User:BAPACop/Baldurs Gate II Redux

<!--

Baldur's Gate II: Redux, developed by the BG2 Redux Team is a remake of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn designed for the Dragon Age: Origins game by BioWare.

The first module is scheduled for release in September 2010.

Plot
The player character awakens in a cage being experimented upon by an elven mage, Jon Irenicus. Imprisoned in the same underground complex are Imoen, Minsc and Jaheira from the original Baldur's Gate game. They work together to escape the dungeon, only to find themselves in the city of Athkatla. At the dungeon entrance, they encounter Irenicus battling thieves. Imoen attacks Irenicus with magic, upon which several Cowled Wizards arrive to detain the two for unlicensed use of magic. The two are teleported away to be imprisoned in a distant detention center, Spellhold.

The remaining party meets a man who offers an opportunity to rescue Imoen, for a hefty payment. This sum is far above the party's current means, so the money must be raised by adventuring through Athkatla and the surrounding lands. Eventually, a mysterious woman named Valen offers to introduce them to her mistress, the vampiress Bodhi. Thereafter, at some point the player will be forced to ally with either Aran Linvail's Shadow Thieves, or with Bodhi's vampires.

Irenicus managed to escape captivity at Spellhold and kill his captors. With his new base at Spellhold, he continued his experiments on Imoen. With the help of captain Saemon Havarian, the party gains passage to the small island on which Spellhold is located. After finding a means to infiltrate the asylum, they are greeted by a mage who proceeds to show the player character the various insane inmates. Upon finding Imoen, the party is betrayed, as a drug had been slipped into their food, rendering them unconscious.

The main character wakes to find himself imprisoned by Irenicus. In another of a series of troubling dreams, he finds Imoen inside Candlekeep, where she asks him to summon and slay a demon called Bhaal. With the demon defeated, the main character finds his soul has been removed, and Imoen has suffered a similar fate; their souls were claimed by Irenicus and Bodhi, respectively. The party are released, only to be hunted by Bodhi. Because his soul was lost, the player character involuntarily transforms into an avatar of Bhaal, the Slayer, and scares Bodhi into retreat. However, rendered mindless, the Slayer attacks the other party members, often slaying them.

Upon returning to normal, the player and Imoen battle Irenicus until the wizard is forced to flee into the Underdark. In the aftermath, the player enters a dream sequence in which he learns to gains control of the slayer transformation. When the party follows Jon Irenicus, they become trapped in the Underdark. They learn that they can escape by helping a silver dragon named Adalon to recover her eggs from the Drow, a race of evil elves. The dragon uses illusion to disguise the party as drow, in order to help them infiltrate the House Despana of the nearby Drow city of Ust'Natha, which is planning to use the eggs to summon a powerful demon.

The party returns to the surface where they encounter an army from the elven city of Suldanessellar. They discover that, while the elves were fighting off the Drow, Jon Irenicus sneaked into Suldanessellar and magically sealed the entrance. To enter this city, the player must retrieve the Rhynn Lanthorn artifact from Bodhi in Athkatla. Once the player defeats Bodhi, Imoen's soul will be restored.

The party proceeds through Suldanessellar and learns more about the life of the elf Jon Irenicus. He was in love with the elven Queen Ellesime, but he and his sister Bodhi attempted to absorb the Tree of Life's power, almost dooming the elves. Both were stripped of their elf-hood, and thus their immortality. Irenicus' solution is to steal the player character and Imoen's partly-divine souls.

With Irenicus holding Ellesime prisoner and beginning a ritual at the Tree of Life, the main character confronts and kills him. The main character is dragged into hell upon Irenicus' death, as Irenicus still holds his or her soul, and the rest of the party follows. After undergoing five trials in hell, the main character finds Irenicus, who transforms into the Slayer and summons powerful demons. When the party defeats Irenicus, they return to life.

Development
It's hard work, man!