Why Toll House?
Kept hearing whispers in Baldur’s Gate communities about insane loot at Toll House. My bard Tav needed gear upgrades bad, so gathered the party – Shadowheart, Astarion, and Gale. Figured we’d test those rumors ourselves.
Scoping the Joint
Snuck up the hill northwest of Rivington. Saw those gnarly traps everywhere – pressure plates and tripwires galore. Astarion got to work disarming while I watched his back. Pro tip: save before every trap disarm. Took three reloads when he blew himself sky-high trying to disable a poison gas valve.
Guard Takedown Strategy
Spotted three Flaming Fist guards patrolling inside through broken windows.
- Had Gale cast Fog Cloud by the entrance
- My bard used minor illusion near the cliff edge
- When two guards wandered to investigate, shoved ’em right off the ledge
Felt kinda dirty but hey – 180 XP each! Last guard panicked and ran straight into Shadowheart’s guiding bolt.
Loot Hoard Discovery
Here’s the meat of it – cracked open the cellar door behind the kitchen. Found two locked chests:
- First one gave that sweet Harold crossbow – perfect for Astarion
- Second had the rare “Boots of Striding” – slapped those on Shadowheart immediately
Almost missed the loose floorboard under the rug! That’s where the real prize was – The Spectator Eyes necklace with that sweet charming immunity.
Sweet Bonus Finds
Before leaving, checked behind the chimney stack upstairs – dusty pouch with 300 gold coins! Then Gale remembered to detect magic near the outhouse. Turned out that rusty shovel was actually a +1 spade! Total haul:
- 3 major gear upgrades
- 720 gold
- 8 healing potions
- Party leveled twice
Worth every minute of trap disarming agony.
My Big Mistake
Almost botched the whole run by triggering the alarm bells accidentally when Gale sneezed mid-invisibility. Got swarmed by extra fists from outside. Lesson learned: always destroy alarm bells first with ranged attacks or spells. Took four reloads to fix that screwup!
Final Takeaways
Toll House delivered exactly as promised – XP river flowed and gear overflowed. Shadowheart’s boots made shoving enemies hilarious. That basement crawl was tense but oh-so-worth-it. Next time we’re bringing grease bottles to slide loot faster!