CH 3 Read Me
CH 3 Read Me
0 by Baldecaran
Contents :
Introduction Installation Information for Players The Campaign World Walkthrough Information for DMs Information for Builders Credits
rom slumber shall a sleeper wake to a hundred years of pain, and behold the resolution of the hopes that still remain. And all the dreams that are to come, and all the mysteries they hide, shall make their final revelation and disappear beneath the tide. For though the past it does not speak its voiceless words all must abide. And that which is destined the Century of Sorrow by the will of kings and mortals it cannot be denied.
- Aruthen of Akkaban, 419 L.R.
Installation
To play Chapter III of the Prophet series, you will need to download the MOD file as well as a HAK file and several BMU files with additional music. The module file can be found on NWVault under modules, and the additional files in a HAK entry called HAK and Music for the Prophet series. That entry contains several files. You will need the files Prophet0.hak, Prophet1.hak, Prophet2.hak, Prophet3.hak, and ProphetMusic.zip. To install: Place the Prophet Chapter III That Which is Destined.mod file in your NWN\modules directory. Place the Prophet0.hak Prophet1.hak Prophet2.hak and Prophet3.hak files in your NWN\hak directory. If youve played the Prologue and Chapter 1, you should already have the ProphetMusic.zip file uncompressed and all of the BMU files in your NWN\music directory.
aligned characters and may not offer many choices for evil players. In particular, the prophet character should be of above-average intelligence. If you are playing with a group of three or more characters, then its recommended that you start the prologue around 5th level. If you play solo, then 6-7th level should be ok. Most of the encounters scale to the strength of the party, but it is hard to balance game play for all kinds of groups. For this reason, if you play in multiplayer then I highly recommend asking one person to DM.
Henchmen
At the beginning of chapter 3, you will have no henchmen. However, some may join you as the game progresses. Henchmen can be controlled through conversations or through voice chats (V key) and the radial menu.
Resting
You can rest almost anywhere. However, in many places resting will launch random encounters. Also, when you rest, you will be blind and deaf, making you quite vulnerable. In some places you will find beds or bedrolls if you rest using those then time will advance by 8 hours (for the entire party). At certain times, when the prophet character rests, he/she will experience a dream. This will involve a cut-scene that only the prophet will see. Other players will see him/her resting on the ground, occasionally murmuring something. It is up to the prophet to decide whether to discuss these dreams with the others.
If you die and you are the only player in the game, then there are a couple of options: - In some cases, respawning will be free (for example, if you are within a dream). - If you possess an item called an icon of life, then you can respawn and will be healed, and youll also be temporarily invisible making it possible for you to escape from whatever situation caused your death. The icon is used up, however. - If you have any henchmen, then the respawn dialog will not appear. Once your henchmen are finished battling any foes, then they will attempt to bring you back using scrolls of raise dead. It is a good idea to put some of these in their inventory, just in case. However, even if your henchman does not have a scroll, he will search through your remains for any that you might have. If he finds one, he will use it to bring you back to life. - If your henchmen are fighting enemies, but instead of waiting for their help you want to use an icon of life, then use the radial menu on your henchmen to force them to leave your party. Then the respawn dialog will appear and you can use the icon of life and help them in the battle. - If neither you nor your henchmen have any means of bringing you back to life, then dying will force you to have to reload a previously saved game. In multi-player mode, there are additional options: - You can choose to wait for other players to bring you back, provided they have the skills or the equipment. - If you have no icons o f life, you can click the respawn button to become a ghost. Once you turn into a ghost, you will drop all of your possessions into a Player Remains object. This means other players can look through your possessions for scrolls of raise dead. If anyone casts a raise dead on the Player Remains then you will be brought back to life and can pick up your belongings. - If you became a ghost (see above), then among your remains your allies will find an item that looks like your dead body. If they pick this up, then the Player Remains turn into ordinary Remains (on which raise dead will NOT work), and where your belongings will remain. Now, your allies can carry your body to a safe place, or perhaps a healer, to have you brought back to life. When they carry your body item, you will follow them wherever they go. The point of this system is that when you die, your allies can take your body from the place of danger, even perhaps stealthily from under the noses of 7
enemies, and take it to a safe place. There, you can be raised from dead and healed in safety. It is also possible to pay certain NPCs to bring a dead character back to life. However, all of this is not an easy task, so be careful! And stock up on those raise dead scrolls whenever you can find them. Note that when your henchmen fall below 1hp, they do not bleed but rather die immediately and leave behind a Henchman Remains object. You can treat this as you would a Player Remains: You can cast raise dead on it (when its safe to do so), you can search through it for scrolls, or you can take the body item from it to carry your henchman to a safe place or a healer. Note that if your henchman possesses an icon of life, he/she will return to life right away and rejoin your party automatically.
Lo re
Occasionally, you may receive new journal entries, starting with the word Lore. These activate when you enter certain places in the module, and reflect your knowledge of the world. They appear if your Lore skill is sufficiently high and/or you are of an appropriate race. In all cases, these are not quests, and may never be marked as completed. They are merely bits of background knowledge.
Playing Tips
Be tactical. Some battles in the module can be fairly hard and quite chaotic. Prepare yourself with potions and magic items and set traps if you have the skills. Whenever you go stealthy, your henchmen will as well, and in this state they will not attack enemies unless they are attacked themselves. If a battle goes very badly, retreat. Even if you decide not to fight your enemies again, you can still sneak in and take back the bodies of your fallen comrades (PCs or NPCs) and bring them to a healer or a safe place for a raise-dead. Take advantage of this it is better to regroup and fight again than to die against increasing odds.
K nown Bugs
Some of the custom tilesets used in this module have a few flaws in their walkmeshes. This means that in some places you might click on a spot that you should be able to walk to, and your character wont move. You can try clicking elsewhere to get your character to walk, or you can use the W key to move forward to get out of these tricky spots. There was no way for me to fix this bug, and I love the look of these tilesets so much that I chose to put up with their small flaws.
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The gods of the elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, and orcs are the same as in the Forgotten Realms, though their history is different. Some of the common knowledge possessed by the people of Beleria is provided in the form of a book which can be found in the first area. This includes brief notes on geography and history as well as a calendar. Here is the text of the book:
Summa Belerianis
This book contains common knowledge about the nation of Beleria and the surrounding world. The kingdom of Beleria was established in the year 923 LR (Lotharyan Reckoning) by Beldar of Asilgard. This act marked the conclusion of a decade-long war among various human city-states, including Asilgard, Urdenfjorn, and Krakalgrad. Additional lands were incorporated into the kingdom, including Endorr in 1256 LR. Beleria now covers a large part of the western continent and is home to humans and halflings (most of whom live in the northeastern province of Norenshire). Dwarves and gnomes are also occasionally found in Beleria, but usually in small numbers. Pure-blooded elves are relatively uncommon. On the north, Beleria is bordered by the Kalamnir Mountains and the dwarven kingdom of Kragholm. This is a rugged and largely unexplored region, and most human knowledge of it comes from dwarven traders and occasional explorers. The eastern border of Beleria is not well-defined, as human settlements gradually give way to the Juntar plains (home to various barbarian tribes) and the elven forest of Linlitharn. To the southeast lies the human kingdom of Sardathia, the border of which had been established in 1340 LR after decades of war. On the south, Beleria is bordered by the Sea of Serpents and the Emirate of Akkaban. Akkaban is a human kingdom that has existed for at least two millennia and has become a major trade partner with Beleria in the last 150 years. To the west of Beleria stretches the Obsidian Ocean, which is generally believed to mark the edge of the world. The Belerian calendar is marked since the time when Lothar of Xenegath defeated the Orcish hordes of Kruth and carved out the first human settlements in this region of the western continent, over thirteen centuries ago. The year is divided into twelve months of 30 days each, with 5 extra days marking special events: Moonrise - the first day of the year, when the moon Selene first appears above the southern horizon and signals the beginning of spring; The Feast of Flowering after the end of the 3rd 11
month, marking the beginning of summer; Midsummer a festival of joy which occurs in the middle of the 5th month, when the moon reaches the zenith of the sky and the weather is always fair; Godsmeet a day of prayer after the end of the 6th month, marking the start of autumn; and Harvestide after the end of the 9th month, celebrating the autumn harvest and preparing for the winter, as Selene sets beyond the northern horizon. During winter, the moon is absent from the sky and snow covers the lands. Today, it is the year 1384, and Beleria is ruled by King Rohan who lives in the capital, Asilgard. The past ten years have been quite peaceful, aside from occasional skirmishes with the Juntar barbarians and various orc tribes that still live in the forests and mountains of Beleria. Nevertheless, the land holds many opportunities for high adventure for all those who seek such things...
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Walkthrough
*** MAJOR SPOILERS ***
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transported to the heart of the forest, where a glorious enchanted tree stands. You will notice that the roots of the tree are entwined with the dark roots of what appears to be a different kind of plant. Touch the tree to examine its branches and the birds that sit upon them, take some fruit (they provide you with regeneration), and examine the tree itself as well as the dark roots. If you are a druid or ranger or elf with high animal empathy, you will realize that these dark roots are drawing negative energy away from the tree, thus keeping it alive. Go back and tell this to Rithien, who will be relieved and wake, ending the dream. If you dont realize the nature of the roots, then you may choose to cut them down. Once you do so, the tree will die, snow will begin to fall on the lands, and the forest will begin to fight against itself. Make your way back to the druidess and tell her what happened. If you admit that you are to blame she will weep and wake up. Otherwise, she will attack and you must fight her to the death. In either case the dream will end and you can proceed. (NOTE: If you never identified the roots as aiding the tree but choose to leave them alone, then it will turn out that they were in fact a parasite that was feeding on the tree. If you tell this to Rithien, the forest will die and the dream will end.) The next dream is the nightmare of a young knight who is trying to protect his family from a group of undead zombies. You will find him to the west of where you appear. Speak with him and agree to help, and he will join you as a henchman. Now you must lead him through a dangerous crypt filled with skeletons, zombies, and evil spirits. There are several locked doors, some of which you can smash and some which require keys hidden in various coffins and piles of bones (check the bones stuffed in niches along the walls). Along the way, you will come to a room filled with dead bodies over which stands a large two-headed skeleton. Speak with it and learn that this is the dream of the revenge of Akkaban upon their conquerors, Sardathia. In the 25 years that have passed since you shattered the penteract, the empire of Akkaban was ravaged by a deadly plague (which started in Hierathanum) and the neighboring kingdom of Sardathia took this as the opportunity to invade. The Sardathians conquered the Akkabari and enslaved them, in vengeance for injustices further in the past. But now, the spirits of the Akkabari will take revenge. After the 15
skeleton finishes talking, it will attack, and the dead bodies in the room will rise and attack you as well. You must kill them all, and take from the corpse of the skeleton a two-headed key, which opens the next door. That door leads to the knights family, but you are too late and they are dead. The knight will fall into despair, but you can convince him that its just a dream, that his family is not really dead. As you speak, the world around you will begin to vanish and he will be relieved to see that you speak the truth. And then he will realize that he has seen you before: in a dream he had when he was six years old. He is Aleksar Tagarian (the boy Alek whom you met earlier), now grown, married, and heir to the kingdom of Sardathia. He will be curious as to why he is dreaming of you again, but just then a womans voice will be heard and he will awaken. The next dream is that of a woman named Keira, whose husband Surin is dying in his bed. He is in great pain, and she will ask you for advice. You can advise her to pray to her gods or to put him out of his misery. She will listen and do as you suggest, and then the dream will end. In the next dream, youll find yourself back in the elven city of Rithsilvane. Everything is still, everyone is frozen in time, and you must search to find who the dreamer is. If Llarien was with you at the end of Chapter 2, you will find him here and can speak with him. But he is not the dreamer the dreamer is Lord Evenorn, and Llarien will lead you to him. Lord Evenorn is standing atop his tower, looking over the lands. Speak with him and he will ask what has happened. You have the choice of telling him the truth about your role behind the Century of Sorrow (Llarien will insist) and about the Herezars who seem to be behind all of it. Evenorn will be intrigued. He will tell you that there have been many disturbing omens suggesting that the world is coming to an end. He will see how what youre telling him makes sense, and become interested in finding out more about the Herezars. However, as you speak he will begin to wake, and the dream will end. 16
In the next dream, you will be wandering through a field upon which a terrible battle had taken place. The ground is soaked with blood and strewn with the bodies of soldiers. Among these soldiers, youll find only one who is still alive. His arm has been cut off and he is bleeding to death, but before he dies, he will tell you what happened. He is a soldier in the Sardathian army, defending it against a horde of undead coming from the south. The humans were overrun with the sheer vast numbers of the undead, and the battle was lost. With that he dies. Continue further, and you will see a castle loom out of the fog. Cross the bridge and enter, and you will find yourself atop the ramparts. There, you will once again see that same man whom you saw dying just earlier, standing next to none other than Aleksar Tagarian. Speak with Aleksar. You will learn that he is preparing his men for a battle against a horde of undead coming from the south. But you already know that he will fail you have just seen it. You can try to convince him to turn away from this certain defeat, but he will not listen. He will wake, and the dream will end. In the next dream, youll find yourself outside the gates of a small township called Groenheld. The people there will tell you that the Juntar barbarians are invading the kingdom and are expected to attack the town very soon. A paladin named Sir Koldred Nireven has been sent to organize defenses, and he will ask you to help. If you convince him of your knowledge of tactics, he will allow you to order his men. You can speak with the soldiers to instruct them to follow Sir Koldred, follow you, or to take up defensive posts. For example, you can order them to follow you outside of town, lead them to strategic places, and then tell them to stay in a defensive position. You can tell them to equip melee or ranged weapons (which are useful to set off powder kegs located in particular key positions). Note: There are two gates of the city, one in the east and one in the north, and the barbarians may attack either or both. You yourself can either meet the horde on the battlefield or attack from within the city walls from archery posts or from atop the tall tower where a wizard stands with spells at the ready. Be sure to rest yourself and get equipped for a major battle. A cleric standing next to the paladin can provide some healing. 17
Once you are ready, speak with Sir Koldred and he will pray, and then soon after a runner will come with news that the Juntar are coming. Sir Koldred will rush out of the eastern gate to meet the horde on the battlefield. Note: During battle the towns gates will be shut and locked, but if you are not engaged in combat you can click on them and ask for them to open for you. The battle will be quite hectic, with several waves of powerful Juntar barbarians rushing to attack. If you are killed, you can respawn back inside the town. If Sir Koldred dies, he will rise again in a minute or so. In the end, although the battle may be very bloody, you will be victorious if only because you and the paladin (whose dream this is) cannot permanently die. Once all of the barbarians are defeated, speak with Sir Koldred. He will return to the center of town and call the townspeople to come out from hiding. They will celebrate their victory and hail you as their hero. Speak with the paladin to learn that 35 years have now passed since the fall of Hierathanum, and the kingdom of Beleria has been invaded by a Juntar horde under the command of a great warlord named Vrashkai. Once you finish talking, you can bid Sir Koldred farewell at which point he will wake and you will proceed to the next dream. In the next dream, you will appear inside a small comfortable room. Immediately, you will sense that something is quite different than previous dreams: everything is more vivid, in better focus, and your surroundings are strangely familiar. When you exit the room, you will be greeted by your old friend Merudoc! It is his home where you find yourself. Merudoc will be overjoyed to see you, and will say that you have just awakened from a long slumber into which you fell shortly after arriving with him in Norenshire. In other words: everything, all along, was just a dream! The red knights never attacked the halflings, you never traveled to Rithsilvane and the Shattered Peaks, you never flew on the skyship and made your way to Hierathanum, and you never shattered the penteract to begin the Century of Sorrow. It was all just a terrible dream!
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Of course, you will find this difficult to believe. Merudoc will do his best to convince you, and will invite you for a drink at the pub, and you will see that indeed, the township is quite at peace. You can trust him, or disbelieve him, or even attack him in paranoid distrust. But in the end, there will be nothing else for you to do but leave Norenshire on the road heading west, back to the Valley of Four Corners where all of this began. Here, there will be a lengthy cutscene. It will describe how you returned to the Hopping Hobgoblin Inn, took some time off to rest and to reflect on your strange experience, and how you eventually came to accept that it was in fact all just a dream. And so you returned to the life of adventuring. After a year passed, however, you could not shake the feeling that something is wrong, that you are running away from some secret that awaits you back in Norenshire. And so you return again to the peaceful township of the halflings. All is still at peace, but you will be uneasy. Merudoc will suggest you speak with old Drobim, the towns sage, who lives up on the eastern hill. Drobim wont be much help, but if you look around his home you will find a strange fragment of a stone ring hidden in a chest in a back room. Most strange of all, if you show this fragment to Drobim he will deny being able to see it. He will say there is nothing in your hands. Indeed, none of the halflings will be able to see the stone. If you search through the town, you will find the other three fragments (one in the mayors basement, and two in some of the houses). Once you have all four of the fragments, they will form a ring which will vanish and you will have the feeling that something has happened, that someone awaits you on the road outside of town. Go back toward the west and you will see her there, waiting for you: Fate. Speak with her. She will confirm what you have suspected, that this is after all, just another dream, albeit one that has lasted for more than a year. All of this is just your mind trying to delude itself from the horrible truth of what youve done. But its no use. You cannot hide from this. You can ask Fate about the Herezars, about their plan to defeat her, and she will tell you that that too was a delusion. She will tell you that the Herezar sages did not really believe they could defeat fate, and just 19
concocted an elaborate ruse to convince their countrymen that it could be done. They did this in order to put an end to a great revolt that was threatening to destroy their empire. But those who believed in that ruse set into motion a plan that has now plunged the world into a Century of Sorrow, and threatens the very future of existence. You can believe her or not, but in the end you have no choice but to take her hand and follow her to your destiny. Next, you will find yourself in a strange corridor that seems to extend into infinity. Follow the corridor to the north, where you will come across a bizarre woman whose head is a ball of white light behind a porcelain mask. You can speak with her but she will not respond, and then she will suddenly turn and begin to float silently down the corridor. Follow her. You will come to a large hall where there is a man working on a gigantic sculpture composed of faces, hands, and all manner of people and beasts. He will also not respond to you. Speak again with the strange woman and tell her you want to know your fate. Thus the dream will end. [SPOILER: The sculptor is the god Lor, creator of the world, and it is his dream that you find yourself within. He is the one who was dreaming of Norenshire, and that is why the dream was so vivid and so long-lasting. Why the creator god would dream of such a thing, you cannot know. Did he take pity on you and wish to create for you a comfortable delusion? Or was he just toying with you?] The next dream is a nightmare. In it, you will find that you are a mindless zombie pursuing some defenseless townsfolk. You will not be able to control your actions, and will be forced to watch as you and your throng of undead run down their frightened prey. The last person to die will be the dreamer, and with his/her death the dream will end. In the next dream, you will find yourself in a strange dungeon adorned with mournful faces. You will see a cradle before you, but when you approach and look 20
inside, you will die. Of course, you can rise again (click RESPAWN), and now you will find yourself in a different room. There, you will hear a mans voice that says Only through death can you venture forth. Move forward to see a room filled with lava and a bridge on fire and hear the words Burn! I want to see you burn! Walk into the fire and you will burn to death. When you rise again you will find yourself in a small corridor with a door sparking with electricity. Walk through the door to enter a room where there is a small gravestone. Approach the gravestone and you will be attacked by beasts that will tear you to shreds. NOTE: You must let the beasts kill you in order to progress. When you die, be sure you are as close to the gravestone as possible, so that you will awaken in a new place. This new place is a twisting hallway filled with statues. As you walk, you will hear that mans voice again, telling you that he had been hoping to see you in his dreams again, but you never came. And meanwhile, his family was killed and his country fell. You will probably realize that the man speaking (and the dreamer behind this nightmare) is Aleksar Tagarian. Keep walking until you come to a place where magical swords twirl in the air before an accusing statue. Step in front and spikes will come from the ground to skewer you to death. NOTE: You must allow this trap to kill you. Next, you will pass to a room filled with zombies and an undead woman who looks like Aleksars wife. In the center of that room is a cradle with the bones of an infant: You will come to the awful realization that Aleksars wife rose from the dead and devoured her own child! Her grave lies further, and when you touch it a visage of grief will appear and attack you. Let it strike you down so that you rise again in the next room, where you will come face to face with Aleksar Tagarian himself. He will tell you that he knows your secret: He knows that you are the one who caused the Century of Sorrow. He will say that this dream is just a taste of the nightmare he has prepared for you as punishment for your sin. And then he will fight you to the death. He is very formidable, but you will notice
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that he cannot kill you, and so sooner or later you will prevail and the dream will end. In the next dream, you will find yourself in an empty library. Among many stacks of books you will see an ominous statue holding aloft a large tome. Read the tome to learn of the first decade of the Century of Sorrow, when the empire of Akkaban fell, first to a plague that spread from Hierathanum and second to an invasion of their old rival, the kingdom of Sardathia. Keep going until you find a second statue and a second tome. It describes the second decade, when portents of doom began to appear even while Sardathia experienced a golden age. The next tome describes the third decade, when the dead first began to stir within the tombs of defeated Akkaban. After you break down some wooden barricades, youll find the next tome. It describes the fourth decade, when the Juntar armies rose in the east under the warlord Vrashkai and attacked the kingdom of Beleria. Keep walking onward and youll find the next tome surrounded by dead bodies. It describes the fifth decade, when the dead began to form an army that marched upon Sardathia and destroyed the once proud kingdom. The next statue and tome are in an ornate room guarded by suits of armor. The tome describes the sixth decade and the council of Asilgard: where many sages from all over the known world gathered to discuss the disturbing events of recent years. In a nearby chest you will find the key that leads to the next chamber. There, among dead bodies of humans and undead, broken bookshelves and scattered parchments, you will find the next tome. It describes the seventh decade, when the dead spilled outward from Sardathia in a giant flood that destroyed the elven forests and the nation of Beleria. And when you finish reading, the bodies all around you will rise to attack. You will have to fight them all, and to defeat the skeletal king who holds the key to the next room. In that next room you will find no tome, but you will see a vision of a man wearing a robe and hood. He is the one dreaming this dream. Although you wont be able to hear his words, you will see that he is quite excited to see you within his dream. But then he will awaken and the dream will end.
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In the next dream, you will find yourself standing atop a fortified hill where a group of soldiers prepares for battle against the undead horde. Their leader, Connor Elduran, will give a short speech after which the soldiers will go to their post and await the enemy. Find yourself a good spot behind the fortifications. The undead will come in waves, starting with slow-moving zombies who are followed by increasingly powerful abominations. The soldiers have doused the hill with oil which will explode into flame as the undead approach, so it is better to stay behind the fortifications at least in the beginning. Although the battle will go well at first, the undead army will just keep coming endlessly. Worse, if any of the soldiers fall during the battle they will rise as ghosts after a few minutes, and join the undead. Although these ghosts can be killed, they will just rise again, in increasingly powerful forms. Thus, the battle is hopeless. When Connor Elduran himself is killed, the dream will end. In the next dream, youll appear in a forest near a campsite with some refugees. Ahead, youll see a lone dwarven soldier fighting against a group of undead. Go to his aid. Once the undead are slain, he will return to the camp and thank you for your help. He will introduce himself as Odrin Feldspar and explain that he is leading these refugees to safety in the fortresses of the dwarven kingdom of Kragholm. You can offer to join him or to go your separate ways, and regardless of what you choose, the dream will end. The next dream will take place in the ruins of a city that you had seen many times in your dreams in your very first dream in the Hopping Hobgoblin Inn, in your dream on the skyship, as well as during your lucid travels into the future. This time, youll see an ethereal vision of a man in robes. As you approach him, he will vanish. But youll see him again, further on, this time appearing a bit older. Again he will vanish. But then youll see him again, still older, and standing on the steps of a ruined building. This time, he will not vanish as you approach. Although you can speak with him, you will not be able to hear his words. He will gesture for you to follow him, and when you agree, the dream will end. The next dream is different for the prophet and for the other players. All nonprophet characters will find themselves in the ruins of a small town overlooked by 23
the silhouette of a tall tower. Various undead roam through the town, and will attack you on sight. If you approach the tower you will sense that the dreamer is within, but you have no way of waking him/her. Thus, you are trapped in this dream forever, unless the prophet character manages to bring you out into the waking world (see below). If you are the prophet, then instead of appearing in the ruined town you will enter a cutscene. In the cutscene, you will see a stranger being taken to a prison cell by a man in robes and some soldiers. Then you will see the stranger standing upon a dais while a group of men perform some kind of ritual. The stranger will be struck by a beam of light and cry out in pain. Next, you will see this same stranger lying on a bed in a small room. The leader of the ritual will appear, say something about returns to walk among the living and vanish again. Then, Uther Palandras will appear and say something about resting after a great burden. Finally, Merudoc will appear and speak to the stranger as if to a friend. You will then float over the bed and see the strangers face turns into yours. And then the stranger will wake, and you will realize that he/she is you.
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The Vigil
When you rise, you will see a man in robes fall to his knees before you. He will call you by your name, rejoicing that you are awake. He will tell you that you he is part of a cult known as the Vigil, formed with the sole purpose of bringing you back into existence. And now at last they have succeeded! He will not say much more, but he will lead you to their leader, a man known as the Eighth Savant of the Vigil, Aechthilios. He is the man you saw in your dream of the ruined city, shortly before you woke. The Savant will cry with joy at your arrival, and will proclaim victory. He will tell you that you are within a sanctum beneath the fortress of Uthbannor, in the western part of what was once the nation of Beleria. The Vigil has awakened you because they believe that you are destined to end this Century of Sorrow that is devouring the world. He will say that you are the only hope left now, and will ask you to tell him what must be done. When you tell him that you do not know, his face will turn pale and he will ask you to follow him to speak in private. Follow him. Once you are alone, he will break down with despair that you do not know what must be done. However, from him you will find out that the person who founded the Vigil was none other than your old ally, Lord Evenorn. Perhaps he has learned something? Perhaps he has found Ymreth-Arduin, the ancient homeland of the Herezars, and found what must be done to defeat fate and save the world? You will decide that you must find Evenorn, and that the first place to look for clues is in his home, in Rithsilvane. The Savant will be encouraged to hear that you still have hope, and will pledge to do all he can to help you. Since none of your belongings were saved from your dreamstate (except for the Sceptre of Lor, which isnt a physical object), he will lead you to a room filled with treasures donated to the Vigil in the hope that you will someday rise. In that room, you will find powerful weapons, armor, as well as a multitude of magical items and supplies. The Savant will also suggest that you go upstairs and speak with a woman named Isandra, who can lead you to Rithsilvane. Upstairs you can also find a Vigil merchant who can sell you many more items at a drastically reduced price.
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If Llarien accompanied you to the end of chapter 2, you can ask the Savant to wake him as well. If that is what you want, then you will go to sleep again and when you wake, a Vigil ardent will lead you to Llarien. Unfortunately, your old friend is not himself. He too has been traveling through dreams, and has witnessed such horrors that his soul has been wounded beyond repair. He will refuse to join with you again, and will threaten to reveal to the Vigil the truth of your role in the Century of Sorrow. You can kill him to keep him quiet, but it is better to just leave him be. You may be curious how the Vigil managed to wake you. After all, your body was utterly destroyed deep below Hierathanum, thousands of kilometers away and never found again. If you look around the Savants quarters, youll find a key that opens a door behind the Vigil hall, leading to a room that looks very much like the room with the ritual you saw in the dream just before you woke. Exploring further you will find the cell where the stranger was kept, and it will be all extremely familiar to you, as if you yourself had been here. If you confront the Savant with this knowledge, he will reveal to you that to wake you, they had to sacrifice a person of the s ame race, gender, and build, in order to provide a vessel for your soul to enter! (If you asked for Llarien to be awakened, a similar atrocity was committed) You may be enraged by this, but it is too late. The Vigil believed that no price was too high to awaken the one person who could save the world. In the end, there is nothing to do but leave the Vigil and travel to Rithsilvane in the hope of finding out if Lord Evenorn learned anything about the ancient Herezars and their terrible plan. Go upstairs to talk with Isandra, who will join you on your quest. She is a very formidable fighter ( a monk, actually) trained in the arts of hand-to-hand combat, and will be a powerful ally. Use the level in the room where you met her to open a gate that leads into an old warehouse, and then exit into the fortress of Uthbannor. There, you will see how the survivors of the once proud Belerian kingdom now live, huddled together within the walled city while marauding undead rule the lands outside. You can speak with the men and women here, but there is little to learn about except their fear and little to do but pity their pain. Because the gates of the city are locked, you will have to jump over the wall. There is a spot in the western wall where some bales of hay have been placed 26
click on the wall to engage the option to jump. Once you and Isandra are over the wall, go around the outside of the fortress (watch out for zombies) and climb the cliff to find the way east.
high balcony, but he will speak with you if you approach. He will tell you to leave, and if you refuse, he will order his undead servants to attack. During the battle, Toman will attack you as well, but the Master himself will retreat into his tower if harmed. You can break down the door on the east wall of the tower and fight your way to the upper floor. There, youll find the Master in his chambers, his dagger at the neck of a young woman named Mila. You can leave or try to reason with him, but in all likelihood he will kill Mila and summon a fiend. You should defeat the fiend as well as the Master, and raise Mila back to life if you have the means. There are some scrolls of raise dead in the Masters study just nearby (watch out for traps and a glyph of warding). Assuming you bring Mila back, she will explain that she and the other townsfolk saw the Master as their only hope against the undead. But you can tell her they can find safety in Uthbannor. First, however, tell her to wait while you go back down to make sure there are no remaining undead in the town (they will turn hostile toward the villagers as soon as you slay the Master). After you are sure its safe, you can tell Mila or some of the others to call everyone to the center of town (this includes Endrik). Mila will plead with you to save Toman, who attacked you only because he perceived you as a threat to the town. You can do so, and forgive him, in which case he will join the others. Whether or not you do, you can tell the villagers to set off to Uthbannor, in which case you will receive experience for each who survived. You do not have to confront the Master openly, but instead can try to sneak into his tower. The guards within will still attack if they see you, but you may catch the Master by surprise which will make the battle much easier. However, as soon as he dies all of the undead in the town, including those roaming around outside, will turn hostile and attack the villagers. In any case, once you finish with Kravikhel you should return north to the crossroads, and then turn east. In the next area, you will find a valley where zombies shamble mindlessly. On a small bridge you will see a creature called a Pain Wraith. Fight it if you want, but it cannot be killed. Isandra will realize this and will tell you to run. Run eastward into the forest; the pain wraith will not follow. Now, you will find yourself among the ruins of the town of Riversmeet. This is where Isandra grew up, and she will be overcome by grief seeing it like this. She will ask that you stop to rest here to allow her to mourn. Do so. When you rest, you will experience a dream. In it, you will see Aleksar Tagarian sitting on the Savants throne in the Vigil hall, speaking to a man who addresses him as Founder. Aleksar will give this man some document to read and the man will turn pale with shock. He will then leave the room and walk through a magical 28
hallway. As he passes through the hallway, he will age visibly, his beard turning gray. He will then enter an identical room and sit on the Savants throne. He will now speak to a man in robes and tell him that the one we seek is our betrayer. He will tell the man that the rest of the Vigil must not know of this, that this must be a secret passed through the generations. You will then see a series of such scenes, in each of which the secret is passed to a listener who then leaves, turns old, and passes the secret to the next person. Finally, the secret will be passed to Isandra, who will be charged with the task of exacting revenge upon you as punishment for what you have done.
When you wake, you will find yourself buried up to your neck inside a grave and unable to move. Isandra will stand over you, laughing with contempt. She will tell you that she knows what youve done, and she will now exact a most terrible revenge: She will turn you into a pain wraith! She will sprinkle a red dust on your head and leave. You will then experience several more visions, of Aleksar, of Uther Palandras, and of Merudoc. Finally, you will hear footsteps. Though at first you will think this is just another hallucination, you will realize that it is Llarien. He has come to your rescue! Llarien will pull you out of the hole and assist you in attacking and killing Isandra so that you can obtain the antidote to the poison she inflicted you with. Llarien has followed you all along, and could not bear to watch what she was about to do. And now he will agree to help you. He will join with you again to help you find Evenorn and to find some way to end this Century of Sorrow. 29
NOTE: If Llarien did not accompany you to the end of chapter 2, or if you did not wake him in the Vigil, then he will not come to your rescue. Instead, you will be rescued by the ghost of Merudoc, who will then vanish, and you will have to fight Isandra by yourself. Once you are finished in Riversmeet, cross the bridge in the south and follow the road eastward. This will lead you to an area where you will hear battle upon a hill. If youre curious, climb the hill to see a paladin fighting a group of undead beside an old tower. Help him if you wish. Once the undead are defeated, you can speak with the paladin to learn that he has been guarding this pass from the armies of the dead. If you question him further, you may realize that he himself is a ghost (For example, if you have the Blade of Resting Souls it will glow in his presence). You can choose to tell him this, and though at first he will be reluctant to believe you, as you speak he will become increasingly transparent. Even his tower will begin to fade, and soon he will die in a flash of despair. You can now pick up some treasure from what remains of his tower. But you may prefer to take pity on him and allow him to persist in his delusion. Whatever your choice, follow the road to where it turns south at the Sigris river. Here, turn north to enter the great forest of LinLitharn.
protect it. Nevertheless, you have no choice, and must continue eastward along the road (watch out for giant wolves and a wendigo spirit whose howl can kill). Finally, you will come to the thorn wall that guards the entrance to Rithsilvane. If Llarien is with you, he will speak the phrase that opens the wall; otherwise you can just cut it down. When you enter Rithsilvane, speak with the gate guard. He will refuse you entry, so you must either try to slip by him or fight him. You will find that the guards on the watchtowers and those patrolling the city will be hostile to you. Dont underestimate them they are very accurate with their arrows and they are strategically placed to inflict a lot of damage upon intruders. The other elves in the city will not be hostile, but instead will be in some kind of placid delusion, claiming that all is well with the world. They will all suggest that you speak with the Elder, who is in the great hall of the Senraad in the center of the city. The Elder Theledassan will welcome you but will demand to know what you are doing in his city. Tell him that you are searching for Lord Evenorn and need to enter his tower. To determine your identity, the elder will ask you some questions which youll find easy to answer, and he will agree to give you the key to the tower. Within Evenorns tower, you will find his crystal ball. Touch it and youll see a vision of the elven sage, who will tell you that he left some gift for you above, in his library. Go to the third floor and search thoroughly and in a barrel in the corner you will find what he meant: a Selanthier the magical gem that allows one to travel along the astral roots of all living trees. Although this Selanthier has already been used up and cannot form new portals, it can still be used to re-open the last portal it created. All you need to do is bring it to the Senraad and touch it to the enchanted tree therein. A portal will then open and you can step through. If you are curious, you can ask the Elder about what is going on in Rithsilvane. Why are the people in such a strange dazed state? He will tell you that in order to protect the city against the rising tide of undead, he performed a ritual which took away the souls of all of his people (including himself) and locked them away within a crystal phylactery. Thus, the undead would not be drawn to this place, and the elves could live on, albeit without souls. He says that it was either that, or be defeated and join 31
the undead throng. You can approve of his action, or not. If you try to force him to release the souls of his people, he will refuse and attack. Be careful here: Theledassan is a very powerful wizard and his guards are quite formidable as well. This is one of the most challenging battles you have faced so far, so dont hold back. If you have the Selanthier then you can escape the battle by touching the enchanted tree to open its portal. If you succeed in defeating the elder and his guards, you can take from his body the key that opens his private chambers, above. In the private chambers you will find the crystal phylactery. If you smash i t, the souls will be released. Unfortunately, they had been trapped there for so long that they have forgotten their own identities and will attack you in confusion. Even if you leave them be, they will not return to their former bodies. And so, you have little choice but to return to the Senraad hall, open the portal by touching the enchanted tree with the Selanthier, and pass through to follow in Evenorns footsteps.
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The guards of Skaernfell will be alarmed by your arrival, having not heard news from the south in many, many years. They will take you to speak with their leader, the hetman. This man is old enough to remember the time, more than sixty years ago, when an elven wizard helped to protect this village from an attack of frost giants. That wizard was none other than Lord Evenorn. The hetman will consult some old records and will find out from them that Evenorn left the village to travel north, over the Mountains of Aggerfjor, to search for the ancient ruins of some lost civilization. But before he left, Evenorn told the northmen to await the coming of a prophet. Realizing that you are the prophet, the hetman will offer to help you. He will assign one of his men, Joeren, to take you to the foot of the Aggerfjor mountains, to the ancient pass where Evenorn was last seen. Before you go, you should rest yourself in the village and visit the store called Torleths Treasures, where you can sell your loot and buy a variety of supplies. Be sure to purchase some items that protect you against the cold. When you rest, youll experience a dream in which you walk across a wasteland and come face to face with your future self. You shout at him/her, demanding answers, but only receive the response that one day, you will understand everything. When you are ready to leave, speak with the hetman and he will instruct Joeren to guide you to the foot of the Aggerflor mountains. Once there, Joeren will offer you his magical greatsword. If you have the skill to wield such weapons, take it because it is very powerful against cold-resistant creatures. Follow around the lake and up the slope, always heading north. It is sometimes tricky to find the way up, but click around to find the path and look for Evenorns glyphs to guide your way. You will climb past an abandoned camp and an unnamed ruin, and then come upon a tribe of snow orcs. If you attack their fort (an ancient dwarven crypt), you will be able to rest yourselves inside. Continue climbing northward and youll come into the next area, where you will come across more snow orcs, who are attacked by a group of powerful frost giants. You can let these enemies fight each other before engaging in combat yourself. Continue northward to Dragonscar ridge.
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The air on Dragonscar ridge is extremely cold, and you will take damage if you are not wearing protection. Note that even if you are resistant to the damage itself, it will put you in combat mode which means you cannot speak or change armor while in this area. Proceeding further you will come across a group of frost giants battling against an ancient ice dragon. They are no match for it and will be defeated despite their resistance to many of its forms of attack. You can choose to fight the dragon, but it is extremely formidable. Instead, you can make your way around the battle by going east, then north, then back west once you have passed the dragon. You will then find another glyph to guide your way to the northern slopes of the mountains. Now, you can finally begin descending. Be careful, because the slope is very steep and it is very likely that you will lose your balance and fall (its particularly hard if youre wearing heavy armor). Once at the bottom, youll see a small cave where you can rest. There are bodies of frost goblins strewn around the cave, all dead by some mysterious force. But do not worry, it is perfectly safe (You will never learn what killed the goblins The world is full of mysteries).
After descending from the mountains, you will find yourself facing a frozen plain that extends as far as the eye can see. Fortunately, you will find one of Evenorns glyphs to guide you. Follow it to a chest buried under a slab of ice. Within it you will find Evenorns second notebook, which describes his seven-year search for the ruins of Ymreth-Arduin. Although the stalwart sage nearly lost his sanity during those years, eventually he did succeed in finding the ruins. But before entering, he made his way back here to leave these items for you and then returned to the ruins, marking the path with his glyphs.
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Follow Lord Evenorns glyphs across the frozen wastes, but be careful of the dangers. Along the way, you will be ambushed by a band of arctic bugbears, and face several ice trolls. The ice trolls are particularly dangerous opponents because they regenerate quickly and even rise from death unless their remains are burned (the easiest way to do this is to open the remains object while holding a torch). The only place you can rest among the frozen wastes is deep in the cave of the ice trolls, but clearing out its inhabitants is very challenging. Eventually, Evenorns glyphs will guide you to the ruins of Ymreth-Arduin, and there to an ancient wall frozen in ice. Smash the ice or melt it with spells and you will find a crack within the wall through which you can squeeze (but youll have to take off your armor).
Ymreth-Arduin
You will enter a gigantic cavern, in which the air is much less cold than outside because of a glowing moss that grows on the walls and floor. Find your way down until you see another one of Evenorns glyphs, pointing westward. Follow it to find a crack in the cave wall, where you will find a glass case containing a scroll. Break the case to retrieve the scroll. On it is a map as well as a message from Lord Evenorn. The map reveals the layout of the upper part of the city, which is haunted by spirits and emotions that rage in eternal battle against each other, replaying the Apostasy of the Herezars. The note suggests that you not engage the dangerous 35
denizens of this place and just quickly make your way to a great staircase in the north. Evenorn recommends that you use the transparent mushrooms growing in these caverns to turn yourself invisible. Indeed, the upper city of Ymreth-Arduin is a very dangerous place. Violent shades of the ancient Herezars battle against each other here, with both sword and spell. Worse still, a variety of disembodied emotions rage here, and some of them can see through even the most powerful invisibility magic. Nevertheless, if you are brave, you can explore some of these ruins and within them find a variety of treasures and magical items. But ultimately, your goal lies to the north, where an intricate staircase spirals deep into the ground. After you descend the staircase, youll find yourself in a much more peaceful part of the city. Here, there is another glyph left for you by Evenorn, pointing to the feet of a stone statue. Dig around and youll find a magical bag and within it, some powerful items as well as a set of notes bound in leather. Use the Unique Power to read the notes. NOTE: Using the notes starts a conversation with yourself, in which you can choose to read from a list of entries that expands as you learn more. Each passage is presented as two conversation options: One in which you read the text out loud, so that your allies can hear it; and one in which you read the text to yourself. In other words, to read to yourself, you (the player) can just look at the text in the read out loud option but select the read to yourself option so that your character will not speak the words and thus no other players (or henchmen) will hear them. They might object, of course Evenorns notes will reveal a great deal. They describe his findings on Herezar history, on both the upper and lower parts of this city, as well as on their plan to defeat fate. Read them carefully, for among them you will find answers to your most pressing questions: How did the Herezars hope to defeat fate? What was the purpose behind the Century of Sorrow? How can the balance between the elements be restored again? Indeed, much of what is described here in this walkthrough will be revealed in Evenorns notes. In particular, you will learn that to save the world 36
from annihilation you will need to use Herezar magic to create a new penteract. This will involve traveling to the different elemental planes (see Chamber of the Gates below) and to restore the balance between them. Most important of all is what you must do to restore the balance between the past and the future. Read the section about the Lower City, then the one about Weave, then the section about the portal of the Future and finally the portal of the Past. What you will learn is this: That to restore balance between the past and the future, you must enter a lucid dream in which you travel into the past, meet again with your former self, and lie to him about the Century of Sorrow. You must deceive him as you yourself had once been deceived! Only in this way can the alignment between the past and the future be restored. You must betray your former self, give him the Sceptre of Lor, and trick him into destroying the penteract! It is the only way. Although this knowledge will surely be very disturbing to you, you have no choice but to obey, for otherwise the world will fall apart into oblivion. Now, you must explore the Lower City and obtain the treasures contained therein, and when you are ready, enter the Weave and fulfill your destiny.
Unlike the upper city, the buildings here are extremely well-preserved, as if they do not feel the passage of time. Go northward to cross a bridge and enter the gates. There, you will encounter a Herezar ghost, who will speak if addressed by the prophet. All the ghosts in this place will only speak with the prophet, which means that you will be able to learn things that Evenorn never discovered. Just like the ghosts you encountered long ago in Herez, these ghosts will each speak a single line,
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continuing from where the previous left off regardless of the order in which you address them. There are four ghosts in the lower city, as well as several more in the building called the Residences (see below). As described in Evenorns notes, the lower city is fairly small and consists of several structures, described below. The Hovels are a set of buildings west of the Weave, where once lived the servants of the Herezars, the Servile. These creatures still haunt the place, but there is not much of interest here anymore, except some useful supplies. The Residences are east of the Weave, and were once the home of several Herezar families, each with a separate dwelling. Explore each of the rooms and you will find a number of useful items such as magical weapons and protective clothing. All of these will be very useful when you travel the planes (see below). Be sure to speak with any ghosts you find, for they will continue their narrative. When you speak with the last ghost (counting the ones outside in the lower city as well as those in the Residences), a key will appear in your hand. This key unlocks a door in the [southeast] part of the lower level of the Residences. Go there to descend further, where you will meet a pair of ghosts who will tell you the final part of their narrative. Their words will imply something astounding: That it is you who will decide whether fate rules the world! The Museum stands northwest of the Weave. Here, a series of talking statues tell the tale of the Herezar First Age, when they conquered all of the western world, enslaving elves, dwarves, and giants, and reaching the pinnacle of their power. During their tale, the statues will give you gifts of knowledge, gold, and magical power, but some of them will inflict you with curses or release terrible foes. Evenorns notes tell you which statues are beneficial and which you should avoid, but it is up to you if you wish to follow his advice. The statues are as follows: Pride: Everyone receives 1000 experience points. Kneeling Orc: You are attacked by the undead shadows of orcs. 38
Dwarf: You receive 1000 gold pieces. Elf: You receive 300 experience points Giant: The statue comes alive and attacks. Scholar: You receive +10 to your lore skill. Muse: You receive a +2 bonus to charisma Teacher: You gain +1 to intelligence and +1 to wisdom Priestess: You gain the ability to regenerate 1 hit point per round Conqueror: You receive a +1 bonus to strength and 500 experience points Beast: A wyvern appears and attacks you Supplicant: You receive divine favor, allowing you one resurrection next time you die. Crystal: You lose 500 experience points Cage: The door to the museum locks and the statue of pride awakens. Now you have to destroy it to get the key that lets you out. The Academy stands to the northeast of the Weave. When you enter, youll find a room with a Herezar ghost, a doorway, an armoire and some open chests. The doorway is blocked by a force-field which you cannot pass. Speak with the Herezar ghost and she will tell you that you must remove all of your possessions (except those which cannot be dropped, like the Mark of the Prophet) and put on the Robes of Humility (in the armoire). Once you do so, you can pass the force-field and venture further. Walk around to the central chamber, where you will meet a creature known as an illithid. Speak with it and it will command you to perform a menial task: to carry all of the items from chests in the east part of this level and place them in chests on the west part. It does not matter which chests you put stuff into, as long as all of the items from the east are moved to the west. Once you are done, speak with the illithid again and he will unlock the door allowing you to progress further. Next, you will find yourself in a large arena, where a disembodied voice will tell you to prepare for battle. There is a selection of weapons and shields on the ground choose up to three weapons and one shield and step into the center. Now, a minotaur will appear and attack. Once you defeat it, the voice will be heard again, announcing a new opponent. This will continue for a while, and each time you will be faced with a stronger and more dangerous foe. If you succeed in defeating all of them, you will receive an experience bonus and the gate in front of you will open, allowing you to proceed. However, some of the final foes are quite absurdly difficult, so defeating them all is very unlikely. Nevertheless, if you die you will hear laughter, but the humiliating spectacle will end and you will be brought back to life and allowed to continue. 39
Further, you will find a circular room containing seven sleeping pods. As soon as you enter, you will become dominated (no resistance or save possible) and will be forced to stand before each of the illithid creatures within the pods, one-by-one. The first will examine you and comment on your physical features, the second will comment on your mental skills, the third will comment on your alignment and disposition, and the fourth on your skills and classes. The next illithid will explore your memories, forcing you to recall your earliest memories as well as past moments of humiliation and despair. He will be particularly interested in your experiences in Norenshire, the death of Merudoc, and your role in the Century of Sorrow. Your feelings of guilt will be laid bare for all to enjoy. The next being will telepathically explore your innards, extracting some of your lan and causing you to permanently lose a level. The final being will explore your psychic powers. He will force you to exercise your gift, and will be fascinated by your ability to peer into the minds of those whose fate touches yours. Focus in turn on the visions of Uther Palandras, Merudoc, and Evenorn, and learn a bit about what they had been through. Finally, focus on the vision of a Herezar man, who will instruct you on how you can turn your own anger into a psychic weapon. Follow his advice, and you will send out a blast of psychic energy that will destroy all of the illithid in the room and free your mind from their control. This will open a portal that will allow you to leave the Academy. Although this experience has been quite harrowing and humiliating, it earns you a powerful new ability: The Psionic Mind Blast. To activate it (up to 5 times per day), use the Unique Power of the item that appears in your inventory (it looks like a blue eyeball). This will emit a cone of psychic energy that can stun creatures for 3d4 rounds. The Frozen Tower stands to the north of the Weave. According to Evenorns notes, it is encased in a mountain of ice that no flame can melt and no pick can break. It therefore cannot be entered yet (see below). The Weave dominates the center of the city, and functions as a portal to the Chamber of the Gates (see below). Evenorns notes reveal that to activate it, you must hold out the Sceptre of Lor (i.e. have it equipped) and speak the words Irviris Atem (Hit [ENTER] and type these words into the chat bar). This is how the Herezars ensured that only the unmaker could unlock the Weave.
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The Weave portal teleports you into a huge chamber deep beneath the earth, housing a machine designed to create a new penteract. The chamber is shaped as a great wheel, with eight magical gates leading to the different planes of existence. These include the physical planes of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water, as well as the spiritual planes of Life and Death, and finally the temporal planes of the Past and the Future. To activate the machine and create a new penteract, you will have to obtain the essence of each of these planes and bring them together to the center. There, you will see a void, an absence of existence, which is the place where the new penteract will appear. There are four staircases leading to four pedestals where you can place the essences of the four physical elements. Interestingly, you will note that you have entered this place through the gate corresponding to the Future. This is because you already possess the essence of the future your prophetic sight. First, you will have to obtain the four physical essences (in any order) and place them on the pedestals in the center of the chamber. Once you have done this, the gate of Life will become unlocked. You must then obtain the essence of life and bring 41
it to the plane of death, thus creating balance between them. Then, you will finally be able to enter the gate of the Past (see below). The Plane of Fire is entered in the east, through a field of flames. This will bring you to the easternmost part of the world, where the earth cracks apart into a field of lava from which the sun is born each morning. Be very careful: if you are here during the morning hours (between 6 and 7am), you will take extreme heat damage from the rising sun. There is a large volcano here, which spews fireballs that sometimes turn into hostile living flames. Make your way east and climb the volcano, where you will encounter a Fire Spirit. This being looks like a fiery humanoid surrounded by a huge storm of flames, and he is able to cast a variety of fire-based attacks as well as to create living flames. Resistance to heat damage will be extremely important here. The fire spirit cannot be killed while he is standing in fire, so youll have to draw him out. Even outside of the flames, he is difficult to kill because he can regenerate by drawing the essence of any living flames within several meters, so it is better to kill those first before trying to finish off the spirit. Once you defeat him, you will find the essence of fire in his remains. The essence of fire allows you to cast a minor Fireball at will, or a major Fireball three times per day. The Plane of Water is entered in the west, through what looks like a pool of bubbling water. Touching this teleports you to the westernmost point of the world, where the ocean plummets over a gigantic cliff in a massive eternal waterfall. A staircase has been built here which takes you down into the plane of water. Be sure you have a ring of water breathing or a scroll of Ganemars Gills (left for you by Evenorn), for otherwise you will quickly run out of air and drown. Follow the staircase and cross the underwater bridge, where you will fight some sharks and a gigantic crab (it is hard to kill but vulnerable to well-aimed piercing attacks). Deep in the water you will see a shrine approach it to release a Water Spirit which you will have to kill to obtain the essence of water. If youre a fighter, you can defeat it 42
toe-to-toe. If youre a spellcaster, you will have a harder time because while underwater you cannot cast any spells with a verbal component. However, if you draw your enemies back to the staircase and exit above the waves, then you will be able to cast spells at them from above, and they will not be able to follow you. This is the easiest way to defeat the water spirit. The essence of water is a gem that allows you to cast Cone of Cold at will.
The Plane of Air is entered in the northwest by touching a beam of light. This causes you to rise rapidly upward to the plane of air, beyond the reach of gravity. Here, you will find yourself flying through the clouds. All summoned creatures and non-flying familiars will automatically be unsummoned, but other party members as well as Llarien will be able to accompany you. There are various cloudlike air elementals here as well as glowing radiance elementals, all of which are hostile. Explore the clouds to find an Air Spirit a giant cloud crackling with lightning. You will have to defeat it to obtain the essence of air. The air spirit is quite formidable, and creates air elementals if attacked from afar. Resistance to electricity will be particularly valuable here. Note, if you or Llarien die, you will fall from the sky and land near the gate that brought you here. So if you lose Llarien go back to the portal to retrieve him. The essence of air is a gem that allows you to cast a variety of spells including Chain Lightning, Gust of Wind, and Sound Burst.
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The Plane of Earth is entered in the southeast by jumping into a deep pit (just run toward the edge of the plank that extends over the pit). This will bring you to a very dark labyrinth filled with standing stones and swirling fields of utter blackness. Some of the stones will come alive and move slowly towards you. They are hard to target while moving, but once they are next to you, you can smash them in close combat (but be careful for they inflict powerful bludgeoning damage). First, explore to the southwest until you find a statue of a giant hand destroy it to obtain a stone hand. Next, get a key from the room south of the portal to open the east door, now explore further to find a statue of a giant foot (destroy it to obtain a stone leg) and a dark boulder (destroy it to obtain a stone torso). Once you have the stone torso, leg, and hand, bring all three to the southeast part of the labyrinth where there is a room with a round altar. Place all three objects on the altar and step back this will cause a Stone Avatar to appear. This giant being must be defeated to obta in the essence of earth. The stone avatar is quite formidable and will take a long time to kill. It is very resistant to physical damage, especially slashing and bludgeoning attacks, but it is very vulnerable to sonic damage. From its corpse you can retrieve the essence of earth, which is a heavy stone that allows you to cast Earthquake. Once you have the essences of all four physical elements, bring them to the center of the chamber of the gates and place each upon the corresponding pedestal. This will cause them to project a beam at the void which then reflects toward the location of that physical plane (fire east, water west, air up, earth down). Once this is done, the physical planes will be returned into balance. However, this is only temporary: unless you re-balance the spiritual elements (life and death) as well as the temporal elements (past and future), this balance will fall apart again in a few days. That is why you must hurry. Once the physical elements are re-balanced, you can enter the gate leading to the Plane of Life in the south of the chamber. The Plane of Life is entered in the south through a gate overgrown with vines. This will bring you to the southern edge of the world, to a small tower within a thick jungle teeming with living things. Be prepared, nearly everything in this place will attack and try to eat you. You can take refuge atop the tower (the animals will not follow through the door) and kill hostiles from above. However, you will notice that anything killed in this place rises again within a minute or so. This includes you and your henchmen. Eventually, youll have to venture into the jungle. As you travel south, you will encounter increasingly bizarre forms of life: strange mutated creatures, mixtures of different species, walking trees and grasping vines. Eventually, you will come to a swamp where your wounds will regenerate on their own. Deep in the swamp, youll come to a glowing crystal. When you approach the crystal, its light will come alive into a pulsating luminous entity. Touch the entity to 44
examine it (but be careful not to look at it directly or youll be temporarily blinded). Within the light, there floats a drop of pure lan the essence of life. Youll have to try to reach it, but then the entity will attack. Killing this entity is extremely difficult for two reasons: First, it regenerates quickly, especially when it is close to the crystal. Second, each time you damage it, it becomes temporarily resistant to that kind of damage. So if you slash it with a sword, it becomes resistant to slashing damage; if you blast it with fire, it becomes resistant to fire. Worse still, it will sometimes turn the energy of your attack into a hostile elemental. To kill the entity, youll first have to draw it away from the crystal and then strike it with as many different kinds of weapons and magic each round as you can muster. Another way to kill it is to exploit its one weakness: negative energy. For that, the most useful item is the rod of draining, which you can find in the residences (but use it carefully for it drains your life as well). Once you kill the entity you it will drop the essence of life. Take it, and youll notice that your body now sparkles with divine luminescence. This is because as long as you carry the essence, you are immortal. You must fight your way back to the portal and return to the chamber of the gates. Once you are there, the essence of life will unlock the door to the Plane of Death. The Plane of Death is entered in the north through a dark doorway. This takes you to the northernmost edge of the prime material plane, where the land itself crumbles into nothingness. Make your way northward across this desolation. As you walk, you will gradually succumb to a variety of curses and diseases which will sap your constitution, your strength, your levels of experience, and inflict you with utter despair. You may find it necessary to drop many of your items because you will not be able to carry them all in your severely weakened state. But do not drop the essence of life. You must bring it to the northernmost tip of this bleak place, where a stone hand lies wreathed in a red fog. To restore the balance between life and death, you must place the essence in the palm of this stone hand. If you are alone (no other players, and Llarien is not with you) then this is sufficient, and when you go back to the chamber of the gates, you will see that the balance between life and death has been restored. 45
However, if you are playing in multiplayer mode or Llarien is with you, then the rules are slightly different: Anyone who approaches the stone hand will die, completely and irrevocably. As long as he/she carries the essence of life, they will be safe, but the essence must be destroyed within the darkness, and so he/she who carries it there will die as well. This means that someone will have to sacrifice themselves to restore the balance between life and death. If Llarien is with you, then he will offer to do this. He will offer to sacrifice his life to allow you to fulfill your destiny and restore balance to the world. You can argue, but there is little choice. Give him the essence and he will take it into the darkness, where he will die. If Llarien is not with you, but there are other player characters, then one of them will have to make this sacrifice. NOTE: Whoever does this will die irrevocably, but they will then become a ghost that will automatically follow the prophet character. The ghost cannot control his/her actions anymore, but he/she can observe the rest of the games events and use the chat bar to communicate with other players a kind of voice from beyond. Dont worry; you will not be in this state for too long, since the module is almost over at this point. But you should make the most of role-playing your sacrifice and take part in being the prophets conscience.
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discovery of Ymreth-Arduin and his entrance into this great tower. Here, Evenorn learned just how magnificent is the history of this world. Even the most learned elven scholars never suspected how long the world has existed, and never knew of all the civilizations that have risen and fallen since the dawn of time. But the Herezars discovered all of this through their explorations of astral planes and lost dreamscapes. This tower is a monument to that massive history. In learning all of this, Evenorn also learned what it was the Herezars hoped to accomplish, and how they meant to do it: They meant to remake creation itself. They wanted to free the world from the chains of fate. However, it was not the future that they hoped to free instead, they wanted to free the past. If fate were to be defeated, then she would be banished from all time, even those thousands of millennia that have already taken place. Her defeat would redefine the past, giving free will and true meaning to all of the magnificent accomplishments of history. That is what the Herezars wanted. And to accomplish this, they were willing make a monstrous sacrifice: They were willing to destroy the future. It was never the Herezar plan that you should restore the balance between the elements and save the world from annihilation. They built their great machine not so that you would use it, but so that you would have the choice to do so. That is how fate would be defeated a mortal was to be given a true, free choice, compatible with two alternative universes. In the first universe, you obey fate and commit the act that you had foreseen, deceiving your former self. In that universe, the past and future are in balance, and all the acts of gods and mortals are trapped between them by the chains of destiny. Indeed, in that universe, your choice was never a choice at all. However, in the second universe, you defy fate. You enter the lucid dream and meet with your former self, but you tell him the truth. Y ou tell him to turn back. Thus, the past becomes incompatible with the future, and thus, you prove that fate does not exist. And thus, she has never existed and all of history has always been free. Thus, you truly defeat fate, for all time However, the price paid for this is high indeed, for the balance is not restored and the world spirals into annihilation. Now you understand the true burden that you carry: the burden of choice. Do you save the world but leave it forever enslaved? Or do you let it be destroyed, 48
thus freeing a million years of history? In Evenorns memories you will see him struggle with this question as well, and to make his own choice: Survival. And so, he tried to make the choice for you by deceiving you. The notes he left for you were mostly written after he already knew the truth, written in such a way as to make you believe that restoring the balance was the only option, and that it was in fact the way to defeat fate. But he feared that you would learn the truth and choose otherwise, and so he encased the Tower and himself within a mountain of ice. But in the end, you saw through his deception and learned the truth anyway. And now that you know the truth, you cannot escape its burden. What will be your choice? Will you obey fate and save the future, or will you defy her and free the past?
The Past
Once you have learned the truth behind the Herezar plan, and once you have restored the balance between the four physical elements and the two spiritual elements, now it is time for you to enter the portal of the Past. This portal is not a real portal at all, but a gateway into a lucid dream. You are the key that opens it, and once you enter, all of your companions can follow. Your journey through the past will revisit some of the places and events of all the modules in the series. It will begin at the crossroads in the Valley of Four Corners, where you can speak again with the bard Vagar about the prophetic nature of dreams. From there, go east through the forest until you come to Norenshire, where you will fight against one of the red knights, and then speak with a memory of Merudoc. Pass through the gate behind him and you will find yourself within a memory of Chapter 1.
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To your right you will see a castle which has become the lair of a group of bandits, and to your left you will see the hills of Lohim and the entrance to the mines, where you can speak with a memory of Llarien. Continue east through a swamp where you will fight some vipers, tangle vines, and lizardfolk, and then turn southward. This will take you high above the swamp and forest to a memory of Rithsilvane. Here, enter the tower to speak again with Evenorn, and then return back through the trapdoor atop his tower. Now youll find yourself at the foot of the shattered peaks. Begin your climb, watching out for cliff edges, avalanches, and a goblin archer. As you climb, a volcano will begin erupting and shooting fireballs into the area. Cross the bridge to see the Urlords castle, defeat the ghostly soldier guarding it, and enter the door to meet Uther Palandras atop his tower. After speaking with him, return through the door and youll find yourself on the skyship, flying south. Go below deck to move on to a memory of Chapter 2. Here you will start on the skyship as it approaches a great jungle. Enter the door and youll find yourself in the desert, near the camp of the dervishmen. Continue southward where youll be ambushed by sandfolk and enter the great Amdavaur desert. A sandworm will appear, but it will not attack. When you come to the gates of Hierathanum, speak with the sentinel and it will open the gates. There, you will meet memories of some of the people of the city, including Kurathan, the caliph Amhothet, and Atelkhan. Climb the staircase in the cliff wall to enter a memory of the chantry. You can converse with the memory of the Speaker, but the memories of the dream weavers are too far away to speak with you. Continue south and you will see yourself standing upon a cliff (this vision will vanish if approached). Keep walking across the bridges until you come to a memory of Herez and exit over the bridge to the south to enter a memory of Chapter 3. Here, you will find yourself walking across a fractured landscape of the dreams you visited during the Century of Sorrow. These will include fighting alongside Sir Koldred against the Juntar barbarians, speaking with Aleksar Tagarian atop his keep as he prepares for battle, and seeing the rising armies of the dead. Finally, you will see a memory of the Vigil Savant who will welcome you back into the waking 50
world. Ask the ardents behind him to open the gate and then step forward and click on the drawbridge to enter Uthbannor. From there, exit west and then continue north, where you will see a memory of Isandra, Endrik, the legions of the dead, the ghostly paladin, and finally, the Elder Theledassan standing at the gates of Rithsilvane. Speak with him and then pass through the gate. Now, youll find yourself walking along a beach littered with the ancient ruins of Ymreth-Arduin. Follow the beach until you come to meet the ghost of the great Herezar seer Xaenthia, who will lead you to the next area. Now, you will find yourself in a strange realm of high bridges, which you had seen during your second lucid dream in Chapter 2. You will again see an ethereal ring encircling your path, and this leads to a doorway to a desert that you have seen many times in your dreams. There, you will walk along a road and meet several visions of people you have met during your adventures. They will include the Savant Aechthilios, the Elder Theledassan, Keira (a woman whose dream you visited during the century of sorrow), the Speaker of the chantry, Endrik (if you had gone to Kravikhel), a woman named Nora from Uthbannor, Aleksar Tagarian, Isandra, Hassir (if he had joined you in Chapter 2), the undead paladin from the lands of the dead, Atelkhan, the caliph Amhothet, Nazathar Ghol (if he was the one who poisoned the wellspring), Kurathan, Uther Palandras, Evenorn, Merudoc, Llarien, and two ghosts of the Herezars. Each of these visions will give you advice on what you should do when you meet your former self. Some will tell you to obey fate and some will tell you to defy her. You must listen to all of them until each vanishes. After you have listened to all of the visions, go to the end of the road and wait at the edge of the cliff. Your former self will now arrive and speak with you. As you speak with your former self, your conversation will at first be quite constrained, and limited to the same words your future self had once told you when you saw this moment in your lucid dream in Chapter 2. However, eventually you will have the option to change the conversation, to tell your former self the truth about the Century of Sorrow. Here is where you must make your choice the greatest choice ever faced by a mortal.
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Choosing Fate: To obey fate and save the world, you must continue to say the words you had been told in Chapter 2 (the top option in each step of the conversation), telling your past self that he/she must destroy the penteract to prevent the Century of Sorrow. He/she will believe you, take the Sceptre of Lor, and disappear. Thus, you have obeyed fate, restored the balance between the elements, and saved the world from annihilation. In a few moments, you too will vanish and reappear again within the chamber of the gates. Go to the center of the room to see the creation of a new penteract. And thus, the story ends. Now you will witness a final cutscene and then you and your party will find yourselves in the storytellers chambers, where you can ask him to explain some of your remaining questions. To exit the module, ask him to tell you a new story. Choosing Free Will: To defy fate, you can tell your past self the truth about the Herezar plan, and warn him/her against starting the Century of Sorrow. If you do so, then there is no turning back. Your past self will not take the Sceptre, and will instead wake from his/her lucid dream, leaving you alone at the end of days. In a few seconds, fire will fall from the sky and you will vanish, reappearing again in the chamber of the gates. Go to the center of the room to see the void explode. Meteors will rain down from the sky and lava will fill the chamber. And thus, the story ends. Now you will witness a final cutscene and then you and your party will find yourself lost in a vast darkness. The world has ended However, if you walk north you will see a swirling mist and in its center, a bright light. To exit the module, touch this light and see within it the birth of a thousand new universes. 52
When you have finished playing, I invite you to vote for the module and make some comments in the NWN Vault. Also, I invite you to post your thoughts on the Prophet Spoiler Thread at social.bioware.com. I am curious to hear what choice you made at the end of the module, and why. And if you have any remaining questions, I can do my best to answer them. Thank you for playing the Prophet series!
THE END
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Versio n Histo ry
Version 1.0: Uploaded to NWVault on September 16th, 2011 This is the first released version of the module, single-player only. Version 2.0: Uploaded to NWVault on April 22nd, 2012 This is the multi-player version of the module.
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Credits
There are many builders and players who have inspired, enlightened, and encouraged this project. Most of all, I want to thank Randalish, Jean-Marc Lezineau, and Lisha Sun, for thoroughly play-testing Chapter III and providing countless great ideas. The Prophet series makes use of a variety of custom content: The additional music is from the excellent Bioware game Icewind Dale CEP this wealth of custom content needs no introduction. DOA Rural/City Builder provides an incredibly versatile tileset for making anything from rolling hills to grand cities Rocky Mountains a fantastic tileset for tall mountains with ancient castles and treetop elven cities JDAs Dwarven Halls an amazing tileset for magnificent and somber halls Helvenes Expanded Underdark adds crumbling ruins to the underdark tileset Pasillis Snowy Mountains A tileset of snow covered mountains Sixthrices Winter Wildlands A tileset of beautiful northern forests and towns DOA Base Item Model Set 1.2 redefines the appearance of items BRolanda's Usable Beds v2.1 alters the walkmesh on all tiles that contain beds, thus allowing characters and NPCs to lie down in comfort. NewAges Columns and Things Several beautifully crafted placeables LordOfWorms Frost Giants Now THIS is what a frost giant really looks like! 69MEH69s henchman scripts a very impressive script package making henchmen smarter and much more versatile. DMFI tools the indispensable set of gadgets that no DM should be without. Gestalts cutscene scripts A fantastic toolbox for making cutscenes. Red Golems stageplay A set of scripts for quickly adding small scenes using something very much like a movie script. U'liass D & D style trolls Makes trolls that much more disgusting. The image of the open book, which appears at the top of this document, is a modification of the Elvinwood Tome, a digital painting by the very talented Tom King (http://tkingart.com/). If you have questions or comments about this module, please send e-mail to [email protected] or post a comment on the NWVault. 56