***** CATACOMBS OF THE SERPENT *****

by Schmittt



Level Name:     Catacombs of the Serpent (Parts 1 and 2)
File Names:     readme.txt, cat1.tr2, cat2.tr2, tombPC.dat, tombPC.1, tombPC.2
Base Level:     rapids.tr2
Author:         Schmittt
E-Mail:         Anton.Schmittt@gmx.de



The Story so far:
=================

During her countless journeys to Egypt, Lara had heard on several occasions of a certain ancient and secret cult whose members had been known for celebrating odd and unholy rites in their temple located deep below earth´s surface. There were also rumours of the cult member´s worshipping and praying to strange Serpent creatures dwelling even deeper below this underground temple. Centuries ago there seemed to be good reasons for the local people to banish this cult, to shut the temple doors and to seal the entrance to the lower parts of the temple, so no traces of this evil should ever see daylight again.

Lara tried hard to find out more about this so called Serpent cult, speaking to people, reading in old books, but to little avail...

Well, she heard some nonsense about degenerated descendants of cult members, still living in the underground, but she also heard something about this mysterious Serpent Artifact, the idol of the forbidden cult. But where to search for this artifact? And, did it still exist?

Then, one day, when Lara was on an expedition in search of the legendary subterranean crypts of Thebes, a friend told her of an exciting discovery: On the day before, an earthquake had uncovered the entrance to what seemed to be an unknown cave in the desert nearby. The seismometers also indicated, that the earthquake had led to the collapse of a huge underground cave - or, maybe, to the collapse of a huge underground TEMPLE?

No need to guess what happened next: Lara hurried to this nearby desert location - to explore the underground, to find traces of the forbidden cult, and to find the Serpent Artifact - she hurried to enter the

               CATACOMBS OF THE SERPENT


So here are the objectives:

In "Catacombs of the Serpent 1", first find the entrance to the underground temple (this is the easy part), then find the Catacomb Key that opens the door to the lower catacombs (this is the more difficult part).
In "Catacombs of the Serpent 2", find the 4 Serpent Stones and re-activate some strange ancient technology that may help you to get to the Serpent Artifact, then try to find the way back to daylight.



A Word from the Author:
=======================

This is my first level (or better: double-level). I started building the level notably to learn the level editor, but over time it grew and developed to this pair of full-sized levels.

Gameplay-wise it is mainly running around, searching keys and items, running around, throwing switches, then running around to find some now open doors. Again running around, moving boxes, running around, climbing, running ... ... but hey!, this is no children's birthday party, this is the CATACOMBS OF THE SERPENT!!!!! You can't say I didn't warn you!

The first hall in part 1 is inspired by the first rooms of the TR 4 custom level "Through the Shadow of Death" by Loren "Idealist" Golden; thank you, Loren, for this great level!

There are 6 secrets to find in the first part, and 4 secrets in the second part.

Enjoy, and Happy Raiding!



Installation:
=============

Game Engine: TR3

You can play these levels with the TR3 South Pacific Demo engine:

1. Copy the files "cat1.tr2" and "cat2.tr2" into the Data folder.
2. Replace the file "tombPC.dat" in the Data folder.
3. Delete all savegame files if existing.
4. Be sure you have copied the Audio folder with the "cdaudio.wad" file from the TR3-CD to the TR3 South Pacific Demo folder.
5. For those who want to play the two levels as stand-alone levels (e.g. with Iceberg´s wonderful TRPlayCentre):
   - rename tombPC.1 to tombPC.dat and install with cat1.tr2
   - rename tombPC.2 to tombPC.dat and install with cat2.tr2


********************************************************
* It is HIGHLY recommended to play these levels with a *
* Gamma Setting of (3) for maximum effect of lighting. *
********************************************************



Tools:
======

- DXTRE3D by Turbo Pascal
- PixStr by Raider Croft
- FexMerger by TP
- FexInspect by TP
- TBuilder by IceBerg
- TombPCEditor by TP and Vince@Borg
- RView by TP
- TRViewer by E.Popov
- CDAudio by TP

Thanks to all of you for these fantastic tools!



Disclaimer:
===========

This level was not made and is not supported by Core Design Ltd. and Eidos Interactive.
