Episode III: The Threshold of Kur-Hazeth
The present:
Britomart and Wei have heard nothing from Queen Amara for weeks. None of the many messengers they have sent home have returned. They fear the worst, and have temporarily anchored their fleet off a small chain of islands several miles from the coast of Queen Amara's underground territories. They are preparing, if necessary, to make landfall in the face of a hostile army. They await news from their spies before proceeding.
The past:
During the climactic weeks of their struggle against the necromancers, Britomart and Wei began to receive disturbing letters. They learned that the Lord Mayor of Hare March declared himself the true heir to the throne of Qun-Jin, advancing his claim through a complicated chain of descent from Qun-Jin's grandfather. His revolt was unsuccessful, but Amara was forced to repress it with violence, and the Mayor and several of his closest supporters were publicly executed.
More alarming, however, were later letters from Lady Xiu, Amara's chief of intelligence. Lady Xiu wrote that her spies were detecting several new confederacies of petty lords, each seeking to capitalize on the instability of the realm to assert long-dormant claims to sovereignty. Isolated rebellions can be suppressed, but large conspiracies, as Britomart and Wei well knew, are the makings of civil wars.
Disgusted at her countrymen, Wei urged a speedy return with a mighty army. She argued for a determined suppression of the rebels and a clear display of force to prevent future incidents. Britomart, however, argued that they must complete their mission, rather than leave a war half-won. To return prematurely, Britomart warned, would be to ensure the collapse of their new territories, and would virtually ensure a speedy counterattack from their bloodied, but not defeated, enemies. Wei grudgingly assented, acknowledging Britomart's greater experience and larger familiarity with political affairs. Redoubling their efforts, the two strove to secure the extermination of the necromancers as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, as letters from Xiu informed them, the situation at home deteriorated. Despite Amara's judicious handling of her nobles, rumors of conspiracy continued. Then, Xiu reported, at exactly the wrong moment, Queen Amara's field army, marching back to Madake to impose the peace, was ambushed and badly beaten by a force of rebellious orcs and ogres.
Xiu's final letter warned that one of her spies had received word that some of the lords were considering allying themselves with outside powers to overthrow Queen Amara. Xiu had not heard from the spy in several days and feared that he had been detected-she did not know from whence the external threat might come, but the spy's disappearance seemed further proof that something was seriously amiss. The letter urged the generals' speedy return, and warned them that, if they heard no further news, they should bring an army and approach with caution. They might, the letter hinted, find the necessity of invading, once again, their own country.
As soon as Britomart and Wei completed the pacification of their new territory, they established a regional command under some of their most trusted lieutenants, and turned their thoughts and preparations toward home. Gathering what troops could be spared from the administration of the new territories, the generals prepared a fleet and set sail.
Having heard nothing for several weeks, they cast anchor at the Choamnom Islands, several miles off the coast of the underground territories they had captured in the Great War of Restoration. They sent their best spies to shore, and waited. Wei wanted to land at once, but again, Britomart urged caution, warning her that an ill-timed invasion could destroy their chances, and that they could not afford the liberty of incaution.
The Present:
On the second day of waiting, a small ship flying the banner of the house of Qun-Jin approached the island, closely pursued by two larger ships. The pursuers flew black banners which neither Britomart nor Wei recognized; their own warships ventured forth to protect the smaller boat, and the enemy ships quickly reversed their course and sailed away.
On the ship was none other than Lady Xiu herself, accompanied by a mere handful of sailors and soldiers, all out of uniform and all clearly showing the signs of the discomforts of life in the field. One of Wei's spies had managed to contact Xiu in one of their established points of refuge, and had brought her and her entourage to join the fleet. Xiu's report was dire indeed.
Xiu began almost at once to urge the generals to set sail and retreat. Her spies, those very few who had not been caught and killed, informed her that the enemy's host was approaching--the biggest army she had ever seen--and that if their forces were caught on the open sea, not even the gods could save them. Britomart and Wei complied, and as their fleet prepared to sail south, Xiu told her tale.
Their nation was in ruins, and, she feared, irreparably so. One consortium of reckless nobles, for reasons which defied comprehension, had managed to invoke the "aid" of an infernal army. Throngs of demons and pit fiends appeared without warning, sweeping across the countryside and destroying castles, towns, and villages. They marched first on Madake, and though Queen Amara's guard fought tenaciously, her army was hopelessly outmatched. Xiu believed that Queen Amara had been captured, and had no reason to believe that she was still alive.
The news struck both Britomart and Wei silent, but only furthered their desire to revenge themselves on those responsible. They asked for detailed information about the size and movements of the enemy force, and were appalled at Xiu's information.
Resistance, Xiu informed them, had completely collapsed. The surviving elves were organized into petty city-states, each paying massive amounts of tribute to the infernal powers who traversed their territories at will. The armies of devils would destroy towns at the slightest provocation, so the population lived in utter fear and offered no resistance. The swamp-dwellers and the orcs were in the same situation; they regretted, no doubt, their part in overthrowing one master, since the next had proven so much more severe.
As for the infernal army, Xiu assured them that it was invincible. It was led by dozens of arch-devils, and accompanied by throngs of fire-throwing demons and vicious pit fiends. Britomart and Wei's force, mighty as it was, would be annihilated.
Britomart, Wei, and Xiu strategized long into the night. If the infernal army was as strong as Xiu claimed (and neither Britomart nor Wei had ever known her to be wrong when she said positively that she was right), then they could not hope to land their army anywhere nearby. And yet, both Britomart and Wei burned with a desire to march on Madake as soon as possible and discover the fate of their Queen. Even Wei had to admit, however, that they could not land anywhere near Madake and have time to assemble an army capable of defeating that of the enemy. A direct assault would surely fail.
Xiu informed them that the demonic armies had come from a passageway which had been opened on one of the islands on the underground sea. The passage, she believed, led deep into the earth to the kingdom of the devils, and, possibly, to Kur-Hazeth, the land of dreams. It was from their home that the devils drew their strength, and it was at their home that Britomart and Wei resolved to strike.
Neither Britomart nor Wei had any illusions of a campaign like that they had just waged. The homeland of the devils was not, they knew, a place where mortals could long survive, and the numbers of the devils, though not boundless, were immense. Still, if they could strike at the heart of the devils' own territory now, while their main army was occupied, they might make some headway and, hopefully, draw their field army away for the time. The attack would need to be a surprise, and it would need to be strong enough to require the attention of the devils' main force. It wouldn't be easy.
Meanwhile, they reasoned, once the devils' main force departed for their homeland, there would be a window of time in which another army could surprise whatever force was left as a garrison, and hopefully establish itself sufficiently to deal with the main force when it returned. Or, and perhaps this was more realistic, survive long enough to learn the fate of Queen Amara, and then retreat to the newly-conquered lands of the humans, if necessary.
All that remained was to determine who would lead the diversionary attack, and who would be left behind to liberate Madake. Knowing that the diversionary attack would almost certainly be suicidal, both commanders sought to undertake it themselves. The conflict was only settled when Britomart pulled rank; Queen Amara had made her first in command, and though the two generals usually consulted on their plans, Britomart used her authority to override Wei's protests.
Wei acquiesced, acceding to Britomart's right. She insisted, however, that Britomart take the majority of the fleet with her; it was, she argued, imperative that the attack be real and threatening, and Britomart would have little time to gather reinforcements. Reluctantly, Britomart accepted, though hesitant to leave her friend such a small force to begin the more important task of freeing their homeland.
Once their decisions had been made, the two wasted no time. That morning they gave orders to divide the fleet, and Britomart turned her ships north, toward the entrance to the underworld. Wei, sailing south, watched her ship until it was out of sight.
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Please note: This episode is more of a story than a battle. The conclusion is foregone: Britomart will not escape the underworld (she knew that when she undertook the mission). There's still fighting, of course (it's not always easy to be the diversion), but if you only like scenarios which are non-stop challenges, you may find this one a little dull. If you don't care about story, skip ahead to Episode IV. If you can't decide, read the reviews, you'll see the range of opinion on the map (some negative).
Click here to download Episode III.
Click here to skip ahead to the download section of the next episode.
Or, click here for the Russian language version, translated by Dmitriy Pekshev.
Reviews
Review by Jagan
I just finished playing the scenario for the first time; it is very different from the first 2. For my army I picked: Black Dragons, Arch Angels, Titans, Naga Queens, Scorpicores (over Ghost Dragons), Arch Magi, and Zealots. I captured 3 of Pink's towns right away, then decided that it would be wise to sit in a castle. I chose the Dungeon castle because it had the best defences. I was attacked about every second day by red and orange. On day 26, a red hero came into view with a fiercely huge army. I sat in my chair wanting to scream "Wei, where the hell are you when I need you." The red hero took out 2 of the towns that I had captured. I did win the scenerio on day 28, but I know Britomat would not survive the day. I sure hope you will give me a chance to kick some butt in part 4. Great scenario. I plan on playing it again, want to try different troop combinations. I may try to do a run and shoot attack instead of playing defensively. I'll let you know how that turns out.
Review by Yung
I liked the novel idea of being able to pick and chose which troops you wanted to carry and get some practice on the some of the ones you weren't ;)
How my game went:
I took the initial three towns and moved south to remove orange when red made an appearance. I made like a fighter jet with a missile on its tail throwing out countermeasures in the form of heroes to draw that big monster away from me.
The AI lesser heroes being weaker than Britomart would hide outside of your vision hoping you wouldn't see them. A nice little series of small fights (so you don't feel so utterly useless when you see the main Red hero). The gates in the inferno towns proved more deadly for me than a benefit. I nearly got clobbered when a secondary red hero took one of them closely followed through the gate came the main red hero and was just one step short of destroying poor Britomart. (I'm not suggesting you remove them.)
I had a couple of close shaves like that.
You have enough "honey traps" in the map to cause anyone who has forgotten the purpose of their hero to find them selves cornered with an untimely death. A good feature.
By the time the 4th week rolled around I had an encounter with a strong secondary red hero and was starting to look the worse for wear. Good thing I only had a day to go.
So here are the not so good things about the map:
As the story dictates this is a sacrifice to allow a more heroic effort to recover the queen or her crown in a great story telling tradition. I even felt a pang of loss to realize that Britomart really didn't have a way out and that she did indeed sacrifice herself. A pyrrhic victory.
So what is wrong you say. It leaves an emptiness after the game, a lack of satisfaction. The only solution I could think of is to present both this map and the arrival of Wei in the same zip file so you can transfer that sense of loss (if you have been following the story) to the campaign Wei will lead. A two for one deal. I suspect you will not receive the same level of response from players with this as a stand alone like the previous two. This is not to say you didn't do this one well it is just the nature of this part of the story and the ending.
Review by Florian Trombach
Fun and Challenge: To be honest: Poor. As you said, there are absolutly
no hard battles as long as you avoid the main hero (which is not beatable).
But just walking around, doing one or two easy battles, taking a city and
losing it was no fun for me at all. And since it was easy to see, that the
land is a merry go round, the solution for avoiding (especially with a hero
specialty Logistics) was in all a little bit dull. The richness of the map
seems a little wasted, because from day ten on you will just have to run
(or the worse, even not, s.b.).
If you hadnīt set such a high standard with the first two parts I would
have been less disappointed by this map. It comes as a little "So what". It
has nothing of the uniqueness that the first two parts had. Donīt get me wrong,
I still think it is a good map, but it comes out at about 6-7 out of ten
(compared to 10 for part I and 9 for part II).
Review by Stefan "Satanīs Puppet" Bjelkfelt
Iīve finished your third map now and, as always - Iīm impressed. As usual Iīve played it 5 times (once on each difficulty) and once as each of the computer players at normal. Itīs always fun to see a different map than the usual "kill em all-maps" that works in a good way. I guess this is the first map Iīve played that actually ends with the hero's death - but Iīm confident that this will add a nice flavor to part IV.
The five times I played as green the map was balanced good and there shouldnīt be any problems. I actually managed to stay alive 6 weeks at one try (with the win/loss event turned off) but that was pure luck. Normally youīd get into serious trouble around the end of week 3, and I guess thatīs what you want.
So, what do I think of it?
A perfect map, in all aspects I can think of and a worthy successor to the first two maps. The design is as the rest of your maps - flawless...what more can I say?
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