Baldur's Gate - Blathering Into Part VII

Lilura continues her playing session of Baldur's Gate and reached the Labyrinth of the Elements and the Chessboard.

In contrast to the last two labyrinths - which focus on traps and puzzles - this labyrinth tests the player's tactics by introducing exotic encounters and increasing spawns for "Greater" variants. The object of the labyrinth is to defeat a guardian in each of the four elemental chambers - those of fire, ice, slime & wind. When that's done, the party is suddenly whisked away to find themselves fighting for their lives on a gigantic Chessboard! This is one of the highlights of Durlag's Tower.

On-rest spawns invariably consist of two Greater Ghouls that move at a rate of knots and inflict paralysis with their claw attacks. Their ApR is high and their THAC0 low: don't underestimate them!

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The Chessboard battle may be tackled in a multitude of ways; it really depends on party composition. By creeping the Queen forward into the fog of war, the Pawns may be lured out and vanquished without interference from the big guns, who in turn may be provoked without the annoying grunts getting in the road. In addition, mage-heavy parties may also stand their ground and simply fire wands of fire, Cloudkills and Skull Traps into the fog of war, decimating Durlag's pieces. For under-leveled parties Web may also be employed to great effect, and for scrubs there's always summons cheese.