DEEP IN THE CAVES

 

Level by Michael Velinov (misho98)

 

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth

 

 

Lara drops down into a fenced pit with two houses up on the N and W banks.  There's a pool in front of her with a dangling rope obviously intended to afford access to the other side.  Down in the water are four openings, two of which are gated.  Jump into the water and swim into the SE opening.  Swim past two gated alcoves and turn left at the far wall.  Pull the underwater lever and swim back to find that the gate in the W alcove is open.  Pull the underwater lever and flip turn after the cut scene to find that the gate in the E alcove is open.  Pull the underwater lever there and swim back into the pool.  Grab some air and swim into the SW opening.

 

Pull up twice and face twin ropes over a lava pit.  Jump to grab the first rope, swing forward and jump off to grab the second rope (it helps to wait until Lara is just past the zenith of her swing before hitting the jump key), then repeat to activate the jump switch in the S wall.  The lava turns to harmless water as Lara drops down.  Swim back to the N end and pull the underwater lever, then pull out and jump back down into the main pool.  The central S gate is now open, so swim inside and follow to the end of the passage.  Turn around, pull up and back flip to a ledge.

 

Turn around and climb the wall to an upper passage.  Run past the triangular opening into an area with a burning jeep and a host of moveable crates.  Take the SHOTGUN from the skeleton near the jeep and kill a couple of zombies that appear.  Find the shotgun ammo near the campfire and kill another zombie.  There are two TORCHES in the area, one near the NE corner and the other near the W wall.  Pick up the latter so you can move the adjacent crates, and drop it near the other one after lighting it with the campfire.

 

You now need to move the crates so you can light some wall torches that are presently out of reach.  Start by pulling the SE crate back twice.  Pull the crate W of the central hole once S, then push it once E.  Push the crate N of the central hole once W, then twice S.  You now have a lower bridge formed by the crates.  Get up onto the crates and climb up onto the upper E crate.  Turn right and pull the upper S crate back once.  Hop down, get your lighted torch and hop up onto the last crate you moved.  Face N, and from the left side of the crate take a running jump into the alcove.  Light the wall torch there, get back down to the ground and leave your torch in a safe place.

 

Get back onto the row of crates and pull the E crate back three times.  Retrieve your torch, get back onto the crate you just moved and jump S onto the ledge.  Light the second wall torch and get back down.  Drop your torch and move the crate you just moved once W.  Pick up your torch, jump up onto the crate you just moved and jump W onto the ledge.  Light the wall torch in the alcove and hear the sound of a gate opening down in that central hole.  Get down there to find the CROWBAR, climb back out and exit this area.

 

Jump into the water and swim back to the pool.  Pull out N, get up onto the block and jump to the rope.  Swing forward and jump off S to the other side.  You get a fixed camera angle, so run to your left to restore camera control.  Insert the crowbar in the device there to open the S gate.  Before proceeding, let's divert for the first secret.  Jump back into the water and note that the N gate is now open.  Swim inside and pull out for SECRET #1.  Note for later the number 6 painted on the side of the crate. 

 

Return to the pool, pull out and use the rope to get back across to the other side.  Enter the S gateway and slide down into a pit.  Climb the wall, pull up and step forward to face a room with flaming pillars jutting out of a pool.  From here you can target and kill a sea hag who does nothing to escape your fire.  Climb down and find flares and a large medipack on the N and S banks.  You can jump into the water for some shotgun ammo if you like.  Note the "underwater levers" on the N face of the pillars, which means that you need to find a way to flood this area. 

 

Climb back up W, turn around and take a standing jump to grab the first flaming pillar.   Shimmy around to one of the back corners, pull up and turn to face the next pillar.  Repeat the same procedure twice.  When you reach the back corner of the third pillar, face E and take a standing jump to grab the ledge.  Pull up, then step forward and pull up into the opening in the E wall.  There's another room with flaming pillars and a pool.  There's another sea hag swimming around below, but she's a little harder to kill than her companion (but not much). 

 

Use the same jump and shimmy moves you did in the previous room to reach the SE alcove.  Pull down the wall switch there to lift the gate in the N wall.  To get back, simply jump in the water and pull out W.  Jump from the ledge to the open gateway and pull down the wall switch to flood the previous room.  Jump back to the ledge and note the jump switch over the entrance.  All it does is turn off the flames in the pillars behind you for a few seconds. 

 

Return to the previous room and jump in the water.  Pull all three underwater levers that you saw earlier.  Doing so opens the three grates at the opposite base of each pillar.  The middle hole is still blocked by a grate, however (or at least, it appears to be).  Enter the E hole and follow the passage to a mirror room.  The first tile is safe, and so is the one to your left.  Jump to the adjacent tile SE, then take a running jump to the safe tile in the SE corner.  Jump W over the deadly tile to the plinth and pick up the SMALL WATERSKIN.  Don't back flip from there, or you'll die.  Sidestep to the front of the plinth and side flip left to the safe tile in the SE corner.  Retrace your steps and exit this room.

 

Swim back to the pool and down the W hole.  Squeeze into the opening and follow the passage to a lava room with flaming tiles.  Hop down to the ledge and pull down the timed wall switch.  Turn to your left, jump to the nearest tile, then to the next tile and take a running jump to grab the tile against the E wall.  The closed gate to your right is for later.  Pull up and run forward before the flames return.  Pull up into the next room and face a pole.  Save your game.  As you step forward three spike balls come rolling down.  To avoid them, loop around to your left and jump toward a passage down below.  Reverse roll as you hit the ground, and the spike ball should miss you.

 

Three little imps rumble toward you along the passage.  After killing them, take a small medipack from one skeleton and the shotgun ammo from another.  Take the LARGE WATERSKIN from the plinth and pull up past the opened gate into the lava room.  The flames are now off, so jump NW to the nearest tile and from there take a running jump E to a tile you visited earlier.  Grab the edge, pull up and return to the spike ball room.  Climb the pole and back flip into an upper passage for SECRET #2.  Note the number 7 painted on the side of the crate, then get back down.

 

Cross the lava room and jump to the ledge.  Jump into the water and swim back to the pool.   The middle hole appears to be blocked, but you can swim right through the grate.  Do so and follow the passage until you can pull out.  Continue to an underground room with an ahmet that appears to be stuck in the ground, making it quite easy to kill.  There are two closed gates leading to water and a third closed gate leading to another ahmet.  There's also a grate covering a hole in the floor.  Look at the scales near the S wall and see the number 4 emblazoned on the ground in front of it. 

 

The first thing you need is access to a shallow water source, so let's look around.  There's an opening in the S wall behind the scales, so pull up into it to engage a hellhound and a zombie.  After they're both dead, you'll find yourself confronted with another pushblock puzzle.  Here's the solution, courtesy of dmdibl: 

 

Pull back the block to the left when entering, the corner block by the fire. Pull/push this block forward down the center aisle. Then stand on this block and pull back the high center block. Climb over the high center block, get behind it, and push it out once, so that it is now on the previous block Lara moved. Get out and down. There was a free block by the entrance. Move this block to the right of the high center block. Now stand on this, push the high center block to the side, by the fire.  Now the center is free of upper blocks. Take the first block that Lara moved, and pull/push it back into its original corner by the fire. Now there are two blocks in the center aisle. Pull them both back. A wall lever is behind, in the middle of the wall. 

 

Pull the switch to open the E and W gates in the room with the scales, giving you access to that shallow source of water you needed.  Before proceeding, however, let's go for the last secret.  Leave this area NE and jump into the water.  Swim back to the pool, enter the E hole and return to the mirror room.  The lava there has turned to harmless water, so jump down and swim into the alcove where you see the number 1 painted on the side of a crate to trigger the chimes for SECRET #3.  You can now open the secrets.rar file that comes with the download, using 671 as the password, for information and visuals regarding the builder's work product.

Return to the room with the scales.  We will assume that the number on the ground is a clue, and that you need to pour four litres on the left side to make the scales balance.  First, fill the large waterskin (5 litres). Combine it with the small waterskin, filling the small one with 3 litres and leaving 2 litres in the large one. Empty the small waterskin, then combine the large one with the small one, leaving 2 liters in the small one and emptying the large one. Fill the large waterskin again, and combine it with the small waterskin to fill it and leave 4 liters in the large one.  Empty the large one in the pot on the left side of the scales and the grate will fall to expose the floor hole behind you.

Hang from the E edge and note the flaming tile beneath you.  Release and grab the crawl space below.  Pull inside and lower Lara down the other side.  Run to the slope and slide down to end the level.

My thanks to the builder and to manarch2 for nearly simultaneously providing information leading to the two secrets I'd missed.