LB ADVENT CALENDAR 2014 - SPRIGGAN'S HEART

Levels by mugs (Pat Chancey)

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth (courtesy of OBig's video walk )

Level 1: SPRIGGAN'S HEART

Begin in a sheltered courtyard.  As you hop forward toward the BOOK after the opening flyby, you're told that your task here is to locate and place three Spriggan hearts "in their rightful altar."  Loop around left and enter the dark NE barn.  Shoot a baby spider, light a flare and go up the N stairs.  Run around to draw out two or three more baby spiders and hop up into the NW opening fronted by a pile of hay.  Turn right and climb the ladder to an upper loft.  Run forward, pull up left (N) and shoot more baby spiders.  Crawl into the N opening for SECRET #1 and pick up the large medipack.

Get back out, hop down and time a couple of runs past the swinging crates.  The switch in the S wall is timed, which means that you need to get past the swinging crates quickly, which means it would be a good idea to save first.  Pull the switch, reverse roll, get quickly past the swinging crates, turn left toward the platform where you pulled up from the ladder.  Turn left again and take a running jump to the swingpole, jump off in front of the timed door and run inside to pull down another wall switch to open a gate down below.

Reverse roll, take a running jump over the swingpole to land on the slope below, slide down, grab the edge and drop to the floor.  Go back down the stairs and the opened gate is right in front of you.  Pick up the CROWBAR and get back outdoors.  Run W underneath the dual archways and come to a small frozen pond.  The ice is thin, so wait until it breaks and pick up the holly sprig that surely must serve as a TORCH.  Go back the way you came, under the archways and turn left into the sheltered courtyard where you began the level.  Drop the torch for a moment and open the NW crowbar door that's attracting Lara's attention.

Retrieve the torch and light it on the nearby wall torch.  Take it N, slide down into the pit and go E down the stairs.  Turn left and find a wall sconce you can light to open the nearby gate. Leave your torch here, slide down the left side of the N slope and watch the long flyby.  Hang from the edge, shimmy left and drop down safely.  Loop around left toward the dark SE opening and exterminate a baby spider.   Light a flare, go inside and pull up into the high S opening in the corner for SECRET #2.  Take the flares, the small medipack and the crossbow arrows, and get back down.  Go over to the N section of this enclosed area, being mindful of falling icicles, and shoot another baby spider before picking up the LASER SIGHT in the dark left corner.

Exit this grotto, turn right and hop over the obstruction onto a dark blue-tinted ledge overlooking a frozen pond.  Jump NW to a dark balcony and safety drop to the frozen ground.  Your health bar starts shrinking because of the cold temperature, so quickly vault up and step forward for the crossbow arrows.  As you do so a voice announces that you can open "that door" (presumably the one with the rune design) by shooting the proper objects. Loop around to the right and you'll see some stairs leading down to a closed gate for which you need a key.  Continue around, look down into the frozen pond and you can see an artifact of some kind on the floor. 

Hop to that spot and wait for the ice to crack.  Swim down quickly and pick up the CROSSBOW.  Pull out N and vault up into the area with the lighted wall torch, so you can thaw out.  If you want to play chicken with the rest of the ice, you can venture over to the large medipack in the SW corner and dash back before the ice crumbles beneath you.  Go to where you hopped down for the crossbow (near the stairs leading to the closed gate) and hop up SW.  Run S just past the balcony and turn right.  Look up to see a small purple object hanging from the bottom of the bridge.  Combine the crossbow and laser sight and shoot it.  Look left (SW) to find a similar object above the sloped platform just to the left of the dark grotto.  Shoot it as well.  Finally, look W and slightly below the grotto's edge, just to the right of the icicles (assuming you didn't trigger them when going for that large medipack).  You'll see a third object to shoot.  When you do so, the door to the right opens in front of you.

Jump over there and take the ORNATE KEY from the plinth.  You have a good idea where that goes, so jump back across the gap (or into the water and pull out) and go down those stairs you saw earlier.  Sure enough, your key fits the receptacle, so open the gate and slide backwards down the slope.  Grab the edge at the bottom, shimmy right and pull up.  Hop SW into the alcove, pick up the crossbow arrows and pull down the wall switch to open a gate nearby.

Turn around, step out of the alcove and take a curved running jump NE over to where there's a gap in the balcony.  A skeleton awaits, so dispatch it with an explosive arrow.  It leaves behind the first HEART (presumably of the Spriggan variety).   Save your game, then pull down a wall switch in the E alcove, raising a timed platform to your right.  Jump there and immediately swerve left and jump N to a second raised platform to avoid a boulder.  As soon as you land, side jump right (using grab if necessary to clear the low ceiling) into the alcove. 

Step on the trigger tile to raise a third platform in the NE corner.  Jump over to it (it doesn't appear to be timed, but your health bar is shrinking due to the cold) and take a running jump W to the swingpole.  Swing around and jump off onto the balcony, where you're safe once again.  Drop down the hole (where it's cold again), light a flare if necessary and quickly locate and activate the jumpswitch in the dark NE alcove to lift a gate elsewhere.  Return quickly to the balcony and turn right to locate the ladder on the side of the bridge.  Jump to it (if you don't grab high enough you'll be stick, so best take a running jump) and climb up onto the bridge.  Turn around and use the monkey bars overhead to access the E alcove across the way.

Ignore Lara's offer to croon Jingle Bells for you and pick up the crossbow arrows on your right.  Note the four central tiles.  Pull the S block two times onto the nearest SE tile (screen shot).  Pull the block in the E alcove back once, go around it into the passage and step on the ice in the corner to shatter it.  Jump into the cold water and quickly swim SE and up into the passage.  Follow to an opening and pull out S.  Hop down into the trench and push the floor lever to lower a trap door somewhere.  Grab the large medipack on the other side and light a flare to locate a high crawlspace in the W wall of the trench.  Pull up inside and lower Lara down the other end.  Shoot the advancing skeleton for the second HEART. 

Follow this passage around to another floor lever.  Push it to lower a block somewhere.  Go back the way you came, exit via the crawlspace and swim back through the ice-cold water to where you can pull out into the pushblock passage.  Back in the pushblock room, move the second pushblock (the one you pulled out of the passage) into the NE corner of the pushblock room so can climb up on it (the only pushblock in this area you can climb, by the way) and access the opening created by the lowered trap door.  Pull up E, hop down and push the block there once W.  Then turn around and pull down the wall switch to lower a trap door and drop down the pushblock to your right.

Return to the pushblock room and pull that third block out of the N alcove four times so that it comes to rest on the SW central tile (screen shot).  Hop down into the NW hole and find two more pushblocks and a wall switch.  Push the N block two times to reveal a passage to your right.  Shoot a baby spider, then go back S and push the next block one time S.  Go around it and pull that same block once E, then finally go around it again and push it two times W onto the raising tile.  Hop back two times, turn right and pull down the wall switch to raise the tile.

Go around to the dark passage where you shot the baby spider and follow up the stairs.  The top step is a trigger tile.  Push the block four times so that it comes to rest on the NE central tile (screen shot).  Finally, you need to move one of the remaining blocks onto the final NW central tile.  Easier said than done.  Pull the block presently in the far NW corner once E.  Turn around, use the other block to access the higher passage through the opened trap door and loop around left.  Push the block once, and the door you've been seeing in those screen shots finally opens.  If you wish, you can get to a vantage point where you can look down on the nicely arranged pushblocks and see the pattern painted on their tops (with arrows pointing to the outer corners).

Exit the pushblock room W and monkey swing back to the bridge.  Drop down and cross the bridge through the opened doorway.  In the next room push the floor lever to lower the nearby trap door.  Drop down through the hole into a familiar area and find that the W gate is now open.  Hop over the gap with grab, turn around and hop back once to trigger a boulder.  You can't hop back over the gap to evade the boulder, as it follows you into the opening.  You therefore have to hop down where it's cold, but there's a small medipack behind the first pillar on your left.  Run diagonally to the NE corner, pull up onto the lone raised platform (your health bar stops shrinking), use the swingpole to access the balcony, jump back to the bridge ladder and climb up. 

Return to the room with the floor lever, drop through the hole and hop over W once more.  Go up the ramp, turn the corner to the right and stop at the edge of the deep pit.  Jump up to grab the chain (action key only) and swing across to the other side.  Drop down and enter the room ahead.  Turn right and hop back onto the slope.  Jump three times in succession and grab the ladder.  Climb up, and three rungs from the top take a rolling back flip and grab the ladder behind you.  Climb to the top and pull down the wall switch to lower a trap door.  Jump back to the first ladder and climb up to an upper room.

Blow up the waiting skeleton for the third HEART and pull down the wall switch to lift a gate elsewhere.  Get back down and use the chain to get back across the pit.  Go down the ramp and jump E across the gap.  You can't reach the raised platform from the other side, but you can jump down close to it.  Pull up, use the swingpole once more and get back onto the bridge via the ladder.  Return to the room with the floor lever and find that the SW gateway is now open.  Go up the stairs and follow the passage to a wall switch.  When you pull it down an ice barrier is lowered somewhere.

Turn left and jump up to release a ceiling trap door in the alcove.  Use the ladder in the W wall to back flip into an upper passage.  Pull up higher and use the wall switch at the end of the passage to open the gate.  Get across the pit to the S side, using the ledges on either side.  Go up the stairs, passing the torch you may have left here earlier, continue to the S wall and turn right to go up more stairs.  Pull up left onto the ledge and loop around left to return to the sheltered courtyard where you began this level.

Run outdoors and turn right.  Just past the twin archways, climb the blocks and finally pull up N onto the roof of the building.  Pull up higher to the right, hop SE to the ledge underneath the arch, jump NE to a ledge around the corner and follow to a wall switch beyond the lowered ice barrier.  Pull it down to open a door elsewhere.  Reverse roll, retrace your steps to where you pulled up onto the roof, and continue W underneath an arch.  Hop down to a lower ledge, turn right and take a running jump N to an snow-covered ledge beneath a partial arch.  Hop NW to the opening in the ramparts and go around to pull up W onto a ledge.  Look down left and locate the opened doorway.

Hop down, descend the stairway and pull up the trap door at the bottom.  Safety drop to the room below and pick up the BARN KEY.  Go to the NE door, which opens upon your approach.  Go back outdoors and make your way S, then left underneath the dual archway, and NE to a closed door next to the barn you explored earlier.  Use the Barn Key to open the door and enter to find the snowmobile.  Get on it and drive outside.  Turn right, then take another right before you reach the dual archway.  Drive N up the ramp to end the level.

Level 2:  HEART'S ALTAR

Here is the second part of OBig's video walk.

Dismount and go behind the snowmobile to retrieve the three Spriggan (not friggin') HEARTS that fell out when you jumped the ramp.  Get back on the snowmobile and drive it N until you reach an ice wall.  Dismount once more and go back up to where the ramp levels off a bit.  You're still underneath the stone bridge at this point, not out in the open.  Hop up E onto a ledge where the snow and the rock meet.  Standing at the vertex, turn to face slightly SW and take a back flip onto the dark slope.  Jump off immediately and grab a ladder in the W face of the shaft.  Climb to the top and pull out to find some flares. 

Step forward to pull down the wall switch, then get back down to the snowmobile.  Drive it past the lowered ice wall into a confined area with more ice walls.  If you turn left and drive against the right-hand side of the W ice wall, it will obligingly lower for you.  Drive carefully along the bridge to the next ice wall.  The same trick doesn't work here, so dismount and go to the E edge of the bridge (directly opposite the ice wall).  Hop back into the icy water, swim under the ledge and pull down the ceiling switch, reverse roll and swim out S to pull out onto the bridge. 

The icy wall has lowered, so drive the snowmobile along the bridge in the next area and save your game as you approach the ramp leading to the W opening (as you tend to swerve left going up the ramp).  Once through the opening, continue to a large open area.  Dismount here and pull down the N wall switch to raise two platforms to your right (they do not appear to be timed) and temporarily lower an ice barrier protecting a switch in the E wall.  After pulling the switch, immediately turn right and take running jumps across the raised platforms to the E ledge (all in one go without stopping), turn right and pull down the wall switch to lower the platform to your right (and drop a rope behind you).  At this point a boulder is probably rolling down the slope toward you, so if you were quick enough with the switch the boulder will drop harmlessly down the hole.  You can't replicate all this, however, so if you don't get it right the first time you'll have to reload and try again.

Use the raised platforms to get back to the snowmobile.  Don't get on it, however.  Instead, look for the lowered rope and jump to it.  Turn around and swing toward the higher W ledge.  Jump to it and note for later the receptacle in the center of the wall.  Go right to the N wall and jump up to grab the crack.  Shimmy right all the way to the other corner.  Lara will assume a climbing position as if she is on a ladder.  Take a rolling back flip and grab the ice block behind you.  Climb to the top and take a standing jump S to pull up still higher.  Run up the ramp, turn around and lower Lara through the crawl space.  Drop down and pick up the first RECEPTACLE.

Go back the way you came and use the crack to shimmy back left to the other side.  Drop down onto the ledge and go to that receptacle you noted earlier.  Combine Heart1 with your Receptacle1 to form a contraption of some kind that fits in the receptacle.  An ice wall lowers somewhere.  Go back N and safety drop through the hole in the ledge to land near the snowmobile.  Get on it and drive along the bridge past a couple of openings (the first one is particularly tricky to get through) until you reach the confined area where you began.

Dismount and run through the N opening where the ice wall has lowered.  You'll come to a room with floating pillars.  Go to the N wall and face a row of five wall switches.  Counting from left to right, pull these down in the following order (although the raised blocks do not appear to be timed):  4, 2 and 3.  Run to the S end of the canal and jump onto the first (and lowest) pillar and make your way N up the row of pillars, using running jumps (and grabs where necessary).  When you reach the upper N ledge, note the receptacle in the wall ahead, then turn left and go through the W opening.

Watch out for the hole in the floor, as it's difficult to see.  Slide backwards down the slope and grab the edge at the bottom.  Release to grab the crack below, then shimmy around two corners and pull up S into the crawl space.  When you can stand up, go down the stairs and come to a ramp leading up to your left and flame traps to your right.  You can bypass the flames entirely if you like (by going up the ramp and using the jump switch mentioned later), but if you prefer living dangerously you can time your way through the NE passage past the flame blowers.  You can hop down into each hole when the flame is off and pull up into a corner where you'll be safe.   When you've passed the third and final flame, turn around and turn around to take a standing jump S (when the flame goes down) to a slope, and immediately back flip to an upper ledge behind you.

Hop back two times and activate the jumpswitch.  Pull out, turn left and climb the ladder in the E wall past the lowered trap door.  Pull up into the crawl space (screen shot of a gate lifting) and pick up the second RECEPTACLE.  Get back down, make your way past the flame traps (pulling up in the corners doesn't work on the way back, for some reason) or simply back flip to the upper ledge and come down that ramp you bypassed earlier.  Either way, go up the stairs and through the crawl space.  This time shimmy right past one corner and pull up W.  The trap door ahead lowers as you do so.  Lower Lara down the other side of the crawl space and drop down into some ice-cold water.

Quickly swim forward E and pull out of the water in a familiar room.  Use the staggered blocks to get back up to the upper N ledge and use your combined Heart and Receptacle in the pole to lower another ice wall somewhere.  Get back down, hopping from block to block (or simply drop into the water and pull out), and exit SE.  The E opening in the confined area is now available, so enter on foot and hop NE to a sloped but stable ledge.  Hop further NE to the next slope, but be prepared to slide down and grab if necessary, so you can shimmy left to the safe corner.  Once there, take a standing jump forward to grab the crack in the E wall.  Shimmy right until you can pull up into an alcove.  Turn around and hop up to the ledge.  Pick up the third RECEPTACLE and get back to the alcove.  Use the crack to shimmy back left as far as you can.  When you release you'll slide backward, so grab the edge while your health bar shrinks and shimmy left to the safe corner.  Pull up and stand jump forward onto a stable surface.  Jump up and grab the monkey bars.  Monkey swing around the corner and drop down onto a ledge.

Take a running jump SW with grab into the opening ahead and pull out N.  Follow the short passage to a small room with a closed gate on your right and a pole receptacle in the wall to your left.  Combine your final Heart and Receptacle and use it to open the gate.  Go on through to end your adventure.