Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer (NWN2:MotB) is a the sequel to Neverwinter Nights 2 developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari.

Players are transported back to the Forgotten Realms shortly after the events detailed in the original Neverwinter Nights 2. Following the climactic battle against the King of Shadows, the player awakens alone and stranded deep beneath the earth. Surrounded by a horde of spirits, the player embarks on an epic adventure that reveals his true destiny. The game is set in Rashemen a neighbor of powerful Thay.

The game was released on September 28, 2007.

Act I
You awake in a cavern filled with runes with your last memories being of the climatic battle between you and the King of Shadows. You feel an emptiness inside of you and realize that the shard of the Sword of Gith that was inside you is no longer there. A bald, tattooed woman dressed in red robes enters your cavern. She says that her name is Safiya, you are in Rashemen and she has been sent to retrieve you.

The two of you begin your journey to the surface but your presence has been noticed by the spirits of the place. You have to fight your way out from here on. One of the spirits, a telthor wolf, tries to talk to you but then, the emptiness left by the absent shard somehow reaches out and devours the wolf. You and Safiya, a transmuter of no small skill fight a veritable horde of telthors and elementals until you reach a chamber where you meet the spirit of a bear who calls himself Okku. No diplomacy is possible and he attacks, but you defeat him and escape outside.

Safiya takes you to the town of Mulsantir to see a woman named Lienna. You enter the Veil Theater where Lienna lives and works but find it under attack by Red Wizards. A Dwarf named Magda comes out of hiding and gives you a stone that will open a portal to the Plane of Shadow backstage. You enter it and learn that Lienna is dead, killed by the Red Wizards who you then have to defeat. When you come out again, Magda is nowhere to be seen but upon exiting the theater you are accosted by a trio of Wychlaran who tell you that Okku, a bear god that they worship has followed you and is waiting for you at the gates with a whole spirit army, hoping to kill you for invading his barrow. The only reason you aren't thrown out there to your death immediately is because of your help with the Red wizards. The Witches leader, Sheva Whitefeather offers you the chance to go to the local prison where you can offer the prisoners there their freedom if they fight the spirit army with you. Only one of the prisoners seems willing to help, an unusually attractive hagspawn Spirit Shaman named Gann.

When you are ready to meet Okku's army Gann tells you that you have to fight a certain number of spirits before Okku himself can be hurt at all. Using this information, you defeat Okku and his army. Okku lies defeated before you and the same emptiness you felt in the barrow with the wolf takes form once again and threatens to devour Okku. At this point you can resist the urge to devour him or give in to it. If you resist, Okku will pledge himself to you and finding a way to help you cure the Spirit Eater curse as he calls it.

Act II
Sheva Whitefeather sends you on a fact-finding mission to get the help you need to end the Spirit Eater Curse before it consumes you, as lore tell it has done to every bearer of it before you. 3 avenues are put towards you. You can either take a boat up River Mulsantir to see the Wood man of Ashenwood or head to the Wells of Lurue to seek help from the Hill tribe or, thirdly head to the sunken Imaskari city now called Coveya Kurg’annis by it's night hag occupants.

The Hill tribe reveal them selves to be Uthrakis and (as long as Okku does not travel with you), will offer to trade you secrets about your curse in exchange for human meat.

Several quests in Ashenwood and Immil Vale will eventually lead you to the Wood man who needs healing, you can either do this or devour him, either option will net you a new spirit eater power.

Heading to the Sunken City is probably the most productive option of the three. The entrance to the sunken city is unreachable as there is a gigantic sea monster in Lake Mulsantir and no bridge. Once night falls though you can open a portal to the shadow plane and cross the bridge that appears here. You discover that the hags have stopped seeing people and a large queue of petitioners has formed. Making your way through the line however you can, you eventually reach an antechamber where you are told that you are not to meet the coven and are teleported to a partially-flooded dungeon underneath the city. Using the power of the ancient elementals still down there allows you to make your way to the center of the dungeon where you meet with Gulk’aush, an insane hag that was banished from the coven above and cursed never to sleep. After a fight, she reveals that she was punished for falling in love with a man and giving birth to Gann. You will receive her eye which will allow you to travel in people's dreams and will then be able to get back up to the coven.

Entering the dreams of the slumbering coven you will somehow be transported to the Wall of the Faithless where you will meet Bishop who, having never served a deity in life is now a part of the wall.

Afterwards, you will eventually attract enough of the coven's attention so that they will talk to you. They will tell you that Lienna and Safiya's mother Nefris were twins and had recently come to the coven to ask how they could end the suffering of the bearer of the spirit-eater curse. Since the curse was originally created by the god Myrkul the coven told the pair that they had to find a way to communicate with him, despite the fact that he is now dead. The coven do not know how they did so but tell you that a portal in the shadow mirror of the Veil theater will lead you to the academy where Nefris taught in Thay.

Act III
After tailing Araman in Thay and defeating him, player's party meets the Founder. Safiya immediately realizes that Lienna, Nefris, the Founder and she are splinters of the same soul: the soul of Akachi's lover. The Founder reveals that while Lienna, Nefris and she all knew their identity, this was hidden from Safiya for her own safety. The Founder also admits that she is responsible for player's suffering because she wishes to free Akachi from the punishment. The Founder returns the Sword of Gith to the player, which is the key that can open the Betrayer's Gate that leads to Wall of the Faithless and the Fugue Plane.

With the Sword of Gith, the player is able to open the Betrayer's Gate and travel to the Fugue Plane. Just beyond the Betrayer's Gate lies the City of Judgment where the current God of the Dead, Kelemvor, rules. The Wall of the Faithless is its city wall, it is also a remaining symbol of Myrkul's unjust. There, the player mets Zoab, a fallen solar, Rammaq, a demilich, and Sey'ryu a blue dragon. They are the Akachi's captains of the First Crusade who have waited for his return. Kelemvor has dispatched a parleying party to meet the player at the Supplicants' Gate, the entrance to City of Judgment. At this point, the player must choose to either lead the Third Crusade or oppress it. Either way, the player must assault or hold three key positions around the City of Judgment. After the battling is complete, player would learn where his own soul is located.

At The Wall, the player meets Kelemvor Lyonsbane who only allows the player to retrieve his own soul from The Wall, not destroying the Wall. After claiming his soul from the Wall, the player is pulled into a dreamscape where he must battle Akachi's avatar, The Faceless Man, for control of his own soul.

After defeating the Faceless Man, Kelemvor then narrates the ending, which varies based on the player's choices throughout the game.