Pillars of Eternity 2: Death in the Afterlife

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Journeying in Rymrgand's land of the dead is a dangerous task, especially since his servants are still on duty to "make things stop existing". Farcol is the first to have his soul collected and soon after Esme and Sofie are exploded on a firey bridge (it's a strange afterlife). Maneha also gets abducted by more tentacles for eternity this time (what is it with her and tentacles) before the team finally confront the undying dragon.

Gerrod somehow convinces it to go fight Rymrgand for power and it loses badly. Since it brought its phylactery to the fight (to power up or something), Rymrgand destroys it - ending the dragon permanently. The god is not happy that he ended up doing their work and decides all of the team should stay forever. Combat ensues and Dijaam is disintegrated into the White Void while Vatnir and Arzang are both crushed under Rymrgand's hoofs.

It did not go well for the dragon.

Only Gerrod and Iholikan make it to the exit and seal the portal. To make up for their losses a number of end of worlders are recruited: Rook, Ubin, Ludin, Yrsa, Zefr, and Petrus. Gerrod's fellow arena buddy Voghiln is also here and is recruited once he sobers up.

Pillars of Eternity 2: Aloth Abandoned

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Having suffered many losses the team joins the galleon of their old frenemy Aloth (now a leaden key leader), and his team Barik, Esme, Dijaam and Pahtira who are also in need reinforcements and also out to fight against a god, just a different one. With an uneasy truce, they head out and on the very first stop over Maneha pushes Aloth into an undead filled bog and leaves him to die like the worthless traitor he is.

When you let players name islands...

They arrive at their destination, an iceberg than inexplicably keeps growing. It is also inhabited by a friendly doom cult, waiting die at the hands of a black dragon which the team slay, but somehow it just gets up again!? Vatnir, the leader of the cult, explains it might have something to do with their lord's temple deeper in the iceberg and follow him to investigate. Also joining the team are a few adventurers who just got stuck there: Sofie, Iholikan Quinval, and Farcol - long lost friend of Arzang and Gerrod.

Ferocious bears within manage to slay Barik and Konstanten while Pahtira's excellent trap disarming skills fail her in the end, leaving her impaled in midair on a spear trap. Beyond is a magic portal to an afterlife the dragon is somehow cheating by having its phylactery hidden within. What is dead may never die sory of thing. The god of this realm, Rymrgand, allows passage through the portal but only for the team to hunt down and destroy the phylactery, because every time the dragon returns - the iceberg grows a bit more. They agree.

The Cursed: A Previous Victory

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The team catch up to the reverend and he reveals himself to be the demon Belhifet! He explains the whole Kuldahar threat was simply a ruse to weaken Easthaven as it is here that he needs to open the portal to hell (not sure why he needed to wait till -now- to do that, guess he's an idiot). Unwilling to let him do that the squad rushes him and his remaining cronies for one last epic combat!

Providing ranged support, Reise is suddenly squished into a mist of fine blood by an iron golem who then proceeds to kick Iholikan around, severely wounding the elf. Meanwhile Belhifet hacks Wylfdene to pieces and then quarters Cristiana before finally being put down by Farcol and Sofie. His defeat also powers down the iron golem, and the threat is finally over!

I needed... a bigger... army...

Belhifet, being a demon, rematerializes in Avernus - upset at the loss of his Northern gambit. All his hopes now ride with his servant in the South... Hephernan. As for the three survivors, they are now trapped in a frozen town with no where to go till spring. Fortunately there is plenty of food in the form of cyclops meat. All they have to do is wait.

Insight: Belhifet wisely opens with a dispel so pop a bless and haste as your opening moves.

The Cursed: Almost the Last Lieutenant

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The townsfolk of Kuldahar give the team a wide berth now that they've returned with Wylfdene in their number. They are glad the team doesn't stay long - just to rest and resupply before heading back to lower Dorn's deep to finish their mission.

Using the invisibility method proves most efficient as they find the last remaining mini-boss, an evil drow mage, and slaughter him without issue. With this, the stairs at the back of the temple are opened and the team faces off with the reverend - the main evil that wants to freeze the entire North.

With his disappointing cyclops army? Really?

They don't really wait to hear his monologue and instead attack as he summons a gang of monsters to his aid. Combat is cut short when they are all inexplicably teleported back to a frozen Easthaven though, now patrolled by Cyclopes. While the one eyed monsters are easily wiped out, their mirror-imaging lieutenant is a bit of a nuisance but Farcol works out the most logical way to defeat him:

Shoot all of him at the same time.

Insight: It sounds stupid but that is actually the solution to the mirror man. Using ranged attacks, everyone picks a different target and fires. Then it's up to the player to check the combat log to see which one didn't hit a "false" bad guy (lots of pausing). Once you know the real one, everyone focus fire and he'll drop pretty quick.

The Cursed: Superior Numbers

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Angry at the previous detour, the party agrees to hunt down the spirit dragon to teach it a lesson - "That humans are superior and always have been." They sail with the barbarians to its base in the Sea of Moving Ice and then using invisibility simply walk past all the defenders until they reach the bottom floor - a sahaugin throne room.

Here they fight a literal army of fish men and Marchon gets overwhelmed and impaled by a hundred spears. The remaining five fight manage to clear the place and find the spirit dragon nearby - in physical form!

He also has a tornado breath which is interesting to dodge.

Summons are used heavily to keep it and the respawning sahaugin busy while the team arrows the beast down. The same method is used to destroy its soul stone. Thankfully, by this time, the barbarians had cleared the way out for the survivors and are very grateful for the assist.

Wylfdene's spirit, now back in his own corpse, has his own reward for them: by joining the party to help them end the threat in Kuldahar!

Insight: The dragon fight is a marathon. Stay at a distance and dodge the tornados. Goblin arrows (bought at Lonelywood and the desert castle) really helped here once my casters ran out of summons. Basically each arrow fired also summons a friendly goblin to help you - right at the target. They are great distractions!

The Cursed: Luremoron

[Part of the Cursed story line]

A secret passage leads from the jelly well down into a massive cave system inhabited by demon summoning wolfweres. Stealthing doesn't work too well on the main floor so Cristiana and Reise summon up a small army of invisible stalkers and aerial servants to help them cleanse the place fully.

Luckily the lycanthropes had been working on a portal to escape the caves, so the team finishes it by collecting the required gems scattered around the lower caves of the area though Marchon almost dies to a dire bear of all things.

To be fair, the thing is massive.

Once the portal is repaired the team step through buffed and invisible - finding themselves right in the Luremaster's throne room. Ironically, the idiot also can't see invisible so with haste and first strike he is destroyed before he can summon any help. He leaves behind a magic ring that transports the party back to Lonelywood.

Insight: Invisibility is still handy when entering the sub-caves as all but one of them opens with an ambush. This way you get to position and strike first, preferably at the enemy casters.

The Cursed: Ghosting the Spirits

[Part of the Cursed story line]

While exploring the courtyard walls the team runs into the "Luremaster", the spirit boss of this place who has a penchant for riddles and tests. This eventually leads them down to a massive crypt, filled with undead and traps that warp party members to various locations alone. It is more irritating than it is dangerous, especially when its Cristiana that gets warped as her turn undead actually just destroys them outright now.

How the ability actually looks is open to interpretation.

Eventually they get inside the main keep, guarded by beholders and even more spirits. None of them can see invisible, except for the keep lord himself (interestingly, not the Luremaster) who is easily put down. They then waltz down to the dungeons which house numerous beasties. This time Iholikan solo stealths the place, stealing skull keys and using invis potions as required to let the team pass without combat.

Finally on the next floor waits the Luremaster, pissed at all the hiding the "heroes" are doing so he seals the gate behind them. He then floods the chamber with olive jellies. Luckily Reise's skull traps are very effective in clearing them out. Exasperated, the Luremaster just teleports away - hoping starvation will kill the team for him.

Insight: The revenants in the crypt are like trolls. You can down them with regular fighting but they need flame to be killed permanently.

The Cursed: Chaos Court

[Part of the Cursed story line]

With Wyldfene's lies exposed, the barbarians begin fighting each other - basically the loyalist Wyrm tribe against all the others, including the six outsiders. Reise almost dies but once the Wyrmers are down the remaining barbarians call off the invasion and treat the adventurers as heroes - asking them to pursue the dragon spirit to the sea of moving ice and slay it there once and for all.

The team decide to think about it first and return to Lonelywood to sell loot - only to deal with an assassin (and a bunch of mercs taken out by the wizard innkeep). Unfortunately a halfling agent manages to kidnap them using his magic ring, taking them far away to a castle courtyard in the Aranaoch desert!

Invisibility is handy!

After an initial ambush from harpies and wyverns, Reise decides she's had enough of getting blindsided and so makes use of her new mass invisibility spell to quickly hide the party and scout the entire courtyard area avoiding more conflict.

Insight: Mass invisibility is not as good a singular invisibility. The duration is shorter and monsters can sometimes still "sense" you and follow you around. The only upside is that it's more convenient to cast.

The Cursed: Gloomfrost Reflection

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The Gloomfrost happens to be the top of a really tall mountain and after the team deal with some polar bears, frost salamanders and yetis use hastened invisibility once more to reach the cave at the summit. This cave is mainly home to remorhaz and ice golems - none of which see the party run past.

Upon finding the seer and requesting for help, she simply gives them a plain mirror and tells them to show it to Wyldfene. Marchon is a bit pissed at this ("we traveled all this way for a mirror!?"), but fortunately the seer also teleports them back down the mountain afterwards.

Maybe it's one of these future tech mirrors?

As instructed, the six adventurers then return to the barbarian camp and are once more granted an audience with King Wyldfene, who is more interested in just executing them on the spot this time. However when shown his own reflection, the spirit dragon inhabiting Wyldfene goes berserk and flees - leaving the corpse of the barbarian leader to collapse in a heap.

Insight: There are traps on the second level of the Gloomfrost, but triggering them won't break invisibility so you can just alternate leads to tank the damage.

The Cursed: Lonely Banished Wood

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Opting to deal with the barbarians first, the squad heads to Lonelywood where the girls explore the town, help out who they can and go shopping at the Temple of Waukeen while the guys hit the tavern and end up bedding the local whore.

The next day they make the trek to the massive barbarian camp whose normally warring tribes were now under the leadership of their great king Wyldfene - risen from the dead to reclaim their rightful lands. Wyldfene agrees to an audience with them, but they are unable to come to any sort of truce despite Wyldfene's shaman siding with the adventurers.

Ahh, the traditional form of barbarian negotiation...

Ultimately, the risen King banishes the lot of them via gate to Burial isle to "wait for death". While the shaman is happy to do this (for honor and all), the team is less so and use hastened invisibility to quickly scout the island. It is crawling with wights and spirits who are moaning that their great king is just being worn by something else like a meat sack.

When proof of this is brought back to the shaman, he is willing to break their exile (since he can cast gate too) but insists the team find the Gloomfrost seer to help in unmasking Wyldfene.

Insight: There is some really nice (and expensive) gear in Lonelywood. Be sure to browse all the shops properly for things you can use.

The Cursed: Sofie the Soft Hearted

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Adjacent to the temple is a mushroom garden easily cleared of more myconids which also provides access to a nearby stately home guarded by hidden, back stabbing thieves! While the hostile ones are dealt with violently, Sofie is hesitant to attack the friendlier ones who just seem to be working there. This includes their leader who willingly surrenders and strips down.

This turns out to be a mistake as the leader had activated a silent alarm which brings all his previously unslain hirelings to his rescue, leading to a massive battle in close quarters. Two of his bodyguards are particularly tough - one killing Naryu and the other slaying Farien in the fray.

The damage bonus is too high for Cristiana to heal!

Cristiana, Sofie, Farcol and Reise are victorious but barely survive the encounter and so quickly retreat back to Kuldahar to regroup with Marchon and Iholikan. Unfortunately the pair report that another threat is quickly coming from the north - an army of barbarians.

Insight: The hidden thieves make a bee-line for the people with the least hitpoints so keep your mage well back when exploring!

The Cursed: String Cutter

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Beyond the lava mines is an encampment of fire giants, who turn out to be just as stupid as their frost counterparts and let the team wander around freely. Unfortunately their elf chick leader isn't so gullible and orders an attack straight away, leading to a massive melee which eventually involves the many elementals lurking around nearby.

Somehow the squad is victorious and after resting up, Reise decides to turn everyone invisible for scouting the next area. Good thing too, as it is a temple filled with undead summoned by five mind controlled clerics of Ilmater. None of them see the party sneak past to destroy an evil icon at the very back which frees the clerics and insta-destroys the undead without a fight.

That's a lot of bone golems...

The clerics are ashamed of their actions, and inform the team that two more mini-bosses, lieutenants of "the master", need to be defeated before the stairs at the back will open to his lair. "Then we go hunting," confidently announced Sofie.

Insight: Invisibility is fantastic and like in the above example, can cut down game time and difficulty tremendously. Also worth noting that unless you talk, attack or get dispelled, it lasts for 24 hours. No need to rush, especially if your mage does all the talking (then s/he can recast it on themselves).

The Cursed: Big Bluff

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Inspired by the error made by the museum salamanders, Farcol manages to bluff the frost giant jarl into surrendering his authority and basically letting the team raid the frost giant camp unmolested. He wouldn't budge on giving up his slaves though, so a rescue operation commences - one that only goes side ways since another servant of Auril arrives with goons to hunt them down.

It is a tough fight and one that attracts the attention of the big guys... who turn out to be wimps. With this new knowledge, the team returns to the frost giant base and exterminates them all. They then follow the slaves out to a plateau with a path leading down the mountain to freedom - and a cavern leading to the next area of Dorn's Deep. They pick the latter.

Don't let their size intimidate you.

Now instead of frost salamanders they face their fire kindred (with a flame aura), as well as axe throwing suits of armor that never seem to miss! The party slogs it out along the edge of the area until they stumble upon salamander controlled lava mines. Despite being more plentiful here, the salamanders are much easier to handle without their axe guardians.

Insight: Ugh, those axe armors suck! Prepare for some serious micro management as you'll want to still kill the fire salamanders at range while switching to crushing weapons against the armor guardians. Slashing and piercing weapons don't work well against them.

The Cursed: Museum of Stupid

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Finding secret stairs down from the fort, the team soon find themselves in a massive mausoleum - home to another undead army, this time controlled by a lich. They aren't too tough, apart from the fact that the lich continually revives himself which sends Naryu into a pissing panic each time.

It takes a while before Farien finally finds the lich's phylactery and destroy it, ending the threat for good and unlocking the cavern ahead... which leads out to a glacier!? Once it is cleared of all the ice trolls and yetis, the team enter what seems to be a museum to find it occupied by frost salamanders and their slaves.

They don't look this cute.

Fortunately the salamanders mistake the team to be servants of the "master" and let them scout the place freely, making it easy to subsequently use summons and strategy to wipe them all out and free the captives. They say more of their number were taken to a cave just across a nearby rope bridge though, so the team head there and find it to be the home of a frost giant clan, the same ones that caused the avalanche at the start!

Insight: Frost salamanders have a damaging aura of cold, so try kill these from range as well.

The Cursed: Severed Hand

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The aptly named tower is in the shape of a giant hand reaching skywards, but gone are its elven creators. Instead it is now home to an army of orcs who have also done a great job sealing up the haunted half of the tower. It doesn't matter much to the team however, as they end up cleaning out all the floors to gain the aid of the elven lich residing at the top of the middle finger.

Not subtle at all.

Upon finally gaining his assistance, the e-lich uses the scrying orb and recognizes the location where the "cold evil" is coming from - Dorn's deep, once a stronghold of the dwarves. He teleports the team there where they immediately run into Neo-Orog defenders guarding the cave entrance.

The inside isn't much to look at either, with ettins and myconids dominating the massive cavern. It isn't long till they find recognizable dwarven architecture however, in the form of a small fortress filled to the brim with neo-orogs and drow mercenaries. Reise and Cristiana make good use of summons and haste to wipe them all out.

Insight: The "palm" level of the tower is a safe zone for resting purposes, and it's not too hard to get up there if you just gun for the stairs up each time.

The Cursed: Goddess of Snakes

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The team soon discover that the lizardmen are just minions to something deeper in the caves, and after fighting through legions of skeletons and their necromancer whom Olchyr wins a magic duel against, the team finds an out of place, friendly temple.

Naryu's snooping quickly reveals them to be Yuan-ti's though, and while Olchyr is killed in the mayhem, the team free another adventuring group comprised of Marchon, Iholikan Quinval, Reise Coppersky and Cristiana Knight who help them clear what turns out to be a large base of the snakemen - including their marilith "goddess" who hacks up Nessa in the final confrontation before being put down.

All the red areas are traps!

They find the scrying orb Arundel sent them to retrieve on the marilith, who is also not the "cold evil" given her entire mandate was to melt the ice for her followers. Upon returning to Kuldahar they find it under attack by Neo-Orogs (orogs taking performance enhancing drugs?) who are easily slain.

Unfortunately they got to Arundel who with his dying breath, instructs the team to take the orb to tower of the Severed Hand - and to the last person nearby who can use it. Iholikan and Marchon stay behind to guard the town while the remainder head back out to the mountains.

Insight: Blast skeletons are skeletons with IEDs strapped on. They explode upon death, so kill em from a far!

The Cursed: Lizard People

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Arundel seems to believe the words of the spirit boss so he sends the party to retrieve a powerful scrying orb next, but they find that someone has already stolen it. The trail leads to a cave infested with lizardmen, trolls, spiders and beetles. The beetles in particular are nasty (they fart stinking cloud a lot) and so must be dealt with at range.

The lizard people have also been abducting a huge number of slaves for their king who puts up a mighty battle - reflecting Lucia's lightning bolt back at her and beheading Tharmun before Olchyr can finish him off with magic missiles. With Lucia near death, the freed slaves offer to take her to safety. An offer Sofie eventually agrees to.

The Lizard King is unimpressed at this turn of events.

One of the slaves, an elf named Naryu Virian offers to join to get vengeance for her capture. Olchyr also finds a strange painting that featured a "trapped woman". He manages to release her with his magic and in gratitude also joins. Her name is Nessa.

Insight: While there are no recruitable NPCs here like there are in Baldur's Gate, you can supplement your party by using the multi-player option. It just involves moving save files around.

The Cursed: Spirit of Auril

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The expedition is short lived as all but Sofie, Lucia, Olchyr, Farien, Farcol and Tharmun are buried by an avalanche caused by Frost Giants high up the mountains who were playing catch with some boulders. The team survives through goblin territory and finds their way to Kuldahar - a small town nestled underneath a giant, magic tree that radiates warmth.

Their leader, arch druid Arundel, says that the magical warmth is actually fading due to some unknown but approaching evil cold and persuades the squad to go investigate the Vale of Shadows - a canyon that is home to yetis and numerous tombs, unsurprisingly filled with undead which gives Lucia a chance to show off her turn undead abilities.

Eventually they find the "spirit boss" who claims he will tell them about the evil they seek if they first deal with a priestess of Auril looking to freeze his tomb. While that doesn't sound too bad, the Aurilite actually just wants to spread winter's touch everywhere - including to Kuldahar by killing the magic tree. The team dispose of her post haste.

She's pretty... pretty crazy!

In thanks, the spirit boss tells them what he knows about the encroaching evil - best summarized as follows: "It isn't me." (because that excuse works for awful smells as well)

Insight: The majority of the foes in this campaign are undead.

The Cursed: Cold Turkey

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Olchyr and Farcol finally located the warriors Tharmun and Farien, the last surviving servants of an old enemy, at the frosty town of Easthaven. After all this time it turns out they needn't have bothered as the warriors were far from the threats they once were, being reduced to killing vermin at the local inn for lodging and food which seemed to be very scarce in these parts.

It's a cold place...

Just then a pair of women entered the establishment, step sisters Lucia and Sofie who were looking for extra hands to help locate a missing supply wagon. Farien and Tharmun immediately volunteered, and when Lucia pointed out Olchyr and Farcol they too grudgingly accepted.

Reclaiming the stolen supplies and turkey meat from some nearby orc caves turned out to be a good team building exercise, earning them recognition upon returning to town. Winter was certainly settling in early this year though, so when invited to partake in a large foraging expedition they quickly agreed.

Insight: There's some decent XP in town that involves minimal fighting. Be sure to visit everyone!

TESO: Dangerous Celebration

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

With the battle won, Meridia tells me of some, god-forsaken hamlet that even she fears to tread in need of holy cleansing in one corner of this daedric realm. I decide to give that a miss, sending allies to check it out instead while I return to Mournhold and the search for Lucia and Sofie.

I don't get very far before Naryu tells me that the bio-terrorist group I thought I had beaten prior to gallivanting in Coldharbour was still around, and plotting to attack the city. Obviously I'd have none of that, and the two of us hunted down all the remaining members still hiding in the Deshann area - including their leader, a traitorous magistrate.

Did I mention one of the "living gods" is in this area? Cause she is.

She also hates bio-terrorists. :P

With the zone under control I then ventured further South into the Shadowfen where one of the first things I do is attend a crazy, endless and dangerous party held by party demon Sanguine to retrieve an "Eidar" scroll for Sheogorath. Him and his cheese huh? Fortunately most delves are open to everyone which makes things easier and far more enjoyable (for me) than instanced garbage.

Scroll in hand, I also retrieve the Wabbajack and Fork of Horripilation then participate in his "Circus of Cheerful Slaughter" which sees me fighting each of the pact forces and their leaders in one messed up play. All this earns me two more tomes for Shalidor.