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Second Undead Book of Arkain (Patch 1.29.2 or newer!)

This bundle is marked as director's cut. It exceeds all expectations and excels in every regard.
arkain_2020_x200-png.369838

! No longer updated !
Check out the
True Story of Arkain for updates!


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A Campaign Series made by Shar Dundred

! Requires Version 1.29.2 or newer !
You are not allowed to publish any edited version of any Arkain map! This includes but is not limited to Reforged edits!




Story

The Undead have destroyed an entire legion of Demons, yet the war is far from over. The Human Kingdom of Lor has finally fallen and the Dead Mountain, home of the Undead, is now completely surrounded by the Demons and their slaves. The Undead must fortify their defenses and continue their war against the Demons, but they must not forget that there are also other enemies lurking in the dark.
Command the endless legions of the Undead to fight against your countless living enemies. Unleash new monstrosities like the world has never seen them ever before to wreak havoc within the ranks of your enemies. Use the undead masters of magic and blacksmithing to create new items for your powerful heroes and improve existing ones.
Will you be able to overpower the living of Arkain? Will you return balance to Arkain or will you look for other ways to restore order and bring peace? Or will you abandon the mortals and go your own way instead? Only time will tell.


Campaign Series Info

The Legends of Arkain is a campaign series which takes place on the world Arkain.
The races of Arkain fight against the demon invaders, who try once again to enslave every being on Arkain. The Humans, the Orcs and the Undead will have to make a stand against them... or face complete annihilation or enslavement by the Demons.
This campaign series will consist of actually three different series. There will be a Human, an Orc and an Undead campaign series. They will all run in the same timeline but will present three different stories and outcomes. When they are all finished, it's completely up to you, who wins this conflict.
Those, who win the war, will write the history.

You like the campaign?
Click here to see the progress of the series!

Click here for the First Human Book!
Click here for the First Orc Book!
Click here for the First Undead Book!


Click here for the Second Human Book!
Click here for the Second Orc Book!

Let's Play made by @Jayborino!
Features
- Three different storylines/campaign series
Take control of one of the three factions, the proud Humans of the Empire, the plundering and strong Orc Clans or the mysterious Undead Nexus and their endless army of the dead, and face the demonic invasion as well as other struggles that await you.
- New units
Command units, you already know, as well as completely new units with new upgrades and abilities.
- Decide the fate of Arkain
At some points of the campaigns, you'll have the opportunity to decide things, that affect the storyline, characters and sometimes even the chapters you play or how you have to play them. By doing or, well, not doing certain side quests, you can also affect the campaign.
- Three difficulties
You can play the campaign in either easy, normal or hard difficulty, just like in the original WC3 campaigns. It will impact on the AI difficulty and scripting as well as other minor changes.
In easy version, for example, the AI won't rebuilt lost buildings.

- Full Jass AI
In this campaign series, every single AI is written in Jass instead of being created with the AI editor. This makes the AI more intelligent.
- Universal hotkeys
All abilities, units and buildings use QWER hotkeys.
- Race Mechanics
Every available race has its own unique race mechanic to improve gameplay - and, in some cases, to add new ways influencing the story.

Characters

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Aridon the Watcher
Aridon is the most mysterious creature of Arkain – also the most unknown. No one but the Demons even knows of Aridon's existence and the archlich intends to keep it that way as long as possible. It's unknown for how long he has existed, but he has always been here. He's even older than all of the oldest Demons together. It's also unknown who or what he used to be before – if he has ever been anything else before. He calls himself the humble Watcher of Arkain who ensures that the balance isn't disturbed by the other races. The Demons and the mortals alike often tend to threaten this balance with their actions and Aridon has often interfered in the actions of the mortals – but from the shadows without being noticed. He has seen the future and has known centuries ago that in this conflict, manipulations won't be enough and prepares for a full scale war. It's time for the Undead to fix the flaws of the other races.

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Ornasion the Destroyer
Unlike other dreadlords, Ornasion had always prefered brute force over manipulations or mind games. This made others of his kind consider him a savage brute, not worth much more than some pitlord. He was considered simple-minded, no threat to the far more intelligent and cunning dreadlords. However, it was this apparent "simple-mind" that spared him from the political games between other Demons, allowing him to focus on what he did best: Warfare. He became a great tactician and led the Blooddrinker Legion into many successful battles against their enemies.
Ornasion turned out to be the greatest general of the Blooddrinker Legion, yet the other dreadlords never considered him a threat due to him being interested in nothing but war, even going as far as calling him a "Pit Dreadlord" in reference to the brutish Pitlords. It was the last time a dreadlord would underestimate any other dreadlord. One day, still centuries before the Void War, Ornasion made his move. He challenged all higher-ranking dreadlords of the Blooddrinker Legion at once - and tore them apart. While actually being the brute they always considered him to be, he was no fool and was driven by the same ambition as others of his kind were.
Ornasion used his brute force to make the Blooddrinker Legion the most numerous by absorbing several smaller Legions. In doing so and due to his tactical abilities, he had secured the place of his Legion as the one leading the charge against the Humans and other races of Arkain, planning to destroy all his enemies - be it by crushing their lands or by corrupting their minds.
Following his defeat by the hands of the Undead, Ornasion has been imprisoned by Aridon. The master of the Undead has then transformed him into the first undead dreadlord to serve him. Now fueled by his desire for revenge and his new life purpose, Ornasion serves Aridon's cause loyally - unlike a certain other dreadlord...

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Haran'tel-kazor
Like the entirety of his race, Haran'tel-kazor was born as a slave of the Undead, serving their will by guarding the Dead Mountain and doing labor for his dead masters. As all Nerubians, he too was destined to one day be turned into an undead creature. However, Haran, as his friends called him, was not willing to let this continue and started an uprising against his undead masters. His loyal rebel followers named him their one and only overlord and they started a guerilla war against the Undead. During this time, Haran learned much about war, combat and strategy - but also about loss, tragedy and death. The war against the Undead would never end, so Haran ordered to do whatever was possible to make the females of his race lay more eggs, including dark magic. His own mate, a queen, died by the exposure of this magic, but it managed to create massive amounts of small hatchlings. While weak and of little intelligence, they were extremely numerous and allowed Haran to survive the war of attrition against his undying foes even longer. He wouldn't hesitate to throw enormous numbers of lesser hatchlings and Nerubians at his enemies while the strong ones were kept safe until they were needed. Many of his race thought that both the loss of his mate and the neverending war against the Undead had hardened his heart, yet they continued to serve the one who broke their chains.
Unbeknownst to them all, including Haran, their uprising had the blessing of Aridon who saw this as a chance to not only give the rogue Nerubians a reason to lay and hatch more eggs while giving them combat experience but also a chance to find the strongest of their race: Haran'tel-kazor. Aridon had allowed their rebellion to continue for a long time to see their strength and numbers grow - and then, when the Second Voidwar began, he harvested them all, including Haran. Haran was reanimated as a Crypt Overlord to serve in the ranks of the Watcher as it had always been his destiny.

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Sister Pentiss
Like many other members of the Sisterhood, Pentiss was born as the daughter of one of its priestesses. She was raised along with all the others who were destined to become priestesses of the Sisterhood. Like her sisters, Pentiss was taught that loyalty towards the Sisterhood and the Goddess was all that mattered - and that males were... disposable. All that mattered was the Sisterhood and the will of their goddess. Pentiss rose quickly through the ranks of the Sisterhood and became one of its high priestesses shortly after Quiraness was appointed mistress.
While she was a loyal servant of the Sisterhood, Pentiss couldn't ignore that Quiraness seemed only to care about her own power rather than follow the wishes of the goddess as she was supposed to. While Pentiss took pride in her position, she considered herself a humble servant of the will of the goddess and was waiting for the prophecy to unfold while secretly gathering supporters. Unlike Quiraness, Pentiss understood that the prophecy also foretold a war when the time had come.

Click here to learn more about the other characters!


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Initial Release

General:
- Grammar fixes
- The Demonblood upgrade now requires a Black Citadel and a Graveyard instead of a Halls of the Dead and a Graveyard
- Fixed the icon of Slowness Aura

Beginning:
- The Beastiary is no longer hostile

Chapter Two:
- The statue is no longer levitating
- Orcs in the Caves will now be marked as completed when the Strongholds are destroyed

Epilogue:
- Fixed the loading screen texts



Models & Skins:
Blizzard Entertainment
67chrome
epsilon
Wandering Soul
infrenus
Tauer
AndrewOverload519
Mephestrial
Dojo
PrMosquito
Hawkwing
Em!
dickxunder
acagnip
Uncle Fester
Frankster
Mc !
IamMclovin
AhhFreshWeeD
Sin'dorei300
Elenai
Kuhneghetz
CloudWolf
alreadyused
Dark Hunter1357
Dmitry Rommel
Kitabatake
Shar Dundred
RazorClawX
Uljimasa Hojo
eXciTe
Sellenisko
frostwolf
-Grendel
Skipper
Deolrin
gookywooky
Callahan
BlinkBoy
Hueter
Coinblin
supertoinkz
SuPa-
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Power
Afronight_76
chr2
olofmoleman
imforfun
Deolrin
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HerrDave
Meteor_demon
kangyun
Kael Theron
PROXY
JetFangInferno
JesusHipster
Makoodzaka
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Icons:
Blizzard Entertainment
Uncle Fester
CloudWolf
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SkriK
CRAZYRUSSIAN
Darkfang
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Mc !
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JollyD
The_Silent
-Berz-
chr2
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San
Scias
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4eNNightmare


Campaign Preview Screen:
Heinvers

Campaign Logo:
Mythic

Campaign Chief Development Tester and Grammar Genius:
Kasrkin

Everything else made by:
Shar Dundred

First Supporters:
Theoden of KoMe
Chen
youness
Kasrkin
kakuzu
BandolXD
Heinvers
Imperator
Veritas 117
PlankingWolf


Please contact me via PM if I forgot to give you credit for your resource!



To Blizzard Entertainment for this great game.
To Turnro whose great campaigns inspired me to revive this old project.
To Jayborino for his enjoyable let's play projects of the Arkain series!
To all who supported this project!
To all who reported bugs and gave/give constructive feedback both during and after the development!
And very many special thanks to Kasrkin, who supported the creation of this project in many, even countless ways!



Feel free to post your suggestions, opinions and questions!
Please report any bugs!

Keywords:
Arkain, Legends, Legends of Arkain, LoA, campaign, series, Gardon
Contents

Legends of Arkain Second Undead Book (Campaign)

Reviews
deepstrasz
The poll should be changed. Some characters are only mentioned. So, generally, it's a really nice Arkain campaign which came with some novel chapter designs. It however, missed some opportunities, like having Urshan confront his demonkin...

Pick your favorite characters


  • Total voters
    71
Level 4
Joined
Jun 9, 2017
Messages
74
a wonderfully made piece of art.
story is amazing and words can't describe how amazing it is. 10/10 of course even if it was shorter but i followed your arkain news forum and know your pain. you did amazing nonetheless and i can't wait for the true story of arkain. hope it doesn't take long.
 
Level 16
Joined
Jul 31, 2019
Messages
183
Very wonderful masterpiece this is though much shorter than previous ones. Quick question: Is it possible for you to release the map where all nexus are playable? Can't wait for True Story of Arkain also.
 
Level 3
Joined
Nov 13, 2019
Messages
25
1.29 or newer. Sad i'm 1.24
Do you know where to download the 1.31?

sometime you gotta become undead to understand what does it mean to be alive

True but in the earth the only undead that exist is only ghost well if you believe that of course
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Level 2
Joined
Mar 1, 2019
Messages
6
I just felt like reviewing the campaign because wanted to.

Things I liked
- The writing, characters and dialogue are spot on, motivations and personality is pretty good and clear to the player. Even some characters are funny. I never knew the Golden Guard were simps. I was always looking forward to the next level every time I beat the map.
- Difficulty is pretty balanced and is an improvement from the difficulty of the Second Orc Book. Not too frustrating but can take very long, makes me think that if I screwed up, it's my fault, not the game designer's.
- Gameplay and the techtree are pretty fresh and creative.

Things that could be better/needs fixing
- It is very short compared to the previous two Second Books but I kind of understand why. The Undead have mostly been present in the Second Human and Orc books and have been integral to the plot of those Campaign's stories.
- Cinematics: Not to say the dialogue is bad but camera work could be improved to make some shots and camera angles look more dramatic. Instead of just a camera that rotates once.
- On the Epilogue, the loading screen title and description are the same as the Orders of the Watcher interlude.
- On Chapter 2: The side quest isn't marked completed despite the strongholds being destroyed.

Conclusion
- It is a good campaign with great writing, great characters, difficult but fair challenge with a fresh Undead techtree

Missed Opportunities
- It is really short and I wanted more but considering the Undead being in all books having their own plots in the Second Human book, it is understandable, have a great day.
- Missing characters that could've been playable. (Sir Edoarus? Lord Margazzar? Queen Keera?)
- I kinda wished Sir Edoarus and the Bonelords were playable but I can wait for the
True Story of Arkain. It was probably torture to make the Second Undead Book when most of the planned maps couldn't work properly and had to be scrapped.

Overall. On a scale of 1-5
I'd give it a 3/5. It has a little something for everyone
 

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Level 9
Joined
Oct 1, 2015
Messages
352
Finally finished the campaign. Had a great time playing it and I eagerly await the True Story of Arkain.

Despite being a short campaign, it is very challenging and explains in brief how the story of the Undead folds.
What shocked me was the epilogue, I was surprised to see a certain dreadlord back and he was in fact, the Dark One hiding under the Watcher's sight. AND the final scene of the epilogue. I mean was it all a vision or a dream or a manipulation by the Dark One? Did Ornasion repel the Demonic invasion of the Dead Mountain? Have Ornasion and Haran discovered the Cave Orcs and made contact with the Dark Elves? Did they overthrow Quiraness and made Pentiss the new Queen? Did they recover the artifact Aridon required? Did Krom and Meya stop the Souleater Legion's invasion of Salria? Or was all of this some sort of premonition or was it manipulation by Tregakh? I'm very intrigued. An excellent cliffhanger though.

I'd say the campaign you had in mind some chapters that involve subtlety like Rahandir, Sir Edoarus, Fleshtearer and Pentis going to the capital of Toran to seek the other artifact and how they "persuaded" the Toranites into assisting them and might involve a massacre of the Mage Guild then help them repel the Pyrrean rebels. Or secret warfare where Ornasion and Queen Keera deal with the elven demon worshippers while avoiding the main bulk of the Golden Guard and Elven Army. Oh and a holdout chapter after all artifacts have been recovered and brought to Aridon where we have to defend him from Demons and possibly other enemies who caught the scent while he finishes the spell to secure the Mountain from all outsiders. And perhaps dealing with the Dark One after.
I forgot to mention the part when Aridon plays dead and orders Saphira and Rahandir to act as the Undead fractured into two factions and how Saphira helps Gardon but her true purpose is to keep a close eye on him and Rahandir tends to other matters like 'hiding' Queen Renova's half-elf twins.
In regard to bugs\glitches, other than the ones mentioned by Rianslock earlier, I encountered a glitch in chapter one. As I pushed deeper and deeper into the enemy bases, I built Necropolises to spread blight and build forward bases but I wasn't able to build any other building other than the Necropolises starting from the first area where the Lor soldiers cages are located and the demon slaves base area even though I blighted the whole area completely.

Excellent job, Master Shar and the best is yet to come!

Oh and my imported choices were: Haran'tel Kazor killed and raised into undeath. Saphira and Veringar didn't destroy the tunnels. Largoth and Verginar killing the leaders of both fleets. Sir Ross possessed and Aridon winning the final battle.

I will replay the campaign again and change my choices to: Haran'tel not being killed. Saphira and Veringar destroying the tunnels. the leaders of both fleets surviving. Sir Ross either killed or left alone - Your choice, Shar-. And Aridon losing the final battle.
 
Level 10
Joined
Feb 21, 2015
Messages
363
I enjoyed this campaign a lot, but it sort of... ended suddenly. It's so sad that @Shar Dundred kind of ran out of ideas as he was making this campaign, but I wanted to play as Ornasion more. I hope you make the true story of Arkain the best campaign of them all, cuz it has a lot of potential now that we know what was going on all along. The epilogue of this campaign answers a lot of questions that I had after I played the Second Orc and Human books.
 
Level 9
Joined
Oct 1, 2015
Messages
352
upload_2020-9-2_16-25-58.png
I'm replaying the campaign as I said before and this happened lol
Is this supposed to happen? It didn't in my first walkthrough and I just started the mission
 
Level 9
Joined
Oct 1, 2015
Messages
352
The enemies and a large attack force when Aridon dies in the First Undead Book final mission, so yes

I wonder else is there in store for me. I got reprimanded by Aridon for letting Rahandir's base fall despite my success. Currently at chapter 2, I won't destroy the secondary bases and focus only on the main base. Let's see what happens.
 
Level 3
Joined
Sep 25, 2018
Messages
55
I already finish the book and here my opinion...

Well, gotta say it was a good campaing, of course the major "con" thing is the duration and that leave a lot of holes in the lore/history of the series...

I can only hope that the maker (Shar Dundred) finish the True History of Arkain ASAP.

Aside of that, good work, wish the best luck...
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
The poll should be changed. Some characters are only mentioned.
  1. Why does Aridon need or have to tell anyone anything if he controls them anyway? Are they not the extension of his will? Or are they only under his control but with a mind of their own?
  2. What does the Black Citadel upgrade help with here aside using it as defense spam :D?
  3. "Let me serve you before I die." Don't worry, you will still even after :D
  4. Ven'gyr is a Warcraft III hero name.
  5. How did he recognize Ornasion? I mean, he wasn't actually looking the same. Did he feel his magical aura or something?
  6. Troops don't get trained with their first spell on autocast. Wasn't it always so?
  7. Urshan doesn't have hero glow and looks like the count. Until he gets turned that is.
  8. Why did you have to use Sylvanas' line :|?
  9. Does Aridon permit to be addressed as Aridon especially by a new recruit?
  10. Lol, that Hesrathion dude always has two dreadlords with him. Is that a sort of superstition?

  1. Ice Crown of the Spider King=Helm of Battlethirst.
  2. I see Haran'tel-kazor has the exact spells of the Cryptlord. I think you should have gotten more custom-creative with abilities and such since the campaign is much shorter than the other ones and this would have raised its quality.
  3. The orcs talk to you but they're not moving and with the back at you. Cave orcs. That's rich. A sort of dark elves. I guess it's part of the proto-races? Are the Dead Mountain's depths a sort of a pool of creation?
  4. It would look nicer if the undead were trained by buildings instead of appearing all at once. Similarly, with the enemy.
  5. The veneration statue is levitating a bit.
  6. Orcs in the Caves is not marked as completed upon finishing it.
  7. Great Watch towers should have bigger selection circles.

  1. Slowness Aura should look passive. You can make it so with: Button Manager v1.8.2
  2. Would have been nice to have a dark elves techtree with buildings and all. Well,, at least the enemy has that.
  3. Why is Quiraness a drider? Did she get a fusion ritual or something?
  4. Ensnare research should be under the Icekeeper.
  5. It's a bit unrealistic that the drider can burrow as it doesn't have the claws the Crypt Fiend has.
  6. Hmm, just realized there aren't any special map loading screens.
  7. This chapter is claustrophobic pain.
  8. Time for Acolyte repair army. They don't kill the workers like the demons did so it's all good :D Honour will be their downfall!
  9. Ornasion's character summarized: "Bah!"
  10. Black Lotus doesn't look black at all.
  11. Nice touch with lore bits in various places.
  12. Slowness Aura should have a different FX on enemies. It's confusing. First, I did not understand what was casting slow on them.
  13. Well, they would be possibly more useful as undead, the dark elves since they would not be able to betray and would require different type of magics upon them to die.

  1. Am I seeing a lack of air units in this campaign? I understand it's caves but this is one huge cave with high walls if such big mushrooms can grow and if that temple fit there.
  2. Slowness Aura buff should have a red text title. Just put the title like |cffff0303Slowness Aura|r
  3. Ugh, having many units (+summons +workers) makes them queue orders and stagger. Barely playable. Should think of something to replace the woodcutters.
  4. I think you should lower the lumber gathering amount as it takes too much time and you might also not make it since you can't afford to just defend with Shieldguards. You could make it so that when you research the Peacemaker, you'd have to defend the base for some minutes from a harder attack from the temple or something. OK, so they attack when you research. What if you cancel :D?
  5. You don't get notification once you reach 25k lumber.
  6. Pentiss said the servants should destroy Quiraness immediately after I started the Peacemaker research. That's kind of opposite to the point?
  7. How did they distribute the ayahuasca though? Did they spray it or something?
  8. Deus ex machina artifact.
  9. Aridon the orcophobe.

  1. Krom has no unique artifact?
  2. Bonemender has Death Coild not Mend as in the description.
  3. Frozen Breath research should be under the Frost Wyrm; it's currently one space to the right.
  4. The problem with those portals is that they destroy trees.
  5. So, no one thought it would be a good idea to build a base up there but the undead?
  6. The Demon Gate spam is real.
  7. How many times do the demons attack through portals directly to your base?
  8. Orgus' troops are blocked by Brightfield's when he wants to attack the demons.
  9. There's a lack of wood if you want to finish the optional quests too. Well, if you can get the southeastern yellow base, then yes, there's enough lumber beyond the gate.
  10. Krom is 10 but Meya can only reach 7.
  11. Heh. Had more issue trying to get the dwarves than the Golden Guard.
  12. No enemy air units?
  13. Fallen Maiden could make use of some spells like Curse or Cripple or Soul Burn or something.
  14. Inferno Tower's selection circle should be bigger.
  15. What do you gain for completing the optional quest?
  16. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the most defeated of them all?
  17. I mean, use the damn artifact on him already. Shut him up.

So, generally, it's a really nice Arkain campaign which came with some novel chapter designs. It however, missed some opportunities, like having Urshan confront his demonkin, maybe Ornasion meeting Ebira. Also, some undead heroes were just NPCs like Rahandir, Saphira, Quiraness' daughter.
With some more polish, it can be made even better if you think it's worth your time.

Approved.


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Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,862
Thank you for the review, straz of the deeps!
Why does Aridon need or have to tell anyone anything if he controls them anyway? Are they not the extension of his will? Or are they only under his control but with a mind of their own?
Why not educate your followers before you send them to spread death? :)
Why did you have to use Sylvanas' line :|?
Sylvanas line?
The veneration statue is levitating a bit.
So is Aridon. :p
(For real though, while the idea is kind of funny, that is not intentional)
Why is Quiraness a drider? Did she get a fusion ritual or something?
She is riding an animal rather than being a drider.
This chapter is claustrophobic pain.
It is great, isn't it?
Hmm, just realized there aren't any special map loading screens.
Well, @Rhapsodie was not available and I got other things to do. :p
Black Lotus doesn't look black at all.
Because when I tried to make it black, it looked like shit and I did not consider it that much of an issue.
Well, they would be possibly more useful as undead, the dark elves since they would not be able to betray and would require different type of magics upon them to die.
Death = no reproduction. ;)
Slowness Aura buff should have a red text title. Just put the title like |cffff0303Slowness Aura|r
I'll try that one again.
Ugh, having many units (+summons +workers) makes them queue orders and stagger. Barely playable. Should think of something to replace the woodcutters.
How many workers did you call upon?
Aridon the orcophobe.
I mean, well. Yeah.
How did they distribute the ayahuasca though? Did they spray it or something?
They unleashed the gas into the heated tunnels!
Yeah, I think this is breaking the geneva conventions, I have to call Pentiss about that one...
The problem with those portals is that they destroy trees.
Problem? I made it happen that way. :p
I mean, use the damn artifact on him already. Shut him up.
If only it was that simple, eh?
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
Sylvanas line?
Oops, I mean the Banshee. If I'm not mistaken, Sylvanas had that soundset as well in RoC.
(For real though, while the idea is kind of funny, that is not intentional)
Could try making the statue levitate over the platform.
She is riding an animal rather than being a drider.
Yeah, realized in the following chapter.
It is great, isn't it?
If I could get there and strangle you, yeah.
Because when I tried to make it black, it looked like shit and I did not consider it that much of an issue.
Could try a reskin or to give you a black mushroom model instead.
Death = no reproduction.
Right but that has its limits. They are not immortal are they? If they are, how on Earth (I'm sorry, under Earth) did they not overpopulate?
How many workers did you call upon?
Well, I had the miners, 12 for repairs and 12 for wood. Maybe a few more for one expansion in the northern orc base and some to repair the statues and wagons.
 

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Level 29
Joined
Mar 28, 2015
Messages
2,678
I just finished playing this last second book.

I really enjoyed playing it, mostly because it is centered on the Undead, my favorite Arkain race.

First: The whole Nexus faction. It was only fitting that the Undead, the longest civilization in Arkain, who was composed of individuals from several races, to have such variety of units avaiable.
Second: Both Ornassion and Haran'tel-kazor. These two characters have been given enough screen time for them to be three-dimensional, Ornassion especially. I loved his interactions with Pentiss and the Dark Elves because it showed that he, despite being a dreadlord turned undead, have standards. In some aspects, he is more honorable than most of the human characters.
Third: How Shar made time to explain the Dark Elf culture and how their society works.
Fourth:
The whole Epilogue!!!

One of the greatest plot twists in this story. Largoth is the Dark One.

However this makes me think: was Largoth Tregakh the whole time? I am asking because the demons know Largoth. Perhaps Tregakh took the form of a dreadlord and called himself Largoth while he recovered. Or perhaps Largoth was a dreadlord that attempted to absorb the shards of Tregakh and instead the Dark One took over his body. Only time (and Shar) can tell...

I am not sure who to believe regarding Aridon's and Tregakh's argument. Considering their actions and morality, any of them could have done what the other accuses.


However I feel obliged to say some critics.
First: The campaign is too short. Yes, I know Shar grew fed up with this campaign, but it saddens me just how short this is. The Dark Elf Arc was perhaps the only arc in this campaign and it was only three chapters.
Second: We only played with five heroes (two of which we only played in the final mission). I wished to play with some of the heroes we played during the First Book, like Rahandir, Sapphira and the Fleshtearer. Plus, we didn't have the option to play with Sir Edoarus, Queen Keera, Urshan, the Bonelords and even Quiraness (as a servant to Pentiss)
Third: We didn't have the opportunity to use the full might of the Undead Nexus to its full extent. The best we had was on Chapter One, but we couldn't train them.
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
It was only fitting that the Undead, the longest civilization in Arkain
Life is rare. We see that in the real world. The universe was born undead and will end so, probably.
am not sure who to believe regarding Aridon's and Tregakh's argument. Considering their actions and morality, any of them could have done what the other accuses.
Never trust a demon, even if only visually appearing to be one.
Fleshtearer
I discarded that one choosing for it to die but I would have expect it not to since, undead and well, Shar.
 
Level 22
Joined
Apr 9, 2017
Messages
1,681
Choices of the Dead:
- The bestiary was set to hostile while the other buildings were neutral.

Chapter 1:
- A timer for Aridon's reinforcement waves could be added. Mainly for the player to know when to keep his upkeep high or low.

Chapter 2:
- aincient tunnels -> ancient tunnels
- Ice Crown of the Spider King's Beskerk ability should be put directly on Haran. It being on an item makes it harder to cast when you need it the most. Same for Pentiss' tome.

Chapter 4
- Sludge behind trees are ''luckily'' the second worst thing to be hiding behind trees. :p
- The elixir path seemed too suspicious, so I took the direct battle one instead.

Chapter 5
- The first time I attacked the GG or dwarves I noticed they didn't say anything about me attacking them until about 10 seconds passed
- Krom seems way more serious than his regular self in this chapter, guess a few days with Meya does that do all.

Epilogue

- That roast was beautiful, period.

Ultimately, the most unfortunate thing was that we never got missions like the Siege of the capital of Toran, the Bonelord attack on the Tribal Dominion and the Purificator mission from the undead perspective.

Although short, it was nice while it lasted.
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,862
Version 1.10 released!

General:
- Grammar fixes
- The Demonblood upgrade now requires a Black Citadel and a Graveyard instead of a Halls of the Dead and a Graveyard
- Fixed the icon of Slowness Aura

Beginning:
- The Beastiary is no longer hostile

Chapter Two:
- The statue is no longer levitating
- Orcs in the Caves will now be marked as completed when the Strongholds are destroyed

Epilogue:
- Fixed the loading screen texts
 
Level 19
Joined
Jun 26, 2019
Messages
359
Finally get to play this campaign.

Mission 1. Probably my favourite, we get to see the undead armies at their full extent. Having members or all the races, some even extinct. A pity that we couldnt see the bottom part of the mountain
Unless Aridon is defeated in FUB, pretty easy chapter.

Mission 2. Really like the "moba" fight, the cave Orcs were a delightful surprise, a protorace that survived under the death mountain. I would've prefered that the units were produced instead of spawned, but anyway a decent chapter.
Loved Haran and Ornasion relationship, both leaders of their Nexus but totally diferent.
Left the Orcs alone, only made the chapter harder, no change during the campaign.

Mission 3. I hate this one, despite being a good dark elven Lore chapter.
Too narrow corridors, no meat wagons, i didnt like the elves units at all (fucking lashers)
It was fun playing with Pentiss thought.

Mission 4. Second to best. Did the drug route, i dont really care at all about what happens with the Dark elves, they'll end dying and become undead servants, so if we can minimize the losses, great.
These Orcs were really Faithful, but not enough, if they really worshipped Aridon, they'll have surrender to the undead, becoming and Ally (or undead servants) and giving up their resources.
A pity we never get to see the giant sludge in action, or some unit/Ally made by sludges.
I knew i couldnt trust on Pentiss and her plan, but It worked quite well so she deserved some points.

Mission 5. BONE ARMY TIME. Playing as Krom and Meya, fighting Hersation lituenant and a HUGE demon army, but no army can stand against the army of Bones.
Finally SIR ROSS is back, but only as a cinematic soldier and a huge help on the mission as both the GG and the dwarves help you fight the Demons.
I completed the secondary mission by cheesing it. Holy crap, the dwarves are 200% stronger than the Demons. Of course no change.
A pity this is the end of the campaign, i would Love to play the siege of capital of Toran, the elven forest, the deathfight between Ornasion and the Demons, and the purificator map.

I Wont Talk about the finale because os a mayor spoiler, play It yourself and suffer It.

The Main issue as everybody said, the duration. Really short but anyway it was a nice campaign.
I was looking to fill some lore gaps during this campaign like in FUB but the short stories and the True Story will fill them, probably.

4,5/5, Better than Orc book thought.
 
Level 16
Joined
Jul 31, 2019
Messages
183
There are too few playable chapters in this undead campaign 2. Even orc campaign 2 has 15 playable chapters. As the protagonist, the undead only has 5 playable chapters. Is that a little less? Or is aken's legend used to set off the Terrans and orcs? That's why we designed so few chapters?
Shar Dundred supposedly had a difficult time with SUB. Originally there were supposed to be about 12 playable maps, but most of them had tons of bugs, and story writing was edited numerous times by him.
After Fifth mission: Sixth one- Queen Keera and Ornasion's war in the eastern part of the elven kingdom. This was a map where we were supposed to fight Golden Guard, Demons Slaves Elves, Souleater legion, and Elves. The results are decisive undead victory and, later, the formation of Daviliad nexus.
Seventh- Toran mission. Edaorus and Fleshtearer might fight alongside Torans against Pyrrean rebels while Rahandir and Pentiss deal with Mage Guild. It would've been a macro mission like chapter 4 of SHB at least. The results are Mask of Illusions obtained, Torans allied with undead, and the formation of Fallen Mage guild encountered in SHB.
So far that's all gleaned from seconds books and undead short stories. There would've been the defense of dead mountain mission, Kezzar nexus vs Souleater legion (Old Hatreds short story) where we kill Hesrathion and meet Ebira, Salria arc (possibly undead Vanessa as a protagonist xD), and Gates of Hell mission from undead pov (in this scenario, however, it would've been Ornasion that kills Kersidar instead of Brian). Hopefully, these will be added in True Story. :grin:
 
Level 6
Joined
Jul 5, 2017
Messages
46
Did anyone have any issues while trying to build their structures on blight during the first mission? Because, on several occasions while I tried to, I got the "Can's build on blight" message.
 
Level 4
Joined
Aug 2, 2019
Messages
30
Also i have a issue witch chapter 1. Its about RAS unit, whenever they transform in ghost form his level is drop to base level, dropping mana from 600 to 300, however he can still use all his spells
 
Level 6
Joined
Jul 5, 2017
Messages
46
Damn, seems like Aridon's got some real serious selective memory :xxd:. That bit aside, fantastic campaign as always man, short as it was.
 
Level 1
Joined
Nov 24, 2013
Messages
2
The legend of Arkain series is hands down the best custom campaign I have played till date. (Believe me I have played tons of WC3 custom campaigns till now)

The plot, the option of having to make choices which affect the story, the characters, everything about it is a 11/10 for me. I can't wait to play the next part of this epic series. Tbh I keep logging in and checking every now and then to see if its up yet

Nothing negative I can think of honestly. But if you do put a gun to my head and ask me to cough up atleast one fault, then I would say I do have a bit of gripe regarding Gordon's voice line which goes "For the Lick King." But then again that is as insignificant as it gets. XD


So great job man. All the best to you and keep up the amazing work.

Oh yeah before I go. I have one little doubt with regards to the human book. If there any way to keep Greymoore alive in the second book?
 
Level 4
Joined
Feb 21, 2021
Messages
40
Man i thought i had this issue just with old maps, but apparently even this that is really recent is in .w3n and i don't know why it doesn't load. Any idea of what may be going on? Why your map doens't work on my reforged game?
 
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