Access the keys in Doom 64 map 13, Dark Citadel (original) (raw)

To get the keys on Doom 64 level 13, Dark Citadel:

BLUE KEY

From your starting position at the beginning of the level, take a sharp left and head down the hallway. Follow the hallway until it makes the first turn to the right, then look for a large open room on your left. This room is full of narrow pillars, running floor-to-ceiling. In the center of the room is a pillar which is slightly wider than the others. On the back of it is a switch; Activate it (this opens a door that you'll need to go through in a minute). Go back to your starting position; and now follow the main hallway in the other direction, until you come to a door on your right. Step through the door and take a sharp right. Follow the narrow passage up some shallow steps and around to the left. Keep going and you'll drop into a somewhat wider passage with 3 long, horizontal windows to your left.

(Note: The second of the 3 long windows is open, and you'll be able to see an Invulnerability Sphere on a pillar below. You won't necessarily need this now, but take note of its location, as you may want to come back for it.)

Near the far end of the passage with 3 windows is a plain square room on your right. Step into this room and the floor drops down, granting access to a large, low-ceilinged room with 14 thick pillars spread out within. Step into this room and turn right. Follow the right-hand wall until you come to a small opening on your right. Go in and look for a switch.

When you activate this switch, the thick pillars back in the large room open up, releasing a prolonged blizzard of flying metal spikes, and the blue key will appear on the floor in the center of the room. After several seconds, the blue key will disappear as the pillars close up again.

You can attempt to run out and grab the key before the pillars close up again, and it is possible to do so without taking damage, but that can be very difficult. For this reason, you may wish to go grab the Invulnerability Sphere mentioned earlier. If/when you do get it, immediately head left from the pillar where you picked it up, and Run for the lift you'll find several paces ahead of you. Ride the lift up, turn left and go back through the 3-window passage and back into the room with the blue key. If you're quick, you'll have just enough time to activate the switch, grab the blue key and get away before Invulnerability wears out.

RED KEY

Start from the room where you pick up the blue key. Look for the lift that let you down into this room. The lift will appear as a textured surface in a large rectangular indentation in the wall. Walk up to it and activate it like a switch, and it lowers. Step on and ride it up. Exit the lift/room and look for 3 long, horizontal windows. Go to the middle window, and run through, dropping down into a huge area with skylights and more pillars. Go forward, following the wall to your right counter-clockwise around the room. You'll eventually come to 3 blue vertical bars on your right. Activate them to open them, and then activate the switch you'll see there. Now find a doorway on the opposite side of the room, and once there, look for a switch on the inner right side of the doorway. Activate this switch to lower a lift in front of you. Step on and ride up, then walk forward, past the openings to your left and right, and back out into the main hallway. The main hallway runs around the middle of the level in a square pattern. Follow this hallway in either direction, until you get to a darkened corner. (This corner will be diagonally opposite to the corner where the map's original starting position is.) A short "stalactite" hangs from the ceiling in this corner, and on the back of it is a switch. Activate it, and a moment later the floor under you drops down. Turn and look for an opening on the right. As you walk through this opening, look for a similar doorway ahead of you on the far/opposite wall. Go through that opening and into the next room. Search through the bookshelf-maze in this room for a switch. It'll be at the back of a dead-end in the small maze. Activate this switch then leave the room. As you come out of the passage exiting that room, turn right, and follow the right-hand wall, until you come to the second doorway on your right. Find your way through this maze until you come to another passage leading up to a glowing pillar in the middle of a small room (this will be a room you haven't been in before). Head to the pillar and look for a passage on your right. Follow the passage to a switch off to your left. Activating it will drop a lift down. Get on and ride up to where you'll find the red key on your left.

YELLOW KEY

From the point where you pick up the red key, jump down into the room ahead of you. Now find a doorway a ways off, around the corner on your right, and once there, look for a switch on the inner right side of the doorway. Activate this switch to lower a lift in front of you. Step on and ride up, then walk forward, past the openings to your left and right, then across the main hallway and up the shallow steps ahead of you to the red door. Open the red door to reveal a large courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard is a small fire, and in the fire rests the yellow key.

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