Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Tales of the Sword Coast | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | |
Valley of the Tombs | Return to Beregost | Fishing Village | Larswood | Peldvale | Bandit Camp | |
BANDIT CAMP
Slaughtering the Bandits
I've made a very committal decision here. I've killed both Teven and Raiken, permanently ruining any chance I may have had of infiltrating the Bandit Camp. This means that I have to do things the hard way. I have to kill all of the Bandits.
In vanilla BG1 I could do this by a process of attrition, kill a few Bandits at a time while bringing as few into view as possible. This won't work anymore during SCS. The moment any Bandit sees me he'll raise the alarm and very nearly ALL of the bandits will attack me, including the four bosses that guard Tazok's tent.
Firstly, I have made a few preparations in mind. Jaheira memorizes two instances of Call Lightning in case it's needed. Avastrian packs his Wand of Frost. He also saved up the scroll of Cloudkill that he found near Sendai for just this occasion. Don't worry, I'll find another one later. Imoen has also saved up her Wand of Fire just for this occasion.
Secondly, letting myself get swarmed out in the open is a sure-fire recipe for getting slaughtered quickly. So I need to find just the right spot to make the field of battle favorable to me.
So I arrive at the south edge of the Bandit Camp. I then head straight north, and take out the Hobgoblin Elites as quickly as I can. I then head into the perfect spot and then kill off the Skeletons as quickly as I can.
Now the plan I have is to bunch up in a spot that is almost completely enclosed by walls except for one point of entry to the south. This will leave the Bandits only one narrow way of reaching me. Note that if there's any windows and such, like the adjacent rooms to the east, it won't work because some of the Bandits will still try to fire arrows at me through the windows. The one I'm in is just perfect.
Now I have Khalid scurry forward to the north. As soon as a Bandit comes into view and sounds the alarm Khalid hustles back and regroups with the party.
The plan now becomes evident when I carefully plant three crowd-control spells so that their outer edges will be just at the edge of the abandoned room that I've bunched up in. Stinking Cloud from Avastrian, Entangle from Jaheira, and Web from Imoen. Avastrian immediately follows up by using his scroll of Cloudkill. This makes a huge difference as it will kill many of my enemies as soon as they step within its area, and thus also prevents many of the archers from ever coming into view or getting a shot off. Whenever enough foes come into view Imoen obliges with a blast from her Wand of Fire. Whenever a particularly strong foe like Taugosz, Venkt, or Ardenor Crush comes into view I hit him with things like Jaheira's Call Lightning or a blast from Avastrian's Wand of Frost.
This method works to make an easy slaughter of nearly everyone in the camp. So now it's time to start the looting. Taugoz leaves behind a Full Plate Mail and a Warhammer +1.
Venkt leaves behind a Robe of Fire Resistance. Imoen wears this and hands over her Adventurer's Robe to Avastrian, giving him a small bonus to armor class against slashing weapons.
Hakt leaves behind the Longbow of Marksmanship (+3 THAC0, +2 damage). This will be Kivan's bow for the rest of the game.
Garclax
Now I begin scavenging what's left of the Bandit Camp for any loot I can find. At some point I enter a cave that has a bunch of Gnolls in it, led by Garclax. Sleep suffices to make short order of this battle.
Ender Sai
I continue to scavenge the Camp for any loot I can find, and eventually make my way to Tazok's tent towards the northeast. Inside will be an Elven prisoner named Ender Sai, who provides information that the Cloakwood Forest will be my next destination.
The chest behind him is trapped and locked. It will have a few spell scrolls as well as a couple of letters needed to advance the game to Chapter 4.