The Baron and Baronet

The main quest is split into three parts, which are revealed when you ask certain characters about the "counter-curse", which goes a little something like this:

"Come a Hero from the East,

Free the Man from in the Beast,

Bring the Child from out the Band,

Drive the Curser from the Land."

Well, I've already arrived from the East, so I guess I should start on that second part. The biggest benefit of this particular quest is that it can be quite simple to complete, and can get you quite a lot of money too. I'll need all of that money (and more) for the vast amount of potions I'll be drinking, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

A little ways east of Erana's Peace (as mentioned in the previous post) lies a cave, protected by a rather angry and pink ogre. He attacks you on sight, and runs towards you, but is thankfully rather slow. Your options here are to fight (Fighter), cast Calm (Magic User) or... run past him I guess? (Thief). This isn't really a great chance for the Thief to shine, but once you get into the cave things get better.

My first attempt to kill him didn't go well, but I came back stronger!

Once you're past the Ogre (for the record, I killed him, and he was carrying a small amount of cash), you enter the cave. Inside, there's a large bear, which reacts angrily to your presence, but is chained to the floor. There's only really two options here, because you need to get past him (killing him is an option, but certainly not the right one!). Feed him or cast Calm, and he is far less likely to take a swing at you.

Sneaking here isn't the most useful tactic

Now I'm sure you must be thinking there has to be treasure in this room. I mean, after going through all this we better get some sort of reward. As it turns out, there's a kobold sleeping in the next and final room. Around his neck, a key! Everyone knows keys open treasure chests or other important things, so we're going to steal it. Your options here: Kill the kobold (Fighter, Magic User), Sneak up to him and steal the key (Thief). To boost  my skills a little, I decided to sneak up to him, steal the key, and then kill him. I guess I'm role-playing some sort of homicidal kleptomaniac. Also of note, a hidden chest! Searching will find it, or you can cast Detect Magic. A decent reward, but we're not done yet!

Sleeping or meditating?

If you ask around the castle about the Baron's son, Bernard, you'll get told a story about his horse returning without him one day. The horse's side was covered in claw marks, from a large animal. Given line two of the counter-curse, it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to deduce that Barnard has been turned into a bear! Using the kobold's key, you unlock the chains that bind him, and suddenly he transforms back into the annoying spoilt brat, Barnard von Spielburg.

Seriously, if it wasn't for the gold, you'd still be a bear.

The brat may be ungrateful, but a fabulous 50 Gold coin reward is worth the hassle. Not to mention being able to speak to the reclusive Baron, and have a free stay at the Castle. All in all, not bad for a day's work! (or rather, a few days, since it takes a little bit of grinding before you're quite ready to take on the Ogre and the Kobold!)

A grateful father