"Rumor has it that the Ring of Health, one of the essential components of the Elixir of Life, is located in the Shantanna region of southern AvLee. Time is of the essence, for a Death Knight has been spotted talking to bandits who have long been terrorizing the area, and we believe that he has hired them to find the Ring first."
—Introduction
Cutthroats is the second scenario of the Elixir of Life campaign in Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death.
Walkthrough[]
Stop a group of rogue AvLee lords from selling the Ring of Vitality to a Death Knight lord in Deyja to win the scenario. However, if Gelu is defeated in combat, the scenario is lost. Gelu is limited to level 15 but will carry his experience, skills and spells on to the next scenario.OffBck
The Forest Guard has been assigned to find components of Elixir of Life, an artifact which the necromancers may desire. Gelu, now an official member of the Forest Guard, has to combat renegade elves. It is said these madmen and thieves have been pillaging the countryside and now have allied with the necromancers. Gelu has to find the Ring of Vitality before these elves find it and sell it foolishly to the undead. It is suggested if the ring falls into the enemy's hands, Gelu needs to snatch the ring, even if it means to invade Deyjan border. Someone, however, harrasses Gelu's supply lines, causing him to lose -5 to wood and ore, -3 to rare resources and -1500 gold, every three weeks, starting from the fifth day.
Close to the starting city, Gelu can find the purple keymaster's tent, though guarded by war unicorns. Going towards southeast, Gelu can find three Rampart towns, belonging to rogue elves. Going even more to the southeast, he can find two Necropolis towns. In the east AND west, Gelu can find a lightblue keymaster tent - the eastern one is guarded by dread knights, while the western one is guarded by centaur captains. This gives Gelu the opportunity to unlock a lightblue keymaster gate in northeast, where a Rampart town lies. Close to it is a seer called Feredor, who asks for a Badge of Courage to reveal the location. The badge lies south of the town, protected by a purple keymaster guard, as well as a quest guard asking for Gelu's presence. Gelu has a dream, where he fights a necromancer, who raised legions of undead.
Once the badge is given, Feredor reveals the location of the ring is in southwest, beyond a green keymaster gate and a dark blue keymaster guard. Gelu can pass it either by visiting the dark blue keymaster tent (close to Feredor) and the green keymaster's tent (close to the location of the Badge of Courage) or completing his quest, obtaining the Angel Wings. Speeding towards southwest, Gelu can capture the other Rampart town before going to the seer. The seer merely asks for Gelu's presence to give him the Ring of Vitality.
Towns[]
- Rampart x6
- Necropolis x2
Strategy[]
Gelu has a lot of enemies at the start, so he has to recruit a good army before invading the southwestern towns. By then, it is expected to fight off a large force from the renegade elves and necromancers, so Gelu has to prepare himself. After the enemies are defeated, Gelu can acquire the Ring of Vitality easily enough.