Tomb Raider the Angel of Darkness LEVEL 26: THE VAULT OF TROPHIES
UNDERWATER TUNNELS: Swim through the tunnel around the corner to the left. To get past the spikes, aim for the top where there is no horizontal spike and then swim through when the vertical spikes retract. Beyond the first set of spikes is an intersection of passages where you'll find air up at the ceiling. The current draws you forward here, but if you want to, you can avoid the next set of spikes by taking the long way around, through the passage to the right. (The passage to the left is a dead end.) You'll also find air above the next intersection.
At this second intersection, go left (or straight if you took the long way around the spikes). This passage ends beyond the next corner. The tunnel you want is down the well-lit vertical shaft on the left just before the corner. Swim down the shaft and straighten out so Lara is facing the vertical support beam. All passages here are dead ends except the one to the right; go that way. Swim through the long tunnel with the wooden supports. At the end turn left and then right to find an air pocket in the ceiling. Climb out here and pick up bandages and an Aqua-lung. Find the aqua-lung in your inventory under items and use it. This will give Lara an extended supply of air, making the next sequence a bit easier.
Jump back into the water and continue along the passage, which curves around to the right and dead-ends in a brick wall. Press Action here to make Lara kick through the stones.
UNDERWATER ROOM WITH STATUES: The flooded room beyond is lined with the statues of Lux Veritatis heroes of bygone days. If you have the Aqua Lung, you can probably complete this sequence without having to surface for air. But in case you need it, there's another bricked-up section of wall opposite the one where you broke in. Break that wall down and swim through to find another air pocket.
To open the exit in the ceiling, first scope out the carved plaque. You get a notebook update here about "brothers reunited see the gates thrown open." Note also the two big carved letters on the plaque: L and V. These not only stand for Lux Veritatis; they're also a clue to the puzzle. Find the two statues whose names begin with those letters, Limoux and Vasiley. Pull the chain in the alcove behind each one to move the corresponding statue toward the center of the room. When you've moved both statues, magical light shoots up from their swords, breaking a hole in the ceiling. If you need it, you can get air behind the bricked-up wall first. Then swim up through the hole in the ceiling.
Cut scene: Lara climbs out of the water and changes into dry clothes.
Run down the tunnel, but slow down after the drop-off. A little ways ahead, there's a pounding block trap. To get past it, back up from it a few steps to give Lara time to speed up when she runs. Start running when the block comes down and sprint through to safety before it comes down again.
DEEP PIT WITH FLOATING PLATFORMS: Continue along the passage. At the cave mouth, pull the lever on the right to raise some floating platforms. Not all of these are stable, so save your game before attempting to jump across.
(NOTE: It is possible to get to the alcove high on the cave wall to the right; however the pick-up inside is another Aqua-lung, which you won't need during the remainder of the game. So unless you just want the thrill of discovery, you can skip it.)
To get from the cave entrance to the tunnel on the other side, you'll need to figure out which blocks are solid and use them to get across. First back away from the edge so Lara is standing at the top of the slight slope in the tunnel opening (where there's a seam between the textures). Jump to the floating platform that's third from the left in the second row of platforms. Walk to the front edge and jump from there to the large stone ledge ahead. When you approach the far side of that ledge, three more floating platforms appear ahead. Position Lara near the edge and jump to the farthest of the three platforms. From there, you can jump to the tunnel opening.
LIBRARY: Follow the tunnel down to the library. There are 2 undead knights here. Knocking them down twice will destroy them. Or, you can also draw them back along the tunnel to the pit and shoot or kick them off the edge. It takes quite a few rounds to shoot them, though, (or several health packs to go hand-to-hand) so you may just want to try and avoid them.
Examining the book on the worktable updates your notebook: Three periapts joined together burn with righteous light to confine evil.
In the library, pull the lever to the right of the fireplace to gain an upper-body strength upgrade and open a secret compartment behind one of the bookcases to the left. Here you'll find some bandages. Once Lara is strong enough, pull the chain to the right of the tapestry. This raises the picture, revealing a climbable wall.
Climb the wall up and to the right. Grab onto the horizontal crevice, traverse around to the right and pull up onto the wooden ledge. Turn to face out over the room and jump straight up to grab the beam made of metal grating. Traverse out to the center of the room and drop onto the grating ledge. Grab the beam again and traverse out toward the chandelier and fireplace. At the end of the beam, drop onto the small wooden box. Lara's weight operates a mechanism, opening another secret compartment below. Safety drop to the floor and go to the compartment to get the Last Obscura Painting.
The mechanism you just used also extinguished the fire in the fireplace, so you can crawl through. There's a pool in the small room beyond. Jump in and swim down. Follow the underwater passage down and then around to the left. Swim on past the wooden support, then to the right. Just above there's an air pocket. Continue swimming along the tunnel as it slopes down and then turns right. At the next intersection, go to the right. (Straight and left are dead ends.) Surface in a large, round room.
Cut scene: As the floor rises, taking Lara with it, Eckhardt congratulates her on a job well done. He offers to trade Kurtis for the painting. Seeing no other option, Lara complies. Eckhardt orders Gunderson to release Boaz. Then he tosses the bumbling Muller down into the arena and exits the area. As Boaz enjoys making a snack of her former colleague, Kurtis gives Lara a boost up to the ledge. He tosses her the two shards and says he'll deal with Boaz.
Copyright © 2003 - Stellalune (e-mail stella@tombraiders.net). Special thanks are given to the participants in the alt.games.tombraider newsgroup, without whom some parts of this walkthrough couldn't have been written. Feel free to copy, distribute and quote this walkthrough, but please include this credit line so people can send me their corrections, comments and suggestions. Also, if you'd like to offer this on your own web site, please read and follow the instructions here.
This page has been slightly modified. To see the original, click here.