Exploring the footsteps of the Auren Society of Weavers! Circe Steel is a very unique member of the Auren Society of Weavers, who finds herself in a new realm of existence upon arriving in the Land of the Dead after the events in Shadewood. Sporting a mean looking facial tattoo, hair pulled tightly into a ponytail, and putting aside her membership quarterstaff for a greatsword, she's not one to mess with. Barbarian blood flows through her veins, perhaps from a time before arriving at the High Tower for training in the arcane arts, and it fuels her in battle with the Weave of the Auren Society of Weavers, in a supporting role.  It's been interesting taking a look at all the player characters and database files sent in the past month after the initial shout out request, and it has given me some insight into the minds of those who have trained at the High Tower as members of the Auren Society of Weavers. Circe Steel is the only multiclass character sent in, and the first I began testing with. Yes, she's tough! Yes, she's died. The latter is important to note due to the high number of hit points she's attained in her travels (44). Circe has a strong damage range [2d6+4 (+5)] that can sink creatures a normal Wizard or Sorcerer could have trouble with. She has, on average, a +3/+4 higher attack bonus (AB) then most. Adding the ability to summon a creature, Circe's a beast! Having her die even after all that has been mentioned is a cause for concern when attempting to create a level of comfort and balance for all members of the Auren Society of Weavers.  What I've really been excited about going through, are the choices players made through their journey, as well as the selection of gear characters are wearing at the time of their death after destroying the portal in Shadewood. In death, material goods do not make the trip. What one's wearing at the time of their death in the Land of the Living, is what one carries over in the Land of the Dead, and it becomes the projected image of yourself. Let's take a closer look at Circe Steel's equipment and where they come from.  - Cloak of Undead Protection [Shadewood] - Sinkers [Almraiven] - Amulet of Battle [Almraiven] - Ring of the Warrior [Almraiven] - Twisted Bone Band [Almraiven] - Hands of the Fire Demon [Almraiven] - Ruby Set Belt [Shadewood] - Auren Society Robe [Almraiven] - Sling Stones [Shadewood] - Striking Sword [Almraiven] So we know Circe Steel was not wearing her Auren Society of Weavers Ring, a band that allows one to store spells into it at a higher level than they can be cast normally. When you wield a greatsword, the Auren Society of Weavers Quarterstaff isn't required, even though it offers a bonus second level spell slot. Lost amid the rubble and ash of the One Copper Inn now.  But what of her time in the Land of the Living? What did Circe Steel do, to whom, and will it have an effect in the Land of the Dead? The souls of those killed remember how they drew their last breath. Will Circe Steel have to look over her shoulder? Let's indulge ourselves. - Circe Steel has a close companion in Annex. - She summoned forth Halav as a laboratory assistant. - Her choice to save Darwien instead of Wundra, means Falis Goodmane was killed by her hand. - Circe Steel doesn't take well to threats, and killed Chelles, as well as his men on Cuttback Kat Alley. - Members of the Shadowed Pangurk at The Shed were taught a lesson too. - As was the Werefolk Captain on her way to save Darwien. - While searching the Spider Swamp, Circe Steel killed Maraba Slingtoss. - Put an end to Razormaul and his Kobold crew. - And even went toe to toe with Zoetia the Vampire in the Deadwood. - But she does have a helping hand, assisting the Midnight Alley Ghost on The Strip. - As well as Magnus Magicus, from Arra's Haunted Home on Horseshoe Lane. - And the spirit of the Mountain Pass in Myth Unnohyr.  I'll examine more members of the Auren Society of Weavers in the days to come. |
| Circe Steel | 03.04.13 |
| Calling all Weavers! | 02.01.13 |
Up front and center, Auren! The High Tower needs your help! For those who completed both Almraiven and Shadewood, and still have their character available, I'm sending out a request to have them sent via e-mail for testing purposes. I'm curious as to see what players are using at the end of Shadewood to get a better understanding of stocking merchants and containers for Fate of the Auren. Your characters could be the testing star in Fate of the Auren!    I can chew through the module quite easily as I know the design, when to expect events to trigger and when combat is just around the corner, so having a wide variety of other members of the Auren Society of Weavers would be helpful during the testing phase. Sorcerer's are most welcome, as I only have one character that I'm using in Fate of the Auren, while the other two are pure Wizards.    To do this, simply find your character export from Shadewood's ending, located in your Neverwinter Nights installation directory - G:\Games\NWN\localvault\PC_NAME.bic and shoot off an e-mail to the below address. If you don't mind the extra directory shuffle, sending in your Database files - G:\Games\NWN\database\ALMRAIVEN.* - would be a bonus, but not a requirement.  |
| In death, we're negative | 12.24.12 |
From positive, to negative! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Negative Plane greeting to all! It's a great shift in attitude when you start to play what you've been working on, even when there's the second half of the plot arc to write. Having the entire first arc of the adventure written, and playing through it, offers a nice jolt when areas and the story begin to blend together. At this point, fixes in side quests, dialog bugs and tightening up journal entries with the plot are all I've been doing. Building new areas - since the revamp of the swamp posted in the last entry - has come to a stop. It's all about ideas and filling in the areas currently available for exploration.  But the more recent addition is flipping the prime material plane spells to the negative material plane. Who said a member of the Auren Society of Weavers can't heal themselves in the Land of the Dead? With one's own growing power, combat isn't as easy as it used to be. Numbers grow, and with it, so does damage. It's a fine line playing a pure caster, and campfires alone aren't going to do much when one needs to heal during a battle.  So now, Negative Energy Burst and Negative Energy Ray can heal a single target, or an entire party. Modifications to both spells were required, as well as target specific changes to the spells.2da to allow one to target themselves. Being a new avenue in building for me, it's taken some time to get working properly, but it was required to offer a proper understanding of the required balance I need during the course of the adventure.  |
| Flip Flop! | 10.29.12 |
Out with the old, in with the older Well, that's it. I've had enough! *stomps his feet* During the development of Fate of the Auren, I've made use of two external tilesets to help populate the final tale of the trilogy - Lord of Worm's Seasonal Tileset and Cypress Tileset. I've spent the past week and a half removing one of them, which was a lot of work having to go back and redesign each area using a replacement tileset. Thankfully, there were not that many placeables with a high z-axis that required fixing, so it just came down to a lot of copy and paste, ambient and diffuse colour placement, as well as triggers, waypoints and scripts that help populate each area. It's still a time consuming task which takes away from the train of thought that I need to continue pushing out conversations, journals, and plots that help bring the adventure and areas together, but it needed to be done. So for anyone who happened to download Lord of Worm's Cypress Tileset v2.0, I've axed it from Fate of the Auren. Why? Well, the intention was to upgrade it to the latest version, which sadly has not come to surface after a 2009 mention it would be released very, very soon. Now I do like the Cypress Tileset a lot! It's able to create a wonderful atmosphere and it's not like it didn't lack anything I needed specifically to tell the story. BUT ... a few tiles were hard to move along depending on how the area was laid out, such as a log crossing or even the wooden planks which made a bridge from one tile to the other. This caused the annoying Neverwinter Nights movement "no-no sound", despite being able to move through using the WASD keys. In the hope version 3.0 was to be released, I held off from developing a particular region and I can't justify sitting on it any longer. I've integrated a smaller 2meg tileset into the main Fate of the Auren hak to replace the Cypress Tileset. That brings Fate of the Auren down an extra download. Instead of four, it's now three. Lord of Worm's Seasonal Tileset [REQUIRED] Fate of the Auren HAK [REQUIRED] Fate of the Auren Music [RECOMMENDED] Here's a few before and after shots now that all the work is complete with this revamp.   |
| In and Out! | 09.30.12 |
Sometimes ... even for a Weaver, it's hard to resist There's a difference when a Weaver decides to hit the streets in the middle of the night compared to those so-called thief guilds. With the ability to bind a few spells, one may attempt to get past locked doors or even slip by posted guards undetected. Even when the unexpected occurs, a member of the Auren Society of Weavers can still bind a weave to charm someone, or paralyze them to buy some of that extra time just to slip back into the shadows. But what happens when everything works as planned and you find yourself inside? Should all that hard work go to waste? Slipping through locked doors is one thing, but are you the type of Weaver that has deep pockets too?  Stealing from shops is designed to be different than stealing from a home or a room at a local inn. A home or an inn room will not have a full selection of items to steal and because of this, items stolen from such places will not be marked as stolen. For the most part, homes and inn rooms offer unique encounters with those who dwell within and little odds and ends to stuff into one's pockets.  But breaking into a shop in the middle of the night to make off with a slew of stolen items, are marked as being stolen. Such items can be used freely as any other item normally would, just as if you paid for it in shards. What you won't be able to do, is sell it back to the same vendor. You can easily take everything from a shop but by doing so, you run the risk of shutting the shop down. As time goes by during the adventure and the shop has closed due to stock theft, it will no longer be able to offer new items as you gain new levels.  So how does selling stolen items work? The exact same way you'd sell a regular item, via The Stitchmen, who handle all transactions within the city of Kharé. They're a faction that keep the city clean, sniffing about in corners crunching and recycling what they find or are given, back to the shops of the city. The downside of this, is that the return on the items are far less than their true value.  Be mindful that you're a member of the Auren Society of Weavers and not a member of a local thief guild. All the best if they learn you're responsible for the recent thefts on their turf. |
| Knock, knock?! | 08.18.12 |
Sneaky little Weaver! Who said that one needs to play a thief to move about hidden in the shadows, have a quick tongue, or unlock doors? Members of the Auren Society of Weavers can do what is required, if such is called upon too. Invisibility spells are just as good as hide in shadows and a quick tongue is easily overcome by the use of spells during a conversation, as seen in Almraiven and Shadewood. But what about all of those doors folks just don't want you going through? Getting past doors that are otherwise locked by others usually calls for a thief to fiddle with the lock, shifting tumblers and unlocking the door. So, what about a member of the Auren Society of Weavers then? Fate of the Auren introduces another system to the series, expanding on the use of spells in a conversation ... with doors.  The right weave can offer a means to get past such a door, but it is wise to listen before doing so, otherwise one could very well enter uninvited.  Of course, not all locks are made the same. Quality does matter when using a weave on a locked door, and success is not always a sure thing. This member of the Auren Society of Weavers has stumbled across a poor quality lock.   Despite being well versed in this particular weave, this member of the Auren Society of Weavers didn't take the time to knock on the door to see if anyone was inside, and he enters too eagerly.  An approaching guard, spear tip pointed toward the Weaver, questions those she has been paid to protect.  Staying at an inn and want to look around? Or maybe you'd rather roam the night streets after preparing a number of Acid Splash, Knock and Invisibility spells. What about a locked shop. Dare take the chance of slipping in and stuffing a few pockets? Well, you can, if that's your fancy. |
| Camping | 05.05.12 |
Replenishing one's Spirit! Despite no longer existing in the Land of the Living, a spirit should familiarize themselves with taking care of their own projection. A spirit still requires their own projected self in the Land of the Dead to rest. Wounds caused by other projections, hostile or otherwise, still require healing. Energy lost from a spirit, requires replenishing. What once was, is still relatively the same. Such similarities from one realm to the next does offer some comfort and can keep your spirit in existence within the woven bind of the realm itself.  Introduced in Shadewood, camping played a part in allowing one to rest and memorize spells without the need of finding an inn or returning to one's laboratory. As in the previous module, one must find a campsite, have a camping kit, and some wood. Igniting the wood by using a camping kit removes the limit on how long the campfire burns. This is now replaced by a water bucket to douse the flames when one's spirit is ready to move on. If the wood is set aflame with a Flare Weave rather than a camping kit, the fire only burns for a limited time.  The Mixing Container is the newest addition to the modified camping system. It allows the creation of basic potions and mixtures that the Auren Society of Weavers make use of and need more in their travels than some of the complicated brews which can only be mixed in a laboratory. Finding growing reagents in the wild no longer requires one to make a journey all the way back to their laboratory to brew a simple potion that can heal one's projection. Now, it can be done while on the road.  Finally, there is the cooking pot and spit, also used along with the camping kit and wood. The cooking pot will allow one to cook mixtures, such as vegetable soup or even beef vegetable soup, which can replenish a spirit's energy if one does not have access to healing potions. Although, such substitutes is by no means better than the offered energy of a healing potion.  The spit cooks raw meat, such as beef, chicken and fish. Such levels of protein can be easily mixed with vegetables or fruit for a good pot of warm soup, for that quick hearty meal on the go. And to ease the mind of any who are pondering, eating is not a requirement in Fate of the Auren. It is there to use or not and plays no part besides offering a player more options when potions are on short supply. Fruit and vegetables will heal the energy of a spirit by one point. While mixing beef, vegetables or fruit into a bubbling pot, allows for more variety and recipes to any who enjoy such details. |
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