1.  18th Aug 2009, 06:51#26

Hexameron

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FM: Wicked Webs We Weave
File: wickedwebs_final_update.zip

Ghost - Success {Chemical}
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 02:19:29
Loot - 2457/2559
Pockets Picked - 7/10
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0 Bodies Discovered - 1

Comments - This FM is a slightly revamped version of T2's "First City Bank and Trust." Besides newly designed areas outside and in the basement, nearly every portion of the bank is intact and identical to the T2 OM. Minor changes have been made to the amount of loot, types of AI, and secrets. The greatest alteration is in the objectives, the main one being to return the voice recorder (of Truart) to the vault, but this is ultimately cancelled. At one point, the player is pummeled with New Objectives at virtually every turn. By the end of the mission, I counted at least 17 completed objectives!  Backtracking became common place and predictable after the 10th New Objective.

I hadn't played any T2 OM's in over four years, but I think it's a testament to the excellence of the classic Thief OM's that I still remembered intimate details about the floor plan, loot placement, and AI patrols of "First City Bank and Trust." Even though I ghosted it years ago, I readily knew exactly where I needed to go. I went in through my preferred route via the rooftops and onto the rafters above the meeting hall. For about an hour and a half I played this mission as if it was the T2 OM, heading for the watcher control on the third floor, and then gathering all loot floor-by-floor.

I was disappointed when I explored the basement expecting to find the buttons to lower the pole blocking the vault door; the author had erased the button panel and I ended up wasting my time skulking through the basement. To lower the pole and open the vault door, I needed to decipher a combination, which is described in a papyrus that can be picked from a mechanist.

-There are two areas with statues and plaques that contain cryptic clues about the combination. One plaque reads, and I'm paraphrasing, "We two are the beginning; our brothers in the hall make us whole; in the end we are divided." The other plaque says, "We are brothers of eight that follow our sisters; they are one; we are two; the pillars beside us are three and four." I figured out that the latter plaque suggests a four digit combination and the digit itself is the number of objects (in this case, statues and pillars). Thus, the first plaque is near two statues and so the first digit is 2 ("they are one"); the other plaque is near eight statues, so the next digit is 8 ("we are two"). There are two rows of five pillars in the Hall of Statues ("the pillars beside us"), so the final digits are 5.

-Once I triggered the scripted entry of the bank president and his arrest, I needed to find the book of treasures accessible from the rooftops where a band of thieves were preparing to steal it. The ensuing scripted battle was surprising and posed a major problem for the ghoster:





After the archer destroys the wall, a spider leaps out and attacks the thieves. A patrolling mechanist joins the fight, but is eager to attack both parties:



I reloaded numerous times to witness various outcomes. Sometimes only the spider survived, and then other times only the mechanist or archer:



By the end of the battle, I could hear numerous second alerts all around me. At least two human guards and two bots inside the bank heard the explosion. But it's the surviving spider or human that becomes a ghosting obstacle. I must enter the crawl space, but approaching it is impossible without instigating a third alert. Even if I waited for things to calm down, the surviving AI always face the crawl space, and apart from my safe position in the shadows, the entire rooftops are well-lit. My only option was to use one of my two invis potions taken from the armory in the basement. I downed a potion from my safe position and raced into the crawl space without alerting the surviving AI.

-There is another ghosting obstacle in the basement. One needs to make a wax copy of a key, but this mechanist worker is blocking the entry:



I could have used my last invis potion, but I presumed I might need it later. As an alternative to chemical stimulants, I nudged him. If he is nudged far enough to the left, one can dash towards the wax machine with only a first alert:



-Another potential ghosting problem occurs at the mission end after opening the door to the lair. The lair in this mission is only a descending thin corridor with a haunt at the bottom. Entering this corridor triggers a script causing him to rush forward, not to the player, but to a newly spawned lever so he can close a gate behind the player:



If all other objectives are completed, the mission will end after the haunt closes the gate. Interestingly, if I crouched and positioned myself deep enough in the corridor, the haunt would run right past me, close the gate, and walk by me again without noticing my presence:

2.  19th Aug 2009, 06:56#27

Hexameron

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FM: Hunting Treasure: Part 1 Unrest
File: Hunting_Treasure.zip

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - N/A
Time - 00:41:54
Loot - 0/4519
Pockets Picked - 0/1
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - A very odd mission. Garrett travels to the planet Neptune(?) in search of holy items at a Temple of Bullmastiff (maybe Mars has a Citadel of Dachshund?). This isn't a large mission, but it's certainly intimidating for any kind of Thief player. Garrett has no weapons or lock picks; only a compass and water arrows. Ghosting is therefore a necessity unless one wishes to explore with a haunt on their derriere. This FM is oozing with AI, perhaps the most AI I've seen in a single mission. Just for fun, I tried to alert and drag as many as I could to a single location; the following screen shot displays perhaps not even half of the total AI count in this FM:



Throughout the temple halls are various tips from a Keeper who directs the player to the right path. I ignored them and just explored. Unfortunately, all of the loot is unfrobbable; no chance for perfect thieving .

The entire mission looks great and challenging at first, but there are so many torches that the author might as well have named this FM "Dousing the Flames" because that's all I did. Garrett starts with 50 water arrows for good reason. There must be at least a hundred torches in this temple, although I managed to explore every part of the mission including the crypts until I was down to 10 water arrows. There are about 50 other water arrows that can be taken from a couple of rooms with unlocked doors, too. By the time I found this water arrow supply, I had already returned from the crypts with the key I needed. So I just doused every torch in my path until I found the barracks and ended the mission.

3.  20th Aug 2009, 06:40#28

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FM: Garrett's Young Years
File: GarrettsjungeJahre.zip

Ghost - Failed?
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 01:43:45
Loot - 3762/3872
Pockets Picked - 13/22
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 0/1

Cause of Failure:

1. Cannot steal necessary loot without triggering a script that puts two AI on alert who subsequently instigate a battle with other AI.

Comments - I really enjoyed this mission and found the author's meticulous style and humor refreshing. Sure the architecture isn't as refined and sophisticated as it could be, but half way through the mission, I started to believe I was actually playing as a young Garrett on one of his early thieving excursions before TDP. I was pleased the author did away with any weapons including the blackjack, as it wouldn't make sense for an immature Garrett to be so equipped. This could have made the mission very challenging, but I encountered no problems. Half of the AI in this mission ignore Garrett or initiate small talk anyway, and most of the city is dark enough that I could run around carelessly.

Claiming a ghost success in this mission is a tough call, though. I'm inclined to believe it could be either a success or fail depending on one's interpretation of a scripted event. The situation is as follows. In the secret pagan temple there are four AI: a sprite, a slim treebeast, and two pagan apparitions. All of them ignore each other and stay idle:



One of the objectives is to collect 3700 loot, but the mission only contains 3872. Note the cache of colored diamonds in the ground. These diamonds amount to 500 loot and must be taken. But doing so triggers a script causing the treebeast and the sprite to rush forward to the location of the diamonds and go on second alert. It's possible to move back and remain undetected while they search, but something else unusual happens. They notice the two pagan apparitions and a melee breaks out:



I guess the worshipping pagans had a change of heart about the Woodsie Lord? It's not clear to me if the treebeast and sprite go on second alert because they see the pagans or if their alert status is a result of the scripted event after Garrett takes the diamonds. Whatever the case, I'm at a loss to judge it as a bust or not. It could be reminiscent of stealing the Eye in RTC or it could be an obvious bust because no objective is explicitly completed after taking the diamonds.

Another similar scripted event occurs in the Hammerite compound. Stealing this vase (and the gold hammer nearby) causes an apparition to race forward to the location of the missing loot and stand idle:



He never enters an alert state, so perhaps the aforementioned treebeast and sprite would also stand idle if it weren't for them noticing the pagans.

-If the mission can be ghosted, I don't believe it can be perfect thieved. In the prison of the City Watch building there is a ring in a cell that cannot be reached without alerting an AI. This AI, the moaning woman wearing a mask, stares out of her cell against a portion of the wall brightly lit by a torch. The space between the wall and prison cell is too narrow and Garrett has no water arrows; I couldn't sneak by.

-There are some New Objectives that can be avoided and I made sure not to initiate the objective to kill the beasts in the pen. The new objective to carry Sergio's body to the pagan cemetary is vital and completing it would bring about relief for most players: the reward constitutes three gold nuggets and a blackjack!

4.  22nd Aug 2009, 05:28#29

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FM: Garrett's Young Years II
File: GarrettsJungeJahre2.zip

Mission 1: Again that damned Talisman!

Perfect Thief - Success
Time - 01:20:01
Loot - 2500/2500
Pockets Picked - 9/16
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 2/2

Comments - Another fine mission from a promising author. Like its prequel, Garrett must once again find "Aunt Bea's" coveted amulet and pilfer as much loot from the city as possible. On expert, the latter goal is quite difficult.

I have no major ghosting difficulties to report, but finding the required 2400 loot was the greatest hurdle. The author of the GYY series prefers altering and in fact diminishing the default value of loot. In addition, loose coins, single coins, and copper coin stacks are the favored loot type, making the total of 2400 more difficult to reach than it would seem.

-In the High Priest's room of the Hammerite compound is a woman being held (hostage?) behind a banner:



There is a switch under the door frame that opens the banner, but this activates a script causing her to run out and inevitably become alerted. It is possible to frob the jeweled cup at her feet without opening the banner itself, though.

-Getting into the hole of the abandoned house is most irritating and requires a precise rope arrow alignment and position on the rope from which to to jump. Once in the opening, the player is stuck in the hole for a time. Continuously pressing forward and crouching will eventually wiggle Garrett through, but not without some foot noise on the tiled surface. Fortunately, the room brush around the opening is either absent or malfunctioning; the spider cannot hear outside noise or even foot noise on the tile-textured surface of the hole.

Loot

As I've said, loot is what really foils the player in this FM. It took me an additional two hours to find all of it and I almost gave up. One has to inspect every crevice, every niche, every piece of furniture in every room to sniff out loose coins and coin stacks difficult to frob.

-There are various purses on the pub gamblers that aren't easy to see.
-A necklace dangling on the bedpost with the two sleeping pagans.
-Loose coins on gambling table in City Watch building.
-Loose coins on purple dresser near Safety Deposit Box.
-Coin stack between two bags in the butcher shop.
-Coin stack in niche behind dresser in room with barechested male thief.

-And a purse on a windowsill accessible with the single rope arrow. From the street, the open window is deceiving. It appears as if there's no viable surface to shoot a rope arrow, but one has to aim for the outer edge of the building.



Secrets

1. Three-story building with workshop table and coffin: frobbable torch in basement opens secret area with loot.

2. Apartment with strange wallpaper border: lever between dresser and wall opens the doormat above a compartment with loot.

5.  22nd Aug 2009, 05:52#30

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Good job, Hexameron, and thanks for keeping the tradition alive. Hat's off to you for ghosting Whispers in the Desert. I did so up to the end in the throne room, but I panicked and just ran out of there with all the AI chasing me. That was fun, too.

I'd like to mention that quite a few of your screen shots, in particular the recent ones, are too dark for me to make out. If you edit them and apply a gamma factor of 1.8 or 1.9, they will probably all look fine to everyone. Page 1 of this thread is generally OK.

6.  22nd Aug 2009, 06:14#31

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FM: Garrett's Young Years II
File: GarrettsJungeJahre2.zip

Mission 2: Ordeal

Ghost - Failed
Time - 00:25:15
Loot - 1335/1360
Pockets Picked - 0/10
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Causes of Failure:

1. Cannot enter hole in abandoned house without alerting the tiny spider.
2. Cannot exit thieves hideout without alerting a zombie blocking the path.
(3). If one initiates the "new objective" to free the people from the Hammerite compound, killing multiple undead becomes necessary.

Comments - I was not expecting this kind of a mission! Apparently Garrett's actions in mission one brought about a cataclysm in the city; buildings are damaged, human AI dead, and every piece of furniture is violently upturned. It's an undead mission and the author presents a fascinating plethora of re-skinned apparitions, haunts, and skeletons.

I must note that I finished this mission without triggering the "new objective" to free the people from the Hammerite compound. I avoided this objective after playing for about 30 minutes and realizing what "freeing" them entailed: killing zombies and in accordance with an explicit objective, making sure the path was clear of undead so they could escape unharmed. Picking up the key on the dead nobleman's belt at the mission start is what triggers the "new objective," so I restarted the game and left the key untouched.

-Stealing the purse and coins from the dead husky nobleman causes the haunt in a nearby building to walk out and patrol. It appears he reaches a heightened second alert state, but shows no physical signs of searching. If the haunt has the player in his view and the light gem is anything but the darkest (even a single tint above pitch black), he will notice and charge fully third alerted. I've never encountered this kind of alerted behaviour: he does not enter an active search mode, patrols around normally, although laughing maniacally like a haunt who is second alerted, and is quick to spot from any distance the player not in pitch darkness. Odd... 

-Stealing the mask at the end of the street causes an apparition to spawn in an alcove. It's impossible to sneak by even with the torches doused.

-Reading Alwine's note on the windowsill of her room cancels the objective to find Garrett's cousins.

-Perhaps the author fixed the room brush around the hole in the wall of the abandoned building. Unlike in mission one, I could not even lodge myself into the hole without making a foot noise and alerting the tiny spider inside.

-The abandoned area is now full of undead, but there is a vital cache of loot (about 500 worth) on the ground. Additionally, there is a skeleton blocking the entrance to the thieves hideout that might have been a clear bust:



I managed to nudge him a little bit and squeeze by so I could fall down below:



If I could have gotten into that hole without alerting the spider, I would be primed for a ghost success at this point. But then there's this guy:



He is standing in front of a ladder and a trapdoor leading to the streets; the trapdoor can only be opened from inside the thieves hideout and I couldn't sneak by.

-Entering the Hammerite compound triggers a scripted battle between undead and hammerites in the graveyard. I avoided entering the sights of any AI alerted from the ruckus by going right into the church. There is a button above the altar in the church that opens the banner behind the two large metal hammers (I used a water arrow to hit the button above the hammerite novice). This leads to the catacombs where the staff must be replaced.

-Without the extra new objective to free the captives in the Hammerite compound, the mission ends after placing the staff on the pedestal.

7.  22nd Aug 2009, 07:22#32

Hexameron

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 Originally Posted by Peter Smith

I'd like to mention that quite a few of your screen shots, in particular the recent ones, are too dark for me to make out. If you edit them and apply a gamma factor of 1.8 or 1.9, they will probably all look fine to everyone. Page 1 of this thread is generally OK.

Weird. All of my screenshots are set to gamma 1.8. I edited the gamma of all screens on this page to 2.0, but they don't appear that different to me. Thanks for the feedback about that.

8.  22nd Aug 2009, 07:45#33

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FM: Walkin' on Mars
File: WalkinOnMars-1.0.zip

Ghost - Failed
Perfect Thief - N/A
Time - 00:05:14
Loot - 0/0
Pockets Picked - 0/1
Backstabs - 1 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 30 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 1

Causes of Failure:

1. Cannot sneak by mechanist outside of spacecraft.

2. Cannot sneak into spacecraft without alerting another mechanist.

Comments - One of those space thief missions and not very sporting for the player who prefers stealth. There is only one objective to get the precursor mask.



I couldn't sneak by the idle mechanist observing the metal hatch; the area is too bright. I gave him a backstab when the patrolling bot and mechanist were far away. I could have taken about 30 minutes to nudge him aside, but why go through all the work when I have to face the following when I open the hatch?



There's no chance of stealth with this mechanist inside. It's also difficult to get off of the ladder and into the spacecraft. I had to close the hatch behind me so I became sandwiched between it and the ladder. Only with the metal hatch as a support could I jump off of the ladder without falling back outside.

9.  22nd Aug 2009, 08:46#34

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FM: City Conflict 1
File: City_Conflict_1.zip

Perfect Thief - Success
Time - 00:22:05
Loot - 1795/1795
Pockets Picked - 1/2
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - This FM utilizes the Utlimate Difficulty Mod; at least, the author modified the gamesys to match the level of difficulty that comes with the UDM. I've only tried the T2 OM's with the UDM and I'm not a great fan. With AI intense missions, ghosting with the UDM can really be a pain rather than an enjoyment; I tend to reload more than I would if I was supreme ghosting. Nonetheless, this little mission gave me no problems.

-Picking the key off of the mechanist priest disrupts his patrol. When he realizes he can't enter the locked office, he stands still. One has to unlock the door and reload to get him moving again. No matter where he is during his patrol, as soon as the door is locked, he stops dead in his tracks. I found I could use this to my advantage. It certainly helped the first time I got to the top floor and picked his key after he entered the assembly room: he goes back to his office and stands at the door. Having one less AI patrolling up here while I snuck to the far end of the balcony was helpful, maybe even vital.

-To get the loot at the end of the balcony, I had to crouch and walk slowly to the far end, jump onto the rails, and stay crouched while the patrolling mechanist made her round; I couldn't simply stay on the balcony floor or else she would bump into me and notice my presence.

10.  23rd Aug 2009, 02:00#35

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They look much better now too me, on the whole. A few could be just a little bit too light, but not annoyingly so. They are fine. Formerly there were some dark ones, in Garrett's Young Years II. The figures are now clearly visible to me, but the background is still black.

You are embarassing me with all your rapid fire exploits. 

11.  24th Aug 2009, 02:27#36

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FM: Garrett's Young Years
File: GarrettsjungeJahre.zip

Ghost - Failed
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 04:18:07
Loot - 3792/3872
Pockets Picked - 14/22
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 1/1

Cause of Failure:

I repeated Hexameron's run, thinking I might find a way to beat the sprite and tree beast. Nope. My experience was even less ghostly than his in two respects, but I did get more loot, one more pocket, and the secret, which had no loot.

Regarding the hammerite ghost that comes out of the tomb when you steal a gold vase or hammer at the Hammerite Monestery, my experience is that he came for me in a bee line every time. I tried to pick up the gold vase on the run and circle around to get the hammer. On one occasion and only one, he stopped some distance from where I picked up the vase. I have no proof whether he saw me or not.

Regarding the sprite and the tree beast, I tried all kind of angles and reaching moves, but the sprite always came for me in a bee line to wherever I was. No hiding. I tried pacing objects in front of him, hoping to block his view. All I could find that was handy, or seemed worth trying, was one hammerite body, found in the water, and three purple fruits found in the area. I stacked the fruits right in front of him and the body behind the fruits. I could not see the sprite. But he saw me. Every time. I think that is the script. He adjusts his running angle to correspond to Garrett's position.

Now, if there had been any frobbable crates in the mission or boulders, I would have made a huge pile in front of him, hoping to block his motion. I would have claimed success with that move if I could have done it, but there were no frobbable crates or boulders.

So, for me, it was clearly a bust. The reason for the bust is two scripts. But these are scripts where they obviously attack the player, so I think it is a bust. This is a different situation from the scripts in Life of the Party (the fight) and Return to the Cathedral (taking the eye), where the AI do not see Garrett (if done right), so the only complaint is whether Garrett started a melee. The ruling was that he didn't. That may be debatable, but in any case I think there can be no success if the AI attack Garrett, whatever the reason.

I picked up the loot in these places plus the ring in the jail, just to see if I could get all the loot. I am still 80 short and not highly motivated to keep looking, having done the nose to the ground grid search 2-3 times (note time). Another factor in the time is that I always try ghosting the first time through, so no practice to find optimal routes in advance.

12.  26th Aug 2009, 21:41#37

Hexameron

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Interesting thoughts there, Peter. From my perspective, the hammerite haunt, treebeast, and sprite, are scripted to run towards the position of the loot, not to attack the player. This creates the illusion that they're charging right for you. And if you're not fast enough to move out of the way, they will run right into you and notice you sure enough.

To deal with the haunt, I first looted the gold vase and backed away quickly while crouched. He stopped near the missing vase and stood idle. Then I stole the gold hammer and he raced towards that location, too, but I backpedaled invisibly; ultimately he stood still for the remainder of my game and showed no external signs of an alert state.

Regarding the sprite and the tree beast, I tried all kind of angles and reaching moves, but the sprite always came for me in a bee line to wherever I was.

I don't think the sprite is coming for you but like the haunt, to the position where the loot once was. The sprite and treebeast behave similar to the haunt except they go on second alert for some reason.

Another factor in the time is that I always try ghosting the first time through, so no practice to find optimal routes in advance

I was surprised by your 4 hour timestamp, but I see how you reached that now. I always ghost the first time through as well, but if I get stuck or short on loot, I'll go on a BJ run. When I figure out how to progress, which might be three hours later, I'll reload my earlier ghost save.

13.  26th Aug 2009, 22:10#38

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FM: Bathory - Part II
File: bathory_part2_v1.1a.zip

Perfect Thief - Success
Time - 02:14:06
Loot - 7350/7350
Pockets Picked - 9/16
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 20 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0 (1) Innocents Killed - Some
Secrets Found - 5/5

Comments - The Bathory series is an epic campaign of high-quality FM's with a dark medieval setting. The fictional plotline is about the infamous 16th century Hungarian "Blood Countess" who bathed in the blood of virgins. Like CoSaS, all traces of Garrett the player have been removed, including mantling grunts, cries from being wounded, and even sounds that the player makes on each walking surface. I found the latter aspect a little hard to get used to, but it's refreshing all the same. I did not care for the new light gem, but again, it just requires familiarization.

This mission is quite large, but I had no problem ghosting any of it. The stats indicate I had 0 kills, but I did kill the bailiff (objective). He is standing in a large bathroom next to Rozi, the nude woman taking a shower. I couldn't knock him out with my walking stick (substitute for BJ), but I could assassinate him with a single broadhead. The bailiff's deathcry didn't alert Rozi, even though he was very close to her.

Ever the perfectionist, I spent so many hours searching for all of the loot, but still ended up 20 short after five hours! I got so desperate I asked for help about this missing loot on the TTLG boards and the author gave me a loot list. The missing loot was indeed loose coins on a bench outside the conference room where the Notary is.

Other hard-to-find loot includes:

-Attic alcove: gold wine bottle lodged in stacked-log wall texture.
-Servants' quarters: tiny ring on floor near bloodstain in one of the rooms.
-Crypt with Ouroboros trinity pedestal: gold skull in niche above doorway.

14.  26th Aug 2009, 22:19#39

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FM: Bathory - Part III
File: bathory_part3_v1.2a.zip

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 01:50:18
Loot - 6070/6370
Pockets Picked - 16/20
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 3
Damage dealt - 3 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 1/2

Comments - Nothing too difficult for the ghoster here. I played this mission right after I finished Bathory - Part II and I got a little burned out towards the end. I gave up trying to find the remaining 300 loot and the missing secret 

There is an objective to knock out three guards outside of the mausoleum and hide their bodies in the garden, which explains the knockout count and damage recorded in my stats.

The guards in the garden outside of Elizabeth's residence are sensitive to doused torches. I could only extinguish two without alerting them.

15.  27th Aug 2009, 04:57#40

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FM: Carkess Revenge
File: Carkess-Revenge.zip

Ghost - Failed
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 02:29:53
Loot - 7091/7341
Pockets Picked - 5/7
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 105 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 1

Cause of Failure:

1. Cannot progress to a required area without killing and dealing damage to a rat.

Comments - It always fascinates me how some of the smaller and marginalized FM's contain more ghosting challenges and conundrums than the large-scale and famous ones. My previous reports on two of the Bathory missions are fine examples: they are epic and enjoyable missions that require hours of exploration, but the ghosting is straightforward and there is nothing remarkable to note. Not so with the present FM.

The objectives in this mission are to find five golden bones, a sword, 4500 loot, and kill Sir Moore. With the exception of one scroll, there is in fact no hints about where these bones are scattered. It's up to the player to judge what room looks important and scavenge every nook and cranny. Indeed, the author loves to put things in out-of-sight niches and compartments. I spent an additional hour of a BJ run looking for the golden bones; some are so well hidden that I really wish the author gave the player some clue. One bone is concealed inside a small slit cut into one of the ceiling beams of the mask collector's bedroom (top floor of factory); the bone is almost impossible to find unless you were frobbing everywhere in that room, even the ceiling.

Ghosting comes to an end as soon as one reaches Sir Moore's estate. To gain entry to his mansion and escape from the basement, one needs a particular key that is only spawned after killing a rat (who ate it according to one of the readables). Killing the rat in anyway causes damage and is not permissable. When I killed Sir Moore later on, I surely didn't inflict more than 20 damage, as a typical assassination broadhead shot will do. Thus, the extra 85 damage came from killing that rat. I tested this by reloading to an earlier save, killing the rat, and then pressing ctrl+alt+shift+end to observe the stats; a taut broadhead shot did 280 damage that time! Poor rat:



Attempted Ghosting (or Perfect Thieving) Challenges

Before reaching Sir Moore's estate, I tried for a perfect thief success. But even if ghosting was possible, perfect thieving is not. There is a pub with loose coins scattered on the counter and a jeweled cup that can be stolen from a drunk guard's hand. However, the female servant eyeing the entire interior foils any possibilities for sneaking except around the perimeter of the room. Getting through this pub in order to get to the outside cafe looks hazardous enough:



What I did was rush into the pub and crouch to the left against the tables close to the wall, instigating a first alert from the servant. By CCCing very slowly around the chairs and tables, staying as close to the wall as possible, I finally got to the other end of the pub without alerting her:



The next difficult situation for the (attempted) perfect thiever is in a darkened room with a sleeping mechanist priest. Once you open the door to her cramped room, she awakes from her sleep state and stands on the bed. This makes getting the gold nuggets near her mattress seemingly impossible:



The problem is that the player cannot reach the gold nuggets from the floor. And jumping onto the mattress doesn't work because she always notices. My solution was to retrieve a potted plant (ah, those handy-dandy potted plants) from the factory and use it like a crate:



The potted plant provides enough elevation to CCC onto the corner of the mattress proper. Then all I needed to do was hug the wall and lean forward until I could reach the nuggets:



Getting into the crypt appears impossible because of the mechanist priest blocking the way:



I nudged him towards the door until I could get by. Nudging him to the left does not work because he gets stuck between the pedestal and pew:



Other Notes

-The male pagan in the City Watch prison cell acts goofy when the player is around. After the patrolling bluecoat passes by his cell, he goes on second alert. When the guard makes another round, the pagan goes on third alert, which subsequently alerts the bluecoat, who then goes on second alert.  Eventually they both calm down, but the cycle will continue endlessly as long as the player is in the building. This makes it difficult to get the loot in the torture room upstairs. The floor is metal and there are two loot items on the ceiling beams. With only two rope arrows in the mission, I really wanted to save them in case I needed them.

To get the gold dice, I planted a rope arrow on the wooden panel with shackles and then one from a ceiling beam. This way I could Tarzan jump to each one and still be in reaching distance to collect all of the rope arrows once I was done. Getting the statue on another ceiling beam necessitated a little more grace. I could only rely on one rope arrow in the beam, but after taking the statue, I leapt onto the soft edge of the pillory stocks so I would make no foot noise. Standing on the stocks, I could retrieve my rope arrow and crouch and drop down to the metal floor with no noise.

-To get through the hotel undetected, I needed to dash into the right-side corner of the lobby and brace myself against the furniture. Only from this position could I aim properly and douse the fireplace. Extinguishing the flame is difficult; it requires leaning and aiming in between the gold knobs. That is the only spot where a water arrow splash will douse the fire.

16.  27th Aug 2009, 20:17#41

Hexameron

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FM: Midday Escape
File: C5_Midday_Escape_v1.1.zip

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 00:29:09
Loot - 40/2050
Pockets Picked - 0/39
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - A small contest mission that takes place during the day in a desert town. Perhaps I didn't do something right in this FM or perhaps my GayleSaver's scripts are not installed correctly, but I could not pick any purses off the guards in this mission, which leads me to believe there was a problem with my game. Why else did I collect only 40 loot when every guard (about 39 according to the pick pocket stats) in the mission had a purse? The author does love to scatter single coins worth 1 gold all over the mission, but I only found 40 of them.

The mission enforces sneaking: archers are around every corner and one shot from their bow kills the player. Most of the mission is linear and once the player reaches the locked shutters, he must backtrack to the beginning of the mission to get a key. This wasn't so bad and I managed to find a couple of gold coins I hadn't noticed previously. Still, I wish I could understand why I missed so much loot and if what I missed is indeed the unfrobbable purses on the archers.

Something puzzling happened when I hit the South Alley portion of the mission; if I kept running after my final objective was complete, a "new objective" message would appear and I would die. The final stats indicated that the "new objective" was X'ed off as failed. Interestingly, the failed "new objective" said Garrett had a heart attack! Hmm 

17.  28th Aug 2009, 01:46#42

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FM: Ice Base 1
File: IceBase1v4.zip

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 00:35:07
Loot - 1040/1255
Pockets Picked - 2/4
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Comments - This is one of the few FM's that made me pine for a map. I'm not sure the mechanist flavor was really captured in this "Ice Base"; much of the inside looks like something from Star Trek rather than Thief. Regardless of the interior aesthetics, the base is a huge labyrinth where each room contains multiple doors to more rooms. One of my normal playing habits is to close doors behind me, but I had to leave them open to help me remember if I had been to an area previously.

-Taking "the plans" (objective) causes a keeper note to spawn near the vents. The note contains invaluable information for completing the mission: the four-digit code to exit the top floor of the ice base.

-Perhaps the mission can be perfect thieved, but I didn't even try to look for the missing loot. 1000 loot is the objective and once I satisfied that, I was done. The author isn't one to hide loot, but psychologically, the task seemed too intimidating because of the sheer size of the base; I felt it would be like searching for the cliched needle in a haystack.

18.  28th Aug 2009, 01:57#43

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FM: Cold Feet
File: ColdFeetA.zip

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - N/A
Time - 00:04:34
Loot - 0/0
Pockets Picked - 0/9
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0 Bodies Discovered - 1

Comments - Sequel to "Ice Base 1," this FM is very short and plays like a transition from one mission to the next. Garrett finds himself crash landed in between snowy cliffs and there is only one objective to find a way out. A couple of melees between mechanists and icebeasts ensue along the way, but there's enough darkness to sneak by undetected. At a few points, a barrage of missles (exploding like fire arrows) will hit some icebeasts and then the cliff wall. This alerts two mechanist archers behind a portcullis, but they're too far away to notice the player on the catwalk. The mission ends after entering a mechanist building.

19.  29th Aug 2009, 16:58#44

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Hey nice reports over the summer Hexameron! 

I've been away from ghosting for a few months, but thought about picking it up again. It surely is encouraging to see others enjoying the same playing style. Proper reports are always interesting. 

Klatremus' Supreme Thief Site - Walkthroughs, Loot Lists & Ghost Reports

20.  29th Aug 2009, 17:16#45

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It would be great to have you back Klatremus. I miss your reports and reading about your supreme ghosting efforts.

21.  30th Aug 2009, 03:36#46

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FM: Assault at the Gas Station
File: GasStationAssault_1.9.Gold.zip

Ghost - Failed
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 01:50:09
Loot - 4730/5000
Pockets Picked - 11/12
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 1
Damage dealt - 1 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 7/7

Cause of Failure:

1. Cannot get required key without incapacitating an AI.

Comments - I had a lot of trouble with this FM, mostly because I couldn't figure out how to progress, especially in the labyrinth. There are at least three optional objectives that I did not satisfy; some entailed setting up timebombs and experimenting with a certain type of gas. I focused on the main objectives only: find the primal node, 4500 loot, and escape.

-Any ghoster will undoubtedly be challenged with gaining entry to the gas station. There are two ways to enter: through the front door or around the back garbage chute. The front door can be ruled out as the inside foyer is bright, contains metal floors, and a cluster of three AI. The back is the only viable option, but it's still problematic because there's a chance of alerting one of the mechanists after dropping down the metal chute and into the water. I found that only the chute at the bottom left corner gives the player a chance to drop down without alerting anyone. Dropping down any of the other chutes will invariably alert the patrolling mechanist. The problem is that the bottom of the metal chute is slanted and the momentum from dropping onto it causes the player to make foot noise. With a few reloads, I managed to fall down the chute and avoid any alerts. Falling into the water apparently can't be heard from above.

-My one ghost bust occurred in the laser-beam protected room where one of the primal node key's is located. Touching the laser beams causes a watcher to turn on and the mechanist worker to become alerted. The lasers can be deactivated by flipping the large lever across the room. Of course, one has to get through the lasers first to even reach that lever. I don't know if there's another switch somewhere, but I decided to stack my inventory items and leap over the laser beams. Having the X green or red cylinders greatly helped my boost upwards:







Once I was on the other side next to the mechanist worker, I thought things would go smoothly; at the worst, I would have to nudge the mechanist forward to get the key beyond. So I thought... I actually could not nudge him forward or jump over the pipes. Nudging him simply pushes him against a wall of nothing; he is clearly stuck on something. I tried stacking my inventory until I touched the ceiling and I still could not jump over him. I think there is a definite invisible barrier and it only disappears when he is rendered unconscious, either with a gas arrow or flipping the big lever, which turns on a blue electrical charge that incapacitates him:



-Dealing with the labyrinth took time, but I was more upset about one of the patrolling mechanists who suddenly stopped his patrol and stood still for the remainder of my game. If I hadn't been busted by the mechanist worker, I would have used an invis potion to get by, but I BJ'ed him instead.

-If ghosting was possible, perfect thieving is not because of the loot glasses behind a glass display; they can't be taken without breaking the display.

-I never did get into the room behind the keypad in the construction zone area. I found a crumpled note with some kind of pictorial clue about the "cryo room," but this probably pertains to the other optional objectives.

-Once I dropped down the vast chute near the captain's/lieutenant's offices, a fight broke out with pagans and mechanists. But I snuck through to the mission end without being seen.

22.  2nd Sep 2009, 04:59#47

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FM: His Own Medicine
File: HisOwnMedicine1-1.zip

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 01:25:26
Loot - 2034/2579
Pockets Picked - 12/12
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 1/2

Comments - A small city FM with a few surprising challenges for the ghoster.

-To get across the wall at the beginning, I shot my single rope arrow into the parapet where the archer is positioned. I couldn't mantle onto the top of the parapet without alerting the archer, so while standing on the wooden block, I leapt over to the right of the parapet. From here I had a choice. I could either use my rope arrow in the wooden block facing the other side of the wall, in which case I would have to forfeit retrieving the arrow (the drop is too far), or I could slink by the archer towards the lever that opens the gate. I accomplished the latter by moving on the top of the parapet and leaping across to the other parapet. It took a few reloads because the archer is facing the lever and I could not sneak by. Only jumping across without foot noise worked for me. Once I opened the gate, I leapt into the moat below so I wouldn't have to worry about leaving my only rope arrow behind.

Lord Goodheart's House

There are two trouble spots in Goodheart's house: (1) Infiltrating the house and (2) getting out with Lady Goodheart's corpse.

1. Getting into Lord Goodheart's house (with the singing nobleman) is very difficult. There are three possible entrances to his house: the front door facing the large fountain cradling a blazing fire, the left door across from the warehouse, and the balcony.

I suppose if I had crates or other stacking materials, or if I returned to the parapets to scale the rooftops, I could get to the balcony. But I was already on the street level. Opening the door on the left across the warehouse immediately triggers a second alert with the nobleman. I reloaded and reattempted to no avail. My only choice was the front door, but the interior is lit by a couple of torches and running or CCCing into the room always alerts the nobleman. Dousing any torches also puts the noble and sometimes the guard next to him on second alert... most of the time.

I was able to douse the torch to the right above the broken horn of quintus only after dousing the blazing fire above the fountain. I don't know how to explain why that worked. It may have been luck, a random outcome, or extinguishing the fire on the fountain did indeed make it possible. This area will no doubt foil many impatient ghosters and may lead some to believe the mission itself can't be ghosted, so I submit the following screenshot as proof that I got into the house without alerting the noble. The front door is in between the torches:



2. Leaving the house with Lady Goodheart's body cannot be done without numerous reloads and a refined strategy. Here's the situation. If the player enters the bathroom upstairs, a "New Objective" message comes up and a few seconds later a brief in-game cutscene of three cops rushing towards Goodheart's house occurs:



These three running cops are approximately 6-8 seconds away from entering the house and reaching the cramped staircase to the top floor. They are scripted to run into the house and upstairs to the crime scene, the bathroom, and then go on second alert. The ghoster must be downstairs (with Goodheart's corpse) before the cops move upstairs or he'll be trapped by AI blocking the hallways. It took me a handful of reloads to understand what I needed to do. First, I entered the bathroom, triggering the "new objective," grabbed the lady's corpse and walked outside of the bathroom. Second, I waited for the brief in-game cutscene to be over and moved to the top of the staircase. Third, I crouched and dropped down silently on the stairs below. Fourth, I moved against the closed door of the kitchen and remained in darkness while the guards raced by towards the crime scene. All of this has to be done quickly and there's no room for error. My fastest run was still only 2 seconds before the guards came into view:



It's not over yet... As soon as all three guards reach the top floor, they are scripted to go on second alert, which upsets the guard downstairs and sometimes the nobleman. The three cops will eventually hunt downstairs, so it's necessary to sneak through the kitchen and get out of Goodheart's house immediately. Just an aside, I don't know if a perfect thief is possible, but I missed a goblet near Lady Goodheart's submerged body. I didn't think I had time to grab the gold cup and then her corpse, but after finishing the mission, I went back to a save right before entering her bathroom and successfully got the cup and downstairs with a second to spare.

Other Notes

-Sneaking around that crowned frogbeast in the garden is not as easy as it looks. The little guy has excellent peripheral vision. I ended up CCCing very slowly around the hedge maze. After I waited for the patrolling archer to be away from his post overlooking the garden, I creeped up to the frogbeast and pickpocketed the crown it was wearing.

-Sneaking through the Hammerite church can be problematic if one hasn't conserved water arrows. I managed to sneak through it once without water or moss, but upon leaving, I had too much trouble with that randomly pivoting priest. I had no choice but to use a gas arrow on one of the chandeliers to reduce the degree of light in the area.

-I actually explored as much of the mission as I could before instigating the cop script and "new objective" to carry Lady Goodheart's corpse to Taffey's place. I had no idea where the mask was until I went on a BJ run. Entering Goodheart's bathroom and triggering the "new objective" spawns a large nobleman back at the Hammerite church library. He is holding the mask, which can be picked.

23.  3rd Sep 2009, 20:34#48

Hexameron

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FM: Tales from the Cleft: Vandal
File: Vandal.zip

Ghost - Failed
Time - 01:59:41
Loot - 4771/4871
Pockets Picked - 5/5
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 4
Damage dealt - 1 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0

Causes of Failure:

1. Cannot reach loot requirement without destroying a crate containing a purse.

2. To prevent Nathan from being killed, one must knock out Lucy.

3. Cannot end mission without disabling a searchlight with a water arrow, but I'm not sure if this technically counts as property damage.

(4). I also could not accomplish my loot objective without knocking out the archer following the guard with a lantern who has a purse on his belt.

Comments - This was a decent mansion FM with a gripping story, although the amount of inevitable "New Objectives" is a little extravagant. By the end of the mission, I had about 14 total objectives checked off. The stats are wrong to indicate 4 knockouts. I only recall two, one of which oddly did not deal damage.

-The loot requirement in this mission is extremely high on expert: 4750 when there is only 4871 loot in the mission. That brings me to my main ghost busts. There is a purse worth 250 that either spawns or is placed inside a crate that cannot be picked up. I tried leaning around in an attempt to push the crate aside or frob the purse inside of it, but the crate is wedged into the ground and the purse cannot be highlighted. This purse must be taken to satisfy the loot objective, so I had to destroy the crate with my blackjack.

I never did find the missing 100 loot, but it's possible that I missed something back at the mission start before I dropped to the ground from the mechanist supply depot. Without that 100 loot, I was forced to retrieve the purse from the guard patrolling outside of Lord Hunter's mansion. The guard is carrying a lantern and is followed by an archer. I saw no feasible way to get close enough and snatch the purse without one of them noticing me. Thus, I had to KO the archer and then pick the lantern guard's purse.

-I never did solve the frobbable book combination puzzle in the library. Instead, I accidentally cheated by frobbing the lever of the secret door to the rare book collection from within the library. In other words, I hit a lever I could not see on the other side of the wall; something the author probably did not intend.

-At one point, I received "New Objectives" to follow Nathan and prevent his death. I entered the secret basement below the bedroom adjacent to the kitchen. Once there, I triggered a script involving Lucy assaulting Nathan with offensive spells. If the player merely watches the event, Nathan will die and the objective to keep him alive will be failed. I had no choice but to KO Lucy. I didn't try killing her, as that might have conflicted with my "no killing of innocents" objective. Here is a situation I'm not sure how to judge adequately as far as ghosting is concerned. The objective does not explicitly say "disable, kill, or knockout Lucy," but that is the only option to prevent Nathan from dying, which is the clear objective.

-After saving Nathan, I needed to escape the basement by entering a room that gradually fills up with water. I still don't understand that part of the plot. I just saved the guy's life and he has me exit not conveniently back to the bedroom above, but through an enclosed room with a rising water level? He even says, "I hope you can swim Garrett." I was a little ticked off; maybe I should have let Lucy finish him off . Like a scene from the movie Titanic, I had to jump up and keep my head above water so I could preserve my air supply. Once the room was totally submerged, a metal door slowly moves open and I could swim out to the docks. The silver nuggets in the underwater tunnel must be collected, and I could not do so and reach air without using one of my breath potions.

-Before being able to untie the rope of the rowboat and end the mission, I had to disable the searchlight at the top of the light tower. The only way to do so is by firing a water arrow at it, which makes a cracking noise followed by a thump (sounds identical to dropping a flash bomb on a wooden surface). I didn't see any physical external damage to the searchlight and I didn't really destroy it, but the water arrow certainly put it out of order. Is this still property damage?

24.  4th Sep 2009, 20:36#49

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FM: Ranstall Keep [Thief 2 Version]
File: ranstv2_b.zip

Ghost - Failed
Time - 01:27:43
Loot - 4248/5883
Pockets Picked - 1/4
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 3/5

Causes of Failure:

1. Cannot acquire lock picks without breaking glass skylight of weapon shop.

2. Cannot infiltrate abandoned house without breaking a glass window, which alerts three tiny spiders.

3. Cannot reach thief friend in crypt below church without destroying floorboards, which alerts multiple Hissie's in the vicinity.

Comments - This is the first FM I ever played about seven years ago. It probably wasn't the best introduction to the world of Thief Fan Missions, as I remember being stuck and unable to finish without checking the TTLG boards for help. Still, I have fond memories of Ranstall Keep because it showed me something I never imagined back in 2002: more Thief beyond the original missions. It's something we in the Thief community today take for granted, with over 900 FM's available for download, but I can remember when the emergence of just one new FM was fresh and exhilarating.

Strangely enough, in all the years since its release, I don't believe this old mission has been reported in any of the now seven-part Eidos Ghost Report threads. But the mission is certainly unghostable because the author places many physical barriers, namely glass windows, in Ryalla's way. Clusters of ents, trains of haunts, or rows of watchers: they're not as terrifying to the ghoster as glass windows or wooden planks barring the way.

No Corpses or Unconscious Bodies: Just Shattered Glass

There are two instances where glass windows must be broken to gain entry to a required area. The only route into the weapon shop is through the glass skylight on the roof. Breaking the window with the blackjack does not alert anyone nearby, not even the pivoting Hissy a few feet below. Although the display cases in the weapon shop cannot be picked, it is possible to frob all of the water arrows (the only items I wanted) without breaking glass. I could also snatch the fire arrows and broadheads, but not the gas arrows or potions.

The next situation of forced property damage occurs at the abandoned house. I saw no other feasible way in except behind the inn where one glass window is located. Breaking it alerts the three tiny spiders in the attic. Since getting up there to read the note on the table satisfies an objective, the spiders will invariably see the player. Before moving up there, I went to the wondrously attractive display case full of loot. I frobbed almost everything except two cups behind the displays. I also accidentally destroyed a couple glass panes by leaning left and right. After snatching the loot, I ran upstairs, read the note, and raced back downstairs. The three spiders were in pursuit until I leapt out of the window.

-There is in fact one more case of necessary property damage. I can still remember seven years ago when I had trouble completing just one objective: finding the thief friend. All I could remember (from reading the TTLG boards years ago) was that he was somewhere in the village below floorboards. For the present attempted ghost run, I read a note which hinted at a secret in the church. Sure enough, I investigated the church and discovered that the floorboards of the confessional can be destroyed with the blackjack. Below these floorboards is a crypt with a lot of loot, Ryalla's friend, and a note which triggers a "New Objective" to find a magic rock. The ruckus I made after destroying the floorboards alerted at least three Hissies: the two patrolling crossbowmen and the sword-wielding one walking outside of the church.

Ghosting Ranstall Keep

-To access the Lord's private chambers, I needed to nudge the apparition in the foyer away from the book he watches. Reading the book causes it to slide open, revealing a button. I could not frob the button without nudging the apparition a little bit forward.

-The next button to be pressed is above a fountain where another apparition is present. Reaching the button is difficult without upsetting the apparition, so I shot a water arrow at the button instead.

-I was very careful to conserve water arrows: I used one in the gardens, so I could acquire the ladders (I ended up not using them, however). I used three in the Lord's private room because of the randomly patrolling apparition, one in the magic rock chamber, two in the practice dummy room, and one outside of the keep near the bridge with a pivoting Hissy. By the end of the mission, I had two water arrows remaining.

-I had trouble using the ladders in the room with lava flows. For some reason, although I thought I picked up two ladders, I only had one in my inventory. Placing the ladder in its appropriate slot above the lava didn't really help me. I could climb the ladder, but I could not jump off or mantle onto the metal catwalk easily, and even when I did, I made unacceptable foot noise. So I refrained from using the ladder and just Tarzan jumped with a series of rope arrows.

-To sneak through the practice dummy area with the training Hissy, I doused all torches and CCC'ed carefully around him. Opening the door to the room with the note explaining what kind of creature the Lord is causes problems. Depending on where the training Hissy is positioned, the one inside the room can be alerted because he hears the noise outside. I found that if the Hissy in the practice room is facing the player and furthest away from the room, the one near the desk won't hear what's going on outside:



Not that any of this matters since the mission can't be ghosted... 

25.  18th Sep 2009, 07:02#50

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FM: Vagabond
File: Vagabond.zip

Perfect Thief - Success
Time - 01:50:03
Loot - 2425/2425
Pockets Picked - 1/1
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 1/1

Comments - This FM is the sequel to "Nostalgia" and involves a new player character named Darren and his recruitment into the Night Masks. This is a city mission and one that is almost virtually non-hostile to the player. However, it's worth mentioning that the guards' default aggressive tendencies are controlled by a script. For example, each time a guard notices the player, he makes a recoiling gesture as if he's third alerted, but is scripted to quickly resume his patrol or return to a standing position and ignore Darren. It's impossible to avoid triggering this, especially in the Seagull's Nest.

One of the objectives is to kill the dayport assassin and carry his body to a crate. The assassin can be killed with the poisoned dagger, which didn't deal any damage or register as a kill in my stats. However, carrying the body out of The Rusted Hook tavern is not possible without alerting the patrons downstairs. So I merely dropped the assassin's body out of his room window. Only by doing that could I exit the tavern without upsetting anyone.



Carrying the body around in the streets is also dangerous because of the one guard that patrols around the Rusted Hook and the Seagull's Nest. He acts very strangely if the player is carrying the assassin's body in his vicinity. If the guard was visible on my screen at all while carrying the corpse, he would make a third-alert charge even if his back was turned. Obviously I could only sneak around by waiting for the guard to be totally out of sight. There is one exception to this: being in pitch darkness while the guard is nearby is okay, but any light gem hue other than the lowest black will provoke him.

-Opening the path to Tunnel C takes some practice, careful but hasty sneaking, and maybe luck. The hammerite in the sewers has a troublesome short patrol and he moves erratically in the lever room. Sometimes he gets stuck moving in circles and will stop for short periods of time and then resume his patrol. The main hurdle here is getting across the metal floor and there are no moss arrows in the mission. The maneuvers that gave me success are as follows: stay against the false door next to the lever room; wait for the hammer to exit the lever room; move quickly into the room; sneak as fast as possible without making foot noise on the metal floor; frob the lever and get back outside to the false door. All of this was done in less than ten seconds and still resulted in getting a first alert from the hammer.

-Swapping the poisoned wine with Rynolf's wine will initiate a script that causes him to drink the wine and die a violent death. Again, his death doesn't appear in the stats as a kill and his screaming doesn't alert any of the thieves outside his room.

-I fulfilled all of the optional objectives involving John's apartment... and I'm still recovering from the shock of seeing that little black gremlin run by and disappear into the chimney; just eerie.