[The Temple of Lolth]

nyghoma

THE TEMPLE OF LOLTH

Quest title: The Temple of Lolth
Author: Nyghoma
In-game handle: @Nyghoma
Starting NPC: Young drow street urchin (by Moonstone Mask)
Quest type: Epic solo dungeon delve. This quest tries to cover every end of the spectrum. Story, combat, lore, puzzles, exploration, and a little humor.)
Amount of Combat: Action packed
Recommended party size: Solo, you will have guards helping you throughout the quest.
Average Duration: 15 mins if you skip the side quest and spam "1". Or 45 mins if you do the whole side quest.
Quest Code: NW-DT4OV7EXH

SYNOPSIS

Join the V'elddrinnsshar Resistance to help face the menace of the Xull'Ani Drow Initiative. The Xull'Ani Initiative is led by the sadistic matron, Vystrixa "The Scarlet Widow". Journey into the grim Underdark and infiltrate the legendary mines of Dengarboden, the tenebrous Drow settlement Rilyn-Xull'Ani, and ultimately the profane Temple of Lolth.

Tips and Hints:

• You will have guard encounters helping you during the quest. If you find the certain enemies hard, let the guards grab the initial aggro and tank, before you attack.
• Don't speed through the dialog if you are doing the side quest. There will be cutscenes based on dialog prompts you won't want to miss.
• Turn on your npc dialog in you chat options. It will leave dialog text in your chat window to refer to for side quest and main objectives.
• If you decide to do the side quest read the text thoroughly. Side quest objectives won't show up in your tracker. The side quest will require you to do some detective work and exploration.
• When you collect items for the side quest, be sure to re-interact with the object to loot the item in question. Foundry limits force this additional interaction.
• Do not delete the side quest item, it will prevent you from progressing the side quest further.
• Doing the side quest will open up new characters, areas to explore, guard encounter to aid you, and an epic alternate ending. You will receive a secret short code upon completing the side quest. This short code will direct you to the alternate ending quest [work in progress].

Boss Fights [in order of appearance]:

• Tempest Witch
• Commander Hazzbarin
• Niktikka the Sting of the Widow
• Vertoz the Shade-Caller
• Vystrixa the Scarlet Widow
  

Alternative Boss Fights [in order of appearance]:

• Xull'Ani Dockmaster
• Dengarboden Forge-keeper
• Illithid Controller
• Xull'Ani Diabolist
• Dignitary Vollen
  

Known bugs:

• Sound turns off when near the ghost bridge effect (light green floor fog).
• Pathing for guard encounters is bugged (Cryptic issue).
• Some enemies will con friendly when fighting your guard encounters. Just wait a few moments they eventually con hostile.

Here's a few teaser photos:

lolsorhand

Awesome fun, though you might want to put up an invisible wall between the wooden gate/barricade and the open lava. I was able to (thought it was meant) charge into the horde standing and waiting, then realizing that I wasn't supposed to be there, luckily I managed to find my way about eventually ^^

nyghoma

Thanks for the great feedback Lol. I look into the invis wall issue.:cool:

hugsfrommomma

I was attempting to review the quest, however, in the mine, the guard fight behind the wooden gate bugged. The gate wouldn't open, so I had to jump over a wall to get into the fight area, then found that the Siegebreaker Ogre was trapped behind the geometry where nobody could attack him. He ran around randomly behind the hut on the right side and couldn't be targeted.

The quest seemed stuck at that point and I was unable to continue as the next gate remained shut.

From what I could see, the details and design were great, and the battles reasonably challenging (53 GWF). In general, I really enjoyed the dialogue, which is where many foundry quests tend to fall down. I would recommend changing some dialogue to remove modern phrases and sayings, they jump out as feeling anachronistic to the setting ("here's the skinny" for example). Otherwise great job!

nyghoma

hugsfrommomma wrote: »

I was attempting to review the quest, however, in the mine, the guard fight behind the wooden gate bugged. The gate wouldn't open, so I had to jump over a wall to get into the fight area, then found that the Siegebreaker Ogre was trapped behind the geometry where nobody could attack him. He ran around randomly behind the hut on the right side and couldn't be targeted.

The quest seemed stuck at that point and I was unable to continue as the next gate remained shut.

From what I could see, the details and design were great, and the battles reasonably challenging (53 GWF). In general, I really enjoyed the dialogue, which is where many foundry quests tend to fall down. I would recommend changing some dialogue to remove modern phrases and sayings, they jump out as feeling anachronistic to the setting ("here's the skinny" for example). Otherwise great job!

The next objective in the gate fight is to "release the gate". The gate release is in the back of that camp, on the upper level of the catwalk. That's the only way to open the gate. No jumping involved. Did the quest not update for you?

The mobs on the other side of the gate don't trigger anything. So if they con friendly, it won't affect progression or the story. Pathing is currently bugged in the foundry, so friendlies tend to get stuck or don't follow at all. That's why have have the guard spawn and disappear on markers and triggers. Its the only work-around I know. Mobs conning friendly is also a Cryptic issue.

Changing the dialog to an antediluvian style is a slippery slope in my opinion. I tried to use phrases that folks could related to without screaming modern. I'm sure there would be some folks who love to read Old English or Shakespearean, while running foundries lol.


I appreciate the feedback though. I wish you luck if you give the quest another whirl.

hugsfrommomma

I definitely had to jump over the wall to circumvent the wooden wall barrier. It wouldn't open and I couldn't see any trigger in that area. It's possible I just didn't see it, but if it was above me somewhere that might explain it.

One other things, earlier in the quest I had jumped over a rock in the caves and fell down into an unfinished lower area of the map. I then triggered the next campfire (accidentally) by running underneath it, then I had to suicide in the lava below the mines in order to resume the quest. Maybe I missed a trigger by doing this? I have a habit of breaking quests...

A few text lines definitely jumped out at me as too modern, when it gets "slangy" I tend to see it as breaking the tone of a serious quest. Fantasy writers tend to avoid recent and colloquial expressions. There's a lot of ways to say "here's the skinny" without using a phrase associated more with a 40's noire. There were a few of these, and it's a minor point. Otherwise I was very much enjoying the quest, and I think you did a fantastic job.

ananvilhurtz

I didn't run into any geometry problems, but I did lose track of the sidequests, being unable to find the Innocent Blood and the Weapons for the slaves.

Awesome use of detail, and spectacular content in general, much better than Cryptic's content.

nyghoma

hugsfrommomma wrote: »

I definitely had to jump over the wall to circumvent the wooden wall barrier. It wouldn't open and I couldn't see any trigger in that area. It's possible I just didn't see it, but if it was above me somewhere that might explain it.

Was it on the objective: " Search for the slave camp"? If so, all you needed to do was follow the golden trail. Its actually one of the only trails that work, lol. It would have taken you below the area you were trying to jump over walls.

hugsfrommomma wrote: »

One other things, earlier in the quest I had jumped over a rock in the caves and fell down into an unfinished lower area of the map. I then triggered the next campfire (accidentally) by running underneath it, then I had to suicide in the lava below the mines in order to resume the quest. Maybe I missed a trigger by doing this? I have a habit of breaking quests...

Yea that drop kills most ppl, so didn't expect folks to see it. Ill have to go back in an fix that. But to address the invis wall thing and breaking quests. If you go out of your way to try to circumvent invis walls, eventually you will get stuck. Its the players fault at that point. The walls are there for a reason. I feel like some players see an invis wall and a light bulb goes off saying "oh man, I'm gonna get around that one, Ill show them"! Which ultimately gets them in trouble then they blame the authors and downrate them. I'm not accusing you of this of course, but it tends to happen with the mouth breathers.

hugsfrommomma wrote: »

A few text lines definitely jumped out at me as too modern, when it gets "slangy" I tend to see it as breaking the tone of a serious quest. Fantasy writers tend to avoid recent and colloquial expressions. There's a lot of ways to say "here's the skinny" without using a phrase associated more with a 40's noire. There were a few of these, and it's a minor point. Otherwise I was very much enjoying the quest, and I think you did a fantastic job.

I'll try to replace that sentence with something more suiting.