My Gaming Journey: Icewind Dale II - Journal Entry #17

Hello, everyone, greetings and salutations from the Pacific Northwestern U.S. It’s time for another entry in My Gaming Journey - Icewind Dale II. Thanks so much for taking time out of your day to read this.

Before we begin, I’d like to welcome @nvlachos56 to my growing list of subscribers. Each and every one of you who subscribes brings me that much closer to my goal of reaching 100 to 250 subscribers or more by the end of the year. Thanks so much for taking time out of your day to subscribe.

This time the P.O.V. will switch to Mali, the Half-Elf thief. And considering she is the daughter of two of the original heroes of Icewind Dale you can bet that she will have some very interesting things to say. Get ready as My gaming Journey: Icewind Dale II- Journal Entry #17. Begins now.

Mali, The Half-Elf Rogue

When Brannon first came to me and Garrett with information on Belhifet leaving some kind of Legacy I had no idea of the unbelievable shocking truth that awaited us here! For all the good my own parents, Vanya and Jurrax and Thay, as well as my uncle Tien and aunt Talia did I never thought that Yxonomei or Belhifet would’ve found a way to get the last laugh on my parents. But recent events have turned my world upside down! Now the group I’m a part of is having to deal with a mess left behind by those two Demons. From Belhifet we have Isair and Madae who have shown, what I believe, to be mere samplings of the kind of power those two wield. And now to think that We have Yuan-Ti and Yuan-Ti Half—Breeds from Dragon’s Eye to deal with. It’s all absolutely horrifying!

Into the proverbial belly of the beast!

We started out by grabbing everything from Sheemish we felt would be of use as well as from Conlan. It took almost all of our money supply. But better to be short on coin and well prepared a then a full purse and underprepared.

When we arrived at Dragon’s Eye it became pretty evident that we were expected. From the get go we had to deal with Ice Salamanders and a Half-Breed Sorceress named Izbelah. Dealing with them would’ve been simple but the entry way to Dragon’s ye was trapped beyond belief. I thank Illmatar and Mask that I was able to disable the traps. Unfortunately, that wasn’t before some of the others had no choice but to run over them in order to get to Izbelah and stop her from using her magic, talk about serious ouch time!

Once we got inside, we realized that for all our preparations we forgot to buy Terrax some stones for his sling. Thankfully he had that returning frost dart, which would prove valuable in the adventure to come. Our adventure on the first level proved to be an old-fashioned slugfest. Between the yuan-Ti Purebloods, and the Lizard Men things really got hairy. 

Dragon's Eye Level 1 watch out for the Yuan-Ti, Lizard men, and traps here.

But the first level hasn’t changed much from when Mom when Mum and Da were here all those years ago. Still sweltering hot and still pretty nasty. Terrax proved he could handle his own by launching Fireball spells at the enemy. On the bodies of the Yuan-Ti Pureblood thieves we found some nice enchanted bolts from my crossbow. So, it was just a good thing we didn’t buy too many bolts back in Kuldahar. On the first level we also found a loose coil of rope which I took. I didn’t know why but my intuition is telling me it might come in handy later. Besides the fighting and the disarming of traps, I had to do on the first level we ended up having to make our way through a scythe trap. I unfortunately almost got killed by that thing. Talk about embarrassing. Thankfully My Garrett was there to case heal on me. How did a sticky-fingered girl like me get so lucky to have a guy like him want to marry me?

Brianna has really been coming along, I’ve noticed that since we left the Serpent’s Pit Temple back in Chult her fighting prowess has picked up. Now I’m no wizard but I get the strangest feeling that her ki power has increased. I especially noticed it on the second level when one Half-Breed Yuan-Ti Brianna killed with a nasty looking upper cut that broke its skull. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Back on the first level We fought a large group of Yuan-Ti purebloods, Lizardmen, all led by a Commander name of Grishum, and it’s pretty evident they still have fond feelings for Yxonomei, even though she’s been long since sent back to the Nine Hells where she belongs! The fight was brutal and most of us got hit by those bastards, but in the end, we triumphed! We even started collecting some strange fire agates, though why wouldn’t be made clear until later. After shutting off that damned scythe trap and fighting our way down we came to the torture area After defeating the guards there and opening the cells we ran into a wizard with Yuan-Ti blood named Nheero Fhutama. Thankfully unlike the others he was not only considered an enemy he was also quite civil and willing to give us a lot of good information about Dragon’s Eye. Thanks to him we learned that the Fire agates we were collecting we a means to open the way to the next level. Besides Grishum we knew that some of the Pureblood thieves had them on them. So, we were able to round up a good supply. With all the useful items and money collected from the corpses of our enemies we put a Fire agate in each of the five braziers and thereby opened the way to the snake statue hidden in the statue. That’s one change the Half-Breeds have made since my mum and Da adventured here.

Five altars require one Fire Agate each to open the way downwards.

The second level we went looking for Nheero’s assistant Mandel. We made our way eastward. And that’s where things started to get vexing. We were attacked from behind by three Yuan-To Half-Breed a sorceress and a couple priestesses. We took them down, but there was a damned dispel magic trap I couldn’t detect until it was too late. That really vexes me as I’m supposed to be a master of disarming traps. Anyway, no sooner had we taken care of the trap and those Yuan-Ti half breed when some spiders came our way. I remember Mum and Da telling me that the spiders of Dragon’s Eye’s second level were very large and very nasty looking. Now I know why Mum hates spiders so much. After seeing those things, they give me the shivers too! I managed to redeem myself when I took down a web trap that was placed nearby.

We then made our way to the upper eastern corner. The second level looks exactly as Mum and Da described it from when they were here battling Yxonomei and her legions. The group was about ready to go down the passage. Thankfully I had a closer look and saw the boulder trap. So, Brianna got sent down, since she’s our fastest party member. I know that Brannon was no eager to send her, but Brianna assured him she would be all right. Yeah, I think those two will be staying together when this over. Glad Brannon finally found someone. Brianna’s decision to go down there is probably why things turned out so well. The boulder trap went off. But by the time it reached where Brianna was, she had already snuck to a safe spot so the boulder crashed into the wall harmlessly. We found Mandel’s body. We went back to Nheero who looked visibly distraught that his companion was dead. But then he mentioned a magical sword the Assimar carried on him. 

Bidding Nheero goodbye, we headed back down to level two. We made our way down the southeastern passage. There we saw giant spiders, phase spiders and my least favorite, the sword spider. I really, really hate spiders! 

Sword  Spiders, phase Spiders, adn Giant Spiders jus ew!

We also encountered more of those creepy Yuan-Ti Half-breeds. The gateway to the third level was especially tough because we had to deal with those Half-Breeds but also a trap. The Yuan-Ti Hall-Breeds were no problem, especially when I saw Brianna crush the skull of hat one Sorceress with that upper cut. Ooh, note to self, never get on the bad side of a Monk. The trap however was a real pain in the arse. I failed several times before I was able to disarm that stupid thing! Some of these traps really tick me off! When it was finally dealt with, we rested. No sooner had we finished resting then we were attacked by Feyr’s of all things. I’d heard of these bizarre horrors but I thought we’d be fighting them. It makes me wonder how else has Dragon’s Eye changed?

Once we headed down to the next level, there we fought our way through more lizards, Yuan-Ti Champions a few priests, and even an Iron Golem.

An iron Golem. Do not even THINK of fighting these things unless you have +3 enchanted weapons or higher!

Good thing Garrett, Dar’Kandra, and Brannon have had their weapons upgraded since the Cavern beneath the Black Raven Monks’ Temple. Also had to deal with some very large snakes. I haven’t seen any of those nasty monstrous snake things since the Shaengarne River. even had to deal with a nasty spiked door trap. Thankfully I disarmed the silly thing but it was hard. But that was nothing compared to the next challenge to my thieving skills. We found Mandel’s Sword but it was surrounded by some super nasty traps. By the grace of Mask, I’m amazed I managed to get through all those traps.

We grabbed his sword and returned to Level two. 

Careful on Level 3, there are Yuan-Ti and otehr nasties everywhere!

We proceeded to clear out the western side of the Level. Again, we needed to proceed very carefully, and once again I was called on to eliminate traps. Thankfully with the large temple area we had bless, Emotion Hope, Defensive Harmony, and Mass haste on the party. So, it was simply a matter of going on and laying down the law on those Half-Breed creeps. We ended up having a Pit Fiend come after us. Brannon, and Garett especially had a conniption fit and went after that thing with a vengeance. Well since my Garett is a Priest of Illmatar and Brannon is a Paladin of Helm it stands to reason they’d be enraged at the sight of the unholy beast.

Careful in the temple area or you might end up facing a denizen of the Nine Hells.

Once we dealt with those things, the sword began to act weird it seemed to be drawing us somewhere. It led us back to where the boulder trap was. There we found a Skelton wandering around…which turned out to be Mandel. The spirit of the fallen warrior showed where the faux-Mandrake root needed for Nheero’s little experiment was located. With Mandel having given us all his information he departed for the next life.

We returned to the first level and gave Nheero the information. He then charged us with finishing work. We went to the part of level one we missed and proceeded headed southward from the entrance. We ended up in an armory where we took on some Lizard Men, Yuan-Ti Purebloods and a whole bunch of Wyverns. And some of those Pureblood thieves had some nice enchanted crossbow bolts. Speaking of Crossbows…words cannot begin to describe how excited I was. When we searched the armory of Dragon’s Eye what did we just happen to find but a legendary crossbow name of Iron Arbalest. An exceptionally powerful crossbow that in the hands of a skilled crossbow user, such as me, can do tremendous damage. Ooh I get a new toy, one that will make me all the deadlier, I like it! We cleared out the nearby nest and the armory of goodies, either to sell, or to use. Next, we made our way to a nearby hole and went down. In the room under the fallen area of cave floor we found a monster-sized Wyvern waiting for us. Dar’Kandra got nailed a few times but we still got the stupid thing! And we got a nice secret stash of treasure as well as the fake Mandrake Rroot for our efforts.

Wyverns, especially the ancient ones, they are nasty things! Watch out for the stinger on it's tail!

Even as I speak, we’re camped in the area of the Temple on Level two ready to make our move. Chances are I’ll be going into the lab tomorrow.

Time to camp and make plans for the morrow.

Which means I’ll have to use my stealth to see how that Alchemist makes the potion that converts people into Histachii, The theory of Nheero is by replacing the real Mandrake root with the fake one the person who ingests the potion will eb temporarily transformed into a mindless Histachii which will make him undetectable by the Yuan-Ti, so they can explore the rest of this place. I hope you know wheat you’re doing Nheero, this magic stuff is just crazy. But this has to be done. We have to get past Dragon’s Eye and to the Severed Hand. For the sake of the legacy of good my parents tried to do here in Icewind Dale, Isair and Madae have to be stopped!

Well, there you have it, folks, there’s my latest blog entry. I hope you all found it entertaining. I’m working very hard to provide the best quality product I can. If you like this content please feel free to like, remind this on to your Minds timeline. Also please feel free to subscribe to my channel here on Minds and help me reach my goal of 100 to 250 subscribers or more by the end of the year. I’ll leave a link so you can subscribe below.

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Thank you very much for reading this. I’m Animeman73 saying stay true to yourselves, stay classy, and God bless you all.

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