Galaer on 23/1/2022 at 20:06
RAVENSREACH
This mission has some interesting innovations. Blue flames candles get relighted couple of seconds after dousing them. Also in some areas leaning out of shadow will make you more visible. Mission is split into 3 houses. Spider house has small spiders that can go through holes in walls and they blend into ground and walls. Undead house has invisible ghosts that distorts air, so it's hard to see in what direction they are looking at. Nature house is the hardest. Mushroom guards don't only try to kill you with sword, but also shoot gas at you. Plus they are falling into ground, which may look like they got KO-ed. Don't get mistaken though as they are the same sensitive like always. Rock beasts cave is the hardest to ghost. I'm going along right wall and run from shadow to shadow and in the end I'm leaning for Earth Rune. I'm returning the shortest way in front of rock beast, because going towards him alerts him slower than running away of him.
To enter fortress I bought 2 healing potions in shop and made stack of 2 healing potions and holy water to mantle on ledge with secret purse. This is also entrance to spider house. By doing that I avoided using lever behind giant spider and riding elevator. This makes this house a bit easier as there is no spider thief on 1st floor of this house and no spider thieves spawn outside.
To get out of fortress I returned to top entrance to spider house, shot rope arrow into wooden part of roof and mantled on ledge in corner. This way you can climb to roof of spider house and get to other side of front gate. Now just return to starting point while grabbing potions from the stack.
STATS:
Time: 0:57:08; Loot: 2870/3085
Pockets Picked: 0/0; Locks Picked: 0
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 7/7
GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: POSSIBLE
Galaer on 30/1/2022 at 22:08
REUNION WITH BASSO
MISSION 1 - GARRETT TAKES A CURE
No weapons, so you must ghost this mission. Really good idea is to get cure card, which allows you to move through most places without slowing down. It's especially useful in cure area with 3 floors full of marble. Without cure card it's still easy to ghost it, but tedious as you are forced to move slowly. To get cure card you must go behind patroller to room only opened by him, because door is unfrobbable. You must skip medallion from church, because priest is going into search mode and he will start tracking you. Getting out requires using breath potion, but there is another unintended way out. Go to church, mantle on outside metal fence and mantle on church's roof, then drop on street.
STATS:
Time: 1:14:49; Loot: 2507/2800
Pockets Picked: 11/12; Locks Picked: 10
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 2/2
GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE. You must skip medallion from church worth 100. Priest 2nd alert to that and starts tracking you.
MISSION 2 - ON THE HAMMER'S TRACKS
First problem is hole with rope. You can't catch rope, because it immediately falls down. So you must drop on edge and try to drop on one of slopes below. You can also drop stack of fruits and fall on it. Ruins are full of gravel. Just like in cure area this makes ghosting tedious, but not hard. I visit Hammerites first. To get out of this place you must shoot fire arrow. Luckily nobody should hear explosion.
My next target is ruin with lava lake below. It's possible to jump and mantle into small cave with key without getting hurt. In room with spider walking on marble I'm forced to moss floor. Then is room with wooden plank. This plank gets destroyed while you are on it or above it. My priority is to not touch it when it breaks. I mossed floor in front of plank, then shoot vine arrow into highest point of wooden beam above passage. To grab vine I crouched under it and uncrouched to grab it, then I turned around, so plank will get destroyed while I'm on vine. This means it wasn't me who destroyed this wooden plank. Then just strafe jump over hole.
Last place is ruin with bat. Fire elemental should patrol stairs, but it got stuck between stairs and ladder. To get down I dropped stack of fruits and fell on it. Next I sneaked very slowly to ladder. Lava lake is surprisingly dark. So you just need to moss island and passage.
STATS:
Time: 0:24:49; Loot: 1580/1800
Pockets Picked: 0/0; Locks Picked: 0
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 3/3
GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: POSSIBLE
MISSION 3 - REUNION WITH BASSO
Before this report will start I'm gonna talk about loot. At the beginning of mission max loot is 2755, but at the end of my test run I had max loot at 3000. I don't remember spawning any piece of loot that could increase max loot stat. At the end of my ghost run I had 2980 loot. I only skipped 2 bottles worth 20 loot together hidden behind banner. And I realized what's going on. To prevent players from frobbing loot through banners, author didn't put loot there. Instead loot spawn there after slashing banners and probably activating some secret switches. This way max loot can increase by 245 loot. Because of that I can't frob loot through banners and I must skip 2 bottles mentioned before located in watch tower.
1st part of city is pretty easy. There is conversation between guards and they will go into search mode. But this is just scripted behavior and soon after they will return to their conversation. Intended way to Lord Kaputti's Mansion is by stealing key from guard, but afterwards guard is gonna do 2 random slashes after every reload. I want to avoid that, so I found another way in. Mantle on junkyard gate and mantle on wall. Jump on metal fence above wall with mentioned guard below, go to the other end and jump on vine.
In this house there is stationary woman and patrolling noble. In my test run woman was standing right in front of window leading to Lord Kaputti's Mansion and noble was stuck in front of his room. This means I couldn't sneak into his room and steal loot. And in order to go to Lord Kaputti I would be forced to nudge woman or mantle on roof of this house and drop on balcony or return on street and stack potions to go over unfrobbable gate in order to rope up to balcony (only floor part of balcony is ropeable). In my ghost run woman was standing in noble's room and noble was patrolling, so none of them was any problem.
In Lord Kaputti's Mansion wait for guests to return to their rooms before you will enter. Then you need to quickly go to fireplace in spiders room and have luck with spiders not blocking door during their attack on 2 nobles. In this mansion I also got flowers for Jeneviere, which counts as bonus objective.
The hardest part is Damien's Mansion. After opening door, window we entered gets blocked by iron bars. I thought that I could block bars with potions, but looks like bars don't slide down or up, but rather they spawn, so it's impossible to block it. The intended way to get out forces you to slash banner (ghost bust #1) as you can't frob anything through it.
Your objective is to get shield. It's in 3 fire elementals room. There is enough shadow, so they aren't any problem. But room hurts you. My best run was losing only 1 HP. Maybe it's possible to not lose any life, I don't know. I excuse this damage from this poison air room. Plus elementals ignore Garrett's cry when getting hurt. Afterwards you must go to tower via garden. Go along left wall, so treebeast will not become alive.
The very last challenge is in mine. You need to drop into water, but there is stationary Mechanist nearby. You could probably nudge him, but I wanted to avoid that as it takes a lot of time and in mine there is loud gravel everywhere. Land is very low right above water, so I thought that mantle cancel technique will not work, but I was wrong. You can still mantle on this lowly situated ground, but it's harder. First you need to drop on edge, then drop , mantle on opposite ground and cancel mantle. The problem is that it's very easy to jump out of the edge. Luckily after couple of tries I succeeded and quietly dropped into water.
STATS:
Time: 0:49:01; Loot: 2895/3000
Pockets Picked: 12/14; Locks Picked: 7
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 1; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 6/6
GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE
Galaer on 30/1/2022 at 22:10
SECOND CITY BANK
CITY
You must be careful about archer from balcony near starting point. If you are under balcony he can still spot you even though there balcony should block view. Next harder part is getting into rooms in warehouse. There is patrolling archer and turning guard and no shadow under doors. So you are forced to picklock door while looking at stationary guard and if you spot that he turns towards you, quickly back off to shadow (or behind pillar in case of 2nd door). You also need to avoid picking the lock if patroller is nearby stationary guard, because when one guard alerts to that, 2nd guard will hear that and go into search mode. As far as I know, this only happens when you use lockpicks. For 2nd door is harder to hide from archer. You aren't safe in shadow, so you must jump to ladder while archer is near corner of this floor.
MANSION
Mansion has secret behind banner activated by slashing it. This busts ghost, so I skip this secret. There are 4 pieces of loot. By shooting vine arrow above banner I can grab tapestry through banner. Other 3 pieces of loot are out of my reach. Because of that I skip 245 loot. There is noble's room with balcony. Noble has ability to turn on light. This ability is possible for all AI that patrols only one room. Still you can use it to do some actions while AI is returning to use light switches. This noble doesn't immediately turn on light, so I can get loot and quickly sneak out of the room.
ATTIC
Last area of city is entrance to bank. This area contains the hardest optional loot to get. Near front gate is high attic window. You need 2 vine arrows to get there. 1st vine must be shot near the pipe, the other should be shot on side part of high wooden beam as far as possible from window, so it would be possible to grab it when you are gonna return. The biggest obstacle is watcher above front gate. When it turns away you must jump from barrel on 1st vine and climb to the top. At the top watcher will only 1st alert, then jump to 2nd vine and climb to the window for 2 pieces of loot.
Getting out is even harder. You can't drop into water as gate guard will hear it. Drop on vine and descend to lower point. This means that you need to abandon this vine. When watcher looks away jump on lower vine and stay at the top. Then descend and try to jump on pipe or barrel quietly. From pipe you can grab lower vine arrow.
ENTRANCE TO BANK
Entrance to bank is from Mechanist tower. You must drop down and mantle on metal fence below. Then drop on wall and go to archer's post for Basement key and vine arrows. Return on wall and drop down. Go to basement. Here the only problem is conversation between 2 guards. Don't open door during it or guards will go into search mode. Guard from post is pretty blind, so you can easily picklock door and enter it to go to 1st floor.
BANK - FIRST FLOOR
Then you need to go right. In room with 2 safes is another patroller who can turn on light. This room is also visited by knight with Security key. Next room has light switch, but it can't be used by any patroller, so you can safely turn off light. In room with single safe, open it and sneak left to Lobby. Other than loot under counter there is also vase near double door. Between turret and column there is shadow to protect me from watcher. I used 2 moss arrows and when watcher turned away, I ran for vase and returned to shadow. From here you can visit Records. Inside are 2 statuettes in bookcases. For one of them you need to use vine arrow. Return to previous room and go along right wall towards Secure Area.
Mess Hall has woman who can turn on light. Use this fact to easily get candlestick from here. Wait in shadow in corridor for guard with Security Office key. Now return to basement to disable watcher looking at vault, then return to Secure Area. Moss floor east from fountain and use one more moss arrow to moss path towards vault. Go towards vault and douse gas torch. Then climb on top of vault door and drop healing potion in standing position (you need to look towards wall instead of looking down).
BANK - SECOND FLOOR
Not much to do here. Go to corridor leading to Secure Area, leave door opened and douse gas torch, then use 3 moss arrows to moss marble floor leading to Secure Area. This will be useful later. Go to corridor with 2 watchers and quickly run to shadow under guard post's door. Inside is panel disabling watcher. Douse gas torch. Unfortunately patrolling archer has ability to relight it. Sneak to 2nd guard post and disable 2nd watcher. Go south to stairs to 3rd floor.
BANK - THIRD FLOOR
Here is watcher in corner of bar. I doused gas torch to observe it's movements. Then run behind counter and grab purple box. Since I don't want to worry about this watcher, I decided to go back to 2nd floor to terrace above Hall of Wonders. Rope up to wooden beam and then to window. Go right. Here is partially dark corridor, watcher, patroller and turning guard from post. Go to guard post and douse gas torch, then disable watcher. Wait for stationary guard to look towards bunks and progress through corridor. I'm leaving Manager's Office through secret passage behind bookcase and return to 3rd floor window. Go to Security Office and leave door opened.
RACE TO VAULT
After pressing switch you will have 30 seconds before Vault door will close. It's tight time limit even for normal playthroughs. Here you need to have luck with patrollers not getting in your way. My target is fountain in Secure Area, but i can't really use 3rd floor to get there. If you go shortest way to lobby watcher from bar will spot you. Plus corridor after lobby has well lightened middle and is observed by stationary guard. You can't really drop to 1st floor, because it's the most populated floor and has a lot of marble. So I need to go to 2nd floor.
To do it you need to drop on lower bookcase and mantle on it. It's very difficult to do. My method is to first let archer pass, then run left and jump on corner of wooden fence. From here drop on angle towards lower bookcase and mantle on it. Here I noticed to patrolling archers. Luckily bookcase has good shadow. I wasted couple of seconds for waiting, mantled on 2nd floor and strafe ran along right wall. Then strafe jump to carpet and on moss and then another difficult jump. So I decided to avoid splashing water as it's noisy and could alert patrollers. So my method was to strafe jump on marble fence and immediately strafe jump again to land on top part of fountain, continue strafe run on lower stone part of fountain and on moss.
Here I noticed that vault door is closing, but it stopped. So what heppened is related to leaving healing potion on top of vault door. Healing potion stopped vault door, but this door has superior strength, so it's gonna continue closing. But thanks to that I have extra couple of seconds to enter vault. And that's what I'm doing. Because of doused gas torch vault watchers can't spot me. To my big surprise I managed to do all that on my first attempt without any reloads.
VAULT
First I wait for outside patroller to go away, then I shot switch with water arrow, so ladder can descends. Watchers move at different speed (left watcher is slower). This allow me time both watchers and run along right wall from shadow to shadow and at the end jump on ladder (I couldn't grab it from ground). 2nd floor is easier as you only need to worry about one watcher.
LEAVING BANK
When you return outside you have 2 routes: through canal or via wall. Canal route is noisy and can be heard by guards, so I avoid that. Instead I'm going to archer's post and drop on wall. Go to it's end, but be careful of front gate watcher, it can spot you running on wall. Mantle on metal fence and drop on patroller below.
STATS:
Time: 1:51:12; Loot: 5585/6112
Pockets Picked: 2/3; Locks Picked: 19
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 9/10
GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE. You must skip 245 loot behind secret banner in mansion.
Galaer on 30/1/2022 at 22:13
A SORROWFUL FAREWELL
BEGINNING
I start by dousing torch near well and near further away door plus 2 torches above wooden stairs. Go to window near stairs. Here is patroller. You need to go into room with stationary Mechanist and open door to cell. Stationary guard turns pretty quickly, so it may be difficult to quickly enter cell. Take Mechanist key from there. Then return outside and enter door.
Wait for servant to enter kitchen and go upstairs. Go right to top floor while walking behind patroller, read 2 notes near door and gate to get new objectives and dodge guard from right. Return downstairs and go left. Here is patroller and watcher, but you are safe in doorways. Loot all 3 rooms and take Armory key from under bed in last room. Return outside and mantle into window again. Take water arrows, moss arrows and 2 flares from armory. Enter door and go to generator room. Here is exposed wire. While engineer looks away throw flare into it to cut power. Return to upstairs gate and open it. Read scroll, take Guards Room key and 2 coded messages. Return outside and go to wooden stairs. When patroller is walking down mantle on higher stairs and go to door.
MONASTERY
This part of mission is much easier. Unlock big gates with lever and when you go to this tunnel douse 2 torches from there. Also one thing, don't douse torches or open/close doors when 2 guards are close to each other, because it will lead to search mode. I'm skipping for now 2 coins between pews in church, because priest will see us. I will return for them later.
My first target is to get rope arrows from barracks. There are 3 patrollers there. I went inside via right door. Now I'm going to ruined chapel. Mechanist walks into wooden beam and he's stuck there, so I can't go to top of chapel from here. I mossed cart to get to right tower for Silver Serpent. To get to top of chapel you can rope up to roof by shooting into wooden part of it (snow on roof acts as stone). On roof you have access to Gold Serpent and 2 windows to monks bedrooms (you get Ether and Gargoyle Statue from there) and to library (this is entrance to top of tower and maze).
Mantling into window leading to library may be tricky. Since under window is metal desk, moss it and go to metal door. Leave it open (this is very useful for last part of mission where fast statues will become alive). Go to top. Here you must time watcher and blindly time spider bot. Go to roof and go behind patroller to entrance closer to priest to steal his gear. Next go to next entrance and steal Gonkulator to sabotage antenna. To go down faster you can drop to top of lower south roof. From there you can spot wooden stairs. Shoot rope arrow into it and try to catch it.
Return to gear door. On my way I noticed that some doors can disappear and servant from kitchen is stuck walking into closed door. Inside gear room is Code Book. Now read 2 decoded messages and return to Guards Room. There is hole in ceiling in room with sleeping novice. Take Dead Monk's key from there. Go to attic at the end of this building. Stand on red spot and strafe run to painting for Bronze Serpent, which will change into Trinity. Return to library and go to maze. Unlock door and get Guiding Hand. With it's help you find glyph opening upper floor of maze. Place Gargoyle Statue on empty pedestal.
MONKS ATTACK
Placing Gargoyle Statue on pedestal summons undead monks and they are gonna fight with Mechanists. Since this is one of events necessary to complete later objective with finding use of artifact I don't count that as a ghost bust for initializing fights, Also red fog doors are now open. Monks are gonna destroy most of Mechanists. They are only gonna lose on top floor of monastery and at starting point. Because of these fight I will have Body Discovery stat.
Go to top floor and drop on south roof, then drop outside to get to house with tombs. Here is Holy Ash. Go to church and collect 2 coins between pews. Go to cloister, but look out, monks can enter guards area from there. Go to 1st left room, douse torch, read book and take Life Crystal from chest. Walk behind monks to 1st right room. Go left and use code to get Strange Object. Go right and read plaque, then use Strange Object, Holy Ash, Ether and lastly flare on candle to complete another objective.
Return to right tower in ruined chapel and use glyphs to open hatch. Take Candle. Since I wanted to skip journey to past I decided to use Artifact on pedestal now. Unfortunately this doesn't complete any objective yet, so I'm gonna be forced to get there later. As to how to get to pedestal, near left side is invisible bridge leading to almost the end, then you can just jump and mantle on metal railing and go to pedestal.
LIVING STATUES ATTACK
Living statues are alive and they are gonna help monks to destroy Mechanists. You were teleported to top of tower in ruined chapel. Drop on lower roof and go to opposite building. Since I didn't revive Valfar yet, I will just see words, but there will be no one talking. He will open path in maze. Here I noticed that despite using Artifact on pedestal my objective of finding use of it isn't completed. So I placed Candle on plate and used Life Crystal on skeleton, then read Valfar's note. Now my objective regarding using Artifact on pedestal is completed, while objective of finding use of Artifact vanished. I did it a bit out of order, but at least avoided going back and forth once. Unfortunately my going back path is blocked by portal leading to the past.
Why I wanted to avoid journey to the past? Because you and enemies move twice slower. There is fight between undead monk and 2 Mechanists. They move twice slower than normally. Since monk is spellcaster, he's backing off closer towards Staff of Light. If you get too close near them, they will attack you. You can't douse torches either, because you don't have any equipment. This would require a lot of waiting. So I tried to rush it and go along left wall to quickly grab Staff of Light before enemies will get too close to it and then jump into portal. To my surprise this approach worked.
Rope up to roof and go to library. In my test run this area was very hard to ghost, because living statues are very fast. But with monks it's actually easier to get to staircase as monks blocks path of living statues and slow them down. From maze get Well key and go to roof. Once again drop on roof and use rope arrow to return to starting point. Unlock passage in well, then use Guiding Hand to find glyph at the bottom of wooden stairs (you get more visible, so do it when living statues are away). Use glyph to find last secret. This teleported you to toilet near armory, so return to well through window and quietly jump into tunnel.
STATS:
Time: 1:18:03; Loot: 4317/4997
Pockets Picked: 7/8; Locks Picked: 4
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Bodies Discovered by Enemies: 7
Secrets: 10/10
GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: POSSIBLE
Galaer on 30/1/2022 at 22:14
THE SUFFER CATALYST
CAVE
Go left to undead area, loot it and pickup 4 holy water arrows from chest. In area with torc, skeleton can get stuck, but there is very good shadow in tunnel. You are safe from all patrollers here. There is also water, but dropping it's impossible to drop into it quietly. So you must go back to starting point. You must go via right path, but spider can spot you. I found out that quick strafe run into tunnel will avoid 2nd alert from spider. Next are 2 spiders near water. You can safely enter small cave and nudge green spider closer to small spider, then drop on edge near water and do mantle cancel to drop quietly into water.
You are entering Hammerites territory. Garrett is correct - this area is hard to stay undetected. You must extinguish light mushroom in church, but you can just go frob it (novice will spot you), you don't have any arrows either. I can't douse torch with holy water arrow, because it alerts nearby AI. From previous missions I learned that falling on light mushrooms from very high will also douse them. I can't do that, but maybe if I throw item at it, light mushroom will vanish. The only throwable item I have are 4 flares. So hide behind wooden beam and throw flare into mushroom. Then sneak into tunnel, go on beds and douse another light mushroom in cave with tools. Let patroller pass and go along right wall. When stationary Hammerite will turn away, slowly sneak into portal.
SHELTER
You need Front Door key, which is located in SW cave. There is small spider and he can't be ghosted, so just run past it (ghost bust #1). Go behind zombie and take key from body. Return to shadow. Spider is turned in different direction, so I don't score 2nd alert from him. Shelter itself is easy. Just go closer to zombies, so they will dissappear or explode. Then douse torch at the entrance. Get Suffer Catalyst. This summons undead. Go downstairs. On stairs you can hide on windows. Sneak to crypt.
CRYPT
Lots of undead, but it's pretty easy to ghost. In King Azrael's Tomb I doused torch, then took crown. It spawns king Azrael (though on my first try he didn't spawn until later I reloaded game) and he's very sensitive to footsteps. Mantle on sarcophagus and slowly sneak to gap between sarcophagi, so you will manage to crouch. Descend on floor and slowly leave.
Next area has a lot of patrolling skeletons. They can randomly stuck on sarcophagus at the entrance to this area. On my test run skeleton got stuck while walking towards sarcophagus and was looking towards entrance. It was impossible to ghost him. On my ghost run skeleton also got stuck on this sarcophagus, but he was stuck on it's left side while walking right. So i could only sneak into left corridor. At the end of it was another stuck skeleton, but there was a lot of shadow, so it was easy to sneak past him. Drop into hole.
ESCAPE
Get out of lava and swim to hammer statue. Try to get teleported back to Hammerites without making any noise. There is zombie attack happening and you will need to quickly avoid novice and try to not get spotted by him. If you will have luck undead will destroy all Hammerites except this novice, so you will need to wait for him to calm down and sneak to church. Here novice was killed and you only need to avoid zombie. Water exit is patrolled by 2 zombies. Sneak to water and jump there when zombies are far away. Go to exit from water with stationary zombie. When he's turned left mantle up and run to shadow. Here is stationary zombie and newly spawned patrolling zombie. He's easy to dodge, so just get back to starting point.
STATS:
Time: 0:35:02; Loot: 2200/2710
Pockets Picked: 0/0; Locks Picked: 2
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 0/0
GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE
klatremus on 4/2/2022 at 02:36
Game:
Thief 1FM:
Gems of Provenance, Mission 1: The Valley of the BurnedGhost -
SuccessPerfect Thief -
SuccessSupreme Ghost -
FailedPerfect Supreme -
FailedTime - 1:05:45
Loot - 2765/2765
Pockets Picked - None
Locks Picked - None
Backstabs - 0, Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0, Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0, Other Kills - 0, Bodies Discovered - 0
Consumables - None
See the entire report with screenshots (
https://www.klatremus.org/DirtyMoney.htm) here!
Loot list (
https://www.klatremus.org/DirtyMoney_L.htm) here!
YouTube let's play (
https://youtu.be/rXmXq0cic40) here!
Comments:As the winner of the Thief Ambience Competition, Skacky chose the first mission in this campaign as my next endeavor. Classic Dark Project vibes make this a huge hit among fans of the first game, myself included. Although simplistic in appearance, the gameplay is clever and unorthodox. Its linearity prevents it from getting the highest marks, but still a very solid mission overall.
My ultimate goal was to steal a gemstone named The Widow's Ire. In this mission, however, my task was to find Lady Gullus' mansion entrance beyond a pump station. On my way there, Limlun also wanted me to pick up the mask of high priest Callone from some underground catacombs.
Pump StationMarbleman already has a very nice report written for this campaign, so I won't be as thorough as usual. Upon entering the pump station, two guards interacted to get the elevator going. A patrolling swordsman called for his friend who operated the button. I rode the lift up with him behind his back. The first time I tried it, the swordsman ended up facing north, leaving me with no opportunity to reach the pump station unseen. But every other attempt after that he stayed facing southwest towards his friend (image below). Apparently, he was supposed to continue patrolling into the pump station, but I never saw him do this. Regardless, no bust of any kind.
Inline Image:
https://www.klatremus.org/GemsOfProvenance1_files/image001.jpgCleaned the barracks without issues. Marbleman reported not being able to enter the captain's quarters without waking him up. I'm not sure why, but he stayed asleep every time for me. This was good, because I needed the hatch key to get two extra loot pieces. I tested if it could be returned also, and sure enough, the captain stayed asleep. The hatch by the main entrance provided access to an underground machine room. The setup down here was odd. A semi-hidden lever started an alarm of sorts, triggering an upstairs guard to come down to check. This was a scripted response, so it shouldn't be a bust. The other patrolling swordsman never said a word and didn't alert to the other guard running past him, so it was clear that nobody was actually alerted. I had to do this in order to get back upstairs. There was no way I could get back up the hatch from the flooded cave, and the guard that came down to check the machines was staring straight at the lit up staircase before triggering this event.
Inline Image:
https://www.klatremus.org/GemsOfProvenance1_files/image002.jpgThe other problem was getting back into the main foyer safely. If I timed the alarm perfectly, I could run upstairs just as the normal patroller came down, maximizing the time I had upstairs before he returned. I could now grab the purse from the footlocker by the stationary guard up above and focus my attention on getting out through the door (image above). If creeping close to the north end of the doorway, the swordsman sometimes gave a first alert and sometimes not. If I crept too slowly, he usually commented, so I had to give it a bit more speed than anticipated. The archer in the cage had to face north until I got out the doorway and could hide behind the door itself. This was the only place that kept me concealed from the patrolling guard who came back and left again. Now I could sneak over the metal fence and return the hatch key to the barracks. Then I headed north, behind the pivoting archer's back. I could creep-crouch along the western wall unnoticed as long as the aforesaid archer faced east (image below).
Inline Image:
https://www.klatremus.org/GemsOfProvenance1_files/image003.jpgThe next room was easy; just waiting for the guards having a chat to finish. I couldn't use the water tank to leave, as the stationary guard heard the splash. I wouldn't have been able to make the swim without taking damage or using a potion either. Went through the burrick cave instead, picking up a rope arrow along the way. I could drop onto the edge of a stony fence below in the southwest corner (image below). Had to time another archer below to do it alert free.
Inline Image:
https://www.klatremus.org/GemsOfProvenance1_files/image004.jpgGarden & CavesWith the rope arrow, the garden wasn't that difficult. I went straight for the storage room and got the loot there. The only tough part was dropping from the stack of crates down to the ground without the small spider on the other side seeing me. If I inched off the egde slowly, it didn't give any remark. Used the secret passage on the plateau with the patrolling archer to get to the Moon Tier Garden (first image below). Couldn't pass the stationary guard here without a first alert. Ended up using a rope arrow to his right and drop down from above. Funny to read that marbleman had exactly the same solution. From this corner I could time the other patrolling guard and rush up the stairs (second image below).
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https://www.klatremus.org/GemsOfProvenance1_files/image005.jpgInline Image:
https://www.klatremus.org/GemsOfProvenance1_files/image006.jpgThe seminary and the first set of caves posed no problems whatsoever. When I got to the coal mines, I encountered an unexpected problem. In a few areas, mining carts would start rolling through the cave as I passed an invisible trigger. I'm not sure if these would be counted as traps or not. All of them could be avoided except for one, if I wanted a silver nugget down the end of a long stretch of rail (image below). It was strange because once I entered this tunnel, the mining cart started rolling on the track below, without the possibility of hurting me. It stopped almost directly underneath the path I was on. I could trigger this cart in a different area as well, where it could hit me if I didn't get out of the way. I counted this as just a scripted event and not a trap like the ones the rule prevents. It compares more to falling debris from a cave ceiling, which I would always want to avoid triggering, but wouldn't count as a bust. I think the traps the rules are referring to are those created by someone intelligent and involves a mechanical or magical contraption. These carts just added environmental ambience more than antyhing else. If you disagree, the nugget here is an easy skip.
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https://www.klatremus.org/GemsOfProvenance1_files/image007.jpgIn order to avoid a second cart from triggering, I had to use a rope into the wooden frame of a tunnel on a higher level (image below). It was on the south wall of the largest cave in this area. I could just reach the base of the rope from the bottom track.
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https://www.klatremus.org/GemsOfProvenance1_files/image008.jpgHeretic's HollowOnce I reached the “arena”, I needed the survivors of the burrick-spirit fight to face away from the southern exit. Both the flaming spirits won and they ended up in the burrick cave staring in the opposite direction (image below). I guess I got lucky. Getting through the lowering door panel to the tomb with all the urns required some hopping, but I went back and checked if the flaming spirits had alerted. They were completely at rest, so this was a safe method.
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https://www.klatremus.org/GemsOfProvenance1_files/image009.jpgIn the crematorium the major annoyance was that the patrolling zombies would alert to the outside fire elemental. A few times they got into a massive fight, with one of the zombies blowing up, putting the other zombies on high alert. It was highly beneficial if they only kept to first alert growls. At the end of this house I had to dodge an apparition patrolling a tiled set of stairs. I found a tiny spot along the left side that gave me perfect cover (image below).
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https://www.klatremus.org/GemsOfProvenance1_files/image010.jpgNow I entered what was actually called The Valley of the Burned. I had no issues until I got to an open column with a bunch of statue inside. Some of the statues would move across the room if I got too close or crossed an invisible trigger line. At first I thought these were traps, but soon realized that they don't hurt you. At least I wasn't able to take damage from them, even if I tried. A prerequisite of something being considered a trap would be causing harm, and since that wasn't the case here, I deemed these just like a sliding door or panel from entering a room. I'd actually argue the aforementioned mining carts to be more of a trap than these statues. I thus climbed the central column and got some loot on the top floor. However, I couldn't leave through the sliding doors here, as a patrolling hammerite zombie first alerted to them on the outside. Even at the point of his route farthest away from the doors, he alerted. Luckily, I could go back down and ascend to the top floor from the outside, using a rope into the ceiling beam (image below).
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https://www.klatremus.org/GemsOfProvenance1_files/image011.jpgThe last room held the mask of Callone and the crypt exit key. No issues there. I reappeared in the garden, right by the keep entrance. However, Supreme requires you to return the key, so I lock-blocked the keep door and went back through the compound and the caves exactly like before to return it. I could have returned back through the caves before reaching Heretic's Hollow, but that required using an arrow to ascend an elevator, and I don't like using consumables unnecessarily. Instead I took the loop all the way around a second time and emerged yet again at the keep entrance. Now I could return the crypt key and the compound key, before finally entering the keep and locking the door behind me.
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https://www.klatremus.org/GemsOfProvenance1_files/image012.jpgThe KeepDodged the haunt heading up the stairs, but was not able to avoid triggering the traps in the hallways (image above). I saw there was a gap on top of the wall above the trap holes, but there wasn't enough room to mantle over. I'd have to stack objects to get up there anyway, and then those items would have to be returned for Supreme. I managed to time the haunt's patrol route so it didn't alert to the arrow sounds at least. From there, finishing the mission was straight forward. Really looking forward to the rest of this campaign!
Notes- Got a first alert from the stationary swordsman in the Moon Tier Garden when running up the stairs. Supreme bust.
- Triggered 5 arrow traps and 1 fireball trap in the top floor hallways of the keep. Unavoidable and Supreme busts.
Galaer on 6/2/2022 at 22:01
FALLING, IN LOVE
Short city mission with only 3 enemies at the very beginning. You must safely descend to the bottom with 1 HP. Pretty easy mission. You can only get full loot during regular ghost run. Supreme ghost requires beating mission in less than 1 minute, so there is really no time to gather loot. Instead you must drop down and mantle on ledges. I died so many times especially at the beginning of mission, but eventually succeeded.
1) GHOST STATS:
Time: 0:15:00; Loot: 100/100
Locks Picked: 0
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: SUCCESS
2) SUPREME GHOST STATS:
Time: 0:00:34; Loot: 0/100
Locks Picked: 0
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
SUPREME GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT SUPREME: IMPOSSIBLE. There is no time to gather any loot.
Galaer on 6/2/2022 at 22:02
THE FOUR EMPERORS
Pretty easy ruins mission. Fire elementals at the beginning are sensitive and can spot you even if you hide in corners of rooms they patrol. Air elementals at the end don't see or hear you, but they have tracking ability, so be careful to not get stuck with them in small room with body. At the end of mission there is escape part in bridge room. The intended way is to make bridges to fall, but you can avoid that by mantling on waterfalls and then doing strafe jump with mantle on next platform.
STATS:
Time: 0:20:16; Loot: 3280/3430
Locks Picked: 0
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: POSSIBLE
Galaer on 6/2/2022 at 22:03
THE TOMB OF ST. TENNOR
PART 1
Another easy mission to ghost. The only problem would be to find secret explosive charge as you need to find 3 mysterious keys. Key from west tower is pretty easy to find. Key from above front entrance is a bit harder. You need to mantle on outside right statue and mantle on roof, go to hole in window, crouch and strafe jump on chandelier. From there jump towards key and grab it. You should safely slide down. Last key is at the top of north mountains. After visit in armory take 3 crates from there through hole on 2nd floor of workshop. You need first crate to get to roof, then on it do stack of 2 crates and do tricky strafe jump to angle line between textures of mountains. This will lead you to the top.
STATS:
Time: 0:44:58; Loot: 2738/3000
Locks Picked: 0
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: POSSIBLE
PART 2
Again ghosting isn't very challenging, but you will be acrobatic to get some loot. Sometimes you will need to strafe jump on small ledge and strafe jump out of it. In Alarus Tomb and Midas Tomb there are vases that require you to mantle on ledge by leaning to the side while you are below of it. This trick doesn't work very well in Thief 2, but in Thief 1 it's easy. Near Brennan Tomb there is vase on sarcophagus. You need to jump to ladder and to drop safely down you must drop couple of potions down below. Also I'm skipping Bow Upgrade in Alarus Tomb as it requires blowing up 2 double doors.
Lost City is the hardest place to ghost, because fire elementals lights up surrounding them area. Especially temple is hard and 3 floating around elementals protect Sky Gem. Around this gem is no shadow, so you must time elementals when they fly away. Also to get to SE tower you must shoot rope arrow into yellow line above tower.
STATS:
Time: 1:30:01; Loot: 5140/5700
Locks Picked: 0
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: POSSIBLE
Galaer on 6/2/2022 at 22:05
THE REVENGE OF LT. HAGEN
We play as Lt. Hagen and he doesn't need loot. Instead he gathers Popularity, which is split into Innocence, Influence and Honor. Also secrets stat only appears in total stats. Mission is fairly easy to ghost most of the time, but there are parts that fails ghost. At the beginning we must escape cell. After conversation you must pick up bread - it vanishes and we get square lockpick. Plus we hear swallowing sound, but I didn't really manually eat this bread, so I don't call it chemical run yet. Opening cell will KO guard, but door usually goes through AI, so I believe it that this KO is scripted. Plus opening cell completes objective of escaping it. Also don't grab broadhead arrows before taking bow. Otherwise you will not manage to use them.
Eventually you will get objective to kill 7 rogues. Not everyone is available from beginning. Bogdan is servant running between room with poison and mess hall. He's easy to kill. Zelir from basement is also easy, but Alonso is problematic. He's in office on 2nd floor with another cop. You must douse 2 gas torches in corridor, then hide in doorway and lean right to turn off light. You must KO him, which unfortunately 2nd alerts other cop (ghost bust #1), then quickly run along wall and jump on table. When you can grab body and take him to 3rd floor to execute Alonso.
This spawns Melinda in courtyard and again she's easy to kill. Logan though is much harder. He's in bar outside of Shoalsgate and intended way to him is well guarded. So instead go to outside area through training room and go right. There is gap in metal fence, which will allow you to mantle on metal wall. Go left and drop into water. Go to bar. You can't attack Logan here as it will alert all customers. Instead use his bottle on his goblet, break chair (it's still a ghost bust #2, but at least you avoid alerts) and bump into him. He will go to machinery room. Don't save game as loading will force him to return to bar. You must KO him when he try to enter machinery. If you wait too long Logan will vanish. You also need to worry about homeless guy walking outside bar - he can spot you attacking Logan. Drop potion or fruit to block door from closing (they become unlocked only after Logan will vanish, but his disappearance not allow us to kill him and complete objective). Take him to the end of room and kill him.
To return into Shoalsgate mantle on cistern and jump to wall. Go left to entrance you used to enter Shoalsgate. Also it's good if you left couple of doors open. Here in alarm control room is Sammy. He also must be killed. If you get too close he will run away and he's very fast. When he will stop, he will set up bombs to blow up and it's impossible to disarm them all in short time. So just shoot gas arrow into him and drown him.
Next Malcolm on 3rd floor spawns. It's easy to kill him, but before doing that take his key and return to abandoned house. Take blue book, which increase your popularity and meet with Garrett. Afterwards you can kill Malcolm, but beware as after death he will stand up and start running (ghost bust #3). Even though this is a glitch I will still count that as a ghost bust. You need to quickly back off after killing him. And because there is no escape objective, mission will end.
I skipped one of secrets in records as it requires to break bookcase and there is nothing on the other side. There is also secret in basement, which requires falling into water to squeeze into underwater tunnel. This is another way to 1st floor, which is useless as normal way is much easier.
STATS:
Time: 1:02:23; Loot: 1582/1812
Pockets Picked: 7/8; Locks Picked: 3
Back Stabs: 9; Knock Outs: 4
Damage Dealt: 169; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 7
Secrets: 2/3
GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE
