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KEEPER OF THE PROPHECIES - Mission 1: The Enterprise This
mission has important nostalgic value to me, which probably elevates it
higher than it deserves. It is a good mission, don’t get me wrong, but it
suffers quite a bit from boxy design and a confusing layout. Once you push
through those barriers however, you’ll discover a rich story with weird, yet
interesting characters. I absolutely love the combination of fog, rain and
thunder, one of the first times I can remember a mission implementing those
elements in an effective way. Ghosting it is challenging, but enjoyable, and
of course highly recommended. After
finding out my mechanical eye had been brought to Solustice
Industries in Part 1, my task was simply to retrieve it in Part 2. I was to
pick up 1,500 in loot along the way, before making my way out of the
enterprise.
Before the Master’s Key Nothing to report until I got the master’s key
objective. I knew this key would
unlock every locked door in the mission, so it was my task to obtain it as
quickly as possible. I thus refrained from picking the locks in Squintas’ and Franticious’
offices for now. I think it is fun to try to minimize that count as much as
possible, and I knew it wouldn’t be a problem later on. However, I also knew
that taking the master key would spawn no less than 7 stationary archers in
the northern part of the compound, so this area should be cleaned as much as
possible first. Both
the area surrounding the master suite, as well as the part marked ‘security’
on the map, went without issues. There were guards around, but they all had
fairly long patrol routes. The biggest problem was getting into the northern
part of the enterprise. Four entries existed: 1) A passageway in the ceiling
of one of the cubbies close to the entrance to torture chamber 2 (left image
above); 2) An underground tunnel beneath a rubble piece in the yard (right
image above); 3) A passage behind a barrel in one of the north storehouses
(left image below); 4) A cave system on the eastern cliff-face (right image
below). All four options were feasible, though only the latter yielded loot,
so that’s the one I chose.
I’d
actually claim this to be the most difficult one, as I arrived in some sort
of prison test chamber. It had metal-grated flooring, with two enemies staring
in through windows to the north. A door to their room spawned first alerts,
so I had to use the ventilation access in the southwest corner instead. The
room where these enemies were stationed had loot, plus a second entry door,
but opening this one also triggered a first alert from Faustice
(left image below). Thus, a gold plate and a goblet in there had to be
skipped for Supreme. The
rest of the compound was pretty straight forward. There were a lot of patrollers, but plenty of
shadows around. The biggest problem was making sense of the layout, which was
very confusing at times. I kept going through the same hallways multiple
times before finding a good route. I skipped Incitus
and Yolandis’ offices for now. I didn’t want to
pick Incitus’ door in order to get the safe key, as
the master’s key would open them both. A worker named Mizarus
was stationed in a cubicle not far from Yolandis’
office. I feared he could be a problem later, but I kept my hopes up. The
only other challenging area was by an older lady in the Electrics Division
(right image below). She stared straight at the doorway to the north, so I
had to approach from the south and follow the shade in order to get the wine
and goblet in the nearby office. Returned the same way.
No big deal, except for no less than four patrollers who decided to walk
straight through this area at that time.
The Master’s Key The
only way to get underground from inside the enterprise was through the
auditorium, which key was in Yolandis’ safe. Since
the master’s key opened both the safe and the auditorium doors, I skipped
them for now and instead went straight for the alternate route to said key.
I’m not sure if it was intended by Frobber to reach
it this way or not, but that doesn’t really matter. By the north freight
elevator there was an entrance to the cave underneath (left image below). It
was tough to reach, not because of attaching the rope arrow, but because of
how difficult it was to get onto the rope successfully. I first tried to inch
backwards, but that only flung me off the rope into oblivion. I ended up
having to approach it from the side, sliding in from the northeast. It was
hit or miss whether I actually caught hold of the line, but it was a
repeatable move and that was enough. Reaching
the master’s key in the basement was no problem, except for the boards
blocking the entrance (right image below). Two of the boards had to be broken
in order to gain access; a bust to all ghost modes.
After
getting the key, I emerged yet again in the northern part of the compound,
quite close to the storage rooms below the barracks. The only problem at this
point was getting to Yolandis’ safe. I had
previously observed Mizarus as a potential problem,
and he was even a bigger problem now. During my escapades underground, he had
slid forward and was now stationed on
top of the table in his cubicle (left image below). This was horrible
news, as he reacted with normal first alerts, something he hadn’t done
before. I had noticed before that he had been doing a lot of special
movements towards his table, almost simulating the act of money counting. If
the engine treated this as a scripted sequence, comparable to a conversation,
then he wouldn’t give first or second alerts during this activity. Those
movements, however, I had noticed kept pushing him forward into the table,
enough for him to eventually slide onto it. I assume this is a common result
if spending a long time elsewhere in the mission. As seen in the image below
to the left, I could get onto the desk close to the exit doorway, but beyond
this point he without fail first alerted. I
was thus forced to reload to before getting the master’s key, when he was
still stationed on the floor. Moving onto the desk like before, I could
quickly scoot over the shelving unit and hurry around the corner (right image
below). One in ten times or so, he didn’t say anything. When he spotted me,
it was always directly to alarm mode, never a first alert or hunt mode. This
proved my earlier point, that his sequenced movements were part of a looped
script. Going back, I could slowly move in behind the shelving unit, then
mantle and creep-crouch-strafe onto the desk. If I got that far without
alerts, I was safe. It didn’t take many tries before I was clear.
The
rest of the mission didn’t pose any problems. The additional archers spread
around the compound meant I had to take a longer route going back to the
master suite, but nothing that involved difficult moves. I didn’t actually
end up descending to the cave in order to get the contract. I went back up
after getting the mechanical eye and left the way I had entered earlier. Remembered to lock up the door behind the vines on my way out.
Easy to forget that one. Statistics, Part One: Time: 6:14 Loot: None Pickpockets: None Secrets: 1 out of 1 Locks Picked: 1 Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0 Consumables: None Ghost: Success! Perfect Thief: N/A Supreme Thief: Success! Perfect Supreme Thief: N/A Statistics, Part Two: Time: 1:51:03 Loot: 2576 out of 2576 (Supreme: 2511) Pickpockets: 23 out of 23 Secrets: 3 out of 3 Locks Picked: 4 Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0 Consumables: None Ghost: Failed! Perfect Thief: Failed! Supreme Thief: Failed! Perfect Supreme Thief: Failed! Notes: -
Had to skip a plate and a goblet worth 65
in the torture viewing room for Supreme. Faustice
commented on either door opening. -
Had to break two wooden boards in order to
obtain the master key. Ghost bust. |
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