E2M8: Hell's Maw (Heretic Treasure Chest)

E2M8: Hell's Maw is the eighth and final map of episode 2 of Heretic Treasure Chest. It was designed by Jason Allison (rf`) and uses the music track "Arpo" from Heretic, created by Kevin Schilder.

Essentials
Take the Ethereal Crossbow then turn right and follow the passage past some gargoyles and golems to a switch and a Bag of Holding, which are guarded by an undead warrior. Press the switch then go back the way you came, following the tunnel in a clockwise direction past more enemies until you reach a second switch on the east side, which will lower several walls leading to the inner ring revealing ophidians and disciples of D'Sparil. Enter the inner ring and go to its north side to find a third switch, which will lower a wall behind you revealing an arena with four maulotaurs, or eight on hard skill levels.

Once all the maulotaurs are killed, a wall at the south end of the arena will lower to reveal another switch. Press it then go down the staircase that forms in front of you to find a blue teleporter that you can step on to finish the episode.

Other points of interest
Numerous pickups can be found by searching the alcoves on either side of the outer ring.
 * The niche nearest to the first switch contains Gauntlets of the Necromancer.
 * After passing through the door on the west side of the outer ring, the first alcove on your left contains a Dragon Claw.
 * At the north side of the outer ring is an alcove containing an iron lich and a Phoenix Rod.
 * A Hellstaff can be found on the east side of the inner ring, while a Firemace can spawn on the west side.

Secrets
There are no official secrets in this level.

Speedrunning
As this level does not contain official secrets, the NM 100S category is redundant.

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.

Player spawns
This level contains eight spawn points:
 * 1) facing north. (thing 1770)
 * 2) facing north. (thing 1771)
 * 3) facing east. (thing 1772)
 * 4) facing west. (thing 1773)
 * 5) facing north. (thing 1774)
 * 6) facing south. (thing 1777)
 * 7) facing south. (thing 1778)
 * 8) facing north. (thing 1779)

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