"The Dread Legion used to be the Imperial Guard of the old Baccus Empire, before their souls were consumed by the Snake Goddess prior to the collapse of the Empire... and now the snake priestesses are talking of the arrival of the Dread Legion, the unstoppable army of the Snake Cult's unholy mother." – Empire citizens
The Dread Legion, led by Maltise, is not your average Snake Cult army. The typical weaker Snake Cult units are not present here; in addition to scores of Serpent Priestesses and Anaconda Knights, Maltise brings zombies to the field, likely corrupted and devoured by snakes. It is rumored that the Dread Legion is actually the elite Third Legion sent by the Baccus Empire to stop the Snake Cult but was never heard from again.
The Dread Legion can be considered one of, if not the strongest army you will face in Pendor. Unlike other armies which primarily consists of a handful of high tier units supplemented by hordes of low tier minions, the Dread Legion suffers from no such deficiencies; each and every unit is highly capable and compares favorably against its opponents. Even the unarmored Devoured can prove a bother due to their high strength and hit point count.
In addition to its quality is its vast numbers; the legion is larger than its fellow normal Snake Cult Armies, and unless dealt with quickly and swiftly, it can easily snowball into a doom-stack, further bring its numerical and qualitative superiority to further heights. To fight this army, you need a large and extremely elite party of your own, or you need to be a marshal and have the backing of a faction's combined vassals.
Maltise can be captured. She can be ransomed for a Qualis Gem, 100,000 denars, the secrets to making several pieces of armor (Supreme Asp Armor, Snake Priestess Armor, Dread Legion Armor and Anaconda Knight Armor) or if told to leave Pendor forever, she will give you her armor (Supreme Asp Armor).
Ingame picture representing Maltise
The Dread Legion ranges between 401-1201 soldiers, and consists of the following:
- Maltise
- 50 Asp Vanguard
- 100-200 Serpent Priestesses
- 100-400 Anaconda Knights
- 100-400 Dread Legion Infantry
- 100-200 Devoured
3.8.4 Maltise in the battlefield
Small patrols will spawn near her periodically consisting of:
- 2-6 Serpent Priestesses
- 8-20 Anaconda Knight
- 3-15 Dread Legion Infantry
Maltise will keep on spawning in Pendor no matter which option is chosen unless the Snake Cult is destroyed or obliterated.
Note: Since 3.9.0:
- One of the options will no longer give the player 100,000 denars, but a large pouch of Diamonds.
- Selecting to kill her or forcing her to leave Pendor will no longer make her respawn later on.
- 50 Asp Vanguard were added to this spawn.
- The numbers of Dread Legion Infantry were raised to 200-400.
- She received a new top tier armor set, the Supreme Asp Set, her shield was changed from Ancient Engraved Shield to Asp Shield.
- Exchanging her freedom for special items was changed, now she will handle the player: Supreme Asp Armor, Supreme Asp Helm, Asp Greaves, Asp Gauntlets and Asp Shield
- Exchanging her freedom for special Custom Knighthood Order Unlockable Equipment will now unlock:
- Asp Armor
- Asp Helm
- Asp Gauntlets
- Asp Greaves
- Asp Shield
- Dread Armor
- Dread Helm
- Maltise proficiencies heavily raised from 350 to 600, however her Strength was drastically reduced from 138 to 70, leaving her with 128 hp rather than 193. Her offensive equipment was improved and Old Empire Light Pilum replaced by the new Asp Throwing Axes
- Changed from "sometimes have thrown weapon" to "always have thrown weapon"
- Gloves and shield are now secured (before only sometimes she will spawn with these)
- Her army is now the strongest of Pendor autocalc-wise and one of the strongest in real battle.