Goblinoid Army, Forest of Mir, Gorav, Part X

Part X of the Swordflight Walkthrough. Continuing from Part IX: Rajar's Thieves' Guild. Swordflight (2008-2022) is a NWN Module for Neverwinter Nights 1 (2002).

This post covers one part of the Humanoid Armies quest offered by Hamad Galhadr: Goblins of the Forest of Mir.

The next post will cover the other part of Humanoid Armies: The Siege of Fort Akhaz.

First, some background. Back in Chapter I, while passing through the Asabi Cave in the Calim Desert [link], we overheard a conversation between the aranea ambassador, Quirixea, and the Chieftain of the Asabi [conversation, journal entry]. In short, the aranea are assembling an army to march against Calimshan. 

In Chapter II, in our initial discussion with Hamad, we are able to ask him about what is being done to counter the threat to Calimshan posed by the aranea:

However, it isn't until we have dealt with a gang in the Slums that events sufficiently progress in regard to the threat.

Post-Slums, Hamad outlines the situation:

Note how I joke around about the threat posed by goblins. Well, as we will soon see, Swordflight goblins aren't your average mook.

Hamad goes on to inform us of the regions in which the forces of goblin and orc appear to be amassing. At this point he also offers us a choice of companion:

As far as I know, there are potentially six different companions on offer to us during the Humanoid Armies quest. But we must choose Snajagh or Talu, not both:

And Chelys or Kelem, not both:

To be clear, we can only adventure with one companion from each pair: they are mutually exclusive. Indeed, in the case of Chelys and Kelem, one will actually be dead depending on our choice during Hamad's previous quest.

The following two companions, as far as I know, are "missable"in that we may not discover Barazh in Dark Calimport, and we may not discover Zagash in the Dragon's Tavern inn.

As can be seen, all companions are interesting based on the above-pictured stats alone. Except for the Dwarf, they are all of non-standard race; except for the two arcane spellcasters, they are all multi-classed. The builds are very useful to us (e.g., Barazh's tanking ability, Snajagh's divine repertoire and Zagash's Fear Aura).

Within this pool there is some mutual exclusion as well: logically, neither Snajagh nor Kelem will adventure with Zagash (though they will tolerate Barazh). In my last playthrough, I went with an "all-evil crew" [pic]; it worked out well. But this time I'm going for a mix: Snajagh and Kelem along with Barazh; mainly, because I need their tanking power. Then, once the goblin army has been crushed, I intend to temporarily drop Snajagh and Kelem for Zagash (in order to carry out his quest).

My party is shown on the right. On the left, is Barazh's former party. They left him for dead in Dark Calimport but the PC saved him. Once Barazh has been avenged, he will stay in the party.

All companions level-up with us except for the lich; he just is 15th level.

Companions have interjections, banters and custom encounters that deepen them. As mentioned, Zagash has a full-blown quest. Also, as with Zarala, they may help us solve problems if we fail a stat check. This is all well done.

Here, we can ask a companion to help us open a portal:

And here are a few interjections as we progress in the goblin quest. These generally trigger when key information is uncovered:

In the inn of the village of Tebnas:

Then, in the Town Hall after we have cleared Tebnas of goblins:

In the goblin storage cave within the Forest of Mir:

There only appears to be one minor interjection once we reach the Goblin Fortress. Kelem pipes up, post-boss battle:

Still, the companions are shown to be more than just mules and combat/utility units.

And besides, there is some post-quest banter. This banter triggers as we leave Tebnas for Calimport or Fort Akhaz:

If we have Chelys and Zagash in the party:

And lastly, bounty hunters ambush us en route as well; they are hunting Snajagh:

Thus, we received two additional combat encounters from having companions in our party (Barazh gets his revenge against his former party, and Snajagh fends off bounty hunters.)

I'll cover the Zagash quest separately.

***

As in Athkatla of Shadows of Amn, the City Gates are the launchpad to Calimport's wilderness outskirts. Initially, there are but two destinations offered in Chapter II, but they are immense and multi-zoned: the Forest of Mir & the Marching Mountains. These are located to the northeast of Calimport, on the border the country of Calimshan shares with Tethyr.

Both of these regions were represented in Throne of Bhaal. As in Shadows & Throne, these two regional zones of Chapter II may be tackled in any order. We are free to return to Calimport-proper at any time, though we need to drop our companions at the inn-gate. This can cause a nightmare of inventory management, but it's necessary for game balance reasons.

In the Forest of Mir, we are to crush a goblinoid army led by the hobgoblin boss, Ulaz [pic]. That is our mission.

Here is a rough map I put together of the Forest of Mir; rough, in that it does not show all ways to go, is not pictured exactly to scale and does not line up exactly either. Still, if nothing else, this map at least conveys the size and scope of the forest, which is much larger than the one in Throne - even before factoring in the subterranean zones which are not here shown.

The forest features gently undulating terrain. It's carved out by rivers and pathways winding through pockets of trees. What makes this forest different is its vastness and landscape consistency. I think a lot of builders worry that players will get bored if they use the same tileset for several zones in a row, but I appreciate that. It's a forest. I want to feel like I'm adventuring in a forest. One can make each zone distinct even if they use the same tileset. And yes, the vastness is appreciated, too. Again, it's a forest not a garden or someone's backyard. The original BG (not its sequel) exhibited a good sense of landscape, too.

One thing I'm not fond of in regard to exploration... the pins on the map mostly just say "exit area", instead of telling us what area they lead to. The mini-map doesn't tell you what map you're on either: you have to hover your mouse cursor over your portrait. Bizarre design choice by BioWare. The area you're in should be written on the map, and it should be permanently displayed while on the map.

There are in excess of 300 foes to slay in and under these zones (caves, dungeons, buildings, barrows and the fortress interior). Goblinoids come in warrior, marskman, shaman, wizard, tough, berserker, champion and Chieftain varieties; they are not just "goblins" and they are as tough as nails in comparison to the mooks found in other modules (or BG and BG2). There are giants, worgs, undead [pic] and several aranea, too (Necromancer, Conjurer, Evoker and Enchanter).

I found none of them to be trivial; all are custom. The Beastmaster and three Chieftains (goblin, hobgoblin and bugbear) are a step up again, but they drop valuable and very useful magical gear, so it's worth it to hunt them down and take them out.

I began this quest at 10th and finished it at 12th. I found direct damage spells to be useless for the most part. Yes, I can drop this Fireball or fire that Lightning Bolt, but such spells didn't inflict the damage required. And, worse of all, once hit, the aggro stopped beating on my tanks and instead turned its baleful gaze my way. 

In my experience, it was safer and more efficient to assume the role of buffer, debuffer, warder and disabler rather than bombardier. To give a specific example: Slow seemed more encounter-impacting than Fireball. I found that Chieftains laughed in the face of my ability to inflict direct damage. I stupidly fired Lightning Bolt several times at a Chieftain. The total damage? 0. One may ask, "How is that possible?" Answer: Chieftain's Evasion Reflex Save is greater than DC 16, pre-roll. Thus, don't even bother. 

Also, watch the feedback window. I know this is 101 but you don't need to do it in most modules because everything's just dropping like leaves in - yep, you know the season. (I really overuse that simile.)

Heading up the raid on the village of Tebnas, this is one tough mutha:

Drops the Daraz Light Hammer +2 (Sonic 1d4, Magical +1 vs. goblinoids, giants and orcs).

It was much more effective to focus on making Barazh, Snajagh and Kelem the best tanks and physical-based damage dealers they could be (Stoneskin, Improved Invisibility, Flame Weapon and potion-buffs galore). As expected, Barazh is a formidable tank; a super-tanker. Snajagh could occasionally dictate encounter outcomes with Hammer of the Gods (a favorite divine spell of mine); plus, he casts useful party-wide buffs. Kelem, on the other hand, was naturally more squishy and required a bit more hand-holding when facing off against mobs.

Basically, I preferred this (Hammer of the Gods + Slow):

To this (Fireball):

Buffing the tanks thoroughly is so important in Swordflight. And yes, my trio can carve their way through the mobs - IF they are buffed. If not, they will be popped like party balloons!

***

The Goblin Fortress [cf: Fort Akhaz]:

The Goblin Fortress: Exterior, Lower Level and Upper Levels.

Boss fight played out like a slideshow thanks to the flaming torches; game was unplayable on both DE and EE. This is a pic from last time I played:

I can't commentate on the boss fight because it's impossible to see what's happening due to the abysmal framerate. I just buffed everyone up and prayed. Got through so let's just push on. I don't think there are any other areas with major slowdowns; just the Goblin Fortress.

The epic undead battle, post-hobgoblin bosses [pic]. Just awesome.

These flaming torches suck. Brings back memories of the flaming braziers in IWD2. But at least you could disable static anims in IWD2.

Update: This is an AMD chipset or driver issue. Nvidia chipsets/drivers do not seem to have this problem.

Summary of our progress:

Next up: Orcs!

Neverwinter Nights	Swordflight Chapter 3	Buried Ruins 2	Thieves' Guild	Mazar's Golems
Swordflight	Swordflight Alignment	Buried Ruins 3	Goblinoid Army	Precious Metals
Rogueknight Interview	Swordflight Walkthrough	Buried Ruins 4	Orc Army	Hammer & Anvil
Swordflight Chapter 1	Shifting Sands Inn	Calimport	Dragon Cult	Bloody Blades
Swordflight Chapter 2	Buried Ruins 1	Zataroth	Aranea Base	Zagash the Terrible