As we headed outside, we passed by Tiax, another possible companion. Tiax was an evil multi-class cleric/thief, certainly an odd combination. As a cleric, he doesn't have enough wisdom for additional spells and his dexterity is 16. He had the special ability to summon a Ghast, but the main reason to take Tiax rather than Viconia would be to free a space taken by a separate cleric and a thief as he could perform both roles adequately himself.
There were quite a number of late-joining potential companions like Tiax waiting around in Baldur's Gate, and the main issue with them was that your party was quite likely already higher level than them by the time they are available unless you rush through the main story on purpose.
---
Neera leveled up after completing the quest at the Seven Suns for Scar, unlocking her level 5 spells. That left only me who wasn't fully leveled, with just that one final level of thief left.
We had done more than enough to occupy the Iron Throne for now, and the Dukes had plenty on their plates to use to nail down the Iron Throne leadership down. That gave us some time, so it we could finally, FINALLY go on a stuff collection spree.
---
The first thing was to go back to Sorcerous Sundries… actually, no. While we were still near the Flaming Fist headquarters, we scouted out the nearest sewer entrance to the Flaming Fist compound, went down the sewer ladder, and took note of the sewer exit which had led up to the Flaming Fist compound.
"What are we doing this for?" Jaheira asked.
"Mapping escape routes. If we need to travel through Baldur's Gate undetected, the sewer's the best option. So I'm marking how to get to the main landmarks by the sewers," I explained.
"So that's how thieves operate," Jaheira mused. "Very resourceful."
"Is it though?" Neera said while holding her nose. "Why would we ever need to pass through Baldur's Gate unseen? There's such a thing as being too paranoid."
I gave her a look of dissatisfaction. Of ALL people, she had to question what I was doing when she knows I had played the game before?
---
We walked westwards, from the Flaming Fist compound in southeast part of the city to the southern docks region, where the Iron Throne base and Harbour Master building was. Both of these were useful landmarks so we went down the sewers and marked which exit led to each. Before we left this area, I bid the party to drop by the Low Lantern, a ship here in the docks that was now a tavern and gambling den.
The reason I was here wasn't to gamble away my hard-earned money, of course. I wanted to a specific magical item, but getting it could be tricky.
Not having any other confidante, I turned to Neera for help.
"So this you want this superb item in the game, but in order to get it you need to pick a fight with two feisty women?" Neera attempted to summarise.
"Kind of. They worship entropy. Well, they try to kill you if you accept their proposition. I need someone to say 'yes' while I get ready to ambush them as soon as they attack."
Neera's eyes narrowed. "I already don't like the sound of this. What would we be agreeing to exactly?"
"Experiencing the pleasure of nihilism, apparently. Which only after accepting turns out to be an offer to kill you."
"Uh huh. And you're asking the squishy mage in the party to get attacked by this warrior woman?"
"…good point. Fine, I'll just do it myself."
---
I left the rest of the party on the upper levels of the Low Lantern, and descended into the 2nd level down. There I was hailed by an approaching woman with jetblack short hair dressed in black (kind of like a butch goth-girl), leaving behind another woman dressed in black robes behind her. The approaching woman must have been Desreta, and the woman behind was her partner Vay-ya.
---
Desreta is a level 10 fighter/thief (somehow) with a Thac0 of 3, probably the lowest we've seen so far. She also has a strength of 18/00 due to her very magical gauntlets which we absolutely want, and GRANDMASTERY with her Longsword+1, so she hits for 1d8+12 per hit and has an APR of 2.5. The woman with her, Vay-ya, was a fighter/mage who also had Grandmastery with daggers. Vay-ya will open with Shadow Door and then cast Horror, Confusion as well as an assortment of nasty spells.
The real problem I find, is space. In the tight quarters of the ship, it's tricky to get 6 party members to effectively bring to bear on the two women, especially Vay-ya in the back. The old game always had pathfinding issues, and in case everyone is likely to get in each other's way. That was why I wanted someone else to do the talking, while I strike at Vay-ya from the shadows.
---
As Desreta approached, I made a point to wave while walking backwards towards the stairs away from Vay-ya, and ducked behind a pillar so that I was still visible to Desreta but not the other.
"Stop walking away and let me tell you about the pleasures of entropy!" Desreta yelled, her pace increasing.
"I'm listening," I said, but didn't stop walking.
"You come in here for some purpose, no? Tell you the secret. There is no purpose, only entropy. Wondrous, sensuous entropy. My soul sister and I know entropy better than most. Perhaps we teach you some of its pleasures, no?"
I stopped walking backwards, having reached the stairs.
"I am Desreta. She is Vay-ya. We are soul sisters, one with void. We know life has no meaning. Let us show you entropic pleasure... Mm. It will delight you with its icy touch," she continued, while licking her lips suggestively.
Which is in reality their way of asking permission to kill me. Thank goodness Xan wasn't with us. I can just hear him agreeing with these women that 'Life is so hollow', then getting stabbed.
In the original game, the way to get this stupid encounter was to say, "Yes, show us this pleasure you speak of. I'm sure it could be quite interesting, especially if you show it to us in the privacy of your bedroom."
Seriously, that's the idiot line we had to say in order to get one of the best items in the game. Why do you do this to us, devs?
…wait a second.
I looked Desreta in the eye. "Entropic pleasure? Delight with its icy touch? You're doing this on purpose aren't you? You enjoy the act of killing, but nobody wants to let you kill them. So now you're wording your request in such a way that it sounds like you're offering to bed them, then you murder them after they agree."
Desreta looked at me, appalled. "Murder? Never! We only take those who want to experience the pleasures of entropy."
"Once they agree, would you allow people to change their minds once they find out you just meant you're going to kill them?" I asked. I knew the answer based on the way this encounter unfolds in the game, but it didn't hurt to check.
Desreta pursed her lips but didn't answer.
Damn. Someday, these women who are obsessed by the thrill of killing others will actually kill someone who was taken in by their talk of pleasure and delight. Assuming they haven't done so already.
What should I actually do now, especially considering I wanted her fancy magic item?
I gave Desreta a bright smile. "Wait right there. I'll get back to you and your entropic pleasures after settling my business with my friends."
Before she could answer, I went back up the stairs. Or pretended to. In reality I had hopped down the other side silently, and sneaked around to where Vay-ya was. Always target the mages first.
I managed to get behind Vay-va unnoticed, and went for a strike to the back the head. To my amazement, she managed to evade a fatal blow at the last moment, and quickly started incanting Shadow Door.
Can't have that. A quick zap with the wand of Magic Missiles interrupted her. She snarled at me then started incanting another spell.
Thankfully, there's a stairs down to another level just next to Vay-ya. I bid her adieu and hopped down. There, I waited around a sharp corner.
Vay-ya, her spell lost, climbed down after me. She didn't realise I was around the sharp corner until it was too late. Another strike from behind landed squarely on the back of her head.
One down, one more to go. I placed a tripwire on the stairs, then sneaked my way back up.
I was almost surprised to see Desreta waiting patiently, unaware what had happened to her 'soul sister'. Maybe she was really keen on finally finding a victim. Urgh. Time to experience entropic pleasure yourself. I swung at her with my staff. Even at the moment of impact against her skull, she managed to spin to make most of the blow glance off the dome of her cranium. Definitely an expert fighter. She drew her sword on me in an instant, but I was already running away. Back I went where Vay-ya was standing moments ago, and back down the stairs I went, avoiding my own trap.
Desreta, who was on my tail, tripped over the tripwire and fell forward down the stairs, hard. As she lay crumpled on the floor next to Vay-ya's corpse, I used that moment to run back up.
Desreta screeched in frustration. She ran back up, looking down at the floor for more tripwires. If she had been looking up instead, she might have seen my strike coming from above.
As she lay on the ground, stunned, I pointed at her. "You wanted to be the one who deals out your entropic pleasure?" I said, then gave her a thumbs down. "How about you try it instead. See how you like it."
In response, she let out a low moan while licking at her own blood on her fingers. "Ohhhh, I feel it, the faint glow of entropy. It's soooo delicious. You don't know what you're missing out on."
Huh.
"Well then. Enjoy."
I reared up my staff like a baseball bat, and swung.
---
Desreta was wearing the much-coveted Gauntlets of Ogre Power which sets the wearer's strength to 18/00. Wearing the gauntlets had a REMARKABLE effect on Khalid's battle prowess. Using Varscona+2, his attacks leap-froged from Thac0 8 and 6 to 13 damage, to a mighty Thac0 5 and 12 to 19 damage. 3 Thac0 and 7 damage was a huge difference!
Personally, being the loot goblin that I was, I loved the fact that it increased Khalid's weight capacity from 120 to 400. Not having someone who could carry all the heaviest stuff in the game was a real pain up until now.
It's actually possible to pickpocket Desreta before any fight starts for Gauntlets of Ogre Power. Maybe I should have drunk a Potion of Master Thievery and done that instead? But I didn't see the need to waste resources like that considering I could erase both murderous women with relative ease.
At least, that is what I had thought. Seeing Desreta's stupid expression of pleasure at her own demise was going to give me nightmares.
Other Loot:
Longsword +1, Dagger+1,
Scrolls of Dispel Magic, Clairvoyance,
Wand of Fire
---
Onward to the Sorcerous Sundries, well, just north of it, and talk to Niklos. He had a proposition for us.
"The word on the street, that you do the odd job here 'n there? I've a boss who'd like to have a word wit' you if you can spare the time. He don't ask fer free though, and here be 50 gold just to hear him out," he said.
Niklos didn't say it at the time, but I knew that he was working for the local thief's guild. His boss, Alatos "Ravenscar" Thuibuld, wanted us to do some work for them. We needed allies in the city of Baldur's Gate, even of the unlawful kind, so there was good reason for us to work with the Thieves Guild when we were available.
Niklos showed us the entrance to his boss's base and told us the password, 'Fafhrd'. The guards inside let us in with the password, but we left a message that we were busy right now but we keen on coming back later. In the meantime, we talked to the lady, Black Lily, who sold supplies suitable for thieves.
I peeked into the barrel near Black Lily. "There's a book in here. Funny place to keep one."
"You want it? Have it. It's all gibberish, does no good to me," Black Lily said.
I popped open the barrel and helped myself.
Score! The book in question was an unidentified Manual of Quickness of Action. Permanent +1 Dexterity, baby! I had Neera prep an Identify spell just for this one item! With a Dex of 20, all my thief skills received +5 effective skill points (other than Move Silently and Hide in Shadows which each gained +3, and Detect Illusion which did not benefit).
---
Funnily enough, for every main ability score there was exactly One Tome/Manual in the game which gave a permanent increase to that ability score. Except wisdom. There were 3 Tomes which increased Wisdom in BG1. Also, if you were strictly following a good path, in BG2 you'll eventually get another +1 Wisdom for a total of +4 wisdom. It was possible though tricky to get another 2 more wisdom in the Throne of Bhaal expansion. Unless the player character is a wisdom deficient race like a halfling, a cleric could gain up to 24 Wisdom which grants a HUGE number of additional spells per day.
Oh man, I really wish I was a cleric!
---
"That's awfully convenient. Magic book that the thief guild lady dismissed turned out to be something super valuable," Imoen said after I had used the Manual on myself.
"Still haven't found a Staff of Power lying around though," I said back to her with a grin.
Imoen shook her head, while Neera had a smug look on her face.