This placed is cursed in more way than one!!

I followed some advice I got yesterday and used Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting (I had 1 scroll, was saving it for Aerie, but she doesn't have lvl 8 spells unlocked yet - gave it to Imoen instead) and summoned a deva (luckily for me, after defeating Aesgareth and his party, Keldorn got a level up). However... the wraith demon used time stop and some other spells and everybody (incl the deva) except for Keldorn got stunned. Thanks to Abi-Dalzim, most of the wraiths had very little HP, so he managed to kill most of them by himself and after his level was drained. Left one of the wraith alone, it was trying to harm the stunned deva, but caused no dmg... Anyway, Imoen and Aerie got better and started throwing spells left and right, deva and my character got better moments later and all the enemies got vanquished. Unfortunately, Haer'dalis and Jaheira needed some resurrection. So I thought: okay, Aerie has some spells, she'll resurrect them after a rest. But then...

THE WEIRDEST SHIT HAPPENED

I hit the rest button and I hear the ping windows make when an you want to launch smth that triggers the popup about changes on PC or wants a password... The game freezes, I cannot even close it any way... I cannot do anything except for logging out / restarting / turning the PC off. It happened EVERY TIME I tried to rest in that room. WHY THE HELL WINDOWS REACT?? I HATE WIN 11 AAARGH.

I had to use 2 charges from scepter of resurrection (where can I get a new one?) to bring Haer'dalis and Jaheira back, move to a different room and try to rest there. Luckily, the curse did not follow me there.

^(SERIOUSLY.)
^(WHAT THE HELL.)

Now I only need to find Tahazzar and get the last scepter gem...

I have played this game numerous times, completed Watcher's Keep during ToB (when it was released) and always during SoA (right before or after final assault on Bodhi's lair) in subsequent playthroughs. Now I am replaying the game for the first time in many years and I feel more lost than during my first attempt in 2001...

Followed the leads from Yakman's journal, reached the room right before Aesgareth and... how in the World it's the most difficult fight in the whole game so far? At some point of the battle, one or two party members get killed instantly and I don't even know why - for example: the mages, one moment they have full HP, the next they are dead and the battle log only says "Imoen/Aerie - death". Don't have time to call elementals, clones or other

If I quickly nope out from that room through the Northern portal, I meet Aesgareth, get the gem... There's the exit, but I only have 2 scepter gems. I defeated Ka'rashur, but where is Tahazzar? I wanted to leave this damn maze as quickly as possible, but got myself in more troubles instead.

Sigh... Gaming was easier when I wasn't a stressed with life so much.

*Telepot Maze, lol xD r ran away :v

Looted these boot somewhere in Brynnlaw - maybe from Desharik's mansion, maybe at Galvena's place? Don't remember exactly. After identification, the page was empty. And they are worth 1500 gold :v

^(I have installed Unfinished Business mod - but not all the components.)

A little update: The boots do nothing and a wizard slayer can wear them :v

2nd attempt was successful. I wondered who will deal the final blow? Probably my wizard slayer or Keldorn? Nope. It was the fire elemental. The dragon was at death's door for some time, I thought my character will kill him, but... while she was drinking a healing potion (she ran out of her own and had to take Yoshimo's last bottle), the fire elemental landed a critical hit and >!Firkraag!< the dragon was dead :v

It was a funny battle:
- as with all boss battles, Aerie casts Resist Fear and Haste
- Keldorn did not resist fear though 🤦‍♀️ he ran all around the battlefield, completely ignored (same for the summoned spider) by >!Firkrag!< the dragon; Potion of Fire Giant Strength wasted
- Haer'dalis got knocked down at the very beginning and lied immobilised - also completely ignored - for the duration on the battle; Potion of Fortitude wasted
- Jaheira flew tf away when the bastard flapped his wings (or whatever that was), which was a blessing, because she had time to heal herself
- Aerie got hit with silence early on 🤦‍♀️ but luckily, she had couple of scrolls of Cure Serious Wounds and that was the only thing that kept my character alive
- my wizard slayer got hit Greater Malison and acid or bleeding (my brain was like heal, heal, heal and forgot about the Protection from Acid scroll) and the dragon kept attacking her, so she had to use healing potions every now and then (and Aerie was behind her using healing scrolls)
- and Yoshimo with Tansheron's Bow was standing far away and was shooting magical arrows at the scaly bastard and was not crying his attacks did nothing; also completely ignored

Seriously, the scaly bastard completely ignored all 3 men from the party and attacked only the ladies :v And then Jaheira's fire elemental ended his existence and now Keldorn wears armour out of his scales.

I guess now it's time for the mind flayer colony.

^(Small edit: It literally gave me a flashback from my second playthrough of FF8 when Laguna and Kiros with a red dragon at the beginning of cd3. I remembered how difficult it was when I first played the game - so during the second playthrough, I have spent SO MUCH TIME juggling all the GFs, skills and junctioning magic... only for Odin to appear and vanquish the dragon :V)

At least he's cute ;P
^(Luckily, resurrection was not needed here, he still had some HP left ;D)