H4 - The Throne of Bloodstone A level 15­30 adventure

A Neverwinter Nights remake by Tim Original module by and

Story

The battle between the undead army of the Witch­king of Vaasa and the forces of Bloodstone has come to a standstill. As long as the source of the Witch­kings power is at work, his evil forces will never be defeated! This have made you once again pack your gear and start your trek across the Galena Mountains. You know that there is very little on this earth that can stop you and thus certain of your skill and power you go to the aid of Bloodstone...

Installation

Unpack the file and place the .mod files in the nwn/modules directory Put the tim.hak file in the nwn/hak directory (only for use with the SOU version H4 ­ The Throne of Bloodstone v40 souhak.mod) The module H4vxxHOTU.mod is the newest HOTU module. This is the one you should play if you have both HOTU and SOU installed.

NWN Rules

Unconscious at zero hit points ­ a small chance each round to wake up weakened at 1hp Bleeding down to ­10hp in multiplayer Respawn with xp and gp loss. Iron Rations are needed to rest Level above 20 give bonuses in non­HotU versions

New Features

Support for characters of level 20 ­ 30 (non HOTU) +1 to all abilities for each level above 20 up to level 30 (non HOTU) Random treasure generator with more than 250 new magical items Stores will adjust to character level and get new supplies and remove surplus Amulet/Token of Sanctuary to get back to safe place Respawn Stone to get to safe place upon death and only take 1/2 penalties Delayed Death to delay bleeding 10 rounds and in single­player awaken at 1 hp Basic Hints

Get the following items; Iron Rations (needed to rest) Delayed Death (will prevent death/prolong unconsiousness) Respawn Stone (will reduce respawn penalties to 1/2 and transport back to safe place ­ Trents Healing Station. Trent will send you back once you have taken care of business) Amulet of Sanctuary (will take you back to Trents Healing Station ­ only works on the prime material plane) Greater Amulet of Sanctuary (Same as Normal amulet of Sanctuary but with more uses per day) Amulet of Planar Navigation (will tell the coordinate and layer once you get to the Abyss) Amulet of the Planes (will open a portal to the Astral from the Prime material plane and from Pazunia and open a gate to the layer connected to that coordinate in other deeper layers of Abyss).

Not all items can be bought right from start.

The Zhengyi part is only the beginning. The real adventure is the Abyss.

The encounters scale according to your party strength. A good mix of characters is a good thing. Do not mix character levels too much in a party as the low level characters will get a hard time. Spellcasters be warned the Abyss is a though place for resting and monsters have spell resistance.

Take your time and get the reward from defeating Zhengyi ­ before going to Abyss. The Amulet of Sanctuary will make your trip back and forth to Bloodstone effortless.

Those of you playing with Hotu expansion will be glad to know that H4 now has inherent support for characters higher than level 20. Furthermore the old built in system has been removed and that the game scales well above level 20. With new items and thougher encounters.

Walkthrough

If you start with a new character it will get boosted to level 14, almost 15. Start by raising your character all levels. When you gain levels you will get some few items. Arrange all items, memorise spells, rest and continue your trek.

There is a hunting band of Giants that will be your first obstacle. This should be rather easy, unless you have a freshly baked character. Then consider running past them into Bloodstone.

Talk to everyone in Bloodstone. Stephan the innkeeper will set up a meeting with the Baron. Buy all supplies you will need. There are shortcuts between the stores to enable faster trading. Don’t forget iron rations, delayed deaths, respawn stones and an amulet of sanctuary. These items are necessary to have a decent chance of success. If you find an Amulet of the Planes this Item may take you directly to the Astral. This can be used to skip Zhengyi Castle in future runs. The portal to prime leads to Zhengyi Cave until the Abyss Quest is taken, after that it goes to Bloodstone.

Talk to the Baron and accept the quest. No west in north end of town. cross ford Goliad and enter the Wilderness of Vaasa. Keep low in the ravines to avoid being seen by the lookout of Zhengyi. You will have to fight some undead troops and possibly some demons here. In north east part of wilderness is slope up. Boost and go up. Here you will meet a dragon. Defeat dragon.

Enter City of Zhengyi. Go east fight dragon and manes. Take step in inner wall but take precautions to secure any footgear first. Take climbing rope down. Fight Peyrytons, search for traps, boost character and enter big door. Zhengyi Castle I: Fight and defeat Zhengyi. Take stairs up.

Zhengyi Castle lI: Pick open door, use knock or simply bash door. Loud noise will alert Klavikus, who starts gating in troops. Go south, west and north in that order. Skip two doors unless you want to fight. Pick or unlock third door. Enter room and take treasure. Remove trap from northern door. Enter and defeat Klavikus. Remove trap from northern door. Exit north. Remove acid geyser trap (or run risk of destroying footgear). Find loose stone in wall. Enter secret passage. Remove traps. Go south through secret area transition. Take treasure. Go back to room and find another loose stone. Enter secret passage and take stairs to level 3.

Zhengyi Castle lII: Find secret door in first room. Use it and take door. Climb ladder. OR go around and bash blocking door with arrows.

Zhengyi Castle IV: Take northern outer door. Enter, fight some fire elementals, take key from flaming brazier. Exit and take eastern inner door. Open with key. climb up rope through well.

Zhengyi Castle V: Fight dragon and jump down pit.

Zhengyi Cellar: Fight demons dancing around gate. Go close to gate. Talk to suddenly appearing man. Take his quest. He may later be found in his home in Mercuria. Get sent back for supplies or just enter gate.

Astral Plane: Seek out cyan light. This is Abyss. Navigate through Abyss using transits to change area on the same layer and conduits to move to other layers, until you find layer Nedrak. This is Orcus layer. Use guide to find Orcus (guard his little life well) or find your way using any other method (trial and error?). Avoid getting help from other Lords of Abyss as getting help from evil when fighting evil is considered evil, according to old saying.

Orcus Layer: Go north and west is best shot in the long run to find City of Orcus. If you find the City of Liches you should go west to find the City of Orcus. Exit city of Orcus as quickly as possible. Exit is in south west. Cross bridge and fight Fyrillicus the Abyssal Red Dragon. Enter Orcus base and explore area. Navigate through labyrinth using supply of pick locks and find traps items or skills. There is a way that is easier than other ways... The exit is through a blue filed in a door opening. Avoid using driving cam as you automatically use the area transition if you walk though it.

Cross a chequered room and fight any demons. Avoid doors to the sides or handle all traps. Enter Large room with pillars and blue horizon. Fight any Balors and find levitating pillar (transit) in centre of area. Fight Orcus and take the Wand of Orcus.

Bring Wand back to Mercuria, yellow light in Astral. Amulet of the Planes can get you to Bloodstone and the gate in Bloodstone will take you to the Astral plane. This will make it unnecessary to cross Orcus layer all the way back again. In Mercuria talk to Sollars and go to Lunia, second layer of Seven Heavens.

Take quest from Bahamut and go to Astral. Find Hell. Find cave of Tiamat. Kill her and take her blood. Return to Bahamut. Take result to Bloodstone. Talk to Quillian and do some gardening. The gardning can be done by magic or potion...

Voila. The demonic threat to life is quenched for a long time to come...