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CHAPTER 1 | CHAPTER 2 | CHAPTER 3 | CHAPTER 4 | CHAPTER 5 | CHAPTER 6 | CHAPTER 7 | CHAPTER 8 | CHAPTER 9 | CHAPTER 10 | |
Underdark | Kuo-Toan Caves | Illithid City | Beholder Caves | Ust Natha | Leaving the Underdark | |
Kuo-Toan Caves
Tainted Tadpoles
The entrance to the kuo-toan Caves can be pretty tricky to find. It's at the western edge of the Underdark, just a little south of the bridge leading to the Deep Gnome village.
Once there, there's a cave that's a little east and then north at the end of a narrow tunnel. Inside the cave will be a Beholder and two Gauths. Avastrian equips the Shield of Balduran and marches in, and manages to bring down the Beholder. His Shield gets stripped by the Telekinesis power of one of the Gauths (a power given to Beholders by SCS), but by then the rest of the party can safely march in and finish off the Gauths.
I then click on the pool in the room to procure some Tainted Tadpoles. These will become relevant to dealing with a particularly powerful kuo-toan later on.
There will be another cave at the end of a north-leading tunnel, to the east. Inside will be several kuo-toans. Imoen sets up a pair of Skull Traps right at the door. Anomen then blankets the cave with a Fire Storm. The kuo-toans are either forced to die outright inside the cave itself, or come to me severely weakened.
I continue eastwards. At some point, Jaheira casts Protection from Fire on herself. The reason is that the tunnel leading east will inflict fire damage on anybody who crosses it for the first time on a one-off basis. This way, Jaheira absorbs it harmlessly.
Demonknights
Towards the southeast corner of the area is a large cave with an altar dedicated to Demogorgon at its north end. It demands a sacrifice of an animal. Once it gets the requisite sacrifice, five Demonknights will appear and attack the party.
The Demonknights hit hard in physical combat, and can use spells like Fireball, Power Word: Stun, Symbol: Stun, and Power Word: Blind. Their attacks can also drain levels.
I do plenty of buffing up, including Protection from Fire for everyone, Potions of Giant Strength, and Remove Fear. Anomen summons four (but not five) Skeleton Warriors, in order to leave enough room for the animal sacrifice I need. Avastrian caps it off with Haste.
Next, I position the party itself to the left of the Altar, closest to where one of the Demonknights will appear, and furthest from where the others will appear. I then spread out the Skeleton Warriors to where the others will appear, to hold them up as meat shields.
Next, Imoen uses her Kitthix Figurine by the Altar to start the fight. It then becomes a matter of chopping them down one at a time, drinking Potions of Extra Healing when needed. Part way through I realized it was a good idea to have Jaheira cast Defensive Harmony. Note that when Anomen got level-drained, I checked his prepared spells to make sure he could still cast Lesser Restoration. And indeed, he has to cast it on himself and Minsc after the battle is over.
Four of the Demonknights will each leave behind a Two-Handed Sword +1. One of them, which appeared towards the northeast corner of the cave, leaves behind the following:
Kuo-Toan Prince
Now I head up towards the northern portions of the caves. There will be groups of kuo-toans to contend with. They're not overly dangerous to contend with as long as you're careful. It's not completely void of danger either. Their Priests and Wizards can cast Dispel Magic or Remove Magic, as well as other spells. If your protections are removed, they also have rogue-types who will go for backstabs. For the first group, I have both Anomen and Minsc (via his Horn of Silence) send a Silence 10' Radius their way to prevent the Priests and Wizards from casting spells. Avastrian casts Fireball while Imoen casts Skull Trap. After that it's a matter of mopping up and killing them off.
The next group will be further north, in a room on the other side of a narrow hallway. The formula is the same. Anomen blankets the room with Fire Storm, and Imoen leaves a pair of Skull Traps at the choke point.
Once most of them are gone I charge in. There's still a few kuo-toans left, so I fight it out for the time being. At one point the kuo-toan Prince, who for the present enjoys rapid regeneration during combat, will arrive. Once this happens, Avastrian casts Haste on the party. The party then rushes to the room to the east. I click on the pool at the west edge of the room three times in order to contaminate the pool with the Tainted Tadpoles I collected earlier. This drastically reduces the Prince's regeneration rate. After that my Hasted party has little trouble wasting the remaining kuo-toan forces.
The Prince leaves behind quite a few gems. I stow the Pearls away, since I'll use them for a pair of upgraded helmets available under the Item Upgrade mod. The Prince also leaves behind the Bracers of Blinding Strike (Improved Haste 1/day). I used to have Anomen use these in past playthroughs, but I have better in mind for him.
The video concludes with me leaving the kuo-toan Caves. My next destination is the Illithid City.
