First replay in 15+ years. Some questions.

Holy Axiomatic weapons are very helpful against the tougher bugbears in the lower levels of the temple.

 

True, but less so if you have an all chaotic party. For them, sound burst/holy smite wands work wonders

 

That's definitely another way to solve that particular problem. Those bugbears are tough AND clever!

 

I'm think of taking Zaxis as a party member for awhile, but I read about a bug where it's impossible to dismiss him from your party after you find out what happened to his sister. Was that ever fixed?

 

Iirc, showing him the letter of the sister (that you find later) is the trigger. It is a talk option.

Simply do not do that. I can not remember if there is any xp related to that and if there is, it is very small.


(Also, afaik it has not been fixed. However, the main game is almost over at that point unless you have been sneaking around...so...)

 

So, apparently Lareth is now a prisoner of Rufus and Burne in my game. I don't much care about that, but it's preventing me from accessing Burne's merchant because the guards won't let me go into the basement now. Is this going to be permanent? I have no desire to fight the guards and piss off Rufus and Burne.

 

You should be able to sneak in / go invisible I think. Also maybe try busting him out of jail?

 

Is there a non-violent way to do that?

 

Yes.

Spoiler

You can cast invisibility on him, or teleport out. Sneaking might work too, not sure.

.

 

How do I even reach him though?

Also, If I don't free him, does he stay there for the rest of the game causing me to lose access to the merchant in the tower basement?

 

Isn't he at the bottom of the tower?

 

Yes, and the guards prevent me from going there. There's an option to attack them but I don't want to do that, and I can't sneak past them either.

So if I decide to just leave him there, does that prevent me from being able to access Burne's apprentice to purchase spell scrolls for the rest of the game?

 

You also need to be unseen, as well as Lareth. Invisibility works. I can't remember if stealth works. Your entire party needs to be unseen.

 

No, stealth doesn't work.

I don't have access to mass invisibility yet, so I guess my only option is to scribe enough invisibility scrolls to cast it individually on everyone.

I'm just surprised that there isn't a dialogue option here.

 

Actually there should be a bluff check to get past them. Is your party leader the diplomat?