SPELL OF THE TWELVE CAVES

Level by MrSeanCroft

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth, with the help of DoggettTV's video walk

Lara slides down to a short passage where she's met by a critter that looks like a cross between a scorpion and a spider. An overhead jump switch at the point where you landed opens the gate ahead, but you have to back flip off the slope to reach it. Run forward and around the corner into a large room where a block falls from the ceiling and two leopards come to the attack. There's a scenic mural on the N wall that seems to have some insider appeal.

The statues in front of the mural are pushpieces. Pull the W one once E and push it once N against the mural. The pushpiece starts rotating and you hear the sound of one of two doors opening up in the E wall. Now push the other statue three times E and two times N for the same effect. Go to the W wall next to where it joins the ledge and jump up to grab the crack. Shimmy left until you can drop to activate a jump switch that raises a block underneath one of the E openings.

Go there, climb onto the block and pull up into the alcove. Pull down the wall switch for a screen shot of the closed S doors. Drop down, go to the left E alcove, pull up inside and pull down the wall switch to open those S doors. Get down, go S and jump over the block that fell from the ceiling, pull up into the SE corner, jump W onto the upper ledge and run forward quickly to evade the triggered boulder. Pull up S in front of the opened doors and shoot the two jugs in the corners for 2 x matches (flares with a nice but brief effect, and you'll find little use for them here).

Before going through the opened S doors, go to the NE palm tree and take a running jump to the ledge shared with a pillar. Step down right for SECRET #1 and pick up the SHOTGUN and shotgun ammo. Jump back S and go past the opened doors to trigger a flyby through the vast area ahead as gates open. The side passages are apparently intended for later, but as you step forward a hideous spiked ahmet materializes behind you. After killing it (it blows up quite nicely), get down to the floor and loop around left to find a jar in the NE corner containing arrows. Pull out and kill a scorpion/spider. There are pools at the four corners of this area that you'll explore in due course, but remember to stay away from the one in the SE corner. If you jump or fall in, a current will drag you to the bottom and you'll drown.

As you go around to climb back up to where the ahmet was, a vulture shows up. Get back to the entrance gates and look to either side to see a jump switch. Hop to the W ledge, hang above that switch and drop to activate it. Shoot the snake that greets you and get back up to the entrance. Hop to the E ledge and activate that jump switch. You hear the sound of a block rising and a leopard appears. Go around the corner, jump into the small NE pool and find poison arrows hidden in the weeds. Pull out and climb onto the E block next to the nearby palm tree. Start making your way around the ledges in a clockwise direction.

Hop S onto a platform formed of wooden tiles. One of the tiles is a breaktile, allowing you to peek down into the fenced-off area down below, but you can't get to it from up here. Hop down SE onto the wall ledge and go around the corner to shoot a jar containing the UZIS. Shoot a scorpion/spider skittering around below and continue around the perimeter to find a jar against the W wall containing matches. Shoot another scorpion/spider and hop down to the ground.

Now it's time to explore one of those side passages near the entrance you noted earlier. Climb back up there and find the raised block in the E passage. Pull up in front of a barred window and continue past the spider web into a corner nook. The S wall is a ladder, so climb up to a fenced-off passage and step forward to trigger a gauntlet of retracting blades. Make your way past each set of blades as they retract, pausing for a small medipack along the way, and stand at the far end of the passage.

You may be able to kill a scorpion/spider down below before it takes refuge behind a plinth. In any event, stand jump slightly SW to grab the first of several jutting platforms. Pull up and runjump to the next, then stand jump with grab to glide down NW onto the connected platforms below. Run across, pausing for shotgun ammo halfway across, jump  SW through the gap and use more platforms to pull up higher to a plinth with the CROSSBOW. Be sure to get the extra arrows on the other side of the plinth.

Get down the platforms and stand jump NW onto a dark ledge below. Shoot two scorpion/spiders and hop over the devious phantom tile (spike trap below) to pull down the wall switch that lifts bars in an underwater area. Two more scorpion/spiders will appear. Hop back over the disguised spike pit and safety drop a couple of times onto a ledge you couldn't reach from down below because of the spears. Make your way counterclockwise, taking banana jumps around columns as necessary, until you reach a wall switch underneath the retractable blade passage that raises a block back where you came from.

Continue N along the ledge and step down to raise the bars ahead and provide a short cut back to the side passage. Crawl through, shoot another scorpion/spider and return to the central courtyard. Jump into the pool at the NW corner and find a deep shaft leading downward. Swim down and N into an underwater room, loop around left and surface. Pull out S, note the receptacle in the W wall and face two cyan stripes in the E wall. Hop back and watch them disappear and then re-appear. You would never know it, but those stripes are a disguised wall switch. Pull it down to cause an explosion in the courtyard area, revealing a floor lever.

Go back the way you came and note for later the E triangular opening. If you like, you can look up W opposite that opening and see a seaweed-obscured opening you can swim through and go down a bit for shotgun ammo. The nearby water-breathing snake is harmless. Exit this area and swim up the shaft back to the central courtyard. Run over to push that floor lever, creating another explosion that triggers spikes to your left and demolishes the obelisk to your right to reveal a demigod.

Pick up the UNDERWATER GATE KEY dropped by the demigod, climb up W and jump into the SW pool. There's an opening down in the S wall, but you need to find a way to raise the spears. Pull out, return to the NW pool, swim down the shaft and loop around left to that receptacle you noted earlier. Use the key to lift a gate somewhere close by. Swim back toward the shaft and enter that triangular opening in the E wall. Grab the uzi ammo hidden by the plant in the SE corner, swim past one of those giant cigar cutters N into a new room and note the opened gate ahead and to your left.

But first, swim straight ahead past another giant cigar cutter, loop around left and pull the underwater lever to open a gate in the previous room. Swim back out and take an immediate left past the opened gate to surface for air. Pull out, turn around while drawing your pistols and shoot the approaching snake. Note for later the crowbar switch and return to the previous room. Swim around to the left of the spears and grab the matches in the corner to the left of the inactive spear field, then go back around and note the underwater lever in the S wall. Swim through the opened N gate and take the CROWBAR and uzi ammo from the skeleton as a snake follows you inside the cage. There are more matches in the NW corner if you have time to get them.

Lure the snake back through the E gate, where you can wade out and kill it. Use the crowbar switch to open a gate elsewhere, then go pull that S underwater lever to lift a gate beyond two nearby cigar cutters. Flip turn, swim to the N wall to the left of the cage there, note cigar cutters on either side of you (the one on the right is a decoy) and go through the lower one on the left (W). The camera angle changes as you enter, indicating triggered spikes. Time your way past them to another underwater lever, pull it and grab the small medipack in the far corner near the water-breathing snake.

You're done here, so go back for air in the chamber with the crowbar switch, swim up the shaft and climb out into the courtyard. Climb up left to the entrance, shoot the ahmet that greets you and, although a block has risen in the W side passage, go through the E side passage once again. Climb up to the passage with the retractable blades, which once again become active. Get past them for a second time, jump the platforms against the S wall and go past the gate you opened earlier to a wall switch.

Pull it down to lift those bars in the SW pool, go back along the platforms and make your way down to the ground, pausing at any suitable spot to shoot the vulture that has appeared. Jump into the SW pool and swim through the S opening. Flip turn when you see the approaching snake, pull out to kill it and return. Swim into a narrow seaweed-filled opening, surface, turn around and pull out. Take STATUE KEY ONE from the lap of the no-longer-reigning monarch and return to the courtyard.  

Climb up to the entrance and go N past the opened gates to territory you explored at the beginning of the level. Drop to the ground, go N to the still-rotating statues and hop up NW past the opened gate. Shoot four scorpion/spiders, hop over or crawl under two dart traps and save your game before using the timed crowbar switch in the NW alcove (it works only once). Take a rolling back flip, loop around right, jump up to grab the left side of the raised block, pull up, turn left and pull up higher before the block retracts. Take the uzi ammo from the plinth to your left and use the crowbar switch to your right (not timed) to turn off the flames on the middle column. Jump to that column, pick up the small medipack and hop up higher for STATUE KEY TWO. Get back down to the floor and exit this room.

Climb up to the opened S gates, get down to the courtyard and find that the fenced-off area against the E wall is now accessible (you have to crawl or roll inside). Shoot every container in sight and pick up the revealed uzi ammo and shotgun ammo. Exit, climb back up to the entrance, and now it's finally time to explore that W side passage. Climb up two blocks and shoot two scorpion/spiders. Climb up two more blocks, hang from the E side and shimmy left along the crack in the wall past a fixed camera. Pull up when you can and place the two Statue Keys in their receptacles to roll away a huge stone. Go to the S wall, jump up to grab the crack and shimmy left around the corner for SECRET #2.

Pick up 2 x uzi ammo, a small medipack and shotgun ammo. To get down quickly you can take a swan dive from up here into the SW pool below. Pull out, run across the courtyard and climb up to the entrance one last time. Take the E side passage, climb the first block, pull up right, crawl into the passage underneath the retractable blades and make your way along the ledges to the S wall, banana jump around the first column and go to where the huge stone rolled away to trigger a concluding slugfest with an ahmet and a demigod. When all is quiet, go up the E steps and around the corner to end the level.