Mission 3: While the City Sleeps

[This report has been updated for TFix/NewDark 1.27. Situations affected by these patches and differences between them and OldDark have been inserted in green. All screenshots have been updated, and new ones have been added.]

A very nice medium-sized city mission. Plenty of establishments are possible to visit throughout the district, and the street layout encourages a non-linear approach, which is always good. There’s also a fair bit of verticality, where you can apply several rooftops and balconies. Readables and conversations provide more insight into the city’s inner workings, without overdoing it and making it tedious. One of the best missions from the campaign this!

Basically, all I had to do was get into the Market District, locate some information on the smugglers in Kedar’s store, and gather 1,100 in loot, including 300 in goods. I also needed to escape by leaving the district.

Entering Market District

The gas arrow at start was possible to grab with an angled running jump, or by using the crystal shard creating an ice layer in the canal. Three ways existed into Market District: 1) I could sneak through the main gates when the guards were off looking for coffees. This required the use of an arrow, however, in order to open the code panel. The gate itself could be closed with a lever at the Market District side, but the panel was still left open. I could access that lever from the east side of the gate, but there was a guard blocked the way, so the only way to close it was to use a second arrow. Compared to the other options, this was an easy skip. 2) The sewers were another alternative. The key was obtainable from the house above the canal in the north (left image below). Two manholes led to the district. Both were viable options, but if you choose to emerge by the one closest to the main gate, make sure you don’t ever trigger the conversation outside the gates. If you do, the guard that enters the district ends up stationing himself right by this manhole, blocking the path due north. There was one clear argument against using the sewers at all for Supreme. The sewer key, like most keys in this mission, can’t be returned (it sticks to your inventory), which technically makes it an unnecessary pickup and an arguable bust. 3) The third and final route was instead my obvious choice. I left the house with the sewer key through the east window, dropping onto the pipes further south (right image below).

Before entering the Market District you can reach the easter egg quote scroll just west of the canal. You can see remains of a skeleton sticking out beyond the roof up there, while its skull is at the bottom of the canal. A vine arrow into the eave of the adjacent building will get you up there.

Market District

I loved the street layout in this district. Lots of houses to enter and alternate routes to move around by, and heaps of hidden objects waiting to be discovered. Took the nugget from the chest across the canal by doing a running jump from the wooden roof. Had to vine arrow up to the top roof to obtain the golden goblet (left image below). The archer was out of sight for some time and I could easily ascend the line while he was gone. From the street just south of this I could enter a window above Anvil of Crom, a local armsdealer (right image below). The other entrance further north was by way of a small grate in a nearby attic, but it required picking a lock and I wanted to avoid that. This building was connected to Fine Dining’s second floor and upstairs Grindall’s Arms and Armor. I was able to loot these establishments completely undisturbed. I waited with the secret entrance to Anvil of Crom until cleaning out Ralkavian’s Family Jewels across the street. I was able to jump both ways between the window and the ledge without alerting guards below. There was a moss arrow in the elevated garden outside the window of Ralkavian’s. I dropped down from the garden on the south end and snuck across the bridge. I could snag the key from the hammer leaning around the pillar. To obtain the two items from the canal inside the hammerite building, I dove into the waterway further north, out of listening reach of both guards. I made sure to check well for any alerts when I resurfaced. Picked the lock on the canal gate and swam inside. This isn’t the stealthiest way inside for Supreme, so I returned here later by a different route for that mode. I vine arrowed back up to the garden. The wary guard outside Grindall’s had to be turned east for me to dodge him going back. The area was much more tense after the thieves robbing Anvil of Crom had been killed, so it was to my preference to get this part of town done with before looting that establishment. The safe could be opened by the secret button behind the target upstairs, but it didn’t have any loot.

South past the main gate I ascended the ledges by the alley generator (left image below). Grabbed the loot from the attics and balconies up here and accessed the hammerite craft center, now from the southwest. This point of entry was much safer than any of the previous ones by the canal. Inside there wasn’t a single guard to worry about. Didn’t need to create the lever in the smelting area; I knew the gate to Kedar’s shop could be opened without it. Made my way back out from the top floor again afterwards. Returned to the street from the small dock with the dead thief.

The fish store’s front entrance was locked, but not pickable. The key was at the locksmith’s, but it was unattainable for Supreme. The easiest way in was by way of a crate below the window atop the stairs (right image below). In NewDark, you can easily mantle onto the windowsill without a crate, given you have newmantle enabled.

The Turning Key

The toughest move in the mission by far came at the locksmith. I only had a few pieces of loot left, and I saw Perfect Supreme within reach. I wasn’t going to let it go without a fight. The front door was pickable and the entrance was dark (left image below). To reach it, I closed the door after it was unlocked, then snuck up to it and opened it inch by inch until I got to the dark spot. The inside watcher stared straight at me, so I had to be in a near perfect shadow to not be seen. For Supreme, even the slightest sound from the camera is a bust. For regular Ghost, the easy solution was to flip the light switch behind the door. I couldn’t see the switch, but it could be reached without problems through the open door. That turned half of the store pitch black, and all the items could be taken like this. Of course, Ghost allows disabling the camera also, but that wasn’t necessary. For Supreme, however, neither turning off the light nor the camera is allowed. The only piece of interest was a stack of silver coins in a footlocker on a ledge above the door. It was situated on a plateau that stretched onto the roof of the street, so it was actually west and a bit north of where I was standing. I never had real hope of obtaining it, so when it suddenly happened, I was as surprised as I was happy. When I played this mission 15 years ago, I can’t remember even giving it a shot. The trick was to use the leaning mechanism fully to my advantage. Leaning doesn’t change the light gem whatsoever, even when jumping. If I stood in the doorway, turned north, leaned right and jumped, I could land safely in the doorway with the light gem remaining black (right image below). Occasionally, I would hit the edge of the top door frame and bounce into the room some. This instantly set off the camera. All I had to do was adjust positioning a tad until this movement didn’t occur. Furthermore, I couldn’t be placed too far north in the doorway, as instead of jumping, Zaya would mantle the door, again shifting position into the room quite drastically. The best location I’d say was a few inches north of the midway point. At the apex of the jump I had to quickly turn left to highlight the chest, then frob, and turn back right to safely land in the doorway. It took a few tries, but once I found my groove, I could repeat it with a fair amount of ease. Of course, I had to do the jump twice in order to close the footlocker again. This was a highly satisfying maneuver, as it required skill and quick finger movements, but didn’t exploit any quirks in the dark engine. Great!

Market Square

Listened to a conversation next, one that I honestly think I missed on each of my previous runs. It was between two city watch guards discussing the value of having the locksmith on their side. They both started patrolling afterwards. Ascended a window somewhat northeast of this (left image below). It gave access to two pieces of loot that I could’ve approached from the dock with the dead thief earlier, but that would’ve necessitated picking the lock on two crawlspace grates. Coming from this side circumvented that, though it did require dodging a patrolling guard in a tight hallway. For me he always turned to his right at the end points of his patrol, so I slipped past on his left as he pivoted.

At Market Square I could open the gate by frobbing the inside lever (right image below). It was so easy to do that I cannot imagine this not being intentional. Someone would have discovered it during testing, surely. All three shops inside were accessible this way. No enemies in there so nothing to report. Listened to the last guard conversation from inside the Market Square door. Lowered the gate again as I left the building.

In NewDark, you can mantle the balcony on the south side of the second floor with a vine arrow across the street (left image below). This makes you able to avoid picking the door to Mort’s Pre-Need Store, since I prefer minimizing those.

Looting Rathran’s paint shop was the final task. From there I continued northwest, back to where I first entered Market District and ended the mission. Perfect Supreme success!

STATISTICS:

Time: 33:04

Loot: 1738 out of 1738

Pickpockets: 2 out of 3

Secrets Found: 1 out of 3

Locks Picked: 7

Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0

Consumables: None

Ghost: Success!

Perfect Thief: Success!

Supreme Thief: Success!

Perfect Supreme Thief: Success! J

Norwegian Thief: Success! J