The Black Lodge
Back
to Basics 2010
Level
by eTux
Walkthrough
by eTux
The
Library.
The
level starts with Lara on the ground floor of a library and a set of double
doors opening in front of her. Turn around and find some Uzi ammo between the bookshelves. Go to the NW
corner to find 2x Uzi ammo. Go where the double doors opened and you’ll see
stairs going down to a partially submerged door (1) and up to the higher
levels. Go up for now. You may go right and explore the middle floor of the
library if you wish, but you’ll return there soon enough, so I suggest going
left first and straight up to the top floor.
On the
top floor you’ll see a safety net holding fallen debris from the damaged dome
ceiling. 4 ropes hold the safety net in place and you have to shoot the 4
panels fixating the ropes to release it. Start with the lowest one in the SE
corner by stepping on the net in front of it, ducking and shooting the panel. Shooting
the remaining 3 should be simple from the safety of the floor. As you shoot the
last panel – the debris will fall down to the ground floor and reveal a hidden
section beneath it.
Go
down to the middle floor. Collect 2x Uzi ammo from the SE corner, and the Uzis from the table in the NW corner. If you were
on the middle floor before, you’ll discover that a hidden room in the NE part
is revealed now that the debris has fallen down. In here there is a timed switch for the partially submerged door
(1). As you flick the switch, roll, return to the middle floor, jump over the
banisters down to the ground floor. Jump up and dash down the stairs and
through the door to register Secret #1.
If
you find this timed run hard to do – try to use any time-saving tricks you know
– for example – perform a jump with a midair roll over the banisters and use
the roll move on the ground to reduce Lara’s recovery time to a minimum and
align her with the door at the same time. Also – if you start dashing from on
top of the stairs, Lara will keep the momentum even at water levels where she
would normally have to wade through.
You’ve
reached a secret area now – go to either side of the roof covering the entrance
and climb up – you can pick up the Shotgun,
and 2x Shotgun
ammo here. Jump to the red canopy, and from there do a running jump
to the next red canopy you see around the corner. From here you can reach a
window you can shoot. Enter the room and find some more Shotgun ammo in the corner and a large medipack on the table.
Return
to the library. Where the debris has fallen down – you can see a trapdoor. Lara
can manually open it, so after she does, safety drop down and pick up the flares in front of you. As you walk down further
into the cave, you’ll find more flares. When
you reach the bottom of the cave – you’ll see a weird red curtain standing in
the center of a circle of trees. Approach it where you see the door and press
action in front of the door for Lara to manually push open the door and thus
enter the Black Lodge…
The
Curtain Maze.
It
will be hard to put in context right now, but the fly-by actually outlines your
quest ahead while you are in the Black Lodge. After the fly-by ends, exit to
the hallway. To your left you will recognize the area with the mirror and the
burning rose. You don’t have any means to access it yet, so head right instead.
You
have now entered a maze with a difference. If you walk through the rooms long
enough in either direction you will notice that they start repeating after a
while. As soon as you’ve realized that – it shouldn’t be hard to come up with
numerous strategies for completing the maze.
I
suggest tackling the maze one room after the other, one at a time and then
revise them when necessary. It doesn’t really matter in which direction you go
but for the sake of this walkthrough I went counter-clockwise.
ROOM
A – Starting room.
Nothing
more to do here – carry on to the next one.
ROOM
B – Uzi ammo room.
Pick
up 2x Uzi ammo from the ground.
ROOM
C – First Harp room (no chairs).
Move
the harp to the designated tile on the floor and you will get a camera hint of
a room you haven’t been to yet.
ROOM
D – Ambush room.
You
don’t have to tackle this room right away but if you picked up the ammo in ROOM
B, you’re as prepared as you can be at this point. As you pull the chain –
curtains will lock you in the room and hitmen dressed in black will start climbing into the
room from below. There will be a total of 8 and the last one will drop the Torchbearer’s Key. If you have the Shotgun from
secret #1, I suggest using it here. If you missed both that and the Uzis – you
still have a fair chance if you position Lara in the SW corner and just blast
away with Pistols – usually they will not have enough time to get to her in
this position.
After
you’ve dealt with them and have picked up the key, the room will be unlocked
again and 2 hitmen dressed in white will
enter. They leave a large medipack and Uzi ammo after they’ve died.
ROOM
E – Water room.
Do
remember this room for later but for now there’s not much more you can do here.
ROOM
F – Flare room.
Pick
up some flares.
ROOM
G – Second Harp room (chair by the harp).
As in
the previous harp room – move the harp onto the designated tile and you will
get the same camera clue.
ROOM
H – Exit room.
This
is the room you see in the camera hints every time you move a harp on the
correct tile. The curtain (2) between the two plants will rise when you’re done
with the puzzle but you can’t do anything here at the moment.
ROOM
I – Keyhole room.
There’s
a pillar with a keyhole on it. Use the key you acquired in the ambush room and
curtains will rise in the next room.
ROOM
J – Torch room.
The
curtains rose to reveal a torch hidden
beneath them. Carry it with you to the next room.
ROOM
K – Third Harp room (chair by the tile).
Drop
the torch for the moment and move the harp on the designated tile – you will
get a camera clue with the curtain door (2) opening in ROOM H. Don’t go there
just yet – pick up the torch and carry on to the final room in the cycle.
ROOM
L – Explosion room.
As you
enter the room – the central vessel will light up and a fountain of fiery
explosions will pour out of it. Apart from the central fire they are merely a
spectacle so you only need to be cautious when approaching the center. Ignite
your torch from a safe distance and return to ROOM H now.
Note:
In case you have performance problems on your computer during this room (i.e.
it’s slow and jerky during the explosions) – save and reload and the explosions
will be gone with only the central fire remaining.
Enter
the newly opened room – and find 3 wall torches. When you light them – a
platform will rise in the center. Drop the torch (but remember where you left
it if you want to get the next secret) and head up to the higher level.
Cover
the winding passage. You will reach a blinking room with a Spirit roaming around, but you can’t harm her due
to the protective spell she cast with the rose when Lara first arrived in the
Lodge. This room will play a bigger role later, so just carry on to the end of
the winding passage.
The
floor is semi-transparent here, and you can see the room you entered the Lodge
in below. Jump up on the block and pull a chain
– the surroundings will shake briefly and the block will drop. If you look
through the semi-transparent floor you will see that the chandelier broke
through the ground in the room below. That’s also the next area you should be heading
to so backtrack all through the maze to where you started in this area. Don’t
forget to pick up the torch along the way!
If you
don’t mind searching a bit afterwards - you can drop the torch anywhere down
the hole. If you align and throw it towards the chain – the chain will stop it
and the torch will fall on top of the chandelier in most cases. Once dealt with
that, jump on the chain and slide down on the chandelier to initiate the next
fly-by.
The
Upside-down Clock House.
After
the fly-by you must throw down the torch to the bottom of this area if you
dropped it on the chandelier (skip to the next paragraph if you already dropped
it before or didn’t take the torch with you). Pay attention where it lands just
to make it easier to find. I suggest it’s always easier to find if you drop it
by the palm trees.
If you
look N you will see 3 floating platforms in the air leading to a jump-switch. Do a running jump towards the
first platform from here. As soon as you land, Lara will start sliding off the
platform – so make sure you’re ready to jump to the next one! Maneuver the
sliding platforms to get hold of the jump-switch. Lara will fall into the water
below and the trapdoor will close above her.
Tip:
If you’re having difficulties doing this right - it’s best to land on the
furthermost edge of the first platform. It also helps if Lara already faces the
next platforms when she lands. This way you won’t have to curve as much when
you jump to the second platform. You can keep on the right edge of the second platform
too, but aim a bit for the center of the last one, as this will help you align
with the jump-switch.
Once
in the water swim south first. If you feel you have enough air – swim till the
gratings at the end to get Uzi ammo. You can, however, come back for it later. Swim
left (E) and see a door (3) ahead of you – you can’t open it yet, so swim right
and then right again until you can surface. Climb out on the bottom of the
upside-down clock house area.
You
may want to get the next secret before you do anything else, but you can get it
at any point before leaving this area. To get the secret – find where you
dropped the torch and pick it up (it
doesn’t matter whether it is lit or not). Go to the cave W where you can see
the lit torches and a painting. While still holding the torch wade into the
water until Lara floats. Swim across until she can stand up again and get up to
where the torches are. Reignite the torch if necessary and press action when
nearby the sprinkler – both Lara’s and the wall torch will be extinguished. Repeat
this for the other sprinkler and the painting door will open. You don’t need
the torch anymore, so throw it away. Enter the newly opened room to hear the
secret chimes for Secret #2. You can find 2x
Uzi ammo and a small medipack.
If
you got the shotgun in the first secret, there will also be 2 sets of Shotgun ammo in
here. If you didn’t get the Uzis in the
starting area, you will find them here.
Exit
to the main area. You will see an entrance to the building on the opposite side
of the room. But the holes on the floor should make you wary that it won’t be
as simple to get inside. If you want to see what’s going to happen, save
beforehand, go in and have a look. Other than that – you can see that you’ll
have to sweat a bit before you can pass that room alive.
Go to
the switch you see outside close-by to
the entrance. When you flick it – you will see that some trapdoors will rise
and some will drop above the secret cave entrance. Break through the camera and
rush towards the metal tile below the
trapdoors that rose. Jump up and grab the edge of the trapdoor – shimmy right
as fast as you can – if you are fast enough you should be able to reach the
trapdoor that neither dropped nor rose. If you did – keep on shimmying till the
end till you can climb up. From here you have to climb up into the opening in
the wall. Go to the end and you’ll find the crowbar
on the center tile. Exit back to the main area. Return to where you climbed out
of the water in this area. There is a crawlspace in the SE corner here – on the
other side will be a small cave. Once there, open the trapdoor and drop in
below. You will discover that you are just below the deadly spike floor room. You
can see that the metal tile connects a wire formation with the switch above. Use
the crowbar to pry the wires out of the
box; this will render the above switch useless. Return to the main area where
the entrance of the building is. You can now enter it safely as the switch
won’t function anymore. Kill the hitman dressed in black
and pick up the large medipack he
leaves behind.
You
will enter an area similar to the curtain maze from earlier. The blinking is a
hint that your weapons will not function in presence of the Spirit that’s roaming around in this room. There
are 2 different ways you can go from here, but go right (S) first. You will
enter a small room where you can see water below – and a waterskin in the water. There’s a switch on the
wall, but for it to function you have to place the wires in the receptacle on
the wall. Do so, and then activate the switch.
You will see a camera hint of a door (3) opening in the room below. Exit this
area back outside to where you first got out of the water. Dive in and return
to the door, pick up the waterskin from
the water, surface to refill your air supply if necessary and then return back
to where you climb out to the main area. A hitman in
white and 2 Dobermans will emerge from the building
entrance. Take care of them and get the small
medipack the hitman leaves behind.
This
time head left (N). You will find a room with a block that rises and lowers
with the blinking phases. There is also a higher platform you can’t reach. Step
on the shifting block while it’s low. Wait for it to raise then do a running
jump to the taller platform. From here – face the N wall and you will see that
a door to a higher level phases in and out of existence. Time your jump so you
can get through it. Continue along the steps and you will eventually reach the
inside of the Clock tower. Notice a trapdoor on the ground. Open it, and drop
inside. Turn the valve here and a camera will show you the little bag you saw
in the first fly-by. What this did was create a platform that Lara can stand on
below it. So get out, shoot the window and get to it with a running jump. Pick
up the gunpowder and jump back into the
clock tower. Shoot the S window and safety drop on the edge of the roof. Jump
on the E section of the roof (If you got the Shotgun from the first secret, you
will find 2x Shotgun
ammo here) Jump on the sloped roof and slide down on the ground. Time
to take care of the spirit down here.
If you
didn’t already, fill your waterskin. Enter
the blinking area. Position Lara before the vessel where you see a triangle
symbol. Select the gunpowder from your inventory and place it on the vessel. If
Lara says ‘no’ just try again. A door will open behind you. Enter the newly
opened room and you’ll find another vessel like the one before here. You have
to pour water on this one. Do so and the flame will slowly move from this
vessel to the one with the gunpowder. When the flame reaches its destination,
the gunpowder will deliver quite a light show and kill the Spirit. As you re-enter the blinking room, you
will get a camera hint of a second floating
platform being created outside.
Bug
alert: Though rarely – it sometimes can happen that the spirit somehow cheats
death by following Lara into rooms where she cannot be killed by the
explosions. As a result the floating platform won’t be created. If this happens
– you can either lure her back into her original room before pouring the water
or reload to redo this last sequence. This bug will be fixed after the
completion of the Back to Basics competition.
Head
back the same way you went for the gunpowder to the Clock Tower. Jump on the
platform where you got the gunpowder. From there, perform a running jump to the
newly created platform. Jump to the suspended waterfall next, swim down to
activate the lever there and thus connect the 2 water sections. Swim to the top
and notice the small triangular entrance in the ceiling. Swim through and on
the other end pick up the Lodgekeeper’s Deathmask.
Swim through the open door ahead of you and a current will take you back to the
curtain area.
The
Curtain Maze (revisited).
While
in the waist-deep water – refill your waterskin
to avoid excessive running around. Climb out of the water and run ahead – a
curtain will rise and you’ll find yourself back to where you started in this
area. Go to where you see the platform and use the Deathmask to open the first
mirror room. Pull the chain in the corner and this will reveal the mirror. Pour
the water into the vessel and this will extinguish the fire. Walk through the
mirror and pick up the Prankster’s Protective
Gemstone and get a camera glimpse of the room where you encountered
the first spirit. It is not blinking anymore, therefore the spirit is now
unprotected. Before going there, let’s get the final secret of the level first.
Pull the chain in this room where you got the gemstone, and the mirror will be
closed, but reveal a hidden room. Enter it for Secret
#3 – a small medipack and 4x Uzi ammo. Pull
the chain again to get out of here and the one on the other side of the mirror
so you can return to the curtain maze.
You’ll
need to use the waterskin one last time, so I suggest going counter-clockwise
again so you can reach the water room along the way before the exit room. Climb
up to the higher level and return to where the room was blinking previously. You
can use your weapons now, so kill the Spirit.
When she dies, the door to the second mirror room will open. Enter and pull the
chain to reveal the mirror. Use the waterskin to extinguish the fire. Go
through the mirror and pick up the Black Lodge
Entrance Keys from the pedestal. A curtain door will open and you
will be able to exit this room. Use the keys on the gold keyhole and thus lock
the Black Lodge once and forever.
A
block will rise behind you. From on top of it either jump on the edge E and
shimmy right till you can stand up or jump to the ledge W. Walk up to the block
at the top of this cave and climb up. Face N and climb up on the slope. Bounce
between the 2 opposite slopes and have the left directional key pressed so Lara
would land on the higher W slope. When she does keep the jump and action
buttons pressed and Lara will bounce to another higher slope and from it grab
the higher ledge above. Go to the black tile and you will be teleported out of
the underworld back to a Venice basement. Wade to the table, climb on top of
it, align Lara with the handle above and jump up and grab to open the trapdoor.
Climb out and approach the partially submerged double doors to initiate the
final flyby in a familiar area.
End of
the level.