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GEMS OF PROVENANCE 3 - City Public Water Works A
very nice mission with a quite unique premise. I like the fact that you are allowed
to roam freely in part of the museum, before heading into hostile territory.
This campaign continue to grow on me and I’m starting to really appreciate StinkyKitty’s style. This one might be my favorite in the
series so far, and I’m very much looking forward to the finale. Topside I
basically had to find the emblem of N’Lahotep in
the precursor temple below the water works station, along with 1,300 in loot.
Most of the workers in the museum were indifferent to my activities unless I
found myself in forbidden areas or was caught stealing stuff. Lots of doors
were locked and I had no lockpicks, so the master
key in the head clerk’s office was paramount. Stole the head clerk’s key off
the guard from outside the window (left image below). Then I could unlock the
safe and get the master key. He pivoted and as long as he faced away, I was
fine. Could drop the key back at his feet from the outside without any
reaction.
The
precursor section was a little difficult with all the periscopes. I exploited
their blind spots directly below to my benefit. The floating cameras upstairs
were odd. They stopped when spotting me it seemed, so I kept an eye out for
that. I climbed up a hole above a monolith statue instead of using the
staircase (right image above); that way I basically skipped the cameras
altogether. Underground Descended
the elevator and passed the sewers unbothered. The only viable way I found to
proceed was via a polluted cistern after dodging an archer on a walkway. I
arrived in a flooded grotto with the ruins’ main entrance. It was heavily
guarded, so I used a nearby tunnel, passing a small spider. There were two
viable ways into the temple from here. I chose to drop down a broken pipe in
the north (left image below). I emerged on a big ledge, with a stationary
mage across the cave. I could drop down unscathed on the northern side, but
it had to be an extremely slow drop (right image below). An alternate way was
to land in a mantle further south. I could already see there was no apparent
way back up to the surface except via the main entrance, which would most
likely lead to Supreme busts.
Ruins Had
no problem navigating the lost city section. Approached the crayman caves from the temple side. The front cave was
too well guarded. Stole a rug from one of the holes easily enough. The other
piece of loot was an artifact in a tiny room embedded in the cave ceiling.
There was a rope-attachable beam up there. I used it to get up when the
nearby stationary crayman faced away. There was
also another patrolling one that had to be away while I was climbing. To get
back down and also retrieve the rope, I had to drop into the side of the hole
below (left image below). I didn’t manage to drop in a mantle, but an easier
option was to land so I bounced off the edge just before I landed. That way I
didn’t take any damage. This hole was dark as well. To
enter the temple I had planned on using one of the two stone monolith’s from
a nearby cave, but remembering one of marbleman’s
screenshots, I realized two scrolls could be used as well. This was a lot
easier, as I was already carrying one from Dorcas Goodfellow. The inner temple was no issue. Luckily, I
could grab the real emblem from the lower level just above the lava. Couldn’t
replace the two stones needed to reach this area on my way out. I put them on
the ledge as close as possible. On
my way out, a skeletal fire shadow had spawned on the temple balcony. It had
a peculiar flaw where it reacted to its own bones bumping into nearby
barriers. It starting hunting around, even alerting the mage and swordsman in
the adjacent building. Occasionally it even flung its own skull across the
room, dying in the process. This triggered a new objective to kill all the
apparitions, but this meant four other such beings also got spawned around
the map. Thus I immediately reloaded if this objective appeared. After
hunting around for a bit, it settled down again on the balcony, facing north
(right image below). I thus could sneak out on the south side unseen. From
here I found my way back out of the ruins the way I came.
Returning Unfortunately,
there was no way to leave up the hole I descended from the sewers. Even if I
could make a stack to get back up, there was no way to return the stacked
items. Instead, I was forced to leave via the main entrance. This meant I had
to douse a torch on the inside of the double doors (left image below). This
also triggered a first alert from the stationary swordsman here. Sad, but
true. I could use the double doors to block his view once the outside guard
was facing away, in order to avoid dousing the next torch. Then I had to wait
for this guard to turn around and hope he stayed facing west long enough for
me to get in the water undetected. After about 4-5 tries, it happened. From
here, the only way back up was via the pipe above the metal rafters (right
image below).
Emerging
from the sewer manhole was a bit of a crapshoot due to the patrolling guards.
If I was quick, they normally didn’t alert. Reentered the main doors and
returned the two keys, before ending the mission. Great one this! Statistics: Time: 57:57 Loot: 1922 out of 1922 Pickpockets: 4 out of 13 Locks Picked: None Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0 Consumables: 1 Water Arrow Ghost: Success! Perfect Thief: Success! Supreme Thief: Failed! Perfect Supreme Thief: Failed Notes: -
Doused a torch and got a first alert in the process when
leaving the precursor ruins via the main entrance. There was no way to go
back up the pipe I came down when entering the ruins. -
The fiery skeleton caused itself to go into hunt mode,
as well as alerting the nearby mage and swordsman. Nothing to do with me, so
no bust. -
Reloaded a few times in order to avoid the objective to
kill all the apparitions. Acceptable, since the objective is not supposed to
appear until you deliberately kill the first one. |
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