The Cursed: Return to Dust

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Not willing to let Bodhi escape this time, Catharina plans to bring as many people into the lair as she can for the assault - recruiting the Shadow Thieves, Paladins and even Drizzt Do'Urden and his allies who conveniently happen to be nearby.

Also recruited are Aerie, the circus Elf who is actually a cleric/mage and old Thayan frenemy Edwin Odesseiron who has ulterior motives at the graveyard district, namely the recovery of a magic scroll from a lich!

Baddies have no chance when Drizzt is around.

This team has no problem wiping out both the lich and the vampires, with Imoen staking Bodhi at the climax and retrieving her lost soul. As expected, the magic lantern is found in her coffin. All that's left to do now is to use it to find the missing Elf city!

Insight: Let the NPCs take all the drain damage. You should probably throw in some summons too (hastened Mord-swords are nice) to support them.

The Cursed: Between the Lines

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Not wanting to fight through the lines of Elves and Drow, Catharina opts for the Bilbo Baggins method - invisibility and haste. With enough zig zagging they make it through the combat lines and out into the sunlight... where they are promptly arrested by the waiting Elves above.

After being questioned by their leader, they learn that somehow Irenicus has made their city of Suldanessellar vanish! Convinced that Catharina and Imoen want Irenicus dead, they task the party with looking for a magic lantern stolen from Elven lands that can find the city.

Irenicus must really love this game.

Ok wait, they have a magic lantern that can find the city? Does that happen often enough to warrant the creation of said lantern? I guess so! LOL. Catharina immediately suspects it will be with Bodhi, so the elves give them some stakes and holy water then send them on their way back to Athkatla.

Insight: If you are going for the run method, make sure you manually control your people. The AI pathing is lousy for that purpose.

The Cursed: What happens in Ust Natha

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The survivors eventually come across a friendly Svirfneblin village and after helping the deep gnomes with their balor problem (they dug too deep!) they introduce the party to the local silver dragon, Adalon, whose eggs were stolen by Irenicus and taken to the nearby Drow city of Ust Natha.

The team offers to help as the dragon can cast a powerful glamour to make them appear as Drow, which grants them access to Ust Natha. There's no sign of Irenicus, Bodhi or the eggs though - just a lot of slaves and fighting pits where Lu Lingqi shows her prowess.

As a reward they are able to freely use the lust chambers in the tavern which is an odd way to rest, but after a couple of orgies (need to keep up appearances after all) they begin to enjoy it.

Or maybe they just played Beholder volleyball which is way more PG?
(art by Pokketmowse)

Insight: While the group arena is standard party combat, the duel arena can be cheesed if you get some summons in there. Should you win your summons remain there, meaning you can send another team member to duel and be supported by the previous summons!

The Cursed: Underdark

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The Underdark is dark and full of terrors, mainly in the form of drow at the arrival area. Drow might not sound very terrifying, until you remember that their sun light averse gear is actually in the +5 range so fighting them on their home turf is quite challenging!

So... if we take her to the sunlight she becomes naked? :P

To make matters worse, the team learns from some duergar that a pair of other outsiders (Irenicus and Bodhi) were last seen entering the nearby Drow city. That same city keeps it gates closed to team (rightfully so, after they killed all those Drow patrols) so Jan suggest to look for a tunnel or something that leads under the walls.

The first tunnel they enter is home to a beholder and an elder eye, and the party uses almost everything they have to win the fight. Unfortunately Jan and Elizabeth are left lying dead there while the survivors retreat.

Insight: At this point your mage should be rocking Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting which does big area damage while not hurting allies. Perfect against those drow parties who like to close the distance. Even with their increased resistance, they'll take half damage.

The Cursed: Beneath the Madness

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The first challenge in the Asylum basement the team faces is who to leave behind, due to the stupid 6 person party rule. Mazzy volunteers herself so Imoen can join, and the little halfling hero promptly finds a small grating to crawl through to try solo her way out.

I think we all know who the real hero is.

Everyone else is left to deal with a surprising amount of yuan-ti, some of whom are baited into a crushing hallway for faster clearance. There are also riddle rooms which Elizabeth and Imoen solve easily.

Disturbingly, there's a lich down here too but he is beaten thanks to Catharina's summoned Hakeashar (magic eating spirit) and a few lucky blasts from Nalia's wand of wonder.

Eventually they run into Bodhi's hunting party and Catharina totally loses it, transforming into a monstrous demon that attacks everyone! Bodhi flees once more, and Catharina eventually reverts no normal. Apparently her missing soul isn't killing her like Imoen, it's turning her into that.

Insight: After this point you get the ability to transform into that at will, though you take a reputation hit and might go berserk each time.

The Cursed: Soul Taker

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The vampires are easily killed, as are the pirate scum of the town whom Catharina couldn't help but mess with. They then advance on to Spellhold itself and run into the "new" manager, Irenicus!

He wears metal armor in exactly one spot only. Lol.

Knocked out in this unexpected encounter, Catharina awakens in another experimental chamber where Irenicus rips out her soul to take for his own. Somehow Catharina survives this, so Irenicus then leaves them to be taken care of by his sister, Bodhi!

Fortunately Bodhi is a moron and opts to throw the team, fully armed, into the lowest basement of the asylum so she can play a game of cat and mouse before killing them. Imoen is here, also lacking a soul, and feels like she is dying.

Insight: I hate getting KO'ed by cutscene. People really need a way to avoid that as it is bad design: rail roading.

The Cursed: Onwards to Insanity!

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Assaulting the vamp nest proves to be easy with summons, and more than a few are staked in the process. Bodhi herself comes near death before flying away as a bat... an immortal bat who resisted magic spells and weapons.

Pity none of them are this cool.

To keep their end of the bargain the Shadow Thieves have tracked down Imoen to the island asylum of Spellhold and have already arranged a ship there. Apparently that's the extent of their "help" as the party have to do the heavy lifting themselves!

Neera is very uncomfortable about visiting an asylum specifically for mages so she is dismissed and Elisabeth rejoins the team in her place. Upon arrival at Spellhold's adjacent pirate town, the team is ambushed by vampires thanks to the cowardice of their ship's captain who quickly runs away.

He must be related to Anomen.

Insight: Remember to visit the temple for restoration if any of your team get drained. Suddenly not being able to cast high level spells and having reduced max hit points is not ideal.

The Cursed: Graveyard Visit

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The team is invited to the graveyard by a mysterious woman, so they go during the day but still find the tombs teeming with undead and giant spiders. The spiders in particular have built a massive hive that connects a number of the deeper tombs in such a way that triggers my arachnophobia. Good thing the party has no such problems, since gassing them with cloud kill is pretty effective.

They do take a bit of damage down there so are forced to surface to regroup - finding that night has now fallen. A vampiress named Bodhi appears and tries to get the team to side with her against the Shadow Thieves and in return she will help find Imoen, all for the low price of 15,000 gold! This offer is turned down because vampires suck, and Bodhi leaves disappointed.

Bonus points for trying to charm the party.

On the way back to an inn the party comes across a man almost beaten to death in an alley way. At his request they carry him all the way to the docks where he is delivered to a large building which turns out to be the local Harper base. The necromancer Xzar, who was once believed dead but is better now, then appears and tasks the group with infiltrating the base to find out what they did with his buddy Montaron. Jaheira is unhappy that the group agrees to do this.

Insight: The tombs in the graveyard are painful. Lots of strong, draining undead and the lower levels are riddled with traps.