STR22: Locus of Pestilence (Stronghold: On the Edge of Chaos)

STR22: Locus of Pestilence is the twenty-second map of Stronghold: On the Edge of Chaos. It was designed by Joshua O'Sullivan (Dragonfly) and Björn Ostmann (Vader), and uses a custom music track.

This level uses the "Deadline" mode, where the objective is to prevent any monsters crossing the deadline.

Essentials
You start in a room that contains all four item pads; head straight forward down some steps to a bridge and follow it to enter the main building. Head north from here to enter a room with a power reactor; climb the stairs in this room to find another ammo and health pad, or step into the green teleporter next to the deadline to find a chamber with a third ammo pad and a chaingun. You can also find a shotgun and shotgun shells behind a crate in the reactor room.

Monsters will spawn from a red rock area in the north-west corner of the level; they will then head south and east to enter the main building, before heading north past the reactor to the deadline. The monsters have to pass through some narrow doorways and obstacles to reach their goal; try using landmines or other explosive weapons to kill the crowds quickly, which include a number of fast-moving enemies such as cyberdemons and arch-viles.

Completing this level will award 2,100 bonus credits.

Other points of interest
Turn right as you leave the starting room to find a chainsaw.

Secrets

 * 1) In the chaingun room, look at the wall next to the chaingun to see a tiny green button; press it to open a cage near the start point containing two extra lives and two marine reinforcement pickups. (linedef 12115 via script 14 and thing 657, ZDoom's "secret trigger" actor) Opening the cage also triggers the bonus wave.

Current records
The records for the map at the Doomed Speed Demos Archive are:

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level: