I have deliberately refrained from consulting any guide or walkthroughs. I have left Candlekeep and arrived at the FAI. Imoen, Khalid, Jaheira, Xzar & Montaron are in my party. Where should I head to next?
Xzar & Montaron want to head for Nashkell. So I suppose that's where I should be going next (via Beregost, I presume)?
No spoilers pls, but hints would be appreciated.

That would be a good course of action and a helpfull hint. If somebody is complaining that you are taking to long, it might be a good idea to get there ASAP.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Hayashi:
I have deliberately refrained from consulting any guide or walkthroughs. I have left Candlekeep and arrived at the FAI. Imoen, Khalid, Jaheira, Xzar & Montaron are in my party. Where should I head to next?
Xzar & Montaron want to head for Nashkell. So I suppose that's where I should be going next (via Beregost, I presume)?
No spoilers pls, but hints would be appreciated.<hr></blockquote>

Actually, Khalid and Jaheira want to go to Nashkel, too. And if you take too long to get there, they'll start complaining (Khalid, Jaheira, Xzar, and Montaron will all be complaining about going there). Eventually, they'll leave if you don't go soon enough. So my suggestion would be to head there right away (in fact, I would go right through Beregost (except maybe to rest) and go straight to Nashkel). Once you arrive there, they will stop complaining, and will not complain ever again. Thus, just go there, then leave and do your own thing (i.e. go back to Beregost and do the quests there first). The key is you want to shut them up and stop them from leaving.

I do have a couple of suggestions:

1. Don't mix good and evil in the same party. Make a choice of alignments, then stick with it. If not, conflict will be the eventual result (hey, good guys are adventurers to destroy evil, after all). You can mix neutrals in easy enough; just always pay attention to your party's reputation, and look at the table in the back of the manual to determine party members' moods for a specific reputation level. At this point in the game, you have no choice, but as soon as you can switch out the NPCs that will cause conflict, the better.

2. Make sure you explore every square inch of the FAI, especially talking to each and every person in and around the inn (they have important information and/or quests for you). Don't leave before you do so.

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dont forget the trees

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Nerull:



2. Make sure you explore every square inch of the FAI, especially talking to each and every person in and around the inn (they have important information and/or quests for you). Don't leave before you do so.<hr></blockquote>

<font color="cyan">If I presume you are talking about a very helpful "hidden" ring, then it isn't there in the patched version...and I also presume he has a patched version.

But still sound advice..</font>

Just go to Nashkel.

You can always go back to Beregost (and anywhere else!) after you have been to Nashkell.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Lavindathar:


<font color="cyan">If I presume you are talking about a very helpful "hidden" ring, then it isn't there in the patched version...and I also presume he has a patched version.

But still sound advice..</font><hr></blockquote>

This is one of the BG equivalents of an urban myth - the ring of which you speak is there in all official versions (patched, TotSC, unpatched). I fell for this one myself many (many) moons ago.