This guide will walk you through level 5 of Watcher’s Keep in the Throne of Bhaal expansion for Baldur’s Gate II. This area’s code in the game files is AR3019.
Watcher’s Keep Level 5 Map
Overview
When you first arrive on this level of the keep, you’ll almost be standing on top of the seal leading to the Imprisoned One (Exit C). You’ll find three pedestals, each with a keyhole, surrounding the seal. Your objective is to collect those keys so you can open the seal and descend to Level 6.
Heart Key
For this key, you should head south, where you’ll meet a Helmite Ghost (#1). He’ll tell you that you’re required to pass three tests — to prove your courage, perseverance and wisdom — before he’ll hand over his key. To take the tests, you’ll have to go through the three doors behind the ghost.
Perseverance (#1a)
In this chamber, you’ll encounter a large group of orcs, including orc mages. Orcs shouldn’t be difficult opponents for you, but as you kill them, more will keep spawning. Eventually, after you’ve killed 30-40 orcs, the ghost will appear and congratulate you for passing the test. This will earn each character in your party 21,000 xp. You’ll also find the spear Ixil’s Nail +4 inside the pool in the back of the chamber.
Courage (#1b)
In this cavern, you’ll encounter a green dragon. It’ll introduce itself as your “fearsome death,” and it’ll attack you right away. So buff up on the entrance staircase (including Resist Fear), and then spread out and attack. You’ll earn 62,000 xp for killing the dragon. After the battle, the ghost will show up and congratulate you for passing the test, which will earn each character in your party a 21,000 xp. You’ll also find the katana Hindo’s Doom +3, a Warrior’s Skull, and 1500 gp on the dragon’s corpse. You’ll need the skull to unlock the spirit altar (#2).
Wisdom (#1c)
In this pleasant-looking parlor, you’ll meet an imp who will ask you a riddle about brothers and sisters. The trick is that the imp is female. Let B equal the total number of brothers and S equal the total number of sisters. Since the imp has as many brothers as sisters, that means B = S-1 (since the imp doesn’t count herself). Since the brothers have twice as many sisters, that means 2*(B-1) = S or 2B-2 = S. Substituting B = S-1 into the second equation gives 2S-4 = S or S=4, which means B=3 and there are seven total children.
You’ll get two chances to answer the question. If you get both answers wrong, then the imp will Imprison your party, and you’ll have to load your game. When you get the answer right, each character in your party will earn 10,000 xp.
Next, the imp will play a game with you. Starting with 11 coins, the two of you will alternate removing 1-3 coins, and you’ll try to force your opponent to take the last coin. To guarantee a win, you’ll need the imp to have a total number of coins equal to 4X+1 (for any value of X) when her turn starts. That’s because whatever value Y she then picks on her turn, you can pick 4-Y on your turn, which will leave her with 4X+1 coins again, with X dropping by one each time until X=0 and there is only one coin left.
So for this particular game, you should go first and take 2 coins, leaving 9 (X=2). The imp will take 1 coin, which means you should take 3, leaving 5 (X=1). The imp will take 3 coins, which means you should take 1, leaving only one coin (X=0). When the imp takes that coin, you’ll win the game, which will earn each character in your party another 10,000 xp. If you have trouble with the game, you can repeat it as many times as you’d like, without any penalty.
After besting the imp in both challenges, the Helmite Ghost will show up and congratulate you for passing the test. This will earn each character in your party 21,000 xp.
Turning In
After passing all three tests, when you return to the ghost (#1), he’ll give you the Heart Key, and each character in your party will earn 10,000 xp.
Spirit Key
For this key, you’ll need to go to the eastern part of the level, where you’ll find an altar (#2). You’ll need to place the Warrior’s Skull (from #1b) onto the altar to activate it. This will put you in control of a spirit warrior in a Virtual World. You’ll be able to tell the warrior to move, attack, or examine things, but that’s it. Depending on how old you are, this might make you feel nostalgic for the early days of computer gaming, or perhaps happy that we’ve advanced to where we are now.
The map for the Virtual World is shown above. You should explore it thoroughly. Defeating creatures and picking up items will earn you xp and make the final battle against the Mummy easier. Plus, since your spirit warrior starts with 50 hp, you should be able to do everything without coming anywhere close to dying. Just don’t flee from creatures, as this will give them a free attack against you and not gain you anything. The rooms are described below:
- Torture Chamber. This is where you’ll start.
- Goblin. You’ll get attacked by a goblin. You won’t earn anything for defeating it, so this is a safe room to skip.
- Chest 1. When you examine the chest, a skeleton will appear. If you kill the skeleton, then you’ll be allowed to open the chest, where you’ll find a Wand of Missiles. Looting the wand will earn each character in your party 4000 xp. The wand will basically give you a free attack at the start of combat, but you’ll be able to use it three times. Be sure to save one charge for the Mummy at the end.
- War Dog. You’ll get attacked by a war dog. After defeating it, when you search the room you’ll find an Iron Key and a Blue Potion. You’ll automatically drink the potion, which will Cure Medium Wounds. The key will unlock Chest 2. Picking up the items will earn each character in your party 4000 xp.
- Scroll. When you search this room, you’ll find a Gibberling Scroll. This will earn each character in your party 4000 xp. You’ll be able to use the scroll against the Gibberling.
- Fountain. Each time you drink from the fountain, you’ll lose 5 hp. So don’t do it.
- Ghost. If you kill the ghost, then you’ll find a chest containing a magical helm that will improve your AC by 1. Looting the helm will earn each character in your party 4000 xp.
- Desk. If you open the desk, then you’ll lose 25 hp due to poison, but you’ll find bracers that will improve your THAC0 by 1. Looting the bracers will earn each character in your party 4000 xp.
- Gibberling. You’ll encounter a gibberling. If you have the Gibberling Scroll (from the Scroll room), then you’ll be able to scare it away. Otherwise, you’ll have to fight it. Using the scroll will earn each character in your party 3000 xp.
- Chest 2. If you have the Iron Key (from the War Dog room), then you’ll be able to open the chest, where you’ll find another Blue Potion. You’ll automatically drink the potion, which will Cure Serious Wounds. Looting the chest will earn each character in your party 3000 xp.
- Mummy. You’ll encounter a mummy here. Defeating it will end the test.
When you pass the test, you’ll return to Level 5, and you’ll receive the Spirit Key. This will earn each character in your party 21,000 xp.
Mind Key
On the western side of the level, you’ll find a Globe Machine (#3). It will dispense colored globes. What you’ll need to do is collect one of each color of globe and then place them in the colored pillars around the machine (where purple is to the north, red is to the east, green is to the south, and blue is to the west). When you do this, you’ll receive the Mind Key, and each character in your party will earn 10,000 xp.
Of course, it isn’t quite that simple. Each time you collect a globe from the machine, each character in your party will earn 1000 xp, but you’ll get attacked by something. You can only collect at most four globes of each color. Three of these globes will give you a usable object (with no indication of what it does) while the other globe won’t be usable. So you can put the non-usable globe into the pillar to collect the key, and save the other globes for something important later — or just stash them somewhere if you don’t want to deal with them.
The details of the globes are listed below. It’s a good idea to grab all of the orbs, even if you don’t care about them. Doing this will earn each character in your party 16,000 xp, and you’ll also earn over 450,000 xp from the battles.
- Blue globes. You’ll get attacked by a mage (11,000 xp), another mage (14,000 xp), a third mage (20,000 xp), and then a final mage (6000 xp). One usable globe will cast Cone of Cold, another will cast Greater Restoration, and the third will cast Protection from Normal Missiles.
- Green globes. You’ll get attacked by mutated spiders (36,000 xp), umber hulks (12,000 xp), greater earth elementals (30,000 xp), and then high-level beholders (78,000 xp). One usable globe will cast Melf’s Acid Arrow, another will summon a Shambling Mound, and the third will temporarily increase the magic resistance of the caster by 5%.
- Purple globes. You’ll get attacked by skeleton warriors (16,000 xp), devil shades (52,000 xp), vampires (50,000 xp), and then a pair of liches (44,000 xp). One usable globe will temporarily give the caster Cloud Giant Strength, another will cast Invisibility, and the third will cast Mass Cure.
- Red globes. You’ll get attacked by hobgoblins (140 xp), kuo-toa (12,000 xp), trolls (18,300 xp), and then greater wolfweres (60,000 xp). One usable globe will cast Fireball, another will heal one character for 64 hp, and the third will temporarily increase the saving throws of all nearby characters by +1.
Final Seal
The final seal is located in the center of the level (Exit C). You’ll need the Heart Key, the Mind Key, and the Spirit Key to open it. Each time you insert a key into one of the pedestals surrounding the seal, each character in your party will earn 20,000 xp. Then when you turn the key, you’ll open its associated lock, and you’ll get attacked by something.
These key battles can be very tough, so it’s a good idea to buff up before turning any keys. You might also want to make liberal use of traps and summons, or immediately retreat from the enemies, which will allow you to attack them one or two at a time, or at least wait out their buffs. The key battles are described below.
- Spirit Key (southern pedestal). You’ll get attacked by three flaming skulls and the lich Azamantes. The skulls will deal fire damage, and Azamantes will do regular lich things. If you place snares and spike traps where Azamantes spawns (near Exit A), then you might be able to kill him before he can cast anything. Otherwise, you’ll need to pierce his defenses and wear him down. You’ll earn 58,000 xp for winning the battle, and you’ll find an Erinne Sling +4 and a Serpent Shaft on Azamantes’ corpse.
- Mind Key (eastern pedestal). You’ll get attacked by five Ferrumach Rilmani (fighters) and one Aurumach Rilmani (mage). All of the enemies will cast cold spells, so you might want to bump up your cold resistance. The easiest way to deal with this battle is to immediately retreat away. This will allow you to draw the fighters to you one at a time and then gang up on the mage. You can also place several traps around, concentrating on the spot where the mage starts out (near Exit B). You’ll earn 67,000 xp for winning the battle, and you’ll find a Club of Detonation +3 on the aurumach’s corpse.
- Heart Key (western pedestal). You’ll get attacked by Ameralis Zauviir (drow cleric), a Hive Mother (beholder), the Huntress (demon ranger), Nalmissra (sirine), Xei Win Toh (dual-wielding demon fighter), and Y’tossi (marilith). This is the toughest of the three battles. The wrong way to approach it is to attack all of the enemies at once. You’re much better off retreating and then drawing enemies to you one or two at a time, or trying to thin out their ranks with some well-placed traps. You’ll earn 166,000 xp for defeating the evil party, and you’ll find Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization, Taralash +4, a scroll of Wish, and some high quality gems when you loot the corpses.
After turning all three keys and defeating the summoned guardians, you’ll need to interact with the wheel next to the seal. This will create the portal to Level 6 (Exit C) and earn each character in your party 20,000 xp.
Walkthrough
1 – Helmite Ghost / Challenges
2 – Spirit Altar
3 – Globe Machine
Exits
- A) Portal to Level 4.
- B) Portal to Outside.
- C) Final Seal / Portal to Level 6. See the Overview text above for information about how to activate this portal.
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