Words of Power - NWN Main Quest (Chapter 3)
Words of Power is the primary quest of Chapter 3 of the Main Campaign. This quest is a little bit weird in how it operates because it's clearly the overarching quest for all of Chapter 3. It updates each time you turn a Word of Power into Aarin Gend. However, the majority of the Words of Power come from other quests - not this one.
You will get a Word of Power from both The Snow Globe and Klauth the Ancient Red Wyrm. For more information about those specific Words of Power and how to obtain them I recommend you check those quest entries. This page is going to include the Word of Power that you get from the Creator Race Ruins since that dungeon has no quest associated with it outside of 'Unlocking the Door of Three', but that quest is too short for a guide.
To reach the Creator Race Ruins from the town of Beorunna's Well you'll want to first go south to Fort Ilkard. From Fort Ilkard you'll want to go south again to reach the Fort Ilkard - Ruins map which is where you'll find the entrance to this dungeon. A screenshot of the entrance is shown above so you know what you're looking for.
Outside the front entrance to this dungeon you'll want to grab the Volcanis Oak Seed which is part of Linu's Tale. This is the only valuable item in the Fort Ilkard - Ruins map. When you enter the dungeon you'll find a Corpse on the ground right in front of you. Make sure you loot the Translation Amulet from it as it's a required item to complete this quest.
Make sure to loot a Translation Amulet so you can understand the language!
*Important* Loot the Translation Amulet! there are a few throughout the Present and Past part of this dungeon. You'll need this item to complete this quest.
So, before I explain how to complete this dungeon I have to tell you how it works. There are 2 versions of this dungeon a Present version and a Past version. When you first enter the dungeon you'll be in the Present version, the one that exists at this current point in time. In order to solve this dungeon you'll have to travel back in time to the other version and make sure the golems in this dungeon are created with flaws.
Unless you travel back in time and instruct the Slave Workers to build flaws into the golems you will be unable to harm them no matter what you do. As long as the golems are alive you will not be able to complete the Ritual that they 'protect'. This all may sound a little bit confusing at first - don't worry I will explain it all in detail below.
First, let's get started with what you need to do in the present time line before traveling back into the past. The first thing to do is speak with Sapphira in the garden area and start the Plant the Ultarg Tree Seed side quest. She will give you a Time Crystal when you start this quest which we need to go back in time. After that you'll want to obtain Tamorlyn's Song for Sharwyn's Tale; once you're done both of these things you're ready to travel back in time!
Creator Race Ruins - Present Map
Creator Race Ruins (Present - before going back in time):
1. Speak with Sapphira in the garden to start the Plant the Ultarg Tree Seed side quest and get your Time Crystal
2. Obtain Tamorlyn's Song for Sharwyn's Tale
3. Loot a Time Crystal and use it on a Sun Dial to travel back in time
To travel back in time you will want to locate a Sun Dial in the Creator Race Ruins and use the Time Crystal you got from Sapphira on the Sun Dial. You can find 2 Sun Dials in these ruins, one is in the northeast and another is in the northwest. Both of them are marked on your map so they should be pretty easy to find.
A word of warning too, when you're in the past your Stone of Recall will not work. You will have to use the Time Crystal on a Sun Dial to travel to the present then use the Stone of Recall to return to the Temple of Tyr.
One of the Sun Dials you can use to go back in time
From this point on you'll want to make sure you're wearing the Translation Amulet that you got earlier. In order to talk with the Slave Workers throughout the past you will need this amulet to understand their language. If you didn't get the Translation Amulet earlier you'll be able to find a few of them in the past as well by searching the containers so don't worry.
Our main goal in the past is to speak with the 3 Slave Workers who are responsible for constructing the golems and make sure they build a flaw into the golem they are working on. You can ask them to build a flaw into the golem through dialogue but be warned - they can only do a single flaw and you better pick a type damage that you can actually deal.
Note: If you're having trouble convincing the Slave Workers to help you then you'll first want to talk with Lokar in the northeastern portion of the map. He will give you Lokar's Ring which you can then use as proof that you can be trusted when talking with the Slave Workers.
You'll be able to choose between 4 different types of damage for constructing a flaw. Fire, Cold, Blunt or Slashing and Piercing (Slashing and Piercing are paired together). If you choose the wrong damage type don't worry - you can travel back in time again and change it by talking to the same Slave Worker.
Creator Race Ruins (Past):
1. Speak with the Riddle of Sound Slave Worker & convince him to make the Golem vulnerable
2. Speak with the Riddle of Light Slave Worker & convince him to make the Golem vulnerable
3. Speak with the Riddle of Smoke Slave Worker & convince him to make the Golem vulnerable
4. Plant the Ultarg Tree Seed in the garden for the Plant the Ultarg Tree Seed quest
Creator Race Ruins - Past Map
One of the 3 Slave Workers you need to speak with in the past
After you've spoken with all 3 Slave Workers in the past and planted the Ultarg Seed for the Plant the Ultarg Tree Seed quest it's time to travel back to the present. You can get back to the present the same way you traveled back in time originally, use the Time Crystal on the Sun Dial.
So, what changed is now the 3 Old One Guardian Golems that protect each of the 3 Riddles throughout the dungeon are vulnerable to the type of damage you specified. Our goal is now going to be defeat each of these 3 golems and loot the key from their corpse so that we can access the riddle areas. We have to solve all 3 of these riddles to acquire the Words of Power.
Below I will provide you with the solution for each of these 3 riddles. If you'd prefer to see a video guide instead of using the test guide on this page click on the name of the riddle below and it'll take you to my Youtube Guide I made for that puzzle.
Riddle of Smoke: This riddle is an easy one, all you have to do is loot the Blue, Red and Yellow Powder out of the Alchemist's Apparatus and place them inside of the Smoky Brazier in the correct order. You have to put them inside of the Brazier in pairs, the 3 different combinations needed are listed below.
1. 1 Red Powder and 1 Yellow Powder
2. 1 Blue Powder and 1 Red Powder
3. 1 Blue Powder and 1 Yellow Powder
Riddle of Sound: Riddle of Sound is the most annoying riddle and I strongly recommend you watch the video for it that I made. Essentially you have to hit all of the gongs in the right order... As for the right order...
Gong Order: SE, NE, SW, NW, SW, NE, NW, SE
Riddle of Light: You can solve this puzzle multiple ways; how it works is there are 2 primary pools, 2 secondary pools and 1 Pool of Swirling Colors. The Pool of Swirling Colors has a few gems inside of it which we'll need for this event. You need to change the color of the primary pools by clicking on them and then place gems into the secondary pools depending on what color you picked. Below are the solutions that work for this.
Solution #1
Primary Pools: Yellow & Blue
Secondary Pools: Green Gems
Solution #2
Primary Pools: Blue & Red
Secondary Pools: Purple Gems
Solution #3
Primary Pools: Yellow & Red
Secondary Pools: Orange Gems
Once you have finished all 3 riddles you will unlock the vault that holds the Word of Power. The vault is located in the south-central part of this dungeon, it's the only place in the entire dungeon that we haven't been yet. Guarding the Word of Power will be a Balor Lord enemy which will require a +2 weapon or better to even damage.
Defeat the Balor Lord and loot the Key from his corpse, use it to unlock the Altar behind where he spawns and obtain the Word of Power. Someone named Haedraline will spawn and talk to you, she spawns each time you collect a Word of Power and the entire conversation with her is optional.
With this Word of Power out of the way all that's left is to collect the remaining 2 from the quests The Snow Globe and Klauth the Ancient Red Wyrm. Each time you turn in a Word of Power this quest will update and after turning in all 3 this quest will be complete and you'll move on to Chapter 4!
Return to Chapter 3 of my Walkthrough