MAP17: Mines of Despair (Whispers of Satan)

MAP17: Mines of Despair is the seventeenth map of Whispers of Satan. It was designed by Paul Corfiatis, who also wrote the music track for this level, "Ultra Creepy".

Essentials
A dead shotgun guy appears in front of you with his shotgun. Grab it and flip the switch behind the desk to open the way into the cave. Follow this cave until you reach a large open area. Head towards the brown building on the right and open the door. Kill the baron of Hell and ascend the stairs to the next door. In the next big room, you need to press the switches on the north and south sides of the library to continue eastward. Open the east door and ascend the staircase up and around to the door. Open it and kill the enemies directly inside. Approach the yellow skull key and it will lower, but watch out for the Hell knights that appear from the sides. Once you get the yellow key, backtrack to the large cavern and open the yellow door that is opposite of the brown building. Inside, go around the structure containing the megasphere, watching out for imp closets which open up, and then press the gargoyle switch to open the way to the staircase. Climb upwards, watching out for revenants appearing from the walls, then press the switch at the end to open the door so you can grab the blue skull key. The blue door is just to the southeast of the brown building, so go there and follow the linear path to a fortress. Look out for the enemies that emerge outside here, then head inside. Kill the arachnotrons in front of the red exit door, then head down either staircase to find the red key atop a pillar in this next big room. Go through both of the doors here, to hit two switches in each room. After you hit four switches, a staircase will be built leading upwards to a switch, so press that switch to lower the red skull key. Head back to the red exit door and open it, looking out for the double arch-vile ambush when you attempt to exit.

Other points of interest
About midway through the first cave, an cave is revealed revealing cacodemons. Kill them and continue through the cavern until you find an opening to the left before the water ends. Go up here to where the cacodemons were located to grab a chaingun.

Secrets

 * 1) In the starting room, open the wall in the southwest corner for an armor. (sector 590)
 * 2) Inside the brown building's library section, look towards the southern switch's right side for a skull marking that has red eyes on it. Press it to open a nearby bookshelf where you will find several backpacks. (sector 753) Shoot the stained glass to get an invulnerability.
 * 3) In the nukage room with the staircase leading up to the room with the yellow key, press on the gray wall to the right of the door that has only one candle on it. You will find backpacks, a medikit, and a switch. (sector 770) The switch triggers crushers for the imp cages in the room.
 * 4) To get the megasphere in the room behind the yellow door, just before you reach the gargoyle switch leading to the staircase, press on the wall north of the megasphere that has a picture frame on it. You will teleport onto the megasphere. (sector 329)
 * 5) In the staircase area leading up to the blue key that has revenants coming out from bannered walls, head slightly east of the switch that opens the door to the blue key. When you do, you trigger a lift that stays down for only one second before rising again. To get this secret, it is best to start from the eastern side, then run down the first staircase and turn right where you will see a switch. Hit it as quickly as you can (Note: it is possible to still hit the switch while the lift is rising up, but not when it has risen all the way) and you will open the wall directly behind you. (sector 400) There is a BFG9000 to the left in this room, and to get it, hit the switch to the right when you walk in.

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