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P.S. If you are not familiar with Zicher's previous missions, you might have trouble understanding the following NONSENSE... :)
Summer... Ah, how wonderful it is to sunbathe on... Hm! The goal of this mission is to reach an evil adversary named Markel and politely ask him to die in the name of humanity. Our glorious hero, Zicher, prepared ve-ry well for this event last time; he even popped into the capital library (he needed something to wrap his fish and beer in). Having liberated Al-Safir and other cities (everyone remembers for what? Of course—the HOLY!!!), Zicher decided—that's it, it's time to avenge father. Which is exactly what we will be doing.
We start in the northwest corner of the map (yes, at the start of the mission, choose genies as a gift—at least some use is better than none). Calmly, without rushing much, we follow the path and kill everyone we meet (try doing the same in real life ;)), on the way you'll encounter a small village to the south—be sure to capture it!!! (Have a heart! Zicher... mmm... trained so much in the last mission that now he's a bit... hm!... out of it... and the gremlins' bells jingle so LOUDLY!...). Immediately after the village, there will be a garrison. Don't touch it (although the armies and the hero's strength are quite enough... under wise leadership!), but keep going east and dive into the Dungeon. Specifically "dive," because no concussion or even a skull base fracture can replace the incomparable sensations and the feeling of superiority over that faceless gray mass of people who will never do this!
The Dungeon consists of a road closed in a geometric figure (I couldn't find anything like it in any geometry textbook... help me, people... what is it called?!) with a certain number of branches. You start at the western end... hm... of the figure, and at the eastern end there is a path (inside) leading to Godric's prison. Go there, taking the southern road—there is a building that allows you to replenish your army. (In principle, I wandered around the Dungeon for quite a while, mostly returning every week for troops, but essentially, it's not mandatory...)
Godric was not particularly pleased with Zicher's arrival. By that time, he had already managed to win the entire prison in cards and had become the local authority there. But cunning Zicher showed him a powerful runic spell (it had the runes "S", "H"(2 pcs), "O", "5", and "2", but in a slightly different order). In short, when Zicher and Godric crawled out from under the fence... ugh! from the Dungeon and approached the garrison, its defenders immediately joined their army. (Godric has a decent army to begin with, but I gave it to Zicher, and after the garrison troops joined, you'll have enough strength to capture any of the available cities).
From the garrison, we go down and turn left (in a good way). There is a city called Griffonhill—dealing with its guards won't be a big problem (and in general, there won't be any difficult battles in this mission). Now you can develop peacefully and capture the remaining imperial cities (this is a mandatory objective), as enemy heroes aren't roaming the map. The nearest city is behind the rocks to the south, directly below you. Two more are in the eastern part of the map (the city in the bay is Stuzhville; in my case, it was very heavily guarded).
Slightly south and west of the center of the map, there is a passage leading to the Necromancer city of Neludio to the east (what maniac came up with the names for these cities?!?!)
Right in this passage, sprawled across the road, was Faedaen with his army. But since Zicher and Godric were very absorbed in runic magic, Zicher's elephant stepped on Faedaen's ear (since then, according to elven legends, when Faedaen starts singing, dryads die in the forest). What a scream it was! About how someone eats too much and how the elephant grew such a face that it's unclear where the face is and where... the other face is, and what on earth is he scouting here with his squad, and they've ruined all the camouflage, and now his ear can be seen for a kilometer in the dark... they offered him, in general, to try runic magic as a healing remedy, but he screamed even louder...
They calmed him down by force, applied punitive runic magic, and the three of them went to cause a ruckus and riots in Neludio...
In the southwest corner is the mission goal—Markel's castle. By the time I got there, so many troops had gathered it's scary to think about. Fortunately, the situation unfolded somewhat differently: Before the castle, there is a Necromancer garrison. If you attack it prematurely (before capturing all imperial cities and meeting the other heroes of the mission), you will be politely told to get lost. Otherwise, after crushing the garrison defenders and approaching the castle, you will be asked again, this time about your readiness to kick Markel. If you are ready—the fun begins: each hero fights Markel individually (in the order Zicher-Godric-Faedaen), so distribute your forces accordingly (I didn't do this out of ignorance, and poor Godric fought a handful of gremlins). My Zicher got 25 Archangels, 53 knights, 165 bishops, and 283 crossbowmen—such an armada is enough to kill ten Markels! Godric had almost as many knights and crossbowmen, as well as griffins, etc.—he has the easiest battle. And Faedaen was left with his army, although he faces Markel's strongest army, and in the castle to boot... So, decide for yourselves (this hero of mine was simply devilishly leveled up in his campaign and was fully capable of defeating Markel almost single-handedly). And also, Markel constantly summons reinforcements—ignore them, because after the initial troops are destroyed, the summoned ones will disappear on their own...
...When the trio of heroes burst into Bel-Ziri with cheering and hooting and smashed all of Markel's artifacts, and along with them his army, he quite kindly asked them not to breathe hangover fumes and to get lost while they still could... He shouldn't have done that... ;)
