More newbie questions

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I decided to restart the game as a monk. I'm doing all right now. I freed Hendak in the Copper Coronet, decided to leave to go to De'Arniss keep, had an encounter on the way where we picked up an injured man and delivered him to the Harpers in the Docks. Poked around in the docks for a while, started a few quests there, including infiltrating Mae-Var's guild. Jaheira was cursed. Then I headed out to De'Arniss again. That place wasn't too bad, except for the final encounters. Those umber hulks kept wiping us out, until I was able to break them up into smaller groups. The final three trolls wiped the floor with my party multiple times. After sleeping on it. I had Yoshimo set some traps, lure the head troll guy into the other room, close the door and then kill him. The other two trolls were still tough, but we finally took them down.

My party:

Me - Monk
Minsc
Jaheira
Anomen
Yoshimo
Aerie

It's a fairly good mix with four combat types, three healers, and one thief. We're short of magic, with Aerie being the only mage.

Now the questions:

Should I swap Yoshimo for Nalia, since she's a mage/thief? Is she multi-classed or dual classed? I could dump her for Imoen once we get her out. However, I've read that Yoshimo is necessary for a few quests later, and I'd hate to miss out on them.

In skimming through some of the web sites, I've read about NPCs leaving my party. When they go, do they take all of their gear? How do people handle this?

Does Jaheira's curse worsen over time, or are the lowered stats the only ill effect? I've read I need to find Plover's house in the slums, so I guess I'll do that next.

When I returned to town, I was met first by a messenger, telling me Anomen's sister had died and we need to investigate. Shortly after that, another messenger ran up to tell us Aerie's uncle Quayle was looking for us. (He's not really her uncle, is he? ) Does it matter what order I do these quests in, and is there an rush to respond to these messages?

Mae-Var asked me to steal a necklace from a priestess of Talos. Yoshimo piped up that this might not be a good idea. Since he'll be the man doing the deed, is there any cause for concern here?

Thanks for all the help.

Andy

 

<<Me - Monk, Minsc, Jaheira, Anomen, Yoshimo
Aerie It's a fairly good mix with four combat types, three healers, and one thief. We're short of magic, with Aerie being the only mage.>>

Agreed - a decent mix. Can be powerful at higher levels, but until Anomen begins to level, you might be short cleric/healling spells.


<<<Should I swap Yoshimo for Nalia, since she's a mage/thief? Is she multi-classed or dual classed? >>>

I prefer Nalia over Yoshimo in general. At low levels, she reminds me of how useless Aerie is at similar low levels - HOWEVER, as the game progresses, both become pretty good. Unfortunately, Nalia is a dual=classed thief and will never improve in that area.

Yoshimo has mediocre thief skills at best by the end of the game - especially when compared to Jan or even Imoen's 7th level skills. Just an opinion there - but sure to stir up all the pro-bardic types.

So, I generally keep Nalia the whole game or just for a bit and then switch to either Jan or Imoen later in the game.

<<NPC's - When they go, do they take all of their gear? How do people handle this?>>

Well, you can either role-play this or "cheat" using fore-knowledge. Role-playing-wise, when they leave, they leave and you lose their gear - whatever it happens to be. You can mini-cheat with this line by just allowing them to carry the bare essentials at all times, figuring that they would take their armor and weapons with them in any case.

The fore-knowledge cheat is to wait until they leave, pause, reload, strip the character and then let him/her go on his way.

In the real-woeld, are you godd/evil or lawful/chaotic? THis can guide your choice here.

<<Does Jaheira's curse worsen over time, or are the lowered stats the only ill effect?>>

If I remember correctly, she will die if you don't solv her problem here. There is a cure - find it and there are no long term efffects. Don't find it, or find it too late and the effects are permanent.

<<Ref Aerie's messenges from "uncle" - Does it matter what order I do these quests in, and is there an rush to respond to these messages?>>

Nope. No rush. These are lead-ins to or areinvolved in the Aerie romance, a couple of sub-quests and just game storyline fill-ins in my opinion. I have waited as long as the second to last chapter to do all of the Aerie-related things - just to see if I could - and it had no effect on the game except I didn't get/couldn't complete the romance (obviously).

<<steal a necklace from a priestess of Talos.>>

This is part of the main storyline if you side with the thieves guild over Bodhi... If you chose to side with the thieves, it is unavoidable. Your alternative is siding with Bodhi - and her tasks are much bloodier.

Either way, if a party is good/neutral-aligned - which yours is - you will have to do some unsavory things to finish the game anyway... And this little job really doesn't require ANY killing....

Good luck. Hope this helped.

[This message has been edited by Kailynne Johanne (edited August 24, 2001).]

 

Nearly all of the NPCs in the game have their own personal 'quests'. Some of these will cause them to briefly leave the party while you complete the quest part. But you do get them back once you complete the quest. And yes, they take all of their gear with them. I won't ruin it for you, but you can search the site for loads of info on these quests. Most of the quests are pretty good, and they add a lot to the role-playing component of the game.

And you can swap NPCs any time as you need certain skills -- but you'll probably find that you like certain ones better than others anyway. But this comes in very handy when your NPCs start leaving you. I once had three of them leave me within on game-hour and I had to decide whose quest to do first!

Nalia is dual-classed, not multi-classed. IMO she's pretty useless as a thief.

Hope this answers your questions. Good luck

 

When you dismiss an NPC from your party, they take all their inventory with them. When you accept them back into the party, their equipment comes back with them.

There are a few hints relating to Jaheira's curse, and she will indeed die if she is not cured quickly enough. You are supposed to look for Baron Ployer, who is living in poverty, or his employed mages, who wear green robes. If you want more precise directions, scroll down. (spoilers.)
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Head over to the Government District. If you ask about in the Council of Six building, you won't find anything. When you come out, though, a mage wearing green robes, Terrece, will give you an offer.

Baron Ployer's house is called 'Derelict House' in the Slums District of Athkatla. You must kill him (and his mages if you didn't speak with them). On his corpse is a lock of Jaheira's hair. Give it to Jaheira and rest, and her stats will gradually rise.

 

Just a little spoiler: don't get too chummy with Yoshimo.

 

don't bother with either of Nalia or Yoshimo. Imoen is better than both of them.