Morteau

"Morteau" is a scenario from The Altaz Mariners, being one of the campaign's optional island to visit. The island contains dueling factions led by Dr. Morteau and his henchmen on the east and Sayer and his fellow experimented creatures on the west. The scenario has four possible states, depending on the player's choices.

Characters

Player's sides

• Largo
• Hugo
• Any previously recruited units and followers

Dr. Morteau's side

• Dr. Morteau
• Morteau's helpers

Sayer's side

• Sayer
• Nameless creatures

Storyline

Largo and Hugo land on a creepy island inhabitated by Dr. Morteau and his helpers on the east part of the island and Morteau's failed experiments led by Sayer on the west. Both Sayer and Morteau seek help from the brothers to destroy each other.

Plot branch : The mariners help Morteau
Largo and Hugo set up camp near their ship and help Morteau destroy Sayer and the other walking corpses. The brothers are rewarded with 100 gold and can visit Morteau again for services.
Plot branch : The mariners help Sayer
Largo and Hugo set up camp near their ship and help Sayer kill Morteau and his helpers. The brothers can visit the island again and, if they have a bomb, they can blow up Morteau's house of pain and offer Sayer to come with them.

Gameplay

The map mostly consists of forests with dirt paths connecting the west and the east area of the island. There is an encampment in the west and a castle in the east. Before and during the battle, the whole map is shrouded, but most of the shroud (excluding the one hiding the inside of the house of pain) are removed after the battle.

The pre-battle and battle states of the island is labeled orange in the world map, indicating a decent-sized battle. The post-battle state is labeled green, with losing the scenario being almost impossible.

Pre-battle

Largo and Hugo start in the center-south shore of the island and have the non-exclusive options to go west and talk with Sayer and go east and talk with Dr. Morteau. The dialogue encourages the player to do both. On the east, the player can ask Dr. Morteau's goal and hear his offer to give the player 100 gold in exchange for them destroying Sayer and his other experiments. On the west, the player can ask what Sayer and his friends are and suggest revenge on Morteau. Either way, the scenario ends when the player choose the option to help either Morteau or Sayer.

Battle

Largo and Hugo start in the center-south shore of the island where an encampment for recalling has been made available. There is no recruit option for the battle, and the player is limited to the gold and recall they already have. Morteau and Sayer would begin recruiting from their respective keep, with Morteau recruiting bandits and dark adepts while Sayer recruits ghouls and walking corpses. The allied side always have significantly less gold than the enemy side.

The scenario has no turn limit and is won by killing the enemy leader (either Morteau or Sayer, depending on whom the player sides against). Death of the ally leader is a loss condition.

Post-battle

Sayer

Largo and Hugo start in the center-south shore of the island where an encampment has been made available. The player can recruit walking corpses there and the other two keeps. Sayer now stands near the player's encampment and can be talked to for a quest with the following progression:

1. Talking to Sayer, gives the player the key to Morteau's lab.
2. Moving to the lab's door while having the key in the inventory automatically opens the door.
3. Talking to Sayer after opening the door prompts the player to destroy the lab.
4. Destroying the lab using a dwarven bomb fulfills the above prompt.
5. When the player leaves after destroying the lab, Sayer joins the player's side as a follower, ending the quest.

Morteau's lab contains a hostile Necrophage, a device that can afflict the unit that steps on it with Morteau's curse, and a map revealing the location of "Temple of Ice" if it hasn't been discovered yet.

If the player visits the island against after the above quest is complete, there is nothing more to be done besides taking the Temple of Ice map for players who hasn't discovered the island.