Investigate Kagha quest - wood woads and mud mephits

[slquoue]

So I’m struggling at level 3 with a fight, Shadowheart + Astarion + Gale vs the wood woads and mud mephits on the investigate Kagha quest. Did you do that one? Any general tips for fighting early on?

[Tax evasion]

Don't fight them before lvl 4 if you know what you're doing, level 5 otherwise. This fight can be avoided until you have to clear the Goblin Camp (as soon as the threat disappears / Halsin comes back, you'll be unable to confront Kagha).
The woads are the least of your worries, as the Mud Mephits can summon smaller ones infinitely.

My tip ? Get your least important character to initiate combat so that the enemies stop moving. Then sneak around with the other ones (by paying attention to LoS) and start nuking the mephits.

The Woads can be a bit troublesome with their high AC, but if you have Alchemist's Fire, Fire spells, the nautiloid sword, they are manageable.

[Rosso]

When you kill the original mud mephits their copies will exploded. So focus on the originals. Be aware of the damage from the explosion. Fire against wood woads It stop hp regen.

[WhenDragonflys]

Shove the mephits away so that when they die you don't die from the mud splash. use fire on the wood woads to stop their regen. They also move pretty slow so you can just stay at range while they burn.

[slquoue]

If you wouldn't do this quest before level 4/5 what would you do first?

[Tax evasion]

Originally posted by slquoue:

If you wouldn't do this quest before level 4/5 what would you do first?

North of the map :
1. the inn
2. the gnolls
3. Karlach's quest
Blighted Village and surroundings:
1. Basement of the alchemist
2. the non-boss in the well
3. Owlbear cave
The Swamp :
1. the sheep
Goblin Camp :
1. Free Volo
2. Look for the Underdark Entrance
Underdark :
1. pretty much everything

This will bump you to level 4, where you get a powerspike through feats.

[jonnin]

Originally posted by slquoue:

If you wouldn't do this quest before level 4/5 what would you do first?

get to level 4, if not 5, without trying to do major fights.
the fast track if you are interested (assumes you know where some of this stuff is)

ship: change SH spell to command, force demon to drop his sword to steal. Use barrelmancy to kill the mind flayer (demon is fire resist and won't die as easily). This will knock you to level 2 right on the beach.

NOTE: if you want to farm the vendors in the grove, do NOT level up until after grove fight, then visit vendors, level 1 character, repeat until you have the items you want. Usually, this is just to ensure a pair of dual hand xbows, but you may have other desires?

beach: pick up companions you want from {asterion, shadowheart, gale, lazel}
loot everything loose. Kill the stupid brain dogs and near dead mind flayer.
Do the grove fight best you can. The NPCs do fairly well with only minor help from you.

vendor up, do minor grove stuff (arabella, bard, caged goblin, rescue bugbear girl, nettie, poke around anything you can do without major combat for xp)

leave grove, rescue druid in cave outside and deal with the dying dwarf before the bridge.

cross bridge, talk to mercs, wait for leave, loot bodies. Cut right follow the wall and climb vines, grab scratch before you climb up.

kill sleeping bugbear, go past and right again to exit the ruined village.

climb up to get +1 dagger (vendor trash, really).

jump over bridge and loot barrels, avoid hyenas. Double back alongside the bridge and climb down rocks. Follow river.. loot skeleton with +2 slight of hand ring (about 3/4 of the way down the river). Pick up or kill karlach if you want, tag the tollhouse rune, deal with paladins peacefully only (even if you got karlach). If you wan to kill them later, not now.. not ready. Go down and loot the place clean below. Mostly vendor trash, food, minor magic items +1 greataxe.

leave the way you came in, down the river and climb the bridge rocks. Now go up and left to waukeen's rest and rescue/loot that place clean. Get spellsparker staff for any caster you have.

leave this and IFF you have lazeal or a really, really good talky tav, follow the road past waukeens and talk down the gith patrol (save before trying this).
you should be level 3 and a good chunk into 4 now. Return to grove waypoint via map and go clear the withers dungeon, then clear the upper goblin part of the ruined village to rescue the gnome etc. Go get nerco of thay book.
At this point you should be level 4 or nearly and only have fought some rather minor stuff, weak goblins mostly. If you are not 4 yet, carefully try the harpies or gnolls or talk to more people and try to find some missed free xp.