Timing my Nashkel hijinks

Grakkel

I'd be interested in some advice on how to time some party switching around Nashkel.

So far, my party (which aims to be good) is as follows:

CHARNAME, Blade, Level 5
Friend's NPC, Cleric 3/Illusionist 2
Jaheira (3/3, I think?)
Ajantis (3, almost 4)
Neera 4
Imoen 4?

Not at my computer now, so I'm guessing at some of the levels.

Our adventures so far have included all the Friendly Arm Inn's quests, all of Beregost's quests, a very unfortunate misunderstanding with Drizzt that left him badly, badly injured, and a jaunt over to Adoy's Enclave to assist Neera.

So now I'm ready to have fun down in the Nashkel area. Our levels are higher than I expected them to be at this point.

A few options:

1) At some point, I want to switch out Jaheira for Branwen. I'm half-tempted to let her explore the Nashkel Mines with me first, though: she's been so patient, it seems the sporting thing to do.

2) I'd like to do Minsc's quest for Dynaheir. Probably going to say no to Edwin's request to tag along (yes, I know he's quite the genius, he just doesn't fit in my party). Once we find Dynaheir, it's quite likely she may have a mishap when she goes off to explore for firewood on her own. I will likely switch out Neera for Minsc for the sake of his quest. Long-term, I'm debating which I keep in my party, Neera or Minsc. My blade's starting to handle himself quite nicely on the front line (what shiny scimitars he now has!), and combined with Ajantis and Branwen, that may be enough for the front line. Neera was feeling quite useless to me at level one, but now that she has more spells, she's worthwhile longer. Once I can get her proficient in a ranged weapon (darts, maybe?), she'll be quite a good fit on the team. But Minsc! And Boo! Quite fun. (And I really enjoy having Ajantis around... once I give him gauntlets of dex, he'll be even better.)

3) I will likely briefly pick up Raasad and Dorn, and I mean really briefly, just so I can add them in again when their quests are ready to go later on. (Do I park them in Kagain's Shop or the Friendly Arm, where I'm stashing my other NPCs?)

So the decisions I have to make are:

A) Do I tackle the Nashkel mines first? Or Minsc's quest?

Do I pick up Branwen before or after I go to the mines and/or Minsc's quest?

If anybody has any clever suggestions, I'd much appreciate it!

KidCarnival

2) - Rasaad goes back to where you meet him, Dorn goes to FAI, so you can't decide where to park them.

You complete Jaheira's demand by talking to the Nashkel mayor, that stops her timer. After that, you can switch her out for Branwen (and from what I see, Jaheira will not disappear if you remove after talking to the mayor).

I'd probably do just that - drop Jaheira in Nashkel, get Branwen, then do the mines, then Minsc's quest. The mines don't take long, but with travel time and resting, I prefer to do timer quests immediately. So get the mines out of the way before starting Minsc's.

Grakkel

That sounds like a good plan. Thanks much for the advice, @KidCarnival!

KidCarnival

I just checked. I parked Khalid and Jaheira in Beregost (after talking to the mayor with them in the party). I have access to Baldur's Gate, and both are still there. So you can definitely park Jaheira and get her back later, should you decide to take her instead of Branwen.

Grakkel

@KidCarnival: Right now I have Jaheira parked at the inn in Nashkel.

I actually picked up Rasaad for the moment, to try him out in the mines. This may be unwise, since I'll be down one healer, but should be worth a try.

When Dorn saved the day at the ambush, I briefly took him, and gave Ajantis a very momentary break. I quickly saw the error of my ways, and asked Dorn to leave: according to him, he's now waiting for me at the Friendly Arm Inn. I'll pick him up again after finishing Cloakwood.

I may pick up Xan in the mines and let Rasaad return to Nashkel at that point. Try out Xan as I make my way back to Nashkel.

Once back, I may pick up Minsc, and possibly I could bring Edwin along to the Stronghold just for fun. If I say no to Edwin the first time I meet him, is it not possible to recruit him later?

This is my first full playthrough of Baldur's Gate, so I thought it might be fun to at least try out the various NPCs, even if just for a little while, particularly to go through their quests. I played Baldur's Gate about halfway through a year or two ago, but fell off playing after the Bandit Camp. (I was playing on Parallels at the time, and from my memory, the partition filled up, everything was slow and buggy, quite a mess: BGEE is quite a treat on my Mac.)

KidCarnival

If you don't talk to Edwin at all, then go with Minsc to rescue Dynaheir, then talk to Edwin with them in the party (or just Dynaheir), he'll still join. If you only have Dynaheir, it also stays peaceful, but Minsc would fight him at some point. The other way to try out NPCs here is to take both Edwin and Minsc to the Stronghold; they'll force a decision, so you should be certain which one you don't want. (There is also the option to say you trust neither and they can sort out their drama alone, which removes both from the party - but I think you can still kill Dynaheir, get Edwin to join again, and fight Minsc.) But since your friend is an arcane caster and you have Neera, I assume you wouldn't want either for longer than "trying them out, deciding if you like their voiceset and abilities for another game".

The Rasaad/Xan plan is a good one. Xan only gives you that one chance to join; if you reject him, he'll leave for good. So if you dismiss Rasaad to take Xan, you also won't have to leave a NPC you might want back in the mines. It's handy that Rasaad finds his way back. If you want a test run with Yeslick, you can do the same thing with whichever of the new NPCs you have, and not leave anyone for good in the mines.