FMs - Ghost/Perfect Thief Results (Part 7)

[Hexameron]

FM: Unfinished Business
File: Unfin_Biz_V1.zip

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 01:32:50
Loot - 4307/4701
Pockets Picked - 17/25
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 1
Damage dealt - 1 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - This FM is the sequel to "Fletcher's Final Mistake." I had a lot of framerate slowdowns in this mission, which is a shame because it's well-designed and fun to play. I loved the multiple entrances to just about every building, the amazing implementation of textures and use of architecture, as well as the fecund opportunities for rope arrowing. My only gripe is the bad framerate issues I had when in open spaces or
staring out from the rooftops.

-Frobbing the coffin in the cemetery causes two zombies to spawn nearby. They will inevitably see the patrolling guard on the street and attack. The chain of events that follows are lengthy AI melees and a trail of guard corpses; those zombies seemed indestructible. So I refrained from frobbing the coffin and I could still loot the artifact under it in the open grave.

-Dousing torches is precarious. Many guards get upset when it happens and subsequently go on 2nd alert.

-The quiet wandering nobleman in the streets is hypersensitive. A 1st alert action puts him into 2nd/3rd alert fleeing mode. This was very annoying to deal with because he emitted no audible remarks; no humming or alert mutterings. So if I was simply running by on a wood surface, I might not know that I had alerted him until I saw him running around the streets five minutes later. Thus, I really had to be mindful of his position at all times wherever I was on the map. He bothered the hell out of me. I felt like he was the worst type of AI I ever had to deal with. Haunts, combat bots, treebeasts.... they're not as antagonistic as this mute nobleman!

-I never found the key or access to the citywatch building at mission start

-The main objective aside from finding the mayor's artifact and 3200 loot is to bring Cooper Barlett to a Downwind thieves guild contact in the sewers. Once I found the gambling room with Cooper Barlett and friends, I had some problems darkening the room. Dousing the gas lamps put the AI on 2nd alert about 50% of the time. Where I was standing when attempting to douse the lights seemed to make a difference. If I stood in the gambling room when firing my water arrows, I always got alerts. When I shot my water arrows through the open cracks of the wall while standing outside of the room, I managed to get all but one gas light extinguished without alerts.

-I had no idea which one of these guys in the gambling room was Cooper Barlett, so I KOed them all and read their names when picking up their bodies. I reloaded once I identified Barlett as the green-clad Ramirez-looking fellow. Was there a hint about his appearance in any readables? I don't recall.

-Some guards inside the warehouse by the large crates act very weird and are undoubtedly hypersensitive. On my way out with Barlett's body, I dropped him on the incline down to the gambling den, hardly a place where the guard could see and the whole area is black... But the guard screamed "Ah!" as soon as I dropped the body, as if he had heard the thud of the corpse hit the ground! Similarly, I reloaded and tried standing next to him and equipping my bow. The sound of my bow being equipped was enough for him to yell "Ah!" and go on 2nd alert. What the !! I have never experienced this where the mere sound of me changing equipment alerts an AI. I took my rope arrows out in the first place because I wanted to make a more stealthy exit by sneaking on the crates rather than the metal floors. Oh well. I ended up creeping quietly in the dark across the metal floor and made my way out the front door.

-The red spiders in the sewers are hypersensitive too. I was shocked when the following happened: back at the gambling room, I dropped Barlett's body on the floor so I could pick up some more loot I missed. As soon as his body hit the floor, I heard a spider hiss. The more I listened, I realized somewhere a spider was on 2nd alert! I can only presume this spider is one from the sewers (perhaps the sewer area is close by and the sound propagation is off?). I never imagined that the thud of a body hitting the ground would be enough to alert an AI in a different room. And yet everyone else in the gambling room exhibited no reaction.

[PotatoGuy]

Hey guys,

I was wondering if someone managed to ghost 'Under Templehill' by The Pixie, or tried to do it. Instead of going through all those pages, I thought I ask it instead. I'm still a bit new to ghosting, but this mission is fun to try it, I think.

Edit: I don't think, after playing Thief for years, I agree with the title 'New Player'.

[Hexameron]

Hi PotatoGuy. I've created the thread FMs - Ghost/Perfect Thief Status, which lists links to all Eidos ghost reports. The final post on that thread thread is a separate list of T2 FMs that have not been reported and "Under Templehill" is one of them. I've never played it myself.

If you end up trying to ghost it, feel free to write a report here

[Hexameron]

FM: Lady Lisa's Harbor
File: LadyLisaV2.zip

Ghost - Failed
Time - 01:40:18
Loot - 14002/14377
Pockets Picked - 7/14
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 6
Damage dealt - 176 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 4

Causes of Failure:

1. Could not dip into rushing waterfall without alerting nearby red spider

2. Could not retrieve key from dead craybeast without alerting two red spiders

3a. Could not retrieve key from chest guarded by two red spiders

3b. Picking the aforementioned chest spawns five spiders nearby that immediately alert upon seeing the player

Comments - There is only one (Normal) difficulty in this FM. In spite of the many causes of failure I had, I successfully ghosted this mission for well over an hour. It was those ridiculous caves at the end that spoiled my chances of getting a clean success. I suffered a lot of lag and slow framerates while in the harbor sector; sometimes it was so bad that any bodies of water in the game would just disappear.

Ghosting the Harbor

Overall, the city streets and buildings that constituted the harbor section of this mission were not that difficult to ghost. There were just two areas that proved to be challenging.

(1) Lady Lisa's bedroom. Entering possibly the brightest room of the mission triggers a guard downstairs to run up to the room and back again. Without a doubt, every player will be surprised when this happens and, if ghosting, will have to reload. The guy scared me the first time I entered the bedroom and proceeded slowly towards the sleeping lady - I turned around to inspect the furniture for loot and out of nowhere I see a guard bearing down on me. To avoid the seemingly inevitable conflict the author intended, I had to be outside of Lisa's room in a safe patch of shadow before the guard comes upstairs:



He is not alerted while running upstairs. He rushes into the lady's bedroom and then runs back downstairs. This is basically a guard who runs, not walks, to his patrol points and back. It's funny to see him frantically running back and forth while whistling or clearing his throat, all indications that he is not even 1st alerted. Even with this hasted guard, I still had time to loot the lady's bedroom a few treasures at a time. It was also easy to slip behind the running guard and leave the area undetected.

It took me a separate BJ run to locate the Royal Statue collection, which is hidden behind a fireplace on the bottom floor. I don't know why this was so difficult for me to find.

(2) Lighthouse power generator station. Here is the most tedious and appropriately challenging portion of the mission. One main objective is to "cutover the generators to feed the lighthouse." There are directions for achieving this - turn off generators 5,6,7,8 and turn on 1,2,3,4. Sounds simple, but the generators are located in an open-spaced two-level building with metal floors, very few shadows, and two problematic guards. I defy any player ghosting this mission not to use at least five moss arrows here. Indeed, I used all of my moss arrows to soften every inch of the metal floors. Really, it's the only way to move about stealthily.



The patrolling guard on the top level is not bad, but the guard on the bottom floor is. Getting to the bottom is difficult enough: the only choice one has is the single ladder, and that means descending slowly while one of the two guards have a chance of spotting you. The bottom floor guard is difficult to sneak around, but thankfully he pivots three ways:



I found I could crouch behind him and remain unseen even by the guard on the top level. Another problem with this bottom floor is the necessity for using moss between the generators. There is simply no time to sneak anywhere: running to the generator switches is what must be done. What fouled me up even more was that once I got to the generators, I had only two choices of returning - I could run back behind the guard immediately after frobbing the switch, or I could stay put in the shadows near the generator and wait. If I chose the latter option, I would have to randomly dart out from the generators and hope to get behind the guard's flank again. The guard can see through the generators, but I can't. Thus, I had no way to observe which direction he faces at a given time. I had to wait and hope that he had pivotted before making a run for it. Needless to say, this was frustrating and caused me dozens of reloads. For once in my eight years of playing Thief 2, I would have loved to have a scouting orb! I mean, this would have been the perfect situation to take advantage of one.

Ghost Busts

I thought everything was fine until the passageway to the lighthouse via the caves. First up is the rushing waterfall beyond an underground chamber with a red spider. The player must use a rope arrow to reach an open slit in the wall and then drop into the rushing water, making a water splash. As soon as you hit the water, you are forced downstream quickly with no ability to swim back against the current. Therefore, I had a few seconds to listen and determine if the red spider was 2nd alerted by my splash. I definitely heard what could be a 1st alert spider screech, but I had to turn the volume up and listen attentively for any further auditory indications of a 2nd alert... I reloaded a few times until I heard it distinctly: a spider hiss. Busted.

The other busts occur in the caves at the bottom of the rushing waterfall. Although an AI melee between three guards and a craybeast is scripted to happen, I didn't need to approach them for any reason. I did, however, need to find three keys scattered about the caves so I could unlock the gate to the lighthouse. One key is on a dead craybeast in a bright cave crammed with green and red spiders. These spiders war with each other until the reds invariably win. I had no chance of sneaking by them, so I killed them with broadheads:



Then there is another key locked in a chest guarded by two red spiders in an extremely bright room impoverished of any shadows. Once again, I had to kill them and used my fire arrows this time:



If that's not enough spiders, five more spawn right on top of you when you successfully pick the chest!



I killed one who was close to attacking me, and then jumped over the rest and ran away. At this point, I had alerted everything else in the vicinity including the three guards, a couple craybeasts, and bugbeasts. I gave up trying to be stealthy and KOed anyone in my path.

Once I unlocked the gate to the lighthouse, I was close to finishing the mission. The frogbeasts inside the lighthouse are oblivious to the player, but it took me a long time to figure out what to do at the lighthouse. I was definitely stuck and had to check the FM's TTLG thread to discover that I needed to use a rope arrow to ascend to the top of the lighthouse. Up there is the switch for turning on the warning lights (obj). Following that, I opened the portcullis separating the lighthouse and harbor section and returned to the mission start.

[Hexameron]

FM: A Servant's Revenge
File: ServantR.zip

Perfect Thief - Success
Time - 00:38:19
Loot - 2003/2003
Pockets Picked - 12/19
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - This is a small FM conducive to ghosting. The player starts with no equipment, although there is a guard thwacker or BJ substitute behind some barrels in a barn. Ghosting was straightforward and pleasant.

-I thought sneaking by the maid in the basement might be a problem because she faced one alcove that had some loot. All I had to do was dart quickly into the alcove and I got only a 1st alert.

-I frobbed the loot behind the locked cabinet upstairs... I never found the key to open it

-I found a small purse and a note from the author in a niche above the bunkbed in the basement. I guess this is an easter egg?

-Some guards had two pockets to pick such as keys and purses. Perhaps that's why my pick pocket stat is wrong.

[Hexameron]

FM: Damsel in Distress
File: Distressv2_3.zip

Ghost - Failed
Time - 01:47:58
Loot - 2407/3117
Pockets Picked - 9/12
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 8
Damage dealt - 8 Damage taken - 4
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Iron Beasts disabled - 2
Secrets Found - 2/2

Causes of Failure:

1. Could not sneak by mechanist blocking entrance to watcher control room

2. Could not sneak by watchers on third floor of mechanist estate

3. Could not sneak around combat bot watching Elayne

4. Escaping from scripted trap necessitates breaking wood planks

5. Could not sneak beyond the fountain to mission end while carrying Elayne

Comments - Although the AI in the streets are initially non-aggressive, by the mission end when numerous mystical beasts spawn and start melee attacks, the AI will turn hostile towards the player.

-I was ultimately busted in the mechanist estate. In order to enter a room with a required "Elevator Key," I needed to turn off two watchers. The watcher control room, however, is guarded by a mechanist standing in the only door frame of the room. I managed to turn off the electric lights by shooting a water arrow at the light switch. But even with the lights off, the door frame is not dark enough to wiggle through and remain unseen. I ended up KOing all three mechanists in the area:



-I disabled a combat bot observing a brightly-illuminated safe. I wasn't sure if something important was in it or not. Once I found what was inside, I shouldn't have bothered with it: a blue sky gem that adds a checked-off "New Objective."

-The combat bot guarding Elayne cannot be avoided:



The room is bright and the floors are metal. To avoid a direct assault, I had to dispatch the mechanists in the preceding chapel so that I would have room to draw the combat bot out of the large chamber. I KOed all mechanists in the chapel and then lured the combat bot there so I could use water arrows on its boiler.

-To complete the "Find Elayne" objective, the player must stand near her pen and frob the locked gate. When this happens, a barrier of metal fencing instantly appears, trapping the player while the antagonist of the mission (a mechanist servant-looking fellow) gives his bad guy speech.



The only way I saw to escape was to break a couple of the overhead wood planks and use a rope arrow on a ceiling beam. The key to Elayne's cage is on the control box. Pushing a red button causes her to fall, but I reloaded instantly when that happened, thinking maybe the button kills her. Just to be safe, I KOed her myself.

After the aforementioned scripted event, some weird mystical treebeasts spawn throughout the mechanist estate and city streets and attack the AI residents. I don't know what else to call these monsters. They are clearly treebeast models, but are reskinned with a translucent white-dotted texture, as if they are made out of stars. They emit their own light source and are annoying to encounter because they appear invisible from afar.

The secret passage that got me safely into the mechanist estate was blocked when I returned with Elayne's body. I had already pinpointed other possible exits and knew that carrying Elayne while trying to get out would be dangerous. I dropped her into the walled-off secret passage so that enough of her body was frobbable from the other side of the barrier. This way I could easily return for her once I was back in the streets:



-I escaped through the front doors with no problems, especially with the watcher disabled. Being on the streets again was now troublesome. Lots of AI were alerted from the mystical beasts. I could not reach the starting house without being seen. I ended up carrying Elayne to the house with at least two guards and two mystical beasts in tow. As sluggish as I was running while carrying Elayne, I avoided taking damage until the last few seconds when I got to the ramp of the house; one hasted guard slashed me before the mission ended.

[Hexameron]

FM: Simple Enough
File: simpleenough.zip

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 00:59:15
Loot - 2320/2804
Pockets Picked - 4/5
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 1/3

Comments - Most of the mission was straightforward and I had no ghosting problems. I did get stuck, however, and could not find Clarkham's wine collection. After many hours of searching in vain, I checked the FM's thread on TTLG and discovered that I had to frob some keys of the grand piano in a specific pattern. I never found a readable that hinted at this. The grand piano has four separate clusters of frobbable piano keys. Frobbing each of the four sections produces a dissonant sound.

On the easiest difficulty, there are pencil markings on the score that suggest the code of 3422. So that means you frob the third cluster of keys, then the fourth, then the second two times. To figure out this code on other difficulties, and this is according to the author, you are supposed to read the score on the piano and "guess [the code] by which staff is carrying the theme" from a movement by Mahler, which plays in the background. I could barely hear the music; it was always faint and didn't seem to have a source. So here we have a code based on which staves of the score the melody is notated on? Yikes! I'm a music graduate well-versed in reading and analyzing music scores, but I would have never figured that out. I would not think to memorize the theme of the faint music and then examine the score to determine which staff is carrying it.

This should have been alluded to in a readable. All it would take is Clarkham to have a diary that says something like, "I have hidden my wine collection well. The servants shouldn't be able to guess how to find it unless they can read the music score on the piano. I've managed to rig the piano so that when four groups of keys are played in the right order, the passage will open... The melody starts on the third staff, fourth staff, second staff, and then..." I really think this puzzle called for a detailed hint or specific instructions in a readable. Otherwise, it's too esoteric and difficult to solve let alone understand. I suppose I could eventually open the passage after randomly frobbing the keys, but still...

Once I found the wine collection, I had to complete my explicit objective to taste the wine. Doing so teleports the player to a large and bright dining room where a nobleman stands alone. The player cannot move and has no equipment while this teleportation (or hallucination?) is in effect. I reloaded and replayed the scene several times and noticed two possible outcomes:

(1) The nobleman stands still with his back to you and does nothing until you are transported back to the wine collection room:



(2) The nobleman turns around and screams with a hammerite voice and casts a purple projectile in your direction; you transport back to the wine collection room before the projectile can hit you:



These two outcomes are clearly the result of a scripted event, but I reloaded until the hallucination ends before the nobleman turns around and sees me. This happens about 50% of the time.

-There were many keys in the mission, but just about everything was pickable, so I feel like I didn't use them.

-To exit through the main gate, I had to position myself so the pillar by the side door blocked the guard's view. I waited for him to pivot to his right and then I raced along the wall and through the gate before he pivotted again.

[Hexameron]

FM: Frobable Cause
File: FrobableCause.zip

Ghost - Failed
Time - 00:20:52
Loot - 2489/2489
Pockets Picked - 1/2
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 3/3

Cause of Failure:

- Must slash banner to retrieve an essential key

Comments - A small FM with nothing too difficult as far as ghosting is concerned. All loot in the mission must be obtained on expert.

-I had to douse the gas light in the nobleman's house so I could move over to the footlocker in the darkness. Once the bedroom is dark, I could CCC very close to him and circle around the bed.

-I was busted by having to slash a banner in the accountant's office so I could get the key for progressing further. The key is not contained in the footlocker, but rather under the footlocker itself. I can't remember if I had a rope arrow or not, but I don't think the ceiling could receive an arrow or I might have tried banner transmigration.

-I had quite a few surprises when sneaking around the vault area. I could not figure out why I kept triggering an explosion and dying when hugging the right wall. Finally, I inspected the floor with Garrett's mechanical eye and saw an armed mine concealed in the shadows. I was able to disarm it with the lockpicks and move to the number pad next to the vault.

-Earlier I found a readable that suggested the vault door combination was too easy to remember. So I thought to myself, what is the easiest four-digit code to remember... 1234 maybe? Yep! It worked. I stepped into the vault and died again from more mines. Good thing they could be disarmed with the lockpicks. There was another mine on the floor of the treasure room hidden under the lip of the door frame. Having died five times already from these mines, I was cautious enough by now to see it before stepping on it. Since the floor was metal and some loot was shoved far back on the upper shelves, I had to lean in various directions to nab some of it. I also stacked some scrolls and other inventory items for the elevation necessary to reach other loot; normally, I would just jump to reach it, but the metal foot noise would have alerted the patrolling combat bot and thief outside.

[Hexameron]

FM Campaign: All Torc
File: alltorc.zip

Mission 1: Welcome to Robington

Perfect Thief - Success
Time - 00:59:08
Loot - 735/735
Pockets Picked - 5/6
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - This is not a very large mission, but it took me a long time to complete because there is so much to explore and yet loot is so scarce.

-I was almost positive that I would be busted getting into the "staff only" room of the inn. Picking the two doors preceding the staff only room makes a guard scream "Hey!" but not go on 2nd alert. Then there is the "staff only" room door, which is locked and well lit with a guard watching. Picking this door will cause the guard to yell "Hey!" and this time attack. Before reloading, I went into the "staff only" room and saw the button that opens a secret passage out. I wondered if there wasn't a secret switch elsewhere to open this passage from the outside. Well, it's not quite a switch, but there is a little pressure plate in the corner by the inn's side door exit. Standing on it will keep the passage wall open briefly. It was a nice touch on the author's part to place a chalk arrow decal on the wall. It's tiny, but it helped me find the pressure plate.

-Many of the AI in the streets are not alerted to Garrett's presence. The loot hunt in this mission is what kept me busy for 45 minutes. Hard-to-find loot includes one loose coin on the floor in the inn diner, two loose coins on a window sill with one open shutter, gold and loose coins on the ground by the podium in the mechanist church, and a purse on a guard near the police station; there is no loot to be had in the industrial section.

Mission 2: Are We There Yet?

Perfect Thief - Success
Time - 00:08:45
Loot - 935/935
Pockets Picked - 1/1
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - This is a spectacular albeit short mission that takes place on a moving train. I was really impressed with the technical execution of the mission. Just for fun, I tried jumping off the train, but of course I died as if I was falling into lava. The only thing to do in this mission is find food and one piece of loot, an amulet worth 200 in a niche by the bunkbeds in one cabin. It seems the loot count for this mission carries over from the previous mission, hence my 935 total.

Mission 3: Fort Montoya

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 00:53:18
Loot - 2714/2814
Pockets Picked - 11/14
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - Ghosting is pretty easy; I didn't use any water or moss arrows. Idle guards tend to pivot a lot and there is at least one shadow in every hall and room.

-As soon as the player emerges from the starting point basement, an alarm goes off, but no one is alerted to it. I found out later from reading a note that the alarm is supposed to go off every once in a while. Turning it off is okay and also deactivates a couple of watchers in the mission. You can still bypass the watchers while they're active.

-I could not retrieve the loot in the crypt of the abandoned lower levels. I would have to destroy mounds of dirt and debris with a fire arrow in order to get the loot.

-There is a strange trap in the abandoned lower levels that confused me. When following the yellow wire through the lower levels, suddenly a huge wall closed behind me and I heard zombie body parts squish around. Then Garrett said, "Heh, I think I deserve a pat on the back for that one." Huh? I never saw a zombie in the first place and I reloaded to watch the wall extend outwards again. When it hits the wall, the zombie parts go flying, but was the zombie even a threat? Well, I didn't get it, so I reloaded and refrained from triggering this trap.

[Hexameron]

FM: Ack! There's a zombie in the basement
File: ack_v11.zip

Perfect Thief - Success
Time - 00:20:03
Loot - 1348/1348
Pockets Picked - 1/1
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 1/1

Comments - A short and pleasant FM that takes place in a single house. This mission is probably only ghostable if the player refrains from reading the house owner's diary and triggering the new objective to "get rid of the zombie." I did not attempt to kill the zombie, but I doubt it's possible to dispatch it with a single holy water arrow and thus avoid alerting him. Thankfully, one can still complete the mission without triggering the new objective simply by satisfying the loot objective (1250) and returning to the mission start.

-Getting upstairs is difficult if you are already in the house. I had to plant my only moss arrow in the center of the marble-floored foyer. With three guards in the vicinity, at least one is guaranteed to be viewing the foyer while the others aren't, so I had no time to sneak across. If I tried to go upstairs right from the beginning while outside at the front door, I would have been fine. Once I was already inside, though, I couldn't get back outside through the ventilation duct since it was a one-way trip.

[Hexameron]

FM: The Cell Next Door
File: celldoor.zip

Perfect Thief - Success
Time - 00:15:58
Loot - 524/524
Pockets Picked - 2/2
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - A short and very TDPesque mission. I wish the author had decided to make a larger FM because I like his style. Playing on expert (renamed to "Ghost") basically enforces ghost mode, as the player has no equipment. There were no ghosting problems. Once I looted the purse behind the barrels under the pub, the mission ended. So to obtain perfect thief, even though the loot objective is 500, it's probably necessary to find all other loot, particularly any coin stacks/loose coins before retrieving this purse.

[Hexameron]

FM: Balfour's Secret
File: Balfours_Secret.zip

Ghost - Failed
Time - 00:54:37
Loot - 3241/3341
Pockets Picked - 8/9
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 3/3

Causes of Failure:

1. Dropping into pool of water below secret crypt alerts nearby spider

2. Gaining access to the Hand of Glory chamber requires destroying a vase with a broadhead; is that really property damage?

Comments - I really liked this German FM, even though the English translation is a little questionable.

-I used two rope arrows in the city portion of the mission. One to enter the apartment near the archer watching the streets from his perch. Dousing both nearby torches and waiting for him to pivot before ascending the rope is necessary. The other was used to get to the balcony overlooking the fountain. I had to shoot a moss arrow over the balcony beforehand - jumping off the rope and onto the balcony was the only option and any landing foot noise would alert a nearby nobleman.

-There are two inevitable ghost busts that occur in the secret crypt. Dousing one torch inside the mausoleum opens a passageway down to the secret crypt. Continuing through the passage means pressing a button that makes the player fall downwards into a pool of water. The resulting splash puts a spider a few meters away on 2nd alert.

The other potential bust happens when you shoot the non-frobbable vase on the sarcophagus in order to open the Hand of Glory chamber. A riddle contained in one readable implies that shooting the vase will achieve something. Shooting it will result in a sound effect similar to glass breaking and the vase subsequently disappears. Is this actually property damage? I could argue no, but since I was already busted for another reason, I'll add the vase destruction to my causes of failure.

-Navigating the fire projectile obstacles in the Hand of Glory chamber is not that hard. I just jumped over a few of them and made it across okay. Picking up the Hand of Glory causes the chamber doors to close. You have to press a button well-hidden in the hand pedestal to reopen the doors. It took me ten minutes to find that! Anyway, pushing the button makes three zombies spawn, but the chamber is dark enough that they pose no threat. And with the fire obstacle deactivated, I didn't have to jump anywhere.

-Reading Balfour's note had triggered the new objectove to find the Hand of Glory, but it also adds a new objective to give Balfour a proper burial. So I picked him up and exited through a corridor that revealed itself after taking the Hand of Glory. I then dropped Balfour in the open grave of the cemetery and returned to the mission start.

[Hexameron]

FM: Delford Abbey
File: delfordabbeyv2.5.zip

Ghost - Failed
Time - 00:37:04
Loot - 2415/2615
Pockets Picked - 0/1
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 15 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 1

Cause of Failure:

- Could not kill undead raiser without alerting him

Comments - This is a very buggy mission. I experienced about a dozen crashes in the crypt for all sorts of reasons: picking up a body, quicksaving, going up steps, and trying to restart the mission. At one point after killing the undead raiser and finding the builder's scepter, I went back up the staircase and pressed quick save. The game crashed and when I restarted game, my quicksave slot was gone! It's fortunate for me that I routinely save in new save slots.

-Reloading while in the crypts causes numerous problems that can make or break a ghost run. After reloading, many of the patrolling zombies stop in place and never start moving again. I was lucky that the zombies halted in areas that would not obstruct my sneaking.

-Sneaking through the hammerite abbey was straightforward, although I had some trouble in the church due to the electric lights and marble floor. Getting into the church area is tough because of the patrolling hammerite and electric lights. I had to wait behind the wall next to the door frame with the door open. Then I started creeping forward when I guessed the hammerite had turned his back during his patrol. I could not avoid at least a 1st alert upon entering the church. I was able to retrieve the key at the altar and the loot from all four tables in each corner. It just took a lot of slow creeping and weaving in and out of the pews to avoid the patrolling hammerite in the center.

-The undead raiser who must be killed busted my ghost. I was able to get behind him without alerting him. I could even knock him out:



I would have been home free if I could have picked his body up. As you may know, there is a bug in Thief 2 that won't let you damage an unconscious person that you knocked out without picking up their body and dropping them. Picking up his unconscious body in this FM always crashed the game. I think this happens because once you kill the undead raiser, he returns as a frobbable zombie! That's right, you can frob and pick him up when he is in a zombie state. You can even drop him again and he will remain a very active and alert zombie. If I could have picked his unconscious body up, I could have clubbed his corpse to death and then remain in darkness to avoid his zombie reincarnation. Instead, I had to run up to his face and strike him repeatedly with my hammer until he fell. I got out of there once his zombie self emerged. As I looked back, I saw that he managed to get stuck in the floor.

-I didn't complete the holy sword objective until last. I had earlier spotted the creases and cracks of what looked like a secret passage near the staircase of the crypt entrance. After finding the builder's scepeter, completing my 2400 loot objective, and killing the undead raiser, I went back and found the passage. I frobbed part of the crystal light source and the door opened revealing mines, plenty of water crystals and a holy water vial. The holy sword appeared there, too. Since all my objectives except getting back to the mission start were satisfied, I picked up the sword... and the mission ended! The objective to get back to where I started was checked off even though I clearly did not go back.

It occurs to me that if I found the holy sword niche earlier, I might have been able to kill the undead raiser with the holy water arrows...

[Hexameron]

FM: The Kindred Vault
File: TAC_KindredVault,The.zip

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 00:21:52
Loot - 1575/1625
Pockets Picked - 2/2
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 2/2

Comments - A short crypt FM with lots of dangerous traps.

-The tiled floor room with two chests has a couple of traps that need to be avoided. One pressure plate will generate a swarm of flies. Another plate triggers a trap with two broadhead arrows hitting the wall, which will alert the zombies outside. By moving over the two square-shaped pressure plates where their right angles meet, I avoided tripping any of the traps.

-I could not obtain perfect thief because of a mask on the upper level in the pagan room. Looting it causes fire arrows to come out of the walls and make enough noise to alert the zombies below.

-Opening the lid of the sarcophagus containing the ring of invisibility opens two doors and lets some zombies out. I was able to frob the lid and back up before the zombies could see me. I stayed in the darkness just before the sarcophagus room while the zombies moseyed out and then went in to retrieve the invisibility ring.

-Either opening the sarcophagus or taking the ring causes all kinds of undead to spawn througout the crypt including two skeleton archers an additional zombie. Since the ladder in the shaft leading to the exit is too high to be jumped on, I stacked a healing potion and dewdrop, which gave me enough elevation to reach the ladder. I suppose the author intended for the player to approach the two skeletons on the upper level in order to climb the ladder.

-I didn't need to use the invisibility ring (acts like an invis potion) at any time. Was there a purpose for the master key resting besides the ring? I took it, but found no use for it.

A few hard-to-find loot items:

-Upper level of crypt: two tiny diamonds in the eyelids of a mural face
-Surface outside of mausoleum: lever near doubledoors that opens a niche with LC jars

[Hexameron]

FM: Sinful Opportunities
File: sinful_v10.zip

Ghost - Failed
Time - 00:22:38
Loot - 1017/1017
Pockets Picked - 1/1
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Cause of Failure:

-Must destroy wall with powder keg to gain entry to the shop; doing so alerts a nearby thief

Comments - This FM is the sequel to "Ack! There's a zombie in the basement." As such, it is short and sweet.

-It did take me some time to get through the inn basement because of the five crates blocking my route to the shop. With the patrolling thief in the basement, I couldn't afford to make the slightest noise by dropping these crates anywhere. I had to carry each crate one at a time upstairs to the inn staircase and drop them gently.

-The mission design entailed blowing up a wall with the powder keg found in one of the inn rooms. I used a fire arrow I picked up from a fireplace and, property damage aside, it alerted the thief in the basement. All the while I was thinking, "Come on Garrett - blowing up a wall is what those amateur thieves were planning to do; you're better than that."

-The four-digit code for unlocking the ankh display case is, judging from a readable, 0 with one number away from the number of the beast. The aforementioned readable in the shop owner's bedroom has information about the beast, but no mention of numbers. So I relied on my real life knowledge and assumed the beast is 666. I tried 0667 and 0665 and I guess the latter worked. I didn't see the ankh display change when I entered the code, but I was able to frob the ankh afterwards.

[Hexameron]

FM: A Water Arrow in the Fire
File: AWAITF.zip

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 01:36:57
Loot - 54500/55250
Pockets Picked - 22/23
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 6/6

Comments - The setting of this FM is a very large mansion bustling with AI in brightly-lit and endless corridors. The buying screen was interesting in this mission. I had 3000 to spend and had the choice of 6 invis potions, 10 gas arrows, but only 4 water and no moss arrows. I bought the meager 4 water arrows and 3 invis potions. I later found about 30 moss arrows around the hedgerows and there is enough water arrows strewn about in every body of water (including sinks and toilets) that you could douse every gas light in the mansion.

-I will say that I really liked the non-linearity and copious number of entrances into the mansion, which reminded me of "The Art of Thievery." I entered through the second floor, which is desolate compared to the busy activity of the first floor.

-I do have one personal grievance with this mission and it's the excessive amount of loot. It took me ten minutes to explore the grounds outside of the mansion, but I picked up about 2000 worth of gold nuggets around the hedgerows. I mean, that's the sum Garrett would normally get from looting an entire section of the city plus a three-floored mansion. 50,000 just seems like overkill - I bet Garrett collects less loot from T1, T2, and T3 combined. Just to illustrate, here's what I found in the vault; each large bag is worth 1000 loot!



-It was to my advantage that picking the black keys from several guards made them stop in place. I think what happens is that with the keys picked, they can no longer unlock locked doors barring their patrol, so they stand in place with no where to go:



-I missed some loot, but the mansion is so huge with so many rooms, that I couldn't muster the energy to look anymore. Also, there are some gold coins in the large fountain that might not be retrievable with so many guards around it.

[Hexameron]

FM: Turn of the Tide
File: Turn.zip

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 01:49:56
Loot - 5986/7256
Pockets Picked - 11/15
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 1/2

Comments - A very atmospheric port city mission. The rooftops are stunning. In fact, the rooftop area with its gritty architecture and smoking chimney stacks is more reminiscent of the TDP intro movie than any other portion of an FM I've played.

-I found it frustrating to get the chests at the bottom of the sunken boat at the beginning. The water is murky and the current keeps pushing the player towards land. I kept trying to dive and reach the sunken boat to no avail. I really didn't understand how I kept missing it. I even lined myself up so that I could swim to the ocean floor and let the current push me directly into the sunken boat. And still I missed it. I ended up using a flare, which helped me spot the boat in one try. It may not even be possible to frob the chests without having a flare lit because I tried at least twenty times to frob the chests in that boat.

-I found it difficult to find the storage room key. Based on hints in one readable, I inspected the upper portions of the church where a hammerite is supposedly hiding out. I knew something must be up there and I kept searching for ten minutes until I finally noticed an inconspicuous lever in the upper corridors. The lever opened a secret passage to where the dead hammerite and the storage room key are located.

-I don't know what the purpose of the rooftops encircling the graveyard was, but I did activate a lever near the window to the rooftops that opens the way to the catacombs. The catacombs are a huge labyrinth and each tunnel and chamber are deceptively uniform. Approaching one room in the deeper recesses of the catacombs triggers a melee between a haunt and three thieves. The thieves always die, but since the haunt was on 2nd alert, I needed to douse the pagan torch so I could escape the room safely. All of this for a 15 loot statue . I probably missed more loot in the catacombs, but once I retrieved the builder's hammer, about a dozen haunts and skeletons spawned throughout; I had no desire to continue a loot search dodging literally a train of six haunts.

-Perfect thief is not possible in this mission. In the church, there is loot behind a banner which must be slashed.

-After exiting the catacombs and cemetery, I saw a note lying on the ground that was not there before. It read in all caps that the hammerites are called to attack the pirates and thieves in the harbor. On my way back to the mission start, I never encountered any melees between hammerites and thieves.

-The key on the nobleman in the gambling room of the Mermaid tavern unlocks Bolial's cottage. It is there where the scepter (obj) rests on top of a burrick head trophy.

[Hexameron]

TDM FM: Business as Usual

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 01:11:24
Loot - 2063/2078
Pockets Picked - 0
Damage dealt - 8 Damage taken - 0
Kills - 0 Knockouts - 1
Stealth Score - 0

Comments - A short and pleasant TDM mission. I don't think it's possible to obtain a high stealth score in this mission unless you avoid entering the tavern. Even though the tavern patrons are non-aggressive, my stealth score was probably effected just by being in their presence. It's not necessary to even enter the tavern, but I did just to explore.

-I say perfect thief was failed, but really, I obtained all possible loot in the mission. I had to avoid 15 loot in the tavern cashbox because one objective tells the player not to steal from it. If you do, the mission fails.

-Another objective is to knock out the guard on the tower, hence my damage and KO stat.

-The secret chest in the hotel is behind a frobbable dresser. It's easy to miss - you have to be very close to see it highlight:



Some hard-to-find loot:

-Sewers: bracelet underwater next to wheels
-Hotel attic: goblet next to rubble

[Hexameron]

TDM FM: The Parcel

Perfect Thief - Success
Time - 00:36:48
Loot - 1193/1193
Pockets Picked - 2
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Kills - 0 Knockouts - 0
Stealth Score - 9

Comments - Not much to say except it's a fun FM with no ghosting challenges. Loot is fairly easy to come by, but there is one secret niche revealed by frobbing a piece of a fireplace that took me some time to find.

[Hexameron]

TDM FM: The Thieves

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 00:30:58
Loot - 2042/2142
Pockets Picked - 6
Damage dealt - 140 Damage taken - 0
Kills - 1 Knockouts - 0
Stealth Score - 9

Comments - The thieves hideout looks harder to ghost than it is. I think getting to the thief boss is the greatest challenge here. The patrolling thief with a torch and the thief who enters the hideout from the pub basement tended to meet up at bad moments for me. Other than that, the ghosting is pretty easy. I will say that what's difficult here is supreme ghosting the hideout in order to keep the stealth score high, which is what I tried to do.

To avoid 1st alerts, I thought about using the bunkbed as a safe place:



While crouched on the bed, I still got one 1st alert from the thief with torch. It seems the better place to hide in this area is near the broken generators. You can actually hide in the thief's shadow and move behind him towards the thief boss' room. But when I did this, I still got a 1st alert from the other idle thief at the table. It seems no matter what route you take to get to the thief boss, a 1st alert from somebody will be inevitable.

Once I got to the thief boss's room, I closed the door and proceeded to assassinate him per the objective:



I'm perplexed about the missing 100 loot. I went on a separate BJ run and still couldn't find it...

[Hexameron]

TDM FM: Too Late

Perfect Thief - Success
Time - 00:37:39
Loot - 1450/1450
Pockets Picked - 6
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Kills - 0 Knockouts - 0
Stealth Score - 1

Comments - Another straightforward TDM mission, but ghosting is a little hard in some areas. I aimed for no 1st alerts to try and get a high stealth score, but I failed miserably. The thieves in the warehouses are positioned in such a way that it's pretty difficult to get through without a handful of 1st alerts, especially when trying for a perfect thief. Outside of the warehouse is one case in point. I couldn't avoid a 1st alert with the thief by the docks. I swam in the water to get a builder icon and getting out is troublesome owing to the bright area. The patrolling thief with torch who exits the warehouse occasionally doesn't help.

Once inside the warehouse, I stayed on top of the crates. I found one interesting hiding place. Inside the largest crate in the first warehouse is some loot, but to get inside you have to remove wood planks barring the top:



Trying to ghost the second warehouse without 1st alerts can be challenging. Getting into the tent with the thief inside is hard because of the lit candle. I had to reload a few times, but the trick is to run quickly to the candle and snuff it out before one of the thieves is 2nd alerted. Whether it's the thief in the tent or the one standing by the brazier, somebody uttered a 1st alert when I went for the candle.

Hard-to-find loot:

-First warehouse rafters: loot in footlocker
-Second warehouse: coins in desk drawer
-Second warehouse: purse on rafters

[Hexameron]

TDM FM: Return to the City

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 02:09:31
Loot - 1525/1615
Pockets Picked - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Kills - 0 Knockouts - 0
Stealth Score - 6

Comments - This is one of the best TDM missions I've played, owing to the spectacular city and builder church design and the exciting rooftop exploration. However, there are a few areas where the framerate is intolerably slow. The beginning is just horrible - I had to lower my settings just so I could have a chance of moving away from the portcullis. Still, once you're beyond the mission start, things get immensely better.

-I didn't have much trouble ghosting this one, but moving around the rooftops of the builder's church can be precarious. One thing I've noticed with TDM is that the AI are capable of seeing you from miles away. While on the roof of the builder church, I was mantling onto the gargoyle so I could reach the window sill of the tower. I immediately noticed that one of the guards back in the city was rushing into the builder courtyard because he saw me up there! Essentially, I had to move into the tower only when no one on the streets below, who appear like little ants to my bird's eye view, was visible on my screen.

-To reach the explosives in the builder dungeon, I first thought I needed a key to the cell where it was kept. Upon further inspection, I realized I could pick up the explosive and move it through a hole in the cell bars. Very clever solution on the author's part:



-After I finished all of my objectives and returned to the mission start during a loot search, I saw that two guards were stuck walking into a wall near the portcullis. I hadn't yet been in the building there, but I couldn't approach the door with them walking in place in front of it. I'm sure I missed some loot there.

Hard-to-find loot:

-Above long cement staircase in city: ring on a windowsill next to the potted plant
-City rooftops above market: gems ensconced in gargoyle eye sockets
-Builder church attic: loot under wicker baskets
-Storage room in city: look under all the crates to find a crawlspace with a surplus of loot:

[Hexameron]

TDM FM: The Sons of Baltona Part 1

Perfect Thief - Success
Time - 01:02:14
Loot - 2087/2087
Pockets Picked - 6
Damage dealt - 140 Damage taken - 0
Kills - 1 Knockouts - 0
Stealth Score - 8

Comments - The highest difficulty in this mission is labeled "Ghost" and basically enforces ghost mode with its no knockouts objective. There is an optional no alerts objective, too. I had to ask for help on TTLG about finding loot and the key to the library. The loot requirement here is 1900 and I was 41 short until I was told to look at a few particular guards' belts.

-Sneaking around the perimeter of the mansion may be the toughest ghosting challenge I've yet had in a TDM mission. I've made a habit of trying to avoid 1st alerts when ghosting any TDM mission, so that increased the difficulty. There are several guards with torches who patrol often in opposite directions around the mansion. There are very few places to hide when a guard with a torch is approaching. The whole exercise of getting to the garden was intense, especially when I have to worry about two guards carrying torches walking towards me from two directions:



-Once inside the mansion, ghosting is easy. Sometimes a guard noticed an open door and walked over to inspect it, but this can be avoided by opening doors when a guard is facing away from them.

-A new objective is triggered after finding Eduardo's corpse: kill Lord Nelson. This is easily accomplished with an arrow to the back of the head:



Hard-to-find loot

-Outside foyer entrance near fountain: purse on guard's belt
-Outside barracks entrance: purse on guard's belt
-Kitchen: wine bottles in waste basket
-Lord Nelson's bedroom: loot behind books on bookcase
-Elizabeth's balcony: coins on gaming table
-Library: button under desk reveals loot niche behind painting

[Klatremus]

FM: The Affairs of Wizards [Thief Anniversary Contest]

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Success
Supreme Ghost - Failed
Perfect Supreme - Failed
Time - 42:58
Loot - 3847 out of 3847
Pockets Picked - 4/4
Locks Picked - 8
Backstabs - 0, Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0, Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0, Kills - 0, Bodies Discovered - 0
Secrets Found - 1/0?
Consumables - None

See the entire report with screenshots here (FMs).
Loot list here.


Comments:

After a couple of heavy missions I decided to go for some lighter action. 13 new missions had just been released for the 10th anniversary contest, and I was in the mood for some quick thieving. The most random and unbiased way to play was in alphabetical order, and thus ‘The Affairs of Wizards’ was first up. An interesting aspect with contest missions is that the authors aren’t disclosed to the public, meaning you have no idea what you’re in for, except from looking at the file size and the mission description. This can lead both to pleasant surprises or heavy disappointments, or somewhere in between. Luckily, the former was the case with ‘The Affairs of Wizards’.


Snatch and grab

My objectives were simple. Retrieve a map from Lord Velleme’s, copy it, get 2,500 in loot and leave. Nothing to it.

The dumbwaiter in the kitchen was locked, but I could still reach the golden goblet on the bottom from outside. Nothing much to report from the ground floor except when entering the barracks. The guard watching the front entry heard me rattling the door, so I had to wait for the patroller to come down and then block the door as he entered. I waited in the shadows underneath the stairs for the right moment (see image). This patroller also had a tendency to get stuck around the various floors. Anyhow, I robbed the guards’ quarters, bringing along the hard-to-see pair of lucky coins by the gambling table (see image).

Two guards protected the second floor. I therefore used the dumbwaiter to reach the Sir’s chambers. Received new objectives in the process. I still needed to reach the library past the aforementioned guards, and that couldn’t be done without spawning some comments. Supreme went down with a thud. Both picking the locks and traversing the lit hallway past the corner made them grumble. 6 comments total going back and forth. Velleme’s personal key was found underneath a statue in the library. Streaks in the floor boards gave it away; nice touch from the author there!


To the portals

The middle portal on the top floor took me to a pirate ship. One thief patrolled the upper deck, while another was stationed in the bedroom carrying a key to the cargo hold downstairs. A few tricky moves had to be made in order to avoid any alerts here. The patroller stopped for a few seconds outside the bedroom, then entered and stopped for a little more just inside the door, then turned and left. I kept the door from closing as he came out. The other guy had two angles, one of them facing away from the door. I snuck in, stole his key and the coins off the floor, and mantled the bed to the left. This was the only dark place in here, and the only hiding spot from the thief who was on his way back (see image below).



The key luckily stuck to my inventory, as it would have been impossible to replace without raising havoc. I could close the door from outside without any comments if I closed it as the patroller went in. If done correctly, he would reopen the door as it swung shut, then close it again on his way out. This is a nifty move that can be utilized if AIs patrol doors close to sentries.

Nothing more to tell except for a hidden purse on a crate in the cargo hold (see image).

The fire realm was no problem. There were only two patrolling burricks in total. The secret tomb had a tiny ring in the coffin quite hard to catch (see image).

The trickiest place was at the mages’. The earth mage held the key, but he was positioned in the brightest spot, facing south. Dousing any of the two torches set them all off to hunt mode, so that was out of the question. Nice touch to let the fire mage relight the torches; don’t think I’ve seen that before. The fire mage was also the only one who shifted position. All the other mages stood their ground firmly. I had to circle the room clockwise to avoid a plain Ghost bust. Supreme received more comments, but that mode was already done for. I could also reach the last piece of loot this way, a purse off the northwestern mage. I had to time the turning fire mage to lift the key, but in the end it was without hassle (see image below).



I took the lift down to the kitchen, and the dumbwaiter key couldn’t be dropped back. I heard some of the guards alerting to the boggles upstairs, but I was safe to end the mission clean.


Notes & Busts:

- Received 6 alerts total from the guards outside the 2nd floor double doors. Most of them spawned from the doors being picked or opened/closed, but some from entering the library through the bright spots. Busted Supreme.
- I could not obtain the earth key from the mages without traversing the room and getting comments. Busted Supreme again.
- The body discovered is probably from the mage fight at the end. But I was long gone before they even showed up.

[Klatremus]

FM: Ashes and Dust [Thief Anniversary Contest]

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Success
Supreme Ghost - Success
Perfect Supreme - Success
Time - 27:33
Loot - 2897 out of 2897
Pockets Picked - 5/5
Locks Picked - 7
Backstabs - 0, Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0, Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0, Kills - 0, Bodies Discovered - 0
Secrets Found - None
Consumables - None

See the entire report with screenshots here (FMs).
Loot list here.


Comments:

My second anniversary mission was ‘Ashes and Dust’. The main objective was to find a special book called the Codex of Ashes and Dust in Lord Desmond’s manor, plus 2,400 in loot. I was restricted to two knockouts and needed to use Desmond’s secret exit when done. Sounded like a challenge, so off I went.


Reading the terrain

The basement had numerous patrollers, but was nicely set up for sneaking. A lantern guard circled the rooms clockwise, so I had to move in the same direction to stay out of sight. Found a hidden mask early on in one of the storage rooms. A switch behind one of the crates opened a panel in the top corner revealing the item. The two guards finished their little chat before I looted the quarters. One footlocker was locked, so I’d have to get back later. Arrived at the next floor through the kitchen hatch.

The first floor was also scattered with enemy patrols, although none too tight to handle. The layout of the map was nicely done, with low ceilings and tight hallways, just the way I like it. The guards’ lanterns I haven’t seen before either (see image). Some hard to find loot on the south side of the foyer: a ring on a windowsill and some spectacles underneath the hallway couch (see image below).



Frederick roamed between the top three floors. He came by as soon as I ascended the foyer stairs, so I snagged his key and kept on looting. The captain of the guard was stationed on the third floor (see image), and the key on his belt opened the locked footlocker in the basement. It contained Marcus’ dagger, which needed to be sanctified from the holy water in the southwest bedroom on the second floor. Also in here was a very hard-to-find switch (see image below) opening a wall-panel with another mask. The rest of the second floor was simple.




Closing in on the codex

The captain didn’t mind me unlocking the third floor door, but he commented when I closed it. Strange behavior, but I had to deal with it to avoid a Supreme bust. I knew Frederick would come up the stairs eventually, so I waited in the dark by the gallery. As I heard him arrive, I timed it so that I locked the door as he was about to enter. With a little luck, he’d reopen the door before it shut entirely, preventing the alert. Guards will comment on noise caused by Garrett, but not on noise from fellow AIs. I could freely clean the rest of the top floor.

As I thought I had finished the mission, the tables turned and Desmond appeared reincarnated and ugly. Two more hideous creatures had also spawned in the library (see image). The codex was floating in the air above, ready to be slashed. But I had to make my way up the stairs. Desmond, although never having spotted me, still did hunt moves on the walkway. He was turned slightly to the right, so the left stairs were the most approachable. He didn’t comment like normal enemies, but instead headed back to the bed chamber. I managed to avoid that by sneaking as close to the stairs as possible, then ducking in behind the railing before anybody had time to spot me. I could ascend the stairs and approach the codex from behind (see image). That was it. Bye bye Desmond!