The Ceremonial Chambers

The Ceremonial Chambers is the seventh map in Unreal's single player game.
 * Author : Myscha the Sled Dog
 * Description
 * Deep within the inner ceremonial chambers of the temple of Chizra, Nali Water God, the atmosphere becomes less serene and a little more paranoid. It seems that the Slith infestation here is worse than ever, not to mention the increasing numbers of Skaarj that lie in wait for the unsuspecting player. Right in front of the player, the Nali priests begin to be slaughtered.

Walkthrough
After a visit to the deepest darkest corners of the temple of Chizra the Nali water god, you arrive at the Ceremonial Chambers. These dramatic rooms are now overrun by Skaarj and Slith; there is no rest for you here.

You start in a sloping corridor beyond the stone seal. Proceed to the small pillar ahead, on which there is an inscription [1].

Doesn't that sound encouraging... anyway, proceed into the first room, staying on the balcony above the pools below.

As you enter the room, a Nali Priest runs away through a door on the left. Follow him quickly through a short corridor until you arrive in another room similar to the first. The Nali sprints to the far side, where a SkaarjScout who starts to your right may attempt to assassinate him. Kill the Skaarj before it slaughters the Nali if you can. The Nali is afraid of you now, so ignore it. Go into its corner and collect the box of 50 Bullets and the can of 12 Eightballs there. Two Nali Healing Fruit are also available on the far side of this area.

Coming through the first short corridor between the two main rooms, you will have seen a wooden ramp leading off to the left. Return now to this corridor and go part of the way down the ramp. A SkaarjScout may see you from below and come running; the ASMD Combo is fairly effective here. Having killed the Skaarj, return back up to the top (don't go any furher down or open the gold door nearby yet). Return to the first room now and take the other exit, i.e. the door that was to the right as you came in, arriving in another short corridor. An opening on the right here has a barred entrance with two Nali Priests and a SkaarjScout on a wooden platform behind. This is tricky, but use the ASMD primary fire to try and kill the Skaarj through the bars, because as soon as it sees you it will try to assassinate the Nali. Note that if you ditch the Skaarj into the water beneath the platform, he will soon appear coming up the ramp mentioned above. Be alert.

Once again, having saved or otherwise the Nali, return to the ramp down. Go to the gold door ahead and open it.

This next section is not strictly necessary, but if you want some Eightballs, then go through the door. You will be on a narrow beam over lava that circumnavigates a structure in the middle of the room. Follow the beam round to the far side of the room, where it enters the structure. From there you can jump to a pillar in the middle on which there is an Eightball Gun and a bunch of cans of 12 Eightballs. As you do so however, a SkaarjScout will come through the gold door ahead. Blow it up with your Eightball Gun, collect any remaining ammo, then return to the beam. Follow it round and come back out through the door.

Now descend the flight of steps to the barrels on the lower walkway. Collect a box of 50 Bullets from the barrels, then follow the short corridor on the left round to the right (an alcove on the left has barrels containing an Automag and a Clip). You will find yourself by the pool under the second room, where you will be attacked by a Slith.

Kill the Slith and look around. There is a Nali Healing Fruit to the left. An entrance ahead (behind which a Nali Priest summons you) is barred, and you don't want to go underwater yet, so take the small corridor on the right through to the area under the first room. Within the corridor, shoot open the barrels here to retrieve two Clips. As you pass through the corridor a couple of Slith will probably see you from within the water, so take advantage of your dry land position and spike 'em.

In the area under the first room, there is another barred off entrance. That leaves only one option, so ready your ASMD or Stinger and go for a swim.

Underwater, two wide criss-crossing tunnels connect the four main underwater areas. Some more Slith may see you from the crossroads in the middle, so kill them too. You shouldn't need to surface as you should still have some air in your SCUBA Gear from the previous level, so raid the barrels to get two Clips and collect the Nali Healing Fruit from the floor of the pool. Swim through the tunnel (which should now be clear, but kill any more Slith that appear) to the water under the second main room, where there is another Nali Healing Fruit and barrels that contain an ASMD Core. Then, turn around again, and return to the underwater crossroads and take the tunnel to the right (that is if you are facing the first room).

You will come out in another underwater area, this time with a lever and two further Nali Healing Fruit, beneath the wooden steps and ramp to the upper level. Dive down and push the lever, and you will see bars sliding open at the far end of the underwater area to reveal another lever behind barrels.

Before going for the lever, though, your SCUBA Gear will be getting low at this point, so swim up to near the surface and head for the shallow part of the pool above the underwater tunnel. There is a small entrance here; swim through and surface to get an Automag and replacement SCUBA Gear from a corpse. There is also more Nali Healing Fruit underwater in this area.

Dive again and swim towards the furthest end of the underwater tunnels. As you approach the barrels and lever, you will pass beneath a pool below some raised wooden platforms above. Collect the Nali Healing Fruit in this area along with a box of 50 Bullets from a nearby barrel. Dive again and continue along the tunnel, shooting the barrels (which contain 2 Clips) out of the way and pressing the lever. Shortly there will be a loud 'crash' sound that will make you jump. What you have achieved is to open all the barred entrances.

Swim through the network of tunnels. Surface under the FIRST room (the one to the left as you reach the crossroads) and go through the previously barred entrance here. You will find a wooden platform at water level where there are two Slith and a Stinger by several corpses. You can also collect Eightballs from a barrel near some Nali Healing Fruit in a dark corner of the water pool, and there is further Nali Healing Fruit elsewhere in the pool if you need it. You may also encounter a Fly here, so kill it.

Now go to the second main room and take the previously barred entrance here. Unless something unfortunate has happened, the Nali Priest is still summonning you, but avoid him and first kill the Slith who comes down from near a gold door. You may also have to kill another Fly here.

Don't go through the door yet; there are still some things you haven't covered. First, follow the Nali. He will take you to near the gold door and point out the ASMD in the corner. Collect it. Search the water pool as well and you will procure two Flares and some more Nali Healing Fruit. Remember when you tried to rescue a pair of Nali Priests from a SkaarjScout up above? Well, return to that area via the wooden steps and ramp. If any Nali survived that you may still be able to hear them summoning you. Arriving at the wooden platforms there, the Nali will point you down the ramp to the left where there is an Assault Vest with a view of the gold door. Collect the Assault Vest, then return to the raised platform and go down the ramp on the other side, past barrels with two Clips. You will meet two Flies if you haven't killed them already. Continue and you will reach another gold door with corpses and two barrels containing ASMD Cores nearby. Open the door and step on to the balcony within, but don't jump off because it's a bottomless pit :-).

This balcony holds a SkaarjScout and a Slith. Kill them both then go to the far end.

A Nali Priest is meditating at a small shrine near a Super Health Pack. Hopefully the Skaarj scared him and he is not blocking the way, but if he didn't notice then he will be obstructing your access to the powerup. In that event, I hate to say this, but shoot him (just one charge of the Dispersion Pistol please that's all!) to get him moving. Grab the pack and read the log of the nearby human corpse [2].

Return now - via any health and ammo you need that you might have left behind - to the gold door you didn't enter before and open it. A Nali Priest summons you. Follow the Nali and he will lead you up a wooden ramp to a platform above. Watch and he will indicate two Clips on horizontal beams off to one side, but as you reach the top of the ramp things turn nasty.

Bars slam down and you are barred in. Three SkaarjScouts will appear one by one at the far end of the room - I definitely recommend the Eightball Gun. When all the Skaarj are dead, the bars will be withdrawn opening a doorway on the raised platform, but before you go through it explore the ground floor of the room. A small chamber has Clips and three crucified Nali that you should put out of their misery. The rest of the room, the pool and the corridor by which you came in together yield a Clip and several Nali Healing Fruit.

Climb the ramp and go through the door. Follow a winding corridor - select a non-explosive weapon as you go - until you reach a small room where a Skaarj will make a charge for a Nali on a precipice. Try to stop the Skaarj.

Look out through the doorway over the precipice; it is a deep natural chasm with water and rocks at the bottom. It is a long way to fall, so press the lever in the room and a hydraulic platform will come up on a rail to take you more gently down.

You will arrive on wooden platforms at water level. Kill the SkaarjScout that ambushes you here... these platforms don't really go anywhere, so swim around behind the rock on to the next one. There is usually a Nali Priest here but he does nothing, so ignore him.

Look along to the far end of the chasm and you will see a platform with another Nali Priest and a Slith. As soon as the Slith sees you, it will try to kill the Nali, so you have two choices; give the Nali up for lost and take the direct swimming route, or try to sneak up on the Slith by going round behind the rock. Either way, swim over, kill the Slith and get out on to the platform. Kill the other Slith that comes down from a raised area and then take a look around.

It seems a dead end, but there is a large gun thing with a lever nearby. Press the lever, and a harpoon shoots out and strikes the cliff a long way up.

Ever fancied a spot of tightrope walking? Here's your chance. Walk carefully up the rope and drop off on the ledge at the top. From this ledge there is a plank up to the next one, so start climbing it. If you are in need of any Eightballs there is a can of 12 on top of a rock below; drop off the plank on to the rock, collect the ammo, then return up the tightrope. Climb all the planks until you reach an entrance at the top.

At the entrance, a Nali Priest summons you. Run straight past him and follow the corridors and rooms until you reach a watery cave; the reason for ignoring the Nali is the nasty SkaarjScout here whom you should kill. Raid the barrels and crates here for an ASMD Core and Tarydium Shards, then return to the Nali.

The Nali will point you on to a raft; step on board and he will join you then use his telekinesis to start it moving. Ride the raft and climb out at the far end of the cave, where there is a button and a barred entrance.

Press the button and bars open to reveal a dead-end corridor with a tunnel in the floor. Drop down the tunnel to exit the level.

Translator Messages
[1] "The inner ceremonial chambers. Here the water god's serpents reside to accept the flesh of the weak to be devoured. Only a warrior who swims like the serpent shall escape their clutches."

[2] "Sgt. William Bradford: My entire squad has been killed by those Salamander things. There's no ammo left and I've been holding up at this shrine with one of the native priests for days. While he prays I try to keep a watchful eye at the door."

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