I fake my way in, then kill the mage when I get back out
Exxon, I can't reload because I completed that game a month ago! I only started wondering why it happened now, because I'm closely approaching hell in another game.
I ended up choosing the good path and loosing my stats because the demon would _always_ choose Minsc, no matter what I did. I'll see what happens in my current game, but I think ToB's the problem as well.