E1M1: Cradle to Grave

## Cradle to Grave

**Cradle to Grave** is the first level of the first episode (The Way of All Flesh) in Blood.

## Enemies Present

* Bat
* Rat
* Axe Zombie
* Cultist

## Weapons Available

* Flare Pistol
* Dynamite Bundle
* Sawed-Off
* Napalm Launcher

## Secrets

There are 11 Secrets as well as 1 Super Secret in this map; note that Super Secrets do not count toward the end-level secret count.

1. Jump out of the shallow grave and use the side of the coffin to your right. ***(Box of Flares)***
2. In the same room, use the curved wall on the far left corner, just ahead of the shallow grave you jumped out of ***(Case of TNT)***
3. Leave the mausoleum you're still in and blow up the two Axe Zombies that pop up in front of you. Before heading down the stairs to your right, face the mausoleum door you just came through and use the section of hedge wall that touches the mausoleum wall to lower it to reveal an open grave, and a headstone that says "Draven" on it. As a bonus, use the headstone and Caleb will utter the phrase "Nevermore" ***(Body Armor)***
4. In the graveyard area downstairs, destroy the Axe Zombies and Cultists you come across, then use the headstones and metal fencing to jump up onto the roof of the smaller tomb opposite the entrance to the funeral home ***(Guns Akimbo)***
5. Inside the main room of the funeral home, take out the enemies and then stand on the middle bench; this will slide the bier away from the wall, revealing a small alcove full of Rats that Caleb can crouch into ***(Box of Flares)***
6. Open the curtain door just past the previous secret to spot a church organ. Use it to open an alcove on the wall above it ***(Beast Vision)***
7. Just past the organ is the morgue section of the funeral home. In the first part of this hall (just past the Axe Zombie trap), you will spot a cracked wall coffin on your lower right. Blow it up. ***(Body Armor)***
8. Just past the first morgue section you will find the entrance to the crematorium (which can also be accessed via window from a ledge overlooking the main floor). Head on in, kill the enemies present, and crawl into the furnace. Yes, INTO the furnace; just don't stay in it too long, obviously ***(Life Seed)***
9. Still inside the crematorium, near the door that leads out into the hall separating the morgue sections, you will spot (among other things) a saw on the wall. Use it to open the shelf next to it ***(Box of Flares x2)***
10. In the second morgue section, there is another cracked wall coffin, this time on your upper left. Blow it up, kill the Rats inside, then jump inside ***(Fire Armor)***
11. From the previous secret, enter through the Dagger Key door and take out the Axe Zombie(s) in this room. Before heading outside to where the end-of-level switch is, jump behind the lid of the coffin/sarcophagus that the Zombie(s) came from ***(Box of Flares)***
12. **SUPER SECRET!** From the previous secret, look out through the hole in the wall where the end-of-level switch is, but do not drop down yet (also because there are Cultists out there waiting to shotgun you to death). Instead, jump from the cracked wall up into a high section of the angled rock wall that is directly in front of you. The angling of this specific section of wall is facing the end-of-level switch and is right next to where the angling of the wall changes. This may take a couple of tries, but the prize inside is well worth it. ***(Napalm Launcher)***

## Fun Stuff

* If you hit the tombstone marked "Draven" in the third secret, Caleb will say "Nevermore", which could be a reference to the death of Eric Draven from the 1994 horror movie *The Crow*, and the poem by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Raven".
* The level took inspiration from the 1979 horror movie *Phantasm*, with the name of the main villain (Jebediah Morningside) being used twice, and the appearance of seemingly dead bodies stored in huge barrels. It's not coincidence since the deadly chrome spheres from the movie also make an appearance in *Blood II: The Chosen* as a weapon.
* When you enter the funeral home there are four plaques on the wall in the front hallway, all of which read "in loving memory" except for the furthest left one which instead reads "I dismembered mamma".
* The wreath in the home's atrium reads "rest in pieces".
* This map was recreated for Bloodbath on LithTech for *Blood II: The Chosen*.
* Because this was the first level of *Blood*, it has been recreated on several engines by *Transfusion*, *Blood TC*/*ZBlood*, *BloodCM*, and *Q3 BloodBath*.
	+ A re-imagined version is also available in the fan add-on *The Evergrowing Army of the UnDead*.
* The Blood Team released Weekly Blood Development Updates on the 3D Realms website, and said this about this le
	+ Update: 10/07/96: Jay put the finishing touches on E1M1, "Cradle to Grave," and launched into reworking Kevin's "Dark Carnival" map.
	+ Update: 12/02/96: Lots of small tweaks to "Cradle to Grave" and some of the other shareware levels.