ASPIDETR EASTER TIME 2017 - HOLIDAYS WITH SPIRITS

Level by Greywolf

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth

Be attentive during the opening flyby, as you are provided valuable information about the violent history of this household.  Begin in a dining room lined with portraits of the evil family members. Exit this room and allow the guide with the torch to follow you out.  After a moment of confusion she goes upstairs and stops at the N opening.  This gives you time to open the N door to the kitchen on the main floor. Inside there is nothing to do other than open the N door to the wine cellar for later.  Go up the stairs, and at the first landing you can open a door to the bathroom. There is nothing inside, so continue up the stairs and go past the guide to open the NE doors to the library.  The left bookshelf against the far wall can be pushed, revealing flares to your right with a fixed camera.  Go to the NE corner and shoot the panel. Enter and pick up the CHESS BOOK with rules you will use much later in the level.  Go around to the end of the passage and pull down the wall switch to lower a block in the wine cellar.  On your way out, note a corner block that must be lowered to reveal a secret.

Go downstairs, through the kitchen and into the wine cellar. Loop around right, drop down where the block lowered and pick up the CELTIC KNOT. Go back upstairs and enter the hallway being guarded by the guide. There are four doors to open here.  The first one on the left leads to a bedroom. Open the small chest for a large medipack. Return to the hallway. The door on the right leads to an empty utility room.  The second door on the left takes you to another bedroom. Each of the small chests holds flares and a small medipack.  Return to the hallway and open the last door, leading to the first of many spiral staircases you will encounter in this level.

Go around to the top and follow the passage into a dark, bare room with a pretty young thing. Approach her and she slides S to a block in the wall and through it.  Look around and note three sconces in the W wall and two in the E wall.  There's a sixth sconce in the dark NE corner which is actually a disguised wall switch. Pull it down to lower the block in the S wall.  However, beyond the lowered block there's a closed door requiring a key you don't yet have, so you'll be returning here later.

Go back down the spiral staircase and approach the guide.  A message appears on screen that directs you to the stables so you can feed a horse. Follow the guide and allow her to light the sconce that opens the front door. Go outside and follow the guide as she lights the sconce that opens the door to the stables. Go inside past the horse and pull the feed bag once S to get it out of the way. The other feed bag can also be pulled S once time, but to what purpose is not clear. Pull the feed bin out of the dark SW corner and move it in front of the horse.  The horse becomes very excited, a spirit flies past the doorway into a wall, and the guide turns around and runs upstairs to be seen no more (so don't bother to go looking for her). 

Exit the stables and run straight forward to the vines near the front door.  There's a concealed reach-in switch in the shallow depression that gives you the PROJECTOR.  Go back inside the house, whereupon the front door closes behind you, and that spirit you saw in the cut scene is firing at you from the dining room to your left. You can kill it with your pistols, whereupon something is revealed in the dining room. Go there, pull up into the alcove and pick up a BUNCH OF KEYS.

Go up the stairs, into the N hallway and up the spiral staircase.  In the room above go to the lowered block and use your keys to open the door. Descend the spiral staircase, go down the stairs and follow to another spiral staircase.  Go down and open the door at the end.  You come to an underground hub room with four receptacles on the E wall for Celtic Knots (of which you have only one at the moment).  There are three openings in the W wall. Enter the one on the right and heed the on-screen message to save your game.  Note: Picking up the Chess Book in the library apparently lowered a block that would otherwise have blocked this passage.

Follow to the chess puzzle room and refer to the Chess Book for the rules of the game. Actually, the layout you see before you bears little resemblance to a classic chess board.  Solving the puzzle, however, is quite simple.  The only piece you move is the white knight (horse). Push and pull it onto the white square on the other side of the rook. After a congratulatory cut scene, a block lowers in the N wall. Go there and take the second CELTIC KNOT from the plinth.  Say hello to the pretty young thing and return to the hub room.

It probably doesn't matter which way you go now, but I chose the far left opening in the W wall.  Go up the stairs and emerge in a dark room exposed to the night air. There's a central stepped structure and a closed gate higher up in the W wall.  Locate the hole near the SW corner and use the ladder in the S face to climb down. Step out into an underground room with a water trench.  Get in the water, and when it's over your head swim along the passage until you reach a wider area.  Take the first left, pick up the ancient gun ammo along the way and find a small medipack at the end.  Go back, loop around left and enter the next side passage.  Find the large medipack and flares, go back and swim straight W to emerge in an outdoor creek.  Pull out left, go to the E wall beside the creek and jump up to grab the crack. Shimmy left until you're in the waterfall, then pull up into the crawl space.

Crawl forward until you can stand up.  The wall switch ahead raises a timed block outside, but you don't really need to use it unless you want to. Turn around and jump up to grab the overhead opening. Pull up into the crawl space and pick up the ANCIENT GUN.  Get back down, drop into the water and pull out left as before. Head W along the trees and look for a path leading off to your left.  You'll find the LASER SIGHT partially hidden in the weeds. Look around the upper periphery of this canyon to find a number of lighted torches.  Combine the Ancient Gun and Laser Sight and carefully shoot each flame (use the crouch key to zoom in). There are five flames to shoot, and you have only a dozen rounds. When the last flame is extinguished, a block is lowered. Go near the NW corner and find a niche with flares inside (stoop to pick them up). The lowered block is there, so continue inside and pick up the SWORD. 

Return to the waterfall and swim back along the left passage to exit.  Climb up the ladder, loop around left and climb to the top of the stepped structure.  Jump W into the alcove and use the Sword to open the gate. Step inside and take the third CELTIC KNOT from the plinth. Light a flare and note the dark panel beyond the plinth. Draw your pistols, stoop down and shoot it. Crawl inside and loop around right until you can stand up.  Push the horse button (1 of 5 for a secret) and note the cut scene back in the library. Crawl back out, slide down and exit N.

Back in the hub room, enter the middle opening in the W wall and go down the stairs to a small pool. Jump in and swim to a larger area. Go right for flares and swim around the central structure to the other side. Find a door E in the central structure and open it. Swim around left and continue until you reach a hole where you can surface. Pull out W to face yet another spiral staircase. Go up until you reach an alcove with a horse button (2 of 5). Push it and go back down to the water. Swim out the opened doorway.  There's now a strong current that prevents you from swimming back E, so go through the small W opening and follow to a pool with a timed underwater lever and an opening at the NW corner. Another strong current keeps you from entering the NW opening, so save your game in front of the underwater lever.  You may wish to do a trial run to determine the route before attempting the actual timed procedure.

Pull out onto the SE ledge and jump up E to grab the slope as far left as possible. Pull up, take a rolling back flip and jump off the next slope with a sharp right curve. Back flip off the next slope and jump off the fourth slope with a sharp left curve to land on a stable slope in front of a crawl space.  Now that you're familiar with the routine, drop down into the water, pull the underwater lever, turn right and repeat the moves described above.  When you reach the crawl space, quickly crawl forward until you can stand up. Ignore the large medipack in front of you and turn left into the passage (that's where the lowered block is). Follow to a dead end, pull up left and crawl to a horse button (3 of 5). Turn around, pull up into the higher crawl space and continue to two wall switches.  Pull them both down so you can get back out of here.  You can now turn left in the passage for that large medipack.

Turn around and crawl back S to the stable slope you landed on to conclude the timed run. Look up at the ceiling hole and find a lighted torch. Shoot it with your combined Ancient Gun and Laser Sight.  Another block is lowered in the passage ahead, this one to your right as you crawl in.  Go there and push the horse button (4 of 5). Continue along the passage and around the corner to a green-tinted area with seven wall switches.  Counting from left to right, starting at the E wall, pull down all but #4 and #5.

Look N across the deep pit.  You should see seven flames suspended in midair. Each one rests on an invisible platform, so jump to each one (the flames are harmless) in succession.  Running jump with grab to #1, standing jump to #2, running jump to #3, standing jump to #4, running jump to #5 and standing jumps to #6 and #7. The NW gate opens, so jump in with grab and take the fourth CELTIC KNOT from the plinth. Go back, drop down into the water and swim SW. When you reach the central structure, locate the niche in the left side for a large medipack that was missed earlier. Swim back out and counterclockwise around the central structure. Allow the current to pull you into the pool with the timed underwater lever. Get some air, then continue swimming E through the opening toward the doorway you opened earlier. Turn right and stay near the floor, so you can swim against the current and go up the E ramp to exit.

Pull out of the water and go up the stairs to the hub room.  Place the four Celtic Knots in their receptacles to open the E door. Go down the stairs, pull down the wall switch and proceed past the lowered wall. The first door on your right leads to a spiral staircase. However, there's nothing but a closed door at the top, so pick up the small medipack and proceed to the next door.  Use your Bunch of Keys to open it.  In the first alcove on the left is a small medipack, in the next alcove are flares. Continue around the corner to a mirror room and pick up a MASK, a BLOODSTAINED STICK and a BLACK CLOAK next to a movie camera.

Open the door that leads into a passage. The door on the left brings you to a computer room with two pretty young things. The other door at the end of the passage gives you a choice of a spiral staircase to your right and ordinary stairs leading down E.  The spiral staircase leads to a crowbar door that you can open with your Sword. Nothing there but trees and a waiting pickup truck you can't reach. Go back down and take the E stairs to find yet another spiral staircase. This one takes you to a ladder, but there's a closed trap door above it.  Not to worry. Stand with your back to the ladder, jump up with grab to pull down the trap door. Climb the ladder into the stables that you've already visited.

The horse has escaped, but you can now climb onto its feed bin (you couldn't do so earlier). Do so and jump SW to grab the upper rafters.  Pull up and work your way to the NW corner to find the last horse button (5 of 5).  When you push it, a block in the library lowers (and one of the front doors opens as well). When you exit the stables, you trigger a final battle with a mounted horseman. Before engaging him, however, dash into the manor and return to the library.  Enter the alcove revealed by the lowered block for the SECRET and take the SILVER UNICORN as your reward. 

Go back outside and do battle with the mounted knight as a peppy Irish tune plays.  It took me forever to knock him off his perch, and almost as long after that to kill him (use up any remaining rounds of Ancient Gun ammo).  When the knight finally dies, he drops an artifact that looks like one of those Celtic Knots.  However, picking it up ends the level.  Enjoy the closing flyby and music as the on-screen text provides the rest of the manor's sordid tale.