Neverwinter Nights 2 Part #4 - Act One Chapter One: No! My Beloved Peasant Village!

Part 4: Act One Chapter One: No! My Beloved Peasant Village!

Now, let's see... we were just about to go to bed when Bevil barged in shouting about the village being under attack.

: I'm not sure. They came pouring in from the swamp and started tearing the village apart!

Oh yes, come in, come in everyone. Make yourself at home.

Or just stand out in the corridor. At least Amie has some sense of personal space.

: It's in that chest next to your bed. You keep everything in there, remember?

: Hurry up and arm yourself. The longer we wait, the more we put the village at risk.

And we're back in the game. Opening up the chest reveals a decent stash of weaponry. The bow will be useful; I don't want to get blood on my nice new Harvest Cloak.

We also bust into Daeghun's room to see if there's anything worth... protecting.

There is! A magical amulet of one of the halfling goddesses. Funny, Daeghun doesn't look like a halfling.

Downstairs, our door collapses in a puff of smoke and three grey dwarves run in. Of all the Terrible Evils that could have attacked our beloved hovel, we get the army of sun-deprived midgets.

They're no match for the power of friendship, though. Our camaraderie and good humour transform them into three lootable leather pouches!

Enough faffing about, let's save the village.

: I don't know where these beasts came from, but we need every sword at the southern bridge - more of these creatures are on the way, and in greater numbers.

: Georg is trying to gather the militia, but I fear he will not be able to marshal a defense in time... and without help, this village will fall.

Some of these dialogue options are really bitchy. We haven't even got to the nastiest ones yet.

: Head south along the road - I will stay here and look for the wounded, then join you. Georg should be at the bridge, join him quickly, he will no doubt have orders for you.

: But before you go, take this blessing from Lathander, all of you. If you are wounded or need another blessing in the fight ahead, simply return and speak to me.

A quick word about resting in NWN2: true to RPG tradition, all wounds, illnesses, poisons - even death - can be cured by a good night's sleep. NWN2 is supposed to be a platform for multiplayer adventuring as well, however, so if players could rest for eight hours at a time whenever they liked, they'd desynchronise times and everything would be a horrible mess.

(This is why Time Stop isn't in the game either.)

So now a good night's sleep = five seconds of kneeling.

NWN2 is incredibly easy because of the freedom of resting. This is, however, one of the few areas we can't rest, so Brother Merring provides us with free healing so that our fragile party of two low-level heroes doesn't get overwhelmed.

Oh, but I get ahead of myself.

Fuck me, that's a hell of a blessing.

With the incredible thermonuclear power of the very sun itself imbued into us, we charge into battle.

In response, the dwarves all cast Enlarge Person on themselves. Do we still call them dwarves if they're bigger than us?

: I have no idea where these creatures came from or what they want, but the ones loose in the village are only the first wave... more are coming. A lot more.

: If we're going to stop them, we need someone to rally the militia and meet them head-on.

Oh, brilliant. Yes, and that 'someone' is us. No thanks. You can keep your certain death and

no don't volunteer you stupid

argh

: Now go - when you've gathered everyone you can, meet me at the wheat field south and west of here.

: We'd better search the town, try to gather who we can - and I hope we can find enough still alive.

Our first proper quest, then. In true Obsidian fashion, you don't have to find all five militiamen and get them all back into the fight - as we shall soon see.

Ward Mossfeld is licking his wounds right behind us. Yes, there is an option to kill him and pretend he died in the attack. That's a little too axe-murderer for Calliope right now, though. The Mossfelds might have been dicks to us in the past, but I think these dwarves are a bigger problem right now.

Heh.

: Damn creatures... coming out of nowhere... my brother... my brother, Wyl, you seen him?

: Not yet - he's somewhere in the village, I'm sure.

: I... if you can find him, Calliope... please, he's my brother... but my wounds...

: Hold on, Ward - let me go find Brother Merring, he may help.

That's what clerics do in D&D - artificially prolong the life of grubby peasant villagers so that they can keep tilling the land for their feudal masters for the full seventy years or so.

So, Brother Merring, can you help?

Fabulous.

Jeez, it was only common sense. I don't deserve three Good Alignment Points for it.

(Alignment - Good and Evil, Lawful and Chaotic - is complicated and requires unpacking. For now, just remember that it's on a scale of 0 to 100, both axes, and we're 50,50 or True Neutral, which is basically Not Applicable.)

Over the bridge, we see a group of dwarves surrounding villager brewer Lazlo Buckman, with more on the way. In the background, Tarmas is casting a spell at someone.

Amie casts Web, an entangling spell that slows and traps enemies. It's good for holding up warriors and the like while your archers plink away at them.

Ian Harman is hiding outside the house in the background. What the hell is wrong with you soldier?

: Georg needs all the militia to report to the wheat field to the west.

You're out of line, private!

Those are all the different dialogue skills you can use in NWN2. The only one missing is Perform, which is for Bards only. As a rule, Diplomacy is the most frequently used, although Bluff and Intimidate appear a lot as well. Taunt can also be used in combat to make enemies attack you, which is useful if you're a fighter (we're not a fighter).

: Others will join you - but you'll die alone if you stay here.

: All right, all right, I'm going! I'll meet you there... if I'm not dead when you arrive.

We could also have physically beaten him into joining the fight. Of course, he'd be almost dead, but one must make sacrifices for one's country. village. w/e.

We should probably see if Tarmas needs any help.