Stronghold Passage
Score Challenges:
Score 60,000 Points
Score 90,000 Points
Score 120,000 Points
-Award:Railgun
Reward Challenges:
Collect 10 Red Skulls
-Award:Fist of Tezcatlipoca
Reach the Exit in 15:00 or less
-Award:Jade Heart
Rest a ball atop the skull pedestal
-Award:Health Powerup
Step on the three hidden spider tiles
-Award:Ammo Powerup
This mission is a lot like a former mission. You head forward and you’re told you have to find 6 balls to put out the flames and open the door to the next mission. When you get to the main hall you’ll fight some new flame and rock demon. Is it molten lava? Anyways Take him out like any other giant demon and he’ll explode into a few flaming balls that explode after a second. Next take the stairs up to the left and you’ll see the first ball on a giant column. There are flames around it except on one side. Drop a bomb on that side and step on the pressure plate. The column with the ball will lower and the column with the bomb will rise. Set off the bomb when they’re even and the ball will go flying. You will have to face a few more demons after that. Take them out and place the ball on the pressure plate. Place a bomb next to the ball and stand on the column the ball was originally on. Detonate the bomb and you will rise towards an ammo upgrade. Roll the ball to the pedestal in the main hall and climb the stairs to the next floor.Before you reach the next floor you’ll find a gold ring. Use your grapple hook and lower yourself off the edge of the stairs to find a health upgrade. Climb up the stairs and jump the gap to the next floor. On this floor you’ll find a ball next to a funnel like hole. Place the ball towards the hole and place a bomb on the opposite side of the ball. Detonate the bomb and it should launch the ball up the hill and into the hole. Next you’ll want to climb the stairs to the right of the hole to a new room.
This room is a bit tricky. Plant a spear on the column to the right. Pull the gold handle to the right of that column and bridge will come up over the ball in the fire. Jump up on the spear and on the column so you can run across the bridge. When you jump the small gap in the bridge, you need to drop a bomb on the ball. When you make it to the other side, detonate the bomb and it should roll off. A few enemies will appear in the fire and come after you. Take them out so you can move the ball to the hole. To get the ball out of the room you have to place the ball next to the wooden door at the left side of the room. Place a bomb behind it to push it through the door but don’t detonate yet. You have to go through the door and pull the gold handle. Do not let go of the handle until you detonate the bomb and the ball comes flying out. The handle will open the door obviously. Now take the ball to the hole and use a bomb to launch it in.
Now go back to the last room and take the ladder on the right side down a floor. You’ll reach some stairs. Take the stairs down to find a red skull. Launch some spears while up the stairs to reach the top. There’s also a hidden spider tile in the corner:
Now take the stairs up to a challenge tomb. It’s pretty simplistic in theory. You have to stand on a certain platform and shoot/blow up the target that alternates the spikes so you can grab the artifact. Stand on the one shown in this picture:
Then shoot or blow up the target and you’ll have the artifact in your hands! Once you grab it all the spikes will disappear and you can leave safely.
Next head back to the hole/hill. Take the third path which we haven’t taken yet. You have to jump some gaps on the bridge and one has a flamethrower spinning past it. Don’t touch it or you’re dead. A little further is a huge step up to the next level. Use your spear to jump up but don’t touch the spikes! When you reach the next floor you’ll face two skeleton demons. Take them out with your bombs and climb the ladder to the next floor. You should see the door now but don’t run to it, rock bombs will be flying down. Go right when they stop and they’ll move and fall on top of the new weapon in the middle of the room. The new weapons are dual SMGs.
Climb the ramp to your right and you’ll get locked in. A ball will roll down the stairs to your left. You can’t put it in the pedestal yet because rock bombs are flying at it. Climb the stairs to your left and grab the gems over the brass circles. Whichever you touch will make flames shoot up. Jump across the fire and you’ll find another hidden spider tile to your left:
Drop a bomb on the target and stand on the column in the middle of the fire. Detonate the bomb to grab the health upgrade. Now jump towards the target and shoot it so the column comes back down. You’ll need to launch the ball across the fire pit with another bomb. The ball will not make it all the way across so you must shoot the target to raise the column right when the ball is over the column. It will push the ball up a bit to reach the other side! Roll the ball down the stairs and walk, without the ball, up the ramp to the right.
Attach your grapple hook to the gold ring up the ramp. Jump off the side of the ledge to reach a red skull floating in the air. It may take a few attempts. Next to the gold ring is a target and a ledge up to the next floor. Shoot a spear into the flames on the side of the wall. You have to do the next steps very fast. Shoot the target to turn off the flames, get close to your spear, shoot the target to turn on the flames, jump on the spear, jump up the ledge. Do that quickly and you won’t be burned by the flames.
On the next floor is another challenge that can be done. Try and get a ball into the spider pedestal in the middle of the room. Head to the right and you’ll see a few flame traps. The first one has moving flames. Move with the flames to get an ammo upgrade. The second flame traps are stationary and will turn off for a brief time when you pull the gold handle on the wall. There’s a red skull on one of the platforms in the flame traps that turns off when you pull the handle. Be quick and you can snatch it. On the other side is a ball and another gold handle. Launch the ball onto the bigger platform with the moving flames and use the gold handle to reach the other end. You’ll need to get on the larger platform and launch the ball all the way back over to the other side with bombs. If your ball falls in the lava you can get another one on the same side you originally got the ball. When you get the ball to the other side you can roll it to the room to the left and try to get it in the skull pedestal. When you’re done with that you need to roll it in the tube in the left corner of the room.
Next you need to head back down to the room with the two fists and the shooting fire balls. You should have all three balls in there by now. Place a ball next to a fist so you can grab it and place a bomb next to the fist. Make sure the ball isn’t in the blast radius. Set off the bomb and grab the ball to wedge under the fist. Do the same to the other fist. It should look like this:
Use your last ball on the pedestal so the flames will be gone under the gold handle. Pull the handle so the ramp that was locked can be lowered again. After that take the three balls and roll them down the ramp into the next room and into the tube here:
Some demons may attack you while rolling the balls so take them out first. Next you’ll have to bomb them into the hole hill a few floors down. This time a few enemies may be there and you some rock bombs will be falling from the roof. When you’re done you need to go all the way to the bottom and place the balls in the pedestals to unlock the door.
Enter the door and you’ll see a challenge tomb on the left side. This one is pretty simple. Hit the target so the platforms come up and the spikes go down. Shoot a spear at the pole that the spikes come out and drop a bomb on the target. Now jump on the spear and detonate the bomb. Right when you detonate the bomb you have to jump to the relic quickly or the spikes will get you. Now shoot the target again so you can exit the challenge tomb.
The next/last thing to do is exit the tomb. There will be a bunch of fire traps here with a red skull on top. Watch where the fires shoot out by the small amount of fire they show first. There will be two red skulls on this giant trap.
Next up are platforms that fall about a second after you touch them. Jump from platform to platform and you’ll reach another giant fire trap. There’s another red skull amongst the flames.
Lastly are more platforms that fall by touching them and falling balls from the rooftops. The last red skulls will be here. Once you reach the end DO NOT GO INSIDE THE DOOR. Blow up the stone table to your left to find the last spider tile:
Now you can enter the door and complete the level.