Note before you begin : I am playing Mage Lord, with a Dryad on very hard. I made it in the original version without the patch. Some players reported problems with chapters 2 and 7. I did not had those difficulties.

THE SINS OF OUR FATHERS - I

Objective : Remove the Undead from the Elven forest.

My comments : I had to use thieves to lower the last city troops. You will get a mini-quest, you have to get back Lachla'an's body, be sure that you step/walk on it (on the shore, where the two first spiders are, walk every square and you will stumble on it).

THE HUNT - II

Objective : Make contact with the Empire.

My comments : Easy, try a few of the new units. Wells will join you, try to keep him alive, you need him for some events, ....so he can die later!

CONQUEST OF THELENA - III

Objective : Resolve the Conflict in Thelena.

My comments : I had to restart this one but it is not difficult. I never got enough money to upgrade my units and money to heal all the leaders and the dead units. Just give the best units to the best leaders and the scrolls to a mage. Stay away from the red dragon the first two turns, its HP will be a little lower, sacrifice a strong leader to kill it and the rest is usual gameplay. Use your main leader to get a little experience points. I rediscover the old healing strategy, when the enemy has only one unit left, put everybody in "defend" and heal them one by one before you kill the last enemy unit. Life will be easier if you don't have enough potions.

Hint if you don't have Rise version 3.01 : "Kill the dragon so it won't kill the White Wizard." You need to defeat the White Wizard to win.

KORBACH'S FORT - IV

Objective : Awaits Gallean's Orders.

My comments : You will discover the rumors about the Orcs' god in this chapter, make sure you visit their territory... Easy, I upgraded from level 6 to 8.

THE BETRAYAL - V

Objective : Find the Oracle.

My comments : You have to follow Gentel before Day 10, if not, Millu will die and you will loose. Once you are past that, you can follow the story and get new objectives on your way.

THE TRADER WAR - VI

Objective : Destroy the Empire Trade Route.

My comments : Short and easy chapter. You have to capture the three cities and the merchant (you can find him near the capital).

DIVIDING LINE - VII

Objective : Convince the Elves of Sollem or Dawnshallow to join your cause.

My comments : You will get to choose between noble or wild Elves. I went with the wild Elves. Just make sure you can protect the Menelles, once you find him. He will transform the land for you, send him west and see for yourself. You will get dark elves going after him once you get around 40% of the land.

If you don't have Rise version 3.01, you can have a problem with this chapter. To win you have to get 45% of the land. If you get 45% of the land before you meet the Elves, you will win. If you did not find meet the Elves and your % of the land come past 40%, try to send a scout north, you may be able to get the rod planter in time, so the game won't end."

Here are the comments by Armistar :
"I'm also playing Dryad.. very powerful with critical hit and armor of 85.. she front lines it now. Played yet again from turn 30 or so, and this time I meet up with the good Elf to the north of the map, he gave me the rod planter, I converted over 60% of the territory and the game still did not end until I escorted the rod planter back to his start (Sollum?). So I guess if you do NOT want the game to end prematurely via converting territory, pick a side, then finish the map."

GALLEAN'S PROMISE - VIII

Objective : Siege the Empire city of Temperance.

My comments : Not hard and fun, you leader should be at 15 or so! Just go ahead!

I finished chapter 8 with a level 18 Dryad, went the Clan's road, capture the Clan's and Empire's capitals and kill the last bosses with no problem.

I did not had a problem with the storyteller, I went back with Grizzlespit the next week and I got the story. I just wanted to kill this storyteller, he is alive only because he is protected by the mountains. Argh!!! Read Ewollin's story. Find where Ewollin is.

With the Wild Elves, you can find the item for Grizzlespit in a tower going south in the trappers' area. You don't have to kill them, go past them. To open the gate of Temperance, walk around the wall, you will sooner or later meet the Elf who will give you your last quest.

Additional comments :
Keep your save at the end of chapter 6, chapters 7 and 8 are made to be play twice : once with the Noble and once with the Wild Elves. I followed all the directions given in the pop-messages and I did not encounter any problem. We have to get the events in the right order and watch our back.
Maybe we are so use to our strategies (level up and kill everything) that we oversee the messages and skip some important events. Rise is different... anyway for me, it has a different feeling, we have to be more careful about what we are doing, there are more surprising events and we have to choose were we are going.