1. 02-01-2010, 03:53 PM by Hexameron #176

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FM: A Nice Stroll
File: ANiceStroll.zip

Ghost - Success / N/A and aborted
Time - 00:5:31
Loot - 0/0
Pockets Picked - 0/7
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - This is not a real mission - there are no objectives and one (Normal) difficulty. The FM is just an underground cavern with catwalks and waterfalls with nothing to do, so I aborted.

  1. 02-01-2010, 04:03 PM by Hexameron #177

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FM: Borrington's Castle
File: borringtonscastlev4.zip

Perfect Thief - Success
Time - 00:19:54
Loot - 2328/2328
Pockets Picked - 3/5
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 2/2

Comments - A small straightforward mission. I needed to turn off the lights in the main hall so I could sneak by the guard next to the staircase. Ambient lighting in this mission is set low, so turning off lights makes things pitch black, requiring you to move around blindly, or as Vanguard would say, play in "Blind Thief mode." At least the darkness is appropriate for a castle and there's enough light in other areas that I never felt disoriented feeling my way around. Additionally, only two lights must be shut off to ghost the castle.

-The 1000 loot objective is incorrect. I collected 1600 and it still wouldn't check off. It's only after finding the hidden compartment behind the stables (frob torch and remove crates) with the LC jars and artifacts that my loot objective was satisfied.

-I was able to pick the safe behind the banner and frob all loot inside without slashing the banner. I just leaned forward and frobbed until I had everything; I slashed the banner to check and then reloaded if I missed something.

Hard-to-find loot:

-Servants barracks adjacent to kitchen: loose coin on top of middle bunkbed. To get there, I needed to go around to the side door by the stables; I couldn't sneak directly in there from the kitchen because the servant faces the door frame.

-Unfinished baby room: gold coin on bed and statue under bed.

  1. 02-02-2010, 10:20 PM by Peter Smith #178

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Default The WaterWay Tunnel Part 1

FM: The WaterWay Tunnel Part 1
File: ftb-thetunnel1-2.zip

Ghost - Success / Perfect Thief (cheating with a loot list)
Time - 00:21:36
Loot - 1524/1524
Pockets Picked - 0/2 (there were none)
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments

As Hexameron reported above, this is a difficult and frustrating mission. I checked at the TTLG forum and found no record of anyone completing it. The reaction at TTLG was basically outrage. The author Yohny C. Liar (Jan Hladík) apologized for the difficulty but insisted that it could be done. So, I took that as a challenge and decided to give it another try. I had previously given up on it when it came out about 5 years ago.

There are two challenges with this mission. The main challenge is difficult underwater exploration. The terrain is an elaborate 3-D set of underwater tubes with a few air bubbles, a few open areas, and three breath potions that I could find. The exploration consists mainly of swimming fruitlessly through the underwater maze and drowning. Needless to say, this puts off almost all players except some truly dedicated and, ahem, dare I say masochistic types.

The second challenge is loot. Some of it, in particular two rings described later, is quite difficult to find. Combined with the underwater aspect, this makes you want to run screaming into the night.

It is a short mission and can be completed in 20 minutes. I spent three days on it initially and came up 81 short of the 1400 loot needed to fulfill the loot objective in Expert. So, I started a new thread to ask for help.

Hexameron came to the rescue. He kindly came up with a Dromed loot list which immediately disclosed what I was missing: two rings and a coin. I found one ring and the coin fairly easily using the coordinates in the list. I don't do Dromed, but I used the loot I had already found (and in my own list) to establish locations and coordinate directions, which I used to form an intuitive map. The one ring and the coin fulfilled the Expert loot objective. I could have quit there, but I wanted it all.

One ring, called the Ramirez signet, was nearly impossible to find. My rough direction and map system failed me - it was actually on the other side of a barrier or wall from where I thought it should be. Hexameron came to the rescue again, saying he had found it (presumably in Dromed), giving me directions. Even with those directions, the signet ring was nearly impossible to see even when I was right on top of it.

Well, obviously, using a loot list such as this is cheating according to the Official Ghost Rules. I don't mind. This mission is so difficult that cheating is almost mandatory. There is no honor at stake. Finishing it is enough to redeem myself. I am not aware of anyone else who has completed the mission.

The Route (SPOILER ALERT)

I think it is necessary to follow exactly the right route, in an overall sense, to complete the mission. I think that if you deviate from the right route, you do not have enough breath potions to complete it. Below is the way I did it. I did not just stumble on this by accident. I worked my way around using all my breath potions, trying this and that, drowning and reloading, finding different places, figuring out some relationships between places and passages, and restarting the mission three times to get the right sequence.

From the start, go to a nearby room with a bubble. Find two breath potions.

Taking the right passage, travel from the start bubble to the log cabin, using 1 breath potion (left with 1)

From the log cabin, go some distance to a bubble at the end of a passage, near the frogbeast / gas plant area, using 1 breath potion (left with 0).

Go a short distance to the frogbeast / gas plant area. Find another breath potion on the thief (leaving 1).

Go back to the bubble near the frogs.

From that frog bubble, swim back to bubble near the start (a long and difficult swim) without using any breath potions. Much practice and reloading is needed. The breath potion is needed in the next step.

Take the left passage from the starting bubble room to the ending area, using 1 breath potion (leaving 0). There are two possible bubbles in the ending area you might find. One with a visible side passage and one without.

The ending area includes: (1) a room with three bubbles, a helmet, and a pillar; (2) a secret tomb (frob lever behind pillar); (3) the tunnel administrator's office, and (4) the emergency exit. All of these are within swimming distance, and no breath potions are needed or available once in this area. So, you can't go back to the beginning if you have already visited the cabin and the frogs.

Difficult Loot

A gold ring under a stool in the log cabin. It cannot be seen without being right on top of it, and looking there is close to alerting the ghost at the table.

A stash under a tree that is moved by pressing a button behind a bed in the log cabin. It is not easy to tell what has moved.

In the three-bubble room, a gold nugget under a rock. It cannot be seen except from just the right angle, and you must then go around to the other side and blind frob it.

Items in a secret tomb, opened by a lever on a pillar. Then you must hunt for the room, which is some distance away.

Ramirez signet ring, almost impossible to find and almost impossible to see, even when you are on top of it. It is in the ending area, not far from a bubble in which you can see a side passage that goes to the right (to the tunnel administrator's office).

A strange objective

There is one objective, to find a way to Lord Exechiel, which cannot be completed without property damage and alerting a priest. If you blast open a locked door in the tunnel adminstrator's office with a fire arrow, you can find a handkerchief on the floor. This satisfied the objective. Fortunately, that objective can be bypassed by finding a book near the three-bubble room, which says that the passage has been blocked. It is kind of strange, but that is the way to ghost it.

Ghosting

Is this supposed to be a ghost report? It isn't, really. There is only one ghosting challenge apart from the above objective, which is to start the mission. You drop into the water from some height, and you fall past a guard who almost always alerts by the sight of you (but not the splash). It may require 20 restarts to avoid it. It's blind luck.

All other AI contact, a priest and a ghost, is easy to avoid.

Last edited by Peter Smith; 02-02-2010 at 11:20 PM.

"What we've got here is a failure to communicate", the warden (Strother Martin), Cool Hand Luke

  1. 02-02-2010, 10:53 PM by Hexameron #179

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I applaud your efforts here, Peter. I'm amazed that you not only legitimately completed this impossibly difficult mission, but achieved a perfect thief as well. I couldn't even bring myself to play the mission again, which is why I decided to look in dromed in order to help you. It's something I normally shun from doing, but I don't see how anyone could have found that signet ring without scouring those wireframe brushes in dromed.

  1. 02-03-2010, 12:29 AM by Tannar #180

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Nice reports, Hex! Enjoyed reading them all. And congrats, Peter. Very impressive work on The Waterway Tunnel. 

  1. 02-04-2010, 02:25 AM by Hexameron #181

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FM: Children of the Future SE
File: ChildrenoftheFutureSEv2.zip

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 02:05:59
Loot - 4970/5987
Pockets Picked - 4/11
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - The SE part of the title means second edition. Apparently, this is a revamped version of the original Children of the Future FM, which I did not play. It seems this SE version is not at all popular and was mentioned in TTLG's "Least Favorite Missions" thread. I don't know why - the only major negatives I noted are its bizarre plot, incomprehensible and immature readables, wacky interior architecture/design, and a few tasteless oddities like the custom painting with a photo of a nude playboy model. Other than that, it felt like an epic TDP mission. This may be a T2 FM, but it plays like T1; it even seems to employ only T1 textures and objects.

There is only one difficulty (Normal), but you can still select the other two difficulties and play the mission. In other words, Hard and Expert are retitled N/A, but you can select the last N/A (substitute for Expert) and play the mission. I did this so I would have the Expert number of health shields.

While sneaking is generally not that tough, there are four significant challenges, all of which could be construed as potential ghost busts. These four sticky situations and several other rooms with unforgiving AI patrols make it clear the author did not have ghosting in mind. Owing to the non-ghosting environment of the mission, I avoided triggering new objectives. The only one I had to accept was the objective to find a sample of tunnel dust; this occurs when you complete a core objective to "find and read information" about the secret place Garrett discovers. If I had triggered the new objective to collect Salvador's dice, I would have inevitably encountered a ghost bust for reasons I'll explain later. I don't know if I can say the same about the purse objective or any others I missed. Suffice it to say, I maintained the core objectives only: find information, 4500 loot, tunnel dust, and leave.

Ghost Challenge No. 1: Watcher and Patrolling Thief in Basement Corridor

Once in the basement of this secret place, there is a difficult obstacle I had to deal with: sneaking by the patrolling thief in the corridor with the watcher. You know, I thought this would be a bust as soon as I observed the corridor. There are two AI who patrol this corridor - a thief and a keeper. The keeper has an extensive patrol throughout the entire length of the corridor, but the thief has a shorter back-and-forth patrol. There are no shadows in the corridor and a watcher that pivots to observe both directions:



In the above screenshot, I'm standing as close I can to the watcher (which is facing away) without being seen. The thief is one second from turning around. There is no place to hide and bypass the patrolling thief whose patrol is very short. I came up with the solution of running behind him and circling around his left flank as he turns. All of this needed to be done while the watcher was facing away and the patrolling keeper was elsewhere. When I had all of these variables on my side, I ran up and hugged the left wall as the thief turned:



I got a 1st alert and then immediately darted under the watcher just in the nick of time. I was lucky to pull off this maneuver...

Ghost Challenge No. 2: Archer Watching Staircase to Basement

Reaching the top of the staircase a few meters away from the aforementioned watcher, I came across this daunting sight:



In this screenshot, I was standing at the very edge of shadow, but clearly that large spot of light on tile screams potential bust. If there were any moss arrows about, I wouldn't have to discuss this situation because I could just dart quietly across the light with only a 1st alert. Without moss, what could I do? I did try conventional sneaking and running quickly, but the archer saw me and the idle guard to the left heard me. It seems the sound propagation is slightly off because I was able to make substantial noise on the tile with a 1st alert from the archer, but the idle guard who was further away could hear me with his keen ears.

I thought if I could just soften my footsteps somehow, maybe I could get by without causing alerts. For some reason, I thought of the spiders and the footlocker in TDP's "Bafford's Manor." In order to achieve a perfect thief, RiCh C came up with the idea to arrange a row of crates against the wall so he could remain elevated and not alert the spiders. I employed the same tactic but for different reasons. I had to run into the light while crouched and drop each crate. I could only place two of them on the floor because I couldn't move farther into the light without being seen or heard:



What I did was run and jump over the two crates and then land on the tip of the last crate. That way I would have the speed of a running jump without the loud foot noise. After landing on the edge of the crate, my momentum was just enough that I sank gently down to the floor and into darkness. It took several reloads, but I managed to pull this off with only a 1st alert from the archer and the idle guard didn't hear a thing.

Ghost Challenge No. 3: Entering the Red Light District

Gaining entry to the Red Light District is not required, although there is a ton of loot inside, and finding loot in this mission is hard enough. The real problem is the barkeep or hand mage watching the entrance. The interior is bright, especially with the two fires roaring by the counter. I only had four water arrows, so I was taking a risk using half of my supply just for this room, but it was necessary. I doused both fires and then ran into the room and hid behind the doubledoors against the wall. There was just the right amount of shadow that I could stay hidden and not alert the mage (nobleman is standing in front of him):



Running or sneaking anywhere from my position typically resulted in a bust, as the room is bright and the mage is close enough to alert. Through trial and error, I realized that I could jump on the edge of the couch against the wall and immediately crouch after landing and not alert the mage. He would be on a sustained 1st alert if I stayed still and crouched after jumping onto the arm rest of the couch:



I found that if I CCCed very slowly, I could move across the couch and along the wall without the mage alerting. I did this until I was far enough away to move safely and collect all loot in the room. It's worth reporting now that a perfect thief is impossible because there are silver coin stacks on the counter right under the mage's nose. I wasn't able to get close to that counter since the nobleman faced the mage. The mage also has Salvador's room key, which is needed to complete the "Salvador's dice" objective; no chance of picking his key, so it's a good thing I reloaded and avoided triggering that new objective!

Further trouble awaited me in the next room of the district. Here's what I see after opening the doubledoors at the back of the bar:



There is roughly 300 loot in the rooms beyond these two ladies, so I had no choice but to douse that fire. That left me with one water arrow remaining... This was early in the game and I started wondering if I was making a mistake; ultimately I didn't and had no use for the remaining water arrow.

Prelude to Ghost Challenge No. 4: Picking the Locked Cell Block Door in the Basement

Just to the right of the basement staircase (the one I mentioned earlier with the watcher) is a door that can be picked. I would have to expose myself by running up to it and picking the lock for one second at a time. With the patrolling thief (that I danced around earlier) walking through the corridor and close to the door, I couldn't be at the door when he approached the watcher. And I obviously couldn't be at the door when the watcher faced it. Unlocking that door took a long and repeated process of running out, picking the door for one second, running back, waiting for the patrolling thief and watcher to face away, and running back to pick the door again.

Ghost Challenge No. 4: Pivotting Archer in Basement Cell Block

Here is perhaps the hardest challenge of them all. It is essential to enter the cell block in the basement (after finding the appropriate keys) and go through the blueish-tinted hall. At the end of this hall is a room with another key that facilitates access to the garden with tunnel dust. The problem is dealing with a patrolling thief and an archer who thankfully pivots randomly, but mainly in diagonal directions:



There are no shadows in the vicinity that would help me sneak beyond the archer - there is a dark and safe corridor to the right, and I did hide there whenever the patrolling thief came by. He patrols through the left corridor and turns around where the archer is standing. How would I get into the blue hall without at least one of these guys seeing? It seemed hopeless and I almost called it a sure bust and gave up. The archer pivots in three directions. At times he'll face diagonally to the right, to the left, and then squarely faces the door to the blue hall. There is only one direction that worked in my favor for sneaking to the door. I was busted when running to the room while he faces the left corridor - he must be facing to the right:



Here's where things get even more difficult. Could I run through the door and down the blue hall safely? No. If I bolted into the blue hall, he would see me because the hall is bright with that blueish unnatural light. Fortunately, there is just barely enough shadow in the small slit of the door frame, and I mean the kind of shadow that produces a medium yellow light gem, that I could run to the blue hall door frame and crouch safely:



Do things get easier now? Not yet... I have that annoying patrolling thief to worry about because at this point he is approaching the archer. His patrol is such that he literally walks into the blue hall door frame after turning around, so he would bump into me eventually. I found that out the hard way and had to reload. With all the moves I came up with so far, I had only a few seconds to get down the blue hall safely. Running down the left portion of the hall alerts the archer since he would be on a sustained 1st alert from seeing me dash to the door frame earlier. There was no chance of him returning to zero when I was so close and slightly visible to him in the door frame. It took many many reloads until I figured out that running down the right-side portion of the hall is dark enough to remain unseen:



Of course, I had to leave the blue hall once I found a vital key, and it was not fun doing all of this over again. Nevertheless, I was able to run out of the door frame and behind the archer. Again, the archer must be facing to his right - that's the only direction that affords the player any chances of sneaking in or out of the blue hall. And there's still a slim chance of success because he's still on 1st alert and doesn't really face 90 degrees right - more like 45 degrees.

-A note about the last objective to escape to the train station: I was able to return to the mission start to complete this objective and end the mission. I did find a train station after exploring another city section. Since both areas check off the last objective, I didn't care to sneak through the entire mission again just to get to the train station. Once I had the tunnel dust and was already close to the mission start, I opted to end the mission there.

Last edited by Hexameron; 02-04-2010 at 02:41 AM.

  1. 02-06-2010, 12:49 AM by Peter Smith #182

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Good work, Hexameron.  Interesting report.

"What we've got here is a failure to communicate", the warden (Strother Martin), Cool Hand Luke

  1. 02-07-2010, 10:35 PM by Peter Smith #183

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Default The WaterWay Tunnel Part 2

FM: The WaterWay Tunnel Part 2: Ground Guest
File: ftb-thetunnel2.zip

Perfect Thief - Success
Time - 00:54:55
Loot - 1/201 (all of loot, per author)
Pockets Picked - 1/2
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments

I could not give up after completing Waterway Tunnel Part 1, now could I?

Hexameron has previously described the mission, so I'll be brief in the description.

There are three one-way, can't-go-back aspects to the mission that I found a little objectionable. So, when I, too, failed to get into the armory I had to replay it. A check at TTLG disclosed where the armory key was hidden. I guess that is cheating, but I had already looked fairly hard and did not have the patience to keep looking. Another funny thing was that even if you have the key there is a chance the weapons objective won't check off. It depends on the order of picking weapons. I was lucky and took a broadhead first thing.

I, too, thought that taking damage from going down the chimney was pretty silly. I guess it was just a joke.

I did not take damage by going down the sewer. I did the first time, but on reload I did not. I saved and reloaded again. Again no damage. The deal is that there is a slanted ladder there, and if you stick on it you are OK.

Two parts that I found challenging were jumping over to the balcony and getting the sewer key and getting past the zombie with the lantern. They are both doable (obviously) with good timing.

As for the splash in the well alerting zombies, I tried taking an object with me hoping that it would reduce the noise. I took a skull. I have had that trick help me before, using a boulder. Maybe it did help or maybe not - I don't really know. I jumped into the well maybe a dozen times. On two occasions I heard no complaint after I had sunk in the water. I agree that the sound is muffled and hard to make out. But, I did hear muffled complaints most of the time and, rarely, I heard nothing. You cannot hear anything at the surface of the water owing to a sound design problem, so that is not a fair test. Anyway, I think that the two times I heard nothing I was successful.

When I had missed the armory key, I spent a lot of time at the end of the mission (the waterway tunnel) thinking that there must be a way to get through that locked door. I even hauled every rock to the other end and stacked them on shelves, thinking maybe if I cleaned out the rocks I could find the key in a niche or find a switch or something. Nope. The reason I could not get through the locked door is that the mission is supposed to end before you get to the door. The fact that you can get there and be totally stuck is bad design.

Finally, regarding the loot, Yohny made a post at TTLG where he said that he had made a mistake. The mission he had uploaded reported incorrectly 201 loot, but all the loot that was actually in the mission was a single coin (worth 1) behind some barrels in a wine cellar. You need to flip a switch to move the barrels.

Last edited by Peter Smith; 02-07-2010 at 10:43 PM.

"What we've got here is a failure to communicate", the warden (Strother Martin), Cool Hand Luke

  1. 02-07-2010, 10:58 PM by Hexameron #184

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You've done it again, Peter! A perfect thief for a mission I thought was a sure fail. If you've taken an interest in Yohny's missions, try "Old Bad Fellows," which is the prequel to the WaterWay Tunnel series. I think I ghosted it and there are a number of interesting situations for the ghoster, but I don't have access to my notes because I played it on someone elses PC. "Meeting" is another weird one by Yohny with objectives that must be completed in the right order. I'd be curious to see how you would go about ghosting this one - I finished it in 2 minutes only after playing for an hour and realizing it couldn't be ghosted the way the author intended...

  1. 02-14-2010, 08:38 PM by Klatremus #185

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FM: The Tower [Thief Anniversary Contest]

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Success
Supreme Ghost - Failed
Perfect Supreme - Failed
Time - 1:02:21
Loot - 3844 out of 3844
Pockets Picked - 4/6
Locks Picked - 16
Backstabs - 0, Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0, Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0, Kills - 0, Bodies Discovered - 0
Secrets Found - 4/4
Consumables - None

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


Comments:

My time had come to ‘The Tower’ by Lady Rowena. A very talented Italian author, with former creations of epic proportions such as ‘Rowena’s Curse’ and ‘The Seven Sisters’. Despite this being a smaller entry, I knew I was in for a treat. Lady Rowena rarely disappoints.

Lord Witherdale’s jewel collection was my main target of the night. Along the way I needed to pick up the golden skull of Lord Balakin and 3,200 in loot.

Right off the bat it sounded like all hell was loose. Doors being bashed in and guards complaining. I didn’t find anyone searching or acting funny, so it has to be a sequence of scripts. I didn’t find any broken doors or bodies laying around either.

The initial streets had four enemies to look out for. Two of the patrollers were a normal swordsman and a thief. The thief covered the staircase to the central tower. Another stationary thief was positioned just inside the tower entry, doing random pivots. Then you had a maid doing a short loop on the south side. I later learned her name to be Melina. There was a convenient ledge circling the base of the tower that helped dodging the guards. From the back I accessed the main floor through a sliding metal panel. There were quite a few of those in various locations around the map; seemingly a common way to control the town’s airflow. I desperately needed Alf’s key to progress. I tried getting to the upper balconies with a single rope arrow from a multitude of angles, but alas they were all unreachable from the streets. I found his key was snaggable from the shade just inside the grate (see image below). I was already worried about how to replace it for Supreme. Normally you need something soft to cushion the drop, like a carpet or a grassy surface, or even a healing vial can do the trick. The rules don’t say how close is close enough, but I figure keys off someone’s belt should be put back by the person’s feet.



I could reach Witherdale’s sitting room by the mentioned tower ledge. I had to mantle the balcony on the far left side to get up. Entered Alf’s apartment by dodging Melina’s rounds. Found a basement key in there and a couple of hints to a missing ring among the readables. Witherdale’s basement was just across the alley, and sure enough the ring was on the floor of the ceiling deck. I replaced the basement key at Alf’s and uncovered his hidden stash of loot from a small switch in the air shaft (see image).

There were three routes from inside the air vents. The first took me through Blaine’s apartment, the husband of cheating Melina. The floors of his house were tiled, but one of the hallways had some dark corners. I waited by the bedroom door until he emerged, blocked the door and rushed in to grab the loot. Getting out was the worst part (see image). He needed to pivot to his right, otherwise he’d spot me. He had a small stop but then exited. I followed and leaped out the window to the adjacent building. I monitored the thief and guard in the streets below not to get caught.

This was Amos’ mech shop. Not much to report except for some hidden loot in a canister on the shelf (see image below). Kind of a sneaky place to put it. I wish there was more of that in other missions also. Found a key for a mechanist hideout downstairs. Brought it along for later. The cellar had a half-secret switch on the pillar opening a nearby gate yielding some coin stacks.



I could now reach the balcony of the tower’s second floor. Not much going on in there, except I could reach another building on the north side. From there I got to the roof. Dodging the patrolling archer by the control tower and the guards below was a little tricky, but highly doable. I snagged his purse and ran into the tower as he left. He had a short wait outside before returning, enough for me to rope arrow up the rafters. There I found his secret stash of life savings (see image). Not so secret anymore...

Traversed a pipe in the northwest corner to reach the notary’s. From here I could reach Witherdale’s roof with a mantle-hop across the streets 50 feet below. No way in hell you’d get me to do that in real life! Found a goblet and some coins on the ground. His patio door was unfrobbable, but the window downstairs was open, and there was a wooden rafter conveniently sticking out from the adjacent building. After cleaning his jewels I made my way back to the notary. I needed the elevator key to access the downstairs office. Both this and the cabinet key from the middle floor disappeared upon use, thus no possibility of putting them back for Supreme. I couldn’t relock the elevator door either, for the same reason. Could the elevator key be considered an “unnecessary pickup”, and therefore break Supreme rule #13? No, because without it I couldn’t have accessed the secret crawlspace at the bottom of the elevator shaft (see image below). I needed the key to enter the shaft after sending the lift up. If there hadn’t been loot down there to justify it, I guess I would have had to pick the lock on the outside door to get to the office. I know I’m nitpicking, but get over it.



Made my way back to the archer’s roof and jumped the gap to the central tower’s third floor balcony. Got some new objectives to save and protect a noblewoman named Leonora from the underground dungeon. Couldn’t enter her cell just yet, but found a key to the top floor throne room where the perpetrator (Balakin) was located. There was a central light source that pulsed on and off regularly. I timed it and ran to the corner with the golden skull without any alerts. It seemed like it was just Balakin’s body in the chair, while his spirit would appear on a first alert. It gave the howling noise typical of a haunt’s comment, so I interprated that to be an alert and hence a Supreme bust. I managed to grab the cells key, the rings, the skull and leave down the hatch without the spirit showing itself (see image below).



I was now free to fetch Leonora and leave the tower from the second floor balcony. I returned the shaft key, but had to hang on to the cells key from the throne room. There was no way to replace it without stirring Balakin’s attention. In fact, I couldn’t even avoid alerting him to hunt mode. I had hopes of the carpet being silent enough, but it clunked like it was made of wood. I also couldn’t close the access hatch. The spirit appeared the second I frobbed it. Strange how it didn’t alert to me unlocking it...

After leaving Leonora in the alley I ascended the air shaft above Alf’s apartment. There was a mechanist hideout with the last two pieces of loot at the very top. The entire mechanist loot stash was found in one of the chests here, but it was locked and the only key was carried by a guard patrolling a metal walkway above. The sloped ramp was also metal and the guard was facing it for more than half of his route. There were a couple of spots close to the ramp with shade, so I monitored the situation from there for a while. I knew a moss arrow would have easily solved the problem, but I hate leaving such clear evidence of a thief’s passing. Instead I tried a different approach. This upcoming trick is extremely difficult and most players might be unaware of this chink in the dark engine’s otherwise impenetrable armor. Every ledge in Thief has an invisible outer edge, only noticeable if you slowly inch yourself towards the rim. If lucky, you might land on this narrow tip and find that you can actually traverse it along the line of the ledge. This hidden edge is 100% silent. As long as you manage to stay within its boundaries, you won’t make a sound. I’ve practiced the use of this technique many times, so I’ve gotten to know its possibilities. As the guard passed the ramp on the walkway above, I made a gentle leap towards the slope. After quite a few reloads I finally found the speed and angle needed to land safely onto the silent edge. I then quickly inched up the ramp to the shade at the top. From there I crouched into the far corner where I could snag the key as he came by (see image below). Dropping to ground level was no problem, comparatively speaking. The key luckily disappeared upon use.



The last thing to take care of was a bonus objective in Louise’s place, a recently widowed pregnant woman next to the mech shop. It was accessible through the air shaft system mentioned earlier. One of the readables mentioned her being in danger of losing her house, much due to that scum of a notary. Leaving his title deed on her table would spawn the new objective. However, I couldn’t close either of the hatches in the air duct without waking the nearby worker. I left them open instead; more Supreme busts. On another note, I had to lean in and drop the deed onto the table from the air duct opening. If not, I would’ve had to exit through her main door which meant taking her key, replacing it and relocking the door. To much hassle, so I took the easier option.

Alf’s key also couldn’t be returned, as previously indicated. I tried putting it in various locations, but to no avail. A potion would muffle the drop, but when removed still left too much noise for either of the thieves. I kept the key for myself instead.


Notes & Busts:

- Couldn’t return the cells key to Balakin’s throne room. His spirit alerted to second level hunt mode. This was a bust to Supreme Ghost.
- Couldn’t close the hatch to Balakin’s throne room. The spirit appeared indicating a first alert. Another Supreme bust.
- Couldn’t close the two hatches by the sleeping air duct worker. The noise woke him up indicating a first alert. The choice is yours whether you want to leave them open or skip the bonus objective with the pregrant woman. Since Supreme was already busted, I gave Louise her title deed.
- Couldn’t return Alf’s key to the central tower’s main floor. There was nothing to cushion the drop, so I hung on to it. Another Supreme bust.

Last edited by Klatremus; 02-15-2010 at 04:32 PM.

Klatremus' Supreme Thief Site - Walkthroughs, Loot Lists & Ghost Reports

  1. 03-09-2010, 12:04 PM by Klatremus #186

Klatremus

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FM: Vampire Skull [Thief Anniversary Contest]

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Success
Supreme Ghost - Failed
Perfect Supreme - Failed
Time - 16:19
Loot - 245 out of 245
Pockets Picked - 0/1
Locks Picked - 2
Backstabs - 0, Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0, Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0, Kills - 0, Bodies Discovered - 0
Secrets - None
Consumables - None

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


Comments:

The hammerites had gotten hold of a vampiric skull worth quite a bit of dough. I needed to cut their sermon short by stealing it, then make it back to the streeets. Soon after start I realized some thieves had beaten me to it. The key accessing their lair lay on the chapel floor.

Not much to report. A short, straight-forward sneak job is all. One tricky spot in the sewers had a stationary thief guarding the cave entrance. I passed along the side slope as he did his pivot. The two patrolling thieves further below posed no threats.

Fetched the loot and the key from the boss’ bedroom (see image). The tomb entrance was a little tricky to spot. It was located along one of the darker walls in the sewers. Since taking the skull spawned several haunts around the thieves’ lair, I returned the key to the bedroom before venturing into the tomb. That way I didn’t have to deal with the thieves’ heightened senses. I simply pulled the old lock-‘n-block trick with the tomb door. They key couldn’t be returned to the alcove though, it made too much of a noise and woke the boss to hunt mode. I put it on the corner of his bed instead. I guess this is a small Supreme bust. Some players would say as long as you return it to the same room you’re good. I don’t say that.

One haunt spawned right by the tomb entrance, staring down the tunnel with the two thieves. To begin with they all gave some first alerts, but quickly blew it off. I think what made them fight were sounds from swordplay below. The haunt slayed the sentry before getting downed by the patrolling thief (see image). I could now close and lock the tomb door without spawning a first alert, which is what would have happened before the undeads arrived.

I replaced the sewer hatch key on my way back to the initial streets.


Notes & Busts:

- Couldn’t return the tomb key to the alcove in the thief’s bedroom. Had to put it on the bed instead. Supreme bust.

Klatremus' Supreme Thief Site - Walkthroughs, Loot Lists & Ghost Reports

  1. 03-09-2010, 12:12 PM by Klatremus #187

Klatremus

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FM: Weak Links [Thief Anniversary Contest]

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Success 
Supreme Ghost - Success
Perfect Supreme - Success 
Time - 39:06
Loot - 3224 out of 3224
Pockets Picked - 1/4
Locks Picked - 4
Backstabs - 0, Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0, Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0, Kills - 0, Bodies Discovered - 0
Secrets - 3/4
Consumables - None

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


Comments:

‘Weak Links’ was my next to last anniversary mission. It had been a nice journey through the contestants’ creations, but I still had a couple of gems left. This was the 5th place entry, made by Ghost in the Shell. I had to steal Lord Victor’s exhibition valuables, 1,250 in loot and figure out what happened to my contact, honest Timmy. An optional objective to break into Victor’s safe was also included. The hardest difficulty was called ‘Noiseless’, due to the built in Ghosting requirement.

There were several ways into Victor’s manor. I started by way of the armory. Multiple patrollers covered the near vicinity, but gaining entrance wasn’t too hard. Both armory doors were pickable. I found the secret vault early on by frobbing an unlit torch, but I needed to return to complete that objective later. Unlocking it required a 4-digit code that I was sure could be picked up somewhere.

Made my way to the basement instead. Here, the kitchen was the biggest deal. Sporadic patches of light and two patrolling servants made it a fair bit troublesome. Flipping the light switch behind the crates would have helped, but Supreme doesn’t allow removal of light sources. Cleaned the barracks and found Timmy dead in the dungeon. That objective ticked off and a new one appeared. I was to avenge Timmy’s death, which ultimately meant killing Victor. Soon after I found some rat poison on the kitchen shelf. It didn’t take long to put two and two together. The kitchen counter had a couple of dark spots where I was safe from both servants (see image). From there I could calmly steal the various pieces of loot off the shelves.

The two patrolling guards at the top of the basement tended to get stuck. Either that or they really liked each other. Luckily they always untangled themselves after a while. I snuck upstairs between their patrols.

The dining hall at the top was rather intimidating at first. On the top floor was a plateau with a camera staring in my direction. From this distance it was tough to tell whether it gave alerts, so I skipped crossing the room from the west side. I knew of a different way around anyway. Instead I cleaned Hannah’s and Victor’s rooms. The Lord’s wine sat on the nightstand ready to be poisoned (see image below). Just beside it was a button uncovering an alcove with a diary, some loot and the armory key. I also found a dungeon key on the dresser. Seeing as I had recently picked open those doors, I figured these keys were needed to relock them. Supreme requires relocking doors even if they’re pickable. The readable also proved Victor’s involvement in Timmy’s murder.



I got to the east side of the second floor by ascending the northern balcony. Stole the valuables from the dining hall fairly easily from this side (see image). The upper guard seemed oblivious to all activity below. I had a hard time even getting a first alert out of him. Sometimes he gave settling remarks, but overall he didn’t pose much of a threat. Perhaps the fence beam blocked his view or something.

My biggest problem upstairs was retrieving Victor’s artifact collection without alerting the security camera. The upper guard had a key that turned it off, but that isn’t allowed. I felt this was the last bump in the road towards a rare Perfect Supreme, so I wanted to experiment. I quickly realized the stairs to the gallery couldn’t be climbed normally. The camera had a fairly short swing to the south, so coming up around the railing was out of the question. Fortunately, I had 3 rope arrows in my possession, and the ceiling was deliciously wooden. I fastened two ropes as shown below and clutched on to the nearest while timing the camera. As it swung away, I climbed up and leaped forward. I could grab hold of the second rope and drop below the camera off the marbled table without any alerts. From here I could snag all the artifacts. Occasionally the patrolling guard below gave a grumble, but the sentry across the dining hall remained silent. I even repeated all the moves with the security system off just to listen for alerts, but he kept utterly quiet through everything. Returning to the stairs required a well-angled jump over the railing. With a little luck I got a soft landing. I ascended the ropes again to retrieve the arrows, but all in all I was home free.



I found the vault code in one of the library books. The vault itself contained the rest of my loot. Relocked the armory and the dungeon before returning both keys to Victor’s bedroom. I even returned the rat poison to the kitchen shelf alert free!

Klatremus' Supreme Thief Site - Walkthroughs, Loot Lists & Ghost Reports

  1. 03-09-2010, 12:24 PM by Klatremus #188

Klatremus

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FM: A Weekend Getaway [Thief Anniversary Contest]

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


Part 1
Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - N/A
Supreme Ghost - Success
Perfect Supreme - N/A
Time - 22:14
Loot - None
Pockets Picked - None
Locks Picked - None
Backstabs - 0, Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0, Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0, Kills - 0, Bodies Discovered - 0
Secrets - None
Consumables - None

Comments:
Jenivere and Basso had taken in at The Wishing Well Inn for the weekend. I started as Basso, hearing Jenivere’s cry in the distance. Following the objectives, I needed to shut out the lights, find a rosary and gather some info on what was happening. I also needed access to the attic.

The hotel interior was stunning. The second floor lobby I found especially appealing (see image). The hallways posed no real threats in terms of sneaking, except for the occasional lightning bolt. Frequent quicksaves helped considerably. The staircase was unaccessable while the lights were on, so I utilized the dumbwaiter for general movement between floors. Downstairs had two patrollers, which made life a little harder (no pun intended). Probably because both the rosary and the attic key was located here, in addition to the required readables. They provided insight on the background of a hammerite cult in the area. I guessed they were the reason for this mess.



The attic key unlocked any of the five access points on the second floor. I chose the southwest bedroom, as it didn’t have any patrollers stopping by (see image above). The only thing of interest in the ceiling crawlspace was a metal screwdriver in a toolbox. I brought it all the way to the basement and used it to vandalize the breaker box. That killed the lights, so I returned the screwdriver to the attic immediately. The dumbwaiter sometimes alerted the patrolling haunt, although I couldn’t find any reason for it. It was hard to hear over the engine noise, but I reloaded if I had the faintest idea of an alert.

I feared the main entrance gate would alert the hammer priest outside, but he didn’t make a peep. Lucky, since all I had to do was ascend the rope in the alley to end the mission.


Part 2
Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - N/A
Supreme Ghost - Failed
Perfect Supreme - N/A
Time - 11:53
Loot - None
Pockets Picked - None
Locks Picked - None
Backstabs - 0, Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0, Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0, Kills - 0, Bodies Discovered - 0
Secrets - None
Consumables - None

Comments:
Part one was short but entertaining and the next chapter offered much of the same. The lights were out, so I needed to get them back on (for some odd reason). Required pickups were a holy book and something wet to bless. Also required was more background information on the current situation.

I knew my way around quite well by now, so maneuvering the hallways was easy. The first floor had added enemies, with a patrolling hammer mage and two lobby sentries. I saw that area being difficult with the lights on later. Found the holy book in the lobby upstairs and a sponge in the nearby bathroom. For some reason the bathroom ceiling hatch was already open, and I could easily fetch the repair crank from the toolbox in the attic.

When I was sure everything else was completed, I entered the basement by way of the stairs. The two patrolling hammers were unproblematic as long as the lights were off. Once having repaired the breaker box it was a different story. I only had to reach the dumbwaiter to be safe, but it took a couple of tries to get it right. The zombie turned around right as I leaped onto the ledge. I waited till they both cleared and rode to the top floor.



All I had to do before ending was return the repair crank to the attic toolbox. I then sent the dumbwaiter back to its original position and descended the second floor stairs. My last problem was passing the area between the lobby and the entrance gates (see image above). The light fixture lit up everythig but the corners. The patrolling mage did a side trip down the lobby as a part of his route. I waited in the staircase for my chance. I could reach any of the corners with only a gasp from the haunt, indicating a first alerts, but going for the end hallway would make him chase me. I figured the initial alert heightened his senses, so I had to go for the cross in one move. Run-jumping onto the far end of the carpet then sprinting out of sight did the trick. I needed 5-6 tries to get the speed right. As you can see from the image below, the haunt is in place and unbothered. I think I spawned a grunt from the stationary zombie as well. Supreme was busted, but to be honest, I was happy plain Ghost was still intact. I entered the cultist’s room and the mission ended.



Notes & Busts
- Spawned at least one first alert when crossing the main lobby to reach the cultist’s room. Inevitable, as the lights were on at this point. Supreme Ghost bust.


Part 3
Ghost - Failed
Perfect Thief - N/A
Supreme Ghost - Failed
Perfect Supreme - N/A
Time - 7:52
Loot - None
Pockets Picked - None
Locks Picked - None
Backstabs - 2, Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 30, Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0, Kills - 1, Bodies Discovered - 0
Secrets - None
Consumables - None

Comments:
The third and final act was a little different. I had to find and rescue Jenivere by breaking the cult’s seal. First though I had to find a holy weapon, and the last set of information regarding tonight’s bizarre events. I started in the cultist’s room where I left off before.

Right off the bat I had to find a hiding spot. A haunt would enter the room within 10 seconds. The corner by the couch worked well. Two patrollers on this floor had to be dodged to reach the lobby. No big deal. Found the sword on top of the pigeonholes in the reception. Blessed it with the holy book and the rosary first. Nothing else to do so I headed for the caves beneath the basement.



On the way I encountered a patrolling mage and a stationary zombie. The zombie was staring down the path I needed to go (see image above), but the glowing ‘shrooms were just dim enough to avoid his gaze. I had to creep-crouch to his right to stay hidden. And I had to do it fast, because the mage would soon return and catch me in the cave tunnel.

The seal could be broken by the blessed sword, but upon breaking it a haunt would appear and come chasing. I realized that lowering the sword immediately after the swing would spawn the haunt but keep him unalerted (see image below). I could therefore sneak in and take him out with an overhead blow. This kill was necessary to avoid face-to-face combat when breaking the skulls surrounding the portal. It was still a bust toward Ghost, as nothing in the objectives told me to kill anyone. The skulls needed to be broken with the sword, NOT with the blackjack, broadheads or similar weapons. First time around I thought there was a bug and started over, only to find it didn’t work the second time around either. I used the blackjack initially not to alert the patrolling mage. Turns out using the blackjack is just as loud, and the mage alerts regardless. I went to check a couple of times and he was always in hunt mode, even when located way up by the zombie. I guess turning undead boosts your sense of hearing.



After destroying the portal all the enemies were dead. I brought Jenivere to our room and ended the night there.

Notes & Busts
- Had to kill the haunt in the final cave to destroy the portal. It was inevitable, but not instructed in the objectives, so a clear Ghost bust.
- Alerted the patrolling mage when breaking the 10 skulls surrounding the portal. No matter how far away he was, he always alerted to hunt mode.
- The damage dealt and others killed are from backstabbing the haunt. The second backstab took me by surprise. I don’t know why this shows up in the stats. Perhaps the 10 skulls are considered an AI in Dromed, but I really couldn’t tell you. I only caused the one.

Last edited by Klatremus; 04-23-2010 at 09:02 PM.

Klatremus' Supreme Thief Site - Walkthroughs, Loot Lists & Ghost Reports

  1. 03-28-2010, 10:24 AM by Klatremus #189

Klatremus

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FM: Broken Triad, Part 1: Arkford

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Success
Supreme Ghost - Debatable, but I say success  (see bottom notes)
Perfect Supreme - Failed
Time - 3:23:53
Loot - 2010/2010 (Supreme: 1850)
Pockets Picked - 3/4
Locks Picked - 25
Backstabs - 0, Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0, Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0, Kills - 0, Bodies Discovered - 2
Secrets - 7/8
Consumables - None

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


Comments:

I had been looking forward to this one for a long time. The sequel to perhaps the best single-mission release ever, Ominous Bequest. And a two-mission sequel to boot! If they were anywhere near the quality of the orginial, I was in for a treat.

I was in Arkford to steal a museum item called ‘the Sleeper’. Even if ugly, it was gonna bring me some dough. Looks don’t matter they say, it’s what’s inside that counts. Apparently the museum’s security system was tougher than usual, so I had a replica made to exchange for the original. In short, I needed to pick up whatever keys from Sheila Jennings, swap the sculpture and head back home. An additional objective was to “...reactivate the security measures around the sculpture exactly as [I] found them”. Supreme rule #8 says: “No turning off of watchers, or other security systems.” Does this objective imply turning off the security system? Here is my breakdown: First, even though it didn’t say so directly, it seemed explicitly necessary following the wording. How can you reactivate something without deactivating it first? Second, Supreme rule #8 is mainly there to prevent systems that observe you, the way a human AI does, from being incapacitated, much the same way a knockout blow would. Normally this means security cameras, or watchers. Third, I had a feeling the security system was an integral part of the mission’s story; it would be a shame to bust simply by following the author’s intended and inevitable route, especially given my first two arguments.

Two optional objectives were also given up front: steal the museum inspector’s security report, and avoid triggering any alarms. Recently discussed at Eidos’ Thief Forum, optional objectives provided in the loadout screen are not required for plain Ghost, only for Supreme. Contrastly, hidden bonus objectives discovered throughout the mission are not required for either mode. With all that in mind, I was ready to take on the world...ahem... Arkford.


Early Roamings

After some initial visions (see image), things went back to normalcy. Having already done a blackjack run, I was familiar with loot locations and other necessary pickups. I had a pretty good idea of what route to take through the city. The northwest region was scattered with smaller establishments. Most of the street guards had long patrols and the shadows were plentiful. Civilians didn’t alert, but they still made me jump on occasion. A hidden purse was located inside an open window in the far west (see image). Why anybody would want to leave windows open on a night like this is beyond me. I couldn’t enter the building, but the loot was snaggable from outside. A convenient set of icy ledges enabled me to reach it fairly easy.

A couple of tricky secrets were found furter east. One behind a pillar in a mechanist office (see image); the other on the statue of St. Bernard close to Sheila’s house (see image). Both revealed nearby loot. The latter required a high rope arrow, but it was retrievable without taking damage. Miss Jennings was decapitated, but I found the museum backdoor key under her desk.

Next door to Sheila was the entrance to the museum courtyard. It was blocked by a stationary archer though (see image), so I had to circle the museum and approach from the east. This gave me an excuse to roam the northeastern parts of the city. I had some more items to pick up before heading for the museum anyway.

Found a single coin on a ledge across the canal at Mill Square. Had to mantle by way of the water wheel to reach it. This was near Stone Avenue, a tight set of alleys with a single patrolling guard. A control room here granted access to the sewer maintenance room, where I found the precious manhole key. It stuck to my inventory, so no way to return it later.

Several establishments in this area were unaccessible until getting Yarwick’s skeleton key. A single apartment northwest of Verain Plaza was available though. The owner inside had a simple route between the living room and his office, stopping for about 30 seconds at each location. I needed objects from both rooms. The hallway was marbled, with a runner down the middle. The office was carpeted as well. If it hadn’t been for a small dark patch near the coat rack (see image below), this house might have been unghostable. I waited for him to enter the living room, then rushed out to pick the lock on the office safe. I got it halfway, but then had to return to my hiding spot before the owner returned. To save time, I leaped from one rug to the next through the doorway. During the second round I had time to finish picking the lock and steal all the office loot. I also stole the bellows from next to the fireplace while the gentleman was away.



Getting Down to Business

Next up was the Bathing Burrick Inn. My target was the security inspector upstairs, whose room was well-guarded. The only way to enter his den was by cranking up the radiator, making the guard leave for the bar. The steam valve was in the cellar, which meant I needed the key from the innkeeper. Neither him nor the guests reacted to my presence, but all civilians alert when getting their pockets picked, if they have spotted you first. Coming from the basement would circumvent this. The basement entrance was heavily guarded by an archer and several patrolling swordsmen (see image), but nothing that’d keep a taffer like me away. After turning the valve I returned the key and entered the second floor by way of the open window on the north side. It was accessible from the wall separating the museum’s eastern and western side. A total of five enemies were located in the near vicinity, but traversing the wall kept me dark for the majority of the stretch. The inspector’s guard left his post as I ascended the staircase and I could concentrate on my real target.



The inspector did a double-loop before stopping by the bed staring in the direction of the desk (see image above). He stayed there for about 10 seconds, then resumed his patrol. More often than not he didn’t alert to the door opening. There were two items of interest: the security report and a vase on the side dresser. The only time to enter his room without spawning a grumble was when he turned around and headed back towards the bed. For about 3-4 seconds the room was “available”. Both items were attainable by taking two steps into the doorway and leaning towards the dresser and the desk, respectively. The report was the hardest to retrieve, as it was a little further away and the inspector occasionally heard me stepping on the wooden floor. I closed the door and left, entirely alert-free.

Nothing further to report until reaching Hewitt & Sons Transports. It was located in a blocked off alley accessible by way of the sewers. I needed a key from the upper office to operate the wood chipper machine. It was placed on a bookshelf on the back wall. The traditional means of entry involved knocking out the guard by smacking him in the back of the head with a window, obviously against Ghosting rules. The alternate way in was through a metal ventilation shaft behind one of the larger crates (see image). I could inch up the shaft and steal the key through the grate. I was real worried about being able to replace it for Supreme though, as the guard was only a few feet away. I tried a variety of angled leaning techniques, before finally stumbling upon what seemed to make the key float in mid-air (see image below). Somehow the book stack’s physical space seemed to extend above its apparent height. This was the closest and most logical place to put it, and the only spot where the guard didn’t alert. It was impossible under any circumstance to put the key back to its exact location. Another tough challenge passed with flying colors!



I had to pass a couple of smaller tests to continue through the sewers. Propped a grate open with a boulder at one point; returned the boulder afterwards. Would later have to return to put the grates to their original configuration. The part where I had to fill the compartment with water to reach the upper passage couldn’t be undone, and the lower access door was permanently shut.

Found a nifty secret among the catacomb sarcophagi. One of the light fixtures was frobbable, revealing the Tomb of the Nameless Riddler (see image). It contained various puzzles, rewarding me with the Staff of Far Reach, probably my favorite addition of this campaign. It could flip any switch from a distance. The shot had a straight trajectory as well, which was nice. Unfortunately, the shot would alert anyone in the near vicinity to hunt mode. Back through the catacombs I emerged in the museum cemetery.


The Museum, First Time Around



I headed straight for Sheila’s office. Knew I’d have to come back later with the skeleton key, so I’d loot everything else then. As a part of signaling Ned, I needed to switch off the electric light (see image above). Strictly speaking, this is a Supreme bust. Rule #6 says: “Turning off electric lights, snuffing candles, or removing any light source including mushrooms is [...] not allowed.” However, the rule is obviously meant to disallow the removal of light sources that prevent movement through enemy territory. In this case, it was done as a part of a puzzle. No consumables were used, the lights were put back to their original state, no enemies were around at any point during the event, and no traces were left of any kind. Rules aren’t made for the rules’ sake, they all create a purposeful limitation, and I don’t feel this situation breaks anything the rules were meant to prevent. But I don’t want to make it seem like I’m excusing my way out of a bust. I am an honest player and want to report my thoughts on it; hopefully it can spawn some replies from other players.

I could now make my way through the city watch station. The tricky spot was getting down the end hallway to the cells. I had Ned plus two other guards to deal with (see image); a pivoting stationary guard by the fireplace and a patroller covering the entire stretch from the break room to the end of the cells. There was a small spot behind the pillar where I could get ready. I had to wait for the patroller to come around, then follow him down the tunnel. I hid in one of the cells as he returned. The secret exit was easy to find, based on Ned’s description in his readable.

Only one problem in the catacombs, in a room with a randomly patrolling green spider. The exit was controlled by a big lever in the corner past the spider. The room was more or less dark, except for shiny windows on either side. I found I could reach the lever without ever passing the window, simply leaning in from close to the wall and frob it like that (see image below). It depended on the spider staying away from that side of the room long enough for me to do my deed. Not too big of a deal in the end.



The Elusive Skeleton Key

Cleaned Yarwick’s and Alarius’ with ease. There was a nifty switch on the back of the counter at the jeweler’s. Not the one that opened the glass cover, but a smaller switch in a tiny alcove very close by (see image). It opened a hidden cellar with loot. I actually made my way back through the catacombs and the city watch station afterwards. That way I could close all the gates, panels and doors for Supreme.

On my way back to the museum I also put the sewer grates back to the original configuration. One section got filled with water earlier and there was no way to empty it. Nothing to report from Boleston’s tower either. I knew the code for the punch card machine, so I now had access to all parts of the museum.

The most difficult area in the museum was the main lobby by far. Two patrolling guards and a roaming civilian made sneaking tough. In addition, one piece of loot was located inside a locked safe in the reception. Luckily, I found a dark spot outside the counter, within reach of my lockpicks (see image below). The patrolling woman went by unbothered most of the time. It didn’t seem like there was much shade, but it kept me completely dark for the duration of my picking. When leaning I sometimes shifted position into the light, and the dark spot was hard to regain. It was a grueling couple of minutes, but I got away with Supreme intact.



The rest of the museum compound was fairly straightforward. The main gallery was only occupied by a single female patroller covering both floors. No problem to steal the objects while she was elsewhere. She had a small pitstop by the downstairs control room, enough for me to blow the horn with the bellows and grab the Solar Core without anybody noticing. A good example of Eshaktaar’s consideration for the Ghost mode. I fiddled some with the order of reactivating the red and blue security measures, but got there in the end. There was a single coin on the carpet in the upper west wing. It was under one of the couches, so kinda hard to spot. Nothing else to report really.


The Tables are Turning

Headed for my apartment and got news from Keeper Lennard on this Nyarsal demon. Received information on the nightshade juice and left for the cathedral. Picked up the chalice there and headed back for the catacombs. On my way I dropped off the Horn of Quintus, which actually was a fake, in a hidden workshop across the canal. A frobbable tile opened a panel accessing an underground stock of horns. Triggering the mechanism on the altar left me with only the real horn (see image), which spawned a new bonus objective.

I put together the potion in the catacombs and drank it in the cathedral. Realized I was played by Lennard and that Nyarsal now was free to roam wherever. In the visions you actually foreshadow the location of Tempest Isle, the target for mission two (see image). Don’t know how many picked up on that.

I ended up in the crematorium, with further instructions by Keeper Aleph. I had a real hard time with the ash spirits, not because they were tough to Ghost, but because I couldn’t distinguish between first alert gasps and idle noises. To be honest I don’t even know if they had first alerts. I did several tests to check their response level, but was unable to find any consistent alert sounds. Does a falling tree make a sound if nobody is around to hear it? I don’t know, it all depends on how you define ‘sound’ I guess. In the end I decided to play it safe. If I was even the slightest in doubt of being detected, I reloaded.

The first ash spirit spawned from an urn in the middle of the first chamber. It took around 10 seconds before he materialized, so I had some time to pick the lock on the next door before he’d start to patrol. He heard the lockpics unless he was close to the opposite end, so I kept my tools still for a few moments before resuming.



The next tricky spot came further down the hallway. The third spirit was the only stationary one, by the foot of a ramp close to a gurney lift (see image above). I could stay dark most of the way but rounding that corner exposed me too much. If I went slow he’d start hunting; if I rushed into the corner by the lift he gave a clear gasp every time. I figured this as a clear alert, so I needed to think of something else. Supreme was only holding up like a house of cards from before, so this was no good. My only chance was to reach the upper walkway by means of mantling. I had noticed earlier the door in the southwest guard station was possible to mantle. I used it to reach the loot on the upper ledges. Once I realized the crematorium doors were no different, I saw my opportunity. I could mantle the metal door by the first ash spirit as shown in the image below. Leaping for the walkway I had to jump and shut the door simultaneously (required for Supreme). Looking down, running forward, frobbing the door and jumping at the same time, ensuring no enemies were around to hear the door slam, and finally mantling the edge. I gotta say this was one of the toughest set of moves I’ve ever had to put together. But it also felt greatly rewarding once I got out of it clean. Every rose has its thorn I guess.



Sweeping the Remains

The city streets were deader than a doornail, Nyarsal had made sure of that. This meant a lot of the tough spots from before would have been a walk in part had I waited. Ah well, you live and learn. Anyway, I was free to pick up some remaining pieces of loot and return some of the stuff I didn’t need anymore for Supreme: the bellows, the museum backdoor key and the skeleton key. The hammer quarters key left by Keeper Aleph also needed to be returned to the crematorium. I could drop it from the walkway above when the spirits were absent. When dropping objects from higher ground, it seems you need to look down to lower the impact. If I looked straight, the key would make an extra clunk when landing and alert the stationary spirit nearby. If leaning and looking down the key made a single, light clunk and the spirit was left unbothered. Returned to the surface afterwards. The last object to replace was the white cathedral key.



I was pleasantly surprised to see a fair portion of the casino loot was actually obtainable for Supreme. Initially I had thought about skipping the entire building for that mode, but luckily I gave it a shot. I descended by attaching a rope to the wooden beam close to the circling ledge in the northeast corner (see image above). The reception lady was my main concern for reaching the floor. She gave me no trouble as I swung close to the dark eastern wall (where the doors were). From here I could get the stack of dollars from the reception table and the coin pile from the closest slot machine. To traverse the room as shown in the red path below, the girl had to be facing east. She shifted randomly between east and north angles, and the length of time she spent in each direction varied. I could crouch-walk through the entire move and with a little luck she wouldn’t turn north until I was safe. The gamblers were too far away to alert. The other slot machine and the coin behind the craps table were now reachable. The single coin could be taken from the south side in the corner. That was it for Supreme, so I left with what I had, 1850 in total.



Believe me, when playing Supreme, switching to plain Ghost many times becomes nothing of a challenge. I am not trying to slap those devoted to regular ghosting. Plenty of times I have had to revert to that mode and gotten my ass kicked, but as for the casino, the rest of the loot was fairly simple. I could basically sneak wherever there were some amounts of shade and steal the remaining four piece of loot.

The ring in Mrs. Wigglesworth’s apartment south of Boleston’s tower was my final target. Opening the door made her grumble, so I had to say no to this loot for Supreme. I got more comments when entering the room, so I didn’t think twice about skipping it. Made my way to the museum afterwards and entered the portal.


Notes & Busts

- I had to switch off the electric lights in Sheila Jenning’s office in the museum in order to signal Ned and gain access to the city watch station. Techinnically this is against Supreme rules, but I doubt this is a situation rule #6 was meant for. I switched the lights back on before any guards came around and left no possible traces behind. This situation is up for debate, but my vote is ‘no bust’.

- Turning off the museum’s security system is allowed in my mind for two reasons. 1) Its requirement is heavily implied in the objective that directs you to “reactivate the security measures”. 2) Supreme rule #8 was made with watchers, or other systems that alert and behave similar to live enemies, in mind. Discussion on this topic is encouraged.

- Had to skip four pieces of loot in the casino for Supreme: the coins in the safe (100), the purse on the female gambler (25), and the two single coins on the gambling table (10).

- Also had to skip the ring (25) in Mrs. Wigglesworth’s apartment south of Boleston’s tower for Supreme. She alerted with a comment when opening her door.

Last edited by Klatremus; 03-28-2010 at 02:47 PM.

Klatremus' Supreme Thief Site - Walkthroughs, Loot Lists & Ghost Reports

  1. 04-09-2010, 11:58 AM by Peter Smith #190

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Default Dyer's Eve

FM: Dyer's Eve
File: DyersEve1.0.zip

Ghost - Failed
Time - 02:37:23
Loot - 1805/1805
Pockets Picked - 1/3
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets 2/2

Comments

I was inspired to re-play this oldie-but-goodie when Manzanita stopped by the forum and asked a question about it. As has been reported by Vanguard, Dyer's Eve is impossible to ghost, but I didn't know that when I started. I first played it 9 years ago. I remembered that I ghosted most of it, and I remembered killing all the AI and making a nice pile of bodies (see picture), but I did not remember what tripped me up.



First, it is a very nice undead mission. The AI are really freaky, making custom sounds. The best are the female zombies, who "make a pass" at Garrett, with lines and voice acting by Wynne. It is worth playing the mission just for that. 

The general character of the mission is that there are a lot of undead AI in the house / monastery, they are quite accute, and getting past them is a real challenge. The author has left a way around the problem and the limited supplies by providing several magic statues that automatically kill the AI when you lure them in front of the statues. That is a huge amount of fun. The ghosting is also fun because it is challenging.

I ghosted it up to the time when you enter the keep, which requires four talismans to unlock the door.



That mask thingy is an evil, goosey AI with its own light source. I am about to be killed by it. Not only that, if you kill one of the swordsman zombies (on the right), it spawns another one of those mask things.

Getting the talismans caused two small ghosting exceptions. One is that to find the earth talisman you have to find some explosive flour and blow up a rock pile to open a cave. That might be counted as property damage (whose property?), but I am not sure. Anyway, I timed it, and I did the explosion without alerting any AI. The explosive flour is a nice ghosting feature, because it does not go into inventory, so you have to keep dropping it while maneuvering.

The second problem is that to find the air talisman you have to cut yourself with a knife. It results in the loss of one health shield, but that was not counted as damage in the ending stats. I don't think the rules are clear on that, either.

Anyway, I got into the keep, but I could not get past two female zombies in the first room. So I alerted them and hid under the stairs. From that point, I tried to ghost when possible. I succeeded in getting all the way up to the transporter room in ghost mode.



The transporter must be opened by four arrows, one of which is a fire arrow. As you see it above, only one of four barriers remains in front of the portal. I have used the other three arrows, keeping the fire arrow for last because it causes a big commotion. So now I can use the fire arrow, alert the female zombies in that room, and exit through the portal. Right? Not quite....

There is one problem here. If you are ghosting, you get to this point with one unsatisfied objective, which is to find information about the brotherhood. Then when you go through the transporter, you fall to your death. The only way to complete the mission is to either complete that objective or cancel it before going through the transporter.

I searched high and low, and I could not find that information. However, when you start killing zombies using the statue in the chapel, the objective becomes canceled. How to do this without killing AI was my main problem. I spent a fair amount of time in the chapel trying to find either the information or a switch that canceled the objective. In the end, I discovered that if you shoot a fire arrow at the statue in the chapel, the objective is canceled, so now you can complete the mission with zero damage. But the fire arrow alerts some AI, too.



Another problem is that you don't have any fire arrows to do the above when you first enter the chapel. You have already used the only one available to blow up the rocks in front of the cave. And, if you don't use the fire arrow for that purpose, you are locked out of the keep and unable to proceed. So, I had to go far up into the keep to get more fire arrows and then go back down to use one in the chapel, in a non-intuitive manner. Pretty tricky.

Anyway, this procedure canceled the information objective. Then I went back up, shot my fire arrow at the remaining portal block, went through the portal, and this time I fell down the same pit, but the mission ended properly. 

So, I achieved no damage to AI with some effort, but ghosting seems to be impossible.

One final thing. There is a nice secret in the graveyard. I won't explain it in detail, but remember that this mission was released on October 18, 2001, shortly after 9/11.

Last edited by Peter Smith; 04-09-2010 at 02:27 PM.

"What we've got here is a failure to communicate", the warden (Strother Martin), Cool Hand Luke

  1. 05-22-2010, 06:30 PM by Hexameron #191

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FM: Meeting
File: fbt-meeting4.zip

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 00:07:26
Loot - 0/215
Pockets Picked - 1/4
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - This FM is by the same author who gave us the infamous "WaterWay Tunnel" series . My ghost success here was only possible by resorting to cheating. I avoided all new objectives, which I don't think the author intended. Right at the mission starting point is a keeper journal. Reading this triggers a new objective to find all of the notes in a specific order that are strewn about the mission. For example, one note might hint that you need to go to the pub; there you'll find another note that says "now go to the garden" etc. Each time you read a note, a new objective occurs to find the next one. You can find them out of order, but once you find and read one note, you need to read all others.

If I had triggered this series of objectives to read notes, I would have to accept at least one ghost bust at the pub. The interior of the pub is well-lit by torches and inhabited by a barkeep and bluecoat. They are sensitive to torch-dousing and invariably become 2nd alerted to any splashes of water arrows. I could not sneak in and up the stairs unless the torches were doused, so this would have definitely busted me.

To avoid this dead-end bust, I restarted the mission and did not read the keeper journal or any notes. Instead, I went to the post office and frobbed the "??? Key" from behind the locked mail box. All I had to do now was go to the power supply building, frob the key from behind the upper wall pipe, and descend down the sewer hatch to meet the "man who knocked on my door". He's a mechanist who greets Garrett with a scripted monologue. After the conversation is over, the mission ends. Although I avoided twenty minutes of game time by not reading the keeper journal and going on the note hunt, I still completed the mission legitimately, albeit with the cheating clairvoyance of knowing where the "??? Key" was and being able to frob it without opening the mail box.

  1. 05-22-2010, 06:39 PM by Hexameron #192

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FM: The Cloister of St. Lazarius
File: StLazarius.zip

Ghost - Success or N/A and aborted
Time - 00:07:55
Loot - 312/2137
Pockets Picked - 0/1
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - This is an entry for the Beauty Contest. The objective directs the player to "dance around the cathedral," so I explored every corner and nothing happened. There are no AI or areas of particular interest, although the architecture and textures are impressive to behold.

  1. 05-22-2010, 06:44 PM by Hexameron #193

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FM: Ride the Butterfly
File: RideButterfly.zip

Ghost - Success or N/A and aborted
Time - 00:02:31
Loot - 0/0
Pockets Picked - 0/1
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - Another Beauty Contest mission, this time outside in an earthly paradise reminiscent of TES' Oblivion. The pastures are active with frogbeasts and bunnies that don't alert to the player. I did what the author wanted and hopped on the butterfly and then proceeded to the cave where the mission ended.

  1. 05-22-2010, 06:48 PM by Hexameron #194

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FM: Hazelshade Cemetery
File: Graveyard.zip

Ghost - Success or N/A and aborted
Time - 00:03:53
Loot - 0/0
Pockets Picked - 0/1
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - Another gorgeous entry for the Beauty Contest - this time it's a moody and darkly beautiful cemetery. Like the other missions in this contest, there's nothing to do except explore and then abort.

  1. 05-22-2010, 06:54 PM by Hexameron #195

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FM: Surrounded by the Metal Age
File: Surrounded.zip

Ghost - Success or N/A and aborted
Time - 00:01:37
Loot - 0/0
Pockets Picked - 0/1
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - Another Beauty Contest FM - a little gem that emphasizes the steampunk atmosphere of the mechanized city. Once again, the player can only explore before deciding to quit.

  1. 05-22-2010, 07:01 PM by Hexameron #196

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FM: The Clocktower
File: TheClocktower.zip

Ghost - Success or N/A and aborted
Time - 00:03:24
Loot - 0/400
Pockets Picked - 0/1
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - This is the final and perhaps most impressive Beauty Contest FM. This Clocktower is a magnificent building and the amount of detail in the interiors, the furnishings, objects, and textures all rival TDM. I just have to say that all of these Beauty Contest FMs have proven not only how many talented and creative mission builders there are in the Thief community, but how versatile dromed is.

  1. 05-22-2010, 07:15 PM by Hexameron #197

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FM: A Bank Job
File: ABankJob.zip

Ghost - Failed
Time - 00:44:59
Loot - 15573/15650
Pockets Picked - 7/11
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 15
Damage dealt - 15 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 2/2

Causes of Failure:

1. Cannot sneak into the art gallery without alerting nearby guard.

2. Cannot sneak into bank or down one of the main streets without being seen by at least one of the three guards.

Comments - Much of the mission is ghostable. I did have to douse both torches near the mechanist at the beginning, but I had no problems moving about until I got to the other side of the portcullis. The loot objective for this mission is 15550 (maximum available loot is 15650), so virtually every loot item must be found. That means I would have to enter the art gallery, but doing so unseen is impossible - a guard observes the door and the outside of the entrance is too bright.

Then there is the task of getting into the bank, but an idle guard stands in front of the door:



There is no other way that I could see to get inside the bank except through the front door. In addition, I would also need to venture down this street so I could get loot from other houses. That wasn't possible: the guard always saw me as I tried to get by. Even if I doused the nearby gas light, I still didn't have a chance of slipping past or nudging the guard away from the door:



I gave up and knocked out just about everyone in the mission since I would have to spend most of my time in this game searching for loot.

  1. 05-22-2010, 07:31 PM by Hexameron #198

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FM: The Bar
File: c4TheBar.zip

Ghost - Failed
Time - 00:2:59
Loot - 0/0
Pockets Picked - 0/7
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Causes of Failure:

1. Must destroy glass window to pick up key that opens the house door.

2. Cannot sneak anywhere as there are invisible AI in most rooms that always see the player.

Comments - This is a small and rather weird FM. To gain entry into the only building the player sees, I had to break a glass pane blocking access to the one key that opens the building. Once inside, I encountered invisible AI that might have been male thieves. I could hear hastened footsteps chasing me. I reloaded and tried various ways of sneaking, but I always ended up being discovered. It's not a pleasant thing to be sneaking quietly and meticulously and then all of a sudden I get slashed by an invisible entity. I could not tell if I was seen by technically alerted AI or if the whole thing was scripted.

Nevertheless, I could not stop running once I was seen or I would take damage from these invisible assailants. Some areas were too bright for sneaking, so I probably was actually seen by invisible AI. I ended up alerting everyone including other visible servants in my search for the scepter (obj). The mission ends once the scepter is picked up.

  1. 05-22-2010, 08:31 PM by Hexameron #199

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FM: A Friend in Need
File: AFIN_V1.zip

Perfect Thief - Success (Chemical)
Time - 01:24:35
Loot - 1544/1544
Pockets Picked - 18/26
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - This mission could probably be ghosted without having to use an invis potion, but I was unfortunate in having to do so for reasons I'll get to later.

-The necessary "information" (obj) is in the law office. There is a small niche embedded in the bookshelf of the large room with a patrolling nobleman. I was able to run up and get the information from the bookshelf before the nobleman turned around to see me.

-To gain entry to the prison via the gallows area, I had to rope up to one of the wooden structures and scale the stone wall of the perimeter. This was the only safe way to move around the idle archer without being seen. This may not be what the author had in mind because it looks like the stone wall is unfinished with an untextured blue barrier:



-Once in the prison, there is a guard watching the lift from behind a little window. Moving around in front of the window puts him on a sustained 1st alert:



However, since I would eventually be carrying Basso out of the prison, I wouldn't have enough running speed to get by without putting this guard on 2nd alert. So I had to nudge him away from his peep hole:



Down in the bowels of the prison cell block, a patrolling guard occasionally utters a 1st alert after seeing one zombie in a cell. I counted at least three 1st alerts during his patrol. But then as I was carrying Basso and opened the only door that leads back to the upper cell block, I saw him standing in an aggressive attack mode. He had finally seen the zombie and stayed in a 3rd alert state:



I reloaded and waited to see if it would happen again - it did. The guard blocked my path and even if I could eventually wedge my way through, he would immediately see me. I was fortunate that the author left an invis potion in Garrett's apartment because I absolutely needed it here. I had to wait until the guard made an evasive sidestep (most AI do this when in a frustrated 3rd alert mode), quaff my only invis potion, pick up Basso again, and slip through the door.

-With Basso in hand, I decided to douse all torches in the vicinity of the balcony where two archers overlook the barrel and crate-littered streets. That way I could drop Basso down there safely and quietly hop down myself without having to make a difficult exit via the gallows - I didn't think I would be able to get onto the stone wall again.

-I had to douse the torches outside of Rothchild's cabin so I could move close enough to the fountain and lean forward to get all the coins without being seen by the lady.

Getting back up to the suicide girl's apartment requires some careful rope arrow placement. First I had to shoot a rope arrow at the horizontal wood beam above the open window. But this meant that the rope would not reach all the way down to the water surface and thus the player cannot possibly get onto it. So I had to shoot another rope arrow right under the open window (thank God it had a wood texture!).



Now I had a rope that reached the water and another rope that gave me enough room to jump through the open window. Here's how it all looked from afar:



The matter of getting into the canal with Basso is a delicate one. I left Basso on the street and moved into the water (the splash has the potential of alerting the guard by the toll booth). Then I picked him up and swam as quickly as possible to the rope so he wouldn't drown while I was in the water.

Hard-to-find loot

-Near front gate leading to prison: gold coin in small water hole under sewer grate
-Sewers: purse behind three spiders in an upper area; need rope arrow to get to.
-Outside of Rothchild's cabin: gold coins in fountain.
-Grocer store at starting point: moneybox on top shelf
-Apartment building: moneybox on top of dresser in one apartment.

  1. 05-23-2010, 08:21 PM by Peter Smith #200

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Wow, Hexameron. I thought you were lost for a few months, and then a virtual torrent of Ghost reports. Thanks!

"What we've got here is a failure to communicate", the warden (Strother Martin), Cool Hand Luke