Seek Green to the Northwest

The next stop is Moander's Pit in Yulash, and stopping the attempt of Mogion to bring Moander back to the Realms.

When getting to Yulash, I befriended the Red Plumes by defeating the Zhentarim that came bursting out of the door. I think that on some previous occasions I've helped the Zhentarim, but killing the Zhentarim means the Red Plumes don't bother me, and since they control the town, I think it's better to do it that way. There is one combat with Zhentil Keepers and another against some shambling mounds (which nets a wand of defoliation), but otherwise Yulash doesn't really have anything in it.

Moander's Pit is pretty much combat-free. There's one battle with the cultists dragging around a giant slug, but otherwise it's possible to just run to the temple proper. It was even possible to get some rest, but I'm not sure if there are any safe resting places or I just got lucky when I tried. I did get some random encounters when trying to rest near the temple, so maybe there are safe areas.


The sigil gets removed as Mogion summons Moander, so when the sigil isn't controlling the party anymore, it's time for battle. The Mogion battle wasn't that hard. Just fireball the priests all the time and hack the shambling mounds to pieces. The wand of defoliation, stinking clouds, and magic missiles are very useful. Also the cold spells, ice storm and cone of cold, though I'm rubbish at aiming the latter. Stay away from fireballs and especially lightning bolts. More than once, Alias and Dragonbait got a bit annoying, but I rarely care about the NPCs, so if they happen to get in the way of a spell's area of effect, I just let them have it.

After the Mogion battle, the bits of Moander are a real pain. 140-HP shambling mounds aren't really a picnic for a party at this level. The same advice as before applies, but I had to try this a few times before I managed to finish it without unacceptable losses. My basic tactic was to move the characters into position so that the bits were arranged nicely for area spells and then just blast away. I have no idea how I ever managed to survive this battle on my first play-through when I had a pretty crappy party and wasn't really using pre-battle spells at all.

There's still one battle in the Pit before escape is possible. It's mostly just vegepygmies, but there are some cultists there and hold person is a really nasty spell (when the enemy has it, that is). Still, I managed to find a place to rest, heal, and replenish the spells, so there wasn't much of a problem here.