NWN 15 (Louis, Aaron) – U3: The Final Enemy

I am going to take the liberty of posting this before Aaron can do it. We got together after a long hiatus and resumed play with “U3: The Final Enemy”. I was looking forward to storming the Sahuagin Lair and some rocking combat. Unfortunately, my expectations were dashed as this was a very slow-playing module. First Spathi (me) and Thade (Aaron) arrived alone in Saltmarsh. No one was present in any of the buildings and although we were told to find the mayor, we could not. So we went to the marshes. There we found a lizard Oracle who promised us a magical reward if we answered 3 “riddles”. Unfortunately the “riddles” consisted of a number sequence and two algebra questions. Out of character for the less-than-genius Spathi and Thade, we were mysteriously able to calculate all of the answers. For our troubles a Ring of Invisibility was awarded. After this we were notified that a young adult black dragon was terrorizing some farmhouses to the west. We trudged over there and dispatched the beast, although we were not able to do much until Thade unleashed his rage upon the wyrm. That left only the Sahuagin lair at the south end of the marsh, so we entered and fought some warriors. Then we confronted 5 or 6 of them locked behind a portcullis, unwisely engaging Spathi in an archery duel. This continued slowly for a while until Spathi changed to acid arrows out of frustration and boredom. After killing the beasts, there was no way through the portcullis! After a lot of searching for a secret door we returned to the ship to see if there was any clue we missed in Saltmarsh. Unfortunately we were again ambushed by warriors on the way to the ship, but they were easily dispatched despite a 5 to 1 numerical advantage. While travelling back to town, some mystical knowledge was bestowed on the party via a look at the DM readme file; we discovered that we were supposed to find the town hiding out in the sewers. Sure enough the mayor and all of the usual shops were open in the grimy green sewer which featured toilet flushing noises (if everyone is in the sewers, who uses the toilets?) In any case the mayor did not have any way of opening the portcullis. More out-of-character knowledge seeking led to the fact that the portcullis had to be opened by damaging a lever on the other side (strange). Trudge, trudge, trudge back to the lair. Spathi opened up on the lever only to find it resisted normal damage. An acid arr0w quickly took care of that and we gained entrance … to a very empty lair. A huge dungeon filled with hundreds of empty chests awaited us. The thrill of searching this area knew no bounds. We also found a very large number of javelins and “hooked nets”, which looked suspiciously like clubs capable of casting the web spell once. Ever persistent, Spathi and Thade finally located the way down into the watery Sahuagin lair. Breathing did not prove to be much of a problem thanks to the large number of water breathing magic items, but upon entering the water we found that slashing weapons, shields, and armor were not allowed. Oops! Now the waves of Sahuagin, frequently encountered in packs of 10-16 (!) became a deadly threat. Gruesome deaths ensued when we tried to plumb the depths, although we did manage to clean out the hatchery with all of its females and hatchlings. Spathi fell several times and required divine intervention, while Thade was struck down but healed on several occasions by Spathi’s quick thinking. Eventually it became apparent that the party was too small to storm this fortress, and also too slow and too tired. On the way out, Spathi and Thade talked to a prisoner who revealed the location of a secret cache of magic items. The party searched it out (it was hidden by a secret door); unfortunately it was protected by a strong electrical trap which instantly killed Spathi again. This was a small price to pay as the loot inside proved extremely valuable. Thade and Spathi became heavily overburdened with treasure. They decided to make one more attempt to storm the lair and dropped the goods on top of the stairs, then headed down. This proved to be a mistake as a swarm of angry Sahuagin attacked the naked party members with great ferocity. Retreat was the only option and it was a slow one. The intrepid adventurers picked up their large and heavy haul and began a slow trek northward to home. Thade was carrying several suits of armor and had to rage just to move faster than a snail; he alternately raged, jogged with his load, and rested along the way. Once again an ambush was prepared at the boat, but Spathi was expecting this and dropped his burden before engaging in yet another archery duel. This was disrupted by the appearance of several Sahuagin warriors (all of whom had a nasty habit of appearing out of thin air and launching sneak attacks). Thade finally arrived at just the right moment and shed his pack of armor, allowing the pair to kill the enemies and slowly continue onward to the safety and relief of the sewers. All unnecessary goods were sold in favor of a few choice items, after which Spathi and Thade quickly left town before the mayor realized that the adventurers were not going to save them from the Sahuagin menace.

Overall, this was one of the slowest and least enjoyable module experiences yet; we hope to do better next time.