Soul Harverster

I recently installed Baldur's Gate II again and I had a few ideas...

Firstly, all the undead in Athakla. I'm not talking about the Twisted Rune, Bodhi's guild, Kangaxx or even all those random liches(!), but about the ghoul town. Now, while Ghouls in Second Edition(unlike 3e, despite that their typical behaviour hardly changes)have an intelligence of 5-7, /Ghasts/ actually have an intelligence of 11-12. So even if we write off other inhabitants of the city(which we could write off as simply being part of the spawning mechanics, like the lich); there could be an opportunity to do something beyond slaughtering a large number of ghouls. Now, in Dragon 252 and Dungeon 70 , a new type of ghouls are introduced; the white/shadow/true(depending on where you hear about them) ghouls. Now, the average intelligence of true ghouls is a whooping 15-18 and they indeed able to form form cities; if not more.

So if the idea of doing something with the ghoul town(''garbage disposal'', slave trade, necromantic research, a rival of Bodhi) appeals to you, you have a perfect excuse by introducing true ghouls.

Also, the Underdark. While you can wipe out all sides, there's not much else to do. For instance, it might be an idea to have the Illithid play a larger role. While I wouldn't advocate being able to just ''visit'' the Illithid city, perhaps you could be approached by an Illithid emissary in(or outside of) Ust Nastha. They could be interested in invading and subjugating Ust Nastha; they just need to overcome a number of ''obstacles'', such as that certain key figures need to be ''eliminated''. Some of these ''obstacles'' would already tie in with the main quest, such as the death of the Matron Mother. Perhaps they'd also want the Silver Dragon gone, as that would free the way for surface raids?