Aegon and troupe saved another so-called ‘witch’ and a petrified priest from their captors at the Nashkel Carnival. They then made some new friends who are seeking adventure. Aegon and his troupe now continue to explore the various performances and entertainments at the festival.

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We come across a man wearing bardic leather armour. He speaks with a foreign accent and is selling armour and weapons that our bards may find useful.

This character is from Song and Silence called Raoul. Unfortunately it seems all his dialogue options are messed up. There will always be some issues with a heavily modified game like this. I manage to get his shop open by talking to him a couple of times.

We enter a nearby tent and find a makeshift gambling hall inside.

Before we can take it all in we are approached by another patron who makes our gold pouches feel a bit lighter.

He rushes out of the tent before we can do anything. I curse our bad luck. There is little we can do about it so instead, I approach one of the vendors.

I’m not sure gambling is my thing. The books back in Candlekeep say the game is always rigged, but some of the old legends tell that some of the great heroes were also master gamblers. I decide to give it a go at one of the tables.

Aegon: Wager 1 gold.

Gamesman: The Lady looks away and you lose! Sorry. Next!

Well, I am not a great hero, I suppose. I talk to one of the other patrons and they have a suggestion.

Lady Tymora doesn’t seem to agree. We agree to leave this gambling den before we lose anymore money.

To the east of the carnival we find a tent where people are… relaxing.

On the outskirts of the carnival we find a small group of yipping, reptilian kobolds.

I open with a Sleep spell.

And then I kill the kobold charging us with a sling bullet.

Two of the kobolds fall asleep.

The one remaining awake hits me with an arrow.

Kieria kills it, but not before it hits me again.

I heal myself and we move on to take out the remaining kobolds.

There turns out to be more than we expected…

We take down the two that are awake.

We take out several more while they sleep. Skeezer summons his Mage Armour as the last two kobolds awaken.

Cat takes out the remaining kobolds.

The kobolds don’t have much in the way of equipment. One of their daggers is coated in poison, although it seems dangerous to use.

What are kobolds doing here? I doubt they want to attend the carnival. We encountered some at the Gnoll Stronghold – is there some relation here?

We find a straggler, and Neera uses her new staff to take it out.

We decide to search the area, and sure enough we find even more kobolds snooping around.

Once again, I attempt to put them to Sleep.

Several fall asleep, so we focus on those that didn’t.

Skeezer is killed by a flaming arrow.

Stupid. I knew this would happen if I didn’t hold him back.

Cat gets separated trying to get to the commando with the flaming arrows.

I save Cat from the commando.

The sleeping kobolds awaken and one of them thrusts a blade through Kieria.

Damn it. I wasn’t expecting them to wake so soon. They normally stay asleep longer.

Branwen is poisoned.

I rush in to heal and Neera uses her wild magic to try and put the kobolds to Sleep.

Branwen drinks an Antidote and continues to attack the kobolds.

I take out one of the guards with a Magic Missile.

We take out the kobolds nearby and move to help Cat who has taken out a few by himself already.

This familiar is actually pretty powerful against low-level enemies.

The last two fall, and we begin to lick our wounds.

Well, this just goes to show how much of a run for your money that even low level enemies can be. It looks like the Nashkel Mines will be pretty difficult for a low level party with these mods installed. It’s also a shame we won’t get to play with the new characters for a while, but there will be enough death that they will eventually be back.

Why are there so many kobolds here? It’s unusual for them to be so close to a human settlement unless they are up to something.

We make our move back towards Nashkel’s temple, but we are ambushed by more kobolds.

These things are everywhere! Neera puts most of them to Sleep again, and we manage to pick them off one by one.

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We return to the temple and spend our remaining gold to raise Kieria and Skeezer.

We leave them here to recover from their wounds. We sell the equipment we got from the kobolds at the store, then go to the Inn to rest.

In the morning I heal Cat and Branwen also heals my wounds.

Before we leave Nashkel again, we return to the store to get helmets for Branwen and Dynaheir. Our recent fights have shown us that we need more protection.

Neera still wants to find Adoy. Before we embark on our search we need some support. We still have friends in Beregost, so we head north, back along the roads swarming with bandits.

We have a promise to keep on our way to Beregost. Ugh the ogre is alone in his cave after losing Jumper, but we have a new pet rabbit for him. We make our way to the cave on the northern part of the Trade Way.

After several hours of travel, we are ambushed by a pair of Half-Ogre bandits.

We ready our Magic Missiles and a Sleep spell.

I put one of the Half-Ogres to Sleep, as Dynaheir and Neera strike the other with their Magic Missiles.

The other chases after Neera, but Dynaheir delivers a fatal blow.

We wake up its friend with some bullets.

Cat rips it open with his claws.

We make it further north and are ambushed again. This time by hobgoblins.

They Sleep well…

Now defenseless, they are quick to die.

We encounter more hobgoblins on the way to Ugh’s cave, but they don’t give us any real trouble.

We find Ugh alone in his cave.

Aegon: Look what we’ve brought you.

Ugh: Oh! A new best friend for Ugh!

I call you… call you… Little-Little-Ugh!

You human has done much good for Ugh, Ugh will never forget! But now Little-Little-Ugh and Ugh must go find herbs. Little-Little-Ugh must become large and strong!

Ugh leaves with his new friend and Branwen takes this opportunity to upset Dynaheir.

Dynaheir: Does thou never stop to consider the morbid images that wrap themselves ’round thy words as venomous serpents ’round a tree branch, Branwen? It troubles mine soul to see thy lack of recognition for the pains thou dost cause with such zest.

Branwen: No… In my homeland, we have no snakes to go aloft to the trees.

Dynaheir: By the Three, battle priestess, pretend not to miss the point! Thou dost understand me well enough.

We return to the road and make our way toward Beregost. After a few more hours on the road, we arrive.

Our first stop is the Jovial Juggler to pick up Garrick.

Aegon: Did you go looking for your Scarlet Lady? What was her nickname, again… “The Butcher”?

Garrick: Oh… her.

That… happened.

Is the weather getting hotter right now? I feel very warm, do you feel warm? But moving on – and not that I’m changing the subject or anything – shall we move on?

Aegon: It would be a pleasure to have your company again. A good bard is always a welcome companion.

Garrick: We are surely at the beginning of an epic tale. Lead on!

Well I guess the Red Lady didn’t really work out. I do notice him tucking a necklace into his backpack as we set off, however.

Our next stop is the Red Sheaf to pick up a gnome and her mechanical squirrel.

Aura: Anyways, what can I do for you?

Aegon: Would you like to join me again, Aura?

Aura: Sure thing! Just give me a sec… Muffy? Hey, where do you think you’re… ha, gotcha! Come on, quit fooling around, it’s time to go!

In her time away, Aura has been tinkering and learning new skills.

I’m not sure why she levelled up here, but I guess I’ll take it…

Travelling the Trade Way again reminded me of a letter I forgot to deliver. I can’t call myself “Aegon, the Deliverer of Letters” if I don’t actually deliver letters, so we go to Mirianne’s home to deliver the news of her husband.

Aura takes a look at the ring. It is a Ring of Protection. I give it to Branwen, since she is more likely to take the lead in combat.

Before we set off to find Adoy’s Enclave we rest at the Jovial Juggler and go to the Thunderhammer Smithy for supplies.

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We don’t need much. Just some more bullets for our slings. Aura takes a look at some of the weapons we still haven’t identified in our Bag of Holding. The axe is a Ghoul Slayer. This should help us fight undead opponents.

The halberds we got from the Gnoll Stronghold both appear to be Suryis’s Blade, although Aura can’t tell which one is the real blade.

I guess this is the problem with mods sometimes. The description implies only one of these blades should exist, but the mods have added more anyway.

To find Adoy’s Enclave, we need to find the Firewine Ruins. Neera suggests starting in the Lonely Peaks, so we leave Beregost toward that direction. We are a couple of hours away when we run into a group of xvarts.

Garrick hits one in the skull with an arrow as I try to put them to Sleep.

Three of them fall to my spell. Cat engages the remaining xvarts as we cover him with our missiles.

We make short work of them.

We loot the bodies and find some gold and a couple of gems before we continue to the Lonely Peaks.

We get to the peaks unhindered after a couple more hours of travel.

It’s not long before we come across an ogre.

Thankfully it is no match for us alone.

Aside from it’s weapon, the ogre has a Scroll of Resist Fear in its belt.

Soon after we meet a messenger on his way to Amn.

The harassment of the trade routes by bandits will have an effect on Amn in the long term. They will be in need of this news.

We are attacked by another ogre, this time a berserker.

We prepare a barrage of Chromatic Orbs and Magic Missiles. Branwen calls on the ability to Cause Moderate Wounds and closes in on the ogre.

Neera’s spell has a wild surge that is followed with Silence.

Branwen is wounded and makes a retreat.

Dynaheir hits the ogre with a barrage of Magic Missiles.

Garrick Commands the ogre to sleep while Branwen heals herself.

Dynaheir finishes it off with another barrage of Missiles.

We continue through the peaks and meet a black bear. Aura screams.

Aegon: What?! What’s wrong?

Aura: B-b-BEAR! I-it’s a bear! Oh, no, it’s spotted us! Eek, let’s run as fast as we can, Aegon!

Aegon: You’re afraid of a *bear*?

Aura: D-don’t joke about it. You have no idea… in Kozakura, they say there are bears in the mountains that eat people. And I’m so tiny, it’d swallow me in one gulp! Oh, curse it, why did I have to say it out loud? Now I’ll be picturing it all day…

Ooh, too late, I think it’s coming at us. Y-you stay in the front, Aegon, I’ll stand behind you. To shoot arrows at it, n-not to run away, of course!

We just took down an ogre berserker and she’s scared of a bear? Some fears really are irrational…

We shouldn’t disturb it though. We make our way around it. I have visions again – a group of hobgoblins and ogres slaughters us all. I tell the others we should leave these peaks for now and make haste for Adoy’s Enclave.

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We travel for nearly a day and find ourselves close to the Firewine Ruins. The wind howls as it blows through the ruins. Sometimes it sounds like a man humming. Garrick is enthralled to be here.

Garrick: Though, I do wander where the river actually *is*…

Hmmm. I guess such things are perhaps not for man to know.

Hey, guys, wait up!

Dynaheir is a little more cautious about the ruins.

Aegon: What magical surge?

Dynaheir: I am surprised that thou dost not know the history of thine own land. Firewine was destroyed by a duel between two powerful mages. Their spells were so potent, and so wild, that they levelled the unfortunate town and turned the river’s course away. Now, naught but rubble remains as a reminder to those of mine profession not to exercise their talents for childish strife. For a foul play can turn into a tragedy.

Garrick listens eagerly to every word Dynaheir says. Neera just looks worried after hearing the bridge’s history. We shouldn’t stay here too long for now. We move south, where Adoy’s Enclave is supposed to be. It isn’t long before we meet some of Dynaheir’s “reminders”.

Branwen attempts to turn the skeletons as the rest of us attack.

She successfully turns them and the skeletons start to flee. We give chase.

We find ourselves flanked by even more skeletons. Branwen continues to Turn Undead as we refocus our attacks.

She fails to turn them, so we destroy them instead.

We have lost the other skeletons by now so we just keep moving south. One of them finds us again, however.

We destroy it with ease. We realise our path is blocked by a cliff. Neera suggests we go back around, but something at the back of my mind tells me that this is a bad idea.

We keep moving forward. A skeleton manages to get a shot at Dynaheir before we can destroy it.

I heal Dynaheir, and Branwen suggests she scout ahead for skeletons. She can distract them and Turn them before they get too close. Dynaheir likes this suggestion.

Branwen: I serve Tempus and no other path gladdens my soul. Once you have chosen the right thing, the rest comes easy. Was that not your case too, Dynaheir?

Dynaheir: ‘Tis not true, Branwen. Once a talent for arts magical is espied in a girl-child of Rashemie, she is made to follow the path of the Hathran. ‘Tis a high station among my people, yet each of my sisters maketh sacrifice to achieve it.

Branwen: Sacrifices? What do you mean?

Dynaheir: Another child grew in my stead with my parents, whilst I was tutored among the Hathran.

Branwen: Your fate was sealed by others and you never protested?

Dynaheir: ‘Twas not an unfortunate decision in my case. I have heard no Hathran speak otherwise. Othlors are wise, and I have no doubt they choose appropriately whom to put through the training.

With this, Branwen moves on ahead of us. She encounters no more skeletons and signals us to follow. We now have a clear route to Adoy’s Enclave.

After some time on the road, we arrive at Adoy’s Enclave and come across a strange sounding squirrel.

Aegon: Am I dreaming, or did that squirrel just caw at us?

Neera: I think that means we’re getting close. Unless that squirrel had a crow for a father, I’d say it was recently polymorphed.

Aegon: Why would he turn a crow into a squirrel? Maybe he hasn’t learned how to control his magic after all.

Neera: Maybe the squirrel was annoying him with questions about his magical talents.

We continue along the path and find makeshift barricades guarded by goblin guards. Flies buzz around it as they challenge us.

Aegon: Actually, we’re here to see Rogdok.

Goblin: Rogdok be inside cave, guarding Bargrivyek from other tribes. I lead you there now, so you not mess up our stuff.

Aegon: Thanks for your help.

He starts to lead the way and we follow him.

As we go through the camp the goblin shows off the bridge they made themselves.

He also shows us the bear they managed to capture.

We pass through some cliffs that are prone to avalanches.

And finally arrive at the cave.

Inside the cave we hear screams. We move inside carefully. When we are spotted by the goblins inside they aren’t happy.

Garrick takes out the first guard.

Branwen is hit, so I prepare a Sleep spell while she heals.

The goblins all fall asleep. They are easy to take care of after that.

There is a cooking pot here with what appears to be a human skill inside.

The alarm has been sounded now. Any more goblins we encounter will almost certainly attack us. We see a bridge crosses over an underground river deeper into the cave. We cross it slowly, weapons at the ready…