I'm stuck. I've finished Durlag, which means I have the dagger. Now, no matter what I do to enter Ulgoth's Beard, I'm met by the cult folks and people in the party are killed. How do I get into town without losing party members? Help!!!!

Just going to have to duke it out with those guys! They aren't too hard just watch the attacks from the side (north and south). U might want to use some potions of heroism for your fighters because you will have them in abundance when you are done with this quest. Don't forget Defensive Harmony(4th level druid/Cleric spell).

It's been a while, but if I recall correctly, they have two or three rogues who'll try to backstab your characters. Unless you stop them, the backstabs will seriously weaken your own characters, or even kill the weaker ones outright.
To counter it, try some of the following:

- Hide your thieves in the shadows, and cast invisibility on mages. Clerics could cast sanctuary. This actually works even if you cast these before moving to the Beard, although it'd be more realistic if you cast them later on. Thieves will hardly get a chance to hide then, but there are potions of invisibility in the game too.
The effect is that the attackers will go for your stronger fighters, who can take the damage better and, perhaps after using a healing potion, remove the threat.

-Cast your slow and hold spells. Entangle, web, slow, they'll all work. If you're lucky some of the attackers will fail their saves and you can deal with them piecemeal. Charm spells would also help.

-Use spells like Mirror Image to help characters survive until they can get help
Remember that protecting your own characters has higher priority than killing the enemy. There's no need to rush towards the enemy spellcasters, even though they can be rather annoying. The fighters who don't start out in the center of your party can wait too.
Also try to concentrate your attacks on one enemy at a time, it really does work.

-If all else fails, run away. Never go to the Beard in the first place. People can solve their own problems, or learn to live with them. You can't be a hero all the time. Perhaps you can return once you've reached a higher level.

i dont get how you can beat durlags then die to the cultists, they are quite tough but if you beat durlags you should by now have tactics to counter them, just make sure before your spoken to you preprepare positions and summon whatever animals and undead that you can, then just let their tougher ones fight it out vs your summoned creatures whilst you pick on the weaker ones and take them out before ganging on the bigger ones who will by now have finished off most of your summoned creatures.

Trust me, without revealing any spoilers, it gets A LOT harder afterwards ;)

As well as the advice above another spell that will help is "Detect Invisibility"

The cult members are doing most of their damage by backstabbing you at the start. Cast "Detect Invisibility" as soon as your conversation is over. This will help immensly.

[ 01-16-2003, 12:09 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

yeah the 2nd cultist battle is harder with the spellcaster present, and then beyond them aec'letec is way nastier

What happens after that. I couldn't find them.

[ 01-20-2003, 08:13 AM: Message edited by: Myrddin L'argenton ]

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- Hide your thieves in the shadows, and cast invisibility on mages. Clerics could cast sanctuary. This actually works even if you cast these before moving to the Beard, although it'd be more realistic if you cast them later on. Thieves will hardly get a chance to hide then, but there are potions of invisibility in the game too.
End Quote

Herein lies my problem. None of my spells that I cast before going back to the Beard still work when I get there. I have time to cast the dispell invisibility spell with Jaheira before the baddies hit me, but they always kill at least one of my folks before I can do anything else. I wonder...I haven't ever used the pause feature. How does that work? I end up going through any attack situation as if I was one player with a lot of options (except for physical attacks...those I just make sure the right weapons are in everyone's hands, select all the group and have them attack). I click on first one of the characters, click on what I want them to do, and then have them do it, and go on to my next character. This takes all the time in the world. Is there a better way?

I wonder...I haven't ever used the pause feature. How does that work? I end up going through any attack situation as if I was one player with a lot of options (except for physical attacks...those I just make sure the right weapons are in everyone's hands, select all the group and have them attack). I click on first one of the characters, click on what I want them to do, and then have them do it, and go on to my next character. This takes all the time in the world. Is there a better way?

I don't own TotSC, but I do know about the pause feature.

It's simple to use--just hit the spacebar. You can also go to the save menu and do some further adjustments under "auto-pause." I tend to select "enemy sighted" and "character attacked" as times for the computer to automatically pause the game.

Pausing the game is a LIFESAVER, especially during battles. You can decide what spells your mages/clerics are going to cast, which characters need healing and who's going to heal them, check if someone's using the wrong weapon, etc. The best thing about pausing like this is you can decide what all your party members are going to do, and when you unpause the game, all your party members will do what you told them. No more waiting for people to finish what they're doing. ;)

(Don't worry about not knowing this beforehand...it took me one full party through the game to realize that you could rearrange your party lineup by dragging the pictures around...would've been helpful in places like the Iron Throne battle.)

Pirengle is correct in this case pause will be a lifesaver. You will be able to get each of your party members something to do. So you can have several spells being cast at once (1 per member). Then when they are cast, and the dirty thieves have shown themselves pause again to have your characters do other things, even if you want a weak mage to flee away from the battle. Going through BG this far without using pause is an achievment, your game would have been easier using it.

WARNING: Once you use pause there is no going back, it will become a habit that you will not be able to control.

If you didn't pause all the way through Durlag's itself, then power to ya brother! Verry good skills indeed. Now is your time to sit back and give those filthy cultists a good shoeing. :mad:

BTW Have you checked the last response off of the "Love the Kobolds" post? Would you have a look, and you too our illustrious Chair Legolas, please.

Everyone's advice paid off...using a combination of pause and...oh, whatever the spell is that makes invisible folks visible, I was able to get into Ulgoth's Beard, and have killed the cult folks upstairs, too. Any pointers on the aec'letec?