The Cursed: Trickster in the Hills

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Returning to Athkatla to sell loot from the temple the team find the Planar Sphere under attack by a group of magic hating mercs! Unlucky for them, the friendly guardian golem patrols into them and wipes them out, their employer suffering a similar fate soon after.

Anomen then suggests to investigate an ogre problem at the Windspear Hills, so they go and sure enough encounter the oddly well spoken brutes. Upon slaying them however, it turns out the ogres were paladins - one of whom was ex-ally Ajantis!

Sorry dude, you looked like an ogre.

A passerby offers shelter for the party and warns them that they are being targetted by the local trickster Lord Jierdan Firkraag, the same person who told Anomen about the ogre problem. As if on queue, a bunch of orc mercenaries working for Firkraag then show up and attack. While they are easily beaten, they do manage to abduct the good samaritan's boy in the chaos.

A lone messenger then appears issuing a challenge for the team to rescue the boy at the "battle ground" in the North East. They accept.

Insight: For some reason enemies respawn quickly in this area. Be prepared.

The Cursed: Team C

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The party heads to the ruins of Ulcaster's school in hopes of finding the main bandit camp but instead run into kobold commandos who are dangerous thanks to their magical arrows as well as a great number of undead in the form of zombies, ghouls, and skeletons - a horde of whom manage to slay Kagain, and severely wound Ajantis.

Still not one lootable skull among them.

While exploring the tunnels underneath the ruins Kivan steps on a trap that Imoen fails to detect, and is killed by the ensuing fireball. The survivors return to the Friendly Arms Inn where Ajantis retires to recover and Imoen, still wracked with guilt leaves adventuring to get her head straight.

Catharina and Party Girl look for replacement members and the couple Khalid and Jaheira volunteer right away. Wild mage Neera also comes along as she owes them, and so does Baeloth because... well, there was space. Upon returning to the Ulcaster ruins, they find Kivan's charred corpse being eaten by a vampire wolf whom they slay.

Insight: For some reason I find it helps to run your cursor over tunnels and passageways to aid in detection of traps and secret doors. Otherwise going slow with the thief (or save scumming) helps in avoiding traps if you want to play that way.

The Cursed: Patience

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Imoen's crew encounter Ajantis on the road and recruit the paladin to the team, deciding to help him hunt down the bandit threat. They successfully slay a number of ghouls, sirens, half ogres and a mass murdering necromancer as well as finding an idiot who polymorphed himself into a chicken.

Pretty. Pretty evil.

Ironically, a skull is required to undo his spell but no one had been picking them up and now no skeletons were dropping them. He'd have to live as a chicken for awhile longer!

Despite the moderate success the party still suffers a loss when Montaron loses his patience and decides to abandon the team to go ahead to Nashkel mines, solo. The wandering ranger Kivan, who is also hunting the bandit menace, eventually takes his place.

Insight: As I learned in this entry, the game NPCs have timed quests. It pays to do them if you want said NPCs hanging around. Also, you might want to hang onto one skull for the silly chicken. 

The Cursed: Bridge Closed

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Continuing North through the forest the team comes across elite hobgoblins and bandits who are also being hunted by the wandering paladin Ajantis, but it is the giant spiders and ettercaps who actually pose a threat with their poison. Luckily Elizabeth is well prepared with slow poison prayers.

The team also saves the dark elf Viconia from a flaming fist enforcer, but are less successful in saving a missing farm boy from ankhegs. They eventually reach the bridge to Baldur's Gate but find it closed by more flaming fist guys, stating it is required due to the large bandit presence currently plaguing the area.

Not even the pretty type of bandits!

Annoyed at this the team heads back to exploring, encountering the man-hating warrior Shar-Teel who duels with Sir Erland. Needless to say she loses in a humiliating and disgraceful manner. It's amazing how unstoppable this team has become.

Insight: Slow poison is a misleading name as it actually removes the poison status altogether.