LB ADVENT CALENDAR 2016 - ANOTHER PRESENT

 

Level by Jesus C. Croft, LoreRaider, masha and Sponge

 

 

Lara is home for Christmas, but she's made some major improvements.  Turn around and activate the red jumpswitch to open the bedroom door.  (Hm, no compass, wonder why.) The bathroom in the corner is attractive but empty.  There's a locked door next to the bed.  Leave the bedroom and go downstairs.

 

In the Main Hall, facing the front door, enter the corner room to the right of the suit of armor. Locate the pushblock in the far left corner and move it all the way across the room, onto a floor tile with scuff marks near the picture window.  The door to the swimming pool opens, so go there and take a bottle of CHATEAU LAFITE 1959 from the plinth (cut scene of a maid).  Go around the right side of the pool, pausing to play some music if you like, and in the corner changing room pick up a health pack

 

Return to the Main Hall and continue past the Christmas tree to the corner room that used to lead to the gymnasium.  Open the door just around the corner and pick up the GIFT BOX in the small room (another cut scene of the maid).  Pull down the wall switch to open a door upstairs and leave this room. Turn right, play more music in the laundry room and continue to the garage.  Pull the classic '57 Chevrolet once (cars weighed less in those days) and go around to reveal SECRET SHIELD #1.  Push the nearby floor lever to open the nearby trap door.

 

Drop down and go downstairs to the far corner to find a wall switch.  Pull it down and return to the garage (there's a ladder you can use to climb out) to find a nearby raised platform. Get on it and activate the jump switch.  Exit to the laundry room and find a red pushblock.  Move it past the working washer-dryer units and into the corner next to the junk unit.  A door opens, so return to the Main Hall, continue straight across a sitting area and loop around left to go downstairs. The opened door is here, so find a small chest you can open for a PACK OF WHITE TEA (another cut scene of the maid).

 

Go back upstairs, continue forward into the kitchen and loop around right to find that popular maid.  Put the bottle of vintage wine into the Gift Box and give the PRESENT to the maid.  In return, pick up the BUNCH OF KEYS she leaves for you (sounds like an inside job).  Vault up onto the stove area and pick up the fairy cakes.  Go to the far corner and shoot the small toaster to reveal SECRET SHIELD #2.  On the way back, open the nearby meat locker to find poor Winston frozen inside. Push him out into the kitchen and move him in front of the open fire past the maid to thaw him out.  (I thought it may have been sufficient to leave him in front on the maid and allow him to stare down the front of her uniform, getting hot and bothered in the process, but that's just because I'm a dirty old man.)

 

Exit the kitchen, return to the Main Hall and go upstairs. When you reach the landing, loop around left and find the open door.  Enter the music room, play some music if you like and go upstairs into the library. Go all the way back and loop around right to find a book switch.  Pull it and step back to pick up the MANUAL.  Exit the library, exit the music room, turn right onto the landing and use the Bunch of Keys to open the next door. Nothing much to this room. However, you do find LARA'S CLOSET KEY inside. Exit, turn right and follow the landing to a keyhole.  Out comes the Bunch of Keys again, allowing access to a stairway leading to a door you can open.

 

Before entering, however, pull down the ceiling trap door at the end of the hallway and use the wall ladder to climb up to a dark attic. In the chest near the window is the CROSSBOW together with an extra quiver of arrows.  Nearby is a doll house you can shoot for a health pack. Turn around and find a short crate you can move for 2 x crossbow arrows. Finally, in the far corner is an open chest containing a DRAGON EMBLEM.

 

Drop down through the trap door and enter what looks like the guest bedroom. Go to the closet, crawl underneath the clothing and follow along the triangular passage to a plinth.  Shoot the box on it to reveal SECRET SHIELD #3.  Exit to the hallway, go downstairs and turn left at the next hallway. Follow to a timed clock button in the wall.  Push it to open another door. Return quickly to the landing, follow around right to the opened door in the corner and sprint into the new room. Nice interior, but nothing to do in here.  At least the door stays open when you reach it in time.

 

Exit and turn left onto the landing. Enter the next room, which turns out to be Lara's bedroom again. You now have a key you didn't have before, so use Lara's Closet Key in the keyhole beside her bed.  Enter the closet and grab the various goodies: some glow sticks, a health pack, a SCARF on the stand (which Lara immediately tries on), and the BACKDOOR KEY in the small chest.  The bathroom, which was empty earlier, is empty no longer. Go there to find SECRET SHIELD #4 in the shower stall.

 

Exit the bathroom, the bedroom and go downstairs. Continue forward into the den (formerly where the front door was located) and turn left at the wall.  In the small anteroom, get on the bed and look through the narrow window for a padlock in the room beyond. Combine the Crossbow with the Manual (which doubles as a laser sight in this game) and shoot the padlock (standing one step away from the back wall) to open the door behind it.  Before leaving, pick up the ALARM CLOCK in front of the narrow window.

 

Go around to enter the new room. Get up on the dresser and push the painting to open a door elsewhere. Exit this room, go straight across to the right of the grandfather clock, turn right and loop around down past the laundry room you visited earlier, through the garage and into the open left doorway at the very back. Pause for the fairy cakes in the alcove to your right, then use the Backdoor Key to open the door.

 

Now you're outside.  Run clockwise around the periphery of the mansion until you reach the snowmobile.  Mount it, turn around and drive it clockwise around the mansion until you reach an apparent dead end.  Dismount and climb the wall next to the fence.  Pull up onto the roof and run forward to find poor Santa stuck in the chimney and calling for help. There's nothing you can do for him at the moment, so run across the breaktile next to the chimney and use the Crossbow to shatter the padlock underneath and trip open the trap door. 

 

Climb down the ladder and push the button to open a short cut to the music room. Take a TORCH from the plinth to your right and run through the music room and up the stairs into the library. Light the torch at the fireplace and take it out to the landing and left to the corner room that had nothing in it before.  One of the braziers in front of the suits of armor is already lit; light the other one. A stray spark melts the ice in the central pool, allowing you to pick up the HERON SWORD.  Throw the torch into the water, as you can always retrieve it later if necessary (it's not, as it turns out).

 

Return to the music room on the other side of the landing, go right through the short cut door and climb back up through the chimney. Don't back flip to the roof, as Lara's unpredictable animation makes this a risky proposition.  Instead, shift left around the corner and drop down from the chimney. Safety drop onto the balcony and take from the plinth what we'll call SECRET SNOWFLAKE #5.  Don't step on the feeding bird as you continue along the balcony and jump over the railing at the end down to the front yard. Run along the front of the mansion past a clock tower and enter a small outbuilding.

 

Insert the Golden Emblem in the receptacle to raise a platform next to the clock tower.  Go there, get on the platform and push the button to raise another, taller platform somewhere.  The clock starts acting funny, indicating that you have initiated a timed sequence.  And indeed you have. Side flip left and climb over the short wall in the corner. Hop down the other side, pause briefly if you wish to push a button that opens a nearby door, then jump over the next wall and dash to the snowmobile.  Drive it around the corner and park it on a flat spot (this may take several tries) near the raised platform.  Use the short block to jump to the platform, pull up right and take a running jump curving left onto the upper balcony.

 

Ignore the feeding birds and take the EMPTY MUG from the plinth. Jump over the railing and get back on the snowmobile. Drive it straight forward to the closed gate, park it and return to the mansion.  Use the Heron Sword to open a crowbar door underneath the balcony you jumped down from. Enter what looks like a junk room and pull down the wall switch in the corner.  Before leaving, pick up BUDDHA'S BOWL on the raised flooring.

 

Go through the garage, the laundry room and back to the Main Hall. Run across, past the central Christmas tree and into the opening to the right of the suit of armor. Go to the left window, locate the Buddha and place the Buddha's Bowl before it.  A panel behind you slides open. Reverse roll and go there to use the Heron Key to pry the MANOR GATE KEY off the wall.

 

Return to the Main Hall, go all the way to the back into the left archway and proceed to the kitchen.  Combine the Pack of White Tea and Empty Mug and place the BIG MUG OF TEA on the stove next to the maid. A motorbike (not used here) magically appears in the garage, and a guest arrives to bring information to Lara.  Exit toward the Main Hall and pause in the sitting area to take the WRAPPING PAPER from the plinth. Continue through the rear hallway, the laundry room, the garage and the junk room and go outdoors via the crowbar door.

 

Go to the parked snowmobile and use the Manor Gate Key in the small keyhole on the right to open the gate.  Drive the snowmobile to the far right corner of the courtyard and dismount.  Enter the nearby square and approach the damsel in the red dress. Place the Scarf around her neck. In return for your kindness she gives you some MONEY. Return to the snowmobile and drive it along the black path past a closed gate to your right. Turn left off the path and find a patch of black slate near the manor wall.  Dismount here and go to where Lara is looking. Use the Heron Sword on the wall splotch to pry off a CANNONBALL

 

Get back on the snowmobile, return to the black path and follow it to an unmarked side road left. Drive around and over a hole to the back steps leading to a columned structure.  Dismount, go up the stairs and insert the cannonball in the cannon. The cannon rotates, fires and blasts a hole in the distant mountainside. Get back on the snowmobile and drive it over the hole back to the black path. Follow to the end, dismount and pull up into the opening blasted by the cannonball. Use the Heron Sword to pry the GLIMMER off the wall and drive the snowmobile back to the closed gate you drove by earlier.

 

Dismount and insert the Glimmer in the crescent-shaped receptacle. The gate opens, so run past the central statue into a gift shop. You apparently have an open tab with the proprietor, so give her the Money you're carrying. Take the PARCEL from the plinth (cut scene of the Main Hall). Return to the snowmobile, drive back to the mansion and enter via the crowbar door at the corner.  Go through the junk room, the garage and the laundry room back to the Main Hall. Combine the Parcel and the Wrapping Paper and place WINSTON'S PRESENT on the plinth next to the Christmas tree.  Winston, all thawed out, the maid and the guest are all right there to exchange Christmas greetings with you as the level ends.