Dog Stew

[davfra]

What am I supposed to do with this plate of dog stew in d`arnise keep? My hero walks in with a plate of dog stew and the umber hulks say no thanks, we`d rather eat you!
Cheers

[Galuf the Dwarf]

You are on the right track, so here's what you do.
Very Minor

S


P

O

I

L

E


R


I would suggest that you cast Haste and Improved Invisibility on the character that you have delivering the stew to the Umber Hulks, keeping your other characters away from the doorway so that they don't initiate combat.

When you get in there, have that character go in the jail cell area on that character's left. As the character with the dog stew goes down, there will be a passage that appears to have been a section of wall and dirt that was broken open (obviously by the Umber Hulk's digging). Go in there, and put the stew in an area that you can loot (which only has some useless dog skeletons in them). Place the stew in that spot, and then leave the area, watching those subterrainean menaces go head over heals for one heck of treat! The thing is, you've got to do this a bit on the quick side (that's where the Haste spell comes in handy), or otherwise the Invisability may wear off.

Do these directions sound effective? Everything appear to be understandable?

[VonDondu]

Killing a few poor dogs to avoid having to face the big, bad monsters is not very heroic. Why would you let such monsters live?

If you want an easy way to deal with them that will also leave them dead, just cast Cloudkill on them from a safe distance and watch them drop.

[dragon wench]

Yes, but the damn dogs attack you regardless, so you may as well collect the bodies and make the stew. Besides, as I recall this also gives you XP.
I guess if you really wanted to avoid killing the dogs you could have your rangers and/or druids cast "charm animal," but otherwise those hounds are programmed to attack.

All that being said, I was rarely able to find all the dog meat, and consequently discovered that a couple of shots of "Holy Smite" is also very effective against the umberhulks

[Oogly Mage]

Does the dog stew making give you exp?

Because I would simply prefer to kill all the umberhulks if that gives more. They arent that tough one at a time.
Even though this is kinda cheesy, you can open the door, wait till one goes through, then close the door. Consequentaly you get to fight them one by one.
Also the holy smiting is good huntin' i agree.
I'm not sure if cloud kill affects them(I know the gas cloud thingy ~lvl 2 mage spell that makes things unconsious~ doesn't)

[VonDondu]

Originally posted by dragon wench
Yes, but the damn dogs attack you regardless...

Of course they do, because the damn humans from the Keep keep killing them and feeding them to the umber hulks.

Besides, even though they're hostile, they don't run after you to attack you; they only attack if you get too close to them.

Poor things.

[JackOfClubs]

I share your sympathy for the dogs, but once you clear the keep they are obliterated anyway, so I usually get over it.

Well, assuming you can get over the ethical question of killing the dogs, it is possible to get the experience both for making the stew and killing the Umber Hulks. Here is what I do:

SPOILER




Make the stew and place it in the tunnel just as Galuf has indicated above. It will take a few moments for the hulks to arrive, so use that time to throw a cloud kill spell in the corridor. Nip around the corner so that you are out of sight of the tunnel, so that you don't get nailed with the confusion spell the hulks throw. As the hulks enter the corridor, you will see their corpses pile up as they enter the gas cloud. Occasionally one or two will survive for an extra round, so make sure you are out of sight.

Of course, you can fight them the manly way, without using the cloudkill spell, but in that case your characters will need to be protected from their confusion spells (the cleric spell Chaotic Commands works well for this.)

[VonDondu]

Originally posted by JackOfClubs
I share your sympathy for the dogs, but once you clear the keep they are obliterated anyway...

That's not true. Once you clear the Keep, the dogs sleep peacefully inside their kennels--safe from people who would kill them to make stew.

And it's not really an "ethical" question. I just think that killing dogs instead of killing umber hulks is cowardly.

[Idioteque]

Originally posted by VonDondu


And it's not really an "ethical" question. I just think that killing dogs instead of killing umber hulks is cowardly.

I agree. That's why I always kill both.

[Spirit Crusher]

IMO, the most efficient 'strategy' against Umber Hulks is a Death spell. Instant kill.

[davfra]

Now that`s what I call feedback.
As far as the dogs are concerned - they became ingredients for a stew the minute they attacked my true love - Jahiera.
Cheers

[Kevka]

I made the stew and lured the Umber hulks into the prisons

I got EXP

Then I opened the prison, attacked and killed them

and I got yet more EXP

Umberhulks are nasty tho.

When playing proper D&D, one or two of my character have met there fate to them.

[fable]

@Kevka, are you saying that you got experience for simply luring the umber hulks into the prison complex? I don't recall that being something that gave experience.

One tried and true method: Jan, invisible, runs into the umber hulks' room. Gives it a good shot with a Clouds wand, when they're all bunched together, then runs out and drops behind the my convenient front line of melee fighters at the doorway.

[Kevka]

I'm sure it did.

You have to lure them into the cell and put the dog stew where the bones were.

I could be wrong, so i'll check it out tonight.

[Ekental]

I dunno why everyones so concerned about being "Manly" and not "Cowardly" I'll say I Fricken ran MAO getting the hell away from Kangaax the first time i resd him. I thought I would get xp and stuff... but NO, he wanted to kill me or something.

So in concern with the umber hulks though I didn't even worry about the dog stew... Just summoned 5 things... opened the door, cast chaos, web, stinking cloud, cloudkill, and a fireball and shut the door... I think I got exp for my summoned monsters too! Yes.. faithful till the end.

BTW Dragon Wench did you scan that picture in from the book or did you get it online? Cuase that would be a pretty good scanner, and I need one.