Getting Here: Arrive from Suldanessellar.
Well this is it brave warrior. Your journey has taken you all around the nation
of Amn in search of adventure, fortune and fame but it is now that all that exploration,
experience and knowledge will come to you in one final battle! Can you smell that
foul man Jon Irenicus? Taste the very blood that pulsates through his veins? Hear
his maniacal laughter mocking your every step? Your time is here soulless and it's time
to take back what is rightfully yours! Search yourself well in the tests to come and
learn of who and what you are while you prepare to make history in all of Faerun.
Here at the abyssal door shall the final battle
take place between you and Jon Irenicus along with his pet Balors and Glabrezus
but first you'll have to go through five tests and pick up five TEARS
OF BHAAL. Having these in your possession will not only allow you
to open the door but also give your character particular bonuses.
The path you walked through each test has different results when you place each TEAR OF BHAAL into the
available eye socket to open the abyssal door and these effects are listed below.
THE TEST OF WRATH
If you walk in the light - Gain immunity to +1 or lower weapons
THE TEST OF GREED
If you walk in the light - Gain +10% to your magic resistance
THE TEST OF SELFISHNESS
If you walk in the light - Gain +2 permanent bonus to all your Saving Throws
THE TEST OF FEAR
If you walk in the light - Gain +20% to your resistance to Fire, Cold and Electricity
THE TEST OF PRIDE
If you walk in the light - Gain +1 permanent bonus to both Wisdom and Charisma
Your anger and indignation will show in this test as you come to face Sarevok and it is
with his words he will attempt to goad you into slicing him down. If your wrath gets
the best of you, a battle will begin quicker than if you held yourself in control. If
you keep your poise and remain calm, you will have the pleasure of speaking with Sarevok
for much longer and he will be the one to attack you.
The road you walk comes to a fork. Is your soul full of wrath or not? If it is, you
walk in the dark. If it is not, you walk in the light.
Once you've made your choice and the battle is over, you will gain the first TEAR OF BHAAL.
Your journey has brought you face to face with riches that any normal man or woman would never
see in their own lifetime and even then can one still become greedy, not wanting to share these
treasures with others. Rather, they prefer to stock them in boxes, chests or other hiding places
in and around Athkatla but for what purpose? Certainly not to sell for if that was the case, those
items you would not be hanging on to. Greed plays a strong part here and it is with this test
that you will learn just how greedy you really are.
You will be greeted by Greed who will speak of an item so powerful and strong that for it to exist
and not be accounted for would be surprising. Well, don't let your eyes pop too far out of your
head as you are given this very item, Blackrazor, an enchanted, powerful and very evil long sword.
It is yours, no strings attached but it is what you do with it that will matter.
As you step on the lava stones and over the bubbling pool of molten rock, you will come face to face
with an enslaved Genie who wants nothing more than to be set free and it is you who can do so. There
are two ways of doing this so you can attain the second TEAR OF BHAAL. The first is to hand Blackrazor
to the enslaved Genie while the other is to kill him with it.
The road you walk comes to a fork. Are you full of greed or not? If you are, you will kill the Genie
with Blackrazor and walk in the dark, keeping the long sword. If you are not, you will hand over
Blackrazor to the Genie and walk in the light.
Once you've made your choice, you will gain the second TEAR OF BHAAL.
There are times in your life that you will come across people who will come to think of you as being
selfish or who look at you with their eyes and see you as selfless, always thinking of others. Your
adventure and how you've played should be a big clue to this, especially when you ask a fellow party
member to dismiss your ranks.
A beast of Bhaal's Realm shall greet you before two closed, wooden doors and tell you that each door
has a price to pay. The left door is that of someone who is selfless and thinks of others before
himself. So if you've dismissed members from your party and never took all the equipment back that
you gave them and that equipment they rightfully earned defending you, step through this door. You will
of course suffer the penalty by losing 2 hit points permanently, losing 1 dexterity point permanently and
losing 75,000 experience points. Taking the door on the right will mean that you are the type of person
who would dismiss a party member, strip them of all their equipment and tell them to get lost into the
cold night. This door shouldn't even make you shed a tear as one of your own party members are killed
but really, what difference does it make to you? You still get to pick up all their equipment and keep
it for yourself just like you did when you told a member of your party to leave, even after they risked
arm and leg for you.
The road you walk comes to a fork. Are you a selfish person or not? If you are, you will let someone
else take the fall for you and walk in the dark. If you are not, you will face the consequences on your own and
walk in the light.
Once you've made your choice, you will gain the third TEAR OF BHAAL.
Fear comes in many shapes and forms and at times, when you least expect it as it catches you off guard.
Perhaps you've encountered such fear in your journey. Casting four cloudkills at a dragon who cannot be
seen while you stand around in safety only due to the fear you have of facing it like a true brave
warrior. Perhaps you faced an undead lich of extreme power only to run out the door and wait for his
magic to wear off or attacked a foul beast when they were still blue because you knew they would wax you otherwise.
It's all right of course; not everyone is a true brave warrior.
Here you shall be greeted amid screams and calls of nightmares and torture as well as your own fear.
Of course, if you feel you cannot face your own fears there is a soothing cloak that you could hold onto
for some security to get you through this. Accepting it will allow you to void the effects of the
red crystals at the back of the room while declining the offer will mean you will have to face your
fears without it. A nice pack of Beholders will help you face your fears with glowing eye stalks and magical
power.
The road you walk comes to a fork. Do you fear a lot of things or not? If you do, you will take the cloak
offered to you and walk in the dark. If you do not, you will decline the cloak and walk in the light.
Once you've made your choice, you will gain the fourth TEAR OF BHAAL.
Certainly you will have been proud more than once in your adventure, perhaps because you no longer
had to exploit the game engine to win a battle or due to the fact you met the Adamantine in the
Windspear Hills and killed it without having to use ranged weapons when it got stuck in the archway.
Your pride will be tested once again and you'll learn if you're full of it, or not.
It would seem that the beast that is speaking to you is more full of it than perhaps you will ever
be, but he's only giving you an overweening opinion of your own qualities and merits. A beast within
the lair ahead is what he wants you to kill for him and as you converse with him, it will be your pride that will be
dented as he works his wording to get you to walk inside. Regardless, you will have to head into
the cavern either to be given the fifth TEAR OF BHAAL or to take it by force and defend your pride.
Don't let what others say about you get to you, especially one such as this foul beast!
The road you walk comes to a fork. Do the words he speaks make you feel proud? If so, you will be walking
into the cavern to face a dragon and one you must kill. If his words do not make you feel proud, you will
question his motive and when you walk into the cavern, you may ask the dragon for the fifth TEAR OF BHAAL.
Once you've made your choice, you will gain the fifth TEAR OF BHAAL.
Once you have placed the last TEAR OF BHAAL into the final eye your final calling
will begin as Jon Irenicus comes forth to take each of you down, one by one like
bowling pins. Of course, you didn't come all this way in your journey to let
that happen and it's about time you teach this crazy man some manners! Dance the
dance of battle and do it with grace and style brave warrior because this is it!
The last stand!
First of all, don't be wasting your time and resources on casting any spells on your
party before you use the last TEAR OF BHAAL because all effects will be negated and
removed from the entire party. It's best you do these things during battle and as
quickly as possible and I found Aerie to be very helpful in this last stage of my
adventure due to her Cleric/Mage multi-class. Not only was she able to weave her
hands and stop time itself with a Time Stop spell, but also had the ability to cast
those early level defensive spells on herself and the rest of the party. Bless,
Defensive Harmony, Haste, Protection from Evil 10' Radius and to top it off, a Simulacrum
spell just before Time Stop ended. Now I had two Aeries.
The Protection from Evil 10' Radius should be enough to ward off the foul beasts
that Jon Irenicus had called forth and give you time to battle
Jon Irenicus and his Slayer form. Before you go after any of the Slayers, that is if
you happen to see more than one, wait to see if they attack you. If not, leave them
alone as I found the duplicates just stood there and did nothing after Jon Irenicus
had teleported off the battle field and behind the party into the fog of war. Now
whether or not this happens to you I cannot say, but keep an eye out for it.
With Protection from Evil 10' Radius glowing all around us, Aerie began to weave her
hands and brought forth a Wail of the Banshee spell which brought down two of the four
foul beasts that were standing around.
Like any spell, effects eventually wear off and when that happened, the remaining two
demons cut through me like a hot knife through butter and the first to go was Aerie's duplicate
who I didn't even get a chance to use followed by Aerie herself. I did my best to heal her and
move her out of the way but fate would not have it and she exploded into thousands of body
parts, never to return again.
With my main source of magic now removed, it was all about toe to toe attacks with Minsc, Valygar,
Keldorn, Jaheira and Grub, swinging wildly at the creatures and by the time the two beasts were
put to the ground, only Jaheira and Grub remained.
This is where I got confused because I knew I had not killed Jon Irenicus yet where Jaheira and Grub
stood there was no more threat. It was then I realized that he had teleported out of the battle and
I found him below all the action, standing around waiting.
Bad choice indeed. During the entire battle with the four creatures Jon Irenicus did nothing but
teleport away and this surprised me considering he was such a force to attempt to harm back in
Suldanessellar that having him during the battle would have made things so much more difficult.
Also by this time all of his spell protections had been spent and he was simply in his Slayer form
which I let Grub handle himself with Jaheira behind him in case he needed a quick heal.
A few swings with the Flail of Ages and Jon Irenicus was no more.
Grub cleaned his maw of blood and guts and he, as well as the party, were whisked out of Bhaal's
Realm to awaken back in Suldanessellar where our journey came to a close, Grubs soul and all. Here you
will watch the party be rewarded and thanked by Ellesime and be given the Amulet of Seldarine. You may
also notice that any character who happened to die during the last stand will be with you, although any
equipment they may have had will no longer be with them, stuck back in Bhaal's Realm.
This ends my own work on Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn and also ends your adventure... for now.
Throne of Bhaal, the expansion to Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn is the next installment of
your journey for adventure, fortune and fame. Perhaps we'll meet again but until then, travel
safe brave warrior.
This is a full list of all People found within Bhaal's Realm.
This is a full list of all Quests found within Bhaal's Realm.
You will have to find all five TEARS OF BHAAL which are located
on this very level so looking for them shouldn't be too difficult. Having all five will give you access to Jon Irenicus and allow for the final battle and journey
of your adventure to take place.
Here is the full list of each TEAR OF BHAAL and their location.
This is a full list of all Magical
Items found within Bhaal's Realm. Their locations can be found
by viewing the rooms separately through the solution as they are also covered
in the Room Statistics.
This is a full list of all Monsters
found within the rooms on all levels of Bhaal's Realm,
their locations can be found by viewing the rooms separately through the
solution as they are also covered in the Room Statistics.
Just when you think you'll be able to pack it up and pack it in, they drag it on again, this time making you drag your arse
around to five different parts of Bhaal's Realm to gain five tears needed to open the passage to
where Jon Irenicus can finally be fought. Thankfully it doesn't take long to gather up the five tears so you'll be able
to quickly end this adventure once and for all and put Jon Irenicus and this saga to an end.
To think of the grand scale of the adventure, over all Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn is an enjoyable game and one that you
can simply take your time in exploring and take a break from if need be. For all the development that went into bringing the slew of different quests, city districts,
people and locations outside of Athkatla feel alive, I figured this type of detail would continue through the entire game but it did not.
For instance, with Umar Hills you become very involved with the locals, each of them becoming something more
than an NPC fill-in character on the screen for each time you dig around looking for information, something comes along that gives the entire
area life which fuels the desire to solve the mystery. Did I feel like this in the Sahuagin City? Not at all and
perhaps you're not meant to being a race much different from your own but it would have been nice to have gotten that feeling of being different rather than
the feeling of it just being a filler location for more experience and items.
To me, from Spellhold to The Underdark all it felt like was a party running around getting
items and experience because the depth that was so profound in the earlier stages of the game seemed to vanish.
Perhaps that is why I found the game so drab from Spellhold on, at least until I was able to return to Athkatla in Chapter 6
where it breathed some life back into my adventure with the sounds, the sights and the people, plus giving me the freedom
to do what I want and go where I want.
Don't let my remarks of course be the voice that changes your
mind from playing again. As long as you enjoyed
the game, it's done its job and although there
are some things I would personally change in the
later stages of the game, I still enjoyed it nevertheless.
Not much in terms of party advancement except for your main character, who will get different benefits depending on the route they took
for the tests to gain the Tears of Bhaal. Since this is the last stage of your adventure before Throne of Bhaal, gaining these bonuses
as well as the experience for battling Jon Irenicus and his beasts will go towards the expansion.
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