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NWN the Original Game & Way Beyond!

Discussion in 'Neverwinter Nights (Classic)' started by Bad, Jun 1, 2011.

  1. Bad Gems: 1/31
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    I purchased my NWN Diamond edition like millions of others. I played through the main campaign like most NWN owners and then hit Game Spy in search of more content.

    I found some things I liked and many I didn’t. Much of the stuff was amateur at best, so the game sat gathering dust on my bookshelf.

    Then one night out of boredom (I had just beat Shogun Art of War for the umpteenth time) I went hunting in, Game Spy’s Action section.

    That is when I discovered the best kept secret on the internet
    This persistent world is so good, it should be on every gamer’s bucket list of games to be tried, before they pry the mouse from your cold dead hands.

    The best part is its totally free!!! Yes if you own NWN you are ready to play right now, and no cheesy asking for money for more content etc, FREEEE.
    If you own NWN with all the expansions, or if you are considering buying NWN now, your first stop should be:

    http://highergroundpoa.proboards.com/index.cgi . Click the getting started button and it will take you through everything you need to do to get into the mod.

    BTW This not some sales pitch I have no affiliation with them and they have no idea I wrote this, and yes I am a real person, feel free to drop me a PM with questions, my login is Bad (Bin So Bad) on the above mentioned board.

    P.S. if you see me in game (I am on way too often) let me know if I was right or not.

    P.P.S. This week my guild is tagging though the abyss in the hopes of returning the wand of Orcus to Pelor. I am appending the run ad i put together. It won't mean much till you get in game and get an idea of what this is :) .

    [​IMG]
     
  2. Gondy Gems: 1/31
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    For lovers of the good ol games.

    I actually got into playing Neverwinter Nights through my aunt's boyfriend. He got me into playing paper and pencil DnD then gave me games like Baldur's Gate and Icewindale. Eventually he got both him and myself the diamond edition of Neverwinter Nights. After a while of searching around for persistent worlds online we come accross Higher Ground and have been stuck ever since. I have played nearly every game you can think off but I keep coming back to this game, it's a classic. My playernames are Gondaulgrym and Dametrius Dingleberry. Hit me up as well in game and let me know what you think.
     
  3. Bad Gems: 1/31
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    Thursday night was a blast for me on HG, my usual gaming group ran a party of 10 through Gaping Maw 3 which is the area leading up to and encompassing the abode of Demogorgon (Demon Lord) we blew through the place in about 2.5 hours. And everyone picked up their piece of the wand of Orcus.

    Having 3 Sorcerers really help speed things up as we just blasted most of the opposition if short order. For those of you that don’t know there is a bigger reason for going after Demo.

    HG has 5 quests in the abyss, to give you an idea of how this works I will copy a section of http://wiki.hgweb.org/wiki/Main_Page that best describes the quests.

    Background

    Orcus is a very old demon. Like many of the most powerful demon lords who struggle for power in the Abyss, Orcus started his existence as a mortal on the Prime Plane. He was apparently a wicked spellcaster of some sort, most probably a priest to some dark deity. After his death, his soul, like the souls of all chaotic evil mortals, went to the Abyss and Orcus began his afterlife as a lowly larva.

    Orcus proceeded to climb through the demonic ranks in the next several thousand years, going from larva to mane, from mane to dretch, from dretch to rutterkin, from rutterkin to vrock, from vrock to glabrezu, from glabrezu to nalfeshnee and eventually a balor.

    From there, he ascended to the rank of demon lord, becoming the Prince of the Undead and ruling the layer of Thanatos, the Belly of Death. Even though there are other demon lords aspiring to the title of Prince of the Undead, Orcus' claim to the title has gone unchallenged for the most part. Ever hungry for more power, Orcus wanted to be recognized as Prince of Demons, a title held by Demogorgon and coveted also by Graz'zt. As a result, he became the arch-enemy of both demon lords. In time, Orcus also achieved true godhood.

    However, shortly after his divine ascension, Orcus was slain by the drow demi-goddess Kiaransalee, who took over rulership of Orcus' layer of the Abyss and locked his wand away in the last layer of Pandemonium. Kiaransalee decreed that Orcus's name be erased from all existence.

    A peculiar combination of events thwarted Kiaransalee's plans. Acererak's tampering with the nature of the Negative Energy Plane, the last prayers of Quah-Nomag, and the unexpected awakening of some of the sleepers of the demiplane of Moil combined to cause the spirit of Orcus to be reanimated as an undead god. Renaming himself Tenebrous in order to help obscure himself from his enemies, Orcus traveled to ruins buried in the sands of Pelion. There, he discovered the Last Word, an utterance so powerful that it can destroy deities. The Last Word will also eventually kill those who know it unless the being is a true deity. Thus, to restore his lost divinity, Orcus went in search of his wand. During his search, Orcus killed several gods and other powerful entities, including Bwimb, Primus, and Maanzecorian. Orcus' efforts were stymied by a group of adventurers and Orcus was again destroyed, this time by the power of the Last Word.

    Orcus was resurrected by Quah-Nomag, one of his foremost high priests and thralls, in a blasphemous ritual enacted in the Astral Plane. Orcus then reclaimed his kingdom and his original name, re-proclaiming himself Prince of the Undead. However, as a result of his second death and resurrection, Orcus has lost his divinity, the ability to use the full power of the Last Word, and is a demon lord once more.

    Introduction

    Although Quah-Nomag's dark rite returned Orcus from the dead, the power of the Last Word shattered Orcus' wand into five separate parts. Orcus retained his grip on one, the skull, but the other four fled their master into the depths of the Abyss. Since then, they have worked their way into the possession of four of the other demon lords.

    The Wand of Orcus is an incredibly powerful artifact when fully assembled, but the component parts have little power by themselves. Four of the demon lords each seek to acquire the complete Wand, which would surely cement their claim to be Prince of Demons. Not only would this turn the tide of the Blood War in their favor, but with the full power of the Abyss at their command, they would be able to strike at the Upper Planes.

    The diviners of Pelor have not been idle. Having felt the restless search of the demon lords, they have also begun an attempt to recover the five parts. If the Wand could somehow be brought to the Fortress of the Sun, the power of the Sun would be able to destroy it, and the balance of power would shift to the forces of light. But doing so is fraught with deadly peril, as the risk of the Wand's destruction would bring the warring demon lords together to prevent such a loss.

    After this some of my friends went to help 6 newer players start their journey through the 9 hells by running Avernus (Abode of Tiamat and her consorts), followed by Dis (The abode of Dispater).

    I went ahead and got a group together for the Arcane Academy so that I could finish my wizard’s proxy (This is a way for older characters to get a chance to get the new accomplishments they missed because those tags were not around when they were created and leveled.)

    That’s it for now,

    Bad
     
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    Update Orcus and Thanatos

    Thursday and Friday Nights:

    Thanatos the abode of Orcus is s a frigid place filled with undead. For the past two nights and with gritted teeth we have worked our way through all 9
    layers and into his citadel of Everlost.

    Getting in is only the first challenge. Hartoon who is the gate keeper for Orcus is a super Lich who has 7 phylacteries that must be destroyed before you can actually harm him. Over time we have developed a technique that is a kind of cat and mouse game to avoid having to fight the same battle 7 times.

    Even using this technique this can still be quite challenging and will test most parties resolve.

    Last night’s Orcus fight was quite close. On the surface we won and took him down in under 3 minutes. But having fought him many times as a demon Lord and 4 times as Prince of Demons, I could see the writing on the wall, as players began to go down become incapacitated from the various effects and kick back from the rest of Orcus’ spawn.

    Even as Orcus was near death I could see, that the many debilitating effects focused on the party were taking their toll. Plus the Blood winds (Party Kick Back Mobs) where playing havoc with the casters that needed to use Area of Effect spells on Orcus.

    As is often the case, party composition is the key to success, often times parties will just not have enough quick damage to take down a Demon Lord before his summons overwhelm them. This coupled with a party’s lack of strategy can be fatal to the overall effort.

    I am looking forward to this evenings assault on Zyon 1,2,3 and our showdown with Obox-Ob.
     
  5. Rotku

    Rotku I believe I can fly Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    I find it brilliant that NWN is still getting use :) The PW I play on long ago moved to NWN2 and closed down their NWN1 servers - something I still feel was a mistake. The original NWN is such a great game for online play.
     
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    NWN1 PW Content

    I totally agree with you.

    But I must say that if Higher Ground was not this amazingly good and adictive I would be playing something else.

    But between the friends I have there and content, that is better than most (Pay Monthly) games; I am hooked and thus doing my little part to let people know that we are still running and having a blast on this old game.

    I would love for you to come over and take a look.

    Hope to cya there,

    Bad

    I am on everynight 8:00pm east coast time so if you get on send me a tell:

    use !tell "Bin So Bad" whatever you want to say. I would be happy to help you get started.
     
  7. Bad Gems: 1/31
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    Another Thursday Night on Higher Ground

    My group has been slowly been collecting tags and the pieces to the Wand of Orcus while adventuring in the abyss as preparation for returning the pieces of the Wand of Orcus to Pelor for its final destruction.

    Last night was our final night of tagging for the first of two scheduled attempts. Many in the group needed the wand piece held by Obox-ob to have a full set. And this is why last night once again found us in Zyon the twisted horror infested realm of the Demon Lord of insects.

    The main challenge of this run is keeping characters from being infected by the Ekolids (Insectoid Demons). Just being in their presence is enough for a low saves caster to become infected. If this happens, the character begins to grow Ekolid eggs inside their body, making it difficult to concentrate, then causing excruciating pain and finally culminating in a scene much like the alien movies where hatching Ekolids overwhelm their host and hatch from the host’s body to plague the group with more and more Ekolids.

    I have had numerous experiences with newer parties where the entire screen was completely filled with Ekolids from infection allowed to progress unchecked.

    Last night we cautiously made our way through the twisting tunnels leading to Obox’s throne room using a puller (a character with greater sanctuary, Mordenkainens Disjunction and black blades of disaster).

    The idea is that they encounter the spawn first mord them to get their spell resistance down, and the use a black blade to lead them back to the party which is set up at a choke point with area of effect spells ready.

    Barring a random spawn which can land on the party, this allows some control over where the fight will take place and provides a terrain tactical advantage to the players.

    Using this technique we were able to reach Obox-ob’s throne room in about and hour of game time, and were now ready for the trickiest part of any part 3 abyss run.

    Because Demon Lords are able to summon at a very fast rate (Around every 30 seconds or so), any party wishing to beat them is forced to really bring the fire power to take them down quickly.

    Unlike the Hells where it is often possible for under powered parties to wear a spawn down by slowly picking it apart, in a Demon Lord fight you are done one way or the other in a fairly short time.

    Last night’s party had 3 arcanes and with proper tanking and support the party was able to make short work of Obox-ob, this is the only way to go because long term exposure out in the open to so many Ekolids as the Obox spawn is quite large would invariably lead to massive infection issues and a wipe.

    After finishing off Obox, some of the more crazy hmm I mean intrepid group members tried to go after Graz’tz Lord of Azzagrat with a party of 4. We learned the hard way that the party mix must be exactly right or a party that small cannot deliver damage fast enough to Graz’tz to bring him down.

    To the party’s credit we did reach the throne room and cleared his throne room spawn several times until we were forced to conclude that the damage output we brought was just not enough to take him down before he was able to summon more and more minions.

    All in all quite a fun night, I hope this gave you a bit of an understanding what some of the very tough end game content on high ground is like.

    Btw I am on every night at 8:00pm east coast US time. If you get on and need a bit of help or direction starting out feel free to send me a tell using our chat commands (Type: !tell “bin so bad” then your message).

    I look forward to meeting you online and introducing you to this amazing world.
     
  8. Bad Gems: 1/31
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    The Deepest Abyss (1 click away from disaster)

    The Deepest Abyss (1 click away from disaster)


    Most of us live on a razor’s edge every day. Since a well balanced and brilliantly conceived persistent world like higher ground tends to be an excellent mirror of an alternate world/life the risks and dangers on higher ground tend to be magnified and force the player to really appreciate the fine line between victory and disaster.

    Last night we attempted to take on Orcus Lord of the Undead in his frigid abode of Thanatos. Orcus is never an easy run. He is well defended by legions of Undead as well as a very elaborate system of keys and phylacteries.

    Of course, getting to Orcus is the relatively easy, if time consuming part of the adventure. It is fighting Orcus in the citadel of his power while attended by a huge host of his minions were you really begin to appreciate the tiny margin for error that a party of adventurers really has.

    Last night all went well as we got ready to set up for the final confrontation with Orcus. When getting ready to take on an Abyssal Lord, positioning can often make the difference between win or wipe. So not wanting to take chances we opted to set up behind his throne, which is a highly defensible area that should afford us an extra 15-30 seconds of safety in which to focus all of our abilities on bringing down Orcus before his summons begin to appear.

    But, mischance is fickle, thus last night one of our players miss-clicked on Orcus while trying to get into position. This miss-click began the fight immediately with the party in absolute disarray.

    Hoping to salvage the situation, I gave the order for everyone to focus on Orcus in an effort to bring him down fast.

    Using Epic Wall around myself I set up toward the north east corner of the room and began trying to take out blood winds using greater ruins which would enable me to open up and use evards black tentacles, incendiary cloud and delayed blast fireballs on the spawn.

    I knew that I was taking some big risks here, surrounded by epic wall and with several kick back mobs still in the spawn I would need to watch my health like a hawk. Blocking all this out I began to cast and cast, there is almost a Zen like feeling to watching your casting queue fill up as you go through an arcane casters formula of destruction. Evards, evards, cloud, dbf, dbf, dbf each cast is 3 seconds 20 seconds in I can see the Balors making their way around the main spawn and Orcus to get to the party. Ok now Starfire (A high damage epic spell usable only once per day) and Orcus is Injured.

    Things are on target and we may be able to recover. 30 seconds in immute (Immutable Force a druid epic which makes the party invulnerable for approximately 30 seconds) is down and Orcus is beginning to summon, the artaglith in the back of the spawn is summoning zombies at an exponential rate. The zombies kick back is beginning to get past my resists. I have used my 2 ruins on blood winds at the start of the fight.

    I bio (Bios are magical pots that restore a casters spells, but are only usable every 5 minutes.) ok ruin the artaglith, precious seconds tick by as I carefully target on the atratglith within a writhing mass of creatures at the far end of the spawn.

    The ruin hits but the artaglith does not go down, ok keeping my fingers crossed as I attempt to use my second and last greater ruin. My targeting if good and he goes down. But as I re-focus on the main spawn the room is literally awash with abyssal zombies and several blood winds.

    Being out of ruins my only hope is that our cleric is able to implode the blood winds fast enough for me to bring the pain to Orcus. I queue fire orbs which are a targeted spell to at least keep his regeneration to a minimum as I wait on the cleric to clear the blood winds.

    Roughly 50 seconds into the spawn, my epics wall is breached. The very experienced tanks in the party react quickly to close the breach with their bodies buying me a few more seconds in which to Starfire Orcus again. The whole massive spawn seems to wilt under the huge wave of magic energy I unleash. I can see my life bar plummet as I take massive kick back from the spawn.

    A slight smile plays across my lips as I see Orcus at Badly Injured even as my character dies under a full press of monsters and overwhelming kick back.

    I hope this gives you a bit of an intro to the very challenging end game areas that are available on Higher Ground.
     
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    Obox-ob Prince fight tonight and some more

    Obox-ob Prince fight tonight

    Tonight for the 3rd time in Higher ground History, our group of insane hmm I mean intrepid adventurers will take on Obox-Ob as Prince of Demons.

    This is going to be a battle for the ages with the fate of the universe hanging in the balance. Nearly a month worth of abyss runs will culminate in this showdown between good and evil.

    I love Higher Ground for these epic endgame battles, huge spawns backing up some of the deadliest foes known to Dungeons and Dragons. What better way to spend an evening with friends than on this epic quest. The suspense building with each passing night as you get closer and closer to this one night and this major challenge.

    As I write this, I am thinking about the changes and updates coming to HG very soon. Limbo the mysterious plane and Paragon area, and the 66th layer of the abyss and facing down Lolth* in her true goddess form, then finally the Elder Evils; wow that is going to be some amazing content.

    When I first heard about the Elder Evils and the Paragon areas in the pipeline I knew it was time for us to plan and build for the future. Now we are almost ready, the guild has 9 players able to field level 80 paragons to defend the universe against this new peril.

    Right after Obox-ob we will again face Demogorgon and his offspring Arendagrost** in the last demon prince fight for quite a while as our next step will be a grand cycle of the hells which will include 5 demigod tags for those who are up to the challenge.

    We are doing this in final preparation for the elder evils and paragon areas yet to be released. It is a time to learn and a time to teach as we get ready for the future.

    *According to the Forgotten Realms storyline, Lolth began as an intermediary goddess abiding in the sixty-sixth layer of the Abyss, the Demonweb Pits. Through the events that transpired in War of the Spider Queen series, she transformed herself into a greater goddess as she is depicted now in 4th edition, the Demonweb Pits becoming its own plane.

    **According to accounts at the time, "The beast vaguely resembled an immense wingless dragon of gargantuan size. Instead of legs, it moved upon a sea of tentacles. In place of scales, it was covered in coarse black fur and had three heads that resembled monstrous horned fiends that breathed bloody acid, fire, and frost. Its six-fold eyes offered instant death to anyone catching their hideous gaze..."

    ---------- Added 22 hours, 47 minutes and 10 seconds later... ----------

    The thud heard round the Universe, (Obox-ob as Prince has fallen)

    Last night’s Obox-Ob as prince of demon’s fight was an impressive testament to team work and everyone knowing their jobs.

    I have found that huge endgame runs such as this really seem to bring the group together, and the sum becomes greater than the individual parts.

    The key to a Demon Prince is on everyone focusing their fire power on him. Though that is not really enough, everything must happen in the correct order with each class knowing what to do when.

    Thus one of your arcanes starts the spawn with Death of Magic, initiating the fight so that the rest of the Prince spawn appears without buffs etc.

    Then a well timed Immutable Force is key, this gives the group a much needed 30 seconds of invulnerability. The druid then needs to use Natures Frailty, to bring down the Prince’s spell resistance as fast as possible, if this is followed up with several Natures’ Balance spells, then this allows the arcanes to get to work.

    It is the Tanks job to be on the Prince applying pressure and keeping his regeneration in check. If they have used a Constitution enhancing artifact and have Breath of the Beast available, this is the time to use it and inflict the prince with fire vulnerability for a short time.

    The cleric needs to get Blade Barrier under the Prince and being using mass heals on the party to keep us fighting.

    Our Bard must Curse quick and use taunt on the Prince to bring his ac down thus giving the tanks an opening to do their jobs. Healing spirit and healing circle are his next priorities. As well as a quick song for anyone who goes down.

    Just as Immute is about to go down it is up to the leader to time and call for Starfires (this Epic spell does a large amount of magic damage in a large area and inflicts magic vulnerability for a short time.) If the Starfires are well timed, this also provides another few seconds breathing room.

    Once all this is in place; then it finally comes down to who wants it most, and how much heart your party has. As people go down and are resurrected only to go down again. This is when people start thinking about limbo; this is when parties break as one then two then most begin hiding in Greater Sanctuary looking for a way out of the crushing spawn.

    These epic battles are the forge fires for true heroes, they are the test and temper of their will to fight and these fires burn bright every night on Higher Ground.

    Just want to share a tiny taste of a Demon Prince Fight.

    http://bb.hgweb.org
     
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    Special Event - The Hunt for Malcanthet

    [​IMG]


    The Hunt for Malcanthet Queen of the Succubi​


    The Plane of Portals is a place of infinite possibilities and infinite danger. Those Adventurers unlucky or foolish enough to spend any time in that perilous place know that danger is always waiting.

    Expect the unexpected, watch for the most subtle of signs; the nearly imperceptible tingle of electricity in the air, or even more enticing, the scent of perfume wafting though the plane of portals.

    It is rumored that the Plane of Portals is not just the territory of Pazuzu, but that recently a half mad paladin was seen staggering though Zariel’s workshop rambling on about a demoness of such unspeakable beauty that to see her once, was to have her vision seared into your mind’s eye forever.

    What little could be gleaned from his disjointed account, is that this was no mere demoness, but a Lord of the Abyss, her fearsome power and cruelty akin to that of Graz’tz or Demogorgon.

    Those traveling though the Plane, should be warned against following a sweet seductive scent that is this Demon Lord’s sirens song and calling card.

    It was only after Zariel consulted with the Sage of Ascension, and auguries were cast, that a new threat facing the known Universe was made apparent.

    It was made clear, that Demogorgon in aspiring to claim the Wand of Orcus for himself, and become the Prince of Demons. Is attempting to enlist the aid of Malcanthet ruler of the 570th plane of the abyss and the mother of his offspring Arendagrost.

    Emissaries have arranged a meeting between the two, but the auguries are not clear on the exact timing of the event. It is believed that there are two possible times at which this alliance could be consummated.

    In the hope of preventing the alliance, Zariel has sent out a call for a group of adventurers, with immense power, and hopefully fortuitous timing, who would brave the dangers of the Plane of Portals, defeat Malcanthet and her guardians, thus preventing this meeting, and ending this new threat to the universe.

    The auguries have also hinted, that Malcanthet may be carrying on her person an item so rare and powerful as to be the first of its kind to be found in the known universe.

    This is a Special Event Brought to you by the Hard Working Dev & DM team of Higher Ground.
     
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    Impressions from the First Ever Hunt for Malcanthet.

    [​IMG]

    I think it was a mixture of excitement and anticipation that made everything seem so clear and sharp during the hunt.



    As we entered the Plane of Portals I could feel a tension in the air akin a held breath waiting to exhale.



    From the first spawn, you could tell that something was different, though you could not quite put your finger on it.



    For those of us who thought that we were there to hunt down a mistress of
    the abyss it quickly became apparent that it was we who were the hunted. In this strange barren landscape, we were the outsides and the hosts at Malcanthet’s command came at us in huge waves, surging and Uncontrollable.

    The party was composed of seasoned veterans; we worked as a fine tuned machine, each knowing their job and doing it in time with the swirls and eddies of combat.



    Over the span of about an hour we made our way thought the different maps
    of the plane. With Malcanthet’s minions probing our strengths and our weaknesses at every turn.



    Outside the portal to Gaping Maw which leads to the planes ruled by Demogorgon, we thought she would make her stand. The sheer size of the spawn was unnerving to behold. But our killing machine honed through countless hours spent in the abyss went to work; the tanks keeping the huge spawn at bay while casters rained fire and destruction on Malcanthet’s host.



    Then just as quickly as we saw her, she was gone, fleeing deeper into Gaping Maw and toward her ex-consort Demogorgon.



    We boldly went though the portal hot on her heels. It was in the Screaming Jungle with Malcanthet’s minions mixing with Demogorgon’s, that we began to move more cautiously thus slowing our progress for a time.



    Seeing our resolve, it became clear to Malcanthet that we would not relent and return home empty handed, Malcanthet had no choice but to lay her final trap for us.

    As we entered the great square of Lemorux the capital of Demogornon’s Realm, a host was arrayed against us of such immense size that I could not even begin to get a sense if their numbers.



    Having grown accustomed to victory the group waded into this sea of demons without hesitation. But the sheer press of numbers began to slowly push us back. Succubi, Incubi, Glabrizu, anchored by Balors and Marilliths began to push back the ten stalwarts who dared invade their plane and threaten one of their lords.



    For a long time the battle teetered on a knife’s edge. But the enemy’s numbers took their toll and we were pushed all the way back to the entrance of the plaza. Our backs against the wall, we knew that it was now or never.



    Maximus our weapon master planted himself in front of the spawn, and basically said to the entire host to here and not an inch further. He was backed up by Sora the ranger, Jaerilla our rogue, Vagrant our Paladin and Trevelyan our indestructible bard as they rallied around him and tried to form a wall that would give the casters room to work.



    Wandaerris, one of the two sorcerers in the party began a never ending rain of power word kills on the host. But as quickly as one demon died. three or four would rush in to take the fallen demon’s place.



    Chrysalis our druid bravely waded into the host attempting to nature’s balance as many of the demons as he could, only to be brought low by the crushing numbers of the enemy. Estrella our cleric was a blur as she ran thought the swirling chaos
    to greater restore and resurrect downed party members.



    Retribution our shifter was in beholder shape firing ray after ray at the never ending mob arrayed against us.



    It was then, as four of the party were down and the host was starting its final assault on us; I saw her in the crowd. Malcanthet our goal was here and helping direct her minions from the fringes. I suspected that this was really her last attempt to destroy this party of hunters who thought they were a match for her and her minions.



    Seeing no alternative, I knew that someone would have to begin to really bring the pain to this huge host, but this could only be done from an unassailable position.



    Right behind me was a small alcove between two buildings. Quickly making my way there I used my transmutation epic to wall around myself. This would buy me time.



    Setting Evards Black Tenticles, and cold clouds I got ready to take the host head on. There is a kind of zen a caster falls into at such times. Thunder claps flew from my fingers and began to concuss the spawn, I fired one after another cueing them as quickly as I could.



    I was floating high above the host in my tiny world of destruction. I could see Max dueling Malcanthet right up against my wall so switched focus to right in front of the epic wall, and continued my shower of destruction upon her and those creatures lapping around the wall.



    People were down and resurrecting each other as a final press of 20 or so elite monsters came crashing upon us. For me there was no pause just keep casting. It was then that I looked down and saw that I was down to 5 or 6 spells. My mind was racing, and I began to think that even this effort may not be enough against such overwhelming odds.



    Just as I began reaching for a biojuvinator to restore some of my spells, I heard a cheer go up from the party, Malcanthet was down!!



    Once again I just wanted to share a small taste of what the Special Events on Higher Ground are like.



    www.http://bb.hgweb.org
     
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    Pale Night Special Event (Extreme)

    [​IMG]


    Pale Night!

    It was the dark of the moon, The Palace of the Sun was still, the perfume of the gardens and the play of the water along the canals adding to a sense of quietude and peace.

    A peace that was not shared by the palace’s ruler.

    Upon a golden couch the lord of the sun tossed and turned in a restless fevered sleep.

    “The Mother, she is the danger” he mutters

    “She will take the wand in place of her son”, very faint.

    “All the worlds in ruins, the Obyriths returned through the power of the Wand, Noooooo!”

    Pelor sat bolt upright, as he was jolted out of a troubled sleep. Old he was and wise, but this night he felt all of his millennia, and looked more like an old man full of angst than the greater god he was.

    “Send a Deva to Zerial, the danger is great and time is short. Someone must be found who can prevent what I have just seen from happening.”

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *​
    Through much research and divining, it has been learned that Graz’tz’s mother Pale Night who is an Obyrith, a race so ancient and powerful as to predate Demon kind, will attempt dupe her own son in an attempt to steal the Wand of Orcus from him.

    Should she succeed, Pale Night intends to use the wand’s power over undeath to bring back the race of Obyriths in an attempt to once again rule all of the planes of existence.

    It has been learned that a party of adventurers seeking the wand's parts, have negotiated a pact with Graz’tz and are close to having all the pieces of the wand in their possession.

    Pale Night intends to confront the adventurers, take the wand’s pieces from them before they can reach her son.

    Thus the Celestial Council has formulated a very desperate plan. A group of adventurers of truly extreme power must infiltrate the very heart of Graz’tz domain, Azzarat Palace.

    Shielded buy the powers of good, they will appear to Pale Night as the party that is bringing the wand pieces to Graz’tz for their reward.

    It is hoped, that this ruse may draw Pale Night to the party allowing them to find and bring to battle a being that has a form so twisted as to be beyond the ken of mortals and gods alike.


    Disclaimer:
    This is a Higher Ground extreme event; it is only open to characters that are x5 demi and above. The risk of multiple limbos is very high! You have been warned!

    As an Extreme Event the DM’s gloves are off, and no mercy will be shown!
    But the rewards will be great as well!



    There will be only 2 events, should more than 20 players wish to participate DM staff will roll to determine who gets the spots.

    Repeats will only be allowed to fill cores for the event and only at the last minute.

    In fairness to those who are not x5 demi but wish to participate. The event will be scheduled 5 weeks out so as to allow those players time to demi and become eligible.

    Once again thank you HG DM/ DEV team for making this possible.

    Since this event is scheduled 5 weeks out the DM staff has asked me to remind you that a no show without warning will result in the player not being eligible to pre register for events and said player will be allowed to participate in events as a last minute standby only from then on.​
     
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    Neverwinter Nights Higher Ground Pet a Paluzza:

    Neverwinter Nights Higher Ground Pet a Paluzza:

    Last night I logged onto Higher Ground to start our nightly guild run and had to chuckle out loud as I was greeted by a menagerie of strange creatures standing on the docks of Ascension.

    There was a Balor, Dragon, Dust White, Sanguineous Drinker and an Adaru all hanging out on the docks like a vignette from the Star Wars cantina (Minus the music thankfully).

    As I stepped on the docks, immediately I got tells from three different players asking me if I have tried out the new pets! New pets who, what?

    Well the HG Dev team is always working on something amazing and this was no exception. Pretty much all the summons at every level, familiars and epic summons have all been reworked to scale up to their master’s level. Add to this that the variety has been drastically increased as well and you have a Pet a Paluzza.

    Many regular players on the mod, logged in and began trying out all of these new helpers. I must admit that my Pariah (A class specific to Higher Ground) did join in this mission of discovery, summoning my little pixie to see if her open locks, find traps and other skills had been bumped. And they had! That means that my Pix will be even more useful than usual what a great surprise!

    Once we started our run Werehound Silverfang (Who is an HG DM and Dev) was playing a cleric as we ran Stygia (The fifth layer of the Hells). He was having a blast and making us all laugh with the quantity and variety of the summons his cleric was able produce. It was a very fun memorable run as his cleric produced Balors, Pit Fiends, Maryliths, Adaru was well as dominating an Orthon to help out the party.

    Thus I would count Higher Ground’s Pet a Paluzza a huge success.

    bb.hgweb.org (Come try it out and join the fun)

    Bad
     
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    New Front End for Higher Ground!

    Great News!

    Our tireless Dev Team has just put up a new front end for the Mod,

    I think it turned out very well and wanted to invite anyone considering playing in a persistant world on Neverwinter Nights to come take a look.


    highergroundnwn.net/index.html

    Also take a look at the Video one of our DMs made of the Mod, thay are quite good.



    [You only put the video ID between the YT tags; check how I edited the post. -Tal]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 19, 2015
  15. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    You should ask the DM to enable embedding so that it'd work here...
     
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    New Web Site for Higher Ground

    First off, Thank You DMs for your help in embedding the video :) that is much better.

    Now for the big news!

    The extremely hard working developement team of Higher ground has gotten their web site up and running.

    Now users can download all the required content without having to search though the boards.

    Nice work guys!

    http://highergroundnwn.net/

    Come take a look and as always give it a try you will get hooked.

    If you do I am on most days at 6:00pm Pacific time, my sign ins are:

    Bin So Bad
    Has Bin Bad
    Bad Company

    I would be happy to introduce you around and help get you started.
     
  17. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    Actually the embedded videos still don't work because their author has disabled it.
     
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