I just bullied my way through most of Baric's keep. Its a familiar setup, mutliple ways to approach the issue. My party was strong enough for a frontal assault. Magic and positioning are powerful. But, I reloaded and tried for a more stealthy approach. Even so, I ignored the obvious clue and ended up killing a lot of people on th esecond floor. But the whole quest line is a very familiar one.
I'm seeing a lot of bait and switch on theses NPC interactions. You intend to go kill one, find out maybe they arent so bad then maybe you change your mind. I'm never sure which side to take. The answers are probably in th elore, but I'm not reading it that closely this first time through.