MAP14: A Question of Time (Memento Mori II)

MAP14: A Question of Time is the fourteenth level of Memento Mori II. It was designed by Matthias Worch and Thomas Möller. It uses the music track "The Maw Awaits" by David "Tolwyn" Shaw, and contains a separate area for multiplayer competition.

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


 * Hmm, we don't have much information about this thing. What we know is: You'll have to reach Area 15 quickly, and teleporter [sic] leading there is located in this building - so you'll probably have to go through it.

Essentials
This map has three stages. The first stage has two wings, doable in any order, and nets you the blue key. The second stage also has two wings, doable in any order, and nets you the yellow and red keys. You then use both the yellow and red keys to open the final area and exit.

Start

You begin outside a brick structure. Grab the shotgun in front of you, and grab the shotgun shells from behind. From the windows beside the door, use your shotgun to play peek-a-boo with the shotgun guys in cages ahead. If your aim is good, you can try clearing out the imps in the cages in the east and west walls.

Enter the building, and clear out the rest of the enemies in the cages. The blue key lies on a pedestal, out of reach. You have to lower the pedestal and raise steps to it by clearing the next two wings. While they are doable in either order, it might be a better idea to do the east wing first, since it can get you a chaingun with a good amount of ammo.

Blue Key, East Wing

Head into the eastern door, and take out the three imps in this passage. Continue forward, and you will hear a revenant (two on Ultra-Violence and above). Keep running forward into the courtyard until you hear two demons wake up, then pull back into the passage. Your goal is to make the revenant missiles hit the demons, causing monster infighting. While the demons are distracted, head up either flight stairs and kill the revenant(s) (and imps, if present) at their perch.

The revenant's perch has two switches. Flip the north switch only - the south switch merely opens a trap behind you with up to three spectres. If you want 100% kills, you should open this trap when you are better armed.

The north switch opens the door in the southwest of this courtyard. Up to three spectres will come for you from that door. Fend them off, then go through the door. Kill the two shotgun guys ahead, then go up the stairs.

You are now in one of the imp cages overlooking the central blue key room. There is a satyr switch in the room. This next area is designed to force you to stare down a firing squad of chaingunners after you flip the switch, but with a little patience, you can defuse this trap and take minimal damage, while still getting your chaingun.


 * Head up the stairs.
 * Walk up to the switch, but do not flip it.
 * Return to the courtyard where you fended off the revenants, and peer through the grate in the northwest corner.
 * Up to seven chaingunners have appeared. Use your preferred weapon to kill them off.
 * Return to the passage in the southwest. Go up the stairs and flip the switch.
 * Some walls nearby have lowered, but the chaingunners that were supposed to ambush you are dead.
 * Collect their chainguns.

Head west through the wooden door back to the central blue key room.

Blue Key, West Wing

Open the western door, and you will be immediately greeted by a Hell knight. It should not be too much of a problem, especially if you have come loaded from previous levels. Push on the switch in the west, and a wall will descend from behind, trapping you. Equip your chaingun, push the switch on the lowered wall, and immediately turn around before a chaingunner rips into you. Head into the vine-covered courtyard and kill the imps there. Watch for chaingunners in cages in the side of the building.

Once the enemies are dead, find the niche in the southeast, lower the metal-striped floor and ride it up. Watch for an imp and a shotgun guy waiting in ambush. Head up to the lion-faced switch in the corner, push it, and prepare for a big fight. A teleport trap has been sprung. If you're in the switch area, most enemies will teleport to the chaingunner cage connected to the switch area. If you backtracked to the courtyard, most enemies will teleport to the south of the courtyard. For those counting kills, you are facing:


 * Hey, not too rough and below: six shotgun guys, two imps, four demons.
 * Hurt me plenty: eight shotgun guys, six imps, four demons.
 * Ultra-Violence and above: 12 shotgun guys, eight imps, four demons.

Ammo permitting, your chaingun will make short work of the cannon fodder.

Once you are done, head east back to the central blue key room. The blue key should now be grabbable - climb the steps and grab it.

Yellow Key

Head through the blue door in the north, and clear out the imps and shotgun guys on the stairs. There are two doors, one in the east (netting you the red key) and one in the west (netting you the yellow key). The difficulty level of this map will start to increase from here, so be warned.

Go through the west door. You will be before a room with a pit. Wake up the cacodemon (two on Ultra-Violence and above) and the imps, then funnel them towards the door for an easier kill. Enter the room and flip the switch on the eastern wall. This opens the marble wall with the pentagram in the west. Watch for more shotgun guys and imps, then go into the hallway.

At the end of this hallway is a skull switch. Run towards it, but the moment you hear a fast door opening, immediately run backwards. A trap has opened near the switch, and up to four demons have been released - now they fight you on your terms, instead of you fighting them in a corner. Go back and flip the skull switch.

Return to the room with a pit. The northern marble face is now open, and leads into a virtual mirror image of the corridor you just entered. Again, kill the imps and the shotgun guys in here. While you might think the next corridor has an identical trap, it is designed to play with that assumption. As you approach the switch, two traps open. One is near the switch, but it is empty. The real trap is at the bend of the corridor, with a revenant (two on Ultra-Violence and above). If you ran out in the same way that you handled the previous area, you would be in a world of hurt. Instead, flip the switch and stand your ground. There are three stimpacks and a medikit available here - enough for you to eat a revenant rocket or two and still be in good health.

Backtrack to the room with a pit. The ledge beneath the southern marble face has lowered, revealing a new corridor. Run in, then run out to attract the attention of two Hell knights (one on Hey, not too rough and below). If things get rough, you can use the switch in the pit, which instantly raises you to the level of the surrounding ledge for a quick getaway.

Once done, head back into the new corridor and proceed west. Clear the revenant (two on Ultra-Violence and above) from the cage ahead and enter the room with the green square on the floor. Go through the southern door and face off with a baron of Hell (two on Ultra-Violence and above). On Hurt me plenty and above, be careful of some shotgun guys too. Go through either door in the south and clear the two imps in this narrow corridor, then head further south into the next room.

The next room has nine demons (on Ultra-Violence and above, four are spectres). Try to pull them in groups of one or two, so that you have managed them. Once you count nine dead monsters, head up the stairs in the back of the room and flip the switch.

As you backtrack, you will notice a new window has opened in the narrow corridor with the two imps. A mancubus has teleported into the room where the baron of Hell was, and a cacodemon (two on Ultra-Violence and above) has been released from a trap. Get out either door and see if you can get them to infight. Finish off the wounded straggler.

The bars blocking the stairway in the northwest of this room have been raised. Head up the stairs, and prepare for a classic (and brutal) Worch trap.

Head into the revenant cage, and move towards the bars. As you move towards the bars, these things will happen:


 * The bars blocking the stairway you used to enter this cage re-lower, sealing you in.
 * The green square on the floor lowers.
 * You hear a teleport sound.

On Hey, not too rough and below, a baron of Hell is incoming, and you can just dodge the plasma and shoot back. However, on Hurt me plenty and above, an arch-vile is incoming. Unless you take immediate action, you are going to be burnt to a crisp. This is what you need to do to stay safe (unless you know about and use secret #6)


 * Flip the northern (left) switch in the cage to open the northern bars blocking exit.
 * If you can flip the southern (right switch) to open access to the next area, great, but don't risk it if the arch-vile is charging its attack!
 * Head north and kill the cacodemon.
 * Continue forward and open the wooden door. You are now back in the room with the green square.
 * Kill the arch-vile. Use the corners to evade its attacks. Keep it away from the dead barons to the south.
 * Mop up any resurrected monsters.
 * If you didn't manage to do so, flip the southern (right switch) in the revenant cage to open access to the next area.

From the room with the green square, go all the way east into an outdoor grassy area. The moment you step onto the grass, a fake floor trap will activate, and a mancubus (two on Ultra-Violence and above) will suddenly appear. Backpedal and use the super shotgun, if available. Grab the yellow key from behind the mancubi.

Head back west, then go north at the T-junction. You are back in the pit in the pit room. Use the switch to get back up onto the surrounding ledge, and return to the corridor just after the blue door.

Red Key

Go through the eastern door. Kill the shotgun guy ahead and continue east into a large, blood filled room. if you look carefully, you can see the red key in alcove in the back half of this room. Eliminate the chaingunner (two on Ultra-Violence and above) ahead, then head up the northern stairs. Kill the imp up there and take the berserk pack it was guarding. Next, head down the southern stairs, kill a lost soul, and equip your fists before stepping into the teleporter. Savvy players will realise that "free" berserk packs usually go hand in hand with one type of trap, and one of them is indeed coming right up.

You are teleported to a blood-filled, circular area. Punch out the two demons lying in wait. Next, walk around the southwestern pillar surrounding the teleporter. This lowers the surrounding metal walls, revealing seven (ten on Ultra-Violence and above) demons. Wake them up and punch them out one at a time.

Next, head into the alcove in the east. The blood will lower to form steps into a new area. Kill the cacodemon and any Hell nobles you see ahead (Hell knight on Hey, not too rough and below; baron of Hell on Hurt me plenty; one of each on Ultra-Violence and above).

Continue forward into a brown room with quite a bit of metal. Kill the chaingunners and imps on their perch ahead. Go around the square metal structure, and flip the gargoyle switch behind it. Two lifts in the northwest and southwest corners will lower, releasing revenants. You need to ride both lifts up to the top to a cage and shoot a switch in the opposite cage. Each switch removes a one of a pair of barriers blocking access to the next area. It is advised that you go the northwest lift first, as it is easier to snipe off demons through the hole in the remaining barrier if you do so.

Once both barriers are removed, go through either of the passages in the northeast or southeast, and climb up to a raised platform. Watch for imps in the first set of cages. Run into the teleporter ahead.

You are now in the second half of the blood-filled room from earlier. Flip the skull switch ahead to raise a pair of bridges across the lava. Press use on the fire wall at the end of either bridge to open a corridor with two (four on Ultra-Violence and above) imps. As you enter, watch for a chaingunner in ambush, then flip the switch in its alcove.

Head back out onto either bridge. A block has risen out of the lava between the bridges. Run onto this bridge, then into the red key alcove to collect the red key. That was the easy part - fighting your way back is going to be the harder part.

When you grab the red key, a number of traps open. Your first encounter is with two chaingunners and two cacodemons released from a nearby trap. See if you can start some infighting; if not, you'll just have to kill them the old-fashioned way. Head back into the silver teleporter.

You are back in the teleporter in the brown room with quite a bit of metal. A Hell knight has been released into each cage flanking the path to the teleporter - you can ignore them if you don't need 100% kills. The real problem is the two pain elementals released into this room - burst them down as quickly as possible. A horde of shotgun guys and imps will also be making a beeline down the blood-covered stairs in the west - if you can beat them back and re-enter the circular blood area, you can "camp" their teleport spot (the central teleporter) and trivialise the trap. If you're counting kills:


 * Hey, not too rough and below: seven shotgun guys, four imps.
 * Hurt me plenty: 14 shotgun guys, seven imps.
 * Ultra-Violence and above: 21 shotgun guys, eight imps.

If you get the right positioning, they are cannon fodder for your berserk fist. Backtrack through the teleporter, then all the way west to the corridor just after the blue door.

Exit

Head north through the consecutive red and yellow doors. You are now in another vine-filled courtyard with a central green building. Mind the shotgun guys, chaingunners and demons (Hurt me plenty and above only).

Open the wooden door ahead to enter the green building. As you step off the last circular step, the two cages in this room will fill with revenants. Kill them if you want; if not, simply run into the teleporter in the north to exit the level.

Secrets

 * 1) In the narrow wooden hallway to the west of the first room, press on the easternmost inset in the northern wall to find an elevator (sector 84) leading to a chaingunner's perch, containing a stimpack.
 * 2) Southwest of the switch that raises the steps around the central metal pillar (where the blue skull key will be found) in the first room is a wall with a hazard strip. Open this to find four clips, four sets of shells and three stimpacks. (sector 86)
 * 3) Once you lowered the blue skull key platform, rush to the eastern hallway. In the northern wall's westernmost inset is - unlike the others - a single skull on a pole. Push it to discover a switch. Flip it and the southeastern pillar (sector 153) in the entrance room will lower to reveal a blue armor.
 * 4) In front of the red door, take the western route. In the south of the room with nine demons (four of them are spectres on hard skill levels) and four metal pillars with hanging corpses above is a switch (A) that reveals the switch (B) that opens the southern bars in the room to the north. Approaching the former switch (A) opens two compartments in the room with the bars, each containing a lantern; the western one does not give off any light. Press on it to reveal two sets of shells and two stimpacks. (sector 533)
 * 5) In the room with the demons and four metal pillars, the southeastern pillar's eastern side has a different texture. Push it and return to secret #4. The northern wall here has a misaligned portion; press on it to reveal two sets of shells and a teleporter that you enter to find two more sets of shells. On passing the door to the outdoor area east of the central staircase, (a Hell knight on medium skills and) one (two on hard) mancubus appears in front of you and you see that a pillar (sector 531) has lowered to reveal a soul sphere.
 * 6) After passing the southern bars mentioned in secret #4, the northern inset bears a lightning bolt symbol. Open this to find a berserk pack. (sector 474)
 * 7) In the blood tunnel in the east of red door, the eastern wall in front of the stairs to the north is covered with anguished faces. Open it to find two stimpacks and a super shotgun. (sector 572)

Bugs
Table of items placed in deathmatch arena:
 * A spectre (thing 58) is tagged as being present on easy and hard skill levels only. This results in the trap it is releasing three spectres on Hey, not too rough and below and Ultra-Violence and above, but only two on Hurt me Plenty. Whether this is intentional or a mistake is unknown.
 * Sector 361 (the instantly raising platform in the pit room on the way to the yellow key) and sector 437 (a semi-circular lift in the deathmatch area) share tag 53. While this has no impact on gameplay, this must be presumed to be erroneous.
 * Because of the presence of items not flagged as multiplayer-only in the deathmatch arena, you can only get 21% items on Hurt Me Plenty or lower, and 23% on Ultra-Violence or higher.

Routes and tricks
The satyr switch lowering the platform with the blue skull key, as well as the lion switch creating steps surrounding the platform can be both pressed from the "wrong" side (from behind the bars). Performing this trick allows to skip the entire first part of the level (before the blue key door), although it may be risky in a potential episode run, as it is not trivial to press the switches this way and it also means skipping the only armor in this level.

The switch opening the door leading to the yellow skull key can be pressed the similar way, from behind the bars. This trick is much easier to perform, however, and it allows skipping another significant part of the level, including an arch-vile (on Hurt Me Plenty or higher).

Two shootable lion switches opening the path to the teleporter leading to the red skull key can be shot from the top of the staircase using the super shotgun. As a result, the time spent on using the elevators leading to these switches and dealing with the revenants can be saved.

After picking up the red skull key and entering the teleporter, instead of climbing the stairs and dealing with monsters teleporting in, the player may teleport himself again to the red key area. Then he simply needs to run backward from the teleport pad he is standing to return to the main area.

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

The data was last verified in its entirety on May 21, 2014.

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