Mission 13: Betrayal

[This report has been updated for TFix/NewDark 1.27. Situations affected by these patches and differences between them and OldDark have been inserted in green. All screenshots have been updated, and new ones have been added.]

A pretty poor mission to an overall magnificent campaign. The story shift seems extremely forced to me, as do the readables that desperately try to justify it. The glade and the caves are decently atmospheric, but the mission is too short and linear to have any lasting impact. Bar dousing one torch, this mission can be Perfect Supremed. I’m not sure why it’s so difficult to make a good final mission, but this one definitely falls short.

All we really had to go on for now was killing Malak and his conjured beast. We would get the additional task of also destroying the scales in not too long. Straight forward stuff.

Had to inch along the fence of Truart’s mansion to avoid detection from the guards below. The female swordsman was already on the lookout, but not from detecting me. Her comments signified she hadn’t been alerted at all. I found I could mantle the wall to the west high up above what seemed possible (left image below). Not sure if you’re supposed to do that, but it worked. I could hop directly into the canal from here unseen. There were some hard to spot lucky coins in the well across the bridge. The water seemed to have low visibility all through the mission, thus the loot was tough to locate.

Through the glade and the caves the only real problem occurred in the cave with the waterfall and the stationary ratman. I tried following the patrolling one and sneak past him as he turned, but one of them always caught me. The only way to get past was by dousing the torch in the corner. Instead I looked for a way to climb the rocky pathway along the northern part of the cliff. There were some large trees, and although they were rope attacheable, it was tough to get a proper leap from the rope. It was as if I was partly stuck to the tree, and instead of hopping I just fell to the ground. I found a semi-repeatable spot just east of the cave opening where I first emerged (right image above). Timing the two ratmen nearby, I jumped and successfully mantled up the rocky slope. I managed to grab the rope in the act also. I next had to inch out to the very edge of the path in order to avoid the patroller coming by.

A bit further up was another stationary beast. He shifted between three facing angles, all generally towards the east. I waited at the top as close as I could without getting spotted (left image below). Another patroller came out of the cave up ahead and we he turned around, I snuck into the dark corner ahead. I could wait here and follow said patroller the next time he left. With a bit of luck, the following cave’s patroller was walking away and I could doge both, dropping to a rocky outcropping below the main walkway (right image below). Here I was safe and could plan proceedings.

From here I leapt back onto the main path once both ratmen were gone. I dropped to the northeast and mantled up a small cave with a bonfire and some loot (left image below). Here I was safe from any alerts, despite being lit up. I then had to time the patrollers again in order to proceed to the exit cave. I had to wait 4 or 5 patrol loops before they were correctly synchronized. As long as two patrollers have slightly different route lengths, waiting them out long enough usually gives you an opening, and so it did here. Malak’s house at the top of the slope posed no problem.

In Malak’s lair, I could get all the way to the end of the river before getting caught. The two torches outside the shrine were too bright to avoid the gaze of the stationary ratman. I ended up dousing the closest one around the corner (right image above). Now I could sneak unseen all the way over to the corner just outside the shrine. Neither Malak nor the large beast seemed to have any sort of first alert remarks. Only the wandering ratman was the issue now. With good timing I could sneak over and grab the scales. Taking them removed a light source, but since the objective said to destroy them, that should be ok. The beast killed everyone and I could successfully toss the scales into the lava without getting seen. As the beast was dying I relit the torch with the fire arrow I started the mission with.

Well, that was that!

STATISTICS:

Time: 25:43

Loot: 1689 out of 1689

Pickpockets: None

Secrets Found: None

Locks Picked: None

Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0

Consumables: 1 water arrow & 1 fire arrow

Ghost: Success!

Perfect Thief: Success!

Supreme Thief: Failed!

Perfect Supreme Thief: Failed!

Norwegian Thief: Success!

Notes:

- Used one water arrow to put out the closest torch outside the shrine with the scales. Used a fire arrow to light it up again after everyone was dead.