The Siege

You’ll now have to participate in another conference. Kana will also give you the Rod of Resurrection as a present from Lord Nasher.

You again have to select two characters for you party. As with the battle at the outskirts I find that between your PC and two companions it is best to reach this set up: (1) A strong melee fighter that can take on directly any undead that come close. It is preferable to have one with a weapon that can inflict holy damage since this guarantees a certain amount of damage no matter what type of resistances a particular kind of undead may have. (2) A damage caster. I find Qara truly shines in this role, since she can make repeated use of Sunburst, Chain Lightning, and fire based spells. (3) A healer who by this point can also add another offensive touch with spells like Firestorm and Sunbeam. Either Elanee or Zhjaeve are adequate for that role. You’ll also have to make a couple of decisions about which units will help you out (Greycloak Archers, Greycloak Fighters, Ironfist Fighters, Lizardfolk Fighters). Once you’ve made your decisions, the siege begins.

It basically boils down to this, six siege towers loaded with undead are heading towards the battlements of your keep. They’ll reach various points of the battlements one at a time. Once one does reach, undead will keep coming out of them until the tower is destroyed. The easiest way to destroy a siege tower is by hitting it with offensive spells, fire-based spells in particular. If you’ve run out of spells, you’ll have to hit the tower with your weapons. This can turn into a bad proposition because often the undead can block you from reaching the tower, and because it can take a long time to bring them down this way meaning that lots of undead will be coming out. The optimal strategy is to safely hit them with area-effect spells that damage both the tower and nearby undead.

Once all six towers are destroyed, you’ll have to deal with the undead breaking through the gate. You’ll have a chance to rest up before the fighting begins.  Bishop in the meantime decides yours is the losing side and bolts. Once it starts, now is the time to crank out all the offensive spells that you can. Casting spells with a very large area of effect at the front end of the gate can work wonders here. Once you’ve killed enough undead, Black Garius will show up here. If they’re not in your party yet, Ammon Jerro and Zhjaeve will now join you as well. Garius summons an avatar of the King of Shadows in the form of a Nightwalker. Don’t worry about Garius just yet, since destroying the Nightwalker is crucial to progressing the game. It takes a lot of damage, and dishes out quite a lot as well. It also drains from your characters. If your characters don’t have items that protect them from draining, the Undeath’s Eternal Foe spell might be a good idea here. Once you’ve destroyed it, a cinematic ensues whereby Garius lashes out desperately. Either Ammon or Zhjaeve (depending on who you chose) will drive Garius away by reciting the True Name spell on him. The undead army is now vulnerable to sunlight, and the day is won.

Once its over, you’ll have a conference in the central room of the Keep. Aldanon has figured out how to use the Tome of Iltkazar to get your party close to the King of Shadows’ stronghold. Now yourself and literally every remaining NPC companion is teleported away to the Vale of Merdelain.