Tomb Raiders Traveler's Guide: The Lost Library -- Hints

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	The Lost Library (1st)	Items: 29	Kills: 7
		Welcome to The Lost Library. This place can provide endless days of aimless wandering. Here are some hints to move you along.
	I'll Take Door Number...	Once you reach the central hall of the Lost Library you'll find six blue doors that lead off to the north and south, and yet more doors along the upper balcony. The doors open from only one side, and some of them open from the back side. For our hints to mean anything, you're going to get hints in a specific order. Carefully read the first sentence of some of the hints to find which door they refer to.
	Life's Tough	The following set of hints is for the middle door on the northern wall. In our opinion, this was probably the toughest part of this level, so you might as well get it over with now.
	It Slices. It Dices!	There's no trick to the series of blades that slice past the openings along the pole. Okay, that's not completely true. There's actually a trick where you can hop backwards and try to grab the edge, but then release the action key, and Lara will land on the ledge below. I found that I fell to my death as often as I managed to land on the ledge below, and sometimes Lara got cut anyhow. Just take the damage and use a Medi Pack at the bottom. There will be plenty of other traps to frustrate you, so don't get yourself all worked up now. Instead of climbing up the pole on the far end, just climb up through the hole.
	Heart of the Matter	You'll soon encounter your first mechanical guard. The only way to kill them is to shoot them repeatedly in the gem embedded on their chest until it shatters. For more details, read our Guide to the Enemies.
	Prying Game	In the gear room, use the crowbar to pry loose the gem on the wall. You'll have to pry two more off walls later.
	Ladder of Success	There is a ladder on the side of one of the columns. Follow it to the chamber above. You'll encounter two more mechanical guards, a locked gate and hole in floor. To open the gate, you'll have to go down the hole to obtain the key.
	Deadless Horseman	The mechanical horseman is probably the toughest enemy you'll have encountered thus far. The "fair" way to deal with him is to repeatedly shoot the horseman in the gem on his chest until he dismounts his mechanical steed and all the while avoiding his slashes at you with his axe or the horse's hoofs. After he dismounts the horse, you'll have to kill him as if he were a normal mechanical guard. Okay, if you've tried that and found that you've used up all your ammo and he's still chasing you down, you might want to consider cheating a little. If you manage to get off a powerful shot from your arsenal in his general direction before he mounts the horse, he'll get disoriented and never get on the horse. If you're still stumped, read the walkthrough for details. The gem opens the gate and there's one task to be completed before you head back to the gear room.
	Chain Reaction	Back in the gear room, you'll find two tunnels that lead off to halls with giant swinging chain links. I don't know why, but I thought the passageway on the left was easier. To get past the chain, you can run past as it swings, or simply crawl beneath the apex of the swing, staying close to the walls. The funny colored patch on the floor is a trapdoor, which Lara can flip open if you use the Action key. Drop into the water. Swim through the underwater gate you opened earlier to gain access to two more Golden Stars.
	More Pain and Suffering	After you've obtained the three Golden Stars, you're ready to head back to the main chamber of the Lost Library. Yup, you guessed it, you'll have to work your way back up the pole with the bladed gears. Unfortunatly there's no trick here either. Just take the cuts. When Lara's torso is above the level of the next highest level, you can backflip onto the ledge. Repeat as necessary. Use Medi Packs as needed and take the time to blow apart the vases and collect a few extra Medi Packs.
	Hot-Foot It	The following hint is for the middle door on the southern wall. At the bottom of the steps, two fire elementals will be hot on your tail. Make a charge toward a pool in the chamber beyond and stay down until both are extinguished. When you stand, walk around the pool until Lara looks up at the dark hole. Use the night-vision binoculars to look up into the hole. The action key activates the night-vision features. Keep the pattern in mind for later.
	Outdated Astronomy	The following hint is for eastern door on the southern wall, which is on the on the left if you're facing the southern wall. Behind these doors, you'll find the Planetarium. One globe is available for you to push around, but the other four globes are behind gates. Use the Golden Stars to open the gates. You can push the globes around by trial and error, but if you recall the painted orbits in the dark hole earlier, you'll know where to put the globes. Keep in mind that back in the ancient times, they didn't really know which heavenly bodies orbited around which other ones. When the globes are place properly, a new hallway will be opened to you. Follow the hallway to a blue door. Open it for convenience, and continue further along the hallway to the room with the serpent statues and the star drawn on the ground. After you've had a look around, return to the central hall.
	Phantom Scroll	The following hint is for the western door on the northern wall, which is on the left if you're facing the northern wall. Behind this door you'll find two mechanical guards. They're easy to deal with, because they won't run past the doorway and enter the main hall. In the room beyond the hallway, is a pedestal with a scroll. You can only pick up the scroll after you've stepped into the room with the serpent statues and the seven-pointed star on the ground.
	Orderly Puzzle	The following set of hints are for the eastern door on the northern wall, which is on the right if you're facing the northern wall. Note that this door opens from the opposite side, which means you must have gone through the eastern door on the southern wall first. Okay, now for the puzzle: The levers on the back of the statue toggles the flame of the statue that the lever is connect to but it also toggles the flames of the statues which are connected by the line on the ground. If you follow the hint on the scroll, you will pull each of the levers in turn to solve the puzzle.
	Upper Balcony	When you solve the serpent puzzle, blocks will rise in the floor to provide access to chambers above. Follow hallways through chambers littered with scrolls, until you come to a set of blue doors. Push the door open and you'll find Lara on the upper balcony. Run over to the southern side of the upper balcony and push open all three doors, but don't enter the eastern or middle doorways. You may find it convenient later to have the doors open.
	Rolling Stones	The following hint is for the western door on the southern side of the balcony, which is to the right if you're facing the southern wall. Once inside, follow the hallway until you come to a ramp. Taking damage from the fall is the least of your problems. That rumbling means trouble for you. Get moving. Wander around the ramp, and another boulder will be released. You need to find the lever that's on one of the walls and pull it to raise a block in the room.
	Lion's Share	Climb onto the block. The lion's mouth is closed and it's impossible for Lara to crawl down its throat. Notice that chain on its head? If you can get to it and pull it the lion will say, "Aah" for you. Then you have to make your way into its mouth and climb up the pole inside.
	Gate Expectations	At the top of the pole, you will find two gates that will open when Lara approaches them. Facing the corner between the gates, head for the one on the right first. Beyond the gate, you can obtain a needed artifact. If you approach the hallway to the west that leads back to the balcony, a fire elemental will appear. If you plan on taking on the elemental, then there's a trapdoor in the floor that you should open first, to open a shortcut back to the pool below. After you've retreived the artifact and dealt with the optional elemental, you can head back through the gate and try the other gate, which will close behind Lara when she passes through.
	Fire Damage	You may find yourself trapped if you don't figure out what to do. Here are your clues. There is a torch, and two pedestals which can be ignited if you step in the right place. There's also a exposed wooden floor in the other room. Yes, it's somewhat destructive, but it's the only way to get into the room below. There are lots of scrolls scattered around in the room below. Lara will know which one to pick up. In fact she'll only pick up the one she's interested in. Push open the blue doors and you're back in the central hall.
	Up Elevator	This place could certainly do with a simpler method for getting from the lower to the upper levels. You need to get back up to the balcony. There are a couple of paths, but the simplest one lies through the middle doors on the southern wall. There is a ladder that leads up to the upper level. Hopefully you've opened the blue doors and taken care of the fire elemental already. Otherwise you can head back through the eastern doors on the northern wall and climb up through the hole in the ceiling above the Serpent Statue room.
	Sight Reading	You're now ready for the final closed door on the northern wall of the balcony. Place the music scroll on the pedestal, and the multi-talented Lara Croft will play a little diddy on the harp. It reveals a secret door that leads to a separate small balcony. A pull of the chain, and you're finally done.