A Gibberlings Three Mod
Author: Daxtreme
On the web: github and discussion forum
Version 0.1 ALPHA
Languages: English
Platforms: Windows
Someone has been working in the shadows, manipulating events on the Sword Coast to their advantage.
Unravel the mysteries of the Twisted Rune and investigate the Cowled Wizards in this Enhanced Edition Trilogy mod!
This mod requires the mod Enhanced Edition Trilogy by k4thos to be installed, as its content spans from Baldur's Gate 1 to Throne of Bhaal.
The optional components only require BG2 to be installed.
In general, this mod should be installed after NPC mods and EET, but before Tweaks and EET_end.
Currently, only an English version of the mod is available, although a French translation could be on the way eventually.
Windows
Cowled Menace is packaged and installed with WeiDU and is distributed as a self-extracting archive. To install, simply double-click the archive and follow the instructions on screen.
Alternatively the files can be extracted from the archive using WinRAR. If properly extracted, you should have a "Cowled Menace" folder and setup-cowledmenace.exe in your BG2 folder. To install, double-click setup-cowledmenace.exe and follow the instructions on screen.
Please run setup-cowledmenace.exe in your BG2 folder to reinstall, uninstall, or otherwise change components.
Main Component - The Cowled Menace (Requires EET)
This is where everything about the Quest mod is installed, from custom NPCs to new areas, new scripts, dialogs, and items. Refer to the Starting the Quest Section below if you want to know more about that. For those of you who are stuck or wish to get spoiled, there is a spoilers section down below as well.
The quest aims to bring closure to the unfinished Twisted Rune content in the Vanilla game by adding lots of it, as well as tie up some loose ends concerning the Cowled Wizards.
(Optional) Appropriate Items for High-Level Spellcasters
This component and all the next ones don't actually require EET. They will install on an unmodded game.
A level 14+ wizard running around with a nonmagical quarterstaff and 28 gold pieces makes no sense at all, especially if they teleported in expecting a fight since they would come prepared. This component aims to drastically increase the items worn and dropped by high-level spellcasters in Baldur's Gate 2, specifically targeting the ones who currently drop nothing, or close to nothing. The challenge level of these fights will increase as worn items will provide these spellcasters with various bonuses, but the rewards will be greater to compensate (better loot). The goal is that those encounters make sense.
For now this component only goes through the casters in Shadows of Amn. Throne of Bhaal will follow later. This component aims to give items to individual, distinct creatures, not those created by extraordinary circumstances (like clones). Killing the same enemy twice (Jon Irenicus, for example) will not yield double the rewards. Exception: Lich in the "Spawn Undead" script, as it's implied it's a separate lich each time, that was simply chilling there when you arrive.
Compatibility: This component is intended and calibrated for those who have Item Revisions, Spell Revisions, and/or Sword Coast Stratagems (SCS) installed. However, the items added to the creatures are either vanilla items, or vanilla items modified by those mods so it will still work in a vanilla install. Any new items added in this component are additions made by myself, and should therefore work on any install and (theoritically) not overwrite anything. A compatibility problem could arise if you have a mod installed that alters random treasure tables, since mine also does so.
Special Thanks to Roxanne on Gibberlings3
(Optional) Mages cast Gate far from themselves.
This component is aimed at vanilla installs and is quite simple: most casters able to cast Gate will now do so far from themselves to reduce the chance that the demon will be their next target (brilliant AI)
(Optional) Use pre-EE Spell Deflection Globe (Requires EE)
This component has 2 options to choose from. Either the old globe is added only to Spell Trap and the Staff of the Magi (recommended, to help distinguish it since it's so powerful), or to the following spells: Minor Spell Deflection, Spell Deflection, Spell Trap, and their Item versions.
Hooks
There are a two different ways to start this quest. The first opportunity happens in Baldur's Gate -- I'll let you discover that on your own, although at this point, I don't think it's actually possible for a party of that level to progress into the quest due to the sheer difficulty. Feel free to experiment.
The second is the most obvious one: starting the Tanner quest in the Bridge district of Athkatla marks the first time you encounter the Twisted Rune and get involved in their business, even in the vanilla game. Following clues you receive from those engagements, as well as exploring around the Bridge and Temple Districts should help you progress.
Some of the encounters in this mod happen in different fashion depending on the order in which you progress through the quest, and the actors you have encountered (and in which order). One encounter in particular varies greatly in difficulty depending on choices you've made in the game, outside of this quest. I have restored unused lines by Shangalar in the vanilla game, which I was quite surprised to find. A word of warning: the Twisted Rune are a powerful and ancient organisation... come prepared. The storyline gets completed in Throne of Bhaal, it is not possible to finish the quest while still being in Shadows of Amn.
Rough Walkthrough
Don't read this if you don't want to get spoiled! One of the fun parts of this mod is having to investigate the Twisted Rune, which you won't have to do if you know exactly where to go, all the time. But if you're stuck, this is how to progress:
Start by going into the Graveyard District, top-right corner. You will meet someone there.
Those of you who are familar with the Twisted Rune will already know how to enter the Twisted Rune area, but here's how you normally progress through the quest: After solving the Tanner murders in the Bridge District, now you will either get ambushed by the Wizard who helped the Tanner later in the same district (he drops information concerning the building and the Rogue Stone necessary to enter), or you go the Temple District, into the Guarded Compound, and battle the party there. On your way out, a Twisted Rune party will ambush you, revealing information if you have found Koshi's letter (2nd floor), or telling you to do so if not. The letter reveals that the building next to Delosar's Inn is suspicious. Head to that building in the Bridge District, enter through the door with a Rogue Stone found on the Tanner Mage's body or anywhere else, and defeat the Twisted Rune members inside.
Now, once you clear the Twisted Rune enclave, you will meet someone special and you will find clues about a similar enclave in Baldur's Gate, and evidence that link the Rune with the Cowled Wizards. What you do next is up to you.
Your first option is to head to Baldur's Gate East, to the last house on the left, south-west of Sorcerous Sundries (the one with the rotting door). Stand next to the door with a Rogue Stone, and it should teleport you in the second enclave, similar to the Athkatla one. There, you will face either a hard battle, or a very hard battle. The very hard battle happens if you bribed the Cowled Wizards, for reasons you will find out later. Once they are dead, you will again meet your new friend and will now know who among the Cowled Wizards has dealings with the Twisted Rune. Which leads us to your second option...
Your second option is to investigate the Cowled Wizards directly. You won't get very far by just talking to them, so you really have to fight them until the end so that you get to battle their leaders. How to do this: simply cast spells anywhere outdoors in the city, and battle through their ranks until the bosses come out. You will fight the contact, who will flee. If you have Bribed the Cowled Wizards, the contact will instead appear in the Twisted Rune fight in Baldur's Gate. You can actually clear the Baldur's Gate enclave before the Athkatla one if you feel so inclined...
Basically, you can do this stuff out of order if you like.
Regardless of the option you choose, you have to battle the contact and have them flee, either in Baldur's Gate or Athkatla, before you can continue. Anyway, now you have pissed off the Twisted Rune for real, and will be ambushed by them in several places, most notably Baldur's Gate (should you return). But the only way to move forward with the quest at this point is to actually finish Shadows of Amn.
Now that you have finished Shadows of Amn, the next step of the quest will happen in Amkethran. Once you have entered from the South, go left, and you will be ambushed by the previously-mentioned contact, along with elite members of the Twisted Rune. This should be a dangerous fight so come prepared, because they are. The contact will drop a special wardstone.
Now go to the Graveyard District back in Athkatla, enter the Lower Tombs, go in the Crypts below (the ones filled with Undead) and go completely at the bottom of the map, in the room that was ransacked by tomb pillagers. Your friend will appear, telling you to hug the wall on the right (near the urns). Do that, with the wardstone in your inventory, and you will be transported to the last area and will have reached the last part of the quest, which I am not going to spoil. Good luck ^^
Note: There are other small details scattered throughout, but this is the core of the quest. This quest can be completed even if you start a game in BG2, and thus, can't ever go back to BG1 (how: complete Athkatla Twisted Rune encounter, fight Cowled Wizards until the end, then get ambushed in Amkethran and go back to Graveyard District. That's the gist of fast-forwarding through it.)
Daxtreme created this mod. Visit the Gibberlings Three forums for information on this and any other Gibberlings Three mods on which I may be working.
Special Thanks to demivrgvs, Roxanne, kreso, DavidW, CamDawg, Nythrun & Miloch (area patching) and every helpful fellow on gibberlings3 forums!
Custom portraits: https://www.deviantart.com/aditya777, smeagolheart on github, and Wizards of the Coast LLC.
Huge thanks to klatu, I based many of my code on his tweaks. Because the Cowled Wizards are heavily implicated in my mod, the main component installs a modified version of his "Appropriate XP Rewards for Cowled Enforcers" tweak. Many thanks also to the creators of the Infinity Engine Structure Description Project; and to Jon Hauglid, for Near Infinity.
And of course, thanks to k4thos for making the Enhanced Edition Trilogy.
Tools Used in Creation
WeiDU by Wes Weimer and the bigg
DLTCEP by Avenger
Near Infinity by Jon Olav Hauglid and devSin
IESDP maintained by igi