Neera's Hidden Refuge

Neera's Hidden Refuge is her companion quest in (SoA).

Prerequisite
You'll first need to find Neera before starting her quest. Go to Bridge District, head south till you hear three peasants talking about the shadow thief bodes, travel further south, then back to the area entrance, there you'll witness Neera rescue a girl named Mereth from some Red Wizards of Thay (no comments from Edwin if he's in party). You'll encounter her again in your next travel, unlocking Wild Forest, where Neera is waiting to join near the entrance.

Edwin can't in the same party with Neera, and will either leave or prevent the questline from advancing at certain stages; Neera herself is also not necessarily needed to be brought along all the time, but her presence will be required at some points in order to proceed the quest.

Wild Forest
This entire area is a wild surge zone, so keep spellcasting at minimum while trend towards physical methods.

Our goal here is to make to the north-eastern corner of the map, start out by following the road to the north-east, you'll find a gnome named Quaid (x=1620 y=2840), who turns out to be an illusion and will be launching Fireballs if you press him too much. The cart behind (x=1650 y=2750) contains some goodies to loot: Diamond, RNDTRE01, RNDTRE02, RNDSCR01, RNDMAG01, 232. Also be ware of the trap (x=1650 y=2750).

Continue east, a few foes (Wolf, Giant Spider, Sword Spider) and a few traps to disarm (x=2060 y=2600), (x=2100 y=3000), (x=3400 y=3070), (x=4700 y=2090), (x=3270 y=1400).

Explore north along the western end of the map, keeping an eye out for traps (x=620 y=2600), (x=1800 y=2100) as you go. North of where Quaid's cart is a Speaking Snake (x=2150 y=1780), again a verbal deterrent that is trying to fend off transpassers.

Continue north to find a group of Gnolls being chased by an "Ettin", unfortunately the creator wild mage shows incompetence again and the illusion vanishes, the Gnolls, annoyed by the trick, turn on you and get themselves killed. The Gnoll Captain will drop random goodies. Trap here, be careful (x=360 y=1360).

Head over to the bridge (x=4370, y=720), which seems inaccessible at first, just walk Neera over to it and she'll expose the illusion to get through. Alternatively, find A Pile of Gravel in a ditch (x=4600 y=1100) south-east of the bridge, with it, reveal the true bridge state then cross. Exit this area and travel to the Hidden Refuge.

Hidden Refuge
This entire area is a wild surge zone.

2000 xp each party member upon arriving here. Neera is near the starting point if you dismissed her earlier, and in order to get in the refuge, she must be in party.

After meeting Hayes and Telana at the gate, your next move is to find Daxus Taralom, but before that, explore a bit, people around the camp have their own affairs, it’s recommended to complete these mini quests before triggering Daxus's rescue in Delosar's Inn for more rewards there and after. Treasures around the camp:
 * Knocktor the Fizzled - Talisman of the Hearthfire (quest)
 * Mironda - A New Beer for Mironda
 * Barad Ding - Barad Ding's Eight Cats
 * Amanis Khal & Kirik Khal - Amanis Khal's Missing Son
 * Mereth - Mereth's Hairband
 * Zaviak - Where's Wilson?
 * Reginald - Pester him then go around, kit him (no need to turn AI off), after a while he’ll cease attacking, wait a bit for him to return to his original spot then talk to him again
 * (x=1240 y=758) 2 RNDTRE01.itm, RNDTRE02.itm
 * (x= 1204 y=919) RNDTRE01.itm, RNDSCR01.itm
 * (x=1371 y=1110) RNDMAG01.itm
 * (x=1331 y=526) RNDTRE01.itm, RNDTRE02.itm, RNDSCR02.itm

Finding Daxus
Now on to main quest line, talk to Hayes first if you wish, then Telana, go to the Bridge District in Athkatla, Hayes will be waiting south-west of Delosar's Inn, go inside to find Daxus on the lower floor. If you have Talisman of the Hearthfire, tell him to teleport with it so that you only have to fend off one enemy wave plus a 5000xp later, it doesn’t matter if you talk to Hayes again afterwards but his dialogue may lead to some clue... otherwise decline Daxus’s offer to aid you in battle, you don’t want unexpected surge midbattle in presence of many NPCs, also deal with the reinforcement outside, then Hayes will take Daxus away (if he's still around).

Back to Hidden Refuge, you'll find it in a sorry state, many are gone, Telana is here, as are Mereth and Kirik, if you completed their quests. After talking to Telana, we’re off to the Red Wizard Enclave in Waukeen's Promenade.

Outside
Deal with the Bouncer (x=3200 y=900) anyway you wish, although most dialogue options will lead Neera wild surge a 100 crashing damage to him (which means he won’t die on LoB settings but the dialogue afterwards assumed so).

Merchant Area
Inside, Gul Dukeem has some nice items for sale such as Robe of the Neutral Archmagi, Dagger of Venom +2, Staff of Striking, Tunic of Blindeye etc, so don't pick up hostile dialogue options when he starts the talk, #2, #2, #3, #2, #2 will calm everyone down, and his shop will remain open rest of the game as long as he's alive. Behaving diplomatically also let you access the three other shops here, the merchants sell scrolls, wands and potions receptively, for now pour your money on them instead for they'll soon be unavailable.

When you're ready, speak to Gul Dukeem again into letting you into the back rooms, you'll fight the three merchants plus one more mage and the guards.

Tavern
Behind the Merchant Area turns out to be a tavern, where Thayan Mercenaries and Red Wizards resides. You may start picking fights any time, but it's more beneficial to approach peacefully. After being pestered by Fadell Ironeye the mercenary leader, witness the cage fight in Slave Pens, the Red Wizard closest to its door has Slave Pen Key, which you'll need to free Ghallus, the key also has two other copies, held by Gul Dukeem and Lanneth, but for now just talk to Ghallus and agree to help him out. Go to Mercenary Quarters, loot the chest in south room for The Journal of Fadell Ironeye.

Now you have two ways of turning the mercenaries on Red Wizards, buy toast from Mironda if you completed her quests earlier, for 50 each time to get them drunk, the money will be back once the coast is clear; or talk to Fadell again, choose "Stream-Near-The-Hollow", "Ellis and Warwick", "Alinda" (then "revolt") in the exact order based on her journal entry.

Pick up the Slave Pen Key while cleaning up the battlefield, talk to Mironda for 10000xp of freeing her, free Ghallus and receive 1500xp from each of the 5 slaves you saved.

Red Wizard Quarters
Go deeper through a tunnel you'll find Lanneth, along with a pair of Thayan Fighters, two more fighters and red wizards lurking in the side rooms. If you got Fadell drunk & alive, she'll show up ranting a bit before wandering out. If you freed Ghallus, he'll return along with 4 Amnian Legionaries to provide a bit of muscle. Lanneth, for her part, isn't really seeking a direct engagement in this round, her tactics are to go invisible by using one of her three Potions of Invisibility, then attempt to summon a pair of Mordenkainen's Swords. Prevent her castings by Breaching & poisoning her, or prepare Death Spells to rid the magical swords. Lanneth can be killed here, but she's intended to dimension door away.

Follow Lanneth into the laboratory, she'll try to buy herself some life by threatening to kill "King" Gramm, but by keeping Neera in party and sticking to the 1st option you will save Gramm’s life. This time Lanneth is joined by two more Thayan Fighters plus one Red Wizard. Loot her corpse for Laboratory Key, Slave Pen Key, Robe of Invocation, Bracers to the Death, The Protector +1, Quarterstaff +2, 40 Darts of Wounding, 3 Potions of Extra Healing, 3 Potions of Invisibility, Wand of Paralyzation and 243. Finally, talk to "King" Gramm for 5000 xp.

Wild Mage Cages
The Laboratory Key will open the southeast door. The northwest door is trap & locked, it leads to Lanneth's Personal Quarters where you'll find: Wild Mages are In the cage room, although Barad Ding will kill himself if you didn't rescue his cats, Reginald will be dead if you didn't teach him rage control, Amanis dead if you didn't find her son, Daxus too If you let him walk away with Hayes instead of teleporting. Use 55 (Amanis), 13 (female Wild Mage), 11 (Barad Ding), and 42 (Zaviak) in order to open all cages, each escaping wild mage is worth 5000xp.
 * (x=1432, y=310) Rogue Stone, Traveler's Robe, Wand of Frost, 850
 * (x=1397, y=240) Mordenkainen's Sword scroll, Chain Lightning scroll, RNDTRE03
 * (x=1533, y=231) Contract, Letter, Lanneth's Journal
 * (x=1595, y-292) Potion of Invisibility, Elixir of Health, Pearl Necklace, RNDTRE04

Back to camp
Returning to the Hidden Refuge, after the report to Telana, everyone gets 10000xp, Neera will ask to tag along, agree and you’ll receive Mechanical Bird, which is worth either 100,000 or xp once you reach Amkethran in Throne of Bhaal. Talk to Telana again to receive Robe of Goodman Hayes, speak to Reginald for The Brick +2. Now, although optional, there's one more thing to do before we wrap this quest up, let's go find the traitor in Trademeet.

The loose end
Enter Vyatri's Pub in Trademeet, you'll find Hayes drinking himself to death, help him to that and bring Bloodied Tunic of Hayes back to Telana for more dialogues, she'll have mixed feelings about it, pretty anti-climatic ending, all in all.

Sources & references

 * Baldur's Gate II Enhanced Edition walkthrough by Haeravon