Saemon Havarian, who also goes by the anagrammatic alias called "Esamon," is a morally questionable, slippery smuggler with a sharp wit and cunning mind. He has a propensity to avoid responsibility for his lawless actions, prefers to get others to do his work for him and place the blame for his wrongs on others.
Regardless of whether you sided with Bodhi or Aran Linvail, Saemon will sail you to Brynnlaw in an attempt to rescue Imoen from the Cowled Wizards. If you sided with Aran he will betray you by summoning three of Bodhi's best Vampires to attack you.
After you have escaped the Spellhold Dungeon, Saemon will appear again. He will advise you to free all of Irenicus' test subjects to aid you in your battle against their captor. This advice needs to be taken as you cannot defeat Irenicus without them.
After Irenicus has fled, Saemon will offer to sail the party home. If you reject this, you have to go through the portal into the Underdark. If you accept his offer, he says that his ship is no longer available, and blames the pirates. He says you can steal the pirate's ship. On your journey home you will be assaulted first by Githyanki, then by Sahuagin and taken to a Sahuagin city, while Saemon leaves you behind and teleports away. Either way you will end up in the Underdark, eventually.
In Throne of Bhaal Saemon will be engaged in smuggling and using a cave on the edge of Amkethran as his base. When you first explore the village, you will observe and overhear a verbal confrontation between mercenaries and Saemon - he being accused of stealing their items. Once Saemon notices you, he will shift the blame onto you, causing the mercenaries to believe you have actually purchased and possess their stolen items, leading to a fight in the village streets. Naturally, Saemon makes his timely exit with the aid of some sort of teleportation, leaving you to sort out the hostile mercenaries.
After defeating Abazigal and Sendai, Saemon, still in Amkethran in the smugglers' cave, will offer to help you gain entry into Balthazar's monastery. He will disguise himself as someone who is trying to cleanse the Bhaalspawn taint and get you through the gates. Saemon then meets a monk who is glad that he has brought Gorion's Ward to Balthazar and expects the ward to be drugged so no trouble would be caused, though Saemon says that he didn't drug you and felt he owed you one. He will then flee while you have to fight the monk and his mercenaries.
During this encounter, Saemon has a brief window before he teleports, where he is vulnerable to permanent death (BG2EE 2.6.6). For someone that is tired of Saemon's escape from karmic justice, it is an opportunity to finish his story. A character with The Paws of the Cheetah and a Vorpal Weapon (Silver Sword/Ravager) at the edge of the encounter will get in one attack before Saemon teleports. Pray your dice roll goes well. Worry not, you can still enter the monastery if Saemon is dead, because of the timely intervention of an old friend.
If you previously finished the Dorn's quest line and inscribe Saemon's name in the Scroll of Retribution, you will encounter this small event after defeating Balthazar and leaving the monastery. Go to the small soldier training area (between The monastery gates and the Temple of Waukeen). Here lies the dead Seamon killed by an angel (as you can hear from bystander customer). Dorn will make some comment about this, and you can loot the body for Potion of Superior Healing, 2 Water's Edge, Journal of Saemon Havarian and Rod of Shadowstep.
Saemon creature file versions[]
AMSAEMON - The Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal version and most speaking appearances.
OHB2SMON - Also in ToB - no dialogue, Neutral to start.
OHDSAEM - in ToB, Saemon's lootable corpse is found as part of Dorn's bloody path adventure.
PPSAEM - In Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn regarding the voyage and embarkation at Brynnlaw. This creature wears Imoen's Belt for plot protection purposes.
PPSAEM2 - The version found inside Spellhold during the Escaping the asylum quest.
PPSAEM3 - The version used in the Leaving the island questline.
PPSHA - In Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn regarding the voyage and embarkation at Brynnlaw. This creature wears MINHP1.ITM for plot protection purposes.
Trivia[]
- Saemon's ship, the Galante, is likely a reference to Jack Vance's Cugel the Clever, which features a ship of the same name. In Vance's stories, Cugel in his actions is a liar, a cheat, an inveterate thief, a charlatan, selfish, greedy, vicious, and so on.
