[i] - Version History
[ii] - Introduction
[iii] - Legal Info
[iv] - My Character
[v] - Walkthrough
[vi] - Henchmen List
[vii] - Easter Eggs
[viii] - Wanted Information
[ix] - Credits
0.1 (feb 6th 2004) - Started working on it.
0.2 (feb 8th 2004) - Chapter One written and completed.
0.25 (feb 9th 2004) - added first four parts of chapter 2.
0.26 (feb 10th 2004) - Minor corrections and additions.
0.3 (feb 11th 2004) - added 2.4 and 2.5, minor layout changes.
0.34 (feb 24th 2004) - ASCII logo added, few minor additions.
0.35 (june 4th 2004) - minor additions from other people.
Oi, my first real attempt at making a genuine walkthrough for a game.
Allthough I've spent a lot of time playing, I've never really had the time
to write one. Now it seems I, once again, have lost the time. I wonder if this
will ever be finished. :(
Either way, you are right now reading my very first walkthrough,
feel free to mail any additions, forgotten things, mistakes and suggestions
to the mail mentioned above. It may take time, but they will all be added :)
This document was written by Rune Hansen. Please do not post it, copy it
or any other of all those copyright thingies (bear with me here, you all
know what it's supposed to say, but legal english and me is not a good match).
Either way, if you really, really want to post this somewhere then just mail
me (thunderztorm@hotmail.com) and ask - as long as you don't change the
document, I'm fine with it. Really. I am. Latest version of this walkthrough
is available at www.gamefaqs.com.
Since my SoU-char got pretty boring already through SoU, I've decided to
start with a new char. I'll make a few pros/cons to both ways:
SoU-char: You keep all cash, allthough your equipment is lost.
You are however, or at least I was, "only" level 12.
New char: No cash, no gear - but you're level 15, even before you see an
enemy. I highly suggest you pick a class you've played before, since knowing
your char's strenghts and weaknesses is imperative for success in this game.
Since I don't follow my own advice, my character was a pure paladin, a class
I admire, but rarely play (due to my desire to pick locks, remove traps and
the likes). Either way, my char was pretty simple:
Female Human Paladin (level 15) - str: 16 dex: 10, con: 14, int: 10,
wis: 14, cha: 15. Pretty basic layout for a pally I believe. Oh well,
let's get started on this, shall we?
Chapter 2:
[2.1] - Lith My'Athar
[2.2] - Shaori's Fell
[2.3] - The Isle of the Maker - Island + Level 1.
[2.3] - The Isle of the Maker - Level 2 + 3.
[2.4] - Underdark - West of Lith My'Athar.
[2.5] - Underdark - Drearing's Deep. (The Undead army of Valsharess)
If you, like me, created a character from scratch, you'll start out by
levelling up to 15. How you do that is your choice, there is no Best Way to do
this, we all know that. When you're done, rest, and watch a sweet cutscene of
an angry drow matron and her loyal followers telling about how you're the
Chosen One. Like in all other games, you are no mere adventurer. You are ALWAYS
the CHOSEN ONE. When you wake up, a drow assassin is stealing your stuff. Kill
the culprit. If you loaded your SoU char, that would actually be all the cool
gear you had with you from SoU in that chest. Don't worry though, you will have
a chance of getting it later, after you found better gear of course.
Now, another female joins the party. This turns out to be the innkeeper's
daughter, Tamsil. She's of course sad that you lost your gear, and tells you
to go to the armory to get some replacement stuff.
Ask her everything to get a bit of basic knowledge about the situation in
Waterdeep. Remember to loot the drow for a blue ioun stone, a drow dagger and
a trap kit.
Let's have a look at your remaining gear. A wee dagger, a Relic of the Reaper,
a rogue stone (for use by the relic of course) and a worn book.
The book is the story of Undrentide, written by a certain little kobold who
used to be the servant of a white dragon. The Relic is this game's version of
the Stone of Recall or Town Portal - whatever you wish to call it. Either way,
you can find out about it by reading the description, or taking a trip to your
little pocket plane and talking to the Reaper himself. You even have a journal
entry about it, try checking your completed quests.
Go out of your room, and to the right to get to the armory. It even has a
convenient sign. Check everything, take everything, the stuff you can't use
will do nicely for giving you a little starting cash. Don't sell the rogue
stones however, you'll need those for your relic. you can go talk to the
fellows in the common room. If you're really polite with Tanarell and asks
him for all advice about Undermountain, it gives you 200xp.
If you don't care about loosing alignmentr, you can break into the empty rooms
and loot the stuff located there. There's no special equipment or anything tho,
so you won't loose much if you don't do it.
In the first room, you'll meet a few familiar names (If you played the original
NWN campaign that is): Daelan Red Tiger, Tomi Undergallows, Linu La´Neral and
Sharwyn. These four are right now a group of adventurers seeking glory, fame
and the 100.000 gp award for rescuing Waterdeep. You can talk a bit to them to
get some information. No big details, but don't worry, you haven't seen the
last of these four buggers.
Talk to Parley and listen to her story. Be polite and friendly,
and she'll cast Bull's Strenght on you. At least, that's what she does
if you are a melee class - any info about spellcasters would be appreciated.
Talk to Drezzy for a funny story about his heroic deeds - no reward this time,
except for the little laugh.
Enter the door to the main room. You'll be teleported into a scene
with all the heroes who have come to assist Waterdeep and the man
himself, Durnan.
After a little chitchat you'll get interrupted by a group of drow.
Whack 'em one way or the other, and follow the others into the well room
where another drow party is attacking. Whack 'em like the rest,
watch the cutscene, and talk to Durnan again.
Now it's time to take it easy for a second, just like Durnan tells you to.
First, let's get rid of all that gear we took at the armory. Talk to White
Thesta, she's the very first merchant you'll meet. She'll also give you a Rod
of Resurrection in case the four fools get killed in their assault. Keep that
one, you'll need it later.
NOTE: This place would be a GREAT idea to make your first bind spot. It's close
to healer, Durnan and a merchant as well. Besides, you need to learn the system
of the Reaper anyways, so here's a good place to start.
Don't worry too much about the rogue stones, there are quite a few in
undermountain.
There's also a possible henchman here, the ever-funny kobold Deekin.
Wether you want him or not, you should at least take him into your party
and take all his stuff, he does have some decent gear actually.
Deekin: Reptilian, True Neutral
Bard (14)
Red Dragon Disciple (1)
STR: 8
DEX: 12
CON: 15
INT: 10
WIS: 10
CHA: 18
He's a pretty good bard, and, in due time, he'll be a decent
Red Dragon Disciple - if you let him, that is.
Either way, he does have a lot of funny comments throughout the game,
and you really should take him with you at least on one runthrough,
just for the comments. If you lack lore or general buffs, Deekin's your man.
Besides, he's a decent shot with his crossbow as well.
That's pretty much it here. There are two possibilities now. Either proceed
down, or go to Waterdeep.
You'll be confronted by a guard, but nevermind him, he'll back off once he
finds out who you are. There are two shops here, one armor/weapon and, of
course, a magic shoppe. Both of which have some neat items, at least for the
first part of the game. Both has some pretty funny dialogue by the way.
At the magic shop you can also watch a cutscene of the drow attack on
Waterdeep's Academy. Buy what you need (or can afford), and go to the
northeastern part of the area to battle some duergar. When you're all done,
re-enter the Yawning Portal, and proceed downwards into Undermountain.
A goblin will speak to you on the double. You can talk to him and get a lot of
basic info on what's going on in Undermountain. In the end, if you send him up
as well as return up yourself, you'll be able to get Durnan to hire the little
bugger as a cleaner. You can also tell the new information to Durnan, and, with
good enough persuade, convince him to give you 18000gp. Nice little reward for
that tidbit of info, and your alignment doesn't change at all. If you need more
shopping, do it while you're here, because next stop is Undermountain. Oh btw,
whack the skelly that spawn when you get close to the entrance.
By the way, each time you get new info about Halaster, you can go see Durnan
and get a similar reward. It's around 20.000 gp everytime, so it's worth the
trip, that's for sure.
In general, if you're not a trap-finder, beware of traps down here. Also, there
are many portals, I wouldn't use them though, since they teleport you around
seemingly random. I prefer to just walk around and explore, but of course,
it's a matter of preference. The enemy here consists mainly of Ogres, Trolls,
Harpies and a single group of Drow and Duergar like the ones at the inn in the
beginning. There's loads of secret doors by the way, so a good search skill is
of major use. Some of the doors lead to nothing, others to treasure. Oh by the
way. All over the level you'll find locked chests. If you're not a thief
yourself, the only option is to bash them. A few of these might take quite a
while to bash, but every single chest is possible to break - at least Daelan
can do it ;)
One of the first things you'll encounter is the body of Sharwyn. Resurrect her
and let her join you if you so wish. If you don't want her to join up, she'll
return to Durnan:
Sharwyn: Human, True Neutral
Bard (7)
Fighter (6)
STR: 14
DEX: 18
CON: 12
INT: 13
WIS: 10
CHA: 20
I haven't got any real experience with Sharwyn, so I will be honest and tell
you that I have no idea wether or not she's a cool companion.
You will need to get her some equipment before she's worth anything though
- she has no equipment at all.
Let's explore further. You'll soon notice a group of colored pillars.
You can't do anything with them yet, but once you've located enough colored
rods, you can open the entrance to level 2 there. It's rather simple,
you start with the lever all to the right, pick one of the colums all in
the back, and insert a rod of the same color. Repeat that until you get a path
through the cube-like thing. Let's wait with that, however, and explore the
entire level 1 - there's a lot of things to do here, so let's get on with it.
The Central part, which is the one we start in, has several places of interest:
To the west, the mirror hall. This place is sorta creepy. Behind every mirror
except one, there is treasure. Don't destroy the mirrors, look into them, and
choose one item to take. After that, the mirror dissapears, so choose wisely.
(read: choose the thing you think is the most valuable). Not the biggest loot,
but hey, it's something. One of the middle mirrors on the east side creates a
copy of you. Hostile as it is, you'll kill copy-you of course. This is also
where the corpse of Daelan Red Tiger is located, let's have a closer look on
this brute as well, shall we:
Daelan Red Tiger: Half-Orc, Chaotic Good
Barbarian (13)
STR: 23
DEX: 14
CON: 14
INT: 10
WIS: 10
CHA: 7
He's a straight-forward melee assault machine, so I assume he's an ideal
partner if you're a mage, and even if you're not, he's still a pretty good
add-on if you lack some punch. He already has a double axe +1 and a pair of
unique gloves, so just put him in an armor (of which there are several in this
area alone) and he's good to go.
To the north we have the Hall of Kings. A lot of skellies are located in
chairs, and in the eastern part you get to talk to Enserric. He's a long sword
(+4 with a little extra as well), so he's a pretty badass sword to be honest.
The catch is, you have to kill all the kings to get it. It shouldn't prove too
hard a fight, but it's still the hardest in this area imo. The loot is worth it
though. Enserric, full plate +4, Staff of Defense to mention some of it. (What
is it with Forgotten Realms and talking swords by the way? It seems there's one
in every game...)
In the southeast part of the map, we have a Grim Statue - which is actually an
Old Blue Dragon. For some reason (prolly something to do with the traps on the
floor - there are loads, but if you don't touch them before you attack the
dragon, it seems it won't attack you), it didn't attack me, so I can't really
say if the fight's hard or not, allthough I assume the bugger is a pretty tough
one. Remember to loot the treasure room after you nail it.
Now, with the central area cleared, we have two choices: North to the ogre lair,
or south to the fairy queen.
This area's enemies are primarily Orcs, Ogres and Trolls. Lots of traps again,
and of course secret doors. Five rooms require specific interest:
All the way in the southwest part, there is a room called The Maze. It's full
of traps, and each traps sets off a series of magic missiles. There are two
ways to this. Either smash the columns that fire the spells, or reach the
northern part and pull the two levers to make it all go away. Of course, with
the two drow marksmen, this is easier said than done, especially for a mage.
In the opposite corner, we got a room with a sarcophagus. Your henchman will
claim it's evil, but go click it anyway (who listens to henchmen anyway?). A
Mummy Lord approaches, so kill it, and loot the sarcophagus afterwards for a
greater amulet of health. Those things are always handy ;)
In the middle room to the north we have a pretty big bunch of ogres, trolls
and orcs. Kill 'em all. The room right west of that is the room of the Ogre
Mage. It is possible to come to an agreement with the ogre mage, and if you
let him run, you get 500xp. If you have Daelean however, be advised that it's
very likely that Daelean, due to his sheer power, just kills the ogre before
you get a chance to talk. Either way, you should kill the bugger, he has some
pretty good loot.
In this room, there is also a way down to level 2 - if it wasn't blocked by
rocks that is. If we could just find some explosives (hint: south part ;p).
Right south of the Ogre Mage's room, there is another Drow/Duergar group.
These ones are different from the other groups in one point, however. They have
GOOD loot. They're still as easy as the others though, so just slaughter your
way through 'em, and enjoy the free equipment.
There are two ways into this area, one at the left part and one on the right
part of the map. Both of course from the Central area. If you take the left
part down, you'll start out in a room with three little Grigs who each summons
a Zombie Protector (notice the three sarcophaguses). There's a little loot in
one of the sarcophaguses.
Proceed southwards through a room with ogres and fairies, and into a room with
cocoons and spiderwebs. In the middle of the room (sort of), you'll get a
web dangling down message. If you fail the reflex save, you'll have to fight
all in all 4 spiders, with the last one being the Queen. None of them are too
tough tho, so it's fairly easy XP. I'd suggest you keep walking over that spot
until you fail it, and whack the spideys. ;)
Proceed south, and go west from that room. In here you'll meet the Fairy Queen.
She'll summon all sorts of animals to protect her while she is invisible
herself, but nothing too hard, especially not if you got Daelan with you.
Like the Ogre Mage, she too will surrender when she reaches near death, and she
will talk with you. If you let her go, you get 500xp. In her treasury, you'll
also find an Alchemist's Keg. This can be used to blow away the rocks blocking
the door down at the Ogre Mage.
On the other side (the right side) of the level, there are four rooms.
The first room you'll enter is a measly short battle with some fairies, the
second is another battle, this time with Duergar. The third room is special
though. There are three gargoyle statues and a lever at each.
Each minute or so, a "skeleton bomb" spawns, when it blows, the gargoyles turn
around randomly. The point is to turn the statues so they point at the door.
It's easy to see, there's a beam toward the door when they point the right way,
pull the lever so they are protected by a force field, thus not turning when
the skelly bomb explodes. Do this to all three and the door blows open,
revealing another treasure room.
The last room, The Bombmaker's Sanctum is pretty hard to get into. As far as
I've understood, there are two ways to get in there. Either bet on the
teleporters to land you in there, or locate the secret doors leading inside the
room. Either way, the room itself isn't THAT interesting. A little fairy
spawning Skeleton Bombs all the time. I assume that those bombs are the same
ones spawning at the before mentioned room, so you could go in there, kill the
maker, and have all the time in the world to solve the puzzle at the gargoyles.
It doesn't really matter much though. The Bombmaker fairy got a Rogue Stone, so
that should be enough of an excuse to kill it ;)
Now, when all this is done, we have two ways of moving downstairs to level 2.
Either we use all the weird colored rods we've found scattered about on this
level or we use the alchemist's keg on the door in the northern part. Whatever
road you choose, clearing a way down gives you 2000xp.
Either way you choose to go down, you start out at the same place, and only the
door to the east to go through. You start with watching a cutscene of a golem
running through a door, and some drow trying to open it afterwards. The point
is that you need to put n four chains at each of the colored pillars. Seems the
chains teleport randomly around after the door is closed.
Enter the door, and watch a fleeing goblin get killed by two drow. Kill the
drow and loot the goblin for the yellow chain, and a small key.
Now you only miss three chains, and funnily enough, there's three doors from
the central part. North, South and East. What a coincidence, right? ;)
Right when you enter the "main room", which actually is more of one giant cave
thingie, you'll see some piles of treasure just to the north. One of those
piles spawn a mummy lord and two mummies. The rest is genuine free treasure,
among other things a ring of free thought +3 (mages, rejoice).
Between the east and north door, there's a trap btw. In the middle of it all,
at the door down, the two drow are still trying to bash down the door. Kill em.
While you're here, try checking out the text to the statues, seems the devs
have a sense of humor ;)
Anyway, let's head south first - things will happen there that'll help you a
LOT in the eastern part.
This area consists of five rooms all in all, and each room is following the
other directly. All but the last room consists of a group of drow/duergar
trying to kill you. The last one has a Drow sub-commander (who is a mage,
and a decent one indeed) - and the body of little Tomi Undergallows.
Kill the drow bastard, and resurrect Tomi (500xp, just like the others). The
drow has some very nice equipment, and of course he has the second chain.
Two down, two to go. But, let's have a closer look at Tomi:
Tomi Undergallows, Halfling, Chaotic Neutral
Rogue (11)
Shadowdancer (3)
STR: 10
DEX: 23
CON: 16
INT: 12
WIS: 10
CHA: 10
Tomi is the only real thief you can get, and thus an obvious choice as a
henchman if you have problems with traps and the likes.
Tomi starts out with a Kukri +3, Tomi's Armor and a pair of Elvenkind Boots.
His shadowdancer abilities makes him pretty damaging with sneak attacks,
so in general he's a decent killer to have around.
Also on this level, in the trapped drow chest, you'll find a Djinni Bottle.
Rub it, and talk to the Djinni for an "Activation Stone" and the possibility of
shopping at the Djinni. Now you got your own portable loot-selling place,
he doesn't pay as much as White Thesta though. (She'll pay 7500 as maximum for
an item, while the Djinni will only pay 5000). In the description it tells you
that he'll add new gear when he gets a Soul Gem from you. I'm not too sure I
ever found one of these, but I'll make sure to let you know if I come across
one. I AM sure that there is none in the abovementioned areas though.
Now, remember the Djinni told about a portal in the eastern part? Well, let's
go in, walk through the first door, kill the Rakshaka buggers and loot their
corpses for some fine stuff. A nymph cloak +5 among other things. Well, one of
the corpses has a key, so let's use it and open the next door. Hmm, a group of
slaves and a portal. How interesting. Talk to Shareesh and agree to find the
activation stone. Remember the stone we got from the Djinni? Tell him you have
it, and the Djinni shows up, telling you that Shareesh isn't exactly a human
slave. Shareesh goes mad, and demasks himself. Turns out him and the other
slaves are Rakshaka. Kill them all, and loot Shareesh's corpse for the third
chain.
We aren't completely done here yet though, so rest up if needed, and proceed
to the next room. Here we have another group of Rakshaka mages. Kill 'em all,
and loot the chests. In the sarcophagus in the middle you'll find Linu, the
last of the four fools rushing down the well. Resurrect her, and bring her
along if you feel you lack a healer:
Linu La'Neral, Elf, Neutral Good.
Cleric (15)
STR: 16
DEX: 12
CON: 12
INT: 10
WIS: 23
CHA: 12
Linu is the only cleric in the game, so if you feel the need for healing during
combat, she's the obvious choice. She also has a mace +3 and a unique robe. I
haven't got much experience with her though, so I can't say if she's a good
choice.
Oh, if you, after you clear the area of course, use the activation stone on
that portal thing, you'll get a portal that sends you right outside the Yawning
Portal. Pretty handy I'd say, allthough it's a bit useless since we're pretty
close to level 3 :)
This whole area is Goblin-land. Full of traps and some archers that use paint
arrows on you. That paint makes you easier to hit, but it can't really be
avoided, so just kill 'em as fast as you can. If the paint doesn't dissapear,
save and reload. It's a bug in the game, it's supposed to dissapear but it
doesn't always.
Behind the first eastbound door, you'll find Stoney, a big bugger with nice
loot. I dunno why he's named though, he's hostile right away, and there's no
way to avoid killing him. Either way, he does give a white dragon armor and a
nice club. Nothing more here, so move on westwards and kill some more
goblin archers, goblin elites and goblin shamans (hey, I told you it was
Goblin land, didn't I?).
Eventually, you'll come across a bridge, and, if you're not either a thief or
an archer of some sort, you'll be insanely mad. Those goblins will fire away at
you while you try to make Tomi understand that he needs to remove the traps and
pick the locks. I found the best way (as a melee char) was to just bash one of
the doors, run away, heal up, bash the next and go on a killing spree, Tomi is
simply way too confused to be any good here.
After the bridge, you get into a room with a named goblin who's pulling some
levers. Kill him, loot everything including the last chain, and - if you can -
try working out what those levers are for. I have no idea personally, after
spending something around an hour or so just toying around with 'em, I thought
to myself: they do nothing, move on you fool. Any info otherwise would be very
appreciated.
Now let's move down to level 3. Go back to the chains, attach them all in the
right colors, and watch the pool turn active. Click the pool and watch the
colors. You have to pull the right chains in the right order afterwards, so
remember them. The colors change each time, but it's always six colors though,
and the same color can come more times in a row.
My last one was green, red, green, green, green, yellow for example.
When you're past that, talk to Halaster's son - a flesh golem. He tells you
that the drow has captured Halaster, allthough it seems rather odd that such a
powerful wizard as him could be captured by normal drow, it is what has
happened. So, after you promise the poor little golem that you'll free his
father, you're ready to move down and enter the third level of Undermountain.
The first thing you'll notice is the change of scenery, now it looks natural
caves instead of a built dungeon. Seems you've gone pretty deep. The second
thing you'll notice is the group of drow attacking you. Kill 'em, and move
forward through the west door. A drow female will approach you, and tell you
that she's a member of a rebel force whose intention is to stop the Valsharess
(ooh, our enemy has a name now. You've seen that Valsharess girl, it's the evil
drow from the intro cutscene.) Anyway, this Nathyrra broad tells you that the
drow has captured some formians to do slave labour for them. She suggests you
free them to gain some allies down here. That seems to be a good idea, so go
straight south from where you start, and kill all the drow guarding the
formians. Pull the lever at the queen. She'll thank you and promise to repay
the debt. Some say that you can use Halaster's magnifying glass (found earlier)
to kill the formians. I haven't tried that, since I always help them - any info
about how and why would be nice.
So, after you IDed all the magical stuff those drow dropped, return to the
westbound entrance, and move forward. In the room just before the drow camp,
the formians return to you.
They give you two options: Either they'll make a tunnel so you can sneak around
the drow or they'll help you fight them. Even though they don't give any
important items I'd still say you should kill them. I don't like the feeling of
having a large group of drow behind me when I move forward. It's your choice
though, it shouldn't matter much wether you kill them or not, but hey, the only
good drow is a dead drow, right? Except Drizzt and Nathyrra's rebels of course.
Either way, that's it for this part, we'll move on to the North part of this
level.
Nothing special here. You move a few steps and Nathyrra returns, telling you
that a large camp of drow is very close. She also tells you that you can sneak
up behind them, take control of their catapults, and whack 'em that way. I
always do this, as there are a LOT of drow in that camp so sneak up north, use
the hidden entrance, kill the controller and fire the catapult some times, and
*poof* no more drow camp. One thing though, you won't get any XP of those
kills, so if you're an XP-hunter, just whack the two controllers so they at
least won't fire at you while you clear out the camp.
You'll find all your old gear (if you loaded) in one of the chests down there
by the way. By now, the gear should be fairly useless though - but at least you
now know that you won't meet a drow dressed in your stuff ;)
Right when you move forward, you'll once again meet up with Nathyrra. She'll
tell you that Halaster is being held just behind the gate, and that she'll help
you free him. Very well, get ready, open the gate, watch a cutscene and go to
battle. This battle is pretty tough, archers on hills to both sides, two mages
and a handmaiden combined with a group of soldiers. This is a badass group of
drow. Once most are dead, smash the three stones around Halaster, and he'll
finish the remaining drow off. Now, BEFORE you talk to Halaster, there are a
few things to do. Firstly, if you have some of the four resurrected people as
henchmen, take their equipment. Trust me, they won't need it anymore. None of
them will follow you to chapter 2. Deekin doesn't matter though, he'll follow
along anyways. Make sure you also loot everything, you won't get the chance
after speaking to Halaster.
When you're ready, talk to that insane wizard. He is not too pleased to be
saved. It seems his capture was a plan to lure the Valsharess herself to him,
where his copy would then teleport in and kill her. He then puts a geas on you,
thereby forcing you to kill Valsharess. Thereafter, he sends you to the
Underdark, and to my knowledge, only Deekin and Nathyrra will follow you down.
Thus ends chapter one of Hordes of the Underdark.
You have been sent to the drow city of Lith My'Athar. Talk to the seer, and
after that to Nathyrra and Valen Shadowbreath. Both of these will give you some
advice about how to defeat the Valsharess. Both will also join forces with you
if you so wish:
Nathyrra: Elf, Lawful Evil
Wizard (9)
Rogue (3)
Assassin (6)
STR: 12
DEX: 20
CON: 16
INT: 14
WIS: 10
CHA: 10
Nathyrra is, to me at least, an obvious choice as replacement for Tomi. Alltho
she can't do traps and locks as well as him, she still has a highly dangerous
sneak attack - and to top it off, she's a pretty decent wizard as well.
Valen Shadowbreath: Tiefling, Chaotic Good
Fighter (13)
Weapon Master (5)
STR: 19
DEX: 15
CON: 19
INT: 15
WIS: 12
CHA: 10
Valen is this chapter's Daelan, easy as that.
Now, when you're all set, you should have some new entries in your journal:
The ilithid, the undead and the beholder - all armies of Valsharess, and two
about the islands where you should be able to get some needed help for your
quest to stop the Valsharess army. This little temple building here would be
the perfect spot to make your first bind spot in this chapter btw, especially
since you by binding inside, can avoid the outside of the city. This matters,
because once you've completed four of the five missions, Valsharess will launch
an attack. This attack, however, will not happen before you enter the city
after completing four missions. So, with a bind inside the temple, you can
complete all five missions. Anyways, let's go outside.
Let's start out with checking out the city first though, there's a few things
to do here.
First of all, there's two new merchants to trade with: High Wizard Gulhrys and
the smith, Rizolvir. The wizard is an ordinary merchant, but Rizolvir can
upgrade your weapon. He can add all sorts of enchantments to weapons. It does
cost quite an amount of cash, but I find it to be of very good use. Doing the
right things can create you a highly dangerous weapon - and upgrade your
henchmen's as well. For dualwielders, it's only the right-hand weapon he talks
about, so if you want to upgrade the off-hand weapon, switch 'em around ;)
While moving from Gulhrys to Rizolvir, you'll encounter a group of Maeviir drow
harassing some of the Eilistraee followers. If you have Nytharra with you, she
will take care of it and that little matter gives you 500xp.
-evonne has updated me on this, it seems that you only get the xp if Nytharra
is with you. Otherwise, zero, zip, nada.
The last place of interest in the city is the Maeviir house to the southwest.
Talk to Zesyyr, located inside, and accept her proposal. Now, you must choose.
Either kill the Matron Mother or betray Zesyyr - I am not yet certain of the
consequences, but it seems that one of these two will betray you later. Which
one, however, I am not sure. The reward for killing the mother is 20.000 gp and
5000xp. To top it off, with a high persuade, you can also get a magic scythe
which used to belong to the mother's personal bodyguard.
Now with the city all done it is, yet again, time to choose where to go. You
don't have to follow my path at all, feel free to jump around and choose your
own order of the following five quests - and remember that Valsharess will
attack after you've completed four of them.
Head north to the weird thing called Cavallas. It seems this Cavallas is the
only creature able to sail on the rivers in the Underdark, which is good, since
you need to get to those two islands. Talk to him, and end up by choosing the
strange island.
Enter, and be attacked by a group of Drow led by Sabal. She'll run away when
she gets too low on health, but you'll meet her a few times here. Proceed, and
meet the most unlikely creature to meet in the Underdark, the winged elves,
Avariel. Now this is odd, but don't worry, you'll find out what is going on.
Let's proceed to the castle, do it with caution tho, since right before the
castle, Sabal and another group of drow will ambush you. Sabal runs away yet
again.
Enter the castle, kill all the Driders and go to the throne room. Talk to the
fool to find out what is going on in this city - and find out that you need
five mirror parts to create a very powerful magic mirror. You'll find out that
Sabal and her drow minions are also hunting these mirror parts. Let's make sure
she at least won't get all of them, and head for the temple.
Kill the driders outside, and go inside. There are two ways to do this. Either
we do as the cleric tells us and complete the five battles, or we do it the
easy way and whack the cleric. He carries an antidote for your poisoning, so
don't worry too much about that. No matter how you do it, you'll get the first
part of the mirror here.
Now for the merchant and the library. First talk to the merchant. Since
everything is the opposite of what it used to be, the merchant wants something
of less value than a broken mirror. Very well, into the library and find out
that the librarian is a medusa. Go to the south room, take the potion of sight
warding, use it, and talk to her. Answer her riddle with Mud - whatever your
henchmen say. Remember, it is the opposite of what it should be in this place.
Before you leave, take a burnt book from the pile the medusa is burning.
Return to the merchant and trade the burnt book. He'll give you a compass which
will show you where he hid the mirror. Back to the library, go round the back
and start the compass. Locate the hidden pile, and grab the mirror shard. Three
down, two to go.
Head for the cave. Right before you enter, some drow will come out. Say hello
to your old friend, Sabal. Kill 'em, and watch Sabal port away again. Talk to
the former Queen inside the cave, and find out that she gave the mirror shard
to Sabal. Oh well, you still have three of 'em, so it's bound to end in combat
anyways, isn't it?
The last piece unaccounted for is in the wizard's tower so let's head there.
The former archmage is standing outside, ask him everything, and enter the
tower.
NOTE: The tower is a WILD MAGIC ZONE, so spellcasters, beware!
On the first level, you'll jump straight into battle with some vrock and a
balor on the one side, and - of course - drow on the other. Kill em all. Valen
is really in his ace here, considering his weapon has large bonuses against
outsiders like the vrock and balors. Next level is also infested with Drow,
Vrocks and a Balor. In the southwestern room, there's even a Balor Lord. Kill
everything, and move upwards.
On level three, the first you'll meet is a group of Slaads. The southwestern
room is full of zombies, so this is a good place to check out the feat greater
cleave ;)
In the northeastern room, you'll find Jansil, smack him down to near death, and
he'll surrender. He'll give you the mirror piece freely as a reward for letting
him live. If you kill him anyways, you will loose alignment, and his loot isn't
really worth it imo.
Remember to check out the treasury on your way out (this can be tricky if you
aren't a thief, but with enough beatings you'll eventually bash the door).
Head back to the castle for a final showdown between you and Sabal. Kill her
any way you see fit, and recover the magic mirror. Remember, you can use the
mirror shards on the pillars to unleash magic on your enemies. The mirror
itself has a lot of invisibility/seeing spells as bonuses, but nothing unique
and special.
Now it's time to return to the Seer to tell the good news and prepare for
the second island, The Isle of the Maker. When you talk to the seer, you get a
choice between giving her the mirror or keeping it yourself. Keep it, you'll
need it later on.
[2.3] - The Isle of the Maker - Island and Level 1
On the island itself, you'll run into a group of Duergar merchants. You'll meet
them again once you're done in the dungeon - they won't be too happy about you
stealing all their stuff. We'll take that in detail after we've completed this.
Now, the dungeon itself has an annoying golem. It's called a Scavenger Golem,
and the only thing it does is to rebuild the golems in the halls. Pretty damn
annoying if you ask me. However, it keeps saying the same two words (Sinth
Thesti), and in a book, you'll find out that those words mean two numbers (54).
In the control room to the north, you'll be able to type those numbers, thereby
killing it. The same move can be done against the Guardian Golem blocking the
door down to level 2. It does give around 1500 xp if you kill it by yourself
tho, so it's a matter of choice.
NOTE: Having trouble hurting golems? - go to the right in the hallway at the
beginning and find the short sword Unmaking - it has powerful bonuses vs
constructs like golems and minogons.
There's also two rooms, besides the control room, that require special
attention. The first is a room with a golden armor in the centre. A whole
square around it is a trap, and it cannot be disarmed. Go around the trap
and behind the throne. With a good enough search skill (Nathyrra will do fine)
you'll find a lever. Pull it, and the trap dissapears. Now go click on the
armor, and it will be transferred to your inventory. Enjoy.
The second room is the only room where the door is already open. When you enter
your weapon will become haunted, and attack you (just like a Mordenkainen's
Sword, except that it's YOUR weapon). So, without a backup weapon, you're
screwed. Either way, there's good loot to be had in there, especially if you're
a halfling.
For the rest of the rooms this counts: Kill all golems and loot everything,
especially the items you haven't seen before, like colored powder and so forth.
Those things will be used in the alchemist's lab to the northeast, where you
can make three golem items (The instructions are in one of the books you find
on this level - common for all three is two powders and an item).
Once everything is vacuumed for loot and enemies, proceed downwards to level 2
where you'll meet intelligent golems.
The first thing you'll see is a cutscene showing how flesh golems and bronze
golems fight each other. The fleshies are sided with Aghaaz, the bronzies with
Ferron. Even golems wage war it seems. Either way, kill em all, head north
until you meet a flesh golem that wants to talk. He leads you to Aghaaz, who is
a demonflesh golem. After a little discussion, he agrees to help you if you
kill Ferron. Now, when you reach Ferron, he too agrees to help you if you get
the Power Source from Aghaaz. There's no way Aghaaz will give it up willingly
though, so you would have to fight him and his menagerie of golems to get it.
Which side you choose is entirely up to you - I usually side with Ferron, since
he seems like the most chaotic good choice ;). No matter what side you choose,
remember to loot both areas, there's some seriously nice equipment around.
Either way, when you've chosen side and done your job, there's a little more to
do on this level. In the neutral area, there's a door that just won't open
unless you're a thief (pick/disable) or a ranger (get a rat to open it). Behind
it, we have a ghostly man and a pillar. The ghost will, in exchange for the gem
on the pillar (is it a soul gem, I can't remember?) tell you a password to pass
the defenders in the hall downstairs where the Maker is located. Without this,
you'll have a tough fight on your hands.
Anyways, proceed down. First you get trapped behind four mirror-like things.
destroy the mirrors with a ranged weapon (there's a sling and bullets in the
bones) before they fire on you, and move forward. Battle what must be battled,
(if you didn't get the pass from level 2, you'll have to fight two mithral
golems, they aren't invinvible, but they hit hard as hell) and meet the Maker.
A good old Demilich, how wonderful. Kill him. Succeed where I cannot. I know
from a friend that mages can kill him in a matter of seconds, but fighters are
a whole different ballgame. Enjoy the battle
After completing this part with my friend who's a wizard, I found out that
the Maker has a key for the golem machine. It seems that, if you're a mage,
you'll locate golem parts on the 2 above levels - these parts can be made into
a shield golem down here - if any wizard can go into further detail, feel free
to mail me. I did notice that he needed to cast certain spells for certain
effects on the golem (magic resistance, str increase and so forth). That part
is described in a book you find down there.
Tempest Stormwind took my plea for a details litteraly, prolly best to quote:
Playing any character with a fair bit of spellcasting ability (I've heard it
done with pure wizards/sorcs, but I've done it with a fighter/wizard/pale
master -- and only 6 levels in Wizard means a caster level of 6. I don't know
precisely what makes a character eligable, but if the monster manual is any
help, I guess you need the spellcasting ability of a 15th level wizard to pull
this off), one will find a variety of golem parts on the first two levels.
They're in the chests that are scattered about, so if you're looking for
goodies (such as the parts needed to make the anti-golem weapons on the first
floor), you can't miss them if your character's eligable. There's six in all --
a head, a torso, two hands, and two legs.
Placing all of these in the box with the controlling amulet will lock it and
activate four pillars. These pillars will prompt you to cast spells on them; if
you don't have the spells prepared the game checks to see if you've got the
spells on scrolls (this is in part the reason behind the buttload of scrolls
you'll find in the Maker's sanctum). If you don't have the spells, feel free to
use the Relic and return to the Seer and purchase the ones you need.
As to which ones you need, there's two books in the bookshelves that only show
up if you're eligable as well. One details the construction process as I've
been doing thus far. The other lists spells, and here's my quick summary:
Greater Spell Mantle: bonus to Spell Resistance
Bigby's Crushing Hand: bonus to Strength
Greater Sanctuary: bonus to AC
Time Stop: grants the golem Regeneration
Premonition: bonus to damage reduction (not sure which part just yet)
Mass Haste: permanant haste effect
True Seeing: permanant true seeing effect
Chain Lightning: When attacked, the golem will freely and automatically shoot a
Lightning Bolt at the attacker (like that Searing Armor that you can find on
level 1 does with Searing Light).
Mordenkainen's Disjunction: much like the Blackstaff spell, the golem's attacks
now dispel magic.
You can choose only four, and once chosen none can be changed. You also can't
pick the same spell more than once.
Anyway, casting these on the pillars will cause a shield guardian golem to
appear and you'll get the Controlling Amulet. The amulet acts as a Natural
Armor amulet +4, grants you +4 reflex saves, and has a unique power. The golem
itself is (unlike the normal, 12th level ones) 20th level and very cool. Using
the amulet's power will call the golem to your side, but it's not a summoning
effect (so it won't unsummon your minions nor will summoning minions unsummon
it). Speaking to the golem also opens a prompt -- the golem itself behaves as
one of Isaac's Sequencer Robes, only you store spells in it via conversation
rather than by raw casting. The golem will open with these spells and then
proceed to reap the battlefield with his 26 strength, Improved Power Attack,
Improved Knockdown and absolutely amazing Discipline score (he's gotta have a
racial bonus on that sucker...)
To date mine (with autodispel, regeneration, haste and boosted DR to compensate
for the relatively low 160 HP) has never died, so I can't tell you what would
happen if it did (my guess is since Bioware doesn't like to piss off their
customers, you'll probably have to rest before summoning it again). The other
key thing about it is that if it's within reach of you (and it's got a big
reach), you're treated effectively as being in parry mode (although you can
still attack). I haven't yet figured out what the parry score is for these
checks, but it's very hard to be hit physically if you're close to it. This
goes without saying as a huge boon to casters of all sorts.
Quote End. Amazing info Tempest, sorry it took so long before it got online :)
Adam Feldman has given this tactic to killing the Maker with a rogue:
Quote:
The way I defeated it (with my Rogue) was to cast Greater Sanctuary, which I
just happened to have on me (remember to put points in Use Magic Device). Now
that the lich couldn't attack me at all, I explored the bookcases. I found a
Black Blade of Disaster scroll (I don't know if it's always there or if it's
random), which I cast. The blade's first hit killed the lich when it failed
to make a save. I realize I was lucky, but the moral of the story is that at
least Rogues (and Bards) can simulate being high level magic users with
scrolls.
Quote End.
So, with or without the Maker killed, we now have golems in our army, and the
mission is complete. Return to the island and behold: The Duergar are mad.
You can persuade them to give it up, since you DID get farther in the dungeon
than they ever could, but hey, it's XP and they WANTED to fight! Besides, they
have some very nice loot, so they really should be killed.
Return to the Seer to tell her the good news about the golems. Now that the two
islands are done with, it's time to explore the area around Lith My'Athar and
wreck havoc on the Valsharess' allies.
Let's start by leaving the town through the gate area. Nothing to do here (yet)
but don't worry, you haven't seen the last of that gate. From the gate, move
further west into:
This area connects the three armies. In the northwest we have the entrance to
the Ilithid, in the west we have the Beholder entrance and to the south, the
undead are hiding.
In the eastern part the mobs are mainly Umber Hulks, Harpies and a single drow.
Also, in the southeast, there's a little cave with a corpse in it. You'll find
Nasher's Cloak of Protection (+3 AC deflection) on it.
Strangely enough, the western part of the map is empty - when you talk about
enemies that is.
Yet again, you're free to choose when you take which areas from here, my order,
however, is south - west - northwest. So, let's go south, and get rid of some
undead.
[2.5] - Underdark - Drearing's Deep. (The Undead army of Valsharess)
This seems like a friendly city of former slaves - at least in the beginning it
does. You'll soon find out that the city hides something darker. Make a tour of
the city, and locate the big temple and the gong.
There are a few ways into the temple. The simplest is to just smash the door
and kill the two guards. You can also ring the gong and claim that you want to
be sacrified. Anyway, you'll end up on the first level, where you'll have to
fight off a group of cult knights and some skeletal devourers.
Since the door down is locked, let's go upwards.
On level 2, you'll encounter cult knights, skeletal devourers and some shadow
fiends. Also, you'll soon notice a large altar, surrounded by dragon statues.
Loot the two small rooms for some nice stuff (including 2 black pearls and a
studded leather armor +6).
Click the altar and place one of the black pearls you just found on it to gain
an on hit: ability drain DC-24 strength enchantment to your main weapon. This
can be done once per weapon, and it requires a black pearl each time.
Anyways, let's proceed to level 3.
There are quite a few traps on this level, so watch your step. Kill the Cult
Elite Guard here, loot the room to the left and prepare for a battle versus a
mage called Sodalis, the head priest of the cult. Loot his corpse for the key
to the lower levels. Remember to loot the little room to the south as well,
there's a lot of nice mage loot here, gloves of spellcraft +30 and amulet of
power as the coolest, together with a LOT of spells like horrid wilting, time
stop and meteor swarm.
Now, let's move down. The entrance downwards from here is guarded by three
bone golems. Kill all three of 'em, take the rope from the chest, attach it
and proceed down to the Inner Sanctum.
You'll encounter a monk and two bone golems. Kill all three and follow the
strange misty shape to a sarcophagus. Aha, it's vampires we're up against. Go
to the room across the sarcophagus and bash the chest. Pick up the splinter and
click the sarcophagus to drive it through the corpse. This is how you kill a
vampire, and don't worry, you'll get plenty of training in it. When you kill
this first one, you'll also get an Energy Orb - you'll need this in a matter of
seconds.
Go north, and proceed to the left side of the room. Click the single pillar and
put the energy orb in it. When the door's smashed, take the energy orb again.
Enter, and kill the four vampires. Remember to find their sarcophaguses, if you
don't want to kill them several times that is. At the altar in the centre,
there's a negative energy trap that heals the vamps, so try to kill them before
they get there.
Oh, there are four sarcophaguses to each side, but only two are used. Proceed
south from here and loot the library. If you haven't already, then whack some
furniture to get a got reserve of splintered wood. No need to rush around after
it when you can have a few ready. Return to the north part and move forward to
meet a Cult Elder Monk. Kill it, disable the trap on the door, unlock it, and
drive a pole through that monster's heart. Loot the remains to get another
energy orb. Loot the chests for a Warlord's Plate (+5, +6 cha) and some other
gear.
Return to the central room, go straight over eastern side and place one energy
orb in each of the two pillars to open the next door. Remember to take both
orbs again - and if you need to rest, I suggest you return south and go up the
rope, you won't get disturbed up there.
Now, let's enter the eastern part. Go round the corner, kill the golems and
hunt down the Shadow Master. He'll run constantly, but just run after him. The
first time I played, he went invisible all the time, but second time I could
see him all along. Maybe a bug. Remember to go all the way north through the
trapped door and put a stake in his heart, no need to kill him twice.
Loot the sarcophagus room to get a Nullifier Rod + some nice gear. Return back.
The first room got four bone golems, but the next has a group of drow, two of
which has some nice equipment (the elite warrior and the handmaiden). Now, go
back to the room where you first met the Shadow Master, and check out that
device thingie with the trapped Astral Deva, Lavoera. You already have her
weapon, but how to get her out of there. There's two ways to this. Either use
the device to create three bone golems that'll follow you - and kill her in the
progress (which will spawn a Planetar to revenge her death). Or you can use the
Nullifier Rod to disable the device and free her. If you free her, you can
either get her to help you against Vix'thra, or to help the rebels defend Lith
My'Athar - on top of that, she will give you a very special amulet.
Anyhow, it's time to open the last door - the door that will lead you to
Vix'thra itself.
First, however, you need to kill Sodalis again - this time for good. Remember
to whack the corpse in the sarcophagus, no need to kill him three times ;)
Now, prepare for a hard, hard battle. Go down, and find out that Vix'thra is a
Dracolich - just as humans become liches, dragons become dracoliches. Do NOT
attack at first, go around it, all the way to the back (either through the
traps, or through the hidden door just to the right of the corridor), and bash
the phylactery. If you don't do this, you'll have to kill that bastard four
times. With the phylactery destroyed, one time will do.
Once you've killed Vix'thra and his four bone golems, loot the place and return
to the Seer to tell the good news (as usual). Remember to restock, buy all you
need and so forth, since you'll be in the middle of a siege if you do so after
you stop the next army.
Bridge Control at Beholder Caves (sent in by Felipe Barbirato):
Found some weird stuff on Hordes Of The Underdark that wasn't mentioned in any
of your faqs it's about the bridge control at the entrace of the beholder caves
If you character has the pearl of tongues or the pearl of bashing you'll get
other choices and some weird easter bunnies.
here's what the items do:
when you insert the pearl of bashing a strange message will appear
root@faerun.prime.com:/games/nwn# its like an email or something tell me if
you find out anything about it.
when you insert the pearl of tongues (can be purchased with the djinny) you
will be able to choose the language of the panel (in case you dont have a high
lore).
Addition by Dolch:
Well, the message you recieve looks like a Linux command line telling you that
you have recieved administrative rights inside a Perl comment.
To get the message you have to insert the Pearl of Bashing, BASH being a shell
for Linux.
Any and all information about rangers and what the animals say will be
wonderful news for me as I doubt I will have the patience to play through with
a ranger as well :)
Info about Sharwyn and Linu as henchmen - are they worth anything?
General info I've missed, items worth mentioning, anything you can think of
actually.
