Now that Mulahey has been defeated and we survived the assassination attempt, it's time for us to do some sidequests. We're terribly underleveled, so it'll be good to get some XP. As I mentioned, there are a few things we can do on this map. First of all, there's a would-be graverobber begging us for help:
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The dagger in question is the
Heart of the Golem +2. That's actually pretty good by the standards of this game, but it's still just a dagger.
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So we turn it in for XP. You can kill the Revenant and keep the dagger, or just walk off with it, but let's be nice and actually help Hentold.
Now, that was nice and all, but there's a much more important encounter on the map:
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Narcillicus Harwilliger Neen (presumably named using the
Slartibartfast method) is an experimental mage. This encounter changes depending on how you talk to him. Express doubt, and Neen's spell will fail, creating four hostile
Green Slimes, which are horribly dangerous and don't even give much XP. Ask for a copy of the spell instead, and he'll create two
Mustard Jellies instead and attack you alongside them.
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The Mustard Jellies are still dangerous, mind, having a ranged attack that poisons and slows. So we fall back on our time-tested approach of pulling one away from the main party and whacking it like an XP piñata.
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Neen and the other jelly are too close together for that to work, so we'll have to fight them together. Neen always opens combat by casting Improved Invisibility, which, in this game, means you can't see or target him at all until the spell wears off, even after he throws a Lightning Bolt at you. That's obviously rather problematic.
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Unfortunately, we don't manage to interrupt him and he turns invisible...
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... but BG's weird invisibility mechanics work out in our favour as Khalid gets a lucky hit in.
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The remaining jelly puts up a good fight but succumbs eventually. XP for everyone!
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Also, spell scrolls and a robe. All the low-level mage robes are sort of interchangeable or situational, but they sell for good money so I won't complain.
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A few more random encounters later, Jaheira also hits her next level and we gain access to Slow Poison and Find Traps, which will come in handy.
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We head back to Beregost for some R&R. This is also where the main quest wants us to go next (more specifically: Feldepost's Inn), but we'll shelve that for a while.
On our way to the Smithy, we encounter an old friend:
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The fact that this is
Elminster stalking you provides a somewhat unsubtle hint that the iron crisis is being monitored by some major players in the Realms. He isn't particularly helpful, but he does point you towards the Bandit Camp in case you somehow missed Mulahey's letters.
Speaking of unsubtle pointers in the right direction:
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We'll check in with Officer Vai in a short while, but there's something else we need to do first (and probably should've done before visiting the mines).
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High Hedge is a small map to the west of Beregost, consisting of the High Hedge estate proper and a small forested area surrounding it. It's entirely optional and entirely missable, but exploration is rewarded.
First of all, there's a certain ranger hanging out here:
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As we're also looking for Tazok, we join forces with Kivan.
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Kivan is a very straightforward character. He has great STR and DEX scores and two proficiency dots in Bows, making him the second-best ranged fighter in the game. His WIS is the Ranger minimum, but Ranger spellcasting doesn't actually use WIS in this game, so that's okay. He's
also incredibly boring and everyone forgets he exists because Coran outclasses him to an extreme degree, but hey.
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Let's check out the High Hedge estate while we're here.
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The estate is home to Thalantyr and two flesh golems. As a retired adventurer and 11th-level mage, Thalantyr will be our main source for potions and scrolls until we can access Baldur's Gate itself (the city, not the game). He also sells some high-end gear including the Horn of Kazgaroth (repeatable buffs at the cost of 10 HP per activation) and the Claw of Kazgaroth (ring that gives you -2 CON in exchange for a permanent displacement effect). Notably, the Horn and Claw are two of a mere nine items that
can be carried over into the second game. Thalantyr also sells a Robe of the Neutral Archmagi. We can't afford that yet, but we can pick up some new spells for Xan:
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Xan can't learn Magic Missile, so we'll have to use Minor Drain to interrupt spellcasters. Sleep is gradually becoming less useful as it doesn't work against creatures with 5+ HD, but it's well worth keeping around.
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Horror is an extremely useful crowd control spell and one we'll use heavily throughout the rest of the game. Invisibility is always nice to have - it goes away if the invisible character actually does anything and it's not particularly useful in combat but it has many useful applications.
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Finally, Flame Arrow and Skull Trap are some of the better damage spells Xan has access to (once he can cast third-level spells, anyway). Hold Person is more of a Cleric thing but additional copies can't hurt.
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We stop in Beregost for another sleepover. We still need to talk to Officer Vai, so let's do that along the way.
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Vai provides some expedition as well as a sidequest: She'll buy bounty items like bandit scalps and wyvern skulls off you until the situation is resolved. I love the incidental bit of exposition here, too. Baldur's Gate is technically just a city-state, but it's still the biggest power in the region, and Beregost would be considered de-facto Baldurian territory. Not only is Baldur's Gate on lockdown, the situation has gotten so bad that the outlying areas are essentially being abandoned. With entire contingents of soldiers getting cut off and presumably going unpaid... well, that's trouble. I guess what I'm saying here is that I want to see more fanfic about Warlord Jessa Vai.
Anyway, we stay the night.
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Once again, there are two different versions of this dream. If your reputation is above the threshold, you find the mines deserted except for the not-quite-dead Mulahey. You reject your inner killer and deny Bhaal's essence. This, I think, is an early hit at how CHARNAME is able to survive without in the second game; CHARNAME's soul may be tethered to Bhaal, but they have something inside them that allows you to resist.
The
"evil" dream again starts out subtly different, in that the mines are full of dead bodies, then diverges towards the end. You do kill Mulahey, but not with the bone dagger, causing the voice of Bhaal to rebuke you. It's important to note that an evil CHARNAME doesn't give in to the taint either, using Bhaal's power for their own purposes instead of rejecting it.
Speaking of power: I'm sure you're as sick as I am of being underlevelled and underpowered. Having to cheese our way through random encounters? That's not how things are supposed to go.
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So let's go on a little field trip.
You see, this is where- hey, who's this?
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... welcome to the party, I guess!
Actually, Korax is very useful. Since he's not technically part of your party, he doesn't provide map visibility, so you can't just send him exploring on his own. However, there's nothing stopping you from, say, casting Invisibility on Khalid going exploring.
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The area is full of more-or-less subtle hints about the local dangers, but Tamah here is a pretty blatant one. You can revive her with a scroll of Stone to Flesh.
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Not demanding a reward gives you a little XP and a Reputation bonus. Insisting on payment gives you -1 Reputation and some
prime seafront estate.
So yeah, the area is crawling with basilisks. They are
extremely dangerous opponents as they have a save-or-die Petrification gaze attack. There are ways to protect yourself (such as a Potion of Mirrored Eyes, for sale at High Hedge) but if you're unprepared, a single basilisk can wipe out a mid-level party. That's why we're sending Korax and Khalid to scout ahead.
Exploring a little further, we find the source of the basilisks:
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Mutamin is accompanied by a basilisk and a greater basilisk, and is a high-level mage himself. It's a very dangerous encounter, and you'll have to spend a lot of time buffing your party and spend a fortune on protective measures.
... or you could just use Korax. As a rotting corpse, Korax has a paralyzing attack and is immune to petrification.
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Riveting.
The greater basilisk does actually have an attack other than the petrifying touch, and Korax eventually dies, but not before signifiantly softening up the lizards. We have Khalid chug a potion of Mirrored Eyes and finish the job.
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If you've been keeping count, Mutamin's party is worth a whopping 9,600 points of experience. Even split six ways, that's a lot, and you can theoretically do this the moment the tutorial ends. Mutamin also carries the usual lackluster loot in the form of a mage robe and a few scrolls. Stinking Cloud would be a great addition to our arsenal if it wasn't an Evocation spell.
There's one more thing I want to do in this area. Unfortunately, I, uh, didn't bring quite as many Mirrored Eyes potions as I perhaps should have, so we do kind of run into trouble along the way.
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Oops.
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Xan saves us, though.
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Luckily, we did bring a few spare scrolls of Stone to Flesh. Fun fact: This is one of the "legitimate" ways to split up paired characters, as seen with Jaheira and Khalid here.
Right. With the remaining basilisks out of the way, I think it's time to test our mettle against a group of
real opponents. Everyone has gained at least one level since the beginning of this update, and we finally have access to some real spells. As luck would have it, there's a snobbish group of adventurers from Waterdeep in the area, and they're itching for a fight.
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Let's see if your saving throws are as good as your sense of style, shall we?
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Nnnnnnope.
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We make short work of our opponents.
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This worked well. Yes, I'm much happier with our party now.
That'll do it for this update, I think. We have a lot more of faffing about to do; let's leave some sidequests for next week.