We went around looking for trouble, quite literally.
3 carrion crawlers. Our skeleton bulls were immune to their paralyzing venom.
3 ghouls? Our skeleton bulls are immune to their paralysing touch.
4 more Dire wolves, meh.
Where are the sirines! I was promised beautiful, scantily-clad naked women! Where are they?
4 more ogrillions, meh.
...and 3 sirines! They turned invisible as their first move, which was countered by Neera casting Detect Invisibility. That netted us 15 Arrows of Biting and 3 pearls.
...eh? There were only three sirines in the whole area?
Right, I must be confusing the number of sirines here with the sirines a the lighthouse.
---
Mad Arcand is a gnome who had a quest for us. ...no, that's not right. A request for us. Yes. "I like you, yes I do (wertle, wertle, wertle, wooo...) and I know of a way to make you like me too (wertle, wertle, wertle-wooooo...). Down by the ocean, down by the sea, there's a pirate ship waiting for you and for me. Bring me what's in it, but don't ever wear it, or sure enough, soon enough, you'll wertle too..."
That last bit was a hint that the item in question was cursed, by the way.
Down by the ocean, down by the sea we went. There was indeed a ship, wrecked against the shore. The shipwreck in question wasn't even guarded. Why didn't the gnome just get it himself?
"Nope, no traps," Imoen confirmed. "Don't know why he couldn't get it himself either."
The shipwreck was thoroughly cleaned of loot, save for a single unidentified ring. Obviously magical.
"What a beautiful ring! Where'er did you get it? (Most likely quite near where exactly I put it...) Wertle, oh wertle, oh dear wertle-wooo... wertle, oh wertle, oh woo... Oh, I know what you're thinking of Mad Arcand the Stinking who takes what you give him and gives not in return. So here, take this bottle, but please don't unstopple or (wertle, poor wertle), you'll surely get burned."
In exchange for the cursed ring, Mad Arkand gave me an Oil of Fiery Burning. Can never have enough of these!
Was this some sort of test of my honesty? If I proved dishonest and kept the magical ring for myself, I'd end up cursed?
No, really, what was the point of that little sojourn to the shipwreck? Game devs, I have questions.
---
We stopped by Nashkel before moving northwest towards the area where Bjornin reported the half-ogres to be. South-southwest of Beregost, this time for sure!
The first thing we came upon was not in fact a half-ogre. Rather, it was a lone, wounded hobgoblin. "You there! I need some money and some healing! If you know what's good for you, you'll give it to me!"
I looked at the hobgoblin, looked around for an ambush. I didn't really remember this encounter, to be honest. It didn't seem like there were enemies in wait? I looked to the rest, who were also looking around for signs of danger but didn't find any. Considering the wounds on this hobgoblin, I doubted he had allies in wait.
"You realize we outnumber you, right? Even if you weren't hurt, you wouldn't stand a chance against us."
In spite of his situation, the hobgoblin was full of bravado. "I'm a member of the Chill, the mercenary band. If you want all my friends breathing down your neck, then just keep pissing me off."
We all broke out into laughter. I, Branwen, Khalid and Jaheira surrounded the hobgoblin even while we laughed of his threats.
"What, what's so funny?" the hobgoblin looked at us all, sweating profusely.
"It's just that we killed Ardenor Crush some time ago right in the camp where both the Chill and the Black Talons were stationed," I said, grinning. " Taurgosz Khosann is dead too, by the way. There's no where for you to return to."
Realising his fate, the lone, wonded hobgoblin started to quake. "Wait! Hey, I'm sorry. Just don't kill me, please. I'll tell you all about the Chill!" the hobgoblin pleaded frantically.
"Jaheira, what do you think?"
"At this point, we don't need this hobgoblin's intel. I'd much rather remove another threat to the realms," Jaheira said with a cruel smile across her lips.
Turns out the hobgoblin was carrying 115 gold! What did he even need our money for when he had this much? I swear, some people don't know when to quit while they're ahead.
---
That wasn't the only person who'd try to rob us though.
"Stop where you are! If you throw down your weapons and cooperate, then no one will be hurt. If you don't, then you'll all die. A very simple decision on your part."
This was Teyngan, Jemby and Zekar. Teyngan was a level 6 fighter, Jemby a level 5 mage, Zekar a level 3 hobgoblin elite with poisoned arrows.
I cocked my head to the side. "You do realize we outnumber you guys two to one, right? Given the circumstances, it is you who should throw down your weapons."
"Stupid, STUPID!" Tenygan shouted, "Now you die!"
No, we didn't. We took their scalps, Mage Robe of Fire Resistance, a Potion of Healing and mage scrolls of Resist Fear, Chromatic Orb and Larloch's Minor Drain.
To be fair to Teyngan, the three could have been a threat to a lower-level party. As we were over-leveled compared to them I couldn't really be bothered to use complicated tactics.
---
Speaking of over-leveled heroes, we were about to meet one ourselves.
"All I wish is to continue my journey! Friends await, while I must suffer this tiresome dance?! Does the mere mention of Drizzt attract your ilk?!" came a voice, somewhere ahead of us.
Drizzt Do'Urden is THE most popular hero in the Forgotten Realms. At least he was at some point, judging from the sheer number of books he features in. He was meant to be a secondary hero to Wulfgar in the book The Crystal Shard, but the dark elf outright eclipsed Wulfgar's popularity and became the main hero and leader of the Companions of the Hall. Consider: He's a brooding dark elf of tragic background who wields dual scimitars. Any aura-farmer worth their salt knows that's a killer combination!
We rushed towards the voice, and found the dark elf dancing through a large pack of gnolls.
"You there!" Drizzt said pointing to us. "Will you help a stranger in need? I am beset by gnolls!"
He was indeed surrounded by no less than a dozen gnolls. And yet…
"We're happy to help, but do you really need it?" I shouted even as the battle was joined.
"Need is a strong word," he shouted back through the clamor of steel, his scimitar biting through flesh, "Your aid is welcomed as these gnolls are tiresome. I'll be glad to be done with them!"
Three gnolls fell even before Imoen completed her Sleep spell. Her spell put 8 of them asleep, leaving one lonely gnoll to deal with. That was pretty much that.
Drizzt sheathed his scimitars and nodded in appreciation once we had dispatched the sleeping gnolls. "Very effective. And well met. I am Drizzt Do'Urden, and I appreciate your assistance. It is a long enough trip to the Icewind Dale, even without these constant interruptions. I do not recall banditry being of such epidemic proportions in this area. How long has this been so?"
"Well, we've dealt a great blow to them lately actually. But the raids will never truly cease until the main culprit is stopped. We could definitely use a hand in dealing with them!" I said.
"Would that it were my only battle to fight, but I doubt that, upon thinking carefully you would truly want my help. Many a powerful creature view me as enemy. Would you truly wish to cross a balor's gaze? Your path is yours alone to follow."
In other words, we were not going to get an overpowered hero on our side who would trivialise every encounter in the game. The tribulations facing the Sword Coast was too trivial for a hero of Drizzt's stature.
But damn did it feel awful for a hero to refuse to step in! "You really can't help us at all? Even though the Sword Coast is in such peril?" I pleaded.
"Sonny, let it go. He is needed elsewhere," Jaheira said while placing a hand on my shoulder. Her voice was not stern, more like trying to let me down gently.
"I must admit it feels wrong to leave while the Sword Coast is in such a state," Drizzt said. His eyes surveyed the gnolls we had dispatched. "And yet, I get the feeling that I will be leaving the Sword Coast in good hands. Just tread carefully, and remember that your sword is secondary to your mind. Your opponents may have a harder time matching your wit than your blade."
My wits rather than my blade? Huh. It felt like he was reading me like a book. "Fine, go to your friends. We'll handle things here. But in case things go badly, do check on our part of the world when you're done with whatever is troubling Icewind Dale."
He nodded. "That I shall. It has been a pleasure..."
"Sonny."
"Sonny! I expect to hear great things of you in the future. Until then, good luck," Drizzt said, and bid us farewell.
---
No, I wasn't going to kill him for his phat loot! I am perfectly aware that killing Drizzt is something players do for sport in the original game. But assuming I could somehow convince my party to help me kill him, I didn't really need his items (two admittedly fabulous scimitars and his Mithril Chain Mail +4). Killing such a legendary force for good would have huge repercussions on the world I was living in. To say nothing of the consequences I may suffer from Drizzt's many powerful allies in the future. There are just some things that are too foolish to do in person compared to in the game.
---
If I had wanted to kill Drizzt, theoretically speaking, there are a LOT of cheesy strategies people have developed over the years including an exploit I've avoided called 'fake talking'. The fake talking exploit was unlikely to work for me since it made no sense whatsoever in person, so I would have had to consider beating him fairly. Drizzt has AC-16, Thac0 of -5 and -3 (he dual wields scimitars), APR 5, and 98 magic resistance. Any magic is out of the question unless it ignores magic resistance or you have a pure druid like Faldorn cast Magic Resistance on him to reduce it to about 20% or so. In that case Drizzt can then be hit with Greater Malison, Chant, Doom, and finally Hold Person or a Wand of Paralysis.
The other strategy is to simply outrun him (using Boots of Speed) and pelt him with arrows until he falls over dead. Boring, but effective. Be sure to place as many Thac0 bonuses on the archer as possible (such as Potion of Heroism, Potion of Mind Focusing, Dead Shot Bow, Helm of Balduran, Bracer of Archery, Arrows of Piercing, Bless, Chant, and Improved Invisibility)
Lastly, our best thief can set up to seven snares on the map by resting repeatedly. That should be JUST about enough, maybe.
---
We walked around here and there until we finally, FINALLY found a pack of four half-ogres. These chumps really were not a threat to us at this point, and we put them to the blade rather than to our wits. They didn't need that special consideration. Sorry, Drizzt.
"Is that them? Did we finally, FINALLY get the right ones?"
"Well, it is a group of half-ogres to the south-south west," Jaheira said.
"Maybe we need to take cut off their head and to bring them to Bjornin. Just to make sure he can identify-"
"Alright, that's enough murder and gore for today. Come on, Sonny. We're moving on."
"But the heads! Just give me a-"
"Nope, we're all going. March!"