[mod] The Dreadful Tales: The Bloodied Stings of Barovia - a dark Ravenloft adventure
LavaDelVortel
Member Posts: 2,716
Fall reigns. Halloween is just around the corner. And what is the better way to celebrate, than to delve into the realm of Ravenloft! Weasel Mods welcomes a new mod: The Bloodied Stings of Barovia (released as a part of The Dreadful Tales mod series).
The Bloodied Stings of Barovia is a new dark adventure for Baldur's Gate 2: Enhanced Edition. It takes the Child of Bhaal and their party to Barovia, part of the realm of Ravenloft. In this ominous land, the player will face new enemies and formidable creatures, solve intricate riddles, and experience a gripping gothic horror story. Immerse yourself in mists, navigate dangerous forests, and confront undead creatures, all while seeking your way back to Athkatla.
The quest was designed for characters of level 12 or higher with some magical gear. To begin the adventure, locate a new entrance within the Athkatla Graveyard and step through a red portal you'll encounter there. Beware, however, as once you cross this threshold, you won't be able to return home until you've completed most of the quests that await you on the other side.
This mod is part of a new series - The Dreadful Tales - which revolves around horror, death, dread, and the enigmatic Ravenloft, the Domains of Dread.
Download
Forum
Special thanks to @Acifer @Go_ForTheEyes @norQ and Soul for their help with this project!
The mod is probably one of my most detailed quests I released. There are many new areas (some brand new ones thanks to @Acifer ), items, voicing, icons, and even music. Enjoy!
The Bloodied Stings of Barovia is a new dark adventure for Baldur's Gate 2: Enhanced Edition. It takes the Child of Bhaal and their party to Barovia, part of the realm of Ravenloft. In this ominous land, the player will face new enemies and formidable creatures, solve intricate riddles, and experience a gripping gothic horror story. Immerse yourself in mists, navigate dangerous forests, and confront undead creatures, all while seeking your way back to Athkatla.
The quest was designed for characters of level 12 or higher with some magical gear. To begin the adventure, locate a new entrance within the Athkatla Graveyard and step through a red portal you'll encounter there. Beware, however, as once you cross this threshold, you won't be able to return home until you've completed most of the quests that await you on the other side.
This mod is part of a new series - The Dreadful Tales - which revolves around horror, death, dread, and the enigmatic Ravenloft, the Domains of Dread.
Download
Forum
Special thanks to @Acifer @Go_ForTheEyes @norQ and Soul for their help with this project!
The mod is probably one of my most detailed quests I released. There are many new areas (some brand new ones thanks to @Acifer ), items, voicing, icons, and even music. Enjoy!
Post edited by LavaDelVortel on
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Comments
As for length, if you know what you're doing, it still takes something like almost 2 hours, so the first run may take you like... up to 3 hours, I guess. Assuming you will also want to discover some secrets / complete side quests.
It looks amazing!
I won't take you to main areas, as I don't want to my mods to interfere with original Ravenloft stories and campaigns, BUT I believe the mod offers this gothic atmosphere and a brand new horror story you may quite enjoy. (Some original characters or places are still referenced a couple of times.)
Anyway, I don't want to spoil too much. I think you may still like the mod and I made sure this won't be just another fight versus vampires, BG2 has that already. So I tried to add something else, something that wasn't there, yet still something that can be considered somewhat... Chilling.
Enjoy! And again: thanks people!
thanks for the release.
Edit:
- where is the blacksmith? I couldn't find him, but I found a diary and a broken sword. I guess I missed something
I am not sure what point in the mod you reach and I am unsure if you saw everything already because I kinda played it with a stopwatch and it took me 1h 45 min and I definitely know where to look for certain stuff. Well, unless you are playing on a story mode or you're using the console to jump between areas. Plus, there are more optional things out there, my favorite one is the rose-covered tree. But there is also a ghost of a child near the bonfire or the quest related to the pile of bones... Had quite some fun recording those!
To start the mod, go to the Graveyard and there will be a new entrance to a round tomb, near the Uncle Lester encounter.
I had to update the mod to 1.1 because I had to fix one minor thing, but it's purely a matter of aesthetics, so if someone already installed it and started playing it, it's fine. You don't need to update the mod.
find out which mods are compatible with other mods and which ones
are not. For instance, I remember having had issues with other mods,
then I have weidu re-install mods - with the end result that e. g.
some items suddenly disappeared from my main actor. Kuroisan's
katana for instance. Over time I really started to hate weidu - it
makes things without "thinking" about problems and side effects.
Anyway, looking forward to explore it. I also did not yet read the
spoilers above, except for how to start this mod, so I can give more
genuine feedback.
and enter the mansion too on my own. Then I was stuck as I did not know where to
proceed next.
I can't find the bowl nor the hidden door. Is it on the basement? I can see two
barrels but nothing aside from there and Jan does not find anything hidden.
By the way the mansion could one day become a stronghold for evil
characters. And perhaps a to-vampire transformation.
Anyway just spawning ideas.
PS: I also didn't know the ghost child had something to do with the bones.
I may have to re-start the quest as I didn't read the backstory properly of
that traveller. Perhaps a dialogue option could be added to him, so he can
re-tell the story. I read it yesterday late at night.
Also what's with the locked chest in the mansion? Guess it will open when I
do prior steps, so I need to find the hidden door.
Edit: I'll give it another run tonight or tomorrow.
Re-Edit: Wait... I just realised there is a cellar. I didn't see it before, so now I
found some things. \o/
I also placed these items into the center, but nothing happens. Often in other
quests a portal may emerge; or perhaps I am in the wrong place. Should
something happen when you put all four items into that container?
forgot the gem.
item description says 16 hours. I slept for 8 hours several times in a
row just now, but the honey remains in the inventory (the one I found
somewhere, I think in the mason; I did not try the scroll yet).
Hope you had fun! Cheers!
It is probably Lava's biggest mod. I am not sure it is the best, largely
because some of the other mods are great. For instance, White Queen is
still the greatest one; in part because of the Black Queen subset. Even
though it is smaller than the Ravenloft mod.
Perhaps the Ravenloft mod can get some upgrades in the future. A stronghold
option may be great for evil characters. Terrain-wise the mist was epic,
would be cool to extend that theme. The bees were a bit peculiar - I don't
think it fits right into Ravenloft but I understand there had to be a
primary storyline, and the honey stuff is fun - perhaps add some corrupted
honey too or more honey effects. Blood honey to heal vampires. On that
note, I think the mod needs a few more vampires. May not have to be
overpowered but perhaps a vampire sorceress that appears from one grave
(e. g. there were three graves I think, one is used lateron, the two
other ones could have a tiny add-on content perhaps, or a separate
vampire). The monsters could also be a bit more varied - I understand
that you probably do not want to re-use "official" content, to keep the
work separate from any other content, but something that may fit towards
the theme. Actually perhaps we should call it Ravenloft-inspired, since
it is not Ravenloft after all. I'd also change the name of the guy who
gives the cloak; perhaps towards Strahdche or Straahda or something like
that. And then have a few more unique monsters - you already have that,
actually, via the bee theme, and fog undead and so forth, but I am thinking
of thingies that may fit towards the despair setting of a Ravenloft-inspired
theme.
By the way, if you ever have too much time available
tie these Dark Themes together via a new NPC that is connected to these
quests. I'd suggest a vampire but Hexxat's quest kind of covers this already,
so perhaps something that isn't quite a vampire, but has a weakness nonetheless,
but may become something like an undead. Death Knight would be too strong I
guess (there was that famous death knight in Ravenloft ... and Dragonlance,
I forgot the name), but perhaps something like the Dusk NPC that has a long
main quest storyline. Perhaps a fallen paladin that is actually dead but
can be brought back to half-life (a bit like Yvette from the statue).
But anyway, I am sure you know better how much time and motivation you have
available, rather than random internet people putting additional work load
onto others.
Perhaps a small varied theme may be to build something from the beehives
near the mansons, like we can harvest some blood-honey-combs or so, and
these could be used to make some potions; or some disposable item (you
already have that via the spell, I guess, but it could be sticky honey
to throw at an enemy ... enemy gets charisma +1 for 5 rounds but also
a web-like effect
Area-wise I'd make the whole plants and what not look more evil and
desperate, and the fog-effect more profound if that is possible. I have
no idea how easy that is and I guess it's a time investment that may
not be worth it, but I just mention it. The area is definitely large
enough for more content too.
Perhaps a patrol of some zombie riders too, just randomly going through.
And some part of the area where the mist is to perhaps add some hoof
prints or so and indicate to the player that other villages may be
connected via the roads or something. Anyway that's just a bit of
feedback. I did not finish all quests, for instance, the talking bone
things and the ghost one I did not finish because I wasn't sure what
to do, so I opted to finish the quest quickly and then resume the
other mods for my current play-through (e. g. next on my list is
that enhanced planar sphere thingy).
As for NPCs: I already released those - Xzele and Juniper. There are both related to these plots and stories. Those that are playing with all 3 Dreadful Tales mods will be able to see small references.
I think it may also be a matter of expectations from mods, because I think The White Queen is one of my less interesting mods. Nevertheless, thank you. I must add that if I was to pick one mod I am most happy with, I think I would pick this one. (at least if I were asked that question today)