I seem to be having a problem getting back into Durlag's tower once I reached the third level. The proper doors don't seem to want to open. I am guessing that the way I left the switch room when I departed had something to do with it. I am also having a lot of problems getting thru the chess game. I have a pretty good background in Realm and rules, but I get to this chess game and it seems like I am ineffective. I don't think that it is a tactical problem. I am leaning towards ineffective weaponry(i.e. a fire arrow gets only the plus damage above the die roll). Once in a while, I run into this kind of difficulty and I really don't like the spoilers thing. But it's time to move on. I've made about thirty tries at the chess match. After about the thirteenth try I took notes. I haven't gotten thru it without loosing at least two NPC's. More often than not, Three NPC's. If I didn't keep loosing my thief then I wouldn't worry about it. And you can't back track to re-up your party,right?

Due to a nastiness of the Tower, once you breach the 2nd underground level, you're in it for the long haul: No trips back to town to sell stuff, or even going to the ground floor to Rest. Once you use the Wardstones to open the doors, they will close again in about 8 hours, and there's no known way of opening them again. I wish this irritating fact was packaged with the game, but sadly it isn't.

I find it ironic that they put this battle in terms of chess, a game where neither player has any material advantage whatsoever and must win through strategy. In Durlag's Tower, the material odds are hopelessly against you, so the only way to win is to not give the other team a chance at all. In short, if they have the opportunity to attack you before you've killed at least a third of their team, you're doing it wrong.

"Backtrack to re-up your party?" If that means, "Can I take my party upstairs to Rest and heal?" then no, you can't. If it means, "Once I've gotten to the chess game, can we go back upstairs?" then no, you still can't. As soon as you hit the chess game, the only way back up is to keep going down.

Yeah, I figured that there is no back tracking. Your right there should have been a heads up(phantom,ghost, narrator, or even an appearance by my buddy Gorion)about not getting back to the second level. I run into this kind of problem alot.... the first BG(before I restarted on TotSC),IWD,etc.. I get to the end or near it and I have to make time in my schedule to just finish it. I work a lot of hours and The TotSC game has been a nice escape for thirty minutes a day. I had to set aside about four hours one day and another four the next to figure out and down the IWD. These are great games none the less. I really like the Ironworks forum (and volothamps Comeuppance),especially for the way the info is set up. Thanks for the confirmation.

By the time you get to Durlags Tower, and are powerful enough to get decently far into it, you probably have made all the money you will ever need.

Question: Which of these Wardstones that I'm carrying do I actually need? I'm low on inventory space, and I just beat the "maze" floor (I'm at that fireball room).

TIA

To answer that, a nice little quote from Chapter 13 of Volo's Comeuppance:
"One reassuring note in Durlag's is that the challenges and puzzles (if any) of each floor can be completed on that floor, so you don't need to go running up & down staircases to see if <u>this</u> item or <u>that</u> item is what you need."

I try to cram everything on to that site, I swear!

Soo, Let's tip toe around the spoilers(you guys are awfully good at that). If I get thru the chess game, and say, loose two characters, who do I absolutely have to have to stand a chance? Thief,Cleric,Paladin, Two rangers, and sorcerer. My character is one of the rangers. I got all the way to the end of IWD and after what seemed like a million attempts,I sought help. One of the suggestions was to have Arrows of Peircing. I went back a low and behold that was just the edge I needed. The endings are just brutal for me. I don't expect them to be easy, but I do expect them to have a way to play it out. It becomes less of a puzzle. Although as many times as I have had at it with the Chess game, I really like the scenario.

The Thief is the true essential for Durlag's Tower, so much should be obvious by now. You'll also need at least one strong Warrior, and a Cleric. Pure Wizards are pretty lousy in BG1, hardly worth the effort of dragging them around, except for that one battle in a hundred where they can actually pull their weight. But if you're thinking of who you can safely sacrifice to win this battle, you're going at it with the wrong mindset. Since you can't get to a Temple, and you can't cast Raise Dead in BG1, any party member death = You Lost.

Trust me: Fair fight = Massacre. Kill them before they see you. It's the only way.

[/quote]It becomes less of a puzzle. Although as many times as I have had at it with the Chess game, I really like the scenario. [/QUOTE]
You'll have your share of puzzles on the next level, don't worry.

That's Cool. I appreciate the confirmation. I figured the Thief and cleric were the good base. I didn't really think about the "hauling around a mage" thing until you put it that way. As usual the forum gives a "short, sweet". I have to follow up on a number of other things in this BG world. It gets better everyday. I never really had an addiction to PCGames till BG TotSC.
"Everything in moderation, nothing to excess. Not!"

I couldn't get the chess game to work, so I just had each of my characters gulp a potion of absorption to resist the lightening bolts. Then I fought them with arrows, throwing ahead skull traps/fireballs, and then fighting them.
How do you initiate the game to play it as a game of chess instead of just fighting?

<font color = lightgreen>I love the chessboard. Two things to remember when visiting the chessboard: 1) invisibility and 2) protection from lightning (or potion of invulnerability). [img]graemlins/laugh3.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] </font>