Baldur's Gate II Shadows of Amn Game Guides

last SG · 2002-08-27T00:39:36+00:00

Introduction With Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, Bioware and Black Isle Studios hope to improve on the game widely whispered to have saved the RPG genre,...

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Hobgoblin

Creatures: Archer, warrior, mage killer, wizard, captain, elite, and shaman
Strategy: Though hobgoblins give almost no experience and are beyond simple to kill, their priests do cast spells that are as annoying as any other. With a repertoire of confusion spells, you should take out their casters. Since those pose the only threat, you can then easily destroy the rest.

Illithid

Creatures: Mind flayer, alhoon, ulitharid, vampiric
Strategy: Illithids are simply the most powerful pack of enemies in existence. You will run into illithids in groups, and they will kill you. With one cast of a spell, they will charm party members or confuse half your group. While one is doing that, the others will be attacking you and dealing hefty damage. Quickly, any strategy you have will turn into utter chaos, and all will be lost. The easiest way to defeat illithids is to send in hordes of summoned creatures beforehand to absorb the spells. Once they have cast their spells, defend yourself with spell-absorbing defensive spells and pray that it is enough. If you find yourself losing party members, especially your mage, don't bother continuing. Reload and try again. These will make some tough battles. Equipment-wise, there are some definite ways to combat illithids. First and foremost, fight them in their city in the Underdark. There, you will come across mind control circlets. They act like a permanent charm and let you easily control illithids whenever you see them. If you come across them at other times, wear helmets of charm protection and bombard them with melee attacks.

Imp

Creatures: Imp, quasit
Strategy: Imps are something of an ultra-mephit, with similar hit points but a more powerful poisonous attack. They can perform instant kills if your characters fail a saving throw versus poison, so you might want to use a potion of invulnerability ahead of time if you can't afford to die. You can also select the character with the lowest saving throw of your group to take them on, as they aren't very strong, with fewer than 30 hit points. They generally like to make themselves invisible, so be prepared for that as well.

Kobold

Creatures: Archer, warrior, captain, commando, witch doctor, shaman, slave, and kamikaze
Strategy: Much like hobgoblins, their casters can pose a slight annoyance. Also, their archers can deal a bit of damage, so for sheer ease, clear them all away simply with one fireball.

Kuo-Toa

Creatures: Kuo-toa, whip, warrior, monitor, lieutenant, priest, wizard, captain
Strategy: You will only find kuo-toa in gigantic crowds, and they are actually somewhat difficult to beat. Their archers can pack a punch, and their shamans cast wicked confusion and charm spells. Any area damage works wonders against a pack of these, and it is definitely advised you kill the casters first.

Lich

Creatures: Lich, demilich
Strategy: Liches are certainly among the elite monsters in Baldur's Gate II. These once-living spellcasters are now undead creatures with centuries of spell research to draw from, making them the most proficient mages in the game, with access to virtually every spell in the book. They'll use them, too, especially the higher-level spells like time stop and power word: kill. Once you face off against a lich, expect it to raise spell traps and mantle spells immediately, followed by time stop, horrid wilting, meteor storm, and other nasty spells. They're not unbeatable, though, especially if you can attack hard and early. One strategy that sometimes works is to send forth a sacrificial lamb. A character with high health, magic resistance, or saving throws might have a chance to suffer the lich's initial attacks and survive. Even if the character dies, the rest of your party can charge the lich and attempt to destroy it without worrying about time stops. You can find liches in the Underdark, the Drow City, and even in an inn near the city gates of Athkatla. There's only one demilich in the game, though, and most players will probably never beat him. Kangaxx is his name, and he dwells underneath the Cult of the Unseeing Eye in Athkatla. Though he only has 50 health, he can cast so many spells in such a short time that your characters will start dying before they have a chance to attack. His repertoire is similar to a lich, with power word: kill and wail of the banshee being his killer spells in the early going.

Lizardmen

Creatures: Red lizardmen, lizard king
Strategy: Lizardmen pose no threat. Zero. Simply dice 'em to bits.

Mephit

Creatures: Lightning, fire, earth, steam, and so on
Strategy: Contrary to popular belief, mephits are actually quite difficult at the beginning of the game. With all casting various spells, they deal a great amount of damage. In numbers, they can be lethal. Since they have very few hit points, our advice is to kill them as quickly as possible and use area damage spells to knock out many at once.

Minotaur

Creatures: Minotaur
Strategy: Minotaurs are infrequent and mostly harmless. Though they have plenty of hit points, they'll rarely do any damage, and if you move in any character with a low armor class, they will do nothing. Simply hack and slash them away and keep your ranged weapons firing. If needed, cast spells, as minotaurs have very low magic resistance.

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Mist

Creatures: Vampiric, mist horror, wandering horror, and crimson death
Strategy: Mists seem to be difficult to hit in general, but like many other undead, they do require +1 weapons to touch. Hammer them with any and all fighters you have, then hit them with simple damage spells like magic missile to finish them off.

Moose (or Other Docile Creatures)

Creatures: Moose, rabbit, squirrel
Strategy: When walking through the forest in some pleasant town, a large moose crosses your path. What do you do? Do you kill it? Do you banish it? Or do you pass it by? No! This is a challenge... Can you resist the urge to kill it? Well if you like role-playing and don't want to kill innocent animals use the incredible, inedible polymorph on them! Yes, that's right... Turn that 1,500 pound, high-quality moose into a huggable, lovable squirrel. This is permanent and cannot be undone, so you must deal with the loss of food for the time being.

Mummy

Creatures: Lesser mummy, greater mummy
Strategy: Mummies prove annoying enemies. Since they have a knack for infecting you with disease and casting high-level spells, it's best to hit them using ranged weapons and magic. Once you are casting, they should fall fast, which is good, as their damage mounts up fast.

Myconid

Creatures: Warrior, king, and spore colony
Strategy: Myconids can ruin your day fast. With their deadly charm spell, it is best never to let them get in range. The single sure way to conquer them is never to let them touch you. Start with a web, then continually cast your favorite area damage spell. Those that break through the web should be picked off with archers. Also, use any other damaging spell to take out any approaching myconids that break through your spell line. If they manage to get their spores near you, have a priest cast a zone of sweet air. Since you will find multiple colonies near each other, web, cast, kill, rinse, and repeat.

Ogre

Creatures: Ogrillon, ogre, ogre mage, half ogre
Strategy: Falling into the "dumb brute" category with their hairy brothers the ettin, ogres are easy to kill and more fun to watch die. It's so humorous to hear them try to cry out: "Me will smash your face" and die before you even hear the whole phrase. So, for everyone's sake, smash their faces and be done with it.

Orc

Creatures: Archer, warrior, orog archer, orog warrior, wizard, priest
Strategy: Orcs are simply dumb and stupid. They pose no threat and never did (since the beginning of Baldur's Gate, at least). Just for fun, cast any low-level area damage spell and watch them all fall over at once. There is no joy in the world like mass slaughter...

Otyugh

Creatures: Otyugh
Strategy: Otyughs only defense is a mild disease attack. Otherwise, the only thing they seem good at is flapping their big tentacles around like a dog wags his tail. They look nasty, but are all soft and mushy on the inside.

Rakshasa

Creatures: Rakshasa, ruhk, rajah, maharajah
Strategy: Up there with beholders, rakshasa are some of the toughest pack-based enemies in the game. They cast wave after wave of spells, including area damage spells. In fact, they cast almost any high-level damage spell you can think of. Your best bet is to summon horde after horde of creatures and send them in. Once they are in and attacking, cast area damage spells repeatedly on the group or individual rakshasas (with your summons intertwined), then hit them with magic missiles and long-range weaponry. A web to keep them in place never hurt either.

Sahuagin

Creatures: Sahuagin, baronial guard, chieftain, baron, prince, royal guard, king, high priestess
Strategy: These cool blue enemies are fishlike creatures with low hit points and low magic resistance, but are dangerous if left unattended. They have warriors and priests, but very few wizards. Their warriors will use crossbows, and the priests have some nice spells, so the best thing to do is send buffed-up warriors into the fray and concentrate powers on the magic casters first. Once they are dead, it becomes a quick sweep up.

Salamanders

Creatures: Red and blue salamanders
Strategy: Relatively simple melee fighters, salamanders are notable mostly for their elemental alignments, with red salamanders being associated with fire attacks, and blue salamanders associated with cold creatures. You can use the opposite element to deal with each variety, but they're fairly easy to dispatch with simple fighting techniques.

Shadow

Creatures: Shadow, shade wolf, wraith, shimmering wraith, and spectre
Strategy: Dealing good damage and draining your strength, shadows can drain your party very fast. Though they are immune to cold damage, you can hit them with most other spells, and they will fall. In a worst-case scenario, you can fend them off with ward undead while you pick them off one by one.

Skeleton

Creatures: Skeleton, warrior, grimward archer, grimward warrior, and bone golem
Strategy: Rarely posing any threat, simply send in your fighters and deal out the damage. They are affected by most spells and can easily be kept at bay with ward undead. In general, they give a good deal of experience for very little effort. If you find an area populated with them, you can gain a lot of easy experience by simply plowing through them.

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Slime

Creatures: Green slime, jelly ochre, grey ooze, and jelly mustard
Strategy: Usually not posing any threat, slime's only notable attribute is that the harder slimes will require +1 weapons. But, you'll probably have them beforehand anyway, so it really doesn't matter. They can also poison you, but you'll most likely kill them before it ever poses a threat.

Spider

Creatures: Baby, huge, giant, wraith, phase, and sword
Strategy: These creatures can be found all over the world, but especially underground. Individually, spiders won't pose a huge threat, but when 20 small spiders attack you, you've got a problem. It is often worth it to cast the level 3 mage spell fireball at your own party. This will do 6d6 of damage to all creatures. Yes, your own party members will take some damage, but it will kill all the small spiders, and it is often preferable to have a slightly damaged mage over a near-dead and poisoned one. When fighting normal spiders, just use warriors and prepare to cure the poison. When fighting phase spiders, it is best to use archers.

Troll

Creatures: Ice, snow, giant, spectral, spirit, and so on
Strategy: Trolls are really not difficult if you know what to do. Though they can pack a punch, hit them from afar until they fall over unconscious. Immediately cast a Melf's minute meteor spell (which creates 20 throwable meteors) and attack them once. The meteors will hit, and they will fall over dead. Next time you encounter a troll, make sure your mage does not attack. Then, when the troll is down, attack once more with the mage. Repeat as needed. If you are fortunate enough to have ample fire arrows, those work as well.

Umber Hulk

Creature: Umber hulk
Strategy: Easily one of the most difficult early game enemies, umber hulks will charm and confuse enemies up the wazoo. The easiest way to dispatch them is to open a door, then step back. If you've done it quickly enough, the hulks will not see you. Once the door is open, cast web and ensnaring Roots or any two other hindering spells, then cast as many area damage spells as you have. If any break through, and only one or two will at a time, hit them with magic missiles and send in your fighters. In case they do get spells off, keep your mage (or whomever you use for dispel) a good way off. If you are hit with a spell, grab your mage and simply dispel the effect. Repeat until all the umber hulks have been destroyed.

Vampire

Creatures: Male, female, fledgling, mature, patriarch, and so on
Strategy: Casting many aggravating spells, vampires can pose a problem. Most importantly, vampires will cast level drain, which is especially annoying when cast on mages and priests, as it will force you to rememorize all their spells once your cure them. However, to prevent this, either wait until you're affected and cast the priest spell lesser restoration or cast negative planar protection beforehand. If your cleric would lose the lesser restoration spell from being hit, it is important that you cast negative planar protect on the priest, so you can heal the rest or your party. Otherwise, once you kill any vampire, looks for its coffin. You will need a stake to put it to final death, but it will be worth it, as you will receive an extra 9,000 experience points from the already generous amount given when it died originally.

Wolves

Creatures: (Greater) werewolf, (greater) wolfwere; and dire, dread, worg, and winter wolf
Strategy: Customarily dealing small damage, the only wolves of consequence are the werewolves. As long as you have +1 weapons or better (are we sensing a pattern here?), though, you will rip through them like fresh meat.

Wyvern

Creatures: Baby wyvern, wyvern
Strategy: If you somehow don't kill them quickly, they have a poison attack that can get very annoying. However, they are extremely easy to kill and should be easy for anyone to dispatch once you find them.

Yuan-Ti

Creatures: Yuan-ti, commander, priest, mage
Strategy: These guys look very similar to salamanders, but are much tougher. The salamanders, who are very physically weak, posed no problems and were easy. The yuan-ti are also very physically weak, but have very strong and incapacitating magic. They are rarely alone, and if you don't concentrate on them, they will bring the effectiveness of your fighter to that of a mage in melee combat. They have low magic resistance, so hit them with spells, arrows, and, of course, good ol' hand-to-hand slicing and dicing.

Zombies

Creatures: Zombie, ju-ju zombie, sea zombie
Strategy: Looking much more formidable than they really are, zombies don't do much of anything but lope around. They can disease you, though. But to prevent this, simply attack from a distance. Once they get close, move father away and resume attacking.

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Chapter Six: Walk-through

Baldur's Gate II is a long game, and you're bound to get stuck somewhere along the way. Enter our walk-through. This is not an exhaustive guide to everything you can possibly do within the game - that size walk-through would be thousands of pages. Rather, it is a guide that will take you through the travels, quests, and battles necessary to complete the game. It's especially important to realize that your choice of NPCs will affect how the game plays. If you choose not to let an evil character join your party, for example, you may be missing a mini-quest that only an NPC can attempt. This walk-through is intended to be generic in the sense that it will rarely matter what specific NPCs are in your party, but some specific NPC quests will be covered. These will be noted as such, so feel free to skip those sections if you wish. This walk-through, in general, will be most useful to parties of prominently good or neutral alignments; evil characters will want to make proper role-playing choices where they are available (not rescuing slaves, being cruel in conversation, and so on). This shouldn't have too great of an impact on the game, though you may find yourself performing some tasks a bit differently than is outlined here.

Reading this section straight through is not recommended, as it will give away many of the game's surprises, and what fun is that? Refer to the walk-through as needed, using it for advice on how to get past that evil sorcerer you just can't beat or for a clue on what to do to open that secret door. Following this part of the guide word-for-word will not only drain most of the fun out of the game, it'll take all the role-playing out as well. You'll go through the journey, missing most of the sub-quests and playing the way we would play. Only use this if you get stuck or need some advice!

Here's the first level of Irenicus' dungeon.
Chapter 1

You begin the game in a holding cell, where an unknown wizard is keeping you hostage. Sit through the opening in-game cinematic for a minute until Imoen comes to rescue you. Once she talks to you, join her group and head to the northeast. Imoen is a mage/thief, and she'll be doing most of the trap detecting duties for your party. She can use a dagger, but since she doesn't wear armor, you might want to equip her with one of the short bows you'll find in your journey. To the northeast, you'll see two holding cells. Speak to Minsc first and insult him until he becomes enraged enough to break out of his cell. Minsc is a ranger and a fierce warrior in battle. He has specialties in a number of weapons, the most prominent being two-handed swords and two-weapon style. You're probably better off giving him a two-handed sword at this point in the game; it will help you take out many of the enemies much more quickly. Head up to talk to Jaheira, who's stuck in a cage that needs a magical key to be opened. You'll find said key in a room to the northwest. Don't worry; the golem in here isn't dangerous. Search the table and the chest for equipment for your three characters and make sure you find the key in the chest. Have Imoen detect traps and click on the painting near the chest. (As a note, it's typically a good idea to have a thief set to detect traps whenever you're adventuring through hostile territory.) She'll detect the trap and can unlock the painting to reveal a dagger +1 and a few healing potions.

Head back to Jaheira and set her free. Jaheira is a fighter/druid that can change shape into various animals. She's not an overwhelmingly powerful presence in melee combat, and she has a fairly low hit-point total in relation to the other characters, so you might want to keep her out of harm's way if you are a warrior character. Once she's in your party, head back to the equipment room and find some equipment for her. Don't bother heading out the door in this room; there's only a locked door on the other side. Head to the south and into the corridor with the dead bodies. You'll come around a corner where you'll encounter a large machine that will spawn lightning mephits. There's a switch on the wall, so get close to it and hit it to prevent more mephits from popping out. You must fight at least one, but they're not very tough to kill.

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Head out past the room and talk to Aatagah. He'll give you quite a few options to follow; if you want to take his test, be fairly compliant, and he'll eventually ask you if you wish to press a button or not. If you choose to do so, Aatagah will heal you, and an ogre mage will warp in. He can do a good amount of damage, but if your warriors swarm him, he should be taken out fairly quickly. You'll get around 20 gold from his body once he's dead, but Aatagah won't heal you again, so one or two of your characters will probably be hurting a bit.

Once you're through, take the passage heading to the west. There's a band of five goblins here: two armed with composite long bows and three with short-ranged weapons. Have your melee characters deal with the fighters first. You can cast spells on the archers or just wait until the fighters are dead to attack them. All the goblins will have a small amount of gold on their persons.

Once you're through here, follow the passage and take a right toward the door. Go through, and you'll face a radiant mephit. Swarm around it and take it out quickly, as it has a fairly damaging prismatic attack. When it's dead, talk to the golem in the room. Pretend to be its master and ask him to open the sewer doors. He'll tell you where the activation stone is; it's near Rielev. There is a song sword +1 on the table and a few assorted goodies in other receptacles in the room. Be sure to pick up the three extra healing potions in the chest and, as always, let Imoen do the honors of trap detecting and lockpicking.

Head back out to the corridor and head to the northwest. Round the corner, and you should find yourself in another corridor near a door. There may be another party of goblins about - be careful. You can head into the door to the northwest to kill two lesser clay golems by force attacking them; you won't get any gold or items, but they can't hurt you when they're activated later in the level. Head to the northeast and find the activation stone in Rielev's lair. You can perform a mercy killing on Rielev if you wish. The activation stone is on the table in front of Rielev, so pick it up and head back to the sewage golem. Activate him for an easy 3,000 experience. You should check out the door opposite the golem's lair; there is an ice mephit and a steam mephit hanging around as well as a few chests. You can use the energy crystals you obtained from Rielev's tube on the tubes in this area for a bit more information, but you only have four crystals, so you can't activate all the tubes.

The camion drops a bastard sword +1.
Once you've activated the golem, head back to the northwest, but take the turn near Rielev's area. You'll enter a sewer-like group of corridors, but you'll find the exit to the library soon enough. There are a few more goblins in here, so be ready. Once you've taken everyone out, search the bodies as well as the library walls for a number of items, mostly scrolls and healing potions.

Head to the northwest again and round the corner to come into a factory-like area. There are a number of evil dwarves here, both in melee and mage variations. They put up a tough fight, so try to be fairly healthy before walking in. Once you've killed them, you can use Imoen to search for hotspots; there are a few in the corners. If you haven't yet, you might find it useful to equip Imoen with the short bow you'll discover, and adjust her script accordingly. She's a bit more useful when taking the rear, as she's not much of a fighter, even with the dagger +1 you found earlier. Be sure to grab the acorns that one of the dwarves is carrying.

Head out the eastern passage and examine the door with Imoen. It's locked beyond your ability to open at this point, so don't worry about it yet. Avoid the trap on the ground and head to the room nearby to fight a camion. Twist the central structure twice to unlock the creature and be sure to position your stronger characters nearer the beast before freeing it. Once it's dead, pick up the treasure it dropped and head back to the library.

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Follow the southern path from the library to reach the sewers. You'll be facing off against an otyugh. He's big, but will fall fairly easily when you attack him. Be sure to pick up the wand of frost key from his body (it can be hard to see). From there, head to the east and into the small living room. Have Imoen search for traps before moving about, as there are a few of them around. Disable the traps and start looking around for items. Head south from there and talk to the dryads. Tell them you have the acorns, and you'll complete the quest that they ask of you. Once you receive the experience bonus, head further to the southwest into the bedroom. Again, have Imoen search for traps. There are seven in all, including a few on the floor, so be careful. Pick up all the items and don't miss the cabinet on the western wall.

This room and the nearby bedroom are full of traps.
Now, head all the way back to the locked door near the camion. Click on the door with the character that has the air elemental statue from the living room near the dryads. It will open, and you can go through the door to enter a new area.

Head to the north first, but take the first left to travel along the wooden walkway. You'll encounter a few mephits and a chest containing a conjure air elemental scroll at the end. Head back to the original walkway and go north. You'll come across a group of five mephits of various types here, so be careful. An area attack spell might come in handy in the beginning. Once they're all dead, head to the west. You'll come across a lantern. Click on it to communicate with the genie that's trapped inside. He'll instruct you to find his true flask, which he needs to free himself. Unfortunately, you must travel all the way back to the dryads to get it. Don't forget that you can hold down the Shift key to assign waypoints for your characters, so that they will travel the entire path while you watch or get a drink or something like that. When you get the flask from the dryads, walk back to the genie and release him. You'll get 15,000 experience points and an extremely powerful sword. Head back to the real portal near the living room and go through.

You'll immediately meet up with Yoshimo, a true neutral NPC that is stuck in the dungeon with you. You can accept him into your party if you wish and want another hand in battle. He's a bounty hunter, so he can act as backup thief to Imoen. Bounty hunters are specialists in trap laying, a skill of dubious usefulness, but Yoshimo will be a welcome addition in battle. Since Imoen will be your primary source of thieving skills, you can let Yoshimo use any studded leather armor you find to decrease his chances of getting hit in battle.

The second level of the dungeon is a bit easier to navigate than the first.
From the entrance, the only passage leads east. You'll come into a room with numerous mephit generators. Destroy the generators before attacking the mephits. The generators don't take much damage to destroy, so proceed quickly and destroy all four. Search the rest of the room for a couple wand keys and other items. Go through the western door first. Jaheira will have a conniption fit, so click through while remaining respectful of her husband. Once that extended conversation is done, kill the assassin and the escaped clone to get more experience. Once you've searched the room, head back to the room with the mephit generators and take the western passage. You'll run into a couple more mephits and some goblins, so chop through them until you reach another large room. The wooden plank is trapped, so let Imoen detect and disable it before moving on. The next room contains the various wands that will send off a variety of nasty magical effects if you walk by. You'll need all the keys; you should have picked them up from the Otyugh's corpse, the living room, and in the second portal room and chamber with the mephit generators. Give them all to one of your characters and let him manipulate each of the wands, which will make the passage safe. You can match up the wands with their effects by glancing at the ground in front of them, but it's not necessary to know this, as the character will use the correct key automatically.

When all the wands are deactivated, you'll have free rein over the rest of the level. The first hallway to the southwest leads to the exit, so skip it for now. To the northwest, there is a room containing a woman named Ulvaryl. She's facing off with three assassins that will die fairly quickly, then teleport to safety. You probably can't take her out, but you can try. There's not much to see in this room once she's gone.

Head into the passageway opposite the entrance to Ulvaryl's room to meet Frennedan. Stepping into the room, he'll call out to you and ask you to free him from his "glass bottle". Use Imoen to detect the traps in here, then open the chests to find the key you need. Free Frennedan from his cell and walk in. Imoen will detect another trap in here. Search the room for a few more scrolls and other items.

Frennedan is actually a monster in disguise. He'll follow you around for a bit if you let him, but eventually he'll reveal himself as a metallic monster of the same shape. You can force-attack him immediately after he is freed from his cell if you wish; it's not a big deal either way. He's not very powerful when he attacks you, and he only possesses melee attacks. Kill him and be on your way.

The northernmost passage in the wand hall leads to a foundry. There are a few evil dwarves about, with a pack of mages in the back room that might be trouble if you're not healthy. You don't have to fight them if you don't wish; simply don't come down this corridor. You'll find a girdle of bluntness in one of the chests in this area; it bestows a -4 bonus to armor class against blunt weapons on whomever wears it.

Once you're done exploring this area, head back to the southeastern passage that leads to the exit. You'll have a minor skirmish with some assassins on the way, but nothing that should slow you down much. Proceed through the sewers until you reach the exit (follow the trail of corpses).

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Athkatla

Once you exit the dungeon, you'll find yourself near a battle between Irenicus and a few more assassins. Irenicus isn't very challenged, but mage authorities teleport into the battle and subdue him. Unfortunately, they take Imoen as well. All her equipment and items will be dispersed among the rest of the party. Once you're done talking, pick up the remnants of the assassins and start exploring the city. You'll probably be approached in short order by Ler, a friendly man who'll fill you in with background information if you want to talk to him. You should explore the area of the city that you're in for a bit and be sure to sell any extra items you don't need to one of the merchants nearby. Stopping for a rest at the Den of the Seven Vales would be wise if you are wounded.

Enjoy the fireworks and say goodbye to Imoen.
Once you're done exploring, head down to the circus tent (use your map if you can't find it). Speak to the boy outside, then tell the guard you can take care of yourself. When you're inside, head toward the bridge until you encounter a genie. You must answer his riddle to pass. You can do the math if you want; it's on the order of a short-answer SAT question. If not, select the option where the prince is 30 years old, and the princess is 40. He'll disappear and let you pass. Head up toward the large structure and be sure not to explore the left or right areas by the door. There are shadows and werewolves here that will damage you, but yield no experience.

Upon entering the structure, you'll be greeted by an ogre (who is really Aerie, an NPC in disguise). Listen to her pleas and tell her that you'll break her chains. Talk to the spider to the west to update your journal; this is the mother of the boy you spoke to outside, but you can't free her yet. Go past the spider and attack the two peasants to the north. They'll morph into enemies; be sure to pick up the ogre sword when they die. Give it to the ogre, and it will morph into Aerie. If you let her join your party, you might want to go through her spell books and customize her spells; she's a cleric/mage, so she'll be quite a helpful spellcaster for you. She's a bit of a free spirit and absolutely loves to randomly talk about her past, but she's a useful healer and will help identify items. Physically, she is the weakest character you've encountered so far, so try and equip her with a sling as soon as you can. She's not going to last long if she must go toe-to-toe with a monster. Rest if need be, though the rest of this quest isn't very difficult.

Heading into the next room, you'll be attacked right off by two werewolves and a shadow. You can handle yourself just fine. Check the two flowerpots by the stairs for some spells, then head up, ignoring any enemies that run over to attack you. There's nothing else in the large room except more enemies, and you don't get any experience for beating them.

Once you reach the uppermost room, you'll encounter Kalah. He's surrounded by a few monsters as well as Quayle, Aerie's uncle. Quayle's the slime on the floor, so be sure you don't attack him. Group all your characters together and pound on Kalah until he dies. It won't take long; he's fairly weak. As soon as he's dead, the illusion is dispelled, and you'll find yourself in the true circus tent.

Despite his illusionary powers, Kalah's not so tough.
Kalah will die a dramatic death and imply that he was given his powers by some external force. If you didn't rescue Aerie in the illusion, but saved Quayle, you can let her join your party now (though you would've gotten more experience the other way). Be sure to check Kalah's body for some excellent items, including a ring of human influence and around 700 gold. Talk to the woman to the west named Hannah; she's the mother of the boy outside the tent. Leave the tent and talk to the boy and the guard for some extra bonuses. Don't forget to level up if you can.

Before you leave this town, you might want to visit the adventurer's mart. There's plenty of bizarre and exotic items on sale there, though they might be a bit out of your price range at this point. Check out the paintings on the back wall as well - bonus points for naming the pop culture reference.

Once you're ready to leave this section of the town, head for one of the district exits and go to the slums. When you arrive, talk to Gaelen in his house. He'll tell you that he might know how to rescue Imoen. He'll eventually drop the other shoe: It'll cost you 20,000 gold to rescue Imoen. Considering you have, at most, around 4,000 at this point, you obviously must do some work to raise the sum. Once you agree to the price, the first chapter of Baldur's Gate II will end.

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Chapter 2

You'll begin this chapter in Gaelen's house. You can take the stairs to meet with a shadow guild thief. Have Yoshimo detect traps before you go clicking; there are three in this room. Once you're ready to move on, head outside and talk to Brus. Accept his offer, and you'll be whisked off to the Copper Coronet.

The Copper Coronet

The Copper Coronet is a large bar with a number of NPCs and patrons inside. You'll want to talk to Lord Jierdan, who will offer you quite a bit of money if you save his village from marauding trolls. Accept that quest, and your journal will be updated.

There are three different NPCs that can join your party in the Copper Coronet. Anomen Delryn is a fighter/cleric who must prove himself to an organization called the Radiant Heart. He's an acceptable warrior, though he can only use blunt weapons like maces. He can also use a small number of clerical spells. Nalia de'Arnise is a mage/thief and would-be do-gooder that is eager to protect her family keep from mysterious forces. She's actually one of the more damaging offensive spellcasters you'll have in your party at this point (assuming your main character isn't a mage), though, like all mage/thieves, she's not well suited to using armor and should stick to the rear during battles. She can use a short bow and be equipped with one as soon as you can find one. Korgan Bloodaxe is a chaotic evil dwarven berserker that wants to investigate a nearby graveyard. He's one of the most physically powerful characters you'll encounter, so he's a good choice if you need more offensive strength, but his alignment will cause problems if you're mostly using good characters. Nalia is a good character to pick up here, and you can take along Anomen as well if you want to drop another character from your party (Yoshimo, for instance; he'll stick around in the Copper Coronet for later use).

Beware these guards underneath the Copper Coronet.
Once you reform your party, you might want to rememorize spells and rest in the inn (talk to the man walking around near Lehtinan at the northwestern end of the bar). Once you're prepared for more adventuring, you can do a little side quest that's built into the Copper Coronet. Talk to Lehtinan and go through his conversation menus until you convince him that you want to go into the back rooms. Head back to the bouncer and go through the door that is now unblocked. Talk to the guards if you wish, but head through the door leading to the northeast. You should find yourself in a long passage leading to the slave chambers. There are a couple of secret rooms on the north passage that your thieves might spot. The one on the right leads to a sewer maze, so don't examine it yet. Keep heading to the northeast until you reach the prison.

Once there, you'll be attacked right off by a few guards. A few of them appear to be spellcasters, so be cautious. Once they're dispatched, talk to Hendak in the middle cell. He'll ask you to free him and the other slaves. You'll need the beastmaster's key for this.

Leave the slave cells by the southern door and head to the south across the gladiator pits. You'll find the animal cells to the southeast. Once you are hostile to the beastmaster, he'll unleash the animals in the cages, so be careful. There are a few nasties in here, including a black bear and a minotaur. If you manage to kill the beastmaster quickly, you can try to dart up to his corpse, take the key and the rest of his loot, and escape the area before the minotaur notices you. Either way, get the key and head back to the slaves. Release the kids on either side of Hendak before you open his cell; they'll each nab you 2,500 experience points. Once Hendak is released, follow him back down the hallway, dispatching guards as you go. If you can follow him quickly enough, you can force-attack Lehtinan to make the fight easier for him (though Lehtinan is doomed either way). Once Lehtinan falls, the Copper Coronet is under new management, and you can speak to Hendak for a new quest involving slavers working in the city. Don't forget to search Lehtinan's body for a large amount of gold and some other goodies. If you wish, you can visit the brothel at this point or speak to Bernard to sell any items you don't want. Once you're ready to head out and kill some slaverunners, head back to the secret passage and go up the stairs to the sewers.

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The Sewers

You'll be ambushed by hobgoblins right off. These guys are fairly tough, so swarm the shamans first. Once they're dead, search the bodies, then head back to the branching corridor. An otyugh will appear with a couple of slimes nearby. Kill them all, then look at the grate in the middle of the room. Reach down to pull out a hand from the sewer.

The shaman will hold your characters if you let him cast his spells.
Head back past the hobgoblin corpses and into the cave area. There's a branch to the northeast heading to a room with three myconids. It's not necessary to kill them, and be aware that they can confuse your characters. Search the skeletons on the wall in the cave for a ring.

Follow the southern path and eventually reach more sewers. The door that lies across the pit is trapped, so be sure to detect and disable it. Look around to the south if you want. To the north is a group of kobolds. They'll threaten you when you appear, but won't go immediately hostile. You can take them out with a fireball or similar spell while they are waiting around or just hack and slash through them. One of the shamans may cast a large entangle spell on your party, so be wary. You can nab a shaman's staff from the dead shaman; it can cast goodberries once per day, but will also be needed for an upcoming puzzle.

Kaboom!
Keep heading south. The path will veer to the west and east. The western path is trapped, and the eastern path has another party of hobgoblins to deal with. Meet Quallo in the south, and he'll tell you to find the "clues." Head to the northeast until you find the room with the pipes; a disembodied voice will ask you to free it from the water. You can click on each pipe to get a hint as to what item you must use on it. Head back to Quallo and kill his carrion crawler pal. Pick up the blood and ask him about each item. The riddles are fairly easy to solve, but if you need help, here's the order in which you should place the items: hand, ring, blood, staff. Going from left to right on the pipes, click on them in this order: third, first, second, fourth. Each party members will gain 18,000 experience points, and you will find a nice new intelligent two-handed sword. Head to the south and up the stairs to the slaver's ship. You might want to rest up first, as you'll be facing a bit of a battle.

The Slaver Ship

Once you arrive, Captain Haegan and his men will begin assaulting you. Haegan is a tough one, and there is a priest that will cast defensive spells on the rest of the men as well. Eliminate them and search the bodies for items and especially don't miss Haegan's body.

You can explore the rest of the ship now. There are a couple of trolls through the eastern door here; these might be good practice for the quest that Lord Jierdan wants you to undertake. They are not extremely difficult to take out, though they can be tricky. You should position your warriors near the door and lure the trolls out, one at a time if possible. Hack and slash away until they fall down, then have a character cast a fire or acid spell on their bodies (Melf's acid arrow works well). If you don't burn their bodies, they will regenerate and fight again. They both offer 1,400 experience points. Give the girl nearby 100 gold for an easy reputation point. Now, head through the northern passage in the middle of the ship and free the two children for more experience. Head into the doorway to the northern room and detect the traps. There are a couple of yuan-ti in the nearby room; kill them and detect the traps here, too. Search the rooms and get the items. Heal up and get ready for another tough battle.

To the southwest, there's a room with a couple of wizards as well as a guard and an archer. A silence 15-foot radius spell is a good idea while the wizards are grouped together or perhaps a Fireball. Move your tougher characters through the doorway and start taking out the spellcasters, then eliminate the other foes. Do a detect traps on the chest near the door as well as on the stairs leading down and search the area. Take a look around the area to the south (the shelves are trapped) and head out the door nearby.

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Head back to the Copper Coronet. You might find yourself attacked by a duo of ruffians, Corvale and Bregg. Though they seem like nice enough fellows, they might start a fight. Eliminate them and take their items if you can't dissuade them. When you get back to the Coronet, talk to Hendak again. He'll give you a number of items as well as a little gold and experience. Now, you can continue exploring the city if you wish. There are a few shops and houses around, and you can check out the planar sphere if you wish. It's locked at this point, but you'll be coming back to it later on. Once you're done looking around, head out of the city and go over to the city gates. Make sure you're healthy before you do; you're going to be attacked en route. You'll be facing off against a party of six, with a wizard in the mix. Suna Seni is also a spellcaster, so you might want to take them out first. Once all the enemies are dead, search their bodies. There are a lot of magical items in the mix, so be sure to pick them up and sell them later on. Once you're done, head to the edge of the screen and keep moving toward the city gates.

Once there, you can obtain another quest from Flydian, standing near the cart. You can head to the nearby tavern and rest if you wish; be sure to update your spell lists if your characters have been gaining levels. Your character might have a rather bizarre and prophetic dream if you haven't rested lately. Once you're ready to go, head to the gates and click on de'Arnise hold.

You may be waylaid and attacked by a group of four adventurers. If so, kill them and rescue Renfield. He'll ask to be taken to the docks. If you want to help him and gain a few more quests, go ahead, pick him up, and head back to the docks. Once there, move to the very southwestern corner of the area and talk to Rylock. He'll take Renfield off your hands and give you a small reward. A woman named Valen will ask you to see her mistress in the graveyard; respond as you like, but it couldn't hurt to say you will. Brus will walk toward you and ask you to see Gaelen again. Tell him you'll do so. You can also talk to Ikert to sell any items that you want to get rid of.

Nearby, you'll encounter Xzar, who'll ask you to find out what happened to Montaron in the harper's building. Tell him you'll do so. You shouldn't poke your head around too much in this area unless you want to start trying out these quests; you can come back later on, when you're done with the quests for Nalia and Jierdan, and complete the ones you're picking up now. Be especially wary of the steps leading down from the long walkway in the middle of the area. If you step into the tavern, a strange man will curse Jaheira, which might affect her performance until you can get the curse lifted. Avoid the tavern for now.

Now, you have a few options as to what you wish to do next. The majority of the quests in the game take place in Chapter 2, so you can wander around town attempting to find them and explore them if you wish, then return to Gaelen when you have the 20,000 gold. Feel free to choose your own adventure here. We'll cover a few of the more interesting side-quests at this point, but don't forget that there may be more lurking about in the game.

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de'Arnise Hold

Head back out toward the de'Arnise hold. You should make it all the way this time. This quest isn't very long, so there's no real reason to avoid it if Nalia is in your party. There are extra bonuses for fighters, who can gain control of the keep when the quest is complete, but other players will want to try this one out as well.

Once you're close to the keep, you will stop, and Nalia will explain what to do. Though she implies otherwise, the only way in is via the secret door north of the palisade (in case you didn't know, a palisade is a structure made of logs stuck vertically in the ground). You can rest and memorize some new spells if you wish. Acid arrows, flame arrows, and other acid or fire spells will be necessary to take on the trolls, so be sure to stock up on those. Once you're ready to go, head west until you encounter Captain Arat. He'll tell you a bit about the base and give you 20 fire arrows.

The now-decrepit de'Arnise hold.
Head directly north of Arat's position to find the secret door in a rock wall. Head through it, and you'll be underneath the keep. Proceed to the north, searching the room there. Open the door and another secret door will be revealed. A troll is inside. Once it's defeated, open the secret door on the northwest wall, and Daleson will be revealed. Interrogate him to learn that there are around 30 trolls hanging about, with an unknown number of yuan-ti. Be nice to him, or you'll lose a few reputation points. Walk into the room where he was hiding and look around; there are items on the weapons shelves. Keep following the trail of secret doors to the northeast until you reach a statue of a lion; take its treasure and head all the way back to where you killed the troll. (Take note of the forge in this area; you'll be coming this way again.) Go through the door and explore the large dining area. There are a few more trolls around as well as a couple of ice trolls. Search through the barracks to the north for some more gold. Head to the east of the dining room to find the doors leading outside. Kill the otyugh and the four watchdogs. Pick up the dog meat and send one of your characters up the flight of stairs. There's a door nearby; you can send your party up to check out the roof if you want, but you shouldn't go through the door on the roof; you'll find yourself surrounded by trolls and a yuan-ti mage when you arrive on the second floor. Have your character walk all the way around to the drawbridge and open it. Arat's men will walk through and a few trolls will appear, along with a giant yuan-ti. Help out in the fight if you wish, but save your fire arrows; Arat's men will do the honors on the trolls. Now, head back to the kitchen area with the dogs' remains and make a dog stew. Take the nearby stairs to the second floor.

Keep your Melf's acid arrows spells on standby.
Your tasks on this floor are to find the keep key, rescue Nalia's aunt, and defeat a warrior named Glacias. First, head into the southeastern door and follow the corridor into the library. You'll encounter a couple of trolls and a yuan-ti mage. The mage can be fairly difficult, so be careful that you don't get trapped behind the trolls. The larger troll will split into two smaller enemies when defeated, so be ready for that as well. When they're defeated, search the room for the keep key, among other things. Now, head back to the room where you started the level. Head out into the northern hallway and go through the door to your left. This is one of the bedrooms. There's a fireplace that's trapped to the north. Once you detect the secret door, head through and follow the passage. Another secret door near the end of the corridor will show you into another living room. Through the door nearby, you'll enter another bedroom where Glacias is waiting. He's not terribly difficult to beat as long you have a couple of warriors in your party. When he dies, search his body for another flail head.

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Now, head all the way back to the bedroom with the trapped fireplace. Head to the north along the outermost corridor for the level. You can unlock the door along this corridor and head to the roof if you wish; there's nothing there except a couple of yuan-ti. Circle the level and head through the circular room. Lady Delcia is past the first doorway you'll discover. Once she's rescued, search her room for another secret door. Through here, you'll discover another two secret rooms. To the north is a chamber full of golems that will be activated when you pluck the items from the northern statues. You can send one of your characters in to attempt to run quickly up to the statues, grab the items, and escape before the golems kill you, but you might be better off just force-attacking them one by one. The iron golem is very tough, so if you can't take it out, you might be better off attempting the smash-and-grab method with a single character. The statue to the far left has the third flail head. Once you have all three, you can return to the first floor, where you found Doleson, and head back to the northern forge and make a flail of the ages. Once you are done exploring in there, or if you just want to skip the room, head down to the basement via the nearby stairs.

Search the statue when you've dispatched Torgal.
You'll find yourself in a large room. Through the door to the south, there are a couple of trolls and a tougher spirit troll. You can clog the door with your warriors and cast animal or monster summoning spells on the other side of the door to put the squeeze on them. Once they're dead, proceed into the next room.

The door here leads into a room full of umber hulks. They're surely going to be too tough for your party to handle, since they can confuse your characters almost effortlessly. You're going to need trickery to get past them. Remember your bowl of dog stew? Give it to Nalia or a spellcaster that can cast an invisibility spell. Have him cast invisible or hide in shadows and walk into the room of umber hulks. Go through the door to the southwest and head down that corridor until you come near a corner. Open the door and place the dog stew in the chamber with the dog bones. The umber hulks will come down, and you won't have to fight them. You can also do this with a quick runner, someone who has protection from confusion, but you'll likely take a few whacks before you can place the stew.

Once the umber hulks are gone, search their room for more goodies. To the north lies Torgal, a troll, and two giant troll henchmen. This is a tough fight, so be sure to save your game before wandering in. Torgal and his gang enjoy ganging up on a single person (like most enemy groups in the game), so whoever is in the way should be very mindful of his health. As always, you can block the door when they attack and attempt to take them on one by one. Summoning spells will also be a good idea here to slow the trolls up a bit and perhaps even damage them a little. Once they're dead, search the area. There is a locked container at the foot of the statue that contains around 2,200 gold as well as a few more goodies.

Now that the castle is mostly cleansed, you can head out to the courtyard to finish the quest. You can take the three pieces of the flail of ages you have to the forge on the first level in the secret passages and make the flail of ages, a +3 flail with some magical enhancements. If you don't have all the pieces, you can still make a less-powerful version of the flail at the forge. Once you reach the courtyard, you should let Nalia stay with your party. If you're a fighter, you can take possession of the castle as well to use as your stronghold. Send someone up to lower the drawbridge and watch out for more trolls. Walk across the bridgehead out to your next quest.

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Windspear Hills

This is an optional quest, so feel free to skip this section if you want to move on to the real story. The rewards are fairly great if you can survive the entire ordeal. You'll come off it with a ton of experience as well as a holy avenger sword, which is only useable by paladins. It's so good, however, paladins should consider it an essential piece of equipment. You can return here later in the game to face off against the rather tough enemy that guards the sword, if you wish.

There isn't much here except for random enemy encounters.
Once you arrive in the Windspear hills, you'll find yourself surrounded by ogres and other beasts. They will attack you, so kill them all. You will immediately be approached by a man named Windspear, who will offer you sanctuary at his house. Accept his offer to be whisked away to meet his daughter. Apparently, those Ogres were actually paladins, polymorphed by some malevolent magic.

After you rest at Windspear's home, a group of bandits will warp in and kidnap his daughter. Slay the rest of them and tell Windspear that you will rescue her. Once you leave the cabin, you can walk around for a bit if you wish. You can travel to the north to check out the bodies of the paladins that you killed, but they don't have anything interesting. You should travel to the southeastern corner of the map to visit the faerie grove. You might encounter a group of fighters attacking some gnolls; the fighters are actually werewolves that will turn on you eventually. Dispatch them and head on to the faeries. You might encounter some minor monsters on the order of an ankheg or goblin. Once you reach the dryads, give them the acorns to rescue the three dryads you encountered near the beginning of the game.

Now, you can head toward the dungeon entrance to the northeast. Head inside, and you'll be ambushed by a horde of hobgoblins, so be ready. There are more hobgoblins to the northeast, including a few archers. Before you move to the north, you might want to send a scout there and lure back the kamikaze kobolds. These guys explode into what appears to be a fireball when they die, so you should have any archers or sling-users take them out before they get near your party. When they are dead, head up and take out Ruhk the Transmuter. He's a magic user, of course, so deal with him appropriately. He's not physically very strong, so swarm him with your fighters. You can travel through the stairs now or look around the rest of the cavern. There are some ogrillions to the north as well as vampiric mists. You can find an amulet of protection +1 in the pool of water.

This dungeon can be confusing.
Once you head down to the second floor, you'll be ambushed by orc archers who sit behind bars so that your melee attackers can't reach them. There are two secret doors you can unlock and open to reach them, or you can use spells and ranged weapons to take them out. Summoning monsters or animals behind the bars seems to work fairly well. Head out to the northeastern hall and take out the stone golem, then head to the southeast. The troll cook in here will ask you to cook yourself, then attack you when you refuse. A group of hobgoblins will charge in from the southwest, so you might want to summon some monsters over there before they come through. Once that party is dead, grab the orcish cookbook from the table. You can kill the otyugh to the southwest, but there's nothing in his lair. Now, head back to the hallway. You can talk to the orcs in the northwestern room to learn a bit about the lair if you wish. Now, head to the northeast from the middle door in the hallway. You'll come out into another hallway. Head south into the nearby room. It will be almost full of undead enemies, so anything that can hurt those creatures (like turn undead) will be helpful. The chest near the wall is trapped and contains some magical bolts. Push through into the southern room that contains a greater wraith. Eliminate it and pick up the chapel key from the floor. You can close the door here and rest if you wish.

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Head back to the northwestern hallway and proceed until you meet Samia. She'll ask you to perform a mini-quest regarding some texts she wishes to find. You should know up front that this is an optional and fairly dangerous quest. Head through to the next hallway beyond her and take the first door on your right. Look around for the Book of King Strohm III in this area. You must defeat six djinnis to acquire the six pieces of a certain mask; this will let you see the invisible creature Samia referred to. These six djinni are scattered around the small, self-enclosed area beyond this door, and there are plenty of traps scattered about as well, so be careful. The djinni will be attacking with fireballs, so be sure that any of your weaker characters stay out of the way. They love to cast invisibility on themselves, as well, so that's another problem you must anticipate. Don't forget to equip your main fighter with the ring of fire resistance you picked up upstairs and heal often. They use a few fire-based spells, like flame strike and fireball, before switching to melee attacks, so if you can give one of your characters a huge fire resistance, he might take them on single-handedly or at least take most of the fire spells before the rest of your characters come in for the kill.

Once you reach the small square room with four doors, go to the northwestern door for the last Djinni. Now, save your game and rest again if you're injured. Head through the northeastern door for an encounter with the guardian (a fire elemental). Have your main character equipped with King Strohm's mask, or you can't see him. Again, he's fire-based, so beef up your fire resistances before taking him on. Once he's dead, head through to the next room. You're about to be ambushed by Samia and her companions. This fight is extremely tough. Save your game ahead of time, and if you can't defeat them with acceptable losses, you might want to skip this area. The items in the back room are dragonscale armor and a dragonslayer sword, and Samia's company possesses a great deal of items, but you might not kill them all. There are a couple of spellcasters in the party, and your front line fighters have a tendency to get confused.

Head down the path leading to the northwest now. Kill the werewolves in the way, then use the winch by the well to drag up a dragon helm. You'll be attacked by an air elemental and stone golem, so be ready. Afterward, you can head to the southwest until you're approached by four paladins who ask for your help. They're actually werewolves in disguise. You can dispatch them, then take the horn of blasting from the nearby cabinet. This is a good room in which to sleep if you're wounded.

Now, go north and into the large rocky cavern you passed. You'll witness a fight between a few monsters. You might as well let them fight it out, then pick off any remaining beasties. There's a secret wall on the north face of the rocks. You can head through to take on a few golems, including a massive adamantite golem that will be quite tough to kill. It can deal more than 20 points of damage per blow, and you'll be hard pressed to deal more than a few points of damage per hit to it. If you want to fight it and two stone golems, you'll be rewarded with a heartseeker +3 bow and a rare gem from the stash on the north wall.

Now, head back to the winch and head northeast. You'll encounter a few enemies and a locked door. Head through the locked doors until you reach Tazok and his captain. These two baddies are somewhat tough, but they will fall eventually. Search their bodies, the table, and the cabinet on the wall. Now, head upstairs to meet with Firkraag and Conster. Firkraag, if you choose the right responses (try not to fight him) will send Conster back downstairs. Head for him, kill him, take the key, and unlock Iltha's cage. Now, you can head back to Windspear if you wish, or you can try to kill Firkraag.

Firkraag, as befitting such a powerful beast, is almost impossible to kill at this point in the game. He has some powerful attacks, like the wing buffet, that will injure all your party at once as well as deal magical effects, like sleep, to it. After he hastes himself, he generally likes to start holding and pummeling nearby foes. If you have one extremely powerful character, on tactic that might work is to make him as resistant to fire as possible, then send him, alone, to force-attack Firkraag. After that character is held or when it seems appropriate, send in the rest of the troupe to finish the dragon off. You can, of course, return to this area later and kill Firkraag if you don't feel that you can do it at this point. He'll drop a holy avenger +5, a magical shield, 1,500 gold, and the red dragon scales. If you bring this last item to Cromwell in the docks of Athkatla, he'll make a suit of red dragon armor, conferring an armor class of -1 on its wearer as well as 50 percent fire resistance. This is some of the best armor in the game, so be sure to stop by Cromwell's the next time you're in town.

Once you escape the dungeon and get back to Windspear, he'll thank you and give you an experience bonus. You should have enough gold now to pay off Gaelen, and even if you don't, you should have more than enough items to sell to raise the 20,000. You can feel free to keep doing side-quests at this point, or you can head back to Athkatla. For now, head back to the city gates of Athkatla, where you'll be given a new quest by Delon. You don't have to do it yet, but pick it up for your quest log. Head to Gaelen. You can sell your items at the Copper Coronet if you wish.

As a note, you can head to the graveyard (at night) to meet with Bodhi if you wish. She'll be offering you essentially the same quest as Gaelen, but she's an obviously evil person. If you are evil as well, you might want to accept her offer; if not, you're better off with Gaelen. Either way, you'll want to check out her lair; it has some interesting areas. If you wish, you can explore the graveyard. There are a couple of mini-quests that stem from encounters you'll have here. There are also a fair number of tombs you can rob. Note that inter-area bandits will be tougher as you progress through the game, so travel cautiously.

Once you arrive at Gaelen's house and accept the offer to find Imoen, the next chapter will begin. The price has dropped to 15,000 now, so pay up and start Chapter 3.

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Chapter 3

Now that you've paid off Gaelen, it's time to go about locating our good friend Imoen.

The Shadow Thieves

Once Chapter 3 starts, head off to the docks. The building you seek, the shadow thieves' guildhall, is to the west of the entrances to the docks, and the building is guarded by a single soldier. Head in and start poking around. There are a bunch of locked chests around that you can loot, if you can get the locks open (Nalia's not a great thief, having dual-classed at level 4). If you wish, you can head upstairs to get a quest from Bloodscalp, but the real thieves guild is located behind a secret wall on the first floor.

Head to the Shadow Thieves' Guildhall past the entrances to the Docks, where you can poke around.
Head down and talk to the people in the thieves' guild. Aran is located behind another secret door in the main room here. Open it and follow the corridor until you reach Aran. Unfortunately, he's going to want you to perform a few more quests before you can start working toward Imoen.

First off, he wants you to visit a friend of his named Mook on the docks at night. You might have to rest before you can go see her. When darkness falls, head off to the southern portion of the docks. Mook will approach you. When you're done with the conversation, you'll hide near the docks, waiting for the mysterious man to approach. He'll warp in suddenly and kill Mook. He's some kind of undead creature and can drain levels, so be cautious. Once he's dead, head back to Aran. If someone had levels drained, you might want to head for the temple in this area first to restore him.

Once you reach Aran, he'll give you another quest. This time, you must head for the Five Flagons Inn in the bridge district. You may be attacked by a woman named Hareishan as you head toward the exit; she can level drain, so be careful.

Once you arrive at the Five Flagons Inn, head inside and save your game. You can rest if you wish. Head upstairs and start looking for the two men that Aran wants investigated. Talk to them a bit, and when they turn hostile, kill them. A guild contact will approach; kill him as well. Take any items you find interesting and head back to Aran. You can head to the downstairs area of this inn to learn more about Haer Dalis', another NPC, if you wish.

He'll take the information you've given him and ask you to visit the graveyard district. You should rest up before heading into the graveyard; this part of the quest is a bit tricky. Be sure to memorize a few slow or neutralize poison spells if you have them available; lesser restoration and negative plane protection spells are useful as well. If you've been contacted about Nalia's father's funeral, you'll be whisked off to a mausoleum when you reach the graveyard, where you will meet Nalia's former betrothed. Speak to the guests and get back to adventuring. Beware: if you rest too long, Nalia may be abducted by her fianc?(this will probably happen a set time after the funeral anyway, so you might want to rest and get it over with). If this happens, you might want to head back to the Copper Coronet and pick up Yoshimo before heading into Bodhi's lair, or you can attempt to rescue her before moving on in this quest.

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Bodhi's Lair

The graveyard is a collection of crypts and mausoleums, some of which connect to Bodhi's lair, most of which do not. You can look around through the various crypts; if you encounter enemies, you can either run or fight. There are four entrances to Bodhi's lair from the surface; each leads to the same expansive level. The best place to enter is in the section to the southwest of the graveyard, the entrance across from the pyramid. When you enter, you'll be near Pah'Na's nest, and you can deal with her first.

It doesn't take much perception to find the nest; it's the huge structure made of spider webs. There are poisonous spiders in the nest and around it, so get those anti-poison spells ready. Once you're inside, Pah'Na will summon 15 to 20 baby spiders; these aren't tough individually, but they will transmit a quick-acting poison on your characters. It's best to keep your fighters up front, let everyone else attack from a distance, and save the healing spells until after the fight. Act fast, though, or your fighters will die before you can heal them. Once Pah'Na and her brood are dead, steal her items (check the ground near the center of the area). Once she's defeated, the randomly spawning spiders around the lair stop appearing, so you can head back to the graveyard and rest if you wish.

Now, you can either head south to an optional area of the dungeon or head north to meet with Haz. If you head south, you'll be facing an area full of traps and undead creatures. There's nothing critical in this area, and the level-draining beasties will be tough, so explore at your own risk. Just be sure to keep detect traps on. There's a secret door on the southern corner of the first room, leading to another area.

When you do head north, you'll meet Haz and his golem. The golem will open the northern doors and start attacking the nearby monsters. When they've been cleared out, follow Lassal into Bodhi's chambers. Gellal will be off to the left when you enter the dining room; take him and the other monsters out before veering off into any of the nearby passages. Check the pool of blood to the northwest for a mace of disruption, which is an excellent item for a cleric or other mace-user to equip here, as it has special bonuses against the undead.

Watch out for that fire shield (red).
Tanova will be waiting for you in the passage to the southeast. She's a vampire and absolutely loves to cast spells on herself - and cast a few on you for good measure. A paladin with a holy avenger can face off against her at fairly low risk, but you must be sure to dispel her invisibility before most of your characters can. Once she's dead, check out the rest of the rooms in this area. You might find the room with the clay golem; you can use the wooden stakes Aran gave you on the vampires here to finally kill them (and get some free experience).

Now, head down the stairs off the dining room. You'll fall down into a small sub-level; the layout is fairly easy to maneuver. Once you reach the doors, you'll be heading into a room full of fledgling vampires and grimward archers, so you'll want to cast negative plane protection on your fighters in advance. You can do well if you summon a few higher-level monsters, animals, or even an elemental up near the door, then have a negative plane protected warrior open the door and attempt to fight a bit. Explore the other two rooms nearby, and Lassal will warp himself upstairs.

You'll be coming this way again, later in the game.
Once you take the stairs back up, head toward the nearby room full of spikes (near where Tanova was). There are a lot of traps here, and even Yoshimo seems to have a hard time detecting them. They do around 20 points of damage per hit, so you'll want to proceed slowly and surely through the room. Going north of the pool seems to be a slightly better route than the southern path. Once you reach Lassal, kill him and head back to the safety of the dining room. Save your game and head back to the room with the Golem and the vampire graves. Use wooden stakes on the remaining coffins. Bodhi will appear and fight you. She's tough, obviously, and possesses the normal undead attacks such as level draining and the like. She doesn't seem to go for spells too much, especially if you have your warriors crowd around her before she completes the teleportation. She'll die fairly quickly, but watch out, as she can level drain a character to death if she concentrates on one of your fighters. You might want to move her target out of range if he nears death, especially if that target is your main character. Once she's dead, head back to Aran on the docks. He'll give you a large amount of experience and tell you how to rescue Imoen.

Now is one of the best times to wander around and finish off some of the quests you might still have in your journal from Chapters 2 and 3. You can also offload some items, visit the temple or government districts, or perform any other odd jobs you haven't had time to complete yet. You must tell Aran that you want to restock your supplies if you wish to complete some of the mini-quests. Otherwise, head on to the Spellhold Asylum and Chapter 4.

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Chapter 4

OK, so we still haven't found dear little Imoen. We're getting close now. We promise.

Brynnlaw

Once you arrive, try to save. You'll be told that monsters are about. Uh-oh; it looks like Saemon was in league with Bodhi and managed to ambush you with a few vampires. Take them out, and Sime will tell you to head to the tavern. Check your map and do so.

You're to speak to a man named Sanik, who might have some information for you regarding Spellhold. Unfortunately, he'll be killed just before he can tell you what he knows. Kill the assassin, and the innkeeper will send you on a mini-quest to solve Sanik's murder.

Head down to the guildhall and talk to the male or female courtesan, depending on the sex of your main character. You can pay to get into the guildhall; it's 100 gold (or 50, if you haggle a bit). Pay the fee, and your entire party will be whisked inside (apparently the courtesans are really ready for action). Head up the stairs, and you'll find yourself in a hall. Head northwest and kill the guards nearby. One will come out of an adjacent room to the left of the locked door; go in there and search the cabinet for Galvena's key. Head through the locked door, and you'll encounter Galvena and her wizard friend Vadek. Galvena will fall easily, but Vadek might cast one of those lovely spells that confuses almost everyone in your party, so you might want to concentrate on her first. Once you've killed them both, talk to Claire. You will eventually find the information you need, either from her or from a captain she'll take you to. After you find out what you want to know, you can either walk around the city, performing random acts of kindness and doing some of the mini-quests or head straight for Spellhold.

You can check out the pirate ship now if you wish. You'll be coming on board again later.
The easiest way to do this is to head for Perth's house. He's a somewhat unstable mage that lives in a house in the northeastern corner of Brynnlaw. Once you encounter him, he'll probably insist on a "test" and go immediately hostile. He might set off a fireball-type spell centered on himself once you get close to him, so be careful. Once he dies, pick up the wardstone.

Now, head to the far northern end of Brynnlaw. You'll encounter Sime near the edge of the map. Tell her you can now get into Spellhold and walk off the edge of the map. A neat little movie will play, and you'll be on your way to the asylum. It's a long walk up the path, and there are mists about, so be ready. Follow the path through the graveyard until you reach the door that leads into the structure.

You'll be approached right away by the "coordinator." It doesn't take a genius to recognize the voice. Irenicus will take you on a guided tour of the asylum. (You can take a couple hundred gold from the table in the elf's room.) Eventually, he'll reveal his identity, and Yoshimo, if he's accompanying you, will be revealed as a traitor.

Once you're forced into the dream sequence, you'll appear outside the castle walls in some ethereal otherworld. Walk toward the castle, and you'll be forced to permanently give up one of your stat points to gain entry. Choose one of your non-critical skills, obviously. Changing a skill in the mid-teens rarely has a huge effect; reducing your dexterity one point will have no effect on battle, as long as it starts out anywhere from seven to 14. Check the ability tables on page 225 of your manual if you want to peruse the stats before making your decision.

Explore the castle and find Imoen. You must find "the beast" outside, southwest of the castle proper. Bhaal will appear; tell him to chase you, then run back inside to Imoen. Once you battle for a bit, the dream sequence will end.

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Asylum Dungeon

When you wake up in the dungeon, Imoen can finally rejoin the party. Equip her with whatever extra items you have on you. You might want to rest a bit and memorize some spells if you have gained levels. Head northeast. Go into the room at the intersection and kill the clay golem within. There's a trapped barrel here containing the very useful bag of holding; this item will contain 20 other items in a shop-like interface and doesn't affect your character's encumbrance. There are also some magical darts for Imoen, if you haven't armed her yet, as well as the necessary opal stone. Whatever you do, avoid the hall to the north of this room! It's trapped with an instadeath mechanism if you attempt to pass through it. Instead, go back to the beginning room and head to the northwest. Go through the first door and kill the gibberlings inside. Examine the chest inside for some more bullets (if you're using a sling) as well as an important ruby stone.

This is only half the dungeon you'll be crawling through.
Now, the next room you'll encounter to the west is a room with 11 statues and corresponding riddles. You must take the items from the middle of the room and place them in the proper receptacle. You can attempt the puzzles if you wish or just go counterclockwise from the door: star, golden circlet, boots, water, sundial, sun necklace, sword, gagged man, mirror, hourglass, skull. You'll receive another item from the chest and 20,000 experience points.

So... many... riddles... Must... stay... conscious...
Ruhk is near the portal to the northwest. You can kill him now if you want or come back later. For now, head to the east, where another puzzle awaits. Starting at the top of the room, go clockwise from the statue at the left. The answers, in order, are: ice, fire, coffin, candle, darkness, stars, hole, secret, fish, breath, sponge, shadows. You can do them in any order, of course.

Head back to where Ruhk is or was. If you didn't already, kill him. Head through the stargate - er, portal. Unfortunately, once you click on it, a pit fiend will pop out, so be ready with a protection from evil spell. You can place all three stones you gathered - opal, ruby, and sapphire - to summon a pit fiend, a greater werewolf, and a friendly djinni, who will give you a doomplate +3. You don't have to face them all; in fact, you can drop all but the sapphire stone to summon the Djinni right off the bat, without having to face the other two enemies.

Here's the second half of the asylum dungeon's first level.
Now head back to the room with the clay golem. Take the door to another area nearby. You'll see a scroll; you can click on it to summon five different monsters, ranging from a kobold to a beholder. Defeat them all, and you'll receive some choice magical scrolls and a very useful item: a ring of free movement. Now, head through the secret doorway to the north. You'll be encountering hordes of kobolds in here; they won't do much damage to you, but the witch doctors can be difficult. Once you reach the large crystalline structure, a few more witch doctors will warp in. Kill them all, and you'll get a piece of the altar, which you'll need to make it to the second level. You can search the bodies for a short bow and some arrows for Imoen if you wish. Be sure to search the body with the quarterstaff and pick up the stakes.

Dace is something of a pushover, for a vampire.
Head to the room with the ancient scroll and proceed south. Once you reach the intersection, you can head north for a not-very-rewarding fight with a half-dozen umber hulks if you wish. The only discernible reason to fight these guys, other than the experience, is that it will open a bit of a shortcut to the beginning of the level when you must return in a bit. It's probably best to avoid the area. Proceed to the southwest. Go through the door to the north to find a ton of gold as well as a few scrolls. Now, head around the corner and proceed to the northwest. Get ready for a battle.

Most of the secret doors in Baldur's Gate II aren't really so secret.
Dace Sontan is another vampire. He's not extremely tough; just a regular old vampire, it seems, that likes melee battle. He'll probably drain your levels just for fun, but if you have people casting spells behind the fighters, he'll die fairly quickly. Stake him in his coffin and get his hand. Now, head all the way back to the room where you began the dungeon. Head to the southwest, and you'll encounter a statue's head. Since you have the keys (the hand and the crystal), it will open and give you access to the upper part of the dungeon.

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Head through the southern hallway first. (The northern hallway is a dead end at this point). Find the two secret doors and unlock the southern one. Turn the wheel and head through the northern door with your fighters leading the way. Three trolls and a spirit troll will be waiting for you. They guard a couple of mithril tokens that you can use later on. Heading down the corridor, you'll encounter a room with four minotaurs. Check the pot near the door for some more tokens.

Now, the room to the northeast is interesting. It has more tokens as well as the minotaur's horn item, which you should retrieve. The three statues inside also hold paintings, which unlock the doors past the yuan-ti you might have encountered earlier. Unfortunately, they're guarded by undetectable traps. Choose a strong character with a good saving throw versus death (Imoen is not a good choice) to retrieve the items, as the first trap will instantly and permanently kill the character unless a saving throw is made. The other two statues appear to cast a fireball and a fire cloud spell, so resistance to fire would also be a wise attribute. Be sure to get the painting from the pool as well.

Head to the south and go through the room with the trolls. You'll encounter Bodhi. Have your main character proceed into her room, but tell the rest of your party to head backward into the nearby room and turn its AI off. Your character will transform into a rather beastly creature and attack Bodhi. Wait until you transform back to normal to regroup your party, or else you'll wind up attacking everyone else. Beware; when you rest, you might wind up changing back into the Child of Bhaal creature. Have the rest of your characters run away again until your primary character changes back to normal.

Hulk smash!
Go through the doorway to the north. There are a bunch of minotaurs here as well as a mini-beholder gauth. You don't have to fight them all; just take the tokens from the pool near the door and leave. Head to the south to fight more minotaurs; you'll find more tokens as well as the very fun limited wish scroll in a pot nearby.

Now, head all the way back to the entrance to this level and take out the yuan-ti in the northern room. Each of the four entrances here corresponds to a different painting that you picked up earlier. The third door to the left is the only one you must go through here; the others are optional, with monsters and items behind them. The mind flayer to the left has a two-handed sword, the Flame of the North, which grants the user a 10 percent resistance to magic, the troll to his right has a +2 katana, and the noble djinni has a skydrop gem (which is worth a massive 12 gold).

Head through the third door and proceed east. You'll enter a room with three clay golems. Get ready for them or force-attack them and open the chest. Once you get the tokens inside, you'll probably want to rest from the beating you took from the golems. Now, head to the south and take out the stone golem. Grab the last tokens from the table and head west. You'll encounter the boot machine. You can put in five, ten, or 15 tokens. Five tokens gets you boots of grounding with a 50 percent resistance to electricity; ten tokens gets you boots of the north with a 50 percent resistance to cold; and 15 tokens gets you boots of speed, which will increase the speed of one of your characters by 150 percent. The boots of speed are pretty cool to have for your main character, but they can cause havoc in party movements, with one character running into enemies when the rest of the party is lagging behind.

Head all the way back to where you met Bodhi. Click on the minotaur statue to open the doors leading up.

Ready for weirdness? Kill all the kobolds in the area, and an apparition will appear. You will be asked questions throughout the next section; where you are teleported depends on the "clarity" of your answers. Try to be nice and respectful and answer the riddles correctly, and you should be fine. The easiest way to get through is to tell him to ask his questions (the first response), after which you will appear in a room with a spore colony. You'll then find yourself in a chamber with more apparitions. Answer their riddles correctly (nothing, river, fear, memory) to find yourself back in the asylum. There are roughly a dozen rooms you can visit all told; make enough bad choices, and you'll face a decidedly tougher route than the one outlined here.

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Asylum Proper

Saemon will recommend a course of action for defeating Irenicus. Rest your party and memorize a few spells; you'll be fighting him soon. Walk around and head up to the second level of the prison. Lonk will apprehend you; you can either pay him 2,000 gold to release the prisoners or attack him. Once the prisoners are released, you'll find yourself facing off against Irenicus in short order, so get ready.

He's tough, but not unbeatable. Swarm him immediately with all your short-range fighters, taking him on at point-blank range, and have your spellcasters use spell sequencers and magic missiles if they have them. He'll summon clones of your characters if you give him a chance, so be sure to act quickly. The crazies will be mostly useless here, despite their supposedly awesome powers. You can't control them, and Jon can probably kill them almost immediately. Once he warps out, he'll summon a group of invisible murderers. Head to the right of the center tube, so they can only attack you on one side. Have your strongest characters up front and, when they attack, take the assassins out quickly. (Don't forget that barbarians are immune to backstabbing, so if your character is one, place yourself up front to act as an invincible target.) As long as you can hear them say they'll plant their blades in your innards, it's not safe to move. They only have around 30 hit points each, so they're not too tough. If you began the asylum with Yoshimo, he'll appear again now and attack you. Once he's dead, take his items as well as his heart (right-click on it for another mini-quest).

Irenicus is single-handedly revitalizing the Amn undertaking industry.
Walk around the now-open areas of the prison. Jon's key is on the upper floor in his private quarters as well as his journals and some other items. You can accept Saemon's offer of escape by ship if you wish; you'll find yourself in a short side-quest in Sahuagin City, which will yield some more experience and items for you. For now, find Jon's key and head back to the portal on the first floor. Go through to begin Chapter 5.

Sahuagin City

If you decide to head to Sahuagin City, you'll find yourself outside the asylum. Head back to town and meet Saemon at the tavern. He'll reveal that his ship has been scuttled, and you must steal the pirate lord's ship to proceed. He'll ask you to steal the seagate horn from the pirate lord's mistress, Cayia. Sleep until it's nighttime, then go to Cayia's house on the west side of the city and head inside.

Two heads, technically, are better than one, but it's not going to help this ettin.
Once inside, you'll witness a conversation between Cayia and her lover Algor. Once Cayia is alerted to your presence, she'll summon three pirates whom you can handle easily. Grab the horn from the table and head out to the docks in the southeast corner of the city. Give him the horn, and you'll be on your way.

Before you leave, however, Desharik will appear and attempt to take back his ship. After he cuts down Cayia, get ready for a fight. Take out the pirates, and you'll be on your way.

After a short interlude, you'll find yourself fighting yet again. The Githyanki that have boarded your ship are looking for a weapon, a weapon that Saemon conveniently gave you. After a short battle, your ship will be about to sink, due to an unexpected influx of Sahuagin forces. After another interlude, you'll find yourself in Sahuagin City, meeting with a royal high priestess. Eventually, you'll be brought before King Ixilthetocal. You'll be asked to fight a "slave from the surface." Despite your reservations, do so, and you'll be paired off with an ettin (one of the coolest-looking enemies in the entire game). Take him out to earn the king's favor. (If you choose not to fight, you must kill the king, the high priestess, and all the guards. It's doable, but extremely difficult.)

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