In the third episode, you travel to the exotic, African setting of Tarna, the homeland of the liontaur Paladin Rakeesh and the Simbani warrior-woman Uhura. From the magnificient, Liontaur city of Tarna to the wide, open savannah grasslands and deep, mysterious, tropical jungles, Wages of War features beautiful hand painted, detailed locales and visually delightful scenery.

Trial By Fire ended with the defeat of Ad Avis at your hands and Sultan Haroun Al-Rashid's proclaimation of you as his adopted son and the prince of Shapeir. However the body of Ad Avis was never recovered upon his fall from the palace tower in Rasier and his death is still shrouded in mystery.

Two months after Ad Avis' death, the enchantress Aziza receives urgent summons for Rakeesh to return to Tarna, from his wife Kreesha, who is member of the Tarnan council. There is talk of war between two tribes of Eastern Fricana; and Kreesha fears the involvement of demons seeking to avenge their banishment of several years ago. She suspects that the release of dark magic, caused by the death of Ad Avis, allowed the demons to break through from their dimension into Gloriana. Since this was partly a result of your actions, you decide to accompany Rakeesh and Uhura as they return to their homeland in an effort to prevent war.

You are on a mission of peace. Your goal is to try and stop the impending war between the nomadic, cattle-herding Simbani people and the mysterious, magic using, shape-changing Leopardmen. You must make allies on both sides, win their trust, and find out the root cause of the enimity in order to stop the war. You must look beyond the obvious reasons to find out who is manipulating everyone to suit their needs and how the demons are involved. If you don't act fast enough, all of Tarna will soon be at war, the consequences of which are far greater than its eventual destruction.

Along the way you'll learn the meaning of honor and what it means to be a paladin. You will get a chance to improve all your skills and abilities, as well as learn new things like spear-throwing, ritual magic and acrobatics. Your character will be judged at the Temple of Sekhmet, you will undergo the rite of Initiation to become a Simbani warrior, and you will enagage in a magical duel against the Leopardman Shaman. There's some flirtation and romance too, as well as some funny encounters in the savannah, to balance with the seriousness of the game.

You'll meet a variety of interesting characters from various races - humans, Liontaurs, Simbani, Leopardmen and even tree-dwelling monkeys. These include Salim Nafs, the hippie apothecary keeper; Janna, the Welcome woman; Rajah, the Liontaur ruler; Yesufu the young Simbani warrior; the leopardwoman Johari; Arne Saknoosen the aadvark, and Manu, the arboreal monkey. You'll travel to the Pool of Peace in the savanna, climb the tallest tree in the world, and discover a lost sister-city of Tarna.

The culmination of this adventure is a suspenseful, ominous, cliff-hanger ending that leads into the next game, Quest for Glory 4: Shadows of Darkness.

Quest for Glory 3: Wages of War was released in fall 1992, about the same time as the QFG1 remake. It used hand-painted VGA graphics, live actor modeled characters, and Sierra's new trademark mouse interface. The interface was enhanced to handle complex conversation trees (that changed based on situation and relevance), spell casting, buying and bargaining, as well as actions special to Quest for Glory (Run, Sneak, Rest). The Hand cursor was used to perform most other tasks.

Originally, the Coles had planned the games as a four part series, and Shadows of Darkness was intended to continue where Quest for Glory 2: Trial By Fire left off. However, they felt that the hero had not matured enough for the gothic, Transylvanian setting of Shadows of Darkness. Coupled with the slowdown in QFG sales (due to Coles having taken a break to do educational games) as well the suggestion of a friend to explore the African setting, the Coles decide to insert a new chapter. Thus, Wages of War was born.