Posts from Awakening of Evil

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Greetings) and before I begin the story about completing the campaign, which is also mission 5, I want to congratulate everyone on the coming 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 already rest 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 fully liberate our lands and put an end to the war. To do this, we need to storm the "Celestial Gates" — once they fall, humans will have no choice but to retreat, and Ig-Shail will be free)

But of course, it's not that simple overall, because judging by the mission's name, it's clear things won't just end like that...

There are conditionally two main phases here: The Underground — preparation, the Surface — wiping out everyone and everything)

On the surface:

We start with 4 heroes — Raelag, Shadya, Tralsay, Ylaya. And they tell us you have 4 months for preparation, then you'll head to the surface for the final battle)
Let's quickly go over the heroes and what they have... Unfortunately, neither Raelag nor Tralsay carry over from mission 4 (what I leveled up in the last mission). But nonetheless, at least they're no longer level-one bums, so thanks for that)

Tral say — these skills + artifact "Ring Of Celerity"


Shadya — skills + lightning fork


Ylaya — skills + red boots


Raelag — skills + Ring of Sar-Issus


If briefly and generally, the easiest way to push through was with Raelag and Tralsay, in my opinion; Shadya and Ylaya were holding the rear, though Ylaya probably did the most...

From the start, we're offered to enable hints or not — of course I need them. From the start, they show us zones surrounded by 4 dolmens of knowledge with guards in the center, and they say something like break through this point and reinforcements will periodically appear. For some it was easier to break through these spots, for others harder, but the sooner we break through, the faster reinforcements will come. And eventually when we get enough troops, there's no need to return there with main heroes to avoid missing the next reinforcement (I understood the logic — until you pick up the stack, it stays unchanged, so don't leave them sitting there for weeks)

Raelag takes the dolmens

Besides the reinforcements themselves, there are also regular dolmens that light up when broken through, and visiting them reveals different parts of the surface map and gives side quests


Also, as we travel, we get hints about various locations, and overall there are plenty of side quests here. From the trivial "find the tear" (by the way, I wanted to cheat a little and reveal the map with console commands to dig it up quickly, but apparently the author anticipated this too — trying to open the puzzle map with commands throws an error) to quest chains where you really have to think
+ On top of that, I decided to check the tavern to see who the big boss is, and I was a bit confused — Urgash? What does he have to do with anything? But apparently even Sigrif with his ring would be an order of magnitude weaker than this little guy


And you think what to do about it, well then it becomes clear that it'll become clear later, but for now we continue leveling heroes and exploring the location.


As we travel, we come across huts that give various tasks:

The Dark Star — probably the most confusing quest since there's a whole sequence of tasks that aren't quite obvious in my opinion. Initially when given the task, they say something like find it, but where to start searching — nobody knows, well fine, okay)

Also, so we wouldn't get bored, during our preparation period two red heroes appear in the underground — Gabrielle and Victoria. One appears right of the Lake of Shadows, the other left (around the second and third game month), but they caused no problems...


Tralsay took out Gabrielle

Also, passing by the machine forge, our advisor says it's worth visiting. I think okay, if it's worth it, it's worth it


They'll tell us they can sabotage and take out "Elrath's Sentinel" from the Celestial Gates, but for that they need 100 Hunters and some amount of gold. When we bring them everything needed, they'll tell us the success chance is 33 percent, but regardless, it seems low, yet they still manage their task)

The Celestial Gates — damn, beautiful


Also, in the zone near Ylaya's castle there's a tomb (usually when we approach it, morale drops and we get an artifact) — but here they decided to complicate things and it's locked. To open it we need a key, which consists of 2 halves located in the "Blood Temples" — there are exactly two of them in the underground. To combine it into one, they transparently hint that we should visit the Elemental Conflux located on Shadya's castle territory. Worth noting that it doesn't have to be the same hero who cleared the temple — after getting both halves, any hero can approach and the key will be ready)

A prophet on the lake shore: he'll give a task to destroy rampaging undead — nothing complicated, they're in a sunken temple not far from him

Witch hut in the east — will give a task to bring Markel's skull, but to get it they tell us something like it exists outside time and space. Near Ylaya's castle we saw a zone closed off by a fire wall, with a sign nearby saying "Temporal Paradox" (or something like that). When we take the quest, this zone opens, and at first glance there's no one to fight, but there are various anomalous cataclysms — stepping on them triggers different battles, which are basically easy. After going down this path, they tell us to approach the wall and we'll be teleported, landing right in the zone where the skull lies guarded by a stack of Wights. Then we return via a one-way portal, deliver the skull, and get a reward... She'll also give info about the Dark Star


West witch hut — here everything is trivial. I think you noticed empty necromancer markers in various places. So after we take her quest, legions of Zombies spawn there (8 markers total I believe) — nothing difficult, though some break through faster, some slower. Well either way, I kited them all with Blood Furies...

Prophet in the dwarven city — here I had questions. We entered the city, but minecarts block our path to the goodies, and they simply say go find a way to clear the blockage... I'm like okay (though honestly I didn't figure it out right away myself, had to use cheat sheets that aren't mine but someone posted earlier — those wanting to play through this campaign will find them useful overall)

Valeria came, Raelag met her and took her out without question

Well, regarding access to the dwarven goodies + finding the Dark Star — after we completed the quest at the hut (the one that poisons the humans with plague and helps us in the assault), we need to:

- Approach the Sirens left of the cliff — they'll also give us info and ask for 100 Peasants (there are plenty on the map — we approach them, they ask something for their service, gold I think, and we bring them to the sirens)


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


And after that, since little time remained, I rushed with Ylaya on logistics to the hut so she'd say approach the minecarts blocking the passage and use the Dark Star. We destroy the passage, grab the goodies, and there's a one-way portal that immediately leads us back to the hut. For returning the Dark Star, we get Forgotten Armor + army boost and some stats)

3 days before the attack, Izabel worries about Raelag)


And here the preparation stage almost comes to an end. Let me attach a couple more cool breakthroughs in my opinion, and worth adding — before heading out, all heroes visited the mentor; Raelag broke through the mentor with the Tome of Darkness

Just a nice breakthrough

Raelag vs Phoenixes

Burning 600 Bone Dragons

One thing I'd like to note right away that I didn't like: the deadline given for preparation doesn't include the 7th day — meaning we don't have 4 months for preparation but 3 months and 6 days. It was tight for me — I needed to mentor the last hero and everything would be ready. I did it on day 7, and the next day they told me I didn't make it, so I had to cheat a bit — even though the heroes were in castles, I needed to move them to the marker.... Actually, it could've been done legally, but I got a bit lazy...


At this point the underground ends — let's summarize... actually, there's more than enough time in my opinion... if you don't stall like I stalled a bit. Overall among the side quests, the trickiest is the Dark Star one, otherwise everything is quite playable, and you can definitely finish faster here. Speaking of heroes — easiest was Raelag thanks to the ring and Chaos, and Tralsay thanks to the plague. Shadya is kind of a lesser Raelag — overall fine but mana ran out fast. The biggest questions were about Ylaya — supposedly on logistics with boots she should be fastest of all, but it didn't work out for me somehow. Roughly a month I stalled with her, gathered some meat, went for trades, and the process more or less moved forward... and looking ahead I'll say right away — don't buy out armies to the max. You might skip buying one entire stack entirely (Deep Hydra for example), because first — on the surface all our heroes get a solid stack of wolves, and second — we'll be freeing our army stacks from prisons. Better to have matching upgrades so you don't lose army — I lost mine, so I'll write here what's better to bring:
Tier 1 — Hunter
Tier 2 — Blood Fury
Tier 3 — Minotaur Guard
Tier 4 — Swift Rider
Tier 5 — Deep Hydra (if you plan to take them)
Tier 6 — Shadow Matriarch
Tier 7 — Black Dragon

In my case, the lizards and dragons didn't match, so I simply lost them) and let's move to the surface




Our preparation is complete — now we simply go destroy everything in our path, and Sigrif joins us

As I said above, fat wolf stacks join us, and I dropped Deep Hydras somewhere and Swift Riders elsewhere (whoever had fewer than hydras took wolves)
I didn't save the garrison battles themselves, honestly — nothing difficult there in my opinion...

Those with Summoning — that's Shadya and Ylaya — Phantom Wolves, and you know what kind of mess happens there))

Tralsay — with Tome of Darkness using Berserkers through domination, Vampire Lady on Hunters, and forward

Raelag mainly through Chaos, plus mass slow and Disrupting Ray thrown around for extra conviction))

Sigrif — OH YES HE'S EXACTLY HOW I LEFT HIM, REALLY! He's on Darkness and Summoning, so likewise no problems. Only worth noting that since he has the imba ring, enemies were slightly stronger against him — I assume for balance, although everywhere it says "High," but we wipe them out easily anyway...
He was given to us with the Imba ring + Empathy set, Saint's Sandals, and Horseshoe — quite enough for any task. And if that seems insufficient, walking a bit forward there are four tomes lying around if you suddenly need them for certain tasks

Along the way we had side quests: burn all farms of the Celestial Gates, free all prisoners from jails (bonus army), loot the dragon treasury, and bring rare resources (50 each I think) to the tavern owner (army boost for everyone + more)

The first main objective — break the outer borders — just smash 5 garrisons. Then clear the inner borders — along the way you can clear peasant huts and prisons — worth mentioning there are tons of them, and while there are no problems, just know that)
Then clear the inner garrisons — and after that, only a trip to the market remains. There will be buildings allowing you to boost the army for a certain sum, as well as buildings that can raise stats. Though I thought this could be done infinitely (to pump Sigrif up to Urgash's stats), but no — there's a limit of around 20 stat points total across everyone (well, that's not serious). Clear the Dragon Utopia, free all our troops from prisons, and calmly head to the "Celestial Gates"


Pace-wise, Sigrif and Ylaya advanced somewhat faster than everyone due to logistics, but overall it doesn't matter much, in my opinion)
After completing everything possible, let me show you the final heroes I ended up with
















So, moving on to the final battle and the ending of this campaign overall:
Regarding the finale (we think we'll take out the big boss of the Celestial Gates and happy ending — nope, not happening). First, let me explain why Sigrif has so little army compared to, say, Ylaya. This happened because I forgot to return the army after Sigrif traveled through whirlpools — but nevertheless, it didn't stop him from taking out the human hero

About the battle itself:
 - For Sigrif's duel with Victor, we conditionally need to take out 4 Seraphim, which is exactly what everyone else except Sigrif fights

Then after defeating them, Sigrif steps in for the final battle
The battles of the others and Sigrif are attached below

Shadya vs Ilaina

Ylaya vs Maeve

Tralsay vs Vitorio

Raelag vs Dougal

and the final — Sigrif vs Victor

After all these battles, we watch a chain of awesome cutscenes, and it seems like we can finally relax — but nope, not happening...




In two words: after defeating Victor, Freyda, Duncan, and Wulfstan arrive, not understanding what's happening here — how dare you, etc. But Raelag is like "let's not quarrel, remembering old times." Then Ylaya tells us "I know who the new chieftain will be," and Sigrif decides to return to Ig-Shail — but we see an animation of a demon lord over our hero, and we see how in the underground we're surrounded by Archdevils, and here begins the "final final battle"... And Sigrif wasn't ready (too little army), and Urgash's stats are truly insane. Well, looking ahead — whether you win or lose this battle, the outcome will be the same... It's even a bit sad. I understand it's intended by the plot, but overall, after defeating Urgash, they could've kept the same meaning while changing at least the cutscenes... Looking ahead, just for testing purposes I cheated to get an army and took out Urgash — but no other cutscenes changed at all...(


To make it clear what this is about, and my thoughts: The Ring of Dominion is the original plan of the Overlord and Urgash — to give it to us. Even between themselves they troll us — a hero who emerged from the Outcast Lands, survived the depths of Shio alive, and defeated Urgash (and at this moment Urgash laughs) — saying Sigrif is naive, and all of this was part of the plan. In the end, Sigrif is transformed into a Demon Sovereign (with Agrael's model), and Urgash is like "I've seen this somewhere," and the Sovereign goes "oh, don't remind me..." And in the end, all lands will burn and Urgash will break free — "go and destroy, my new Dark Messiah..."





Regarding what I said above — purely theoretically, I think he can be taken out even without cheating for army, but there's no point. They could've conditionally added a second cutscene where Urgash says: "You pup, do you think you can handle me?" and the Ring of Dominion explodes over him, transforming him into a Demon Sovereign too, or something similar — well, that's just nitpicking...
It's a shame that with a snap of fingers our Sigrif wipes out Freyda, Duncan, Wulfstan, and Ylaya... Plot-wise it's understandable, but I feel sorry for them... In the end, they fought all along for their people and a righteous cause, and everything turned out like this...

Let's summarize the whole campaign: Overall, I have mixed feelings — something between wild delight and wild suffering, but there's more delight. Yes, there were moments of frustration where I abandoned it and didn't play for a while, sometimes spitting and fuming — but still, this is a VERY cool piece of work in my opinion, and overall I'm satisfied that I managed to beat it... Yes, I understand that someone more skilled probably didn't experience major problems, but still. Not that I'm comparing, but this campaign is overall TOP in my list, on par with Heart of Night by @Gerter and maps by @AstralLein... 
Overall an interesting story — where at first we fight for a righteous cause, then we're exiled and survive, then we end up in Hell itself and take revenge on our invaders.... Though the price of this power our Sigrif gained was predetermined from missions 2-3...

I'll also add saves:

Saves from Missions One through Three

Saves from Missions Four through Five

I'll also add cheat sheets (not mine, but I grabbed them somewhere in the thread when I wanted to grind 100 reputation for humans in mission 2 but never succeeded)

Mission 2

Mission 3

Mission 4

Mission 5
- actually there's quite useful info here to close all questions you might have

P.s. Overall, despite the campaign being released quite a long time ago, it works more or less stably — in the first and second missions it crashed fairly often, then everything went smoothly. In mission five I encountered one bug — not critical really, but there were times the game just froze


And yes, I'll answer right away the question someone might have — will I play the sequel "Hordes of the Abyss"? Definitely — yes, I'm curious how this story ultimately ends (in my understanding, either we conquer everything, or in the end Sigrif gets his horns broken), but I'll say this — definitely not anytime soon, especially since playing Demons, whose mechanics I know "very well," means replaying the original as Agrael, and maybe a couple of Deleb maps where we pew pew ololo — well, you get it)) For now, in the near future I want to play something simpler, so to speak, rest and relax... Because jumping straight into such a hard challenge — I'm not ready yet (even though I haven't played it, I suspect it won't be easier than this campaign) 
p.p.s. Once the saves upload, there'll be clickable links, in case anyone 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.