As it’s a tutorial, the mentor will hold your hand through the whole thing. He'll tell you exactly what to do; dig out rooms, mine for gold (12,000 units precisely) and watch your imps. Here you’ll be able to build a lair, attract goblins and subsequently feed them with a hatchery.
Once you’re ready, dig north and meet the Lord’s dwarves. Be sure to drop your goblins a few tiles away, as dropping creatures stuns them and leaves them wide open for attack. Once Lord Antonius comes, do the same thing and he’ll keel over to give you the first portal gem. You really can’t lose, everyone’s level 1, dwarves are pithy things and your dungeon heart can take a fair pounding before you’re done for.
Here in Sing-Song, the mentor doesn't hold your hand quite as hard and you can actually take your time here. The Lord’s dwarves won't come digging until you come out to actually fight them. So there's no pressure, unlike in later levels where their AI is far more aggressive and they will breach your dungeon. So, just make your imps dig out rooms and build accordingly. Your portal is only two tiles to your left, so dig that out to get some creatures. Be careful not to spend too much because you need to get warlocks. As you can see in the rooms tab, you can build a library. It’s pricier than the others, but in exchange for some extra coin you get your first spell-casters. Besides the library, you can also build a training room to level your creatures up. This goes to level four maximum, but it does cost gold, so keep this in mind. If you want, you can rack up all the gold you want before you even let a single creature into your dungeon. So if you're apprehensive about that and you're, you know, new to the game or if you are somehow like relative showing a little mini Pearl how to do this, that's what I would say.
You don't need to really worry about wages until you attract creatures in, but even then, your army is going to consist of goblins and now your new warlocks, so wages will be low at least. Once your army is trained, dig outside the dungeon to get Darius’s dwarves. They’re fast on their feet, and if they get inside your dungeon, they’ll immediately start trashing the place. Enemy heroes destroy rooms as they go along, so be sure not to put anything too important by your exits. With your goblins and warlocks, you can march north to teach Lord Darius a new kind of music; the sound of flesh searing to the bone.
Ramshackle gives you a nice upgrade for your troubles, a partially waterlogged dungeon with lots of room for digging. Like Sing-Song, you can take your time. See, the Lord’s too busy counting his gold seams to notice you. But if you were to mine all of them, he might change his tune. Back to your dungeon, start building your basic amenities but wait before you go north. After all, this level’s given you the workshop, and a brand new creature. This is the troll, and he’ll build any traps and doors you ask for. For now you have wooden doors and sentry traps. You can lock to stop wandering creatures, or buy some time with your enemies. If you’re feeling eviller, you can lock your workshop to shut your trolls inside and force them to keep working. Just be sure to let them out periodically or else they’ll slam down the door and leave your dungeon. The sentry trap is a basic cannon that fires slowly, but consistently. Be sure to nest them in a 1x1 alcove in your outer walls to protect their sides. Alongside the Troll, you also get the Firefly. They’ll serve as your main scouts, but they’re laughably weak and I usually like to put mine back in the portal. In fact, you can do this to any creature you don’t want.
When you feel ready, go north and start hounding those heroes. You’ll see some of them come out these funny mausoleum-shaped things. Those are hero gates, and any with a surrounding set of tiles can be claimed and subsequently dismantled, thus stopping the flow of virtuous souls. You can even try out those sentry traps, just watch out for the lord’s, he’s got some too. Now, the trick with the gold is not to mine that last block. As long as it stays untouched, you can go all over the level without the Lord coming out. Though you can go up to his keep, and lure him out if you’re feeling impatient. Seems like the threat of death is more pressing than his namesake.
Latest Version: 02/10/2025 | Plaintext file | Slink back to Pearlnight's Lair?