Part 4

Excellent, we have at least ONE astute student.

Trainee Jostiband is quite correct to pick up on my deliberate mistake, the skeleton is not unique in his method of entrance into your grasp, but his nature, and his method of entry marks him as unique. Every undead minion in your domain cannot be recruited, except through the death of another. The humble skeleton is recruited through a death of despair, the terrifying ghost is created through the death of someone under extreme torture. The final creature of the undead is far more insidious, he is summoned through the rot of many corpses in your graveyard, but as we encounter these creatures, we shall discuss their strengths and weaknesses in greater detail.

I would normally apologise for the delay in my return, but we have been somewhat busy of late with preparations for further war, and this, thus, delayed my return, but we shall continue from where we left off yesterday.

Flowerhat

Polite bartering has lead to extreme compassion and a sense of contentment in this area. Not even a thick skinned troll could survive the understanding and help these scummy people could provide.




Unlike the previous campaigns, whilst not battle hardened veterans, the heroes of this backwater fortress stood ready to face us, and had prepared a force to stand against us.

But they where unaware of the boon they had indirectly granted us by walling themselves in away from us.



In an earlier campaign I stressed the importance of gold, comparing it to your dungeons lifeblood, and if that statement is true, then I assume that the wealth before you, is the heart of the lifeblood. Gems are an unceasing flow of wealth from those walls, to your coffers, they provide unlimited gold and any campaign with them is instantly made easier for lack of a worry regarding the golden stuff.

And so, with haste, we set forth to building quickly a base, and with our speed and growing prowess at dungeon construction, the dark gods gave forth another gift.







They gifted us with the workshop, a fantastic place, where traps, and doors are manufactured, these will allow you to fittingly ward your dungeon with enough neccesary items to make even the strongest Knight dread entering your dark domain.

With the construction of the workshop, it allowed us to lure forth trolls to our domain.



Trolls are creatures of the soil, they love to build, they love to construct, but they do not love to fight, unlike the constantly warring tribes of Orcs. Trolls love nothing more than to construct. In a battle, they are creatures of defense, and most of their abilities reflect this, allowing them to haste away to another location, and back to strike, and away before any blows can be dealt to them, but they are not strong, and rely on these hit and run tactics to survive.





With a dungeon properly constructed, and a vast fortress at our command, we leisurely set forth north to persuade the heroes of Firemore to fall to our blades and hammers. At the same time as we set north, our Warlocks made two crucial discoveries. First, they discovered the call to arms spell, for a variable amount of gold per second, when placed on enemy land, any of your minions hearing its call are drawn to it, best used when amassing your units for battle.



The second discovery came out just the right moment. The heroes of the land, seeing our amassed troops did the only thing they could think of. They placed their strongest archers at the entrance to their base, and destroyed their bridge..



Which would have worked, where it not for our forethough in the construction of our own bridges.











The warriors of this area where not pushovers, having their forces been bolstered by their barbarian kin to the north. Barbarians are brutes, strong, hardy and with age, able to toughen their skin to take on the properties of iron, they wield massive battlehammers, and sport a somewhat trendy mohawk. They hold a particular love of smashing Demon Spawn into the ground, as the northlands of Skybird Trill are the domains of both the Barbarians, and the Dragons.



We lost few units as we cleared out the remnants of the base, and in the basement of the building we discovered several Magical artifacts.



Three in fact. Amongst them, we discovered two trinkets that would increase the age and skill of our minions by one year. And the second discovery was a magical trinket which would capture the mind of a weak willed hero, and fill his mind with an unsatiable desire to join us.

And it did.



It caught the attention of a squire, one who was sick of the lord of the land. He informed us of the Lords plan, he had destroyed a foolish keeper here once, and had gathered a tough party of adventurers around him, consisting of Dwarves, Barbarians, Squires, and Archers. The lord himself, was no pushover either, having single handedly bested a keeper, and then rushed on to finish the job by destroying his dungeon heart.

Weakling.



When heroes join your cause, through whatever method, they all share one same habitat, what looks to be a six candled ward of protection. It usually doesn't last.



When we used our other two artifacts, we discovered that with enough training (level 3) imps learn how to haste themselves, thus dramatically increasing their productivity. Indeed, they become little more than a blur. Good thing too, as it becomes incredibly difficult to slap them when this happens.

(Note: Unlike dungeon keeper 2, imps dont 'train as they go', they actually need to spend time in the training room to gain levels, unlike imps from number 2, who gain levels the longer they live.)



With our forces ready, we gathered at the entrance to the warrior of lights fortress heart, the squire, Anomen, amongst those first in the front of the waiting tide.



Anomens information proved true, and his remarks on the prowess of the party also rang true, they where indeed strong, taking down several trolls in the assault, but the sheer number of creatures weighed them down, and eventually, the cuts came slower, the parries a little lopsided, as one by one, the defenders of Flowerhat fell to the hammer.





Until finally, only one stood. And take his toll he did, taking down two trolls, both of whom had survived every fight thus far.





And thus he fell, and so the tides of darkness swept upon his fortress, putting it to the torch, forever.






We where almost ready to head forth to our new domain, when we heard a curious skittering behind the gold rocks of the human fortress.



Behind it where two boons of great import. First, we found three spiders, hungry for the blood of the righteous, after a little discernation, we discovered they had been minions of the previous keeper whom had been banished to the lava by the previous lord, and we discovered something of far greater value.



We now had the means to transport a single creature with us, when we continued to the next campaign.





Firemore

There's a burning mess where once a pretty village stood. truely you've achieved a significant improvement in the area, even the poisonous smoke smells sweet.

Before we head off into our next history lesson, I shall discuss the role of the spider quicky.



The spider is a strong beast, capable of destroying its enemies in mere seconds with the strength of its venom. Spiders loathe Flies with all of their being, and will actively seek out any Flies, even your own to destroy. They like long walks next to lava, and freezing prisoners in your cells for fun.

Our next campaign children, marked a turning point, for we wheren't facing off against Heroes anymore.

We where facing a fellow keeper, for the first time.

One final thing children, as a reward for Keeper Jostibands keen observations, I have before you a relic, painted by a human, of an Orc. Orcs are powerful creatures whom you shall learn about in the near future. In the meantime, gaze upon it, for there are no others like this in the world..