Part 45: Inferno Campaign, Map Two, Part Three

Going back to the earlier split in the path, heading northeast gets us to the next Necropolis town. This is also the town where most major invasions come from, so clearing this gives us more breathing room.

Chasing Spiders and Invisible Libraries when we could be ruling the world.

It's "we" is it? That's progress. I've never heard you use that word before.



It might feel like I'm glossing over most of the combat for this map. There actually isn't much to say really. The Necropolis are an utter pain to fight as an Inferno player, because their ranged power is so much better and we have piddly Magical Defense - their stalling tactics are the perfect counter to the Inferno's rushdown style. You pretty much are just playing smart and with decent sized armies to make up for the lack of healing.



We also lose a metric ton of troops. 74 Breeders man. On one hand, that's a lot of gold down the drain. On the other hand, 74 Breeders.

We also get another Moonsilk piece after it.

That's pretty! Is it for me?

No. We're going to need it to open the chamber of the Mother Namtaru.



Oh hey, I actually manage to use the Juggernaut's charge correctly! Seriously, it's an utter pain just trying to get it to work.



There is a large group of Cerberi in a little corner southeast of the town we just captured. If you're lucky, they'll offer to join you, boosting your army by a good 150+ Cerberi. For some reason, they didn't on this game, which is a real shame.



Just putting this out there to say how weird it is to have one of these places offer such a crummy reward. This isn't the Necropolis map!

You follow the will of Kha-Beleth! You are weaker than I thought.

Kha-Beleth is the last person in the world I should trust. But when you've got a Prince of Destruction in your body, you don't get to choose your friends.



Next Necropolis town down the right side of the map. I also manage to Town Portal in Reinforcements to a weakened Kiril, since the Necropolis Hero stopped one tile away from me.

Lord Kiril, you've been tossing and turning in your sleep. You scream, sometimes with Azkaal's voice.

It's the Mother Namtaru. She's been sending me dreams and memories. I'll be fine.

Would you like us to watch over you in your tent...?

We could massage you to sleep!!!?

You can stay in my tent. I don't need the massage. Just wake me if I scream.

I think Daeva might be the best character of the campaign. Kiril's really starting to lose his snark, the Mother Namtaru must be taking a toll on him.



One Necro town left to go. The fastest way to get there is to Town Portal to the Fort where we found Veyer, and use the nearby Two-Way Portal.



Speaking of which, if this place looks familiar, it's actually the town Ana stopped at in Necropolis 2. The map is slightly redesigned, but you can see bits and pieces of it in places like this.



Oh, yes, Kiril's hit level 15 in the meantime, which means sweet Skills like Cleave. A free action once per combat is really nice, especially since it gives us another chance to get a lucky hit and raise the Gating gauge. Remember that increased Gating levels, aside from allowing us to gate in upper tier creatures (level 15 allows us to gate in Champion creatures, but we don't have those yet), it also raises the number of creatures Gated in.



I picked up a Teleport Scroll from the artifact merchant at the top left of the map, so might as well put it to good use - this is the last siege battle of the map.



Urgh, go away, Necropolis.



Waking Dreams and Living Nightmares (Youtube via Polsy)


With that, the gate to the Mother Namtaru is open. There's also a free stack of Demented to be picked up a little north of here, but it might be a bit out of the way. Make sure Kiril has a large army, as it won't be an easy fight.



The path to the Mother Namtaru is similiar to that Anastasya took in her map - northeast, following the winding path. Near the end, you'll start seeing more Fate Spinner stacks in the way. A good sign we're getting close.

Spin a web of Moonsilk. Or my door you shall not pass. Life and Death hold mysteries. For those who dare to ask.



We then head underground. There is one last guardian in our way before the Mother Namtaru. Easily dispatched, with no losses - it's been a while since we've seen that.

Unrelated: check out how many resources I have at this point. It's kinda crazy.

You have earned the right to pass. The keys they have been turned. But the Mother will not help you. Tis with your dreams you must learn.

What? No. I'm not going through another copy of Necropolis Map 2, with Kiril instead. We're going to make the Mother Namtaru help us if we have to beat her down to do it.

Ahh! Kiril! We must leave here! It's horrifying!

Can we keep it?

Daeva: Still the Best Character in this campaign.

Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly... (YouTube via Polsy)


The first time I was recording this map my game froze on this screen. Picture that face, stuck on your monitor for a good two minutes.



Whee let's squash some bugs~

Boss Fight: Mother Namtaru



The Mother Namtaru has 65000 health - a bit less than previous bosses. How difficult this fight is is really dependant on your army: if it's large enough, she's a cakewalk. For some reason, I found her fairly hard on this game. Ehh.

• The Mother Namtaru has Spider Leap, which is fairly similiar to the Kappa Shoya's Crashing Leap, allowing her to traverse large distances in a single jump and dealing damage to multiple stacks. She can also use this to jump away from your melee stacks, very annoying. She rarely seems to use this to block shooters, though.
  
  
• Dream Shield reduces damage taken by the Mother Namtaru by 90%. She never seemed to use this against me though, thankfully.
  
  
• Like Fate Weavers, the Mother Namtaru has the Venomous Touch, which cause stacks that attack her in melee or being attacked by her to get poisoned and take some Earth damage at the start of each round. More annoying than anything.
  
  
• The Mother Namtaru has the Nightmare Web ability, which casts Time Stasis on a 3x3 area. This is one of her most annoying moves - if Kiril doesn't have Dispel Magic, Mass (mine didn't), then you're losing lots of damage if she casts it on several bunched up stacks.
  
  
• The Mother Namtaru can't retaliate. Like most Boss creatures, she has 2 actions per round.

Pictured: Nightmare Web being annoying.

You might have also noticed the little swirly things on the battlefield. At the start of each round, a stack of 10 Spirits appear from one of them. If you let the Mother Namtaru end up next to them, she'll use Spirit Devourer, consuming the stack and restoring her health. The Spirits also hit hard and can't be retaliated against, but are fairly easy to blitz down as they are pretty fragile. You also get an achievement for beating the Mother Namtaru without having her devour any Spirits.

This fight is really all about rushdown - the more damage you pile on, the easier it is not to get screwed over by any of the Mother Namtaru's tricks. Cerberi are your trump card here, as if you have a lot of them you can very quickly take out large portions of her health. Lilim are also very helpful, as they can take out Spirits and are rarely targetted by Nightmare Web. Demented can also reduce damage with Maniac Laughter, which is nice. Your Elites are just there to support and do more damage. Also don't forget Gating, which really helps to pile on more damage.



Honestly, not my finest hour, especially since the first time I played this map I just pretty much walked over her in about three rounds. Oddly enough I didn't lose any Breeders.

Reunited (and it feels so good) (Youtube via Polsy)




I didn't expect to get Hero honestly, but I'll take it.