(part of a campaign for neverwinter nights by stefan gagne, copyright 2002)
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SPOILER WARNING (duh) SPOILER WARNING (duh) SPOILER WARNING (duh)
After some plot events, you start hunting down a loose summoner running wild in the castle and stuff happens. But before we get to the walktrhough, here are some general tips to keep in mind...
Don't overlook the kegs and buffet tables! That food is powerful stuff. Some of the 'food' items can cast spells in combat, and some of the drinks have some potent spell effects. It's nothing earth-shattering, but it'll give you an edge when you need it.
MANY rooms and areas in this module are totally optional. That said, why are you passing them up? What kind of wuss are you, anyway? The more encounters you survive, the more experience -- and a few of these rooms have some nice gear stashed away. (A lot of ReRolled's treasure is found in the form of equipment, rather than gems or straight gold. That way, if it's useful to you you can wear it, and if not it's money in the bank after a trip to the City.)
Don't be afraid to explore the kitchen level extensively, for instance. The doors will generally drag you towards the end of the level regardless of how much you wander around, so getting lost isn't that big of a deal.
There are a few items Pokey the Summoner drops around the castle which are of invaluable help later on...
Empty PokeySpheres: There are two of these. One's in one of the open foyers of the second floor, at Pokey's feet right after he teleports out. The other is in the crystal crypt, in front of one of the crystals. These items INSTANTLY KILL any SphereMon you target them at! Now, that's neat and all, but don't waste them on the 'lesser' monsters you face along the way... these bad boys are how you avoid a potentially crippling boss fight later on. Sure, you don't get the experience points for them, but maybe you're a sneaky rogue who isn't interested in a toe to toe brawl... note that once you 'capture' a SphereMon, you can't use it in battle later, since the empty PokeySpheres were defective. That's why Pokey dropped them.
Lying around a long hallway in the kitchen area is a NON-empty PokeySphere. Take this and guard it with your life; this is component number two of easily wiping out the boss encounter. Inside is a Pikathulu, the most powerful SphereMon around. If you open the sphere in the boss fight area, it'll start unleashing blazing electric death upon your enemies! But be careful -- this is a one-use item, and the Pikathulu does NOT follow you around afterwards. Only open it when you're ready to use it.
When you show up, the party's already started. Talk to everybody! Not because it's important for the plot, it's just fun and helps you get to know the characters. Be sure to say hello to our old friend Ralph Neckerson (aagh!) and get the scoop on what's up with Azul, Anima and Whisper, if you didn't talk to them in town already.
For fun, talk to the foreign diplomats in the southwest corner of the hall... particularly if you have a high Lore skill (otherwise you don't know their language).
Remember to loot the kegs and buffet tables, as suggested; good quickie magical goods in there.
When you're ready to proceed, talk to Dawn. Ask her if you missed the crowning -- she'll mention that the crown hasn't been brought up from storage yet, and will give you a key. This lets you into the door in the northeast corner of the room.
There's nothing really to see or do on the first floor at this time, so proceed to the room in the northwest corner of the map. Inside, you'll find the d20 gang. Exchange pointed barbs with Kyle of the d20 Gang until they kill you in a cheesy and twinkish manner... don't worry, it's part of the plot!
Respawn (no penalty!) and you learn about the Advent. You may remember Archdean Spiro saying things like 'Thank the Advent' and such in P#5: Home Sweet Home... well, here's your Advent. He'll give you Sparks of Life, which can be used to raise a henchman back to life. Hang on to these, you only get five in each module, but they carry over if you don't use them all up.
Now the fun begins...
Pokey's still around, and he's flooded the castle with SphereMon! After fighting off a few of them, you'll bump into Grandma Skullcracker. You can ask her to accompany you or to stay put. Head back up to the party room.
TIP: Grandma is set invulnerable when you first see her -- this wears off after you talk to her, but it means you can lead SphereMon over to her and let HER kill them, if you want.
Grandma's Subquest: None. |
(You may notice a 'See a Man About a Horse' subquest added to your journal. Yes, your bladder is a subquest in this module. We'll find you some sweet, sweet relief later.)
The party's over. Hope you grabbed the food and drinks, because they're gone too. Talk to either Sally or Zachary to get the score on Dawn being missing. Now you have a choice in henchmen: you can keep Grandma (if you brought her), or tell her to leave, then pick up either Zachary or Sally as a hench.
Sally's Subquest: The Kids Aren't Alright |
Zachary's Subquest: Desperately Seeking Dawn The reward is 1000 XP, but you also get a plot token that starts up a romance plot with him, if you're female. Good stuff in exchange for never changing henches. It's up to you if you want to use Zachary exclusively or not to get these rewards. He casts some nice buffing spells, can whack with his mace and can heal, making him a good all-arounder. There's no undead in this episode for him to turn, unfortunately. |
With your hench in tow, NOW you can proceed to the second floor. (Floors count downward into the ground.)
If you're a pansy, you can avoid a whole lot of combat here by just not opening any doors until you find the (labelled) door down into the kitchens of the third floor. Most of this floor is totally optional... but it's a good idea to poke through the rooms, because you can find some nice stuff.
In the southwest foyer below the diplomacy room, Pokey will taunt you and vanish... and leave an Empty PokeySphere behind. Remember, you can use these to instakill any monster in the adventure, which is a boon if you're having trouble with the boss encounter at the end! Pick that up, by all means!
Other items of note:
Sally's Subquest: The Kids Aren't Alright Walk in, go talk to Kaos, and Sally will give you your reward for this quest -- the almighty SPIN-O-TAUR! This gadget lets you summon one of Sally's minotaurs (ala any other Summon Creature spell) regardless of your class. Nice! It only has five charges, but they're great for boss fights, and you'll have opportunities to obtain more Spin-o-Taurs later in the campaign. |
Optional Subquest: Seeing a Man About a Horse You have to go potty. There's a bathroom along the hallway with the other bedrooms, but let's have some common decency, okay? You can only go when the door is closed and when you're the only person in there. Tell your henchman to Stand Your Ground from the radial menu, go in, shut the door, and take care of business for a phat 25 XP. Wash your hands afterwards, dammit! |
You have now arrived in the kitchens. Good work! The minute you show up you'll see Talya Al'nez fighting off more SphereMon. She's set invulnerable until you manage to talk to her, so don't worry about her -- you may want to bail her out and join the fray just so you can get more experience points.
You can ditch your current henchman, if any, to take Talya along with you. She also wants you to complete a subquest for her, but won't to talk about it if Zachary is your henchman. Fire him and pick her up unless you're trying to complete Zachary's subquest -- she's able to disable traps and she does some NICE damage with her double daggers and sneak attacks.
Talya's Subquest: The Anvil Chorus |
Okay, so you have whatever henchman you intend to finish the game with by this point. (You won't get any more hench swap locations.) Time to go ballistic on the kitchens.
The doors around here are not mapped in any normal-planar-reality sense. It can get pretty confusing... there are Bread Crumb objects in a chest near Talya, if you want to drop them and mark your way, but you can always make your own map notes on your minimap. Don't forget, it's a basic NWN feature.
It doesn't matter, because the doors will eventually drag you to the 'finish area' of this map. They're designed that way. But if you're lost, there's a mostly-accurate map enclosed with these spoilers.
There are two hidden items of note down here. One is positioned in a small oven area, behind a trap that even Talya can't disarm (unless you're level 11 or up). It's the Tongue of Destruction, and it casts Stinking Cloud. Not amazingly powerful, so you can pass on it unless you want to collect everything there is to collect.
But there is one very, very good item down here that I would not leave the kitchens without, even if it means wandering around the kitchens over and over... the PokeySphere. It's in the hallway on the western-central side of the map, and unlike the Empty PokeySpheres, this one's got a Pikathulu inside it. Very nice against the bosses later on. Note that you can't use it for PR2 and beyond; once Pokey's dead meat, all his powers fade... including the spheres.
Once you're done brawling through the kitchens, take the stairwell down to the treasury.
It's dark down here, so you'll want a torch / light spell / colored ring. Don't worry, the boss fight area is lit sufficently, so you won't be forced to fight while carrying a torch. When you arrive, you're in a square room with a giant vault door to the treasury, and a smaller door to the royal graves.
Talya's Subquest: The Anvil Chorus |
Through the royal grave door, across a bridge, and you're in a memorial room with six crystal markers and a statue in ice. Read the signs for important yet vague plot points, and be sure to nab the Empty PokeySphere.
Also in here is your last henchman, Whisper. She has no special subquests, but if you've got a weaker hench like Sally or Talya along for the ride, this may be a good point to swap henches. Whisper is very much a wildcard henchman; she has erratic combat skills and defensive traits, but at their best she can really dish out the damage and she can soak a lot of elemental damage types, which is handy against any Bobbicues(tm) you may encounter. She's a straight fighter class and has a few demonic powers as well (more notably if she's a higher level than 9).
Now you'll be fighting through some the hardest, nastiest SphereMon encounters in the game. You can technically get through this with only one encounter... your goal is the room at the very bottom of the map, and all the other rooms are optional / transitory. But you're not the kind of wimp who's gonna pass up a challenge, are you? Are you? Oh. Well, go on ahead then. There is a Meditation Stone in one of the optional rooms, good for buffing on before you encounter the boss.
Okay, you battled your way this far... meet Pokey the Summoner. You can exchange a few taunts, then it's on, and he summons a Slaad, a Flesh Golem and a Shield Guardian to kick your ass. If you're level nine, this basically means a swift and painful death.
That's bad. That's very bad. But you've got a few ways you can approach this fight...
One way or another, Pokey is dead meat. He'll drop the key to Dawn's cell and a 1d4, which you are absolutely positively going to want to take with you and guard with your life for reasons which will not be made clear until much, much later. After that it's all plot events.
Zachary's Subquest: Desperately Seeking Dawn While talking to Dawn, this quest finishes. Zachary gets some cute dialogue with her, thanks you for letting him accompany you, and you get 1000 XP (and if you flirt with him or otherwise say romantic things instead of picking the plain responses, you get a love token if you're a female PC!) A nice little reward for never exchanging henches. |
Talya's Subquest: The Anvil Chorus |
You (and anybody in the party, if you're playing multiplayer) will recieve a special badge. This is a plot token, so keep it with you -- this is what lets the people in Penultima City (including Sally, who gives you your missions) know that you've completed PR1. Good work!
copyright 2002 stefan gagne