The Cursed: No Saving Throw

[Part of the Cursed story line.]

After the celebration, Nesturs is approached by a town elder who asks that the team continue the fight to the Drow's boss - a wizard at the top of the nearby mountain. Nesturs agrees and Akabar shows them the way into a cavern system at the base of the cliffs.

Within the tunnels the team fight through Drow and Salamanders, as well as one group with trained Ank Hegs whose poison spit melts through Akabar's face - killing him painfully. Deeper in they find a lair of Crimdrac the dracolich who guards the wizard's tower.

Because a living dragon wasn't bad enough.

Nesturs is the unlucky recipient of a dual fire and ice breath which reduces him into frozen pieces of ash. The rest of the team defeat the monster, and continue on to the tower where they meet the wizard Dracandros. Before they can do anything, he chants some magic and all of their cursed bonds activate, enslaving their will. Apparently no saving throw allowed!

The Cursed: Mobilization

[Part of the Cursed story line.]

The King himself shows up in the sewers to rescue his daughter, who somehow avoided being turned into ash. While he is thankful to Nesturs team for the aid, he can't trust them and banishes all of them, except Assagh who died from becoming a arrow pincushion, from Tilverton.

He's a very hands on King.

The rest of the team make their way up the road and eventually find an inn, but it is under attack by displacer beasts! Magic is used to slaughter the beasts but one of the tentacle cats manages to rip Thellaphes in two before it is put down. For their efforts, the inn keep lets them stay for free while they recover. During this time Nesturs orders Pendrianne to summon his other champions.

Wizard Phiruno and rangers Dynrigg and Faeris arrive in a few days, confirming that the others are also branded the same way and have started searching for a remedy across the land. Nesturs gives Faeris some instructions and sends him back as the messenger while Phiruno and Dynrigg join the party to do the same.

On their travels they come across a set of standing stones that are home to a strange old man. The fellow seems to know about their predicament, stating that they are servants to four more masters, the next of whom is to the South.

The Cursed: Fire Knifed

[Part of the Cursed story line.]

While Stenriya could barter past the other otyughs in the sewers, it was back to mass fireballs for the rest of the inhabitants including trolls, crocodiles and of course, Fire Knife bandits as the team ventured deeper in the muck, eventually finding their hideout.

Tired of the running around Nesturs decides to surrender to one of their checkpoints, and the team is brought before their mage leader, just as he had hoped. He hadn't counted on the army of Fire Knife archers with said leader though, nor the fact that he had the princess bound and gagged beside him.

Fortunately the princess saw the opportunity presented and knocked the leader over before he could compel the team to do anything, resulting in a very messy battle where everyone but Nesturs went down to the rain of arrows. Fortunately, Nesturs necklace of fireballs wins the day for the heroes, leaving everyone else a smouldering pile of ash.

It's a staple of Fantasy magic!

At the death of the Fire Knife leader, one fifth of the magic tattoo vanishes.

The Cursed: Shitty Friends

[Part of the Cursed story line.]

Eager to find the culprit behind their bonds, Mencor tracked the Fire Knife foot prints down into the sewers where he was promptly set upon by disgusting otyughs! A surprise tentacle broke his neck and threw his lifeless body aside into the piles of excrement.

One of the grossest monsters ever.

Fortunately the wizard heavy team fire balled the monsters to death. After the battle, they were surprised to find a familiar face hiding in the piles of shit. It was Stenriya, once an enemy to Nesturs. She had made a deal with the now roasted Otyughs for protection as she too had the magic tattoos worn by the others and had been serving them ever since her defeat, living in and consuming their filth.

Having a common goal, Nesturs offered Stenriya to join their endeavor and with her protector / masters gone she could only accept.

The Cursed: Stolen Massacre

[Part of the Cursed story line.]

The royal guards were no match for Nesturs team, but when they found the King absent from the carriage the bonds suddenly released and they were free to process what they had just done.

Before the rest of the guardsmen could reach them, a group of thieves *abducted* helped the team escape into some tunnels underground while the thief leader kept spouting on about a rival gang called the "Fire Knives" trying to take over and using the heroes to do their dirty work.

Thellaphes was just about to ask a question when a small army of said Fire Knives appeared and attacked, causing absolute mayhem as they dressed exactly the same as the allied thieves. To ensure that all enemies were slain, Nesturs made sure to kill everyone that wasn't of his original party. In the end, only he and his squad remained standing in the midst of the massacre.

They should have worn different armbands or something.

The Cursed: Hangover

[Part of the Cursed story line.]

Nesturs groggily woke in an unfamiliar room. Apparently, the anniversary "victory" party got very out of hand this year. A few of his compatriots, Commander Mencor and the wizards, Pendrainne, Thellaphes, Assagh and Eineron were here too and slowly rousing. It was then that Nesturs noticed that all of them had a strange, matching tattoo on their arms... and worse, Nesturs could feel that he was now mortal.

Whoa, that's a lot of ink!

Once they were all ready, they warily explored the hallway outside finding that they were in an inn at some place called Tilverton. Definitely not where the anniversary party started. They took to the busy streets right away, finding a large presence of royal guards patrolling with talk of the King visiting the town soon.

Nesturs didn't care about some piddling King. Instead, the group sought answers at the tavern, the sage shop and the temple but found nothing about their clearly magical tattoos. Now expecting the worst, Nesturs agreed to Mencor's suggestion of visiting the local weapon shop where they all bought the best equipment their substantial purses could afford.

As they exited they came right into the path of the royal carriage and suddenly were compelled to attack!

Eador: Overlord of Worlds

[Part of the Masters of Eador story.]

The wizard Arzang is hired to attack Erdu's magical shard (which is great for wizards) and does well with the initial sword rush strategy. Progress slows a little when he finds Erdu guarded by many centaur tribes and loses many adventurers fighting through the herd of horsemen.

Finally reached nuke level warfare.

Once he does reach Erdu's castle he unleashes a rain of brimstone (ritual) to soften up the defenses before attacking, and easily captures the enemy fortress. Erdu is captured and sent to magical facilities for study and experimentation. Who knows what one may learn from ancient physiology? Do they regenerate finger nails and sexual organs for example? These are important questions that Nesturs wants answers to.

With no other masters left, Nesturs easily rebuilds the planet Eador and becomes known to the general populace as the Creator and Protector God. For others, the Conqueror and the Overlord of Worlds.

Eador: True Colors

[Part of the Masters of Eador story.]

With only Erdu left, Shinordium is sent to assist his forces on a large unclaimed shard in completing "the talisman". Erdu's lands are encountered first but as allies, Shinordium just bypasses it - heading instead for the powerful local lord who owns 3 castles this time around!

Just to mix things up, the wizard hires a full squad of elven archers from a local mercenary guild (first time Nesturs has seen one) and finds them extremely effective - easily defeating all of the local lords strongholds. It is then, when Shinordium is farthest to defend Nesturs citadel that Erdu shows his true colors and declares war.

The firing squad is super effective!

Fortunately Erdu's champion is a bit of an idiot and Shinordium makes it to Erdu's lands - and castle - in good time. Erdu doesn't even bother defending - he just flees. Nesturs decides its time to end this coward once and for all.

Eador: Untethered

[Part of the Masters of Eador story.]

Sensing Nesturs rising power, Dorikos sends his dragon cultists to attack the mainland and Thellaphes is on defense duty. He gets off to a good start by befriending a djinn and finding a fireball scroll early but is then hampered in progress by a large ocean flanked by lands occupied by boulder throwing giants.

It takes awhile to build a shipyard large enough to make the crossing and Thellaphes loses most of his units on the shore landing but makes it to the enemy castle himself where the javelin guards give him no challenge. Dorikos retreats back to his world and Thellaphes follows.

Dragons, more OP than magic. Also immune to magic!

It certainly seems that Dorikos sent all his best troops on the offense because there's nothing that can stop Thellaphes from marching right to his front gate and destroying the dragon master's tether to the land, sending the overgrown lizard hurtling through space into the chaos.

Now is a good time to note that all dragons on Eador are immune to magic and are very deadly, which is why Nesturs forces tend to just avoid them. Fortunately Dorikos wasn't really supported by his kin, and ironically it was the dragons godliness (and tether) that proved to be his weakness.

Eador: Light and Dark

[Part of the Masters of Eador story.]

With Ul-Dagan defeated, the master Dorikos - King of all Dragons appears and he takes an immediate liking to Nesturs. With Erdu still allied to construct "the talisman", Nesturs opts to attack Herskil next. Why go for a lesser territory?

The wizard Assagh, who had previously aided in Oinor's defeat, is sent and finds himself in a world of free settlements - perhaps the easiest type of world since they usually have weak defenses and can be bribed with gold. What its low in is magic crystals which forces Assagh to make do with weaker cantrips for awhile.

Even with higher level guardsmen and a centaur ally, Assagh still has to skirt around a Hydra and sneak past some vampires before reaching Herskil's castle - which ironically is guarded by a large band of thieves! Weakened by stone rain, they and their master are no match for the halberd wielders and are all cut down easily.

With Herskil's death, a devil named Adrageron appears as the new master in space - Nesturs sends forth Assagh again - this time onto lands of chaos (demons) where people have lousy morale. Fortunately Assagh is strong enough to solo most of the enemies here, helped out by the exorcism spell and a well placed shipyard. The devil's castle is guarded by strong orcs and a demon summoning scout but they all fall to Assagh's mighty power. The wizard then exorcises Adrageron himself.

Demon lands are not immune to rainbows!

Eador: A Voiceless Scream

[Part of the Masters of Eador story.]

With Dariol gone, two new masters appear in space. Herskil, the Emperor of the Sun (possibly the Lord of Light) and another ancient named Erdu who hates Ul-Dagan's guts. Sensing opportunity, Nesturs allies with Erdu and agrees to help him form his "talisman" that will help Eador somehow. In exchange, Erdu will send a strike team to Ul-Dagan's mainland, as he knows how to bypass the force field.

All that's left is to distract the ancient engineer, so Nesturs sends Cleeren and the wizard Thellaphes to a large unclaimed dead lands shard to try gain Ul-Dagan's attention and it works. Their "landing site" territory is lousy though - and surrounded by water.

Still, the swordsman rush tactic works well and lets them defeat the nearby local lord who seems to have a javelin fetish. Erdu's citadel is nearby and as planned, is so lightly defended it almost falls over on its own. With them gone only Ul-Dagan remains, and his lands are in such a hard to reach spot that it is easier to build a massive shipyard (bigger = more sea hexes crossed) to reach it.

Ul-Dagan's heroes are well prepared when they arrive though, and Cleeren is killed by a surprise fireball from a high level enemy warrior. Despite heavy losses Thellaphes manages to avenge the scout then push forward to Ul-Dagan's citadel and destroy it, evicting him from the shard and back to... nowhere.

Don't mess with Thellaphes!

The plan worked as Erdu's strike team captured Ul-Dagan's mainland, leaving the engineer screaming silently as he fell through space to his eventual destruction in the chaos.

Eador: The King and the Vampires

[Part of the Masters of Eador story.]

Olchyr had just returned to the mainland when Ul-Dagan attacked. The ranger hired the shaman Shelumu and allied with nomadic horsemen to help defeat the invaders, using his magic sword to dispel the evil spirits that stood in his way and finding a powerful spell scroll that would make Shelumu near unstoppable.

Indeed, Ul-Dagan's forces had no chance when the shaman began raising vampires on the field of battle and were quickly evicted from the shard. Alas, Ul-Dagan's still shield prevents any counter invasions so Nesturs attacks the brooding Elf King Dariol instead, to reunite him with Vianta. In death.

Yep, the backstabbing vampire is an ally!

Wizard Shinordium and scout Cleeren find themselves surrounded by elven forest lands - not rich in gold but rich in gems. It is tough to navigate those woods though as the elves are great archers and unicorns quite tough. Fortunately there is a small section of Holy Lands (loyal to the Lord of Light) who again agree passage for Nesturs proxies.

They eventually reach Dariol's castle, weakening it through use of an undead invasion (ritual spell cast by Shinordium) and then attacking it. The King is a gargoyle summoning archer (fortunately not the exploding type) and while he inflicts great losses on Nesturs troops, he ultimately falls in battle.

Eador: Fairy Dust

[Part of the Masters of Eador story.]

In space, two new masters appear - the Elf King Dariol who clearly has a thing for Vianta, and an "ancient" one (green skinned elf?) named Ul-Dagan "the engineer". Ul-Dagan in particular is quite abrasive so Nesturs tries attack him immediately, only to find his world is protected by some form of force shield.

Due to this, Nesturs sends Olchyr to attack Vianta instead since she now hates him for what happened to Oinor. The sadist mage Eleran is also hired to assist. It is tough to progress on the Fairy Queen's shard due to the low mining (low gold) and the high number of powerful treants milling about. Indeed it's easier to go through the small pockets of demon territories here.

Eleran is feeling ballsy.

Fortunately Nesturs tech level has been going through the roof thanks to all the huge shards (of other masters) he's been collecting, and his proxies bypass a lot of fighting simply by constructing a shipyard to sail them beside Vianta's castle, which ironically is guarded only by simple militia. Eleran easily defeats them, captures Vianta, and uses her in his experiments until she expires.

Eador: Out with the Old

[Part of the Masters of Eador story.]

With Lan'sharr gone, the wizard Niredor and his commander brother Mencor are hired on a small unclaimed but "developed" shard, almost fully explored with large cities and easily take out the citadels of Oinor and Stenriya simultaneously. The two masters now openly despise Nesturs so Mencor is sent to her world of rust to eliminate Stenriya first.

While Mencor's gear deteriorates quickly here, his troops do not suffer the same penalties which lead him to victories against pegasi, centaurs and the undead defending the castle. Mencor is victorious, but Stenriya, having forseen the outcome, flees into space - vowing revenge.

Out numbered and out leveled, doesn't make a difference.

Meanwhile wizard Assagh is deployed to to handle Oinor, and finds himself in lousy lands with little to no resources (no wonder Oinor always loses). Scout Olchyr is recruited to assist and forms an alliance with the local lizardmen. After defeating a centaur tribe guarding Oinor's castle, the old mage is thrown out on the street and publicly executed.

Nesturs had thought about sparing the Oinor, but then realized only a fool would let his foes live.

Eador: Pendrainne and the Lich

[Part of the Masters of Eador story.]

The mage Pendrainne and scout Farcol are sent to the next unclaimed land, a large desert one that also interests Oinor, Vianta, and Stenriya due to some mystic gear being present there. Pendrainne finds it in dwarven lands near Nesturs citadel, so he takes it by force before evicting the other masters off the shard.

At this point Lan'sharr the lich, another master, appears and openly declares his goal of exterminating all life while looking for allies. In his view masters don't count as "life", just their subjects. In response, Nesturs immediately send Pendrainne and the scout Slitt to kill the lich on his own shard and is surprisingly supported by Vianta who sends aid in the form of resources and troops: dryads and fairies.

Lich logic is awesome.

Lan'sharr has great defenses though. Driven by madness, the wizard Orongull now served the lich along with six powerful minotaurs at his castle. It was a bloody battle, with Slitt assassinating Orongull before being dismembered by the bull men. Pendrainne's forces met a similar fate, but the wizard still claimed victory with 1 HP remaining. That was all he needed to destroy Lan'sharr once and for all.

Eador: Warriors are Terrible

[Part of the Masters of Eador story.]

Since the current masters aren't openly evil, Nesturs decides to attack a small unclaimed land next for the pure purpose of testing the warrior hero Irthorn, who is so slow to achieve pretty much anything. Fortunately the only competition here is Oinor's own warrior Farien who is also very hesitant to go into direct combat, and instead focuses on killing quest givers (meaning Irthorn's quests autofail).

Top left: Irthorn attacking Farien's citadel.

Bottom Right: Farien afraid to move.

Despite the snail's pace, Irthorn does find a lead about one of the 7 keys "being on a land of the dead"  and saves a woman from being trapped in the body of a phoenix. He eventually reches Oinor's citadel and manages to trap Farien in a corner territory while he lays siege to the castle. It is a difficult fight against middling opponents, but Irthorn eventually claims victory.

Nesturs makes a note not to use any more warrior heroes in the future.

Eador: Orongull's Rampage

[Part of the Masters of Eador story.]

Orongull and the scout Dynrigg traverse Beleth's low population shard, with Dynrigg forging an alliance with the local lizardmen and finding some transcript about 7 keys of truth that can repair Eador. Meanwhile, Orongull and his double cast ability make him lethal to the Beleth's mounted knights and a worthy enemy warrior champion who almost reaches the mage but is ultimately fried by direct lightning bolts to the face.

Your cavalry cannot save you.

Orongull doesn't hesitate to disintegrate Beleth as he begs for his life, and continues on to another master's shard - a stoic mind flayer named Oumm. Despite losing his biggest spells, Orongull's power is so great that the level 0 cantrips eliminate all opposition - destroying Oumm with barely a challenge.

The destruction of two masters gains the attention of yet another, the ancient seer Stenriya, whom both Oinor and Vianta view as a cunning liar. Nesturs takes note not to trust the old and seemingly friendly hag.

Eador: World of War

[Part of the Masters of Eador story.]

Commander Gavion is sent to attack Doh-Gor's world of war, fully benefiting from the cheaper army upkeep the land provides. It is a huge land mass though, and soon the scout Scoarudd and wizard Orongull are recruited not only to handle the territories but to also defend against Doh-Gor's encroaching forces.

With his border guarded by tough cyclopses, Gavion's force takes some time to find a weakspot to sneak through and lay siege to his castle. Doh-Gor's troops are numerous, but fail to match Gavion's swordsmen who suffer no losses in the final battle. Doh-Gor is slain and his magic pendant brought to Nesturs.

Walls with holes are useless.

Beleth shows great interest in this artifact and offers to purchase it from Nesturs for astral energy. Nesturs ups the price to the point where Beleth is begging and then agrees. It turns out the amulet is the prison of some god, and when Beleth frees him - gains a permanent alliance with the orcs. Not that it matters, since Nesturs attacks his world of death next.

Eador: In Space, Size Matters

[Part of the Masters of Eador story.]

On the next shard Faeris meets the forces of a new master, the fairy Queen Vianta, who preaches all about love and joy - freely giving resources to Nesturs representatives. The good will is broken when she suddenly demands tribute in return, but at that point Faeris had developed the lands enough to accumulate lots of magic crystals (which power spells).

Getting crowded out here.

The wizard Pendrainne is recruited to use said crystals to flatten Vianta's citadel, followed by defeating Oinor's weak forces once more - the swamps he put his citadel in didn't leave him much gold for defenses.

Beleth, seeing that this victory let Nesturs mainland surpass that of the necromancers own suddenly becomes a sniveling coward, offering some form of "alliance" against the other lords. This is because Nesturs can now assault other master's mainlands directly. More land = more power. Nesturs is tempted to silence Beleth for good but first decides to return the favor to his first invader: Doh-Gor.

Eador: Exploding Units are the Worst

[Part of the Masters of Eador story.]

The scout, Dynrigg is sent to the next shard against Beleth's forces where he enlists the aid of dryads, fairies and finding that most of this land is faithful almost to the point of zealotry to "the Lord of Light". Since they still view Nesturs as "good" they do let Dynrigg pass through, but aren't as friendly to Beleth's evil champion.

Poison damages all opponents!

Dynrigg eventually lays siege to Beleth's stronghold there, and despite catastrophic losses to centaurs allied to the necromancer, the scout is successful, partially thanks to his success in poisoning their water supply before the battle but mostly thanks to the exploding gargoyles he learned to summon during his time with Archmage Kelaide.

Meanwhile in the void, another master appears - the barbarian Doh-Gor who wields a powerful magic amulet. He openly states his intent on destroying Nesturs. Soon.