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Mod author: Acifer

Version used for review: 1.4

Continuing as mundane a plot thread as Renfeld’s poisoning, which itself serves purely to introduce the player to the Harpers, and spinning it into a fantastic, sprawling side-quest, is unexpected, but Poisoned Pathways does so, and pulls it off with grace.

The mod uses the initial quest as a springboard — you’ll not be seeing Renfeld again, and the Harpers are not involved. Instead, you’ll be roped into a plot involving the Church of Eldath, the goddess of peace and calm water, and an ancient elven ruin placed under a curse. The entire adventure took me about six hours to complete, and it was time well spent, as this mod is a great addition to Baldur’s Gate II.

Compared to Acifer’s other works, Poisoned Pathways is a smaller affair, but no less thematically and visually rich. Both the Eldathian sanctuary of Duskwood Dell and the cursed ruin of Myth Unnohyr — the two major locations in which this quest takes place — are beautifully designed and rendered in new areas that look and feel right at home within the game while still being visually distinct and exciting.

These are not simple additions, either. Both have complex sub-areas and side-quests all of their own, and they act as a mirror to one another; one is a peaceful grove, and the other is a forgotten bastion thrown into chaos. Both are tightly designed.

The quest begins a few days after saving Renfeld. While in the city, you’ll be approached by a messenger who informs you that there are larger forces at play supplying an incurable poison. It’s very on-brand for the way that Baldur’s Gate handles its quests — the games come from a time when developers weren’t afraid to let players miss out on content, and if one decides not to bother with Renfeld, then they would miss out on this whole quest. Having the entire experience of the mod be conditional — a reward for engaging with the game — serves to deepen the world, and it makes the game experience stronger as a result.

After a little bit of run-around in the city, the quest will take you east, to the Duskwood Dell. Here, the mod opens up and gives the player the opportunity to start some side-quests, experience a number of charming interactions among the grove, do some shopping, and even engage with a unique new mechanic — which we’ll get to later.

Following the storylines from here will have you investigating the poison and running back and forth between the Dell and Athkatla for a little while, which does seem a little odd given that they are on opposite sides of the map, but I guess there’s a memo in Amn stating that every quest-giver must be in as inconvenient a location as possible (looking at you, Aran Linvail). To ease that pain, there are two encounters that will occur while journeying to and from Duskwood Dell, one violent and one peaceful, which I thoroughly appreciated.

Myth Unnohyr is where the true meat of the adventure lies. It’s not huge, but it has several sub-areas, some of which are mandatory, while others exist purely as an intriguing aside for the curious player. There is combat aplenty, featuring some new enemy types with wonderful custom animations! It was not exactly an easy trip for my level 10 party.

The main gimmick of the area is that it switches between a dead-magic zone and wild-magic zone depending on whether it’s day or night, making spellcasting extremely unreliable unless you have a way to cast Chaos Shield (there is a scroll in the area!). There is a way to circumvent this entirely, but it will involve seeing the mysteries of Myth Unnohyr and its puzzles through to the end.

Getting through the cursed ruin took up the majority of my playtime in this mod, and the battles towards the end of the mod are designed in dynamic fashion, as I’ve come to expect from Acifer’s mods. I always appreciate a battle with a theme, and Poisoned Pathways sticks pretty close to its own.

That theme extends to the music, as well. The mod features two custom-made music tracks, created specifically for both the Duskwood Dell and Myth Unnohyr. The former is a charming, peaceful melody that fits the atmosphere of Eldath’s grove perfectly, while the latter is a slow, slightly ominous track that carries a hint of sadness beneath the more explorative vibe of it. Both are excellent, and sound like they could have been composed for the game back in 2000.

The writing throughout is strong, too. The NPCs that you’ll meet throughout the quest are all written like their own, unique characters, and within the Dell itself there is a strong impression just from the characterisation alone that people from all walks of life have ended up there to share in the pursuit of peace. The tone throughout is consistent both internally and with the game as a whole, and even during exposition-heavy moments I didn’t once find my eyes glazing over as they oft like to do.

There are a respectful number of companion interjections throughout the mod, and everything that I had the chance to read felt quite in-character for the respective NPCs — I especially enjoyed some of Korgan’s lines.

There is some clunky English at times, left over from the original English translation that had some issues, but it’s not enough to distract the average player and it didn’t diminish my appreciation of the experience. I reached out to Acifer about the translation issues prior to this review and he was wonderfully prompt with the fixes.

After the main quest of Poisoned Pathways is complete, the Duskwood Dell still contains several things worth returning for, besides the additional side-quests.

There is a grotto within the area where the player is given the opportunity to share in Eldath’s philosophy of peace, and permanently give up a named magical weapon once per day in exchange for minor benefits. I do mean minor — I sacrificed Carsomyr, the legendary Holy Avenger, and received +2 Hit-Points and +1% piercing resistance. That’s the reward for the highest tier of weapon. If you so wished, you could turn in every named weapon you find to the grove for a not-inconsiderable number of benefits, but you would be sacrificing the gold you could get from selling them.

On the topic of magical items, there are a couple of fun ones that you can have Cromwell forge from components you find in Myth Unnohyr. I don’t think that the joy I get from forging items in this game ever goes away, and Poisoned Pathways does not disappoint with its offerings.

There are also a few shops in the Dell hosting magical items that will be of particular interest to druids. I found each to be creatively devised — worth using, but without erasing the use-cases of existing items in the game, which is about as much as I could hope for. It’s all too easy for the number of magic items to become completely overblown when you start installing dozens of mods, but I don’t feel like anything in this one adds bloat to the game.

I think just about everything in this mod is a great addition to the game. The overall design is thoughtful and intentional, the plot is enticing, and the custom-made graphical and musical elements that serve as the backdrop for it all are oozing with character.

It had been a while since I properly sat down and reviewed something when I started up Poisoned Pathways, and having played and written about it, I have been reminded of the creative spirit at the heart of this community that inspires these reviews. The sheer amount of atmosphere and charm condensed into this (relatively!) little mod is just delightful, and I know that I’ll certainly be playing it again.

I’d recommend Poisoned Pathways in a heartbeat, especially if you’re looking for something that has the taste of classic Baldur’s Gate design while still feeling fresh.

Thanks for reading.