Hearkenwold

[Dorateen]

March 2025 Update

First update of the new year, and I think I have some good news. I have been steadily working to finish up the new content that will continue the Hearkenwold campaign. At the same time, since last July, I have been converting the new content into the Knights of the Chalice 2 engine. This has caused a longer delay than I would have liked, but I am approaching the end.

I think I can have the module updated by the end of this month, possibly releasing in April at the latest. Here are some new screenshots to share.

The maps for the city of Saldanus now include the red imbricate tiles to represent the roofs of buildings. I had posted last year that these were only shown along the edges of combat maps for roof battles accordingly. But I think it is good to feature on the exploration map as well.



This battle introduces a new monster type: the Pheonix Harpy. They are much more dangerous than the regular harpies who join them. The party will need to have adequate fire protection, or deal with the Pheonix variant quickly.



Here is a fight with five gargoyles, including four mages that are set up in the corners of the map. Meanwhile, an assassin seeks to make things difficult for party. With smart tactics, the heroes of Hearkenwold might prevail.



Hopefully I will be making an announcement soon about the updated module available to download.

[Dorateen]

It has been for a while since I updated the Hearkenwold campaign. I finally finished the city of Saldanus, which is the next destination for continuing the adventure. The content is designed to test higher level characters, and the new module file is available to download here:

https://neverwintervault.org/project/ic ... earkenwold

This is still using the latest build 203 of the IceBlink engine. The compressed folder includes the full IceBlink and the Hearkenwold module. If a player already has been running build 203, then really you need only copy the Hearkenwold folder and place it in the modules folder. Existing saves are compatible, so a player can pick up again and access the new areas.

Here are some screenshots from Saldanus:





Also, there is a big fix I needed to make to the Gust of Wind spell. The reflex saving throw was not being applied correctly, giving enemies no save at all. Now it functions as intended. Also, I changed the area of effect to a three square straight line. Here is an example of our party's wizard casting Gust of Wind at a couple of dumb duergar. The warrior makes his saving throw, but the sergeant was not as lucky and receives the prone condition for two rounds.





From here, I am going to be working on a new dungeon that I will insert into the module. I'll have more information in a following update post. The idea is to include some higher level content that the player could access as a side adventure, since Saldanus was part of advancing the narrative. I don't think it will take me long, and then I will return to continuing the events of the main campaign.

[Dorateen]

May Update

More like end of May update, but the good news is I am nearing completion of new content that will soon be added to the module.

I am working on a new location, an infernal Salamander Temple. The area is annexed to an already existing dungeon. Anyone who has played the module far enough, will likely know where to find it. Otherwise, this is new content waiting to be discovered.

It is entirely under the category of side-quests, which I think is the life pulse of a computer role-playing game, fleshing out the gameworld and providing more rabbit holes for the party to fall down. In this case, since the last update was for higher level characters but only reached by following the central narrative, the Salamander Temple is meant for an advanced party, however the location can be reached at any time. As long as the characters are strong enough to survive.

Here are a couple of screenshots:





In the above battle screen, a pair of salamanders are joined by their Azer buddies, those fire-based creatures that look like dwarves, but they're not dwarves. Still pretty tough, and can be dangerous when they gang up on a character in greater number.

This area goes quite deep, and right now I am putting together the lowest levels. I think I can finish the whole dungeon and release the updated module by the end of June. After that, the next work will be on continuing the main adventure again.