The Cursed: Avernus

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Avernus, the first layer of hell. With no way but forward, Catharina and company help the quickly diminishing crusader forces against hell cats, lemures, imps, and a variety of colorful devils. They eventually catch up with Caelar, who is facing off against the treacherous Hephernan and his actual master - Belhifet. Catharina offers to assist, and Caelar joins the team for this battle! Good thing too since she's really strong.

Yeah, she'd win against that in game.

Hephernan is taken down first, but then Glint is gibbed by Belhifet and Jaheira and Khalid are KOed by demonic reinforcements. Fortunately between Caelar and Party Girl, Belhifet is destroyed (haste and ultra magic arrows) and Caelar uses the greater demons blood to send the survivors out of hell while she herself has to remain to seal the portal.

Khalid and Jaheira are taken to the medics while Catharina and Party Girl are celebrated as heroes... for one night. This is because Catharina has a bad dream coming from hell and all, and in a sleepwalking state murders Skie. She is immediately detained by the Flaming Fist and sent back to Baldur's Gate in shackles... (and onto Baldur's Gate 2)!

Insight: Caelar is a fantastic tank, especially if you toss her some health pots.

The Cursed: War is Hell

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The team find themselves back in the crusader supply tunnels and this time follow the path into Castle Dragonspear itself where they begin poisoning the remaining food supply. It's only at this point that the alarm is raised because through sheer bad luck, they run into Hephernan!? The mage is too powerful, and too clever (running back to guards) to defeat so Catharina and company get out of there as quickly as possible, with Baeloth making good use of his chaos spell to get the crusaders to fight each other.

By the time they get back to the war camp the crusaders are on the offensive, sending waves of attackers to try break through the siege. Having fantastic timing, Baeloth decides to abandon the party and the war here,  but the team is still successful in holding ground. Once the crusaders are on the retreat, it is the Flaming Fist's turn to attack, launching a full scale invasion of Dragonspear castle.

The giant moon looks down upon the battlefield.

The walls are breached and the crusaders are smashed, with Catharina cloud killing, ice storming and skull trapping their leadership. With their army in disarray, Catharina advances into the keep - locating Caelar and her few remaining crusaders in the vault. Hephernan is here too, and uses this moment to show his true colors, sending everyone to HELL!

Insight: Once you breach the walls the Flaming Fist have an infinite stream of soldiers running in. Let them do all the dirty work.

The Cursed: Dark Magician

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Before going into the tunnels the team returns to pick up Khalid and Jaheira, and to visit Dragonspear castle itself where Skie is busy doing some recon. Apparently the crusaders are dumb enough to let anyone wearing a Caelar necklace in which gives the team a good opportunity to scout around and generally mess with them, like stealing supplies and murdering the entire troll handling team without notice.

They then enter the tunnels where again, the depot guards just let them through. More than that, they actively assist in fighting monsters from a nearby corrupted grove (which Jaheira fixes eventually). In one corner the team discovers ruins guarded by a dragon ghost. The ruin is actually home to a cabal of dark sorcerers who are preparing to raise a massive army once the war outside is complete. They turn out to be a really difficult fight, but thanks to Neera the ghost dragon comes to their aid after her wild magic frees it.

Because there weren't enough types of dragon.

Alas, for her trouble one of the dark mages magic missiles her off into a bottomless chasm. The ghost dragon avenges her, and once the dust settles tells Catharina that Caelar is just being played by her advisor Hephernan - the leader of this cabal. The dragon then vanishes to the after life, and the team heads back to camp to rest up and recruit someone to fill the spot. Baeloth, having forgotten that he previously quit, accepts!

Insight: While you have to attack the cult speaker to free the ghost dragon, you should definitely let the dragon do most of the fighting here. Note, if you don't attack the speaker fast enough the dragon will show up as an enemy.

The Cursed: Fresh Lich of Dead Air

[Part of the Cursed story line]

While exploring the woods the team finds a nearby dwarven dig site that seems to keep spewing undead. The remaining dwarves who are barricading the entry admit to digging too deep (a common flaw according to Tolkien) and tunneling into some cursed burial chambers. Naturally, the team investigates and discovers this was intentional by the expedition leader who has transformed himself into a lich!

This fresh lich is bad news as he keeps getting up after being downed, and is only killed when the team destroy his phylactery. The tide of undead is halted, and the remaining dwarves agree to join the army. This delay also lets a few others join as well, namely Edwin the Thayan and Rasaad the monk who wants to redeem himself from his ridiculous defeat to a dart throwing bandit previously.

Catharina then scouts the bridge her force needs to cross in the morning and finds Caelar's troops already there. In the ensuing scuffle the crossing is destroyed, and Catharina and Caelar have a stare off on opposite ends of the broken bridge, both forgetting that in this world of magic a simple gap doesn't really offer much safety. It's now a race to the next crossing, Boareskyr Bridge.

Oh man if only I had some sort of ranged attack...

Insight: This turned out to be a difficult dungeon. Remember to use crushing weapons on skelies, ranged on slow things, and to return to camp to undo level drains.

The Cursed: Useless Girl

[Part of the Cursed story line]

For her actions in defeating Sarevok, Catharina is hailed as a hero of Baldur's Gate and is rewarded by the cleric lord of the city the resurrection of her allies Lu Lingqi and Sir Erland (who had been shipped in from Ulgoth's Beard).

Along with Party Girl and Elisabeth, they are given rooms in the Ducal Palace and get to relax for a few weeks. Imoen comes to visit, and is soon attacked by (really weak) assassins that manage to wound her.

Assassins so weak, just like Arno from AC: Unity.

Correspondence indicates that both she and Catharina were the targets of this attack, and that the men were in service to some rebellious knight up North named Caelar Argent. Reports from refugees indicate that she had assembled a rather large army and was marching towards Baldur's Gate.

Catharina immediately volunteers to assemble a team and mount an expedition to stop said force while Imoen immediately backs out, due to her new injury. That girl is useless.

Insight: When importing your final save from the last game, all characters are revived fully leading to some surprising revivals for me. :)