History NeverwinterNights2 / MaskOfTheBetrayer

* UglyGuysHotDaughter: Gender-flipped with Gann and his mother Gulk'aush. She's a stereotypically ugly hag, he's quite handsome. And a JustifiedTrope: [[spoiler:His father and mother truly loved each other, which led to him being born handsome.]]

* CuteMonsterGuy: Gannayev the Hagspawn. {{Lampshaded}} when he jokingly denies that he's a Hagspawn simply on the basis that he's way too ''pretty'' to be one. [[spoiler:Gann looks so beautiful because his mother actually loved his father, whereas other hags/nighthags are incapable of love and thus give birth to hideously ugly hagspawn.]]

* ExecutiveMeddling: Chris Avellone notes that Gann and Safiya as love interests were originally not constrained by gender, as "that felt true to how [they] perceived love".

* GoodVersusGood: The crusade involves celestials fighting paladins to the death.
** Or even paladin versus paladin, if the player is one.

* [[UglyGuysHotDaughter Ugly Girl's Hot Son]]: Gann. Full stop.

* BlessedWithSuck[=/=]CursedWithAwesome: The [[spoiler:Spirit-Eater Curse]], depending how you play it. While it's entirely up to you to decide whether it's either a horrible dog-raping curse or the most awesome ability ever, it's absolutely certain that about every NPC you come in contact with will disagree with you.
** Arguably, your situation is not great. Yes, you just beat an incredibly powerful avatar of the dark side of magic, but [[spoiler:your close friends and followers may well be dead, and they're certainly incapable of help you. The shard that has been inside your body for all your life has been removed (but not very well), you didn't get crushed to death at the end of [=NWN 2=], but you are thousands of miles from home, trapped in a country full of beings who would gladly kill you. Oh yeah, and you're afflicted with a curse that has ''always'' killed all previous victims, turns you into an insane ravening husk along the way, and means that your soul automatically goes to the Wall of the Faithless when you die no matter what.]]

* MacGuffinTitle: [[spoiler: The Mask of the Betrayer actually makes an appearance in the final battle if you manage to collect all the mask fragments.]]
* ManySpiritsInsideOfOne: One of Many.
* MergerOfSouls: The Academy of Shapers and Binders has a wizard who can fuse souls, and bound his own soul into a clay {{golem}} to do it more safely. A sidequest on the same level requires you to trade a soul to two [[OurDemonsAreDifferent pit fiends]]. Unfortunately, since they're unwilling to hand over what you request, they won't agree on what sort of soul they should have; in fact each gives mutually exclusive requirements. [[spoiler:The solution ends up being to have the aforementioned wizard fuse two completely opposite souls together.]]

* NatureSpirit: Quite a few, but Okku most notably. This is arguably Rashemen's [[PlanetOfHats hat]].

** You can choose to take it a step or three further. [[spoiler: You can turn against the Crusade most of the party wants you to join, kill the Founder out of vengeance for roping you into this mess. And while the heroic option is to stay on the Fugue Plane for eternity containing the spirit eater deep within the recesses of your soul, you can expunge it setting it back on its merry way to look for a new host to inhabit while you return to your friends and the keep from the original campaign, as if none of this had ever happened.]]

* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Okku has many elements, most noticeable when he encounters carrion-eating spirts at the coven.

* CentralTheme: Betrayal and [[EarnYourHappyEnding Redemption]]. Okku feels that's he's trapped into an unfulfillable oath and can never satisfy both [[spoiler: remembering Akachi]] and his duty to his clan. Kaelyn chose between her faith and the existence of the Wall of the Faithless. Also, ultimately, [[spoiler: Akachi chose to betray his god rather than condemn his lover.]] Settling these is, of course, up to the player. [[spoiler: Except Kaelyn's, she'll never let that one go.]]
* CessationOfExistence: The fate of anything [[spoiler:consumed by the Spirit Eater.]]

* DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou: [[spoiler:Namely, Gann's mother was forced into it by her hag sisters, presumably on pain of death for either of them.]]

* DrivenToMadness: Gulk'aush as a result of [[spoiler:being forced to eat her love alive, piece by piece.]]
* DysfunctionJunction: Surprisingly averted... [[spoiler:well, unless you have One of Many and regularly go out of your way to gain Influence with it]], given the darker tone of this instalment. There's a bit of banter back and forth, and Gann certainly likes teasing Kaelyn from time to time, but the party feels much more cohesive and calm compared to the original gang.

* EldritchAbomination: Should you go for the evil ending, [[spoiler:this is effectively what you become; a wandering incarnation of emptiness devouring all in your path, a ''thing'' which has declared war on the planes by its very existence, capable of consuming even gods. One of Many is ecstatic; everyone else is horrified.]]

* FatalFlaw: Kaelyn's obsession with destroying the Wall of the Faithless.

%%* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind
%%* KillerRabbit: [[spoiler:The badger spirit.]]

* MundaneUtility: According to Gannayev, the best use for being able to travel through dreams is to get laid.
%%* NarratorAllAlong: [[spoiler:Kelemvor.]]

* BraggingRightsReward:
** [[spoiler:Akachi's Scythe can be combined with Myrkul's spirit essence to make an [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinity + 1 Scythe]] called Spiritual Evisceration.]] It'd be nice if you actually had something to use it on; instead you get it after you've probably already got your character at 30th level, designed for a weapon class unlikely to be scythes (which are rarely seen since HeroesPreferSwords), and [[spoiler:one short dungeon from the end of the game]].
** A couple of different [[GameMod fan modules]] have an InfinityPlusOneSword as an end-of-game reward. Modders, next time you decide to give out an InfinityPlusOneSword, give the player something to use it on. (I'm looking at ''you'', "Temple of Torm".)
* TheCasanova[=/=]TheCharmer: Gann. He banged so damn many girls that they locked him in ''prison.''

* [[CuteMonsterGirl Cute Monster Guy]]: Gannayev the Hagspawn. {{Lampshaded}} when he jokingly denies that he's a Hagspawn simply on the basis that he's way too ''pretty'' to be one. [[spoiler:Gann looks so beautiful because his mother actually loved his father, whereas other hags/nighthags are incapable of love and thus give birth to hideously ugly hagspawn.]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: And arguably all the better for it.
* DarkWorld: The Plane of Shadow is a dark reflection of the Prime Material Plane

* FiveManBand
** TheHero: The Player
** TheLancer: Gannayev-of-Dreams. As a bonus, his favored weapon is a spear.
** TheSmartGuy: Safiya.
** TheBigGuy: Okku or One Of Many.
** TheChick: Kaelyn the Dove.

* HellIsThatNoise: Gulk'aush's utterances. Brr.

** [[spoiler:If you're male and had romanced Elanee, Ammon Jerro reveals that she took a piece of the King of Shadows' CollapsingLair that would have struck you.]]
** [[spoiler:This is also how Casavir died. [[{{Retcon}} Maybe.]]]]
* HeterosexualLifePartners[=/=]HoYay: A male PlayerCharacter with a very high influence with Gann can [[spoiler: begin sharing his thoughts and memories with him. They become extremely close and in some endings they go WalkingTheEarth as true companions.]]

* IntellectualAnimal: Okku.

* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: The [[spoiler:VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon]].
* KillerRabbit: [[spoiler:The badger spirit, again]].
* LastVillainStand: Provided you [[spoiler:proceed with the invasion of the Fugue Plane]] instead of [[spoiler:defending against said invasion]], Araman pulls this after the battle when [[spoiler:Kelemvor has already agreed to let you try to get your soul back]]. [[TooDumbToLive Factor in that your party probably consists of four 30th-level characters by now.]] It's entirely possible your spellcasters will obliterate him in one turn.

* LetsPlay: Lt. Danger carries on with the same character into this part, and it's if anything more interesting now that there's a genuinely interesting story to critique. Found [[http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/MotB/index.html here]].

* MultipleEndings

* NarratorAllAlong: [[spoiler:Kelemvor.]]

* ExecutiveMeddling: Chris Avellone notes that Gann and Safiya as love interests were originally not constrained by gender, as "that felt true to how [they] perceived love". Given that the same company had no issues with [[TempleOfElementalEvil Bertram and lesbian flirting]], it seems it's only okay for minor characters.

* CentralTheme: Betrayal and [[EarnYourHappyEnding Redemption]]. Okku feels that's he's trapped into an unfulfillable oath and can never satisfy both [[spoiler: remembering Akachi]] and his duty to Rasheman. Kaelyn chose between her faith and the existence of the Wall of the Faithless. Also, ultimately, [[spoiler: Akachi chose to betray his god rather than condemn his lover.]] Settling these is, of course, up to the player.

* GameBreakingBug: The initial version broke the "go to the swamp to retrieve the silver shard" quest early in the original campaign by causing a PlotLock to fail to open.

* CentralTheme: Betrayal and [[EarnYourHappyEnding Redemption]]. Okku feels that's he's trapped into an unfulfillable oath and can never satisfy both [[spoiler: remembering Akachi]] and his duty to Rasheman. Kaelyn chose between her faith and the existence of the Wall of the Faithless.

* CentralTheme: Betrayal and [[EarnYourHappyEnding Redemption]]. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Its in the title.]]

** Embracing the curse, and thus using it far more often results in a higher Craving, meaning you must feed more often[[note]]to compare, if you suppress the craving, you will only lose 1 point per in game hour, if you feed constantly and have maximum craving, you will lose 6 points per in game hour, if you run out of spirit points, you die[[/note]], which makes the aforesaid lengthy parts much more difficult. Furthermore, to get the most out of each usage of an ability, you must time it so that you kill the enemy when they are below a certain threshold (below 25% health to restore the flat amount plus whatever life the enemy had left), otherwise it will restore a flat amount of Spirit Points, which if you've been embracing it, will probably be peanuts to what you need to stay alive. On the flip side, you can get and make some pretty damn powerful items and some cool powers.

-->'''Gann:''' ...and old mother, do not think your mind has not laid down paths for me to stroll. ''Such'' thoughts in a woman your age – it would put even a farmer's fieryloined daughter to shame.

* MergerOfSouls: The Academy of Shapers and Binders has a wizard who can fuse souls, and bound his own soul into a clay {{golem}} to do it more safely. A sidequest on the same level requires you to trade a particular soul to two [[OurDemonsAreDifferent pit fiends]]. Unfortunately, since they're very unwilling to hand over what you request, they won't agree on what the soul they should have; in fact each gives mutually exclusive requirements. [[spoiler:The solution ends up being to have the aforementioned wizard fuse two completely opposite souls together.]]

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: Consisting of you (already a WalkingDisasterArea who then gets cursed to become a soul-eating abomination), a somewhat Machiavellian wizard from an organisation with a ''nasty'' reputation, a Hagspawn casanova who uses his dreamwalking powers to give the local ladies some ''very'' pleasant dreams, an exiled half-angel rebelling against the gods themselves, and either another soul-eating abomination created from the fused souls of dozens of cremated individuals or ''a giant talking rainbow spirit bear god''.

* PlotHole[=/=]WritersCannotDoMath: Part of Myrkul's plan in creating the Spirit-Eater Curse was [[spoiler:to ensure his immortality by abusing the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms[='=]'' GodsNeedPrayerBadly rule (i.e. as long as there's a Spirit-Eater, there's always going to be someone who believes in him, thus he can't truly die)]]. Problem is, the Spirit-Eater has been around for centuries, but the Time of Troubles, after which GodsNeedPrayerBadly was established by the Overgod Ao (and incidentally, during which Myrkul was killed and replaced by Cyric as god of the dead), took place in 1358, and the game takes place in 1374. Perhaps Myrkul was just really forward-looking.

* {{Pride}}:

** Arguably, your situation is not great. Yes, you just beat an incredibly powerful avatar of the dark side of magic, but [[spoiler:your close friends and followers may well be dead. The shard that has been inside your body for all your life has been removed (but not very well), you didn't get crushed to death at the end of [=NWN 2=], but you are thousands of miles from home, trapped in a country full of beings who would gladly kill you. Oh yeah, and you're afflicted with a curse that has ''always'' killed all previous victims, turns you into an insane ravening husk along the way, and means that your soul automatically goes to the Wall of the Faithless when you die no matter what.]]

** To expand, if you play the [[GoodIsBoring Good Route]], and suppress the thing, and only use it against Undead, then your craving will be far lower, and you will lose spirit points MUCH, MUCH slower, which can be a Godsend for several VERY lengthy parts of the game with little to feed on. This can make for an easier time, but you can potentially deny yourself several powerful items.
** Embracing the curse, and thus using it far more often results in a higher Craving, meaning you must feed more often[[note]]to compare, if you suppress the craving, you will only lose 1 point per in game hour, if you feed constantly and have maximum craving, you will lose 6 points per in game hour, if you run out of spirit points, you die[[/note]], which makes the aforesaid lengthy parts much more difficult. Furthermore, to get the most out of each usage of an ability, you must time it so that you kill the enemy when they are below a certain threshold (below 25% health to restore the flat amount plus whatever life the enemy had left), otherwise it will restore a flat amount of Spirit Points, which if you've been embracing it, will probably be peanuts to what you need to stay alive. On the flip side, you can get and make some pretty damn powerful items.

* ConvertingForLove: In one of the endings, [[spoiler:Either Gannayev or Safiya (both n/atheists) will swear themselves to Kelemvor so that they can stay with you in the City of Judgement.]]

* [[CuteMonsterGirl Cute Monster Guy]]: Gannayev the Hagspawn. {{Lampshaded}} when he jokingly denies that he's a Hagspawn simply on the basis that he's way too ''pretty'' to be one. [[spoiler:Gann looks so beautiful because his mother actually loved his father, whereas other hags/nighthags are incapable of love and thus give birth to hideously ugly hagspawns.]]
* CuttingOffTheBranches: The expansion assumes a character that was not imported from the original campaign did ''not'' [[spoiler:join the King of Shadows]] at the end.

* DreamingTheTruth: With dreams being a major theme of the series, it's only natural that several of the dreams you travel through through let you in on the backstory.

* EvilTastesGood

** TheSmartGuy: Safiya
** TheBigGuy: Okku or One Of Many
** TheChick: Kaelyn the Dove

* KillerRabbit: ([[spoiler:The badger spirit, again]])

* LevelUpAtIntimacy5

* MergerOfSouls: The Academy of Shapers and Binders has a wizard who can fuse souls, and bound his own soul into a clay {{golem}} to do it more safely. A sidequest on the same level requires you to trade a particular soul to two [[OurDemonsAreDifferent pit fiends]]. Unfortunately, they can't agree on what the soul should have; in fact each gives mutually exclusive requirements. [[spoiler:The solution ends up being to have the aforementioned wizard fuse two completely opposite souls together.]]

* OptionalPartyMember: One of Many is an odd example, as you can get either him or Okku, depending on if [[spoiler:you consume Okku]]. Similarly, [[spoiler:Araman]] can be obtained if [[spoiler:if you side against the Third Crusade]] in place of Kaelyn (who will attack you if you meet the conditions for him).

* PlotHole[=/=]WritersCannotDoMath: Part of Myrkul's plan in creating the Spirit-Eater Curse was [[spoiler:to ensure his immortality by abusing the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms[='=]'' GodsNeedPrayerBadly rule (i.e. as long as there's a Spirit-Eater, there's always going to be someone who believes in him, thus he can't truly die)]]. Problem is, the Spirit-Eater has been around for centuries, but the Time of Troubles, after which GodsNeedPrayerBadly was established by the Overgod Ao (and incidentally, during which Myrkul was killed and replaced by Cyric as god of the dead), took place in 1358, and the game takes place in 1374.
* PointOfNoReturn: The Betrayer's Gate.

* ReincarnationRomance: [[spoiler:Male {{Player Character}}s can enter into one with Safiya. [[http://www.formspring.me/GZiets/q/322955310316683214 Females could as well before ExecutiveMeddling.]]]]

* SoulJar

* SpeakingSimlish: One Of Many is a dark twist, he speaks with a "call of the dead" that any mortal creature can understand.
* StupidSexyFlanders: A male PC with a high enough Charisma stat can catch Gann in one of these moments when they first meet.
** Likely an artifact from when Gann was going to be bi.
* StarCrossedLovers: [[spoiler:Akachi and the Founder]]

* TrulySingleParent: [[spoiler:The Founder.]]

* VillainsNeverLie: ([[spoiler:Myrkul. The player character can even lampshade it to Kaelyn. Later subverted when Kelemvor reveals that though he wasn't lying to ''her'', he was lying to ''you'' and to the founder.]])

* BodyMotifs: Faces and masks (it ''is'' in the title). The spirit-eater curse is referred to sometimes as an entity in and of itself that happens to be "wearing" you as a mask, [[spoiler:just as it's "worn" the faces of its many previous victims]]. A name for an important character in the backstory is The ''Faceless'' Man, and [[spoiler:you can end the curse by restoring him - using a mask]]. Gann's beautiful face is something of a plot point. Safiya's face is identical to that of her mother for a good reason. Kelemvor, new god of the dead, wears a very memorable mask. The woman who runs the Veil Theatre has a studio dedicated to creating masks for the plays, and even the theatre's name refers to a sort of mask. And a drinking game for every time somebody refers to masks, faces, or masks on faces, or faces beneath masks is inadvisable unless one seeks liver failure.

* BlessedWithSuck / CursedWithAwesome: The [[spoiler:Spirit-Eater Curse]], depending how you play it. While it's entirely up to you to decide whether it's either a horrible dog-raping curse or the most awesome ability ever, it's absolutely certain that about every NPC you come in contact with will disagree with you.
** Arguably, your situation is not great. Yes, you just beat an incredibly powerful avatar of the dark side of magic, but [[spoiler:your close friends and followers may well be dead. The shard that has been inside your body for all your life has been removed (but not very well), you didn't get crushed to death at the end of [=NWN 2=], but you are thousands of miles from home, trapped in a country full of beings who would gladly kill you. Oh yeah, and you are afflicted with a curse that has ALWAYS killed all previous victims, will turn you into a ravening husk along the way, and will mean that your soul will automatically be taken to the Wall of the Faithless.]]

* BoringButPractical / DifficultButAwesome: The [[spoiler:Spirit-Eater Curse again]], depending on how you run with it.

** [[spoiler:Akachi's Scythe can be combined with Myrkul's spirit essence to make an [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinity + 1 Scythe]] called Spiritual Evisceration.]] It'd be nice if you actually had something to use it on; instead you get it after you've probably already got your character at 30th level, designed for a different weapon class than scythes (which are rarely seen since HeroesPreferSwords), and [[spoiler:one short dungeon from the end of the game]].

* [[CuteMonsterGirl Cute Monster Guy]]: Gannayev the Hagspawn. {{Lampshaded}} whe0\n he jokingly denies that he's a Hagspawn simply on the basis that he's way too pretty to be one. [[spoiler:Gann looks so beautiful because his mother actually loved his father, whereas other hags/nighthags are incapable of love and thus give birth to hideously ugly hagspawns.]]
* CuttingOffTheBranches: The expansion assumes the player did not [[spoiler:join the King of Shadows]] at the end of the OC.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:Did You Just EAT Myrkul?]]

-->'''Gann:''' ... and old mother, do not think your mind has not laid down paths for me to stroll. ''Such'' thoughts in a woman your age – it would put even a farmer's fieryloined daughter to shame.

* DysfunctionJunction: Surprisingly averted... [[spoiler:well, unless you have One of Many and regularly go out of your way to gain Influence with it]], given the darker tone of this installment. There's a bit of banter back and forth, and Gann certainly likes teasing Kaelyn from time to time, but the party feels much more cohesive and calm compared to the OC gang.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Chris Avellone notes that Gann was originally going to be Bi, as "that felt true to how he perceived love". Given that the same company has no issues with [[TempleOfElementalEvil Bertram and lesbian flirting]], it seems it's only OK for minor characters.

* FatalFlaw: Kaelyn's obession with destroying the Wall of the Faithless.

* FlayingAlive: the fate of [[spoiler:Gannayev's father]].
* GameBreakingBug: The initial version broke the "go to the swamp to retrieve the silver shard" quest early in the OC by causing a PlotLock to fail to open.
* GodsHandsAreTied: [[spoiler:Kelemvor would love to end the Spirit-Eater curse for you, but the entire pantheon would come down on him if he were to toss aside another god's judgement against his own follower. However, he ''is'' willing to [[LoopholeAbuse abuse some loopholes]] to let ''you'' end it. The Wall of the Faithless, on the other hand, is there to stay]]

* NotInThisForYourRevolution: The expansion pack is praised for giving a motive that is believable for all characters -- [[spoiler:saving yourself from a curse that is slowly killing you]] -- over the "Save the world" that the original game forced the players into. So even if the player character has no reason to stop what has been plaguing the lands for decades, they still have a reason to finish the main quest.

---> '''Kaelyn:''' You ... you are a ... Oh, I don't know any curses. How embarrassing.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: Consisting of you, a somewhat Machiavellian wizard, a Hagspawn casanova, an exiled half-angel, and either an undead abomination or a giant talking SPIRIT RAINBOW BEAR.

* SelfDeprecation: There REALLY is a lot of self-deprecating humor.
* SequenceBreaking: Getting Gann's influence high enough before the end of Act I will tip you off to the [[spoiler:spirit eater curse]] before you're supposed to know about it.

** Likely an artifact from when Gann was going to be Bi.

* TrulySingleParent: [[spoiler:The Founder]]

* AGodAmI: Well, not so much a God as [[spoiler:an utterly unnatural god-killing ''[[EldritchAbomination thing]]'' that has declared war on the planes by its very existence]], but this is [[spoiler:your reward if you're aiming for the evil ending.]]

* AGodAmI: Well, not so much a God as [[spoiler:an utterly unnatural god-killing ''[[EldritchAbomination thing]]'' that has declared war on the planes by its very existence]], but this is [[spoiler:your reward if you're aiming for the evil ending.]]

* HannibalLecture: [[spoiler:Myrkul will lecture Kaelyn and Gann.]]
** ShutUpHannibal: [[spoiler:See DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu above.]]

* AGodAmI: Well, not so much a God as [[spoiler:an utterly unnatural god-killing ''thing'' that has declared war on the planes by its very existence]], but this is [[spoiler:your reward if you're aiming for the evil ending.]]

* RoadCone: The expansion assumes the player did not [[spoiler:join the King of Shadows]] at the end of the OC.