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Back in the woods around Khorinis, as apprentice of Bosper, I've gone out hunting wargs (and orc warriors, too). Brilliant how well that works meanwhile. A group of three wargs? Heck what do I care? Into the fray as if they were wolves. Shadowbeasts have become really squishy.
And for the first time I've decided to use an Ice Block spell. In that crypt behind Onar's farm. I guess going in there so early is foolish. Lots of hit and run against all those skeletons, and then another bunch plus their shadow lord Inubis. What a nightmare!
I'm glad I've not given up in the same way I've done it with Morrowind. More on the valley of mines later. Done quite a lot there already.
The Valley of Mines is awesome! Can it get any better? A really good game so far.
As I had been down in the valley before joining the Ring of Water and doing Jharkendar, I've been mistaken about how to reach the castle. The hint about which path to take has been vague, and dragon snappers and orcs have driven me off.
This time, however, I've returned as an assassin capable of dealing with such enemies. Instead of returning to the location I've explored before, I went into the opposite direction and spent some hours clearing the area. Went much too far, realized that late, and then approached the castle from the false direction. So close and still completely wrong. It would have been a nice option to let me shout something to the guards/knights and get instructions from them. All the way back, some more optional kills for tons of XP, and suddenly level 28 has been reached, and as expected, returning from the valley starts chapter 3.
About the Claw of Beliar, I'll give it a try. -50 HP for the first upgrade is a lot, but wearing items that give fire protection and a HP bonus could be more beneficial than going for maxium STR.
In either case, in my first early attempt, dragon snappers were lurking near the river, drinking water, and unlike orcs they can swim and attacked me. That forced me to leave the river and explore the area a bit and come to the conclusion that it might be the wrong direction or a suicide mission. Not only did I have to kill packs of wolves, bloodflies, lurkers and scavengers, I've also noticed wargs and orcs between me and what looked like a broken siege tower. Uncertain whether it was the ramp. Running would have been an option, but I didn't want to be trapped inside the castle with all the orcs outside and no escape plan. So, when I returned into the valley after completing the expansion, I was more courageous, explored more carefully, even found a resting place, and eliminated enemies in strategic locations. It has taken more time, but in the end I was certain that I had to return to that place I had been to before. It was the ramp actually.
Been chasing at night the renegade novice of the fire mages, and instead of going to a resting place, I took that quest serious and went on and on in deep darkness (without using a torch or other light source) until the crack of dawn. Suddenly I almost bumped into the black troll. When I approached him more cautiously, I discovered how slowly he turns while I try to get into his back and stay there, swinging my two-hander. No big deal anymore. Easy 1000 XP. What a surprise! And it worked also for that other 500 XP mountain troll in Jharkendar, albeit with a bit more risk because of the surroundings.
The Claw of Beliar might be more interesting to a hero with less STR, who invests more plants into brewing Elixir of Life potions for higher base HP. No STR requirement to wield the weapon, and no dependency on STR for the extra damage either.
Like you, I took advantage of the troll's slow turning ability.
I don't think Raoul will vote for you to become a mercenary no matter what you do. He has a bad attitude and deserves whatever comes his way.
A little bit of a shock when running into an ancient bug where Xardaz only offers "END" as talk option, and nothing gives a hint on how to get him to travel to the Circle of the Sun. The log doesn't mention anything either. Something Xardaz had pointed out earlier is important, but that is not obvious at all when working on this quest. One needs to come to him with better equipment, which in my case meant I had to become a Paladin and get the better armor before talking to Xardaz again. Glad I could solve that.
The meta-gaming pressure is still high.
I'm two strength points short of using the dragon slicer two-hander. Had I known that earlier, I would have spent a few more points on my base STR very early, but to spend 10 LP for it now, I dunno. And I've reached 100% with the two-handed weapons skill. Only while playing the game one learns how far the one-handed skill advances automatically (but would it be different if I had also spent LP on that skill?). So with automatic advancement and stone tablets on top of that, the one-handed skill has reached a whopping 64% (could still buy the book for +5%).
Instead of the dragon slicer, I'm giving the magical paladin weapon a try and hopefully will be able to increase STR with some more permanent bonuses.
What else? I'm saving LP without any idea which road to take as a Paladin. More mana for runes? Or crossbow? Uncertain how much I would need to invest into DEX and the crossbow skill to be usable. With meta-gaming knowledge I could also pray a bit more at the shrines of Innos and get the other bonuses, which are still available.
The swamp dragon was sort of a joke like Raven. Long talk, and afterwards such a short fight, I couldn't even pay attention to Cipher and Rod and whether they have been helpful or just a bit of distraction for the dragon. A few swings and he was done for 3000 XP. I guess the other dragons will be much more dangerous.
In my case it would have been an advantage to invest more LP into base STR. Have used a potion from Oric to get another +3 so now I can equip the dragon slicer.
There's a hint about crossbows in the NOTR addon manual. It seems I could put some LP into only the crossbow skill and neglect DEX as it only influences the extra damage. How helpful a crossbow would have been against swampgas drones, for example, no idea.
All those hunting skills still make me wonder, too. As much as I want to avoid walkthroughs and guides, some in-game mentoring would be helpful. As a paladin, those skills seems to be useless except if I want to make more money.
Fire dragon (5000 XP) and stone dragon (3000 XP) have been defeated. The former caused me major problems. The latter had no chance at all.
NPC companion AI is a pain. Either it's just Gorn and he is too weak, or the AI is too stupid. Why would he engage 3-4 lizard men in close combat? They do lots of damage if you let them hit you, but two well-timed swings, and they're finished. I've saved Gorn's a**, and at the end he claims the mission was a "child's play". What?!