Castle of Grief: Solving the Puzzle of the Gibbet
The Gibbet
When you first come to the Gibbet, there's a switch in front of you. Pull the
switch, and turn around! The switch lowers the floor you're on, down into the
Central Room. Monsters will attack you from behind if you don't turn around.
The Gibbet has several rooms and places:
Central Room
This is where you start. There's a portal here that takes you back to the Castle
of Grief, and a spire of stone on the pool in the middle.
Axe Key Room
As the name indicates, the Axe Key Room is where the Axe Key is. This room is
on the north of the Gibbet. You need the Axe Key to open the door to the Heresiarch's
Lair. But don't be deceived! This doesn't at all mean that getting the Axe Key
is easy. You can see where the Axe Key is, but to open the cage
where it is, you have to solve a string of other puzzles.
Statue Room
This is the room with many Dark Bishops, on the east side of the Gibbet. There's
a statue at one end of the room, and a deep fissure in the floor. The presence
of the fissure suggests that the floor in this room may be unstable...
Heresiarch's Lair
This is the west room in the Gibbet. You need the Axe Key to get in. It's some
kind of throne room, because it has a jasper throne in the middle and many lamps
and pillars around. As you guessed, the Heresiarch is somewhere inside here. Of
course, you need to get the Axe Key first, before you can enter this room to face
the Heresiarch.
Library Area
This area is on the south side of the Gibbet. There's a library here, with bookshelves
and study tables; and another area which has a door that requires the Dungeon
Key. To solve the puzzles to open the cage where the Axe Key is, you must first
get some required items from the Forsaken Outpost. If you have done so already,
you can skip to the next step. If not, go back to the Castle
of Grief. Go to the southeast corner, outside the castle. There's an opening
here with a portal that takes you to the Forsaken Outpost.
Forsaken Outpost (1)
Liber Oscura
You start in a dark cavern, with many monsters around. Go to where these caves
opens into an open area with a deep chasm (there aren't too many caves here, so
you should be able to find your way around pretty easily). Follow the ledge on
the right that goes to the doors where the Chaos Serpents are.
Note: there's a pillar in the chasm with many Repulsion Discs. You can jump to
it, but only if you're very expert. I suggest that you solve puzzles here first,
and then come back, because a magic bridge will appear after you solve the puzzle.
Enter the doors, which lead into a courtyard with a statue in the middle. There
are two small rooms on the left and on the right. There's nothing in them yet,
so go to the far end of the courtyard where there's a dark corridor. The big doors
in front require the Rusted Key, which you'll get later. If you go right on the
corridor, it will lead to the ledge where the Chaos Serpent is. There's a platinum
helmet here. If you go left on the corridor, it will fork into two. The left turn
goes to the other ledge with the Chaos Serpent, where there's a quartz flask.
Follow the right turn, which leads into a small dark room with a switch.
Pull this switch. This opens a new room at the corner of the passage where you
came in. Go inside the room and kill the ettins there. There's a book lying on
a pedestal in the middle. Wait! Don't forget to pull out your weapons before
you grab the Liber Oscura. This mystic book has many jealous guardians! It's one
of the items you need in the Gibbet.
Daemon Codex
There's a passage at the far end of the room which leads to one of the small rooms
in the courtyard through a newly-opened exit. If you noticed, a wall has opened
in the courtyard. The switch there lowers two platforms at the sides which lead
to a small room with some items. Now, go to the other small room. A new passage
has also opened here, as well as a wall with the Rusted Key inside. You can grab
the Rusted Key now.
The new passage leads into a dark room with a shallow chasm in the middle, and
some Dark Bishops. Jump from pillar to pillar to get to the ledge at the other
side of the room where there's a switch and a Porkalator. Unlike many other places
in this game, don't worry if you fall into the chasm. It's quite shallow, and
there are some high steps that let you climb back up (the steps are high, so you
need to jump in some parts). Pull the switch on the ledge.
If you're observant enough, you'll notice a grey ball lying on another ledge in
this room. This is a sleeping Afrit... unfortunately you can't kill it yet. It's
invulnerable in this "ball" mode.
After pulling the switch, another area has opened in this dark room. There's some
ammo there and a secret window which looks into the room behind the door that
needs the Rusted Key (it's a secret window because you can't see it from the other
side). There's also a door here that will open much later.
Go back to the courtyard now, and open the big doors with the Rusted Key. Watch
out, though. There are many unpleasant monsters behind the doors.
The doors lead to a big room with many crystal vials and quartz flasks. There's
also lots of ammo at the far corners. At the far end of the room, there's rusty
pillar. You need to open it by pulling four switches. The four switches are in
four small rooms at the sides of this room. You must kill the monsters inside
here before the rooms open. Once they open, go inside and pull the four switches.
The rusty pillar will split into two, move to the side, and the wall behind it
will slowly lower. There's a book lying on the floor beyond. This is the Daemon
Codex, which you need in the Gibbet.
Desolate Garden
If you've pulled the switch in the Sacred Grove back in Episode 2, when you grab the Daemon
Codex, a portal will open behind it. This portal leads to the secret level in
this episode, Desolate Garden. It won't open unless you pulled
the switch in Episode 2; so if you didn't pull the switch back then, forget about
going to the Desolate Garden.
Now that you have both the Liber Oscura and the Daemon Codex, go back to the portal
that leads to the Castle of Grief. Along the way, you might want to grab the Discs
of Repulsion on the pillar in the deep chasm. Note that you must jump onto
the blue magic bridge, and jump back; it's not really a bridge but just
some kind of 'stepping stone' that helps you get to the pillar. Be prepared for
some jealous monsters while you're grabbing the Discs, though.
Go back to the Castle of Grief, and from there, go to the Gibbet: you're now ready
to solve the next puzzle. (Or, finish solving the puzzle of the Clock first in
order to get to the Gibbet, if you haven't done so already.)
Yorick's Skull
Go to the Library Area in the Gibbet. There are two bookshelves on the wall here;
these are actually rotating doors in disguise. The door on the left leads to the
library; this is where you should go now.
The library has many bookshelves. For some reason, there are several ettins here
(I don't know for what. In my opinion, they are really stupid blockheads; so dumb
even though they've two heads. So it's surprising to find them in a library!!).
Look for the bookshelf that has a demon mask at the top. (Hint: this bookshelf
is the last one in its row, so it's facing the wall.) There are two empty slots
between the books. You guessed it! This is where the Liber Oscura and the Daemon
Codex belongs. If you look carefully, the letters on some of the books on the
shelf spell out K-R-X. Notice that the Daemon Codex has the letter 'O' and the
Liber Oscura has the letter 'A'. Pull them out of your pocket, and slide them
into the empty slots on the shelf, so that the letters spell out K-O-R-A-X! The
lights go out. Whip out your weapons and prepare for another battle...
Several of the bookshelves have lowered into the floor. One of them has
a skull with horns on it. Pick up this skull. This is Yorick's Skull. Just like
the two books, this skull also belongs somewhere... can you think of where?
Go to the Statue Room now. If you haven't been here yet, go and smash all the
stained glass walls around here! Behind one of the stained glass walls there's
a switch. Pull this switch. Now the broken bridge that leads to the statue is
repaired. Walk up to the statue. Notice anything unusual?
OK, you guessed it. Return Yorick his skull. Watch your step now! Remember
I warned you about tectonic instability here...? When things have calmed down,
walk back on the path and leave the room. The tremor has created a leak somewhere.
Go to the Central Room now. The pool here is leaking through some leak near the
black pillar. Go down to the pillar and you'll see an eight-pointed star. Flip
this symbol, and oops...! You've been sucked into:
Effluvium (1)
This is some kind of stinking sewer, with lots of slime, grime and muck (hence
the name Effluvium, which means a bad, repulsive smell). Just the kind of place
for those slimy Stalkers! This is probably their favorite hangout: there are lots
of them swishing around in the muck here.
You start in some kind of drain, which flows ahead into a pool of muck in the
room at the far end. Before you go there, you need to look for a switch in one
of the small ledges on the side of the drain. If you're observant, you'll notice
doors and walls in the other ledges that look like they might lead somewhere
interesting. They do; however, you can't open these places yet, at this point,
so just find the switch and activate it.
The switch opens a portal back to the Gibbet in one of the other ledges, and also
lowers another drain on the other side of the room with the muck pool (which lets
in some nasty shooting Stalkers as well). Jump into the muck pool, and go to the
end of this other drain. There's a ledge on the right, which leads into another
room filled with muck. There are windows in this room that look out to the outside
world. The door at the end of the room lets you out to breath some fresh air.
:) If you look carefully enough, one of the windows has something on its sill
on the outside. This is the Dungeon Key. Go out the door and turn left. Walk over
to where the windows are and grab the Dungeon Key.
This is about all you can do in the Effluvium at this point. Go back and step
into the portal that the switch opened earlier, to get back to the Gibbet.
Dungeons
The Portal
Now go to the Library Area in the Gibbet again, and go through the rotating bookshelf
on the right. You're now in a room with a cage in front, something that looks
like a bed on one side, a bookshelf in one corner, and a wooden ledge with a switch
at the end. There's also a door that needs the Dungeon Key.
Kill the Slaughtaur in the cage, and a wall beside the cage opens. This leads
inside the cage itself, as well as into a room with many barrels. There's a secret
passage in this barrel room that isn't open yet, so go back to the room outside
the cage.
The bookshelf in the corner lowers a platform underneath you if you activate it.
This leads to a short passage with some monsters and a window beyond your reach
that looks into a room with Dark Bishops. That room is behind the door that needs
the Dungeon Key. To get out of this passage, pull the switch near the platform,
which lowers it and takes you back to the first room.
You need to pull the switch at the end of the wooden ledge. Watch out!
As soon as you pull the switch, the wooden ledge collapses into a really deep
pit! NO! you don't try to run back after you pull the switch.
The ledge collapses too fast for that. Rather, you must stand on the tiny piece
of wood that's left in front of the switch! Then, slowly turn around, and jump
as hard as you can to get back on solid floor! (Hint: holding down the Jump key
longer will help here... also, try to run forward at the same time.)
This switch opens the room with the Dark Bishops that you saw earlier.
Now, open the door with the Dungeon Key. Go inside the place that looks like a
torture chamber, and turn right. The wall here should have opened (when you pulled
that switch), and the room with the Dark Bishops is beyond. Go inside that room
and pull the switch there. This lowers stairs in the room with barrels. Go to
the room with the barrels now, which is behind the secret passage beside the cage
in the first room.
Go down the stairs at the far end of the room. Be careful here! At the
bottom of the stairs, turn RIGHT. There's a very deep hole on the left, so don't
ever back up into it! There's a portal in the room here, which leads to the
Dungeons. Step into the portal now.
The Dungeons
You start in a small room with the portal that leads back to the Gibbet. The exit
of the room opens to a very large, dark room with a lava pool in the middle. Go
there, and climb down the stairs. On the south side of this room, there's a passage
blocked with bars. Opposite the bars, there's a wooden pillar with a switch that's
blocked by another piece of wood. You need to open both the bars and this switch.
Go to the west side of the room now, where there are stairs leading into a really
dark torture chamber. Go inside the chamber (watch out for monsters!) and go the
west end. There's a switch here you must activate. This switch opens the other
switch on the pillar in the large room with the lava, and also opens the bars
blocking the south passage.
Go back to the large room and enter the south passage that is now accessible.
This leads into a round area with seven cages. In the centre of the cages there's
a wooden pillar. A switch is hidden in this pillar, but it won't open just yet.
Go back out to the lava room, and press the switch on the wooden pillar. Each
time you press this switch, one of the seven cages open. You can either open them
all by pressing the switch seven times all at once, or, (recommended) press it
once at a time, go to the opened cage and kill the slaughtaur first, before you
come back to press the switch the next time. After all seven cages are opened,
another switch appears in the pillar in the centre of the seven cages. Go and
press this switch. This opens two new passages on the west side of the lava room.
These new passages lead to the walkway above the really dark torture chamber.
You can jump on the pillars with the goodies from here which you couldn't reach
before. There's also a couple of secret doors on the pillars that lead to the
goodies on the high ledge that you can see from the lava room.
Go up the stairs on the southern passage, and take the first left turn. This leads
to two rooms with ettins. There's a porkalator in the farthest room. Come back
out and continue along the passage. The second left turn leads to two cages with
some nasties inside. The switch on the wall is worth mentioning here: if you pull
it once, it opens the door to one of the cages. The second time you pull it, it
opens the other cage. The third time you pull it, (notice the red eyes this time)
it closes both cages.
Continue along the passage, which turns a corner at this point. Take the left
turn, and you'll get to a room with small cages and mutilated bodies in them.
There's ammo at the far end of the room. Go back to the passage and continue.
The next left turn leads to four rooms. The farthest room, on the northwest, (the
one with many chains) has a secret door on the west wall, which leads to a long
corridor that takes you to the room with the slaughtaurs at the end of the passage
outside. There's plated armor here. Activate the switch, and the windows will
open so that you can get out without having to retrace your steps.
Go east now, along the northern ledge. A new passage has opened on the left, which
has a different wall texture. Go down the passage to a room with a gang of Chaos
Serpents and several cages at the sides. There's another passage on the right
that leads to another room with Chaos Serpents and cages at the sides. Stairs
from one of those cages lead to the room on the east of the lava room. If you
go down the stairs at the far end of that room, you'll get back to the lava room.
Bottomless Pit
For now, come back to the first room with the Chaos Serpents and the cages at
the sides. Examine the cages carefully. There's a well-hidden switch
in one of them. Pull this switch. Now a new passage has opened somewhere along
the passage that you came in. This is very hidden, and won't even show on your
map unless you've looked in its direction. Go back along the passage where you
came in and look carefully on the left. Walk down the steps in the new passage,
to a curved room with a slimy river. Jump into the river now and follow it downstream.
Yes, right into the pitch black tunnel. Keep going, keep going... don't hesitate...
AAaaaaarrrrrrggghhhh... !!!!!! You've fallen into a pit! No! don't
reload your game! Just hang on while you tumble into the bottomless pit...
Effluvium (2)
Miracle! You're still alive after all that drop! You're now in a new part of the
Effluvium. Many new places have opened on this level at this point, and it's time
to explore them! Go out the room and jump into the muck. Follow the current downstream.
Along the way, you'll come through a room with ettins. The door on the right takes
you to the drain where you first entered the Effluvium earlier on, from the Gibbet.
If you can't wait to solve the puzzle, go there now and skip the following digressions.
Interesting Places in the Effluvium
So, you want to muck around. :) So, continue downstream in the room with the ettins
(and of course, watch out for those Stalkers that are enjoying themselves in the
muck and dirt).
At the end of the journey, you'll come to a very high room filled with muck. On
the opposite wall, the muck is draining out from the room through a drainhole.
There's a winch on the left. Turn this winch now, and the hole closes. The muck
will start to fill up the room... until the water level (or muck level, to be
precise!) reaches two overflow-drainholes at the top of the room. You can now
reach the ledge on the right side of the room where there's a Mystic Urn and another
winch. Grab the Urn, and turn the winch. Quickly jump back into the muck; the
winch has re-opened the drainhole at the bottom of the room, and the water level
(muck level) is dropping back to its normal level. If you don't jump back now,
the water level will be so low that you'll get hurt jumping back in.
OK, that's enough disruption of sewer operation. :) Go back to the room with ettins
and go to the place where the portal to the Gibbet is. A wall has opened on the
ledge opposite the portal. There's a labyrinth of muck rivers beyond. Go inside
there now. If you look carefully, you'll notice a Porkalator on the other side
of a drain hole. You'll get there shortly... Now, go down the drain the leads
from this room. It branches into three. Don't worry; it's not as confusing as
it may seem.
On the left, those walls are the walls of a room with a torch in it. I call this
the Torch Room, because there's a torch inside to help you see more clearly in
these dark drains. The entrance is on the other side. If you look up in that room,
you'll see that you're looking up through a sewer grating.
The walls on the right are walls of another room, which I call the Dragonskin
room. It's not opened yet, so now, follow the drain on the right, and keep to
the right wall. You'll see the walls of a third room on your left. Look along
the wall on your right carefully. Open the wall where there's a rusty handle.
There are two such walls; one leads into a room with a switch and a window looking
out of the sewer, and the other leads to a platform that actually takes you outside.
Activate the switch, and the walls of the third room lowers. There might be some
monsters in that room. Now, the Dragonskin Room is open. There's an elevator there
that takes you up on a ledge with Dragonskin Bracers.
Go to the platform that takes you outside to a small dark area with some trees.
Look for another sewer hole in this area, and jump down into it. Go right. There,
you got the Porkalator you saw earlier on. To get back, climb on the rusty platform
which takes you back out to the area with trees. Jump back into the hole where
the three rooms are. Now go back to where the portal to the Gibbet is.
Back to Solving the Puzzle
Go down the drain beside the portal to the Gibbet. Jump into the pool of muck
at the end of the drain, just like before, and walk up the other drain on the
opposite side. Now, the ledge on the left has opened. Climb on it, and go into
the big, dark room. Be careful here: there are Brown Serpents around. There are
four tanks of muck here. Jump on the one closest to the top of the stairs where
you came into the room (the southeast one). Now you can reach the other two tanks
on the north side by jumping from here.
There's a winch between the two tanks on the north side. Turn it now, and the
muck will drain way from the two tanks. Jump into the northeast one. There's a
falcon shield in a small room to the north. The pillar on the south side of the
tank is an elevator; activate it to get back out. Now jump into the northwest
tank. There's a portal in the room beyond that takes you to back to the Castle
of Grief. You'll come out in a hidden room at one end of the Castle's moat. You
can raise the wall to get out onto the moat and into the Castle. For now, step
back into the portal to get back to the Effluvium.
The portal will take you to the west side of the room with the four tanks. Jump
onto the southwest tank now. There's also a winch between this tank and the southeast
tank. Turn the winch to drain out both tanks. The southeast tank leads to a small
chamber that sometimes has an item. Again, the pillar in the tank is an elevator
to take you back out. Go to the southwest tank. There's a wall with a handle in
the room beyond. Open this wall, and you'll see another room behind the muck drain,
with a Brown Serpent. Watch your step here! There's a pit right
in front of you! You must jump over it to get to the room with the Brown Serpent.
This room has a waterfall (muck falls, to be precise). There's also a rusty pillar
which is an elevator. Activate it to lower it, and it will take you up to a door
which opens into one of the ledges beside the drain with the portal to the Gibbet.
Don't go back to the Gibbet now; you haven't solved the puzzle yet. Go back to
the room with the muck falls. Climb on the ledge where the Brown Serpent was.
Notice the wall here that has a handle on it. Pull it open to reveal a portal.
Step inside.
Forsaken Outpost (2)
The portal takes you to a new room on the Forsaken Outpost. Unless you feel like
bashing up more monsters, don't break the stained glass walls. There are baddies
behind them but only one or two goodies. :) The rusty wall at the end of the room
opens out to the room with the secret window. As you approach the rusty wall,
you'll get a message that something has opened on the Gibbet.
Step back into the portal that leads back to the Effluvium, and take the portal
in the Effluvium that goes to the Gibbet. Now you're ready to solve the final
puzzle in this episode!
Heresiarch's Lair
Go to the Axe Key room in the north side of the Gibbet. On the left, there's a
circular wall with flechettes on green pillars. If you want to grab the flechettes,
be careful that you don't get crushed... If you walk to the south side of the
circular wall, a small room will open in the circular wall, with some Afrits and
some items inside.
On the right side of the room there's a cage with some monsters inside and a pillar.
If you've solved all the puzzles so far, the southeast corner of this cage will
be open. Go inside and the pillar lowers, revealing the long-sought Axe Key. Grab
the Axe Key, and go to the door of the Heresiarch's Lair. Now you're ready to
face the Heresiarch! Open the Heresiarch's Lair with the Axe Key. Note that the
door will close after a short time, and it cannot be opened from the inside.
You must make sure you have enough health potions and ammo to face the Heresiarch
plus lots of monsters before you enter this door. Once you go in, there's no return
until you kill the Heresiarch (unless you have the Chaos Device, of course).
Note: Some people, including myself, have experienced problems in this
room, where some script malfunctions and the Heresiarch doesn't appear. So I advise
you to save your game before you enter the Heresiarch's Lair, in case something
goes wrong and you're stuck. I'm not sure exactly what causes this problem; many
people have mailed me about this, but everyone seems to have a slightly different
version of the problem. For my case, I must jump on top of the throne where
the Icon of the Defender is, as soon as I enter the room. Just grabbing
the Icon without jumping on the throne or jumping on it after the Afrits appear
seems to be the cause of my problem. Other people have mailed me different solutions,
including avoiding the god-mode cheat, opening the Axe door more than once, etc..
If anyone knows the real answer to this, please tell me!
Enter the Heresiarch's Lair and kill the monsters there. Now, go up to the throne
and jump on top of it when you grab the Icon of the Defender (see the note
above). This opens pillars at the sides of the room with lots of Afrits. Kill
all the Afrits, and Chaos Serpents will teleport into the room around the throne.
Now, here is where the malfunction I mentioned above may occur. If after you kill
the Chaos Serpents and waited a long time, and the Dark Bishops haven't appeared
yet, something's wrong. You should reload your saved game and try again. You must
kill all the Chaos Serpents as well as all the Dark Bishops.
Then, a wall behind the throne opens, with a big star of lava on the floor and
lots of quartz flasks lying around. The Heresiarch is standing on top of the star,
prepared to beat the life out of you! You might want to review the tips on fighting the Heresiarch which I gave
in Episode 3.
After you kill the Heresiarch, the portal behind the lava star opens. This portal
leads to episode 5, Necropolis. Also, the door to this room is opened momentarily
when the Heresiarch dies. If you want to get out of this room to explore other
parts of this episode, you should run to the door as soon as the Heresiarch
dies. Once the door closes again, there's absolutely no way out of this room except
with the Chaos Device.
Previous episode: Heresiarch's Seminary
Previous document: Castle of Grief: the Clock
Secret level: Desolate Garden
Next episode: Necropolis
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