Part 48: Inferno Campaign, Map Three, Part Three

One fun use of the Ravagers' Taunting Presence is that if you can box in a unit with your other stacks so they can't reach your Ravagers, they'll be completely helpless and can only Defend. You can then slowly kill them with your Hero's attack or using the Lacerator's Exploding Spikes to avoid retaliations.

This Cyclops stack is guarding a piece of the Magister set - I have two pieces now, and I give them both to Xana.



When we last left off, we had two two-way portals right next to our newest town. We don't have to take them, but we might as well. We'll do the right one first.



Past the portal, we can find our third Moon Fragment to the southwest...



And a Sanctuary Fort to the north. Now we can go and take the left portal.



And the last Moon Fragment is right there. Kiril also gets the Moon Disc for his troubles. Like Irina's, it lets him summon 3 Phoenixes a battle and carries over to the next map. Handy since Kiril can't use any summoning spells of his own.



Also, our Pit Lords are starting to whoop some serious ass. Check out that 40 Might Power, Heroism, Inner Fire boosted damage.



The now revealed Tear of Asha is right beside one of our captured Stronghold towns to the east of the map. No fighting involved, we can just send a mule Hero to pick it up.



We're making thousands of creatures flee their wet pants in terror. It's almost a shame we can't get any more Reputation.



Another Sanctuary town here. This is pretty much the last place that will send invasions. Once that's done, you're home clear.



They have a Magic Hero, so they can actually put up a decent fight with annoying spells like Chain Lightning. If we didn't have Pit Fiends, this fight would be very annoying, as they could fire loads of spells and we have very limited healing - a lack of Advanced Marketplaces also means our ranged ability is poorer.



Fortunately, we do have Pit Fiends, and it's just simple mopping up and using Enthrall/Regeneration and Seal of Power to take care of any losses.



The Inferno's Tear building is... not very special. The bonuses that all Tear buildings have are nice, but its unique ability isn't that amazing. It'll wipe out scouts quickly and take a dent in Core stacks, but its effects aren't as wide-reaching as the Sanctuary or Stronghold ones.



This place has even got my Pit Lord on edge. Show yourself, stalker!

With pretty much the entire map under our control, we can get on with the plot. The tunnel we're looking for is in the southeast of the map, north of a Stronghold town we already conquered - we could have skipped the west section entirely and beelined here, admittedly, but why pass up easy experience?

The tunnel leads a short passage underground back up to the surface - there are a couple of stat boosts and some laughable Stronghold stacks in the way.



No, I'm Yume. I was the High Priestess of this island. I've been watching you. Trying to decide if I must help.

Have you seen an Angel here?

Yes, both behind and in front of you. Like two rivers flowing to the same sea. If you help me, I can help you find her.

Yeeeees...?

My husband Akasha wanders in the Spirit world, hidden by the cloak of darkness that covers this isle. Find him. Defeat him. And bring him back to me.

So that's now our main quest - beating up a ghost and dragging him back to his wife. This map really does feel like padding because we can't find Sarah too early or something.



Oh, there's one last Stronghold Fort here, too. Not sure why. The path splits, but the west leads to an uninteresting dead end.

What was that sound? I heard it twice.

It's a raven Xana. My aunt Sveltana's somewhere on this island.

I guess Kiril isn't surprised, given Sveltana was the one who led him here in the first place?



Just to the east are several things of note. There's one last Sanctuary Fort here, and we can see Cate right there with a plot exclaimation mark over her head. You might also notice the three treasure chests in a triangle in the screenshot. If you try to grab the top one...



We finally come face to face (or army to army) with our stalker! Humapa has a large army which would be a threat if we had come here early. But now we have such a large army we can just walk over him - or just deploy our Pit Lords and Intimidation to get 5-6 turns of free whacks at his army.

Finding Humapa is completely optional, by the way - if you don't, then the sidequest goes unsolved and people who still care about this map will never know who was stalking Kiril. Given that Kiril usually hits the level cap before coming here, most people might not even go after the treasure chests.



The Blood option has no cutscene, and just ends the sidequest. Let's see how our Teary Kiril does it.

I'm no more a demon than you are! My name is Kiril, of the Griffin Duchy.

Dress like demon. Smell like demon. Demon war chief. Orc not stupid.

A noble soul doesn't choose his friends. They choose him.

Nnnn. Walked you dream. Only thing Kiril fears is... Kiril!

I just want my life back. An angel stole it from me.

No! Kiril has life - much life. But Kiril afraid life means nothing.

Go. And return to your dreams. I've got an angel to catch.

Let's see what Cate has to say.

Click here to listen to the conversation!


The happiest days of my life were spent with you. But the Dragons always find us, no matter where we hide. I once stole the destiny of someone else, and Irina paid the price for my error.

I left to find my brother and set things right; that journey led me to becoming a Dragon Knight. I thought my absence would give you all the chance to write your own stories.

We were never good bards. Father's dead, Anastasya's undead, Anton's gone mad. And Irina has fled the empire with Sandor.

Destines cannot be avoided, but they can be shaped. If you're ready to accept responsibility. It is the journey that shapes who you are...

I want my life back. All of it. But all of Ashan seems to be fighting against me.

Battles take place withing each and every one of us, each and every day. Peace is in the balance between your two selves...

How? How do you make peace with yourself?

You follow your heart...

Poor Kiril. He's just been on a rollercoaster for a while now, and hasn't really had any time to stop. The lad must be confused. Kind of like Anton.

Also I wish they could settle on a consistent method of pronouncing Irina. At the very least co-ordinate efforts between the VAs.



Moving us, we have our final opposing town, holding Akasha's Ghost for Yume. Let's do this.



Akasha's Ghost has a similiar army size as compared to Hiroshi from Irina's second map - zounds of Cores, and lots of Elites. But that was a second map, and we're on a third map with a much more advanced Kiril. Kiril being a Might Hero is more suited to take on Akasha's army, and the other advantage is that our Pit Fiends can teleport behind the walls. We can also use Seal of Power to hopefully recoup losses after the battle (for some reason, when I played it, Seal of Power wasn't working consistently with Ravagers, so the ~60 I lost here were gone for good.).

He's not much for words, but he still knows how to handle a sword.

Thank you Kiril, son of Slava. May Shalassa soothe your dreams and guide you in your quest.

The truth is found in dreams, not nightmares. The nightmares are what we fear might happen, the dreams are ways to avoid them.

You promised that this would help find Sarah.

You did. Sarah's reflection in the waters of your mind, the way you see her. What she means to you.

Great. But where is she? Physically?

Much easier. There.



There's only one place left to go on the map, so I presume that's where Yume pointed Kiril - to a little cave/temple at the end of the map.



Goodness, what's this? An old ladies knitting club?

Click here to listen to the conversation!


<Hello Kiril! I love your new feathers!>

We're concerned about the balance. The Invisible Library you seek is an important tool that keeps Light and Darkness in check.

Great. And why would such powerful women need me?

We want you to stop the Angels from destroying the Invisible Library. Sarah and Uriel believe they've created a weapon that can do that, but they have no idea what forces would be unleashed.

She's already unleashed me...

<He's still my Kiril. Even dressed in red.>

Help me find her, and I'll stop whatever she's planning on doing. That I swear.

I trust him. He will make the right decision when the time comes.

What decision? It's Sarah who's going to have to make a decision...

Bluebeak will take you to Sarah. You're going to the Valley of Shadows.

Follow your heart, my son. Trust nothing else. And be certain that the Faceless already know you're coming.

I think Kiril's tired of being caught in their political shenanigans. He just wants his life back. Is Sarah really the way to do it?