The game is on! You know what.... freemoving warships are allowed!

Turn Order:

Azracs - Thereunto
Dwarves - Southern
Dark Elves - Arnuz
Orcs - Bookwyrm
Goblins - ZFR

Dwarves, Day 1

We are in sight of settlements; the long tunnel we made underground has reached Maugogom.

MAP DESCRIPTION (posted here because it has some useful details for playing the map)

In the world of Khatovar, the Necromancers have won. They have set the forces of annihilation gnawing at the bones of the world. A pall of dust and smoke taints the sun's glow. The wind carries an acid stench which eats at the lungs. Riverbeds lie dry, and the forests have perished. The seas carry an oily sheen that catches alight in storms. The stars have vanished from the sky. Above can be heard only the roar of sandstorms and the flapping of demon wings.

You and the other four Sorcerer-Kings are the only noteworthy mortals left alive, along with your slaves, apprentices and warriors, huddled in the caves. If the other great Sorcerers had not been too arrogant to obey your counsel, the world would not have been doomed. Only your sorcery protects your followers from the probing claws of decay. But even these five great wizard-kings can only preserve, not restore, for in a damned world, the magics of life and restoration are lost.

The Highmen abandoned this world long since, departing in one of their star-chariots. The Elves sealed themselves inside hidden Evermore, slipping into a drowsy twilight from which they shall never wake. The Humans, Lizardmen, Frostlings, and Halflings have been eradicated completely. Of the five bands which have survived this far, three are drawn from the races long immured in the ways of evil and decay: the Orcs, Goblins, and Dark Elves. The other two are a dwarven clan which has burrowed deep to escape the winds of vitriol, and an Azrac tribe which has always lived in the most inhospitable deserts.

There is no hope, but there is still anger and the will to fight.

As the world decays, its magic does likewise. Only the magic of the Cosmos remains unchanged. None of the spells you once knew function. Your skill remains, but you will need to find new incantations which can function in a world permeated in Death. Since their victory, the Necromancers have become complacent. Their forces cannot be defeated on the open field, but you have plans to raid the Necromancers’ Cave of Lore. The Cave can be accessed via teleporters from the caves underneath this region, the Valleys of Maugogom. However, the trip is one-way. You must send your subordinates, and access the knowledge held there by reading their minds from afar.

The other four Sorcerer-Kings must have similar intentions. Their arrogance doomed the world just as surely as the malice of the Necromancers, and if the world is to fall, it is you, not they, who should be the last to perish.

But there is another possibility. When the Highmen departed from Khatovar, their magic prevented scrying, and hid the manner of their departure. Rumour has it, the devices they used to flee to the stars were buried deep in this same region. If so, you must be the first to find and use those devices. With the Highmen gone, you should be able to discern their location once you find a good scrying pool. The Highmen would not be pleased to have their realms trespassed upon, but that is a problem to be addressed when you come to it.

Another point to note in the Valleys of Maugogom are the wraith-haunted ruins of underground towns, fed by large-scale mushroom farms. When the Necromancers and their Empire had not yet gained the full power of Death, they hid in these underground redoubts from the meteors summoned by the Sorcerer-Kings against them, and from the killing light the Highmen distilled from the stars. These ruins hold little of interest to you, but your followers can make much use of them. The time for armies is not yet done.

Southern , for those of us who weren't really paying attention when you talked about how you got the wrapper to connect to Gmail again, could you repeat yourself?

I knew it would be a good idea to post this - I'd forgotten myself and had to go find the comment in my 'news' thread. I hope you're merely having the same issue as me.

For some reason the Wrapper stopped working (said ''bad credentials"), and the option to allow less secure apps literally disappead from gmail. I went to where it should've been and got an error message from their UI. Had to turn on 2-factor authentication and create an app password to plug into the email password setting within the wrapper.

I'm still using the "less secure" settings. Hmm, would rather use 2 factor and an app specific password. Thanks for the head's up re: gmail changes.

Edit: Hahahaha - Apparently I changed it at some point already. Just went in and Gmail says I'm already using an app specific password for the email wrapper program. Doh.

Okay, I think I've resolved it. Looks like the turn isn't to me yet.

Dark Elves, day 1

This underground river has been going on forever. The troops are rebellious, the food has finished time ago, the water is foul, and even though we're at the end of the world for some reason I'm carrying with me four useless druids that cost me 17 gold per day each?!?

Suddenly the obscurity seems broader. With our magic gone we can't see faraway. We carry on in one direction until we find a shore with some ruins and as we explore them,wraiths are upon us! Luckily my priests are more useful than my heroes, and with some free application of lightning they deal with the pests. The ruins might come in handy in a while, and carrying on we find an enchanted pond that somehow still works! We must be close to the magical macguffin!

Wait, there seems to be something hidden in the waters... YES! It's a.. Pig? With over it a leader! Pashinyan you disgusting pig rider/lover, there you are! We shall be the first ones to leave this accursed place, and I know that you would go and make peace with the archons that have left us here to rot... Not me. I will slaughter them from the first to the last, in the name of Llolth!

"We've secured your account by preventing any non-Google apps from accessing it unless you tell us more about yourself."
"Just turn that off."
"We really recommend you just tell us more about you."
"No fear. Do it."
"...Fine. But we might turn it on again in the future if it isn't being used!"

Orcs, Day 1

We have finally arrived at the site of the final battle. Those fool did not listen to me when it mattered, but I'll make sure they listen when I inform them that I shall be the last to fall.

I start the campaign by making several tactical mistakes, born of ignorance of the local geography. This ignorance must be rectified immediately. Thankfully, we possess the resources to make our mortal weapons destroy the local wraiths, and we take up a defensive posture before the advance.

TS

Southern, I have questions. So many questions.

Did you keep your custom item set for this map? I just pulled a pretty wicked shield out of a ruin. Of course, this means the local Undead-player wraith that was hiding in the fog hasn't been wiped out, so I'm down to blocking tunnels with units to keep it off my otherwise helpless casters. Yay for 4 damage Orc swords (5 with magic weapon), at least.

Was your solution to "Magic OP" to make MORE magic available if only the person can reach the wizard towers? You really love your helpless walking casters. 8)

Oh yeah, the pre-placed wraiths and Demons ontop of ruined towns are set to 'guard' - they won't attack. I still hate area guards.

This map does feature my item set, with items that grant Path of Life removed for thematic reasons. Do remember that the item set has been heavily reworked and is less bonkers than it was in the Towers of Khazlkound PBEM, additionally most (or all?) dungeons have only one item inside, rather than 1-3.

I got a dagger that gives +2 ATK, Death Strike, and Poison Strike - what's the shield you got? I might do another pass on the item set if some items are still too good.
Well magic is underpowered except for a few spells, but yeah, Great Eagles for everyone! In theory everyone should have an easy time reaching the towers, the real opposition there ought to be from other players.

Turn 1 over and I'm not dead yet. Mainly because I hadn't reached anything that could kill me.

My beetles didn't have enough movement points to dig a full path through the dirt.

What does this mean?

You searched a ruin and found an item, right? What does hiding in the fog mean?

and blocking tunnels with units? does it simply mean you put units between the wraith and your hero? Wouldn't the wraith simply attack them and reach your hero anyway?

There is a razed town with a wraith next to me. And a monster lair.
I take it I must take the town, but I assume the wraith is too strong still?

Are the monsters in in the lair randomized?

Can you set AI controlled units to Guard? I thought that was just an indy thing. It did seem odd that you would set the AI on the human players so unexpectedly.

After a quick look in the map editor, I guess so. Seems I didn't need that swordsman formation blocking wraith access to my caster brigade after all. :)

Shield with +2 Def, +1 Res, Fearless, True Sight, and two other abilities that I don't remember off hand. It wasn't one of the crazy broken items from a previous build, but it looked significantly stronger than I expected from the base game. The True Sight will combine nicely with my Night Vision.

This seems okay in theory, but we'll see how it works out in practice. I haven't looked over the map using the editor, so I don't know if it is possible for someone to blockade a bunch of the towers that have really good spells.

Just keep in mind that 130 casting skill per turn is quite a bit of magic income, and people are going to rocket through the Cosmos research pretty quickly and start stockpiling mana. 8 eagles every two turns could be an issue.

I was able to see a ruin that I could raid for an item, and I was able to see a razed city to rebuild in the other direction. I could tell the city was a 3 hex city, but I couldn't see the third hex, so I couldn't see the wraith. I sent units to investigate and loot the item-ruin first, and when I sent someone to scout forward toward the razed city, I didn't have enough movement to kill the wraith.

By "fog" I meant "fog of war"; I assume this phrase is common lingo. In case my assumption is wrong, it comes in two varieties. There's the unexplored hexes (covered in black) and the hexes that are explored but not currently visible (covered in a grey shroud). I don't know if there is a special term for the unexplored terrain, so I just use fog of war for both versions.

Bingo. Underground tunnels lend themselves to chokepoints, and I filled one of those chokepoints with expendable fighters. The wraith would have to go through my blockers to reach the casters and builders, but the units blocking the chokepoint should easily destroy it now that they've got Enchanted Weapon to bypass the wraith's physical immunity.

Wraiths only have 2 def and 6 hp, so they tend to go splat as long as you can actually damage them; the Wraith's trick is that they are immune to most types of damage. You need Magic, Holy, or Lightning damage to hurt them. Enchant Weapon is an easy way to enable melee units to kill them, but most non-Southern maps don't have magic in such abundance that you can enchant all your units pell mell.

They are also vulnerable to Turn Undead and Dominate. A pair of priests should be able to wreck a solo wraith.

Most races should be able to kill a wraith with 2-3 swordsmen with Enchant Weapon, though the Dark Elves and Goblins might need an extra unit because of their lower damage.

That depends on the map maker. I believe the map maker can set specific guards, but otherwise the guards are at least somewhat randomized.