Stronghold (Mission)

Stronghold is a mission in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 that takes place shortly after Blood Brothers, at an old castle, Karlstein, near Prague. The player plays as Yuri. Price and Yuri assault a castle that is and has recently been used by the Russians as a firebase. The main objective is to learn the location of Makarov.

Characters

 * Yuri (playable)
 * Price
 * Nikolai
 * Makarov (not in person)
 * Alexi

Plot
During the loading cutscene, Price contacts MacMillian, informing the latter of Soap's death. The mission starts with Yuri and Price parachuting into the castle grounds. As they approach the ground, Price eliminates two guard with his pistol. The pair cross open space and hide behind an old wall as a patrol passes by. The two then drop down into a courtyard with numerous vehicles in it. Crawling under the vehicles, Price plants C4 to cover their escape. Emerging from the last vehicle, Yuri takes out a guard and Price hides the body. A spotlight scans the area, and after it passes, the pair rush across to a platform. Crawling under that, Yuri plants C4 on the underside. Once reaching the edge, a guard drops down and puts out his cigarette. Once he has left, the pair creep to the security centre. Price bangs on the door, and when it is opened, precedes to kill all personnel inside. Studying the cameras, Price decides to go straight to the command centre. Using a dead guard's fingerprints, he opens the door. The pair clear out a dark dungeon, using night vision to kill guards. The guards become wise to this and throw flares to help spot the attackers.

Yuri and Price are thrown into open combat, and clear out a floor full of enemies. Emerging outside, the two climb up a ladder to reach scaffolding attached to an old bridge, and Yuri places more C4 on it. After crossing the rickety bridge, they breach a wall in a corridor, timing it with the thunder as so not to alert anyone. The hole in the wall reveals a narrow, vertical passage with rickety wooden beams in it. Yuri and Price climb up until they find a small vent, and overhear a conversation between Alexi and Makarov, which reveals that the Russian President is being interrogated for the nuclear launch codes and that Makarov's men are on their way to Berlin to capture his daughter.

A guard alerts Alexi that the base has been breached, and Price throws a grenade through the vent to buy the pair some time. The two slide down the passage and land in a kitchen where there are more hostiles. Price contacts Nikolai about the location of the girl and he and Yuri move outside where they face more resistance. Returning back inside, the two clear out an office and go through doors to a courtyard where more hostiles are stationed. They quickly dash through and end up on a platform overlooking the bridge. Yuri detonates the C4, killing a large force of enemies on the bridge. The pair jump off the platform and charge across the bridge towards another courtyard, where they encounter heavy resistance from infantry and vehicles. A BTR blocks their exit so the pair steal a jeep and drive out of the castle. The jeep comes under more fire from enemy vehicles and the engine is heavily damaged sending it plunging off a cliff. However the pair both have spare parachutes and safely glide down to the ground as Price signals for Nikolai to pick them up.

Intel
thumb|300px|right|MW3 - Intel Locations - Stronghold - Mission 13

35. After being on the wrong end of a flashbang, you'll enter a control room with TVs. Look at the back left corner of the room for the intel that is sitting on top of a power generator.

36. Leave the command center through the front door, then head right, south, up a flight of stairs and look for a storage area off the catwalk. The intel is atop a small crate.

Found in level
The following weapons can be found with or without attachments.

Achievements
Storm the Castle- Complete "Stronghold" on any difficulty.

The Darkest Hour- Complete "Eye of the Storm", "Blood Brothers" and "Stronghold" on Veteran difficulty.

Trivia

 * Price still holds his grudge at Yuri (because of his affiliation to Makarov) at the beginning of the campaign, but often calls him wherever he is in case he is lost in the castle. It is presumed that Price's grudge towards him subsided during the mission.
 * In the beginning of the level, the two enemies that Price kills have silenced weapons. The small patrol ahead also have silenced weapons. If they are all killed without attracting attention, the player can use them as substitutes for the starting weapons.
 * This level seems to have a lot of models from the previous game:
 * UMP45s found in this level use the Modern Warfare 2 model and are equipped with the old ACOG scope design.
 * It is possible to find a L86 LSW with a SUSAT scope in this level. This is also a model lifted directly from the previous game.
 * When Price breaches the security office, the knife he uses has the same model as the one Soap used to kill Shepherd in Modern Warfare 2.
 * There are some AK-47s with shotgun in a gun shelf which located in the North East corner of the security office. They are in the bottom shelf and hard to spot.
 * This is the second mission in which the player will get the caption 'Objective Failed' without the death/failure screen with quote. The player can fail to plant the C4, where Price will scold him and place it himself, and the player can detonate the breaching charge before the thunder, which will attract enemies, but not compromise the mission.
 * It is possible to fail the objective if too many prisoners are killed.
 * This is the only level where the PM-9 can be found and used.
 * Coming towards the end of the level, after the player exit the command center, there is an RPG-7 with no visible rocket loaded, yet can still fire.
 * If the player doesn't detonate the C4 placed under the bridge when Price says, Price will detonate instead of the player and he will also call Yuri a "sloppy bastard".
 * This is the first time in the Modern Warfare series to do parachuting, as it was only in the cut-scene in Ultimatum.
 * After detonating the C4 attached to the bridge, there will be an enemy soldier still moving, but he can't be killed.
 * Oddly, when Makarov talks to Alexi, Alexi's name is shown green in subtitles, despite enemies' names in subtitles usually being marked with red.
 * If one picks up the RSASS found next to the ammoless RPG-7, and tries to put on the night vision goggles, it won't show the animation but still show the effect of the night vision.