3-6: The Siege of Wondertown Land

Harbor

With King Ignatius restored to wellness, he’s ready to help you with Bryllcream’s plan… but not before you help him clear out the marauders who stole his food in the first place. And in order to go to battle properly, a king needs his crown. So Ignatius’s prerequisite has a prerequisite. Wendy will let you know whom to look for: Lawrence the Leper, a subject Ignatius sent to retrieve his majesty’s figurehead. He should be somewhere around the seafront shopping town to the east.

As you approach the seafront, you’ll notice blood streaks on the ground. You’ll need to investigate these to find where they lead. The blood trail leads south down the shopping strip for a bit before breaking left toward the water.

Here you’ll find Lawrence the Leper, though that ends up being something of a misnomer. Lawrence is hiding from a vile new type of OD: Muggers! Muggers spend most of their time perching far away, watching from relative safety. They attack by periodically pouncing upon their prey from long range before immediately jumping away again to safety. Mugger attacks are preceded by a larger version of the red reticle you’re used to seeing by now from Blowers, Gunkers, and Scab Tossers. If you see this reticle where you are, you will want to move immediately.

You’ll fight a single Mugger at first, then several pairs two at a time, then finally four Muggers all at once, so this is a serious crash-course in Mugger combat, and perhaps fairly difficult depending on your gun/ammo situation. Keep moving and keep your eyes on the minimap: Muggers aren’t boss-types, but they show up on the minimap with a larger red dot like a Herker or Spawner. This helps you at least locate them as they flit around. Muggers follow a pattern of seeking a target, leaping onto that target, then leaping to a new perch. The best time to attack a Mugger is during the first phase, while it’s seeking; this is when it sits still the longest. Basically, if you can dodge a Mugger’s pounce, then immediately draw a bead upon it when it finds its new perch (using a strong gun, like Dirty Harry, Captain Ahab, or One-Handed Dragon), you can take it out without a problem. If you try to engage Muggers during other parts of their routine, you’ll probably spend a lot of time losing and reacquiring targets. Clear the waves of Muggers out, and the important one shows up: the Mugger who stole Ignatius’s figurehead, a rather distinctive triceratops helmet. Kill this last Mugger, don the helmet it drops, and deliver it to King Ignatius north along the beach. You won’t be able to attack or use guns normally while wearing the triceratops helmet, but you can gore and charge.

With the figurehead in hand (or on head), deliver it to Ignatius just south of Wondertown Land. The king will order the figurehead mounted on the company’s siegecraft and the siege of Wondertown Land will be underway. You’ll embark on a ride-by-ride liberation of the amusement park from the Scab occupying force, starting with Spaceship Murica.

There are Scabs in guard towers, patrolling the rides, the roofs, basically the entire place. Just past the front gate to Wondertown Land, you can find a Pandora’s Box Trap all set up and ready to go—it’s normally just part of the park’s amusements, like the strongman games, but the gnomes it releases now will mercilessly decimate the Scab marauders.

After Spaceship Murica, the next target is the Ferris wheel. Scabs emerge from behind it on the street side. Once the ferris wheel is cleared, the comet ride is next. The Crazy Comet whirls a bunch of rocket pods around in a dizzying circle. These rocket pods become drunken, explosive missiles if you bounce or jump above the comet ride and fall on top of the moving pods. This is easier than it sounds. Lay waste to the comet ride and the Scabs around it and Ignatius will arrive to use it as a rallying point. Before proceeding farther in.

With the outer amusement park secured, it’s time to begin down the peninsula leading to the rollercoaster, seat of the Scabs’ sustained power in ruined Sunset City. The Fargarths will roll the siegecraft implacably forward, but the Scabs haven’t given up yet and will launch rockets at the siege weapon. Luckily, the high visibility and arcing travel of the rockets make them fairly easy to shoot out of the air before they hit the battering ram, and that’s what you’ll have to do: slowly advance forward with the siegecraft while keeping it from being bombarded. At least up until the first barricade, all you’ll have to contend with are these incoming projectiles. At the barricade, the Fargarths want you to do the honors. With the battering ram in place, jump on the button on the back with a dive bomb attack to ram the triceratops through the wall.

Beyond the first barricade, the Scabs will launch rockets in groups of two, close together, along with deploying a forward movement of Scab soldiers to interfere with your anti-air focus. The single easiest way to deal with the Scab menace on foot here is to deploy Turret Copters. With that accomplished, you can simply return to scanning the skies for rockets, since the floating pistols won’t have any problem suppressing a small Scab force. If you don’t have Turret Copter handy, Acid Sprinklers can also suffice. If you don’t have those either, you’ll need a more hands-on approach, swapping your focus to the Scabs for a few shots before snapping back skyward to intercept a fresh rocket salvo. If rockets are incoming, rockets are the priority. The rest of the time, shoot Scabs. Since rockets launch regularly, this has a certain rhythm to it that you can get the hang of. Defend the battering ram from rockets and Scabs and be ready to dive bomb the battering button again at the second barricade.

Beyond the second barricade, a half-dozen Scab Rushers will ambush up close from behind the kiosks while the rocket rain continues. Again, the simplest solution to the minor troops is deployables; otherwise, try to snap between rockets and Scabs as needed. If you’ve kept the battering ram in good condition so far, you can afford to ignore rockets for a few moments if you’d like to focus on just getting rid of the Scab Rushers first. The battering ram can sustain a few hits; it just can’t sustain them indefinitely. At the third and final barricade, you’ll need to dive bomb the button repeatedly to bash down the thicker obstruction.

Beyond the final barricade, you’ll be firmly on Scab territory, the home of the Scab King. As a last-ditch effort to deter the Fargarths, the Scabs spill a huge quantity of Overcharge over the deck in front of their Dragonslayer Rollercoaster. OD will pour in, quickly covering just about every inch of the coaster’s grounds. The Fargarths will hang back by the entrance to the coaster and attempt to hold off the OD flood as best they can, while it’s your task to go forth onto the coaster and destroy six Scab fireworks caches. There are two on the left flank, two on the right flank, and two in the center of the coaster’s area, one up high and one lower in each place. The primary way you’ll move around on a rollercoaster is, of course, grinding—take note that you’ll move much faster grinding on the coaster than you will anywhere else in Sunset City! You’ll have to watch out for Scab Tosser mines, OD physically clogging up the tracks, and Scab railcars which circle the track belching fire and squishing OD. Once you’ve destroyed all of the Scabs’ fireworks caches, you’ll finally lure out King Scab himself.

Rewards

By completing “The Siege of Wondertown Land,” you’ll unlock Challenge: Smash Plants, which uses the triceratops helmet. No new weapons or Quests are available. If you have enough Overcharge, use this interval to buy any guns you haven’t yet added to your arsenal. You can also pursue any incomplete Quests on your list, which would give you a chance to level up the sparkly new AK-FU a little bit. This standard automatic assault rifle is much more effective and fun than you might think, though it must compete for your attention with lunatic creations like Roman Candle and Hairspray Bomb.