I recently cleaned out most of the Crypts for Aran Linvail, and I know Bodhi is just a wooden-staking away. However, my crew, (Jaheira, Minsc, Korgan, Keldorn and Aerie, and me - assassin), are all hovering near level 9. Am I safe enough to run to Trademeet, maybe do the Guarded Compound (FURY!) before Aran starts complaining how long it takes me to kill Bodhi? (I know that if/when I zap Bodhi I collect my XP, and am whisked off to Spellhold, right?)

What have YOU done? I just want the best chance to beat this game without cheating.
*(unless you count advice gleaned from this very board - I kinda count this as a call to Miss Cleo, yknow?)* :grin: Thanks! :wave:

Are you safe enough to go to Trademeet? Why yeah, shoot that is one of the first places I go out of Athkatla. Then it's a toss up between Umar Hills and Nalia's Keep, saving Windspear Hills, Astral Prison, and Planar Sphere until after the others have been done.

Level 9? No problem. There are all sorts of things you can do... Mekrath's Tower. Take on the Unseeing Eye Quest. Trademeet. Nalia's Castle. Aran will wait forever it you need him to.

Aran won't complain ever. You can do whatever you want (and are up to the task of) before leaving for Spellhold. Conversely, you can do all of Spellhold and the Underdark at a pretty low level too (did that once also).

So maybe I misunderstood something. I just assumed that after I did Bodhi, and reported back to Aran, that I would be whisked off to Spellhold, without having picked up some waycool items before leaving! (I also want Yoshimo back in the party before I go).

So... I have lots of time to go do some of my favorite quests before I take off for Spellhold?

iirc you can choose to wait some time and come back later. Do almost ALL other quest before you go to Spellhold, it will be hard enough even on a high level.

That said, any suggestions which ones I can pick off pretty easy to pick up some XP?
(I get slaughtered pretty quick at Guarded Compound, but liked Trademeet OK)...
Any suggestions would be appreciated - I'm having trouble making a decision.
Thanks!
note: I've done Nalia's keep, and Windspear Hills in this iteration.

[This message has been edited by Nivek The Mad (edited October 11, 2001).]

Yeah, even after you kill Bodhi you can still hang around Athkatla as long as you want. Just tell Aran you're not ready to go yet.

It's a little bit hard to make suggestions because I don't know what you've done yet. Did you do Nalia's keep? That's a good early quest. You did the slaver quests in the Copper Coronet, right? You just did the Trademeet quests. Umar Hills and the Unseeing Eye (Temple district) aren't too hard. The murder mystery in the Bridge District is good too.

Also, don't feel like you HAVE to finish everything before you go to Spellhold. When you come back, you'll be able to do anything you didn't do yet then. And Spellhold isn't tough at all for a low-level party--in fact, if you take a higher-level party, the game adds in a lich and a few extra high-level monsters just to keep it challenging for you.

[This message has been edited by tjekanefir (edited October 11, 2001).]