Share your Seventh Sense award hunting experience

[Ofecks]

Thanks, glad someone is reading my ramblings.

Once I finished the Kai series, I did a count of my collection thus far and realized I would come up quite short for the treasure meta after book 12. It took me a while to figure it out, but I came upon an interesting solution. Details are below:

Book 6:
Restarts - 1
Disciplines - WM, PN, CR
Bring - 20 GC, Brass Whistle, Copper Key, Potion of Alether
Awards - Charitable, Bounty (criminals), Epic Failure

Item Collection:
Weapons
.(6:252) Silver Bow of Duadon [Special Item]
Items
.(6:145) Ruby Ring [Special Item]
.(6:40) Bottle of Wine
.(6:40) Mirror
Potions
.(6:123) Alether Berries {+2 CS} x3 [9g]
.(6:2) Potion of Alether {+2 CS} [4g]
.(6:2) Rendalim's Elixir {+6 EP} [7g]
.(6:8) Potion of Laumspur {+3 EP}

Combats:
Altan
Undead Summonation
Chanda the Taxidermist
Backstabbers
Bodyguards
Graverobbers
Pirate Berserkers
Thief
Dakomyd

Synopsis: My goals were to get the Silver Bow of Duadon, the loot from the graverobbers, and a bundle of consumables. The listed awards were the only ones I could complete on that route. I brought enough gold to get a nearly-full purse after wagering it all to the riddle guy. Killing all the criminals wasn't a problem, except not having Divination and thus taking Chanda's vial of acid to the face! I also decided to play it safe and get the Ruby Ring, since it counts for the treasure meta, so I needed Psi-screen ("PN" is my abbreviation for that since "PS" is already taken by Psi-surge) as one of my starting disciplines. The two junk special items were to trade Altan for his horse (bum deal, sorry man), and the Alether helped with winning the contest. Easy book, no restarts except for the Epic Failure get.

Book 7:
Restarts - 0
Discipline - HM
Bring - Lantern
Award - Charitable

Item Collection:
Weapons
.(7:182, 279, 96) Heavy Sword
.(7:161) Fine Spear
Items
.(7:73, 305) Diamond [Special Item] x2
Potions
None ‘cause no backpack

Combats:
Zagothal (evade)
Vampire Bats
Giant Fist
Rahkos
Oudagorg
Beastman Gaoler
Throne-hall Guard

Synopsis: Needed two named weapons and both Diamonds from here. The Lantern was needed for the first Diamond since I don't have a Firesphere, and I picked up a Rope along the way to lasso the sword from the maze. Since I was getting both Diamonds, I couldn't really mess around and do any other cheevos except for "saving" Tavig and his brother (E for effort). I think I picked Huntmastery to remove the chance of death when facing Rahkos. I didn't have the means to get the Epic Failure here (needs IV, PM, or DV), so no restarts at all!

Book 8:
Restarts - 3
Disciplines - DV
Bring - 50 GC, 6 useless Special Items to sell
Awards - Charitable, Heroic, Epic Failure

Item Collection:
Weapons
.(8:201) Monk's Sword [need CR or potion {Laumspur, Rendalim’s, Oede}]
Items
.(8:64, 321) Sack of Silver x8
.(8:139) Grey Crystal Ring [Special Item]
.(8:202) Lodestone [Special Item]
Potions
None

Combats:
Boran
Vordaks 1
Helghast
Xlorg 1
Xlorg 2
Silver Swamp Python
Vordaks 2

Synopsis: Here's where things get interesting. You can walk away from this adventure with up to 8 Sacks of Silver from the illegal mining operation on the far side of Tharro. They count for the treasure meta, so that's what I did at the expense of any potions, since I already had plenty in storage at this point. It wasn't an issue, and I made good use of the free ones from the Prophetess before I picked up the silver. I also decided to take advantage of bringing the Silver Bow here, and went for the marksmanship (Heroic) award. This requires having Divination, so that's what I took here. As well as a full pouch of gold since I had to pay to see the Prophetess (20) and I wasn't about to trade my other items for the ring (30). Having the means to take out Boss Helghast, I also completed the Charitable award. That's where I used the Prophetess' potions: Rendalim's to negate the poisoned stew penalty, the Alether vs Helghast, and the Laumspur to save Paido and myself afterwards. The marksmanship targets were no problem except one - the Anapheg. For whatever reason, SS does not apply the bonus for having Weaponmastery/Bow to that particular shot (a bug, maybe?), and I missed it two runs in a row. The third and final restart was for the Epic Failure, and it begs the question - can you have the Tincture of Oxydine in your inventory? Does SS force you to use it at the YLAYQEH point? I didn't pick it up at all.

Book 9:
Restarts - 0
Discipline - Nexus
Bring - 4 GC
Awards - Mischievous (easy), High Combat

Item Collection:
Weapons
.(9:13) Maghana Weapons [Dagger, Bow]
Items
.(9:87) Psychic Ring [Special Item]
.(9:172) Silver Candlestick
.(9:172) Silver Goblet
.(9:172) Silk Jacket
.(9:172) Crystal Decanter
.(9:331) Flask of Boza x 4
Potions
None

Combats:
Giak Scouts
Drunken Mercenary
Gatehouse Guards
Strongroom Guard
Roctopus
Pickpocket
Zaaryx Ghoul
Psi-ghoul
Crocaryx
Zakhan Kimah

Synopsis: Similarly to the previous book, I aimed to finish here with a backpack full of goodies. The easiest way to do so is right at the beginning - buy 4 Flasks of Boza from the impoverished villagers (these count, surprisingly!), then go to Siadra and kill the Giaks for the rest. Not wanting to risk my backpack on the Cauldron Drop event, I decided to go the anti-Senate route, which meant the easier of the two Mischievous awards was a good fit. This also meant I'd have to melee Kimah at the end, but Maghana's Dagger took care of that problem! I think I brought Nexus to unlock the cell door and take the quick route through the Battle of Tahou. Thankfully I got the senate vote I wanted on the first try, and I already had the Epic Failure award, so no restarts here.

Book 10:
Restarts - 1
Discipline - Psi-Surge
Bring - +4 Alether, +2 Alether (supplied in book), Rendalim’s Elixir x 2; do NOT bring - 'Swerd
Awards - Charitable, Death-Defying A, Death-Defying B, Bounty, High Combat

Item Collection:
Weapons
.(10:277) Death Knight Weapons [Broadsword, Axe]
Items
.(10:79) Medal [Special Item]
.(10:277) Blanket
.(10:277) Bottle of Water
Potions
None except the ones at the start

Combats:
Drakkarim
Ziran
Hammerlander
Krorn Pack
Roark
Krorn
Drakkarim Garrison
Drakkarim Assault-captain

Synopsis: I had big plans for this book. I had pieced together a route that would grant me 5(!) awards on the way to the end, but I forgot one major detail: you lose several items from the failed river jump after Cetza. And I didn't realize this until I actually got to that point. My priorities are non-negotiable so I just rolled a success instead (the book still calls for a loss of 1 item in that case, so I put a disposable one in that slot!), and dropped the rest of the awards. Bummer. The potions I brought were intended for use in book 11, as I did some counting and realized I could spare them. I left the 'Swerd at home because in HC and Prodigy, it's a liability more than anything. Thankfully it is not needed for the Battle of Cetza-flavored Death-Defying Feat. To get the Death Knight weapons, you need to get a really lucky roll: a 3-5 with Huntmastery granting a +3 bonus. So I could get it with a 0-2, and I got it on my 2nd try. The first attempt ended when Baron Shinzar broke my Magic Spear! Can't have that, I brought a disposable weapon for that purpose on the next try. No Epic Failure here, since I have Nexus.

Book 11:
Restarts - 1
Discipline - PM
Bring - stuff from book 10
Award - High Combat (12), Epic Failure

Item Collection:
Weapons
.(11:8) Scarlet Warrior’s Sword
Items
.(11:177) Silver Rod [Special Item]
.(11:203) Conch Shell
Potions
.(11:121) Khetu Spores
.(11:261) Silver Flask {+4 EP X2 & X1}

Combats:
Ookor
Agtah
Agtah-hound
Agtah Packleader or Sewer Snake
Scarlet Warrior
Agtah Scouts
Octagah (evade)
Chaos-master
Tazgar Worm
Shadow Reavers
Villians
Vonotar

Synopsis: Since I had to murder the Ookor (that's a funny name for monkey-men, btw!) for the Conch, figure I'd carve up a bunch of other stuff for the High Combat award. Getting to the Packleader during the Agtah ambush is not numerically feasible for a well-seasoned character (the previous fight has to last 4 rounds), so I killed the Sewer Snake instead. Poor danger noodle. Anyway, I brought those potions to use, but I ended up not needing them at all. I had a ratio of +8(!) on Chaos-master, the Ookor charm (and the two rings I collected) reduced the Shadow Reavers to a minor annoyance, and the Scarlet Warrior's Sword made quick work of the Villians and Vonitar. Also I learned something new recently (as of my previous campaign): you don't need a lucky roll to avoid the dragon should you encounter it. Had no idea you could ditch it with a middling bow shot roll until I read over some old SS threads. Got the Epic Failure here, too (the medal icon made me jump out of my seat a little bit when it appeared), and that was the only restart.

Book 12:
Restarts - 0
Discipline - IV
Bring - ‘Swerd, DoV, Rope, Lantern, Meals; discard Chainmail Waistcoat
Awards - Bounty, Death-Defying, Heroic, High Combat (15)

Item Collection:
Weapons
.(12:240) Helshezag [Special Item]
.(12:187) Zejar-dulaga [requires Black Key] [Special Item]
Items
.(12:282) Korlinium Scabbard [Special Item]
.(12:159) Bronin Vest [Special Item]
.(12:159) Silver Bracers [Special Item]
.(12:63) Kagonite Chainmail [Special Item]
.(12:310) Pouch of Tobacco
.(12:310) Pipe
.(12:310) Bottle of Wine
Potions
.(12:93) Meal of Gnallia {+2 EP} x 3
.(12:145) Adgana {+3 CS, second+ use}

Combats:
Xargath
Drakkarim Marine
Drakkarim Marine Sergeant
Drakkarim Marine Officer
Drakkarim Marines
Drakkarim Sailor
Drakkarim Gunners (292)
Egorgh
Ictakko
Crypt Spawn
Darklord Kraagenskul (75)
Plaak (use Helshezag)
Helgedad Ghouls (use Helshezag)
Ligan (use Helshezag)
Darklord Taktaal (use Helshezag)
Mind Reaper (use Helshezag)

Synopsis: Now this is more like it. For the finale, I was able to do 4 book-specific awards at once, on top of all the metas at the end. As is the usual case when a longplayed Lone Wolf reaches this point, the CRs were ridiculous and the danger was minimal. I mean, I did show the 'Swerd to Kraagenskul (for the DDF), but I killed the Crypt Spawn in 3 rounds, no problem. A handful of items from a death knight in Argazad put the finishing touch on the treasure meta. Even wanton use of Helshezag for the Heroic award was trivial since I scored "K"s on every fight I used it, including Darklord Taktaal.

Final Item tally:
Weapons - 14 normal, 19 special (latter counts for double)
Potions - 37
Items - 43
Currency - 262 GC, 28 Lune, 290 Kika

A job well done, I'd say. My award screen in SS is starting to fill up. But there's more work to do. For my next run, the only meta left on Prodigy mode is a 1-12 run with all permanent stat losses. The non-Adgana requirements are all points for Death-Defying Feats, so I aim to complete the rest of those I still need as well. Except book 2. To get both of those at once, you need to do the swamp in book 1 AND kill the Marshviper without taking damage. No thank you, there are easier ways to get book 1's DDF. Thus, I will begin work on planning and execution of:

DERPY WOLF'S SLAPSTICK CLOWN SHOW *honk honk*

It's funny to imagine Lone Wolf just stumbling around, not thinking things through, and getting into all kinds of preventable messes.

[Ofecks]

Hey kids! *goofy laughter* Let's recklessly cartwheel our way through a Lone Wolf campaign! *pie to face*

The primary goal of this run was to get the All-Permanent-Stat-Losses award, with a secondary of completing the rest of the Death-Defying Feats (minus book 2). That's a certain degree of efficiency due to the 3 non-Adgana penalties all being DDF points as well. Any other awards earned in the process were merely a nice bonus.

Book 1:
Restarts - Weaponskill on 2nd roll! Finished book on 1st try!
Disciplines - WS (Short Sword), MB, HL, CF, HT
Bring - whatever the RNT gives
Awards - Death-Defying
Full list (need 5 points total):
.(323) successfully climbed rickety watchtower - 1 pt
.(158) old wizard in bear cave - 1 pt [no 6S]
.(334) disguised enemy patrol - 1 pt [need CF]
.(242) opened tomb sarcophagus - 1 pt [no 6S]
.(25) made the Holmgard roof jump - 1 pt

I intentionally left out Sixth Sense and Mindshield from the chosen disciplines for the stat loss in the graveyard. It didn't matter a huge deal, but I rolled the Helmet at the start, probably the most useful item of the bunch (until mid-way through book 3, anyway). Ah, the roof jump, my old nemesis. I chose that for the final DDF point since it's higher odds (70%) than pulling the pin on the tomb door (a 50/50). For what seems like the first time ever, I landed the jump on the first try. It's pretty interesting how SS handles the permanent CS losses: as a negative modifier during every combat. Each instance being a separate tally box. By the time I got to book 12, fights were taking 30 seconds just to add up all the boxes.

Book 2:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - AK
Bring - Shield
Awards - Heroic, Bounty
Do all of the following:
.(308) play Portholes with the Green Sceptre crew
.(238) play Cartwheel in Ragadorn
.(241) kill the cheating card player in Gorn Cove [no 6S, MM]
Kill all of the following:
.(333) Harbor Thugs
.(301) Ragadorn street thieves
.(220) Parsion the assassin

Without having 6S on the run so far, I thought I'd take advantage of getting one of the awards here where having it makes earning them impossible. I needed a 0-4 after the Green Sceptre fire so that I could play Portholes, that was the only bit of randomness here. Since there's no way to acquire a weapon beforehand, I got to play Streets of Rage in Ragadorn, beating the thugs to a pulp with my bare fists. I brought Animal Kinship so I could skip the Spear Helghast as that's usually a risky fight. I initially rolled Short Sword Weaponskill so that I'd have an easier Parsion fight (for 'Swerd usage as well), but I think Broadsword would've been a better choice, since I bought the Fine Durenese blade in Gorn Cove on a whim (+3 CS vs All!). The Card Sharp's Dagger was a nice touch, forgot about that weapon. I've been compiling a list of all the Prodigy-rules special weapon bonuses, as I discover them. Ended up having to drop 31 GC on the ground in front of the Ragadorn coach station so that I could play Cartwheel. As with my last run, there's very little randomness in making a killing on Prodigy mode - pick 7 and RNT guide 2. Confirmed that the Forged Documents can be acquired and kept for treasure metas, cool.

Book 3:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - MS
Bring - PLW, Meal
Awards - Death-Defying
Full list (need 4):
.(55) climb ice shaft
.(294) cut through the stone door [need Rope, 'Swerd]
.(187) put on a gold bracelet A [need Rope, 'Swerd, MS]
.(236) put on a gold bracelet B [need MS]

Like book 1 in this run, only the DDF was done here: no others are possible with this discipline setup. I took the Basin route so I could keep my backpack, but I'm not sure if that mattered. It's kinda odd that breaking down the door with the 'Swerd counts as a Death-Defying event. I would've picked something else in the book instead (like freeing the Helghast or the Ice Demon). Swapped helmets (giggle) once I found the new one.

Book 4:
Restarts - 1
Disciplines - MM
Bring - CMW
Awards - Death-Defying, Bounty (Meresquid), Charitable
Full list (need 2):
.(271) bandit pulls bridge rope
.(219) jumped the boat or fell into chasm
Do both of these [need HL for both]:
.(313) Heal the soldier injured by the Meresquid
.(238) Heal the injured bowman in the Ruanon watchtower

Unfortunately lost my backpack in getting to section 219. In a book where it showers you with restoratives, that stings a bit. Oh well. There's an interesting disconnect here between the old PA versions that SS uses and the current PA versions - to reach the Meresquid in SS, you have to come from section 101. Section 241 sends you to either 309 or 8 (your choice), and the former inexplicably skips the Meresquid event. The one restart here was because of that!

Book 5:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - TK
Bring - Potion, Meals
Awards - Bounty (Steamspiders), Heroic (blowpipe)

I've already earned the DDF for this book, so I did a couple miscellaneous ones. If you escape the sewers without contracting Limbdeath (the only way to kill the Steamspiders), you get captured anyway and have to do the jailbreak event. That's how I was able to get the blowpipe. I could've picked 6S for my discipline as well, probably. But there were no issues with Tracking thankfully. I possibly could have attempted Heroic-Haakon, but I decided to play it safe and chose Dhorgaan instead since I picked up the Jeweled Mace from the Yas. Also I bought a bunch of potions from the shop after the sewers, several Alethers for future use. Was probably not necessary to do so, as I finished the campaign with many still in stock.

Book 6:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - WM, AC, PN
Bring - ?
Awards - Death-Defying, Mischievous (Arla)
Full list (need 4):
.(261) rode through pikemen at Quarlen south gate
.(286) dodged river pirate's dagger throw
.(126) charged Tekaro gate with the captain
.(318) encountered Dakomyd strands in the sewer

MK series go. I went with Animal Control at the start since I needed to lack several disciplines at times up until the final book. AC also helps with the pikemen at the start and the Dakomyd strands at the end (prevents losing a weapon). Once again I needed to kill the Graverobbers for the Mirror, so the cultist bounty was out. I also couldn't do marksmanship for various reasons, one being that the Cener druid cultist is one of the targets. Dodging the river pirate's dagger is another perplexing choice for a Death-Defying event. At worst you suffer 2 EP of damage. Surely there is a better one throughout the book that can be used. Arla's crossbow, maybe? Speaking of Arla, I probably didn't need to kill her this run but I thought taking care of it now might make getting the rest of the awards in this book easier at a later time. There was some randomness involved with my chosen path (in this and other MK books), as detailed below:

Arla bow shot 5+ - 11/16 = 69%
Tekaro assault 0-3/7-9 - 11/16 = 69%

Total RNT = 48%

(all odds are including optimal RNT guiding)

Book 7:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - CR
Bring - Rope, Fireseeds
Awards - Death-Defying, Mischievous [need CR]
Full list (need 4):
.(337) dove under a descending stone wall ahead
.(107) touched the bubbles
.(166) walked across the invisible bridge [need any of these: PN, DV, Flask of Wine, Bottle of Water]
.(240) encountered Rahkos
.(270) failed the Zahkan Statue riddle
.(55) dodged the throne hall guard's crossbow
Do all of the following:
.(79, 345) Kill Tavig with a bow or via melee
.(305) Rip the Diamond off of the tapestry
.(129) Use the Adgana on any fight before you reach section 122 at the end

This book had some mid-adventure changes to it. In my initial planning, I didn't realize I passed by the descending stone walls, so I used a point from that and swapped my path through the maze. Also, I figured I'd use the Adgana ASAP since the odds of getting addicted are not great, so I picked a fight with some more Beastmen after I got it, but I didn't realize you needed to kill them within 3 rounds to move on from there and get the Diamond. It took me 5 or 6 rounds, but I rolled addiction on the first try! Figured I'd use that good luck and dropped the Mischievous award. I think this was the first time I ever acquired (and used) the Skeleton Key.

Adgana 0-1 5/16 = 31% total RNT

Book 8:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - PS
Bring - 20+ GC, Fireseeds, junk special item; deposit DoV
Awards - Death-Defying, Mischievous (fireseeds), Mischievous (misc tasks) [need PS, no HM, no dagger, AC helps]
Full list (need 5):
.(269) failed man's riddle at Sita
.(336) ate poisoned stew [need CR+Primate]
.(71) blew up the swamp with a fireseed
.(290) tried to pick the fake fruit [no HM]
.(315) tried to wash off in the fake pool [need PS]
Do all of the following:
.(306) loot the mill
.(18) show your pass to the Tharro gaol soldiers
.(321) kill the rogue miner
Fireseeds:
.(81) Blow up the swamp
.(15) Slap one onto the fake fruit [no HM]
.(207) Throw a seed at the Ghagrim

This was a fun one to plan. There were a couple things I needed to not possess to get these 3 done in the same pass. Namely, Huntmastery and a Dagger. I assumed SS counted Vashna's weapon as the latter, so I left it in storage. Which meant having to 'Swerd the Helghast. Not ideal, but I got it done without any restarts. The Prophetess' potions helped, once again. The junk special item was for failing the riddle. I was worried about the psychic combat with the fake pool creature, but it turned out to be a non-issue.

Book 9:
Restarts - 12
Disciplines - DV
Bring - DoV, Mirror, Laumspur; deposit Firesphere, ‘Swerd
Awards - Death-Defying, Heroic (marksman), Heroic (wait in cell or re-captured, senate approval) [need DV, no NX, no HM, no light source]
Full list (need 4):
.(72) attempted escaping south gate guards after mentioning the cauldron [results in imprisonment]
.(289) survived the initial fall into the cauldron, but it's not over yet
.(224) descended the Zaaryx stairs in darkness [no source of light, need PM/DV or 'Swerd to survive]
.(286) survived stone ball bombardment [IV+PM+HM helps significantly; kill either Drakkarim Assault-troopers (need to miss a bow shot) or the Gourgaz (no HM+Principalin) then ignore the wagon bound for the North Gate]
Marksmanship targets (need all):
.(107) Giak village looters [2 arrows]
.(183) Giak wolf-rider ambush [no PM+Tutelary]
.(22) Zaaryx ghouls
.(184) Crocaryx [2 arrows; need Mirror; also need source of light, fireseed, or DV/PM]
.(198) Battle of Tahou, West Gate, Salonese bridge engineer
Do both of these:
.(227) Wait it out in your cell in the South Gate tower [no NX, PS+Primate OR escape and be captured again {various ways of doing this}]
.(58) Get an approval vote from the Senate [RNT 0-4]

As you can see by the number of restarts, here's the largest roadblock of this run. There are several RNT rolls to make and hitting them all in the same run is not likely. Thankfully, throwing the DoV at Kimah is not one of them, as with RNT guiding it's guaranteed (having Weaponmastery of Daggers). Even taking out the superfluous marksman award doesn't do much to sway the overall odds. I initially planned to melee Kimah, but I had forgotten that if you get bailed out of prison by Gwynian, all your stuff is returned to you, including weapons/WLSI. Since I needed Psi-surge for the previous book, I didn't have a choice about breaking out of jail. So I did that, got the Sabito from the pickpocket (prevents backpack item loss in the cauldron drop), and got myself arrested again. Getting a +1 RNT bow was a very nice pickup as I'm without the SBoD on this run. It certainly helped with hitting the Salonese engineer. Interestingly, on this path, you only get one of the numbers needed to open the door before the Lorestone, so I had to encounter the dragon. I did not want to fight that thing with a -6 CS penalty from the permanent damage I've suffered, and ironically (but thankfully!) throwing a Fireseed gets you past it without combat.

Senate 0-4 - 10/16 = 63%
Drop 4-7 - 11/16 = 69%
Bow 4+ - 12/16 = 75%
Catapults 6+ - 9/16 = 56%

Total RNT = 18%

Book 10:
Restarts - 1
Disciplines - NX
Bring - Firesphere, 3 potions for book 11; drop Rope if present
Awards - Death-Defying (snake), Mischievous (partisans), High Combat (8), Bounty (Roark) [no IV]

Combats:
Halgar [no IV]
Partisans
Partisan Horseman
Akataz Pack
Roark
Krorn
Drakkarim Garrison
Drakkar Assault Captain

Since I needed to run into the snake on the Isle of Ghosts path, there were 3 other awards I could get along the way. That required not having Invisibility so I grabbed Nexus. I brought exactly 3 consumables for book 11 (you'll see why below in its entry) and left the 'Swerd in storage. I couldn't have a Rope either, so I could jump the chasm (and fail to do so). Unlikely as it was, I succeeded the first time, hence the one restart. To get the required fights for High Combat, I chose not to shoot the wizard orbs so I could fight the garrison. That plus Big Ugly back-to-back was pretty risky, but I both rolled to meet him and rolled really well in the combat so all was fine.

Gorge jump 0-6 - 14/16 = 88%
Get DAC 0-6 - 14/16 = 88%

Total RNT = 77%

Book 11:
Restarts - 2
Disciplines - IV
Bring - book 10 stuff
Awards - Death-Defying, Item Collection, Heroic [no PM, need 5 empty backpack slots], MK DDF meta
Need 2:
.(146) grazed by venom-tipped dart [no PM+Tutelary]
.(223) fail to open Baylon's Tomb [need CR+Mentora]
Need 5 of the following:
.(119) Yoacor meal
.(36) Khetu Spores [need CR]
.(129) Senara meal [need CR]
.(74) Haina flower [need CR]
.(146) Baylon's Bough Fungi [no PM+Tutelary]
Fight 5 of the following while having the Ironheart Broadsword equipped (evades are ok?):
.(206, 97, 22, 274) Scarlet Warrior [206, 97 need bow+arrow]
.(68) Agtah Scouts
.(298) Octagtah
.(34) Octagtah
.(204) Chaos-master

Here's why I couldn't have Pathsmanship up through this book. Also why I could only bring 3 backpack items. I picked 2 Alethers and a Rendalim's Elixir. Thankfully SS counts evaded combats for any such requirements, otherwise that Heroic one would not be possible here. Even being down 6 CS, Chaos-master and the Villians were not much of a problem, thanks to Prodigy weapon bonuses. I unexpectedly earned the MK Death-Defying Meta after this book (forgot it was the last one I needed), and was pleased to see that it's depicted as a mug of Bor-brew! I like imagining dwarves telling tall tales about LW. Both restarts were from not hitting the 4-7 I needed to be grazed by the poison dart (the only way to get Baylon's Fungi), a roll with middling odds:

Dart graze 4-7 10/16 = 63%

Book 12:
Restarts - 7
Disciplines - PM (epic failure); HM (real run)
Bring - ‘Swerd, DoV, Alether, some restoratives probably
Awards - Mischievous (Adgana), Epic Failure, permanent losses meta

And here's why I never picked Huntmastery. Well the 3rd reason, the first was the evil swamp fruits in book 8, and the 2nd was the chasm jump in 10. I wanted the Epic Failure while I was here, and HM makes that harder to do. Because I was feeling lazy at that juncture, I didn't bother re-doing the pre-book setup to pick it up afterwards. Just went with Pathsmanship, and it was ok. A few events that ranked HM bypasses weren't much of a problem, since I had other means of dealing with them. The restorative meals from book 11 certainly helped, since I needed to be in top form for stabbing Kraagenskul with the Dagger of Vashna. That's where I used the Adgana, and all of the restarts were from not landing the 50/50 roll for addiction. Acquiring the drugs in the first place was also a 50% roll since I had done a full MK playthrough, but I didn't fail that one even once.

EF roll - 0-4 11/16 = 69%

Adgana 0-3 8/16 = 50%
Addiction 0-3 8/16 = 50%

Total RNT (real run) = 25%

Conclusion:
Well that was an interesting campaign. I'm surprised I was able to do as much fighting as I did, with as few problems as I had, considering past book 8 I was running on an effective 13 base CS. Book 9 was really frustrating, and I was starting to get pretty discouraged before the RNTs finally fell into place. Book 12 was still a joke since it was a full playthrough. I had +8 CR vs the hardest version of Kraagenskul, even. I'm not sure book 11 would be as easy as it was on By-The-Book rules. Without the Prodigy weapon bonuses, the Villains would put a stop to that, I think. Also I wonder how much overall time was spent adding the CS penalty boxes (3 of them after book 8!) over the course of the run. Might've added several minutes to the play time!



Hm, these plain-looking Meta awards for expert-level objectives are kinda disappointing. I wonder if Version S made any improvements on that front. I like the wholesome message on the award text, it is 100% true to real life.

Since I only have one more DDF left to get (book 2), I think I'll do a short run to get that done. I've also planned a possible continuation through book 7 so far, but it remains to be seen if I follow through on that. I think I'd rather switch gears and do a BTB campaign, where I've determined I may be feasibly able to earn both Drop-The-Swerd and 14/24 awards in the same pass. I ran some numbers for book 11 and while it will probably require a number of restarts from the disadvantaged combats, I don't think it will be a a great number of them. If I do the proper setup, I can have at best -2 CR on the Villains. That's not too bad. Will report back when I finish whatever I plan to do next.

[Ofecks]

Well, I managed to get Asajir Players' Muse (all DDFs in 1-5). Only had one restart in book 2 to get all the rolls I needed:

Meet snek 4-7 9/16 56%
Get bit 5-9 10/16 63%
Gnadurn poisoning, no Laumspur 5-9 10/16 63%

Total RNT = 22%

Not the best odds, so I got pretty lucky getting them on the 2nd try. I also attempted to do the Gorn Cove Massacre, but I bailed on that after the first town mob fight, since it damaged me significantly and I also needed to get the Magic Spear as I couldn't bring AK due to the sand snake event. That turned out to be the right call, I barely survived killing the Helghast. I moved on to book 3 and thought I might go for its Mischievous award, since I had the right discipline setup for it, but I failed getting the graveweed potion so I called it there.

Now then, on to the main event. I am victorious!



This is also stacking the Ditch-the-'Swerd cheevo. I didn't even put it in storage, just threw it into Holmgard Harbour after smiting Zargana with it.

Since this run was on BTB rules, there was no RNT guiding, no special weapon bonuses, and basically not much room to mess around. I picked up a few extra rewards in the Kai series, but none in MK. My discipline layouts were as follows:

Kai - HL, 6S, MB, AK, HT -> WS (any) -> CF -> MS -> MM
MK - WM, PS, NX -> DV -> PN -> HM -> PM -> IV -> CR

Basically, the Kai skills didn't matter all that much for my primary objectives, but MK was a different story: I needed to have the Circle of Spirit completed by book 8 for the Vordaks at the end, and Fire/Solaris completed by book 11 for maximum CS. I picked up the Bronin Warhammer in 6, and whenever I got an odd positive combat ratio or an even negative one, that was the +1 CS doing its work, putting me in the next bracket.

There weren't many restarts at all on this run, surprisingly. I had 2 in book 4 because I wanted the Holy Water and was bypassing the mines chest to kill the Stoneworm, so I needed to meet the monks in the ruins, a 50/50 roll. There was 1 in book 7 because I thought I made a mistake in my path, but it wasn't so. One in book 12 because I missed the Kagonite/Adgana pickup roll the first try. And that's it. The Vordaks in 8 were no problem, I won in 4 rounds. Book 10 was a nail-biter at the end because I missed the bow shot and had to fight both the Garrison and Drakkar Captain (I had to quaff a restorative and an Alether for the latter). I barely made it out with 4 EP, but I got through it first try.

Shockingly, I also cleared book 11 with no restarts either! That's not for lack of trying on the part of the book, no sir. It certainly wanted me dead, and could very easily have done so. The Chaos-master fight (+3 CR) went very well, but the universe attempted to balance itself with the Villains. -2 CR, took 8 rounds and half of them were pretty bad. I just barely squeaked out a victory with 2 EP remaining. I then chugged the rest of my potions for Vonitar, but that turned out to be pointless because I took zero damage from him. Such is life!

The finale was, as per usual, smooth sailing, even though my CS/EP were middling and I lacked the 'Swerd. I rolled quite poorly on the pack of Drakkarim that net me the Kagonite, and was getting low on EP (approaching 10), but other than that, no problems. I brought one Alether to use on Kraagenskul and toked up the Adgana for Gnaag. The latter wasn't much of a fight, sadly. I had a +9 CR. Even scored a K on the last round, that's always fun.

Stacking both awards in Version S probably isn't feasible, because the low-stat one is 10/20 there! I'm thinking Chaos-master might be the brick wall with that one. At least you'd have the 'Swerd for the Villains and Vonitar. That would make book 10 a bit more challenging too. Someday I will find out.

As for what I do next, I'm not sure yet. I'll probably go back to Prodigy mode and scoop up some of the remaining awards I still need. Maybe a minimal combat run. I'm missing a bunch of those.

[Ofecks]

My game of Ghost Wolf has concluded!



Primary objectives: Minimum Combat awards for books 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 12.
Secondary objectives: Misc awards in books where I already had MC (2, 5, 9, 11).

So here we're back with Prodigy rules. Running a full (well, minus the MC awards I already had) stealth campaign requires great care in discipline selection (even the Kai series!) and a lot of RNG. Another reminder that all RNT probability includes optimal use of the Prodigy guiding feature.

Book 1:
Restarts - 0 (at least a dozen to get WS dagger)
Disciplines - CF, HL, 6S, MB, WS (dagger)
Bring - n/a
Awards - Minimum Combat

Need to take the right fork at the start, or use 6S and head south. I chose the latter to purposely avoid the Banedon encounter. That put me on the path to bypass both the Burrowcrawler and the Gourgaz. Camouflage was needed to potentially skip the only combat on this route, and as many of you know, it's not free:

Hide from giaks 0-4 10/16 = 63%

As you can see from the restart total, I got it first try. In hindsight, I could have also rolled Weaponskill with Maces for my plan for book 2.

Book 2:
Restarts - 3
Disciplines - AK
Bring - Shield
Awards - Mischievous (cheat), Mischievous (GCM)

There was no need to be stealthy here. In fact, I did nearly the opposite and slaughtered half of Gorn Cove's population. I also needed to line up cheating in 3 games of chance. It is very risky to do GCM along with getting the Magic Spear, hence picking AK for this book. I had to eat dinner with the Captain of The Green Sceptre and get picked up by the fishing boat. Aside from not dying to several combats in quick succession, that was the only source of RNG here, and the restarts were all from not hitting those rolls. A couple of other oddball necessities: after winning 25-ish crowns in Cartwheel, I bought the ticket, stayed at the first inn, and discarded the rest of my money. After Gorn Cove, I took the right fork, avoided the watchtower, and attempted to bribe the bridge guards (with the gold I acquired at Gorn Cove) to get them to fight me.

Eat with captain 0-4 11/16 = 69%
Fishing boat 0-6 14/16 = 88%

Total RNT = 61%

Book 3:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - MM
Bring - PLW, Laumspur
Awards - Minimum Combat

Ghosting this book is pretty easy. Having taken the glacier route, unloading sledges whenever prompted (there can be 2 instances of this), and not crossing the Myjaviks, I ended up in the caverns and got a free Blue Stone Triangle just lying on the ground. Picked up the Red, Orange, and Green potions (since we can't kill anyone outside of combat, either) and unlocked the Silver Helm chest with my mind. Grabbed the Effigy from the temple and avoided the rest of the traps from there.

SH chest 5+ 14/16 = 88%

Book 4:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - HT
Bring - CMW, Shield, Laumspur
Awards - Minimum Combat

Another easy one. At the start I needed to avoid whichever the game gave me - temple ruins or Inn. Otherwise a combat is forced in either instance. I took the chest-in-the-mines route for the Holy Water. During the Battle of Ruanon, I avoided the watchtower and shot the enemy commander. In this case, I didn't have to kill him, just roll a 4 or better. At Makken, I took the unguarded entrance to the temple, but since I was without a source of light, suffered a 8 EP loss from the Daemonak. Thankfully I had the 'Swerd with me this time so I survived the encounter. To finish without fighting Barakka while possessing the 'Swerd, one needs to distract him, then try to free Madelon. No other options work.

Bow shot 4+ 13/16 = 81%

Book 5:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - MS
Bring - Laumspur
Awards - none

Book 5 in this run was pretty boring. No awards. To get it over with ASAP, I just got captured right away, then killed the Yas for the Jeweled Mace. I guess I could have attempted the Heroic award on Haakon, but that's probably best done in a special run where I tank my CS/EP at the start. So I squashed Dhorgaan with my magical mace instead.

Book 6:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - WM, PS, DV
Bring - Bow, Quiver
Awards - Minimum Combat, Heroic (marksman)

Here's where the real fun begins. I'm noticing a theme in these full campaigns - the MK series is where the difficulty ranks up significantly. Since the safest minimal combat route involves two bow shots (and not doing the archery tourney), the marksman award can be grabbed along the way. I approached Denka gate and grabbed a quick bite to eat, when Arla and her crew showed up. Her crossbow shot roll didn't matter much, since it's just variable EP loss, but I did need to shoot and kill her with my bow. Also picked up her Axe, which came in handy for a few fights on the rest of the run, as it has special properties on Prodigy rules. I needed to meet Redbeard in Varetta and follow him to avoid the backstabbers, then ask the tavern-keeper directions to Brass street. Instead of going straight to Soren, I headed for Amory but changed direction so I could shoot the Cener Druid leader. A third award (killing cultists) could've been had here, but it requires having Psi-screen, which the MC route forbids (you'll see why). I also needed to shoot and kill the river pirate, but that roll was easier than Arla's at least. Thankfully I landed both shots on the first try. Psi-surge or Nexus was needed for bypassing the sewer door, and I chose the former to make book 11 easier.

Shoot Arla 8+ 11/16 = 69%
Shoot Pirate 6+ 14/16 = 88%

Total RNT = 61%

Book 7:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - AC
Bring - rope, lantern, fireseeds
Awards - Minimum Combat

To get through here with only 1 combat, it requires having Divination as well as Primate-ranked Animal Control. There's also a choice of route, but I did the one that avoids the snake traps. At the start, I rowed for the jetty, used Divination, and prayed to Ishir. Thankfully deities and religion are actually real in this universe! I then escaped along the beach and hopped the stones to hide in the fissure. Thanks to bringing a lantern, I was able to continue on to meet Tavig. At first I pretended to be his friend, but I "nope"d out as soon as the giant fist grabbed him. Shameful! In the maze, I used Divination again to rope-lasso the cursed sword and used it to cut the bubbles in the corridor on the right. I would not have been able to get by them otherwise. When facing the invisible bridge, I used Divination once again to locate it (neither the water nor wine can be picked up on the MC route) and run from the whipmaster. No Huntmastery here, but one of the RNT sections has no 0s, 1s, or 2s so the roll to survive was guaranteed. Ranked AC was used to zap the Oudagorg and climb out of the maze. Headed to the torture chambers where Divination saved me again, to fight the only combat. Quite a useful discipline in this book, I'd say!

Book 8:
Restarts - 5 (got the bow shot on first try but failed the python roll! )
Disciplines - HM
Bring - fireseeds, meal
Awards - Minimum Combat

Here it is, the brick wall of the run. To avoid all combats except the Vordaks at the end, two rolls with low/middling odds needed to be hit in the same attempt. As you can see by the number of restarts, fortune really smiled upon me and it took far less than I had anticipated. The main problem is that the former roll, to shoot the Anapheg, is bugged in vanilla SS and does not count the Weaponmastery bonus with bows. The bonus from the Silver Bow of Duadon is applied correctly, but I can't get that on this run. You can also get a bonus from having WM+HM+AC+CR ("circles of Fire and Light") but I can't bring both CR and HM because I needed PS and DV for books 6 and 7. Thus I needed to roll an 8 or 9 to pass that spot. RNT guiding makes it better odds than 20%, at least. But shortly after that, there's another roll to avoid the Swamp Python. It's a little more likely than the previous, but still below 50%. Both rolls in the same run is not very likely. The rest of the path generally involved staying out of trouble, of course, including bypass of Tharro completely. Throwing a Fireseed takes care of the Ghagrim, and bringing a meal handles the huge spider if run into. I brought one for just that purpose but ended up not encountering it at all.

Anapheg bow shot 8+ 5/16 = 31%
Avoid SSP 7+ 7/16 = 44%

Total RNT = 14% (ugh)

Book 9:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - PM
Bring - rope, fireseeds, meal; deposit ‘Swerd; no lantern
Awards - Bounty (cave monster)

Since I already had the MC award here, the only other one I could complete with this discipline setup was killing the Leekhon. I guess the Dragon could've been possible, but I wanted to be voted against by the Senate for a guaranteed cauldron drop since I lacked Nexus. The Senate Broadsword gives +8 CS vs the Dragon and its stats are really high so that's a better option than Maghana's Spear which gives double damage but no CS bonus. Anyway, to get to the Leekhon, I needed Pathsmanship and a meal to give to the hermit. I also needed to not have any source of light. That meant I had to fight the Crocaryx later but this isn't a MC book so no biggie. I got the anti-Senate vote on the first try and picked up Maghana's Bow for a very welcome +1 to bow RNT rolls. Without any light, I also couldn't get both Zarryx token numbers, so I said hello to the Dragon but chucked it a Fireseed to get by safely. During the Siege of Tahou, I didn't bother shooting the Salonese Engineer so I could fight the Gourgaz, an easier combat than the Drakkarim. Dagger of Vashna projectile to Kimah's face for the win.

Senate vote 5-9 11/16 = 69%

Book 10:
Restarts - 5
Disciplines - PN (Epic Failure), IV (real run)
Bring - Jewled Mace, normal dagger, potions for book 11; discard rope if present
Awards - Minimum Combat, Epic Failure

First, I took advantage of the rare campaign where I'm without Nexus by this point and completed the Epic Failure. I went the Cetza route since there was less RNG, and I chose something other than Invisibility since I didn't want the Solaris bonus for the Assault Captain encounter. The "real" run, where I couldn't fight a single combat, I definitely wanted that Solaris bonus, and it's the reason why I started picking those disciplines back in book 8. As the hints indicate, there's only one way to ghost this book - the "forbidden" route through the Isle of Ghosts. I love befriending the bear with ranked Animal Control and watching him tear the demon doggos to pieces, but the first hurdle was shortly after that - Demonlord Tagazin. The only way to get past this without fighting is to cut the amulet from its neck. I made sure to equip the Jeweled Mace beforehand, as it gives a small bonus. Then I needed to avoid the Krorn at River Brol, which Solaris helps with significantly. With my bow bonuses (WM + Mentora + special bow from book 9) and RNT guiding, the shot to bypass the garrison fight was guaranteed. That just leaves Big Ugly. Solaris to the rescue again. And once past him, since I didn't have Nexus or loot his key, I needed to bring a disposable dagger so that I wouldn't lose the DoV. None of the RNT checks were particularly brutal, as shown below, but they took a few more runs than I expected to line up properly.

Cut amulet 7+ 12/16 = 75%
Avoid Krorn 7+ 12/16 = 75%
Avoid DAC 7+ 12/16 = 75%

Total RNT = 42%

Book 11:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - CR
Bring - n/a
Awards - none

No awards to be had here since the two that would otherwise be possible were not due to having AC. It was a pretty ordinary run-through. Didn't have the 'Swerd and needed to survive the combats. I picked up the Ookor Charm and Scarlet Sword. Used a +2 Alether on CM and the +4 on villains. Although they weren't really necessary, since I had what could be considered pretty absurd ratios against both: +10 and +8, respectively. The villains fight only lasted 2 rounds thanks to the Prodigy-powered Scarlet Sword!

Book 12:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - PN
Bring - ‘Swerd
Awards - Minimum Combat

On paper, the MC route here has pretty unlikely odds, but I managed to get it on the first try! I had to kill the Xargath with a bow shot to get past without a fight. Then I had to evade the first Drakkarim fight, land the Kagonite roll, shoot the sergeant in the head, and avoid the rest of the squad (no extra loot for me). I had no choice but to scale the giak outpost since using the bow to bypass the Ictakko requires both Circles of Solaris and Spirit. The only way to get 1 combat out of the Kraagenskul event is to shank him with the Dagger of Vashna. The other methods force 2 fights. I used an Alether and it was no problem at +10 ratio. Going to gamble on the Lajakeka got me past the Plaak, and taking the street path through Helgedad saw me safely to the finale. All the RNT rolls after the outpost were guaranteed with guiding and/or my discipline setup. As per usual, I shot Taktaal with the special arrow, cleaved the Mind Reaper in two, and obliterated Gnaag with the 'Swerd.

Xargath 3+ 13/16 = 81%
Kagonite 0-3 8/16 = 50%
Outpost 2+ 14/16 = 88%

Total RNT = 36%

Conclusion:
This required a lot of thought for setup/planning, but it ended up being easier than I anticipated. If anyone reading has ever played games with prominent stealth components, you are aware that it's a different, but ultimately fun experience. I basically RP'd as a forest elf ranger. This one was also pretty quick in total campaign time since I only fought 34 total combats throughout. I assume that Version S' speedrun awards forego all unnecessary combat since that can slow things down significantly. In summation, I am very grateful for my extraordinary luck with books 8 and 12, and I'm glad to have another batch of awards to add to the pile.

What's next?
An obvious gap in my award collection are the dreaded Fresh Starts. Well, some of them are dreaded. I think, before I start tackling those, I'm going to do another Misc Award Cleanup run, which will require some really specific discipline choices for certain awards I have left. I can get at least one award in all books except 1, 5 and 12. The highlight of which will probably be book 9's Insane Crime Spree. Until then!

[Ofecks]

Vanilla SS Cleanup Run #2 is complete! No screenshot this time. Here's what I did:

Book 1:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - WS (dagger), HL, 6S, MB, AK
Awards - none

I have all the awards already except the infamous Epic Failure. Instead, my goals were to roll WS in daggers (didn't take many restarts, thankfully), pick up the Giak Spear to document its special Prodigy bonuses, and pass through the graveyard for book 3's Mischievous award. EZPZ.

Book 2:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - MS
Bring - Shield, potion
Awards - Charitable
Do both of the following:
.(93) give the Ragadorn beggars 10+ crowns
.(299) acquire and give Rhygar the Magic Spear

An unusual run where I need to both kill the Spear Helghast and bring AK to survive after giving the spear away. Mindshield is a big help as well. Once again I murdered poor Halvorc for his dagger to use later.

Book 3:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - TK
Bring - PLW, Laumspur
Awards - Mischievous
Do all of the following:
.(79) Acquire and use the Graveweed concentrate to kill the Ice Barbarians in the kitchen
.(194) Open the Silver Helm chest by picking the lock with a Dagger or Bone Sword
.(296) Kill the throne-hall Ice Barbarian guards via combat

Graveweed 5+ 15/16 = 94%
SH chest lockpick 8+ 10/16 = 63%
Guards 5+ 10/16 = 63%

Total RNT = 37%

This one was tricky, but RNGesus was with me and I got all the rolls I needed first try. Here's where WS-Daggers and bringing one from a previous book came in handy. I made sure I lacked CF, HT, and MM by this point, as well. Having Mindblast helped with acquiring the Graveweed.

Book 4:
Restarts - 1
Disciplines - CF
Bring - CMW; stash ‘Swerd
Awards - Epic Failure

All I did here was put the 'Swerd in storage and not pick HT or MM to get the Epic Failure. Got the roll on the first try, hence only one restart. On the real run, I took the chest route through the mines for the Alether and Holy Water.

EF 0-4 9/16 = 56%

I won't bother putting in book 5, since I got no awards and did no substantial prerequisites for any later in the campaign. I already had an Alether for book 6 so I got captured right away and sped through the book. I did get the Jeweled Mace which was a little useful later (but not hugely so), and I 'Swerded Haakon just for the remote chance I can pick up the Heroic award in passing, but I wasted him pretty quickly with minimal damage to myself.

Book 6:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - DV, PN, WM [don’t pick daggers]
Bring - Bow, Quiver, Laumspur, Alether
Awards - Bounty (cultists), Mischievous (tasks)
Do both of these:
.(145) kill the Acolytes of Vashna in Quarlen
.(321, 56) kill the Cener Druid ritual leader by either using the 'Swerd or a bow shot
Do all of the following:
.(271) Steal a horse after the archery tournament
.(160) Slam the stable door into the Cess-selling kid's head
.(163) Steal a pontoon from the Ogrons sieging Tekaro

South gate 3+ 14/16 = 88%
Horse 6+ 9/16 = 56%

Total RNT = 49%

A double for this one! I entered the archery tourney and cheated heavily with drugs and magic rolled very well to win it without issue. My luck continued to shine, as I got away with the horse first try! Intentionally left dagger off the Weaponmastery checklist for some shenanigans in book 9.

Book 7:
Restarts - 1
Disciplines - CR
Bring - Rope, Fireseeds, extra quiver?
Awards - Mischievous
Do all of the following:
.(79, 345) Kill Tavig with a bow or via melee
.(305) Rip the Diamond off of the tapestry
.(129) Use the Adgana at any time before you reach section 122 at the end

Finally was able to get this one. After shooting Tavig dead, I also shot most of the Dhax that were chasing him. Ran into another bow shot section where Weaponmastery doesn't provide a bonus! I mean, in context it made sense (vision was obscured by a cloud of vapor), so maybe this one isn't a bug. I went the Rahkkos path in the maze, and thanks to Divination, was able to fight it with a weapon. The one bit of randomness wasn't a problem - the restart was because I was supposed to use the Adgana on Rahkkos but I completely forgot to and only realized it after my backpack was lost at the end!

Shrinking gap 5+ 12/16 = 75%

Book 8:
Restarts - 0!
Disciplines - NX
Bring - 40 GC, Alether, restoratives, meal
Awards - High Combat (12), Intellectual, Bounty, MK HC Meta
Do all of the following:
.(166) Read the bounty on Kezoor the Necromancer
.(117) Let the bowyery owner use the Silver Bow of Duadon
.(78) Spend the night at the Temple of the Sword
.(88) Melee the Drakkarim attacking Syada refugees

Bourn 5+ 14/16 = 88%

Combats:
Keezor
Bourn
Helghast
Monks
Rogue miner
Drakkarim
Anapheg
Xlorg 1
Xlorg 2
Python
Ghagrim
Vordaks

A triple, no quadruple here! For the first time since playing SS this year, I took the riverboat. I wonder what Chai-cheer tastes like? Being forced into Tharro was a good opportunity to kill the evil bowmaster, although losing the SBoD stings a lot. That's ok, I've done more runs without it than with it at this point. I went ahead and bought the Grey Crystal Ring just because I could, really. 'Swerding the Helghast in Prodigy mode was quite risky, for even with an Alether potion and all my bonuses, I was still at a -7 ratio. Yikes. I barely survived with 8 EP remaining. The only reason I won at all was the two 0s and a 9 that I rolled (out of 8 rounds). I had anticipated this, though, so I brought a bunch of Laumspur to drink since I fought a pack of monks right afterwards. I then preceded to hack my way through the swamp creatures and Super Flying Vordak Squad for the High Combat win. And that was the last HC award I needed, so it also completed the respective MK meta.

Book 9:
Restarts - 0!
Disciplines - PM
Bring - Alether x2, 2 junk backpack items, Rope; deposit ‘Swerd, DoV
Awards - Mischievous (crime spree)
Do all of the following:
.(235) gave the beggars less than 3 GC, lost 2 backpack items
.(85) killed some Anarian Rangers on the highway
.(225 + 190) trapped the old man in the cellar and stole his things
.(170) killed the drunken mercenaries in the eating house
.(185) escaped the gatehouse cell
.(309, 238) killed tower guards
.(19, 319) bribed Slovian mercenaries
.(137) the senate voted against you

Dagger throw 0-6 14/16 = 88%
Tower guards 4+ 12/16 = 75%
Senate vote 5+ 11/16 = 69%

Total RNT = 46%

Here it is, the most epic of Naughty-boy-Kai anti-feats. A lot of my setups in previous books revolved around getting this done. Needed NX, DV, PM, but not PS or WM in daggers. I needed to miss a dagger throw after getting arrested to fight and kill the tower guards. That particular spot in the book had 2 rolls associated with it, actually. Then the anti-Senate vote afterwards. With RNT guiding, that one is slightly easier to get than having the Senate help you (10/16 odds). I nailed all of them first try! Because there was enough RNG in my path already, I left the 'Swerd and Dagger of Vashna in storage so I could melee Kimah with the Psychic Ring. Although I learned something interesting - Maghana's Dagger counts as a DoV in this instance! I assume you can throw it at the boss for the win! The option to use it was available but since I didn't have WM-daggers, it was too risky for my liking. Plus the standard combat with it is harder than with the ring. I had a +7 ratio, ha.

Book 10:
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - IV
Bring - Alethers + restorables for book 11, DoV
Awards - Bounty (Jarel)
Do all of the following:
.(331) talk with Halgar and don't make him suspicious
.(172) kill the Gorodon
.(59) take the first watch

First watch 0-4 10/16 = 63%

Needed IV and couldn't have AC. Finally I was safe to check the "daggers" box. And I brought Vasha's Poker with me along with my usual assortment of drugs for book 11. Once again, I was lucky and I got the roll I needed to complete the Bounty on the first try. This was the first time in a long time I took this path through book 10 and I don't think I will again for the remainder of the awards. Maybe I'll do it for equilibrium if I have time to do a final BTB run of 1-17 at the very end.

Book 11:
Restarts - 9
Disciplines - PS
Bring - n/a
Awards - Bounty
Kill all of the following:
.(245) Khozinda
.(21, 162) Tazgar Worm
.(227) Giant Guakor Lizard
.(327) Haagadar Sewer Snake

Lizard encounter 0-2 6/16 = 38%

Aaaaand, my luck ran out. Success here is hinged upon an unlikely roll towards the end of the book. Seriously, 10 attempts at a 38% success rate is horrible RNG. It was also a bit of a time-sink as getting to that point was 5-6 minutes each attempt, assuming I stayed focused on quickly clicking the right buttons (not always!). Picked Psi-surge for my final discipline to make all the combats easier. The usual sore spots - CM, villainy, hunchback - were mere paper dolls to my Lone Wolf scissors. I even scored K's on all three of them!

Skipped book 12 because there are no more awards I can get with this campaign's setup.

Conclusion:
A fine run. Lotsa great luck, minus a hard time with the finale. The previously-unknown bonus of Maghana's Dagger is a nice pickup for my documentation. In case anyone was wondering, I cheated and looked up the answers of all 3 riddles in book 8 because I'm utter crap at that sort of thing. You know those math word problems from middle/high school (roughly ages 12-18)? I never once got one right.

What's Next:
Ok, here's the deal. I'd like to get the rest of the awards complete by November 2nd. I will then be moving onto other things and will likely not come back to Seventh Sense for a long time. It was about a year or so in between this and my previous interest in it. I've got just over a week to finish and I don't know if I can do it. Starting tomorrow, I'll be cranking up work on both planning and attempts. Normally I allot 6-9pm (my time) for PC gaming, which currently means Seventh Sense stuff, but I'll also add a few hours in the afternoon as well. This isn't a complete list of the awards I have left, but it includes some highlights (as in, really awful stuff that will test my patience):

- Fresh Starts (I can pick up a small handful of outliers along with these)
- Book 1 EF
- No-equipment Challenges
- Book 5 Heroic (Haakon)
- Book 8 dragon bounty (requires a full run since the CS is so damn high)
- Book 10 'Swerdfest (will need do this on BTB rules)
- Book 12 Medal bribe (not sure how I will tackle this one)
- All HC-rules Discipline-limitations (no WS/MB will suck so much)

I'll do what I can!

[uziel]

Sometimes taking a break is the right approach. The worst one for me was the 1-12 playthrough in 60 minutes, with no deaths or restarts. Needs an element of luck, along with a lot of careful planning, and is just downright horrid. Not sure if you've attempted that as yet, as haven't seen it mentioned I don't think in any of your playthroughs? I've taken breaks of up to a year from Seventh Sense, before I get the itch again. I'll try another campaign soon, to get that final Magnakai award, before I start on the Grandmaster awards.

The Medal bribe trophy (Scourge of Luomi) needs you to play from at least book 10 (battle of Cetza to get the medal), and you need to make you "don't" have Invisibility or Psi-Surge as disciplines when you hit book 12. So I'd fresh start from maybe 7 or 8 (if you want a bit of a leg-up for other disciplines), and then attempt it.

[Ofecks]

Oct 25, 2021 11:42:19 GMT uziel said:

The worst one for me was the 1-12 playthrough in 60 minutes, with no deaths or restarts. Needs an element of luck, along with a lot of careful planning, and is just downright horrid. Not sure if you've attempted that as yet, as haven't seen it mentioned I don't think in any of your playthroughs?

Ah yeah, that's a Version S-only achievement. I'm only using vanilla SS this time. IIRC the 1-12 speedrun didn't explicitly require a deathless run, but it's possible the time limit was designed around that. I do remember seeing a 1-20 no-deaths-or-restarts one. I like the one hint: "good luck!" Haha.

Oct 25, 2021 11:42:19 GMT uziel said:

The Medal bribe trophy (Scourge of Luomi) needs you to play from at least book 10 (battle of Cetza to get the medal), and you need to make you "don't" have Invisibility or Psi-Surge as disciplines when you hit book 12. So I'd fresh start from maybe 7 or 8 (if you want a bit of a leg-up for other disciplines), and then attempt it.

That strategy seems reasonable, thanks for the tip. I'd maybe start with book 9 because fresh-start 8 is a steep climb. Then again, the Cetza route to get the medal in the first place has 4 forced combats with combat skills all above 20. Maybe Fresh Start 7 would be the right call. Getting through book 11 without Psi-surge, though... urgh. Oh, it's ranked PS. Principalin or higher. That means a fresh-start book 10 would work (as you'd end up in book 12 as a Tutelary) and it could be brought to help with the combats. Definitely some things to think about.

I've already started writing out strats for the Fresh Starts. I'm going to save book 3 for last, because I think I can get the no-equipment Heroic one along with it. Same with 7 (which will be easier than 3) but probably not 10.

e: I've knocked some of these out so far. The easy ones. Kai series, 6 and 7. Even stacked the item-less clear in 7. 3, 8, 11, and 12 will be the worst of the bunch and I'm saving those for last. Anyone have any insight on the overall difficulty ranking for those 4? Remember, I'm doing Heroic on 3 simultaneously, which means punching the boss within 7 rounds on a negative ratio. I think I'd say off the top of my head, from hardest to easiest:

11 > 3 > 8 > 12

[uziel]

Been a while since I did all the Fresh Starts & item-less challenges. But you can navigate book 8 & only engage in a single fight, which makes it pretty easy. Similarly with good choices, you can avoid almost every fight (except 2, from memory) in book 3, including most importantly any Kalkoths, and Akraa'Neonor, which turns this one from challenging to pretty easy.

Prisoners of Time is predictably the biggest pain in the ass, but I'd put Masters of Darkness ahead of the other two, although again with good choices, it's not terrible.

For me:
11 > 12 > 3 > 8

And there's a big difficulty margin between 11 & 12.

[Ofecks]

Oct 27, 2021 9:41:09 GMT uziel said:

And there's a big difficulty margin between 11 & 12.

I'll agree with that statement, as I got 12 on the 2nd try but I'm 7 attempts into 11 with no win yet. 8 I got on the first try, but the 2 swamp creatures I had to fight were pretty difficult and I didn't have Curing. The problem with 3's no-item run is that the boss has 50 EP and you have to punch through it all within 7 rounds at -1 CR. That one had 6 restarts for me (including one try where I killed it fast enough but failed the final roll and died instantly afterwards), but I got it.

So from my own experience:
11 >>> 3 (with Heroic award) >>>>>> 12 >> 8

Something like that! Then again, I rolled really well on the 2 boss fights in 12: I managed to kill Kraagenskul with 2 EP left and I rolled 3 zeros in a row on Gnaag. That's some crazy luck. YMMV

[uziel]

From memory, in book 3 you're allowed to use Alether & Laumspur even in the "item-less" run.

[uziel]

Oct 25, 2021 17:51:21 GMT Ofecks said:

IIRC the 1-12 speedrun didn't explicitly require a deathless run, but it's possible the time limit was designed around that. I do remember seeing a 1-20 no-deaths-or-restarts one. I like the one hint: "good luck!" Haha.

Can't speak for vanilla SS, as it's been forever since I played that. But Seventh Sense S is definitely a deathless 1-12 speed run in 60 minutes. It was an absolute nightmare. I got to the point where I could almost do books 1-10 blindfolded, would rarely die to bad rolls in 2-4; would occasionally die in book 9 to various bad rolls, and frequently got punished by the Chaos Master in book 11. When I finally beat the CM, I cruised through book 12 (and was cringing thru parts of it, as I didn't want to fail on 12).

[Ofecks]

Oct 28, 2021 8:22:01 GMT uziel said:

From memory, in book 3 you're allowed to use Alether & Laumspur even in the "item-less" run.

Correct. I don't know how you'd feasibly get this award without the Alether. The Laumspur seemed utterly useless throughout my attempts. On the path I took, there's only one combat besides the boss and it was pretty easy - the kitchen Barbarians. I guess if I rolled extremely poorly on that (which wasn't likely due to RNT guiding) I'd use it right before the boss. There's also only one meal requirement, which I picked up while abandoning the sledges.

Oct 28, 2021 9:30:24 GMT uziel said:

But Seventh Sense S is definitely a deathless 1-12 speed run in 60 minutes. It was an absolute nightmare. I got to the point where I could almost do books 1-10 blindfolded, would rarely die to bad rolls in 2-4; would occasionally die in book 9 to various bad rolls, and frequently got punished by the Chaos Master in book 11. When I finally beat the CM, I cruised through book 12 (and was cringing thru parts of it, as I didn't want to fail on 12).

Grats, that does sound awful. What was your overall strat? Minimal combat, stay out of trouble?

e: Book 11 Fresh Start done. 7 attempts. Less than expected! I recall Norshire got it in 12 a year or so ago, I think. I'll upload screencaps of my battle record (the pertinent fights, anyway) along with my write-up later. It was a butt-clencher for sure!

New question regarding the Cetza 'Swerd award in 10: the 2nd hint says "Two daggers from a previous adventure will make this easier". Guessing this means special Prodigy weapon bonuses, as I've located one of them (Senate Dagger from book 9). What's the other one? Does the DoV have a special bonus vs Baron Shinzar?

[uziel]

Oct 28, 2021 16:14:24 GMT Ofecks said:

Grats, that does sound awful. What was your overall strat? Minimal combat, stay out of trouble?

Definitely was minimal combat! I found I could knock thru all the Kai books in around 10-15 mins, then took it a bit slower with the Magnakai, as there's more opportunities to screw up, and the adventures take a bit longer to play thru.

Oct 28, 2021 16:14:24 GMT Ofecks said:

e: Book 11 Fresh Start done. 7 attempts. Less than expected! I recall Norshire got it in 12 a year or so ago, I think. I'll upload screencaps of my battle record (the pertinent fights, anyway) along with my write-up later. It was a butt-clencher for sure!

Haha! Well done! I did the Fresh Start on book 11 so long ago. Not sure how many attempts, but I remember it was a lot!

Oct 28, 2021 16:14:24 GMT Ofecks said:

New question regarding the Cetza 'Swerd award in 10: the 2nd hint says "Two daggers from a previous adventure will make this easier". Guessing this means special Prodigy weapon bonuses, as I've located one of them (Senate Dagger from book 9). What's the other one? Does the DoV have a special bonus vs Baron Shinzar?

No, the DoV offers no special bonus that I recall. You don't even need daggers, it's only a suggestion, and really doesn't make a difference. All that's really required for this one is to carry the Sommerswerd (so you can face Shinzar), and then beat both the Ziran and then Shinzar. That's it. This one is surprisingly straightforward.

[Ofecks]

Oct 29, 2021 0:57:11 GMT uziel said:

You don't even need daggers, it's only a suggestion, and really doesn't make a difference.

You might have misunderstood me. In Prodigy mode, the Anarian Senate's Dagger gives a +6 CS vs Ziran w/ Powerstave. Just wondering if you (or anyone else) knew of another dagger (since the hint mentions 2) that might be useful against Shinzar in Prodigy. I have a long list of special weapons found in Prodigy mode (and their various bonuses), but it's possible I missed some.

In any case, a BTB rules run is underway so I can do this one with the +8 'Swerd bonus. If I set it up correctly (and bring Alethers), my ratio should be well into the positive side.

[Ofecks]

It's time for some updates. As mentioned above, I've done all the Fresh Start awards. I'll go through these each individually, the hardest ones will be at the bottom in my perceived order of difficulty. All of these were done with Prodigy rules.

Book 2:
Restarts - 1
Disciplines - HT, AK, HL, CF, MB
Bring - Any weapon, Shield
Extra awards - Mischievous
.(6, 283) either chase or ignore the young pickpocket in Ragadorn's emporium
.(130) ignore the cheating card player in Gorn Cove
.(68) bribe watchtower border guard

I had one more award to get for this book besides the FS so I was easily* able to get both of them done simultaneously. Made sure to pick AK so I wouldn't have to deal with the Helghast. Also, I couldn't have TK, 6S, or MM.
I had to get picked up by the fishing boat, so RIP Shield, unfortunately. Once again I decided to kill our favorite punching bag, Halvorc, just to keep things simple. Even though I was unarmed, I caved his skull in with one blow. If I said I didn't feel bad about all the times I've murdered him, I'd be lying, especially this one since it was with my bare hands. His pocket change was necessary to complete the Mischievous award. Bribing the watchtower guard was an easier fight than the bridge guards, so I took the left fork but completely avoided the Szalls and Helghast. As far as the Fresh Start, it is no challenge whatsoever. The extra discipline from book 1 doesn't matter at all to get through this one safely.

This completes book 2, I now have all the awards under its heading.

*The one and only restart was due to having no money and failing the first cartwheel roll. I made some wiser choices with money and had better luck the 2nd, successful, attempt.

Book 4
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - HL, HT, CF, MB, WS [warhammer, dagger, sword, spear, mace, broadsword]
Bring - Weapon, Shield, CMW, Potion x2, Meal

Easy. I knew I was going to have to do some fighting, even on the Minimal Combat route, so I picked Weaponskill with a weapon I could pick up along the way (Broadsword) or at the start (the others). This was several runs ago so I no longer have the action chart, but I think I did roll the Broadsword. It's on the mines chest route for the holy water. I couldn't get through the stairs path at Maaken (the 'Swerd is required to survive), but having CF helped with getting past the crypt guards without a fight.

Book 5
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - HL, MM, WS [mace], MB, MS
Bring - Mace, Shield, Laumspur, Meal
Extra awards - Bounty

Easy. Even having to kill some Kwarazi in the sewers along the way, which forbids having AK and 6S to get both of them. I intentionally got captured after that so I could get an Alether (from killing the blowpipe dudes) and the Jeweled Mace. With the Alether, magical mace, and my choice of disciplines, Dhorghaan was no problem.

Book 6
Restarts - 0
Disciplines - WM [bow, WH, whatev], CR, NX
Bring - Warhammer, Bow, Quiver, Laumspur, PLW

Easy. I hit up Castle Taunor for the Bronin Warhammer, mainly to check its special bonuses in Prodigy mode. That was definitely the right call for a Fresh Start, as it gives +5 CS vs the Dakomyd. The only point of contention is that I ran out of money in Varetta and staying at the inn cost 2 backpack items! Lost Laumspur and Taunor Water, oof. Oh well, I didn't need them anyway, as you can see by the lack of restarts.

Book 7
Restarts - 0!
Disciplines - CR, PN, PS
Bring - absolutely nothing
Extra awards - Heroic

Now the fun begins. I did the Heroic award at the same time, which means no equipment at all! I finished on the first try but it was a close shave. I had a lot of un-healable EP damage, which would've made the required combats impossible if not for picking Curing. I started the challenge by landing at the beach, running from the rats, and fighting the Zagothal. There's no way I could've feasibly killed that thing unarmed as a fresh character, so I evaded. But doing 3 rounds at -10 nearly killed me. I ran across the beach, across the bridge, and climed the stairs... and the wall because I had neither Nexus nor a Rope. Thankfully CR had restored some EP by this point because I rolled an 8 and lost 10 EP! Psi-screen got me past the Oudakon safely. The whole route up to this point was to avoid the snake pits since I needed to meet Tavig and I lacked a source of light (no equipment!), and this is the only way through it otherwise. I solved the triangle puzzle and used Psi-surge to bypass the bats. Met Tavig and hung out with him until the end. This meant having to punch the giant fist, lol! It took 3 rounds and I was left with 8 EP. Grabbed the Power-key. I wonder what happens if you get to the end without one? Does SS just not let you click the button for 350? I wasn't planning on finding out. In the maze, I ignored the sword, which meant having to fight Rahkkos (need the sword or Firesphere to get past the bubbles in the left corridor), but that wasn't too bad. That's two hands I had to beat bare-handed, I just find that ironically amusing. Also had to punch the Oudagorg, it wasn't a problem. Thankfully book 7's RNT has a section with no numbers 0-2 so the Rahkkos and Throne-hall Guard rolls were guaranteed without HM or DV because of the guiding feature. From there I destroy the Doomstone (by punching it?!?), grab the Lorestone, then GTFO for the win.

Book 9
Restarts - 6
Disciplines - WM [daggers, bow, whatev], PS, HM CR
Bring - Rope, Bow, Quiver, Laumspur, Lantern

I'd say this one had some difficulty to it, because I needed to get voted against by the Senate. That took several tries. Also, I started off with Huntmastery instead of Curing, but the latter once again proved indispensable because of some unavoidable EP loss along the way. The first half the book, I took the Minimal Combat route - got Invitation, used it to get past the rangers and town guards, ignored the eating house and ended up at Chiban's.
Once I landed the Senate vote I wanted, I grabbed Maghana's Dagger and used the Rope to get through the cauldron drop safely. Since I didn't have any fireseeds (5 item max at start), I needed to examine both tokens so I wouldn't encounter the dragon. Even after changing my discipline loadout, I barely killed the Psi-ghoul with 3 EP remaining. During the siege, I chose not to shoot the engineer so I could fight the Gourgaz, but it wasn't a problem since I got a full EP restore from the Lorestone. For Kimah, I can now confirm that, in Prodigy mode, you can indeed throw Maghana's Dagger at him, and it's guaranteed due to WM-Daggers and RNT guiding.

Book 10
Restarts - 1
Disciplines - WM [broadsword, axe, whatev], PS, CR
Bring - Laumspur, Alether, Meals

Unlike book 7, I wasn't about to try to get the no-equipment award for this one along with a fresh start. I took the Cetza route and stayed out of trouble, requiring that I get 4-7 on the sniper roll (which took 2 tries) so I could pick up both Death Knight weapons for their special bonuses. I used the axe on the Krorn pack, but then lost it after failing the Shinzar roll afterwards. Oh well, it was only useful for that one fight and I still have the Broadsword, which is extra effective vs Drakkarim. There's no way to skip the Torgar garrison on a fresh start, so I had to fight them. Plus Big Ugly for his key. Guess I could've brought a dagger but I didn't think I'd land the avoidance roll. Sure enough, I bumped into him, so I used the Alether and broadsworded his face for the win. This one was pretty easy as long as I got the special weapons (a 44% chance).




So the above Fresh Starts weren't too bad overall, but some I anticipated were going to be toughies, so I saved them for last.

Book 8
Restarts - 0!
Disciplines - WM [sword, whatev, whatev], PS, PN
Bring - Laumspur, all 3 meals, fireseeds

Well this turned out ok! The path I took maybe wasn't necessary, either. After looting the Prophetess' ever-useful potions, I entered Tharro so that I could pick up the Monk's Sword for its special bonus during the Vordak ending. This meant killing the boss Helghast. Thankfully, Paido's Sword has some great bonuses in Prodigy mode, so I was able to shred the Helghast pretty effectively. From there, I saved one of the Laumspurs and drank the other restoratives. I stayed out of trouble until the swamp, where I had to fight the Anapheg and Python, the latter of which I barely survived with 5 EP remaining. That was thanks to some lucky rolls where I took zero damage (any taken is doubled). A Fireseed bypassed the Ghagrim and Psi-surge took care of the giant spooder. I used the Alether on the Vordaks and won within 4 rounds.

Even though I got a win on the first try, I'd say this one should be pretty tough normally. Skipping Tharro might've been feasible here, and using the potions to heal after Anapheg could've been a safer play, but I'm not sure. Since PN was useful to bump the CR against the Vordaks, I don't know if it could be swapped for Curing.

Book 12
Restarts - 1
Disciplines - WM [bow, sword, whatev], PS, CR
Bring - Sword, Bow, Quiver, Laumspur, Meal x2

A bit of a step up in difficulty here, but I got it on the 2nd try! The first problem was all the fights I needed to do during the naval battle. On my first attempt, I was using Psi-surge haphazardly on everything, but that was a poor decision so I had to restart. If you have to fight a bunch of fights without much Curing sections in between, the CS bonus it's not worth taking an extra 2 EP per round. Mindblast was still good to have since nothing was immune all the way up to Kraagenskul. And that's the 2nd problem here. Since the Adgana needed to be saved for the finale, I struggled quite a bit with Mr. 'Skul and I only barely eked out a victory with 2 EP left. Having to do another 30/36 fight right before him didn't help things. From there, it was smooth sailing up until Helgedad. The street was probably safer than the tunnel, but I needed to choose between fighting the Minions of Taktaal or landing a 7-9 RNT roll. I chose the former and killed them in 3 rounds thanks to the special Prodigy damage bonus of Helshezag. So I only lost 2 max EP there. I got really lucky and killed the Vladoka with a bow shot, and I also insta-killed the Mind Reaper on the first round. That just left Buzz Darkyear. I smoked up the Adgana and I was at a +4 ratio! It was a nail-biter of a fight, but I rolled 3 zeros in a row for the win.

Book 3
Restarts - 6
Disciplines - HT, HL, 6S, MB, CF
Bring - absolutely nothing
Extra awards - Heroic

Normally a fresh start in book 3 is ezpz, but the Heroic (no equipment) cheevo is most certainly not! The trouble spot here is punching the boss within 7 rounds. According to the hints, using the +4 Alether is considered "cheating" but I don't see how this award is completable without it. Well, I'm sure it's possible, but I imagine that taking hundreds of attempts. The path there is pretty straight-forward. Glacier route, don't investigate the strange light or cross the Myjaviks. Unload the sledge at the ice-bridge and grab one meal. North tunnel in the caverns to get a free Blue Stone Triangle. I discarded it after using it on the door, but I'm not sure if that's required. Continued along and got the Laumspur and Alether potions. The Laumspur doesn't really have much use unless one rolls very poorly against the kitchen Barbarians, the only other required fight. Staying out of trouble (avoiding the evil statue, doomwolves, and Helghast) and finding Loi-kymar is all easy without gear. Of the 6 attempts minus the winning one, I actually killed the boss on the 7th round once, only to die instantly on the next roll (a 1-in-10 chance!). That was... disappointing, to say the least.

Book 11
Restarts - 6
Disciplines - WM [bow, sword, broadsword], PS, CR
Bring - Sword, Bow, Quiver, Laumspur
Extra awards - Charitable

Here it is, the main event. I expected many more restarts here but I got it on the lucky 7th run (same as books 9 and 3, too!). Norshire was absolutely correct in that the Wounded Yoacor at the start was the deadliest foe. In all but 2 of the attempts he ended my life and quest. Assuming one can get past him, in Yanis you need to eat one of the meals you get at the start to pick up the Yoacor Dagger. It's a sword that has a nice CS bonus against Agtah on Prodigy mode. Once in Vhozada, avoid the monolith to fill the rest of the backpack full of restorative meals. Getting into Thas isn't a problem as a fresh character, and the first of 3 full EP restores is bestowed. The Ookor Charm must be picked up. During the bridge battle, it's safest to stay with the chariots and fend off the Agtah with the Yoacor weapon. All proceeds normally until the Scarlet Warrior encounter, where attempting to shoot him can be beneficial and thankfully the following combat needs only to get his EP to 20. Another full restore comes up shortly after this, anyway. Once the last Agtah are dead, drop the Yoacor Dagger for the Scarlet Sword. Once at the burial site, go straight to Baylon's Tomb and open the sarcophagus for the flask. Chaos-master time! I had a -2 CR here which isn't too bad, but having to carve through 54 EP takes some doing (and lucky rolls). I declined the offer for help afterwards so I could get a few extra sections of Curing. Rolling a 3-9 to meet the Zhengha is preferred here, as is rolling a 5+ on the bow shot to skip fighting it. I managed to get both. Now for the Shadow Reavers. The Ookor Charm worked its magic and even though I was at -6 CR, I rolled extremely well (3 zeros even!) and won with minimal EP losses. The third and final full EP restore. I don't think FS would be possible without it (or the other SS bonuses). Once at Haagadar, I made a really risky play to get the last award from here - feeding the snake my last remaining 4 meals worth 12 EP recovery. Lost 3 EP from the vent entrance because I couldn't afford another battle, and started hacking at the villains with another -6 CR. Well, the last round was -8 because my EP was too low for Psi-surge! The Scarlet Sword did its work and I survived. Drank both doses of the flask and the Laumspur to heal up for Vonitar. 5 more unavoidable damage, and I entered the fight at 13 EP. In 3 rounds he was dead, to my utter relief.

Here's a capture of the pertinent fights. As you can see, they were all very close (except the Shadow Reavers, thanks to the Ookor Charm). Also, since I went into the Yoacor combat with 28 EP it means I rolled the best possible outcome on the un-Curable shadow gate damage at the start - a 1.



Feeding the snake completed all awards in book 11 as well!

I've got more runs to share later.