Uncle Silas by The Vagrant

Walkthrough written by the author

Part 1: Outside the Hall.

The level starts with Lara facing the entrance portico of Bartram Hall.If one
advances to the right yard,there are shotgun shells in a small(seemingly meaningless)
pool.Upon exiting this pool,Lara will get a 5 second overhead camera of this
yard.
(No cameras are longer than 5 seconds & all can be triggered more than once,if needed.)

Running back past the entrance & the big tree,you'll arrive at a side yard with an
auto garage & a hedge of pink roses.Shoot the malignate lizards here,being careful
to keep your distance from them.

To the right of the garage doors are some hidden shotgun shells.turn around.Facing the facade of the building,run up & past the rose hedge.Hang a right
& find a switch that opens the front door( & a camera of this action).

Part 2: First floor of the Hall.

Running through the entry door,dispatch 2 hellhounds in the foyer.Continue into
the main hall.You'll be plagued by 2 bats & also, as someone so amusingly described
her " a ginger-haired bint w/ a flamethrower" (heh hee)- that's "Miss Flame",
a model made by Adam for us.

You don't have to kill her;she takes random shots at the bats flying around.If you get to close to her,she'll try to toast you too.

What I do is to lure the bats back out into the foyer & dispatch them.Miss Flame won't bother you after the bats are dead(unless you take a shot at her).

Anyways,look around the 1st floor main hall room;to the right of the fireplace
is a red corridor & a bookcase.Back out by the entrance of the main hall(to the
left) is a hallway showing a window view of the dining room.In this hallway,look for
a bookcase that's darker than the rest.Pull this block out(twice) to discover
the shotgun,Secret #1.

Nothing more on this floor so continue up to the 2nd floor by way of the stairs.This will start 2 jets of wall flame.Run past the first one easily & do a running jump
past the second one.Turn around & look down through the rotten floor boards to see a
small slope.Slide down it to find a small medpack Secret #2.

Follow the short tunnel & climb up & out of this.Drop down into the red corridor
by the main hall.Unfortunately,you now have to retrace your steps back up the stairs past the flames a second time(if you want secret #2, that is).

Part 3: The second floor.

Running along the second floor balcony into a large green hallway will shut off
the flames & release 2 bats- dispatch them as they are a real pain if they get
"stuck in a corner"- which is something they seem to want to do in this game.(No, it's not your game;it's the way these models react to the TR3 room sizes,for some weird reason).

Anyways you'll find a tall locked door & apparently "nothing else here" on this
2nd floor balcony.You just know you'll have to go up, but how?

Find a red torn curtain that's near the left side of the main hall fireplace.Do
a running jump & grab across to the fireplace(with Maud's picture).Look around a bit,you'll spy a small opening under one of the ceiling beams.

Now you'll be able to jump from the chandeliers & up into the attic entrance.Dispatch an annoying bat here-
between the second & third chandelier, you'll have to jump to an outcrop
of red curtains.

Part 3: The attic.

At the 4th chandelier,do a jump & grab across to the curtains.Upon entering the
attic,you'll come to the swinging blades room.Run past the blades & a jet of flames
to a bookshelf- (in an attic? com'on now! really!) anyways, push this block in thrice
to find the Desert Eagle Secret #3.

Continue past the blades,you'll arrive at a small room with a switch & a drop down
thru the floor.Pulling the switch will give you a camera of the tall door opening
on the second floor balcony.Hang & drop down through the hole,you're back on the 2nd floor again.

Part 4: 2nd floor (again)

Enter the pink bedroom & dispatch a "ghost" dude that follows you.Save your game here
in a new slot.Out on the roofs there are things to find.To the left is a small medpack Secret # 4.

For some reason I got a couple of "game crashes" at this roof where Lara
picks up this medpack.Other people haven't noticed this,but that's why I wanted
you to save your game in the pink bedroom.If it works great,if it doesn't (sorry).

Anyways,jump back to the porch roof.You'll get a 5 sec overhead camera here of
Lara running across the roof.

Why? (i don't know! I just like these quick panoramic cameras)

To the right side of the balcony,on a mossy roof is the rocker launcher Secret #5.Returning back to the pink bedroom,pull the wall switch & get a camera of a bookshelf
door on the 2nd floor balcony opening.

Upon entering this passageway,be careful of the wall blades.You'll run past closed
double doors & into Maud's bedroom.Near her canopy bed,look for a torn curtain,there's
rockets hidden behind it.

There isn't anything out on the balcony(just another camera I placed)
anyways,to the left of her fireplace is a torn curtain.Pulling this switch will open the
double doors out in the hallway.

This hallway leads to a parlor(on the right).There are no items in this room.o the
left is m'lady's bath.Maud it seems,likes to hide Desert Eagle clips in her bath tub(?!)

Running back out to the hall,proceed down to the old poolroom balcony.You should be able to
get to the switch that's across from you by using the roofs.

This switch will open the bookshelf door in the red corridor off of the main hall.Jump into the pool.

Part 5: First floor (again)

Flip the underwater switch to open the double doors.Upon entering the dining room,dispatch 3 bats & proceed back through to the main hall.Back in the main hall,if
Miss Flame Now tries to roast you (for whatever reason...)

I want you to draw your rocket launcher &
blow her farkin' head off, 'k?

Part 6: West wing of the mansion

Past the red corridor is the library (with the Linsner illustration "Dawn &
Death" over the fireplace).Again,you'll have to get to upper rooms.Notice the ceiling.For the 1st time in the game,a "cross-hatched"
brown panel texture has been used.What can that mean?

Flip/jump on 5 sloped bookcase blocks to reach the top of the corner bookshelf.Back into the corner,jump up,grab & monkey climb over to the pillar near the firplace.Do a running jump/grab across to the second pillar,jump up & get to the room's
ceiling beams by way of a narrow,grey hallway.

At the end of this ceiling beam is the final secret.Behind (yet another) torn curtain
pick up a large med pack Secret #6.

Jump from the ceiling beam across to a small greenish passageway & prepare for the
battle with Silas.Yes he's home & he's pissed!

There are 2 ways of playing this gun battle.You can simply dispatch him with a few shots
of the Desert Eagle.However (& I now regret that I put such strong weapons in the level,but I feel that players would feel "cheated" if they couldn't have the bigger guns too,so-)

I prefer the original "TombRaider" approach of using the pistols only combined with
a running/ side flipping / shooting game.

Kind of like that badass "Torso Monster" in TR1; that was my favorite "muscular"gunbattle of any of the TR games- yay!

It's fun & certainly satisfying to *stay one jump ahead of Silas's blasts
of fire*(whilst putting the lead to him.)

The moral of the story is:
"it doesn't pay to be green & horny" ...

After dispatching the *Uncle from Hell*,climb the corner ladder up onto the beams.Jump across them
to a switch over the fireplace.This will show a camera of the garage door opening.

Go out on the balcony,jump down to a small roof & from there,jump into the
small pool in the yard(that's why it's there..)

Exit the level by passing thru into the garage.

----------------

Author's notes

Thanks for playing Uncle Silas;i hope you enjoyed it.

Now if your GrandMama's crumbling old Victorian abode gets to the point of:
creaking floorboards, cobwebs, things that go "bump in the night";
don't sleep over, 'k?

( write a TR level insted) take care,
Kevin (the Vagrant) July 7, 2003