Act 1: Underdark

Step-by-Step Walkthrough

    The Selunite Outpost

  1. You should have come down the ladder from the Goblin temple into the Selunite Outpost.
  2. Go through the locked gate on your right as you come in
  3. There's a locked chest here with helmet, but we need to pass perception check to see the wall door to the right of the chest
  4. Through the wall disarm and open the chest (if you don't pass the perception to disarm, just keep 3 people out of the room so the explosion only hits the person trying to open it)
  5. The chest contains Shadowhearts best in slot chest, so equip it and never take it off!
  6. Go forward and approach the large gate so that a minotaur will come. The defenses will kill him for you
  7. Ranged attack the Moonstone above the statue to turn off the defenses so that you don't get killed and head into the Underdark
  8. At this point I needed a long rest, but there was only 1 event (guardian talked to me), so don't feel pressured to do that if you still have short rests

    Daily Setup: Don't forget to do your daily buffs

    • Shadowheart - Aid (either from talisman or spell)
    • Lae'zel - Mage Armour
    • Astarion - Strength potion

    9. Heading to Myconid Colony

  9. Go forward to fight some minotaurs. If you take some time you can probably get them 1 by 1, but they usually both get involved for me
  10. If the Bulette attacks either during the minotaur fight or after, just run away. HM Bulette will eat you for breakfast right now. If it's during the minotaur fight, he usually attacks them so you can stick around to have him help you kill them, but if he turns on you be ready to run.
  11. Head west a little bit from the Selunite Outpost to find Phalar Aluve in the stone. Get it pulled out. Astarion with his potion + guidance + bardic inspiration should be enough for the strength check. This is a good weapon for Shadowheart to use. Shriek helps on boss fights with Lae'zel spamming high level magic missles. The buff works in general to buff Astarion/MC while fighting. You don't HAVE to use it, but it's a good option. The lack of proficiency doesn't matter, since you don't melee anyway.
  12. I would put 3 people in camp right now.
  13. Head north towards to Ebonlake Grotto with the last character. This is where the Bulette usually shows up. You can either try to run away, or just die and resurrect
  14. Once that's done, head to the city with all your characters. Shoot the explosive things from a distance so it's safe to approach.

    15. Business in Ebonlake Grotto

  15. Location: Ebonlake Grotto
  16. Talk to Thulla (gnome by sovereign). Give her antidote, tell her you'll help. She'll give you some boots of speed (dash as bonus action). Give them to Astarion for now
  17. Talk to Sovereign, agree to help
  18. Talk to Blurg, the hobgoblin. Tell him about your problems and Omeluum as well. Despite Lae'zels racism, be cooperative with Omeluum.
  19. Shop at Blurg. I would at the very least keep: elixir of fire resistance, elixir of haste, elixir of poison resistance, elixir of psychic resistance. Pretty much everything else that you don't use you can sell. Buy Psychic Spark and Melf's staff for Lae'zel
  20. Talk to Derryth, the dwarf merchant. Buy Caustic band, hand crossbow +1.
  21. You can give the ring to MC or Astarion. If you want, you can get the amulet of restoration too, I haven't been healing at all, so didn't waste the gold.

    22. Getting Baelen

  22. Head out the west entrance and get Baelen. The easiest way is just to control Sovereign Glut. He doesn't explode any bibberbang. Just have him get rid of the torch and hand Baelen his bag.
  23. You can also have Glut grab you the Noble Stalk. This way you don't have to go into bibberbang at all. Feel free to go turn in to Derryth now.

    24. Dealing with the Fish Cult

  24. Head down towards the beach, but go left, not towards the duergar. We are heading to the fish guys and Arcane tower
  25. Jump across the mushrooms and climb down the cragged rock
  26. This should take you to the fish cult area. Use your bard to convince them to kill Boooal

    27. Heading to the Arcane Tower and helping Omeluum

  27. Head to the Arcane tower, straight across from the exit of the fish cult area
  28. I'm lazy, so I usually just make sure I have health and run past all the towers and short rest after. I think you can stop them with lightning damage or something
  29. Jump down the outside of the building with feather fall, grab Sussur Bloom to turn the tower on inside.
  30. Start going up the tower once you've powered it on
  31. 1 floor up has timmask spores, tongue of madness, and threadbare book
  32. Next floor up is just the main floor, can open the main door for a shortcut if you want
  33. 3rd floor has lots to read, I think only torn-out paper is relevant. The githyanki disc starts another quest, not sure how much xp it gives though
  34. Top floor you can talk to Bernard (the first option, then the first option again)
  35. There's a stool you can destroy to get a club that sets your strength to 19, not sure it's useful for any of our builds, but it's there
  36. Equip his ring to go to the basement, then finish looting and go back to Omeluum to complete this quest
  37. Make sure to shop at Omeluum. Boots of stormy clamour - Shadowhearts best in slot boots, Shadespell circlet - good for Lae'zel for awhile
  38. I bought a couple of elixir of psychic resistance. They are useful in the final fight, and I don't think I usually find them naturally. I think I usually have 1 by the time I get to the end
  39. At this point, there's some easier fights back up top out of the Underdark, so we'll go do that and come back here later at level 5