Act Two, Part II: Fairloch City & Thieves' Guild, Maggie, Valennia

Part VII of Aielund Saga Walkthrough Guide. Continuing from Part VI: Pirate Attack. The Aielund Saga is a NWN Module for BioWare's Neverwinter Nights 1.

Fairloch

We arrive at nightfall amidst gentle snow. The Captain asks me to escort Princess Criosa directly to the Fairloch Castle. 

Taking some convincing, the street-wise Ronan Aethur also joins us (True Neutral Half-Elf Rogue [9]). I let him know that "duty calls" (+1 Lawful, +50 EXP). Ronan gave up his life of crime and joined the navy as bo'sun, but for now he's helping us unfold this conspiracy.

Back belowdecks, we loot Ronan's chest (Leather Armor +3, Short Sword +2 (2), Shortbow +2, Boots of Agility (+2 DEX, Tumble +5), Arrow +3 (298) and potions. Ronan also wears bracers granting him Weapon Specialization: Short Sword and Slashing resist 5/-. I give him Slicer to wield in his main hand, an Amulet of Armor +2, Ring of Protection +2, the Helm of Mind Shielding, Archer's Belt and Cloak of Fortification +1. 

Then we step down the boarding plank onto a pier of the Docklands district where we meet Kipper Bob, our fisherman friend from Culdeny. Bob needs me to help with some thugs running a protection racket from a warehouse on the Docks. We agree to help, but this quest can wait for now.

We enter the Market District and head east directly towards the Castle.

Oh, the House of Fashions is just to the south. But no... must... resist... shopping. - Criosa

Down a dark alley...

Kill them quickly, and be done with it! - Assassin Elite.

The Assassin Elite casts Darkness and attacks with blinding speed and precision, but fails to hit his mark (+572 EXP, Assassin's Blade +2 [Keen], Assassin Armor +2 and Hard Leather Boots). His orders to kill are signed simply with the figure "1".

Rounding a corner, we enter Fairloch Castle and are greeted by the Castellan, who, upon seeing the Princess, grants us immediate permission to enter the Throne Room.

Etiquette demands that you speak to the Duke first, madam. - Sir Godfrey Davis.

I deliver the unharmed Princess to Duke Charles Montague, her uncle, who is over the moon to see her returned safely (+200 EXP). He promises a kingly sum of 10,000 GP if I can bring down the guild of assassins who are hellbent on hitting their royal mark. I tell His Grace I could not refuse the mission even if there were no reward (+1 Lawful, +50 EXP). Sir Godfrey now hands me a letter of the Marque and also refers me to the Captain of the City Watch for more information and assistance on this urgent matter. My sole Henchman, Ronan, also interjects here with info about the thieves guild (of which he was once a member) and its links to the elusive assassins. We take our leave.

I enter the Tradeway Tavern in the Residential District wherein I find and recruit my second Henchman: Maggie Fairweather, a True Neutral Halfling Druid (9). Being a tiny Halfling, Maggie can't wield the Pirate's Cutlass while holding the Large Metal Shield +2, so I have her poke with the Assassin's Blade +2 instead. I give her an Amulet of Natural Armor +2 and purchase for her a Ring of Protection +2 and Greater Gloves of Concentration (Conc +6).

While equipping Maggie I also sell off excess loot, bringing the party bank balance up to about 60,000 GP. That isn't nearly enough to purchase all the better gear show-cased by the merchants (now with a buyer cap of 10,000 GP per item). Speaking of merchants, a bald-headed tattooed woman sells all sorts of exotic gear from "the East", including four pages of weapons I've never seen before in NWN, added by CEP.

At this point there are actually two more recruitable Henchmen found in other taverns: Valennia Far-Eagle, a Chaotic Neutral Human Barbarian (9) - a young attractive woman who is specced for greatsword; and Sir William Bryce-Clifton, a Lawful Good Human Paladin (9) - an old man. You can only have a maximum of two Henchmen, however, so at this stage, I won't be recruiting them (and I don't see myself doubling up on Pallies in the future, either). 

Fairloch consists of four main districts featuring 42 areas including a Royal Castle (multiple areas), a Senate (and later, a House of Lords), an Admiralty, an art gallery, a cathedral (with catacombs), a mage tower, a guardhouse, a library, three warehouses (including Naval storage), a three-level Assassins' Guild, two multi-storey noble estates, four inns (one a playhouse), five sewer zones (complete with Thieves' Guild) and six shops including blacksmith, tanner, fletcher and tailor/dressmaker. Yes, merchants aren't just standing around in an open marketplace peddling epic wares in Fairloch: they have their own establishments.

First things first, we take up Kipper Bob's offer to cleanse the Docks of a protection racket. We enter a dilapidated warehouse and speak with Justin, flanked by a small army of thugs - some armed, others bare-fisted. My Persuade (9) check was not enough to get them to close up shop, but was enough to aggravate Justin, so they came straight at us with crude weapons drawn and scabby fists up. But even grubs from the slums should have known better than to take on a Holy Warrior who in self-defense grimly cuts them down along with their cocky leader, Justin, who's death yielded +396 EXP and a Longsword +1.

Level Up to 10!

Lilura: Champion of Torm (2) / Paladin (4)/ Fighter (4), Sacred Defense, Improved Critical: Longsword

Ronan: Rogue (10), Crippling Strike

Maggie: Druid (10)

We return to Kipper Bob to tell him the good news (+750 EXP, Boots of Striding +2).

Secondly, we head to the university sub-section and into the Fairloch Cathedral. Here we meet Bishop Anthony Brown who asks us to delve the catacombs in search of a mad cardinal who is raising the dead down there. A quest tailored to a divine build, how could I refuse? From the Bishop I buy anti-undead items including an Amulet of Health, Lesser Amulet of Health and Blessed Mace of Disruption +2 (+1d12 divine) for a total outlay of 35,000 GP. As a >lvl2 Paladin I'm immune to Disease (Divine Health) and Fear (Aura of Courage), but the Amulet of Health adds Poison and Level Drain to that list, just in case. I also have Remove Disease but one casting per day is a joke, really. Hence, the two Health amulets.

 

We descend into the tombs beneath the Cathedral...

I smell death... unnatural death. - Maggie.

Herein lurk dozens of Mummies, Mummy Priests and their summoned Skeleton Warriors. I basically solo these guys because Ronan is susceptible to Fear and Maggie can't really bring much to the table except cure (x) wound spam (which is handy, no doubt). Still, they are both fairly weak in combat against undead. (Nellise would obviously decimate down here, but she's selflessly decided to help heal Culdeny instead of saving the whole of Aielund, so I can't hold that against her...)

This is what a Pally is made for. I'm in my element, below.

Towards the end of this middle-sized dungeon we face off against the tankiest foe yet: the Mummy Warlord, one tough mutha with a fear aura and a ream-long immunity list, pictured below.

Phew, what's that stench. Oh, it's you. - Ronan.

(Giving lip to a foe you run in fear from, and can't even kill on your own. Typical cocky rogue. I guess he takes me for granted...)

Maggie and Ronan are vulnerable to Knockdown, so I do my best to attract the aggro and eventually whittle him down with divine-augmented melee (+924 EXP). 

From his battered mummified corpse we loot a Large Shield +3 and Longsword +1, the former being extra D for Maggie.

I now have Maggie buff me with Stoneskin, Endure Elements and Resistance, after which I self-buff with Divine Might. Then the trio step into the Tomb of Sir Marcus where they face off against a hostile priest: Cardinal Eric Notting, gone mad.

There he is. Looks like he's made some new friends, geddit? - Ronan.

Ronan is referring to Sir Marcus, a long-dead knight who was already reanimated by the Cardinal when we stepped into the tomb. Maggie opens up with Ice Storm and then Call Lightning on the Cardinal while I wail on Sir Marcus with the divine mace. Ronan sneak attack criticals the Cardinal, who only managed to cast Darkness before surrendering at Near Death status (+90 EXP). I then give Sir Marcus one last divine bludgeoning (+748 EXP), prematurely capping off the encounter. (So it turned out I didn't need Level Drain immunity, afterall. Oh well, I'm sure there'll be more potent undead encounters later in the module where the Amulet of Health will come in handy.)

 

The Cardinal agrees to return with us to face the music (+200 EXP) and so we time-lapse back to the Bishop and hand over the madman for punishment. The Bishop suitably impressed (+1200 EXP), he entrusts to me Lightbringer +3 (1d6 Evil, Dispel Magic 1/day) and the Lesser Shield of Invulnerability (DR 5/+2). Beaming with pride and genuinely misty-eyed, I reverently slide the holy longsword into my scabbard, stiffen my upper lip, and sincerely thank his Eminence for the generous gift.

My Henchmen still patting me on the back, we now enter the arcane Halls of Knowledge across the street to ask Harold Webber if he has any work. He gently hands us a fragile package of magic goods to deliver to one Auberon at the Amalis wizard tower. We put this on hold for now.

Downstairs I agree to test Wiliand Nottias's teleportation experiment. I buy two Stones of Recall (952 GP ea) which enable me to recall back to the lab from any location. Basically, very similar to the Relic of the Reaper in Hordes except that at this point the only binding is the lab itself. Still, that's handy as hell since I can venture down the South road to Amalis and just bind back here when done. But first, the trio decide to explore the rest of Fairloch for other quests within the city.

We enter the Grand Library in the Senate District and discover a Devil on the first floor who has taken three hostages. This down-sized Mephistopheles from Hordes senses a powerful tome somewhere in the library and asks us to retrieve it for him in exchange for the hostages' release. The trio run off to rummage through the many bookshelves, finally finding a Tome of Power which we take back and hand the Devil, who then frees one of the hostages (+200 EXP).

The Devil then asks for an Elixir of Binding or he won't free the others, so the trio run off to the Halls of Knowledge in search of one. I fail my Persuade check on Webber so we have to fork out 800 GP for it. We then buy Holy Water from the Bishop and pour the holy water into the Elixir of Binding, thereby blessing it. 

Now back in the library, the anti-infernal elixir is delivered to the Devil (+500 EXP) who greedily chugs it down. The divine damage reduces him to Badly Wounded which causes him to rage hard and attacks the trio with flaming melee thrusts. Ronan is quickly killed by the assault but is instantly avenged by my crit that downs the Devil in turn (+1188 EXP). With mini-Meph's antics ended the freed hostages burst into tears, thank us, and run off to find their worried families.

I loot the infernal corpse for the very valuable Devil's Trident +2 (on-hit DC 14 Daze), resurrect Ronan by means of a Raise Dead scroll, and then head downstairs to inform the librarian that Fairloch bookworms can now return to their studies, thereby capping off the quest in the journal (no +EXP).

Next up, we head to the Admiralty Building - also in the Senate District. Here we meet with Admiral Frazer Chesterton who hands us a Navy Permission Slip to access barrels of alchemist fire for possible use against the conspirators.

We stroll down to the Docklands and hand the permission slip to the City Watchman guarding the Navy Storage Building, who then opens the door for us. But once inside the building one of the many alchemist fire barrels ignites - threatening to set off a chain reaction and blow us out into the sea! Not wanting to be part of the fireworks, I try to open the door but its been relocked and can't be bashed open! We move away from the door just as the first barrel detonates, exploding the door open. Now with a way out and the other barrels igniting around us, we waste no time in leaving. Back outside, we notice the guard has gone. Damn, we wanted so bad to wring his neck.

We return to the Admiral and complain about our singed hair (+750 EXP). He concludes that this was an attempt to take me out of the picture, since I'm an obstacle to those who seek to assassinate Princess Criosa. Thank you, Admiral Obvious.

Level Up to 11!

Lilura: Champion of Torm (3) / Paladin (4)/ Fighter (4), Smite Evil

Ronan: Rogue (11), Sneak Attack (+6d6), Uncanny Dodge III

Maggie: Druid (11)

Ok, time to advance the main plot a touch. As advised by Sir Godfrey, we pay a visit to Captain Deckard at the Docks' Guardhouse. The grizzled veteran reveals the location of the thieves guild as being in the sewers underneath the Market District. I use Lawful dialogue to tell Deckard that finding the assassins is the only way to protect Princess Criosa (+1 Lawful, +50 EXP). Amazed that a bounty is on her head, he informs us that the only people other than royalty who could afford to pay the assassins a mammoth sum matching the insane risk would be Lord Johnson, Lady Chelsea and Thomas Bartlett.

Laying this knowledge aside for now, we take our leave of Deckard and head into the sewers to find the thieves guild.

Just a note on the sewer system, it (logically) lies under every District of Fairloch, but the Castle sewers are inaccessible as far as I can tell - at least at this stage. The Docks and Market sewers are pretty tame, containing spawns of annoying Dire Spiders (+220 ea), Greater Gelatinous Cubes and Stag Beetles (facerolls). The Residential sewers are a step up: there is an encounter with a Queen Spider (+836 EXP) and another one with a trio of fairly powerful undead: Greater Mummy (+396 EXP), Revenant and Shadow Fiend (+220 EXP ea). Lastly, lurking in the Senate sewers are two Intellect Devourers (+220 EXP). So solid EXP for clearing out the sewers, but no loot to write home about.

Anyway, we now brave the Market sewers.

The stench of the sewers makes your head spin. The stone floor is slippery and treacherous. - DM.

(It's actually possible to slip and fall down here, a sort of momentary Knockdown effect. Slightly annoying...)

We explore... we kill Dire Spiders, and then...

The entrance is around here somewhere. Can't be far now. - Ronan.

The secret door is spotted and we enter the Thieves Guild (+500 EXP).

To no surprise the guild is headed up by another Halfling, this one named Peridoc Dabbenfold. Peri, like much of his race, is a fairly jovial carefree character and is actually surprisingly forthcoming with information about the assassins: their location (under the Art Gallery [a front] in the Senate District), two different means of access (one not as well guarded, in the sewers) and even the name of the leader, Holister Swiftblade. And all that without one Persuade check, when if Holister survives and finds out who tipped us off this could cause a full-blown guild war...

I thank him for all the info and then purchase items from Sparky, including a Ring of Appraisal (Appraise +10), Thieves Hood (Poison immunity, +3 rogue skills), potions and medkits - totaling about 11,000 GP.

Technical nonsense, no need to read:

Speaking of thieves, I've been struggling up until this point to have my rogue Henchmen (first Criosa, and now Ronan) Disable Traps (and unlock chest n doors, actually [Open Lock]). They were able to detect traps fine (Search), but then they just stood there like idiots with the traps flagged red right under their noses. This meant I had to either walk around the traps and avoid trapped corridors entirely, or simply set them off by stepping on them and hoping for the best (just frustrating and wasteful of medkits). It also meant I had to tediously bash open chests and bash down doors with Power Attack. But I finally found the solution to the problem, which is thankfully very simple: Aielund rogue Henchmen need to be in Guard Me mode. If they're in Follow mode they simply won't disable or unlock, and they were almost always in Follow mode. Note that in official NWN content this isn't a problem, so I guess Tomi and crew auto-engage Guard Me mode when standing still. This is why I was stumped and thought it might be a bug, but yeah, all fixed now. Ronan is promptly disabling/unlocking when in Guard Me mode. The only other issue I have is that he lacks the dialogue option to recover traps, unlike Criosa who was able to recover them into her inventory to be sold (on the black market) or re-used. I'm not sure if this feature was disabled for game balance reasons, though. But I guess it's a fairly trivial issue, anyway.

Back to the adventure...

We exit the sewers and head to the Residential District in the south of Fairloch, where we happen upon an altercation between a pompous businessman (another Fairchild, in fact - perhaps the brother of the poacher we let live in Calespur ranges..) and a City Watchman. Basically, a tribe of orcs are raiding caravans on the south roads so I put my foot forward to slay them and their leader (+1 Lawful, +50 EXP) who's head I agree to present to the City Hall in Amalis.

I know it doesn't make much "role-playing" sense to put the annihilation of the 'Sin Guild on hold, but the trio has just crawled through dark tombs, dusty libraries and slippery sewers and is feeling quite claustrophobic and even a little nauseous. They can really do with some fresh air and orc-slaying in the wilderness right now, plus while down there we can deliver the magical goods and test out Wiliand's wondrous teleportation magic to bind straight back to Fairloch when done, after which we can make final preparations to save Criosa from the 'Sin threat. So that's my weak RP justification and the plan, we'll see how it goes...

Next up:  Act Two - Part III

Aielund Saga Act 1: Nature Abhors a Vacuum	Aielund Saga Act 3: Return of the Ironlord
Aielund Saga Act 2: Defender of the Crown	Aielund Saga Act 4: The Fall of Aielund