MAP09: The Plague Warrens (Project Einherjar)

Map09: The Plague Warrens is the ninth map of Project Einherjar, designed by Impie in 2016 and constructed in Doom Builder 2.

Essentials
The first half of this map is light on ammo and requires real survivor skills to get through in one piece. The first thing Juno witnesses is a Shieldmaiden being devoured by a pack of Worgs, which turn on Juno next. The exit tunnel is visible beyond a mesh fence, but the entrance is locked behind a yellow switch.

Through the two cramped sewer tunnels is the yellow key, but upon grabbing it the water level drops and several monsters attack. The upper level of the sewer is now unreachable, but a new area is now accessible: a long, wide tunnel with a switch on the upper catwalks. Take the left fork in the tunnel to watch another gruesome scene of Man-versus-Worg, then climb the stairs to the catwalks and hit the switch. Beware the Mommybot ambush when you reach the switch.

The switch creates staircases in the previously inaccessible tunnels, allowing Juno to return to the yellow switch and reach the exit tunnel. Once she kills the Stepchild guarding the elevator, Juno will finally have access to a decent ammo supply. She'll need it for what awaits beyond the elevator.

The final area of the map is an indoor parking garage, which quickly becomes the scene of a massive shootout. The first Thor guards the red key, required to access the exit elevator.

Boss: "Thor" Einherjar


Thor appears in different areas depending on the difficulty setting: on easier settings he stands just outside the exit door, isolated from the big shootout. On harder settings, he's in the garage, adding to the havoc therein.

Thor moves almost twice as fast as a normal Einherjar, and usually fires a pair of Dessler rockets that kill in one hit and have a massive blast radius. Occasionally he fires laser beams in a wild, full-auto spread. The many vehicles cluttering the garage make for great cover against his rockets, but they are just as good at tripping you up while trying to avoid his fire (or catching a rocket that was flying past you, hurting you with splash damage). He can take as many as ten rockets to put down. He drops the red key when killed.

Secrets

 * The center pillar of Juno's drop point conceals a switch, revealed by the tripwire halfway down the left sewer tunnel. Pressing it opens the wall behind her, where gray armor and a Shit Creek Scattergun await.
 * The first and third sewer grates Juno comes across have items hidden in them. They don't count as official secrets.
 * At the tunnel fork, take the left path to reach the pillar room with a pair of Ghost Einherjar hiding in the shadows. You will see an observation booth that appears inaccessible. It can be accessed in a roundabout way: when you reach the elevator to the parking garage, turn around to find an obscured passageway leading to a switch-door that takes you back to the catwalks of the large sewer tunnel, through a door that was previously sealed. Run to the other end of the tunnel before the other sealed door closes, then hit the switch in the observation booth to lower the central pillar, which hides a Missile Pod and opens several Worg ambushes throughout the map. Grab the Ballistic Knife before you leave.
 * In the control room (after the second Worg attack "scene") is a computer pillar, and a length of pipe running along the inside of the wall. Peer down the left end of the pipe to find a hidden switch: when you shoot it, the computer pillar lowers and reveals a Medical Backpack.

Other Notes

 * This is the first reused map of the mod. Several Episode 2 maps were originally made for an unfinished Hacx add-on, then used again in an unfinished Operation Body Count mod, before finally being finished and added to Project Einherjar.