Crimson Tides of Tethyr - Quest Journal

“Old friend, I fear that Tethyr’s future is once again in the balance. The Sythillisian Empire has turned its gaze towards us for reasons I cannot fathom. How can this recently healed nation hope to defend itself from the untold thousands of goblins, orcs, ogres and giants that lurk on its northern border?”

Excerpt from a letter by Royal Court Sage Gamalon Idogyr to Elminster of Shadowdale, 1372 DR.

Crimson Tides of Tethyr
Creator’s: Alazander
Expansions Needed: SoU and HotU.
Setting: Tethyr, Forgotten Realms.
Gameplay Length: 15-25 hours.
Starting Level: Level 6-8.
Classes: All Classes
Races: All Races

Link To Module Download at NWVault

Author’s Description
From the author of the classic module “Siege of Shadowdale” comes a new single player adventure of epic proportions! Featuring almost 75,000 words of written dialogue, 80+ areas, 100s of unique NPCs and 5 fully developed companions, “Crimson Tides of Tethyr” is a module in the grand style of Baldur’s Gate, an epic tale of war, adventure and betrayal.

Please note that this module is marked “Mature” for good reason. Expect realistic warfare, heavy violence and some profanity. You have been warned!

NWN + SoU + HotU + patch 1.68 or above required. New characters will be given the opportunity to level-up at the start of the module.

Note: This is the second module in a series of independent adventures set in the Forgotten Realms. The setting, story and characters are completely seperate from “Siege of Shadowdale”. Therefore, it is not necessary to have played that module first to enjoy “Crimson Tides of Tethyr”.

Current version: 1.07

Journal
Despite the size of this module I completed it fairly quickly the first time I played it and although not having played it for a while when it came to playing the game a second time with a view to writing this journal the linear nature of the module made things easy to remember even though the beginning starts open ended enough. In fact the entire adventure is like a lot of mini adventures all lined up one after the other and while there are various options for dialogues to suit your tastes the sequential nature of the overall adventure remains.

I didn’t really appreciate it early on in the game but when you get to the end most questions regarding the plot are answered and an element of having played a game from a seasoned Gamesmaster becomes apparent. Most of the characters are set up early so that when you get to the bottom of their characters everything seems to fall neatly into place in a more than satisfying manner. In the game, the dice may be rolling but the creator has crafted the experience flawlessly and takes no chances, maybe a little too much so as the linear nature mentioned in the paragraph before could be a by product of everything being controlled just a little bit too much.

However, I must admit, I did not explore the dialogue options, so maybe there are a few surprises in order, I will find out when I play a different character through the game but that is not for now.

The cut scenes are used throughout the game and are both smooth and well angled as well as driving the story forward as any good cut scene should.

The area design is also first class although I must admit I was a little disappointed at a certain Elven city despite a custom tileset that had some annoying pathing issues and although there are some interesting items you can come across in the game I stopped looting all but the most notable enemies as the end approached and those I did loot I felt just a little bit let down with. Some of your foes could have been given a few more teeth too and fights you expect to be challenging are merely the same old hack and slash with a bit more time involved.

The only other slight on the module I feel worth mentioning is that there are some pretty unorthodox module advancement triggers and on those few occasions you may waste a bit of time working out what it is the module creator wants you to do before he allows the game to continue.

That aside this is an excellent all round adventure that should suit and be completable by numerous races and classes. It’s certainly not a difficult module but if you enjoy watching a story unravel in front of you then this module is most definitely for you.

Crimson Tides of Tethyr - Screenshots

Crimson Tides of Tethyr - Spoilers

Red Nazzala
In the tavern where you start of in, oine of the rooms has a note referring to this caharacter, saying that he will have the item and that three is a lucky number, I tried checking in the Red Nazzala when the bells tolled 3 times but no joy, no extra dialogue appears. Then I attacked him and couldn’t get him past near death but it also turned all the mercenary’s hostile too so I’m guessing that’s not the right thing to do.

That’s pretty much the only thing of note I found apart from a locked door in the servants tunnels near the end of the game which I couldn’t open, the game, big as it is, is pretty straightforward all the way through and while there is an option to create custom weapons from ingredients, you don’t really have to search too hard to find the ingredients.

Cormyrean Nights - Quest Journal

Once the most peaceful of kingdoms Cormyr has suffered greatly in the last two years. Orcs and goblins rose up in unheard of numbers. Cormyr rose to war suffering defeat after defeat. When the crisis had finally passed many of the kingdoms finest warriors, soldiers, War Wizards and nobility were lost, including King Azoun IV himself. With a child king on the throne, Cormyr is slowly trying to come to terms with its loss. However many noble families are on the edge of rebellion, and Sembian interests are trying to covertly take control of the kingdom. Marsember was largely untouched by the war, but many remember its early days of corruption, piracy and intrigue before the Obarskyrs ended its ascendancy. It would take very little for the city to return to those far off days, and its destiny might lie in the hands of a single character, who is about to enter its gates.

Cormyrean Nights
Creator’s: Servilan
Expansions Needed: SoU 1.62
Setting: Cormyr in the Forgotten Realms.
Gameplay Length: 8-20 hours.
Starting Level: Level 8.
Classes: All Classes
Races: All Races

Link To Module Download at NWVault

Journal
I thoroughly enjoyed this module, it can get a bit linear at times with a bit of backtracking involved but is overall an excellent quest to add to any stalwart adventurer’s CV.

It must be noted that you start the campaign without your money as it will be stolen before you even begin, however there is plenty of loot to be had and you can quickly assemble a sizeable fortune once more. There’s also plenty of unique items in the game, many referring directly to this module which is a nice touch.

The module promises to confound when it comes to the side quests and if you check out the spoilers you will see a few unknowns listed, one of which I managed to complete the first time I played but couldn’t the second when I was writing this guide. The best un-spoiler advice I can give is not to worry too much about exploring every house, you’ll find that people will talk as quests come up and won’t otherwise and the adventure all the way through is good at marking new locations on your map so you don’t have to search top to bottom for what you’re looking for.

The level design is very nice and the creator has used all his creative skills in sprucing up what would be in ordinary modules just another area to walk through, be it with encounters of the bashing kind, interesting characters and dialogue, atmospherics and even scripting, you can tell that the author has put in a fair amount of polish which can make a great module nothing short of outstanding. Talking of encounters, the game uses persistent corpses for the most part and sometimes it can take a good while to loot a corpse, which is annoying when there’s a fair few corpses to loot. If you get the inventory screen pop up and no items there, give it 30 seconds and something should appear.

Once a priviledged member of the Adventurer’s Guild you will be given a rod which to all intensive purposes can act like the stone of recall in the official campaign with a few minor differences. This can be pretty handy, especially if you are within the city limits.

Overall the encounters make a lot of sense, a few are somewhat overwhelming for weak characters as you can sometimes face numerous foes. There are restrictions in place for resting, however, some areas allow resting and is scripted well enough to inform you of such places, so wizards and the like should have little issues when they need to rest to regain their spells.

There’s a fair few secrets to uncover but they all fit nicely within the story of the campaign and it’s not a case of village cemetery being overrun by more undead than has ever been buried there and there’s the option of being able to create custom weapons and the like if you have the right components.

I noticed very few bugs too which made the game a joy to play but I must admit being annoyed more than once when coming from a violent encounter and back into the city only to be accosted by a member of the Purple Dragons to put away my weapons.

Am racking my brains here trying to think of any other issues that spoiled the game for me but to be honest there are few few bad sides to this game, it’s very enjoyable and enteraining all the way through

Cormyrean Nights - Screenshots

Cormyrean Nights - Spoilers

Keys Needed for Doors
At various points in the game you will be told that a key is needed for doors you may want to open, unlike many games however a lot of these doors can have their locks picked or can even be bashed down, so if you’re stuck it’s worth a shot.

Thieve’s Bane
When or if you visit the Temple of Lathander in the Temple District, speaking to Rold gives you the option of admitting to stealing things if you have done so, if you give the items up to the church to be returned to their owners or used for the benefit of the church be aware that other items you have collected in your travels may be at risk too.

Workman’s Toolbox
This can be located in the back alleys of Marsember Centre, I have pinpointed it’s location here in the screenshot below. It contains two useful tools that can be used at some points in the adventure, the crowbar and the mason’s hammer. I’m not sure if you can make do without having found these items however as I found them early on.

Body Parts
Karis runs the shop inside the War Wizard’s Tower and may have a use for the goblin hearts that you can find early on in the game, I know she will buy ettercap silk glands for 30gp and rat tails for 10gp each. The War Wizard’s Tower can be found in the Temple District.

Drudoc’s Store
There are various stores in Marsember, many of which annoyingly close at night time, once a priviledged member of the Adventurer’s Guild however you can access Drudoc’s Store and unlike his Merchant Square counterparts, he has no upper limit for what he is willing to pay for items, he is also available 24/7.

Figurine of Wonderous Power
If you find the Figurine of Wonderous Power (I was sure it was in the basement of the house next to the Blake Manor in the Merchant’s Quarter but the second time I played the game I couldn’t gain access to it for some reason), Shara, the librarian in the Adventurer’s Guild can tell you it’s name so that you can use it.

Blake’s Mine Mission and Razenk’s Gold
When you do the Blake Mines mission from the Adventurer’s Guild, you will find gold nuggets laying around, collect them up and when you have completed the mission and have reported back to Blake, offer him the gold nuggets you found and he will allow you to keep them “In good faith”, as he calls it. He also tells you their true worth which is 200 gold pieces each and informs you that you can exchange the nuggets for gold coins at Razenk’s Gold shop but warns that the owner will try to rip you off.

With this information you can get the full price of the gold which is 4 times the amount Tolinar Razenk will offer you initially, twice more if you succeed a persuade check.

Ruins in Search of Ashandrin
This was my favourite part of the whole game and while it’s not difficult it does require exploration if you’re not the type to bash things.

There are several ways in but the main entrance can be accessed by clicking on the tombstones near the ruin.

In the main entrance of the ruins you will have to destroy the globe at the far end of the room to advance but to get there is trapped, it does not deal a whole lot of damage though.

In the adjoining room you find Ashandrin’s projection from where she can give you tips on how to proceed next, in the same room is also 2 items of Salander’s Ointment, used to turn pertrified adventurer’s back to flesh again. There’s only really 2 people worth using the ointment on, the Red Wizard who dies immediately afterwards but has an amulet of use if you want to think your way out and a female gnome wizard called Drom who has, when you find the need for it, a diamond that you can use as part of the process of moving Ashandrin’s soul from the soul jar into her Rune Sword.

Golems
There are several golems you will need to confront and a few doors you may need to bash down. Fortunately in the basilisk area of the ruins you can find an amulet on a Red Wizard that has been turned to stone right next to the Mythalar you will eventually have to destroy. If you use Salander’s Ointment on him he dies but allows you to collect his amulet, the only thing you need now is the names of the golems in order to command them to help you. These names can be found in a diary left by the Red Wizard and the various paintings you can find, so if you’re not up for a fight it’s best to go exploring first.

Harold can be found near the altar that you will use to transfer Ashandrin’s soul to her Rune Sword. He can open the bridge gates, disarm the traps, bash down the large gate elsewhere in the same area but to which you may not find the key (I couldn’t find it) and destroy the Mythalar in the area.

The problem is he doesn’t do it very well, at least not for me, he would stop after a couple times attacking something or when moving to position and I had to repeat the command several times.

Hidden Crypt Accessed via Temple District Sewer
There is a hidden crypt accessed by the sewer in the Temple District, down in the swer there is a double gate which when passed through allows access to a secret door which leads to the hidden crypt beyond. Look out for the bones just in front of the door, as with a few of the items inside the crypt it is unique and has it’s own description that relates to the module. See screenshots below for locations of the sewer and secret door inside.

Dela and Lenny
Near the sewer entrance in the temple district you may come across Dela, it seems her boyfriend Lenny has taken up drinking after losing his job and threatens to beat her if she does not come up with the gold for more drink each night. I don’t know if Lenny is scripted to appear in the first tavern you enter or whether it is fixed but I found him in The Cloven Shield in the docks district.

Evania’s Estate
At some point you will need to get into her estate, if you enter the sewer as I did remember that you can only use the entrance once, the dialogue to bribe the sewer gate guard only appears once to allow you entrance.

Check out the unstable section accessed by a door in the NE part of the sewer as it has some loot.

If you follow Fregrin’s instructions you will have no problems avoiding guards, there are traps however that I couldn’t detect even though I had 4 levels of rogue. There’s a Lens of Detection that you can buy from Karis in the War Wizard’s Tower shop that can let you disarm these traps for you and help you avoid detection.

Hero’s Promise - Buried Temple
There’s two ways to find the Hero’s Promise, the first is just good old plain curiosity, the second you can find out from an adventuring group drinking to mourn the loss of one of their members in the Drowning Flagon Inn. If you see above for the location to the Workman’s Toolbox it could help here, the crowbar is used to open the sewer if you don’t get the key from the adventuring group in the tavern and the mason’s hammer to bash down a poorly built brick wall to gain entrance to the buried temple.

If you take the path heading right as you enter the sewer you will eventually (after dispatching many a rat and carrion crawler) come across the body of the fighter who sacrificed himself to save his adventuring group, on him is the Hero’s Promise and a note on how to activate it’s power, which is with 3 gems. Ahead you can find refuse piles left by the carrion crawlers and there you will find a key to the gates at the other end of the sewer.

Location of the 3 gems

1. Bloodstone - Found in the Buried Temple inside a sarcophagus. When you take the gem skeletal statues spring to life and attack you.
2. White Stone - Found in a cave at the centre of Marsember Marsh, when taken 3 Gorgons appear to attack you.
3. Yellow Stone - Found in the Shaman’s hut which is through the strangely shaped boulder that you enter with the aid of a map you find in the Blue Hand Gang Hideout (see below).

To assemble the item to it’s full power, head on over to Hansard’s Smithy in the Merchant District and for a small fee he can complete the weapon for you.

Strangely Shaped Boulder in Marsember Marsh
When you investigate the Blue Hand Gang you will eventually encounter the Scrags, Sea Trolls, there you will find a hut that contains a map with Roche Skipta inscribed on it. Take this map to Shara the librarian in the Adventurer’s Guild and she will suggest you taken it to Penman’s Parchments from who you learn that it shows the location of something inside the Marsember Marsh. Go to any City Guide and Marsember Marsh will now be a new location for you to travel to. Ask the city guide at the marsh end to pinpoint on your map where the location of the map indicates.

Mysterious Cave in Marsember Marsh
On the most easterly wall of Marsember Marsh is a cave, as you enter it gives you an interesting description and if you follow through you will detect a secret door in the north wall but how to open it I do not know. I tried going back with Belithra’s bones, dagger and crystal (see below) but no joy.

Belithra’s Tomb
You need to meet a lockpick DC skill check of 45 to open the door to this crypt, Pyke should be able to open it. If you just need a few points to your lockpick skill then The Lathander Temple Store sells an Amulet of the Master which adds +6 to some of your roguish skills. At the end (there’s nothing in the tombs along the passageway except will inflict disease upon you if you are not immune) of the passageway is Belithra’s resting place, inside you will find a crystal and her bones, I have not found a use for these as of yet.

Harshan’s Tower
On the ground floor of Harshan’s Tower there will be a mini puzzle that has the potential to hurt ALOT. If you activate the columns in the order of:

;you will be safe from harm. I have no idea what the arrows could mean in the room before though they may just be there for decoration.

If you are having trouble accessing Harshan’s Sanctum on the 3rd floor try taking the book from the bedroom and adding it to the bookcase in the next room

If you kill Harshan the key on his posession opens a chest in the Illiance Manor, in the same room that your memory was removed.

Fire Knives Hideout
To open one of the doors leading to the hideout there is a hidden lever indicated in the screenshot below.

Locked Sewer Door Underneath the City Centre
This door requires a skill check lockpick DC of 45 but it just leads to an abandoned house above.

Jonan’s Tower - King’s Tower District
I found no way to enter this tower, the skill check to open the door is 100, far beyond what any normal character is capable of.

Green Tooth - King’s Tower District
Also in the King’s Tower District there is a dog who if you approach will let you pull a bad tooth out, what this tooth can be used for I have no idea.

Earbos Trading Company Warehouse
In the north section of the Docks District is Earbos’ Trading Companies Warehouse, if you enter at night you can meet Earbos, albeit with his body guards still and kill him. You can find ledgers accounting for his business dealings that is said to be of interest to the tax people of the city. However, if you do this before you find who tried to sell the amulet I have no idea how you’re supposed to find the thieves that provide the next major lead in the adventure.

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