Darklands: King of the North

This is part of The Darklands story.

When Zubon and Augratin returned to Flensburg to report to the King of Denmark he merely laughed in their faces and had his guards throw them out to the street (specifically into a puddle). This, along with suddenly being accosted by random guards made the pair hold weight to the recently deceased Liore's fear that the King himself was allied with evil - or at the very least just wanted to be rid of them. Zubon openly wondered if the reason for this was that their unit, while killing rats in the castle, accidentally slew the king's pet mouse while Augratin suggested it may have been because of Rakuno's decoration suggestions.

With the tide they took passage on the next ship across the expansive river to Naskakov to lessen the ire of Denmark's monarch but even then, they were accosted by pirates most likely hired by the same king, who were only fought off with the help of the travelling hermit/bard "Vayshen Panda" and a mysterious nun who only introduced herself as "Sister C". Even there the soldiers of Denmark and the wiccan Wild Hunt chased them in the (small) lands across the waves. With no luck finding shelter they took another ship back to the mainland, jumping off near the shore to avoid unwanted attention. Sister C suggested they could try to outrun the long reach of the King's influence while Zubon voiced that they should try to put an end to the evil king in a near suicidal attempt on the city.

There must be some way to trick the King of the North...

Either way, their decision would have to wait for the light of day (since I'm taking a break from Darklands here) so they camp out in the woods and hole up for the night.

Darklands: The Great Escape Part II

This is part of The Darklands story.

At the courtyard Liore and Syncaine decide to separate, as it would increase their chances of someone surviving to get help. The pursuing templars follow suit, half their number going after each fugitive. Liore spots a staircase to the South West while Syncaine rushes North East to a red door which he crashes through, finding another staircase up beyond it.

Both scramble up their respective flights of stairs and strangely are not pursued by the templars. Syncaine finds himself in a tight stone corridor, finding two doors at the end - one wrought from red metal and the other made of wood. The red one is locked, and he can't bust it open this time so he moves over to the other door. It's his only option as going back downstairs means meeting the templars again. He opens it and finds a room full of demons waiting for him!

If only he had a gatling gun!

With a wry grin he readies his mace and holds his ground as they come swooping towards him - he knows he has no chance of outrunning the things anyway. With a thunderous roar Syncaine engages in battle for the last time. Meanwhile in the graveyard outside, a secret passage opens and Liore finds herself outside the monastery once more. Panting, she flees back to Flensburg to seek aid from the King of Denmark.

Darklands: The Great Monastery

This is part of The Darklands story.

It is an uneventful journey from Hamburg to Lubeck (same city as in Stalker Online I wonder?) and again to Flensburg which is ruled by the King of Denmark himself. Unfortunately all the monks within the walls (of all those cities) have no knowledge they wish to share of St. Thomas the Apostle, which Liore diligently checks to avert any Wild Hunt attacks. This doesn't bother her though as the Wild Hunt hasn't chased them recently, and more importantly because their destination was in sight.

After resting up at Flensburg the team journeyed across a large plain to the Great Monastery, ready to face anything. The exterior simply had a graveyard and two guard houses. Opening the door to the first they are surprised to find a squad of templar knights!

The bad ass kind, like the ones you find in Priest!

These traitors are well trained and well equipped, and the team just scrapes through for a victory with River sustaining heavy,  near death damage. After looting their chamber with Liore finding a strange bone they then come across a second group of templars and having been so weakened from the first fight Syncaine and Doone get knocked out early. Before anyone is killed Liore decides to surrender instead of abandoning her comrades. They are taken prisoner and brought to the dungeons below.

Darklands: To Flensburg

This is part of The Darklands story.

At the city of Paderborn, Liore studied the map on how to get to Flensburg since that's where the lead was to the witches "Great Monastery". For this task she decided to recruit veteran soldiers, men who enjoyed dealing out death and punishment in the name of God. 30 year old "Doone the Red", 25 year old "River Highlaten" and 45 year old "Syncaine Hardcore", a grumpy tough as nails warrior.

They set out North, dispatching of more bandits and giant spiders before running into another Tatzelwurm. The lizard is a mighty opponent but it too falls as Syncaine manages to tear its face in two with his bare hands. A few alchemists try accost them for reagents too, but since the party isn't carrying any they are easily bypassed.

They do get into a bit of strife trying to cross the Elbe river though, with Liore stepping into a peat bog / quicksand by accident. Fortunately the other three manage to pull her out with the loss of minimal equipment. They also lose a day as a storm causes the river to flood, leaving them stranded and soaked on a small rise but not even this can dampen Liore's fury.

That last option is there for A--holes I guess.

Darklands: The High Sabbat

This is part of The Darklands story.

First stop is the feast preparation area where the cook is preparing some unbaptized babies for everyone to eat and asks for your help. Interestingly there's an option to baptize the kids first -then- cook them but Stubborn instead decides to do the more logical thing and just try convince everyone that eating babies is bad. Most of the crowd agrees and leaves in shame, some taking the babies with them to put into orphanages (or maybe eat them later). The cook is then disappointed that he only has regular food for the feast. No, there was no option to kill him.

Next up was the broom riding crowd where Vagabond totally convinced the them that Harry Potter was bad, so they too left in shame. Belghast tried next at the evil baptism ceremony but those guys were too hardcore in their belief which resulted in a combat that saw all the cultists dead. Jewel also did not have luck at the main altar, being unable to dismantle it before a high priest and two cronies came by, forcing the team to murderize them before anyone noticed.

Things were going well. The team even learned from a fat lady that their Great Monastery was located North West of Flensburg, a point of interest the team would have to visit later on. And then began the main event... at the main altar, a group of cultists were summoning up a demon.

Bring it on!