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Old 02-02-20, 17:48   #1
Nigel Cassidy
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Default Scripts for Lara Croft games. By Nigel Cassidy.

So here are some scripts for Lara Croft games I have written. I had some foolish hope that Crystal D might one day take inspiration from them, but knowing Crystal D's opinion on classic Lara I might as well post them here, as I am touched by the interest that people showed in my work. So here you go, happy reading.

Lara Croft and the Four Aces.

Opening cutscene: it starts out in a North Korean prison camp. Lara has been captured by the North Koreans. She's dressed in a blue prison jumpsuit and is being escorted by two guards over the central square. Suddenly the alarm goes off. Off in the distance three helicopters approach. Inside the prison the guards are starting to panic. When the helicopters are closer they fire missiles at the guard towers.
Lara's guards watch this happening in shock. Suddenly they feel something happening at their waists. They want to reach for their guns but they are missing. Lara grapped them during the confusion and guns the guards down.

First level: the North Korean prison camp serves as a tutorial level to learn how to climb and fight. She's gonna have to climb over some of the walls and buildings and shoot a bunch of guards.

Second cutscene: the helicopters drop cans of sleeping gas down the prison square. Lara is affected by the gas, tries to fight it, but collapses. Then one of the helicopters lands and armed men with gasmasks jump out of it. They find Lara's unconscious body. One of them holds up a picture of Lara. 'Positive identity,' he says, and points to his men that they should take her away. They drag her into the helicopter and it takes off. They disappear behind the horizon.

Third cutscene: Lara wakes up in a bed in a luxurious bedroom. She steps out of bed, walks to the window and sees nothing but ocean. Behind her a door opens and a young man with South African - Afrikaans accent, dressed in steward's clothing, steps in.
'Good morning miss Croft,' he says, 'did you sleep well?'
Lara looks suspicious. 'Who are you?' she asks. 'Where am I?'
He replies: 'my name is Daniel de Wet. You are aboard the Centurion, the yacht of my employer. He will explain the situation to you. To your left is a bathroom. There is clothing in your size in the wardrobe. Make yourself presentable, I'll come fetch you in half an hour.'

The player then has to choose between a number of outfits; like for instance a woman's business suit with skirt, T-shirt and jeans, or a summer dress.

After selecting the outfit the fourth cutscene begins: Daniel escorts Lara to the dining room of the ship were she meets a man of about 50 years in an expensive suit. His bodyguards are standing at close distance.
'Miss Croft!' he says. 'I am delighted to meet you. Let me introduce myself: Pieter van Zyl, humble businessman, and owner of a pharmaceutical factory near Pretoria, South Africa.'
They shake hands.
'Pleased to meet you,' Lara answers. 'I owe you my freedom.'
'Let us toast to that...' He beckons Daniel, who serves van Zyl and Lara a glass of champagne. They both take a glass, toast it and drink it.
'When I heard that you had been captured and brought to that awful North Korean prison camp,' van Zyl continues, 'I spared no expense in organizing a rescue operation. Thank heavens it succeeded. Why on earth did you go to that godforsaken place?'
'I wanted to study the artefacts from the Three Kingdoms era who had been recently excavated near Pyongyang. I knew it was risky, but that has never stopped me before.'
'Yes, I have studied your career extensively. You are undoubtedly one of the boldest adventurers of our time. Brave as Achilles, a superb athlete, a crack shot with the double pistol, and determined to seize your objectives whatever the risks. In other words, you are the woman I need for my great plan.'
'I knew rescuing me from that gulag wasn't just an act of kindness,' says Lara cynically.
'What do you know of the fabled four aces of whalebone?'
'What do you know of them?'
'I know that the four aces were created by a powerful African voodoo priestess in the 18th century, who was born into slavery on a plantation in the Caribbean. Seeing the suffering of her people she appealed to the dark powers to create a weapon against the slavers. She carved four playing cards, four aces, from the bones of a whale, and into it she poured all the hatred and fury of her embittered people. And with the power of the aces the slavers were wiped out. But its power was so great that even the priestess deemed it too terrible to be trusted to mankind. She gave the aces away to four different people, sailors, who took them to various places around the world, trusting that they would never be reunited.'
'So goes the legend.'
'And for many people it would be just that; a legend; a fantastical tale. But you and I know that there is a world beyond what we can see, feel and hear, and powers that are beyond rational comprehension.'
'And what, if I were to find these aces for you, would you do with them, provided that they really hold the power of which the legend speaks?'
'Whatever I want. With these aces in my possession, the world will lay at my feet.'
'During my travels I have indeed encountered many supernatural powers in the deep places of the world, and I have also found that many of these are better left to their slumber. On more than one occasion I accidentally awoke such a dark power, but I was always there to prevent it from destroying the world, and I have always stopped powerful artifacts from falling into the wrong hands. As I will stop you from obtaining these four aces, mister van Zyl.'
An evil smile appears around van Zyls mouth.
'Then you will find, miss Croft,' he says sardonically, 'that I am a man who doesn't take no for an answer.'
'There is a first time for everything. I am grateful that you got me out of that prison, but I refuse to take part in this plan. I will leave your ship as soon as we enter a harbour.'
'Tell me, miss Croft... how did your champagne taste?'
Lara looks suspiciously to her champagne glass. She starts to realise why it tasted a little funny.
'I had forseen the chance that you would be declining my offer,' says van Zyl with an opprobrious smile, 'that is why we added a special ingredient to your champagne. It has been developed by my pharmaceutical company. In two days your hair will start to fall out. In four days so will your teeth. In a week you will be practically braindead. That is unless you take the antidote, which your body will need every day, and to which only my company knows the recipe. So, perhaps you would like to reconsider my offer, miss Croft?'
Furiously, Lara smashes the champagne glass into the ground and hits van Zyl in the face with her fist. He falls to the ground. His bodyguards, and Daniel, immediately draw their guns on her.
'Lower those weapons, you fools!' van Zyl says. 'I'll take that as a yes.' He wipes the blood from his nose and stands up.
'You will bring the aces to me one by one, directly after you found them,' he says aggravated. 'Daniel here shall come with you. He will call me everyday to inform me if everything goes well. If it does one of my men shall give him a dose of the antidote. If he stops reporting in, or if he tells me that you are doing things that are contrary to my interests, your supply of lifeblood shall be stopped, miss Croft!'
Lara punches him again.

Lara and Daniel are taken away from the yacht by helicopter and brought to the first location. Now the actual meat and potatoes of the game starts. Of course the four aces are hidden in four very different places.

The ace of diamonds: in a desert environment, like perhaps the ruins of Carthago?
The ace of hearts: in a snow environment, like the mountains of Peru.
The ace of clubs: in a temperate urban environment, like perhaps a castle on the Isles of Scilly.
The ace of spades: in a tropical environment, like a Caribbean Island.

Also possible would be an underwater level with a shipwreck; the ace was aboard a ship that sank into the ocean.

Every level starts with an outfit selection like in TR Underworld. The outfits are somewhat appropriate to the climate, but also cater to different tastes. Perhaps there could also be a haircut (ponytail, braid, hair down with hairband) and accessory (red spectacles, sunglasses, hat, watch) selection. In the levels there are max health upgrades, max ammo upgrades, new weapons and new outfits to be found. Different outfits have different bonusses like + 5% health and such things.

Daniel will be at every start of a new level. Before starting the adventure, you have the chance to talk to him. There are thus four conversations to be had with him.

In the first conversation he will just give some information about the location ahead: (these location information parts are working concepts for now: they can be changed to whatever location is wanted.)

'So here we are. It may look peaceful now, but this was once the centre of the mighty Carthaginian Empire that dominated the traderoutes of the western Mediterranean. The Carthaginian armies, led by the brilliant general Hannibal Barca posed a huge threat to the early Roman Republic and came 'that' close to destroying it. Our research has shown that a Portugese sailor who possessed the ace of diamonds spend some time looking for valuables in these ruins, before he disappeared. It is likely that you will find the ace next to his bones. Good luck, miss Croft.'

The second conversation:

'The ace of hearts was given to a Spanish sea captain who shortly after returned to his family's hacienda, south of Lima. According to his diary the ace was stolen by one of his Incan servants who fled into the mountains. It is likely that he brought it to the ruined city of the Chachapoya culture, as it is known to be a place were native Peruvian thieves in the 18th century stored their loot. Best of luck, miss Croft.'

Then Lara will ask him: 'Tell me, Daniel, why are you so loyal to this dreadful van Zyl?'
He will answer: 'I know his methods are harsh, but he is a fundamentally good person. I know he will use the aces for the betterment of humanity.'
She will reply: 'How do you know he is a good man?'
'Perhaps one day I will tell you.'

The third conversation:

'The ace of clubs was given to a British sailor who took it to Plymouth. Here he sold it to a collector of antiques, the viscount of Heston, who was the owner of Grimsby Castle, here on the Isles of Scilly. But there is nothing silly about this castle; the oldest vaults date back from the Roman period, but the castle in it's current form was build in the 13th century as a defence against a possible French invasion. Like most British castles it has a horrific history of its inhabitants dying in unpleasant circumstances, and reports of their ghosts still haunting it's hallways. I hope you are not afraid of ghosts. Good luck, Lara.'

'How did a decent lad like you become an employee to van Zyl, Daniel?' she will ask.
'I am not supposed to talk about this Lara,' he will reply, 'but I am impressed by the amazing job you have done so far; I suppose you have earned the right to know. My parents had a little transport business, driving trucks full of vegetables, fuel, raw materials and other goods through South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. They did a lot of business with van Zyl's company. One day however, I was seventeen years old at the time, they were transporting a very valuable cargo when suddenly their trucks were ambushed by a local criminal gang. They were aware that this group was in the area, but they were much further to the south than the authorities had said they would be. They killed my mother and stole the trucks and cargo. My father was instantly ruined. When van Zyl heard about this he offered my father to lend him the money to pay off his debts and rebuild his company against no interest. And he offered me a job as his personal steward and bodyguard.'
'He saved your family from ruin,' Lara says.
'Indeed. So you see, my father and I owe a great deal of gratitude to mister van Zyl. Though I will admit his behaviour against you was less than courteous I am fully dedicated to him.'

The fourth conversation:

'Porto Sabia is a beautiful Island. First discovered by the Spanish, it later became a hiding place for British and Dutch pirates. In the late 18th century a slave revolt destroyed the few sugar plantations and the Island was mostly deserted, but according to our research one of the priestess' fellow slaves took the ace of spades to this Island and then disappeared from history. You may find it in the overgrown ruins of the Taino city, hidden deep in the jungle. Good luck, and please be careful.
-
And listen Lara, now that I have spend some time with you, I need to tell you this: what mister van Zyl did to you was wrong. I do not know what he plans to do with the aces but when all of this is sorted out I'll see to it that you will be given a supply of the antidote for as long as your body will need it. Though you would deserve more than that, I think this is the best I can do.'
'Thank you Daniel. Will you allow me to make a phone call?'
He nods.
Lara takes her phone and makes the call.
'Hello Zip,' she says.
'Lara! It's been a long time!'

If all the conversations with Daniel have been made, then at the end of the fourth level (not counting the tutorial level) Zip calls back and gives the results of the investigation that Lara asked him to do. He hacked the systems of the Botswanian police, and found evidence that the criminal gang who attacked Daniel's parents were actually van Zyl's men. Van Zyl stole the cargo and then had Daniel's father pay him back for it. Daniel is in shock, realising that the man he was so dedicated to was the cause of all his misfortune to begin with.

The final level is Lara assaulting the Centurion, the yacht of van Zyl, to recapture the other three aces that are now in van Zyl's possession. When recapturing the third one Lara can unleash the power of the aces and destroy van Zyl and all his men with lightning bolts. She then uses the power of the aces to drain all the poison from her body.

If the player had her talk to Daniel three times or less, then Daniel will try to defend his boss and Lara will have to gun him down. She will throw one of the aces overboard and keeps the other three for herself, so that they will never again be reunited.

If all four conversations were made Daniel will help Lara to assault the ship. After van Zyl is defeated they sail the Centurion to a tropical Island were they will make love in a PG-13 love scene underneath the tropic moon. The next morning they each go their seperate ways, and Lara will keep three of the aces and gives one to Daniel, the ace of hearts. Lara leaves on a motorcycle, Daniel sails the Centurion away.

The end.

Two possible endings increases the replayability of the game somewhat and allows people to choose the ending they prefer. If wanted there can be a third ending in which Lara doesn't kill Daniel but doesn't bed him either. Also possible would be that in the 'bad' ending Lara only wounds Daniel but doesn't kill him, so that it is possible for him to return in a future game regardless of which ending is chosen. It is possible to allow the player to choose the order in which the levels are played, safe for the first and the last, as in Tomb Raider 3.
In that case, the level selection menu could look like this, and such a map could also show optional puzzle challenge tombs, combat challenges and motorcycle races in various parts of the world:



The conversations then also have to be split up: the location information parts have to stay with their respective location, but the second parts stay in chronological order.

There can be additional story components like a group of tomb raiders (with a fancy name like for instance: 'Golden Hand'.) and hired guns who are looting old tombs and temples, looking for magic artefacts as a means to power and wealth. Van Zyl used to be a part of them but went rogue, so now they view Lara as his employee and therefore a traitor to their group. They will fight her in her quest for the four aces and try to capture them for themselves - providing ingame enemies.
This for instance could be part of the first conversation with Daniel:
(Daniel just gave some information on the location) ... I think that is all you need to know. Oh, one more thing: be on the lookout for potentially dangerous armed people. There have been reports that suggest that Golden Hand might be in the area. You know who they are?'
'Yes I heard of them,' Lara replies, 'a group of so-called tomb raiders; graverobbers looking for valuables to sell on the black market.'
'There is more to it than that. They are also mystics who are looking for ancient magical artefacts through which they seek to gain power and wealth.'
'Just like your boss.'
'Yes, mister van Zyl used to be one of them, until he decided to go on his own. Golden Hand views him as a traitor now.'
'If only they, and your boss, knew what terrible powers they could unleash. The deep and dark places of the world are filled with potentially dangerous artefacts that these amateurs play around with as a kid with his fathers gun.'
In each level or some levels there can be a Golden Hand lieutenant that provides a bossfight.
And at the end of the game Lara realises that Golden Hand can still pose a great threat in the future if they would ever awake a malicious ancient supernatural power from its sleep. Lara will say: 'I have to be forever vigilant. If one of these reckless amateurs awakens an ancient evil from it's sleep it could lead tot a global catastrophe.'
They could therefore be enemies in later games and perhaps it could turn out that Amanda Evert is their leader or one of their leaders.




Here is another idea: I realise it is a bit too cerebral in some places, but I still like some of the ideas...



Lara Croft and the Ancient Sanctuaries.

Opening cutscene: it starts out on a luxurious cruise ship.

Inside the grand lounge there has been a great celebration and most guests have already left, but Lara has remained behind to quietly play a harp by herself. (she plays the harp tune of the Tomb Raider 1 Theme, a nice easter egg)
Then Matthew, a man of about thirty years old, appears and slowly walks towards her. He leans against a pillar.
'That is a familiar tune,' he says, 'but I haven't heard it in a long time.'
'Something I can help you with?' Lara asks, while continuing playing.
'Let me introduce myself, Matthew Perkins, paleontology.'
'Lara Croft, archeology.'
Matthew grins and shakes his head dismissively. 'Such a mundane description to an illustrious career. It is said that you have found fabulous and mysterious artifacts in the deep and forgotten places of the world. They say that you have survived gunfights against hordes of enemies. Some evil tongues even say that where ever you have set foot not a single piece of pottery remains unbroken.'
'People say a lot of things,' says Lara with a smile.
'Let's assume that they are right for a moment, then you might be interested in the following...' He shows her a picture of a statue that depicts the following animal:



'What's this?' Lara asks.
'A statue from the Sumerian period,' Matthew answers, 'it was part of the collection of the Baghdad Museum, but it disappeared during the lootings. It has recently caught the attention of some paleontologists, because the animal it depicts shows an extraordinary resemblance to a Gorgonopsid; a family of mammal-like reptiles that lived during the Permian era, about 250 million years ago. A group of animals of which only fossils exist today.'
'And yet here the Sumerians crafted a statue of such an animal only 5000 years ago.'
'Unless the resemblance is a coincidence, we got the greatest scientific mystery ever known on our hands. I would like to get to the bottom of this. The statue here has been lost, but there is information on where it was found originally, in an area in the north-east of Iraq.'
'Dangerous territory. So that is why you want my help?'
'I am not worried about any armed evil doers; I served in the Royal Navy and can take care of myself. But archeology is not my field of expertise. Seeing how mysteries like this are of interest to you and since you have an impressive history of finding artifacts in dangerous locations you seem to be the right woman for the job. Do you accept my proposal?'
The screen cuts to black and then shows Lara and Matthew driving on motorcycles through the sandy hills of Iraq. They stop at a valley with Mesopotamian ruins. They get off the bikes and look around. In the distance an explosion is heard and a part of the ruins collapses.
'Armed fanatics,' Matthew says, 'they are destroying the old city.'
'Not for much longer they are,' Lara answers.

The opening level starts. Lara has to make her way through the ruined city and sometimes gets into gunfights with armed insurgents. Eventually she reaches the deepest part of the underground caverns and finds the inner sanctum, where she sees a fabulous statue in the shape of a Gorgonopsid. It appears to have been made from one gigantic diamond. She takes it back to Matthew.

Second cutscene: Lara is back and shows the statue to Matthew.
'Extraordinary!' Matthew says. 'It most definately is a Gorgonopsid. But how is it possible that the Sumerians knew about an animal that by our knowledge died out 250 million years ago?'
'It is obvious to me that the Sumerians did not create this statue,' Lara answers. 'The other one from the museum was likely a stone copy from this one. I'm not sure what kind of material this is but there is no way the Sumerians would have been able to create a statue out of a stone this hard. They probably found it somewhere and started to worship it; it was placed in the holiest part of the temple.'
'But who made it then?'
'That I intent to find out.'

Third Cutscene: Lara and Matthew have brought the statue to a laboratory for study. The researcher informs them about the results.
'Well miss Croft, mister Perkins,' she says, 'we got the results you wanted. They are... astounding, to put it mildly. We dated the artifact you found and concluded that the material was formed 250 million years ago. The artifact is made out of a single piece of diamond. So far no real surprises, but here it comes: the diamond is synthetic. The tests show that it is artificially crystallized carbon.'
There is a short silence.
'Do you realise what you just said?' Matthew says. 'You're talking about... someone, who had the means to artificially create diamond during the Permian era?'
'I know, mister Perkins,' the researcher answers, 'my team and I are having a hard time believing it ourselves, but these are the results of our tests, which we repeated three times.'
'If we want to unravel this mystery,' Lara says, 'we need more leads.'
'Perhaps this will help you,' the researcher says, she searches in her computer for a newspaper article of some time ago. 'I remember reading something not long ago about a diamond mine in South Africa were the miners, many kilometers under the ground, found a mysterious wall made of seemingly artificial diamond.'
'The Cullinan diamond mines,' says Lara. 'Then that is were we are going.'

Fourth cutscene:

Lara and Matthew arrive at the mine near Cullinan but find that it has been closed. Local rumours tell that the miners broke through the diamond wall and heard terrible roars from an open cavern behind it. The miners fled in terror, thinking that they had broken through the walls of hell and had unleashed the forces of darkness. They refused to go down there again, the mining corporation went bankrupt and had to close the mine.
Second level: Lara and Matthew descent into the abandoned mine and 11 kilometers below the surface find the broken diamond wall. They soon hear the mysterious and terrifying roars that scared the miners away, but they push on.
Soon after, they are attacked by mysterious creatures, the reptilian animals that the statue was made after. Some of them, however, walk on two legs, have hand-like front paws and use gun-like projectile weapons. Their behaviour appears to be just as animalistic though...
To their surprise, Lara and Matthew find an incredible high-tech facility at the end of the tunnel:

It's clearly not made by humans though. They see stasis pods in which prehistoric animals are being kept.
'Unbelievable!' says Matthew. 'I recognize animals from the Pleistoscene, the Eocene, dinosaurs from the Cretaceous, the Jurassic, therapsids from the Triassic. But there seem to be no animals from before the Permian period.'
In order to open a certain gate, they have to activate a power source. When that happens, they wake up two computers with artificial intelligence. Let's call them Blue Computer and Green Computer.

They have been intercepting human radio communications to learn English. And so they explain what's going on:
They tell that 250 million years ago, during the Permian era, the world was ruled by mammal-like reptiles, the therapsids, as they are called today.



One of the species, who shall be named the Gorgons, short for gorgonopsids, became as intelligent as humans are now. Their civilization went as far as to develop artificial intelligence and space programmes.

The Gorgons look like the upright walking crocodiles in Temple of Osiris; about 2 meters high, stocky bulky body, but with gorgonopsid heads. Reptile skin, snake eyes, saberteeth, whiskers.

The Gorgons were carnivores, and for their food they grew Lystrosaurs: that explains why Lystrosaurus was as common in the Permian as sheep are today.

But the Gorgons messed up the earth's climate and caused the land to turn into one big desert, driving much of the planets life into extinction.

'The Permian-Triassic extinction,' says Matthew. 'Incredible, this rewrites natural history as we know it.'

The Gorgon scientists came up with a plan to safe their species: they would take a select number of Gorgon individuals, as well as Lystrosaurs and other domesticated animals, and put them into cryo-sleep. Their stasis pods would be placed in 'sanctuaries'; underground facilities with geothermal power sources for unlimited energy, that were clad in diamond shells that would protect them from erosion. This way they could survive for millions of years if neccesary, and come out again and repopulate the world when the earth was habitable again.

The sanctuaries were monitored by two A.I. computers, Blue Computer, who was mandated to preserve the Gorgon species at all cost, and Green Computer, who had to investigate the planet, take samples of lifeforms, put them in stasis pods, and judge when it was time to wake up the Gorgons again. But Green Computer concluded that the Gorgons were to blame for the destruction of life on the planet and if there was ever a chance for life to flourish again on earth the Gorgons had to be destroyed.
Blue Computer could prevent Green from killing the Gorgons, but could not wake them up. And so the Gorgons lingered on in stasis for millions of years. All traces of their civilization eroded away, except for the ones made of artificial diamond. And when Lara and Matthew found them, the animals they encountered were Lystrosaurs, gorgonopsids, and Gorgons that were released from their stasis pods by Green Computer and brainwashed to kill the human intruders.

'Now that I have encountered your species,' Green computer says, 'it is evident that your kind is also a danger to the preservation of life on earth. I will therefore create a biological weapon that will destroy your species.'

'I can understand your concern for the planet,' Lara answers, 'but we will not allow you to destroy mankind.'

She takes her guns and fires a number of rounds into Green Computer. The computer is instantly destroyed.

'You have destroyed this server of my counterpart,' says Blue Computer, 'but this will not be sufficient to safe your kind from extinction. There are other sanctuaries were servers of me and my counterpart can be found. You need to destroy all Green servers, or else it will destroy the human species.'

'Where can we find these sanctuaries?' Lara askes.

Blue computer shows a map that marks the locations of several sanctuaries around the world.

So now the real 'meat' of the game starts: the underground Gorgon sanctuaries have to be found to destroy the servers of Green Computer. They are of course located underneath the ruins of ancient civilizations, so there will be plenty of tomb raiding involved. There can be any number of sanctuaries, in any place of the world, and Lara can do this together with Matthew, or they can decide to split up the task so that Matthew goes on searching for sanctuaries himself offscreen while the game only follows Lara on her search.

So far I got two ideas for locations of the sanctuaries:

Idea 1: a Gorgon sanctuary is located in central Africa underneath an ancient ruined city called Zanj:



This city was based on the diamond mine that it was build on top of. Unknowingly, the diamond miners were hacking at the diamond shell of a Gorgon sanctuary. When they broke through the shell Green Computer released the lifeforms that it had collected over millions of years to assess the state of the earth. These include dinosaurs and sabertooth tigers and such. These animals killed the people in the city and caused it to fall into ruin. The decendents of these animals still roam the ruins, so Lara has to fight off a lot of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures while making her way through the ruins.


Idea 2: this is the crazy one: lets send Lara Croft to the moon!
At the height of their civilization, the Gorgons build a base on the moon. It is the location of one of the servers of Green Computer. Regardless of whether they do so at the other locations, Lara and Matthew team up on this one. They decide they need the help of a certain mister Brian Richardson, a film director and eccentric billionaire adventurer, who has financed the development of his own spaceship capable of landing on the moon. Lara decides to meet him at a fancy party, and to charm him into lending his spaceship to her she dusts off the old Japan dress again.

At the party Lara has to preform several tasks in the style of the party levels of Mass Effect 2 and 3. Eventually she convinces the eccentric billionaire to lend her his spaceship and she and Matthew are launched into space.



Matthew remains in the mothership whilst Lara goes to the lunar surface with the LEM, the Lunar Module.

She finds the entrance to the Gorgon base that is located underneath the lunar surface to protect it from asteroids, but she has to fight off the killer robots that Green Computer sends towards her.
Lara: 'Problem, we have a Houston.'
Platforming in this level is very different as it is elsewhere, as the low gravity means that Lara can jump a dozen meters high up in the air.
- end of idea 2 -

Eventually, all the servers are shut down and Green Computer is destroyed. The world is safe again. Blue computer is able to release the remaining Gorgons, but they decide to not come to the surface but live out their days in the sanctuary.

When they walk out of the sanctuary Matthew looks at Lara.

'Is this how it always goes? You discover a miraculous power from an ancient civilization, it threatens the world, and then you defeat it?'

'That's pretty much how it usually goes, yes.'

'Well, this is something I could get used to. I had a marvelous time saving the world with you, Lara.'

'Well then...' Lara gets on her motorcycle and kisses Matthew on the cheek. 'Until our next world saving encounter.' She drives off towards the sunset.

The end.

A story like this would allow the game to take place in various locations, it would allow for touching upon some of the aspects of the Lara Croft mythology that are often underexposed: such as her being a high society lady at fancy parties, it would allow for exciting enemies like dinosaurs, monsters, robots, and it would certainly have a feeling of fantasy and fantasticness. If wanted, the story would also lend itself for a Co-op mode with Matthew as the second player. An alternative start could be that Lara is looking for the diamond statue on her own account, and only meets Matthew either in Iraq or South Africa.



Lara Croft and the Accursed Statue.

This scenario could be used in a game that takes place in one location, or more than one, it could also be used in an isometric game like Temple of Osiris.

Opening Cutscene:

Lara is gonna enter a tomb: it can be of any culture in any place, but let's say India for now. She reads from her diary:
'Emperor Ashoka was one of the most important rulers of India. Not only did he manage to unite the whole of India under one banner, but it was said that he and his wife Tishyaraksha were also powerful magicians. Ashoka forged a great golden disc in which he stored his magical powers, whilst Tishyaraksha tried to gain immortality by creating an enchanted statue that could house a human spirit after the body had died. I don't know if these legends are true, but I intent to find both the golden disc and the statue, before Golden Hand does.'

First Cutscene: Lara arrives in a jeep at an Indian temple:

The car is driven by a friend. It could be any friend: Carter, Zip, Matthew, Daniel, as long as they have a little history together. Let's say Daniel for now.
'Here it is,' says Daniel, 'that is were the statue of queen Tish should be.'
Lara jumps out of the car. 'Stay with the car,' she says, 'I won't be long. And keep me informed if you see Golden Hand. I saw some of their agents on the airfield, they might be after the same thing we are.'
'Will do. Good luck Lara.'
First level: this is an introductory level to learn how to play the game. At the end of it Lara arrives in a chamber were she finds the statue of queen Tish.

Second Cutscene:
'Hello Tish,' says Lara, 'is that you?'
She looks at the statue for a moment after which her attention is drawn to inscriptions on the wall. The light from a torch or lamp or daylight through a crack in the wall casts a shadow of the statue on the wall that Lara is reading from.
Lara calls Daniel over the radio.
'Dan, I found the statue of queen Tish.'
'Good job Lara.'
'I also may have found a clue were to find the golden disc. According to these inscriptions the disc was broken into four parts and...'
At that very moment the shadow of the statue moves an arm. Lara immediately turns around toward the statue, but it is motionless again.
'You moved! I saw you move!'
She walks slowly towards the statue, looking into its eyes. When she gets close the eyes of the statue light up and suddenly it jumps forward, wrapping its arms around Lara and pushing its forehead against Lara's. Lara looses consciousness. The screen goes black.
Lara wakes up again by the sound of Daniel's voice over the radio.
'Lara! Lara, for God's sake, answer me!'
'I'm here. Yes, it's me.'
'Thank goodness, what happened?'
'Where are you?'
'Still at the entrance.'
'I'll come to you straight away.'
Before leaving, she looks at the statue, that is now lying on the floor. She nudges it with her foot, but it doesn't move. Lara leaves the tomb.
At the entrance Daniel jumps out of the car and walks towards her.
'You had me worried there for a moment,' he says, 'what happened?'
'I'm sorry,' says Lara, 'but... who are you?'
Daniel gives a weird look. 'Who I am? You know who I am. I asked you what happened in there.'
'The statue of queen Tishyaraksha, it came to life and attacked me. Look, I... I felt it penetrating my mind. It seems I have lost much of my memory. You said my name is Lara?'
'Oh God, what has that thing done to you? Yes, your name is Lara and mine is Daniel. We need to get you to a doctor.'
'What are we gonna tell the doctor? That I was attacked by the living statue of an old Indian queen that stole my memory? No, I got a better plan. I now know the locations of the pieces of the golden disc of Ashoka. When we bring those together the power of the disc can make everything right again. You'll have to help me though. Can you control this... vehicle?'
'That vehicle is called a car, and yes, I can drive it. But I'm telling you, Lara, I don't like this.'

The meat and potatoes of the game is four different levels in which to capture the four parts of the golden disc. Fortunately the geography of India allows for both jungle environments, (the south and north-east parts of the country) snowy mountains, (the Himalayas) and deserts (the north-west). During these levels Lara has to fight agents of Golden Hand who try to capture the pieces of the disc for themselves. Also, during this quest she is being followed by the living statue. During one of the levels you might have a situation like this: Lara is in the field looking for the piece of the disc and Daniel waited near the car again. Then suddenly he says over the radio:
'Oh, my goodness! Lara!'
'What is it, Daniel?' she answers.
'I think I saw the living statue of queen Tish! It came out of the jungle and ran towards the entrance of the tomb. If you hadn't told me about the enchanted statue I would have thought that I had gone mad! I believe it's coming after you, Lara.'
'I am sure it does. Thanks for the heads up, Daniel.'
Lara thus is attacked by the statue on several occasions and has to fight it off. Eventually Lara and Daniel arrive at the final location. But when Lara wants to enter the tomb the statue shows up again.
'Watch out Lara!' Daniel shouts. 'There is that thing again!'
Lara wants to aim her guns on the statue, but it knocks her over and manages to grap one of Lara's guns. Lara gets back on her feet and aims her other gun at the statue. The statue aims its gun at Lara.
'What are you gonna do now?' says Lara. 'You're not gonna kill your own body now, do you?'
'What?' says Daniel with a confused look on his face.
'I'm just saying something to Tish to confuse her,' Lara whispers.
'No, you don't,' the statue says, with a hollow voice, 'Daniel heard you right, you are in my body. And you know that if I were to pull the trigger I can destroy you forever.'
Daniel is totally confused now. 'What? What in the bloody hell is going on here?'
'Daniel,' the statue says, 'it is me, Lara. When I entered the tomb and found the enchanted statue that housed the spirit of queen Tishyaraksha, she attacked me, threw out my spirit and took over my body. My ethereal form floated around for some time, with nothing to attach itself to but the now empty statue. So I connected with it and set out to get my body back.'
'What a ridiculous story,' says Lara('s body), 'don't believe it, Daniel.'
'I do need some proof to believe a story like that,' Daniel says.
'That's easy enough,' the statue says, 'just ask me about something we went through together, before this adventure started.
Daniel ponders for a moment, then comes up with a question.
'What did you, if it is you in there, say to me after I asked you: do you like Pina Coladas?'
The statue replies: 'I said: yes, I like Pina Coladas, and getting...'
At that moment Lara's body turns her gun to Daniel's head, proving that it is indeed Tishyaraksha's spirit in it. 'Never mind, Lara,' she says, 'I was tired of playing this game anyway. Yes, I am the spirit of Tishyaraksha, the wife of Ashoka, empress of India. But can you really blame me? I was stuck in that miserable cellar for more than two thousand years, with nothing but the silence and darkness driving me insane. Then all of the sudden you come barging in. So I took my chance and took over your body. And luckily for me it's an exquisite one.'
'And now I'm here to take it back,' says Lara.
'You cannot,' Tishyaraksha replies. 'I needed the help of your boyfriend to drive the car and teach me about the modern world, but as soon as I get my hands on the final piece of my husband's golden disc I shall rule the world. And you cannot stop me, because I don't think you're willing to kill your own body, and if you don't turn away now I will kill your friend.'
'It looks like she's holding all the cards,' Daniel says. 'You must do what she says, Lara. Don't worry about me. Go now, and later we'll figure out a way to set things right.'
'I cannot leave,' Lara replies, 'Tish must not be allowed to get my hands on the final piece of that golden disc. Whatever the costs.'
'Then it looks like you have a difficult decision to make,' Tishyaraksha says. 'I will count to three, if you haven't walked away by then sweet Daniel here will die!'
'Don't do it Lara!' Daniel shouts.
'One! Two! Three!'

During the counting the player will have the choice whether or not to pull the trigger. If the trigger is pulled Lara, inside the statue, will shoot her own body in the head, killing it. If this choice is made, Daniel will say:
'My God, Lara, what have you done?'
'I could not let her kill you.'
'But now you will have to spend eternity inside that metal thing.'
'Maybe not. Let's find the final piece of the disc and see what it can do.'

The player now takes control of Lara inside the statue and she and Daniel make their way through the final level. At the end they find the fourth piece of the golden disc. When placing it next to the other three the spirit of an ancient Indian emperor appears.
'I am Ashoka, beloved of Buddha, emperor of India. Guardian of the golden disc. I have been expecting you, Lara Croft.'
'You know me?' Lara replies.
'Indeed, it was long foreseen that you would bring the pieces of the disc together. Though I did not expect your corporeal form to be the enchanted statue of my wife.'
'I was forced to kill my own body.'
'Tishyaraksha, my unworthy bride, believed that I made the disc to store my magical powers, but the disc was far older than me. I only used some of its magic, and then I became its guardian, to ensure that its power was never used for evil.'
'What will happen now?'
'Touch the disc. And all will be well.'
Lara touches the disc. A blinding light appears and suddenly she finds herself back in front of the entrance to the tomb were she found the enchanted statue. She is in her own body. Behind her Daniel sits in the car and says: 'Will do. Good luck Lara.'
Lara, first unsure, touches her hands, face and body. Then she turns to Daniel.
'You know,' she says, 'on second thought I don't feel like tomb raiding today.'
'You don't?' says Daniel surprised.
'No, sometimes it is better to leave the past behind. Or the future. Will you excuse me?' She walks to the boot of the car and opens it.
'Sometimes you really do speak in riddles,' says Daniel. 'Wait, what are you gonna do with that dynamite?'
Lara takes sticks of dynamite out of the boot and uses it to blow up the entrance of Tishyaraksha's tomb. Then she gets in the car. Daniel takes the wheel.
'We're done here,' Lara says, 'let's get moving.'
'I thought I knew you,' says Daniel while he starts the car. 'I thought you liked nothing better than to explore ancient ruins. But now it is as if you have become a different person.'
'No, I am still the same Lara,' she laughingly replies, 'and by golly, do I feel comfortable in my own skin today!'

The end.

If the player chooses not to pull the trigger Tishyaraksha will kill Daniel. The rest of the game will be exactly the same, except that the final level has to be completed within a time limit. This is because Tishyaraksha will try to get the final piece of the golden disc first. The dialogue with Ashoka also has to be changed a little of course.

Last edited by Nigel Cassidy; 16-02-20 at 16:31.
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Old 03-02-20, 15:38   #2
Gabi
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Gosh, that's a lot to read.
I don't have the time right now but will get back to it when I can.
Thanks for posting.
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Old 03-02-20, 15:41   #3
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You're welcome, I hope you enjoy it
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Old 06-02-20, 12:39   #4
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These are neat ideas and a great read. Of the three, the one I personally liked most was Lara Croft and the Ancient Sanctuaries.
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Old 06-02-20, 14:04   #5
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I'm trying to be a scripwriter and I've written stuff for other sagas, but for some reason Tomb Raider seems so difficult to me and I never come up with ideas I'll read these later, maybe they're even better than some of the stories we've had
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Old 06-02-20, 17:35   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by paulojr_mam View Post
These are neat ideas and a great read. Of the three, the one I personally liked most was Lara Croft and the Ancient Sanctuaries.
Thank you

Quote:
Originally Posted by SnatchingEdges View Post
I'm trying to be a scripwriter and I've written stuff for other sagas, but for some reason Tomb Raider seems so difficult to me and I never come up with ideas I'll read these later, maybe they're even better than some of the stories we've had
I hope you'll enjoy them
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Old 16-02-20, 15:52   #7
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Finally I got round to read them all.
There are some interesting ideas displayed.
The first script I liked because it reminded me of the good old days of Tomb Raider.
The second one I was not so keen on but that is mainly because I am not a fan of science fiction and the like, just a personal preference.
The last one has a very good plot twist.
I can imagine playing this and going "Wow, I did not see this coming".
If no "official" developer makes use of your ideas I wonder whether someone from the TRLE community might be interested.
You never know - one day we might get to play one of your adventures.
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Old 16-02-20, 15:55   #8
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The last one has a very good plot twist.
I can imagine playing this and going "Wow, I did not see this coming".
Yeah I was going for that. Thank you for reading and for the feedback.
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