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General Snob, Mission 1, Part 2, A New Challenger Has Appeared
Day 8
"Damn you, Astrologers, do you have any idea how dangerous that can be?"
General Snob's Journal posted:
The quartermaster told me that if I add a little attic to the Mansion the Vampire Lords, who like to watch their lessers from high above, will supplant the regular lowly Vampires. I didn't even know there was a hierarchy within the vampires themselves, but if I can get a better pedigree of these bloodsucking monsters, then I see no reason why not to.
The Vampire Lord might not seem like much at first, with Attack, Defense and Damage remaining the same while its cost increases to 650 gold, but he is likely the single greatest upgrade in the whole game, after the Giants to Titans from the Wizards. Their health increases by a fair margin and their speed increases to fast, making them the second fastest creature under the Necromancers (but unfortunately still slower than the best ranged creatures, including Grand Elves).
What truly changes is his new special. Vampire Lords still avoid retaliation, but also drain health from their enemies. Half the damage a Vampire Lord inflicts is recovered in health and this drain can even bring back destroyed Vampires in the stack. Vampires, when well utilized, can be a great strategic asset for the necromancers.
“BLAGH! That's trivial affair, ve also have a much better taste than our inferior breed. Red undercoating vith yellow jewels? They couldn't be more unoriginal. Yellow undercoating vith red jewels are much more fashionable.”
General Snob's Journal posted:
Inside the outpost I saw two new faces eager to join my cause. Or rather, one new face... and one new skull.
“I see you're Archibald's new errand boy. What a pitiful job you've done. All these resources and you're still squabbling for dominance in your little peninsula.”
"I beg your pardon? I am Archibald's General and you will address me as such!"
"The emperor of all mousekind is still a lowly rodent. The way I see it, I should slay you where you stand and take this outpost for myself, then oust both little king cubs and claim Enroth itself. I should, but I am in a good mood. Maybe I ought to just take you out and claim your post as Archibald's right arm. Less targets over my head, this way."
"Or... you could take my gold and serve my cause. And I'll see if I can arrange for Archibald to sign some lands under your name after Roland is dealt with."
"The mouse knows his fangs are blunt and weak so it pleads for its insignificant life, I see. I have no need for lands nor titles, but I do have need for more power. Very well, I will grant you a favor: Slaying all other squabbling lords in this little corner of Enroth. In return, any artifacts you and your minions find are mine and mine alone. I have a... let's call it a long-term project to see into."
"Not so fast. First I want you to prove yourself to me. Slay the orcs, goblins and rangers east of this outpost. Do this and we can strike a bargain."
"That's all? Want me to laugh at the dungeon inmates and defeat the zombies at a card game as well? Or is this single easy task enough? Pathetic, but agreed."
"Oh, just go already, boney. Then later you can go face a muscle-bound oiled man in a leather tong riding a tiger, for all I care.”
General Snob's Journal posted:
The lich, Sandro, left the outpost with only a handful of Vampire lords and his own small entourage of skeletons, leaving his zombies behind. He refused any other reinforcements, saying I could feed them to the ghoul for all the good they'd do.
He is insubordinate and arrogant, but ambitious. If he can keep his end of the bargain, I see no reason why not to keep mine. But deep down, I wish he becomes orc chow.
"Tomorrow, these orcs will be nothing more than reinforcements to my army."
"Our army, you mean, surely."
"It's actually cute that you think so."
"Rialdo, report back to the outpost, I want you to retrieve something."
"At once, General Kabob!"
"I visited the knight in the gazebo. He taught me wondrous things."
“Always glad to help. Hope you use this knowledge well and avoid unnecessary conflicts.”
"Good, good. Go and see if that Leprechaun has come out of hiding to shake him down again."
"Normally, I would do it under protest. But, after what that bastard called me, it will be my pleasure.”
“I guess not...”
Halon has leveled and increased his knowledge. He also has the choice between Diplomacy and Ballistics.
Diplomacy is one of the most powerful skills in the game. It increases the chance that wandering monsters will join the hero and monsters who'd typically retreat will offer to join you instead. Two caveats, though. First, they'll ask for gold in order to join, unlike Followers who'll join for free, and the cost is double their regular price. Second, only a fraction of the stack will join. 1/4 at basic, 1/2 at advanced and full at expert.
Since I don't plan for Halon to participate in any sieges (at least, not as sieger) I chose Diplomacy. I might find a way to exploit this skill yet.
"So much gold. The boss vill be pleased!"
“What you do in Baba Yaga's house! You filth nosferatu, out, out!”
"Sorry, vise crone. I did not know this vas your property."
“That's an idiot's excuse! If that's the case, I'll brand your mind! Now you can see further than the horizon and will have no excuse to barge into an honest witch's house the next time!”
"I can see everywhere! Thank you, crone, the boss vill like this.”
Scouting increases the view range of the hero by 1, 2 and 3 tiles at basic, advanced and expert, respectively. It is equivalent to the Warlock's innate ability to see further in Heroes I. It is great for secondary heroes but it can also be useful for primary Heroes, though it does generally lose its usefulness as the game progresses, since the game only has hard Fog of War and it doesn't regenerate.
Day 9
"So how, exactly, do you keep the graveyard filled?"
"Oh, we have body seekers and plague wagons in our employ. They travel the land and offer a few coins for the recently deceased. Sometimes, though, the peasants are just too healthy and simply won't die. But that's nothing a little push at the right time in the right direction can't solve."
"You know, you're all unrepentant sociopaths. But since we're talking about peasants, I can't help but think you're doing a public service."
"The gods of the roads don't like me. 
"
"That's too close to the zombies. I'll hang up a few wind chimes around camp to keep them away."
"Bow before me, and I will grant you a swift death!"
“OINC! We orcs finally found a nice, good smelling place to settle down. You'll never break us!”
"I will break, cut, mince and chop you. You will be nothing but a distant memory of a long-forgotten feast for my vampires."
“You already invoked my vrath just because I'm now forced to actually feast on your disgusting blood to patch my vounds. You should feel privileged for such an honor.”
"There's nothing but death for those who stand in my way. If an avalanche dares to fall on top of me, it is its duty to divert itself away from me, lest I grant it sentience and make it know nothing but regret."
“That last one almost tickled. You really have some gall, svine! BLEIGH, now die!”
" Yeesh! There was barely anything left to raise!"
"They are dead and more will follow. Do not question my methods, I will do my job and you can keep doing whatever it is yours."
"These goblins dare to block my way? Do you think they're really brave or really stupid?"
“Ve think the answer is clear.”
"It was a trick question. There's no difference between bravery and ignorance.”
“Bow to the tuxedo, vermin!”
“Bone-man want to take goblin gazebo! But gazebo too pretty. Goblin-folk can't let bone-man to take it!”
“Cousin Ned! And uncle Alf! Uh... me thinks gazebo not that pretty, bone-man can take it!”
"It is too late for mercy. Now there are only two things in your future: unbearable pain followed by certain death."
"Very unfortunate. If only there was one more goblin in this group, I could have had the bones for one more skeleton. My art needs improving."
“I saw what you did to those orcs and goblins. Even for beasts as they were that was horrid!”
"Oh, I try."
“Look, if I teach you a bit of the necromantic arts (don't look at me like that, everyone had a minor in college), will you leave me be?”
"I might consider it."
Sandro learns Advanced Necromancy and starts to grow his spell power.
"Zam, take the sulfur mine Sandro 'liberated' from those orcs. And the knight in the gazebo might teach you something to make you useful at last."
"Is all the gold I got for Archibald not useful? "
Day10
"Good news, General. The Liches said your graveyard is adequate and are willing to join as soon as you build a Mausoleum where they can study undisturbed."
"Isn't a Mausoleum just a place to stuff the remains of important people?"
"That's the beauty of it. Everyone is already wary of mausoleums and know better than to breach into one, so if we build one the liches can get the quiet and privacy they need... to orchestrate orgies in the name of hedonism and SCIENCE!"
"I see. It is counter-intuitive but... wait, wait, wait. What was that last part?"
"What last part?"
"Forget it. Half the time I get the feeling you're all goading me to see if I take the bait. I'm smarter than that. Rialdo, take the liches and deal with those golems to the south. I want to know what manner of artifact they're protecting."
"Bone-witches be like bitches. But less tasty."
"Watch your tongue, ghoul, if you prize it exactly where it is."
Liches have two distinctions in the Necromancer army. They're the fastest Necromancer unit and they're the only ranged necromancer unit. While they have their strengths, like high base damage and incredibly high defense on par with tier 6 creatures while they're tier 5, they suffer from low hitpoints, making them extremely vulnerable to spells, and a low attack skill, making it so their high damage isn't even close to being on par with the Archmages, for instance. They're also quite expensive at the 750 gold mark.
Liches are a double-edged sword in battle since their attacks affect an area around their target. In the right circumstances, this can be a great multiplier that allows to compensate for their low attack. Most often than not, though, it means you'll need to refrain from attacking with them or else you'll hurt your own troops. Large creatures are good targets since you can position you troops in a way that they can be clear from the blast radius.
Golems. Goddamn golems. Ridiculously sturdy, high damage, tons of hit points... their only weakness is their speed, but that's one Haste away from being solved. They're a bitch to fight, though.
"Hold! Let the metal-men come, see if the bone-witches can blow some of them up. They're inedible anyway."
"[https://lpix.org/3204903/SB_RARGH.mp3]RARGH![/url]"
Liches are tier 5 and yet two of them can't even kill a single tier 3 golem after two shots. That's the problem with liches when they attack high-defense creatures...
"I think I'm going to die of old age if we wait for the liches to finish them off. Posh-men, go there and take the iron metal-men separated from the others. These are not quite that inedible, maybe your fangs can even penetrate them!”
“BLAGH! Ugh, tastes like rust.”
"Mummies, see if you can keep the shiny metal-men occupied while the skellies advance."
"Yeesh! These metal-men are real troopers. Over two dozen skellies kicking and mobing over them and they barely blink! Wait... maybe they can't blink..."
Yeah, the Liches can hardly be much to blame here. Golems are so tough they might as well apply to stunt for Clint Eastwood.
"Agh! The steel ones are joining the fray down here. This does not bode vell!"
"We will finish the last steel golem ourselves."
"Vait! No!"
" 
"
"What? The golem is down."
I had no real way of saving that Vampire unless I was willing to risk more skeletons, which I'm not. Unfortunately, this few vampires can't outdamage the golems enough to recover themselves in a practical manner.
The skeletons really start to pull their weight for Rialdo. It is like Darth's strategy to have someone else bait the retaliation from a stack and have the peasants charge in. Except they're, you know, not shit.
"Unfortunately, the bone-witches ashed one of the Vampire Lords. Victory really doesn't feel like it when there's nothing to eat after the battle is won..."
"Liches and Vampires do have a long standing rivalry among the Necromancers, I'm not surprised of this attitude."
On the bright side, Golems are a neat bundle of experience after it is all said and done. They're tough like Knight troops, but at least they are worth it.
"I found a dead guy among the metal-men. His skeleton was intact, so it was easy to raise. Strange, I thought metal-men were more brutal than that."
"It is probably the wizard who built these golems in the first place."
“Seems like there was a battle here. Nothing really edible or raisable left, but hey, this is a nice cart! Full of arrows, rocks and scepters inside. I wonder if the bone-witches can make a good use from it.”
"Don't they use their own spells? What could they possibly store in this cart?"
“Skulls n' scrolls.”
“Ack! Ye ag'n? 'S ye mat'r as oogl' as yer for'ead?”
“My mother was a saint! Alright, boys. Break his legs.”
“You're in the wrong part of town, cheap green knock-off.”
“Sisters of battle, defend this shrine with your...”
"Dead? Was that the word you were going to say? I'm sorry, I may have interrupted you."
"That's too easy."
"Remarkable!"
"Here's the deal, either you teach me whatever spell you're protecting here, or you'll join my army just like your pitiful guardians. No-one can say I'm not fair."
But our bones would make terrible skeletons!
"Do I even remotely look like someone who cares? They can be moving target practice or dog chow. I'd adopt a mutt just to feed you all to it one bone at a time. Just teach me the spell."
Blind is the game's most useful crowd control spell. Low level, cheap and effective, it effectively takes the target creature out of battle as it can't act. It lasts 1 turn per spell power and the affected creature can't act until damaged, but it will still retaliate as normal. Very useful. Overpowered, in fact.
“Kill the bone-man, he is friends with the cowardly green thief!”
“ 'Tis means nothing! Our wounds regenerate faster than you can hurt...”
"Sorry? What was that? 'Finish me off with a magic arrow, please?' Don't mind me if I do."
Vampire Lords and Trolls in low numbers can keep fighting effectively forever at this rate. Trolls do little enough damage at melee that the vampires can keep healing to full, while the trolls regenerate back to full at the end of every turn. Luckly, Sandro can lend a helping hand to our Vampires.
"And that was the last of them. What a waste of magic."
"Halon, now that Sandro cleared the way, go fetch the gold you failed to last time."
"What else is new?"
After claiming the Sulfur mine Zom visits the knight in the gazebo.
“Hey, I like you, purple freak. You're my bro. Here, take these loaded dice. For some reason, they always brought me luck whenever I waged a bet with them.”
"Really? This is fascinating! Maybe they're magical?"
This was actually very lucky. Necromancers are not likely to be offered Luck. The way I interpret luck is that the hero starts collecting personal lucky charms.
Day 11
"Halon, I just discovered the Liches also want to lounge in the Mage's Guild, but want it to have a second floor. For whatever reason, it needs lots of rare resources to do so."
"Procuring these rare scrolls can be very costly."
"Whatever. Go to the trading post and see if they have some gems, will you? I was banking on that leprechaun forking some over to us, but apparently all he has is gold."
"Fine, fine. Use my good looks and charm to broker with the merchants. I can't really complain."
"Here, they'll give us a vase full of gems for 5 caldrons of mercury."
"Good, good, with all the mercury we took from the goblins and rogues, it won't really be missed."
"The second floor jacuzzi is finished now."
"I really wished I could say I was shocked, but at this point... I'm not even surprised anymore. I'm afraid to ask but... Jacuzzi? Really?"
"Hey, just because most of us are technically dead it is no excuse to let go and get filthy. We're not orcs!"
"And you see nothing wrong with zombies preparing the baths?"
"We are also not picky."
Inside the Mage's Guild we've got Steelskin, Lightning Bolt and Disrupting Ray.
Lightning Bolt would probably be the strongest 2nd level spell, if it wasn't for Blind. But some creatures can't be blinded, so Lightning Bolt is, overall, the best spell since it works against anything... well, with one exception. It does astonishing 25 points of damage per Spell Power for 7 spell points. That's enough to kill a Swordsman per Spell Power, or half a Paladin, or 25 peasants (that universal metric).
Steelskin is Stoneskin's big brother and increases the defense of target creature by 6. That's anywhere from about 40% to about 30% less damage from other creatures, usually, unless it goes against something with an unusually high attack. Remember that there's a cap at 14 defense over attack, so this might not be optimal on the higher tier creatures.
It is a tough choice between Lightning Bolt and Disrupting Ray. Suffice to say that, as the armies grow, Disrupting Ray probably becomes the better option, but only at the point where Lightning Bolt doesn't even kill 1/5 of a stack. Each cast of Disrupting Ray decreases the defense of target creature by 3 PERMANENTLY and it is cumulative. With a few casts most creatures are reduced to 0 Defense, which makes them extremely vulnerable.
"So hungry. Metal-men terrible second breakfast. I guess I'll just eat these zombies.”
"Fine, but get back to the outpost when you're done. We need to do something about your liches."
"Hmmm... it is raining man-bits."
Against the Zombies the Liches fare much better than the Golems, doing about twice as much damage.
"Careful, not to tip over."
Zombies when hit have a funny animation where they almost stumble backwards.
"RARGH!"
"Heh, using posh-men as bait to bunch the zombies together makes for great target practice for the bone-witches."
"Huh... fighting these zombies now I know just how to command the bone-witches better so they don't ash the pale-men along with our enemies."
"You're still on about that? Sheesh, let it go, ghoul. It is the vampires' fault for staying in our way anyway."
"I feel more knowledgeful. And you know, knowledge is half the battle! Because knowing is power!"
"Now I feel stupid for sending Halon to deal for crumbs."
"Very well, Sandro, now take the gold and..."
"Not so fast... I need to perform some experiments in order to master Necromancy once and for all. Who wants free gold?"
"Yes... kissing... that's what I did... with no lips... No, no, no. I most certainly did NOT break off a bit from its nose as a keepsake."
Day 12
"To the north I found a chest of gold and a strange house on bird's legs. Some witch told me she could teach me to be more knowledgeable, but I told her I obviously already know more than her. Otherwise her hut is a dead-end."
“Ingrate bastard.”
"Ah, the 'pointy-bit-of-power'. Now the liches can syphon it's secrets to become Power Liches!"
"I can't believe this small extension cost me more than an entire freaking pyramid."
The Power Lich is a small improvement overall, increasing defense by one and having more ammunition than it'll ever be able to use (especially with the ammo cart), though it's real buffs are it's health and it's speed, ultimately making it worth the 900 gold. With a Very Fast speed now we can actually tackle those Grand Elves while the health greatly increases its resistance to damage spells.
"Zam, go and relay with Rialdo, I want those liches sent to Sandro at once!"
"Ok, boss!"
"I guess I'll see if I can distract the wolves and rob some of their gold."
DAY 13
"You can keep the Skeletons, Rialdo, go back to the outpost and wait for reinforcements. Give the Cart to Zam though. I know it is hard, but I don't want to risk the liches running out of ammo somehow."
"Too much time without fighting... getting hungry. Wonder how edible the skellies are."
"Don't you dare. You can nibble on the zombies when you get back."
"How nice of you. Now I can destroy those golems and restore my magic reserves."
"Some mean-looking dwarves block the way east... and yet another gazebo."
Day 14
"What is this? The binding spell powering these golems is so amateurish I could easily disrupt them and appoint myself as their master... hmm... actually, why not? I could use some muscle."
"Just short of my new recruits. What a pity."
"We need some crystals and some gems to finish the laboratory. Halon, since you like so much to babble with merchants, why don't you do the honors?"
"In retrospect, beats commanding the living dead."
Day 15
"Pikemen? They're pathetic, so this is not so bad... but how much do I need to bribe you... I mean, donate to you so you can give me a Week of Vampires?"
“How dare you! The astrology is not chosen by us, but set in stone by the universe!”
A bunch of lies. Every time you reload and start a week again, a new random week will be chosen. You cheater.
“Och! Nae' ye ag'n! Me l'gs h'vent rec'vered yet, ye thugs!”
“Just fork over your riches and no-one needs to get hurt, wet punch-bag.”
"You know... maybe these necromancers are being a bit of a bad influence on us. Nah..."
"More posh-men! Now, I do feel a bit peckish. I think I'll order some pork."
"Almost thirty elves. Some liches are going to have to make a sacrifice for the team."
“What do you mean? How dare you? You're one of us!”
"Oh, I assure you. I am NOT one of you."
"Hmm... they're quick to draw. I guess I'll need to encourage some vampires to be quicker still."
"RARGH! We will not allow you to slay us so easily.!”
"Vampires, block that group immediately!"
"BLAGH! Fear our grope of death!"
“That horrid leprechaun has kept us imprisoned for months intimidating us with that terrible eye! And now even worse nightmares come to haunt us! Come my brothers, concentrate fire on those abominations!”
Just as I feared. That's another downside of the liches: they are extremely, ridiculously, hilariously hated by everything and everyone. They are the main target of the AI, always. Even though liches have ridiculously high defense, Elves still shoot twice each. This is going to hurt...
Ouch.
Double ouch.
“Acknowledging. Master orders received. Master equals lich. Error, error. Rebooting.”
"Stupid safeguards...”
Weirdly enough, Golems are affected by morale in Heroes II. By heroes III onwards they are considered mechanical and therefore immune to morale.
"Alright, I'm feeling generous. I'll use up some of my magic to blind that last group of elves. Remember who spared your unlives."
"How kind of you to expose your jugular so vide. Your politeness is appreciated."
"Grope of death!"
"No, no. You're just cutting them down. No class. Tsc, tsc..."
"Victory, as well as the spoils, are mine! That training I performed on the peasants was really worth it."
Sandro's megalomania increases his ego, increasing his attack by 1. He also learns Advanced Wisdom so that he'll have access to Level 4 spells if I get that far.
The other option is Mysticism, already covered by Darth. It is a nice skill... but this map has a lot of magic wells in case I really need to recover spell points.
"I have a better deal: I will kill you, recruit your mangled corpse to my army and take the eye for myself."
The artifact is an Evil Eye. It reduces the casting cost of Curse by half, rounded down. It is kind of nice and allows you to cast a curse with the last bit of your spell points, but it only becomes really useful with a costlier version of Curse. As it stands now, it is too expensive for me to pick it up if I want to build that laboratory any time soon.
"That little trickster! He disappeared and took the eye with him! No matter, I'll come back later."
"As I clear the grime from my bones, I can see the fountain withering. I feel luckier already."
"Kind of weak production this week, miller. Do better next time or Grumpy, Slashy and Bashy are going to have a talk with you."
Day 16
"Hmm... I love the smell of bacon in the morning."
Here's Lightning Bolt in action... or at least I tried. The Lightning is way too goddamn fast to capture. You can barely see its sparks on the bottom orc, though.
“This shrine is haunted! It brought down a bunch of hungry bats on top of us! OINC!”
"Finish them, skellies!"
"Huh, it really WAS haunted."
Haunt is a very weird spell. It populates a neutral mine with ghosts, which are a pain in the ass to deal with. Suffice to say, ghosts are a bit like vampires, but much, much more terrifying. Its use is sort of “deny this mine”, which can be mildly useful against the AI, since it is terrible at fighting ghosts. But overall, it is rarely used as it is too situational for you to find a mine that you don't want to simply claim for yourself.
“Remember. Just because you're surrounded by the dead, it doesn't mean you have to become dead yourself. Cheer up!”
"You're right! We may not be fighting the big battles, but we're certainly putting our few resources to good use!"
I let Halon learn Leadership, which acts as the Heroes I Knight bonus by increasing morale.
"The sheep marches into the slaughterhouse. The knight of the yellow lord has been spotted!"
"Block him! Do not let him through."
Day 17
"Some gems for the spirit purifiers, mercury to clean the bones, sulfur to cleanse the tools and crystals to amplify the magical auras. Or at least, that's what I think all of this is for, in any case. The laboratory is ready, General."
The Bone Dragon is the Necromancer's most powerful creature... of sorts. They are the second weakest of the low-growing Tier 6 creatures (base growth of 1 per week), ahead only of the phoenixes, but their slightly higher damage is offset by their lower attack, defense and sluggishness. In fact, they have the worst base stats of all Tier 6 creatures. Thankfully, speed doesn't affect flying creatures too much, it only means Bone Dragons are some of the last to act. At least they're cheap-ish at 1500 gold.
They also decrease the morale of enemy armies by 1, which means neutral stacks have a chance to freeze in fear during their turn, but this is very unlikely to make the morale of an enemy hero go into the negatives. It might cancel a positive morale or diminish a high morale, though. Other than that they're pretty straight-forward. Send them to run interference for the Vampires.
"The sheep has retreated, terrified of it's butcher. But in doing so it only led me to the herd. I've found the castle of the yellow lord. Or A castle, at any rate. I wonder if they saw me as well."
"Yay! I am gonna feast like a german today! So many horsie-men!"
"Gem mine is ours. Ooo! Dwarf zombies!"
“Heeeeigh hoooo... frooom woork to wooork we goooo.”
"Such beautiful singing! And tasty too!"
Day 18
"They left? The ram has left the lamb to be slaughtered? If that's the case, the wolf feasts!"
Another new little improvement on Heroes II, you can build a captain's quarters so there's someone to defend the castle even if the heroes are away. Though, as you can see, the captain is even weaker than a level 1 hero.
“Monster! We'll never allow you to breach these wa...”
"Oh, I'm sorry, what was that? It is very difficult to hear you with that magic arrow perforating your lungs through your plate. Maybe next time we can chat."
Ugh. Even with just 1 spell power, a lightning bolt and a shot from the arrow tower is enough to take my last lich down.
Vampires still boss though.
"Was that supposed to be a joke? I had baths more challenging than this."
“Easy for you to say”
"Oh, shush, you!"
"Now, that's more like it."
And now the meaning of this LP's title reveals itself.
"Tastes like crayon. GROPE OF DEATH!"
"Hey, leave some for me! I've already uncorked the butter!"
“So, what are you going to do when you find the cross-dressing adventurers again?”
"I'm gonna drink all their blood! I vill bleed them dry!"
“Hmm... needs work.”
Zam learns Mysticism and makes an oath of vengeance, increasing his attack in 1.
"The defenses of this castle are awful. Build a moat at once!"
The Knight's Mage's Guild some new spells for us. Bloodlust is the opposite of Stoneskin, increasing the attack of the target by 3, though it is a mind effect and therefore nearly useless for us.
Dragon Slayer is kind of like Bloodlust, except it increases attack by 5 but only against Dragons. The Bone Dragon counts. This spell is very, very circumstantial.
Day 19
"Now that you lost the liches you need some reinforcements, Sandro. Improve their armory and sign up as many swordsmen as are willing to join you."
"Zam, Rialdo is spent. Take this bone dragon and go trade places with him."
"Ah, finally, some pover for Zam!"
"I've cornered the wolf in lamb's skin. And now, he is about to discover Death is the true apex predator."
Probably some small tribute to the original Heroes, slow still uses the same generic “debuff” animation from it.
Meanwhile, Bloodlust's animation literally makes the target red with anger.
“DIE, SNOBBY ARISTOCRATS! SANDRO IS OUR MASTER NOW!”
"Should I be worried about their choice of words?"
"BLEUGH! Grope of death! So bashful, so shameful.”
Sandro, upon learning ultimate Wisdom, decides to be more careful and increases his defense in 1.
"Oh, my! That's Xanadu, the repository of knowledge! Only the best of the best are allowed in... I wonder if they'd know a way to complete my ritual!"
Day 20
“These wolves vill not take a single step, because I, Zam, have stolen their eyes.”
"Skeletons, protect the liches vith your non-life!"
"Taste the lightning!"
"The last stragglers are no match for the mighty morphin' bone dragon!"
"Say... have you druids seem a party of meddling transgendered adventurers and their dirty gnome? No? Was vorth a shot. Thanks for your secret magic recipes!"
Next turn starts the 4th week. We've already dealt a blow at the Yellow lord but half the map still needs exploring. Do we go northeast or southeast in search of the next lord?