Neverwinter Nights 2 Walkthrough - Original Campaign - Part 5

Neverwinter Nights 2 - Original Campaign - Walkthrough Part 5 - Old Owl Well

This is one of a series of walkthroughs/hints for Neverwinter Nights 2 (Original Campaign). Click here for a listing of all our guides for Neverwinter Nights 2.

Dwarven Scouts

• This area appears when you get the quest to go to the Old Owl Well. The Gauntlets of IronFist can be obtained here, and are strong for Monks and all melee characters, so this is a good sidequest to do with Khelgar first.
• There is a pass with bugbear crossbowmen lining a ledge; you can spot their position from far away. A mage can blast them with a long-range area effect spell while out of their alert range and then flee around the corner, causing the bugbears that are hit to abandon their position in order to pursue. Alternatively, cast invisibility on everyone and position them in melee range of the crossbowmen before attacking. This way, you can maximize the number of elemental damage crossbow bolts recovered as loot.
• After recovering the Gauntlets of Ironfist and reporting back to Khulmar, Khelgar will have completed one of the Trials to be a Monk, but you will not get any indication of this in dialogue. Just go back to the Temple and report that Khelgar has completed a Trial.

Old Owl Well

• The merchant Simmy sells an Archer's Belt that gives DR 5/- against Piercing attacks. As the bugbear crossbowmen like to hit spellcasters and bards, this is a good investment especially if you can combine it with Ghostly Visage, which you can cast on any character with the Rod of the Ghost sold by Pap in the Neverwinter Merchant's Quarter.

BoneGnasher Clan

• As you approach the first impassable rockslide, orcs may attack you from the north. Don't worry: Once the cutscene triggers, all the orcs will temporarily be removed from the map so that you can deal with the cutscene about the rockslide without being attacked.
• You will start to encounter Trolls here for the first time. When they lose their hit points, you need fire or acid to finally kill them. While they are in this incapacitated state, if you have a Vampiric Weapon (an enchantment you can add as early as level 7 if you have the Enervation spell (e.g., from a scroll), a Ruby, a Weak Fire Essence, and a Weak Power Essence), you can continue to attack the troll and be healed by your weapon.
• The man you encounter who pretends to be the Neverwinter Emissary can either be exposed at the time you meet him, or be allowed to leave, in which case he prepares an ambush with two archers -- slightly more XP. You get the same treasure off him.

EyeGouger Clan

• This entire area (plus underground) is quite tight, to the point where sometimes the game engine can't path-find a way around combatants and your character stands still -- you may have to manually find a path. Watch for this -- when you click on the destination, if it doesn't show a round position marker, it means either it is not reachable or the game engine can't find a path to it.
• Also watch for characters to get stuck behind a rock when turning a corner. They'll just keep running into the rock, and get left behind by the rest of the party.
• Tight corridors and masses of archers here.
• Make sure your mages are well protected with some sort of damage reduction. Trying to boost their AC is probably futile against the relatively high Attack Bonuses and the sheer number of attacks coming your way.
• The tight corridors and warrior-class enemies means mages will be very valuable here for clearing masses of enemies quickly since most area-effect spells (like the classic Fireball) use Reflex saves and non-Rogues can't be expected to have Evasion to completely avoid damage.
• That said, if you have strong front-liners, you can get away with having Grobnar add his combat-influencing Inspirations and just hack and slash your way through. The tight corridors plus the fact that archers like to target Grobnar instead means your front-liners will generally last long enough to steadily mow down the opposition. Just make sure Grobnar survives.
• At barricades that block your melee characters from reaching the orcs behind, the fastest way through is probably to blast your way with fireballs from Qara or Ice Storms from Elanee. This way, you can hit both a barricade and the orcs behind it at the same time.
• There are separate Influence events for...
• Elanee: The wolves in the southern room. Talking to them with anyone who can't talk to animals makes them all hostile.
• Khelgar: The wounded orcs in the northern room. He is the only one who gets an Influence change even though generally everyone else has a strong reaction to your choices).
• Qara and Casavir: Wynn at the lowest level. Qara's event (if she is present in the party) takes precedence over the one for Casavir -- you do not get to influence both of them.