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The Inner Sanctum
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| 1. | Exit to the Vale of Merdelain. At this point, all but two of your companions are now in your party. You can now rest up before stepping through the door. | |
| 2. | Step through the door and you’ll have your final confrontation with the big cheese of the Shadow Reavers, Black Garius. Here he makes some concerted efforts at sweet talking some of your comrades into joining him. |  |
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One of them is Neeshka who will now show up. Garius has apparently abducted her and some time exploiting her infernal heritage in an effort to persuade her to join him and turn against you. If you fail an influence check with her, she will turn against you. Otherwise, she stays on your side. Bishop will also show up with some bile to spit out. If you can make an influence check with him, you can convince him to withdraw from the conflict but you won’t get him back onto your side. If you fail this check, he will fight against you and he will also compete with Grobnar for control of the Blade Golem if it has been rebuilt into a joinable companion. If you fail an influence check with Grobnar, the Blade Golem will join Garius. The animosity between Qara and Sand reaches its breaking point and the one with whom you have lower influence will automatically join Garius. With the other one you must still succeed at an influence check to avoid having him or her defect as well. Garius sets his wiles on Ammon Jerro as well and you must make an influence check with Ammon. It is actually of no consequence and wether you succeed only effects the tone of Ammon's reply to Garius. Now it is time for battle. There is now an invisible barrier that your fighters can walk around to reach him, or can be cut down, but both will take time and well… They’re better used to take down the Balor and all the undead that Garius will plant right at your feet. The barrier does allow missile weapons and spells to pass through though, so have your other characters give it their all in this regard. Garius and his new friends should fall under a sustained assault. | ||
| 3. | Here is the portal to the Shadow Weave. Click on it and the Shadow King will appear. Take the time to rest up first. If you’re evil in your alignment, he’ll try to persuade you to join him. If you do, you’ll have to fight the rest of your companions by yourself. If you persuaded Bishop to withdraw, he’ll now join your side. You can ‘cheat’ by stripping the characters of all their equipment and emptying their spellbooks before resting. If you’re good or neutral, or refuse his offer, then it is time to fight. |  |
| The first form of the Shadow King is pretty straightforward and will go down in a sustained melee attack. The caveat to this is that just being near him causes level drain and the risk of poisoning as well. There’s two ways around this. One is to have everybody, or nearly everybody, equipped with items that protect against poisoning or draining while the one who doesn’t keeps their distance. In NWN2 this is actually quite tenable. The alternative is cast Undeath’s Eternal Foe before you engage him. Once he goes down… seemingly…. | ||
| He splits apart into 20 to 30 mini-Kings of Shadows. This can get pretty hairy. A standard attack is for Ammon to unleash Web of Purity when enough of them show up so that they’re held in place, and then for your PC to unleash Cleansing Nova. Party friendly area effect spells like Chain Lightning and Firestorm also go a long way here, as will your Aurora Chain power which allows your fighters to inflict extra damage. Once they’re gone… |  | |
| The last incarnation of the King of Shadows arrives, and it is much bigger than the first one. It regenerates super fast and once in a while unleashes a spell like power that covers a huge area and inflicts lots of cold and negative energy damage. This likely makes use of Mass Heal or a Rod of Resurrection charge or two necessary. You must now ‘bash’ all 5 of the statues marked by #4 into oblivion to weaken him and make him vulnerable to lasting defeat. Once all five statues are gone, you must now destroy the portal. The usual item for this is the Sword of Gith. The Hammer of Ironfist also works. The Warlock’s Vitriolic Blast and very high level offensive spells will also work. Have Haste cast on your characters with the right weapons in order to speed the process. |  | |
| Once that is done, you can now defeat the King of Shadows for good. He will fall under a sustained melee assault. He also has a tendency to pick on one character for his melee attacks. Be sure to have Regeneration, Stoneskin and similar spells cast on that character. Once he’s cut down, he explodes in a brilliant cascade of energy. |  |
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| 4. | Locations of the five statues that must be destroyed in order to weaken the third and final form of the King of Shadows. | |
The End
Once it is all said and done, you’re treated to a sort of slideshow that describes the aftermath of what you did. Much like the Temple of Elemental Evil, it consists of a sequence of ‘blocks’ based on what you did or didn’t do in the course of the game.
There is a good ending whereby Neverwinter and the Sword Coast persevere if you defeated the King of Shadows, or an evil ending if you ended up joining with the King of Shadows.
If the King of Shadows is defeated, then the state of affairs in Neverwinter depends on who you sided with. If you sided with the watch, then the City Watch, Grey Cloaks and Many Starred Cloaks thrive with many new recruits after word of your exploits spread. If you helped the Shadow Thieves, then they become the power of Neverwinter and establish de facto rule over the city through terror.
The fate of your companions is variable as well. If any of them helped you defeat the King of Shadows, then they disappear along with your PC. If you killed them after siding with the King of Shadows, they become corrupted into his service. Elanee’s fate has the most variability. If she tried to leave you at the Circle of the Mere and you killed her, she becomes a spirit twisted by the negative energy from the King of Shadows who leads travelers to their doom in the Mere. If you allowed her to leave, she becomes a source of obscure legend, a sad elven maiden who helps travelers through the Mere.
There are also other ‘blocks’ involving Bevil, Shandra and Daeghun.
Anyway, the end.
