I was goofing around the other day with my eeeeeevil cleric, and I noticed the Matron off to the side in the temple of Lolth (this after I'd gotten the key from Phaere & agreed to betray the Matron). I went & had a little chat with her... turns out you can betray Phaere to her, and the matron will even take Solaufein's eggs thinking they're the real ones. I did find that you can do the betrayal before you get the eggs, but then you lose the key and the real eggs get sacrificed (with the expected consequences).

I went the route of getting Phaere offed, let the Matron give the demon the wrong eggs, and then got myself the spiffy halberd in trade for those icky eggs.

Anyhow, I'd never thought of this option; kinda cool that it was there. I keep finding out stuff about this game...

I never knew about that. And, darn it, I've just finished the Underdark section of the game so it's too late to do it now. Amazing how many times you can play through this game (at least a dozen times start to finish) and *still* keep finding things you missed the first time.

BTW - what halberd do you get? I'm sure I've given the demon the eggs before but I don't remember if I got any halberd for it.

Who did you get the halberd from?

When the matron mother is killed, you get the gorgon plate and a few drow items which are useless on the surface (unless you employ one of the various cheats to prevent them from turning to dust).

If you offer the real dragon eggs to the demon (you have to be evil I think) in return for a powerful magical item, you'll get the halberd Blackmist.

How good is Blackmist? I found a pretty decent halberd in the Underdark that I'm quite happy with - Dragon's Breath +4, +1 fire, acid, electrical, poison and cold damage. Is Blackmist better than this?

It's been a while since I've gone that route, but I think Blackmist is also a +4 Halberd. I think it has other abilities beyond that (I think it gives resistance to something), but all in all, I don't think it is considerably better than Dragon's Breath.

Yep, I figured that out about the fourth time through. Matron mother just kills Phaere... but ONLY if you have enough evidence. If you just show her the key, Matron doesn't buy it and thinks you're a spy, city turns hostile, etc... If you also show her the fake eggs, then she believes you and summons Phaere over for punishment. And the rest of the story goes as you said.

And also like you said, you could show her the key before getting the real eggs, and she'll believe you... but you never get the real eggs in this case.

Something like that. I've played around with the three egg copies before, such as leaving one on the ground (not in inventory) when talking to matron etc.

Blackmist isn't drastically better than the Dragon's breath, but I'd used cold on the Ogre guy who had that weapon & he 'popped'. Then I accidentally hit 'Q'... :doh: It wasn't worthwhile to retrace my steps, so I just ate the loss as I knew that wasn't the only good Halberd.

Plus I was playing my first Chaotic Evil types, and it seemed appropriate to take it on the chin... well, really, put it on the chins & in the guts of the "weak dark elves who didn't deserve their reputation & had been so annoying". I normally play neutral/ to good, but this was kind fun & cathartic, mwa ha ha.

How do you mean the ogre 'popped'? I take it you chunked him. If so, why not just pick the Dragon's Breath Halberd up off the ground?

I believe he froze him and shattered him petrification style. I think that destroys the items as well.

I was pissed when that happened to Davaeorn in BG1.

Ah, understand. Too bad.

Then again, those guys always jump me about a minute after I've left the Drow city so loading from the last autosave shouldn't be any great hassle.