Mission 7 - The First Spark

The First Spark

Story mission
Mission	7
Chapter	2: The Age of Ash
Played	8th (after Mission 8)
Map	Forest, Medium
In the demo	No
Estimated time	35-55 min (estimate)
Starting resources	Standard
Teaches	The Wizards Training Grounds, mage units, mixing mages into a battle line
Objectives
Story spoilers: Mission 7 Meet the mages. Build the Wizards Training Grounds. Train mages until five stand. Hold the line. Defend the hall. Raze the Corvane Town Hall.
Campaign
Previous	Mission 8 - The Summons
Next	Mission 9 - The Pillar Does Not Choose

The First Spark is Mission 7 of the Story campaign, in Chapter 2, The Age of Ash. In the game it is played eighth, after The Summons. Ashmere has its first mages, and this mission teaches you to use them: a straight fight against Corvane, with fire on your side for the first time.

Overview

• For the first time, every building and unit is available, mages included.
• The mission is a tutorial for mages that happens to be a battle. See Magic and Fire Mage.
• You start with the town and a few Spearmen; more soldiers and the first mages join at the start.

Story

Story spoilers: Mission 7

This box is closed until you open it.

After the Day of Ruin, the embers found people. Three of them now stand in the Captain's camp, and they burn things with their hands. Hale does not trust it, and he uses it anyway: keep them behind the swords, he says, because they are as fragile as they are dangerous.

The mages want a place to train others, so the Captain builds them a training ground, away from the timber. Corvane tests the line while the new mages train, then comes in force. Swords hold the front, fire reaches over them from behind, and the assault breaks. The army finishes it by razing Corvane's hall. Hale keeps his opinion of the mages to himself, and keeps them in the line.

"Men against men, and fire on our side. I will learn to trust it. Slowly." (Commander Hale)

Objectives

Story spoilers: Mission 7

This box is closed until you open it.

1. The mages arrive. Six Swordsmen and three Fire Mages join you at the hall. The step completes when the three mages stand.
2. Build the camp. Build the Wizards Training Grounds, so your mages can train others.
3. Train. A checkpoint is saved. Train Fire Mages until five stand. About 30 seconds in, five Corvane Spearmen probe your line.
4. Hold the line. Six Spearmen march on the hall, and four Shortbowmen follow 40 seconds later. Put your mages on the ground behind your Swordsmen. The step completes a minute and a half after it began.
5. Defend the hall. A checkpoint is saved. Ten Swordsmen attack, and six Longbowmen follow 20 seconds later. Keep the mages behind the line. The step completes two minutes after it began.
6. Raze the hall. Take the fight to Corvane and destroy its Town Hall. The mission is won when it falls. Build up your army first if it is thin after the assault.

Characters met

Story spoilers: Mission 7

This box is closed until you open it.

• Commander Aldric Hale.
• Ashmere's first mages: three Fire Mages.
• Corvane.

Notes

Story spoilers: Mission 7

This box is closed until you open it.

• Mages hit hard from range but have little health. Keep them behind a line of Swordsmen or Spearmen.
• No Pillar stands on this map: this mission is about the mages, not the stones.
• Corvane's attacks are limited to five soldiers per wave outside the scripted assaults, and they never target your Town Hall.
• Play order: this mission comes after The Summons in the game, although its number is 7. See Campaign#Missions.

Campaign

← Previous (as played): Mission 8 - The Summons · Next: Mission 9 - The Pillar Does Not Choose →