Crossroad Keep
Necromancer Crypt
I arrive at a crypt. There will be undead skeletons on the other side of a gate just ahead. Gallard issues a 'Stand Your Ground' command and goes on ahead. He leads the Skeletons back and holds them up. Vandala obliterates them with a Beshadowed Blast / Eldritch Chain. The Necromancer that had been controlling them soon falls as well.
There will be four trapped Sarcophagi. The contents for each one is as follows:
Northward Bound
Now I make my way north along the road, until I reach Crossroad Keep at #3.
Suffice to say the monsters are higher level and harder as well. But the basic strategy remains the same. Put Gallard ahead to hold up the initial onslaught, let Vandala and Umoja take their shots at a distance, let the others bring up the cavalry after the monsters have closed in.
Once I arrive, at #1 on the Crossroad Keep map, Sa'Sani purchases some buildings for her use from Khelgar Ironfist. She also bids the party to meet her inside the Merchant Headquarters. Lastly, I get 600xp for completing the Northward Bound quest.
The Next Step
The Merchant Headquarters is located at #6 on the Crossroad Keep map.
I arrive at #1 on the Merchant Headquarters map. Sa'Sani and Na'Sirin are at #6 on the map. Sa'Sani gives 300 trade bars, and tasks me with building up her merchant company operations on the Sword Coast. I'll go into more detail on this endeavour as I go along. What I will say for now is that it certainly helps to have a cache of trade bars in place to finance the upgrades and expansion of her company's operations. That is why I and many other players recommend accumulating and holding onto all the trade bars you can while adventuring in Samarach and prior to arriving in the Sword Coast. I had about 600 trade bars before getting 300 more from Sa'Sani.
At #5 is Variel, who acts as the majordomo for the company. She's the one to speak to when I want to pay for upgrades to the company's operations, and when I want to collect my own share of the company's income. Variel in turn gives me 800 more trade bars after I talk to her a second time.
+2 Weapons and Armors
Now I leave the Merchant Headquarters. Jacoby is at #2 on the Crossroad Keep map. He has plenty of armor and weapons for sale of either mundane quality or of +1 enchantment. He also has some recipes for sale. What I buy from him are the recipes for Armor Enhancement +2, Weapon Enhancement +2, and all of the recipes that add extra damage for particular kinds of foes or foes of a particular alignment.
At #3 in the Merchant Headquarters are the crafting stations. I do the following:
Also, almost everyone's weapons now have three enchantments, meaning that I can't add anymore to them. I do it anyway, because recipes to add +3 weapon enhancement and +4 armor enhancement are a LONG way off, so I'll be using the weapons I have for a very long time to come.
It's now time to travel for Neverwinter.