A man in plate mail, and armed with a sword and tower shield stood at attention when we descended the stairs to the fourth floor. "The bunch of you better have a good reason for being here."
Well, we didn't.
Davaeron's personal guard was actually pretty special. With his 18/52 strength, AC-1, Thac0 10 and APR1.5, he's actually a credible threat to the party. While he's not going to take anyone out, he's certainly going to hurt someone if he's underestimated.
That said, he's only level 5 and has relatively poor saving throws.
"Scatter!" I commanded, while pulling at my cloak. The party obliged, and I aimed the magic of Algernon's cloak at the guard. It had an 80% of connecting, so…
True enough, the guard in plate mail stopped attacking and gave me a big smile. "Awww, but aren't you just the cutest widdle halfling-"
"Shush! Not another word!" I shouted back, much to everyone's laughter.
In spite of my protests, I couldn't stop the stupid guard from giving my cheeks a squeeze, getting a big hug and my hair ruffled.
I'm beginning to think using this idiot cloak's magic isn't worth it.
Eh, tactically maybe I should have used the cloak earlier on the previous level of the base? Not that I had a particularly good target in mind. Maybe the Ogre Magi?
Hold Person would have worked just fine on this guard. Still, if we had needed someone to eat the brunt of Davaeron's spells for us, this guard could have been our guy with his 48hp. He wouldn't survive the process, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make, heh.
However, what was immediately visible from the stairs we emerged from was only a small bedroom with a simple bed, a simple carpet and the guard's chest here.
"This bed looks too shabby for the master of the mines. Even the other bedrooms we found earlier were better," Neera said.
I turned to the guard. "Where's Davaeron?"
The guard happily pointed to the southern wall, where the tell-tale scratches at the bottom of the wall which indicated a secret door. He didn't actually know how to open it, so it took us awhile to figure out how. Turns out the wall panel slides away to reveal a corridor leading forward.
Imoen stopped us from proceeding further. "Traps, and a lot of them."
Right, there was a series of FIVE traps here. They're particularly noteworthy so let's go through them in order.
Traps 1 & 2 (requires 30 Find Trap skill to disarm) each spawns a Battle Horror, a powerful enemy worth 4k each. Some players purposely trigger these for the experience, but they're tough and we wanted to focus on Davaeron by himself. I just had Imoen disarm them.
Traps 3 & 5 (requires 40 Find Trap skill) cast damage spells at us. Obviously, I had Imoen disarm them while we stood far back.
Trap 4, which shoots a Glyph of Warding (electric damage), was the problem. It required 90 Find trap skill to disarm which was downright obnoxious at this stage. I didn't feel like having Imoen quaff a potion JUST for this one trap, so I walked into it myself with the Boots of Electric resistance to reduce the damage if I failed to make the save. The Glyph activated harmlessly above my head, so yay for 'shorty saves'.
That left only Davaeron left to deal with. For now, he was just out of sight.
Before we faced Davaeron, it was time to Dual-classed Imoen to mage! There were no more traps of note for a long while and I didn't want her to miss out on the experience points going forward, after all.
I'm surprised my timing was so good really. Imoen had leveled up recently after accumulating 40k experience, and at this point when I decided to Dual class her she has 40140 experience. She only lost 140 experience from being set back to 0 experience as a mage. Very nice.
Imoen wouldn't have any spells prepared and no access to her thief skills until she reached level 8 in Mage, so for now all she could do to contribute was to hold some wands.
I had been considering Davaeorn for some time now.
Davaeorn, Davaeorn. Even before the battle he's been buffed with Mirror Image and Protection from Normal Missiles, and once the battle starts he will teleport around the map using Dimension Door. Just imagine a mage tossing fireballs at your party before teleporting away to strike at another angle and repeat the process. Striking Davaeorn in melee was near impossible while he was teleporting around, and he was immune to most ranged attacks thanks to Protection from Normal Missiles. Not to mention he was wearing Robes of the Evil Archmagi so he had a natural AC of 3 (which was the equivalent of AC of 23 in 5E D&D). He was outright immune to any form of immobilisation or slowing too just because the developers decided he should be. The fight with Davaeron was a big boss battle, and those who aren't prepared get burnt to a crisp.
Though it should be noted that in the Enhanced Edition MAGICAL arrows would pierce through Protection from Normal Missiles. The Magic Missile spell would as well. But even then, the chances of interrupting Davaeorn weren't high as he had AC 3 and Mirror Images up.
Long ago, Neera had asked me why I wanted her to keep Invisibility prepared even though I could sneak around and backstab enemies on my own. Well, now was one of those times I needed the Invisibility spell rather than relying on my own stealth. In Baldur's Gate, you couldn't both be stealth-ed and be looking for traps at the same time, or in this case detecting illusions. Not for long periods, anyway.
So instead, I went into Davaeron's room, Invisible. He had been hiding around a corner, waiting for our arrival. As expected, he had Mirror Images up as well as a magic purple cylinder-shaped shield around him, Protection from Normal Missiles.
I glared long at hard at him. Picking out the which was him was tricky at my skill level of 20 in Detect Traps. But I had time. The Invisibility spell lasted 24 hours.
By process of elimination, only the image which didn't have the telltale shimmering of illusion magic would be the real deal. But at my low skill level I had to slowly pick out each image that did have that subtle effect and mentally mark it as an illusion. If only I could immediately spot the one which didn't!
The process turned out to be more challenging than I bargained for. I was starting to wonder if I really needed all 24 hours to pick them all out. Even Davaeron was getting anxious waiting for our party to make an appearance, stealing a peek from around the corner with brows furrowed.
…oh duh! The one leaning against the wall and peering out is the real deal! Of course!
I aimed with my quarterstaff, and swung down on his head with all my might.
Davaeron pivoted at the last moment, taking the strike to the back of his shoulder instead. Crushing, but not lethal. That's high-level characters for you; they won't die so easily. He immediately cast Dimension Door to zip away before I could make a follow-up strike.
It didn't matter which way he went, really. The whole party was waiting in a room, and to cast magic at us he had to appear at the only entrance to said room. I ran back to join them, and we waited.
There was a CLANG, just outside the room, and then a weird sound, "Buh-buh-buh-buh".
We rushed outside to find Davaeron flat on the ground, an anvil on his head. The snare to drop the anvil on a passerby had been triggered, of course. Naturally I had Imoen help me set this trap earlier, before dual-classing her to Mage.
Well, what do you know. Apparently, anvils don't count as a Normal Missile. For science!
"Do people normally go 'buh-buh-buh-buh' when an anvil drops on their head?" Neera mused.
"No idea. Never seen one dropped on someone's head before," Branwen replied, grinning in spite of herself.
I poked Davaeron's head with my staff. "Still alive down there?"
Apparently not. Getting an anvil dropped on one's head is actually quite lethal, as it turns out. We had gotten this anvil from the forge on the floor just above, obviously.
The fight against Davaeron is normally such a significant battle that he's a top choice to farm aura with a pose or teabagging or something. But even I felt that the poor villain was humiliated enough already.
Notable loot on Davaeron:
Robe of the Evil Archmagi, Traveler's Robe (yes, both. No, you can't wear both at once.)
Bracers of Defense AC 6,
Mage scrolls of Grease, Protection from Evil, Protection from Petrification, Shield,
Key to River Plug (this plot item goes to Rill later),
And THREE Letters.
The first letter was from Rieltar to Davaeron, 3 years ago. Request for more slaves received, their efforts n Baldur's Gate proceed as planned, and they bought some ancient building as their base of operations. (No doubt we would be going there later at some point.)
"Nothing much going on here," Imoen said. "What about the next one?"
The next letter from Rieltar to Davaeron, last year. Sarevok arrived from their HQ in Ordulin. Their superiors there were pleased with their progress so far. Sarevok was placed as the commander of the mercenary forces in the region and he has sent his subordinate, Tazok, to the Wood of Sharp Teeth. (That was clearly a reference to the bandit camp we took out.) They already have an agent placed in the Seven Suns trading coster.
"There's that name again, Sarevok!" Neera pointed out. "Looks like its Rieltar who calls the shots in this region, though they have superiors back in Ordulin."
"And they've planted agents in another trading consortium?" Jaheira mused. "Looks like they don't like competition."
The third letter was addressed to Davaeron this year. By this time, the iron crisis in full swing thanks to their efforts. The iron poison was taking effect, bandit raids conducted by Tazok, the Nashkel mines tainted. Amn would not be able to take action against their mercenary forces because of the Sythillsian uprising.
"The what now?" I asked. I really didn't remember that bit.
"An ogre mage named Sythillis led an army of monstrous humanoids to attack Amn. Amn is still reeling from the ruin that army brought upon the land," Jaheira explained. "It's over though, so not too relevant to us now."
"The rest of the letter is just self-congratulatory, boasting about how the created the iron crisis," Branwen noted. "Would these letters count as proof of their misdeeds? It details how they did it quite extensively. Rieltar even signed the bottom."
"Worth a try, I'd say," Neera replied. "Once we get the ear of the Dukes, that is."
Huh. That's a good point. Considering how detailed these letters were, couldn't we just show these to the Flaming Fist leader later, even if we can't speak to the Dukes themselves? Hrm, this is kind of a plot hole in the story.
We found a luxurious four post bed past the point where I had initially found Davaeron, as well as a little alcove filled with rows upon rows of books and one man cowering in the corner.
"Eeeek, don't kill me!" he cried out. His eyes drifted to the plate mail guard who was with us. "Don't let them kill me!"
"I'm with the cutie pie now," the guard said, taking the opportunity to mess up my hair. "If he says you die, you die."
I batted the guard's hand away. "What he said. Tell us what we want to know, and we'll consider letting you go."
This was Stephan Re'Cap, one of Davaeron's apprentices, and his job was literally to recap what had happened so far. Very funny, game devs.
Anyway, he told us stuff we already knew, as well as some things we could infer. We already knew the Iron Throne was behind the Iron Shortage, using some strange potion to taint iron already stored, Mulahey to keep new ore from being mined, and bandit raids to prevent caravans from bringing in iron. Stephan didn't know who Davaeron's superiors were or who had sent assassins after me.
What Stephan could tell us that was valuable was the why. The Iron Throne wanted to swoop in and save Baldur's Gate from the very iron crisis they had engineered by providing stores of iron to the Dukes. The Dukes perceived a threat from Amn, and were desperate for arms and ore. With that, the Iron Throne could set themselves up as a new regional power on the Sword Coast, gouging the dukes with high prices and establishing favorable laws to monopolise the iron trade in the region. Lastly, we could find the Iron Throne base in Baldur's Gate itself, to the southwest. This was probably the base Rieltar was speaking to Davaeron about in his first letter.
As for Stephan Re'Cap's fate, once again, I looked to Jaheira.
She spat. "The gods as my witness, he probably deserves to die for watching innocent people enslaved all this time. But honor has its place. We should let him go."
"Thank you!" Stephan didn't wait for confirmation and ran out as fast as he could.
There was one last, final enemy guarding some chests in a room, a mustard jelly. The plate mail guard I had charmed happily helped us fight it. His unenchanted weapon couldn't hurt the mustard jelly, but he tanked it quite well while we battered the thing to death with our own staves.
Since there were three more locked containers I couldn't open and we had cleared the area of threats, it was time to break out the Potion of Perception!
Unfortunately, I still couldn't unlock the chest by Davaeron's four post bed. I was sorely tempted to use the Potion of Master Thievery I had just found here. Using it for one chest felt like a waste though. Thankfully there was a scroll of Knock in one of the chests so Imoen used that on it. In it we found another wand. It looked like a Wand of Fear, but we'd have to identify how to use it properly with magic first.
There's a LOT of loot here. I did go upstairs and open the troublesome locks from earlier for more gems back on the third floor. On the fourth floor, notable loot included:
2 Potion of Healing, Potion of Cold Resistance, Potion of Explosions, Potion of Fire Breath, Potion of Master Thievery,
Mage scrolls of 2 Detect Invisibility Blur, Horror, Infravision, 2 Larloch's Minor Drain, Melf's Acid Arrow, Knock (used),
3 protection scrolls (Cursed Scroll of Stupidity, Protection From Fire, Protection From Undead, all unidentified),
And one Wand of Fear (unidentified).
We almost considered leaving the plate mail guard alive until he drowns when we flood the mines, but decided to mercy kill the guy ourselves after hitting him with a Blind spell. His plate mail was too heavy for us to bring with us though.