This is the first time I've played BG2, despite having been around when it was new. My question involves the five flagons quest: None of the online guides mentioned anything about the actors attacking me. They all said that a group of bounty hunters would kidnap them and that I would have to save them. I did choose to accept Haer-Dalis into my party when I rescued him from the wizard. Is that why? I have already invested a good bit of time into that party since doing so, and cannot return. What's the deal.

So wait, the woman who hired you for the quest attacked you? That shouldn't happen unless you somehow attacked them first, especially if you rescued Haer'Dalis (which you said you did). It sounds like a bug, unless I'm misunderstanding what you're saying.

No, they opened the gate. I fought the Quasit, The Fire elemental, and the Shadow Fiend. Then they all went red (Including Haer'Dalis) and came this close to wiping me out. I'm left w/ a dead Haer'Dalis, and what looks like a dimension gate. Not sure whether I want to reset and just not complete that quest, or what. As I said before, though, I did choose to accept him into the party immediately after I rescued him from the wizard. Might that be the reason?

What should happen is for some bounty hunters to come through and kidnap Haer'Dalis and company; I can't remember if they also grab you or if you have to choose to follow them. Are you sure you didn't accidentally damage one of them (Haer and friends) while fighting off the various nasties?

If you tossed an area-effect spell into the fray, you may have hit one of the actors and therefore turned everyone hostile. Or you may have attacked a friendly by accident. They don't normally turn hostile at any point during the quest. I'd suggest reloading and trying again.

I'm assuming that's the most logical explanation. That or perhaps the shadow fiend cast some charm spell on them. I didn't think you could attack a friendly party when they were in the process of acting out a story line, though. I suppose I'll just reset and try again, being extra careful this time not to harm the actors. Another possible explanation, I wonder, might lie in the dialogue choices I made w/ Haer'Dalis while he was explaining the reason for needing the gem. But I thought I was being as neutral as possible (which is in keeping w/ my character alignment).Thank you. I believe that's what I'm going to do.I don't recall casting an area effect spell until the actors themselves became hostile, though.

There's basically nothing you can say to Haer'dalis to make him hostile. The dialog options you get when you free him from Mekrath just determine whether he joins your party right then, or if he joins your party after his whole questline is finished.

Also, it's possible to damage pretty much anyone at any time. Certain characters cannot be killed at certain times, but you're generally free to attack them (either on purpose or by accident). Even if you DO attack or kill someone important, it's still possible to finish the game, with only a couple of exceptions. These exceptions will become immediately apparent, as you'll usually get a quick game over shortly thereafter.

Thanl you for clarifying that for me. I did know that it was possible to attack any npc, and even to do harm to your own party members; I just didn't realize that it was possible to harm friemdly parties while they were in the process of advancing the story.