Pumping Irony

The village of Korthos, usually peaceful, has been besieged by a force of evil Sahuagin… and something worse.

Phase II of DDO’s new tutorial area begins when we load into Korthos Village, a public quest hub. After talking to an NPC, Randall, who is surprised at our sudden appearance in the village, we can freely explore the village with other players. The village is heavily populated with NPC villages, a vendor, class trainers and so forth. Three quest NPC’s also show on the minimap but rather than simply grabbing them all I let the story, told via the NPC’s and quest log, direct me along in sequence. Additionally, while the rest of the tutorial is multiplayer, I did the whole thing solo so I could stop and take notes and screen shots without annoying other players. Randall suggests I go see Sigmund Bauerson in the Wavecrest Tavern to continue my adventures, so off I go!

Experienced DDO players may recognize those names. Yes, it’s that Sigmund Bauerson and that Wavecrest Tavern! There are a few other familiar names as well; indeed the majority of the New Player Experience is comprised of some of the original quests from Stormreach Port where new characters began their first adventures in Stormreach. The quests have been given a facelift, in some places expanded with entirely new areas and objectives, re-imagined and totally re-purposed to fit in with the Korthos’ storyline. The quests contained in Phase II differ only slightly from their original incarnations, with different or additional mobs being the main difference along with a few cosmetic changes and occasionally minor alterations to how the objectives are completed. In Phase III, Turbine kicks it up a notch with adding all new graphics and complete renovations to the dungeons with all-new objectives that might throw off veteran players who assume they know where to go and what to do.

Like any good fantasy town bartender, Sigmund is more connected and in-the-know of what’s happening in the area than even the town’s mayor, Viggie Storr. Sigmund will serve as our central contact point during our adventures in Korthos. After telling Sigmund we’d like to help Korthos against the increasing attacks from the sahuagin we learn many people, including adventurers like ourselves, have been captured and taken alive to Misery’s Peak, the large mountain on the far side of the island where they are either never seen again or become cultists working with the sahuagin. For now, though, Sigmund suggests we speak to his daughter Kaja who has been pestering Sigmund over strange noises coming from the Heyton Family Crypt. The Heyton’s have been the most well-known families in Korthos, always taking up the charge against the sahuagin since the evil fish-men first appeared a few hundred years ago. The last surviving member of the Heyton family, an elderly wizard Lars, is missing and presumed dead but Kaja doesn’t believe this and thinks the noises in the crypt may give some clues to Heyton’s fate.

Heyton’s Rest

Upon entering the tombs we hear the wailing Kaja mentioned and see a weasely-looking fellow, Jacoby Drexelhand, standing in front of locked gates. He boasts of being unafraid of the Devourer, unlike most of Korthos’ citizens, then suggests we leave the tombs, for there are giant spiders roaming about. He’s locked the gates to keep the spiders inside. Of course, we’re intrepid adventurers! Giant spiders are right up our alley! Annoyed, Jacoby stalks outside, leaving us alone in the tombs. Sure enough, giant spiders are roaming the halls of the dusty and web-lined Heyton tomb but we also see body parts and wandering undead! Zombies and a few skeletons in the tomb! Is this why Jeets asked if we were undead when we first washed up onto Shipwreck Shore? Some more exploring reveals sahuagin adepts using altars to the Devourer and his evil magic to resurrect the Heyton family into undead minions! There are three Devourer altars spread throughout the tomb, each dedicated to a symbol: the bat, octopus, and snake. Destroying an altar reveals a magical crest of that altar’s symbol. A magical barrier protects a central antechamber but we spot three crest slots in the wall. A final crest is needed so we continue, where we enter a watery chamber where a chest is on a central platform. Gates suddenly lock us in! Pulling the lever near us open the gate on the opposite side. That chest is awful tempting anyway, let’s go see what’s inside… oh! There’s a hidden trap in the wall spewing a green mist! Acid? I’m not a rogue, and I don’t have Jeets with me so I’ll just have to wait until the acid stops to run across. After looting the chest and retrieving the final crest from the third Devourer altar and placing it into the wall slot, the barrier dissipates allowing entry into the antechamber where a final sahuagin adept has more bodies of the Heyton family on a Devourer altar. Defeating him and his zombie minions, we have searched the Heyton family tomb but no Lars Heyton. We return to Kaja with the news, who takes this as a sign Lars may indeed be alive and asks us to return to her father Sigmund. (Original quest: Quest for the Ancient Daggers)

Sigmund is thankful we discovered the sahuagin’s necromantic plans, and that Kaja is more hopeful the wizard Lars Heyton may be alive. Sigmund recalls a friend had mentioned a scroll Lars was working on prior to his disappearance and suggests we go ask Linus Weir about it. Linus is sitting on his steps watching the people in the central square of Korthos Village. He says the scroll Sigmund had mentioned was about dragons, which is of particular interest since a white dragon is the cause of the recent snow and ice in the usually warm islands of Shargon’s Teeth — including Korthos — and the dragon attacks and destroys all ships getting near the port. Oh! So that’s why we ended up washing up on shore after a shipwreck! Why a dragon might be working with sahuagin is unknown but Linus suggests Lars’ scroll may be of some use. He warns us, however, that Lars had put up a magical shield protecting the scroll. With Lars missing, it’s up to us to figure out a way to get past Lars’ protections.

The Storehouse’s Secret

We enter the Korthos Village storehouse and see three doors, one of which has a lock strapped across it and is blocked by crates and barrels. Peeking through the barred window we can see the scroll with the magical shield around it inside. There must be a key somewhere! Further exploration and fighting a few vermin infesting the storehouse such as spiders and reanimated rats — still more undead creatures? Perhaps the sahuagin in the tombs were not the last — and searching various crates and barrels in another chamber we finally find the key to the scroll’s chamber. Suddenly a hidden wall opens and a sahuagin — an orange-named miniboss — named Huul Eyx charges us demanding the key. We cannot allow the scroll to fall into the hands of the Devourer’s minions so we fight the sahuagin. Exploring the chamber Huul sprang from we find another chest to loot before proceeding into the scroll’s chamber to bypass Lars’ magical shield.

Inside the chamber, the protected scroll is in the center of an area of the floor with movable tiles. There are four magical energy sources at each corner of the floor, and the pedestal the scroll rests upon has four conduits. It’s a circuit! If we rotate the tiles in order to close the circuit so all four sources can power the pedestal, the shield should lower so we can get the dragon’s scroll!  (Original quest: Search for Rare Scrolls)

Linus says he’ll get the scroll to Sigmund and suggest we visit the tavern keeper soon for more information. Upon visiting the Wavecrest Tavern, Sigmund is convinced this white dragon is the key to the problem. If the dragon were eliminated, ships from Stormreach could provide reinforcements against the sahuagin necromancers and their cultists. However, another more pressing issue is at hand: word on the street is that another cultist raid is coming to town to destroy the village’s last remaining Cannith power crystal, the only thing keeping the village from completely freezing over. Sigmund’s friend Baldar is outside bandaging his wounded leg from the last raid, and asks that we protect the power crystal to keep the village thawed from the ice dragon’s cold magic.

The Cannith Crystal

Entering the cellar of Korthos Hall, we immediately feel the heat emanating from the magical Cannith power crystal, but from the shadows Devourer cultists attack! The objective here is to protect the crystal from 15 cultists who appear from stealth. Some are melee fighters, others are spell-casters. One of the cultists is a red-named boss, Dren Ral. While very short and straight-forward, this quest can be difficult for solo players if the cultists happen to spawn several at once. Additionally there is the potential for failure if the crystal is destroyed. I’ve played a few times now where a caster targeted the crystal instead of me and got a critical hit, destroying the power crystal! Dren Ral seems to split his attention between the player and the crystal. Additionally, new players may be introduced to debuffs in this quest, as Dren Ral can cast Bane, a -1 penalty to attack rolls and saving throws versus fear, and Doom which gives an additional -2 to attack rolls, all saves and skill checks. (Original quest: A Matter of Protection)

Returning once more to the Wavecrest Tavern, Sigmund has learned how the sahuagin have been entering the village undetected: there is a traitor in their midst! One of the villagers has willingly given themselves to the Devourer cult. The traitor knows Sigmund has discovered his identity and plans to attack Sigmund while he’s closing up shop for the night. Sigmund asks that we take his place and confront the traitor, while Sigmund’s men ambush most of the sahuagin outside.

The Collaborator

That night, the traitor enters the tavern and reveals himself to be none other than Jacoby Drexelhand, whom we first met in Heyton’s Rest, our first quest in the village. In his cowardice, he gave himself to the cult rather than being taken by them. Before we can get our hands on him, several cultists and sahuagin who got past Sigmund’s men rush inside while Jacoby flees to the cellar. After defeating all the cultists we head into the cellar after Jacoby but find an empty room with no exits. Webbed footprints on the floor lead us to a disguised switch that opens a secret door into an ancient underground passage. This must be how the sahuagin are secretly entering the village! More cultists are camped about the cavern and eventually we corner Jacoby Drexelhand, who is now a red-named boss! Assisting him are two sahuagin, then an orange-named miniboss sahuagin, Kiv Nerl who is further back in the chamber. After defeating the lot of them, Sigmund is convinced this will turn the tide and allow them to take the fight to the sahuagin! (Original quest series: Old Sully’s Grog: Taking Stock and Thwarting the Threat)

After completing The Collaborator, we enter Phase III of the new tutorial where we enter Korthos Island itself for more adventures as the story continues…

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 2nd, 2008 at 5:32 pm and is filed under DDO, MMO Gaming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.