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Description
The Lizardfolk must now go forth and awaken the mighty fire drakes in the hope that their molten wrath
will decimate their foes. Ancient trials of strength and wits must be endured in order to awaken the
drakes, for he who seeks to command them must be both strong of arm and spirit.
New Units
Walkthrough
You'll get to use Darroc once again in this chapter, and, like before, we'd suggest that you pair him
up with a complementary champion like Wowen rather using than a second melee champion like Redfang.
In fact, that suggestion is even better for this chapter, because in this chapter you'll face a lot
of aerial attacks.
Note: Darroc's "dragon leap" ability can hit flying units.
You'll have two goals in this chapter: to defeat the Umbragen nexus (#2), and to wake up the fire
drakes. The first objective is straightforward. The Umbragen will cheat in this chapter -- they'll
be able to produce all sorts of units (including champions and juggernauts) despite never harvesting
any dragonshards -- but strategies that have worked in the past should work again here. The only
wrinkle is that the Umbragen nexus is located on a plateau, and so you might want to build up some
air units (or wait for the fire drakes) before you make your attack.
Waking up the fire drakes is more complicated. For that objective you'll have to pass two tests.
The test of strength (#11) is about what you'd expect. You'll have to defeat a medusa, a frost
beast, and a beholder lord in rapid succession. So make sure that you've built up your units before
attempting the test.
The test of wits has two parts. In the first part (#12), you'll have to pull levers to open a riddle
gate. In the second part (#18), you'll have to answer three riddles by placing emblems on pedestals.
Each time you pass a test, you'll earn a
1/2 spirit of the drake token, and then once you've completed both, you'll automatically
put them together to form the full
spirit of the drake token. The full token will allow you to go up to the birthing altar
(#7) and summon some fire drakes to your side. Summoning the drakes will also allow you to build
draconic monuments in your nexus (#1).
The fire drakes will start out level 5, meaning that you won't have to place four draconic monuments
in your nexus to build them up. They'll be ready to go, and since you'll probably also have claimed
the dragon skull (#5), which will give your flying units a bonus to damage against buildings, fire
drakes are your best weapon against the Umbragen nexus. So build a draconic monument in your nexus
(perhaps with some regular monuments around it), and then use a bunch of fire drakes to support your
ground units when you attack the nexus. Let the drakes focus on the towers while your ground units
deal with the Umbragen units, and between the two you'll probably do significant damage to the
Umbragen nexus in your first attack. Once you've defeated the Umbragen nexus, the chapter will
end.
1 - Nexus
2 - Umbragen Nexus
3 - Lizard Nomads
The lizard nomads will ask for your help so that they can leave the region. To help them, you'll need
to retrieve their
navigation tool from the thri-kreen to the northeast (#9) and kill the minotaur who is
blocking their exit to the northwest (#5). Once you've done both of those things, the nomads will
open up the nearby exit (Exit C).
But fair warning. Opening Exit C will not only allow your units to walk up to the Umbragen nexus
(#2), it will also let the Umbragen units walk up to your nexus. Worse, it will trigger the Umbragen
army to go into attack mode, and so you should make sure that your army and nexus are prepared for
the coming onslaught.
Note: For an easier battle against the Umbragen, build up a bunch of pteranodon riders and send them
against the Umbragen nexus (#2) before completing the quest for the lizard nomads. Chances are,
they'll find the nexus almost completely undefended.
4 - Dragon Skull
Controlling this place of power will give your flying units a bonus to damage against buildings.
5 - Minotaurs
You'll find a few minotaurs and a minotaur lord here. You'll need to defeat them to help the lizard
nomads (#3), but it's also useful to defeat them just so that you can loot the treasure boxes behind
them.
6 - Pyramid
You'll find a couple of mummies here. Once should stop a
masterwork sword when it dies.
7 - Birthing Altar
8 - Thri-Kreen Burrow
The burrow will create over a dozen thri-kreen units over time. Thri-kreen units are pretty wimpy,
but still, you should be careful when you approach the burrow lest your army gets swarmed.
9 - Lizard War Totem
The lizard war totem is a place of power that will increase the damage your units do by 2. Next to
the totem you should run into a few thri-kreen units: two shamans, a warrior, and a hunter. The
hunter will drop the
navigation tool that belongs to the lizard nomads (#2).
10 - Minotaur Hoard
You'll find a lot of gold here, plus several minotaurs and minotaur lords.
11 - Test of Strength
The test of strength involves three battles -- one each against a medusa, a frost beast, and a
beholder lord -- that you'll have to fight in succession. The beholder lord in particular is a
tough opponent, so make sure you've built up your army somewhat before attempting the test.
Once you've defeated the trio, head back down the tunnel towards Exit B, and talk to the guardian
of strength. He'll give you a
1/2 spirit of the drake token.
12 - Riddle Gate
You'll find a plaque and a pair of levers next to the riddle gate. The levers will be labeled "joy"
(on the left) and "sorrow" (on the right), and the poem on the plaque will contain four stanzas.
People will be happy in the first and third stanzas, and they'll be unhappy in the second and fourth
stanzas, and so to open the gate, you should pull the joy lever, then the sorrow lever, then the joy
lever again, and finally the sorrow lever again.
13 - Battle
Beyond the riddle gate, you'll find some yuan-ti units fighting some mindlfayers. Once the battle is
over, one of the yuan-ti units will ask you to help them against the mindflayers by destroying their
portal to the north (#14). If you do that for them, then the yuan-ti units will join your cause, and
they'll give you the
yuan-ti key that you can use to open the gate to the west (#17).
14 - Illithid Portal
You'll need to destroy this portal for the yuan-ti units to the south (#13), but three times after
you've done enough damage to the portal, mindflayers will come through it and attack you, culminating
with a mindflayer illusionist at the end. If you want to be careful with your units, then move them
away from the portal after each mindflayer attack, so that they can rest and heal.
15 - Mausoleum
The mausoleum is a place of power that will grant you temporary control over a skeleton fighter each
time one of your non-soldier units dies.
16 - Genie Bottle
When you approach the genie bottle, the efreeti inside will ask you to free him, and he'll promise
you "fantastic riches" if you do so. To free the efreeti, you'll need to dispel the bonds that are
holding him in place. The game will indicate that
scrolls of dispel magic can accomplish this, but the scrolls have never worked for us. So
to free the genie, you'll probably have to train a night skink to level 2, and then have it use its
"dispel magic" ability on the bottle.
Once free, the efreeti won't give you any riches. Instead, he'll attack. But when he dies, he'll
drop a
talisman of vitality.
17 - Locked Gate
You'll need the
yuan-ti key (#13) to open this gate.
18 - Test of Wits
Inside this room, you'll find three emblems (they'll look like shields) to the east and three empty
pedestals to the north. In front of each pedestal, you'll find a plaque with a riddle on it. The
answers to the riddles can be found on the emblems. So to complete the trial, you'll need to put
the right emblems onto the right pedestals. If you get an answer wrong, then flames will shoot out
and damage your army.
From left to right, the correct answers are: the
emblem of the spear, the
emblem of the club, and the
emblem of the fang. After completing the test, simply talk to the guardian of wits outside
the room to receive a
1/2 spirit of the drake token.
Exits:
- Tunnel to the minotaur area.
- Tunnel to the test of strength.
- Tunnel. You won't be able to use this tunnel until you've helped the lizard nomads (#3).
- Tunnel.
| Mission Points | Value | Description
| The Illithid Invasion | 1000
| Helped the yuan-ti defeat the illithids.
| | The Nomad's Safe Passage | 750
| Helped the nomads leave the area.
| | Claim the Minotaur's Hoard | 1000
| Killed the minotaur lords.
| | Destroy the Umbragen | 2000
| Defeated the Umbragen units and nexus.
| | Awaken the Drakes | 1500
| Awakened the fire drakes.
| | Bonus: Puzzle Master | 750
| Solved the gate riddle and the test of wits on your first try.
| | Bonus: Yuan-Ti Hero | 500
| Kept all of the yuan-ti units alive. (As of version 1.1.4, this bonus seems to be broken.)
| |
| Bonus Points | Value | Description
| Great Commander Bonus | 500
| Allowed fewer than 25% of your units to die.
| | Against All Odds Bonus | 500
| Created less than nine captains.
| | Miser Bonus | 1000
| Used less than 2000 gold and 2000 shards.
| | Meticulous Bonus | 2000
| Completed every possible quest.
| | Time Bonus | 0
| Beat the mission in under 10 minutes. (You can actually score up to 1500
points here, but this bonus will never count against you.)
| | Difficulty | Varies
| Easy is worth 0 points, Normal is worth 500 points, and
Hard is worth 2000 points.
| |
