This is my favorite DLC pack to Neverwinter Nights.
Period. It may be one of my
favorite stories in gaming as well.
Again, period. An expansion that
has a grand scope, and pretty much ends up like any successful Dungeons &
Dragons campaign would. It’s Hordes of the Underdark, and if you didn’t
get from my enthusiasm that I love this game, I’ll reiterated bluntly: I.
Love. This. Game.
I’d even argue that the storyline is better than that of the original Neverwinter Nights, while all the time
still being shorter in length (if only just).
Unlike its predecessor, Shadows of
Undrentide, Hordes of the Underdark doesn’t have a nice Interlude to break
up the tension, and really doesn’t even need it.
The first Chapter begins in the city of Waterdeep, the City
of Splendors in the Forgotten Realms setting.
In the Yawning Portal Inn, the barkeep named Durnan (by this time a Lord
of Waterdeep) has organized a group of adventurers to journey into Undermountain. Now, for the uninitiated, Undermountain is the
domain of a wizard by the name of Halaster Blackcloak (or was, anyway, as for
Fourth Edition, he’s apparently deader than dead). He built Undermountain and gathered together
all sorts of creatures from across the planes of existence to house them in
it. With an assortment of traps, some of
which are too terrible to imagine, Halaster created what has become known as the
ultimate meat grinder.
It is the Temple of Elemental Evil, Dungeonland, and the
Tomb of Horrors are rolled into one…and then multiplied by three. Sadly, you don’t get to see too much of Undermountain, but the parts that you do see are
pretty cool and the assortment of creatures, magics, and traps that can be
found there are more than enough to appease you while you seek out the plot.
And the plot is this, Durnan has hired a group of
adventurers to journey into Undermountain, promising them the reward of one
hundred thousand gold for their trouble.
Undermountain receives would be conquerors to its doorstep every day,
but the objective here is more than a little different. Drow have been attacking Waterdeep from
below, and Durnan wants to find out why.
Is Halaster missing? Is he dead? How have the drow managed to navigate
their way through the labyrinthine madness up to the surface? All of these, and more, are answered.
According to in-game lore, you’re the same character that
you were in Shadows of Undrentide. However, like Undrentide, you can import any character into the game, so it’s
entirely possible to bring your vanilla Neverwinter
character into it. Though in Undrentide, you could do this to
hilarious effect and make the game pretty much an easy run through with a
higher level character, Hordes doesn’t
quite work that way. The minimum level
to join up is 15, and if your character isn’t there, it levels you up to that
point. Don’t think this will help,
though, as Hordes is tough.
This point is no better illustrated at the very beginning,
when a drow assassin breaks into your room and steals all of your equipment
(though, for some reason, you keep all your gold)…and then proceeds to try and
murder you. After killing her, you get the low down on everything from Durnan’s
daughter and then are forced to re-equip yourself with spare weapons and armor
from the storeroom down the hall before you can get in on the actual plot. Out
of all your equipment, all you keep is a book titled “Shadows of Undrentide”
and a mysterious artifact called the “Relic of the Reaper”, which serves as the
Stone of Recall for the campaign…the first two parts, anyway.
After an attack on the Inn, you follow a bunch of NPCs from
vanilla Neverwinter down into
Undermountain and find them at certain points having gotten themselves killed
and stripped of their equipment. Don’t bother
keeping them along and outfitting them all, though. Oh, right, you can actually mess around with
your henchman’s equipment unlike in the OC.
But, as I say, no real need to do that. The only companion that can come with you
after Chapter One, and indeed through all three chapters, is Deekin
Scalesinger. A quick little aside here,
Deekin is just kind of awesome. He’s a
kobold bard who later becomes part dragon, and if he’s upgraded right can be a
wheeling, dealing, spell casting tank to put more sorcerers to absolute
shame. And did I mention he’s part
dragon? Because that, again, is awesome.
Sure, he’s rather naïve and sometimes can be rather grating, but I’d
rather travel with him than literally anyone in the OC. Ever since his first appearance in Undrentide (he becomes a companion in
that game during the Interlude), that little kobold has found some bizarre way
to pluck on the strings…of my heart.
And, again, he’s a half dragon. Rule of three.
The end of Chapter One sees the revelation of what happened
to Halaster, as well as the introduction of the supposed main villain of the
piece, a drow priestess calling herself the “Valsharess”. Apparently she has
big plans to raze all of Faerun from the Underdark, and Halaster decides that
it would be best for you to head down there.
With a nice geas put on you to
make you behave, he teleports you and the dark elf Nathyrra (a romance option
for male characters in the module), as well as Deekin if you have him with you,
to the Underdark.
Chapter Two sees the player getting involved with Nathyrra
and her fellow followers of Eilistraee, a goddess of good drow, and their plan
to take on the Valsharess and stop her before her plans go any further. This requires the player to go around to
either destroy the Valsharess’s non-drow forces, including mind flayers, the
undead, and beholders. There are also
some side quests involving an underground city of flying elves and an island
where a deep dwarf wizard made a bunch of golems that have since become sentient. All of these can grant the player potential
allies, or make the fight less difficult later on. After a successful battle that routes the
Valsharess’s force, she captures the player and attempts to bring them over to
her side. It is then, however, that the
player is shown that there is a power behind the throne.
 |
| "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!" |
The archdevil, Mephistopheles, has been bound by the
Valsharess to serve her with his nigh infinite power. However, when she commands him to kill the
player, he is able to break free and allows the player to kill her before
taking back the Relic of the Reaper – which apparently was a part of him the
whole time, and thus why the player couldn’t be killed – and then banishes the
player to Cania, the Eighth of the Nine Hells.
Chapter Three involves the player searching through the
bowels of Cania to find a way to return back to Faerun. The Reaper, the mysterious not explained
creature that rules the realm where the player returned to upon using the
Relic, points the player in the direction of finding out his “True Name”, which
will allow him to break the bonds that Mephistopheles has set upon him and
allow the player to return home. A True
Name being the name that, once spoken, will put a person completely under the control of the person who spoke it.
Oh, yes, we’re playing with some heavy
artillery here.
In fact, the entire third chapter is an endurance
round. There is no safe haven to escape
through, no call back, and no mercy. But
if you survive the journey, jump through the hoops, and reach the Knower of
Names, you will be well on your way to becoming a Badass out of Hell. The Knower of Names knows the True Names of
every being that exists, and will give you the name in exchange for sacrifices
of gold. So, top tip, start hording gold
early…or use the console to give you more, whatever works. This is actually an interesting feature, as
it allows you to not only learn the Reaper’s True Name, but various
others. Your own, those of your
companions, and even…the one that belongs to Mephistopheles. Of course, to do that, you’ll have to pay to
learn the name of the Knower, due to her allegiance to the archdevil. But once that’s done, you can pay the fee and
basically get the insta-kill button for the final fight. I’m really going to recommend that you do get it because of the final fight.
But you return to the Reaper’s room and use his name, and he
opens a door for you to return to Faerun, ending up in the city of Waterdeep
where you first started. By this time, Mephistopheles has already conquered the
legions in the Underdark, Undermountain, and marched with an undead army all
the way up into the city where he plans to begin his glorious reign. He attempts to taunt the player, which is
when they can use the True Name to either kill him outright, send him back to
Cania and bind him there for all eternity, or force him to rule under you as
you make a ploy to take over the world.
 |
| ...he's a man of wealth and taste... |
However, Bioware took out the option to make Mephistopheles
your chamber maid for all eternity, which would be hilarious.
The fight against this guy, for those who want to fight him, is hard even if you’re a high level
character, Mephistopheles is far from a push over. After all, he is essentially the second in
command of the Hells, being right there under Asmodeus – who is apparently a
greater deity now in Forgotten Realms…good for him, I guess? – And it shows so
much. Best strategy here? Try not to
die. I know that seems rather obvious,
but really there’s nothing here. Just
have every Heal potion you can get your hands on and just tank him, because
that’s really the only strategy. And even then, you’re guaranteed to die at
least a few times by virtue of it being an archdevil.
So, in conclusion, this is an epic game with an epic
scale. It’s all really good, really
enjoyable and has a conclusion that is so wondrously high that I have yet to
see it done so well. From a meek
adventurer to a damn near Physical God, the journey is wondrous and the stakes
are through the roof. And with a satisfying conclusion to boot. What’s not to love?
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