Drearing's Deep & Valsharess (Hordes of the Underdark Part V)

DREARING'S DEEP

The party now tackles the fifth and last quest area of Chapter 2, starting off in the village of Drearing's Deep, oppressed by a strange cult.

There isn't much in this village to relay, just two merchants who sell basic supplies but nothing else of interest.

A gong stands outside an imposing temple, so the party sounds it. A wizard emerges from the temple and marches down to the gong flanked by two Cult Knights, the party and the villagers now circling the gong to listen to his speech. The wizard, known as Sodalis, declares the gathering "a ceremony" and asks who will serve the will of Vix'thra (ie, sacrifice themselves). The trio saves the ass of a villager by offering to serve for +EXP, and so the party is teleported into the Cult Temple where Sodalis makes it clear this is a sacrifice - then leaves to make preparations, leaving the trio alone with his "knights".

With the downstairs crypt needing a key, now its simply a matter of killing the two Cult Knights and then fighting to the top of the temple through more Cult Knights, Skeletal Devourers and Shadow Fiends in order to confront Sodalis. On the second level there is an altar upon which black pearls can be placed to enchant weapons with on-hit DC 24 STR drain. To my dismay, it only works on melee weapons (archers really get the short end of the stick in Hordes - as said before, Rizolvir can also only enchant ranged weapons with three mods whereas melee weapons can have eight, and now this)...

Sodalis

On the third and top level the trio confront Sodalis, who is scripted to move freely about the rooms (after casting Time Stop and unleashing a barrage of AoEs), seducing the trio into pursuing and tripping traps thickly laid over the floor. But under concentrated rapid fire from a +10 bow and Nathyrra's sneak attacks, he was dropped before his second barrage. His corpse and warchests looted for top-tier gear and the crypt key, the trio backtracks down to the first level, and then descends into the crypt...

This first part is just a matter of killing a few Bone Golems (50% piercing immune), snatching the rope from a chest, and then using it to climb down a central pit to drop into the Cult Temple's Inner Sanctum.

Here, the trio drops down in front of a startled Cult Monk flanked by two more Bone Golems. After killing them, a gaseous form rises from the monk's corpse and enters a nearby sarcophagus. The trio quickly bash a nearby crate, collects the resulting splintered wood and drives a stake into the vampire's heart before it regenerates. Now with an energy orb and another key looted from the vampire's corpse, the trio enter the next major area.

In here is a large, electrically-charged hub consisting of pedestals whereupon energy orbs must be placed in order to electrify doors from a central power source, thereby opening them for access to other areas. The first door requires one orb on one pedestal, the second one each on two, the third one each on three. Being currently in possession of just one orb, the trio places it on the singular pedestal on the room's west side, gaining access to the western area.

This area contains several vampiric monks who must be fought at once and then staked before you have to fight them again, and also a Cult Elder Monk who holds the second energy orb.

The first part of the eastern area is no joke: no less than six Bone Golems flanked by the Shadow Master, who nimbly sneaks off before he can be engaged. In this same room lies the astral deva, Lavoera, attached to a blood-extracting device and in Near Death state. Her blood can be extracted then poured on nearby golem parts to create a trio of Bone Golems allies, but I found them too slow to bother with. The devas freedom requires a Nullifier Rod, so the trio head off to find it.

Shadow Master's Lair

Killing off a Drow Handmaiden and her entourage of wizards and warriors, then taking out yet more Bone Golems, the trio reach the Shadow Master's lair.

This rogue vampire dual-wields Hatred and Strife kukris and uses Hide in Plain Sight to get off fairly strong at-will sneak attacks, but being alone he was no real threat. The trio loot his corpse for some wicked rogue gear and the final energy orb, then stake him. In his den is found the Nullifier Rod which is used to finally free Lavoera from her torture device. She can either join the party against Vix'thra or help out in the invasion segments. We ask her to join, as she'll help out in the invasion, anyway, when we ask later.

Placing the three energy orbs on the three pedestals in the north, the gate to Vix'thra is finally opened. But first there is one last vampire to vanquish, Sodalis, the wizard. He puts up less of a fight than last time, so this encounter isn't worth relaying. The four take him out, then stake him in his tomb to seal his fate.

Vix'thra: Draco-lich

Now the intrepid four enter the Hall of the Sacred One to face the draco-lich, Vix'thra'na'arxterys. Unlike BioWare's BG2, this lich actually has a phylactery which must be destroyed, first. Buffed to the heavens, the party sprints past the draco-lich, tripping traps along the way towards his treasure room, and shoots the phylactery to pieces, before the Bone Golems guarding it can even raise an eye-bone. Vix'thra, furious as hell, teleports over and casts Fire Storm and Chain Lightning, then fills the lair with Negative Energy breath, doing major, major harm. But the bows of the heroes continue to sing and, aided by Lavoera's generous castings of Sunburst and Heal, Vix'thra is defeated, his massive framework of bones all that remains. The astral deva flutters away, promising to accompany us once again to defend Lyth My'athar against the coming Valsharess onslaught.

The party loots the draco-lich horde, stuffing their pockets and bags full of gold, gems, jewels, scrolls and epic weapons and items. Deekin was gifted the Crossbow of Murder and RDD-only Greater Wyrm Gauntlets, both perfect for him. Heavily encumbered from phat lewt, the trio bind back to Rizolvir to sell it off, bringing their bank balance to 1,000,000 gold. (I suggest you only sell off what you absolutely need to. The reason for this is that Rizolvir will only pay a max of 10,000 gold for an item at this point, whereas in Chapter 3, coming up, his merchant cap is raised to 50,000.)

 

BATTLE FOR LITH MY'ATHAR

Sergeant Osyyr, exhausted from the wild goose chase we previously led him on, finally catches up and brings us to the Seer where we learn the invasion of the Valsharess is now imminent.

Then follows a multi-segment battle in which the player is held largely responsible for the defense of Lith-My'athar. You can speak to various units at your disposal and control their positioning, to an extent. What you command and what you go up against is dependent on how you solved the major areas.

The first segment involves fighting waves of Duergar and Drow attempting to breach the inner gates. Demons and Devils are summoned into the courtyard, but most of the enemy troops can be held within the bottleneck of the outer gates and burned to a crisp there, with Imbue Arrow.

The second segment is all about defending the Seer from champion Drow troops, within the city. This is somewhat harder, and I recommend having your Battle Golems and Lavoera as support for this part because if the Seer dies, its game over.

Valen (the Weapon Master Henchman) helps out in this fight even if you didn't recruit him, whirl-winding and tanking the enemies. He died in this segment because he was limited to his default gear (I hadn't given him anything else).

Lavoera pissed me off by not wielding her mace, Lavoera's Wrath, which I left her with after the fight with Vix'thra, instead choosing to fight bare-handed. She still kicked ass, though.

I faced a third segment due to my failure with the Overmind, but it was just a token wave of Umber Hulks and illithid led by a Paragon Mind Flayer.

THE VALSHARESS

Emboldened by their victories, the allies march to the fortress of the Valsharess, but the PC alone is teleported away by Mephistopheles, whom the Valsharess falsely thinks she has bound to her will. Meph breaks free, slays the Red Sisters and then frees the PC to fight the Valsharess, one-on-one.

 

Very cool battle, this. Awesome music. The Valsharess first successfully buffs herself with Aura of Hellfire, Battle Tide, Regenerate, Divine Power, Divine Favor and Prayer, despite being under heavy Rapid Shot fire, and then shouts "Ultrinnan!" (Viconia, ftw) before unleashing Hell Inferno, Storm of Vengeance and Fire Storm. Twice she managed to completely Heal herself at Near Death, which was annoying. But she eventually succumbed to the relentless hail of arrows. I reloaded a few times to muck around with this battle, and it seems she's most deadly if she decides to engage in melee with Will of Lloth, a loud-cracking whip which inflicts on-hit DC 26 wounding and STR drain. Plus, each of her melee attacks are augmented with divine, magic and fire from clerical buffs, making her even more dangerous in close quarters (especially for squishy archers).

Mephistopheles kills the PC in a cutscene after the duel with the Valsharess, closing out Chapter 2.

Neverwinter Nights (Index)	1. Undermountain 1	4. Zorvak'Mur	7. Mephistopheles NWN
NWN Best Builds	2. Undermountain 2 & 3	5. Valsharess NWN	HotU Crafting
NWN Best Spells	3. Lith My'athar	6. City of Lost Souls	HotU Item Code List