Masks

Mission 14: Masks

[This report has recently been verified with TFix/NewDark 1.27. Although the original text for OldDark has been preserved, any situations affected by these patches are discussed in green. Keep in mind that there is a difference between playing the game in NewDark with or without TFix. TFix updates the core mission files, as well as applies .dml files that tweak the environment in numerous ways. These changes aren’t supposed to have a significant impact on gameplay, but when ghosting, slight changes could occur. If wanting as close to the “vanilla” experience as possible, install just NewDark, without any further patches. I have ghosted the game 1) in OldDark, 2) in plain NewDark, and 3) in NewDark with TFix.]

Definitely an upgrade from ‘Casing the Joint’, but still far from a great mission. The map regurgitation automatically makes it dull, but on its own it’s fairly interesting. I especially like the third floor. I feel a scary basement is needed though, or at least a changeup from the monotonous wooden surroundings. At this point, my mind was already in Soulforge Cathedral, though I enjoyed my time through ‘Masks’ as much as I was able to.

Overall score: 6.7/10

Back to Gervasius’ to grab the three masks. Finding the correspondence objective was already checked off. I needed a cultivator and 2,800 in loot also. That was it. I’ll keep the report rather brief, only pointing out areas of interest for Ghosters. Refer to the loot list for secrets and hidden items.

First Floor

Venturing east on the first floor I needed to pass through the workshop. A camera prevented the hall from being utilized past this point. The door to the control room was pickable, but the area beyond the doorway was lit up. The woman by the bed was facing the door and alerted if I snuck out. The image below shows the sweet spot before hitting the light. From here I had to crouch, then rush out and come to a halt. This normally kept her silent. There is a slight delay before the light gem kicks in. If you’re out of sight by that time, enemies won’t see you. That was the case here.

The most challenging difference between this mission and ‘Casing the Joint’ was that most doors were locked, and picking them usually took a long time. I therefore saw the offices close to the foyer on the second floor as potential busts. Before getting that far I stole the torc from the safe in the northernmost of these offices through the window (right image above). The hall below was heavily patrolled, but I found a gap in the routes and managed to get the loot safely. There was one more purse in each of these offices out of reach from the windows. They would have to be skipped if I couldn’t dodge the cameras upstairs. I’d have to wait and see. Just like in Casing the Joint, both of these offices can be fully entered in NewDark (with newmantle on) by using a vine arrow and mantling through the windows. The descriptions further down entering from the hallway thus primarily apply to OldDark.

The ballroom was quite tricky. I screen captured the map and filled in walls, loot locations and enemies with patrols. The arrow shows the only point of entry for Supreme. I never tried vine arrowing from the upper floor. The stationary archers covered the ground well upon entry. Both faced east. Then you had the dangerous patrolling archer on the upstairs catwalk. I had to creep-crouch-strafe into the northeastern cubby and steal the loot here first. The circling swordsman had an interesting route, quite challenging in fact. I made my way behind the middle wall in the west before he completed a full loop. The black dots show safe locations. Once I saw a fifth enemy patrol in the south end, but I never saw him return so I don’t know if it was a fluke.

I couldn’t get to the barracks in the northeast without alerting the guard in the lookout room. I could sneak up to the corner of the archway, but not beyond (left image below). There were 70 gold in there that had to be skipped for Supreme. Received a total of three comments. Managed to avoid alerts from both patrollers. If wanting the stationary guard’s key, I had to accept three additional first alerts. Amazingly, I could take it leaning around the corner to the front (right image below).

Supreme required lifting one of the patrollers’ yellow keys. They worked on a variety of doors spread around the first floor. In particular the following:

- Door to control room in the northwest

- Door to kitchen

- Door to servants’ quarters

- Double doors to marbled staircase in the northeast

- Door from hall to control room in the southeast

- Door connecting control room with workshop

- Door from hall to chapel

More doors than these responded to the yellow key, but they were all unlocked at the start of the mission, hence no need to relock them for Supreme.

Second Floor

The bedroom in the northwest was a real pickle. It contained two pieces of loot and a sleeping guest. The door was pickable, but a camera was stationed directly outside the entrance. It was placed on the south wall, swinging 90˚ west and about 60˚ east. A latch on the inside of the hall archway opened a hidden entrance that took me to the watcher’s east side. The door was more approachable from here. There was a dark nook just east of the camera where I could monitor the patrolling swordsman (left image below). His route was limited to this hallway with one exception. He took a small stroll down the side hall towards the staircase to the first floor. This was my saving grace. Keep in mind that this is Supreme Ghost, so turning off the watcher wasn’t allowed. As the guard headed down the hallway I could time the swings and pick the door for about one second before having to return to the shade. Usually I had to wait one extra swing cycle after he swooped through the arch to go for the pick. Otherwise he would comment when I stepped on the tiles by the door. If he was further away he didn’t hear. Occasionally I got two picks like this in before he returned. Normally though I had to wait until he did his entire round before doing the next second’s worth of picking. This was very tedious, taking about 8 patrol rounds before I finally got the lock open.

Now I had to enter the room without waking the guest or alerting the guard. To do that I leapt over the tiles and land at the foot of the west door jamb (right image above). Timing of the watcher had to be perfect, but eventually I got inside and out of view safely. Alternately, you can shoot a vine arrow into the underside of the door frame, then leap onto it and quickly hide in the shadow of the doorway. This is probably a more reliable method. After taking the loot, I dodged the camera westward.

The next problem was accessing the office in the far east of this hall. As mentioned, I had already taken the torc from the safe by the use of a vine arrow. There was one more piece of loot in there though. This hall also had a watcher, in the far northeast corner. It had a more acute angle than the one described above, giving me less time to work with. However, there was a convenient rafter blocking its view under the ceiling. I exploited this by placing a vine arrow on the rafter’s west side, as high up as possible (left image below). I then struck a second into the wall directly above the office door. Both of these were shot from the dark portion of the dining room doorway. The patroller didn’t alert to the vines placed like this, but I did hear him comment on other configurations. I suggest you check and wait until he passes before saving. By timing the watcher perfectly, I could now climb the first vine and stay out of its view. I lowered myself a tad and hopped onto the second. Here I was able to pick the lock while attached to the vine (right image below). It was important the vine was attached to the wall and not the ceiling, otherwise Garrett would hang too far out to reach the lock. The door would only open partly once it unlocked. I thus had to leap back to the first vine, turn around, retrieve the second arrow, open the door fully and finally drop to the floor by grabbing the first arrow. This last drop had to be done as the camera turned to the far south. That way I could dash into the office before getting caught.

I’m not going to lie, this was a highly satisfying set of moves to keep within Supreme rules. It took quite a number of reloads and much experimentation to get right. Once having cleared the office I could leap into the window and descend using another vine arrow. I then had to return upstairs to close the dining room door.

I found the easiest way to the south part of the second floor via the south storage room. That also took me through the ballroom where I picked up the loot from the rafter and the broadheads from the patrolling archer. No issues until I reached the guard station in the southeast. I think the guy in there is involved in a conversation and then turns east to face the door. He was embedded in his chair and couldn’t move, but he still alerted like normal. He commented on the door opening and saw me entering the doorway. His window could be passed both ways without alerts by crouch-hugging the frame. I had to find a way to land on the windowsill in order to get the loot inside without busts. I tried with a vine arrow, but there wasn’t enough room to swing onto the ledge. I could partly jump onto it, but not with enough of a foothold to enable crouching. In the end, I sought to stacking. Two healing potions, one slow-fall potion, a deer leg and a horn did the job (left image below). Check the loot list for their respective locations. I had to back out from the window a few inches before starting the stack, otherwise I’d bounce away from the wall when jumping onto the first item. The stack took me an inch or so above the ledge and I could slip inside silently. I used the desk to leave in similar fashion. I could just inch my way off the edge and back into the hallway without making noise. Returned all the objects for Supreme. In NewDark, this guard correctly faces north, which makes it impossible to reach the loot through the window. Since he also alerts to the door, the purse must be skipped for that mode.

The last room on this floor was the office southwest of the foyer. Again a camera protected the hall and the entry door had to be picked. The difference was the door across from it was further away. This called for the use of all three arrows. A good thing was the door frame kept me out of view of the camera, so I could close the door and hide while placing my arrows. Similar to before I shot one arrow into the wall above the door and another into the north-south going rafter above the edge of the carpet. The last one I placed in the ceiling just beyond the east-west going rafter. The image above shows my successful configuration. As the guard strolled west I made a leap for arrow 1. This was an easier move than the equivalent one outside the north office. I could hop to arrow 2 without alerts and turn around to retrieve my first arrow, no use for that anymore. From here I picked the lock and closed the door once done. I leapt to arrow 3, turned around and opened the door again. Jumped back to arrow 2, turned around to grab arrow 3 and took the final arrow to enter the office. Like before, this last drop depended on timing the camera. I couldn’t see its pivots from above the door, so it ended up being a lucky shot. Every time I reloaded I simply waited a fraction of a second longer before dropping; eventually I found the opening.

Third Floor

Not much to report from the top floor. Used the rafters to grab all the loot and the masks. The arrows in the terrarium was a tricky challenge, but got them without any comments from the servant. The most difficult part was getting the cultivator. I had to wait for the archer to cycle through twice before he and the robot synchronized beneficially. As the iron beast patrolled north I jumped across the marble and grabbed the objective.

Statistics:

Time: 2:07:52

Loot: 3667 out of 3667 [Supreme: 3597 NewDark: 3497]

Pickpockets: 11 out of 11

Locks Picked: 20

Secrets: 3 out of 3

Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0

Consumables: None

Ghost: Success!

Perfect Thief: Success!

Supreme Thief: Success!

Perfect Supreme Thief: Failed!

(Norwegian Thief: Failed!)

Notes:

- Received three comments going for the loot in the first floor barracks. This had to be skipped for Supreme, as first alerts are not allowed for that mode. Needed to take three more comments if wanting his key.

- In NewDark I had to skip the purse worth 100 in the southeast guard station on the second floor for Supreme also. The guard faces north and catches you climbing through the window or alerts to the door.