Dark Urge Question re. Act 2 Finale

[DJKingGhidorah]

Hi, I'm playing my first run as the Dark Urge and I'm reaching the finale of Act 2, but I have a lingering question that's making me wonder if I should backtrack a bit. Spoilers (up to the assault on Moonrise) below:


I didn't kill Isobel, but Shadowheart killed the Nightsong, which appears to have much the same result re. Last Light and its inhabitants. Also, me advising Shadowheart to kill someone which unwittingly also caused Isobel's death is apparently good enough to complete the Urge quest, and so everyone (including Sceleritas) seems to act as if I had murdered her myself.

At this point, the only real difference I can see is that if I kill Isobel before entering the Gauntlet of Shar, it's possible to save (and later recruit?) Jaheira, whereas if Isobel dies as a result of the Nightsong, Jaheira also perishes.

I've advanced a bit further now (just entered Mind Flayer Colony), but Jaheira being dead is bothering me. As a fan of the previous games, I was looking forward to recruiting Jaheira if possible, so what I'm wondering is: is there any real difference further down the line between the consequences of the player killing Isobel vs. Isobel dying and Last Light falling as a result of the Nightsong's death? Because if the only real difference is that Jaheira dies in the latter but can be saved in the former, I'm strongly tempted to revert to my Gauntlet of Shar save and kill Isobel myself so that I can recruit her later.

Anyone have any insights on this? Thanks.

[Hellsteeth30]

One way you can do it, is go get Nightsong, then Isobel is on her own at Last Light as it triggers the final assault.

You might have to ignore Last Light entirely for that I'm not sure.

[Delivor]

You probably can persuade Jaheira only if you kill Isobel during a kidnapping attempt, if you just go there and kill her it will not work, so you will have to replay whole act 2. Jaheira will not go along with evil playthrough anyway, it will be difficult if possible to keep her. Resist urge and play "good dark urge" if you want her in party.

[DJKingGhidorah]

For the record, in case anyone else was wondering something similar, I ended up backtracking and I can confirm it is possible to let SH kill Nightsong and then recruit Jaheira IF you have already killed Isobel yourself first.

I went back to Isobel before entering Shadowfell, talked to her and then attacked her via the Dark Urge "forsake your truce" dialogue option. Once she dies, it triggers (more or less) the same cutscene you get if she dies during the abduction sequence. Everyone except Jaheira and the party get shadow-cursed and you have to fight your way out. She'll demand to know what happened, but you have various options to lie/persuade her that you aren't responsible, and if you take them, she'll go to your camp afterwards and becomes recruitable at the end of Act 2. That might be durge-specific though.

Previously, I didn't get why killing Nightsong automatically causes Jaheira's death but killing Isobel yourself doesn't - but now it makes more sense to me. The curse itself doesn't actually kill her either way, but it makes everyone else a zombie, and even she can't fight her way out of that situation single-handed.

[votadc]

You can kill Isobel after killing Marcus and her corpse will be stolen by Ketheric to resurrect her (you get 2 tadpoles). Then you can admit that you kill Isobel without any lie or check and then tell Jaheira that she Is too weak to fight your party (very easy check). Jaheira will disappear but will join you after you defeat Ketheric.

[Kittybass]

There is also an exploit you can do (still works as I just did it the other day), where you can wait until after the Ketheric fight to snipe Isobel and nobody else will die as a result. However, that means not letting Shadowheart kill Nightsong. What you do is after the Ketheric fight, you all end up back in the throne room. Talk to everyone there, then find a way to lure Isobel off on her own, snipe her and flee to camp. It counts as killing her and you will get your slayer form. I still had Nightsong at camp, as well as Halsin and Jaheira.