Another Bard's Tale

[Wheeler Dealer]

Isle of the Dawn, Max 18, Champion

Really easy, some excerpts from my journal.

Week 1, Sneaking about, taking xp from chests. I left the two Altars of Scouting for later based to the walkthrough.

Week 2, have 20 of each resource so I can complete the quest and gain GM Stealth.

Week 3, Completed the quest. Took Davenport, rescued Larinath. Expected to have to run from the 64 cerebi but both heroes had an impressive library of spells, including Summon Water Elementals for Agraynel!

Yikes, I thought a company of halflings would be a pushover, not so much! Scores of Evil Eyes weren't easy either.

Agraynel secured a gold mine, tough fight against 40 crusaders and 20 monks. Whoops, Larinath got caught and had to retreat losing 3 griffins.

Took the second gold mine.

Week 4, about all Agraynel has going is Water Elements, Summon Elves and Wasp Swarm. Hard on the Mana. Claimed the 2 Altars of Scouting.

Larinath captured a neutral preserve in the SW (alone). He took a second neutral preserve the next day near the center of the map.

Agraynel reached L13 and L14.

Week 5, captured the NW necropolis.

Week 6, Red heading toward my necropolis. Cleared the 24 Thunderbirds near Davenport. Agraynel reached L16, time to hit the 2 Coliseums. The Coliseum of Might held 4 Black Dragons. Agraynel went through 4 PoI. Coliseum of Magic was easier but still no pushover. Anti-Magic, summoning and one PoI (used before Agraynel got a turn). Seems Agraynel has earned everything she can.

Won @2,2,7

Thunderflash Mountains, Max 25, Champion

Week 1, Agraynel claimed a gold mine to the NE on day 1. Day 2, hired Erica Fade. Captured a neutral preserve to my south.

Week 2, Hired a priest and a knight. Agraynel can beat most neutral stacks alone, but she quickly runs out of mana. When she gets really low, I use the poor man's Town Gate (attack, retreat) to zip back to a town and recharge.

Week 4, Up to 6 gold mines.

Week 5, Huh? Earlier Agraynel captured 3 Cliff Nests by slipping past dozens of Thunderbirds and defeating a band of Thunderbirds. I can caravan the TBs out without defeating the dozens by the entrances!

Agraynel reached L22, heading for the Level-up sites. Agraynel topped out.

Week 6, put together Agraynel, my paladin, general, 10 Faerie Dragons and 12 Thunderbirds, don't know if that's enough.

Captured the northern necropolis.

Week 7, finished @ 2,3,1. Final army was Agraynel, L11 Paladin, L10 General, 11 Faerie Dragons and 19 Thunderbirds. I left huge amounts of xp on the map unearned.

Uludin Foothills, Champion, Max 30, here are some excerpts from my journal.

If you have the patience, you can add a sprite to Agraynel and remove it before each battle. She can move faster that way.

Week 1, nothing useful in the Mage's Guild. Great! A Cloak of Distraction. I don't think it actually does anything. Captured 2 preserves, hired a knight. Hired an Order Lord from the tavern.

Week 2, grabbed 2 gold mines on day 1. Captured 3 Orange asylums.

Week 3, Red sent in a large army and took one of my asylums. Order Lord snuck in and recaptured that asylum. Agraynel took the last Orange asylum, nip and tuck, summoned Phoenixes several times. When you re-summon Phoenixes, it resets their mana and increases the number that will rise next time they die!

Week 4, Red came out again and took the asylum in the center of the map. Had not seen this before: There was an orange prisoner (orange had been declared eliminated earlier) who stayed on to defend the red asylum! When I met him again later, he had converted to a Red hero!

I had missed a neutral preserve in the NE. Agraynel took most of the week getting there to capture the missed preserve.

Week 5, Agraynel reached L27. Then L28 in the Coliseum of Magic (with GM Magic Resistance, easy peasy).

Week 6, Agraynel visited the ToK for L29. Red took my western asylum. Combined my general and paladin with Agraynel. Agraynel cleaning up in the SE.

Week 7, took back the western asylum. Agraynel beat down all the red armies outside the central asylum but then was counter attacked by Mordanis and his huge army, had to retreat after losing a Black Dragon. She reached the Coliseum of Might to gain L30.

Week 8, My three heroes defeated 98 Titans to reach the last Oracle. Nothing to be gained by defeating Red. I'd like to hit the preserve that offers Summon Mantis. Won @ 2,4,7.

Reloaded so I could play with my toys. Let's see if I can defeat Red.

Week 9, took both of Red's necropolises. Weird, summoned Mantis' didn't bind air elementals.

Week 10, defeated Red @ 3,2,1. Won again @ 3.2.2. I got more points for the slower win!