The Volts had muscled their way to the front thanks to a seven-wicket haul from Jacob Duffy in the first innings and some really solid batting.
Thorn Parkes and Dean Foxcroft both made scores in the 90s.
But the home team was able to hold on at Bay Oval in Tauranga. It had reached 258 for nine in its second innings when bad light stopped play with more than 20 overs still to play.
Northern had a lead of 189. Had the last wicket fallen quickly, Otago would have had a crack at knocking off the target, coach Dion Ebrahim said.
"We were disappointed that we didn’t get an opportunity to finish the game," Ebrahim said.
"But if you take into consideration we lost 30-odd overs on the opening day and [more overs on Saturday] ... we could well have got the win.
"We were hoping for another wicket and we would have had between 20 and 25 overs to chase somewhere near 200. We would have given it a good nudge."
While the win slipped away, there were a lot of positives to emerge.
Duffy added another two wickets to his first-innings haul to finish the match with an analysis of nine for 156 from 51 overs.
He is the competition’s leading wicket-taker, with 17 wickets at an average of 14.94.
Parkes (96) and Foxcroft (93) missed out on posting maiden first-class hundreds but made major contributions.
Duffy chipped in with 70 — his second first-class half-century — and he is the Shield’s 10th-highest scorer, which will put a bit more strut in the stride of the pace bowler.
He is a modest man, though, and told New Zealand Cricket he was rapt with his start at the bowling crease.
"It has obviously been a nice start to the season and things are just happening I guess," Duffy said.
"The Volties are on a nice wee roll.
"We’re playing some good cricket and fighting hard."
Duffy put his early-season success down to having played a lot of cricket, rather than any dramatic changes to his action.
"With the amount of cricket [I’ve had], I’m really backing my action at the moment — it is strong, I’m nice and tall at the crease and the ball is swinging which is always a good thing.
"That is sort of the foundation of my game. If I’ve got a strong technique then I’m pretty happy with were I’m at."
Duffy had a stint with the Black Caps and New Zealand A during the New Zealand winter and has returned in good form.
Left-arm wrist spinner Michael Rippon snapped up four wickets on Saturday as the Volts hunted an outright.
Former Black Caps all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme smacked 84 off 98 balls to help get Northern into a safer spot. Travis Muller, who has also made a good start to the season for Otago, trapped de Grandhomme lbw with a delivery which nipped back plenty.
De Grandhomme had hit Northern out of trouble by then, though.
There is a logjam at the top of the Plunket Shield standings following the opening two rounds.
Canterbury, Wellington and Otago are all locked on 24 points apiece, while Central Districts is one back on 23.
Northern Districts (11) and Auckland (8) round out the bottom two spots.
Otago’s next assignment is against Canterbury at Hagley Oval beginning on Saturday.
Wellington hosts Auckland at the Basin Reserve, and Central Districts will play Northern Districts at Saxton Oval.
PLUNKET SHIELD
OTAGO V NORTHERN DISTRICTS
NORTHERN DISTRICTS 355, OTAGO 429
NORTHERN DISTRICTS
H Cooper c Cumming b Duffy 39
J Raval c Foxcroft b Rae 4
B Popli b Duffy 22
J Carter c Parkes b Rippon 37
T Seifert c Rippon b Rae 13
C de Grandhomme lbw b Muller 84
S Kuggeleijn b Rippon 12
K Clarke c sub (Gibson) b Rippon 14
N Wagner lbw b Rippon 13
J Walker not out 5
M Fisher not out 0
Extras (1b, 5lb, 8w, 1nb): 15
Total (for 9 wickets, in 87 overs): 258
Fall: 1-16, 2-68, 3-75, 4-94, 5-151, 6-170, 7-205, 8-253, 9-253.
Bowling: J Duffy 21-7-49-2 (4w, 1nb), M Rae 15-5-30-2, T Muller 14-3-38-1 (1w), M Rippon 29-4-109-4, D Foxcroft 2-1-3-0, J Mckay 5-0-21-0 (2w), H Rutherford 1-0-2-0.
Result: Match drawn.
