(Pun intended in title)
Spiral HQ description:
We have recently discovered exactly how the clockworks work. Each depth is a tray, accompanied by a large crane. Each of the trials you have facing are in reality trapped inside large metal spheres! The crane sorts each spheres into it's postion, allowing the elevators to slide right in.
However, one of the more archaic spheres has decayed, leaving a large hole in the side! Several monsters escaped into the inner workings of the clockworks, and are now causing mayhem. They have even hijacked one of the claws and militarized it to a machine capable of massacre! If the clockworks collapse, all hope of getting to the core will be lost... We need you to drop into the defective sphere, go out through the passage the monsters took, and remove any monster influences from the claw!
The Long Arm of the Claw is an expansion pack that uses all monster types - it is a gauntlet of sorts.
Depth 1: Shattered Sphere
An aurora isles level gone bad! The level is treachorous, complete with collapse ground and falling roof panels.
Depth 1, part 2: Through the Breach
The makeshift path the monsters took to the breach has collapsed. Meet up with lt. feron and his squadron to see what they have been cooking up: A dismantled Aurora isle isle repurpsoed into a moving platform. As you ride, use the pots spawning on the platform to take out incoming enemies. beware of enemy fire, however! This level includes a new-ish foe: A Growl Greaver. A large greaver carrying 1 gun puppy and 1 rocket puppy of any element. Attacking a carrie dpuppy enough causes the Growl greaver to sling it at you like an explosion. When both of it's Gun Puppie's have been dismantled, growl greaver goes in for a direct attack with shockwaves and sleep-inflicting gas.
When you reach the breach, an ambush occurs... 6 Growl greavers!
The Inner Clockworks: Lights Out
The crane's various thrashings have disabled the maitnence lights in the inner clockworks. Use carryable glow-in-the-dark mushroms to navigate, and reach a power generator. The room before the generator is a full fledged ambush, complete with a trojan Knightmare and Toxilargo.
The Inner Clockworks, Part 2: Metallic Malice
Gears roll similar to the fire wheels in FSC... Pistons smash the wall, and any unfortunate knights... And various status traps plague the area. The claw will occasionally ambush you throughout the stage, rising from the darkness below you and firing some missiles. Mineral desposits in here have a chance of bursting into Crystal jellies - monsters who devour other nearby mineral crystals to grow bigger and stronger. At it's smallest, it's a tier 3 jelly with a lot of hp... At it's largest, and can shoot out giant explosive spikes.
The inner Clockworks, Part 3: Crane Crushin'
You go into a large, silver arena with a energy motif in the middle... And a huge, silver claw with CE markings arises from below. it has two "fingers" and it's markings flicker from blue to green. Monsters stand and cling on to it, controlling the huge piece of machinery.
The crane has a veriety of attacks - all lethal and cover a large radius, but also are predictable if you watch it's movements.
1. Gelatinous Mace
Jellies swarm to the claw of the crane, enveloping it a thick mass of goo. It then slams down onto the battlefield, creating a shockwave of jellies. for a brief amoutn of time, it will be glued to the battlefield by all the rmaining gunk. This is an oppurtunity to attack some of it's weak points - 4 bulbs on the crane's "wrist".
2. Office barrage
Several devilites clim atop the claw, and start lobbing a flurry of office supplies - and status inducing pitchforks!
3. Breaker beam
A huge, powerful retrode beam - three of them, to be exact - rleased at the same time. the beam's paths will be highlighted shortly before the attack.
4. Power Pound
The two fingers of th crane's claw will claasp into a circle. A red silhouette will mark where the claw pounds. Going inside the circle created by the claw's fist reveals a fiftth weak point: An "eye" in side the palm of the claw. Like the bulbs, smash it.
I know i shoudlnt use logic and realism on a game, but most monsters dont have the physical and/or intellectual ability to do such things like dismantling and hijack a crane.
The idea just needs a different excuse, like a secret gremlin cult that mind-controls the monsters and operates the crane or a lost knight that was able to tame the wild creatures and is now crazy.