Peachtree

Peachtree. Great news, Keeper, you have grown so strong, Horny himself has decided that the time is right to join with you at the forefront of battle. The land of Peachtree flows with magical energy. To summon your great ally, you must capture Lord Tiberius’s Mana Vaults. These will provide you with all the power your black heart craves.

Gather enough power and mana to summon the Reaper and send him to slaughter the EAP THE EACHTREE cowardly Lord Tiberius who hides in his castle. You’ll need to find and hold the mana vaults. Only these will give you enough mana to fulfill your quest.

Business Model

When Keepers get together and chat about business before trying to poison, spell or stab their competitors, the talk often turns toward gold. Sometimes gems, but usually gold. As well it should … it is perhaps one of the most complicated tasks involved with carving your realm from empty ground: gold management when there just isn’t much gold to be had. Such constraints may seem annoying, but successful villains just think of it as an opportunity to work themselves into a towering frenzy. That’s how quality Evil is crafted. Nevertheless, this pestiferous land is very short of gold, and your business plans will have to focus on that fact. This means no unnecessary building, and judicious use of fortified walls to provide the furniture that you usually only get with wide open spaces. It also means being a bit picky about who you accept into your employ (a Skeleton is always a good budget brawler), and being quick to sack anything you have too many of, or that doesn’t suit your current business goals. Putting this philosophy into action, you’ll need to build up a very basic dungeon. Very basic. Start off with just a Lair, Hatchery and a Workshop. (For minimum effective sizes, look at The Art and Science of Dungeon Design, page 72.) Try not to build a Training Room, as this will deplete your gold too much. Dig out the gold near the Portal, and build a Prison and a 3x1 Torture Chamber against solid rock or fortified wall to get yourself a torture wheel. It’s okay to scrimp as long as your captives still scream — that’s a good rule of thumb. Unfortunately there is one little catch … more of a snag really … don’t dig to the east. Yes, it’s true that every Keeper’s heart yearns to conquer and destroy every inch of space … but this will lead you into an indestructible Hero Gate that will leave you prone to attacks at this early, vulnerable stage. If prudence is annoying, just weight it against ignominious defeat. If the Hero Gate is left alone, you will not be invaded. If you really feel you must raze everything in your path, at least try to put this off until you’ve got the monster-power to handle the invasion forces. Instead, dig north through the gold (you should have been doing this anyway), and build traps along the narrow passage. Paranoia is as effective a character trait as viciousness and cunning, and twice as important. As you suspected, a party of shining, well-intentioned Heroes will attack, but unless you’ve been neglecting your duties, they’ll be so battered by your traps that your creatures should be able to knock them senseless with a minimum of fuss. Imprison and convert as many Heroes as you can. Cheap labor is a good thing. If you can afford a separate Lair, that’s good; if not, don’t pamper the starch-pressed crybabies.

Don’t spent time and resources fighting the Magic Door. Instead, build a bridge to one side of it, and tag the rock next to the door so your Imps can dig it out. That’sreal management. Once inside the Hero area, quickly claim the tiles surrounding the Hero Gates to collapse them. That’s the priority, after which you can claim the two Mana Vaults nearby. No time for back-patting, though. Press ever onwards, stopping long enough to put a Boulder Trap along the corridor to protect yourself. (It’s that prudent paranoia thing again.) Once in the central section, bridge to the Sentry Traps and get your creatures to attack them. It’ll be painful and carnage will be terrible, but with the mana from the two vaults you should be able to keep your fighters healed enough to make it through okay. Once you’ve gotten those traps taken down, your path is pretty clear. It’s not a bad idea to go get the Specials to the west, but you can keep going north, in the direction of Lord Tiberius. Truth to tell, you don’t really need to take out the second Hero Gate to the east, but you will be able to claim two more Mana Vaults and stop all Hero attacks. That’s worth something, if only to get that feeling of accomplishment. Also, going to this area will allow you to dig south and find more gold and the neutral Salamanders. Neutral Salamanders are one of the happy things in a D.K.’s career. Just be sure you keep them happy. Once you have enough mana to cast Summon Horny, he will let you know. You should try to wait until you have maximum mana (200,000) before you cast him, as this will make him stay longer. Once you feel ready, cast his Summons to the north, towards Lord Tiberius. As he progresses, keep your Imps busy claiming the land behind him, enabling you to drop your creatures down to help him. Yes, sometimes even Horny can use an extra hand or twenty. Once Horny has battled everyone, he should find Lord Tiberius. Sit back, and savor the carnage. You earned it.