Malgor's Early Campaigns

Varga and the Timestream

You are still Malgor's prisoner when the castle shakes and a soldier reports an attack by the Warfury's forces. Naming Varga, goddess of war, as his sworn enemy, Malgor blames her for the fighting he claims to want to end. Her warriors breach the wall, and when one interrupts the guards ordered to carry you away, Varga calls you toward the opening.

Varga says her warriors can occupy the army only briefly, pointing you toward a portal inside the castle that leads to the rift above it. She describes herself as an inspiration to Lore's defenders and says she has known you since birth. Although she would welcome peace, she believes Malgor's version would demand obedience at the cost of freedom.

You clear a cave-in, find the hidden portal, break its barrier and defeat the guards while Varga's forces hold Malgor's army. When you ask why she cannot simply smite Malgor, she explains that she is spirit rather than flesh: she can inspire and empower champions, but cannot intervene directly in Lore's affairs.

Beyond the castle lies the Timestream, whose portals Varga says can reach other places, eras and timelines, though none yet leads home. You must make that path yourself, but your powers have been inaccessible since Drakath's defeat. Varga offers to awaken enough of your strength as the Eternal Dragon of Time to continue.

Following Varga's guidance, you gather spacetime energy and concentrate on a familiar, safe place near home to open a rift. Before you can leave, Shadow Knight Gar catches up, claiming that Malgor expected this route and that capturing you could earn him a promotion. You defeat him while Varga warns that more pursuers may follow.

Gar admits he will probably attack again if spared, but killing him will not end Malgor's pursuit, and you let him go with a refusal for his master. When Varga warns that you may regret the mercy, you agree but insist that you will not kill someone who has surrendered. She says that choice is why you are not her enemy, while cautioning how easily it could change.

Teja and Bloodbone

Seeking allies whose choices could alter the war, Varga directs you to Teja, Pirate Queen of the southern seas, whose own eye was transformed into a gemstone capable of petrifying people. The statues on her shore show what that power can do.

Teja already supports Malgor, crediting him with killing the Queen and replacing the crew she corrupted. You repeat his accusation that you killed her, but can only explain the missing event as something you may not yet have done. Dismissing the time-travel explanation, Teja petrifies you for Malgor, though with Varga's encouragement you break free.

Disguised among Teja's recruits, you find a way to reverse the petrification. Varga hopes restoring the old crew will weaken Teja's debt to Malgor, reasoning that the Queen's death should have ended their corruption. You prepare the reversal mixture.

The sailors emerge from stone still corrupted, forcing you to contain the creatures you released while Varga suspects that petrification preserved their condition. Teja is furious because she tore up the spellbook precisely to prevent herself from making this mistake, and you fight to avoid capture.

Then Ricky appears, explaining that Teja's spell caught him before the corruption took hold and preserved him while the others changed. She saved her first mate, he tells her.

Teja offers a favor rather than an alliance. If you leave before Malgor arrives, she will say you escaped. Her conversation with Bloodbone suggests she may still use your trust to hold you. Ricky challenges that loyalty. Malgor helped when her world fell apart, she says. Ricky asks what will stop him discarding her when she refuses an order.

Staying to investigate with Ricky, you find creatures of darkness concealed in chests and question the privateers, most of whom came from Teja's rivals, the Bilgewater Crew. The others survived the Queen's attacks, though why Bilgewater escaped that destruction remains unanswered.

Bloodbone catches you entering his quarters and seizes Ricky when he intervenes, prompting Teja to demand her first mate's release and call his captor replaceable. Bloodbone answers that she is the replaceable one, displaying her stolen gemstone eye. With the power Malgor wanted in hand, he says they no longer need its owner.

Teja treats the theft as war, and you fight the mutinous crew while bringing light into the keep to deny Bloodbone cover. When he still refuses to emerge, she orders the building set alight, forcing a confrontation but also blocking your retreat.

On the roof, Bloodbone reveals that Malgor wanted only Teja's eye. Cooperating with her had been easier than fighting her. You defeat him and recover the gemstone.

Teja wants to attack Malgor immediately, but when you and Varga point out that a handful of fighters needs an army, she agrees to join the one you are gathering. You leave before Malgor and Gar arrive.

Jinx and Future Battleon

At Yulgar's inn, you meet Miko and Victoria after their week and a half spent searching for you, then introduce Teja and try to explain Malgor's accusation about the Queen. Before you can make sense of it, Jinx steals Teja's eye and escapes through a portal.

You pursue Jinx into his pocket dimension, breaking his Portal Chakram on arrival and leaving him unable to leave his hoard until it is repaired. He wants you to do the dangerous work, and you agree in exchange for Teja's eye, pressing him until he admits that he stole it for Malgor.

After you repair the Portal Chakram, the Magpies steal it. You recover it, but Jinx pretends to retrieve Teja's eye and instead pushes you into a portal. You catch his leg and pull him through with you, landing deeper in the junk heap. Because the dimension is the chakram's home setting, it cannot simply take you out from inside. You and Jinx eventually find another rift.

The rift takes you to Battleon twenty years in the future, boarded up beneath a purple sky and overtaken by Malgor. Jinx barely recognizes the town he has just robbed. After freeing Niknak, a shadow-tainted Sneevil gathering supplies for a survivor, you follow him to Old Yulgar's refuge in the inn's attic. Yulgar says many townspeople are dead and others have disappeared, and when you promise to help, Jinx joins the offer, recognizing a future he does not want his work for Malgor to create.

You bring the refuge food, water and materials for its camouflage, then defeat the Shadowflame Bruiser threatening it, but the corrupted trainers Metrea, Arcana and Juvania follow you back. The refuge you were trying to protect is exposed, and they present Yulgar with an orb of Shadowflame that changes his reflection into a red-eyed silhouette.

With Niknak begging you not to hurt him, you fight Yulgar to protect the others, then plead with him to resist. He says he cannot and vanishes in black flame. The trainers have escaped.

Niknak asks you to stay, and although you want to protect him, you believe you must return to prevent this future. Jinx offers his pocket dimension as shelter and returns Teja's eye without demanding another bargain. Recognizing that a thief who can reach guarded places is exactly what the alliance needs, you ask him to help against Malgor, and he agrees, showing you a platform linked to the rift above the castle.

The Attack on Arcangrove

In the present, Malgor sends Dragonlords against Arcangrove while ordering Gar to keep watching you. The Tower of Magic's library holds knowledge of the ley lines, and corrupting those channels would give him a hold on the world's Mana.

The attack comes while Warlic is away, overwhelming Rayst's barrier and leaving the mages captive. Paddylump escapes by hiding and now wants to help as you arrive with Warlic and Galanoth's DragonSlayers to recover the tower before its secrets can be used.

You push back the Dragonlords while Warlic extinguishes the fire and breaks the tower's wards. After overcoming the Shadow-mutated dragons, you reach the observatory with Warlic and Galanoth. The captives are still alive.

When Rayst refuses the Titan Dragonlord's demand for cooperation, the invader orders the mages executed. Reens calls it a bluff because he needs them, but he answers that the library can supply their secrets instead, leaving you to interrupt before the order is carried out.

You defeat the Titan Dragonlord, and Galanoth strikes him down as he boasts that Malgor can replace him. With the remaining enemies abandoning the fight, Warlic and Galanoth stay to protect the ley lines while Paddylump finally charges in to save everyone. His friends welcome him and promise more chances to help.

Mahou and the Ghost Nexus

Yokai is still mourning its wars when Shimazu, an onryo reawakened by Malgor, occupies its graveyard. Once one of Jaaku's men, he now directs his anger against Miko's people, keeping mourners from their dead and Miko from her father's grave.

You restore the graves and their offerings, then summon and defeat Shimazu. His remaining spirits still need to be driven off before the mourners can return.

Malgor is also moving toward Yokai's Spirit Roads and their shifting nexus. Miko sends you to Mahou, the wizard who serves as liaison to its ancestral keepers. Varga warns that he could become one of Malgor's strongest allies. You hope to reach him first.

Mahou accepts your gift but asks you to leave, observing that his tea has better manners than his guests. He initially trusts the guardians to protect the nexus. After you persist, help him and prove you can survive Osanshouo, he agrees to guide you.

Mahou attunes his lantern to three Spirit Roads and locates their current intersection. Grandmother Hasu leads the guardians there, but cuts short his attempt to speak: she asks whether he thought she could be fooled.

When Hasu declares that the danger is already present and attacks, Mahou urges you to fight her, believing strength may persuade the guardians to listen. Afterward, she tells you to look behind you, where Malgor's soldiers are standing with your guide.

Mahou has already chosen Malgor, convinced by years of war and loss that ending the cycle is worth the betrayal. Hasu refuses to let him destroy the world and draws both of you into the Ghost Nexus, while Miko and Varga remain to protect the mortal side as you follow.

Hasu keeps part of Mahou's soul safe while showing you the memories behind his choice, beginning with Akio, a child who loses his parents during a Chaos attack and is taken in by his aunt and uncle. You help them reach safety, a rescue he remembers as he grows up wanting to protect others as you protected him.

In a later memory, adult Akio fights beside you against an Infernal invasion, having trained to protect the family who raised him. The Nether Warlock strikes him with green fire, and his uncle cries out. The man holding Akio's body is Mahou.

Hasu reveals that she and Mahou hoped to give their orphaned nephew a peaceful life, but Akio was not his only loss: his wife also died during the war with Jaaku. Mahou no longer believes the losses will end.

You accompany Mahou as he faces his grief, rage and anguish, and although the pain remains, he finds some hope again. He says his lantern showed him Malgor as a hero broken by war, reflecting his own despair, and he wants to try reaching him. If that fails, he will help stop him, while Hasu expects him to repair the harm he caused.

The Song of Fate

After failing to seize Yokai's nexus, Malgor sends Oh'Garr against Mythsong in search of the Song of Fate. The invasion overwhelms the city's musicians, and Dorian Mode calls for your help.

Dorian says the lost composition can change reality. You defend the city and seek clues to its location while keeping the bards supplied and preventing the invaders from taking Mythsong's energy.

Oh'Garr captures Mozzy, who refuses to talk and immediately reveals that the Song is at Lorestockapalooza. As the warband leaves to find it, Dorian asks why Mozzy never told him. Mozzy replies that he never asked.

After strengthening Mythsong's resistance, you pursue the invaders to the festival grounds, where Oh'Garr already has the scroll and has begun performing it. You stop him before he finishes and take the Song.

You, Dorian and Mozzy perform it together, wishing the scroll out of existence. You admit that you first tried to wish Malgor away, without success. Mozzy guesses you did not truly want it. You wonder whether you resisted killing an absent enemy unable to fight back. You promise not to waver when another chance comes.