The Apothecary of Moonhaven did not look any different from any other, and even as it was, it was an interesting location for Eden as he was still studying alchemy. And even without that, the left over potions were good loot.
But the cellar was even more interesting. Picking up a few books on alchemy on the way, which would undoubtedly help with his creation of potions, Eden found a hidden lever, which opened the way to a secret room.
It was a small cave, with several coffins inside. Looting them, a few skeletons tried to attack him, but a few punches were enough to dispatch them. Perhaps the most interesting thing he found was a scroll to summon a Quasit, but Eden ignored it, simply pocketing it as he moved up to the mirror in the cave.
As he approached, a spectral face appeared in it, but before it could say anything, Eden smashed his reinforced fist into it, shattering it, its enchantment having faded over time with the death of its master.
Behind it was a large laboratory, with many vials and scrolls of all kinds strewn around. In the very center was an operating table, with a skeleton laying on it.
Although Moonhaven had been destroyed by the goblins, this was not the first time tragedy had struck. More than a hundred years into the past, Dark Justiciars of Shar had laid waste to the village, and among the many casualties had been this man.
This was Ilyn Toth, a hidden Necromancer of Thay who had sought to learn True Resurrection, which was a 9th Level Spell, or the highest a mortal could learn, and improve on it.
Ilyn Toth was not the object of Eden's presence in this laboratory, however. The book locked behind the metal cell was.
Eden was not surprised to see it was still there, as it was not something most Players would willingly use, nor would it really be of much use to them. In a sense, it was similar to the Necronomicon.
Tearing apart the metallic cell-door, which had started to rust from the humidity of the cave, Eden's gaze laid on the book.
[Necromancy of Thay]
[Rank: Unique]
[Effect: Contains forbidden knowledge on necromancy. Only those with the strongest minds may read it.]
This was one of the major reasons as to why Eden had chosen this world, although, now that he was in front of it, he was not as excited as he thought he would be when he first entered.
He also felt slightly disappointed it did not work like the Necronomicon Copy, as it was not a magical weapon, but purely knowledge.
Unique was a rarity, above Super Rare and below Epic, and was the threshold for Tier II equipment.
Common and Uncommon for Tier 0, Rare and Super Rare for Tier I, and Unique and Epic for Tier II. Had this worked as a weapon as well, this would have made for a powerful weapon for Eden.
Grabbing it, Eden immediately jumped out of the room as it was engulfed in flames, barely missing him.
Looking down at the book, which tried to influence him but failed miserably, its cover was made of human skin, and there was a small skeletal face with a wide opened mouth in the center, with a depression in said mouth.
The book itself was locked, not only by the metal locks, but also by a powerful magic. Even if Eden was able to force it open, which he doubted he could, the contents of the book might be destroyed alongside the lock.
So he placed it in his Inventory, and left the cellar, only to walk to the building in front of the apothecary, the blacksmith's store.
All the weapons inside had long been pillaged, and though the forge remained in working order, no weapons were left.
On the side of the forge, however, was a weakened wall, which, upon breaking, revealed yet another cavern, this one filled with spider webs. Although there was a lot of visibility as the cavern was well lit, Eden cast a 2nd Circle Dark Vision on himself in preparation.
This was the home a small colony of Phase Spiders, giant spiders that were capable of phasing through the ethereal plane, teleporting around.
Eden had made his research about the entire Baldur's Gate 3 content, and he remembered something about a high elf woman venerating the Spider Goddess Lolth and turning herself into the Phase Spider Matriarch ruling this colony.
But, honestly, Eden did not care.
As Eden leapt over the spiderwebs, he came across some Ettercaps, which were human sized monstrosities infested with spiders, as well as a few Phase Spiders. Phase Spiders, as deadly as they could be, were very pretty to look at, being of an ethereal, astral blue.
Following their instinctual hunting habits, the Ettercaps attacked him up front, while the Phase Spiders tried to sneak on him using their phasing ability.
A few Dismantles did the job.
Eden quickly arrived at the end of the cavern, where the Matriarch had made her nest. Centered around a giant hole that Eden knew led to the Underdark, the Phase Spider Colony had constructed a complex network of webs Eden struggled to make sense of, and that was much more extensive than the four simple bridges shown in the game.
This was something Eden had noticed tended to happen a lot in Dreamland, everything was scaled up.
Although the webs were constructed like a maze to Eden, with dozens of phase spiders walking along them, he easily spotted their leader, as it was more than twice the size of all the other spiders.
[Name: Phase Spider Matriarch]
[Title: N/A]
[HP: 340/340]
[MP: 490/490]
[Strength: 30]
[Agility: 35]
[Physique: 25]
[Intelligence: 11]
[Wisdom: 25]
Its attributes were not very impressive, especially since it had no equipment, but Eden knew that it must have powerful Perks and Skills that were invisible to him.
It was a boss monster in the game, after all.
Deciding to kick things up with a notch, Eden faced his palm towards a node of the web maze and chanted, "I cast Strengthened Fireball."
The ball of fire streaked through the air, the residual heat twisting vision as it reached the node, and exploded. The fire spread over the highly flammable webs, destroying an entire section of the webbing.
Eden followed up with several more Strengthened Fireballs, destroying all the webs in his vicinity. The spiders on the first webs were taken by surprise, and slammed to the ground with wet squelches, although the others managed to react in time and teleport away before they could smash into the ground also.
Eden finally stopped as he felt danger, and activated Dismantle, slashing in half the globe of green goo sent flying at him. It fell on both sides of him, splashing a little on impact but sticking to the ground. It did not appear to do anything, but Eden knew it to be extremely poisonous.
Although it had missed, the Phase Spider Matriarch teleported behind Eden in a soft flash of blue light, and he only reacted thanks to his Talent as the moment it appeared, he felt his danger sense activate.
Lowering himself to the ground, Eden dodged a pair of mandibles larger than his head that had aimed to crush his head, and chanted, "I cast Mists of the Underworld!"
The Spell Misty Step was actually inspired by the innate ability of Phase Spiders, and one of the requirements for it was to have the destination within sight.
The Mists of the Underworld, which heavily obscured an entire area, was thus very effective against Phase Spiders.
If he truly tried, Eden was sure he could vanquish the entire Phase Spider colony in a head on, 'fair' fight, but why would he?
Even while facing opponents lower than himself, Eden would prepare if he could help it. That was why he had memorized the strengths, abilities, resistances and weaknesses of all the enemies in Baldur's Gate 3, so that he would be ready to face them. It was not like it had required that big of an effort on his part with his improved Intelligence.
This was why Eden had cast Dark Vision on himself. Now, not only could the Phase Spider Matriarch not easily teleport away, but the smaller ones could not teleport in easily either, or spit venom at him. Of course, there was also the debuff that came with the spell.
To the Matriarch's credit, the moment the Mists of the Underworld appeared, it started flexing its legs, probably to leap away. However, Eden smashed his Shattered Flail into the joints of its two front legs in quick succession, empowering these strikes with Cursed Energy. While they did not exactly shatter, they were knocked back, and lost all strength.
The Matriarch screeched while the sudden loss of strength in its two front legs, it failed to gain any significant height, and remained trapped inside the mists without any vision of the outside as Eden struck the same joints several more times.
The Matriarch tried to fight back, spitting corrosive venom and biting, but it had been turned completely blind by the spell, and with no way to see through darkness, it was attacking blind, which was all too easy for Eden to dodge.
By the time Eden managed to completely shatter its two front legs, all the Phasing Spiders had entered the Mists of the Underworld, but the debuff was enough to momentarily incapacitate them.
But as Eden moved on to smashing his mace into the Matriarch's head, it clicked its mandibles, in a mix of a screech and clicking sound. At the sound, all the Phase Spiders around suddenly reared back.
That was just what Eden had been waiting for, however, as he simply leapt up, out of the mists as the entire area covered by the mists and some more were suddenly covered in thick webs. He dropped his weapon and caught it between his legs, while holding himself up against a rock with one hand, the other pointed down.
Some spells were considered useless by many, and for good reasons. Eden's Mists of the Underworld, by itself, was not that good of a spell for example, because it harmed the user just as much as the enemy. Eden simply was suited perfectly for it, which was why he had created it. In a similar fashion, some seemingly useless spells could become quite useful when used right.
"I cast Grease."
A layer of oily grease suddenly appeared inside the Mists of the Underworld, coating the ground under the Matriarch and several of the Phase Spiders.
They all looked up at his chant, as they were blind, not deaf.
"I cast Strengthened Fireball."
A weak light appeared in their vision amidst the darkness, before the webs and grease were ignited.
The two were highly flammable, so even though the fireball itself had been aimed at the Matriarch, the flames spread beyond their usual range as all the spiders were covered in flames.
While they writhed in pain, Eden lifted his body with a single hand, his Strength more than enough to allow the calisthenics feat as he placed his feat against the rocky surface, upside down, and reinforcing himself with Cursed Energy, launched himself like a missile at the Matriarch, his weapon back in hand.
He smashed into the middle of its back, forcing her legs to bend as its underbelly dropped to the ground, the chitinous armor on its back cracking. Then, before it could rise back up, he started relentlessly smashing his Shattered Flail onto its head.
It tried to swing him off, but Eden remained firmly on it. As its blood splashed on him, he felt its corrosive nature, but his natural and overall defence helped fight it off as he smashed into it relentlessly. And whatever small amount of HP he may have lost, the Shattered Flail healed it instantly with every hit.
However, the Matriarch was true to its boss status as it managed to stumble its way out of the Mists of the Underworld, even with two of its legs broken, and the moment it did, strands of silvery light converged to its body from the surroundings as it escaped through the Ethereal Plane, teleporting twenty meters away.
Landing on the ground, Eden wiped off a smudge of poisonous blood that had gotten on his face, the venomous effects failing to pierce his defences as Eden fired a Dismantle at the Matriarch, which was just within range, and injured two of its legs as he leapt at it.
There were no nearby webs to teleport to, since Eden had destroyed them all, so Eden landed on solid ground behind the Matriarch. Eden thought it would try to teleport away again, but it was a ruse as it suddenly turned around, using its broken legs as whips.
Eden had to give it to the spider, it was more ingenious than he expected, but he ducked under the attack nonetheless, and feinted an attack at its face, causing it to rear back. Because it could not use its two front legs, it caused it to tilt its body back, exposing its underbelly.
So, Eden stopped his attack, and reached out with his hand instead, slapping it against the non-armored underbelly of the monster, and used Cleave.
The Phase Spider Matriarch suddenly found its guts spilling out of its body. It screeched, no longer trying to attack Eden as it leapt into the Ethereal Plane, teleporting again, but that did nothing to help as its organs fell all over the place.
Although it would obviously die out soon on its own, Eden chanted, "I cast Mists of the Underworld," once more, blinding it and stopping it from teleporting again as he rushed to finish it off.
The Phase Spiders rushed to their Matriarch hearing its death throes, but Eden finished it just as they entered the second cloud of darkness.
[Side Mission (Slay the Phase Spider Matriarch) Completed!]
[Mission Content: Slay the Matriarch of the Phase Spider Colony under Moonhaven.]
[Main Reward: Poisoner's Robes.]