FOLKLORIST DIARY - THE FORGOTTEN TREASURE (DEMO)
Level by Leoc1995
Walkthrough by Treeble
Note: The level author has posted a video walkthrough on his YouTube channel.
Lara stands in a dark room as the level begins. Retrieve the shotgun shells from the skeleton and pull out the metallic block from the second alcove in the left hand wall for an exit. Drop through the hole that was hidden and pick up a small medipack from another unlucky person. There are several points of interest, but for now follow the corridor to the left.
Run past the out-of-reach lever and drop into a hole. Don't pull the block below just yet, instead, drop to the rusty floor and loop around the stack of wooden crates to find a hidden lever. Throw the lever to open a door elsewhere, then proceed into the next corridor.
Enter the first doorway to the right. In the back, you'll see a pair of double doors closed with a writing on the wall stating we need to locate four levers to open them. There's nothing of interest in the nearby bunks, so return to the corridor and enter the second doorway, this time on the left side. There are supplies inside both dormitories here, and doors open upon approach for your convenience.
Go to the library at the end of the corridor and kill a rat. Make sure the exit door is open, but don't go out this way just yet. Instead, retrace your steps all the way back to the hole near the high lever and pull the lower block once. As your own way into the previous area is now blocked, we need to find another way to the now open library door, so follow the corridor to the opposite end now. Ignore the chandeliers and get safely to the bottom using the nearby stack of wooden crates.
Run all the way back to that block and push it into the hole through which you'd originally dropped in. And yes, this means we have to go back the long way round again. From the stack of crates, jump to the chandelier to get onto the ledge, then return to the high lever and drag a second block over the lower one. The lever opens a door just to the side.
Climb into the new passage and drop to the very bottom to locate another pushable block on the right side, push it in. Get back out and loop around the left wall to find that you can now clear the passage with the shattered glass pit, thanks to the block you've just pushed. This room houses SECRET #1, get the supplies hidden behind the wooden crates and return to that door we worked so hard to open.
This time, climb the shaft on the back side to the top and run up the steps. As soon as the floor turns into a slight incline, a boulder will roll from the top; get out of the way and then proceed the way it came from. Slide into the next room, get the magnum rounds from the skeleton and hop on the crates. Squeeze through the narrow opening in the glass to get to the lever which opens a door near the chandeliers, then squeeze out on the other side and go down the shaft.
Run past the railings for the room with the chandeliers and hop across to the open door. In the back wall, use either of the bunks near the fire extinguisher to climb through a hole in the ceiling, kill three bats and locate the first lever in the back. When you return, a Cowboy will be waiting for you bearing a gift: the MAGNUMS.
Carefully drop to the bottom of the room with the chandeliers, where you can walk through the shattered glass in the center for shotgun shells. Go up the small staircase and through that first door we opened. You come to a hub with quite a few side passages. We will explore them in a counter-clockwise direction, so head through the doorway on the right hand wall first. Past the curtain, kill three rats, get the medipack and uzi clips and then throw the second lever.
Return to the previous room and head through the next doorway, past the curtain between the two pillars. Dive into the water pit and stick to the right hand wall to locate a rusty metallic corner with an underwater lever. Stick to the right hand wall and you'll locate the open trapdoor in the next corner.
The double doors ahead of you open upon approach, granting you access to a majestic library guarded by two statues. Run to the back end and use the small ascent on the floor to get on top of the bookcases. Hop across, using the chandeliers, to get shotgun shells plus the large medipack from one of the balconies. Go the other one and save your game in front of the lever. It's timed and it opens a door on the opposite wall, requiring you to do a series of running jumps without ever losing your momentum. (Lara's a bit sluggish in TR1, so this could take a few tries and reloading immediately upon failure might mitigate the frustration.)
On the other side, get the shotgun shells near the window and go to the next, big chamber. Lara will look down, but don't get drop in just yet. Instead, use the chandelier right in front of you to reach the ledge in the back wall to get the UZIS. Now, drop into the water and climb out into that alcove to find the third lever. Almost there. We now have two timed runs before we can get back to that big library.
To return, pull the underwater lever and swim towards the floating wooden crates in the corner. Quickly climb, jump to the ledge in the back and quickly hop to the sliding pillar before it retracts to get to the landing right below the entrance. Pull the block across the flat floor towards the edge and climb through the gap to the floor above. Now, hop across the chandeliers to a second alcove where a lever is. This opens a window near the shotgun shells you picked up earlier, so save your game and master the jumps over the chandeliers to get there in time. Try to land on the bookcase to the right to prevent health loss!
As you retrace your steps to the entrance, one of the centaur statues will come to life. Drop into the water pit and swim back to the previous area. One last passage in that hub remains (well, there's another one, but it requires a key we don't have yet). As you run to the end of this new corridor, the camera angle changes to highlight the shattered glass traps below.
What you need to do is use the opposing slopes to keep bouncing back and forth as you steer towards the flat spot in the back. This raises a trapdoor near the entrance, so reverse the strategy to land on it. Don't worry, it's not timed. From the crates, jump into the breach on the wall and carefully clear the three swinging axes. Walk through the shattered glass towards the magnum rounds and make a mental note of the writing on the wall: II, IV, VII, X.
Upstairs, get the shotgun shells and approach the lever near the windows. The sunken area just outside gives you a glimpse of numbered underwater levers—you must pull only the ones indicated by the hint on the wall. To get there, activate the nearby switch and race the timed trapdoor in the far right corner. Your oxygen supply should last just enough to activate all four levers and get out, so save your game as you fall into the water.
The levers are numbered from the right to the left, with odd numbers at the top and even ones at the bottom. Levers II and IV are easily identified, but the markings for levers VII and X are rotten (but at any rate, you want the second to last on the top row and the last one on the bottom row, counting from the right). Quickly turn around from the X lever and swim through the open trapdoor near the windows. Get out of water and you'll have found the fourth and final lever.
Time to return to those double doors. Drop through the hole and find another one on the floor just behind the switch by the windows. From the crates, jump to the raised trapdoor and into the entrance corridor, then run past the locked door and through the upper corridor to return to the room with chandeliers. Go through the smaller library and enter the far doorway to find the open doors and get the GOLD KEY.
As soon as you lay your hands on it, the Bald Man strikes—kill him and take his SHOTGUN. Inside the room where you got the key, locate the pushable block in the back right corner and pull it out once, that way you can use it as a stepping stone to get on the stack of wooden crates near the door to get SECRET #2: magnum rounds. Retrace your steps into the door in the chandelier room to open that locked door with the newly acquired key.
Inside, the camera angle will change to show you can climb out through a hole in the ceiling. Kill the bats in the fancy restaurant room, get some supplies on the stage, and throw the lever near the crates to open a trapdoor in the room below. Drop through it for a long fall. It's a safe one, however keep an eye on your health bar as another Cowboy will be taking pot shots at you. Quickly get out of the water, healing as necessary, and kill him to take away his MAGNUMS.
Run between the curtains and to the right, climbing onto the single crate in the corner. The lever opens the exit door, but, as you'd expect, it's timed. Quickly hop over the crates to get there in time. In the next area, with a huge pit of shattered glass in the center, the first thing that'll catch Lara's eye is a Mona Lisa painting. Ignore it, for now, and throw the lever on the opposite wall.
Enter the storage room, walking through the glass traps, and climb through the hole above the crates to find another lever. This moves a sliding pillar in the room with the painting, but don't worry as this one is not timed. Get back there and use said pillar to reach the higher walkway and get to the opposite side using the chandeliers. Into the next room, with several wooden crates, mind the two centaurs!
Get the large medipack from the stack opposite the entrance and head to the left hand corner to find a lever atop the highest stack, near a gap in the wall. Throw the lever then climb into said gap to find the open door. Kill two rats inside and throw another lever to open two doors on the previous walkways, one of which is a shortcut and is just to your right. Hop into the other one and a bird's eye view will give you a hint of where to go: to the top.
On the far right corner is a stack of crates you can climb on, from there take a running jump towards the hanging crate in the center. Turn around and locate another pair of numbered levers just behind you. These will raise trapdoors for a brief amount of time, so throw them in order and use the hanging crate to reach a small side alcove, then shimmy all the way to the left, past both sets of trapdoors, before they collapse. At the end, climb up and use another hanging crate to reach the next lever.
This one raises a trapdoor which you can use to reach the top of the room. Keep jumping across the alcoves around the perimeter to get above the numbered levers. From there, do an angled running jump to the final alcove, where the lever that opens the double doors at the bottom is. Safely drop down and cross the doors, where three rats made a nest around a GOLD KEY.
An inscription on the wall says: Mona Lisa knows and hides the way! I = North, II = South, III = West, IV = East. Return through the double doors and loop around the right to locate the room with the Mona Lisa painting: a lock has appeared on it, so use your key to open the trapdoor in the shattered glass pit and carefully jump into it.
Swim into a small looping room with moving walls. When you get to the II marking on the floor, turn around and swim backwards towards the I wall to find a hidden passage behind it. Use the air pocket to fill your lungs and carefully swim past the three swinging axes. Immediately after the third one, swim into the left passage to climb out into a small chamber where you'll find SECRET #3: a small medipack and uzi clips, as well as another look at Mona Lisa's smirk.
Get back underwater and swim into the passage past the blades. You can climb out in the next air pocket for some shotgun shells. Back underwater, the markings on the floor provide you guidance for the upcoming maze: III, I, III, III, II. Every time you get to a junction with a metal plate on the floor, you need to refer to the markings and follow the proper direction indicated by the hints we were given earlier on. That Compass in your inventory finally has an use!
The way through is West, North, West, West, South. So, from the first plate, swim left and left again, then take the first right and straight past the first pair of side passages, taking a right on the second junction. Follow that passage to end up inside an underwater cave.
Get out of the water on the other end to find yourself at the entrance to a secluded temple. Use the pillar on the left side to grab the crack just above the doors and shimmy to the right, then climb up to find a lever. The doors open, and the demonstration ends as you run inside...