CLEOPATRA'S OTHER PALACE

Level by Terry Barrett (Dhama)

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth

Lara begins in a small dark pit. Step forward, climb the first block ahead and pick up the flares. Then pull up onto the edge of the slope ahead and slide down into a room with a stone tile floor. Turn to your right and face the large pool. Run around the ledge for fun and note the closed door near the NW corner and the steam blower above the slope where you entered. Jump into the water and locate the shotgun ammo and crossbow arrows on the north and south sides of the central burner tile design. Then swim to the SE corner and open the door you'll find there.

Swim into the passage, where you'll encounter a mini-maze. Take the first turn to the right, keep going past the opening to your left, take another right and swim down into the hole for some crossbow arrows. Go back the other way, take that first turn (now to your right) and follow to an underwater room. Pick up the CROSSBOW, then return through the passage, turn right at the crossing, then turn left and return to the large pool for some air. Then dive back down, turn left at the bend and go to the end. Swim down into the hole to your left for some more crossbow arrows and return to the large pool. Pull out and note that the door in the NW corner is now open.

Enter the next room and greet the horde of beetles that pours out of the wall to your right as you enter. Run over to the south end of the room, vault up onto the block and quickly pick up the SHOTGUN. Then locate the crawl space in the west wall and use it. Unfortunately, the beetles follow, so drop down the other side, stop to pick up the nearby small medi-pack lying on the floor, and head west down the hallway. Turn right at the bend and go down the stairs. Both of the coffins you pass are empty, so you needn't bother shooting them.

At the bottom of the stairs you come to a ledge overlooking a large room. If you go to your left, you'll find your way to a wide ledge in the NE corner where you'll be rewarded with a small medi-pack. (This is also the area you need to go to in order to get back up should you slip and fall to the floor during any of the moves described below. You need to hurry, though, because not only will the beetles come after you, a skeleton will be awakened.) Go back to the ledge where you entered, turn around to face north, hop back and grab the ledge, and shimmy to your left past the obstruction and around the corner (this is where you'll most likely lose all the beetles that haven't given up by this time), and pull up when you're able to. Turn to face north and take a running jump to the ledge ahead. Step forward and take a standing jump to the pillar in the NE corner. Turn to your left and take a running jump to the slope ahead. Keep the jump key depressed so that you bounce off, and grab the edge of the flat pillar ahead. It gets mighty dark here, so pull up, light a flare and turn to your left to face south. Take a running jump to the next pillar.

From here, take a running jump forward and bounce off three sloped surfaces and then land on a flat one. Turn to face SW, and from the back of the pillar light a flare and take a standing jump to the sloped surface. Bounce off three slopes and land on a flat pillar against the west wall. Turn to face east, then jump up and grab the ceiling. Monkey swing across the room, turn left at the bend, and drop down onto the L-shaped ledge. As you step forward, a burst of alert music heralds the awakening of a skeleton ahead and to your right.

Equip yourself with the shotgun, then take an angled running jump slightly to your left to the first slope. Keep the jump key depressed and bounce off that one and three more until you arrive at the ledge with the skeleton. Blast it over the side with your shotgun, then keep that shotgun out and follow the ledge west. You'll soon alert a harpy, so deal with it as well. You see something on the floor ahead, so safety drop and go over for some crossbow arrows. Use the nearby blocks to get back up, then take a running jump to the ledge south. Enter the next area via the passage in the SW corner.

Try not to look too long at the psychedelic pattern below or you'll start to get dizzy (and if you fall down there, you'll discover that it's deadly as well). Take a standing jump over the south gap and deal with the awakened skeleton. Continue along the ledge for some crossbow arrows, then go back the way you came. Take a running jump north to the middle ledge, then from there take another running jump ahead to the flat pillar. Take a standing jump to the sloped surface, and jump off to the ledge along the north wall. Follow around to the stairs; but before going up, arm yourself with the shotgun and take an angled running jump to the left. Shoot the harpy, then go over to the SE corner for some shotgun ammo.

Jump back to the previous ledge, turn left and go up the stairs. A skeleton will greet you when you reach the top, so run around it and down the east hallway, where a second skeleton will rise from the ashes. Blast them both over the side with your shotgun (although, come to think of it, there's no reason why you can't blow them away with a single explosive crossbow arrow), then step up onto the block near the pit to trigger a number of spike traps down below. Carefully make your way across to the other side, and when you step on the sidewalk you'll trigger a veritable minefield of spikes. However, they're now inert, so you can step off the sidewalk without fear.

However, let's first continue along the sidewalk and go down the stairs to the east. At the bottom you'll come to a large room laced with a bunch of that psychedelic poison, and a DEMIGOD that comes up to challenge you from ahead and to your left. Deal with him, then explore this area for some crossbow arrows (on the floor, around the middle of the east wall, in the SW corner, and in the NW corner), some shotgun ammo (north wall), and a large and a small medi-pack near the middle of the room (which alerts a harpy from the north side of the room).

Locate the wall ladder near the SW corner and climb up to an upper room with a skylight. Raid the tombs for some flares (which awakens another DEMIGOD down below) and a HORSEMAN'S GEM (which brings more beetles running). Shake the beetles by hanging from the central pit and let them spill over the side down to the burner tiles below. Climb back down the ladder and deal with the demigod, then run over to the SE corner and drop down through the hole there. You find yourself in an underground sewer. Not much to do here; hold your nose and wade to the other side for some shotgun ammo on the south ledge. Use the crawl space in the SW corner for some crossbow arrows in the small enclosed room, then return to the sewer, wade to the other end and pull up through the NW hole.

Leave this area via the NE doorway and run back up the stairs. A skeleton has been summoned to greet you, so dispose of it before continuing down the south hallway. Keep your crossbow out and shoot the harpy that flies out of the SW corner, then pillage the three nearby coffins for two stashes of shotgun ammo and a small medi-pack. Continue down the east hallway and through a pink room. Turn right into the dark anteroom and use the crawl space in the south wall. Enter a dreary cavern with a smoldering fire and an incongruous water fountain. You'll find a spare CROSSBOW in the NE corner and some crossbow arrows on the south side of the fountain. There are additional crossbow arrows on a ledge near the middle of the west wall.

Locate the opening near the SW corner of the cavern wall and go inside. Make a dogleg turn to the right around a rocky obstacle and make a hairpin turn to the left for some flares. Then continue through the cavern until you reach a hole in the floor at the west wall. Turn around, hop back and grab the edge, and climb down the east face of the deep shaft.

At the bottom, go over to the west wall of the dark cavern and you'll soon hear the chimes of SECRET #1. Pick up the MUSIC SCROLL, then face north and run toward the tunnel. Just before entering, turn to your right and go over to the alcove in the east wall. Pick up the CROWBAR as a scissor blade trap is activated at the tunnel entrance. Time a run past the blades and pick up the flares at the end of the tunnel. Use the crowbar on the face door to open it. Step inside to face another pool of psychedelic poison. Jump up to grab the ceiling and monkey swing to the other side, doing your best to ignore the stinging darts and the harpy that's alerted just before you've completed your trip. Drop down onto the ledge, shoot the harpy and use the gem in the wall receptacle to open the door.

Head down the ramp past the wall steam blowers, and don't be concerned about the shallow hole at the bend. Continue down the ramp and pick up the small medi-pack at the bottom. Head into the icy room and, instead of pulling up onto the ice block ahead, jump through the gap to your left to the floor below. Go over to the west alcove and pick up the shotgun ammo. There are apparently no more pickups down here, so use the blocks in the east wall to climb back up. When you get to the NE corner you'll alert a harpy, so kill it before continuing up the ice ramp. Jump over the gap and deal with another harpy at the NW corner.

Hop back and grab the ledge at the west wall, and shimmy to the left past the obstruction. Pull up on the other side, turn left and resume your trek along the ledge, and kill the harpy and the skeleton awaiting you up on the east slope. Go up there, turn right and vault up into a bare room. Step forward into the darkness to end the level.