E4M1: Nexus (No End In Sight)

E4M1: Nexus is the first map of episode Blood Stained Earth of No End In Sight. It was designed by Emil Brundage (NaturalTvventy).

Essentials
Drop into the water and go outside then drop down a hole in the south-west corner and walk through the fire wall to an area with one or more barons of Hell. Head south-west into a teleporter which will send you to a passage at the south end of the level; head north until you reach a rocket launcher between two doorways. From here you can go left for the blue skull key or right for the red skull key, which can be collected in either order.

Blue key
Go through the left doorway to an area with two switches; the button requires the blue key, but you can flip the knife switch to lower a lift leading to a room with two or three demons. Drop through either window to the water below, then go round to a dark opening in the north-east wall to drop down to a teleporter guarded by a cacodemon. Step on the teleporter to reach an enclosed area overlooked by more cacodemons, then go to the west wall to find the blue key. Watch out for some demons that are released behind you when you take the key, along with two barons that teleport in.

Red key
Go through the right doorway to an area with two switches; the button requires the red key, but you can flip the knife switch to lower a lift leading to a room with one or more demons. Step through the left-hand window to a tall pillar over a blood pit, then carefully step over some more pillars to a teleporter that will send you to a blood-filled area with one or two demons. Run east across a bridge to reach the red key; the bridge will drop away as you cross it, but if you fall off then a teleporter guarded by cacodemons will be revealed in the south-east corner that you can use to get to the key. With the key, drop into the blood and use the smaller teleporter in the north-west corner to return to the passage that held the rocket launcher.

Exit
With both keys, return to where you found the rocket launcher and go through the left doorway to press the button requiring the blue key, which will open a ceiling above the lift next to it. Ride the lift up and head south-west until you drop into another room, then use the teleporter here to enter a marble tower (you will telefrag a cacodemon when doing so). Flip the knife switch here to lower the floor then press the blue skull switch to raise a set of steps up to the exit door, then step through the doorway to drop to the water below and retrace your steps to the rocket launcher passage.

Go through the right doorway now and press the button requiring the red key to open a ceiling above the lift next to it, then ride the lift up and head south-east until you drop into another room, then use the teleporter here to enter another tower (again, telefragging a cacodemon in the process). Press the red skull switch to raise a bridge leading from the tower to a platform guarded by one to three barons, then head south up the water steps to the exit door. Press the skull switch behind the door to finish the level.

Other points of interest
After going outside at the start of the level, some demons will emerge from an opening in the west wall. Go into the opening to find a chaingun.

After teleporting to the passage with the rocket launcher, you will see two doorways leading into passages guarded by barons. The left passage contains several medikits while the right passage contains several boxes of bullets.

Secrets

 * 1) Go out into the open from the start and turn around to notice the water is lowering. Jump down and press on the south-west corner that does not have blood at the rim to reveal a passage leading to a medikit and armor. (sector 106)
 * 2) From where you teleport at the bottom part of the map, take the right path at the fork and when you reach the dead end, look at the walls on the right side and spot one that is not in alignment with the rest. Use this wall as a door to reveal a teleporter, which takes you to a secret room with cacodemons, health bonuses, and two boxes of bullets. (sector 50)
 * 3) From where you teleport in secret #2, use the green torch right next to you to lower the pillars around the secret area, as well as the wall ahead. The wall reveals the  logo which is the secret, although if you are playing on Hurt Me Plenty or higher, you will also have to contend with a cyberdemon. The four lowered pillars in this room teleport to the center, which can be used to telefrag the cyberdemon if you choose to do that. (sector 24)
 * 4) There is an opening to the north in the red area with the red pillars. From the south, head onto two pillars going north, then jump to the opening. A wall will open up and you can collect a partial invisibility, an invulnerability and a box of rockets from the cage. (sector 269)
 * 5) At the northern end of the map where the barons are, you can press on the north wall to reveal a teleporter that takes you to a berserk pack as well as crushing the cacodemons you see in front of you. (sector 5)

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 17, 2021.

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