Poison Fit for a King

Lord Haart has agreed to take the poison to King Gryphonheart. A clever ruse in the form of a border skirmish will plant the poison in Lord Haart's castle, and then you will leave the area to let him recover his lands and the poison.

Prologue

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Sandro: Lord Haart has agreed to take the Vial of Poison to King Gryphonheart. All I must do is leave the Vial in Haart's castle after I raid it. Fortunately for me, he is problem with overpopulation, so I will add his wasted peasants to my own ranks. This will be a good day for harvesting skeletons!

Scenario

Map description

Capture Haart Castle and leave the Vial of Poison to win the scenario. However, if Sandro is defeated in combat, the scenario is lost. Heroes are limited to level 10, but Sandro and three of his comrades will carry their experience, skills and spells on to the next scenario.

Starting options

Give 20 Zombies to Sandro the Necromancer
Receive 3000 Gold
Give Boots of Speed to Sandro the Necromancer

Timed events

Day 1 - Day One
Sometimes Deyja lords will allow other creatures to move into an area under their control and then slaughter them to resurrect additional undead armies. However, this particular area has been neglected by the Deyja lords and now needs to be cleared out for you to get through to Lord Haart's Castle. This is the time when you wish you had the Armor of the Dead King! Grinding your teeth, you set about raising armies this the old fashioned way.
Day 5 - Lord Haart
As per the agreement, Lord Haart has recently left for maneuvers farther into Erathian territory. He has taken most of the knights and clerics with him but left a few to guard the castles. You decide it would be best to send out scouts and find out exactly what forces he left behind.
Day 9 - Jerk
Lord Haart has decided to play a little nastier than you anticipated. He has left four capable heroes to guard his castles. The pompous prig! This will make things harder, not to mention the troops he reinforced the garrison with. Now you will have to go through them too. But this does not hinder your plans. Once on the Erathian side, you will be free to reap the precious peasants who do his farming and menial chores. To you, they are skeletons that just don't know it yet.
Day 14 - Two Weeks
So far the campaign is going well. Plenty of creatures fight tooth and nail only to become skeletons, and the towns are beginning to shape up into some fine cities. Confident that this little excursion shall go as smoothly as you planned, you send out messengers to both the Dungeon Overlords and the Kreegans. They should not miss out on your plan to take over Erathia. After all, they too have some brute strength that can be used as cover.
Day 20 - The Plan
Mulling over the events of the past and looking towards the future, you slowly sip an exquisite goblet of wine. Your lips would curl into a snide smile -- if you had any left, that is. Life without flesh is quite comfortable, actually. You don't worry about mosquito bites, foot blisters or coarse sheets. Many discomforts such as cold and heat are no longer a concern, and it such bliss to be oblivious to the foul stench of sweating, working fools. The aroma of death, dry and comfortable, surrounds you like a warm shroud. Pulling your thoughts back to the plan shattered by foolish twits, you abruptly grasp the goblet and hurl it towards the wall, sending blood splattering. Your rage towards Crag Hack, Gem, Yog and that snippet Gelu is not easy to control. Who would have thought two Barbarians would suddenly develop a conscience? Not to mention a boy ranger and a foreign druid actually gathering together the resources to build an army large enough to defeat yours! You slowly calm yourself with the realization that these oversights no longer matter. The King will die and it will be by the hand of one of his own. The thought warms your frigid soul and fuels the fire throughout the night.
Day 27 - Effective Scouts
Your scouting parties "recruited" three messengers carrying pleas for assistance to Lord Haart. If you do not capture any other messengers who may have eluded you, Lord Haart will return here before the appointed time. -5000 Gold
Day 36 - Pay (every 7 days)
To keep these effective troops in your service you must continue to pay them. In return, they will send you some "recruits," proving they are doing the job they are being paid for. Still, you grumble at the arrangement. Having to actually pay someone for such a task is an inconvenience, as have been many things in this land. -2000 Gold
(60, 33, 0) Necropolis: Day 37 - Troops (every 7 days)
Your money has been going to good use. Troops arrive as promised -- not many, but proof enough that scouts are being caught, killed and turned into skeletons to fight against the people they once served. Such a delicious irony! 20 Skeletons and Skeleton Warriors
Day 54 - Trouble
Once again trouble has come your way. One of those blasted knights made a suicide attack last night. He and the few men who followed him are dead, but it will cost much to replace what they burned to the ground. It may be wise to further fortify the border, but you are not sure the idiots you placed there will be any more effective than the last group.
Day 67 - Nightmare
Resting peacefully is never an option for the undead. Each night you are plagued with horrifyingly real dreams. It is said of the undead that if you die in such a nightmare, you die permanently. Knowing the power of the mind and the frailty of a body without a soul securely attached, you take no chances. You keep a Zombie guard in your room to wake you periodically. For the most part, this tactic works.
Day 69 - Nightmare
The nightmare began as usual. Ethric was chasing you, waving his sword like the lunatic he was. Screaming battle cries, he rushes headlong forward, threatening to overtake and kill you. There is no doubt in your mind this Warlock would rip your head from your shoulders and use it to play kickball. He was mad, insane with jealousy and unable to control the power he already had. His screaming turned to a maddening chanting and lightning ripped from his hands, searing your tender flesh and throwing you to the ground. Bony hands shake you before you die in the dream. "I'm sorry, sir," the Zombie apologizes. "I was just waking you as you ordered." Shaking, you spend the rest of the night pouring over rosters.
Day 71 - Nightmare
As you roll over and raise your weak arm, the stench of seared flesh nearly chokes you. Although unable to see Ethric clearly through your tearing eyes, you know his sword is about to slice through you as though you were melted butter. But the blow does not fall. Instead, strong hands pick you up and throw you against a wall. You now face Crag Hack. The crazy barbarian wants to be paid. He yanks your coin purse out from between your ribs and leaves you with a gaping hole in your chest. As you lay dying without hope of resurrection, a Druid with the face of an angel appears before you. However, her beautiful smile turns wicked and ugly as she uses her healing magic in reverse. Searing the rest of your flesh from your body, she screams of souls lost forever because of you. As you standing before her, naked and alone, she laughs. The other two heroes join in the laughter, causing you to cry like a ridiculed child. You scream tearfully at them until you finally wake up.
Day 89 - The Genie Barbarian
Whispers in the darkness hint at things just out of sight and around the corner. You are moving through dark forests with only the moonlight to guide your path. Your horse stumbles, whinnying as you go down. Pinned, you attempt to scramble out from under the dying thoroughbred when a shadow falls over you. It is the blue-faced Barbarian, the one who had studied in Bracada.
Day 91 - The Ranger
There is no escaping this nightmare. Once again you are in the shadowy forest, this time fleeing the barbaric genie. He is a skillful hunter and even more determined than Crag Hack to get his pay. An arrow slices through your foot, rooting you to the ground. You see the shadows stir and out steps the white-skinned, red-haired Ranger with the strange bow. He swiftly puts more arrows into your body before taking careful aim at your skull with the final shaft. Suddenly, you begin falling into an opening in the ground. Making a last, desperate grab at a hand extended toward you, you materialize safely in your bed. But the hand you are clutching is not that of your guard - the Zombie's arms had finally come apart after rescuing you from the deadly dream so many times. No, a commander who happened to walk past your tent and hear your distress saved you. You curse softly. If not for happenstance, you would have died. You vow that you will not risk sleep again.