Note: This walkthrough contains
hidden "spoilers". To see the text that is concealed by the solid blocks, hold
the left mouse button down and drag the cursor
across.
Test spoiler: The
men are complaining about strange noises coming from inside the
tomb.
The Curse of
The Ancients
Walkthrough
Important Note: Make sure you save a holy water
arrow for The Tomb of Ailmar and a fire arrow for The Tomb of Saldic as you
won't find the equipment you need in the crypts.
The Town
You begin in a street with a
hole in the east wall with a sign posted over it that says "Abandon ye hope all
who enter here." Oops! That doesn't sound good but let's forge ahead anyway.
Crawl through the hole and turn right (S) to the Bar.
Enter the back
storeroom and look inside a tipped-over barrel for a scroll which tells you
about the Tomb of Ailmar. Back in the bar, hop over the counter and slide open a
wall panel to find 2 purses (+200). Return to the street, walk east to the
corner and turn left (N). Walk a little way and look for a window on your left.
It looks low enough to climb into but it isn't, so sink a rope arrow into the
wood beam above, then climb up the rope a little way and jump through into the
Weaponsmith's. Head upstairs and into the north room where you can pick up the
"Weaponsmith's key" from the counter.
Help yourself to a water arrow (adds 4 to inventory) that's lying in the sink
then use the key to let yourself into the bedroom, which is on the south side of
the building. There's a scroll describing the Tomb of Salamar lying on the table
with a purse (+100 = 300) sitting beside it.
Walk downstairs and use the
key to unlock the shop door. Inside, there are 3 mines, 4 fire arrows, a water
arrow (adds 6 to your inventory), 4 moss arrows and a rope arrow (adds 3 to your
inventory).
Unlock the street door, turn right (S) and walk up to the
corner. Head left (E) and enter the Inn, which is on the right (S). In Room 2,
which is on the east side of the main floor, you'll find a ring (+100 = 400) in
a small box. Upstairs, in Room #10 in the west wing, you can pick up a gold
plate (+50 = 450) and a gold goblet (+25 = 475). Check Room #9 in the east wing
and you'll find Lord Heathcote's Serpentile
Torc sitting on the fireplace mantle. This completes an objective on Expert difficulty
which is not present on Easy or Hard. You're done here so return to the street,
cross to the door opposite the Inn and enter the Church House.
In the
sitting room fireplace, you'll find a scroll about the Tomb of Saldic and in the
kitchen, help yourself to 2 gold plates (+100 = 575) and 2 gold goblets (+50 =
625). There's a door to the basement in the office. Walk down
the stairs and look for a section of the wall on the right (E) that lights up.
Click on it to open it and enter an underground tunnel. At the corner,
turn left, climb a ladder and then flip a lever on the wall to open a secret
door into the church.
Head up the stairs in this room to a small library
where there's a ghost pacing around. Don't worry about him as he's a coward.
Take
out your sword and threaten him (swipe, but miss). He'll obligingly run
over and open a secret hiding place then disappear. Inside is a papyrus giving
you a hint as to how to access the main tomb. You'll also acquire 2 gold goblets
(+50 = 675).
If you open the barricaded door on the west wall, you can
see the rest of the upper floor of the church. There's no access from here, so
go back downstairs and out into the back hallway of the church. You'll have to
proceed cautiously here as there are several haunts on guard. Walk west past the
entrance to the church proper, through an empty room into a second one and pick
open the locked door on the south wall. You'll enter the church office.
The "Church key" is lying on the
shelves north of the desk beside a book that mentions supplies being stored
upstairs. That might be worth investigating. There are 8 gold wine bottles (+400
= 1075) sitting on the other set of bookshelves. Grab them then return to the
back of the church. Enter and if you're feeling particularly brave, creep up the
steps at the front where you'll find a healing potion sitting on the floor. Now
look up at the ceiling above the balcony rail at the section of reddish-brown
wood running around the edge. Shoot a rope arrow into it, climb up and jump onto
the balcony. Now to check out those supplies! Walk through the door in the NW
corner into a room where a dismembered corpse is laid out on a large table. Use
the "Church Key' to unlock the south door and go into the storage room. The
chest in here contains 15 holy water arrows (these can be accessed with the key
usually used for broadhead arrows - the default key is "3") which will come in
VERY handy. Pick up the 2 flashbombs that are sitting on the shelf and climb
back down to the church. Go back through the tunnel to the Church house, out to
the street across from the Inn and turn left (E).
At the end, jog left a
tiny bit then head east again. The Alchemists' shop is on the right and in here,
there's a speed potion and a healing potion underneath the counter. North of the
Alchemists' is Salvadore's apartment. The book on the table mentions that he's
hidden a necklace somewhere in the room. There are
not many places where he could have tucked it away but fireplaces are always
suspicious so poke your head in and have a look around. Aha! There's a switch
inside the north edge that opens a panel in the back. You'll find Lady Mannington's Necklace which completes the objective to "Find something
valuable in Salvadore's place". There are also 2 gold coinstacks (+50 = 1125)
and 2 silver coinstacks (+24 = 1149) tucked away in here.
Return to the
street and walk north. Turn into Morgan's Museum, enter the office and read the
book on the desk. You'll find some interesting information and also read that
Morgan's dearest wish is to be buried beside his wife, Eliza. Pick up his body,
leave the shop and continue north along the street to a gate on the left. Go
through it and into the churchyard. Across from the back door of the church is
the entrance to the cemetery. Enter and hide in the dark because there's a big
crack of thunder as you open the gate that alerts all the zombies. Once they've
settled down, walk east into the next area and you'll see a ghostly figure
standing by an open grave. Drop Morgan into that grave and he will thank you.
The "safe key" will appear above his
headstone. Take it then look behind Eliza's headstone for a scroll that contains
information about the Tomb of Ramises. Leave the graveyard, backtrack to
Morgan's Museum and into the office. Frob the wall painting to move it aside and
expose a locked safe. Use the "safe key" to unlock the safe and inside you'll
find a speed potion, 2 flashbombs, a healing potion and a book which lists the
hiding places of the scrolls with information about the crypts.
Return to
the graveyard and enter the section that is directly across from the entrance
gate. Read the note posted on the wall that says "Please remember to water the
flowers. Your kindness will be rewarded". Hmmm! Over in the far, right-hand
corner you'll find Kozmala's gravestone with a patch of flowers planted in front
of it. Use a water
arrow on the flowers and a fire arrow (adds 4 to your inventory) and a water
arrow (adds 4 to your inventory) will appear above the headstone.
Go back out to the main part of the graveyard, turn right (W) and go
clockwise through the graveyard until you come to a pair of statues. Turn north
into the section at the back with a building in it. Enter and look for a hole in
the floor below the picture on the back wall. The edge of the hole is wood so
put a rope arrow into it and climb down into the tunnels below.
Underground Crypts
Don't bother
retrieving your rope arrow as you'll be leaving through this same hole. Walk
straight ahead then turn right (E). Follow the tunnel past a dead Hammerite and
then put out the torch on the wall ahead of you where the tunnel turns to the
right because there's a zombie lurking in a niche to the left of it. Around the
corner there's another tunnel that branches off to the east that ends in a
crypt. There are 3 purple goblets (+45 = 1194) sitting on the coffins. The
opening is a bit high so you need something to stand on. There aren't any boxes
handy, but there's a zombie lying in the middle of the room. Blow him up
with a fire arrow and stand on one of his body parts. This will get you high
enough to be able to mantle up to the opening and be on your way. Turn
right (N) at the corner, walk to the end of the tunnel and mantle up onto a
walkway above a large room. Walk around to the north side where you'll see a
ladder in a hole in the floor. Climb down, jump off the bottom and have a look
around.
The opening at the top of the stairs in the room to the south is
blocked by a sparkly energy field so there's no way through there, at least not
yet so turn north. Enter a room with a pool of lava in the middle and a set of
stairs on the north side that lead up to a closed gate. The sign on the floor at
the base of the stairs says "The Tomb of Ramises".
The Tomb Of Ramises
If you've been
reading the scrolls you've been picking up, you'll remember that one mentioned
the Skulls of the Guardians. There are 2 golden skulls, one on each side of the
stairs up to the tomb. Pick them up
and toss them into the lava. As each one is destroyed, a small door opens near
the lava. Walk through the west one and partway up the stairs. You'll see
they have partially caved in and below there are some boulders. Take two
back out to the stairs up to Ramises' tomb and use them to weight down the two
pedestals nearby. The gate at the top of the stairs will open.
Walk up the stairs and enter the tomb of Ramises. It might be a good
time to read the scroll you found that gave you some information about this tomb
now. Walk through the first room and into the next room. Stop at the back and
peek over the edge into the room below. You'll see a number of zombie guardians
who might be a nuisance. Slide down to the floor below (you shouldn't need a
moss arrow - it doesn't seem to make much noise when you land) and crouch in the
dark at the back.
If you look at the ceiling, you'll see a dark, starry
piece. That's where you'll put your rope arrow when the time comes to get ready
to get out but first you have to find a way to open it. Right now it won't take
a rope arrow. Sneak over to the SE corner and work your way along the wall
towards the front of the room. About halfway up the room, you'll find a panel
you can move and behind it are 3 jars (+60 = 1254). Edge back into the SW corner
and sneak along the wall up towards the front of the room, taking care not to
alert the zombies. About halfway along the wall, there's a panel that slides
open and behind it is the lever that opens the ceiling panel. Flip it then creep
back to the end of the room and plant a rope arrow in it so it's ready when you
need to get out. Now creep back along the same wall to the very front where
you'll step on a pressure plate. Just sit in the dark and watch the fun. With
any luck, all of the zombies will be destroyed but if not, it should at least
thin things out a bit. When you're tired of that, run over to the front altar,
grab the Talisman of Ramises, climb the
rope and jump to the upper floor. Leave this tomb and return to the room with
the lava pool.
Mabus Family
Tomb
Crawl through the small door on the east wall and go up the
stairs to the Mabus Family tomb which is patrolled by a zombie. Head to the left
(N), climb the ladder behind the coffins to the upper level and open the lid of
the west coffin. Inside there's a necklace (+200 = 1454) and a tiara (+125 =
1579). Return to the lower level and climb one of the ladders on the back (E)
wall. Peek through the east opening and you'll see a wooden beam stretching
across an opening. Walk along the hallway but stay to the side as energy balls
shoot along it once you start into it. There are a few zombies roaming the room
below the beam and the center of the beam is trapped. It falls away if you step
on it so you need to rope arrow down to the lower room, which is the Rebroi
Family Tomb. Collect the treasures, which include 2 gold urns (+200 = 1779), 2
golden skulls (+300 = 2079) and 2 vases (+100 = 2179) and then rope arrow up at
the far end of the room.
The Tomb of
Saldic
As you can see from the floor plaque here, you are now
entering the Tomb of Saldic. You have a scroll in your inventory about this so
it might be a good time to refresh your memory about what it says. Walk along
the walkway, go into each of the two round guardrooms and flip a lever under the
window opening. Once you've flipped them both, walk east through the doorway
with the flaming talisman above it and up the stairs in the next room. The
scroll said "The path to radiance shall only be granted by relieving my tomb of
its darkness." You'll see
an unlit torch mounted on the wall over the casket up here. Shoot a fire arrow
at the torch and a pathway will appear that will allow you to walk over to the
Talisman of Saldic and pick it
up.
Go back through the Mabus tomb, out to the room with the lava
pool in the middle and through the door to the broken staircase where you picked
up the boulders earlier. You can either retrieve the boulders and stack them to
get past the gap in the stairs, or use a speed potion and a running jump. Either
way, you'll end up in a large room with several zombie archers stationed in
doorways at intervals around it so you want to move carefully. Move right (N)
into the hallway, keeping an eye out for a patrolling zombie archer and walk
west through the archway at the far end. Turn right (N) and ascend a flight of
stairs and walk along the hallway at the top but do it carefully as there is a
trap. Crouch and hug the wall to avoid taking damage. At the corner, turn right
(E) and enter a room with a large round pedestal in the middle. Walk around to
the south side of it, climb a ladder and walk across to the door. It's locked,
so walk around the balcony to the opening on the south side and into the Tomb of
Heorogar. This hallway is also trapped, so hug the wall to walk into the room
beyond.
The Tomb of
Ailmar
As you enter, two rows of energy balls start firing across
the room. You'll have to time crossing past them very carefully but it's not all
that hard to do. While you're in here, make sure you pick up a purple urn (+100
= 2279) and a vase (+50 = 2329) that are displayed in the wall alcoves. Make
your way to the coffin that is sitting on the dais, open the top and pick up
"Ailmar's Key".
Return to the
locked metal door out on the balcony and use the key to unlock it. Walk along
the walkway over the lava and up one of the sets of stairs to the upper floor.
Enter the back room and you'll see a talisman, enclosed in a blue field,
floating over a casket. Shoot one of
your holy water arrows at the talisman and it will disappear. At the same time
you will hear a voice say "So, you want to steal my Talisman!". Head back
down the stairs but quietly and you'll see Ailmar standing guard outside a door
underneath the upper floor that wasn't there before. Do NOT destroy him, or the
door will close and you will not be able to get the Talisman. Creep by him,
enter the room and pick up "The Talisman of
Ailmar". Leave the room and sneak past Ailmar to the exit door. Again,
don't destroy him as the exit door will also close and trap you in here. Once
you're outside, head back down the ladder.
Walk to the Servitus Family
Tomb which is at the west end of the hallway and gather up 3 cups (+45 = 2374)
then go back down the stairs to the main floor. Walk south through the archway
at the far end of the hallway and up another set of steps. At the top, to the
right (W) is the Raypoz Family Tomb where you can acquire 3 gold goblets (+75 =
2449) and left (E) is the Tomb of Tugay where you can pick up 2 purple goblets
(+30 = 2479) from the coffins. Sink a rope
arrow into a strip of wood along the edge of the ceiling on both the north and
south walls. Jump from the rope to the platform above the statue, take another
goblet (+15 = 2494) from it and push the button on the wall above it. A
small secret door will open in the south wall. It looks low enough to climb into
but that can be difficult. Put a rope arrow into the wood part of the ceiling
just above it, climb the rope a bit and jump from it into the opening.
The Tomb of
Salamar
Follow the tunnel to the end and you'll emerge on a
balcony over the first room you entered in this area. (If you left the undead
alone then you'd better be quiet as they are all archers.) Collect 3 purple
goblets (+45 = 2539) from the coffins on the west side then walk over to the
statue on the east side. There's a trap in the floor that drops you to a small
room below. A door into a side room closes and you might think you're trapped
but don't worry - it will open again in a few minutes. In the meantime, busy
yourself by picking up the 2 purple goblets (+30 = 2569) that are sitting in two
small alcoves. When the door to the next room opens (be patient as this can take
awhile) be prepared for a couple of zombies in there. Hug the north wall as you
enter as there is another energy ball trap in the hallway. Once you're inside,
pick up 4 purple urns (+400 = 2969) and take The
Talisman of Salamar.
Slash the
banner on the south wall and you'll find a secret tunnel behind it. Climb up
into it and follow it to the end where it's blocked by a banner. Slash it and
jump down into the Mabus Family tomb, which you visited earlier.
Walk down the stairs to the room with the pool of lava in the
middle and head south into the room at the end. The energy field that blocked
the exit has now disappeared but you're not home free yet. There are two undead
guards standing out there so proceed with caution. Cross the lava on the wooden
bridge to the west and you'll see a cave in the wall. One of the chests inside
contains a flashbomb. Walk east and climb a ladder to a hole in the wall. Follow
the tunnel and take the first right-hand turn. The rope you left in place should
be hanging at the end. Climb it, and you'll be back in the graveyard. Now all
that you need to do is make your way back through town to the hole in the wall
you crawled through at the beginning of the mission. Creep through it and the
mission will end.
Note: the stats screen says there is 3044
loot, but 75g of it is unobtainable.
Nightwalker and Freddy Fox - 5th July 2005