Neverwinter Nights - Shadows of Undrentide Expansion FAQ/Walkthrough
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v0.75 - 2nd August 2003
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Contents
1. FAQ's - or similar.
1b. Points to note
2. Walkthrough.
3. Version control.
4. Credits/Contact.
FAQ's
(.) Is this game worth buying?
Personally I am enjoying this quite a lot. I am finding it more challenging
than the original campain, but not up to my favourite RPG of all time - BG2.
This is just too linear (like IWD) for my preference. But as I said, this is
still great fun. (As to the question is BG2 that good - I still have not
found a game to beat it for depth, gameplay, character interaction and
rolepay. It doesn't have the graphics engine of NWN and you can't play evil
very easily, but I like it.)
(.) Why can't I have the paladin as my henchman?
a) It would be a henchwoman... and b) she is too young. If you read the text
at the beginning she has been at the school the least length of time and
still has 'issues'. Rumour has it that she might get coded in with a patch.
This is one rumour I will believe when either a) Bioware confirm it or b) I
see it myself.
(.) How do I get the new classes?
Each of the new classes has specific requirements and can only be used after
they have been met. To do this you will need several levels in other specific
classes first, to get things like attack bonuses correct. Basically read the
manual!
(.) Which is the best/most powerful/coolest class?
There is no right answer to this! Personally I like the idea of the prestige
classes (I don't play P'n'P so this is all new to me...) but I don't think they
are necessarly the greatest thing since sliced bread. The Shadow Dancer is cool
and all thief/spy wanabes should get at least one level of it. Arcane Archer
sounds nice, but somewhat linear in progression (anyone managed to get to level
10 AA in the new official campain (OC) without cheating?). The Harper Scout
really doesn't appeal to me and the assassin seems to be lacking in bite
somewhat. Paladin players should like the Blackguard though - despite the
difference from P'n'P. Add in the original 10 classes and you can create your
own mix. Which is half of the point really! Two things to take into account
though: a) You won't get to level 20 in the new OC and b) Sorcerors are the
best! (OK at level 20 it can be argued that clerics are better but imho
sor....  - this is a joke, there is no best class! :-)
In summary - I like human lawful good sorcerors. You should pick the class etc
that you like and that works for you. Experiment a bit. If in doubt, reread
the first sentence of the paragraph above!
Just make sure that you have all your bases covered in terms of classes in your
party. I mention this in the walkthrough, but for those trying not to be
spoiled (what are you doing reading this at all then?):
- Normal Party Dynamics:
You need a) Thief b) Healer c) Fighter/Meat shield and d) Mage. In that order.
OK, before people start raving, let me explain (and I love mages for my chars,
so I have managed to convice myself, might I also convice you?) There are some
doors that you can't break open. They have to be picked. There might not be
much behind them but to go everywhere you need a lockpicker. If you can use the
picks lying around and open the doors then you might make do as the thief. The
only 2 other essential skils are the ability to see traps and the ability to
remove them. Seeing can be avoided with reloading (!) and Summon Monster I is
great to get rid of traps. (Is there anything worth pickpocketing in this game?
I have never tried it). Healer is the easiest to provide. It is called the rest
button. 100% health in 20 seconds. As long as you/companions survive fight, you
can heal to 100%. Potions provide enough to generally get through a fight in
the OC. In multiplayer thieves/clerics would take a much larger role I would
guess (I've never played it that way, but thinking back to BG2...) but in SoU
OC, they only have the roles above. The fighter has 2 roles - in this order. A)
absorb the damage by taking the hp hits (or even better dogding them) and b)
killing stuff. This leaves the mage. His role (he is the pronoun for all non
gender specific humans in English - I wonder if that includes Elves, Half Elves
etc... :) is to a) remove other mages protections and b) kill stuff. So it is
teamwork.... and despite my opinion, mages are the least important class.
- How to fill this 4 person group with 1 char in SoU:
Easy. Mages have a huge advantage in having familiars. This can cover either
the thief role (pixie) or to a limited extent the fighter role
(dragon/panther). Your hencemen are either a sorceror, a cleric, a bard, a
barbaian, a thief or a combo of these. Just pick which one you want. In my
favourite case, I need a fighter to match my sorc and thief (pixie). The same
combo would work well if you were doing the 1 Wizard (or Sorc)/9 Ranger / 10
AA build as this gives you a buff while you attack from a distance and your
familiar acts as a thief. If you have an animal companion it can act as a
buff, but be careful if you only have 1 level of ranger! Basically pick
whichever 'major' class you are missing (or use a 'mixed class' such as
ranger/paladin, or do a 5 Fighter/15 Cleric build + a thief henchmen). There
are loads of options out there. If you have a specific recommendation,
please send it in...
For more specific class info on the basic classes, see the original Neverwinter
Nights FAQ's. I found the Rogue one very well written (unlike this!) and can
recommend the Sorceror one highly! The Cleric one is also very good, despite
the libelious statement about Clerics beating Sorcs.... :-) although sometimes
I think the author has a point!
(.) Can I use the new classes in the original OC?
According to info on the boards I have seen yes. I haven't confirmed this
myself, but have had it confirmed in email.
(.) Are new weapons from SoU in the original OC?
As far as I can tell no. Nothing sustanial (apart from the new classes etc) has
been done to the original OC. You can't control your henchmans inventory for
instance (anyone want to confirm this?).
(.) What do all the new feats/skills do? Are any of them worth getting?
Comments like read the manual come to mind for the first question (despite
Biowares track record with these things... only joking!) - either that or read
the text in the game (the ingame text tends to be right more often than the
printed manual). As for the second... I'm still working on that!
(.) Are there any cheats to this game?
Yes. Please see FAQ's for the original Neverwinter nights for more details.
(.) Where are all the best equipment in the game? Is cool stuff like a Holy
Avenger around?
Rumour has it that a Holy Avenger can be found in the game (if you play
paladin) (this has been confirmed - I've added the info in the walkthrough).
I haven't got far enough in the game to get to the really good stuff
(read toys for power gamers) yet and would hope not to find as broken an item
as the wonderful Staff of the Magi from BG2, but items are starting to get
powerful.
(.) How do I do quest xxxx?
All the info I know about this game is in this file. If this is the latest copy
of this file then you know as much as I do. Sorry.
(.) Can you make other items in the game?
Apparently yes. Obvious items to try include the green mold, dragons blood,
dragons egg etc. I've not tried these (or any others), but if people have
working recipe lists, please send them in (contact details are at the end).
So far sent in:
Grinder in Drogans House
Shadow Hart's heart + Quartz crystal = Lesser Amulet of Health (immune to
poison and disease)
Practice Sword + Quartz crystal = Timonen Great Sword (a +1 and +1 critical
sword) (Practice sword is in Mischa's footlocker)
From 'other sources'...
Green spores + quartz crystal = Ring of Disease Resistance
Two Fenberries + 1 empty bottle = Potion of Barkskin
(.) Why with a lore of X can't I identify y?
If you have a high lore and still can't ID something, then it is going to be
good! The more valuable the item, the higher the lore you need to ID it. There
is a table of lore vs cost in the manual. To resolve this issue: increase your
lore, use an item to increase your lore, use an identify spell or pay a
shopkeeper to ID it for you.
(.) Why does the 'person' in the walkthrough change/spelling incorrect/poor
gramer?
This is an early version of this document. It will improve and be tidied as I
put more into it. This is my first FAQ, so be kind (though I would appreiciate
all and any feedback - see the contact section at the end).
(.) Why are you so slow updating this FAQ?
Um - Warcraft 3 - The Frozen Throne is out! Got to play that. Much fun. Zug Zug
and all that. Anyway this has to be finished by the end of September as Half
Life 2 comes out.... all good stuff.
(.) Why does it say 'Sigh' a lot?
Usually because that is what I am having to do having failed some check/run
into a big battle/found or done something stupid. It is more figurative than
literal.
Points to note:
(.) All alignment shifts vary depending on where you are already. A highly
lawful character will get a bigger shift to chaos for breaking and entering
than a netural character would. So any figures below are more guidelines.
(.) XP for killing depends on the class level difference between you and the
recently departed. Thus a level 1 character gets loads of xp for killing a
gnoll, but a level 10 character might not get any at all. The xp for a quest
is fixed and doesn't vary.
(.) You might as well use up the focus crystals in the first chapter, they
are useless after then.
Walkthrough
This is just from my initial run through.
I am playing as a lawful good human sorceror (my favourite char) and will act
as such generally throughout the game. This may mean that I will miss lots
(i.e. evil, ranger, cleric etc) of quests/xp/items etc. Any that I am missing,
please feel free to let me know and I will add in extra sections.
There are a couple of possible major routes through Chapter 1. I have picked
one of them, but a quick read through should point out the other posibility!
Chapter 1.
Drogans house
You start in your room. Open the chest and get all the items in it. Nothing
that exciting, but the ring is useful (explained in mind numbing detail during
conversions...). Leave the room and talk to the 3 other students. Once the
battle start you can run to it down the door at the bottom of the stairs...
The first battle will be won with no input from you. When it is done speak to
the mysterious woman who helped. Make sure you get the info about the 4 missing
items (ask about each one specifically and they will be added into your quest
list) and the list of ingredients to cure Drogan. Pick a henchman. Due to my
class I choose Xanos and told him to be a barbarian. Add in my pixie familiar
and I have all, bar cleric, bases covered (in my opinion the classes you need
to play DnD, in order of importance are (my party in brackets): thief (pixie),
healer (no one, but potions, kits and rest), fighter (Xanos) and mage (me). You
can try to take the staff on the floor, but it is electrified and you drop it
(-1 hp.... any way around this??).
Go into the basement and talk to the pseudo dragon there. Talk, talk and talk,
the riddle answers are : yes, I will be hanged and 6. (I tried a persude at
this point but failed. It may not be possible to pass this - I had the max
persude skill for level 1, plus +4 from Cha...) This gets you a key. I couldn't
find anything else useful in the basement or the ground floor (bar the remains
of the dead kobolds and other stuff worth 1gp). Go upstairs.
In the student rooms their are a set of peoples chests. I ignored all bar
Xanos' (lawful good... isn't it a pain - if you steal from chests that aren't
your current henchmen's you get a shift of 1 to chaos). Xanos has the key for
it, or you can pick it, but it is trapped... In the room at the end you will
find a total of 5 useful chests and one which needs a key you lack. Take all.
The magic helmet was +5 to spot for me... not useful, but valuable. Make
crystals. Leave house.
Hilltop West
Head south. The first kobold will be killed by dogs. Why didn't they kill the
rest? Sigh. There are another couple of kobolds in the barn just before the
gate. All free xp. Go through the gate and towards town. (Druids/Rangers
should talk to the dogs outside the house as they pass. They tell you,
eventually, that the proverbial prom queen of the village canines, the wolf,
has burried something that they can't find... Also talk to the chickens. One
will give you a gem for it!)
In the bubbling cauldron some kobolds have the cook as a hostage. You get the
quest talking to the tavern keeper. You have 3 options (result in brackets):
Let them go (100xp, cook vanishes), become the hostage (arrange thier release,
help them sneak out, attack them (which unless you are a melee char will
probably kill you), or if you are a bard - you can entrance them with your
music - which allows the villages to kill them!), threaten them (250xp - if
you talk the villages into letting them live, tavern master can give you
50gp). Pick whichever - if the kobolds leave alive, you can talk to thier
chief in the caves later (they recognise you). The berries for the cure are
in the cookpot. A quick visit to the herbelist and you have the complete cure.
Before we drop that off though, I think we should tidy up town a little
first...
Druids or Rangers can speak to the herbalist's animal companion, who will
reveal the location of the Ring of the Wolf (+2 Animal Handling, summon a
wolf 5x). If you spoke to the dogs as above, you should be able to surprise
the wolf by ask what/where it hid it, then pass a persude and the location is
yours.
Talk to the woman next to the mayor in the community centre. Then talk to the
prophet outside. I persuded him to reveal that he had 'doctored' the corpse of
the farmer. He left. Talk to the woman again. If you can heal the wounded
people here, you get some xp and alignment shift! Level up time.
Hilltop East
Outside, head east through the gate. Talk to all 4 halflings and get the
missing cards quest... If you heal the wounded people here, you get some xp
and alignment shift. Then ran into a Red Wizard. Unfortuantly being lawful
good, I had to tell him to go away (very politely of course). 25xp, but
probably missing quests and items... sigh. (If you want to get him to set up
a shop, you apparently can by persuding the mayor's aide. I have tried this
a couple of times and failed. According to Biowares walkthrough of the town,
this is easier if you haven't finished the issues with the prophet. If you
do get him to set up a shop, he always has nice prices).
The woman running at you from the east wants her baby/husband back. Agree. Go
into the house and kill the 2 kolbolds on the ground floor. One of them has a
gem. Then go to the upper floor and talk to the kolbold their. I failed both
the dex and persude tests (with 14 dex and currently max persude for level 2
with +4 cha). Sigh. Give the kolbold a gem. Go back outside and talk to the
widow. 200 xp, and minor goodness shifts for being honest. I also gave her 10
gp (well, I'm not a paladin am I?).
Head north to the farm. The ruins have a couple of minor potions. Enter the
farm. The box in the left has a save vs disease to open it (easy save) and has
gold, ring a quartz in it. Save, then go downstairs. There are 3 kolbolds in
here. Kill them, then loot. Back to the caravans. Give back the cards and
get... 200xp and a 'you will be going on a journey...' reading. Great. Never
mind. Time to fix Drogan.
Return to Drogans house. Talk to the healer there (name??). She fixes up Drogan
(more xp for you). That's it. On the way back through town you can rob the
houses. One has someone in, but no problem. Sell all the stuff you don't want
(if you can afford and want other stuff then buy it). Then it is time to leave
the village (south from the east side of town).
Hilltop foothills
There is an almost dead brown bear just to the north of the start gate. I
couldn't do anything for it, but rangers and druids can - if they do, all bears
in the area (and the one to the south) will be friendly to you. The waterfall
doesn't get you anywhere you need to go (unless you are killing deer?).
Talking of deer, in general their is no point trying to talk with them.
Continue and politely talk to Ferran. He will give you 2 quests - the crypt and
the horns of the shadow hart. Plus info - basically gnolls/kolbolds went
east/south and background on the crypt - I mananged to persude him on the
second attempt. (Shadowhart can be found by using lots of spot type
items/spells apparently. Then you can either warn him if you are a ranger or
druid (200xp, 3 points to good) or kill him (bow from Ferran + heart...
ingredient item maybe?) - Also finding the Shadowhart can be done by looking at
the tracks in the area. One looks like deer tracks but isn't. Be there at night
and the hart should be there.)
At the other end of the graveyard is a bear - which attacks you. At the extreme
centre east, you run into Nathan. His daughter has been stolen but a hill giant
(cave is NW). In the farm, you can talk to a farm hand. If you say that he only
won because of his friends, then agree that it is all just humour he says he
owes you one. Don't yet see what it gets you though... Following the path
again, heading north, there is an abuse of 3 kobolds, then a bear followed by
a couple of wolves. The wolves were just south of the cave. Inside, the giant
could be persuded to give her up (I failed the first persude, but chosing the
obvious answer about 4 times in a row, then passing the second persude and he
gave me a key). Outside you can tell her to go back to the farm. (Another way
to do this is: Ask the giant to put you in the locked area. The daughter asks
you to kill a rat. The rat comes in via a hole. Clicking on the hole allows you
to wriggle out). At the very north, you run into a kobold... but this one
doesn't attack. Instead he gives you a quest. He will give you the statue for
freeing him from the dragon (his master) who is behind all the problems. When
that is done, go to Blumberg and get him. Back at the farm, you get 150xp and
a natural defense amulet +1. Nice. Now for the crypt.
Elven crypt
Enter the crypt. Here be careful what you loot. Take anything from things you
kill, or items on the floor or in cacoons/weapons racks. Do not take stuff from
bodies/sarcoefuses, unless you like killing skeletons (18xp a piece, 3
evilness). Lawfull good doesn't allow these things, so I left them be. Through
the large door and kill the rats. I couldn't translate the pillar without using
an identify spell, but apart from backstory it didn't seem to do anything. The
door to the right is warded, the one to the left isn't. The statue at the end
asks you to pray to it. If you do you get a heal. Pretend and you become more
evil. Spit on it and you get cursed. Not really that hard to decide. If you
chose an evil one, the good one stops working. You can ignore it if you want.
Down to the lower level. Here you can kill the 2 kolbolds, then through the
door on the left. Talk to the spirit. He will help you with the kobolds if you
kill some spiders. OK. Back to the corridor. Bash through some of the boxes.
Take the first left and kill about 6 spiders. Then crush the egg sacks (in one
corner of the room - not the cacoons!). Job done. He tells you of a trap to
kill the kobolds and gives you a key to get to the locked room above (level 3
reached!). Kill the kobold and skeletons that come your way as you head north.
First go west. In the first tomb a spirit will ask for a sword. Then I went
east and into a trap of 4 kobolds. Then east and south and ran into two more
skeletons. The first door had a couple of rats and a trap. The sword the spirit
wanted is in the corpse under the trap. When I returned it (50xp) he gave me
one of the 3 items in the chest (for me, a saphire, a potion of speed or a
resist cold amulet). Back to the east corridor. Wandering round the end of it,
I eventually found a hidden door. Enter it. Pick up the helmets and wear them
(I put one on my henchman and told the familiar to say out of it). Trip the
switch. Into the last room (either talk your way in or pick the lock!) and trip
the pressure pad. All the kobolds are stunned. Kill them. Pick up the mummies
hand. One down! . Loot the boxes. Time to get that
cloak mentioned. Back to the top level. Follow the red dots on the way in and
avoid them on the way out. You can walk on the edge of the room btw. That
completes our tour of the crypts. If you wish to buy a souvenier on your way
out... Due to the large number of magic items I had at this point I identified
them. Handy hint for the day - cast identify and pause the game. You can now
ID all the items you are carrying at your leisure. Goody.
When you leave the crypt the hand wants to talk to you. Use it and it points to
the SE corner of the map. To Blumberg we go... But before you go there, kill
the gnoll just to to the south of the exit. Just for practice like! The exit to
the High Forest is to the west of here. Anyway, back to Blumberg.
Blumberg
When you enter a dying man approches. If you use a healing kit on him you
become more good. He talks, then dies to a gnoll. Kill the two archers (arrows
in pixies look so funny). Continue killing gnolls, there are another six or so
in the village. At this point I died and respawned. When I did I could lie to
keep hold of the mummies hand (you can tell the truth, in which case you get
told about the hand and can keep it). As it only cost me three points towards
chaos I did it... might be useful. Anyway, once the village is cleared go into
the only remaining none burning building. Talk to Deekin. I couldn't get
anything to trigger here and the hand still wanted me to talk to him. Sigh.
Anyway, back to the snowy wastes and off to the High Forest to the south
(no one in Hilltop seems interested in the fact that Blumbarg has been wiped
out - nice neighbours!).
High Forest
Go east then down a level. Two wolves with pelts here. Slightly further north
and 3 bandits lie in wait to the east. Circuling the area I found another 4
wolves in two pairs of two. All nice xp. To the east of a bridge their were two
more. Over the bridge is a shop. You can offload any stuff you don't want, but
the prices aren't good. He has some nice armour for mages... all out of my
price range. Also has a book and a nice wand in the storage/library. Anyway,
back to the High Forest. There are 6 caves on the map (well, five caves and one
gnoll cave). Time to check them out. Starting with the one on the extreme west.
It it the bandit camp. As you enter an archer and 2 bandits attack. They get
reinforced with 2 bandit women. There is a trap on the narrow ledge to the next
section. I couldn't see this with my pixie, but avoided it (slow + what I
assume is stinking cloud) by backing off. What you can't avoid is the bandit
archer that appears from nowhere behind you when the trap goes off. Sigh. Just
have to kill it then. One more archer, then the hardest battle so far in the
game, 2 archers and the bandit boss together. I just ran with the boss chasing
me. By the time I was running back, my familiar and henceman had dealt with the
archers and the boss got caught on the narrow ledge. All dead. Loot all - I
ended up with a nice katana (which is no use to me), +1 armour, +12 animal
empathy ring and +5 lore ring (see multiple identify trick above). Plus a book
and over 500 in gp. The strange thing was the heavy weapons the archers
dropped. Hint for the level: if you want to carry lots of heavy stuff, but
have low stength, give it your henchman. As long as he/she can walk at at they
always catch up when you move levels... Anyway, back to the shop to offload
the weight (via the weapons locker by the door for some more cash). Almost
have enough for one of those nice robes... Anyway back to the caves. Going
anticlockwise, miss a cave and go in the next one. Trust me on this. I was in
the middle of a creature fight. Not too bad. Reached level 4 at the end of it.
Follow the path, unlock the door with the silver key (which I got from the
bandit cave) The room contains a mummy and 4 sets of bones which become
skeletal warriors. My advice would be to not run around, that way you can take
them on almost one at a time. By the end of it I had a +1 shield and a shimmer
cloth belt. Nice. How do I do something about the man in the crystal I wonder?
Next room round is the reason why we skipped a cave. It has 4 bugbears in it.
Due to the line of crates you can hit and run quite successfully. Make sure
you get the 2 lootbags in the corner.
Then off to the last cave (east). Before entering, put on
that resist cold amulet you picked up in the crypt? Didn't pick that item (or
have a different selection)? Oh well. With it you are pretty much immune to
attack from the first group of wyrms - frost ones. Kill them (burning hands
works well) and continue. The debreis seems to hold a bards glove. The second
group are fire wyrms. These seem to be harder to kill, but there less of them.
There is various minor treasure dotted around, along with a dragons egg in the
corner. I wonder if that might be useful later... also, what do wyrms want
with swords that they seem to carry? (The egg can be sold to the Hermit for
700 gp, or the Red Wizard (if you created his shop) for a nice cloak. If there
is another use for it I haven't yet found it.) Next - the gnoll cave.
Gnoll cave
You can easily kill the gnoll sleeping on the ground. That way he doesn't go
near the gong. I rang the gong anyway, just for fun. About 6 gnolls attacked,
but by fighting them in the corridor north of the gong it was pretty easy.
Melfs acid arrow seems to kill gnolls in 1 hit, or burning hands for groups.
Collect the treasure to the north, then head west. As you pass the first door,
both it and the next will open. Oh no! It's a trap! Four gnolls attack you.
Once they die continue to the three gnolls in the middle (and the patrolling
gnoll). All easy (and so much easier than in Blumberg). Another chest, then
continue the trip. Three more gnolls later, then head south to the middle. Free
the slaves (the door isn't trapped) and talk to them. Be honest and let them go
for 200xp! They tell you about another caged prisoner... I wonder where he
could be. Go through the door to the south, then head east. The first room
south is just treasure, the next to the north has three gnolls. The two doors
on the right are a trap similar to the one on the west of the cave. Beyond
there are three gnolls and the caged missing prisoner. He claims to be the son
of the Baron of Hilltop, but is really Fiona's brother. The cage key was in
one of the crates near to him. Walk him back to the entrace for 100xp. Back to
the cage and into the first door on the route. Kill the beastmaster and either
the bears or use the beastmasters horn to calm them. Go through the door on
the extreme right of the map (the door is locked and trapped). There is a
goblin mage and a worg inside. They give you a dagger +1, bracers AC +1, a
wand and some parchment. There is another trap in this room, but the chests
etc aren't trapped - another free wand +  some healing kits. Now go back to the
main circular corridor and the door that we missed in the far north west.
Through here on the left is the prison. Kill the guard and talk to the kobolds.
They can be persuded to help in the fight with the chieften (200xp) or you can
kill them. They tell you that the tooth was taken by the gnolls and that the
kobolds were given a dagger to poison Drogan by the dragon. There is some
treasure in one of the other cells. Go to the only door left closed. There are
lots of gnolls here. I opened to door on the left to allow the kobolds in. Then
either a fight starts or a conversation. Either way, you can talk to Cheiftain
into giving you a key and the pledge to help against the sorcerous who has the
tooth. He says not to steal from him - but the room to the east has a rogue
bracer and another wand in it - this room has no penalty for stealing anyway
(2 chests are trapped, as is the door). If you don't kill the Chieftain, you
can convince him (and 4 or so friends) to turn up and help in a boss fight
later. They aren't that useful, but if you do (and kill them later... :) they
can help. Into the last room and down the rabbit hole....
Ruins
The chests etc are not trapped. Read the note for an idea what to do. Basically
pull the level and it will open a door. The paths that have the same colour
(the colour that appears as you walk) as that door are now
safe. The first one (white) has water memphits on it. The cold amulet comes in
useful here. Use a spell on the well to get a token (flare). The room at
the end of the path had a water elemental in it. After killing it you are
transported back to the middle and pull the handle again. This time fire
memphits and a fire elemental. The spell is ray of frost. Next air
(electricity) + one earth memphit and an air elemental (acid splash).
Then earth memphits, melfs acid arrow for the earth well and an earth elemental
(electric jolt). The tokens go in the well and you press a button to get an
elemental summon. (You can only get two tokens in total (one from a pool and
one from killing all the elementals). Put both in the well to get the top item,
or one at once to get two summons. I gained another level at this point.
Finally go through the large door to meet the major boss type character
(big door=big trouble!). Inside you meet J'Nah. She is guarded by a group of
allies and at this point I don't think it it likely that you will be able to
kill her. Talking to her will get you a potion which will allow you to kill a
white dragon. How useful. I would suggest taking this and pretending that you
don't know about who has the tower. You can then raid all the rooms around you
for equipment (nothing great, but some spells that are several levels higher
than anything you will have by this point). To return to the surface use a
spell on the white ball type thing in the room at the end. If you can't cast
magic, use a potion - but it picks which one and tend to go for the best one
you have! (or walk all the way back up!)
Once back at the High Forest, sell excess equipment, buy things you need (maybe
magic bags?) and head back to the foothills. Once there head north to the:
Nether Mountains
There is nothing to do on the first level so go down to the next. Here you can
fight a bear if you want and use the height advantage to kill four wolves on
the level below. On the bottom level is a badger. The cave on the middle level
contains about four orcs at the entrance and an orc chieftain further in. They
are very easy compared to what you have fought to get here. There are minor
treasures around the cave and the chieftain had a nice ranger only longbow on
his corpse. Back outside and down to the lowest level. You can't do anything
with the boulder yet, so go into the cave.
Kobold Cave
Warning: Some crates have kobolds in them!
Inside the cave a pair of Kobolds attack you. This just shows how weak they are
against you now. Good good. The area is trapped however... The first trap at
the start of the corridor. The second a bit further in. The four doors in the
next room open into two small rooms. Each has three kobolds in it and some
treasure (I got a magic armour and a +1 short bow with other stuff). The
corridor out starts with a trap. There is another one before you get to the
balista. The next part of the path has a group of kobold slingers in it. They
can cast a spell which stuns you but aren't that hard. The chests are empty.
Continue onwards. There are two traps past the crates. Then four kobolds (two
a mage) past the corner, then two archers. Next up is a larger room. There are
no traps in this room - it is all a trap. Either trigger it (open the chest)
or go to the four corner rooms and kill the three kobolds in each. Look at the
door at the end. There are flags next to it. Find the room which has the same
flags and pull it's lever. This opens the door for you. Repeat for the other
three doors in the right order! Past the last door is a group of about 6
kobolds standing on top of a trap. The next room has loads of kobolds in it,
but they don't attack. Go through the rooms on the west wall - the first has
only treasure, while the second has some wolves (check all the corpses you
see). The open room in the SE corner has only treasure, as does the closed
room above it. The next one north again contains treasure only, as does the
one at the extreme north, though this one's door is trapped and locked.
Now go down the passage in the extreme SW. The door on the east wall has a
group of three kobolds and a wolf - i.e. a fight :). Also some nice
equipment. The one on the west wall has a prison in it. Get the key off the
corpse of the warden (after you kill him and his attendants) and open the
last cell. Persude the Jumper that you need to see the master and he will
tell you that you need a rod. Now go through the last door in this corridor.
Either: talk to the chief and get him to bargin with the Jumper (once a month
seems to work for all) or kill them all (the chief is the best mage I have
seen so far...) and take the rod. If you kill the chief you have to kill all
the kobolds in the main room, but I can't find any other consequences. Then
follow the signed tunnel. Talk to the master jumper and watch the fun
(100xp). Go through the gate and enter the:
Dragon Caves
The first room has two Ice Hounds in it. These are somewhat harder than the
kobolds we have been slaughtering up till now but no real hassle. They do have
nice +1 cold bolts though :) There is a trap right after the door - beware.
There are 4 Ice hounds in the corridor. Then work through the 3 doors. Each
has a small room behind it, the first two with a single Ice Hound, the last
with two. All have minor treasures. The next big room is a trap, with Ice
Hound archers on both sides of a narrow path. The sign at the front says not
to open the door for the oxen. Ignore that and open the door. They will kill
all the Ice Hounds for you! Check out the bones inside the oxen pen and the
corpse of the named kobold (which has a nice short sword).
Go through the doors to the dragon. This is the dragon that J'Nah wanted
dead. His kobolds attacked Drogan. First talk to him and he will ask you to
kill J'Nah. A flask of powder will help. Then use the item gived to you by
J'Nah. You become a huge warrior (29 Str!!!) with a +2 Greatsword. Keep
your henchman etc back and just hack the dragon to death. I leveled up here.
The dragon has the mask + 500gp, some dragon blood and a skull. The chests
behind the dragon and the desk to the east had over 1000gp and a nymphs
cloak, ogre gauntlets. All very nice. The mask has the abilities listed
and is a light source (anything else, maybe for thieves?). Use the key on
the rock next to the chests to return to the surface.
(If you don't kill the dragon, but do kill J'Nah you can do things a little
differently. When you return here you can get a range of rewards, from
getting a defender for Hilltop, freeing Deekin, the mask etc).
Tidying up
Go south to the High Forest and sell off any goods you don't want. Then
back to J'Nah. Personally, I couldn't kill her if I talked to her (by
going close to her I became the target of the attacks). So I just used
the flask on her and the fireballed from a distance (after first buffing
as much as possible). I found this much harder than the dragon. Once dead
you can talk to the gnolls. Either let them go or kill them (the leader
has a nice halberd). J'Nah's corpse has the tooth and a Staff of Power
(not as good as the awsome Staff of the Magi in BG2, but still nice).
The tooth has no obvious way of being used (unlike the first to recoverd
items). The boots and amulet the corpses also had do have nices uses
though! Go back to the surface. At this point Deekin appeared and gave
the tower to me. Thats all four! (If you don't have the items (or I
assume, at least have had them) from both J'Nah and the dragon, Deekin
will not appear.)
At this point the main quests for chapter one are complete. Sell unwanted
equipment etc either to the hermit or to the shops in Hilltop. You might
as well us up any remaining focus crystals as they won't be any use for
much longer. When you return to Drogan he will be healed. He wants the items
returned. If you lie you get 3 points to chaotic and only had over the tower,
keeping the other three items is 3 points to choas each (or if you have sold
them you get 3 points towards choas for each. He will tell you the plan for
the future. Once you agree to go you leave Hilltop (I think for good).
Interlude
(Note - if you die from now on you die, i.e. have to go back to a save.)
(Note - henchman will have defaulted to their original attitudes with
regard to leveling up, opening chests etc... this can be right pain if,
like me, you miss it and let them get a 'wasted' level in the wrong
class!)
After some talking the camp is attacked. If you do nothing, the halflings
etc will kill all the stingers, but you get less xp. (Xanos seems to 'die'
whatever I tried). Pick a henchman, summon familiars/companions etc and
off we go...
Pick a hole to climb down. All three seem to go to the same place (I
passed the dex test with a dex of 14 with no problems). Go past a couple
of stingers and to the next room (eastern exit).
Stinger Caves
There is a trap just beyond the set of tracks in this room. There are two
stinger archers at the far end of the room and four more come out of the
ground when you cross the room. Careful! There is a trap at the junction
of the two corridors ahead, which is also where two stingers attack. The
room at the NE of the map has a single stinger and several chests, one of
which had a +1 weapon in it. All very nice. The room to the west of the
southern corridor (room is just south of the entrance) contained three
stingers and yet more chests. Nice of the stingers to be so tidy, though
what they want with halberds I'll never know. The southern corridor opens
to a room with an archer at the end next to the door. As you cross the
floor, four more stingers rise from the floor (bet you never guessed
that was going to happen, did you!?!). The archer will run away if it
wants to. Take the passage to the east and follow it to another room.
This one had three stingers in it. Taking the winding corridor back
north, I found three stingers and two traps. Going into the large room
which we ignored earlier... it's a cut scene, it's a trap! It is a
manitcore! Well, kill it (quite easy really, had diamond on body) and
go loot the room that it came from (nice equipment there). Go out from
the trap room through the southern exit. Untrap, unlock the closed door
at the end of the corridoor. This is the treasure room. It has two more
traps on the floor and the two larger chests are also trapped. I found
some nice stuff in here though, including a pair of elven boots, +2 AC
armour, a wand and an amulet of health. Back onto the corridor and go
west to the final room. This contained around 6 stingers, included a
harder Officer and a single archer. Kill them (fireball, don't you just
love it!) and loot the pair of chests near the entrance (the officer
had a better (and cooler looking) halberd for Xanos). Now down deeper
you go...
Stinger Caves - Temple
Down the ramps, and head north. Two officers await in the next room,
along with a trap covering the entrance way. Kill them and go to the
larger door up ahead. Beyond the door are a group of ghouls, four
stingers and a stinger priest. I would equip the health amulet
(assuming that you got it) on one of your characters. Try to lead out
the lesser creatures and take them out away from the priest. The
priest has a couple of potions which he will use to heal himself and
also has a negative ray spell. I used melfs acid arrow on him to
prevent him casting. Once the room is cleared, destroy the alter to
free the guide. (you may be able to claim a reward off him). Loot
all the area next to the portal then use it to get to the level
below the surface. Return to the camp. I declined that reward (I
had persuded one before I went after the guide) and get 1000xp, 3
alignment to good and 3 to chaos. Typical. Anyway, you can't use the
shop here, so it's time to move on to...
The Oasis of the Green Palm
Here, agree to the quest. Then you can sell all the nice loot. Follow
the path, kill the zombies and talk to the Bedine. Talk lots, lots and
some more. When you finish you get a quest and the suggestion that the
crypt would be a nice place to visit, especially before the temple/tomb.
If you wander around there are a group of Zombies, mostly to the north
east. The crypt is to the north of the original Bedine.
Crypt
This is quite a small room. There are four zombies straight ahead of
you. Zero challenge. Once you kill them, examine the rune pillar at the
other side of the room. At this point the four gargyoles attack you.
Again no real challenge. Once they are dead the floor opens up and a
four by four grid appears. Yes, it's a place the tiles on the floor
puzzle. Tell your henchman (and any companions/familiars etc) to
stand their ground somewhere out of the way. Then pick up the rune
stones (one at a time) and place them in the pattern below:
RxxR
XRUX
XRRX
RXXR
where R = Rune stone, U = player and X = empty floor tile. This matches
the pattern on the flags. The chest then opens and you get the Desert
Fury. I assume that this weapon type depends on your class - mine was
a wizards staff and very nice too (especially against undead).
Back to the Oasis. Ali is pleased that you have the weapon and wishes
you well. The temple to the east contains lots of zombies, but the only
real challenge was how many could I kill with each fireball. My familiar
was killing them in a couple of hits by this point!
Exit the temple and head up the path to the north (in the middle of
the map). Kill the five or so zombies on it and go through the door...
Tomb of Kel-Garas
You can kill the four statues in this room. I got 17xp a piece for them
and one dropped a thunder stone (they can't fight back, so die easily to
melee). There is a large trap between the two gargoryles ahead. You can
also kill these statues, but they hit you with electricity on recieving
damage, so probably aren't worth it. The next room is a large trap,
similar the the one in the kobold caves, but without any oxen. There is
an actual trap in the centre of the walkway. This will paralysis whoever
sets it off (and they will die unless helped...). There are eight
skeleton archers on the walkways to the sides and around six zombies in
the middle. Not good. The way I did this was to allow my familiar to die
on the trap. Then run to the end, avoiding zombies. Resummon familiar which
then distracted the zombies which I avoided while using magic missile to
kill the eight archers. By the time I had taken the last one out, Xanos had
killed the zombies. Other classes will have to try different methods, but I
would suggest buffing with spells/potions etc before you start. The amulet of
health is very useful to avoid getting diseased mid fight you either use it or
give it to your henchman. All the skeletons have knucklebones in them, and one
had some minor treasure. Take the room to the south (no sign outside it).
Inside are a group of zombies and a slightly harder zombie lord. Kill all,
loot all. I got a chainmail +2 (for Xanos), a longsword +1 and a wand of
detect traps here. The room to the north's sign warns about looting. So loot...
Each coffin produces a mummy, so use the amulet of health. Mummys aura of fear
is a pain. The mask (from chapter 1) if you kept it, is very useful here. I let
Xanos melee with it, whilst I attacked from a distance. From the four coffins I
got 2 nice monk items, a +2 small shield, a helm of electrical resistance and a
few misc treasures. Now for the last door. There is a trap between the stautes
just before it. There are 4 statues in this room. They appear to be completely
industructable. When you enter the middle of the room Kel-Garas appears at the
end and the four statues attack with an area effect spell. The easiest way to
do this room is to run back to the entrance (ordering henchman etc to follow)
and hit the mummy using ranged attacks. He vanishes after a minute or so. Then
wait the spells end. After the next door are a set of fireball type traps to
the south (if you are a paladin, the rocks to the north vanish and you get a
class specific bit. I haven't done this, but this is where the holy avenger is
to be found (assume all coffins are trapped! - if anyone has done this...).
I guess the idea is to work out the pattern and dodge the fireballs. I couldn't
do this (has anyone else managed it???) so I told my familiar and henceman to
stand ground, used ghostly visage, stoneskin and a potion of speed and off I
ran. The section with the falling white lights is a sanctuary. I have no idea
what the floor levers do (???). Oh for an item of resist fire. There is a
secret passage on the western wall which will let you bypass the fireballs -
my familiar was unable to spot it, but Dorna might be able to. The next room
has loads of skeletons in it, and the ground contains at least four traps,
which cause slowness. The mummy wanders in an talks to you then off again. Kill
the skeletons (fireball works nicely, as it is just me in here). By this point
the fireball traps have stopped firing, so go get your companions. The next
room has a blackguard skeleton and three skeleton friends. These are much more
difficult to kill than the skeletons until now. I would suggest starting with
an area affect spell (or genade like item) and hoping you take out at least
one of the 4 (hopefully more). Lots of healing items later they die. The
blackguard seemed very good at making saves, so be careful with what you hit
him with. Two of the four chests in the room are trapped. The blackguard has
some interesting armour (blackguard only) and helmet (not blackguard specific!)
which might help the fear throws to come. There is another trap between the
statues (just for a change). The next room is the last one. There are two
traps just before the stairs, which lead you to...
Inner Catacombs
There are five spectres around the first room. These are easy, especially
compared to the blackguard. The large statue has a couple of rubies. Take them
and you have to fight it. It seems weak vs magic. The altar in the room works
in the same way as the statue in the elven tomb. This one however, moves you
5 points to evil if you pray (but heals you etc). Both chests at the back of
the room have high level traps on them. Heading north, there is a trap just
beyond the door. There are four more in the room with the eight statues. (The
southern corridor is identical to the northern one). Kel-Garas awaits in the
last room. He will summon up skeletons and use some nasty area effect spells.
How you kill him depends on your class. I used Xanos + familiar as meat shields
and fireballed/melfs acid arrowed him to death. His corpse has the rod on it.
The tomb behind him is trapped, the other two aren't. Over 5000 gp in total is
there + items. When you try to leave the caves collapse, taking you back to the
surface. (I made level 8 around here)
Once there the Bedine will ask how you did. They also volunteer to help fight.
Go to the temple. Kel-Garas will try to talk to you (I think evil characters
can agree to join him??) Assuming you fight him, this is much harder than the