Ages come and go, each burying its secrets in the sands of time. Some ages slip quietly into history, while others end in explosions of fire and violence leaving permanent scars on the world. This is the story of two ages, one from years long forgotten, and another yet to begin. Like so many other heroic tales, it starts in an obscure place, a small town on the edge of nowhere in a land where man's biggest threat is himself.
Return of Mikaila Chapter 1 - The Edge of Nowhere
Please do not distribute this module without this
accompanying readme file.
By Tom 'Magi'
Smallwood
Released: Aug 2002 (version 1.14a)
Type: Role-playing, Cooperative, Puzzles, Story
For 2-6 players, first level
DM not required, but several enhancements for a DM have been
included
Class: A well balanced party is recommended
No HackPak required
Estimated Play Time: 6 hours
Contents:
Module Details
Special Rules for this Module
The Edge of Nowhere (short story)
Credits
Links
Legal stuff
Author background and other projects
The Return of Mikaila series is specifically designed for cooperative play and you will not be able to complete it without at least two players. Some puzzles will scale to fit larger parties. If you are looking for a group to play through this module with, I STRONGLY recommend Neverwinter Connections.
This module includes an in-game module guide for the DM, giving backgrounds of NPCs and quests, as well as allowing the DM to control the flow of the game on the fly, although a DM is not required. Also included is version 2.0.0 of the DM helper by Doppleganger available at http://www.nwnguide.com/~nwnbuilder/
This is the first module in an on-going story. If you are looking for the sequels to this module, watch for them on the IGN Neverwinter Vault. Chapter 2 should be available in October 2002.
Death, Donations and Praying - You may pray at a Temple of Pelor or to a Statue of Pelor in many areas of the module. These are effectively bind points. When you die, you will return to the last location you prayed. You will also lose all experience that you gained since the last time you prayed or leveled. You will never lose a level from dieing. Praying works like a save game, so PRAY OFTEN. In addition to praying, you may also save lost experience by making donations to a temple. For every gold piece you donate to a Temple of Pelor, you will save 5 experience points on death.
For example, lets say Garin earned 50 experience points and then prayed at a Temple of Pelor. Over his next few battles, he gained an additional 75 experience points, but died before he was able to pray again. He would lose the 75 experience points and be back at 50. If he had donated 5 gold pieces to the temple before he died, he would have saved 25 experience and only lose 50 leaving him with a total of 75 experience.
Resting - This module uses a modified version of the HCR resting rules. You can only rest every 4 hours if you have a bedroll and food. If you do not have food, you can not restl. If you do not have a bedroll, you may only rest every 24 hours. There are also several areas in the module where you may not res at allt. You will be fully healed after resting.
Auto-splitting of Party Loot - Gold dropped by monsters is evenly distributed to the party when the monster dies (it is automatically picked up). Gold from chests is evenly distributed among the party when a chest is opened. Items will go to random party members when they are picked up*.
The Edge of Nowhere (short story)
[Selected entries from the journal of Garin Glasston]
*** Note: this contains very minor spoilers to the adventure ***
It felt good to walk through the gates of Woodfork. It wasn't until that moment I realized how much I had missed my home, one of those feelings that washes over you like like a healing spell, leaving you refreshed and invigorated. The laughter of young Alisha as she ran trying to catch butterflies and the friendly barks of Dodger greeted me with memories I had long since forgotten. Along with the old sights, there were some new ones. The empire had built a new barracks, right near the front gates of town. Surrounded by a low stone wall, it looked hastily constructed. The commander stood out front, watching me. I had mixed feelings about the Imperial presence in Woodfork and did my best to ignore the man.
Woodfork is about as far away from the capital as you can get and still be in the empire, so far from from civilization that it's sometimes called the Edge of Nowhere. Being such a small town, we do a good job of policing ourselves, and the geography of the area makes us safer from invasion then having a brigade of Imperial troops. The town is shoved up against the western base of the Great Wall, a mountain range so tall it is all but un-crossable. On the others side of town, the entire empire stands between us and a would-be invader. Sure, once in a while, some lost or curious creature may wander down from the hills, but nothing that ever gave us a real problem. The only natural resource in the area is wood, fine quality silver-oak that the upper-classes like to have turned into tables and wardrobes, not somthing thieves might be interested in stealing. So why a garrison in Woodfork?
My house was still sealed up the way I had left it over a year ago. A layer of dust had accumulated on just about everything, but other then that it was in good shape. I stopped in just long enough to put my things down before heading down the the Whispering Wind, the old inn where my friends and I met for drinks every evening.
As I walked up, I caught a glimpse of Josh ducking around the corner towards the back of the building, still shy as ever. Inside, his father Jarret was behind the counter. "Hail, Garin!" he said with a friendly smile, "Welcome back to Woodfork."
We talked for a long while, catching up on old times. Not much had changed other then the construction of the Imperial barracks. Jarret said the soldiers here weren't too bad, indicating that most of them had been sent this far out because they were non-conformists and, while good soldiers, didn't necessarily see things the way the military wanted them to. I still didn't like them being there, but Jarret seemed happy with the extra business.
There was no sign of any of my friends in town yet. We were all supposed to meet up here at the inn, but I assumed they would show up over the next few days. In the mean time, I made a little extra cash unloading supplies for captain Samwir at the dock, delivering his cargo in town. Captain Samwir runs a small river boat up and down the Edden. Woodfork is the end of the line for boat traffic as the waters get too rough up stream to travel. In addition to delivering cargo, I also ended up cleaning out Parlan's cellar of rats, not the most exciting thing in the world, but it enough to keep me busy while I waited for the others to show up.
My friends were beginning to trickling into town and we started catching up on old times. The group of us were sitting there in the Whispering Wind, playing a game of fives when the city alarm went off. A guard yelled from outside, "The town is under attack, orcs are breaking through the north gate!".
Just as we rushed out of the inn, the north gate shattered into pieces and the lumbering figures of orcs started pouring through the opening. I pulled my battle axe from my back and charged to meet them. The air was filled with arrows, blood and screams as we fought defend our home. I buried my axe into closest orc, but as he fell, another behind him shot an arrow into my leg. I let loose a battle yell and rushed towards him, quickly finding myself flanked by two more. I dodged one, and just as I thought the other was about to cleave my head in two, one of the imperial guards put a crossbow bolt through its skull. The whole battle couldn't have lasted more then a few minutes, but by the time it was done, the ground was covered with orc bodies. I had been hurt pretty badly, but a quick heal spell from Cary, our druid, fixed me right up. We then started a systematic search of the town in case any of the orcs had slipped past us and might be hiding.
We had covered about half the town when we heard Maneta calling for her daughter near the south gate, she sounded frantic. Alisha was missing.
* * *
Day 2: After safely returning Alisha to her mother, Maneta sent us back into the ruins to find some ancient scrolls that were lost there. We passed through the sealed door Maneta had told us about, and descended deeper into the ruins. The air grew warmer with each step we took. The room at the base of the stairs was flicking with bright light. When we entered, we could see on the far side a large pit with a single walkway spanning the gap. The floor on the other side was on fire. Not lava like one might expect, but magical fires giving off an eerie reddish-blue glow. Ruby went over to a plaque on this side of the bridge and read it aloud,
"You may pray to the bishop,
For he will lead you to heaven's gate;
Or you may follow the path of the rook,
If you want death to wait."
We crossed the pit and got as close to the flames as we dared. The heat was intense enough that we knew it would incinerate us if tried to jump through it. At this end of the bridge there was a set of levers. Looking around the room, we could see more levers, but they were on the other side of the flames. Hesitantly, Ruby reached out for the first lever...
* * *
Day 3:
We have passed through three doors to the lower levels of the temple, after fighting our way past the animating statues in the halls above. The air was stale and musty. I can only imagine how many years it had been since this place had been disturbed by living creatures. In front of us, two iron gates blocked our path. The doors were set up in such a fashion that we had to split our party to progress. An uneasy feeling came over me about what was ahead. With a nerve jarring screech, the gate in front of us opened and we moved into the room beyond. After using my axe to dismantle a mechanical creature guarding the room, we searched the area. There was a set of bars we could look through and see our companions, but we could not join them. Ruby and I were on our own. I hoped the scrolls would be worth the effort. What mysteries did they contain? What was the ancient fortress that Maneta had mentioned, and why were the orcs looking for it?
Lead Module Designer: Tom 'Magi' Smallwood
Scripting: Tom 'Magi' Smallwood & Herbert Vines
Writers: Tom 'Magi' Smallwood & Earc Luachra
Beta Testers: My Dark Age of Camelot guild (Daorsainn) and
friends on the Guinevere server, especially Akilmendra, Cary,
Earc, Ebu, Grenkriek, Ruby and Caladim
Help Wands: Doppleganger - http://www.nwnguide.com/~nwnbuilder/
HCR rules: Archaegeo - http://nwn.darkemud.com/~darke/HC/
Scripting Help: NWN Lexicon - http://www.reapers.org/nwn/reference/
Additional scripts and help: All the folks that post on the
Bioware forums.
Neverwinter Vault: http://nwvault.ign.com
Neverwinter Stratics: http://nwn.stratics.com
Neverwinter Connections: http://www.neverwinterconnections.com/
Official Neverwinter Bioware home page: http://nwn.bioware.com/
DM's Helper: http://www.nwnguide.com/~nwnbuilder/
Hardcore Rules: http://nwn.darkemud.com/~darke/HC/
1. My module works only with the retail version of the
Software, and does not work with any demo versions of the
Software.
2. My module does not modify any COM, EXE, DLL or other
executable files.
3. My module does not contain any illegal, scandalous, illicit,
defamatory, libelous, or objectionable material, or any material
that infringes any trademarks, copyrights, protected works,
publicity, proprietary, or other rights of any third party.
4. My module may not be sold, bartered, or distributed with any
other product for which any charge is made (other than incidental
charges for time spent on-line), but rather must be distributed
free of charge.
5. Authors MAY use my module and/or scripts as a base to build
additional modules as long as I am given appropriate credit.
Areas and scripts may be used as is, or modified as the author
sees fit.
Author background and other projects
I have been playing D&D since the old blue box edition
some 20 years ago. Other projects from me include several Jedi
Knight levels (including the award Winning WarZone 2) as well as
Chronicle Director, a tool to help design modules for Vampire:
The Masquerade - Redemption.
*Info on the minor Party Loot problem with stacked items: There is a minor problem when picking up stacked items that will sometimes result in the item not being randomly distributed. For those interested, this is due to an error in the OnItemAquired event which only registers if a new stack is added to a characters inventory, not if items are added to an existing stack. Bioware is already aware of this issue.