A Pirate's Daughter
         

Table of Contents:
 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

1. Introduction
2. Tutorial
3. Preparations
4. Useful Tips
5. Walkthrough
6. Miscellanous
7. CAN YOU BEAT IT?
8. Credits


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1. Introduction

---------------------------------------------

Welcome to the...introduction! Just a few
things to go over before we actually start this
Walkthrough!

1. You may not use this walkthrough for
profit.

2. Unless you come begging for me to put
this walkthrough on your site, I'll only be
posting this walkthrough on Gamefaqs.com.

3. Unless you like eating purple hats and
becoming Gauldoth's dirt chef, I advise you
to only use this walkthrough for PRIVATE
uses.

4. Do not email me, I have enough things
to do as it is. Talk to Urunus on the boards or
ask Celestialheavens.

5. First of all, this campaign is VERY, VERY
difficult to beat. That's why I'm doing a walk-
through on it.

---------------------------------------------

2. Tutorial

---------------------------------------------
Ah, the tutorial. Heroes of Might and Magic IV
is a little hard to get used to when you're
just a beginner, so I suggest that you take the
game's custom-made tutorial first. DON'T do the
campaigns until you know how to do everything
right and as well as tried out at least five
intermediate scenarios. Campaigns also usually
give you a set objective unlike about 65% of the
scenarios so likely you won't have to become
the strongest army and defeat all your opponents.
That is especially good in this scenario as you
will rarely become the strongest. 

Lets start off with the basics, shall we?

First, the alignments. They are: Might, Nature,
Chaos, Death, Order, and Life. It really depends
on how you fight and as well as what kind of 
magic which you would like(or, even no magic 
at all). Might is a good beginners one, as it
requires on pure strength and likely you won't
get used to the magic until you know the strength
in them first. Next, Nature. The best one there 
is, actually as Nature usually makes you 
invincible to enemies.....sort of like Death,
since you can just keep on summoning enough 
creatures until either you run out of MP or
until the enemy has been defeated. This means
that, you can even go one-man on the enemy and
still win. Nature also has two level four 
recruits if you use the Creature Portal, but
you need lots of wood if you're thinking of
playing that alignment.

Chaos time. This alignment I really hate because
the things cost too much, plus I'm not really
into the evil side. But you should know that
evil is usually the stronger one if you're
not used to tactics, so it might make a good 
beginner alignment but its just the cost and
also the annoying music when you enter the Asylum.
Now lets talk about Death. This alignment is...
well, really...evil? You really have to rely on
magic if you want to make THIS alignment good,
because the evil part of it is that you get to
kill your enemies and then resurrect them as
your allies! It also has lots of cursing magic,
and no, I don't mean swear words, I mean that
they put curses on your opponent such as mire,
which makes them move slower on the world map.
Other than that the only good things which you
can get by playing Death is vampires and Bone
Dragons as they're all undead which means they
are immune to most spells, plus the vampire also
have a very useful life sucking ability.

Ah, Order. This alignment is my second favourite
as you get LOADS of ranged units. Halflings, for
example, are very useful if you have a lot of them.
Next are Magi, who can cast a variety of spells.
They can also lure your enemies out of their castles
with poison, not to mention magic fist works well
on the attack side. Gold Golems and Dwarves have 
very strong attack, defense, and magic resistance
but they move slow. Genies are much better than 
Nagas-their Ice Bolt really rocks if you have a
ton of them, not to mention create Illusions works
well if you need a defense against your weaker 
units. Nagas, on the other hand, have a lot of 
HP and attack, but they probably won't get to the
enemy in time to stop someone like genies. Finally,
on to Titans. This guys really rock but not as much
as they do in Heroes 3. Dragon Golems are a good 
new creature with their high movement, HP, and
attack. As for the Order spells, the only good one
is actually hypnotize which allows you to control
most creatures ENTIRELY! Think about it, with an
army of Hypnotizers then they can even defeat one
other one no matter how powerful they are....unless
you're up against 1200 Faeries Dragons or something.

Finally, life. These guys are also very good on the
ranged side, but that's pretty much just it. They
don't ever seem overpowering, and champions are
just very weak for a level 4 unit, too. They're
magic is good, however. Divine Intervention cures
an insane amount, while Guardian Angel can be 
useful when trying to protect a weaker, main
attacking unit. Mass Bless and Regeneration works
well, too. Overall a decent unit.

For this walkthrough, however, you'll be using Nature
so get used to summoning.....or else.

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3. Preparations

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*Tips: Get grandmaster Nature magic for Tawni
as SOON as possible! Whenever you're dealing
with tons of Hydras at the same time, first summon
a Faerie Dragon and have him cast confusion over
and over again on the Hydras while Tawni summons
Mantises or Phoenixes. This is an especially
effective strategy.*

I hate Chaos. They have the worst possible level
1 creatures such as Bandits and Orcs. And Pirates,
who are totally different from Bandits because they
live by a different motto. Anything else?

Chaos starts getting better once you acquire
the level 2 creatures. Medusas or Minotaurs? Well,
if looks can't convince, then we'll just have to
do this the old fashioned way.

Medusas: Ugly, Dirty, and terrifying. Want proof?
Well, lets see, Snakes in hair, lizard-like tail, extrem-
ely ugly face, pimp short body....don't make this
go on. Well, actually, they're rather good. One 
Medusa won't be much of a threat, but as soon as you
start acquiring hundreds of them these guys will
become a major problem for your enemies. Their
Stone Gaze ability effects the target at random but
will help kill off a couple more creatures from one
attack. Extremely useful during castle sieges when
on those high towers.

Minotaurs: Ugly, Dirty, and terrifying. Oh wait, that
was for Medusas. These guys don't look half bad,
although the horns can start getting intimidating. Sharp,
point horns versus snakes for hair? It's all up to you
on whether you prefer terrifying ugliness or intimidating
looks, but if I were you....I'd pick the Medusas. 
They also have a very useful random blocking...thing.

Now we move on to level 3. This is when Chaos starts
kicking in as a good candidate for most powerful faction.
We can choose from either the Efreeti or the Night-
mares, so let's look at our charts again.

Efreeti: Let's see. Not ugly or dirty, seemingly terrifying
with those fiery red eyes, can fly, and have a decent 
growth of 4 per week. What's not to like? Well,
first of all, that 80 HP isn't a lot for a level 3 creature,
that flying might help decimate some of your enemies,
and also fire-based attacks, which means that if they're
up against phoenixes, they lose. But hey, they still
have a mildly decent flame shield for that extra bit
of damage, and the physical ain't all that bad either.

Okay, let me reword that. Their physical attack is
HORRIBLE, but their Flame Shield ROCKS!

Nightmares: Night and mare. 110 HP, 12-26 attack 
points, and also a spell to boot. At first these guys
may seem much better than Efreeti....because they
are much better than efreeti! It all depends on how
you look at this. The only good thing about Efreeti
is that they can fly and have an awesome flame shield,
but when you're up against Black Dragons that
Flame Shield will look like mincemeat for Efreet.
Pick the Nightmares! Oh, and make good use of their
"terror" spell, too.

And finally, we're on to either Hydras or Black Dragons.
Let's look at our charts again....they aren't really
charts though.

Hydras: 28-60 attack? That is REALLY randomized.
And also a decent 250 HP as well, not to mention
no retaliation and the ability to hit up to three targets
at once. This may seem to be a great creature at first,
but wait till we get on to...Black Dragons!

Black Dragons: 55-110 attack is very randomized as
well, but it's still far better than Hydras. Black Dragons
also have a whooping 400 HP and are immune to magic.
Well, that sucks, but still, don't you think that the attack
makes up for it? And that tremendous amount of HP
and defense as well?

Let's look at this logically. Black Dragons have a grow-
th of 1 per week, while Hydras have a growth of 2
per week. The resources and gold required to buy 
these creatures are pretty much evenly matched, so
let's ignore that.

Halfway across the week an army decides to invade.
Now, if we have chosen Hydras, we would have had
1 Hydras by now, but if you had chosen Black Dragons,
you still wouldn't have any. That means that 1 Hydra
beats having a Black Dragon by that time of the week, 
which means that they have a slight advantage over
Black Dragons. Pick Hydras.

What really sucks about this campaign is that your hero-
es start off with Scouting. Who needs, Scouting, any-
ways? Get Tawni Balfour some magic as soon as poss-
ible. I usually suggest nature magic, and I'll explain why
in the following walkthrough. Besides that, Scouting is
only good for the advantages on Swamp terrain and
the tactics at sea once you get Grandmaster Seamanship.

That's all for the Preparations. And remember, kids, eat
your vegetables! Unless those vegetables are beets, of
course. Spinach I can live with.

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4. Useful Tips & Hints

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Most Important Tip: Nature Magic

1. Triple Nightmares: Buy three nightmares and then
take out your bandits and orcs. Replace three
different slots in your army with the nightmares.
Now, at the start of battle, have each Nightmare
cast Terror on the most annoying troops that you're
pit(ted) against. These can range from Elves,
Medusas, Thunderbirds, etc.

2. Chaos v.s. Other Alignments:

Life: I HATE that Mass Chaos ward! If the army
hath more than one hero with MCW then you might
want to risk an Armaggedon to wipe them out
first. Otherwise, have your Black Dragons take
those guys out while your hero Disintegrates the
Angels because those guys can fly the farthest
out of any life troop and are really annoying. If
the enemy hath Champions instead then you choose
to Disintegrate them so that you can wipe out
enough that their First Strike will do any significant
damage to your Black Dragons. Otherwise, use
the Triple Nightmare strategy to take out the Monks,
Crossbowman, and either the Angels / Champions.
This should save you some time to kill the Ballistas
first. 

Might: Got Nomads? Got Harpies? Got Cyclops?
Well, if that happens to be da case, use the Triple
Nightmare strategy to cast Terror on those three
armies. If they also have Thunderbirds, then have
your druid summon a Faerie Dragon and cast Confuse
onto the Thunderbirds over and over again. Either
a good Disintegration or Black Dragon should
handle the hero quite nicely, while have your Medusas
pick off at the flyers / shooters.

Order: Magi are annoying because of their Poison
spell, but they fall like dominoes to the might....(not
magic) of the Black Dragon. Then use the Triple
Nightmare strategy to take out Genies, Titans,
and Haflings, depending on which troops pose
the most trouble for you. Try to defeat the Hero
as soon as possible because Hypnotize can get
extremely annoying. Once all the Genies, Magi,
and Titans / Dragon Golems are out of the way
this battle is yours.

Nature: Those elves and Faerie Dragon are damn
annoying when they are defending a castle. Must
Must MUST use the Triple Nightmare strategy
to take out the Archer hero, the Faerie Dragon
and Elves first, or the Phoenixes and White Tigers
if possible. Griffins? Unicorns? No match compared
to your Black Dragons. Also you might want to
Armaggedon / Disintegrate the hero if that hero
happens to be a Druid.....you know what Druids
can do with their Dragon Strength, right?

Death - Those Undead troops are really annoying,
since you can't terrorize them. If they have Devils
or Venom Spawn, TERROR them immediately!
The Devils will usually summon Ice Demons on
their first turn which gives you some time to either
Disintegrate or cast Terror onto them. Those
Venom Spawns can shoot and will usually aim
for your hero first so take them out first if possible.
Now, the real threat are the Vampires and the hero.
Mass Curse, Vampiric Touch (on the Bone Dragons)
and Mass Sorrow are some of the worst spells
you can be up against, so if possible risk an Armaggedon
to take that hero out as soon as possible. Vampires
and Bone Dragons can be deadly in a group, fortunately
that's why those Black Dragons / Hydras are for!

Chaos - Use the Triple Nightmare strategy to remove
the Efreeti, Medusas, and Nightmares as soon as possible.
If your hero moves first, then great, Disintegrate the 
opposing hero! Then slowly and painfully take out
the Medusas with a few more of those Disintegrates
and your Black Dragons can do the rest....simple. Only
case where this strategy does NOT work is if the enemy
hath a lot of Evil Eyes and decides to send your hero
to Oblivion first, in which case......have your Black 
Dragons remove them first. In a battle of Chaos v.s.
Chaos, might is everything, not magic.

3. The Black Dragon mania - This, my friend, is what
Nature Magic is good for. First of all, if you're up
against an overwhelming amount of Black Dragons with
only one hero, then I hope you've learned Grandmaster
Nature magic with Summon Phoenix. Nao, have your
hero summon a bunch of Phoenixes and, before the
Black Dragons move, fly your Phoenixes as far
away from your hero as possible but as close to
the far end of the battlefield where the Black Dragons
should be as well. The Black Dragons should kill
your Phoenixes in one hit but because of their Rebirth
ability they'll always be reborn with at least one Phoenix
left. Keep summoning Phoenixes, sending the enemy
off at bay while all your summoned Firebirds defend.
Eventually, you should kill these Black Dragons.....
by retaliation. You need a TON of MP for this one.

4. Cycra and Tawni's dual - In the fourth scenario
there should be a point near blue's area where they
have two castles neighbouring each other. For this
one you'll need Cycra to have lots of combat skills
and advanced chaos magic. Tawni should have
Scouting and Nature Magic. Now, capture just ONE
of blue's castles, and the other army will retreat to
the second castle. Leave your army behind in the 
first castle and then ride over to the enemy castle,
who, sensing your prescence, will hide inside their
own castle. Now, head into castle with three Nigh-
tmares. Start off by taking the Medusas out with
their Terror ability and take any other creature
who cometh in the way. Cycra should cast Confusion
onto the Efreeti if possible. In this case have Tawni
summon a bunch of Phoenixes and break into the
enemy's castle as soon as possible, then use the
previous (Black Dragon mania) strategy to keep
those Black Dragons at bay while Tawni keeps
summoning Phoenixes. This strategy can be
tedious at first when the enemy hath a bunch of
Black Dragons with them, in which case retreat
once both Tawni and / or Cycra are dead, retreat
back to your other castle, and attack again. The
enemy should be inside his or her castle every time
(in my case, that is), and although it is a cheap
strategy......who cares?

Urunus's own tip - The strategy that I use for most
maps are very different from every other walkthrough
concerning this campaign. First of all, this map isn't
about building up a more powerful army than the
enemy and crushing everything beneath Tawni's
high heels. I made it through scenarios 2-5 (with
the exception of the last battles) with just two heroes:
Tawni and Cycra / Pete Girly and Tawni. In several
walkthroughs that I have been looking through they
say that you need a very powerful force in order to
defeat the enemy. I concentrate more on the AI's
stupidity and giving an advantage to your own party.
Seriously, I almost laughed at this game's pathetic
AI when I creamed their 100 Hydras with just two
heroes. And whoever created this game obviously
thought that you needed an army for such a feat -
nope, during the last scene of scenario 4 the text
message explains Tawni leading an entire army to
fight Pete Girly. Imagine the irony when only Cycra
and Tawni were in my party and I haven't recruited
for eight months (I must have nearly 40 Black Dragons
by now...)!

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5. Walkthrough

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We now return back to Jeopardy of the Pirates!
Brought to you by Purple Hat company 6734
Elwin st.

S C E N A R I O  O N E: The Pirate's Daughter
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the hardest scenario in this entire game. Period.

Don't let that get you down, though, we just need to
move quick. Tawni and Pete should be able to handle
the neutrals around here by themselves for now, so
split your army and put Tawni and Pete together.
The other pirates and bandits should loot out the
flotsam around here.

Flag the sulfur mine and get the Learning Stone. To
the south of this island is a chaos magic stone and
a Seamanship Hat. Defeat the neutral pirates around
here, and then get the artifact. Now, head back over
to your ship and have your entire army board it.

Now, there is a decent amount of flotsam to be
found around here, but don't let that distract you.
Sail as far as you can up north until you arrive at an 
island. Stop by to flag the bandit's hideout and 
recruit the creatures there, then continue north until
you arrive on land again. Now, flag the nearby
castle (watch out, as there are some powerful
neutrals guarding it!) and then you can start to
relax a bit around here.

Make sure that you have some Efreeti / Nightmares
in your party by the end of week 3! I also suggest
hiring a sorcerer for your army simply because 
your main heroes do not start off with any magic
at all. Split your heroes up (make sure that each
and every one of them are accompanied by a
decent amount of troops) and then you can go
and flag the stuff around here. With a good amount
of recruits you should be able to defeat the Centaurs
guarding that Ore Pit and following them the Berse-
rkers guarding the Sawmill up north. There is also
another Bandit Hideout near the Ore Pit guarded
by what is probably a Band of Nomads by now
as well as an Orc Tower to the east. Flag them
all (if you're running out of resources to build,
then you can also defeat the Orcs near the Ancient
Ruins as well) and then bring whatever you have
to put into one entire army and then quickly head
east!

The green player probably has cyclops or even
thunderbirds by now, so you need to do this
quick. Capture the stronghold to the east and then
you can safely station your troops there. Defeating
the army garrisoned at the castle gates may cause
some heavy casualties, but either that or pretty
much lose the entire campaign. In the meantime,
caravan a few troops from your previously
captured Asylum and get some Nightmares / Efreeti
into your party. By this point in the game, I had
around ten of them and around 25 Medusas (Medus-
as are generally better in this scenario simply because
there will be a lot of ranged battles going on with
the green players soon). Have your Sorcerer hero
go on his own perhaps accompanied by a few Cyclops
as well to loot out the treasure around here while
Tawni and Pete head west over to where the Nomads
are. Since Pete has a higher defense than Tawni starts
off with, have him go in front while your Medusas
/ Orcs weaken the other Nomads down, then quickly
capture the other stronghold south of this snowy region.
Watch out for the numerous bands of Cyclops around
here! Meanwhile, you can start to recruit and build
some more.

Directly north of where you fought the Nomads
should be a Witch's Hut. Get Tawni some magic!
I was lucky the first time and got some Nature
Magic. It won't help a lot right now, but it will
definitely pay off in the next scenario.

Recruit some more Medusas, Efreeti or Nightmares
into your party and then head north of your Asylum.
There should be a Gold Mine and a Blue Keymaster
guarded by some Ogre Magi here. Defeat them and
flag everything around this place, then visit the Key-
master tent and return south over to your Chaos
Castle again. Once again, recruit as much as possible. 
With all the mines around here, you should be able to
start building your Strongholds as well. Once you think
you're ready board the Feral Vixen and then head south-
east over to the Blue Border Gates and unlock it to 
continue into the southern regions.

By now you should be nearing the Green Player's
strength. His other two castles are located directly
west of this continent, so proceed there but you
may not wish to fight him yet simply because the
computer loves "cheating" and hides into a castle
as soon as try to fight them. When I fought them
the opposing force had nearly 30 Thunderbirds,
so beware in case they come after you. With
the Cyclops blocking entrance into your region
for now (except for the portal that leads right to
your Chaos castle) you should be safe to caravan
some troops over to your current location and
perhaps finish green off. I was never able to do
that, however, since Green still has two formidable
castles to recruit troops.

Once you're done messing around with green
head directly south of their castle until you arrive
at a tiny island with a grey border guard. Only
Tawni Balfour will be allowed to head past
this point, and even then as soon as you unlock
this border you'll be up against around a band
of Black Dragons, so I suggest that you recruit
a few more thunderbirds into your army and then
go for the kill. If Tawni / Pete Girly manage to
survive this battle they'll most likely reach the level
cap for this scenaio.

Anyways, get the Purple Keymaster Tent and
then head northwest over to the entrance of 
Frigiston. Unlock the border gates over here
and then dock onto the Magic Plains. I had almost
forty Thunderbirds when I arrived here, so you
should make quick work of the garrison at Frigiston.
Now, if you had done what I told you to earlier
at Green's other two castles and held them there
in their castles it should leave Frigiston with a 
weaker force so that you can take over the strong-
hold at your leisure. To ensure that Frigiston won't
be captured while you're gone, caravan a few troops
over from your other castls and leave some of your
thunderbirds at the castle gates as well.

With the rest of your army, head back over to your
ship and proceed to the southeastern most corner of
this map until you arrive at an island with an orange
keymaster tent guarded by scores of Unicorns. If
you have Black Dragons at this point, then they shou-
ldn't be much trouble (once again, I would have to
go against my opinion earlier for Hydras simply 
because Black Dragons will be better against Faerie
Dragons which you'll be fighting later on). Now, head
west until you arrive at yet another huge continent.
Dock here and then head past the Keymaster. Unless
Frigiston is under serious trouble, it should be smooth
sailing from here on.Make your way past the swamp
and then head northwest until you arrive at the garrison.
Kill the troops stationed here and then proceed onto
the final battle at Yenathrae. 

This is when Black Dragons come into play - Faerie
Dragons can't do anything against them since they
are immune to magic. In the meantime, have your
Medusas take down the elves and the Nightmares or
Efreeti hack at the door. As soon as you're in
have your Black Dragons dispose of those annoying
Faerie Dragons and once they're out of the way you've
pretty much won. In fact, you might even get lucky and
find the Blue Player barely leaving much of an army
to guard Yenathrae!

You should be able to complete this scenario in five months.

*Note: Get Tawni Balfour to learn Expert Nature Magic
if possible.*

*Note 2: This is a tough scenario which should not be
taken lightly. If things start to get overwhelming don't
give up just yet, you may wish to replace some of your
chaos recruits with might, such as thunderbirds and ogre
magi for your useless level ones*

*Note 3: Make sure that you get the Steadfast Shield!*

S C E N A R I O  T W O: Bloody Cove
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unlike the previous scenario, this one will start you off
with a decent army.....well, not really. All you have are
two heroes, Pete Girly and Tawni Balfour, but at least
your rivals don't have much better than what you have.

There should be two castles directly south of where you
start off. Have Pete Girly take the one to the left and Tawni
Balfour capture the one on the right. The Hydras guarding
the Breastplate of Regeneration are probably too difficult
for your heroes to handle right now, so ignore them and 
just pick up the resources around you right now. Make
sure that you flag the Sulfur Mine as well if you want
Black Dragons.

Once you have captured both castles, you can start
to build. Fortunately, there are two Gold Mines and a
decent amount of resources that you can collect around
your starting area. Try not to stray too far as in the
enemy's area - a bunch of Efreeti will prevent the enemy
from reaching your castle to the west and some Medusas(?)
to the right. This will give you some time to build, but
if you find that you are lacking on resources you may wish
to flag some of the enemy's mines as well.

Seriously, I made it through 1 / 3 of the map with a one-
army Tawni. Everything should be smooth sailing once
she acquires Summon Griffin or Summon Unicorn. If
you didn't make her learn Nature Magic, then this
will be a lot tougher, unless you are able to build up
a much stronger army than the enemy in time. I
usually prefer Minotaurs for this scenario simply because
the battle with Captain Swift will involve a lot of Black
Dragons and they're pretty much going to squash Medusas,
but at lease Minotaurs have a somewhat decent chance
as Decoys.

If you decided to teach Tawni Chaos Magic, then I
suggest that you get the Lightning Spell as soon as possible.
Trust me, it's one of the best spells that you can use for
a one-man army, especially if she has a Expert Pyromancy
or above that. I usually don't teach her Sorcery until
she learns Grandmaster Chaos magic, though.

Make sure that you eliminate the other two enemy
castles as soon as possible, or things get start getting
troublesome for you. If you've made Tawni learn Master
Nature Magic by now, then good for you - you're pretty
much going to breeze through the rest of this scenario.
Otherwise, recruit some Hydras or Black Dragons and
charge the two enemy castles. Have Pete Girly take
the castle directly below him while Tawni take the other
one to the east so that you can eliminate both players
at once.

Now you can flag the mines around the enemy's area,
and the two Gold Mines north of your two starting
castles if you haven't yet. 

Tip: If you're ever up against Efreeti and a huge swarm
of them are attacking at the same time, then make sure
that you protect your hero! Efreeti usually aim for your hero
/ level one creatures first and that Fire Shield can really 
devastate your entire party at once!

Now let's take out Green. First things first, gather up a pow-
erful army from your castles and then charge the garrison which
is the only thing that seperates you from eliminating this player.
It should only have a few Medusas and Evil Eyes guarding it,
so it shouldn't be too difficult to defeat the army without tak-
ing any casualties. Then you can finish Green off at his castle,
but watch out if they have Black Dragons already.

Now the only threat to us would be blue. Make sure
that you get the Green Keymaster tent guarded by around 4 
Black Dragons (for me at that time), then head over to the ship-
yard west of green's castle. Buy / board a ship and then
sail over to the northwestern end of this ocean. Make sure
that you get the Purple Keymaster tent (guarded by some
Hydras or Pirates, if I can remember) on the Lighthouse
Island before you finish Blue off.

Blue has two remaining castles located on the island north
of the Purple Keymaster tent, both of them situated on the
two ends (east and west) of the island.

We'll capture the castle to the east first simply because they
pose more of a threat there than the one to the west. When
I fought them they had nearly 8 Black Dragons, so if
you find that odds are overwhelming you can first capture
the castle to the west and then take the orange keymaster
tent so that you can head through the portal to the east
back to the castle where you started off with. 

Either way, once Blue has been eliminated, the only thing
that stands between you and victory is to defeat Captain
Swift. When I fought him at month 5 he had like
35 Black Dragons, so just sit around for a while until
you can get a formidable enough army to take him on.

Once you think you're ready (I suggest that you get
at least 40+ Black Dragons) then you can head over
to the shipyard east of green's castle (the one that you
had just captured) and then buy a ship at the shipyard
here. Note that it has to be Tawni Balfour in order to
pass the Grey Border guard.

You can now explore the ocean to the west if you
want to, although all there really is are some flotsam
and a few islands. Take note, however, of the
largest island in between the area near the blue
border guard and the middle of the ocean, where
there should be another island. Dock east of this
island and then head past the purple border guard
(which you should have visited the purple keymaster
tent earlier) to arrive at a Blue Keymaster tent.
Defeat the Black Dragons here (try not to take
too many casualties) and then get the keymaster
password to head past the Blue Border guard
directly north of this island. There should be
a bunch of Sea Monsters guarding the Whirlpool,
defeat them and then head into the Whirpool
to arrive at Bloody Cove. You can now finally
find Captain Swift and his ship near the whirpool
where you had left off, he probably has about 50
Black Dragons by now and around 700 Pirates, the
Pirates won't be much of a problem, it's just the Black 
Dragons that can intimidating....both emotionally
and physically, as if those Minotaur Horns weren't
enough. It took me a few tries to beat Captain
Swift.

Recommended 7-8 months to complete this scenario.
It really depends. If you're playing in champion mode
Captain Swift will have a hell lot of Black Dragons
with him.

S C E N A R I O  T H R E E: Strait of the Lost
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hate this scenario. Almost as much as the last one.

Actually, if you look at it through a Purple Hat way, it's
really very fun. Only if you get Grandmaster Nature
Magic as soon as possible.

Your objective is to defeat the red player and also
build the Eye of Chaos in Rumport. You can enter
Rumport in either of two ways: 1. by sailing south
of where you started off or 2. by sailing southeast
(only by a little bit) to arrive on the continent, then
head south over to the Grey Border guard and have
Tawni Balfour in your party to open up the gates
to arrive at Rumport. Meanwhile, you can have
Pete Girly and the other pirate army that you start
off with to collect the flotsam around here. Watch
out for the Sea Monsters, though. 

Rumport is guarded by a few Cyclops as well 
as a neutral army inside the castle. Tawni Balfour
should be able to take care of them all by herself.
Don't waste your time with the red player (mermaids)
right now, your main goal is to capture Rumport and
then build up a formidable army in it as quickly as 
possible. What you really need to concern yourselves
with should be the green player. Now, there are a num-
ber of ways into their territory, but I won't list them all
simply because this map is so large and there are numer-
ous ways to go around. Since Rumport should be
pretty much safe from the enemy for now, you can
have Tawni Balfour take on the Green player while
Pete Girly and the army from Rumport loot out
the treasure at sea as well as try to defeat the Mermaids
around here. I suggest that you wait for Black Dragons
or Hydras first before you take on the Blue player, 
however.

Meanwhile, have Tawni (that name is so not pirate-like
...) loot out the other treasure on this continent and perhaps
capture a few mines around here. Then you can have her
head north past the "X" fire mark in the middle of this
continent to capture the second castle. Most likely it
doesn't have a fort, so you'll have to build one.

With all the resources around here, you should be able to
get enough gold and mercury / sulfur to acquire two level
4 creature dwellings. I personally prefer to Hydra Ponds
for this scenario simply because they tend to be cheaper 
and time is an important factor - you need to get as many
Hydras as possible for Rumport if the enemy decides to 
invade.

If possible, get Grandmaster Nature Magic as soon as you
can in this scenario and get DRAGON STRENGTH! That
spell will make you practically breeze through this scenario.
If you decided against getting Nature Magic then a spell like
Disintegration won't work so horribly either. The only problem 
is that it won't work well against Black Dragons.

Anyways, nothing else to do now but find ways into the Green 
Player's territory. If you have waited until month 2 then you
can unlock the Grey Border guard situated beside the bridge 
directly southeast of Rumport. You can also head past the
Green's Garrison by defeating a bunch of Black Dragons
before you enter their territory. Either way, we're pretty
much only here to annoy green for a while, otherwise
head west of the garrison until you arrive at a Red Keymaster
Tent, guarded by a bunch of Black Dragons. Tawni
Balfour with some Dragon Strength should be able to defeat
them by herself, otherwise you can summon some Phoenixes
to take care of them.

There is also another way that you can head into Green's
Territory - by taking the underground route. There are
a ton of underground passageways in this scenario,
most of them which are filled with treasure and shrines and
powerful neutrals. Make sure that you inspect the oracles
around there to find hidden treasure, also watch out for a
Pandora's Box located in one of the underground 
areas which will ensue a battle with a bunch of Efreeti
if you open it.

Either way, once you have obtained the Red Keymaster
password take either one of the paths back into the 
northern areas of this map. Also watch out for blue,
who may start appearing through the underground
passageways around here. Once you have recruited
a powerful enough army, you can also go and defeat
the blue player in their stronghold west of Rumport,
but since we're going to be heading there anyways 
later on so you might want to just weaken Blue
a bit while dealing with green in the meantime.

As for Tawni Balfour, you can play with Green's
army for a while before you head over to the northeastern
end of this map over to a Red Border guard. Head 
over to the prison (which is guarded along the way by
a band of Black Dragons) and take out the Black Dragons,
this was perhaps one of the tougher battles in this scenario
simply because the Black Dragons will usually aim
for your hero first. If you find that odds are overwhelming
then you can retreat to the nearest castle (since you're
probably by yourself, you won't be carrying any recruits
along with you anyways), there should be a nearby 
castle (probably under green's command) which you
can capture.

You'll immediately be ambushed by some Minotaurs
and Efreeti a soon as you near the prison, otherwise
they should be pretty easy to handle by youself whether
Tawni Balfour has Dragon Strength or not. Unlock the
prison door to find Cycra, one of the heroes who will
join you for the next scenario(s).

Now, you can either take one of those underground
passageways or the ferry beside the northwestern
castle to arrive into Blue's territory. Either way,
recruit a strong army and then enter the ferry (which
I find should be the quickest path there) until you
arrive at the stronghold here. Defeat what remains
of Blue's army after Pete is done with them, then
have Cycra unlock the grey border guard which
leads to a Blue Keymaster tent, guarded by around
ten Thunderbirds at this time. Dragon Strength 
Cycra (the medusa witch starts off with a few combat
skills as well) and then take this Thunderbirds out.
Also note that 50 Medusas will join you before
the battle as well.

Anyways, if you have the Steadfast Shield with
you, then head north over to the Grey Border
guard (again) and exchange the Steadfast Shield
to unlock the gates here leading over the a Giant
Slayer. It won't be much use for now, but it'll
carry over to the last scenario.

With the Blue Keymaster password, you can now
go and finish red off. Gather up your army from
Rumport (or, as I always do by myself, just
get Tawni and Cycra and put them into a two-
woman army) and then sail over to the Blue Border
Guard south of Rumport. There are three more
mermaid armies to take care of before Red 
is eliminated, it shouldn't be too hard to find
them. Either way dock at the island with the
Red portal and defeat the Pirates over here, then
take the portal over to the Gold Oracle. This
is where the Grail should be found. Get Cycra
into your army if she isn't there yet and then head past
the grey border guard, defeat the medusas and then
dig up the Grail from the Oracle!

Head back over to Rumport to win this scenario.

Recommended 5 months to complete this scenario.

*Note: Try to get Cycra to level 23 in this scenario*

*Note 2: Tawni needs anger management*

S C E N A R I O  F O U R: Bay of Maids
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What did you expect, Tawni angers Pete and
Girly betrays them. What a surprise.

I find that this scenario is nearly impossible
without Dragon Strength or Summon Mantis,
you'll be up against practically TONS of
Black Dragons.

Alright, so you start off with Cycra and Tawni,
plus a bunch of Efreet. I usually just dismiss any
recruits because I rarely use them and have my
heroes collect everything. Furthermore, this is
another one of those maps when the enemy
has lots of different ways to get in your castle so
it may be necessary to leave a bunch of recruits
behind while your hero loots out everything.

Chances are, Tawni will be a lot stronger than
Cycra by now especially since she (should) have
Dragon Strength and the summon Faerie Dragon 
spells, so take her north when you reach the first
intersection. Now, move Cycra south and have
her capture the castle here.

Wow, the storyline gets amazing from here on.
Swamp terrain gives me (me, not Tawni) bad
morale and it makes me forget a lot of stuff...
no problem, everything here is pretty self-explana-
tory. If I remember correctly there should be a
portal from your castle that leads into the upper
half of this map. Beware the blue player, however,
you start off with only one castle and the blue
player has almost three. Furthermore, a lake
prevents you from capturing the second castle
up there, and most likely blue will take that castle
as well. Get Tawni to flag all the resources and
the dwellings up there, while Cycra should explore
the underground layer.

The only problem is, the enemies here get much
tougher from now on. Purple player is a nuisance,
especially once you cross over to the next continent.
Also have Tawni defeat the purple player's garrison
there (which has around four Hydras guarding it)
and then capture the castle here. Blue will try
to send a bunch of heroes every now and then to
flag the resources around here. Recruit a considerable
amount of Hydras, then hire a hero and take any
blue players out.

Now it gets tough. You need to sit there for a while
and clear all the resources while at the same time
building up level four dwellings for both castles. Once
you have enough that you should be able to guard 
both castles pretty well have Tawni and Cycra join
together into one army and then head into the underg-
round passageway beneath the first castle. Continue
west from there on and kill any neutrals along the way.
Loot out all the treasure, then board the ship and sail
north. Make sure that only Cycra is in your army
and get her some good spells such as Implosion or
Lightning. Only Cycra can pass the Medusa Gate
there and then have her flag the dwellings as well as
loot out all ze treasure (make sure that she visits the 
green keymaster guard as well). Meanwhile, Tawni
should continue the expedition west until you arrive at
dry land again. Head back up.

So many Black Dragons, so little time. Because
the enemy has so many Black Dragons with them
this may be one of those times when I actually
recommend you bring an army with you in order
to take them out. With a considerable amount
of Black Dragons / Hydras in your army, the Purple
Player should be pretty easy to take out. By the
time I defeated them the Teal player should also
have been eliminated - if not, then capture the 
farthest Asylum behind the green border guard.
Now build a shipyard there if they haven't done so
already and then build a ship. Board it, then
finish taking out the mermaids.

It's times like this when I wish I still had that
Seaman's Hat back in the first scenario. You
can explore the several islands in this area but
at the cost of one day's movement every time
you anchor or board your ship. There are also
several scores of Sea Monsters swimming in
the ocean around this area, and when I arrived
at the Grey Border guard there were about
fifty-nine Sea Monsters waiting for me. Use
the Summon Faerie Dragon strategy to take
them out.

Anyways, once the teal player has been
eliminated you can then pass beyond the grey
border guard. Here lies blue's territory - may
they rest in pieces. You don't even need an
army to take out the pathetic cretans here, they
will fall like dominoes if you know the right
strategy.

So, you ask, what *is* the right strategy? Well,
you might want to ask yourself what I was drinking
when I said the above about ze Blue player - with
three castles and a hell lot of Black Dragons, this
obviously ain't gonna be easy. WRONG! For
more info on my sure-to-work strategies, you
might want to check my tips above.

Oooh.....twenty Black Dragons? As you can clearly
see..........blocking your only path to Pete Girly's
territory are a bunch of ships.......one that has a hell
lot of Black Dragons by the time I got there. No prob-
lem, just use Sir Urunus's strategies to take them out.

And now comes the biggie - Pete Girly. 100 Hydras?
*Gasps* Seriously, though, 100 Hydras is nothing
compared to.....20 Black Dragons. Yes, you heard me.
Picture this - you're up against 100 Hydras who have
the No Retaliation ability and the skill to strike several
targets at once - or, you can be up against 20 Black 
Dragons, clearly not as strong as the 100 Hydras,
immune to magic and can fly over to Tawni's side,
killing her in one hit. Which is harder to beat? The
20 Black Dragons is the answer. So, how do you
beat him without even an army? Just get Tawni to
summon a bunch of Faerie Dragons to keep the
Hydras at bay with their confusion spell while
Cycra Disintegrates / Implodes everything in sight,
once you think that you hath enough Mantises /
Phoenixes to fight for you Dragon Strength them
and then watch as they kick ass. You don't even
have to ask.

There goes Pete Girly. He wasn't even a threat
to the impossible might of.....umm, I mean Tawni
Balfour. 

You should take 6-8 months to win this scenario,
depending on how many Black Dragons you're
up against.

S C E N A R I O  F I V E: Never Look Back
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If not for the fact that mermaids actually pose a
threat as a creature in this game, they wouldn't
seem like good candidates for an ultimate-battle-
between-good-and-evil type of thing. No matter,
let's get on with this, shall we?

Hydras? Dismiss them. We won't need Hdyras
for this one. Get Cycra and Tawni to join together
and then sail south. Anchor on the island here,
take out the pirates and flag the Lighthouse. Then
get the powerup crystals and board your ship
again. Now sail northeast past the rocks until
you arrive at the upper (northwestern) half of
this continent. Flag what resources there are
around here, then take the portal to arrive next
to your asylum castle. Capture it, then send
Cycra in. Why is this, you ask? Well, because
the might army (green player) likes to constantly
bombard / invade your castle with powerful
heroes and weak recruits, that's why we need
someone to hold them off until we get stronger
recruits.

To get ze Black Dragon dwelling you'll need
tons of Sulfur. There should be some Sulfur
Veins to the west, but I won't bother going
through this section because it's basically just
Swamp trek all the way with a bunch of mines
and dwellings. Geez, I wish it was more like
the Dragon Slayer campaign back in Heroes
III because it involved more and harder neutrals
along the way rather than easy-to-beat but
wasting your time type of creatures. 

Nature Magic + Scouting rules this scenario, 
as you'll be up against hundreds of Minotaurs
and Medusas and they can be rather annoying
especially since this map is very large. Scouting
and Pathfinding skills is typically for the "fog
of war" layout and the annoying Swamp terrain
around here. You might also find a bunch of
Mana Vortexes along the way - use them wisely,
Tawni-san, or you might run out of spell points
soon enough....

*Healthy Tip: Summon Mantis works well against
Medusas, especially if there are a lot of them.*

Get Tawni to explore the area to the east first,
then head north. You can loot out the treasure
here if you want, but notice the two quest gates?
If you still have the Giant Slayer sword (which
you should, by the way) then you can choose
which of these two "ultimate" artifacts that you
want - the Sword of Gods, or the Adamantine
Shield. This depends on whether you prefer to
have First Strike-ability creatures / No Retaliation
abilities or if you prefer to have melee creatures
to the end. Most people will probably end up
choosing the Sword of Gods - I chose the Ad-
amantine Shield instead because I wanted the
extra challenge.....not like it was still much of
a challenge anyways.

Now, head back west and explore the area
around here as well. There should be a second
Asylum that you can capture here as well. Once
you have captured it send some of your recruits
from your first castle to guard this one, then have
Tawni proceed south over to the western half
of the "M"-shaped continent. Capture the might
castle here, then head underground through the
tunnel here. Pretty easy still - I did this entire
area with just - you guessed it, Tawni and her
bunch of Summon Phoenix / Mantises.

You'll now come up through the eastern half
of the "M". Capture the second might castle
here, then get the Blue Keymaster guard. Now
head over to the southern tunnel.

Once again, easy, and no sweat here either.
Make your way past the neutrals (my Tawni
was level 33 at this point while Cycra was
behind at level 31.....yeah, crazy-high levels)
and then arise into the upper grounds again.
Here, capture the final of the green player's
castles - The Palace of the Mer-queen. What
a dumb name. Hey, how bout we rename it 
the "Palace of the Pirate Queen?"

A level 25 hero will probably be waiting
for you at the castle here. Besides that, she
shouldn't be much trouble for you. Con-
gratulations if you defeat the Green player
after this, because there's usually always
a leftover army running around.

Now, Caravan (if possible) the rest of
your army over and bring a few Thunderbirds
as well because of their high creature growth.
Then split your army up - Tawni should 
defeat the Purple army (Mermaids) by
herself while you should give your entire
army over to Cycra and the others. I
had around 12 Black Dragons, 20 Thunder-
birds, and over 100 Nightmares and 
Minotaurs by the time I reached this
place (I was getting a little sick of Medusas
so I decided to bring the guys with the
intimidating horns instead for this scenario).

Have Tawni build a ship from the Palace
of the Mer-Queen, then sail through the
small maze of shallow water bordering the
Mer-Queen's castle, while Cycra head
past the Quest Gate and get a ship from
the Shipyard here.

Back over to Tawni, have her proceed to
the west and unlock the quest gate here.
Beware, however - the five-day time limit
to defeat the Sea Monsters and Mermaids
start as soon as the quest gates are open.
Get Tawni to sail as far as possible north-
east over to the (quite beautiful, for some
reason) Mermaid's lair while Cycra and
her army sail directly north over to the 
Sea Monster spawning pool. If you've
been reading the story from the text here,
then you'll probably be moved by the
last scene between Tawni and Oba
as they leave each other forever. As for
the final battle(s), Tawni should handle</pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
the Mermaids here no problem all by
herself. Just Summon a Faerie Dragon
to confuse the Mermaids while Tawni
keeps summoning the Mantises (up
to at least 30) to deal with the Mermaids.
Dragon Strength them and they should
be able to kill the Mermaids in one hit.

As for Cycra, just keep her alive while
Disintegrating the Sea Monsters. With
an army strong enough you should be able
to defeat all sixty Sea Monsters without
much trouble.

It'll probably take about 4-5 months to
complete this scenario, depending on
how fast you explored and whether or
not to you brought an army with Tawni
Balfour while she is exploring. This is
one awesome campaign with one awe-
some storyline.

----------------------------------------

6. Miscellanous

----------------------------------------

Ze storyline: Definitely one of the most
impressive storylines in Heroes of Might
and Magic history. I said a few words
before about Gauldoth's storyline and
also about Elwin's story but this one is
definitely the best out of all of them: read
it, NAO!

Goof-up: In scenario 4, I found two
Pete Girly(s) near Purple's regions.

Easter Eggs?: Scenario three happens
to be a very badly-designed map. You're
supposed to enter Rumport from the
eastern end through the border east of
Rumport and then capture the castle
there - however, you can just choose
to sail directly south from where you
start off instead and anchor beside the
castle. Using this advantage, the enemy
can never actually capture Rumport
and therefore Tawni has the upper hand
for this scenario.

Challenges:

1. Scenario one is challenging enough 
already.

2. Most challenges come from the fact
that the enemy starts off with far stronger
recruits and more castles than Tawni has.
In fact, in every scenario of this campaign
you start off without a castle. Therefore,
it is nearly impossible to create a harder
challenge rather than defeating the enemy
as soon as possible.

3. Scenario 1 on Champion difficulty......
......*shivers*

----------------------------------------

7. CAN YOU BEAT IT?

----------------------------------------

Yes, can you beat my record score of
2180?

-----------------------------------------

8. Credits

-----------------------------------------

-3DO for making this game.

-SWCarter's faq, which was my reference
guide in case I forgot something.

-Me, myself, and I.

-Tawni Balfour. I believe in pirates! See?
I do! I DO!

END