MAP16: The Path (Hell Revealed)

MAP16: The Path, designed by Yonatan Donner, is the sixteenth map of Hell Revealed. It uses "Watz Next?," the ending music from the shareware version of Rise of the Triad.

Description
According to the Hell Revealed info pack:


 * An underground level. First make the way to reach the bridge, and then get the two keys you will need in order to leave this bloody realm of danger and fear and rise to the surface...


 * Size: large
 * Difficulty: hard

Essentials
This map has a lot of damaging floors, but also holds a lot of radiation suits necessary if you need to cross for any reason. The solid ground of the map leads to a number of places, and barons of Hell walk around on this path. Grab the super shotgun at the beginning and drop on the path. The path branches off to three areas, the one on the right leads into a room with a rocket launcher and a teleporter back to the starting point. If you take the path straight ahead, you will find two more openings. The one that is directly on the path to the northeast has a teleporter leading to an opening above the path with arch-viles and a plasma gun. The one across the damaging blood has some blue bars blocking a switch (remember these for later) and a door. Open this door and kill the arch-vile, then press the switch here before returning to the path.

Back at the path that branches off in three directions, go westward. At the break in the path, you will see an opening to the north. Head through this opening (it would be wise to pick up a radiation suit before heading through the opening) and you will find another branching path with revenants on it. There is a switch on the left branch, which you should press. If it isn't there, go back to the room with the single arch-vile and press that switch to make it appear. The other branching path here has red bars blocking another switch; again, remember this one for later. After pressing the switch you can press here, return south, and keep heading down and then east, looking out for barons of Hell as well as mancubi on the walls above. As you approach the teleporter, parts of the path will sink into the blood, so hurry across if you do not have a radiation suit on.

When you enter the teleporter, there should be some stairs leading up. If they are not there, you need to press the switch on the branching paths where the revenants are. There are a lot of spectres, imps, demons, and a spider mastermind on this path, and on the ledge where the demons are, are three separate paths. Each path is barred, but the bars lower when you approach them. The right path is optional, but holds a secret as well as a berserk pack. Take the left path to find some arachnotrons, imps, and an arch-vile. The red skull key is here, but look out for the trap that springs upon getting the key. Now take the middle path, and you will find two teleporters. Enter the right one to be teleported to the ledge at the southern part of the map where the mancubi were located. Follow this ledge all the way to the blue skull key and the door. Opening the door also opens a closet nearby with an arch-vile and some supplies, and the door you opened eventually leads back to the starting point.

Now that you have both skull keys, return to the color bars that you should have took note of, but look out for the barons of Hell who have teleported onto the paths. Pressing the switch behind the blue bars raises some stairs in the exit room (allowing access to the exit), and pressing the switch behind the red bars raises a lift that you can use to reach the exit room. Inside the exit room are some cacodemons, so make some noise here if you intend to kill them; otherwise, enter the exit teleporter.

Official

 * 1) Follow the path from the starting point to the north and you will eventually find a small compartment with a blue-barred switch in it. North of that compartment is a small isle with a blue torch and some Hell knights on it. North (and a step west) of that isle there is a walk-through wall with a soul sphere in it. (sector 39)
 * 2) At the very north of the map in the eastern cage-separated area with the Hell knights in it there is a door hidden in the north wall (directly north of the berserk pack with a radiation suit and a teleporter in it. (sector 120) The teleporter takes you to a lava pit, where you can walk around to find a soul sphere.

Non-official

 * 1) After picking up the red key, return to the compartment that had the rocket launcher. The back of it has opened up, leading to an area with 6 shell boxes, 4 energy cell packs, 3 medikits, and 4 radiation suits.
 * 2) After taking the teleporter near the mancubi, take the stairs up and drop into the area on the right, where the imps are. The compartment ahead contains medikits, cell packs, and a backpack. There is another compartment northeast containing a megasphere and radiation suits. To exit, look for a teleporter near the blue torch.

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

The data was last verified in its entirety on July 4, 2020.

Current DSDA 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 four spawn points:
 * 1) facing north. (thing 4)
 * 2) facing south. (thing 23)
 * 3) facing south. (thing 24)
 * 4) facing north. (thing 25)

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