Baldur's Gate Act 2 complete for Thomas Lionblood

Thomas Lionblood has now finished Act 2 of Baldur's Gate and destroyed the evil Kethric Thorn. 

The Friendly Necromancer says "Bai Felicia" to the Evil Necromancer

I've been playing gobs of BG3 lately (an unhealthy amount of gob to be honest). Playing a "friendly" non-lethal necromancer has proven challenging, but I always seem to find corpses lying around that I can harvest undead from. Now at level 8 (just turned 9) I'm able to summon some pretty amazing thralls of undead to follow me around.  I can't wait to see what it's like at level 12!

Me and THIS army, that's who!

Along the way I've managed to encounter a few things I've never run into before on my previous 2 play-throughs.  A friend at work told me there was a way I could become "The god of the fish people" in their words.  I was like, "Wait, are you talking about the Sahuagin? Because I ran into those at a temple in Baldur's Gate."  And she was like, "No, I'm talking about the Kuotoa."  And I was like, "WHAT?! There's Kuotoa in this game?" Badda bing badda boom . . . I'm now the god of the fish people.

My first commandment should have been to get rid of the fish smell.

Also while stumbling around in the Underdark looking for Kuotoa, I managed to run into a Spectator and have a horribly difficult fight.  Thank goodness for small damage magic missiles to wake up people from their paralyzation.

Not an easy fight at that level.

I've also swapped out Wyll for Halsin after successfully thwarting a gigantic gang of ne'er-do-wells that was hellbent on destroying his portal to another dimension. I had failed that once before on another playthrough, so I kind of knew what was coming and was able to prepare for it.

Halsin is the best!

Halsin is fun to play with his shapeshifting abilities. He has a wild plethora of wild shapes he can morph into; although, for some reason, those animal shapes really get in the way of the dialog camera sometimes. Just sayin'. 

Anyway, next up will be to try my hand at getting Alfira the bard to come and join up with me in Baldur's Gate since I've never done that before. It's going to be hard to swap out Asterion for Alfira, but a friendly necromancer gotta do what a friendly necromancer gotta do.  Sorry, Asterion.

I'll just have to make sure she's good at unlocking doors and chests I suppose.

With any luck, I'll be done with this play-through in another week and I can move on to Path of Exile 2.  (I'm through Act 1 in PoE2, but BG3 is totally all-consuming right now).

Happy Dueling!

Playing the BG3 Friendly Necromancer Character?

Ok, SORRY. I thought I was done with Baldur’s Gate 3. I really did, but then I remembered I also really would love to make a Friendly Necromancer in the game . . .  and . . . well . . . here we are: Thomas Lionblood from Wizard101 in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Medium Length Blue Hair -- check!  Elfish, Youthful good looks -- check!

Now, there’s really no way for me to actually simulate your standard Wizard101 necromancer in Baldur’s Gate 3. There just isn’t. There are no cards for spells, no power pips, no massive health drain spells, and certainly no traps, charms, and all that jazz – this isn’t a turn-based, family-friendly card game. That all said I CAN do non-lethal knock-out damage.

Non-lethal Necromancy for the win!

For now, I’ll just be going with your standard “Wizard” Necromancer.  I say that because there’s more than one way to skin a Necromancer in D&D. Death Domain clerics are actually going to be one of the latest and greatest things to hit Baldur’s Gate 3 with the release of Patch 8.  You could also do a Warlock with an Undead Patron (Although, I don't think that's a thing in BG3 . . . only D&D?), a Circle of Spores Druid, an Oathbreaker Paladin, or perhaps you could even do a kind of Bard Necro-dancer type build (I do love my bards).  Thomas Lionblood, however, is definitely a wizard from a wizard school type of Friendly Necromancer.

I'll mess around with a Necronomicon and be super friendly about it while I do.

Now I just need to figure out what his supporting cast will be. I’m currently leaning toward a fighter, cleric, and warlock combo to go with my necromancer. It definitely seems balanced, but I’m not sold on it yet. If my summons are good enough, perhaps I don’t really need the fighter and warlock . . . I don’t think I can replace the cleric though . . . I’m addicted to healing spells.

I tried running with a Monk hireling for a bit, but I don't know if I love it

Hmmm . . . if I could complete his major quest in Act 2, then maybe Halsin would be a good alternative or perhaps Alfira?  

Anyway, these are future me problems. For now, I’m just happy to be The Friendly Necromancer playing a friendly necromancer in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Happy Dueling!

February 2025 Zone of the Month -- Gumdrop Forest

Keeping the tradition alive!  Randomness has returned us once again to Karamelle. Truly the universe is telling me I need to move along.

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Name: Gumdrop Forest

Location: Karamelle -- Just run through the main tunnel in Karmelle City and hang a right. You'll see a sign guiding your way to the sweetest tourist spot in Karmelle -- welcome to Gumdrop Forest!

Sweet sights are ahead!

Description: Karamelle's famous gumdrop trees await you and, even more so, the beautiful sights drawing all the tourists to this wonderful land. This area is a smaller hub beyond the main hub of Karamelle City. From here you can head to Sweetzburg, Nibbleheim, and Gobblerton. 
 

A resident of Mooshu takes in the beautiful sights of the Gumdrop Forest and beyond

Cost: 2295 Crowns -- For this price you'll also get Sweetzburg.

Zeke Item: You gotta find those Lemonheads! This one hides in a far corner of the zone just beyond a soda lake.

Sticking out like a sore thumb in this darkened corner of the Gumdrop Forest

Chests: Yes there are, in fact, BOTH wooden chests and silver chests in the Gumdrop Forest! Chests seemed to drop just under 1000 gold each! Enjoy!

A silver chest peaking out from the side of a cave

Secrets:  There are no major secrets for you to find in the Gumdrop Forest, but one of the most charming scenes can be found here: tourists from Polaris and Mooshu enjoying the sights and skipping along. If you don't stop to smell the flowers in Gumdrop Forest, you may just miss it!

Happy Penguins visiting Karamelle.

Reagents: Unfortunately, for being a world so rich in flora, there are no reagents to be found in the Gumdrop Forest. You'll have to go a bit deeper into Sweetzburg if you're looking for Pretzel Sticks and Parchment.

Fishing: No fish can be found in Gumdrop Forest just yet. Maybe someday, though! Just imagine fishing up some Swedish Fish, Caram-eels, or a Tetra-misu. Lots to hope for the future!

A simply delicious world!

Teleporters: There are no teleporters in Gumdrop Forest, but none are really needed. Travel is fairly straightforward here with no major twists and turns.

What's the 4-1-1? When the Grand Nana finds out you are the Scion of Bartleby, she sends you on a quest into the Gumdrop Forest to find the cause of the Sour Gummies. She believes there you will be able to cure a witch's curse that's causing the gummies to sour. 

Once in the Gumdrop Forest, the Gnome Ranger will ask you to help fend off the hungry stomachs of the gobblers invading from Gobblerton and then send you on to Sweetzburg to talk with the factory workers there about the sour gummy situation.

Just look at those candy cane six-shooters!

Who's that Boss? While the Hangriest Gobbler is a great boss for farming spellements, this zone's most interesting boss has to go to the Tree Mugger. He's got a really interesting cheat that uses the Impede spell. For some tips and tricks on how to handle him, be sure to check out the guide at Wizard101 Central.

It's all about the mustache.

Don't Miss this Sidequest! After dealing with the hungry gobblers, don't miss the Gnome Ranger's follow on quest to hunt down an angry gnome who likes to punch trees. When you beat the Tree Mugger, you'll be rewarded with a legendary socket wrench, which unlocks sockets on items from levels 135 to 170.

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Thanks for reading! I hope you take a chance to visit an old favorite again this new year.

Happy Dueling!

BG3 es fini and the Everquest Beastlord Build

People of the Friendly Necromancer!  In the past week I have wrapped up two (count 'em, TWO) play-throughs of Baldur's Gate 3. What a fantastic game. Even now I'm feeling compelled to start up a new character download a few mods, and do this all again! But no . . . no . . . self-control is necessary here. I have some Wizard101 and Path of Exile 2 in my very near future.

OK, so first, my buddy Dylan and I finished up our playthrough with Moonstar and Avantador. It was a pretty interesting journey where we crashed through the game, failing all kinds of encounters, and skipping all kinds of side content to reach the final conflict. We even failed our final battle once. We even failed the trip up to the final battle once, but it was nothing we couldn't overcome on our second try. 

The best Firework Show Baldur's Gate has ever seen!

To make matters even better, Moonstar and Shadowheart finally hit the sack together. You have no idea all Dylan went through to riz that character up.

Blush!

Unfortunately Laezel left me and went to be a slave to her queen. I tried to stop her, but she was all Marty McFly about her density, I mean, her destiny.

Bye Laezel! Enjoy servitude!

I was able to take everything I learned from the playthrough with Moonstar and Avantador and use it to make my trip through the finale a perfect trip with Volt. I had gathered a MEGA ton of heroes and helpers, which made everything easy with the dragon fight. I mean, it wasn't without a few challenges, but without my playthrough with Dylan, I wouldn't have known the best use of Shadowheart's Divine Intervention comes right before you trash the netherbrain.

Bye Bye Giant Brain!

As you may recall, Volt was my experiment in building an Everquest Beastlord in Baldur's Gate 3. I'd say it was pretty successful.  To those ends, he’s a glorious 2 monk, 5 Ranger, 5 Cleric.

Similarities to Everquest Beastlord:

• He’s got a pet. When I call a pet out, it’s typically a Bear and it’s awesome at goading attacks. For a while I was even using special demonspirit gloves that would give him extra resistance to pretty much everything, which was great.

At fifth level, your pet gets introduced to helmet hair

• He’s got a slow spell and heals. This was a main requirement for me and is why I spec’d him all the way to 5th level cleric in the Domain school. That’s how he’s sporting his slow spell. It’s pretty epic.

Such a good debuff

• He’s a dual wielder with martial arts. Having two weapons and mixing it up in melee with your pet was always what set the Everquest Beastlord apart from the other pet classes (necromancer and Mage specifically).

If only Everquest models looked this nice!

Where things start to get different is just the nature of Baldur’s Gate 3 and the D&D gameplay:

• Use of psionics. The illythid tadpoles I add to my character’s brain are giving me all kinds of psionic abilities. One thing that’s actually pretty cool is the ability to shapeshift into a Displacer Beast. I suppose the argument could be made that the ability to shapeshift into a beast is very much in line with a few of the AA abilities in the Beastlord’s repertoire.
• Scrolls and potions. I mean, scrolls and potions give you access to every spell in the game. You’re not going to see a beastlord casting Disintegrate and Firewall in Everquest. On the other hand, Haste Spores are very in-line with casting haste, and poison being applied to your weapon strikes is also very “Everquest beastlordy.” Again, you could argue these things make up the gaps.
• Dragonborn aren’t Iksar. I mean, if I could play as a lizardman in Baldur’s Gate 3 I probably would. There actually is a mod that changes Dragonborn into Lizardmen, which doesn't seem horrible -- just not my pointy iskar from Everquest.
• Bears aren’t a good pet for Iksar (although they are for Barbarians). In Everquest, your Iksar pet is a little dino puppy/stegosaurus thing. Rangers in BG3 get your choice of bears, wolves, falcons, spiders, and boars (I believe). Again, there is a mod that will allow you to get a Dilophosaurus pet at level 7, but that wouldn’t work with my build anyway. I suppose the argument could be made that the flexibility of the type of pet you can summon is way cooler than Everquest's system anyway.

So there you have it. I'm very happy with the amount of value and fun I've gotten from Baldur's Gate 3. If you're concerned about the mature things you can encounter like Moonstar rizzing up Shadowheart, there's a toggle for that so you can turn it off.

Overall, I really love this game.

Happy Dueling!

Blink your eyes, lose half a month: Brawl Stars, BG3, and more!

Hi readers! Am I the only one who feels like January is flying by like blink your eyes, lose half a month? This is crazy. Maybe it's just because I've been either hard at work, watching hockey (I have a new fascination with the Utah Hockey Club), or playing either Brawl Stars or Baldur's Gate 3. I feel like I've been ignoring my faithful few readers! Sorry! Let me take a second here and catch you all up.

Brawl Stars

I continue to kind of suck at this game. It's alright though--I'm still having fun.

The Brawl Pass this season is called Starr Force and involves more cartoon-esque character skins. I love the little animations they do on these things. Of all the heroes in this video, my favorite obviously is Berry, who recently got a buff and a beautiful, new hypercharge ability.

I am tempted to buy this one just because I'm feeling the gold pinch lately. 

In other news, Buzz Lightyear is still in the game, still overpowered, and I think people are genuinely over it. Once Buzz is gone, the game can return to normal. It was fun for a while, but I think we (the collective we of Brawl Stars Players) can move on here soon. Please? It feels like Buzz overstayed his welcome.

The one good, new thing coming out of the Toy Story promotion is the Pizza Planet deals and events that are now running. You can pick up great little prizes in exchange for the pizza slices you earn, including a brand new brawler character named Meeple, who is . . . a meeple made of meeples. A cheating Meeple at that. Check out his video promotion.

This game is absolutely crazy. I love it. All I need is 15 more pizza slices, which I should earn tomorrow, and then I can unlock the new hero. woot!

Baldur's Gate 3

A couple weeks ago, my old buddy Dylan and I both got the bug to play Baldur's Gate 3 together and the hit team of Moonstar and Avantador were back together. We crashed through the end of Act 2 without much trouble and promptly skipped off to the final act.

Bai Myrkul!

The town of Baldur's Gate proper is pretty great. Where else can you take on a quest to find a flying cat that eats delivery pigeons and discover severed body parts of a clown?  Baldur's Gate is the only place to be for wacky side quests.

Bad dad joke clowns are the worst clowns

As for main quests, we just recently took down a lady who liked to wear meat suits (not Lady Gaga unfortunately), and we seem to be on our way to confronting the last "absolute" God before dealing with the Elder Brain situation.

Meat suits for everyone!

Progressing with Dylan also meant that I could play more of my Everquest Beastlord in BG3. It's my second play-through, and I don't want to get ahead of my original play-through. As for the character itself, Volt's gameplay is definitely more "sneaky" than our pretty straightforward Fireball and Moonbeam spell light shows from when Dylan and I are playing Moonstar and Avantador. 

I suppose that's the influence of having Astarion in my party and being a bit squishy as a Ranger/Monk/Cleric hybrid as a main character.  My bear pet needs a serious upgrade to be honest. It's dying in one or two hits these days. Although for all intents and purposes, playing a real beastlord in Everquest felt that way sometimes when you were just one level away from getting a new pet summoning spell.

Other Stuff

Outside of those two games, my old friends in Team Spode are working through the latest expansion in Guild Wars 2, but my interest in that game has been waning lately. 

I have dipped my toes into Marvel Rivals, and it is in fact giving me HUGE overwatch vibes. I need to get back into it again. Playing Dr. Strange with a superhero team in a 6v6 pvp game was a blast.

Man, he was super fun to play

So there you go!  That's about all I've been playing. I still want to write up an article on the remaining two boards of Bounce Arcade and finally get back into playing more Asgard's Wrath, but while my mother-in-law is still in town, it's been difficult to play any VR. (She stole my office space and I'm stuck in the basement.)  

I'll be writing more as I can!

Happy Dueling!

January 2025 Zone of the Month -- Knight's Court

Welcome to 2025 and to another Zone of the Month! Randomness this month has brought us all the way back to Marleybone and one of my favorite TV Show puns from Wizard101.

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Name: Knight's Court

Location: Marleybone -- Once you exit the gate to Marleybone, you head to the left over to Scotland Yard.  Take the elevator to the roof and head straight back past your good friend Watson and on into Knight's Court.

Fashion, Scratching, Trolls, and Black Widows galore!

Description: Knight's Court is a maze of rooftops where you'll encounter the standard fare Marleybone's Prowlers, Scratchers, and Street Sweepers. What makes Knight's Court stand out, however, is the presence of trolls and spiders as well! The main centerpiece of this zone is a large tower with clockwork gears called the Knight's Tower, wherein you're sure to encounter a sneaky scratcher named Jacques.

Jacques the Scratcher in Action

Cost: 1,200 Crowns -- this is the only zone you'll receive for your purchase.

Zeke Item: Marleybone is all about Stray Cats, and you'll find one in Knight's Court just hiding off to the side of the grand Knight's Tower.

He's got cat class and he's got cat style!

Chests: While I haven't found any silver chests, you certainly can find a wooden chest or two in Knight's Court. Final Bastion also notes you can find the new Multiplayer Cantrip Chests there as well.

Lots of chests in far away places 

Secrets:  Possibly the best secret found in Knight's Court comes from a book inside Knight's Tower. Henry Wellingbrook gives a wonderful quest that helps you unravel the history of Marleybone. A juicy piece of lore comes from this book, which reveals that a Marleybonian by the name of Herold Digmoore read a line of ancient magical text that transported him to Wizard City and led to the discovery that Marleybone was actually a part of the Spiral.

Secret-y Secrets Revealed!

Reagents: Any old-school Wizard101 player can tell you that Marleybone is the best place to find random Scrap Metal for your crafting projects! Knight's Court is a great place for that and all your standard stone block and mistwood needs.

Fishing: Unfortunately you won't find any fishing holes on top of the rooftops in Knight's Court. You will find a few fish bones lying around as scenery though! I bet those scratchers would love for you to bring them a catfish or two.

Teleporters: OF COURSE there are teleporters!  Marleybone is one of the birthplaces of those handy zone teleporters after all. You can find the hub near the Knight Tower and it's connections take you to Beeman's Warehouse, Brick's Warehouse, Amy Brooks' Place, and back to Scotland Yard.

The Teleporter hub in Knight's Court!

What's the 4-1-1? Watson has a hot lead while on your quest to find Meowiarty. A nefarious criminal by the name of Jacques the Scratcher has been scratching up the citizens of Knight's Court. Watson sends you to talk to Sergeant Steeg who directs you to help Linda Milltop, a recent victim of the scratcher's scratching. 

While in Knight's Court, you'll fight Jacques twice and uncover clues about this mysterious scratcher.: a black bag, a glove. Can you uncover Jacques's identity and stop these horrible scratchings? Of course you can! Go make Steeg and Watson proud!

Jacques awaits you inside!

Who's that Boss? In addition to Jacques, you'll also be able to fight Mickey the Brick, the Black Widow, and even a Daily Quest boss named Jordyn Malniz! Farming Mickey may yield up a couple of rarer housing items such as the Square Metal Platform and Silver Chest. Farming the Black Widow can get you a set of Widow's armor or even a black widow pet. Farming Jacques could get you some of his special armor or maybe one of those cool-looking frog street sweepers as a pet.

Nothing worse than a missing purse!

Don't Miss this Sidequest! There are a couple great sidequests in Knight's Court. One involves chatting up all the ladies in the zone who are busy getting ready for the big Policeman's Ball. For completing this questline you'll receive a cool airship photo housing item as a reward. The other quest involves messing with trolls and eventually confronting the Black Widow boss, a farmable boss with some interesting loot. Both are a lot of fun!

A troll for a stroll under Marleybone's beauty untold

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Thanks for reading! I hope you take a chance to visit an old favorite again this new year.

Happy Dueling!

Chilling Out and Bouncing Around in Slime Rancher VR

So, the other day I was talking with my Discord VR buddy (/waves at NV) about a VR game I want to make. While I was discussing it with him, he noted that in some way what I was describing sounded a lot like the game Slime Rancher. 

Slime Rancher is one of those games that I had always heard mention of, but never really looked at. This is a six- or seven-year-old game at this point, and honestly, I can't believe I never checked it out to be honest. So, because my buddy mentioned it, I absolutely had to go check this game out.

Caging up the Big ol Pink Rock Slimes

My kids were equally shocked I had never played Slime Rancher when I talked to them about it. In their words, it's just a chill tycoon game that's easy to play. 

Although chilling with Slime Rancher sounded pretty good, I was more excited to try the VR playground version of the game that you get for free when you purchase the base game . . . despite the warnings from Goldtail the Steam reviewer.

If you launch with Steam VR, you'll get a smoother graphical presentation, but from the get-go you're greeted with a control scheme using Vive controllers.

Those controls translated over to Quest controllers, however, took a lot of getting used to. I'm not sure why the joystick wasn't used to just move you around . . . instead you needed to point yourself in a direction and use the squeeze trigger on the left controller to move you forward. To rotate your head you have to downclick to the side with the joystick to tilt 15 degrees. Once I figured that out though, it was really no problem navigating the environments.

(Important to note, you can launch the game with Oculus VR from Steam, but I got a lot of graphical stuttering when I did . . . controls weren't much better tbh.)

Rubber Ducks and tons of toys in the base for you to play with

The playground comes with a home base and three world environments: a glowing mushroom swamp, the standard desert mountains, and zelda-esque ancient ruins.

pink slimes and meow slimes playing together in VR

You can use your suction gun much like you do in the base game of slime rancher to suck up slimes, goodies, and plorts. On the quest controllers you'll need to click down on the right joystick to shoot those objects out.

All in all, there's really no game here to play aside from feeding slimes food and putting them in cages to make them combine. Really, this is just to see the world of Slime Rancher all around you in VR fashion, which is pretty fun. Getting in a cage full of bouncing slimes is kind of fun. You'll get knocked around and feel surrounded by happy little slimes.

Magical Green Goobers of fun!

I take that back, there is "one" game-like element that I found. In the desert mountains environment, you can find a basketball hoop that once you shoot a slime into it, queues some new music and floats up and down while you try to make baskets into the hoop with your captured slimes. (side note: it's not that easy to do -- those slimes are slippery!)

Shooting baskets with slimy bois

If you're looking for a fun environment to run around in and own a copy of Slime Rancher, jump on in and check it out. Once in a while you can find Slime Rancher on super discount. I actually bought it for an astounding $2 in November during the autumn sale, but typically when it goes on sale, it's $5, which still ain't bad.

Happy Dueling!