To play this module you will need NWN and Shadows of Undrentide upgraded to the latest version (v1.62 at the date this was written). Two Hakpaks "nwalleys11" an "t1rlk_gen_doors" are used in the module.
Installing
The file is provided as an executable which means that all you need to do is double click on the file which you downloaded and everything will be loaded into place. All you need do then is load up the game and select "Cormyrean Nights" from the list of modules presented to you.
Contact:
You can send bug reports, comments etc to me either via email zacchaeus@skrill.org or post them to the NWN module database or send me a message from the forums under the name Servilan.
If you think you have found a bug please read the fixes that have been made below before you contact me or post to the vault. When reporting a bug please quote the version of the module you are playing. You'll find this in the module description when you select it to start a new module.
You may find some more information on my website house43.skrill.org/Index.html,
including a walkthrough at http://house43.skrill.org/CormyreanNights/walkthrough.doc
Change the .doc to .txt for a text only version.
Introduction
Once the most peaceful of kingdoms Cormyr has suffered greatly in the last two years. Orcs and goblins rose up in unheard of numbers and old foes of King Azoun IV and his family tore at the realm. Cormyr rose to war suffering defeat after defeat as the hordes were joined by the ancient red dragon Nalavarauthatoryl the Red.
Many nobles committed outright treason as the city of Arabel was besieged, eventually falling to goblin hordes. King Azoun and his daughter Alusair fought the dragon and suffered defeat.
When the crisis had finally passed many of the kingdoms finest warriors, officials, soldiers, War Wizards and highest nobility were lost, including King Azoun IV himself.
With a child king on the throne and Alusair as his regent, Cormyr is slowly trying to come to terms with it's loss and regain it's former glory. However many noble families are on the edge of rebellion, some see their chance to return from exile and Sembian interests are trying to covertly take control of the kingdom.
Marsember, Cormyr's second city, was largely untouched by the war, but many remember it's early days of corruption, piracy and intrigue before the Obarskyrs ended it's ascendancy. It would take very little for it to return to those far off days, and it's destiny might lie in the hands of a single character, who is about to enter it's gates.
The Module: Your PC
Cormyrean Nights is designed for a single player of level 8-10. No particular race, sex or class is required or desirable. The module was however designed for a good rather that evil character. If you do not have a character of the suggested level you don't need to worry since the first part of the module allows you to make one up from scratch. Just select new character and talk to Servilan in the place where the module starts. He'll give you sufficient experience points and gold to allow you level your character up to level 8-10. You will also find a shop nearby where you can equip your PC.
You can play the module with a character of a higher level, but you might find it too easy. The level range to some extent builds in a difficulty level to the module. A level 8 character will have a more challenging adventure than a level 10 one will.
No particular character class or sex should have an advantage over any other although there are points in the module where certain abilities and skills may have an advantage. No quest or situation depends on a PC having any particular skill or attribute although there are a couple of quest options which will suit specific character classes more than others. Having or not having skills or attributes just means that the experience of playing will be different from one character to the next.
The Module: Details
The module is set in and around Marsember which is the second city of the kingdom of Cormyr in the Forgotten Realms. Those of you familiar with the setting will know all about the region. The details above will fill in those that don't.
I have tried to replicate the feel of a huge city and I have included many of the personalities and places detailed in publications such as Volo's Guide to Cormyr and the Forgotten Realms sourcebook, all published by TSR.
It is difficult to say how long the module will take to play through because it depends entirely on how you approach it. If you ignore all but the main quest then it could take as few as 5 hours. If you do everything then it could take upwards of 20 hours.
The Module: Quests
There is one overarching quest in the module which is split up into 5 parts. In addition there are a handful of side quest which pertain to the main one and around 20 quests which have nothing to do with the main quest. Quests can be obtained from a variety of sources, not all of them NPC's so keep a sharp eye out for quest opportunities.
You don't need to complete all of the quests, and in fact may not find them all but if you don't play at least some of them then you won't build up enough xp and wealth to allow you to tackle the main one without dying a lot.
The Module: Custom content
As indicated above there are two Hakpaks which were written by the NWN community which I have included. The first gives us alleys which adds a tremendous amount to the atmosphere of a huge city. The second adds a variety of doors, and this equally helps to give the module more atmosphere.
I have written various custom scripts for resting (before SoU and HoTu came out) and the module also uses Sentur Signe's lootable corpses (again this was before HoTu etc game out and I'm not going back to change everything now).
The Module: Other stuff
There are henchmen available and I strongly advise you use them, since things might be a bit tough without them. Also because I spent a helluva long time in putting them into the module, giving them conversations, quests and personalities. They are based on SoU henchmen so you can examine inventory etc.
Known issues:
It would appear that if you have things in a magic bag in your inventory then scripting an ActionGiveItem does not remove it from the bag. Only a DestroyObject() does that. Since there are some occasions where I didn't want things destroyed I have used ActionGiveItem and they will not therefore disappear from the bag. If you experience this then taking the item out of the bag will fix this.
I have had reports from some who don't like the lootable corpse system that I have used. I didn't write this and personally find it great. However on some slower machines (or something) there would appear to be a delay in things appearing when you click on the corpse. If a container window opens then there will be something in the corpse to find. Just wait a moment for it to appear. You don't get a container opening up if the corpse contains nothing.
I've also had reports from people who say sometimes time stops and/or jumps around. A search of the forums has revealed that large modules sometimes suufer from time problems, particullarly on lower spec systems, such as heartbeats getting skipped etc. The solution is to update the time on the modules OnHeartbeat and I have done this. It is possible though that this may not work in all circumstances.
Acknowledgements:
Any scripts which I have used that were written by others I have acknowledged where appropriate in the scripts themselves. Special mention must go to David Gaider who produced a series of tutorials which got me started on scripting. Without his fine work I would never have been able to attempt writing something this big.
Contributors to the scripting forum also need mentioned for the times when I got bogged down and couldn't see the wood for the trees.
Also a special mention must go those who took time out to playtest the module, Juho, Aewulf, Ariella and especially Jonathan. There is absolutely no doubt that without their input the module would have been poorer. I would want to particularly single out Juho here who wrote me extensively and provided superb insight into how the module could be improved. Unfortunately I could not include all of his suggestions, but enough found its way in to the final version to make a significant difference.
Finally I must thank my wife for putting up with me glued to this keyboard for the best part of 18 months. I now know why it takes a team of people to create something this big.
Version information:
Version 1.00
7th March 2004 The module is released as final.
Version 1.1
Released 12th March 2004 with the following corrections
Fixed the waiting around for Chea problem
Fixed the multiple swords in Persifor's Tomb
Made some items plot items which should have been plot items in the first place
Made some doors hopefully unpickable, to prevent them being opened too early
Fixed 2 infinite xp bugs
Fixed a couple of journal entries not updating properly.
Version 1.2
Released 22nd March with following corrections
Fixed a show stopper where Bledryn sometimes didn't appear when you jumped into the Castle
Fixed another show stopper where if you loaded a saved game in Starwater Keep you could no longer close the gates
Fixed a number of Action Overflows which probably were causing slowdown on some systems
Version 1.25
Released 27th March 2004
Revised many Journal entries so that it was clearer where you had to go next or find people in quests
Corrected one or two minor errors in the ruins area
Put in a fix for a problem where Celdors conversation was being cut off in Starwater Keep for some unknown reason.
Fixed a problem where you could only get into the temple in the Hullack forest if you had a henchman with you.
Completed a walkthrough. You can download it from my website at http://house43.skrill.org/CormyreanNights/walkthrough.doc
There is a text only version at the same address except change the .doc to .txt.
Version 1.30
Released 28th March 2004
Fixed Blakes quests if you came back from his mine without first speaking to Vrok
Fixed henchman interjections popping up for quests already completed
Fixed a problem in Ferek's quest if you had already met the object of the quest
Fixed a problem where you got the wrong conversation node when hiring a henchman for the first time after you had done certain quests.
Ashandrin's tomb no longer leaves a remains bag when it is destroyed
In Persifors Tomb:
Removed a certain option from the conversation with the Tomb Guardian which was too much of a red herring and causing players problems
Corrected a problem where the Tomb Guardians body did not go away if you left the Tomb after killing him
Reduced the level requirement of the Tomb Guardians sword just in case this was causing some problems
Fixed a variable not being reset if you put the guardians sword in the right place and then left the tomb
Fixed a problem where loading a save game in the Tomb cased the guardians sword to disappear from the guardian.
(Question to self - how the hell did all this get past development and playtesting!!)
Fixed the dairy entry in Snydermans diary so that it reads correctly
Changed the XP for getting the info you need from the Snydermans peacefully, so that it is significantly more than you'd get for killing them.
Altered the Alignment shift for bribing the tax official.
The Manual of Leadership now works correctly.
Slightly altered some of Ferek's conversation so that it makes more sense.
Version 1.31
Released 2/4/2004
Fixed an infinite XP bug in the Fire Knives Hideout
Added Monk robes to the starting shop
Slightly altered some of the shops so that there was less need to run around selling stuff.
Put in a fix which hopefully means Spot will be removed after the quest to rescue him is complete.
Fixed being able to sell cursed items before you purified the curse.
Sorted some minor spelling errors.
Made a couple of keys in the hidden dungeon plot items so that they wouldn't disappear
Added sky boxes and increased fog clipping distance to some areas
Reduced the size of a trigger in the Damp Cave which was causing problems getting the conversation started with the "cave wall"
Amended some text and descriptions which suggested that the module could be played by an evil character.
Fixed a problem where Nadie "forgot" that you had agreed to give her a reward (if you did of course).
Version 1.32
Released 8/4/2004
Fixed a problem where if you chose to kill the Faeries you couldn't complete Vine's potion quest.
Added some new stuff to the Quivvering Palm shop
Made some more locks unpickable.
Fixed a particular guardian being too weak in the Blue Hand Hideout
Corrected some minor spelling errors.
Made some more items plot, to prevent them either being bashed when they shouldn't be or disappearing when I don't want them too.
Version 1.33
Released 16/4/2004
Fixed a problem where you couldn't complete Laura's Quest if you didn't rescue Ashandrin
Maricho will now give you his quest if you speak to him anytime. Previously he only gave you the quest the first time you spoke to him.
Celdor now gives you the correct direction to go in near the final battle.
Fixed a problem where you could get locked into bedrooms in Inns when you reloaded a saved game from there.
Found a few more doors which could be picked and shouldn't be.
Your character is exported if you finish the module the "correct" way.
This version 1.35
Released 6/6/2004
Made Walin's key a plot item and attached a script to Walin's chest OnDeath so that it produces the same as if you opened it normally.
Made it so that hopefully Misa will definitely not survive if you attack the Blue Hand Gang instead of accepting their quest.
Removed some scripts which MIGHT be the cause of some doors in the Blue Hand and elsewhere from apperently closing
on their own and locking the player in.
You can no longer talk to Losin about Bruin infinitely and the Journal entries have been updated for Bruins quest so that they are more informative.
Moved the trigger for the bouncer in the Cloven Shield so that he no longer sometimes blocks the door. Gave him a POST as well just in case.
The starting shop now accepts stolen goods. Apparently some classes start with items marked stolen. You should get rid of them here.
Ferek's boots are now identified.
The city guides now mention the fee for their services.
The guard in Blake's manor no longer says Mr Blake is expecting you, when he isn't necessarily expecting you.
Nadie is now more grateful for any reward.
Any loot on Bertil is now no longer marked stolen.
Changed some alignment changes from Evil to Chaotic.
Made the dragon patrol in Starwater Keep a separate faction.
You should no longer be able to sell things to the War Wizards infinitely.
The Dragon patrols no longer mention registering as a magic user if you are one.
Fixed dozens of spelling and grammatical errors in conversations, descriptions and flavour text. Thanks a great deal to Trevor Barrie for his enormous email on this subject.
Fixed a problem where a variable wasn't being set which meant the warehouse door in the Bearos Warehouse could not be reopened if you closed it again.
Made a couple of the guides plot since under some circumstances they could die leaving the player stranded.
Drudoc will now buy almost anything and he has no gold piece limit. However his prices are poor compared to what you could get elsewhere.
Placed a few more +3 weapons in stores and in other locations.
The key to the bedroom in the adventurers guild no longer disappears when you use it, so you can rest there whenever you want.
Fixed a problem where you could get Negan's quest, dismiss her, find the item she seeks, rehire her and not be able to complete her quest.
Corrected an incorrect henchman popup near the end of the game.
This Version 1.36
Released 12/6/04
Sorted one final problem in Persifor's tomb where if you left it via certain portals and returned you could no longer gain access to the main tomb
Fixed some minor problems in the final area
Fixed a major problem where somehow the wrong conversation file had become attached to the tree in Moonever thus bringing things to a crashing halt.
Fixed a problem where your journal and quest variable was not being updated during the hunt for Scorponok.
Earbos's bodyguards should now join in the fight if you attack him in his warehouse.
This version 1.37
Released 4/7/04
Made the adventururs bones plot, just in case it was blown up before you looked into them.
Change the place where a variable was being updated in Timo's conversation. One report sadi it was not being updated properly.
Fixed an old woman who had the voice of a man (without an operation - weak joke)
You can no longer talk to Jaristin about Lana before you know who she is.
Hopefully the Bertil not appearing bug has now been fixed.
Added some more stone to flesh potions and scrolls.
Added a line to the modules OnHeartbeat script to reset time every heartbeat. This may be the solution to a lot of things which people have reported which do have a timing element (such as DelayCommands and OnHeartbeat scripts). It should be the solution to time stopping which a few people have mentioned. It may also fix the lootable corpse issues.
