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ASCEND THE DIM VALLEY Another
excellent mission by DirkBogan. This one even tops Compulsory Egress in my
book. Probably the most vertical map I have ever seen, yet cleverly constructed
in order to lead the player in a predictable direction. This mission is all
about first time exploration and discovery. Perhaps a bit on the easy side
though, which made my ghost run a bit less interesting that I had expected.
Still a must play, especially for fans of The Dark Project. I
had to find The Iron Façade somewhere in Craggenmense, a big rift in the
mountain. It was reportedly kept by one of two rivaling clans, but which one
was unknown. I was also to acquire 3,500 worth of loot before returning to
the starting location. This
mission was pretty basic to Ghost, almost too easy. The vizier’s posed no
challenges. The factory I couldn’t enter via the vent on the lower level for
Supreme (left image below). There was a lamp on the right that was too bright
to avoid a first alert. Instead I used the main entrance at the topmost level
and emerged via a different vent shaft from the smelting room (right image
below). There was only one piece of loot to get down here.
The
wine cellar connected by a vent shaft to the supraward’s basement presented an
odd problem. A woman with a key on her belt spawned at some point in the
cellar while I was in the basement. This key was required to get some more
loot later on. However, triggering her appearance also removed a gold plate
on the table in the cellar (left image below). I wasn’t aware of that until I
descended from the vent, ready to take both the key and the loot (right image
below). I instead had to reload and visit the cellar prior to the woman
spawning, then come down from above to get the key later. I have never seen
loot disappearing like that before.
The
supraward’s building was fairly straight forward. Had to skip a lit
candlestick in the third floor drawing room for Supreme. Removing light
sources isn’t allowed for that mode. The only other issue came outside the
west wing vault. The patrolling guard here had gotten stuck facing north
(left image below). Both timed I have played this mission he has been stuck
that way. I know he is supposed to be patrolling, because I lured him off the
ledge by letting him see me once, then I escaped and he settled down by
resuming his patrol route. Galaer also encountered him stuck when ghosting,
but for him he was facing the wall and was easy to sneak around. For me, I
couldn’t sneak in via the northern doorway, and he gave a first alert when I
opened the southern door. I could rush into the vault and take the skull for
regular Ghost, but not for Supreme. The solution was simply not to read the
armistice and avoid triggering the objective to steal it. Of course, even if
you have triggered it, stealing neither it nor the iron façade is still
legal, as those objectives get canceled if using the “alternate” ending.
I
didn’t end up taking the west gate key, as I could mantle over the wall
easily enough. The only difficult part remaining was getting to the doors
leading to the vizier’s top level. A stationary guard covering the outside
gates started straight at my location. Luckily, there was an archway that
provided a solution. With a leap I made a mantle up on its left side (left
image above). Then from the archway’s lamp I could make a long jump across
and mantle up the wall by the plants. He occasionally saw this last jump, but
not always. I’d say this was the only semi-difficult move the mission had to
offer. The rest of the vizier’s was no trouble. I ended up taking the iron
façade, but didn’t read the armistice, thus avoiding the skull objective
entirely. Returned the supraward keeper’s key also before finishing. Statistics: Time: 1:34:54 Loot: 5800 out of 5800 (Supreme: 5750) Pickpockets: 3 out of 3 Locks Picked: 4 Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0 Consumables: None Ghost: Success! Perfect Thief: Success! Supreme Thief: Success! Perfect Supreme Thief: Failed! Notes: -
Skipped a lit candlestick worth 50 at the supraward’s
for Supreme. Removing light sources isn’t allowed for that mode. |
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