High Charity (level)

Summary
A Halo 2 singleplayer level. As the Master Chief, you must battle your way through the Flood-infested High Charity to stop the Prophet of Truth before he boards the Forerunner Ship.

Transcript
First Cinematic

{the Master Chief drops down a gravlift in time to see the Phantoms fly away, he walks over to Mercy}

Master Chief: "Your pal. Where's he going?"

Prophet of Mercy: "Earth... to finish what we started. And this time, none of you... will be left behind..."

{Mercy dies, MC kills the Flood, Cortana's hologram appears on Mercy's throne}

Cortana: "That structure at the center of the city! It's a Forerunner Ship... and Truth is straight for it! If he leads the Covenant fleet to Earth, they won't stand a chance. You have to stop him!"

Master Chief: "That Brute has the Index. And Miranda and Johnson. He can activate the ring."

{we see In Amber Clad crashed into a nearby tower}

Cortana: "If he does, I'll detonate In Amber Clad's reactor just like we did the Autumn's. The blast will destroy this city and the ring. Not a very original plan, but we know it'll work." {MC reaches for her} "No. I don't want to chance a remote detonation. I need to stay here..."

{a Pelican crashes on the platform, Combat Forms run out} ==Gameplay

Cortana: "Flood controlled dropships are touching down all over the city! That creature beneath the Library... that 'Gravemind'... used us. We were just a diversion. In Amber Clad was always its intended vector. There's a conduit connecting this tower to the ship. Head back inside. I'll lead you to it."

{if MC wastes time fighting}

Cortana: "We don't have time for this, Chief. Truth's Phantom is nearing the Forerunner ship."

{MC reaches a gravlift}

Cortana: "I'll disable this lift once you reach the top. That'll slow them down... I hope."

{after MC reaches the top}

Prophet of Truth (loudspeaker): "Shall we let the Flood consume our holy city? Turn High Charity into another of their wretched hives? No enemy has ever withstood our might. The Flood too shall fail."

Cortana: "I'll do what I can to slow the launch sequence. There's something inside the ship... a presence that's fighting back! For a Covenant construct, it's unusually formidable."

{later}

Prophet of Truth (loudspeaker): "The parasite did not defeat the Forerunners... and it shall not defeat us.

Gravemind: "Arrogant creature! Your death will be instantaneous, while we suffer the progress of infinity..."

{later}

Cortana: "The security systems in this part of the tower are particularly robust."

Prophet of Truth (loudspeaker): "Whosoever is gripped by fear, take heed. I am the Prophet of Truth. ...And I am not afraid. Noble Mercy is here at my side. His wise counsel is ever at my aide."

Gravemind: "We exist together, now? Two corpses in one grave."

{later}

Cortana: "Apparently, these are the Prophet Hierarch's quarters. Their inner sacntum."

Prophet of Truth (loudspeaker): "This crisis cannot be the end of us. It is but one path to fulfill the journey to salvation!"

{later}

Cortana: "Brute and Elite ships are engaging one another all around High Charity. I'm running out of options, Chief! I can't stall the launch sequence much longer. The next lift will take you up to the conduit. Hurry!"

Walkthrough

In stark contrast to the beautiful, open level design of Uprising, High Charity returns us to a gloomy, highly linear environment similar to that of Gravemind. To make matters even more dismal, the area is now infested with the flood, who fortunately spend as much time fighting the Covenant as they do pestering us. Once again, there are no elites to be found among your opponents, but all of the other Covenant members make an appearance. As with previous flood levels, though, the combat can often be avoided if you move ahead without hesitation. You'll begin outside on an open platform. After a quick dash to the lift and a battle in a cavernous, mostly empty room, you'll make your way through a series of dark, cramped corridors. The level opens up somewhat for two final battles more expansive settings, as we part ways with the Chief for this installment of the series.

Part 1: Cross-Purposes

I never thought I'd see a level that could make the Library look downright cheerful by comparison. Well, at least it's relatively short, and we'll be taking every opportunity to get this one over and done with as quickly as possible.

As the level opens, you find yourself outside on a large, open platform with the flood and Covenant already battling it out a short distance away. You start out armed with a carbine and plasma pistol, which will do for the time being. Switch to your plasma pistol and proceed along the right ramp. It's certainly possible to run through the door and the room inside to the lift without engaging the enemy.

However, one of the enemies on the right usually carries an energy sword, which can be a great help to you in a few upcoming encounters. Thus, I'd suggest joining the battle at least long enough to acquire the sword; from that point, you can choose either to run or stick around and fight a bit.

When you reach the top of the lift, head down the hall and pick up one of the beam rifles. As you move onward a bit farther, you'll find a massive, cavernous room, passable only by traversing the light bridges (much like you did in Gravemind) that connect the smaller platforms around the periphery. This area seems to have been made just for drones, and, sure enough, several of them will buzz through shortly after you arrive on their way to engage the flood on the left platform.

While it's possible to wait around and let the battle play itself out, it can take a while, and you don't really gain much from it since you'll be doing most of the work at long range anyway. Thus, I'd suggest that you just go ahead and start sniping the drones.

As you can see, a second group of drones will enter from the right after you take out the first group; so be sure to get them all, as the last thing you want is to be caught out in the open with drones around. If you really want to be on the safe side, you can snipe the flood, too, or at least shoot off their weapon arms. I'd also suggest either picking up a fresh sniper rifle or switching back to your original carbine. There's actually only one more major battle coming up on this level, and an argument can probably be made for either choice. If I had to pick one, I'd say that the sniper rifle might be the slightly safer bet.

In any case, when you're ready step into the glowing circle and proceed to the platform on the left. Clean up any remaining flood that might be threatening you here, and step onto the next circle to cross to the platform opposite the entrance.

This encounter can be difficult, as you'll be caught between two groups of enemies, both bent on your destruction. After a short time, several drones will ambush you from behind, and three flood will enter as you approach the door. You'll need to make it through the flood and out of the immediate area as quickly as possible, before the drones tear you apart. To this end, two well-placed grenades can clear the way nicely, as long as you head right for the door as soon as you arrive. The sword is also a possibility if you're careful to get away before the drones kill you.

Part 2: Please, Make Yourself at Home

This section consists of a non-stop crawl through a series of oppressively dark corridors. While you'll encounter both flood and Covenant opposition, they'll usually be too busy fighting each other to bother with you, unless you draw attention to yourself. Note that you may not get a checkpoint at the chapter transition, so be careful.

Other than that, there's not much to say about this part. If you're dead-set on fighting your way through, obviously you should try to attack your enemies from behind as much as possible while they're distracted. Once in a while you'll encounter a rocket-launcher flood along the way; in that case, be sure to pick up his weapon, as it can be a great help in the next battle.

Activate at the elevator at the end, and get ready for a difficult battle.

Part 3: Sanctified

In this room you'll once again find yourself caught between the flood and the Covenant, though on a much larger scale than last time. When you arrive, a sizable number of Covenant troops, including several brutes and jackals and sometimes a jackal sniper, are stationed on the far side of the room between you and the exit. You'll also find three grunts a bit closer to the elevator, among the levitating pillars.

Normally, this arrangement wouldn't be much of a problem; however, before long waves of flood will begin spawning in the four short, elevated tunnels along the side and dropping down into the room. Thus, it's very easy to find yourself surrounded before you know it. There are a couple of different approaches I've found for this situation, though all of them rely on luck to some extent.

One option, of course, it to attack quickly and punch through the Covenant before the flood can close in behind you. You don't have much time to stand around and snipe, so your best bets for this tactic are probably either the rocket launcher (if you were lucky enough to acquire one) or grenades. Depending on the situation, you can try either sticking the brutes with plasma grenades, or simply spamming the area with everything you have (no reason to hold anything back at this point) and hope that you can clear a path. The position of the enemies will vary widely from trial to trial, so you'll have to use your own judgment to gauge your direction of approach. Try to pick the likeliest side, thin out the enemies if you can, and then just keep moving until you reach the door. The door won't open immediately, though the corridor does provide a bit of cover from enemies off to the side.

Note that you can actually knock down the levitating pillars, which may help to put a few extra obstacles between you and the approaching flood. It doesn't make a tremendous difference, but every little bit of advantage may help.

If you find that approach to be unworkable, another option is to hide and wait until the flood take care of the Covenant for you. The best hiding spot, in my opinion, is one of the tunnels in which the flood appear.

From that position, all you really have to do is wait until the commotion dies down, finish off any flood that remain, and head to the exit. The biggest danger with this approach, in my experience, is that sometimes a flood with a sniper rifle will spawn in the tunnel directly across from you. In that case, your first warning of his presence usually consists of a .50 caliber round perforating your skull. Thus, you'll just have to hope he doesn't make an appearance. Also, several flood might actually spawn in the tunnel with you, but they won't notice you as long as you stay at the very back and don't draw attention to yourself.

If you don't like either one of these tactics, you could also try something in-between, balancing speed with a bit of extra caution. If you take out the three grunts and then run back and hide behind the elevator, the flood will soon show up and engage the Covenant. This added distraction may make it easier for you to fight your way to the door along one side of the room (obviously, the side where the battle isn't taking place). You may also try a similar tactic from one of the elevated tunnel entrances.

Whatever you choose, when you make it through the exit head through the door on the right and into the lift, which will take you up to the final battle.

Part 4: Once More, With Feeling

At the top of the lift, you probably won't be surprised at this point to discover the flood and Covenant engaged in yet another battle. Fortunately, this one is much easier to bypass than the last. Your goal is the end of the platform, next to Cortana, and you can usually make it there without much trouble simply by running around one side.

Note that there may be a jackal sniper near the end, which you can eliminate with your sniper rifle or carbine, as necessary. There seems to be no end to the flood, so sticking around to fight is rather pointless.

And so we bid farewell to the Chief for now, although one last level remains.