I have completed BG2 before, but now I'm attempting to do it again, and doing all the side quests so I can maximize XP for Throne of Bhaal. I am currently stuck in the Haer Dhalis quest -- I killed the mage, but now I can't find the item/key to open the altar and get the gem. Do I need to hit the beholders first? where and what do I do? Are there any sites that have walkthroughs with all the side quests, so I can check them out as I go?
Any answers would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Turtle

If you're looking for Walkthroughs check the Ironworks main page and
www.gamebanshee.com/baldursgateii
and
http://mikesrpgcenter.com/bgate2/

http://www.tgeweb.com/ironworks/bald...gh-index.shtml

IIRC there is a pretty damned thourough walthru there. Try it and see [img]smile.gif[/img]

The gem cannot be obtained as long as Mekrath is both alive and in his home. But since you've killed him, getting the gem is (almost) as simple as walking over to it and picking it up. No Beholder-killin' required, just search the place (again).

Beholder?

I don't recall of beholders in Haer'Dalis quest...

It was a metaphorical statement. SixOfSpades is just saying that one does not need to do anything hard to finish up this quest.

The gem cannot be obtained as long as Mekrath is both alive and in his home. . . But since you've killed him, getting the gem is (almost) as simple as walking over to it and picking it up. . </font>[/QUOTE]<takes deep breath> OK, i'm a bit nervous now but i'm fairly* sure that if you except Makrath's offer and 'take' Haer Dalis as your reward then he's freed in the same way as if you had killed his boss and the portal gem 'spawns' in that place where it then is

(*fairly sure in that my solo kensai did this less than a week ago but, well, its not every day i disagree with a guru ;) )

You are correct, and actually you're not disagreeing with me at all. You see, if you do Mekrath's little quest and take his 'slave' as your reward, Mekrath leaves. Dimension Door, gone. After that, you are free to collect the gem. Hence the careful wording in my response to jturtle2.

And the Beholders that jturtle2 and I mentioned are just random spawns in the Temple Sewers. You can fight them if 1) They appear and 2) You really want to, but they have nothing to do with Haer'Dalis.

< shuffles out backwards bowing > [img]smile.gif[/img]