Marcus

Fist Marcus is a former member of the Flaming Fist, now turned into an elite agent of the Cult of the Absolute.

Involvement

Last Light Inn

When the party reaches Last Light Inn, Jaheira is instantly wary of them and summons vines to stop them. She believes the party are True Souls. If Mol didn't survive Act One, Marcus comes to vouch for the party, telepathically revealing that he is an Absolutist spy.

Revealing that Marcus is tadpoled to Jaheira will trigger a fight against him. He will have a surprise round where he will summon 13 Crawling Claws and then disappear, returning to Moonrise Towers. However, he can be defeated here if members of the party have the passive  Alert or drank an Elixir of Vigilance. Killing him here will prevent the abduction attempt when you first talk to Isobel.

If Marcus wasn't killed earlier, when the party first goes to speak with Isobel on how to traverse through the Shadow-Cursed Lands, Marcus will show up on the balcony much to her shock. He will quickly reveal his loyalty to the Absolute and Ketheric Thorm, urging Isobel to come with him to see the warlord.

The party must make a critical choice here:

• Fighting against Marcus and his Winged Horrors who will focus on taking down Isobel.
• Turning against Isobel, making Marcus and the Winged Horrors allies. The rest of the inn won't be hostile at first though. Doing so will cause a huge divide with Jaheira and the Harpers.

If Isobel is defeated, the barrier protecting the Last Light Inn will fade, letting the shadow curse in. Everyone except Jaheira and the party will either die or become Shadow-Cursed Undead. This will make multiple questlines end prematurely, and cause the party to lose traders ( Dammon, Mattis and Talli), who will no longer appear in Act Two and Act Three.

Marcus can be spoken to with  Speak with Dead. When asked if he left anything valuable behind, he will answer with "Outside the inn... buried near graveyard... she found out...". Moving to the graveyard adjacent to Last Light Inn, there is a Flaming Fist's corpse X: -3 Y: 215 directly east of the open graves where the Shield of Scorching Reprisal can be looted from. This implies that the dead Gnome Flaming Fist discovered Marcus' treachery, but was killed by him before she could warn the rest of the Fists and Harpers. A successful Perception check is needed to detect the rubble, and a subsequent Strength check is required to smash the rubble to find the body.

If Marcus is killed while attempting to kidnap Isobel, his body can later be found in the grass to the north of the Last Light Inn, seemingly dumped there unceremoniously during the cleanup after the attack.

Moonrise Towers

If the player failed to protect Isobel and Marcus survived the fight in the Last Light Inn, Marcus can be found inside Moonrise Towers, on the top floor near the door to Balthazar's room. If Isobel was knocked out and thus abducted alive, Marcus will also be alive. If, however, Isobel didn't survive the abduction, Marcus will be found dead, presumably killed by an angry Ketheric Thorm.

Speak with Dead

(If Isobel doesn't survive the abduction)

Party member: Who were you before you became a True Soul?

• Marcus: Marcus Falgor... raised in... Baldur's Gate...

Party member: What do you know of Ketheric Thorm?

• Marcus: Chosen of... the Absolute. Wants... the cleric... more than anything.

Party member: Why were you after the cleric?

• Marcus: Orders... of the General... Absolute's... Chosen...

Party member: Who is the Chosen?

• Marcus: Ketheric... Thorm...

Party member: How did you come to follow the Absolute?

• Marcus: Squad... captured... enlightened...

Party member: What is the Absolute's end game?

• Marcus: Enlightenment... love... power...

Party member: Do you know the source of Ketheric's invulnerability?

• Narrator: *The corpse remains silent. It does not know.*

Party member: Did you leave anything valuable behind?

• Marcus: Outside the inn... buried near graveyard... she found out...

Combat

Attacks and abilities

 Fly ()

Fly to a target position

 Range: 18 m / 60 ft

 Main Hand Attack ()   –  Greatclub +1

Normal weapon damage

Make a melee attack with your equipped weapon.

 Melee: 1.5 m / 5  ft

 Vampiric Shout ()

2d8 (2~16) Necrotic damage

+

Damage hit points

Vent a malevolent shout, wound nearby foes and healing yourself provided they're neither Constructs or Undead.

AoE: 8 m / 27 ft (Radius)

Allies

• 13x Crawling Claw (if fought in Last Light Inn's courtyard)
• 6x Winged Horror (if fought in Isobel's room)

Encounter details

Marcus is an incredibly aggressive great weapon fighter, who in the case of the encounter at the Last Light Inn will focus on trying to knock out Isobel. The fight there can end very quickly if he and the Winged Horrors act first on Initiative. He can attack up to 3 times a turn thanks to his  Extra Attack along with the bonus attack he can gain through his  Great Weapon Master passive.

Three of the Winged Horrors will engage Jaheira and the Harpers in combat on the first floor, while the other three will land on the upper floor and race to Isobel's room to help Marcus. Their  Claws (Ghoul) can possibly paralyze Isobel or the party, making all attacks against them critically hit.

Isobel can be defeated and carried off by either Marcus or the Winged Horrors, so she must be kept alive until all enemies are defeated.

Jaheira may occasionally kill other Harpers or Tiefling Refugees by casting  Ice Storm, ruining the party's chances of getting the Leave No One Behind achievement.

Tactics

The key to besting Marcus is preparation. During the conversation with him, the party can be positioned around the room to avoid getting caught up in his  Vampiric Shout, and a Cleric who is not part of the conversation can also pre-cast  Sanctuary and/or  Warding Bond on Isobel to protect her during Marcus's first turn. His high initiative means that he will likely act first but party members can use  Alert,  Dread Ambusher, Soulbreaker Greatsword, Sentinel Shield, or Elixir of Vigilance to increase their initiative rolls as well.

An easy approach to defeating him is to use  Banishment to put him out of the fight, sparing Isobel his wrath and allowing the group to clear out the Winged Horrors. By the time the spell ends, he will be no match against the full party and the Inn's defenders.

Alternatively, adding barrels and other objects to block the entrances will help by confusing the enemies and limiting how many have to be fought at the same time. Some enemies will attack the blockades to gain access, using explosive barrels with torches or other effects can trick enemies into damaging themselves. The party can also use  Arcane Lock to simply lock all the doors before beginning the conversation with Isobel.

It is also wise to have healing spells (e.g.  Healing Word) and healing potions (e.g. Potion of Greater Healing) available to help Isobel if she gets hurt.  Lesser Restoration is also useful in case anyone gets  Paralysed by a winged horror.

Notable loot

• Greatclub +1
• Half Plate Armour (Flaming Fist variant)
• Shifting Corpus Ring
• Mind Flayer Parasite Specimen

Gallery

• 

  Marcus with wings.

• 

  Marcus' model.

• 

  Marcus' winged model.