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Question about Sir Sarles Illithium quest and the Mace of Disruption

PhilhelmPhilhelm Member Posts: 473
in Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
To my understanding, the real Illithium is required to upgrade the Mace of Disruption. Does that mean that I must obtain the real Illithium but try to give the fake Illithium to Sir Sarles if I want the upgraded Mace of Disruption, or is there another way to get more real Illithium? I'm playing as a LG Priest of Lathander, so going the dishonest route would go against role play, but I really, really, want the upgraded Mace of Disruption.

Also, as a cleric, I know that I get a choice of the Ring of Holiness, Armor of Faith, and the Staff-Spear once the quest is complete. I'd really like to get both the Ring of Holiness and the Armor of Faith. Can either of those two items be obtained elsewhere? Although, I suppose that the Ring of Gaxx and the symbol of Lathander will eventually be better options.

Comments

  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 6,006
    well lets say worse case scenario that if you wanted the upgraded mace of disruption ( which is just amazing, no doubt the reason why you are having the dilemma ) what are you going to lose:

    cleric stronghold - although fun, you are really only getting XP and some items ( in the long scheme of things the XP wont be a game changer)

    items:
    STAFF-SPEAR: loltastic not only can you get this from xzar but the improved mace of disruption rocks this weapon

    AMULET OF LIFE PROTECTION? ( don't remember what it is called): now this amulet gives you a +3 bonus to save vs death, which is quite useful since that is 1 of the 2 most important saves in the game, but luckily at the same time, when you reach level 17 or so a cleric's save vs death will be 2 and even warrior classes will be 3, and when its already that low, its going to be a piece of cake to bring it down to 0 or lower ( cloak of displacement anyone? plus gromnir's iounstone :) )

    RING OF HOLINESS: now although this ring can be quite awesome for the extra spell potential if you are planning to have your cleric use the holy symbol and ring of gaxx, then this ring would be all for nothing, so then the question is; whats better? the ring of holiness or the improved mace of disruption ( i think you know which one is better ;) )

    ARMOR OF FAITH: again in theory this armor sounds rad but the problem is, its only splintmail +3 that gives +1 to all saves, the saving throw bonus is nice, but the AC bonus is not, especially when there are SO many different suit of fullplate +2 in the game, and again if your cleric is going to use this, you are already going to have good saves anyway, so the +1 save bonus from his armor isnt needed

    now with this all being said, i know that in the previous version, if you gave Sir Sarles the face illithium and tried to go back to buddy at the temple, the game would bug up and you couldnt continue the quest ( you would click on him, and he would not engage dialogue) so the only way to continue the cleric quest would be to give Sir Sarles the real illithium and then homes would give you the helm of glory and you could continue the quest

    now with the new update i dont know if they have fixed this issue, and i dont recall if you can start your cleric stronghold if you give sir sarles the fake illithium

    so with that being said, worse case scenario whats better? some XP, a little RP, some mediocre items, OR a very VERY useful mace, infact i actually like that mace so much i bring it well into ToB for how awesome it is

    and with that being said, the time you hit end SoA/ beginning of ToB would you still have your cleric stronghold items anyway? probably not ( since you will no doubt have your ring of gaxx, holy symbol, a piece of full plate +2/ platemail +4 or +5) and if you did go the cleric stronghold way, and you couldnt upgrade your mace, now you're down one great mace ( the two things that make the upgraded mace rock super hard is the immunity to level drain and that it strikes as a +5 weapon)

    now with ALL of that being said, there may be one last resort you could do, although it will go completely against the ethos of your character's RP, this might be the only way:

    first give sir sarles the real illithium and get your cleric stronghold and do everything as normal, then, once your stronghold is complete, go back to sir sarles and whack him, unfortunately you cant pick pocket the illithium but he will still have it in his inventory, so you will lose REP, and make sure your AI is turned off so you dont go slaughtering everyone else in the house, but super hyper worse case scenario, this might be the ONLY way without cheating that you can get your cleric stronghold and have the upgraded mace

  • PhilhelmPhilhelm Member Posts: 473
    @sarevok57 I don't think the quest has any effect on the cleric stronghold, since the cleric stronghold is obtained after destroying the Beholder cult. In fact, I've completed the stronghold quests already. I was just hoping to maintain the role play and keep things on the level, but there is no way I won't get the Mace of Disruption upgraded. Killing undead is what Priests of Lathander do!
  • TheArtisan TheArtisan Member Posts: 3,277
    You can fail the quest by giving the alloy and still get the rewards. You lose 10000 party experience though. I think there's also a second Ring of Holiness somewhere else but I'm not certain.
  • DurenasDurenas Member Posts: 508
    You lose nothing by giving Sarles the Illithium Alloy. Just roleplay your LG and drop the Illithium Ore before talking to him. It will all work out in the end, and you won't lose your stronghold.
  • mf2112mf2112 Member, Moderator Posts: 1,919
    The only issue I ran into with this once was that Keldorn spoke up with one of the options, like "I couldn't get the illithium or I don't have it" and said he couldn't be a party to a lie. I think even when i had dropped the illithium on the ground. I had to choose the neutral option, "I did the best I could" or something similar.

    This last time I just waited to talk to the duergar and then find and kill Neb until after I had talked to Sir Sarles again, so no conflict.
  • BeroliBeroli Member Posts: 6
    Yes, you can use the illithium ore for the Mace of Disruption or give it to Sarles, not both. You'll have to decide how important roleplaying is to you and how important the Mace is to you.
  • GrooGroo Member Posts: 3
    Get the ore and give it to Sarles. Go to the temple and explain what you did. THEN go get the real illithium from Neb.
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