Thea: The Awakening, Horos 3, Final Part

Although my Totem had yet to be completed, my village had enough Attract Demon to lure its first Demon, a Mamuna.

The village attracted a Mamuna.

As expected, the Mamuna had Magic. In addition, she also had a good amount of Find Weakness, which would be useful in Social and Tactical Challenges. She was level 10.

My main expedition encountered the Striga Mistress Event.

The Striga Mistress Event.

Unlike the Striga Master Event, the Striga Mistress could not be recruited. Instead, by beating the Hex Challenge in the Event, many members in the party who had Magic were blessed with more Magic.

The Striga Mistress Event increased the Magic of expedition members who had Magic.

I traded Ranged Weapons at the Goblin Village. It was possible to receive Monster bones, Fur leather and Scaled leather in exchange. If I wanted to produce items for the Goblin Village, I think it would be more profitable to craft cheap armor to trade.

Trading Ranged Weapons at the Goblin Village.

My main expedition finally made it to the site of the main quest. After doing what I needed to do there, it was time to walk all the way back to the previous location.

That impassible river was annoying.

The impassable river right in between the quest locations was an annoying obstacle! It would be a long trek back. I should take a big detour and stop by the village before reporting to the quest location.

On my way back, while I was avoiding the snowy terrain, I came across a Dragon Lair.

The main expedition found a Dragon Lair.

The Dragon Lair would spawn dangerous 5-skull baddies so I decided to end the threat then with my large, well-equipped expedition. Unfortunately, it was high noon so my people did not have Horos's bonus to combat. They did, however, have a large variety of food so those provided some additional bonuses.

Sizing up the opposition before the Challenge.

In the first turn, I was lucky since both the Zmey and the Dragon were in the Tactical stack. Then I realized that I had used the only member in my Tactical stack who had a high enough First Attack to move anyone to the front.

No one in the Tactical stack had a high enough First Attack.

The Striga Master at the front was critically injured by the Zmey. Fortunately, my Medic had 12 to his Medic attribute, which would significantly decrease the risk of dying. I had to camp for two turns for that Striga Master to recover.

My main expedition had the Striga Master Event again. I then had a third Striga Master.

The attributes of the third Striga Master.

My village finally attracted a Goblin. It was a Goblin Warrior with only 6 Health.

My village had attracted a Goblin Warrior.

I gave my Medic equipment that increased the Medic attribute. The Root of Life artifact had +4 while the Blood Drop jewellery had +2. A Fur Coat I crafted with Fur leather and Amber randomly gained +2 Medic. In total, my Medic had 18 Medic, which would be helpful to prevent deaths from fights.

In Hex Challenges, the Medic attribute allows First Action. In Cure Sickness Challenges, the Medic attribute provides Support Ally and Confuse.

Siemierz the Medic had 18 Medic.

Refugees passed my village. I had this Refugees Event before where the travelers told of a village that I could later investigate. I could then attempt to persuade the people to stay and receive 4 children. This time, however, I had received 3 children and a Hunter. Weirdly, the Hunter brought with him a huge supply of food.

Did the Hunter take all of the refugee's food supply?

After resupplying at the village and dropping off loot, my main expedition returned to the main quest location to convince whomever needed convincing. When that step of the quest was all over, the next location appeared on the other side of the body of water. I had to go around the water again.

The quest location appeared on the other side.

This time, it should be easier to cross to the other side since I had explored the route and cleared some of the more dangerous baddies and lairs (like the Dragon Lair). Before leaving, I looked for the other quest location, the one I was to report to after I had done my business in that next location.

The quest location after that was back on this side.

The location where I was to report was at a spot where I would have to travel all the way back from the previous place. To reach the other side, my expedition had to travel north - there was no land connection that I could see to the south-east. It was a good thing that I had Horos's bonus, which made it safer for my expedition to travel at night.

After visiting both quest locations and accomplishing what was necessary, it came time to reveal the final quest location. To my immense relief, the location was on the same side of the body of water. There was a place to sight-see on the way.

The final quest location was nearby and on the same side.

The Zmey at the final quest location mentioned that it had waited a long while. Of course it had - I had to travel around a body of water four times because of one impassable river!

The Zmey had waited a long while.

With the amount of time that I took to reach this point, my expedition had grown in experience and collected powerful equipment. It was easy to defeat the Zmey in a Fight Challenge. As usual, I liked to take a screenshot of the late Elf to the party.

The Elf was late again.

I was presented with the final score summary. The Totem of Clay and Dragon bone was my rarest item though it was far from the score achieved by the Totem in Morena's game. I had originally intended to continue the game. Since I had scored more than enough to unlock Horos's last bonus, I decided to end the game. The game had taken so long because of the World Size setting of Huge and that impassable body of water.

The final score.

In this game, it was possible to concentrate research on crafting recipes while having less regard for resources to gather. The nearby Goblin Village provided a source of rare raw material. Aggressive exploration of the land provided more resources through baddies, ruins and Events. With Horos's third bonus, I could see where my expeditions were going at night. Thus, the expeditions did not need to take a break unless someone was badly injured.

At the end, I had six Demons. I had the Baba Yaga, the Striga Mistress, a Mamuna and three Striga Masters. The Mamuna was the only Demon attracted by my village - the others had been obtained from quests and Events.

All of Horos's bonuses were unlocked.

The bonuses of Horos, version 1.11.1312.0

Horos's third bonus negates one of the drawbacks of night, the one where vision is limited. The other drawback, where baddies are more aggressive in the dark, may be handled with the other bonuses. With extra combat abilities at night, the villagers can respond better to attacks. In addition, the last bonus makes it easier to aggressively pursue baddies and face them on the player's terms.

Thea: The Awakening, Horos 3, Part 1
Thea: The Awakening, Horos 3, Part 2
Thea: The Awakening, Horos 3, Part 3

Thea: The Awakening, Contents

Thea: The Awakening, Horos 3, Part 3

On the second step of Horos's Divine Quest, at the part where I was to convince Horos of my worth, I chose to do so through combat.

Horos stepped first into the battlefield.

Horos was a strong combatant but I had a couple of Dragon's Banes in the party, crafted with the Dragon bones from the Goblin Village. Both Dragon's Banes were with party members in the Offensive stack. I would easily be able to defeat Horos with a single hit. I also had people in the Tactical stack with First Action to send my Dragon's Bane wielders to the front.

Beginning of the Fight Phase.

In hindsight, I had forgotten that Dragon's Bane did not give Blunt Damage. Thus it had been futile to boost the Damage of the Orc Fighter in front. Anyway, the Challenge was won.

Horos was pleased that my people had proven themselves through combat. He briefed them on the final part of the quest.

There were no 'wolves' with Horos in the Fight Challenge earlier.

As it turned out, the final location for the Divine Quest was close to the village.

The final location for the Divine Quest was marked by the question mark.

At the final location for the Divine Quest, I had the option to choose a Sneak Challenge. That Challenge was easy with Horos's second bonus, which boosted Stealth.

It was possible to complete the quest with a Sneak Challenge.

At the end of the Divine Quest, I received a Striga Mistress. In the Early Access version, I had received a Striga Master instead. In addition, a few of my villagers gained +3 Leech.

Part of the reward was a Striga Mistress.

The Striga Mistress had Leech, Perception and Magic. Appropriately and ironically, she had Attractiveness, though she had gained 2 points of that attribute from her equipment.

The attributes of the Striga Mistress.

With the Striga Mistress and a more experienced expedition, I visited the Baba Yaga's House again and attempted the Hex Challenge. I was successful this time. As a reward, I recruited the Baba Yaga!

Part of the reward was a child. I looked around my expedition's inventory for a bit before I realized that the child was in the village. That would allow me to delay my trip back.

'Hell yeah!' was the appropriate response.

The Baba Yaga had decent attributes for combat and she had the Strength to carry lots of equipment and loot. Most importantly, she had a high Magic attribute of 12.

The attributes of the Baba Yaga.

With my main expedition's size at 12, I was ready to attempt the main quest. I went to the first grove and found a spelling mistake.

There is a spelling mistake in this screenshot.

The next step of the main quest (called the Cosmic Tree in the screenshot) was across a body of water. I would have to explore to find a way around the water to continue the quest. My main expedition would be far from the village for a period of time. Thus I decided to send them back for supplies and to deliver loot before continuing the main quest.

The river nearby could not be crossed.

I decided to build a Watchtower out of Granite and Mithrill since I did not have enough Ancient wood. The Mithrill would be well spent so I could see a large area around my village. If the flavor text on Mithrill was correct, the Watchtower would probably last forever.

Building a Watchtower of Granite and Mithrill.

My main expedition defeated a Dragon and its minions in direct combat. My people were ready to complete the main quest, if I could find a way across the water.

Defeated a Dragon and its minions.

Like the Early Access version, having Horos as the patron deity had the hidden advantage of being able to recruit a Striga Master through a random Event. The Event might be encountered by expeditions at night. In order to recruit the Striga Master, it was necessary to overcome a Social Challenge with only the female members of the expedition.

Only female members of the expedition might attempt to convince the Striga Master.

I noted that the Nightstalker was in the Social Challenge, suggesting that the Goblin was female. The Striga Mistress in my expedition was conspicuously missing from the Challenge.

I easily completed the Challenge and recruited the Striga Master.

The Striga Master joined my expedition.

The Striga Master had Leech and, more importantly, Magic.

The attributes of the Striga Master.

Shortly later, I had that same Event again.

Another Event with the Striga Master.

I then had two Striga Masters in my party. I was glad that I set the Group Limits to 16 because my expedition then had 14 members.

The attributes of the second Striga Master.

I decided to build a Totem out of Clay and Dragon bone. One of the reasons was for the Attract Demon attribute although the single point in Attract Beast was a small bonus. The other reason was so that the village had some defense against the Wailing Wraiths.

Building a Totem of Clay and Dragon bones.

I had a supply of Mithrill and Enchanted bones so I started crafting Living Abyss Guards. These suits of heavy armor would have lots of Armour and good bonuses to Magic. The bonuses to Perception were extras. The armor would be good for the Demons I had recruited.

Crafting a Living Abyss Guard out of Clay and Enchanted bone.

Thea: The Awakening, Horos 3, Part 1
Thea: The Awakening, Horos 3, Part 2
Thea: The Awakening, Horos 3, Final Part

Thea: The Awakening, Contents