After the rune warrior had escorted the refugees to Tirganach, Lena was wondering if the story of Cenwen's abduction was true after all. Elune, Lena's former master, stated that Cenwen had been indeed abducted from the glacier of Aryn and that the ice dragon was reawakening. However it was the Crimson Empire and the Fial Darg who were responsible for her abduction.
High Priestess Aedale is giving the rune warrior information
Elune stated that the Fial Darg was planning to release the dark gods from their banishment with the help of the blood of a firstborn. Cenwen therefore needed to be freed but to fight against the Crimson Empire, the forces of the Winterguard of Tirganach weren't enough. Elune told the rune warrior to talk to High Priestess Aedale for further information.
The priestess told that the defense towers of the Crimson Empire and especially around their capital Shal'Dun were reinforced with the power of the fire magic of the cult of Zarach. Against this power of fire only an ancient spell of the dwarves of Fastholme was supposed to work: The Firebane. The rune warrior was tasked with finding this spell and was send out to get to Fastholme.
East of Tirganach[]
The path to Fastholme leads to the east of Tirganach but the path there was occupied by both undead and trolls. The hero monument was also occupied by ice wolves which might've proved a challenge to the rune warrior at his current state.
The trolls are praying to their god.
The rune warrior went to the east and used the the trolls belief in the god Mugwa for himself. He sneaked into their camp during nighttime and spoke through the hollow statue and told them his orders. The trolls would belief that these were the orders of Mugwa and would follow them.
There were four possible orders that could be given to the trolls.
- Attacking the wolves at the hero monument
Will make the trolls kill the wolves at the monument. - Attacking the undead to the east
Will make the trolls attack and kill some of the undead to the east. - Attacking the city of Tirganach
Will make the trolls attack the city of Tirganach. - Handing over a tribute
Will make the trolls hand over the artefact Hammer of Despair.
All choices can be activated in sequence. However when sending them to Tirganach, there won't be any others after since the Winterguard would kill Togo, Gruk and Borok and the Urok Thugs.
Further on to the east there were lots of undead goblins, skeletons and screamers. Directly east of the troll camp was the powerful skeleton fighter Disemboweller. If having ordered the trolls to attack the undead, this fighter might've already deceased already.
The screamer Munch is guarding the portal to Winterdeep.
Going towards the north more undead would appear until the rune warrior had reached the portal to Winterdeep. The portal was guarded by the screamer Munch and some other slightly more powerful undead fighters. Upon having defeated him, the rune warrior went on and headed through the portal to Winterdeep island.
Tips and tricks[]
- To get most of the trolls you would need to ask for the artefact first, then ask them for fight for the monument and then for the undead and after you're done, send them to Tirganach to get rid of them. Keep in mind though, that enemies killed by the trolls will not reward any experience points.
- Before getting to Winterdeep better check your avatar level and perhaps go to the merchant Gambrin to get dwarven runes of rank 9 to boost your armies combat power for the fight at Winterdeep.
- If you're missing experience points keep in mind that you can now start the quests The treasure of Tiondria and Bone Carver. You can also bring the Masked One the sleeping rune of Gultark and possibly the one of the Iron Minion and get some experience points. Also see to the west to the skeleton camp of Scaramangir to get more experience point.
Winterdeep[]
Upon having arrived at Winterdeep the rune warrior summoned a few rune heroes at the nearby hero monument and then headed northeast. The path was crowded with several undead fighters but were easily obliterated by the forces of the rune warrior.
On a small plateau the rune warrior met the dwarf Erlin. He told the rune warrior, that the ghosts of the old war between the Winterguard and the dwarves of Fastholme had awoken again.
The rune warrior went to the dwarven monument and activated it to create a rune army. After a strong force had been recruited the rune army headed out to the south and southwest to obliterate the ghosts and the crypts of the undead.
Together with the rune army the rune warrior broke through the ghosts' lines of defense and eventually were confronted with the leaders of the two armies, Garvyn and Rogras.
These two fighters were fighting against each other but would turn onto the rune army when being attacked. After the two leaders were defeated the Winterdeep was freed of the undead curse and thus the path to the portal to Fastholme was clear.
Tips and tricks[]
- There are ice magic skeletons using strong ice burst spells. These spells might be extremely difficult to handle if your troops are frozen in a narrow pathway and thus block your army behind them. Try either to kill them by using distance attacks (Defenders or magic) or use workers to intercept the projectiles as a free meat shield.
- Don't forget the hidden valley next to Garvyn and Rogras. There you'll find Kyra which is a necessary opponent for The Masked One.
- If you want to farm some experience points, you can try to beat the Mosaic of Death. However even with level 9 runes the fight would prove extremely hard and going past round 2 would most likely end in a defeat. Best come back with rune level 12 or above.
- Try to keep as many dwarven veterans safe as possible. They are extremely useful for the later fights since they do resist magic better and do have better combat stats. In the beginning the ghosts are rather weak but they will increase in both numbers and combat strength over time
Fastholme[]
Once the rune warrior had reached Fastholme he was greeted by the dwarven king Ragnar Undalfskjar and his trusted advisor Murim. He revealed, that the dwarven city was under heavy siege by the undead fighters of the giant Gorg. Said giant was attempting to get his undead hands on the old dwarven Firebane spell as well. The dwarven elder Windjalf had been imprisoned by him and without him the rune warrior would not be able to obtain the Firebane himself. Thus Ragnar gave the rune warrior the command over the nearby dwarven monument and then ordered him to help with the southern defense.
The southern line of defense was trying to defend the entrance to the city against an increasingly more dangerous army of undead. At the very beginning they would be able to make a stand on their own but the rune warrior sent some fighters to their aid soon to boost their ranks. The undead hordes became more and more fierce until a dwarven scout warned about a massive army approaching. After this army was destroyed, the king sent word to the rune warrior to discuss further battle plans.
Back in the city the king told the rune warrior, that the pass was not able to be defended for all eternity. He suggested to send word to the dwarven stonecrusher Uram Gursam to the north. The rune warrior and a small group of fighters were breaking through the undead ranks to get to Uram's house.
Uram's house to the north.
Uram then would follow the rune warrior to the south and use the firepowder to create and avalance which then blocked the path through the southern mountain pass. The only way for the undead now was the holy field which was protected by the dwarven statues that would damage nearby undead massively.
Since the southern gate was in no more danger, the whole rune army then could be moved to the north and from there on towards the east. There was the main camp of the undead. It was moderately guarded by undead goblins and skeletons, but with a strong army the rune warrior broke through the ranks easily.
Location of the giant Gorg in the east.
To the very east the undead giant Gorg was tormenting the dwarven elder Windjalf. To defeat Gorg the rune warrior had to use a strong army since he was not only a strong fighter by himself but also summoned ghost giants to his aid. After Gorg has been defeated, the rune warrior then freed Windjalf from the cave, that he had been imprisoned in.
Windjalf still was very weak from his time in Gorg's imprisonment and needed an escort back to the city of Fastholme. Thus the rune army escorted him back and defeated the Wolflings, which appeared after the undead were destroyed. Only after the wolflings of a specific area were defeated, Windjalf would move on to the city.
The elder Windjalf had been returned to Fastholme.
Once Windjalf had been brought to the city safely, the rune warrior then asked for the Firebane spell. Windjalf first refused since this was ancient dwarven knowledge but since he was indebted to the rune warrior for having saved Fastholme, he then gave in.
The rune warrior then obtained the ability and then needed to head back to Tirganach to talk to Elune. This would then start the quest The Crimson Empire.
Bugs[]
- Sometimes the final wave of the undead would not approach completely because single units are left behind. Since they were not all killed, Ragnar would not give the order to get to Uram. You can either solve this by running around the pass and kill the units manually within the camp or reload.
- The dwarven forces of Fastholme do possess an aggression towards all undead. Thus if you're summoning undead fighters to your aid in battle, it might happen, that the dwarves would attack and destroy them.
- If you manage to kill Gorg before he has completed the summon of his ghost giants, the quest can become bugged and you cannot free Windjalf from the cave. This often happens in combination with damage boost effects such as Berserk.
Tips and tricks[]
- Don't leave the map until you're done here since you would loose all the buildings within the city of Fastholme then.
- The Holy Statues of the dwarves deal Hallow spells on an high level. However the undeads are attacking in huge numbers and not all fighters can be attacked. Thus keep an eye on some possible undead, that go through the field. Otherwise they would break into your camp.
- The skeletons at the pass (level 27) are extremely tough and not supposed to be defeated. However when using high-leveled dwarven runes (13+) you might be able to kill a few at once. Step by step you then could gain extreme amounts of experience to improve your combat power for later maps.
Quotes[]
"On Willow Winter Day, the disc of the sun will cover Aonir's star. Then he must sacrifice her to achieve his plan."