The second episode reaches it's end with The Dismal Oubliette, which is tougher, larger and filled with even more monsters than The Wizard's Manse before it. The level is split into four large sections, connected by a circular room with an open ceiling and a thin cross shaped bridge structure that raises its spindles in sequence as you progress through the level, culminating in a giant slowly descending elevator trap to the exit in which you face a number of high powered enemies who teleport in as the lift platform moves and Vores guarding the portal to the first level of episode three, The Netherworlds.

The original version of this level contained an extended introductory section taking place within a vast network of moss-covered caverns and underground sections that would constitute the player's escape from the Oubliette¹. During the development of the game id had set rigid limits for the size of the levels to ensure good performance of the game on the machines available at the time, and this section of the map was cut in accordance with these limits.

This section later surfaced online as ‘The Lost Entrance of the Dismal Oubliette’ through John Romero's website. Romero released a copy of the introductory section and its source .map file as a birthday surprise on the fifth anniversary of the release of Quake on the 23^rd June, 2001. Some of John's comments on the design process and the missing section follow:

“Creating those fantastic and impossible environments was a challenge from the very beginning. We were accustomed to having the editor, or at least the graphics engine, take care of such trivial things as connecting walls to floors, evenly lighting entire rooms, and making it easy to create doors and doorways. That was the familiar universe of our baby, DOOM. We were in the new universe of Quake, where once again we were inventing our own rules and trying to play by them, or at least create by them.

It took a while to get used to the freedom of creation in the new engine and to get the right feel for scale and space. Countless maps were worked on and discarded. I remember many maps that I thought were going to turn out great, but just didn't make the cut in the end. I wish I had copies of those old guys -- I spent a lot of time in them, thinking about them during their creation, learning how to create spaces with them.”

A more detailed review of The Lost Entrance of the Dismal Oubliette is available here.