Hexen/Gibbet

The Gibbet is the central part of the fourth hub, and there are three major tasks to perform. The first is to solve the eastern hall, the second is to reach the Dungeons, and the third is to defeat the second Heresiarch. There are also plenty of traps on this level.

There is a game breaking bug on this level, which you can encounter soon after obtaining the Axe Key. Instructions to avoid the bug and to recover from it may be found in the ]Axe key section.

Map Layout
When you first enter the map from the Castle of Grief, you will normally appear in a raised platform and central area reminiscent of the tower you arrived from. To the left is a portal back to the Castle of Grief, and the central chamber is surrounded by a ring corridor with ettins.

The south passage leads towards a small corridor with bookcases serving as a secret door. The first leads to a bedroom (ignore the bed - it's a crushing trap), and the second leads to a library.

The east passage from the ring chamber leads to a large hall with a path. There are plenty of crystal vials here, with a lava chasm separating the north and south and Dark Bishops floating around the room.

The north passage leads to a raised section with Centaurs. There are five quarts flasks, in a crushing trap avoided by stopping right in the middle of the flasks. The flechettes to the left are also trapped, and the axe key is caged.

The west passage is locked until you get the axe key - the final part of the hub.

Yorick's Skull
The first task is finding Yorick's Skull, which requires you to first complete the Forsaken Outpost and obtain the two books.

From the central section, enter the south passage, and proceed to the far book case. Open the door to the library, and look for a book shelf missing two books - it's found at the easternmost bookshelf in the middle row. When you place the two books, Some bookshelves will lower with Dark Bishop attacking from them. One of the northern bookshelves will have Yorick's Skull, which you should take.

Return to the central section, and enter the eastern large hall. Fight the Dark bishops, noting that the torches and pillars serve as cover. You can smash the stained glass windows for items, or the south window to reveal a slaughtaur guarding a switch to raise a bridge. This switch is optional, but makes it easier to cross the chasm without jumping.

When you've done everything desired in the room, approach the statue. Select Yorick's Skull in your inventory, and place it on the statue. In 10 seconds, the floors of the room off the marked path will collapse into the lava below, thus you should either walk back along the path, or beeline towards the hall's exit.

Restring Yourick's statue lets you use a newly created exit in the central room, leading to the Effluvium.

Reaching the Dungeons
Once you have the Dungeon Key from the Effluvium, enter the south corridor. Enter the first bookshelf on the right, and enter the bedroom. There are two traps - the first is the bed containing one crystal vial, and the other is required to reach the dungeons.

There is a cage containing a Slaughtaur, which you should kill to open up a nearby door. This room will contain a staircase, but it must first be lowered.

On the eastern wall is a pair of bracers and a switch. Pulling the switch unlocks a secret door behind the dungeon key, but lowers the nearby floor. To evade the trap, approach the switch and pull it, then run to one of the diagonals to jump over the pit.

Open the dungeon key door. If you pulled the switch, you should see a secondary room, which lowers the required staircase. Return to the main bedroom, and enter the south passage to a small room. Be careful when heading down the stairs, as there's a bottomless pit.

The stairs lead to a portal to the Dungeons.

If you want to do a return trip from this portal, it's safer to enter the south-east stairs, and punch the wall at the dead end.

Axe Key
Once you got the message in Forsaken Outpost (accessed from Effluvium), you should enter the north passage. There are plenty of centaurs to attack, and five quartz flasks within a crushing trap (avoided by staying in the middle, and either running in or out.)

The door that opened is in the south-east corner of the room, leading into the cage. Knock down the suit of armor, and enter. The axe key is lowered, and you can claim it.

Save your game, there's a game-breaking bug (see the sidebar).

Enter the axe key door to the west - this counts as a point of no return unless you use a Chaos Device (or pass through the doors in the short moment of time after killing the Heresiarch). You can clear out the centaurs, but to continue, you need to approach the throne in the room. This lowers the pillars to the side, and activates the Afrits. Destroy all the efrits to call the next wave of chaos serpants.

When the chaos serpants appear, try to get exactly three. On the easier difficulty levels, this requires not harming them, but the two highest difficulty settings will spawn four, requiring you to kill exactly one. Wait five seconds before slaying any more, verifying that the walls to the north and south have opened and allow dark bishops to enter.

Kill all the Dark bishops in the room to open the door to the Heresiarch. As with last time, he will summon a shield when he gains line of sight. When the shield is down, use your ultimate wepaon to inflict as much damage as possible. In this case, the battle is contained to the throne room - if you run out of mana, you'll have to use a chaos device to escape the room, and search the other levels for extra mana.