Baldur's Gate II Chapter 9

Baldur's Gate II Chapter 9 is the ninth part of Baldur's Gate II and the second of Throne of Bhaal. After defeating Illasera and Yaga-Shura, as well as learning your life before the death of Gorion, you move ever closer to your destiny. Under Melissan's advice you have traveled to Amkethran to see her ally, Balthazar.

Amkethran
When you arrive in the town of Amkethran, go north to the monastery gates and you will be met by a monk. He will direct you to the unofficial leader of the town, Balthazar. Balthazar will give you the location of two enclaves where two more of the chaos seeking bhaalspawn are, but will tell you to stay out of his way. You can go to either of the locations first but on this page it shows Sendai's Enclave first.

Sendai's Enclave
Travel to Sendai's Enclave. You will see a woodcutter. If you want to avoid a long fight then you should try to kill the woodcutter now. If you want the experience, talk to the woodcutter. He will tell you that he saw some strange looking elves to the west. Go to the southwest area of the map and you will be attacked by Drow. Talk to the woodcutter again. He will tell you that he heard some voices by his wife's grave. Go up north to the graveyard and more drow will attack. When you return to the woodcutter again he and several other drow will attack you. Once the woodcutter is dead, the entrance to the enclave will appear. Go through the entrance into the enclave, but watch out as there is a trap just in front the opening.

Fight your way east to the drow barracks. Along the way you will encounter many spiders, spore, drow and umber hulks. In the barracks you will have to fight more drow. Take the key from Thelynn'ss' body. As you leave the area with the key, you will see a cut-scene where Sendai is being told of the intruder (you) and tells a commander to release her pets into the south tunnels and her slaves in the north tunnels.

When you are out of the barracks, you must choose whether to go through the north or south tunnels. If you go through the north tunnels you will have to fight the slaves that will keep appearing until you have killed the slave master. If you go through the southern tunnels you will have to fight many spiders and defeat the queen - Lashar'ra.

After making your way through either of the tunnels, you will at the crossroads. Go down the north-west stairs, kill the drow and enter Odamaron's Lair. Defeat the lich Odamaron and take the wardstone off his body. As you leave with the wardstone you will see another cut-scene, this time where Sendai finds out that the intruder (still you) is Gorion's Ward and tells Diaytha her priestess to stop the ward from getting further into her enclave.

When you are out with the Drow wardstone, go through the north-east door. When through Diaytha will set you a challenge which you must complete before you can reach her. The door on the left will open and you will have to kill two greater Earth elementals and Ogremoch, the prince of the Earth. Ogremoch has the ability to cast Earthquake. When the prince is dead, the door on the right will open. Through the door on the right you will have to fight Diaytha, a hive mother, a vampire, a demonknight and an Abishai. When Diaytha the priestess is dead, the door to the next area will open.

In the next area you will find Captain Egeissag. The beholder next to him will suggest a one-on-one pit fight. If you reject the offer you will have to fight the captain and his very hard to reach drow warriors. If you accept, the beholder will cast a geas on your party and the Captain's drow warriors so when one person dies so will their allies. When the captain is dead, you will see yet another cut-scene, this time where Sendai is ordering her mind flayer ally Mithykyl to unleash his illithid against Gorion's Ward.

Go through the exit in the arena and you will be in a mind flayer lair. You will be instantly attacked by Ulitharid and an Umber Hulk. Go through the door clearly opposite you, it is best if you do not go through the two doors closest to you, they are both dead-ends and hold back Vampiric Illithid. Go through the small passageway through the door opposite you and you will be attacked by Mithykyl, along with a couple of Ulitharids and Umber Hulks. Before you go into the next and last area, you should rest and prepare for a very tough battle.

In the last area Sendai will hail you and create seven statues of herself, each one on one of the platforms in the sanctum. After she is done talking she will teleport out and one of the statues will turn to life and attack. When the copy of Sendai is dead two drow will appear on the stairs out and another statue will turn to life. When all the copies of Sendai are gone, the real Sendai will re-appear and attack. When she is dead you will be sent to the Pocket Plane where Solar will ask you of your future and open another challenge.

Abazigal's Lair
When you have arrived at the outside area of Abazigal's Lair, go foward and you will meet Abazigal's son, Draconis. He will say that only his kind, dragons, are worthy are Bhaal's blood and attack in human form. When he is near death he will change into his true, dragon form and be replenished. This will be a very tough battle as his breath can cause acid damage and is able to turn invisible over and over again. When you have finally killed him, take his head off his body so you can enter inside Abazigal's Lair.

When you are in the lair, your presence will quickly be realized and the place will be locked down. Straight away you will have to fight a Greater Werewyvern and some Lesser Earth Elementals. Make sure you collect the empty flask of the Werewyvern's body. As all the doors have been locked, you will have to get around by swimming through the underground tunnels.

Go to the most western pool and click on it to dive through it. When you have reached the other side you will have to kill a few Frost Salamanders. Go to the other side of the area and walk through the exit to the next room. When you have killed the Bone Fiends, click on the spring to fill the empty flask you should of collected earlier. Go make to the oringal pool you came through and go back to where you came in.

Next go through the pool on the right. Fight your way through the many Kuo-Toans and find the trapped monk. Free him and he will tell you of a dragon under Abazigal's influence that guards the inner sanctums of his lair, and that you need a Scroll of Reversal to free it. The monk will also give you a rope that will help you get through the not-so-clear tunnels. Return to the first area again and go through the center pool.

Here you will find many floating eyeballs known as 'Seekers'. They are fast moving and can constantly keep casting Acid and Flame arrow. Go to the north-west of this area and you can talk to Iycanth the Mad. He will agree to give you a Scroll of Reversal if you fetch him a Gauth's Eyestalk. You can either dive through the pool just east of you and kill the Gauth yourself, or you can use Stone to Flesh scrolls to restore three adventures and get them to do the task for you. They will return in a few days with the eyestalk.

When you have the scroll go through the pool next to where you met Iycanth and give him the eyestalk so he will give you the Scroll of Reversal. Find your way back to the first area and go through the southern pool.

Go to the west of the area you are now in and talk to Fil'Yissetat. Use the Scroll of Reversal on her and she will give you Abazigal's wardstone so you can enter his inner sanctum. Enter his inner sanctum.

When you arrive some Ice Salamanders will attack. Let them come to you before you kill them so you can get rid of them before Abazigal spots you.

When you see Abazigal he will reiterate what Draconis said about dragons being the only kind worthy of Bhaal's blood. Like Draconis he will start out in human form and only when he is near death will change into his true dragon form. He has a powerful breath ability that works like Chain Lightning, but a lot worse.

When he is dead, you will be summoned back to the Pocket Plane where you will find out about the five and their actions.

Balthazar
When you have defeated both Abazigal and Sendai, return to Amkethran and find a way inside Balthazar's monastery. From this point on, any monk or mercenary here will be hostile, as you have been made a public enemy. There are three ways of breaching the church: If you go for the gates, you will have to kill the leader of the monks and take the key off him. Note that the monks outside the gate will keep re-spawning. If you want help from Saemon, you need to talk to him in the smugglers cave. He will take you into the monastery and meet up with some more monks. He will leave you there to fight them. If you want to go through the graveyard, Speak to Zakee Rafeha, the tavernkeeper, and he will tell you that Faheed and Majira might know a way in. Speak to them in their house on the cliff and you will be given the Graveyard Key. Enter the graveyard, click on all four pedestals inside, and defeat the enemies that appear. The Graveyard Key will open one of the door that will lead to the Monastery.
 * Attack the gates
 * Go to the smugglers cave and get help from Saemon Havarian
 * Go through the graveyard

When inside the monastery, you should prepare for battle now before moving, as when you start to go up the stairs, you will be instantly sent in front of Balthazar in his throne.

Balthazar will say that he plans to take Bhaal's power for himself, but not to cause chaos. He wants to take Bhaal's power and then perform a suicide ritual to kill him and Bhaal together. He will say your death is a necessity and attack.

Balthazar has the standard monk abilities as well as additional abilities which you wouldn't be able to get. These abiilties are: Solar Stance (a Sunfire spell that also kicks opponents back). Lunar Stance (a spell trigger that releases Bigby's Crushing Hand, Magic Missile, and Greater Malison at once).
 * Strength of 22.
 * Regenerates 6 hit points per second (like a Ring of Gaxx)
 * Shadow Stance (Invisibility).
 * Second Wind (Dimension Door and Heal in one blow).

When Balthazar is dead, you will be yet again be summoned to the Pocket Plane. This time you will learn of Melissan's deciet towards you and the five, and who she really is.

When you have killed Balthazar and completed the five challenges in the Pocket Plane, go through the exit one last time and Chapter 10 will begin.