PREVIOUS MISSION THIEF
2X Mission 13: Betrayal [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 pretty poor mission to an overall magnificent
campaign. The story shift seems extremely forced to me, as do the readables that desperately try to justify it. The glade
and the caves are decently atmospheric, but the mission is too short and
linear to have any lasting impact. Bar dousing one torch, this mission can be
Perfect Supremed. I’m not sure why it’s so
difficult to make a good final mission, but this one definitely falls short. All we really had to go on for now was killing Malak and his conjured beast. We would get the additional
task of also destroying the scales in not too long. Straight forward stuff. Had to inch along the
fence of Truart’s mansion to avoid detection from
the guards below. The female swordsman was already on the lookout, but not
from detecting me. Her comments signified she hadn’t been alerted at all. I
found I could mantle the wall to the west high up above what seemed possible
(left image below). Not sure if you’re supposed to do that, but it worked. I
could hop directly into the canal from here unseen. There were some hard to
spot lucky coins in the well across the bridge. The water seemed to have low
visibility all through the mission, thus the loot was tough to locate. Through the glade and the
caves the only real problem occurred in the cave with the waterfall and the
stationary ratman. I tried following the patrolling
one and sneak past him as he turned, but one of them always caught me. The
only way to get past was by dousing the torch in the corner. Instead I looked
for a way to climb the rocky pathway along the northern part of the cliff.
There were some large trees, and although they were rope attacheable,
it was tough to get a proper leap from the rope. It was as if I was partly
stuck to the tree, and instead of hopping I just fell to the ground. I found
a semi-repeatable spot just east of the cave opening where I first emerged
(right image above). Timing the two ratmen nearby,
I jumped and successfully mantled up the rocky slope. I managed to grab the
rope in the act also. I next had to inch out to the very edge of the path in
order to avoid the patroller coming by. A bit further up was
another stationary beast. He shifted between three facing angles, all
generally towards the east. I waited at the top as close as I could without
getting spotted (left image below). Another patroller came out of the cave up
ahead and we he turned around, I snuck into the dark corner ahead. I could wait
here and follow said patroller the next time he left. With a bit of luck, the
following cave’s patroller was walking away and I could doge both, dropping
to a rocky outcropping below the main walkway (right image below). Here I was
safe and could plan proceedings. From here I leapt back
onto the main path once both ratmen were gone. I
dropped to the northeast and mantled up a small cave with a bonfire and some
loot (left image below). Here I was safe from any alerts, despite being lit
up. I then had to time the patrollers again in order to proceed to the exit
cave. I had to wait 4 or 5 patrol loops before they were correctly
synchronized. As long as two patrollers have slightly different route lengths,
waiting them out long enough usually gives you an opening, and so it did
here. Malak’s house at the top of the slope posed
no problem. In Malak’s
lair, I could get all the way to the end of the river before getting caught.
The two torches outside the shrine were too bright to avoid the gaze of the
stationary ratman. I ended up dousing the closest
one around the corner (right image above). Now I could sneak unseen all the
way over to the corner just outside the shrine. Neither Malak
nor the large beast seemed to have any sort of first alert remarks. Only the
wandering ratman was the issue now. With good timing
I could sneak over and grab the scales. Taking them removed a light source,
but since the objective said to destroy them, that should be ok. The beast
killed everyone and I could successfully toss the scales into the lava
without getting seen. As the beast was dying I relit the torch with the fire
arrow I started the mission with. Well, that was that! STATISTICS: Time: 25:43 Loot: 1689
out of 1689 Pickpockets: None Secrets Found: None Locks Picked: None Damage Dealt: 0
Damage Taken: 0 Consumables: 1 water arrow & 1 fire arrow Ghost: Success! Perfect Thief: Success! Supreme Thief: Failed! Perfect Supreme Thief: Failed! Norwegian Thief: Success! Notes: -
Used one water arrow to put out the closest torch outside
the shrine with the scales. Used a fire arrow to light it up again after
everyone was dead. |