THE CIRCLE OF STONE AND SHADOW 2 - MISSION X It
almost hurts me to say, but ‘Midnight In Murkbell’ is no longer my favorite
mission; ‘Mission X’ is. It is a masterpiece surpassing all expectations. The
depth of story and variety of gameplay makes it a ride unlike anything else
made for the dark engine. I have never had that many “Wow!” moments in a
single mission before. I am running out of superlatives for what the CoSaS
team has been able to create. All I can say is that if you haven’t played
this mission, don’t read any further! I don’t want my spoilers to ruin
your first playthrough experience. Instead, close this window, download
‘Mission X’, pull up Darkloader and play. I hope you’ve set aside plenty of
time, cause this could take a while. I,
Dante, was to enter the Ivory Rose Casino dressed as a nobleman. Nobody would
react to my presence until I picked up my gear in the first floor men’s room,
my first and only relevant objective. The other up-front tasks involved no
raising of alarms or incapacitation of people integral to the storyline.
Those were already implied due to the Ghost rules. I would receive further
instructions later. The
main difference between this mission and others was that I was playing as a
member of a team. That didn’t really mean anything in terms of strategy; it
simply made the story richer and gameplay more exciting. The biggest addition
was the communications mask, which made Dante able to talk to his fellow
teammates. It would lead to two junctures where I would have to make a
decision as far as objectives were concerned. The copy kits were cool also,
an element I never imagined could be as fun as it turned out to be. The rest
of the new equipment was interesting, but not very useful to ghosters. Much
of the first floor was accessible before getting my gear. I grabbed the
purses in the pearl gambling hall and the minister’s key from the roulette
table there. I noticed that the guard’s purse didn’t count as a pickpocket,
although he never saw me coming. At this point I had already listened in on
the conversation in the ivory hall. There was a hard-to-find goblet behind a
window curtain in the southwest hall also (left image below). That was all
before I went for my gear. Disabling the Cameras On
my personal agenda (as in not stated in the official objectives) was receiving
the promotion to agent Glass in the post-mission briefing. Several extra
tasks were then required. One was to finish the first chosen objective before
Steel. I found that to be a lot easier if choosing to shut down the cameras.
It involved less planning and a stealthier course of action. Shutting down
the power necessitated blowing the generator with a bad fuse, directly
alerting many of the guards. I don’t think that is a bust, due to the
explicit instructions given in the task list, but it certainly felt like the
noisier option of the two. The cameras it was. I
took the route through the halls east of the front lobby. Picked the service
key off the maid and grabbed a few loot items on the way. Supreme rules
require keys to be replaced, though with the keychain that wasn’t possible.
Due to the varieties of keys available, it was tough to survey which locks
each one worked. I therefore deemed it necessary to pick up one of each copy.
I left the remaining ones alone. I also kept a tab on which locks I had
picked, in case subsequently discovered keys would relock them, another
Supreme Ghost requirement. Made my way to the second floor through the
exchange lobby. Found the vent key in the utility room and snuck down the
hall toward the public bath. Accessed the shaft system through the
northernmost locker (right image above). For
me, the ventilation system made this mission perfect. It provided alternate
routes between every floor and made Ghosting a lot easier. I read somewhere
about a vent map left by one of your teammates, but I never found it. I
familiarized myself with the routes fairly quickly though. Reached the camera
room in time to disable the security system before Steel (left image below).
I actually had to wait for a good 10 minutes before he finally blew the
generator. This put most of the guards on high alert, but at least the lights
were out. I snuck around the basement, grabbing the various pieces of loot. I
skipped the basement key altogether and left back through the camera room
vent. I even vine arrowed over the wall into the wine cellar, in order to
avoid the lockpick count. I know the rules don’t say anything about
minimizing those, but I feel it goes along with the “spirit” of Supreme. Returning Cloud’s Key Entered
the first floor storeroom and found some loot under one of the desks there. I
had to read the barely visible note before the desk would even highlight.
Stole the copy kit from the foreman’s office while the woman faced away
(right image above). Luckily she pivoted in all directions. Waited until the
Rubber-situation arose. Got the objective to return Cloud’s key and chose to
accept finishing Rubber’s chores. This spawned several essential keys at the
front desk. Opting out of this objective doesn’t go against any Supreme rule;
only tasks visible in the objective list (optional or not) are required for
that mode. Got
the loot from the dining room before reentering the vents. Exited to the
third floor men’s room. Remembered to close and relock every vent after use.
I didn’t want to have to backtrack and double-check all the panels later. One
of the stalls in the ladies’ room had a hard-to-see ring on the floor (left
image below). Grabbed the list of chores from the hall closet. This made all
items pertaining to those objectives accessible for pickup. Passed through
the fine lounge on my way southward. Guards frequently entered here, so I
used the carpets to grab the loot quickly. Leaned around the bar corner to
grab the bottle behind on the shelf (right image below). Cloud’s
key could be found in one of two locations. I’ve only seen it in the theatre,
on top of the curtains (left image below), but know it can be located near
the elevator on the same floor. I think it depends on Dante’s location when
receiving the objective, but I’m not entirely sure. One patroller passed
through the dressing room to the stage and back. I exploited his route to
avoid picking the doors. Plenty of loot in the dressing room by the way.
Common non-value items like combs and mirrors were even worth something. I
ascended the balcony by flinging a vine into the ceiling. It could be reached
from the table and retrieved from the balcony railing. I quickly got in the
habit of double-checking for guards through glass doors. They could easily
spot you through several sets of doors. It was the case in the theatre, but
especially on the fourth floor. Passing through any of the interior rooms
could spawn easily missed comments from hall patrollers. Found a single coin
on one of the bookshelves in the records room. I
discovered the immediate need to access the fourth floor ventilation system.
I found the easiest point of entry being the vent above the rafters in the mahogany
stairhall. I could access it by using a vine arrow from the inner balcony.
Guards constantly patrolled the top floor halls in overlapping fashion. I
found a gap in their routes eventually. Even from atop the rafter I got
caught a few times and had to reload. Especially dangerous was the guard
halting by the double doors leading to the balcony. He pivoted and could see
activity going on in the stairhall. Found a hidden coin up there as well. Took
the shafts to the garden in the west. Rubber and Steel had already left the
casino, so I needed to return Cloud’s key to his belt to have any chance of
getting the promotion. I could drop to the floor and hang out by the walls in
safety. There was one circling guard, but she was fairly inattentive. Cloud
was positioned to the west, so coming from the windows directly behind him
was my best bet. The only enemies to worry about were Raputo’s bodyguards to
the north. The others were either involved in the neverending conversation or
unresponsive. Neither guard first alerted, but they still gave settling
remarks like “I’m getting too jumpy.” I consider this a regular first alert,
despite no triggering remarks such as “Hey, what’s going on?” The way I see
it, any remark indicates I’ve
crossed the threshold for a first alert, regardless of what kind of remark it is. Some enemies are
programmed not to say anything, but instead go straight to attack mode.
That’s different. Anyway, back to my situation. I had to stay permanently
crouched. If I stood up, I got a settling remark as soon as I returned to the
shade. I think it was the guard in white that most often commented. The worst
thing you can do in those situations is quicksave before being 100% sure you
are not seen. On several occasions I reloaded only to find a comment arriving
two seconds later. Good old hardsaves are your best bet. There was a patch of
darkness extending from the windows up to the nearest end of the two couches.
I snuck to the end of that patch unbothered. From here, I had to inch by
tapping creep-walk until Cloud’s belt highlighted. I couldn’t lean in to
place the key, that affected the light gem enough to give me a settling
remark from said guard once I got back to the aforementioned patch of
darkness. Cloud occasionally idled back and forth, especially when taking
part in the conversation. This shifted his belt in and out of reach, and with
some good timing I could successfully replace the strongbox key (right image
above). Grabbed his money purse in the same manner. Circled
the room counterclockwise and grabbed the offices key from the guard outside
the double doors. Made sure not to alert anyone in the hall to the sounds. My
next challenge was stealing the monarch suite key from Raputo’s guard. This
had to be done from the east, but didn’t prove as difficult as the Cloud
situation. Here I could lean in without any first alerts, as long as I wasn’t
too close. The image above shows the sweet spot. I
had trouble reaching the two offices in the northern part of the garden. The
problem was Antoinette and her personal servant, the only individuals facing
north directly. Both office entries were well-lit and brought my light gem to
red. If either of them saw me, the mission failed instantly, as it busted one
of the mandatory objectives. I could sneak into civil litigation and steal
the magnifying glass. To get back out I had to pan left, back into the
shadows. Then after the guard passed I quickly dashed across the brightest
portion and continued by sneaking along the wall. The northwest office had a
pipe on the desk. I had to make it back out and into the far northeast corner
before the female guard started heading east. There was also a guard outside
the double doors that positioned himself in the hall at this point. Finding
the proper timing and speed, I managed to reach the corner undetected. Rubber’s Trouble Reentered
the ventilation system and started cleaning the rest of this floor. Got the
scroll-case from the procurement office via the ceiling panel there. Couldn’t
enter the adjacent accounting office. One of the desk jockeys was facing the
entry. He first alerted as soon as I entered the doorway. There were two
other entries, but they were even brighter. Remember, lights can’t be turned
off for Supreme. That meant I had to skip the copy kit in there. So I
couldn’t get all the bonus objectives for that mode. [Bonus
objectives are ones that don’t show up in your list until completed. They are
not required for Supreme because the player doesn’t necessarily know they
exist.] After each of the first three copied documents, that document
gets added to the task list and the optional objective saying “Copy any other
important documents you run across” remains. That means finding a fourth
document is required, since optional objectives are required for Supreme
Ghost. After you find the fourth document, however, the optional objective to
find another one disappears. You still trigger a bonus objective upon finding
a fifth (which is the max by the way), but it isn’t required since it
doesn’t’ appear until you find it. I hope all that made sense. In short, as
long as you copy any four out of the existing five documents for Supreme, you
are good. Sadly, this meant I wouldn’t be able to get the Agent Glass
promotion for Supreme. I
used my current copy kit on the ledger in the head accountant’s office (right
image above). His safe key was hidden behind the wall painting. Entered
Cloud’s office from the north side. Couldn’t copy his letter as I was out of
kits. This would probably be the one to skip for Supreme. Snuck through the
hallway further south to reach Cloud’s suite. There was a guard patrolling
outside that had to be timed rather accurately (left image below). The suite
itself was devoid of people. Made
my way back to the ground floor and cleaned out the money exchange office
(right image above). I needed the copy kit there also. I could stay in the
shadows going through the lobby. Despite the two guards and civilians, I
didn’t have a hard time avoiding alerts. The biggest problem was not getting
seen through the windows from inside the office. Moved
on to the second floor and made my way counterclockwise. Had few problems
looting the various guest rooms. The biggest problem on this floor came in
the observation lounge overlooking the gambling hall. A wandering nobleman is
supposed to be the only one in
there. However, he was joined by a guard stuck in the couch (left image
below). The guard spotted me the instant I rounded the corner to grab the
goblet. Regular Ghost can circumvent it by rushing past the corner and take a
first alert, or by flipping the light switch. Supreme Ghost doesn’t allow
either. I didn’t want to take the bust, as I saw Perfect Supreme truly within
reach at this point. I realized I had to backtrack about 1 hour worth of
playtime in order to fix this issue. I did so, following exactly the same
path as before. Tedious, but it avoided the bust. Next
up was the second floor clubhouse. All entries were locked except the balcony
doors. A nicely placed vine arrow from the main entrance courtyard took me up
there. Two patrollers covered the inside, each carrying snaggable keys. The
only difficult spot was getting the goblet from one of the bar tables (right
image above). The barwoman pivoted west and north. The best entry point was
through the windows in the northeast corner. There was a perfect shadow on
the couch outside, where I hid from the nearby patroller. Timing the other
swordsman I dropped to the floor inside. The woman did not comment if she was
facing west. I leaned over and grabbed the loot, then planned my escape. It
was impossible to jump straight back onto the windowsill, at least without
multiple first alerts. However, by use of a vine, I could swing far enough
into the window frame to be able to land onto the sill when retrieving the
arrow (left image below). The outside patroller alerted to the vine, so I had
to time him as well. Plus the woman had to face west the entire time. I got
the hang of the moves after a while and managed to get in and out with no
alerts. The jump onto the vine itself had to be a walk-jump, otherwise the
barwoman spotted me in her periphery. Overall, this piece of loot proved
easier than first anticipated, as soon as I figured out the right method.
Afterwards I locked the balcony doors (another task off Rubber’s list) and
escaped through the living room vent. The
last of Rubber’s chores was to move the guard passed out in the first floor
bar. There were a few ways to go about it, but the easiest way involved
Raputo’s personal guard, Sergeant Dendrington, patrolling the hall outside
the monarch suite. Coming from the upper mahogany stairhall, I placed the
empty lockbox on the table by the monarch suite door. While Dendrington
picked it up and headed upstairs, I rushed back to the vents and once more
snuck a peek at the conversation in the fourth floor garden (right image
above). This time Raputo had a letter ready. Upon the arrival of Dendrington,
he delivered the letter and sent the sergeant back downstairs. I headed to
the third floor men’s room, where Dendrington was soon to arrive. Before
doing his deed, he left the lockbox on the bathroom table. His nature’s calling
left me with enough time to pick the lock and copy Raputo’s letter. This
ticked off another bonus objective. Dendrington didn’t alert to the lockpicks
or the northernmost stall door. However, he did alert to the lockbox being left open. “Hey, this isn’t
right!” Only a first alert, but still a Supreme bust. At first I didn’t think
the box could be closed, as it never highlighted once the letter was visible.
Apparently, the letter and the box has different proximity values, but only
slightly so. If both could highlight, the letter took priority. I found the
right distance and managed to close it up in time for Dendrington to emerge.
He didn’t alert this time. Home free. As
his letter instructed, Dendrington fetched Raputo’s guards in the first floor
bar and left. That cleared the coast for me to grab the drunk guard behind
the counter. I had to dodge the roaming servant and the two guests in the
west end. Sneaking from the southeast door did the trick. I brought the guard
with me through the ventilation system (left image below). The physics of the
engine didn’t make it easy to navigate through the shafts carrying a body. I
eventually landed in the guard captain’s office. I ended up taking his key,
although I guess it can be circumvented. You can easily carry the guard
through the secret shaft here and safely drop to the outside courtyard from
the roof. I used the hall exit, so for me it was necessary, but if you are
into absolute miminum pickups (like
I usually am), you should skip it. I quicksaved before realizing, and my last
real save was too far back to bother with the reload. The Monarch Suite I
decided to save the best for last. Every objective was done and all I had
left was loot. I entered through the side door coming from the theatre (right
image above). Three guards plus a female bartender. Two of the guards were
patrolling, with the one in white being extremely jumpy. He spotted the
slightest flicker in the light gem at abnormally high distances. He had a
longer route down the south side, but walked faster than normal guards. The
second patroller did counterclockwise circles in the bar area. The third
guard was stationed between the bar and the bedroom, pivoting north, south
and west. Initially, I had planned on hitting the gambling tables by crossing
the marbled area by the windows when he swung south, but there were too many
variables needing to go my way for it to be a viable option. The noisy floor
and the frequently pivoting woman by the bar posed the greatest challenges.
Then you had the two patrollers that had to be timed to perfection. I found
it easier to head south. The bedroom had a few comfortable spots where I was
totally out of harm’s way (left image below). Timing the fast patroller I
slipped further south, grabbing more loot along the way. I had to be swift
picking the hall cabinets, but made it to the closet in time. Found a hidden
coin atop the hat shelf here. To
reach the gambling area, I decided to balance the ledges in the Ivory Hall
Overlook (right image above). There certainly wasn’t much room to maneuver
around the corners. The toughest part, however, was dodging the jumpy
patroller’s view. It was hard to hear through the windows, so I cranked up
the volume and went step by step. The ledge at the halfway point was lower. I
could save there and take a breather. The trickiest portion was getting into
the window by the crap tables. I was bright red, so the white guard could
spot me through the windows from way over in the south hall. It wasn’t more
than a first alert, but enough to spoil Supreme. The safest thing was to wait
for him to patrol out of sight and use hardcover as a guarantee. Of course I
had to time the red guard’s patrol also, plus the barlady needed to be turned
towards the back wall. Once that occurred, I slid inside and hid in the
corner southeast of the nearest table. This spot was safe from the white
guard soon to come along the wall to the far west. Once he passed north I
could sneak over to the northeast corner and wait for the red guard to pass
(left image below). Still no alerts. The
poker room had tons of loot. Luckily, the southwest corner provided hardcover
from the white guard that would eventually return. He would alert as long as
there was a clear line of sight between him and me, regardless of my light
gem. I pilfered as much loot as I could before he returned, and waited in
said corner for the red guard to come by again (right image below). Once he
left I stole the rest and exited towards the crap tables. Getting back out
through the window took more good timing between all the guards. I eventually
found the right moment and leapt onto the sill. The best way from here was
straight down onto the ledge below (right image above). With a little luck I
took no damage in the fall and could drop onto the light fixture further
down. Realized
at this point I had forgotten two pieces of loot; a ring in room 207 and a
porcelain mug in the minister’s suite. That wrapped it up and I could leave
for Supreme. Didn’t get the Agent Glass promotion, as this requires all five
documents to be copied. For regular Ghost I went up to the fourth floor and
grabbed the last copy kit from the accounting office. This spawned a comment
from the office worker, but that is allowed for that mode. I could now copy
Cloud’s office letter and leave from there. This gave me the remark from my
team members indicating a perfectly conducted mission, including the agent
status upgrade. The stats below are from the Supreme run. Statistics: Time:
2:55:53 Loot:
8385 out of 8385 Pickpockets:
10 out of 14 Secrets:
None Locks
Picked: 20 Damage
Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0 Consumables:
1 Dust Bomb (to mark the door of Cloud’s mistress) Ghost:
Success! Perfect
Thief: Success! Supreme
Ghost: Success! Perfect
Supreme Ghost: Success! Notes: -
The guard
captain’s key is strictly speaking an unnecessary pickup. I didn’t count this
as a Supreme bust as I ended up using it. I thought of the alternate route after
the fact. -
Though not
required, you can’t get all five copy kits without taking a first alert from
the desk clerk in the top floor accounting office. You need all five kits in
order to get the Agent Glass promotion at the end. I skipped it for Supreme,
but got it for regular Ghost. |
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