E1M8: Deathedral (Strange Aeons)

Strange Aeons maps
The Shattered City E1M1: The Traveler E1M2: Resident Evil E1M3: Shooting Range E1M4: Cowboys and Indians E1M5: Highly Terminal E1M6: Island Hopping E1M7: Halls of Madness E1M8: Deathedral E1M9: Haunted Hospital
The Stagnant Fortress M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9
The Land That Time Forgot M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9
The Plateau of Leng M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9
Out of the Aeons M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9

This level occupies the map slot E1M8. For other maps which occupy this slot, see Category:E1M8.

E1M8: Deathedral is the eighth and final map in episode The Shattered City of Strange Aeons. It was designed by Mike MacDee (Impie) and uses the music track "Mission 6 theme" from Chasm: The Rift. The par time defined in MAPINFO is 1:00.

Walkthrough

Map of Deathedral

Letters in italics refer to marked spots on the map. Sector, thing, and linedef numbers in boldface are secrets which count toward the end-of-level tally.

Essentials

Your goal is the switch-operated spider door to the left of the altar, which requires all three keys.

On the altar ahead are three pressure plates. The center plate causes the door on the right to open into a cross-shaped corridor, which connects the church with its three dungeons. The other two pressure plates open the doors in the left and right branches of the corridor. All three doors eventually close after a time, and can only be operated by pressure plates, which are guarded by a death incarnate in each dungeon.

The yellow skull key is on a pillar in the crypt, across the corridor from the church. A switch lowers it for you, but men from Leng will teleport into the area.

The red skull key is in a room full of pillars beyond the right door. The switch at the back of the room is a trap that summons more men from Leng; the switch that actually lowers the key at the back of one of the many pillars.

The blue skull key is beyond the left door. The pillar's switch is hidden in a small, dark sewer tunnel: when you enter this tunnel, four Glaaki spawn are unleashed upon you. When this key is grabbed, a pair of demon wizards will be waiting for the player in the church.

Once you have all three keys, open the spider door and jump through the portal. You will travel to yet another dimension—the Land That Time Forgot of Episode 3—and appear in a small pillar arena with one to three shadow beasts. When all shadow beasts on the level are slain, a switch and soul sphere are revealed on either end of the arena. The switch lowers the lift to the exit slipgate.

Boss: Shadow beast

The shadow beast is big and tough, and gets more aggressive the more damage it takes. It has a variety of highly damaging attacks at its disposal, though it is initially so docile that it is practically harmless. Its most dangerous feature is that it randomly explodes into a shower of hungry wraiths when damaged, then respawns in an unpredictable location moments later.

The easiest way to deal with them is to stand on the far sides of the arena, across the blood canals, and pick them off from afar. This may allow them (or their wraiths) to corner you, however.

Secrets

1. "Use" the beating heart on the altar to lower two pillars in the church, revealing a pair of soul spheres and death incarnates. (sector 37)
2. See secret #1. (sector 38)
3. Open the center and right pressure plate doors, then run straight ahead to the crypt. A sarcophagus to your right has opened, revealing a cache of energy cells and other goodies. (sector 146)

Areas / screenshots

• 

  Drop point for Deathedral.

• 

  The Shadow Beast arena.

Speedrunning

Current records

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

Run	Time	Player	Date	File	Notes
UV speed
NM speed
UV max
NM 100S
UV -fast
UV -respawn
UV Tyson
UV pacifist

The (absence of) data was last verified in its entirety on June 29, 2022.

Statistics

Map data

Things	297
Vertices	839
Linedefs	970
Sidedefs	1390
Sectors	149

Things

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

Single-player
Monsters	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Man from Leng	8	8	16	24	24	24	24	24
Flayworm	0	0	1	2	2	2	2	2
Death incarnate	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	5
Spawn of Glaaki	4
Demon wizard	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4
Shadow beast	1	1	2	3	3	3	3	3
Weapons	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
AK47 assault rifle	1
Ammunition	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Clip	26
Box of bullets	3
Box of shotgun shells	1
Rocket	10	10	6	10	10	10	10	10
Energy cell	4
Health & Armor	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Stimpack	12
Armor	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	1
Megaarmor	1	1	1	0	0	1	1	1
Items	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Armor bonus	8
Health bonus	45
Supercharge	3
Berserk	1
Ammo sphere	1
Keys	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Blue skull key	1
Red skull key	1
Yellow skull key	1
Miscellaneous	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Teleport landing	6

Inspiration and development

Impie tested the Shadow Beast battle using the sinking floor area of Ultimate Doom's E2M6. He modeled the final arena on the same location.