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Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Tales of the Sword Coast | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | |
Baldur's Gate - Southwest
Slime Tavern
Now I enter the southwest section of the city. There's a large tavern to the north and center of the area. When I step through the Bartender has obviously been infected by a Green Slime. A few more Green Slimes appear and start infecting some of the Patrons as well. There's not much you can do for the victims, but you may as well kill the Green Slimes for xp.
Sunin
Now I head for a grey house near the southwest corner of the area. A mage named Sunin gets angry and will attack no matter what I say. I choose dialogue option #1 in order to prompt him to summon two bodyguards, so I can get the xp for killing them as well.
A previous trick works again. I have Imoen start with Remove Magic well in advance of Sunin coming over and talking to me, so that the timing will be such that it removes his protections almost as soon as the dialogue ends. He manages to put up a few more as the battle progresses, and also manages to Confuse a few party members. But I am able to kill him first and foremost with some persistence. After that his bodyguards are much easier to kill.
Sunin leaves behind a Robe of Electrical Resistance, and a Ring of Wizardry (doubles number of 1st-level spells memorized by wearer). Now Imoen has one too.
Viven
Now I enter a house that's a little to the northeast. Inside will be Viven, who threatens to kill me unless I give her all of my gold. I refuse naturally. Viven can cast both clerical and arcane spells, and starts off with a number of protections in place. Again, I time a Remove Magic for when the dialogue ends in order to bring her protections down right away. I then kill her first and foremost before finishing off her archer bodyguards. Viven herself leaves behind a Shortsword +1.
Seven Suns Coster
Now the party travels east again and enters the Seven Suns Coster. A merchant warns me that 'shapeshifters' have infiltrated the coster. I speak to one of the remaining merchants twice, and on the second dialogue choose the option that demands 'information more to my liking.' This provokes the remaining merchants into revealing themselves as Dopplegangers.
Dopplegangers in SCS start off with Haste and Mirror Image, just like Greater Dopplegangers in vanilla BG1. But they're still not quite as dangerous, and don't hit as often. Simply gang up on them one at a time in order to quickly bring down the Mirror Images and then finish them off. I also wipe out the Dopplegangers on the upper floor, and the basement.
I then free Jhasso, who was being held captive in the basement. Imoen then looks around for loot which includes a Spear +1, a scroll of Protection from Electricity, a scroll of Protection from Undead, and a Potion of Hill Giant Strength.
Now I enter the Flaming Fist Headquarters, which are in the northwest corner of the section. I take the time to quickly do a side quest. One of the Flaming Fist Guards, Fergus, wants an Angel Skin Ring for his soon to arrive girlfriend. I held onto my Angel Skin Rings with this quest in mind. I get 800xp and +1 to reputation for giving him one.
I then speak to Scar, and get 4,000gp and 5,000xp for having cleared the Dopplegangers out of the Coster. He has another quest for me, to investigate disappearances that have occurred in the east section of the city.
Disappearances at Night
Now I head for the east section of the city. I go down the sewer grate that's towards the northeast corner of the section. I had Avastrian ready a Wand of Fire beforehand.
Immediately within view are a few Carrion Crawlers, and an Ogre Mage. I had Imoen attempt to bring down the Ogre Mage's protections, but it didn't work. Avastrian unleashes a shot from the Wand of Fire, killing two Carrion Crawlers outright, and injuring the other Carrion Crawler and a Phase Spider that has just arrived. I kill off the remaining Crawler and the Spider before concentrating on the Ogre Mage.
The Ogre Mage has rendered a couple of party members confused. This presents Jaheira with a prime opportunity to use her Dispel Magic, as it rids the party members of Confusion and now brings down the Ogre Mage's protections as well. After that the party hacks him down pretty easily. He leaves behind a Bastard Sword +1.
The party now searches the tunnel leading westward, and collects a few Ruby Rings and a Female Noble's Body. I then speak with Scar again, and get hefty gold and xp bonuses for informing him of getting rid of the Ogre Mage and the Carrion Crawlers, for bringing back a Ruby Ring that belonged to the Sashenstar family, and for bringing back the Female Noble's body.
Scar now has another job for me.
Iron Throne
The job is to investigate the Iron Throne headquarters in the south section of the city. Once I get inside, I go down to the basement, kill the guard, and loot the chests. I get a Potion of Storm Giant Strength and a Wand of Lightning out of this.
From there I can get to the top floor without getting anyone hostile. First person, I answer that I seek employment, although this requires a high Charisma to convince him. I thus have Jaheira do the talking. Second floor, the person is easier to convince. Third floor, the answer involving Sembia is reliable, although again I need Jaheira with a high Charisma score to pull it off. The fourth floor is a lounge of sorts.
On the fifth floor will be Sarevok's acolytes. The method I used in vanilla BG1, to have most of my party members use Scrolls of Protection from Magic on themselves, and then have Imoen bombard the Acolytes with Fireballs, still works. But I need to refine it in SCS since the Acolytes are now tougher, often have magical protections in place, and also frequently gulp Potions of Extra Healing.
First, my preparations. Jaheira, Khalid, and Kivan each use a Scroll of Protection from Magic on themselves. Avastrian protects himself a different way, he uses a Scroll of Protection from Fire on himself, then casts Stoneskin and Mirror Image on himself. He then gulps a Potion of Frost Giant Strength.
Now I go up to the fifth floor. Avastrian, Jaheira, Khalid, and Kivan, rush thick into the fray. *Note* If Avastrian has his protections dispelled early in the fight, I'll reload. Imoen takes up position to the right, where she can safely cast spells at a distance. Yeslick, not having enough Intelligence to use a Scroll of Protection from Magic, takes up a bodyguard position next to Imoen.
Now I don't go with the Fireballs right away. Imoen casts Remove Magic to dispel some of the Acolytes' protections. The next round, Imoen casts Greater Malison to lower the Acolytes' saving throws, while Avastrian casts Slow. Once this is complete, Avastrian and Imoen are both packing Wands of Fire and begin to unleash Fireball after Fireball. This is the point behind using Scrolls of Protection from Magic, I can blast Fireballs away with impunity because they won't damage my party members while scorching the Acolytes right next to them.
At some point the Acolytes' crowd has thinned out but their leader, Zhalimar Cloudwulfe, is still quite tough. Imoen zaps him with a shot from her Wand of Paralyzation. Once he falls it becomes a mop up.
The Acolytes leave behind quite a bit of loot, including:
My key acquisition is the Ring of Free Action, which Yeslick will wear as a matter of sensible logic. Monsters that have paralyzing attacks (e.g. Carrion Crawlers, Ghouls) or enemies that can cast paralyzing spells (e.g. Hold Person) are pretty frequent. I often rely on Yeslick to cast Remove Paralysis when this happens. But he can't do this if he himself has been paralyzed. So the Ring of Free Action is a welcome source of immunity that allows Yeslick to come to his comrades' rescue whenever the party faces foes capable of immunization.
I then find a couple of notes in a drawer to the south, and then speak with an Iron Throne leader for more information. The bottom line is that Rieltar and the other Iron Throne leaders are in Candlekeep. I then descend to the bottom of the Iron Throne headquarters, and leave.
Once I do, a Flaming Fist soldier beckons me to see Scar again. I could, but I now have the Tales of the Sword Coast portion of the game in mind.
Not right away though. I travel to the Farm next.
