Dead or Alive: Difference between revisions

You must defeat the army of the audacious pirate Dargem who challenged the inhabitants of the wastelands. The loss of Burton will lead you to defeat. Your heroes are limited to the level 18, but they will bring the components of the Wizard’s Well and the Ring of the Magi to the next scenario.

Victory condition:

Defeat All Enemies

Loss condition:

Lose Town

Allies:

Enemies:

Choose a bonus:

15

2

Carried to next scenario:

Max level:

18

Prologue

Henrietta: I was remembering home again. Those peaceful, dreamy times when even rare fisticuffs at village feasts always ended in sharing a chalice of peace… Here, we are yet to find even a morsel of common ground with the ogres or goblins; they have been causing us less trouble lately, though. Recently, the Regnan pirates began showing up in our lands. The rumors that there’s now something to be had in Burton have spread far, it seems. Also, our watchers have spotted walking dead near the town walls. A mere coincidence, or the undead now want something from us, too?

Scenario

Timed events

Day 1 - AI - resource control
Note: Repeats every day; ONLY applies to AI player. -50 Wood, -50 Ore, -50 Mercury, -50 Sulfur, +100 Crystal, +100 Gem
Day 1 - Part I - Dargem
Like many such places founded by desperate people willing to do anything to turn their lives around, Burton had its darker moments. One was trade with pirates—not Regnans, but outcasts shunned even by this lawless empire. They were sold ship fittings, gun barrels, cannonballs, and other supplies for their unsavory trade. The payment was made in certain rare substances, their origins never inquired about. That lasted for a short time and only was done out of desperation, but there was no getting away from that piece of history. As soon as things got better and legal sources for covering provisions and other necessities sprang up, the dealings with pirates came to naught. Chagrin wasn’t nearly strong enough a word to describe the sea rovers’ reaction to this development; they absolutely blew their tops. “Maybe we're keen on becoming honest traders, too! But nay, cor blimey, turns out our mugs aren’t nice enough for that!”, one band’s ringleader, a particularly disagreeable character named Dargem, was seething. “Alrighty, just you wait," he growled. "Time to show these landlubbers that disrespecting business partners carries a price.” Dargem was as good as his word; several pirate bands had conspired to cut off all of Burton's trade routes and began to plunder the supply wagons. The situation was becoming critical.
Day 1 - Part II - Boyd
An emergency meeting was called to find a way out. There, I heard many stories from the townsfolk about the atrocities committed by Dargem and his cronies. Some were positively chilling, despite the scorching Jadamean sun! There was a tale, however, that really piqued my interest; one about a certain Boyd, whom Dargem had allegedly put to an extremely cruel end, even by pirate standards. There were several versions, but they all agreed that a young fellow named Boyd, an adventurer and maverick, had once joined the crew of a brig that flew the jolly Roger, yearning for new thrills to add to his collection. A natural at telling hilarious stories and singing lewd songs, he quickly became the life and soul of the crew—except the brig's captain, Dargem, didn’t like that very much. Himself still quite young for a pirate top dog, he had thus far only mastered one way to keep his crew in line—through fear and threats, that is. He knew air magic, so his threats were not empty; no one wanted to anger him and suddenly die of asphyxiation or, conversely, of ruptured lungs. However, he was also capable of making his ship run faster, using magical whirlwinds to inflate the sails, and of blocking arrows and cannonballs with his air shield. Thanks to that, his men rarely were without rich booty, so there never was a shortage of candidates eager to replenish his crew. One of them was Boyd, who had so carelessly impinged on the cruel captain’s authority. Was it plain jealousy or something else, Boyd was doomed. There were many theories as to what had eventually caused the conflict, but an old innkeeper, who had once had the displeasure of having to treat the grim brig’s crew to a feast on the house, overheard a story. According to it, a hapless pirate was made to dance the hempen jig in the blazing sun, but not before making sure the noose would not suffocate him right away. Ensuring that was a small challenge for a skilled mage. So he hung there, feeding the seagulls, and when the brig called at Jadame's shores, Dargem traded his bones to some grim-looking gangrel for a hat feather. It is not known what the latter did to them, but since then, rumors have spread of travelers encountering the skeleton of an undead pirate shouting Dargem's name in the night. Some eyewitnesses even added that the skeleton brandished a cutlass, arcane flames burst out of his eyes, and the earth he rode on moaned and swelled. Fear takes molehills for mountains, I thought; but maybe I should try and seek out this undead avenger. As they say, the enemy of my enemy is my... no, not my friend. I'm not keen on being friends with no dead men! Let's say... an ally.
Day 2 - New Inventors
New times were upon Burton. With the ogre problem solved, along with the issue of securing steady shipments of local products to the market in the port of Orca’s Maw, the prospect of food shortages had receded. The townspeople were now able to make plans for more than just another day's work. Frederick and Sam kept making trips to the port to meet other associates of theirs whom they had persuaded to move to Burton. Some arrived carrying nothing more than a couple of books and a toolbox; others brought whole shiploads of alchemical equipment, rare reagents, and instruments. A dwarf named Bertram made the biggest noise; rumor had it that the dozens of barrels unloaded from his caravel were brimming with gold. True or not, but soon after his arrival, the town saw a rush of immigrants from all sorts of places, each one getting a job with good pay. New residential neighborhoods sprang up; production was getting transferred from the home forges to the new factory building, its tall vaults made of steel trusses and beams.
Day 3 - Eeofol
As immigrants arrived, the first news of the demon invasion reached our distant lands. Eeofol has been destroyed. Ravaged. Not one blooming garden left, not one clear lake. Only endless ridges of new mountains, spewing flames and stinking smoke, with hordes of ruthless demons hiding behind it. I had seen the possessed Xarfax and the soldiers of his garrison with my own eyes—a horrible and disgusting sight; but it seemed that the devils were ultimately unable to subdue the minds of the other Erathians. Maybe they had learned to defend themselves, or maybe the demons were simply not as strong as we thought after our first skirmishes with them; whatever the reason, the celestial guests were unable to leap the borders of Eeofol. Even the Fire Coast remained under Erathia's control, though the awakening volcanoes gave it trouble. Talking to those who brought the news, I voiced my rejoicing at the trouble having not claimed thousands of lives in Erathia and AvLee, contrary to our dire predictions born of ignorance—but my heart cried out in pain. It only wondered about one thing: why Eeofol and not Erathia?
Day 3 - Sentinel Automatons
I was no longer helping Frederick in his workshop, as I had my own thing to do now. I didn't even notice how it happened, but at some point everyone began to refer to me as Burton's scoutmaster. Still, I maintained interest in my old friend's progress and knew that he had designed and built an improved steam engine. It was too big and heavy to be mounted on an airship, but perfect for a factory powerplant; it helped multiply the torque on the metalworking machines’ shafts. Now the factory was building itself: improved machines helped create new structural elements, and the facilities kept growing and expanding. Frederick was now fully devoted to the energy sector, and had no time to pursue his other old projects. Many of those, however, saw development in the hands of newly arrived artificers. One, a somewhat odd-looking gray-haired man named Todd, took it upon himself to put automatons into mass production. He spent a good month locked up in a hangar with the prototypes Frederick had brought from Eeofol, a few assistants, a variety of tools, and a huge basket of armadillo jerky. When he finally emerged from this voluntary confinement, he looked as if he had never slept a wink in a month—but he was glowing with joy. Beside him, two fully assembled models presented their gleaming, polished sides, and he leaned proudly with his elbow on a pile of blueprints and flow charts. It’s funny to remember how at that moment, my takeaway started and ended with the fact that the pile of papers was noticeably taller than I was—even if I'd stood on my tiptoes. I had, of course, already seen the automatons preparing our airships, but the other residents of Burton were very impressed when they were put on display in the square. Imagine a metal contraption on six mechanical legs, almost the size of a full-grown armadillo, looking like a mix of a crab, a common sight on the shores of the Ravage Roaming, with a carnivorous spider from the Murmurwoods. There was a gurgling sound coming from within the mechanism, and thin jets of vapor escaped from the numerous valves; its steel frame trembled and its joints creaked slightly. The automaton seemed as hot as a water boiler—although it was, in fact, very much a boiler itself; the powerful grip protruding from a sort of head had a very menacing appearance, and the Burton youths, eager to impress their girls, kept running up and putting their hands into the metal spidercrab’s jaws. Little did they know that its superheated steam-based powerplant in itself posed much more danger to others than any kind of jaws or extremities... Frederick told me in confidence that Todd hadn’t been able to fully solve its little reliability problem—he only limited the machine’s standard power, but kept the option of switching to the supercritical mode. It was, however, impossible to turn off once engaged. Naturally, the assembly responsible for this feature was taken off the model on display, but I still preferred to keep my distance.
Day 5 - Gunslingers
Burton now smelled of money, and that smell always attracts those who want to appropriate it, as well as those who are willing, for a fee, to discourage the former. Interestingly enough, the majority of both were of the same pedigree: pirates, that is. Not all of those who used to have dealings with the Burton craftsmen succumbed to Dargem's entreaties to come and take what they needed by force. The more staid ones saw the benefit of going into the rapidly growing town’s service. Furthermore, they were promised the most advanced and powerful weapons crafted in Burton's workshops, and that, of course, was a very good incentive. The townspeople looked askance at those morose men; the mercenaries, equally effective on land and sea, were mostly employed as bounty hunters. Their arms of choice were arquebuses of enormous caliber and very complicated design. One look was enough to see how much care the gunslingers had for the tools of their trade; their brass and steel parts were buffed to a shine and glistened in the sun like jewelry, and hardwood stocks were polished and varnished. Their cloaks bulged suspiciously at the waist; hiding underneath were not crude pistols like those used by pirates, but things just as sophisticated and expensive as their arquebuses. Rumor had it that those mysterious weapons had already made countless Dargem's henchmen take dirt naps; a well-trained and disciplined gunslinger always ended up being faster than an ever-drunken pirate and his smooth-bore pocket artillery, however proud a sea dog the latter was.
Day 7 - Nemerthea
An old fisherman came to Burton; he lived on the shore near the place where the pirates used to call at for trade. They’d leave him messages, offering dates for the next exchanges. He said that he had spied familiar black sails on the horizon several times, more and more often in recent days. “The blue broad is summoning her girls. And I tell ya, they'll come in force—they all have a husband in every port. Suppose they gather them all, even you’ll be in big trouble, and I'll just get eaten, bones and all. Faces of angels they got, but teeth of sharks…”
Day 14 - Melchior interrogates pirates
If there is scouting, then there must also be someone to handle the scouts working for the adversary. There was now such a man in Burton, Melchior by name. Sweet-talking and courteous, he could make anyone feel at ease, inducing them to share even what they did not know about themselves. And now he had busted a pirate spy. The interview procedure for those seeking employment as gunslingers, long and confusing for an uninformed onlooker, once again proved to be effective: the candidate broke down over an unexpected question about the best way to spend a large paycheck that came completely against the conversation’s flow. At the interrogation, this swaggering, insolent character first laughed spewed threats, claiming to fear neither beatings nor death, and that he would certainly be avenged... However, just a minute spent in the company of the automaton that carefully held certain parts of the prisoner's body in its maw were enough; the latter suddenly developed extraordinary eloquence. Excerpts from the interrogation report: ...lured several enchanters to his side, promising each one a Spellbinder’s Hat... fooled the old dolts, of course, but now they seem to have no choice... ...Dargem laughs at your firecrackers and bullets. He's sure he'll squash you like roaches. What's more, he has several strongholds where his retainers are nested... …You can't get Dargem. Unless, of course, you can walk on water…
Day 22 - Portal warning (141)
The scouts brought troubling news. There were several ancient portals in the vicinity of Burton, but everyone considered them long forgotten and their power gone. No one expected them to come back to life anymore, and they were not considered a possible source of threat—but now it seemed as though someone was trying to reactivate them: the air in the portals churned, lights blinking in it....
Day 30 - Steadwick's Fall
Today, refugees from faraway Antagarich arrived in Burton. No, not migrants, but refugees! They brought news that made me feel sick and ashamed, as if it were my thoughts that had invited this trouble. Far across the ocean, war had broken out: the Dungeon Overlords of Nighon had joined forces with the demons! It was hard to believe that the celestial guests had found allies so quickly, but facts were facts. Erathia was still reeling from the recent mysterious death of King Gryphonheart, and rumor had it that its capital, Steadwick, had already fallen to the joint forces of devils and overlords.
Day 37 - Dargem's Fortress
The pirate spy’s loose tongue gave a tip that Dargem's main fortress might be on an island. Indeed it was, but the island was surrounded by impregnable cliffs, and the waves were crashing against them with terrible force. The closest we could get for surveillance was at least a mile from the shoreline. If only a way could be found to lure Dargem out of his compound! Could there be any means of communication between the pirate fortresses?
Day 90 - News about Catherine
Today we met a merchant captain from Erathia. The war continues, but it seems that there is still hope! Queen Catherine is gathering troops to retake the capital, and she has already chased off several armies of demons and Nighon Overlords! Moreover, according to rumors shared by the same trader, AvLee and Bracada intended to offer assistance to Erathia in its struggle with the demons.
Day 150 - Steadwick's Liberation
A merchant from Antagarich brought good news: Steadwick had been liberated! Demons and subterranean creatures are being chased all over Erathia, and allegedly the land will soon be free of them. The trader also shared some bits and pieces of information about the conflict with Tatalia and Krewlod, and the backing that Gavin Magnus's troops had provided to Erathia there, but I wasn't listening to him anymore... I no longer thought of the Kreegans as invincible. I still woke up screaming at night when I saw the celestial invaders’ ugly countenances in my dreams, but if humans and elves were able to fight them, maybe we too could get even with them someday. It was, however, neither the time nor the place to think seriously about it. Burton's needs demanded the full extent of my energy.

Objects

Events

Location	Message
9, 48, 0	AI - bonus movement. Note: ONLY applies to AI player. Contents: +1500 Movement points
94, 15, 0	After all the tales I’d heard of the grim dead avenger, I expected just about anything from meeting him, except to run into such a… lively chatter. When I stepped into the hall where Boyd was sitting, he launched into a profanity-laced tirade, something about his endless appreciation for uninvited guests. However, once he got a closer look at me, he erupted with a flurry of compliments, witticisms and jokes just short of ribaldry. Even the light in one of his eye sockets would fade for a moment every now and then, as if he were winking at me. Before long, though, there was an abrupt transformation about Boyd; it happened the second I first mentioned Dargem. Up until that moment, I could close my eyes and easily imagine talking to a cheerful man brimming with energy and taste for everything around him; yet when Dargem's name was called, Boyd's eye sockets became gloomy hollows, his rich baritone gave way to the whistle of a cold wind mixed with the rattle of bones, and his fingers began scraping at the chair’s armrests of his chair with a sickening crunch. “If you want to bussst that ssstinking bilgerat, I'll do anything to help you. He doesn't know what I've become owing to him; what power I've gained from the emanationsss of torment embedded into my bonesss. But promissse me one thing; once we’ve cornered the wretch, you will let me have him! Much time hasss passed sssince my ssstint on his ship, and he hasss become more than just a go-getting captain—he now hasss his own little realm of brigands he callsss a "principality." He won't ssset a foot out of his castle if he knows we're upon him, but as sssoon as we tread on hisss tail... He'll go chopping and changing. And then we'll make our move.” For the first time in my life, I felt my feet freezing. Now I knew how those stories of the ghastly dead avenger were born. Indeed: he had only been seen when he was out hunting his murderer, and in that state he was truly awe-inspiring. Of course, no one had ever tried to pay Boyd a visit at his dead manor—and no one knew how tormented that unsettled soul was and how he died all over again whenever forced to remember his last days spent in that pitiless wretch’s grip.Note: Neither human nor computer are allowed to trigger this event.
77, 76, 0	Eovacius bonus Note: ONLY applies to AI player. Contents: +1 Attack skill, +11 Defense skill, +21 Power skill, +10 Knowledge skill, 100 Spell Points, 434 Nymphs, 427 Oceanids, 47 Sea Witches, 46 Sorceresses, Shackles of War
105, 48, 0	Note: ONLY applies to AI player. Contents: +9 Attack skill, +8 Defense skill, +4 Power skill, +4 Knowledge skill, 106 Wood Elves, 118 Crew Mates, 106 Seamen, 69 Pirates, 37 Stormbirds, Shackles of War
107, 59, 0	Illor bonus Note: ONLY applies to AI player. Contents: +9 Attack skill, +11 Defense skill, +5 Power skill, +4 Knowledge skill, 100 Spell Points, 96 Grand Elves, 27 Wyverns, 91 Corsairs, 63 Stormbirds, 54 Ayssids, Shackles of War
16, 103, 0	kill astra Note: ONLY applies to AI player. Guardians: 1 Archangel
103, 77, 0	death Note: ONLY applies to AI player. Guardians: 1 Archangel
17, 78, 0	Note: ONLY applies to AI player. Contents: 200 Spell Points, +2000 Movement points
99, 32, 0	Note: ONLY applies to AI player. Contents: +2000 Movement points
19, 49, 0	Note: Neither human nor computer are allowed to trigger this event. Contents: +1000 Movement points
89, 101, 0	Note: Neither human nor computer are allowed to trigger this event. Contents: +14000 Movement points

Towns

Location	Type	Name
26, 6, 0	Factory	Burton
27, 83, 0	Cove	-
86, 97, 0	Cove	-
102, 56, 0	Cove	-
82, 14, 0	Necropolis	-

Heroes

Location	Player	Hero
26, 7, 0		Frederick the Artificer
67, 6, 0		Henrietta the Mercenary
12, 90, 0		Bess the Captain
15, 98, 0		Evadne the Navigator
86, 98, 0		Dargem the Navigator
102, 56, 0		Malathi the Captain
2, 37, 0		Tancred the Mercenary
30, 83, 0		Ylendore the Ranger
57, 77, 0		Ziph the Artificer
74, 78, 0		Berhanu the Captain
77, 79, 0		Solendore the Captain
78, 88, 0		Yzraal the Captain
85, 31, 0		Wrathmont the Artificer
93, 16, 0		Boyd the Death Knight

Monsters

Location	Type	Message
22, 9, 0	Pirates	Today, you don't have to go far to see a real pirate. Some of them have become so brazen, they come lurking just outside the walls of Burton, catching lead every now and then, sometimes right from the town's towers. This bunch, however, seems new here, just figuring out what to grab and run before a heavy bullet comes.
31, 12, 0	Seamen	These pirates look completely broke and clueless, armed with nothing but crude, short cutlasses. It would seem that Dargem has decided on an endless harassment tactic to wear down Burton's defenders; even if none were killed, that might come back to haunt them the moment he’d send his main forces in to attack.
99, 13, 0	Pirates	This pirate looks even worse than the first two. He can't so much as speak a word, but it looks as though Boyd sent him away to carry the same message as the others. He raises his trembling hand with a gun at you. With a sigh, you urge your warriors at him.

Seer's Huts

Quest Guards

Quest Gates

Epilogue

Henrietta: The chase… Sword in my hand… and the barely visible path between the lifeless hills ahead. I’m racing on, barely ever getting a glimpse of the map, and the silent skeleton rides by my side. Suddenly, I wake up, shaking off the nightmare that kept tormenting me for days, in the dreams and beyond. When we pinned down that worm, Dargem, I left Boyd and him to set their scores alone. Should I expect for a second restless dead man to come to my dreams tonight? Well, just two is not that bad. After fleeing from Eeofol, I was seeing thousands of them…

User commentary

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Some may find the information in this section subjective or irrelevant.

Some helpful tips for Impossible difficulty:

You get more resources on this map than you can spend at just your base. Grit your teeth and pay for those pricey external dwellings/quests!
- To get more resources/troops, delegate several heroes to visiting the various windmills, warehouses and creature dwellings every week.
A way to get more troops is to recruit 2 new heroes a week, take their armies, then dismiss the heroes. They will appear with fresh armies the next week!
- Doing this with Todd yields extra Automatons.
Flagging the external Frigate a ways south of Burton (or recruiting from the Coves) lets you have a steady stream of Pirates that can be upgraded to Gunslingers (via the seer's hut quest).
On the right side of the map, you can recruit Red Dragons which can then be turned into Bone Dragons via the Skeleton Transformer and then upgraded to Ghost Dragons via the seer's hut quest in the top left of the map.
- The same thing can be done for any dragons found on the map.
Make good use of the Hill Fort on the right-hand side of the map. Many creatures can be upgraded there that can't otherwise be upgraded.
- Sandworms get a huge power spike being upgraded to Olgoi-Khorkhoi
The Golden Bow on the right side of the map can help a lot with sieges against tough opponents.

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