Thea: The Awakening, Lada 2, Part 4

Since I had more competent villagers, I sent my expedition to the village to return the Craftswoman I had temporarily assigned for the Divine Quest. I took the best people (and weird creatures) I had for Hex Challenges and embarked on the main quest, the Cosmic Tree Quest.

The quest location was at the south-west of the map. The location it sent me after that was at the north-west. As stated before, there was no direct route through the west of the map, my expedition had to take the long way around. At least the game was set on a Small World Size unlike that other game.

The next location for the Cosmic Tree Quest appeared as far as it possibly could.

Along the way, my expedition met an Elf cursed by the Darkness. After fixing her up, I got a reward (which included 3 Crossbows) and the Elf joined my expedition.

An Elf joined the expedition.

Two of my villagers decided to get married with Lada's blessing. They were the Warrior who had joined my village and the Craftswoman I had taken along for Lada's Divine Quest. The marriage ritual seemed like it was a lot of work.

Two villagers decided to get married.

Of course there was going to be over-consumption of food and alcohol during the marriage celebration. The Sickness Challenge to withstand the ill effects of over-consumption was easy and a number of my villagers received Bless of Attractiveness. Strangely, a few villagers who were away with my expedition also received the blessing as if they had taken part in the party.

A few villagers not in the village were also blessed.

My expedition met with a group of Dwarf Bandits. After convincing them to share in a meal together, one of them was attracted to Lada and would join, if my best fighters could beat his.

A Dwarf Bandit was interested in Lada.

It was an easy fight since both my Warriors, equipped with Claws of Veles, were chosen to fight two Dwarf Bandits. As a result, the Dwarf Bandit joined my expedition. The Dwarf Bandit had high Strength and some good equipment but no Dragon's Bane, unlike in the Early Access.

A Dwarf Bandit joined my expedition.

With people (and weird things) that could do Magic, I attempted the 4-Skull Hex Challenge of the Baba Yaga's House Quest. It was a long fight but I was successful in freeing the Baba Yaga. Unlike in another game, I did not get a Baba Yaga. I wonder if the outcome was random or if I was missing some other requirement.

Instead, I received two Children as a reward. They were precious since my Cabbage Patch still had not attracted any Child.

The end of the Baba Yaga's House Quest.

Near the Baba Yaga's House, I saw that a few creature lairs had spawned at the eastern part of the world. As I moved to clear them, I noticed a 5-Skull Dragon Lords baddie group sitting on what I had seen earlier as a 2-Skull Spiders' Nest lair. Chances were that I would have to camp to recuperate from wounds if I fought the Zmey and the Dragon in that group. With the time ticking on the Bless of Intelligence, I decided to leave the lairs for now and go complete the Cosmic Tree.

5-Skull Dragon Lords sitting on a 2-Skull Spiders' Lair.

Meanwhile, back at the village, I had the Beasts cook food. That must be a normal occurrence on Thea. The Beasts were good cooks too.

Giant bugs cooked food for people.

My expedition made it to the north-west for the Cosmic Tree. After doing what was necessary there, they had to return to the south-west to report. Then the next location again appeared at the north-west. At least the location to report to after that was midway, near the village.

Positions of my expedition and the Cosmic Tree locations.

The people in my expedition had acquired various blessings that gave temporary boosts to stats. A few of them had large amounts of blessing. One of my Warriors had 60 turns worth of Bless of Attractiveness and 39 of Bless of Intelligence. The latter blessing increased the Warrior's Intelligence to a great 20.

The Warrior was a smart one with a lot of Intelligence.

My Bear had 75 turns worth of Bless of Attractiveness. It also had a blessing that gave it speech.

I should call it Pretty Bear.

It was good that I had built a Totem in my village. The building gave my villagers the Magic necessary to handle the curse on a Child.

A Child was ill with a curse.

The Child turned into a Child Wraith. While the Child Wraith could not equip anything and had low Damage, it did have a lot of Leech and even more Poison, allowing the Ghost to deal serious damage in a fight. In addition, it had Medic and Magic.

The Child Wraith had Medic and Magic.

While I was on the Divine Quest, I had met the Kostey and the Oracle. One fine turn, they visited the village with a warning. It was the beginning of the Giants Return Quest, a second main quest that was added in the DLC. Before this, I had random Events that suggested that the Giants were awakening.

The Kostey and the Oracle visited the village.

The location of the Giants Return Quest was near the Cosmic Tree Quest so I could check it out after I was done with the latter.

The locations of both main quests were close together.

After convincing a Dragon to give the Cosmic Tree Shards in the Cosmic Tree Quest, my villagers acquired more blessings. The Bear then had a ridiculous amount of Bless of Attractiveness and looked like it would keep talking for quite a while.

The Bear was sparkly and chatty.

I visited the location of the Giants Return Quest to learn what was happening and what would have to be done. As it turned out, having a Ghost in the expedition made it easier to gain information. I think the Dola from the Divine Quest also counted as a Ghost.

Having a Ghost made it easier.

Unlike the Cosmic Tree Quest where I could delay my decision in the method of completing the quest, in Giants Return, I had to make my decision immediately.

There was a decision to be made early in Giants Return.

As Lada was a peaceful goddess, I decided on the less violent approach. The next location for the quest did not appear immediately so I set about to complete the Cosmic Tree. On my way back, two locations for the Giants Return Quest appeared where I had just left.

Quest locations appeared where I had just left.

Though the locations for the Giants Return were close, I decided to complete the Cosmic Tree first. I was almost done with the latter quest and from past experience, I knew what would be involved. Reporting in with the Cosmic Tree Shards revealed the final quest location for the Cosmic Tree. It would be at the south-west, totally the opposite direction of the Giants Return Quest locations at the north-west.

The final location of the Cosmic Tree Quest at the south-west.

Meanwhile, my village finally crafted a Dragon's Bane, which had high Damage and Leech. The high damage would be useful to Elves and other creatures who naturally have Piercing Damage.

Crafted a Dragon's Bane.

I completed the Cosmic Tree Quest. With all the varied blessings my expedition had, it had been easy to convince the Zmey to let me have the Cosmic Tree seed. In order to bring prosperity back to Thea, I decided to replant the Cosmic Tree.

I decided to replant the Cosmic Tree.

As before, I liked to take a screenshot of the late Elf to the party.

The Elf was late again.

After the quest was over, the score summary appeared. I would unlock Lada's 4th bonus with the score I had. As I had not completed the Giants Return Quest yet, I decided to keep playing the game.

The score after completing the Cosmic Tree.

The Forest Elf Druid was late, but she was not too late to help with the Giants. She had Magic, Medic and Curse and was more capable than my own Medic. The Elf even had a bunch of other useful Attributes like Animal Kinship and Folklore. Her drawbacks were her Health and her Strength, which were low at this point of the game.

The Forest Elf Druid had Magic and Medic.

I would reassign the villagers with Medic that I had. The Forest Elf Druid, who had the most Medic and was the most competent, would follow the main expedition. Since I had enough villagers to form a gatherer expedition, the human Medic would be assigned to them when they were away from the village. That Medic also had points in Gathering so she could help collect resources. I was considering whether to send the Child Wraith with the gatherers to make use of its Poison and Leech or to leave it to protect the village with its Magic and Medic.

I still had the Giants Return Quest to complete. I had not decided if I would like to unlock Lada's final bonus since the situation looked like it would involve a lot of work.

Thea: The Awakening, Lada 2, Part 1
Thea: The Awakening, Lada 2, Part 2
Thea: The Awakening, Lada 2, Part 3
Thea: The Awakening, Lada 2, Part 5
Thea: The Awakening, Lada 2, Final Part

Thea: The Awakening, Contents