Umar Hills scares me

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After just surfing around looking for tidbits, I have come to the conclusion that to solve the Umar Hills quest (which is the first quest I get as a Ranger), I will have to kill a Shadow Dragon and assorted nasties.

I'll probably get the quest too as soon as I leave the Copper Coronet.

Am I correct in my assumption?

Can I finish it in one go?

 

Your almost correct. While you do get the quest early in the game, and you do see a dragon; this quest is not the first quest you will get. There will be a few others ahead. You will have an option to fight the dragon if you want. As far as I know fighting the dragon is optional if you play out the quest right.

If you are looking to spoil the game gor to Sylvus's walkthrough. I believe he has Umar Hills documented.

 

Hehe, Syl's walkthrough is really good. It tells you just enough without revealing too much detail.

That's more than can be said about the walkthrough in many "professional" sites.

Syl's walkthrough doesn't say anything about the dragon though.....

 

Well, that sure sets me at ease.

I hope I don't even encounter it, I might have to talk in too humble terms and then run away, which is really unheroic.

I also hope I won't find any liches and such. I don't have good weapons yet.

 

Whoa, stop just a second. My solution mentions the Shadow Dragon.
www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/Walkthrough/umarruin.php

There for the reading. Although, you don't have to fight it if you don't want to, so no worries Rakanishu.

Syl...

 

K, I got whupped by the Red Dragon in Windspear Hills, but the Shadow Dragon is not nearly as hard, and I was able to kill him at a pretty low level (everyone was lvl 9-10).

There's a post that has Shadow Dragon strategies, look for that.

What do you mean by "in one go"?? I didn't have to return to town, but I did need to rest a time or two in the dungeon...

 

I dunno... Unheroic is more like using spells like Cloudkill and such, and not even entering the room to kill the guys in it.... to me thats unheroic (and them cheap way out).

 

Yeah. I had a reader send me a note on how they killed the Shadow Dragon because I'm looking for TIPS! to give other readers as to how to do it. I won't add anything that exploits the Fog of War/Cloudkill tactic because I want TIPS! from Brave Warriors, not Cowards.

Syl...

 

Alright Syl, here's a tip for everybody, but only for a specific character class, the fighter/mage (dual or multi, as long as you have the levels).

Cast the following spells upon yourself:

Stoneskin, Improved Invisibility, Minor Spell Turning, Haste, and finally Tenser's Transformation (cast this last, because you can no longer cast spells once you've done this one).

With these spells, (and maybe Mirror Image if you want) and a good weapon (Dragonslayer anyone?) you can easily beat a dragon 1-on-1. Firkraag never even got through my stoneskin, because I was so hard to hit due to Improved Invisiblity. I just stood toe-to-toe with him, and he went DOWN!

 

I did NOT use the "Cloudkill CHEAT. I just cast my protectives and rushed him. The problem wasn't killing him, the problem was doing it without anyone in my party dying, which took me about 8 reloads to accomplish. He really isn't that tough, but I would recommend doing at least a couple of side quests first, not so much for the level ups (you won't go up much on only 2 or 3 quests), but because you'll have better equipment and more spells.

But what I think did it was melee weapons, haste, and some luck with my to hit and damage rolls. I would also point out that the Shadow Dragon is the weakest of them. I took a quick trip to Windspear Hills the other day and ol' Firkraag still stomped me flat in a few seconds. One of these days...

[This message has been edited by Lord Balduran (edited October 25, 2000).]

 

Ack! You're right Syl, there IS a Shadow Dragon mentioned! Is it the latest addition or did I just have "problems" navigating the site? The latter I think, heh heh..

I certainly feel more confidence now. I presume I'll be able to rest in the Shadow Dragon's room once or twice after I've killed it?

One thing though, the "lot's of shadows", are they the same four-legged shadows in the circus tent, or does it include those buggers from Planescape Torment that have 6 to 8 attacks a round?

Another thing is the skeleton warrior. Despite my character choosing Skeletons as a racial enemy in BG1, they still kicked my ass badly! Negative Material Protection should help, right?

Well, by in one go I meant whether I could walk through the dungeon and right up to the dragon and kill it before taking the day off. I think I should be happy enough I won't have to travel back and forth to temples and do one or two side quests to level up first eh?

 

Same as the ones in the circus tent.

Kinda easy to kill... this is one of the first quest I completed. I didnt kill the shadow dragon, though.

 

Phew, that's a relief.

Can you imagine a creature with a THAC0 of around 14 with 8 attacks per round? That's what you find in Torment, plus their portraits are very cool...

 

Rakanishu was probably right the first time, Syl. Your solution page has a link to Umar Hills but not to Umar Ruins (Temple Ruins).
Anyway after killing the Shade Lord, I decided to try killing the Shadow Dragon with my characters (Level 9-11, I think). After many, many tries I stumbled upon the one thing that could harm it - lightning bolts from wands!! I had Aerie with the wand stand to one side, away from the bunched up group comprising my ranger(dual)cleric, Minsc, Jaheira, Mazzy and Yoshimo. Before opening up the fog to the dragon, I sent in some conjured animals. Poof, they disappeared under the death spell. I conjured up a second group of animals, throw all the defensive spells I had (bless, chant etc) and send these ahead followed by my warriors. Aerie throws lightning bolts at the dragon while the conjured animals die one by one and my warriors take a beating (they couldn't stand up even to the beating of the wings). When I see the dragon throw up his defensive spells, I have Aerie cast Spell Thrust (level 3 mage spell) and continue to throw lightning bolts from the wand. Finally, after 7-8 bolts, the dragon dies but it was at the expense of Yoshimo dying too (seems he took the brunt of the attack). I memorized the resurrection spell, rested and resurrected Yoshimo before moving on.

 

BAH! let Yoshimo BURN! he is the most sorry bard there ever was!

 

I got past the Shadow Dragon fairly easy. I had my char. (7th cleric/12th mage) cast Pierce Magic at it, while Edwin (10th) used a Pierce Magic Scroll (by this time I had found about 10 pierce magic scrolls on dead random beasties). This lowered the Dragons magic resistance by 22%. Meanwhile, Korgan (10th boosted up with a potion of frost giant strength and speed), and Anomen (12th with holy might, and speed) charged the big lizard, and I had Jan use a Monster summoning 3 scroll, and Vicky use a flame strike. The Dragon wasted the summoned monters who went straight in, by Korgan and Anomen looped to the sides and ended up getting hit with wing buffet attacks. Anomen only ended up taking 20 points of damage and Korgan 8, but the dragon kept them from doing any damage because they would go sliding across the room. It did keep the dragon occupied while it was hit with a flame strike that wasn't stopped by its lowered resistance, while Yan and Edwin proceeded to hit it with magic missiles, and I ran up and finished it off with my Bhallspawn Vampiric Touch. Dragon was Dead, and I didn't even have to heal up much after the battle.

 

Arg. The Temple Ruins is there, it's under Umar Hills. Whatever falls under that particular area, will be found under that particular area.

Due to the fact the Temple Ruins falls under Umar Hills, that's where one can find it while navigating through the solution. It's always been there and will always be like this.

The reason it is like this is because, well, quiet frankly you can't get to the Temple Ruins without going through Umar Hills first.

Regardless, I'll add a new link to the pull down - Umar Hills - Temple Ruins just for you guys on this weeks update

Syl...

 

I've found that the best way to kill any Dragon is to cast a few lower resistance spells and a few dooms( all rolls and saving throws -2), then hit him with a finger of death, polymorph, or disintegrate. Or you can always just cast lots of lightning bolts.

 

I thought I'd put this here too...

I found a peice of parchment saying there was a cache of items in a stone column formation outside the temple ruins surrounded by a copse of trees. Has anyone found it? If so, where is it?

Or was the parchment a red herring?