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The Black Parade - Mission 4: Death’s Dominion This
is an outstanding mission and a clear nod to The Dark Project’s ‘Down In the Bonehoard’.
Although I am a big fan of the original, I think this mission surpasses it in
quality. It’s more tightly designed, claustrophobic even, but with a very
clever layout. An ingenious move is to have more enemies appear the longer
you play the mission, which increases the difficulty as you keep running out
of resources. The non-linear design and numerous path choices make this one
of the very best fan missions I have ever played. I
had to break into the Stonemarket catacombs and find three precious items: a
sapphire necklace from the Noirequier family, a piece of Symon Albrecht’s
armor, and a ruby called Adrius’ Demise. I also needed 1,600 worth of
valuables, as well as returning to the starting position. Time to raid some
tombs. Catacombs I
am not going to describe the route I took through this mission, as that would
be near impossible, and make a very tedious read. A few things forced my hand
for Supreme, mostly the location of stationary enemies, especially sleeping
zombies. In addition, quite a few loot items needed to be skipped for
Supreme, as they triggered unavoidable traps, which isn’t allowed for that
mode. Check the notes section towards the end of the report for a list of all
skipped loot. I will not mention all of them in the main text. The first one
came in the initial crypt at the top level of the catacombs (left image
below). I thought the vase in Grimworth’s tomb also had to be skipped for the
same reason, but shooting his crypt with a holy water arrow first disarmed
the trap. This was actually part of a side quest to create a holy sword, but
it had the neat side effect of increasing the possible loot count for
Supreme. I ended up using a holy water vial from one of the initial crypts,
but you can use the fallen font in this room instead and make it down to
Grimworth’s before it wears off. I wasn’t aware of that until after finishing
my run.
I
actually dropped into the flooded grotto from the bottom of the Grimworth
extension and looted my way up through the North Lower Tombs. The bottom
level of the lower floors, around the entrance to the Noirequier crypts was
difficult. Three patrolling zombies and quite a bit of direct light had to be
passed through. Really tense and with great ambience to boot. The
biggest problem on the upper floors in the North Tombs was a stationary
hammer priest zombie just behind the waterfall on the top level (right image
above). He prevented movement up or down the ramp to his right (south). He
also gave first alerts if I moved too fast in the light where the screenshot
is taken from. I got into the east crypt unseen, but due to the sleeping
zombie in here, I had a hard time taking the statue in the hanging cage. I
ended up mantling the bench and furthermore the sarcophagus, then I could
lean in and take it (left image below). That way I got elevated above the
sleeper’s level. Sleeping zombies only alert to proximity movement close to
the ground. If you get up a few feet, they don’t react. Plus they are
completely deaf, which really helps.
I
eventually worked my way back up to the top floor. No issues until trying to
reach a rug in a casket beyond another sleeping zombie (right image above). I
found a quite predictable way of mantling a few ledges coming from the floor
above to the west. It was possible with some acrobatics to get back past the
zombie for Supreme, but it was difficult. I instead dropped through the hole
beyond the traps to the level below. Next
came a situation that forced me to alter my route quite a bit. A gold vase in
a caged crypt had to be accessed from a different part of the tombs by
crossing a chute. This was no problem until I tried to return the same way,
where a sitting sleeping zombie had now spawned (left image below). This one
was absolutely impossible to get past without a growl, so I was forced to
drop down the chute into the grave warden’s vigil way down in the south
tombs.
Close
to the vigil was another item skipped for Supreme, a golden skull in a
burning brazier (right image above). It dealt 3 points of damage when taken,
and although damage is only frowned upon for regular Ghost, it is disallowed
for Supreme. Putting out the fire first made it possible to obtain unscathed,
but that removed a light source and was equally illegal. Beyond the Tombs Heading
for the gambling den I had to pass a few snakes. One was stationary on the
bank by a waterfall, and I thought initially it would make me unable to pass.
I was hugging the left wall and sneaking slowly, but as soon as I hit the
light, it squealed. Then I realized the opposite side of the doorway, the
side closest to the snake, was much
darker (left image below). In fact, I would hit complete darkness before
entering its view. Escaping once I knew this was easy.
The
den itself was quite straightforward, bar a purse on an axe guard upstairs.
It could only be taken by opening the door directly behind him, which spawned
a first alert. I could take the purse through the door with no alert, but
that is generally considered an engine exploit and not a viable option for
Supreme. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to leave via the candle shop as that
meant I couldn’t replace the boulder in the sewers for Supreme (right image
above). I tried various methods, but never got close to having it actually
block the door. I thus made the long way back through the catacombs and ended
in the streets where I started. WheretIB2 found you can actually place the
boulder on top of the door and then when you close it, the boulder falls down
and blocks the door. Thus, it is possible to leave via the gambling den for
Supreme after all. What an awesome mission this was! Statistics: Time:
1:49:17 Loot:
2891 out of 2891 (Supreme: 2576) Pickpockets:
5 out of 5 Locks
Picked: 2 Damage
Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0 Consumables:
1 holy water vial (avoidable) & 2 water arrows (1 of each for Supreme) Ghost:
Success! Perfect
Thief: Success! Supreme
Thief: Success! Perfect
Supreme Thief: Failed! |
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Notes: -
Had to skip a
vase worth 50 in the very first crypt in the catacombs for Supreme. It was
protected by fireball traps and they were impossible to avoid. -
Had to skip a
diamond worth 100 in the Belor vault for Supreme. Again, the loot was
protected by a trap. -
Skipped a
golden skull worth 100 in a burning brazier in the south lower tombs for
Supreme. Taking it dealt damage, which isn’t allowed for that mode, and
neither is cooling it by putting out the flames. -
Skipped a gold
candlestick worth 50 in the south lower tombs for Supreme. It was a light
source in addition to triggering a boulder trap. -
Skipped a purse
worth 15 on a stationary guard in the gambling den for Supreme. He alerted to
the door behind him opening. |
