TR ADVENT CALENDAR 2024 - A LITTLE CHRISTMAS STORY

Levels by PhryneCroft

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth.

Video walks have been provided by Saki Croft, by LoreRaider, and by Doggett TV.

Level 1: THE COZY CROFT MANOR

After the opening flyby, turn left and open the N door. Turn left in the hallway and open the W door to another hallway. Loop around left and note for later the ladder leading up to the attic. For now, return to the first hallway and go downstairs to find two more doors you can open. First, open the S door to the kitchen and run around the central stove to approach the maid standing near the back wall. A cut scene shows a door opening elsewhere, so exit the kitchen, open the N door at the foot of the stairs and enter a dining room. Grab a small medipack and flares at the end of the table near Winston, go back upstairs to the opened door and enter an office bedroom. There are more flares and a small medipack on the table on the table at the foot of the bed. Open the W door to the bathroom and find a BUNDLE OF KEYS.

Go back downstairs to the kitchen past the maid and use the keys to open the door in the back wall. Go down to the cellar and find a pushblock to the left of the wine cask. Push it three times to reveal another pushblock to your right. Pull this one once, get over it and push it one time S. Behind you is a third pushblock. Pull it once, get over it and search the shelves on the right for the CLIMBING AXE which opens the wooden gate to your left. Push the button inside for a flyby through the attic that you'll next visit. Climb back over the pushblock, go back up through the kitchen and up the stairs to the hallway leading to the attic hallway.

Climb the ladder to the attic, loop left around the dresser and go into the next room to find the LIBRARY KEY on the secretary. Exit, climb down to the hallway, go downstairs and loop right around the banister to the back corner. Use the Library Key to open the door and go left inside the library to  find a wall switch. Turn right, find a second wall switch beside the portrait and a shelf rotates to your right. Enter the next room and take the RED HEART FRAGMENT 1 from the table as a door opens in the attic hallway. Return to the stairs, go past to the door leading to the attic and turn right to find the opened door. Enter the next room and Lara will walk up to a dresser as a door opens elsewhere and the PISTOLS (with limited ammo) are added to your inventory.

Exit this room, climb the ladder to the attic and climb the block straight ahead. Hop down right, stoop to shoot the small chest and pick up the SECRET SILVER KEY. Exit, climb back down the ladder, go downstairs and through the open doorway ahead to get back outdoors. Turn right past the half-opened gate and follow the walkway around clockwise until you come to a closed gate that you can open with the Climbing Axe. Loop around right past the stacked logs and use the Secret Silver Key to open the floor trap door beside you. Drop or climb down to a lower room and find a timed wall switch in the connecting passage. Pull it down, turn right and sprint past the timed door to another wall switch. If you get there in time and keep the door arrow key depressed during the resulting cut scene, you'll hop back through the timed doorway before the door closes. Otherwise, just pull the second switch back up.

Climb back out past the opened trap door and loop around left past the lifted gate and open the small chest for GOLD SESTERCES and SECRET #1. Exit, return along the walkway toward the mansion, but at the crossing turn right and continue E away from the mansion until you reach a roundabout. Go around left and keep to your left until you reach a gate that you can open with the Climbing Axe. Step forward into an underground area, turn right and go through a tunnel into an open area where a scenic flyby is triggered.  Go left around the central building past a wooden fence and vault up N into an opening. Run through a spider web and pull down the wall switch to open a door elsewhere.

Go back the way you came, loop around left to the rear of the central building and locate a vine ladder. Climb up the left side until you can shift right around two corners, pull up into the alcove and open the chest for SECRET #2. Climb down the same path to the ground and go around the building into the S tunnel. Continue past a gated side passage and into a clearing. The opened door is to your left, but it's not time to go there yet. Instead, go forward past the gap in the fence and drop down two times in front of a mine shaft that leads to a deep pit. Stay left, hop over the gap and jump to grab the W wall crack. Shimmy right until you can drop next to a small medipack and flares. Hop onto the nearby slope, slide and drop with a left curve onto the ledge below with no health loss.

Go through the N opening and follow to a storage area where Lara looks to her left. Climb the crates against the wall and jump S to grab the wooden platform. Pull up near a wall switch that shatters the thin ice covering the pond below, get down there and pick up the TOWER KEY. Exit to the pit, climb the ice blocks and go back through the mine shaft to pull out to the clearing. Return N to the central building and use the Tower Key to open the entrance door. Enter the cozy interior, pull down the W wall switch to open the trap door blocking the ladder and climb up to the landing. Go around right to find another wall switch that opens the trap door blocking the ladder on the other side of the landing.

Climb up to the next landing, where there are two wall switches. Pull down the one on the N side, climb the E ladder to the next landing, go around to the W wall switch and save your game for a timed run. Pull down the switch, drop down to the next landing and pull down the S wall switch you ignored earlier to open the trap door to your right, continue down to the bottom floor, exit the tower and loop around left to the other side where you'll find a floor hole. Drop down past the timed trap door and continue to a dark cellar.

Pull up onto the crate to your left for flares and a large medipack, get down and push the nearby wall button to open a trap door somewhere. Light a flare and look for a high crawl space near the NE corner. Pull inside and shoot two grates blocking your path. Flip out into the next room, climb over the crates and find the TOWER CELLAR KEY. Return through the crawl space, open the W gate with your key and proceed outdoors to awaken a skeleton that, surprisingly enough, doesn't immediately attack you (but will if you stick around). Go past the burning edifice and open the wooden gate with your Climbing Axe. Turn left in the alley for the OLD ICE CAVE KEY, exit to the cellar and go up the S ramp to climb back outdoors.

Loop around right, enter the S tunnel and turn right into the side passage. Use your key to open the gate and run across the frozen pond for the SMALL WATERSKIN (cut scene). Exit to the tunnel, loop left around the central building and find a small pool where you can fill your waterskin. Return to the floor hole on the E side of the central building, drop down and return to the cellar. If the skeleton is still around, it seems to be wandering elsewhere. Just past the opened W gate, turn left into the room with the swirling lights and empty the waterskin into the bowl to douse the flames protecting the nearby edifice. Exit and go into the W side room for the CELTIC KNOT. Its receptacle is near the NE crawl space you used earlier, so go there and place it to create a nearby opening.

Go down the N ramp to an office. Take the RED HEART FRAGMENT 2 from the table and look for a SW wall button that opens a gate elsewhere. Exit S up the ramp, turn right and go to the outdoor area where you got the Celtic Knot. The opened gate is at the back right corner, so go there and open the small chest for SECRET #3. Exit the cellar and climb the ladder out of the central building. Go around right into the S tunnel once again and turn left at the broken fence to that wooden gate you opened long ago. Stay to your right until you come to the roundabout. Go around it through the S tunnel and continue to a closed gate. Combine the two heart fragments and place the RED HEART in the receptacle to open the gate. Step forward to complete the level.

Level 2: A WALK THROUGH THE NIGHT

Follow the walkway W and continue forward over the rise to trigger a flyby through the idyllic area ahead. Approach the cabins and go around them to the right. Continue to a building surrounded by water and note the turning wheel. Go around to the front entrance for SECRET #4, return to the cabins, turn right into the short alley between two of them and loop around right to find the MINE KEY on a barrel (cut scene). Go back through the alley, turn right and return to the walkway that you exited.

Turn right and follow the walkway S to a frozen stream and a monument. Turn left, hop over the railing and open the wooden gate with the Climbing Axe. Step into a mine shaft and place the Mine Key in the receptacle to your left to open a trap door in the tracks. Use the ladder to climb down to a lower dig area and approach the mine cart for a brief cut scene. Avoid contact with the poisonous mushrooms as you follow the tracks past a wooden barrier to trigger a longer flyby through the area ahead.

Run forward around the bush and open the wooden gate with the Climbing Axe. Walk to the edge of the cliff and carefully jump the column tops to get across to the wooden ledge. For me, this required a running jump from the first to the second column, followed without stopping with a running jump to grab the third column (the gap between the two being too great to be covered with a simple running jump and grab). Climb or drop down the floor hole and continue down the ramp into a storage room. Turn left, then right, go to the N wall and jump left to grab the crawl space. Pull inside and go past a gap in the fence through a fixed camera, drop onto a crate at the other end and hop down.

Push the wall button near the mine cart to cause a minor explosion that clears some debris away from a passage. Run S past the mushrooms, go up the ramp and climb the ladder back up to the wooden ledge. Hop to the first column, and from this side you can reach the next column with a simple running jump and grab. Continue across to the other side, go past the opened gate and turn right through the tunnel. Crawl to a new area, continue through the opening toward a closed gate and go up the left side of the ramp on your right to trigger a boulder. Hop over the wooden barrier, turn right, go past the mine cart and save your game in front of the generously timed wall switch. Pull it down, reverse roll, loop around right and turn left past the timed gate.

Jump over the mushroom pit and the wooden barrier, hop over another mushroom pit and come to another timed wall switch. This one is a little more complicated. Pull it down, reverse roll and jump over the wooden barrier and the mushroom pits, loop left around the first timed gate, turn right and jump over the next wooden barrier, slide down toward the boulder and turn right to get past the second timed gate. Go to the back right corner, shoot the wooden chest for a large medipack, go back and loop around right through the opening to a short passage leading to an underground stream. Follow the ice ledge around left and pull up W to a higher ledge.

Run forward into a storage area, use a crate to jump over the metal fence and go down the steps to a small lake. Fill the small waterskin, go back up and over the metal fence. Shoot the wooden slats blocking the W opening, enter the next room and climb the block. Pour the contents of the waterskin into the bowl for a brief cut scene of the lake area, hop down, fight the collision of the skeleton on the ledge to grab another large medipack and return to the lake. Swim over to the block just past the waterfall, pull up onto it and jump N into the opening. Walk forward and dive down into the water fall below. Climb out onto the lower corner block, take a running jump N to grab the next block, pull up and jump through the waterfall to grab the higher ledge.

Pull up in front of a wall switch and pull it down to operate platforms that rise and fall intermittently. Jump back into the water, climb out onto the low block and jump E to grab that block. Pull up, climb the vine ladder to your right (to get up faster, keep the jump, action and up arrow keys depressed until you near the top) and pull up to the higher ledge. Loop around right, wait for the platforms to rise and stand jump onto the first one. Continue with a running jump with a left curve to land inside the corner alcove (completely ignoring the second raised platform). Face NE, jump over to the ledge and take the CELTIC KNOT from the plinth (brief cut scene).

Jump back into the water, climb out onto the low block, jump to the E block and climb the vine ladder to the upper ledge. Go through the short passage, jump into the smaller lake but don't pull out onto the steps. Instead, swim down and through the W opening to emerge in an icy pond. Pull out W, go forward and find the receptacle for the Celtic Knot. Insert it to open the door to your left and proceed through a couple of small rooms to a cavern with a frozen central pond. From the pond turn left, pull up onto the ledge and drop down in front of a S opening that brings you to a cliff overlooking a lake. Jump down into the water, swim right past the columns and pull out onto a ledge with the swirling dots.

Face NE and jump into the triangular opening to find a small chest with SECRET #5. Hop back down to the ledge and climb the vine ladder to an upper tunnel. Go on through and shoot the wooden chest for a small medipack and flares. Go through the N opening and open the wooden gate with the Climbing Axe. Step out onto a stone bridge and run forward. Turn left in front of the block and jump to grab the vine ladder. Climb up, shift left and drop onto one of several ledges spanning the room. Without coming into contact with the mushrooms, go around to step on the five marked tiles on these ledges. When you've accomplished this, a block lowers elsewhere.

Safety drop to the stone bridge, hop to the block in the E alcove to get down lower without losing health and go through the opening in the E wall to an indoor pool with a couple of those swirling lights. Go around the ledges to the other side to find an OLD LINEN BAG next to the skeleton. Jump into the pool and swim past the narrow E opening to pull out near a wall switch that drains a previous area. Swim back through the opening, pull out NW near the swirling lights and pull up onto the N ledge. Pull up higher to a passage and run down the ramp to the ledge overlooking the drained pool.  Safety drop onto the block below and hop down to find a wall switch on the block that lifts some blocks that will later allow you to climb back out.

For now, go through the E opening and up the steps. Climb up higher and continue E to the back right corner. Drop from the ledge to a lower area and go N, then E, then N again to a slope. Go up either right or left and a cut scene will be triggered as you proceed toward the back N wall and face a row of wall switches, three with handles and one without. Pull down all three switches, working your way from left to right (the order does matter) and a floor trap door opens near the first switch. Climb down, enter the next room and Lara will look at the LARGE GRAVEL STONES on the floor. Stand next to the device in the alcove, combine the Old Linen Bag and the Large Gravel Stones and place the STONE BAG for a flyby through a couple of areas. You hear what sounds like the pounding of squishy blocks, but ignore that.

Go back up the ramp, climb the ladder to the room with the wall switches, exit S and turn right on the grated floor in front of the waterfall, go to the back right corner (NW), climb the block and jump up S to pull up to the outdoor area you saw in the flyby. Turn right, drop down W to the lower area and continue down the steps to the room with the raised blocks. Use them to reach the S ledge and go up the steps to the other area you saw in the flyby. Drop down the blocks to a platform and move the pushpiece from the SE corner onto the marked NE tile. Find a second pushpiece behind the waterfall and move it onto the other marked (green) tile. Nothing seems to happen, but hop onto the block next to the waterfall and pull up W onto the ledge.

Go through the W openings past the frozen pond and into a room with grated floors. Turn right, jump the gap and go up the N steps to trigger a couple of boulders. Take refuge in one of the side alcoves and continue up the steps. Vault up onto the ledge, approach the plinth and you'll cause a brief earthquake.  Grab a TORCH, hop back down, enter the E passage and follow to a crossing. Continue to the alcove ahead, drop the torch and pull down the timed wall switch to light a bowl back in the room with the grated floors. Reverse roll, pick up the torch on your way out of the alcove, run back the way you came and down the steps, jump over the gap and light the torch before the flame goes out.

Follow the same route to the crossing with the timed wall switch alcove, turn right past the triangular opening and jump the ledges to reach the other side. Hop over to the right and stand near the rope to set it aflame and drop the boulder into the room below. You're not through with the torch, so bring it back to the N ledge, look down and toss it right or left so that it lands on the lower ledge that surrounds the room. Safety drop with some health loss, drop again onto the block and hop over to the platform with the two pushpieces. One is already in place, so move the other one onto the marked tile and watch the ensuing cut scene as a giant stone wheel turns. Use the block to get up to the intermediate ledge, retrieve your torch and go through the E opening where the block lowered earlier.

Use the ledges on your right to get up onto the stone bridge with a few laborious jumps. Run N until you trigger a small earthquake and a flyby with spooky music. Leave your torch here, look down and drop into the water below. Swim over to the SE corner and locate an alcove with an underwater lever. Pull it to lower a block and expose another secret. Surface, pull out, hop onto the nearby slope and jump off to land on a block. Jump W to the next block, take a running jump to grab the N block, pull up and face the E swingpole. Stand jump to grab it, swing around and jump off to land on the next block. Take a running jump to grab the ledge next to the waterfall, pull up and find the wall switch that lowers a tall block elsewhere.

Drop back into the water, pull out SE and climb the vine ladders back up to the stone bridge area. Hop onto the SE block and jump to grab the N vine ladder so you can climb even higher. Pull up, turn back to your left and take a running jump into the narrow gap. Hang from the edge, shimmy right along the wall crack and pull up into an opening. Stand jump to the NW ledge and pull down the wall switch to lower another tall block elsewhere. Hop back to the previous opening, shimmy to the other side and hop to the ledge with the vine ladder. Climb down to the stone bridge area and look for a large medipack next to the nearby skeleton.

For the last secret, exit S and before you reach the next opening use the blocks to your left to get down to the lower section. Go past the N columns and find the alcove where the block lowered to claim SECRET #6. Use the blocks to get back up to the stone bridge, return all the way N and turn right at the burning bowl. Enter the E room where the tall block lowered and find a crowbar switch between two candle slabs. Use the Climbing Axe to lift a door elsewhere, to lift a platform behind you and to release a boulder. Save your game, take a running jump along the lifted platform to reach the boulder ledge, continue with a running jump slightly NE onto the boulder-trapped block. Immediately stand jump forward onto the ledge as the second boulder rolls by.

Pull up into the W alcove, turn around and stand jump to grab the higher E ledge. Pull up, face S and use the rope to get across to the other side. Run past the opened doorway and pull down the wall switch to hear the sound of a door opening (the cut scene conveys little information). Safety drop to the ledge below at the cost of some health, exit W to the stone bridge area and retrieve your torch. Continue through the W opening where the tall block lowered and drop your torch near the timed wall switch. Save your game, pull down the switch to lift some timed platforms, pick up the torch and stand jump N across two raised platforms. Take another jump onto the ledge ahead, hop up onto the block and jump up SE to a higher block. Take a running jump onto a third raised platform and jump forward onto the S ledge. Light the two wall sconces to lift the door between them and enter the alcove for the RED HEART.

Safety drop to the ledge below, exit E to the stone bridge area and turn left at the burning bowl. Place the Red Heart in the vacant receptacle to lift the nearby door and go on through to trigger a flyby through the room ahead. To your right next to the candle slab is a large medipack. There are four stands on the central ledge, each one bearing a book. Only one is safe, and that's the one on the N side of the room. Pick up the BOOK OF ADVENTURES and exit the room S to trigger a concluding flyby.