Hub 4: Castle of Grief (map)

The Castle of Grief is the first map in the hub of the same name.

From here, you can go to Hub 4: Forsaken Outpost and, after solving a puzzle, Hub 4: Gibbet.

In this fortress of pain, suffering lasts an eternity and only time can tell if you will persevere to venture onward.

Essentials
You begin in a small room located in the north end. Here you are greeted by an Icon of Korax, which says: "You have played this game too long, mortal... I think I shall remove you from the board." Once outside, you will be approaching the castle from the north. It should be noted that like Heresiarch's Seminary, the castle is guarded by many monsters from the beginning and onwards. Some are on the ground, while others shoot at you from the ramparts. Be wary of the rising wooden spikes scattered around the map.

The castle is protected by a wall running between five guard towers located roughly in the northwest, west, south, east and northeast. There are two openings in the wall – one in the north end center and one in the southwest corner. On both sides of both entrances are lifts to the castle wall, although they aren't working yet.

Between you and the castle is a moat that has a wooden drawbridge in the middle. To get into the castle, you need to go into the water and pull the switches on either side of the drawbridge. Be aware of the Stalkers roaming about. Once both bullhead switches are pulled, stairs will rise to let you into the castle's north entrance.

Inside the walls you will find four buildings:
 * The tower – round building, located in the map's center: Upon claiming this gear, the mouths in the columns begin shooting darts.
 * The clockhouse – U-shaped, located in southwest corner (entrance from south).
 * The firefloor – L-shaped, located in southeast corner (entrance from north): Upon claiming this gear, the holes in the floor above erupt with fireballs.
 * The pillar house – located west.

Your first mission is to activate the clock in the clockhouse. To do this you need four clock gears; the order in which you acquire them is not important.


 * 1) Look inside the pillar house – there you see the gear immediately. Taking the clock gear activates a trap as the pillars drop, releasing four Dark Bishops.
 * 2) In the middle of the tower building is platform where the clock gear is. Taking it makes the pillars shoot various projectiles (arrows, darts, fireballs, ice shards, spiked balls and even Porkalator shots), but running through seems to work fine.
 * 3) Go outside the walls through the south entrance (located in the southwest corner). Now you must go around the walls on both sides of the castle and activate four moon buttons hidden in corners. When done return to the tower. In the north end a ledge has lowered with the clock gear.
 * 4) Inside the tower building there is a moon button on a ledge in the east wall. Pushing it activates the lifts to castle wall level. Go on the wall and go to each of the five guard towers. When inside, beware of the pit in the center - it is a fatal drop into lava. Be sure to check the turrets at the corners and sides for items. Each tower has a demon face button - after all five are activated, enter the firefloor building and take the gear. Discs of Repulsion are useful for getting through the fireballs without taking too much damage.

With all four clock gears enter the clockhouse and open the shutters on the wall. Insert the four clock gears to their corresponding places. When all four have been placed the clock begins working, and you get a message that in the tower a ledge has lowered (revealing a Dark Servant artifact). Riding the ledge up leads to a teleport switch to Gibbet.

The northeast guard tower has an Amulet of Warding in its southwest corner. Outside the castle walls, there is a Krater of Might next to the northwest tower near the ledge above the moat.

The Forsaken Outpost exit is located at the map's southeast corner.

Routes and tricks

 * Entry to the castle can also be performed by jumping onto one of the stalkers from the north side of the moat, then jumping onto the main castle grounds. Fastest approach is on the eastern edge.
 * Entry to the castle walls and towers can be performed by jumping onto an awakening Afrit near one of the four buttons on the outer wall.

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

Inspiration and development
In version 1.0, this level includes a major shortcut that got created by a mapping oversight. It allows the player to disregard many of the hub's puzzles and also lets him skip the Dungeons completely. To access the shortcut, the player must turn into a pig by either being shot by a Porkalator projectile in the tower or by bouncing an own Porkalator bullet back from a Slaughtaur's shield in order to get hit.

As a pig, the player can slip through a low opening at the eastern end of the moat in front of the castle. Behind the opening, there is a portal to Effluvium. If it is used, the player will arrive near a second portal to the Forsaken Outpost. By traveling through this portal, the player is already about to solve the Axe key puzzle that is one of the last puzzles in the hub. Once the player walks over a certain line in the hall where he had arrived, the cage of the Axe key will open in Gibbet. After the action, he must return to Effluvium where he can continue to Gibbet. When he gets there, he will only need to go to pick up the Axe key and enter the Axe door for the boss fight and the next hub.

By using the intended way to pass the hub, the player would appear to the Castle of Grief from Effluvium after having solved the majority of puzzles and fought the way through the Dungeons. The shortcut was blocked for version 1.1.

Trivia

 * When Korax makes his introductory taunt, the wall displaying his face does not block projectiles or the AI's detection. This allows a Dark Bishop a chance to attack, with projectiles arriving after Korax says he will remove the player from the board but before the wall is removed. Moving around the starting area may change which enemies get to attack through the wall.