Walkthroughs for custom maps.

Also, the author's idea with the purple pillars is unclear. They seem to be an obstacle, but they can be bypassed by going around the nearest building (most often it's a sphinx or a watering hole). As a result, it's either just decoration, or the author didn't think this through on the map.

Judging by the word "sphinx," I suspect you're playing a WoG version? Then stop and start over, but in SoD. And if you also WoG-ified the map, then many things might have been replaced on it, which is not allowed on RPG maps. The same goes for the huge additional increase in creatures: it might be the "work" of WoG.