The Realm of the Dead is the sixth scenario of the Tale of the Dragon campaign in Age of Mythology: Tale of the Dragon.
The main objective is to destroy the three enemy Town Centers in the first level of Diyu, the Chinese Underworld.
Summary
The heroes arrive in the first layer of Diyu, searching for answers regarding the chaos on Earth. Yama, the god of death, refuses to aid them and asks them to leave or threatens to otherwise torture them. Not wanting to turn back after making it this far, Jiao-Long encourages his allies to move onwards.
Objective
- Clear this level of Diyu (hell) by destroying all Settlements in the area.
Players
- Jiao-Long (Shennong) - begins in the Classical Age with Jiao-Long, Shun, Zhi, four Cataphracts and six Monks. Additional Peasants and Scout Cavalry will be made available once a Town Center is built.
Neutral
- Forgotten City (Shennong) - consists of the Peasants found near the initial Settlement as well as some Halberdiers found west of the center of the map. There are even Shades and Jiangshi located in the far west corner of the map. They will convert to the player's colors once they are saved.
Enemies
- Yama (Fu Xi) - occupies the base closest to the player's plateau and is the easiest to siege as they are only surrounded by Wooden Walls. Also owns the War Salamanders and Monkey King that are attacking the Peasants at the beginning of the scenario.
- Yama (Fu Xi) - occupies the western base which is surrounded by a stronger Stone Wall. Their Castle can summon Monkey Kings.
- Yama (Fu Xi) - consists of the northern base which is also surrounded by a Stone Wall with two gates, each guarded by Towers. This is the hardest to siege as they can summon groups of Monkey Kings and Pixiu. Also includes an enclosure where Halberdiers are trapped, guarded by War Salamanders.
- Yama (Fu Xi) - consists mainly of random Myth Units and Monks stationed across the landscape. The Myth Units are prime targets for Monks to convert.
Strategy
This guide is applied to hard difficulty. It is, of course, also applicable for the other grades of difficulty.
Players must immediately follow the path to seek the Peasants of the Forgotten City who are being attacked by two War Salamanders and a Monkey King (in reality they are safe from harm as the myth units will ignore them). The Monks will attempt in vain to convert the myth units but will be unable to as the population limit has already been reached. Once the Peasants have converted to the player's colors, they must immediately build a Town Center, then proceed to gather food from the berry bushes and boars to create more Peasants. When there is nothing left to hunt, farming will become the primary food income source. Most peasants should be tasked to gathering wood from the nearby forest of dead pines to afford the many buildings needed. Resources on the plateau are scarce so building Gardens is a must. Houses will also be needed and they can be built along the trail that led from the Underworld Passage.
The starting army should be tasked to stand guard by the path that connects the plateau to the rest of Diyu to protect the Peasants from the imminent attacks. At the beginning, these will consist of Halberdiers and Chu Ko Nu coming from the purple worshipers of Yama. These can be converted by the Monks to save on resources which can be used to build War Academies, a Temple and Armory. Due to the limited space on the plateau, these may need to be built beyond the dead pines. Players are advised to advance to the Heroic Age as fast as possible to have access to Fire Lances (these are unavailable on easier difficulties). Zhong Kui is the preferred choice as Unbridled Anger will strengthen any Halberdier converted and the Jiangshi is a powerful ally that costs wood, the easiest resource to gather in this scenario. Demon Slayer will help Immortals defeat the many myth units encountered.
As the Peasants gathering wood start breaking down the forest, they will become vulnerable to attacks, so some Castles can be built for protection. Next, a Market should be built as close to the Underworld Passage as possible. When ready to advance to the Mythic Age, players should pick Xi Wangmu as she improves Castle units, including Fire Lances and the powerful Sitting Tigers. Once the player has created an army of Monks and Fire Lances and has well upgraded them, they can be tasked to siege the nearest base of Yama worshipers. Their Settlement can be claimed for additional population. Once they are defeated, the orange Yama worshipers will begin attacking with armies of Halberdiers, Chu Ko Nu and Monkey Kings. While fending them off, players can strengthen their army by supplementing it with Chu Ko Nu, Immortals and/or Jiangshi. A small population gap should always be left to enable Monks to convert any Myth Units encountered along the way.
Once ready, they can proceed with the siege of the orange Yama worshiper town. Once their gate is down, Earth Dragon can be cast to help destroy the Castle or the Town Center. Once the latter has fallen, their Settlement can also be claimed. This will trigger the red Yama worshipers to retaliate by sending groups of soldiers to attack the player's various Town Centers. Players can counter this by sending some of their troops back, made easier with the Great Journey God Power. After healing their army, players can send their army northward to attack the red Yama worshipers. Using a combination of Uproot and Earth Dragon may be needed to defeat them. Once all three cities have fallen, players will be rewarded with victory.
Tips
- There is an additional Settlement north of the Underworld Passage across the chasm. Players may attempt to claim it but the Peasants will require an escort in the event of a raid.
- If possible, players should save their use of Great Journey for after they has established a trade route. This will enable them to generate more gold at the Market.
- The imprisoned Shades and Jiangshi can be freed by sending a group of soldiers onto a cliff where Monks and a Monkey King are guarding a Healing Spring. Defeating them will grant the player with a means of healing their units and an instant army of Myth Units, though some of the Shades are unable to attack and can be deleted.
- It is not possible to completely wall off claimed Settlements as the Erebus Path terrain cannot be built upon.
- There are many useful Relics scattered across the map, including Ring of the Nibelung and Khopesh of Horus.
Closing Cinematic
Yama becomes enraged that the heroes have destroyed this layer of Diyu but Jiao-Long advises that he brought this upon himself for refusing to help them. Yama finally explains that he has been cursed with this army by the chaos just as much as Earth has. In order to end the chaos, the heroes will need to travel to the northern swamps to summon Pangu who is the only one that can restore Yin and Yang.
Trivia
- This is the only scenario where the Griffon Myth Unit can be encountered. These can also be converted by Shennong's Monks.
- The Azure Dragon and War Salamander originally could not travel over the Erebus Path terrain that connects the Settlements on the map. This bug was later fixed.
- It is implied that Jiao-Long himself may be acting as an agent of chaos in attacking Diyu when Yama comments that "the chaos curses me with this army just as the creatures of Diyu smite the Earth...". However, Yama may instead be referring to the army of monsters attacking China.
- Though Yama instructs the heroes to free Pangu in "the northern swamps", the titan is actually located far to the south. It is unknown if this is a mistake or a last attempt by the thwarted god to deceive the heroes.