Velora Temple

The Velora Temple is the eleventh level of the Unreal - Return to Na Pali single player campaign. In Unreal Beta, the level was named Aztec.


 * Author: Shane Caudle
 * Description: Stepping inside from the Nagomi Passage, you reach a dingy underground temple. It is not clear what kind of god Velora is, but this temple is nothing short of a death trap!

Walkthrough
''This walkthrough was completed on Medium difficulty. Creature and item placements may differ on other difficulty settings.''

You start between two large golden doors at the entrance to the underground temple complex. Approach the door ahead, which opens on to a hallway festooned with trailing roots and cobwebs, lit dimly by a torch on the left.

This hallway leads to the junction of two flights of steps downwards. Shoot barrels there to reveal a Flashlight, a Health Pack and a box of 50 Bullets. Collect the gear. Go down either staircase. For the sake of argument, let's go down the one on the left. As it curves round to the right, you will be spotted by a pair of Spinners at the bottom. Lob some grenades to dispose of them. Descend the staircase to the bottom. You will be in a dark hall with an angular sculpture of a face to the right. Two spiders will charge you from this room - blow them up and enter the room, but watch out for another Spinner that drops down off the sculpture.

You can look at the other staircase from here up to the start, but all you'll find is another spider that drops down from above. Looking at the face, you'll see a barrel to the right. Destroy it for 40 Tarydium Shards. Then, turn around and use a light source to illuminate the rest of the room, which is in darkness interrupted only by a blue glow from some strange fluorescent carvings. At the back of the room is a pair of huge stone doors. To either side are barrels which reveal an ASMD Core and two Health Packs - collect the gear. There is also a lever in the middle of the hall. Press it; the huge stone doors open. The doors reveal a large lift. Step on to the lift as the stone doors close behind you. Press a button in the shadow at the back and the lift descends, after which you come out on one side of a rickety looking bridge over a pool of water.

A Krall patrolling a hall at the far end of the bridge will see you and attack. Kill it with the Stinger or another weapon. Then, take a brief sideline to drop into the water. Kill a Devilfish that comes at you from a corner, then collect the Stinger and two clusters of 40 Tarydium Shards from near a corpse lying face down on the floor of the pool. Read the corpse's log [1].

In the center of the pool, there's a deeper section. Go down into the deeper section for a Nali Healing Fruit, but beware the Devilfish lurking in the shadows. You will also see a tunnel leading out of the deeper section but I'd advise you to leave it alone for now. Instead, return to the shallow section and climb out of the water via a collapsed plank near the corpse. Cross the bridge towards the hall the Krall was guarding, but watch out, because the bridge is weak and some planks will collapse as you cross it. Once safely in the hall beyond, destroy chests there for a box of 50 Bullets and a can of 12 Eightballs.

Once again you have two symmetrical flights of steps that you can go down. Take either, emerging in another small hall at the bottom. Here you will find an Eightball Gun which is guarded by a SkaarjWarrior. Kill the Skaarj. Collect the gun and the can of 12 Eightballs and 40 Tarydium Shards nearby. Open a barrel for a Health Pack. Watch out also for a SkaarjScout and another SkaarjWarrior who will probably see you from the next room. Kill the two Skaarj, then enter the room from which they came.

The next room is a tall hall with pillars, a water pool in the middle and a bridge over said pool. Entering, you will probably be spotted by a Krall and a KrallElite, so kill them both. Explore the pool in the center; it contains two Devilfish, two Nali Healing Fruit and a Clip. There's also the other end of the underwater tunnel you saw earlier. Climb out of the pool again and look around the tall water room. From where you came in, barrels between pillars to the right reveal an ASMD Core and a Health Pack. Two clusters of 40 Tarydium Shards can be found between pillars to the left. There's an exit straight across the bridge ahead, and a side exit to the left.

Make your way across the room. You can take the bridge, but it is rickety and parts of it will collapse under you. At the far side of the room, go to either side of the exit structure for an ASMD Core and a can of 12 Eightballs. Then, go through the exit itself into the small hallway beyond, where chests reveal another ASMD Core and another 40 Tarydium Shards. Two flights of steps lead down into the next room. Take either, and load several Eightball rockets or grenades into the gaggle of two Krall and a KrallElite playing dice in the center of the next room. Destroy barrels between the two staircases for a Clip, a Nali Fruit Seed and a can of 12 Eightballs.

Go to the end of the room. There, you will see that the floor turns into a deep drop down to a lava pit below. Centrally, a bridge is retracted that evidently extends to cross the gap. You will also see in the path the bridge will take a large chopping device.

If you approach the edge, the cutting device will rapidly open and close. Clearly one way to cross the lava would be to extend the bridge, but you would have to avoid the chopping blades. Maybe there's a way around it. Anyway, nothing more to do here for now so return to the tall water room and go through the side exit you saw earlier.

The side exit takes you through to a small corridor. Destroy barrels there for a Clip and a Health Pack, then follow the corridor and emerge at the far end. You will be in a tall room with ramps ascending round the sides, where a Gasbag descends from above. Kill it with a couple of ASMD Combos.

Before ascending the ramps, explore the ground floor. An ASMD lies beside a dead Nali. Collect the ASMD and open vases nearby for an ASMD Core and 40 Tarydium Shards. Following that, shoot open barrels in the back left corner for a Health Pack, then go under the lowest section of the ramps for two boxes of 10 Flak Shells. You're ready to move on, so climb the ramps. After the first two sections, you will see an alcove in the wall to the right. Enter the alcove and go to the right for a Super Health Pack. Emerge and climb the remaining ramp to the corridor at the top - you will have to kill a Krall that comes running from ahead. Soon you will find that you reach a bridge suspended high above the tall water room.

Cross the bridge. If you look off to the left as you do so, you will see some gear on a ledge, but you can't reach it from here. Cross the remainder of the bridge. On the other side, you will be in another short corridor. Ahead it turns a corner; shoot barrels on that corner open for a Health Pack and a box of 50 Bullets. Follow the corridor round the corner, then follow it along the next stretch, turning another corner again at the other end. You will find yourself in another tall room where two Krall guard a lever ahead.

Kill the Krall and enter the room. Approach the lever and kill another Krall that attacks from the right. Pressing the lever, you will see through a hole in the floor in the center of the room that you have extended the bridge through the death trap below. Resist the temptation to jump down and cross the bridge, because you don't want to risk getting squished and there's more to do up here still. Look at the wall near the lever. You will see a hole between two torches down to the ledge with gear that you saw from the raised bridge. Drop down through the hole on to the ledge to grab a Flak Cannon and two boxes of 10 Flak Shells. From there, you'll have to drop down to the room below, which is the tall water room from earlier. Go through the side exit from the tall water room. You'll be back in the tall ramp room. Climb the ramps again and cross over the raised bridge once more. Soon you'll be back at the room where you pulled the lever to extend the bridge.

Explore this room more fully. In the corner directly to the right from the entrance, a Spinner guards a can of 12 Eightballs. Cross the room from that corner; as you pass a corridor entrance to the right, destroy barrels for two Health Packs. On the far side of the room, the remaining corners reveal a spider, a can of 12 Eightballs and two ASMD Cores. Go back across the room and enter the corridor that runs straight above the death trap in the room below. It will take you round a corner then to a balcony where a SkaarjBerserker guards an Assault Vest. Kill the Skaarj and collect the armor.

Look off the balcony to the room below. You will see a carved sculpture ahead, and two raised ledges to either side of a central floor area. There's a Krall on the floor area. Jump down to the floor (you might want to go via a ledge to minimize falling damage) and kill the Krall.

Look around the room. A corridor slopes up from the back, and if you go back up it and through the door at the top, you will see that you have managed to get past the crushing trap without having to risk those slicing blades.

Return to the room with the carved sculpture. Destroy barrels on the right for a Health Pack. Then, approach the mouth of the carving and it will open, allowing you to climb through. If first you need any Stinger ammo, there is a cluster of 40 Tarydium Shards on the raised ledge to either side of the sculpture. You can use the ramps to either side of the mouth to get up there if you want. Go through the mouth of the carving. You arrive in a low-roofed sloping corridor. Descend the corridor and you arrive on a narrow beam over a lava pit with rooms level to either side. Once you're on the start of the beam, jump off into the room to the left.

A doorway leads off this antechamber. Go through it and you will be in a hallway with a ramp climbing up to the left. A Krall comes running out from beside the ramp; kill it, then collect the ASMD Core and 40 Tarydium Shards from its cubby hole. Climb the ramp and follow the corridor at the top. Shortly, you will reach an entrance on the left to a balcony over the beam and lava pit. A Krall guards the balcony; kill it with the ASMD or another weapon. When the Krall is dead, go down on to the balcony to collect a Shield Belt.

From the balcony, you are directly above the beam over lava. Drop down from here via a can of 12 Eightballs on a cross beam so that you are once again on the beam over lava. Jump off into the room to the right this time. There, go through the entrance and you will be in another ramp room. Kill the Krall that comes out from beside the ramp, then open barrels in its cubby hole for two Health Packs.

Follow the ramps once more up to the balcony and drop down again to the beam over lava. This time, follow the beam to the far end and climb off into the next area. Ready a powerful weapon such as the ASMD. From your position at the end of the beam, you have two symmetrical slopes down into the next room. Take either.

You come out in a tall room with a pillar in the center. The room is guarded by four Spinners - kill them. Then, scout around the room for gear. By the base of the pillar, you can get two clusters of 40 Tarydium Shards and two ASMD Cores, and there are two barrels at the back of the room that reveal a Health Pack. There's also a secret area in this room that I'll come back to shortly. First, though, go to the back of the room and go through the exit there. You will emerge in a crossways corridor where a corpse lies by two Flares and an ASMD Core. Read the corpse's log [2].

Go to the right end of the corridor and look out into the room beyond. You will see beyond a large room with a water pool and two large stone walkways crossing it. You will see a LesserBrute guarding this walkway; kill it. Duck out and to one side of the entrance for a can of 12 Eightballs, then return to the corridor. Do the same for another LesserBrute on the other walkway (accessed from the other end of the corridor) and collect a can of 12 Eightballs there too. When you're done, return to the room where you fought the spiders.

Returning to the tall room, go to the far end until you reach the steps then turn round and face the central pillar. Fire some explosives at the left side of the central pillar, and it will collapse, smashing a hole in the wall to the left.

The pillar has landed in such a way that you can get up on to it. So, hop up on to the pillar and climb it, then look through the hole in the wall. You will see that you have emerged half way up the wall of a hidden sleeping chamber. A Spinner attacks from one of the bunk alcoves - kill it. Then, drop down into the room and shoot open chests at the back of the room for a box of 50 Bullets and a can of 12 Eightballs.

You may think now that you're trapped in the room with no way out, but look carefully at the floor. You will see that the central stone section is cracked. Back into a corner and fire some explosives at the floor in the center of the room - it collapses, revealing a water-filled sump below. Drop down into the water. You will land in the sump and will be attacked by a Devilfish from below. Kill it, then look around. You will see that the sump continues along a tunnel. Follow the tunnel and kill the Devilfish that comes from the other end.

You are heading for another sump beneath what is presumably another hidden sleeping chamber. However, there's nothing interesting in that direction. Instead, stop in the room half way between the two sumps and look down under the surface. You will see that this central sump is deeper. Swim down here - watch out for another Devilfish lurking in the shadows - into the deeper part of the sump where you can collect a Nali Healing Fruit and a can of 12 Eightballs.

If you use a light source, you will see an underwater tunnel leading out from here. Follow the tunnel and you will pass through another sump where there is a Devilfish, another Nali Healing Fruit, a Combat Assault Rifle and a box of 8 Rifle Rounds. Collect the gear and continue through the tunnels. Shortly you will emerge in a much larger water pool. In this pool, watch out for two Devilfish and a lurking Slith.

Surface to recharge your Marine SCUBA Gear. You will realize that you are in the pool beneath the large room with the walkways where you killed the LesserBrutes. Submerge again, and go to the left of this room's large central pillar to collect two Clips. Go to the back of the pool on this side for a Nali Healing Fruit. Cross the pool, and you can collect two clusters of 40 Tarydium Shards from a similar position.

At last it's time to return to dry land. Surface and look at the central pillar. Diagonal supports lead up to the raised walkway. On one side, the walkway is damaged such that you can jump from the diagonal support on to dry land. So, climb out on to the base of the central pillar and climb said support. Hop off on to the walkway at the top.

At the top of the support look to either side. To the left would be backtracking, so go to the right and follow the walkway to the far end of the room. You will enter another crossways corridor to the other walkway. Half way along is another corridor leading off to the left. Shoot barrels at the junction open for two Health Packs then head for the corridor entrance, but beware the SkaarjWarrior that jumps out from the junction.

Descend the sloping corridor from the junction when Skaarj is dead. At the bottom of the slope, you will reach a crossroads. A broad hall leads off ahead, while small corridors head off to either side. A Gasbag approaches from one of the side corridors, so kill it, but watch out because doing so will attract the attention of a large SkaarjBerserker at the other end of the broad hallway.

Stay out of the broad hallway - it is booby trapped - but look down it. You will see that it is blocked at the far end by a golden door. So, collect the two clusters of 40 Tarydium Shards from either side of the corridor by which you entered the crossroads, then go down the side corridor to the left. You will come out in a room with a wide cascading water feature on the left. Press a button you will find at the far end, killing a Gasbag that emerges from above the water. Visit the water itself for two Nali Healing Fruit. Then, return to the crossroads and go across to the other side corridor. Following it, you will arrive in another water feature room similar to the previous one. Press the button in here too and kill another Gasbag, then visit the water for two ASMD Cores. Return to the crossroads and look down the broad hall; the gold door at the far end has opened.

Now, time to negotiate the broad hall. Shine a light down the sides of the hall; you will see some evil looking rows of spikes. Edge your way slowly down the hall, and you will see that the spiked bars suddenly shoot out from the walls and meet in the middle. As soon as they meet, run forwards so that you are passing through the hall whilst they are retracting and do not have time to slam shut again and squish you.

Once beyond the mashing trap, you will be in a small hall from which you can see a large SkaarjBerserker lurking in the next room. Collect here a Razorjack and two packs of Razor Blades, then use the device to decapitate the Skaarj. Whilst backing off, be careful not to reverse into the spike trap!

Enter the tall room the Skaarj was guarding. There is a lift shaft to the left. Go first to the back of the room, and you will find two boxes of 10 Flak Shells. When you have collected the ammo, go to the lift shaft. There's a small lever to the right there that calls the lift; press it and wait for the lift to descend.

Step on to the lift and ride it to the top. At the top, you will be standing before another pair of huge stone doors. Step forwards and the doors open; you will emerge in a room similar to the one near the start which had the carved angular face, but this one is guarded by a meaty SkaarjLord. Flak the Skaarj; watch out also for two Spinners coming out of a staircase to the right. When the threats have been neutralized, open barrels for two Health Packs, and collect a can of 12 Eightballs from a corner to the right. Then, go to the other end of the room and collect a Dispersion Pistol Powerup from beneath a wall painting.

There are two flights of steps leading up from either side of the room here. Take the one to the right. At the top, you will reach a hall similar to the starting one, where you will be attacked by two spiders. Another Spinner may also come out from the other flight of steps. When all the spiders are dead, shoot the barrels in this upper hall for a box of 50 Bullets, an ASMD Core and a Nali Fruit Seed. Then, go up the hall. At the far end, large stone doors open to reveal a passage beyond. Step through and go up steps to the left to exit the level.

Translator messages

 * 1) "LOG: M. Fox: Someone get me the hell out of here!!"
 * 2) "LOG: M. Verdu: Lost Leiby and Poesch about an hour ago. They must have made it outside. I think I'm getting close, but it's so dark it's hard to tell. Wait, something just fell off the wall. Coming this way... >>>ERROR<<<"

Intermission
The scene cuts to an intermission with a view of one of the water feature rooms where you pressed the buttons. The player records a log entry.

''I'm glad I made it out of there. I'm used to being bitten, hacked, shot, stabbed or blown up, but in there I could have been crushed, sliced, diced, or... skewered! Whoever built that place must have been a real sadist. I'm still slogging along... this is a Marathon, not a sprint.''

When the log entry is complete, press Fire to start the next level.