The Cursed: City of Problems

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Athkatla is a city of problems, the first being a circus tent being toyed with by a djinn. The team investigate, killing a number of illusions and the illusionist posing as said genie to free the people within. This includes the wingless elf Aerie, who is eager to go adventuring one day. Soon after they meet a thug called Gaelan who offers aid of a "large organization" to assist Imoen, for the price of 20,000 gold pieces.

Needing to do some "fund raising" the team explores the city finding many opportunities of work, but first Catharina visits the government district and buys a license to cast spells in the city. While there they also witness Viconia being put to the stake, and Catharina watches with glee as the deserter is immolated into ash.

Burn baby burn!

They also find Dorn who is openly plotting to murder one of the high priests so the team kill him before he does any damage, and are subsequently hired to deal with some fallen paladins. An easy task with a few skull traps and cloud kills.

Insight: Buying that license is super handy, do it early and don't worry about the gold. There's lots of it just lying around.

The Cursed: Might and Magic

[Part of the Cursed story line]

With Dragonspear castle now fully under siege, most of the troops are dedicated to containing the crusaders within. It is up to Catharina's team to keep her troops healthy and find a way to make the crusader troops dead. For this she recruits Rasaad and Dorn who immediately dislike each other. Rasaad's fantastic speed is key when collecting curative herbs from the forest though, herbs that cure a large group of sick soldiers as well as Neera's madness.

The orc is unhappy with the lack of attention going his way the idiot openly attacks Catharina in the middle of her own war camp. Dorn is arrested within seconds and dragged off like the bitch he is while Neera cheerily takes his spot as the team scouts the forests surrounding Dragonspear castle since the crusaders seem to still be managing to get supplies in somehow. The previous scouts undertaking this task, Minsc and Dynaheir, have not returned.

That's a really good drawing of those two.

 
There are lots of terrible things in that area, and a random encounter against a sizable orog war band Rasaad is wounded out of action, and M'khiin is slain. They do locate the well guarded crusader tunnel though, and thanks to Catharina allying with the local druids and ogres, they manage to eliminate the top side defenders with a bit of might and a lot of magic.

Insight: There is an un-killable vampire wolf in that first forest, and it summons more wolves. It's pretty slow though, and Rasaad could run circles around it.

The Cursed: The Battle of Bridgefort

[Part of the Cursed story line]

While scouting the crusader camp the team find Dorn "the sackless" imprisoned within. They free the abused orc and send him to join the army then use the magic stone to teleport into Bridgefort where they find the defense is being led by Khalid! Apparently he survived his swim from that werewolf island. Also present is the wild mage Neera, but she is crazier than usual now.

After helping the defenders a little, Catharina organizes a counter strike - opening with a feint of surrender. Many crusaders are killed by the skull traps she had left earlier, and a pincer attack from Bridgefort and the Flaming Fist column easily routs the crusader force. Unfortunately Edwin and Baeloth call it quits right after, both annoyed at M'khiin's continued presence in the party - effectively ending the Alphastrike team.

They blamed the dancing goblin.

At least they don't abandon the army though, unlike that deserter Viconia who has vanished entirely from the column roster and isn't among the dead either. Once all is settled, the army goes on the march once more - pursuing the broken crusader force back to their stronghold of Dragonspear castle.

Insight: You have the option to surrender the fort here and save lives on both sides, but what good is having an army if I don't get to use it?

The Cursed: That was Wild

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Down to half strength, the party returns to the Friendly Arms Inn to recruit Dorn the orc as well as Neera and Baeloth who (seem to be getting close) returned there from Nashkel . Neera is particularly annoying this time, saying the team owes it to her to escort her to an elder wild mage so that she can learn to control her powers.

Catharina obliges her and they follow her lead to a goblin infested area. Fortunately they pass a bluff test to convince the goblins that they are friends, letting them skip right to the boss' cave - who happens to have the elder wild mage hostage.

The boss goblin isn't fooled though and attacks, and Dorn "the ultimate warrior" is defeated by the little green man. I assume the orc was castrated before being kicked off the cliff into the underground ravine below. It's only after defeating boss gob that the Thayans chasing Neera show up, and put up a good enough fight to warrant the use of summoning wands.

Frankly, Baeloth is preferred.

Despite the victory it is ultimately all for naught as the old wild mage has zero wisdom to impart and accidentally teleports himself out of there. Possibly to the moon.

Insight: Wild mages are potentially really strong if you are willing to reload unfavorable random effects. They can literally kill themselves and their party each time they cast any spell.

The Cursed: Iron Shortage

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Khalid finally leads Party Girl, Catharina, Minsc, Dynaheir and Branwen to the Nashkel mines. On the way the team encounters yet another assassin group but have the unexpected ally of Dorn the angry orc who wants payback on his ex-crew.

With all the scum cleared Dorn thanks the team and suggests that if they ever need a "real" warrior, he'll be waiting at the Friendly Arms Inn. The team proceed to the still active mine and find (four floors down) that a team of kobolds had been corrupting the ore veins with a strange fluid, causing the iron shortage.

Seems that they also work for money!

They are led by a human though, and based on his correspondence he is just one small cog in a bigger conspiracy. Also found at the base of the mines is the elven mage Xan, once adventurer now prisoner/bitch. They free him and make their way out the "back way" which is a massive shortcut to the bottom floor. That would have been handy to know about on the way in!

Insight: All those "important" letters? Junk them after reading them to save bag space. It's only at near end of the game where you need to hang on to a few of them.

The Cursed: Gorion's Foolishness

[Part of the Cursed story line]

In hopes to protect her, Gorion spirits away with Catharina only to run right into a band of assassins led by a heavily armored scum. Gorion tells Catharina to flee while he gets slaughtered by said crew who then abandon pursuit for some reason.

But looking scary is tiring!

Fortunately, Catharina's childhood friend Imoen tailed her, and brought her other party members too. Since this adventure is going to be too dangerous for the troublemaker, Imoen is instructed to go back home but she refuses - instead deciding to make her own party of adventurers starting with the two psychos on the road Xzar and Montaron.

Catharina wishes them luck and heads on to the Friendly Arms Inn as per Gorion's last instructions. There the party meet a sulky orc named Dorn, and Gorion's friends Khalid and Jaheira. The couple try convince Catharina to look into the iron problems in the Nashkel mines but Catharina just says she'll think about it.

Insight: Playing the Black Pits first and importing the characters to Baldur's Gate makes most of the early fights really easy.