Resurrection of Xunvrae

zekrallmizzrym · May 2013

Campaign: Resurrection of Xunvrae
Code: NWS-DNNZST5FJ
Author: Elimgarak83
Tags: Story, Explore, Combat
Tested using: 29 Wizard, 60 Wizard (average / good gear), 60 cleric (poor gear), 14 GWF

House Arken'ett has a long history of producing the finest wizards throughout the Underdark. Since the spellplague ravaged the planes, house Arken'etts' power has been vastly diminished.

Sin'Afay Arken'ett has enlisted your help in restoring the once proud house to its former glory.

Treachery and torment will be your companions during this campaign, taking you from the darkest crypt's deep beneath Torils' surface to planes of nightmare and legend.

Part 1: The bones of Xunvrae
Part 2: Xunvraes' Resurrection (not released yet)
Part 3: Shadow stalkers (not released yet)
Part 4: Xunvrae Must Die (not released yet)

Important Notes

1. Anyone saying "I can not dispel the wall of force", this is due to you NOT reading the dialog. The quest arrow will point past the wall of force (you will find this quest impossible if you rely on the golden trail to drag you around), you need to explore and follow Yasriks' directions. In order to find the item you need to dispel the wall.

Notes

1. For anyone saying "Stuck in the demon's prison" you either need to find the secret door (easy option) or find the password to open the main door (longer option).
2. Some dialogue options disappear / appear after speaking to people, finding items, completing tasks.

Image Gallery (More on photobucket)

zekrallmizzrym · May 2013

Update: 14th May 2013
Version: 2.0.0

Separated "Ancient Crypt" into two maps (was a fairly long run if you died towards the end).

Added

New lore books in the scrying chamber (entrance to lower crypt)
More sounds effects to interactions / events.
Idrith, new NPC (tells you more about the crypts, some lore).
When searching sarcophagus' for the rod of disjunction, they will all have the option to "Push the lid off". Different items / encounters can be found inside each one.

Changed

Various visual changes
Dialogue changes
Many monsters have had a costume change (including the new helmed horrors)
Difficulty tweak (some harder, some easier)
Re-named monsters to more suitable names.
Objectives tweaked to be more accurate / descriptive.

Testing

Optional Fight: Aspect of Yadrid, accessible just before the meeting with Zilv. Should be a very tough fight (to be tested). This room is not required to complete the mission.
Overlapping encounters spawn when certain mobs are killed, far to many to kill. But there is a way to avoid fighting all the mobs at once ........

Final part of the fight takes place on the floating sections in the room, as you kill mobs more tiles will spawn to make a complete path. When they are all spawned you can use the portal.

zekrallmizzrym · May 2013

Update: 15th May 2013
Version: 2.1.1

Added

1. The secret exit from Ilixiars prison now leads into a small tunnel, 2 encounters and a secret.
2. Therkhan's remains, speak with the remains of Therkhan to learn more lore / information about the campaign (no combat, hidden location)
3. Enter Therkhan's library. Therkhan has a secret library located within a pocket dimension, find the password to Ilixiars prison after navigating the maze.
4. More lore added to books within the scrying room (first chamber after leaving ancient crypts)
5. New encounter: Library Guardian (must keep those books safe!)
6. Tweaked visuals.

Fixed:

1. Encounter now spawns if you disturb the bones while searching for the rod of disjunction in the Ancient crypt.
2. Adjusted more monster costumes.
3. Stairs added, allowing access to Therkhans library
4. Secret passage combination lock is slightly more complex, making that route on par (more or less, secret passage is still faster and easier option if your just looking for a quick run through) with using Therkhan's library.
5. You can get “Strange Mushrooms” from another location (for a sub quest, not required for main storyline) if you didn’t pick them at the start.

To do

1. Complete and test optional aspect of Therkhan fight.
2. More decorating and visual changes.
3. If you choose to fight Zilv instead of bargain with him, allow for a hard / easy mode / if you chose to free Ilixiar have her join in as a guard.

zekrallmizzrym · May 2013

Updates: 16th May 2013

Added

1. Few wondering spectral guards (NPC's) some with lore, some just wondering for atmosphere.
2. Few more invisible walls added to the pocket dimension, for people who think jumping 1,000 ft of a cliff and dying is the authors fault.

Updated

1. Entrance into Idrith's tomb has been changed.
2. Lighting changes
3. Dialog changes
4. Switch to access the secret passage from the demons prison changed slightly. Added another clue found within the same room, for people who get stuck.
5. Yasriks altar visuals changed.

Fixed

1. Braziers along the ancient crypt light up in the correct order as you cross the bridge.
2. Fixed a snow storm coming through a wall into Yasriks altar room (the snow storm is from an encounter in a different room).
3. Frame added around the secret passage exit.

zekrallmizzrym · May 2013

Added

1. Invisible wall under some webs within the secret passage, prevents people dodging to there deaths.
2. Invisible wall under the water fall, prevents people jumping down just to die.

Updates

1. Dialog tweaks (on going)
2. More visuals added to Therkhan's library and the pocket dimension.
3. Tweaked some of the clues to get through he maze (if you pick that path, seems like most go for the easy secret passage instead)

Fixed

1. "Tomb Spider 2" - has a proper name.
2. Necrotic golem statues de-spawn correctly if you investigate the vile miasma.
3. Only a CW may seal the ashmadai gate. After you leave Yasrik's tomb. Anyone else can set up an ambush still.
4. More costumes have been customized.

zekrallmizzrym · May 2013

Updates

1. Dialog tweaks
2. Visual tweaks

V2.1.9

Updates

1. Dialog tweaks
2. Objective tweak. "Dispel the wall of force," tells you to enter Idrith's tomb to find the rod of disjunction (for people who think its a bug that they can not dispel the wall, after talking to Yasrik)
3. First encounter (Hungering dead), tweaked to make it more thief friendly.

V2.1.12

Updates (thank you almostcool)

1. Dialog tweaks
2. Name error fix
3. Mind controlled ogre tweaked
4. Minor costume changes
5. Therkhan's library maze, clue crystals alignment slightly changed.
6. Therkhan library maze, dialog hint added to the crystals on platforms you reach by taking a wrong turn.

V2.1.14

Fixed

1. The crumbling golem will walk away after being activated now.

Updates

1. Dialog tweaks (thank you tabris82)
2. Costume changes

Added

1. Few side quest hints added

kyeo138 · May 2013

Thanks for reviewing mine, here's my feedback as I play:

1. Love the environment w/the big spiders, mushrooms etc... Perfect underdark setting

2. Sin'afay says 'It's about time you here Iblith.' Did you mean 'you're here'?

3. Hmmm... I died before even killing one of those guys in the first encounter. I may have to come back w/a group (Lvl42 TR).
I respawned and it took me to a new area w/spiders, so I think I just skipped all of that.

4. Loot on the stone walkways drops over the edge, not much you can do about that though.

5. Good use of interactions/invis walls

6. I think I'm stuck now, spoke w/the ghost, and am on 'Dispel the wall of force'. I investigated it, went down to talk to the ghost, then back to the wall, but when I click on it, it says: 'You can't use that object right now.' Like i'm in combat, but i'm not. I then realized i had to run up the green walkway that appeared. The objective point is in the wrong spot though (maybe on purpose).

7. Once I got the rod, I was able to dispel the field.

8. Fights are pretty balanced (except for that first one! :P)

9. Possible dialog error: 'Where does west door lead' -> 'The east door leads...'

10. I gave up on the prime # riddle part of the dialog quest. I spent 30 min looking for clues,etc... Sorry I only had 2 hours to play, and i'm 90min into this quest already

11. I think you're supposed to pick portals based on the color in that floating platform area... but the FX added wash the color out and make it hard to see them.

12. If you're going for lore, I'm not sure the months question is accurate - forgotten realms have a different calendar than we do

13. I got to a platform riddle (after the about turn comment), and the crystal isn't clicky.... nothing else to do.

Sorry, I hit my 2 hour limit and had to quit the quest. It's well written but the riddles can get a little tricky. I swear I went through and clicked on every single portal in the floating platform map and couldn't find my way to the objective.

I thought I knew the prime number riddle, but i tried almost every dialog option/combination of options and finally gave up. I tried 1/3, 3/1, 1/5, 5/1, 3/5, 5/3 and then all the even numbers too. You beat me!

It's very well written, and very complex though! 4/5, not 5/5 because I couldn't finish it after 2 hours and had to quit.

zekrallmizzrym · May 2013

Thank you for the review kyeo138.

2. Sorry for all the typos!

3. The first encounter is a single encounter (not stacked), as a CW it is very easy. But my partner has also mentioned it is a little tricky on other class.

As for respawning, you should appear at the first campfire (in the room where you meet Sin'Afay) I will investigate if this is true and fix if it isnt!

So i will re-balance that encounter.

4. I will add invisible walls, so you can always get loot which "falls over the edge" (if loot didn't fly all over the place then this would not be an issue! What is the thinking of making exploding loot anyway!)

6. The golden arrow will never point to the rod of disjunction, up to the user to find it.

9. Well spotted!

11. Each portal platform has a clue, which you find by clicking the arrow (which always points north, on each platform). Some of the clues refer to colors, some lead to a compass direction.

I will make the instructions easier to follow (located on the plague which you read as you enter the portal maze)

12. That is a good point! I didn't take into account the forgotten realms calender with in that clue!

13. If you reached the non intractable floating crystal, then you took a wrong turn. Will check the crystal is 100% pointing north when you reach the about face clue.

Will amend that one.

Extra

The prime number riddle, i will think of rewording it if people find it to difficult.

Thanks for the feed back, I appreciate anything which can make the quest better.

Question

Should i put a dialog option in which gives you the answer to the riddles / clues? For anyone who just wants to go through quickly?

zekrallmizzrym · May 2013

In part 2 of the campaign, there is a huge maze / puzzle (which is 100% optional). This one is much harder and also unforgiving! You only get 1 chance to answer the question per clue ... than something interesting happens (which has been hard to make with the foundry limitations)!

almostcool · May 2013

Just played your quest
Some corrections

"Wondering Wight" I assume should be "Wandering Wight"
Tattered Journal - "She will life force of my sanctum" I'm not sure what you mean here. "Themselves" should be one word.
Arcane Tomb- "I am able to tell you" should be "I am 'unable' to tell you" Also when you ask about the west door he says "The east door"
Odd looking ogre: When you kill him you set him to "Fight to submission" however this is buggy right now and you can't make him disappear after, so this causes two of the ogres to be there when the other one spawns.
Here's a list of some spelling mistakes in this conversation:
1. Innocent
2. Swirly and shiny are spelled wrong twice in both response sections.
3. What should be "What's"

Optional room, I can't go into it. After interacting with it it didn't give me an option to enter.
In the opposite room the magma brutes and lancers are not named correctly. Magma brute is a lancer and vice versa. not sure if this was intentional or not.

Your puzzle is awesome but seriously irritating. The crystal closest to the small tower isn't interractable, not sure if it's supposed to be. I got into the library inspected the only book shelf I could and didn't gain any clues as to how to get through the door. I had to opt for the secret passage. Now I may just be being stupid here but is that the only way or is there another? because that lever did have to do with N,E,W, and S and perhaps that was the clue from the portals, I don't know. Regardless I got the right answer by just clicking a bunch of random things and making educated guesses.

Mobs in the crypt room suffer from the same thing as the magma encounter. Your Wight Commander is skinned as a lowly skeleton archer and your archer is the wight commander.

"Fadeing Yasrik" Needs to be "Fading"

So now I am confused and perhaps you can clear this up for me. Aliisza and Pharaun come up for I'm pretty sure the first time in the story. Then Aliisza is referred to as Alinys and Pharaun as Xunvrae. Now I have read War of the Spider Queen and the three part book where Pharaun comes back in the end (Can't remember the names) so perhaps I'm mistaken but I don't recall them ever being referred to by these other names. To me it kind of looked like you just made a spin off involving these two characters but simply changed the name of the characters and the houses they were from.

Also, at the end, when you insult that one drow, the assassins spawn and attack them. Kind of immersion breaking when the assassins out to punish you scare their own leader.

Overall I thought your writing was great, the costumes were awesome, the dialogue options and triggers made it really fun and the portals/riddles were very engaging, I spent about an hour 1/2 in your dungeon and had fun doing it. So thank you. Just hoping you could clear up a few parts for me :P

zekrallmizzrym · May 2013

Gone through and made some fixes based on your comments.

1. The puzzle maze, if you get to a crystal which has no interaction. Then you have taken a wrong turn, to make this more obvious I have added some dialog to the crystal to indicate this.
2. The puzzle to open the secret passage, its a 2 part combination lock. The first clue is on the same torch as you use to open the lock. The second clue is located within the same room, not to far away.
3. Appearance of Pharaun and Alliza! This is a mistake! it should be Xunvrae and Alinys! Will fix that one asap.
4. Ogre changed from fight to submission.
5. "She will life force of my sanctum" should be "She will be the life force of my sanctum." (demon power much better than duracell batteries)
6. Optional room: Which one? the one overrun with undead (just off the demons prison), or the aspect of Therkans room (close to where you meet Zilv)?

almostcool · May 2013

It is the room to the right of Zilv. The one that had some conflict with illithids and beholders. Hallway with the ogre leads to it.

tabris82 · May 2013

Ok just finished reviewing your quest (did it alone with a 32 CW)

I must say very nice quest! It was engaging and made me read through all the text i found (it was not too much so i did not feel overwhelmed and did not feel like skipping through).
The puzzle was a bit confusing tho, while some answers were clear (when the answer were colors) others left me wondering, for instance the prime number one, how are the portal numbered?

The library combat was a bit hard to solo as a 32 CW (then again i did not die so maybe its not so hard).

Some stuff i found:

Mushrooms at the beggining
Due to how the interact works it say: Press F to A strange mushroom...
Maybe the interact should describe the interaction and not actually what you see, at the end of the instance i noticed it got better, like you wrote "press F to" open the crate and find the bones, but on many places it feels wrong. Like for the rod of disruption "Press F to the rod shoots blue rays..."

btw is the mushroom you loot used anywhere? i hate having to carry stuff i wont use (and i did not use it).

The first guy say Any non drow is Ibleth instead of Iblith (unless its some kind of plural thingy)

second page of the rumble book say there territory (should be their)

Yasrik Artefact (should be artifact)

Ornate Sarcophagus sarcophaguss'

> i noticed all your " 's " were actually " s' "

Tattered Journel ( should say journal) them selves (should say themselves)

lower crypt guardians, the wright commander was a skeleton and the skeleton was a wright commander (not sure it was intended)

Crumbling Golem
Intelligenve ( should be intelligence) Disipher (should be Decipher)
After awakening the golem, maybe he should despawn and a "Awakened Golem" should be there even if he just has an description stating he does nothing, because after awekening him he doesnt change state so you can just redo the awakening dialog with it.

Zilv
Your very close (should be You're)

I hope i helped (is sooo much easier to find typos on other ppl work, i know mine has LOTS but i have such an hard time finding them xD)

I enjoyed it very much and i am awaiting for the next quest!

zekrallmizzrym · May 2013

Mushrooms: These are used within a hidden side quest, Therkhan starts the quest he is hidden away.

Thanks for the typo list, will make those changes.

Maze: "for instance the prime number one, how are the portal numbered?" The prime clue in the portal room does not refer to prime numbers, its prime colors. This one possibly needs a little tweaking, as the blue portal sometimes looks a little on the white side.

Resurrection of Xunvrae

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