THE MILLIONAIRE WALTZ

Level by Drobridski

Walkthrough by Treeble

In traditional Drobridski fashion, just as the level begins you are stripped of 80% of your health, and on top of that, medipacks and extra firepower are scarce. This is done to "enforce" you to use a stealthy approach. If that health bar makes you uneasy, just as the level starts, hold down the Roll and Action keys, then safely drop down, that way you'll only lose about 10%. Either way, be cautious.

As you step outside the chimney, you stumble upon a message the owner left to the janitor. Apparently the alarm systems have been installed but the wiring needs to be hidden. Run through the doorway, gather the shotgun shells behind the plant to the right and carefully walk on the tapet on the ground. Notice the different texture immediately ahead of you? Those are alarm wires. We'll be seeing them quite a few times throughout the level, so avoid them like the plague as each will trigger two armed men and a dog (ie trouble).

Jump over the alarm and head downstairs. In the main hall, approach the sleeping dog and dispatch it before it gets a chance. A NOTE on the floor has a letter grid needed to decrypt an upcoming puzzle. Run into the Cafeteria and squeeze yourself between the wooden mangers and the wall to locate a KEY hidden behind the last one, then return the same way to avoid the alarm wires.

Upstairs again, use the newfound key on the door to the Boss' office. Inside, dispatch his pet dog and note the message detailing how the puzzle works with the note we'd just collected: the first number of sound taps designate the row from top to bottom, and the second one, the column from left to right. Easy enough. What matters the most for us right now, however, is the lever sneakily hidden among the file cabinets on the opposite side. Doors to Business and Wares are now open.

Head back downstairs and into the Cafeteria to find the open Wares door. Just as you enter you'll see a cog to your left, but don't be hasty as it rests on top of alarm sensors. We need to cut off the power, conveniently done with the switch high up on the wall behind the crates. Maneuver the crates around in order to drag the upper crate towards the wall and push the switch, then claim the COG.

Now head into Business, across the hall, and place the cog in the receptacle on the slope. This room has three timed shifting columns, but we need to make a path first. Pull the switch and the camera shot will show you a door opening upstairs, so quickly make your way up there. Find the wooden crate and pull it once so that it stays close to the smaller crate, clearing a path behind it. Approach the door and it will open for a second, so get back out. If you look left, towards the beginning of the level, you'll notice a crawlspace is now accessible on the wall near the door threshold. Hop over the wires and pull up into it.

If you look around, you'll notice three levers, all of which are out of reach, spread across the catwalks. Drop to the floor below and activate the switch again to move a pillar below the first switch. Quickly make your way upstairs and pull through the crawlspace again. If you've done good time, you might want to save your game before you start throwing switches.

The first switch will move another pillar around, granting you access to the second switch in the very middle of the room, which will, in turn, allow you to pull a third and final switch to open another pair of doors in the building. Once that's done, sideflip to remain on the catwalks and find another KEY by the small plant. Drop to the lower floor, gather the shotgun shells behind another plant and finally go to the newly opened Funroom door.

A dog is on the stairs, once you're in the clear go all the way down to the pool and swim through the opening in the corner of the wire mesh. Get the TAPE near the next opening and swim back to the surface.

Go upstairs and on the opposite side from the rooms we were before, use the crack on the wall to shimmy over the long alarm sensors. Inside the Janitor's room, get more shotgun shells behind the small wooden crate and then spot the small radio on the stepladder. Save your game. Place your tape and play close attention to the recording that will play on repeat a few times.

The sound taps play as following: 1-1, 3-4, 5-4, 4-4, and 4-2. Knowing that each sequence means row-column, our clue grid reveals the code ARTSI. Shimmy back over the alarms, and before going back to the Funroom, notice the small hallway leading to the LOVEroom. Mind those capitals!

Now, at the very bottom of the pool in the Funroom you have the entire alphabet, and each letter is assigned to its own underwater lever. You want to spell out ARTSI, but the good news is that the order in which you pull the levers doesn't matter. However, pay close attention to your air supply: if you're lucky, you might be able to pull two levers before having to go all the way back for air.

Once you have all five levers activated, you're free to proceed. If you want all the secrets, however, make a few more dives to spell out LOVE as well. Head back upstairs, walk into the LOVEroom and stay between the paintings of Lara and Natla, staring one another, to claim SECRET #1 and pop a crystal into existence. Do not approach it however!

Go back to the Boss' office and you'll find that one of his paintings has retreated into the wall, revealing a locked door behind it. Use that key you've been carrying around for a while to unlock his safe and claim his SHOTGUN, plus a couple of large medipacks (finally!) and our sought-after RECIPE for Creamy Raisin Cakes! A window to the outside reveals itself, but don't hop out just yet.

A secret can still be found inside. So, go back downstairs and trigger the alarm between the Funroom and Business. You have to make smart work of the security staff; the dog goes down with a few pistol shots but the two gunned men are true bullet sponges. Once you come out as the victor, head into the Security office and claim SECRET #2, a large medipack and shotgun shells, from behind the low cupboard.

Head back to the vault inside the Boss' office and save your game while standing on the sill. If you look left, you'll see a series of crumbling tiles. Quickly hop across them and, on the last one, face the building wall and run off the edge at an angle to grab the adjacent crack before the tile collapses. Drop to the lower crack and shimmy into the opening to find SECRET #3, a message we can decrypt with the same key the author had given us in Zeitgeist {spoiler alert: I HAVE SEEN RELIGION BUT THE LIGHT HAS LEFT ME BLIND}.

We're good to make our escape. Drop down to the yard outside and as you approach the locked gate, the final boss will make her angelical presence known. She, too, is quite resistant, but don't give up. Once she goes down, wait a few seconds for round two and then finish her off for good. Push the crate nearby to throw both switches surrounding the gates and go out to bring Thelia's adventure to an end.