Throne of Bhaal isn't as open-ended as Baldur's Gate II. You can elect to go to Watcher's Keep at any time after leaving Saradush to complete the optional quests around the Keep, but otherwise, your path to the end of the game will be linear. This section of the guide provides a comprehensive walk-through for each sector in the game, generally listed in the order you will likely uncover each area. Quests that appear in bold print also appear in your journal, while other events that award you experience are displayed in normal print.

Each area description also lists all the NPCs and encounter that are present in that sector as well as the enemies that lurk in that location and the magic items you can find there.

1. Preamble and Pocket Plane in the Abyss - The First Challenge

After talking to any of the giant sculptures, you'll be attacked by Illasera, one of the five Bhaalspawn that's tearing up the Sword Coast. You do, however, have time to rest to memorize spells, however, so you should do so and prepare a defense. Illasera (98 hit points, AC 6, 10,000 experience points) will immediately summon one or more creatures to her aid, but you should focus your attacks on her to prevent her from casting additional spells, since the creatures will vanish when she's vanquished. If you've continued a game from Baldur's Gate II and have a full party with you, Illasera will also have a handful of black reaver archers to assist her. You'll immediately reappear in the pocket plane (any items on the ground will travel with you, so you don't have to scramble to grab them) and be greeted by Solar and your old foe, Sarevok.

Talk to the Solar and Sarevok. You can summon any of your old companions by asking the nearby spirits for aid, and you'll get 2,000 experience points for each one that you summon, so summon them all for some quick experience points. You must eventually donate part of a Bhaalspawn's soul to Sarevok, so it can either be you or Imoen who donates the "insignificant" aspect of your soul. Sarevok will also ask to join you. He's chaotic evil in alignment, but will heed your directions and has the most impressive statistics of any NPC companions.

Once you've restored Sarevok to life, you must face the challenge opened up in the room to the northwest. Entering, you'll be greeted by Gavid, a hapless former Bhaalspawn. After a brief speech, he'll die, and you'll be greeted by an assembly line of successively more powerful foes, starting with kobold commandos and dopplegangers and progressing to ogre mages, gnoll captains, sahuagin, and finally drow warriors and priestesses. You can use a powerful area of effect spell such as death fog or incendiary cloud and stay back to pick off the survivors with missile weapons, or position a fighter or two around each of the three spawning doors. If you gate in a pit fiend, it can clear the entire encounter for you, but make sure you cast protection from evil 10-foot radius first, so the devil doesn't attack the party. The party will receive 25,000 experience points each, and your main character will receive 30,000 experience points for completing the challenge.

Sarevok will unveil the first challenge, but you'll have four more to face. Each time you dispatch a key Bhaalspawn, another chamber leading to a challenge will become available.

NPCs in this sector:

• Cespenar
  
• Gavid
  
• Illasera
  
• Solar
  
• Sarevok