Icewind Dale General Help *Spoilers*

Meanbunny

Hey guys, I am go glad that we now have an open forum for the discussion of this amazing game! I remember about 2 months ago coming here to the forums and asking where the best place was to talk about IWD and I was directed to the Off-Topic subforum. Well now that things are different, I would like to use this thread for people trying the game out for the first time or for returning players who just need a little help or happen to be stumped in the game play.

So last time I played, I ran into a wall that I saved at and I didn't have any luck in the off-topic forum finding a good strategy around this so here is my current problem.

Guy's I am having some trouble. If anyone remembers the fight in chapter 1 of Icewind Dale, where you go to Dragon's Eye I could use some pointers here. I am at the part where you run into 3 Talonite Priests and about 6-7 Trolls. Needless to say, the whole game up until now has been a breeze and now I have finally run into a fight that is giving me a lot of trouble. I have reloaded a good few times already and need to come up with a better plan.

My party is:

Lvl. 8 Human Druid
Lvl. 7 Dwarf Fighter
Lvl 6. Half Elf Cleric/Mage

I tried to see if I could pull the pack apart but apparently my last save was a while back, so it seems I am stuck with the whole group coming after me.

My strategy is to run since the priests outrun the trolls at first. The first one I cast hold person on with my cleric/mage, but the other 2 priests show up before the next round and I can't ever get silence 15' off in time and I ALWAYS end up getting my fighter or druid held. By that point I am surrounded by a large group of trolls and dealing with them all at the same time can be punishing. It is hard for my fighter to get aggro on all the trolls, so my casters keep getting their spells interrupted.

If anyone has any ideas on what spells or tactics I could be employing that would make this fight a bit easier, I would greatly appreciate it. These Talonite priests are kicking my ass and the group of angry trolls are not helping.

Thanks in advance for anyone who has any advice on the topic. Have a great day guys.

Meanbunny

Since I haven't played in about a month, I have been brainstorming and one of the first things that comes to mind is to maybe have my Druid use Entangle on the area around the corner where the Talonite Priests and Trolls are coming in from and cross my fingers that it roots a few of them which should buy me enough time to deal with them just a couple at a time?

Even one Talonite Priest that resists the first spell I cast at him can be dangerous, let alone a second or third coming through not to mention the horde of trolls. I don't quite have the time right now to try this out but let me know what you guys think about Entangle possibly getting me out of this mess.

Mathsorcerer

I would recommend the druid casting Static Charge then the mage memorizing enough Invisibility to cover everyone. Once done, walk the druid down to where the trolls and priests are and just stand there while Static Charge does its thing. Yes, they may try to swarm and look for your characters but as long as you don't have anyone attack then the monsters will simply take damage until, ideally, some of them die. If the Charge runs out, leave, rest/rememorize, and repeat.

The trolls will survive it but once the priests are dead you can mop them up more easily. You have been collecting those flaming oils from the lizard men, yes?

Alexisisinneed

Web, Static Charge, and Spike growth(Not sure if thats the right name, but it's the Druid's third level spell were spikes grow out of the ground. First off have the dwarf fight lead the enemies in a tight spot and cast those three spells and just watch them die. If I remember right that's how I handle the majority of that dungeon to peace.

BelgarathMTH

It's been a long, long time since I've played IWD, and now I'm waiting for IWD:EE before I play again. But, if I remember correctly, the way I always got past this scenario was to retreat back up into the passage on the northwest side of the big cave where you first enter, then use the resulting bottleneck to keep the crowd back.

Of course, I always knew and still know this was/is coming up, and where it happens, so I don't just run into the cave and aggro everything in there. If you've already got the whole cave after you, I'm not sure it will work. But, if you can get your party far enough back into the northwest corridor, you might be able to pull the trolls apart a little and get out of range of some of the clerics.

Using the bottleneck method, I can usually completely block the first wave of trolls with two frontliners, and keep my ranged backline completely safe to attack at will. If one of the clerics gets up behind the trolls and starts casting, I concentrate my ranged fire and spells on the cleric. Meanwhile, my fighters slowly start to kill trolls one at a time. I usually have my packs full with those fire potions that you can throw on the ground, so the fighters can finish off their own troll kills with potions. I think my archer usually has some fire arrows from somewhere, too, and any mages have their first level spell slots filled with burning hands.

I'm not sure if that will help you or not, but there it is. I won't have a clear memory of the scenario until after IWD:EE is out and I've played my way through it again.

I can remember the first time I played it having to reload several times. Those hold person spells combined with a troll army are brutal.

The_New_Romance

So, the main problem is that your save is sort of messed up, because the enemy starts attacking you right where you load it up? And you don't have a save to go back to and make different preparations or a different approach?

If that is the case, I'd say you run to the exit with the trolls and priests on your heels, go up one level and rest there in order to optimize your spell selection. I believe enemies don't follow you there. If that's not the problem, see all the above options.

Meanbunny

Okay, I never thought about Static Charge or Spike Growth. I will definitely give that a shot. I will also try to cast Web around the corner to try and filter the amount of mobs that come in at a time. I don't know why I never considered to try Invisibility. Only problem with that is I think I can only cast it twice. Spike Growth would work if the Fighter could get aggro and not die from getting piled while Held. Otherwise I am thinking possibly the best option would be Static Shock + Invisibility. I will have to give this a try tonight and see how things turn out.

It is so crazy how the whole first 90% of the chapter with the Vale of Shadows, Kresseleck's Tomb and the Temple of the Forgotten god were all not that bad. I ran into a few bumps in the road but nothing like this. This is literally the first part of the game that I have had to reload, let alone multiple times.

Lesson learned? Do not underestimate a Cleric. They can be VERY powerful.