ALEXANDER'S TOMB II

Levels by Monika Kunze (Miss Kroft)

Authorized walkthrough by Selene

This adventure consists of 3 levels. There are 5 secrets to find in total; two secrets in each of the first two levels and one in the final.

NOTE: You can view a color-coded version of this walkthrough, together with the screenshots mentioned every now and then, at Selene's own site by clicking
here.


There is another walkthrough provided by Lizard Queen, which is posted on her own site:

Alternative walkthrough for Alexander's Tomb II

Level 1- The Tomb Of Alexander

Pickups: Small medipacks, shotgun wideshot and normal ammo, crowbar, Secret Key, large medipacks, Golden Star, 3x Silver Keys, Poseidon's Crown, Red Ruby, Bronze Key, crossbow, crossbow ammo, Pharos Knot, Hathor Effigy/Ornate Handle (Portal Guardian) + 2 Secrets

Enemies: Spiders, flying insects, dogs, crocodiles, knights, wild boars, scarab beetles, skeletons

Lara starts her adventure sliding onto a ledge above a room with a shallow pool. Drop down and go to the room to the right. Shoot out the urns and pick up a small medipack. Go back to the room where you started and through the other opening. Ahead you'll see two columns, these are moveable. If you look up you will see an opening above the left column. Go to the right side of that column and pull it out once. The light wall behind it to the E, adorned with what looks a bit like handholds, is climbable. Go up to the top and backflip onto the floor behind, immediately drawing guns and taking out two spiders that reside up there. Shoot the two urns and pick up the shotgun wideshot ammo to the right. Pull the lever and you'll hear the faint sound of a door opening. Let's climb down and see what happened.

Go back to the main room where you started out and you will see that a light section of the wall, adorned with the image of a woman, has raised giving passage to a new area. Go through there, not wasting time on the green urn as it is unbreakable, and a fly-by will cut in. While listening to the gorgeous music, pay extra attention to the locations you'll see in the fly-by....it will provide valuable information on where to go next.

Firstly go to the right of the empty pool. To the right of the blue blocks is a ladder leading down. Climb down into the empty pool and at the bottom you should see a closed door to the N and an open gate to the S, revealing a button. Go and push that one and climb out of the pool. This time go over to the right side of the ledge above the entrance and you should find a ladder to the N/E. Climb up and turn around to see that the button you pushed earlier has lowered a rope. Do a running jump towards the next ledge, pressing Action in mid-air to grab the edge. Do a running jump to the next ledge and a run jump/grab to the final ledge. From there do a running jump to grab the rope and swing over to the far ledge. Go through the high crawlspace here and pull the lever on the other side. The sound of flowing water will give a big hint as to what you just did, so go back through the crawlspace and see that the pool is now filled with water. Also the gate to the S is now open and that's where you're going.
Drop down on the blue block next to the pool and go through the hallway beyond the gate. You will find yourself on a high ledge above a pool. Above your head there's another ledge which is currently too high up for you to reach and five blue ledges are scattered along the opposite wall; two low ones and three placed higher up. To the left of where you stand there's also a ladder going down and a blue ledge to the right of it. This blue ledge is where you're going now. It's a bit tricky getting there, but it can be done. Stand as far to the right on the ledge as you can and as close to the wall as possible. Do a hop backwards, barely avoiding to fall off the ledge and do a running jump WITHOUT pressing Action to land on the ledge to the right of the ladder. Ignore the ladder for now, we'll get back to that later when you've found another useful item. Instead, stand on the right edge and do a standing jump to the next, higher ledge. Pick up some normal shotgun ammo there. If you look ahead you will see that there's a crevice in the wall here. Look to the right and at the far side you'll see an opening; that's where we're going. The ledges are scattered in a pattern: there's a higher ledge between each of the two low ones. Reaching the low ledge ahead and below where you currently stand will trigger the appearance of a flying insect on the low ledge ahead. You can shimmy across the crevice to drop down on the second high ledge, but I found that more health consuming as you'll have to drop down, grab guns and then turn around before you can do something about the bug pestering you. If you do a standing jump to the low ledge ahead, guns drawn, you'll be able to pump some lead into the creature before it reaches Lara, making it an easier kill. Either way, once it's dead make your way over to the far side with the doorway. Go through the dark passageway, around the right corner until you reach the end and push the button there. There's nothing else of interest here, so there's no need to waste any flares.

Go back outside and you'll find that also this button lowered a swinging rope. Go back to the middle high ledge and do a standing jump to grab the rope. Position Lara facing the high ledge in the right corner, as far to the left as possible and swing over there. Push the button (the white one decorated with a face). If you're desperately trying to spare health do a running jump back to the rope and swing to the middle high ledge. From there turn and do a running jump back to the entrance. If you're not too concerned about the health level drop down directly from the ledge with the button, this will cause Lara to lose a small streak of health. Leave this room for now.

Go back to the pool room and now let's explore the area through the doorway to the right of the entrance. Keep your guns drawn and take out two dogs: one as you turn the right corner and another as you enter the next room. Here there are three places to go. At the leftmost side of the room there's an opening with the closed gate and switch you saw earlier in the first fly-by. In the middle of the room are some stairs leading down to a closed set of doors and to the right is a receptacle for an item you don't have yet. First go to the leftmost side. Drop down and approach the gate, which is now open. Do not get so eager by seeing the high wall switch that you run through towards it though. Walk carefully ahead and you will notice that there is in reality a burning pool separating you from the switch. To make matters worse there's a slope below the switch. There's also a ladder on the wall below where Lara stands. It's a bit of a tricky maneuver, but what you do is to do a running jump towards the switch, making sure Lara is straight onto it. And of course press Action in mid-air to make her grab the switch and pull it down. As she lands on the slope and starts sliding immediately press Jump and Roll together and then Action to make her grab the ladder opposite(when I did this she landed so far down on the ladder that her legs were below water, but this did for some reason not harm Lara at all. However, when I dropped her down from that point she was killed instantly). Climb up to the top and leave this room for now.

Go back to the pool room again and you will see that the underwater door is now open. Dive in the pool and swim through the passage and up into a flooded room. Here you'll find a crowbar lying on a raised block on the floor, but unfortunately there's also a hungry croc taking up residence there too. If you're fast enough you can swim down and grab the crowbar, then make a hasty retreat. Or if you prefer the less harmful variety swim up the passage towards the opening to the flooded room, then roll and swim back down and out into the pool. Quickly climb out of the pool and ready the croc for a visit to the manufacturer of leather handbags. If you haven't already you can dive into the pool and go back to the room with the crowbar to add it to your backpack belongings. Either ways you have to go back into the pool, because where you killed the croc you will now strangely enough find the Secret Key. Pick it up and retreat through the S gate to the room with the pool, the blue ledges, rope and ladder. Do another running jump to the ledge next to the ladder and this time climb down to the bottom.

There are two open doorways here, one to the right (E) and one straight ahead (N). Each of these is home to an armoured knight. These guys are the sort that you have to hit straight in the chest for them to take any damage. Their swords can inflict quite some damage so be sure to keep moving. They will only be alerted if you get close enough, so if you don't want to take them both on at the same time only approach one of the doorways at the time and kill them one by one. Once they're both dead enter the room to the E and pick up a large medipack from the pedestal. Then go to the other opening where you can pry off the Golden Star from the wall. Climb back up the ladder and go back to the pool room.
This time go to the room where you killed the two dogs and drop down to the receptacle to the right. Place the star in the receptacle to open the double doors at the bottom of the stairs in the middle. Go down the stairs and you'll get to a small pool with an inviting garden beyond it.

Swim/wade across the pool and take a moment to savor the impression of this gorgeous garden. Straight ahead is another pool with two openings. But before going there go over to the palm tree on the left and climb the ledge below the arch. Here you will find a closed gate. Go to the right and jump over to the wall above the pool. From there do another running jump to the roof ahead. Cross the roof and behold: in a small depression you can pick up Secret 1: the shotgun.

Go back to the entrance of the garden and swim across the pool. To the N there is an underwater gate on the left side, but this is closed. For now enter the left opening. A wild boar comes to greet you so kill it first. As you approach the black gates ahead two more boars will attack. On the right side there is another gate, a keyhole on the right and a small medipack on the left. Pick up the medipack and a fourth boar will soon be accompanying his late relatives. Leave this area for now and go through the open doorway next to the one you came from. Here there's a shallow pool with a closed gate on the right and a Poseidon statue at the far end. First of all use the secret key at the black gate to the right. As you enter you will hear the secret chime. Go over to the pedestal and pick up Secret 2: the Damask Rose. There's nothing else in here so you can now leave this room.

Now wade over to the Poseidon statue and climb into the crawlspace behind it. Crawl through and Lara enters a room where you lose camera control. Pull out the ornate block to the left to uncover a key behind it. SAVE your game here. As you run onto the grated floor a swarm of green scarab beetles will pour out. Quickly grab the Silver Key and dash for the crawlspace. Go through as fast as you can, the beetles in hot pursuit, and drop down behind the statue. These bugs don't give up easily so you'll have to wade across the pool and climb up into the opening before you shake them off. Now go back to where you killed the boars and use the Silver Key here to open the black gate up on the ledge below the arch.

Swim across the pool and climb that ledge. Go through the gate and you'll see another closed gate ahead and to the right, a keyhole behind the right column and a ladder and water filled opening to the left. Climb the ladder and go around the right corner. Climb down to the bottom and go for a swim. You will see another silver key lying on a block. But of course getting to it won't be easy as spikes are popping up all around it. On the wall behind the spikes is a lever. Pull this and swim back out. Climb the ladder and go back into the garden. Jump into the pool and now you'll find that the grey underwater door is open. Swim through the winding tunnel until you can squeeze through a narrow crack to the left. Continue following the passage until Lara can surface. In the next room there is a block to the right, but this is submerged under water too deep for Lara to stand on it. There are also two sloped blocks to the left and two alcoves in the wall. Swim to the lowest sloped block (the one closest to the opening you came through) and pull up. Immediately press Jump and Roll to make Lara twist and land facing forwards on the next sloped block. At the end jump and press Action and Lara will grab the edge of the alcove with the swinging ball. Shoot it to cause the block on the right to rise, enabling you to stand on it. Jump from there into the next alcove ahead. Approach the doorway on top of the stairs to the left. As you do so another knight will rush down the stairs. If you like you can take cover on the raised block in the water. You will not be able to hit very well from there, but eventually the knight will go back up the stairs and you can just jump back in the alcove, shoot at the knight as he runs towards you and before he reaches Lara backflip onto the block for safety. It might take some time to kill him this way, but it's a safe shot.

Once he's dead enter the room he came from. Here you're greeted with the sight of three urns (all of them are empty), a lever and a burning item on a pedestal. Here is our first short timed sequence. Pulling the lever in the corner will turn off the flames, but only for a short while. Once you pull the lever you have to run to the pedestal, grab the Poseidon’s Crown and backflip before the flames go back on. Go back outside and swim back to the pool in the garden. Now go to the room where the Poseidon statue and those pestering beetles are. Jump into the water and wade as quickly as you can towards the statue while trying to avoid the beetles as much as possible. When you reach the Poseidon Statue click on Action and Lara will climb onto the statue inserting the Poseidon's Crown onto his spear. Once that is done deal, wade back to the entrance.

Go up to the room with the closed gates and the underwater block with the key and spikes. Swim down there and you will see that the spikes are now disabled and you can acquire the 2nd Silver Key with no further hassle. Swim back out and climb the ladder. Use the new key in the lock on the back of the column to the right of the closed gate. This opens the bronze gate to the E. Turn right in the doorway and go over to pick up the small medipack next to the red pillar. The urns on the right side of the pool are all empty. To the N is a closed gate with a burning floor beyond it. On the block to the right of this gate you can pick up some normal shotgun ammo. There's a crevice above to the right, but there's no way Lara can reach it for now. If you go through the doorway to the S, go up the stairs and climb the blocks to the right you'll eventually wind up in a room where there are two keyholes for keys you don't have yet. The doorway to the E will take you along a hallway with two set of spikes at the bottom of two slopes until you eventually reach the room with the burners in the floor that you saw beyond the N gate. And there's a closed door underwater on the S side of the pool.

First go through the doorway to the E. Go along the hallway and when you reach the first slope start sliding down and jump to clear the spikes and land on the opposite side. Repeat the same move over the next set of spikes and enter the doorway on the left. Here you'll see the burning floor you spotted behind the N gate earlier. Look to the right to spot a safe block on the burning floor. Do a standing jump to land safely on that block. From there do another standing jump to grab the climbable pole. Turn so that the final block is behind Lara and backflip onto it. Then finally do a standing jump onto the floor ahead. Push the button here to raise the block on top of the one where you picked up the shotgun ammo. Draw your guns and kill a flying insect on the floor over by the gate. Do a running jump over to where the insect was and pick up the Ruby. Do a running jump back to the floor with the button and from there a standing jump will bring you to the block closest to the pole. Do another standing jump to the pole, turn and backflip onto the block closest to the entrance. From the last block you can do a running jump to land safely in the doorway. Do two running jumps to clear the two spike pits and go back to the room with the pool.

Go over to where you raised the block a little earlier. The brown window to the left of the block is climbable so grab onto it and climb to the top of the block. Turn right and jump to grab the crevice. Shimmy right until Lara can pull up. Here's a boulder on top of a ramp. To clear it I found the easiest way was to stand with Lara's back to the edge and step to the right until the boulder drops, then hop backwards of the ledge and grab the edge. Once the boulder has passed pull up and go up to where it came from. Jump into the pool and pull the underwater lever below the closed gate with the gemstone receptacle behind it. Nope, that doesn't open that gate, but swim back out to the boulder ramp and dive into the pool below and you'll see that the door there has opened. Swim left (right is only a dead end) and continue following the passage until you can climb out in a room with some stairs and a lovely waterfall. The urns on the ground there are all empty, so no need to break any of them. Walk over to the pool and there's a key there on a pedestal. Oh, and the pedestal is on fire, so there's no getting that key for now. On the left and right side of the pool are two blocks with urns on top of them and to the left and right closest to where you stand are two pushable ornate blocks you might remember from the secret room behind the Poseidon statue earlier. Shoot the urns on the blocks and the blocks retract. Pull both of the ornate blocks out once. Go behind them and push them all the way up to the opposite wall. When doing so the gate above the waterfall rises. Go to the side of the waterfall and climb up, continue through the open gate. Enter the alcove to the right. Shot the white urn on the pedestal and pick up the crossbow ammo. Go into the alcove opposite and kill two spiders coming to interfere. Pick up the Silver Key from the pedestal there. Now leave this room and go back down to the burning pedestal with the other key on it.

Behind the moveable block on the right side(when standing with Laras back to the waterfall) there's a button on the wall. Push this and the fire around the key pedestal is put out. Now you can run over to the pedestal and claim your prize: the Bronze Key.

Go back down the stairs and swim out to the pool. Climb up and go through the S doorway until you reach the room with the two keyholes. Insert the two keys you've found into the keyholes. This opens the gate preventing you from reaching the gemstone receptacle earlier. Leave this room and go back to the pool. Climb the window grating up to the raised block in the corner. Shimmy across the crevice to the right and go up the ramp to the pool. Dive in, climb out of the pool by the receptacle and place the ruby there. Finally the third gate in the room out by the garden opens. Swim back out, climb up and either go back down by climbing or simply dive into the pool. Retrace your steps back to the now open gate.
Enter this new room with the burning pool and first go down the stairs. Jump to the low block on the left side. Climb up the window to the very top, let go of Action and quickly press it again to make Lara pull down the high wall switch. Don't worry, you won't drop all the way to the ground, the block is raised below Lara's feet. Turn towards the crevice in the E wall and do a standing jump towards the crack to grab it. Shimmy left until you can pull up into an opening. Proceed carefully forwards. You'll hear a thundering sound and if you look to the right down the slope you'll see that a boulder has started rolling back and forth down there. What I did was to go as far down the ramp as possible without the boulder hitting Lara. Then as it started rolling away from her I had her follow it down until she could pull up into the closest alcove on the right side. Here you can pick up some shotgun wideshot ammo. There's nothing on the tile straight ahead, but there are spikes shooting out of the grated floor in front of it. Just ignore that tile for now. Instead, once the boulder passes the alcove Lara stands in (on its way up to where you came in), jump into the hallway past it and run to and pull up into the next alcove on the left. Pick up the large medipack here. If you look at the tile across from where you are you'll see the crossbow. As the boulder starts rolling to the right do a standing jump from the edge over the grated floor and onto the tile behind it. Pick up the crossbow and turn around. Stand on the far left side, slightly angled to the right and as the boulder once more starts rolling past you towards where you entered do a standing jump over the grated floor and run as fast as you can up and into the left alcove. Now the gate in the opposite alcove opens. Run over to that room as the boulder rolls away and prepare weapons to deal with two spiders taking up some extra space in there.

In here you'll see a depression with burners and a stack of blocks to climb. Unfortunately it's not as innocent as that. Go around the burner pit to the left(S/W corner) and face the burners. Stand as close to the edge as possible without catching fire and as close to the left corner of the first block as you can. Do a standing jump to the block and IMMEDIATELY do another standing jump to get to the next block before spikes pop out of the wall to the right of the block you just stood at. Continue climbing to the top and once it's done turn left and do a running jump to the flat ledge. Stand in the corner and do a running jump to the slope ahead. Do NOT jump as soon as you land, but rather slide until you're about to reach the end and jump. Grab the ladder ahead and climb to the top. Here you have to be quick: as soon as you climb over the top run one step ahead, quickly pick up the Pharos Knot and jump backwards. Grab the edge of the ladder and drop, then quickly press Action again to grab the ladder further down. All this ordeal is because of some spikes that pop up after a few seconds standing on the grated ledge with the knot so you have to hurry to get off the ledge before getting skewered.

You have everything you need here, so leave this room. As soon as the boulder starts rolling away from you, run into the first alcove (which is now on your right). As the boulder rolls past the alcove on its way up, drop down and run all the way until you can veer into the opening where you first entered. You can get back to the raised block via the crevice so instead do a running jump back to the top of the stairs. Stand on the fourth step from the bottom and do a running jump to grab the opening in the W wall. Pick up the crossbow ammo to the right and place the Pharos Knot in the receptacle. Enter the garden beyond the gate that opens. The urns don't contain anything of interest, but you can still shoot them if you like. Do a running jump to grab the edge of the waterfall and pull up. The room to the left only contains an empty urn on a block, but there's more here so we'll come back to this room later. Go to the right and climb the block in the corner. There's a switch here and a gate exactly opposite, so it seems we have a timed run here. Pull the switch, roll and sprint through the open gate. Lara lands directly on a slope, draw your guns as soon as she starts sliding. As Lara starts down the second slope shoot at the urn on the ledge ahead. If you miss spikes will pop out of the grated floor at the end of the slope, but if you hit the spikes will be disabled. Climb up on the ledge where the urn was. Pick up the Hathor Effigy and a door behind you and to the left will open. Leave this place through that door.

As you drop onto the floor of the small chamber, the floor starts elevating. Climb out in the opening in the S/E corner. There's a jump switch on the right wall, but it's a bit too high up. Climb up into the opening on the left and jump to grab the switch. This opens the stone door on the top left side. Drop down and go into the right opening (the one I told you to ignore earlier). Go left, through the gate and around the corner and pick up the Ornate Handle. Go back to the waterfall where you climbed up. Look to the right to spot a small pedestal on a ledge. Jump over there and combine the Hathor effigy with the Ornate handle to make the Portal Guardian. Use it on the pedestal and the underwater door in the N wall of the pool opens. Dive into the water and go through the open door. Swim through the seaweed and eventually you'll meet a croc on your way. Either swim back outside and climb onto dry land and take it out from there or try out swimming it. Follow the underwater tunnel until you can go down a hole at the bottom of the tunnel. Continue swimming along the passageway. When you reach an opening on the left side swim in there and keep going until you can surface in a room with a floor to climb onto to and a lever. Pulling this you'll see a door opening somewhere else with another lever behind it. Dive back into the pool and go through the opening where you entered this room (in the N/E corner). Swim back out to where you went in through the left opening and go to the left there to reach the now open door. Pull the lever and swim back to the room with the floor where you pulled the first lever. You will see that the water level has sunk drastically. This time swim to the middle of the structure with the lever and down the hole there. Go on until you reach an open door, go through and climb out of the water to the left of the ladder. Do an angled standing jump to grab the ladder and climb almost to the top. Backflip onto a ledge behind and go through the open door here.

Do a running jump straight ahead to land on the middle floor of the structure which was previously submerged under water. Jump across the opening in the middle and do a standing jump to the S ledge. Enter the room to the left. Arm yourself with the crossbow and explosive ammo and prepare to blast a skeleton ambushing you from the right. Climb the low block to the left and jump to grab and pull up onto the ledge with the skeleton. It will awaken from its sleep and you need to get rid of it again. When that's done go to the end and pull the switch here. Turn left and do a running jump to the ledge opposite. Pull the switch here too to raise a block behind and below. Drop down from the ledge and climb the new block you just raised to the S. Jump up to grab and pull down the high wall switch here. Leave this room and jump to the ladder on the tall structure in the middle of the room. When climbing up to the top you will find that a block has raised up there. Go to the right side of the block, where the floor is slanting upwards and climb the block. Monkey swing over to the crawlspace opposite and when you reach the end, let go off and quickly re-press Action to grab the edge of the crawlspace. Pull up and crawl through to the other side, then slide down the slope to end the first magnificent level:-)

Level 2- Aquarius

Pickups: Crossbow, laser sight, small medipacks, shotgun ammo, flares, Silver Star, large medipacks, Ruby Key, Smaragd Key, 2x Poseidon’s Crown, Sapphire Key, Water Crystal + 2 Secrets

Enemies: Demon demi-gods, winged skeletons, sharks, crocodiles, skeletons, gladiators

The second part starts at the end of the slope where Lara slid down to end the first part of her adventure. To the left is a shallow pool and two small waterfalls, straight ahead is a closed gate and to the right you'll barely get a glimpse of a flight of stairs. First wade into the water to the left and dive under to swim through the narrow opening in the S wall. When Lara reaches the flooded room, swim down to the bottom and pick up some normal crossbow ammo in the S/E corner and the laser sight by the W wall. There's nothing more in here, so swim out the way you came through the opening in the top N/W corner.

By combining the laser sight you just found with the crossbow take aim at the blue urn in the right corner. Wade into the water and pick up the small medipack left behind. Leave the water and go up the stairs to the N. On top of the stairs you will be met by the sight of a pool, white ledges and blue doors (remember TR1's St. Francis' Folly, anyone??). Do a running jump to the white ledge straight ahead. Turn around to see another blue urn under water right below where you just stood. Once more take aim with the crossbow and shatter the urn to reveal a lever hidden behind it. Jump in the water and pull the lever. This opens one of the blue doors, at the E wall. Swim back to the white ledge and do a standing jump into the open doorway. First go straight ahead and to the right and push the button there. Go back and to the left and up the stairs. Here's another blue door, now open. Do a running jump and grab the white ledge ahead. Go to the top and turn left to face the slanted ledge with the climbable pole. Do a running jump and press Action to grab the pole. Do not let go of it or else you'll slide back down to where you began. Climb up until you are about two-three climbs away from the top, then press the jump key to flip backwards off the pole and land on the next ledge. Pick up the wideshot shotgun ammo and proceed to climb up the next pole. Backflip onto the ledge behind. Turn left and do a running jump towards the far ledge, pressing Action in the last minute to barely manage to grab onto the edge. Pull up and as you do so a boulder will come pounding down the ramp. Run over to the right side to avoid it. You can shoot the blue chest if you like, but it's empty.

Stand on the left side of the ramp (next to where the boulder came from) and look up to the right. You will barely be able to see an opening in the ceiling. Do a running jump and grab the foliage on the wall, which works well enough for a ladder. Climb up to the top where there's a closed gate. Turn around and there's a switch up on the opposite wall. Do a standing jump to grab it and pull it down. The gate you see open is the one in the room where you started. The easiest possible way to get back down there is to go down the boulder ramp, stand on the left side to avoid hitting the white ledge below and dive into the pool. Pull up on top of the stairs and retrace your steps down to the room with the now open gate.
A fly-by accompanied by the gorgeous TR theme shows you a bit of the surrounding area. In the pool to the left is a closed blue door. Jump into the pool on the right and pick up some flares by the wall where you jumped in and climb back out. Jump to the left ledge, the one with the paintings of the face of Alexander himself. Shoot away the first blue urn to reveal a keyhole. Continue up the stairs and shoot two more urns on your way, the first one revealing some crossbow ammo for you to pick up and the second one with a small medipack. On top of the stairs face N, stand on the edge and look down. There's a high wall switch down there. Stand with your back to the edge, drop off the stairs and hang off the edge. Let go of Action and immediately press it again, causing Lara to grab onto the switch and pull it down on her way. Climb back to the top of the stairs and turn to face W. Do a running jump to grab onto the ledge ahead. The gate to your right is open so go through there first.

Stand on the right side facing the block with the switch, about two steps away from the star-shaped holes in the floor (spikes anyone???). Do a standing jump (without pressing Action) and Lara will jump over the floor to land directly on the block). The next part is a timed sequence. Pulling the switch opens the door on the far side of the ledge you climbed onto before entering this room. It's on a relatively short timer, so you can't afford to take it nice and easy here. And the part coming after is no more delicate than this. Anyway, here goes:

Pull the lever, immediately backflip off the block. Turn around (don't try to roll, you'll be too close to the spikes for that) and run out of the room. Either run/jump or sprint down the ledge and make it a hard right to get in through the door before it closes. And you're not done yet. The wooden floor tiles are rotten and they start crumbling under your feet. Down below a burner pool is waiting for its next victim. As soon as you enter the door keep running around the right corner and ahead. When you get close to the edge jump forwards. If you're lucky enough with your timing Lara will land on a block with a blue urn. Shoot the urn away and use the crowbar to pry off the Silver Star from the right wall. Look ahead for more rotten floor tiles. Getting out is easier than getting in, but not much. Stand on the left side, angled towards the exit on the right. Do a standing jump to land on the collapsible tile, immediately turn right and jump to the next tile while pressing Action (if you don't press Action Lara will bang her head against the doorframe and fall into the pool). Rush off the last collapsible tile and prepare for your first enemy. When you arrive outside a demon demi-god is firing blue energy bolts at our heroine from the floor below. I found that the doorway to the spike room was a safe area to avoid his bolts.

Once he's out of your way drop down onto the stairs and proceed back to the pool room. This time climb onto the ledge with the blue pillars. Now it's time to draw weapons again, as you're being attacked by a winged skeleton. It is fully possible to kill it with the pistols, but it does take a few shots and they cause a fair amount of damage if they get a hold of Lara so a heavier weapon such as the shotgun might be better, unless you're conserving ammo for later and harder enemies. The best way of taking caring of it is to jump over to the brown ledge ahead and stay with Lara's back up against the wall. This way it won't be able to harm her, but if it starts shooting out energy bolts jumping back and forth to avoid them is the best thing to do. The skeleton moves in from the N side, closest to the blue pillars.

Jump into the pool to the left (the one with the stone head fountains) and climb the low block in the S/E corner. Use the Silver Star in the receptacle here, you will then see a blue door in one of the other pools open. Shoot the blue urn on the block to the left, climb it and do a running jump back to the brown ledge. Go back to the ledge with the blue pillars and jump into the pool on the right side (to the E). The door you just opened is in the bottom S/E corner. There's a shark lurking in the tunnel beyond the open door so dive into the water and swim into the doorway to lure it out, then roll and swim quickly back to the left part of the N ledge where you can climb out of the water. Turn and draw your guns to kill it from safety. Once it's dead jump back in the pool and prepare for a little water maze. Swim through the door and when you reach the junction go right. Continue to the right at the next junction, then around the corner to the right and follow the tunnel until you can swim up through an opening. Now turn around 360 degrees to the left and go ahead around the left corner. Continue following the passage until you can go through an opening ahead and a bit to the left. Go right around the next corner and proceed until you can swim upwards and surface. Climb onto the ledge and up the ladder ahead. Stop when Lara's hands reach approximately the fourth rung from the top. There's a flame emitter in the ceiling above so you can't go up there. Instead backflip off the ladder and roll in mid-air, then immediately press Action to make Lara grab the crawlspace behind her. Climb up and go through. Shoot the chest on the right side to get some normal shotgun ammo.

Slide down the slope to land in a shallow pool below. Climb onto the small island from the S/E side. Jump into the doorway to the W and prepare your weapons. Go around the corner to the left and continue straight down the hallway. When you reach the end a croc will crawl in from the left so you know the deal with that. Go in where it came from and wade into the water to pick up the small medipack laying on the bottom to the left. Go back outside and down the stairs straight ahead. Turn right and go up the stairs here. In the next room you can shoot the bones in the leftmost alcove (though I'm not sure if that had any purpose) and pull the switch in the right alcove. You will see a shot of a lowered swinging rope on the other side of the closed gate.

Go back downstairs and into the room opposite, through the blue doorway. Here's a pool with a burning block in the left corner. The floor on the other side is too far for Lara to jump to and to high to be able to access from the pool. The solution is in the wall with the torch on your left side. Stand to the left of the torch and climb up. Climb across the torch (no, Lara does not take any damage from that) and around the corner above the pool. Here's a jump switch so stay directly above it, drop and press Action again to make Lara grab the switch on her way down before landing in the pool. Swim back up and you will now happily see that the burners on the low block have been put out. Climb the block and jump over to the right and onto firm ground. As you enter the room Lara looks up at the green foliage covering the wall to her left, a none too subtle hint. Go around the pillar to the right and climb the ladder on the back of it. Go around the corner to the right and onto the stone bridge. Use the binoculars to uncover an opening behind the foliage on the opposite wall. Do a standing jump to land directly in the opening. There's another switch in there, pull it and voila: you have disabled the spikes out on the bridge above the small island where you entered this area. Do a running jump back to the bridge and go to the other end of it. You have now reached the bridge where you just disabled the spike trap. Go over to the golden urn and pull it out once, revealing another switch. Drop backwards off the ledge, grab onto the edge and shimmy past the golden urn. Pull the switch to open an underwater door in the pool with the burner block. Shimmy back past the urn, run across the bridge and climb the ladder down to the floor below.

Go to the pool and dive in. Swim through the door and pick up the flares ahead and to the left. Next go through the opening to the right. Follow the passage until you can pull up into a room with a closed gate and an open doorway to the S. If you look above you to the N you will see the rope you lowered earlier. First go through the open doorway. You'll come to a room with a lot of ledges and closed doors and a pool. Jump into the water and swim to the right ledge sloping a bit downwards at the end. Pull up and backflip onto the ledge behind. Jump to the sloped ledge ahead and continue to the end until you can see a doorway in the N wall. Do a running jump towards the opening, pressing Action to lower the arch and as soon as you land on the floor you'll hear a boulder drop. Immediately jump backwards and swim to the right as fast as you can to avoid it. Make your way back to the doorway and go up the ramp until you reach a switch. Pull it to see a block retract on one of the upper levels. Go back outside and swim to the right. Pick up the normal shotgun ammo in the first opening to the left.

In the S/W corner there's an open doorway. Go through there and down to the bottom to pick up some crossbow ammo in the N/E corner, then swim upwards until Lara can surface. Climb out of the water and continue through either of the doorways to the W. Approach the pool to the right and you'll hear the sound of shrieking and flapping wings.....it's another one of those winged skellies. I found that a very good method to kill it in an open area is to run back and forth, rolling at the end while firing at it. Only run when it's up high and try to roll or jump when it's close to the ground. When it's dead go over to the W opening and up to the pole on the block ahead. There are slanted blocks all around it, apart from on the N side and there you'll find a grated floor tile where spikes will pop up if you step onto it. In other words, we'll leave that for later.

Approach the closed blue door in the W wall. More shrieking, flapping of wings and a circular moving shadow on the ground warns of yet another flying skeleton. Take it out using the technique I mentioned above (I found this to be the easiest way to avoid taking damage at all) or any other method you prefer. To the right is a pot with a green plant in it, pull this away to reveal a large medipack. After picking it up go back to the pool where you entered this room and dive in. The door at the bottom is still closed, so go back through the underwater opening you came through earlier. Swim left and go on until Lara can surface. Here there's a ladder to her right (on the ledge above where you picked up the shotgun ammo before) so get up on the ledge and climb the ladder to the top. Follow the ledge around until you reach the gap, then do a running jump and grab the edge ahead. Pull up and do another running jump over to the small medipack and pick it up. Continue following the ledges ahead and then to the right where a skellie will wake up as you approach. Take care of it and go on until you can cross a bridge spanning over the room. At the end turn right and look at the skeleton on the ground. It looks lifeless now, but it will awaken once you perform the next couple of moves so unless you want to be taken by surprise blow it up right now to get rid of the threat it poses as. Turn and go to the end of the ledge (N) and push the button at the end. You'll get a glimpse of a pedestal rising in a room that looks extremely familiar. Turn and go back along the ledge and drop down at the end (right across from where the last skeleton laid) to land on the ledge where you entered this room (Lara will lose a little health from the fall).

Turn the corner, save your game (preferable as the next part is a bit hard) and get ready for a tough battle. A demon demi-god is taking up residence in the next room and these guys aren't about to give up without a fight. I don't really have any particular strategy for getting rid of them, but it IS very important to keep moving to avoid the bolts they shoot out from their spear. Those bolts aren't tracking Lara, but the demi-gods have a more than fair aim and the bolts hurt quite a bit to put it literal. Sideflipping while firing can work well, provided that the demi-god doesn't manage to lock his aim onto her. And also be careful to not fall into the water filled opening in the middle of the room.

Once he's dead pick up the Ruby Key he drops and climb the pedestal that you raised earlier. Turn left and pull up into the opening on the opposite side of the gate from where you were earlier. Go around to the left, shoot the blue chest and approach the large medipack. This will trigger the appearance of another winged skeleton. I found a very good way of killing it here without losing a single slice of health. Before shattering the chest, go behind it and sidestep over to the S/W corner (closest to the gate). Break the chest and wait for the skeleton to arrive. Once it does remain standing in the corner without moving and keep plugging away at it. The skeleton will fly up very close, but as long as Lara keeps firing it won't be capable of getting close enough to harm her. After you've killed it pick up the large medipack.

Go around to where the rope is and do a standing jump to grab it. Swing to the other side and get ready for some hot 'n' heavy action. In the next room to the right there's a spiked bag swinging back and forth as well as one burning floor tile and there are crossing fire emitters on the left hand side as well. Beyond all that there's a switch. Luckily for us it's not as hard as it looks. You can easily crawl under the swinging bag without taking any damage whatsoever. But you will quickly realize that the floor below the bag is one step taller than the rest of the floor so you can't crawl down there. The solution is to wait until the spike bag moves away, then stand and run down onto the floor (taking care to not run so far that you get close enough to the fire to be lit up that is). Time your run past the fire emitters, standing as close to the black, burning tile as possible. Flip the switch to turn that fire off. The fire emitter shooting upward flames will also stop, but only for a short while. Run onto the black tile, jump backwards onto the slope and spring forwards to grab the monkey swing above. Time a very cautious traversing across the tile with the fire emitter to prevent Lara from catching fire. In the next room drop down, go to the left and shatter the bust there. Pick up Secret 3: the large medipack left behind. Now go back towards the opening with the fire emitter and, once more be cautious as to not catch fire, time a jump across that tile once the emitter stops spewing out fire for a moment. The black tile ahead will also have the fire turned back on so as soon as you land sideflip to the left to avoid fire from all holds. Flip the switch again and repeat the same process as before, but this time do not drop down to the floor below.

 

Continue traversing around the corner to the right, taking care not to get too close to the star-shaped spike holes lined across the ceiling. Traverse to the crawlspace ahead until Lara drops into the opening. Crawl through and down on the other side, run along the hallway until you reach a keyhole. Use your Ruby Key here to open a door in the pool room we were in earlier. Turn left and pull up into the crawlspace above, crawl through and down on the other side to find yourself in the room with the spiked bag and fire emitters. Run past the black tile and time a run past the spiked bag on the far right side. Crawl under it and back out on the ledge from before. You won't have a chance of reaching the rope again from here, but I still found a way to get back down without losing any health at all. Stand in the gap between the doorway you came from and the closed door. Do a running jump out in the air and then press Action. Lara will slide in an arch straight down into the water filled opening in the middle of the room, conserving a notable amount of health. I don't know if this is a bug, but after Lara climbed out of the water I had her draw guns and she would aim for something on the floor above, in the room with the spiked bag. When she fired you would see blood, but no enemies. After a bit of firing she lost aim, as if some enemy just fell, but I couldn't see any.
Go back through the S doorway and drop down into the water. Swim to the sloped ledge, pull up and backflip onto the ledge behind. Here's the door you opened using the key earlier. Enter the door and shoot the bust ahead. Pick up the flares that are left behind. At the W wall there are three different wall panels. The middle one is a pushable button. Push it and you'll get a nice view of what happens next: the black gate opens out in the garden where you were earlier (you might also remember that there was a gladiator running around behind it so you'd want to proceed cautiously). Jump back into the water and swim left and around the corner and all the way to the far end with the open underwater door. Swim through there and up until Lara surfaces. You're now back in the garden area from before. Go to the black gate you just opened (opposite of the inaccessible pole). When I entered here I found that the gladiator from before had disappeared into thin air.

In each corner along the left wall there are two whitish tiles. Along the right wall are two pots with green plants. Push/pull each of the pots onto the tiles mentioned above. After you pull the first one onto the right tile you'll get a shot of the blue door outside of this room. Pull the second pot where it's meant to be and you'll see the same door opening. Leave this room and go through the open door. Climb the steps ahead and first go left through the open doorway. Go down the stairs and when you reach a lower step with a black tile stop. Inside this tile is a collapsible blade which will unfold as you step on it, so rather do a standing jump across it. Proceed to the room ahead. You can shoot the two urns if you like, but they're both empty. In the middle of the room you'll see some sort of rolling device circulating around another key. I found that this was the easiest method to get by it without taking damage: Stand on the right side of the room, with Lara facing N. Stand as close to the circulating device as you can without Lara getting mangled. As the trap starts moving away run forward until you reach the Smaragd Key, bend down and pick it up and immediately backflip away from danger.

Leave this room again. The blade below the black tile has been disabled so it's safe to step onto it. Go back to the previous room and over to the opposite side with the ladder. Climb up to the top and leave the ladder on the right side. To the right there's nothing but a closed gate so instead jump past the fallen pillar. In the middle alcove there's bridge and in the rightmost one there's a keyhole for the key you acquired a little while ago. First go to the alcove with the keyhole and use your Smaragd Key here. Watch the fly-by as another black gate opens on top of a white ramp out in the garden. We'll get back there in a little bit.

Now go to the middle alcove and cross the bridge here. On the right hand side of the ledge by the fence ahead there's a switch. This switch is on a rather short timer, so here you must act quickly. First of all, turn around to see a blue door straight across from the middle of the bridge. This is the door that the switch in question opens. Getting there isn't easy, but it can be done. Pull the switch, the roll and run off the ledge and onto the left side of the bridge. On the middle make it a hard right and run towards the door, jumping at the end of the bridge to land in the doorway. Enter the only room accessible and go along the left side. Near the end there's a crawlspace high on the left wall. Jump up there and crawl through. Run over to the button in the next room. Push it and immediately sideflip out of the way to the right. The floor starts rumbling and spikes pop up right where you stood earlier. Crawl back to the other room and you'll now see that a block has slid away, leaving an open doorway for you to go through to the E. Below you'll barely see a pool and some spikes popping out of the floor to the left. Drop into the pool below and have a look around.
Bad news; there is a button in each of the four corners of the room.....and spikes popping out right by them. There's also a lever in the pool on the S wall and a door opposite of it. Here's another tight timed run, so there’s no time to be messing about...this took me quite a few attempts. The lever in the water shuts off the four sets of spikes, but ONLY for a limited time. What you must do is the following: Pull the lever, then immediately swim to the left and climb out of the water right by the button. Press the button, roll and sprint over to the next button, making it a hard right at the end to come straight at it. Press this button and repeat the previous process: roll, sprint, hard right and press button. And the last one: roll, sprint, hard right and press button, then backflip away. If you've done good time you will be able to do all of it before the spikes are turned back on. You can only pull the underwater lever once and the underwater door will only open if you press all four buttons. Once you've managed to do this, dive in the pool and swim through the door and head along the passage until you can surface and climb into a new room.

Pull the switch here to raise the block out by the previously inaccessible pole. Now you have to find a way to climb the ladder above the burner, which really isn't as hard as it might seem at first. Stand on the same side of the slope opposite of the ladder as the switch, up against the right wall and approximately at the middle of the slope. Sideflip to the right to land on the slope and keep pressing Jump to spring off it, then press Action to grab the ladder. Climb up to the top, follow the passage around the corner and take out the gladiator rushing towards Lara from the other side. Once he's dead go over to the black gate on the right side with the blue pillar and the pot with the tree in it and push the white tile button here. Watch a lovely fly-by showing you a complete backtracking of the area and a wooden door opening at the end. Pay close attention to this, as it will show you where to go later. Continue along the roof and around the corner. Jump behind the palm tree on the right side and pick up Secret 4: the yellow Tea Rose.

Follow the passage to the end and drop down onto the white ramp below. Ignore the open gate on top for now and go back to the area with the pole instead. Climb the white block and do a standing jump across the spikes. Climb the pole to the top and backflip onto the floor behind. Go through the doorway here and shoot the two chests if you like, but they're both empty. You can also shatter the blue urn at the end and deal with the skeleton that pops out of the ground. Now go over to the left side of the opening in the floor. Look down to see a white ramp and a floor which looks like there are more spikes in store for our heroine. Drop off the ledge as close to the wall as possible and jump across the spike floor when Lara reaches the middle of the slope. Pull the switch here to lower the blue pedestal on the right. Go back into this room for now and turn to face the room you were in just a few seconds ago. Remember the disappearing gladiator I mentioned earlier?? Look down on the floor in the area around the doorway and you will most likely spot a circular shadow. Approach this shadow and the missing gladiator will drop down from the ceiling for some strange reason. Deal with him and take the Poseidon's Crown he kindly leaves you. *Note: If you have already encountered him when you first opened the black gate at the end you should already have obtained his Poseidon’s Crown and need not worry about it here.*

Enter the room where you pulled the switch before and turn to face the open door to the W. Spikes pop up in the doorway so stay as close to them as you can without Lara getting skewered and time a careful run past them, starting the run as they retract. Pick up the 2nd Poseidon's Crown from the pedestal and make your way past the spikes, to the left through the doorway and back outside.

Now it's finally time to make a use out of the white ramp next to the small pool with the open black gate on top. So head over there and go up the ramp. Go through the opening to the left and you'll see that Lara is now up on the ledge above the room with the pool where the two Poseidon statues are. Place the Poseidon's Crowns on the sceptre of each of the statues(stand right in front of the statues and press Action). Now look to the opposite side of the room. The block that was there earlier has now retracted, revealing a pedestal with a key on it. Go over there and pick up the Sapphire Key.

Go back through the black gate and down the white ramp. Turn left and go back to the room with the pool and the two Poseidon statues up on the floor above. And now it's time for a major backtracking to find the keyhole for the Sapphire Key. Remember the room with the three pools where you killed your very first demon demi-god??? Well, that's where we're going so if you can remember the route then that's all good; If not, pay close attention to the following paragraph here:

Jump in the pool and swim down and through the open door. Go left and climb up the ladder on the right. Go around the right ledge and do a running jump to grab the ledge ahead. Do another running jump to the small ledge ahead, turn right and go for another running jump with grab to the next and then turn right and do a standing jump to the next again. Run along the ledge, turning left onto the bridge and at the end drop down to the level below. Go through the open gate, round the corner and back into the room with the blue pedestal and rope. Dive back into the water here and go down the passage and left through the opening. Go on until Lara can surface and climb the ledge above the underwater door.

Continue through the doorway to the right, up the blue set of stairs on the right side and then go left when you reach the hallway. Head to the end of the hallway and turn right to see the small island from before. Jump onto the island and look to the N/W corner to see the wooden door you opened by pushing the white tile button up on the roof earlier.

Approach the open doorway and climb out of the water. A boulder will start rolling down towards Lara so immediately do a backflip followed by a sideflip to the right to get out of its way. When it has rolled past climb back into the doorway and continue up the ramp. Go through the crawlspace on top and when you reach the opening with the fire emitter, turn so that Lara's back is towards the opening and crawl backwards out, pressing Action to make her hang from the ledge. Drop down into the pool below. Now turn so that Lara is facing the underwater opening and swim down, following this way: around the left corner-straight ahead-left-straight-around right corner. You should now have reached the opening where you can swim downwards. Do so and turn around 360 degrees to face the tunnel. This is the next route to follow: straight ahead-around the left corner-go through the first tunnel to the left-straight ahead-left-around the next left corner-right corner-left corner again and there you'll see the doorway leading out into a pool. Swim up and surface.

Climb out of the pool on the lower part of the floor to the left. You should now recognize this area from the very beginning of the level. Go to the pool straight ahead and jump into the room on the left side. Well done; here's the keyhole for the Sapphire Key straight ahead on the W wall. Insert the key here. Nothing appeared to have happened, but go back towards the pool behind you and look down and to the left. Aha, a blue door under the water has opened. Dive in and go through the door. Here are three alcoves and there's a large medipack in the leftmost one, shotgun normal ammo in the one to the right and a lever in the middle one. Get the pickups first, then pull the lever. You'll get a view of a blue crystal on a pedestal. Swim back out and climb out of the pool.

Go to the left and along the line of blue columns. Jump onto the brown brick ledge ahead and follow it to the right until you can go through an open doorway. Proceed through the doorway on the left, where you'll see a room filled with waist-high water and in the middle: the pedestal with the blue gem on it. If you hadn't pulled the lever in the underwater room a little bit ago there would be spikes popping up all around the gem pedestal to prevent you from getting to it. But now it's safe, so wade through the water, climb up to the pedestal and pick up the Water Crystal. Leave this room and go back to the room with the four pools.

Head through the black gate to the E and voila: you're back to the grounds where this level started. Go up the stairs on the left and make your way back to the boulder ramp on top: do a running jump to the white block in the pool. Turn right and jump into the doorway. Make a first left and up the stairs we go, until Lara reaches the second doorway. Do a running jump and grab the ledge ahead. Pull up, turn left and do a running jump, then grab the pole on the slanted block ahead. Climb about halfway up and backflip onto the ledge behind (without pressing Action or rolling or anything). Climb the next pole almost to the top and backflip onto the ledge here. From the left side of the ledge do a slightly angled, running jump to grab onto the opposite floor. Pull up and go right. You can now proudly insert the Water Crystal into the receptacle here.

The act of placing the crystal in its rightful receptacle is greeted by the sound of water flushing. Go over to the left side of the ramp, shoot the blue chest if you haven't already from before and look at what you've done. The pool is completely drained for water. Climb the ladder on the left side down to the bottom and pull the switch to the left of where you climb down. Nothing obvious happened, but climb out of the pool and proceed up the ramp anyways. Stand on the left side and do a running jump to grab the foliage on the wall ahead. Climb up into the opening and go through the previously closed black gate ahead. Drop down the hole in the ground and slide down the ramp to the third and final level.

Level 3- The Sword Is Near

Pickups: Crossbow ammo, large medipacks, shotgun ammo, Lapis Jewel, flares, small medipacks, 2x Ornament Keys (1x if you do NOT shoot down the beehive), 2x Rusty Keys, Sapphire, Golden Star, Alexander’s Sword + 1 Secret

Enemies: Winged skeletons, lions, wild boars, gladiators, eagle monsters

Night is falling over Alexandria and Lara starts the final round of her adventure in a dim hallway. Go on towards the opening ahead to have a look around the new area. Drop down into the garden ahead and walk along the left side. About mid-way turn right and shoot the blue urn, revealing some more ammo. Follow the edge around over to where the urn once stood and you can obtain your first pickup of this level; some crossbow ammo. There's nothing to do at the bottom of the stairs and you can't climb the palm tree either so go back towards where you entered the garden. Go over to the right corner where there is a ladder straight ahead. Here you have to be cautious, as there are also spikes in the pit below the ladder. If you go any closer than about one step away from the edge the spikes will drain your health bar rapidly so be sure to keep some distance. Stand two steps away from the edge and do a standing jump while pressing Action to grab the ladder. Climb to the top and enter the room behind the gate to your right. As you reach the gap turn and drop backwards off the floor, pressing Action to grab the ladder on the wall below. Climb down as far as you can without Lara taking damage from the spiked floor, position her feet approximately on the fifth rung from the top and backflip to safety on the floor behind.

To the immediate left is only a dark alcove which contains nothing of interest. Further ahead to the left is a closed gate and a closed blue door to the right of that. To the right of the blue door is another empty, dark alcove and to the N an open doorway. There's nothing at all along the right wall, so let's go for the only option and go through the doorway ahead first.

In the hallway head right first of all. Around the corner is a closed gate up to the right and one ahead, an empty receptacle and a blue urn. Shoot the blue urn and pick up the Uzis. Go back to the hallway where you came from, pass the doorway on the left hand side and go to the other end. There's a closed gate ahead and a garden down some stairs to the right so down to the right we go.

Once you enter the garden go right towards the grassy slope with the trees. Stand as far as possible to the right and jump onto the flat area by the tree closest to you. From there Lara can jump to the flat area above. Between the two rightmost trees (when facing the garden) there is a large medipack for you to pick up. Go to the S wall and look up to spot an opening. It's too high up for our heroine to reach, but there is a bronze ball hanging from the ceiling there. Arm Lara with the crossbow, aim for the bronze ball and shoot it. Now slide down the grassy slope and climb the ledge to the right, then the next one after it. Here are two set of spikes on each side. Shooting the bronze ball disabled the set of spikes to the right where the switch is. However, the spikes on the left side are still active. Pull the switch, the turn and run over to the other end, across the now disabled spikes and push the button here. Drop off the ledges and go to the far W side of the garden, where a black gate has opened, leaving a way for Lara to go.

Continue towards the lava pool behind the fence at the bottom of the stairs. Around to the right are two bridges spanning across the lava pool; one right after you turn the right corner and one further down on the other side. The first one leads to a closed gate with another switch behind it and the second one to a box of ammo place strategically between two spike tiles. If you go left you'll come to a switch and a closed gate. The first switch opens the gate leading to the second switch. Although this timer is fairly slow it's still a difficult run because of the narrow ledge and all the corners Lara needs to turn. If you run into the wall you might as well reload a previous save-game. I couldn't really make a proper method for getting through this timed run, but some advice that I can offer are:
*As soon as you pull the switch press the Look button to get Lara's perspective back. If you don't you will only see a shot of the gate opening, making it harder for you to get oriented.
*Lara won't have enough stamina to sprint the entire way around so using the sprint function is best on the long and flat sections of the walkways. When you get close to a corner bet on running/jumping to get by it.
*If you manage to sprint as far as down to the corners, be sure to let go of the sprint button before she reaches the end. If you don't she'll run into the walls and you'll lose valuable time.
*When Lara reaches around the second corner run/jump until she gets to the bridge (the walkway where the two timed gates are). Once she has turned onto the bridge she can start sprinting again. Make sure to let go of the sprint key before turning left and gunning it through the timed gate.
Climb over the block, save your game and get ready for another timed run, this one even tighter than the one before. As soon as you pull the switch hop backwards, then jump forwards to land on the block with the switch. Jump off it and around the left corner. Sprint until right before you reach the corner and make it a hard right. Start sprinting, turn right into the opening and gun it through the gate before it closes. You can now breathe calmly and save your game; you're done with the timed runs for now. Pull the switch on the back of the block to open the exit gate, then run around to the left of it and out (the gate won't open unless you run to the left of the block). When you're out of there turn left and run down the walkway. At the end turn right and do a standing jump over the spike tile. Pick up some shotgun ammo and a large medipack and do another standing jump over the next spike tile. Continue running and turn left, then proceed through the exit gate.

The next part is quite difficult so unless you're very confident save your game here. Drop backwards off the ledge and Lara starts sliding down a short slope towards a lava pool. At one point of the slope she pauses for a second and right here you immediately have to press Jump and Action together to make her jump and grab the monkey bars above her. Traverse ahead to the end and then right until you can drop down. Quickly run over to the right side of the column to take cover from a winged skeleton firing some energy bolts at Lara. On the right side of the column she'll be safe, at least from the energy blasts. As soon as she has taken cover draw guns and stand with Lara's back to the column and wait until the skeleton gives up firing and flies in to take a bit out of her instead. As soon as Lara locks onto it with her pistols start firing, but don't move an inch. Like in the previous level the skellie won't be capable of attacking her as long as she stands up against the wall and keeps blasting loose at it.
Once it's out of our misery turn to face the column and jump up to grab the edge right below the railing. Shimmy to the right, around the corner and go on until she can drop down on safe land once more. Do a standing jump to the flat area to the S/E and prepare guns for another winged attack. With this creature one out of two things can happen. Either it will keep its distance, shooting bolts at her or it will cease its energy attacks and swoop in to get her on close hold. If it continues firing wait until you see the bolts coming at you, then sideflip out of their way in the last moment to avoid getting hit. If it decides for a close corner battle jump back to the flat ledge where you stood before, stand with Lara's back to the column and keep firing at it until it drops to the ground. Walk to the left around the column and do a running jump to the bare piece of land to the N. From there jump to the column on the right side and do another standing jump into the open doorway to the N wall.

SAVE your game here for obvious reasons, trap ahead. Walk up the ramp until Lara can bend down and pick up the Lapis Jewel. Immediately roll and run back down the ramp with a boulder in hot pursuit. Jump back to the column and wait for the boulder to roll by. Draw guns and remain standing with Lara's back to the column. After a little wait you'll see bolts being fired and hear the characteristic flapping and shrieking of a winged skeleton. Standing up against the column and starting to fire as soon as Lara locks onto it will as mentioned before make it an easy kill without losing health at all.

Jump back to the flat land on Lara's left and from there do a running jump over to the column ahead. Walk around it to the left and do another running jump to the next piece of flat land before making a final jump into the open doorway to the S. Follow the passage up and to the left and through a previously closed gate. Continue to the end and pull up into the next room. Here there are two lions sleeping on the ground so proceed to wake them up and kill them. Go to the N/E corner and behind the plant there to pick up some more crossbow ammo, then head up the ramp in the middle of the room. When you reach the small slope ahead turn around and jump to pull up onto the next level. Enter the room with the grated floor and burner blocks and climb the block to the left. Do a running jump to the block ahead and pick up the flares. Do another running jump to the next block and lastly to the block with the switch. Now another difficult timed run awaits our heroine. Pull the switch, then roll and run/jump off the block to the next low block ahead. Do a running jump to the tall block, which now has its burners shut off. Pull up into the next room. Pick up the crossbow ammo and normal shotgun ammo in the corners along the N wall and go to the switch on the S wall. This one will turn off the burners on the tall block to the left of the switch in the room below.

Pull the switch, sidestep twice and drop backwards while pressing Action to make Lara hang from the ledge. This is a relatively safe spot to drop, but it will cost Lara some health. I couldn't manage to pick up the goodies and pull the switch before the burners below were back on so if anyone knows how to, please let me know. Drop and immediately run off the block to try conserving some health. Turn left and run towards the block with the switch and when getting close jump onto it. Turn a sharp left and leap onto the tall column, then veer left again and pull up onto the next floor.

On the next floor flip the switch and sideflip to the left, then sidestep until you reach the wall. Drop backwards, hang off the ledge, drop and jump off the column onto the block by the switch. Continue running and jump onto the column ahead, turn left and pull up.

Pull the switch, roll and run to the edge, roll again and grab the edge. Drop down (losing some health), run off the column and run straight ahead, jumping onto the low block to the left of the doorway. Roll and do a running jump onto the tall column where the burners are shut off. Turn left, jump and pull up into the room. Immediately draw guns and kill the two lions up there.

[Alternative route:
It's also possible to get through this without the agony of the timed runs. Lara will still lose some health though and unless you're faster than me doing the timed runs actually was less health consuming than the other way. In other words: how you want to lose health is up to you;) This is how to go the alternative route:

Climb the third low block on the left side where you picked up the flares and from there do a running jump with Action to grab the edge of the tall column with the burners. Shimmy to the far left side, pull up, turn left and jump to grab the floor above. Pull up and go to the N wall picking up the crossbow ammo to the left and the shotgun ammo to the right. Go over to the hole in the floor, hang from the right side, drop down onto the burning column (still losing some health) and drop down to the floor.

Now go to the block to the N/E. Repeat the same process here: Stand on the right side of the block, jump and grab the edge of the column. Shimmy to the left side, pull up, turn left and jump and pull up on the next floor. Draw guns and take out the two lions.]

The black gap in the doorway to the E contains a hidden blade trap so do a standing jump over it. In the leftmost alcove to the right there's a lever. Be extremely cautious when approaching it: walk along the left wall towards the gate until a spike trap with a skeleton dangling from it shoots out from the opposite wall right before the lever. Turn right, go to the lever and pull it to open the black gate. Drop down and follow the hallway to the end before turning right. Insert the Lapis Jewel into the receptacle here to open the gate on the left side.

Drop down into the opening and climb the ladder to the bottom. Follow the hallway until you reach a pool with an underwater lever on the N wall. This lever is timed, but you should get more than enough time to do what's required as long as you don't mess too much about on the way. Jump in the pool and pull the lever. Surface and climb out, then go left and run back to the ladder. Climb up almost to the top and backflip onto the ledge behind. Turn to face the spike floor with the currently disabled spikes and jump over it to grab the ladder. Climb up until Lara is a bit over halfway, then backflip and roll while pressing Action. You will see Lara grab the wall switch behind her and a short fly-by of a gate opening elsewhere. Now let's backtrack for a secret. Drop down to the ground where the pool is again. Go to the N/E corner and shoot out the low part of the window behind the plant to reveal a hidden hallway. Go through and you'll hear the Secret chime. Continue on until you reach a room with a shallow pool and some tall pillars. Climb the ladder in the S/E corner, climb to the left and drop onto the slope. Immediately backflip to land on one of the pillars. Jump around to the others picking up Secret 5: a small and a large medipack and some normal shotgun ammo before dropping down to the ground.

Go back out through the hallway to the ladder in the pool area and climb out of this room. Go right around the corner and a bit ahead, then left through the first doorway. Continue on through the middle opening on the right side where you just opened that gate earlier and ready guns to take out two wild boars running around in there. Shoot the blue urn to the right if you like, but it's empty. At the same time take a note of the crawlspace on the right side. We'll be returning to it in a little bit. Wade into the water on the left and look to the right. Down the hallway is another gladiator. Approach him to set him off running towards you, then kill him. He doesn't drop anything so proceed to the other side and climb into the crawlspace high on the E wall, next to the white gate. Drop down on the other side and prepare for a dive. The next swim is rather hard so watch Lara's blue breath meter closely. Stand facing the opening she dropped through and drop into the water. Swim down, straight ahead and up. Swim between the spikes at the middle of the ledge and then down again. Stay to the far left side and wriggle through the narrow crack. Pick up the normal shotgun ammo here, being careful with the spikes. If Lara is running out of air you can now swim back to the beginning to let Lara catch her breath and then swim back here.

In either case swim up towards the ceiling and to the right into the opening. Swim down and pull the lever on the right side, then swim back out.

Climb out of this room and go back to where you killed the gladiator. A block has been raised here as a result of pulling the lever in the underwater room. Climb the block and look up. Uh oh, there's a beehive up there. But the bees won't harm Lara for now so turn E and climb the small ladder to the top. Here there are two routes you can take, both with the aim of opening a gate inside an alcove somewhere else. Personally I prefer the first one, as the second one contains a jump so tricky that it took me over half an hour before I could finally get where I was meant to go:

1) The Easy Way:
Stand in the N/W corner. Arm Lara with the crossbow, aim for the beehive and shoot it down. Crouch in the corner and wait until the bees disperse. This is only one out of probably many possible ways to get rid of such creatures with as little health loss as possible. If you have another preferred way of doing it, feel free to use that method instead. When the bees are gone pick up the Ornament Key that fell from the hive. Drop back down onto the block and go down the hallway and to the left. Enter the crawlspace here and when you reach the end climb the ladder. Turn left to face the timed switch. Pull it, turn left and hop backwards towards the wall. Do a running jump to land on the tile ahead and use the Ornament Key in the lock here to see a shot of a gate opening inside an alcove. Leave this room through the crawlspace, then climb back onto the block where the beehive was. Enter the right alcove and follow the passage. At the opening stand against the right wall and angle Lara to face the ledge with the burner. Hop backwards and do a running jump over to the lever. Pull it to open the gate in the alcove left of the one you just came from.

2) The Hard Way:
This is a shorter route and requires more skill. Go to the right side of the floor, facing the ledge with the fire emitter. Position Lara so she's standing as in this screenshot:

Run approximately three steps towards the edge, jumping at the very last moment and curving Lara's jump to the right, then finally grab the ledge below the fire emitter. Shimmy left, get up and pull the lever.
No matter which one you choose there are also two ways to go once it is done:

1) The Short Route:
It might be a bit trickier, but a lot faster. Stand in this approximate position:

Hop backwards and do a running jump, making it a sharp right curve in mid-air for Lara to land on the ledge with another lever to pull. Doing so raises a block below a switch on the red roof behind to the N/E. Stand in this position, wait until the flame subsides and do a running jump to grab onto the red roof. Pull up and climb the block.

2) The Long Route:
Stand in this position:

Wait until the flame subsides, then angle Lara to the left, hop backwards and do a running jump into the alcove. Go around to the right and into the alcove straight ahead. Follow the passage until you reach the end. Turn left and do a standing jump to the ledge. Follow it to the end and jump to the small red roof. Jump over to the other roof and from there do a running jump from the edge to the ledge with the fire emitter and lever, press Action to grab the edge. Shimmy right and pull up, then pull the lever to raise the block on the red roof. Do a running jump to grab the edge of the roof and pull up to climb the block.

In either of the cases pull the switch on top of the red roof. This opens a gate below and at the same time lets a gladiator out. You can't get a clear shot of his front from up there so drop down from the side of the roof and take him out. I experienced in some cases that he would get stuck inside the low crawlspace or fountain. I couldn't get a clear shot of him in those cases, so if it happens to you just run over to him to get him unstuck (but prepare to take quite a chop of his sword that way) or reload a previous save-game). Go in where he came from and pick up the normal shotgun shells. Stand in the doorway and look up to spot a shootable ball. Arm Lara with the crossbow and blast it. Turn around to see that the gates behind the block where the beehive was are open. Go through there and down the stairs to the left. Follow the hallway around the corner and up some steps. Watch the lovely fly-by accompanied by beautiful oriental music to see where you're going and at the end of it the gate behind Lara slams down so no turning back now.

Instead enter the room and look around. There are two burning trenches in the middle. Drop down onto the safe floor. There's a ladder in the N/W corner that can be used to climb back up. There are also two crawlspaces here; one in the N/E corner and one halfway down the middle passage on the left wall. Start with going through the one in the N/E corner. First turn to face the switch on the left. This is also timed, so before starting make sure you know the route and eventual obstacles that might occur. Straight ahead from the switch is a pit in the floor containing spikes. Beyond the pit there's a lightly coloured tile, presumably a block that can be raised by pulling the timed switch seeing as how there's another switch high on the wall above the light tile. The drill is as follows: Pull the switch, roll, run and jump over the spike pit. Continue running and jump onto the raised block. Pull the switch and then exit through the crawlspace.

Go to the middle passage and through the crawlspace on the left wall. Jump to the Omega tile in the centre (don't touch any of the levers yet though) and notice how Lara looks up on the windows. This is a hint so shoot out the middle one and climb up there to pull the switch. Drop back down and notice how the lever in the N/E corner is now illuminated in a bluish light, differentiating it from the two others. Pull the lever and exit the crawlspace in the S/E corner. Climb back up via the ladder in the N/W corner.

The burners in the trenches have now been shut off so drop into the rightmost one (facing the E). Go ahead and to the left and squeeze behind the moveable torch-like pedestal. Push it out once, then go around it and pull it down the trench until you can't pull it any further. Climb out and go to the other side of it and push onto the beige tile ahead. Climb out and go to the other trench. Do the same thing with the moveable “torch-pedestal” there. Climb out and jump to the room ahead with the pole and pool. Shoot the two urns and pick up the crossbow ammo and large medipack left behind.

Climb up the pole and backflip onto the floor behind. There are two closed, blue doors to the E and W and an open area out to the N. But before heading out there, jump over the small fence to the right and pick up some Uzi clips at the end. There's a similar alcove on the left side too, but there's nothing of interest there. Head out onto the ledge to the N. Here you'll see two ramps and a cage in the middle preventing Lara from reaching a key. There are tiled roofs to each side and a partially concealed switch on each of these roofs. In the S/E corner there's another switch and another one in the N/W corner. The access to the two latter ones is restricted by a white fence blocking the way. And on each side of the S ramp there's a small ledge below with a tile adorned with the infamous Omega symbol.

Now for a few swift timed runs. Turn to face the E roof. Walk to the edge, hop backwards once and do three walking steps backwards. Now run towards the edge, jumping at the very last second and if you've done your things right Lara will jump across the sloped roof and reach the lever in the depression on top, the soles of her feet barely breezing over the edge. This switch is timed and the drill is as follows:

As soon as you pull the switch roll, run and jump while pressing Action to grab the edge of the floor with the two slopes. Shimmy three-four times to the left and drop down. Here's the moveable object Lara pushed and pulled around earlier. Now you have to push it onto the W side, so Lara will have to be standing on the left side of it(when facing the pool where you climbed the pole earlier=> facing S that is).

*In my case the timed block lowered before Lara had pushed the torch-like pedestal onto the W ledge, but since she had started pushing it already when the block lowered she continued pushing it in mid-air until it had reached the W ledge.*

Go around it to the right and push it to the S once. Here you'll get a shot of a block lowering in the pool ahead, revealing an underwater switch. We'll get back to that later once we've repeated the drill with the other "torch-pedestal".

Go back to the pool room, taking a mental note of the underwater lever on the right side, and climb the pole to the top. Backflip onto the floor above and go back to where the two ramps are. This time face the W roof and do the same procedure here:

Walk to the edge, one hop and three steps backwards, run to the edge and jump in the last second. By now Lara should have reached the second switch in the depression on top of the roof. This switch too is timed of course, and raises the block with the second "torch-pedestal". Now the timed run should be even easier as you've already gotten some practice with the first one. Pull the switch, roll and run, jump and grab. Shimmy about three-five times to the right, drop onto the block with the "torch-pedestal" (losing some health in the process). You'll be landing on the wrong side of it though so backflip once to sort that out, then push it straight ahead to the E ledge. Go around it to the left and push it once towards the S. A second block in the pool will retract, revealing the second switch. If you've gotten to this part, well done on accomplishing yet another tricky timed run. It's now time to reap your award by going to the pool, diving in and pulling the two levers in any order you like. Then climb the pole and return to the ledge with the two ramps.

The cage surrounding the key is as present as ever and nothing apart from the two revealed levers seems to have changed. Well guess what??? You're in for two more timed sequences. There are four switches in the room remember??? And you still have two more to go. Now it's time to find a use for the Omega tiles I mentioned earlier. And Lara is not quite done with the "torch-pedestals" yet either. Get the idea???? Well either ways here's the full list of to do's:

Start with the E side first. Jump over to the roof depression with the switch first (walk to the edge, one hop backwards + three steps, run to the edge, jump at last second). Turn to face the right side (S) and be sure not to stand below the overhang of the roof above (but use the Look button frequently to make sure that Lara is lined up straight ahead from the ledge with the switch). Standing about 5 steps from the edge of the roof, jump over it to land on the slope. Slide until Lara is about to reach the end, then jump and grab the ledge ahead with the switch. As mentioned before, this switch is timed as well so needless to say you should take your time to scan the area around Lara and figure out what to do before pulling it.

For instance, look down and to the left. There's one of the Omega tiles mentioned earlier. You probably can't make out much of it, but one of the "torch-pedestals" is located right below the block next to the Omega tile. The timer is fairly slow, but you'll be working hard enough to get on the right side, to put it literally. Ok, enough none-too-subtle hints given, let's get rockin' and rollin' with timed runs and "torch pedestals":

 

Save your game here, because it might take a couple of tries to get the right angle. Pull the switch, then turn to the right. This screenshot shows the angle as good as it gets:

Run and jump to land straight onto the Omega tile. Drop off it, squeeze past the "torch-pedestal" on the right side, quickly turn left and push it onto the block below the Omega tile. If you have made it on time, the now empty block will lower as the block next to the Omega tile rises (hopefully WITH the "torch-pedestal" on it). Push the "torch-pedestal" onto the Omega tile. That wasn't so hard was it??? Now let's see what you've learned, because you got to do this one more time. It will be a lot harder of course, seeing as how the switch this time is across from the Omega tile, that means that while the switch is in the N/W corner the O-tile is located to the far S. But don't let that discourage you, let's give it a few tries.

Turn right and pull back up on the floor above. Standing on the left side do the same jump as before to the W roof, standing on the far left side (while facing the roof). Turn right to face the ledge with the last switch, stand approximately in the middle (to avoid the overhang) and five steps away from the edge. Do a standing jump onto the roof, slide towards the end and jump at the last second while pressing Action to grab the ledge with the switch.

As mentioned earlier, as this is the last timed jump it unfortunately won't be as fair and easy as the others. This is the method that worked the best for me, although I only did it with a very narrow margin:

Pull the switch, turn, run and jump at the last minute and as Lara hits the sloped roof spring off it, curving her to the right in mid-air to land on the floor with the ramps. Run down towards the right side and let Lara run off the edge as she reaches the end to make her land on the block with the "torch-pedestal". Squeeze past it to the right and push it onto the block next to the Omega tile. You can now draw your breath and push it onto the Omega tile. The two "torch-pedestals" will ignite and Lara can turn left, pull up onto the floor above and enter the cage to reap the big award: The Rusty Key.

*Note: It is also possible after you pull the timed switch to hop backwards off the ledge, grab it and drop down, then roll and run to the block with the "torch-pedestal". It might be a quicker and easier way, but Lara will lose some health dropping down from the ledge with the switch. Just thought I'd mention it though.*

Go back down to the ground floor and back to where you pushed the "torch-pedestals" before. Head over to the N/E corner where you'll find a particularly well hidden doorway. Go through the opening on the left side and climb the ladder on the wall to the N. Climb off on the right side onto the ledge and in the dark corner there's a keyhole where Lara can use the Rusty Key to open the multi-coloured gate up on the same wall. Head on down the hallway and you'll see that you're high up above the garden where you first started the level. Do a running jump over to the pool on the right hand side. Look at the yellow windows in the pool on the S side. Arm Lara with the crossbow, aim for them and shoot them out. Dive into the pool and first pick up the crossbow ammo in the N/W corner, then proceed through the opening.

Surface and climb out of the pool. Go up the stairs to the right first and continue to the large room ahead. Here you'll find three reasons to both save the game AND be extremely cautious:

1) Three hungry and rather unfriendly felines on the loose, in the shape of the King of the Jungle: lions

2) A pit in the S/E corner containing some gory spikes and a pole

3) Two equally gory spiked balls that will drop from the ceiling as anyone (apart from your enemies that is) steps under them

So in other words what you need to do is to kill the three lions while avoiding being crushed by the spiked balls and of course avoiding the spiked pit as well. In some miraculous way I managed to get out of the whole stampede without losing health by staying to the right side of the room (thus only setting off one of the spiked balls) and moving about constantly (one technique that always works well with lions is to jump over them and then roll, jump over and roll etc while firing like there's no tomorrow). Once you're rid of the lions and one of the spiked balls have been set off, you can trigger the other one for your own safety by standing in the doorway and then running straight across the room, under it and continue running to avoid being hit (of course you can look away from the last sentence if you‘ve already triggered both of them).

Once the circus is all over take your time to look around the room. On top of a small ramp to the S there's a closed gate. There's also another closed gate to the W. Stand on the right side of the spiked pit (facing the E), about two steps away from the pit and do a standing jump forward while pressing Action to grab the pole without taking damage from the spikes. Climb to the top of the pole and backflip onto the ledge behind. There's a wall blocking your way, but this wall also has a crevice in it, so you can easily grab that and shimmy around to the left.

Go through the open doorway and onto a ledge above a room with some electrical currents sweeping through it. Anything that sparkles and looks electric is usually bad news so we'll have to find a way to shut the currents off. But enough about this for now. Pick up the normal shotgun shells and pull the switch on the wall. Leave this room and go back to the ledge above the lion room. You will see that the pillar ahead has crevices in it. Do a running jump to grab the one straight ahead. Shimmy around to the right until you reach a high wall switch. Let go of Action and immediately re-press it to grab the switch. It opens the gate to your right up the ramp, so as soon as Lara lands backflip to get out of the way of the spiked ball rolling down. Go up the ramp it came from and up on top pick up the 2nd Rusty Key. Go back down the slope and once more jump to the pole. Climb up and backflip onto the ledge, then go around the crevice to the doorway again. Do a last running jump to grab the crevice in the column and shimmy around two corners to the right. Drop down and grab the crevice below. Pull up and pick up the Sapphire, then drop down to the floor and leave this room.

Go back down the stairs and over towards the fountain on the right side (along the E wall). Look up to spot a crawlspace high on the wall, jump up there and crawl through. Climb the E wall and when you reach the room above go to the opposite wall and use the crowbar to pry off the Golden Star. Climb back out the way you came in. This time head up the stairs on the left hand side.

Go around the corner to the left and straight ahead until you reach a slanted block in an alcove (facing the E wall). Do a standing jump to the flat floor behind the slanted block and climb up to the right. Turn right again and climb up the ladder on the W wall. Before reaching the top climb around the right corner and you'll spot a wall switch on the next wall to the right. Climb sideways over to it and position Lara right above it, then let go of Action and press it again immediately to make her grab the switch and pull it down. Now jump back over the slanted block, climb up to the right and climb the ladder again, but this time dismount onto the floor on the left hand side. Stand with Lara's back to the edge, run about three steps ahead and jump over the spike pit. As you do this a ball drops from the ceiling above so keep on running until Lara hits the wall to avoid the blades that will fold out from the hanging ball. Go through the now open gate to the right and continue following the ledge around over the electrical current room. When you reach an empty receptacle place the Golden Star in it to shut off the electrical currents in the room below. Go back to the hallway with the blade ball. Getting past this one without losing health I found to be impossible. But the best method I could find was to crawl along the right wall under the blade ball until Lara is about one crawl away from the edge of the spike pit (taking her any closer will cause her health to deteriorate rapidly because of the spikes). Let go of the crawl key and IMMEDIATELY press Jump together with the Up arrow key to make her jump over the pit and out of the ball's way(she will lose a tiny tad of health as she hits the blades on the ball though, but it was the best I could do). Climb back down and leave this area.

Now it's time to explore the area with the formerly electrocuting floor so go up the stairs in the middle. Go on until you reach a water filled room with two set of stairs leading up to the stage with electrical currents sweeping across it earlier. These are, of course, shut off as a result of you inserting the Golden Star in the receptacle on the ledge above this room a little while ago. But before going up the stairs head over to the underwater opening between the two set of stairs. Swim down there and pick up the Emerald. Go back out and up the stairs to the now safe floor. Place the two gemstones in the receptacles on top and you will see the double set of black gates opening out in the room where you picked up the Sapphire earlier (the one with the three lions and spiked balls remember?). Good, because now we need to head on over there.
Leave this room and go back down the stairs, then up the stairs by the right wall. Enter the open gates and watch the fly-by showing you how close you are to the prize. You still have some work left to do though so better get it started right away. As you enter the new room you will be attacked by no less than two winged skeletons. A bit of health loss is inevitable here, as one will fire some less harmful bolts while the other one swoops in to attack on close hold. But if you take one step down from the black gates on the right hand side and stay by the wall there Lara will lose a lot less health than she would by running and jumping around while firing. Once the two of them are out of your misery walk over to the chain barriers separating the floor you stand on from a lava pool. Stand on the far left side as close as you get to the chain, hop backwards once and walk backwards twice. Now do a standing jump forward to leap over the chain, landing on the floor right before the edge. Turn backwards and look to the right, where you'll see a ladder on the wall. Drop from the ledge, hang on and shimmy to the right until Lara reaches the ladder. Climb down to the crevice below. Drop and immediately press Action again to make Lara hang from the ladder and shimmy left (if she won't traverse all the way it might be because her feet are placed on the ladder. In order to make it she must hang from the ladder by her hands only). Shimmy to the left all the way until you can pull up into a crawlspace. Crawl through and locate the keyhole on the E wall in the next room, where you can use the Rusty Key. Dive in the water and swim through the tunnel until Lara can surface on the other side.

Climb out of the pool and go through the opening in the S/W corner. Head down the stairs until you reach an opening above a pool. Turn around and drop from the edge, then climb the ladder down to the bottom. Proceed towards the opening to the S/W. Here you are greeted with the horrendous sight of two monster eagles heading your way. You can probably take them out in close-up battle, but I found a pain free, although lengthy, way of killing them. I will write up the way I did it and then you can decide for yourself which method suits you the best.

My way of doing it:

As soon as the two eagles come pounding out from the shadows roll and run back to the ladder where you came down. Climb back up and turn to face the area with the monster birds. Arm Lara with the crossbow and take aim for the doorway to the S/W where the birds are running around. Press the number key 1 on the keyboard and Lara will change to her pistols, but without losing the crossbow aim. Plug off on the birds as they run by until both of them are dead. As mentioned this might take some time as you'll have to wait for the birds to come by so if you prefer to do it the heavy way by running around down there with them while using heavily loaded firearms then that's fine too.

Once the birds are dead go to where they came from and into the left room. Go left by the palm trees and under the ledge with the foliage hanging from it. There's a switch here on the N wall by the gate closing off access to the Omega tile behind it. Pull the switch and go back through the archways out to the water filled room where you climbed down. Go right and through the S opening, then to the open doorway in the S/E corner. Look up at the ceiling above the block with the "torch-pedestal". It's a bit hard to see because of the bright light, but there's a shootable ball up there. Arm Lara with the crossbow and aim for the ball, then shoot it (use the shortcut key 1 to swap to pistols if you're conserving ammo). The block with the "torch-pedestal" lowers, so that you can move it. Push/pull it out of the room and all the way up to the light block straight across from the doorway. Leave and go back to the bird area where you pulled the switch earlier. Pull it back up in its original position and return to the room with the "torch-pedestal". Now you'll see that the light block has retracted and the block to the right of it has raised. Push the "torch-pedestal" onto the retracted block and go back to the switch again. Pull it down and once more retrace your steps to the "torch-pedestal". This time squeeze up on the block and behind it and push it onto the opposite block. Now head back to the switch a final time and push it back in its original position. I guess you all know where Lara is to go this time. Yes right, back to the "torch-pedestal". And it has been raised with the block up to the room above. Climb the red fence on the wall opposite and up on the floor above.

Go on either side of the "torch-pedestal" and push it up against the wall. Go around it and pull it with you as far as it goes and around again to push it up against the wall next to the Omega tile. Pull it onto the tile to ignite it and open the gate opposite. Do a running jump over to the ledge with the ivy-covered pavilion. Drop into the hole in the centre of it and pick up some normal shotgun ammo on one side and pull the lever on the other side. Swim through the underwater opening by the submerged Omega tile and go back to where you raised the blocks earlier to climb up onto the next floor. Retrace your steps back to the ledge with the ivy pavilions, but this time go past the first one and straight to the second. Drop down in the hole below the second pavilion and pick up a large medipack as well as pulling the lever there. Yes, finally!!!! The gate leading to the grand prize: the long awaited for Sword Of Alexander opens. Step onto the Omega tile and the gate by the underwater tile opens. Swim out there and retrace your steps back to the ledge with the ivy pavilions.

Do a running jump over to the room with the sword. The moment we've all been waiting for has arrived!!! Pick up the Ornament Key and the splendour itself: Alexander's Sword from the pedestals. Drop down to the floor below, go right and use the Ornament Key in the keyhole to the right. The gate to the left opens. Climb into the opening and run ahead up the slope and a cut scene will break in, showing you Lara sitting by the pool in her mansion garden. As Lara very well puts it: Congratulations, you did it!!!!
And that's the end of a truly stunning adventure.