Part 11: Desperate Power

Episode 11: Desperate Power



On the cusp of final victory, Mira has stolen the vitally important Kenos (whatever that is), which threatens to ruin everything that we have worked for! If we want to set those last bits of the map on fire, we've got to get back the Kenos.



The cretin, Mira, lies holed up within her dungeon armed with the power of the Kenos, but you have some time before she will be able to tap into its dark core and enhance her own abilities. Finish her before she is capable of sending you back to the Aether!



This power is immense… I see, now. But it's too late! The Kenos is mine, and mine alone!



This fool knows nothing of the Kenos' true power! She threatens to undermine our entire campaign… destroy her!

Mira is a weak, conniving child… but the Kenos is indiscriminate in its powers. It will attune to her, and when it does, things may become… Difficult. Destroy her quickly, Underlord.

He will lead you astray, as he has done to countless others! You are nothing to him!

Unfortunately, destroying Mira quickly is going to be somewhat difficult. Mira is another Underlord, imbued with the same powers that we have. More powers, in fact, since she controls the Kenos! But crucially, this means that she can freely summon an infinite number of workers in order to claim territory, just as we can, and she can attract more minions through gateways. In earlier missions, we could just win through attrition since the heroes did not get reinforcements. This time, we'll have to be a bit more clever.



Mira's realm is very weird. I hope you like cubes, because this realm is all cubes and bottomless pits, and I don't recommend the pits. The map stretches out north, south and east from our dungeon core. To the south I find our gateway.



To the north, I find a perception shrine which reveals the edge of Mira's base, where she has rallied her beasts here in order to deal with my intruding workers. She also appears to have build her bedroom right on the frontline, which seems, uh, questionable.

Look at her, tunneling about with her little minions… soon to be corpses… exterminate them and their deceitful leader.



I need fighters quickly, so I build a sizeable beast den.

Mira! Return what you stole from me, and you may yet get off lightly!

You don't understand! With this power, I can… I can…

Get the hell awway from me, Underlord! Go back to your master, and wither under his deceit!

Enough of your blabbering! You had your chance, Mira!



After digging out what gold I can find around my dungeon core, I expand the base to attract some augres and gnarlings. I haven't found a gold shrine, so I have to be a bit careful with my gold. That said, there isn't actually much more room to build on near my dungeon core.

Damn it, Underlord, there's no time for dawdling! Get out there and take back the Kenos!

Yeah, yeah, I get it. If you are very good at reading compressed, tiny font, you may notice a timer in the top right corner. We have 28 minutes left to defeat Mira before she masters the power of the Kenos and banishes us to the Aether, instantly putting an end to our campaign. If you can read that, well done, because I didn't actually notice the timer while playing!



Some of Mira's flying beasts show up to contest our control of the perception shrine. Our brave gnarlings arrive on the scene and just kind of stand there, since Mira's beasts are hovering safely out of reach over the bottomless pit.



My suggested remedy? Cannons!



That corner on our side of the perception shrine is just perfect for a couple of cannons to support our army. We manage to drive off the beasts, and I launch a counter-attack with our augres and gnarlings into Mira's bedroom ().

Your insolence has already cost me dearly, Mira! Don’t make your situation worse!



Meanwhile, while digging for gold in the western part of our dungeon, I stumble across another bridge leading into Mira's dungeon. This could be very useful, as it will allow us to put pressure on Mira on two fronts instead of just one.



We advance to the other side of the bridge. To strengthen my hold on the territory, and to make it harder for Mira's workers to reclaim tiles, I build a blade lotus trap to block the path to my dungeon. She'll have to destroy the trap before she can push back across the bridge.

You have to kill Mira before the Kenos attunes! There's no time to waste!



Since there's going to be a lot of skirmishing before we can assault Mira's dungeon core directly, I build a prison and a torture chamber. The prison will allow my workers to drag her minions off the field, denying her the possibility of resting them back to health, and the torture chamber will turn them to my side, inflicting double the injury!

Get in there and destroy her Core… before she guts you like a Micropiglet.

On the other hand, Mendechaus thinks I should just get on with it.



The bedroom at the front of Mira's dungeon is becoming a bit of a meatgrinder, and we aren't making much progress. To put more pressure on Mira, I task my workers with digging additional tunnels into Mira's dungeon. This way, I will either create more points that she will have to defend, or she will have to divert workers to reinforce her walls to stop my tunnellers.



At this point, I notice something very good: while everyone was fighting in the east, my workers have managed to sneak across the bridge to the west and claim Mira's training barracks! This is big, because that means…



…I can sell it! Sneaking in and claiming an opponent's room is not a big deal in and of itself, as your enemy can just as easily claim it back. But as soon as you get control, you can sell the room in order to inflict permanent economic damage on the other Underlord. Bye bye, barracks!



To the east, we are steadily pushing on towards Mira's dungeon core. It seems like nothing will be able to stop us.



But at that moment, Mira uses the power of the Kenos for the first time. She summons a titan!

Titans are big, horrible super-units like this demon. It does devastating damage, has a ton of health, and is going to instantly put a stop to my invasion.

Your time is half up, Underlord. She masters the power of the Kenos as we speak.

Yes, I noticed.



Hah! With this power, nothing can assail me, and I am becoming the void's champion! To hell with you, Mendechaus!

I throw some minions at the titan, but they barely touch it.



Really, my only way to deal with Mira's titans at right now is to throw dozens of lightning spells at them until they go down. It's working, but slowly, and while I deal with her titan, Mira's army and her workers are regaining ground.



I finally banish her titan. Just to annoy me, Mendechaus immediately points out that she is already summoning a replacement.



We have a brief window of time before Mira summons another titan. I sell her frontline bedroom and build cannons on the spot to make the territory harder to reclaim, and to support our army in the constant ongoing skirmish.



Just north of here, over a narrow chasm, is Mira's dungeon core. We are so very close!



I move up our army, but it's still weak after taking a beating from the Mira's titan. We're just inches away from the dungeon core when Mira summons her second titan. I'm forced to pull back.



Luckily, this titan is much less threatening than the previous one. This is some kind of weird tank titan that is even harder to destroy than the previous titan, but which is much worse at destroying our army.



Curiously, this defensive titan is much more aggressive than the previous one. It smashes right through my defensive traps and charges right into the middle of our dungeon, where it is easy prey for our army and our lightning spells.



With the titan dead, I launch another attack against Mira's core. We only have seven minutes until Mira has mastered the Kenos.

You're my last real hope to win this war, Underlord; with only a few minutes left I can't help but feel a bit… defeated…



Mendechaus is being a baby, but we have reached the dungeon core! Mira is still offering resistance, but her army is considerably smaller than before. Selling off those rooms that we captured must have really messed with her dungeon.

What point is there in anything you have done? You are in the service of a liar! You will always be expendable!

I will burn you from the realms like the parasite you are!



I… I was mistaken! The Kenos has twisted my mind! Underlord, help me!

Oh, you want to negotiate? Don't insult me! This Underlord will sever your Core, and I shall trap you in a hell of my own making!



No… No, it's not possible… I was so close…

Shut it, Mira! You betrayed our entire campaign, and now you will pay the price!

Pack your bags, wench; you're going straight to hell!



I've created a special little hell for Marcus and her to spend their exile in…

Right, now that you are armed with the Kenos you should have no trouble challenging any threat in single combat… unfortunately for us the remaining Underlords have already realized this…