PLUM UNCLE

Level by Drobridski

Walkthrough by Treeble


The author has disabled the title screen, so the level itself will begin straight away upon booting tomb4.exe. This wouldn't be an issue were it not for the fact you're already dying. (Please refer to the footnotes at the end of this walkthrough).

As soon as you see a room with waving water, get ready. Pay close attention to your health bar, you need to waste all but one of your small medipacks in order to survive. Lara eventually shows up in the back end of the screen and you realize she's been on fire the whole time, hence the insane health loss, and she falls onto the water and douses off the fire.

The current pulls Lara toward an opening on the west end. Before heading in, jump across the triangular sandy surfaces on the south wall to eventually find the BREAST PLATE (SECRET #1) over the last, sloped sandy surface. Return to the opening on the west wall and jump across the gap.

From the edge on the opposite side of the gap, face the south wall and jump towards it. It's a climbable wall, so carefully make your way down and to an alcove on the right side where you will find the CROWBAR. Climb back all the way to the top, shimmying to the right so that when you backflip you land on solid ground.

In the next area, shoot the vases to reveal the RIGHT GAUNTLET (SECRET #2) inside the blue one. You can find a small elevation on the ground near the north wall, which you can use to climb to the higher areas, but before you head up, pay close attention to wall right near the beginning of the elevation to spot a crawl space hidden by leaves. Crawl inside and through the benches, then shoot the vases. The blue one holds the LEFT GAUNTLET (SECRET #3). Proceed downstairs for a pack of flares then go back through the middle opening and pry the first GOLDEN STAR off the wall. We'll be back for the other two shortly.

Head back through the crawlspace and climb to the green ledge to your right, then from the upper end of the ledge, around the corner to a crack on the wall. Shimmy left until you can climb up, then make a running jump (no grab) to the green slope dead ahead. Keep bouncing off as you steer sideways to land on the flat spot nearby, then drop down on the west side for the LEFT GREAVE (SECRET #4). Use the mudslide to bounce back to the flat ledge.

Look across the mudslide to spot a few white textures. Jump to the first one, then grab the flat edge of the next one and shimmy right to climb up. A camera fly-by will show a monkey swing near the last white texture; you need to do a running jump, curving to the left, in order to reach the slide immediately below the monkey swing. Quickly bounce off to grab it, then swing all the way to the end to drop on a tree branch.

As you land, turn right and, if you pay attention on the south wall, you might notice a small concealed passage right in front of you. Jump inside (hold the action button so you don't bump and fall) for a disturbing statue, then locate on the right side of the room a slightly raised part of the flooded floor from where you can jump onto the statue arm and collect the HORSEMAN'S GEM (SECRET #5).

Return to the tree branch, jumping from the rightmost side of the opening so you don't need to backtrack, and walk down the narrow pathway towards the wooden frame on the side. Jump and go to its other end, then do a running jump to the rocky ledge towards the middle of the room. From here, you can gather some more flares on a ledge on the SE corner. You must jump to the small triangular branch attached to the central tree, and jump and grab the ledge towards the NW side of it.

Climb the hanging ladder to reach a treehouse at the top. Ignore the harp to the left for now and push open the blue doors. Kill the tinman inside, collecting the CROSSBOW he leaves behind, and throw the lever behind the red block on the NE corner to deactivate the currents in the initial area. Use the ladder to get back down to the ground floor safely and hop over the gap on the east opening.

Swim all the way to the end, spotting an underwater passage on the left side of the red blocks on the bottom. There's only one way forward (and a sink will help you cross a long corridor faster) until you eventually surface in a dark room. Climb off the water on the lower edge to the east. There's a closed door on the SE corner, we'll be back here much later. For now, crawl through the passage on the NW corner into the most pointless maze ever.

Don't bother crawling any deeper than the first opening to the left, where you have to drop and climb out on the other side to reach a small corridor with a pole. Climb the pole and backflip at the top to a room with a glass floor over the remaining Golden Stars. There are two sets of colored floor tiles here. The green ones raise a block in the room below, which can then be deactivated with the nearby red tiles. (If you step on both of the green tiles, you will raise an invisible wall as well which blocks you from retrieving the stars).

Step only on one of the green tiles, then go the long way around (climb down the pole, crawl back to the pool, swim back to the beginning, over the gap in the west wall, through the hidden crawlspace on the north wall, into the center door). After you retrieve the second GOLDEN STAR, sadly you need to backtrack all the way to the previous room above the pole. Step on the red tile near the green one you'd previously activated and only then touch the green tile on the opposite side. To be sure, you can step on both red tiles, and look through the glass floor to see if both blocks have been reset, then step only on the green tile which raises the block you need for the final star. Go the long way around again and get the third darned GOLDEN STAR.

As you do, a tinman shows up behind you. Defeat him and go to the leftmost room of this area for a library of sorts, climb the ladder to the upper floor and place the three golden stars behind the chains to shuffle one of the scroll shelves around. Run through the rocky tunnel and down the slopes to face a ghost rider at the bottom. Once he's done for, you finally get your hands around the MUSIC SCROLL. To leave, find another hidden crawlspace on the south wall.

Time your jump past the first perpetually moving boulder, then when the second one moves towards the right side, quickly run and jump over the slope on the left corner. Go through the passage and you're back in the room with the doorways. Crawl between the benches to return to the previous area and again perform the perilous jump sequences to the monkey swing and eventually to the ladder, to get back to the treehouse at the top. This time, however, you can use the music scroll to open the double doors on the ground floor. You can slide down the mud on the west side for a quick and safe way back there.

Slide down, jumping over the flames as necessary, and retrieve the large medipack (which you might be needing right now) and the BROKEN GLASSES. The exit door opens back in the pool room, but we don't have a way back there just yet as we need to raise blocks over the flames first. To do that, drop through the opening on the NW side of the room to a small maze below. The author got a bit creative with the camera here, but fortunately it's all very simple.

First, turn left (east) and pull the globe to the opposite end. When you can, go around it and push it on top of the orc face on the floor. Make a hairpin turn (heading south) and be mindful of the blades around the floating blue orbs. Turn right (west) and enter the opening beneath Luddick's (man with mustache) face.

There are three sets of green and red tiles, and they work like they did before, this time operating the doors on the tall wall in front of you. When a door is closed, you can use it as a ladder to climb to the doors above. So, first you want to step on the leftmost green tile to open the bottom door. Climb inside, crawl under the pipe and turn around to activate a hidden jump switch to open a door above. Crawl back to the previous room.

Now, close the bottom door and open the top one using the rightmost green tile. At the top, shoot the hanging brass ball to open a door below. Before heading back down, let's make a short detour for a secret. From the edge of the door, light a flare and throw it down the shaft: you will notice an invisible triangular surface to your left. Jump to it and then through the topmost picture of Luddick, holding down the action button so you don't bump off the wall. Go all the way down and you'll find the BROKEN BEETLE (SECRET #6) near a crawl space. Crawl through the passage and you're back to the floor with the colored tiles.

Finally, step on the center green tile to open the middle door, and climb up up there. All doors are open so you can throw the lever to raise the first block. Return to the maze.

Going around the spinning blade, you'll no doubt spot a female face on the floor. A further down the corridor is the next globe; pull it and place it on top of the face tile to kill of the flames blocking entrance to the south challenge room. Go around the corner and enter the passage just below the same woman's portrait.

Collect another crossbow and the LASER SIGHT. Combine them and approach the door, crossbow in hands. What follows up next is a very tight shooting range trap, so save your game before crossing the door threshold. As Lara hinted, you must shoot only the white vases. If you shoot the black ones, Lara's set on fire (and classic Tomb Raider games have very wonky collision systems, so you will undoubtedly shatter the wrong vases by accident). Only four vases are visible, the fifth one is hidden in the back corner, on the left side.

The catch is that, if you aren't quick enough, two boulders will crush you. My suggestion: from the door, quickly run up to the wall ahead and shoot the two vases you see on the left side (from this position, aiming for the one in the back will shatter the one in front, so shoot two bolts in a row), then run left and stop just before the door. Quickly turn around and shoot the vase that was hidden behind a column. Quickly run past the door now and face the wall in the back of the shooting range to shoot the two final vases, shoot just above the sloped floor to hit the hidden one and then aim to the one in plain sight. Speed through the open door to avoid the boulders just in time.

I have recorded a video of this segment, perhaps some visual aid is better.

Inside, throw the lever and the second block to our escape raises. Go through the door and back to the maze. Stick to the right side, past the rotating blade, and enter the east challenge room under the orc portrait.

The funky looking water below is deadly, and we need to get to the double levers on the other end. On the right side, locate a crack in the tree and jump to it. Shimmy around the right corner to drop on a slope, quickly jump and grab the ledge ahead and shimmy left. Up another slope, jump to the crack ahead and then shimmy all the way around the left corner to land on yet another slope, then bounce off steering right to grab the ladder and climb up.

One of the levers opens a nearby door for a secret, the other raises the final block. Flip open the trapdoor from the right side, face the orc portrait and, from the very edge of the platform, press roll and hold down the action button. Lara will fall down the hole with enough momentum to grab the crawlspace. Climb into it and crawl through the narrow passage to the left. When you reach a rocky patch, crawl out and shimmy all the way left to climb up in a dark corner.

Turn around and negotiate the slide jumps ahead, always steering towards the next slope, all the way back to the ladder near the entrance. We could leave, but here's another detour for a secret. Do a running jump towards the south end of the room to to land on a lower platform, near the tree, then turn around and you'll see the open door.

This is a series of identical rooms but there's no way to get lost, and you can take the torch if you don't want to spend flares, but you should have plenty left not to worry about it. Keep heading west, past the blue vase in which a tinman was hiding, until the west passages come to an end with a jumbled portrait. From that point, head through the north passages, and three rooms later, look towards the SW corner to find the WINDING KEY (SECRET #7). There's nothing else down here, so make your way back to the room with the orc levers.

Jump back to the lower tree branch and repeat the entire jumping, crawling, shimmying and jumping sequence to return to the entrance above. Time to finally leave this place. In the maze, go past the nearby rotating blade and enter the second opening to the right, then climb out of the maze and use use the raised blocks on the entrance slope to return outside.

Head east and jump the gap one last time, then swim through the underwater opening and emerge on the other end of the tunnel to finally cross that door in the SE corner. As you approach the man on the wall, you are warped to Tattipottyland. In this seemingly empty room with flashing colors, climb up through the north wall on the NE corner to locate the GOLDEN VRAEUS (SECRET #8). Your secret items are all jumbled up in this micro level, but it doesn't matter as we've reached the end.

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Footnotes:

1. To exit the game, press Alt+F4. As stated in the introduction, the author has disabled the title screen, so choosing that option in the pause menu brings you back to the level start.

2. Even though it's not necessary, you can download a savegame at the start of the level with unlimited large medipacks right here if you don't mind a little cheating for a mind at ease.