Skybird Trill

Blue Keeper
Creature Limit	30
Starting Gold	2,460,000
Starting Forces	5 Level 10 Imps; Level 10 Vampire

Red Keeper (Human)
Creature Limit	25
Starting Gold	20,000
Starting Forces	8 Imps

For cut levels that were called Skybird Trill, see Skybird Trill (cut level).

Skybird Trill is the 20th and final level in Dungeon Keeper.

Here we have a showdown with the Avatar, a boss-grade hero with many loyal retainers at his beck and call. Their fortress squats in the center and appears to be abandoned for the time being. This is the doing of some other Keeper in the region who wants to eat your lunch, but whom you do not have to destroy (though doing so will make your life a lot easier).

After being crunched for so many levels, it is good to once again be in command of ample resources and powerful creatures.

Content[]

Keepers[]

Portal Speed: 600 Turns
Creature Pool:

Troll		30
Dark Mistress		30
Hound		30
Dragon		21
Vampire		21
Bile Demon		20
Warlock		17
Orc		17

Dungeon Specials[]

Increase Level x2 - Immediately east of Red's gold seams, these are safe to excavate.
Increase Level x2 - Further east is a lesser white dungeon containing these. Digging to this place is safe for the time being, but puts the gem area and Imps more at risk during the heroes' invasion.
Resurrect Creature - Avatar's castle, in a corridor on the far west side
Increase Level - In a chamber adjoining the white Dungeon Heart. This makes 5 Increase Levels that you can plan for.

Neutral Things[]

Portal beside red Dungeon Heart
Gem Seam - 4 open faces east of Red's location, safe to excavate
Horned Reaper level 10 x1 - in the Torture Chamber of the Avatar's castle, southeast end
Fly level 1 x4,
Beetles level 1 x4 - Vermin that seem to have moved into the white dungeon after its abandonment

Wandering Heroes[]

Tentacle (level 10) x2		Open water, north of Red, isolated on west side of a land bridge to the Avatar's castle that has not been dug out.
Tentacle (level 10) x6		Open water, north of Red, east side of the land bridge.
Horned Reaper (level 10) x1 Priestess (level 10) x1		Locked in a tiny room together (...?) in the back of the Avatar's castle
Avatar (level 10) x1		Pacing a lava-bound prison at a sealed back-entrance to Blue's Dungeon Heart, top-right end of map

Events[]

This section summarizes the likely phases for this final match, considering the scripted events and how all the participants behave.

Briefing Text: "This realm is begging to be plunged into darkness. The Avatar himself has a castle here. Another Keeper also seeks his soul. This could get messy."

Breach[]

A large watery expanse, essentially a castle moat, lies to the north of Red's domain. When breached, hostile level 10 Tentacles in the area attack. This moat and castle are vulnerable to the blue Keeper from the north side of the map. The money is all to the east, anyway; only dig north after making some preparations.

The player must be careful not to wait too long to dig north, however. There is only a single narrow strip of land connecting the south and center areas, and without the ability to build Bridges, claiming it is necessary to take the white dungeon, which in turn is necessary to reach the Avatar. If Blue takes the white dungeon, it will begin fortifying the walls, and will eventually block the northern end of the narrow strip.

Blue Keeper[]

Although the blue Keeper can lay down Bridges— and Red cannot— he never does, and never launches attacks; as in Mistle, Blue's enormous gold reserve here (almost 2.5 million) interferes with AI aggression. Furthermore, he owns several locked Magic Doors separating his domain from the white region, so his creatures will never open them.

Nevertheless, Blue's creatures might attack and eventually claim the Avatar's fortress without any apparent effort on the Keeper's part. The threat is linked to circumstances described below, and amounts to plain bad luck.

MAP00020 BlueClaim — Blue Imps will try to capture the white dungeon from here under various conditions.

The most problematic event is if the blue Keeper carves out any rooms that breach the water. If that happens, his creatures can bypass his locked doors. If there is a breach, a few things will draw his creatures out:

One of the level 10 Imps with nothing else to do will Teleport to the blue dungeon's back entrance and begin claiming tiles from that location.
And/or, a level 1 Imp will try to walk there if there is a valid path, bashing any white-owned doors in the way.
If corpses appear somewhere, like Imps triggering traps or Red killing the Tentacles, Blue's Imps will set out to drag them to the Graveyard, and will stumble onto the unclaimed Beetles and Flies, who then destroy the white Dungeon Heart.
If the blue Keeper ever attracts a Hellhound, they will attack the dungeon, as per JOB_SEEK_THE_ENEMY.

MAP00020 WhiteHeart — 1 blue Imp triggers destruction of the white dungeon by spotting the wildlife.

White Dungeon[]

The Avatar's fortress is tricked-out with rooms, Hero Gates and invisible hero entry points, doors, and traps. But there is virtually no garrison.

MAP00020 WhiteTraps — Trap locations, white dungeon

Once the white Dungeon Heart is destroyed, all white-owned tiles on the map go to Dirt. All traps formerly deployed on White's tiles (and there are oodles of them in the castle) are instantly deleted. Also, the blue Keeper receives an extra Level 10 Vampire for free, out of nowhere.

Text when white dungeon is destroyed: "You have destroyed the Avatar's castle but your rival has already taken the Avatar prisoner. Be that as it may, only the Keeper with the blackest heart can destroy this legendary hero, so ransack your rival's dungeon and take the prize."

Imprisoned Avatar[]

Given the message that pops up when the white dungeon collapses, the game clearly wants the player to attack the blue Keeper right then and there. But not only is fighting Blue unnecessary, it just makes so much more sense to use the back tunnel and capture the Avatar, the boss hero, first. He is pacing around on his own private island, surrounded by lava. He is not actually imprisoned, merely stranded in this spot.

To make this a capture, he must be accessible to Imps. Possess a creature and use Wind or Word of Power to push the Avatar off his little island and into the back tunnel.

Any easy way to progress from this point is to push the Avatar west, to the section of hallway connecting his Prison to the blue dungeon. If he comes into contact with the door, he will start attacking it. Since the blue Dungeon Heart is nearby, he will attack it, and if there aren't enough strong blue creatures to defeat him, he will destroy the blue Dungeon Heart. If that happens, he will move south toward the red Dungeon Heart, making him easy to capture.

Hero Invasion[]

When the Avatar is either slain or converted, a message states that he has been revived by his lieutenants. Everybody will be down here in force shortly. This invasion is the main battle in Skybird Trill- the big climax. Waves of the following hero parties are generated from many locations as part of this event.

Text when White has no Avatar: "The Avatar has been resurrected by loyal lieutenants in hiding. But their act has revealed them to us, here in this realm. Now the Avatar rallies all those who would stand against you. It's time you gave this self-righteous oaf a proper kicking, master."

A timer starts as soon as the above message appears.

Turn 0: Player is granted the ability to construct Bridge slabs.

Turn 1000: Eight parties are added to the level at this moment.

Party	Members	Location
"BRUTES"	(10) x2 (10) x2	Blue Dungeon Heart
"BRUTES"	(10) x2 (10) x2	White Dungeon Heart
"BRUTES"	(10) (10) x2 (10) x2	Bottom, third-from-right Hero Gate
"DWARF"	(10) (9) x2 (9) x2	Bottom, second-from-right Hero Gate
"DWARF"	(10) (9) x2 (9) x2	Bottom, rightmost Hero Gate
"DWARF"	(9) x2 (9) x2	Far west corridor adjacent to Red Portal and Heart.
"MAGIC"	(10) (10) (10) (10)	The old "Increase Level" dungeon, top room, invisible entry point
"MAGIC"	(10) (10) (10) (10)	"Increase Level" dungeon, bottom room, Hero Gate

In particular, parties of heroes will continue dumping themselves into that mysterious far corridor, the one that's been sitting there quietly since the beginning just beside the Dungeon Heart:

Turn 1133

"DWARF"	(9) x2 (9) x2	Far west corridor adjacent to Red Portal and Heart.

Turn 1366

"DWARF"	(9) x2 (9) x2	Far west corridor adjacent to Red Portal and Heart.

Turn 1466

"DWARF"	(9) x2 (9) x2	Far west corridor adjacent to Red Portal and Heart.

Turn 1600

Party	Members	Location
"RPG"	(10) (10) (10) (10)	Far west corridor
"BIG BOY"	(10)	Far west corridor
"BRUTES"	(10) x2 (10) x2	White Dungeon Heart
"MAGIC"	(10) (10) (10) (10)	"Increase Level" dungeon, top room, invisible entry point

Victory requirements

Slay or convert the Avatar a second time.
Slay or imprison all other heroes.

Hints[]

In the retail version of Dungeon Keeper, the blue Keeper can be left untouched. Evidently, he spends his days counting his 2.5 million gold and poses no strategic threat (he does, however, scavenge your minions, which can be a bore). Sometimes, however, as described above, he expands beyond his base, and even takes the hero fortress (which evidently is not supposed to happen). If he does, things could get messy. If you have transferred a high tier minion such as a level 10 Horned Reaper into the realm, you would be wise to take full advantage of it early on by using it to destroy Blue before he has a chance to build up his dungeon; then you would have all the time you need to be deliberate and focus on the Avatar and the other heroes (you also don't have to worry about your minions being scavenged). In New Game+, defeating Blue is mandatory, and the heroes do not spawn until this is done.

Lay Guard Post slabs bordering the water, on the side-by-side north exits of the Avatar's castle, to lock Blue out of it.

Creatures[]

The main strength for Red here is in Bile Demons, which are suddenly very numerous in the Creature Pool and can stack enormous area-of-effect damage with their Poison Cloud, and Dragons, which will be responsible for Research and can tank admirably in battle. Orcs can also be attracted after due research, and their fighting abilities make them preferable to Trolls.

The 21 Vampires in the Creature Pool, plus two level 10s on the field for Blue, could be well-worth the effort. It is possible to raise a level 1 Vampire, protect it with the Temple, and scavenge Vampires from the enemy dungeon and the creature pool. Scavenging directly from the pool requires being under the Creature Limit (25) — but surely anyone would consider tossing stuff back through the Portal if it meant replacing them with Vampire.

Red has access to Trolls and Bile Demons but not the Mistress. Only Blue has those. It is therefore impossible to create Horned Reapers without extraordinary effort.

Mistle does not have a Transfer Creature, but the Vampire, Horned Reaper, or Priestess can be transferred in from the Secret realms. Each of them has some unique uses here.

Battling with the Boss[]

The Avatar has the same strength as a Horned Reaper, a superior hit and block rate, 1.5 times as much health, almost twice as much armor (damage reduction), and a large spell repertoire. He is immune to Boulder Traps. He is a mountain of combat ability and certainly a lot of fun if captured and brought to bear against the blue Keeper, who really doesn't know what to do when this thing is wreaking havoc in his dungeon.

Dragons and Bile Demons are useful for wearing him down, but the unusual spell damage they produce cannot stun creatures. It is recommended to capture the Avatar using the Priestess and the two Horned Reapers that can be acquired earlier.

By the end, it's possible to get three Avatars in your employ. The first two sign on under a sufficient amount of torture, before and after the heroes' invasion. Another, extra-secret copy is possible by setting the dungeon's attack stance to Imprison and knocking the Avatar unconscious while he is in your service (which is very tricky) and using the Resurrect Creature special.

Containing the invasion[]

It is possible to slow the flood of heroes attacking. Of the three Hero Gates along the bottom edge of the map, the left and center ones can be walled off, even separated from each other. However, the right one cannot be walled off without the ability to build Bridges. While difficult and probably not worth it, this can be done by capturing a Bridge built by the blue Keeper. Several of the other hero parties can be greatly slowed down by choking the corridors they must traverse with doors.

Strategically placed Boulder Traps can eliminate many of the incoming creatures. In particular, if the area at the south end of the map is dug out and fortified as a single corridor, a boulder will take out most of the creatures. Many who appear in the southeastern dungeon can be eliminated in the same fashion.

Sound Bytes[]

"Skybird Trill— the ultimate in cute. A frown in Skybird Trill brings all the townspeople to the sufferer's door with gifts of love, fine cheer, and eternal friendship. A place where nothing can ever go wrong, or so they fondly believe..."

— The Mentor, Intro

"Longterror. The world of Skybird Trill is nothing more than a charred wreck of a nightmare. We have won a furious, vital victory, and you are ruler supreme over the whole world! What next, Master?"

— Outro

Trivia[]

There is a Lord of the Land in Skybird Trill. His party, "RPG", parodies the stereotypical party of roleplaying adventurers: there is the charismatic paladin party leader Knight, the Barbarian, DPS mage Wizard, and a Priestess.
The names for this level in other languages are as follows:

Translations: Skybird Trill
Language	Translation
French	Lyons-Perruche
Italian	Città Del Cielo
German	Vogelsang
Dutch	Vogelzang
Polish	Ptaszkoćwierkowo
Czech
Swedish	DRILLSTAD
Russian	Скайберд-Трилл
Japanese	スカイバード・トリル
Chinese	太阳鸟鸣 / 鸟鸣国

Other Versions[]

Prototypes[]

There are two known prototypes of this level in two Dungeon Keeper prototypes. In both prototypes, the level number is 22:

9 May 1997	20 May 1997	Final (7 June 1997)

The 9 May 1997 version has numerous other differences to the final:

At the west of the hero fortress is a Reveal Map instead of a Resurrect Creature, and it is guarded by a level 8 Giant.
The Avatar is actually in the blue Prison, which is not missing its centre tile and is not surrounded by lava.
There are some Mountain Dwarves in the Treasure Room in the hero fortress, a couple of Wizards in the Library, and some other heroes (including Skeletons) scattered elsewhere.
There are no neutral Flies and Beetles at the hero Dungeon Heart.
Destroying the hero Dungeon Heart gives Blue a level 10 Horned Reaper instead of a Vampire.
There are no doors to the rooms west of the hero Dungeon Heart.
There are no hero Tentacles in the water south of the hero fortress.
The Avatar and his army respawn at Hero Gates in the cavern to the east, instead of near the red dungeon. He is also accompanied by a different complement of heroes, including several high-level Knights.
Reaching Action Point 3 in the hero fortress spawns several hero Skeletons at other Action Points in the fortress.
Owning a Torture Chamber spawns a couple of Thieves at the Hero Gate to the north-west of the hero Dungeon Heart.
The Bridge is available to be researched at the beginning.
Blue starts with only 60000 gold.
Blue's creature limit is 35.
There are 20 Flies, 25 Spiders, and 45 Demon Spawns in the Creature Pool. There are also 30 Orcs instead of 17, 25 Bile Demons instead of 20, but only 11 Vampires and Dragons and 20 Mistresses.
All these creatures are available to both Red and Blue via the Portal.
Sight of Evil can be researched by Red, and Hold Audience is available (for research) to both Red and Blue.
All doors and traps (except the Lava Trap) can be manufactured.
Hero Ghosts spawn in the fortress soon after reaching Action Point 17 (behind the door at the south-east of the fortress).
The Portal generation speed is 700.
Blue starts with no Imps and no creatures, and his Dungeon Heart isn't surrounded by traps.
There is no Horned Reaper (hero or neutral) in the hero fortress.
This version uses a different texture set:

9 May 1997	Final

The 20 May 1997 version has several differences from the 9 May 1997 version:

The Prison and its surrounding tiles and walls are now neutral.
The imprisoned Avatar is for some reason now level 1 rather than 10.
Blue now starts with 260000 gold.
Hold Audience is gone.
The Warlock and Mistress can now only be attracted by Blue.
Flies, Spiders, and Demon Spawns are now gone from the Creature Pool. There are now 21 Dragons and Vampires (like the final) and 30 Mistresses in it.
Red and Blue's creature limit is now 35 and 40 respectively.
The Portal generation speed is now 600, like the final.

KeeperFX[]

In KeeperFX, defeating Blue (even before defeating the Avatar) grants you the ability to build Bridges.

Gallery[]

References[]

↑ Prima's Official Guide To Dungeon Keeper Gold Edition. pp. 218-221. Prima Publishing. (1998). ISBN 978-0-7615-1581-4.

[Prima-1] Prima's Official Guide To Dungeon Keeper Gold Edition. pp. 218-221. Prima Publishing. (1998). ISBN 978-0-7615-1581-4.