The Village of Eternal Night - NWN Side Quest (Chapter 2)
The Village of Eternal Night is a side quest that begins by speaking with Mayor Mobley in the village of Charwood. Mayor Mobley's Office is marked on your map but it shouldn't be hard to find considering this village is so small. Sometimes this quest can also begin by speaking with Quint at the entrance of the village, depending on your dialogue choices with him.
For this quest you need to enter Castle Jhareg to the east and complete the event that takes place inside. The first room of this castle will be a puzzle, there's a chest with a key and 3 doors. Going straight is the correct route and will get you a magical item that corresponds to your weapon specialization.
In the next room you'll find the Judge who will explain what this place is and what your goal to accomplish here is. Essentially 2 brothers were involved in a horrible thing that happened and it resulted in this entire town being frozen in time. I'm about to spoil the $%&^ out of this plot to tell you the "proper" ending so -- you've been warned (it's a guide, I have to).
Karlat and Belial are the guilty ones, you're able to summon the devil that worked with him (Belial) inside of his chambers by first collecting Karlat's Protection Wand and Karlat's Burning Wand. We'll also need a Fire Beetle's Belly. You'll find a couple of Fire Beetle's Belly items throughout the zone too, one is in the same room as the Imaskarran Tome of Fire if I remember correctly. This tome is involved in the Five Tomes of Imaskar side quest so you'll definitely want to pick it up while you're here.
With the 3 items in hand... your Fire Beetle's Belly, Karlat's Protection Wand and Karlat's Burning Wand you'll want to head to the room marked Summoning Ritual on your map. Place the Fire Beetle's Belly into the Ritual Brazier and then use Karlat's Protection Wand on yourself (specifically Protection from Evil). Last but not least blast the Ritual Brazier with the Burning Hands spell using Karlat's Burning Wand.
Doing all of these things will summon Belial Lord of Fire.
Speaking to Belial will give you 3 different options to choose from but technically only 2 of them will work. If you ask him for a magical item of great power your Persuade request will fail 100% of the time (at least mine always did). You can only ask him for a temporary buff (1st option) or for a magical item; if you ask for a magical item he'll give you a Staff of Power.
The last option is to ask Belial what happened here and to obtain his Written Oath. Having Belial's Written Oath will allow you to choose 2 different outcomes during this quest when you speak with The Guardian at the end of it. I'll talk more about that when we reach that point of the quest.
All that's left for us in Karlat's Chambers is to speak with Karlat and obtain his Written Oath about what happened here. Once you've obtained that exit this area and go to the next one, Quint's Chambers.
Really the only thing worth mentioning in Quint's Chambers aside from Quint himself is the Imaskarran Tome of Death which is involved in the Five Tomes of Imaskar side quest. Other than this book all you need to do here is talk to Quint and obtain his Written Oath about what happened. There is some lore stuff here, a statue with blood from that night, a big book with blood on it and Quint's Journal but none of it is required.
With both areas complete all that is left is to return to The Guardian and speak with her to get the judgment underway. If all you care about is the biggest reward then finding Karlat guilty is the best choice. He's also technically the one responsible for everything anyway (which is also why he probably gives the biggest reward).
During judgment you'll have a total of 4 options to choose from. You can find Karlat or Quint guilty or you can find neither of them guilty. If you find neither of them guilty then you'll have an additional choice about what to do with the Phylactery item. You will need the oath of Belial to declare both parties not guilty; without his oath those options won't be available.
As previously stated Karlat is the one who is guilty here - not Quint. Technically Belial is guilty too but at most he is an accomplice to the crime and not the actual murderer. Finding Karlat guilty will get you the most EXP and loot for solving this quest and it's typically the route I go. However, you can find both Karlat and Quint not guilty and take the Phylactery for yourself which will get you slightly less EXP but a decent clicky item. More info on the Phylactery below.
Find Karlat Guilty: At the time of judgment you'll earn 500 EXP and outside when talking to the Mayor you'll get another 299. When exiting the castle the Mayor will stop you and give you a chest with more loot; the town of Charwood will be released from their bondage and be set free. This is what I would argue is the canon ending to the quest, Karlat is the guilty party.
Find Quint Guilty: You'll earn 375 EXP and the entire town in Charwood will be turned into Red Slaads and Fire Elementals. The Mayor will talk to you when you leave the castle but he will not give you any items.
Find Karlat & Quint Not Guilty; Leave Phylactery to The Guardian: This earns you 375 EXP and dooms the entire town to eternal darkness. When you exit the castle you'll see that nothing has changed in the town and you'll not receive any extra loot from Mr. Mayor.
Find Karlat & Quint Not Guilty; Take Phylactery for yourself: For this route you'll get 375 EXP and another 299 when you talk to the Mayor outside. You may think this is the 'Evil' option but you won't get any Evil Alignment from doing it.
Ultimately the choice is yours for resolving this quest. The Phylactery will cast Sanctuary on you when used which is a good buff but you may no find it worth it to go this route if you're like me and always forget to use your clickies.
