NECRO'S DOMAIN 5: HIDDEN OASIS

Level by Lee Dunning

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth

Begin in a palm tree-lined valley amidst crackling thunder. A scorpion crawls forward to greet you, so draw your pistols and dispose of it. A quick look around gives you the impression that some giant toddler has been turned loose with a mold, and has been using it to dot the landscape with dirt mounds that are squared off at the top. Keep your pistols out as you make your way west, as you'll soon encounter a second scorpion. As you continue you'll come across a pair of ninjas, then a wild boar when you reach the bend to the north.

Take a standing jump to the top of the slope and continue north, hopping here and there to avoid the squared-off dirt mounds (and the numerous illegal slopes in which you can get trapped). On one of the mounds along the way you'll find some flares. When you reach the end of the line, you'll be facing a large building requiring two gems for entry, a passage leading to a doorway on your right, and a large pool on your left.

Dive into the pool and swim across to the NW corner. Swim down into the hole and through the narrow passage for SECRET #1. There are the UZIS, but unfortunately the necessary animation for picking them up hasn't been activated, so you'll just have to leave them there. Swim out of the hole and head south, following the wall. You'll eventually attract the attention of three crocodiles, so try to avoid them while you turn right and make your way to the NW corner to find a HORSEMAN'S GEM on the sandy floor. Turn left and head to the south wall to find some Grenade Gun Ammo in the corner. Surface for air and swim back to the spot where you first jumped into the water while the crocs give chase. By the time you pull out onto dry land the crocs may have lost interest in you, so if you're determined to kill everything in sight you'll have to jump back into the water and lure them over near the edge.

When you're through, run east past the large building on your left and go through the wide passage into a little courtyard. Turn left into the side room with the eerie blue light and go up the ramp. There are two buttons in the wall, both of which appear to be spike trapped. However, the one on the right has been deactivated, so push it to open the door in the east wall and release a demigod. When camera control is restored, draw your pistols quickly and kill it. Pick up the second HORSEMAN'S GEM it leaves behind and exit this area. Return to the large building near the pool and insert the two gems in the receptacles on either side of the large double doors to open them.

Go down the hall to encounter the first of four pairs of giant cigar cutters. Getting past them is easy. Walk up to either one, turn to one side and take a side flip through the hoop as the blades open. Repeat three four times until you reach a dark room with a mirror in the south wall and a doorway in the north wall.
In the north room is a set of scales with tell-tale spike holes covering the floor. Go close to the mirror and light a flare to see that there's a hole in the ceiling near the east wall. Go to that spot, facing west one block away from the wall, jump up and grab the ladder just beyond that hole in the ceiling. Climb to the top and pull up into a tall passage. Run forward into the next room and awaken two skeletons.

Since you have no firepower to deal with the skeletons, pick up the SMALL WATERSKIN and the LARGE WATERSKIN from the pedestals near the west wall, and note for academic purposes only the Roman numeral patterns in three of the walls: I and II, II and IV, and III and I. Leave this room and climb down the ladder to escape the skeletons, then exit this building by side flipping past the giant cigar cutters. Jump into the water and climb up onto the flat surface of the nearest mound in the NE corner. Fill up both waterskins and return to the room with the scales past the giant cigar cutters. Empty either of the waterskins into the lower basin on the left containing the feather, and the door to your right will open. (I'm sure that this easy "fix" was not intended by the builder, as it allows you to bypass completely the painstaking work of getting the right amount of water in the waterskins. But what the heck, the purpose of a walkthrough is to alert the gamer to the most efficient available means of proceeding through a level, so use this information without any feelings of guilt.)

As soon as you empty the waterskin, take a side flip to the right, which somehow avoids activating the cut scene that ends with Lara being skewered by spikes. Go through the open door into the next room. There's another set of scales to your right, together with nine boulders neatly arranged along the ceiling and poised to drop down on you. Take the same short cut as before, emptying your remaining waterskin into the left basin containing the feather. Repeat the immediate side flip to the right, which again somehow prevents the triggering of the boulder trap. Turn around, wait for the door ahead to open, and run through the doorway into the next room.

Jump into the waist-deep water and fill one of your waterskins. Wade across to the other side and pull up onto the ledge with the third set of scales. Empty your waterskin as before in the left basin containing the feather, and the door in the west wall opens. Walk forward to the north wall and turn around, then angle Lara slightly to the right so she's facing the open doorway. Take a running jump toward the opening. The instant you cross the plane of the water you become trapped in a cut scene that shows a pair of flames descending slowly down a ramp to set the "water" on fire. If you heard a splash when you took the jump, that means you landed in the pool and you're dead meat, so you'll have to reload (as soon as camera control is restored and you've finished the formal process of dying, which takes 15 or 20 seconds where you're just forced to wait) and try again. If you didn't hear a splash, however, that means you landed safely within the doorway and can proceed.

Enter a relatively large planetarium with four closed metal face doors and one set of closed double doors. Your obvious task is to place the moveable planet pieces on the appropriate floor disks. However, there's only one piece in sight, and that one is against the east wall. It appears to be a model of Earth, so logically you'd think it goes on the disc in the third ring from the center. Push and pull it there, and voila, a small ghostly orb appears over the piece to signify that you did it just right. At the same time the left face door in the north wall opens, so go inside and into another room with a central pool, a closed face door and a spiked slope.

It's easiest to get past the first bay of spikes if you slide down as soon as they pop up. The second bay near the bottom of the slope is more of a problem, because you also have to negotiate a jump either to the right or the left to land on a safe ledge to avoid being burned up at the bottom. Once you get there, face the near rope and take a standing jump and grab to it. Climb to the ceiling to make Lara stop swinging, then slide to the bottom of the rope and rotate so that Lara is squarely facing the far rope. Swing forward and jump off to grab the far rope. Swing forward again and jump off to land on the west ledge. Run forward through the opening into the next room.

Greet the tin man with a hail of pistol bullets. When he finally drops, pick up the HORSEMAN'S GEM he leaves behind. Use it in the receptacle in the north wall to open the face door in the previous room. The only problem is that a fire wraith is released at the same time, so quickly use the rope to cross the room (over to the right ledge, and you needn't bother with the second rope) and run through the open doorway in the south wall. Follow the passage, jumping rather than climbing the blocks (taking one step back after each jump), until you reach the room with the central pool. Jump into the water to douse the wraith, then pull out and return to the planetarium through the SE opening. To your left is another planet piece in the alcove, so pull and push it with you into the larger room. (It looks just like the piece you moved earlier, so placing the first one in the third circle must have been a lucky guess.)

After a little trial and error, it turns out that the correct placement of this piece is on the disc in the first circle. The right door in the north wall is now open, so go inside the dark passage and light a flare. You need to deal with a gauntlet of swinging chains, and the first order of business is to locate the crawl space in the NW corner as you enter. Crawl inside for SECRET #2 and pick up the small medi-pack and the revolver ammo. Crawl back out and negotiate the chains until you reach a passage in the NE corner. Follow the passage to an empty room with a closed face door, a ladder and a pair of ceiling corkscrews (one outside the doorway, one inside) that start descending the moment you walk in. Push the button on the wall immediately to your left, then reverse roll and run diagonally across the room to push another button in the SE corner. Side flip to the right, climb the ladder quickly and back flip into the room above. Turn to your right and push the third button in the wall, which opens the face door below. Run into the hole and fall back down to the lower room, bypassing the ladder at the cost of a little health, and rush through the open doorway just ahead of the relentless corkscrews.

No rest for the weary, however. A tin man greets you inside, so use those pistols to dispatch him. Pick up the HORSEMAN'S GEM he drops, then light a flare and use the gem in the receptacle in the middle of the south wall. Unfortunately, no escape hatch opens magically in this room, so you're just going to have to get by those corkscrews and chains as best you can, gulping down medi-packs as necessary to stay alive. In the passage beyond the chains, look to your left for another planet piece. Pull and push it into the planetarium and deposit it on the very center disc. The left door in the east wall is now open, so go there and enter a dark ramped tunnel. It's a perfect place for a boulder trap, and that's exactly what it is. What's more, there are two boulders coming from different directions, with a deep pit in the middle. There are probably several ways to beat this, but here's how I did it: Run down the ramp, and as soon as you hear the boulder being triggered behind you, turn into the wall to your right and hit the crouch key. If your timing is correct the boulder will bounce right over you and drop into the pit.

Once you've done this successfully, walk down to the edge of the pit and take a running jump and grab to the other side. Pull up and run up the other side of the ramp. Turn right at the top and enter a lava room lined with flat square stepping stones. The door in the west wall is already open, so all you have to do is take a series of standing and running jumps to get over there, stopping along the way for a small medi-pack, some revolver ammo and some grenade gun ammo (this last stash being on a hard-to-see stepping stone against the south wall, two blocks from the SW corner). Enter the west opening, walk to the edge and jump up to grab the ceiling. Monkey swing to your left and follow the passage over the lava and past five flame blowers to drop down onto a safe tile. Draw your pistols and save your game here, as you're likely to encounter a game-stopping bug if things don't go right in the next room.

Run into the room with pistols blazing and draw the tin man's attention before he has a chance to reach the horse in the middle of the room. If you're unsuccessful, the tin man will simply disappear, you'll be unable to pick up an essential gem, and the game for you is over at this point. Furthermore, the flare bug picks a most inopportune time to kick in, so you will be forgiven if you decide to use a savegame editor for additional flares at this point. But assuming you're able to kill the tin man, pick up the HORSEMAN'S GEM he drops and use it in the receptacle in the middle of the west wall. Now you have to turn around and make your way back past the flame blowers and through the lava room until you reach the boulder ramp. And guess what? The boulder trap has been reloaded, so cross to the other side in the same way you got over here.

Turn left at the top of the far ramp and locate the new planet piece. Pull and push it into the planetarium and place it on the disc in the second circle. The only door in the south wall is now open, so go there and light a flare. You'll soon come to a place in the passage that's guarded by spikes. There are safe tiles in between, so simply time a run past the spikes after they retract, and continue in this manner until you reach a water hole. Jump in and enjoy the infamous underwater maze. Here's the quick and easy solution: Turn right at the first intersection and keep to your right as you wind through the passage, until you reach an alcove with an overhead switch to pull. Return to the starting point (keeping to the left this time, of course) for some air. Turn left at the first intersection and follow the passage until you reach a long stretch headed west. Swim into the first alcove on your left and pull the second overhead switch. Flip turn, exit the alcove and turn left, and swim to the end of the west passage where you'll find the third overhead switch to pull. Return to the starting point once again for air.

Go back as if you were going to pull the second/third switches again (turning left at the first intersection). When you reach the long west passage, take the second right (the last one before you'd reach the third switch), dogleg to your left and swim north, turn to your right at the bend and pull the fourth and final switch at the end of the passage. Go back for air one last time, then set off as if you were going to pull the first switch again (turning right at the first intersection). This time, however, swim past the alcove with the first switch, turn left at the bend and swim through the opening to your right where a block has lowered. Surface for air and pull out into an extremely dark room. A tin man is riding around on an air horse (at least I couldn't see the horse). Shoot at him until he "dismounts" and starts coming after you, and continue firing until he falls. Pick up the HORSEMAN'S GEM and use it in the wall receptacle.

Jump back into the water and return to the original starting point for the underwater maze. Pull out of the water hole and time your runs past the spike traps. Look to your left after you pass the last spike trap, and locate the planet piece. Pull and push it into the planetarium as you did the others (but going around a bend to your left this time), and place it on the nearby disk in the fourth circle. Blue flames begin to shoot from the planet pieces as a lengthy cut scene takes you throughout the room and ends with the double doors opening in the west wall.

Go on through the opening. Before running up the ramp, go along the aisles on either side and make a hairpin turn at each end to locate the companion buttons. Push them both, then run up the ramp. The double doors at the top are closed, so hop onto the south balcony and locate the water hole near the east end. (The north balcony takes you to a passage near the east end with a closed door on the other side.) Jump into the water and swim down the shaft. Level out at the bottom and follow the passage. Keep to the right and pull down the overhead switch at the end of the passage. Flip turn and turn right at the intersection. Keep to your right again and pause for the large medi-pack. Flip turn and keep to your right yet again, and pull down the second overhead switch that you shortly come to. Flip turn and keep to your right once again as you return to the shaft. Swim up and surface, pull out and look to your left. The double doors at the top of the ramp are now open, so enter the new west room.

Ahead is a central shaft, with a pair of collapsible tiles on either side. It makes no difference which pair you use to get across, as you'll use the other pair to get back. Stand on the edge of the ledge, facing the tile of your choice. (The alcoves in the NE and SE corners contain nothing but fire traps.) Take a standing jump and grab. Pull up onto the first tile and immediately take a standing jump and grab to the second one. Pull up and take a running jump and grab to the far ledge. Pull up and climb up onto the left side of the block in the middle of the west wall. As soon as you do so the flame blower ahead will be activated, so quickly up and grab the ceiling. Monkey swing to the left to avoid the flames. (The passage to the right leads to a wall that's blocked at the moment.)

You're used to this by now, so time your passes by the flame blowers along the way until you reach the end of the passage. Drop to the floor and climb up onto the block ahead. Pick up the LASER SIGHT and the REVOLVER, and combine them. There are four lion's heads on the walls, two on either side. Shoot the red gems in their mouths, one by one, then use the monkey bars to swing past the flame blowers once again. When you reach the alcove to your right, marking the place where you entered, continue swinging forward to follow the passage you bypassed earlier. When you reach the end, drop down into the alcove accessed by the block you lowered and turn to your right for SECRET #3. Pick up the CROSSBOW, some revolver ammo and a small medi-pack. Use the monkey bars to return to the beginning alcove, this time on your left. Drop down onto the block and quickly hop to the safety of the ledge while the flames are still down.

Go stand in front of the remaining pair of collapsible tiles. Take a running jump and grab to the near one, pull up and take a standing jump and grab to the second one. Pull up and take a running jump to the far ledge. Return to the ramp and hop up onto the north balcony. Enter the NE passage and you'll find that the face door at the end is now open. Enter the next room, but don't approach the keys on the pedestal in the center or you'll catch fire. Go around to the right or left and enter the doorway in the west wall. Follow the long passage and hop down the block steps at the end.

Go to the opening in the far wall and look to the SW. Use your combined revolver and laser sight to shoot the large vase, then go over to the opening in the south wall and do the same thing. Climb back up the block steps and run through the passage. The pedestal in the center of the precious room is now safe, so pick up the GATE KEY and return through the long west passage. Use the key to open the gate in the west wall down below, then enter and turn left for a look at the builder's billboard thanking you for playing his level.

Jump into the pool and pull up through a hole in the SW corner. Pull out, light a flare, toss it (because of the flare bug) and step forward to pick up the EYE OF HORUS. The receptacle for it is nearby in the south wall. Insert the Eye of Horus to open the large iris door. Van Croy runs up behind Lara in a cut scene, and the two of them have a rather meaningless conversation (with Lara speaking in the voice of an 8-year-old), after which the level ends.