Ludrug's band is a small group of gnolls in the northern parts of the Dryad Falls. They claim the place to be their territory and demand tribute from "trespassers".[1] If these are unable to pay with gold, Ludrug, self-acclaimed "champion" and leader of the other three, challenges the best one of the trespassers to a duel.[2]
No journal entry will be added, so this is no regular quest. However, a high amount of experience can be gained by winning the duel.
Unlike the hostilecreatures in most other encounters with gnolls, Ludrug's band is neutral. They stand and hold guard until one of them at coordinates3224.685 – Ludrug drops his name only during conversation – sees a party member, at which time he will approach and demand tribute.[3]
“
Stop! You have trespassed on our territory. You shall not be allowed to leave until you have paid tribute. We demand 50 gold in tribute![1]
”
There are three ways to react to this, with the third one leading to further two possible outcomes.
Note: What will happen on each path and what will be the results of the encounter, depends on game edition and whether the original Baldur's Gate expansion Tales of the Sword Coast is installed or not. Refer to the respective section for a detailed walkthrough. The mentioned rewards do not include optional experience, gold or items from attacking neutral or escaping characters.
Baldur's Gate[]
Note: Even in a fully patched version of the original Baldur's Gate, the encounter is bugged and will not proceed as expected or intended if the original add-on is not installed.
Resist[]
One way to react to the demands is to threaten or insult Ludrug's band, on which he will respond appropriately.[4][5][6][7][8]Ludrug then will turn hostile and attack the party – alone! His fellows remain neutral and passive (unless attacked themselves).[9]
Whether true or not, a third option is to state to "have no money".[12] In this case, Ludrug will let the trespassers only go if they win a fight – "[their] best champion versus [his band's] best champion".[13] Again, an insult is possible as reaction,[5] or the party can agree.[14]
“
Our best champion is Ludrug. Ludrug is me. Are you ready for fight? No matter, we fight now![2]
”
Ludrug then attacks the most powerful party member, while that one autonomously – if not interrupted – attacks the still neutral Ludrug.[15] However, despite the fact that a duel was announced, the other three gnolls turn hostile now and join the fight.[9]
Ludrug himself will initiate dialogue another time, depending on the course of the battle.[3]
If his health – initially thirty hit points – drops below five and he isn't killed with that last strike, he will stop attacking the most powerful party member, who will also halt autonomously, and admit that he has lost.[3][16] He then will try to get away[3] – leaving his company alone in battling the party. This will yield five hundred points for the sheer experience of the challenge.[17][18]
If, however, the party's champion is going to lose and gets injured to below five hit points, the duelists both stop fighting for a moment,[3] and the still neutral Ludrug announces that the trespassers now all have to die, due to him having won.[19] He then turns hostile[20][21] and continues to attack – in this case left alone himself by his friends, who instead will try to escape.[9]
One way to react to the demands is to threaten or insult Ludrug's band, on which he will respond appropriately.[4][5][6][7][8]Ludrug then will turn hostile and attack the party, as well as his fellows will.[9]
Whether true or not, a third option is to state to "have no money".[12] In this case, Ludrug will let the trespassers only go if they win a fight – "[their] best champion versus [his band's] best champion".[13] Again, an insult is possible as reaction,[5] or the party can agree.[14]
“
Our best champion is Ludrug. Ludrug is me. Are you ready for fight? No matter, we fight now![2]
”
Ludrug then attacks the most powerful party member, while that one autonomously – if not interrupted – attacks the still neutral Ludrug.[15] The other three gnolls will not intervene and serve as seconds.
Ludrug himself will initiate dialogue another time, depending on the course of the battle.[3]
If his health – initially thirty hit points – drops below five and he isn't killed with that last strike, he will stop attacking the most powerful party member, who will also halt autonomously, and admit that he has lost.[3][16] The whole gang then will leave.[3][9] This will yield five hundred points for the sheer experience of the challenge.[17][18]
If, however, the party's champion is going to lose and gets injured to below five hit points, the duelists both stop fighting for a moment,[3] and the still neutral Ludrug announces that the trespassers now all have to die, due to him having won.[19] He – together with his seconds – then turns hostile[20][21][9] and continues to attack, while the others join the fight.
Note: The Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition tries to optimize the course of this encounter, compared with how the original games handle it, and makes it a little more fail-safe. However, a certain consequence is also changed.
Resist[]
One way to react to the demands is to threaten or insult Ludrug's band, on which he will respond appropriately.[4][5][6][7][8]Ludrug then will turn hostile and attack the party, as well as his fellows will.[9]
The second option is to simply pay the tribute of 50, which is only possible if the party indeed has this amount of gold pieces. In addition to losing these, Ludrug's band will then leave the area.[10]
Whether true or not, a third option is to state to "have no money".[12] In this case, Ludrug will let the trespassers only go if they win a fight – "[their] best champion versus [his band's] best champion".[13] Again, an insult is possible as reaction,[5] or the party can agree.[14]
“
Our best champion is Ludrug. Ludrug is me. Are you ready for fight? No matter, we fight now![2]
”
The still neutral Ludrug then attacks the most powerful party member, while that one autonomously – if not interrupted – moves towards his original position, coordinates3224.684.[15] The other three gnolls will not intervene and serve as seconds.
What will happen next, depends on the course of the battle and actions taken. If at any point of time during the challenge another party member than the chosen one attacks and damages Ludrug, he and his whole band will turn hostile, ending the "duel".[3]
If Ludrug is hit and damaged by his opponent and if his health – initially thirty hit points – drops below twenty (and he isn't killed with that last strike), he will stop attacking the most powerful party member, who will also halt autonomously, and admit that he has lost.[3][16] The whole gang then will leave.[3][9] This will yield five hundred points for the sheer experience of the challenge.[17][18]
If, however, the party's champion is going to lose and gets injured to below five hit points,[3] the still neutral Ludrug announces that the trespassers now all have to die, due to him having won.[19] He – together with his seconds – then turns hostile[20][21][9] and continues to attack, while the others join the fight.
When choosing the "champion" to fight with, Ludrug might not only look in the near vicinity – if the party has split, it's possible that he moves all over the area map to find the most powerful character.
If the chosen one has high damage output, it might be helpful to unequip the current weapon and either use one with lower damage or fight unarmed with fists – to avoid killing Ludrug, especially in the original games, where the duel only ends when he gets below five hit points;[3] the reward will only be received from him if he is still able to talk.[16]
As Ludrug remains a neutral character when dueling him, the party champion might have to be ordered to attack or defend themselves, and will not do so autonomously by their script AI.
Bugs[]
Baldur's Gate(1998) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate campaign. In the original Baldur's Gate without its expansion installed, if threatening or insulting Ludrug's band,[4][5]Action 1[8] in the dialogue with him sets the global variable GnollFightOver to 3 – a value that isn't checked by the gnolls' script, so they remain neutral and passive, while he turns hostile. Installing Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast fixes this, as both action and script are changed to set and check the variable value 1.
Baldur's Gate(1998) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate campaign. When in the original Baldur's Gate without its expansion Ludrug announces that the party now has to die,[19] while he turns hostile, the also hostile companions of him stop attacking and instead try to escape the area, due to the global variable GnollFightOver being set to 2.[21][9] Again, installing Tales of the Sword Coast fixes this by using a variable value of 1.
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. In the original games, there's a discrepancy between Ludrug's health checks: while his script lets him stop the fight only when he's down to five hit points, the threshold in the dialogue is set higher, to twenty hit points.[22] However, the latter isn't regarded. The Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition changes the script to also check for twenty hit points already.
↑ 12.012.112.2GNOLL5.dlg; Response 0 Gorion's Ward: "We have no money. Sorry?"
↑ 13.013.113.2GNOLL5.dlg; State 2 Ludrug: "No money? That is too bad for you. We let you go only if you win fight. Your best champion versus our best champion."
↑ 14.014.114.2GNOLL5.dlg; Response 5 Gorion's Ward: "Come on! Let's do it then!"
. Except for losing gold, nothing else will happen.[10]
Baldur's Gate (1998)
