Shahti brought 3 stacks, Luna arrived, the resource node near the castle lit up, and the roads were decent without any blockades. There was 1 rest remaining, but I decided to play because it looked good after the first turn. However, that's where the good things ended. At the rest, I found 2 (yes, two!) hives (with 12 units each) and 3 accessible troglodyte lairs. That's all there was in terms of army. I got lucky with the geography: I could exit through the hydra lair. I found some decent stat-boosting artifacts (Shahti had 14-8-4-6 when he left). Luna leveled up her spellpower to 11, but it didn't end up being useful. I reached level 125, took 1 hive, and almost made it to the castle. I should mention that my opponent also had a difficult respawn, and he exited on the next turn. Sending out a scout, I discovered a Mephala rushing and a meat wagon. Shahti, with the log, managed to take them both out. Unexpected luck.
Thanks for the game!