The Black Pits II: Gladiators of Thay

The Black Pits II, officially called the Black Pits II: Gladiators of Thay, is a follow-up to Baeloth's Black Pits I. The Black Pits II shows up in Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition. It is run by a powerful mage named Dennaton, enforced by a planetar called The Winged, and staffed by many volunteers and servants of Dennaton.

Overview
There are several differences between the two installments. The area in Black Pits II is much larger than in Black Pits I, the arena entrance is a non-weave zone which prevents magical energy from channeling so you can't pre-buff your party like in BP1 but there's a place for you to prepare sequence spells and you may ask others to help you in battles. Much more powerful monsters are in fight and you start at levels 9-11, depending on your class. If you’re importing high level characters, they will retain the status and all unlocked abilities, but their XP will be set to 2,950,000 total. As usual, you may not use Bhaalspawn abilities in BP2. New Reward system is introduced.

Reward system
When you talk to Dennaton before entering the arena, you have an option to address the crowd, choose to do so and you’ll have a chance to obtain one of the two types of item rewards, good or great, associated with each battle after the fight. The base chance to get a good item is 55%, great item starts at 30%, each of which you may get only once. The chances are further modified by the first three addresses of each battle, either heroic or villainous, by 1% each time. The two routes are counterproductive, increasing one will decrease another by the same amount. For example, a party who start at 55% chance to get good items address heroically at tier 1 - 2 battle at the 1st time will increase the chance to 56%, do it again the chance becomes 57%, then on their 3rd try they address villainously, the chance will drop to 56% and no further change can be made on tier 1-2 on the 4th try thereafter. For this very reason, it’s recommended to replay each battle at least three times while sticking to one route to maximize your total reward chance, be patient and keep trying to finally get all item rewards.

List below shows the experience and gold gain after each battle, however unlike BP1, repeating previously completed battles will not net you XP, only additional gold, battleground is listed because traps carry over to the next fights.

Store item lists
As you fight to advance in tiers, more items become available for you to purchase, the items unlocked will stay in store lists, all wands except the Wand of Spell Striking can be bought immediately, most Potions are also in stores from the beginning. The lists below show which items are added each tier, genetic non-magical, +1, +2 or +3 items are not listed.

Potions
Most Potions are available from Tier 1

Loot and containers
There're several creatures you can kill, the Winged will spawn once to warn you. Following time, she'll slay your party.

There're containers in the game, some are locked or need a key, some require you be at a certain story point.

Walkthrough
Dennaton considers you his guests, though you were taken by force. When you start out, you are in a tavern and a bard is telling the story of your escape from the Black Pits I. She will engage in dialogue, and, no matter what you say to her line, she and the other patrons in the tavern will turn into hostile people, complete with The Winged, an Iron or Adamantite Golem, and an Efreeti. Before this happens, Najim will arrive and warn you that you are in danger. He will be trapped by a magical sphere. Once your whole party is defeated, you will be transported to the Pits. In the unlikely and nearly impossible event (Unless you play with an already trained and well-equipped party) that you win this fight, a dialogue will initiate with Najim, and several options are possible. He will speak about a divination spell to give you a preview of what would have happened had you lost the fight. Agreeing to this will allow you to play the Black Pits II just as if you lost or let them take you by force, while refusing will simply get you back to title screen.

Links

 * The Black Pits II Items And Rewards Guide by Abel

Gameplay (community)
Gejadus' Walkthrough (Strategy)

You've been captured by evil powerful hunters led by The Winged'''! You find yourself in a huge prison with other prisoners and you have to be a gladiator in an arena. You are determined to survive and want to escape your prison. You want to be a free man/ a free woman again!'''

 Party members: Your goal is your freedom! In order to escape the prison you finally have to defeat an extremely powerful opponent: The Winged! Even worse she’s supported by other powerful creatures! From this perspective you have to choose and create your party members carefully! There are many options. You can have up to 6 party members or just choose one! High level Mages or Witches (Sorcerers) are very powerful so you want to have at least two in your party. You don’t really need a Thief in your party! In the Hunters' zone upstairs magic doesn't work. Doesn't matter! You have access to all rooms of the Hunters by force! Joker's room could only be opened by using Crom Faeyr! You can steal from The Winged her powerful gloves and the wine from Joker. I’m just playing Black Pits 2 again (26th July 2017). I chose the given characters Alarion, Mireille, Lers and Rurik besides a Fighter / Mage (Multi-Class) and a Berserker and I realise that Rurik (non-human, Multi-Class) is inferior to my own creation, a Berserker (8) – Cleric (human, Dual-Class). This has effects on playing the difficult challenge with the Drows (see Battle 5). You can see my party at the end of the article: How to defeat The Winged.

 Money: This should never be an issue for you! You should be able to buy all the items that you like to get. If you buy the Helm of Glory (Charisma +1) and the Cloak of the Nymph (Charisma +2) early and give it e.g. to the knight Alarion his charisma will increase to +21. You will get reduced prices and on the long run you can save lots of money. In addition to you can play all the battles as often as you want! If you should ever run out of money just fight against The Three Dragons (Battle 18) again! Each time you fight again you will get 10000 gold as a reward if you’re victorious. Rewards/Gifts from the spectators, your fans:  Fighting against the same enemies again makes lots of sense if you want to get all the rewards! There are two types of rewards in each battle (see: REWARD SYSTEM on top of this page: The Black Pits II: Gladiators of Thay). You have to ask your fans for giving them to you (at the end of the dialogue with Dennaton always number 3.).

Playing The Black Pits II is great fun!

 Duration of game play:  5-10 hours if you follow my instructions carefully! So if you happen to have two free evenings just go for it! One of the reasons I wrote this ‘ Black Pits 2 Gladiators of Thay Walkthrough ‘ is because I didn’t find any written one online. I personally just hate to get stuck somewhere for hours and not being able to go on. I like written guidelines that I can just read and follow if I get stuck and need a hint.

''' The big gain of playing Black Pits II Gladiators of Thay:  Besides that Black Pits II is lots of fun to play it's really useful to figure out lots about spells from Mages and Sorcerers, e.g. how does really Time Stop work? How many spells can I use while I'm using the Time Stop spell? On which enemies does Imprisonment have an effect? In addition to I can test new protagonist players like the Dwarven Defender (article Fighter) or the Sorcerer etc. within a really short amount of time!! Do I ever want to play a Totemic Druid Fighter (article Druid) with the spell Insect Plague (Dual-Class, Human) in Baldur's Gate II, EE and Throne of Bhaal? Will I even play a Solo Walkthrough with this protagonist starting from Baldur's Gate I, Siege of Dragonspear, Baldur's Gate II up to Throne of Bhaal or do I prefer a Fighter / Mage (Multi-Class) for playing this? If I want to have the Fighter Whirlwind Attack ability and Time Stop at the same time would it make sense to create a Human, Dual-Class Fighter Mage? Or will I risk a Solo Walkthrough with a Berserker Cleric (Human, Dual-Class) who will be finally equipped with Crom Faeyr and Flail of Ages and great spells?'''

It's time for entering the arena! Dennaton is already nervous. What took you so long? The spectators can’t wait any longer to see the Hero of Baeloth’s Black Pits I! You will face 19 Battles before the Rebellion starts. After each 5 Battles there will be a supply of new items that you can buy by using the money that you earned in the arena. Even after the last series of only 4 Battles there will be new items available! Don’t forget to buy Robe of Vecna and Gram the Sword of Grief at the end after Battle 19 (Tier 5)!

 Gladiators who can fight alongside you in the arena:  You’re not alone in this huge prison. There are other prisoners as well. They share your destiny. According to Dennaton, the owner of the Arena, your fellow prisoners are all Legends! You can ask them to support you in your Battles. There are Mages, Clerics, Assassins who are willing to help you and Fighters as well. Here are some strong Fighters: Symm Haximus: He’s willing to help you from the first battle on Timmot Gutbaum: He won’t help you in the beginning, but later. He's a Cleric, and I was totally surprised to see him supporting me in the battle in a wonderful way. As a Cleric he used Sanctuary and resurrected one one my party members who already had been killed in battle! Wow! Hort Il-D’rth (Orc): He won’t help you in the beginning, but later. He’s extremely useful in Battle 17 against the two powerful Demilich Twins because as a Berserker he's resistant to imprisonment! Voghiln: He’s a Bard whom you can encounter in Baldur's Gate Siege of Dragonspear (SoD) as well! He might be strong but in the arena he's so drunken that he's not really of use. That's at least my experience.

BATTLES

There are 4 difficulty levels: easy; medium; difficult; extremely difficult. This is according to my game playing experience against these opponents in the arena when I played with the general setting ‘core rules’. So all these difficulty levels are totally subjective.

Tier 1

At your starting position you have 15000 gold at your disposal. I suggest that buy the Helm of Glory (Charisma +1) first, then armors for your warriors and some good double handed swords+1 or Flame of the North. If money is left it’s always good to equip all your party members with one healing potion and poison antidote. If you have a Bard in your company the Harp of Discord for confusing your enemies is a ‘must’!

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 1 - Battle 1 (1-1): Orcs difficulty level: easy Strategy/solution: Just let your mages use the Web(spider net) spell, Magic Missiles, Flame Arrows, Melf’s Acid Arrows and let finally your warriors fight. Hints: I just cheer up the spectators! I want them to be excited about the battle. I don’t ask for any item yet.

<p class="MsoNormal">With your gold gain of 11000 gold for defeating the Orcs buy Wyvern's Tail for your Cleric.

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 1 - Battle 2 (1-2): Two Minotaurs and some gladiators difficulty level: easy Strategy/solution: Web – Stinking Cloud – Fireball – Magic Missiles; later Spider Spawn Hints: I just cheer up the spectators! I want them to be excited about the battle. I don’t ask for any item yet.

<p class="MsoNormal">Buy Spider's Bane for one of your Warriors!

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 1 - Battle 3 (1-3): Lizard Men difficulty level: easy Strategy/solution: Web – Stinking Cloud – Fireball – Magic Missiles; summon up Skeletons Hints: I just cheer up the spectators again!

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 1 - Battle 4 (1-4): Umber Hulk Elders difficulty level: easy Strategy/solution: Web and Stinking Cloud is crucial! Usually Spell Disintegrate destroys these beasts at once! Let your Cleric put a spell on your Warriors that they don’t get stuck in the spider web but can move and fight: Free Action! Hints: I want to get the reward items: Lilarcor and Aeger’s Hide. Go for nr.3 in the dialogue with Dennaton!

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 1 - Battle 5 (1-5): Drows

<p class="MsoNormal">difficulty level: difficult! Strategy/solution: In my eyes the best solution is 1.) to ask another gladiator in prison like Symm Haximus to join you in this battle. He does it gladly for free. 2.) to let your Cleric protect your party members from evil (Protection from Evil) and summon a demon (Gate -  cleric/priest level 7). In addition to use Web, Speed and True Seeing/Sight. Hints/Warning: Be careful! If your cleric summons up an air element (Aerial Servant (Spell) the Drows might convert it and suddenly you’ll face the element as an opponent. Have poison antidotes with you! When a Drow dies three poisonous spiders show up. I want to get the reward items: Cloak of Balduran and Bladesinger Chain (great item for the Fighter / Mage / Thief). Go for nr.3 in the dialogue with Dennaton! I just realised when playing the BP II again that Rurik, the given Dwarf Fighter-Cleric can’t summon Gate at his level yet because of his Multi-Class. My usual choice, my own Berserker-Cleric (human, Dual-Class (see Classes); Berserker 8, 125000 experience points, was class changed to Cleric just before the 1st battle against the Orcs), is much better! He can summon Gate at this level already! Rurik’s weapon proficiency is worse as well. As a Fighter / Cleric he’s limited to weapon proficiency two points (++) while my Berserker Cleric can get Grand Master Skill (5 points (+++++)) concerning each weapon! You can still win this battle together with Rurik at once! Use the spell Free Action for your warriors and Symm Haximus and summon up lots of Skeletons to support you!

<p class="MsoNormal"> Summary/achievements after 5 battles: After winning 5 battles the party members could gain experience 5 times. These upgrades move Alarion to level 18, what means that he can already summon a Diva (Summon Deva - chosen special ability)! My two Witches are on level 18 as well. Spells: Project Image; Time Stop and Summon Dark Planetar'''. GREAT! This is how it works: Let your Witch (Sorcerer) use Time Stop first and then Project Image. This allows to summon up Planetars and not only one even if Alarion has already summoned up his Deva, a type of Angelic Being  of this kind! So for the next battle against the Vampires you should rest for 8 hours and your new spells of the 18th level will be activated. In the following battle you would be able to summon up 2 Planetars after using Time Stop; without using Time Stop even 3!''' If you have 2 Witches 6 Planetars. If you let Alarion summon his Deva first you could have an army of 7 Angelic Beings against the Vampires. ''' Already now after 5 battles and having reached level 18 you have really powerful abilities! '''

<p class="MsoNormal">This principal is crucial for all following battles. Even if I don’t mention it in my solution explicitly in each battle you can let your Witches use Time Stop – Project Image – Planetar!

<p class="MsoNormal">When a Witch finally has reached her maximum level of 27 after Battle 19 she’s able to summon 6 Planetars. If you have 2 Witches already 12 and if you let Alarion summon his Deva first, you will have an army of 13 Angels! Impressive!

<p class="MsoNormal">conclusion: With these upgrades, new abilities  and new items you can be very confident concerning the next 5 battles! Just the Vampires (Battle 6 (2-1)) and Mardii (Battle 9 (2-4)) will be a little bit challenging.

<p class="MsoNormal">Tier 2

<p class="MsoNormal">After 5 Battles the next tier starts: new items are available to buy! Go for the Boots of Speed, the Shield of Harmony, Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise, Helm of Charm Protection and Jhor the Bleeder, a mean bastard sword! Daystar is available to buy as well!

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 2 - Battle 1 (2-1)/Battle 6: Vampires difficulty level: difficult Strategy/solution: web – confusion spell – Aerial Servant (Spell) (the air element is strong against the Vampires) - Diva. Powerful against the Vampires (Undead) is Sunray! If you have the long sword Daystar you can use Sunray or a Cleric with high spell ability (level 7 spell). Get protection for your party members against entchantment by using Shield of Harmony, Lilarcor, Helm of Charm Protection and the Cleric (Priest) spell Chaotic Commands! Hints: gifts from your fans: Amulet of Power!

<p class="MsoNormal">If you have a Bard in your party and he has reached level 24 go for the Improved Bard Song! It's a huge help for the Bard and the party!

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 2 - Battle 2 (2-2)/Battle 7: Githyanki difficulty level: easy (my favourite enemies) Strategy/solution: web! –  Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting - Wyvern Call (Wyverns fly over the web) – Diva. Spell Free Action on your warriors! Hints: Silver Sword!! Extremely good for killing! 25% deadly (vorpal; decapitation likely)! Get it from your fans!

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 2 - Battle 3 (2-3)/Battle 8: Water Elements difficulty level: easy Strategy/solution:Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting !! Hints: Firetooth +4 (e.g. for your Bard)

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 2 - Battle 4 (2-4)/Battle 9: Mardii and his Elements difficulty level: difficult! Strategy/solution: Time Stop and remove Mardii’s magic protection! Spell Speed on your Warriors and hunt Mardii down and kill him! Especially Jhor the Bleeder is very useful for poisoning Mardii! Mardii likes to protect himself regarding magical weapons and often uses invisibility spells. Have spells ready for making him visible again! You can also try to fire a Comet on him at once. '''Don’t destroy the elements in the beginning! After being killed they will come back! But two of them instead of one! Kill Mardii first!''' I like to do it with the Silver Sword! A Mage or Witch (Sorcerer) can cast the Imprisonment spell and a huge Element disappears! It gets imprisoned deep under the earth! That's really mean! Hints: Flail of Ages

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 2 - Battle 5 (2-5)/Battle10: Demons and Devils difficulty level: easy Strategy/solution: Just let the demons kill each other! Stay out of battle. If the succubus attacks your warriors too much with charm spells  – kill him! I usually spell Web next/on to her at the beginning of the battle and kill her with the Warrior who has Spider’s Bane or Free Action on him. Hints: Longsword Blackrazor and Celestial Fury!

<p class="MsoNormal"> Recommendations after battle 10: It would be good to make sure that you have all the reward items from the battle 1-10 that you like before you go on! You can play all Battles again and try to get these gifts from your fans! I make sure that I really have Bladesinger chain, the Amulet of Power, the Silver Sword, the Flail of Ages and Blackrazor before I start with Battle 11 (Tier 3-1).

<p class="MsoNormal">At this time I also start going around and talking with lots people in the prison. I trust that you will talk with Brodle and follow his hints for going upstairs. When you finally talk with Dulf Finsterbart he will tell you that he knows the Drow Mage Bannor. He will be willing to produce a script roll for you in order to take over Bannor’s role in the strong Adamantite Golem (soul transfer/spirit transfer: the soul of one of your Mages and Bannor's soul will exchange their places!). Instead of Dulf letting this produce for you you address to the Wild Mage Gerrold Dunkelbold who does it for less money. Gerrold needs a property from Bannor. For this reason you will go upstairs to the rooms of the hunters  for getting a piece from Bannor’s mirror that lies on the floor and bring it to Gerrold. For 4000 gold Gerrold will give you this special script roll just before the Final Battle with The Winged. His script roll works fine!

<p class="MsoNormal">''' Kill DORMATUS! '''When you go upstairs in the area of the hunters it’s easy to get access to Dormatus’ room. There are different options. I trust that you manage to enter his room. If you release Najim from his bottle now Dormatus will realise it at once and show up in order to capture Najim again. You can try to kill Dormatus now. It works but he’s a strong opponent. Therefore I recommend to wait with releasing Najim and come here again after Battle 15 when your party members have already gained more experience points. Wear your normal armor again and not the uniformes when you're fighting Dormatus. Annihilate Dormatus – you don’t want to face 6 enemies in your last Battle, the Final Battle!

<p class="MsoNormal">You can also try to poison Joker. Although I had Joker’s wine from her room and four different gifts (rat poison, poison from the Brewer (Belfer’s mushroom friend), Gezzthemin and even Ellraish) none of these could kill Joker when she came down and joined Voghiln for drinking! It just didn’t work. So I don’t know if there’s even another 5th poison that would work...

<p class="MsoNormal">Tier 3

<p class="MsoNormal">After 5 battles the next tier starts: new items are available to buy from the merchants! Buy Boots of Speed again, Girdle of Stone Giant Strength, Red Dragon Scale and Ring of the Ram!

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 3 - Battle 1 (3-1)/Battle 11: Monks difficulty level: medium-difficult Strategy/solution: These monks come very fast towards you and kick you really hard! 1.) ask another gladiator in prison like Symm Haximus to join you in this battle. 2.) Web - Summon creatures – witches: Time Stop/Project Image/Planetars as fast as possible! – True Seeing – attack a monk always with several warriors. I like my warrior-cleric using Globe of Blades Hints: Wong Fei’s Ioun Stone

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 3 - Battle 2 (3-2)/Battle 12: Golem difficulty level: easy Strategy/solution: Witches: Time Stop/Project Image/Planetars. Best and really mean strategy is to use Celestial Fury against the huge Golem first and knock it unconscious and spell Imprisonment on it! The Golem disappears! The Battle is over within seconds! Hints: CROM FAEYR!! Go for it and give it to your Cleric or Dwarven Defender!! Shuruppak's Plate!

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 3 - Battle 3 (3-3)/Battle 13:  Lich ! Difficulty level: medium - difficult Strategy/solution:  Destroy these huge Skeleton Beasts (Higher Skeleton Golems) first! My Cleric will use Globe of Blades against them. Time Stop and remove the Lich’s magic protection! Summon a Diva and some Planetars as additional help. Hints: Staff of the Magi''' !!! A ‘must’!'''

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 3 - Battle 4 (3-4)/Battle 14: Rakshas difficulty level: medium - difficult Strategy/solution: I let of one my Witches attack the Rakshas at once with a Comet while they are still getting ready for battle. Some get unconscious and are easy to kill then. Witches: Time Stop/Project Image/Planetars and Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting. My Cleric will use Globe of Blades. A Mage or Witch (Sorcerer) can cast the Imprisonment spell and even the Maharadscha disappears! It works! Hints: Nice rewards again: Hindo's Doom and Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization!

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 3 - Battle 4 (3-5)/Battle 15: Illithids difficulty level: easy Strategy/solution: Web on/next to the slaves! – Be fast and kill the Illthids as fast as possible! Hints:  Psion's Blade

<p class="MsoNormal">Tier 4

<p class="MsoNormal">New items are available to buy from the merchants! Buy Boots of Speed  again, Vhailor's Helm,  Staff of the Woodlands (for a Druid, Thief (level 24) or Bard (level 24)), Girdle of Frost Giant Strength, Amulet of the Master Harper and other nice items!

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 4 - Battle 1 (4-1)/Battle 16: The 6 fallen Devas difficulty level: difficult! Strategy/solution: Ask Symm Haximus to join you in this battle! He’s an excellent fighter! These fallen Devas are fast and go for your Mages and Witches first and want to eliminate them! Let your Knight e.g. Alarion summon a Diva at once and your Cleric an elemental. Witches (Sorcerers): '''Time Stop + Project Image + Planetars as fast as possible! '''Use True Sight/True Seeing! The Mage or Witch (Sorcerer) casts the Imprisonment spell in vain! The Devas are immune to Imprisonment! The same applies to The Winged in the Final Battle! Hint:Carsomyr! and The Answerer!

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 4 - Battle 2 (4-2)/Battle 17: The Demilich Twins difficulty level: easy!Strategy/solution: Ask Hort Il D’rth to help you! As a Berserker he’s immune to this mean Imprisonment spell that these two Demi Liches usually use! Let your own Berserker Warriors use their special rage ability (Enrage''')! Best weapon to attack these evil twins: Daystar! '''It’s a long sword. A Mage can use the Ring of the Ram to cause additional harm! Summon up lots of creatures that the Demi Liches get distracted and don’t attack your warriors.  Best strategy :  Let the Fighter / Mage / Thief use Time Stop (this script roll/scroll is 6x available to buy: cost: 11200 gold for each (Charisma: +20)), and then during the Time Stop let him use a Greater Whirlwind Attack on these guys by using Daystar and another weapon +4 or +5! => So the battle becomes easy!

<p class="MsoNormal">Hints/Warning: These two Demiliches (Lich) are totally immune to magic and can only be damaged by using weapons +4 or +5. Of course you want to get the 'Ring of Gaxx' as a reward!! You fight as often until you get it as a gift from your fans! Gives you each time 9000 gold for defeating them again! Just buy Time Stop (spell level 9) and let your Fighter / Mage transfer this sript roll into his spell book and use it when you're fighting these two Liches. If your Mage still should get imprisoned let your Sorcerer(Witch) use the spell Freedom (spell level 9)! The Mage will come back at once and can continue to fight! These Demilich Twins who seem to be so difficult to fight in the beginning become an easy prey for you by using the right strategy!

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 4 - Battle 3 (4-3)/Battle 18: The Three Dragons: YLLAXIA; Nyxxla and Orluss difficulty level: easy! Strategy/solution: I don’t see any problems if you have strong Warriors. Start with your Knight e.g. Alarion. Let him summon a Deva, your Cleric an Element (Elemental Summoning). Put the spells Haste and Remove Fear on your Warriors and if they should struggle let your Mages or Witches use spells for removing the magic protection from YLLAXIA Hints: Gives you each time 10000 gold for defeating them again! Foebane + Angurvadal !

<p class="MsoNormal"> Tier 4 - Battle 4 (4-4)/Battle19: The Bhaalspawn

<p class="MsoNormal">difficulty level: extremely difficult! / easy

<p class="MsoNormal">Strategy/solution: You will face Enegar and Kastulor, children of the dead God Bhaal, as opponents! Best is to kill Enegar at once before he can use the most evil of his Bhaalspawn abilities the CHANGE into a strong unique Monster: The Slayer (Slayer Form)! As the Slayer Enegar's strength and dexterity are increased to 25, his constitution is increased by +5. Enegar can change into the Big Slayer; Kastulor into a Small Slayer! Not nice! You might be fast with your warriors and manage to kill him e.g. with the Silver Sword! This would save you from lots of trouble and then the fight would have been easy!

<p class="MsoNormal">Hints/Warning: Time Stop doesn’t work! The Bhaalspawn is immune to Time Stop! These two most evil creatures will just attack your Warriors like crazy while one of your Mages uses Time Stop! Forget about Time Stop!

<p class="MsoNormal">Tier 5

<p class="MsoNormal">The Rebellion

<p class="MsoNormal">After the last battle an interesting conversation takes place between Tartle and Brodle. It becomes clear that the hunters haven’t come back from their hunt for a long time. They are after something really big – a Tarraske. This is your and the other prisoners’ chance to try to escape! '''Before you meet with the others make sure that you buy all necessary items from the merchants! '''E.g. the Axe of the Unyielding is now available, Robe of Vecna, Gram the Sword of Grief, Runehammer, Aslyferund Elven Chain and another pair of Boots of Speed as well! After the Rebellion has started you won’t be able to buy from them any more. I trust that you find the place for starting the Rebellion and are able to defeat all the guards. You finally end up at this merchant place again and discover that there was an explosion. Now you have access to a Treasure Room (Vault). Take the Cloak of the Lich! (I remember playing and winning against The Winged in another way than described below when I only had a Witch and Warrior left. The Cloak of  the Lich was a wonderful protection for my Berserker Warrior. The Winged just couldn’t tear the soul out of the Warrior’s body and kill him), the Rod of Resurrection and the Time Stop scroll! One of the treasure chests in the Vault is locked. Magic works after the Rebellion in the merchant place again so you can use the spell Knock in order to open the chest. No Thief in the whole game needed!

<p class="MsoNormal">Talk with the other gladiators in prison who are left and you will be surprised!

<p class="MsoNormal">You go on in order to find Dennaton and kill him and escape from prison!

<p class="MsoNormal">In the arena you will see Voghiln, Gerrold and Lea Gosh' Aar fighting against Umber Hulks. You will support your fellow prisoners of course. After defeating them Gerrold will give you the special script roll (scroll) to change roles with Bannor!

<p class="MsoNormal">'''You go on! You want to find Dennaton and kill him and be free at last!'''

<h3 class="MsoNormal">Gejadus' How to defeat The Winged?

<p class="MsoNormal">>>'''>>> You are facing here the biggest challenge in the whole Baldur’s Gate I+II, EE realm !!! <<< Defeating Kangaxx the Demilich might not seem to be an easy task but this challenge here is another league! '''The Winged is extremely tough and can recover quickly after being injured and at first it's seems nearly impossible to defeat her and her evil companions. Here are two solutions for defeating her: First solution: The easy way to defeat her! Create a Fighter / Mage (Fighter / Mage / Thief)! In the Final Battle let the Fighter/Mage use Time Stop in order to approach The Winged, then use the Greater Whirlwind Attack/ Whirlwind Attack immediately and hit her e.g. with Angurvadal and the Answerer (Axe of the Unyielding) at the same time. After the time stop's over she's already badly wounded (or even dead!). Attack her now with all your Fighters. Especially a Berserker Warrior with Gram the Sword of Grief(double handed sword that is available to buy after destroying the Bhaalspawn – Tier 5), Ring of Gaxx and Cloak of the Lich (Vault) is extremely effective! If you still don't manage to kill her use your mages in addition and lower the resistance of The Winged several times (spell: Lower Resistance).

<p class="MsoNormal">By the way I couldn't kill The Winged with Imprisonment! Two times my Fighter / Mage used Time Stop and afterwards Imprisonment on The Winged - it just didn't work! I also didn't succeed in it by just using Imprisonment. Like the 6 fallen Devas in Battle 16 (Tier 4-1) The Winged is immune to Imprisonment!

<p class="MsoNormal"> Second solution:  Defeating The Winged without using the Fighter / Mage / Thief abilities (see above) Usually you kill Dormatus, one of the evil party members, before the Final Battle with The Winged. You go upstairs to his room, release Najim out of his prison and Dormatus will show up... So at the end you will face only five enemies. After the dialogue with Dennaton the five remaining hunters show up. The strategy is as follows: 1.) You want to get rid of the strong Adamantite Golem Bannor. 2.) You want to kill one weak party member: Joker. 3.) You attack with all your forces The Winged. 4.) You kill the mage Thassk Kun. 5.) You finally kill the powerful mage Pol Pyrrus (spells: resistant against magic weapons + Black Blade of Disaster, I guess)

<p class="MsoNormal">So after the battle has started you want to 1.) use Gerrold’s script  roll (only 4000 Gold) to exchange the role with Bannor. You need a Mage for this - but you can also use your Bard or Thief (level 24, 3000000 experience points, High-level class ability) if they have chosen the function Use Any Item!  In my case (see party below) I used my Fighter/Mage/Thief. You use this script roll straight away on Bannor. Bannor will attack you immediately so make sure that your party helps that the script roll works! For assistance let a party member e.g. Alarion conjure/summon up a Diva next to Bannor and a Thief uses the Staff of the Woodlands to summon up a beast (Shambling Mound)  In addition to a Ceric summons up two fire, wind or earth elements (Elemental Summoning). 2.)  Have two Witches (Sorcerers)  in your party! Each of the two Witches will fire a Comet next to Joker so that he gets already pretty badly harmed. Najim who took Dormatus' role in disguise will do the rest finally. 3.)  The Winged and Pol get attracted by the Mage who uses Gerrold’s script roll on Bannor. They try to attack him and come close. So in possession of the Adamantite Golem use it at once in order to attack The Winged. All your party members will attack The Winged. A Berserker Warrior who uses Gram the Sword of Grief will duplicate himself by using Vhailor's Helm! The two Witches play a special role: They will use Time Stop and use the spell for accelerating their spells (Improved Alacrity) and afterwards use the spell Lower Resistance several times on The Winged. It’s good to keep the two Witches at separate places. One of the Witches should be equipped with two items that help to cast spells faster:  Robe of Vecna (Tier 5) and Amulet of Power (Great item after defeating the Vampires). '''Be fast in attacking and killig The Winged. She can recover quickly!''' 4.) + 5.) After extinguishing The Winged it shouldn’t be too difficult to overcome the last two enemies, the two Mages. Let the two Witches use Time Stop again and create a Project Image. This allows to summon up lots of Planetars and not only one! By the way after the Rebellion you'll get a unique script roll (green circle on it and within the circle three stars) from one of your fellow prisoners. This roll creates a sphere around a person so that neither magic can go inside the sphere nor come out of it. I used this roll on Thassk Kun and he lost all his magic protection at once! My warriors could slaughter him within seconds.

<p class="MsoNormal"> The author of these two solutions used the following party: Alarion (given Knight); a Berserker Warrior; a Warrior Cleric (Berserker 8 – Cleric 34; Dual-Class); Mireille (given Witch/Sorcerer); another Witch/Sorcerer; a Fighter / Mage / Thief. Both solutions were played on difficulty level middle (core rules).

<p class="MsoNormal">Great challenge!!! I enjoyed it a lot!

<p class="MsoNormal">Good luck for defeating The Winged and her powerful companions!

<p class="MsoNormal"> Final words:  I don’t know anybody of Bioware or Beamdog. I just enjoy playing Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition I+II a lot in my spare time. I really hope that there will be a Baldur’s Gate III in the near future. Beamdog (Overhaul Games), you have the huge potential to create a game that will also become a Legend! Work hard on the story line (depth of the game, e.g chasing the mad Jon Irenicus - even through the Underdark), quests (e.g. Lavok's Sphere in Athkatla; owner of a Stronghold as a protagonist fighter; fighting along Drizzt Do'Urden against Jon's sister Bodhi; Shangalar - his hideout, the Twisted Rune building, can only be entered by using a special stone, a Rogue Stone), great items (e.g. Staff of the Magi, Axe of the Unyielding, Blackrazor), dialogues of the characters (e.g. Viconia or Jaheira can be romanced by male player character) (by getting ideas from the fans on the Beamdog Forum) and create a wonderful Baldur's Gate III!