MAP06: Castle Bathory (MAYhem 1500)

MAP06: Castle Bathory is the sixth map of MAYhem 1500. It was designed by Mike MacDee (Impie) and uses the music track "King's Court," originally composed by Kevin Schilder for Hexen II.

Essentials
The goal of the map is to find the vampire's hidden resting place and slay her. Make a note of every bookcase you see -- they all hide secrets essential to beating the map.

You begin in a sealed dungeon. Shoot the skull switch in the fountain room to open the gate, alerting all nearby monsters. Clear out all the areas immediately available to you -- you'll mostly face shotgunners, imps, and revenants. Beware the imps on the upper floor balcony of the grand foyer.

Go south to the fireplace room for a shotgun and ammo. Entering the room reveals the way to the kitchen; the bookcase is a secret door that leads to a blue door guarded by a crusher -- if playing from pistol start, you'll need the weapon on the other side of this door to defeat the vampire. Go through the kitchen and grab the yellow key -- depending on the difficulty, it may be on the dining room table, or in the pantry with the teleport trap.

Use the yellow key to enter the chapel and press the two switches. One lowers all the bookcases on the map, revealing the Blood Valves in the kitchen and garden balcony, and the vampire's lair behind the hall bookcase. The other switch raises the stairs to the second floor, where the blue key can be found in the master bedroom -- this opens the hidden door in the fireplace room. The cave beyond leads to a rocket launcher.

In the lair, the red key rests on the vampire's side of a deep blood pool, which needs to be filled. To reach the switch, throw both Blood Valves to fill the pool. Use the red switch to open the vampire's sarcophagus and destroy it with rockets to end the map.

Secrets

 * 1) In the southeast room of the castle is a fireplace. A switch is on the south end of this fireplace, and it will remove the fire. Where the fire is, you can find a soul sphere (berserk pack on Ultra-Violence or higher). (sector 66)
 * 2) Open the bookshelf in the fireplace room to find shotgun shells and a blue door. Mind the crusher when you enter. (sector 134)
 * 3) Open the blue door in Secret #2 and head south, into the water. Head west and go through the grey waterfall to find a secret area with rockets and four switches. It is recommended to use the switches on the east wall, because they remove the damaging blood and allow access to the rocket launcher. The switches on the west wall trigger a crusher as well as two walls to the sides with revenants behind them. (sector 153)

Current records
The records for the map at the Doomed Speed Demos Archive are:

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