Neverwinter (game)

Dungeons & Dragons: Neverwinter is a Free2Play MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game) developed by Cryptic Studios and published by Perfect World Entertainment. It was released on the 20th of June 2013.

The game deals with the after effects of an attack on the city of Neverwinter by Valindra Shadowmantle and a dracolich. Several factions and individuals attempt to take advantage of the chaos caused by the attack.

The Battle of Sleeping Dragon Bridge
Washing up on the beach in 1479 after their ship was sunk by the dracolich, the player is thrust into battle against Valindra's undead minions to reach the relative safety of Neverwinter's walls. The player is joined by Private Wilfred, a Neverwinter graycloack, who is killed by Valindra when he attempts to confront her directly. Meanwhile, a tiefling warlock named Makos dispatches the dracolich and uses his magic to prevent its soul from returning to its phylactery to regenerate.

The Crown of Neverwinter
During an investigation of the vaults beneath the Hall of Justice, the player discovers that the Nashers managed to sneak into the vault during Valindra's attack and steal the Crown of Neverwinter. After tracking down the Nasher rogue "Honor" Reigh, whom the player saw stealing the crown with another Nasher, clues point to a Nasher base in the Blacklake district. While in the Blacklake district, which has been overrun with Nashers, the player soon finds out that the other thief they saw has been kidnapped by the Dead Rats. Down in the sewers beneath the city, the player locates the other thief, Gothwan, who claims that his leader Karzov left him to die and gladly gives up Karzov's location which should also be where the Crown is being held. The Nashers set fire to their safehouse when the Player arrives and Karzov escapes to their headquarters, an old warehouse, where the player kills Karzov and brings the Crown back to Protector's Enclave. A side plot involves helping an alchemist investigate the faintly magical sludge bubbling up from the Blacklake itself, discovering the cause to be a Chosen of Ghaunadaur living in the lake.

Orc Invasion
After clearing out some kobolds that have been boiling up from the sewers, the Player is informed that some orcs from Many-Arrows have invaded the Tower District. While battling the orcs, it is discovered that whoever is behind the attack has sealed themselves within the Cloak Tower. When the shamans maintaining the wards are defeated, it is then possible to enter the Cloak Tower and defeat the orc leader, Vansi Bloodscar.

Spellplague
Dorothea, wife of Neverwintan soldier Joseph Linkletter, was spellscarred and transforms into a monster when emotional. The Player is asked to see if there's a way to help her without invoking the Protector's Law. A wizard named Rhazzad has been giving the woman medicine to keep her sane and under control but her condition is worsening. To keep her out of Helm's Hold, Rhazzad asks the Player to escort the woman through the sewers to his tower, fighting through Dead Rats along the way. When the player reports their actions however, suspicions about Rhazzad are raised.

A rumour points toward another wizard - Tualo the Bright - but upon reaching Tualo's home,the Player learns that monsters have been coming out of the house and killing people. Inside, the Player finds Tualo's apprentice who says a ritual scroll given to his master by Rhazzad opened a portal to the Far Realm which has to be closed. In an effort to rescue the soldier's wife from whatever Rhazzad is doing, the Player discovers that Rhazzad has sacrificed all of the spellscarred people that he's kept out of Helm's Hold to fuel a deadly magical explosion. A full assault is ordered on Rhazzad's tower before he can complete whatever plans he has for the Spellplague energy he has at his command. Against orders, Joseph Linkletter rushes ahead of the main force and is transformed into a massive foulspawn by Rhazzad, who intends to use him as a testbed for his own transformation. Joseph is subdued and manages to regain his sanity alongside his plaguechanged wife, while the player confronts Rhazzad. It turns out Rhazzad was communicating with unnamed "masters" within the Chasm, who promised to grant him unlimited knowledge and power in exchange for his help. Though Rhazzad successfully completed his own transformation into a plaguechanged monstrosity, he was slain before he could fully achieve his goals.

Blackdagger Bandits
North of Neverwinter years ago, a pair of pirate brothers from Luskan, Malus and Traven Blackdagger, set up a bandit kingdom surrounding a fortified keep. The Player is put in contact with the local Harper cell to put a stop to the Blackdagger Bandits who operate out of the ruins of the former Cragmire noble house and are disrupting trade along the High Road. Along the road a old man named Old Lenn will need help with several tasks like knocking holes in several boats and kill some bandits and then lead the player to the harper. But also he wants an old chest with all his letter from Rohini back from his sailing days.

The player and their Harper contacts start by putting a stop to the wrecking operations the Blackdagger Bandits are performing along the coast. This leads them to Melkhor Goldseeker, who has recently opened some mines as well as unearthed some ancient ruins. The Blackdagger Bandits kidnapped his niece for ransom and took over his mines. After rescuing Goldseeker's niece, the Harpers put the player in contact with their spy in the bandits ranks who eventually informs the player that their actions have caused the leaders of the Blackdagger Bandits to come out of hiding. The player then tracks down Malus and Traven Blackdagger - revealed to have been transformed into undead by the Thayan necromancer Kallos Tam - and destroys them, putting a stop to organized banditry along the High Road and earning the friendship of the Harpers.

Necromancers in Neverdeath
Undead are apparently rising out of their graves in Neverwinter's graveyard and the priests of Kelemvor who watch over the place seem to be overwhelmed. Some Red Wizards of Thay are using the undead to lure unsuspecting Doomguides into their clutches to create even more powerful undead monstrosities and collecting relics for similar purposes. The Thayan leader, Xivros, hoped to raise Arleon the Unforgiven, a nigh unstoppable ogre warrior in life, as his undead servant.

In another region of the graveyard, the Cult of the Dragon was searching for something. It turned out they were interested in the Waterclock Guild Crypts, in which a former high-ranking guild member and secret dragon cultist had secreted the blue dragon Azharzel and the ritual of the dracolich upon the occasion of his death. Unfortunately, Valindra Shadowmantle and her Thayan allies were also seeking the crypts, and when the Cult of the Dragon broke in Valindra killed them and claimed both the dragon and the ritual as her prize.

The Corruption of Helm's Hold
The cathedral of Helm's Hold outside of Neverwinter had been used by the Lord Protector to care for victims of the Spellplague, under the care of a holy woman known as "The Prophet." However, she revealed herself to be a succubus named Rohini, and the cathedral was quickly overrun by devils and Ashmadai cultists. The army of Neverwinter has been besieging the cathedral, but with little success.

The player aided the Neverwinter guard and the survivors from Helm's Hold in fighting back against the Ashmadai and slaying Rohini, before entering the caverns below the cathedral to slay the mad green dragon, Chartilifax.

The Undead of the Ebon Downs
For generations, the villagers of Grimhollow have watched over the Ebon Downs burial grounds. Then, the dead suddenly rose from their graves en masse and attacked. The Doomguides discovered that the attack was being orchestrated by a powerful Netherese necromancer named Idris, who had made a bargain with the Barrow Lords for an undead army to attack her Thayan enemies. With the player's help, the Barrow Lords were defeated and Idris was ultimately slain, allowing the dead to be lain to rest once more.

The Forsworn of Vellosk
Within the Neverwinter Woods, Netherese agents began recruiting the Uthgardt barbarians back into their empire for the purpose of making war against their Thayan enemies. While much of the Gray Wolf tribe accepted, some did not wish to be under Netheril's heel once more; these barbarians were exiled and became known as the Forsworn. Now, their former brethren, who have turned to the worship of Shar, are hunting them down under Netherese orders. In addition, the Netherese are seeking to raise the ruins of the floating city of Xin'kar. With the player's help, the Netherese are defeated and the leader of the Gray Wolves slain.

Fury of the Feywild
Valindra's reach extended even beyond Toril. She made a deal with the fomorian king, Malabog, in the Feywild. In exchange for destroying New Sharandar, Valindra gave to him a blue dragon named Fulminorax. Malabog's dark fey army quickly overran much of New Sharandar, and even corrupted a moon elf named Celedain. With the player's help, however, the Iliyanbruen were able to retake New Sharandar and slay both Malabog and his dragon.

The Dread Ring
While the elves of New Sharandar were busy dealing with Malabog, Valindra's Thayan armies established a Dread Ring within the Neverwinter Woods. There, she sought to raise the ancient black dragon, Loragauth, as a massive dracolich. The Neverwinter Guard penetrated the Dread Ring and set up a base camp to fight back against the Red Wizards. With the player's help, the Thayans were defeated, and Valindra herself was destroyed.

The Curse of Icewind Dale
Meanwhile, in Icewind Dale, a mysterious substance known as black ice was discovered. This substance could be forged into extremely powerful weapons and armor, but prolonged exposure had a side effect of driving people into violent, murderous rage. Nonetheless, its high value resulted in both the Ten Towns and the Arcane Brotherhood fighting over it.

Meanwhile, the undead army of the long-dead wizard Akar Kessel began to rice once more, now empowered by black ice. The substance also drove the local Reghed barbarian and frost giant tribes into a frenzy. Ultimately, it was discovered the Akar Kessel himself had returned as an undead wight and was rebuilding his forces to continue the conquest he had begun before his death. Fortunately, the player was able to destroy him once more before he could lay waste to the region.

Tyranny of Dragons
Back on the Sword Coast, a rift had developed within the Cult of the Dragon. A new faction, led by the wizard Severin, had come to believe that the future lay not in dead dragons, but in live ones. In the Neverdeath Graveyard, they began searching for the tomb of the famous elven adventurer Belast Messandar, intending to wrest from his spirit the location of one of his former companions, a barbarian named Cruven Gantara. They believed that Cruven's spirit could give them the location of a portal to the island of Tuern. The green dragon Charthraxis aided them in this endeavor. Though the player hampered their efforts, they ultimately learned that the barbarian was buried somewhere in the Ebon Downs. Recruiting the black dragon Vartilingorix, they began a concentrated effort to find the barbarian's burial mound.

Along the slopes of Icespire Peak, the Cult enlisted the aid of the white dragon Merothrax to help them plunder the mithral mines of the Icehammer Dwarves. The player worked to hinder them, discovering that the mithral was somehow key to their plans. In the Rothé Valley, the Cult had forged an alliance with the drow of House Xorlarrin slavers in the area in order to gain unhindered access to the blue dragon Venfithar who lived there. The Cult was using the mithral from Icespire Peak to forge special jars to contain Venfithar's lightning, intending to use it to power some sort of cloud giant artifact. The player sabotaged many of the lightning jars, but was ultimately unable to stop their plans.

Class and Race Quests
It seams that every zone has quests that are given to the player depending on the character race. The Tieflings get quests related to there families old relation to Lord of lies, these thing are usually related to not allwoing the false Ashmadai to affect the world around them. In Blacklake the main character must put up posters to warn the gangs of Blacklake of the Ashmadai whom are trying to influence them. Halflings seam to have quests that relate to helping there own community like finding housing in Blacklake and requesting the aid of the Ghostwise.

In game references
In the Protectors Enclave there is a street named "Deekin Street," a reference to the kobold bard Deekin Scalesinger of the Neverwinter Nights series.

Side Quests
All of the game has loads of side quests like the in Neverdeath "Lich Lament": Within the confines of neverdeath after slaying an undead the player finds a phylactery of a Lich named Zarifrax whom at first attempt to intimidate the player but then sighs and says that he dosent care for the battle of good and evil right now and just wants to rest undisturbed for a few hundred years. You can help him find a final resting place and in that quest he talks to the play about different things: "How did we end up with Undead-hating Kelemvor as a god for the dead anyway? I, for one, blame Cyric. Now Jergal there was a god of death! Of course, Bhaal and Myrkul had there qualities, too." In the end he gets tired and wants to be taken to the Doomguides for destruction, but be course of his powers they must encase him for along time in there vault.

Characters

 * Sergeant Knox: A squadron commander for Lord Neverember's guards. As the 'adventurer liason officer', he is the main questgiver in the game.
 * Karzov: An uthgardt barbarian, second in command of the Nashers faction of the Sons of Alagondar.
 * Valindra Shadowmantle: A former member of the Arcane Brotherhood now working ostensibly for the thayans but chiefly serving her own, occasionally deranged goals. An elven lich and primary antagonist during Module 2.