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PREVIOUS MISSION THIEF GOLD NEXT MISSION Mission 4:
Assassins [This
walkthrough has recently been updated for TFix
1.24b, running NewDark 1.25. Although the original
text for OldDark has been preserved, situations
affected by these patches have been inserted in green. All screenshots have
been updated, and many new ones have been added. Keep in mind that there is a
difference between playing the game in NewDark with
or without TFix. TFix
updates the core mission files, as well as applies .dml
files that tweak the environment in numerous ways. These changes aren’t
supposed to have a significant impact on gameplay, but when ghosting, slight
changes could occur. If wanting as close to the “vanilla” experience as
possible, install just NewDark, without any further
patches. I have ghosted the game 1) in OldDark, 2)
in plain NewDark, and 3) in NewDark
with TFix. This walkthrough will discuss
differences between all varieties.] While not among my favorite missions, ‘Assassins’ is very good ghost-training. It’s fairly easy to accomplish in any mode covered by this walkthrough. You get to learn a little about the organized activities in the city, and the mission has a nice storyline. Overall score: 7.2/10
I click my way through the purchase screen. New to
my inventory are lockpicks worth 4,000 gold a pair,
plus some instructions. I start out in Farkus’
shop. Zap! Someone nailed Farkus through the
window, and he’s out cold (left image below). The assassins think they got me.
New objectives already. The culprits will lead me back to whoever sent them,
if I can follow them unnoticed. Screw the hammer temple in other words (we’ll
get to loot that later in the game regardless). Since
the shop’s owner is dead, I might as well bring with me what’s in here. I
find 3 flash bombs, 3 fire arrows, 2 moss arrows, 2
water arrows, 3 rope arrows (nice!), 2 noisemaker arrows
and a loaf scattered around the various shelves and desks. I
follow the thugs to the northwestern area of Hightowne.
The route is random every time, so I won’t cover it here. It seems like these
guys are working for Ramirez (right image below). My final objectives then
are to steal Ramirez’ own purse and 2,000 in loot, including his prized
silver fire-poker.
Approaching the entrance, two swordsmen start
chatting about Cragscleft closing down. Heh, could
that have something to do with me? They each take one path beside the main
entrance. Sounds like gravel. Let’s be frank and try the front door when
we’re here. All right, I can stand in complete darkness and still reach the
door. I can’t close it though. Arh…the room beyond
is lit, and the swordsman would be too difficult to maneuver around anyway.
Probably alternative routes into the mansion somewhere else. He’s got a basement key [1] within reach. I then
quickly close the door while he still has his back turned. A total of five
swordsmen patrol outside the mansion, with an additional two archers
overlooking the grassy areas just east and west of the gatehouse. My easiest
way in would be to the west, so I choose this path. I take it somewhat easy
along the gravel, to avoid alerting one of the archers above. Around the
corner onto the grass now, trotting towards the shadows. If I turn around and
lean left, I can barely spot the archer whistling his happy tune on the
walkway above. Hugging the wall I continue west, still avoiding his sight. In
the distance north I spot two men walking away and a single swordsman heading
in this direction. I jog over to the next shadowy area in time. (The door
behind me only leads to the mentioned walkway and onwards to the archers, but
nothing interesting.) Hmm…there’s a potential entrance! See that sloped roof
in front of what seems to be a balcony (left image below)? Let’s check it
out! Not possible to mantle onto the roof, but there’s a door on my
left...maybe that’s the key. Speaking of keys, this door has to be picked.
Using my square-toothed lockpick the door is as
good as unlocked. Inside and close the door! Phew! Out of danger so far. Rummaging around in here I find one flash bomb and two
mines. Some boxes also. What have we here? A ladder, how
convenient! Up we go. Red explosive barrels...actually there’s only
one...'there can be only one'...no that’s something else, sorry. Back to
reality. Windows facing every direction. That roof looks noisy, but no guards
to be seen, so I’ll risk it. Ouch! Slid right off. Reload and try again.
Managed to stay up this time. I mantle onto the balcony. Hello 2nd floor
(right image below)!
The master bedroom! A vase (100) worth 100 goods on the fireplace shelf. The romantic carpet space in front of the fire holds two bottles of fine wine (200), two golden goblets (250) and a golden plate (300). Someone has had a pleasant evening... A papyrus on a stool. Commissioner deNavan is on thin ice. Seems like Ramirez is connected quite well, enough to make threats like this at least. I drop the letter back for Supreme. A chest over by the bed holds another basement key. But hey...what’s this?! A tiny ring (400) hidden in the carpet beside the bed. Very tough to spot! This confirms my theory; someone surely had fun last night! Heh, I might have spared the mister some embarrassing explanations. Anything else in here?...nah, don’t think so. Wait a minute! Perhaps I should examine the fireplace better. Hah, there we go! An uncut diamond (500) in the right corner. But there’s more. A lever high in the left corner opens a secret passage in the back wall. I can sneak past the fire on the left side without getting burned. Almost immediately to the right I find Ramirez’ fire-poker (700). It adds another 200 to my loot count and makes a nice addition to my collection. Further down the hall I find holes in the boarded walls. One hole leads to another bedroom. Ramirez is a peeping Tom! I can spot a vase in there, but it’ll have to wait for later. A guard opens a door nearby. He’s patrolling fairly close, probably through the hole in the opposite direction. I’ll tread quietly. A chest at the end of the hall contains a purse (800). Done here. I pull the lever again as I leave the fireplace. The southeastern door conceals an empty room, but the entrance closer to the balcony leads to the bathroom. Lots of loot here: 4 golden candlesticks (1000), a tiara (1125), a bottle of fine wine (1175) and two goblets (1205). I then leave. NewDark adds lightmaps to the candlesticks in the bathroom. Stealing
them thus necessitates the removal of four light sources, technically
constituting busts towards Supreme. I have excused these busts, as the lights
never appeared nor were intended by the mission designers in the original
release. I pick the lock on the east door and walk out. Entering the hall I check the territory. To my left a swordsman is just rounding a corner walking away. Could be the guard I heard a minute ago. I follow him and snag his courtyard key [2]. I slip south and lockpick the next door to my right. Another bedroom with a jar (1255) on the fireplace and an empty chest in the corner. Out and close the door. The next door south also leads to a bedroom, the one I saw through the peephole earlier. I grab the vase (1355) and find a ring (1455) on a table. A paper on the same table tells about reinforcing of the counting room walls and a newly installed steel door. Where could this be? I leave and follow the hall south, around the corner and down east to the end here. As I reach the doorway opening, another swordsman with another courtyard key [3] for me to snatch emerges from a door directly behind me. He turns to his left and walks down the hall I came from. Leaning out the doorway, I see two servants in the middle of the hall. I would like to reach the door straight ahead though. Creep-crouching across the hall keeps me in yellow and prevents any 1st alerts from the male servant. The room to the front contains little of interest, only a speed potion in a locked chest. The northern door leads me to another hall, the servants now to my left. The clue to get rid of them is to trigger their conversation without getting seen. Inching along the left side of the doorway gets me close enough for them to start chatting. The swordsman also passes them as seen on the picture. Aha!! Ramirez finds himself in the cellar counting loot! He won’t have much to count after tonight! The two servants walk off after that. The man ends up right outside the mansion entrance where he stops just facing the wall (right image below). Strange. I follow him further down the hall, at least to where they split up, and steal his courtyard key [4]. From where I overheard their little chat, I open the door to the east. It leads to the library. A frobbable book in the southern shelf opens a secret corridor leading to the 1st floor. However, it can’t be closed and therefore rather “unsupremable” (although strictly speaking not a bust). Skipping it won’t ruin anything though. The upper floor of the library is accessible either via the stairs or by mantling onto the bookcases. Up here I find and take two golden candlesticks (1555) on a desk. One of the books here contains a letter from Bafford blaming Ginny for the lack of payment from Dreckboun. The other is a message from Ramirez about sections in the walls of the Old Quarter, and possible untapped sources there. A pickable chest in a dark corner hides another ring (1655). Back down and out of the library. The last room on the 2nd floor is to my right. It seems to be the living room. I collect a total of five goblets (1730), two bottles of fine wine (1830), a golden plate (1880) and two golden goblets (1930). I exit through the other door.
On
my travels through the endless world of Thief, I’ve come to notice that
fulfilling the Supreme rules isn’t always as easy as it should seem. Rule #10
states the following: ‘...Lock picking that creates infinitesimal degradation
of the lock mechanism is OK.’ But rule #7 says: ‘Put everything back that can
be put back: doors closed and re-locked if they are re-lockable...’ Some
doors are unpickable and require a key for
unlocking. These obviously have to be re-locked. Other doors are pickable, but have no assigned key and are therefore impossible
to re-lock. Pickable doors that HAVE an assigned
key-type however, have to be re-locked due to rule #7. None of the
doors picked so far are re-lockable. But accessing the storage room
necessitates picking at least one door that has to be re-locked. I turn left
and return through the door furthest down the hall. I pick the lock on the
door straight ahead and descend the staircase. Approaching the door at the bottom triggers a conversation between two swordsmen. Directly across from the entrance is a small patch of darkness that keeps me hidden (left image below). They give me the names of the hitmen: Quince and Jacow. Everyone thinks I’m dead, and it may be for the better. I close the door and wait here for the first guy to pass in the hallway. I’ll have to wait until he has unlocked the next door before grabbing his storage room key [5], otherwise he’ll just start bumping into the door like another fly-on-the-window. The second guard comes around a moment later and I need his storage room key [6] to re-lock the door upstairs. To avoid a lock-up in his patrol pattern, I grab it as he exits through the door to the foyer hallway. I then sprint up and lock the stairway door. Back down to check the storage room itself. A stack of gold coins (1955) in a blue chest next to a large power generator. Six more stacks of gold coins (2105) on a desk in the inner room. The chest on the floor contains two flash bombs. Some advice on the wall concerning harsh treatment to certain clients, nothing significant. Leave through the other door and enter the room across the hall. A golden goblet (2130) and a bottle of fine wine (2180) to my immediate left. I continue on to the next room and grab the necklace (2380) on the desk here. I exit to the hall and round the right corner. I’m approaching a heavily patrolled area and need to tread cautiously. I unlock the door and look for guards. One coming straight for me, but he turns and heads away instantly. I inch forward a bit. To the left a safeguard is stationed before the main entrance (the very guard I pickpocketed early in the mission). I lean around to check his positioning. Oops! Another swordsman coming this way up the hall. I quickly slip back through the door behind me and wait for him to turn. Locking the door again and trying once more to check the stationary watcher. He’s got his back turned now, so I swiftly move to the dark hall on the right. The door here leads to the outside garden area. Two more swordsmen start talking about monster babysitting. Could these monsters be the burricks the note upstairs was talking about? I creep up to the fountain as they finish their little chat. They start walking and enter my door. The garden only contains a papyrus of interest. It’s a message from Lisse to Mina about Ramirez’ habits. Probably two servants annoyed by his lordship’s endless demands. I drop the paper back onto the fountain edging. An apple and a cheese also rest here on a tray. I then follow the pals’ route back.
I trail them west watching out for the stationary guard’s situation. They continue past the corner, split up and enter two separate doors. The left guy didn’t close the door...weird! Oh well, he probably tried to but then blocked it as he was going through. The footsteps stopped. I reckon they ended their patrol to a stand. More footsteps closing in though. Another guard rounds the curve to the north bearing this way. Through the doorway and around left are some shadows where I hide for now. Soon he passes by. A short while later one more guard pops by patrolling the same route. Now’s my chance! I slip out right and follow the hall north a little. Approaching the door at my right I overhear two guards talking about hammer-built security installations. The room has nothing of interest though. Directly across the hall is another door (where one of the guards entered). I open it. Oh, got caught, but only a 1st alert. There are six guards stationed here, five of them are facing away from me. The sixth are turning from time to time. I reload and inch as close I can to the door before opening it, then quickly creep forward into darkness. Home free! There are lanterns in the ceiling, but they don’t seem to light up that well. I can maneuver out the doorway to the right along the red path as seen in the screen capture above. I’ll need to creep-crouch though. I can easily lean forward to pilfer the right guard’s basement key [7] (left image below). The other room contains three servants. The part beyond the doorway is somewhat more lit, but if creep-crouching, I can just manage to keep completely hidden. There’s a courtyard key on a table to the left that I lean over and pinch. I continue to sneak right and approach the open doorway in the northeast corner. Suddenly a bell rings and a servant carrying a tray leaves down a stairway. Let’s check out the kitchen while he’s gone. I find 3 carrots, a deer leg, 3 apples, 2 loaves, 2 cheeses and a cucumber on the benches. A warning from Ramirez on the wall instructs the servants to feed his ‘babies’ properly. I then sneak down the stairs and enter the basement.
Soon after descending to the darkened hallways the servant returns. He enters the kitchen and comes to a halt beside the bench. After a little while the bell rings again, probably Ramirez in need for something to eat. The servant picks up another tray and takes another trip down the stairs. This guy could lead me straight to the man. Let’s tag along. He walks past some corners and enters a long narrow hallway. At the end he unlocks a red metal door. I slip through behind his back (right image above). Turn left and follow him into a room. Here’s Johnny! Directly to the left is some nice dark shade. The servant places the tray on the counter and leaves. I snatch his basement key [8] as he passes. Now we’re all alone Rami-boy! I should snap your neck for what you tried to pull! I’ll let him live in fear rather, the poor coward doesn’t deserve a quick death. A trail of shade not covered by the ceiling spotlights makes me able to maneuver unseen through the room (left image below). The table to the left has 6 water arrows and 4 moss arrows. The two chests are unpickable, but the master key in the northeast corner opens both. The chest on the floor contains a papyrus with info on certain people. Nothing important, so I skip it for Supreme, since I can’t place the paper back into the chest (although placing it in the nearest logical place is allowed). The trunk on the desk encloses a stack of gold coins (2405). The book on the counter has more facts on different individuals, including me. There’s the proof that Ramirez is to hold responsible for tonight's events! Two more stacks of gold coins (2455) sit on the eastern desk. Beside where the blue key lay are one more flash bomb and a speed potion. I have to put the key back for Supreme. Ramirez will hear it unless he is stationed against the far wall, so I wait until he is. In NewDark with TFix, Ramirez hears and alerts to dropping the key on the counter. He will either go to hunt mode or pull the alarm directly. The most discreet way to return the key is dropping on top of the speed potion. In my opinion, that solution is close enough to avoid a Supreme bust. In NewDark without TFix, Ramirez behaves like he did in OldDark, and the key can be returned directly to the counter. Then as I leave the room, I filch the purse (2705) [9] from his fatness’ belt. Yes, probably time to head home. So long amigo! I go back out to the metal door and wait for the servant to appear. I then glide out the same way I got in. (The unexplored area of the cellar contains Ramirez’ pets, two belching burricks that reside in a large pit south of the counting room. No pick-ups in that area whatsoever.)
I take the first left hall from here and follow the corridors to the stairs. (Somewhere along these halls would be a good place to drop the storage room key, since it’s on the swordsman’s patrol route) Footsteps closing in. I wait here and see three swordsmen walking by and into the 1st floor hall. I run all the way up to the second floor. I then walk straight to the end and make a right. The left passage up ahead leads back to the library. I pick one of the double-doors on the opposite side and walk out. After picking Ramirez’ pocket, four stationary thieves have spawned around the manor proper, three outside and one just inside the main entrance. These are marked with ‘(X)’ on the map. I jump onto the fence and hop over to the walkway across the river. I make a left and walk through the two doors here and onto the ladder going down. Into the river I follow the current downstream to the pour out ahead (right image above). I swim out of the mansion proper and end the mission successfully. STATISTICS: Loot: 2705 out of 2705 Pickpockets: 9 out of 9 Locks Picked: 9 Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0 Consumables: None Ghost: Success! Perfect Thief: Success! Supreme Thief: Success! Perfect Supreme Thief: Success! Norwegian
Thief: Success! - The loaf carried by the servant bringing meals to Ramirez is
not counted. I’ll have to blackjack him in order to pick it up. |
