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This is the big daddy of Chapter 4.
If you want, be sure to visit the north of the mine (still in the woods)
and kill Lakadaar for a few experience points. Then cross the bridge and
enter the courtyard.
In the courtyard, you will meet Drasus and his crew. This can be a very
tough fight, but I used the following strategy (which is basically effective
against any large group of relatively nonmagical humans):
1. Equip all your members with a ranged attack.
2. Move so that only Drasus appears in the fog of war. Do not move
any closer or the whole crew will appear
3. Have Dynaheir fire stink cloud just at the edge of the fog of war
4. Have Dynaheir fire a few fireballs just at the edge of the fog of
war
5. Clean up with arrows and bullets
Basically, the above strategy does two things: (1) the stink cloud grounds
the nonmagical attackers and (2) the fireball usually kills off the mages
before the fog of war is even lifted. This does not work perfectly, but
it thoroughly throws off the crew's attack, which is quite lethal when
they are coordinated.
After the battle, go upstairs in the building and free the guard for
some information (well, he ran off before I could kill him).
Move to the bailey in the east and enter the mines.
The mines create a few headaches all their own. Baldur's Gate is great
at many things, but in my opinion, party movement absolutely stinks and
in dungeons, it can become a total nightmare. In this particular mine,
the problem is compounded by all the miners fumbling around. For this reason,
I often had Imoen go into stealth mode. I then moved her throughout the
entire level of the dungeon before dragging my other characters through.
Since she gets triple backstab damage, she is perfectly able to take out
most guards single-handedly (at least on the upper levels) and she can
take care of traps too.
Note: Even though the map shows an isometric view of the dungeons, I
treat north as the top of the map, regardless of how the area is rotated.
Level 1
1. Be sure to talk to the miner in the north (next to the large plug).
He tells you he can flood the mine if you have a key.
2. Talk to Tippian (near the left fork) and tell him to flee (and to
stop scratching his behind, for crying out loud).
3. Phaersis, in the central fork, tells you Davaeorn has the key to
flood the mine
Level 2
1. If you move off to the southeast, you will find a secret door that
enables you to go to the next level with minimal fuss. Be sure you talk
to Rill and the dwarf (in the southern cell block) before you leave the
level or when you flood the mines, you will kill all the miners and take
a massive rep hit.
2. If you want fuss (I did), go through the main banquet hall. Stinkcloud
once again saves the day here.
Level 3
1. This level is a big pain in the ass. Like the Ulcaster ruins and
Gullykin, respawn here is almost overwhelming. Sure, hobgoblin elite are
not the strongest critters in the world, but their sheer numbers (and poison
arrows) can make life a living hell. This is especially true because navigating
your party is problematic at best.
2. Be sure to go through all the rooms to pick up some goodies. Watch
out for one of the rooms to the North. It contains a monster summoning,
poison slinging mage. Respawn in this room is impressive indeed.
3. In the temple (somewhat SW), tell the guard you want to worship
Cyric. Or, just kill him.
4. The exit is to the south
Level 4
If any of you are familiar with console RPG games, this battle against
Davaeorn is very similar to a final boss battle. You are faced with one
bad guy, you have a limited amount of space to work with, and winner takes
all.
Before I continue, be sure to disarm the four traps lining the hallway
to Davaeorn. Then stop. Don't reveal him just yet.
I had a really hard time with this fight, but I finally stumbled upon
a fairly (fairly) easy way to defeat Davaeorn. At the beginning of the
battle, he spends about 3 or 4 rounds teleporting from room to room, slinging
a few strong spells at the party before disappearing again. Before I figured
out how to beat him, I sent the whole party at him trying to attack and
he easily killed one or two of my characters (I always reload when one
or more party members die) and then vanished into another room. This is
NOT the way to defeat him.
The key is to disperse the party and to NOT attack him. Keep your weaker
party members towards the back, and have your stronger characters walk
around constantly, occasionally ducking briefly into one of the side rooms.
This way, if Davaeorn fires off a party killer spell (lightning, fireball,
etc), it won't hit everyone. Also, the milling around seems to dissuade
him from using the dimension door after a couple teleports.
As your party mills around, try to lure Davaeorn into the central room.
Once he is there to stay (usually signified by his casting a Dire Charm
spell), completely surround him with all your characters except for your
mage. Have your mage cast Dispel Magic (which will both eliminate his shield
and hopefully knock our the dire charm as well). At the same time, have
all your party members hit him with quick (preferably edged) melee weapons.
(I am still a little unsure about this as I write this, but Davaeorn seems
particularly immune to blunt and ranged attacks, even without his magic
shield.) Once melee is engaged, Davaeorn resorts to using his (cough) little
wooden staff and he is dogmeat.
I have heard people use potions and the like to take on Davaeorn, but
Davaeorn's strength lies not in his combat spells, but in his combat spells
AND the dimension door. No potion will help you with the dimension door
(none of the ones I had, anyway) and his combat spells are not anymore
lethal than the other ones you have encountered in the game.
An emailer writes: another way to defeat Davaeorn is to clear the
traps in the hallway, initiate the conversation with Davaeorn, let him
cast Mirror Image and shield spells, leave the area (go to the first
room on the level), rest for a full 8 hours, and when you return he
will have no spells left and can easily be defeated.
After the battle, loot everything. Watch out for the mustard jelly in
the south. The mustard jelly was harder for me to defeat than Davaeorn,
but that could have been because I was feeling cocky and careless.
Take the elevator up to the first level and go back to the miner next
to the plug. Talk to him and flood the mines.
Hoo wah! |
