The griffin is immortal.

According to the lore, our allies are plotting against us, and instead of waiting for them to attack us, we'll strike first — good thing we have such a wonderful ally as Markal)

In short, at this stage both mission 3 and mission 4 pose no threat whatsoever, but there are certain nuances I'd like to talk about.

Our initial objectives are simple: capture two elven towns, Wainshil and Silina — according to this campaign's legend, it was in the first town that a conspiracy against the Empire's queen took place...
Overall, the tasks are clear and rather trivial, but there are a couple of conditions that somewhat stall the process, namely, not allowing the capture of Kogot (Claw) and Mifograd. There's a small peculiarity here, because for the elves (probably not by accident) there's one annoying hero, Ossir with a Marauder, and right near Kogot there's a shore where the elves conveniently flee to. But in the case of ordinary rank-and-file heroes, there are no problems, since from the previous mission Fiona has Town Portal, so we easily cast TP, and when the offenders board their ship again, we catch up with them)

The creature building mod really caught on, and looks great overall on the map (maybe because I haven't played similar maps before, but nevertheless, it deserves mentioning)


From the start, when we hit the fairies, they curse us and deprive us of luck (-2 I think). Overall not critical, but thankfully we're offered a way to solve this problem through a simple quest chain given by fairy rings — bring some clover, then something else. Seems like nothing special, but it exists, and that's good)


There's also an interesting mini-quest for "creature selection" (let's call it that) — upon capturing the "Celestial Altar" and capturing the "Manor," dialogues pop up stating the conditions. I don't remember exactly, but the gist is: if you want Angels in your army, you need to sacrifice Vampires in the sacrificial pit; if you want Vampires, you need to sacrifice Angels. Naturally, I chose the second option, since I had enough of having sub-par vampires in my army during mission 2, so let's go with Vampires — especially since in the end I never even used the Angels...

Overall, the tactics are simple: clear the zone, defend the towns


For Fiona, the tactics are simple: take Archers and Griffins, vacuum-clean the zone, TP home when needed)

For Markal, just Vampires, and level up as well)

Oh yes, we have an elf ally, Anwen, although it's kind of strange that she's our ally in killing her own kin... Well, whatever. Anyway, most of the time after she runs around and clears her zone, she just stands near a small lake close to Silina. I didn't understand what was going on until she started moving, but more on that later...


After running around my zone, it's time to move toward the enemies, because that Ossir has been getting on my nerves — now attacking one castle, then another, then summoning a ship in the swamp near Mifograd)))


Fiona, surprisingly, turned out to be more active in this mission, so she was the one who moved on Silina — I believe with Crossbowmen, Royal Griffins, and a few Inquisitors. And we successfully take down this castle...

Then it's almost done, but after seeing Anwen's activity, I got curious about what's happening. Markal was nearby, and since I don't have Eagle Eye and Anwen is an ally, I can approach and see what she's up to...




Well, I thought I'd observe what happens if I let her capture the city, and then we get messages that Fiona is "not herself anymore," saying "deal with your own problems yourself," and immediately she becomes an enemy and starts recruiting troops, etc., etc. I figured, nope, I don't like this turn of events. We load up, take the castle, and likewise Anwen becomes an enemy....
Well, we don't get upset, because eventually she attacks us herself, and you can see Markal there with a fairly weak army — well, a couple of attempts, and we take her down. Probably the hardest battle in this scenario)

And then, just walk around and do whatever you want. Essentially, all that's left is to escort Fiona and send her to the mage lands to Cyrus. And Fiona will ask Markal to bring flowers to her father's grave...
The passage blocking access to the Elf castle gets unlocked — though honestly, I didn't wait for that moment and simply used a ship, and Markal captured the castle before the passage opened


I collect all the stat boosters and will show what heroes came out in the end. Too bad Fiona won't be useful anymore, but just for the record, worth showing them)




Let's sum up: good mission, pleasant to play with already-leveled heroes. Ossir tickled our nerves a bit with his raids into Mifograd or Kogot, but nothing more. The only thing I don't understand is whether Frenzy and Puppet Master are blocked at all levels, or am I just unlucky that in mission 2 the level 4 undead guild had CHAOS, while here neither human nor undead castles had it?.. Let's move on to mission 4 and the finale of this campaign)

According to the lore, Fiona's visit to Cyrus ended with her death, and young Prince Nicholas and his regent Godric banish us from the Empire. But as a farewell, Markal must do what he must do — namely, resurrect Fiona)

Right off the bat, let me ask ahead:
Is it normal that humans freely enter the underground? (since if I understood correctly, they shouldn't be able to)
And is it okay that Godric comes into the underground, Markal kills him, and the mission doesn't fail? (again, if I misunderstood, please clarify, author)
And where were those "Holy Sandals"? (I searched everywhere and couldn't find them, had to add them via cheat)

We start near Kogot and need to run into the underground. On the surface there are a couple of battles and some undead which we successfully take under command. Upon entering the underground, we're told the story of three rulers of these lands. Though honestly, I didn't head into the underground right away — I got a bit greedy and skipped a week to gather more skeletons from clearing the underground guards...



After capturing the castle, we see there's practically nothing in it, but not far from the castle there's an "Abandoned Castle" dwelling of Wraiths, and they tell us they can help convert the Dungeon castle into a Necropolis, but for that they need a Summoning Magic tome, which is held by Kythra...


And as they say, everything comes to those who wait — the very next day Kythra appears in sight with a High Danger label. I thought, oh, this is interesting.
Though actually, nothing special — just a lack of meat, and a couple of Liches solve the problem. The main thing is to fight in a way that prevents her from fleeing, because they love doing that, especially since she has the tome we need..
The battle with Kythra will be here, and after that I immediately give the tome to the Wraiths, who in turn convert the Dungeon castle into a Necropolis.

Moving further through the underground, we encounter another Dungeon castle, which we simply capture. However, they won't let us convert it. Oh well, lizards will serve as fodder for Vampires, and an artifact shop definitely won't hurt)
After some time, Iranna shows up with a fairly strong army, and here, as they say, you need to think. But still difficult — yet I overcame Iranna, though certainly not on the first try)


Also in the underground, Lethos wanted something from me, but there was nothing worth looking at there. And it came as a surprise when Lord Godric deliberately went straight for Markal, even though earlier I received a message that humans cannot enter here...


I figure, alright, let's scrap with the old man, and see what happens. And voilà — after defeating him, the mission isn't lost. Great, let's keep playing. Although, speaking ahead, he's probably the most harmless person among those on the surface...

Next, we go to claim the last Dungeon castle in these lands, and along the way we come across a dragon graveyard that gives a mini-quest — they too can convert a town into a Necropolis, but they need a Dark Magic tome, which I believe Iranna had (had I known at that moment that neither the guilds nor the mage towers would give me Puppet Master or Frenzy, I probably wouldn't have handed it over) (although, on the second attempt of fighting the mage tower, they FINALLY gave me Berserk)
I gave it to them, and another town became undead. Too bad it needs rebuilding from zero — it would've been cool if it kept the same level as when I captured it. Oh well.

Then I think it's time to head back to the surface... But then I see that the humans are quite juiced up, and oddly enough, the biggest problem turned out to be Vittorio... Although (I assume) the author's intention was for me to hide from them rather than try to wipe them out, I still decided to kill them all... Though I really had to work hard for that))
Worth showing the armies from the failed attempts... Though later, Maeve transferred her army to Vito..., which made my task even harder overall


And their stats are pretty impressive, considering they're on Offense and Defense, while I'm only on Defense. Plus, Vampire Lords in this context turned out to be garbage...
Alright, challenge accepted. Need to regroup a bit, buy a couple of artifacts from the shops, and then head to defend Kogot from the overpowered humans))( and yes, defending Kogot specifically — for some reason I can capture it, and that's where I met Vito)


And here, as they say, enough attempts already — but still, it can be overcome, satisfying my inner challenge. From the useful spells, only Berserk was available; unfortunately no Puppet Master, although that guy does have Dispel...

After this battle, nothing particularly difficult remained — smashed the remnants of their armies, captured everything. Then I went to complete the final quest (as I thought): the cemetery area is clearly visible, there are two keymasters there, keys from them — one near Kogot, the other near the castle at the bottom of the map...
Approaching the cemetery, we see a dialogue


However, after passing through the keymasters, I wasn't allowed any further. From the text context, it became clear that the Saint's Sandals are needed. Only where to find them — I scoured the entire map and never figured out where they are. So there was nothing left but to add them via cheats  "@GiveArtefact("Straker",68), giving them to Orson, since I wasn't sure that Markal is Markal (though judging by the specialty, it's Zoltan). After this manipulation, I managed to proceed further and see the final talk boxes... And we pull Fiona out of the observatory))



Just for the record, I'll also show what the army could have looked like at this stage if I had carried it all along) and how Markal turned out by the end of the campaign)



Let's summarize the mission and the campaign as a whole...
Regarding the mission: I liked it — interesting, tough battles, despite seeming that the MC is strong and nothing can surprise him... Most likely, on the surface I wasn't supposed to fight but rather run from Sanctuary to Sanctuary. Still unclear where to get those sandals though...

Regarding the campaign as a whole: without going into details, I'd give it a solid 4. Personally, I missed cutscenes — at least at the start and end of missions. Could've added at least one Mentor in mission 3 or 4, since it would've been nice to make some strong troops in mission 4. Visually, the maps are great, I liked them. Difficulty-wise, mission 2 is the hardest. Disappointed by the Aidan bug, but nevertheless, you can trick the system and emerge victorious. Character icons are cool, I like that stuff. Too bad Markal doesn't have the Undead Recruitment specialty, but I guess it would've been too OP if it worked like in the original. Overall, I'm satisfied with the well-spent time and the work — I'd gladly play something else by this author) Something like that)