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REFLECTIONS IN RED This is a very different
mission than Skacky’s regular romp. Although not my favorite in terms of gameplay,
it is aesthetically gorgeous and has some of the best sound design you’ll
ever hear in a fan mission. Break into a beautiful mountainside castle and
uncover the wicked truths about its owner, Lord Barlowe. Get ready to be
stalked! I had to infiltrate
Barlowe’s castle and steal his secret wine recipe, plus obtain 3,250 in loot.
Optional tasks were getting a bottle of his Wychwood Red from 672, as well as
finding some information about his knowledge of the Wexler job. More
objectives would spawn during the playthrough. The Castle Approaching this mission
properly took some planning. First, an event would occur at a certain point
where I would get stalked by a monster (Barlowe in disguise), needing to
escape without detection. Furthermore, all the exterior doors would then get
locked and barred, with the only method of re-entry to bash myself back in
using the sword. This, of course, was property damage and not allowed for
Ghost. To circumvent that, I could block one of the doors with a potion. However,
I’d have to choose which door carefully, as the monster could potentially
follow me outside. I also wanted to avoid picking locks needlessly, which
narrowed down the entry doors to two: the basement dockside entrance, or the
second floor double doors to the north. I chose the basement doors (left
image below). It was the easiest point of entry of the two by far. Also, this mission had
some issues with guards getting stuck. This had a rather unconventional
workaround though. Upon taking the east wing key in Barlowe’s quarters, all
the guards on the map vanished. They had been ordered by captain Royce to
leave for the woods. This made looting the castle much easier, so I made my
way towards Barlowe’s bedroom as soon as possible. Problem was, two of the guards
carried purses, and those purses would disappear along with the guards. I
therefore prioritized getting those pickpockets first, then headed for
Barlowe’s. The most difficult guard to pickpocket was patrolling in the
foyer. An archer also patrolled part of the same route. I found the best
place to steal the purse from a ledge in the northeast corner of the foyer on
the upper level (right image below).
Barlowe Once Barlowe’s
transformation happened, my first task was looting the library. Barlowe had
no audible first alerts, but turned in my direction if detecting me in any
way. I counted this as both a regular Ghost and Supreme bust. Anything that
changes the movement of an enemy is always counted as a second level alert,
thus a bust for all modes. However, his odd behavior didn’t stop there. With
regular intervals, he started running towards a specific spot in a room,
almost so as to restart his hunting behavior. If I ran into a different room,
his destination would change to whatever room I was in. This seemed scripted,
as it would happen even if I was in a completely different area of the manor.
That type of movement I therefore counted as no bust, as long as I wasn’t
spotted in the process. I realized that after a sprint, Barlowe would have a
delay until his next such maneuver, which gave me time to loot a new room.
This is what I used to my advantage to loot the library. I descended from the attic
and waited atop the door to the bedroom. Once I heard Barlowe running away, I
quickly entered the library, got all the loot plus the laboratory key, then
headed to the upper level. Here I waited on the railing above the fireplace
for him to enter (left image below). This was dark, plus I could safely and quietly drop to the lower level. I did
this when Barlowe sprinted back to the center of the room, then leapt from
rug to rug down the hall and bolted for the laboratory. He would start to
follow me at a certain point, but I made it there with plenty of time to
spare. Enough to get all the items I needed and hide atop the top level
railing (right image below). I descended via a rope from the top beam, then
snuck out as he lurked up the stairs. Would retrieve the rope later. I’d have
to return the keys from in here anyway.
Barlowe wasn’t able to
open the wine cellar door if it was locked, so I could loot this place in
peace. Once out via the mausoleum, I grabbed the explosives and reentered the
manor via the basement door that had been blocked open. Barlowe would now
come running towards my location from the wine cellar door. I hid under the
basement staircase and ran up when he passed. I could also hide below the
wine cellar stairs and run up to lock the door. To get back down and light
the barrel safely, I had to monitor his movements and go when he had his back
turned. He started going back up the stairs at one point, which was the best
time to move. The inner wine cellar had large pillars too which was great to
use as hardcover. Eliminating Barlowe directly followed the objectives and
didn’t show up in the stats as damage nor kills, so no bust. The rest of the mission
was easy. Brought Agnes out with me after returning all the keys and the
healing potion. Statistics: Time: 1:15:29 Loot: 5260 out of 5260 Pickpockets: 8 out of 8 Locks Picked: 10 Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0 Secrets: 4 out of 4 Consumables: None Ghost: Success! Perfect Thief: Success! Supreme Thief: Success! Perfect Supreme Thief: Success! |
