How to kil Tanar'ri

[>att.com]

I'm having a hell of a time trying to figure out how to get "a
demon's heart" for the planar sphere. Anyone have any ideas? I'm at my
wit's end. . .perhaps there's a specific item/weapon I need in order
to kill Tanar'ri?

Thanks,
Eric ther Red

[Alleged]

I felt like getting my Mage stronghold early in Chapter 2, and I finally
completed this last night! It took me about 10 tries. 'Course, I did the
planar sphere far earlier in the game than I should have. :-). First, I
cast every protective spell that I had available (barkskin, stoneskin, magic
resistance, invisibility, protection from evil 10' radius etc) as well as
"blessed" the entire group. Then, I conjured every animal and monster until
I had 3 bears, a couple of lesser air elementals, etc.

I used Farsight and had Yoshimo (by then invisible) distract and engage
Tanar'ri, and tried to get the conjured creatures to engage his minions.
Damn but they move slow. The goal was to get in the first couple of punches
on Tanar'ribefore he can react, and react he does.

Then, took the following actions with the rest of the party:

Me (mage): cast 4x magic missle and every offensive spell I had, used wands
(tried to avoid fire-related weapons)
Jaheira: in the rear trying to get folks healed and "unheld", missle
weapons (she had the Gauntlets of Ogre Power)
Valygar: missle weapons, magic bows, switched to melee w/ his family katana
when the minions closed in
Minsc: missle weapons, armored up, (+2 Sword of Chaos and beserk mode)
Anomen: offensive clerical spells, (flame strike, holy smite, etc.)
healing

And it was pretty hard, had to keep trying. Tanar'ri does a pretty good job
of holding most of the characters very quickly in the conflict Finally, we
killed Tanar'ri but kept every one in the party alive, then I saved ASAP!

There is another really tough battle later, but by then I was getting good
at luring bad guys into constricted spaces. The "see ya" strategy
(engaging, dumping in a conjured creature, then leaving the room to that the
mages exhaust their spells) works well here. Also, try having a sniper wait
just by the front door and try to take out mages. Keep healing him/her, and
leave the area if they get too week. Come back and the enemy is still
damaged, even though you may have rested!

But now I'm the proud owner of a planar sphere!

BTW, make sure that you do NOT talk to the Solamnic Knights BEFORE you visit
Lavok and complete the quest. I did this after getting the sphere back to
the prime material plane, and they left the sphere to find their own way.
You'll end up getting the sphere's pink slip, but you won't get the quest to
find a way to send the Knights home, and hence no Stronghold quest.

Alleged

Minsc: Beserk natural ability with Sword of Chaos
"glitterface@ att.com (Eric the Red)" <NOSPAM> wrote in message
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