[THIEF ANNIVERSARY CONTEST] - THE TOWER My time had come to ‘The
Tower’ by Lady Rowena. A very talented Italian author, with former creations of
epic proportions such as ‘Rowena’s Curse’ and ‘The Seven Sisters’. Despite
this being a smaller entry, I knew I was in for a treat. Lady Rowena rarely
disappoints. Lord Witherdale’s jewel
collection was my main target of the night. Along the way I needed to pick up
the golden skull of Lord Balakin and 3,200 in loot. Right off the bat it
sounded like all hell was loose. Doors being bashed in and guards
complaining. I didn’t find anyone searching or acting funny, so it has to be
a sequence of scripts. I didn’t find any broken doors or bodies laying around
either. The initial streets had four enemies to
look out for. Two of the patrollers were a normal swordsman and a thief. The
thief covered the staircase to the central tower. Another stationary thief was
positioned just inside the tower entry, doing random pivots. Then you had a
maid doing a short loop on the south side. I later learned her name to be
Melina. There was a convenient ledge circling the base of the tower that
helped dodging the guards. From the back I accessed the main floor through a
sliding metal panel. There were quite a few of those in various locations
around the map; seemingly a common way to control the town’s airflow. I
desperately needed Alf’s key to progress. I tried getting to the upper
balconies with a single rope arrow from a multitude of angles, but alas they
were all unreachable from the streets. I found his key was snaggable from the
shade just inside the grate (left image below). I was already worried about
how to replace it for Supreme. Normally you need something soft to cushion
the drop, like a carpet or a grassy surface, or even a healing vial can do
the trick. The rules don’t say how close is close enough, but I figure keys
off someone’s belt should be put back by the person’s feet. I could reach Witherdale’s
sitting room by the mentioned tower ledge. I had to mantle the balcony on the
far left side to get up. Entered Alf’s apartment by dodging Melina’s rounds.
Found a basement key in there and a couple of hints to a missing ring among
the readables. Witherdale’s basement was just across the alley, and sure
enough the ring was on the floor of the ceiling deck. I replaced the basement
key at Alf’s and uncovered his hidden stash of loot from a small switch in
the air shaft (right image above). There were three routes from inside the air vents. The first took me
through Blaine’s apartment, the husband of cheating Melina. The floors of his
house were tiled, but one of the hallways had some dark corners. I waited by
the bedroom door until he emerged, blocked the door and rushed in to grab the
loot. Getting out was the worst part (left image below). He needed to pivot
to his right, otherwise he’d spot me. He had a small stop but then exited. I
followed and leaped out the window to the adjacent building. I monitored the
thief and guard in the streets below not to get caught. This was Amos’ mech shop. Not much to report except for some hidden
loot in a canister on the shelf (right image above). Kind of a sneaky place
to put it. I wish there was more of that in other missions also. Found a key
for a mechanist hideout downstairs. Brought it along for later. The cellar
had a half-secret switch on the pillar opening a nearby gate yielding some
coin stacks. I could now reach the balcony of the tower’s second floor. Not much
going on in there, except I could reach another building on the north side.
From there I got to the roof. Dodging the patrolling archer by the control
tower and the guards below was a
little tricky, but highly doable. I snagged his purse and ran into the tower
as he left. He had a short wait outside before returning, enough for me to rope
arrow up the rafters. There I found his secret stash of life savings (left
image below). Not so secret anymore... Traversed a pipe in the northwest corner to reach the notary’s. From
here I could reach Witherdale’s roof with a mantle-hop across the streets 50
feet below. No way in hell you’d get me to do that in real life! Found a
goblet and some coins on the ground. His patio door was unfrobbable, but the
window downstairs was open, and there was a wooden rafter conveniently
sticking out from the adjacent building. After cleaning his jewels I made my
way back to the notary. I needed the elevator key to access the downstairs
office. Both this and the cabinet key from the middle floor disappeared upon
use, thus no possibility of putting them back for Supreme. I couldn’t relock
the elevator door either, for the same reason. Could the elevator key be
considered an “unnecessary pickup”, and therefore break Supreme rule #13? No,
because without it I couldn’t have accessed the secret crawlspace at the
bottom of the elevator shaft (right image below). I needed the key to enter
the shaft after sending the lift up. If there hadn’t been loot down there to
justify it, I guess I would have had to pick the lock on the outside door to
get to the office. I know I’m nitpicking, but get over it. Made my way back to the archer’s roof and jumped the gap to the central
tower’s third floor balcony. Got some new objectives to save and protect a
noblewoman named Leonora from the underground dungeon. Couldn’t enter her
cell just yet, but found a key to the top floor throne room where the
perpetrator (Balakin) was located. There was a central light source that
pulsed on and off regularly. I timed it and ran to the corner with the golden
skull without any alerts. It seemed like it was just Balakin’s body in the
chair, while his spirit would appear on a first alert. It gave the howling
noise typical of a haunt’s comment, so I interprated that to be an alert and
hence a Supreme bust. I managed to grab the cells key, the rings, the skull and leave down the hatch without the
spirit showing itself (left image below). I was now free to fetch
Leonora and leave the tower from the second floor balcony. I returned the
shaft key, but had to hang on to the cells key from the throne room. There
was no way to replace it without stirring Balakin’s attention. In fact, I
couldn’t even avoid alerting him to hunt mode. I had hopes of the carpet
being silent enough, but it clunked like it was made of wood. I also couldn’t
close the access hatch. The spirit appeared the second I frobbed it. Strange
how it didn’t alert to me unlocking it... After leaving Leonora in the alley I ascended the air shaft above
Alf’s apartment. There was a mechanist hideout with the last two pieces of
loot at the very top. The entire mechanist loot stash was found in one of the
chests here, but it was locked and the only key was carried by a guard
patrolling a metal walkway above. The sloped ramp was also metal and the
guard was facing it for more than half of his route. There were a couple of
spots close to the ramp with shade, so I monitored the situation from there
for a while. I knew a moss arrow would have easily solved the problem, but I hate leaving such clear evidence of a
thief’s passing. Instead I tried a different approach. This upcoming trick is
extremely difficult and most players might be unaware of this chink in the
dark engine’s otherwise impenetrable armor. Every ledge in Thief has an
invisible outer edge, only noticeable if you slowly inch yourself towards the
rim. If lucky, you might land on this narrow tip and find that you can
actually traverse it along the line of the ledge. This hidden edge is 100%
silent. As long as you manage to stay within its boundaries, you won’t make a
sound. I’ve practiced the use of this technique many times, so I’ve gotten to
know its possibilities. As the guard passed the ramp on the walkway above, I
made a gentle leap towards the slope. After quite a few reloads I finally
found the speed and angle needed to land safely onto the silent edge. I then
quickly inched up the ramp to the shade at the top. From there I crouched
into the far corner where I could snag the key as he came by (right image
above). Dropping to ground level was no problem, comparatively speaking. The
key luckily disappeared upon use. The last thing to take care of was a bonus objective in Louise’s
place, a recently widowed pregnant woman next to the mech shop. It was
accessible through the air shaft system mentioned earlier. One of the
readables mentioned her being in danger of losing her house, much due to that
scum of a notary. Leaving his title deed on her table would spawn the new
objective. However, I couldn’t close either of the hatches in the air duct
without waking the nearby worker. I left them open instead; more Supreme
busts. On another note, I had to lean in and drop the deed onto the table
from the air duct opening. If not, I would’ve had to exit through her main
door which meant taking her key, replacing it and relocking the door. To much
hassle, so I took the easier option. Alf’s key also couldn’t be
returned, as previously indicated. I tried putting it in various locations,
but to no avail. A potion would muffle the drop, but when removed still left
too much noise for either of the thieves. I kept the key for myself instead. Statistics: Time: 1:02:21 Loot: 3844 out of 3844 Pickpockets: 4 out of 6 Secrets: 4 out of 4 Locks Picked: 16 Damage Dealt: 0 Damage
Taken: 0 Consumables: None Ghost: Success! Perfect Thief: Success! Supreme Thief: Failed! Perfect Supreme Thief:
Failed! Notes: -
Couldn’t return the cells key to
Balakin’s throne room. His spirit alerted to second level hunt mode. This was
a bust to Supreme Ghost. -
Couldn’t close the hatch to
Balakin’s throne room. The spirit appeared indicating a first alert. Another
Supreme bust. -
Couldn’t close the two hatches by
the sleeping air duct worker. The noise woke him up indicating a first alert.
The choice is yours whether you want to leave them open or skip the bonus
objective with the pregrant woman. Since Supreme was already busted, I gave
Louise her title deed. -
Couldn’t return Alf’s key to the
central tower’s main floor. There was nothing to cushion the drop, so I hung
on to it. Another Supreme bust. |