Act Two, Part III: Amalis Highway, Kingswood, Orc Fortress, Assassins' Guild

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

Orc Fortress & Assasins

On the road south of Fairloch we bump into the stablemaster and present to him our Letter of the Marque in order to obtain a Light Warhorse for each of the trio (Maggie's mount is down-sized to what I would call a "Light War-Pony").

Pleased to give our feet a rest, we merrily clip-clop further down south onto the Amalis Highway, breathing in that cool, crisp air. Such a contrast from libraries, dungeons and sewer systems - but this pleasantness is short-lived...

... Amidst the howling wind we fight off a few trashy orcs and wolves, and come across a raided wagon surrounded by the corpses of teamsters. The orcs left not a penny.

Poor souls. The orcs may be fighting for their land but this is beyond tolerance. - Maggie.

To the west we hear faint cries for help...

Pretty lady MY new toy! You not take! - Orc Champion.

Please, help me! Don't leave me here with this brute! - Orc Hostage.

We cleave the Orc Champion's skull in two (+308 EXP) and tell the poor woman she's free to continue her trip north to Fairloch (+1 Lawful, +50 EXP, +100 EXP).

 

Level Up to 12!

Lilura: Champion of Torm (3) / Paladin (5)/ Fighter (4), Divine Shield, CON +1

Ronan: Rogue (12), DEX +1

Maggie: Druid (12), Spell Penetration, Wildshape (dire forms), WIS +1

Note that Maggie can't use Wildshape (nor can she summon her animal companion) - they weren't implemented.

Heading south again we enter the lumbering village of Kingswood to speak to Adelay Addams, a bowyer and tanner. It seems the village has a problem with a sadistic Half-orc hunter who has moved from hunting animals up to preying on humans. This behavior simply will not stand, so the trio head west of Kingswood to check it out.

This forest contains many deadly traps laid under the snow, covering wide areas. The dismounted trio crept cautiously onward as Ronan disabled what he could.  

Ever had that feeling you were being watched? I got that now. - Ronan.

We remount our steeds and I ask Ronan and Maggie to wait back a bit. I arrive alone at the hunter's camp where I spot dead animals laying on the ground nearby.

This camp has not been here very long. The fire is fresh. - DM. 

Suddenly a savage Hunting Dog attacks me as a few arrows zip over my head, fired from long distance by a well-camouflaged hunter - Veerak. Pursued by his dog, I charge the Half-orc to force him into a melee duel in which I quickly gain the upper hand. At Near Death status and with his dog dead (+275 EXP), Veerak takes off to hide and fully heal. At this point Maggie is killed when she clumsily trips a trap... sigh. Veerak then returns from the shadows and Ronan and I promptly carve him up, ending him with a solid critical (+346 EXP). Note that Veerak is deadly in both ranged and melee disciplines, able to crit for 50 damage with bow or axe. Stoneskin is recommended.

On his hewn corpse is found the Hide of the Grizzly (+2 STR), Predator +3 longbow (Mighty +4, Mass Crits 1d10, Bonus Feat: Woodland Stride), Battleaxe +2 and Belt of Agility +2. The chest in his camp contains an Imaskari Shield (SR 10), Deadly Electrical Trap Kit (valuable), +204 GP and sundry items.

Having resurrected Maggie the trio head back to Kingswood and hand to Adelay Veerak's blood-soaked ear as proof the sadistic hunter is no more (+750 EXP, +500 GP).

We now head south again where we're the target of more orc packs who have just raided another wagon and murdered the teamsters. Maggie proactively unleashes Ice Storm here to speed up the killin' process.

Leaving the orc corpses to the wolves, the trio arrive in the town of Amalis - but at this stage we're only here to deliver the magical goods. This town looks large but is not even one quarter of Fairloch in size.

We deliver the package to Auberon at the Tower of Sorcery (+300 EXP, +300 GP). As a bonus he hands us a Treasure Map which points to a hidden cave somewhere in the Stoneguard Mountains. We lay this quest to the side for now and bid farewell to Auberon and his sleepy pseudodragon familiar, Ignatius.

Orc Fortress

Leaving behind Amalis for the moment the trio ride back onto the northern highway. From here we venture west into the Deeper Woods wherein our sharp eyes spy the well-hidden Orc Fortress in the distance, just across a babbling brook.

A two-stage battle ensues: first we need to deal with orcs external to or on the walls of the fortress; then we can enter into the fortress itself to deal with the orcs holed up inside.

Displaying her elemental prowess Maggie rains down Ice Storm, Flame Strike and successive Chain Lightnings upon the orc-infested walls of the fortress, as I pepper them with Predator and Ronan slices n dices the door guards at ground level. 

I breach the walls by bashing down the 15 soak door with Power Attack; then the trio dismount and leave their horses outside the fortress. Annoyingly, Maggie won't self-buff with Barkskin out of combat. What this means is that she wastes time in combat casting it. Anyway, I have her buff me with Stoneskin and then I quaff a Potion of Speed, cast Eagle's Splendor upon myself from the Gentleman's Rapier, then finally cast Divine Might and Divine Shield buffs. Thugged out, I then barge into the fortress where my Henchmen and I are at once swarmed by dozens of orc-scum.

I immediately target and wail mercilessly on the Orc Captain who is still standing after bring critted then smite critted for 43 and 60 dmg.

(The Orc Captain himself is capable of crits in excess of 70 dmg.)

An orc shaman fails in his attempt to Dispel me of buffs; then soon after the Orc Captain is dropped on his ass, never again to get back up (+572 EXP).

Ronan succeeds in a sneak attack or two, but is then killed when Maggie neglects to heal him. She normally does a great job of keeping us alive, just not this time.

Maggie and I sweep away the remaining orc-trash on the ground level.

After which we turn our gaze to the straggling, cowardly remainder firing down on us from the walls. Maggie is in just the right position here to rain down Ice Storm, Flame Strike and Call Lightning on both walls while I climb the stairs to cut them down, making sure no orc survives and the stronghold is completely laid to waste.

 

With the orc stronghold cleansed we resurrect Ronan and saw off the Orc Captain's putrid head. There are several crates here containing loot taken in raids, but the haul is actually paltry: +173 GP, Strong Acid Splash Trap - and nothing else worth a damn.

The sawed off head is now taken to Reyne in the City Hall of Amalis (+750 GP, +750 EXP), capping off this quest which began in Fairloch. Reyne also refers us now to Lord Richard Sothby for another quest, but for now we defer. While in Amalis I purchase an Amulet of Natural Armor +3 from the Church. Since the orc threat is now removed the teamster here can time-lapse us back to Fairloch by pack ox (25 GP), but we decide to test out the Stone of Recall to bind back to the Halls of Knowledge lab instead. At this point I also decide to do away with mounts, since they're annoying, tedious and buggy. Very cool idea, though.

Back in the Market District, I purchase from the smithy the Bracers of Swordsmanship. I've been eyeing these for a while as they bestow the Expertise feat (plus Ambidexterity and Discipline +8). 

Assassin's Guild

Now it's time to advance the main plot some more, so we head to the Art Gallery (a front for the assassins) in the Senate District. There is another way in by means of the sewers which lets you bypass some enemies, but it really doesn't matter which access point I choose - I want to kill everything for +EXP, anyway.

Entering the gallery...

Here's the secret door, behind this bookshelf. - PC.

We descend into the first level of the 'Sin guild, basically just a large dungeon of winding, trapped corridors.

Bingo. One assassin guild. Watch out for traps around here. - Ronan. 

That seemed a little too easy... - Maggie. (she means the guild was suspiciously easy to access. Remember, too, that I didn't need to use Persuade on Dabbenfold when probing him for info)...

In this first room we interrupt a Manticore busily dining on human remains. Always nice to cap off an enemy with a crit (+308 EXP).

I'm glad I worked out how to reliably have Ronan disable traps before tackling this area. Remember, he must be in Guard Me mode.

Here Ronan disables six traps, five of which are DC 31. Unlike Princess Criosa, he cannot be asked in dialogue to recover traps into his inventory for later sale on the black market, or to re-use. 

After some Mustard Jelly madness we take on another Queen Spider, this one coated with Stoneskin for extra toughness (+748 EXP).

A Stone Golem blocks access to the second level, but its a faceroll (+396 EXP, Fire Bullet [26]).

Things heat up on the second level of the guild as several normal assassins (+88 EXP ea) and three Elites (220 EXP ea) converge on us at the first junction. However, with my high AC (from Haste, Expertise etc.) they can only hit me on a crit which means I can comfortably tank one-third of the guild solo, even without Stoneskin.

Some archer sins fire poison arrows from down the corridors, but aren't able to slow our assault on the guild.

I noticed the DC to Dispel assassin Darkness is 136. Strange...

Anyway, Ronan detraps and unlocks a door to gain access to the next room.

Here we briefly encounter Holister Swiftblade, leader of the sins.

Ah, you're finally here. Gentlemen, please kill this fool for me. - Holister Swiftblade.

He slinks away, leaving us to fight a sin trashmob and a pathetic gnome merc wizard (Globe of Invulnerability scroll, Bracers of Armor +3). First-person view, ftw.

Having put them in their place, we enter the corridor down which Holister disappeared. The door auto-locks behind Maggie and I (leaving Ronan stuck on the other side), and a mechanical gnomish invention called a Spiker rolls up to grind us into mincemeat. Maggie and I have no real difficulty disabling the construct, though, as it's only lightly reinforced (+396 EXP).

Ronan now unlocks the door from the other side to join us in the corridor. We're now standing outside Holister's den of evil.

You can hear someone casting a spell from behind this door. - DM.

The sounds are Holister preparing a few illusions of himself (easily dispelled by hitting them). Ronan unlocks the door (DC 28) and I enter for a duel with the deadliest blade in the city. This extended duel was pretty cool, we both had problems hitting each other.

At Near Death Swiftblade surrenders (+110 EXP), pleading for us not to kill him. He now spills his guts, telling us he doesn't actually know who hired him, who this Number One really is (the papers he hands us sort of back that up), and that he lured us here to be killed (meaning that Peri was involved in setting us up). Moreover, he and the Halfling often worked together...

Peri. That son of a bitch. - Ronan.

He also lets us in on how much he was paid for the job: a godly 500,000 gold. This means that only a member of the Bartlett family could have paid him (if you remember, Ronald was stomped on by mountain giant, so perhaps his son Thomas...) or Augustus Johnson, a wealthy and unscrupulous senator.

I now execute him (+396 EXP) basically because I have no option of restraining him for the authorities, which means he'd sail into the golden sunset with half a million gold glinting on his deck (his client paid in advance), and face no justice for his involvement in a conspiracy which could have brought down the Kingdom. Not to mention, his intention was to return in five years when things had cooled off. As a Paladin, I don't think so.

Cold in life, we now loot the even-colder-in-death Swiftblade for a Rapier +3, Assassin Dagger +2, Stealth Armor (Hide/Move Silently +5, SR 14), Ring of Resistance +2 and Dark Cloak.

A chest here contains two precious gems and +125 GP. Not another penny was found of the half a million gold...

The loot from the Elites was: Assassin's Blade +2 (4) and Leather Armor +2 (4). From the plain assassins we looted several Shortbow +2, Assassin Daggers and poison arrows. Selling off this heavy haul gives us a total of 91,000 GP in the coffers. So yeah, the trio is starting to accumulate some serious wealth now, I hope the author continues to control it - I like making tough decisions on what to purchase from merchants. We'll be catching up with Peri in the next update.

Next up: Act Two - Part IV

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