E3M5: Forgotten Caverns (No End In Sight)

E3M5: Forgotten Caverns is the fifth map of the Woe episode of No End In Sight. It was designed by Emil Brundage (NaturalTvventy).

This level includes a secret exit to E3M9: Lake of Fire. Note that accessing the secret level from here will cause you to skip E3M6: Anomaly Retribution.

Essentials
Step across the lava in front of you, turn left to find a chaingun on I'm Too Young To Die (ITYTD) and Hey Not Too Rough (HNTR) skill levels then head west over a wooden step to a room with gray walls. Turn right to see a small area with a shotgun and megaarmor on ITYTD and HNTR, or three shotgun guys and a chaingun on Hurt Me Plenty (HMP) skill level or higher; when you approach the megaarmor/chaingun a wall will open to the west revealing one to four cacodemons. Step through this wall and another wall will open next to it, revealing one to four barons of Hell guarding a switch (on ITYTD and HNTR, there will be an invulnerability pickup in the room as well). Flip the switch behind the barons to open the doors either side of it, then follow the passage south and east down some lava steps to reach a supercharge and the yellow skull key.

Kill the imps that teleport in at the top of the lava steps, then backtrack to where you found the megaarmor/chaingun then head north round the vine-covered windows to a room with more imps and a yellow key door. Go through the door to enter a room with a skull-shaped lava pool - when you enter the lava the surrounding walls will lower to reveal some cacodemons as well as another door in the west wall, leading to a curving walkway over a harmful water pool. Cross the walkway and open the door on the other side, then head north through a red hall with three crushers and go round the corner to a blue room with some silver platforms over a lava pit, then run across the west platform to collect the red skull key; do not stop on the platform as it will fall into the lava.

To reach the normal exit safely you will need a radiation shielding suit or an invulnerability; on HMP or lower, you can step on the moving platform in the south-east corner of the crusher hall to find a suit (you may want to wait until the rest of the level is clear of monsters before proceeding). With the suit, backtrack through the yellow key door then head west into an outdoor area with many white rock walls (you will find a chaingun by the entrance on ITYTD and HNTR), continuing due west until you reach a plasma gun in front of a switch. Press the switch and a lift below you will take you down to a large lava pool; head north-west through the lava to enter a narrow passage that ends with an exit door requiring the red key. Go through the door and step on the white teleporter behind it to move on to E3M6: Anomaly Retribution (you will also trigger secret #6 in the process).

Secret exit
After getting the red key, go through the door on the south side of the red key room then walk south-west to find a narrow doorway leading into a fleshy maze populated by lost souls and barons. There are two eye switches in the maze, one in the north-west corner and one in the south-east corner, that need to be pressed to lower two bars blocking the exit door at the end of a passage on the west edge of the maze. After pressing both switches, find the exit door and step on the white teleporter (guarded by one more baron on Ultra-Violence and Nightmare skill levels) to go to E3M9: Lake of Fire.

Other points of interest
Step on the west moving platform in the middle of the crusher hall to reach a ledge with various items including an armor, chaingun, rocket launcher and plasma gun.

Another rocket launcher can be found in the north-east corner of the outdoor area with white rock walls.

Near the center of the flesh maze is a red cavern with an invulnerability and a computer area map.

Secrets

 * 1) Inside the skull-shaped lava room, the floor above will lower to your level. Go to the north-east corner of this room and fall into the lava, then press the satyr switch here to find a megaarmor and a box of bullets. (sector 44)
 * 2) At the big hall with the crushers and the rising and lowering blocks, grab a radiation suit from the south-east block and wait near the north-east block until it goes all the way down. Then run across the lava north, then east, then south to a platform with a chainsaw and another radiation suit. (sector 155)
 * 3) Inside the blue room with the damaging water, look to the south-west wall to spot a part of the wall that is indented a bit. Press on this wall to open it and reveal a BFG9000 and a supercharge. There may be barons in this room as well, and the teleporter takes you to where the yellow key was. (sector 182)
 * 4) Inside the broken room where the red key is located, there are three more silver platforms that can be lowered, which hold imps and some supplies. There is a switch in the south-east part of the lava here that will lower these three platforms. All three of these platforms count as one secret. (sector 187)
 * 5) If you venture into the lava on the west side of the map, quickly run across to the north to the island which contains the blue skull key and three rockets. (sector 193)
 * 6) If you go west from secret #5 you will spot a red exit door in the lava. If you have the red key, open the red door for the normal exit of the map (due to the way this episode was constructed, the normal exit has the appearance of a secret exit, while the actual secret exit is more of a normal exit). (sector 261)

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

Miscellaneous demos
This information was last verified in its entirety on August 14, 2021.

Player spawns
This level contains fifteen spawn points:
 * 1) facing north-west. (thing 247)
 * 2) facing north. (thing 369)
 * 3) facing north. (thing 370)
 * 4) facing north. (thing 371)
 * 5) facing south-east. (thing 372)
 * 6) facing east. (thing 373)
 * 7) facing east. (thing 374)
 * 8) facing south. (thing 375)
 * 9) facing east. (thing 376)
 * 10) facing north-east. (thing 377)
 * 11) facing east. (thing 378)
 * 12) facing west. (thing 379)
 * 13) facing east. (thing 380)
 * 14) facing south-west. (thing 381)
 * 15) facing south. (thing 385)

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