sorophx

more like bunch of suckers

I used to buy 3 full-priced games every month, next day I'd gotten the paycheck.

ha, really? interesting stuff

Neurik they found in the local temple. he told them about the encounter and how all of the hunters had gone missing and were surely werewolves now. he gave our heroes a handful of silver charms and told them there was a house in Port Llast they'd better start their investigation with. the house was owned by the parents of one of the missing boys. finding the house was easy, getting the old folks to talk, not so. Kaftan had to force his way upstairs where he found this in one of the rooms: Stoneskin proved useful once again. young werewolf went down very fast, giving up after Kaftan pummeled him into submission. (seriously, Stoneskin is a win button, plain and simple, coupled with Bull's Strength and Volo is out of a job, Daelan and Kaftan make short work of anything the group encounters). so, we should seek out Sir Karathis if we're ever to find the Black Wolf. no problemo, kid. here's a sliver charm to get you back to normal, now run along. one last place to visit in Port Llast is Wanev's Cottage. it may hold the key to getting inside his tower. but first let's have a talk with another merchant in the area. it's our old friend Eltoora. for some reason she didn't recognize Volo as the member of her guild and wouldn't provide any services without getting a magical reagent first, well screw you, Eltoora, you don't have anything special anyway. She did give Volo a new quest. it's the biggest fetch quest in the game I believe, and we won't be able to complete it until much later in the chapter. still, it's a good idea to have it marked in the journal. the last NPC we can talk to is Ballard. he's a druid and will ask a favor of us. the task is to find out why the animals in the forest have become aggressive and attack everyone, even the druids. this is my favorite quest of this entire chapter so I'll save it for later. Kaftan had two interesting encounters on the way to Wanev's place. one was Kendrak's daughter. clearly insane. Kaftan had a tough time getting rid of her, but as soon as she left, another nitwit presented himself. so Volo was right, the ring Solomon had given them was a way for the cult to keep track of our heroes' progress. Volo once again proposed to keep the ring and see what happened. good call, Volo. once inside Wanev's house the heroes made their way down to the basement. there they encountered lots of guardian skeletons and goblins. there was also a Bugbear Hero-Shaman duo and a Flesh Golem. but as usual Kaftan and Daelan just plowed through Wanev's minions. all they found down there was some ingredients and his journal. which hinted at a secret place somewhere inside the house. in the kitchen Volo found Wanev's Cookbook: the two texts suggested that making the stew would open up a new passage. so Volo put the needed ingredients into the brazier... and voila! Kaftan found a ward stone and yet another journal. this Wanev guy sure looks like a retard judging by these notes he keeps leaving behind. some wizard he is. or maybe it's just a well-designed trap? tune in next time to find out. also, we'll be traveling to Luskan and raiding endless goblin and bugbear caves. the fun parts are yet to come.

time for a new update. our party welcomes you to Port Llast. as you can see, all our friends are present. let's go say "hi" to Lady Aribeth. ho-kay, what have you got to say to us, Aarin Gend? so there we have it, three possible ways to go, just like in russian folk tales: go left - lose your horse, go right - lose your head, go straight - find your doom. not much of a choice if you ask me. let's hope Volo and Kaftan are powerful enough to overcome any difficulties and dangers. there were still people to talk to in the barracks, so Volo enabled his diplomacy mode and began gathering information, speaking to other mercenaries they'd known from Neverwinter. In the meantime Kaftan was trying to harass the locals. this guy offered the party a job, they'd have to find a bunch of criminals, hiding in different parts of the land. bounty hunting! Kaftan loved it, he was a renown bounty hunter and could pass by the offer. now it was time to head outside and start looking. of course our famous heroes couldn't take two steps without being asked for help by desperate villagers. Volo was beginning to appreciate the whole "hero" business, so he promised to do all he could to help. and finding a farmer's mother didn't sound like a very hard task, since they would be looking under every rock and in every corner of this area for traces of cult activity anyway. another place of interest - the local inn. as soon as they stepped inside, Kaftan was approached by a strange looking character. he introduced himself as Solomon. he disappeared immediately after handing Kaftan a ring of some sort. Kaftan wanted to get rid of it right there, but Volo stopped him. something wasn't right and Volo wanted to see how it would develop. anyway, Kaftan saw a familiar face among the patrons and hurried to chat with the person. Elaith had had dealings with the Shadow Thieves of Amn before, and regardless of what he was saying now Kaftan knew he was the guy to speak to if he ever needed supplies. after putting some pressure on Elaith Kaftan was allowed access to his limited stock. one thing captured Kaftan's attention instantly, the Shadow Thieves' armor. the price was 25000 gold, luckily our party could afford it. Elaith also offered Kaftan a job after recognizing a fellow thief in him. our heroes had to find some gems stolen from Elaith. again, there was no point in turning it down. there's another peculiar character in the inn. he's the best merchant in Port Llast but if we act too hastily we might lose his services. Alhelor told the tale of the Black Wolf to Volo and Kaftan. they wanted to hear more, but he was somewhat reluctant to talk about it in greater detail, redirecting the heroes to his buddy Ander. so yeah, Ander was the only survivor after the encounter with this Black Wolf. seemed as though our heroes found themselves yet another bounty. good times! time to speak to Neurik and inquire about the details.

just forget about Gomorrah. I never bother to reload if it's just one line of sidequests. there's also one with Tim Cain and Chris Avellone. (and I'm not sure, too lazy to check, but I think Feargus too)

oh.my.god.

judging by the pillar closest to us, the source of light is to the right. that means the pillar's shadow is beyond eye's reach anyway because of the angle. the other smaller objects do seem to have a shadow, but it's fairly soft

there are shadows on the models. or you think it's photoshopped?

oh? that's odd, I had a copy of the 3rd edition rule-book, I remember it saying only blunt weapons for clerics it could've been a bad version though

are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Half-Life "on steroids ©"

that would be awesome never gonna happen though

NWN was D&D 3rd ed.? if so than she did get a custom class, because Clerics couldn't use bladed weapons in 3rd edition

gah, don't make me look for it... I guess it's supposed to be protecting the neck

didn't you see the fighter Hawke's armor? it has got one of these, too

I'm not that dumb, Worst. he states that the next FO game will be dubbed FO5, that NV is the official FO4

she does? that's odd, I thought she had a custom class designed for her

huh, he considers New Vegas the actual Fallout 4, that's odd.

it's that one thing that is supposed to make Dragon Age 2 look dark and gritty

I think they did a good job with Aribeth in subsequent chapters. making her a villain and all that. and I like the whole Old Ones plot. but yeah, after chapter one the game just falls apart thanks to terrible game design

almost done. the main floor isn't a very big dungeon. it's mostly populated by Fake Halmites and packs of undead. easy prey. there are a few points of interest on this level, though. first, there's these: there is a bug here (at least there was for me) they won't attack you if you enter via the main entrance. they just keep hovering there, but only 'til you try to open the door leading to the rest of the keep. they activate and attack the character that touched the doorknob. but the other character still will be considered friendly. at first I couldn't understand why my fireballs weren't doing any damage to these constructs. but then I figured it out and the drow cause prevailed once again. (I have no idea what the pedestal is used for). but the coolest part is the summoning circle in the back. where our heroes got to meet this guy: he looks like a devil and he's got a kick-ass name. but helping him doesn't give you as much as reinstating the Hold Guardian would. so after following his instructions and getting the Grimoire, needed to free him (it?) *and* the Tome of Helm, required to restore Helm's power, we decided to banish the sucker. Volo then summoned the original Guardian. the celestial avatar could sense Volo's and Kaftan's real personae hidden behind the illusions, still he presented the group with a gift - a ring of elemental resistance (which will prove useful much later on). they also hit level 8 at that point. Kaftan finished his fighter, from that point forward it would be rogue/assassin all the way. and Volo got Stoneskin, good timing, too, because they were about to face Desther. and look who they found on their way up: awww, what happened, Fenthick? why are you crying? that's it, seems Fenthick has finally snapped. maybe we should just finish him right here, before Lady Aribeth gets a chance to see him... but that'll have to wait until after we've removed Desther from this plane of existence. Desther is a cleric, but since he's completely naked and barehanded, he doesn't pose any kind of threat if you don't let him cast his spells (which aren't particularly dangerous anyway). the surrounding ghouls are a much bigger problem, but a couple of Fireballs make short work of them *and* the ceremonial creatures. after they had gone down, dealing with Desther is easy as pie. gah! more questions I have one: will this ever end? as you know, both Desther and Fenthick were executed. Aribeth almost lost her marbles while Fenthick was being torched. as soon as that was done, Nasher and Aribeth began planning an investigation of the Cult of The Old Ones or the Cult of the Eye. the new-born heroes of Neverwinter, Kaftan and Volo, were asked to take up this difficult task. considering the size of the reward and the need to keep their own investigation going, they reluctantly agreed and were soon transferred to Port Llast in the North. and that's it for chapter 1. phew.

the outskirts of Helm's Hold, ladies and gentlemen. the old guy standing in the distance is Bregan. I'm getting tired of typing (and don't count on me proofreading all of this), so I'll just show you the conversation. ahaha, good times... there was another encounter, though, right in front of Hold's gates. some kind of an apparition. soooo, Desther took control of the Hold by force, his minions dressed up as priests of Helm, they were the ones who had been spreading the plague all along. and now Desther, feeling as he's being drawn into a corner, tries to build an army of undead. very nice. there are two ways inside the Hold. one is through the front gates. they lead into the backyard. doesn't look promising, does it? and after hearing all that stuff about undead. we'd better take the rear entrance. there's a cave not far from Bregan's home that leads into Hold's dungeon. the welcoming committee. this guy is actually pretty tough. Jinkies was his name. the corridor ends up in a storage room with the exit into the main floor of Helm's Hold. there's a kid named Johnny here. he is the shopkeeper for this area. he also gave the heroes some insight on what had happened inside the Hold. appears as though Desther is now on his own. he has been cut off by his superiors. and in a desperate attempt to prove himself he now prepares and attack on Neverwinter. what an idiot. also, there's a helmite somewhere in here, might as well look for him. the prison is full of undead, just like johnny said. there was even a Zombie Lord. but that's hardly a challenge anymore. in one of the cells Kaftan found this: he kept screaming something about the Old Ones, Kaftan couldn't hit the half-orc with arrows, and the bastard got away. Volo had one of his feelings again, somehow it felt like they would be seeing this Yari the knife again, and very soon. should've left him in his cell to rot. well, the other cell contained the helmite Dumal. seeing as Dumal was the only one left of the whole keep, Kaftan decided to end his misery and killed the poor guy (we needed all the XP we could get, I could use Stoneskin for the upcoming battle with Desther). and it was time to end it.

I'm going to keep this last leg short. first, they visited Ophala and took their bounty. 400 GP, hey, not too shabby. but of course 375 XP is a lot more welcome. thanks, Ophala. you're a bitch, but we forgive you. next stop - Blacklake. Formosa was the one that hired Volo and Kaftan to assassinate Meldanen. she also had been instigating food riots and wanted the key to Meldanen's store house. we provided both. but then we had to kill her. Volo couldn't let such a dangerous person walk the streets of Neverwinter. (actually, I killed her for the evil points to Kaftan's alignment. you see, I want to make him an Assassin, but that requires the character to be evil. and as you remember Kaftan is Chaotic Neutral. well, by the end of this part we will have made him Chaotic Evil ) we then went into Never's Tomb for the last piece of his heritage. it's *the* toughest battle of the whole chapter unless you play it right. the swords pack quite a punch and are very durable. it's usually a better idea just to make a run for the sarcophagus and teleport the hell out of there. but we needed that level up and especially Stoneskin that would've come with it. so we took some time, worked out a strategy and killed all four. go team! then we went back to the brothel. there's a shady character there named Gilles. he had offered to buy Never's relics off us instead of taking them to Oleff. we naturally agreed. selling him all three pieces deals a major hit to character's alignment, a total of 21 points towards evil. which suited us just fine of course Kaftan then had to kill the idiot for trying to be smart, sealing his fate as the ultimate scourge of Sword Coast. they then proceeded to the Palace with the last ingredient. oh? we finally get to see Lord Nasher Alagondar? I think both Volo and Kaftan thought to themselves at the moment how that would be the perfect opportunity to finish Nasher off. but was it worth it? crude manner? that's it! prepare to di~ huh? not now, Fendesther, can't you see we're in the middle of a conversation with his lordship? go on and make that cure already. it's about time, we were getting tired of this city. we assume we can return to the Underdark now? huh, wha? this can't be good... Desther then grabs the cure and jumps into a portal, Fenthick, for god knows what reason, follows him. and we're left with Desther's fake helmites to deal. they drop like flies, naturally. guess this isn't over yet. we'll have to go after Desther and take the cure from his cold dead hands. works for us.

it was time to enter the Seedy Tavern and check it out. there are three ways to get in, get some uniforms and enter via the front door. bribe the lady at the front door to let you in or use the side door, that can be opened with the key which Kaftan had found previously at the Bloodsailors hideout. how very convenient. once inside the tavern Volo and Kaftan had to find Callik as soon as possible. but nobody would talk to them. finally, Kaftan found a way. these guys, despite being dressed like Bloodsailors, seemed out of place and were constantly looking out for someone or something. at first Volo tried a diplomatic approach with them, but it didn't work. then Kaftan decided to have a go at it. by challenging the half-orc to a beer drinking duel (god, this is so old, does every fantasy game have to have one of these?). Kaftan lost of course (only 14 constitution, even a potion of Endurance couldn't have helped him). but he did gain the necessary amount of respect with the half-orc to be let to speak with his friend Christov. as you can see, they're spies for an undisclosed third party. Christov told Volo a little something about the sudden disappearance of Vengaul. turned out the auction had been canceled. but if we want to know more we have to go down to the tavern's basement. the staircase leading to basement was guarded by the tavern's chef, so Volo easily swayed him into letting the party through. after clearing the small area of bloodsailor guards they found an elven woman locked up in the cellar. it was Vengaul's girlfriend Dara'nei. as a means of thanking our heroes for her rescue she provided some info on Callik. Callik was a simple brute, unlike Vengaul. he saw an opportunity to usurp power in the gang and took it. Vengaul went into hiding. it also appears Lord Nasher and Vengaul have a history. this is an interesting turn of events. she confirmed that Vengaul was holding the ****atrice (one of the Waterdhavians) as a part of some scheme to humiliate Nasher. Vengaul wanted Nasher to acknowledge Vengaul's importance in Neverwinter. well, his underlings never delivered the message to Nasher, plotting to kill their leader instead. what a mess. they also found Callik's orders on guards' bodies. also, Dara'nei, hoping Volo and Kaftan would save her beloved, gave them the key to a secret door in the Silver Sails building. that's where they were headed next. and through there - to the Aqueducts. I forgot to take pics of the Silver Sails, it's just a bunch of Dire Spiders and a swarm of Fire Beetles. nothing special. the last door leads straight to Charon. ha! Charon is alright. and so they now knew that Vengaul had passed there and Callik was close behind. Volo showed the map to Charon, and his boat took them straight to the old storage area. while you're following this tunnel along, two voices can be hear. apparent;y two men arguing. - Cur! Bounder! You're not half the man your father was! - I won't let you squander this opportunity! That thing's worth a fortune! - Life is measured by more than wealth, my boy. A well schemed plot keeps your name in the history books! - What's the big problem? You were going to auction the thing yourself! - That was showmanship. Make them think the prize is lost and they respect you all the more when they get it. and there they were, standing on different sides of the fence, tossing insults at each other. Callik was very nervous and attacked the party as soon as he saw them. He was very squishy. then it was Vengaul's turn. well, even if Vengaul would've given the bird back to Nasher, we simply couldn't let him live. the bastard proved too slick for us and managed to escape. his two guards had to suffice. Volo then took the ****atrice feather out of the crate, and they were finally done with the Docks. not quite done with the city of Neverwinter, though.