it took me -=7=- times to beat samia without loosing any memebers of my party. Here's how I did it.. it's all in the timing, and which NPC's you have.
(1) I sent my character(thief), Minsc, Jaheria, Arie, and Yoshimo into the chamber where you get the dragon sword and shield. Leave Nalia by herself in the small room just before the rectangle room where samia appears. Place her where she can shut the door without moving (or blocking) the door, but can still see well into the room.
(2) set Aerie up in the opposite doorway, and the rest of your party that has ranged weapons (slings and bows) up behind her against the far wall. give her room to run back, you don't want her getting caught in the doorway. send your character to the very edge of the spot where you pick up the items. Samia won't appear until you actually pick up the first one.
(3) Cast whatever protection spells you like. I used minor globes and stoneskin (I was only in chapter 2). DO NOT use golems, or any monsters or animals. The baddies love to charm them and send them right back at you. Took me awhile to learn that. When you are ready, have your character pick up the item. As soon as you get it.. pause the game.. BEFORE samia speaks. You have 2 secs or so. First she appears, then the rest of the party.
(4) Now I don't know what spells you have, so here's what I did... While I was paused, I had Nalia cast Confusuion on Samia. She's not even an enemy till she speaks, but that's ok. I had Aerie cast the minor Sequencer with Stinking cloud and grease. If you don't have the sequencer (the scroll was on that level somewhere), just use the cloud. The trick here is, while samia is talking, both mages have already started their casting. Those spells will hit before the baddies spells can get going.
(5) As soon as nalia is done casting here spell, have her slam the door shut. The baddies will not open the door, so she is safe. Back Aerie away from the door, and start baraging the room with ranged weapons. Go for that damn wizard first, the confusion and cloudkill rarely get him. If any of them start rushing the door, use minsc and another good sword to keep that door blocked, and hack at them one at a time as they try to come into the tomb. DO NOT let minsc run into that room, the stinking cloud will knock him out.
If you get down to the nitty gritty, with only one or two baddies left, let nalia open here door and start casting offensive spells. I used Aerie only for healing and protection spells for minsc, yoshimo, and my character as they held the tomb door. Good Luck!!
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