Nali Castle

Nali Castle is the twenty-eighth map in Unreal's single player game.
 * Author : Shane Caudle
 * Description
 * The player finally arrives at the Nali Castle. This imposing fortress conceals the gateway to a hellish underworld and, beyond that, the dreaded Skaarj Mothership.

Walkthrough
''This walkthrough was completed on Medium difficulty. Creature and item placements may differ on other difficulty settings.''

A large Nali stronghold stands in a mountain valley. You are within breathing distance of the Skaarj Mothership now, although you don't know it yet, and the place is infested with Skaarj and their minions. And that's not all...

You start in the cave you entered at the end of the previous map. To the left, there is a pool of water, and to the right a cave entrance leading outdoors. Go towards the pool. As you approach the pool, a Gasbag comes down from the ceiling; mow it down with an ASMD Combo or two. Dive into the pool and swim to a rock at the back, where you can swim out to collect an ASMD clutched by a dead Nali.

Return to dry land and go down the tunnel out of the main cave. Shortly, you will arrive on a plateau in front of the Nali castle with an access bridge and portcullis ahead.

As you arrive on the plateau, a Krall sleeping at his post will wake up and make a run for the castle entrance across the access bridge. Decapitate him with the Rifle before he can get inside, because if he gets in he'll shut the portcullis on you. As he dies, he drops a Shield Belt.

Collect the Nali Healing Fruit from on the left here then go across the bridge, collecting the Shield Belt on the way. Go through the castle entrance; follow the corridor beyond and go through either of the two sets of doors, then arriving in the main entrance foyer.

Note: If you do get locked out, then you will need another way in. I am about to explain very quickly how to get in such that you end up in the main entrance foyer as above, so if you managed to kill the Krall before he could close the portcullis, go to §.

Jump off the right hand side of the access bridge such that you land in the moat. Swim along in that direction. Soon you will see a low balcony round the corner of one of the castle buildings lit by a single torch. Swim to the corner of the rock that supports the castle and climb out up the slope of the rock just before the rock turns the corner. Go up hard against the balcony wall then go up the rock parallel to it. This is the only route by which the rock is shallow enough for you to climb out. Anyway, when you are high up enough, go over the balcony wall and on to the balcony itself (alternatively, you can shoot a grating underwater and gain access to the castle from there, but I would recommend taking the route detailed here).

Follow the balcony anticlockwise around this part of the castle building until you can go in through a door. Inside, you will find a Krall in the shadows looking over some beams to a room deeper in the castle; kill it. You will also probably have to fight a SkaarjBerserker who follows you in from outside. When they are dead, climb up the flights of wooden steps you are now standing by. At the top, you will come out on a higher walkway round the castle. Turn left and follow the walkway round the building. When the walkway takes you inside, go to the far side of the room and make a right. At the feet of a Nali statue, turn left and immediately right such that you come out in a dining hall. Climb the ramp on the left in the dining hall and go left again at the top along a corridor, which will at last bring you out in the castle's main entrance foyer. You may want to go through one of the sets of double doors on the other side to find the Krall that locked you out so that you can take his Shield Belt. When you're done, return to the foyer.

§ Inside the main entrance foyer, kill the two Krall that jump down from balconies on either side, then look around.

Facing inwards with a ramp upwards in front of you, there are four routes out of this main entrance foyer. There are two on the lower level that you are standing on, and two on balconies on either side of the central ramp. Go up the ramp and take a left, going round the left balcony and into a corridor beyond. Soon you will come to some shut doors with an inscription nearby [1].

Maybe not that way yet then. Return to the balcony and go round to the exit on the other side of the balcony level in the foyer. Going through, you will arrive on a balcony above the aforementioned chapel. Two Gasbags whom you should kill will see you and attack, but after you've killed them, don't drop to the chapel floor. I'll be taking you there later instead.

Go back to the foyer and drop down to the lower level of the foyer. Take the entrance that is on the right when you stand facing the ramp. You will be on a balcony with a view of a Nali statue; turn right and enter a small library room there. Although the library is empty, there's an open book on a table to the right. Read it [2].

Sounds interesting... leave the library and return to the main entrance foyer. Take the other exit on the lower level. Follow the corridor beyond, and you will come out on a balcony above a large dining hall.

Drop down to the floor of the hall. Chests on the left can be opened to reveal an ASMD Core and a Flashlight. Then, do what the book in the library said and go to look at the book cases on the far side of the room. One book is protruding out of the leftermost case; push it in. The section of wall with the two central book cases on swivels round revealing two Krall. Kill the Krall. By the time they are dead the book case will probably have swivelled back round, so press the book again and this time stand at the central point at the base of the swivelling wall after it has swung round once, and it will swivel back, taking you with it.

You will be in a small hidden room with a Super Health Pack and a switch. Take the pack, then press the switch to make the wall swivel again. Use it to get back out to the main feast hall. Back in the hall, although you could go back up a ramp to the balcony, there's a corridor leading off at the ground floor here. So, take the corridor. At the end, turn right. After a couple of steps down, you will be in a short stretch of corridor where you can open crates for two Health Packs and a box of 10 Flak Shells. In doing so, you will attract the attention of a SkaarjGunner with an Eightball Gun in the room at the far end. Decapitate him with some well placed rifle rounds, then climb the steps at the other end of the short stretch of corridor. Enter the room the Skaarj was lurking in, which is a small kitchen.

Collect the Skaarj's Eightball Gun then look around. There are two Nali Fruit Seeds on the central table, but it's too high to jump. So, push one of the barrels in the room up to the table and use it as a step. Collect the seeds, then destroy the barrels to get two Flares. Then, leave the kitchen by a corridor that was to the right as you entered. In the area beyond, a flight of steps leads up to a balcony above the feast hall. Before climbing the steps, go to the right and destroy crates in the shadows for a Health Pack and two cans of 12 Eightballs. Collect the Energy Amplifier in an alcove under the stairs.

Go up the stairs on to the balcony and collect of the two cans of 12 Eightballs at the leftermost end of the balcony. Drop to the floor of the feast hall and take once again the corridor that leaves it at floor level, but this time go left at the end, such that you arrive at the feet of the big Nali statue. Go to the right from the feet into the small room beyond. You'll pass a door to the chapel on the left but we're still not going in there yet; just keep going straight on. In the next room, an exit leads on to an outdoor walkway on the left, while a flight of steps curves down ahead. Take the steps.

You will arrive on a balcony in a cellar room, where you will be able to hear Krall talking to each other. First things first, collect the two boxes of 10 Flak Shells on the left and open chests for two more cans of 12 Eightballs. Then, go to the edge that this balcony overlooks. Below are two levels of a long room with doors on either side. Three Krall are muttering to each other on the top level; pummel them with a few pre-loaded Eightballs in a circle.

Some Krall will probably get away through the doors at the end of the lower level of this area. Don't worry about them, you'll find them again later. Drop down to the floor of the the upper level, watching out for a Krall who snipes from some beams beyond the lower level doors - that is unless you came in via the moat, in which case it'll already be dead.

On this upper level there are four doors. Starting with the first one on the left, go through them clockwise one by one. They turn out to be simple sleeping chambers; the first is empty, the second contains a dozing SkaarjScout. The third too is empty, but the fourth is more rewarding, containing a SkaarjWarrior but also an Assault Vest behind the bed.

Leave the chambers and drop down to the lower level. Doors at the sides are locked, but signs here should give you a clue [3].

At last, you have some direction; you have to go to the chapel to unlock the tower, kill a monster of some kind in the tower, then come back to the dungeon. So, go through the doors at the end of this lower level and into the area beyond.

The next room is a tall stairwell. Wooden flights of steps spiral up to the top; climb them all. There's a walkway that leads outside part of the way up but all you will find on that balcony is a SkaarjBerserker who may drop down from above if you haven't already encountered him by coming in via the moat.

At the top of the stairs, a stone ramp leads outside onto another outdoor balcony. From this point on, keep an eye open for any enemies who escaped from the dungeon area earlier as they'll be roaming this area. Anyway, step on to the balcony and turn right; you will come to a cable car that travels out to an entrance on the other side of the moat, but it doesn't move. So, go the other way along the balcony until it leads you back inside; you will be back in the room at the top of the curving steps down to the dungeon area.

Go to the right then turn right again before you reach the Nali statue, so that you come out in the chapel.

Go along the red carpet towards a ramp and then go up the ramp (an alcove beneath the ramp contains a Health Pack should you need it). At the top, go round the back of a small reading pillar and look at it, and you will see a book. Go forwards and read the book [4].

As you approached the reading pillar, a button on the front will have been pressed in. The button should have opened the way to the tower now, so return to the Nali statue's feet and find your way back to the main entrance foyer via the main feast hall. Within the foyer, go up the ramp and take the exit from the balcony on the left.

In the corridor beyond, the gate is indeed now open. Climb the slope of the corridor and you will be in an upper corridor that stretches off to both the left and right. The other wall of this corridor has entrances to several smart sleeping chambers, so go to the leftermost end of the corridor and visit the chambers one by one.

In the first chamber, a box by the bed contains a Health Pack. In the second chamber, a SkaarjScout is dozing on the bed. Kill him then collect the Rifle and box of 8 Rifle Rounds from the bedside box. The third chamber is empty, but the box in the fourth chamber contains a can of 12 Eightballs and a GES Biorifle.

Opposite the door to the fourth chamber is an exit to a rooftop garden. Go through into the garden beyond.

At this first end of the garden you can collect two Nali Healing Fruit, and barrels contain three clusters of 40 Tayrdium Shards. Going out from under the cover of the roof, you can collect two more Nali Healing Fruit and crates will contain two boxes of 10 Flak Shells and a box of Razor Blades. Go to the far side of the lawn. At this point, a Brute comes stomping out from an area to the right. Kill the Brute - you can go into the area from which he emerged to grab a Health Pack if you need to.

At this end of the lawn, a ramp goes up on to the roof above the sleeping chambers. Climb the ramp, then kill the Brute on top. Be careful as you prepare to go through the next entrance on the left, because as you go through the entrance, a SkaarjGunner wields an Eightball Gun whilst a Nali summons you from a ramp up to the next room. Kill the Skaarj but don't follow the Nali yet. Visit alcoves in this room for a Flare, a can of 12 Eightballs and a can of Tarydium Sludge.

Return to the rooftop and go in the direction of a low-level pointed turret of the castle that stands beyond the far side of this flat roof. When you run out of flat roof, climb on to the high garden wall. As you approach the turret, you will see an entrance into the turret on a walkway below. Get as close as possible on top of the garden wall, then run off such that you land on the roof of the entrance, where there are two Nali Healing Fruit.

Jump down and enter the turret - it is the chapel bell tower. You can collect an Assault Vest here, but don't go any further forwards, because you'll fall down into the chapel. Instead, return to the walkway outside and follow it in either direction (to the right is faster) until you return to the sleeping chambers corridor. Go back into the garden and from there back to the room where the Nali summoned you.

Join him on the ramp. He leads you up the ramp to the room at the top, and opens a section of wall on the right, revealing a hidden area containing a Shield Belt and a Super Health Pack. Collect, then return to the room outside the secret area.

Time to go to the tower now. So, in the room you are now in, climb the wooden staircase. It leads you up to a balcony (on which there is a Health Pack) where you can catch a lift to a huge spiral stairwell that leads to the tower loft. Start your ascent up the long staircase and you will soon meet a SkaarjInfantry with a Stinger; kill him and collect the Stinger that he drops. Further up, you will come up against a SkaarjOfficer with a GES Biorifle. Kill him too, and collect the GES Biorifle that he drops.

Ready your Flak Cannon now, because at the top you'll ride a small lift and enter the tower loft, where you'll have to face a Giant Gasbag - kill it quickly because not only does it spit balls of burning plasma, it can also spawn new normal Gasbags too.

Once the Giant Gasbag is dead, the dungeons should have unlocked. So, go back down the tower stairs and return to the room below. If, at the bottom of the stairs, you turn left, you can go out on to a pair of rooftops where barrels will reveal two Health Packs.

Return to the garden. From there, go back into the sleeping chambers corridor and turn left. Left again, and you follow a corridor back to the main entrance foyer. Return to the Nali statue's feet and go through to the curving staircase down to the dungeon area. Enter the long room at the bottom and go down to the lowest level.

Go through the first dungeon door on the right, which is now unlocked. Beyond, you are on a staircase that curves down to the right into the main body of the next room. Jump first across to a ledge ahead to collect two Health Packs, then go down into the room.

Within the room, a SkaarjAssassin will see you and run to a switch which he operates, closing some large doors ahead to shut you in. Kill the Skaarj then operate the same button to open the doors. Before leaving, you may want to go up the other curving staircase down and jump on to the ledge there to get another two Health Packs.

Now, go through the large doors you just opened, into the dungeon proper. The hall beyond slopes down, leading to a junction ahead where chests contain three Flares. At the junction, make a right and go down the slope into a cell block. This cell block contains four cells which are shut. Two are lit, containing Nali. Press the switch at this end of the inner wall to open the cages - the two Nali call something in their native tongue and run off back up the entrance hall.

Enter the first cell. There's something carved in the wall - read it with the Universal Translator [5].

Sounds ominous... Explore the other cells. They are mainly empty but the third cell contains a Nali Healing Fruit. On the other side of the dungeon hall, a ramp goes down to a large room in the centre of the dungeon. Don't go there yet; instead, go back up the entrance hall, across the junction and down into the other cell block. The other cell block is guarded by a SkaarjBerserker; kill the Skaarj, then activate the switch here to open the cells. All of them are empty except for one, which contains a Nali.

Provided that you have had a good track record with Nali so far, he will summon you. Follow him, and he will lead you on quite a journey. He takes you out of the dungeons and through the wooden doors at the end of the room above, and up to the walkway round the edge of the castle. He leads you to the cable car that you saw earlier, which he activates, taking you across the moat to an entrance in the rock. Inside, he leads you up a series of ramps and small rooms that eventually comes out on a plateau opposite the castle.

As he steps out on to the plateau, a Skaarj scout skimmer similar to the one you saw docked at Outpost 3J flies by above and bombs the unfortunate Nali, blowing him to smithereens. But he's shown you what he wanted to show you; on this plateau is a barn with Nali Cows where you can collect some stuff.

The barn contains two Nali Healing Fruit, and a barrel within contains a Nali Fruit Seed that will be very useful later in the game. When you've collected the stuff, return down the ramps to the cable car area. Step towards the landing platform and the cable car comes across automatically. Back at the castle, return down the steps to the dungeon, and this time go to one of the cell blocks and go down the ramp into the big central room.

The large room below is an excecution chamber. Upon your entry, a SkaarjBerserker will see you and rush to a switch which he operates to release a guillotine on a Nali. When he has done so, he will charge at you. Kill him then look around the room.

At one side of the room is a large chopping pendulum. Corridors lead downwards on either side of the pendulum, so head for one of these. Watch out as you approach the pendulum, because it starts to swing. Don't get too close. The corridors lead down to a dungeon room where some dead Nali are suspended by chains over some bright red lava; cross the bridge from this grisly sight and go into the corridor beyond. Go round the corner to exit the level.

Translator Messages

 * 1) "Only the enlightened one who has read the Book of the Good Lore in the chapel shall be granted passage to the balcony through these divine gates."
 * 2) "He who seeks knowledge would be well rewarded for persuing the tomes stored in the main feast hall."
 * 3) "Only the warrior who demonstrates his bravery by defeating the five-eyed daemon in the tower shall be granted passage to the dungeon."
 * 4) "The path to be followed is long and harrowing, but the strong of heart and purpose shall prevail against the challenges."
 * 5) "I sit here, waiting to die. Waiting... The wsit is worse than death itself. My fears tear at my soul. I hear the wails of the others as they are taken to the bowels of the dungeon to be sacrificed to the winged Sky Daemon."

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