Eater of Children

Eater of Children
Scenario information
Size	Small
Difficulty	Hard
Type	Campaign
Level cap	12th level
Campaign	Half-Dead
Initial heroes	Gauldoth Half-Dead
Objectives	Capture the Academy town of Vitross
Loss condition	Lose Gauldoth Half-Dead
Players	4
Lore
Factions	Gauldoth Half-Dead (Necropolis) Great Arcan (Academy) Halas (Preserve) Barbarians (Stronghold)
Player identity	Gauldoth Half-Dead
Next scenario	The Fiery Realm
Maps
Surface map

"Can you go years without talking to another human being? What about untold months snatching your meals from the forest floor and sleeping in muddy pits? Sanity is a spider clinging to a fluttering thread of web unaware of the fingers reaching for it, catching it, plopping it in my mouth..."

―Gauldoth Half-Dead — Listen (file info)

Eater of Children is the first scenario in the Half-Dead campaign in Heroes of Might and Magic IV.

Alone in this new world for years, Gauldoth has lived like an animal in the wilderness. When some farmers catch him and try to burn him at the take, Gauldoth barely escapes into the forest. Soon, rage and fear give birth to a new sense of purpose. Gauldoth raises a small army of his own and embarks on a quest for knowledge as well as revenge.^OffBck

Walkthrough

A necromancer named Gauldoth Half-Dead has been living as an animal since the day of the Reckoning. He was feeding himself with bugs and other creatures. He tried to eat some chicken, but was discovered by the citizens of Vitross. The officer used fire (which Gauldoth was afraid of) to burn him, so cast a spell to free himself. That day caused revenge and rage to burn on him, as he goes to a conquest of Vitross.

He starts with zombies and skeletons. To start, he needs to capture the Stronghold just north of the graveyard. Next, he needs to build a slight army to capture the one in south-west, to prevent the barbarians from attacking. Gauldoth, in time, will receive a letter from a druid named Halas, who claims he is an abomination. So, Gauldoth needs to collect resources and flag mines before attacking the Preserve in north. There is also an underground east of the barbarian town, in which there are dwellings of vampires, ghosts and skeletons.

Once finished with Preserve, Gauldoth observed the druid summoned creatures to his side, so wonders if he could mimic it by building negative energy. To gain access to the blue guard gate, Gauldoth has to defeat the unicorns in north to enter it. The blue guard is at the end of the cave. Other notable things are zombie dwellings. Once permitted, Gauldoth has to cross the border and attack Vitross. After the attack, he explains the Vitross commander that the barbarian tribes will be accused of attacking Vitross, rather than Gauldoth. He decides to burn the villagers and the commander, but also decides to keep the commander's soul as a military commander, whose name is Mardor.

Strategy

This scenario can get hard to solve. The base thing is to have Gauldoth capture the Strongholds first, then leave the undead army being gathered. He should primarily use the barbarian troops to attack creatures and the Preserve town. Once the key has been obtained, he should use the undead army to attack Vitross. Also, note should be taken that the Vitross mages can go through a portal north of the second Stronghold town. That army can get very powerful, so it should be avoided.