Lord Stephan Gunderic is a boss in Dungeon Siege III. Once one of the commanders of the Legion, now a fearsome leader of the undead, entrenched in his ancestral home.
Background[]
Lord Stefan is the 21st[1] holder of the title in genus. Very little is known about him: before the fall of the legion, he was one of its commanders and was considered not only an excellent warrior, but also a skilled magician. Due to the proximity of his ancestral lands, he was well acquainted with Hugh Montbarron (in letter Hugh calls Stefan "my dear friend" and "brother"[2], however, from the comments of some characters it can be inferred that there was some mistrust between the two families - perhaps due to the secretive introverted disposition inherent in to all representatives of the Gunderic family[3]). At one time, the two of them sealed Heroes' Crypt[2] with their family rings.
It is known that Lord Stefan took the death of his wife, Isabella, very hard - so much so that his students already talked about the fact that Lord Gunderic had gone mad. With an effort of will, he forced himself to wall up his wife's sarcophagus in the wall of the mausoleum, and even destroyed the passage leading there.
However, it soon became clear that his daughter, Alice was also suffering from the illness that had brought his wife to the grave. This finally knocked Stefan down. He began to look for ways to heal his daughter, and in one of the books he found a mention of an artifact called the Heart of the Nagog, a huge gem that grants the owner power over life and death. The stone was kept in the First Nation settlement in the Eastern Marsh, and Stefan, having gathered a detachment of people loyal to him, went after it. This campaign cost him the lives of the entire detachment, but Lord Gunderic still managed to get the stone - however, it turned out that the "Heart" does not work at all as he expected. Instead of healing Alice, the stone bound her soul to the material world, preventing her restless ghost from returning to the River of Souls. Moreover, the curse affected both Stefan himself and all his remaining servants and students, turning them into undead[4]. After that, Lord Stefan locked himself in the estate, and since then his possessions have been considered cursed.
Dungeon Siege III[]
In 1294, a Lescanzi witch named Leona asks the descendants of the Legion to liberate the Gunderic estate for her from Lord Stefan and his henchmen. To do this, they will have to fight with Lord Gunderic himself in his personal office next to the inner sanctuary of the estate.
Regardless of the choice of lines in the dialogue, Lord Stefan will attack the character and companion and try to kill them. Lord Gunderic, despite being somewhat slow and comparatively clumsy, is quite a dangerous opponent - his attacks are strong enough to kill a character with one blow. Not only attacks with his sword are dangerous, but also blows to the area. Also, Lord Gunderic is able to summon squads of minions to help him (skeleton archers and skeleton fighters. Does not call skeleton magicians).
Gallery[]
Notes[]
- Lord Stefan is definitely taller than a human. Perhaps because he became undead.
- Castenbrust, similar to Lord Gunderic's armor, is also available to Lucas (this type of armor will start to come across either in the Spire or from the very beginning of "Treasures of The Sun".