Part 29

Whilst exploring Farr Windward a bit prior to leaving, we get one more strange sight:





"I don't think it counts as normal for a person to jump just for the sake of maintaining normalcy. By its nature, normalcy cannot be forced."

"Perhaps this is true. The funniest thing, however, is that you weren't lying when you said someone had jumped a couple of days ago even if you didn't know it."



"Wait! Let me see that statue!"

"What statue? This statue? Er.. yes, fine workmanship, isn't it? Meant for the palace."



"Lucky for him that he stayed just far enough on the side of incompetence that we didn't have to get into a fight."




"I'm surprised they don't keep the guards closer to the actual city. It seems like one heck of a commute."

"Anybody who wanted to bother them would also have to deal with monsters for a couple of days."



"What do you mean deal with? They would end up as monster chow… that's probably why the guards are there."

"Letting the prisoners get eaten wouldn't do any good, since they specifically stick people in Farr Windward when they want to get rid of them but don't want them to die."



"It also appears that the residents are not the only peculiarities of this island. I don't believe I've ever seen these before."



Giant Kampfults are tree monsters that have been driven into dungeons and caves by human habitation, while the other monsters are Great Vilstraks. They're both fairly weak, although the Kampfults can hold your characters in place on a successful attacks. Unlike more dangerous stranglers, however, they can't kill you that way. Both of these are new enemies created just for this game.



"Remind me again, who's Talos again?"

"God of Storms and Destruction. His priests are required to spread destruction as part of their religious duties."

"Then we shouldn't feel bad about what we're going to do to the ones who are coming through the door."



Quite a crowd for a little temple. We could have found a way in to the city that didn't require wholesale murder, but that wouldn't have been any fun. The mages aren't nearly so troublesome since they're all in a cluster where we can fireball them.



"Is this where we should take you, Ougo? Stand there like a statue if it is."

"…"



"We need to talk about those ships in the harbor…"

One long explanation later...



"I can't think of anything that would annoy the Krakens and Luskan more… if we left any of them alive."






"…Okay, I didn't expect that."

"Remember our conversation about telling us about plans before you act on them? Thank you for not doing that in this case."

"You know, running around screaming about how you're normal is generally considered to be the fastest way of proving you're not."



"You say you are normal. I believe I am normal, too - and I bar the same brand upon my arm. Free the people of Farr Windward, and neither of our markings will matter!"



"We apologize for this. We had no part in any plans to blackmail you."

"We'll… uh… we'll just be going now."



"Normally we'd complain about the price, but at the moment that seems like a fairly small price to pay to get off this island."



"I think Neverwinter might be best. Lord Nasher's probably calmed down a bit by now."




"I swear, she was right behind us… how did they make off with her so fast?"

"The bigger issue, I think, is that they are still making off with her so quickly."



"And it'd be an awful pity if this nice, flammable wooden ship full of people were to have any fireball related accidents, wouldn't it?"

"If it did, we would have no way of following them. Calm down. If they wanted to kill her, they wouldn't have bothered abducting her."



"Heading northward.. the only ports in that direction are Port Llast and Luskan, and I think we know which of those is the most likely destination. A short walk up the coast shouldn't take us too long."



"Great heroes of Ascore, we now know you have been wronged. Lord Nasher wishes to see you to offer his apologies and to make amends. Please got to his palace."

"We're a bit short on time… but if anybody hates Luskan and would be likely to help us, it's Lord Nasher."



"I think I know where this is going…"

"The Krakens are responsible for the kidnapping. We have undeniable evidence of their guilt, but we cannot find them - or the ambassadors whom they have taken!"

"I think you mean 'ambassador'. Since we'd already rescued one of them before your guards arrested us."

"We hear stories that they are still here in Neverwinter, but my guards have searched every inch of the city without success. If you can find them, your reward shall be great!"

"As long as you've told your guards about this so we don't get arrested."

After a quick search through one of the gardens...



"Please die quickly. We're in a hurry."



This has the potential to be one of the most dangerous battles so far in the game. That's a lot of mages, and you only get one free round of them casting fire shield before they start throwing lightning bolts at you. The regular giants can hit for upwards of 20 damage per round, and occasionally get two attacks. The key is to use spells like ice storm and utilize any wands you've acquired. Lightning bolt is a great tool, since it's absolutely neutral to fire shield.



"They're not here, man. I think we might want to check the other room."



"You know, one would think that a competent set of kidnappers wouldn't put their captives in an area patrolled by man eating monsters."



"The Ambassador, I presume?"



"I wouldn't worry about that. I think we've killed most of the Krakens south of Luskan…"

"Which is next on the list."

"And we've definitely cleared them out of Neverwinter. Let's see about that reward."



"We're just glad to have the whole mess cleared up. If you could spread the word about how we didn't actually kidnap the ambassadors that would help us considerably."

Character Snapshot






Levels for a couple of our characters, and a bit of loot in the form of a Rod of Cone of Cold from Lord Nasher. Kedzie is actually keeping up fairly well even though she's only getting 50% of experience, and those fighter levels are still keeping her relevant. We're actually starting to come pretty close to max levels already, as this game tops out at level 11 for most classes (12 for fighters and thieves, and 10 for clerics).




Looking at the two new lucky papers we've recently received, they're actually a pair of red herrings. We can't do either of these missions until we've finished all of the other ones, which at this point is Yartar/Triboar and the final island mission.

Next update: Luskan and the islands.