Baeloth Barrityl

"Come one, come all! See the cream of the Sword Coast's combatant crop! Witness the brilliant and bizarre battles in the Black Pits of the one and only Baeloth the Entertainer!"

Baeloth Barrityl is a chaotic evil drow sorceror and a potential companion in The Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition and Siege of Dragonspear.

Background
Baeloth runs the Black Pits, a death battle arena, in the Underdark, he considers it "the best show" and himself to be "one of the top five spellcasters in all the realms".

The Black Pits
In the final battle in, which takes place briefly before the event of Baldur's Gate, he proves to be very powerful, able to use spells such as Chain Lightning, Delayed Blast Fireball, and Power Word Stun. Defeated, he's then tricked by his djinn "servant" Najim and cast into the Sword Coast.

Recruitment
Baeloth is available from Chapter 1. He can be found in Larswood, to the south near an abandoned tower. You must be at least level 5 for him to appear (later patches seem to remove the experience requirement, meaning that you may recruit him in lower levels).

Accepting Baeloth into your party causes a loss of 2 reputation, which is restored when he is dismissed from the party.

Relationships

 * Ajantis Ilvastarr will eventually attack any of the evil party members, but you can call him off by controlling him to do something else

Gameplay
As a drow, he has natural magic resistance of 50%. His first two levelups after his joining grant you the choice of a lvl3 spell and a lvl4 spell respectively, choose them wisely, some useful spells are either gained randomly or from very limited sources (Stoneskin) while some others won't be available until you unlock Sorcerous Sundries in Chapter 5,

He begins play with a Robe of the Evil Archmagi, a Quarterstaff +1, 10 Darts of Acid +1, 2 Speedily Stolen Slaves' Salve, and the Cursed Ring of Ironic Punishment which adds to his spells similar to Edwin's amulet. If you choose to kill him rather than recruit him, you do not get the ring (apparently, the curse persists through death), but you do get 1,000.

Biography
"When asked about his past, Baeloth Barrityl, or "Baeloth the Entertainer" as he prefers to be called, claims to be a drow sorcerer of some repute. While he keeps some of his earlier exploits vague, he brags excessively about his most recent endeavor, the Black Pits. While it all ended in failure, he maintains that it was "the best show in all the realms." The circumstances of his defeat within the pits are unclear; he claims dishonesty on the part of his combatants was a key factor."

Dialogues
In Larswood, Baeloth has a lengthy one-sided conversation with his treacherous Djinn servant Najim before he notices the protagonist's party standing nearby. It takes a great deal of dialog (with an occasional interjection from Neera, Viconia, Edwin or Tiax on his penchant for alliteration) to recruit Baeloth into your party; only the first two levels of dialog options are shown here.

''It's about time you came through for me. I was beginning to wonder whether your incompetence was— Wait, this isn't right!''

''You fool, I am not fully revived! I am diminished, damaged, and DANGEROUSLY DETERIORATED! Why, I've even lost some of my perspicacity!''

(Neera: Hehehe!)

''Najim? Are you even LISTENING? My most obedient serv—friend! WHERE ARE YOU?! Surely you aren't going to LEAVE ME UP HERE!''

''Argh! YOU CONNIVING CUR! I will crack your realm wide open and DRAG YOU INTO THIS PLANE OF— Oh, hello. Well, this is awkward.''


 * 1:-Well met, I am [Hero].


 * Greetings, friendly, ah, surface-dweller. You wouldn't happen to know the direction to the nearest entrance to the Underdark, would you?


 * 1.1:-I'm afraid I don't.


 * 1.2:-Where on earth did you come from?


 * 1.3:-Die, drow!


 * 2:-Who the hell are you?


 * How could I forget!? Allow me to introduce myself. I am Baeloth Barrityll, more commonly known as BAELOTH THE ENTERTAINER! Yes, I know. THAT Baeloth. Fall to your knees and beg for mercy, I'm sure you know the drill.


 * 2.1:-I shall do no such thing.


 * 2.2:-The thing about that is... I left my kneepads back at home, and, well, you know how these things go.

Oh, COME ON!
 * 2.3:-Die, drow!

Recruitment
Baeloth is available from Chapter 8, you can find him among the crowds gathered in his new "black pits" in the north of the Coast Way Crossing, watch his show (turns into a disaster) then offer him a place in party.

Biography
"When asked about his past, Baeloth Barrityl, or "Baeloth the Entertainer" as the drow prefers to be called, maintains that in his Underdark homeland he commanded great respect as a sorcerer. Now on the surface, he makes a living instead pitting combatants against one another in betting rings. "My shows were the best in all the realms," he muses fondly, though his last great endeavor ended in disaster. Baeloth attempted to regain some of his renown with a new fighting pit, only to learn that giving forest animals fierce names was not enough to draw the attention of the spectators. After repeatedly failing to inspire bloodthirsty rage in squirrels and mice, he abandoned the effort and moved on. You have a feeling Baeloth is still looking for his next great exploit."

Trivia

 * Baeloth is one of the three companions who are voiced by Mark Meer.
 * The other two are Rasaad & Voghiln.
 * Incidentally, his character portrait is also based on him.
 * Mark even dressed up as him during Edmonton Expo 2015 where he moderated the cosplay competition.