Bluff Eversmoking
Myscha the sled dog
Arriving from the barren Velora Pass into a beautiful mountain lake monasatery, the night-time atmosphere of this planet is at its peak. There is an inexorable sense of something - something that tells you that you are approaching your goal.

You start in the corridor from the Velora Pass, with a door and two ornamental pools ahead, and a lever on the right. Press the lever to open the doors, then go out into the open space beyond.

You arrive in an outdoor area with tall cliffs and a crucifix. Here, a Nali prays over some dead humans from the ISV-Kran. The Nali will beckon for you to follow him; let him run off a little way then ignore him temporarily until you're done here. Investigate the corpses for logs:

"ISV-Kran Chief Medical Officer's Log:–Tatiana Zimna: We have come to this beautiful canyon lake monastery in our search for Kira's abductors. We'll make camp by this crucifix tonight and start out early tomorrow."

"Security Officer Sergai Dubrov: ISV-KRAN: LOG ENTRY:We are hot on the trail of the Skaarh Hunting party that Captured Kira near the Sunspire. They are headed north towards the blue electrical storms on the horizon."

One of the corpses possesses an Automag; collect it. Then, open barrels in this area to retrieve a box of 50 Bullets, a can of 12 Eightballs, and a Stinger.
Follow the Nali now. He will lead you between two pillars on to an area where he will operare a lever to open a large wooden door. Follow him through the door and on to the path beyond. Follow him up the slope there between stone walls towards another large wooden door; as you reach some windy balconies over a lake a long way below, the Nali will veer off on to the balcony on the right - follow him.
As you watch, the Nali presses a lever (which opens the large wooden door at the top of the ramp). A SkaarjScout who was gazing out off the other end of the balcony will make a charge for the Nali, so make sure that the Skaarj (not the Nali) is suitably blown up. Collect the Nali Healing Fruit from near the lever the Nali operated, then go across the ramp to the other balcony, where you can collect another Nali Healing Fruit and a barrel contains a box of 8 Rifle Rounds.
Return to the slope and ascend to the door the Nali opened. If it has closed, operate the lever to open it. Step through on to the windswept causeway beyond.

Beyond the door, the sloping rock causeway leads up to a Nali monastery on top of a tall cliff; below, a long way down, the cliff is surrounded by water. Ascend the causeway; near the top, a rock footpath heads down round the side of the cliff to the left. Remember it, you'll be using it later.
Ahead are the main doors to the inner area of the monastery, but they are locked. To the left is an arch in the monastery wall you will use later, and to the right you can follow the top of the cliff (I'll call it the Bluff) round the end of the monastery tower. Take this route to the right and you will be in a small open space with the monastery wall on the left. Here a Nali prays by a crucifix with a crucified Nali pinned to it, while a SkaarjScout stands on guard. Kill the Skaarj before he can harm the praying Nali.
Put the crucified Nali out of his misery, then collect of the two Nali Healing Fruit near the base of the crucifix. Shoot open barrels here for two boxes of Razor Blades. Return round to the plateau at the front of the monastery. In doing so, you will see a crucifix on top of the outer cliff of the canyon in the distance. Walk over to near the arch on the other side of the monastery, then use the Assault Rifle's zoom mode to zoom in on the crucifix.
You will see a Nali on the cross. Dispense of him with your Assault Rifle - shortly, there will be a thunderclap and lightning will strike to spawn a Super Health Pack on the plateau. Collect the pack. When you're done, go through that arch you haven't investigated yet. You will arrive in an area where two Nali pray under the watch of two Krall. It'll be tricky, but you can save both Nali. Do your best.
There is another arch in the next wall. Go through into a small open area with empty barrels, and through the next arch after that into a kind of covered crossroads where there is a Krall on patrol whom you should kill. Go to the right and you will arrive at a pool guarded by two Krall. You don't want to enter the pool yet, so go back to the crossroads. One exit is just a wooden viewing balcony, so take the other and veer off to the right into a small area with a hutch at the back.
The hutch contains several Nali Rabbits. You can press a switch on the hutch to open it, but they don't jump out. So, move on and go through the arch into the next area.

The next area contains Nali Cows in a pen. An exit to the right leads you over a barred lift shaft into a small cemetary. Here, a ghost of a Nali is praying by some gravestones. First, open barrels to the left for two clusters of 40 Tarydium Shards. There are also three Nali Healing Fruit on the far side of the cemetary if you need them.
Read the gravestones:

"Acolyte Ne'Pher Dunis 350-488"

"High Priest De'Nasha Breeche 255-480"

"Only by facing the direction of the rising sun may one find a new day."

"Acolyte Ne'Lin Garas 353-487"

"Son of Ne'Lin Garas 380-390"

Then some of the level designers' additions:

"Myscha Nov 28th 1994–June 1997"

"Pelit Jan 20 1997–July 17 1997"

The large tomb at the far end also bears a message:

"Vault of the Dead–Herein lies the last resting place of the High Priest of Bluff Eversmoking and the artifacts used by the Messiah."

Sounds tempting, but how do you get in? One of these messages was the odd one out... the one about the rising sun. So, go over to the obelisk that bore that message. Stand facing it, pointing in the direction by which you entered the cemetary. Push on that face of the obelisk, and it slides open to reveal a button beneath. Press the button. Shortly, the lid of the Vault of the Dead slides open. Go round the back and climb the steps there to enter the tomb.
The wooden floor of the tomb turns out to be lift which descends as you enter. Look out for an alcove on the back wall of the shaft as you descend that contains a Flak Cannon and two boxes of 10 Flak Shells. Go down to the bottom of the shaft, and emerge into the Vault of the Dead.

In this vault, the ghost of a Nali Priest summons you. Follow him and he opens the various tombs in the vault. Visit the tombs one by one, starting with the ones at the furthest end of the vault from where you dropped in. Each tomb can be accessed by climbing nearby steps, and you can get out of each tomb by standing on the floors of the tombs which are lifts that lift you back out. The first pair of tombs at the back of the vault reveal a GES Biorifle and an Invisibility powerup. Coming back through the vault, the next tomb contains a Stinger and two clusters of 40 Tarydium Shards. Back at the start of the vault, the final tomb in an offshoot from the main vault contains an ASMD and two ASMD Cores.
In this offshoot room is a small pool. Enter this pool and it turns into a series of tanks and shafts that lead you, past a Nali corpse, up to the pool on top of the bluff that you passed earlier. Climb out and return to the covered crossroads. Go out on to the wooden viewing balcony, and look to the left; below is the rock footpath down the side of the bluff that you noticed earlier, and above that to the left at bluff level is a small rock patch outside the monastery walls where there is an Assault Rifle. Collect the rifle and follow the spit of land back out to the front end of the monastery. Leave the monastery building and go out to the plateau in front of the monastery.
You've exhausted almost all possible routes of entry to the inner monastery now. There's just one that might be the way... go on to the approach causeway and from there locate the footpath that curves down the side of the bluff. Follow it, and soon you will reach a point where you can look out over the lake to see the monastery bell tower.

Shortcut: I am about to take a detour to help fill the player in on what is going on in this map. If you've done this detour in a previous play of the map, then doing it again will gain you very little. If so, then skip this part - just stay put, and rejoin the walkthrough where the player is back in this position (go to §).

Jump off the walkway and fall down into the water of the lake below, then swim towards the bell tower. Here, the waters are infested with some hugely resistant Devilfish that take two Flak Shells each to kill, so they are best avoided where possible to prevent your wasting ammo. Anyway, climb out on to the rock around the base of the bell tower and climb the wooden ramp to the door. The tower is locked, with a Skaarj panel nearby reading:

"MAGNETIC LOCKS ENGAGED: AUTHORISED BY CAPTAIN DUK'CHOROTH–OF THE 12th HOUSE OF dUBREVI"

The bell tower's a no-go zone then... but before leaving, take time to look around. You will see some electric rails above your head going round the bluff and up to an entrance in the outer cliff of the canyon. If you look near the bell tower, you will see a jetty leading out from inside the bell tower to a car on the rails docked on the jetty. You'll be using this later, but can't get to it yet.
Look around from the wooden platform outside the tower. At water level near where you dropped into the lake, a pipe leads back into the rock. Swim over to the pipe and climb inside - mind the Tentacle that lurks within. Follow the pipe until it comes out near the bottom of a vertical shaft. You can't go up the shaft, so plunge into the water below and go into the horizontal tunnel beneath the surface.
Shortly you will come out in a large underground water cave. Climb out on to the wooden platforms in the cave and kill the three Krall on guard there. Although there are items you can collect in this area, we'll deal with that later. For now you're just passing through. So, go across the platform and enter the corridor in the cave wall. Inside the corridor, an entrance on the left is blocked by electric beams. So, go to the far end of the corridor and climb on to the lift there.
After a short ride upwards, you will be back in the cemetary on top of the bluff by means of the previously barred lift shaft. Use your knowledge of the monastery layout to get back to the plateau in front of the monastery, then go back down the footpath round the side of the cliff to the point where you jumped off earlier.
§ Continue down the sloping footpath and enter the foyer at the bottom. Two doorways lead to corridors into the rock, take the one on the right. Going via barrels with two Clips in an alcove on the way, go to the end of the corridor where a Krall attacks from the top of the flight of steps down into the next room beyond. Kill the Krall.

Go down the steps to enter the room. This room is a hall with has several pillars and corner alcoves. Go down and round to the right behind the steps to open barrels for a box of 50 Bullets. If you then go round to the left of the stairs and into the other corner at this end of the room, barrels here also contain a box of 50 Bullets.
In this corner, shine a light into the shadow cast by the steps, so that you are viewing the back end of the flight of steps itself. You will see an oddly textured section of the wall; shoot it and it opens to reveal an Assault Vest in a secret compartment. Now, cross diagonally over to the far corner of the room and enter the raised alcove that you could see as you went down the steps. There are two log books here.

"Shipping Log: Grorq of the Red Hand Tribe. I am really getting sick with the way the Skaarj are treating us. Constantly bossing us around and making us watch over their pathetic Nali Slaves. My troops are getting sick of this situation."

"Shipping Log: Grorq of the Red Hand Tribe. Coming the next full moon we are expecting a large shipment of salvaged supplies from the human spacecraft. I need to make a few repairs to the electric rails around the bluff but we should be ready by then."

If you go along the end wall here you will pass a corridor to the right before reaching an opening at the far end. This opening leads down to a room with some wooden plankways over water; there is a KrallElite dozing here that you should kill.
When the KrallElite is dead, go into the water and have a roam. In one corner beneath the walkway is a can of 12 Eightballs, while a Nali Healing Fruit is perched on top of a loose stone in the pool. There's also a drainage tunnel leading out of the pool here but it takes you to places that don't work for this route so ignore it.

Climb back up the wooden ramp out of the pool and, from the main walkway, jump across into another water tunnel at a slightly raised level. Kill the crucified Nali at the end then take the tunnel along to the left where you can collect two cans of Tarydium Sludge from behind a grid overlooking the lake. Leave the tunnel back out on to the wooden walkways, then go back to the main underground hall. Go along the end wall and take the corridor to the left; the corridor takes you through to a prison area where one Krall is on guard whilst the other Krall here play dice on the floor. Kill all the Krall (I recommend the GES Biorifle) then read the log books on the table at the far end.

"Jailer Hrang of the Red Hand Tribe: We have captured a Terran girl. Some of my soldiers want to try and take liberties with her. I guess that's OK as long as they watch those boots! She kicked my in the Hrangos last time."

"Jailer Hrang of the Red Hand Tribe: Dorro owes me 25,000 gold Paaras when we get home! He truly sucks at death bones. Hustling him is like taking candy from a Terran baby. Speaking of which I think it's time to go beat on that ugly Terran girl some more."

"Jailer Hrang of the Red Hand Tribe: I can't believe it! That Terran girl escaped! One of those worthless Nali Monks must have tunneled her out. I am in DEEP SHIT! If Captain DUK'CHOROTH comes and finds out I let her escape I'll be de-hrangod for sure!"

Take a look around the cell block. On one side are two floors of locked prison cells, whilst on the other side are steps to the upper level, a pool, and a lever.

Press the lever - the cell doors swing open, allowing you to investigate the contents. Look at the cells on the lower level; they are all unrewarding except for one which contains a Nali who summons you. Follow him, and he leads you to the top level and points in to one of the upper cells. The cell he points to has a dead Nali with a diary and a log carved on the wall. Read them both.

"My brother Kriin is in the cell below me. My other brother Kruun escaped through the water tunnels under the stairs. They sacrificed my best friend Jaara for Kruun's escape."

"I am feeling ill. My cough has gotten worse and this darkened cell is not helping. I only hope that my brother Kruun escaped to our childhood hiding hole in the sewers. From there he can access the inner walls of the monastery."

The other cells will reveal nothing but a tunnel out to the clif of the bluff which has been newly barred off. This was presumably the Terran girl's escape route. So, follow Kruun's example and leave the cell, entering the water under the stairs. Kill the crucified Nali there then take the underwater tunnel leading out of the pool at the back corner under the stairs. Follow the tunnel and take the sloping shaft that leads off to the left, then surface at the end into a small underground chamber.

This chamber contains a number of things of interest. A tunnel at the back will reveal only Kruun's corpse, so stay in the main room and raid the corners for three Nali Fruit Seeds and containers revealing a Flashlight. Read the inscription on one wall.

"HAVE FAITH AND NEVER SWAY FROM YOUR BELIEFS. ONLY A SOUL THAT KEEPS THE FAITH DESPITE ALL OPPRESSION SHALL TRIUMPH WHEN THE SAVIOUR PRINCESS COMES FROM THE STARS."

There are also several diaries in this chamber:

"Kruun's personal diary: I have to be careful how many times I sneak into the monastery through the tunnels. I've marked the tunnel that leads into the inner monastery with a cross, the other leads to the prison where my brother is still being held."

"I have been hiding here for what seems like months now. The Skaarj forces that have taken over our monastery continue to transport stolen tarydium and other strange mechanical devices using their lightning sled. I fear that they may find me."

"I have discovered a secret! Last night I snuck out of my hiding place and swam through the pipes to the prison. They have captured a Girl! The Krall sergeant took two boots in the mouth when he approached here. Haha I can only laugh at their stupidity."

"The woman they captured is scheduled to be executed. I cannot let this happen! As foolish as it sounds I will attempt to sneak her out of the prison cell through our secret caves. From there she can escape to the bell tower until darkness."

At last, a way into the inner monastery! Take a dive back into the water from which you entered this chamber. You will see the tunnel you came in by but also a vertical shaft down at the bottom of which is an underwater tank with a Nali cross on rthe floor. Swim down into the underwater tank, which opens out into a taller tank with a vertical shaft in the ceiling. Swim up the shaft and surface, and at last you will be inside the monastery.
Climb out of the fountain you emerged from and collect the two Nali Healing Fruit, then go and attend to a Nali who summons you from the next room. He will point to crates that contain a Razorjack, a box of Razor Blades, and a can of 12 Eightballs. From this room, you can either go up a flight of steps, or pass through a doorway to open air on the far side. you might want to go out through this doorway briefly to get your bearings, so go a little way into the outdoor area, but beware a SkaarjGunner with a Dispersion Pistol on patrol further along such that he sometimes comes into view and sees you.

Go back indoors and climb the steps. At the top, you will pass through a doorway on to a balcony above the ground floor of the monastery chapel. Here, two Nali praying at the front will summon you from the ground floor. Follow them and they open hidden compartments beneath the balconies, one of which contains a Shield Belt, and the other contains four ASMD Cores.
Leave the chapel by following the corridor that leads off at the front end of the chapel beneath the balconies. Follow the corridor and go out through the main chapel doors, and you emerge in the outdoor area you were in just now. Ahead are the locked monastery gates. To the right is the area that was being patrolled by the SkaarjGunner. To the left, the monastery tower is accessible with a doorway. Go to the tower and read the sign above the door (there's a Nali Healing Fruit just beyond the chapel stairs in that direction if you need it):

"MAIN GATE GUARD TOWER"

Enter the tower and press a lever within. This calls a lift which, when you press the lever again, will take you up to the top floor of the tower. At the top, you will see a winch and two levers. Press the lever nearest the winch and the winch operates, opening the main gates. Use the other lever to lower the lift so that you can go back down again, then get off at the bottom.
The main gates are of course open now but don't go through them yet. Go across the area to the area the SkaarjGunner was patrolling; you will first arrive in a small covered area where vases contain two Rifle Rounds. When you've collected them, go along to the right.

The next area contains equipment crates from the ISV-Kran and steps going down into an underground area. Go first behind the crates at the far left to collect two clusters of 40 Tarydium Shards, then go down the steps and enter the corridor beyond. The corridor leads you round to a balcony above a large underground room. A SkaarjGunner with a Dispersion Pistol will see you from below; kill it with a quick weapon like the ASMD, but stay on the balcony (if you fall off, there's a lift back up). Then, take a look around the room from your position on the balcony.
At the back corner of the room, there's an offshoot area protected by a pair of electric beams similar to the ones blocking the corridor turning in the underground water cave. You need to get past these beams to deactivate them... if you look, you will see that a white balcony-level beam that separates the offshoot from the main room continues right along to the balcony and protrudes slightly from the wall at this end. So, creep along this raised beam and jump off, over the electric field, into the offshoot area. As you enter the offshoot area you will get the following message:

"HYDROLASER CONTROL STATION: LASERS ON AND OPERATIONAL"

There's a control panel at the back of this area. Activate it, and the lasers disengage with the following message:

"HYDROLASER CONTROL STATION: LASERS DISENGAGED–ACCESS TO HYDRO-ELECTRIC GENERATOR BELOW BELL TOWER PERMITTED"

Leave the offshoot through the deactivated laser field and cross the main room, going through a doorway on the other side into a room full of hydraulic equipment where you can collect gear from the corners including two cans of Tarydium Sludge, two ASMD Cores and an Assault Vest. There's an information panel at the back.

"SKAARJ SHIPPING FACILITY POWER MANAGEMENT STATION: HYDRO-ELECTRIC SHIPPING CAR STATUS–OFF/REACTIVATION REQUIRES STATIC DISCHARGE NODES TO BE OPENED AT TOP OF BELL TOWER."

You should be getting to grips with what you have to be doing now. So, return to the main room and use the lever at the end to operate the lift back to the balcony. Return to the surface and go out through the main monastery gates on to the plateau at the front of the bluff.
You need to get to the big underground water cave that you saw if you took the detour earlier. This is the quickest route I can suggest... Go to the main bluff access causeway and look down off the cliff to the right; you'll see some wooden platforms at water level a long way below. Don't jump down directly on to the platforms as you'll die. Instead, follow the footpath down the side of the bluff for a bit and jump off so that you land in the water of the lake (beware the highly resistent Devilfish in the water), then swim to the wooden platforms and climb out.

The wooden walkway you climb out on to goes up a slight ramp before arriving on a slightly raised secrion where a Brute guards a Nali. Kill the Brute. From this wooden platform, you can follow a large cave tunnel through the rock (barrels on the way contain two cans of Tarydium Sludge and two boxes of 8 Rifle Rounds) that comes out eventually in the large underground water cave. You are on the wrong side of the water, so jump in and swim across, climbing out on a wooden platform on the far side. If you haven't been here yet because you took the shortcut, kill the three Krall in this area.
The place you want to be is through the corridor that leads into the rock, but first go up the wooden ramp in this cave to a raised platform where barrels contain 12 Eightballs. Then, you can drop down on to a rock below the ramp to collect an Eightball Gun. Return to the wooden platform and enter the corridor. Ahead lies the lift back to the surface, but that's not where you want to go. Now that the Hydrolasers are deactivated, go through the previously blocked entrance on the left.
The entrance leads you to a large lift with a switch above. Step on to the raised central section of the lift and the switch operates, and the lift slowly spirals down the shaft coming to a rest in a pool at the bottom at the start of a long winding underground tunnel. First things first, go down the side of the lift and go underwater to collect of the four Nali Healing Fruit on offer there. Climb out and enter the mouth of the corridor and collect an Assault Rifle from a corpse plus two extra boxes of 8 Rifle Rounds from crates nearby.

This long winding tunnel is part of the Skaarj hydroelectric generator, and is thus patrolled periodically by four SkaarjGunners with Eightball Guns. You have to kill them all, so use stealth, the Invisibility item (if necessary), and the Assault Rifle to decapitate, paying visits to the Nali Healing Fruit in the pool as required, until you are safely at the far end of the corridor.
At the far end, steps spiral up round a pillar. Go round behind the pillar for two ASMD Cores and crates containing 40 Tarydium Shards, then climb the steps to the balcony at the top. Follow the balcony round to enter a large control room guarded by a SkaarjGunner with a Dispersion Pistol. Kill the Skaarj then look at the panels in the room.

One panel reads the following:

"HYDRO-ELECTRIC SHIPPING CAR FULLY POWERED AND READY FOR DEPARTURE. ELECTRO-STATIC DISCHARGE NODES AT TOP OF BELL TOWER MUST BE ACTIVATED PRIOR TO STARTUP."

The second panel sends an activation signal and then reads the following:

"BELL TOWER MAGNETIC LOCKS DISENGAGED:ACCESS TO BELL TOWER PERMITTED."

Go to the back of the room. By the central column here, crates contain two clusters of 40 Tarydium Shards and a box of 10 Flak Shells. When you've collected what you need, look at the back wall and you will see a conduit leading out through the control room wall. Go along the conduit then ride the lift at the far end that goes upwards and takes you out through a grille that opens on to the rock around the base of the bell tower.

Climb the rock up to the wooden ramps to the now open bell tower door, where the panel has changed.

"MAGNETIC LOCKS DISENGAGED"

Enter the bell tower and look around. Way up above is the bell tower loft. A short way up is a balcony with access to the bell tower electric car jetty. In the middle, a lever-operated lift. Beneath the grille lift, an interesting-looking hole. So, press the lever to activate the lift but don't step on to it.
Below where the lift was the hole goes down past a balcony and then on to a metal grille platform above the control room. Jump down on to the balcony and kill the two Tentacles there then collect of the three Nali Healing Fruit and two cans of 12 Eightballs on the balcony. If you look down, you will see an Assault Vest on the metal grille platform, so drop down further and grab that too.
On the metal grille platform, a SkaarjGunner with a Dispersion Pistol will come running out of a wall conduit at platform level. Kill the Skaarj then go along the conduit yourself, collecting the Dispersion Pistol Powerup on the way. Ride the lift at the far end to the top, and you will come out of a grille on the other side of the bell tower rock. Go to the right of the tower and traverse the slope back to the side of the bell tower rock that has the entrance, then enter the tower again.
Activate the lever inside to bring the lift back down, then activate it once more and ride the lift up to the top. You will be in the bell tower loft, so have a look around. A lever at the back controls the lift, and there are two more switches either side. At the front, there is a strange device with two glowing panels:

"WARNING–STATIC DISCHARGE NODES–STAY CLEAR DURING OPERATION."

"STATIC DISCHARGE NODES: EAST AND WEST BREAKERS MUST BE THROWN TO RELEASE STATIC DISCHARGE."

Before activating the breakers, go to the back of the bell tower loft and look at a corpse by the lift control lever.

It's a Terran female. Looks like Kira didn't make it. Read her log:

"Science Officer Kira Argmanov: Separated from my crewmates from ISV-KRAN, I've only been able to stay alive by holding up in this bell tower. A native Nali help me escape from the prison cell the Skaarj put me in. Hopefully the Skaarj won't find me here."

When you're done, you can activate the Static Discharge Nodes. Press the two switches on either side of the tower loft and watch as a blue glow forms between the two Nodes. The panel on the left will have changed.

"STATIC DISCHARGE SUCCESSFUL–HYDRO-ELECTRIC SHIPPING CAR NOW FULLY OPERATIONAL."

Time to go for a ride. Use the lever to activate the lift, then get off at the raised balcony near the bottom as it descends. Take the doorway out on to the jetty and step aboard the shipping car, which then starts to move - enjoy the ride.
After a full circle around the bluff, you will find that the cart goes up the sloping rail to the entrance in the canyon's outer cliff, stopping at the top. Step off and follow the winding corridor within. At the end just before a lift, shoot barrels open for a Flashlight. Then, step aboard the lift and press the lever to activate it. When the lift reaches the bottom of the descending shaft, the level changes.