MAP24: Ascent (Plutonia 1024)

MAP24: Ascent is the twenty-fourth map of Plutonia 1024: The Plutinya Experiment. It was designed by Captain Toenail, and the par time defined in MAPINFO is 2:30.

Essentials
Take the weapons and items to your right, then follow the grass steps west and south past some imps and shotgun guys until you reach a tan stone wall - some demons will teleport in as you approach, along with a Hell knight (or two revenants on Hurt Me Plenty (HMP) skill level or higher) near the starting point. Go through the doorway in the stone wall and look left to see a knight guarding a rocket launcher, then head west past a chaingunner and north up some steps guarded by revenants, imps and another knight (or a mancubus on HMP or higher) to reach a door at the top - more revenants and an arachnotron will appear in front of and behind you as you climb. Open the door at the top of the steps and kill a knight (or baron of Hell on Ultra-Violence and Nightmare) waiting behind it, then step through to a small chamber with a wooden pole - the pole will lower and allow you to collect the red skull key on top of it, but you will need to fight off a baron (or arch-vile on HMP or higher) that rapidly teleports between the surrounding cages while you wait.

With the red key, open the east door and push past some more imps and a knight (or arachnotron on HMP or higher) to get to a berserk pack - two revenants and a mancubus will be released behind you as you advance. Just before reaching the berserk you will see a switch inside a pillar on your right, which you can flip to raise some platforms that lead south to a ledge with an arachnotron. As you reach this ledge a pole holding the blue skull key will start to descend; you will need to fight off some cacodemons and imps (or revenants on HMP or higher) while you wait for the key to lower. With the blue key, flip both of the nearby switches to open two sets of bars in the center tower, then fight your way past some revenants and imps to reach the exit teleporter; a revenant (or arch-vile on HMP or higher) will teleport in as you approach the exit, and on HMP or lower there will be a supercharge in the same spot.

Secrets

 * 1) On the western steps, you will see three alcoves high up on the east side. You can use each of these as a lift, getting three secrets containing shotgun shells, a backpack and a stimpack. (sector 102)
 * 2) See secret #1. (sector 103)
 * 3) See secret #1. (sector 104)

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

The data was last verified in its entirety on April 3, 2022.

Player spawns
This level contains seven spawn points:
 * 1) facing south. (thing 42)
 * 2) facing south. (thing 43)
 * 3) facing north. (thing 44)
 * 4) facing north. (thing 164)
 * 5) facing south-east. (thing 165)
 * 6) facing south-west. (thing 166)
 * 7) facing east. (thing 167)

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