Sorry, but please let me know when you decide to post something.
That's how it was, except that I started with Mephala.
It's time to take a break from Heroes: in the first game, I didn't notice a hidden wood and gold mine, lost movement points, but otherwise, I was playing well up to turn 123, and we paused.
By turn 124, I had Mephala with expert armor, scout, archer, advanced earth magic, and base leadership. Also, I had 20 ducks + 50 elves + Little Friend (from the refuge) + food and artifacts +3 speed + 3/3 to combat. If I had a tier 3 creature, it would have been defeated, but there are no ducks, and there's no way to get to tier 3 either. I also have Kira with expert earth magic; both heroines visited many upgrade locations. We paused here.
And then it started.
Mephala was defeated 3 times while trying to get the book, but eventually, I bought it.
Then, I could have broken the gold mine with Kira without losses, but I needed to level up Mephala's earth magic, and there was no other place to do that besides the gold mine. On the first turn, the ducks poisoned the archer; I should have taken more food, but I almost broke it anyway.
Thanks for the game!
And for the suggested auto-save.