MAP20: Silures (Eternal Doom)

MAP20: Silures is the twentieth level of Eternal Doom and was designed by Bob Evans.

Quick tips

 * This level has all three keys, but the easiest way to beat it by far requires only the blue key.
 * After you have the blue key, you must use two skull switches near each other to lower a pathway and a lift to a courtyard containing a plasma gun (make sure you get out before the lift closes again), and then find and press a dead/barren tree to open up the pathway right next to said tree that leads to the blue key exit.
 * If you find the outdoor area containing the red key (behind some yellow key bars), the blue key exit is no longer usable; you must attain the red key and use an alternate red key exit. However, finding the yellow key (and then finding the outdoor area housing the red key) is much more complex than finding the blue key and then using the path from the plasma gun area to exit - so you will most likely find the blue key exit before you find the red key area.

Essentials
This level can be quite frustrating, and is full of secrets. There is only one exit, but two ways to reach it. The blue key is necessary for the easier way. For the secret way, you will need the yellow and red keys instead. In fact, on the way to the red key, there is a hidden point of no return, that triggers a wall which closes off the blue key way to the exit, so after this you really need the red key to finish the level.

Around the starting area
You start off on a blue teleport pad. Kill the imps surrounding the water courtyard. Facing the box of rockets through the bars, turn around and hit a skull switch, lowering you into the water. Head into either tunnel and activate the wall at the end to open it. To your left is a fountain with a super shotgun on a post, you can't get it just yet. Three-eyed skull doors lead into a central area, but only the rear one opens (explained later). Watch out for chaingunners and lost souls that pop out of the stone supports.

Optional: Down the left side (fountain side), there is a corpse and some cobwebs. Go in here to pick up a shotgun and some ammo. Come back out.

Right after this, on the left, there is a room with green slimier walls (and a chaingunner). There is a switch in this room. Hit it, and look back towards the super shotgun fountain. A pillar has popped up in a dead end hallway with a switch on it. Hit that switch and a hidden door will open to the right with some spectres in it, plus another switch tucked around the corner. (Shortcut: you can actually open this door simply by activating the wall even without hitting the first switch.) Hit this second switch and a hidden door will open in the other dead end hallway, to the right of where you came in.

Optional: Before going through, finish collecting some more goodies down the right side of the water area.

Secret: Head down the right side (north-east of the three-eyed-skull-doors-building) and you'll hear an elevator drop. This is around the back, so run around back to get there in time (the curved wall south of the backpack lowered for a secret area). Collect the ammo and health and ride the elevator up. The outer switch lowers it back down again, but the inner one behind you lowers the next wall to your left. Hit that and head over to pick up a few more goodies.

Optional: You can get the chaingunners weapons where the backpack is by activating the wall in just the right place. Also along the right side is a small area with a couple cacodemons in it. There is a chainsaw in there.

Optional: The three-eyed skull door at the back opens by turning the small snuffed out torch to the right of the door. There's a couple of skulls in here. Round the corner to see a dark statue and a tiny peephole showing a green candlestick. This is a clue to where a hidden room is, discussed in the next paragraph. Around the next is some chaingunners up on an elevated platform to take care of. Pick up the blue armor and activate the wall to pick up their ammo.

Optional: Head out and around front to approximately where that peephole would be, and activate the wall to open a hidden door. Activate the wall to the left and ride an elevator up. Run across the small metal pillar into a sort of green stone corridor. Hit the skull switch at the end and the whole floor will drop. This will reveal a lower alcove you can duck into, with a skull switch. Hit that switch to open onto a wooden room with some dividers in it. Step onto the floor and it will drop, letting some imps loose underneath the wooden pillars. Watch you don't get crushed - steel supports rise up from the floor when you step where the pillars are. Walk over to the front left hand corner from the entrance and you'll hear a wall descend, which reveals a rocket launcher on the level above. Ride the hidden elevator in the front right hand corner (north-east) back up. Head along the side and pick up a rocket launcher (secret area). Leave the way you came in. For another secret, do the following as quickly as possible: Activate the first skull switch, the second skull switch, let the U-shaped floor drop, run to the right dead end part of the dropped floor, there will be an opening on the left side you can enter into a secret area, containing the berserk pack, among other items. Leave the secret area by quickly activating the switch, which will lower the U-shaped area, and opening the wall where you came in. On the way back out across the metal pillar, stop on it and turn to the side. There is a switch which raises some short metal pillars. Drop down onto them and run across towards the Super shotgun fountain. When you reach it, the super shotgun will descend.

Time for the next part. Head into the dead end hallway door to see a large statue and a couple cobwebs. A narrow hallway goes off to the left.

Secret: Activate the statue to open a secret door on the right and kill a few chaingunners. Take a look at the yellow key if you want. The switch in this room opens another door beside the one you entered. Head down a few steps to collect the chainguns left by the chaingunners.

Go back out to the statue room and make your way down the narrow hallway, killing a revenant hiding around the corner as you enter. Make your way through a series of switches to cross through the support beams of the water area. At the last switch, make a running jump to enter a room with some five demon face switches. The first and fifth close the door behind you. The second opens the door - but don't hit it yet. First you have to hit the fourth switch to lower the elevator outside - you can't jump across. So hit the fourth switch, then the second, and then run across. There is a switch here behind a small altar which lowers some stairs so you can go back and forth from the water area.

After the starting area
To the right is a dead end, with a switch behind a wall that you can't get at. The back wall is an elevator, and later you can ride it down into this area which will open the wall. The switch brings the elevator down so you can take a shortcut.

To the left is some imps. As you head down this corridor and into the corner on the left, a window will open up on the right, behind you, into a room with a Hell knight and berserk pack in it. At the end of the hall there is a metal wall which is an elevator. Step into the alcove behind you to trigger it to lower. There's a bunch of lost souls on it so be careful. This will bring you into the room with the Hell knight. At the end of this room a chaingunner sits up top (accessible by a secret area), so watch it. Step into a circular room with imps, a chaingunner, and a baron of Hell around it. Kill them, then hit the switch on the far wall to lower an elevator. Ride it up to the upper walkway. Circle around the upper walkway and enter the small hallway on the far side.

Two Secrets: Open the wall right in front of you when you enter the hallway. The texture is slightly off and gives it away. Go in (secret area) and you're at the top of the Hell knight/berserk pack room. Pick up the chaingunner's weapon. Run across the gap and onto a narrow metal hallway. Activate the wall at the end to open it up. See the thin walls in the room? Run on top of the first, and the next, and into an upper area containing a fireplace. Go down the stairs (another secret area) and there are some yellow key bars that you might want to remember for later. Right around the corner is a switch which opens the wall and allows you to take a shortcut next time. Head back to where you were, up the elevator, into the Hell knight/berserk pack room, and up around the circular walkway. Follow the hallway and go down some wide steps into the next room. In this room the back wall of the middle part opens to reveal a revenant. There is also a Hell knight in here around back. To your left is a yellow key elevator, and if you go to your right, an elevator will drop down to a previous area, the shortcut that was just mentioned. At the end of this room is a three-eyed skull door. Go through this door and into a large black and white tiled grand hallway, with windows to a courtyard outside with lots of trees in it.

Optional for blue key exit: To the right of this hallway is a long corridor with brown pillars on either side, and flashing red lights hung from the ceiling. Kill the imps. When you step across into the wide corridor, the big pillar behind you will drop down and reveal a chaingunner (or somebody worse on Ultra-Violence). Meanwhile, two revenants will notice your presence and attack at the same time, so be careful. After defeating these guys, head to the end of the corridor and fight two Hell knights. Go back to start of the corridor. Note that the pillar with the chaingunner on it will raise up again if you step on it. Simply hit the switch up there to lower it back down. Later on, if you decided to get the red key, this pillar will be your way out of this level, otherwise that's all there is in this corridor.

Secret: The first pillar on the right can be opened (around the back) to reveal a soul sphere (secret area).

Go back to the grand hallway, and follow it along, killing two cacodemons outside in the courtyard, and a few demons. At the end, drop off a ledge into a pool of water.

There are some flying skulls to your right. Go along the waterway and you will see the blue key through a small hole, with a Hell knight who isn't looking in your direction. Shoot him and the walls on either side will open up, giving you a better shot. However, you can't access the blue key just yet (actually, you can wait for the Hell knight to walk over the steps, which will lower them and enable you to ride up to the blue key room). Right behind you will be a small cave with some imps and demons in it and a switch. Hit that switch to open up a teleporter in the next hallway (NW teleport - in the north-west of the hall). Note that there is also a narrow stairway you may not have seen as you came through the waterway, we'll get back to it later.

Keep going the same direction and leave the water into an intersection with a berserk pack. There is also an invulnerability you can barely see right at the top. Down the left you can see the (NW) teleport you just opened up. This teleport is simply a shortcut back to the grand hallway. Straight ahead is another room.

Secret: How to open the NE teleport: Head into this room to check it out. It is dominated by a gray building. There's a cacodemon at the back which comes out of a cave, though you can't get in because the ledge around it is too high, you will have to jump from the building. Go to the middle part of the long right (southern) wall of the building, the light of the narrow window is flickering conspicuously, so push the building wall here, revealing a red button that opens the wall behind you, also releasing some revenants. In the opened outer wall, push a yellow button so it turns green. Near the front of the building is a flashing suit of armor. If you face and activate it, an elevator drops down. Because of the button being green, there will be a tiny switch on the left side of the elevator. Activate it, and another smaller elevator will drop in front of you. It will get you inside the building. Go up a few steps, and the main door behind you will open fully. If you go up further and inspect the left (northern) inner wall, you find a skull switch just above floor level. Activating it will temporarily remove the pillar in front of the left window on the top, enabling you to jump through this window into the cave. After the jump, don't miss the radiation suit around the corner, because the water down here is not healthy. To the right of the suit niche, there is a long tunnel leading to a circular area with a computer area map and two switches (secret area), and a short tunnel to the BFG9000 blocked by steel bars. The green ceiling is not solid, so beware of monsters. The big face stone switch will open the NE (north-east) teleport in the teleport hall. The skull switch lowers a lift to the outside.

Secret: How to raise the bars between the mud area and the BFG: In the end, you will have to stand in the teleport hall and enter the SW teleport. Your problem: The wall between hall and SW teleport will never stay open for longer than a few seconds. Should you be trapped in the SW teleport, you can push the southern wall and walk into another teleport to the east, which gets you back into the hall, but nothing is gained. There are two switches that do the same two things: They open the door between hall and SW teleport, and they lower the chaingunner post overlooking the hall from the west, both just for some seconds. One of the switches is a face stone at the back of the chaingunner post, the other switch is in the southern one of these water areas. Solution: Walk into the NE teleport (opening described above), you are now in the southern water area. Quickly activate the switch at the opposite side and go back into the teleport you just left, you re-appear on the SW teleport in the teleport hall. You could just quickly walk a step forward into the hall and backward into the teleport. But if you want a secret: Quickly run over to the lowered chaingunner post (secret area with invulnerability), ride up, hit the switch at the back, quickly ride or jump down and enter the SW teleport as long as it is opened. Either way, you have now entered the SW teleport from the hall, you are teleported onto the NE teleport. Don't walk out, but turn around, push the back wall, a big face stone can now be activated, removing the thick bars between the mud pool and the BFG9000.

Optional: Go back to the berserk pack intersection and head down the hall with the teleport(s). Head for the rear wall which opens to a long covered bridge, with mud on either side and a whole lot of imps. On the walkways surrounding the mud is more imps and a baron of Hell. Kill the imps and head to the end where there are a few candles. On the part of their structure without a candle, activate it and it will lower. If you time it right, you can build up speed and manage to jump out the window on your left right as the elevator raises. Maybe it is easier to first walk over to the candle and start your jump from there. There's a BFG hidden in a corner of the mud pool, but it is barred off, unless you raised the bars (described above). Some thin stairs will get you back onto the bridge. You can also ride the tiny elevator up to make your way out the right window, but don't do it. If you ride the tiny elevator up and walk right onto the other candle and jump out that window, you will simply burn to death in the volcanic mud as there are no stairs on this side.

Leave the mud bridge area and back into the water take a right, back to the grey rock cave filled with water, where you first came into this area and fought a Hell knight or two. The hard-to-see narrow stairway on the left leads up into a stone area with a couple of demons in it. Ignore the two skull switches near the start for now. At the end of this room where a couple demons pop up is a red switch. Hit that switch. This opens up another (southeastern) teleport on the other wall where you opened the first one.

The remaining part of this chapter is optional if you intend to use the yellow and red keys.

Head through this (SE) teleport and you will be transported into a water area. On either side is bars and an energy cell pack, and there's a teleporter in the middle. Head into it to be transported to where the blue key is, and pick it up. Drop down into the water and go back up the narrow stairway to your right.

There's two skull switches right near the top of the stairs (one is further on and around the corner). Hit the furthest one and a wooden room will open up near the top of the stairs. Enter that room and fight a Hell knight. The rear wall automatically opens up onto the grand hallway (with the trees outside). Don't go out yet, instead go back and hit the closest switch to lower the window ledge in the grand hallway. Run back through the wooden room before the ledge goes back up, through the automatic door, and straight across before the ledge goes back up to get to the outside treed area. Pick up the plasma gun in the corner. There is also a dead tree. Activate the dead tree to open a hidden door behind it.

Go through the hallway and you'll find yourself on one of the walkways around the mud bridge. Another baron of Hell will appear and teleport around you, plus an arch-vile will spawn on the bridge thing. Kill them. Make sure you don't fall in the mud because this is the side you can't get out of. Head on through the entranceway where the baron spawned and the exit is right there, but blocked. Look around the corner to the right for a blue key switch. Hit that switch and step through the teleport to finish the level without yellow and red keys. Or go on by using a switch in the left part of the tunnel you came from.

Yellow key
Go back through the (SE) teleporter outside the mud bridge that takes you to the (middle) water area, with the teleporter in the center that takes you to the blue key. Don't go in that teleporter. Instead, turn around and notice the bulletholes in the rear wall of the teleporter you just came out of. Shoot that wall and a teleporter will open on the other side of the room. Go through that teleporter and you will teleport into the left (north) cage. Go to the end of the cage and activate the demon head wall switch. This opens up another switch in the next room, so you have to be quick. On the left wall is another sort of tablet switch. Open it to reveal a teleport and jump in.

You will teleport back to that stone room with the demons in it. If you did it quick enough, there is a skull switch that is right in front of you. Hit that switch and quickly run to the rear of the stone room where a door has temporarily opened up. Head through and collect some rockets. Jump down into the waterway (gaining a secret area bonus), go through the vines and you are now in the yellow key room. A small stairway on the side leads up. Head to the rear and watch out for two revenants. Around the corner is a switch. Hit that and the rear will open up. As soon as you head in, an arch-vile will appear. In Hurt me plenty and easier, just kill him, then take a look at the statues: On the right (western) side, there are three statues, the middle one being a kind of serpent with raised arms. On the left (eastern) side, the middle one is missing. Walk on the spot where the serpent statue is missing and a pillar will open up to reveal the final switch. In Ultra-violence difficulty, both sides present a serpent statue. Nevertheless, you have to walk over the left (eastern) statue, which can (to my knowledge) only be achieved by using the arch-vile jump, so spare him long enough. If you are in need of a second Arch-vile (or strive for 100% kills), just activate the green torch (if he does not teleport in, make some noise in the waterway cave). Hit the opened switch to lower the yellow key and pick it up. Of course, you may also ignore the statues and the switch and directly use the arch-vile jump to reach the yellow key.

Head back out to the grand hallway (you can use the other teleporter near the mud hall, or use the plasma gun shortcut). Go in the three-eyed skull door (this was your entrance into this part of the level). Ahead is a barrel and a disembowelled corpse. At the right is the yellow key door.

Optional: Step up on the left hand yellow key marker (it has a tiny bite taken out of its edge) and activate the elevator. The elevator doesn't go down all the way, so you have to stand on top of the marker to reach it. The room has a pool with a blue armor in it, and some chaingunners and imps up around the sides that appear when you reach the end of the room. Once you've taken care of them, head to the rear right of the room. There is a strange looking wall texture right on the corner. Activate it to reveal a switch which lowers some stairs. Go up the stairs and collect the guns the chaingunner left behind, and jump down to get the blue armor.

Red key
Remember the rocky cave with the yellow bars, near the berserk pack/Hell knight wooden room? Head all the way back there. Activate the bars to raise them, and then activate the wall behind for an elevator up. The first and last step of the stairs in front of you will close the blue and open the red key way to the exit. You reach a wide open outdoors area with a red key on a high pillar, and a megasphere. This area is full of cacodemons, maybe 9 or 10 of them (21 in Ultra-violence), some of them around the corner to the left. Also, two mancubi will be teleported to the area shortly after your first weapon use in the upper area, try to get them to fight the cacodemons for you. Once you've defeated all these guys, go around to the back left and look along the inside wall for a brick marked with an 'X'. Hit this switch to lower the red key. Pick it up and get back to the rising pillar meantioned earlier, there will now be an opening just below the ceiling next to the pillar. Remember that walking into the wide corridor lowers the pillar if it is up. Ride the pillar up and jump over (secret area), use the red-keyed switch to access the exit teleporter right next to it.

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