Light Up The Christmas – LevelBase Advent Calendar 2011

Level by Ranpyon

Walkthrough by dmdibl (David Dibble)

Lara will be searching for a switch to turn on the power to light a Christmas tree outside a little church. During this quest, in addition to finding a couple of keys, she will find a Christmas card to slip into a mailbox, as well as four notes, and will shoot five stars. Enjoy the scenic town.

Lara begins in an alley behind a church. Start by reading the diary entry: it is Christmas Eve, Lara is on holiday in a small Italian town, and she wonders why the lights of the Christmas tree aren't lit.

Go forward and note the keyhole on the left before the flight of stairs. Go up the stairs and a flyby will show the unlit Christmas tree in the church courtyard, then continue to sweep over the town, showing one of the stars that Lara will later have to shoot. All the gates and doors are shut, so continue to go downward east from the courtyard. Lara may want to make a small detour right, up a short ramp, just to spot a keyhole and closed door for later—there are only two keyholes in the town, and Lara has now seen both. Return to the lane, continue to go down, and left.

Lara pauses, drawn to a nativity scene, but the camera won't break, so to see what she is looking at use the binoculars. Remember the relative positions of the humans in the scene. Then run down to a beggar, and read another diary entry, that Lara will try to help him, find him something to eat.

Go left, and up a small west ramp to pick up revolver ammo in an alcove. Go down the ramp and continue west to an intersection, on the right (N) is a bakery, Delizie di Grano. Push open the double doors, slip behind the counter while the young woman is inattentive, and at the back corner pick up what looks like a molded cake, a Pandoro. (Another diary entry: the Pandoro needs a customary glaze of powdered sugar. And, no, this isn't nutritious sustenance that Lara can foist upon a poor beggar.) Slip out of the bakery, turn right (W). A lane down goes nowhere, so go up, make a left turn.

Go to the dark end of this passageway, and light a flare. Jump to grab a crawlspace left, get in for Secret #1, Candybar, which is manifestly a Candy Cane. Get out, come back a few steps to take a right east, go a few more steps into the lighted Piazzetta De Marini. Stop to look about if you wish, then go up the stairs on the right. At the top make a U-turn left, stand in front of the wood plank fence and look to the balcony with closed door on the west wall.

To reach that far balcony, Lara can do a running jump or a running swan dive to the balcony on the right (N). (At several places in this level, as here, Lara can also grab the wall on her right, shimmy left around the corner, pull up and back flip to balcony.) Now jump to the west balcony, and open the door.

Inside find flares in the NW corner. You may also hear the beloved family dog, Killer, trying to get at you through a closed door. In the kitchen, open the table drawer, and among forks and spoons find a knife (crowbar substitute). Killer is snuffling and clawing at his door, so time to leave. Jump back to the middle balcony, and over two fences to get back east. Continue east a little ways, and look left and down over the next wood plank fence, spot the jump switch (N).

Lara can go along the fence, then jump over it to land on the roof behind the jump switch. Drop back and pull the jump switch (camera shot of a gate opening). Lara lands in front of the bakery. At the intersection go right (E), and follow the left wall up the stairs, at the top is the opened gate. Go inside and left to short stairs. At their top, turn around to face east, position Lara so she can jump straight up to grab an overhead balcony.

Pull up and turn around. The window to the west looks shootable. First turn partly left (SW) and take a running jump over a fence to a high landing between buildings, go to the other end. Nearby on the right, with blue and white lights in front of it, is a railed one-square balcony. Take a running jump to that and pick up revolver. Jump back over the railings to where Lara was.

(As a note, Lara could turn back west. Instead of jumping to the right for the revolver, it is possible for her to make a running jump left over the railing, and grab the roof edge. She can shimmy right along the roof edge, to drop on a ledge. The jump is difficult, and the timing isn't right, and later Lara will find an easier way.)

Go east and make a running jump NE back to that high balcony. Turn around and jump up to the west window, shoot it, get into the room. Around to the right (NE), pull back a block, crawl over it to drop into an alcove, and push a button—see a door open. Push the block out of the way, get out of the window and make your way down to the ground.

Lara goes down the long stairs west, makes a U-turn left to return to the beggar, makes the right and runs up the passage past the nativity scene. Make a right, go about halfway up this lane, and on the right find that opened door. Go inside, and through to open the next door.

Find on the left (W) there is a closed door with a mailbox beside it. On the right, there is a Christmas tree, and on the upper walkway a grate at the end. Shoot this and go into a crawlspace, at the end pick up Nativity Room Scene Key. Get back out. Return to the lane outside, and go right up to the church. Angle left to the SW corner, and run down the stairs there, back to where Lara began. On the right, around the corner at the bottom of the stairs, use the key and enter a nativity scene.

Go up to the Christ child and Mary, and see that they do not have the same positions as in the miniature nativity window display. Push the Mary statue straight across south. Move the Christ child figure to the center place, over the crown. Look all about, and find that the Joseph figure is trapped behind a raising block, that more work needs to be done in order to complete the tableau.

Go to the south wall, and stand on the second from the bottom stone step. Look up east and see a ledge that Lara can pull up onto, and above it a trapdoor, and the handle for the trapdoor is to the left. So climb onto the ledge, jump up to pull the trapdoor open. Turn around to face the roof peak here, and jump up to grab the opening over the trapdoor, pull up into a church.

Go left (W) to a window alcove, then right to the window alcove closer to the altar. Climb the middle of the window sill and turn around. Directly above Lara there is a sneakily hidden jump switch. Jump up and pull it. See a camera shot of a block going down to free the Joseph figure. Before leaving the church, notice that there are unlit candles at the front beside the altar, and the door remains closed.

Climb back down to the nativity scene, drop to the ground. Move the Joseph figure to the free side of the Christ child. A trapdoor rises in the NW. Turn Lara to face north, against the wood plank fence, and jump up to grab the sloped roof over the animals. Take a running jump to the NW trapdoor. Lara can do a tightrope walk along the wooden beam to reach the trapdoor in the SW corner. Once there, pick up a Christmas card, then drop to the ground.

Return to the mailbox. That is, go up to the church courtyard, down the Salita Cadale east to the open door on the left, inside and through, then left around to the door and the mailbox next to it. Put the Christmas card into the mailbox, and the door opens. Once inside, jump onto a kitchen table and pick up a dirty plate (another diary entry: Lara needs to clean the plate).

Go right (W) to the door in the middle of the wall, and open it with the knife. This is the pantry, with three sets of shelves. On the left Lara gets powdered sugar, which can be combined now with the pandoro, to make pandoro with powdered sugar. In the center Lara finds a packet which rotates in inventory too fast to read, but is a large medipack. On the right Lara picks up a chocolate bar confection, a small medipack.

From the pantry, go straight across the room and up the stairs. A fire is burning in front of a crawlspace, blocking access. But at the head of the bed Lara can leap up to a north window, shoot the glass, and go out on a balcony. Much of the action now depends upon various routes that Lara takes over rooftops. Look to the NW and on a flat section of snowy roof, out in the open, spot a small yellow star that Lara is supposed to shoot.

First go right. Lara can run jump SE to a roof and stand on it. (Or shimmy around to it.) Go south over the peak of the roof, and pause. Straight ahead there is a high door and to the left, through railings, you should see the laser sight. Make a running jump/grab to the balcony, pull up, crawl to the left to get the laser sight, then make a running jump back to the previous roof.

Now Lara can shoot the star to the NW that she just saw. She can jump back to the window balcony, and shoot the star easily from there. Or she can stay on this roof, go about halfway down the right edge, combine the revolver and laser sight, and hit the star like a sharpshooter (star #1).

Turn around. This time make a running jump south, angling left to a roof that is lower and left (E) of where the laser sight was. On this roof run up to the railing, turn right (W) and hop up to a higher roof. Run more or less straight forward west until Lara comes to a wall along the side of the church courtyard. To the left is the running water Lara has mentioned. To the right is a small gated area with a snowman.

Go along the wall and drop down left into the area with flowing water. There are six sinks with running water, stand in front of any of them and wash the dirty plate (hit Ctrl), then be sure to pick up the clean plate. Go to either end of the row of sinks, and pull up in the middle to crawl forward for revolver ammo. Go to the gate in the NE corner, and use the wall lever on the left to open it. Then use the small snow mound in the corner on the right of the gate to pull up onto the wall again. On the church courtyard side, drop into the gated area with the snowman with the red bucket hat. In the opposite corner from the snowman, pick up flares and use a wall lever to open the gate.

The bare branch tree in the snowman enclosure has a yellow star in its top. If you can see it (or see the star from the courtyard), shoot the star. Don't waste revolver ammo. It may be easier to go into the water area, climb the wall in the NE corner, and run around on the roof until Lara approaches the top of this tree. The star is now clearly visible, so shoot it (star #2).

Get on top the wall, if Lara isn't already there, run west on the wall to the end, approach a bell tower and Lara will fixate on the bell. Make a standing jump up into the opening for the bell. It does no good to shoot the bell, so don't waste revolver ammo. Look on the stone floor on the four sides of the bell and see that on the west side there is a rough arrow. So stand where the arrow is, facing east, and push the bell (Ctrl). A camera shows the door of the church opens.

Turn around and walk down the roof west. Look down SW and spot revolver ammo on a roof. It may seem safer for Lara to drop down to a balcony below, but then double railings entangle a jump across. Look down again, and see that there are slopes on either side of that ammo. Lara can make a high running jump SW, curving left around the building to land on a corner slope, and slide down without health loss. Pick up revolver ammo. From here take a running jump right (E) over a railing in order to land where the stairs below are highest.

Go along the right wall, and right into the water area, climb the wall in the NE corner. Run back east over the peak of the roof, drop down to red roof tiles to the left of a railing. This is where Lara landed after jumping from the roof on the other side. (The snowy flat section inside the railing will lead to a library for later, as currently its windows are shut.) Ahead, east, is a nearby flat section of roof; jump to it. From here, turn slightly left (NE), and jump to a similar section of flat roof. Turn left (N), and make a running jump over the peak of a roof ahead. Lara lands and slides down onto a flat section of roof. Take a few steps north, drop down right into a snowy patch by a door. Behind the tree south there is a wall lever. Use it, and a camera shows doors opening, doors that are almost opposite the miniature nativity window display, up from where the beggar is.

Now jump out of here to the west. Turn right (N), and make a running jump to a farther flat roof section north. Turn left (W). The section below is where Lara found the revolver, over to the right. Lara wants to reach the far window at the end. Angle slightly left, and stand jump down to a lower roof. Lara slides back and grabs its edge. Shimmy to the right along the length of this area, until roof tiles are under Lara's feet. Drop down as Lara can stand here.

Make a running jump to the window NW. Shoot glass, and get inside. Jump up onto the table. The only way that this works is if Lara is facing east (back in the direction she came from), and has the table's central plate in front almost touching her feet. Press Action (Ctrl) to place the sugared pandoro in the middle of the table. The gifts in the corner explode to reveal a waterskin, so pick it up. (Apparently there is also something odd about this fireplace, but with an empty waterskin there is nothing to do now.)

To exit, it is all right to hang from the window sill and just drop. If so, Lara lands facing west, so go a little ways and right into the bakery. Go in to hit the back counter, turn around and look up into the middle of the ceiling. Spot a yellow star, use revolver and laser sight to shoot it (star #3). Now go to the windows at the front of the shop. From inside, shoot the windows on the front displays right and left, to get small medipack and large medipack.

Exit the bakery and go left (E) to the beggar, then right about halfway up to the miniature nativity display, and opposite are doors that opened by the rooftop wall lever. Go inside La Trottorio, the tables are empty now. To the back (W), in the rear center of the ceiling is a yellow star. Shoot it (star #4). Go to the back (W) wall, right of the cabinet is a fragrant pot of soup. Use Ctrl to fill up the clean plate. Pick up the plate of soup, and take it outside, down to the beggar, and give it to him.

All the beggar can offer in thanks is a branch of holly, but Lara can use this as a torch. There is a fire near the animals in the nativity scene. But as Lara goes up the lane, and turns right, she can go in the first open door on the right, inside to the mailbox door, and up to the bedroom to light the branch at the fireplace there.

Take the burning torch back outside, go right to the church and into its now open door. Use the torch to light candles on either side of the altar. The altar moves back, and a note is exposed underneath. Pick up note (1 of four). Retrieve the torch.

Go outside and right, into the water area. On the left is a manhole cover blocked by a pile of icy snow. Facing east, touch the torch to the snow to melt it and free the manhole cover. Toss the torch to a convenient spot, open the cover, and drop down into water. Fill the empty waterskin, climb up the west wall.

Now Lara can run back to the bedroom with the fireplace, and stand in front of it. Save the game. Angle Lara so she is pointed to the side, so when she steps up next to the fire she doesn't continue into it. Standing in the corner of the fireplace, turn diagonally and use the waterskin to put out the fire. Shoot the grate in back. I found it easiest to get past the fire logs on the right (N) side. Crawl through and pick up note (2 of four). Get out past dratted fire logs. Outside, if you wish to get the last secret, be sure to return to the manhole cover, drop down, and once again fill the waterskin with water, climb out.

In the NE corner of the water area, climb up to wall. Go west and jump into the bell tower (the tower clock shows it is getting late). From here, go down the west roof as before. This time go to the opposite (N) side, not quite to the end, face west and run jump to a flat section of roof. Turn north and jump over the peak of the roof, slide down into a flat area. Go to the other end (N) and make a jump NE to a roof, a standing jump will do. Here there is a red checkered tablecloth hanging on a line, and on the line next to it is a key. The only way Lara takes that key is if she is standing almost in the NE corner inside the railing. From the corner edge forward a little bit, and now Lara can reach up and take the hanged key. (If Lara stands to north or south relative to the key she has difficulty.) To get down, jump across to the north roof, slide back and hang, shimmy left, and drop at the corner.

From here run east, past the bakery to the beggar, turn right up the hill, make the right where forced and halfway up the next lane reach the open door, but don't go inside. Here on the left (S) is a ramp upward. Go up this to a keyhole, use the key and enter a door. Go straight in the room to a lamp table, and pick up note (3 of four).

Save the game. Turn to see a star on a Christmas tree. This is the fifth and last star, but if Lara tries to shoot it nothing will happen. (If you want to test this, that's why you have a save game to reload.) Go to the back wall and shoot the star from the side—it will appear thin. The last star breaks (star #5) and a camera shows a window opening at the library. The library is next door, adjacent to a roof where Lara has already been several times.

Go outside and take a route to the roofs. Perhaps the quickest way is to run up to the church courtyard, into the water area, pull up in the NE corner, and run east. Run over the peak of the roof, and this time land in the snowy area inside the railings. Forward, there is a gap in the railing SE. Drop through this to be at the windows of the library. Enter, and a camera shows four wall levers across the way, and below a bookcase maze under glass.

Go across to the wall levers and a fixed camera takes over making it hard to tell what is going on. With a little trial and error you can tell where the wall switches are, although what is happening in the maze isn't all that clear either. Throw the two center wall levers, but leave the end levers in the up position. Then run left. When the camera breaks off, take the passage in the east wall down to a bookcase maze.

Follow all the way in, first west, then south across the maze, then east to loop around left at the end to get the last note (4 of four). When Lara picks it up a camera shows a door opening in the water area. On the way out, you may notice that at the west end of the maze is a boxed-in area, and that looking through the cracks between bookshelves there is a striped candy cane on the ground there.

If you want the candy cane, go back to the wall switches, and from left to right use down-down-up-down, that is: all down, but the third from the left is up. Now that hidden area in the west of the bookcase maze is open, and Lara can pick up Secret #2, Candybar.

Exit by the upper library window. On the outside, face the windows, back flip to the slope behind, jump forward and grab a roof edge, shimmy to right and around the corner to pull up back in the snowy railed area. There are now two choices. To end the game, and forgo the last secret, skip the next paragraph, simply run over the roofs west and drop into the water area.

Optional paragraph for third and last secret. This is exactly the same route as when Lara went to find the waterskin. Hop over the railing to the red roof tiles. Face east, jump to a flat section of roof. From here, turn slightly left (NE), and jump to a similar section of flat roof. Turn left (N), and make a running jump over the peak of the roof that is ahead. Slide down to a flat section and continue north on it, making a jump north. Turn left (W), make an angled jump down to a lower roof, slide back, grab, shimmy all the way right. Drop to a roof tile ledge, make a running jump to a window NW. Inside is the table with the sugared pandoro in the center. Now Lara repeats the routine she used on the fireplace in the bedroom. Maneuver to stand in a corner of the fireplace, then turn diagonally to face the fire. Use the full waterskin to put out the fire. Pass through the fireplace “bricks” at the rear and get Secret #3, Candybar. Hop back into the room. To exit, it is all right to hang from the window sill and just drop. Turn around, run to the beggar and right up the hill, return all the way to the church courtyard, and make a left into the water area.

In the water area, go to the open door in the west. Stand before the number pad and enter the 4-digit number from the notes. The first note, the note with one Christmas tree ornament on the back, has a 3. The second note (meaning the note with two Christmas tree ornaments on the back), has a 9. The third note has a 5, and the fourth has a 2. So press Ctrl. Then use the arrow keys to select the numbers 3952, pressing Ctrl after each digit is selected. Then use arrow keys to select the star, press Ctrl again, and the gate opens.

Shoot the cover of the junction box, then pull the switch. A flyby shows the Christmas tree lighting up in the church courtyard, and the level ends.

26 December 2011