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ROGUES’ LAIR A very nice mission by
Vegetables. I think this is the first creation I’ve tried of his. An obvious
alternate take on Thieves’ Guild, but still very much in the style of The Dark
Project. I love the twist of going from a seemingly standard heist to a much
deeper (literally) story driven adventure. It even has one of my favorite
locations in fan mission history, showcasing the author’s immense talent. Not
to be missed, this one. After realizing Roswell’s
vase was not in the nearby gallery, I was tasked to steal it back from the
Downwind Thieves’ Guild. I also had to get a bracelet, plus 2,400 worth of
other valuables. No issues in terms of ghosting on street level, so I plunged
into the rogues’ underground hideout. Statues! Nothing to report until I
reached the mysterious castle in the mountain towards the northwest. Although
I absolutely loved the vibe of this location, I had to skip the entire place
for Supreme. Once I passed the room with all the statues standing in a ring,
the door behind me locked and it was a one-way trip from here. I tried
blocking the door with potions and scrolls first. That didn’t work, but a
crate did. However, I couldn’t get past the statue that spawned right in
front of the door. I could drop down on either side of it, but there wasn’t
enough room to squeeze by. This ended up forcing me through a bedroom later
on with two statue heads shooting purple balls at me (left image below). They
only triggered once I was in the room, so this was a trap. I found this room
to be impossible to sneak through or avoid triggering said traps. The rest of
the castle could be passed for regular ghost without much issue. Too bad, as
this meant 700 in loot had to be skipped already.
There was another area in the
same castle where a different statue in a similar way was rigged with a trap.
I could evade it by sneaking through the hall with lots of sworded statues without triggering their swinging blades.
That way I approached this booby trapped statue from behind (right image
above). I could get two of the four pieces of loot like this without busting
Supreme; a moot point, since the entire castle had to be skipped for that
mode. It was fun to figure this out nonetheless. Pub Crawl The toughest piece of loot
by far came in the pub. First there was a bottle of wine behind the bar
counter. It had to be taken dropping from the north side, no big deal. But
the gold goblet on the restaurant table was a different story. For regular
Ghost I could get it with a first alert easily enough. For Supreme, it
required something much more elaborate. The thief guard patrolled between the
two floors; he was not the problem. The bartender, however, was. She faced
west and south. I couldn’t use any of the conventional entrances, the floor
level was simply too lit. The only way to get down without a first alert was
by use of rope arrows shot from the northwest second floor window (left image
below). The one rope had to be placed very
precisely in order to pull the next set of moves off. It had to hang down
about a tile length out from the middle dividing pillar, about one foot out
from the wall. I managed to do this move three times, and the rope was pretty
much in the same position each time. The other rope was just used in order to
reach the aforementioned one, so its placement was unimportant. When climbing
down, I couldn’t drop all the way, as the floor level directly underneath the
rope spawned a first alert, regardless of what direction she was facing.
Instead, once I got low enough on the rope to be underneath the archway, I
faced northwest, then quickly swung around so that I would end up facing
southeast. If doing this correctly, and if the rope was placed properly, I
would now be positioned in a very small dark spot while still hanging on the
rope. Here I could inch myself down and land with no remark. The next problem was the
candle on the table to the northwest (right image below). I would hit the
light from this before getting blocked by the pillar as hardcover, and I was too
far away to get the goblet by leaning. However, I could lean out of view of
the woman’s gaze. I then realized something I never knew, even after 20+
years of ghosting. You can actually strafe while leaning!! Was this possible
in the old engine, or was it introduced post NewDark??
Anyways, I could lean west and then strafe the same direction. Leaning
maintained my dark light gem, but it got my body behind hardcover, so she
didn’t see me when the light from the candle hit me. Going back I could do
something similar, although now I had to lean west while strafing east.
The toughest part came
last though; getting back onto the rope. The problem was I had to get on by
jumping, and this I could only do while standing. Also, when fastened onto
the rope, I had to still be dark enough not to trigger a first alert. I had
almost no space to work with due to the aforementioned candle. When I finally
found the correct angle, it usually required several jumps to get fully onto
the rope, which of course made noise and alerted the lady. I ended up
bringing along the healing potion from behind the counter to cushion my
landing first. When I did this, I could do repeated hops without having to
reload in between, significantly bettering my success rate. When finally on
the rope, I climbed up a bit, and then had to do the same 180˚
pivot to avoid being hit by the candle. At long last I could climb up and
grab my ropes as I mantled back into the window. Phew! Mansions Donal’s
wasn’t a problem to ghost. I didn’t find a way up to the third floor balcony
from the outside. This would’ve skipped having to pick the lock on his
bedroom door. Perhaps there is a way, but I wasn’t going to spend excessive
time on it. Reuben’s mansion was likewise quite easy. Plenty of shadows and
predictable patrollers. The outside plaza was dangerous, but there was no
need to use it. The vault couldn’t be
locked up, and since the keys disappeared, they naturally couldn’t be
returned. Although that made it easier, I kind of wish they could’ve been. It
would’ve felt a lot cleaner. Great mission! Statistics: Time: 1:15:36 Loot: 4000 out of 4000 (Supreme: 3300) Pickpockets: 2 out of 2 Locks Picked: 2 Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0 Consumables: None Ghost: Success! Perfect Thief: Success! Supreme Thief: Success! Perfect Supreme Thief: Failed! Notes: -
Had to skip all the loot in the mysterious castle for
Supreme. I couldn’t get through the burning bedroom without setting off
spitfire traps, and there was no way back through the room with all the
statues in a circle. This was 14 pieces of loot valued at 700 gold. |
