Part XXXII of Aielund Saga Walkthrough Guide. Continuing from Part XXXI: Twilight. The Aielund Saga is a NWN Module for BioWare's Neverwinter Nights 1.
The Eternal Battlefield - Assault on Acheron
We're closing in on the end of The Aielund Saga now, this probably being the second last post. This will be a relatively short post, as I want the Saqaarin Citadel to close this recounting out on its own.
Blackwood Tower
 |
| Blackwood Tower lab |
(Total enchantment outlay = 1,050,000 GP).
Hall of Worlds
We use the spectral Key to Acheron.
Acheron - The Eternal Battlefield
We prepare for our assault on Acheron by buffing each other to the heavens..
We warm up on five haggard, enraged Warriors and one each of Sorcerer and Archer. Word of Faith, ftw. One of the best spells in Nellise's repertoire.
I now take a leaf out of Nellise's book by equipping Faithblade, luring eight Archers, five Swordsmen and two Sorceresses together in a clump, and then casting Word of Faith from the blade to daze them, after which Nellise casts Word of Faith again followed by Hammer of the Gods (another fave of mine since Act One!)...
The hapless mob were then mopped up by Robert and I without breaking a sweat..
(All of the above kills yielded +11 EXP ea).
(All of the above kills yielded +11 EXP ea).
There's
something unsatisfying about killing my enemies, knowing they're just
going to get back up again tomorrow. This place sucks. - Robert.
Classic!
Terinus now casts knock on a large gate in the west..
We step through the gate to...
The Gate to Everywhere
Archangel Benedictum now flutters down to give us a motivational speech.
Stand ready. The enemy will be on us presently. - Benedictum.
We follow the archangel to the portal, surrounded by three staunch Celestial Avengers and four Angels whose solemn vows and divine confidence do much to strengthen our resolve..
Thy life must be secured if thou art to reach thine Saqaarin enemies in one piece. If thou perish, so too shall millions of innocents. - Angel.
Our enemies shall perish before reaching the portal. This, I swear. - Angel.
Abaddon should have stayed mired in the war upon this plane - His attempt to escape shall be his undoing. - Angel.
The forces of darkness approach. This is where we draw the line against them. Keep to thy faith and we shall claim victory! - Benedictim.
(I put on the Ring of Fire Resistance..)
 |
| The calm before the storm |
The infernal Disciples of Abaddon (+630 EXP ea) converge on us from all angles in groups of twos and threes, a total of about twenty in all over the course of the battle, with Benedictum periodically announcing the direction from which they're coming. They take time to put down, so their numbers begin to build up as the battle rages on, eventually swelling into a veritable demonic horde..
Our enemies seek to test our defences in the south. Show them what we are capable of! - Benedictum.
 |
| Fire Storm is the Disciples' bread n butter spell |
It's a diversion! More invade from the north! I will now summon the Tempest! - Archangel Benedictum.
The Tempest is an allied mass of cloud and forked lightning that spams Scintillating Sphere, Great Thunderclap and Gust of Wind.
 |
| The Tempest: Center-top |
The angels and avengers help us keep on top of things by frequently unleashing Sunbeam and hacking righteously at the wall of demons..
The main body is here, approaching from the east! - Benedictum.
Abaddon Himself approaches from the east. Ready thyself for the battle to come! - Benedictum.
The hulking minor deity strides into the fray, wielding an immense trident of destruction.
Abaddon and his horde of Disciples turn the battlefield into a conflagration of epic proportions: Incendiary Cloud, Fire Storm, Firebrand, Meteor Swarm. Does fire damage? Abaddon casts it. Again, and again and again. Oh, and he loves Chain / Ball Lightning too!
 |
| The Disciples detonate like nukes, forming mushroom clouds |
 |
| Nellise wisely hangs back for AoE castings and sniping |
With most of the angels and avengers still kicking and Nellise and Terinus casting their customary AoEs, the demonic horde's ranks are quickly thinned out..
... at which point our divine force piles up on Abaddon and finally overwhelms him.
I don't need this armor to destroy you! - Abaddon. (armor?)
I don't need this armor to destroy you! - Abaddon. (armor?)
Abaddon walks off a little, then his hulking frame suddenly comes crashing down into the blood-soaked ground (+440 EXP). (less EXP yield than a Disciple?)
- Corpse of Abaddon: Trident of Destruction +8 (+1d10 acid, +1d10 fire, Keen, Hellball 1/day, Fire Storm [18] 2/day).
Archangel Benedictum congratulates us, blesses us in the name of Aeledan, and then opens the portal to the Saqaarin Citadel (+5000 EXP).
We rest up, rebuff ourselves into godly beings, then step into the portal ready to face the Saqaarin in their own citadel!
Next Up - The Aielund Saga: Act Four - Part XIV
| 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 |
Not sure what that armor comment is about, but clearly it's wrong.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I doubt you'd leave a bug like that... must be another "intervening years" thing..
DeleteEven with that bug/glitch, the lead up to and showdown with Abaddon was still superior to Mephisto in HotU, and it isn't even the Finale of Aielund yet... looking forward to the Saqaarin! :)
So the good news about the updated version of the series with horses is that Savant and I worked on upgrading the final boss battle.
DeleteThe bad news is that apparently Abaddon forgot he was NOT the Saqaarin commander in his armored suit (spoiler: once you destroy the commander's armor initially, you still have to fight him face to face).
And I think it never got noticed because it was done after Act 4 Part 3 was tested pretty extensively and at that point I was only playtesting the citadel stuff, so I didn't notice that Savant accidentally introduced this bug earlier in the module.
Funny how no one's mentioned that bug before..?
DeleteSo what's SUPPOSED to happen with Abaddon - I assume he surrenders (ie, goes non-hostile/blue) and then dialogue of some kind initiates?
Instead, he thinks he's the Saqaarin commander and walks off to remove Ironlord armor, then just dies?
Bad Balkoth. Bad. :P
People have mentioned it, and I noticed it a bit after the release, but the idea of deciding to fix some of this stuff since Savant has totally confirmed he is working on the next NWN modules didn't spring to mind until a few months ago. So it's been mentioned but overall it doesn't really change anything besides look odd.
DeleteWhat's supposed to happen is he just dies. You think Abaddon would lower himself to speak to the likes of you? Or surrender rather than go out fighting? Pfft. Such a delusional paladin.
I see it as massively immersion breaking and a bug that causes confusion - a priority fix! :P
DeleteNo offense meant, but confusion/immersion breaking is a lower priority than a bug that doesn't let you continue the campaign (which there should be none of at this point) or finish the quest (which there is at least one known bug of, if you try to finish a quest in a certain way). It's certainly one of the weirder bugs, though, and will definitely get fixed.
DeleteNone taken, and I agree showstoppers take priority.. no offense from me either, but that Abaddon confrontation is a BIG deal. It's built up to be an epic showdown and thanks to a bug it ends in a pathetic whimper and a "wtf?" moment. I personally think a bugged out optional sidequest that can't be completed "in a certain way" - I assume you mean the one in Culdeny docks with the harbormaster? - is LESS important than this. But then, that's just me ;)
DeleteAfter the final talk with Criosa at the end, is there supposed to be a cutscene or something? After I start recounting to her my tale, the screen just goes black and music keeps playing, that normal?
DeleteDuly noted on the showdown.
DeleteIt should go to the Aielund Finale module (which has its own hakpak) -- has a narration by Savant and text boxes for the fate of the major characters.
Thanks, I didn't have the Aielund Finale.mod in the mod directory..
DeleteBad Lilura. Bad.
DeleteDo you not get the item drop if one of your team doesn't personally take out Abaddon? After 3 tries, I realized the Hellstaff's Hellballs did a mess of damage and that it was AOE, so we started in on the horde that precedes Abaddon and by the time we'd gotten them down, Benedictum came over to pronounce Abaddon had been defeated. Taking on Abaddon before the Horde was down was counterproductive (tried that once, got close unleashing all those hellballs from the staff, but still too many bad guys up and team members going down by the time I ran out of hellballs. I checked the battlefield pretty closely but only turned up the Falchion of the Horde (lots of them...) Could have used that trident... Did not get the armor comment that I can see, and game proceeded normally re rest and moving on to the Saqarrin ship. Advice? Should I try Abaddon one more time? My toughest problem is Nellie---she has significantly fewer hit points than anyone else (high 300's with no buffs as opposed to my Druid self with over 500 and my sweetie Robert with similar. She seems to have really good damage resistance but once it's penetrated, she can go down really fast. But mainly wanted to know if there was a bug with that item drop. Alternatively, is there a code to spawn it? I feel like I did my bit fighting that battle 4 times
ReplyDeleteIt should always drop, I think you have to loot Abaddon specifically, though.
DeleteEither way, you can spawn it by typing...
##DebugMode 1
##dm_spawnitem tridentofdestruc
##DebugMode 0
And it will appear where your mouse cursor is.
I assume Nellise is using a shield along with her armor? What's her AC at?
Thank you for enabling me to get around having to go into battle #5 with Abaddon. I hadn't picked up stuff while I fought because the drops were mainly the falchion, of which I already had one that I was reluctant to equip on anyone because it meant bye-bye shield. Which seems to be the case with the Trident, but I can equip, use the spells, and de-equip as needed. The only thing I've found heartbreaking about this game is that I can't get any of my henchies to use the powers (spells, at least) on any item I give them, and that's affecting what I equip them with. I have Ioun stones coming out my ears but can't get them to work on my team. (Nel could really use the extra constitution)
DeleteShe's around 52 lightly buffed, goes down even faster if I try to let her use a 2-handed weapon because the shields at this point give significant armor bonuses and damage resistance. I redid the riddle game with the dragon till I got 4 items but am not sure I chose wisely ((background sound: AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH followed by an aristocratic voice saying "He chose *un*wisely", and I hope that doesn't date me impossibly!)) I'm a Druid, so the amulet that gives you a zillion WIS *was* a good choice, I didn't understand "Twinsword" so ended up with the double-bladed sword that does electrical damage, so that's pretty good, although I prefer the scimitar from Twilight. I got the magic-protective shield (immune to spell levels 8 and under) and the mage armor, which I gave to Terinus (I tried the Void Armor for myself but it dropped my AC). I forgot Druids in NWN1 can wear metal armor but cannot cast spells while wearing it, which botched up my armor choices early on.
Will take any recommendations you want to offer, and thanks for the info on the item drop!
"The only thing I've found heartbreaking about this game is that I can't get any of my henchies to use the powers (spells, at least) on any item I give them, and that's affecting what I equip them with."
DeleteIndeed. You need passive stats.
"She's around 52 lightly buffed"
Let's see...
10 base
-1 Dex
15 from Angelic Armor
10 from Angelic Shield
7 from Amulet of Natural Armor +7 (or a similar item)
7 from Ring/Cloak of Protection +7 (or a similar item)
4 from Haste
4 from Boots of Hardiness +4 (Can be bought in Twilight)
That should put her at a 56 minimum, no buffs/feats. 58 if you give her at least a +4 Dex item (or Cat's Grace). 59 if you give her the Quicksilver Full Plate instead of Angelic Armor.
Nellise's biggest problem end-game should be her dismal melee AB and struggle in hitting anything relevant since she won't buff "properly" as a battle cleric. Giving her a bow or (preferably) a crossbow (for Zen Archery) will let her hit more, but she still won't hit for very much without special bolts (which there are some of). I've actually never tried running her in that manner since her melee doesn't completely suck at lower levels, but looking at some numbers right now it actually gives her a decent AB.
...but it also drops her AC by 10 and she's not the wisest about moving away from enemies (not her fault in particular, general AI issues).