Journey to the Windspear Hills

Journey to the Windspear Hills
Quest
Type	Side quest
Requirements
Chapter	Chapter Two
Locations and People
Area	Copper Coronet Windspear Hills
People Involved	Garren Windspear Lord Jierdan

Journey to the Windspear Hills is a side quest that appears in Shadows of Amn campaign.

It can be started by talking to Lord Jierdan inside the Copper Coronet in the Slums District. He'll request that you journey to the Windspear Hills and slay some ogres for a reward in the sum of 10,000 .

Confronting Monsters

Upon entering the area, you are immediately greeted by a group of neutrally aligned monsters; a Baby Wyvern, a Gnoll Elite, an Ogre Mage, and two Ogres. One of the ogres will call out to the party...

“

Beasts! Curs! Your terror ends here!

”

None of the return dialogue lines will prevent the group from becoming hostile and attacking the party. After the battle, Garren Windspear will appear and claim that he witnessed ogres fighting ogres, but in death there are human bodies where the monsters fell. Below are some Notes about these "monsters" from the game files:

• These creatures are PALKNI01 through PALKNI05.CRE.
• They are all level 10 Paladins and are worth either 5,000 XP or 6,000 XP each. All of their stats are identical, with 17 Strength and 9's in all other categories. The game gave them no weapon proficiencies, so their melee ability will be poorer than they should have. Additionally, they have no Paladin spells either.
• These "Paladins" are equipped with an undroppable PALRING.ITM in one ring slot. This ring gives them immunity to:
• Level drain, Hold, Sleep, Confusion, Berserk, Charm Creature, Stun, Panic, Slay (Instant Death), Morale Break and the Entangle spell

“

I wonder if I saw what I think I saw. You were all ogres fighting, yet deaths yielded human bodies. Now there are no monsters, only you and these slain knights.

”

He will then explain that these slain knights were members of the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart and that the priests of Helm will not look kindly upon the party for this atrocity. He offers to give the party sanctuary in his cabin where he'll provide the party with a better idea of the 'what' and 'why' of the horrific events that they just took part in.

Note: If you have Anomen or Keldorn in party, they will also reveal this group of monsters to be paladins and Keldorn will identify one of them as Ajantis.

After speaking with Garren in his cabin, he'll set off to try to clear the party's name by contacting some of his former influences within the Radiant Heart.

“

I have friends among the Order. I will speak with them as quickly as possible. Perhaps I can persuade them to look on you with mercy. I can but try.

”

Garren will return following the battle with the bandits responsible for the kidnapping of his child. He'll lament the loss of his child and ask the party to rescue his child from Firkraag's men. He'll also inform the party that he was successful in convincing the Radiant Heart of the party's innocence. However, the Order will demand justice for the slain knights and the party is now officially tasked with rescuing Garren's child.

“

You will travel unmolested, for my pleas of your virtue were heard at the Radiant Heart. They demand justice for the slain, so that is your task now.

”

This is the point where this quest gets merged with Rescue Garren's child from Firkraag side quest; both of which are a prerequisite for obtaining the Paladin Stronghold Duties for Paladin protagonists.

Alternate Option

• After Garren's invitation, instead of entering Garren's cabin to continue the quest, travel back to Athkatla. Head for Waukeen's Promenade, the Bridge District, the Docks District, or the Slums District. Wait for 5 to 10 seconds or so. A warning text appears first: "Guards approach. Obviously, word of your misdeeds has reached the authorities."
  • The party will be attacked by a group of Radiant Heart knights that includes the mage Alhelor, three paladins: Sir Beverus, Sir Branet Al-Thon and Sir Jolus, a cleric: Sir Laren, and a fighter/cleric: Sir Paritin. Despite being fairly strong and tanky, all of the knights utilize normal weapons and, as such, any kind of protection against such weapons will completely nullify their attacks, leaving you only to deal with spells (in that case, one might want to focus on Alhelor, who has 58 hp and will cast several high-level spells, some multiple times). Another valid tactic is to cast invisibility on all your party members -- except for one -- after that you will be able to kite away the knights (preferable, being hasted) and deal with them on your terms.
  • You can kill them for 52,830 XP, a suit of full plate mail +1, four suits of full plate mail, a large shield +2, and six items of wealthy random treasure. The encounter is repeatable: if you sleep for 8 hours, you'll have a chance to meet the same knights again (in the exact same locations), which makes sense, because they are, probably, resurrected by their order.
  • Note: it might be hard to encounter the group of knights unprepared. Instead of travelling to the Promenade/Bridge/Docks/Slums right away, you may travel to City Gates to rest and prepare your party. After successfully defeating the knights, Garren Windspear will talk to you like nothing has happened.

Bugs

• If you travel to the Windspear Hills before picking up this quest (you can get the area added to the map by Helping Irenicus's captive dryads), kill these five monsters and then later pick up the quest from Lord Jierdan, it will never complete.
• If you don't speak with Garren after the monster ambush and travel back to Athkatla, you'll continuously encounter the same squad of Radiant Heart members, spawning over and over again, if one of them bolts before he is killed. This will happen when the last member is still alive and the party isn't fast enough in killing him. Or you can milk this ambush by intentionally letting one member stay alive and leave the area before he is killed. This will continue to occur until you speak with Windspear in his cabin.

Gallery

Portraits from Portraits Portraits Everywhere

After arriving in the Windspear Hills for the first time, the party is confronted by a group of "monsters". What is this?

Garren Windspear will address you after the "monsters" that attacked your party.

After putting down the "monsters" who attacked the party, and Garren's invitation to his cabin, the party instead traveled (16 hours) back to Waukeen's Promenade for supplies. A group of Noble Order Paladins, Fighter Cleric and Mage materialized behind us and attacked with no warning.

Alhelor the mage - He may speak if the group he's with suffers some deaths or grievous wounds when fighting the party.

Sir Beverus, paladin.

Sir Branet Al-Thon, paladin.

Sir Jolus, Paladin, after attacking the party and then retreating with grievous wounds may shout - "You may have defeated us for now, but the Knights of the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart will return!"

Sir Paritin, fighter/cleric.

Mod gallery

This section is about unofficial content that is only available via fan-made mods.

SCS Mod screenshot. Enemy Paladins quaff potions, Alhelor launches previously cast buffs and the battle begins. A nearby Amnian Soldier approaches to assist the party. An unforseen ally. Afaaq the Djinni Companion retreats out of melee range.

Alhelor is immune to most everything at the moment, and he's recklessly cast Incendiary Cloud on top of his group and the party. A moment earlier a Dispel magic landed on the party, so most protections are now removed. At the moment, we are hating the Noble Order of the Radiant Heart.