Bastard of Kosigan Grande Finale
The Cave Behind the Waterfall
Note: Carradine of Kosigan is fourteenth level for the Finale, having started the campaign at tenth (Fighter [10] / Weapon Master [4]).
Report back to Yannia for the last time, having located all witches of coven Sénacle Lunaire (Completed Quest: Find the Other Witches, +4,000 Exp). Yannia will reiterate the master plan that Willie revealed earlier to us: that the witches intend to destroy the Catholic Church and restore the Old World - "Our World".
Remember, up until this point I have been playing both sides with regard to the Coven/Inquisition rivalry, with the caveat that when push comes to shove I would ultimately support the witches, but now a third option presents itself which I think is more palatable: that of reporting them to the authorities, Prince Karl & Bishop Heinrich von Ruhe, who, you will remember, share a dislike for the coven (and the Inquisition's fanaticism and destructive presence in their city).
Therefore, while I agree to meet the witches in the ancient ruins beneath the Dark Grove, my intention is to disrupt the ritual and have the authorities intervene, rather than support them.
To that end I return to Prince Karl and inform him of the escalating situation: that the witches are on the verge of conducting their ritual which will give them powers to destroy the Church (+100 Exp). I inform the Prince of the Cardinal's sorcery, to which he responds that I should inform the Cardinal of the Coven's impending ritual, that the authorities may intercept and arrest him.
Over at the Chapter House the Cardinal believes his hour of glory is upon him. He will arrange for a messenger to meet me at the Dark Grove.
I return to the Prince and inform him that the Cardinal has left for the Dark Grove (+1,100 Exp). The Prince promises to be there. In the meantime, the Bishop is building a legal case against the Cardinal.
The Dark Grove
The Prince's elven messenger meets me at the grove, Lomylith An Jill. He confirms that the witches are inside the ruins, along with a Half-orc, Vuradush, and a dozen kobold-devils. My orders are to meet the Cardinal's messenger, do exactly as they tell me, and wait for Prince Karl and his Knights to intervene. The Bishop will also be in attendance in order to witness the demonic ritual and testify against the Cardinal as someone whose word counts. Lomylith gifts me One of Arundelle's Eyes, a magical device that will let the authorities know when to step in (use Clairaudience/Claivoyance [5]) (Quest: The Finale).
A Messenger for the Inquisition also meets me in the grove, just behind the menhir. My orders are to make my way down to the ruins, head to the exact location of the ritual, and wait for the Inquisition to intervene.
 |
| Left: Lomylith Right: Messenger of the Inquisition |
I descend into the ruins...
Ancient Ruins
Willie meets me at the bottom of the staircase, flanked by several kobold-devils. She senses my betrayal and teleports away, leaving Gustavo, Diane and I to slay her minions.
An enormous ancient gate separates us from the ritual chamber. Gustavo disables the traps and we furiously bash down the gate as time runs out for the sacrifice! (+600 Exp)
I enter the ritual chamber and duel the fearsome Vuradush Uskada - to the death!
The approach to the ritual is laced with four DC-22 pentagram traps. The place resonates with dark energy. A pentacle of fire is encircled by the five witches, who are now our enemies: Willie & Laura Stein, Yannia Königin, Gertrūd von Baum and Eowen von Köln.
Sénacle Lunaire Ritual
Ignoring our presence, the witches begin their ohmmmmminous ritual!
The invocation is almost complete... but then, suddenly, all hell breaks loose! As per the plan, the Cardinal intervenes, wielding a skull-headed staff with on-hit fireball. He is supported by Black Monks and the Holy Guard of the Night. A massive battle ensues between the two rivals!
Willie unleashes Time Stop, showering the chamber with her arcane repertoire that brings the fallen paladins to their knees. But it isn't enough. With her coven slain, Willie faces the Cardinal in a bitter duel that she cannot hope to win. She retreats before her imminent death, unleashing Meteor Swarm and Wail of the Banshee as she does so (+500 Exp).
Inquisition Ritual
The witches defeated, the Cardinal takes his turn to perform the ritual: he and his Black Monks move to the flaming pentacle and begin their chanting, just as the witches did.
The Lord of Chaos
The ritual succeeds, or does it? It seems The Lord of Chaos has been inadvertently summoned! The demon stands in the pentacle's center, laughing mockingly at the Cardinal and Black Monks, whom he has frozen in time. But I am immune to the effects..
I approach the demon and engage it in conversation.
Seigneur du Chaos reveals himself as Mandorallen Ilbarimen of the High House of Ilbarimen. He also reveals that I belong to an ancient race, a descendent of the same stock as he (Placeholder for Storyline 5 item given).
It was he who wrote the ancient prophecies -- The Book of the End of Time -- that duped the witches and the Cardinal into summoning him (+1,400 dialogue Exp).
How strong does the Blood of Chaos run in my veins? It seems he wants to find out. The thirtieth level demon wields a +4 bastard sword with on-hit wounding and on-hit Melf's Acid Arrow. It's a tough duel. At Near Death the demon retreats (+2,800 Exp), and the authorities intervene in a timely manner.
Prince Karl and his Knights step in and arrest the Cardinal. Then, the distraught Prince kneels beside the body of his slain daughter, Eowen.
Final words to the Cardinal and the Bishop:
The grateful Prince rewards me with Vulcan, a flaming bastard sword (Attack Bonus +3, +1d6 fire). What? Not even Keen, you cheap-ass?
(Completed Quests: The Witches, Convincing the Inquisition to Leave, The Finale)
Carradine, Bastard of Kosigan, has purged Cologne of the Sénacle Lunaire and the Inquisition!
The campaign time-lapses you to Kosigan.
Grey Hair Inn, Kosigan
Speak to Régis and the other patrons to get up to speed on current events in Kosigan; then have Kert the Minstrel export your character for use in Episode Two: Bastard of Kosigan!
And this concludes Episode One: Exile of the West! Thanks to Fabien Cerutti for giving me a few hints along the way!
***
Laetitia Gabrielli is likely to fall in battle, leaving behind her bad-ass gear:
The Black Monks drop nothing, and the Cardinal cannot be killed.
Gertrūd and Laura drop:
Yannia and Eowen drop nothing, and Willie cannot be killed.
How events play out depends on who you side with.
If you side with the witches the Finale is fairly easy. You just meet up with Willie in the ruins (+3,000 Exp) and watch the witches conduct the ritual that ends up summoning the Lord of Chaos. You fight off the Lord of Chaos and Willie leaves, flabbergasted for being duped by the demon. No messengers, no kobold-devils, no duel with Vuradush, no traps, no authorities, and no Cardinal - which means he isn't charged and arrested for his crimes.
If you side with the Cardinal you will meet his messenger in the Dark Grove. Events play out exactly as per my recounting until the Lord of Chaos has been fought off. He will leave a flock of imps for you to fight. Unfortunately, the Cardinal is bugged to go hostile at this point, and you have no hope of defeating him in battle - none. In other words, the campaign hangs right at the end. Grr!
Clearly, siding with the authorities results in the most satisfying conclusion.
And this concludes Episode One: Exile of the West! Thanks to Fabien Cerutti for giving me a few hints along the way!
***
Notes on the Finale
Loot
.
- Armor of the Holy Guard of the Night (heavy armor, Armor Bonus +1, DR: 5/+1, Darkness (3) 1/day)
- Sword of the Holy Guard of the Night (greatsword, Attack Bonus +1, Bludgeoning +1d4, Holy Avenger)
- Helmet of the Holy Guard of the Night (Deflection AC +1, Darkvision, Discipline +4, Spot +4)
The Black Monks drop nothing, and the Cardinal cannot be killed.
Gertrūd and Laura drop:
- Protectrice (belt, piercing resistance 5/-, Elemental Shield [7] 1/day)
- Amulet of Piercing (Bonus Feat: Spell Penetration, Spell Breach [7] 1/day, Bard/sorc/wiz only)
Yannia and Eowen drop nothing, and Willie cannot be killed.
Tactics
It can be difficult to survive the battle. Weaker builds should probably just hang back and conserve their resources, only taking part against Willie and the Lord of Chaos. You should have at least three Potions of Heal to keep you up and running. In addition, assuming you found them and still have them, buffing from various magical items will bestow the effects of Improved Invisibility, Stoneskin, Barkskin, Entropic Shield and Spell Resistance.
Other Endings
How events play out depends on who you side with.
If you side with the witches the Finale is fairly easy. You just meet up with Willie in the ruins (+3,000 Exp) and watch the witches conduct the ritual that ends up summoning the Lord of Chaos. You fight off the Lord of Chaos and Willie leaves, flabbergasted for being duped by the demon. No messengers, no kobold-devils, no duel with Vuradush, no traps, no authorities, and no Cardinal - which means he isn't charged and arrested for his crimes.
If you side with the Cardinal you will meet his messenger in the Dark Grove. Events play out exactly as per my recounting until the Lord of Chaos has been fought off. He will leave a flock of imps for you to fight. Unfortunately, the Cardinal is bugged to go hostile at this point, and you have no hope of defeating him in battle - none. In other words, the campaign hangs right at the end. Grr!
Clearly, siding with the authorities results in the most satisfying conclusion.
Are you goimg to play the next chapters?
ReplyDeleteI believe she will! Thanks for this recounting. I played Bastard with battle-oriented cleric (most levels)/ rogue (2)/fighter (2). This combination of skills allowed me for nice stealth strategy (invisibility spell), some offensive spells and even - at certain point (I don't remember in which module) - for obtaining a freezing short sword from a deadly frost-vat. The last module translated in English in Bastard series is the one about preparation of a resistance movement outside the city. I am not sure if it is obtainable from Nevervault yet, though, but it is worth searching for, as IMHO it is one of the best, if not the best of them all (make sure to walk around with stunning female Belle de Noailles!).
Delete"Are you going to play the next chapters?"
DeleteThat was my intention, yes! I'll have to delevel my character by one because the maximum level allowed for Episode Two is 13. No big deal, that's EZ to do via the console before I export the character.
"Thanks for this recounting".
Hi again Greg! The short sword is Glide, findable in this module (see Part VI).
Fabien has offered to send me the final translated episode that he wasn't able to upload to the Vault, "By the Word and the Blade". I assume that's the one you're talking about?
I enjoyed Exile of the West, but there are a few bugs and oversights that could be fixed (see last section of this post and last section of Part I).
Yes, precisely, "By the word and the blade", it is great Fabien offered you this module. You should definitely play it, it is a piece of art by itself. By the time you finish the previous one, you will probably crave to play the next anyway :)
ReplyDeleteAs to the game itself, Bastard of Kosigan is like a baroque novel. Allows doing what a heir-bastard has to do, e.g. interfering with love affairs, exercising rhetoric, preventing revolt, supporting peasants, leading the war etc. Bastard contains some lovely cliches from literature e.g. a deformed sage-guard, a corrupted cardinal, witches, love affair with evil, and a wicked family that constantly plots to strangle you. The battle is bloody difficult, but I tend to like this as well. And kudos for the music, featuring e.g. medieval-style fragments (e.g. Carmina Burana, Angels of Venice). Pity bastard's the last chapter, trip to Vatican and culmination of the whole story will probably not be released as a module (Fabien Cerutti's words, there will be a novel instead).
Unfortunately there are some bugs. I remember the ones with the smith and cardinal you refer to, there is also another one in this module (“Exile of the West”), which makes it impossible to find the last witch in Las Casas cellars, as it prevents the completion of the Missing Caravans quests, thus preventing von Ruhe from helping you with the access to cellars. The bug occurs if you take the Northern Road to deal with Caravans Quest AFTER you learn about the ritual and where it takes place. What seemingly happens then is that on speaking to Prince Karl the option to complete the missing caravans quest disappears --- instead, the only dialogue option is the "siding with authorities" and telling the location of the ritual to Karl (in the dialogue he promises to meet you by the ritual-related cave, but he is not present there, furthermore you cannot access the cave at all as the game informs you that you must tell Las Casas about the ritual --- but when you do tell him, the player reckons it is still time to act because the witches did not find the last one they need). A vicious circle. So the players should go to northern road BEFORE learning about the place of a ritual. Also in “by the word and blade” you might experience a problem with factions in final battle in a valley outside Kosigan, resulting in my own allies attacking other allies.
Btw. I checked the game and it occurs I finished it as Cleric (16)/ Merc spy (5) (no fighter levels) . A suitable build considering the difficulty of the game, it might be that area spells makes a few epic battles a bit easier. Btw. You must have had tons of medkits or potions to forage Glide, haven’t you?
21st level was my level after the last English module, that's correct. Battle so far is bearable as for "Exile", and generally not too difficult if you just want to survive. But if your aim is to save as many people and allies as possible, it really gets difficult. Sometimes, e.g. in "Blood and tears" caring for allies pays off, as the survivors leave placeholders and join you in the following module (they are in most cases just a cannon fodder, but it feels nice to be a fodder-caring leader :); hence my inclination for area spells that help to prevent some allies from being killed). And in "By the word and blade" there are two difficult battles (i.e. I died in the process at least once): one in the tower cellars, and the final battle whereby the mob is reinforced by a powerful NPC). Btw. I will try to upload "By word and blade" (with permission from Fabien) on NVault.
ReplyDeleteAs to th catalytic objects in "Exile" I think I have answers, as I probably have found all or almost all of them. Which one is the one you found? I am to launch NWN and check this issue. Read you later :)
"Btw. I will try to upload "By word and blade" (with permission from Fabien) on NVault."
DeleteGreat! I hope you can do it, otherwise just ask the caretaker of of the download page to upload it, preferably beneath the compiled archive so ppl don't miss it:
http://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/module/bastard-kosigan-english-version
I only found the catalytic object that was in Grokar's chest when you first meet Willie.
I found four placeholders (1,2,4,5). I checked the toolset for no. 3 and the object was there (token3) but there was no dialogue or script related to it, so I assume it's irrelevant.. Players may also just console it in if they want to, just in case it's referenced in future Eps (I asked Fabien about no.3, but he couldn't remember).
Hello Lilura, I have two news.
DeleteFirstly, I uploaded Module 5 (By Word and Blade) on Neverwinter Vault and now you can enjoy the Bastard story to the fullest. Here's the link http://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/module/word-and-blade-bastard-kosigan-episode-5
As to Catalytic Objects: they are not much needed for the completion of the game, maybe apart from the first one that you receive from Gokar. They are supposed to "strengthen ritual" but seemingly nothing happens if there is only one. You can sell them for good money and some experience though. I do not remember all of them and I may not have time to load old saves anytime soon to search for them (as preparing Module 5 and compiling all the info and images took me lots of time).
1/ What I do remember though is that the catalytic objects are mostly those objects with "Ancient" in their name. I also remember one of these objects had healing properties and I decided not to give it away, which was a proper decision as it served me well in the following modules.
2/Another of such objects is "ancient gold piece". To get it you must find piles of rocks that smell with gas on the second level of Kobold-devils lair. The boulders are very damage resistant and it is possible you can only damage them with magic weapon. They are not resistant to fire (or maybe other elements?) though. I loaded a savegame and I was able to destroy them with bastard sword that had additional 1 fire damage (fire always hit, physical damage sometimes). So destroy the boulders (with cleric or rogue levels and UMD skill a spell of flaming weapon may do the work). Then you must take damage from explosion and prepare to withstand further fire damage in the temple to receive "ancient gold piece" and some other things.
3/ I vaguely remember there might have been "ancient " dagger as well (seemingly not the one you have to obtain for Karl’s daughter), but I am not sure (maybe you can buy some ancient object in a Cologne shop?).
4/ There is an "ancient” stick on your way to cologne in possession of a fisherman. To have it, you should first have e a lengthy conversation with a girl, who is in fact a Christian preacher. At certain point you will have an option to engage in a conversation with a little boy who likes fishing. As a consequence you should be able to talk to a fisherman who tells you the boy stole his rod. You will find it in the barn. Voila, you have another object. Before giving it to the witches, you can have a funny conversation with a fisherman suggesting he must give it to you or inquisition might start to suspect him (wearing their armour might help in triggering this).
Thanks, Greg!
DeleteI already covered that stuff except for the Ancient Halls, wherein we find the Ancient Bracers of Fire Resistance (keepin' 'em!), Ancient Gold Piece and Ancient Object. See my updated post, here (search for "halls"):
http://lilura1.blogspot.com/2015/12/exile-of-west-part-ii.html
However, the Ancient Gold Piece is not a catalytic object; Yannia will not accept it (perhaps a bug?)
She accepts the Ancient Statue (it's a statuette, actually) and the Ancient Fishing Pole.
So that's four of the nine (?) accounted for..
I'm also looking for more Pink Moonflowers..
See Unsolved Mysteries section at the bottom of this post:
http://lilura1.blogspot.com/2015/12/exile-of-west-part-i_26.html
Btw, during your playthroughs, did you find a workaround for the well-documented save-crash bug that plagues the second episode and has put off so many? This horrible bug needs to be fixed!
Lilura you offer quite a challenge with these unsolved mysteries. I am pretty sure I opened Cardinal's chest somehow. I will read your whole playthrough and try to related to them some time. Btw. did you notice that from one of the witches you can obtain a "sex slave" as a reward for some quest -- and she is actually what she declares she is, a sex slave who follows you and can become a reason of your grisly downfall? Her astonishingly weird attitude, takes the form of a well-written dialogue line, so it is worth mentioning
DeleteThough it doesn't really make much sense that the witches would give you something that would kill you when you're pretty much their only hope.
DeleteIt does, as long as the witches promised to fulfill Bastard's desires, over which they do not have full control. There is a narrative involved about the slave being a projection of one's self, which makes perfect sense, albeit a very wicked sense.
Deleteyou can buy an Ancient Amulet for ~10k from the merchant in Koln (north side) and an Ancient Sickle from the East one (~23k). The very same Sickle can be bought from Dietrech once he reaches Koln, on the marketplace like the two other merchants.
DeleteSo far:
- Ancient Brancers of Fire Resitance (AC+1, 25/- vs Fire)
- Ancient thingie (small misc, don't remember the properties, but was single use anyway. Found in the ancient ruins under the kobold-devil lair)
- Ancient statuette (Heal(11) 1/day) Note: Nicean Bible has the same property, and you can stab the blank market merchant once you have more use of him (i.e. you sold him all the nice traps you could find) to get it back, thus freeing you to give the Ancient Statuette to the witches.
- Ancient Amulet, from merchant, cheap, and you get your money back anyway
- 2x Ancient Sickle from two other merchants as well
- Fishing Pole from the fisherman in the southern suburbs.
The gold piece does not seem to be accepted.
I guess that's it, as far as I can recall.
Looking forward to reading your playthroughs of the other episodes. I really enjoyed Exile of the West, but The Bastard of Kosigan had a bug for me that made it so I couldn't load any saved games from it. Kind of put a damper on my enjoyment of the series, despite the good writing, quests, and characters. I had to use god mode to get through it. Then when I got to Blood and Tears, it looked like it didn't properly recognize my choices from the previous modules. At that point, I just quit. I hope you have better luck.
ReplyDeleteHi John Doe,
DeleteYeah, I read up about that "load save game" bug - it sounds utterly awful. Thanks, I'll see how I go.
Jon Doe: As to the choices in Blood and Tears, did this chapter have an introductory conversation with possibility to reaffirm choices you made? It is an option to state again what you did if you start anew. You should really give "Blood and tears" and "By Word and Blade" ( I uploaded it just recently) a try. Best.
DeleteGreg: No, it didn't have that, at least not in the version I played. In fact, come to think of it, that was the only episode that didn't have something like that. All the others start you off in an intro area with a woman you can talk to to change things around, but that's not the case for Blood and Tears.
DeleteI'm not even sure it would have mattered, though. My guess is that what those introductory conversations do is give you the appropriate "Placeholder for storyline" items. When I loaded up Blood and Tears, some of those items were removed from my inventory a few minutes in. I don't remember any of the other BoK modules taking away any placeholder items, which is one of the reasons I figured things were screwed up. I'm guessing the same thing would happen no matter what.
Also, if I remember correctly, the placeholder items that were taken from me came from episode 2, which was bugged for me, so who knows what else might have been wrong with it that could have caused problems later on.
DeleteGreat walkthrough!
ReplyDeleteHi Ginni, and thanks so much for translating the modules!
DeleteI know that it's already a year since Lilura finished the walkthrough for part 1 and it seemed that the frequent crash when loading at part 2 forced her to stop playing the module.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless as someone who enjoy reading Lilura's walkthrough - seriously they are like short stories filled with humor (not that I really need one, as I tend to play more neutral evil characters), I think that the crash when loading is only for the most recently saved game. So in short, if you save twice then you can load the first save game with relatively no crash (that what I did).
I don't know if Lilura recognized this or not, but hopefully, this little trick can help us see the full saga walkthrough (same as Aielund).
To Lilura, thank you for all the time writing in this blog. I could not stand the first city when I played NWN1 for the first time 10 years ago, but your coverage of Aielund actually converted me and made me try the game again, now with hundred of its excellent mods.
Hi Aprilis and thanks for commenting! Sorry, but I won't be continuing this series. I think what I've written stands as a good intro to prospective players, though.
DeleteGlad you enjoyed the Aielund Saga. You might like to try Swordflight next!
Thank you for the reply! It's sad that you won't continue this playthrough though, but yeah, i respect your decision.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of Swordflight, do you find it has ample opportunities to role play or it focuses more on hack&slash?
It has both. It's a proper D&D campaign. I've covered it here and here in four parts.
Delete