MAP21: Sanctuary (Memento Mori II)

MAP21: Sanctuary is the twenty-first level of Memento Mori II. It was designed by Andy Badorek and uses the music track "Dredge" by Mark Klem. It contains a separate area for multiplayer competition; however, this area is accessible during single-player or co-op via a secret switch.

Mission briefing
According to both the text file and the Infopack:


 * Okay marines, you are in for trouble. Massive enemy activity has been reported in your destination area, strategically important places have been occupied by large numbers of enemy forces.


 * Our scout team has reported that enemy forces concentrate around a place called SANCTUARY, which seems to be of special interest to the enemy. Unfortunately the scout team could not get close enough because the entryway was locked and surrounding buildings were well guarded.


 * Your task is to jump in and clear the area of enemy presence, then proceed in order to find SANCTUARY, and, if possible, find out why it is important to the enemy.


 * The scout team has discovered abandonned [sic] ammonition [sic] stocks in several places but you are advised to keep count on your ammo or you'll end up throwing stones at those beasts. You may expect massive opposition and ambush attacks.


 * Before we lost contact with our scouts they reported a sudden rocket attack in a large square room in the most western part of your destination area. It is probably better to avoid that room if you want to make it home in one piece.


 * Good luck.

Essentials
Sanctuary begins Memento Mori II's final ten levels. With the exception of, these levels all pack a serious punch and contain encounters that are lethal to the unprepared. This level has a texture theme reminiscent of The Plutonia Experiment and plays like a level from it too, placing the player in nasty crossfires and tight spots with multiple tough monsters.

Start

You begin in an elevated alcove. Grab the shotgun and run onto the grey bridge ahead. You will have to deal with two shotgun guys and a cacodemon (two on Ultra-Violence and above). Continue forward and kill the two imps on the pillars on either side of the bridge. Run through the brown stone structure and into the next area.

This next area contains a small oval-shaped walkway with a central pillar containing a chaingun. As you enter, you are immediately set upon by two chaingunners (four on Ultra-Violence and above) to the left and right of the entrance. Quickly dispatch them with a shotgun blast or two. As you continue forward, you will notice a steel structure jutting out from either side. Each one conceals an imp and a revenant (not on Hey, not too rough and below). Kill them, then drop into the center of the oval-shaped walkway and lower the pillar to get the chaingun. Ride it back off, jump back onto the walkway and run towards the door in the east.

Open the door and deal with the shotgun guys (up to five of them). Run up the stone blocks (which contain stimpacks that may come in handy later) to be taken to a large outdoor area with a circular walkway over slime (reminiscent of ). The blue key is on a pedestal in the middle of the area, which you have to lower somehow. Here, you have to deal with a massive crossfire: up to four shotgun guys and two imps are perched on a ledge in the southeast, two Hell knights (one on Hey, not too rough and below) lob plasma from a platform in the northwest, a cage full of imps is in the northeast, and a Hell knight (imp on Hey, not too rough and below) attacks from the southeast. Keep mobile and take out the hitscan shotgun guys first, followed by the rest of the enemies. A rocket launcher from previous levels will come in handy here.

Blue Key

If you are playing from a pistol start, you'll probably want the super shotgun from the northwest ledge before you progress the level. Jump to the ledge, go through the doorway and flip the switch opposite the blue door to temporarily lower part of the circular walkway, which you can ride back up.

Next, head to the northeast part of the walkway. Jump off it and head for the stone platform in the east. Press the metal panel with the skull to open it, leading into a stone corridor. Flip the lion switch in the west of this corridor to lower a plus-shaped platform in the east. You will hear some imps and demons waking up - see if you can aim at them and take them out first. Head east, flip either switch on the pillars ahead and prepare for a difficult encounter.

The plus-shaped platform will rise into an open courtyard, placing you in a rather tight bind: On three sides, there are cages full of imps. Furthermore, you have to deal with up to five demons on the courtyard floor. Keep moving and see if you can get the imps to trigger monster infighting with a badly placed fireball, distracting the demons and giving you breathing room to deal with the imp cages. Once they are dead, flip the switch in the northeast to lower two pillars. You can now go to the northwest or southwest and ride a platform up to a walkway with many doors linking the imp cages, which has some energy cells and stimpacks.

Head to the southeast of the walkway to find a new corridor. Head through it, down a few steps and look carefully at the walls of the inner corner opposite the metal bar. The alignment of the stone texture seems a little off. This is a hint that a trap is waiting to be sprung. When you step onto the steps beyond this corner, this part of the wall will open up, releasing up to three pain elementals. Quickly backpedal when the trap opens to make space for yourself, then dump super shotgun rounds into them (and the lost soul swarms they produce) until they are all dead, then continue forward.

You are now in a large room with a number of metal pillars and metal walls. First, open the metal panel in the north to find an alcove with a box of shells, a medikit and a bulk cell - you'll need them all. Head back out and go down the steps. This will trigger two traps in rapid succession. First, the metal walls to the right (west) of the steps will lower, releasing up to four cacodemons and a revenant, but also revealing a plasma gun. Next, walls behind you (northeast corner) will lower, revealing a baron of Hell (Ultra-Violence and above only), a demon and a spectre. Your task is to force the monsters to bunch up the east of the room, so you can grab the plasma gun in the west and turn the tables.

Head to the south wall of this room and flip the switch in an alcove. This opens the metal box in the south of the room (behind you), releasing two spectres (one on Hey, not too rough and below). You will notice a block with a switch in the area that they came from. Flip this switch and backpedal to the north of the room immediately. This switch will lower the bars in the southwest, but will also activate a dangerous teleport trap - and the first monsters will teleport in before the bars are done lowering. Up to five Hell knights and five imps will teleport onto either side of the switch block. If you are not playing from pistol start, use rockets here to quickly dispatch of the enemies before they advance on you.

Once done, head to the southwest of this room and proceed down the corridor. You will be at the alcove high in the southeast of the outdoor area with the circular walkway. Flip the switch in this alcove to lower the pedestal in the center of the outdoor area. Jump out and head for the lowest of the stone steps with stimpacks in the south, then use them to clamber back onto the circular walkway. Once back on the walkway, jump to the island in the center of the area to grab the blue key.

This will cause the southwest segment of the circular walkway to temporarily lower, and the stone structure in the southwest of the area will begin to open up. If you have a BFG9000, equip it now. The structure contains up to three pain elementals and five cacodemons. From a pistol start, you will not have a rocket launcher or BFG9000 yet, and you will have to rely on your plasma gun to take out this horde of floating monsters.

Red Key

From the circular walkway, jump to the platform in the northwest. Head through the doorway and open the blue door. On Hurt me plenty and above, a revenant will be immediately alerted. Get the jump on it with your super shotgun. Do not rush forward - carefully head out until you see or hear the stone structure to the right of the walkway just beyond the blue door open up (another revenant will also be alerted). Quickly head back to the blue door. That stone structure has opened up to reveal a horde of chaingunners and shotgun guys. If you had rushed out, you would be punctured to death in no time. A couple of rockets should do the trick if you have the rocket launcher. Continue along the walkway and jump to the grey platform with a door.

Open the door to be greeted by two more doors. Open either door - they lead to the same area. Beyond this door is an outdoor hall - and a total of up to fourteen imps on either side. To avoid being overwhelmed, plasma is a good choice. Blow up the barrels ahead to send some zombiemen corpses flying out and clear the path to progress the level.

At the next T-junction, you will need to be wary of shotgun guys taking potshots from a window to the south and a chaingunner on top of a switch panel in the north. Head north and lower the two metal tabs in the middle of the path to progress forward. These two blocks cannot be re-activated from the other side and will only lower (permanently) once you get the red key.

You are now in an area with a large green building. Before you enter the building, you might want to deal with the cannon fodder on either side of the building. Each side has up to three shotgun guys, two imps and a chaingunner, including one positioned to ambush you from behind as you deal with the main force. Each side has a rocket, two sets of 4 shotgun shells, two energy cells and a stimpack.

Flip the switch on the panel to open the doors to the main building. Inside is a horde of monsters - up to seven chaingunners and eight imps. Grab the extra plasma gun for more cells. Inside the building, the center part of the north wall is stained with blood. Equip your plasma gun and press use on it. This lowers a segment of wall temporarily, reveals an alcove with an arch-vile. It is going to be busy resurrecting all the dead monsters on the ground to form a meatshield, which your plasma gun will cut through better than a BFG9000. Once it finally decides to start immolating you, use the doorways as cover, then take it down. Collect the megaarmor and two bulk cells from its alcove.

Lower that segment of wall again by pressing the blood-stained part of it (this also applies if you are in the arch-vile's alcove. Stand on the lowered segment of wall and ride it up. This takes you to a pair of corridors leading into the red key room. As the chainsaw on the wall segment hinted at, you have up to four demons and four spectres to handle. As you grab the red key, the panels in the north, east and west of the room will open up, revealing three Hell knights (Hey, not too rough and below), a baron of Hell and two Hell knights (Hurt me plenty), or three barons of Hell (Ultra-Violence and above). You have more than enough space to dodge around them here, so this should not be as tough as it looks.

Yellow Key

Head back out and jump down to the ground floor of the building. Proceed south (the blocking metal tabs have lowered), then west around the metal obstacle. It is actually a cage with an arch-vile and a revenant. Some rockets or plasma should do the trick. Go through the door to the west and press use on the metal wall to lower a large octagonal platform with a central pillar. press on the pillar to cause this platform to rise up, placing you in a crossfire. Your main concerns are the two groups of shotgun guys and imps in the northeast and northwest. There is also an imp and a shotgun guy in the southeast, but you can deal with them a little later.

Once the platform is done rising and you have dealt with the enemies, go through the western red door. This leads to a brown brick room with a wooden door sealed off by green bars. Go to the east side of the room. There are up to six revenants here. Two are positioned behind the metal pillar in the east in ambush; four are positioned in the rest of the room and are only present on Hurt me plenty and above. There is also a small alcove in the south of this half of the room with a switch and two barons of Hell (one on Hey, not too rough and below). While getting there, beware of the two pairs of barrels in this room. Flip the switch in the alcove and immediately turn around. This switch unblocks the bars blocking the door in the southern half of this room, but lowers the pillar in this half of the room, revealing four shotgun guys (Hey, not too rough and below), two shotgun guys and two chaingunners (Hurt me plenty) or four chaingunners (Ultra-Violence and above) - be ready for them.

Next, go back to the southern half of the room to find that the wooden door has been unblocked. When you try to use it, you will find that it is a platform. Prepare your best weapons and ride it up. You will need to be on top of your game to survive the next room and get the yellow key.

The yellow key room features a massive amount of opposition, which you need to consider while moving around the room:


 * A baron of Hell (Hell knight on Hey, not too rough and below) on a pedestal in the northwest, southwest and southeast of the room.
 * Sets of three imps behind blocks in the west and east of the room.
 * Up to four pain elementals rising up from around the yellow key
 * Two Hell knights on the floor (Ultra-Violence and above only)

Your goal is to flip the switch in the south of the room, which will lower the yellow key to the floor and raise the pit around it. Pull out all the stops here and do everything required to survive. Hopefully, you can scrape through with the yellow key in your inventory.

Exit

Backtrack to the octagonal platform, which should have lowered back down. Jump down and go through the yellow door to the north, then proceed forward. As you pass through the corridor flanked by pillars decorated with skulls, walls on either side will lower, leaving you between a baron of Hell (Hell knight on Hey, not too rough and below) on the left and an arch-vile to the right. Kill the arch-vile first for obvious reasons, then the baron of Hell. Step onto both red pads in their alcoves to lower a pair of walls ahead.

Ahead, you will find a single cacodemon. Kill it and press use on the metal wall ahead. The exit chamber is open, but you're not leaving this level until you deal with the huge horde of cacodemons ahead (seven on Hey, not too rough and below; ten on Hurt me plenty; 12 on Ultra-Violence and above). Mow them down with a BFG9000 if available - they will close in on you quickly.

In the exit chamber, jump into the hole in the floor to end this tough level. Don't rest on your laurels yet - the beginning of the next one is as hard as the ending of this one!

Secrets

 * 1) After passing the blue door, you eventually see a soul sphere guarded by a chaingunner at the north of the level. You can lower the metal pillar (sector 218) to its north like an elevator. Take it up and pass through the opening to grab the soul sphere.
 * 2) When you enter the northern walkway in the starting area through either red key door to its north, an alcove with (two pain elementals on medium and hard skills,) four cacodemons and four lost souls will be revealed in the northeastern corner. Drop into the water and use the stone elevator; take it up and jump into the alcove. Open the metal section in the north to reveal a secret tunnel (sector 277) with a medikit and a bulk cell.
 * 3) At the top of the stairway north of the western red door mentioned in secret #3, climb onto the northern railing and then jump to the platform in the north. Open the next two doors to find a switch; flip it and the revenant's pillbox (sector 187) (on medium and hard skills there is also an arch-vile inside) to the north will open. (The chaingunner's platforms northwest and southwest of the chaingun are lowered also.) Jump out the window and enter the pillbox to collect a box of rockets and a rocket launcher.
 * 4) From secret #3 go straight westwards, riding up the platform and passing the red door to the west to enter the room where you have to lower the green pillars blocking the yellow skull key room; you can walk through the northeastern door, upon which an alcove will open in the southeast. Head to this alcove, and look to the south to find that the easternmost section of the southern brick wall is not worn out. Open this to find (a medikit on easy skills,) a clip, a computer map and a switch. (sector 333)
 * 5) Flip the switch in secret #4 and return to the aforementioned green pillar room to find that you can now access the multiplayer portion (sector 386) of the level. (The wall northeast of the elevator platform is also lowered.) After killing two cyberdemons and seven imps you can obtain four medikits, two boxes of shells, two boxes of rockets and a bulk cell.
 * 6) After getting the yellow skull key, you have to use an elevator. There is a recess to its north. Open it when the elevator is lowered to find a soul sphere (sector 331). Picking it up opens the southernmost part of the wall in the western three imps' inset, releasing an arch-vile who teleports to the area surrounding the yellow skull key. Enter his hideout to be lowered to a room containing four (two on easy) chaingunners, an energy cell and a medikit. Ride up the lift to the east back to the yellow skull key area.

Bugs

 * The platform (sector 16) with 4 sets of shells and, more importantly, the blue skull key can be lowered by pressing a satyr switch (Linedef 316, Type 102 - S1 Floor Lower to Highest Floor, Tag 2) reached after completing the first part of the level, but also by pressing 'use' on the eastern part (Linedef 28, same type as the former) of the southwestern metal pillar that is part of the four metal pillars east of the platform.
 * Only one of the seven shotguns is available in single-player: At the spawns of coop players #2-4 is each a shotgun placed. Three shotguns can only be reached in deathmatch. Also four of the six super shotguns, four of the five chainguns, three of the four rocket launchers, three of the five plasma guns and the BFG9000 can only be grabbed in deathmatch mode. All those in single-player mode unreachable weapons are not flagged as multiplayer-only.

Current records
The Compet-N records for the map are:

The data was last verified in its entirety on May 30, 2014.

Player spawns
This level contains seven spawn points:
 * 1) facing south. (thing 605)
 * 2) facing south. (thing 606)
 * 3) facing west. (thing 607)
 * 4) facing east. (thing 608)
 * 5) facing east. (thing 609)
 * 6) facing north. (thing 610)
 * 7) facing north. (thing 611)

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