Baldur's Gate II Chapter 9

Baldur's Gate II Chapter 9 is the ninth part of Baldur's Gate II and the second of Throne of Bhaal. After defeating Illasera and Yaga-Shura, as well as learning your life before the death of Gorion, you move ever closer to your destiny. Under Melissan's advice you have traveled to Amkethran to see her ally, Balthazar.
==Amkethran==
When you arrive in the town of Amkethran, go north to the monastery gates and you will be met by a monk. He will direct you to the unofficial leader of the town, Balthazar. Balthazar will give you the location of two enclaves where two more of the chaos seeking bhaalspawn are, but will tell you to stay out of his way. You can go to either of the locations first but on this page it shows Sendai's Enclave first.
==Sendai's Enclave==
Travel to Sendai's Enclave. You arrive in the area outside the enclave and immediately will see a woodcutter. If you want to avoid a long fight then you should try to kill the woodcutter now. If you want the experience, talk to the woodcutter. He will tell you that he saw some strange looking elves to the west. Go to the southwest area of the map and you will be attacked by Drow (96.000 XP). Talk to the woodcutter again. He will tell you that he heard some voices by his wife's grave. Go up north to the graveyard and more drow will attack (32.500 XP). When you return to the woodcutter again, he and several other drow will attack you (around 25.000 XP). Once the woodcutter is dead, the entrance to the enclave will appear (10.000 XP per party member). Kill the three guards (19.500 xp) and disarm the trap. Scan the map for another Drow group in the southeast (around 25.000 XP). Go through the entrance into the enclave.
In the entrance area fight your way east to the drow barracks. Along the way you will encounter many spiders, spore, drow and umber hulks. In the barracks you will have to fight more drow. Take the key from Thelynn'ss' body. As you leave the barracks with the key, you will see a cut-scene where Sendai is being told of the intruder (you) and tells a commander to release her pets into the south tunnels and her slaves in the north tunnels (5000 XP per party member).
When you are out of the barracks, you must choose whether to go through the north or south tunnels (you can combine them). If you go through the north tunnels, you will have to fight the slaves that will keep appearing until you have killed the slave master (so long as you stay near the entrance, this will be Derro-Dwarves at 12.000 XP each, an easy farming spot). If you go through the southern tunnels, you will have to fight many spiders and defeat their queen Lashar'ra. In the side areas there are many traps (worth around 25.000 XP). If you travel through the southern tunnels and reach the next area, the slave master of the northern tunnel will disappear, disabling the spawning function.
After making your way through either of the tunnels, you arrive at the crossroads. Go down the north-west stairs, kill the drow and enter Odamaron's Lair. Defeat the lich Odamaron and take the Drow Wardstone (and the Heart of the Damned) off his body. As you leave with the wardstone you will see another cut-scene, this time where Sendai finds out that the intruder (still you) is Gorion's Ward and tells Diaytha her priestess to stop the ward from getting further into her enclave (5000 XP per party member). When you are out with the Drow Wardstone, go through the north-east door. 
You arrive in Diaythas area. Diaytha will set you a challenge which you must complete before you can reach her. The door on the right will open and you will have to kill two Greater Earth elementals and Ogremoch, the prince of the Earth. Ogremoch has the ability to cast Earthquake. When the prince is dead, the door on the left will open. Through the door on the left you will have to fight Diaytha, a Hive Mother, a Vampire, a Demon Knight and an Abishai. When Diaytha the priestess is dead, the door to the next area will open.
In the next area you will find Captain Egeissag. The beholder next to him will suggest a one-on-one pit fight. If you reject the offer you will have to fight the captain and his very hard to reach drow warriors. If you accept, the beholder will cast a geas on your party and the Captain's drow warriors so when one person dies so will their allies. When the captain is dead, you will see yet another cut-scene, this time where Sendai is ordering her mind flayer ally Mithykyl to unleash his illithid against Gorion's Ward (5000 XP per party member).
Buff up as usual (Chaotic Commands, Protection from Evil, Chant, Haste, Mass Invisibility and others), give Minsc or another appropriate character the Psions Blade. Go through the exit in the arena and you will be in a mind flayer lair. Well prepared, it is a matter of seconds to kill the Ulitharid and the Umber Hulk. Behind the two doors on the right dispatch two Vampiric Illithids (14.000 XP each). Go through the small passageway through the door opposite you and you will be attacked by Mithykyl, along with a couple of Ulitharids and Umber Hulks. Before you go into the next and last area, you should rest and prepare for a tough battle.
In the last area, Sendais Inner Sanctum, Sendai will hail you and create seven statues of herself, each one on one of the platforms in the sanctum. After she is done talking, she will teleport out and one of the statues will turn to life and attack. Each time a copy of Sendai is dead, two drow will appear on the stairs out and another statue will turn to life. When all the copies of Sendai are gone, the real Sendai will re-appear and attack. When she is dead, you will be sent to the Pocket Plane where the Solar will ask you of your future and open another challenge.
==Abazigal's Lair==
When you arrive at the Abazigal's Entrance, you will meet Abazigal's son, Draconis. He will say that only his kind, dragons, are worthy of Bhaal's blood and attack in human form. When he is near death he will change into his true, dragon form and be replenished. This can be a tough battle as his breath can cause acid damage and is able to turn invisible over and over again (buffs like Haste and True Sight are helpful). When you have finally killed him, take his head off his body so you can enter inside Abazigal's Lair Entrance Hall.
When you arrive in the Abazigal's Lair Entrance Hall, your presence will quickly be realized and the place will be locked down. Straight away you will have to fight a Greater Werewyvern and some Lesser Earth Elementals. Make sure you collect the empty flask off the Werewyvern's body. As all the doors have been locked, you will have to get around by swimming through the underground tunnels.
Go to the fourth (the most western) pool and click on it to dive through it to reach the Frost Salamander Cave. Kill a few Frost Salamanders. Go to the other side of the area and walk through the exit to the next room. When you have killed the Bone Fiends, click on the spring to fill the empty flask you collected earlier. Go the same way back to the entrance area.
Next go through the first (the most eastern) pool, you arrive in Abazigal's Lair Cells. Fight your way through the many Kuo-Toa and Greater Water Elementals. In a cell you will find one of Balthazars monks (Hindo?), caught while on a special mission. Speak to him and he will give you a rope that will help you get through the not-so-clear tunnels. He will also tell you of a dragon under Abazigal's influence that guards the inner sanctums of his lair, and that you need a Scroll of Reversal to free it. Then he will die and drop the upgrade item Hindo's Hand. Return to the entrance area.
Now go through the third (center north) pool, you arrive in the laboratory area. Here you will find many floating eyeballs known as 'Seekers'. They are fast moving and can constantly keep casting Acid and Flame arrow. Go to the north-west of this area and you can talk to Iycanth the Mad. He will agree to give you a Scroll of Reversal if you fetch him a Gauth's Eyestalk. You can either dive through the pool just east of you and kill the Gauth, who is accompanied by three Elder Orbs. Or you can use a Stone to Flesh Scroll to restore three adventures and get them to do the task for you. They will return immediately (real time, the ingame time will be a few days) with the eyestalk and the Bronze Pantalettes (the last upgrade item required for the Big Metal Unit), which is the only way to get the latter. You can combine the two ways: after obtaining the pantalettes, you can dive yourself through the pool, the Gauth and the Elder Orbs will still be there for 51.000 XP. When you have the eyestalk, search for Iycanth, who seemingly vanished - actually he did go to his laboratory which you will reach diving through the pool just west of the position of the statues. Give him the eyestalk, he will give you the Scroll of Reversal. Loot his tables for the Juggernaut Golem Page. Find your way back to the Entrance area, the formerly sealed lab door can be opened from inside and the same goes for the door in the southeast of this area.
Next dive through the second (center south) pool, you arrive in Abazigals Antechambers. Go to the west of the area and talk to Fil'Yissetat, the guardian dragon. Use the Scroll of Reversal on her and she will give you Abazigal's Wardstone so you can enter his inner sanctum. The door between the antechambers and the entrance area can now be opened from inside. Prepare for a tough battle, because after entering the next area, you can not leave it anymore until the battle is won (teleporting to the Pocket Plane is possible, but from there you can only return to your previous position).
In Abazigals Inner Sanctum you will encounter eight Ice Salamanders surrounding Abazigal. Dispatch them without Abazigal spotting you, sneaking along the walls and luring them to you. Buff up, he does not dispel anything in his human form. When you see Abazigal, he will reiterate what Draconis said about dragons being the only kind worthy of Bhaal's blood. Like Draconis he will start out in human form and only when he is near death will change into his true dragon form. He has a powerful breath ability that works like Chain Lightning, but a lot worse. But he dispels almost nothing of your buffs or clones and summons, so tanking with units soaking the damage and his initial debuff will do.
When he is dead, you will be summoned back to the Pocket Plane where you will find out about the five and their actions. Back and leaving Abazigals Lair you will encounter Elminster who gives you the last hints.
==Balthazar==
When you have defeated both Abazigal and Sendai, return to Amkethran and find a way inside Balthazar's monastery. From this point on, any monk or mercenary here will be hostile, as you have been made a public enemy. There are three ways:
*Attack the gates
*Go to the smugglers cave and get help from Saemon Havarian
*Go through the graveyard
If you go for the gates, you will have to kill the leader of the monks (20.000 XP) and take the key off him. The monks at the gate and the mercenaries at their tents will keep re-spawning until 15 to 20 of each group have shown up (10.000 XP each monk, 8000 XP each mercenary).
If you want help from Saemon, you need to talk to him in the smugglers cave. He will take you into the monastery and meet up with some more monks. He will leave you there to fight them.
If you want to go through the graveyard, Speak to Zakee Rafeha, the tavernkeeper, and he will tell you that Faheed and Majira might know a way in. Speak to them in their house on the cliff and you will be given the Graveyard Key. In the Graveyard, the Key will open one of the doors on the balcony that will lead to the Monastery.
When inside the monastery, you should prepare for battle before moving. When you start to go up the stairs, you will be instantly sent in front of Balthazar at his throne.
Balthazar will say that he plans to take Bhaal's power for himself, but not to cause chaos. He wants to take Bhaal's power and then perform a suicide ritual to kill him and Bhaal together. He will say your death is a necessity and attack.
Balthazar has the standard monk abilities as well as additional abilities which you wouldn't be able to get. These abilities are:
*Strength of 22.
*Shadow Stance (Invisibility).
*Second Wind (Dimension Door and Heal in one blow).
*Solar Stance (a Sunfire spell that also kicks opponents back).
*Lunar Stance (a spell trigger that releases Bigby's Crushing Hand, Magic Missile, and Greater Malison at once).
The battle should be easier than the ones with Sendai and Abazigal, if you buff up and work extensively with summons. When Balthazar is dead, you will be yet again be summoned to the Pocket Plane. This time you will learn of Melissan's deceit towards you and the five, and who she really is. Back at the monastery you now have the last possibility to travel to other areas, including Watchers Keep.
When you have killed Balthazar and completed the five challenges in the Pocket Plane, prepare for the last battle. In the next area you can not rest, so it can help to have Wish memorized.
When prepared, go through the exit one last time and Chapter 10 will begin.
Category:Storyline