Posts from Awakening of Evil

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Greetings) and before starting the story about the completion of the campaign, which is the 5th mission, I want to congratulate everyone on the new year, all the best, happiness, health, and everything your heart desires

Now let's move directly to the walkthrough... In general, this mission, surprisingly, didn't cause any particular problems, and roughly speaking, you can relax a bit here compared to the previous ones, in my opinion. Let's go through everything in order

Mission 5 - Dark Messiah
Lore-wise: In short, we want to completely liberate our lands and put an end to the war. To do this, we need to storm the "Heavenly Gates". Upon its fall, the humans will have no choice but to retreat, and Ig-Shail will be free)

But of course, it's not all that simple, because from the mission's title it's already clear that things won't end easily...

There are essentially two main phases here: the Underground - preparation, the Surface - wiping out everything and everyone)

About the Surface:

We start with 4 heroes - Raelag, Shadya, Thralsai, and Ilaya. And we are told that you have 4 months to prepare, then you will go to the surface for the final battle)
Let's quickly go over the heroes and what they have... Unfortunately, from the 4th mission, neither Raelag nor Thralsai carry over (what I leveled in the previous mission). But nonetheless, at least they aren't level 1 bums, and we're thankful for that)

Thralsai - skills + artifact "Ring of Swiftness"


Shadya - skills + lightning fork


Ilaya - skills + red boots


Raelag - skills + Ring of Sar-Issa


In short, and generally speaking, the easiest way to push through, in my opinion, was with Raelag and Thralsai; Shadya and Ilaya were bringing up the rear, in my opinion, although Ilaya probably did the most...

At the start, we are offered to enable hints or not. I, of course, need them. At the start, they will show us zones surrounded by 4 dolmens of knowledge with a guard in the center, and they say something like: you break through this point and reinforcements will appear from time to time. For some it was easier to break through these places, for others harder, but the earlier we break through, the faster reinforcements will appear. And over time, when we are allowed to recruit units, we won't need to return there with the main heroes to avoid missing the next reinforcement (I understand the logic: as long as you don't pick up the stack, it will stay and not change, so it's not worth keeping them there for weeks)

Raelag at the dolmens

Also, besides the reinforcements themselves, there are just dolmens that light up when you break them. Upon visiting them, they show us different parts of the surface map and give side quests


Also, during the journey, we are given hints about various locations, and overall the number of side quests here is sufficient. From the banal "find the tear" (by the way, I wanted to cheat a bit and open the map with a cheat to quickly dig it up, but apparently the author foresaw this, and when you try to open the map with the command, it gives an error during such puzzles) to a sequence of quests where you have to figure things out
+ in addition to everything else, I decided to look in the tavern to see what main hero was there, and I didn't quite understand: which Urgash? What does he have to do with it? But apparently, even Sigrif with the ring would be an order of magnitude weaker than this little guy


And you think, what to do with this? Well, it becomes clear later that it will be understood. For now, we continue to level up the heroes and explore the location.


During the journey, we come across huts that give various tasks:

The Dark Star - probably the most confusing quest, because there's a whole sequence of tasks that aren't entirely obvious, in my opinion. Initially, when they give the task, they say something like "find it", but where to start the search, even they don't know. Well, okay, find it)

Also, so that we don't get too bored, during our preparation period, two red heroes will appear in the underground: Gabriel and Victoria. One appears to the right of the Lake of Shadows, the other to the left (approximately on the second and third game months), but no problems arose with them...


Thralsai took out Gabriel

Also, passing by the Machine Forge, our advisor tells us that it's worth visiting. I think, okay, if it's worth it, then it's worth it


They will tell us that they can carry out a sabotage and take out the "Sentinel of Elrath" from the Heavenly Gates, but for this they need 100 Stalkers and some amount of gold. When we bring them everything they need, they tell us the probability of success is 33 percent, but in any case, even though it seems low, they still manage their task)

The Heavenly Gates, damn, it looks beautiful


Also, in the area of Ilaya's castle, there is a tomb (usually when we approach it, morale decreases and they give an artifact) - but here they decided to complicate things, and it's locked. To open it, we need a key. This key consists of 2 halves that are located in the "Blood Temples". There are two of them in the underground. To combine them into one, we are transparently hinted that we need to go to the Conflux of Elements, which is located on the territory of Shadya's castle. It is worth noting that it is not necessary to go with the hero who cleared the temple; after receiving the two halves, any unit can approach and the key will be ready)

Prophet on the lake shore: he will give a task to destroy the rampaging undead. Nothing complicated, they are in the Sunken Temple not far from him

Witch's hut in the east - will give a task to bring Markel's skull. But to get it, they tell us something like, he is beyond time and space. In short, near Ilaya's castle, we saw an area closed by a fire wall, and next to it a sign saying "Time Paradox" (or something like that). When we take the quest, this area opens up. At first glance, there's no one to fight, but there are different anomalous cataclysms. Stepping on them triggers various battles, which are generally not difficult. After going through this path, they tell us to approach the wall and you will be teleported, and we end up in the zone where the skull lies, guarded by a stack of Mummies. Then we return via a one-way portal and bring the skull, receiving a reward... They also provide information about the Dark Star


Witch's hut in the west - everything is banal here. I think you noticed that there are empty undead platforms in various places. So, after we take the quest from her, Legions of Zombies will appear there (8 platforms total, I think). Nothing complicated, though some heroes break through faster, others slower. Either way, I used furies to kite them...

Prophet in the dwarven city - I had questions here. We entered the city, but the path to the goodies is blocked by minecarts, and they just say, "Go and find a way to clear the blockage." I'm like, okay (though actually, I didn't figure it out right away. I had to use a cheat sheet, which isn't mine but was posted by someone earlier. However, those who want to complete this campaign will find it useful in general)

Valeria arrived; Raelag met her and took her out without question

And so, regarding the passage to the dwarven goodies + finding the Dark Star, after we completed the quest in the hut (the one that will poison the humans with plague and help us in the assault), we need to:

- Go to the Sirens to the left of the cliff. They will also give us info and ask for 100 Peasants (there are plenty of them on the map; we approach them, they ask for something for their service, gold I think, and we take them to the sirens)


And they'll tell us about the ghost ship that appears from time to time, and that its captain has the Dark Star. Understood, accepted


And after that, since there is little time left, I quickly went with Ilaya on logistics to the hut so that the prophet would tell me to go to the minecarts blocking the passage and use the Dark Star. We destroy the passage, take the goodies, there's a one-way portal that immediately takes us to the hut to return the Dark Star. They give the Armor of the Forgotten + an army boost and some stats)

3 days before the attack, Isabelka worries about Raelag)


And so the preparation phase is almost over. I'll attach a couple more cool breakouts in my opinion, and it's worth adding that before the exit, all heroes visited the Mentor. Raelag broke through the Mentor with the Tome of Darkness

Just a decent breakout

Raelag vs Phoenixes

Burning 600 Bone Dragons

I'd like to immediately note what I didn't like: the deadline they give us for preparation does not include the 7th day. That is, we don't have 4 months to prepare, but 3 months and 6 days. I was cutting it close; I needed to mentor the last hero and I'd be ready. I did it on the 7th day, and the next day they tell me I didn't make it. I had to cheat a little, even though the heroes were in their castles, I needed to move them to the marker.... Actually, it could have been done legitimately, but I was already getting a bit lazy...


At this point, the underground phase ends. Let's sum up... Actually, there is more than enough time, in my opinion... if you don't stall like I did a little. And overall, of the side quests, the trickiest is the one with the Dark Star. Otherwise, everything is quite playable, and you can definitely finish it faster. Speaking of heroes, the easiest was Raelag thanks to the ring and Chaos, and Thralsai thanks to the Plague. Shadya is a sort of under-Raelag; overall okay, but mana ran out quickly. The biggest questions were about Ilaya. Being on logistics with boots should make her the fastest, but for me it didn't work out. Roughly speaking, I was stalling for a month with her, gathered some meat, went for an exchange, and the process more or less moved from a dead point... And jumping ahead, I'll say right away that you shouldn't buy out the maximum army. You might not even buy a particular stack (Ghydra for example), because on the surface, all our heroes will be given a good stack of Wolves. That's the first thing. The second thing is that we will be freeing our army stacks from prisons. It's better to have the appropriate upgrades to not lose army; I lost some, so I'll outline here what's better to take with you
1st tier - Stalkers
2nd tier - Furies
3rd tier - Minotaur Guards
4th tier - Swift Riders
5th tier - Cave Hydras (if you're going to take them)
6th tier - Shadow Ladies
7th tier - Black Dragons

My Lizard Warriors and Dragons didn't match, so I simply lost them) And let's move on to the surface




Our preparation is over. Now we just go to destroy everything in our path, and Sigrif joins us

As I said above, we get joined by large stacks of Wolves, and I discard Ghydras or Riders (whichever I had fewer of than Ghydras, I took Wolves)
The battles with the garrisons themselves, I didn't actually save, because in my opinion, there's nothing difficult there...

Those with Summoning are Shadya and Ilaya - Phantoms of Wolves, and you can imagine the mess that happens))

Thralsai - with the Tome of Darkness, using Puppet Master on Berserkers, Vampirism on Stalkers, and go ahead

Raelag mainly uses Chaos, and I was throwing mass Slow and Dispel for good measure))

Sigrif - OH YES, HE IS JUST AS I LEFT HIM, ISN'T HE? He's on Darkness and Summoning, so no problems either. It's only worth noting that because he has the imba ring, his enemies were slightly stronger. I guess for balance, although everywhere it says "High" difficulty, we still take them out without issue...
He was given to us with an Imba ring + Empathy set, Holy Sandals, and a Horseshoe, quite enough for any tasks. And if you think that's not enough, go a little forward; there will be four tomes lying around if you need them for some tasks

Along the way, we had side quests: burn all the farms of the Heavenly Gates, free all the prisoners from prisons (additional army), plunder the Dragon Treasure Vault, and bring (50 of each, I think) rare resources to the tavern owner (army boost for everyone + other stuff)

The first main task is to take out the outer boundaries - just smash 5 garrisons. Then clear the inner boundaries. Along the way, you can clear prisons and peasant huts from the path - it's worth mentioning that there are tons of them, and there's no problem, but just know that)
Then clear the inner garrisons - and after that, all that's left is to go to the market. There will be buildings that allow you to boost the army for a certain sum, as well as buildings that can level up stats. Though I thought this could be done infinitely (to level Sigrif's stats up to Urgash's), but no, there's a limit. In total, you can level up around 20 stats for everyone (well, it's not serious). Clear the Dragon Utopia, fully free all our troops from prisons, and you can safely go to the "Heavenly Gates"


In terms of speed, Sigrif and Ilaya progressed generally faster than everyone else thanks to logistics, but overall this doesn't really matter, in my opinion)
After completing everything that could be done, let me show you the final heroes I ended up with
















So, let's move on to the final battle and the end of this campaign overall:
Regarding the finale (we think we'll take out the main hero of the Heavenly Gates and it's a happy ending - not so). I should immediately explain why Sigrif has a small army compared to, say, Ilaya. This happened because I forgot to return the army after Sigrif's journey through the whirlpools, but nevertheless, it didn't stop him from taking out the human hero

Regarding the battle itself:
 - For the battle of Sigrif vs Victor, we essentially need to take out 4 Seraphs, who are being fought by everyone else except Sigrif

Then after defeating them, Sigrif enters the final battle
I'm attaching the battles of the others and Sigrif below

Shadya vs Ilaina

Ilaya vs Miv

Thralsai vs Vitorio

Raelag vs Dougal

and the final Sigrif vs Victor

After all these battles, we watch a chain of cool cutscenes, and it seems like we can relax, but not so soon...




In short: after the victory over Victor, Frieda, Duncan, and Wulfstan arrive, not understanding what's happening, how dare you, etc. But Raelag is like, "Let's not fight, remembering the old days." Then Ilaya tells us, "I know who will be the new chieftain." And Sigrif decided to return to Ig-Shail, but we see a berserker animation over our hero, and we see how in the underground we are surrounded by Arch Devils, and then the "Final Final Battle" begins... And Sigrif wasn't ready (since the army was too small), and Urgash's stats are just too high. But jumping ahead, whether you win or lose this battle, the outcome is the same... It's even a bit upsetting. I understand it's intended by the plot, but overall, after defeating Urgash, they could have kept the same meaning but at least changed the cutscenes... Jumping ahead, just for testing, I took an army with cheats and defeated Urgash, but no other cutscenes, nothing changed overall :(


To make it clear what I'm talking about, and what I think in general: The Ring of Dominion is the original plan of the Overlord and Urgash to give it to us. Even they are, like, trolling us among themselves: the hero who emerged from the Wastelands, who escaped alive from the depths of Shio and defeated Urgash (and at this moment Urgash laughs), saying that Sigrif is naive, and all this was part of the plan. In the end, Sigrif is turned into an Overlord of Demons (with Agrael's model), and Urgash is like, "I've seen this somewhere before," and the Overlord is like, "Oh, don't remind me..." And as a result, all lands will be in flames, and Urgash will be able to break free. "Go and destroy, my new Dark Messiah..."





Regarding what I said above, theoretically, I think it's possible to defeat him without cheats on the army, but there's no point. They could have conditionally added a second cutscene, where Urgash says: "Puppy, you think you can handle me?" and the Ring of Dominion explodes over him, and he also turns into an Overlord of Demons, or something similar. Well, that's just nitpicking...
It's a pity, of course, that our Sigrif just snaps his fingers and takes out Frieda, Duncan, Wulfstan, and Ilaya... It's clear it's intended by the plot, but I feel a bit sorry for them... In the end, they fought all the time for their people and for a just cause, but it all turned out like this...

Let's sum up my overall impressions of the entire campaign: I have mixed feelings, somewhere between wild delight and wild suffering, but still more delight. Yes, at times there were moments of frustration, where I abandoned it and didn't play for a while, at times I was cursing and indignant, but still this is a VERY cool piece of work in my opinion, and overall I'm pleased that I managed to complete it... Yes, I understand that someone more skilled probably didn't experience any major problems, but nonetheless. Not that I'm comparing, but this campaign is overall TOP in my list, on par with Heart of Night by @Gerter and the maps by @AstralLein...
Overall, an interesting story where at first we fight for a just cause, then we are exiled, we survive, then we end up in Hell itself, and take revenge on our invaders... Though the price of this power that our Sigrif gained was predetermined from mission 2-3...

I'll also add save files:

Saves from the First to the Third mission

Saves from the Fourth to the Fifth mission

I'll also add cheat sheets (which aren't mine, but I snagged them from somewhere in the thread when I wanted to grind 100 reputation for humans in the second mission but never succeeded)

Mission 2

Mission 3

Mission 4

Mission 5
- Actually, there's quite useful info here to close all the questions you might have had

P.s. Overall, despite the fact that the campaign was released quite a long time ago, it works more or less stably. In the first and second missions, it crashed quite often, then everything went like clockwork. In the fifth mission, I encountered one bug. It's not critical, but there was a time when the game just stopped


And yes, I'll immediately answer the question that someone might have: will I play the sequel "Invasion from the Inferno"? Definitely - Yes. I'm interested in how this story will finally end (in my understanding, either we will conquer everything, or Sigrif will get his horns trimmed in the end). But I'll say this: definitely not in the near future, especially a campaign for Demons, in which my knowledge is "very strong" - that's just playing through the original with Agrael, and maybe a couple of maps with Deleb where we go pew pew olo-lo, well, you get the idea)) For now, in the near future, I want to play something conditionally simpler, to rest, to relax, so to speak... I'm not ready to jump straight into such a difficult trial yet (even though I haven't played it, I suspect it won't be easier than this campaign)
p.p.s. When the saves are uploaded, there will be a clickable link, in case someone wants to play from my saves)

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Hello! And before I start telling you about completing the campaign, which is mission 5, I want to congratulate everyone on the upcoming new year, and wish you all the best, happiness, health, and everything your heart desires.

Thank you for the detailed descriptions. It brings back memories of my own playthrough. Will there be one for the next campaign as well?

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Thank you for the detailed descriptions. It brings back memories of my own playthrough. Will there be something similar for the next campaign as well?

You're welcome! If I enjoy it, I'll write down my thoughts.

More likely than not, but definitely not in the near future... I want to take a break and play something simpler.

Oh, someone else is playing this campaign too.))

I'm writing here with a cry from my soul, about the third mission, "in the depths of hell."

Good lord, why are only third-tier creatures available to the Elves?! AAAAH, no archers, no black dragons! Red ones die compared to black ones incredibly quickly, from all sorts of fire shields of phoenixes and so on. And the army is increased not like in the second mission, by percentage, but only by the number of third-tier creatures.

It's so frustrating. It's possible to complete it, no problem, but damn it! I'm also annoyed by the design of the Night Queens - they look like they came from the cheapest brothel.

Otherwise, the maps and missions are wonderful, glory to Master forever and ever!

I recently downloaded a campaign. In the first mission, where you get the Cloak of Deadly Shadows, and in one of the areas where undead creatures appear among the neutral units, there are creatures that look like Cave Lords, but there are 7 of them, each with 10,000 health, and darkness doesn't affect them. How do I fight them? Also, instead of wolves appearing when exiting the dungeon, there are dark, stout men who attack from a distance through the ground. They also appear in other places. What's the best tactic against them?

delete the extra maps from the maps folder. It's not the campaign that adds these mobs. It's something from outside.

By the way, what are those big guys called, if it's not a secret?

I recently downloaded a campaign. In the first mission, where there's the "Cloak of Deadly Shadows," and in one of the circles where undead appear among the neutral creatures, there are creatures that look like Cave Lords, but there are 750 of them, and each has 10,000 health, and darkness doesn't affect them. How do I fight them? Also, instead of wolves appearing when exiting the dungeon, there are dark, thick men who attack from underground at a distance. They also appear in other places. What's the best tactic against them?

It's clear that there are maps with mods in the game's folders (maps, campaign, savegame). Try clearing all of the above; I think the strange units will disappear.

Vadim_t, thank you for the recommendation. The problem was indeed caused by some map in the maps folder. I cleared the folder, and now it works normally, but now I have to start over because the saves don't work.

I exited the labyrinth and that’s it. Now I can’t load any saves – the game crashes. I uninstalled and reinstalled the game, but it’s still the same – any save in the labyrinth loads, but not on the surface. Thanks for the campaign – I finished it 😡.

This campaign has stood the test of time. I'm afraid the problem lies somewhere on your end.

This campaign has stood the test of time. I'm afraid the problem lies somewhere on your end.

I played through it on EWA, and I still remember everything. But I got stuck on a clean 3.1 version. And I remember having the same problem with the surface back then. It somehow got resolved (I don't remember how).
I installed the original game + patch, and that's it (I didn't even bother installing mods) - I can't load onto the surface. The save crashes, and I've made several saves. So, I can get to the surface, even fight, save, but I can't load that save again. I've already tried changing all the settings, and I really don't know what's causing it.
P.S. If it helps to understand, the campaign crashed constantly when reloading a battle, but I accepted it because after the crash, I could load and continue, but in the second chapter, after the labyrinth, it all came to a complete stop (I even deleted old saves, leaving only one, but it still didn't work).

Good evening. I doubt I’ll get an answer, but you never know. I’m having a problem in the fifth mission of the campaign, right at the beginning. After completing the turn and pressing the key to start a new day, the game crashes. What could be the problem? I haven’t had similar problems in other missions of the campaign, except for the second mission when capturing the thieves’ den and trying to learn rumors, which also caused crashes.