I'm currently at the Underdark. It's been a long time since I left Athkatla and I've visited Spellhold and the complex of the shark-people and...I'm wondering if I can ever visit Athkatla again. When will that be? The game started off very non-linear which was great, but for the last couple of chapters it feels like I'm playing Icewind Dale. I don't mind that per se, but it would be nice to visit all the places I haven't yet, like Windshear and Umar. I thought the visit to Spellhold would only be a small trip, so I saved those areas for later. Boy was I wrong. Other than wanting to visit those areas for quests, I only have 5 people in my party currently. It would make sense to be able to visit Athkatla (and other areas) later, right? If not only because of the Gesen Bow String, which was in the Spellhold dungeons. What point is to carry it around if can never visit Athkatla again? I want to be sure of this though...since the game's been so linear for so long now and it seems like it's only dragging my party further and further away from the surface and mainland.

In a nutshell: I'm at the Underdark now - how long before I get to go to Athkatla again, or are those other surface areas forever locked now?

Nice, thanks.

Also the Underdark remains open after you leave, so if there's anything you missed you can come back and do it later. The Drow City stays closed, but there's very little non-quest XP to be gained there anyway. I'd advise against selling anything to the drow merchants, though, because those items will be lost forever once you're done.

Also, several of the best forged weapons (Crom Faeyr, the Wave, the Equalizer, the Gesen Bow) require at least one Underdark item, so if you miss one you might end up going back anyway! Just be aware that every time you go to the surface, any adamantine equipment in your inventory will turn to dust, so don't get TOO attached to the purple stuff.

Somehow I ended up keeping a few adamantine items, to my surprise. Some elven chain mail and crossbow/bolts, some of which was in a bag of holding. I happily sold off most of it before that though (you can get around 15,000 gp if you collect all the weapon/armor drops and sell them at once).