In Blaise End, the Keeper is tasked with destroying the large and heavily-defended fortress built by the heroes of this land. Even approaching the place is dangerous;[opinion] there are ambushes and traps secreted throughout the region, and troops will be pouring in from the surface.
"Grueling" may be the word that describes this realm best.[editorialising] It is Viscount Lamport[1] and his minions' doing.
Dragon (level 7) and stash of 6500 gold - northwest end of fortress in a hidden cave
Treasure Room with stash of 9500 gold - west end of fortress, deep inside, guarded by ambush
Destroy Walls - deep in the heroes' fortress, east side
Vampire level 5 - in a Prison within the fortress, west side
Gem Seam - 5 slabs with twelve (!) open faces in the middle of the hero fortress
Heroes[]
There is a large number of heroes in residence and an absurd[non-neutral point of view?] number of squads waiting to back them up in various circumstances. But what do you expect? This is level 18 of 20.
Wanderers[]
Large cavern, west side.
Circular cave surrounding center Portal, ready to kill anything that digs towards that portal.
Just beyond the center-west Hatchery, guarding a Steal Hero.
Mid-northeast, in a small room with a spell and a trap design.
Guarding gold stashed along the west exterior path around the fortress.
Guarding a Resurrect Creature at the end of the east exterior path around the fortress.
Treacherous Skeletons that will act docile until the Prison holding them is claimed or destroyed.
Fortress interior, guarding a fellow sentenced to prison for being an unclaimed Vampire.
These can be found patrolling various corridors within the heroes' fortress.
Groups[]
A hidden counter is monitoring the gold seams on the map and counting how much gold is extracted. Note that a gold tile contains 1024 gold. Selling items like Doors, Traps, and Room slabs, or hauling gold pots to the Treasure Room, does not count. The player is counseled that the heroes are "asleep" at the moment. Mining is what wakes them up, or at least the first few groups.
Party "ONE" with Level 2 Tunneller
- carrying 1550 gold
When the Keeper has mined 15,000 gold, this group is released from a hidden Hero Gate, nearer-northeast.
Party "TWO" with Level 3 Tunneller
- 1950 gold
When the Keeper has mined 25,000 gold, this group is released from a hidden Hero Gate, northwest.
Party "ONE" with Level 4 Tunneller
- 1600 gold
This party enters through the northwest Hero Gate, as above, 5000 Turns later.
Party "TWO" with Level 5 Tunneller
- 1950 gold
When the Keeper has mined 35,000 gold, this group enters through the northwest Hero Gate.
Party "THREE"
- 1750 gold
This party enters through the northwest Hero Gate, as above, 1500 Turns later.
Dwarf avengers - When the Keeper has mined 35,000 gold and, thence, when every Mountain Dwarf on the map has fallen, a message pops up and a timer starts. After 5000 Turns (<5 minutes), these troops angrily swarm in through the Hero Gates. They won't come, though, if the Keeper has already reached the front doorstep of the White Dungeon.
Party "TROOPA" - - 1300 gold
Party "TROOPB" - - 2100 gold
Party "TROOPC" - - 3300 gold
Party "TROOPD" - - 4050 gold
Party "TROOPE" - - 9050 gold
Party "TROOPF" - - 10,800 gold
Gatehouse battle - When the Keeper penetrates the small gatehouse north of the center Portal, a small army of Heroes tumbles into the center room (which holds a Steal Hero), as well as through Hero Gates behind the doors to the right and left.
Party "SIX" - - 5000 gold
Party "SEVEN" - - 6000 gold
Unpartied Heroes - - holding 500 gold each
Unpartied Heroes
- 500 gold each
These Archers ambush the first creature to enter the White-owned Hatchery on the west side of the map.
Unpartied Heroes
- 500 gold each
These Thieves leap into action when the player enters a White-owned chamber on the east side of the map, just off the Bile Demons' prison. Do not underestimate the attack rating of high-level Thieves, or their personal Invisibility spells! The first time you see them might be when they are pounding away at your Dungeon Heart.
View of the hero fortress
Lord of the Land - When the Keeper first approaches the White Dungeon, the Lord of the Land and his entourage enter at the White Dungeon Heart and just hold that area until it is breached.
Party "FINALONE" - - 8000 gold
Party "FINAL" - - 8400 gold
Unpartied Heroes
- 500 gold each
These defenders crash in at places all around the Lava, as the Keeper first approaches the White Dungeon.
Party "SEVEN"
- 6000 gold
A Braced Door tucked into the White Dungeon's outer wall, along the west exterior path to the Reveal Map special, holds behind it a few trap designs. 200 Turns after the Keeper sights this door, a copy of this party lands at its location and attacks.
Unpartied Heroes
- 500 gold each
Beyond another Braced Door, a pack of dangerous Wizards ambushes the player on the approach to the Reveal Map special.
Unpartied Heroes
- holding 500 gold each
Along the opposite east exterior path around the fortress, past a series of Boulder Traps, these Archers wait in ambush.
Party "TWO" (bugged)
- 1700 gold
An instance of this basic party is supposed to respawn every 2500 Turns at the front door of the White Dungeon, from the moment the Keeper first approaches the White Dungeon until the White Heart is destroyed, disrupting the player's exploitation of the huge Gem cluster near there. Pointlessly, the script's caller is a nonexistent Green Keeper (PLAYER2). The spawn does not appear to work at all.
Enemy Reinforcements - 10,000 Turns after the Lord of the Land appears, a message about reinforcements pops up, and these troops launch an attack through the old Hero Gates as well as from the fortress's main entrance.
Party "ONE" - - 1950 gold
Party "TWO" - - 1950 gold
Party "THREE" - - 1500 gold
Party "FOUR" - - 2750 gold
Party "FIVE" - - 6250 gold
Unpartied Heroes
- 500 gold each
A final ambush on the path to the White Dungeon Heart, centered around a Resurrect Creature
Red Keeper[]
The Portal in Blaise End is like a slow drip that never stops. To reach the Creature Limit, it will generate creatures for 45 minutes straight. Regulate which creatures get in with a careful expansion schedule and restricted Lair space. There is surely not enough gold in the lower half of the map to pay 60 creatures' wages, or training for even a small fraction of that. The swarm of Dragons in the Creature Pool, in particular, seem like a financial death trap here.
One can also approach the Hero Parties with a managerial attitude. Monitor the Imps' activity throughout the region, both in mining and in claiming territory, to get only enough enemy activity that you can handle at a time. To pull Imps completely out of action for a while, drop them into the walled-off dirt in the dead center of the map, with that Portal, to idle and heal. Bullfrog Productions rewards a certain amount of bravery on this map. The heroes here have tens upon tens of thousands of gold, which can be yours if you let them attack, rather than wall-off and try to live off your Workshop.
Gets 'em every time.
The supplement to building up a substantial fighting force is, indeed, building up a substantial work force. Some of the champion teams triggered in Blaise End can take you by surprise and be head-and-shoulders above your own minions in combat ability. But perhaps they are not so mighty against a long corridor, a Magic Door, and a Boulder Trap.
Messages[]
Briefing Text
"The guardians of this realm are asleep at the moment. Attack them as soon as you can or they'll be breakfasted, wide awake and inherently more difficult to slaughter."
Player mines 12,000 gold
"If you should encounter hero patrols, ensure that none of their number escape. Otherwise your presence will be revealed and then you will be in trouble."
Player has mined 35,000 gold, and White runs out of Mountain Dwarves
"You're taking forever over this. Attack and destroy the heroes' stronghold soon, preferably before hell freezes over."
10,000 Turns after the player has reached White Dungeon's front door
"Enemy reinforcements have arrived. So what? Let's hear it for more killing."
Sound Bytes[]
"Blaise End. A place of joy... and love. Nothing, the legends say, has ever spoiled the calm of Blaise End. So when something does, it will be long overdue, and the inhabitants will thoroughly deserve it."
"Darksword. A great battle was won here. It was a bit one-sided, granted, but our minions performed valiantly, and now the day is ours. We've dealt with the survivors, by the way. Properly."
— Cannon Outro
Trivia[]
The message chiding the player, "You're taking forever over this..." is probably not timed correctly. It triggers after killing every Dwarf on the map. It should trigger 5 minutes later, and only if, by that time, the player has not reached Action Point 1, the front door of the main White Dungeon. The idea being that the player didn't take some initiative after the invasion to claim territory and push onwards.
The success of Blaise End's design, arguably the most challenging map and Dungeon Keeper at its finest, seems to have greatly influenced development of The Deeper Dungeons.
This realm's outtro speech file makes more sense if renamed to BAD04.WAV to correspond with Flowerhat. Mistle's file, BAD19.WAV, makes more sense renamed to correspond with this one. These files are in the game subdirectory \SOUND\ATLAS\.
Viscount Lamport is possibly a reference to Mark Lamport, one of the game's programmers.[2]
Blaise End was originally an early version of the The Deeper Dungeons level Morkardar (the level documented on this page was originally level 19 Mistle). This level had a Locate Hidden World special. It is therefore likely that Bullfrog forgot to reintroduce the crate when that level was scrapped from the original campaign, leaving Secret 5 inaccessible and unused.
Mismatched OC soundbytes
Intro
Matching File
Reasoning
GOOD01.WAV
BAD01.WAV
Anthrax
GOOD02.WAV
BAD02.WAV
Mention of Demon Spawn
GOOD03.WAV
BAD03.WAV
Inhabitants' altered viewpoints
GOOD04.WAV
BAD18.WAV
Mention of Trolls
GOOD05.WAV
BAD05.WAV
The quietude broken by screams
GOOD06.WAV
BAD07.WAV
What became of the bunnies
GOOD07.WAV
BAD08.WAV
Lady Catherine
GOOD08.WAV
BAD09.WAV
War arrived
GOOD09.WAV
BAD10.WAV
The legions of Hell rode in
GOOD10.WAV
BAD11.WAV
Inhabitants' violent death
GOOD11.WAV
BAD06.WAV
Feeding on the dead?
GOOD12.WAV
BAD13.WAV
Fairy ring
GOOD13.WAV
BAD14.WAV
Being together, in a mass grave
GOOD14.WAV
BAD15.WAV
Sleepy farms got "developed"
GOOD15.WAV
BAD16.WAV
Undead massacre
GOOD16.WAV
BAD17.WAV
No more flowers
GOOD17.WAV
BAD12.WAV
Razed completely
GOOD18.WAV
BAD19.WAV
A great battle
GOOD19.WAV
BAD04.WAV
Poisonous fumes
GOOD20.WAV
BAD20.WAV
Skybird Trill named
The names for this level in other languages are as follows:
Translations: Blaise End
Language
Translation
French
Féli-Cité
Italian
German
Luschenreich
Dutch
Vredestein
Polish
Młoda Miłosna
Czech
Swedish
BORTBY
Russian
Блейз-Энд
Japanese
ブレイズ・エンド
Chinese
安宁之角 / 布雷斯安
Blaise End being a place of joy could explain why it is so ornately and gaily decorated for such a small place.
On 19 May 1997 prototype, the hero room next to the left gold seam has a Guard Post with several Archers instead of a Hatchery, and the room next to the one on the right has two Guard Posts and several Thieves rather than Action Point 7. To the northwest of the hero base, there is a small patch of dirt path that isn't present in the retail version. The room with the Hero Dungeon Heart isn't filled with traps.
Gallery[]
Keeper FX Map
Blaise End as it was in a prototype. It bears a striking resemblance to Morkardar
Dragon
Orc
Dark Mistress
Tentacle
Hound
Bile Demon
Troll
Warlock
Vampire
Portal - east of Red Keeper, safe to excavate
