E2M2: Uranium Mine

Double your dosage of ionizing radiation in the cramped tunnels of a uranium mine 1200 meters beneath the surface. Uranium Mine is the second mission in HROT Episode Two — The Degustation, which establishes a rational for the occasional underground shaking that the Player has encountered through the game thus far.

# Walkthrough

The Player continues through the tunnel at the end of Točník Castle and enters the Uranium Mine, where a sign informs you that you are 1200 meters beneath the surface. To the left you will find a Medkit, then Proceed down the tunnel to the right until you reach some tracks, where you will find a Soviet Shotgun on the left. Continue to the right and you will reach a sign warning the Player about the hazard of **Ionizing Radiation** (**Ionizující Záření**).

Continue past this and hop up to find some Tasty Canned Chicken, then wind your way around, past some shells until you reach a room with a tunnel boring machine. Here you will see a sign that says **Do not talk to the Operator while they're operating the machine** (**Zákaz! Hovoru se strojníkem při řízení stroje**).

The borer has Submachine Gun sitting on top of it, but it is just out of reach. The borer rotating drum that is being lifted and lowered as it is breaking the rock. Duck beneath the drum when it is raised to move forward, but do it quickly otherwise you will become a shadow of your former self.

Past the borer is another tunnel to the left, leading to an area with the Rusted Key door. which is guarded by a Kejdovec. There are also two closed doors on either side of the Rusted Key door, and an entryway to a large open area with a pool. Over the pool is a Konfident who is floating next to a ladder leading up.

There is a room to the left at the top of the ladder with two Smaskous and a sign that says **God Bless You** (**Zdař Bůh**), along with a pail of Soup, Main Course, Cake and some Tasty Canned Chicken. There is a door at the left which leads to some train tracks. To the right is an exploding barrel and a safety door that is blocking the tracks. To the left you will find three Konfidents and a Turret overlooking the entrance to the first secret, who do not think you are wearing sufficient safety gear.

Follow the tracks to where they are blocked by double safety doors, where you will find a Smaskou and Kejdovec sifting through the rocks. To the left there is a tunnel leading down to a catwalk that crosses a pool, near the location of the second and third secrets.

The catwalk ends at a door with a button. Press it to open the door, and a Miner will come running to greet you with a special delivery explosive. Continue through to return to the room with the Rusted Key door, where the formerly closed door is now open to show a room behind it, which has an S.U.P., the Rusted Key, and the entrance to the fourth secrets.

Take the Rusted Key and a Kejdovec and Konfident will appear to tell you that all keys must be returned to the shift supervisor. The Rusted Key door is boarded up, so break them open and proceed through the door to a tunnel leading up, and into an approaching Boulder.

Yes, just like at Točník Castle you are looking at your imminent demise unless you get away quickly to an area where it will break apart harmlessly. Only this time, the Boulder is a lot closer, so run fast. The Player is advised not to hide in the room where you found the Rusted Key, because it will not end well.

Return through the Rusted Key door and proceed upwards until you reach another set of train tracks. To the right is the Common Key door next to a door that blocks the tracks and an exploding barrel, along with a signal light that is showing red. Emerging from a lower tunnel are two Smaskous.

Follow the rails around to the left and you will eventually come to the train. Follow the tracks, past a clip, until you reach an exploding barrel, and where the tracks end. Continue past the end of the tracks and follow the tunnel down to a small room at the left.

Here you will find a Submachine Gun and a door built into the wall, behind which is a Sewer Rat and the Common Key. Take it, and the tunnels outside will become a frantic melee with Smaskous, Hazmat Suits, and Kejdovecs, all of whom are convinced you have overstepped your authority.

Return to the train and climb aboard. Here you will see three controls: an Up Triangle (Forward), a Square (Stop), and a Down Triangle (Backwards). Drive the train forward until you reach the Common Key door, where the train will stop with a hiss, and the Player will earn an achievement.

Open the door and enter a utility room, where you will find a bottle of Wine and a track controller. Flip a switch on the controller, and a signal light beside the safety doors blocking the train will start flashing white. Return to the train, send it forward, and the safety doors will slide open to allow the train to pass.

There are two items of note about the train. First, it has two gears, so clicking twice will increase your speed. Second, the train is equipped with a safety feature, so if you jump off the train it will stop.

The train track will weave its way through the mine, driving over a Hazmat Suit, and passing the location to the fifth secret. Eventually you will reach an area with a Kejdovec. To the left there is a short tunnel leading down to an area where you will find the Aluminum Key and three Sewer Rats. When you emerge with the key, there will be another Kejdovec and a Miner who object to your actions.

Ride the train around the track, running over a Hazmat Suit, until the train stops in front of another safety door with a red signal light. The Aluminum Key door is behind you to the left. Exit the train and open the door to find a valve, which when turned, will release an S.U.P. In the nook where the S.U.P. was hiding is some Tasty Canned Chicken, along with the entrance to the sixth secret.

The valve opened the door across the tracks from the Aluminum Key door. Cross over and enter to find another track controller, some Tasty Canned Chicken, and the entrance to the seventh secret. Flip the switch on the controller to make the signal light flash white, then hop back on the train and head forward through the safety door.

The new track tunnel is long and winding, and you will encounter a Hazmat Suit and a Miner on your way to a double safety door marked 40. Past these door, you are now back in the area above the boring machine. The train will continue through a final safety door and finally come to rest at a station platform.

The platform area has a switch lock puzzle to the right, next to a ventilation duct. Immediately ahead is an entryway blocked by a bollard, with a sign that says **The Pit** (**Ohlubeň**), directly above another that says **Entry to the Transport Container Forbidden Unless Instructed by the Operator!** (**Vstup Do Dopravní Nádoby Bez Pokynů Narážeče Zakázán!**).

To the left is a corrugated steel panel, an explosive barrel, and some clip. Flip the switches on the switch lock to open the corrugated panel where there is a storeroom with a land mine, a clip, and a Medkit. There are also two Konfidents and a Turret that are guarding the button that will open the bollard.

Enter the Pit area and open the door to find a cage elevator that will take you to the surface. You will pass some graffiti that says **Lenin Lives** (Lenin Žije) before arriving at a large, open ore processing area beneath a mining tower.

Turn to the right and proceed down the stairs, where you will find a bag of Semi-Skimmed Milk and a Skapucíon the landing, nearby the entrance to the eighth and ninth secrets. At the bottom of stairs is a locker room with showers, where a Smaskou is changing for work.

On the wall are motivational posters to inspire the workers. One of them proudly celebrates **40 Years of the Czechoslovak Uranium Industry** (**40 Let Československého Uranového Průmyslu**), while the other promotes **Honor and Labor!** (**Práci Čest!**)

Loot the lockers to find one Koruna and some Kifli, then proceed to the toilets, where there is a Skapucí finishing his business, and a second Common Key.

Return to the area with the mining tower. In the center is an outbuilding that is connected the belt turning on the mining tower, in which is a Submachine Gun and a bag of Semi-Skimmed Milk. To the left there is a sealed door.

At the far end of the plaza on the right is a Medkit. Across from this is stack of shipping containers, one of which is marked **Don't pick up, the bottom is missing** (**Nebrat Chybí Dno**), where you will find a Hussite Hand Cannon. There is an Electric Cabinet directly across from this next to the central outbuilding, which faces a large corrugated wall.

Approaching the wall will cause it to lower, revealing a secret gathering of Hazmat Suits who are having a private party for Šemík the Hors. They do not care for your showing up uninvited, and proceed to explain this to you earnestly with the help of their friends: Konfidents, Kejdovecs, and Miners.

The area behind the corrugated wall contains a switch against the wall, which opens the closed door on the opposite side of the plaza, where there is a Kejdovec waiting. Enter the door and proceed down the stairs to a large room with a high ceiling. Here you will find a Turret, a bag of Semi-Skimmed Milk, and the second Common Key lock.

Turning the lock will open the grated floor and drop you to the floor below, where there is a Medkit and a fan. Step over the fan and let it push you to the ceiling where there is a ventilation duct. Shoot your way inside and you will find the AZ-5 button to end the level.

**Previous:** Točník Castle

**Next:** E2M3: Velhartice

# Secrets

### Secret 1

Access the first secret in the area with the three Konfidents and the Turret. The rail line where they are waiting overlooks the boring machine. Jump down on it to claim the Submachine Gun, then jump to the left, to where there is an Omega symbol painted on the wall. Interact with the wall and it will open to reward you with a Backpack.

### Secret 2

At the catwalk that crosses the pool, turn left and jump down to see a passage. Enter it and proceed past the ladder to your left to where it ends with a ledge that contains some Tasty Canned Chicken and a Hussite Hand Cannon.

### Secret 3

Before climbing the ladder back to the catwalk, exit the passage and look up and right to see a cracked wall. Use the Hussite Hand Cannon you just found to blow open the wall. Return to the catwalk and turn to the right where the hole is and jump down, leaning forward into the wall to find a hidden room. In the middle of the room you will find the corpse of a small animal. Clicking the Use key, the Player will get the message **Rotten mole. Bleh.** This is a reference to Krtek.

### Secret 4

In the room with the Rusted key, there is an electrical panel tucked into the right corner ceiling. Shoot it to open a panel on the other side of the room, where you will find a second Pistol.

### Secret 5

Once the train is past the first set of safety doors, there is an area where the tracks turn right, and there is a pool of water. Jump into the pool and at the back you can sink down to a nook where you will find a Medal.

### Secret 6

In the room with the valve behind the Aluminum Key door, there is an Omega symbol painted on the right wall of the nook where the S.U.P. emerged. Interact with the wall and it will open to reveal a second can of Tasty Canned Chicken.

### Secret 7

There is a cracked wall in the room with the second track controller, behind some Tasty Canned Chicken. Blow it open and find a Brno Super Shotgun.

### Secret 8

On the stairs to the locker room is a landing with a bag of Semi-Skimmed Milk, where there is a drain on the wall. Interact with the drain and the wall will open to reveal a duct, where you will find a Wifebeater.

### Secret 9

In the duct with the Wifebeater, turn the corner and note where the duct leads down. Jump into the duct facing left and you will enter a second smaller duct, where you will find a Ball Lightning Launcher. Jump down again and you will land behind the ventilation duct in the area near the station platform.

# Lore

* The map is based on a real mining location in the former Czechoslovakia, Příbram, a town well-known for silver and iron mining since the 16th century. It was referred to by Rudolf II as the "Royal Mining Town" in 1579. In the 1950s the district was opened for uranite mining and several mines were made at Příbram. The industry was included into a program of penal labour that Communist Czechoslovak government used for persecution of regime objectors. Labor camps Příbram-Vojna and Příbram-Brod were run there 1949–1951, holding up to 800 detainees. Příbram was notorious for a high death rate among underground workers due to occupational exposure to ionizing radiation. A 2019 study, *Mortality and cancer incidence among underground uranium miners in the Czech Republic 1977 - 1992*, found that workers in the Příbram mines had higher rates of death than expected due to all causes, all cancers, lung cancer and extrathoracic cancer. Similar excess was observed in cancer incidence analyses, with the addition of stomach cancer, liver cancer and rectal cancer. Deaths due to hazardous mining conditions were found to result in 0.33 person-years of life lost per miner.

* One of the many uses of the Omega symbol is to designate a cave.

* Mole (Krtek) is an animated character in a series of cartoons created by Czech animator Zdeněk Miler. The premiere of the first short film with Mole took place at the Venice Film Festival in 1957. Since its inception, the cartoon has gained enormous popularity in many Central European countries, as well as India, China, Kazakhstan, Croatia, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Iran, Iraq, and Japan. Krtek was first seen in 1956 in Prague, when Miler wanted to create a children's cartoon about how flax is processed. He wanted a strong Disney influence to the cartoon by choosing an animal for the leading role, and decided to pick a mole after stumbling over a molehill during a walk. The first film, called "Jak krtek ke kalhotkám přišel" ("How the mole got his trousers"), had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 1957, where it was awarded two Golden Lions. Production of further episodes started in 1963 and since then, around fifty episodes have been created.

* In August 1945, top-secret negotiations were launched in Prague between the USSR commissioner, Colonel Alexandrov, and the USSR Deputy Foreign Minister Ivan Bakulin, and on the other hand, the Czechoslovak Prime Minister Zdeněk Fierlinger . The code name for the project for the extraction and delivery of Jáchymov uranium ore to the USSR was called Chalupa, and on On 23 November 1945, a strictly confidential Agreement was signed between the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Government of the Czechoslovak Republic on the expansion of mining of ores and concentrates in Czechoslovakia containing radium and other radioactive elements and their supplies to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. On the basis of the Czechoslovak-Soviet agreement, the national company Jáchymovské doly was established, which held a monopoly on all uranium ore mining in Czechoslovakia. The predominant force that mined Czechoslovak uranium was civilians. In addition to them, however, non-free labor forces were indiscriminately driven into mining. The Jáchymovské doly National Enterprise was the owner of the campsites, which housed non-free miners - prisoners of war, forced Players of the Czechoslovak Republic and convicted convicts. Several thousand Czech Germans were also relocated to the Jáchymov region by directive from different parts of the border , excluded for this purpose from the planned removal. In the first post-war decade, mining took place mainly in the areas of Jáchymov , Horní Slavkov and Příbram. At the same time, however, intensive exploration and exploration for new uranium deposits took place. In the course of the next few years, other deep deposits of smaller or larger importance were found and opened, including Vítkov, Dyleň, Okrouhlá Radouň, and others. At the time of its greatest development in the 1970s, the Czechoslovak uranium industry employed around 60,000 workers. In the early 1990s, the state's subsidy for ore mining was cancelled, leading to the closure of almost all mines.

* Honor and Labor is a kind of greeting that was widely used in the times of really socialist Czechoslovakia among all walks of life. The origin of the phrase is associated with the Baťa plant in Zlín, where workers greeted each other this way. The greeting gradually spread, became popular and was subsequently taken over by the Communists as the main greeting of the workers.

* The slogan **Our uranium serves peace** (**Náš Uran Slouži Míru**), was posted on banners and signs at the shafts of C.S.S.R. uranium mines.

# Trivia

When E2M2 was first released, the room contained pickable psilocybin mushrooms. However the developer removed the mushrooms in version 0.4.4 stating that it was a work in progress. He later noted that psilocybin mushrooms would not grow in a cave as the reason for the removal. On 24 June 2022 Famózní Pes conducted a poll on the **#Hrot Talk** Discord channel, asking fans to vote on **What to place in e2m2's empty secret**, with choices for dino bones, skeleton with Civvie11 hat, Krtek, or Civvie11 pants with cooling rods. Krtec was the unqualifed winner, with more than double the votes of the second choice.

# Gallery

Do not talk to the Operator while they're operating the machineGod Bless YouEntry to the Transport Container Forbidden Unless Instructed by the Operator!Lenin Lives40 Years of the Czechoslovak Uranium IndustryDon't pick up, the bottom is missingMost cursed HROT screenshot ever, contributed by Pyotr