Sheep and Stone

Your thirst for adventure has led you to Lakeside, a small town on the lake of sorrows, dedicated, as far as you know, to the passage of quarried stone to Neverwinter and the other big cities of the sword coast.

None of the stories you are hearing about this sleepy town justify the need for persons like yourself. However the request from lord Tysan, the local knight was explicit and help is needed here.

You are to report to Samuel the town overseer and he will sort out pay and your duties, while you are working for lord Tysan.

Despite travelling as a caravan guard to earn some money, you arrive with barely enough to finance yourself having been fleeced by the caravan owner and his men. However the journey was not without event and you do arrive with a little experience under your belt.

Campaign

This module is the first in a series on the Vault. The others are:

1. Sheep and Stone
2. The Caravan Club
3. The Last Days of the Raven
4. These Dark Days of Waiting
5. From This Comes Strength

The series will be six modules in length, the fifth of which is work in progress. All will appear under the campaign title of Tales from the Lake of Sorrows, late in 2012.

Please enjoy the modules and don't forget to vote :)

Module

The module has been balanced to allow you to play any class and any race, however you are going to feel most at home with a human or at most a demi human character. The setting is a settled, rural market town, the type and level of risk your character will face reflects this.

The module is for starting characters but a 500 exp award is made at the start to reflect your caravan guarding experience.

The module cannot be played without the single NPC I have provided both in terms of combat balance, and more importantly, conversations which drive the module along. There is no romancing this girl but a friendship can develop which affects the final outcome of the module and how helpful she is during the module. The NPC is a rogue, but this should not stop you playing the same if this suits you.

The module is very much story driven requiring a small amount of role play. Hack and slash is low, though for many of the combats it is useful to have scrolls and healing potions to hand, especially if you are a spell casting class.

Finally I hope you enjoy this mod, please leave feedback on the forum. In order that I could complete this I have left some story lines open to allow me to extend the story into a part two, your feedback will make this project both more like likely and of a higher quality.

This module has been created by me and the work and ideas are mine. That is not to say I have not been influenced by things I have played and read so there may be some ideas in there that sound familiar. If so thank you to the broad casters that sowed these seeds.

I would also like to thank the people on the builders forum who have patiently helped me with my questions and specifically UncleFB. All of the custom scripts in this mod were written by FB and his NPC control program breaths life into the market square.

Stuff you should know:

There is one file for the modules folder and one for the the HAK folder in the my docs Neverwinter nights. The file runs as a module not as a campaign.

1. Talk to everyone, at different times of the day as well – the time at which you talk to certain people will affect the way the conversation pans out.
2. You may choose to be nice to people or not, it does affect the outcome and the helpfulness of some NPC's.
3. I was not able to create a stable and interesting dice game, therefore don't play that conversation string just in order to win money – you will always loose - sorry lose :-)
4. In two places the conversations with placeable objects don't fire on the first left click. I don't know why and was not able to fix this. They do fire on the second click so hang in there. These are a shed and a sundial – you will know when you see them.

Revisions

Version 3 is now up and can be downloaded. I have posted the fix list below. I hope you enjoy playing the mod.

Things you should know.

1. The way I have balanced this module means that your hardest ride will be with a cleric.
2. The mod ends when you open the inn door. Sometimes it's instant, sometimes there is a second or so delay, but it does fire the ending so just give it time and don't pass through the door.

Please enjoy sheep and stone, and mind your fingers in those doors.

New at version 4

1. I have created a new start area and cut scene to give your character some more background on the fleecing which is only mentioned in text in the current version.
2. The start is more open, you can now wander round Lakeside before meeting Samuel the overseer and pick up quests in a different order. This foils some of the linearity of the previous opening.
3. I have fixed all bugs mentioned in comments accept for the placeable problems. I do not know how to fix these (but you do need SoZ and MoTB to play this with all textures in place).
4. I have updated to 1.23.
5. I have overhauled most of the areas to provide continuity into the caravan club and to make them look pretty.
6. I have been through all the convos again on a typo hunt.
7. I have toughened up some of the encounters.
8. I have streamlined some of the dialogue and created options where there were none before. There was always some roleplay, now there's more.
9. I have added possibilities for skill uses. I counted ten places in previous versions for using dialogue skills. I know have 20 – 30 places where bluff, intimidate, diplomacy, intelligence, perform and apparise can make a difference (ok then, only one place where perform makes a difference).
10. I have relit all the areas – I have been amazed at the difference it makes (thanks to ciViLiZed for that comment).
11. I have sorted the seated npc talking issues (by using NWN1 style in some places.

Version 41

1. 1I have fixed a bug whereby Ember might not join you if a certain conversation string was followed. Ember is needed or most convos will not progress.

New at version 5.

1. The mod now plays as a campaign in preparation for the conjoining of this and subsequent modules.
2. I have created several new areas and improved existing ones.
3. I have added two new sub quests and several new locations/encounters of interest.
4. The ending is reworked to make it more interesting and to prevent the running away bug that caused a trigger to fire when it should not have.
5. I have extended and rescripted one area to add more interest and liven up game play.
6. In all I have added arouns 45 minutes more to the mod and sufficient exp to ensure your character reaches 4th level.

This module has been tested with Kaedrins prc pack int he override and works well.

Note that the mod now is packed as a file format and not a module file. Functionaly this makes no difference but please read the instructions carefully for installation.

I hope you enjoy the module, please leave me feedback if you come across any bugs though I hope that does not happen.

Thanks for all who have downloaded, please pass on your comments, I appreciate and value them.

PJ