QUEST FOR THE SCION

Level by Kat

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth (with thanks to Sutekh for pointing out the location of the secret I'd missed)

Begin in a nostalgically familiar cave, a la TR1. Run forward with pistols drawn and shoot two bats, then continue to the NW corner and vault up onto the lighter colored slab. Pull up into the opening, enter the crawl space for SECRET #1, shoot another bat and pick up the small medi-pack. Go back outside and hop up the slope south. Vault up onto a snowy ledge where you get a fixed camera angle. Run forward into the passage and hop down into an area where you're met by a pack (meaning three) of wolves. Kill them while avoiding their slashing jaws, then go to the south wall and turn left into a dark alcove where you get another fixed camera angle (hope this doesn't become a habit in this level). Throw the wall switch to open a nearby door in the south wall.

Two wolves are released, so kill them and proceed west past the door you just now opened. Enter the cavern west where you get, yes, another fixed camera angle and two more wolves are alerted. Inside you'll find an opening in the south wall leading to some flares on your right. Note the closed bamboo door at the south end, then return to the larger cavern and enter the south doorway. Crawl through the passage to avoid the darts, and in the next room you find yourself on the other side of that bamboo door. Locate the nearby hole in the floor and drop down into a lower passage. Climb the block west, run forward and pull up into another room.

Shoot the bat, then look in the dark SW corner for some shotgun ammo. Locate the moveable block in the south opening and push it forward five times until you can run around it into the next room. Enter the NW alcove, squeeze behind the chair and throw the wall switch to open the door in the alcove to your left. Enter a new area lush with vegetation and shoot the wolf and three bats that come forth to attack. Go to the pool and find the SHOTGUN in ankle-deep water near the west wall. Look for the opening in the south wall near the SW corner and pull up into it. Crawl through and lower Lara down the other side. As you roam about this darkened chamber you'll attract the attention of two wolves. You may be able to target and kill a third one high up in the opening in the east wall.

Enter the left side of the west cave with the low ceiling, and pick up the hard-to-see GOLDEN IDOL just past the lighter-colored block. Continue inside and locate the flares in the opposite corner, then go back outside and locate the low crawl space near the SE corner. Crawl inside and kill the bat, then enter the ivy-covered passage north and go around the corner for a small medi-pack. Go out and run north down the passage. Climb over the block to your right and hop down into another area of the cavern. Run around a bit to alert the bat, then after you kill it go to the NE corner and face the pillar. Pull up to the top, then walk out to the raised corner and face SW. Take a running jump and grab to the next pillar, then pull up in a crouched position and crawl forward until you can stand up.

Run west and go around the column to the right. Follow the north passage and drop down through the hole onto a block in the small room below. Insert the Golden Idol in the north receptacle to open the adjacent door. Go on into the next area and look around. To the left and right are closed doors, one of which requires a key. Straight ahead in the north wall is another closed door requiring a key. To the left of the door is a wall switch. Pull it down to open the door in the west wall. Go there for a fixed camera angle as you enter a pool area. There's some shotgun ammo in the tunnel connecting the two pools, but Lara refuses to pick it up and there's no other reason to jump into the water. Walk toward the south end and two wolves come out to attack. Kill them and locate the flares near the south wall behind the column. Enter the SE alcove and pull down the wall switch to open a door near the SW corner.

Go there and enter a small room. Climb the winding stairs and onto the block at the top. Pull up into the dark upper room and walk out onto the east ledge. Take a running jump to the ledge jutting out from the column, walk around to the right and shoot a couple of bats. Take a standing jump to the ledge in the SE corner and pick up the small medi-pack. Hop back to the previous ledge and from the raised NE corner take a running jump and grab to the ledge against the east wall. Pull up and run along the ledge to the other end, and turn right into the passage. Run toward the right corner as the camera angle becomes fixed, and pick up the KEY. Go back out and take a running jump into the water below. Pull out and exit this area via the NE doorway.

Place the Key in the east receptacle to open the nearby door. Go in and climb up onto the block in the center of the room. Pull up from there into the upper room and watch as two blades start swinging just beyond the west doorway. Go into the doorway hugging either wall to avoid the first blade. Sidestep past the first blade, turn to face west and time a run past the second blade. Go around the hole in the floor of the next room and pick up the GOLDEN IDOL. Safety drop through the hole into the room below and insert the Golden Idol in the north receptacle. The large adjacent door opens, so go inside and climb the wall to your right. Slide down into a short passage that winds up at another pool.

Jump down, and you'll find some shotgun ammo at the far end of the pool. Swim back to the shallow end and take a standing jump and grab to the west ledge. Pull up to spook and kill a bat, but there are no pickups on this side. Don't bother to go over to the east ledge, because there's nothing there. Instead, take an angled jump to the north ledge and run forward to find the wall switch. There's nothing but a dead-end passage to your right, so pull the switch to open the door behind you and to your left. Enter the passage and hop down into the next area where you'll alert two bats. Jump and grab the ledge to the west. Pull up and enter the south opening. In the small room is a large medi-pack hidden in the weeds. Go back out and drop down into the hole in the SW corner. Pull down the wall switch to open a gate down below.

Pull out of the hole and hop down to the floor below. Take a standing jump up the slope in the NE corner and enter the passage. Go up either ramp in the next room and shoot the bat. Slide down into another pool room as three wolves attack, two from your left and one from your right. When order has been restored, look around and get your bearings. There's a closed door in the SE alcove behind an animal skin. There's a key receptacle around the corner near the east wall. As you approach the closed-off NE passage another wolf sneaks up on you from behind. There's a crawl space in that passage that leads you to some ledges overlooking the previous room, so go there.

Shoot a bat as you emerge onto the ledges, take the right ledge and run to the far end where you get a fixed camera angle, turn right and take a running jump and grab to the west ledge. Pull up and run forward to alert two or three more bats. Shoot them and go back to the NW corner for a large med-pack. Run to the other side and find the moveable block in the SW corner. Pull it back to reveal a wall switch. Pull down the switch to open a door directly behind you. Reverse roll and run straight forward to the open doorway. Pull up into the opening and pick up the KEY. Safety drop through the nearby hole in the floor and slide back down into the pool room. Insert the Key in the receptacle near the east wall to open that door behind the animal skin.

Go there, vault into the passage, crawl underneath the darts and enter the crawl space to your left. Follow the passage until you can stand up, then walk to the opening that overlooks a partially flooded room. Angle to the left and jump to the first of four archways that span this room. Take standing jumps north until you reach the other side, then run to your left and slide down into a new room. Go into the NE alcove. The wall to your left is climbable, so use it to access an upper passage.

Run forward and around the column ahead to reach a room with a small empty pool where the camera angle becomes fixed and two bats come fluttering out. Other than that, there's nothing here at present except a closed door in the west wall. The two side passages near the entrance are empty as well. Go back out, run up the north ramp and hop down into a lower passage. Turn left and pick up the GOLDEN IDOL from the raised slab in the intersection. There's a closed door ahead. Turn left and pull up into the SW opening, then run forward and hop down to locate and throw a wall switch. You get a cut scene of that closed west door. Go back and run down the NW passage to the next wall switch and throw it. This time the door opens, so reverse roll and make a horseshoe turn to the right and enter the open west doorway.

As you enter the next area you get a flyby of a multi-tiered room, ending with a close-up of a key you need to get. It's an easy matter to use the nearby block to reach the second tier. Jump to the dark NW corner and insert the Golden Idol in the receptacle. Hop your way over to the south end, alerting a bat along the way, and enter through the doorway you just opened near the SE corner for SECRET #2. Pick up the BINOCULARS for your trouble, then reverse roll and go across to enter the passage near the SW corner and pull up into the opening to your left. Continue until you find yourself on the third tier. Hop to the north end, spooking three more bats in the process, and pick up the silver KEY when you reach the last ledge. You can get down quickly by hopping back and hitting the action key in mid-air to land on the second-tier ledge, then safety drop from there to the floor.

Exit this room via the east doorway and continue running east until you come to a hard-to-see crawl space at floor level in the wall to your right. Crawl inside to the next room, where you see a swinging blade and some shotgun ammo. Leave the ammo alone, as it's sitting on a death tile. Slide by the blade and stand on the slab in the SW corner for SECRET #3. Pick up the SHOTGUN and exit this room. Turn left when you can stand up and return to the multi-tiered room. Locate the receptacle for your Key in a dark area near the SW corner and insert it to open the door in the south wall. Go on in and turn to your right in the next room. Step up into the alcove and throw the wall switch to open a nearby door in the south wall. Go over there, but before entering the open doorway turn right and run through a phantom animal skin in the SW alcove for SECRET #4. Pick up two stashes of shotgun ammo and a small medi-pack in the next room, then return to the previous area.

Turn right and continue through the open south doorway and go toward the SW corner in the next room. Pull up over the wall and slide down into a small enclosure with a water hole. Jump into the water and note the closed gate. There's a cleverly camouflaged underwater lever on the wall directly opposite the gate. Pull the lever to open the gate and swim into the octagonal underwater passage. You can take the side passage to the right for an extra SHOTGUN, then flip turn and swim back out to find another closed gate in the south wall with no lever in sight. Yes, there it is, in the east alcove near the center of the octagonal passage. The gate doesn't open when you pull it, so there must be another one. Sure enough, you'll find it back near the entrance, to the left. You probably need air by this time, so go back and get some before continuing.

In the next room there's a ceiling hole where you can pull out into an empty room. Run west along a bridge toward a blade that starts swinging just about the time you get a fixed camera angle and can't see it any more. As you move slowly forward you can see a medi-pack out of the corner of your eye in the south trench, but don't go down to get it unless you want to die a fiery death. However, there's nothing wrong with the north trench, so you can simply hop down into it and run past the swinging blade. Pull up beyond it and proceed west into the next area where you get yet another fixed camera angle.

Angle Lara to the left and take a standing jump to the ledge south. Camera control is restored here, so throw the wall switch and turn around. Face NW and take a standing jump to the top of the central pillar. See those blue-topped pillars ahead? They're all death traps, including the one beneath the north wall switch. Face NE and take a running jump to the safe pillar against the north wall. Turn right and hop into the NE alcove for SECRET #5. Pick up the small medi-pack and return to the central pillar. Hop from there to the second switch against the west wall and throw it. A door opens to your right, so take a running jump north (the ledge there is safe) and enter the west passage. Slide down the slope to your left into a swinging blade room where two wolves attack.

After killing them, time a run past the nearest blade and pick up that SCION you've been questing for from the central ornate slab. The door ahead opens, so time a run past the next blade and enter the south doorway. The ramp ahead looks like a perfect opportunity for a boulder trap, but such turns out not to be the case. In the next room there are closed doors ahead and to your left, a wall switch near the NE corner, and a passage to your right that's guarded by a swinging blade. Squeeze past the blade and turn left. Throw the wall switch at the end of the passage and go back outside. Throw the second wall switch to open the door in the south wall. Another swinging blade. Squeeze past it, go to the right and throw the wall switch at the end of the passage. The door in the east wall outside opens, so go there and enter a rocky passage. You'll come to a snow-covered ramp with wolf tracks and the sound of wolves wailing. Run up the ramp into the bright sunshine to end the level.