HoS RPG: Walkthrough, Tips and Achievements Guide

My walkthrough through this game, mechanics, tips, achievements info for episodes 1 and 2.

Introduction

Welcome to my Heroes of Steel walkthrough!

Guide is incomplete since I want more info before going into Episode 3, so i'll wait.
However, I think the info here might help others for the first 2 episodes.

This guide will cover basic game mechanics, tips, achievements and a walkthrough of every area as i explore it, map spoilers ahead! Although I dont comment much about the story, so story spoilers are minimal.

I played this back in 2018 for a couple of days then got frustrated with my party so I left it, then came back in 2020 and got a new party but I stopped playing after a few days and now its late 2023 and Im sitting down to try and finally publish this guide!

This game is long, its not boring though, its just long, I dont know how to describe the feeling properly, it's like a very long D&D campaign that feels like it will never end and just you imagine playing a D&D game for 14-21 days straight, 8 hours a day, it takes its toll on you.

Battles felt like a chore after a week or so, the game combat isnt bad, I just didnt find a way to keep it fun going after battle after battle after battle, I play a lot of tactics games but its rare for me to feel like this but anyway, I liked the story about "Gods walking among us" and it really gave you that D&D world building gaming stakes that are interesting to follow just to see where it ends.

There are multiple characters to choose from and Im pretty sure the dialogues change depending on who you chose for your group, after finishing the game, I just didnt have the willpower to start the journey again with new characters but I found it interesting to read about them in the forums.
I think that way of changing the story a bit based on your party line-up is pretty cool.

If you'd like to read more about the lore of the game specially the 13 Gods, check this out:
https://www.tresebrothers.com/the-world-of-heroes-of-steel/

In hindsight, I think the game needed more variety in attacks, spells and enemies, killing ratkin and spiders for 8 hours and then spiders and orcs for 6 hours then humans and spiders for 7 hours.. it got to me.

I felt that most of the fun would be playing with party composition, equipped gear and talent synergies but the limited re-spec options, RNG chests and slow level ups make this take a very long time, at least for me.

An option to speed up attack/dodge/parry animations would have been nice too, there is an option to speed up enemies, thank Ryethin.

You can play on easy difficulty and still get all the achievements.

There are a couple of missable achievements, so be aware.

You can find a world map for each episode here:
https://startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/13475/maps-all-heroes-episodes
There is a count of secret rooms in those maps that will help you not miss any before leaving the area, very useful.

I will also tell you how many secret rooms are in a level by using parenthesis.
i.e. Red Hill Dungeons(1) <-1 secret room

Game Mechanics

Team Creation

There are way better guides out there for this topic, so I will be brief.

Vren is the absolute tank.

Take a mage as your DPS, either one is fine but the fire mage can help your tanks with extra defense.

The Paladin is a good tank but it takes time to get her tanky enough, well worth it though.

The last slot should be your leader, scout, lockpick and ranged.
She might get ambushed from time to time and you will have a bad time but its best so you can discover secret areas.

Check this forum post for a comparison table on heroes:
https://startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/5809/p2-1-7-startup-table

Check out this forum post for more info on heroes and their talents:"
https://startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/5905/players-guides-heroes-monsters-tables?page=1

Handy UI

There is an Skip All button on the Top Right corner that skips dialogue.

You can click on a character portrait (bottom left) to quickly access their stats.

Here is an image with the default keybindings, will be handy to master them or customize them to your liking.

The Importance of a Leader

You can have one hero leading the group and the leader is determined by the character you have selected when you press G (form a group). The leader's stats and talents will be used for unlocking things and sneaking into battles but they will also be the frontmost character when battle starts, so weight your options and preferences.

You can quickly switch leaders by switching heroes with the space bar or (ASDF).

Personally, I like using Vraes as the leader, even if the enemies have the first turn, most of them use it to get closer, that saves me a turn. Sometimes though, their ambush is deadly.

Damage and Armor

Basically, every weapon has a base damage range, its boosted by the hero's talents.
If the weapon is stat based, the hero stats boosts the damage. (Like STR for Swords/Maces)

Armor reduces physical damage by subtracting the damage you do.
Resistance reduces magic damage just like armor reduces physical.

Additionally, there is dodge and toughness, which values you cant see on the enemy.
Dodge reduces Accuracy (Chance to hit).
Toughness reduces physical damage (Less than armor but it still works)
Parry has a base chance to nullify an attack, its different than dodge in the way that it does not reduce accuracy but has its own roll.

You can read more about damage and soak/armor/toughness here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=252556760

Enemy mechanics

Enemies work differently than you.
You have AP and you use up AP to either move or attack.

Enemies on the other hand, have MP and AP in different stacks.

What this means is that they can move up to X squares according to their MP THEN attack according to their AP or use their AP to move.

Basically, MP can only be used to move and AP can be used for either.
Some tiles like stones in water or stairs take 2MP instead of 1MP to cross.

By knowing the enemy MP/AP you can position your characters just far enough to make the enemy waste their AP to get close to you.

This is also why hero talents that reduce enemy AP are so important, if you curse the enemy with -1AP, its one less square they can move or one less attack they can perform, this is huge.
Enemies, however, cant be cursed to go below 1AP.

Ranged Enemies
Ranged Enemies cant shoot if you have a hero adjacent to them.
They can try to melee you instead but they are pathetic at it.
This mechanic applies to you too, be careful.

More info: https://startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/6711/combat-mechanics

Leveling Up

You can only level up when you rest.
Each level gives you some points to distribute in each of Attributes/Skills/Talents.
Not all levels give 1 point in each area.
Enemies level up with you according to the game's difficulty.
This means, your choice in talents, skills and equipment will matter more than the HP/SP points you get each level.

You get 1 re-spec point for free at the start of the game, you can find moonlight crystals in most areas, gathering 20 will give you a free re-spec for 1.

When leveling up talents, be mindful of how much Spirit using it will cost, sure, focusing on a talent and raising it to 5 might look like a good idea but it will be very bad if you can only use it twice because of the high cost versus your pitiful Spirit point pool.

Skills and attributes initially max out at 16, after level 30, you can raise Skills to 18 and after L40 to 20.

Attributes
Focus on your class' strong suits, everyone should get a point into CON or INT once in a while to strengthen their HP/SP pool.

Willpower often gets neglected since few enemies use magic attacks, however, the most powerful ones do, so choose wisely.

Also consider the factor in your class (See table here[startradersrpg.proboards.com])
The post also explains what factors are, good stuff to know so you can decide where to spend your points.

Do not neglect the attribute that increases your main attack accuracy, its very frustrating when you miss most of the time because you ignored it.

Skills
Which weapon skill is better? Take a look at this discussion:
https://startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/8135/spear-hammer-sword

Increasing the durations of your buffs might look useless but consider that higher level talents use a lot of SP, so you will want to cast re-cast them as few times as possible, consider upgrading that.

As the advice above, try to balance your skills to have a decent accuracy.

Talents
Like I mentioned before, be mindful of the raising SP costs.

Some Talents are able to hit more enemies as you level them up, which is insanely good.

You can see if a talent will have an upgraded AOE by looking at this section.

Buffs/Debuffs are key to battles in this game, you can make some good combos by cursing enemies first then using talent attacks that take advantage of the curse.

Treasure, Gold and Loot

Enemies and treasure respawn very rarely after certain story events but dont count on it, if you want to get to level 45 you better kill everything on every map you can.

Im pretty sure the chests contents are randomized but there are some secret items spread out here and there that will always be the same.

I could swear that you sometimes HEAR treasure chests growling...not a mimic, just a weird.. thing.

Think twice before selling accesories with magical properties because later on, you will be able to access a crafting system and sacrificing an accesory with a certain magic property will enable you to merge it into another, so keep those if you can, weapons and armor you can sell, no problem.

Items with SP% Drain are super important to maintain your party's talents without using potions, having 10%SP Drain will go a long way, basically, it gives you SP based on the damage you do, so if you have 10%SP Drain and do 100 damage, you get 10SP, awesome, eh? :)

Crafting

Blacksmiths can enchant one of your mundane items for 2 bloodstones.
You can find Bloodstones in different areas, just remember that there is no respawn here and the bloodstones will eventually end, so it might be a good idea to have a bloodstone reserve for your wall, that is, a fight that is super hard and you feel you wont be able to win.

In the guide, I will point out where bloodstones can be found.

You can also tune the item you are enchanting, this means destroying a magical item to make your enchantment better.


More info: https://startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/15938/crafting-results-wip

Tips and Notes

You can use Farsight to discover part of the map then click on the walls to find the secret door, remember that you have to click the wall to open them.
Almost all secret rooms are behind stone walls, not cave walls.

Campfires can be reused, fall back to them if really hurt.

You can move, attack, move back, useful to take cover vs ranged.

Buffs/Curses only start to wear out in combat, outside of combat they only go away if you rest.
Remember to buff outside battle to save on AP.
Instead of wasting time buffing individually, there is an auto-buff option in the hero list.

You can leave an area even while in combat if everyone is around the exit.
The battle wont reset and when you come back, everything will be the same as when you left.

Not all treasure chests are locked, be careful of missing them because of the lack of icon!

Remember that if any of your party member dies, its game over.
Protect those squishy mages! Dont neglect Constitution.

Critical Hits are amazing if coupled with decent SP Drain, a Crit will heal lots of SP.
Dont ignore +Critical items.

Ranged Accuracy also counts for Throwing Accuracy.

Because enemies level up with you, it would be wise to backtrack to a waypoint/inn to distribute your new level up points, enemies will be a higher level but you would be at a slight disadvantage until you use the points.

Achievements with Counters

These you can get at different points in the game, only two kinds:
1) Kill a number of enemies in a single turn.
2) Get your party to a certain level.

Speed Killing

These do not stack, so you need to do it four times, each time will get harder.

They look hard to do but with a good tank, you can lower the enemy HP until they are almost dead then prepare yourself for the onslaught. Having two or three characters able to hit multiple enemies will be beneficial, waiting for your tank to be surrounded might be a good idea.

You can "run away" from a small group and lead them into another group and fight the two groups together to achieve the larger requirements.

By merging groups you can get the enemy kills you need for each tier of this achievement.

Weaken the enemies with your attacks, you can see their HP and armor values and your damage range on your weapons, learn how heavy you hit them so you can estimate your blows without killing them.

As for killing them in a single turn, position yourself in the middle of the enemies so you can hit multiple of them in a single hero turn without moving (if you move you waste the AP you should be using to attack), this way, each hero might be able to kill at least 2 or 3 enemies in their turn.

This way, you can start the turn in a great position and all enemies around you 1 hit from being killed. If you are unlucky the enemy might dodge or parry your attack, if this happens, well, tough luck.

Since the game autosaves, its not like you can reload the fight and try again, you just need to try again in another fight OR start the game again and get to the area where you can go into the caves or go north or west to fight more soldiers.

It takes around 5 minutes to get there from a new game, so it shouldnt be that difficult.

Do this on Easy mode for faster results.

These achievements DO NOT stack, so you need to have a fight with 3, 5, 8 and 10 enemies.

Here is a video of how I did the Warlords achievement:
https://youtu.be/01V4fiiQDuA

You can search this guide (Ctrl-F) for "(Kill" to see which areas have good spots to try to go for these achievements.


Veterans
Kill 3 enemies in a single turn as a group


Battle Adepts
Killed 5 enemies in a single turn as a group


Warlords
Killed 8 enemies in a single turn as a group


God's Wrath
Killed 10 enemies in a single turn as a group

Level Up

By the end of the game you could be around level 60, so getting to 45 is an eventuality, you DONT have to kill everything in every area, so dont worry about it and just play normally.


Escapees
Achieved Level 5 with all four heroes and recorded at an Inn or Way Station


Known
Achieved Level 15 with all four heroes and recorded at an Inn or Way Station


Leaders
Achieved Level 25 with all four heroes and recorded at an Inn or Way Station


Heroes
Achieved Level 35 with all four heroes and recorded at an Inn or Way Station


Legends
Achieved Level 45 with all four heroes and recorded at an Inn or Way Station

Episode 1: Red Hill Dungeons

You will start with the tutorial at Red Hill Dungeons, go ahead and do it.

The only way to escape is for your thief/rogue to use lockpick on the doors.

Once you are outside, grab everything from the nearby chest and familiarize yourself with your characters, skills, equipment, stats, etc.

You might want to remove your mage's cloak and equip it on your tank for a little extra armor.

Have this map handy in case you get lost:
This forum post for the "world map".
https://startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/7133/episode-1-route-map

If you are wondering how to save your game, the game auto-saves every step/action you take.. so you have to live with your mistakes.

If you go north from where you are, some weak guards will show up, you can try to go for (Veterans) here, hit them hard with spells/strikes and weaken them with the archer/rogue.

If you dont know how to calculate damage, check the Tips section.

Leave at least 3 of them around 5~8 HP each and in a single turn, kill 3 of them.
Keep in mind that each hero has AP points and moving spends AP, so position your heroes in a previous turn before the massacre in a new one.

Continue to the right, get into a small fight, grab the chest, go north.

As you try to escape, there will be a fight with six enemies, use the tactics you did for (Veterans) to try and get (Battle Adepts) - (Kill 5 in a single turn)

You can spend as much Spirit Power as you want on this fight, a bed will be available for resting and leveling up after it.

After you are rested, go left and open the leftmost cell, inside the cell, in a cobweb its a ring you can make your tank wear for extra armor.

You can do the 8 enemy in one turn achievement in the crossroads to the north. If you pull the 3 guards from the offices to the 3 enemies in the north passage, there are 3 more further north by the stairs so you can even do the 10 kill with a little patience and luck... but honestly, its better to try the 10 enemy one until you have decent AOE spells/skills.

Just for reference, there are 5 more enemies just inside the cave to the right you can pull into the crossroads fight.

See the section (Achievements with Counters) for more info and a video showing you how I did it.

Anyway, go ahead and go left into the offices and fight, the XP/Gold will be appreciated as well as the treasure chest, then go north and kill those guards, rest in the beds when done and go east through the tunnels for another fight, keep going back to the beds as needed.

Explore a bit to the north and you will eventually get a cutscene about hunting you down, its a little weird since you can still go back to the beds to rest, heh.. its funny to me.

Instead of going east, turn to the south of the caves, there is an area with soldiers and on the west wall there is a secret door. You will notice the wall has a small button on it, click on it to open it.
Anyone can be leader to open secret doors.


Proceed east then north from the secret zone, fight some animals, then the hounds, then the ratkins, if you get below 70% HP/SP consider going back to the beds.

A boss fight is near, use spells to lower his armor and upgrade yours, take care to not get flanked, the boss likes to ignore your tank and go for the squishy ones.

Enjoy the "You shall not pass" moment.

Krellin Deeps

Here you are going to learn about traps and if you already are not using it.
You have to learn how to buff yourself before battle.

You see, the buffs have counters on them but they do not decrease outside battle, so its a good idea to buff yourself after a rest and keep on buffing. It will save your hide in those surprise battles where every enemy shoots at you in the first turn.

Dont be greedy and use autobuff whenever you can, the rest camp is right there if you need to go back and heal SP.



Also, dont underestimate the power of curses that reduce enemy armor/dodge/parry/AP.

This area is full of ratkin villages with loot around them, so you can go ahead and explore and loot.
There are no secret doors here, so dont bother looking at walls all the time.
There are a lot of secret traps though, so learn to distinguish a trapped tile from a non-trap one.

See the two lines on the ground, thats a pit trap right there.

And you can see the mines hidden here, they are like lines that are not in normal tiles.

I know its bs but enemies do not trigger traps, so be careful if you are fighting around them.
You can disarm traps while in combat, give it a try.

Beware of the giant rats to the south, here:


They have tons of HP and hit hard but the narrow passages can work to your advantage if you can get your two melee to fight one of them at a time.

Going back northwest, you will fight in a rat village then enter some sort of cave maze, there are tons of spiders here, enough to get 10 of them together and try to go for (Kill 10 In a turn), you need Level 6 to get your first AOE spell so Im not sure you are ready but you might want to go for it if you want.

You can easily kill 5 to 7 spiders in a single turn with 1AP Throwing Daggers if you weaken their armor with a spell and leave them below 7HP and just finish the rest with the others.

A 16 Armor for Tanks is hidden here, its nice and you might miss it since it doesn't look like a treasure chest.


Fight through a lot more battles finding chests here and there, when you pass the stairs and get to the last camp in the area, you should get the locked chest near the wagon before following the roads west.

Oskahold

Later on, in the North Vault you will have a great chance to get the (Kill X in 1 turn) achievements, so even though its tempting to try now, dont worry about it and wait.

The enemies you are about to face might come in scripted waves so take your time.

Welcome to Oskahold!

So, we got the Inn where you can rest and level up for free and quite a few shops, but be careful with spending your gold, remember that in this game, there are no enemy respawns, this means that there is no grinding or farming for XP/Gold, do you really need to buy that armor that gives you +2 or would you rather wait for later?

Check how many AP using a weapon cost, some weapons have better damage but cost more AP to use, some are 2-H(anded) and you wont be able to use a shield, etc.

Note that normal shields add to your Parry value but 2-H swords sometimes give more Parry than a 1H sword and a shield, so you can think on it.

In the other hand, because of how the game autosaves every step of the way, you might be in a dire situation where the only inevitable outcome is a party wipe, but even if you all die, you can retry and the game will put you back in a safe location.. although your "score" will be affected.

Good thing none of the achievements relay on the score.. or maybe its a bad thing.. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, go ahead and explore the town, upgrade your weapons/armor if you want, sell some extra stuff you found, etc.

To enter a building, just click on the black space in the edge of it, there are some quests you can pick up in here as well that may yield good rewards, so like a shameless burglar just go into every house, unannounced and ask for things.

Anyway, eventually you will be given a quest to retake the northern fort.
You might go do that but why don't you go do the sidequests first?
Find the lost caravan and the tombs of the Silver Cohort which are to the west.

Its up to you to decide which to do first.

West Road: Lost Caravan and Silver Cohort Tombs

West Road

Close to the entrance you will fight spiders, if you feel the spiders are too hard, maybe you should come back after leveling a bit at the Northern Vault, however, with some careful positioning and good buff/debuff tactics, it shouldnt be a problem.

Remember that you can always backtrack to town for a free rest, although I read everytime you use the camp/Inn your score gets lowered, if you care about it, then think twice.

Going south and west, you will fight more spiders and find some stairs that lead to the Warm Cave.

Warm Cave - Tomb of the Silver Cohort

The Beetles here have a lot of Armor and Resistance, so use things that can lower it or bypass it.

Going south then east, you will reach an area thats hot! hot! hot! (not cold).
Here, you will find a ring that adds fire damage to attacks.

Read this thread to learn more how +X Damage items work:
https://startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/14084/question-bonus-damage-items
TL;DR:
+ Damage raises your maximum damage (+6 Damage raises a 7-12 Bow attack to 7-16)
+ 6 Fire Damage is rolled against Enemy Resistance, so these beetles will laugh at your new ring unless you give it to the Fire Mage, a +6 Max Fire damage will be useful to boost his fire attacks.

Going north, the cave continues and well, there are traps around here, so keep an eye out.
You will find some of the tombs of the Silver Cohort along with nice chests, hopefully, you will pull useful treasure. This zone was small, well, we are on a side-quest afterall, after you help the town, remember to come back here.

West Road - NorthWest

Head back to the Inn if you need to rest/level up then head north for some fights, then west, south, west, eventually after quite a few fights you will be on the west side and see some other stairs, before going down there though, head north to get a Bloodstone.

Muddy Cave - Lost Caravan (1)

If you need to heal after the previous fights to get in here, you are in luck!
There is a campfire pretty close to the entrance, here:

Near the campsite, to the NE there is a Bloodstone.
There is another Bloodstone to the NW of the camp, directly North of the entrance.

You can find the loot you are looking for to the NE of the map, its a very small map, I doubt you will get lost, get back to town to finish the quest.
There is a secret door here, just look for the irregular walls in the cave.

Once you are done here, return the items to the item merchant in town and get 600 gold and a Rimwood Staff

With your newfound bloodstones, you might want to look at doing some crafting at the blacksmith's.
But honestly, I suggest you save some stones for later chapters, if you feel you are struggling in combat and you desperately need of an upgrade, then, consider using up your bloodstones.

My rule is to keep 10 bloodstones handy and use the rest if I feel its going to give me a huge advantage.

Keep in mind that you cannot have more than 10% SP Drain or lower an enemy's AP to 0 (min is 1)

Anyway, on with the show.

North Vault and the Farm Halls

North Vault

Right, so we go north to do the main quest of saving this little village.

If you travel along the west wall of the area you will encounter a pack of swarm rats, they are weak enemies and you might pull off some (Kill X in 1 turn) achievements here.

In the middle of the area, there's a fort you need to conquer for the main quest.
A lot of enemies but if you are careful, you will be able to pull one group at a time.
Do not be afraid to strategically retreat to lure enemies into a chokepoint or to a corner to force enemy bowrats to come closer.

Southwest of the fortress, in a corner of the cave wall, there is a Bloodstone.
North of the fortress, there is a Bloodstone by the northern cave wall.

Once done, you can go either to the left or right.
Im going left first into..

Korvain's Trench (1)

A very straightforward area, just go north.
You will be ambushed by 8 ratkin when you try to cross the first bridge on the east side of the map.
A lot of treasures hidden here and there, one of them behind a secret door here:

Make sure the farmhall is safe and return to North Vault and go east to...

Nordhall

A lot of big ratkin fights, come prepared.
Remember to melee bowrats if you can to keep them from using their ranged attacks.
In the fight to save the town, there are more than 10 ratkin, you can use this fight to do the (Kill 10 enemies in 1 turn) achievement. Just take out the shaman asap.

Near the city, there is a Bloodstone, very easy to see.

You can ask the city's fletcher for a side-quest, it will take you to another area so explore this area first, rest up then take the quest, extra XP/gold is always welcomed.

South of the village, past the river is another big pack of ratkins with not just one but TWO shamans, ye ye ye♫ They might be already dead if you came to town through the road, though.

This map is even smaller than the others, nothing much to find, when ready, talk to the fletcher to go to...

Nordhall Trench

We came here to hunt us some trolls!
Well, troll.. singular, but even one is a handful if you are not prepared, how do you prepare?
Heh.. anyway, you can go back to the village anytime just by turning back, no problems.

First enemies you encounter will be these grey fish like creatures, no wait.. those are wolves!
Huh, alright. I hope we find some monster chickens down the road too.
Wolves have super low armor.. its like the game is mocking us with these weak-ass creatures after the hoard of ratkins we had to fight through. Oh well.

If you go south from the wolves you'll find a Bloodstone.

From the entrance, if you hug the north wall and follow it, you will arrive at a chest, continue doing that and you will find another Bloodstone.

Eventually you will find the troll, this mothertrucker has a talent that gives him +60 health, he uses it every two turns or so. Contrary to popular belief, fire isnt his total weakness, steel is. So mash, mash, mash! and.. clock. him over the head with your best weapons.

When I killed him and saw on my screen "+9XP" I was like.. seriously?!
Darn, this game is ruthless sometimes.
You can explore the cave further for some more fights and treasure.

Going back to Nordhall's town to deliver this troll-killing quest, you will be rewarded with a nice new bow and 80XP, well. Alright, Ill take it!

So we go back to Oskahold to deliver the news the farmhalls are safe, now we are ready to go into the holes and fight the vermin in their home turf, but first go to the Inn to rest and level up.'

Also visit the blacksmith, he has new equipment you might want to buy and I really recommend you use 2 bloodstones to craft an awesome weapon for your DPS or an awesome armor for your tank.
If you are playing in higher difficulty than normal do both.

Into the Hole: Tunnels, Lairs and Cursed Temple

Upper Level (1)

Make sure you have everything you need since once you go down, it will be two fight before you can get back and oh yeah, once down there, watch out for traps!

There is a secret door after the third fight, here:

I found some neat goodies, hopefully, you will too :)

If you follow the right wall of the secret passage to the east, you will enter a fight but eventually you will find a Bloodstone.

The final fight in this area has a lot of enemies, do not rush in and get surrounded, use the entrance barricades wisely.

South of the stair fight, near the nightkin lair, there are two Bloodstones and two treasure chests.

Lower Level (1)

Well, damn.
A campsite is right there.. and I had to walk back to town and back.
At least I leveled up while I was in town.

Anyway, explore north and past some traps, fight another big battle, you might want to retreat to take out the enemies that spawned behind you and use that position as a chokepoint again.

Once the fight is over, loot over there then go back to the entrance stairs then head west for another big battle, again, retreating is a good move to avoid fighting in the room with 3 entrances and a lot of traps archers can hide behind, so retreat.

Continue with your rat genocide, loot everything (there is a bloodstone around here) and return to the entrance stairs, use the campfire if needed then go south from the stairs, you will find spiders and a very obvious secret door on the way.

You will reach some stairs that lead to the North Vault, you can go back to town if you want from here.

Now go south then west then south to fight some spiders, get a chest and 40XP.

Return to the crossroads then go east, there's more and more rats! oh boy..

Going northeast from that fight will lead you into a food ratkin pantry and a chest, going south from there will be more chests, turn west to fight giant rats and on the other side of the map you will find a way station (you can level up here) and the exit, but before you go, grab the Bloodstone east of the exit.

Follow the road and lets go to the next area.

Vermin Lair (2)

Oh boy, maybe we should take a break from killing all these rats.
I mean, its gotten pretty tedious by now but sadly, we still have 2 more rat infested areas to go.
.
.
.
.
Oh! You're back! Ready for some hot! tactical rat exterminating simulation action?! Good!

Close to this area's entrance, to the east, you will find a barricade and a passage with lots of traps, before walking down that path, go south from there to get a chest and a Bloodstone.

Disarm the passage traps and get ready for another long ratkin village fight, use the passage to your advantage and to keep your squishy ones being hit by the enemy.

Going south, you can move east towards the exit or explore some rat swarm/spider infested caves further south, that place is a good place to try for (Kill X in a single turn) achievements since they have low armor/hp and are a lot. They hit hard without decent armor so make sure you have it.
Your efforts will be rewarded with a campsite and a chest.

Go back to the crossroads and head east towards another ambush, oh joy!
This is a huge area with lots and lots of.. you guessed it! ratkins.
Eventually you will come at an area where the mage of your group will remark that there is something in the huts, clicking under one of the huts will give you 1112 gold.

In that same village, going to the southwestern area will net you 3 chests and a Bloodstone. Go east from there to continue fighting in a zone with tons of stairs, make your way north.

I swear to God, its been hours and hours on these goddarn ratkin fights...

Continue fighting up down the stairs and this time you will reach this corridor with two secret doors:"

The first door has a chest and a bloodstone and the second secret door has one chest, both corridors behind the secret doors have traps, so watch out.

Once done, its time to go east through the locked door into the temple.

And the moment Vren said "There must be a hoard of ratkin inside the temple" I had to turn off the game and take a break... oh jeez.

Secrets of the Hidden Temple

Guess what the secret is? Yes. Ratkins.



The good news is that you are dumped right into the boss fight.
The bad news is that you need to do it three times in a row.
Regardless, these fights were easier than some of the fights in the earlier areas.

Once done rip and tearing, you will achieve:

Save Oskahold
Defeated the Ratkin Great Shaman

Holy! Our first storyline achievement and it only took 10 hours, waaa wee.

Anyway, you can explore this place for several chests and 2 bloodstones.

So, freaking FINALLY, lets get back to town so they can throw us a parade or some ♥♥♥♥.

Oskahold Wrapup

In town, talk to the leaders, get nice items and if you want 200XP, go west and to the tombs of the silver cohort.

There will be like half an hour of storyline dialogue and some backstory we all wanted to find out.

If you didnt pay attention, you need to go to the Baron, then the Inn, then the altar, Baron again, back to the Inn then to the merchant.

Once you are leveled up, maybe used a set of bloodstones for OP items, go talk to the merchant and tell her you are ready to leave. Some more cutscenes happen and then you are finally taken to the next map.

The Road to Riven Field

You will be dumped near a campsite.. which is weird since you can freely just turn back and go back to town. Anyway, the new enemy are some lizardfolk.

If I ever see one more ratkin again, Im gonna lose it, I swear.
I will burn this game, I will burn down my computer, my room, my house! Gah!

Anyway, lots of fights again against lizardkin.. they hit hard with Earth Magic so check your gear and not just armor up, check your resistances.

Be careful on how you start fights, Lizardkin are merciless and go for your squishies instead of your tanks if they can reach them so if you feel danger around the next corner, use Farsight to check.

There are no Bloodstones here but a few chests here and there, a secret door in a very noticeable wall. Travel east while you fight until you need to go down.

Excavation (2)

This is a small area, a few fights and to the west there are 2 bloodstones, one in plain sight and the other behind a secret door here:

Rest before going down the stairs.

A huge fight is inevitable, this one was fun to me, lots of archers.
Once done, grab some chests around the area and a bloodstone.
There is a secret door down here too, with some great loot, it's here:


Time to go back but not before we meet some good friends.

Back on the Trail (1)

Jeez.. these lizardkin are getting ridiculous!


They just move behind my ranks and go for the squishies, 6MP is so overpowered..
You gotta have a tight formation and try to fight in narrow spaces against these guys.
I dont know how I could survive without my Paladin as a tank, seriously.

Anyway, now that you can explore east of the excavation, I gotta tell you there is one more secret door here but before you get there, go east following the northern cave wall for a bloodstone and just south of there is the secret door here:


Crossing the river and moving east will finally warp you to the next area, but be careful!
Once you exit, you wont be able to return so explore carefully.

Kern's End

A very small area with a lot of exits.

Before following the road east, you might want to fight some battles to the north, there is a chest out there but it has nothing special.

Taking the road east will finally take you to Riven Field.

Riven Field

Welcome to the town!
Inn is close by, Blacksmith to the east of the Inn, Armorer to the North.

Explore and take a gander at the new items, I doubt you will find anything you need but where we are going you will need one two new crafted enchanted items, so think about what you want and buy a mundane item or two to enchant.

Once you are done, proceed with the story, its not that hard to find out where to go and eventually you will be led to the Siege Camp and then to Spy's Path.

Spy Path

There is a campsite directly to the west of your starting point, you will fight some lizardmen, beetles and spiders as you make your way north and past the lake you will start finding human patrols.

There is a bloodstone hidden pretty well in this maze, its up the middle in the center of some human patrols, here:

The exit is northwest of there (looks like a road) and a campsite will be nearby, so dont go to the next area without resting.

In the Dungeons

There's a secret door just right to the west of the entrance, very close.

From the entrance you can go northeast and then east to see the burned bridge for 40xp, you will have to fight a small patrol on the way.

Getting back to the entrance and going northeast then south will be met by spiders and further in a small guard over a fortress with the same secret door that was there before.

Battle some more and you will arrive back at the crossroads where you escaped.
To the south are the cells where the game started, the heroes will moan they dont want to go back there but if you do, you will be rewarded with a chest, a bloodstone and a bad conscience.

*There is supposedly 3 secret doors in this zone but I couldnt find the final one.

Fight in the officer's room for more gold/xp and then go north to battle some more and when you are done, go upstairs.

Red Hill

Depths (1)

There are two paths north, the west path will take you to some extra fights and dungeon cells, a couple of chests.

In this zone, there are traps right after a door, so be careful.

The true path is the right one and then to the north, you will get ambushed here.
Its a tough fight so make sure you position yourself so you wont take that much damage.

Notice how the right doors are both locked, this is important so the guards are forced to come through our door and not surround us.

if the bastard soldiers refuse to move, you have to bait them, do it smartly by having enough AP in the next round to get back to the chokepoint. If that still doesnt work because the AI is being too smart to fight you while your buffs are still on, you can use the barrel/fireplace/chest zone to make a wall with your tank and offtank, right after you killed the soldiers at your back, ofc.

To the north are even more fights and in the northmost corridor, a bloodstone at the end of it, to the east.

If you explore a bit and go east, southeast, you will find some caves and a campsite and a secret door right back to the beginning.. yeah, I didnt see it until it was this late.
Oh well, more XP/gold.

Once you are ready, the stairs are southeast from where you found the bloodstone.

Barracks (1)

Just like in the last zone, the secret door here is in the first room, so look for it.

The zone is pretty small and Vraes tells you where the exit is.
You will have trouble with some archers behind locked gates taking shots at you.
Unlocking a gate costs 6AP, so get close and open it to get at them.

Once you enter the final room you will be ambushed.. again..
You can take defensive positions by the door, the rear attackers are 3 archers and a dog so your offtank should be able to handle them, if they cant, consider retreating to this room here.

Gatehouse

Another small zone.
Guess what? ANOTHER ambush.. wow! What a plot twist!
Leave your offtank guarding the bridge while your main tank keeps you squishies alive.

When done click on the mechanism by the gate (southwest) and a cutscene will show.
I loled when I saw Barett's army (Barret and two dudes) haha.. good times.

There are no more enemies but there are 2 bloodstones on this zone, grab them before going down the stairs to the safe zone so you can buy/sell/level up

There is a campfire where you can use if you go down some stairs north of the stairs up to the officer barracks, treat this as a healing place to level up and lick your wounds.

Officer Barracks (1)

Another small zone, thankfully, but with quite a few fights.
There is a secret door right close to the start here:

Apart from that, chests here and there a campsite to the south and the exit to the northwest.
No ambushes here, but I'm still skeptical that the boss fight I just survived was the last of them...

Inner Keep (1)

Lots of archers here. Take cover when you can!
If you decide to not run from the fight, dont fight where they have advantage on you, retreat and fight safely. Remember that bowmen have 6 range. If you choose to fight the jailed bowmen, a bloodstone can be accessed. The secret room is northeast of the map, they practically tell you about it, you can rest there.

Groth's Lair (2)

Puppies! and Hey! Our favorite pastime, ambushes!
Retreat to the stairs or get skewered, make a flesh wall and shore up your defenses.
The bowmen will try and go around the bars to get to you instead of using them to their advantage.
If your hp or sp runs low, you can flee the fight by the stairs and heal up in the campsite.
After the fight, there is a waystation to the northeast in a room where you can heal and level up.
West of there, in a little room, there is a secret door.
The other secret is west of one of the 2 bloodstones.

Throne Room (1)

More annoying bowmen behind locked iron bars.
The secret room is on the last jail cell to the west, it will lead you to 2 moonstones and 2 chests.
When you enter the throne room fight, if you want to avoid getting surrounded, move back to the entrance. The Boss does lots of damage, get his AP as low as possible so he can only attack once.
After you win, you'll get:

Regicide
Dethroned the evil Baron Arhaive

Conquered Keep

If you enter the library to the west, you'll get 100XP.
There is a camp to the east, its like a town, click on the banners to use their services.
Sell your crap stuff, you can talk to the dude in a tent, if you ask him if there is anything else you can do to help, you'll get a sidequest and inmediately be transported to the Storerooms.

Storerooms (2)

You can exit the place using the stairs, then talk to the dude again to return, use this method if it gets too dangerous for you. There is a secret door and a bloodstone to the east from the stairs.
Bloodstone in the SE corner. Another secret room to the west in the NE corner room, be ready for a big fight in that one. If you cant seem to finish off the quest, in each corner, there is a red circle surrounded by crystal floors, try and click on them.

After you are done, talk to the d\ude then talk to the guys and agree to proceed.

End of Episode 1

Episode 2: The Gathering Shadow

Go east to Riven Field, you can go back to the Red Hill Keep to rest and shop if you want.

Riven Field

Talk to the mayor about the events in Red Hill then go into the town hall again to grab a quest.
In a house to the north of the hall, you can talk to a guy about another guy who left east.
Check the weapon shop if you need weapon upgrades. When ready, go east.

Lowland Crossroads

You can go a lot of places from here but I will do the sidequest I picked up in town first, so, southeast we go! Lots of beasties to fight so you dont get bored. Some chests here and there if you explore.
A moonstone in the spider lair to the north.

If you choose to go to Koda first, by going east instead of north, skip to the section: "Brunehorn and the Docks"

Trading Post

Moonstone to the NE of the post and a fight.
In the outpost you can rest at the Inn, south of the Inn, enter the house to talk to a guard for the sidequest we want, talking to him and accepting to go, will take you to a new area.

River's Edge

Lots of fights between small streams, fall back so they are forced to get cramped in the water where you can make best use of your tanks as walls and pick them off with your ranged.
Lots of enemies here, (The archers have a whooping 8 range!) took me more than an hour to clear the map and the big fight south is tricky!
After the big fight, there is more treasure to the east of that area.
If this area is too tough for you, you can come back later, no problem.
There is a moonstone on an island to the SW.

Brellim Pass

Back to the crossroads, go north to the pass.
There is a campfire close to the entrance to the east but its guarded by trolls, if you are hurt, it would be best to go back to town to heal first, trolls pack a hurtful punch!
Moonstone in the NW corner.

Vrenhaulm

You can click on the guardhouse to talk to the guards for extra info.
Enter the town hall to continue with the main questline, its the house with the blue banner.
In the shop, you can learn about some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that left for the lodge.
Yes, GYP-SIES is a censored word, thanks Steam!
Nothing else to do here, lets continue NE.

Brellim Peaks

More tolls from trolls!
There is a moonstone to the east of the broken bridge on the south side of the map.
A bloodstone in the northeast corner.
I'm heading south then east to Reis to pick up new armor first.
Be careful going north, there is a very nasty ambush, you can run here for safety.

Reis Lodge

A shop here sells new staves for your magic casters, check them out, also new armors to the NE.
You can also ask for your friend here.
Nothing else to do but begin the mission in the Peaks, head north from the last area into..

Glacial Wildlands

There are two exists here, I'll take the icy caves first, do vast caves, then lake, then boss fight.
There is a moonstone to the east of the entrance past some orcs.
Watch out for pit traps!
There is a campsite across the river north of the entrance.

Icy Caves

Orcs and hounds, the shamans curse you bad and then everything hurts more!
There is a moonstone NW if you follow the river on the east bank.
You can avoid most fighting if you go NE towards the exit.

Vast Cave

It is not that big, pfft!
If you come from Icy, head north to the exit.
If you come from the lake, also north then a bit west.
Moonstone in the NE guarded by two berserkers.
There is a campsite close to the Lake entrance/exit to the east, its guarded.

Frozen Lake

If you come from the wildlands, you can skip most battles by going west then a bit north to the exit.
There is a moonstone in the NW corner in the orc's base.
Lots of spike traps.

Orcin Stronghold

If you go west and try to cross the river, you'll get ambushed. The berserker has 4AP, make sure to kill him fast or curse him so he only has 1AP. Crossing the river and going south here will net you a moonstone.
A bloodstone near the big boss fight which is NE of the entrance.
For the big fight, you can fight near the bloodstone to prevent your squishies getting surrounded too badly or you can run north near the cell.
Take out the shaman or he'll curse you and the berserker heals orcs! Annoying.
Dont forget to pick up the extra gold by the red huts SW of the jail cell.
When you win:

Save the Son
Rescued Valent Koda from the Orcin clutches

Reis Lodge

You can go here from the stronghold exit, skipping the long way back.
Talk to people for more lore, you can go back to earlier towns for some more.
But what we want is to go east to talk to the big wig.

Waning Moon Pass

Surprise, surprise, more trolls on the road and my favorite enemies, spiders!
You can choose the north or the south path east.
North has spiders and trolls and the south path has... spiders and trolls! yay!

Braeyshaulm

Check out the shops, continue the story in the town hall.
I dont know how different the story would be if you would have gone to Brunehorn first, if its interesting and you know, leave a comment and I'll add it to the guide, hehe.
You can go back to Vrenhaulm to talk with the depressed? brother or explore the adjacent areas before going to the other faction.
I decided to go to Ironwood Ridge first knowing it would probably be a dead end, but hey, exploring!
Buff before going in, you'll be ambushed right away into the area.

Ironwood Ridge

Very small area with wolves, spiders and trolls.
There is a bloodstone on the east side of the map.
The outpost is to the southeast but there's nothing to do there right now.

Bone Pass

Due east from the entrance you can find a shop selling enchanted accesories, the hermit shop!
Talk to him about Wyatt.
Trolls, orcins, spiders and wolves.
Going south will lead you to an ice wall, you need an artifact to get through, remember this for later.
Let's go back.

You can ask for the relic to any of the two big wigs in either side of the conflict, but they want your alliegance to them for it, that is a decision you can make once you met both and are ready to decide who to side with.

The Siege

You can do a mission close to here that will affect the storyline and give you lots of reards, helping the city of Gholla or you can ignore it completely, hover the spoilers below to find out the consequence of your actions:
---------------------
The Siege of Gholla Outlook weakens Nikolai's ability to draw upon the power of his city, his father Baron Tazzer's and of Hagathrun, if he still lives. If the siege is still going on when you reach the City of the Dead, Nikolia is vulnerable and will die when he is forced to confront the Seer Lords to buy you the time to escape. If you have traveled to Gholla Outlook and broken the siege, then Nikolai can draw upon the power of his city and will survive.

Whether or not you decide to lay Hagathrun to rest does not impact Nikolai's connection to his city and the power he can draw from it.
Source:https://startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/15959/spare-hagathrun-spoilers?page=2
---------------------

Frozen Underoad

Going back to town then exiting northeast (go northwest to entrance then northeast) will take you here. Treat these next areas as DLC, its a nice side-mission. In any case, get ready to fight more orcins! hurray! There are new enemies here like the war hog and the war troll though, its something.

There is a campsite to the north of the first fight, if you need it.
There is a moonstone close to the NE corner and another in a orcin camp south from the 4th ledge.
Before going up the 6th ledge, heal at the campsite.

When you reach the top, dont rush in or you'll get surrounded and killed, find a spot with ranged cover and wait for them to come to you.


There is a narrow cave nook to the east, take cover behind the wall on the next turn.

Before going north, check your equipment, if you had trouble getting here, consider going back to earlier towns to get better equipment or enchanted gear, heck, go to the other towns if you want, once you get up there, there's no escape until you win.. somehow.

Be warned that after the siege, the maps from here to Vrenhaulm will be respawned of enemies and treasure, including bloodstones and moonstones, clear them out before proceeding so you can reap double rewards. (The 3 maps are: underoad, moon pass, peaks)

Gholla Outlook

New and better Spears, Bows and Shields at the smithy.
After talking with the Baron.. lol, I knew it! People who "fall to their death" have a 90% chance of surviving, haha. Buy SP potions if you need more, rest then Buff and when you are ready for the big fight, talk with the baron.

Gholla Gates

Let them come to you, use the narrow passage between the cave walls and the gate wall to the east for cover and to take them on little by little. It will be rare for enemies to come from behind, dont be too afraid of leaving the rear open.

Day 1.. yes, you read right, its gonna be a long, long series of fights.
The enemies will come in waves, so endure!
My tank died because I didnt notice my +HP&Armor buff expired, so I had to restart, keep track of your buff timers!
Once the last orcin dies and you get out of battle, go north back to town to get ready for the next day.

Day 2.. haha, gotcha, its the final day and the waves are gonna be harder but they are gonna be the last ones :)
Dont try going to the earlier nook, enemies will spawn there, go northeast up the stairs and behind the wall. Well, you can try the earlier position, might work. hm.
You gotta curse the boss's AP down to 1 or you'll have a bad time.. he had 1500+HP for me!
When you kill the boss, the fight ends, so if you want to milk all the XP you can get, finish him last.

When it dies: Achievement get!

---------------------------------------
Siege Breaker
Broken the Orcin siege of Gholla Outlook



Now you can go to the baron again and confront him about his true identity.
A choice needs to be made, read the spoiler if you want.
Regardless of your choice, you'll get 500XP.
---------------------

You have to choose between sparing or killing a god.
Most people spare him, they say Nikolai's life is linked to this decision but I spared him and Niko still lived, see the spoiler at the start of this section.
500xp
---------------------
Going back to Braeyshaulm's Town Hall to deliver the news will give you an extra 200XP and according to them, make them put extra defenses.

The Lodge and the Seductress

Vrenhaulm

Anyway, when you talk to the lady in the hall, she will give you a sidequest, let's do it.
The NW of town is now open.

Long Trail

Guess what enemies we will fight? If you guessed spiders and orcs, you win!
Moonstone on the NW corner pre-wolf lord.
Exit by going NE then west.

Snow Canyon

There is an ambush to the NW.. they are all amazed by their new fancy weapon a War Troll!
gosh.. Ive killed dozens by now, haha!
You can use the narrow passage to the east, a tank in each side and your squishys safely in the middle. I admit, its a long fight, mind your buff timers.

You can avoid tons and tons of battle by staying on the west side of the map and going north through the ambush. But well, why not challenge yourself and try to kill them all? Just um.. dont move too far at once or you'll trigger every group and it'll get bad. Take it slow and use the waystation when needed. Beware, this place has so many orckin, so many.. at least 50!

Staying on the west side will still make you fight but you will also find a moonstone on the way.
The east wall of the map has another moonstone around the middle too.

There is a campsite near the exit but you might want to go back to the waystation to level up.

Hunting Lodge

Well, well, I really didnt think this would happen.
Make a decision, you can check the spoilers ahead if you want:
------------------
There is a missable achievement here!

If you decide to kill him, you have a few opportunities to decide when to kill him, if you choose not to kill him 2 times then agree to kill him when asked the 3rd time you'll only fight half his forces but, of courses, its easier but less XP.

If you decide to let him go, you'll fight ANOTHER orcin horde. UGH!

I decided to let him go and in Episode 4 he shows up
Let me know what changes if you kill him down under the comments.

If you want the achievement you MUST slay him.

Slay the Son
Slain Vlotgar Braeys and assumed the burden of Braeys Family blood on your hands
------------------
No matter what you decide, you will be surrounded so get to cover quickly.
You can run to the little cave to the south.
Before you leave, CLICK on a wagon to the west side of the map for free gold!
Also get all the chests or they'll be gone.

After the cutscene back in town, you can go to Braeyshaulm and forge an alliance with the boss there or continue exploring the other side of the map to do the quests of the other faction.
Be mindful that if you choose this side, you will be locked out of the south side's content.

Let's get back to the Peace Mission by meeting the other faction, so east from the crossroads we go.

Brunehorn and Talia

Darkmoss Ironwood

Back to the crossroads, go east into the forest.
Moonstones in both SW and SE corners.
On the middle southside of the map, near a pond, you can pickup a blossom, it's a story item, dont forget to get it.

Darkmoss Wetlands

You can get extra XP from shrines, NE & SW corner, north of the east exit.
Moonstone to the east of the west entrance, you'll need to go around a bit.
OMG! Are those freaking ratkins? Its been like 12 hours since I've seen one!

Another blossom here, its close to the NE corner, grab it.

Brunehorn

Check out the lore at the Inn and at the keep (click on the red locked doors).
If you already saved the baron's son, you will get a reward there.
New Spears, hammers, throwing knives, robes and shields at the shops.
After registering at the Inn, you can go back into the keep and requets and audience and read some more lore about the story.

You could continue investigating the creepy fishy house to go down a rabbit hole and if you do, go ahead and skip to the next section.

Im going to head north first, clear the area then south to the docks.

Prospector's Path

Moonstone along the south side wall.
Bloodstones along west side wall and besides a caravan to the north.

Brunehorn Dockyards & Talia Village

Back to town and to the south.
Buff yourselves!
Enter the big house to go into a sidequest to the village in order to open a shortcut to RivenField.
The island village has almost no cover, be careful of the archers.
Well, fighting these kinds of enemies is a welcomed change, tired of stupid spiders everywhere, haha. If the fight seems hard, you can fall back and take cover behind the south wall of a burned down house up the road.

Clicking on the altar in the middle of the symbol on the floor will complete the quest and give you the achievement:

Village on the River
-->Cleansed the fallen River Village of Talia of the cult

There are some more enemies east of that fight defending a moonstone, if you want it.
Ok, done? Let's go back to town by going back to the dock where you came in, easy, eh?

Back in the docks, if you defeated the lizardmn at River's Edge you can hire a boat back to Riven Field for 100 gold.. but I rather walk and buy myself a SP potion instead, hahaha!

Time to go into that creepy house in Brunehorm.

Into the Spider's Lair

Get ready because the next quest will take some time, lots of fighting, new areas and secret rooms!

In Brunehorm, check out that suspicious house and go in.

Underhouse (2)

We missed them secret places, huh? (2) of them here.
Both of them are rooms with stairs down which you can find at both sides of the large room to the north. As you go north, you'll get ambushed, protect your squishies by going into the middle of the two pillars/altars with the golden idols. All the enemies are melee and squishy.

So, following the storyline as you try to go back to town, you'll get ambushed again, this feel like Red Hill all over again.. alright then. This second ambush will put you in a bad position but its best to move a bit south and kill the ones there quickly while leaving the off-tank to protect the few ones who will reach your rear in the first turns.

Explore and get all the chests from this area because once you go down, you wont be able to return here.

Rebuff if needed, as you get close to the stairs, another ambush but this time a few have ranged weapons. Anyway, after a cutscene, it's time to go down, both stairs lead to the same area.
Buff before going down because...

Underforge

Yeap! An ambush!
You will notice that the melee enemies have red swords or knives on them and the ones that attack from range have an empty hand.
Their ranged attacks also hit in a cross pattern, hitting multiple adjacent targets if possible AND they may curse you. These 8 tile long ranged attacks do both fire and earth damage.

Anyway, this area is full of ambushes, either by human or spiders, good luck! haha!
The stairs down are both on the southside but you have to go north from the entrance first then a bit east then south.

There is a bloodstone past the bridge and a bit west north of the entrance.
A moonstone to the north of the bloodstone.
Another bloodstone if you go east past the bridge then take another bridge south and southeast.

There is a campsite east then north but its heavily guarded, its best to just go back to the Inn in town.

Taking the SW stairs will take you to..

Construct Depths (1)

There is a bloodstone on the east side wall and a campsite west of the stone and to the north of it, a lever that opens the northwest doors.

There is a big fight in the center of the map when you go into the room (not cave walls), so dont gop in and fight from outside the room so you dont get surrounded.

New spiders are cool, yeah, this whole sub-zone is refreshing to fight in.
The Hosts are weak vs Holy Dmg.

Past the opened northwest doors, you'll find the next lever, a bloodstone and a moonstone.

On your way back there'll be another ambush, try to come from the west corridor to avoid the ranged enemies shooting from the south.

The new enemy wont be able to both summon and attack if you reduce its AP to 1.
The summons dont give XP or gold.

If you were wondering where the secret room was:
-----------

-----------
Im gonna backtrack and take the other stairs from above into...

Underforge Pits

Bridge ambush, typical. Push through to one side, the south force is faster to kill.
But dont go east just yet or you'll spawn more enemies.

On the east you'll find a locked door, its lever is close by NW of it, that way leads to the smith's horde. Close to the lever there is a bloodstone.

South through the other bridge is a really long cave, there must be like 16 fights or more here, on the SW corner there's a moonstone, this way goes to the great forges, a campsite and a bloodstone.

After level up, I got:


Leaders
Achieved Level 25 with all four heroes and recorded at an Inn or Way Station

Smith's Horde (9)

Too many hidden doors here but they are not hard to find.

• One is in front of the entrance.
  
• SE corner of room past the first locked celldoor to the south.
  
• Right to the right of the above locked celldoor.
  
• SE corner of 2nd southern jailcell.
  
• South wall of room to the right of the above mentioned door.
  
• Next in south wall left of the wooden door that's to the right of the room above.
  
• Inside the secret corridor mentioned above, east wall.
  
• On the east wall after passing the 2nd lever locked door, bloodstone here.
  
• On the east wall after passing the 3rd lever locked door, bloodstone and campsite here.

Through the wood door to the east and then going north you'll find the lever that unlocks the jail door to the north of the jail area.

Am ambush after pulling the 2nd lever, heal and buff before pulling.

I was suprised NOT getting ambushed at the 3rd lever, haha!

Im going to backtrack and go to the Great Forges.

Great Forges

Big, big map, Im starting to get tired of all the same fights, took me hours to clear this!
This map is worse than the pit!

There is an ambush between the two towers on the east side of the map (west, closer to the stairs to the pits), get buff before and run to kill the blue sapiders as quick as you can, getting surrounded is deadly, trust me, I died here to spiders, haha! I hate spiders!
A moonstone is in the cave system south of the towers, south of the lever.
A bloodstone is south from the stairs to the pits.

From the entrance to the depths(west side of map), a bloodstone is east along the south side of the map and a moonstone to the north but you'll have to go around the cave a bit.

Another bloostone NW from the locked rooms which are on the south side.
North of the same locked rooms there is a lever that opens a room with the stairs down to the Temple. The actual lever that opens those rooms is north of there.
Remember to gloom after pulling a lever, seriously..

Temple of the Arachnid (9)

If you come from hoard, you will spawn on the center north of the map, if coming from the forges, you'll be in the center south. This area isnt as big as others, thankfully.

This place is filled to the brim with traps, check your floors!
I didnt know battles could get even more annoying, I really need a break, haha!

Once you get pasty the first locked door, you'll be in the first crossroads.
To the west, there's a few levers you need to pull and secret doors.
If you go north then take the first west, youll find a bloodstone.
Another bloodstone south of the NE lever.
A final bloodstone behind the battles east of the secret door near the stairs down.

You need to find 3 levers to open the way NW and to the next area, 2 levers are on the West side and one of the NE side.

There is a waystation to level up behind a secret door SE of the stairs to the Horde, the door is between 2 cobwebs.

Secret Rooms:


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Once you go down the stairs here, you wont be able to return to return to ANY of these areas.

The Spider's Workshop

Boss fight, let's go!

You must destroy the 8 foci around the area, keep moving then strike him down!

There are 2 foci near him, when you destroy a foci, the person who strickes it gets all SP back and all members get their AP back, so its best to use all AP then hit the foci.

Even if you cant see them now, monsters are guarding the other foci and will spawn when you get near one.

The boss is slow to move and hits like a normal green spider, he spawns pests which are super fast.
Boss is weak to Holy and does high physical damage and sometimes fire.
If you keep the boss AP at 1 then he wont spawn pests, choosing to use the AP to get close to you instead.
You can damage the boss, but you wont be able to kill him until all foci is destroyed, you can leave him with around 100HP, destroy the last foci, loot everything, then kill him.

Make destroying blue spiders your priority, it gets bad if they summon too much.

Remember that stairs take 2 MP/AP to use and the pathfinding doesnt care much.

When you get to the center northernmost foci, an ambush will happen and you'll get all your AP back.

Grab everything except the chests in the middle (red and blue locked ones), after you kill the boss, you wont be able to access the rest of the area.

You'll also get:
The Perfect Form
Destroyed Vurnak the Smith and collapsed the Underforge

I looted counterclockwise while destroying foci and left the 2 throne foci till the end.
There is a moonstone east of the stairs, past a chest.
There is a bloodstone NW of the middle foci on the west side.

Brunehorn

Talk to people`and aqsk about the druid, a new quest will open at the docks to go seek them out.

The Druid, Granthorn and South Bone Pass

Finding the druid is part of the questline to ally with this southern faction.
In Brunehorn docks, let's get the boat to the druids!
BUFF before saying yes!
Once you decide to go, you wont be able to come back until the end.

Torrent Swamps

Guess what? There are traps in the water, hehe.
These guys have high parry/dodge, make sure you have high accuracy.
Once you pass the walls, you'll get a cutscene, more enemies and your AP will be restored, so use up your AP before moving one of your guys past the walls.
Yeah, they are a lot, this is kinda fun ngl.
The archers and skirmishers are the most dangerous, be mindful of their positions and take cover.
They can shoot through corners, careful.

If you go east from the ruins, well, what else but our favorite monster! spiders!
There is a moonstone west of the southern exit.

Darkmoss Heart

Oh God no! Stop with the spiders!
These new spiders have a ranged attack that hits in a cross.
2 Moonstones along the south side of the area, very close to where the druidess is.

There is a blossom in the center west, the 3rd one I've found so far.

Talk to the druid for some lore and if you ask her for help she'll give you 500xp and a staff, she is to the south. That's pretty much it, lets get back to town and then travel east.

Crag Peak

Moonstone on a peninsula close to the Sw of the entrance.
Moonstone in the SW corner of the map, SW of the fort.
They sell enchanted weapons at the fort.
Wow, havent seen these rats in a big while!
Bloodstone inside the enemy camp east of entrance (have to go south,east,northwest)

Sea Road (1)

Lots of wolves, sea wolves, get it? This is a loooong map.

Bloodstone on the east side behind the campsite, around the center east.
SW of the campfire, there will be two passages and in the west one, a secret door can be found.
SW of the secret room, a moonstone.
Another moonstone further south from the last one and a little south from that, a bloodstone.
Another bloodstone directly to the east of the last one, on the other side of the map.

Granthorn

Great armors for sale here.
Wyatt's home is here but it's closed, ask around but nothing else to do here, moving on.
His quest will start on episode 3, for now, it's enough knowing he lived here.

Bone Pass (South)

As it turns out, this side is way smaller.
Nothing much but a few fights and chests.

Well, we did everything before the big decision, so yeah.

It's time to decide which faction to join.

The Decision

I posted a question on the steam forums about missing achievements, Ill stop playing until someone helps me out.