DavesGaming

Chuck

We set off for Durlag’s Tower the next day. This is a well known ruin, it was a great fortress built over a hundred years ago. But a tragedy overtook the residents, and the owner had the place rebuilt as a maze of traps before his death from madness and grief. And we’re looking for a dagger. The dwarf, Hourgan, whom we met in Ulgoth’s Beard, reports a family heirloom known as the Soultaker Dagger was lost at the site. This is a well known artifact with a significant ability to imprison victims in itself.
That makes it a powerful item that may play a role in the greater tragedy of the tower. So seeking it out may be no small thing.

Getting by two of these constructs was not a hard fight for us now, but a couple months ago we would have been stuck.

Next we cleared the outer walls. There were several skeletons, and a couple of less powerful constructs.

We entered the tower, and found of all things, a tour in progress. We had met the tour guide, Ike, back in Ulgoth’s Beard. He claimed he had a magic ward for access. May be the reason he could bypass the outer guards with a tour group? This is the height of dangerous foley, which was soon proven. A Demon Knight entered the room with the tour group and threw a couple of Fireballs! This killed everyone but us. Okay, no goofing around.
We worked our way up floors exploring and killing undead. We were surprised on the top floor of the Tower to encounter a bit of plush luxury.

The young woman seemed aggressively friendly towards me. Sarah was not amused. She showed her true colors soon enough, she was some sort of imprisoned minor demon. When we refused to help her escape we were forced to kill her.

We continued exploring by heading into the cellars. We first came to an ordinary sort of large storage space. There were crates all about.

We found a hidden door with stairs heading down. From here, everything is about tricks and traps.

Imoen could help too, and often both women were working overtime to disable all the nefarious things that could hurt or kill.
And there were more powerful things down here than just Ghasts. Skeletal Warriors, Flesh Golems, all sorts of deadly threats.

Deeper down we started encountering more, and more powerful sorts of Dopplegangers too. We learned these played a big role in Durlag’s loss of home and family. They remained as a reminder of danger and tragedy.

On the lowest sub-level we found the Demon Knight who had appeared briefly upstairs. He made some big boasts, but he actually fell pretty quickly in combat. Perhaps he’d spent too much time slaying tourists and forgotten what actual combat involved.
Among the Demon Knight’s items we found the Soultaker Dagger. With this prize, we set for Ulgoth’s Beard to return Hourgan’s trinket.

Minsc came back to help us while Sarah and Jaheira battled those in front. We defeated them easily enough, but who was this new group?
Hourgan knew. They were cultists of a sort, seeking to free a Demon imprisoned in the blade. Fortunately, he also knew where they hid in town. We set out at once for them. We entered a room where some dark ritual was being performed, the dagger was broken and a Demon came at us!

We won, but in the end I don’t know what happened to the dagger. Maybe that’s for the best?

*****

The team is now at peak power as they come towards the climax of the first game. I really enjoy this part of the game. Chuck, Sarah and their friends have gone from being careful around wolves, to being able to face great and epic threats.
Probably two more updates will get us to the end of the first campaign. But of course, there’s still a lot more story to come with an add-on adventure (Seige of Dragonspear) and the whole epic of Baldur’s Gate 2.