Opening the Merchants League?

Remove all ads!

— Is there anyone here, who has ever unlocked, with any success, the door of the Merchants League ?


• Neither talents of thief, nor Knock spells, nor Dispel Magic tries, nor brutish efforts with a +3 blade against the door-case with a 25 strength powered by potion, NOTHING seems be able to open that [vulagarity removed - warning pending - dmc] door !

• I have also searched for other paths to the Merchant League : secondary or concealed doors ; and also, secret doors into the flats of the surroundings, (hoping to discover a secret tunnel !)

... But, alas, [ as for the famous hypothetic Teleport Gate at bottom of Ulcaster Ruins ... ] , I have NEVER found the solution of this problem.

— Any ultra-clever thief here ?

[ November 16, 2006, 16:52: Message edited by: dmc ]

 

IIRC, in Cloakwood, there's a hunter's lodge where a noble asks for your assistance against a group of angry druids. If you side with the noble rather than helping the druids, he then meets you in Baldur's Gate, and gives you access to the building.

 

Protect Aldeth Sashenstar from the druids who want to kill him in revenge for Aldeth using them as 'hunting' practice. This happens in the first area of the Cloakwood. Your reward for saving Aldeth's butt is clearing out the Many Coins Merchant League.

 

Besides that the leader of the druids is 4000 XP worth and IIRC his two companions 2000 XP each.

Nice XP and a sidequest with nice XP too. Can it be better?

And by the way you will get a very nice bastard sword too.

 

But the other way has also its advantadges.
If you sided with Aldeth you wouldn't have gotten the "heavy crossbow of accuracy". You should aleady have gotten the "very nice bastard sword" when you killed him.
So don't bother too much.

 

Friends, all of you are going to understand my strange ignorance (while I usually know every blade of grass of BG1, even with closed eyes !)

— In fact, I love animals, and I dislike hunters.
Then I was ALWAYS taking the same options since a very long time ago :

1) I kill Aldeth the "noble" (Hmm...) hunter, who I suspect to be also an murderer of humans ; ( I then loot him and his house ; more than his good sword, I also remember a nice diamond ...

2) without any moral feelings (I am often True Neutral) I order to my dear invisible Imohen to cleanly pick-pockets the too more rigid and stern chief of the druid group, for a pleasant green and yellow Ring ( of Animal Friendship ).

Now, the new question is :

<< — How gaining access to the Merchants League, if I continue to want to slay Aldeth ?
... Is it existing a possibility ? Is it possible to kill Aldeth AFTER gaining a key from him ? >>

 

You can kill Aldeth if you're quick on the draw. I haven't been able to do it. I think it would take everyone hitting him at the same time.

Aldeth tells you straight out he and his buddies killed some druids!

I'd rather have the XP from killing all those dopplegangers than a crossbow I don't use.

 

I second to that kuemper. I never use the crossbow either.

It is true you get the bastard sword anyway, but my point is that siding with Aldeth will result in more xp.

@kmonster: I think the bastard sword is nice. The +3 versus shapeshifters will come in handy against doppelgangers or if you go through TotSC.

While Aldeth admits he and his companions killed some druids, he also says they were attacked on sight and only was defending themselves.

And besides that, I think those druids are fishy. They want to kill Aldeth right away. no druid council, no trial, no nothing.

If you sides with the druids, they also warn against the Shadow Druids. But while Shadow Druids is an extreme faction, they are actually allies against Davaeorn. Which is for me another sign that Senyad and his companions is not what they say they are.

By the way Aldeths house can be looted without consequences whether or not you are sided with him.

You can't get the key or the sidequest from Aldeth before you get to Baldurs Gate anyway.

So make some changes in your life Cal Yhringlor, and slay some treehuggers!

[ November 17, 2006, 10:14: Message edited by: Ironhawk Skylord ]

 

OK ... I shall make a try on my next game.

I shall slay the druids (they are not sympathetic, I agree, but I continue to think that the hunter is worse ! ...).

From your words, guys, I don't understand very well WHEN and WHERE Aldeth is going to give me the key of the Merchants League. Is it in the City of BG, or shall I need to return to Cloakwood Part A ?

And there is an other question : the Aldeth's brother always try to kill my group to avenge him, (exactly after passing the Inner Walls of High City of BG). I am happy to loot this guy (he also HAVE a crossbow that I like, to keep or send). Now :
... That encounter don't shall going to disapear if I dont kill Aldeth ?

... In all cases, Kuemper is wrong to think that killing Aldeth (after he gaves me the key !) is likely to be difficult for me. Inside his long range specialisation, my party is almost always deadly, in fact lethal on a separate target, even with very little time to use ...

— In the worst of cases, if he disappears too soon, I shall reload the game, put Imohen just behind him for a swift backstab with a good speed factor arm, and cast him a Magic Missile or a ray of Wand of Paralysation from my Mage PC, and/or 2 command from my clerical characters to gain the necessary time to the arrows to slay him.
Arrghhh. And, the end !

— No matter what he will attempt, I shall kill him, because ...
1) I really hate him ;
2) I emotionally take him for responsible of all my useless tribulations around the locked Merchants League ; and one of my only traits of evil is vengeance, revenge.

• For the bastard sword, I am less enthusiatic than you, friends ; It's only +1 in usual times , and I remember you can find one or two others, exactly the same, in the expansion TotSC. (One of them, I am near-sure, is to be found in Lycanthropes Island).

 

Aldeth is standing outside Merchants League in Baldurs Gate and asking for your help again. And then the door can be opened.

So I am afraid you won't get anything out of siding with Aldeth in Cloakwood and kill him afterwards.

And no, his brother won't show up if you don't kill Aldeth.

IIRC you will not get another Bastard Sword +1, +3 versus shapeshifters in TotSC.

But in TotSC you will get Sword of Balduran, Long Sword +1 Flame Tongue and Silver Dagger which is nice against lycanthropes also.

The reason I am enthusiastic about the bastard sword is because I usually have more than two chars in my party who can wield a sword

And by the way, Aldeth is good on his words. He does reward you with nice quest xp and items. In my experience evil chars in Bioware games mostly try to screw you over.

[ November 17, 2006, 12:47: Message edited by: Ironhawk Skylord ]

 

If you decide to let Aldeth survive in Cloakwood, don't forget to pickpocket him for an extra reward.

@kuemper & Ironhawk Skylord: There are so many possibilities to gain unlimited XP in BG while the crossbow can be useful. (depending on your paty composition)

 

@kmonster:

True, but the question was how to get in the Merchants League compound. Which can't be done without Aldeth surviving.

And the crossbow is nice, and give more to THACO than any other bow or missile weapon, but it is a matter of taste. Personally I rather prefer the Eagle Bow, the Longbow of Markmanship or the Light Crossbow of Speed.

 

There is no key. Aldeth will be standing outside the MCML building and offer you another opportunity to save his butt- I mean, *quest* When you see him in BG, talk to him.

Try only using it against shapeshifters. Kondar is one of those weapons you save for special occasions.

 

That's true Neo! There is no spoon.. ehrr... key!

Guess I shouldn't have seen the Matrix last night...

 

"Detect Evil" tells me that Aldeth is, in fact, evil. That said I side with him anyway - his story just makes more sense than the druids', and I don't care for their presumption that they can be judge and jury over what happens in the forest.

The crossbow of speed is much better than Aldeth's brother's crossbow. And I can't see any reason to have two characters using crossbows.

The annoying thing about the Merchant League is that once you've done the quest the door becomes locked again and you can't get back in. So don't leave anything there!

 

@ister:

So Aldeth is evil anyway. Okay, interesting.

I guess if it is strictly by Second Edition rules, then the druids are True Neutral although they don't behave like that?

 

... Then I shall must kill Aldeth anyway : one reason more to do it !

NO, I insist , there IS (at least) an other sword, exactly the same somewhere in the game . Perhaps, then, it is not in the Lycanthropes Island, but in Durlag's Tower, or elsewhere ; I am not fully sure of the place, but I know that it exist. It's SURE !

I know well that type of bastard sword, slightly purple, and I once remember to have TWO, — simultaneously.

I do not confound with the Gold Sword of Balduran, or any other ! It is not possible.

• For now, I cannot indicate the precise location of that other sword for you, because I have always my big problem of failure of my Full Install of BG1 [ see the topic a few lines below ], (and, by the way, that problem cause me REAL troubles, because "The Talisman", the guy who created the mod, re-begin to Feign Death about respond by sending me a mail).

 

Okay, so there is another bastard sword. Interesting.

I have never found it. Perhaps it is depending on the patch level like the Ring of Wizardry outside Friendly Arms Inn?

 

— No, I dont think so. Patches are not in question.

I don't remember well, for now, where is the second purple bastard sword, but I remind that it's was a true treasure, not an incidental one or a concealed item !

 

You can find that sword again in BG2. Maybe this is what you were thinking about?