Return to Athkatla

Navigate the return to Athkatla in Shadows of Doubt. Uncover Irenicus's plot, seek allies like Drizzt, and manage crucial items and vendors in this comprehensive walkthrough.

You will emerge in front of some surprised elves. If Viconia is with you, their attitude will be more hostile than otherwise. Regardless, they will take you to their commander, a world-class bell end named Elhan. You will unlock the Return to the Surface trophy at this point.

General Sovalidaas will be wary but friendly enough.

Elhan will question you. Although it is very tempting to smart mouth him, resist the temptation. After a bit of back-and-forth, you will learn why everyone is so jumpy: Irenicus has the made the elven city of Suldanessellar vanish. The magical darkness concealing it can be penetrated with the help of an artifact called the Rhynn Lanthorn which you have a pretty shrewd idea is currently in the hands of Bodhi. The elves are clearly hiding something but suggest that you might seek aid among former allies. If asked, they will give you stakes and holy water. If Viconia is with you, they will also cast a geas upon her so that she is magically compelled to keep faith with you.

Drizzt and Friends

It's been at least a week since you bumped into a Forgotten Realms celebrity so when you select any destination on the world map, you will inevitably bump into Drizzt and and his adventuring chums.

Jaheira is clearly a fangirl.

You can provoke him into a fight quite easily (particularly if you click through the conversation quickly - your first option is an aggressive one). If Jaheira is with you, she will leave the party which will leave you a person down. Drizzt is a beast so concentrate on taking him down first. Their equipment is garbage compared to your own and it will be forcibly confiscated later so there's not really a lot of point in fighting him other than for the evulz.

Instead, claim to be a friend and he may well recognise you from the first game. Keep things friendly and he will offer you assistance.

If you want, you can have Drizzt and his crew join you in the boss fight against Bodhi. By this point in the game, you should be approaching HLA territory if you've not already reached it yet. A summoned Deva will probably be as useful as Drizzt and won't steal XP.

Meanwhile Back in Athkatla

Go to Waukeen's Promenade. If you have the Silver Blade, buff up a little (including Chaotic Commands) and if you're wearing the Cloak of Reflection, take it off. A rather rude Githyanki named Kruin will accost you close to the Adventurer's Mart.

As you might by now expect, he is after your Silver Blade. Tell him no and then tell him do his worst. A large group of Githyanki will teleport in and attack. The biggest danger from this fight is not the Githyanki themselves but that you may be responsible for the death of a citizen, either from a confused party member or a Lightning Bolt bouncing off your magical cloak.

When they're dead, loot Kruin's remains for the Silver Hilt.

Since you're in the neighbourhood, check in on Ribald who has some new stock that costs 50G to view.

Adventurer Mart

The Helm of Brilliance is very good and if your PC is a Barbarian, the Crimson Chain is decent medium armour. The other items are nothing special - the only reason that you might want to spend that sort of money on the Warblade is to get a +4 weapon for Minsc. Some of the scrolls are worth buying, particularly if your Mage is at or near level 18 since you won't come across them again for a long time.

Go into the Temple of Ilmater at the north end of the promenade. You should have picked up Yoshimo's Heart in Spellhold. Give it to the Priestess of Ilmater for a substantial 200000XP reward and the Peace At Last trophy.

You should have most or all of the components for the special weapons crafted by Cromwell in the Docks District. Here's my take:

• Crom Faeyr (10000G). Of course it's a good weapon, but it's also very resource intensive, requiring two strength-boosting items to forge. If Korgan is a core part of your strategy (or your PC specialises in war hammers), it may be worth it. It's probably wasted on Anomen and it's certainly wasted on Viconia. You'll also find better weapons in the expansion so you may want to keep your Girdle of Frost Giant Strength instead.
• The Equalizer (7500G). OK but unspectacular. The immunities are nice, I guess. The real problem is that, apart from obvious things like demons, you don't know whether you're going to get no benefit, little benefit or big benefit from it. Given the trouble you had go through to obtain all three components, it's really not all that great.
• Shortbow of Gesen (7500G). The Tuigan Bow is probably better for an Archer or Mazzy but this is probably the best bow for Imoen.
• Silver Sword (7500G). Certainly an upgrade for Minsc, although maybe not for someone who can wield the Soul Reaver. Works very nicely with the Whirlwind Attack ability.
• Wave (75000G). You won't be able to forge this if the Planar Prison quest bugged out. It's good if a character has points in halberds and it can trivialise a boss encounter in the expansion.

If you killed Adalon in the Underdark, you can also take the unfinished Human Flesh armour and the dragon blood to Darcin Cole outside the inn in Imnesvale and have him construct the Human Flesh +5 armour. It will take him four days and when you go to retrieve it, he will sic three Twisted Rune Mages on you