Pillars of Eternity 2: Risky Research

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Back at Neketaka from the iceberg, the team attend a meeting at the Royal Palace where it is guessed that the statue's target is somewhere within a section of ocean far too dangerous for any one ship to pass. Instead, they would need to gain favor with one of the factions OR upgrade a vessel to withstand the punishment. The Royalty themselves are already crossed off that list as they hate the squad for freeing the captive dragon their water benders were leeching power from, so Gerrod tries to appeal to the arch mages next by doing research retrieval for the local arch mage Arkemyr.

Doing this work sees the deaths of Yrsa who is impaled by a horned whale at sea, Zefr who is clobbered by staff wielding monk, Maia and Petrus killed by arch lich Concelhaut who had reconstructed himself from their last encounter. What makes it worse is that upon handing the research over, Arkemyr promptly refuses to help. At least his apprentice Fassina joins the team but that's not really the help Gerrod was hoping for.

Really hard to keep these dead.

The next faction are the constantly infighting pirates, but since they are naturally scum Gerrod hires the master thief Garrett to make them squabble even more. As they execute one of their own leaders the team kills all the remaining ones of the pirate's council throwing that entire organization into chaos - crossing another potential ally off the list. Phht. What sort of allies would these scum be anyway?

Pillars of Eternity 2: Death in the Afterlife

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Journeying in Rymrgand's land of the dead is a dangerous task, especially since his servants are still on duty to "make things stop existing". Farcol is the first to have his soul collected and soon after Esme and Sofie are exploded on a firey bridge (it's a strange afterlife). Maneha also gets abducted by more tentacles for eternity this time (what is it with her and tentacles) before the team finally confront the undying dragon.

Gerrod somehow convinces it to go fight Rymrgand for power and it loses badly. Since it brought its phylactery to the fight (to power up or something), Rymrgand destroys it - ending the dragon permanently. The god is not happy that he ended up doing their work and decides all of the team should stay forever. Combat ensues and Dijaam is disintegrated into the White Void while Vatnir and Arzang are both crushed under Rymrgand's hoofs.

It did not go well for the dragon.

Only Gerrod and Iholikan make it to the exit and seal the portal. To make up for their losses a number of end of worlders are recruited: Rook, Ubin, Ludin, Yrsa, Zefr, and Petrus. Gerrod's fellow arena buddy Voghiln is also here and is recruited once he sobers up.

Pillars of Eternity 2: Aloth Abandoned

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Having suffered many losses the team joins the galleon of their old frenemy Aloth (now a leaden key leader), and his team Barik, Esme, Dijaam and Pahtira who are also in need reinforcements and also out to fight against a god, just a different one. With an uneasy truce, they head out and on the very first stop over Maneha pushes Aloth into an undead filled bog and leaves him to die like the worthless traitor he is.

When you let players name islands...

They arrive at their destination, an iceberg than inexplicably keeps growing. It is also inhabited by a friendly doom cult, waiting die at the hands of a black dragon which the team slay, but somehow it just gets up again!? Vatnir, the leader of the cult, explains it might have something to do with their lord's temple deeper in the iceberg and follow him to investigate. Also joining the team are a few adventurers who just got stuck there: Sofie, Iholikan Quinval, and Farcol - long lost friend of Arzang and Gerrod.

Ferocious bears within manage to slay Barik and Konstanten while Pahtira's excellent trap disarming skills fail her in the end, leaving her impaled in midair on a spear trap. Beyond is a magic portal to an afterlife the dragon is somehow cheating by having its phylactery hidden within. What is dead may never die sory of thing. The god of this realm, Rymrgand, allows passage through the portal but only for the team to hunt down and destroy the phylactery, because every time the dragon returns - the iceberg grows a bit more. They agree.

Pillars of Eternity 2: Hell in Hasongo, Sayonara in Sayuka

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Having heard of statue sightings at the isle of Hasongo, the crew set sail there immediately to find the now destroyed fort overrun by nagas! Sagani and her pet Itumaak are bowed down by the snakes as others drown Grieving Mother. Tekehu also meets his end as he lures a large group into the powder storage and detonates it, turning all of them into soup. Both forces vacate the island with the team taking refuge at nearby Sayuka - another Royal Deadfire Company fort.

So many things go boom in this game.

However it isn't safe there either as local druids send an attack while the team is docked, and they lose Alias and Serafen to the wave of werebeasts before escaping to sea again. This time Ydwin leads them to a seemingly uninhabited island to recover, but in truth it is the lair of her ancient fampyr masters who drain Symm Haximus and Zahua dry before Gerrod and Arzang can put them all down. For her treachery, Arzang uses his magic to make Ydwin's head explode.

Luck seems to finally swing their way as they spot the giant statue upon exiting the cave and give chase to the land of fire giants and after sneaking past them Xoti manages to commune with it as it refuels with a massive adra crystal - learning it plans to destroy "the wheel", the very fabric of death and rebirth. Communication is cut short as the volcano they are standing in erupts, the lava melting Xoti into goo. Luckily the remaining survivors make it back to the ship for a quick evacuation back to Nekateka.

Pillars of Eternity 2: Caed Nua Crushed

[Part of the Cursed story line]

By the time Arzang, Gerrod, Alias, Hort, Maneha, Mercy, Sagani, Symm, Zahua and Grieving Mother return from Defiance Bay they find their home of Caed Nua destroyed by the gigantic statue that it was built on top of! Hearing reports that said statue then simply "walked away" into the sea leads them to give chase on ship into the Deadfire Archipelago but lose it in a storm.

That's not how statues work as they lack flexibility but ok, its "magic"!

At Port Maje they learn from priestess Xoti that the god she worships has possessed that statue and so let her join the team. Also joining is a short and furry pirate named Serafen who tasks us with taking out a rival which both easy and humorous, involving an exploding harpsichord. He then directs the ship to Neketaka, the capital of these isles to restock, gain bearings and gain more crew including fampyr animancer Ydwin, masseur Konstanten, Royal Deadfire Company riflewoman Maia (sister of Kana Rua) and princely water shaper wereshark Tekehu.

Unfortunately they also lose Mercy and Hort to some random arsonists in the city. The pair are captured and burned alive.