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KEEPER OF THE PROPHECIES - Mission 6: Reversing the Order Gameplay
wise, this is the most unique mission in the campaign. It is the main mission
of the “finale”, which encompasses all the missions after Oracle of the
Prophets. Although not everyone’s cup of tea, it is very challenging and
definitely requires some trial and error before learning the layout and
myriad of enemies. Due to the randomness of the ensuing fights, separate playthroughs will hardly ever be the same, which is a
plus. I enjoy the changeup, although I understand if others don’t. I
was back in the city and still poisoned. My main objectives were to kill Franticius and protect Alisha. I had to stage his kill
and make it look like an accident though, and I was not allowed to gas or
blackjack him. I also could not get spotted by Alisha, but had to make sure
she made it safely all the way to our apartment. Lastly, I was to locate a
keeper safe house and read a journal there. The
keeper journal objective was important, because it made me able to control
when the mission ended. Before Alisha left the pub at around 10 minutes, all
the loot in the mission bar the safe house was easily accessible. I just
needed to make sure I set things up for Alisha to survive. The objective
read: “Make sure Alisha finds her way home to your apartment house alive!”
Although this didn’t excuse breaking the rules, it made me feel a lot better
about taking out enemies. The two restrictions I wanted to put on myself
however, were not to get spotted and not to cause any kills. Franticius was an exception, naturally. Gas arrows and gas
mines were my best options. The blackjack was possible, but it causes
knockouts and damage dealt to show up in the stats. Gas equipment doesn’t. Alisha For
about 8 minutes after the Alisha-Franticius conversation
ended, I had time to do pickups and set the stage for Alisha’s route. I had
reloaded and brought along 3 gas arrows from The Other Side of Time, as only
5 were available in this mission. That made 8 in total. I also picked up 4
gas mines from the clocktower. I was planning on
using it all. I figured taking out any enemy along Alisha’s path would follow
the spirit of the objective, or enemies that would interfere with me helping
her, whether it was allowed by the ghost rules or not. I started with the two
archers near West Bridge (left image below). They could be taken out with gas
arrows. Sometimes the one with his back turned alerted to the other one
getting gassed. I could normally prevent this if shooting the second arrow
quickly. I could then use the ctrl-alt-shift-end trick to check if it got
registered as a body discovered by an enemy.
Beyond
the gates was another enemy, a city watch swordsman in a dark alcove. I
couldn’t use a gas arrow on him, as a thief further west heard it and came
looking (right image above). This thief would even alert to me walking on
stone in the adjacent alley. I thus couldn’t move past this point in order to
clear the path further. So I changed plans and instead headed to the
residential area from the mortuary’s backyard. I was now basically walking
Alisha’s path ahead of her, gassing any enemy directly along her route. In
total, there were 3 thieves and 3 regular guards, in addition to the 2
archers. The only gassed ones that weren’t directly on Alisha’s route were
the two guards in the barn. However, they started patrolling as she passed
the barn heading east, following her all the way to Garrett’s apartment. If
they caught up with her there, they could overwhelm her at the very end of
her patrol. I had left the other two guards close to the apartment be, as
Alisha normally had no problems dealing with them, but I didn’t want the two
additional guards there messing things up. A
big shoutout should go to Galaer
and his report for this mission. About halfway through Alisha’s run through
the industrial section of town, some new patrolling thieves with huge yellow
swords started showing up close to West Bridge. I never found them in the
same spot and I could never seem to shake them off. When I finally read his
report, I realized they were scripted to head towards me, no matter where I
was. There were five of them and they normally spawned about a minute or two
apart. Usually they would pass through the gates close to the bridge,
underneath where I gassed the archers earlier. After having made sure Alisha
was on her way through town, I headed over to the gates and waited for the
thieves to show up. Gas mines were perfect for picking them off one by one
(left image below). This worked like a charm. The objective to protect Alisha
checked off not long after she passed via the same gates. I had only gassed
four thieves at this point, but found the fifth one dead on a bridge in the
industrial area later. Seems Alisha had taken care of him herself.
Franticius The
final problem was killing Franticius. Galaer reported waiting in the water by Garrett’s
apartment in order to detract the thieves from finding him, then having
Alisha kill Franticius. I never was able to have
this happen. There were too many guards surrounding him for Alisha to
survive. Big groups pinned her down without her ever getting a swing in. She
was a great fighter, but in groups of more than two, she usually didn’t stand
a chance. I wanted to find a predictable method within the spirit of the
objective that still seemed stealthy. I would have to lure him over to a
trap, of which there were multiple. This meant I would get spotted, but since
he would die, that was easily acceptable. The problem was not getting spotted
by others in the process. Three possible areas seemed possible. 1) The powder
kegs (“fireworks”) close to the keeper safe house. 2) The barn elevator. 3)
The drawbridge just south of the barn. Blowing up the powder kegs was not
only property damage, but also extremely loud. The barn elevator was very
exposed, as nearby patrollers could spot me through the window. It was also
very difficult to lure him all the way into the corner, not to mention gauge
his location from the top floor. The drawbridge seemed the absolute best
option. After getting spotted by him, once he started hunting, I ran over to
the ladder and climbed up. The other members of his entourage were luckily
some distance behind and they didn’t notice him being alerted when they
passed. I kept him in hunt mode by going back down the ladder if he gave up.
That way the other swordsmen got far away before I went for the kill. From
atop the ladder, it was very easy to see his location and the button was
perfectly within reach (right image above). Unfortunately, at least two other
stationary rooftop guards close by heard his scream. They never heard or saw
me though. I left his body there, since it was supposed to look like an
accident. The objective to not gas or blackjack him then got cancelled, not
failed. A bit strange that it didn’t get checked off. After that I headed for
the safe house, grabbed the loot and ended the mission by reading the
journal. Statistics: Time: 34:36 Loot: 1947 out of 1947 Pickpockets: None Secrets: None Locks Picked: 7 Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 5 (poison) Consumables: 7 Gas Arrows & 4 Gas Mines Bodies Discovered by Enemies: 1 Ghost: Failed! Perfect Thief: Failed! Supreme Thief: Failed! Perfect Supreme Thief: Failed! |
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Notes: -
Knocked out 12 enemies (7 thieves and 5 city watch guards) using gas
arrows or gas mines. These did not register in the stats. Ghost busts. -
Got spotted by Franticius before killing him.
This was necessary in order to lure him over to the crushing drawbridge.
Ghost bust. -
At least two nearby guards heard Franticius
dying, although they never saw or heard me. Not sure if this is a bust, since
it is an immediate response to meeting a mandatory objective. I guess it is avoidable,
which technically makes it another bust. |
