| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
 Posted - 27 Jul 2006 : 16:10:29
|
I went through and looked at the overall plot of Neverwinter Nights and tried to distill what jumped out as not quite being right as far as established Realmslore, and also tried to keep an eye on how other video games have been translated into novels, and thus introduced into the halls of "officialdom."
What I'm going to post next is essentially how I am planning on looking at the events of the game as far as using them for any of my campaigns, if it should come up that Neverwinter is in play. It makes the events of the game important, but not quite as earthshaking as the original plot (i.e. no Luskan/Neverwinter war, plague less widespread, Helm's Hold not devestated by the events of the plot).
|
|
|
KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jul 2006 : 16:11:03
|
The “adventuring company”-
Boddyknock Glinckle
Daelan Redtiger
Grimgnaw
Linu La'Neral
Sharwyn
Tomi Undergallows
The “actual” events:
Ancient tombs are unearthed beneath Neverwinter, some of which date back further than the founding of the city. Some of the artifacts from the dig sites are actually stolen from the initial digs before they can be further studied.
Soon after, a horrible illness that is resistant to clerical healing breaks out in several sections of the city, and the illness shows up in Helm's Hold as well, in a party of pilgrims that had recently been to the city. Helm's Hold closes its doors, but sends a contingent of clerics under the command of a cleric known as Desther to aid in the efforts to contain the disease.
The disease, though deadly, seems to burn out quickly (the intention here is that the ramifications of the disease is much more contained, and doesn't completely devastate Neverwinter in the same way that the events in the game did. In fact, the few days that the city is closed while the disease is being studied causes more financial damage to Neverwinter that the disease).
Members of the Lord's Alliance show up with a magical cure developed by Khelben Arunsun to aid in the recovery efforts, even thought he disease has slowed greatly. When Lord Nasher's people begin to administer this cure among the afflicted, it is stolen by a yuan-ti cleric and several cultists.
Ophala Chedderstorn collects a group of adventurers after screening them through the Moonstone Mask. She calls them together and tells them that the cure has been stolen, and that she wants to gather agents to recover the cure that are not affiliated with the city, since she has reason to believe that someone in the city's agents has aided in this theft. (This would introduce Ophala in a manner more easily reconciled with her previous descriptions, as an agent aiding the city, and the head of the Many Starred Cloak, rather than the inexplicable appearance in NWN).
Eltoora Sarptyl of the Many Starred Cloak introduces the adventurers to Aribeth, Fenthik (who I would list as a half-elf, rather than an elf. While I know many non-humans worship human deities, too many elves worshiping Tyr in the same story makes it seem as if its a common thing. Were we talking about elves worshiping Mystra, for example, this woudn't be as much of a streach, but in this case, I think the change would make sense), and Desther. Desther is very wary of them, saying that he doesn't trust sellswords with such an important task, but Aribeth and Fenthik seem very willing to aid them.
After receiving the information that Aribeth has, the adventurers end up finding a cult of Talona operating in the city. When they press the cultists, their leader, Gilles, says that while they did indeed steal various artifacts, and they have been trying to study the disease, but they are not actually involved with the disease itself.
Aribeth delivers more clues to the adventurers after they recover the stolen items from the excavated tombs and tunnels. Aribeth's clues lead the adventurers to a cult of Sseth led by a yuan-ti cleric that now, in this case, does have the cure that Khelben sent to Neverwinter. While clearing out the cult headquarters, the adventurers find a cleric of Cyric name Jared who belonged to a sect of Cyricists that were once part of a Leiran cult that would provide false visions to faithful followers of other faiths to manipulate them, making them think that they were receiving visions and portents from their own god. Jared doesn't know specifically what was going on, but he knows that the head of his sect was dealing with yuan-ti for the last few months, and they were very interested in the records of those persons of faith that the cult had actually manipulated over time.
Jared is slain when he seeks escape, as it the yuan-ti cleric. When the adventurers recover the cure, they bring it back to Castle Never, and Desther steals the cure, apparently with the help of Fenthik, who proclaims that he is doing Tyr's will, and cannot explain his actions other than that he must have faith. He then leaves with Desther. Aribeth asks the adventurers to follow Desther and Fenthik and find out what has happened to her love, and a group of cleric from Helm's Hold approach the adventurers, telling them that Desther is acting strangely, and that he was vehement to get back to Helm's Hold, and they offer to travel with the adventurers.
When they arrive at Helm's Hold, they find that the catacombs beneath the Hold have been overrun with undead (another note on contained damage: Helm's Hold is pretty much intact, and its clerics and monks are fine, but beset with undead coming out of their catacombs. This limits the long term damage that is done by not decimating Helm's Hold or its NPCs).
The adventurers dive into the catacombs while the NPCs fend off against the undead. Eventually they find a passage leading to Desther and the cure, as well as Fenthik, who appears to be very lost and dazed. Desther is actually a yuan-ti passing for human, with various deceptive items taken from the cult of Cyric/Leira that disguise his true nature. He tries to kill the adventurers, but then tells them that in the end, his death doesn't matter, and the greater cause will be served.
The catacombs beneath Helm's Hold are cleansed when the guardian spirit is restored, and the monks and clerics are happy with the adventurers for their help. The adventurers take Fenthik back with them to Neverwinter, and when he is questioned, he tells them that Tyr has pronounced his judgement against Neverwinter and it will be destroyed, and then transformed into something new and glorious. Lord Nasher schedules him for execution after Fenthik's aid in spreading the desease and stealing the cure. Aribeth begs him to change his mind, but he does not relent. Fenthik is executed.
A few months later, the adventurers are gathered by Aribeth and Aarin Gend in Port Llast and are asked to help them investigate rumblings that a reptile cult nearby might have something to do with the cult that apparently had to do with Fenthik and Desther and the disease. Aribeth wants revenge on those that “corrupted” her love. Eltoora also contacts the adventurers and lets them know that Ophala is concerned that more is going on here, and that perhaps a much greater plot than simply setting off a magical disease is afoot.
In the mines of Port Llast, the adventurers find some documents, guarded by various summoned monsters and constructs, that seem to lead to connection to the Hosttower of the Arcane in Luskan, as well as the records of the Leiran/Cycic cult that Jared was a part off. When the adventurers return to Aarin and Aribeth, Aribeth dives into the Leiran cult texts, and Aarin asks them to enter Luskan and investigate what is going on there. Eltoora visits them and gives them some wizard contacts in Luskan to aid them in speaking with members of the Hosttower.
Upon arriving in Luskan and speaking with their Hosttower contacts, the adventurers are actually invited to a meeting with Arkleem Greeth. In this meeting, the master of the Arcane Brotherhood tells the adventurers that he recently uncovered a double agent in his organization, a yuan-ti wizard that was working for the Overmaster of the North, and that this wizard was providing Hosttower resources to other yuan-ti as well as leaving telltale signs of the Hosttowers involvement. When some of the adventurers mention that they are skeptical about this, especially given Luskan's disdain for the Lord's Alliance, Arkleem tells them that they can believe him or not, but he has the location of the renegade yuan-ti wizard that manged to escape the tower.
When the adventurers manage to defeat the yuan-ti wizard they find that he has further plans that would have incriminated the Captains of Luskan, and embroiled Luskan in a war with Neverwinter, as well as leading information between the Captains to instigate a civil war as well within Luskan.
When the adventurers return to Port Llast, Aarin tells them that Aribeth has left with one of the journals from the Leiran cult, nearly killing several of the Neverwinter troops that were questioning her and what she was doing. Aarin also tells them about some ruins found near Port Llast, and sends them there to speak with the experts located there. The adventurers find an old, decrepit portal deep in the heart of the ruins, as well as a crypt. The experts at the site tell the adventurers that the ruins appear to be related to one of the creator races, the race related to reptiles. One of the researchers, Lillian, has found a strange magical snow globe that radiates a great deal of magic, but she cannot discern its secrets.
At this time, a huge shadow passes over the crowd, and a truly massive dragon lands in a clearing outside of Port Llast. Upon investigating this, the adventurers are actually in the presence of Klauth, one of the mightiest dragons of the North. Klauth tells them that he is in possession of a stone that has a word of power inscribed upon it, and that yuan-ti cultists broke into one of his lairs to transcribe the word of power from the stone.
Klauth tells the adventurers that he believes that the word of power is part of a phrase that will open a portal long sealed, and that he will give them the stone, if they give him the snow globe that the adventurers talked to Lillian about. He also tells them how to use the item, which is actually an extradimentional space created to trap a white great wrym dragon named Ma’fel’no’sei’kedeh’naar, who was trapped in this snow globe by a Netherese Arcanist centuries ago. Klauth wants to have the extradimentional space as well as dominion over his “old friend” the white dragon. The adventurers agree, and enter the snow globe.
Ma'fel'no'sei'kedeh'naar is served by unseelie fey, and after battling many of the winter fey, the adventurers sneak into the dragon's horde, recovering another stone with a word of power on it. The adventurers manage to escape the snow globe before the white dragon can stop them, and they hand over the globe to Klauth.
The researchers at the site manage to transcribe the word of power, and they examine the portal in the ruins. The portal in the crypt appears to be an “exit” portal that leads to another reality, and the runes and glyphs around it indicate that there might be an “entrance” portal nearby. While this is going on, Aribeth and a host of creatures attacks the camp and steals the stone.
When the adventurers come out of the ruins and find out about this, they also find another stone with another word of power in the ruins itself, as well as seeing an illusion of the past, seeing an image of ancient Faerun when serpent and reptile races were in control of the region.
Upon returning to Neverwinter, Aarin and Lord Nasher tell the adventurers that they have a surprise visitor, Haedraline, a lizardfolk shaman from the Mere of Dead Men. Haedraline has had a vision that her people will be enslaved by the ancient serpents if the adventurers do not stop them. Aarin also points out that one of the crypts that was recently excavated actually leads to a non-functioning portal, and a member of the group studying the crypts, Master Ford, tells the adventurers that the portal needed four words of power to activate it, and that his people were driven out of the caverns by hulking lizardfolk called tren.
The adventurers head toward the ruins, and are attacked by Aribeth. She tells them that she found out in the journals of the Leirans that she was never visited by Tyr and that her whole life as a paladin has been a lie, and that even her meeting Fenthik was a cruel game played by the Leirans, and later the Cyricists, as Fenthik was also gifted with “visions” by the Leirans/Cyricists, and that the cult of Sseth used these visions and the information from the cult to manipulate him. When Aribeth is clearly defeated, she gives up in despair.
The adventuers fight through the tren into the chamber of the portal, and find Maugrim, a sarukh lich, who is trying to open a portal to another reality, one where the sarukh still rule with legions of serpentfolk and reptilian troops. The portal is activated, but will only open slowly, taking hours to gather enough magical energy to work.
Maugrim fights the adventurers and kills Boddyknock and Grimnaw, (the henchmen that don't show up later in the series), while Sharwyn, Daelan, and Tomi manage to destroy the sarukh lich and shut down the portal.
After the battle, Aribeth disappears after her defeat, and Ophala Chedderstorn and members of the Many Starred Cloak show up to dismantle the portal so that it can never be used.
|
Edited by - KnightErrantJR on 27 Jul 2006 18:15:07 |
 |
|
|
Torkael
Acolyte
39 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jul 2006 : 18:01:26
|
Definitely a better and acceptable plot to the original campaign imo. When did all this take place though?
I think you 'overkilled' someone. Linu was present along with Daelan, Tomy and Sharwyn in NWN HoTU. She's found dead, killed by Rakshasa somewhere down in Halaster's dungeon, but the player had the option of reviving her and letting her join as a henchman. |
"No, I will not create a song dedicated to dancing dwarves. Especially dwarves worshipping Eilistraee." - Tenasa the bard |
|
|
|
KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jul 2006 : 18:12:01
|
Gotcha . . . I can amend that . . . the dying party members were just a means of figuring out who would be around and who wouldn't for use as NPCs.
HOTU will likely give me fits trying to "mainstream" in this manner . . .
I still have to look up some information to try and figure out what date this took place. I seem to remember that there WAS a date affixed to the games, but I can't find it at this point in time. |
|
|
|
KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jul 2006 : 18:14:24
|
| I kind of like my Leira cult that inspires visions of other gods just to mess with others faith, and I may try to write this organization up in a separate post. The group would have taken a more vicious tone when Cyric took over Leira's portfolio, but for some reason I liked the idea of a cult that just hands out false visions and then sits back an laughs when they see zealots acting on thier prophecies. |
|
|
|
Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jul 2006 : 00:31:41
|
quote:
Originally posted by Torkael
Definitely a better and acceptable plot to the original campaign imo.
I agree. I hated the original plot, and I am so happy it never became official.
I honestly don't think the events of HotU are THAT earth-shattering, except for a few parts. Much of that game takes place in the Underdark or on another plane to begin with. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
|
|
|
Torkael
Acolyte
39 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jul 2006 : 15:43:28
|
quote:
Originally posted by KnightErrantJR
I kind of like my Leira cult that inspires visions of other gods just to mess with others faith, and I may try to write this organization up in a separate post. The group would have taken a more vicious tone when Cyric took over Leira's portfolio, but for some reason I liked the idea of a cult that just hands out false visions and then sits back an laughs when they see zealots acting on thier prophecies.
The fake visions aren't 'hardcore' but can be very damaging. Maybe it shows how chaos and trickery can be used in a more personal level? *Shrug* |
"No, I will not create a song dedicated to dancing dwarves. Especially dwarves worshipping Eilistraee." - Tenasa the bard |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
NWN Events Streamlined for Campaigns
