need help here...when I confront the cultists in Ulgoth's Beard, the final fight.

this is surreal...

I managed to kill Aec'Letec, but one of my NPCs will die and turn into a Ghast, no matter what! The first time it happened, I thought it's because I didn't finish Aec'Letec quick enough, and so before he died, he turned one of my NPCs into a ghast. Then, I finished him off clean...yet, few seconds later, Minsc died and turned into ghast! What is the problem??? or it MUST be this way? or I fight the battle in the wrong way?

this is how I fight the battle:

finish the woman (the spellcaster) first, and use summon monsters to hold Aec'Letec, while my party finish off those cult guards standing around (since if I kill the Aec'Letec in the center first, the gurads will turn into another Aec'Letec). shall I not touch those guards before I defeat the first Aec'Letec?

It's the gaze attack the demon uses. If it succeeds, which it does more often than not, the targeted character will be cursed, a ghast magically grows inside the person's body and after x rounds it'll emerge, tearing the victim apart on its way out.
There are a few things you can do to protect yourself from this. The best thing to do is to have your warriors drink potions of mirrored eyes before they go and attract the demon's attention. I believe that a remove curse spell would also work. Or, if you are desperate enough, you can try staying far away from the demon and use missile weapons instead. Hopefully the summons can keep him occupied long enough for you to pull it off.

THANKS!!!! (what a TOUGH fight@"@)

Legolas, if it is a gaze attack wouldn't it hit regardless of your proximity to Aec? Or does he try to gaze the summons?

just beat him...he'll gaze main foes first (my party), and his gaze jus reached my party through all those summons.

the thing is...after I beat him, I went back to talk to Hurgan, thought he'd given me a nice war hammer, but there was only one option in dialogue box = this is something needed to be done, we don't want any reward~~ no war hammer (probably because my rep. 20 and I have an all true nature -> lawful good party???)

[ 08-25-2003, 01:21 PM: Message edited by: teardropmina ]

I'm not entirely sure there. I seem to remember he ignores the summons completely when it comes to that, and only makes these gaze attacks on characters standing reasonably closeby. But then I always used lots of potions after I found out how to counter the gaze (dispel magic might work too by the way, I'm not sure) and didn't waste any time before engaging the demon in close combat with my tanks.
He was definately more eager to stare at the warriors than the firing squad.

btw, Legolas,

remove curse doesn't remove the gaze effect.

Now I'm scared...I'll have to kill them with my solo Fighter :eek:

mm.m.."pure" fighter? (ah...you want to do the fight dual-> mage thing into SoA right?), well, that means you can't even use wand of monster summoning? but maybe, as you're solong, your fighter might be in high enough level (lower enough AC and buffed up protection) to get rid of those cult gurads before Aec'Letec kill you. There are 7 guards, and so you might end up fighting 8 demons~~

IIRC dispel is effective. A known way to counter Aec's gaze is to have someone with a quiver full of dispel arrows and have them shoot whoever get's hit with the gaze before they go ghastly on you. Another slightly more pricey method is the Potion of Mirrored eyes. Oh yeah, buffing potions and spells work great. Pyrenk use potion of Mirrored eyes, boots of speed or oil of speed, and DUHM (Draw Upon Holy Might). If I'm correct you should have DUHM as a natural ability by now.

P.S. kill the cultists first.

[ 08-25-2003, 02:33 PM: Message edited by: Firestormalpha ]

I don't have DUHM yet. I'm level 6, and have just entered the Cloakwood. The Boots are in here, somewhere...

you won't be getting DUHM for quite some time...

better get to the TOTSC quests at least after ch.6 (but then again, I've never soloed before, and so I don't really know whether a solo fighter can take on TOTSC quests earlier)

My personal advice would be, with a solo fighter, pray A LOT. Go to a church or something...seriously.

Chug potions. Mirrored eyes is handy, IIRC. I managed to beat him with a solo fighter/thief, but it took me two days. Use a bunch of invisibility potions, hit and run. Use EVERYTHING in this fight. Other than that...oh, top priority should be the acolytes around him...if you kill him, they rebirth him. Use a strong character or thief to take them out. [img]smile.gif[/img]

How do you suggest my solo Fighter use a thief? -.-

I have just obtained Spider Bane, yay :D

Invisibility potions + Non-detection. ;)

EDIT => Most of the post I made was directed towards Teardrop. However, the everything you use part can apply for you too. At that point, you should be able to boost (temporarily) your three physical stats to 25. Then, it's just a matter of using potions strategically, and knowing when to retreat. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 08-25-2003, 07:15 PM: Message edited by: True_Moose ]

Legolas, are you absolutely positive that ghast-turning stunt is an effect of the death gaze plus a failed saving throw? I am asking, because I have just managed to kill the demon for the second time - just to have Imoen turn into a ghast afterwards for the second time as well. And for that second battle I am almost positive that Imoen wasn't even attacked by the demon. And the gaze is definitely no area-effect attack or is it? By the way, does anyway know what exactly the effect is that the "dying" icon on the character portrait indicates? Should that be the effect of the death gaze? If so, I am absolutely positive that Imoen did not sport that icon during my second try at the battle - and she died and turned into a ghast nonetheless!

And, yes, I am frustrated. ;)

Ramon, the dying icon is the result of the demon's death gaze. It gives you a short amount of time to dispel the effects before your "dying" friend is transformed into a ghoul. Dispel arrows are a good way to circumvent this. Also potions of mirrored eyes work wonders, but if your tight on funds the strategy may be slightly complicated. Basically and kind of gaze attack preventative, or dispel ability should keep your party from turning instantly into the undead army.