Stage 5 of the John Van Caneghem Tournament

I think I finally figured out where the artifacts are, but wouldn't it be faster to just go, dig them up, and teleport to the city? I'm having trouble leveling up my hero (I can't figure out how to level up heroes quickly regardless of the faction), so it took me a long time to get to level 20 – 39 days =)

Added 2 minutes ago
I know what the Skull of Marcal is. So, you played as Orcs, raised undead, and used summoning magic at the same time?

Added 3 minutes ago
What was your Orc army like?

1. I think FIREBALL and I did the same thing – we first collected tribute from the ghosts in the Dungeon (artifacts), and then the main character went to the excavation site.
2. When FIREBALL talked about the artifact, he meant the skull.
3. DIM013 played as the undead – see previous posts.
4. Since the Walkthrough is very fast, I didn't even build executioners, wyverns, or cyclops – the neutrals were easily defeated, and I also saved mercury (which was needed to build structures in the city).
5. The main troops at the end of the game were 40 ken, 12 shamans, and 50 orcish warriors.

Added 8 minutes ago

Added 6 minutes ago
Yes, and what's the point of such a large map? If everything can be done in half an hour.

1. Once you've studied the map and decided on a route, etc., then it's really fast, but definitely not in half an hour.
2. GHOST just took the map, placed obelisks, and came up with a task.
And how quickly the participants of the Tournaments complete it depends only on them.
And maybe someone manages to quickly get through the dragons, and who knows – they might save an extra day, etc.

P.S. The point is that someone risked going quickly to the Tear with a small army, while another preferred to first build a Castle and then go without problems to clear the territory.