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Summary
Enemies | Orcs, orc archers, big orcs
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Special | Engineer, kill 13 orcs (1st bridge), kill 2 shamans (2nd bridge), destroy 2
catapults (3rd bridge)
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Saves | 3 total: start, between 1st & 2nd bridges, between 2nd & 3rd bridges
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Portal | End of area
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Chests | 6
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Bosses | Kresh Skullrock (left shaman), Vulk Illmare (right shaman)
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Exits | Lost Battleground (previous area), Armory / War Room
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Description
When you first enter this area you will encounter
Engineer. Since there's no "the" in front his
name, it must be more than just a job to this elf. He will tell you of a secret entrance into
the next area, which would be better described as "well defended" than secret. Ahead are three
bridges that he will get you across as long as you make it safe for him to do so. Basically, that
means you have to go everywhere and/or kill everything in this area to get to the exit.
This area is straight up with branches to the left and right that loop back towards the main
trunk line with something you need to do at the end of each one. Unless you are playing a cleric
or wizard, you should buy the best ranged weapon you can afford for this area. Thrown weapons
are both cheap and effective especially at low levels. Chests in this area appear as lean-to
tents, and they blend in to the background if you aren't looking for them.
To lower the first bridge you have to kill 13 orcs, which means every monster before the bridge.
Many are on a higher level than you so many spells will not reach them and of course if you want
to melee you will have to take the long way around. If you are far enough away from the stakes
in ground, thrown weapons and arrows will be able to hit them. Run through this section until
you reach the bridge before you start fighting, then draw the melee orcs away from their archer
support before killing them. If you are good at avoiding the archer fire, you can use ranged
attacks to kill the archers from below closer to the save point. This way you don't have to
worry about fighting both the melee orcs and the archers on the higher level at the same time.
Once all the orcs are dead,
Engineer will advance, open the bridge and tell you the next
thing he is scared of...
The "Evil Shamans" that
Engineer is scared of are only dangerous if they can resurrect
allies. There is one each at the two dead-end branches that circle back towards the save point
you can't get to yet. As with all mini-bosses you will know a shaman is close because their name
appears at the bottom of your screen. When you see the hit bar appear, lure their bodyguard orcs
(four each) back with the other corpses away from the shaman so he can't resurrect them. The
shaman's ranged spells look impressive, but they don't do that much damage. The spell effects
are easily dodged, but they are so weak that it doesn't matter if they hit you. The shamans are
much more dangerous in melee where they can actually deal damage, so use ranged attacks against
them.
Now
Engineer wants you to deal with two catapults before lowering the last bridge. The
raining fire and rocks up ahead looks intimidating but this is really the easiest part. When you
see the catapult fire, wait at each of the bottlenecks that leads into that "room." There are
orcs up ahead and fighting them while fire is raining down on you is a bad idea. Fire some ranged
attacks into the area to get the orcs to come to you, even if you can't see them.
Tip: If you
zoom in your camera and position it properly you can actually see further ahead than if you zoom
out your camera all the way.
Fight the orcs outside the catapult zone while the orcs are still
inside getting fire and rocks rained on them. It's very likely that the orcs will be killed by
the catapults even if you don't hurt them. When the coast is clear, pick a wall to hug and
advance and repeat at the next bottleneck. To the left is a path that branches in two
directions. There is a catapult at the end of each branch. Ignite each ammo wagon and get out
of the way and soon
Engineer will open the last bridge. He says it leads to Drundar, but
that area is only accessible if you are on the evil path. The hole in the ground exits to the
Armory / War Room area.
Most Efficient Route
Hug the left wall.
Fastest Route
Same as above. In the shaman area you can choose to ignore the paths down at the end of the
left and right branches. But basically you have to go everywhere to access the exit to the
next area.