Hub 1: Seven Portals (map)

Seven Portals is the first hub map in Hexen. It starts with the player in a room with a Korax-faced-wall in front of them.

Walkthrough
This map is visited multiple times and its walkthrough is thus closely related to walkthroughs of all remaining maps of the hub (exept, of course, the prologue one).

First Visit (start)

The wall starts flaming, says: "Greetings mortal, are you ready to die? Go just outside, stand on the ledge, it will go down. You get down to the main area of the map, there are some monsters there, depending on the difficulty (mostly ettins and efreeti). They are going to appear some more now and then as you proceed through the map, so I won't mention the "kill all the monsters there" anymore. Anyway, there is a bull-head switch on a wall at the left side of the area (east), where three of the seven doors (and portals) are. Switching it will open the middle door. At the end of that room, you have to jump on the wooden ledge and pass through the window into the icy hall and through the portal into the Guardian of Ice (north wing).

Second visit

Now as you come back from your first visit to the Guardian of Ice, the two remaining doors that are on the same side as the room you're in will have opened. Each of them contains (along with some monsters to kill) a switch at its end. Each switch opens a corner of its respective room with a portal. One of the leads to the Guardian of Fire, the other one to the Guardian of Steel. Which one you choose as the first is not much important, but I personally recommend the steel one as you will find your second weapon there that will help you fight the efreeti in the fire level.

Third visit

Just go either to the Guardian of Fire or the Guardian of Steel, depending on which one you come from.

Fourth visit

The central door at the other side of the main area of this level should be opened now so kill all the monsters it let out and go there. There will appear some wendigos there so kill them too. Then again, gat on the small wooden ledge and through the opening into the icy area. Beware, however, that some portions of the floor (the ones brighter than the rest) tend to crush you. Getting through them will lead you to another portal that will take you to a completely new part of the Guardian of Ice.

Fifth visit

As you come back from your second Guardian of Ice visit, the central stairs in the main area will rise. Nevermind them, and quickly go use your newly acquired Fire and Steel key to their respective Guardian levels. At this point, the order really does not matter. The two gates on either side of the second Guardian of Ice portal are opened. Their are perfectly symmetric with the other ones, so going through them, you will find a switch at the end that opens a new portal to either Guardian level. Note: When going to the Guardian of Steel, you should take the second (i.e. this one, the newly opened) portal. (The new portal to the Guardian of Fire does not actually take you to any new area so it doesn't matter at all which portal you take.

Sixth visit

Go to either Guardian map, Fire or Steel where you have not come for the second time yet. Note: When going to the Guardian of Steel,you should take the second (i.e. this one, the newly opened) portal.

Seventh visit

Now basically all the three big flights of stairs in the main area whould have risen, forming a trident pointing to the seventh, still closed gate. Go up each of them finding there a bull-head switch. When all three of them are pulled, the final gate will open. Note also that the central stairs leads you to Bracers of Dragonskin and the other two have a chain switch just opposite to the bull-head one. Pulling those two switches opens the two barred ways in the room just after the dark one in the Guardian of Ice, opening ways that eventually lead to the secret level (more on that later). Anyway, now just go to the big room behind the seventh gate, kill all the monsters there and then pull the switch at the end. This opens the big green wall, letting you out into yet another area full of monsters. From this area (best after having killed all the monsters) you can access the Wings of Wrath (see Secrets, below). Anyway, after killing all the monsters, "invisible" stairs will appear, leading to the portal beyond the pitfall (you will see them as rotating small blue lights). If you are not interested in the secret level (or have already been through it), jump in right into the heart of Shadow Wood. If you want to get to the secret level (Bright Crucible), go back to the Guardian of Ice (the best is to take the first portal, i.e. the eastern one).

Eigth visit

If everything went alright, you should be returning from the Guardian of Fire, where you solved half of the puzzle of the Bright Crucible. So just head back to the Guardian of Ice, where the other newly opened door awaits you.

Ninth visit

Now, the Bright Crucible should be accessible. On the northern part of the central area of this level, right in front of the lift to the place you appeared in at the very beginning of this level is a square made of stone pillars (there are - or have been, if you killed them already - efreeti there). These are the stones that grinded, as the message told you. That is, they moved so that now you can get past them. There, there is a small hole where the river flows to and a niche (with iron bars) where it flows from (in the northern end of this "stone circle"). In that niche, before the bars, is an invisible portal that leads to the Bright Crucible.

Tenth visit

Now, this one is really the last time you wander through this level. If you already opened the seventh portal to the next episode, Shadow Wood, just go there and walk into it. If not, refer to the "seventh visit" above, where I described how to get there.

Secrets

 * Bright Crucible, reached only at the end.
 * At the large battlefield with the cliff at the end, go to the far left of the cliff and jump onto the ledge, kill three chaos serpents as you make your way up. Grab the Wings of Wrath (note: it is recommended that you kill all of the monsters before you do this).