MAP32: Ephemeral (1000 Lines 2 CP)

MAP32: Ephemeral is the second secret map of 1000 Lines 2 - Community Project. It was designed by Aurelius and uses a MIDI rendition of "Colony" by as its music track.

Essentials
In this level, you can only fire weapons safely while standing inside the "safe zones" indicated by pink lines; using weapons outside these areas will cause a horde of arch-viles to teleport in. Additionally, this level requires a source port that disables infinitely tall actors to work as intended.

Early in the level you will find a skull switch marked "I Give Up". You can press this switch to finish the level at any time, but reaching the level's true exit will reward you with a BFG9000.

Red key
Run straight forward at the start until you reach three imps blocking a doorway, which you can shoot from the safe zone in the south-east corner. Head through then look in the south-west corner are one or two more imps blocking another doorway - you will need to bump into them to get their attention, then either lead them away from the doorway or return to the safe zone so you can shoot them. Go through the second doorway and press the marble button on the east wall, which will open a room to the east containing a laser scanner - to trigger the scanner you will need to enter the room to the north where two revenants are standing on a red block, wait for them to fire a homing missile then lure that missile through the scanner. Triggering the scanner will lower the block with the revenants on it, allowing you to run past it - before you do, you will need to press the upward-pointing switch by the doorway leading to this block, which will raise some walkways for you to traverse later.

Past the revenant block is another safe zone, but do not stand inside it for too long as the revenants will be able to shoot you. Lower the lift on the west wall and ride it up, then head north and east past some more imps and a demon (or Hell knight on Hurt Me Plenty (HMP) skill level or higher) to reach an armor and a "SYSTEM OFFLINE" screen that will lower on the west side when pressed. Head past this wall and walk through a pink doorway to enter a safe room, then turn left and press the screens in front of you to reveal some imps and demons that you can shoot. There are some more screens ahead, but use caution as pressing them will reveal several barons of Hell (or a baron with imps and demons on I'm Too Young To Die and Hey Not Too Rough), as well as a cyberdemon (or two barons) behind you. Get these monsters to infight with each other, and while they are distracted kill the demon (or knight on HMP or higher) blocking the south doorway so you can escape.

Run east across the walkways you raised earlier to a narrow passage, then turn left to enter a chamber with a super shotgun as well as two safe zones that hold a knight and revenant; kill these enemies from the safe zones along with the demons that teleport in, then press the marble wall to open it and reveal one or two more knights to kill. You will find yourself back in the northern-most room, and the north wall has opened to reveal a demon switch - press it to lower a nearby lift, then head south-west and south to get on this lift before it rises. Head south-west from here and you will see some imps and knights ahead that you can run between to reach another safe zone; kill the enemies from this zone along with two demons (or a mancubus on HMP or higher) to the south, then run east from here to land in another safe zone with a berserk pack and two pillars.

There is a cyberdemon here blocking a skull switch, but you must avoid waking it up - instead, press the northern skull wall to reveal one to three arch-viles guarding a teleporter, lead them into the safe zone one at a time and kill them while using the pillars as cover. Once your path is clear, step into the teleporter to telefrag the cyberdemon then press the skull switch to open two more teleporters nearby. You now need to retrace your steps to the south-west corner of the level, which will require you to use the laser scanner that lowers the revenant block again, then step into the teleporter that has been revealed here to reach a new area to the east. Turn round after entering the teleporter and follow the path to two new safe zones guarded by imps and demons, then look west for a trail of health bonuses that lead to a gargoyle switch. Pressing the switch will open an alcove behind you with a knight, as well as raising a lift to the south with an arch-vile - you will need to trick the knight into throwing a fireball at the arch-vile, wait for the arch-vile to kill the knight then finish the arch-vile off from one of the safe zones.

Behind the knight is a rocket launcher and a marble button that will open a door visible through the window, however the door will close after a few seconds. Before pressing this button, return to the bottom floor and return to the doorway with the chevron switches on either side, then press the upward-pointing button to raise the platforms a second time; this will give you the necessary height to reach the door. After doing this, return to the room with the laser scanner and use the lift that the arch-vile was standing on, then return to the marble button and push it; as soon as you do, run east and south to the teleporter next to the arch-vile and enter it to get back to the south-west corner, then run north to the platforms you raised earlier and head east across them to get to the door before it shuts. You two demons blocking a switch ahead - bump into them to get their attention and step round them to reach the switch, then avoid the demons until the south wall lowers and you can reach the safe zones, where you will also need to deal with one or two arch-viles standing on another wall that has lowered in the south-east corner.

Step past the wall that the arch-viles were standing on and another wall will lower in front of you to reveal a caged cyberdemon - there is a screen behind the cyberdemon that needs to be pressed to lower a lift next to it, but before approaching the switch you will need to distract the cyberdemon by getting it to infight with another monster. After stepping past the lift you will be in a safe area with some cacodemons - kill them then press the face switch in the south-east corner to the north-west, then ride this lift up to a cage with a screen and a gargoyle switch. Press both of these objects then walk through the column that opens in the south-west corner before proceeding west to another lift that has now risen. Ride this lift up then run west to collect a plasma gun and the red keycard.

Blue key and exit
With the red key, make your way back to the northern-most room past the revenant block - just north-west of the block is a narrow passage leading to a red key door. Open it to enter a safe area and approach the two boxes of rockets in front of you; the wall ahead will lower to reveal imps and knights, but you need to avoid waking them up for now as they are holding back one to three arch-viles. Instead, look south to see some revenants in an alcove and get them to infight with the imps that teleport in as well as the cyberdemon (or barons) on the ledge to the north. Once the revenants are dealt with, press the skull switch in the alcove then dispose of the remaining enemies, grab the megasphere by the west wall then enter the blue teleporter here; you will see a switch in front of you that will crush the horde of arch-viles waiting to teleport in. Now turn around and press the screen behind you to get the blue keycard.

With the arch-viles killed, you may fire your weapons freely. Before going any further, return to the chevron switches and press the upward-pointing switch several times to raise the walkways as high as possible. Now return to where you found the red key and open the blue door here, then run north so you can on a ledge below that has a marble button and a downward-pointing chevron switch. Press the chevron then quickly step on the walkway as it lowers and look north-east to see a recessed skull switch that you need to shoot - this will raise the revenant block to a higher level. Return to the pair of chevron switches on the bottom floor and press the upward-pointing switch once to raise the walkways again, then return to the south-west corner of the level - if you stand in the safe zone here and look north-east, you should see a ledge with a second laser scanner below.

To activate the second scanner, you need to stand west of the revenant block and wait for a homing missile to be fired at you, then lead the missile through the scanner before it hits any obstacles. Once you successfully trigger the scanner, a wall next to it will open and reveal a gargoyle switch; after pressing this switch, you can raise the walkways to their highest point and reach the exit switch. Drop down to the chevron switches and press the up switch a few times to get the walkways in position, then return to where you found the red keycard and step through the north doorway to get on the walkway. Follow the walkways west and south to a computer area map, then continue east to a ledge with a BFG9000. Open the door marked "EXIT" and flip the switch behind it to end the level.

Secrets

 * 1) The sector with the BFG9000 counts as a secret. (sector 153)

Current records
The records for the map at the Doom Speed Demo Archive are:

The (absence of) data was last verified in its entirety on April 3, 2022.

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