THE TOMB OF THE CAT

Level by Raider of Tombs

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth

NOTE: Be sure to use the revised WADs, as otherwise some of Lara's animations won't work properly here. Also, there are some confusing aspects to this level that are pointed out in the walkthrough that follows. Val was instrumental in figuring out a number of the gameplay issues, but there's apparently an undiscovered secret that provides the gamer either with the crossbow or the grenade gun. If anyone knows the location of such a secret, I would be most grateful to have this information so I can amend the walkthrough.

Lara begins by facing a dark, spooky cavernous area. There's a crawl space behind you, but resist the temptation to explore there or you'll get stuck inside with nowhere to go. Instead, step forward and slide down a short slope. You can hop up to an opening in the south part of the cavern wall and pick up some shotgun ammo at the threshold, and some more shotgun ammo inside a small cave where you find some ancient ruins, but I couldn't find anything else to do in there. Return to the cavern floor, head to the larger opening in the west wall, and slide down a fairly long slope toward an octagonal opening below. When you reach the bottom you'll trigger a flyby through the area ahead that concludes with a shot of a high-up jump switch on the snout of a giant sphinx. Step forward and pull up onto a sand-colored ramp (which is actually one of the forepaws of the sphinx) for a scenic overview of the area you saw in the flyby.

Don't try to jump to the south ledge to your left. It's too far away, and all you'll do is trigger a horizontal spike trap--the claws of the sphinx, if you will--below you. (There's another set of claws in the corresponding spot in the other sand-colored ramp across the way.) There's a much easier way to reach that ledge, but that's for later, so just be patient. You'll also see an opening on the north wall to your right, which you CAN reach, so go over there. Step off the north end of the sandy-colored ramp, light a flare and continue walking forward until you reach the tip of what looks like a giant arrowhead. Angle Lara slightly to the right and you'll see a V-shaped nook in the ledge slightly above you. Take a running jump from there, aiming at the vertex of the V, and you should land safely on the ledge without sliding down.

Turn back to the left and you'll see a jump switch directly below the opening in front of you. Activate it (you'll probably have to pull into the passage and hop back with a grab), then pull back into the passage and wind your way through it until you reach an opening to your right. Make that right turn, and you'll hear the sound of a door opening just above you. Pull up into the area above and approach the chain. Pull it once for a cut scene featuring an aroused demigod in another area, and note the nearby stand for a music scroll before you leave this area. Walk out through the opening you created earlier, onto the giant head of the sphinx, and go to the very south end. Making sure you're standing directly at the center of the sphinx's head, turn around, hop back to slide down the head and grab the jump switch you saw in the opening flyby.

As you hit the floor, you'll note that the central flame ahead of you has been extinguished, but there's nothing you can do in there at this point. So reverse roll and head south under the arches to the next area, as the demigod's gutteral utterings start getting louder. Continue until you come to ramps to your right and left, either of which you can use to reach the ledges of the second level. If you use the one to your right, you'll get to meet the demigod sooner. The first thing you'll notice as you start running along the upper ledges is a bunch of closed doors. Draw your pistols and deal with the demigod roaming about on the west ledge, as you have a number of columns behind which to take refuge as you methodically fill him with lead. Unfortunately, he doesn't drop anything for you to pick up when he finally succumbs.

Go to the NE portion of the ledge and you'll find a doorway in the east wall that's open. Go inside and locate the hole in the ceiling. Pull up into a cozy little area and pick up the MUSIC SCROLL. You already know where that goes, so unless you want to pause for a breath of fresh air by using the ladder in the south wall to climb outside, return to the opening in the north wall (to the right of the sphinx head) in the same manner you did earlier. Place the music scroll in the stand near the chain you pulled earlier.

NOTE: The author apparently didn't intend for the scroll to be used this early, as the final room in the level, discussed below, leads to a crawl space where Lara drops down to the head of the sphinx near the scroll receptacle. Placing the scroll gives you access to the exit area, which explains a number of comments in the reviews that the level can be completed by bypassing a number of the areas discussed in this walkthrough. The author must have forgotten that the gamer can simply retrace his earlier steps after obtaining the scroll and place it immediately. So decide for yourself if you want to place it now or later.

Walk out onto the head of the sphinx and turn to your right. Note the ledge below. If you want to take a short cut getting there (you could simply drop back down through the hole and follow the earlier passage to its end), you can turn around and slide down the sphinx's head toward it. Grab the edge, pull up and take a rolling back flip to grab the ledge. Upon replaying this level I noticed a rope dangling from the ceiling near this ledge. However, its function is uncertain, as it takes you nowhere that can't be accessed by other means. Safety drop to the floor from here and go over near the NW corner. You'll find an open doorway leading to SECRET #1.

Light a flare and run along the walkway inside. You'll find the CROWBAR on the north side of the ledge, so pick it up and drop down to the room below. If you care to brave a horde of beetles, you can climb quickly onto the ornate sloped block and pick up a small medi-pack. Run up the ramp and return to the larger area outside.

Go back to the ramps where you did battle with the demigod. Go past them to the dark and damp south wall and turn to your left. You'll see an opening, so go inside and follow the passage through a room with giant columns and continue until you reach a repository of coffins. Do what you came here for, raid those tombs, starting with the nearest ones (hitting action from the far, or south side of each one). You'll find that they're all empty, so what was the point of that exercise? Also, there's a sleeping skeleton in the depression against the south wall, and you'll awaken it when you get closer to that end of the room. If you can find a weapon with explosive ammo, remember that blowing up this skeleton will reveal a HORSEMAN'S GEM that it's carrying. For now, run up the ramp in the SW corner to elude the skeleton, and you'll find yourself at an opening overlooking the room with all those giant columns. (The skeleton, in the meantime, will likely get itself stuck in a nearby wall from sheer boredom, where you'll have no trouble finding it when and if you should obtain the firepower necessary for blowing it up and claiming the gem.)

Jump to the top of the nearest column to your right or left, then hop over to the column near the NW corner of the room. Use the crawl space in the wall to gain access to a small room with a jump switch on the wall. Activate it, then crawl back outside and safety drop to the floor. Exit this room and return to the larger area outside with the two ramps. Go up the west ramp and you'll find that the doorway near the middle of the west wall is now open. Go inside to the sound of ominous music. As you progress further inside you'll see that a flame has been ignited on the nearest tile that's balanced on an obelisk, and a cut scene shows a skeleton being awakened on the other side of the room.

When you step on the first tile, the next one ignites, and so on. Take standing jumps to the tiles, avoiding the flames (which aren't centered on the tiles and won't set you ablaze anyway, but they do interfere with your ability to maneuver) and being careful not to slip and fall to the floor (which will cause you to burn to a crisp). When you get near the end, the skeleton will jump over to join you, and if you don't hurry it will push you off the tile you're on and you'll die.

When you reach the south ledge, you'll see the closed face door in the wall. There's a jump switch to open it on the far side of the square column near the SW corner. But right behind it is another closed face door; this one is opened by activating another jump switch on the far side of the square column near the SE corner. Go inside the new room. Activate it and go back outside. If you're lucky, the skeleton will have jumped down to the floor (which doesn't bother it, unfortunately), so you should be able to hop back to the other side at your leisure, using the flaming tiles.

Exit this room and return to the ledge. You'll see that the left door across the way on the east side is now open, so go over there and enter. You get a fixed camera angle in this next room, so take a running jump toward what looks like a suspended platform. However, you soon discover that it's farther away than it looks, and there's a previously undetected bridge that you land on as a brief flyby rolls. However, there's no such bridge linking the next platform, so jump over to it and activate the jump switch to your left. Don't gamble by dropping from the ledge in an effort to explore the dark area beneath the platforms, or you'll burn and die.

Go back outside to the east ledge, turn left and take a running jump over the gap. Turn left into the open doorway and follow the passage until it becomes obvious you're in a maze. What's more, there's a skeleton patrolling the area that has the dismaying ability to act as a burner tile and kill you with its mere touch. (At least, that happened to me on one occasion, but not on others.) You need to find your way by trial and error to the extreme SE corner of the maze room. There you'll find a hole in the ceiling mesh, where you can pull up into a large area with interspersed ledges (corresponding to the maze below) where two more skeletons await. Hop all the way over to the opposite NW corner of this area and locate the SHOTGUN. Arm yourself with it, wait for the skeletons to approach and blast them into the trench when they leap across the gap toward you. Although it's only a short drop, they simply vanish when you do that.

With the skeletons out of your hair, hop your way over to the NW corner and locate the jump switch in the west wall. Activate it and return to the hole in the mesh in the SE corner. Drop down and try to elude the skeleton and two of its buddies (or are they the same ones you drove away earlier?) as you make your way to the west wall of the maze room and the exit door. When you get outside onto the ledge, jump over the gap, draw your shotgun and blast the skeletons over the edge when they attempt to follow.

The door on the right in the west wall is now open, so go over there and enter. Climb up the blocks to your left and enter a new room with many red floor tiles. As you might imagine, a number of these are deadly burner tiles which you need to avoid as you make your way to the other side. Since there appear to be no clues indicating which are the safe and which are the deadly tiles, and since you probably don't have the time or inclination to map out the route by trial and error, here's the safe path for you to take:

The first tile ahead is safe, so step off the ramp onto it. Turn right and walk on the next two tiles; turn left (W) and walk on the next tile; turn right (N) and walk on the next two tiles until you reach the north wall; turn left (W) and walk on the next two tiles; turn left (S) and walk (or run, if you wish) all the way over to the south wall; turn right (W) and walk on the next two tiles; turn right (N) and walk on the next tile; turn left (W) and walk on the next tile; turn right (N) and walk on the next tile; turn left (W) and walk on the next tile; turn right (N) and walk on the next three tiles; turn right (E) and walk on the next tile; turn left (N) and walk on the next two tiles until you reach the north wall; turn left (W) and walk to the next tile near the base of the slope. Now turn to face the north wall, jump up and grab the climbable surface. Climb up the short distance to the gap, but don't pull up. Release momentarily so Lara is dangling, and before she can get her feet set again, hit the action key and the crouch key and the up arrow all at the same time so she'll pull into the crawl space. Turn left and crawl all the way to the other end, then lower Lara down and release onto a safe ledge. Locate the jump switch in the west wall and activate it.

Turn to your left, go up the ramp and follow the ledge all the way back to the beginning point so you won't have to navigate the burner tile maze again. Return to the west ledge outside and turn right. Go all the way to the south wall, where the door there is now open. As you go through the doorway a multitude of spikes are triggered in the room below. There are three chains on the near ledge inside. When you pull them you get a fixed camera angle from across the room as certain blocks rise from the floor while others drop. What you need to do is pull the two end chains once each, while leaving the middle chain alone. This leaves four blocks raised in a zig zag path to the other side. Although the tips of the spikes protrude through the blocks, they won't hurt you. Start by taking a running (not a standing) jump to the first block. Continue by taking running jumps to the next three blocks in succession, then to the far ledge, starting your jumps from the back corner or edge of the block you're on. Pick up the small medi-pack, then turn around and activate the jump switch above you. Return to the other side the same way you came, and exit this room.

Go outside and exit via the west ramp. When you reach floor level, light a flare and continue running along the west wall. Turn left into the open doorway and you'll see a giant cage surrounding a lava pool, with two skeletons walking around inside. There are ramps to your right and left, leading to ledges that encircle the room. There's a chain on each of the two ledges, and pulling them causes a bomb to be deposited on each end of the lava pool. When one of the skeletons happens to walk on one of the bombs, both skeletons are blown away. There's a ladder in the middle of the west wall. If you climb up to the top and pull up, turn around and jump to the block on the upper ledge, you'll find a gem receptacle on the other side of the block. If you wish to use a savegame editor at this point to give yourself a weapon with explosive ammo (since to this point there hasn't been one made available to you), you can do so and go hunt down that skeleton that's carrying the gem you need.

If that's what you decide to do, placing the gem will open the final closed door up in the NW corner of the second level above you. Go there, but before leaving this room (and one can't help but have the feeling that there's more to do in here), cross over and pick up the revolver ammo on the east end of the upper ledge.

Exit this disappointingly unproductive room and go up one of the ramps to the upper ledges to the open doorway in the NW corner. Enter and walk to the end of the central pathway. When you reach the trigger block, the topography of the room changes to block your escape. Turn around and hop over to the gray rocks in the SE corner. Step to the highest portion and turn to face N. Light a flare and jump up to grab the climbable surface overhead. Climb up and pull into the crawl space. When Lara can stand, follow the long passage along its many twists and turns until you reach an opening that you use to drop down onto the head of the sphinx. Place the music scroll in the nearby receptacle if you didn't do so earlier, then drop down to the floor and run up the red-tiled path and ramp into the mouth of the sphinx. When you slide down into the next room, you'll trigger some action music and the gutteral sounds of an aroused demigod as you get a fixed camera angle. There's some nearby shotgun ammo to your right and left behind the pillars, which you'll need, so pick it up before doing battle with the demigod. The second he falls his buddy is revived to take his place, so deal with him as well, then pick up the rest of the shotgun ammo as well as the HORSEMAN'S GEM and the PHAROS KNOT dropped by the demigods. There are receptacles in the north wall for these artifacts, but don't place them just yet.

First, go back to the entrance and stand in front of the west face of the SW pillar. Jump up to grab its climbable surface, climb up two more rungs and back flip into the opening high up in the west wall. Turn around and use the crawl space for a large medi-pack, then crawl back out and safety drop to the floor. Now go to the north wall and place your artifacts, whereupon the doors to your right will open at the same time a quartet of skeletons is summoned. Turn right and run into the passage as the skeletons give chase. In the next room slide down the slope and jump off to grab the ledge ahead. Pull up and activate the jump switch, then hang around awhile and look bored until the skeletons finally give up and retreat into the passage.

If you look to your left you'll see another jump switch on the west wall, but it's located in an awkward spot over the slope. Once the coast is clear, jump back across the gap, quickly (because a couple of the skeletons are lurking just around the corner) line Lara up with the jump switch at a slight angle, and jump to it to activate it. When Lara drops to the slope and starts sliding, jump off to land safely on the south ledge (but use the action key, just in case you fall short and have to grab the edge). Take another jump across the gap and run past the startled skeletons into the previous room and left through the mouth of the sphinx. For some reason the skeletons won't follow you down the ramp outside, so catch your breath for a few seconds until they start getting confused and wander off again.

When you're ready to make another run for it, dash back through the mouth of the sphinx and go all the way to the north wall. Turn left and go into the open NW doorway and follow the passage. When you reach the bottom of a slight incline a cut scene will take over and you'll find yourself transported into a surrealistic black room with green grids. Run forward and around the false wall and enter a library through the north opening as Lara's theme music plays. Turn right into a checker-tiled walkway to end the level.