Tomb Raider 2

China

LEVEL 17: THE DRAGON'S LAIR

• Kills: 11
• Items: 23 plus 1 Mystic Plaque and the Dagger of Xian
• Secrets: 0

Pick up a large med-pack and 2 sets of Uzi clips from the ground. The petrified guard will not awaken if you follow these instructions, so he can be ignored. Just slip by into the next room. (If you want all the kills, you can use the grenade trick to soften him up. See the Level 16 walkthrough. However, I recommend saving about 15 grenades for the dragon itself.)

The stone guard on the opposite side of the room awakens as you enter, so take care of him. If you have grenades to spare, use the grenade trick on the remaining two as well. Ignore the switch on the far side of the room unless you want all kills. This awakens the first guard without opening any doors. Do pull the switch on the side of the door through which you entered. This animates the 2 guards on the sides and opens the exit door.

After you've killed the guards, advance carefully into the next room. It's dark and there are many pillars in here. Six cult members are lurking in the shadows. You can draw them out one or two at a time by advancing slowly into the room, weapons drawn, then backing out as they emerge from hiding. When all 6 are dead, recover their stuff: large and small med-packs, 6 sets of Uzi clips and a MYSTIC PLAQUE. Use the Plaque to open the door and enter the Dragon's Lair.

Bartoli's body lies on a low platform at the center of this huge room. When you step within the area marked off by the pillars, he magically transforms into a huge dragon. You need to bring it down, then pull the DAGGER from its belly. If you don't get the dagger in time, the dragon revives and the whole ordeal starts again.

There are a number of holes in the floor leading to a water-filled room below. Down here are 10 sets of Uzi clips and 2 large med-packs in case you need backup. If you're really short on ammo, I'd recommend going into the water through one of the holes at the edge before the dragon appears, then picking up only the stuff at the perimeter of the underwater room. If you get too close to the center, you'll see a flash of light as Bartoli transforms.

There are many ways of killing the dragon. My favorite (i.e., the easiest and least dangerous) is to approach the center of the room from the left, keeping behind the pillar. When the dragon rouses, edge toward the right until you're able to target it from behind the pillar. Use your weapon of choice. I prefer the grenade launcher. It will take about a dozen grenades to bring it down, and it won't come around the pillar if you're positioned correctly. (As far as I know, this was first suggested by Brat on the alt.games.tombraider newsgroup, though I've seen it elsewhere as well.)

If you want to go head-to-head with the beast, I'd recommend using the Uzis. Keep firing, dodging the dragon's fiery breath and stomping feet the best you can, while trying to avoid falling into the holes. Staying behind the dragon is a good way not to get set on fire, but it makes it more difficult to get in front of it to grab the dagger.

If you do get lit up, either restart or drop into one of the pools. It's hard to climb back out of the water without getting toasted. To do this, surface then immediately swim under to the opposite side of the room to climb out. The dragon may not be able to get there as fast as Lara can.

Once the dragon is down, run to its belly and use the Action key to pull out the dagger. If you're having trouble doing this, try sidestepping so Lara's right arm is directly in front of the red spot where the dagger is. Or, jump straight up to land a little closer to the dragon and try again. Also, you can try saving your game as soon as the beast goes down. That way, if he revives, you can reload and try for the dagger again. When you've got the dagger, the exit door opens and the place starts to collapse. If you like, you can now go into the water underneath and pick up all the goodies. They won't be of any use to you, since you begin the next level without them, but if you're after a perfect item score, it's possible. Now, run through the exit door and down the passageway to end the level.

Next, there's a movie sequence in which Lara runs from the exploding Wall and is knocked to the ground. She awakens some time later and presumably heads for home.