(SPOILER WARNING!
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There are many Chapter 3 spoilers ahead...
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...including NPC stuff, you have been warned...
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I mean, where do I go next so I won't get my rear end handed to me or screw up any PC quests.

My party consists of: Rochelie (PC cavalier), Anomen Skywalker (to finally get the romance right), Nalia, Keldorn, Mazzy, and Yoshimo/Imoen. We're all in our 11s, maybe 12s. Somebody's 13, and I think that's Yoshi.

My party has done the following major quests: Irenicus dungeon (picked up Jaheira and Minsc and Yoshimo), Copper Coronet and slaver ship (picked up Anomen and Nalia), the circus, de'Arnise Keep, Mae'var, Umar Hills (dumped Jaheira for Mazzy), Harper's Hold, Trademeet, Anarg, and accepted the Unseeing Eye to dump Minsc for Keldorn. I know where Aran lives, but I haven't done his quests yet. I've also not cleared out the graveyard.

My party has done the following NPC quests: rescued Nalia from whats-his-name, took Keldorn home to see his family and finished all that up, and Mazzy's seeing her sister.

The romance: Anomen's whining about his knight test, and I think he's going to get a visit from Sir Ryan Trawl soon.

I have three major areas to do: Unseeing Eye, Windspear Hills, and Planar Prison. (Maybe Planar Sphere if I feel like collecting Valygar.) Question is, I don't want to wreck any NPC quests or (more importantly) the Anomen romance. I nearly missed a dialogue with the romance in the Druid Grove because the music came up and there was never a dialogue. (Maybe I hit a wrong button?) Thank goodness I saved before that happened! Dialogue proceeded as normal.

What I want to avoid: Pit of the Faithless/Firkraag dungeon/Planar Prison, and somebody gets a call home to go deal with something.

I haven't done any of the thief quests for Aran Linvail. Should I do these first, and all the minor quests in Athkatla, to try and be in the neighborhood when people get called to estates or whatever?

By that, do you mean "I don't want to be right in the middle of something when a Messenger comes up and steals one of my party members?" Don't worry, because that can't happen: Messenger-type events can only occur in Outdoor areas, not in the middle of major quests. (It'd be rather odd for Sir Ryan Trawl to pay a quick visit to the Lair of the Unseeing Eye just to deliver a message!)

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[qb]I haven't done any of the thief quests for Aran Linvail. Should I do these first, and all the minor quests in Athkatla, to try and be in the neighborhood when people get called to estates or whatever?

That depends on where you want Imoen to be, in relation to Nalia. If you haul ass and grab some gold as fast as you can, you can make a rush to Chapter 4 and get Imoen back when she's only half a Mage level behind Nalia. It sounds like you're already past that point, so you may be stuck with an Imoen that falls far behind as a Mage. Go ahead and play as much in Chapters 1-3 as you like, but remember that if you're doing Yoshimo->Imoen, every point of EXP that Yoshimo gets is a point stolen from Imoen.

Alternatively, you can take advantage of the fact that the NPC quests are mostly based on time: Instead of doing quests, you can just
1) Rest
2) Go outside and walk around a bit to see if a Messenger pops up
3) Repeat
until the NPC quests are over & done with, and then go to Spellhold. Rather against roleplay for a Paladin who wants to go rescue her childhood buddy, but doable.

If you're looking for extra XP & time-wasting, w/o adding any new NPC's, you can...

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(you probably already know of/have done some of these, but I'll try to help-without-spoiling as if you don't/haven't)

- I'm guessing you've done the Bridge murders quest, but if not, go do that
- while you're there, cast Limited Wish, choose 1 time wish, choose "...an adventure like no other" or somesuch & walk near Delosar's Inn
- talk to Aran & do his first 2 quests - they are simple, give you some XP, & give you some "runnin' around time"
- Ryan Trawl should have a mini-quest for you regardless of being a Paladin & regardless of having Anomen with you (Fallen Paladins)
- talk to everyone in Lathander's Temple (I'm assuming that's who recruited you for The Unseeing Eye) & get the Sculptor Quest

- go ahead & rescue Haer Dalis' & do the Astral Prison, as this won't interfere with anything
- you may as well do the Planar Sphere as well, for the same reason, although you may "get the call" while in Umar picking up Valygar, though that won't really matter

Hope some of that helps...

- Imrahil

i think i'd leave as much as i could for imoen when she rejoins, the xp could help her. Of the major quests you've mentioned I might do the planar sphere, cause there are some helpful items and not a ton of xp besides that i would do the rest wander or just move from area to area, it takes like a day to get to different places and they often pop out right as you enter a new area

SPOILER WARNING!
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Chapter 3 spoilers abound (again), as well as a few from Chapter 4 and 6
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And NPC and PC quests too...you have been warned.

By that, do you mean "I don't want to be right in the middle of something when a Messenger comes up and steals one of my party members?" Don't worry, because that can't happen: Messenger-type events can only occur in Outdoor areas, not in the middle of major quests. (It'd be rather odd for Sir Ryan Trawl to pay a quick visit to the Lair of the Unseeing Eye just to deliver a message!)

Considering the other strange, bizzare stuff that's been going on, I wouldn't be surprised if he did. I was fighting Baron Ployer when the messenger from Quayle came into the house, and thanks to a screwed-up save I had the extra task of protecting the messenger so he wouldn't turn hostile so I could still get the message. (Meaning no helpful AoE spells. Also ran into the same problem in Suldanessellar.)

I was also on the baron/farmer paladin quest when Anomen decides to hit me up for a crucial romance dialogue right after the baron went hostile. What could I tell him? "Um, Anomen, I'll give you the ego boost you want right after we kill these bad guys, okay?" This is starting to become normal behavior for him. At first I thought he was a little odd wanting to talk about Moira when Vellin Dahn and the Rune Assassins were trying to chop us up, and babbling about his upcoming knight trials right in front of Mae'var and crew was a little disconcerning, but after the Umar Hills business, I figured out that Anomen just doesn't understand romance. He's getting coy with me when we're sleeping in the sewers. Nuff said.

That depends on where you want Imoen to be, in relation to Nalia. If you haul ass and grab some gold as fast as you can, you can make a rush to Chapter 4 and get Imoen back when she's only half a Mage level behind Nalia. It sounds like you're already past that point, so you may be stuck with an Imoen that falls far behind as a Mage.

In my first game, when I was in Spamhold and got Imoen back, I had 4 scroll cases chock full of spells, with a couple mind focusing and genius potions. Immie leveled on the learning alone, split among 6 party members. (Bumped her up to party leader for max exp.)

[/qb] Go ahead and play as much in Chapters 1-3 as you like, but remember that if you're doing Yoshimo->Imoen, every point of EXP that Yoshimo gets is a point stolen from Imoen.[/qb]

I play this situation as, I don't know what's going to happen with Yoshimo, and I figure I'll keep him in the party. (The whole betrayal thing is like the Twisted Rune--a lot of things refer to it, but it's never clearly defined. Maybe a few more PC/Yoshi dialogues...)

Alternatively, you can take advantage of the fact that the NPC quests are mostly based on time:

I remember somebody posting something about how they were at Sharkfest 2003 and Anomen got more of his NPC quest. This is precisely the situation I wish to avoid.