, etc. mostly disabling my party before I can do anything. There is no way that I would win this battle no matter how many times I try, I think. My party is 8th level. I have not cleaned out the Orc Fortress (and I have not killed the boss monster) because that would further reduce my hit points (which aren't bad as I had my characters eat the stew) and spells (which are very low since there is no campfire from what I can tell). Please give me a pointer on how I can proceed, it's a fun game but not if I can't continue.

Thank you in advance.

by **smallfry** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 6:13 am

Yep, I'm extremely frustrated with the orc stockade. This is my second party trying to get past this stupid area. I can't kill Kessa and I can't leave through the stairs because of all the gnoll mages. I'm completely out of spells. This is really frustrating!

As a tip, get crafting skills. My first party had none, and we couldn't get much past the dragon. Now we have some, but my cleric doesn't have craft wand or scroll which is a HUGE mistake, I don't know why I didn't get either of those. And get wands of healing when you see them at shops.

It's extremely annoying that you can't buff up before fights. Like, for the Kessa battle, I can plainly hear her through the door and it makes no sense to barge in without casting buffs beforehand.

by **Fezzik** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 6:56 am

There is a campfire that will form in the room with the head slaver on the ground floor of the orc fortress. If you kill the head slaver and his men, you will get the camp fire.

by **NFLed** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 8:06 am

Thank you, that was the help I needed. I focused on that fight and eventually was successful.

by **Beyonder1610** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 8:50 am

Thanks for replying guys. I wish there was a fireplace before the dragon. My cleric is out of spells completely. My wizard do not have true strike. I only have 3 of those dragon killing arrows. So I should split those between my 2 knights and just hope for the best? I foresee alot of reloading.. hehe.

I do have crafting skills though. Both my cleric and wizard has enchant wand luckily. I enchanted a healing wand with lvl2 of the healing spell. I would be dead without it!

Yesterday when I tried to kill the dragon with the arrows I went back to an earlier savegame and killed the officer and all his soldiers instead. Got good equipment out of it, but then you are kind of f*cked when it comes to the mages and lets not forget our little pet dragon.. I had to reload.

Anyways, I shall try to kill of the dragon with my 2 knights. None of them have proficiency in longbow though. Is that a bad thing?

On another note, I do love this game. I just hope I can get past this here dragon..

by **screeg** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 3:32 pm

I never used dragon killing arrows. I don't like the mechanic, which as you all mentioned is basically a bunch of reloading and hoping to get lucky.

I always started out by Silencing him so he wouldn't cast spells (now I'm unsure whether he even does cast spells

), Entangle, and trying to flank so that he could only Breath Attack at most two units at a time. I think he holds off on the acid if he can't get a bunch of targets. I also rested in the tower before getting trapped. Just look at all your Scribe Scroll options and I think you'll puzzle something out.

And post back when you defeat him!

An aside on campfires: I think they're perfectly placed. Being able to rest at will and face every fight fresh-faced and powered up completely negates the challenge of the game. BS has provided a compromise with freely available scribing and crafting, and with not having to pre-pick your wizard spells, and I hope he'll continue with this format in future. I suppose he could include optional "extra" campfires and call it Difficulty: NWN, but it would be counter to the entire philosophy behind the game, and I doubt it would bring in many more players anyway.

by **VentilatorOfDoom** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 3:36 pm

Dragon Slaying arrows are really useless, iirc arrows have DC 23, most Dragons have even a higher Fort save than this. You only succeed on a roll of 1. Meh. Humanoid / Monstrous Humanoid / Animal / Construct (golems!) work way better.

by **Beyonder1610** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 5:46 pm

Well I killed the dragon! I actually managed to do it on the 3rd reload and first arrow. 10.000dmg! Instakill.
That was just awesome.

I agree with the comment above about the fireplace placement. As it is now it is challenging and a joy to play. I hate too easy games (Fallout 3 for instance..). I have played this game more the past days than I have any other game. It is very addictive.

My wife and kid are sick so havent been able to play much today, but at least the dragon is dead and I can move on.

by **Beyonder1610** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 8:19 pm

Well now Ive killed everyone except the sorceress and man is she hard!
Anyone have a good suggestion as to what scroll to use on her? My wizard and cleric have no spells left. Ive tried fireballing her and after a few tries her health has gone down to the low 20s. But then all the orcs surround me and kill me off..

Also there was an exit in the east, but outside I was ambushed by a bunch of gnoll mages of sorts. They whacked me good.
Is that route worth trying to take? If I make it I could heal and go back to kill the sorceress then I guess.