Aec'Letec is a Nabassu, a powerful type of tanar'ri and the final boss of the quest Recovering "Soultaker", following the completion of Durlag's Tower. It has a unique ability that will cause the target to be turned into hostile ghasts, victims are dismembered, die permanently and cannot be raised. Kirinhale also mentions "Aec" as her 'friend' and how Durlag and her came to a disagreement about how to 'treat' him and how she doesn't want to end up like him.
Location[]
Aec'Letec can be found in the basement of Shandalar's Home on the western side of Ulgoth's Beard after the Soultaker Dagger has been stolen from the party by cultists. Upon entering the Inner Sanctum, an NPC named Tracea Carol will start talking to you. As soon as this dialogue is finished the fight will start. Aec'Letec will spawn in the center of the red circle, and there are a number of Cult Guard standing passively around the outside.
Abilities[]
As a denizen of the lower planes, Aec'Letec has a high Magic Resistance, making it difficult to harm it with spells. Aec'Letec is also immune to normal weapons, immune to fire, electricity, poison and resistant to cold. It is also immune to most mind-affecting spells and hold.
Aec'Letec can avoid death by taking over the bodies of its worshipers. If it is killed while any of the six Cult Guards are still alive, it will re-incarnate at full health from the body of a Cult Guard and the fight will continue until no Cult Guards are left alive. The priority therefore is to kill the cult guards before focusing on the demon.
Vampiric Touch[]
Aec'Letec will frequently cast this spell on anything that comes into touch spell range. It heals the demon and increases its survivability considerably when anything other than undead minions attack it.
Death Gaze Attack[]
Aec'Letec will cast a spell on your characters which first acts like a Hold Person spell, and will also add a debuff named 'Dying', which will kill the affected character in 30 seconds, spawning a hostile Ghast in its place. This can be countered in a number of ways, such as:
1: Dispel Magic[]
The easiest way is by use of the 3rd-level cleric and mage spell Dispel Magic. Yeslick is good here for his special innate ability to cast Dispel Magic. In the Enhanced Edition, Inquisitor paladins also can gain innate, rapid and highly effective daily uses of Dispel Magic. Using arrows of dispelling by having one party member shoot another also works. Regardless of delivery, however, it will also dispel any buffs you might have cast.
2: Potion of Mirrored Eyes[]
Potion of Mirrored Eyes is confirmed to make characters immune to Aec'Letec's Death Gaze. This will prevent said character from turning into a ghast for the duration of the potion. The Ulgoth's Beard Inn sells them, as well as Sorcerous Sundries in East Baldur's Gate. Note that the potion does not dispel the Death Gaze attack, so consuming one after a character has been affected by it will do nothing.
3: Mercy Killing[]
[Confirmation Needed]Another, and less preferable, way to prevent the permanent death of a character affected by the gaze is to kill the character before they turn into a ghast. It is not advisable to do this if the protagonist is the recipient of said gaze, for obvious reasons.
4: Buffing with spells and equipment before the battle
Protection from Evil, Chant, Luck, etc and any other spell that increases your saving throw can give you a decent chance of coming out unaffected. If you have a scroll of Protection from Evil in 10 Radius, this is a good time to use it.
Strategy[]
Party Configuration[]
You will probably want at least two clerics or two mages, or one cleric and one mage in order to deal with his gaze attack. Key spells to have memorized are Dispel Magic (Level 3 wizard/cleric), Animate Dead and some form of Remove Fear. The aforementioned potions of Mirrored Eyes help a lot as well. Just protect fully your vanguard fighters, haste everyone and go get in the basement with mass invisibility. You can move before the talk, attack the bottom green robe guy, all enemies head there for easy nuking. Dialogue triggers as well after a few blows get exchanged, just don't kill the talker too fast. With a bunch of enemies clustered near one well armored invulnerable to magic fighter its scorched earth time.
Distracting Aec'Letec[]
Summoned Skeletons are very good at keeping his attention (and the occasional gaze attack) away from your valuable party members. If he lands a gaze on any target, it will, after a few seconds, dismember and turn into an undead ghast, preventing any form of resurrection, so it's best to let a summoned creature die instead of them.
By summoning undead creatures directly on top of Aec'Letec, then dispelling magic whenever he casts his gaze on a party member, the characters in the party should be free to move around the outside of the circle killing the Cult Guards (500 XP each). If you run out of skeletons to summon, casting Otiluke's Resilient Sphere on the target he is attacking can keep him occupied for a while. Once all the Cult Guards are dead, it is a simple matter of finishing off Aec'Letec for good.
Bugs[]
Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999)
This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast campaign. Although demons were introduced by the original Tales of the Sword Coast as a possible race for creatures, Aec'Letec is human. This is fixed in the Enhanced Edition.- Baldur's Gate (1998)
This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate campaign.Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999)
This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast campaign. Aec'Letec was Level 1, and could therefore be killed instantly by Cloudkill spells. BG:EE fixes this by making Aec'Letec Level 10.
Gameplay (community)[]
Alternative strategy[]
Send down one of your fighters to initiate the conversation with Tracea Carol. Afterwards send your fighter back up and Tracea Carol will follow you upstairs. This fight should not be a problem. Now all the Cult Guards need to die first. By having a few invisible mages, one can kill all the Cult Guards with fireballs, skull traps or similar damaging spells or potions from each corner avoiding attacks from Aec'Letec which will not be able to see you. Once all the Cult Guards are dead, Aec'Letec will not be able to respawn. Be aware that anti-hold spells, items, potions, etc., such as Edventar's Gift do NOT render the Death Gaze Attack ineffective. You will avoid the hold but will still suffer the Death debuff.
-- Added by Mortain87 (talk • contribs) September 26, 2019 (UTC)