Resident Evil 4/Chapter 3-4

Trap
You're on the balcony of a large, square room and you can hear Ashley struggling to escape from the trap she was caught in two chapters ago. She's not going anywhere at the moment so explore the room for goodies. There are six pots and Handgun Ammo along the walls, and if you examine Saddler's portrait you get 5000 PTAS. Ashley is technically back in your party now so you can't leave the room without her.

There is ramp downward, but it doesn't reach ground level, so you can see Ashley but not reach her. So you must use your sharpshooting skills to break the three bands holding her in place. Stand at the bottom of the ramp, and carefully aim of either end of each band; not the middle since you don't want to hit Ashley. You'll hear Ashley scream and the band will fall apart if you get ti right. Use the rifle, preferably with scope, if possible, but it can be done with a handgun if you're low on Rifle Ammo.

Once Ashley is free there is a cutscene; she tries to leave but zealots start coming in to grab her. Try to snipe the zealots before they reach her, but if one does then you'll probably get a better shot if you let him pick her up first. Do not let the zealots get out the door with Ashley since it will be a game over. The cutscene continues as Ashley tries the door, but it’s locked and more zealots arrive. Some of them will be archers and will fire back at you if you let them. A zealot leader who happens to be carrying the key comes out. The leader won't go after Ashley himself until the other zealots are gone, but if he picks her up he doesn't need to reach a door before it's game over, so don't leave him for last. When the room is clear, Ashley gets the key and makes her escape.

Library
You're going to be playing as Ashley for the rest of the chapter. She'll only have five bars of health unless you been giving her Yellow Herbs. Worse, she has no fighting abilities whatsoever.

You're in a small room with a statue in the middle. First grab the Spinel on the floor next to a cabinet where you came in, then get a Yellow Herb in the opposite corner. There is a typewriter here and it's a good idea to save since getting back to Leon won't be easy.

Head down the wall to find a room with desks, bookshelves, and a zealot. Fortunately, though you're unarmed you're still not completely helpless. If the zealot grabs you then you can shake him off without taking too much damage. There are also plenty of desks and walls you can use as barriers. There is a table here which you can crawl under, forcing the zealot to go around, and then you can just crawl back.

Actually, there is a way you can defeat the zealot. The idea is to find a lamp, move so the Throw command appears on the screen and you can see where the zealot is, then when he’s a few yards away, but not too close, throw the lamp to give the monk a severe burn. Lure the zealot behind a barrier to give yourself more time, then dash past the zealot to a lamp. Getting a good throw in can be tricky because the zealot may start running. You may also end up burning yourself if the zealot is too close when you. If you hit the zealot then position yourself at the next lamp while he's distracted. There are three lamps here; two on the right and one behind the long table on the left. The second burn may defeat the zealot and the third will if not. You may get a Green Herb drop as a reward for carrying this off, you can explore the room in peace as well.

Get a Green Herb from the table here. There is a gate with iron bars blocking the way into the next room; you can open it by standing next to the crank on the wall behind the table and pressing the button shown to operate it. You can also crawl under a desk and then through a hole in the wall on the right. Either way you enter another room, this one more of a study, and another zealot is waiting for you there. You can either throw lamps at him as before, or lure him into the previous room, go into the study and pull the lever next to the gate to lower it and trap him. The three lamps are on a cabinet to the left as you go in, on a desk to the right, and in the left corner which you need to crawl under a table to reach.

Get 2500 PTAS from a cabinet and a Spinel from a drawer in a bookshelf. Then turn the two cranks to open the passage out. Get a Red Herb from a cabinet in the next hall. (Do not waste the Red Herb on Ashley since a Green Herb alone is practically a full heal for her. You'll be able to add the Red Herb to Leon's inventory a bit later.)

There is a door on the left but we'll have to come back to it later, so press on through the corridor on the right. Go through the door at the end to a new area.

Storage room
You enter a very dusty room with disused furniture. Get the green herb from the desk at the far end of the corridor, then move the shelves out of the way to reveal a switch. There are two more switches in the room and you have to figure out which order to press them in to go on, but this is pretty easy.

Crawl under the table near the door and press the switch in the corner. Go back to the table but go through the gate which has just opened next to it. Check the fireplace here to get the Stone Tablet, which we'll need in a bit. Press the switch next to the moldy sofa to the left of the fireplace; this opens a second gate behind you. Go through it to get back to the shelves, and press the switch there. This closes the gate next to the table, which you don't care about now anyway, and opens the final gate to the far side of the room. Check the large cabinet to get 1800 PTAS and get a Velvet Blue from a small cabinet on the right.

Go through the door and down the hall, getting the Spinel from the table along the way, you pass a few suits of armor and they don't appear to be a dusty as the rest of the room. At the end of the hall you enter a room with more suits of armor and a pedestal in the center. The door on the far side is locked.

Check the pedestal; you must slide the blocks into place to make the seal which appears on the locked door. This type of puzzle actually dates back to the 19th century and has appeared in enough video games since that you've probably have already seen it. If you haven't, then Google "15 puzzle solution" for plenty of websites which will explain how to solve them. You can even download puzzles like this to your phone so you can practice in your spare time.

Using the eight directions to indicate the eight outer squares, and C to meant the center square, here is a sequence that works though it’s probably not the shortest.
 * W, SW, S, SE, E, NE, N, NW, W, SW, S, SE

Once the puzzle is solved, check the pedestal again to put the Stone Tablet in place and open the door on the far side of the room; go through into another room.

Get the Spinel from the cupboard and the Gold Bangle from the treasure chest. Go to the mannequin on the far side of the room and collect the Salazar Family Insignia; this causes the door to close and a blue chest appear in place of the mannequin. Now open the blue chest to get the Serpent Ornament; do this last because it triggers an attack. The suits of armor in the previous room come alive and come into the room. Lure them to the left of the table, then quickly go around the side of it to get to the door.

Run out through the previous room and back through the passage. The suits of armor here will try to strike as you pass by; you must press the button combination shown on the screen in time to dodge them. Fortunately they only have one attack in them and disintegrate afterwards. Don’t stand around congratulating yourself though since the other suits will still be on your trail. Continue to the room with the switches to face a last ambush and exit.

Library (cont.)
Now it's time to explore behind the door we passed earlier, so go through the blue door which is now on the right as you follow the passage. You enter a small office; get the Velvet Blue from the desk next to the entrance, the Spinel from a dresser in the corner, and Handgun Ammo from a drawer in some shelves. Get “Butler’s Memo” from a counter; it's by Salazar's former butler and it talks about how he fell under Saddler's influence. It also mentions that once the parasites mature inside their host there is no cure.

There is a pedestal requiring some kind of key on the left and you can feel a draft behind it. Use Salazar Family Seal to unlock the pedestal and turn the crank to open a secret door.

Go up the ladder, get 1800 PTAS and 1500 PTAS, and follow a long passage. Go through the door at the end.

Trap (cont.)
There is a cutscene where Ashley and Leon are reunited.