Part 22: Mission 8: Slaughtering Civilians... In Self-Defense!

Act 3: The Northlands



Episode 8: Tyr's Hand or Slaughtering Civilians... In Self-Defense!

: Orders from Lord Lothar himself?

: Indeed. The orcs have been routing from Khaz Modan, but we have intelligence that points to an assault on Quel'Thalas.

: Pfft. Elves. Why d'we need ta help 'em anyway?

: Ruku, did an elf trim your beard once or something? Why do you hate the elves so much?

: Well you like 'em. More'n enough reason ta hate 'em there.



: Alright, you two, settle down. We're almost to Tyr's Hand.

: His hand? Where's th' rest o' him?



: This is where the Knights of the Silver Hand make their home, eh, Varin?

: Yes, the order founded by Lord Uther when... oh? Is it normal for the citizens to be fleeing the town?



: By the Light! It's a riot! Men, quickly, we must defend the populace!

: Peaceful defending, Cap'n? Or...

: ...Do what you must, Ruku. Tyr's Hand must stand, for it is the hope of Quel'Thalas.

: Aye, aye, hope and elves. Now then...



: Jus' followin' orders!



Yes, you actually get attacked by a number of peasants. They do pitiful damage and have pitiful life. This is Blizzard interjecting plot and politics! In an RTS game from 1995!?



: These colors aren't Kul Tiras. Gaz! What's going on here?

: I can't tell, Varin, but something doesn't sit well with me here.

: Alright men, leave one alive for questioning!



: Er...

: Ugh, well, I suppose we'll need to do some digging of our own.

: They're wearing Alterac colors. Dissenters sent to stir up trouble, it seems.

: Not a good time for this. Let's start setting up defenses. I want the knighthood under our control as soon as possible. I don't want any more incidents.



: And have this land scouted out. If orcs are in the area, I don't want to be left unaware of the geography.

: Lotsa things ya want an' don't want, Cap'n. We all know this'll breakdown with me smashin' some orcs skulls. Can we keep it simple, lad?



: We've succeeded through strategy and planning first and foremost!



: And my superior eye for architectural design!

: I'm fill'd with hatred an' booze fer ye. Flecks o' gunpowder, too.



: Ruku, if it will keep you out of trouble, will you train the men on the green over there? And no more explosions!

: I tell ya me explo-sword issa brilliant idea!

: You mean this?



: Me prototype! Ya found 'er!

: ...I have to keep an eye on you.



: Oh, a tower, eh? Can I...? Y'know. With th' 'spolisons.

: Fine, Ruku. Just keep those swords of yours away from the men.



: You know the old saying, Varin: "You give a dwarf an inch, he'll find a way to blow up miles of land and call it progress."

: Gaz, I don't care. I just want to make sure that we can spend the rest of our days on simple guard duty.

: What about vengeance? Your father is still disgraced after the First War...



: I've given up. The orc who stole my father's hat is probably long gone. I haven't seen sign of his clan for many months now. Now keep your eyes sharp. If we're lucky, we can establish a safe perimeter of towers throughout this region.

: Varin...



: Orc? Wait, those markings...



: It's him! It's his clan! Gaz, I... I...

: Go for it, Captain Wells.

: CHARGE!



There were a lot more trolls than that, trust me.

: Woah! Woah!

: Uhh... men! Uncharge! Fast!



: Well, Varin?

: It seems that plans have changed. This isn't guard duty anymore. Let's get the rest of the troops and prepare to siege.



: I'll have a stable erected immediately to house our horses. The knights will need fresh steeds for the upcoming battle.



: 'Oi! Whatcha doin', elf-lover?

: I'm having a stable built so that-

: Mm, building stuff. I can 'preciate that. How'sabout we fix up tha ol' keep thar?

: Why would we... well. That couldn't be the worst idea you've had, dwarf. A larger treasury, more fortifications...

: A wine cellar in th' basement!



The castle is the second and final upgrade to the town hall. To build it you need a lumber mill, blacksmith, and stables, but it provides quite a great boon.

: Ah, but it would take so much work...

: Well, Gaz, knights deserve a castle. Don't you agree? I'm sure Ruku would be more than willing to help.

: I'll dig th' wine cellar! An' brew some booze!



: Wait. If he's helping on the castle than who's watching the gates?



: Just my luck! Men! To arms!

: Ah, dun worry, Cap'n. I laid some traps fer any pesky orcs.

: ...Traps? Ruku, I said-



: NO EXPLOSIONS!



: Aye, but they worked, didn't they?

: Varin, these colors...

: I noticed, Gaz. We've got not one, but two orc clans in this region. This could get tricky.



: At least th' castle's finished!



Having a castle gives you yet another 10 gold per return, bringing it up to 120 gold for every trip to the gold mine. Not a bad haul. As well, it opens up the last tier of buildings. Unfortunately, we're only going to see one on this map.

: Hm, a church. A little prayer might do us good.



: Not just us. Uther's Silver Hand is built around the church and the teaching of the Light. I think the men will be more than happy to take part in a few sermons.



Oh hell yes.

: What is it this church practices again...?



After researching the upgrade to turn your knights into paladins, you can begin to research spells. The first of which is pretty much the go to spell for the humans.

: Looks like we got just the edge to fight back these orcs. Maybe even catch that thief...



Here's a look at our paladins. They now have a Magic bar and come with one spell: "Holy Vision." From the screenshot you can see that it costs 70 Magic to cast. It shows a small area of map for a very brief time. It's no where near as good as it's Warcraft: O&H iteration, but it still has it's uses. We'll see it later.



Healing, however, is awesome. As you can see, it heals 1 hit point for every 6 Magic spent. This uses all the necessary Magic possible to heal a unit, so it eats through Magic quickly. If you're fast at microing, you can coast through the rest of this game now.

: And now that we have our gnomes running surveillance, we can get a good estimate of what we're up against.









: No... it... it can't be.

: Three clans!? What's going on here?

: This is gonna get interestin'.



: The thief's camp. What's going on there?

: The report said something of a ritual taking place. And a large orc walking away in robes.



: A ritual? I guess that could explain the need for all the clans, then. Still, we must get rid of them, or Quel'Thalas could be in serious trouble.



This happens constantly.

: Enough blabberin' 'bout what coulda happened and get yer weapons!



: With the elves so close, maybe the rangers could help us out a little here.



Okay, I checked and double-checked, and I totally forgot to talk about the ranger upgrade. My mistake!



Once you've upgraded your archers to rangers, you can get three upgrades with them that turn them into real powerhouses. The first (not pictured) increases their sight, much like troll berserkers. It can be skipped if you're tight for cash as it really doesn't help much if you're not using the rangers over much. The second (previous screenshot) provides an upgrade to range, which is pretty good for the money. More range equals more damage to get in before melee bears down on them, more kiting, etc, etc. The final upgrade is what makes rangers amazing. Plus three to damage, which stacks on top of their weapon upgrades. In my opinion, this beats out the troll regeneration, since the humans have healing to fall back on anyhow.

: We seem to be ready then. Men, let's move out!





: I bet that the thief is cowering at this very moment.



: Looks like he's receiving some reinforcement from the other clan.

: They're going to need a lot more than that.



: Besides, I've got a little plan for the thief's men.

: Ye keep worryin' about this thief fellow? D'ye wanna talk about it?

: NO.



: NOW CHARGE!





: Hahaha...

: Hm?

: Heh, heh, heh...



: Show yourself orc! Your base in in ruins! Return my family honor!

: You are too late, human.

: We have already brought the Champion back from the dead.

: Champion?



: Haha, yes, stronger than before. More powerful.

: But not complete, no. A mere test before the true product.

: A guinea pig let lose to destroy.



: 'Oi, what's goin' on? Where is this guy?

: I don't know, Ruku, but when I find him...



: You will not see us.

: But you will see our work.

: Farewell, human.

: What just happened?

: I don't know, but I do know that we still have a large job ahead of us. We'll focus on this later.



: Looks like the orcs have an ambush prepared for us.

: Captain Wells, if we circle around the back, we'll completely-

: Where's Ruku?



: CHAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGEEE!



: Why do I even bother thinking that logic would be... logical?



: He's charging in blind! We haven't even scouted that territory!





I love paladin healing. Note how often the life stays green throughout these assaults.



: There's... no defenses.

: It's like they pulled out. Did they plan to attack Quel'Thalas?



: Like it matters in th' long run, lads! Come on! One more clan ta put down and we can get home ta enjoy th' cellar I built!



: Uuuuhh...?

: What in the name of the Light...?



: Magic! They can see through those eyes! I've heard of such spells before...

: Well, if yer so smart, than what's tha' noise?



Bloodlust, as I've talked about before, is ridiculous. It would be more ridiculous if the AI used it properly. Instead it charges forward, falls back, charges forward... by the time they attack, the buff is long gone.



: They look... insane!

: Well so am I! An' I don't need no magic fer that! Raaaargh!





: ...Damn effective dwarf.



: Alright, let's punch through and secure this area! No orc shall set foot in elven land!







: Again, no resistance. What's going on here?



: Perhaps this was a distraction.



: But for what? ...Hey, Gaz. This altar's runes; they look familiar.

: They're... elven. They look like they were copied directly from the one of the runestones.



: By the Light. This could be big. Let's finish up here and report back to Lord Lothar.

: I saw some o' th' ogres runnin' back ta our base, Cap'n.

: Oh, really? Well, let's see...



Here's Holy Vision. It gives you a few sparkles and briefly shows the area. Fortunately for us it shows us...



Doomed ogres.

: Alright. Let's set up a number of towers and move on from here. We have a lot of information to pass on.

: I think that we may be in some serious trouble, Varin.



Do note the various faction names.

: Aye, but I don't really care fer yer politics and magics a wee bit too confusin' fer me, so I'll be drinkin' heavily tonight!

: How is this different from any other n-

: VICTORRRRRRRY!