Posts from Heart of the Night

I got the Radiant Beacon, reached the battle with Baal. I equipped the Staff of Sar-Iss, Sandro's Cloak, and the Radiant Beacon, but Baal one-shots me in battle. Each creature has over 70 initiative, and it's impossible to defeat him; my creatures don't even get a turn. What am I doing wrong?

I suspect you're making the same mistake I did many years ago: you didn't apply initiative bonuses to your troops... For a mage, this is a must-have, and the map creator took advantage of that.

I suspect they got carried away with the same thing I did many years ago: they didn't add enough talismans to the initial units for their troops... For a mage, it's a must-have, and the map author played on that.

I equipped artifacts on the initial units. It gave a +25% bonus. As a result, my troops have an initiative of 17, while theirs is 75.
Also, look at the stats of the imps - 80 health, 75 attack. Archdevils have 2000 health and 110 attack.
I really don't understand what the problem is. Because in the walkthrough for the remix, Baal was a regular unit.

I equipped artifacts on the Imps. This gave a +25% bonus. As a result, my troops have an initiative of 17, while theirs is 75. Also, look at the stats of the Imps - 80 health, 75 attack. Archdevils have 2000 health and 110 attack. I really don't understand what the problem is because in the walkthrough for the remake, Baal was a regular enemy.

Delete all maps, mods, and campaigns. Leave only this map.

Delete all maps, mods, and campaigns. Leave only this map.

Nothing.

Perhaps you could share the save file?

Maybe you should share the save file?

Perhaps some residual file remained after installing a mod. I'll be glad if you can find it: https://disk.yandex.ru/d/3Dno0H_lwuXrHQ

Perhaps some residual file remained after installing a mod; I'll be glad if you can find it. https://disk.yandex.ru/d/3Dno0H_lwuXrHQ

I don't know what's causing this error, but to fix it, you need to remove the "Radiant Beacon," exit the hero information menu (Esc/Enter), and put the beacon back on. After that, the stat bonus for Baal will disappear.

I don't know what causes this bug, but to fix it, you need to remove the Radiant Beacon, exit the hero information menu (Esc/Enter), and put the beacon back on. After that, the stat bonus for Baal will disappear.

It helped, thank you.

I've already played this scenario, and I really liked both the terrain and the plot.

Greetings) To say that I finally finished this map would be an understatement. At first, I thought it was damn hard, very hard—so many battle retries, doing things wrong or the wrong way, because I tried to play as much as possible without spoilers; specifically, I didn't read the thread about who passed it and how. The only thing I used was a hint on the last page with Baal, because there was a problem with the Beacon, but I swapped it out, and everything was okay... In short, it's just an AWESOME MAP. It seems like after all these grueling trials you wouldn't want to play something similar, but actually, no—if there is anything like this, please let me know...

And now for everything in order; maybe I'm repeating myself for the nth time across all posts, but I want to share everything with everyone...

1) START (I mean before releasing Baal from his hole and before reaching Gretta) - probably the most important part of this map. Through trial and error, I realized that Fire Warriors are TOP and there's no point being here without them. I don't even know how many times I rerolled until I got them, but nonetheless: day 4, lvl 5, advanced Summoning with Fire Warriors and go go—I think it couldn't be better...
- Relatively chill, without micromanaging every single detail, we clear everything slowly and steadily. At the start, you can cheat a bit: fight most battles except for the hut battle, and when taking the Secret Paths quest, don't rush—go visit all three fairies (though two are enough) so you have lvl 1 and don't lose skills, as will happen later.
- It's quite difficult (and since I'm not HC, very difficult), but I managed to push through with minimal losses, losing only Gargoyles down to 1s...
- My fundamental position was to max out all bases; although the witch gives uber-useful skills to choose from (attack or defense), they just don't fit into my campaign build...
- As a result, before freeing Baal, Karlam has Light, Summoning, Lore, Magic, Logistics and lvl 22; you can boldly go free the guy. I take the stable, and under the light, I release this mammal.
- I actually wanted to catch the mentor, but it didn't work out; is it probably programmatically forbidden?
- We reach Gretta, I give her the cart, tent, and artifacts that I basically don't need (I kept the boots and clover, I think).
- While at Gretta's before leaving, I took the outpost near the castle, rolling the guard many times (it's cool that she varies, though there's probably a specific pool); regardless, I figured it wouldn't hurt, and then we move to the middle part, I guess))

2) Mid game (Gretta) - this is where the unforgettable fun begins. Gretta is like a mouse in a hole, and cats come wanting to eat her—there are 4 of them, plus one on a horse, I believe. At this stage, there were also a lot of retries from this moment until I figured out what I needed...
- Here, the start gave us an army; we take it into the first battle. Yes, it's quite hard with a lvl 1 hero, even with an army, to bash Necromancers... but again, after 5-6 attempts, I got a result with losses tending toward 0.
- A small starting zone where our Gretta must eventually level up as much as possible because evil uncle Ainurel will arrive and slap her across the face with his machines... Naturally, the first attempt was a wipe, and you're like "cool... what now?" But I rushed it.
- By the arrival of the first Necromancer, I managed to complete the quest to clear the surroundings; I didn't make it to the underground. Consequently, I ended up with Gretta at lvl 18 with maxed Lore, Advanced Attack, Leadership with Empathy, Rain + Enchanted Arrow, and for change, we take Summoning from the witch, luckily I have a Phantom in the guild (because I simply didn't have time for the one in the underground).
- 1st battle - it took about 5-6 tries to get optimal losses (all replays will probably be there). The main problem is the machines; roll the deployment so that archers come out before the ballista with an army of around 300 fairies, 110 archers, 60 druids, etc. In a nutshell: first, Phantoms and archers take out the tent, druids take the ballista, the main stack with Luck breaks the catapult, Ents in the center under Root hold the defense, fairies bait the obstacle in front of the castle from the start... Then on cooldown: Phantom, archers, then you can summon a dragon and use the leftovers to make nymphs while they let you)) in the end, we lose around 20 archers, some druids, a couple of Ents, and voila.
- And you're like "everything's under control, you're a pro, you carried"... you can relax now; I understand they came once every two weeks? But that's only the beginning...
- I was very pleasantly surprised by the variability of events after the battle; I mean that if the towns remain intact, we don't lose the Stronghold and Castle. If they tore them to shreds, then sorry. After I realized this, I had even more motivation to play better.
- While Gretta has "breathing room," we go to the underground and clear everything there. True, I approach the crypt after the mentor, because without Expert schools, they won't give spells; specifically, by the time of clearing the crypt, I had Light and Summoning. The only problem was the arena guards; I thought about not fighting them, then pushed myself and broke through. Oh yeah, in the underground right near the entrance, there's a phantom and a fireball, build variability)
- Necro #2 - Gilva (Expert Healer) - I look at her and think she's average, probably some kind of weak boss, not everyone should be uber-hard, judging by the army (but how wrong I was). I think "now I'll beat her with my left foot in one-two," but she raises half of them back to life down to one, and I'm like WHAT IS THIS? HOW DO YOU BEAT THIS?
- By this point, Gretta is 26, racial skill respec'd to novice (keeping some cursed ones), Light (Smite, Blessing, Storm), Attack (BB, Shooting, Forest Fury), Summoning (Fire Warriors, Charms, Balance), Lore (bald+2 rewards), and Leadership with Empathy hasn't gone anywhere)
- Again, by trial and error, I got the best result and moved on with an army of 300 fairies, 150 archers, 90 druids, 20 Ents, and the rest of the mass.
- The plague-loving lady: first, naturally, they open the gates, and the main goal is to destroy the catapult. On Gretta's 1st turn, we give Evasion to the Ents, and further on, we place them in the center of the gates—actually, the heralds are already there, we just block the passage with ourselves. Archers and druids destroy the catapult, we bait with fairies into a corner, mass cure plague, mass haste, then Fire Warriors; we take out Liches down to 1, then as many flyers as possible, vampires + ghosts. Avatar of Silana comes to the rescue, and then Phantom archers. If she casts plague, we remove it; periodically we can cast mass Blessing/Smite when given the chance. Also, this lady likes to cast Unholy, but horns with aura can help here, and mostly those who fly are moving. To keep phantoms alive longer, we abuse miss chances on ghosts. Then regens, resurrections, and everything is okay) Also with minimal losses...
- Naturally, as we kill these spirits, they let us further and further into the underground. Eventually, we get the chance to complete the quests "Path Under the Mountain" and "Fear of the Void." Strange, though—the witch should have theoretically taken the skull and ring, I think, but she doesn't, and I don't think she gives anything. I think "well ok, there's a checkmark in the quests and I'm happy"; for the path, they at least gave some army stats and a few items. At this point, another necromancer appears, Oris (Ghost Archer), and off we go again, iterating.
- Oris's main gimmick is lots of hated phantoms, and it probably would have been easier if I had Protection instead of Storm Wind in Light... The only thing I re-mentored before him was in Summoning: instead of Balance, I took Banishment, arguing that it wouldn't hurt). By this point, Gretta is 28 with good stats and filled bases, with a good army of around 200 archers, 40 Ents, 700 fairies, and around 100 druids and others.
- Tactics - From the start, the caty takes out our gate, wall, and tower. I give Evasion to the archers, but the shooters aren't baiting(( and then from him comes a Phantom of 2 stacks of liches + skeletons + fire warriors, and all this meat shoots quite well. Of course, we take out the caty, Ents in the gate. We don't kill phantoms until we banish them; let single evasions on archers and druids look bad, which forced me to resurrect druids immediately, but the main task is to thin the main stack so he doesn't make phantoms later. But still, we use Banishment once the main packs are thinned. When the necro has no shooters and liches left, at most he'll make fire warriors and turn them into phantoms with his ability, then tactically shoot all remaining, filling losses with resurrections and regens. Main thing is not to drop druids to 0, otherwise we lose the spell boost, which we don't want) And depending on the situation—I think I didn't have anti-magic at that moment—Heavenly Shield, because he hits too hard with wasp swarm, etc.
- Further, Gretta becomes more passive, let's say, and we wait for Klemera's arrival to dispel the charms that won't let us out. I think "oh cool, maybe I can swap some artifacts with Karlam or go out and slap Baal," but no, not so fast. I really wanted to, but nothing, we move on.
- Next on the agenda is Klimera (The Keeper). Realizing that everyone will surprise us with something, and by iteration, we pick the tactics again. This lady's gimmick is Banshee Scream with Sorrow + she likes to give Berserk, especially to archers. No matter, we found a way to handle her. By this point, Gretta is 29 with nearly 1000 fairies, 300 archers, 100+ druids, and around 100 Ents, I think. The only thing I removed here was Markel's skull, because the friend already pushes morale into the minus and empathy works the opposite way, so maximum possible BD to demoralize less.
- Oh yeah, by this point, eternal night begins and running as Karlam isn't as comfortable as before. Well whatever, what about the Keeper.
- Tactics - Here the castle isn't destroyed from the first turn of the caty, but immediately after they cast Scream and mass Sorrow, this woman gives us Berserk on archers. You can't remove it by removing it, so as soon as Gretta moves, we give anti-magic—luckily there's only one stack of shooters. After that, she'll have a manic idea to berserk someone else, but here we can wait and hope for the resistance aura. There are enough flyers, so archers work on them, druids take out the caty. This time, Ents don't need to be put in the gate since she's already there)) Liches aren't scary for a while because they really want to cast on dryads, and along the way, we maximally anti-magic those we haven't lost, or if we did catch berserk. Unfortunately, we'll close 2-3 stacks and then unholy words follow. Then those not under anti-magic—dragons, horns, dancers—we regen/resurrect, cover with anti-magic, shoot the rest of the meat under the gates, and it's a wrap.
- After victory, we are allowed to pass in the underground to the far mini-location for Gretta where there are a couple of trees and the grave of the forgotten. As you understand, at this stage, there are no problems with this. They give a teleport (I think), but what's needed is "Wall of Swords," as it turned out. At this stage, it seemed everything was done, Gretta sits at home and chills, but no, turns out they saved another "HORSE" to tickle the nerves.
- We're talking about Mordrokar (spirit of the commander or just HORSE). A bit about him: if previous necros focused more on some magic (not counting the engineer), the resurrector to the limit, the illusionist of shooters, or just annoying with curses, this guy is a true action hero. In the light, with tons of initiative + speed, naturally, just like the others, he didn't fall on the first try... But our Gretta has a strong army, good artifacts, and defense near 50; army: 400 archers, 200 druids, 1k nymphs, and the rest.
- Tactics - Here the familiar destruction of the gate from the first turn returns, but added is the fact that everyone (roughly speaking) reaches you: Knights can walk in, flyers can fly in (only mummies don't reach immediately, basically). Those who are slower can be closed off in two turns. Naturally, the main task is to close the gate, but Ents alone won't work as they enter immediately, but there is the Wall of Swords. So, step by step.
Immediately, mummies want to cast Scatter on archers, but here I rolled it so their cast resisted. Then horses fly in and hit oaks; we one-shot vampires who can immediately hit the box. Then we clear space in front of archers and bait with nymphs into a corner before the wall, take out the caty with druids, one-shot vampires who flew in, Phantom archers and shoot them down, take out the ballista, maximally choke ghosts who got close. We deal with most of them; when 2 stacks of horses remain, some behind the wall, others rooted by Ents, we just close the entrance behind the gates with the Wall of Swords. Repeat if necessary, then heals, regens, you get it.
- And after this duel, Gretta falls into some kind of hibernation or something (runs around gathering army in the castle and mill with garden on CD). Let's summarize this part.

Despite the fact that I didn't manage to slightly abuse Gretta via mentoring through Karlam, everything is completely playable and passable. Just having a non-first level from the start would have been much easier and faster, wouldn't have slowed down gameplay, and I wouldn't have had to replay certain moments with Karlam. Everything is passable by trial and error, although the first battle of any of the 5 bosses always ended with the elf getting smashed. But you just need to strain a couple of brain cells to get the grey matter moving and everything falls into place. Most likely, my build isn't the only correct one, because you could do it through some chaos, using machines, and that would probably be correct too, and maybe someone did it that way, but as they say, you pick a build and try to stick to it as much as possible. Although the territory for expansion is small, gradually we are given the tools to make a winning machine, providing necessary spells, adding stats, and giving an army. Good concept with reinforcements every few weeks; at first, it might seem useless, but it contributes to making it easier. Only thing is, of course, you have to fight for them, then spend resources, and there weren't always enough, despite the fact that before Karlam arrived, we seemed to have gathered quite a lot... I think I expressed all thoughts on Gretta, let's move to Karlam, it's much more interesting there in my opinion...

2.1) Mid game (Karlam)- In short, VERY many interesting things, tons of quests, twists and corners in the plot, making you want to play it, want to understand how to do it, solve it, and quickly do everything to slap Baal and finish this scenario. But don't rush, buddy; if you thought you'd defeat him and that's it? Ha, naive fool, let's go in order...
- First thing before leaving, I took the outpost by the castle, even losing golems, but it was worth it. Leaving the elf, I run to the shop with machines and take the tent and cart, because I gave mine to Gretta, mentioned earlier. After the departure of troops that blocked our path at the start of the game, the road opens for searching for new adventures, only this mammal who chases us at night is added (three days at the end of the week initially), which adds its own zest—you need to think about actions and plan your steps...
- From the start, we are given 2 quests: "Contract Killing" in the tavern and "Missing Son" in the prophet's hut, and a small area for movement. Jumping ahead, both quests are interesting, only one is completed in stages—do this, return, do that, return—while the other is gradual, no need to return, everything goes in its own order. While Gretta had fairly large armies, for Karlam every single unit counts, and try playing without losses, or with minimum loss.
- Again, by trial and error, we clear everything we see and don't see. If night falls, we hide behind paths or in the underground, luckily Baal cannot go there. We start performing the first quest by visiting the artifact shop, and an ambush awaits us there. We deal with it, bring the strange artifact to receive further instructions. "Contract Killing" completed, we get a reward: red boots, crystal, and evasion I think, and they give a new quest "Key to the Mystery"—like, guy, you brought only a part, you need to collect the rest, namely destroy 4 elemental towers (luckily they can be hit twice to get some resources), collect 4 buffs, and some amount of resources.
- Then I thought I hit a dead end, because I seemed to have cleared everything, yet a guard stands there—brown according to text (but pink by color). Turns out I just overlooked that in the underground there is a passage in the other direction, and the key is guarded there. By this point, we have 8 cats, which is more fun than before; we take the key and open a new zone.
- After opening the passage, it's wide open here, eyes wander where to run and what to do, want everything at once, and we see strange prisons where you approach and nothing happens—okay, they'll explain as we go, and we continue clearing, periodically hiding from Baal when he pops out. We clear everything we see and discover a small detail: behind the fairies where djinns join, there's a strange detail, a crystal that isn't highlighted (via alt), but upon approaching it, dark elves attack us. After victory over them, we see a "seal" being removed from the prison, and from there we get some reinforcements and useful information. Yeah, principle understood: need to look closer and pay attention to this. Parallel to this, we clear elf dwellings and rebuild them where possible.
- After clearing this territory, we see a picture: a bunch of slaughtered elves and undead. According to a survivor for the "Missing Son" quest, he is somewhere in the swamps. On the way to the swamps, we also notice elven corpses, and going deeper, we again see an elemental tower and a prison, meaning we definitely need to find a crystal somewhere to unseal it. Later I did this, and there was info that possibly the missing son is in another prison (to generalize).
- Then we enter the underground, where there is a mentor for Karlam guarded by 240 dragons (dwarves). At first, I thought I wouldn't break through, but after struggling a bit, I did. But I haven't used the mentor for its purpose yet. Hurrying a bit and not scouting another path in the underground, I went outside, and there happened to be another crystal that seals a prison.
- At one point, seeing there's an exit to the sea, though by this time eternal night had fallen and Baal was only a day's journey away, calling a ship and sailing away immediately wasn't possible. I had no marauders, and for this action, you need a two-day reserve. Nothing, we run further, and we'll swim another time.
- After a couple of laps, I finally managed to pull away enough to board and sail, and immediately we bump into mermaids who give us a quest, saying "we know you're looking for the fire bird, help us and we'll help you..." AND AT THIS POINT I HAVE A QUESTION that I'll mention in the summary...
- Having completed the easy mermaid quest, they say phoenixes live on the mountain, and we see it, but how to get there is unclear (for now).
- By this point, I collected all buffs, all elem towers, and finally the treasury opened (which looks like a dwarf treasury). Upon approaching it, we sort of descend into the underground, and there is a very interesting puzzle (in my opinion) that requires some thinking.
- A so-called NoName with a djinn model who has 4 types of elementals in his army; upon killing them, he says "harmony is broken" and wipes everyone and everything. And here we start iterating: maybe like this, maybe like that, maybe there should be a certain number, maybe not touch them at all. Yes, if you don't touch them, the tactic isn't bad—the djinn doesn't cast, but you won't win either. Then it clicked, everything was simple: leave gargoyles, hit only earth. Why? Djinn casts with the words "Harmony is broken" that which is lacking, and gargoyles are immune to everything except earth, so the djinn roughly clears everyone himself. We might lose a few gargs and it's a wrap. After victory, they give the Tome of Power, and the quest updates: Key to the Mystery. After visiting the tavern, he tells us to go to the Library of Tuidhana.
- Also during the journey, they give the quest "Production Secret," which for some reason is listed as main, although in my opinion, it's optional. Seems nothing hard, but it needs mini-artifacts. I'm like (at that moment) "okay, the map is ending, where is the mage city?))" we'll figure it out later.
- As you unseal prisons, they tell you that the missing elf was caught by a Warlock in the dungeon, and we're like "let's save the lad now," and we see a movie showing they are making offerings of elves to Urgash, and this kid... and the old man is worried, but he... and then follows a rather strong Tolgara (Sinnitar) who doesn't really want there to be minimal losses... Jumping ahead, whether bug or feature, after killing the main troops (Karlam), if there are summoned units (fire warriors), the battle doesn't end—can I keep fighting? Is this normal? I'll say right away, I re-mentored a bit for him, took Distraction in Magic...
- Tactics - here it's probably more luck than tactics, but still, we place cats (of which there are 37 by this point), cats, fire warriors, regen, phantom, that's it. Though a bit of luck with the magic mirror when chain lightning hit him more than me...
- After victory over the Dark Elf, we are given a choice: what to do with the son—kill or put to sleep and take to the father. I chose to put to sleep and took him. For this, I think I got "Heavenly Shield," although later on the way he attacked me again, like "did you think it was that simple," and our GG discusses that he should have killed him. Well, then probably no reward would be given, or the old man would say "what a scoundrel" and give the reward anyway...?
- And after victory, the last obelisk is right there, after which we are told we can go and open the Grail map.
- Also, the portal near the underground exit is blocked, and we end up on that same mountain where the phen is. Actually, we see there's not only the phen but a mages' tower, only not exactly a mages' tower but a "field forge," and we're like "OOO this is for the quest," and we make minis there and then hand in the quest in the astrologer's tower for the scientist...
- And the Library of Tuidhana remains. I didn't realize at first what was up with it; when I entered the portal, the cursor showed that you couldn't go. I'm like "logically, it's empty here"... turns out rotate the map and go.... All you need to know about it is the sword))
- Well, at this stage, we've seemingly done everything. Left to approach the tree of Silana, it will give the map, hand in minis to the astrologer's tower, hand in the son, hand in decrypted notes, which I did...
- Regarding handing in the minis, this idiot says elves will rule the world, run, and 3 stacks of archers with wild initiative smash you, but it's also passable if you try a bit))
- Regarding the map, we hand in the quest, run so that we have a couple of days spare, and dig it up, and basically we are ready to finalize (as I thought).
- Hand in notes from the library, the innkeeper tells us something and gives a reward (Staff of Sar Issa).
- "Secret Paths": for completing it, they give the Robe of Sar Issa...

Summary of this part: VERY COOL, tons of quests, running, scandals, intrigues, puzzles, all logical and concise.
What I have a COMPLAINT about, or maybe I didn't understand something: when you go through the whirlpool, do you always lose gremlins? I swam a couple of times and almost none are left... and I'm like, looking at screenshots above, why does everyone have around 500 and I have 100? I put gremlins in different slots, they still die... Maybe someone can suggest why?
Well, on to the finale..

3) Finale (Karlam, Gretta)

I think "well, finally I'll slap this mammal," but no, with the build I have (as written at the start), I tried once, twice, three times and realized it's not working. At first, I faced the problem that I equip the Beacon, and still don't see myself in terms of ATB, but reading above, I understood how to solve it—it's not a problem with the item, but a problem with the build. So, after a few more laps, I went to re-mentor.... In the end, I dumped Magic and Summoning and partially redid Logistics, because I didn't want to dump it, but in any case, it's needed...

- In the end, I took Leadership with Empathy, accordingly changed Lore (Eagle, Scholar, Secret Knowledge), Sharp Mind in Logistics, Resilience with Mass Stone in Defense, and with such a build you can fight. Again, not on the first try... And yes, I redid the minis: Initiative, Magic Resistance, and Defense. The only thing I realized is that you need to kill as quickly as possible so he doesn't cast his mass spell, although we have the Beacon which resurrects, but it resurrects only once. And another bug, because of which I almost lost: no one was left on the field except summoned pets, and the battle doesn't end, and I'm like "no way...".

- Tactics are quite simple: 1 cast of Mass Stone, then Haste blessing, and during the battle Divine Vengeance—luckily I stole it from seraphims... And yes, despite dumping Summoning, Heavenly Shield remained...

- And then, boom, victory, give us the movie, everyone won, good defeated evil, gg wp. But not so fast, just when you wanted to exhale...

- Now Baal imprisons Karlam's soul, and now your task is to capture Moritron. I'm like WHAT? Realizing that Gretta is a pretty strong girl there, while our hero does nothing—seems to be lvl 40, but few skills—and I think "well, I'll try"....

- On the first try, Gretta obviously wiped, despite the fact that Baal has Subdue and Berserk, but the bot is surprisingly not stupid, he removes these things with anti-magic. Maybe it's supposed to be that way for Baal to lose, but no, defeat. And here I decided to cheat a bit, namely not to attack immediately, but to run and mentor, and I grabbed Advanced Light with Wrath and hands (which reduce cast cost by half), and here everything played out in different colors. Plus the mouse cast, which supposedly costs mana but in fact doesn't, and the absence of a catapult quickly breaking walls did their job....

- Tactics are simple - when needed, we subdue, throw berserks, and when he summons an avatar, we spam Strike of Darkness and kill the avatar. Anyway, they don't come at me until we break the walls, and then when the weak caty finally breaks something, they start coming out, but it's already too late... And I think maybe that's it, everything is bad, evil destroyed everyone, and then no...

- Turns out they reached Karlam, he wakes up, and now we fight Baal. Here we were given CP and the army is fine; overall, this battle caused no problems, despite his mass berserks and blinds, though 600 mana wasn't enough.

- And all for the sake of getting the "true final" save. And everything seems wonderful, good won, but the tree is gone, everything is on fire, and eternal night passed and dawn arrived. True, Karlam is cursed, Gretta faces exile, and what happened to Baal is still unclear, and what awaits Karlam is also unknown.

Phew, that's all I wanted to say. I wonder if anyone will read this from start to finish?))

In general, VERY COOL SCENARIO FROM START TO FINISH

Liked: plot, map, atmosphere, freedom of choice, unexpected twists

Disliked: swimming and losing gremlins.
And one more problem, probably not the map but my hardware... At first, heroes weren't displayed on the map, voids were running... No mods, other maps, crooked versions of games; I even reinstalled the game and did everything possible. Turned out it was banal: in video settings, I needed to uncheck "Simplified Display" and everything started working—well, almost everything, except paths weren't highlighted after giving experience to nymphs. HUGE THANKS TO THE AUTHOR FOR SUCH MAGNIFICENT WORK
p.s. Is there a continuation of this story?
p.p.s. Oh yeah, if you try hard enough, when we play as the demon, you can sometimes hit with the hero himself in battles))

Here are the continuation of the files, and I also have a save game with a good starting position.

Regarding the gremlins, it's simple: the whirlpool always takes half of the weakest units in terms of experience.

The trick is to drop a group of units into the garrison and, for each dive, place one gremlin in the first slot.

Elementary, my dear Watson! 🤣

Whew, that's all I wanted to say. I wonder if there will be anyone who reads it from beginning to end?))

There will be, there will be). The more extensive the review, the more useful it is for the author. And it's especially important that such reviews appear even 4 years after the map's release. I wanted to elaborate on each point in detail, but it turned out to be difficult to gather my thoughts (and, to be honest, I don't remember many of the map's details very well anymore), so just a big thank you for the high rating and kind words. I'm glad you liked it, although now I consider this work to be far from ideal.

And another problem, it's probably not the map, but my hardware... At first, the heroes weren't displayed on the map, they just ran around as empty spaces.... No mods, other maps, or buggy game versions, I even reinstalled the game, and tried everything, but it turned out that in the video settings, I just needed to uncheck "Simplified Display," and everything started working, well, almost everything, except that the paths weren't highlighted after giving experience to the nymphs.

This is more of a problem with the game itself. But the fix is good, and it's worth keeping in mind.

p.s. Is there a sequel to this story?

The sequel is a very complicated story. Initially, it was planned almost immediately after the release of this map, but for a variety of reasons, both technical and personal, it hasn't seen the light of day yet. In many ways, this is because I conceived the sequel campaign as being too technically complex and content-heavy, and I ultimately couldn't adequately handle its implementation. Nevertheless, I am currently full of motivation to finally finish this work (I really hope to be able to finish it by the new year).

Regarding the gremlins, it's simple: the whirlpool always takes out half of the units with the lowest experience points.

The trick is to send a group of units to the garrison and, with each dive, place one gremlin in the first slot.

It's elementary, really.🤣

Thanks for the answer; I didn't figure it out myself, to be honest. I was putting them in different slots, but they were dying. Turns out it's simpler than that.

Added 4 minutes later

They will be found. The more extensive the feedback, the more useful it is for the author. And it's especially important that such feedback appears even 4 years after the map's release. I wanted to elaborate on each point, but it turned out to be difficult to gather my thoughts (and, to be honest, I don't remember many of the map's details very well anymore), so just a big thank you for the high praise and kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed it, although now I consider this work to be far from ideal.

This is more of a problem with the game itself. But the fix you suggested is good, and I should keep it in mind.

The continuation is a very complex story. Initially, it was planned almost immediately after the release of this map, but due to a number of different reasons, both technical and personal, it hasn't seen the light of day yet. In many ways, this is because I conceived the campaign sequel to be too technically complex and content-heavy, and I ultimately failed to adequately implement it. Nevertheless, at the moment, I am full of motivation to finally bring this work to completion (I really hope to finish it by the new year).

In any case, as a user, I enjoyed it. Maybe the creator sees flaws, but as a player, I don't.

I would definitely be interested in playing a continuation.

And yes, maybe it's not the right place to ask, but since you're kind of the main tester for "Dark Facets," could you give a few tips?

Good lord, the Shades of Darkness aren't that difficult. The version that Gerter tested (and completed) was not only more challenging in certain aspects but also had glitches in places, and these glitches were not in the player's favor.

I'll give you ten golden rams: Heart of Night is much more difficult than Shades of Darkness. If you can complete Heart of Night, you'll definitely have fewer problems with Shades of Darkness.