| abstract
| - Surfacing, Raziel found himself in a large square chamber with many of the floors and walls were iced over save for a few open balcony areas and occasional red stained glass windows. The chamber had three distinct tiers and an open square roof, dominated by a two-level octagonal tower construct with a tiled roof in the center of the chamber: The water entrance occupied a circular space in the center of south of the chamber, with a checkpoint positioned slightly north of this and a filled Blood basin in the bottom of the level of the spire construct; a Blood chalice was positioned on a small pedestal in the center of the northern part of the chamber but was protected by a Sentry eye on the north wall. An icy patterned rug led out east and west from the bottom of the tower, joining ramps on opposite sides of the room which led up to open balcony sections in the second tier of the eastern and western walls - the balconies both led southward around the outside of the chamber and along the southern wall meeting in the center where a modest bridge led to the top level of the tower and the second empty blood basin; a small room containing an Air Reaver font was placed in the second tier of the northern wall above the sentry. An opening next to the bridge in the south of the second tier led down a twisting snowy passage to a Cracked surface at the outside of the retreat, allowing Raziel to imbue the Wraith Blade from one of the nearby Dark font and return inside to bypass the sentry and recover the chalice. Using it to transfer Blood from the filled to the empty basin above, Raziel was able to summon the first bloodstone bridge, which led from the second basin up to a high third opening in the northern wall. This led down several long straight corridors containing the same arched depictions as the underwater entry, with the highly polished ice flooring; these initially led west beofre turning north into an long corridor, west into another long corridor, then south down a stepped ramp into the second and larger of the retreat's main 'hollow mountain' chambers - the inner sanctum.[SR2-C8] SR2-JanosRetreat-Interior-Janos11-Material.PNG SR2-JanosRetreat-J11-South.png SR2-JanosRetreat-J11-Roof.png SR2-JanosRetreat-Interior-Janos13-Material.PNG SR2-JanosRetreat-J1398-West.png SR2-JanosRetreat-J1398-North.png SR2-JanosRetreat-J1398-East.png SR2-JanosRetreat-J1398-South.png SR2-Cutscene-JanosRetreat-InnerSanctum-9.png SR2-JanosRetreat-Janos1398-JanosChamber-InnerWingedSculpture.png SR2-JanosRetreat-Janos1398-JanosChamber-InnerWingedSculpture-TopDoor.png SR2-JanosRetreat-J1398Roof.png The Inner Sanctum was similar in appearance to the previous open chamber, but on a much larger scale with five distinct tiers built into the mountain itself and rising above several arches to a circular opening in the roof. The chamber was large enough to accommodate many open balconies on different levels and four octagonal towers at the center of the area, each with a tiled roof above four levels. At the summit of the chamber on the southern wall was the high balcony leading to Janos's chamber, with another large winged sculpture (identical to the one outside the retreat) descending below the balcony - to reach this level Raziel was required to use the abilities of several Reaver enhancements, utilize various Emblem keys and ultimately construct several Bloodstone bridges to ascend to the top of the chamber (spawning Air plinths as he rose through the chamber). The ramp entrance descended to the bottom of the chamber from the northern wall into another icy patterned rug leading south between the towers passing a Light font to the west and heading up a ramp to a bridge on the second tier between the two southern towers passages from both towers led over bridges to an open balcony at the south where the first filled blood basin was positioned along with two Blood chalices. Another bridge crossed at this level leading to the empty basin in the northeast tower, or leading west beyond the northwest tower to closed emblem door leading to an open balcony on the west. By firing Reaver bolts at the nearby hanging Light crystals Raziel could drop the glass bridge allowing access to the balcony where a Greater thrall held the Emblem key to open the door. With all hazards cleared the basin could be use to provide bloodstone bridges to a small alcove containing an Air font and up eastward to the third tier and an open balcony along the east wall containing two chalices and two Cracked doors adjacent to the towers, with an open space between providing a view to two light crystals dropping a bridge between the eastern towers. Proceeding through the second cracked door Raziel could cross a bridge heading west across the room connecting with the two southern towers. At the southeast tower Raziel could head north across the dropped light bridge allowing him to reach the next basin in the northeastern tower, partially protected by a sentry above the eastern balcony, which provided a bridge to a Dark font in a small alcove in the northern wall. Returning to the southeast tower and southern bridge Raziel could follow the bridge passed the southwest tower and on to a small room in the western wall at the end of the bridge, protected by a sentry, where a Greater thrall held an emblem key. With this key, Raziel could cross a bridge from the southwest to northwestern tower and open the emblem door blocking access to the northwest tower and, with all hazards cleared, activate the next basin creating a bloodstone bridge leading up to an open balcony along the northern wall of the fourth tier, blocked at each end by emblem doors. The balcony provided a view to two light crystals which dropped the bridge between the northern tower but were initially blocked by a small cracked air icon. Another bridge led from the northern balcony to the outside of the northeastern tower but was blocked, however two small platforms leading east could be used to reach an open eastern balcony where a greater thrall could be confronted to gain an emblem key to open the nearby door and a view was provided to the last (swinging) light crystals dropping a bridge between the eastern towers. Cutting the corner on the other side allowed Raziel to reach a western balcony and the last greater thrall and open western emblem door clearing the way to activate a blood basin in the western balcony, providing a bloodstone bridge to the northwestern tower. Here, Raziel could cross the previously activated light bridges to a bridge between the southern towers, where the final blood basin could be filled creating a bloodstone ramp to the fifth level balcony in the south and Janos's chambers.[SR2-C8] SR2-JanosLDinSR2.png SR2-JanosChamber-Wide.png SR2-JanosRetreat-JanosChamber.png SR2-JanosRetreat-JanosChamber-NorthWall.png SR2-JanosRetreat-JanosChamber-EastWall.png SR2-JanosChamber-BloodBasin.png SR2-JanosRetreat-JanosChamber-WestWall.png SR2-JanosRetreat-JanosChamber-CollapsedBalconyInterior-EraC.png Behind the large wooden double doors, a corridor zigzagged south-west-south before reaching another set of (hand activated) wooden doors, which led into Janos private chambers. This room appeared much more 'homely' and 'warmer' than the surrounding areas with none of the ice seen in other areas and several lanterns positioned around the chamber as well as an open fireplace. The room consisted of a large broadly rectangular chamber with an arched roof, a bench in the center and an open balcony to the south overlooking the lake below. Along the eastern wall several bloodstone constructions were seen along with depictions of the Reaver and the Reaver itself was placed in an icon marked box here; immediately to the south of was a large basin filled with Blood and two sculptures resembling goats. The western wall of the chamber contained several bookcases but was largely dominated by the open fireplace and chimney, with a depiction of a bearded figure above the mantelpiece (somewhat resembling other similar unexplained figures in the textures of the retreat) and the fireplace itself flanked by two busts of Janos Audron himself on small plinths. To the north lay the entrance leading to the main inner sanctum, but stairways in the northeast and northwest led up to a passage above leading north into the Fire Forge, an open chamber decked with many sculptures and stained glass windows where Raziel would gain the Fire Reaver.[SR2-C8][SR2-C9] The Soul Reaver 2 World map shows Janos's retreat as encompassing a roughly semi-circular area north-east of Uschtenheim, east of the Air forge and directly south of the Fire forge (with both forges marked only by simple symbols), though many of the features around the retreat area are also slightly inconsistent when compared to the in-game layout. The world map depicts a canyon heading north out of Uschtenheim which forks with branches heading north-east to the retreat and north-west to the Air forge. The external lake area south of the retreat, where the split occurs in-game, is not present though a similar small lake (apparently fed from the Lake of Lost Souls) is positioned slightly north of the split and west of the area marked as Janos's retreat on maps. To the north-west of this lake a mountain could be observed flanked by the marked areas for the Janos retreat and the Fire forge (to the south and north respectively). With the fire forge at the center of the in-game retreat it seems that the retreat area on the map only includes the outline of the external facade of the swamp. The directional clash may also be explained by the possibility that Raziel climbed above the canyon and fork depicted on the map in the area beyond Uschtenheim and continued north through the area in uncharted paths. The map also continues to list Raziel as in the Uschtenheim area until he enters the Air Forge or Janos retreat, and likewise continues to list him as in the retreat until he enters the Fire Forge. Because of clashes in the in-game layouts in the between the areas north of Uschtenehim depicted in Blood Omen and Soul Reaver 2, the location of Janos's retreat in relation to Blood Omen locations remains unclear - though candidates include areas on the higher cliffs north of the western Uschtenheim and bypass and south of the Ruined Land, between the ruined land and Long and Winding Road (or north of this) and within the Uschtenheim map area, northward on the high cliffs dividing Uschtenheim and the bypass area.[SR2][BO1]
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