Posts from Adventure log. Auto-translated

A Stab in the Back

Surrounded by traitors on the orders of my former friend, I initially wanted to try and run past them, but then I decided it would be better to kill them so they wouldn't pursue us and join forces with the main enemy army. First, we rushed to the eastern outpost, which was two days' journey from us. We quickly dealt with them and headed back to the castle, but the elves from the west were already at its walls, and the southern army was approaching. We had no choice but to fight right inside the castle and its grounds. Entering the city, I wanted to summon my old army, but, unfortunately, it was gone – there was no one there, not a single soul! (and many were leveled up to level 3!)... I had forgotten that I had been removed from my position as commander, so that's probably why I didn't have an army; they all remained in the capital and now serve the traitor Landar! But I was glad that I still had my friends (key characters)! I cherished them and protected them, like my beloved (as if I knew this would happen).
So, we clashed with the enemy, and I began to feel that we were losing, although my soldiers were much stronger and more experienced, but the enemy had superior numbers. Therefore, I decided to recruit some new recruits so that the enemies would be distracted by them. Heh, my plan worked; in the end, I killed them all, and my companions survived! (even one of the new recruits). After this bloody battle, we moved south, where our allies were waiting for us, killing the captain of the southern detachment along the way.

Finally managed to install the Contra mod for C&C Generals — Zero Hour.
I think this is the first mod with a really good balance (and it's definitely better than the original ZH).
The mod is in Russian, but it's very popular even outside of Russia. :
By the way, the AI is really good there :smile27:
The easiest difficulty level here is stronger than the hardest difficulty level in the original :smile04:

I was just playing against a Chinese infantry general (I was playing as a laser general :smile04:). At first, I was losing, and throughout the whole game, I was losing (I ran out of money at the base, and I couldn't get to the other opponents, and on top of that, he captured all the oil rigs =\). Two entire resource drop zones helped me.
I was able to defend myself well, and soon I earned five stars, which unlocked access to weapons of mass destruction.
Then I started constantly bombing the enemy base. The enemy tried to send planes with paratroopers and other units to me, but the air defense worked perfectly.
By the way, snipers, which I hid in great spots, saved me from the infantry.
In the end, I bombed their base again and again, and then I sent a large group of tanks and helicopters to the enemy. I won :smile04:
I didn't take screenshots during the game, only the final result.

Chapter Six. "Mountain Pass"

from Arandor's diary:
Ah, here we go north again, but this time to the cold stronghold of the dwarves. I liked it much better with the elves, even though only ruins remain of their fortress — at least it was warm there.
I think we'll arrive tomorrow. I've never been to any dwarven dungeons before, so this expedition is of particular interest to me. How many secrets and mysteries might be stored there, not to mention magical artifacts... The main thing is to act quietly, otherwise our dwarf friend might interfere. Even if it's not his clan, all dwarves respect the memory of their kin, and this one is also a priest. You can see from his face that he's worried, and the closer we get, the more anxious his gaze becomes. Oh, if only it were just him — there's also Horus. He fancies himself the leader, makes all the decisions for everyone, and still finds time to lecture. Yesss, quite a bore, but at least he can be relied upon, which is more than I can say for that thief who might stab you in the back. I don't trust her; she's treacherous and cunning, like all women. The only one you need to be careful with aside from myself of course *muahahaha* and keep an eye on. As for the half-elves, I like them more than the others — decent folks, except for their excessive love of nature.
It's almost dark now, time to get some sleep. Oh, something's also wrong with my stomach, probably from that stew that thief cooked... likely laced it with poison, the wretch... ugh

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As always, guards at the entrance)

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Went inside, and there were blue mushrooms — myconids)

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Also ettins

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And this is a statue of an elf and a dwarf sitting on a single throne. It was made as a symbol of the alliance between elves and dwarves, but those times are past...

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This is the ettins' cave)

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Descending further, we found dark elves and orcs\ the former turned out to be quite strong

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Still there, it was tough going

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A druidess in wolf form is chasing my dwarf\ angry Loken

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After the previous incident, we decided to hold a duel between the warriors

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Chell-Pal turned out to be stronger than HE-Ranger, but solely due to the amount of HP and a small advantage in strength)

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went lower, met Boulder (was normal once, maybe even human), took down the orc chieftain and claimed one of the six badges needed for the main quest

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this is the negotiation room. We solved the room's puzzle and a staircase opened down

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There we met a ghost and had a chat with it)

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After the conversation, we moved on and fought the undead, looting a couple of sarcophagi

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Then we killed the Head Skeleton-Mage, who kept resurrecting himself and the others[br][/br]
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Then we went even lower, did something there, and returned to the statue-forge, took a key from it, and back down to open the door

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The door was guarded by two brutes, whom we only managed to kill with magic

to be continued...

Resistance

I managed to reach the northern province, where my allies were waiting. Now all that remains is to wait for the enemy to arrive so we can end our feud.
We set up camp in a small fort located south of the castle. Across from us, the enemy camp was established, the same camp where we once prepared for battle against the orcs. Landar was in the southwestern fortress, where the orc base was located.
When the battle began, I immediately sent the main force (from the main character) into the attack to prevent the enemy from gathering troops. Thanks to the upgrades to my army, I defeated them in 2-3 days (their captain was the guy I killed on the previous map. lol). Just in case, I decided to recruit reinforcements, and I was pleasantly surprised when I saw four beautiful elves in the "summon" menu. These were two combat Sorceresses (level 2 and 3), as well as two healers (level 2 and 3) (apparently, this is part of the army that remained loyal to me) (this was mentioned in the previous scenario). And of course, among them were a rider (messenger) and an archer, who were left over from the previous scenario. In general, I hired them, and also recruited some new recruits. At this time, Landar's army moved north, killing the defenders. After destroying the southern outlaws, I headed towards the main fortress, thereby diverting part of the army to myself. And when I approached the enemy, he retreated =[br][/br]
To be continued...

Chapter Seven. "Deep in the Mountains"

Jeremus's Narrative.
...As soon as we left the crypt, trolls attacked us. There were quite a few of them, so the fight was not easy. For some reason, these snow creatures immediately rushed me, but it is good to have brave and strong warriors in the team. Horus and Tallanvor distracted them, which allowed me to retreat and heal my wounds. Meanwhile, Laika transformed into a fire elemental and rushed to help the guys. The wizard stood aside casting some spells, and Kristi... I don't know where she was, she apparently vanished again. In the end, the fire of Horus's enchanted sword and Laika's heavy fist did the trick — the ugly creatures, unaccustomed to high temperatures, perished from their blows. (only fire and acid can kill them) After this skirmish, we encountered trolls a few more times and fought them. I saw a flame in the ranger's eyes when he fought these monsters, as if they were his worst enemies. Such rage and fury are rarely seen in battle, although he does not lack courage either — a true fighter.

This open area was something like a pit. There were only mountains around and nothing else. The network of tunnels through which we arrived was only the beginning. Perhaps something like a foyer or a corridor. It was strange that it contained a crypt and an intricate forge.
To the east of the cave, a temple towered. While we were bypassing the hill it stood on, I noticed a similar structure to the south, but we decided to delay searching it and headed along the road toward the temple. After killing all the Yetis guarding the temple, we approached the gates. As soon as our feet crossed the threshold, two blue snake-like creatures appeared before us. They led us to the leader.
- Salamanders. - the wizard whispered.
Yes, that's who we found. It's a good thing they aren't very smart and mistook us for some kind of inspectors, as if their "boss" had sent us. Well, that's only for the better; we won't have to fight. After inspecting the temple, we found out that there were people in it. They were being held as slaves, but they managed to escape to the lower levels, where it is quite warm, which prevents these ice salamanders from approaching them. After wandering a bit more, we found a girl who turned out to be the instigator of the rebellion and is now hiding here. She asked us to help her and her friends. How can one refuse those in trouble? Having found a passage to the lower levels, we descended there (these rooms were the southern building). There we met a group of people, among whom was their own "Chief." He said we needed to get the key held by the salamander leader. Said and done. We climbed back to the upper levels and entered combat with the ice snakes. It was very hard for us, but freedom is worth fighting for. Having destroyed all the snake spawn, we informed the people. They were very happy and thanked us, and one of them gave us a book on bridge construction. With its help, we repaired the bridge to the southwest and were able to cross to the other side. There was a cave. Inside, we found a room with small dragonlings. Strangely, they didn't touch us. Further on, our path was blocked by two giants. Oh, they are absolutely massive. After a conversation with them, they allowed us to pass. At the end of the corridor, we found their leader. As it turned out, they were the ones supplying the salamanders with slaves, and in exchange, the salamanders helped them kill the previous king of the giants so that the new one (the old one's son) could take the throne. We didn't want to get into the details and only asked them to give us one of the six key-badges, to which the Giant gave a negative answer. The fight was not very difficult. Scouting the tunnels, we found people. They had also been kidnapped from a village by the giants and used as slaves, or perhaps even as food. They thanked us for their liberation and left. After finishing off the remaining inhabitants of the cave, we stumbled upon strange knights. They were all in black, and only their mage stood out from them. He turned out to be a henchman of the ice goddess, just like the girl from the burial grounds who revived the dead. He was sent to kill us, but he failed to do so, and now he himself is visiting the realm of the dead, along with his black knights.

At the exit of the giants' cave, we fought dragons. And now we are heading northeast to proceed further through the tunnel and descend into the main complex of the Fortress...

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the beginning. just came out of the cave and they immediately try to hit us in the head)

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here we hit them back

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everyone has their own bridge) idk how the fire elemental didn't melt the ice bridge

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Yeti attack!

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Ice wolves live with the salamanders and breathe their icy breath\ as if the ice aura from the salamanders wasn't enough, it hurts a lot

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mage with a dagger x) btw I found one later and took it in my hand, but the damn thing turned out to be cursed and wouldn't come off = had to go to the temple, they helped there
PS this happens later I think

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well, here we are checking out the loot we found

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giants guarding the passage

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clash with the giants) they shouldn't have messed with us

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people in a pen

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battle with the knights and the henchman of the ice goddess (look at how my ranger swung his sword ^^)

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We lost this battle and had to reload[br][/br]
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here we already buffed up and settled the situation (and the handsome knights stood in a circle, pretty cool)

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well, in the end, we decided to kill these mini-dragons... specifically to spite all the dragon lovers) mwahahahaha!

PS then we kind of headed into the caves, back into the dark depths
PPS inspiration ran out at the end, I want to sleep

Last Breath.

We caught up with Landar and his army in the forest (I don't remember the name). He didn't run away, but instead, he was ready for battle... for the final battle. I didn't hire an army, but summoned only old warriors. We crossed the river and entered the battle. And it turned out that Kalenz killed Landar with his own hands and ended the war.
It turned out that Landar drank two potions, hence the effect of doubled strength. Darkness completely enslaved his mind and heart, which led to a sad end. But he was not forgotten, and a monument was erected to him, because once he was a hero. And since the council was killed, Kalenz was proclaimed the supreme king of the elves. The northern and southern tribes supported him, and thus the long-awaited peace came, although the threat still remained. After all matters were settled, Kalenz and Cleodol returned to their village. After a while, they had children and lived a long, happy life. Then Cleodol died, and the curse of the potion came true, and Kalenz outlived not only his beloved but also his children. Life became a torment for him, everything reminded him of his loved ones. In order to somehow alleviate his suffering, he left his homeland and began to travel the continent. Sometimes he appeared when his people were in dire need and helped them, sometimes with his wisdom, and sometimes with his sword...

P.S. That's it, the campaign is over

Since I finished the campaign for the Elves, I decided to start a new one, this time for the Humans (there are many of them, and not just one campaign per race). Alright, let's go... Invasion from the East Dark Radiance So, we begin the game as Sergeant Gweddri (a silly name, though), who is a guard of the southern borders. But one day, a letter arrived at the king's castle from a village in the east. The peasants asked for help, as a disaster had befallen them. People were disappearing from their homes, and livestock were found dead, with almost nothing left of them. The king decided to send a part of the southern troops under the command of Sergeant Gweddri, and the elderly mage Dacin would help him. Arriving at the scene, the soldiers went on reconnaissance east of the village, as they thought it was the work of some tribes (I've already forgotten). But they found no one and returned to the village (to their fort). A week passed like this, until one morning a guard reported an impending threat... Two necromancers and one lich appeared near the village and began to raise the undead! A scout reported that there was another one with them, and he was talking about some "thing" they were looking for, after which the lich ordered them to kill all the people and disappeared. Without losing a minute, the sergeant began to gather the soldiers. Since we were fighting against the undead, most of the army consisted of heavy infantry and mages. Everyone knows that this abomination is vulnerable to magic and blunt weapons (in this case, a mace), especially skeletons. After gathering the soldiers, I began the attack. And only one thing worried me - the disappearance of Dacin... screenshot #1 Here we entered into battle, although it's the 7th turn, and there were losses on the enemy's side, but whatever. In the lower part, you can see how the infantry fights with elite skeleton warriors (level 2), and in the upper part, zombies surround the valiant knight (although this is just a rider, knights become something else, or maybe they do...). The necromancer mainly raised skeleton archers and summoned a few bats. screenshot #2 The northern necromancer mainly raised zombies. They are slow and hit twice, but when there's a crowd, it's quite effective, plus the damage is average. And as you can see, one of my infantrymen leveled up B-). screenshot #3 This is the lich (not the main villain who ordered us to be killed). In general, a lich is a level 3 necromancer, and the guys at the top are level 2... Yes, my squad reached the fort, and I wanted to kill him, but the infantry can't walk on mountains, and it takes a very long time to cross the river. Besides, the lich is strong, and my soldiers are wounded. He raised two skeleton warriors (level 2) and summoned many bats, the little rascal. Glory to the Gods, Dacin returned. Moreover, he crawled out of a hatch near the castle and told us to follow him... Well, we were basically defending ourselves against the necromancers, and there were many of them, and we wouldn't last long (although on easy difficulty, you can defeat them, but there aren't enough turns)... in short, we had to retreat into the underground tunnel. P.S. Yes, I'm playing on easy. On medium, it's not very fun... and I thought I would have to kill the necromancers. But on medium, they only have skeletons, which are hard to kill

Light at the End of the Tunnel

And so, we are underground, trying to escape the undead. I have no idea where this tunnel leads, but I hope there's a way out. Reaching a crossroads, we saw trolls. They immediately attacked us, and we had to engage in battle. Unexpectedly, a dwarf emerged from the southern tunnel, and it turned out he wasn't alone. After talking to them, they decided to help us. Together, it was much easier to fight, although there were many trolls. Suddenly, we heard some sounds behind us... the dead were coming after us.

Screenshot #1
Here's that very crossroads. The main character entered the upper room and found some kind of sacred amulet there (maybe it will be useful later). The infantry and Datsin are fighting with the dwarves against the trolls. I sent the mage to scout the southern tunnel, and one of the infantrymen is covering the rear, holding back the undead... unfortunately, he died later, as did the mage (maybe someone else too)...

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The mage's scouting wasn't in vain; he discovered a troll hideout, and there was gold there. I sent the cavalryman further down the tunnel. The main forces broke through to the trolls' cave.

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The wounded soldiers are retreating through the southern tunnel, fortunately, it leads to the same place as the upper one. The main character, infantryman level 2, and Datsin are helping the dwarves against the trolls. The undead are on our tail...

Screenshot #4
The trolls are dead, and we also killed the undead that were chasing us, and the main character even leveled up to level 2. It's a pity the necromancer survived; I didn't bother going back to the beginning...

I see light! This is the exit... but where does it lead?

Among the Dead

After exiting the tunnel, we found ourselves facing an enemy outpost. However, it was only guarded by an adept, so Dacin and I easily killed him. Unfortunately, he wasn't alone; there was one necromancer fort to the east and one to the west. Dacin said we needed to move north, but we couldn't go through the mountains, so we had to kill one of the necromancers to bypass them. He also said it would be better to kill the western one, as this would allow us to return to Vesnot (i.e., travel through Vesnot's territory instead of going through the wilderness). In the end, that's what we did; we killed the western sorcerer, thus escaping the undead and headed north, through the forest.

Screenshot #1
Here we are, emerging from the hatch.

Screenshot #2
We send a squad west and set up defenses against the eastern undead forces.

Screenshot #3
Battle with the necromancer.

P.S. I later reloaded and decided to kill the eastern one to see where that path leads. Heh, if the western path takes us through the elven forest (spoiler alert), then the eastern path goes through the lands of the necromancers, the desolate lands, the wild lands... I don't know what to call them; the terrain isn't particularly interesting, there's some sand, but also some vegetation. (And you were expecting a linear storyline? Heh, you fools.)

Obstacle

In the forest, we found elves. The local commander was very kind and allowed us to pass. We told him about the undead, that they were following us and that it would be better for them to leave, but he refused. And just as we were ready to set off, orcs suddenly appeared on the road and blocked our way north. I have no idea where they came from, but it was clear that we would have to fight them. Fortunately, the elves helped us, so we quickly dealt with the orcs. After the battle, the elves offered us to rest, but we were in a hurry, so we had to decline. And now that the road was clear, we were ready to continue north, to our comrade.

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our castles

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orc slaughter

Cross to the Rescue

Finally, we reached our comrade, Owaek (another silly name). He is the commander of the local fort (post), protecting the villages from bandits and other scoundrels. We told him about the undead and offered to go with us, but he refused, saying that he needed to kill the criminals who had hidden in the village, as he had sworn to the peasants. Well, we had to help him. But as if there weren't enough bandits, the undead also arrived from the south and were preparing for battle. Now we had two missions: 1) find the bandit leader and kill him, 2) kill the leader of the undead. And on top of all that, Datsin disappeared again and said he would come when we had killed everyone.

Screenshot #1
My two infantrymen and Owaek's soldiers against the undead

Screenshot #2
And this is the end, when I found the bandit leader (he was hiding in a house, as were the others)

On this map, I also found another sacred amulet; I don't know what they are for.
So, after we killed everyone, Datsin returned, and it was time to go. Owaek told the peasants to pack their things and follow us (the undead are attacking!). Well, after all that, we finally moved on...
P.S. The "Rider" unit was unlocked; before that, there was a "Mount" or something like that (you can see it in the second screenshot)

Choosing a Path

A small off-topic thought (inspired by the chapter title)
Life is a journey, and everyone chooses their own path. But that doesn't mean you have to follow the same path your whole life. You can always change course, especially since crossroads appear so often, and some of them lead to paths with fewer obstacles and that are easier to traverse. Often, these paths lead through the dark side of life. You can judge such people and say they are bad, but sometimes they simply have no choice; they lack the strength to follow a different path...

There are also paths that pass through the shadow of fear. You might think this is also a path of evil. No, it's a path where people overcome themselves and their fears. Yes, you can reach your goals faster on this path, and it may be easy, but to do so, you need to overcome yourself, your fears, your habits, your lifestyle, etc., even if you are happy with it. Do you think you need to do this? Why give up the good things you have, because this is the long, difficult, but true path that was mentioned at the beginning? No, you are mistaken; this is a path of deception and lies. It only resembles the path of truth. But it is still possible to correct it.
Therefore, I suggest you look at the path you are on. Look around, look back, imagine the future that this path will lead you to. Perhaps it is not at all what you wanted or what you were striving for? Maybe it's worth changing everything? And not just for yourself, but for those you love. Think about it...



Our journey to the river continued; we walked without stopping, and the peasants and soldiers were tired. When we reached a crossroads, we saw that the northern road was blocked by an Orc camp, and the western road was occupied by the undead. Dacin said that it would be better to break through the Orcs and go north, because on the western road, we would most likely be met by Necromancers (indeed, I tried to go that way and ended up at an island with an Undead castle). Well, I didn't argue, so we decided to go through the Orcs. The battle was not difficult; we managed to defeat both groups (screenshot attached). After killing the Orc leader, the path to the north was clear...

Running Across the Water

Here we are, at the river, the Great River (that's its name). Luckily, it's not very deep here (not sure why), and we can cross. But here's the problem: the undead are catching up to us. Well, we'll have to fight them. After we destroyed the undead, we needed to start crossing the river because this dark plague is right behind us. As it turned out, things weren't that simple here either. On the other side of the river was a camp of aggressive orcs. And a little to the east was an ogre (giant) fort, but they were fighting the orcs, and we had a chance to negotiate with them. After crossing about halfway across the river, we saw an army of skeletons behind us. This was a reinforcement, and it was quite large. We started to hurry, but crossing the river was difficult, and it seemed like we wouldn't make it in time. Fortunately, we were lucky, and we managed to get to the other side in time and break away from the undead, and we also formed an alliance with the ogres.
After that, we apparently killed the orcs and went further north... I don't know, the map ended right there).

Screenshot #1
We attack the initial undead base
(you can see my archmage)

Screenshot #2
Orcs vs. Ogres

Screenshot #3
Just a little further

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Undead reinforcement...

Screenshot #5
And here we are! Yes, I leveled up my second mage to Silver Mage.
P.S. Look at the map; there's a horde of skeletons behind us. I thought they would catch up and kill us, like the rider in the 4th screenshot

Territory of War

We crossed the river and continued on. As a result, we found ourselves in neutral territory, or rather, everyone considered it their own. Elves, dwarves, and orcs were fighting among themselves. No one wanted to yield, and they didn't even allow us to pass, so we had to engage in battle. In general, it wasn't difficult for me to defeat them all, because they sent part of their army in one direction and the other part in another. The fools were defeated, and I continued on my way.
P.S. Honestly, I'm a bit tired. Why did I go down this path? I should have fought the Necromancers instead, but I'm tired of fighting all these orcs and the like.
I don't want to fight them. And it's all because of Dacin that we went this way; I don't trust that goat.

Screenshot #1
My base, forming units.

Screenshot #2
A unit of mages (and ogres) approaches the dwarven fortress.

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Cavalry at the elven castle.

Screenshot #4
The orc citadel and brave spearmen.

Far From Home

The cool air emanates from the mountains surrounding the lake and the valley, which seems so peaceful and untouched, yet at the same time inspires fear and anxiety. This is where the Fortress should be located, where we can take refuge from the undead (Yeah, we ran half the map to get to the wilderness and settle there = what a plan). This territory is far from the cities, which is why it may harbor dangers in the form of various creatures that infest it. Well, we weren't wrong; a flock of griffins and a clan of trolls live here. We'll have to fight our way through them.
And so, when the griffins were defeated, and the troll leader received a fatal blow, it seemed that everything was over, but that was not the case. Out of nowhere, a squad of trolls appeared and surrounded Gweddry (the protagonist)...

Screenshot #1
The main units went on the attack, and trolls started attacking from above. I called in an infantryman and a javelin thrower (I finally upgraded them). I still need to create a swordsman and a halberdier.

Screenshot #2
A battle with a griffin (then the king arrived). I made one cavalryman a lancer; he's not bad.

Screenshot #3
We crossed the bridge, and there were trolls. By the way, I didn't fully explore the map; the monster died before that