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This modron seems to be subtly different from the others you have seen. It carries a pair of crossbows in its four arms, and it seems to be taking an active interest in your behavior.

Nordom Whistleklik is a Modron, a society of Law and Order taken to its logical extreme. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta.


Nordom's altered function is responsible for his Chaotic Neutral alignment. He has "gone rogue" after being exposed to the raw elemental chaos of Limbo, wherein the Modron construct of the Rubikon Dungeon Project floats: the Modron Maze. While separated from the Modron hive mind, he remains a mechanical thinker, using few verbs and many colons and equals signs. While often referred to as "he" and having a masculine-sounding voice, Nordom is genderless. He chose his name after The Nameless One inadvertently referred to him as a "backwards Modron." He attacks with a pair of 'gear spirits' in the form of crossbows, making him one of only two in-game characters able to attack from a distance.

All characters except Ignus, Vhailor and Nordom have a morale rating, and they will leave the party if it gets too low.


Personality[]

Nordom is a very confused creature, unused to his new individuality; he is as pleased to receive a new personal name as he is to be commanded to obey. He is not entirely certain what happened to him to split him away from Mechanus, but being given a role in The Nameless One's party comforts him and gives him focus, whether because he is used to being part of a hierarchy, or because he needs to be around the individuals he now feels himself to be.

Fall-from-Grace has advice on Nordom, based on her knowledge of Modron society. This gives some small insight to the player into the dialogue trees with Nordom that allow him to upgrade.


Recruiting Nordom[]

Nordom is sort of a secret character, as his location is hidden behind several layers of independent actions unlinked by game hints. He can only be found by buying the Metallic Cube from the exotic items section of the Curiosity Shop. It turns out to be a Modron Cube, an articulated figurine in the shape of a Modron. Even then, The Nameless One can do nothing with the Cube directly, but must speak either with the Modrons in the Brothel for Slaking Intellectual Lusts or ask Yvana, the owner of Art and Curio Galleria to learn that the Cube is a portal, and then solve an elimination puzzle, manipulating the figurine's extremities through dialogue choices, whereupon the party is teleported to the maze of the Modron Cube, which is notoriously hard to navigate.

When you encounter Nordom, one of the orders you can give him is to go hostile and attack everyone. Do not do it if you want him as a party member, because if you do, you won't be able to chat with him anymore, and resetting the Modron Cube again will NOT SPAWN NORDOM AGAIN.

Modron Maze[]

Main article: Modron Maze

It is recommended to come prepared for a very long dungeon crawl in the Modron Maze. It's possible to run past enemies, use Morte's Litany of Curses and running (floating) in circles while the other party members kill the enemies to avoid damage, or fight conventionally. A score or two of Blood Charms at least can be used up getting to Nordom if Fall-from-Grace is not in the party (and even then, depending on difficulty), and twice that to get to the Evil Wizard Construct as well (1,440-2,880 Copper commons). The party will have to return to the room at the beginning of the maze to Rest.

The Hard version of the maze is 61 square rooms, the two-square boss room, and Nordom's Room, in an eight-by-eight square; everytime the maze difficulty is reset in the control room, the doorways on each side of the rooms are opened or closed, making a maze with a different configuration. A Portal Lens is the easiest way out of the maze, (otherwise the party must navigate the maze back to the control room) and unless the party is lucky enough to find one as loot, they must make it to the Evil Wizard Construct and defeat it; it always drops one.

The enemies respawn every time the party leaves Rubikon, until the Wizard Construct is defeated (this is not true in the Enhanced Edition). The Portal Lens will teleport the party back and forth between various points in Sigil and the Rubikon maze start point.

It is recommended to save often in the Modron Maze. The foes are tough, and the player may prefer to find Nordom before the Wizard Construct. Unless the player encounters the Wizard Construct and ask the Wizard about the fate of the previous Rubikon project Director, they will miss Nordom's Director upgrades.

Stats[]

HP

AC

THAC0

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
Initial 60 4 15 16 16 16 16 8 8
Upgraded -3 16 20 19 18 8 8


Upgrades[]

As of the Enhanced Edition, there is only one way to mess up Nordom's upgrades. If the player kill the Evil Wizard without making him confess to killing the previous Creative Director, the "Director" upgrade and its subsequent upgrades will be locked out. All of the upgrades can be done in any order, except for the "Director" subsequent upgrades which can be obtained only after getting the "Director" upgrade..

Like Dak'kon and Morte, Nordom can be have his attributes increased through dialogue. With the right attributes, the Nameless One can reprogram Nordom making him more powerful, not to mention less troubled. He has no experience with humanoid social cues, so he often misses the point of jokes or barbs by other party members. Under proper direction from The Nameless One, who he believes to be the equivalent of his Mechanus superiors, he can modify his body to become stronger, stealthier, and/or smarter.

See Modron Maze
Nordom feet head

Nordom is different to other Modrons

After all upgrades: AC -3, Str 16, Int 18, Wis 8, Dex 20, Con 19, Chr 8. Without the thief upgrade, 18 Strength and 18 Dex.  Per AD&D rules, the DEX is better.  STR does not modify crossbows for to hit rolls or damage.

Nordom's upgraded hardened metal casing with an AC of -3 is much more than need be expected of a party member that attacks from a distance. His AC is better than the nimble and hard-to-hit Annah before adding accessories, although a couple of -2 AC Stinger Earrings, or one and the Punch Daggers of Zar'anun, is all she needs to best his protection. He can also use rings.

A. The individual upgrade: It doesn't matter if Morte and Fall-from-Grace are in the party, the player must ask Nordom about the Mechanus: then ask "how are you doing?" or then ask about the Rubikon and then ask about the Third Stage. If you have at least 16 INT, this will lead to TNO proposing that his separation from the Source has caused him to become smaller and louder, and upgrades him +1 Int and Con and gains 36,000 XP for the party. +1 Int and Con and gains 36,000 XP for the party.

B. The Director upgrade: You must ask the Evil Wizard Construct what he did with the previous Creative Director; this can be done before or after obtaining Nordom. Ask again how Nordom came to be at Rubikon, only this time ask about the Field Test, and tell him that the previous Director is dead; he is crestfallen, but immediately cheers up even more if told that The Nameless One is the new Director. He gets +1 Int and Dex and again, 36,000 XP

Once TNO has ascertained that he can order Nordom to do anything, look for the sensible options, which are all dependent on TNO's current class and attributes (all 3 upgrades can be selected if TNO switches to another class after selecting an upgrade):

  • As a Fighter class with 17 or better Str, order him to Improve Immediately, Soldier! (well, the Director is Lawful) and he gets -2 Int, +1 to Dex and Con, and a decreased chance of being hit (-2 AC), and another 36,000 XP.
  • As a Mage class with 18 or better Int, tell him to do a "memory dump"; he gains +2 Int; the party gains another 36K XP, and an unidentified Clockwork Junk, which looks just like the other three Junk also dispensed, but when identified turns out to be the scroll of Twisted Gear of Enoll Eva, a level 5 mage spell which doubles subsequent damage. Do not feel bad about asking Dak'kon to switch TNO's class in the middle of battle to get TNO to use this on himself; the game does not feel bad about interrupting battle to display dialogue, even if it is the 17th time Grace has asked if Annah was born in the Hive
  • As a Thief with 17 or better Dex, he gets -2 Str, +2 Dex, and the party gains another 36,000 XP. (Note: Strength is mostly useless for Nordom except for carrying weight, as Strength only affects the damage and THAC0 of melee attacks, not ranged. Dexterity, however, improves ranged THAC0).
  • TNO can instruct Nordom to become more than he is, with the result depending on TNO's Charisma score:
  • With 17-18 Chr, TNO can persuade Nordom to give himself +1 Str & +1 Con, and the party gets 36K XP;
  • With 19-24 Chr, TNO can persuade Nordom to give himself another reduction to the chance of being hit (-1 AC), +2 Str, and +1 Con, and the party gets 48K XP;
  • With 25 Chr, TNO can persuade Nordom to give himself another reduction to the chance of being hit (-2 AC), +2 Str, +1 Con, and +1 Luck, and the party gets 60K XP.
  • The Level 1 Mage spell, Friends can raise Chr by +8.
    "You go through your motivational speech, then get this option: "Come on, Nordom... Strength. Speed. Power. Focus." However, due to a bug, there may be 2 of these to choose from, one gives a larger bonus than the other. If you see 2 at the same time, choose the BOTTOM one." - Dan Simpson's FAQ.[1]
  • With Int 17 or Wis 17 ask Nordom, what were the duties of the Creative Director, again, and what did he have you doing?
  • Ask about Integrity Evaluation, which reveals that Nordom can detect the presence of portals in a ten foot radius (in practice, more like half that), which basically offers no advantage other than a message appearing ONCE
  • Ask about Error Extermination and better weapons
  • With Int or Wis equal to or greater than 17, TNO is supposed to be able to suggest bolt ammunition that is more accurate or more vicious to gain 10 Winged Bolts or Bolts of Wincing, respectively, "Vicious" can be choosen only if TNO is evil.
  • With Int of 18 or it is possible to ask about bolts with a pyramidal head that splits into three and Nordom will dispense 10 Rule-of-Three Bolts.
  • Ask about Wayward Item Recovery, and he will dispense the contents of the lost and found section of his cubelike body: 333 Copper, Junk, Stinger Earring, Gold Bracelet, Glass Eye, Fanged Mirror. Talk to him again about this subject with Int 17, and Item Identification will come up; he will dispense a Magnifying Lens ocular, which aids Lore skill.

There is no way out of the maze without a Portal Lens, and unless the party is lucky enough to find one as loot, they must make it to the Wizard Construct and defeat it; it always drops one, along with a Mechanus' Cannon scroll.

As of the Enhanced Edition, teleporting out does not respawn the enemies or reconfigure the maze. It appears as though, once every last High Threat Construct outside of the boss room has been killed, no new ones will spawn, but instead the maze will reconfigure, when the party teleports out and back in. The team cannot be reformed while in the maze. This gives a few options. The player can kill all the enemies with a full party of six, leave, and navigate a new configuration, with Nordom's room and the boss room still in the same locations. Or fight through the enemies with a full party of six until they find Nordom, and then, with the benefit of any map they might have made for themselves, run back to Nordom with five team members. Or bring only five team members to start with (someone must be, or have been, booted from the party if both Fall-from-Grace and Ignus have joined)

The player may prefer to encounter Nordom before they encounter the boss enemy. The most straightforward way to do this is to save before going through any and all north doors (top right in isometric view) because that is the only kind of entrance that fits with the Evil Wizard's room, and always go through any west (left) doors, because that is the only kind of entrance that fits with Nordom's Room.

The player can always rest in the Modron Foyer room, between the Control Room and the maze proper, and regain spells, particularly Fall-from-Grace's heal spells, which save on healing items.

Equipment[]

Unlike all the other Modrons in the game, who have a pair of arms, a pair of legs, and a pair of wings as their limbs, Nordom has chosen to replace his wings with a second set of arms; he can both aim and reload a pair of crossbows at a time (on the equipment screen, he has only one). If the player has not armed Nordom with special crossbow bolts, the gear spirits can create an infinite number of ordinary bolts for Nordom to fire at his enemies.

Lens ocular gear (aiming devices Nodrom wears in the same slot as other characters do Earrings) and crossbow bolt ammunition drop in the Modron Maze[2] Nordom is the only companion in the game with Missile weapon proficiency who can use crossbow bolts. His crossbows never change, so bolts and his Lens gear are the only way outside of affecting his Str, to affect his damage. Damage of all bolts is calculated with Missile weapon proficiency. There is a wide array of lenses and crossbow bolts, each with many different abilities, allowing tactical variation against different types of opponents.

Conversations[]

Main article: Nordom/Conversation

Nordom, like all the other party members, can have quirky conversations about various topics with the Nameless One.

There is experience and alignment adjustments to be gained through these conversations, although Nordom doesn't have a morale rating, unlike some companions.

Animation and voice files[]

Main article: Nordom/Banter

In addition to unique fighting moves, each character has their own running animation, 'breathing' animation, and intermittent 'fidget' animation.

All characters have at least one 'selection' response, and at least one 'command confirmation' response. Most have a 'critical miss' comment, and a 'critical hit' comment. They have an appeal when they are at very low HP, less than 15%.

After a period of no activity by the player with mouse or keyboard, characters will randomly speak 'bored' pronouncements. They will occasionally speak dialogue expressing their mood or sentiments, particularly in relation to other companions, or a particular location. And they will engage in conversations with certain of their fellow party members.

  • 'Fidget' animation: Nordom's torso twists to the right and lifts his rear set of arms up as if emphasizing a point

Gallery[]

External Links[]

Citations[]


Companions
Annah | Dak'kon | Fall-from-Grace | Ignus | Morte | Nordom | Vhailor
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