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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 236770" data-attributes="member: 143">NWN update: I have been playing the game extensively since it came out last week, and having a lot of fun with both the single player and multiplayer components.  I've written one module entitled "The Great Fens" (just two areas, although one is 16x16) and run it online three times so far.  I'm currently working on another module with more areas and more NPCs which I should be ready to playtest this week.  Anyone wanting to play in one of my games should look for my [EN] prefix and the name Lazybones on the module name.  Although I cannot commit fully at this point (although eventually I intend to have a "regular" game with recurring players), at the moment I'm planning on running The Great Fens adventure again at 7p.m. Pacific Time.  It takes about 30 mins-1 hour to play.  Look for me online!LB * * * * * Book V, Part 7“Damn it,” Benzan cursed, drawing his sword and stepping back warily as the spirit-possessed Lok took another step closer, stepping tentatively as if it was slowly adjusting to the process of walking again in a mortal form.  “I know all dwarves are stubborn, but this stupid ghost can’t even tell that we’re not duergar…”“Yeah, nice diplomacy, Benzan,” Dana said as an aside, cutting him off as she moved to confront the angry dwarf.  “Honored Elder,” she said with a bow that didn’t quite leave her vulnerable to attack, “Please!  We are not your enemies.  Look closer at the body you are occupying.  It is Lok, our companion and one of your people.  We are not your enemies,” she repeated, keeping her tone level and her eyes fixed on those of the ghost.Lok hesitated, and doubt crept into his eyes.  “Lok?” the ghost said.  He looked down at the stony hand clutching his axe, and shook his head slightly as if to clear it.  “No, it is a trick…”“No, your lordship,” Dana continued.  “Look closely, and see us for what we are.  Two humans—” it probably wasn’t a good idea to highlight Benzan’s ancestry right now— “a gnome, and one of your own.  Lok was drawn here by the very words of Dumathoin, to rescue your people from their plight.”“Lok…” the ghost repeated, clearly uncertain.“We are here to help you, to help your people,” Dana insisted.  “Look into the heart of the man you have possessed, and see the truth there.”“Lok…  You have returned… You have returned to us…”  The genasi’s frame began to shake uncontrollably, the spirit of the dead dwarf twisted with grief as its anger faded.  Then, with one last great cry, the ghost’s incorporeal form flew out of Lok’s body, retreating back through the wall before any of them could react.  Lok staggered and nearly fell, but Dana was there quickly to catch him and hold him upright.  “Lok, are you all right?” she asked, as Benzan and Cal, concern writ clearly on their faces, crowded behind.  “I… I believe so,” the genasi replied.  “That was… strange.”“Were you aware of what happened?” Cal asked. “Yeah, that you were about to attack us?” Benzan added.“He wasn’t in control,” Dana said reprovingly.  “I’m sorry,” Lok said.  “Dana’s right… I couldn’t seem to do anything with my body, although I could feel, and see what was happening.  There was… something… familiar about that spirit… I think perhaps that I knew him, in life.”“Any idea of what that thing wanted?” Benzan asked.  “Other than to kill us, of course.”“Ghosts often form out of some great trauma,” Cal explained, “some sense of duty left unfulfilled.  Clearly this ghost was a leader of the urdunnir, his desire to protect his people rooting him here in undeath rather than letting him pass quietly into the afterlife.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the presence of the ghouls and ghasts was somehow connected to his presence here as well.”“Well, what should we do?  I’d just as soon not meet up with him again.”“Agreed.  Let’s be gone from this place—we’ll find a place to rest outside of the boundaries of the town.”“I remember that there’s a large fortification that marks the border between the town and the rest of the Underdark,” Lok said, “the ‘Shield Wall’ that the ghost spoke of.  Beyond that lies the dark ways, where danger lurks in every shadow.”“Quiet poetic, Lok,” Benzan said.  “But do you think you can find us a quiet place where we can catch our breaths before moving on?”The genasi nodded, and they quickly gathered up their possessions, unspiked the door, and headed back out into the deserted dwarven town.  The quiet now seemed oppressive, and even though they did not hear any more threatening noises they were extra alert as they made their way quickly through the wide corridors.  It did not take them long to reach the fortification that Lok had spoken of.  The Shield Wall wasn’t a wall in the traditional sense, but rather a complex of interlocking rooms at the edge of the urdunnir complex that culminated in a wide but shallow chamber broken by a pair of massive stone portals.  The great doors now stood open, breached by some great force, one of them half-sundered with huge chunks of its thickness laid out in rubble before the looming threshold.  Beyond the doors lay a darkness that seemed to resist the probing rays of their light.  To either side of the doors stood a stone rampart, perhaps fifteen feet high, that provided access to a series of narrow slits that were closed with metal shutters.  They could see that defenders on the ramparts would have a clear view of anyone approaching the doors through the slits, and that the shutters could be opened to allow them to fire upon intruders at little risk to themselves.  An impressive defense.  Except that it had clearly not been enough to stop the duergar from broaching the wall and destroying the town, in the end.      For a moment, they just stood there in that last chamber, each caught up in private thoughts about what they had seen and what might lie ahead for them beyond those doors.  Whoever or whatever had sundered those doors had been powerful enough to take out an entire clan of dwarves, a community that had been all too familiar with the dangers of life deep under the surface of the earth.  Now it was just the four of them, advanced in power and skill, perhaps, but very much alone in this foreign place.  They exchanged a look, a look that said much without words.  Then, finally, moving as one, they turned and walked through the dark opening. Into the Underdark.</blockquote>

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