Part 63: Inferno Campaign, Map Four, Part Two

Let's start off by looking at the final bestiary thingamabob.





The Pit Lord is extremely well-suited for an offensive role - it has the highest damage in the game (beating even Cyclops), and fantastic Initiative and Movement to go along with it. Boundless Hate isn't amazing unless you're a Magic Hero, but having the option is always nice. With Cerberi and Lacerators to go along with them, the Inferno can be a huge threat offensively in a very physical-oriented build. Probably its drawback is that it doesn't have the support almost every other Champion does, but in the long run, with offenses like that, it might not even matter.



There's another Haven Fort to the south, with a creature dwelling in its territory. Recall that, while we can't convert Towns and Forts, creature dwellings are fair game.

It might seem like building up Haven towns is a waste of time, but there's really only two buildings you want to focus on with them, aside from Town Halls - Advanced Marketplaces (which is gold for the Inferno, since they don't normally have it), and Celestials.



Meanwhile, after finishing clearing out the area around our Inferno town, Xana also exits and starts clearing the north - there's a Crystal Mine here as well as another Haven Fort.

By the way, in case anyone's confused, here's a recap of our Angels' plots:

Uriel's Plot:

• Control Anastasya's mind using Faceless magic
  
• Use her to kill her father, then get her convicted and sentenced to death
  
• Carry out the killing himself, then use holy rituals to meld her with his mother
  
• Hope really hard that nothing interferes in Step 3, like Sveltana resurrecting her, or her own brother killing her, because only a crazy person would do that
  
• ???
  
• Profit!

I... guess that makes Uriel Orochimaru, or something.



Xana is actually doing pretty well at clearing. Not as good as Kaspar, but her spell damage is generally excellent and Fire Ball is strong enough to deal over 1,000 damage. She can also pick up Immolation and Fire Power III to amplify that further.



The second Darkness Elemental stack is just east of the Fort. Kiril will take care of it.

Sarah's Plot:

• Use Slava's death as an excuse to get Kiril into Sheogh
  
• Betray him and get him infused with a demon in exchange for passage through Sheogh
  
• Get clawed through the chest, hope she survives and that the claw snaps off so she can use it
  
• Trigger eclipse early
  
• Use the claw to make a sword to control mind of demons
  
• Hope really hard that Kiril survives Step 2 and... doesn't die or anything, and pursue her in search of revenge
  
• Lure him and ask him to hey, while you're here, can you destroy the Invisible Library please
  
• ???
  
• Profit!

I... guess that makes Sarah Itachi, or something? I dunno, I never really kept up with it past season... 3 or something.



You know what's also nice? Killing off six of your enemy's seven stacks in the first round because thanks to Cerberi's triple-tile attack and Cleave. If I'd gotten a Morale boost I'd have killed the whole lot instead of dealing with MAGIC HEROES.



As we head East, we can find Montbard's castle. He stays in his castle and sends out a Magic Hero with low armies out every once in a while. We're not strong enough to handle him yet because he has lots of Glories, but soon enough.



The ruins south of that offer an interesting reward for clearing it - a nice stack of Darkness Elementals. These go to Xana, who appreciates a stack with No Retaliation and could use the damage boost.

Hey Azzie... have your ever actually fought Faceless in your hundreds of years of life?

Yes. I once made a bed of Faceless wings. They're impossibly soft. But I burned it. It gave me strange dreams.



South of that is another Fort.

We've more or less established that the girls pretty much got the better end of the campaign stick. Among the three guys though, I probably got the most disappointed with Kiril. While Sandor and Anton never really went anywhere beyond 'decent enough', Kiril's started off with enormous promise. You had him with a Demon Prince in his body, a fleeing angel, snark and wit to match Irina, and a hard first map culminating in an amazing boss fight. After that, anything else would almost seem like a disappointment.



East of our latest Fort is the third stack of Darkness Elementals.



The elementals stacks swell again to about 180+, and you really want Kiril's Might Power to be as high as you can afford it (which is why the Warlord set is beter than the Trickster set on him) to make up for our currently low numbers of Pit Lords. Which is one reason why one should focus on them at the beginning, with maybe only a pit stop for Cerberi.

Kiril's second map was okay - it wasn't terribly exciting, but it still ended it with a nice boss fight. Overall, you had two boss fights in just as many maps, which sounds like it was shaping up to be a pretty great campaign.

More dark energy! It's a strange power. As if... as if nothing's really that important anymore.



Slightly southeast is our second Haven town, which is lightly defended. There are some interesting nuggets around this one, but we'll save them for later.

The Faceless once created an illusion in Sheogh, to make us think we had already destroyed the world. Or at least I think they did. My memories aren't clear.



The reason why I use Cerberi instead of Pit Lords for the wandering Heroes is because I can Reinforce the Cerberi, they can hit multiple stacks at once (and more effectively than the Pit Lords), and the enemy creatures aren't so much a threat as the Magic Heroes' Heal or Lightning Bolt spells. It's also easier to Gate in Cerberi, which you can then use Seal of Power on to recoup losses.

Then you hit Kiril's third map and it's just... disappointing. There is barely any plot and it's ridiculously easy. It's also around this time that you realize you've been more or less sent on a glorified goose chase, chasing Sarah from one point to another, like the creators needed to give Kiril a third map and just stuck this in. Not that maps need to be ridiculously hard, but it's a bit sad to walk over it so easily. Kiril's personality also becomes more... bland and very unlike map 1 Kiril.



Southwest is another Haven Fort, which Xana claims. Xana at this point, using Breeder (Mothers), Fire Elementals and Darkness Elementals in conjunction with her spells can clear most stacks on the map save for the Darkness Elemental ones (and Light Elemental/Glory stacks because those are just annoying).



Elemental stack Four is west of this Fort.



East is the final Haven town. And I'm glad that Ubi has a sense of humour at least when it comes to naming towns.

I have kind of mixed feelings about the final map. On one hand, it's still pretty easy and some of the plot points is just . But Kiril also makes a bit of a semi-return, and it's... better than the other guys' final maps, I suppose.



Xana is actually doing scarily well, to think I pegged her as really bad one map earlier, probably because she didn't have access to third level spells for most of it. Valeksa might also have boosted Xana in my eyes because she's worse.

With most of the territory under our map, I think it's time to take on Montbard.



I got really lucky here, as Montbard's lacky Hero (the Magic one that's been wandering around) decides to carry his huge Glory stack instead of giving it to Montbard. This makes things so much easier, as I can quickly waste it using Pit Lords now instead of potentially running out of Intimidation time and causing them to Searing Light my Pit Lords. Eduardo's lower Might Defense here is also nice, and any damage he can throw I can mitigate using Drain Life and Regeneration.



With his army greatly weakened, Montbard is now significantly less of a threat than he could be. He knows some supportive spells like Mass Regeneration, but at this point it's delaying the inevitable.

Click here to listen to the conversation!

I'm not a demon! I only look like one. For the last month you've been calling me a Faceless!

How... the demons are gone! Locked in Sheogh! The Faceless are everywhere! I don't understand.

Sarah... can you do something?

It would be easier to kill him. Elrath will understand his innocence. And Asha will give him a new life. He'll never be able to recover totally from what the Faceless have done to him.

Just sit down with him and tell him the truth. If he wants to die after that, your angel here can smite him.

Life was easier when they all wanted to kill me.

Geez, which here is the angel and which is the demon, again?

Next time, we end this.