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Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Tales of the Sword Coast | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | |
Ice Island | Balduran's Isle | Durlag's Tower - Above Ground | Durlag's Tower - Level 1 | Durlag's Tower - Level 2 | Durlag's Tower - Level 3 | Durlag's Tower - Level 4 | Cult of the Demon | |
BALDURAN'S ISLE
Merchant League Sea Charts
To start this part of the game, I go to a house towards the southeast corner of Ulgoth's Beard. Mendas wants me to steal some Sea Charts from the Merchant League in Baldur's Gate.
Now I head for the Counting House, which is towards the southeast corner of the northeast section of Baldur's Gate. Somebody named Ulf will confront me. If you want to avoid a fight, reliable dialogue choices are "... to clear my debts" and then "Tea and spices from Kara Tur." Once upstairs, the "need anything before you set sail" dialogue option is the one that is needed to get the Sea Charts without any trouble. The captain tells me to get some foul swill from the Blushing Mermaid.
I then bring the Sea Charts back to Mendas. He bids me to meet him in the docks just outside the house. I then set sail aboard a ship in a rather extended voyage, one that meets a grisly end due to a sea storm. The party finds itself washed ashore on a strange island.
Isle Village
The party begins by speaking with the little girl, Solianna. I then loot the houses to the west, scoring a Potion of Fire Giant Strength and an Oil of Fiery Burning.
I then make for a large building in the middle of the village. Inside is the leader of the village, Kaishas Gan. Her job for me is to kill off the mortal enemies of the village, wolf-like monsters.
I then speak with a couple of people who offer quests, but quests that cannot be completed until a good deal later. Maralee wants her baby returned to her. Delainy wants me to find a missing cloak for her.
The last parts of the video consist of me speaking to various individuals such as Jorin and Taloun who offer background information, but aren't crucial to finishing this part of the game.
Farthing's Dolly
Now I speak with a little girl named Farthing, and am careful with my dialogue choices (i.e. always the #1 options). She wants me to find her Dolly for her.
Now I leave the village through the north gate. I step just a little north, and somebody named Palin asks for my aid in fighting monsters. He leads me on a little east, except it's apparent that this was a planned ambush by Wolfweres. My earnest recommendation is to aim concentrated missile fire at the foremost Wolfwere. You can take out at least one, and maybe two if you're lucky. Let them come to you before you switch over to melee weapons.
Once the Wolfweres are gone I kill off Palin, who stayed in humanoid form and shot off feeble arrows. He leaves behind Farthing's Dolly, which I return to Farthing for 1,400xp.
Evalt's Brother
Now I speak with a fisherman just a little south of Farthing, Evalt. He wants me to find his missing brother.
Now I go back through the north gate, and then a little west. I kill off a trio of Wolfweres. Notice how while the archers are firing away, I position Khalid (high armor class) and Avastrian (Stoneskin) foremost in order to absorb the initial onslaught once the Wolfweres close in. I then continue north and kill a few wolves.
I continue towards the north and west, and run into the Sirine Queen. In my past walkthrough I recommended talking her into giving up the body as the party was bound to hit the xp cap pretty soon. But now I have the xp cap removed during SCS, so I want to squeeze as much xp out my playthrough as I can. The key here is to spread out your attacks. Note how I position Avastrian and Khalid separately so that they each have different Sirines within arm's reach. The rest of the party switches to missile weapons, with a particular emphasis on Arrows or Bolts of Biting. Now I see to it that every Sirine is subject either to up close attacks or missile fire, and this suffices to win the battle without any hitches.
I have Kivan carry the body of Evalt's brother. I bring the body back to Evalt for 900xp.
Kryla and Jondar
Now I leave through the north gate again, and travel in a northeast direction. A woman named Kryla begs my help against the wolf monsters that killed her husband. And sure enough it's actually her and her husband, Jondar, trying to set an ambush for me. I get in my shots, and finish things close up easily enough.
Dradeel
I continue on to the northeast, and find a lone house. Inside is an Elven mage named Dradeel, who accompanied Balduran on his fateful final voyage, and has been protected by Selune ever since. Dradeel gives me a Wolfsbane Charm (+2 armor class and +2 damage bonuses against Lycanthropes), which Khalid will wear. Khalid, combining his high armor class with his Kondar sword and the Wolfsbane charm, will be a significant force in the battles to come.
A chest besides Dradeel will have a Staff Mace +2 (which I don't have any use for), the cloak that Delainy is looking for, as well as Belladonna flowers, which Delainy will also want.
Balduran's Shipwreck
Now I go a little north from Dradeel's house, and find Balduran's shipwreck. There are about four levels to the shipwreck. This video shows my progressing through the first three.
On the first level there will be several Wolves, including Vampiric Wolves, Dread Wolves, and Worgs. There will also be a Wolfwere. For each of these fights there's a certain methodology that assures success. First, I get in place the following preparations: Protection from Evil 10' Radius from Yeslick, Stoneskin for Avastrian and Imoen, Mirror Image for Avastrian and Imoen, Armor of Faith for both Yeslick and Kivan, and finally Haste from Avastrian. Once I go in I use the following spells in the first round: Chaos from Imoen, Slow from Avastrian, Holy Smite from Yeslick, and Defensive Harmony. This combination right off the bat gives me to advantage to wipe out the enemy en masse. And indeed this kind of sequence comes in handy whenever I fight a mass of foes that are going to surround, be interspersed among, my party so as to make area-of-effect offensive spells useless. A trapped chest on the first level has some Darts +1 and a Wand of Missiles.
After each level I always go back to Dradeel to safely rest up so that I can use the same method drawing on the same spells again for the next level up.
The second level has several Wolfweres, and a Vampiric Wolf. The same method works, but once you start your physical attacks take out the Vampiric Wolf first, since it can paralyze a character and render that party member very vulnerable to attacks by the Wolfweres. Trapped chests to the right contain among other things a Wand of Lightning, and a Silver Dagger: Werebane (+4 vs. lycanthropes). Jaheira switches over to this dagger for the duration of this part of the game, as it allows her to damage boss lycanthropes that are immune to most other weapons. The trapped crate to the left contains cursed Bracers of Binding, so I didn't bother.
The third level has several Wolfweres, and two Vampiric Wolves. The same method still works but again, take out the Vampiric Wolves first. The trapped chests here contain several potions, with the noteworthy one being a Potion of Cloud Giant Strength.
Karoug
Karoug will be waiting on the fourth floor. I make different preparations. I have everybody besides Imoen guzzle a Potion of Giant Strength. I include Stoneskin, Mirror Image, and Protection from Evil 10' Radius in my preparations, but neither Haste nor Armor of Faith. There's a specific reason for this, which will become evident.
Now I go upstairs. Karoug will have several Wolfweres, and a Wolfwere sorceress named Daese to help him out. In vanilla BG1 I could simply shoot Daese down with Arrows and Bolts of Biting before she ever got any spells off. This doesn't work in SCS anymore, because she starts off with several protections already in place.
The other two dangers she presents are Remove Magic and Confusion. If Remove Magic hits the party, their own spell protections will be gone. If Confusion affects multiple party members I'll be dead meat, literally.
So, cheap as it may sound (yet necessary), I head back down the stairs. Karoug (the Greater Wolfwere) and another Wolfwere follow me. I kill the Wolfwere first.
I then go back upstairs, and Daese begins casting Confusion. I go back downstairs before the Confusion spell can hit. Two more Wolfweres follow me down, so I kill them as well. Divide and conquer play into my hands as well.
Now I go upstairs again. Daese has had much of her edge blunted off after she's expended her Remove Magic and Confusion spells. So I kill off the remaining Wolfwere, and then tough it out against Daese. I eventually manage to wear down her protections and then kill her. She leaves behind a Knave's Robe.
Imoen disarms the traps and loots the chests for Dradeel's Spellbook, the Butterknife of Balduran (sale value), and the Sword of Balduran (+4 vs. lycanthropes). Avastrian temporarily equips the Sword of Balduran.
Now only Karoug is left downstairs. As a Greater Wolfwere, Karoug in SCS regenerates quite quickly, and is easily capable of outlasting a party that cannot inflict enough damage to outpace his regeneration. He can also only be hit by weapons that are specifically enchanted to damage lycanthropes. The party switches over to these weapons. The Sword of Balduran for Avastrian, Kondar Bastard Swords for Khalid and Kivan, the Silver Dagger for Jaheira. It is NOW that Avastrian casts Haste on the party. The party heads back downstairs. Jaheira starts with Defensive Harmony. The party's sustained assault is able to quickly overwhelm Karoug. He leaves behind the child, Peladan.
*Note* This battle won't follow a set script. Sometimes Karoug stays up on the floor and other Wolfweres follow me down. Sometimes it's Daese who follows me down. Sometimes it's Daese and Karoug on the same floor together, either fourth or third, depending on who follows me when I go up and down the stairs. Even so, there's certain principles to keep in mind for this battle:
The video concludes with me returning to Dradeel's house, and giving him his spellbook for 4,000xp.
Delainy and Maralee
Now I return to the village. I give the cloak to Delainy for an xp bonus, and then deliberately choose dialogue options that show interest in her or the village's history. She has another quest for me, to get some Belladonna flowers for her. I already have these on hand from when I first entered Dradeel's house, so I oblige with these as well for another xp bonus. I deliberately choose dialogue options so that she departs on friendly terms. Note that nothing in particular hangs on this. I'm doing this more for literary reasons than anything else.
I then go east a bit, and return Peladan to Maralee for 4,000xp.
Werewolves
Now I bring news of Karoug's death to Kaishas Gan. Kaishas has a surprise for me, she has infected my party with lycanthropy. Tailas is not so welcoming however, and says the village will not welcome my party as new members. Kaishas steals the Sea Charts and leaves. Tailas turns into a Werewolf, and forces me to kill him.
Now I leave the house. Pretty much any villager within sight will transform into a Werewolf and attack on sight. Now here's the catch, you have a limited amount of time to track down the original progenitor of the curse and kill that individual. The reason being if you take too long, your party members will transform into Greater Wolfweres, which pretty much means game over. By the way, taking the ship back to Ulgoth's Beard runs the clock as well. Your objective should be clear, find a way to make it off the island while taking a minimum of damage from the Werewolves so as to void the need for any resting (which you should avoid as much as possible).
My method is pretty logical. I inch along slowly, and as soon as any villager turns into a Werewolf, I shoot it down with missile fire. I can very often kill the Werewolf before it even closes the gap, and this in turn minimizes up close attacks against me.
As I was helpful to both Delainy and Dradeel, they now return the favour by guiding me to a secret passageway in the large house to the west. This leads to underground warrens. I make as straight a line as I can for the way through to the east. I run into a trio of Werewolves near the exit, and some up close combat is unavoidable. But as Khalid has good armor class, and Avastrian is protected by Stoneskin, I can minimize the danger by having them go up front while the rest of the party uses missile fire from a safe distance.
Kaishas Gan
The party goes through the exit, and then travels around the lake. They find Kaishas Gan at the ship, and combat is inevitable. Like Karoug, Kaishas Gan can only be harmed by weapons enchanted specifically to harm lycanthropes. In SCS, several Werewolves will attack from the rear. This fight still remains winnable for a decently advanced and well-equipped party, although it likely necessitates drinking a few Potions of Extra Healing in order to avoid resting.
The party then reclaims the Sea Charts from Kaishas' body, and then clicks on the ship to sail back to Ulgoth's Beard.
Selaad and Baresh
Somebody named Baresh comes by to warn me that somebody else named Selaad will not be pleased with me. I walk up to the entrance of Mendas' house. Mendas is actually the chieftain of the Werewolves, Selaad. Note that I don't buff to the max again, and it's for a reason similar to the fight against Karoug.
Baresh explodes into Loup Garou form, while Selaad remains in humanoid form because he's an arcane spellcaster who starts off buffed to the max. In this case I actually don't need to rely on the ol' in and out the door trick. There's a couple of reasons for this. Selaad doesn't have any damaging spells in his repertoire, relying on Remove Magic to start, and then two castings of Chaos, and then Dire Charms and Rays of Enfeeble. His only other help is Baresh, so multiple party members getting confused isn't anywhere near as dangerous as was the case with Daese and Karoug and the numerous other Wolfweres.
So I send Avastrian and Imoen into the side rooms to the left, leaving the rest of the party to fight Baresh. The reason for this becomes evident. Selaad aims both of his Chaos spells at Imoen, and this leaves the rest of the party free to fight Baresh. Avastrian does end up confused, and at one point forces Imoen to protect herself, but this is only a minor inconvenience. If Selaad had cast Chaos at the other party members, chances are actually still pretty good that they could have held out until the confusion effects wore off.
Yeslick, Khalid, Jaheira, and Kivan manage to bring down Baresh. They then start to wear down Selaad's protections. At some point Selaad tires to hide with a Minor Spell Contingency that consists of Invisibility and Mirror Image, but Jaheira exposes him with a Detect Invisibility spell.
At about this time, Avastrian's confusion effect wears off. He regroups, and casts Haste on the party. This allows the party to wear down Selaad's protections and then damage him. Once Selaad has taken enough damage, he also explodes into Loup Garou form. Jaheira then whips out Defensive Harmony. The party then kills him to win the battle. Baresh leaves behind a Chainmail +3.
Durlag's Tower is my next destination.
