"Raised again, my foe!
Eternal Night lends him strength;
I must bring the dawn."
—Findan
The Vampire Lord is the fifth and final scenario in The Ranger campaign.
Walkthrough[]
Talanar and Dirael have defended Syris Thalla and liberated much of Irollan. The only thing left is to defeat Nicolai himself - without him, the Elves will have Irollan in full control and Findan will be able to continue with his quest.
Findan, Dirael and Talanar start with 2 Sylvan towns, in a region that is covered in eternal darkness. It has a lot of monsters, but can be fairly easily defeated. The only thing that keeps them from leaving is the garrison with 650 plague zombies, 80 vampires and 40 wights. Findan will have to spent at least a month accumulating troops to get through.
Nicolai himself is located on western land, so Findan will have time to capture the Necromancers' cities. However, the other Necromancers are certainly powerful, and will likely mass an army before Findan arrives. This can be lethal to Findan's defeat.
If Findan defeats Nicolai, he will be raised near a Necropolis town, as the power of the Enternal Night will raise him the moment he is slayed. To negate this, Findan needs to destroy all spectral dragons on the map. There are 6 stacks: one is on south-easten island, two are in underground (in south-western corner and in north-eastern) and the remaining three on western island (east of the underground exit, north of the underground exit (at the end of the island) and in western part os the island). Once Findan destroys them all, the darkness disappears and all that remains is to defeat Nicolai himself.
Nicolai is a powerful Necromancer, even more than others and has a gigantic army. However, given enough time, the Sylvan troops will be accumulated and need to be recruited and transported to Findan so he may defeat Nicolai. Nicolai tells Findan to finish him off, so Findan does it, even if it was difficult to kill his former ally...
Towns[]
- Sylvan: Rael, Nargorad
- Necropolis: Shagarakti, Abu-libur, Nabu-shuma*, Apil-Sin, Eriba-ishkun
Events[]
Findan slays Nicolai.
Strategy[]
It is definitive that the Necromancers will raise a powerful army, so Findan will have to get an army of his own - quickly. Fortunately enough, they will not attack go inside the previous areas Findan conquered, unless Nicolai is raised and captures a town. The favoured enemy should be either skeleton archers, vampire lords, archliches or wraith to make the Necromancers easier to beat.
Do not engage Nicolai if you don't have to, as he instantly respawns with an army of about 300 skeleton archers, 150 zombies, 100 specters, 66 vampire lords, 38 archliches, 29 wraiths and 20 spectral dragons. This would only deplete your forces.
Notes[]
- There is a seer's hut on the south-eastern island who needs the Cuirass, Gravers, Helm and Shield of the Dwarven Kings who will give 5 phoenixes.
- It is not explained clearly that Findan needs to destroy the dragons to make Nicolai vulnerable.
- The spells Town Portal and Summon creatures do not take into account whether the closest town is on the same level or not (underground or at the surface). This can let Findan summon creatures from the Sylvan cities without going too far back, but can also lead to some confusion...
- When Nicolai dies, it is not impossible that he revives in the same spot few times.
- Findan says that spectral dragons are ghost dragons. Also, he calls the Dwarwen relics "Druid relics".
- After a necromancer has been defeated, they sometimes become available for hire. This can be a good opportunity, as they are level 27.
Bugs[]
- On some versions the area is not dark at all. However, in combat, it is possible to view the dark clouds in some action cutscenes.
- There are two Nabu-shuma towns.