Into the Odd

INTO THE ODD

[Thief 2: The Metal Age 20th Anniversary Contest]

VIDEO REPORT (Segmented Run)

Like many other members of the forum, this mission started out being a mixed bag for me. It ended up, however, as one of the most mesmerizing experiences of my Thief career. I firmly have this in my top 10 missions of all-time, possibly even top 5. It is certainly not because of traditional Thief gameplay, but instead groundbreaking due to exactly that. The sanctuary I put as one of the most astonishing locations ever made in a fan mission. How can a map have such a place, and then pleasant, day-time streets going for it at the same time? Puzzling. But then again, I was going: into the odd.

Storywise, there wasn’t much to go on at start. I was being chased by Bloody Polly’s henchmen, for reasons unknown. Basically, I was to escape their hunt, find a blackjack and lockpicks, and then locate a hideout in Millhold. I knew from the info file there would be other objectives at some point. No purchase screen of any kind either. Not that it was admissible for Supreme.

Escape

The opening streets were fairly limited in scope. A closed gate and a pivoting stationary watchman covered the entrance to Yeoman’s Market (left image below). The streets moreover had three patrollers. A woman covered a stretch from Drowner’s Dock up to the underpass just south of the pub. Then there was a swordsman with an eye-patch who walked from the treatment plant gate down to the alley south of the factory. They both stopped at predictable points, yet could head either way again afterwards. Highly unpredictable. The third enemy travelled all the way from the starting latrine, and in a straight shot south to the fishmonger stand. He was the least of my worries. After learning all the patrols, I found a few convenient dark spots and planned my route.

The factory was my initial target, as I needed the replacement gear to get to the sewers. After taking the coins at the market, I leaped to the metal railing and entered the factory on the top floor. Another patrolling guard, an archer, covered this level and the outside alley. Luckily, I found a dark spot on a pipe before he appeared (right image above). I discovered he could even see me through the door window. Found two pieces of loot behind a brick above the desk here. I couldn’t replace the brick, so I put it on the desk as close to the hole as possible (left image below). Putting it flat made more noise and alerted the outside archer, so I put it vertically instead. Exited via the bottom floor door, after getting what I needed. I never touched the gate.

From here, I basically had to get to the junction station without getting spotted, picking up a few pieces of loot along the way. I waited underneath the shade cover just north of the factory, timing the two patrollers here (right image below). Since their routes were somewhat random, an opening emerged soon enough. Only the swordsman ventured in the direction of the treatment plant, so that area was a lot easier. I decided to close the treatment plant gate behind me. That was required for Supreme, and I knew more enemies would spawn later. I just figured it was better to do it now. I required flipping the lever in the junction station, close the entrance door, and rush through the gate before it closed. Tough, but well doable.

Sewers

The sewers had no enemies to bust from, but there were a few gates and hatches that had to be closed up due to Supreme rule #7. The easiest ones to forget were the gates by the cannibals. They were both operated by a lever on the inside of the lowest gate. I could flip the lever and rush out before that gate closed, but then the other gate was closed and I couldn’t proceed (left image below). Instead I had to wait until after I got the mangled key. There was another gate there that only had a button to open it, but couldn’t be reclosed (right image below). Then the Supreme rules allow leaving it open. If I had been able to mantle back up to the vent shaft above, then I wouldn’t have had to open this gate at all, but it was too high up. There was nothing to stack to get elevated either. At least I avoided the bust by managing to close the two previous ones. From here on it was linear gameplay until the sanctuary.

The only thing I needed to pick up here at this time was the old-looking key. The mission could be broken quite substantially by mantling up to the balcony in the southwest from the staircase statue (left image below). This way I could get most of the loot around the compound without having to deal with the patrollers that would spawn later on. However, I opted out of this skip, being pretty confident those loot items would still be accessible when I returned. It would pose an extra challenge, the way the mission was intended.

I arrived at the top floor of Balnebrich’s. There was another “hidden” door that I had to close behind me, without the possibility of returning (right image below). I had a bad feeling that it was a poor choice, but I didn’t see any reason I would need to return the opposite direction later. Hopefully that bullet wouldn’t come back to bite me.

Master Balnebrich

Balnebrich’s mansion actually wasn’t that difficult. There were no stationary guards, only 3 patrollers and a sleeping guard downstairs. When that is the case, it’s normally just a matter of waiting out the patrols until they’re timed right. A few hallways were very lit, but plenty of pillars served well as hardcover. Little to no tile around also made things easier. The pool room was my favorite, by far. Some hidden loot on a ledge above the canopy (left image below). Also found a caged crayman down below (right image below). There should’ve been a hidden objective to free him. That would’ve made my day.

To the Aqueducts

Received my updated objectives after overhearing the Marketmaster’s conversation. My primary goal now, however, was getting Hoel’s lockpicks. I needed to reach the aqueducts in the northeast, and that meant crossing through the eastern streets once more. They had changed since last time, and would change again after returning from Hoel’s. I didn’t think the Marketmaster’s district would change at all, so I could safely return here later. My first task was thus to open the gate at Yeoman’s Market. Luckily, this gate couldn’t be reclosed. The lever stopped being frobbable, which means it is no bust to Supreme to leave it open. A very frequently pivoting archer stood his ground behind the fishmonger’s stand on that side (left image below). Two other patrolling guards also ventured over here. They had the same, predictable route, and they were fortunately walking only a few feet apart. It would’ve been a lot worse with those two spread apart.

The only new building I could visit in this district (or so I thought) was the junction chief’s apartment. Since I now had rope arrows, I could reach it through an open window above the pub. There was another stationary guard outside the factory gate. He had three facing angles; north, west and southwest. He didn’t seem as alert as the other enemies in this district though. Several times where I thought he would comment, he remained silent. Only if I got close did he seem to alert normally. Perhaps his vision distance had been reduced, or something to that nature. Anyways, when he faced southwest, I could climb my rope to the apartment (right image below).

From here to the aqueducts was easy. I managed to close the access hatch as I dropped onto the ladder. I seemed to remember the hatch would close by itself later, but I mostly wanted to see if it could be done. Well, it could.

The aqueducts themselves were non-problematic. Also closed Hoel’s door on my way out. There was no need to return here later. I now had the chance to reset the hatch operated by the mangled key, as well as return the key to the gear pit. This was possible because I now had the lockpicks that enabled me to open another gate to the boiler room. This gate couldn’t be reclosed and therefore didn’t bust Supreme. It seems a bit silly to reclose a hatch only to open another one, but hey.

Candlehats

Another pickable door took me to the toughest place in the mission so far; the sewer maintenance section. Two floors of metal walkways, two stationary guards, and two patrolling workers with candlehats. Yes, that’s right. They were wearing hard hats with candles on them. Practical I guess, if you need both hands available. Anyways, they were by far the toughest to dodge. The whole area wasn’t big, but they could see me from either floor, and they were vigilant. I think they had a similar patrol route, but were on opposite schedules. First, I rounded the corner north and aimed for the stationary thief’s purse. He faced north, east, and south. Only the former position was beneficial. After grabbing it, I quickly dropped to the level below (left image below).

Next, there were two pickable storage rooms at the western end of this floor. Only one of them was interesting and had loot. The area outside the door was well lit, and both patrollers could see me from up above. The central office was the most difficult place to reach. Dodging the troops, I leapt from the broken ladder to the south, climbed up, and hopped furthermore onto a small ledge outside the office window (right image below). The thief from before was within view for part of this trip, but a large pillar helped me out some. I mantled inside and sought shelter in the back of the room.

A stationary guard covered the only door to this room. He never made any first alerts, as far as I could tell. Not even from the door opening two feet away. However, there wasn’t enough room to leave without nudging him, and that is not allowed for Supreme. The window it was then. I decided to take the eastern one to get out. The thief again had to be turned north for this move to work. It was hard, as I was bright and in view of both candlehatters. Timing their routes, I jumped onto the staircase to the east (left image below). Most of the time I landed in a soft, cushioned crouch, without really trying to. The distance was just so I ended up on the stairs’ silent edge. I got the purse from one of the patrollers from underneath the stairs here.

Snuck southeast and found another pickable door further south. This entire room was pitch black, but with two pieces of loot. That was it, so I continued west for the exit. The non-verbal stationary guard mentioned before had to be facing north for me to pass the hallway successfully (right image below). He also faced west and south.

Sanctuary (What a Place This Is!)

Although this place was highly intimidating due to color scheme and atmosphere, there were only 3 enemies to worry about. The apparition with glowy eyes (the owner?) kept a fast pace between the central tower and the staircase in the east. He only stayed on the uppermost level. Then of course you had the eyeball beast roaming down below. It was even faster than the apparition, and had a randomized patrol route, but there were plenty of shade around to dodge him. Lastly, a masked, cleaver-carrying she-beast patrolled a two-floored building in the southwest. There was also a mummy tucked away close to the exit in the east, but it wasn’t necessary to ever get in contact with. To reach that exit, I needed the sanctuary key from the top floor of the she-beast building, so I headed there first. A hellishly difficult metallic walkway took me there. I couldn’t get a feel for its clipping border. Several times I got stuck along the rim, only to either fall to oblivion or hop onto it with a clang. The she-beast’s patrol was predictable and simple. A few traps to worry about upstairs, but nothing too fancy. The bottom floor was tiled, but there was a convenient wooden beam by which a rope arrow enabled me to circumvent the stairs (left image below). A plate on the table down here was all of interest, but there were no shadows at all to speak of. The exit door was pickable, but couldn’t be relocked, so I wanted to avoid it. I took the metal walkway back instead. Had to return here to return the key later on too.

Went back the way I came and lock-blocked the exit gate with the sanctuary key. A nice trick when you need to both lock the door and return the key. Some people ridicule that method, but I’ve never had an issue with it. It’s no engine exploit in my book. On my way back I leapt from the open window across the garden below, mantling up a ledge with a sleeping corpse (literally, laying on a couch) (right image below).

The eastern temple had our first real ghosting issue. A lab of some sort had a lever panel in the ceiling. Flipping it revealed a massive face-statue behind a bookshelf. Two pieces of loot was located in its forehead; a ring worth 100 and a blue gem worth 15. Once both of them were taken, the statue face disappeared and respawned alive and vigilant in the opening of the exit doorway (left image below). There seemed no way to get past it without getting spotted. For regular ghost, I downed an invisibility potion and tried squeezing by. It spawned slightly to the left of the middle, so the right was the best side to go for. I got partly through, but died as I fell beyond on its backside. It dealt instant damage by touch, so I didn’t have more than a few seconds to work with. I even tried drinking healing potions and eating healing fruits during the process, to buy myself more time, but to no avail. It almost seemed like it had a lethal spot where I died instantaneously. I also tried experimenting with putting certain items in the spot where it spawned, thinking that this might push it further left, or something like that. Again, no Bueno. I remembered that trick working with a rubble piece on Markham’s ghost in Precious Cargo. Then I thought perhaps a speed potion would help. After all, it seemed damage was dealt per second of me touching the statue. I bound speed potion to ‘s’ and tried again. After only a few attempts, voila!! I got through! The first time I lost 8 health points. The next time I did it, I lost 6 (right image below). That was the best I could do. I don’t see any way of getting through without taking damage, and drinking the two potions is an absolute must. For Ghost that meant Perfect Thief was still possible, albeit a chemical success. My priority is usually Supreme, where the use of potions aren’t allowed. For that mode I skipped the gem worth 15 and left. Remembered to close the bookshelf panel on my way out.

Next I raided the shrine behind a pickable, slanted door further west. The eyeball beast had the outside room as part of its route, but it was dark enough to stay unnoticed. Lots of loot in there. Now I could finally return the old-looking key from my first visit here. I had to time the she-beast’s patrol route upstairs. The pickable door to that area had an open window in it, so sound traveled much better through it. She had to be on the top floor not to hear it. Dropping metal on metal will be Garrett’s downfall one of these days. Had to pick one of the five pickable locks upstairs in order to get a goblet, but I could leave the other four locked. Like I said before, I do my utmost to leave pickable doors untouched.

In order to avoid picking more locks, I mantled up from the statue to the pool balcony in the southwest. This was the route explained during my first visit to the sanctuary. From here I could easily access the two levels of the central tower. The lower floor lab was my favorite place in the entire compound (see image). So much detail and mystery packed into a small space. Love it. Dodging the striding specter, I returned the sanctuary key to the bedroom. Since I had lock-blocked the gate to the west, I could close it behind me and leave Supreme clean.

Balnebrich Revisited

I now arrived in Balnebrich’s basement. This was a wonderful way of looping back to the city, and now of course I had my lockpicks. This floor only had a spider bot and a watcher to worry about. The spider followed a golden child, but it was completely deaf. It only alerted to visual cues, but then went straight to attack mode. The watcher naturally was also deaf, so there was no need to worry about making noise down here at all. First, however, I went up the stairs and visited the pickable bedroom in the northeast. It had one piece of loot I wanted. There was now a guard in the small hallway outside the bedroom door, but he luckily didn’t alert to the lockpicks. This floor moreover also had an extra maid in the dining area and a new smoking guard by the main (but unfrobbable) entrance in the south (left image below). Passing this area from any other direction than the basement was difficult, so I found this to be the best way to reach the bedroom safely. I could have also reached the now accessible servants’ quarters, but that required picking a locked gate, and there was a way to avoid that. So I returned to the basement for now, closing the secret entrance behind me.

The toughest spot was the tiled hallway just outside the pool room (right image above). I could approach it from either direction, but it involved timing the watcher quite well both ways. In the end I found the sweet spot and managed to rush in behind the middle pillar to the southwest. There was only a tiny spot where I was dark enough not to get seen by the passing spider bot, but also gave me hardcover for the panning camera. The candlestick in the pool was reachable while keeping the pillar between me and the watcher. Then I rushed further southeast to clean the rest of this floor.

I ascended by way of the rotunda next to the lab. A rope provided access to either of the upper floors (left image below). I went all the way to the top and looted another pickable bedroom there. From there I looted the pickable treasury in the northern hallway. Brilliant maneuver to tease the player in the open like this, knowing the lockpicks isn’t available yet. Well, they were now. I could wait in the shadows to the east for patrollers to clear out (right image below). One guard and a guy with a strange, red hat came up the stairs further east of here. The only one that stayed was an archer alternating between the top of the stairs and the balcony above the garden to the northwest. He sometimes stayed at the end of the patrol, and sometimes he just turned around and headed back. When stationed on the balcony, I could pick the lock freely. I needed two full patrol cycles to get the lock open and retrieve the loot.

I now took the backway into the middle floor servants’ quarters. The gate to the pool control room was actually frobbable from the pool side (left image below). There was no need to lean through the gate even, you could reach it from the right end of the gate, just when the lever was slightly out of view. You could only reach it when you were in between crouching and standing, it seemed, so there wasn’t much in it. Anyway, it circumvented having to pick the main entrance door.

The servant quarters itself was devoid of people. The guard and the servant that had previously blocked the entrance were now gone. The private court to the east was also quite easy. There was no loot at the astrologer’s, so I could skip that place entirely. When opening the gate to Chitterling Court, however, the door to the torturers’ basement that I thought was supposed to be open, was not. The purse down there was thus not available at this time. After inquiring about this issue on the forums, I was told to my amazement that the control box operated by the mangled key in the sewers also controls this door! That meant the last time I passed this area, the door had been open, I just failed to realize it. Now, because I had locked up that hatch and even returned the key, this door had closed up again. I therefore had to reload to before closing up the sanctuary door, go back through the sewers to reopen the mangled key hatch, redo Balnebrich’s and the Private Court, before finally getting the purse in the basement (right image below). Of course, this meant I had to return yet again to the sewers in order to close up the door + hatch and return the mangled key for the last time. Supreme Ghost can at times be extremely frustrating.

The Marketmaster

I went back through Balnebrich’s and tackled the streets to the west. Cleaned the smokehouse and the bastion easily enough. Although there were quite a few people at the market, I was able to open the entrance to the tomb without anyone seeing or hearing me. I thought the jump to get to the lever would be too noisy, but nobody said anything. I bounced across from the lookout tower to the nearest open window to the Marketmaster’s (left image below). From the other window, I could also mantle up the ledge further west and get the single coin up there.

The only issue in this building was the top floor, but it was an utter nightmare. To begin with, I did manage to avoid picking the lock on the gate leading to the staircase. I could mantle up the painting (!) in the northwest corner of the hallway, then furthermore up the window frame on the northern wall (right image below). I needed to time the patrolling archer, but more importantly, the masked lady in red on the top floor. She had a short patrol in a room to the southeast of the window I mantled into. She stopped at either end of her patrol and waited for a while. She never said anything when stationary, no alerts, no idle chatter, nothing; just straight to attack mode. She did, however, alert as normal when walking between the end points of her small route. During her stops, she did make a scripted search maneuver a couple of times, but that wasn’t due to seeing me. The western stopping point sometimes pushed her onto the table by her window. The first time I thought she was stuck, but she always continued her patrol afterwards. I simply had to be lucky with the mantle and hope she wasn’t there at the window. The other end of her path was by the golden egg cage, staring straight at it.

There was another girl on the top floor as well; a maid of some sort. She was carrying a candle, doing continual counter-clockwise rounds encircling the loot cage. A third female, a guard, was stationed behind a curtain in the southwest, a bit further away from the cage. She couldn’t see anything, but the entire floor was tiled, and she could definitely hear me. There were a few rugs on the west side of the cage, but they weren’t of much help. The two moving women were the issue, combined with the noisy floor and the servant’s candle. I soon got a good feel for how big the radius was on her light source. I gave it a good bit of distance and then could move in closer behind her. I basically had to follow her around the premise, staying at her back as much as possible. I couldn’t move as fast as her on the tile, so I had to wait in a few spots before she returned on her next cycle. I also had to be very wary of the madam to the northwest. Remember, she didn’t first alert when stationed, only when moving, but she could still give settling remarks upon resuming her patrol, which naturally was a bust all the same. Doing frequent hard saves up here was a smart idea.

The first spot I waited in was around the corner after heading down the hall on the cage’s south side. This was where I could enter the closed-off section with the third female guard. Right outside her tent was a patch of shade that kept me concealed as the maid passed (red arrow in left image below). Next, I mantled the dining room table to the east and crawled over to the northeast corner. There was a penetrable curtain here, hiding a tiara on a statue. This was the last piece of loot I found when I played the mission the first time. Getting there involved close monitoring of the lady in red, as she could see me through the cage barriers. On the maid’s next round, I snuck out and crawled through the next permeable drapes to the north. These concealed the control box for the magical seal protecting the egg. I picked the lock to turn off the device and hid in the northwest corner of this area. From here, I could lean through the curtain and monitor both women, without getting caught by the candle lady (left image below). Once I found this spot, things went a little bit smoother.

My next task was to pick the lock on the cage door itself. The lady in red had to be fully stationed at her northeastern spot in order not to hear it. The patrolling maid had to leave the room and enter the hallway to the south. There was just enough time to get the door open and return to my hiding spot before she emerged around the corner again. It took a while before their routes lined up so that this was possible. I think I waited 4-5 loops before the chips stacked correctly. If I picked the lock when the other woman was stationed by the cage, she didn’t give a first alert, but gave a settling remark a few minutes later. The first time around I was on my way back downstairs when she did this, and I didn’t understand until later that she had actually heard the lockpicks.

My final job was then to grab the egg itself. I wanted to do this and follow the servant back towards the staircase in one fell swoop. Again this required the other lady to be over by the window for the duration of the process, which took a few more patrol sequences. It worked after not too long. But then came the big blow. Both women alerted to the golden egg missing from the cage! These remarks are different from normal first alerts, and there are no settling remarks to follow. I do consider these as weaker busts to the Supreme mode than regular comments, mostly because they are not due to getting seen or heard. They can be compared to alerts given to spotting an open door, a hanging rope, or things of that nature. I even think this was more excusable, as it was a direct consequence of taking an objective. Most loot items will eventually be detected as missing anyway, it’s just that Garrett isn’t around to hear the reactions. But they were busts nonetheless. I was still happy to be able to loot the entire floor free of any “traditional” alerts.

On the way back down, I dropped from the window I had mantled up earlier. This time, the woman had to be stationed over by the (now empty) egg cage (right image above). I grabbed the cleverly placed diamond from the chandelier now as well. There was another one in the room further southwest too. Timing the archer below, I landed softly on the end table. The rest of the building was no chore. I exited via the bathroom drain pipe.

The Market

All that was remaining was loot, and all the rest was in or near the market. I got the coins from the arrowsmith’s and the vase from the apartment just southeast of here easy enough. Two city watch guards patrolled here, an archer and a swordswoman, but there was a patch of shade at the south end of the underpass where I was safe (left image below). I tried approaching the main market from here, but it was just too busy. Plus, this was against the circular patrol path of the aforementioned archer, so I was bound to run into him sooner from this direction. The western end was quieter, but there wasn’t a single patch of shade anywhere. The best way I found was to observe matters from the bastion above (right image below). I could lean around the corner from darkness and study all the patrols carefully. One of them was the marketmaster himself checking in on two salespersons at either end of the market. They luckily faced away most of the time, but the sir could easily spot me. The eastern end of the market was lower in topography, plus there was a semi wall on the east side of the bastion lookout that partly blocked his view. The other issue was a swordsman outside the mansion’s main entrance. He walked east-west patrols, with a brief stop at the east end. Luckily, there were archway pillars along the border of the building that provided hardcover. When the coast was clear, I dropped left and entered the open tomb entrance. The doorway here was also dark.

The tomb itself was free of enemies, so nothing to report there. Coming back up, I went for the most difficult piece of loot: a gold goblet in a windowsill in the mansion’s front patio (left image below). I had to time the guard so that he was heading east, just passing the goblet when I entered. The archer patrolling the streets had to be gone, and the marketmaster had to be by the lady at the eastern end during this play. I leapt from the wall to the right of the lookout tower over to the archway outside the goblet. With a bit of luck I would land on the edge, without making noise. I then had to sneak over, get the loot, and sneak back out the archway. During the last stretch the guard had stopped and was facing north, so creep-crouching was needed to avoid the first alert. Once I got to street level, the arches blocked his view, so I could actually run west back to the underpass outside the arrowsmith’s. The female guard patrolling here was fortunately nowhere to be seen.

I made my way back around to the bastion and closed the tomb entrance. I monitored the patrollers like before, and dropped heading east this time, grabbing the two remaining pieces of loot along the way. The lady by the stand here never first alerted to me, which made things easier.

The only thing left was getting to Millhold. One new guard had spawned in the control station in Yeoman’s Market, although he wasn’t the problem. Remember the swiftly pivoting archer east of the gate? Well, he was still there. Timing his rotation, I ran up to his right as he faced east. I then started creep-crouching towards the ledge (right image above). He also faced northwest and southwest. In the latter position, he caught me right away. He needed to face northwest or east until I got to the ledge. After that, he caught me if facing east only. On the plateau below, he could also catch me facing east just before I dropped. Beyond that, I was safe to leave and end the mission. What an incredible ride this was!!

Statistics:

Time: 2:54:04

Loot: 6593 out of 6593 (Supreme: 6578)

Pickpockets: 4 out of 10

Secrets: None

Locks Picked: 15

Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 6 (Perfect Thief only)

Consumables: 1 Invisibility Potion & 1 Speed Potion (Perfect Thief only)

Ghost: Success!

Perfect Thief: Chemical Success!

Supreme Thief: Failed!

Perfect Supreme Thief: Failed!

Notes:

- Skipped a blue gem worth 15 in the east temple at the sanctuary for Supreme. The spawned statue blocked my exit path, and the only way to get past it was by using an invisibility potion and a speed potion, and taking at least 6 points of damage.

- Took two first alerts from the women on the top floor of the Marketmaster’s after having taken the golden egg. They alerted to the item missing from the cage. Supreme busts, albeit very small ones.