The Cursed: Goddess of Snakes

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The team soon discover that the lizardmen are just minions to something deeper in the caves, and after fighting through legions of skeletons and their necromancer whom Olchyr wins a magic duel against, the team finds an out of place, friendly temple.

Naryu's snooping quickly reveals them to be Yuan-ti's though, and while Olchyr is killed in the mayhem, the team free another adventuring group comprised of Marchon, Iholikan Quinval, Reise Coppersky and Cristiana Knight who help them clear what turns out to be a large base of the snakemen - including their marilith "goddess" who hacks up Nessa in the final confrontation before being put down.

All the red areas are traps!

They find the scrying orb Arundel sent them to retrieve on the marilith, who is also not the "cold evil" given her entire mandate was to melt the ice for her followers. Upon returning to Kuldahar they find it under attack by Neo-Orogs (orogs taking performance enhancing drugs?) who are easily slain.

Unfortunately they got to Arundel who with his dying breath, instructs the team to take the orb to tower of the Severed Hand - and to the last person nearby who can use it. Iholikan and Marchon stay behind to guard the town while the remainder head back out to the mountains.

Insight: Blast skeletons are skeletons with IEDs strapped on. They explode upon death, so kill em from a far!

The Cursed: Lizard People

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Arundel seems to believe the words of the spirit boss so he sends the party to retrieve a powerful scrying orb next, but they find that someone has already stolen it. The trail leads to a cave infested with lizardmen, trolls, spiders and beetles. The beetles in particular are nasty (they fart stinking cloud a lot) and so must be dealt with at range.

The lizard people have also been abducting a huge number of slaves for their king who puts up a mighty battle - reflecting Lucia's lightning bolt back at her and beheading Tharmun before Olchyr can finish him off with magic missiles. With Lucia near death, the freed slaves offer to take her to safety. An offer Sofie eventually agrees to.

The Lizard King is unimpressed at this turn of events.

One of the slaves, an elf named Naryu Virian offers to join to get vengeance for her capture. Olchyr also finds a strange painting that featured a "trapped woman". He manages to release her with his magic and in gratitude also joins. Her name is Nessa.

Insight: While there are no recruitable NPCs here like there are in Baldur's Gate, you can supplement your party by using the multi-player option. It just involves moving save files around.

The Cursed: Spirit of Auril

[Part of the Cursed story line]

The expedition is short lived as all but Sofie, Lucia, Olchyr, Farien, Farcol and Tharmun are buried by an avalanche caused by Frost Giants high up the mountains who were playing catch with some boulders. The team survives through goblin territory and finds their way to Kuldahar - a small town nestled underneath a giant, magic tree that radiates warmth.

Their leader, arch druid Arundel, says that the magical warmth is actually fading due to some unknown but approaching evil cold and persuades the squad to go investigate the Vale of Shadows - a canyon that is home to yetis and numerous tombs, unsurprisingly filled with undead which gives Lucia a chance to show off her turn undead abilities.

Eventually they find the "spirit boss" who claims he will tell them about the evil they seek if they first deal with a priestess of Auril looking to freeze his tomb. While that doesn't sound too bad, the Aurilite actually just wants to spread winter's touch everywhere - including to Kuldahar by killing the magic tree. The team dispose of her post haste.

She's pretty... pretty crazy!

In thanks, the spirit boss tells them what he knows about the encroaching evil - best summarized as follows: "It isn't me." (because that excuse works for awful smells as well)

Insight: The majority of the foes in this campaign are undead.

The Cursed: Cold Turkey

[Part of the Cursed story line]

Olchyr and Farcol finally located the warriors Tharmun and Farien, the last surviving servants of an old enemy, at the frosty town of Easthaven. After all this time it turns out they needn't have bothered as the warriors were far from the threats they once were, being reduced to killing vermin at the local inn for lodging and food which seemed to be very scarce in these parts.

It's a cold place...

Just then a pair of women entered the establishment, step sisters Lucia and Sofie who were looking for extra hands to help locate a missing supply wagon. Farien and Tharmun immediately volunteered, and when Lucia pointed out Olchyr and Farcol they too grudgingly accepted.

Reclaiming the stolen supplies and turkey meat from some nearby orc caves turned out to be a good team building exercise, earning them recognition upon returning to town. Winter was certainly settling in early this year though, so when invited to partake in a large foraging expedition they quickly agreed.

Insight: There's some decent XP in town that involves minimal fighting. Be sure to visit everyone!

Eador: The King and the Vampires

[Part of the Masters of Eador story.]

Olchyr had just returned to the mainland when Ul-Dagan attacked. The ranger hired the shaman Shelumu and allied with nomadic horsemen to help defeat the invaders, using his magic sword to dispel the evil spirits that stood in his way and finding a powerful spell scroll that would make Shelumu near unstoppable.

Indeed, Ul-Dagan's forces had no chance when the shaman began raising vampires on the field of battle and were quickly evicted from the shard. Alas, Ul-Dagan's still shield prevents any counter invasions so Nesturs attacks the brooding Elf King Dariol instead, to reunite him with Vianta. In death.

Yep, the backstabbing vampire is an ally!

Wizard Shinordium and scout Cleeren find themselves surrounded by elven forest lands - not rich in gold but rich in gems. It is tough to navigate those woods though as the elves are great archers and unicorns quite tough. Fortunately there is a small section of Holy Lands (loyal to the Lord of Light) who again agree passage for Nesturs proxies.

They eventually reach Dariol's castle, weakening it through use of an undead invasion (ritual spell cast by Shinordium) and then attacking it. The King is a gargoyle summoning archer (fortunately not the exploding type) and while he inflicts great losses on Nesturs troops, he ultimately falls in battle.

Eador: Fairy Dust

[Part of the Masters of Eador story.]

In space, two new masters appear - the Elf King Dariol who clearly has a thing for Vianta, and an "ancient" one (green skinned elf?) named Ul-Dagan "the engineer". Ul-Dagan in particular is quite abrasive so Nesturs tries attack him immediately, only to find his world is protected by some form of force shield.

Due to this, Nesturs sends Olchyr to attack Vianta instead since she now hates him for what happened to Oinor. The sadist mage Eleran is also hired to assist. It is tough to progress on the Fairy Queen's shard due to the low mining (low gold) and the high number of powerful treants milling about. Indeed it's easier to go through the small pockets of demon territories here.

Eleran is feeling ballsy.

Fortunately Nesturs tech level has been going through the roof thanks to all the huge shards (of other masters) he's been collecting, and his proxies bypass a lot of fighting simply by constructing a shipyard to sail them beside Vianta's castle, which ironically is guarded only by simple militia. Eleran easily defeats them, captures Vianta, and uses her in his experiments until she expires.

Eador: Out with the Old

[Part of the Masters of Eador story.]

With Lan'sharr gone, the wizard Niredor and his commander brother Mencor are hired on a small unclaimed but "developed" shard, almost fully explored with large cities and easily take out the citadels of Oinor and Stenriya simultaneously. The two masters now openly despise Nesturs so Mencor is sent to her world of rust to eliminate Stenriya first.

While Mencor's gear deteriorates quickly here, his troops do not suffer the same penalties which lead him to victories against pegasi, centaurs and the undead defending the castle. Mencor is victorious, but Stenriya, having forseen the outcome, flees into space - vowing revenge.

Out numbered and out leveled, doesn't make a difference.

Meanwhile wizard Assagh is deployed to to handle Oinor, and finds himself in lousy lands with little to no resources (no wonder Oinor always loses). Scout Olchyr is recruited to assist and forms an alliance with the local lizardmen. After defeating a centaur tribe guarding Oinor's castle, the old mage is thrown out on the street and publicly executed.

Nesturs had thought about sparing the Oinor, but then realized only a fool would let his foes live.