Hordelorde Aulgart

"'The overlord of The Defiled Horde is not exempt from the consequences of its ideals, for he himself established and founded the principles of this barbaric tribe of bloons. The left hand of the diabolical Prince of Darkness has reason to find surprise that he lives yet.'"

Hordelorde Aulgart is the secondary antagonist and 'left hand' of the Prince of Darkness. Where as the Prince of Darkness is the faraway malicious force that has brought the world to ruin, Hordelorde Aulgart is the more direct adversary to the player as his army was the one to seize and take control of the Monkey Kingdom's remnants.

Hordelorde Aulgart is the Boss of Arc V: Pushing Back the Horde in the Campaign Mode of Bloons TD 7: Dark Times. He is fought at the end of Round 100 in Stage 5-S, All's Fair in Love and Horde. Due to Arc VI's nature as an optional bonus mission set that's left completely secret in-game until its special unlock conditions are met, Hordelorde Aulgart is the final boss of the base story.

'''Remember that this page uses the Health and Damage system found in DARK TIMES. Information on that damage system can be found here.'''

Lore
Hordelorde Aulgart is the sole master of the entirety of the Defiled Horde. He has three Prime Masters: Esthegin, Diligart, and Lordigin who were sent to control various sectors of the claimed world, but all answer to him.

The Horde would not be without the ideas of the Hordelorde, who transformed a barbarous outcast tribe into a militarized force to be reckoned with, him at its core. Pounding ideals of subservience, self sacrifice, and desiring only the necessities into his people, Aulgart flushed from the minds of his subordinates any semblance of reason to resist his word.

Aulgart defined the laws and practices of the Defiled Horde over his lifetime, and slowly their influence dominated the northwestern sphere of the Outlands. Yet, their warlike nature made them many enemies, and with time their love of death for the masters had dwindled their numbers and made them weak. On his final threads, when Aulgart received a letter from the Prince of Darkness to their east allowing them to thrive in his age of night, he obliged without question.

Over the next few years Aulgart and the Prince would conspire together, and none dared question their authority. To the Horde, Aulgart and the Prince appeared equals, and Aulgart promised that none stood above him to his people. The Prince, however, may have a different agenda now. Aulgart is lucky to have lived for the 28 years of the Soul Fracture. The Prince is a common and known backstabber whose power and presence corrupts.

Design
Hordelorde Aulgart appears as a large bloon of tan color. Two leather belts dotted with metal spikes cross over his front, where a metal-like coating protects his bottom half. On top of Aulgart's head is a crown-like helmet of cast iron with two bloody antlers emerging from the side and shooting upward. On Aulgart's backside is a brown square-like backpack with a wooden and iron arm on each side, providing him appendages. In one hand is a large leather and iron shield and in the other a pike.

Stats

 * Health: 8000
 * Movement Speed: Blue Bloon
 * Other Properties
 * Due to the iron armor protecting his body, Aulgart is immune to sharp projectiles.
 * The spikes on his leather straps return 3 damage when melee attacks are made against him.
 * Hordemaster Aulgart is constantly ringed by a red aura that permeates to the range of a 5/2/0 Tack Shooter around him. Horde bloons in this range gain a damage resistance of one, and towers in this range have their pierce reduced to 1.

Phase 1
Hordelorde Aulgart swivels around his mechanical throne, facing the screen. Aulgart in this phase will begin by warping in a red flash of light to various locations on the upper level and with every teleportation using an ability. During this time, assortments of Horde bloons are still flowing out of the tunnels emerging from the side of the upper platform's wall.

Throughout the stage, the player will have hijacked the five assorted cannons around the map controlled by Hordelings. The cannons behaved as regular Bomb Cannons, but attacked nearby towers with an explosive bomb at the start of every round and costed $2000 to seize. Players must now use these modified cannons against Aulgart. The goal is to, while he's distracted, use these modified Cannon's special ability to target him with a missile. The ability of the cannon is to place a target on the screen, and a missile will fire upward from the cannon and about a second later land there, each cannon having a 15 second cooldown on this ability. Players must predict Aulgart's next move, as he can warp to five locations on the upper level, but with never move to the ones directly adjacent to him. If a missile is fired at him in advance, he will preemptively warp to avoid it and laugh. Each missile deals 400 damage and when he gets to 6000 health he will move to Phase 2. While in Phase 1, with every teleportation, Aulgart will use one of these attacks.


 * Triumphcall: Hordelorde Aulgart will bang his spear against his shield, and all active bloons on screen will heal for 3 damage/layers and will spawn in 20% faster for 2 seconds.
 * Bloodlight: Aulgart will point his pike at a tower and a series of seven magical red spearheads will shoot back and forth, left then center then right then center then left then center then right in a wide range, hitting the targeted tower three times and any other towers caught in the spread for 3 damage each projectile.
 * Hardiron: Aulgart will move his shield in front of him, reducing the damage of a missile fired at him to 200, and reflecting it at a random tower for 2 damage in the range of a 0/0/0 Bomb Cannon. The chances of him doing this will increase as the phase goes on.
 * Metalball: The tip of Aulgart's pike will snap downward, and from the interior tubing, three metal balls will shoot out of it at a diagonal angle in spontaneous directions, bouncing around the edges of the screen for 4 seconds dealing 1 damage to every tower it hits.
 * Redbaron: Aulgart will raise his shield as it glows red, and a wave of red energy will be fired downward toward the track. Towers hit by this wave will be unable to attack for 2 seconds.
 * Hordehold: Aulgart will glow red for a short time, as a red aura appears around three random towers, increasing damage they take by 2 for the next 20 seconds.
 * Bigtwirl: Aulgart will twirl his pike above his head for three seconds before throwing it out in a large arc, smacking all towers hit for 2 damage. He will warp while it is thrown out, and it will arc to his new warp location.
 * Manyme: Red projections of Aulgart will appear at random points on the track with infinite health for 3 seconds, removing no lives if they get through, but merely serving to distract towers.

Phase 2
At 6000 health, Aulgart will teleport back to the center position of his upper platform if not there already. At this point, he will float down to one of the starting positions on the track and begin moving along it. As Aulgart moves down the path, his red aura mentioned in the Stats section is in effect. This phase will last until Hordelorde Aulgart is down to 2000 health. Like Hordemaster Lordigin, Aulgart once again has an array of harmful abilities.


 * Bloodwave: Aulgart will stop moving and a red wave of energy will shoot out to 2x the distance of his normal aura, dealing 2 damage to towers and increasing the attack speed of all nearby Horde bloons for 4 seconds.
 * Glorykill: Aulgart will extend his pike to a Monkey tower in his aura's range and stab it, dealing damage equal to its health, killing it. Aulgart will increase to Green Bloon speed for 2 seconds, but lose health equal to the amount he dealt to kill the tower x 20.
 * Highground: Aulgart will stop and raise his shield, and for 2 seconds stand still as all bloons passing within range of his aura become completely immune to damage, glowing golden.
 * Redbaron: Aulgart will raise his shield as it glows red, and a wave of red energy will be fired downward toward the track. Towers hit by this wave will be unable to attack for 2 seconds.
 * Hordehold: Aulgart will glow red for a short time, as a red aura appears around three random towers, increasing damage they take by 2 for the next 20 seconds.
 * Bloodlight: Aulgart will point his pike at a tower and a series of seven magical red spearheads will shoot back and forth, left then center then right then center then left then center then right in a wide range, hitting the targeted tower three times and any other towers caught in the spread for 3 damage each projectile.
 * Metalball: The tip of Aulgart's pike will snap downward, and from the interior tubing, three metal balls will shoot out of it at a diagonal angle in spontaneous directions, bouncing around the edges of the screen for 4 seconds dealing 1 damage to every tower it hits.
 * Stainhug: The leather belts of Aulgart's armor will spring to life as if jaws and grab a tower within a range somewhat larger than his red aura, ensaring them and pulling them next to Aulgart as he moves along the track at half speed for 5 seconds. This tower will take 1 damage a second and every tenth attack made against him will instead deal damage to the tower. Once its over, the tower is thrown back to its original location.
 * Ringspank: Stopping in place, Aulgart's mechanical arms will drop their weapons, extend to their maximum range, and spin in a full circle rapidly, dealing 4 damage and slowing the attack speed of all struck towers to two-thirds for 5 seconds.

Phase 3
At 2000 health, Hordelorde Aulgart's fury rises. In a bid to end this once and for all, he breaks free of the track and begins floating randomly around the screen, all still active Horde bloons on screen joining him and forming a ring shield around him. Hordelings jump in from off screen and seize control of their cannons once again, attacking a single tower for 2 damage every 10 seconds each. The mission is lost if all of your towers die at this point. Aulgart must be defeated before that time, and as his shield depletes it won't be replenished as no more bloons spawn. As his ring fades, more attacks will directly hit Aulgart and all his damage immunities are lost, and his mechanical arm pack has slipped off. His red aura still effects towers as he flies aimlessly around the screen, making it harder to puncture his shield as it reduces pierce to one. Aulgart has a few more tricks up his sleeve.


 * Deepchance: Aulgart disintegrates 5% of the bloons in his shield into red essence that flows into him, increasing his fly speed by 20% for 4 seconds and recovering 50 health per bloon.
 * Hollowring: Aulgart dismisses 10-20 bloons from his shield and fires them outward in a straight line as projectiles in a ring shape, dealing 3 damage to towers they hit. After they fly off screen, these bloons will appear from random entrances on the track.
 * Fadeluck: Aulgart is surrounded by a red bubble shield for 3 seconds that disintegrates all non-magical projectiles that touches it.
 * Bloodheal: Aulgart sacrifices 50 health of his own to increase all bloons in his shield's damage resistance by 3 for 5 seconds.

Phase 4
Once Aulgart has sustained enough damage and is reduced to 500 health, battered and beaten, he will float to the closest point on the track and slowly move backwards along it toward the entrance. At this point, the fight is won, but Aulgart attempts to make his escape. Whether he makes it to the entrance or not and escapes determines the ending of Arc V. At this point, Aulgart no longer attacks, all Horde bloons will flee off screen and take no lives, and all he wishes to do is flee alive.

Ending 1
If Aulgart is popped, the mission end screen will show and when exiting to the stage select screen the player will first be met with a cutscene. In the depths of Aulgart's Scarelair in the chamber where he was just defeated, the various Heroes unlocked up to that point discuss what to do next. Sir Raymond III suggests a regrouping of the forces in the Capitol before an all-out assault on the Prince's lair, but Festeri Kedavra calls him a fool, and instead states that it would be stupid to charge into certain death. Reminiscing on her time as his apprentice, she recalls an ancient incantation that can pacify the dead at his command and allow them to enter his lair by surprise... but they first must gather the materials.

If the player gets this Ending, Arc VI: A Prince's Final Bow will remain locked, but they will have a hint as to what to do next. They must craft some sort of magical incantation using various materials.

Ending 2
If Aulgart escapes, the mission end screen will show and when exiting to the stage select screen the player will first be met with a cutscene. From the safety of the Scarelair, Aulgart contacts the Prince of Darkness through some sort of mechanical device regretting his defeat and promising to do better, before being warped in a flash before his throne. The Prince will angrily glare at Aulgart, before stating that his purpose was now null. In a flash of green light, the Prince of Darkness will turn Aulgart into a pile of dust, and pull his soul from the remains, reanimating Aulgart as a completely faithful zombified puppet with which he can use to control the Horde himself. The Heroes the player has unlocked up to that point will investigate the room that Aulgart fled to and see a black metal orb with glowing green foreign writing scrawled over it. Festeri will demand the orb and begin reading it... a welcome from the Prince of Darkness himself to challenge him if they dare. A list of items is included on the orb, but what exactly they're used for is not specified.

If the player gets this Ending, Arc VI: A Prince's Final Bow will remain locked, but they will have a hint as to what to do next. The list of items used in crafting the incantation will be given, but not the fact that they are items to be collected for the sake of unlocking the final arc.

Battle Banter
Not yet available

Additional Notes

 * Hordelorde Aulgart uses numerous mechanics that prior bosses established to require the players use all their lessons learned. Hordemaster Lordigin taught the player about bosses that follow the track and attack. The Bone Weaver taught the player about phases that require interaction on their part to damage an otherwise unhittable boss. Festeri Kedavra got them used to hitting targets that do not move along the track, with the Skullbats in her third phase.
 * All of Aulgart's abilities are odd combinations of two words smashed together, making clear his lack of care for intelligence or clarity.
 * The two Endings and the encounter with Aulgart being what the game truly led up to, Arc V is sort of the climax while the final Arc against the Prince is more secret, out of the way, and a cherry on top to the story. At this point, his reign is practically over and the world has been spared of his influence, but the Soul Fracture continues and he remains around. Arc VI is a completely optional ending to the story, and its existence in-game isn't even referenced, the only hint the player does get a chance to fight the Prince himself being the Endings.
 * Due to this Hordelorde Aulgart is sort of the Final Boss, with the Prince of Darkness being an optional bonus Final Boss, making the Prince sort of in line to this story as E.N.T.I.T.Y. is to Meta's universe.