Small parties recommended. Take a hench if you go it alone.
Language
English
Races
Half-orcs are out of theme; any otherwise.
Tricks & Traps
Medium
Roleplay
Medium
Hack & Slash
Medium
Classes
Any
Scope
Part of Series
DMNeeded
No DM Required
Single or Multiplayer
Single Player or Multiplayer
Max Character Level
11
Max # Players
05
Min # Players
01
Min Character Level
07
Content Rating
Teen
Alignments
Any non-evil
Description
Having found the fabled Sword of Potency, you have travelled west to the capital city of Elfhindon to prepare for the next stage of your quest: the search for the Shards of Power. The situation has become more urgent -- war has broken out, and several areas in the northwest have fallen to the might of Bangoleth and his Orb of Mastery. Time is running out, and the Shards of Power must be found. The first clue leads back east, to a valley of tombs, and the crypt of a long-dead madman. Can you unravel the mystery of the Shards of Power before Bangoleth conquers all of Gatharia?
Just played through the module... Here's a few things I reacted to (and still remember) along the way: * You start out in the crypt with the light pedestals, I guess the starting point was moved here for debug purposes and should really be in the "The story so far..." area? * There was an extra copy of Alissa standing around in the Valley of Tombs right near the entrance, which looked kind of funny since I already had her along as henchwoman. Evil twin? :) * The sirens don't initiate conversation when the protagonist stroll up onto their hill in the swamp, and only the Alta siren can be spoken to. Since they seem to randomwalk around a bit they can get too far from each others, causing the dialog to terminate when one of the others is supposed to say something but has wandered out of range. * There is something fishy with the hill tiles in some levels with seemingly invisible walls preventing the player/henchpeople to move up and down some ramps/hillslopes. The monsters also seem to enjoy getting stuck there, making them easy pickings with a bow or such. * On the puzzles, it would perhaps be suitable to have an wisdom/insight/intelligence check which can help you solve the puzzle if the character have high intelligence or wisdom? Just because I as a normal int/wis 9 real-life human player can't solve it it shouldn't mean that the INT 19+ protagonist would have similar trouble. Would be nice to have as an option to pick when you get stuck and give up. :) * The sendargus knight captain guarding the bridge over the river near the end tells you to get lost since he won't let you in if you won't somehow prove to him that you are a friend of sendargus rather than a bugbear in disguise or something... But still he doesn't as much as flinch when I pick the lock on the gate behind his back and let myself into Sendargus :) * If you go back to the elf lord's hall and chat with a non-henched Corthran about either news about Ledon or advice regarding the Sirens, the dialog terminates abruptly after your second explanation-reply in those dialog trees without him saying anything. * The Searcher which gates in in the Trasis ruins will not initiate conversation with the player but rather just wander around aimlessly. Not much of an ambush if you can avoid fighting it by just leaving it alone rather than talk to it :) * The people back in the elf lords hall (the elf lord, grandoleth and the halfling) appears to be more chatty about the specifics of the adventure than your own henchman who's along with you (Alissa in my case, don't know about the others yet). She was awfully silent about all but the most major of plot events. * Also, you can't ask Alissa for directions anymore once you have found the shard since her "congratulations" talk leaves no options to ask her anything.
Posted by Avorleth at 2003-08-1612:56:00
Updated. We're still in beta, but it's getting there I think. * Re-worded the spot/listen checks in the elf hills. * Fixed the redundancy in delefin's image's conversation * Fixed the hand chairs * Deleted the inappropriate book in the library * Made a few of the tomb encounters "normal" instead of "hard" and cut the min # spawned to 1 instead of 2 or 3. This may have been the problem... even "hard" may have wanted 1 creature but I wasn't letting it. I wasn't sure WHICH encounters were too hard so I lowered a few in areas I thought were likely trouble spots. I could not replicate the bug where the pedestal lights would not turn off. As far as I can tell, as long as there is nothing at all in the pedestal when you hit "close" on the inventory inspection panel, the pedestal will, if it is lighted, turn off. Can't do anything more about it until I can SEE it happen, unfortunately. Man I hate bugs like this. :( Anyway... 0.9.8 should be appearing in a day or two for DL on this site. That's the newest version, with these fixes. Av
Posted by Avorleth at 2003-08-1108:55:00
Hmm... OK, so I guess I need to go back and make those encounters a little less tough. I did not have major problems with the undead myself, but I've changed the difficulty levels up and down so many times that I am not sure at what stage I tested with the rogue. In fact it might be better to take Corthran with you instead of Alissa as a rogue. No tank, but Corthran can Stoneskin you and he can really HAMMER the bad guys with things like fireball... Not sure if I tetsed Corthran with my rogue, or whether I used Alissa. But I think the rogue was quite wealthy and bought a bunch of stoneskin potions... can't remember now. As for the triggers, an even easier way to fix that is to just say, "In the distance" rather than up ahead. :) Hm... the gem thing should work. When you take a gem out of a pedestal and leave nothing in it, it should turn off. There are no heartbeats. When you close the pedestal, it checks itself to see if there are any gems inside and if the answer is "no" it turns itself off. I guess I will have to beat on this one some more. And you're right, "Rise of Bangoleth" should NOT be in Delefin's library. Good call. Thanks for being one of my beta-testers. I need people like you to help me figure out what works and what doesn't before I can finalize it. Av
Posted by thudson at 2003-08-1108:45:00
I'm going to give this module a rest because my rogue + the princess can't get through the last encounter before the end of D's tomb (unless, I suppose, I go back to town and stock up on still more potions). I tried, but don't have quite enough patience to replay SP1-2 with a cleric just to handle all the undead easier. Spoilery notes for Av so I don't forget them: * Andilius: nice! One of the better-feeling elf cities I've found. * elf hills: your triggers say that I hear brutes "up ahead" - but since I'm normally exploring in unexpected directions that isn't the actual direction. I know it's more work to lay down triggers that have a hard-coded correct direction, but *inspiration strikes* it ought to not be hard to script something using "GetFacingFromLocation" to fill in the correct compass direction. * text error: the image of Delafin describing the battle challenge says "individual, but ..., individual creatures." * I had to read the cheat & reload a save because the gem puzzle doesn't always reset. I'd several times put in all the gems and taken them all out, only to have 2-3 lights left on. Could it be because I was putting accessing them too fast? I haven't checked the toolkit to see if you're using heartbeat, but wouldn't think it was necessary. * hand chairs have a "you see nothing special" description. * quibble: in Delafin's library, wasn't the "Rise of Bangoleth" published long after the library was sealed? My character was very worried about the possibility of D. having up-to-date contact with the surface on finding that book. :)
Posted by Avorleth at 2003-08-0912:27:00
I believe I have corrected all the various issues. The runestone tombs should now not be accessible until AFTER you get the proper quest update. The harpsichord is in fact usable only once. I tested alissa. After hiring her I told her to use her ranged weapon, and she used the bow from then on. Not sure why it didn't work with you but it might be the SOU henhcmen AI updates, if you are playing with SOU. Av
Posted by Avorleth at 2003-08-0609:02:00
Found the problem with the undead (I think... have not tested it yet). It was actually kind of funny and silly. But in any case I think it is fixed. I will post an update in a few days, after I deal with the other bugs. Av
Posted by Avorleth at 2003-08-0520:07:00
Thanks for the feedback. Not sure what is up with the Undead. They all DO have undead class levels. They all have Undead Properties. They should be just like regular Undead. I will have to ask on the forums and see if I am perhaps missing something. Alissa should and does have a bow. I have had her using it in the game. Not sure what this is about. I will check it but she has never failed to produce the proper weapon for me. The transparent armor thing happens to me sometimes to. No idea what that is about. I believe it may be some issues having to do with the tileset hak, which, since I did not create it, I have no control over. I will report it to the hak designer though, since you saw it. If you don't mind, could you e-mail me your system config? Maybe it is a particular graphic card issue or driver issue and you and I just have the same ones... Or if they are different then it is definitely a tile issue. Thanks for the other comments. I will fix this stuff and get out an update in a week or so. Av
Posted by CrazyWojcio at 2003-08-0518:36:00
I have just finished this module and i must say i liked it very much. Combat is well balanced but i had to rest very often (i was playing single player without a henchman so this was prabobly tthe cause:). The riddles were Very hard (maybe little to hard). I've played it with paladin 7 lvl at the end 11 lvl. Now for the BUGS - I've tried play with alissa as henchmen but she was useless. She died in first encounter with orges. I've told her to use ranged weapons but insteed she wasn't using any (it's prabobly a bug because she's a ranger:) - the dragon lich was suppose to be undead but he wasn't :) I have even healed him with lay on hands (and i thout it would finish him :) Instead he was even using healing himself with healing spells (BIG BUG). The same thing was with ghosts in delfin crypt. - The harph that sirens gave me didn't disapear when i've used it i had it in my inv. ready to use again - When you get a runstone before getting quest from delphi's crypt you dont get xp for it and your jurnal dont update (I had to place this runstone on ground and then pick it up again) - At the end in sergadus when i talk with sergadus knights the say "greetings citizen"(or something like that) but HEY! I am Knight Champion they should have more respect :D (this is maybe small bug but its quite annoing). The same thin goest to farmers("hello lad") :D - One last thing but i dont know if it is a bug. When i load the game in elf hills and marsch i can see trough my armor (its like ghostly visaage). Maybe its my foult but i didn't have that problem in any other module. Or maybe its that green light in those areas that works like X-RAY :D Well that's all. There were those small bugs but the module was very playable. Im looking forward to part 4. Keep up the good work Avorleth!!
Posted by Avorleth at 2003-08-0409:47:00
I have done full play-throughs of this module four times. As far as I can tell every script works, every journal update works, and every typo I could find has been fixed. It has not yet been tested by others, which is why it is, and will remain, beta, until I get some feedback. But as far as I have the power to determine, everything works. There are several spots I am not sure will "come across" to a naive player and that is the one thing I simply cannot test myself, since, as the author, I am not and cannot be naive. Not sure if that's the information you are looking for. If not e-mail me and I can answer further questions. Av
Posted by Martin at 2003-08-0211:43:00
Hi. Just played through SP1 & 2 and I must say, they are probably some of the most overlooked modules here at the vault. A half-decent module I released several months ago is scored higher than both of them! Anyway, I'm itching to get on with the story, but just how beta is this release? Did you check for spelling errors, scripts that don't work and stuff like that? Should I wait until it is final? Has it been playtested by other people?
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