MAP24: Factory: Conversion Chapel (Strife)



The Conversion Chapel is accessed from the Factory.

Part 3: To the Conversion Chapel
You enter a square room with a comet symbol in the roof, and three doors (behind stained-glass windows) and one arch (behind a set of small bars) in the sides. You need to enter the east arch (opposite the door you came in), but it is blocked by substantial bars which need to be removed by operating the switches on each side of them. To operate these you need the Crystal Keys. You can get these in either order.

Getting the Red Crystal Key
Go through the north door. Up the stairs and press the button, then quickly run across the yellow Sigil-symbol patch on the floor (don't linger, it's a crusher); this opens doors to the west and east. Up the western stairs and around to a barred corridor (A). Approaching these bars will open them, and also those preventing progress further north; but for now, enter the door for the Chapel Key (and 50 gold, and some other supplies if you need them). While you're here, there's some other stuff in the niches to the sides of this room, including 25 gold in the niche to the south (the left of the door as you came in).

On exit, turn left and go down the stairs; do a U-turn to your right and go through the door (B). Press the switch to open the huge room to the north. Go in and up either staircase; at the top is the Red Crystal Key. Grab it and return, avoiding the crushers which have started (whch isn't difficult), and near the top of the stairs to the south of the huge room a teleporter has opened with two staircases (C) leading to it. Go through this to end up back in the square room.

Getting the Blue Crystal Key
Go through the south door. Run across the gap in the walkway to the structure in the middle, and pull the chain to temporarily raise the east and west walways. There are switches in each of the alcoves thus made accessible, but don't dawdle as those walkways will soon drop again: After pressing each switch (it doesn't matter which you press first), you will need to drop down into the sewage and run (you're being harmed) to the staircase (D) to climb back up to the start of this room. After pressing both switches, run across to the south alcove; the entryway will also hurt you, so run up the stairs and around to grab the Blue Crystal Key (and the two piles of 25 gold each). Unfortunately, your coming here has opened two niches with Crusaders; whether you fight those (they can't leave their niches) or just bolt for the exit door is up to you.
 * The west one (beware the crusher) opens the south alcove.
 * The east one raises (permanently this time) the walkway to the south alcove.

Completing the mission
Press both switches by the sides of the east door, go through and up; at the top of the stairs (behind the door) is a Teleport Beacon, which is a neat little bonus. The Converter is in front of you, you can't miss it; flip the switch (E), which for some reason doesn't just switch off the Converter, but puts it permanently out of commision. Then press the hidden switch to the right of the obvious one, to open a teleporter behind you which leads back to the square room.

Mission G10: Macil the Traitor
Blackbird will tell you that Macil has gone nuts, that he has just knowingly sent 200 men to their deaths. So you know where to go now; to return to the Commons, you can either retrace your steps through the Factory (remember that if you entered through the Mines, the Factory forcefield will still be up, so if you don't want to waste ammo fighting every guard in the Commons because you alerted them by destroying the forcefield, best exit via the Mines instead) or (if you opened the door to the teleporter from the Converter) you could return to the north end of the level where the Red Crystal Key was, where the north wall has opened, allowing you to return through the Catacombs. Whichever route you take, exit the Commons and go to the teleporter in the Borderlands courtyard, and use it.

Secrets
In the Veteran Edition, these are secrets which count towards the Completionist achievement.
 * The switch that opened the teleport from the Converter chamber back to the square room (and the passage to the Catacombs), also opened a door to the southeast of the Converter (F); go through, jump up into the short passage and press the switch, which in turn opens a nearby bar. Go through this to the alcove in the east wall and press the switch (G); this opens a hidden door in the south wall. In there are some medical supplies and 100 gold.
 * After getting the above secret, the northernmost bar to the northeast of the Converter vanishes. This gives access to a seemingly-ordinary block which is actually a disguised lift; lower it and walk across it to the passage behind, and at the end is a hidden stash (H) containing medical supplies, a Mauler, a box of ammo, two lots of HE Grenades, and 50 gold.

Trivia

 * This level has two of those comet symbols embedded in ceilings.

Bugs

 * Pressing the switch to shut down the Converter was probably meant to make the switch to its right (the teleporter switch) inaccessible, not just non-obvious. This would have meant that one would need to press the teleporter switch before the Converter switch, rather than being able to flip them in either order.