-
- Forums
- Chatrooms
- Gallery
- Gameplay Videos
- Upload
- Articles
- Mod Reviews
- Shop SP: Games, Movies, Books
CHAPTER 1 | CHAPTER 2 | CHAPTER 3 | CHAPTER 4 | CHAPTER 5 | CHAPTER 6 | CHAPTER 7 | CHAPTER 8 | CHAPTER 9 | CHAPTER 10 | |
GRAVEYARD DISTRICT
Buried Alive
Now it's time for me to fully explore the Graveyard District, with Jaheira back in the party to reap in the xp benefits. First, I make my way to the north-east walkway on the north side. Once I get a message about somebody trying to struggle his way up, I click on the open grave. A man named Tirdir explains that he was buried alive by a man dressed in red. He gives me a piece of red cloth as proof. The party gets 6,500xp for this.
I then head towards the north exit and speak with a man named Sethle. It won't take much to force him to admit he was looking the other way, and that the culprits can be found in the Bridge District. I take a moment to enter the nearby crypt, and get some xp for killing the Skeleton Warrior and two Mummies.
I then head over to the southwest corner of the Bridge District where I find my man in red, An-Si. An-Si flees to a nearby house. I follow him in, only to watch Camitus and Reti kill An-Si before they themselves flee the house.
I follow after them and kill them. Camitus leaves behind the Boots of Avoidance (+5 armor class vs. missile weapons).
I then enter and loot the house. Upstairs will be Lady Elgea, whom the good party sets free.
The video concludes with me having Cromwell merge Avastrian's Boots of Speed and the Boots of Avoidance, along with 20,000gp and a Rogue Stone, into the Boots of the Hornet (+5 armor class vs. missile weapons, doubles wearer's foot speed). These will be Avastrian's boots for the rest of the game. Since he has the Cloak of Mirroring, it makes more sense to let other characters have the Blizzard Boots or the Stormlord's Heels.
*Evil* Silver Pantaloons
Of course the alternative is to try and collect on the ransom and get the Silver Pantaloons, along with a -2 hit to reputation.
Kamir and Risa
Now the party returns to the Graveyard District. This quest can only be finished during the day time. I go to the crypt on the east side, where I find standing outside a Priest of Lathander named Arenthir consoling an orphaned girl named Risa.
Avastrian races ahead to where he had rescued Tirdir. Nearby is a Paladin of Helm named Kamir, who feels he failed his vow to protect his late adopted son, Stefan. Avastrian explains the opportunity for atonement to Kamir, which Kamir immediately accepts. I get 12,250xp for this.
I get another 3,000xp once Kamir travels over to the east side and finalizes things with Risa. Inside the crypt will be a Staff of Curing +1 (3d6+2 healing plus cure poison and disease with limited charges).
Wellyn
This quest can only be done at night, so I rest up at the Copper Coronet. I then return to the Graveyard District. The Ghost of a Halfling Boy named Wellyn will wander about a little to the north. He wants his teddy bear back, and he indicates that the Dwarf who took it can be found in the Copper Coronet.
So I head back there and find Llynis in one of the rooms in the northwest section. I decide to kill him for retribution (and xp). He leaves behind Littleman the Teddy Bear. I then get 15,500xp for returning the Teddy Bear to Wellyn.
Nevin and Uncle Lester
The party continues westward and kills another couple of Skeleton Warriors inside a small crypt. They continue on, where Uncle Lester rises from the grave to attack Nevin. I kill Uncle Lester for 1,000 xp for Lester himself and another 6,500xp as a quest bonus.
Crypt King
The party checks out a couple of crypts in the middle portion of the District. One has a Battle Axe +2 inside. The other has a couple of Shadows and a couple of Mummies.
I then check out the Crypt which is right by where I had first spoken to Amir. Inside will be the Crypt King, who immediately casts Horror at the party (hence the Remove Fear) and summons three Skeleton Warriors. I have little trouble killing them by now. The sarcophagus has Namarra (+2 Longsword, Silence 10' Radius 3/day) and a few other minor treasures.
Lower Tombs 1
Now I grab the opportunity to fully explore the first level of the lower tombs. It is a different map than when I first came here during Chapter 3 so there's more traps, and the chests have new items to loot for gems and spell scrolls. I make the rounds, scoring xp for killing undead monsters and disarming traps.
Lower Tombs 2
Now I explore the next level. It's more of the same, and quite easy for the good party. Kill undead monsters in straight physical combat, have Imoen disarm traps while invisible, etc. Some of the loot includes Halycon (+1 Spear, +1 electrical damage) and a Dagger +1.
*Evil* Tomb Raiders
The evil party has to come here much earlier though, since it's the location of the personal quests of both Edwin and Korgan. Both insist on the fulfillment of their personal quests as soon as they join. This makes going through this part of the Lower Tombs much more challenging. What makes this even worse is that if I rest too often, Edwin and Korgan will get whiny about Asteroth taking too long, and may even leave after some time. So I have to be extremely judicious in my decision-making and in the management of my resources (i.e. spells and potions). This means casting a spell only when it's truly necessary, and using a potion only when it's truly necessary, and resting only when it's truly necessary.
First, I stop off at Pimlico's Estate in the Temple District. Pimlico has apparently hired Korgan to retrieve something called a Book of Kaza.
And as soon as I arrive in the Graveyard District, Edwin mentions that he wants to find a Nether Scroll.
I initially have to go through the first Lower Level of the Tombs. Asteroth chooses to embrace power in his nightmare. But I make my way through the Spiders in the same fashion. Asteroth scouts out their location, and then Edwin gets in a pre-emptive strike with a spell. Even so I err on the side of caution by having Edwin and Viconia target the Sword Spiders with single-target spells like Magic Missiles and Command Word: Die.
I don't show the whole trip through, but rather key points. The lowest level of the Tombs has a hallway that runs south. From there two more hallways branch east leading to small rooms on the other ends.
At around 7:45 I show the room at the end of the north hallway that runs east. A lich named Nevaziah appears (he won't unless Edwin is in the party). Edwin demands the Nether Scroll, and battle soon ensues. Nevaziah is much more powerful in SCS than in vanilla BG2. Sorry, I gotta swallow my pride here and play the run and dodge game just to survive here and force Nevaziah to expend his spells. I do this by luring Nevaziah to the lower level, and then going in and out of the entrance whenever he gets of a spell. Once he expends his damaging spells, that's when I start attacking, although I still have to dodge an Imprisonment spell. I then break through his Stoneskin, but then he activates a Spell Sequencer that includes a Fire Shield: Red, so I have to go outside and wait for that to wear off. Edwin then Hastes the party and that's when I begin attacking in earnest, although I still have to dodge a spell or two along the way. I eventually manage to wear him down. Edwin has found his Nether Scroll (more on this later).
I rest up. At around 25:25 of the video, I make my way down the south hallway that runs in a southeast direction. Jan disarms a couple of traps leading up to the room at the other end. I have to fight a Mummy and a couple of Skeleton Warriors after Korgan realizes that his former adventuring company has beat him to the Book of Kaza.
I then leave the lower Tombs for now, and have another romance dialogue with Viconia at around 27:35.
I return to Pimlico's Estate at around 30:50 of the video, where Korgan learns that Shagbag and the others have killed Pimlico and his guards.
Korgan beckons me to catch Shagbag and company at the top of the Copper Coronet, where I do in fact find them. A battle naturally ensues. Edwin's Chaos spell suffices to pull the teeth out of most of the enemy warriors. Viconia's Defensive Harmony certainly helps as well. Asteroth kills the one warrior who avoids Korgan and comes after Viconia. After that he rushes the Mage named Crazyface. Jan aims at Crazyface with his crossbow as well. It soon becomes a mop up.
This whole sequence is a real pain in the arse, but it is necessary in order to keep both Korgan and Edwin in the evil party over the long haul.
*Evil* Nether Scroll
Edwin will experience a few (mis)adventures with the Nether Scroll, but these take time to develop and will typically be interspersed with other adventures the party is having.
First, he manages to make a beneficial use of the Nether Scroll to give himself 50,000xp and a +50 to Lore. This is at the start of the video.
The second time around, after some time has elapsed, not so much. Edwin turns himself into a woman, Edwina, who speaks with a high-pitched screaming voice and is naturally subjected to ridicule by anyone else who happens to be in the party.
Some time later somebody named Degardan arrives, inquiring about Edwin. Degardan is in fact another Red Wizard and an enemy of Edwin. I value keeping Edwin(a) in the party, so I cover for him/her for now.
Unfortunately the next time Degardan arrives could not have come at a worse time, just after I wasted most of a bunch of Ogres (largely through the use of the Chaos-Slow combo by Edwina and Jan).
Note that I left one of the Ogre Mages alive. There's a specific reason for this. Degardan undoes Edwin's gender transformation, but a battle soon transpires. Now the reason for leaving the Ogre Mage alive becomes apparent. Asteroth aims his Insect Plague at the Ogre Mage, so that it will travel to Degardan as well (whose pre-buffs will include Improved Invisibility).
The party retreats somewhat to the west. Viconia summons a couple of Skeletons, and then she aims her Sling at Degardan. Jan is either firing his crossbow, or activating his detect illusions ability on Degardan. It then becomes a matter of attacking him in spite of his Fire Shield, and trying to bring down his buffs and illusions whenever I can. This does involve using plenty of healing potions along the way, but I need to bring him down as quickly as possible. I eventually wear him down. And thus ends Edwin's side adventure.
Rhynn Lanthorn
Now to return to the story of the good party, I bring the Rhynn Lanthorn to Elhan near the Underdark Exit. Everybody in the party gets 74,500xp. Elhan also reveals the way to Suldanessellar and the start of Chapter 7.
