Dark Tidings walkthrough

This is a walkthrough for the content added by the Dark Tidings mod for BG2.
__TOC__
== The quest ==
: (Journal headings: "Dark Tidings", "The crab claw", "Access into the tower", "The 'other side", "The undead watcher", "The Luminous Crystal", "The ritual")
* Travel to the Docks district of Athkatla, enter the upper floor of the Sea's Bounty Tavern, and talk to Thalass there. He wants to hire you to investigate a lighthouse that has mysteriously gone dark on a nearby island. Agree, and he leaves to prepare the ship.
* Talk to Thalass again in the bottom-right corner of the Docks district outdoors map , and tell him you are ready. You embark on the sea journey via cutscene.
* As your ship docks on Irphong island, it is boarded by sea trolls led by a sea hag. All the sailors are killed (you cannot save them), so your party is stranded.
* After dispatching the sea trolls on the ship and pier, explore the island.(The cave near the pier, as well as the bottom-right shipwreck and bottom-left beach, have optional monsters and minor loot.)
* When you climb the island's central hill, the sea hag Black Molly initiates dialog . No matter what you say, she attacks you together with her minions.
* OPTIONAL: Click the nearby lighthouse entrance , to learn that it is blocked by barnacles.
* OPTIONAL: Walk around the base of the lighthouse, to get taunted by Blackseer Brokus from up on the lighthouse roof.
* Bunker:
** OPTIONAL: Enter this small room via the staircase on the top-right platform of the island. Inside, the friendly Undead Guardian initiates conversation and spouts some cryptic clues. Leave him for now.
* Sirine cave:
** Enter this cave via the tunnel on the left side of the outdoors map .
** Inside, the sirine leader Skara initiates conversation. No matter what you say, she attacks together with her underlings. Loot the Crab claw[AC#DTCRC] from her body – and optionally more loot from the ground and containers, including a magic sword"Waterblade +2" [AC#DTSWW] (long sword +2, +40% cold resist., water blast 1/day).
* Back outdoors, click the lighthouse entrance with the crab claw in your inventory, to remove the barnacles and open the door. Enter the now-accessible lighthouse tower:
* Lighthouse floor 1:
** Floor trap and minor monsters.
** OPTIONAL: Click the oil barrel several times to receive 3 flaming oils, which are useful for fighting trolls.
** OPTIONAL: Take the piece of shadow substance"Shadow substance" [AC#DTSPD] out of the ground container on the left side of the room, and identify it in your inventory. It then disintegrates, which is a clue that this ground container is special.
* Lighthouse floor 2:
** Floor traps, and a note"Scribbled note" [AC#DT11N] on the ground (which contains a clue for later).
* Lighthouse floor 3:
** Here you are accosted by Blackseer Brokus. No matter what you say, he attacks. Loot Brokus' Chest Key[AC#DTKY1] and the Cultist Helmet[AC#DTCH2] from his body, and optionally his notes"Brokus' note" [AC#DT12N] (which contain clues) and other loot.
* Lighthouse floor 4:
** One chest is trapped and one requires the key from floor 3 to open – the latter contains the Cellar key[AC#DTKY2] and a diary"Brokus' diary" [AC#DTBK2] (which reveals more clues, as well as the backstory of how the cult took over the island).
* OPTIONAL: Lighthouse floor 5:
** Disarm the trapped lighthouse beacon, click it once to remove the cover, and a second time to learn that a crystal needs to be inserted to turn it on.
* OPTIONAL: Lighthouse roof:
** There's nothing here, but it's a nice view.
* Lighthouse floor 1, revisited:
** Unlock the trap door here using the key from floor 4, and climb down to the:
* Ritual chamber:
** There are four large stones on the wall here, corresponsing to the four elements Fire, Air, Earth, Water.
** Interact with each wall stone once, to learn that they contain symbols that can be pushed. Beware that the first time you approach the Earth and Water stones, a hostile monster spawns.
** OPTIONAL: Click the center-top stone tablet, to get some clues for this puzzle.
** Click each wall stone again to push their symbols, in this order: Fire (left), Water (bottom-right), Earth (top-right), Air (top-left). You receive , and a message that the central stone has activated.(If instead you push the symbols in the wrong order, it unleashes area effects that harm your party and you'll have to try again.)
** Now click the activated stone formation in the center of the chamber. A "Dark Voice" spouts some cryptic clues, and summons shadow monsters to attack you. Defeat them, and pick up the Shadow brick[AC#DTSBL] dropped by the biggest one. Take it back up to:
* Lighthouse floor 1, revisited:
** Place the shadow brick into the ground container on the left side of the room, and let one of your party members wear the cultist helmet from floor 3, to reveal a secret door on the left wall. Go through it, and click the creepy shadow portal on the cave wall behind it...
* You find yourself back outdoors, but in a dark shadow-realm version of the island.Walk down the stairs on which you arrived, until a Cultist initiates dialog. If your talking party memberThe cultist initiates dialog with the first party member he sees. is wearing the cultist helmet, and you say the correctThe clue for this is the "Scribbled note" found on floor 2 of the lighthouse. passphrase "The light must be extinguished [...]", you can pump the cultist for optional information.But no matter what, the cultist eventuallyEither during or after the conversation. turns hostile and attacks. He drops a note"Note" [AC#DT30N] with clues.
* OPTIONAL: Walk to the nearby platform to the top-right of where you arrived. The friendly Undead Guardian initiates conversation here , and explains what you need to do. Leave him for now.
* Make your way south, past the hostile Nightwing , and continue on the path that goes along the shore of the island, past various shadow monsters.
* The path eventually leads up a staircase to a temple courtyard (beware of the trapped floor symbol), where another Cultist initiates dialog . This one isn't fooled by any helmet, and attacks you together with more shadow critters.Take the large temple entrance to enter the:
* Shadow cult temple:
** The door behind you closes shut. Walk forward, to witness some cultists and their cult leader Vergol discuss the ritual to summon an aspect of their god. No matter what you say, they attack you. The leader drops Vergol's visions[AC#DTBK3] (quest item) (which reveals some more backstory) and Vergol's Holy Symbol[AC#DTVER] (quest item).
** Take the Luminous Crystal[AC#DTDIA] from the altar, to cause the Aspect of Tharizdun to appear. (You can actually also do this while the cultists are still alive, if you want an even harder fight.)The aspect taunts you, creates hostile shadow clones of all your party members, and attacks. Defeat it ( + magic cloak"Veil of choking darkness" [AC#DTSDC]), and the temple doors unlock again.
* Walk all the way back to where you entered the shadow realm. At the base of the broken tower, the Undead Guardian initiates conversation . He pleads with you to use the crystal for a ritual that would seal the shadow realm for good, and gives you a book"The Book of Rituals" [AC#DTRIT] that explains the ritual. Step through the tower's shadow portal , to return to the Prime Material Plane.It's now your choice whether to perform the ritual, or skip it:
* OPTIONAL: Ritual chamber, revisited:
** If you want to do the ritual, climb back down here from floor 1 of the lighthouse.
** Place the luminous crystal in the container at the base of the central altar.
** Then cast the three spells Protection From Evil, True Seeing, and Dispel/Remove Magic, in this order, inside the ritual chamber.(It does not matter which party member you use, and whether you cast them from scrolls or as wizard or priest spells or using innate abilities.)
** The first two correct spells you cast, cause a hostile shadow creature to spawn. The third one causes an earthquake which destroys this ritual chamber, as well as the shadow portal on floor 1. Your party receives minor damage and .
** Make sure to take the luminous crystal back out of the floor container, afterwards.
** Report the good news to the Undead Guardian in his bunker, which is reachable from the top-right platform of the outdoors map. He disappears for good, and leaves a magic ring"The Ring of Purest Blood" [AC#DTRI1] on the ground for you.
* Lighthouse floor 5, revisited:
** If you haven't done so earlier, disarmUsing a Thief's Find Traps skill. and uncoverBy clicking it. the lighthouse beacon.
** Place the luminous crystal in the beacon by clicking itWhile the crystal is in your inventory, obviously.. The beacon turns on, and you receive .(The crystal cannot be removed once inserted, so if you skipped the ritual, there is no way to do it now.)
** OPTIONAL: Go up to the roof to see what it looks like now.
* Return to the outdoors map of the island. Upon stepping out of the lighthouse, you are greeted by some sailors led by Jhanex, who explain that they came because they saw the light of the lighthouse shining again. They agree to wait for you on the ship you arrived in (which is still docked at the right side of the island).
* When you are ready to leave, talk to Jhanex again on the ship. You travel back to the Docks district of Athkatla via cutscene.
* Report back to Thalass in the Sea's Bounty Tavern. You receive , and:
** 3000 , if you tell him the truth and present both Vergol's notes and holy symbol.
** 2000 , if you tell him the truth and present only Vergol's notes.
** 1000 , otherwise.
== Item upgrades ==
The sword "Waterblade +2" found in the sirine cave on the island, can be upgraded by the smith Cromwell in the Docks district of Athkatla:
Input	Output
* "Waterblade +2" [AC#DTSWW] (long sword +2, +40% cold resist., water blast 1/day)
* 1 Aquamarine Gem
* 5000	"Waterblade +3" [AC#DTSW2] (long sword +3, +2 dmg and THAC0 against Kuo-Toa and Sahuagin, stuns Sahuagin for 1 round, +50% cold resist., water blast 1/day)
Category:Mod walkthroughs