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PREVIOUS MISSION THIEF
2 NEXT MISSION Mission 7: Blackmail [This
report has recently been verified with TFix/NewDark 1.27. No changes exist between OldDark and NewDark for this
mission, as far as ghosting is concerned. 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.] This
mission is good but could have been so much more. It has a nice premise and a
great plot twist towards the end, but the design seems rushed and the lack of
detail is too prevalent. Many rooms are empty and straight out boring. Hints
of brilliance exist, though overshadowed by the mentioned drawbacks. Overall score: 7.2/10 My tasks were to find the
sheriff’s bedroom and confront him with Karras’
recording. In addition, I needed to steal 1,100 loot before leaving the
compounds. As I would discover, these objectives didn’t stay the same for the
duration of the mission, but I’d deal with that later. Finding An Entry I started outside sheriff Truart’s property, but the main entrance was not an
option. Two guards, two watchers and lots of light made sure of that. The
entry for ghosters were further south, but I needed
to loot the establishments in the area first (four total), which was easy
enough. For item hogs, the three pickpockets in
the area were challenging. They could all be retrieved without a single first
alert though. The first was in the north lot. A female archer patrolled under
the street lights, with a stationary guard in the north end. I waited by the
southeast corner of the house and rushed out to grab her arrows. No big deal.
The rope arrow in the upstairs footlocker in this house couldn’t be retrieved
without waking up the sleeper. The lockpicks caused
too much commotion. This is only considered a first alert though, so still
within reach for plain ghosters, if so desired. The
second set of arrows was the worst by far. Again it was a female patrolling
archer, guarded by another stationary enemy positioned much more difficult
this time, right outside Truart’s main entry door.
Luckily, the two watchers were synchronized, otherwise it would’ve been
impossible. I realized
the easier way of entry was from beyond the wooden gate to the south (see
path in left image above). There was another patrolling swordsman here, but
he was simple to dodge. Raising the gate only gave comments if the guards
were close by; easily circumvented. Timing both patrollers and the cameras, I
could creep-crouch-strafe (I found that to be the fastest way of travel
without alerting the stationary guard in the distance) towards the area
between the lamppost and the bricked corner. There was a patch of shade just
beyond here where I was safe from everyone, even the watchers. It took a few
tries to get there while avoiding a first alert from the guard. Once done, I
stayed dark all along the east wall and positioned myself between the turret
and the next corner. Still in the dark, I could lean out and grab the arrows
as the archer patrolled north (right image above). Going back posed a
different problem. I had less time than before because I was now heading into the view of the cameras instead
of away from it. Instead I snuck through the gate and around the east corner
where the gate lever was (south side). The swordsman was about to turn around
at the opposite end, which necessitated immediately closing the gate and
rushing to the shade towards the west. I could run as the gate was about
halfway down, apparently this was enough to prevent both the cameras and the
stationary guard to the north from seeing me. Throughout the moves I stopped
to check for alerts constantly, reloading if the slightest doubt of a bust
entered my mind. Especially the gate closing made so much noise it was tough
to hear any comments or camera clicks indicating first alerts. Eventually I reached the southernmost
lot. The patroller here had the last of the said
pickpockets. I mantled onto the wall by the east end (hugging the
gate), finding a nice patch of shadow up top. From here I could time the
archer and drop as she had her back turned. At ground level I could steal her arrows and sneak around the house to
the east. Didn’t get any comments from either guard. In the southeast corner
was the partly hidden side entrance that eventually took me to Truart’s back yard. Truart’s Estate, Outside & 1st
Floor The well held two coin
pairs worth forty loot. It was also necessary to lift the balcony key off the
guard in this area. Either one of the side gates spawned comments from
stationary archers and would bust Supreme. The balcony doors were therefore
my only option. I kept the key for now, as I would leave the compound the
same way later. There was a sleeping
swordsman in the guard quarters that prevented me from getting the silver
nugget and the healing potion from the
chests. He awoke to the lockpicks. I decided to
wait until later in the mission to see if things had changed. I moved counterclockwise
around the floor, opposite way of the patrollers, which was kind of silly. A
door in the north was locked, had to wait with that. There was also a frobbable torch that revealed loot in one of these rooms.
I came in behind the archer in the dining room from the west. Grabbed the jar
from the table as she was angled south. She turned quite frequently, so it
took a few tries. Entered the fireplace and found the secret dungeon
entrance. There was no other legal way down there, and removing light sources
isn’t allowed for Supreme under any
circumstance. I couldn’t find a way to avoid putting out the fire either. It
went out the instant I opened the panel. In fact, the flames didn’t just go
out, but the whole bonfire assembly and the fire arrow in it completely
disappeared. I couldn’t find an entrance from the basement down the ladder
chute either. That can only be opened using the valve from below, it seems.
The two pieces of loot in there thus had to be skipped for Supreme. I flipped
the lever again to reset the panel as I fell down the chute for regular
Ghost, that way I didn’t have to revisit the fireplace from above later. Inside the dungeon was a
tough piece of loot. Or it was actually in a passage leading to the dungeon
from the catacombs below the chapel. A small gate was triggered by a button
on the other side (left image above). It could be triggered by any number of
arrows, but that’s against Supreme rules. Retrievable objects are the only
ones allowed for that mode. In this case, a scouting orb was my only option.
However, orbs can’t pass through metal gates, an obvious problem. After
fiddling around with the gate for a while I realized that at a certain angle
you can lean through it. I was then able to trigger the gate (right image
above) with the orb and successfully retrieve the silver nugget. The gate
couldn’t be closed, but that was no bust. The opposite entry involved
property damage and would bust all modes. I repeated the move several times
so it shouldn’t be too tough. The penetrable area seemed to be a little bit
to the right of the middle. Walking up to the gate, then immediately lean
forward while crouching. That usually got me through. Is it an engine exploit
and a Supreme bust? Not sure on this one. Once I knew how, it was so easy to
make the move it hardly seemed like exploiting anything. Plus, exploits are
supposed to be game glitches that provide you with illogical solutions to
otherwise logical problems. It doesn’t seem that illogical for Garrett to put
his hand through the grate and toss a scouting orb. But I guess that one is
up for debate too. Regular Ghost allows engine exploits as a last resort
anyway, and this was certainly such a case. Left the dungeon afterwards,
making sure to turn the wheel and let the basement panel close behind me. The exit to the kitchen
was guarded by an archer. He was positioned so close to the staircase corner
that I couldn’t sneak past without nudging him forward. This constituted a
bust for Supreme mode, so I had to leave via the crack in the foundation at
the western end. From this part of the yard I
could sneak clockwise around the manor and pick the arrows off the 3 archers
in this area. Getting the one from atop the wall was a bit tricky, but
nothing a swift climb couldn’t handle. I was also cautious opening the gates,
listening carefully for alerts. Back at the main gates I snuck north and east
and picked the last 3 archers on this side. From here I could reenter
the manor through the chapel in the north. Again the secret button
for the catacombs could be triggered with a scouting orb, thus leaving no
trace of a thief’s passing (left image below). The clear intention was the
arrow on the wall, but that of course isn’t allowed for Supreme. The hammer
statue couldn’t be moved back to cover the hole. Frustrating, but no bust. From the chapel I realized
I had to go back outside and find a different way in. Otherwise I’d have to
cross the grand hall, a near impossible task for Supreme. The best alternate
way back into the manor was over the wall to the east balcony area. From the
north side I couldn’t open the gate as it spawned a comment, but the roof was
rope attachable. I dropped onto the archway ledge (right image above) and
reentered the back foyer. Again I traversed the
floor counterclockwise and snuck in behind the dining room archer, this time
heading west. The archer turned frequently, and although it seemed like a
simple move in theory, it took quite a while to get to the kitchen shadows
safely. The conversation here started and the servant with the key left. From
top of the basement stairs I had to loot the counter by the lady without
comments from her, the two patrolling guards, the stationary archer and the
roaming servant. I think the two patrollers are supposed to be equally timed,
but one of them bumped into the servant in the doorway and their routes got
skewed. That meant I had a whole minute to make my move. I crouch-walked in
behind the lady, grabbed the food and
stole the plates from the sink area. Going back I watched for the female
archer and reached the shadows
the instant the servant entered the doorway. There wasn’t much in it, but I
looted the kitchen with Supreme intact (left image below). A real
challenge for purists was picking the arrows off the grand hall archer. I
managed to steal them without as much as a first alert, neither from her nor
any of the two patrolling swordsmen coming down from the second floor. Coming
from the ball room, the south wall itself was dark, but rounding the pillars
exposed me enough to risk spawning comments. The archer’s most beneficial
angle was north, though she turned west and south also. The image to the
right shows me at the third pillar, as close as possible without triggering a
yellow light gem. When the patrolling swordsman was at this point I could
crouch-walk in behind the archer and steal her arrows. She had to face north
long enough for me to get back to this spot again, otherwise she alerted,
normally to hunt mode. The picture is taken after the fact, as you can see
her arrows missing. The locked bedroom in the north responded to the estate key. The door
in the back, however, had to be picked and the tools awoke the sleeping guest
(left image below). This constituted a first alert and busts Supreme.
[Whenever alerting AI with lockpicks, I always wait
for the settling remark, which can take up to several minutes. Somehow door
alerts work differently that way.] The wallspace
beyond held a chest with a nugget. The other way into the same area was
through a banner, also not allowed for Supreme. The loot was thus skipped for
that mode. Regular ghosters can get the nugget and
sneak back out across the bed behind his back. Then unlock the door and rush
into the doorway shadows and get away with only a comment. The estate key was
still required for Supreme, as the bedroom to the north had to be relocked,
plus plenty of doors upstairs responded to it. 2nd Floor The metal gear was not retrievable, so the door to the second floor
couldn’t be relocked. Not a Supreme bust. There was a lookout guard just to
the north of the stairs I needed to pass. I could
steal his key from the shaded doorway. He covered the hallway well, but couldn’t see me if I climbed a rope
arrow and jumped onto the carpet along the ceiling (right image above). I
guess the trajectory carried me over the doorframe. He didn’t utter a peep at
least. Nothing much happened until the game room. The biggest problem was
getting the bottle of wine behind the counter without alerts. I had to use
the conversation between Benny and the maid to my advantage, since they
didn’t first alert during it. I used to think that was exploiting the engine,
but have since deemed this acceptable for Supreme. As long as you can
reproduce a scenario where enemies don’t alert, you are per definition not
busting the mode. I wasn’t exploiting the engine, just taking advantage of
the given scenario. I had to rush in behind the maid and creep slowly from
there. I had to get back out before the conversation ended, but their chat
was quite long so that wasn’t an issue. Taking my time would make Benny
settle down from the pseudo-alert of me running in there anyway. Rushing the
few last feet until the bar counter blocked his view was what usually set him
off. The barmaid also alerted then, because she snapped out of the
conversation the instant Benny starting hunting. After about 4-5 tries, I got
it. I could then reach Benny’s purse from the shadows to his north (left
image below). One inch closer and the bartender would’ve commented. The mead
spill could be cleaned with a water arrow, which is also ok for Supreme.
Water arrows can’t be used to douse torches, but other uses are allowed. The watcher in the pool room was easy to dodge; nothing to report
there. Though it should be mentioned that the double doors were open when I
arrived. I had to shut them, otherwise Benny would have alerted for sure. The
armory was a tad trickier, but again nothing worth noting. Good timing of the
watcher going in and out was all it took. Again the
button revealing the gas mine could be flipped using a scouting orb. What a
neat way to avoid arrow busts! That was the third one this mission alone. 3rd Floor and Leaving The top floor was a joke. Nothing to report at all. I grabbed Truart’s body and leaped over the balcony railing.
Reentered the manor to tackle the grand hall from the second floor. Didn’t
end up being that tough. I even did it without any first alerts, which I am
quite proud of (right image above). It was just a matter of finding the right
speed and being a bit lucky with the downstairs archer, since her pivots are
random. I started clockwise by the door the instant the one guard headed down
the first flight of stairs. The other guard was on the south side then. I
followed him around the room, snatching the loot. I ended by the double doors
again. Tough to describe what factors to rely on besides that. The second
time I did it on my first try, so it’s definitely repeatable. Nothing had changed with the sleeping guard in the downstairs
barracks, so the nugget and the potion there were skipped for Supreme. I thought perhaps
he’d wake up and start patrolling from the commotion, but it wasn’t to be.
Dropped the estate key and the balcony key back before leaving with Truart. Dropped him in the grave for the bonus objective
and ended the mission further south. Statistics: Time: 1:27:13 Loot: 2100 out of 2100 (Supreme: 1900) Pickpockets: 23 out of 23 Locks Picked: 4 Secrets: 6 out of 6 Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0 Consumables: 1 Water Arrow (mead spill) Ghost: Success! Perfect Thief: Success! Supreme Thief: Success! Perfect Supreme Thief:
Failed! (Norwegian
Thief: Failed!) Notes: -
The rope arrow in
house north of the starting area couldn’t be taken without waking the nearby
tenant. This constitutes a first alert. -
Removed the light source in the
fireplace when opening the secret entrance to the dungeon. This is against
Supreme rule #6a and thus a bust for that mode. The purse and the nugget
below worth 50 each must then be skipped for Supreme. -
Had to skip a silver nugget worth
50 in a walled corridor on the first floor for Supreme.
Slashing/transmigrating a banner or alerting a sleeping guest were my
options. Normal Ghost was fine, as the guest woke but could be snuck past on
my way out. -
Had to leave the nugget worth 50 and the healing potion in the guard quarters
behind for Supreme. Picking the lock woke the sleeping swordsman (first
alert). |
