Uukrul: The First Task

Part of the Fate of Heroes series - spoilers ahead!

While resting at the hermit's zone, the paladin Lazybum and sorceress Sarina who were already resting here join the team, and Sagaris asks them all to retrieve his black rod from the next floor down which he warns is far more dangerous (because apparently increased pressure makes things tough/evil I guess).

The fully powered squad heads down stairs and promptly gets owned. Pluribus is acidified by a rancid mold, Ila gets devoured by a giant spider, Yen Sid fails to turn "the happiest zombies ever" that tear him and Sarina apart and Lazybum gets one shotted by a giant bat who does 90(!) points of damage in a single strike.

So happy!

Balthazarr barely makes it back to Sagaris' safe zone in defeat. Clearly he needs a team with more training so using the super handy nearby teleporter (provided you remember the name of the one you want to warp to) returns to town to assemble a new squad, composed of the war priestess Kebiroz, Nabirye the hunter paladin, and Null25 the pk mage.

The first task is: Training!!!

Uukrul: Orcs and Geezers

Part of the Fate of Heroes series - spoilers ahead!

The next level is full of orcs, most of whom are low level as indicated by the color of their karate belt. Brown orcs are easy, Black orcs are brutal (the squad usually flees when they show up). There's a whole spectrum in between. Alas while exploring one narrow passage they are set upon by an orc led by chieftain, Thurazz!

With nowhere to escape they are cut down one by one until only Sapphire is left standing, she does her best to lure the orcs away from her downed team mates but is unable to defend herself for long. The orc band beat her down and abduct her for whatever nefarious purposes orcs keep in mind.

Balthazarr was surprised to wake up at all, finding that he, Yen Sid and Ila had been dragged somewhere safe by his old friend, Pluribus the wise. The wizened mage told him that many others from the nearby land had ventured into Eriosthe too, for the shared goal of helping to defeat Uukrul, after they all had witnessed visions of Mara.

That's what she looks like by the way.

While getting their bearings, they happened to come across another old fellow in dirty robe - the hermit Balthazarr was sent to find! He introduces himself as Sagaris and ushers the team to his home - a small series of tunnels which are safe from monsters.

Uukrul: Wrong Turn

Part of the Fate of Heroes series - spoilers ahead!

The Krefator!

In their haste to save Anyolina, the team took a wrong turn and suddenly found themselves facing a large acid reptile called Krefator. The beast melted Toothless down into a more consumable puddle as Balthazarr dragged Anyolina out of there and down the correct road. He needn't have bothered for she succumbed to the poison along the way.

Distraught at the loss of his team, Balthazarr gave heavy thought to abandoning to the quest until a vision of Mara encouraged him to carry on and find an old hermit on the lower levels. Something in her words gave him the strength to make it back to the adventurer's guild hall and recruit a new team composed of battle sisters Ila the paladin, Sapphire the mage, and the loner priest Yen Sid.

This squad performs much better (since I looked up the manual and can use spells now), surviving a poison pit thanks to Yen Sid's Sirdhe prayer, defeating Sharruk the giant worm in a literal shit tunnel, and finally catching up to the evil rogue where Balthazarr exacted vengance for the fallen.

Dragon's Dogma: Ur-Stronger

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

Due to the weakness of the magic archer class in the last entry, I opt to switch back to assassin for more stabby and less pew pew. We also recruit Ila the knight and Sapphire the mage to replace our fallen comrades and go on a patrol just outside the gates to test their mettle against hell hounds and gargoyles. During this I also test out a really cool skill called Masterful Kill, which is basically a Batman parry. It is awesome. So awesome I decide to bring the team back to the catacombs to take on the pair of living armors.

This time, since I'm squarely in the physical damage role I use Masterful Kill to counter the scum slowly chipping away at the armor until both finally break (it does take a few tries), leaving the ghosts exposed to the powerful magics of Sapphire and the insanely powerful magics of Rose who freezes one to death and tears the other apart with tornadoes. I am elated that we finally won that very tough fight!

With that it is back to randomly exploring the Everfall, and eventually come across the lich and metal golem once more. There are no issues this time as my purely physical arrows destroy the golem's amulets early into the fight, and with everyone focusing on the lich it doesn't last very long either. While most of these areas are somewhat repetetive we do come across one beautiful zone occupied by easily slain evil pawns... and the Ur-Dragon!

I should have known a dragon would show up...

This thing is just HP bar after HP bar and whose massive body hides a huge amount of hearts. It does say that this is a multiplayer boss, one designed to be chipped away on so I just do my part and when it flies off to recuperate I get the team out of there since we would not win a battle of attrition. Ila and Sapphire leave at this point, terrified of the beast they just fought against.