Ironworks Gaming Forum - View Single Post - So, where do I go next? (BG1/TotSC/BG2 spoilers!)

Pirengle · 03-02-2003, 03:37 AM

(Warning! This post is littered with spoilers spanning the whole Baldur's Gate series.)
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So I finally slogged through Durlag's tower, whomped the demonknight without busting the mirror, and returned the Ulgoth's Beard to deliver hamster justice to Aec'Latec (don't know the spelling, wasn't really concerned about it at the time). Then it was on to the Undercity to fight the new and improved *cough* Sarevok.

My copies of SoA and ToB arrived the next day. If you've been reading the ToB board, you'll know the problems I've been having. So, while I worked those out, I started playing SoA.

Wow.

I mean, WOW.

I wake up to find myself in a cage, being tortured by Chancellor Gorkon for some sadistic purpose. Then Imoen comes to set me free. Not only is my little sister a mageling, but she dyed her hair! Her BG1 picture suited her better, and a fast save and switch of portraits helped me identify the sister I knew. I also set Jaheira and Minsc free. Minsc looks just ducky, but Jaheira? She went from looking capable and powerful to a PlayElf centerfold. Yet another portrait switch. (Not that I can say much; the portrait I picked out for Pirengle back in BG1 turned out to be Skie's.)

Not much else went on, sad to say. A lot of footwork. Pain in the butt dragging my party all over the place just to run one item back to one person. The only fight that gave me problems was against the duregar and their leader, and after two reloads Pirengle got his snazzy mail. Also found out that if Imoen gets knocked anywhere close to death, she'll disappear to the surface. Saves me from hearing her whining, but another pack mul--I mean, fighting character--is always needed in a party such as mine.

I made sure I got everything I wanted out of the dungeon, and as soon as those evil Athkatlian spellcasters took the chancellor and Imoen away, I copied that save game into multiplayer. There! No more pointless tedium of the Irenicus dungeon.

The first thing I noticed about Waukeen's Promenade was that every place was visible. And what about those map markers? I didn't notice those until I got to the Slums, but being able to mark your map is a commodity I wish BG had.

I'm also so used to wandering around and exploring every building and talking to every person, that I solved some quests out of order due to my curiosity. This is how things went:

Quayle's Circus and Aerie: I'm usually the long-winded obfuscator, but when I got to Kalah's first question...I read it through twice, clicked on something, and answered the second and decidedly easier question. Quayle has his circus, and I decided to keep Aerie, figuring I'd find a better mage later before she sponged up too much experience.

the slave trade in the Slums: I went through the Copper Coronet and discovered a hidden door that led me down into the sewers, where I found a kobold shaman with a special staff that creates Goodberries and a freak named Quallo and his "friend," a carrion crawler. I find a staircase and walk smack into a bad situation. A heavy-hitting slaver captain, a priest, and half a dozen slavers, at least. Two reloads later, and I beat it. Then Pirengle has the misfortune of tripping the only dang trap in the place, and croaks. And me without a quicksave! It's only nine reloads later that teaches me to save the game after something major happens. Then I cleared out the rest of the ship then freed Hendak. I think that I did this backwards. Judging by the difficulties in fights, I was supposed to slay the Beastmaster first, then take on the Ship by walking through the outside entrance, but I beat it all the same, didn't I? Course, it didn't hurt that I imported a level 6 character from BG into the game, and picked up another NPC before tackling it...

Anomen: Yep, I managed to find him. Also decided to keep Aerie after talking to Nalia the snotnose. (Heh, like Anomen isn't.) But I'm female, and he's male, and he's the only game-sanctioned romance available to me, so... I almost thought the romance was over at one point when he told me about his cleric days, but he later apologized. Hrmph. A first, I'll bet. I convinced him not to kill the Calishite to avenge Moira, and I think he'll be okay. And he'd better be okay because he has more HP and better saves than my former tank, Minsc.

Baron Ployer, Xzar, and the Harper's Hold: Whilst ransacki--erm, exploring houses, I came across a note about him in a derelict house and some whiny baby mages with mephits. Took the former, slew the latter. Did that before the real quest began. Felt too connect-the-dots for me, but hey, still fun. After the fiasco on the slaver ship, Ployer and the Hold seemed too easy. But in the middle, Jaheira ducks out. "See ya later! Gotta go do official secret hush-hush Harper stuff." "But we were going to do a quest!!!" Ah well. So, I put my intentioned quest aside, and we ended up doing most of another quest without her...

Mae'var: Finally got around to chatting with Bloodscalp, and got into Mae'var's organization. Talked with Howlin' Mad Murdock in the basement. Steal a necklace from an evil cleric? Okay! Off to the Temple District and get several quests. Great. I'm getting a quest from someone after I talked to his boss about another quest, while I'm already doing a quest, and waiting for Jaheira to come back before doing the quest I wanted to do in the first place. Grr... I bring the amulet back to Reg Barclay, and he sends me upstairs to none other than Edwin, who apparently used his new-found position to install some metal in his face. Lovely. Anyway, we're off to go beat up a Cowled Wizard. Several mephits and golems later, he was the one beating up on us. Using a cheese tactic from a BG1 fight with Daerevorn, I send Minsc up to wake him up, and return downstairs to sleep. After eight hours, I can actually hit him with something, but it still takes a couple reloads to bring him down. I return to Edwin. Time to put Aerie to some good use. One ring of human influence and friends spell later, and she's using her feminine wiles to get the necessary papers. Then back to Murdock for one final chore, and I don't kill the guy because I'm rather fond of the Shadow Thieves. And if Bloodscalp wants Barclay to die, so be it.

the Skinner murders: Jaheira's back, so onto the intentioned quest. After doing all but the very end of the Mae'var quest without her, this one is very easy. Got the red herring from Dale about the grey elephant at the circus, but eventually saw the tanner for what he really was. He's gone, nothing doing no more from that.

Now I am stuck. I've gotten ideas on where to go and what to do, but I'm wondering if I'm ready for them. Can someone steer me in the right direction? Where do I go next?

My party consists of Pirengle (level 9/8 ranger/cleric), Anomen (level 9/7 dual-class cleric/fighter), Minsc (level 9 ranger), Jaheira (level 8/10 fighter/druid), Aerie (level 8/9 cleric/mage), and Yoshimo (level 12 bounty hunter). I have ~18K in gold, and have kept most of the +2 enchanted items I've found.

My choices are:

Haven't explored the graveyard at all, but all the clues I've found so far suggest that Valen's mistress is a vampire. After spending 4K on restorations, I'm not sure if I can handle that place.
The Unseeing Eye still has to be done. I'm not sure what it involves, and nobody's telling me anything except that I must do something about it.
Same with the Five Flagons/Haer'Dalis quest.
I have enough money to pay off whatshisname about the location of Imoen. Problem is, I think this will end the chapter. Definitely something to save.
I've heard stuff about the Umar Hills, but that's outside of the city. Am I ready for that yet?
Same with the De'Arnise Keep and Windspear Hills.

I also have a couple questions:
--I can't sell the kobold shaman's staff. Is it worthless, or is it needed for something?
--I'm debating whether or not to kick one of my party members out for Keldorn when and if I find him or going back for Jan Jansen. My party has only one person that doesn't cast cleric spells--Yoshimo. I don't like the choices of spellslingers so far (Nalia and Edwin), and I'm wondering how important the mage spells will be when I have the fighting power of Pirengle, Anomen, and Minsc. I'm sore tempted to swap out Jaheira for Keldorn, but is this necessary?
Minor spoilers welcome, major spoilers not welcome.

03-02-2003, 03:37 AM	#1
Pirengle Symbol of Cyric Join Date: April 20, 2003 Location: Sarasota, Florida, USA Age: 42 Posts: 1,101	(Warning! This post is littered with spoilers spanning the whole Baldur's Gate series.) . . . So I finally slogged through Durlag's tower, whomped the demonknight without busting the mirror, and returned the Ulgoth's Beard to deliver hamster justice to Aec'Latec (don't know the spelling, wasn't really concerned about it at the time). Then it was on to the Undercity to fight the new and improved cough Sarevok. My copies of SoA and ToB arrived the next day. If you've been reading the ToB board, you'll know the problems I've been having. So, while I worked those out, I started playing SoA. Wow. I mean, WOW. I wake up to find myself in a cage, being tortured by Chancellor Gorkon for some sadistic purpose. Then Imoen comes to set me free. Not only is my little sister a mageling, but she dyed her hair! Her BG1 picture suited her better, and a fast save and switch of portraits helped me identify the sister I knew. I also set Jaheira and Minsc free. Minsc looks just ducky, but Jaheira? She went from looking capable and powerful to a PlayElf centerfold. Yet another portrait switch. (Not that I can say much; the portrait I picked out for Pirengle back in BG1 turned out to be Skie's.) Not much else went on, sad to say. A lot of footwork. Pain in the butt dragging my party all over the place just to run one item back to one person. The only fight that gave me problems was against the duregar and their leader, and after two reloads Pirengle got his snazzy mail. Also found out that if Imoen gets knocked anywhere close to death, she'll disappear to the surface. Saves me from hearing her whining, but another pack mul--I mean, fighting character--is always needed in a party such as mine. I made sure I got everything I wanted out of the dungeon, and as soon as those evil Athkatlian spellcasters took the chancellor and Imoen away, I copied that save game into multiplayer. There! No more pointless tedium of the Irenicus dungeon. The first thing I noticed about Waukeen's Promenade was that every place was visible. And what about those map markers? I didn't notice those until I got to the Slums, but being able to mark your map is a commodity I wish BG had. I'm also so used to wandering around and exploring every building and talking to every person, that I solved some quests out of order due to my curiosity. This is how things went: Quayle's Circus and Aerie: I'm usually the long-winded obfuscator, but when I got to Kalah's first question...I read it through twice, clicked on something, and answered the second and decidedly easier question. Quayle has his circus, and I decided to keep Aerie, figuring I'd find a better mage later before she sponged up too much experience. the slave trade in the Slums: I went through the Copper Coronet and discovered a hidden door that led me down into the sewers, where I found a kobold shaman with a special staff that creates Goodberries and a freak named Quallo and his "friend," a carrion crawler. I find a staircase and walk smack into a bad situation. A heavy-hitting slaver captain, a priest, and half a dozen slavers, at least. Two reloads later, and I beat it. Then Pirengle has the misfortune of tripping the only dang trap in the place, and croaks. And me without a quicksave! It's only nine reloads later that teaches me to save the game after something major happens. Then I cleared out the rest of the ship then freed Hendak. I think that I did this backwards. Judging by the difficulties in fights, I was supposed to slay the Beastmaster first, then take on the Ship by walking through the outside entrance, but I beat it all the same, didn't I? Course, it didn't hurt that I imported a level 6 character from BG into the game, and picked up another NPC before tackling it... Anomen: Yep, I managed to find him. Also decided to keep Aerie after talking to Nalia the snotnose. (Heh, like Anomen isn't.) But I'm female, and he's male, and he's the only game-sanctioned romance available to me, so... I almost thought the romance was over at one point when he told me about his cleric days, but he later apologized. Hrmph. A first, I'll bet. I convinced him not to kill the Calishite to avenge Moira, and I think he'll be okay. And he'd better be okay because he has more HP and better saves than my former tank, Minsc. Baron Ployer, Xzar, and the Harper's Hold: Whilst ransacki--erm, exploring houses, I came across a note about him in a derelict house and some whiny baby mages with mephits. Took the former, slew the latter. Did that before the real quest began. Felt too connect-the-dots for me, but hey, still fun. After the fiasco on the slaver ship, Ployer and the Hold seemed too easy. But in the middle, Jaheira ducks out. "See ya later! Gotta go do official secret hush-hush Harper stuff." "But we were going to do a quest!!!" Ah well. So, I put my intentioned quest aside, and we ended up doing most of another quest without her... Mae'var: Finally got around to chatting with Bloodscalp, and got into Mae'var's organization. Talked with Howlin' Mad Murdock in the basement. Steal a necklace from an evil cleric? Okay! Off to the Temple District and get several quests. Great. I'm getting a quest from someone after I talked to his boss about another quest, while I'm already doing a quest, and waiting for Jaheira to come back before doing the quest I wanted to do in the first place. Grr... I bring the amulet back to Reg Barclay, and he sends me upstairs to none other than Edwin, who apparently used his new-found position to install some metal in his face. Lovely. Anyway, we're off to go beat up a Cowled Wizard. Several mephits and golems later, he was the one beating up on us. Using a cheese tactic from a BG1 fight with Daerevorn, I send Minsc up to wake him up, and return downstairs to sleep. After eight hours, I can actually hit him with something, but it still takes a couple reloads to bring him down. I return to Edwin. Time to put Aerie to some good use. One ring of human influence and friends spell later, and she's using her feminine wiles to get the necessary papers. Then back to Murdock for one final chore, and I don't kill the guy because I'm rather fond of the Shadow Thieves. And if Bloodscalp wants Barclay to die, so be it. the Skinner murders: Jaheira's back, so onto the intentioned quest. After doing all but the very end of the Mae'var quest without her, this one is very easy. Got the red herring from Dale about the grey elephant at the circus, but eventually saw the tanner for what he really was. He's gone, nothing doing no more from that. Now I am stuck. I've gotten ideas on where to go and what to do, but I'm wondering if I'm ready for them. Can someone steer me in the right direction? Where do I go next? My party consists of Pirengle (level 9/8 ranger/cleric), Anomen (level 9/7 dual-class cleric/fighter), Minsc (level 9 ranger), Jaheira (level 8/10 fighter/druid), Aerie (level 8/9 cleric/mage), and Yoshimo (level 12 bounty hunter). I have ~18K in gold, and have kept most of the +2 enchanted items I've found. My choices are: Haven't explored the graveyard at all, but all the clues I've found so far suggest that Valen's mistress is a vampire. After spending 4K on restorations, I'm not sure if I can handle that place. The Unseeing Eye still has to be done. I'm not sure what it involves, and nobody's telling me anything except that I must do something about it. Same with the Five Flagons/Haer'Dalis quest. I have enough money to pay off whatshisname about the location of Imoen. Problem is, I think this will end the chapter. Definitely something to save. I've heard stuff about the Umar Hills, but that's outside of the city. Am I ready for that yet? Same with the De'Arnise Keep and Windspear Hills. I also have a couple questions: --I can't sell the kobold shaman's staff. Is it worthless, or is it needed for something? --I'm debating whether or not to kick one of my party members out for Keldorn when and if I find him or going back for Jan Jansen. My party has only one person that doesn't cast cleric spells--Yoshimo. I don't like the choices of spellslingers so far (Nalia and Edwin), and I'm wondering how important the mage spells will be when I have the fighting power of Pirengle, Anomen, and Minsc. I'm sore tempted to swap out Jaheira for Keldorn, but is this necessary? Minor spoilers welcome, major spoilers not welcome. __________________ [img]\"http://img.ranchoweb.com/images/pirengle/quintesson.gif\" alt=\" - \" />