Part X of the Siege of Dragonspear Guide.
Shadowy Figure
Waylay Zone (AR BD0063).
YOU HAVE BEEN WAYLAID BY ENEMIES AND MUST DEFEND YOURSELF!
En route to Dead Man's Pass the party is waylaid by a Shadowy Figure - an assassin flanked by four mercs. This area is also a dead magic zone, meaning that spell failure is guaranteed. Doesn't mean you can't wave your wands, though. Beware the backstab-spam of the assassin, whose wield inflicts bleeding and drains your Strength stat. Immobilize him with the Wand of Paralyzation and then cut his rigid body to pieces.
Shadowy Figure (+3,500 Exp): Vexation +2 (short sword, THAC0 +2, dmg +2, 2 points of bleeding dmg per hit [1 point per round], 2 point on-hit backstab Strength drain, transferred non-cumulatively to wielder for 5 rounds), Shadow Armor +3 (leather armor, Hide in Shadows +15), 347 GP, Letter.
Mercenary x4 (+750-2,000 Exp ea).
.
Dead Man's Pass
(AR: BD7300). Heading north from your starting point brings you to a junction, with roads leading west to Dragonspear Castle (courtyard only) and east to two other wilderness zones: Underground River and Bloodbark Grove.
Crap to kill. Dead Man's Pass is teeming with trashmobs that are just standing around, waiting for you kill them and take their stuff. None of their corpses yield valuable loot, though.
Bombardier Beetle x6 (+120 Exp ea), Boring Beetle x6 (+175 Exp ea), Wild Boar x7 (+175 Exp ea), Displacer Beast x4 (+975 Exp ea), Displacer Beast Pack Lord (+1,500 Exp), Mountain Lion (+270 Exp), Cave Bear (+900 Exp), Hill Giant x6 (+3,000 Exp ea), Hill Giant Leader (+3,500 Exp), Orog x8 (+150 Exp ea), Orog Elite x3 (+175 Exp ea), Orog Marauder x2 (+150 Exp ea), Orog Chieftain (+250 Exp), Orog Priest (+650 Exp), Worg x4 (+120 Exp ea), Ettin x2 (3,000 Exp ea), Dire Wolf x5 (120 Exp ea), Wolf (+65 Exp), Gargantuan Spider x2 (+3,000 Exp), Sword Spider (+2,000 Exp), Phase Spider x3 (+1,400 Exp ea), Hamadryad (+650 Exp), Shambling Mound x2 (+6,000 Exp ea), Ogre x2 (+270 Exp), Half-Ogre Veteran x2 (+270 Exp), Ogre Berserker x2 (+650 Exp), Ogre Mage (+650 Exp), Ogre Chieftain (+975 Exp), Hobgoblin Captain (+65 Exp), Hobgoblin Scout x3 (+35 Exp ea), Hobgoblin Marksman x3 (+50 Exp ea), Hobgoblin Priest (+45 Exp).
Points of Interest. There are two subterranean zones accessible in Dead Man's Pass, both of which are very small and not annotated by Beamdog: the Killer Mimic Cave in the west and a Hole in the Ground to the east.
Killer Mimic Cave
(AR: BD1010). Slay the giants guarding the upward path and then slay the spiders outside the cave. Approach the chest to awaken a mimic and spawn flanking oozes and a souped-up otyugh. When they have been dispatched loot the chest for a bow and some ammo: Bow of the Banshee +2 (longbow, THAC0 +3, dmg +2), Arrow +3 (x20), Arrow of Dispelling (x3), Arrow of Anti-Magic +1 (x10).
Killer Mimic (+3,000 Exp), Neo-Otyugh (+5000 Exp), Ochre Jelly x4 (+270 Exp ea), Sword Spider x2 (+2,000 Exp ea), Gargantuan Spider (+3,000 Exp), Phase Spider (+1,400 Exp), Wraith Spider (+1,400 Exp).
Hole in the Ground
(AR: BD7310). Remove the wood covering the hole and climb down the ladder to face off against spectral undead. Loot the place for Spider Silk and the Amulet of Whispers (perma-Vocalize, Silence 15' radius 1/day).
Unsleeping Guardian (+4,000 Exp), Greater Shadow x2 (+3,000 Exp ea), Shadow x5 (+420 Exp ea).
Minor Things:
Unsleeping Guardian (+4,000 Exp), Greater Shadow x2 (+3,000 Exp ea), Shadow x5 (+420 Exp ea).
Minor Things:
Nüber
Heya! Heya! Heya! *chunk* - That's what happens to Noober in the original Baldur's Gate. But now you have to contend with Nüber! You can find him around x=2880, y=2800. To rid yourself of this irritant you will have to slay him in three different forms (+15, +15, +250 Exp).
Standing at the junction are merchants Horst & Stalia - who sell a whole lot of nothing (just gems and potions). Off-load any inventory-clogging loot you may have, and take your leave.
Gnåler and Kåmbolder
In the south you will bump into Gnåler and Kåmbolder, a gnoll-kobold duo who will gift you a sketch of themselves, one that shows them standing side by side near an ancient ruin.
Gnåler (+650 Exp), Kåmbolder (+420 Exp, Fire Arrows x40).
North of the mimic cave is the corpse of an Orog Priest holding the Heart of the Mountain (amulet, AC +2, summoned spirits gain +10 HPs, Shaman only).
You may be approached by Ephrik in the east. Slay him for +300 Exp and loot his corpse for 125 GP.
The corpse of a mage may be looted on the hill to the east, guarded by a band of Hobgoblins. All you get is a couple of scrolls and a generic wand.
A Cave Bear may be slain and skinned for its Fine Bearskin just north of the Killer Mimic Cave (x=1900, y=700).
To fulfill the Helvdar's Lucky Charm quest you must take the hide to Belegarm in the Coalition Camp and request he fashion a pair of boots out of them for Helvdar.
Choose to present the dwarf with the Lucky Boots (saving throws for dwarves +3) or an ordinary pair; the reward is +6,000 Exp and two utility potions, either way.
Ok, we're done with Dead Man's Pass. Let's go check out the courtyard of Dragonspear Castle!
Dragonspear Castle
Courtyard only (AR: BD4000).
You will arrive at what I will call the southern gate. But first, where is Skie? She is found just outside the walls, to the east of your starting position. Save her ass from mercs, send her back to camp, and report to Nederlock to cap off the quest.
(Completed Quest: Skie's Gone Missing, +800 Exp).
Mercenary x4 (+420 Exp ea).
Ok, convince the Crusader Officer to grant you admittance to the courtyard: you will receive the Seal of Caelar. Now, as in the lead-up to breaking the siege of Bridgefort you may like to keep a low profile in the courtyard rather than announce yourself as the hero of Baldur's Gate; otherwise, you may trigger camp-wide hostilities and miss out on a whole heap of content. It's up to you, though.
Crusader Guard Officer (+1,400 Exp, Longsword +1, Plate Mail +1, Medium Shield +1), Crusader Guard Mage (+2,000, Longsword +1), Crusader Guard Cleric (+2,000 Exp), Stone Golem x2 (+8,000 Exp ea), Crusader Scout x4 (+420 Exp ea), Crusader Guard x4 (+650 ea), Mercenary x18 (+420-650 Exp ea), Delton (+975 Exp), Ravoc (+650 Exp, Battle Axe +1), Damarr (+650 Exp), Leopas (+1,400 Exp), Corinth (+420 Exp, Corinth's Bow +2 [THAC0 +3, dmg +4, AC +1, on critical hit wielder is buffed by Luck], Valis (+420 Exp), Tristian (+2,000 Exp, Ring of Protection +1, Longsword +2, Medium Shield +1, Tristian's Holy Symbol), Commander Dreon (Battle Axe +1, Throwing Axe +2, Large Shield +1), Crusader Pedro (+420 Exp), Crusader Nan (+420 Exp), Sallo (+1,400 Exp, Empty Wineskin), Recruit Qing (+420 Exp), Recruit Kjarvin (+420 Exp), Zare (+275 Exp), Beno Famari (+650 Exp), Crusader Commander (+1,400 Exp, Bastard Sword +1, Large Shield +1), Crusader Sergeant x2 (+975 Exp ea), Crusader Elite x6 (+650 Exp ea), Composite Longbow +1, Arrow +2 x20, Chainmail +1, Longsword +1), Kara-Turan Mercenary (+1,400 Exp, Katana), Deneld (+2,000 Exp, Ring of the Crusade (AC and saves +1, +3 vs. demons and devils), Second Stone Fragment, Short Sword +1), Mercenary Captain (Bastard Sword +1 x2), Sindret (+2,000 Exp, Splint Mail +1, Sling +1, Club +1, Potion of Power, Potion of Magic Protection, Laeral's Tear Necklace), Crusader x10 (+420 Exp ea), Crusader Archer x4 (+420 Exp ea), Crusader Recruit x16 (+275-420 Exp ea), Troll Wrangler x2 (+420 Exp ea), Troll (+1,400 Exp).
Loot: You can loot a Star Sapphire from the pile of rubble at x=1150, y=860.
Crusader forces are timed to respawn from both the gate and their tents, so you are never truly done with them. Wait! Why can't we just kick down the gate to get to the Castle interior? Hephernaan wove the wards himself. There is no getting through them at this point.
Aside from this first one, the following quests assume you did not instigate hostilities. There is probably nothing stopping you from killing everyone when you're done questing, though!
Questing in the Courtyard:
Now, remember the On the Fence quest? Well, here is how you acquire the five items Waizahb requested you to source for her:
Dreon's Signet Ring
Dupe Commander Dreon into handing over his ring for the purposes of marking reports. You will need to be wearing the Crusader Uniform found in a crate in the northwest (x=700, y=1550). You might as well keep this armor on while questing in this area, btw.
Reward from Waizahb: 250 GP and +2,000 Exp.
Battle Standard
Found in an unlocked chest located in the north (x=1220, y=1440).
Reward from Waizahb: 500 GP and +2,000 Exp.
Token of Faith
Many Crusader Recruits have these on their person, but a good candidate is the elf standing to the right of Damarr (x=1000, y=2520).
Reward from Waizahb: 1000 GP and +2,000 Exp.
Annotated Map
Interact with the table (x=1800, y=2200) while under the effect of invisibility or stealth.
Reward from Waizahb: +2,000 Exp and Shadowed Spear +2 (THAC0 +2, dmg +2, AC +2, 20% on-hit chance to teleport to random enemy and +4 THAC0 for 1 round, 5% on-hit chance to teleport to random enemy and Ethereal for 1 round. Etherealness: Wearer is immune to normal weapons. Spells may be cast and weapons may be used, 1 round).
Tristian's Holy Symbol
This cannot be pick-pocketed from Tristian. You will have to acquire the Coroniir game from Mizhena back at the camp. Return to Tristian and challenge him to a game. If you have low intelligence, nominate a party member to play and win for you; f.e, Neera, Dynaheir.
Reward from Waizahb: +2,000 Exp and Pearly White Ioun Stone (regen 1 HP per 5 rounds).
Deliver all the items to Waizahb and receive some potions in addition (Potion of Storm Giant Strength, Potion of Power & Potion of Magic Shielding).
The Trial
Quest: The Trial. Make your way to the southwest and learn from Leopas that Valis has accused Corinth of crimes against Caelar.
Briefly question the following crusaders: Valis, Corinth, Ravoc, Delton and Damarr. Your journal will update each time to indicate that you have learned all you can.
Solutions:
- Determine that Corinth is guilty (+4000 Exp). He will be set upon by the others and you can loot his corpse for a wicked bow: Corinth's Bow +2 (composite longbow, THAC0 +3, dmg +4, AC +1, on critical hit wielder is buffed by Luck).
- Determine that Corinth is innocent. Valis is set upon instead (+4000).
- The evidence is not compelling enough to make a determination either way. Leopas will be annoyed and order you to get out of his sight.
- Determine that both are guilty. Leopas will call you a "repellent dullard" and order you to get out of his sight.
- Trial by combat. Recommend that Corinth and Valis face off in a duel to the death. If Corinth falls you get to loot his corpse for the bow. Valis doesn't drop anything worth a damn if she dies; and it seems Corinth simply leaves the camp.
Foehammer's Blessing
Recruits Qing and Kjarvin are found in the fenced-off camp to the north, attempting to pray over a broken icon engraved with a symbol of Tempus. You will need to find two stone fragments and bless them in order to satisfy this quest. The First Stone Fragment is found in the rubble nearby (x=1400, y=700); the Second Stone Fragment is acquired from Deneld in dialogue.
Now you need to find a priest of Tempus. Take the two fragments to Mizhena in the Coalition Camp and have her bless aka consecrate them.
Return to the broken icon and place the Sanctified Shards into its "receptacle" to trigger dialogue with Tempus, Lord of Battles.
Choose to be tested and you will face the Sentry of Tempus in battle.
Destroy it for +5,000 Exp and loot a magical shield from its wrecked frame: The Bloodied Guardian +2 (large shield, AC +3, Fire resistance +25%, when wielders HPs drop below 50% -> Strength +1 for 5 rounds). If you choose not to be tested you simply receive +6,000 Exp.
Morning Report
Crusaders Pedro and Nan may be found at the western fence, just south of recruits Qing and Kjarvin. They will give you an Empty Wineskin and request that you fill in for the drunken Sallo.
Click on the casks behind Pedro to fill the wineskin and then deliver it to Deneld (x=2370, y=2828), who will give you the report and ask who sent you to retrieve it.
Answer Commander Dreon.
Next, deliver the Full Wineskin and Morning Report to Dreon, the heavily armored guy standing just to the south of Pedro and Nan. Lastly, return to Pedro and Nan to receive +6,000 Exp and a couple of utility potions for your trouble.
Troll Breakout
Head through the eastern gate to find wranglers struggling against an espcaped troll. Sindret will request you fetch Troll Shackles from Gnarg's chest, opposite Dreon (x=1400, y=1650).
Upon your return Sindret will order you to shackle the troll. Beat it up until it's knocked to the ground and claim your reward from Sindret: +4,000 Exp and four utility potions.
Understanding the Crusade
This is a similar quest to Memories of Battles Past. To kick it off simply speak to Deneld and then go and interview Zare, Ravoc and Sindret.
Upon your return Deneld will test you. Don't forget to ask for a reward: Ring of the Crusade (AC and saves +1, +3 vs. demons & devils).
Shael Corwin: Just down from Dreon our eagle-eyed companion will spot her ex-lover and the father of Rohma, Beno Famari. The dialogue is mostly for flavor; this is not a quest per se (+6,000 Exp).
Wow, thanks. I've played through three times and I never actually tried to infiltrate the courtyard after saving Skie. Mostly because it seemed really stupid to walk up to the walls of a castle full of people who want to kill you...
ReplyDeleteA few things I found out about the Troll Breaker quest. Sindret will not talk with you if you have Viconia in your party. Also you can talk to the troll and convince it to put the shackles on.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I'll play this through with a completely different party in my next run. There is a lot of stuff that I missed.
DeleteIf you choose to save Corinth (its the right thing to do btw) talk him after trial and he gives his bow as reward. (and that bow is better than ToB weapons)
ReplyDeleteAs @ashardalon48 says, and also Corinth gives you +1 REP if you do it that way.
DeleteHi, @lilura.
ReplyDeleteYou omitted to mention finding "The Forest Queen's Benediction" (musical instrument, Mass Cure 1/day, min WIS 13, non-Evil Bards only) in Dead Man's Pass. It's in a tree trunk in the southeast of the area, slightly northwest from where you meet Gnåler and Kåmbolder.
Not the most widely-useful of items, since the built-in Bard (i.e. Voghiln) doesn't have enough WIS to use it (unless he drinks a Potion of Insight), although it'd be very handy for a Bard protagonist with adequate WIS. However, since WIS isn't generally an important stat for a Bard, most player-created Bards probably also won't be able to use it without first gulping a Potion.
@lilura re Corinth's Bow +2 - "This bow is labeled as '+2' yet it provides +3 to-hit & +4 to dmg. Odd..."
ReplyDeleteNot odd, actually. It's a Composite Longbow. A mundane (i.e. unenchanted) Composite Longbow has THAC0 +1 and damage +2, so naturally a Composite Longbow +2 will have THAC0 +3 and damage +4.
The reasoning for this is that the base comparison for all bows is a mundane Shortbow - THAC0 +0, damage +0. A mundane Longbow is more powerful, so this is modelled by giving it THAC0 +1 (but damage still +0). A mundane Composite Longbow is even more powerful, so this is modelled by giving it THAC0 +1, damage +2. Then any enchanted bow adds its enchantment level to those base figures according to the type of bow.
Note that this formula applies only in BG1. In BG2, a mundane Composite Longbow gets +1 damage instead of +2, and enchantments apply a bonus to THAC0 only, not also to damage ... except that there are some special (uniquely named) bows which do also get a damage bonus. (I'm not sure why the BG2 rule is different, but perhaps the devs decided for reasons of balance that ranged weapons needed to be attenuated in BG2 ... and perhaps they were right, since ranged combat turned out to be very powerful in BG1, perhaps more powerful than the devs had actually intended).
Oh yeah. Added "composite" to the description and removed the footnote. Thanks for that, Gallowglass.
Delete@lilura - "Quest: Understanding the Crusade ... To kick it off simply speak to Deneld and then go and interview Zare, Ravoc and Sindret" ... and also Tristian. "Upon your return Deneld will test you. Don't forget to ask for a reward: Ring of the Crusade (AC and saves +1, +3 vs. demons & devils)" ... and also 2000xp (but maybe this additional reward is conditional upon having spoken to all four interviewees rather than just three? I haven't tested this hypothesis, since I went off and did several other things between starting and finishing this quest, and I don't want to revert that far to conduct a test.)
ReplyDeletein the eastern part of dead man's pass there are two otherworldly creatures , a hostile greater earth elemental that hits like a truck, casts earthquakes and is worth 11k exp and a tiefling who will give you a ring that summons 1d4 mephits 1/day and 10% to elemental resistances.
ReplyDeletethese two ar fighting in the elemental plane of earth and u can only pull one of them
Thanks for the pro-tip, Unknown!
DeleteI could not kill the Greater Earth Elemental and only received 5500 EXP when he was "unsummoned" after 4 turns. If you have charges saved on the Spectacles you can pull both. The Elemental ignores Raeanndra and attacks your group. She talks and offers her ring and leaves the GEE to you to handle.
DeleteIn the waylay zone, the Shadowy Figure leaves the scene if you don't paralyze him. At least he did for me. Said "As expected, you have proved your might, Charname. I have seen enough." Sounds like you might see him again later perhaps..
ReplyDeleteWhen rescuing Skie outside the courtyard, I got the option to bluff them, saying I was Lord Ensler och Waterdeep. That gave me 2000 XP.
In the Troll breakout quest there were two different options to talk him down. Intimidating or philosophical. And I got 5 potions when talking him down instead of 4 for the violent aproach. Not that I'm short of potions in this game..
There seems to be no problems clearing the dragonspear courtyard after the quests are done, at least after having cleared the underground river and dragonspear basement. Better safe than sorrow.. That is some seriously weird battle though. There is some AI/pathfinding/scripting issue, the crusaders sometimes randomly walks off in the middle of the battle and dissapears. And a couple of enemies I could kill with my sword from a distance. Someone in the camp had a returning throwing axe +2 though so it could definately be worth it.
/JE
The elvish game with Tristan cannot be delegated just to anyone with high INT. I had Baeloth in my party who was completely ignored despite his 19 intelligence. As I had a wizard slayer for CHARNAME (never tried that kit and now regret that i finally did) and stuffing him with potions of genius wasnt an option, i had to head back for the camp and temporarily recruit Neera just to win over that cursed holy symbol. My guess is the game can only be played by CHARNAME, Neera, Dynaheir and possibly Edwin, I was going to try out Edwin, but Neera just happened to be first on my path to him.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the walkthrough. This was my first visit to your blog and I've enjoyed reading the personalized comments that came with it. I'm also a huge NWN fan, so I'll be sure to come back, though I enjoyed the first one far more than the later.
ReplyDeleteI'm planning to play through the entire series (on Core) for the first time and I've opted to use Abdel, the default fighter, and the cannon party that BGII starts off with. I didn't want overpowered stats for this run and trying not to cheese my way through the games. I've been trying the new custom scripts that Beamdog has added for most of the joinable NPCs. Considering how bad they were in the original series, they've really done a decent job here. There aren't a whole lot of battles that I need to micromanage every action with autopause firing on everything. Aside of Jaheira, it's a good aligned party, so I'm using Glint to fill in for Imoen in SoD.
My main regret using Abdel is his lack of charisma. After using the Tome, it's only fifteen. I'm sure that I missed out on a few things, but the first time that I was really stumped by this (mostly following your walkthrough) was trying to enter Dragonspear courtyard. The officer ended up demanding the Seal with every dialogue choice. I used a Potion of Influence to buff Abdel's charisma to nineteen and a new option became available, something about being a hardened and battle worn veteran, and only then did the officer grant a Seal and passage through.
Before I thought to buff Abdel's charisma, I used my google-fu to see if I had missed something with the Seal. I may have missed it in your walkthrough, but Malden Col, the traitor in the Coalition camp, was supposed to drop it. I didn't hang around to see what actually happened to him after I finished my dialogue with him, but when I went back there all that I found was a Short Sword +1. It's quite possible I didn't do his dialogue or something right, too, though.
I may have missed something in your walkthrough up to this point, but this was the first time I was stumped by anything. Mostly, though, I'd like to thank you again for taking the time to do this. Much appreciated.
Thank you so much for the walkthrough. I found I missed several things that I will have to run through it again to get. I did notice that you have the exp for killing Nuber all 3 times, but if you keep talking to him, eventually he will wander away and you will be asarded +1000xp.
ReplyDeletei was going to add this too.
Deleteas in the original game (oh man noober...32 "hey yahs" almost broke me)..if you talk to him long enough, nuber will give you xp for being patient and go away on his own.
also..the sketch comes from, i believe, the same witty fellows who gave you the autograph if you talked to them long enough in the first game. another thing to add to my "items that mean nothing but i carry from game to game" pile.
Do you have the console code for the Seal of Caelar? I wanna get in here, didn't get the seal off the traitor and don't wanna go to the underground river storyline stuff just yet.
ReplyDeletebdmisc04
DeleteThanks!
Deletein Dead Man Pass, don't kill Nuber
ReplyDeletejust keep talking, and at some point he will exhaust his dialogs + grant you 1000 xp