VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED

Level by Terry Barrett (Dhama)

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth

I was delighted to learn in the readme file that the author used the quaint little Welsh village named Llangollen as his inspiration for this work. I passed through that village less than a year ago during my two-week tour of England, Scotland and Wales. Here's the pertinent excerpt from my journal:

We bid a reluctant farewell to Portmeirion and drove east for a brief morning visit to Llangollen. It's pronounced pretty much the way it's spelled, only the locals add a sound at the "lls" like they're clearing their throats. Jack Hicks and I were walking down the street practicing, and a nice lady who was carrying groceries heard us and smiled knowingly. We asked her to say it, and she did so with a flourish as she sprayed our faces. It was just perfect; I wish I'd had a tape recorder with me.

Anyway, our stop was a brief one, just long enough for me to take a nice picture of Nancy with the bridge and the waterfall in the background, and to dash into a second-hand bookstore in search of old P. G. Wodehouse paperbacks. I found one I didn't think I had, and since the bus was due to leave in five minutes I hurriedly bought it, only to discover shortly thereafter that it was a collection of short stories compiled from books already in my library. Oh well, easy come, easy go.

INSTALLATION NOTE: You apparently don't need to use the revised wads in order to play this level (but see note near the end of this walkthrough). However, if you don't use them, you'll get some odd animations out of Lara whenever she opens a door.

Walkthrough:

After a flyby through the village, Lara begins within a nook carved out of the side of a mountain overlooking the sleepy little town. Hop forward and head over to your left. There's an opening in the cave wall; when you jump down into it you hear the chimes of SECRET #1 as a wounded soldier does his best to slide away from you. Take the flares he was covering with his body and leave him to die, you heartless thing you.

Jump into the water ahead and locate the hole in the lake bottom. Swim down and follow the tunnel until you reach a shaft leading up. Pull up into a small cavern and run to the south end for some flares, then go push the floor lever at the north end for a cut scene showing a block rising atop a mound of dirt inside the village. Jump back into the water and swim to the lake. Pull out and approach the village to the west.

You can see the raised block on the dirt pile in the middle of the cobblestone street. You can't know this yet, but there's a machine gun waiting in ambush in the alley to your right, just beyond the barricaded opening, so stay away from there. If you wish, you can shoot the barricades and jump over the hole at the threshhold into the small room beyond. You'll flush out a wraith inside (and as far as I could tell, the room has nothing else to offer), so dash back outside and into the lake to extinguish it.

When you pull out of the water and make a second approach to the village, go over to the dark corner to your right, in front of the building that formerly housed the wraith. The author says he didn't intend for the gamer to take this short cut, but you can light a flare, get in as close to the corner as you can, facing west, then back flip and jump off the dirt slope to grab the edge of the roof. Shimmy to the right and around the corner, and pull up. You could waste some time exploring the ledges surrounding the lake, but you won't find anything along the way. Instead, step up to the slope of the roof and take a standing jump up to the flat surface. Run along the north wall and you'll come to the alley where the machine gun is lurking below.

Draw your pistols, crouch down and shoot the barricade that blocks the opening in the building across the alley. Get set to eat some lead, then take a running jump across the alley, keeping the action key depressed to land inside the opening while the machine gun sprays you briefly with bullets. Step down into the room while a harmless rat scurries across your path. Run forward and quickly pick up the REVOLVER from the middle of the floor, then arm yourself with it and shoot the nearby SAS before he can inflict too much damage. Then turn back and pick up the LASER SIGHT and the extra revolver ammo at your leisure.

There's no apparent way to maneuver that sentry gun into a position where you can destroy it with your new firepower, so give up the thought and go over to the west end of the room. Shoot the barricade in the window and lower Lara down the other side. Use the ladder to climb down to the street below. Don't go down the street to the south, because you'll alert another sentry gun near an alley separating the west row of buildings. There's an SAS patrolling the roof on the east side, so pick him off and then dispose of another SAS coming at you at street level from the north.

Head over to the north end of the street beyond the sentry gun's range. There are two doors you can open, one near the NE corner and the other near the NW corner. When you open the NE door and go inside, you gasp involutarily at the sight of another sentry gun pointing right at you. However, for some reason it's disabled, so go around it to the right and combine your revolver and laser sight if you'd like the satisfaction of blowing it away. There's an SAS trapped by the surrounding crates in the SW corner of the room, so climb up onto one of the crates and dispose of him as well.

Leave this room, cross the street and open the NW door. Nothing inside but a lot of crates. Open the door in the north wall and shoot the SAS. Nothing in the room he was guarding, so reverse roll and open the door in the south wall. Shoot another SAS who's also guarding a few boring crates. Return to the previous room and climb up onto the highest crate stacked against the west wall. Climb up into the second story room and take the path to the south. Kill the SAS and ignore the room he was guarding, as it holds nothing of interest. Go back, jump across the gap and take the north path. Turn the corner and open the door to your right. Kill the SAS and pause to warm your hands in the fire while a second SAS comes to investigate. Eliminate him as well, then leave this room, turn right and open the door in the east wall.

Kill yet another SAS, then go inside and vault up over the opening to the other side. Note the closed trap door to your left and open the door in the SE corner. Run along the hallway into the next room and shoot the SAS. Throw the floor lever for a cut scene showing a door opening somewhere outside. Go back the way you came, vault back over the opening, run through the open doorway ahead, dogleg to your right and run up the stairs. Shoot another SAS when you reach a storage room with more crates. Open the door in the east wall and enter a smaller room with yet more crates. Shoot the inevitable SAS and run to the east end of the room to spook a bat. After killing it, make a hairpin turn to the left and locate the floor lever. Throw it for a cut scene showing the trap door opening in the room you visited earlier.

Leave this room and climb up onto the crates in the SE corner of the previous room. Shoot out the barricades in the windows and kill the patrolling SAS on the roof to the east. You can go out and explore the roofs if you wish, and there's quite a lot of territory to cover there, but there's little point in doing so. About the only productive activity is going out the south window and making your way around the rooftops in a clockwise direction until you reach the corner overlooking the lake where you began. From here you can take a standing jump down to the raised crate atop the dirt mound, then shoot out the barricades in the window to the south and jump over there. You'll have the joy of killing one more SAS before you run out of things to do, forcing you to backtrack.

Therefore, this writer's advice is for you to leave the crate-filled room now and go back down the stairs. Return to the east room and vault up over the opening. Safety drop through the trap door opening to the room below. Kill an SAS and open the door in the west wall. Shoot the vase on the slab to your right for a large medi-pack, then get on the motorbike and drive it through the breakaway wall in the SW corner before the two SAS outside can draw a bead on you. (They can shoot through the wall at you, but not vice versa.) Run them over and continue south down the street, hugging the left side as much as possible to minimize your damage from the posted sentry gun.

When you're safely past the sentry gun, park the motorbike and dismount, as you can't use it to cross the gap ahead. Go over to the right side, jump to the west wall and grab the edge as you slide down. Shimmy to the left and around the corner and pull up. Go past the entrance toward the east wall and turn right into the passage formed by the building and the cavern wall. Kill the SAS and locate the nearby alcove for some revolver ammo. Now go back and enter the building. There are two more SAS inside to kill, some flares and revolver ammo on top of a couple of crates, and a closed door near the SE corner.

Go back to the hole near the entrance and drop down the NE corner to the block below. Climb all the way down, using the blocks, and you'll come to an underground area with four colored passages. If you insist on investigating all four, you'll find a water hole at the end of the green one, a plague of locusts in the red one, a wraith in the blue one (for which you need to go back to the green one to extinguish it), and the BREAST PLATE in the yellow one. Return to the upper room via the blocks and locate the ladder in the east wall. Climb to the top, shift to your right and drop down into the upper room. Throw the floor lever to open the exit door. NOTE: If you aren't using the revised wads, Lara will not climb the ladder. However, since you're very near the end, simply enable the flycheat by typing the letters D-O-Z-Y and glide up into the upper room. Hit the shift key to restore Lara to normal mode.

Safety drop back down to the main room and head over to the now open doorway near the SE corner. Step inside to end the level.