Reaching Naskel at night, we didn't want to spend long outside. Heading to the inn brought it's own problems though, with yet another Assassin waiting for us. When will they learn?

With her dealt with (and no one batting an eyelid) we turned in for the night.
/1

Talan was plagued by bad dreams, I'm not sure if this is a warning or something more. The next morning though, I spotted that he seems to have learnt a new spell. This could be handy in a pinch.

Now, on to sell our loot from the Bandits and Hobgoblins. /2

Outside we met Berrun, Jaheria and Khalid's 'contact'. Once again I got the impression the game was trying to steer me in a particular direction.

Screw that for a laugh. Nearby was Minsc - he seems hilarious & is melee based, better for a balanced party. I swapped out Kivan. /3

With nothing better to do I decided to help Minsc with his quest. Unfortunately we were ambushed again, but I don't see anythi...Oh Bugger.

Actually he wasn't too bad, but continuing on took us into the path of a couple of Xvarts. Sorry, did I say a couple? I meant shitloads. /4

Seems we've stumbled into a village of them. Since they're always hostile, I didn't have much of a choice but to wipe them out. I felt a bit bad by the end, especially when Ursa attacked as well. It was enough to finally level up Neera though! /5

Just north we found a cave with a Cave Bear. Vanquishing it gave us a Bracers of Defense which I ended up putting on Talan. Heading West we found a nonhostile Gnoll...until we told him we wouldn't pay for passage. He disagreed with our decision. /6

South we found a Dryad and helped her protect the Oak...not sure we made the right call. Still, we obtained a Destroyer of the Hills which increases Strength. I equipped it to Jaheira.

An interesting looking waterfall unfortunately only contained a dead cat. Poor thing! /7

North of there we found the White Wolf the shopkeeper in Nashkel mentioned. He was tough, but we won. The next West saw a bridge into the Gnoll stronghold, and a threat.

We don't respond well to threats. Fighting our way through was going to be tough, however. /8

I could really do with some sort of spell tome for Neera, something to hold all these loose pages.

We won! Khalid levelled up in the process, and I increased his long sword proficiency to 3. He's a badass with one of those now. /9

Found Dynaheir! Unfortunately we had two choices - she comes with us and I lose a party member, or I say goodbye to Minsc as well.

I like my party at the moment, so I sadly had to say goodbye. If a slot opens up for both though, I'd very much like to find them again. /10

We cleared an Xvart cave - along with a nasty Carrion Crawler - and found some decent loot. I used it on Talan to increase his stats a bit.

Heading back to Nashkel we sold the White Wolf pelt for a decent profit. /11

Outside we met Rasaad and decided to recruit him as we had a free spot. He's a Monk, so close range. Could be an interesting class to play with.

Needing somewhere for potion storage we returned to High Hedge and bought the Potion Case. A good investment I think. /12

Exploring East both Talan and Jaheira levelled up. Soon after Neera's quest came into play, and I decided to help. And play around with her wild magic much, I haven't so far.

So we continued East for now. /13

Think this is where we're headed. Nearby we found an odd man who became much more lucid when...pressed. I wasn't quite sure what to make of him.

Dangerous lands lie ahead though, and nearby we found some more dangerous bandits... /14

We survived and found a cave to rest in for the night. Unfortunately we needed to deal with a really tough Ettercap first - we eventually drew him outside to win after dodging poison and nasty traps. This was enough to level up Imoen. /15

Some dangerous Ogres forced us to use hit and run tactics, and we barely survived. We did get a new sword for Khalid though!

Nearby was a Dread Wolf (they're like Wolves, only...Dread), and helped a farmer clear his land of Xvarts. /16

Further East some Ogres levelled up Neera, then a further group of them almost killed us. We won - just - but limped to the cave for a day to heal before reaching Firewine Bridge.

Here Poe played a jaunty tune, so we tossed a coin to the Witch...er...Bard as we passed. /17

Just north of the bridge we found an interesting looking Dungeon, filled with the standard fair of traps and Kobolds. Some poor encounters left us pretty injured however, so we beat a retreat for now.

In my last image you can see me roleplaying...as myself. Very Buffyspeak. /18

You can see in the first image how injured we were. At our destination we found a talking Squirrel...and a very snarky Neera. Also a friend Goblin, who offered to lead us to his King. /19

Unfortunately the King's guards were...less keen on the arrangement, so we had to take care of them. We also found a body - which we respectfully buried, after pillaging the ring... - and a nice cache of loot, including a Wand of Fear!

Rogdok the King was also unhappy with the arrangement. He didn't last long enough to complain too much about it, and just behind him we found a locked door leading us to Adoy. Turns out he'd manage to convince the Goblins he was a God. Something related to Pease Pudding... /21

Unfortunately we were rudely interruped by Ekandor again (the git). Not only is he rude, but racist to boot!

This battle wiped us a few times, until I got it right. Turns out the Oil of Speed we had is not really an Oil of Speed after all, and kept confusing whoever took it. /22

Eventually I won by stashing Neera outside the room (she was always the first to fall) and ganking Ekandor and his wizard friend first. It still took our Potions of Defense, Invulnerability, Strength and Oil of Speed - not to mention most of our healing potions - to win. /23

Adoy bequeathed some sort of belt to Neera, then disappeared. Neera wasn't too happy at coming all this way for almost nothing. She seems to forget this is the second time we saved her life...

Not to mention having to blow most of our best potions on this one encounter. /24

(As a side note, I thought Adoy would help with this battle. Instead he accidentally turned himself into a rabbit. Sigh. We have to do EVERYTHING ourselves...) /25

This whole sorry affair left us pretty injured, but did give Rasaad a lvl up. Returning back through the camp we met Magreb, partner of Rilsa who we buried in the cave. We put his mind at ease and returned her ring, then returned to Nashkel to recooperate. /26

Neera's getting chattier, which is nice. We used the rest to identify some items, getting some new armour for Talan, a new Shortbow for Imoen and the belt for Neera.

Once we were healed, we headed off towards the Carnival to see what we could find. /27

Some git thieved us for 100GP! Have to keep my eyes open for him...

We found a number of merchants, as well as someone offering a Stone to Flesh scroll (for 500GP!). I could get one elsewhere for 225GP, so I...'yoinked' it from him, then used it on the statue nearby. /28

This turned out to be a Priest/Fighter named Branwen. She joined us, and I begrudgingly let Rasaad go to free a slot. With some Splint Mail, a Shield and a Warhammer she seems pretty strong, so we went to take on some nearby Kobolds. /29

Unfortunately Neera's Magic Missile became Fear, which scared Jaheira and Khalid for most of the combat and almost got Jaheria ganked. Whoops! Still, we all survived.

We headed back to Nashkel to rest again, and it seems Neera's taking a liking to me. Oh Talan, you sly dog! /30

I updated Branwen's spells, and after that had a random conversation between Jaheira and Khalid. Seems Neera's not the only one with a crush. Looking forward to seeing how this develops! /31

Nearby we came across Drizzt Do'urden (the name rings a bell). We helped him, but he scarcely needed it-wiping the floor with them all by his lonesome! I'll look him up later if I have a free party spot.

Clearing the half-ogres, we returned to Bjornin for our reward. /32

Feeling stronger, we returned to the Firewine Dungeon, picking up a number of Fire Arrows+1 for Imoen, defeating an Undead Knight (and reclaiming his ancient armour) then turning it over to some Ghost Knights to release them from their curse. /33

Continuing on we found the exit to the Dungeon, finding a healer and a small, curious village. Exploring, we found the house of a halfling called Jenkal, who was...less than friendly. In fact, he attacked us!

We put him down, and found a secret passage behind his bookcase. /34

Within we found an Ogre mage, some more Kobolds and another powerful mage. We survived, but barely. Khalid leveled up, however, and we completed a quest from Gandolar we knew nothing of. Score! /35

We've got a lot of unidentified items as well, at the moment only one person has an identify spell.

Returning to Nashkel we were stopped by a number of bandits. They prepared to attack, but before they had the chance half their numbers were wiped by an unknown assailant. /36

Turns out the enemy of my enemy and all that. He was scorned by this group once before, and we happily lent a hand to wiping the rest of the scum from the face of the world. /37

He knew Talan's name, but although he's undoubtedly strong once again we had no space left in the party, so we bid him farewell. If we need him we know where he'll be, for now at least.

Now we're heading to the Naskel Mines, to see if we can't solve the Iron Crisis.../38

First up we met with the foreman and managed to get permission to investigate the mines themselves.

Heading inside, some Miners seemed less than coherent. Dink was better & asked us to return a dagger to a friend of his. Bob sounded like a conspiracy theorist. Dragon?! /39

The rest of the first floor passed without incident, aside from the occasional Kobold. We passed Kylee's dagger on, and found a mysterious vial of liquid on a nearby Kobold. Could this have something to do with the weakening iron? /40

I love using Sleep. When it works it can make combat so much easier. Imoen's trap disarming skills came in handy at the end of floor 2.

Finding a new shield (+1) turned out to be useful for Jaheira. We fought some odd grey ooze as well - not difficult, just freaky! /41

The ooze levelled up Branwen, and since she's already using a Flail+1 I gave her a level of profiency in it.

In a nearby cave we found Xan, guarded by Kobolds. We made short work of them and rescued Xan, who went back to Evereska. Round the corner was Mulahey. Who is he? /42

We tricked him, but before long he summoned his minions. It didn't go well, & lead to a TPK. The second attempt I used the ranged on him, & fighters for the minions. Much better!

A letter pointed us to our next clue. We also found a Moonblade, which I should return to Xan. /43

I looted the cave and distributed the goods (including a Topsider's Crutch Ring, Talos's Gift Boots and a Ring of the Sune), then headed out and back to Nashkel, defeating an Ankheg on the way. /44

With that, Chapter 2 is finished! Talan learned another spell overnight after another odd cutscene, this time Cure Light Wounds. Should be handy.

This thread is finished now. I'll move onto a fresh one for Chapter 3 - see you there!