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Update 4: The end of the first level
Last time we took two enemy castles leaving only one for the taking and with a clear road which I needed to take to get to that castle. So let’s finish this map.
Day 47
I saw an enemy hero running around here, I think he’s scared.
Ranloo is going to get a few extra units before he’s allowed to go out and play with the “big” boys.
Day 48
The enemy stays hidden and shows that the AI is currently set for stupid monkey difficulty. I'll take that gold instead and kill some skeletons for fun.
It’s something.
Wait, didn’t I already have this? The gold pile was a measly 500.
And away he goes! He’ll probably never see yellow, but who cares. The dead shall walk the world again!
Day 49
Hello again Zam.
I can’t reach Zam or kiss the statue so we’ll just park ourselves next to him…MENACINGLY.
This should be good exercise for him. A horde of battle dwarves.
Day 50
Go get them Ranloo. The plan is simple enough, we'll pelt them with chemicals.
Like this.
And like this. I fully expect them to end up next to eachother next turn, so that should be good. The AI will never try to spread out its units, which is one of the things that makes Power Liches as good as they are.
Yes, exactly as planned.
“Blah! Now to see vat’s really under zat helmet!”
The dwarfs are trying to divide and conquer.
The divide part went well at least.
And we have 5 new skeletons in our army. We just used the extra femurs to make them taller and more humanlike.
The book is useless to us, it doubles the effectiveness of summoning spells of which we have none.
What was I doing again?
Oh right, kissing stuff. 
Well, that was easy. Heh, what a silly name for a warlock castle.
Day 51
He hasn’t visited the gazebo yet, so let’s talk up some old guy.
Helping us flag mines as usual is Flint.
There’s a xanadu next to their castle. I want it. PC Snob may be neither famous nor diplomatic enough, but I surely qualify. 
Of course we’ll follow those elves, they’re hiding something!
Grand elves are actually too much of a pain to fight. They’re very fast meaning only the boars, titans and archmages tie them for speed. They’ll outspeed the vampires and rocs so we’re going to get hurt.
I don't want to get hurt, so let’s fix that with some mass haste.
Blazing is a hidden speed. It is one tier above ultra fast and no unit has this naturally. Now everyone is at least very fast. 
And the boars are still short of reaching the other side thanks to some plants.
BLAH!
It was a tough battle where they managed to do two damage to my titans. Technically they did more, but the vampires healed themselves again.
It’s all mine!
Day 52
Oh right, Flint was there. The enemy also has another hero somewhere in the fog of war.
“Didn’t I tell you to get...”
“Nevermind! Please come in.”
The Xanadu provides a nice +1 upgrade to all your skills, provided you can get in that is.
Look upon her and tremble, I guess we could go save Flint. But I don’t care about him, for reasons unknown I actually dislike Flint.
Also, this castle will be unguarded in a few minutes.
The titans throw their mighty lightning bolt and the vampires finish the job.
That was barely two minutes.
Welcome to Pigs eye! It's the Bee's knees, except with pigs and their eyes.
It spells doom for my enemies!
Let’s run through the new spells:
Animate dead: For 10 spell points you animate the dead, drawing them back from their second visit to the afterlife and drafting them permanently in your army. You restore 50 times your spell power in HP. This only works on the undead.
Resurrection: A waste of a spell if there ever was one and in my opinion exemplary of the patented Heroes of Might and Magic balance. This fourth level spell costs 12 spell points to temporarily bring back living units in your army. It heals for 50 time your spell power. Can you guess what’s so bad about this spell? Animate dead is a spell level below, costs less spell points and permanently raises the undead. There is a true resurrection spell available, but it’s a fifth level spell. 
Mass shield: Well this is awkward, we haven’t seen the single target spell yet. So for 7 spell points you apply a shield that halves all missile damage to your units. It can be useful when you’re facing sorceress, wizard or are laying siege.
Flint should be happy, I have a plan to save him.
I wonder if the AI can resist retaking their castle now that it’s unguarded.
Now for part two. Run away Flint! 
Ranloo is getting there.
Day 53
[img]http://lpix.org/2056583/44derp.gif
I don’t think that that is going to save you.
Yes, undead, the Irish and three factions in a single army will do that to your morale.
The gargoyles were shot by the Archmages first and he blinded my rocs. Obviously they were the biggest threat on this map. This lucky hit did a whole 14 damage to my titans.
Time to pay them back in the back.
We haven’t talked about the griffins yet, but they have a very interesting special in that they have unlimited retaliations, meaning they can strike back as often as they are attacked making them annoying to fight. Fortunately, the vampires no retaliation specialty overcomes the griffins unlimited retaliations. One boar dies to the skeletons, I probably should care more but this map is over anyway and we need something to eat.
The sprites have a lucky shot on my titans who take 6 damage. 
I’d forgotten what holy word looked like. Pretty sweet blur. My vampires can recover from that damage by eating the griffins and even if they couldn’t I still would’ve cast this spell.
Holy Word: For 9 spell points you can cast the holy word. It’s the exact opposite of death ripple and thus deals 10 times your spell power in damage to all undead creatures on the battle field. I don’t like it very much. It’s very situational and the creatures you want to use this on the most can shrug it off unless you have 5 or more spell power. I wish turn undead from Heroes1 was still a thing. That spell outright killed a stack of undead.
Hey, that’s an attack spell. That usually means that they’re going to run, but he doesn’t have a castle.
Get back here you bastard! 
And stop offering me eagle eye!
There’s no way that we’re going to survive this without damage, but I want to show PC Snob what happens when you oppose the forces of good.
I think I’ll cast haste on a stack of my vampires. This is where you notice how slow fast as a speed really is. These grand elves are all very fast, tying them with my power liches.
The liches weaken the top stack and take their first hit. The vampires can block two stacks at the same time.
And I lose a power lich.
Another lich dies due to the top grand elf going first this round, but he gets his revenge.
Cold ray to speed things up.
I hope you paid attention PC Snob, this is how we handle the undead. 
I also get 6 skeletons.
Never not pick logistics.
Day 54
And last but not least, Luna shows up.
This will not take long.
It'll be like lightning striking.
This isn’t what it looks like! 
He’s just throwing a lightning bolt. 
Hurrah, a victory.
And that settles that, this should teach those lords who their true benevolent lord is. 
Next time we see how grateful Roland is. I’ll bet I get even more gold, maybe some lands and dare I say it maybe even a miller as well. 