GEMS OF PROVENANCE 2

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The Widow’s Ire

 

LOOT LIST

VIDEO REPORT

 

 

A nice continuation of StinkyKitty’s campaign. Probably not as ambitious as the first mission, but this one is more fun to ghost than casual play, as it has some very clever challenging areas. The classic Dark Project style continues, which will probably be the trend for the remaining missions also. Highly recommended mission for fans of that game.

 

 

My objectives were essentially the same as in the first mission; get the gemstone called The Widow’s Ire somewhere in Gyllus’ mansion. I had to leave via the mountains, not by returning to the starting location. I also had to find 1,800 worth of valuables.

 

Courtyard

The opening courtyard was quite the challenge. Two patrollers and two stationary guards. The first piece of loot was a purse on the patrolling archer. He had a predictable figure-eight route, but it was all out in the open, in view of both stationary guards. I tried first to the east of the stairs. There was a hidden patch in the corner hugging the staircase, but I couldn’t get out quick enough to get the loot before getting spotted by the guard to the north. He always gave a first alert. Next I tried from the western side. There was an equally dark patch here, plus I was out of view of the aforementioned guard to the north. Timing the patrolling swordsman, I waited for the archer to come close, then turn around (left image below). At that time, I sprinted out a few steps and leaned in for the steal. Nice!

 

 

 

There were essentially two ways into the manor. I could either jump from the southwest corner of the aqueduct onto the top walkway with a second patrolling archer. From here I could get another purse and enter the manor through a top floor window. Instead I wanted to use the waterway and enter through the basement, which seemed to be the intended method. The problem was for Supreme I had to close a sliding door operated by a valve in a shed below. Such sliding doors can always be blocked by potions and I conveniently had a healing potion in my starting inventory. Once reflipping the valve, the potion prevented the door from shutting and I could grab it on my way through (right image above).

 

Mansion

Upon entering the basement, a thief was scripted to attack a keeper in a locked room. If the keeper got killed, upon leaving the room, other AI reacted to the thief. This was not desirable, as their senses were heightened to my presence as well. Sometimes, however, the thief would just give a first alert and leave the room. If so, he would head all the way to Gyllus’ chambers and remain there, with everybody else indifferent about his presence. Naturally, I went with that.

 

I couldn’t head upstairs from the pantry. Some servants were in the kitchen starting a conversation, but the woman always gave a first alert before they started to chat. To the far east I could instead ascend into the main foyer. Although this wasn’t very stealth-like, it gave easy access to the other rooms on this floor. The rest of the mansion wasn’t very tough. The hardest part was crossing the marbled area behind the archer south of the foyer (left image above). However, there were corners with perfect shadows where I could time the four patrollers in this section.

 

 

 

Misteria

The only area that was tricky in the ruins was towards the end. There was a patrolling archer that headed down a ramp to the right, only to walk up the same ramp to the left again. He kept making circles like that endlessly. On top of a statue-like structure above the exit doorway was a gold nugget. A long ladder on the left side took me up there, but this was very exposed and the archer would always have his side towards me, never his back. Luckily, I found a dark spot on the ground just next to the ladder (right image above). From here I waited until the archer started to head up the ramp and had his side directly to me. I could now walk up the ramp without any alerts. When he started on the downward slope, he would face away enough for me to sprint up to the top undetected. At the very top of the ladder I could grab the nugget and stay unseen even when he walked towards me. I guess his superior peripheral vision was somewhat limited. I could use a similar method going down. I started walking down when he started heading up the ramp, then I could run down when he went towards the opposite corner. This method took quite a few tries, but is definitely repeatable.

 

Caves

I eventually found who I assume to be Gyllus and her personal guards in front of a water absorbing ceiling cave. I could sneak slowly to their right undetected. I tried using one of the closest water tubes to get to the top cave, but they were too bright. Instead I had to head down the slope and swim through one of the tubes on the opposite side. I had to stay on the south side of this tube with my head out of the water to avoid alerts, as they could see me from the other side (left image below).

 

 

 

In the top cave came the strangest situation in the mission. The gemstone was in a grassy cave with four mushrooms. These mushrooms acted like enemies, alerting to my presence by moving after me. They never gave any audible alerts and they never attacked me. They would only pivot my way or slide in my direction. Since they reacted to my presence like this, I considered it the same as a second alert, which is hunt mode and a Ghost bust. Experimenting a bit, I could fairly easily mantle into the cave and get the gemstone without any reaction. The problem was getting back out. They all alerted to me splashing into the water, so my only solution was a rope arrow. I found I had to use a rope into the ceiling, hanging so far down that I could reach it when floating in the water. That way I wouldn’t make any noise grabbing it, and I would only need to focus on diving under silently. The one mushroom that always gave me a hard time was the one to the right. It would always slide over to the water hole after I went under, despite me staying completely silent. I suspect it saw me when I first mantled up, but since it couldn’t attack, it just stared at me. This was confirmed when I moved to the other side of the cave and it pivoted to face the other way. When I headed under water, since it could no longer see me, it started looking and usually dropped into the water after me. Coming up to check, I never encountered a situation where that mushroom was in the same position as when I first entered the cave. Thus, a bust.

 

 

Statistics:

Time: 51:09

Loot: 2299 out of 2299

Pickpockets: 5 out of 8

Locks Picked: None

Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0

Consumables: None

Ghost: Failed!

Perfect Thief: Failed!

Supreme Thief: Failed!

Perfect Supreme Thief: Failed!

 

Notes:

-          Got (at least) a second level alert from one of the mushrooms in the final cave with the gemstone. Ghost bust.