While we were at Durlag's Tower, we may as well go to back to loot the second floor properly together with the rest of the upper levels. More taxing exploration of the basement levels would happen after we prep Imoen up with spells properly.
So in the meantime we went back to disarm that blasted Chromatic Orb trap which had given us so much trouble earlier, of course, as well as other traps on the second floor. There were some more ghasts, but at our nearly maxed levels these were easily shot down from afar even in such close quarters by attracting a few at a time.
Loot on second floor:
20 Arrows of Fire,
Oil of Speed, Potion of Strength, and Potion of Invisibility.
In the area where the greater basilisks were, a trapped hole in one of the parapet things had an unidentified scimitar which looked like a carbon copy of our Scimitar +2, and 20 Acid Arrows. Considering we were picking up so many special arrows, it was nice that Imoen could use her Shortbow+1 again. Haven't really encountered anything which justified their use just yet though.
---
On the third floor, we appeared not to be alone in this tower.
"Not another step! State yer name and what ye are doing in this place!" a man in a hood and leather armour shouted at us as soon as we entered.
This was Rigglio, and he was an adventurer who was wary of rivals in Durlag's Tower. He wasn't particularly trusting of other adventurers in the same dungeon, since anything could happen to 'fellow' treasure seekers competing for the same treasure. Not a problem, I knew exactly what to do to the guy to get him to open up.
Rigglio then took a second look at me. "…oh. I must look silly taking you too seriously. Never mind, carry on."
"…"
Imoen and Neera had a giggle at my expense, which only served to amuse Rigglio further.
From the chest Rigglio had been struggling to open, I unlocked it and gained an Oil of Speed, an unidentified chainmail, an unidentified wand which looked to be a Wand of Lightning. I made sure to huff loudly as I walked out with my gains, which only drew more sniggers from the damn thief.
While scouting, I also spotted a ghost on this floor.
Eh. I knew this ghost would turn hostile no matter what we did. The party wouldn't be so keen for me to bushwhack it without talking to it first though. So I indicated to Jaheira handle this one.
"Durlag… Durlag, my friend!" the ghost cried out as soon as it saw her. It spoke slowly, dragging out its words like Ulcaster did. "You have returned, after age upon age. It is I, Daital, your friend of old. I have waited so long…"
Jaheira hesitated, look at me while I crept up behind the ghost from the shadows. I just shrugged.
"Of course, er, Daital. I have… missed your company," Jaheira said.
"You are uncharacteristically civil this day, Durlag and I think you are taller than I recall," Daital commented.
Obviously, seeing as how Durlag was a dwarf, you blind ghost! That much was common knowledge, at least.
"I am still indebted to you Durlag. I will serve here until the debt is paid," the ghost said.
This time, Jaheira spoke with confidence, yet with a subtle gentleness in her voice. "You speak of debts from an age long since past. Consider it settled, and go get some rest."
The ghost of Daital was taken aback. "No, the debt remains unpaid. When the hordes came wearing the faces of friends, you fought when I would not, could not strike. I was an outsider among your clan, and yet you defended when all did turn against… I was released from life, but never from debt. Do not turn me away. A friend would not turn me away…"
The ghost reared up, it's face contorting in anger. "You are different… you are not the same… you are not Durlag! I will defend!" it snarled and raised it's hands to start incanting spells.
Daital wasn't just an enemy, he was a lore dispensary, lol.
Daital had a long list of immunities to conditions since he was a ghost, great saving throws, and AC0. The ghost was immune to electricity, acid, and magic damage, so Magic Missile to interrupt its spells was out of the question the missiles would help remove Mirror Images. He's a potent spellcaster with an assortment of awful things he can summon and do to players.
I just barely managed to get a backstab on Daital before the ghost was immediately protected by Mirror Images. No, incantation, that was a magical CONTIGENCY! Protected by his images, we were unable to interrupt him casting another defensive spell, Shadow Door, which turned himself invisible.
"Neera!" I yelled, "In the scroll case-"
"On it!" she yelled back, pulling a scroll of Detect Invisibility I had bought for this occasion. Can't have every spell prepared every time.
Neera used the scroll, and Daital reappeared with a shocked look on his transparent face. Under attack and images disappearing, he began incanting again. But not before I got a lucky hit through his images. Down went Daital. Phew!
That was seriously lucky. We had only chewed through two of his images up to that point. I really should have Neera prepare Detect Illusion, the level 3 spell, for this encounter. We were fortunate not to have needed it.
From a trapped chest near Daital, we looted a cursed potion, a Potion of Genius, and a Potion of Stone Form.
---
If one isn't quick enough to dispel Daital's invisibility, Daital will actually move away right after turning invisible. Apparently he casts Dimension Door while invisible to move near the spiral staircase? In any case, what I could have done then is have Neera cast Invisibility on me, then use my thief skills to remove his images and invisibility, then backstab him again. He won not survive two backstabs.
---
On this floor, we also found an altar. On the altar, there was an obviously magical Tome.
Everyone glared at the magical Tome sitting out in the open.
"Even I know that prize is poisoned. In a manner of speaking," Branwen said, shaking her head.
Imoen peer all around the altar. "There be no more obvious trap. I know it's trapped. But I just can't figure out how. Some magical spell, perhaps?"
Crap. That altar is indeed trapped. And furthermore, depending on the version of the game, it cannot be disarmed at all. I think I used to use a mod to make the trap disarm-able. Worse, the trap in question was DIRE CHARM. That could be very, very bad.
If only we had an elf in the party, the elf would have a 90% chance of resisting being charmed on top of being able to attempt a saving throw. I kind of miss Kivan and Coran now. Even Viconia.
Thinking about it, I actually had a lot of options here. I opened up my potions case and did a review.
-Potion of Clarity I got all the way back in Candlekeep would ensure I'm immune to feeblemind, confusion, fear and charm for an hour.
-Potion of Magic Blocking granted immunity to spells of 5th level and below. Dire Charm was level 3, so that would work.
-Potion of Invulnerability sets base AC to 0 and improves saving throws by 5. I currently had a save vs spell of 8, with this I would save on a 3 or better.
-Potion of Stone Form which also sets AC to 0 and improves saves by 3 (so I would save on a 5 or better), at the cost of dumbing down Dexterity by 3 for a whole hour.
-Potion of Magic Shielding gives +50% resistance to all forms of magic damage (irrelevant), and +20 to saving throws. The description claims that the potion makes you automatically pass saving throws, but this is a lie as a critical failure (rolling a natural 1) would still be a failure.
-Potion of Magic Protection gave resistance to magic of +50%. Meh.
I should use a potion or two for this occasion rather than leave it to luck. But which? The Potion of Clarity and Magic Blocking were too rare and valuable.
---
I stepped toward the altar, and touched the book. Immediately, a wisp of energy reached out to me, whispering to my mind, "Kill your friends. They will betray you. Kill them before they can!"
No, I will not. My will is strong, and I will not obey.
…Well, maybe Neera. Before she zaps away my money-
NO! I take that back!
Sweat was forming on my brow. Damn, resisting the pull of the magic was harder than I thought. I had to try a different tactic.
I focused on a new thought. I have no friends. I'm just using them to my own ends.
"You don't actually believe that," taunted the whisper.
Sure I do, they are nothing but my pawns. And so, it makes no sense to kill them.
"Yes it does. You're supposed to kill them because they are your friends," the whisper said.
How does that logic even work? Why would I kill them if they are my friends?
"You're supposed to kill them because they will betray you. They are not truly your friends," the whisper reasoned.
So we agree they are not my friends. So I shouldn't kill them since you asked me to kill my friends.
"…oh, bollocks," the whisper lamented.
The pressure on my brow lightened, so it seemed like that did the trick. Apparently one can confuse mind spells into submission? Who knew, lol.
I plucked my prize from the altar. It was unidentified, but I knew it was a Tome of Understanding (+1 Wisdom, permanently).
I had drunk a combination of both a Potion of Invulnerability and Potion of Stone Form, pushing down my save vs spell to 0. Since one can't roll a 0 on a d20, I would make the save as long as I didn't critically fail by rolling a natural 1.
I also had Branwen waiting to cast Dispel Magic on me, just as an extra precaution. I wasn't sure what the % chance of Dispel Magic working on the Dire Charm was (maybe 50%?), which was why I didn't want to rely on that in the first place.
---
On the fourth floor, I went around scouting. This was a breeze at my current level of stealth skills (thanks, basilisks!). Through scouting, I spotted an eerily beautiful woman with long flowing hair and odd skin color, almost like a nymph.
---
"Can a nymph actually survive in a stone keep for such a long period?"
That was the question I posed to my party.
Jaheira shook her head. "No, they cannot. Another creature similar to a nymph though would not have such difficulty. Having said that, I'd best see this so-called nymph for myself."
No arguments from the me or the rest.
---
Upon seeing our party led by Jaheira, the enchantingly alluring woman posed, showing off her, uh, assets. "Well hello there. Come to see little ol' Kirinhale? It's been sooo long since I've had any company at all, and now, well, just look at you. So virile, so manly. Won't you stay by my side, keep me company? Come closer," Kirinhale said, and winked.
Jaheira blinked at Kirinhale, then her eyes narrowed. "Look again. I am clearly a woman. Further, I am married. So there will be no funny business between us."
"I'm sure Khalid wouldn't mind. Would you?" I said, nudging Khalid as the two of us waited around the corner. Knowing what Kirinhale was, I had kept him back for the moment.
"Not really," Khalid said, with a sly grin on his face.
Jaheira gave me and her husband a harsh glare, which shut us both up. She turned back to Kirinhale. "However, we will be willing to escort you out safely from this tower."
Kirinhale stomped her foot, her face turning red. Actually, her whole body was turning red. "Your offer is not quite what I require! I'll not sit here another three hundred years because of you! That bastard Durlag took my wings and imprisoned me, but I can still deal with your puny mortal mind. I'll not end up like Aec! I'll not!"
She raised her hands to hurl magic right at Jaheira.
Kirinhale is also a lore dispensary, yay. If I recall correctly, a lot of the encounters here were.
Kirinhale is indeed no nymph. More precisely, she is a succubus. As a succubus, she can charm male characters with a -8 penalty to save against the spell as well cast a regular Dire Charm. She can also cast energy drain, which permanently reduces two levels from a target with no save (until healed at a temple or casting the Restoration spell, which is not accessible in BG1), turn ethereal which is like invisibility except it cannot be dispelled in any way and lastly can teleport. As a demon, she is immune to electricity, fire, and poison, has 50% resistance to cold and missile attacks, and 50% chance to outright resist any magic. She has very impressive saving throws too, so magic wasn't a good option against her.
Before Kirinhale could cast a spell at Jaheira, bolts rained down upon the succubus from all directions. She snarled, resisting the bolts, just before a quarterstaff from behind clobbered her over the head. That was it for Kirinhale.
Obviously I wasn't going to fight fair against such a potent threat! I and Imoen set all our traps to weaken her before I snuffed her out with a backstab. How to fight her without a thief, well, seeing as how Charm is her main weapon? I suppose this would have been a place to break out the Potion of Clarity. The Greenstone Amulet sold at Ulgoth's Beard would also really help. Probably the most important thing is to move away any male characters who are visible so she only has female targets for her charm abilities.
Loot:
Staff spear (1d8+3 damage, +2 to Thac0, considered a staff but does piercing damage), which went to me,
And a lock of Kirinhale's hair.
After the battle, I eyed Jaheira. "So far, I can't say you've had better success at talking your way out of battles than me."
"Demons don't bloody count!" Jaheira snapped at me.
I just grinned back at her.
"Who's Aec?" Imoen said aloud, interrupting our argument. "She said she didn't want to end up like him."
The rest of the party looked to each other, shaking their heads.
I knew who it was, but figured I'd better pretend not to know. Neera gave me some side eye, then said, "From the way she phrased it, it sure sounds like Aec is from the Nine Hells like her."
Imoen winced. "So there's another demon imprisoned here? Can't say I'm looking forward to that."
Notable loot from fourth floor:
Halberd +1, 10 Darts of Stunning, 10 Darts of Wounding,
And Cloak of Protection +1, Mage Robe of Electrical Resistance
Imoen went and gave the lock of hair as a peace offering* to Rigglio downstairs, who traded it for a Potion of Cloud Giant Strengthi (set strength to 23).
And that's it for the upstairs levels of Durlag's Tower!