MAP02: Maskim Xul (Maskim Xul)

MAP02: Maskim Xul is the second map of Maskim Xul. It was designed by James Caldwell (Obsidian) and uses the music track "The Library of Nightmares," composed for the level by Tristan Clark (Eris Falling). In ZDoom-based source ports, an OGG version of the music track with higher-quality virtual instruments will play instead of the MIDI.

Maskim Xul was featured in Doomworld's Top 100 Most Memorable Maps, placing 61st.

"Maskim xul" is supposedly a phrase from ancient Sumerian, meaning "demon who lies in wait".

Secrets

 * 1) From the starting point, go east to the library section and drop down. From there, take the set of steps at the east end and climb up. Go north, onto the northern bookshelf, then west, where you should be outside a set of steps. Climb the outer portion of these steps going north and look at the last column to find an eye hidden inside it. Pressing it reveals a teleporter to the east. Go here to get a demon soul and demon hearts. (sector 106)
 * 2) After using the switch behind the red skull bars near the starting point, go west through the area that previously had a red veil blocking it. Face south towards the steps and notice a skull switch on a wall. Shoot it to reveal a passage under the switch, which leads to a soul sphere. (sector 1928)
 * 3) The steps leading towards the blue crystal door and blue crystal gates has a switch on one of the steps. Use it and quickly run to the north side of the room to get two medikits under the steps. (sector 2838)
 * 4) In the area with two gargoyle switches that open up the hallway where the blue skull key is located, go under the south arch and face east. Shoot at the black wall here to open up a room with three backpacks. (sector 2833)
 * 5) Go down the hallway past the blue skull key and down the steps. A skull switch surrounded by demon hearts is here. Pressing it reveals a portal above you where lost souls pour out, but the same switch also briefly opens a portal inside the large center bookshelf just southwest of the switch. After pressing the switch, quickly run to this portal to appear at the northwest end of the center bookshelf. From where you teleported, make a running jump west to the long ledge where the imps were, then go through the hall you find to battle an acolyte of afrit. The skull in the center has a way out. (sector 2683)
 * 6) In the area with the bookshelf blocks, make your way to the first invisible candle lift, then the second (making sure to hit the skull switch to lower the chaingun block, then the next one after that to raise it). Go to the northwest side, and there should be a dark opening which you can enter. Maneuver inside to collect the megaarmor. (sector 2989)
 * 7) Take the yellow door southwest of the library section. A revenant will appear from a bookshelf as you enter the room. The northern bookshelf in his alcove has a skull you can use. This secret is timed, so before pressing the skull in the bookshelf, open the door near the yellow door, then press the skull. Now quickly run through the door you opened, east across the rug, south towards the square rug, then east and around to where the roulette sphere is before either the entrance or the banner wall rises. (sector 354)
 * 8) In the same area past the yellow door mentioned above, head to the southeast corner of the room. There is a hole in the bookshelf. Use it to trigger the secret, as well as open the southern bookshelf with satyrs, boxes of shotgun shells, jackbombs, a demon soul, and if you press on the glowing skull on one of the bookshelves, twenty armor bonuses. (sector 4227)
 * 9) Once you crack the bell and hit the lion switch below at the northeast end of the map, head back south to the room with the liquid slime and go to the northwest corner, where greater acolytes will be coming from the bookshelves. Inside the bookshelf on the left, a glowing skull is on the south side. This skull lowers a bookshelf across the liquid slime, but only briefly. Use the skull, then quickly run east, then south, towards the stimpacks, then onto the bookshelf. When it rises, maneuver across to the south side where the demon soul is to get the secret. (sector 4574)
 * 10) The same lion switch mentioned above removes some nearby bars allowing you to reach a big skull switch. After using this switch, return to the red open area with two red skull doors. Take either of these doors, then use the big skull switch at the southeast end, which had a veil previously blocking it. Take the lift up, then jump to the block which has a health bonus on it, which actually has fifty health bonuses. (sector 1151)
 * 11) The switch near Secret #10 lowers the bookshelf directly south of the starting point. Kill the enemies inside the arena behind that bookshelf to proceed, then look east towards the floating skull rock. The glowing skull in the bookshelf lowers the columns northeast of the arena. Backtrack to that area (where Secret #8 was) and pick up the torch. (sector 2829)
 * 12) Find the skulls with emblems below them in small rooms. You can find three of these skulls in the map, one is at the west side of the circular red balcony, another is southeast of the central bookshelf in the blue skull key area. The final one is located in the southeast library section. Once you press all three skulls, a portal opens up from any of these small rooms. Entering a portal takes you to the Grimoire Excidium. You will be able to test it out on a large group of enemies upon leaving the secret area. (sector 2884)
 * 13) Once you have the yellow crystal, return to the southwest library section, which has the large central bookshelf. Go east from that bookshelf to the dead-end room, then go around to the backside of the southern metal column. The yellow crystal switch here opens a room to the north with health bonuses. Look to the right in this room and shoot the skull switch, which will open up a room to the south with a berserk sphere. Several Will 'o Wisps come in once you pick it up. (sector 1390)

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 December 1, 2021.

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

Inspiration and development
The initial inspiration for this map was, one of the maps from NOVA: The Birth. The most obvious comparison point would be the library area of The Seventh Circle, which influenced the thematic and design decisions throughout the construction of the map.