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CALENDRA’S LEGACY Act 1: A Meeting
With Basso Decided to take this mission pack for a Ghost/Supreme
run. Played it through a couple of times in the past, but that was before
being bitten by the Ghost bug. The story is top shelf and the design nothing
but spectacular. Some of the best fan missions to date. I made a pickup list some years back so all of the
loot was known to me. While there was no requirement for valuables, I wanted
to get my hands on as much riches as possible, staying within the rules of
course. The purchase screen contained a very tempting invisibility potion,
but I managed to resist. If needed, moss- and water arrows would be readily
available throughout the mission.
Lampfire Entered Loren’s flat through the chimney (left
image above). Inside I found readables with the background story on Arkhyn’s
tomb (hands down the best area in the mission) and clues for evading its
traps. I brought along the tome for then. The guards around the district were
weird. They didn’t react to my presence, but sometimes gave settling remarks
indicating first alerts. When passing through, I thus waited out of sight to
hear if anyone made comments. If I was at all in doubt, I reloaded. Fortunately,
an archer and a swordswoman were the only patrolling “hostiles”. Cleaned the southeast part of Lampfire first.
Passed the prostitute district (right image above) and revisited Mercedes’
quarters. Only a single pair of coins behind her bedroom closet. The rest of
her apartment was melancholically empty (left image below). Couldn’t enter
the flats by the alley next to Grendel Court. A guard inside heard me picking
the lock. He gave a first alert and did a patrol towards the door upon entry
(right image below). I don’t think the patrol is a second alert, but rather a
scripted response to passing through the door. Regular Ghost is therefore
clear to enter, but for Supreme I had to figure out an alternate route.
Perhaps I could find some stackables and make a reach for the balcony. There
was a barrel in the street that proved promising. I’d still have to skip the
coins in the upstairs hallway though.
Grabbed the purse off the archer by Murkbell gate
without any settling remarks. Not that I counted them as busts should they
happen, but I like to avoid any comments if possible. Climbed the gate via
the vine and stole the nugget in the chest by the stairs (left image below).
The guard by the dummy came up to inspect. Another one of those scripted
patrols, so no bust.
Skipped picking the gate key off the wandering
noblewoman. Instead I mantled the sewer entry hatch and reached the garden
that way (right image above). One of the most beautiful locations in the
entire campaign by my reckoning (left image below). Don’t know what it was,
but something there really tickled my fancy. Reached the ring in the cliffs
above Arkhyn’s tomb by an angled running jump from atop one of the big rocks.
The rock extended farther out than it seemed, so that helped. Must’ve been
the highest mantle ever made. NewDark’s updated mantle mechanics certainly
makes these situations a lot less painstaking.
The fire arrow in the corner was necessary if
wanting to open the tomb entrance. Contrary to what I first assumed, this is
not a bust toward Supreme. The rules only refer to the removal of light sources. The lantern on the ground below the
torch got destroyed unless I aimed high and lightened the string tension on
the blow. This would’ve been a clear example of property damage and a
violation of the rules. The entrance could not be shut by dousing the torch.
In fact, the only way to close it was by stepping on a pressure plate in the
tomb’s first hallway. Lowering the plate triggered the mechanism to keep it
open (which it already was), but when it rose, the boulder closed and trapped
me inside. I had to leave a brick on there to make it stay open once
triggered, but then I might as well leap over it entirely. So the entrance
was closeable per se, but not
without moving a brick or using a speed potion, busting Supreme. The only way
to solve this conundrum and loot Arkhyn’s tomb for Supreme was to place the
rubble from the cave entrance between the tomb doorframe and the boulder
(right image above). That way, when time came around to leave, the rubble
would slow down the boulder’s movement enough for me to run over to the exit
and leap over the rock before the door closed. It didn’t stop the boulder
entirely, but rather halted it enough to give me a few more seconds to make
it to the door. Once I got the method down, it didn’t take me more than 5-6
tries. I suggest you get a handle on the method before entering the tomb. If
not, you’ll be stuck with no way to leave without busting Supreme. In the
least make a hardsave before entering, in case you’re unsuccessful. The
rubble piece had to be wedged in there until it couldn’t move anymore. I
dropped it and then bumped into it from the front and the side until it
stopped making grinding noises. At least that worked for me. I didn’t count
the pressure plate as a trap, since all it did was close the door. Supreme
rule #9 doesn’t mention specific examples of what constitutes traps, but I
interpret them as something constructed to kill or hurt you. I could leap across both plates before the color
puzzle. Followed the tome’s instructions and pushed yellow-red-blue-blue to
make the mist fade. Didn’t have to enter the arch, but teleported
automatically to the room with four doors. Had to skip both the statue by the
silver key (left image below) and the loot in the Lich’s crypt (right image
below) for Supreme. Both necessitated the triggering of traps.
Leaned to the side to avoid shooting flames in the
next hall. Followed the tome and chose the truth-telling archway. After using
the silver key, the opposite archway no longer led to death, but to a room
with three chests. The right held a ring and the leftmost my golden key. This
key gave access to the final room with what I assume to be Arkhyn’s final
remains. The skull functioned as an AI, rising in the air if
disturbed. He definitely had a proximity trigger a certain distance from the
casket, and in the southeast corner with the frobbable rock. I could grab all
the valuables by inching closer and closer until they highlighted. The
hardest was the diamond in its left eye. There was an infinitesimal fine line
between stealing it and getting caught. I held crouch+creep and tapped the
walk-key, every time leaning for the grab. This only worked coming directly
from the north. Got it all in the end (see image). The blue gem on the backside
was easy to forget. The left eye diamond had its own loot count of 200,
weird. Got bounced back to the desktop if caught after stealing the eyes.
That’s a common problem. Just took the eyes last and left immediately.
Ran into yet another problem on my way back.
Opening one of the doors in the room with four doors teleported me back to the
start of the tomb. However, the teleportation effect was so instant I
couldn’t close the door before I was gone. Merely as a fluke I discovered you
can click the use-key twice really fast and even though you teleport, the
engine still picks up your second click and the door shuts behind you. I went
back to check after each try and sure enough, the door was closed and a bust
to Supreme rule #7 was avoided. Met with Basso by the gate before getting ready to
enter Murkbell (right image above). Took a few settling remarks from the
guards on the Lampfire side. Unavoidable due to the frequent lightning. Like
I mentioned before, I don’t consider these remarks Supreme busts.
A total of five ways exist into Murkbell. 1)
Arkhyn’s tomb, 2) Flat 2A, 3) Murkbell gate, 4) sewer to the fort and 5)
sewer to thr streets. I used the latter, bringing the rubble from outside the
tomb with me. Emerging from the manhole, yet another guard made a scripted
patrol ending in a fake hunt maneuver (left image above). No bust of course.
Got another settling remark from the guard by the practice dummy bringing the
rubble over the wall to the east. It was mostly due to carelessness, as I
think it could’ve been avoided. I didn’t have a recent hardsave to fall back
on, and since I didn’t consider it a bust I just continued. Grabbed the crate
to the north of the gate (on the Murkbell side) also. Left it and the rubble
piece by the barn for now (right image above), then went to tackle the fort.
The Fort Entered through the eastern door. The coin in one
of the cells had to be skipped for Supreme (left image above). I needed the
key-chain from the sleeping guard, and putting it back woke him. Only 1 gold
so not a big deal. Grabbed the fort key from the chair on my way up; needed
this for later. Turned left at the top and fetched the near-invisible coins
in the attic (right image above). The dining hall was frequently patrolled (left
image below), so I went back to the stairs and approached the bedroom from
the south. Tried to time it so that the guard would turn off the lights while
I snuck through, much easier this way. Snatched the loot from the chest here
and unlocked the office door. The archer in the adjacent room started his
patrols as a response to this move. I hid behind the statue and waited for
him to leave (right image below). The safe contained loot and a scroll that I
put back. Figured on top of the safe was the nearest logical place. The safe
key disappeared upon use. Snuck out behind the archer’s back when he made his
second patrol; this way grabbing the nugget from the storeroom chest was a
piece of cake. The rest relied on luck and tricky sneaking. Needed the coins
from the box on the ledge and from the chest in the dining area. Then moved
down the stairs. Locked the main door and frobbed it open, still locked
though. Placed back the key onto the chair and left.
The last piece of loot on this side of Murkbell
gate was the nugget in the cemetery. In order to avoid one of the two
“necessary” settling remarks from the street guards, I made a little stack on
the south side and mantled over the fence (left image below). Used the
aforementioned rubble piece and crate, plus the crate from outside the Black
Widow Inn (right image below). Couldn’t stack them at the highest point of
the slope, as I’d bump into the eave of the adjacent building. A crate-length
out from the wall was enough. Stacks of objects are not allowed along patrol
routes for Supreme, but none of the pedestrians reacted to my presence so I
figured it ok. I couldn’t mantle back south after taking the loot though, so
I had to accept a remark from either the guard by the fort or in the
underpass closer to Murkbell gate going back. The cemetery gate could be
picked but not relocked.
Flat 2A Brought all three
stackables over to Lampfire to tackle Flat 2A. There was a crate by the
practice dummy, but it was in plain view of two guards and therefore not a
desirable option. Decided to haul them through the sewers. Not the most
untedious of options, but certainly the most discreet. Started by placing the
rubble on the barrel in the street directly underneath the balcony. If I put
it all the way into the corner, it was shaded. Had to be careful not to alert
the thief above during the drop. He was stationed in the hallway just inside
the balcony for quite a while. I waited until I heard the door close, which
meant he was patrolling the actual flat. The two crates could go on top in
any order, and they didn’t make enough noise to alert the thief. Again I
didn’t consider the stack a bust to Supreme, even though it sort of was along
a patrol route. The guards/pedestrians didn’t care about my presence, so I
deemed it excused. I don’t know if the balcony mantle can
be done in OldDark, as I never tried this maneuver until recently. After
getting on top of the second crate, I inched out a foot or so, turned, then
made a quick hop towards the middle of the fence. It didn’t take that many
tries to get right. Grabbed the hard-to-see ring on the fence right away
(right image below). The northern end of the fence was dark, but lingering
anywhere else would risk getting caught by the thief once he made his loop
down the hall.
Peeking around the corner
I could spot his positioning. He was facing south slightly, just outside the
door. I followed him as he headed back up the hallway, inching onto the tile
beyond the doorway. My only chance was to mantle the chair on the left and
get into the small patch of shade on the other side (left image below). Once
I got on the chair the thief was heading back south; I creep-crouch-strafed
the last foot or two so as not to get seen. As you might know, that is the
fastest way to move without affecting the light gem. While he was stationed
in the hallway again, I cleaned the room for loot and headed out the window. [For those of you who go
for maximum pickpockets, the last one is unobtainable using conventional
means. There’s an archer in a sealed off alley between Flat 2A and the
warehouses to the east. You can see him from the ledge between the two
windows (right image below). You can get down there unscathed by dropping
from above and landing on his back. Alas, ‘tis a one-way ticket.]
After taking the coins by
the toilet, going back was not that big of a deal. Simply followed the thief
to the end of the hall and snuck to his left as he turned around. Dropped
onto the sloped wall across the alley to reach the street level again.
Returned the old tome to Loren’s flat. Then hauled the rubble and the two
crates back to their original positions before heading to the inn.
Lock-blocked the door to my room so I could return the key to the table
downstairs. Sort of silly, but whatever. Done deal!
STATISTICS: Time: 1:57:31 Loot: 1605 out of 1605 (Supreme: 1579) Pickpockets: 5 out of 16 Secrets Found: None Locks Picked: 8 Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0 Consumables: 1 Fire Arrow to open Arkhyn’s Tomb; 1
Water Arrow to douse the same torch afterwards Ghost: Success! Perfect Thief: Success! Supreme Thief: Success! Perfect Supreme Thief: Failed! Notes: -
Skipped a stack of copper coins in the hallway outside
Flat 2A for Supreme. The downstairs guard first alerted when picking the
lock. Alas it was the only way to access it. -
Skipped a statue and all the loot in the lich’s crypt in
Arkhyn’s tomb for Supreme. Both situations triggered traps, which is not
allowed for that mode. -
Also skipped the coin in the fort cell for Supreme. The
key chain required had to be put back by the sleeping guard’s feet. This woke
him up. -
Dousing torches are normally busts towards Supreme, but
since I was putting out a torch that I myself (legally) lit in order to cover
my tracks, I considered it exempt. |
