Thea: No Safety

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

With no time to waste, Team Talarian escapes from the dragon's lair and rushes back to the village but at each turn are faced with hostiles coming out of the wood work. Monstrous bats swarm Alysir and drain him dry and try the same to Ravanel Rising, but since she is undead they instead opt to lift her high into the sky and let gravity finish her off. Needler is swarmed by skeletons at is basically boned to death, and Light Falls is caught and used as food in the web of a dragon spider, which I can only assume is a spider the size of a dragon.

Team Talarian makes it back to man the walls just in time as a group of dragon spiders attacks the village. The arachnids are slain but at the high cost of Fanatic Sword, Spiral Star, Moxie Pally, Burning Octopus and Graev. There are werewolf sightings in the vicinity soon after but before a team can be assembled to hunt them down a fierce storm hits the village leading to more injuries.

Your reward for saving the land! Lol.

With the werewolves out of range, a rebuilt Team Talarian (Talarian, Tacktix TLC, Ardwulf, Ancient Gamer) opt for a lightning raid against some nearby slavers instead, rescuing two children and the witch, Natalie Patalie. They then return to the Memorial Ground and all pitch in to construct stronger defenses, improving the wall just in time to thwart a striga attack. Establishing his position as chief, Talarian Design dictates that no one leave the village walls for their own safety.

Thea: Zmey You

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

Back at the Memorial Site, the number of villagers grows rapidly as a chef healer named Belly Rumbles joins as do the brothers Keen and Graev, and the warriors, Light Falls, Ardwulf and Tyranno Dorkus, come of age. They are also attacked by a strange undead creature - a Viescy, who slays one of the other children.

Team Talarian is sent on the case to stop it, finding its actual grave and then performing a magic ritual to destroy it. The ritual doesn't actually do that, instead it cleanses the monster into a regular person who now wishes to repent and joins the team as Ravanel Rising.

Viescy's are pretty scary!

Ravanel proves her worth as she leads Team Talarian to some nearby slavers whom they easily dispatch and save a captive child. With this sudden influx of people Talarian decides it is time to take the fight to Zmey, so his team returns to the village and leaves only Thorgrim, Belly Rumbles, Curian, and Rhino to be defended by Ardwulf and Tyranno Dorkus.

Needler, Striga Syl, Moxie Pally, Fanatic Sword, Tacktix TLC, Ravanel Rising, Izlain Backwood, Pineconettes, Spiral Star, Keen, Graev, Light Falls gear up and follow Talarian to Zmey's lair for an epic showdown.

As epic as a card game can be anyway.

While Pineconettes and Striga Syl are slain in the fight, the battle is won and Zmey and his snake minions are defeated. Talarian then chooses to plant the cosmic seed to return the world to the light and it immediately becomes shielded by a magical field. During this time, the orc witch is seen on the opposite side of this field trying to break through to no avail. Talarian knows that this will eventually doom her race to be hunted once more but he doesn't care. Victory for the light! VICTORY FOR TEAM TALARIAN!

Thea: Team Talarian

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

With Cooper dead, it now falls on Talarian - the most veteran of the Memorial Ground villagers to form a squad, and so Team Talarian is born: composed of Harika, Striga Syl, Korima, Moxie Pally and Tacktix TLC. On their first outing they find a magically shielded tree and attempt to dispel the shield. Striga Syl succeeds, teaching Talarian some magic in the process and finding that the shield was actually protecting Spiral Star and Pineconettes who happily rejoin!

They then find the new lair of Zmey, and this time, since I'm not using auto resolve - I see just how overpowered the great serpent is. Without a hope to defeat it just yet, Team Talarian backs off and instead focuses on neutralizing the numerous abomination army camps that are becoming prevalent in the region. During one such assault, Harika and Korima are slain.

It's not good news at Memorial Ground either where a drake has captured and consumed two of the children. Rhino spotted which direction it fled in though, so after Team Talarian switched out Moxie Pally and Spiral Star to village guard duty for Fanatic Sword and Izlain Backwood, they were hot on the trail of the winged beast.

It looks kind of cute!

Thea: Ice Princess

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

There are problems at the village when once again the wells are poisoned (by the effing orcs I presume) and Cooper Team is once again on the hunt for a water spirit to cure them. Hopefully Spiral Star is around? During this time of weakness the village is attacked by packs of wolves. Cateaclysmic, who was working on constructing the palisade at the time, is dragged off into the forest and eaten alive.

Meanwhile Cooper Team also suffered a loss: Missy Sparks having been slain by an aggressive mob of skeletons. Soon after they encounter Princess Zuzanna and her undead servant, most likely the source of the skeletons who killed Missy. It becomes clear the Princess is cursed due to her cruelty, that her own people don't like her much, and that she is looking for her ice tower. Due to the dilemma at the village, Cooper decides to deal with her later, saying he's never seen it before and continues on the quest to find the water spirit.

"Yup, never seen it before."

The water spirit is not as helpful this time (guess it's not Spiral Star), instead being a harpy in disguise. Cooper Team slays the creature, but the townsfolk remain poisoned taking damage over time.

Thea: Rookie Mistake

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

The confrontation with the Leech Lord does not go well, for he doesn't travel alone. Indeed, he has a whole entourage of strigas with him - and just one of those gave Geralt of Rivia a lot of problems. While Cooper Team is defeated, they all manage to escape while the Leech Lord and his monsters feed on the random caravan folk they were attacking at the time. Thinking logically, Cooper decides to rally everyone from Hermit's Lake to face this foe, but this turns out to be a rookie mistake.

Having zero people in the village ends the game, a small fact the douche bag Theodore forgot to mention in his tutorial. To this end I can only assume the Leech Lord circled around and destroyed the settlement while everyone was out hunting him. Regardless, the survivors are forced to move on and begin a new settlement at a bone yard with rich soil which they name the Memorial Ground (yep, that's me restarting). The place is clearly haunted but fortunately there's a resident Lapiduch (spirit catcher frog demon) around.

Soul Eater!

The task of building this settlement falls to Thorgrim, Curian, Cateaclysmic and Korima while Cooper Mantly reforms his expedition crew of Harika, Vayshen Panda, Talarian Design, Missy Sparks, and Mama Cori. One of the children also grows up to be a warrioress - Moxie Pally. Alas, during the move it seems Pineconette and Spiral Star were separated from the rest of the villagers and are now listed as missing in action.

Thea: Divine Quest

[Part of the Darklands of Arkania Story.]

Cooper Team didn't have to make much of a detour to find the Water Spirit, but the Syrin wasn't just going to help outright. First she wanted them to steal a hair from her nearby sister without getting spotted. A task that proved pretty easy since Horos' blessings are those of stealth. True to her word, the Syrin cures all the people of Hermit's Lake of their poison and as a bonus, removes Cooper Mantly's curse.Yeah, it lasted awhile!

So wet...?

At this time, a female warrior named Spiral Star joins the village - leading me to suspect that she is actually the Syrin in disguise. Meanwhile Cooper Team proceeds to the ivory tower they learned about from the Grand University. There they are confronted by an avatar of Horos himself. Instead of fighting, they fall to their knees in worship and the avatar blesses them and gives them the divine quest of slaying the Leech Lord who just so happens to be wandering nearby.

Before they reach him though, they come across a pack of wolves attacking a child and a cat. After saving both, the black cat turns out to be a Dola demon which grants another blessing on the group. They then march on to face the Leech Lord.