E5M4: Caroll St. Station (Doom: The Lost Episode)

E5M4: Caroll St. Station is the fourth map of Doom: The Lost Episode. It was designed by Xaser and uses the music track "They're Going to Get You" by Robert Prince. The par time defined in MAPINFO is 13:37.

Red key
Head straight forward and drop out of the window ahead to the ground below. Go left or right around the building in front of you to its north side and walk through a doorway between two blue columns. Head north until you pass between two tech pillars then turn right and right again to find a staircase that will take you up to a walkway with diamond-shaped tiles. Follow the walkway south until you can step across the tops of the tech pillars you passed between earlier, then follow the walkway here to an armor next to a pool of water containing a chaingun surrounded by barrels.

Head north-east down a set of steps then turn right and go up another steep staircase to a curved walkway over lava. Run along the walkway, which will fall away as you cross it, and open the door at the north end then turn left to enter a rock tunnel leading to a bridge over nukage. Cross the bridge and head north until you reach a wall of scrolling faces (collecting a shotgun on the way) then turn left and left again at the end of the passage to enter a small room with nukage. Head through a small opening in the south-west corner of the room and turn left to see a bridge with barrels on it. Blow up the barrels and follow the bridge - in the next room, step through the red and blue scrolling texture to find a plasma gun and a switch which you need to flip.

From this point forward, the level will fill with monsters. Turn round and kill a zombieman as well as a baron of Hell that teleports in behind you, then go back to the bridge and kill the spectres in the nukage below before dropping into it. Head south-west to a doorway containing a box of rockets then turn left and follow a long tunnel past a Hell knight (plus a baron on Hurt Me Plenty (HMP) skill level or higher) to a staircase leading up to a room with a zig-zag walkway over nukage. Cross the walkway and open the door at the other end to find the red keycard sitting in the middle of a cracked red floor. Watch out for the crushing ceiling that activates above you when you step on the red floor.

Blue key
Taking the red key will cause a number of demons and one or two mancubi to teleport into the room; zombies, imps and lost souls will also teleport into the room to the north. Head north-east to find a small tunnel that will put you west of the starting building - a number of monsters have appeared here, including three arachnotrons. From here you need to retrace your steps to the passage with the scrolling face texture at the north end of the level - after crossing the first bridge over the nukage and passing through the room that held the shotgun, look for an opening in the right-hand wall and kill the enemies waiting ahead (including two arachnotrons on HMP or higher). Once the way is clear, drop into the passage and head forward until you reach a pit with nukage.

There is a door on your left leading outside which requires the red key to open - as soon as you go through, turn left to see a gray bridge with a spiderdemon on the other side and two arachnotrons behind it. Once the spiderdemon is killed, cross the bridge and look at the green building on your left - go through the doorway of this building and climb the steps behind it to reach two blue keycards. The walls ahead will open to reveal two revenants, along with a route back to an earlier part of the level.

Yellow key and exit
After taking either of the blue keys, you need to find your way back to the structure north of the starting building. You can retrace your steps to the red key area - alternatively, you can go back through the red key door and turn left to enter a passage that will take you past three train carriages. Back in the starting area, go round to the north side of the structure by the starting building to find a door with blue key markers and open it, then ride the lift behind the door up to find the yellow keycard sitting on a metal bridge guarded by imps and shotgun guys. With this key, go back to the red key door and step through it then turn right to see an exit door - go through it to enter the front of the train then turn left to see the switch that will end the level.

Other points of interest
After dropping into the nukage at the north-west area of the level, follow the tunnel in the north wall round to find a megaarmor. The nukage in the tunnel is highly damaging (20% damage per cycle), so you should collect the radiation shielding suit from secret #3 below before entering.

A rocket launcher can be found in front of the northern-most train carriage that contains the exit switch. Watch out for one or two revenants waiting behind the carriage.

North of the gray bridge leading to the spiderdemon is a narrow ledge with a supercharge. Carefully step around the columns on the north side of the bridge to reach it.

Secrets

 * 1) Enter the area north of the yellow key building and on the area with the steps. Press on the brown wall on the west side until it lowers, then take the lift up to get a clip, a computer area map, shotgun shells and partial invisibility. (sector 689)
 * 2) In the room in the center of the level with a walkway over the lava, go through the wall with skulls in the north-west corner to find an invulnerability. (sector 966)
 * 3) In the nukage area at the north-west end, drop into the nukage near the south-east side and press on the west wall to open it. Head up to get a radiation suit. (sector 902)
 * 4) At the eastern-most hall with the train carriages, head south past three sets of rising and lowering platforms, then press on the east wall near the window to get a berserk pack. (sector 537)
 * 5) In the red key area, step on the glowing pentagram to hear a lift lower. Quickly run to the corridor to the north and exit, then head south-east to the wall next to the lamp. Ride it up to get a supercharge. (sector 1138)
 * 6) Descend the steps from secret #5 and enter the teleporter at the inner curve of the steps. The secret area you come to has clips, an armor, stimpacks, rockets and a rocket launcher. (sector 262)
 * 7) In the yellow key building, jump south from there to the starting building and a door will open at the south end, revealing a super shotgun. (sector 1163)

Current records
The records for the map at the Doomed Speed Demos Archive are:

Player spawns
This level contains ten spawn points:
 * 1) facing north. (thing 943)
 * 2) facing south. (thing 944)
 * 3) facing north-west. (thing 945)
 * 4) facing east. (thing 946)
 * 5) facing west. (thing 947)
 * 6) facing south. (thing 948)
 * 7) facing north. (thing 950)
 * 8) facing south. (thing 951)
 * 9) facing south-east. (thing 952)
 * 10) facing west. (thing 953)

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

Inspiration and development
This level's layout is based on E1M11 from Doom v0.4. The level's name references a "failure level" in .

Trivia

 * The par time for this level is a play on "".
 * In front of the switch that opens the bars blocking the red key are some lines that spell out NIN when viewed on the automap, a reference to Nine Inch Nails.