World history

Regarding the messages, in the mission for the Knight and Elf, the mage asked for the Amulet of Fear, but it wasn't anywhere to be found. It might be with the enemies, but I didn't check what I looted from the yellow faction, and it was almost at the very end.

No, the amulet is with Menvad, until the Counterattack, when he leaves it in the city so they can pass through the gates. Therefore, in the defense of Murgrind, it's impossible to reach the city itself (which is the point of Menvad's defense, as he took this family relic with him so that Murgrind wouldn't be stormed until all positions, except for the gates themselves, are fortified enough to withstand the forces of Chaos and/or Death in the 7th scenario). Therefore, in "Counterattack," Menvad also doesn't have the amulet, and he won't have it in his next solo scenario either – the 17th, I think.

P.S.: Oh, yes, the scenario with Bru and the 7 Ifrits is considered one of the most difficult and challenging for this stage, because again, the hero, although level 15, doesn't have the Warfare skill, and the enemies are powerful and grow quickly. In Equilibrium, the troops of Charazir-Rognar can break through Tier 4 (and sometimes even Menvad's rebels can break through Rognar's troops themselves; I saw this on the final text in Whirlwinds 0-0), so there are two possible paths: you can get rid of the paladins of Glorion, or you can build up an army (on a lower difficulty) and break through Tier 4, intimidate Chaos, and generally ignore the surrounding factions. But, if you don't ignore them, the purple faction will eventually become more dangerous than the orange-yellow one.

P.S(2): You can capture the gold mines if you want, if you really try. Usually, one of the six is enough to reach the maximum level for the scenario, if there's even a need to capture them, I've kind of forgotten that detail after three or four months.