E3M6: Mt. Erebus (Doom)

E3M6: Mt. Erebus is the sixth map of Inferno in Doom. It features a secret exit to E3M9: Warrens. It is apparently named after a region of the Underworld in Greek mythology. There is also a real Mt. Erebus, Earth's southernmost volcano, in Antarctica, named after the exploration vessel HMS Erebus, which was in turn named after the mythological Erebus. It uses the music track "On the Hunt" and has a par time of 1:30.

The level apparently takes place in the volcanic crater of what may be presumed to be Hell's eponymous Mt. Erebus. Several small buildings and structures are found on and around an island in the middle of the lava in the volcanic crater.

Walkthrough


At the start of this level, go left, run over the the lava quickly, reaching land and going up the gray staircase. When you get to the top, jump off to the outcropping in front of you, where you can see a small platform with equipment surrounded by impaled or piled skulls. Kill the enemies here, and on this outcropping, collect the weapons, and the invulnerability powerup. Now face the small platform where you got the weapons, and run over the lava towards land to the right, onto the main landmass. On here, proceed quickly to the wall with skull heads on it. From the wall, continue left, then right, and jump into the large triangular pit with water in it. Hurry towards the teleporter in the small alcove in the structure in the middle of the pit. After you teleport, open the door in front of you. You may pick up the blue skull key on easy skill levels, but it is not needed for these instructions.

From the door, open the wall to the left that has a tiny candle in front of it, marking a secret door. Take the teleporter in the the secret alcove. From here, you can access the secret exit (see below), or continue on to the normal exit. To reach the latter, jump down onto the platform with the chainsaw, and then down into the box-like area below. Inside the box is a teleport which will take you to a previously locked out section of the map.

This section is sort of shaped like a 'Y'. In one of the far ends you will find the blue key, and in the other a switch to open the exit for you. Once outside the Y-shaped structure, immediately turn left and trace alongside the narrow ledge. To your right in the lava there should be a biosuit visible. Take it and proceed alongside the narrow ledge until you reach a brick wall. On the far side of this brick wall will be a small opening revealing a small passage. At the end of this passage lies the blue door which guards the normal exit of this map.

Secrets
Secret exit: The area that contains the secret exit switch is inescapable, so only enter it once you are ready to exit the level. Pick up one of the invulnerability spheres and make your way back through the teleporter from secret 2. This time, inch along the platform you arrive on to your right and around a corner. You'll see a blue box in the water below. Position yourself directly across from this box and face the red brick wall. Fire your rocket launcher at the wall and run backwards simultaneously, and you should be fired into the box, the invulnerability powerup absorbing all damage you would have taken. This takes you to the secret level. E3M9: Warrens. It's possible to straferun into the box, but the rocket jump is the intended (and easiest) method.
 * 1) Go inside the brown vine-covered building. Inside are two teleporters. Take the one on the right, and you'll be taken to a ledge with a plasma gun on it.
 * 2) Enter the green marble building. There are two candles on the floor against opposite walls here. Open the wall behind the candle on the right for a energy cell pack.
 * 3) From secret 2, open the wall behind the other candle and take the teleport. Once you're through, drop onto the platform ahead of you to get the chainsaw. Note that you must get this secret before taking the teleport in the cube-like structure directly southeast to it, or the chainsaw platform will raise up out of reach and completing the map with 100% secrets will become impossible.

Note that this cannot be done in the Super NES port of Doom, as the player cannot be pushed back by a rocket's explosion. Instead, the player can simply run into the box with the exit switch.

There is a glitch where you can actually access the Warrens level without accomplishing the above. To do so, go to the area where you would normally try to get into the hole. On the outer regions and where the actual switch is (you won't see it as a blue wall is blocking it), press spacebar at the right spot. Though this is technically illogical, the game will think you've pressed the switch. However, you won't be credited for the secret once you finish the level. You won't be credited for that secret if you exit directly to the next normal level (unless no-clipping mode was activated)

Bugs

 * Five "floating skull rock" obstacles (Things 209, 214, 220, 221 and 223) and a "burnt tree" obstacle (Thing 229) have no flags set for any of the difficulty classes, so they do not actually appear in the level.
 * The switch to exit to the secret level can be reached outside of the box, but at the expense of credit for 100% secrets.
 * On Ultra-Violence difficulty, in the building where you get the blue key there is a spectre that cannot move.
 * From the ledges of the vine-covered building on the east (with the specters inside) you can see a graphical glitch on the buildings in the lava.

Records
The Compet-N records for the map are:

Trivia

 * This is the first entirely opened map in Doom franchise.
 * According to John Romero, "The only way you are supposed to reach the secret switch [inside the blue box at the north end of the map] was by (1) getting the invincibility, (2) blasting a rocket into the wall so you would fly backwards into the box. We found out early on that it was possible to flip the switch from outside, so Sandy made the walls thicker." (See Doom Level History.) In fact, it is still possible to activate the switch from just outside of the walls, and also to straferun-jump into the box. See Access the secret exit on level E3M6 for details. Also, in the SNES port the player can just simply jump inside the box with the secret exit switch, as it is not possible to be pushed back from a rocket explosion.


 * The mythological place Erebus is originally a deep place of utter darkness and the personification of shadow, but the level takes place in a bright lava-filled open area. This seems to be a reference to Mount Erebus, the volcano in Antarctica. The volcano is incidentally located where one of H. P. Lovecraft's most celebrated tales, At the Mountains of Madness, takes place. In the tale the volcano is described and associated with Edgar Allan Poe's Mount Yaanek (in his poem Ulalume), taking a special and ominous significance. It is noteworthy that the author of the level, Sandy Petersen, had been the writer of a role-playing game based of Lovecraft's mythos, and was later instrumental in introducing many Lovecraft-inspired elements in Quake, the game id Software released after the Doom games.


 * The Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil single player campaign starts at Site 1 (Main Excavation) beneath an installation named Erebus and has five of twelve maps feature Erebus in the map title: Erebus Dig Site, Erebus Labs, Erebus Control, Erebus Research and Erebus Station.


 * Unusually, the blue skull key is in a different place depending on the skill level. On ITYTD and HNTR it's easily accessible, just outside the front door of one of the main buildings; in higher skill levels it is harder to reach.

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