Baldur's Gate II Expansion Throne of Bhaal Game Guides
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2. Saradush
Quest Giver and Location
Goal of Quest
Solution Explanation
Reward
Dealing with Gromnir: Melissan, automatically met upon arrival
Find a way into the castle to deal with Gromnir
There are two ways into the castle. You can either get the key to the sewers off the guards in the barracks in the southwest corner of town or accept the offer from the harlot in the tavern and get in through the old jail. The enemies you'll face in the barracks fight aren't as tough, but there are many more of them, and you'll avoid a tough fight in the jail (in addition to the vampires).
3,000 experience points per party member for finding a way into Gromnir's fortress, 22,500 experience points for killing Gromnir, and 30,000 experience points per party member for completing the task
Saradush under Siege: Melissan, automatically met upon arrival
Stop the siege of Yaga Shura
Once you've dealt with Gromnir (as described previously), you must travel to the marching mountains and the forest of Mir to learn Yaga Shura's secrets to confront him at the giant siege camp.
50,000 experience points per party member for stopping Yaga Shura at the giant siege camp, plenty of additional experience points along the way
Tazit (boy just south of your arrival point)
Bring his father back from the dead
All you need is a resurrection or raise dead spell memorized when you speak to the boy (you can rest in the nearby tavern and memorize one there, if necessary).
1,000 experience points per party member and +1 reputation point
Betrayal at the Gates: Captain Samand, north of the gate arrival point
Determine who was the traitor who opened the city gates to the siege.
Speak to the following people in order: Mateo in the jail cell through the wall exit, the countess at her house, and Kiser at his house. You can either attack Kiser right away or get additional information from Errand or the countess
7,000 experience points per party member for rescuing Ardic without killing Errand or the countess (plus 5,000 more experience points per party member and 2,000 gold from the countess); 5,000 experience points per party member if you opt to kill the countess
Assist the Elves (group north of house of the countess)
Find a home for elven refugees
Intervene in the discussion and threaten the harassers with the "wrath of a Bhaalspawn" instead of attacking directly. Once the harassers have left, talk again to the elves and offer to find them a home. Then, go and talk to Sister Farielle in the temple and return to the elves and tell them the sister will take them in (don't try to extort favors, or you'll lose the reward).
3,000 experience points per party member and +1 reputation point
Get revenge for the harlot (outside the house of the countess)
Kill Gromnir
Detailed tips on how to get through each encounters you face follow. You incidentally solve this quest while pursuing other goals, so make sure you talk to the harlot to initiate it and go back to her for your reward.
1,000 experience points per party member
The Ghostly Apparition: within the prison lair of the vampires
Ensure that the ghostly apparition is put to rest
Retrieve the skull and necklace and put them "into" the bed of the cell where the headless body can be found. You have elven holy water from the temple with you to complete the quest.
10,000 experience points per party member plus a bronze Ioun stone
Lazarus' Missing Spellbook: From Lazarus, in the Arkana archives
Retrieve the spellbook of Lazarus Librarus
First, talk to Squip and confront him about the footprints, then go to Hectan and, after telling him about Squip, go back to Lazarus to get a teleportation scroll (warn him, or you'll lose a reputation point).
5,000 experience points per party member
Break up the fight (dispute between humans and dwarves near temple)
Resolve dispute
When asked whether or not you want to join the fight, respond that the real enemy is outside the gates (neither side has any treasure).
1,000 experience points per party member
Immediately as you arrive, a bunch of Il-Khan soldiers will attack some protesting peasants led by a woman, Melissan. You'll have no choice but to engage the soldiers yourself. They have about 75 hit points and are worth 12,000 experience points each.
Immediately after Melissan leaves, fireballs will start raining down around you, and they'll kill a peasant directly south of you, leaving his boy, Tazit, crying for aid. If you have a raise dead or resurrection spell ready, you can bring the father back to life, gaining 1,000 experience points for each party member and +1 reputation.
In the militia headquarters, you'll watch Mateo be accused of opening the city gates and be arrested. Speak to Captain Samand and offer to investigate. Then, speak to Mateo in the prison through the wall opening. Go to the house of the countess and finally to Kiser Jhaeri's residence. In Kiser Jhaeri's basement, you'll fight Kieser (6,500 experience points), three fighters (one worth 8,000 and two worth 6,500 experience points), a thief (10,000 experience points), and a mage (10,000 experience points). Once you speak to Ardic, the party will be rewarded with 7,000 experience points each. If you decide to play along with Kiser, the easiest way to solve the quest is by killing the countess instead of attacking Errand. This will earn you 10,000 gold (instead of 2,000 for taking out Errard) and 5,000 experience points for each party member, although you'll take an eight-point depreciation in reputation. Attacking Errard is more difficult, since the guards will come to his aid, and unless you take out all the hostile guards after Errard has been killed, Kiser and his crew will attack you (and you'll lose at least three reputation points for killing Errard, although you'll gain 20,000 experience points). On the bodies, you'll find a secret jail door key in addition to the following magic items (there are also items lying around upstairs and in the basement).
In the Tankard Tree tavern, there's a couple more Il-Khan soldiers harassing a waitress. Defend her honor and take them out to get a decent selection of magic items. The courtesans in the back of the tavern are vampires, as Hectan will warn you, and will try to entice individual members back to their lair. Either have a well-equipped fighter (who is immune to level draining or is at least protected by negative plane protection), accept the offer, and clean out the nest alone or go to Sister Farielle and ask her for a key (earning 1,000 experience points per party member by doing so) and invade the den with your entire party. You'll get 3,000 experience points per party member for exiting the jail into the adjoining caverns, and you can also easily solve the Ghostly Apparition quest as described in the preceding chart.
There's some elves being harassed just north of the house of the countess. If you offer to "watch the fun," you'll lose a reputation point (and characters of good alignment, such as Keldorn and Minsc, will attack you). You can attack them, but doing so will chase the elves away, so you should just threaten them with the "wrath of a Bhaalspawn," causing them to flee. After talking to the elves again, find them a home by talking to Sister Farielle at the temple.
In some crates near Kiser Jhaeri's home and the barrel west of the tavern, there's some gold, an identify scroll, and some low-value gems. There's also some gold and an identify scroll in the crates north of Mirnielle Santele's house. -
2. Saradush
Quest Giver and Location
Goal of Quest
Solution Explanation
Reward
Dealing with Gromnir: Melissan, automatically met upon arrival
Find a way into the castle to deal with Gromnir
There are two ways into the castle. You can either get the key to the sewers off the guards in the barracks in the southwest corner of town or accept the offer from the harlot in the tavern and get in through the old jail. The enemies you'll face in the barracks fight aren't as tough, but there are many more of them, and you'll avoid a tough fight in the jail (in addition to the vampires).
3,000 experience points per party member for finding a way into Gromnir's fortress, 22,500 experience points for killing Gromnir, and 30,000 experience points per party member for completing the task
Saradush under Siege: Melissan, automatically met upon arrival
Stop the siege of Yaga Shura
Once you've dealt with Gromnir (as described previously), you must travel to the marching mountains and the forest of Mir to learn Yaga Shura's secrets to confront him at the giant siege camp.
50,000 experience points per party member for stopping Yaga Shura at the giant siege camp, plenty of additional experience points along the way
Tazit (boy just south of your arrival point)
Bring his father back from the dead
All you need is a resurrection or raise dead spell memorized when you speak to the boy (you can rest in the nearby tavern and memorize one there, if necessary).
1,000 experience points per party member and +1 reputation point
Betrayal at the Gates: Captain Samand, north of the gate arrival point
Determine who was the traitor who opened the city gates to the siege.
Speak to the following people in order: Mateo in the jail cell through the wall exit, the countess at her house, and Kiser at his house. You can either attack Kiser right away or get additional information from Errand or the countess
7,000 experience points per party member for rescuing Ardic without killing Errand or the countess (plus 5,000 more experience points per party member and 2,000 gold from the countess); 5,000 experience points per party member if you opt to kill the countess
Assist the Elves (group north of house of the countess)
Find a home for elven refugees
Intervene in the discussion and threaten the harassers with the "wrath of a Bhaalspawn" instead of attacking directly. Once the harassers have left, talk again to the elves and offer to find them a home. Then, go and talk to Sister Farielle in the temple and return to the elves and tell them the sister will take them in (don't try to extort favors, or you'll lose the reward).
3,000 experience points per party member and +1 reputation point
Get revenge for the harlot (outside the house of the countess)
Kill Gromnir
Detailed tips on how to get through each encounters you face follow. You incidentally solve this quest while pursuing other goals, so make sure you talk to the harlot to initiate it and go back to her for your reward.
1,000 experience points per party member
The Ghostly Apparition: within the prison lair of the vampires
Ensure that the ghostly apparition is put to rest
Retrieve the skull and necklace and put them "into" the bed of the cell where the headless body can be found. You have elven holy water from the temple with you to complete the quest.
10,000 experience points per party member plus a bronze Ioun stone
Lazarus' Missing Spellbook: From Lazarus, in the Arkana archives
Retrieve the spellbook of Lazarus Librarus
First, talk to Squip and confront him about the footprints, then go to Hectan and, after telling him about Squip, go back to Lazarus to get a teleportation scroll (warn him, or you'll lose a reputation point).
5,000 experience points per party member
Break up the fight (dispute between humans and dwarves near temple)
Resolve dispute
When asked whether or not you want to join the fight, respond that the real enemy is outside the gates (neither side has any treasure).
1,000 experience points per party member
Immediately as you arrive, a bunch of Il-Khan soldiers will attack some protesting peasants led by a woman, Melissan. You'll have no choice but to engage the soldiers yourself. They have about 75 hit points and are worth 12,000 experience points each.
Immediately after Melissan leaves, fireballs will start raining down around you, and they'll kill a peasant directly south of you, leaving his boy, Tazit, crying for aid. If you have a raise dead or resurrection spell ready, you can bring the father back to life, gaining 1,000 experience points for each party member and +1 reputation.
In the militia headquarters, you'll watch Mateo be accused of opening the city gates and be arrested. Speak to Captain Samand and offer to investigate. Then, speak to Mateo in the prison through the wall opening. Go to the house of the countess and finally to Kiser Jhaeri's residence. In Kiser Jhaeri's basement, you'll fight Kieser (6,500 experience points), three fighters (one worth 8,000 and two worth 6,500 experience points), a thief (10,000 experience points), and a mage (10,000 experience points). Once you speak to Ardic, the party will be rewarded with 7,000 experience points each. If you decide to play along with Kiser, the easiest way to solve the quest is by killing the countess instead of attacking Errand. This will earn you 10,000 gold (instead of 2,000 for taking out Errard) and 5,000 experience points for each party member, although you'll take an eight-point depreciation in reputation. Attacking Errard is more difficult, since the guards will come to his aid, and unless you take out all the hostile guards after Errard has been killed, Kiser and his crew will attack you (and you'll lose at least three reputation points for killing Errard, although you'll gain 20,000 experience points). On the bodies, you'll find a secret jail door key in addition to the following magic items (there are also items lying around upstairs and in the basement).
In the Tankard Tree tavern, there's a couple more Il-Khan soldiers harassing a waitress. Defend her honor and take them out to get a decent selection of magic items. The courtesans in the back of the tavern are vampires, as Hectan will warn you, and will try to entice individual members back to their lair. Either have a well-equipped fighter (who is immune to level draining or is at least protected by negative plane protection), accept the offer, and clean out the nest alone or go to Sister Farielle and ask her for a key (earning 1,000 experience points per party member by doing so) and invade the den with your entire party. You'll get 3,000 experience points per party member for exiting the jail into the adjoining caverns, and you can also easily solve the Ghostly Apparition quest as described in the preceding chart.
There's some elves being harassed just north of the house of the countess. If you offer to "watch the fun," you'll lose a reputation point (and characters of good alignment, such as Keldorn and Minsc, will attack you). You can attack them, but doing so will chase the elves away, so you should just threaten them with the "wrath of a Bhaalspawn," causing them to flee. After talking to the elves again, find them a home by talking to Sister Farielle at the temple.
In some crates near Kiser Jhaeri's home and the barrel west of the tavern, there's some gold, an identify scroll, and some low-value gems. There's also some gold and an identify scroll in the crates north of Mirnielle Santele's house. -
NPCs in this sector:
Alexander Ralisar
Asmay Jahag
Captain Samand
Dwarves
Elves
Errard
Hectan
Kiser Jhaeri
Mateo
Melissan
Mirnielle Santele (the countess)
Oris Nimblefinger
Pelt Je
Prison spirit
Pyrgam Aleson
Sister Farielle
Squip
Tazit Viekang
Volo
Enemies in this sector:
Il-Khan Soldiers
Vampires (Phyldian, fledglings)
Magic items in this sector:
On the Il-Khan soldiers:
Halberds +2
Potions of extra healing
Inside buildings:
Potions of extra healing (in the cupboard in the Tankard Tree tavern, in the guardhouse)
Potions of superior health (on the bookcase in the militia headquarters and in the cell next to Mateo Volo's room; one in the guardhouse and one in a cupboard in the Tankard Tree tavern)
Oil of speed (Volo's room in Tankard Tree tavern)
Scroll of pierce magic (in a locked, trapped chest in the peasant house)
On two Il-Khan Soldiers in the Tankard Tree:
Full plate mail +1
Splint mail +1
Large shield +2
Mace +2
Long sword +3
War hammer +3
In the old jail vampire lair:
Bolts and arrows +3 (in a barrel)
Bullets +3 (in a bunk in a locked cell)
Bronze Ioun stone (in a cell opened up after you complete the Ghostly Apparition quest)
In Kiser Jhaeri's house:
Bolts +1 and potion of insulation (in a trapped compartment in his bedroom)
Mage scrolls of true sight and sphere of chaos (in his trapped desk)
Two sets of leather armor +2
Three daggers +2
Two short swords +2
Short sword +3
Skakti figurine
Potions of invisibility and extra healing (on Kiser and his guards)
Starfall ore
Potions of perception and master thievery (in the basement)
For sale at the Tankard Tree
Chain mail armor +1 and +2
Full plate mail armor +1
Leather armor +1, +2 and +3
Plate mail armor +1
Studded leather armor +1 and +2
Splint mail armor +1
Small, medium, and large shields +1 and +2
Battle axes +1, +2, and +3
Daggers +1, +2, and +3
Club +3
Crossbows (light and heavy) +1, +2, and +3
Flails +1, +2, and +3
Halberds +1, +2, and +3
Katanas +1, +2, and +3
Maces +1, +2, and +3
Morning Stars +1, +2, and +3
Ninja-to +1
Quarterstaff +1, +2, and +3
Cleric's staff +3
Spears +1, +2, and +3
Bastard swords +1, +2, and +3
Long swords +1, +2, and +3
Short swords +1, +2, and +3
Wakizashi +1
War Hammers +1, +2, and +3
Yamato +4
Composite longbows +1, +2, and +3
Longbows +1, +2, and +3
Short bows +1, +2, and +3
Slings +1, +2, and +3
Arrows and bolts +1, +2, and +3
Bullets +1, +2, +3, and +4
Darts +1
Boots of speed
For sale at the Arcana Archives:
Every mage robe
Boots of speed
Ring of fire resistance
Every potion listed
Priest scrolls of restoration and protection from acid, cold, electricity, fire, poison, and undead
Scrolls for all mage spells
For sale at the temple:
Ring of animal friendship
Antidote
Elixir of health
Potions of genius
Healing
Insight and mind focusing
Priest scrolls of protection from poison and cold, raise dead, restoration, and stone to flesh -
The Sewers
You want to get to the north end of the sewers, but barring your way are orc archers and orogs as well as a large group of shadows and a couple high-level mages. Scout around the sewers with an invisible character or use a spell to get some foresight into where your enemies. The Yaga-Shura mages will be triggered by invisible characters, but that's alright, as long as you quickly flee because they'll just end up wasting some of their powerful spells. An invisible mage or two with some sequenced magic missiles can take out the mages without letting them ever raise their defenses, which is definitely a worthwhile goal.
There are orc archers that are equipped with magic arrows and have good position, so either take them out quickly with spells or lure them into melee range. They're usually the first enemies you encounter, and they often can be lured away from their more formidable melee fighting companions.
Eventually, the area will start to be overrun by a large group of shadows, which will arrive from various directions, surrounding you, so ensure that you maintain a formation that doesn't leave your spellcasters vulnerable to attack from behind. Devil shades are capable of level draining, so have a fighter immune to level draining or protected by negative plane protection take them out. Don't forget to use your undead turning, since it can make short work of the shadows. Holy smite works well, too.
Hidden entrance. The way to Gromnir's fortress is through a hidden entrance in the one of the northern walls. You'll know you've found the way when you encounter these pathetic wretches.
NPCs in this sector:
None
Enemies in this sector:
Devil shades
Duergar sappers
Elite orogs
Gibberlings (regular and mutated)
Orc archers
Shadows
Shadow fiends
Umber hulks
Yaga-Shura mages
Magic items in this sector:
On the enemies:
Studded leather +2
Battle axes +2
Quarter staff +1
Short swords +2
Composite longbows +1
War hammers +2
Arrows +1
Arrows of ice
Potions of extra healing
Mage scroll of protection from the elements
Gromnir's Tower
This area is well trapped, and some of the traps are difficult to uncover, so use a find traps spell if necessary and increase the abilities of your thief by buying potions of perception in town. The locations of all of the traps are summarized under a separate heading below.
The route to Gromnir's tower is fairly direct. If you came through the sewers, you'll arrive in a room that opens into a larger room, and the entrance to the tower is directly north. If you came through the jail, you'll immediately be faced with a group of fighters and thieves, which won't initially be aware of your presence, which you can use to your advantage to launch a pre-emptive assault. Use your big spells against the fighters and thieves guarding the sewer because they are dangerous opponents. Potions of giant strength and haste or slow spells will make the battle considerably easier.
Release Vinke and the other nameless prisoners for +1 reputation points each.
Ensure that you have missile weapons loaded for each character and climb up the tower. Pause immediately and have all your characters target the Il-Khan battle mage with missile weapons, magic missiles, or other offensive spells that can be quickly cast (sequencing several magic missiles works great for this purpose). You can take him out before he can move, netting yourself a quick 21,500 experience points. Once the mage is gone, the three Il-Khan fighters on the floor won't pose much of a fight (and are worth 12,000, 12,000, and 12,300 experience points, respectively).
Climb up the stairs and witness a confrontation between Melissan and Gromnir. You won't have a choice but to fight Gromnir, and your first targets should be his two battle mages (including Karun the Black), who are each worth 21, 500 experience points. Once again, use missile weapons and magic missiles to ensure you take them out before they can raise their defenses. His other guards include Berena Elkan (12,500 experience points), Elder Had (thief, 12,500 experience points) and an Il-khan soldier (12,300 experience points) equipped with magic arrows. Gromnir himself is worth 22,500 experience points and 30,000 experience points per party member as quest experience points. Gromnir is a berserker and an excellent melee fighter, so ensure that whoever engages him is stocked with healing potions and ideally has been strengthened by a potion of giant strength. Elder Had will take potions of invisibility to attempt backstabs.
Wizard Woes. Gromnir's mage guards are more dangerous than he is, so ensure you take them out with ranged attacks and sequenced magic missiles before they can raise defenses.
Traps in this Area:
Outside the first gate when you enter from the jail
By the corner directly south of that location (two traps)
Outside the cell north of the first gate (Vinke's cell)
On the other side of the corridor across from the nameless prisoner's cell to the south
In the floor just north of that cell, in between the cells
On the chest in the first room in which you encounter the elite orcs
NPCs in this sector:
Gromnir
Vinke
Prisoners
Enemies in this sector:
Berena Elkan
Eler Had
Fighters
Il-Khan Battle Mages and Fighters
Karun the Black
Orc (Elite)
Orog (Elite)
Thieves
Magic items in this sector:
In the basement:
The thieves are equipped with leather armor +1, daggers +2, and short swords +2
The fighters use long swords +1, potions of invulnerability and storm giant strength, and oil of speed
Bullets +3 in an alcove across from one of the cells
The elite orcs and orogs use battleaxes +1
In chests in the room where you first encounter the elite orcs, there's a wand of lightning, Fflar's scabbard, and arrows of acid and ice
In a barrel near the exit to the sewers, there's bullets +1 and +2
In a trapped chest near the exit, there's bolts of lightning and bolts +2
The Il-Khan on the first floor are equipped with:
Studded leather +2
Adventure's robe
Composite longbow +1
Quarter staff +2
Arrows +1
Potions of extra healing
Gromnir and his guards are equipped with:
Full plate mail +2
Grandmaster's armor +6
Studded leather
Studded leather +2
Adventurer's robes
Ice star +4 (morning star)
Morning star +3
Spear +3
Quarter staffs +2
Dagger +1
Composite longbow +1
Arrows +1
Roranach's horn
Lavender Ioun stone
Potions of superior and extra healing
Potions of invisibility -
3. North Forest
Quest Giver and Location
Goal of Quest
Solution Explanation
Reward
Automatically given when you arrive
Defend the merchant
Attack the Yaga-shura soldiers that are decimating the merchant band.
1,000 gold and +1 reputation point
As soon as you travel to this area, you'll interrupt some Yaga-Shura soldiers guided by an officer dispatching a merchant band. They're not particularly challenging, being vulnerable to most spells. But for taking them out, the merchant leader, Karthis al-Hezzar, will give you 1,000 gold, and your reputation will increase 1 point.
Traveling south, you'll run into two fire giants across a stream. They can't cross the stream, so pick them off with missile weapons. Crossing that stream, you'll face another bridge. Instead of crossing that bridge, travel north until you can see some enemies on the other side of the stream to your right; there are more fire giants as well as additional Yaga-Shura troops, including a mage. Unleash a barrage of area of effect spells to pound the enemies you can see and those behind them and then use ranged weapons to pick off the giants or soldiers that try to cross the bridge. Summon some creatures, or charm the nearby bear, to hold the enemy forces at the bridge.
Enter the giants. Use the bridges in this area to escape from the lurking fire giants, allowing you to pick them off with ranged weapons at your leisure.
NPCs in this sector:
Karthis al-Hezzar
Merchants (briefly)
Enemies in this sector:
Cleric of Talos
Fire giants
Yaga-Shura soldiers
Mage and officers
Black bear
Magic items in this sector:
The Yaga-Shura are equipped with:
Darts +1
Staff spear +2
Two-handed sword +1
Wand of monster summoning
Potions of extra healing, superior healing, and strength
Priest scrolls of protection from fire
Mage scrolls of shield, infravision, and globe of invulnerability
For purchase from Karthis Al-Hezzar:
Battle axe +2 and 3
Bow (composite, long, and short) +2 and +3
Club +3
Crossbow +3 (heavy and light)
Dagger +2 and 3
Flail +3
Halberd +2 and 3
Katana +1, 2 and 3
Mace +2 and 3
Morning star +2 and 3
Quarter staff +2 and 3
Scimitar +3
Spear +2 and 3
Sling +2 and +3
Sword (bastard, long, short, and two-handed) +2 and +3
War hammer +2 and 3
Arrows +1, 2 and 3
Bolts +1, 2 and 3
Bullets +1, 2, 3 and 4
Ioun stone (obsidian)
Rod of resurrection
Potions of cold resistance, extra healing, fire resistance, healing, hill giant strength, invisibility, oil of speed, and superior healing
Mage scrolls of mislead, pierce magic, chain lightning, maze, spellstrike, black blade of disaster, symbol death, and symbol stun -
4. Forest of Mir
Quest Giver and Location
Goal of Quest
Solution Explanation
Reward
Automatically given when you arrive
Uncover the secret behind Gorian
You'll endure a few insults and spell attacks, but ultimately "Gorian" will get frustrated and reveal himself to be a master wraith, which starts a tough battle.
5,000 experience points per party member for revealing the wraith
Nyalee, in the ruins of the temple
Retrieve the hearts of Nyalee and Yaga-Shura
The hearts are in the fire giant fortress in the marching mountains.
20,000 experience points per party member and an attack from Nyalee
You're in for a big fight immediately, so before you move too far onto the map, prepare for battle by casting negative plane protection and other defenses. Once you take a few steps in, you'll be led to a scripted scene leading to conversation with your old mentor, Gorian. Keep denying responsibility for causing unnecessary death and suffering, and eventually, "Gorian" will be revealed as a master wraith (you'll get 5,000 experience points per party member for unveiling the master wraith). The bad news is that the master wraith is a powerful mage, and it'll immediately summon in some devil shades, swamp horrors, and vampiric wraiths to surround your party. Your party will be stuck in a position that leaves everyone vulnerable to level-draining attacks, so retreat your more vulnerable spellcasting characters to a safer position, while your fighters concentrate on taking out the master wraith. By the time you get organized, it's likely that the master wraith will have raised some defenses (including protection from magic weapons) that your spellcasters should dispel by casting breach and pierce spells, preferably while also lowering the wraith's magic resistance, so that it can be taken out quickly by spell sequenced magic missiles. If you have a high-level cleric you should try turning the wraiths.
Gorion Unveiled. You'll be stuck in the formation pictured when this battle commences, so immediately retreat your more vulnerable characters and have characters protected from level draining engage the dangerous wraiths.
Through the gate behind where the wraiths were situated are some skeletons, which are somewhat scattered, so you can lure them one or two at a time. There's skeleton warriors nearby, but there's also a powerful skeleton mage a little further back and a skeleton Cleric that likes to cast finger of death guarding the rear of the group. First, try to take out the warriors without revealing the spellcasters. But as soon as they appear, you should cast silence or power word silence to take them out of the fight quickly. Since they stay back, they're also vulnerable to area of effects spells like fireball or incendiary cloud. Call lightning also works well.
In a hidden crevice near the stairs on the left (hit the tab key to highlight it) are some bullets +3. At the top of those stairs to the left, there's a group of mummies and ghasts. An invisible mage with boots of speed can take out the entire group by moving nearby and casting sunfire once, then luring any survivors back to the group (or just casting a fireball spell or two at the group from the outset, although as soon as you get close enough to do so, they'll spread out, making it less effective). There's another crevice close to the stairs on the right protected by some more mummies and ghasts, which contains some gems, jewels, and a nymph tear.
At the top of the stairs is Nyalee, who will tell you how to make Yaga-Shura vulnerable by grabbing the hearts that are protected in Yaga-Shura's castle in the marching mountains. Once you bring her the hearts, you'll get 20,000 experience points per party member, but she'll feel remorse for her actions and decide to attack you, summoning shambling mounds, nymphs, and a vortex spider to assist her. As you'd expect, she's a high-level druid, so make sure that you march right next to her before initiating dialogue to ensure you can take her out quickly. Hit her with sequenced magic missiles, if necessary, to prevent her from getting spells off.
NPCs in this sector:
"Gorian"
Nyalee
Enemies in this sector:
Ghasts
Mummies
Nymphs
Shade (devil)
Skeleton (assassin, cleric, mage, and warriors)
Shambling mounds
Spider (vortex)
Swamp horror
Wraith (master and vampiric)
Magic items in this sector:
On the Skeletons are the following items:
Leather armor +1
Dagger +2
Short sword +2
Two-handed sword +2
On the mummies:
Magic scrolls of summon efreet and conjure lesser air elemental
Hidden in the crevice near the left stairs:
Bullets +3
Nymph's tear
Nyalee has the following items:
Ring of animal friendship -
5. Marching Mountains and Yaga-Shura's Enclave
This is a largely empty sector, other than the occasional fire giant and a strange troop of characters. This is a good sector to earn additional experience points if you want because the giants will continuously respawn. The giants are slow and ponderous, but can be dangerous in groups, so advance slowly and try not to draw too many on the screen at once.
The strange group of characters (Chinchilla, Merlinious, Tibbet and Toop the Brave) will attack you and flee when they're on the verge of defeat, earning you 7,500 experience points for driving each one off.
Right at the entrance to the fire giant fortress, you'll be surrounded by a couple of elite fire giants and three regular fire giants. As soon as you're noticed, retreat outdoors and try to lure them to a much more defensible position. There's a natural bottleneck just outside their fortress, which will allow you to engage them sequentially. If you're feeling cocky you can engage them inside the door, but don't move inward, or you'll just attract additional giants. Their size prevents them from moving through narrow doors easily. When they're grouped closely together, holy smite is very effective as well.
Don't bother trying to manipulate any of the gongs or the apparatus at the room at the far end of the first level until you get the wardstones, which can be found in the fountains in the room at the northwest and northeast corners of the level. The northwest stone is surrounded by traps, while touching the northeast stone will activate three golems (adamantite, clay, magic). The magic golem is immune to spells and magical weapons, so you must use normal weapons to dispatch it. You likely won't have any on you, but the fire giants carry normal weapons, so you can grab a few off their corpses. The fountain also contains Elminster's Ecologies, a book that will tell you the strengths and weaknesses of dense puddings, fire trolls, fission slime, magic golems, and marilith demons. When you have the wardstones, touch the gongs in the rooms to the left and right of the entranceways, and you'll be rewarded with 5,000 experience points per party member. If you want to do the gongs one at a time (which is prudent, since they open up the rooms otherwise shielded by forcefields), ensure you have the hammer wardstone for the gong on the left and the skull wardstone prior to touching the one on the right. In addition to the guardians already present in those rooms (fire salamanders, fell cats, flaming skulls, and burning men), as soon as you open the fountain to get the additional wardstones, you'll be assaulted by a second wave. In the right-hand (eastern) room, the second wave will consist of bone fiends and an erinyes (lesser baatezu). Once you have all four wardstones, touch the strange machine, and you'll earn 20,000 experience points per party member and can advance to the second level.
The first level. This map reveals the layout of the first level of Yaga-shura's lair. Once you get by the heavily guarded entrance, the two rooms initially blocked by forcefields contain your most formidable challenges.
On the second level, there'll be a couple of fire giants waiting at the top of the stairs, but they're isolated, and the narrow staircase should let your fighters handle them in sequence. There's a trap right at the top of the stairs and narrow passageways on each side of the staircase. Send one character equipped with boots of speed and a ring of fire resistance (or protected from fire by spell) through the narrow passageways to explore inside and lure the pair of fell cats patrolling inside back to your waiting party and away from the fire giants inside the chamber (they're too large to follow through the passageway). Send a fast character inside again and get the fire giants to chase you to one of the small passageways. They'll stay there trying to get through, which lets them be picked off by the ranged weapons of the rest of your party (they'll also line up nicely for lightning bolts). One of the fire giants, Berenn (40,500 experience points), is a cleric who'll cast spells like aerial servant and summon elemental. To avoid his spells, cast silence on him, and he'll line up for the slaughter near the narrow opening like his brethren.
At the back of the room the giants were in is a brazier surrounded by traps and holding Yaga-Shura's heart. Grab it and collect 20,000 experience points per party member. Go through the doors on the right-hand side and let the slave woman go for 15,000 experience points per party member and to obtain some additional information on Yaga Shura. One of the metal plates behind her (hit the tab key to see which one) contains some magic items, but is trapped. His bed has a trapped chamber as well, containing his journal and a bag of plenty +1.
Traps in the fortress:
On the stairs directly forward of the entrance room, on the right-hand side
At the entrance to the room on the right of the entrance room
At the top of the second set of stairs on the left
Several are in the room with the lava fountain in the northwest corner of the level, surrounding the fountain
On the second level, there's a trap right at the top of the entry stairs
In front of both of the big sets of doors in the chamber past the entry stairs
Two surrounding the burning pit in that room
One just left of the center of that room
One near the first fountain through the (unusable) double entrance doors
NPCs in this sector:
Berenn
Chinchilla
Merlinious
Slave woman
Tibbit
Toop the Brave
Enemies in this sector:
Burning man
Devil (bone fiends, erinyes)
Elemental (greater fire)
Fell cats
Fire giants (elite and normal)
Flaming skulls
Golems (adamantite, clay, and magic)
Imix (elemental prince)
Salamander (fire)
Magic items in this sector:
Chinchilla and his friends:
Katana +1
The Fire Giants:
Both outside and inside, they are equipped with potions of extra healing, invulnerability, and superior healing (and the occasional magic scroll)
Inside the lair, in the fountain at the northeast corner of the first level:
Darts of wounding
In the fountain at the northwest corner, there's a girdle of fire giant strength and bolts +2
In the two fountains behind the forcefields, there are arrows of fire and potions of superior healing in the one on the left and Psion's blade +5 (two-handed sword) and sunstone bullets +1 in the other
An Erinyes in the second chamber:
Long sword +1
On the second level of the lair
Two potions of fire giant strength lying just inside the first large room
Berenn and his crew carry Baalor's claw and priest scrolls of protection from poison
In the hidden chamber behind the slave girl is a two-handed sword +2 and a stone golem page
Under Yaga-Shura's bed is a bag of plenty +1 and his journal
Imix carries a ravager +4 (halberd) and an amulet of the master harper -
6. Siege Camp and the Second Challenge
Before you clear this level, make sure you go back to Saradush and buy all the magic items you think you'll need for a while, since you can't get to the city again after you arrive at this sector. You have some breathing room when you start this area, so cast spells and take potions to prepare yourself for battle. You'll eventually be attacked from all sides, so choose a formation that leaves you with at least one capable melee fighter as a rear guard. You'll see some peasants being chased by Yaga-Shura soldiers, and by forcing an attack (they won't register as hostile), you can save some of them, although you won't get anything as a reward. Continue across the bridge.
Additional soldiers and officers will begin to attack you, but you must continue to march at least one character west until you see Yaga-Shura (150 hit points, AC 5, four attacks per round, 23 strength, immune to critical hits). As soon as he gives his speech, attack him, but don't waste your heavy ammunition or spells on him, since he'll disappear as soon as he's hit, only to reappear fully healed with reinforcements, including fire giants and a lieutenant of each main character class (fighter, mage, cleric, and thief). Give the mage and cleric enough attention to disrupt their spells, but concentrate the bulk of your attacks on Yaga-Shura himself, since enemies will continue to appear until he's killed. To minimize reinforcements, you should cast area of effect spells, blocking areas to the east and west (death fog, incendiary cloud, cloudkill, and so on), coupled with web or entangle to trap your enemies in the areas of effect.
One scary bodyguard. Opponents will continue to arrive all around you, even if you're in the middle of the bridge, so you're best off blocking off one or both sides of the bridge with area of effect spells or fearsome summoned creatures, like this pit fiend devil.
As soon as you kill Yaga-Shura, you'll be dragged back to the pocket plane by the Solar, who will tell you a little about your past and gives all your characters a total of 50,000 experience points each in two separate grants, while opening the door in the pocket plane to the second challenge. As soon as the conversation is over, Melissan will appear and give you another quest as well as 15,000 experience points per party member.
NPCs in this sector:
Melissan
Yaga-Shura
Solar (on the pocket plane)
Enemies in this sector:
Yaga-Shura
Fire giants
Yaga-Shura soldiers
Officers
Lieutenant mage, cleric, fighter, and thief
Magic items in this sector:
Yaga-Shura is equipped with the following items:
Runehammer +2 (war hammer)
Shuruppak's plate (full plate mail)
Shield of the order +4 (medium shield)
His fighter lieutenant is equipped with a halberd +2
Inside a barrel near the western side of the bridge:
Arrows of fire
Bolts of biting
Darts +1
Sunstone bullets +1
In another barrel to the far west:
Mage scrolls of fireball, Agannazar's scorcher, flame arrow, and burning hands
The Second Challenge
The second challenge requires you to fight a version of your main character that followed Sarevok's darker path. Appropriately enough, your evil alter-ego (15,000 experience points) is also accompanied by three of Sarevok's companions from the original Baldur's Gate game, Tamako (kensai, 6,000 experience points), Semaj (mage, 12,000 experience points), and Angelo (12,000 experience points). If you string some magic missiles together in sequences, you can take out Semaj before he casts any of his dangerous spells or better prepares himself. After clearing out the fire giant lair, this challenge isn't particularly difficult, especially since you have your opponents outnumbered. But it's worth it, as you'll earn 25,000 experience points per party member and 30,000 experience points for your main character. -
7. The Oasis
As soon as you arrive in this sector, you'll be attacked by a large group of Tethyrian troops, who blame you for the fall of Saradash. Here's your chance to use all your powerful area of effect spells, since the Tethyrians lack magical resistance. Comet, dragon's breath, storm of vengeance, incendiary cloud, cloudkill, death spell, and death fog all work very well, particularly when you use web, entangle, and stinking cloud spells to trap your opponents within the areas of effect of the more damaging spells. Lesser incantations like fireball and ice storm can also be used to take out or damage large groups of enemies. This is one of the few outdoor areas where you'll be able to cast call lightning to good effect as well. The first group of enemies consists of Jamis Tombelthen, a Tethryian captain, a couple of pikemen, four archers, a battlemage, and a cleric of Lathander.
One of these things does not belong. Cast stoneskin and mirror image so you can absorb a few hits, and then send an invisible mage to wreck havoc with death spells and sunfire incantations. Spell trigger three chain lightnings for some impressive damage.
If you stay back and cast area of effect spells, it's possible that all the remaining enemies in this sector won't join the fight (there is another battlemage and another cleric, along with a Tethryian captain and a squad of pikemen and archers lurking nearby). If you can dispatch the first group without attracting reinforcements, have your mages turn invisible after casting stoneskin and mirror image. Then move the invisible and protected mages into the enemy camp and sneak off devastating spells like death spell and sequenced magic missiles to take out the battlemage and the cleric (alternatively, you can send in an invisible or stealthed thief to try to assassinate them with a backstab). Once the enemy spellcasters are gone, the troops in the area are easy prey to your own spells and the attacks of your fighters. You can wipe out the entire group with death spells fairly easily.
NPCs in this sector:
Jamis Tombelthen
Enemies in this sector:
Jamis Tombelthen
Tethyrian archers (3,500 or 4,000 experience points)
Captains (7,300 experience points)
Battlemages (4,000 experience points)
Pikemen (5,000 experience points)
Clerics of Lathander (5,400 experience points)
Magic items in this sector:
The troops are equipped with the following items:
Full plate mail +2
Studded leather +2
The Answerer +4 (long sword)
Bastard swords +3
Composite longbows +3
Long sword +3
Spear +2
Arrows +1
Potions of extra healing
Mage scrolls of protection from petrification and protection from normal missiles
In the various containers in the camp, there are the following items:
Mage scrolls of sphere of chaos -
8. Watcher's Keep Level 1
Quest Giver and Location
Goal of Quest
Solution Explanation
Reward
Watcher's Keep (Brother Odren at the top of the keep)
Re-secure the bonds of the ancient evil imprisoned by Helm
Follow the detailed instructions on how to advance to each level. You must get to the bottom of the keep to complete this quest.
80,000 experience points per party member for using the ritual seal and another 80,000 experience points per party member for sealing the ancient evil; 100,000 experience points per party member for dispatching the evil; there's lots of experience along the way
Referenced in a handwritten note
Light the fire in the kitchen for the archivist
The kitchen is in the northeast corner of the level, and the tinderbox you need to light the fire is in the room north of the spiders on the east side of the level. Grab the tinderbox and use it on the kitchen.
4,000 experience points per party member and some information on the ritual
The archivist will inform you of this goal after lighting the fire
Return the slippers of the priest
The slippers can be found in the same room as the tinderbox, north of the spider room on the east side of the level. Just have the slippers in your possession when you try to open the sarcophagus in the room with the golems.
20,000 experience points from the priest and an additional 8,000 experience points for learning the ritual after talking to the priest
Open the Portal to the Temple's Lower Levels (Brother Odren at the top of the keep)
Gain access to level 2 of the keep
There's a variety of items to collect on this level, guarded by a few low-level monsters. Once you've acquired the bell and candle and learned the ritual from the priest (by returning his slippers), go to the altar in the center of the level and deposit the bell and Candle. Your ceremony will be interrupted by a fight with nearby statutes, but when it resumes, do the following: Ring the bell, ring it again, light the candle, open the book, and ring the bell.
25,000 experience points per party member, plus access to the next level
Speak to Brother Odren to initiate the quest and to travel to the top of the keep. You can buy some magic items from Sister Garlena. Through the main doors opposite the entryway are vampiric wraiths, poison mist, and wandering horrors, so ensure that your front-line fighters are immune to level draining through negative plane protection spells or items.
In the room directly to the left of the entryway, there is an archivist and some magic items in locked, trapped chests. In the following rooms, there is a stone golem and a room of trolls of various types. Since the trolls are grouped together and only have a narrow opening to get to you, they are vulnerable to Agannazar's scorcher and fireball spells. In the troll room, there's parchments that give you instructions on how to get to the next level and a message from Lum that'll be useful later as well as a golem manual. In the following room, where there is a statue that appears to be watching you, you can find the bell.
On the right-hand side of the level, the first room is populated by sword and phase spiders. The phase spiders are more dangerous because of their poison and because they can teleport behind your formation to attack your more vulnerable spellcasters, so use a magic missile spell or two to take them out quickly. In the room north of the spiders, there's several traps and a pair of worn slippers that you'll need. Take the slippers to the next room north (through the large doors) and try to open the sarcophagus. Ensure that you have the two wardstones from the spiders' room and the room south of it, or you'll be attacked by the adamantite golem. The priest will appear and be angry, but when he sees you've brought his slippers, he'll give you permission to go through the sarcophagus, and you'll get 20,000 experience points per party member plus 8,000 experience points per party member for getting the ritual when you open the sarcophagus.
Use the tinderbox (found in the room north of the spider room) on the kitchen hearth for 4,000 experience points per party member from the archivist.
They live! These statues are tough opponents, so take the time to surround the spell-casting characters with melee fighters prior to commencing the ceremony that brings them to life.
Once you have the bell and the candle, place them with the altar, which already has the book. As a result of your actions, the statues in your immediate area will animate. One is a mage, and another is a druid, so ensure you prevent them from casting spells by hitting them with magic missiles or ranged weapons. Send a fighter or two in to take them both out. Normal melee tactics work fine against the statues, although they're pretty durable, earning you 20,000 experience points per statue for taking them out. As the parchments instruct, when asked what to do, ring the bell, ring it again, light the candle, open the book, and ring the bell a final time to open the door to the gate level. You'll also earn 25,000 experience points per party member and activate the remaining statues in the area. The remaining statues are very tough and well equipped with magic items. It's worthwhile to take the time to position your characters around the mage statue. To do so, you usually must make a mistake performing the ceremony the first time, so you get the opportunity to move your characters after the first fight with the statues. Surround the mage statue and have breach and pierce spells ready to remove his defenses if you can't hit him and take him out before he raises his defenses (use sequenced magic missiles to try to do so). After the mage, the archer statue is also dangerous, since it is equipped with a +3 bow and plenty of magical arrows. The statues have some magic resistance, but are still vulnerable to spells. -
Traps on the first floor:
In the archivist room, the chest and one of the cabinets is trapped
In the room where it appears that there is a statue watching you, there is a trap on the chest and one on a bookshelf
In the spider room, there is a trap leading to the northern door
In the room north of the spider room, there are three traps: one in the stone alcove, one in a chest, and one on the floor in front of the bed
NPCs on this level:
Archivist (Giltham)
Brother Pol
Odren
Priest
Sister Garlena
Vigil knights
Enemies on the first level:
Golem (adamantite and stone)
Horror (wandering)
Jelly (mustard)
Mist (poison)
Spellhaunt
Spiders (phase and sword)
Statues
Trolls
Wraith (vampiric)
Magic items on the first level:
For sale from Sister Garlena:
Firetooth +4 (crossbow)
Short sword of mask +4
Arrows +1
Bolts +1
Bullets +1
Darts +1
Potions of extra healing, healing, heroism, infravision, and strength
A large variety of mage scrolls for level 1-5 spells (and pierce magic)
Priest scrolls of stone to flesh and restoration
In the Archivist room:
Arrows of piercing
Bullets +1
Darts +1
Paladin's bracers
Wand of sleep
Antidotes
Potion of extra healing
Mage scroll of carrion summons
In the troll room:
Golem manual
In the room with the statue that "watches" you:
Chain mail +2
Crimson dart +3
Bullets +3
Elminster's Ecologies: Appendix IIIa
Case of plenty
In the spiders' room and the rooms south of it:
Potions of superior healing
Small shield +2
Wardstones
In the room north of the spiders' room:
Old slippers
Mage scroll of minor spell turning
Quiver of plenty +1
Ammo belt
Tinderbox
In the kitchen with the mustard jelly:
Bolts +3
Bullets +2
Arrows +3
Wand of flame strike
The candle
On the statues activated at the end of the level:
Large shield +2
Dagger +3
Foebane +3 (bastard sword)
Halberd +2
Longbow +3
Usunon's Blade +4 (ninja-to)
Arrows +3
Arrows of fire -
9. Watcher's Keep Level 2
Quest Giver and Location
Goal of Quest
Solution Explanation
Reward
Gather the Four Scepter Keys (the chromatic demon)
Retrieve the four keys, which are held in the elemental laboratories
There's a trick to obtaining each of the scepters. Follow the detailed instructions in the following walk-through.
20,000 experience points for each party member and access to the third level
This level is the former domain of four competing elemental wizards. There's a library and an adjacent laboratory devoted to ice (in the southwest), air (in the northeast), slime/poison (in the southeast), and fire (in the northwest). Each library is guarded by enemies appropriate to their respective elemental domain, but the more formidable opponents are within the laboratories. You can't open the doors to the laboratories until you find scepters devoted to each element. There's also no way to advance through the level without assisting the chromatic demon (paladins weep), so you might as well speak to it right away to get some tips.
Go into the fire library (through the northwest door) first and attack the desert trolls and dust mephits. Unlike normal trolls, the desert trolls are immune to fire, so use physical attacks or cold or acid (you need one of the latter to kill the trolls). The dust mephits will throw glass dust, which can weaken your attacks, so it might be worthwhile to divert a fighter from the trolls to quickly take the mephits out. The room inside is trapped (as are all the libraries on the level), so read the following trap section to avoid wandering into any. Get the items and notes in the room (hit the tab key to confirm all locations that might contain items) and talk to the imp in the eastern corridor for additional information. Open the room behind the imp and activate the device in the center of the room by sending one character in, preferably armed with some protection from or resistance to lightning. As soon as you trigger the fan, greater and lesser air elementals and the guardian of air will appear and attack, but activate the fan a second time to get the fan at full speed, then retreat back to your remaining party. You'll occasionally suffer a lightning attack, but all the monsters are vulnerable to physical attacks. Get the scepter from the body of the guardian.
Light it up. Use the device in the middle of the room twice, to get the fan going at full strength, but don't spend any more time in the room than you have to, since your characters will occasionally be blown around and the guardians have lightning attacks.
Go back to the main room and open the northeast door to the air library. There's a bunch of kuo-toa in the room, including a priest, but you can take them all out with a single death spell or incendiary cloud (other damaging area of effect spells are useful, too). Get all the items from the library and don't open the southern door, since it leads to a room full of poison gas. Retreat back to the main room and open the southeast door to the poison library, where there's a bunch of phase and sword spiders waiting to get quickly dispatched. Open the door leading to the east, but retreat without advancing into the room. Now, you can go back into the kuo-toa room (air library) and open both the south door to the poison laboratory and the north door to the air laboratory. The gas will be gone from the room, so you can clear out the inhabitants (green slime, giant snake, and poison mist). Area of effect fire spells like incendiary cloud and fireball again work well. There's lots of antidotes on the level if you get poisoned. The snake has the poison scepter.
Leave the slime laboratory and close the northern door on your way out, so that the gas will clear out of the slime library, letting you advance and open the eastern door to the ice laboratory. Once that door is open, retreat again and go back and open the north door to the slime lab, which will blow the gas into the ice laboratory. Go back through the slime lab and travel to the ice lab. The gas will be in there, so don't advance into the room (the cold will also slow your characters), but lure the now vulnerable ice creatures within range of your weapons. The ice golem has the scepter. Close the east door to the slime lab to clear the gas out of the ice lab.
Clear the crimson deaths and mists out of the ice library and open the south door to the ice lab that you just cleared out. Keep all but one of your characters in the main room and send a character that is hasted or wearing boots of speed to open the southern door to the fire lab (accessible through the ice library). Ignore the fire giant, since it'll regenerate in that room, and lure the greater fire elementals into the ice lab directly south. They'll die instantly, earning you 22,000 experience points each time. Once they're all gone, engage the fire giant in its lair and take the last scepter.
Prepare for battle and speak again to the chromatic demon. It'll immediately get free, earning each party member 20,000 experience points and start attacking. It has four states: a cloudy air form (vulnerable to acid), a fiery form (vulnerable to ice), a clear ice form (vulnerable to fire), and a green form (vulnerable to lightning). Try to attack using the form of damage that it's vulnerable to based upon its current state, but even normal physical attacks will have some effect (only one or two damage points per attack), so keep chipping away. Once it's dead, you'll get some valuable items from the demon and can access the third level of the keep.
Traps on this level:
In the fire library (northwest from entrance), there are five traps: one on the table in the entranceway, one on a desk near the northeast corridor, one in the circular apparatus nearby, and two heading to the corridor southwest (one is right at the door)
In the ice library (southwest from entrance), the northern bookcase is trapped, as is a patch of floor in front of the corridor going southeast from the library; one is on the floor leading up to the other corridor
In the air library (northeast from the entrance), there's a trap just to the left of the entrance passage and another right in the middle of the room
In the poison/slime library, there's a trap just inside the room; west of the entrance passage, the carpet in front of the entranceway is also trapped, as is the square on the floor just south of that location and the passageway to the west
NPCs on this level:
Chromatic demon
Imp
Ruhk
Enemies on this level:
Chromatic demon (55,000 experience points)
Elemental (air, greater air, and greater fire)
Fire giant
Giant snake
Green slime
Guardian of air
Kuo-toa (captain, priest, warrior, and whip)
Mephits (dust)
Mist (crimson death, ice, mist horror, poison, and vampiric)
Ruhk (7,000 experience points)
Spiders (phase and sword)
Troll (desert)
Magic items on this level:
In the fire library:
Darts of wounding
Darts of stunning
Arrows +3
Arrows of ice
Arrows of fire
Acid arrows
Bolts +3
Bolts of lightning
Bullets +4
Wand of cursing
Antidotes
Potion of cloud giant strength
Superior healing
Note from Lum the Mad
In the adjacent laboratory, there's a helm of the rock
In the ice library:
Arrows of dispelling
Arrows +2
Arrows of fire
Arrows of ice
Horn
Wand of spell striking
Star sapphires
Note from Lum the Mad
In the adjacent laboratory, there's a horn
In the air library:
Kuo-Toa Bolts
Bolts of Lightning
Sunstone Bullets +1
Bullets +1
Bullets +2
Bullets +3
Antidotes
Note from Lum the Mad
In the poison/slime library:
Arrows of piercing
Acid arrows
Bolts of biting
key
Antidotes
Potions of extra healing
Mage scroll of cacofiend
In the adjacent laboratory, there's also a flail head (poison)
On the chromatic demon:
Portal key
Circlet of Netheril
Ixil's spike (dagger) -
10. Watcher's Keep Level 3
Quest Giver and Location
Goal of Quest
Solution Explanation
Reward
Elven madman, as soon as you arrive
Heal the elven madman and escape the level
You can follow the elven madman immediately by exiting through the gate to the southeast. After speaking to him, cast the priest heal spell on him to cure his madness.
5,000 experience points for each party member and clues on how to escape the level; for getting to the cambion room that lets you leave the level, you'll get 20,000 experience points per party member
This level is a maze of rooms that each have two to four gates. You'll always arrive through a gate in the west of the room, but that gate will not (normally) take you back to the room you just exited. Follow the following detailed instructions to guide yourself through the maze. You must retrieve three parts of a scepter to escape, and they're on Tahazzar in room 4, Ka'Rashur in room 8, and on the cambion in room 11.
Entry room (room 1): The gate to the northwest leads up to level 2. The gate to the southwest leads to the quasit room (room 2). The gate to the northeast leads to the balor room (room 3). And the gate to the southeast leads to the room with the elven madman (room 9).
Room 2 (quasit room): This is a wild magic room, so spellcasting by your party members and the quasits in the room will be weird. The gate to the northeast leads to the tiefling room (room 6). The gate to the northwest leads to the entry room (room 1). The gate to the southwest leads to room 5. And the gate to the southeast leads to the succubus room (room 10).
Room 3 (balor room): Balors and cornugon are battling each other. Stay back and let them fight it out, since you can't cast magic in this room, and you'll want to engage as few as possible in melee combat. Inside the corridor is the Purifier +4 (bastard sword). It's a holy avenger sword, although not as good as the one in Baldur's Gate II, so you'll need a paladin to access it. The gate to the northeast leads to Tahazzar's room (room 4). The gate to the northwest leads to room 5. The gate to the southwest leads to the entryway (room 1). And the gate to the southeast leads to room 10.
Sword in tree. If you have a paladin in your party, reach into the tree in the middle of the room and pull out a holy avenger sword.
Room 4 (Tahazzar, 46,000 experience points): Tahazzar and a large group of other demons have gathered, including a succubus and several glabrezu. They're backed up by a couple of powerful mages and an assortment of quasits. If you're a paladin or other virtuous character, you'll be forced to battle your way through the room. Otherwise, you'll have an opportunity to negotiate passage and part of the scepter you need to get off the level by agreeing to attack the devils in room 8 and retrieving Ka'Rashur's heart (if you arrive in that room first, you can make the opposite deal with the devils). If you return the heart of Ka'rashur to him, you'll receive the thieves' hood. These guys are tougher than the devils, since there's so many spellcasters, so if you have the opportunity to make the deal, you may want to take it. If you're going to fight it out, ensure that you fully prepare with defensive spells, including resist fear, and use potions and any fighter special attacks you have accessible. There's a trapped, locked hidden chamber in the northeast corner of the room. The gate to the east leads to a room with baatezu (room 5). The gate to the west leads to room 3.
Room 5 (pit fiend, two cornugon, and a velithuu): There's a trap blocking the steps to each of the four gateways. The northeast gate goes to the quasit room (room 2). The northwest gate leads to room 3. The gate to the southwest leads to room 8. And the gate to the southeast leads to the succubus room (room 10).
Room 6 (tiefling room, room of energy, which causes wild magic): Aranthis (in wolf form, 9,000 experience points) and four tieflings (16,000, 16,000, 18,000, and 18,000 experience points) wait in this room. The northeast gate goes to a room with two glabrezu (room 7). The gate to the northwest goes to the birch tree room (room 12). The gate to the southeast leads back to the same room. And the gate to the southwest leads back to the entryway (room 1).
Room 7 (glabrezu room, pillar with runes): There's a couple of glabrezu in the room, but they shouldn't pose much difficulty as a pair. The gate to the northeast leads to Ka'rashur's room (Room
. The gate to the northwest leads to the entryway (room 1). The gate to the southwest leads to room 6. And the gate to the southeast leads back to the same room.
Room 8 (Ka'rashur's room): Ka'rashur and a variety of baatezu are in this room, including a bone fiend, several cornugon, an erinyes, a couple of imps, and a velithuu. If you made the deal with the tanar'ri in room 5, you must take the heart from Ka'rashur's dead body. If you arrive in this room first, you can make a deal with the devils in this room to negotiate free passage (and the part of the scepter you need to complete the level), provided you're not a paladin. If you return the heart of Tahazzar to him, you'll receive the thieves' hood. There's a hidden, trapped container in the northeast corner of the room (hit the tab key to reveal it). The gate to the east of the room leads to room 7. The gate to the west leads to room 10.
Room 9 (room of the elven madman): The elven madman will ramble on about the demons and the gates and cryptically reference how to get out. If you ask him to sleep, you'll get a clue that he could use a heal spell. If you have one, cast it on him after he breaks off the dialogue, and you'll restore him to himself, Tamorlin, and earn each party member 5,000 experience points. The madman's tent is trapped. The gate to the east leads to the outdoors. The gate to the west leads to the entryway (room 1).
Room 10 (succubus room): You can bargain your way through this room by agreeing to kiss the succubus, which will automatically take you to room 11 (cambion room) or fight the succubus and four alu-fiends. The gate to the northeast leads to room 5. The gate to the southwest leads to room 3. The gate to the northwest leads to room 2. And the gate to the southeast leads to room 8.
This isn't the cambion you're looking for. This cambion and his four demon knight friends have no interest in playing cards, unlike the character in room 11. Swing and chop.
Room 11 (cambion room): For getting to this level, you'll get 10,000 experience points per party member and be greeted by Aesgareth (12,000 experience points) and a few tieflings(14,000 experience points each). The gate to the west leads to room 13. You can get 25,000 experience points per party member for the spectral brand and scroll of wish, +20,000 when playing for the gem, and +25,000 after the game. Read the section of this guide on the deck of many things for more information on how the game with the cambion works.
Room 12 (birch tree room): In this room is another cambion and four demon knights. The gate to the northeast leads back to this room. The gate to the northwest leads to the wraith room (room 13). The gate to the southeast leads to room 6. And the gate to the southwest leads back to the same room.
Room 13 (wraith room): In this room is a master wraith and a group of slave wraiths. The door to the west leads to the cambion room (room 11). The gate to the east leads to room 12. -
10. Watcher's Keep Level 3
Quest Giver and Location
Goal of Quest
Solution Explanation
Reward
Elven madman, as soon as you arrive
Heal the elven madman and escape the level
You can follow the elven madman immediately by exiting through the gate to the southeast. After speaking to him, cast the priest heal spell on him to cure his madness.
5,000 experience points for each party member and clues on how to escape the level; for getting to the cambion room that lets you leave the level, you'll get 20,000 experience points per party member
This level is a maze of rooms that each have two to four gates. You'll always arrive through a gate in the west of the room, but that gate will not (normally) take you back to the room you just exited. Follow the following detailed instructions to guide yourself through the maze. You must retrieve three parts of a scepter to escape, and they're on Tahazzar in room 4, Ka'Rashur in room 8, and on the cambion in room 11.
Entry room (room 1): The gate to the northwest leads up to level 2. The gate to the southwest leads to the quasit room (room 2). The gate to the northeast leads to the balor room (room 3). And the gate to the southeast leads to the room with the elven madman (room 9).
Room 2 (quasit room): This is a wild magic room, so spellcasting by your party members and the quasits in the room will be weird. The gate to the northeast leads to the tiefling room (room 6). The gate to the northwest leads to the entry room (room 1). The gate to the southwest leads to room 5. And the gate to the southeast leads to the succubus room (room 10).
Room 3 (balor room): Balors and cornugon are battling each other. Stay back and let them fight it out, since you can't cast magic in this room, and you'll want to engage as few as possible in melee combat. Inside the corridor is the Purifier +4 (bastard sword). It's a holy avenger sword, although not as good as the one in Baldur's Gate II, so you'll need a paladin to access it. The gate to the northeast leads to Tahazzar's room (room 4). The gate to the northwest leads to room 5. The gate to the southwest leads to the entryway (room 1). And the gate to the southeast leads to room 10.
Sword in tree. If you have a paladin in your party, reach into the tree in the middle of the room and pull out a holy avenger sword.
Room 4 (Tahazzar, 46,000 experience points): Tahazzar and a large group of other demons have gathered, including a succubus and several glabrezu. They're backed up by a couple of powerful mages and an assortment of quasits. If you're a paladin or other virtuous character, you'll be forced to battle your way through the room. Otherwise, you'll have an opportunity to negotiate passage and part of the scepter you need to get off the level by agreeing to attack the devils in room 8 and retrieving Ka'Rashur's heart (if you arrive in that room first, you can make the opposite deal with the devils). If you return the heart of Ka'rashur to him, you'll receive the thieves' hood. These guys are tougher than the devils, since there's so many spellcasters, so if you have the opportunity to make the deal, you may want to take it. If you're going to fight it out, ensure that you fully prepare with defensive spells, including resist fear, and use potions and any fighter special attacks you have accessible. There's a trapped, locked hidden chamber in the northeast corner of the room. The gate to the east leads to a room with baatezu (room 5). The gate to the west leads to room 3.
Room 5 (pit fiend, two cornugon, and a velithuu): There's a trap blocking the steps to each of the four gateways. The northeast gate goes to the quasit room (room 2). The northwest gate leads to room 3. The gate to the southwest leads to room 8. And the gate to the southeast leads to the succubus room (room 10).
Room 6 (tiefling room, room of energy, which causes wild magic): Aranthis (in wolf form, 9,000 experience points) and four tieflings (16,000, 16,000, 18,000, and 18,000 experience points) wait in this room. The northeast gate goes to a room with two glabrezu (room 7). The gate to the northwest goes to the birch tree room (room 12). The gate to the southeast leads back to the same room. And the gate to the southwest leads back to the entryway (room 1).
Room 7 (glabrezu room, pillar with runes): There's a couple of glabrezu in the room, but they shouldn't pose much difficulty as a pair. The gate to the northeast leads to Ka'rashur's room (Room. The gate to the northwest leads to the entryway (room 1). The gate to the southwest leads to room 6. And the gate to the southeast leads back to the same room.
Room 8 (Ka'rashur's room): Ka'rashur and a variety of baatezu are in this room, including a bone fiend, several cornugon, an erinyes, a couple of imps, and a velithuu. If you made the deal with the tanar'ri in room 5, you must take the heart from Ka'rashur's dead body. If you arrive in this room first, you can make a deal with the devils in this room to negotiate free passage (and the part of the scepter you need to complete the level), provided you're not a paladin. If you return the heart of Tahazzar to him, you'll receive the thieves' hood. There's a hidden, trapped container in the northeast corner of the room (hit the tab key to reveal it). The gate to the east of the room leads to room 7. The gate to the west leads to room 10.
Room 9 (room of the elven madman): The elven madman will ramble on about the demons and the gates and cryptically reference how to get out. If you ask him to sleep, you'll get a clue that he could use a heal spell. If you have one, cast it on him after he breaks off the dialogue, and you'll restore him to himself, Tamorlin, and earn each party member 5,000 experience points. The madman's tent is trapped. The gate to the east leads to the outdoors. The gate to the west leads to the entryway (room 1).
Room 10 (succubus room): You can bargain your way through this room by agreeing to kiss the succubus, which will automatically take you to room 11 (cambion room) or fight the succubus and four alu-fiends. The gate to the northeast leads to room 5. The gate to the southwest leads to room 3. The gate to the northwest leads to room 2. And the gate to the southeast leads to room 8.
This isn't the cambion you're looking for. This cambion and his four demon knight friends have no interest in playing cards, unlike the character in room 11. Swing and chop.
Room 11 (cambion room): For getting to this level, you'll get 10,000 experience points per party member and be greeted by Aesgareth (12,000 experience points) and a few tieflings(14,000 experience points each). The gate to the west leads to room 13. You can get 25,000 experience points per party member for the spectral brand and scroll of wish, +20,000 when playing for the gem, and +25,000 after the game. Read the section of this guide on the deck of many things for more information on how the game with the cambion works.
Room 12 (birch tree room): In this room is another cambion and four demon knights. The gate to the northeast leads back to this room. The gate to the northwest leads to the wraith room (room 13). The gate to the southeast leads to room 6. And the gate to the southwest leads back to the same room.
Room 13 (wraith room): In this room is a master wraith and a group of slave wraiths. The door to the west leads to the cambion room (room 11). The gate to the east leads to room 12. -
NPCs on this level:
Aesgareth
Elven madman
Ka'rashur
Tahazzar
Enemies on this level:
Demons (Tahazzar, alu-fiends, balors, glabrezu, and succubus)
Devils (Ka-rashur, bone fiend, cornugon, and erinyes)
Imps
Quasits
Tahazzar
Velithuu
Yochlol
Magic items on this level:
In Room 3( the balor room):
Purifier +4 (bastard sword)
In room 4 (Tahazzar):
Scepter gem
Tahazzar's heart
Potions of superior healing
Arrows +3
In room 6 (tiefling Room):
Leather armor +3
Battle axes +2
Cleric's staff +3
Dagger +2
Short sword +2
Wand of spell striking
Potions of superior healing
In room 8 (Ka'rashur room):
Studded leather +2
Long sword +1
Arrows +3
Bullets +2
Ka'rashur's heart
Scepter gem
Potions of superior healing
In room 9 (elven madman):
Studded leather +1
Darts of stunning
Bard's gloves
Scepter of radiance
Madman's journal
Room 10 (Succubus Room):
Potions of extra healing
Oil of speed
Room 11 (cambion room):
You can gamble to win a spectral blade +4 and scroll of wish
Full plate mail +1
Chain mail +3
Studded leather +2
Robe of the good magi
Large shield +2
Cleric's staff +3
Composite longbow +2
Flail +2
Long sword +3
Dagger +2
Two-handed sword +2
Sling +1
Arrows +2
Arrows +3
Bullets +3
Potion of fire giant strength
Insight
Potions of extra healing and superior healings
Oil of speed
Deck of many things
Mage scrolls of burning hands
Room 12 (birch tree):
Bastard sword +1
Two-handed swords +1
Room 13 (wraith room):
White dragon scales
Plate mail +1
Bastard sword +1
Spear +1
Bolts +2
Rogue stone
Wand of spell striking
Potion of insulation -
11. Watcher's Keep Level 4
Quest Giver and Location
Goal of Quest
Solution Explanation
Reward
Carston, as soon as you arrive
Get Carston out of the machine so you can escape the level
You need to obtain a crystal mallet to open the machine. The mallet is behind a locked door in the southwest corner of the level. You must gather three different colored oils, one (and a flint) from a githyanki camp, one from some mindflayers, and a third in a room guarded by magic golems. Once you have them all, you can light the altars in front of the locked door in the southwest corner. Kill the two rocks in the room to get the mallet and use it six times against Lum's machine.
10,000 experience points per party member when you open the door, plus another 10,000 experience points for sparing Carston
In the opening to the northwest of Lum's machine, there's a group of shadow fiends and devil shades. Take them out quickly using a cleric or paladin to turn them or just engage them with your fighters, ideally with negative plane protection to avoid the level draining effects of the devil shades. If you don't have any nonmagical weapons, pick some up from the containers in the entry room just northeast of Lum's machine.
Ignore the man behind the glass. You won't be able to gain anything by speaking to Carston, so avoid antagonizing him until you've got the equipment you need to humble him.
In the room to the west of Lum's machine, there are a bunch of chests that are actually killer mimics. They're immobile, so once you reveal them, you can easily take them out with ranged attacks. Don't get too close, and you can avoid their glue and acid attacks. There are some additional shadows and shadow fiends in the room west of the mimic room, but you can't open the north door until later.
In the room to the northeast of Lum's machine, there are some mutated spiders and shadows. The spiders don't have many hit points, but their poison is deadlier than normal, and they're also faster than regular arachnids, so pick them off with ranged weapons and have the antidotes that you can pick up in the entry room handy. Use a cleric to quickly destroy the shadows by turning them. The room to the east has magic golems, which are immune to spells and magical weapons, so equip nonmagical weapons and attack (you can get normal weapons from the containers inside the room with Lum's machine). Inside that room is the blue oil.
If you travel through the room to the north, you'll encounter a small passageway that's guarded by a mind flayer and some umber hulks. There's some additional umber hulks in the first passage to the west (along with part of the Illithid rod) and some umber hulks and ulitharid in the larger chamber to the south. In that larger chamber, the door to the northeast leads to an apprentice, who will die no matter what you do. But before doing so, he'll tell you some background about Carston and grant your party 1,000 experience points each, regardless of what you tell or ask him. There's also an ulitharid, a couple of mind flayers, and some umber hulks in the room to the south. There's another part of the Illithid rod on one of the ulitharid, but it's easy to miss, so hit the tab key if it isn't immediately visible. The rod will now be intact, so use it to open the remaining room, in which there are two vampiric mind flayers (prepare with negative plane protection) and the red oil.
In the very first room of the githyanki lair, there's the flint and tinder you need to light the torches in the room to the west of Lum's machine. The remainder of the lair is populated by a handful of githyanki, primarily weak warriors. Githyanki are low-level enough that they're vulnerable to spells like death spell and greater deathblow, so you can easily dispatch them. They like to turn invisible using potions, but even their surprise attacks pose little threat. You can pin them down with web spells or take them out en masse using almost any area of effect damage spell, including holy smite. Grab the purple potion in the room with the dragon ship.
Goodbye Smaug. Ensure that your party has cast a broad range of protection spells, including resist fear, summoned some creatures and prepared by using giant strength potions and oil of speed (or casting haste). Surround the dragon from all sides before you commence your attack.
The door to the south of the githyanki's ship room leads to the lair of Saladrex, a red dragon (64,000 experience points), while the other leads to the lair of a demi-lich. You don't need to fight either to continue in the level, but they both have valuable treasure. If you take on the demi-lich, make sure you are as protected from imprisonment as you can, using spell-turning on your mages and your berserk abilities on your berserkers. The demi-lich actually doesn't have many hit points, so it's worthwhile sending in only those members who are protected from imprisonment.
Once you have all three oils and the flint, light the alters in the room south of Lum to open the door. If you look at your automap, you'll see that the order of the colors is set out in the large neighboring room and in the parallel room on the other side of the level (where the magic golems were). Once the colors are lit, the doors will open, and you'll get 10,000 experience points per party member.
Inside the room you just opened are two powerful melee fighters, Rock and Garock. Use summoned creatures if you need some distraction. But otherwise, these rock fighters have no special abilities other than being strong melee fighters. Grab the crystal hammer (disarm the trap on the chest first) and use it six times on Lum's machine to get Carston out of the machine. If you spare him, you'll earn 10,000 experience points per party member. -
Lum's Machine
The various handwritten notes strewn throughout Watcher's Keep will give you directions on how to use Lum's machine once you finally gain access to it. But instead of interpreting those cryptically scrawled notes, you can review the following chart. Each effect only works once.
Sequence of Actions
Effect
Triangular button, red wheel, medium lever
Opens a portal to the fifth level of Watcher's Keep and awards 25,000 experience points to each party member
Short lever, medium lever, square button
Permanently gain a point of strength
Long lever, red wheel, circular button
Permanently gain a point of constitution
Long lever, blue wheel, green wheel
Permanently gain 5 percent magic resistance
Short lever, red wheel, green wheel
Permanently gain a point of charisma
Circular button, square button, triangle button
Permanently gain a point of wisdom
Blue wheel, square button, short lever
Permanently gain a point of dexterity
Long lever, circular button, blue wheel
Permanently gain a point of intelligence
Triangular button, green wheel, medium lever
Acquire storm star +3 mace
Any other sequence of controls will produce one of the following random effects: cast imprisonment, fire damage, turn to stone, create a potion, lose one point of intelligence, lightning damage, gain 100,000 experience points, lose one point of dexterity, poison gas, or lose fifteen experience levels.
Traps on this level:
One of the containers to the northeast of Lum's machine is trapped
One of the chests in the room east of Lum's machine is trapped
The middle container at the north end of the room with the magic golems is trapped
In the area with the mind flayers and umber hulks, there are two traps leading out down the corridors of the large round room with many doors
The container in the small room to the northwest of that large room is trapped
The item in the center of the room to the south of the previous room is trapped
In the entrance to the githyanki lair, one of the chests in the first room is trapped
The left chest in Rock and Garrock's room is trapped
NPCs in this sector:
Apprentice
Carston
Saladrex (64,000 experience points)
Enemies in this sector:
Dragon (Saladrex)
Githyanki (anti-paladin, captain, gish, knight, and warrior)
Golems (magic)
Jelly (mustard)
Lich (demi)
Mimics (killer)
Mind flayers (normal, ulitharid, and vampiric)
Shadows (shadow, shadow fiend, and devil shade)
Spiders (mutated)
Umber hulks
Magic items in this sector:
Inside the containers to the northeast of Lum's machine:
Full plate mail +1
Arrows and bolts +1
Arrows of piercing
Bolts +2
Bolts of lightning
Antidotes
Potion of fire giant strength
Elminster's Ecologies
Inside the mimics:
Arrows +3
Bolts +3
Bullets +3
Potions of healing, extra healing, and superior healing
Wand of spell striking
In the rooms east of Lum's machine:
Arrows of biting
Arrows of ice
Bolts of biting
Bullets +1, 2, and 4
Sunstone bullets +1
Wand of magic missile
Mage scroll of mislead
Priest scrolls of protection from petrification
Blue oil
In the rooms with the mind flayers and umber hulks:
Arrows +3
Bullets +3 and +4
Wand of cursing
Wand of magic missiles
Potions of extra healing and superior healing
Illithid rod
Mage scrolls of identify, spell trigger, and spell turning
Note from Lum the Mad
In the githyanki lair:
Adventurer's robe
Angurvadal +4 (long sword)
Bullets +3
Darts of stunning
Darts +1
Wand of the heavens
Wand of spell striking
Potions of extra healing, fortitude, invisibility, and superior healing
Flint and tinder
Note from Lum
Diary of Carston's apprentice
Purple oil
Montolio's clasp
In the demilich's Lair:
Dagger of the star +4
In Saladrex's lair:
Staff of the ram +4
Dagger +1
Potion of fortitude
Mage scroll of spell turning
Rogue stone
In Rock and Garock's room:
Axe of the Unyielding (battleaxe +3)
Arrows +3
Bolts +3
Bullets +3
Clay golem page
Potion of strength
Potions of superior healing
Crystal mallet
From Lum's machine:
Storm star +3 -
12. Watcher's Keep Level 5
Quest Giver and Location
Goal of Quest
Solution Explanation
Reward
Unlocking the Final Seal, the seal is in the middle of the room
Unlock the final seal and confront the imprisoned one
There are three pillars that are securing the seal. You must get a key for each. Follow the following detailed instructions to get the keys. When you use the key, you'll face an extremely tough group of guardians.
20,000 experience points per party member for using each of the three keys.
You arrive into the main room of this level in front of the final seal to the imprisoned one, and it's secured by three pillars, each needing a key. There are three large doors, each of which ultimately leads to a key.
The southern door from the main room leads to an encounter with a friendly helmite ghost who is standing in front of three doors, each representing a challenge. Of those three new doors, the farthest east leads to an encounter with an imp, who will first ask you a question (the answer is 7, which will earn each party member 10,000 experience points), then initiate a coin game. To win, you essentially must get the imp down to five coins. So, go first and select two coins. No matter what his response, you can to get him down to five coins. Then, finish him off and get 21,000 experience points per party member. The door to the west leads to a room of orcs, orc mages, and orc archers. They're weak opponents (although the "regular" orcs are actually souped up fighters that'll earn you 1,000 to 2,000 experience points each), but they'll constantly reappear, so spread your fighters out around the respawn points, so you can take them out as they arrive. The mages will occasionally cast fireballs, but they'll damage the orcs more than your party, but keep an eye on your hit points, so that you can take healing potions if necessary. Once you've dispatched a few dozen orcs, the helmite ghost will appear and announce that you've completed the challenge and earned 21,000 experience per party member. Behind the center door is the real challenge among the helmite ghost's tests: a green dragon. For a dragon, it's not as dangerous as others because of its choice of spells and inherent spell effects (entangle, stoneskin). Summon some creatures to distract him, use haste and giant strength potions, and cast breach and pierce to remove its stoneskin protections and lower its magical resistance, so that it becomes more vulnerable to sequenced magic missiles and other offensive spells. For taking the dragon down, you'll earn 62,000 experience points and 21,000 experience points per party member from the helmite ghost. You'll also get 10,000 experience points per party member for completing all three challenges once you exit the final room and encounter the helmite ghost again.
Jolly green giant. Unlike the other dragons you may have met, you can't avoid battling this fellow. Fortunately, he's weaker than most of the dragons you'll face, although you'll still have to prepare well prior to starting the battle or you can lose control of the battle quickly.
The key you get from the helmite ghost will open the northwest lock on the seal, earning you 20,000 experience points per party member and an encounter with one of the toughest group of monsters in the game, including a hive mother beholder, a djinni, and a range of spellcasters and melee opponents. Ensure that you have protected your party as well as possible before you open the seal by summoning a few powerful animals or monsters and using haste, stoneskin, mirror image, blur, protection from evil, defensive harmony, chant, bless, and similar spells. Also ensure that your fighters take potions of giant strength or heroism. You'll have a brief opportunity to attack the enemies the instant they arrive before they can raise defenses, but it's difficult to take them down before most party members (including the hive mother) cast improved mantle making them temporarily immune to most attacks until you take those defenses down. Concentrate on removing defenses using breach and pierce spells, while your fighters concentrate on the opponents that are vulnerable to attack. The djinni, Y'tossi, will summon skeletons to distract you. Nalmissra drains levels with her melee attacks. Ameralis Zauvir is a druid that likes to summon insect swarms to ruin your spellcasting.
The northwest door from the main room leads to a room guarded by spiders (who aren't very dangerous), followed by a room with four colored columns. Every time you press one of the buttons, you'll gain 1,000 experience points per party member and have an encounter, as follows:
Press green: Spiders, umber hulks, greater earth elementals, and beholders (death tyrant, elder orb, and hive mother)
Press red: Hobgoblins, kuo-toa, trolls (giant and spectral), and wolfweres
Press blue: Successively higher mages
Press purple: Skeleton warriors, shades, vampires, and liches (elemental and normal)
Once you've placed one of the matching colored globes into each of the four pillars, you'll get 10,000 experience points per party member and the key to the seal in the main room. So you only have to fight four times, although you can elect to fight some more to get more globes (which have random magical effects when used from your quick slots) and gain experience. But don't put the globes in the columns if you want to continue the battle. The key opens the northeast lock in the level's main room, earning you 20,000 experience points per party member.
When you trigger the northeast lock using the key, you'll be attacked by a group of guardians, led by Aurumach Rilamni (mage, 28,000 experience points) and his not-so-lesser companion Ferrumach Rilamni (8,000 experience points). Aurumach is your main challenge, since he's a high-level mage that'll cast time stop, ice storm, and other disruptive spells; he's also a dangerous melee opponent. Concentrate your firepower on him and remove his shields using pierce and breach spells.
The northeast door from the main room leads to a room guarded by a pair of fire giants, which should be easy cannon fodder. Although, you should ensure that your front-line fighters are equipped with superior healing potions or boots of Speed to react if their hit points get low. Once the giants are gone, touch the altar (you need the skull from the dragon room). You'll enter a mini-game and be given a spiritual avatar that you must guide through a maze. You can't save your progress during your navigation of the maze.
To get through the maze, go east and kill the goblin. Then, go east again and examine the treasure chest and fight the skeleton that appears. You'll be rewarded with a wand of magic missiles and 4,000 experience points per party member. Go north and fight the war dog to get another 4,000 experience points per party member and an iron key and healing potion. Go west and examine the room to get a gibberling scroll, then go west again and ignore the fountain in that room (it poisons your character). Go north and fight the spectral figure, using the wand of magic missiles to get an early attack in. You'll get another 4,000 experience points per party member and a magic helm as a reward. Go east twice, and unless you've taken a beating in your fights so far, open the dresser. You'll take some poison damage, but if you're fit enough to survive, you'll get some magic bracers that will make the remainder of the game easy. The rest of the path is linear. Go north and use the gibberling scroll to avoid a fight and get 3,000 experience points per party member. Then, go west, and the iron key will let you get another healing potion and 3,000 experience points per party member. Go west one last time and fight the mummy, using the wand of magic missiles at the outset of the battle. Once you've done all that, you'll be ready for the final seal. -
The key from the mini-game will open the southeast lock of the seal, releasing a trio of flaming skulls and a lich, Azamante (25,000 experience points). The lich is obviously your main opponent, but ensure you protect your party from fear prior to opening the lock, since the flaming skulls like to cause fear (in addition to casting fireball, incendiary cloud, and Agannazar's scorcher) as well as fire. Keep breaching the mantle spells cast by the lich and haste and whirlwind your fighters. Fortunately, Azamante tends to cast more maze spells than imprisonment.
Once you open the final seal, you'll meet the imprisoned one. Use the ritual scroll, and you'll be rewarded with 80,000 experience points per party member, but you'll end up being trapped with your foe. You have two choices. Either attack and kill Demogorgon (290 hit points, AC -12, five attacks per round each doing 1-6 damage plus disease and level draining, regenerates three hit points per second, requires a +3 weapon or better to hit, immune to critical hits, magic resistance 95%), prince of demons, or agree to assist him and go speak to Odren. As soon as you tell Odren that you were trapped or that Demogorgon is dead, you'll encounter a ghostly apparition of helm's (earning 25,000 experience points per party member). You'll be given the choice of sealing Odren and the demon within the keep, earning 80,000 experience points per party member, or going back to rescue Odren by killing Demogorgon, freeing the demon by sending it back to the abyss. Demogorgon will have contingencies that grant him stoneskin and globe of invulnerability and protection from magic weapons. Plus, he will also gate in two marilith demons, who will also cast protection from magic weapons, so you must constantly use your spellcasters or your spellstrike wands to breach defenses to give your fighters a chance. You can lure the marilith away by climbing up the stairs, where Demogorgon can't follow, but Demogorgon will start gating in waves of glabrezu demons, which can be even worse, since they like to cast haste and dispel your own protections. The best way to take out Demogorgon is to surround his location prior to initiating the attack through dialogue. Have all your fighters use their greater whirlwind and smite abilities and ensure mages have lots of breach spells available, along with all the usual protections and ability enhancers (call upon holy might, stoneskin, defensive harmony, chant, bless, haste, and righteous magic). Then, initially ignore the mariliths and just pound through Demogorgon's defenses. Once he's gone (earning each party member 100,000 experience points), the mariliths will seem easy, but keep casting breach to keep them vulnerable to your fighters. Offensive spells aren't very effective on any of these opponents because of their magic resistance.
Once you leave the keep, if you've slain Demogorgon, ensure that you speak to Odren. If you forgive him or let him go, you'll gain +1 reputation point and get 50,000 experience points per party member. Or, you can elect to get revenge on them for their deceit. Brother Pol (19,000 experience points) and one of the vigil knights (10,000 experience points each) are high-level mages, so be prepared for the ensuing battle. Odren and Sister G. are also worth 10,000 experience points. You won't get any of the items you previously sold to the Sister back, however.
Well positioned to kick demon booty. Demogorgon is surrounded by some powerful allies and the party members have been hasted, strengthened by potions and spells such as call upon holy might, righteous magic and tensor's transformation and protected by bless, chant, defensive harmony and protection from evil. Have spellstrike wands or pierce and breach spells handy as well.
Traps on this level:
One in the imp room, where one of the dressers is trapped
NPCs in this level:
Helmite ghost
Imp
Imprisoned one (Demogorgon)
Enemies in this level:
Ameralis Zauviir
Aurumachi Rilmani
Azamate the lich
Beholder (hive mother, 50,000 experience points)
Demons (Demogorgon, Glabrezu, and Marilith)
Dragon (green)
Ferrumach Rilmani
Flaming skulls
Giants (fire)
Hobgoblins (archers, shaman, and wizard)
Huntress
Imp
Kuo-toa
Nalmissra (level drain, 25,000 experience points)
Orcs (archers, mage, and normal)
Skeletons
Spiders (mutated, sword, and vortex)
Trolls (giant and spectral)
Y'tossi (23,000 experience points)
Xei Win Toh (28,000 experience points)
Magic items in this level:
In the imp room:
Acid arrows
Sunstone bullets +2
Bolts of lightning
Bullets +4
Potions of superior healing
Mage scroll of pierce magic
In the orc room:
Ixil's nail +4
Arrows +1 and +3
Bolts +3
Bullets +3
Potions of extra healing
Various first-level mage scrolls
In the dragon room:
Warrior's skull
Hindo's Doom +3 (katana)
On the guardians of the northwest seal:
Taralash +4 (longbow)
Gauntlets of extraordinary specialization
Priest scroll of protection from cold
In the globe room:
Two-handed swords +1on the skeleton warriors
On the guardians of the northeast seal:
Club of detonation +3
On the lich Azamante, guardian of the southwest seal:
Erinne sling +4
Serpent shaft
Odren's group:
Three plate mail +1
Medium shield +2
Bastard sword +2
Three mace +2
Flail +2
Quarter staff +2 -
13. Amkethran
Quest Giver and Location
Goal of Quest
Solution Explanation
Reward
The Graveyard Lich/Marlowe in trouble, Marlowe is in the tavern
Retrieve the soul of Marlowe's daughter
After speaking to Marlowe in the tavern, follow him to his house (you must travel through a residence) to reach his house on the hill. He'll grant you the ability to get into the graveyard, where you'll confront the lich. You won't get the soul back unless you go back to get Marlowe. Once you get the soul back, you can either defend Marlowe or let the lich have his reward.
6,000 experience points per party member when you bring Marlowe to the graveyard and another 10,000 experience points per party member for saving his daughter's soul (or 15,000 experience points per party member if you also save Marlowe)
Assault on the Enclaves, Balthazar when you arrive
Dispatch two powerful Bhaalspawn, Sendai and Abizagal
Each of the Bhaalspawn is in a separate fortress. Follow the detailed instructions under sector 14 and 15 on how to best confront them.
10,000 experience points per party member to enter each lair; 40,000 experience points per party member for killing each one
The priest near the temple
Save the priest near the temple from the monk
As soon as you see the confrontation develop, swarm in around the monk so that he can't get to the priest without going through your party. As soon as the attack commences, force an attack against the monk. When you talk to the priest afterward, donate 1,000 gold.
3,000 experience points per party member and one reputation point if you donate the gold (2,000 experience points per party member if you don't make the donation) and the oaken ring
Mercenaries confronting a girl and her father near the tavern
Save the girl from execution
It's easy to antagonize the mercenaries into attacking you instead just by being confrontational.
Montolio's cloak, 500 gold, 5,000 experience points per party member, plus one reputation point
Immediately upon arriving at this sector, you'll be greeted by Balthazar and his men. There are mercenaries swarming throughout the town, and it doesn't take much provocation to start a battle with them. Just south of your conversation with Balthazar, Captain Erelon is summoning creatures for his archer crew to practice against. If you criticize his actions, the captain will immediately order his men to attack you. They aren't strong opponents, but they are equipped with decent magic equipment and can mete out some damage (all mercenaries wear chain mail +3 and are armed either with longbows +1 or long swords +1).
Preparing for battle. Balthazar's lair is in the northwest corner of town, while the smugglers are in a cave to the east. You'll have to travel to a couple of houses on the cliffs on the eastern side of town. To get to the cliffs, you'll have to crawl through a residence.
A monk and a priest start battling if you wander near the temple. It's clear that the monk is the bad guy in the confrontation, and you can step in to save the priest, but doing so will earn you a warning from a mage that teleports in (tell the mage that the monk was attacking the priest). If you save the priest and donate 1,000 gold, you'll get 3,000 experience points per party member and one reputation point plus an oaken ring (which you can also get off the priest's body if you let the monk kill him). If you save him, but don't donate the money, you'll just get 2,000 experience points per party member and no reputation point gain. Saemon Havarian will bait you into defending him from two mercenaries (2,000 and 3,000 experience points). There's no way to avoid the fight, so just ensure your fighters are at the front of the ranks. You'll also stumble upon a couple of mercenaries about to execute Asana Haraad for thievery. If you intervene on her behalf and defend her, her father will give you Montolio's cloak, 500 gold, and 5,000 experience points per party member, and your reputation will increase one point. If you don't intervene, you'll lose one reputation point.
Turn those traps away. When you use the tables, you'll disarm some of the traps on the platform, but you'll also initiate some tough battles. You don't need to turn the tables in order to get what you need from this room. You can't open the central door until you've confronted both Sendai and Abazigal.
Marlowe will approach you when you enter the tavern and ask you to meet him at his house at the top of the hill on the east side of town (you must go through a residence and climb on the roof). He'll send you to kill a lich in the graveyard (which is inaccessible until you get this quest) to save the soul of his daughter. But when you arrive at the graveyard, the lich will inform you that Marlowe broke his prior deal for his soul. You can attack the lich immediately, but you'll lose the soul of Marlowe's daughter. Or, you can elect to (temporarily) avoid violence by bringing Marlowe to the lich (he'll come willingly when you confront him at his house), getting 6,000 experience points per party member and another 10,000 experience points per party member if you then restore the soul of his daughter. You can elect to kill the lich after you get the soul. If you save Marlowe, you'll earn 15,000 experience points per party member, plus one reputation point (or 6,000 experience points per party member and lose two reputation points if you keep the soulstone, which is a magic item you can wear instead of a helmet). Fortunately, the lich won't cast imprisonment, but will use simulacrum to double its attacks as well constantly use sequencers to cast stoneskin, improved mantle, shadow door, and protection from magic weapons. So, make sure you can breach his defenses and use truth seeing to dispel his illusions. A banshee will attack from each side, so ensure that you have protections like bless and chant to increase your saving throw rolls when they use their deadly wails. The lich will summon pairs of skeletons constantly, and there's a row of archers elevated on a platform behind the lich. Try to move a cleric within range of the skeletons to instantly destroy them by using the cleric's turn undead ability because otherwise your fighters will find themselves surrounded and unable to close in on the lich.
In the lich's lair, if you turn the tables you'll unleash, successively, clockwise starting with the northern table: greater air elements, fission slime, ice golems, and greater fire elementals. Turing the tables will disarm most, but not all, of the traps on the doors on the elevated platform. You can't enter the locked door in the center of the platform until after you've defeated both Sendai and Abazigal.
In you enter the smuggler's cave, you'll witness Carras about to be arrested by some mercenaries who are looking for Esamon (Saemon Havarian). If you intervene to help him, you'll get 10,000 experience points for killing each monk and a discount on goods. Two of the chests at the back of the room are trapped. -
NPCs in this sector:
Asana Haraad
Balthazar
Captain Erelon
Carras
Chyil
Cowherd
Faheed
Kerrick the smith
Lazarus Librarus
Leila
Majira
Marlowe
Omar Haraad
Priest of Waukeen
Saemon Havarian
Vongoethe (lich)
Zakee Rafeha
Enemies in this sector:
Banshees
Captain Erelon (10,000 experience points)
Elementals (greater air and greater fire)
Golems (ice)
Mercenary archers (6,000 experience points)
Skeletons (archers and warriors)
Slime (fission)
Vangoethe (lich)
Magic items in this sector:
On Captain Erelon and his mercenaries:
Chain mail +3
Elven chain +1
Medium shields +1
Two-handed sword +2
Long swords +1
Darkfire bow +4
Longbows +1
Arrows +2
On the Priest of Waukeen:
Oaken ring
From Omar Haraad:
Montolio's cloak
For purchase at the temple:
Ring of animal friendship
Antidote
Elixir of health
Potions of extra healing, genius, healing, insight, mind focusing, and superior healing
Inside the houses near the smugglers' cave:
Potion of superior healing
Mage scroll of identity
For purchase from Lazarus:
Same items as in Saradash, including any items you sold to him
All mage scrolls
Locked up in his home are the following additional items:
Arrows +3
Bolts +2
Battle axe +2
Long sword +1
War hammer +1
For purchase from the smugglers:
Chain mail +1
Splint mail +1
Medium shield +1
Dagger +1 and +3
Dart +1
Halberd +1 and +3
Quarterstaff +1
Short sword +1 and +3
Scimitar +1
Katana +1 and +3
Bastard sword +3
Battle axe +1 and +3
Long sword +3
Two-handed sword +1 and +3
Spear +1 and +3
Flail +1
Mace +1
Morning star +1 and +3
Club +3
Flail +3
Mace +3
War hammer +3
Heavy crossbow +1 and +3
Light crossbow +1 and +3
Composite longbow +1 and +3
Longbow +1 and +3
Short bow +1 and +3
Sling +1 and +3
Arrows +2 and +3
Arrows of piercing
Acid arrows
Bolts of biting
Bolts of lightning
Bolts +3
Bullets +2 and +3
Amulet of protection +1
Glasses of identification
Wand of frost
Oil of speed
Antidote
Potions of absorption, agility, extra healing, fire giant strength, master thievery, perception, and superior healing
Priest scrolls of protection from electricity and restoration
Mage scrolls of improved invisibility and non-detection
Gems needed for Cespenar's upgrades
On the Lich Vongoethe and his troops:
Two-handed sword +1
Arrows of fire
Acid arrow
Ring of anti-venom
Malla's soulstone
Potions of agility
Cursed scroll of petrification.
In the chests in the lair of the smugglers:
Potions of extra healing and superior healing -
14. Sendai's Enclave and the Third Challenge
Inside the woodcutter's hut is a rune of Clangeddin, which you can use to enhance the runehammer +3. West of the hut is a scene of a slaughter, where you'll immediately encounter a couple of drow (5,000 experience points each), a hive mother beholder, and umber hulk elders. The hive mother consistently casts finger of death and death ray, so eventually, you'll lose characters if you don't take her out quickly. Cast chant, bless, and protection from evil if you have the opportunity as well to improve your saving throws. Return to the woodcutter, and he'll tell you to go to the graves north of his hut.
At the graves, you'll be ambushed by some gauth and more drow. The gauth aren't as dangerous as regular beholders, but you should still take them out first. Send a couple of fighters to engage in a melee attack on the drow with crossbows, or you'll take a beating.
Underdark ambush. The woodcutter and all of the creatures in the woods are disguised drow that'll attack after you explore a few strange occurrences in the woods. Ensure that you have your fighters spread out near the animals before you initiate a conversation with the woodcutter after this graveyard ambush.
When you return and speak to the woodcutter, he'll change into a drow and attack, as will all the animals in the area. The drow at the north of the map have crossbows, but the real threat is from the wizard in the southeast corner of the map. Before you start speaking to the woodcutter, you should position your fighters around the animals, including the one that becomes a drow wizard, to ensure that you can get in some quick attacks. Each drow will earn you 6,000 or 7,500 experience points. When they're all dead, an illusion will be dispelled, revealing the pathway to Sendai's enclave, earning you 10,000 experience points for each party member.
The Enclave
Entering the enclave, the entrance is guarded by myconids. Pick them off with ranged weapons and slowly advance to meet a few waves of umber hulks and spiders. Ensure that you have some dispel magic spells ready to remove confusion caused by the myconids and umber hulks as well as some antidotes to avoid poison damage from the spiders and myconids. Once you get to a bridge, send an invisible mage to launch a massive damage area of effect spell, like comet or dragon's breath, on the group of drow and umber hulk elders that's waiting there. There are three doors you can go through, all labeled on your map.
When you enter the drow barracks, don't leave the entryway and let the drow come to you. After an initial wave of about five fighters, you can scout around a bit and reveal a more formidable group, including Thelynn'ss and a priestess. You can use an area of effect spell like comet or dragon's breath to severely damage the remaining group (although the drow have magic resistance, so it might not be as effective as you expect). Or, try to flank Thelynn'ss and the priestess to take out the drow armed with crossbows around the periphery. When you've cleared the room and exited, you'll get a brief cutscene informing you of what to expect in the remaining passageways and be awarded 5,000 experience points per party member. Ensure you pick up the drow key on Thelynn'ss.
If you enter the north passageway, you'll encounter a slave master and some derro and derro berserkers. The slave master will then leave, and you can deal with successive waves of derro. Unfortunately, the derro will start coming from behind you as well, and there's no limit to their number, so you must keep pushing forward through the gauntlet. Launch a few offensive area of effect spells in front of you, like comet, to give your party some breathing room before reinforcements arrive. Then, summon a few creatures to serve as rear guards as you advance. Eventually, Orogs will join the assault, but keep advancing until you catch up to the slave master (he'll retreat a second time before he finally stops to fight). Killing him will make the reinforcements stop coming, so make that a priority.
If you enter the south passageway, you'll encounter a large group of spiders (mutated, phase, and sword) led by Lashar'ra (200, 18,700 experience points), a giant spider that has an innate blur effect and can summon additional spiders. There's lots of antidote potions on this level, so you shouldn't be in much danger from poison, but you should still rely on ranged weapons to take out most of them before they even get into range. There are web spell traps throughout this corridor, primarily off the main path. Since your thief will likely be too busy fighting to detect them, have a priest cast a detect traps spell to avoid stumbling into the traps. There are no items in this passageway.
Once you're through either the north or south passageway, you'll enter another area populated by drow and umber hulk elders. Advance slowly, equipped with ranged weapons and with a few summoned creatures in front of you, and pick off the enemies that appear. Since your summoned creatures will block the advance of your enemies, you can use area of effect clouds just beyond your creatures and damage the rest of the enemy group, since the corridors are narrow, and they'll be grouped (although it's less effective because all your opponents will be resistant to magic). The large room in the center of the map leads to the lair of a lich, Odamaron. The lich loves to cast spell trap in addition to standard spell defenses, so use pierce magic and breach spells to make the lich vulnerable to your fighters (spellstrike is ideal). There are traps leading up to the lich's podium, but they aren't dangerous to your fighters, since the traps are just silence spells, so charge forward and get within melee range. On the lich is the heart of the damned, the eye of Tyr, and a drow wardstone. As soon as you leave the room, you'll be treated to another cutscene and 5,000 experience points per party member.
Going through the eastern door, you'll be met by Diaytha, who will inform you that Ogremoch is waiting for you in the next room. Ogremoch is the elemental prince of earth, and he's guarded by two greater earth elementals. But if you enter his room slowly, you can avoid fighting them all at once. Ogremoch will cast earthquake on the first creature that enters his room, so you might want to send in a summoned creature first to spare your party some lumps. Aside from casting stoneskin frequently, Ogremoch isn't much trouble and is worth 56,000 experience points. Once you've taken Ogremoch out, Diaytha (14,000 experience points) will be waiting in the next room, along with a hive mother (50,000 experience points), demon knight (16,000 experience points), abashi (9,000 experience points), and vampire (12,000 experience points). They're all dangerous opponents, but Diaytha's a druid spellcaster, so you should take her out first, while ensuring that the vampire is stuck tangling with an opponent that is protected from level draining. Since there's not much room to maneuver, spells like holy smite and other offensive area of effect spells work well.
Diaytha's droogs. Diaytha has a strange assortment of creatures as personal guards and each of them is dangerous. Diaytha and the hive mother should be your highest priority targets.
Entering the next door, you'll be given an option for your main character to fight Captain Egeissag (125 hit points, 20,000 experience points) in a one-on-one battle. It's an easy victory if you have a fighter character, but it's much tougher if you have a spellcaster, unless you can get some defenses raised quickly. You can elect to decline the challenge, in which case you must deal with a group of drow armed with crossbows, who are on an elevated platform, so you can't reach them except with ranged spells or weapons. Either way, once you get by the captain, you'll have a conversation with a familiar beholder and be awarded 5,000 experience points per party member after another brief cut scene.
In the next room, you'll encounter an ulitharid and an umber hulk, and there's a couple of vampiric mind flayers in the neighboring alcoves. Through the main door awaits Mithykyl and a couple more ulitharid minions as well as another umber hulk. The real test awaits through the next door, where Sendai awaits. Before you get to engage her directly, you must fight through waves of statutes that will animate. One mage statue around the room will animate at a time, which will also prompt a couple of drow fighters to appear at the door. It's a tough fight, since you must engage successive high-level mages and fighter escorts with no time to rest between battles. Keep casting haste and protection spells such as protection from evil, defensive harmony, bless, and chant, and use your fighters' high-level abilities. Your mages must consistently cast pierce and breach spells to dispel defenses and ensure that your fighters' attacks will be effective. Sendai is even more dangerous, since she'll consistently use spell sequencers and contingencies to maintain defenses and can still use offensive spells. You'll need truth seeking to dispel the mislead spells she consistently casts. As soon as you defeat Sendai, you'll be taken back to the pocket plane for another encounter with the Solar. -
NPCs in this sector:
Captain Egeissag
Diaytha
Mithykyl
Sendai
Slave master
Spectator
Thelynn'ss
Woodcutter
Enemies in this sector:
Abashi
Beholder (gauth and hive mother)
Captain Egeissag
Demon knight
Diaytha
Derro (normal and berserkers)
Drow (priests, warriors, and wizards)
Elemental (greater earth and ogremoch)
Lashar'ra (spider)
Myconids (normal, king, and spore colony)
Mind flayer (normal, ulitharid, and vampiric)
Odamaron (lich)
Orogs
Slave master
Spiders (mutated, sword, and wraith)
Umber hulks (elders and normal)
Vampire
Magic items in this sector:
In the woodcutter's house:
Medium shield +2
Long sword +3
Arrows +3
Bullets +3
Potions of superior healing
Rune of Clangeddin
On the drow outdoors and inside:
Elven chain +1
Heavy crossbow +2
Katana +2
Battle axe +3
Long sword +3
Bolts +1 and 3
Antidotes
Potions of extra healing, invisibility, and superior healing
Additional items on Thelynn'ss and the drow priestess:
Amulet of cheetah speed
Additional items on enemies in the northern and southern passageways:
Plate mail +1
Full plate mail +1
Drow halberd +3
Short sword +2
Two-handed sword +2
Battle axe +2
Heavy crossbow +1
Light crossbow +1
Random low-level mage scrolls
Minor potions
On Odamaron and in his cache:
Arrows +3
Bolts +3
Bullets +4
Heart of the damned
Eye of Tyr
Drow wardstone
Skull of the lich
On Diaytha and her minions:
Darksteel shield +4
Drow full plate +5
On Captain Egeissag:
Drow elven chain +3
Drow scimitar +3
Bowstring of Gond
On the mind flayers and minions:
Arrows of ice
Bolts +2
Bullets +4
Liquid mercury
On Sendai and her minions:
Drow full plate +5
Studded leather of thorns +6
Leather armor +3
Drow shield +3
Dagger +3
Drow flail +3
Katana +2
Short sword +3
Short bow +3
Acid arrows
Arrows of biting
Arrows +3
Wand of cursing
Oil of speed
Potions of extra healing, invisibility, and superior healing
Wong Fei's Ioun stone
The Third Challenge - Innocence
This is the easiest challenge you'll face. You must fight an image of your "innocence," which transforms into your slayer form (225 hit points). It's resistant to magic and strong, but no match for your party, even in basic melee combat. For taking out "innocence," you'll gain 25,000 experience points, and for completing the challenge, your party will be given an additional 25,000 experience points per party member. -
15. Abizagal's Lair and the Fourth Challenge
You'll immediately be confronted by Draconis, the son of Abizagal. He won't look intimidating, but you should summon some creatures (devas and planetars work best, since they're not susceptible to death spells) and protect the party from fear and engage. He'll go down apparently pretty easily, but will just turn into a barely wounded brown dragon--and a particularly tough one. He loves to turn invisible and cast non-detection, which makes it difficult to target him with the breach and pierce spells needed to get through his defenses (he likes to cast protection from magic weapons, which you must breach to start doing some damage to him). Keep a true sight active at all times to deal with his invisibility and his tendency to cast mislead spells. He also summons invisible stalkers, but you should predominately ignore them, unless Draconis still has protection from magic weapons active and your fighters are near the stalkers. He'll spit acid instead of fire, so you should protect your party from acid if you have handy scrolls available or the spell memorized. You'll earn 61,000 experience points for taking out Draconis as well as access to Abizagal's lair.
Entering the lair, you'll run into a greater werewyvern servant (Ekim Cyre) and a group of lesser earth elementals. There's a chain lightning trap right at the entrance, so let your opponents come to you while you hit them with ranged weapons. Ensure that you pick up the empty breath potion flask on the greater werewyvern's body and proceed down the hall, watching for the trap at the end just in front of the northern door (x680, y291). The only place you can go is down to the steaming water hole on the far left, which will lead you to a group of frost salamanders, followed by a room with a couple of bone fiends. In that room, the dresser is trapped, and there's a fountain in which you can fill up the empty breath potion flask.
Three stoned men. Next to these hapless adventurers, you'll meet Iycanth the Mad. The eye stalk he's looking for is down the pool to the immediate right of the adventurers
You can now go down the steaming water hole on the far right, which will lead you to a few rooms guarded by greater water elementals, Olhydra (the elemental prince of water), and a large group of kuo-toa. Kuo-toa are still vulnerable to instant death spells like death spell and fighter abilities like deathblow, so they shouldn't hold you up for long. In a cell, you'll find a dying monk sent by Balthazar. Before the monk dies, he'll give you some rope. He also has Hindo's hand.
There's two remaining steaming holes you can enter. The northern one leads to the eastern side of a labyrinth with flying eyes. While the southern one leads to a large room guarded by Fll'yissetat, a green dragon. There's also a hole in the southeast corner of the dragon room that leads to another area of the eye labyrinth. The labyrinth with the eyes isn't difficult, although eagle eyes and seekers are capable of meeting out good damage with ranged attacks. In the northwest corner of the map, you'll run into three adventurers who have been turned to stone. All you must do is turn one of them back using a spell or scroll of stone to flesh, and they'll all come back to life. Iycanth the Mad is also in the area, and he'll ask you to get a gauth eyestalk in exchange for the scroll of reversal that the Monk indicated that you'd need to free Fll'yissetat. The pool directly east of the three neophyte adventurers leads to a room with a gauth beholder and three elder eyes. Pick up the gauth eyestalk when you kill it and return it to Ilycanth, and you'll get 30,000 experience points per party member. Alternatively, you can just kill him and take the scroll (or kill him after you get the experience point reward to get an additional 20,000 experience points), but doing so will summon some more deadly eyes to his defense. You can take the items on his desk without killing him. If he flees, use the pool to the left of the adventurers to get through to his lair.
Arrogant ally. Although there's no need to fight this dragon, and you're specifically given a quest that permits you to avoid battle, you'll be able to acquire a ring of improved invisibility if you take it down.
The dragon, Fll'yissetat, won't attack initially, and he's there unwillingly, but malevolent parties quickly try to take him out by surrounding him with fighters and hacking away. By the time the dragon goes hostile, it'll be half dead and easy to finish off. It can cast entangle on itself, but otherwise, it's one of the weaker dragons you'll encounter (worth 60,000 experience points). It has a ring of improved invisibility and Abizagal's wardstone on it. Or, you can release him using the reversal scroll and earn 10,000 experience points per party member, although you won't get the ring of improved invisibility. If you antagonize the dragon by asking him for respect, it'll attack you even though you released it.
Finally, you can take on Abizagal (210 hit points, AC -12, three attacks per round, 1d8+10 per claw, 55% magic resistance), who is easily the most formidable dragon you'll face in the game. Don't move very far into the room. Instead, head south, hugging the wall, and take out any frost salamanders you encounter (use missile weapons, so you can stay near the wall).
In the lair of the beast. You'll make your encounter with Abazigal much easier if you wander counterclockwise along the perimeter of his lair and take out the frost salamanders with ranged weapons without encountering Abazigal.
Continue circling the room counterclockwise, taking out the salamanders as you encounter them. You can take almost all of them out before you're confronted by Abizagal, who will be in human form. Like his son, Abizagal isn't particularly tough in human form, so take advantage of the lull in the storm to summon some powerful allies like elementals, devas, planatars, mountain bears, and a juggernaut golem. Your party members will be blown back when Abizagal turns into a dragon, so ensure that you already have it surrounded and can move back into position quickly (if you haven't taken out the frost salamanders, they can be fatal to unconscious party members who are recovering from wing buffet). Holy smite works very well against Abazigal. Keep breaching Abizagal's defenses and getting your fighters in melee range, and you'll eventually get 40,000 experience points per party member for taking down the fourth of the five mighty Bhaalspawn. -
NPCs in this sector:
Bondari Quickhand
Draconis
Ekim Cyre
Fll'yissetat (dragon)
Iycanth the Mad
Monk
Nanoc the Barbarian
Tim Goldenhand
Vigilant eyes
Enemies in this sector:
Beholders (elder eyes and gauth)
Bone fiends
Dragons (Abizagal, Draconis, and Fll'yissetat)
Elementals (earth, greater water, and Olhydra)
Eyes (eagle eyes, eye of the beholder, eye of the dead, gorgon, seekers, sentinels, and vigilant)
Frost salamanders
Kuo-toa (Captain, priest, warriors, and whip)
Greater werewyvern
Invisible stalkers
Seeker
Magic items in this sector:
On Draconis and Ekim Cryre:
Tzu-Zan's bracers
Empty breath potion flask
Priest scroll of stone to flesh
Empty breath potion flask
Dragon head
In the Salamander Lair:
Arrows +3
Bolts +3
Bullets +3
Priest scroll of stone to flesh
In the kuo-toa lair:
Large shield +1
Kuo-toa bolts
Hindo's hand
Rope
On Fll'yissetat:
Ring of improved invisibility
Abazigal's wardstone
In Iycanth's laboratory and the eye labyrinth:
Potion of superior healing
Priest scroll of flesh to stone
Juggernaut golem page
Gauth eyestalk
In Abizagal's Lair:
Gram the sword of grief +5
Flail head (electric)
Blue dragon scales
The Fourth Challenge - Cyric
After you kill Abizagal and learn a little more of your destiny from the Solar, the fourth challenge will be available to you. Initially, it's just a conversation with Cyric, reigning god of murder, but once he leaves, he'll summon three of his favored ones. Each of Cyric's favored ones can backstab for quintuple damage, but otherwise they are straightforward melee opponents who are heavily resistant to magic. So rely on protection spells and spells that increase your effectiveness rather than attacking spells. Ensure you cast true sight to reduce your vulnerability to invisible backstabbing. Primarily, however, just rely on melee combat, with your fighters enhanced with greater whirlwind and smite. You'll gain 25,000 experience points for killing each favored one, along with 25,000 experience points per party member (30,000 experience points for your main character), for completing the battle.