Spire Valley

The Spire Valley is the ninth level of the Return to Na Pali single player.


 * Description: The outlook is bleak. Once again you are all alone on the planet's surface with nowhere to go. But the Spire Valley is beautiful and it lifts your spirits... a bit.
 * Author: Nivlek and Juan Pancho Eekels

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

You start in the torchlit hall you entered at the end of the previous level. Nothing of interest here except for another set of doors ahead. Go through the doors. You emerge on a covered platform at the end of a lake. A Nali stands on the platform praying. Shoot open barrels on the platform for a Clip and a can of 12 Eightballs. Go to the edge of the platform and look out across the water.

This end of the lake curves round to the left. Ahead you can see a Nali structure on stilts in the water that is similar to the ones you saw before night fell. Drop into the water now and swim towards the stilted gazebo. Reaching the stilts, you will see a lift at water level in the center. Climb out on to the lift and let it take you up into the gazebo. Step off the lift at the top. Up in the gazebo there's an ASMD Core lying loose. Collect it then shoot barrels open for a Flare, a Health Pack and 40 Tarydium Shards. Then, from your high vantage point, look around the valley. The lake continues off to the left. Ahead is a portion of solid ground on which there are UMS drop boxes and a SkaarjInfantry with a Stinger on guard - he won't see you yet. Use the ASMD in primary fire to attack him - that'll wake him up.

When the Skaarj is dead or has run off, drop into the water and climb out on the solid ground. Go first behind the plant on the left for two Nali Healing Fruit, then shoot the three UMS drop boxes open for a 50 bullet CAR Clip, 10 Rockets and a Rocket Launcher. Climb the slope of the land here and spy out the environment ahead. You will see a large expanse of flat ground on which there is a Titan that does not see you. You may also see a Skaarj on patrol, but leave it alone if it does not spot you.

Retreat to the water's edge and drop back in. Follow the lake as it continues through the valley. Underwater as you round a corner, you will see the Skyelevator from the Sunspire half buried in the mud, evidently crashed. Two dead human bodies lie sprawled on the floor of the lake nearby. Collect the half-buried Automag between them then read their logs [1] and [2].

Continue swimming along the valley. Passing a tower near the crashed Skyelevator, you will soon see another slope of land ahead. But ignore this and continue through the lake. Passing another tower, you will soon sight another gazebo. Swim to the gazebo and ride the lift to the top. In the gazebo, a Nali Priest prays. Leave him alone and open barrels for a Health Pack, a Nali Fruit Seed and a box of 10 Flak Shells. Look around.

The lake continues further on round the winding valley, but don't go that way yet. Instead, go to the edge of the gazebo facing back the way you came and you will see that the sloping path you saw just now that winds round the cliff in this area drops to water level as it heads for the flat expanse of land you saw earlier. Jump out of the gazebo and head for the flat ground.

Climb out and head along the flat ground. Look out for a SkaarjTrooper with a Dispersion Pistol on patrol. When the Skaarj is dead, continue towards the large rock ahead. Collect a Nali Healing Fruit from beside a large plant to the right. You will soon find yourself approaching the large flat plain you saw earlier. Although the large rock partly blocks your view, you will see the Titan to the left of the rock, so yourself go to the right of the rock.

You will emerge back at the base of the slope down from the place where you first emerged from the water and destroyed the drop boxes. It's time to tackle the Titan now, so ready your Rocket Launcher (oh for an Eightball...). A rocket up the backside will soon attract the big monster's attention, so fire away. Then, using that large rock as cover from the Titan's boulders, fill it with rockets and then grenades until it moans and collapses. Be careful when strafing round the rock, because you may attract the attention of a SkaarjTrooper with a Dispersion Pistol in a nearby gazebo. Be it during or after the Titan fight, dispose of the Skaarj too.

Now that you've dealt with the immediate threat, go over to the pool containing the gazebo from which the Skaarj jumped down. Go first underwater and open a UMS drop box there for a 50 bullet CAR Clip, then use the lift to rise up into the gazebo and open barrels for a Clip, a Health Pack and an ASMD Core. There are two more aspects of this part of the valley that you have not yet explored. Look out of the side of the gazebo that faces away from the large rock you emerged from behind to enter this area. You will see a pair of Nali huts. Drop out of the gazebo and head for the huts. The huts are dark, so using your Searchlight, enter the first.

A useful Assault Vest lies in the corner with a barrel that contains a Health Pack. Collect the gear then open other barrels for a Clip. Leave the hut and approach the second one. Go in - inside you will find two cans of 12 Eightballs and barrels containing a Clip, 40 Tarydium Shards and a Health Pack.

Leave the hut and head round to the right of another large rock at this side of the valley. Near the foot of the cliff further round, you will find a SkaarjInfantry with a Stinger lurking by wooden crates. Kill the Skaarj and take the Stinger he drops, then open the crates for 40 more Tarydium Shards. Collect a Nali Healing Fruit from beneath a nearby plant.

Continue round behind the rock. Eventually you will emerge at the back of the flat expanse of ground at the base of a canyon that slopes upwards. There's a UMS drop box here which you can shoot open for a 50 bullet CAR Clip. You will see more drop boxes up the canyon, so head on up the canyon, opening a drop box on the way for 10 Rockets. There's a Nali Healing Fruit on the right at this point. Shortly you will reach a point where two more drop boxes reveal a Combat Assault Rifle and another 50 bullet CAR Clip. Collect these but then STOP - haven't you missed something?

There is a strange structure ahead that looks significant, but don't approach it yet. Think back to earlier in the map... you saw the lake continuing round and a footpath sloping up round the cliff. You didn't explore that area. So, turn around (trust me, this is the best order to do things in) and go back down the canyon. Veer to the right around a medium-sized rock at the bottom and shoot open a UMS drop box that you missed earlier to retrieve its Grenade Launcher. Continue to stick to the cliff on the right and you will pass the large rock you used as cover from the Titan, before returning shortly to where you climbed out of the lake for the second time.

From this position, the footpath slopes up and winds round the cliff as it follows the edge of the lake. Climb the sloping ground, following the path's curvature. At the top of the slope, you can collect a Nali Healing Fruit from the base of a torch before the ground slopes down again. Follow the path right down to the bottom. You will be at a junction where a tall narrow canyon leads back up to the right while a water-level plateau spreads out to the left. Go to the left on to the plateau but beware a SkaarjInfantry with an ASMD lurking by a torch whom you should kill. Once the Skaarj is dead, keep a look out for a group of six Pack Hunters that patrol this area.

Once all threats have been neutralized, drop into this end of the lake to find a UMS drop box containing a Combat Assault Rifle. Then climb back out and approach the wooden crates the Skaarj was guarding and open them for an ASMD Core. You will see that the plateau opens out and extends for a long way, but is divided here into two routes by a large rock. Take the route on the left and follow the rock round - you will soon see a building in the distance. Keep your eyes open for those Pack Hunters.

Approach the building. You will be in front of the main entrance, but don't go in that way, go round to the right of the building and follow its walls round to the back. Soon, as you arrive round the back of the building, you will see a ramp up to a balcony. Go beneath the ramp to collect of two Nali Healing Fruit you find there. Climb the ramp itself now to the balcony. The balcony runs round the end wall; in the end wall you will see a doorway behind which a SkaarjTrooper with a Dispersion Pistol is crouched.

Surprise the Skaarj with a Flak Shell up its backside - but expect to be surprised yourself as from a balcony round the corner appear another SkaarjTrooper with a Dispersion Pistol and a SkaarjInfantry with a Flak Cannon. Kill them both and be sure to collect the Flak Cannon dropped by the SkaarjInfantry at some point. Look around.

You are on a balcony inside the building. Below, the building is clearly being used by the Skaarj as a storage facility of some kind. There are various items on top of the storage crates and on the floor but ignore them for the moment. Instead, step on the beam that leads away from the balcony into the room. Follow it until it turns into a cross beam in the next part of the building. Follow the cross beam to the right to access the balcony where the other Skaarj were lurking. Shoot wooden crates there open for a box of 10 Flak Shells.

From here, ostensibly the items available on top of the crates are a can of 12 Eightballs and a Dispersion Pistol Powerup. However, drop instead on to the stacks of crates nearest where the crate that had contained the Flak Shells was positioned. On the crates, go into the corner under the balcony for a Shield Belt.

Before going out and back up to collect the other items from on top of the storage boxes, drop down to the floor and follow the red carpet to the left. You will reach an Eightball Gun at the end of the room (which was evidently some kind of chapel originally) between two monk statues.

Return to the main part of the room with the torch in the center. The exit should be on your left. Go to the right into the back part of the room. Behind the Shield Belt crates are two ASMD Cores, and two barrels opposite reveal a Clip and a Flare. Almost time to leave. But first, collect 40 Tarydium Shards from the left of the exit. Then, go outside and go back round to the ramps behind the building. Re-enter the building from the balcony so that you can drop down on to crates on the left for a can of 12 Eightballs. If you're good, you can jump round the corner to the next crate which carries a Dispersion Pistol Powerup. If not, then go back round via the ramps once more.

When you've left the building for the last time, it's time to press on and leave this part of the valley. If you need health though, first make a hard right from the building and walk such that you are heading towards the Sunspire mountain (which can be seen beyond the cliffs). You will approach a torch and soon see two Nali Healing Fruit at the base of a rock to the right.

Time to get going. You need to return to the area by the lake. If you've lost your bearings, then the route you want is pretty much straight on from the exit of the chapel then off to the left when you reach the cliff.

Once back at the lake's edge, head up the tall narrow canyon you noticed earlier (straight on as you return to the lake). It slopes uphill, taking you gently back to the right. There's another Nali Healing Fruit to the right of a rock at the bottom of the canyon if you need it.

As you ascend the slope you will encounter a SkaarjTrooper with a Dispersion Pistol. Make sure it is suitably disposed of. Near the top of the canyon (which in itself reveals nothing of great value) you will spot another Titan. While you are still at a distance and the Titan hasn't spotted you, load up six rockets and fire them in a tight circle to get first strike. Then, do the usual job of dodging boulders and backing off until the Titan is dead.

When you have finished the Titan off, go up to the top of the canyon (there's another Nali Healing Fruit to the left of a rock near the top). Once the canyon opens out you will realize that you are back near the strange structure you saw earlier. The other canyon you came up leads down to the right.

You're ready to proceed. Approach the structure and go to the right of a rock at the very top to surprise a crouching SkaarjOfficer carrying an ASMD. Kill him and collect the ASMD he drops. If you need any health, go to the far right of the structure and collect the Nali Healing Fruit in the corner. Then, go round to the front of the structure and go through the doorway there into a small forecourt. There's another Nali Healing Fruit on the left in the forecourt. Approach the door to the structure which has inscriptions either side that read [3].

The doors open as you approach. Step through. Within the structure, go through another set of doors ahead to exit the level.

Translator messages

 * 1) "LOG: R. Ovrevik: Montanus and I are at the top of the spire. We've located an alien shuttle of some sort that rises straight up into the clouds. It's getting rather stormy, but we're going to attempt to ride it."
 * 2) "LOG: J. Montanus: Ovrevik and I managed to ascend the large towering rock fairly easily. We suspect someone may have cleared the way. Maybe he's the one that made it off this forsaken planet."
 * 3) "Land of Nagomi"

Intermission
The scene cuts to an intermission with a view of the structure. The player records a log entry.

''Life was hard, then it got harder. I hate Titans!''

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