Part 28

After a multi-stage detour, it's time to finally enter Neverwinter in search of a boat to the islands.



"Crap.. is anybody holding? I'm not, but, uh…you know, it's something to think about it."



"Search them! They may be the ones!"

"Do you shout that for every group that passes through the gates, or are we just special?"

"A party of adventurers with a single sarcastic elven mage…

"Zanros!"



The only people who could have this letter are the kidnappers themselves! Take them away!"

"Would it make things any better if we claimed to have taken that letter off of some dead adventurers and were hoping to turn it for a reward?"

"Either way, we can sort it all out with you in a prison cell."

"A competent city guard? If this isn't a sign of the end times, I don't know what else it could be."




"This is all a giant misunderstanding!"

Much breathless running later...



"If we weren't criminals before, I think we definitely are now. We should probably duck in here and get off the streets."

"We should just go to Lord Nasher and talk this out… I'm sure he'll listen to us."

"First we rescue the ambassadors, then we go see Lord Nasher. The only way we can prove we didn't do something to those ambassadors is to actually have them with us."



"I think that explains the name… should we say hello?"

"I don't think so… it looks like there's something off about this wall…"



"If you're coming down to dinner, I'm afraid you're too late."

"Wait, are those manticores? What kind of restaurant is this?"



This fight is actually a bit tricker than it looks, since in addition to this group there is another manticore and three sorceresses tucked away in a corner. That's five spell casters who would love to drop lightning bolts on our crew. A quick fireball in the corner will fix that, however, and the other sorceresses are close enough that we can melee them.



The fight also provides us with a couple of lucky papers that we haven't seen before, which we'll go into when we have a moment.



"You'd think that they'd have had one of their ambassadors here in this base."

"Would you leave a prisoner in an open room right next to the exit? Start knocking on doors and twisting candle holders, he's probably in here somewhere."



"Well, either he's one of the ambassadors or this got a whole lot kinkier."




"Um… about that, do you think you could go have a word with him? His guards are kind of… confused right now."

"We can go out and help ourselves to a meal while you find him."






"We can only hope that none of the guard patrols are outside to hear the cheers for us."

"All the more reason for us to enjoy our drinks while we can."

Five minutes later outside of the Fat Man's Table...



"Zanros, this is entirely your fault for mentioning that they could have been outside listening."

"Take them before the Lord Nasher - he'll surely reward us for capturing these kidnappers!"

"Er..you all didn't happen to see a guy in robes with pretty snowflakes on them pass by here, looked kind of ambassador-ish? No?"



"I can't help but notice that you didn't say who it was convenient for."

"It wasn't for us, and it definitely won't be for the rest of the ambassadors."

"The kidnapping of the ambassadors is a serious crime. But we cannot kill them…."

"Why not!?"

"Wait, kill who? Us, the ambassadors, or the people who are holding them captive? Because we've certainly been killing the latter group."



"I recognize this feeling… you're not even listening, are you? We're just skipping straight to the sentencing."

"I have it! We'll send them to Farr Windward!"

…is that an improvement over executing us, or not? I've never heard of the place."

The next day...




"You know, if you're going to go through the trouble of shipping us somewhere the least you can do is feed us decently."

"This reminds me of the last set of sea voyages we were on… the rations were similar, and for that trip we were paying customers."



"Wait, when did we invent cannons?"



"So far it's still better than the last trip… if only barely."

"There is the minor problem of how we're all going to drown."

"No-wait! If I can just… reach… the keys…"



"That's good, since they weren't helpful enough to keep a small dog that could be trained to bring us the keys."

"I'm just grateful that for some reason they left us with all of our equipment for the trip."



"And when we return, we should have a word with Lord Nasher about making sure that his ships carry enough lifeboats for prisoners."



"We were sent from Neverwind by Lord Nasher to Farr Windward…"

"It's all so foggy since the shipwreck… we're here to investigate a conspiracy by enemies of the Savage Frontier, right everyone?"

"Yes, that's it!"

"er… we were?"

"Don't mind him, he got hit on the head by a piece of the mast."





"It's not like we've got any way of sneaking people out even if we wanted to, but we'll keep that in mind."



"Giant carnivorous lizards… well, that's one way of keeping people from escaping."



Despite their fearsome appearance, these are actually push-overs who are still vulnerable to the full range of attack spells. They're not at all threatening, and are more of an interruption than anything else. You can also run into ogres in the tunnels, but I never did.



"That's… that's a man in a dress pushing a pig in a wheelbarrow."

"I think I understand why people aren't allowed to leave this place."





"Perhaps this is a more balanced view of things than most of the realms hold… but I wonder, are the occupants so strange before they come here, or do they grow stranger in isolation?"

"They seem to prize normality above all else. We should fit right in."



"They also appear to enjoy butchering the common tongue. I can understand if they want to interject "farr" into the word, but the rest of it makes no sense what-so-ever."

"Perhaps the reason this person was sent here was because of their unusual spelling?"



Most of the goods in the shop are expensive gewgaws, but the boots are actually fairly valuable. When used in battle they act as Boots of Striding and Springing, and allow you to basically teleport around the battlefield. This can save some time on later fights.






"It's a cruel prison, to provide you with everything and in doing so make the one thing you are lacking all the more obvious."



"I don't think there's any problem with that, but we probably won't be able to take you past the guards."

"You're also only about the third oddest person we've ever had travel with us."

"I shall strive to surpass your expectations in that regard."



Our newest companion is an odd duck. He's got great stats, with the exception of using Intelligence as his dump stat, and he's got a total of 15! character levels. For a cleric he's actually pretty beefy.



"The road to the east leads back into the caverns… so you're saying that we should go in either of the two directions we didn't come from? I suppose we should probably go west."

"Precisely! A normal walk and a normal process of walking into every house on the street until we find something interesting… like that one over there."

"For us, that is actually perfectly normal behavior."



"Wait a second… are they sending Krakens here now, or did they just sneak in here? I feel like it's important to sort that out before we kill them."

"I'm sorry, were you saying something? It was a bit noisy in here with all the slaughter."



"We just need to get the information to Orlumbor! Where is Orlumbor, anyway?"

"At the other end of the tunnels we used to come here. The guard shack is in the middle."



"Care to elaborate?"

"Be very careful ion this place. The walls are full of corn!"

"I don't know why we even asked…let's start checking the walls."



"They're really going overboard on the guards.. I'm beginning to think they outnumber the residents."

"One easy fix to that problem would be to convert some of the guards to residents."



For some reason, there are more greater margoyles in this place than in anywhere else, with the guards quite sensibly hanging out in the back and shooting arrows at us. The upside to this is that we can get some ammunition for our bow users on the cheap.



"I told you the walls were full of corn."



"I feel like we should go in here… although I don't know why."

"At least the pun is better placed here."



"What… what did we just pay to watch?"

"Just be thankful no actual farm animals were involved."



"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this… everybody get ready for a fight."



"It appears that you were right… which in itself is worrying, in regards to your sanity."



"Go to the house at the center of the southern tip of the city. There are people there who will help you."

"Ougo, are you okay? You sound a bit…"

"Never better, my dear. In fact…"



"If you'd actually told us that it would have been nice…. we'd at least have helped you look."

"No time for that! Back to Haalbok's house!"



"Haalbok? He's supposed to be dead."

"Has anybody told him that?"





"I can't help but feel a bit used."

"I wanted to explain, but my shaky grasp of reality prevented it."

"That seems like a reasonable enough explana… wait a second!"




"The more pertinent question is whether or not he will speak. Also, I believe we never agreed to bring him to the castle for you."

"He really looks just like a statue."

"He looks like a statue! There is no time for discussion. Take him there, and he will do the rest. May Tyr guide you on this journey."



"We've got to stop getting talked into these things."

"We've got to stop getting onto boats. That's where all our problems start. After we're done with this, I'm not stepping on another one of those damn things."

Character Snapshot





There's no training hall on Farr Windward (although there is on Orlumbor) so we'll have to wait until then to level up Galen and Kedzie. Kedzie, also, really is starting to need a replacement for her current sword. It's functional, but only just. Ougo is still with us, but in fact we're not going to have many more chances to use him in battle. During the next segment of the game he plays the statue card even when you start a battle.

Next update: Finishing the Orlumbor mission and the return to Neverwinter.