The Cursed: Deadly Marilith

[Part of the Cursed story line]

A Helmite ghost tells the party that only by passing a series of tests can they earn the keys to the vault. These test are mostly combat related, requiring to slay a dragon or survive waves of orcs but are quite easy to pass.

Much harder are the foes summoned when each key is turned. The first one brings an Aurumach that destroys Edwina in a magic duel. The second is the easiest, a lich with flaming skulls, only because the party has fought these before. The last is a powerful monstrous team of six including a beholder and a marilith!

So many swords, so many resistances!

Even with planar and summon support, the team is hard pressed and suffer casualties, with each member taking out one of the opposing team until only Catharina is left to face a drow huntress and the wounded Marilith. It takes a bit of luck and a lot of running but she is victorious. Alas, the rest of her team: Nalia, Lu Lingqi, Keldorn and Aerie all lie dead around the seal.

Insight: Flaming skulls explode in a fireball when killed, so be sure to have enough health before killing one.

The Cursed: Summoners Rule

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The remaining trio of Keldorn, Lu Lingqi and Catharina then proceed to the Illithid area and heavily use summons to clear it out before leaving the Keep to regroup. To their surprise Nalia, Edwina and Aerie are there waiting for them.

Apparently there was still no luck on the missing city front so Imoen sent them here as backup while she chased another lead. With the extra casters, the main floor of Level 4 is easily cleared via summon abuse.

Adds are great, when they're on your side!

The team eventually finds a crystal hammer which Lu Lingqi uses to smash open the machine and spare the crazy mage (who was just an adventurer that got stuck there). Catharina fiddles with the device a bit until the portal down opens and the team descends to Level 5 - which is centered around a tri-locked vault. "The Imprisoned One" must be close now!

Insight: Gone are the days of invis, skull trap, and cloud kill. Now it's just easier to summon a horde of powerful minions, haste them and send them ahead of the party.

The Cursed: Whining Woods

[Part of the Cursed story line]

With the city now lich free the team begins the search for Suldanessellar, scouring the new forest zones with the magic lantern but come up empty. They do run into ex-team mates Coran and Safana, now a couple as Coran saved Safana from her wyvern sting, who are now working as bounty hunters... for Irenicus. They and their wolfwere allies are slain.

Well, someone's been playing too much of this!

Edwin also manages to transform himself into a woman (and can't change back) which leads to some comical teasing from Nalia and Aerie. Catharina's mind is elsewhere though, namely the Watcher's Keep, for if a magic team was strong against the liches maybe a melee team would triumph in that messed up magic maze?

She decides to find out and leaves with Lu Lingqi, instructing Imoen, Aerie, Nalia and Edwina to continue the search in their absence.

Insight: Another reason I left them is the whining. My god, the whining. Aerie, Nalia and female Edwin constantly ask to rest in the most irksome decibels.

The Cursed: Lichless City

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Catharina decides the search for the Elf city can wait, having been impressed by this magic heavy party and decides to hunt all the liches resting beneath Athkatla. The first one nearly ends in disaster with everyone near death upon victory. Nalia seems very concerned for Aerie.

The second lich battle goes much better, having summons and buffs ready. Despite it managing to summon a pit fiend, the lich's own protection spell is disabled and the demon destroys its own summoner. The third lich goes down even quicker.

Because pieces of lich are more powerful than a full size one?

The final lich is Kangaxx, and he is uber powerful - munching through summons and continually resetting his defenses. Worse, upon being killed he transforms into a fast regenerating Demilich that is immune to almost all forms of damage. Catharina is forced to transform into her demon form to destroy it, and save the others from certain doom.

Insight: The Adventure Mart sells Vhailor's Helm which can cast Simulcarum once per day. This is very handy as it makes a double (albeit slightly weaker version) of whomever is using it, including all equiped items.

In my party, I gave it to Lu Lingqi carrying the +4 halberd. She also has the Ring of the Ram which does an non-negatable 5-30 damage. Both great when multiplied by two.

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: Copper Coronet

[Part of the Cursed story line]

At the docks district the squad is employed by the Shadow Thief guild to investigate a possible rebellion within their own ranks, and sure enough with the surprising assistance of Edwin, they find the splinter group which Catharina deals with solo. Invisibility lets her get past the guards, then the usual cloud kill and skull traps with an ice storm on top.

"Feel the backhand of Justice!"

Outside, Jaheira runs into an old enemy of hers, who curses her with some wasting disease before fleeing. The team gives chase, looking for clues at the Copper Coronet tavern where Minsc gets into a bar brawl and Raven discovers that the place is run by slavers! They slaughter the scum and free the slaves who take over the establishment. This also involves traipsing through kobold infested sewers to hit the nearby slaver base. Jaheira's curse giver is among them and his death lifts her curse.

Insight: Jaheira's stats drop by the day if you ignore the curse for too long, so don't do that.

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: Hearing Voices

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The voices in the underground cult base grow louder and their leader seems to have totally lost the plot, summoning a pair of aerial servants which rip Captain Corwin to shreds. During the retreat, Safana is stung by a wyvern and has to be brought all the way back to camp for aid. To fill their slots Catharina recruits Voghiln and the happy go lucky gnome Glint who just appeared in camp.

Glint's curiosity leads the team into a nest of spiders and beetles where Baeloth saves the day with his sorcery. Back in the cult HQ, the voices are found to be coming from a mindflayer and while it manages to eat Voghiln's brain it is no match for a magic duel against Edwin.

With the teleporter stone in hand the party heads on to Bridgefort, picking up the goblin shaman M'khiin to fill out the roster. A level 10 goblin with 97 HP!? Edwin is displeased. Sure enough, Caelar's crusaders are still laying siege to it but thanks to Catharina's earlier decision to save crusaders captured by the cult the party is let in as allies (Caelar herself is absent). This would prove to be their undoing.

Mingling with the enemy and setting traps...

Insight: Glint is a very handy character as a cleric/thief, disarming traps, picking locks and helping with the heals. He's also quite funny! Very unexpected.

The Cursed: Alphastrike

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The company makes camp in the forest near Boareskyr Bridge, a forest teeming with trolls! While it is handy to be able to lure the monsters back to the soldiers one particular infested cave convinces Catharina to switch up her team, taking Party Girl, Corwin, Safana, Baeloth and Edwin - dubbing themselves "Alphastrike".

The reason is simple: upon entering combat the magic heavy team unleashes their strongest AoE spells in an attempt to end combat in one strike. It is very effective! Further down the path they meet the skald Voghiln and Jaheira who has recovered from that previous backstab. She reports that Caelar's forces are besieging Bridgefort nearby, and that the pair were after some cultist who stole a magic stone that can open a portal into the fort.

Funny that Baeloth and Edwin are the ones in melee range.

The Alphastrike squad takes up their mission. Tracks lead past some wyvern woods and into a cave occupied by a green dragon standing guard but even it has no chance against them! Beyond it is the cult barracks, and they are annihilated easily along with their neolithid pet - possibly because they are all hearing voices in their heads.

Insight: Haste lets you cast faster. In this group which opens with 3 fireballs, that was pretty amazing.

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: Jokes on Me

[Part of the Cursed story line]

On the way to the stronghold the party encounters "the fastest dart thrower in the West". This joke brigand manages to hit Rasaad right in an eye, proving how terrible an adventurer he is. The monk is immediately sent back for medical aid.

Other than that, there are no encounters worthy of note. Even the frontal assault on the gnoll stronghold is made easy with Catharina in the lead and waving wands of fireball to incinerate the packs of enemies easily. Dynaheir is found in a pit, having been the gnolls plaything and Catharina opts to rescue her which infuriates Edwin enough into leaving.

The team returns to Nashkel to sell and recover, visiting the nearby fair grounds while they are at it - finding one of the attractions is a "stone warrior maiden". They purchase an expensive stone to flesh scroll from a peddler and release the petrified person who turns out to be the cleric Branwen. In thanks, she decides to join the party.

Glad it wasn't some stone golem instead!

Insight: The stone to flesh scrolls are much cheaper if purchased at a temple. Again, I still didn't know about those at this time and was very tempted to use it to free one of the original Black Pits characters before ultimately opting to free Branwen instead.

The Cursed: Another Detour

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Finally convinced by Jaheira to go to Nashkel as the situation is dire (really? doesn't feel that way), Catharina and company run into more elite hobgoblins who almost kill Neera with poisoned arrows. Fortunately Jaheira can cure it, but in doing so leaves herself open to a hobgoblin backstab which cripples her. Khalid is in tears as his wife is put on a random wagon back to the Friendly Arms Inn for medical attention. As usual, Baeloth makes snide and inappropriate comments.

"At least she wasn't backstabbed with a flaming sword... up the ass!"

This results in the drow sorcerer being voted out of the party at Nashkel proper. The low HP Neera is also side lined to recover from her near death experience after defeating yet another would be assassin at the inn. Replacing them is Rasaad the monk who immediately gets along with Khalid, Minsc (and his miniature giant space hamster Boo) who want to save a woman named Dynaheir from gnolls, and the Thayan Edwin who wants to kill a woman named Dynaheir. Party Girl wonders if it's the same woman. She has low INT.

While almost everyone else is asking that the party investigate the nearby Nashkel mines to solve the iron shortage (because random adventurers are qualified to do that apparently), Catharina wants to avoid having another walk out like Montaron so they delay heading there again and instead head West to the gnoll stronghold to find Dynaheir.

Insight: If left to their own devices, party members will converse with each other. This can also lead to in party fighting if they don't get along - mainly stemming from alignment differences. If you keep everyone busy though, they'll never get a chance to act out.