First, we solve the clues. We realize that they are each 9 letters long.

  1. BABAISYOU
  2. COMMUNITY
  3. DRYBOWSER
  4. EMERGENCY
  5. FLASHFIRE
  6. FORBIDDEN
  7. FULLHOUSE
  8. GREENWISP
  9. HONEYCOMB
  10. HYPERNOVA
  11. IRONCHEST
  12. ITEMBOXES
  13. NOHITTERS
  14. RENFIELDS
  15. SYMPHONIA
  16. THREEFOLD
  17. TURNOVERS
  18. UPSPECIAL

Then we use the fortress provided and the flavor text to get an ordering on the numbers. It turns out that the fortress is Super Mario 64 DS Whomp’s Fortress. So the numbers must be read in the following order:

  • The 7 stars’ locations in star order (7, 5, 3, 17, 8, 6, 18)
  • The 8 red coins’ locations from highest to lowest, breaking ties by increasing distance from the floating islands (14, 10, 13, 1, 16, 2, 9, 4). Note that 13, 1, and 16 tie by height and must use the tiebreaker.
  • The location of that last red coin in the original Super Mario 64 (12)
  • The lower warp location (15)
  • The higher warp location (11)

This is the order we must select the answers in to put them in the grid. Then, as the flavor indicates, we read the diagonal. Doing so gives:

F
U
L
L
H
O
U
S
E
F
L
A
S
H
F
I
R
E
D
R
Y
B
O
W
S
E
R
T
U
R
N
O
V
E
R
S
G
R
E
E
N
W
I
S
P
F
O
R
B
I
D
D
E
N
U
P
S
P
E
C
I
A
L
R
E
N
F
I
E
L
D
S
H
Y
P
E
R
N
O
V
A
N
O
H
I
T
T
E
R
S
B
A
B
A
I
S
Y
O
U
T
H
R
E
E
F
O
L
D
C
O
M
M
U
N
I
T
Y
H
O
N
E
Y
C
O
M
B
E
M
E
R
G
E
N
C
Y
I
T
E
M
B
O
X
E
S
S
Y
M
P
H
O
N
I
A
I
R
O
N
C
H
E
S
T


So the answer is FLYNN DID AN ARMY EXIT.

Notes

This used to be a physical puzzle with a physical model of Whomp’s Fortress. Of course, a virtual model was needed here.