Morrigan Alley

“

Nightfall plunges upon a quiet street, Oh my, what's that? a bomb! What a treat. To watch it erupt would be quite a feat, The team they oppose had better retreat! — A poem for sweet Lady Morrigan from the Medieval Update page

”

Morrigan Alley
Basic Information
Developer(s):	Unknown

Morrigan Alley is a single-stage Community-made map Payload map, designed exclusively for Medieval Mode, and was initially released for the Medieval Update. The map takes place in a medieval looking village, and the last point features a medieval castle separated from the rest of the village by a giant wall. The BLU team's goal is to push the cart into the gate guarding the castle. Health pickups appear as meat and ammo pickups appear as small quivers.

The cart has a custom model specific for the map, similar to Hoodoo and Frontier. The cart is composed of a wooden barrel filled with gunpowder, supported by a wooden plank with wheels. It also follows a specific path instead of steel tracks. Additionally, the cart also moves faster, but does not provide healing nor ammo to players pushing the cart. A rough sketch of the Payload is visible in the first BLU spawn, in which the cart is presented as "the new cart design".

This map has various custom props scattered all over the map. It also features a custom environmental hazard, the iron maiden, which is located near BLU's first spawn, just behind a full health pack. Any player who touches it will be stunned, and the iron maiden closes, killing the player. There is also another iron maiden inside RED's first spawn, but it is harmless and does not function.

Locations

The map starts on a small dungeon at the beggining of the village, just outside a torture stage with the iron maiden and hanging ropes, then progresses trough the road up to a part of the castle's wall. Theatre props can be seen inside a house.

Once the first point has been captured, the cart enters a small courtyard with a fountain surrounded by small health and ammo packs in the middle. Alternative paths inside the wall follow alongside the courtyard. The top of the courtyard's walls are a good sniping spot and are mainly accessible by the RED team, but Scouts using the Boston Basher can access it by basher jumping.

The third and final capture point goes through the remaining of the village, with many alternative paths, and then goes into the final battlefield, just outside the castle, which is separated from it by a ditch with a bit of water at the bottom. Again, the castle is only accessible by the RED team, but Scouts with either the Atomizer or the Boston Basher or even Demomen with either the Chargin' Targe or the Splendid Screen can access it, by basher jumping or rampsliding, respectively. The cart crosses the bridge joining both parts and explodes the main gate, finishing the round and granting the BLU team access to the castle.

Images

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  The Iron Maiden at the beginning of the map

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  Overview of the beginning area

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  The medieval themed bomb cart

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  Pros and cons of the new bomb cart

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  The throne room within the castle

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  The RED castle

Trivia

• Many props used in the map are custom made, and are available at the map's download page.
• The iron maiden is a torture device that, although associated with the middle ages, was not invented until 1793. They were never built for torturing and killing, but for commercial exhibition.
  • Sharing this characteristic with DeGroot Keep, the map appears to be genuinely from the middle ages, but some hidden details and places (such as the desk at BLU's spawn, the ticket booth outside a gate near the first capture point or the laser within the body of the castle) show that this map could just be a tourist attraction, hence the iron maiden, or another secret RED base within this.