Vampire Interview

Vampire Interview or Chapter 8: Vampire Interview, is the eighth "level", or chapter, of Soul Reaver 2. It follows Raziel in Nosgoth's early history as he investigates the interior of Janos Audron's Retreat, meets the ancient vampire himself and solves the puzzle of the Fire Forge.

Profile

 * Name: Chapter 8 - Vampire Interview
 * Classification: Soul Reaver 2 chapters
 * Game: Soul Reaver 2
 * Protagonist • Raziel
 * Objectives: • Gain entry to Janos Audron's Retreat • Complete the puzzles to ascend to Janos's chambers • Meet Janos Audron • Imbue the Fire Reaver to escape the forge and return to Janos's chambers
 * Setpieces: • Janos Audron's Retreat • The Fire Forge
 * Era: • Nosgoth's early history
 * Timeline: • The third timeline
 * Objects: • Emblem keys • Unique torch • The Fire Reaver
 * Preceded by: On to the Past
 * Followed by: Blade of Vengeance

Plot
Progressing through the mountains beyond Uschtenheim, Raziel eventually reached the lake outside the Janos's Aerie and found it intact and pristine. Unable to reach the high balcony, Raziel discovered a tunnel underwater in the Spectral Realm that gave him entry to lower levels of the building and the inside of a gigantic hollow mountain.

To ascend Raziel was required to complete a large puzzle using all of his previous Reaver enhancements to spawn several Bloodstone bridges, allowing him to reach the level of the balcony and the private chambers of Janos Audron.

Entering the room Raziel discovered Janos himself - more angelic than the demonic murals he had seen in the Sarafan Stronghold - and apparently awaiting Raziel as a prophetic figure. Janos elaborated on the stories of ancient vampire history and the Genesis of the Pillars and explained that he was called as a "tenth guardian" to guard the Reaver until the Vampire champion - Raziel - arrived to collect it. Janos presented Raziel with the blade but instead of the usual displacement Raziel felt only a nameless dread and asked Janos to take the blade away from him. Shortly afterward a group of Sarafan warriors burst through the door having followed Raziel through the retreat. Sacrificing himself to save Raziel, Janos teleported Raziel to the nearby Fire Forge and faced the Sarafan alone.

Trapped in the forge behind a door sealed with an element he did not possess, Raziel was powerless to stop the onslaught. The only hope he held out was to complete the forge quickly to imbue the Fire Reaver and return to rescue Janos.

Janos Audron's Retreat
From the southern bank of the lake outside Janos Audron's Retreat it was necessary for Raziel to cross the frozen lake to reach the hole beneath the balcony. Jumping underwater he could then swim forward to the rocky outcrop which housed the retreat, where a Shift Glyph marked the wall. Shifting into the Spectral Realm would open the glyph out into a passage leading beneath the retreat, and by continuing through the passage Raziel would find a planar portal which allowed him to return to the Material Realm and swim up to the opening above, crouch-jumping to reach the edge of the hole and climb to the internal area of Janos's retreat.

Avoiding the pedestal and chalice in the north and the Sentry eye guarding them, Raziel could continue up to the second level using the ramps and continue to the central platform where an empty basin was positioned. Jumping and gliding across to alcove in the north above the sentry, Razel could then reach the Air Reaver font and imbue the Air Reaver. Jumping back and to the central platform, Raziel could then continue down the snowy passage to the south, following as it curved down and emerged at a cracked stone wall. By firing an Air Reaver bolt at the wall he could break through and return to the outer lake. Heading along to the northeast of the frozen lake, Raziel could find a raised platform that was populated by two Sarafan. Jumping up and dispatching these foes, he could follow the trail along to an Air plinth and use the Air issued from it to glide up to a higher platform where a third Sarafan warrior waited next to a Dark font. Imbuing the Dark Reaver and dropping back down to the lake, Raziel could return through the snowy passage to return to the inner room with the Dark Reaver activated and use its Reaver bolts to blind the sentry guarding the pedestal to retrieve the chalice.

Filling the chalice from the blood-filled basin at the center of the room, Raziel could then take the full chalice up the ramp to the second level where he could use it to fill the empty basin above and manifest his first bloodstone bridge, allowing him access to a door on the third level which led down a series of long straight corridors of polished ice into a much larger chamber - the "inner sanctum". Heading down to the ramp to the bottom level, it was necessary for Raziel to imbue the Light Reaver at the nearby Light font before heading up the southern ramp to the next level and following the bridge to the right into the southwestern tower, passing a light symbol in frosted glass. Jumping and gliding across to the northwestern tower, Raziel could then follow the path left to a locked emblem door with a large face motif and line up a shot at the two Light crystals to the south. Firing a Reaver bolt so that both were activated simultaneously caused the frosted glass in the southwestern tower to drop into a bridge, and jumping and gliding back to the tower enabled Raziel to cross and reach a gallery in the western wall where he could defeat a greater thrall to retrieve its Emblem key. Following the corridor north to the end, Raziel could then open the Emblem door marked with a large face. With all obstacles on this level cleared, Raziel could go to the southern gallery by taking a left at the southwestern tower where a full basin and two empty chalices rested - filling the chalices from the basin and following the path back to the southwestern tower, left across the dropped bridge to the western gallery, back across to the northwestern tower and straight across the path to the basin in the northeastern spire, where pouring the blood in the empty basin created another bloodstone bridge to the level above; as well as providing a smaller bridge to the Air font in an alcove in the northern wall and spawning an air plinth on the bottom level. Crossing to the air font and defeating the Shade that manifested, Raziel could imbue the Air Reaver from the font and then proceed up the bloodstone stairs to the level above, where he could use a Reaver bolt to blow open the cracked barrier ahead to access the eastern gallery and follow the corridor along to destroy the next cracked barrier to the south. Dropping back down to the bottom level, Raziel could use the Air Reaver to activate the nearby air plinth before imbuing the Light Reaver again at the first font. Using the plinth to return to the second level and again ascending the bloodstone stairs to the eastern gallery and stopping mid-way along the gallery, Raziel could then line up a Reaver bolt shot at two crystals to the west to drop another light bridge between the northeastern and southeastern towers. Collecting a chalice from the eastern gallery and returning down the bloodtstone stairs, Raziel could then fill the chalice from the basin below and proceed back up the stairs, cross the eastern gallery, follow the path to the southeastern tower and turn right to cross the dropped bridge to the northeastern tower, where he could fill the empty basin and spawn a bloodstone bridges to the Darkness font in an alcove on the northern wall and manifest an Air plinth on the level below.

From here Raziel's progress was barred by sealed emblem doors at each end of the corridor, to negotiate them it was necessary for Raziel to head to the eastern door and turn to the south following the catwalk in toward the top of the (blocked off) northeastern tower - a small section of platform jutting eastward from this catwalk allowed Raziel to jump and glide across to the eastern gallery where he could confront and defeat a Greater thrall to recover its emblem key and use it to open the emblem door in the northeast corner of the room. Turning back around and heading down the eastern gallery, Raziel could find his next light crystal targets half way along between the northeastern and southeastern towers, with one light crystal stationary and another swinging in front of it like a pendulum. It was necessary for Raziel to carefully time a Light Reaver bolt to hit both simultaneously to drop the next bridge. Heading back up the eastern gallery and across the northern gallery to the stairway, Raziel could jump and glide to the northwestern tower and then across to the western gallery (alternatively it was possible for Raziel to simply 'cut the corner' - jumping through the archways and landing on the western gallery) to reach the western sealed emblem door, where he would again be confronted by a greater thrall whose emblem key could be used when it was defeated to open the nearby sealed door in the northwest corner and clear the access across the top level.

Heading back along the northern gallery, it was necessary for Raziel to pick up a chalice from the northeastern corner before returning to the stairs to descend and fill the chalice from the full basin below. Returning to the fourth level he could head west and follow the trail to the empty basin which spawned a bloodstone bridge to the northwestern tower. Heading back to the northeast corner, Raziel could then retrieve another chalice and take it back to the newly filled basin in the western gallery. Filling the chalice and crossing to the northwestern tower, Raziel could follow the squared 'U'-shape trail as it crossed the dropped bridges, passing through the northeast and southeast towers before reaching a bridge in front of the balcony and large sculpture, which contained the last empty basin. Filling the basin spawned the last bloodstone bridge leading up to the balcony and a door that led Raziel to a meeting with Janos Audron himself.

The Fire Forge (SR2)
After meeting with Janos, Raziel found himself in the Fire forge, confronted by another complicated puzzle - it was advisable to use the Save altar in the southeast before continuing. Dropping down to the north to the open room below, Raziel could proceed to the burning cauldron on a plinth and pick up one of the torches positioned in a rack at the foot of the northern wall. Using the Fire from the cauldron to light the torch caused the room to fill with Blood and several platforms to rise from the floor of the chamber - jumping quickly across them to the south and using the flame to ignite the cauldron on the plinth there was the goal, but if the flame was extinguished by falling into the blood or otherwise doused, that particular stage of the puzzle would have to be restarted and a new torch retrieved. Succeeding in igniting the second cauldron caused a change in the arrangement of the chamber, with some pillars rising and others descending; with a light font now exposed on a platform at the surface.

Imbuing the Light Reaver, Raziel could then fire a Reaver bolt at the Light crystal suspended from the ceiling, which caused the blood to temporarily drain from the chamber and expose an air font on the bottom for a short time. Imbuing the Air Reaver and swimming up to the surface as the blood rose again allowed Raziel to reach one of the Air plinth pillars and use the Air Reaver on it, causing all three to issue air updrafts and change in height so they formed a step formation, with the northern plinth highest and the southern plinth lowest.

Returning to the cauldron platform in the south, Raziel could then jump to one of the alcoves on the southern wall to retrieve another torch and ignite it from the cauldron before setting off across the room, jumping and gliding on each of the updrafts in turn to glide higher and reach the next step; ultimately reaching the high platform in the north with an empty cauldron. As before if Raziel fell his torch would be extinguished and he would be forced to retrieve another and begin the section again.

As Raziel ignited the northern cauldron the arrangement of the room changed again, with four more air plinth pillars lowering from the ceiling (so there were seven in an '8'-shaped pattern), the light and air fonts changing position and the room flooding with blood once more; but to a higher level this time, leaving only the northern cauldron platform and the light font platform exposed at the surface and the air font now too high to reach.

Swimming to the light font Raziel could imbue the Light Reaver and return to the cauldron where he could fire a Reaver bolt at the Light crystal in the ceiling - again temporarily draining the blood from the room and exposing the air plinths below the surface - and once again it was necessary for Raziel to reach the higher platform on the other side with a lit torch while the chamber re-filled with blood. Quickly picking up a torch from the rack in the northern wall and lighting the torch from the cauldron, Raziel had to carefully negotiate the updrafts from the plinths - as before if Raziel fell his torch would be extinguished and he would be forced to retrieve another and begin the section again - as an added twist it as necessary to avoid the streams of blood coming down, which would douse the flame if they came into contact with the torch. Gliding across to either the east or west plinth, onto the center plinth and then again choosing east or west, Raziel could reach the other side and the main altar of the forge. Plunging the lit torch into the altar activated the forge and imbued the Fire Reaver.


 * MP-ActivityMap-Fire.png The Fire Reaver: "Like the Light Reaver, the Fire Reaver casts a dim glow around Raziel's immediate environment. In addition, the Fire Reaver can activate a Fire Plinth."

After revisiting the Save altar Raziel could continue back up the southeastern corridor to the sealed door and open it with the Fire Reaver to end the chapter.

Players (in order of appearance)

 * Raziel (voiced by Michael Bell) and Raziel's voiceovers
 * Janos Audron (voiced by René Auberjonois)

Conclusions

 * Raziel has gained entry to the retreat of Janos Audron. The inside of the mountain is hollow and houses a complex arrangement of chambers.
 * Raziel has activated several mechanisms within the retreat open only to one armed with the Wraith Blade and this has allowed him to ascend the retreat to reach Janos's private chambers.
 * Janos is a blue skinned Ancient vampire. Janos has been expecting Raziel, knows his name and sees him as some sort of prophetic figure, but was not expecting his ragged appearance.
 * In the time Before Nosgoth's recorded history, at the Genesis of the Pillars, nine Pillar Guardians were called to serve the Pillars of Nosgoth and Janos himself was called as a "tenth guardian" - the keeper of the Reaver - to guard the Reaver blade until Raziel came to claim it. He has been waiting at least two thousand years.
 * The Ancient vampires view the Reaver as a holy icon, that has a symbiotic link to the pillars - "the Pillars are the lock... and the Reaver is the key". When presented with the blade, Raziel feels none of the previous distortion only a nameless dread and feels both repelled and attracted by the blade. Raziel has not revealed his possession of the Wraith Blade.
 * The Sarafan have followed in Raziel's wake, using the mechanisms activated by Raziel to reach Janos's chambers.
 * Janos has teleported Raziel to the sealed Fire Forge in a selfless bid to save Raziel's from the Sarafan. Raziel has forged the Wraith Blade with elemental Fire, creating the Fire Reaver and activating all Fire-attuned Reaver fonts, in an attempt to return and save Janos.

Background
Like the other Reaver forges of Soul Reaver 2, the fire forge was based upon distinct architectural elements from real-world ancient temples - the Fire Forge specifically seems to draw mainly from the gothic architectural style, although some elements appear to be shared with much older Greco-Roman temples and architecture. The architecture of Janos's retreat generally draws elements from arabic sources and the architecture of Gaudi as do many ancient vampire structures.

Addressing some of the deleted Reaver forges, designer and artist Daniel Cabuco indicated that some of the puzzles in Janos Audron's Retreat and the Fire Forge were adapted from those originally intended to be in the deleted Spirit Forge: