Irenicus in the Asylum (SPOILERS)

[Goldry Bluszco]

greetings beautiful people,
I have gone through the Asylum and am freeing the prisoners to help in the fight w/ Irenicus. He is turning out to be one tough booger here and the prisoners are not helping much. One prisoner eventually casts timestop and proceeds to whoop up on my crew instead of Irenicus. I've gleaned from other posts that I'll be fighting him in Hell (sweet) later so his demise probably isn't in the cards here. Any advice on how to get through this battle?
Also, incorrect answer to the second test (wasted college education) sent the party to the end of the testing...have I missed important items or such by avoiding these latter tests? I could back up a bit and take another crack at the tests if they are truly important to the story. Thanks for any help.

GB

[fable]

Be sure to put a SPOILERS designation in the thread title when you start something like this, next time. Just as it says in the sticky thread at the top of the forum, which you no doubt read. I'll do it for you, now. Next thread without it may vanish. Happens. Forum magic.

Oh, and wonderful forum name. Worm Ouroboros is a magnificent book for the sheer genius of language.

[Dummy]

it would help if you tell us what your party is made of, otherwise it will be pretty hard to give you hints that suit your situation

and just to tell you, you NEED those crazy guys

[Goldry Bluszco]

Originally Posted by fable

Be sure to put a SPOILERS designation in the thread title when you start something like this, next time. Just as it says in the sticky thread at the top of the forum, which you no doubt read. I'll do it for you, now. Next thread without it may vanish. Happens. Forum magic.

Oh, and wonderful forum name. Worm Ouroboros is a magnificent book for the sheer genius of language.

Quite right...a richly deserved arial font lashing. Sun was in my eyes.

[Goldry Bluszco]

Originally Posted by Dummy

it would help if you tell us what your party is made of, otherwise it will be pretty hard to give you hints that suit your situation

and just to tell you, you NEED those crazy guys

Thank you. I suppose I can play my way through all of the magic flying around in that room, it's a decently balanced party...and knowing I need the loonies will help.

The issue of those tests that I missed out on...anything critical in there to the story line?

[fable]

Not really, no.

As for the battle, once you free up an ally or party member, try to bring their extra power to bear against Irenicus. Everyone else is less important than he is, and the sooner you deal with him, the quicker matters will end. Breach will help, and any melee damage you can manage will assist. A ring or two that throws direct damage with no saves will be useful, too.

[VonDondu]

This might be a dumb question, but did you realize that Irenicus creates clones of your party members to attack you? That's why you might see a lot of messages to the effect that "Tiax attacks Imoen" and so forth--Tiax is actually attacking the clone of Imoen, not the "Imoen" who is in your party. I think Irenicus also creates clones of your "army", so the Tiax clone might be the one who is attacking your party. It's all very confusing--and fun.

I suggest that you concentrate most if not all of your attacks on Irenicus. You'll need Breach and spells such as True Seeing (I can't remember whether he casts Mislead, but you'll have to deal with some invisible opponents when you're through with Irenicus). A Paladin equipped with Carsomyr (which automatically casts Dispel Magic) will make short work of him (in this particular battle, at least). Hasted Fighters with Potions of Strength and multiple attacks per round also get the job done (which is true in most combat situations).

Glitterdust, Greater Malison, and Emotion will neutralize the rest of the rabble, if those spells are available to you.