Baldur's Gate - Part 5 Solution v1.0 by Alex van Kaam @~Continued from Issue 62 Firewine Bridge Dungeon (1) This was the most frustrating area I encountered so far! You will encounter a lot of Kobold Commandos here, and the corridors are very small, so be careful. Also make sure your thief checks for traps all the time! In the south there is a hidden (?) door, go through it and you will find some stairs, go up them and you will end up in the Halfling Village called Gullykin. In the south-west you should find a room full of ghost knights, talk to them and learn that they cannot leave till all are one? To the north of them you should encounter a dead knight, he wants you to kill him, so do it. Take his armour and bring it to the ghost knight for your reward. After this I left the dungeon. Ulcaster Monsters you can encounter are Hobgoblins, Hobgoblins Elite, Kobold Elite, Skeletons. South/centre you will find Wilco, another messenger, talk to him and he will leave. Again you will learn that both Amn and Baldur's Gate demand from each other to stop raiding the caravans. To the west you will find Furret who is selling a Gem for 1000Gp. I bought it, but so far have not found any use for it though. The north/east is one big mountain but there is a small path leading up to it, once on top between the ruins find the spirit of Ulcaster and talk to it about 4 times. You will learn of a tome that is on the lower dungeon level, return it and hope will return. You will also encounter Icharyd, kill him. The entrance to the dungeon can be found fairly easy. Ulcaster Dungeon Monster you might encounter are Ochre Jelly, Mustard Jelly, Dire Wolves, Huge Spiders, Dread Wolves, Vampiric Wolf. In the south-east you'll find some items guarded by 2 jellies, be aware of their poison ability! If you go north-west and then north- east from the entrance of the dungeon (the route via the Wolves) you will find loads of items that are of great use to you. Be careful with traps though! Near the Vampiric Wolf you will find a big pile of debris, in that pile is the book you need for the Ulcaster spirit. Once you're outside give the book to the spirit. Gullykin (1) Monsters in this area are Kobolds, Wolves. In the south east you should find Molkar, another one of those bandits, and his gang, quite a hard battle so try to take them one at a time! Molkar himself will be carrying a chain mail + 2 called "mail of the death". In the north-west is a Halfling village. I first explored the whole area and then I entered the village. We first talked to Gandolar Luckyfoot telling him we would like to explore his nice village. A second chat with him will give you a quest to rid the dungeon of Kobolds. After that we talked to everybody and entered all the houses. Since it seemed we missed something in the Firewine Bridge Dungeon we used the Halfling Wine Cellar to enter the dungeon again. Firewine Bridge Dungeon (2) Monsters you will find here are besides the Kobold Elite also Ogrillions, a wizard and an Ogre Mage. From our starting point we headed north into the big centre room. Take the corridor leading north and you should encounter the wizard Lendarn and his Ogrillions. Kill them both and head north to find the Ogre Mage responsible, as he tells you, for killing the Halflings. Then head north and go up the stairs. Gullykin (2) We had to kill the Halfling whose house we entered, and we then headed to Gandolar for our reward. Since we had nothing else to do here we headed back to Beregost to sell all our stuff. We met Officer Vai in the Jovial Juggler and she offered us 50gp per bandit scalp. By now the whole area south of Beregost should be mapped and explored. So head east to the temple. Temple East of Beregost Monsters you will meet here are Hobgoblins, Wolves, Worgs, Dread Wolves, Vampiric Wolves, Wild Dogs and Cave Bears. As soon as we entered this area we headed to the big temple, here we talked to Keldath Ormlyr and he gave us a huge reward for killing Bassilus. South of the temple you will encounter Ashen, just talk nicely to him and he will leave you. North of the temple you will find a drunk, he will tell you he is a Lich, he ain't so tell him and leave him. Centre south/east you will be approached by a Hobgoblin called Cattack, he leads a group of bandits, gold and iron is what they want, so either give it (no way) or kill them (yeah!). Not much more of interest in this area so leave it via the east. Forest East of the Temple Monsters you will meet here are Gibberlings, Lesser Basilisks, Gnoll Slashers, Flinds, Greater Basilisks, Gnoll Elite, Black Bears. The Basilisks were quite a pain, but it's possible to do, although save often. I found the Web spell very effective as long as you don't get too close. In the west we found a Ghoul by the name of Korax, we used option 3 on him and he kind of joined/followed us around. At one point, after killing some Black Bears he did attack us, so we had to kill him. In the north/west we found Shar-Teel (Human Fighter, Chaotic Evil), she challenged my best warrior for a duel, we accepted and the price was that she would join our party. I never let her join but still was good for the Ego to win from her . In the north itself we found Mutamin, it seems he controls the Basilisks, again the Web was a great spell to use. West of Mutamin we found the statue of Tamah, but since we had no spell/item to help her there was nothing we could do for now. In the centre we met Kirian, I used option 3 since I was not too healthy for a fight. And that was about it here. We got at least 20,000 exp. from all the Basilisks, so it was worth it. Larswood (1) Monsters you will find here are Wolves, Cave Bears, Wild Dogs, Black Talon Elite, Gibberlings, Dire Wolves. Make sure you get all exits on the global map. In the east near some kind of temple we met Osmadi, who said we killed his brothers in this wood, we told him this was not so but he did attack us, and so we had to kill him. Once Osmadi was dead Corsone approached us and apologised for Osmadi, it seemed that a band of bandits called the Chill came in and killed almost everybody who was working on the temple here. I did ask him why he let Osmadi attack us if he knew he was sick, we kept pushing this issue till he got very upset, but we did not let go and then suddenly he admitted he wanted our help to kill Osmadi!!! It seems he calls himself a Shadow Druid and he poisoned Osmadi and his friends to get rid of them. He then attacked us and we killed him. Around the centre we met a group of bandits under the leadership of Teven, the bandits attacked us but Teven wanted to talk to us, and this reminded us of our original mission... finding Tazok. So we told him that he should let us join him because we would make the roads run red with blood. He accepted us and so we joined him in the camp of the bandits. Bandits Camp Monsters you will encounter are some wild dogs, Gnoll Veterans, Gnoll Slashers, Gnoll Elite, Hobgoblins, Hobgoblins Elite. You gain some experience as you enter it, a conversation will start between Teven and some other bandits, soon Tazok will appear. The man we needed. He will question you, be brave, challenge him (option 2) and then attack him! If you are strong enough he will accept you and you have the run of the camp. He himself will be leaving for the mines that night. Now first explore the camp, get all exits on your map and get all the gold and items you can. There is even a cave, filled with Gnolls, have fun . Explore the tents, in some you might be attacked. As soon as you enter Tazok's tent - you'll know it when you see it - you will be faced with a huge battle, no matter what you say to them. I found the arrows I got from the Black Talon Elite quite effective. Once you killed the 4 guards explore the tent, make sure you first talk to Ender Sai before you try to open the chest. He will tell you (if you use option 3) that these bandits are part Chill and part Black Talons and it seems that the Iron Throne is behind them. Ender also tells you that Tazok has been making regular visits to the Cloakwood Forest. Now make sure your thief first disarms the chest, and then opens the chest, once you get the scrolls the next chapter will start. Chapter 4 Read both scrolls, it seems that for some reason the Iron Throne is the one commanding Tazok, so the Iron Throne is the one putting a bounty on your head. Well off to Cloakwood we go via the Friendly Inn. Cloakwood Forest: South-west of the Friendly Arms Inn Monster you will find here are Tasloi, Huge Spiders, Dread Wolves, Xvarts, Black Bears and Worg. On a bridge in the north-west you will meet Coran (Elf Fighter/Thief, Chaotic Good), talk to him and he will tell you he has been hired by the mayor of Beregost to hunt down a large winged dragon. We did not accept his offer as our party was quite good and did not need him. In the centre we found a house and in front of it we met Aldeth Sashenstar, he tells you he is under attack by some men and all he wants is to do some hunting here. After the conversation Seniyad will appear, we stood by Aldeth Sashenstar and killed Seniyad and his druids. We talked to Aldeth Sashenstar to get our reward. That was about it, so leave this part of Cloakwood via the north. Cloakwood Forest: North-east of Candlekeep Again explore all exits. Monster you might meet here are Huge Spiders, Giant Spiders, Phase Spiders, Sword Spiders, Ettercaps. In the west near the river we met Tiber, accept his request to find his brother Chelak. You will encounter loads of spiders here, and even some web traps, be careful with the traps, because if you step in one and you get attacked at the same time you're in big trouble. In the south-west, near the Sword Spider you should find the entrance to the Centeol's cave, you can try to talk to her, but it is of no use, she will summon a few dozen spiders, so be ready for a hard fight. Once you have defeated her explore the hidden area under her, here you will find the body of Chelak and some other great items. I did not find anything else in this area, so leave it via the northern exit. Cloakwood Forest: North of Candlekeep Monsters you find here are Cave Bears, Black Bears, Tasloi, Worg, Huge Spiders, Baby Wyverns. Again explore it fully, when you cross the bridge in the north-west you will meet Laskal, protector of Cloakwood, talk to him and tell him you do not like the Iron Throne and he will tell you their fort is to the east. Near some ruins to the west you will find Faldorn (Human druid, True Neutral), she wants to join but I did not let her into the group. Just north of that we encountered Takiyah who identified Jaheira in our group and thus attacked us. We killed him. North of him we entered the house of Amarande, again one who wants to kill Jaheira. Centre north we found a cavern filled with Baby Wyverns and Peter of the North, we talked to him 1,1,2 and then killed him and his baby Wyverns. South of the cave we met Izefia, again one who wanted to kill Jaheira, again we killed him. In the south-east area we met Eldoth (Human Bard, Neutral Evil), again we did not let him join us. After exploring the area we left using the east exit. Cloakwood Forest: South of Baldur's Gate Monsters you will meet here are Hamadryads, Cave Bears, Giant Spiders, Baby Wyverns, Wyverns, Cave Bears, Wraith Spider and Guards. In the south-east there is a cave, enter it but be prepared for a tough fight, explore the caves and get the skulls from the Wyverns. I then headed quickly to the Temple area to give the skulls to the mayor of Beregost and to buy some arrows and stuff in the shops in Beregost. Back in here I headed over the small bridge into the north-west area, killed a few Baby Wyverns but I really did not find much more in this area, so I left using the east exit. Cloakwood Mines Monsters you meet here are mostly Guards, Wolves and Tasloi. North-west we met Lakadaar, we told him the truth that we were investigating the Iron Throne presence in these woods, he of course tried to kill us. We explored the whole area first, before going over the bridge. Inside the fort we encountered Dracus and his companions, talking was no use, only hack and slash helped although it was the hardest battle we had done so far! On the body of Dracus we found a scroll telling him of our presence. The scroll was signed by Reiltar. We entered the first barracks, next to the horses and on the second floor a guard told us where the entrance to the mines was. We crossed the bridge to enter the second part of the fort, entered the building, killed the guard, down the stairs and into the elevator. Cloakwood Mines: Level 1 Monsters around here are guards and a Ghast. You'll meet several miners/slaves, explore the mines, in the north you'll find a red miner near a huge vault door, talk to him and you will learn you need to get the key to this door to flood the mines. The exit to the next level is south, follow a long rail track that eventually turns east, it's hard to spot the exit but it's there. Cloakwood Mines: Level 2 Again Guards are your main enemies here but you might encounter a few Ghasts and other bandits. South-east there is a guard who will tell you his boss Davaeorn is on the 4th level, close to him is a hidden door, let your thief find it. Follow the corridor till the end and find the hidden door there. Once you're through this door Rill will approach you, tell him who you are and give him the 100 Gp. so the slaves can run off. Behind Rill you should find Yeslick (Dwarf Fighter/Cleric, Lawful Good), although tempted we did not add him to our party. Behind the locked door is the staircase to level 3. I would suggest you clean the rest too before going down and watch out for traps. Cloakwood Mines: Level 3 Guards, Hobgoblins, an Ogre Mage and other low-level vermin are your enemies here. It's really quite a normal level, kill what you encounter, be careful with Natasha in the north-east, she can be tricky. The exit can be found in the south-west Cloakwood Mines: Level 4 As you enter this level a guard will attack you, for once it's worth it as he will bring 650 Exp. Going south-west will bring you to Davaeorn, but you must disarm 4 traps first. After killing her get all the items you can carry, read the scroll on Davaeorn's body and you will see that again Reiltar is behind this all. Make sure you get his key too. In one of the rooms you might find Stephan, Davaeorn's apprentice, he will tell you everything, how the Iron Throne is behind the iron poisoning in the mines of Nashkel and how they hope that because of the raids the Dukes of Baldur's Gate will get their ore from them. The main building of the Iron Throne is in the south-west of Baldur's Gate. Once you go towards the elevator chapter 5 will start. Chapter 5 Cloakwood Mines: Level 4 Use the elevator to get to level 1. Give the key to the man in front of the water gate and get out of the mines. It was about time to head to Baldur's Gate, however I wanted to leave the countryside fully mapped so I headed for the Friendly Inn, rested, bought and sold stuff and headed for: Larswood (2) Since we did not finish this area the last time we were here (we joined the bandits) we finished it now, not many big surprises. Monsters we met were Bandits (we killed them all now) and Gibberlings. After we mapped it all we headed east. Forest East of Larswood Monsters we encountered here were Tasloi, Ettercaps, Huge Spiders, Wraith Spiders, Phase Spiders. Around the centre you will find Fahrington, he has lost a scroll to a Tasloi, and that Tasloi ran east into the Ettercaps Lair. The scroll can be found on a Tasloi in the north-east, it appears to be a protection scroll but if you identify it, it turns out to be a scroll of foolishness. If you try to return it to him you get some experience but he also wants you to keep the scroll. Denak and his apprentices are located near the centre by some ruins, he is not too pleased that you have found him and will try to kill you. They are not too hard but all together they might cause some problems so take them one at a time if you can. And that is about it here. Use the west exit to head north to Peldvate. @~To be continued next issue - o -