E5M9: The Marshes (Doom: The Lost Episode)

E5M9: The Marshes is the ninth and secret map of Doom: The Lost Episode, accessible from E5M5: The Mansion. It was designed by Xaser and uses the music track "Message for the Archvile" by Robert Prince. The par time defined in MAPINFO is 30 seconds.

Essentials
You start facing a skull switch, with the exit door on your left. Press the switch to lower the wall in front of you, and lower a floor behind you revealing one of two cyberdemons in this level - when you start firing your weapons a second cyberdemon will teleport into the level, and both must be killed to open the exit door. Once both cyberdemons are dead, return to the starting area and go through the exit door then turn right to find a skull switch that will finish the level and send you to E5M6: Twilight Descends.

Other points of interest
In the south part of the level, there are numerous trees forming a forest of sorts. If you carefully search within it you can find a light amplification visor, a backpack and a super shotgun.

There is a wooden building in the east area of the level. If you walk up the stairs you will see two skull switches on either side; the right-hand switch increases the light level across most of the outdoor area, while the left-hand switch reduces the light level. The building also contains a chaingun and boxes of bullets at the top of the stairs, and a plasma gun in the small building to the south-west.

In the water/blood pool at the center of the level are three groups of four teleporters. Never step on the ones in the south, as they lead to an inescapable room; pressing the switch here will activate a crushing ceiling.

Secrets

 * 1) Use the west teleporter in the water to get to the top of the left building in the water, then jump south to the walkway on the building south-east of it. Enter to get a computer area map in an alcove. (sector 33) A megasphere can also be found nearby.
 * 2) Press the switch in secret #1 and attempt to drop down to teleport to a tunnel where you can get a BFG9000. (sector 6) Collecting the item will change the water outside to blood.

Bugs
The player 5 through 8 starts (Things 57-60) have no flags set for any of the three difficulty classes, but because of special handling in the engine, they function normally in the level.

Current records
The records for the map at the Doom Speed Demo Archive are:

The (absence of) data was last verified in its entirety on February 21, 2022.

Player spawns
This level contains six spawn points:
 * 1) facing south. (thing 134)
 * 2) facing south. (thing 135)
 * 3) facing east. (thing 136)
 * 4) facing east. (thing 137)
 * 5) facing east. (thing 138)
 * 6) facing east. (thing 139)

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level:

Inspiration and development
This level is based on MAP57: The Marshes from the Sony PlayStation version of Doom and has a largely identical layout.