BG 2; adventures in

Playing Baldur’s Gate 2.

Started out with my character, Dredna Sweetstream, a female elf who is a Ranger (Chaotic Good), locked up in a strange torture prison. Imoen is there (the human female is now a Thief/Mage, Neutral Good), and joins me in my escape, along with Minsc (the human male Ranger, Chaotic Good)and Jaheira (the female half-elf is a True Neutral Fighter/Druid, as well as a member of the Harpers). We three battle to make good our escape from the powerful Mage who imprisoned and tortured us, one Jon Irenicus. Along the way, we discover that Jaheira’s husband Khalid has been tortured to death. Minsc, still mourning the loss of his witch, Dynaheir, tries to comfort her, but to no avail. Moving on, we meet up with another attempted escapee, the human male Bounty Hunter (True Neutral) known as Yoshimo.

Making good our escape at last form the evil underground lair, we find ourselves in the streets of a great city (Athkala) in the nation of Amn, South along the Sword Coast from Baldur’s Gate. Here, magic is outlawed, and magicians are locked up ‘somewhere unknown’ by the Cowled Wizards (ironic, ain’t it?). As we are in battle against Jon Irenicus, whose lair was caught up in a fight between rival ‘gangs’ (the Shadow Thieves versus the Vampires), the Cowled Wizards show up and take away Irenicus and Imoen, leaving the rest of us just standing there.

Nobody seems to know where Imoen can be found, or how to rescue her. We find a circus tent under an evil enchantment and save its inhabitants, and thus we let Aerie (a female Avariel Elf, a Lawful Good Cleric/Mage) join with us. She is a winged elf who has lost her wings, but still has a very bright disposition.

Off to the Slums area of town, to the Copper Coronet, where we rest, and then ditch Yoshimo, who nobody trusts. Dredna, Minsc, Jaheira, and Aerie are joined by Korgan, a male Berserker Dwarf (Chaotic Evil). We meet up with a guy, who tells us he can contact an organization that will help us get Imoen back, but it’ll cost us 20,000 gold pieces. We agree, reluctantly.

Back to the Copper Coronet, where we take up with Nalia, a human female (Neutral Good) Mage/Thief. She is from a rich castle far out of the city walls that has been overtaken, and wishes us to rescue her family and her castle. We agree, and travel there, only to discover that she hasn’t told us that it was taken over by Trolls! We fight our way through the Trolls, but in the end she discovers her father dead. Without a male heir, she loses the castle, so she continues to travel with us.

Having earned some money, we get into a few minor skirmishes in the city that help us out. A messenger tells us to talk to that guy again, who tells us the price has dropped to 15,000 gold pieces, which we currently have, so we meet with him, and he says that the Shadow Thieves are on the case, we should go talk to their second-in-command, Renal Bloodscalp, in the docks district.

Renal Bloodscalp has us running and doing many tasks for him, after which we are given a key that lets us in to see Arin Lindvale, who is in charge of the Shadow Thieves, who assures us a plan is underway to free Imoen. In the meantime, would we please do these tasks for him?

As part of all these ridiculous tasks, we infiltrate a sect of the Shadow Thieves that is led by a man who is not very nice; indeed, he is trying to take over the operation, as we are told by none other than the mage Edwin (who then tries to join us, but we decide to turn him down for now). Minsc wants to kill him outright, of course. Once we have this information, we take it back to Arin, who tells us to wipe out this guy and his thugs. Just before the battle starts, Minsc tells Aerie that he desires for her to be his new witch, and she agrees. Oh, Minsc is so happy! And then, in the ensuing battle, Aerie is killed…and, being the cold bastard that I am, I decide she can stay dead.

We then save Viconia, the female Drow Elf Cleric (Neutral Evil), from being burned at the stake, and she joins with us. Meanwhile, still a few more tasks to perform for Arin before he will help us get Imoen back!

Korgan is starting to bitch and grumble, and now we are looking to ditch him for somebody else as well.

Oh yeah, the evil (and crazed) wizard Xzar is also hanging out at the docks, and he says his little buddy Montaron has been captured by the Harpers, who are torturing him, and he wants to join with us and trash the Harpers and rescue the little Thief/Fighter Halfling. We said, ‘pass’. He still mutters at us every time we traipse past him.

Also, Jaheira got cursed by a guy who used to be a slaver who she exposed and ruined in her travels as a Harper, and said curse was quickly killing her. We managed to locate the home of the dude, and we got into battle with him and a couple of wizards. After killing them, we gained back a locket of Jaheira’s hair, which allowed the curse to be lifted and she was alright again.

We then find a group of theater players staying in an inn where they are performing. They are all ‘odd’, and we later find out it is because they are from a different plane of existence and are on the run from bounties hunters for something they did there. In the meantime, we agree to help them find one of their missing troupe, Haer’Dalis, who has been taken hostage why trying to recover a gemstone from an evil wizard in the sewers. Down to the sewers we go, to defeat said evil wizard and his hench-things. Haer’Dalis, who is a Bard and a nifty swordsperson, wishes to join us, so we ditch Korgan and accept him into our group. Korgan wishes to go up top and wait for us in the Copper Coronet, should we decide that we do want him after all, but we convince him to stay here in this hole-in-the-wall in the sewers and wait instead. Snicker snicker.

We head back to the theater group for our reward, and they come clean with us about who they are (‘they’ including Haer’Dalis), and that the gemstone wasn’t actually there’s, but is used to power a portal between the planes so they can escape as the bounty-hunters are getting too close to them again. They open up the portal, but a bounty hunter comes through, and next thing we know they have all disappeared into the portal (Haer’Dalis included, leaving our party short again).

A quick vote, and we follow them, ending up in an astral prison, from which apparently there is no escape. Well, we set the prisoners free,and then kill the jailor and the guards, and Haer’Dalis asks to join us full-time, which we agree to.
Back on our own plane, for shits-and-giggles we decide to take Xzar up on his quest to rescue Montaron from the Harpers. We are allowed into the Harpers’ HQ, but are warned to not go up to the second floor. After finding a necklace that, when worn, allows us to pass by the spectral guards on the top floor, we explore it, finding that it looks like the Harpers have turned Montaron into a bird. We take the bird and leave, presenting it to Xzar, who turns it back into a person through his spells…only it isn’t Montaron, it is a Harper assassin with a poisoned dagger who kills Xzar, then warns us to stay out of Harper business and tries to walk away – out of a sense of old loyalties to Xzar, we kill her.

We go back to the Shadow Thieves HQ to talk with Arin Lindvale, who assures us that if we go to the GraveYards and down underneath them and deal with Bodhi, the leader of the Vampires that have been hounding them (and us), that he will then get Imoen released to us. We grumble, but we agree.

Back outside, Jaheira is called away briefly on Harper business. We wait at the nearest inn, and she is back the next day, telling us that the leader of the harpers in this area, a man she does not particularly like, is asking to see me, and she strongly advises me to go and see this man; if I don’t, she can no longer travel with me.

At Harpers HQ, this man asks me about my heritage as a Bhaaal-spawn (prodigy of the lord of murder), and seems to have judged me before I even got here, as no matter what I answer he finds fault with it, which angers Jaheira to no end. Finally, he says that he will enspell me, and place me in a coffin deep within the earth so that I can never be a threat to anyone ever. Jaheira freaks out, as do I, and our party of six adventurers destroys the assembled Harpers.

Down under the Graveyard district, we defeat a bunch of Vampires (not an easy chore!); their leader, Bodhi, battles us for a while, but is much stronger than we and seems to be merely toying with us. Bodhi reveals that she has been working with Irenicus, and that she is just testing me. She even tells me that I “have ignored what is going on with Imoen right in front of my eyes”, or something to that effect. We battle her with renewed fervour, but she just laughs and leaves in a puff of smoke, telling us that maybe we shouldn’t trust the Shadow Thieves after all…

Arin Lindvale is not happy when we accuse him of holding out on us, but then admits that he has done just that. He says it was the Shadow Thieves who attacked the dangerous Jon Irenicus, and that when we walked away from the underground lair and were the only ones to do so, he had us closely watched to see whose side we were truly on. Arin tells us Irenicus is very powerful and very dangerous (which we really already had guessed). He then tells us that Imoen has been taken to Spellhold, an island prison for mages and troublemakers that the Cowled Wizards set up a long time ago. He has booked us passage on a boat, with Captain Saemon, to get there; it is about a 7 day sail. As this Captain may be an unscrupulous pirate, he also sends with us a Shadow Thief named Sime; her job is to stand by the Captain with a drawn dagger and make sure we arrive safely.

Arrive safely we do, but are immediately attacked by vampire son the pier, an ambush set up by Saemon, who runs off during the fighting. Sime advises us to look around the town of Brynnlaw and try to find a way to enter the Asylum (or prison, if you prefer).


So, here is the group at this point;

First…Dredna Sweetstream, a Level 11 Ranger, Chaotic Good, Female, Elf.

Strength=18, Dexterity=17, Constitution=17, Intelligence=9, Wisdom=15, Charisma=18.

She has a -5 Armour Class, and wields two swords, Namarra +2, and the Sword of Flame +1.


Second…Minsc, a Level 11 Ranger (and his giant miniature space hamster Boo!), Chaotic Good, Male, Human.

Strength=21, Dexterity=18, Constitution=16, Intelligence=8, Wisdom=6, Charisma=9.

Minsc has a -6 Armour Class; he uses the two-handed Sword of Chaos +2 (which used to belong to Dredna’s half-brother, Sarevok), and for long-distance fighting he wields the Strong Arm + 2 longbow.


Third…Jaheira, a Level 9 Fighter and a Level 12 Druid, True-Neutral, Female, Half-Elf. She is also a member of the Harpers.

Strength=18, Dexterity=17, Constitution=17, Intelligence=10, Wisdom=14, Charisma=15.

Jaheira has a -8 Armour Class, she uses the Staff Mace and a Sling +2.


Fourth…Viconia, a Level 11 Cleric, Neutral Evil, Female, Drow Elf.

Strength=25, Dexterity=19, Constitution=8, Intelligence=16, Wisdom=18, Charisma=15.

Viconia has a -8 Armour Class, and she wields the Dwarven-forged war hammer Crom Faeyr, as well as a Sling +1.


Fifth…Haer’Dalis, a Level 12 Blade (sub-category of a Bard), Chaotic Neutral, Male , Tiefling.

Strength=19, Dexterity=17, Constitution=9, Intelligence=15, Wisdom=13, Charisma=16.

Haer’Dalis uses two short swords, one in either hand; they are named Entropy and the Chaos Blade.


Sixth…Nalia, a Level 4 Thief and a Level 12 Mage, Chaotic Good, Female, Human.

Strength=21, Dexterity=18, Constitution=16, Intelligence=17, Wisdom=9, Charisma=13.

Nalia was a Thief who gave up that career to become a Mage, so she no longer advances levels as a Thief. She uses the short sword Cutthroat +4, and the Short Bow of Gesen (a magical bow that fires lightning bolts).