Sword Coast Stratagems for Baldur's Gate 2 Walkthrough by David Milward


INTRODUCTION & ABOUT  |  CHARACTERS  | 
CHAPTER 1  |  CHAPTER 2  |  CHAPTER 3  |  CHAPTER 4  |  CHAPTER 5  |  CHAPTER 6  |  CHAPTER 7  |  CHAPTER 8  |  CHAPTER 9  |  CHAPTER 10  | 
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Chapter 5  
Underdark  |  Kuo-Toan Caves  |  Illithid City  |  Beholder Caves  |  Ust Natha  |  Leaving the Underdark  | 

LEAVING THE UNDERDARK

Adalon's Eggs

Now I return to Adalon's lair, and spell buff myself (including Haste) before talking to her. I then return her Eggs to her. I get Necaradan's Crossbow +3, as well as 80,500xp for every party member. She then teleports me to the northwest corner of the kuo-toan ruins.

There will be some Drow waiting for me, as well as a pair of Stone Golems, and a trio of Glabrezu Demons. This fight can be dangerous. My reliable way of handling it was for Avastrian, protected by his spell buffs and wearing his Cloak of Mirroring, to remain behind while the rest of the party flees to a safe distance. This minimizes the damage to the party as a whole, but also lets Adalon do her thing by casting Imprisonment on the Glabrezu. By the team she leaves it's a reduced force that I have to take care of. Overwhelming them physically is for the most part enough to get the job done.

I'm not done with the Underdark just yet. I head east, and then kill another group of kuo-toans that have spawned in the room to the north. I then leave the kuo-toan ruins.

I then purchase the other Spell Sequencer scroll from Carlig, and then head back to the entrance to Ust Natha.

Matron Mother Ellavirr

Now I'm ready to slaughter the entire city of Ust Natha in a process of attrition. It's worth a lot of experience, so why not? Some guidelines:

  1. Never stray too far, if at all, from the initial position. I don't want to be cut off from leaving the city entrance.
  2. I always buff up before going in.
  3. Once a significant number of Drow show up, I exit the city.
  4. I then kill off any foes that follow me outside. I often have Jaheira throw out a Defensive Harmony when a large number of foes come my way.
  5. Use exit to avoid annoying spells from Drow Priestesses or Drow Mages.
  6. When Drow Mages follow me, I summon a Nishruu. I also execute standard tactics against them whenever I can. For example, Keldorn hits them with Dispel Magic if they're at a distance. Or Keldorn can reveal them with a True Seeing, allowing Imoen to hit one with Breach.
  7. At some point the sheer numbers that show up are going to crank up. When matters take this turnm, I also include four Skeleton Warrior summons in my preparations. I leave it at four instead of five so that I can also summon a Nishruu if I need to. The summons are also left just outside the gates to Ust Natha.This way, when I lead Drow forces back outside the city gate, they have to contend not just with my party but also four Hasted Skeleton Warriors.
  8. All of this is pretty cheap, but it's the only way to do it. This is just as true of high-level parties with epic HLAs as it is of my party.
At some point Demons start turning up, as well as Matron Mother Ellaviir, who's a high-level Cleric of Lolth. The video concludes with me killing her and a Drow Mage, signifying partial progress.

Drow Archmage

I continue my attrition approach. A real test comes when a Drow Archmage and several other Drow Mages follow me out the gate. The Archmage ends up close to me, while the other Mages are further and to the south. Keldorn thus grabs the opportunity to hit them with a Dispel Magic. The rest of the party takes out the Nabassu that follows me.

Once the Nabassu dies the party runs away from the Archmage, and continues south even past the Skeleton Warriors and other Drow Mages. The idea is to have the magic-resistant Skeleton Warriors safely absorb the enemy magical onslaught. Avastrian, wearing his Cloak of Mirroring, returns and helps out the Skeleton Warriors. Soon only the Archmage and his illusions are left.

A couple of the Skeleton Warriors die, so Anomen adds another. Imoen throws in a Nishruu as well. The plan isn't completely fool-proof, but it is probably the best one. At some point the Archmage teleports towards the party itself. But by then he's lost or expended a lot of his spells. He hasn't been completely defanged, and he does manage to get in some licks on the party. But the plan may very well have made the difference between living and dying, as I eventually managed to wear him down.

Matron Mother Finadryl

There won't be much left in the way of Drow forces that will spawn, and I complete their defeat with killing Matron Mother Finadryl. The rest of the video consists of me doing the rounds throughout Ust Natha and wiping out any Drow or Spiders I find for the xp.

House Jae'llat

Now I prepare to take down House Jae'llat, which is towards the northeast corner. Unlike the rest of the Drow city, I have to go the distance then and there once I go inside. The Jae'llat Wardstone only works once. This fight can easily lead to disaster for an unprepared party.

First, I prepare. I reconfigure my spells so that I'll have multiple instances of spells I may need, Haste, Stoneskin, Mirror Image, Fire Storm, Skeleton Warrior, Defensive Harmony. I also have Avastrian and Imoen each set up with Minor Spell Sequencers that string together Web and Stinking Cloud.

Now I make my way to the House, and start buffing up: Potions of Giant Strength, a Potion of Agility for Anomen, Protection from Evil 10' Radius, Haste, Mirror Images. I then go inside with the help of the Jae'llat Wardstone.

In vanilla BG2 you had less foes to deal with and you could deal with them piecemeal. In SCS more foes get added and they fight together as a force. In immediate view will be a Cleric named Rhoa Jae'llat and a Jae'llat Mage. Keldorn hits them with Dispel Magic, but without affecting his own party. Jaheira casts Defensive Harmony. Imoen targets an oncoming Jae'llat Guard with her Spell Sequencer of three Skull Traps, so that it inflicts damage on some of the Drow but without damaging her comrades. This will be her best opportunity for it.

SCS will have many members of House Jae'llat join in from the east, and this force will include a cleric named Hinda Jae'llat, a warrior named Ishtar Jae'llat, and a powerful Mage added by SCS named Valas Jae'llat. Avastrian thus targets a Jae'llat Guard to the east with his Minor Spell Sequencer, while Anomen plants two Fire Storms over the eastern portion of the area. Once the eastern force arrives, Keldorn removes their protections with a Dispel Magic. The result is that the eastern forces roast underneath Anomen's Fire Storms. The thing with two Fire Storms is that it means multiple opportunities to inflict fire damage, so that the law of averages says it's only a matter of time before Drow magic resistance fails.

After this it's a matter of overpowering any oncoming enemies in physical combat. I always prioritize Priestesses or Mages who happen to be within hand's reach.

I loot the place for a LOT of gemstones, and a Scimitar +3.

Fleeing the Underdark

Now I leave the Underdark completely, first by leaving Ust Natha, then entering the kuo-toan caves, and then leaving through the northwest doorway. I now enter a tunnel complex that will have several squads of Drow that will fight you. Suffice to say if you can beat all of Ust Natha and take down House Jae'llat, with or without my help, you should be able to win these smaller scale fights as well. All the more so since surface Elves will be helping you out.

The exit to the surface soon appears. My drow armors are going to disintegrate into dust, so I take the opportunity to discard them and put on other armors that I've been stowing in my Bag of Holding.

Now I leave and begin Chapter 6.

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