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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 | |
DURLAG'S TOWER - LEVEL 2
Durlag's Bedroom
I recommend doing a backup savegame before exploring this level. It can be easy to find yourself permanently stuck on account of locked doors that you can't open.
Imoen begins by exploring the room to the southwest. She disarms the trap on the globe, which has spell scrolls and other treasure. She takes a select few items. Note that at this point in the game, I'm not looting everything in sight. I'm already loaded with plenty of missile ammunition, and any remaining items that I want I will find through exploring without having to buy it so it's not like I need a lot of gold anymore.
Note that there are two statues on either side of a rug with a gargoyle image on it. The statues act as switches to open various doors in the vicinity, while the rug changes which doors the statues will open. I don't know what doors the rug and statue combinations open specifically, so it becomes trial and error. Whatever you do, don't rest until you're well past the rooms adjacent to the stairs from the level above. The reason is that resting can cause a door you just opened to now be closed, and this can leave you permanently stuck with no way out.
It turns out that clicking on the east statue opens the door that I want, a door east of where the rest of the party is. The party enters the room, and huddles behind a desk towards the south corner. Imoen is safely tucked behind the other party members, as is Kivan, who can reach over with his two-handed sword. There's a specific reason for this.
Kivan now grabs Durlag's Wardstone from the nearby desk. A Greater Doppleganger pretending to be Durlag wanting a night with his late wife, Islanne, now periodically appears while teleporting to various points in the room. It will eventually wind up at the north corner, reveal its true form, and unleash a Fireball which the party safely avoided by staying behind the desk. I want to save my Dispel Magic and Remove Magic for later, so I bring it down the hard way. Kivan and Imoen fire away with missile weapons from behind Avastrian and Yeslick.
Yeslick now searches the drawers along the north side of the room, and picks up Islanne's Wardstone and Kiel's Wardstone. Always hold on to these Wardstones at least while you're still on the level you found them, just in case.
Sparring Room
The door to the room to the west is now open. I have Imoen go in alone. There's a LOT of traps here that she'll need to disarm. Once she's done, the entire party gathers by the west corner of the room.
The sparring dummies here also act as switches. If you strike one of them, it opens one of the nearby doors. Striking the dummy on the left opens the door I want.
The west door opens. Another Greater Doppleganger appears, this one pretending to be Durlag seeking his dead son, Fuernebol. The party takes up position in the hallway leading south, and outside the reach of Stinking Cloud that the Doppleganger unleashes once it reaches the north corner. I am able to bring it down with melee and missile attacks.
Durlag's Throne Room
Now I go back to the sparring room. The dummy that I want to strike is the one at the right-hand side. This opens up the door leading north from the main room.
On the other side is the Throne Room. I have everybody take position a little south of the doorway. Avastrian, with his Boots of Speed, runs north and grabs a helmet lying on the floor in front of the throne. Three Greater Dopplegangers soon appear, and Avastrian regroups with the party.
Cloudkill and Stinking Cloud end up covering the Throne Room itself. Imoen now uses her Remove Magic because the two southerly Greater Dopplegangers attack at once. Once they're cut down, Yeslick casts another Remove Fear. Everybody then goes north, and wears down the remaining Doppleganger.
Yeslick wears Kiel's Helmet (immunity to fear), and for reasons similar to him wearing the Ring of Free Action. If a fear spell hits the party, I may need Yeslick to cast Remove Fear. This can't happen though if Yeslick himself has been made afraid. So it makes perfect sense to immunize Yeslick against fear during situations when his spell will be needed.
Durlag's Family
Now I head to the room to the east. There will be a large room with a lot of switches on the west wall. I simply play around with the switches until the door to the north east opens.
On the other side is a winding tunnel that goes north, east, and then south. In the middle will be a trap that causes the walls to close in temporarily, squishing whoever walks through. There's a difficulty in the sense that the trap itself covers a very large 'trigger area'. Even if your thief can detect the trap, it will activate well before the thief can reach its 'disarm point'. There's a way around this. Avastrian temporarily lends his Boots of Speed to Imoen. This allows her to reach the disarm point fast enough before the trap activates.
The room to the south has a LOT of traps, so Imoen takes her time to disarm these as well. She also unlocks the door at the other side. Khalid and Yeslick position themselves foremost. Avastrian, Khalid, and Imoen position themselves so that they'll have a clear line of sight through the door.
Khalid opens the door. On the other side will be several Greater Dopplegangers. They'll often alternate between their true forms that allow them to use Mirror Image and Haste, an Islanne form that allows them to cast arcane offensive spells, a Kiel form that allows them to cast Clerical spells, a Fuernebol form that allows them to use Thief abilities like stealth and backstabbing, and a Durlag form that relies on melee attacks.
Avastrian and Imoen both make repeated uses of their Wands of Fire, which serves to bring them down faster and increases the chances that they won't get any spells off. Kivan fires away with Arrows of Biting. Khalid and Yeslick form a front guard against any that come into the room itself.
The party goes part way across the bridge. Avastrian then softens up another group of Greater Dopplegangers with Fireballs before the party kills them up close.
Kiel's Tomb
Now I follow the next hallway to its end. I then find myself in the resting place of Durlag's son, Kiel. Imoen disarms the traps and unlocks the chests beforehand. The tomb is guarded by several Dwarven Doom Guards. They will attack if I try to loot items from the chests. This can be a tough fight because the Doom Guards have a lot of hit points, are heavily armored, and hit for massive damage.
First things first, I deploy my party according to a specific arrangement. I surround the nearest Doom Guard. I have Avastrian and Khalid position themselves so that they face the nearest Doom Guard, and are also nearest to and have their backs turned to the other Doom Guards. The reason for this is that Avastrian (Stoneskin and Mirror Image) and Khalid (high armor class) will be the best protected against physical attacks, so they stand the best chance of withstanding an onslaught against the other Doom Guards. Jaheira and Yeslick position themselves so that they're facing only the nearest Doom Guard. Kivan positions himself behind them so that he can reach over them with his two-handed sword.
Now for preparations. Everybody besides Imoen drinks a Potion of Giant Strength. Now the usual spell buffs, Mirror Images, Protection from Evil 10' Radius, Armor of Faith, and Haste.
Now Avastrian starts things by looting Kiel's chest. The Doom Guards begin their attack. Jaheira starts off with Defensive Harmony to add that much welcome bonus to armor class for everyone. Imoen primes up the Doom Guards with a Greater Malison spell.
The party takes out the nearest Doom Guard first. They then start attacking the others. Imoen helps matters along by stunning two of them with her Wand of Paralyzation. The battle is soon won.
The chest to the right will have a Potion of Hill Giant Strength, and a Potion of Frost Giant Strength. The chest to the left will have Kiel's Morningstar (+3, causes wielder to go berserk whenever an enemy is sighted), and Kiel's Buckler (+1 armor class, +1 Dexterity). No sane party should ever have any use for Kiel's Morningstar. Jaheira uses Kiel's Buckler for the rest of the game. The +1 Dexterity not only helps her armor class, but also improves her aim with her Boomerang Dagger +2.
Level 2 Exit Wardstone
The party goes northwest from Kiel's Tomb, and then southwest. They then find stairs that seem to lead down, but it's just a decoy with a trap. Imoen disarms the trap.
The party continues along a hallway leading westwards. Imoen checks ahead for traps, but the party makes sure to stay close behind. In this hallway, Ghasts come out of the sides, but at random times. When any appear, the party shoots them down with missile weapons, or kills them up close after they've been softened.
The hallway ends, and then turns right. Imoen goes north to a room with urns that has plenty of traps that she disarms. She continues to an adjacent room just to the east, and disarms the traps there. The large statue has the Level 2 Exit Wardstone that I need. But not just yet ...
Imoen goes back, and then a little further north. She finds a Teleportation Wardstone in an urn. This allows her to click on the rune on the floor just south of the urn, and end up on north of the urn on the other side.
She thoroughly explores the room for traps, and finds Durlag's Goblet. This item can, with limited charges, rejuvenate a character's health but also inflicts fear on that character. This won't affect a character wearing an item that provides immunity to fear (e.g. Kiel's Helmet), however.
In any event, I make my way back to the stairs that had been trapped. The Level 2 Exit Wardstone allows me to open the door to the south. The real stairs to the next level are revealed.
