Note: This file contains "spoilers". To see the text that is concealed by the solid blocks, hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor across.


Ominous Bequest Walkthrough (Expert Level)

There is no loadout. You start with limited equipment - lock picks, a sword and a few Broadheads. Don't worry - everything you need can be found later.

Manor Part 1

There are only two ways into the manor - via the window above the shed on the West side, or through the coalhole doors on the East side. We use the route which allows Garrett to get the blackjack replacement and other weapons as soon as possible.

At the start, go carefully round to the right. Steal a Broadhead from the patrolling archer. There are two moss arrows near the fountains. Go to the shed and switch the sprinklers on. When the guard comes to turn them off, hurry to the coal-hole doors and start lock picking.

When you get into the boiler room go out of the door, left and up the stairs. Open the door to the kitchen carefully; the notice here holds a clue to the blackjack replacement. Sneak round by the fire and grab the replacement(objective). It's the skillet (frying pan)! Collect Fire arrows, Water arrows, gold plate and goblet(75).

Back downstairs, the first door on the left is the wine cellar. Read the paper between the barrels.There is a gold bottle on the floor, and four fancy bottles in the side room (425 - 500). Carry on, turn right at the corner. The first door (locked) is cold storage, the second door is the armoury. Collect the weaponry and a gold coin on the floor behind the dummy (5 - 505).

Turn left at the T-junction and go into the burrick stables to collect Water arrows. Out again, straight along and up the steps. Get a Health potion from the guard and Fire arrows from the grate. Go carefully through the light-coloured door into the courtyard.

The door in the West wall leads into the greenhouse, where you will find Moss arrows and a Breath Potion. Pick up the Sponge, go back into the courtyard and drop the sponge into the fountain to make it wet. Pick it up again. The lh door in the South wall leads into a cloakroom by the kitchen.

Frob the hook to open an entrance(secret 1). Collect Part 1 of the Diary and the coins from the chest (25 - 530). Rope up through the hole in the ceiling and head to the East. The skeleton you pass has a gold ring (100 - 630). Down the ladder, the hatch on the left leads back to the boiler room and the door on the right is a secret entrance to the Captain's quarters. Get the door key from the table, and the safe key from the Captain. Read the note, collect the bottles, purse and letter from the safe (450 - 1080). Read the letter to get an optional objective. Unlock the door and drop the two keys. You won't need them again.

Go back up the ladder in the secret passage, then head West, then North, and down another ladder. Pick up Diary Part 4, open Benny's locker, put the Captain's letter on the shelf (an optional objective) and pick up the coin from among the doughnuts (5 - 1085). Find a Healing Potion and a Flash Bomb in the other lockers. Go through the barrack room, into the courtyard, past the double doors and through the single door. Climb up the stairs to the display room. Don't attempt to steal the displays yet because they are electrified. There is a gold coin under the stairs at the opposite end of the room (5 - 1090).

Back in the display room go out of the double doors; turn right and go through the door facing you and down the steps to the telescope. Frob the switch behind the table, then cut through the wire to make the display pedestals safe to touch. Now you can return to the display room and collect the Horn and the sceptre (150 - 1240).

Out again, into the rh door opposite. Turn the wastebasket, frob the switch behind the clock and pick up the Wall Safe key and the Will (objective). If you switch the light on here, the balcony guard will come to investigate and you can follow him back to the balcony to pick up a gold plate, goblet and balcony key (100 - 1340). The door opposite the balcony is the library, but turn left first.

In the first Hammerite bedroom is a gold urn and a ring (150 - 1490). There is a hammer in the second bedroom (100 -1590).

In the library there is a purse in the jewel box (100 - 1690). Read the red book on top of a central shelf, and note the default combination for the vault. Frob the book on the middle shelf of the lh bookcase on the West wall (secret 2). Go into the secret passage. Get the spice from the chest (50 - 1740) then climb up the ladder to the attic for Part 5 of the Diary and a coin on the windowsill (5 - 1745). Come down again and frob the switch.

In the living room is a purple vase and a gold goblet (40 - 1785). The sleeping man, Nathaniel Farrington, has a purse (100 - 1885). Beware of the northern door in this room; there's a creaking floorboard that wakes up Nathaniel if Garrett steps on it. Cross over to the dining room for a gold bottle, two candlesticks and a goblet (90 - 1975). In the next room read Jeffrey's note. There is a purse in the vase (100 - 2075) and an attic hatch which refuses to open - we must obtain a special piece of equipment to get in there.

Come out, turn right past the boarded-up door and go into the next one. Slice the banner on the wall to reveal the Wall Safe. Open it, frob the switch, and collect the painting of the Hunting Dragon (objective).

Back to the top of the stairs. Note the position of another attic hatch. There is a purse in the chandelier (50 - 2125)! Pick up all the urns and vases on the landing and as you go down (225 - 2350). Slash the banner where the stairway divides, operate the switch (secret 3) and collect two gems from the secret compartment (200 - 2550). There is a house key in the locked room left (East) of the staircase near the pedestal. There are statues on both pedestals (30 - 2580). The first room near the West pedestal has a vase (50 - 2630). The barracks room to the North has an interesting note about the cold storage room key and the attic pole, and a purse in the locked chest (25 - 2655).

Go back to the kitchen to find the cold storage key in the dumbwaiter shaft. Open the cold store, pick up the spice (50 - 2705) and hack Iceheart out of the lump of ice in the corner. Shoot the ball of ice with a Fire arrow to extract the jewel (objective). Alternatively, you can take the ball and melt it in the boiler, although this makes a lot of noise. Close all doors nearby (the one to the kitchen as well) before you try this. Now go to the inner courtyard and through the double doors.

The Vault

Read the plaque on the statue and grab the two arrows. Take the elevator down, and shoot the appropriate arrows into the appropriate windows: Water arrow at the baby (help the seedling grow) and Fire arrow at death (light the way for the one who has left this world). Back up again, and down the ladder into the vault. Open the door with the default combination you remember from the library(1234). Go in and look around. The button opens the door if you accidentally close it. Operating the switch opens the glass or you can break it to get the masks (200 - 2905). Gather up all the loot, including some under the table (1370 - 4275). Pick the lock on the door. Now the tricky one - the knobs of the switches must be put into the positions shown in the Hunting Dragon painting if you want to go further. You can "use" the painting (without having another object focused) to get a bigger view. Here's how the switches have to be set:

Up----------Down
------Down------
Left--------Left
------Up--------
Down--------Up--

When successful, go through the door, gasp, read the ancient tome, open the chest for a gold jar (150 - 4425) and collect the skull and the attic pole.

Manor Part 2

Climb back up the ladder to collect Diary Part 2 from under the statue. Go to the top of the staircase in the entrance hall and open the hatch with the pole. Climb up, get the gem from the recess just below the beam above the ladder (100 - 4525), a gold goblet from the cradle (25 - 4550), the Diary from the chair, and the attic windows key.

Hop out of the east window, collect a candlestick ( 25 - 4575), go into the North attic and get Bloodtear. There is a tiara on the hatch under the toppled wardrobe (100 - 4675). If you can't get it, open the hatch and the tiara will fall down to the corridor outside the display room. Diary Part 3 is under the couch - now we've got the complete Diary.

(This is a good time to experiment with the magic properties of the skull. Go onto the roof overlooking the striking guards, save game, and throw the skull down onto the path leading to the belvedere and see what transpires. It seems more effective than a Noisemaker arrow to draw people away from their positions! Reload and continue.)

Back down and round to the room where we read Jeffrey's note. Open the hatch with the pole, climb up, and collect the Library Safe key, and a statue (20 - 4695). Frob the switch behind the barrel. This opens a secret entrance in Jeffrey's room which leads into the boarded-up room. Go in and frob the sofa. Drop down, operate the switch and hurry along to the end. Use a Water arrow or drop the wet sponge here(don't forget to retake it!) to cool things off and collect Sunspark (objective now complete).
Now go back to the Library past the display room. If you've opened the northern attic trapdoor, pick up the tiara. Open the safe in the library, get the coins (50 - 4745) and the Antiquary Letter (objective). Make your way to the church via the elevators that enabled you to open the vault.

Going Underground

Open the doors and creep round to the right. Beware the patrolling hammerite. Open the door to the barracks room in the North wall and read the journal. Then go through the nearest door in the East wall, up the steps and through the door. Walk past the organ and play it if you want. Just make sure you save your game first.

Go into the priest's room. Collect the hammer (200 - 4945), read the journal and frob the hammer in the window. Get the Crypt key from the secret room. Creep back downstairs and make your way to the crypt doors in the Northwest corner, picking up a gold hammer from the second row of the Western pews as you go (75 - 5020).

Through the crypt doors, down and turn right. Pick the door on the right and operate the ventilation hatch switch. Duck under the board facing you, pick the door ahead open. On the shelves here find two items of loot (100 - 5120.

Carry on and jump to the central tower. There are three items of loot in recesses in the outer walls - you can use Rope arrows in the beams above to get them (225 - 5345). There is also one item in the inner tower. Shoot a Rope arrow into the notched wooden platform you jumped from or the sloped frame on the opposite wall, let down and jump into the opening in the inner tower. Pick up the loot (75 - 5420) and go down the ladder to arrive at the bottom without damage. Read Brother Sorven's last note and carefully enter the forbidden passage.

Turn right at the corner. There are three safe flagstones, then three that trigger booby-traps, then it's safe again. Walk until you are nearly at the first trigger flagstone; turn to face the way you entered, step back one pace to operate the trigger, then race forward and dive left round the corner. You will hear a boulder fall, but you should be out of the firing line before the spitball gun shoots. This one shoots low.

Fetch Brother Sorven's body and throw it on top of the boulder. Collect three items of loot from the shelf on your right (250 - 5670). Now jump up onto the boulder (and Sorven) then leap forward and race around the corner to the right before the gun at this end shoots. Now crouch down (this gun shoots high), go back and collect Sorven and take him to the room with the pedestals. Go back again - remember to crouch - and collect the boulder. Put it on one of the pedestals. Pick up Sorven and drop him just in front of the grille to trigger another trap. A second boulder drops; place it on the other pedestal to open the grille and deactivate all traps. Now put Sorven's body on the plaque which requests dead flesh, and the study door will open.

Go in, read the scroll and get the Rope arrow from the chest. Operate the switch on the wall in the room to the North and the hidden switch behind the bed(secret 4). Grab the Talisman (objective). Deal with the haunt if you want or head directly for the secret corridor you've opened in the North room.

As you go round the corner there is a niche to the left containing a spider and a secret switch (secret 5). Operate it, and pick up the nugget from under the skull (100 - 5770). Carry on into the sewer and collect the jar from the chest (50 - 5820). As you return, look up. There is a circular hole in the roof of the sewer. This is another way back. Rope up and operate the switch. Walk through to the base of the octagonal tower. Go up the ladder, and back up the rope you used to get down.

Back under the board, turn right and right again. Get the jewel from the third skull (50 - 5870). Go down the hall towards the Family Crypt, stop in front of the third panel on the right and press in the tile at the top of the right hand side (secret 6). This opens a secret closet, which contains a lot of loot (375 - 6245). Look into the family crypt; you can do nothing here yet, but time spent on reconnaissance is seldom wasted!

Go back and out by the three skulls, turn right and make your way to the master vault. Lord Farrington's tomb is empty! Rope up to the ventilation shaft and go into the sewers. Open the door on the left and switch the supply over to Holy Water. Retrace your steps and go back up to the church.

We need to frob one of the fountains here, but there are several guards. One method is to run noisily to the elevator to get the guards chasing you. Go up, then down again, jumping on the elevator platform to lure the guards beneath. Repeat until they are all squashed. (This doesn't count as killing - suicide perhaps?) Another way to avoid the guards is to use the skull as a Noisemaker to distract them or you can try sneaking to one of the fountains when nobody's looking. When you manage to activate a fountain, make the Sponge a Holy Sponge by shooting it with the Holy Water arrow.

Go back under the board to the hall leading to the octagonal tower. As Sorven said in his note, one of the figures on the wall is facing the wrong way; a stone below it conceals a tile you can press.

Go to the octagonal tower and use a Rope arrow to get down to the lowered sarcophagus. Open the panel, go through and down the ladder. The paved passage takes you to the Riddler's Tomb. Go the other way first and collect a gem from the broken chest (100 - 6345). Keep on to the room with the Sword. Liberate it with the Holy Sponge (as described in Legendary Artefacts Part 1), then avoid the apparition and make your way to the Riddler's Tomb.

Read both plaques, and then listen for the noisy pillar, which contains a switch. (Progress comes to those who listen.) Operate it, drop down the hole that opens, go round to the right and Rope down to the bottom. Pick up a Fire arrow and further on a Water arrow. Extinguish the torch with the Water arrow, and shoot the Tear that appears on the large chamber wall with the Fire arrow. (When a light goes out, a tear goes up in flames.) One of the statues retreats; mantle up and get into its niche.

Mantle up to the next level and walk across the chamber on the invisible bridge. (Only once man shall triumph over gravity.) Down the ramp, round, and jump to the central platform via the marble plinths on either side (secret 7). Collect a load of loot (935 - 7280)! It's hard getting back - a jump straight across is easiest. The invisible bridge still works. Return all the way back to the crypt and Lord Farrington's tomb.

The End?

Climb up and go into the sewers again, but this time go through to the parallel sewer, climb two ladders, operate the switch and emerge. Walk round and enter the circular arena. Read the letter and the burricks will emerge. To avoid being gassed, stand in a dark spot (there are some subtle shadows on the marble floor) when you read the letter so the burricks don't immediately spot you. Ready the Horn of Dloren, blow it, and run into the empty alcove with the Dawn Mages' symbol on the floor.

Drop down through the hole that has opened. Swim round and exit on the West side. Climb the rope and enter the cave. Go up to the South, open the door on the right, go into the library, move the ladder and frob the book (secret 8). Now pick up the gold skull (50 - 7330). Read the book lying on its side in the NE corner and also read the scroll on the table.

Now go back into the halls and explore. There are other doors in here, but we can only pick open one of them. Operate the switch on the bench, which opens the marble door marked Beta. Go in. Oh dear! Read Kadar's message. Put the three jewels into the appropriate recesses in the beak-like pillars, then place the Book of Souls on the pedestal and insert the Talisman of Life above the door. Kadar now speaks, after which the door reopens.

Leave the chamber, and follow the apparition North then West. He opens another door. Read the book, get the key, and open the door at the end of this hall. Go up the ramp; at the top, the wall opens on the left. Go in to the centre and a bridge will extend across to the Crayman Tunnels. Follow them East to the pool of water. The tunnel continues underwater, so dive in, more or less straight ahead, and collect a nugget on the way to the air hole (50 - 7380). Dive down again to the South West to get another nugget (100 - 7480) and keep going to the next pool - you may need your breath potion. Climb out into the Crayman Caves.

Down to the moat, quietly round to the entrance to the altar. Dodge or dispose of the craymen, then open the stone hatch behind the altar. Go down into the confusing passages. As you roam around you will find a zombie, three skulls and the door to Armion Drake's tomb. Tilt all the skulls, and roam some more. Now find two wall relief figures facing each other and two wardstones. Put the wardstones into the cupped arms of the figures and go through the door into the tomb. Grab a lot more loot (370 - 7850). How to get out? Check the pillars out - there are two tile buttons; one opens a hatch, the other drops a Rope arrow from the ceiling.

Climb into the hatch and hug the wall. Go past the dead burrick into the mine. Read the note by the skeleton. Keep going - it's a long way. Operate the switch and emerge in the family vault. Elizabeth's tomb is open and empty! Try to get out, avoiding the haunt. Oh bother, we can't get into the church the straightforward way!

Showdown

Go to Lord Farrington's tomb, and up into the sewers again. Keep going all the way up to the burrick arena area. This time the door is open. Go up the ramps to the body. Read the journal, operate the Elevator Portcullis Control, open the door and peek into the burrick arena from above. Now go back down to the elevator and ride it up.

Make your way back to the church. Elizabeth's body is on the altar. Look up in the middle to see the Ancient Tome floating high. Take care, creep round to the right and upstairs. With the aid of a rope arrow shot at the intersection of the two crossing beams near the organ climb up to the stone ring, then move round to a position where you can cut the book with your sword. Kadar dies - objective complete. All the haunts have perished too! Climb back down, pick up Elizabeth's body from the altar and take her back to her tomb (bonus objective). Back in the church, pick up the Eastern Exit key from the carpet in the middle of the aisle. Open the double doors in the East wall. Go up the ramps and open the double doors at the top. There is a gold ring in the narrow alley just past the lighted window to the North (150 - 8000). Go into the passage heading East and the mission is complete.



Freddy Fox - 17th October 2003