Part 24

Update 24 

Last time I wandered around in a swamp and either recruited or killed a lot of Gargoyles along the way.

Day 40

Game logic tells me that the best route is usually not the direct route, so we follow this fork with Kilburn.


A sulfur mine, how nice.


Meanwhile Kelzen continues finding nothing of value.

Day 41

Remember, you’re here forever.

Day 42

Go get those Gargoyles and ignore the useless resources Kilburn.


Guess how this goes.


Same as all the others, at least Kilburn is learning new things. He gained another level and a +1 for his defense.


I think I’ll have Kelzen fight those hydras for entertainment.

Day 43

Entertainment and levels or speed to finish this slog through the swamp as soon as possible. Decisions decisions.

Day 44

He was just short some experience for the next level, so I figured I’d have him fight the hydras to get it.


Kelzens high attack skill is starting to show, the archers are easily killing all the hydras.


Just what he needed. This gets him a +1 to attack. He now has 5 attack, 5 defense, 1 spellpower and 6 knowledge. Very nice.


And he’s back on the road after this short intermission.


This is confusing. It looks like I need to go down to enter the lava fields, but there are Gargoyles to my left. The opening blurb mentioned that gargoyles are guarding the true path.


Wrong choice. I should've followed my own advice.

Day 45

Kilburn saw some enemies running around the gazebo.


I should’ve followed the game mapping logic and attacked the gargoyles. It’s a dead end with ghosts.

Day 46

Let’s go visit the demon, we're pretty strong.


What the hell determines success here? Kelzen is stronger than Kilburn. Meh, I have 52.000 gold pieces, I’m not crying over 2.500. But for future reference I looked it up and apparently it’s random.
There is a 30% chance or dieing/paying, a 30% chance of 1.000 experience and 30% chance of getting 2.500 and 1.000 experience and 10% chance of getting an artifact with experience. I was really lucky with Kilburn.

Day 47

Look, enemies really do exist!


More unwilling joiners.


I’m not screenshotting these simple fights. Every fight against a gargoyle stack is the exact same three steps.


We must be getting closer as Kelzen hits the edge of the map.


Time to test your luck Kilburn.


Lord Kilburn is just plain awesome.

Day 48

Kelzen finally found gargoyles! He’s going to fight them and follow that trail. He must be getting close.

Day 49

I lost a single archer already, but everything from here is just clean up.


The swordsmen are happy to finally move again.


Really happy as they finish the fight in the same turn it started.


Why do I see gargoyle feet at the top of the map? Please don’t be a dead end. Or worse, is that going to be the road that Kilburn is following?


Third time is the charm Kilburn.

Day 50

Attack +1 for him.


He can almost taste the warlocks.

Day 51

This doesn’t bode well for Kilburn’s chances of joining the fight in a timely manner.

Day 52

Yep, he gets to fight the hidden gargoyles.


Oh, hi! I almost didn't see you there.


You look like fun.

Day 53

We'll start the day off with Kilburn taking on some more gargoyles. I haven't seen enough of these guys yet. Fortunately something new happens. I don’t know exactly what happened though. My gargoyles flew to the wrong position for reasons unknown. I know clicked in front of the centaurs.


This cost me 4 whole centaurs.


Technically I could probably completely ignore the guy and just take all their castles…but where’s the fun in that?


I’ll cast slow on the minotaurs and the cavalry get to attack the griffins. I’m not casting slow on the gargoyles as I expect that they will fly over regardless and I can’t defend my archers anyway. If the minotaurs are slow they shouldn’t be able to reach my cavalry so they would be kept out of the fight for this round at least.


The lesson here is that I need to use anti magic a lot as my paladins were blinded.


The enemy is very lucky.


Since the gargoyles already retaliated the archers get to help out by stabbing. The griffins unblinded and subsequently died to my paladins. Unfortunately on their turn they blind my paladins again. I think I’ll cast slow on the minotaurs again so my cavalry can help kill the gargoyles. We’ll gang up on the minotaurs afterwards.


This is annoying. I cast protection on the cavalry to free them and the pikemen kill the last gargoyle.


I made the right call.


The cavalry were not amused by the minotaurs and wipe them out in a single stab.


Victory is mine! We did lose quite a few units, I should replenish them with Warlock units since bringing units here is going to take forever. Artifacts for me! A giant flail of dominion for more attack, an endless sack of gold for more gold and two levels adding a plus to both offense and defense.

Day 54

Two shrines and a fairy ring. I can’t wait to get out of this stupid swamp.

Day 55

The first shrine contained teleport, very nice except that I don’t have slow units. It will probably work nicely when I lay siege. The second had dispel, I’m certain that will come in handy. And look over there a nice castle, ripe for the taking.

Day 56

Why is this castle called Alamar? This can’t be their primary castle.


A quick buying spree involving thieves guilds show me what’s in store when I attack.


That looks pretty bad. I think I’ll cast teleport on the paladins. They can cut down everyone inside.


32 to beam up Scotty Bones Spock Kirk?


Time to get to work.


This is going well. The paladins killed the griffins, the pikemen killed the archers and their centaurs decided to sit this one out. No really, they just skipped a turn. You don't see the AI doing that very often.


And that’s 104 centaurs less to worry about. I did just lose 2 paladins to the Hydras.


I blessed the paladins and they subsequently left a hydra shaped hole in the world.


But they figured that was just the warm up.


My first enemy castle. I’m pretty happy about the losses. Kelzen gained 3 (!) levels and that’s + 3 attack (!) for him.


Keeping this castle should be easy at least.

Day 57

They’re taunting me! Kelzen hangs out for a bit so that Kilburn can arrive to fortify our position.

Day 58

I’ll be so happy to leave the swamp a second time.

Day 59

That’s a nice army isn’t it?

Day 60

Suddenly enemies from everywhere! The top one has several dragons, let’s have ourselves a dragon face off.


Kilburn can also reach him, so Kelzen can go get the other one.


That’s pretty brave, I wonder if he knows Armageddon. Or maybe Kastore isn´t brave and is just attempting to get defeated so he can join the winning team.


Almost one down.


The gargoyles killed one dragon, the dragons immediately flew over and killed 42 centaurs.


That actually only killed 1 dragon. Disappointing.


Time to gang up. The enemy dragon was displeased by this turn of events. Fortunately, Kilburn’s defense meant that they only killed 4 gargoyles when they retaliated.


He´s going to attack! I can imagine this looks impressive, but I don’t think my dragons will be amused.


See what I mean? Artifacts! More boots for Kilburn, also a sword of dominion (+3 attack), a rabbits foot and a level of spell power. Kelzens turn!


Hi Wrathmont! A quick anti magic on the Paladins and the Cavalry attack the Griffins.


I was sort of hoping he would roast the Hydras as well.


Meanwhile the swordsmen and the pikemen take care of the griffins.


The hydras attack and kill 5 cavalry. I’m going to have them fall back and cast anti magic on the paladins again.


Go guys!


They managed to just kill a dragon which in turn meant that we left one alive, Wrathmont is going to run.


I was right. Still good experience and a +1 defense for Kelzen.

Day 61

Sandro comes to have a look as well. So Kilburn ducks into the castle to get a few extra bodies and he attacks.


That’s a lot of units. I can guard my archers with the gargoyles, so I’ll cast curse on their centaurs neutering them.


This placement will bite me in the ass.


Like it does now, since I can’t have my dragons roast both stacks at the same time.


And that leaves 4 centaurs. These archers are pretty lucky.


I kept the gargoyles where they were ensuring the safety of the archers, meanwhile I held off on casting spells so that the enemy would waste a blind on my stationary gargoyles. Now my griffins are free to play again.


The griffins kill the centaurs. I want to keep my archers as fresh as possible so they can weaken the hydras. Unfortunately I lost a dragon.


But the dragons took their revenge on the annoying enemy griffins. Meanwhile the archers killed two hydras per shot.


The minotaurs fall back since I noticed that they can’t take a hit very well. I have the dragons weaken the hydras. Hydras are pretty strong so I assume the AI will not run. Not that I could do anything about if it is going to run.


I was wrong. Still two levels for Kilburn including a very welcome +1 for knowledge.


Kelzen found the view towns spell in a shrine.


Let’s put that to good use. We’ll take the bottom castle next.


Arturius has been following Kilburn for a long time now with some meager reinforcements. He started the maze a few days behind Kilburn, but he doesn´t have fancy shoes. Some day he is going to arrive.

Day 62

Found another castle!


The aptly named Baywatch.


Kilburn looks around carefully.

Day 63

Sandro is back again.


A quick visit to the idol and Kelzen is ready for his next conquest. It’s actually day 7 today, so it’s a good day for taking castles.


No hero means that things are even easier.


The paladins open by teleporting beyond the walls, the gargoyles are scared and attack the dragon instead.


This goes well for them and they lose two thirds of their own.


The paladins are masters at math, he has two strikes and each strike halves the number of hydras. How many hydras does the enemy have left? Correct, none.


I don’t think it’s possible to roast two large creatures from this angle. That’s unfortunate.


Everyone helps out.


The griffins die in a single strike.


And we get a new castle! With no losses and two levels for Kelzen. +1 attack and +1 defense. Warlock units are filled with experience thanks to their high HP.


There is no dragon tower here.


Fortunately I’m a problem solver.

You know what, this update has gone on long enough. Next update has actually already been played, so next update we're going to finish this map and witness the clash between the Warlock and the Knight units. A clash that can be best described as a subway train hitting a squirrel. Unless you have a better simile, in which case, please share.