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Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Tales of the Sword Coast | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | |
MUTAMIN'S GARDEN
Basilisks
I approach this area from the south. In vanilla BG1 dealing with Basilisks was pretty easy. You could simply put Protection from Petrification on one character, and have him hold all of the Basilisks' attention while the rest of the party fired away at a safe distance with missile weapons. You could also throw in a Skeleton for good measure. The Basilisks would always aim their stone gaze attacks at the foremost targets.
In SCS the Basilisks will spread their gaze attacks around, including characters that are at a distance but still within their fog of war. I have a simple workaround. Avastrian reconfigures his 1st level spells to include six instances of Protection from Petrification. After the party rests he covers the whole party. The party then simply walks in and starts taking out the Basilisks up close one by one. SCS also tweaks their AI to use bite attacks, but by the time they catch on it's usually too little too late.
Kiran
Now I head due north and start a fight with a rival adventuring party led by a Fighter/Mage named Kiran. Many BG1 walkthroughs suggest avoiding this fight until you've advanced a few levels, and I would suggest that it is more so during SCS.
First, I let them have it with long distance spells like Fireball and Silence 10' Radius. Jaheira takes a preparatory initiative with Defensive Harmony.
Once everybody besides the archer closes in on me, I then switch over to party-friendly spells that will impede their ability to fight. This includes Slow from Avastrian, and Hold Person from Yeslick. It's pretty much over at that point.
The loot will include Bracers of A.C. 7, a Longsword +1, a Morningstar +1, as well as the Golden Girdle of Urnst (+3 armor class vs. slashing weapons), which Avastrian wears for the rest of the game. Avastrian's Elven Chainmail provides a bonus to armor class against blunt weapons, so adding a complementary bonus against slashing weapons is certainly welcome.
Korax the Ghoul
Now I head due west, and then kill off a small group of Gnolls. I then speak with a non-hostile Ghoul. Korax, it turns out, wants to help me. One thing to keep in mind is that as an undead, he's immune to the gaze attack of a Baslisk.
Mutamin
Now I have Avastrian cover everybody again with Protection from Petrification. Mutamin in BG1 was pretty easy to kill. He's a good deal harder in SCS. Remember what I said about how Basilisks now spread their gaze attacks around? In SCS Mutamin will start by casting Remove Magic at the party, hoping to make them vulnerable to the Basilisks. He also starts off with Shield and Magic Missile in place, so the chances are pretty slim that his casting of Remove Magic will be interrupted.
I start off by taking out some of the Basilisks that are at the perimeter around him. After this, there will be a Lesser Basilisk and a Greater Basilisk right next to Mutamin in the middle. If you start to attack any of the Basilisks, even at a distance, Mutamin will follow.
So I had to use a different strategy involving Korax the Ghoul. I send Korax ahead, to get the attention of both Mutamin and his Basilisks. The idea behind this is that Yeslick, Kivan, and Imoen, can hit each Basilisk one at a time with missile weapons beyond Mutamin's fog of war. Mutamin's attention will be focused on Korax, while the party remains safely outside his line of sight. This way, I can safely remove all of Mutamin's support, and his Remove Magic will be nowhere near as dangerous. Once he's by himself cutting him down is easy.
The video concludes with me using a Scroll of Stone to Flesh on a statue, a woman named Tamah who has been petrified. I get 300xp and +1 to reputation for choosing the combat option that doesn't involve asking for a reward.
Shar-Teel
I then journey towards the northwest corner, and run into Shar-Teel. In the evil party, I accept her offer of a duel and then have her join.
The Lighthouse.
