Thea: The Awakening, Horos 3, Part 2

When I started on Horos's Divine Quest, I noticed that the first quest location was represented by a few tents surrounded by a flimsy palisade. I wondered if the quest location would be different from the university ruins that was the first site in previous games.

The first quest location of Horos's Divine Quest.

When I visited the location, I found that it was still the university ruins. Where did the tents, palisade and fireplace come from?

Anyway, after carefully reading the options available when it came time to pronounce judgement on the university scholars, I went with the 'not our problem' answer and left with the temporary 'Bless of Will' for the expedition members. There was no Challenge to resolve despite the three skulls beside the option.

The possible options for judgement.

I was lucky when I crafted a Silky Vest with Malachite. The vest came with 2 Magic. I gave it to my Sage who then had a total of 7 Magic. That would help in Hex challenges.

A Silky Vest with Magic.

My expedition was attacked by three Poludnicas and a Giant Crow. The lead Poludnica could deal a lot of damage and each of the trio had Leech. They did not have much Armour though, so they could be defeated with a combination of heavy damage and First Action.

The first Poludnica had high Damage.

My main expedition came across a black cat. Curious as to what might happen, I continued on and was blessed with temporary Dexterity.

A random encounter with a black cat.

With Warriors as my Village Focus, I had been exploring the land, raiding lairs and searching ruins. Since I had Horos's third bonus, which gave normal vision at night, I could continue my exploration in the darkness.

I found an area with several ruins close. It was a good opportunity to look for loot.

Several ruins were found close together.

I completed the Goblin Village's quest and could then trade with the Goblins. The option to exchange armor for rare trophies interested me.

The possible trade offers at the Goblin Village.

From a few trades, I determined that the best armor and/or shields would be taken. In return, I had received Scaled leather, Dragon leather, Dragon bones and Enchanted bones. The logbook recorded all the transactions so I could review them later.

The logbook recorded all trades with the Goblin Village.

The Goblin Village was a place where I could exchange junk armor and shields for good resources. I could craft Fur Coats with the less useful Fur leather and Amber for trade. Crafting Fur Coats also advanced my research. Later, I should craft something out of the useless Bones.

Crafting Fur Coats.

I think it was a bug, but each time I visited the Goblin Village, I could collect again the reward for the quest the village gave me earlier. The next time I loaded the game, I discovered that the Goblin Village had rotated just like my village.

Much later, after more trades, I would discover that certain jewelry and artifacts were also accepted. I think that any item with the Armour attribute would be accepted.

I found a trapped Skshack. After releasing the creature, it gave me a quest. It asked me to free its mistress. A house appeared on the map, which I would visit later.

A Skshack gave a quest.

In the meantime, I used the Dragon bones from the Goblin Village to build a Smithy. It was more for the Attract Demon than the Crafting Bonus. Also, it met the requirement for one of the three Grand Buildings for the Advancement Victory.

Building a Smithy with Dragon bone and Gold.

My expedition went to the house that the Skshack (or rather its map) showed. It turned out that the Skshack's mistress had turned into a Baba Yaga. There was the option of simply fighting the Baba Yaga, which would only be a temporary solution. The Skshack wanted its mistress freed, which would require the other option, a 4-skull Hex Challenge.

I failed at the Hex challenge and according to the text, I would lose a few Children. Since I had no Children in the village, I did not suffer that consequence. However, every member of the expedition was inflicted with the 'Cursed' attribute and I had to go to the Dziody to have those curses removed. The house was still there so I could (hopefully) attempt the Challenge again later.

I hoped that the failure would increase my 'Events taken part in' score since it was an additional route. Exploring different routes in an Event would each separately increase the score.

Strong Magic was required to free the Baba Yaga.

I had gathered enough Obsidian from ruins and Events to construct a building with the Attract Goblin attribute. With lots of Dragon bone left over, I decided to make another Smithy.

Building another Smithy, this time with Dragon bone and Obsidian.

A bunch of undead suddenly showed up and attacked my village. It appeared that they came from the Graveyard of the Graveyard Event right next to my village. Uncomfortable with a baddie spawn point as a neighbor, I would have to deal with it. At that time, my main expedition was away, on the visit to the Dziody.

It was during that fight with the undead that I realized that the Baba Yaga's curse extended to all my villagers everywhere! My ill-equipped villagers, already outmatched, were weakened even further. I lost the fight but, to my relief, the game did not end. My expedition of gatherers were on their way back so they reinforced the village for the next attack.

My village was badly outmatched.

In hindsight, I should have just initiated a Sneak Challenge to beat those undead. Some time later, I cleared the Graveyard and its Striga denizens. After that, I sent the remaining villagers to the Dziody to have their curses removed.

My main expedition came across a dried up log. It was a dying Leshy who had a final wish.

The Dying Leshy's Wish Quest.

The Leshy wanted its ash scattered onto a fertile ground, at a location that was not far away. It just happened to be close to a 4-skull Goblins Army that I had forgotten about. My people were not powerful enough to destroy the lair. Instead, I had to regularly visit the area and clear any baddies spawned.

I wish Horos's third bonus also increased the brightness at night.

After clearing the surrounding area of 4-skull baddies, my main expedition visited the quest location, which had a single weeping willow. The Leshy's ash was spread below the tree. A forest would one day grow in the location... which was on snowy terrain as shown in the screenshot above.

A couple of my villagers were blessed with a variety of good attributes. Oddly enough, both villagers were not with the main expedition. Instead, the expedition members gained temporary boosts to Health.

Completing the Dying Leshy's Wish Quest.

I unlocked Moonstone, the rare resource. It appeared near the northern edge of the map. Though I had partially scouted the location, it would be dangerous to send gatherers there without adequate protection.

Moonstone appeared far to the north.

I might have wasted the Advancement Points used to unlock Moonstone (and the resources before that). Perhaps it would have been better if I had collected resources from baddies, ruins and Events, especially since I was aggressively exploring the land.

It was time to attempt the Divine Quest and hopefully recruit someone (or something) that could help with the Baba Yaga's House. In the Early Access version of Thea: The Awakening, I had received a Striga Master.

Thea: The Awakening, Horos 3, Part 1
Thea: The Awakening, Horos 3, Part 3
Thea: The Awakening, Horos 3, Final Part

Thea: The Awakening, Contents