Introduction
Legend has it that if you drive the Dagger of Xian into your heart,
you acquire the power of the dragon. Quite literally.
In ancient China, the Dragon Emperor was the holder of this
power and with his army along side him, he was a force to be reckoned
with. Thus empowered, he staked claim to the vast lands that are China.
However, his final battle ended in defeat. While people fell into
submission all around him, the warrior monks of Tibet would not relent
and courageously fought against him. Knowing the power of the dagger,
they succeeded in removing it from the Dragon Emperor's heart,
reducing him and his army to carnage. The dagger was returned to its
resting place within the Great Wall and safely locked up for all time...
Now three parties hold the dagger close to their heart. And all for
entirely different reasons.
First, the Barkhang order of Tibetan monks, whom are
descendants of the original warrior monks that defeated the Dragon
Emperor. They have sworn to protect the dagger from ever being
discovered again.
Second, the fanatical Fiama Nera cult that worship the dagger
and its mystical powers. Not much is known about this enigmatic cult
except that it has attracted some of the most ruthless thugs and
mercenaries around the world. The cult is led by Marco Bartoli, the son
of the famous Italian magician Gianni Bartoli. Gianni Bartoli was
obsessed with finding the legendary dagger. He was said to be very
close to finding it but died in a mysterious accident which sunk the
ocean liner Maria Doria.
Lara Croft, forever the adventurer, is the third party. On her travels,
she will encounter the other two...
China,circa 210 BC
Qin Shihuang , the "Dragon Emperor", was the first true
emperor of China. Ruling China with an iron fist, he often
executed generals who where merely late for military
maneuvers.
Uniting the warring states of China through conquest, it is
commonly thought that he overpowered the other armies
through superior armament, but folk legends speak otherwise.
Some thought him a demon, a "xian" , which is the Chinese
name for a mystical being. This is how the legend unfolds:
Legend of the Dragon Emperor
Startled birds rush into the air to announce the advancing armies
of the Dragon Emperor. As their armies push westward toward
the Tibetan plateau, Tibetan monks make their stand near a
section of the Great Wall. In the ensuing battle, many monks fall to the
Dragon Emperor's merciless army, which is armed with iron
weapons and supported by archers of remarkable marksmanship.
The emperor's warriors, who share in the dragon's magic, exhibit
reptilian eyes and skin. A general waves his arm and the men
charge. The battle is joined by the dragon himself, as he scorches
his enemies with his fiery breath. A Tibetan archer, behind an
escarpment on the Great Wall, releases an arrow which finds its
mark in the dragon's neck. The dragon turns to deal with the
archer on the wall and steps over a monk that is lying amidst a
demolished wooden wagon near the Wall. This monk lies
wounded, impaled by the first volley of the Chinese army's
arrows,
but is presumed dead by the dragon. As the shadow of the dragon
falls upon this monk, he attempts to focus through his pain and
notices a glimmering object in the dragon's chest.
Curious, the monk musters up what strength he has left and rises,
reaches out, and withdraws the dagger from the dragon's heart.
The magic of the dagger swirls in the air returns to the dagger.
The dragon recoils in pain, and kills the monk with his last fiery
breath. The dragon collapses and dissolves. His armies, who
witness his demise, are struck with grief and without the power
of
the dagger, they return to their normal human form. With his
strength gone, a general falls to his knees. The warrior monks
drive the Chinese army away.
Later, two of the monks find the dagger among the remains on
the battlefield. Recognizing its deadly powers, they return the
dagger
to its proper resting place in a temple deep within caverns below
the Great Wall of China. One of the monks turns the key to the
temple's inner door and an elaborate lock mechanism rotates the
door opens. While one monk stands guard, he waves the other to
enter the temple. The second monk enters to find the an altar.
The dagger is placed into its receptacle in the altar. The altar
emits a blinding purple light that envelopes the room. The monk
covers
his face and screams. The huge temple door slams shut and
locks...
Present Day
A year or so has elapsed since Lara Croft discovered the Scion,
an artifact from the lost continent of Atlantis. In the intervening
year,she has taken the time to take care of some unfinished
business in Egypt and the remnants of Atlantis, write about her
latest travels, and build a training course on the grounds of her
mansion to hone her skills. She even did a little fashion modeling
for a celebrity magazine.
Lara is enjoying a rare bright and sunny afternoon on the balcony
of her bed room. Her faithful old servant, friend, and research
assistant brings her a cup of Earl Grey and along with it, an
ominous letter that was just delivered. Tearing open the envelope,
Lara begins to read the letter enclosed within...
Dearest Lara,
I am writing to you with sad news of Professor Richard Pollard;
our mutual mentor, colleague and friend. Most recently,
Professor Pollard joined with a team of Chinese archaeologists to
excavate around the ruins of the remote western region of the
Great Wall of China.
I have just confirmed news that Professor Pollard, as well as his
entire team, was brutally murdered while at this dig. I have been
unable to obtain any further information or details from either the
British Consulate in China or the Chinese government. However,
from the scarce information I was able to gather, the perpetrators
of this heinous crime are likely part of some organized crime
syndicate. It is the only possible way that anyone could have the
resources to locate the professor's team.
I have tried to make sense of this all. I haven't a clue as to the
motives of such an attack on the professor. I know that you and
Professor Pollard were good friends and he considered you his
brightest student at the university. I was certain that you would
want to know of these events. There will be a memorial service
held for the professor at the university this Tuesday. I do not
know when the wake and funeral service will be held, but I'm
sure it would give his wife, Elizabeth, great comfort if you would
attend.
Your Humble Servant,
Robert Trent
Lara slowly sinks into her chair in horror and let the letter slip
from her fingers. Doctor Pollard was her mentor and had taught
her everything she knew about field archaeology. He was a
gentle man, an archaeologist with integrity and of great renown.
He was dedicated to the preservation of antiquities, and hadn't an
enemy in the world. This act of senseless violence leaves Lara
bewildered. Or is it really senseless after all?
Lara's sharp memory drives to consult the old tomes and scrolls
in her library. After pouring over map after map of the mountains
of China, a glow comes over her face. These ruins must represent
the resting place of the legendary Dagger of Xian. It would be
hard to assess what the dagger would be worth on the black
market. The dagger would be a prize indeed, but is it worth
killing for?
I'll stop by to see Elizabeth on my way to the airport, Lara thinks
to herself, I doubt that the Chinese government will be articularly
hospitable to my visit, perhaps I should charter a heli. Shesprings
from her seat not wasting a moment to hesitation, as she prepares
to leave for China.
"Possibly an organized crime syndicate, eh?" Lara ponders aloud,
as she opens the door to the closet near her bed, "Then these
might come in handy." She draws out a pair of well worn pistols
and a shotgun
The Great Wall
<Start>
Lara Croft arrives at a remote section of the Great Wall of China
by a chartered helicopter. After making a pass by the Great Wall,
the helicopter pilot is unable to find a safe place to land on the
rocky terrain below.
"Not a problem," Lara answers unconcerned. She tosses a rope
out the side of the helicopter and descends the rope. Lara drops
the last several metres to the ground, near a cave entrance. She
stands and surveys her surroundings.
<Finally>
Lara approaches the sealed door, and is greeted with a flurry of
gunfire from above. She dives for cover as a thug dressed in black
attempts to pounce on her. Lara manages to flip him over and he
slams against the door. His tommy gun flies off to the side.
"Pardon me, if that was just your way of trying the doors for me,"
she purrs.
"Heh heh heh heh," the thug chuckles to himself, "With a tommy
gun on my key-ring."
"Though not anymore... so after you," Lara chides.
"Somehow you don't behave like you got a monk's blood," the
thug replies.
"I understand that somehow is in my favor," she states. "So
indulge me about the dagger. I'd be indebted with your life," she
continues, as she trains her pistol on the thug.
"These doors are waiting for the right one, the right time to arrive,
and then the dagger's blade will honor the hearts of those who
believe," the thug obliges. "So unless you pledge your loyalty as
well..."
"And which one is that?" Lara asks.
"To the sins and fortunes of Marco Bartoli!" The thug exclaims
while waving a flask in front of his face. He takes a drink from the
flask, which is apparently some form of poison, and dies.
"Perhaps not just yet, then," Lara says dryly as she holsters he
guns. Lara turns and walks away from the door.
Near the campfire, she finds a notebook computer sitting on a
crate. She begins to examine the contents of the hard drive, and
finds the information she is looking for. "Aha! Gianni Bartoli. Via
Caravelli, Venice," she says to herself.
Bartoli's Hideout
<Finally>
The presence of the detonator suggested to Lara that Bartoli must
have been planning to abandon his hideout in Venice soon. Not
finding Bartoli in his Venice hideout, Lara is more than happy to
oblige him and demolish this building ahead of schedule.
Searching the debris of the demolished building, Lara finds no
clues to Bartoli's current whereabouts except for the curious fact
that only the façade of the building was razed. It can only mean
that there must be another structure concealed beyond this
building.
Evening melts into night as Lara continues her search for him...
Opera House
Lara sneaks aboard the sea-plane and shuts the hatch behind her.
She finds herself in the plane's cargo hold which is mostly empty
except for a few wooden crates marked with the insignia that she
is growing familiar with. As the plane takes off Lara begins to
open some of the crates to investigate their contents. She
overhears a conversation taking place in the cockpit, but the
voices are muffled and by the engine noise, and she is only able to
catch a few words.
"It's not the workload that is worrying me... perhaps the tide has
gulped it away -- perhaps Gianni had never... I don't know..." As
Lara moves closer to the cockpit, she grabs onto a cargo hook for
balance and is able to better hear the conversation taking place.
"... it's just his grave has surrendered nothing, like we say,
'substantial'. It's all very interesting -- oh yes, I'm sure of it.." Fabio,
the pilot, nervously states. "...believe me -- but it's not quite the
same now is it?"
"Someday you will get a speeding ticket for that tongue, Fabio,"
Marco, the other man, snarls. Fabio, who is staring at the horizon
to avoid eye contact with Marco doesn't notice Marco glaring at
him.
"Hey, it's just a gut feeling, but maybe you are wrong to look
there," Fabio suggests. Marco punches Fabio in the gut for his
insolence.
"Is your belief so fragile?" Marco asks Fabio. Doubling over in
pain, Fabio momentarily loses control of the plane causing the
plane to pitch forward. Lara, who at the time was climbing some
crates to examine their contents, is thrown from the stack of crates.
The uppermost crate comes crashing down on her.
Marco pulls Fabio off of the steering column, unconcerned by the
plane's dive. "Relax," Marco continues as Fabio fumbles to level
the plane, "Breathe deep. The gut, Fabio, has no more direction
than a simple 'through and out'. Honest perhaps, but not
enlightened..."
Lara kicks aside the crate that landed on her legs and moves
toward the bow of the sea-plane.
Marco explains. "When my father left when I was a boy, he
confided to me that he was enlightened... beckoned by something
greater than impulse. He possessed the Seraph -- but he was just a
disciple in this design. His death plotting a path to be sought by
the one, his son," Marco pronounces with great grandeur and a pat
on Fabio's back, "You understand? Have faith Fabio, not gut-rot.
We are searching the right place."
"I know it. I believe it, Marco," Fabio replies, somewhat
sheepishly. Marco's perverse logic and faith has won Fabio over.
Fabio is nodding like a puppet -- thankful that things have been set
straight.
Lara cautiously approaches the ladder that leads up to the cockpit
and begins to climb it. At the same time Marco gets up and flings
the cockpit door open and yells down into the cargo hold, "Eros,
have you..." Startled, Lara drops down from the ladder. She draws
her pistols and points them upward toward the cockpit. Marco's
voice trails off as he stares into the business end of Lara's pistols,
"... fixed that rail yet?"
Perhaps it was the throbbing pain in her legs. Perhaps it was the
start because of being discovered on board the plane. Whatever it
was that was pulsing through her head was quickly drowned in
inky blackness as Eros rushes forward hanging from the cargo
hook and whips a wrench, that he's holding in his free hand, across
the back of Lara's head.
"Si!" Eros triumphantly declares.
Offshore Rig
-Start-
The sea-plane carrying Bartoli, his men, and an unconscious Lara
Croft, flies past an inconspicuous off shore rig. Circling around,
the plane lands in the calm waters, as enormous hangar doors
open in the side of the ocean rig. The plane slowly taxis into the
hanger.
When Lara regains consciousness, she finds herself stripped of her
weapons and locked in a cell on some sort of deep sea rig. The
first order of business is getting out. The second? Retrieving her
weapons and dispensing a little justice.
Diving Area
-Finally-
While Lara was still approaching this room, she heard a familar
voice...
"Blood or answers, I have no preference. He should spill a bit of both!"
Marco threatens, growing impatient.
One of Marco's men sputtered merrily, "Okay Marco!" The goon
then turned his attention on their captive, "Glad to have to have
you aboard..."
There were sounds of punches thrown and groans of pain. It
seemed that blood would be spilled but not any answers.
The goon continued to taunt the captive, "What do you want?
Come on... Stick through your stomach?" the lieutenant spits.
"Tell me, where in monastery should we look? Eh, brother?"
Marco's man was interrupted by Lara's arrival.
After taking care of the monk's interrogators, Lara is standing over
the monk who has been beaten within an inch of his life. The monk
looks up and states, "Oh, you are not one of them."
"But you are a monk?" Lara asks.
"Brother Chan Barkhang," the monk introduces himself pleasantly,
"You have come for me. I saw bright light surround me."
Lara kneels beside him to tend to his wounds. "That was gunfire. I
think it was them who got taken away by it," Lara states dryly.
"But you are my guide," Chan insists. "My path-beater to next
incarnation. I have done my time here, haven't I?" He asks.
"What are you doing here... with Marco Bartoli?" Lara asks back.
She then spots some wetsuits hanging on the wall, and finds one
that she'll fit into.
"Nothing!" the monk replies, taking offense at being associated
with Bartoli, "I... I led righteous life... here for reasons rooted only
in necessary evil, as my father was before me when he bombed
Gianni's vessel deep into these waters. Now I'm here," correcting
himself, "Uh... was here, to prevent his son from salvaging the
Seraph," Chan continues.
"The Seraph?" Lara interrupts.
"You not know my life's work well," the monk points out. "You
sure you not here for them?" Chan asks, waving his hand toward
the bodies on the floor nearby.
"Their Jackanory days are well over," Lara replies. Lara changes
into the wetsuit as the monk continues to speak.
Brother Chan continues, "They want the Seraph to unlock a
malignant treasure we contain in our monastery in Tibet. Since
being stolen by imbecile vagabonds centuries ago, we been
without key to it. Relying solely on cleansing of our prayers to
keep it subdued." Lara removes her boots and tosses them over
Chan's head. He ducks reflexively, and continues, "Then the
occultist, Gianni B., acquired it. Trouble we knew. He breathed
life back into ancient belief. One not to be stopped by any amount
of head bowing. And now again it is here -- Marco, infected with
madness. He has violent mind, but not yet the power to satiate it.
So we reach for our weapons once more." Lara zips up the back
of the wetsuit as Chan finishes.
"The true Dettox of evil," Lara chimes.
"Where can you be taking me?" the monk asks, still convinced that
Lara is some goddess that has come to carry him to a new
incarnation. "Thought this was my big break. Guess change is
good as rest." Sighing, "Huh, I need one."
No sooner has Chan finished speaking, does Marco Bartoli
emerge on the balcony above. He opens fire on the two below.
The monk is struck dead by his first two bullets. Lara returns fire
and dives for cover in a nearby corridor.
In the adjacent diving chamber, alarms are sounding to warn of the
minisub submerging into the diving tank. Lara, knowing the
submersible is being used to salvage the Seraph, quickly dives in
after it.
40 Fathoms
-Start-
Lara swims down and catches up with the minisub. She grabs a rail
on top of the submersible, and she rides it to the bottom of the sea.
Hearing Lara outside, the pilot brings the minisub's mechanical
arm around to grab her. While operating the arm, an enormous
shark appears out of the darkness, and startles him. Instinctively,
the pilot pulls the craft away from the shark, which smashes the
submersible into a rock wall. The craft is starts to sink and Lara is
left to her own means at the bottom of the ocean... 40 fathoms
deep.
Tibetan Foothills
-Start-
Lara, now in possession of the Seraph, makes her way back to the
ocean surface with the use of an inflatable buoy. With great stealth,
she makes her way back to the ocean rig. Back at the rig, she
notices that no one is guarding the sea-plane. Dropping onto the
sea-plane from a catwalk, Lara makes her way to the cockpit. She
changes out of her wet suit, and straps herself into the pilot's seat.
She starts the engines, gives the plane full throttle, and soon she's
airborne. Recalling her conversation, with the former Brother
Chan Barkhang, Lara knows that she holds the key to the next
piece of the puzzle. If there are answers to be had, she must find
that "malignant treasure" locked away within the Tibetan monk's
monastery. It will be cold in the mountains of Tibet, and Lara is
hardly dressed for the occasion. She scans around the cockpit until
her eyes fall on the navigator's chair. How sweet of someone to
leave me this, she muses, reaching over to pick up the leather
bomber jacket. Ah well, too bad they didn't leave a pair of denims
too, Lara smiles to herself.
Flying over the Himalayas, without warning an instrument alarm
sounds and a red warning light begins to blink. Soon the plane's
engines begin to sputter and the propellers grind to a halt. Lara
curses under her breath realizing at this low altitude there is no
time to troubleshoot the problem. The large plane loses altitude
quickly, and Lara does her best to pull the nose up. The plane
barely makes it over one mountain pass, smashing its belly against
the mountain crest. Lara grunts in pain as her hole body is jarred
by the impact. The plane just clears the next ridge. This next
mountain pass is not as forgiving. The sea-plane passes between
two peaks that rip the wings off the fuselage.
The plane is now sliding on its belly down a snowy mountain pass.
I've got to get out of here, Lara thinks to herself, trying to keep
herself calm as she continues her deadly luge ride. She looks down
and spots a parachute. Strapping the parachute on herself, she
flings open the hatch in the top of the cockpit. Standing up through
the open cockpit, Lara pulls the rip-cord. The parachute blows
open and Lara is pulled up and out of the sea-plane as it skips over
another hill. The plane crashes in the valley below, and explodes
violently as Lara lands gently on the snow covered ground a few
dozen metres short of the crash site. Lara climbs a nearby hill crest
to get her bearings.
Temple of Xian
-Start-
After Lara deals with the Guardian of the Talion, she makes her
way out of the underground catacombs, leaving the magnificent
Ice Palace behind. Lara reaches the surface and steps out of a tiny
cave opening into the crisp Tibetan night. Snow flurries drift to the
ground. The scene would be quite tranquil, if not for the men
nearby.
Quietly examining her surroundings, she finds that the Fiama Nera
have made camp outside. Lara smiles when she spots a jeep and
decides that she will make her escape in it. With great stealth, Lara
makes her way from the mouth of the cave, past a mercenary
guard, and climbs into the jeep.
Thinking quickly, she reaches up to the sun visor and flips it down.
She reaches out, and a key slides down into her palm. She starts
the engine, which draws the attention of a guard. Taking
advantage of having caught the guard unaware, Lara blinds him
with the headlights and rushes him with the jeep. Unable to draw
his weapon in time, the guard is forced to dive to safety. He opens
fire on Lara only as she drives away.
Two mercenaries scramble to catch her in another jeep, while
Bartoli1 himself and another man climb into a truck to join the
pursuit. However, Marco at the helm of the truck, heads off in a
different direction, hoping to head Lara off. Lara can see the
headlamps of the other jeep in her rear-view mirror. In an attempt
to thwart her pursuers, Lara shuts off her own headlights after
driving over a small ridge, knowing that she is momentarily out of
her pursuers' line of sight. Lara veers off into the woods, allowing
the other jeep to pass her. She pulls back out, now behind the
other vehicle, and draws her shotgun and blows out one of her
enemies' tires. She overtakes them and leans back to fire on them
only once more, this time hitting the driver. The jeep veers off, and
collides obliquely with a tree. The jeep deflects off of the tree,
tumbles onto its side, and bursts into flames.
Lara switches her headlights back on, but as if from nowhere, the
truck lumbers down an adjacent road. It catches up to Lara and
begins to ram her jeep from behind. Lara keeps her cool and
accelerates her jeep forward as the mercenary in the truck leans
out, fires on Lara's jeep with an automatic weapon, and riddles the
back of her jeep with bullet holes. Lara accelerates as her jeep hits
an embankment and is launched into the air. The jeep sails over a
ravine, leaving her pursuers behind.
Driving all night and most of the next day, Lara returns to the
Great Wall of China, to the cave entrance where this adventure
began. She climbs back into the cave and makes her way back to
the entrance of the Temple of Xian.
Lara inserts the Talion into the hole in the sealed door, and the
mystical seal begins to revolve and unlock. She steps inside and
the door closes behind her.
-Finally-
Lara steps out onto a ledge above the into the vault that holds the
Dagger of Xian, but Marco Bartoli and his men are already here.
Marco, wielding the dagger, is standing on the pedestal that once
held the dagger. His men chant eerily as he raises the dagger over
his head.
Lara covers her mouth in horror as she watches Marco plunge the
dagger into his chest with both hands. Falling backward off of the
pedestal, into the waiting hands of his men. The men carry Marco's lifeless
body through a strange green doorway.
Carefully and with great stealth, Lara makes her way along the
ledge that runs along the perimeter of the chamber and takes a
jump down to the doorway. She stands and examines the strange
doorway and with a slight hesitation, steps inside...
The Dragon's Lair
-Finally-
After Lara brings down the dragon, she removes the dagger from
its chest. The dragon's flesh melts away, leaving behind only a dry
skeleton. The destruction of the dragon also triggers the
destruction of its lair. Lara knows when she's over-stayed her
welcome, and charges out the gateway that opened when the
dragon died.
As Lara runs down the dark tunnel, the cavern walls and ceiling
begin to cave in. The shock wave of an enormous explosion
chases her as she scrambles out of the tunnel. As Lara exits the
tunnel, the explosion destroys a segment of the Great Wall behind
her, throwing her several metres from the Wall. Lara lands hard,
and loses consciousness.
Lara awakens, hours later, in the heat of the midday sun. Lara rises,
her body aching all over, and turns around to survey the results of
the devastating explosion from which she narrowly escaped. In
possession of the Dagger of Xian, it's time to go home.
Sweet Home
Back the Croft Estate in Surrey, England, night has fallen. Lara
Croft has returned home, tired and sore. Her faithful butler,
recognizing the familiar rumble of her motorcycle, opens the the
front door before she has even come to a stop. Lara kicks down
the stand and dismounts.
"Good Evening, Miss Croft," he tells her, taking her jacket.
"When are you going to start calling me Lara?" she asks with a
smile. The butler clears his throat. "Winston1, be a dear, and draw
me a hot bath, would you?"
"Certainly, Miss Croft," the butler replies standing at the base of
the stairs, "Miss Croft?" Lara has already reached the top of the
staircase and is headed for her bedroom. "Miss Croft?" he asks
more urgently.
Lara sighs tiredly, "Yes?"
"Welcome home, Miss Croft," the butler replies with a smile on his
face. Lara cannot help smiling back at his comforting warmth.
"Thank you. It's good to be home."
Lara enters her bedroom and begins to stow away her equipment
into the closet while the butler brings up a pot of Earl Grey and
fills the tub. The butler leaves the room and closes the door behind
him. Lara undresses and dons her favorite blue bathrobe.
After finishing her tea, Lara is about to step into the bathroom,
when she pauses. She sits down on her bed to examine her latest
acquisition.
Before she can examine it more fully, a crash can be heard from
the estate's front gates and the security alarm begins to sound.
Lara tucks the dagger into the belt of her robe and prepares to deal
with the intruders.
應TombCrow老大的需求貼上來的:D!~~
哇！好珍贵的东西啊！
翻译一下
引用自: 怪狼 于 2006 八月 03, 09:09:32
翻译一下
晕～～
楼上的,
这个翻译正由TC和Yew做着呢．
他们在没日没夜地赶，还得润色．
很辛苦的，
哪是说翻就翻得出来的啊？
对不起啊，其实七月底即已经翻译过半到八月初时就已经润色差不多了，不过YEW因为暂时与外界隔绝，所以一直没有把译文发上来。现在我按YEW的托咐先把译文上传，待TOMBCROW等朋友阅览后即发布。