Tales of the Sword Coast Xpac - Baldur's Gate 1 Walkthrough
Tales of the Sword Coast is one of the Expansion Packs that was created for the original Baldur's Gate game. Locations like Ulgoth's Beard, Durlag's Tower and Werewolf Island were added with this Expansion Pack and are available for players to explore at any point throughout the game. Fair word of warning though, most of the content added in this Expansion Pack is designed for mid to end game players so keep that in mind.
Ulgoth's Beard is technically the hub for this Expansion and where I will start this guide out at. You can reach Ulgoth's Beard from Wyrm's Crossing, the bridge zone just southeast of Baldur's Gate. Exit Wyrm's Crossing in the northeastern portion (above Tenya's house) and you will unlock Ulgoth's Beard as a travel destination on your map.
You will find numerous side quests and people to talk to throughout Ulgoth's Beard, I will mention the most important NPCs below and further down the page I will have a complete list of all the available side quests in this town.
Dushai: You can pickpocket a Ring of Free Action from her. After you speak with Mendas return to Dushai and she will tell you about Balduran for 100gp but aside from this she serves no purpose.
Shandalar: This NPC begins the Shandalar's Cloak side quest which is one that is worth doing. Shandalar will teleport you and your group to an ice island map where you will need to fight a bunch of enemies and retrieve Shandalar's Cloak. More information about this quest is below.
Delsvirftanyon: Players with high enough Reputation will get a side quest when talking to Delsvirftanyon called a Curious Business Proposal. Essentially all you need to do is pay him 500G and he'll give you a bunch of items worth more than 500G. More info on this side quest is below.
Mendas: Mendas starts The Reclusive Scholar Side Quest which is talked about in more detail below. This quest sends you to a place known as the Isle of Balduran aka Lycanthrope Island which is one of the largest zones added into BG1 during the ToSC expansion.
Inn: When you first step inside this inn you'll be greeted by a dwarf that asks you to retrieve his grandpa's dagger, Soultaker from Durlag's Tower. While there are a couple of other NPCs to talk to inside the inn I don't believe any are worth mentioning outside of the Bartender himself. This Bartender has a few magical items that you can't get anywhere else in the game along with a variety of rare items like Potion of Mirrored Eyes. Here is a list of all the magical items he sells: Aule's Staff, The Captive Audience, Wand of the Heavens, Wand of Frost, Sandthief's Ring, and Greenstone Amulet.
The area you visit for Shandalar's Cloak
Ulgoth's Beard Side Quests:
Shandalar's Cloak: At some point when exploring Ulgoth's Beard you will be stopped by Shandalar and be asked to retrieve his cloak from a faraway island. Shandalar will send you to an island which is basically just a small dungeon with a couple of wolves and mages inside. You can find a couple of magical items inside this dungeon but nothing worth singling out. Dezkiel is the name of the mage you need to defeat in this dungeon, kill him and pick up Shandalar's Cloak then leave the dungeon to be teleported back to Ulgoth's Beard.
A Tour of Durlag's Tower: When you speak with Ike in the town square he will offer to give you a guided tour of Durlag's Tower for 60gp. Aside from Durlag's Tower being marked on your map when you accept the quest, there is no reward for doing this tour so it is completely up to you if you'd like to do it. In order to complete this quest you will need to meet Ike outside Durlag's Tower and talk to him. Continue to follow him and talk to him every time he stops moving. Eventually Ike will try to sell you a Wardstone which is useless. To advance the story forward you will have to buy it from him after which you will all be attacked by a Demon Knight and Ike & the other Tourists will be killed. You can loot your gold from the ground once Ike is dead.
Therella's Missing Son: Therella asks you to find her son Dalton who is in the final room of Durlag's Tower. You will need to complete all of Durlag's Tower including the final boss in order to speak to Dalton.
A Curious Business Proposal: Delsvirftanyon offers to sell you all the remaining wares he has for 500G; assuming that your reputation is good enough. Altogether the items he gives you are worth more than 500G so it's a good deal.
The Reclusive Scholar: Speak with Mendas in Ulgoth's Beard to start this quest. For the first part you have to travel to Baldur's Gate: Northeast and steal the sea charts from the Merchants' League Counting House. Once you have these speak with Mendas again and you'll be able to travel to Lycanthrope Island aka Isle of Balduran from Ulgoth's Beard. This island consists of multiple zones, the southern half is inhabited by a small village with multiple fetch quests and the northern half is mostly all combat along with a short dungeon that contains very hard werewolf enemies. Our goal to complete this quest will be to kill Karoug the leader of the 'unfriendly' werewolves whose found in the destroyed ship in the northern portion of this island.
Dradeel's Spellbook (Werewolf Island): You'll meet Dradeel in the northern portion of werewolf island inside the only hut in the area. Return Dradeel's Spellbook to him which you can get from a locked chest next to Karoug in the Wandering Eye which is the destroyed ship in the northern portion of the island.
Maralee's Child (Werewolf Island): Maralee is found standing outside the cheiftan's hut in the southern werewolf village. She asks the player to retrieve Maralee's Child whose currently being held by Karoug, the hostile werewolf leader. When Karoug is defeated he will drop the baby on the ground allowing you to pick it up. Be sure to turn this quest in prior to speaking with Kaishas Gan inside the Cheiftan's House otherwise you'll lose your window of opportunity when the story advances.
That's all we can do in Ulgoth's Beard for the time being. Once you defeat the Demon Knight in Durlag's Tower and obtain the Soultaker Dagger you'll be able to return to Ulgoth's Beard for an event and to complete the ToSC Expansion Pack. More information about this can be found below as well as links to my Durlag's Tower walkthroughs.
Continue to Durlag's Tower (Upper Floors) Walkthrough
Continue to Durlag's Tower (Lower Floors) Walkthrough
As aforementioned after clearing Durlag's Tower and obtaining the Soultaker Dagger you'll want to return to Ulgoth's Beard to conclude the story of Tales of the Sword Coast Expansion Pack. When you first arrive in town you'll be stopped by a group of cultists that demand the dagger. You have no option but to fight them and during the fight you will have the dagger taken from you.
Speak with Hurgan Stoneblade inside the Inn and you'll get a quest update for recovering Soultaker. You can find Soultaker along with numerous cultists inside of Shandalar's House in Ulgoth's Beard; if you're having trouble finding the right building it's the one with the Cult Guard standing out front. Inside you'll have to fight more cultists before going down into the basement where you'll fight the final boss of this Expansion Pack.
The final boss is Aec'Letec and you'll need a strategy for him even if you're playing on Story Mode. One of his main attacks is a death gaze which will turn any character it's used on into a ghast and permanently kill them. Even on Story Mode your character will drop all their equipment after they turn into a ghast and they bug out, preventing you from interacting with them.
I'd recommend you purchase some Potions of Mirrored Eyes from the Inn in Ulgoth's Beard or from Sorcerous Sundries in Baldur's Gate. These potions will make you immune to the death gaze for 10 turns and will help immensly for this fight. Alternatively if you've already used them up you can use Potions of Invulnerability which will increase your saves and chance of resisting the spell.
Last but not least your final option is to use something like Monster Summoning or Wand of Monster Summoning to create an abundance of targets. This will reduce your chances of having the death gaze thrown at you. As always, it's highly recommended you save before taking on this boss so you can just reload if anything goes wrong.
Once you defeat Aec'Letec and all of the cultists you'll have earned a total of 19,800 EXP and 6 Potions of Heroism along with various other ehh loot. Return to Hurgen and he'll thank you for your help but provide no reward and with that, you'll officially have finished the Tales of the Sword Coast Expansion Pack.
Continue to Durlag's Tower Upper Floors Walkthrough
Continue to Durlag's Tower Lower Floors Walkthrough
Return to Baldur's Gate 1 Walkthrough Index
Return to Chapter 5 of my Walkthrough
Return to Chapter 6 of my Walkthrough
Return to Chapter 7 of my Walkthrough