Part 166: Chapter CLXII - There must be anti-climax before there can be catharsis.

Chapter CLXII - There must be anti-climax before there can be catharsis.



After a time-skip we're right back at it, Midnight sure knows how to pick 'em.



Oh boy, a surprise! Time to head downstairs.





We run into our son on the way. Please keep in mind that Elminster, Vichan and Sarevok are the same age according to Roxanne.



I've run out of things to say. It's just bad.



Gee, I wonder what Roxanne is trying to hint at here.



Surprise!



Looks like we're back at it, there's still a tablet to hunt down.



Midnight's living large.



Pelligram helps Midnight catch on.



Liriel suggests filling our empty party slot with everyone's favorite drow.



He's still hanging out in Mystra's temple.





Not sure if his bio's different from the last time but I thought I'd post it nonetheless.



Don't expect him to talk too much. This is one of the few banters he has.



Anyway, we can go to Tantras by boat in Mornbryn's Shield.



We have to track down the captain first though.



The Troll in Flames seems like a good place to start.



The start of a very complicated and extremely problematic friendship.



We met this guy waaaaay back in BG1 where he claimed to have met Midnight.







Not only is the captain's son missing but Sandrah's mother is with him. Looks like we have no choice but to track them down.



Nope, this still feels creepy.



On the way to Cerameon's Grave we run into a slime.



It keeps dividing.



I might have to ctrl-y instakill them, this is getting annoying.



Oh God I'm not hitting the buttons fast enough.



...I ended up having to reload, this time the slimes only split once. There's probably a really obvious trick here but I can barely be bothered to play the actual game by this point.



Almost nothing's changed here.



Oh, look. It's another Forgotten Realms celebrity!





Thank God it's just an ordinary slime and easily dispatched.



Finder goes on ahead and we follow.



You can just walk through the door and don't have to open it, an oversight that's been pretty rare so far.



One more god to fight, why not?



One of these enemies is called a slime king and 'spongey' doesn't begin to cover how annoying it is to take down.



We delve deeper and face some shambling mounds.



As well as multiple slime kings...



I can excuse wonky pathfinding at times but we actually have to take this path to progress.



We've rescued Khalindra's father but still need to find his daughter. It'd probably be better for the realms if I didn't but oh well...



After backtracking a bit and finding a different route I come face to face with the god of decay.



We'll see about that.



Moander is actually easier than the shambling mounds we've already fought.



That portrait scared me for a bit there.



Khalindra and Finder Wyvernspur leave and our work here is done.



After we loot Moander's corpse that is.



The area we just explored.



Narthil is freed before I even get the chance to open the cage.



Finder takes the spark and leaves with Olive.



We also send Khalindra and her father to Elminster. The timeline must be kept intact.



Resach thanks us and sends us to...



Tantras, where a battle is currently taking place.







The battle starts off easy enough.



It gets progressively harder as we make our way south.





Some Martyrs teleport in to help out.





More martyrs and enemies as we get closer to the southern edge of this map.



When we finally reach the end Bane and Bhaal are waiting for us.



They quickly move to secure the tablet and we follow them to the next area.



The area we just traversed.



No enemies in the next area so we can take a breather.



High praise coming from the god of righteousness.



He storms off to face Bhaal and Bane, we'd better not let him do that alone.



More martyrs teleport in even though this area is free of encounters.



I like this map.



In the next area we follow Torm up a mountain.



He bypasses these enemies leaving us to fight them.



Bhaal flees while Torm faces off against Bane. Bane on the other hand is more interested in attacking our party. I played through this part multiple times and the scene didn't want to progress.



Turns out the answer was to lounge offscreen until they both die in a cutscene, because the area was still unexplored I can only show the aftermath.



Cyric is up to his old tricks again.



Nothing to do but head back. We didn't even get the tablet.



You might want to sit down...



From the mouth of babes...



Oh dear, Bhaal has his sights set on Khalindra.

Let's strike one of his temples, that'll show him!



On our way out of Morbryn's Shield we arrive in Wyvern's Crossing where a familiar face is waiting for us.



No portrait? Disappointing.



I can try but I really don't feel like it.



Elminster seems to have bought his house in Waterdeep already.



The temple in the Forest of Mir has to be dealt with first, though.



Some fire giants guard this place but by this point they're a piece of cake.







I'm actually going to take Midnight's last line to heart and end things as anti-climactically as possible.

Some good news though, the next chapter will be the absolute last. We're almost done!