|
 Hello and welcome to Neverwinter Nights: Swordflight Edition. What is Swordflight? Swordflight is a well-regarded campaign module for BioWare and Obsidian Entertainment’s 2002 role-playing game Neverwinter Nights. Rogueknight333 released the first chapter of Swordflight in 2008, and the fifth of a planned six chapters at the end of 2022. The module plays a lot like a pen & paper session might be planned, chance meetings in taverns and rat-slaying quests included. Swordflight does an excellent job of providing regular opportunities for role-playing, has a surprisingly decent story for an amateur project, and the campaign provides a great deal of unique content for a variety of character classes, skills, and archetypes. But wait, why are you doing a Let’s Play instead of shilling the module? The encounter design is beautifully and meticulously constructed to brutalize people that fall into two very broad categories: Have you spent less than a hundred hours learning the clunky and poorly documented manner in which BioWare implemented 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons? You will probably have a pretty rough time figuring out how to make a functional character in Swordflight without godmode or extremely frequent use of the quick load button. Do you compulsively hoard consumables and never use them just in case you might need them later? You will have the habit broken, or the module will break you. Swordflight can be a very rewarding gameplay experience, but it requires either a substantial amount of foreknowledge or the liberal application of DebugMode. Because of this, it remains a niche custom campaign despite its generally positive reception. I’ve spent a few hundred hours playing various iterations of Swordflight over the last decade. As I am both disturbed enough to enjoy playing the module, and I know how to (badly) take screenshots, I've decided I am uniquely suited to showing off both the great and not so great things that have come out of the project since its inception. How will the audience participate? You’ll be picking our character, for one. I’ll also be putting any major plot decisions up for a vote, as well as any meaningful character interactions that don’t get railroaded by the narrative. (Yes, I will maintain a reload counter) Do I need to be familiar with Neverwinter Nights to participate? Not at all. I’ll try to explain things as we go, but if you just pick stuff that sounds cool to you it will all work out. Spoiler Policy If you want to talk about Swordflight specific plot details before they come up, keep it in spoiler tags please. Mechanics are safe to discuss. I'll cover most of the gameplay stuff eventually, but people are welcome to correct my errors or fill in blanks. Persons of Interest  : Namli Kivna, our protagonist. A young dwarven Druid who came to Calimport seeking adventure. : Coco, our protagonist's animal companion. Has some sort of grudge against mice. : Binga Bofmer, a halfling woman that asked our protagonist to find her missing brother somewhere in the sewers. : Garad Ashaler, a fire genasi warrior that was more than a little stuck up when we met him in the Shifting Sands Inn. : Salud Sherad, the proprietor of the Shifting Sands Inn. We solved his problem with rats in the cellar, and killed the wererat that was threatening him.Table of Contents Episode 0: Prequel Episode 1: Cat & Mouse Episode 2: Sewer Level Episode 3: It Wasn't the Knee Nyrv fucked around with this message at 18:33 on Oct 17, 2023 |
#
?
Oct 9, 2023 06:25
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 5, 2024 17:49 |
|
|
Episode 0: Prequel Like any great adventure, Swordflight starts with a menu. Fortunately, we already know who the heroine of this story will be. Adrenalina Mashface.  Ms. Mashface never learned to write, but we can fill in most of these blanks on her behalf. In Neverwinter Nights, there are no gameplay differences between male and female. This choice just selects pronouns and which character model will be pulled.  Our heroine is a half-orc, though I am contractually obligated to state that she does not dance, whatever her biography may suggest. Race does have a mechanical impact, as it makes some adjustments to our character’s ability scores. A character’s race also determines their baseline traits. Half-Orcs can see pretty well in the dark and their Barbarian levels aren't considered when the game assesses multi-class penalties. The short explanation of multi-classing is that a character can select up to three classes to take levels in over the course of their careers. When a character has taken levels in two different base classes, they receive a penalty to the experience they earn if those classes are separated by more than 1 level. An elf character with 3 Barbarian levels and 1 Cleric level would suffer a 20% experience penalty. If that character were a half-orc, the game wouldn't count their Barbarian levels so they would still get full experience.  It’s not the first time I’ve had to pick Adrenalina out of a line up. Why, back in Manshaka she was on trial for… ah, there she is.  Perfect. Portraits don’t have any mechanical value, but it’s important to put your best foot forward. First impressions count!  A character’s class selection is their most defining characteristic. It pretty much determines how they will interact with the world. Adrenalina is a fighter. Fighters are very good at walking up to problems and hitting them until they stop being problems. They can wield a majority of weapons, wear the heaviest armor, and master a variety of tactics that assist them in mashing faces. On the other hand, they don’t do anything else. This doesn’t matter to Adrenalina, since other hands can’t do much harm when they are severed on the dungeon floor.  In Neverwinter Nights, alignment is basically a short description of a character’s ideals. Some classes have alignment restrictions. A character cannot take a level in Paladin, for example, if they are not lawful good, but they do not lose any powers or abilities they already had when their alignment changes. In Swordflight, alignment is slightly more meaningful. Quests, equipment, and dialogue options are often limited by your alignment. Adrenalina is Chaotic Neutral. Above all else, she values her personal freedom.  Ability Scores are a character’s attributes. 10 is baseline, and every two points in either direction changes the modifier by one. 12 Dexterity, for example, gives a +1 bonus to all Dexterity rolls. Strength determines how well a character fights with most melee weapons and how much gear they can carry around. Dexterity determines how well a character fights with most ranged weapons and their natural ability to avoid being hit in combat, including some spell effects. Constitution determines a character’s hit points and how easily they shake off things like poison or disease. Intelligence determines how many spells a Wizard can cast and how powerful those spells will be. It also determines the number of skill points that a character receives each time they level up. Wisdom determines how many spells Clerics and Druids can cast, and how powerful those spells will be. It also represents how easily a character resists mental effects, like confusion. Charisma helps Paladins, Bards, and Sorcerers the same way Intelligence helps Wizards. It also improves the baseline reaction NPCs have to the character, which is mostly used for reducing shop prices. Adrenalina is extremely strong, somewhat tough, and not very bright. Seems accurate.  Fortunately, when Neverwinter Nights says “Packages” it means “set of recommended skills and feats” rather than what modern day Baldur’s Gate is known for. Adrenalina’s skillset is limited. She knows how to repair weapons, and that’s about it.  As far as feats go, Fighters get more options than most. Adrenalina has never been one to suffer from choice paralysis, however, and picks up Weapon Focus: Greataxe, which makes her a little bit better at hitting things with a big ol’ axe, and…  Toughness, which as it sounds makes her a little bit harder to kill.  We get a little preview of what the character will look like and can make some cosmetic changes. Something’s not quite right with this picture, but, we’ll take care of that later.  Finally, we need to put in a little bit of biographical information. That’s all looking good.  I’m not sure it’s completely legal to ask about religion, but Adrenalina’s not worried about privacy. She worships the Orc god of strength, Bahgtru. Swordflight occasionally references a character’s deity, and there are unique dialogue options, quests, and rewards for some gods so we don’t want to leave it blank.  And there she is. Adrenalina Mashface, in all her (appropriately orcy) glory. When we are ready to finalize the character, we hit “OK” and…  We are greeted with the inside of a tavern and a very loud individual who repeatedly welcomes us every four seconds until we decide to talk to him. Neverwinter Nights has a relatively simple UI. We’ve got a chat box, a portrait with a red bar that indicates how healthy we are, and then a bunch of buttons that open up things like the inventory and character sheet. If you’re familiar with games like Baldur’s Gate, it’s a bit lighter weight. That is because Neverwinter Nights introduces the dreaded Radial Menu that was stolen from JRPGs like Secret of Mana and Lufia II, but without the efficient design. We will talk about the Radial Menu when we have a use for it. Otherwise, I try very hard to pretend it doesn’t exist. : Welcome to the Shifting Sands Inn!The poor man is screaming himself to death, so we’re going to go ahead and run up and talk to him.  Relieved to no longer have to scream to address us, Salud Sherad introduces himself and gives us a proper welcome to his Inn.  : Greetings Salud, I am Adrenalina Mashface. I am an adventurer who has come here looking for work.: Ah, yes. Providing a meeting place for adventurers and prospective employers is one of the many services this superior inn provides!: If you inquire among our customers, I am sure you will find more than one with a profitable task for you. However, there may be a couple of things you will wish to do beforehand.: I sell a number of goods, some of which might be of interest to an adventurer such as yourself. Only the finest merchandise, I assure you! : You want to hire an adventurer to kill rats? Aren’t there easier ways to deal with such a problem?: Normally, yes, but the cats I put down there seem to hav disappeared. Also, my supplies of poison seem to have been misplaced. The matter has proven quite frustrating, and I want it dealt with quickly. This seems to be the simplest way. So, are you up to the task?: I am a mighty fighter! You expect me to waste my time with an inglorious task like killing rats! Such work is beneath me! Swordflight hands out alignment shifts generously. It’s easy to find yourself with a stained soul after making the horrible choice to take a few loaves of bread from the cellar. For reference, alignment axes runs on scales of 0 to 100. 0 is maximum Evil or Chaotic, 100 is maximum Good or Lawful. Salud takes our rudeness in stride. : Anyway, if you change your mind, you can find the rats in the basement. Just take the stairs in the kitchen. If you kill all the rats, you can come to me to be remunerated for your work.Also, if you would like a drink or a meal, be sure to speak to one of the waitresses. They are quite busy at this time, but if you are persistent I’m sure you’ll manage to get an order in. Will there be anything else?: I would like to see what you have for sale. The shop interface is one that you will not have to see often, though I will be wrestling with it frequently. Tabbing through the store’s offerings is self-explanatory, but a problem becomes immediately apparent. We are broke. Adrenalina seems to have spent all of her remaining money on a few healing potions, a torch, and a spare set of clothes. That beautiful greataxe is just barely beyond our means. Tragically, we must settle for a small shield to accompany our short sword. Slapping that sucker on, we turn our attention to settling that vermin problem. Our money situation is apparently worse than I thought.  We are granted a mini map to guide us as we amble around. Hovering over the little pins tells us what’s located there, and despite the teensy window, finding the kitchen proves a simple task for our brave adventurer.  And there’s the basement. It must be some rat problem; they’ve got an armed bruiser standing guard at the top of the stairs.  Well, at least there’s decent lighting down here. And, what is that? A weapon rack? Could we truly be so lucky?  drat. Just a hand axe. It’s better than nothing, though.  I wasn’t joking. Grabbing stuff from random containers will result in you becoming the most vile of creatures. Too late to worry about it now. We’ll just quietly walk through that door to the east and pretend nothing happened.  There’re our little friends. Still not sure a guard was necessary, but there are definitely quite a few rats down here.  Time to get to work. : Attack! : Confused squeaking. Rats are social creatures. Pick a fight with one of them, and you will end up fighting all of them. For the unprepared, this can actually be a fairly dangerous encounter. Rats have an absurd +5 attack modifier. Adrenalina with her 20 strength only has a +6, and while rats are limited to doing 1 damage, they will hit the average character at this point more than half the time. Without special tactics it’s pretty easy to find yourself dead in one or two rounds.  Ah, yes. Glorious first level Dungeons and Dragons. Bad luck is no impediment to Adrenalina, however, and she easily bests her furry foes.  (Not pictured, seven rat corpses because they despawn instantly) And after slugging back a healing potion…  She’s ready for more. There are a few doors lined up on the north wall. Behind door number one…  Some hanging cow carcasses, and boxes that we dare not touch for fear of endangering our immortal soul. Explains why they’re having rat problems, though. The second door leads up and out to the street, so we’ll just go ahead and knock open the third…  : AGHHAHG! : Indignant squeaking.A dire rat jumps through the doorway as soon as it opens, and Adrenalina reduces it to gibs a moment later. Dire rats are only marginally more powerful than regular rats, but they can transmit Filth Fever with their bite. It’s an annoying little disease, but not one that we need to be concerned with for the moment. There’s just one place we haven’t cleared out, so let’s pop open the door along the western wall.  We’re ready for the rats when they come bursting through the threshold this time. The doorway keeps them from all being able to engage Adrenalina at once, but it was still only a narrow victory.  No need to waste our last healing potions. I think our heroine has earned a nap after that mess of an afternoon. On our way out, though, something just doesn’t feel quite right.  : Hm? : Wha…? Who are you? Where did you come from? : I am Wagu, guardian of rats! And I live in the sewers, just below. But I asking questions here!”: Guardian of rats? I didn’t realize one’s mind could be so unhinged by lycanthropy.: Silence! Wagu does guard the rats. Innkeeper keeps trying to kill them, but I protect. Cats come, but I kill them. He buys poison, but I take. Now you come, killing my precious rats. It stop now!: Rats will feed here, and if anyone interfere, Wagu kill! Tell Innkeeper to leave rats alone or I start killing his guests.: Look, rats can get food lots of places. You can’t just take over an inn for them to live in.: Wagu can, and he will. You tell Innkeeper he not interfere with rats, and you not come back and bother us. If this not happen, people die.: If you refuse to be reasonable, you may be the one who ends up dying. : [Intimidate] Oh, really? You think I’m some inexperienced incompetent? Well, actually, I don’t really want the bother of cleaning your blood off my weapon, but if you don’t promise to leave this inn alone and depart, I may rethink that.: [Intimidate Failure] Bah! Wagu is not impressed with your lies. Now go, and do as he say.: It seems you leave me little choice.  : MASH! Lycanthropes are almost immune to mundane weapons, a lesson that Adrenalina learned just a little too late.  : Grk And so ends the tale of Adrenalina Mashface, bullied by an overgrown rat that lives in the cellar. Well, that didn’t go quite as planned. Ahem. What I meant to say earlier was that I clearly need some help deciding who the hero or heroine of the story should be. Let me just show you our list of applicants for the position. Option 1:  Garendel Galaben the Sneakthief Neutral Evil follower of Malar Combat style: Sneak around, stab things, lay traps, be practically invisible to everything. Pros:
• Does not care about alignment. • Able to steal everything all of the time. • Has a huge variety of skills. • Can pick locks and pockets. • Can use pretty much any magic item regardless of class or alignment requirements.
• Has some limitations when fighting monsters that aren’t vulnerable to critical hits, like zombies or constructs. • Squishy if he does get hit. • Does not play well with others. • Still in the midst of his edgy phase. • Will always be an elf.  Namli Kivna the Caretaker True Neutral follower of Silvanus Combat style: Magical crowd control, watch things fall over and slowly melt from damage over time. Transform into terrifying creatures and maul things to death. Pros:
• Full divine spellcaster; can’t go wrong. • Has a cute cat named Coco. • Friends with all animals and will pet all dogs. • Not vulnerable to any particular type of encounter. • Socially competent. • Becomes an unstoppable murder machine in her early 30s. • (The above is a very, very, very long way away).
• Can’t carry much stuff. • Runs out of magic and there’s not always time to rest. • Waxes and wanes in strength, troubled teens. • No good options for dealing with traps.  Merik Leonsbane the Spellblade Lawful Good follower of Tyr Combat style: Buff self, hit things very very hard. Be a walking tank. Laugh while casting level 9 sorcerer spells in full plate. Pros:
• Full arcane caster that can also hit things. • Excellent at talking to people. • Has a cool pixie friend to hang out with. • Tanky.
• Really just a slightly worse paladin until the midpoint of his career. • Completely reliant on pixie friend to deal with locks and traps. • Pixie friend enjoys watching him suffer. • Can’t really do the ranged combat thing for a while. • Insecure about baldness. Voting has ended, the world was spared another Elven protagonist. Our protagonist shall be Namli Kivna the Caretaker, winning with 13 votes. Coming in second was Merik Leonsbane the Bald, with 12 votes. And bringing up the rear, the elf with 5 votes. I have forgotten his name. Next update shall be Wednesdayish. Nyrv fucked around with this message at 06:01 on Oct 10, 2023 |
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2023 06:25
|
|
|
Oh sweet, a Neverwinter Nights LP. I used to play so many weird modules. Like there was one that was a parody of every D&D campaign ever... I've voted. Have you?
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2023 07:38
|
|
|
I've never heard of this game before. Looks fun. Since the game is called Swordflight it is only fitting to play a character with a sword. Poor Mashface. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2023 14:09
|
|
|
I keep thinking about replaying Swordflight, but I then remember what a time investment it is (and how wordy the dialogue is). It's one of the greats, no doubt, but it's a lot.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2023 14:55
|
|
|
Sounds fun, let's go. I voted for Edgy McEdgeface up there, purely because getting alignment penalties in a game full of loot is mean.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2023 16:26
|
|
|
I vote for Merik Leonsblade.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2023 16:28
|
|
|
I'm gonna put down a petulant vote for an elven protagonist. NWN ended up with an incredible wealth of modules of mods of all sorts, a complete mess of oddities one could (and did) spend years rummaging about.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2023 16:52
|
|
|
I voted for the elf out of spite.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2023 18:27
|
|
|
This sounds like an interesting game I have not played. Put me down for the lonely druid.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2023 18:59
|
|
|
In practice I voted for the druid, but spiritually I voted for the elves, it's just that the present elf is evil and, you know, not a divine spellcaster.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2023 19:12
|
|
|
Mechanically, the spellblade is the most interesting option, but roleplaylly, I find the lawful good option the most boring because gently caress paladins. The evil elven thief would be an interesting choice except I still remember the NWN2 lets play that also featured an evil thief type. So I vote for the druid because 
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2023 21:13
|
|
|
Erwin the German posted:I keep thinking about replaying Swordflight, but I then remember what a time investment it is (and how wordy the dialogue is). It's one of the greats, no doubt, but it's a lot. It's a bit of a lengthy one. Going through the five chapters that're currently out is something like an eighty hour venture. The length, jankyness, and highly variable difficulty are the three things that keep me from wholeheartedly recommending the series to people. It's a good time for sure, but it requires a certain depth of masochism mixed with an appreciation of twenty year old game design to really get into. Lynneth posted:I voted for the elf out of spite. I will remember this  SIGSEGV posted:In practice I voted for the druid, but spiritually I voted for the elves, it's just that the present elf is evil and, you know, not a divine spellcaster. Druids are more or less elves anyway, just without being... elfy. Kanthulhu posted:Mechanically, the spellblade is the most interesting option, but roleplaylly, I find the lawful good option the most boring because gently caress paladins. There is a certain amount of Lawful Stupid that goes along with being a paladin, so I can understand that. One thing that I do appreciate about Swordflight is that it does pull in some of the tabletop aspects of classes, like paladins being able to detect evil and such. Gives them a bit more flavor than just fanatical devotion to do-goodery. I appreciate having you all along for the ride! Voting will close out this evening, and an update will be Wednesdayish if things go as planned.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2023 22:23
|
|
|
Echoing the "gently caress paladins" sentiment and Hells will freeze over before I vote for an elf, so it's a no-brainer. Anyway, looking forward to this - I really enjoyed NWN's gameplay but the campaigns (except for the final expansion) suck rear end so it should be interesting to see one that had actual effort put in it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2023 23:03
|
|
|
Cool to see a NWN let's play. I'm a masochist, therefore I currently run, DM and build for a NWN persistent world server. In TYOOL 2023. There are many things wrong with me, yes. Also like many of the game's player population, despite having played the game on and off for around 20 years, I have never finished any singleplayer module for it. Including the original campaign and expansions. Nada. If you don't have a particular attachment to the original 'charms' of NWN character art, you could get the HD pack: https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwnee/hakpak/original-hakpak/beamdogs-hd-art-pack-community-fixes Might save some bleeding eyeballs in the thread, potentially. Or might be seen as sacrilege. I voted!
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2023 23:05
|
|
|
El Grillo posted:Cool to see a NWN let's play. You are braver than I. I was a player on World of Greyhawk a long, long time ago but my experience has otherwise been a single player one. It's a minor miracle what people have managed to put together over the years. I'll have to give the HD pack a try after its more recent updates. The original version did something weird to the pelvic structure of female humans that made plot-critical characters unable to walk through doors, but I imagine that was fixed at some point. If it doesn't cause the module to explode, I'll put up a few side-by-sides for eyeball preservation purposes to see what people think.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2023 23:59
|
|
|
Elves are fine, you cowards, and with a sensible DM you can even play a perfectly reasonable and pleasant paladin. All RPGs in all settings always need some editing, sometimes live at the table, to for example make orcs and dark elves and whatever be reasonable instead of worthy of many heavy sighs. Also I did more solo modules than MP, MP means social interaction and that's rough.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 00:09
|
|
|
If you need a primer on how to make lawful good fun and interesting, go hang out with Aylin in BG3
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 00:30
|
|
|
In b4 this becomes a train of people dying in the basement of this one inn. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 01:03
|
|
|
voting for Tank Boy the Spellblade because I have a soft spot for mixing swords and magic
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 03:21
|
|
|
My thought process reading this: "Well, usually the LPer leaves the PC up to a thread vote, but it's apparently a pretty hardcore mod so maybe a non-obvious build is necessary to..." ->Toughness "Nope, not living out the update." Also, as someone tangentially involved in the D&D scene, seeing the 3E Druid described as weak was a head trip. Was the 3.5 revision that good for them, or does the game just not model their tabletop power level well?
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 04:15
|
|
|
kvx687 posted:Also, as someone tangentially involved in the D&D scene, seeing the 3E Druid described as weak was a head trip. Was the 3.5 revision that good for them, or does the game just not model their tabletop power level well? I'll have to preface this explanation by clarifying that Druid isn't weak. Level 9 Divine spellcasting is always ludicrously powerful, but Druids are considered markedly less powerful than Clerics in the NWN community, and some (crazy) people say worse than Paladins. Particularly the more hardcore "character building" communities. There are more than a few reasons for this, but a short list would include: They have a worse spell list than Clerics. Standouts are all of the attribute buffs except Strength, Greater Magic Weapon, Mass Heal, and Implosion. Of the spells Druids get that Clerics don't, only Grease, Barkskin, and Fire storm do things that Clerics don't already do better. Via their domains, Clerics also pick up two of: Haste, Improved Invisibility, or Barkskin. Pound for pound, Clerics will do more with their spells in just about every scenario. Druids have strict equipment restrictions that Clerics don't have to deal with, and base NWN doesn't have things like Wilding Clasp to make that trade more palatable. NWN and most of its modules don't do anything with Animal Empathy or any of the various utility options Druids provide (Swordflight does, which is why Druid is one of the three choices. Also I think Clerics are boring). Until epic levels, particularly 30+, buffed Clerics will outperform buffed Wildshaped Druids in melee, and they are both equally bad at ranged with Zen Archery. 30 levels is a long time to wait to be more effective in melee. At the same point, a Cleric is scribing 7 Implosions a day and ending every encounter before it starts. Powergamers don't value all of the extra skills (and skill points) that Druids get because they only really consider Tumble and Spellcraft (which give +1 Armor Class and +1 Saving Throws vs. Spells respectively for every five points invested). Druids can't cast in wildshape. There are other problems, but really it's just that Clerics do pretty much everything at least a little bit better until things get very high level or very specialized. At which point everyone is so overpowered it's kind of a moot point.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 05:00
|
|
|
Nyrv posted:Have you spent less than a hundred hours learning the clunky and poorly documented manner in which BioWare implemented 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons? You will probably have a pretty rough time figuring out how to make a functional character in Swordflight without godmode or extremely frequent use of the quick load button. Way back when I played NWN modules, 'play a cleric' was all you really needed to know in order to be OP.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 08:57
|
|
|
Nyrv posted:You are braver than I. I was a player on World of Greyhawk a long, long time ago but my experience has otherwise been a single player one. It's a minor miracle what people have managed to put together over the years. What's really insane is seeing the community so lively nowadays. I would never have imagined back in 2005, that this game would still be going strong. Let alone, getting updates with new features from a developer lol (latest update was only a few months ago!) When I discovered NWN during the pandemic it blew my mind that it was alive & kicking. quote:I'll have to give the HD pack a try after its more recent updates. The original version did something weird to the pelvic structure of female humans that made plot-critical characters unable to walk through doors, but I imagine that was fixed at some point. If it doesn't cause the module to explode, I'll put up a few side-by-sides for eyeball preservation purposes to see what people think. In the end the HD pack only got released at all because Bill Harper, the ex lead artist at Beamdog decided to spend a ton of his (unpaid) evenings over the course of about a year, fixing it up to get it to that beta state so it could be put out there. Anyways, the community version that I linked has fixed all the issues such as the one you describe. And there are also optional add-ons from Bill and others that do things like fix the chunky elf torsos and fix the slightly weird/old looking elf heads. Full list of links in this FAQ post (answer #3): https://www.reddit.com/r/neverwinternights/comments/tmof98/neverwinter_nights_1_enhanced_edition_new_player/ ...ok that's enough clogging your LP thread with general NWN chat!
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2023 09:31
|
|
|
Episode 1: Cat & Mouse The people have spoken, and it was decided that Namli Kivna would be our main character. We’ve been through most of this song and dance, so let’s power through the similar aspects of character creation.  Namli’s a lady.   Our heroine is a dwarf, stout and stalwart. They have quite a few other benefits, such as being able to see in the dark and being slightly more powerful when fighting orcs and goblinoids. Dwarves are also the greatest race choice for a Dungeons & Dragons character. I will not be dissuaded from this point.  Easier to pick her picture out of the bunch. There are never as many dwarven portraits available, mostly because artists are incredibly boring people that can’t perceive the grandeur that is a dwarf.  Here’s where things really start to diverge. Druids are an interesting class, stuck in the awkward position of being constantly compared to the Cleric, the only other full divine spellcaster in Neverwinter Nights. Druids derive their abilities from the natural world, rather than from any specific deity. They are much more versatile than their Cleric cousins, but they pay for their flexibility with less outright power and the absence of divine boons. Beyond having a broader spell selection that incorporates some arcane magic, Druids also bring along an animal companion, the ability to take the shapes of beasts and elementals, and vastly superior skill access. One additional trait that is often overlooked is that Druids are immune to many common crowd control effects, such as grease and web. This will be the key behind Namli’s strategy for most of her career, once she gets some levels under her.  Druids also carry with them an alignment restriction. To take levels in the Druid class, one must be of a Neutral alignment. Namli will be starting off this adventure as True Neutral, but will probably trend toward Neutral Good over the fullness of time. Swordflight is very generous with alignment points, but it throws Druids a bone by having an actual “Neutral” alignment flag. Druid-ish choices move a character’s alignment closer to Neutral; if any axis is greater than or less than 50, those choices move the character’s alignment score towards 50.  There are a few different ways to build Druids. We’ll be going with the “cast many spells and mock enemies as they have to fight on a giant slip & slide” build, but realistically as long as you get up to 19 Wisdom eventually you’re going to be fine. The exception being people who only take Druid levels to access the Shifter prestige class, which is its own kettle of bullshit. The key thing to know about Druids is that their physical stats are completely worthless 99% of the time. This is because the only time a Druid should be in melee is when they are in wild or elemental shape. When you use wild or elemental shape, your physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution) are replaced by the scores of the shifted form. Some people advocate dumping these stats, but I try to avoid things going into the negatives if possible. Charisma is the exception, because people do not appreciate the dwarven aesthetic.  Unlike poor Adrenalina, gods rest her soul, Namli has quite a few skill points available. We start off with Animal Empathy, which is basically the Druid skill. It lets you communicate with animals, charm them to fight with you for a time, and just otherwise pet dogs. We will be maxing this out.  Concentration is frequently used in dialogue checks, and it also determines how hard it is for our character’s spellcasting to be interrupted by damage. We’ll be maxing this out.  Heal does what it says on the tin. It determines how good a character is at the mundane healing arts. We’ll be taking this up to about level 20 or so for roleplay purposes, but it will also help us out during our early adventures where healing kits will be what keep us alive.  Lore is frequently used in dialogue, and it’s also used to identify magical items and other such things. It is a very Druid skill so we will be maxing it out.  Persuade is the most common “talking to people” skill, covering everything from making a persuasive argument to telling jokes. Dwarves aren’t very charismatic, but we’ll be taking this up to around 20 or so. Lastly, Spellcraft. Spellcraft is frequently checked during dialogue, allows us to identify what spells other indiviudals are casting, and increases our saving throws against spells by 1 for every 5 points invested. We’ll be maxing this out. We will be sticking our last four skill points into the bank for later. They’ll probably be stuck into Tumble toward the very end, but that’s a long way away and we’ll see what happens.  Druids get one feat at character creation, and then every third level. We’ll be picking up Spell Focus: Conjuration, to make our Conjuration spells a little bit harder to resist. We’ll be leaning pretty heavily on that branch throughout Namli’s journey.  Most importantly, we get to choose our animal companion. Namli’s companion is Coco, the adorable house cat (panther). Coco is very sweet and is the prettiest best cat ever.  And here we are, at the very end. We’ll stick in some biographical information, and…  There’s our heroine. Don’t call Coco blocky, she finds it very offensive. We’re going to do a little bit of fast-forwarding here. TLDR: A guy behind the bar screams welcome at us until we talk to him, he tells us his name is Salud Sherad and that he has a rat problem in the cellar. : …I want it dealt with quickly, and hiring an adventurer seems like the simplest way. So, are you up to the task?: I have some skill in dealing with animals. Perhaps, instead of killing them, I could talk to the rats and convince them to leave your inn alone. Namli agrees to give it a shot. We take a look at what Salud has for sale, pick up a sling, some ammunition, and a shield. Then we make our way toward the basement. Fortunately, we already know the way.  Pictured: The stairs to the basement, and Coco doing the normal cat thing of playing chicken with your legs to see if they can make you trip. The rats are pretty easy to find. Adrenalina’s efforts don’t seem to have made a real dent in their population.  : Coco, behave while I talk to the nice mice.: Disappointed mewling. : [Animal Empathy Success] The rat listens attentively as you try to explain the situation to it.: Hello, friend rat. I have come to warn you to leave this place. The Innkeeper is unhappy with your presence here, and is looking for a way to kill you. Surely in a city this size you can find many places to feed. I would ask that you avoid this place, and tell other rats to do the same.: The rat does not want to wait around until the Innkeeper finds someone willing to kill him. he agrees to do as you suggest. He and his fellow rats will be leaving the inn. : [You used your skill to peacefully remove the rats. Alignment shift: Neutral +2] That went pretty well. A few words exchanged, no blood on the floor. Surely this will end up better for Namli than poor Adrenalina.  Oh god damnit.  This all seems familiar somehow, though it does showcase something that Swordflight does effectively. The dialogue changes to reflect the fact that we chose a non-violent solution. It's a small touch, but it's present throughout the series and it helps to make it seem like the story's reacting to your choices. Insert cheap fast forward sound effect  Namli knows a bit more about Lycanthropy, and therefore realizes that this isn’t really a fight that she’s equipped to win at the moment. : Perhaps you are right. I will go warn the Innkeeper and see what he wants to do.We then bravely run away. It’s a short jaunt back up to talk to Salud.  : The rats are gone, but they aren’t your only problem. There’s a crazy wererat down there! Apparently he somehow got in through the sewers and has been disrupting all your efforts to eliminate the rats.: He’s threatening to go on a killing spree unless all rats are left alone in the future.: Are you serious? Yes, I can see that you are. I suppose that does explain a lot. Obviously, I cannot tolerate a monster like that making himself at home in my inn.: It would be convenient if I could hire you to kill him. You may have thought killing rats a silly task, but surely a wererat is a more appropriate target for an adventurer’s wrath.: Killing him could be difficult. Lycanthropes are not easily harmed by conventional weapons.: You need have no fears on that score. I collect a lot of odds and ends by trading with adventurers, and I will give you a couple of items that should help you: a dagger coated with silver, and some belladonna.: If you rid me of this wererat, I will not only increase the gold I originally promised for eliminating the rats, I will let you keep the dagger as well.: The wererat does not seem to be in his right mind, and it is not clear how responsible he is for his actions. I would prefer not to kill the poor creature. Surely there is some other alternative? : It is an elixir designed to heal afflictions of the mind. Unfortunately, the actual effects of taking it tend to be somewhat unpredictable, but it is possible the wererat would be helped by it.: I would be willing to give it to you in the hope that it may prove useful in solving our problem. It’s not really all that valuable, after all, because of its unreliability.: Of course, you will somehow have to convince the wererat to drink it, which might prove difficult. I will also give you the items I mentioned earlier, in case something goes wrong. Good luck!: I appreciate your help in seeking a way to save this unfortunate creature. One way or another, I will see that he causes you no more problems.Well, I’m not sure force feeding lycanthropes an unreliable brain doctor potion is a good idea, but it seems to be the only other option we have at the moment. Before we go give that a shot, though, let’s go find a quiet corner and take a peek at what’s going on in Namli’s spellbook.  Uh. That’s not great. It appears that Namli walked into the inn without having any spells memorized. Druids are prepared spellcasters, so in order to use magic they need to memorize their spells ahead of time, and then meditate to solidify those spells in their noggins. With a crazed wererat running around we don’t have time to rest, so we’ll just mark down a couple of spells for Namli to memorize next time she gets the chance.  We have two spell slots available at the moment. The first will be Grease, a Conjuration spell that slows things down and knocks them over. Grease will be a constant presence in Namli’s spellbook throughout her adventure.  Our second choice will be Summon Creature I. The Summon Creature line of spells will show up for us every now and then, as it switches between invaluable and worthless depending on the environment. This early in the module, a dire badger will gently caress up just about anything it comes across. It’s a bit disappointing that we’ll have to do this without magic, but needs must. Time to go have another chat with the friendly? wererat in the cellar.  Just in case, let’s go ahead and equip that silver dagger and use the belladonna.   Right. We’re as ready as we can be.  : [Persuade] I am here to help you, Wagu. Please, drink this potion, things will be much better for you if you do.Wagu angrily slaps the elixir out of Namli’s hand, and it shatters on the ground a short distance from her feet. : [Persuasion Failure Hss! You try to poison Wagu! You die now!Welp. We tried. It is possible to pass this check, I believe it it requires an 18+ roll, which would have needed a 17 from Namli. Neverwinter Nights doesn’t show the numbers for dialogue checks, so I don’t know the exact difficulty.  : Coco! Sic ‘em, girl!Despite being a far worse close combatant than Adrenalina, Namli is much better prepared. And has Coco on her side. Silver weapons negate lycanthropic damage resistance, and Coco hits hard enough to squeeze a few damage through despite it. Altogether, Wagu only gets one or two good swings in before…  : I am sorry that it came to this, Wagu. Rest well.No time for grieving. There is much looting to be done, and Namli is not the squeamish sort.  Wagu has a couple of low-value gemstones for us to pocket. As for the rest of the cellar…  A couple heads of garlic. May as well snatch them up; never know when you’ll end up fighting a vampire.    Waste not, want not. Healing potions are always useful.  We’ll pass on the smelly fish, though.  The most interesting find is a locked chest. We could bash it open, but Namli has some respect for property rights. Curiosity isn’t a good enough reason to start smashing chests. Otherwise, we pocket a couple of potions and leave some bolts of cloth and other crafting miscellany behind. We can’t use any of the crafting kit, and it doesn’t sell for much of anything. Before we report our success to Salud, let’s go poke around the back rooms of the inn for a bit and see if we can find anything.  We find a delicious pie just sitting on a table in the kitchen, but a quick rummage through the garbage doesn’t reveal anything else of note.  To the east down the hall we find a couple of doors. On the north side, it seems to be a small library. Predictably…  The bookshelves have books on them. We might read a few of those later, if we get bored.  But what’s this? Someone seems to have accidentally left a brooch behind on one of the shelves. We’ll just stick that in our pocket for safekeeping.  Across the hall, the door’s locked. It’s a shame, but we still don’t have a good reason to break it down. There’s a big, barn-like door farther to the east that leads to who-knows-what. We’ll check it out later. The outside is scary for level 1 characters. Pretty much everything is scary for level 1 characters. Back to Salud, then.  : The wererat is dead.: Excellent! Running an inn is difficult enough without hassles like that. here, then, is the balance of your reward, increased since you took on more than you originally planned.We have the opportunity to demand more money, or refuse the money entirely. Namli just takes the money as agreed. : All right. Good day to you.And thus, the wererat menace has been eradicated, and our heroine has completed her first quest. The entire inn is basically one big tutorial. The purpose of it is to bludgeon the player with the knowledge that running face-first into problems is unlikely to succeed, and that a little bit of poking around can make very challenging encounters much simpler. Before we close things out for the day, however, let’s get to know a couple of the people that we’ll be sharing the inn with. There’s a halfling woman at a table off to the side that’s been trying to get Namli’s attention for a little while. Let’s start with her.  : I expect that I could. What is it that you need?: It’s about my brother, Bunglo. He keeps hoping that one day he can become a famous adventurer, even though he’s much too incompetent and clumsy to survive in such a profession.: With all the adventurers coming through here, he’s always stopping by to hear stories. They keep filling his head with a lot of ridiculous ideas that keep him from settling down in a respectable job. He drinks too much, too.: I’m sorry to hear that, but it doesn’t really sound like the kind of thing I could help with.: I’m still getting to the point! He heard a lot of stories about the famous adventurer Tarshal Darokun. This Tarshal apparently spent a lot of time at this inn between adventures.:About a year ago, he was telling everyone here that he had found a map to some old castle or something filled with treasure, boasting that he would soon be richer than the Syl-PashaNote: Syl-Pasha is the informal term for the Calimshan ruler. : Tarshal set out but never came back and is now presumed dead. : Bunglo left yesterday to search the sewers, and he hasn’t come back yet. I’m terribly worried. There are all sorts of rumors about wererats and other dangerous creatures who live down there. Anything could have happened!: So you want me to go rescue him?: Yes, if you could, I’d like a real adventurer like you to go down there and find Bunglo, then bring him back safely.: I’m not rich, but I could give you a little gold, say 75 pieces, if you did. If you agree, I’ll also give you a couple things right now that should help you out down there.: How do I get into the sewers?: There are grates covering passages to the sewers out on the streets, but Bunglo said there was also access to them from the inn’s basement.: That’s how he was going to get in, so it seems the obvious place to start searching. Will you help me?: Very well, I’ll see if I can find him. : All right, I’ll return when I have some news about Bunglo.In the worst case, we’re a few potions and a scroll richer. I’m sure Bunglo is totally fine down there in the sewers and hasn’t been murdered by the wererat or something. We’ll go take a look at that in a bit. First, there’s a group of red-clothed triplets at the adjacent table, so we may as well go say hello.  And wonder of wonders, one of them happens to have lost their brooch! What a coincidence. This is Swordflight’s introduction to random unnamed NPCs sometimes having quests. The only way to find them is to talk to literally every NPC in the game. I will catch most of these, but I’m sure there are some that I am unaware of. : Is this the brooch you’re speaking of? : Why yes, it is. Thank you. Here is a reward for your trouble.The reward is 33 gold pieces. Every bit counts, I guess.  There’s a weird angry-looking gentleman in the corner glaring at us, so I think he will be our final target for the day.  : Really? You don’t look busy. : Well, actually, I’m just not interested in talk to anyone. Is there some reason why I should make an exception in your case?: [Lore] I was hoping to talk to a fellow adventurer. It’s also not every day that I see a fire genasi, and I was curious to meet one.Note: Genasi have ancestry in one of the elemental planes. Fire Genasi, for example, hail from the Plane of Fire. : Yes, the blood of both humans and efreet run through my veins. Why you think my ancestry gives you the right to annoy me I am not sure. And as for being a fellow adventurer, you hardly seem to qualify.: My skill with the sword exceeds your pathetic abilities as much as a dragon exceeds you in size.: I was just trying to be friendly, but if you would prefer that I leave…: It appears that you are the servant of some divine power. You’re too weak to handle your own problems, so you go crying to some god for help.: You have nothing in common with a warrior as skilled and deadly as myself.: There’s no need to get insulting… : I am truly a great adventurer, one who seeks the perfection of his art with a level of dedication that you could never hope to match. Some day I will be known as the greatest swordsman in the realms.:  : You, on the other hand, are a bungling novice who will probably not survive their first serious fight. You are unworthy even to serve as my henchman, though if you agreed to lick my boots as part of the deal, I might in other circumstances be willing to take you on in that capacity.: I’m actually not looking to serve as a henchman…: However, at the moment I am going to be taking a bit of a break from adventuring. The great Master Swordsman Khaladar Korad has agreed to take me on as his student!: It is for this reason that I have come to Calimport. Such an honor is not to be refused. So it seems you have missed your chance of one day boasting that you licked the boots of the great Garad Ashaler.: That’s too bad. I was really looking forward to licking your boots. Good luck with perfecting that art of the sword thing. I think I had best leave now.: Hopefully we will never have to see him again. The basement is sounding more and more appealing by the moment.Garad is basically the Navy Seal copypasta. There isn’t really much more to say about it. Time to take a break from people for a little while.  May as well go take a look for the missing Halfling lad. We know the way.  The grate Binga mentioned is right next to the stairs in the cellar, so it isn’t hard to find. A short climb down, and…  Holy hells, that is a big sewer. The ceiling must be thirty feet up, and some of the pipes are four-dwarves wide. It seems a bit excessive. Exactly how many stairs did we go down?  Oh hey, it’s another rat friend. They’ll probably know what’s going on down here. : Coco, play nice.Will Coco play nice? Will the would-be adventurer Bunglo be rescued? Will we find the mystical treasure supposedly in the sewers? Find out next time on the adventures of Namli & Coco, to be continued Saturdayish. (Reloads this episode: 1. I forgot to use the Belladonna and Namli was one shot by the wererat.) (Total reloads: 1)
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2023 20:45
|
|
|
Why the 19 Wisdom as an important point? I've played both 3.x and NWN before, but I can't recall anything that triggers off of odd increments of a stat... unless its a janky prerequisite for a specific feat?
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2023 21:03
|
|
|
You need 19 wisdom to cast level 9 wisdom based spells.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2023 21:11
|
|
|
Yeah, in D&D 3e/3.5e (not sure how things are in 5e) you need a spellcasting Ability score of 10 + X to cast spells of a certain level, where X is the highest level of spells you want to cast. Wanna cast spells of level 9? Gotta have that 19 Wis/Int/Cha, and it's worth bumping them up even more so you get more bonus spells.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2023 21:29
|
|
|
CommissarMega posted:Yeah, in D&D 3e/3.5e (not sure how things are in 5e) you need a spellcasting Ability score of 10 + X to cast spells of a certain level, where X is the highest level of spells you want to cast. Wanna cast spells of level 9? Gotta have that 19 Wis/Int/Cha, and it's worth bumping them up even more so you get more bonus spells. Both the above are correct. A character's wisdom modifier also makes it harder for enemies to resist their spells, so we are going to be targeting ~40 Wisdom for Namli. For conventional play, having access to level 9 spells is sufficient to make you ludicrously overpowered. It takes heavy rest restrictions or some absurd toolset manipulation to challenge anyone with access to those spells in Neverwinter Nights. Swordflight is one of those modules with both absurd toolset manipulation and heavy rest restrictions, so it necessitates some piling on.
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2023 21:46
|
|
|
I always liked the Shifter. Could never play one because I'm more of a straight-up fighter or archer type. Why is it all sorts of BS?
|
|
#
?
Oct 11, 2023 22:48
|
|
|
painedforever posted:I always liked the Shifter. Could never play one because I'm more of a straight-up fighter or archer type. Convoluted would have been a better word for me to use. Shifters require a lot more thought to be put into them than most classes, because they have to work around some very specific limitations. Shifters need at least 5 levels of Druid in order to qualify for the prestige class, but they don't want more than strictly necessary for three reasons: Shifters can't cast while shifted; every level of Shifter they take they lose a caster level by not taking Druid instead; Druids get access to the most notable shapeshift form in the epic levels anyway, so if you're going to take enough Druid levels to qualify for the epic feats there isn't really a reason to play Shifter. A Shifter therefore needs to take a weird combination of levels in order to get to where they want to be. One of the more common combinations is Druid 6/Shifter 7/Assassin 27 which at level 15 leaves you at Druid 6, Shifter 7, Assassin 2. A character that has 3rd level spell access, only has regular shapeshift forms, and only has 1d6 death attack. That is a very hard character to play, even in some easier environments. Druid/Shifter/Monks fare much better, but then you get to experience the joy of learning how items merge when you shapeshift, what things stack, and what things don't. TLDR: Shifters are complicated, hard to build, and the class that seems to build into it (Druid) actively harms its ability to Do Things.
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2023 01:55
|
|
|
As for paladins, I can think of quite a few interesting ones. Keldorn from BG2, Seelah and that half-orc NPC from Wrath of the Righteous, aforementioned Aylin from BG3, literally every paladin from Order of the Stick...
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2023 02:48
|
|
|
Nyrv posted:Convoluted would have been a better word for me to use. Oh yeah. That. Probably why I didn't enjoy trying them out in the Campaign. They're not fun until they get a certain number of levels. I think it's one of those things that might be better in tabletop than in a game. They added a bunch of things to NWN after the original three campaigns. I think there was also mounted combat? Any of that in here?
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2023 03:53
|
|
|
Honestly, in 3e/3.5 I wouldn't multiclass a full caster if you're capped at level 20. If you're on a level 40 cap though, that depends- I can't remember if your spell progression's capped at 20, then mmmmaybe? It'd still depend on your stats though, and even then it might be viable only for Wisdom casters as IIRC in Neverwinter Nights the only 9th level casters that share a spellcasting stat are Clerics and Druids. It's been a while since I played the game though, so there might be some 9th-level Charisma (my favourites) or Intelligence classes that I just don't remember.
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2023 03:56
|
|
|
painedforever posted:Oh yeah. That. Probably why I didn't enjoy trying them out in the Campaign. They're not fun until they get a certain number of levels. I think it's one of those things that might be better in tabletop than in a game.
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2023 06:37
|
|
|
Poil posted:Isn't a character that doesn't become good or fun at higher levels absolutely awful in tabletop since it takes so much longer to reach that point, if you even ever reach it? Unless of course you start at that level. For one thing, as I recall, Shifter was different in tabletop. In NWN2, Shifter just gets more exotic creatures to change into. In tabletop, you can change into any creature that you've seen, but you might be limited by size category at lower levels. For another, in tabletop, there are more creative ways of doing quests. Like shifting into a guard dog to sneak into a manor. Or a mouse to eavesdrop.
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2023 08:40
|
|
|
Szarrukin posted:As for paladins, I can think of quite a few interesting ones. Keldorn from BG2, Seelah and that half-orc NPC from Wrath of the Righteous, aforementioned Aylin from BG3, literally every paladin from Order of the Stick... These paladins got me into enjoying the class.  I am also enjoying the LP. Hope you’ll keep up the good work.
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2023 10:57
|
|
|
painedforever posted:They added a bunch of things to NWN after the original three campaigns. I think there was also mounted combat? Any of that in here? Riding horses is supported, at least in city hubs. I've honestly never fiddled with the mounted combat stuff -- most modules, including the original campaigns, don't have the scripts that even make it available. I'll poke around in Chapter Two a little bit to see if it functions. Last I recall, mounts couldn't be taken anywhere that real combat would take place. In Swordflight, at least.
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2023 18:04
|
|
|
I remember Epic Druids being able to do some pretty crazy stuff (especially once you get over 30 Wisdom) but it's been a while since I played NWN1 so I don't remember how powerful they can get.
|
|
#
?
Oct 12, 2023 20:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 5, 2024 17:49 |
|
|
Episode 2: Sewer Level Content warning: There are three quests in this game that address the topic of slavery in Calimshan. One of them is in this update. Neither Wizards of the Coast nor the author of this module handle the subject in an elegant way, and some of the individuals subjected to slavery in this update, while lore-accurate, belong to groups that are correctly recognized as racial or ethnic stand-ins. The quest in this update is, I believe, the worst of them as it falls dangerously close to the “saving primitive species from themselves by putting them in collars and beating them until behavior improves” trope. The two later quests are greatly improved by having prominent “gently caress slavery in all of its forms” options. This quest does not have such an option. In case it isn’t clear, we will be taking the gently caress slavery options. There will be a little bolded warning before and after the particularly problematic section in case you just want to skip over it. There is no narrative value beyond introducing the knowledge that slavery is legal in Calimshan, and the “payoff” would be just as strong without the quest ever existing.  When we last left our brave adventuress, she was about to address the sewer’s local population regarding a missing halfling. : [Animal Empathy] Attempt to Communicate.: [Success] Unaccustomed to being addressed by dwarven creatures, the rat responds to your communications with interest. You question him about this area.: Are there any dangers about?: The rat believes that there is a very dangerous creature somewhere in the southwest of this area.: Have you seen a halfling about?: The rat believes he saw a halfling or similar creature somewhere in the southeast of this area.: Where could I find some valuables?: It takes a little while to make the rat understand that by “valuables” you mean something other than edible garbage. Once the rat understands the kind of thing you have in mind, he proves helpful.: The rat thinks there might be something of interest to you in the southwest part of the area, but warns that going there might prove hazardous. He also mentions a pile of garbage in the western part of the area that had some possibly valuable shiny stones mixed in it.: A useful tip, as without knowing there was something there, you could hardly expect to find it mixed in with so much trash.: Thanks for the info. I must go now.Rats are very helpful. Being able to communicate with animals opens up a lot of options, and they are also happy to point you toward extra loot. Loot is good. Given the rat’s information, we turn toward the southwest. Across the bridge, we can see some Dire Rats moving around.  At the moment, we are very squishy, but fortunately we have Coco to protect us. Even for a Druid, killing animals is sometimes necessary. We handle this encounter the way we will handle most encounters for the next while.  We throw a rock at it, sic Coco on the beast, then…  Run away as fast as we can while Coco handles things. It doesn’t take long.  Coco is a vicious, rat slaying machine.  : That’s a good girl.: PurrsOnce done giving Coco some scritches, we turn our attention back to the west and head over the bridge. There’s a pile of garbage up against the wall.  The rat was true to his word, there are a couple of gemstones in he heap that we decide to pocket, along with the gold. Scraps of cloth aren’t of any use to us, so we leave those behind. Continuing southwest, we find a couple of hallways. The first is blocked off, but down the second we find another rat friend!  : Hi! How are you doing today? The rat seems to be busy doing important rat things, so we leave them to their business. Heading down the hallway…  We find a door on the south wall that seems to lead up to the Calimport streets. We’ll keep that in mind for later, but I somehow doubt our missing halfling found his way here. Otherwise, he probably wouldn’t still be missing.  We try both sides of the blocked off hallway, but the gates are locked and we don’t have the skill to open them.  Neither our dinky dagger nor Coco’s claws have any luck penetrating them, so to get to the southeast side of the sewers we’re going to have to take the long way around. Let’s check out the northwestern side first.  Another bridge, another friendly rat too busy to talk to us. There’s some sort of gate on the far side, but when we approach it…  At least our sewage misadventures are self-limiting. We find a few gold pieces in a trash pile next to the passage, but nothing else of interest. With all other avenues explored, we turn back toward the helpful rat and then passed him, to the northeast. There’s no other path to where the rat saw the poor halfling.  The northeastern hallway branches in three directions; north, east, and south. We come up on the northern branch first.  There’s an awkward moment where we and the small group of goblins and kobolds just stare at each other, but, all things must end.   : ARGLEBARGLEThe group charges us, and we barely have the time to loose one stone from our sling before they are upon us.  We create some distance (run away) while we draw our knife…  But then battle is joined. Coco slays the first before it can get to us, and then begins to tear into them from behind. The enemies are only equipped with clubs, but two or three blows are enough to bring Namli down.  We have to retreat and leave the last for Coco to handle.  Which she does. Eagerly. She seems to want more praise, but Namli is a bit roughed up at the moment so the kitty will need to wait until we get a few healing potions down. We search the bodies, but other than the aforementioned clubs they don’t have anything of value. We take the proof of our kills to warn the town guard later. Nothing of interest in the room either. Leaving the bodies behind, we proceed east…  And find another doorway. This one seems to have been blow inwards by an explosion, or something very strong.  There isn’t much visible beyond the passageway, so after picking through the garbage (and finding a few more gold), it’s time for the southern hallway.  Another bridge, and, you guessed it.  Another group of rats. We’re used to this song and dance. We throw rocks and sic Coco on them. Five seconds later…  The rats are dead. Coco’s a little bit hurt, but rat bites come with a consequence. Unfortunately…  She is infected. Filth Fever is an annoying disease that causes permanent Constitution damage until the disease itself is resolved. The missing halfling’s sister gave us a scroll that will cure it, but there might be more rats to fight before we’re through. It will take a few hours for the disease to start harming Coco.  Continuing southward, we find a broken bridge that leads to the east. Let’s just hope the halfling’s not that far to the southeast, because there is no way Namli is taking a swim in that muck. Taking the door to the west, we find a chamber and another friendly rat. Unfortunately, he just repeats information that we already know.  Beyond the rat-friend, we find a gate.  On the other side of that gate is our missing halfling, Bunglo. Like the other gates, we can neither pick the lock nor break it down. Unlike the other gates…  We have a lever.  Voila. One less gate to worry about. Let’s go talk to Bunglo before he decides to make a break for it.  : I take it you are Bunglo Bofmer? Your sister Binga sent me to look for you. : Yes, I’m Bunglo. I was searching the sewers for the lost treasure of Tarshal Darokun when I was trapped here by a freakish mischance.: Binga worries too much, but in this case I suppose it was a good thing.: How did you end up trapped here?: You won’t believe it. As I was exploring I came across a fearsome Troll! Who knew there was such a creature roaming the sewers? I admit I wasn’t prepared to face such a dangerous opponent. I was expecting rats or something like that.: A Troll? How did you survive?: On my way inside, I discovered this room. The doors are pretty solid, and controlled by levers. I think it was designed as a secure refuge for sewer maintenance workers who run into trouble with the creatures down here.: Of course, the creatures have to be too stupid to operate the levers themselves, but a lot of monsters are stupid. Anyway, I fled here and closed the doors with this lever. The troll couldn’t get in, and eventually lost interest and wandered away.: Isn’t there a way to open the doors from the inside? : Do you have any leads on exactly where Tarshal’s treasure is?: You thinking of going after it yourself? Well, I’m giving up at this point, so good luck to you, but be careful. The troll that chased me in here is still around somewhere.: To answer your question, I don’t know anything specific, but it’s not supposed to be too far from the inn. The Shifting Sands was more or less Tarshal’s base of operations, by all accounts.: Your sister is waiting for you at the inn. Should we return?: The sewers have proven a lot more dangerous than I’d expected. Let’s get out of here.: Very well. Let’s go.Bunglo Bofmer has joined the party.  You may think this is excellent news, because surely having more party members can only be a good thing. You would be wrong. We cannot control our party members, or even our animal companion. They will spend the entirety of their time with us sprinting face first into every trap that has ever been planted. They will start fights we are not ready for, and they will crumple in a stiff breeze. Worse still, Swordflight scales its encounter difficulty based on the number of people in your party. Including Coco, or any monsters we summon. The module becomes much, much more difficult when you have to babysit people. The only time party members are worthwhile is when they are able to open locks and disable traps for you, or they are Coco and the most adorable prettiest cat in the world. I will suffer any amount of difficulty for Coco. Ahem. Anyway, we’ve cleared the way for Bunglo, so we’ll just escort him back to the inn. It all goes smoothly until…  Some rats show up about half way back to the stairs. Coco already has filth fever, so there’s no reason to try any special tactics.  Coco cleans them up with little difficulty. Even big rats don’t really hold up against a panther.  Nothing else interferes with our journey, and we push him up the stairs and out of our lives.  : Take care, Bunglo.Now that we are no longer on babysitting duty, let’s go take a look at that whole troll and treasure business.  We head back to the room Bunglo was trapped in, and he wasn’t lying. The lever is rusted shut — if the gates close while you’re in there, you’re stuck. The troll must be pretty close, I doubt Bunglo would have been able to outrun it for long. The only control we do have over our companions is this little menu.  Companions listen to these instructions about half the time. Which is better than none of the time, but I would really rather it was all of the time. We tell Coco not to attack until we do. She’d become a kitty pancake if she went up against a troll. Continuing up the hallway to the west, we actually pass a skill check for once.  Treasure this moment. It is probably the last time we will pass a listen check. We inch our way forward until…  There it is. Our strategy is simple.  We throw a rock at it…  And we run away. A quick look over our shoulder…  Yup. It’s still chasing us. We’re almost to the room we found Bunglo in, though.  We’ve got it in the room. Now all we have to do is get out, make sure that Coco is on the right side of the gate, and flip the switch.   Troll problem solved. To be safe we’ll go the long way around and make sure it’s stuck in there.  Yup. He’s good and trapped. Trolls have a ridiculous amount of health regeneration, but if we had the right equipment we could just whack him through the bars until he died. We don’t have that equipment, though, so we’ll just leave him be. We’ll try to remember to let him out before he leave for good. Back to the room we found him in.  There’s a large treasure chest just hanging out on a dais. Taking a look at it…  I guess we can safely assume it belongs to our guy. It’s locked, but this chest is punchable.   It’s… just going to take a little while.  There we go. Now let’s see what this wondrous treasure is.  A couple of useful potions, a healing kit,  a book,  and a ring. Not exactly a great haul. We can’t use the book — it requires that your alignment be good, and even if we could use it, none of those cantrips are notable. drat. Maybe it’ll sell for something, at least. The ring, however, is as useless as its name. We’ll hold on to it just in case it ever comes up again since it’s only worth five gold and weighs nothing. There’s nothing else of interest in the room, but there is a door on the far side. Going through it…  We find ourselves on the opposite side of those gates we couldn’t open before. Pulling the levers next to them opens them up, though gods willing we will never need to come back down here again.  Back to the door that seemed to lead up into the street, and,  out into the cool night air. Where there are once again a couple of people standing around screaming. This time about getting kicked out of a bar. Before we go sort out their problem, we sift through a garbage barrel nearby and find a pair of boots.   Nothing to write home about, but every little bit helps and we didn’t have boots equipped to begin with. For some unknown reason all of the garbage barrels contain random low-powered magical items. I don’t know what crazy wizard is just dumping them all in the trash instead of selling them for fifty gold a piece, but, whatever. It works out for us. Time to go find out what all the screaming is about.  : Excuse me, could I speak with you for a moment?: He finally seems to notice your approach. : You! Yous’re from ther inn aren’t you? They thhrow me out but let shomeone like you in. Itsha a…a…an outrage. Shomeone’s going to pay for thish.: In fact, I think, youus going to pay for thish. Thatsh a good idea, charge ever’body who goesh in. Yous got…have no bushinesh patro…patranish..goin’ to place like that. Pay me 5 gold or I gut yous for it! : I’ve no wish to kill someone over a mere 5 gold. If it will keep things peaceful, you can have it. Here.: [You sacrificed gold to avoid killing someone. Alignment Shift Good +1. You have earned the title of Namli the Reconciler.: That’sh good! That’ll teach Shalud!: Yes, it will. I think you’ve made your point, and don’t need to threaten anyone else. After all, it’s not as if someone like you really needs the money.: Ya…you ish prob’ly right.: The belligerent drunk’s friend whispers to you.: I’m sorry about that. You must be a very good person. No one could have blamed you for resisting his extortion. Here, this should more than make up for your losses. : Thank you. I’ll, uh, be going now.A strange little encounter, but we come away with a new title, some experience, and money. Not bad for three minutes of work. Titles don’t do anything except notify you when you reach a “perfect” alignment. “Reconciler” indicates that you have exactly 50 lawfulness and 50 goodness. Perfectly True Neutral. We leave the drunk fellow to argue with the wall for a bit and go explore. To the southwest…  An alley that leads deeper into the city and some miscellaneous trash on the floor. Popping open one of the barrels, we find a small healing potion but…  I guess that random street barrel belonged to someone, unlike all the others I ransacked. That title didn’t last long.  Northward we find a hatch, which presumably leads to that exit we found in the Shifting Sand’s cellar.  Around the corner, we are immediately assaulted by another small group of escaped slaves?  They don’t put up much of a fight. Coco kills the first two before they even close with us, and the third moments after. We take a few more trophies from the corpses, but there’s nothing else of value. The only variety of “escaped slave” in this section that poses a threat are the orcs. Instead of clubs, they are armed with enormous staff things that have one-shot potential. For some reason, we haven’t seen many of them. Maybe they have better things to do. To the far north are more alleys that lead deeper into the city, but invisible walls continue to be our nemesis so we turn to the southeast.  Another group of escaped slaves jump us as we approach the final corner. Unlike before, Coco was a bit separated from us so the mixed goblin and kobold brigade had the opportunity to get in a few shots.  Once Coco gets into the mix, things are resolved quickly.  We took a nasty clubbing, but it’s nothing a few potions won’t fix. We’re up to carrying around ten goblin and kobold heads. Hopefully we can find something to do with them soonish, because they’re starting to get heavy. The alley terminates in a cul-de-sac, and having fully explored the environs, we return to the Shifting Sands.  This is the stable door, I think. It’s hard to tell because there aren’t any signs or anything hanging. Content Warning Starts Here  When we enter the stables, we find a half-orc arguing with a group of individuals. We’re drawn into the conversation a moment later.   : We hungry. We eat horses! : What? Those horses were valuable property! This sort of behavior is unacceptable. You will have to be severely punished.: We not care what ‘ceptable. We not take punishments anymore! I am orc! I kill and plunder, not do slave work. : Yes. We go. Not be slaves anymore.: We go. Kill everyone we find! : Plunder city and raze it!: You fools! Your status as slaves is the only reason creatures such as you have been alive. If you cause any trouble the city guard will kill you all.: No! We fight guard. We be mighty orcs and goblins.: And kobold! Guards will flee before powerful mighty kobold.: This is madness. You can’t fight an entire city, all you can do is bring its wrath down upon you. Please, I only mean to help you, you must obey me.: No. No obey! We kill you first!: Yes! Kill the cruel slavemaster. Then we carry his head around the city as we pillage it.: Die! Die!: It seems clear that this situation can only end in violence, and from their talk it also seems clear the humanoids will be coming after you as soon as they have finished off their former master. The situation devolves into a brawl soon after. Coco rips through them like a knife through butter; unarmored individuals can’t hold up to her fury.  : And I am Namli Kivna. Just what was that all about, anyway?: I believe you heard enough to gather that those creatures were my slaves, but unwilling to accept such a status. Their presence in the city stems from the bright idea of one of the nobles in the government handling military administration.: When raiding humanoids were captured in battle, he realized that they could be sold into slavery instead of being simply put to death.: And you obviously bought some of them.: Of course this noble knew that they would make poor slaves and remain very dangerous, but he would make money off their sale. After that, any remaining problems would be someone else’s.: While he only sought to enrich himself, I believed that his program could be made to serve a better purpose.: And that would be?: You can see that I am a half orc. Over the years I have encountered many who assume that I must be inclined to evil because of my orcish blood.: While I have managed to attain a position of some wealth and influence in this city, it was not easy, and many of my kin have had an even harder time.: I thought that if I purchased some of these creatures as slaves, I would be able to teach them civilized ways, and wean them away from the barbaric savagery to which they were accustomed.: If I could take those everyone considers to be monsters and turn them into productive members of society, it would demonstrate that no one is forced by his blood to be evil.: Of course I knew this would not be easy. These creatures had all been raised to see human cities as dens of enemies, and humans of course thought of them as monsters. I often had to treat them quite harshly to keep their violent tendencies in check.: This was for their own good as much as that of anyone else: I knew that they were liable to be killed without mercy on the slightest pretext. Unfortunately, they had difficulty understanding this.: As you have just seen, all my hopes and plans are now in ruins. My slaves managed to get their hands on tools they could use as weapons, and promptly decided to revolt. Some of them tried to kill me, as you saw, and others have run off. I can only hope the city guard will stop them before they murder someone.: I fear I was wrong to hope that anything could be done with such creatures. They have been too thoroughly corrupted by their miserable circumstances. Perhaps putting them to death is the only good course after all.: I suppose there are arguments both ways. I wouldn’t know. : Actually, I think I have already run across some of these slaves. Are these the heads you are looking for?: Why, yes. That is my brand. Indeed, from the number of heads you have there I think you have hunted down all who escaped. They should be no further trouble. Here is your reward.: Thank you. Goodbye. Content Warning Ends Here Well, that was a heck of a thing. Having finished our discussion with the slaver, and gotten rid of all of the heads we had been collecting, let’s go tell Binga Bofmer the good news about her brother.  : Let’s hope so. Goodbye.: Thanks for your assistance. On my next adventuring foray, I’ll be better prepared.Hopefully he won’t find himself being chased by any trolls. Having cleared out the sewers, rescued a halfling, and explored the streets of Calimport, I think this is a good time for Namli to get a little rest. Maybe have a beer or two. Namli and Coco’s adventures will continue Tuesdayish. (Reloads this episode: 0) (Total reloads: 1) Nyrv fucked around with this message at 01:48 on Oct 15, 2023 |
|
#
?
Oct 14, 2023 20:17
|
|