Pools of Iron

"The knot looks broken."

Accessed times
since 8 february 98.

Mission: Use the World knot to get reinforcement. Move all units into the red lake in the west.

Difficulties:

Figuring out how to work the world knot.
Not getting creamed by the Trow.

Main threats: A wave of 2 Trow and 2 hordes of myrmidons.

Hints:

The world knot lies southwest of where Alric starts.
The world knot is in working order.
Place Alrice close to the broken pylon, and the
Alric has a spell, same as he he had in Out of the Barrier. Very useful against masses of enemies. Alric has 4 such spells. There are 4 waves of Myrmidons on normal difficulty.
To use: Select Alric press T, select a unit in the front middle of a wave.

Film: No casualties

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Walkthrough

The Tale

The Map

The explanation

I will retell what Alric told me.
He trekked all night to the area of the world knot.

You will control Alric. Alone in a desert landscape you will need to find a world knot.

Perhaps it was foolish to think the knot would not be defended. But then Alric is a man of many talents. The myrmidons sensed his power and the lone ones only dared approach him when his back was turned. So Alric let them approach closely before turning on them.

You will be stalked by lone myrmidons. These cowards will run if faced and try to get at Alric's back. Turn Alrics back when one approaches and turn to attack when it gets close. You might want to try running Alric back and forth to figure out how fast he can turn.

As he got nearer to the world knot, he was approached by a large wave of myrmidons coming from east of the world knot. But the spells of an avatar are powerful.

The world knot is defended by two hordes of myrmidons. When you spot them, select Alric, press "T" and select a Myr in the front. There might be a need for some swordplay, but Alric's good at that too.

Yet another wave came from nortwest of the world knot. They did not get far. However, the knot seemed to be damaged and Alric was worried that he would be unable to bring through the troops.

Same thing with the second wave.

Then he remembered that the pylons of a world knot are only inanimate vessels of the power at their location. Perhaps he could act as an animate vessel. He had to try.

Move Alric close to the damaged pylon in the world knot. The computer will take control - Alric becomes blue.

"Good to see you. Welcome"
"Aye! Bring the rest through"

And the troops comes through. You will have plenty of time to make presets. Assume a defensive position in the east. Place archers in the south on small ledge and berserkers north of them, covering the approach.

"I can sense the enemy, I can sense the Trow. Smell their smelly bodies. A trow is virtually unstoppable on a plain area like this. We have no dwarves with us, so we should find something we can defend to minimize our losses."
"Theres a ledge east of here"

The method I will descibe requires a bit of timing. If you fail, the penalty is no worse than trying to meet the enemy head on. If you succeed, you will take radically less losses.

"You two, you are volunterers. Scout out west. We will prepare a position on the ledge. If you see a Trow, run back there as fast as you can. Lead them here"
I was not picked for scouting, luckily, but they did a good job, too good.

Send out two berserkers. Move one - the top one in the picture left - to the bottom of the stairs. Move the other one down the slope west of the world knot. He should attract the attention of Myrmidons. Pull him back. When the myrmidons come level with the stairs, move the berserker there up to mid-stairs. He should attract the attention of 2 Trows.

When they came back the enemy was right on their heels. A horde of Myrs very closely followed by 2 angry Trow.Alric stepped forward and cast a spell on the approaching Myrs.

Run back with the berserkers. If your timing was good, the Trow will approach surrounded by Myrmidons. Have Alric cast one of his spells on the front Myrmidon.

As the Myrs starting getting caught in explosions, so did the Trow. In fact only one Myr and a badly wounded Trow came through. It's good Alric is on our side.

Trow caught in explosive Myrs.

You guessed the effect of that one, right. Both the Trow and the Myrs being badly hurt by explosions. Be prepare to send berserkers forward

"Split up. If we meet more enemies we will hit them from both sides"

As we approached the far end of the row of columns thrall approached from below the far side.

Move your units west. I suggest moving a larger force of berserkers on the south side of the raised pillared area.

As the Captn had said we managed to hit them from the front and right while our archers fired into their left.
After that exercise, we regrouped while a scout tested the waters. A new wave appeared and we dealed with it in the same way.

Position your archers on the north side of the raised area. The thrall are slow, so if you took losses during the first part, pull back when the thrall gets close. You can strike the thrall with your berserkers and pull back. By coming from the south the berserkers will hit the thrall from one side and the archers from the other.

We stepped in to the bloodcolored lake. We hoped we would arrive in time, and that the lake would be wadeble all the way.
Balor, were gonna strike you in the rear.

Use the same method on the second wave. That should be it.

The Tale	The Map	The explanation
I will retell what Alric told me. He trekked all night to the area of the world knot.		You will control Alric. Alone in a desert landscape you will need to find a world knot.
Perhaps it was foolish to think the knot would not be defended. But then Alric is a man of many talents. The myrmidons sensed his power and the lone ones only dared approach him when his back was turned. So Alric let them approach closely before turning on them.		You will be stalked by lone myrmidons. These cowards will run if faced and try to get at Alric's back. Turn Alrics back when one approaches and turn to attack when it gets close. You might want to try running Alric back and forth to figure out how fast he can turn.
As he got nearer to the world knot, he was approached by a large wave of myrmidons coming from east of the world knot. But the spells of an avatar are powerful.		The world knot is defended by two hordes of myrmidons. When you spot them, select Alric, press "T" and select a Myr in the front. There might be a need for some swordplay, but Alric's good at that too.
Yet another wave came from nortwest of the world knot. They did not get far. However, the knot seemed to be damaged and Alric was worried that he would be unable to bring through the troops.		Same thing with the second wave.
Then he remembered that the pylons of a world knot are only inanimate vessels of the power at their location. Perhaps he could act as an animate vessel. He had to try.		Move Alric close to the damaged pylon in the world knot. The computer will take control - Alric becomes blue.
"Good to see you. Welcome" "Aye! Bring the rest through"		And the troops comes through. You will have plenty of time to make presets. Assume a defensive position in the east. Place archers in the south on small ledge and berserkers north of them, covering the approach.
"I can sense the enemy, I can sense the Trow. Smell their smelly bodies. A trow is virtually unstoppable on a plain area like this. We have no dwarves with us, so we should find something we can defend to minimize our losses." "Theres a ledge east of here"		The method I will descibe requires a bit of timing. If you fail, the penalty is no worse than trying to meet the enemy head on. If you succeed, you will take radically less losses.
"You two, you are volunterers. Scout out west. We will prepare a position on the ledge. If you see a Trow, run back there as fast as you can. Lead them here" I was not picked for scouting, luckily, but they did a good job, too good.		Send out two berserkers. Move one - the top one in the picture left - to the bottom of the stairs. Move the other one down the slope west of the world knot. He should attract the attention of Myrmidons. Pull him back. When the myrmidons come level with the stairs, move the berserker there up to mid-stairs. He should attract the attention of 2 Trows.
When they came back the enemy was right on their heels. A horde of Myrs very closely followed by 2 angry Trow.Alric stepped forward and cast a spell on the approaching Myrs.		Run back with the berserkers. If your timing was good, the Trow will approach surrounded by Myrmidons. Have Alric cast one of his spells on the front Myrmidon.
As the Myrs starting getting caught in explosions, so did the Trow. In fact only one Myr and a badly wounded Trow came through. It's good Alric is on our side.	Trow caught in explosive Myrs.	You guessed the effect of that one, right. Both the Trow and the Myrs being badly hurt by explosions. Be prepare to send berserkers forward
"Split up. If we meet more enemies we will hit them from both sides" As we approached the far end of the row of columns thrall approached from below the far side.		Move your units west. I suggest moving a larger force of berserkers on the south side of the raised pillared area.
As the Captn had said we managed to hit them from the front and right while our archers fired into their left. After that exercise, we regrouped while a scout tested the waters. A new wave appeared and we dealed with it in the same way.		Position your archers on the north side of the raised area. The thrall are slow, so if you took losses during the first part, pull back when the thrall gets close. You can strike the thrall with your berserkers and pull back. By coming from the south the berserkers will hit the thrall from one side and the archers from the other.
We stepped in to the bloodcolored lake. We hoped we would arrive in time, and that the lake would be wadeble all the way. Balor, were gonna strike you in the rear.		Use the same method on the second wave. That should be it.