| "Fluttershine. This fair land is troubled by talk of a dark uprising within its borders. If you arrive in time you may be able to enlist the help of the ringleaders and have them aid you in your quest to kill Lord Volstag and claim his Portal Gem as your own.
Too late Keeper, the invasion has been nipped in the bud and those who would have seated themselves upon the throne can now be found imprisoned and under guard. If they were to be rescued though, I am sure they would have no hesitation in helping you to defeat their conquerors." |
| — The Mentor, level briefing |
Crusade is one of two levels that can be 15th level in Dungeon Keeper 2, located in Fluttershine.
Breakdown[]
| "Crusade"- Fluttershine |
|---|
| Primary Goal |
| Destroy Lord Volstag, who lives in the Fairy Fortress |
| Ancillary Goal(s) |
| Liberate the incarcerated Black Knights |
Crusade is the small scale smart and fast approach to the same level Storm ultimately is. Until it becomes an illogical bottleneck. Then finally just a copy of the remainder of Storm.
Your approach in the first half of the mission will be not having Portals, instead relying on found or converted creatures.
It starts out as a completionists' nightmare as you seemingly cannot find any known way to save the 10th Black Knight of yours who is level 6 in the close-by central Combat Pit. However you will have somewhat ample time to get to the others.
You can actually reach a Gem Seam rather quickly but your shouldn't rush it yet. First rescue at least the lone north-east Black Knight in the 3x3 Prison because you will need this room the way it is. Once you break into any Prison through the rock walls that doesn't have a locked door, heroes inside this smaller keep you start next to will head towards your Dungeon Heart, but thankfully they are weak.
You will be able to reach the Gem by claiming two Mana Vaults. One visible directly to the east at the start, the other one is directly to the south from the easternmost edge of the southwestern Prison.
Once the Gem corridor opens up towards the North from your Heart you will need to race against time as much as keeper-ly possible to claim land, and reach a Hero Gate, a new neutral Black Knight, and an assortment of unconscious heroes you can drag to the Prison and pick up into your hand indefinitely until you get comfortably enough money to build a Torture Chamber. There will be 11 unconscious heroes. 1 Dwarf, 2 Monks, 4 Fairies, and most importantly 4 Knights. An unconscious goldmine! To get them before they rot away you will need 11 Imps. You start out with 4, you need to make 7 more. First cast cost 1500 + 1500 for each next one. 1. 1500 2. 3000 3. 4500 4. 6000 5. 7500 6. 9000 7. 10500 = 42000 total.
Thus don't claim both Mana Vaults until you have 42000 Mana to summon 7 more Imps. But you may claim one of them to help you out. Facing East from your Heart eastward 9 tiles away from the leftmost edge of your 5x5 Heart space there is a Mana Boost magical item that could fuel the creation of Imps.
You may ensure the transportation of the unconscious heroes by approaching the Hero Gate from multiple Stone Bridge tile connections. You need to hurry because the Dwarf may rot away fast and that is a wasted resource, either a conversion or a Skeleton. As it may be too expensive to build any meaningful Graveyard this early before getting here, or at the very least not fitting into the tight micromanagement. All while fending off Guards who notice claimed Prisons through unlocked doors.
Knud is reachable as per normal, towards the south.
Everything else on this level works almost exactly the same as on Level 15b Storm with one further exception: You cannot seem to reach the other side of the map going around the main keep on water or through rock from this side. You'd seemingly need to fight your way through one series of outlying side-rooms until you reach the other outside towards the east.
Once you do reach the other side, just explore and refer to the guide for Level 15b Storm. By this time you'll be able to send a force approximately to the necessary area with a chance to win already, especially with Horny.
There is a neutral Warlock in the southeast corner. The level also has 3 Portals.
| Red Keeper (Human) | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Creature Limit | 30 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Starting Gold | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Starting Forces | 4 Imps | ||||||||||||||||||
May Attract
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May Create or Summon
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Traps & Doors
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Trivia[]
The neutral Troll to the south is in fact the Elite Troll, Knud.
Secrets[]
To access the area to the north hidden away behind rocks, claim both mana vaults to the East and South of your Dungeon Heart.
