[ Download Link ]

Mod version used for review: 2.0.

Xulaye is the sister of Phaere and an Underdark-exclusive companion for Baldur’s Gate 2. If you think you know what to expect from a drow companion after traveling with Viconia, then Xulaye shines a light on just how cruel the drow can be. She will never like you, and you will never be her friend. She is an evil, cruel woman, and your purpose in her story is to assist her in succeeding the Matron Mother, as Phaere also seeks to do.

Throughout your travels in the Underdark, Xulaye will initiate a series of four conversations with you. She’ll start some light banter about the city and your reasons for coming to Ust Natha — as light as banter can be when you’re chatting with a drow — before eventually revealing that she knows your secret.

You are no drow, and Xulaye can tell. In fact, she states that she knew from the moment you set foot in the city, but that’s probably a lie that she’s using to give herself a greater advantage over you. She won’t reveal your secret, but instead use it to blackmail you into helping her. In turn, you can pull the same trick — if Xulaye reveals that you’re not a drow, then you can reveal that she knew and did nothing about it.

Simple enough, but ultimately nothing really comes of it. There are only a few outcomes to the mod and none are better or more satisfying than the outcome that the mod replaces: that of dealing with the demon yourself, double-crossing Ardulace, Phaere, and Adalon at the same time. Instead, you have the option of indirectly helping Xulaye to become the Matron Mother, or revealing her treachery and killing her. Xulaye wins in ALMOST every version of the doube-cross situation with Adalon’s eggs, which kind of defeats the purpose of a double-cross.

The only version of the situation where Xulaye loses and you end up on top comes when you reveal Phaere’s own treachery to the Matron Mother, thus starting the ritual and losing your disguise in the process. Then, you are given two options — fight the Demon Lord and the Matron Mother at the same time, or reveal that Xulaye knew of your true nature the whole time and be sent to the Pits. In this situation the drow of Ust Natha will not turn against you, but you’ll have to fight Adalon anyway.

These options sound interesting, but they come at the cost of diminishing the consequences and freedom of choice that comes with the original double-cross scenario, and it robs you of the most evil choice that gives you a great weapon and forces you to find a new way out of the Underdark.

Ust Natha is functionally the same as before other than a few minor differences. First, Xulaye will interject in a few conversations you have with Phaere, Solaufein, and Ardulace. However, they will still openly discuss their plans in front of Xulaye and she won’t comment on them. Phaere has no problems discussing her plan to double-cross Ardulace in front of her power-hungry sister, and Xulaye has nothing to say about it.

Furthermore, Xulaye won’t comment on the player character taking the “good route” during Phaere’s tasks, nor will she speak up if you reveal your identity to Solaufein — even if you do so before she reveals that she already knows. Having an Ust Natha drow accompany the player through the Underdark would have added even more pressure to stay in character as Veldrin, but there are no consequences for your actions even if you head on in to Adalon’s cave and start chatting with her. Xulaye doesn’t base her knowledge of your true nature on your actions… she just knows.

It would have been great to be able to fool Xulaye if you’re acting the part sufficiently, and it could have added another element to consider in an already complex situation. We manage to fool every other creature in the Underdark (other than the fish), so the fact that Xulaye is simply “more observant” is a bit hard to believe.

This mod also adds two new minor characters for Xulaye to interact with. They are Benerra and Tarkiz, siblings of Xulaye who have supposedly thrown away what it means to be part of House Despana. Xulaye describes Benerra as a prostitute diplomat, and Tarkiz as simply her brother.

There is a minor encounter with them in the Ust Natha tavern, but it’s a short conversation and nothing more. They are never mentioned again nor do they have any role to play whatsoever. There is also an odd line by Xulaye that suggests that they may have more than just a familial bond.

This mod contains an optional component in which Korgan suggests that he stays at the Ust Natha tavern to fight and do what Korgan does. So he goes to the fighting pits and promises to split the gold with you when you come to pick him up — he doesn’t, though. Functionally, this is a good way to write in a free slot in the party that Xulaye can fulfill.

While playing the mod, I felt as though it were incomplete. This feeling was further strengthened when Xulaye had a quest that went nowhere and had next to no explanation. In the mod’s files there does exist a version of the eggs that Xulaye can give you, but I was never able to do anything with them and decided it must be cut content. Overall, I feel like the mod has some clear strengths and weaknesses, though unfortunately I think most of those strengths lie in the potential Xulaye could have had.

I did enjoy Xulaye as a character, but upon revisiting some of the dialogue on my second go-around the cracks began to show. There are more issues that I found while playing, but I couldn’t tell if they were bugs or simply oversights in how the dialogue was written.

I didn’t encounter any spelling errors that I noticed and conversations are structured using the old pre-EE format, so dashes may look a little odd sometimes.

Xulaye is Lawful Evil and has an illegal class combo of Assassin/Mage.

She has a very mediocre stat spread, with low strength that hurts her backstab potential, and low constitution that results in a pitiful amount of HP. What hurts the most, however, is that Xulaye will start with 7 levels of Mage and 8 levels of Assassin regardless of your current experience level.

This is problematic, as one of the last things you want to do is swap out your best fighter for a severely underleveled thief/mage in one of the most punishing areas of the game. A level 8 Assassin has a backstab multiplier of x3, which is the same as Imoen’s at that level.

So really, if you’re looking for a powerful companion to assist you in the Underdark, Xulaye will actually be worse off than any other companion at this point.

This mod adds in two new items that you may keep after you and Xulaye part ways.

The Mithril Chain +4 is basically the same as Drizzt’s armour, and it allows fighter/thieves and rangers to use their thieving abilities while wearing it. A very nice piece of armour, but not unique to this mod.

The Piwafwi Cloak is amazing, and will really shine on any character looking to backstab. It’s a pretty basic thieving skill boost with bonus saving throws. Not much else to say here.

At some point after Xulaye has had enough conversations with you, a messenger from House Kii’Rret stating that their Matron Mother must meet with Xulaye. If you decline, then Xulaye will leave the party and triggering the alternate quest ‘Xulaye’s Revenge’.

Meeting with the Matron of House Kii’Ret yields little to no information other than the fact that she and Xulaye have a deal and that House Kii’Rret is to assist in her usurping Ardulace. She requests 20,000 gold from you specifically, and you’ll gain half of that back along with the Piwafwi Cloak from Xulaye should she succeed in becoming the Matron Mother.

Except… that 20,000 gold goes nowhere. We never see House Kii’Rret do anything at all after this, and I genuinely don’t see why Xulaye needed their help. Requesting that the player sacrifice such a large chunk of gold for no reason is ludicrous, but there is a way around it if you can’t scrounge up the coin.

You can go ahead and buy the set of Mithril Chain from the duergar merchant near where you entered the Underdark. He will also ask for 20,000 gold for it. Fortunately you can haggle him down to 5000 gold and buy the armour that way. Then you have the option of giving the Matron of Kii’Rret the armour, or 20,000 gold. The latter option will allow you to keep the armour.

After this, you will not hear the name Kii’Rret at all. Perhaps it’s relevant only to Xulaye, but if that’s the case… why include it at all? Why ask the player to spend money on something that doesn’t affect them?

It’s a bit confusing and once again, it feels like there was cut content here.

Doing something that angers Xulaye, like refusing to meet with Kii’Rret or hand over your hard earned gold, will trigger the quest ‘Xulaye’s Revenge,’ in which she will reveal your identity to Imrae, handmaiden of Lolth.

You will then have two options. You may either deny that you are a surfacer, and Imrae will have you battle it out in a trial by combat. Should you succeed in killing Xulaye, then your honour is restored and you can go about your business as usual.

Alternatively, you can turn the drow against Xulaye at the cost of your own cover. A truly spiteful move, but one that brought me some amount of satisfaction. I didn’t like Xulaye. It was nice to see her brought down a peg. Revealing your own identity and screwing Xulaye over in the process, however, is not the wisest course of action, as it will turn the entire city against you and you’ll have to fight your way out.

Xulaye comes with a custom hand-drawn portrait that looks great despite not matching the style of the game. I opted for an alternate portrait — the one from Enkida’s Portrait Pack — in the hopes that it would match the game’s style better. It did, but ultimately I prefer Xulaye’s default portrait from an artistic and thematic point of view.

In terms of sound, Xulaye doesn’t make a peep. She’s completely unvoiced and doesn’t have any selection sounds. If you feel like changing this yourself, then Icewind Dale 2 has a great female drow voice available for characters.

I liked Xulaye on my first playthrough with her, but upon trying different paths I saw how limiting the mod truly was. It’s a very old mod at this point, and certainly doesn’t represent the current writing or coding ability of the authors, but it’s a mod that’s brought up in conversation often enough that it was worth covering.

It feels like there’s too much cut content for me to really recommend this mod, but if you’re just really, really into drow, then Xulaye will probably be a good time for you.

Thanks for reading.

---