Version 1.5 ©Alex Fung, November 2001.
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| 1.5 | (Nov 2001) |
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| v1.4 | (May 2001) |
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| v1.3 | (Apr 2001) |
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| v1.2 | (Mar 2001) |
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| v1.1 | (May 2000) |
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| v1.0 | (Mar 2000) |
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This mission uses a version number (starting with 1.0) independent of the main document.
At several places, additional information is available as tool tips. Move the mouse on the words looking like these to see them.
Some places are worth visiting, but is not needed to achieve your objectives. They do not even get you any powerups, so it is up to you whether to follow them. I will describe the main route like a regular walkthrough. Then at certain points I mark excursion routes. At these points, if you want to have a look (and you should), save your game and follow the route. Click the excursion heading in this color and style to expand the route. After the voyage, just reload the game you saved at the Excursion starting point to continue the main route (note that many excursions do not bring you back to the starting point). For those who don’t bother to go (I do not understand why anybody should want to skip the excursions), just ignore the milestone and continue straight on.
Since you do not need to leave the place at Normal Difficulty, the sequence of places to visit is slightly different. When you are about to finish the last objective, I will point it out and ask the Normal players to use a different sequence to collect the loots. Otherwise, the game is identical in all three difficulty levels.
The walkthrough is written to make use of the advanced features of IE4 and IE5 browsers. IE4 and IE5 show the same effects, but IE5 rendering much faster.
After selling the Horn of Quintus, you got quite an amount of money and bought some good tools from Farkus. An interesting addition to your inventory is the two lock picks, plus a scroll explaining how to use them. Do you know how to pick locks in real life? Read Greg Miller’s Guide to Lock Picking for Beginners! For more information, refer to The Complete Guide to Lock Picking (ISBN: 0915179067).
Not much to say about this mission. Except that it is nice to face the living again. But with your rise in fame and wealth, Ramirez sent people to send you to the dead. But even that may be preferable than being sent to the undead.
For the first time, the quotation at the beginning of the mission briefing seems beyond comprehesion. It talks about an important event in the past. When great evil dominated a large part of the city. The Keepers succeeded in containing it and guard over it lest the Hammerites or the Order of the Vine would try to unseal it. As you see, Keepers are concerned with Balance and never do what is more than absolutely necessary. Not unlike the Psychohistorians in Foundation (ISBN: 0553293354, a science fiction story I love, written by Issac Asimov).
Buy all Water Arrows: this is going to be a mission with torches and guards. What to do with the rest of the money? I do not know. Nothing else is really useful. Healing Potion I believe, or some weapon (such as Broadhead Arrows and Land Mines) for playing with the two Burricks (which is not necessary). Note that near the beginning of the mission you will collect lots of stuff so you may want to read that part before making a purchase decision.
Do you wonder why the name of the mission (Assassins) seems unrelated to your mission objective. You will find out soon enough.
You start in Farkus’ shop. Have a good look around you (including the burrick head on the wall) before you start walking. As soon as you move, an arrow from outside the window killed Farkus. I suggest you to first stay put and listen to what they say, then restart the mission again. When you play the second time, ignore the arrow and ignore what they say. As soon as you are ready, move (quickly but quietly) behind the counter (where Farkus stands).
From the shelf against the window, get two Fire Arrows, two Water Arrows and two Moss Arrows. Move behind the counter to collect a Fire Arrow and a Flash Bomb. Be careful with Flash Bombs: while arrows are safe (becuase you use them with left mouse button), you may explode the Flash Bomb on hand when you are trying to grab the remaining stuff with your right mouse button. Under the counter, collect 3 Rope Arrows, 2 Noisemaker Arrows, and 2 more Flash Bombs. You have to do it in a great hurry, or else the assassins will be gone. If you are pressed for time, forget about the Fire Arrows. All you can do with them is to roast the two Burricks. And even the Flash Bombs, which are marginally useful.
If you find that the above is too exhaustive an exercise, you may decide to collect them later. You will be following your assassins now, and after that, there is be a big City Excursion that you may join. If you join the excursion, you will visit the whole city, including this shop. You can therefore pickup the stuff at that time instead of now (I will remind you to collect the stuff when the excursion comes back here). However if you decide to skip the excursion, then you should collect the powerups before you leave.
You have a totally new set of objectives, which are now related to the name of the mission. The most important one is to follow the assassins unnoticed. It is a completely new element of game, and this is the only mission with it (since gamers seem to like it, there is a similar mission in Thief 2). Whoever it is must first pay back for this attempt at your life. The Hammer Temple has to wait.
You have a city map, but it is pretty useless. Remember, your objective is not to arrive at the Ramirez Residence, but to follow the guards. If you lose track of them, your mission fails even if you know the way to their home (it is OK to lose sight of them, but if they went too far away you would fail).
This part is both simple and difficult. The two assassins will go back. Your objective is to follow them back to find out who sent them. Instead of heading back directly, they wander around the city to shake loose any attempts to tail them. From time to time, they also look back to check if they are being followed.
Since they have several routes selected at random, I cannot show you what exactly would happen. I will show instead the most popular routes below. In general, stay close to them (so that you do not lost track of them), but keep a distance. Do not move away from a shadow or round a corner until you have located another hiding place ahead. Since they do not walk backwards, once they move round a corner, you can usually move up and hide behind the corner. Finally, save frequently. You won’t want to redo this part from the beginning.
At several points they may turn around to check. It has nothing to do with your noise. They just like to stop and check. And worse, they do not always stop at the check points. So all I can do is to list the check points I have seen. You may see more check points, but in all likelyhood the guards will not stop at all the check points I listed.
The city map you have isn’t that bad, but several streets are missing so you can easily get lost. Refer to the hand-drawn city map. As always, be skeptical about my hand drawn maps.
The Assassins leave the shop and go East. It is a one way street going to the Metal Bridge. Near the beginning there is a dark niche on the left, so don’t mistake it as a street. Follow them to go forward to the corner and turn left and then right, and stop there. When they are going North, the street has a bright section (the previous streets are all pitch dark). They stop there and look back, so stay in the shadow of the corner until they proceed forward. Save the game here.
Round the corner, you arrive at the Metal Bridge, a hub at the center of the city. They have several options beyond the bridge, so you must note where they are going while crossing this noisy thing. When they have crossed the bridge, shoot a Moss Arrow at the center of the bridge and cross it quickly. You have arrived at Bridge North Street (name I made) and the assassins have three options to continue. If you restore the game saved in the previous paragraph, they may choose a different option (so you may keep restoring to see all three paths).
If they turn left, then it is easy. There is only one choice there. If they turn right, then you have to find out whether they are turning left at the near street or go all the way to the far end. It is not difficult because if they go for the far street, they will need some time to get to the corner, and so they will still be visible after you have crossed the Metal Bridge.
Now there are three very different paths. Follow the link depending on what they do after they cross the Metal Bridge:
If you see the assassins turn left after crossing the bridge, your trip will be a short one. Follow them turn left and soon arrives at a T-junction. I think they never turn right here. If they do, they go North and converges with the Central Path.
Instead they should turn left again. After you turned, there is a dark area on your right. It is just a building whose ground floor has only a few pillars. In the darkness is a sewer openning for accessing the river (the river under the Metal Bridge) but it doesn’t concern you now (we will access it during the City Excursion). Turn left and stay away from the left side of the street. On the left side is a metal grating where you can see the river under the street. Walking on it is noisy!
The next few turns do not offer choices, so just wait around each corner and follow them. After the third turn (which is a right turn), the street goes uphill slightly and arrives at another T-junction. It is not easy to lose them here: on the right hand side, the street goes to a dead end soon. So the assassins always turn left to another street lamp. Turn right at the lamp to go slightly uphill to one more T-jucntion.
If you look left, you can see the Farkus’ shop not far away. After all the walking, they get back to a junction nearby! They won’t turn left (and go back to Farkus) now. Turn right to go up a dark slope with two overhead lamps.
You arrive at High Towne Plaza. After they have turned left up a slope, move to the corner at the bottom of the slope. They stop at the top to check, so wait at the corner and lean right to peek. When both have walked away (they will soon walk on a metal section so you can hear them leaving), move up the slope. To the right of the torch at the top of the slope are shadows. Hide there and save game.
Now you arrive at the Wooden Bridge and the West Path converges with the other two. Please jump to Wooden Bridge to continue.
After you leave the Bridge North Street, you go through a North going street to the Statue Road, so I called it because the Statue is found there. It is where you usually start to run into other walking humans: servants, guards. Ignore them all. It doesn’t matter if they see you: you only need to hide from the two assassins.
After turning left, you soon arrive at the Statue. Here they may stop and look back, so wait at the street corner. Then they follow a dark narrow passage from the Statue going East to the Old Quarter Plaza, so called because it is near the Old Quarter. You should stop at the end of the dark passage, because they will check behind soon after turning left. Consider saving game here. On the left are two paths going North West. They will take the upper one (the one on the right side).
Then the road have no side branches so just move forward quietly, peeking ahead at each street corner. After passing an arch, the road goes West and then up a slope towards South West. Then the road bends to the South and arrives at the Stone Ramp Plaza on your South. You probably cannot see the ramp because it is on your left and below you, yet you can see the plaza ahead which is a big open space instead of narrow streets. Follow this link to jump forward to the Stone Ramp Plaza, where the Central Path converges with the East Path.
If the assassins go East to the far end, then they will stop and check just before they turn left. Since there is no shadows along the Bridge North Street, hide in the first side street on your left. Save game when you succeeded hiding. Peek, wait till they continue, then rush forward. After the left turn, they arrive at Old Quarter T-junction (so named because it is near Old Quarter). Here one can easily lose them, if not assisted with a walkthrough.
It is also where you usually start to run into other walking humans: servants, guards. Ignore them all. It doesn’t matter if they see you: you only need to hide from the two assassins.
At the T-junction, the right side goes South to Down Towne. The assassins never take the right side. So go left and hide at the barrels. When they passed the corner ahead, move up to it and wait at the corner. When they have turned, move up and stay at the corner ahead.
You are now at the South East corner of the Old Quarter Plaza. Stay in the shadow and do not enter the plaza. The assassins will go to the North side, stop and check. Follow them when they start to leave the plaza via a ramp going down towards the North West.
The ramp is very noisy, so be careful. Either you move very slowly (in this case, I would douse the torch ahead first). Don’t worry losing them because they will wait for you at the next junction. Or you mantle up to the banister on the right hand side of the ramp. Move along it to the end. Shoot a Moss Arrow down at the ramp below you, and drop quietly on the moss.
Either way, turn left at the bottom of the ramp and climb a few steps on your left, arriving at a small area with tubes and machines. Leave via the only exit to merge on the West side of the Statue. Stay at the last corner because they like to stop and check when they arrive at the Statue, which is a good news because it means they will wait for you.
Then they turn right and go forward to the Stone Ramp.
When they turn right up a ramp, move straight West to the base of the ramp. Turn right and move slowly forward only as much as the shadow allows. They will look back at the top (North end).
The ramp takes two 90° turns to go back to the South. When they arrive at the top (on the South), they will check again. Since there is no place to hide in the second (South going) part of the ramp, stay where you are.
Check that they have left, and rush up the two parts of the ramp to the Stone Ramp Plaza.
You may either arrive here from the North (the East Path), or from the ramp below (Central Path). Either way, they they always go West from here, and there are no more options ahead. So you have only one objective on hand: do not let them see you (of course, if you fall behind by really too much the mission will still fail).
When they have gone West and moved past the corner, rush West. Past the bright areas, turn left and stick to the shadows on the left side of the road. Follow them to the High Towne Plaza, so called because it is a plaza near the High Towne.
At this plaza, one either turns right to go up a slope or go straight ahead into a dark street. The dark street ahead goes directly back to the Farkus’ shop! So after all these trouble, you finally arrive at a place next to your starting point.
The assassins always turn right (West) up the slope. After they have turned, move to the corner at the bottom of the slope. They will stop at the top to check, so wait at the corner and lean left to peek. When both have walked away (they will soon walk on a metal section so you can hear them leaving), move up the slope. To the right of the torch at the top of the slope are shadows. Hide there and save game.
Now, all three paths converge. Continuing North is a U-shaped Wooden Bridge (going North, then West, then South), but they like to look around before they step on the bridge. Save the game and crawl slowly along the bridge, sticking to the wall on your left. Remember you will walk across a metal section before arriving on the wooden area, so be careful.
Move forward as much as the wall on your left allows. Nearly always, they will check again on the other side of the bridge (that is, when they are going South), and there is nowhere to hide on the bridge. Lean and peek. When they finally move away (up the wooden ramp and disappear behind walls), then you can start moving.
At about the (South going) Wooden Bridge passes a river, it becomes a wooden ramp going upwards. At the top of the ramp it connects to a street with a lamp. Stick to the left side. Move along the dark area. Look forward and you see another street lamp at the end. They will turn around and check there. There is a Well near the lamp, but you will not be able to see the Well until you are rather close to it.
After the check, they move right (West) up a slope. Move to the bottom of the slope (the Well has nothing inside). The West going slope has three brightly lit circular area, and they often stop and check when they arrive at the top of the slope. The right side is dark enough, so you can move up quietly along the right.
The rest is a straight path. And dark, too. At the top of the slope, go forward and hide at the street corner on your right and save your game. Ignore the street going North, and peek ahead to the West. At the apparent end of the street, they need to move a few steps towards the right to continue. Sometimes they stop there and look back. When they are gone, move there.
They go all the way to the Front Entrance of the mansion. Garrett starts talking, but don’t get distracted! One of the guards will turn around when Garrett is talking. So once Garrett starts talking, hide in the dark zones on the left side of the street. Then you get your new objectives and the guards will enter the house.
When you finally reached the residence, you receive several new objectives. Now it becomes a Bafford-job like mission.
Save the game and quickly move to the entrance to listen to what the guards are talking about. When they are gone, your job begins. The city is very big, and you have only seen a small part of it in a disorienting way. When you are leaving, you do not have the chance to explore it neither. Therefore, continue with the next section for a big City Excursion. If you want to skip it, proceed with entering the Front Entrance.
Instead of entering the building, go back towards the East, bringing my hand-drawn city map with you. Go all the way until you reach an arch going down a slope (with three circular bright area). Ignore the slope and turn left into a side street. Near the end of this street is a river flowing towards the right. Jump into the river and follow it down the water slope. The river starts from inside the mansion (is it a river or drainage?), so if you swim hard enough you can actually enter the mansion this way. For our excursion, we will just follow it downstream.
When you resurface, the current is carrying you to the right, which is blocked by a gate. Turn left to swim against the current and find a ladder ahead (North) on your right (East). Climb up to the Wooden Bridge.
Turn right and walk along the bridge. Turn right again down the wooden ramp. Now instead of going left down another slope, find a door straight ahead (South). Open and enter the corridor.
Run to the end of the corridor. You can see water flowing from you right, which is just downstream from the blocked outlet you saw earlier. Drop into the water (yes the deep fall, it is safe). Swim along the current. Midway, you can find a platfrom on your left. Mantle up there and climb the ladder. Open the sewer cover to get back to the street.
Refer back to the city map I’ve drawn. The sewer cover is near the center of the city. Note that many places are multiply connected, and so we will be visiting several locations more than once.
Look around you. The sewer cover is near a corner of two streets, one going North, one going West. Go North and turn right at the first opportunity. Soon you will arrive at the Metal Bridge: you are walking on the Bridge North Street going East.
Cross to the South bank of the Metal Bridge and turn right (West). We are now retracing the path from the Farkus’ Shop. Go West and turn left. There is a door on your left, but it does not open. Continue South and after three turns, you will go West back to Farkus’ Shop. If you have not picked up the stuff in the beginning, do it now. There is a total of two Water Arrows, three Fire Arrows, two Moss Arrows, three Rope Arrows, two Noisemaker Arrows, and three Flash Bombs.
A reader, jma2001, told me something interesting. You have 40 Broadhead Arrows in your inventory. What do you want to do with them? Look at the streets near the shop. There are many windows upstairs, lit with light. Try to shoot the windows! The lights go out and you can hear the noise of breaking glass (although the windows do not look broken). This effect only works for the windows in the nearby street. It has not have any effect on the game play, other than attracting the Assassins if they were nearby — but it is fun to use the useless arrows to do some damage.
From his shop, go North. Soon there is a side street on your right. Ignore it for now, we will come back to it very soon. Continue North to a wider area I called the High Towne Plaza. When you were following the assassins, they usually arrive at this plaza from the North, and turn right to go West to High Towne. Now, you arrived from the South, so turn left to go West up the slope to confirm where you are. Up the slope, you find the Wooden Bridge on your right and a door on your left. You went through that door a moment ago to do some swimming.
Go back down the slope to the High Towne Plaza. Turn right to go back to the South. When you arrive at the side street on your left (the one you ignored when you were going North), enter it. After a left turn is a fork: go forward and you soon reach a dead end. So turn right to go East. After two more turns, you come back to the street corner with the sewer cover.
Then we explore the area near the Statue. From the street corner, go North. On your right at the first junction is the Bridge North Street we visited last time. Ignore it and continue to the North end. Turn right to go East. When you arrive at a junction with a side street on your left (North), follow it. We will go to see the Statue and come back to this junction.
Follow the side street to go North. It ends at the Statue Road. To the right, the road goes to a dead end very soon. So go left (West), and you soon arrive at the Statue. The Statue is sort of a hub in this area, because it is four-way connected (Statue Road going East and West, plus two narrow paths behind it).
Turn around and go back East. Turn right to go South and arrive back at the junction I mentioned earlier. Turn left (East) to continue on the street and at the end turn right (South) to go back to the Bridge North Street. You are on the East side of the Metal Bridge now.
Continue East to go to the far end of the road. Before the ramp near the end, there is a short side path on your right, but it leads no where (except a place for you to hide when you were following the assassins). At the East end, follow the road to turn left, arriving at the Old Quarter T-junction. It is not inside the Old Quarters, but it is near enough and I cannot make up a better name.
If the assassins take you here, they always turn left. This time, turn right at the Old Quarter T-junction. After the right turn, go all the way South to the Down Towne Plaza. There are two exits here. We take the South exit now; after our visit to Down Towne, we will come back here from the East.
Go South and at the end turn right down a slope to a T-junction. Turn left (we will come back here again to see what is on our right) and leave via the doorway. Descend the stairs on the right and turn left to an open area.
Jump into the river on your right. The river first goes South and a little ahead it turns right to go West. Did you see anything interesting under water? Do not look too closely, it makes you dizzy. We will tackle it in a later mission.
At the Northwest corner of the river, climb a ladder to get back to the ground. You are on the West end of the area. The gate on the West is blocked. Turn back East and go forward until you find a South-going street on your right. Turn right and look around you. On your left (East) is a hut with a molten pot of metal. On your right (West) is a building with steps inside. Climb up for a look.
The steps first goes West, then after two left turns overlooks the street you were in. Go back down and continue South. You soon find a well on your left, the one you saw from inside the building. Continue to the South end and turn left. Here is the Home Turf on your map. There are no other branches here, so just walk forward to have a look.
When you have seen everything, retrace your path back. Go West and turn right to the molten pot of metal. This time, turn right again. You enter a hut where you can see the river on your left. Leave the hut on the other side and turn left to go down the wooden ramp.
Here is about where you jumped into the river. Go North and turn right at the first opportunity (if you miss the turn, you arrive back into the building you left before you jumped into water). After two more turns you arrive at Down Towne.
There are several machines on both sides of the road. So keep looking around and leave on the East side of the area. Turn left up the slope. After the right turn, there is a door on your right that you can open. Behind it is just a small area, you can hide inside if guards were looking out for you (when you are leaving the mansion).
Leave and continue go North. After a left turn and a right turn, you come back to the Down Towne Plaza.
Notice that on your left (South) is a ramp you can use to get upstairs. It goes North to a watch tower overlooking the plaza. Get back down and leava the plaza a second time on the South.
Go down the ramp to the South again, and you get back to a T-junction you visited before. Last time, you went left (South) to the Home Turf. This time, turn right and leave the doorway there to a small bridge.
Note that the river flows to the left and then is blocked by a gate. This is the same river as the one you jumped into a while ago, but you jumped into the part downstream from here. Cross the small bridge into a hallway. Walk along the hallway (first North, then North West, and finally West). Note that the river flows along your right all the time.
Go all the way to the far most window, ignoring the doorway on your left. Look outside (save the game in case you might fall into the river). There is another gate on your right. When swimming on the river from your left, you need to climb inside this hallway to access the next part of the river (going to the small bridge). And note the ladder below the window for you to climb from the river.
Go back towards the East and go back to the previously ignored doorway, now on your right. Enter and climb the stairs up. Leave via the wooden door. Emerged from the underground, now you find yourself back at the Metal Bridge. The gate you saw down below is right beneath the Metal Bridge.
Cross the Metal Bridge to the Metal Bridge North Street. Turn right and go to the far end. Turn left and you arrive back at the Old Quarter T-junction. Last time, you turn right to visit Down Towne and Home Turf, so turn left now.
Continue forward until you arrive at the Old Quarter Plaza. There are four paths leading to this plaza, two of which goes to the Statue. Your assassins used two of the four paths, and they either came here from the Statue, or go to the Statue from here.
First, identify the paths. Besides a dark and narrow street going to the West, there are two that goes North West. Take the one going West. On the other end of the street, you find yourself back at the Statue.
Go to the West side of the Statue and find the passage going North to behind it. Passing by several machines, you descend a few steps and then go up a metal ramp to arrive back at the Old Quarter Plaza. Take the other road going North West and leave the plaza for the last time.
The roads here form the doom shape you see in the map: it goes North West, then West, then South West and finally South, to arrive at the Stone Ramp Plaza. On your left are the Stone Ramps. Follow the ramp to go down and have a look. The base of the ramp is actually just next to the Statue. Come back up to the plaza and leave via the road on the West.
After a left turn, you come back to the High Towne Plaza. Straight ahead of you is a dark street going South to Farkus’ Shop. Don’t go there again, you have seen it twice. Turn right to go up a ramp.
On your left is a door you went through early in this excursion. So turn right to the Wooden Bridge. Midway on the U-shaped bridge, you can see the ladder you used to climb from water. Continue along the bridge, and on the third leg of it (when going South), you can see the water slope flowing from your right to under you. This is the river flowing from the Ramirez Mansion.
Go forward to a well. Turn right and up the ramp. There are three spots of brighter area on the ramp and makes this ramp easily recognizable.
At the top of the ramp, look right. Here is where you jumped into the river at the start of the excursion. Continue forward (West) and you get back to the Front Entrance of the Ramirez Mansion.
Move into the entrance arch. Be quiet because two more guards are on sentry posts above you, and will hear noises you made. One of the talking guards will come back rather quickly, so wait for him and club him. Take him to the outside (for example, to the dark area to the South East of the entrance), hide him well and come back. The gravel path to the left and right lead to the Yard. Many guards are patrolling the Yard (SE and SW), but you can ignore them.
Move forward to the double doors (the Front Gate). Douse the two torches if you want to play safe. Open the right door, listen and lean right to peek. A guard inside may be staring at you!
The guard inside turns around from time to time. Two other guards are patroling a left-right going corridor (the 1/F Main Corridor) ahead. When the front door guard is facing away and the two corrdior guards are not nearby (listen!), creep inside to pick the Basement Key from his belt and knock him down. Quickly take him out to his sleeping friend. Hide him in good shadows or his body would be found. Now you have access to the Front Hall of the residence.
The Front Hall is big and empty (other than switches that sound alarms). Move North past the 1/F Main Corridor into a short and dark corridor going North to a door. Stay away from the door and keep yourself near the 1/F Main Corridor. This Short Dark Corridor is your primary ambush point here. Wait for the two 1/F Main Corridor guards to come back. When each of them walks past you, grab his Courtyard Key on the belt, and then walk behind him to catch up and knock him down. Bring both bodies to Short Dark Corridor.
Go North and open the door. Two guards may be out there in the Central Garden. One of them will talk loudly with another guard above (on 2/F), and then enter the door you just opened. You can experience some strange effect of the Dark Engine. Crouch and stay on the East side of the Short Dark Corridor and let them walk past you. Club one of them from behind (they have nothing to pick from) and the other stops walking. You will later see another pair who behaves similarly. Anyway, knock down the second one. Note: this pair of guards may enter earlier or later. Sometimes they enter before you have handled the two 1/F Main Corridor guards. So as soon as you hear the guard’s voice behind the door, ignore the 1/F Main Corridor and get ready for them first. With four bodies here, the First Floor is a rather safe place.
Open the door to the Central Garden again, and move forward along a narrow strip of shadow to the pool. On the left corner of the pool are some food and a Papyrus where you learnt quite a lot about the habits of Ramirez:
From time to time, guards enter the Central Garden from the South, so watch out. Save your game and move to the door on your left (West). Unlock it with the Courtyard Key, open the door but do not enter. Two guards are on the right hand side. There is nothing useful in the room so don’t bother to attract them for clubing. A total of four doors (one from each compass direction) open to this Sitting Room, but none of them gives you a favorable position to ambush the two guards. Just have a look at the Burrick Trophies on the opposite wall and close the door.
I used to think that there is no way to get rid of these two guards. Until a reader showed me how to. I will describe it when we visit the other two doors opening to this room in a later excursion.
Turn right and go to the North West part of the Central Garden where you see a wooden door going back to the building. Open it with the Courtyard Key and enter the dark room. If you wish, you can stay here to knock Garden guards. Many of the guards patroling the Yard outside the building enter the Central Garden from time to time. They enter from the North, walk around the pool and leave again on the North. When a guard is leaving, you can walk up to him and knock him, and carry him into this dark room. Getting rid of guards this way saves you trouble in your trip to the Yard.
We are now going outside to the Yard. All we got from this trip are two Land Mines and a Flash Bomb. If you are not interested, you may skip to the next section (Kitchen) now. Note that there is a second excursion to the Yard when you are leaving the mansion. If you want to join the second one, you had better join this one as well (so that you clean the Yard of guards now).
Save your game and leave the Central Garden via the footpath on the North. Douse the two torches here, and depending on your patience, you can ambush a number of guards from here. Many guards patrol the Yard outside. Sometimes, the guard walks into the Central Garden, where you can easily knock him. Other times, he walks straight ahead (from your left to your right or the other way round). If he is alone, then you can emerge from the (now) dark footpath to knock him. In any case, carry the body back to the dark room.
When you have enough of knocking, sneak out. You are on the North side of the Yard surrounding the building. Stick to the outer wall and in most places you will not be seen. First turn right (East) to go to the end. Turn right and have a look. The East side of the building has a pool, and the South East Yard (where you now are) is disconnected from the North East Yard. It means guards will do a 180° turn here, because they cannot walk across the pool. When we leave this premise, we shall swim along this pool, which has an exit to the river you saw earlier (outside the mansion).
Go West to the end and turn left (South). This time, you probably have to stick to the inner (left) wall instead of the outer wall for shadows. Move South. Midway, you find a wooden door on your right. Unlock the door with Courtyard Key and sneak inside. Take the Flash Bomb and two Land Mines on the floor next to the ladder.
The rest of this section is purely an excursion. We will knock two more guards, but there is nothing else to collect. We will return on the same path. If you are not interested, go back to the dark room now, and skip to the next section (Kitchen) (again, continue with the trip if you intend to take the second Yard excursion).
Climb the ladder to the upper level. Here provides an alternate way to enter the building (via the red roof and the balcony). We will use the staircases in the Mansion instead, so climb back down the ladder, listen and leave. Back in the Yard, go South to the South West corner. The door is not locked, just get inside. Climb the stairs up and leave via the only door.
You are now on the guard post above the entrance. So be quiet or guards patroling below may hear you. You can see a guard standing ahead (East). He is the guard who has been coughing when you enter via the Front Gate. Don’t bother with the torches — he is a sitting duck: simply move quietly towards him and knock him down. Continue moving East into a dark room, and leave the room through the door on the other side. Another sitting duck for you to hit. You can either take the two bodies to the dark room in the center, or just leave them where they fall (sometimes in mid air).
Have a good look of the South East side of the Yard and retrace your steps back to the dark room at the Central Garden.
In the dark room North West of the Central Garden, leave via the other door. You can see the North West Stairs in front of you. One set of steps goes up to 2/F, and the other down to the Upper Basement. The building has four sets of stairs near the four corners, and this one at the North West is the only one with a set of steps going down to the basement. Ignore the stairs and go South (left), after listening to see if any guard was in the corridors.
After a right turn, there is a door on your left. This is the North door entering the Sitting Room with two guards and Burrick trophies. Open it for a look from this direction, close it and move forward past the corner to a double door on your right. This leads to Servant Dormitary. Save your game.
Consider dousing the torches around before you open the door. When you sneak inside the room, you will probably arouse the attention of the two servants, but they usually settle down very soon. Close the door, and sneak up to knock the male servant closer to you. I have to try a few times before succeeding, because sometimes the maid would notice the unconscious body and start screaming. After taking the body to a dark corner, creep along the right (North) wall to behind the maid. Move up to her and knock her down.
There is a door and a doorway on the North side of this room. Both of them go to the Kitchen. Go carefully through the doorway, because Joe is probably inside the Kitchen.
In the Kitchen, note the stairs go down to the Upper Basement. When Ramirez rings, Joe will descend the stairs and bring food to him. Your aim is to knock down Joe on his way.
If he is in the Kitchen, then you must move carefully. From the doorway, crawl to the right, staying in the shadows. Crawl along the wall towards to rim of the stairs (not go down the stairs) and drop to the stairs.
Once on the stairs, move down to the Upper Basement and continue East. After the left turn, enter the doorway on your left into a dark room. Wait for Joe to walk past you. When he does so, take the Basement Key from his belt and knock him with your Blackjack. And you may either return to the Kitchen or join the Upper Basement Excursion.
Leave the dark room and turn left to journey forward. There is nobody else in the Upper Basement so you can run freely around. After another left turn, you see another room at the end which is also empty. Instead of entering the room, turn right and find an empty room on your right and then an empty room on your left. Turn right and continue forward until the T-junction.
Turn right (we will visit the area ahead next time) and reach another T-junction. The metal door on the far South in front of you leads to the Basement, which we shall visit later. So turn right into a long straight corridor. At the end, pass the arch, ignore the stool and turn right. There are three more empty rooms on your left. After the final right turn, you climbs the stairs up one level and you realise you are at the North West Stairs.
So turn right and go back to the Kitchen.
There isn’t much in the kitchen, except a Poster Scroll pinned on the wall. At first I was silly enough to think that Ramirez is really talking about his babies, until reader Michele L. Worley pointed out to me that he is referring to his pet Burricks. By the way, there is a great rumour among Thief players that Burricks have the glowing mushroom as their main diet, but from this note it is perhaps unfounded.
Leave the Kitchen and move back quietly to the Servant Dormitary. Move quietly to the doorway on the South. Before entering the doorway, get the Basement Key on top of the table on your right. Peek ahead: there are three guards in the Guard Dormitory. A lone guard is on the left, and two in front.
Save your game and move quietly along the wall on your left towards the lone guard. Pick his Basement Key and knock him down. Take him to the shadow at the South East corner (hide him well, one more guard will arrive later). Quick save and move behind the pair of guards. They are Quince and Jacow, the two boys who killed Farkus. Unfortunately all you can do for revenge is to knock them down.
Be very careful about Quince and Jacow. They are much more alert than normal guards. If you have aroused them, it is unlikely you can get away with it. Save game and quietly crawl behind them and give them two quick knocks. If you pause in between, the second guard may notice the first one falling and you are doomed. In general, you should always do this kind of knock-knock to pair of human. Hide them well with the other unconscious body.
Leave via the South door to the South West Stairs. Climb up to Second Floor.
There are very few guards left inside the building so you can relax, but do not make too much noise. You arrived in a room (W1, ie first room on the West). See the banner on your left? Break it with your Sword. You can see a secret corridor, and beyond, a fire place in the next room. Leave via the other door into 2/F West Corridor.
Turn left (North) and pick the locked door of the next room (W2). Strange isn’t it? It does not lead to the secret corridor you saw earlier, but to the room beyond the secret corridor. Even stranger, while you can see the fireplace of W2 from W1, you cannot see W1 or the secret corridor from W2! The picture on the South wall is a one-way picture: a picture when viewed from inside W2, but transparent when viewed from the other side. You see, Ramirez is a pervert. He likes to observe his guests in their rooms through small peering windows in the walls. And of course he does not want to be seen.
Back to business. Go to the table at the corner, and read the the Poster Scroll, which leads me to wonder if the Burricks will tunnel to somewhere interesting. More about it when we arrive there.
Pick up the your first loot: a Gem Ring (100;0;0) on the table. Look for a Gold Vase (100;0;0) in this room. I'd let you have the fun of looking for the less obvious treasures. Click here to see the answer.
It is on top of the fire place.
Leave the W2 room back to 2/F West Corridor, and pick the next door into W3. Look for a Green Vase (0;0;50). Click here to see the exact location.
Again it is on top of the fire place.
Leave W3 back to 2/F West Corridor. Turn left and enter the short corridor ahead on your left. Pick the door to enter Master Bedroom.
Opposite you is a double door leading to the balcony. Open the doors and have a look, you could have jumped from the guard post to the balcony (the alternate way of entry I mentioned when we were in the Yard). Back in the bedroom. There are two more doors (other than the three you have opened) in this room. The East door leads to an empty room. Enter the other door into the bathroom.
There are lots of goods on the two sides of the bathtub. Mantle on the left (East) side and drop into the tub to collect them all. From the East side, collect two Gold Candlesticks (50;0;0) and a Tiara (75;50;0). On the West side, take two Purple Goblet (0;0;15) (note that while Looking Glass Studios called it purple, it looks more like gold and black; reader RampagingKestrel told me the black is actually a purple, with the color of red wine), a Bottle of Fine Wine (0;0;50) and two Gold Candlesticks (50;0;0). Mantle back to the side and leave the bathroom.
In front of the fireplace, collect two Bottles of Fine Wine (0;0;50), two Gold Goblets (25;0;0) and a Gold Plate (50;0;0). Read the Papyrus on the floor about Ramirez threatening Commissioner deNavan. Pick the Foot Locker at the North East corner of the bedroom to get a Basement Key. Again I leave you to find the less obvious stuff. Without leaving this room, find a Ramirez Signet (100;0;0) (a ring) and an Indigo Vase (0;0;100). Click here to see their exact location.
The Signet is on the floor, in front of the Foot Locker at the corner of the room. It is so small you have to stare at it to find it. The Vase is on top of the fire place.
Take a moment to think about the secret corridor. You have seen it from W1, but where is the corridor? The Master Bedroom extends from the main corridor to the balcony, so anything North of here cannot enter the secret corridor, but none of the rooms on your South has an entrance neither. Moreover, Ramirez uses his secret corridor to peek at his guests, so the entrance must be in his bedroom. Look for it!
Once in the secret corridor, get the prized Silver Fire-poker (100;0;100) which is surprisingly cheap. Also, turn to face the entrance of the secret corridor to find a switch on its left — it also opens/closes the secret door. Most switch-operated doors in Thief are like this (is there any exception? I cannot remember any): there is always a switch on each side in case you are trapped on the wrong side. Turn around and continue to the T-junction of the secret corridor and turn left. On the far end, find a Purse (100;0;0). Locate the hole on the wall looking into room W1 and note one funny thing: while you can see W2 from W1, you cannot look inside W2 from here! Go back to the Master Bedroom
When you leave the secret corridor and just before arriving back to the Master Bedroom, find a Gemstone (0;100;0) on your left.
In case you haven’t found it out, click here to see how to get inside the secret corridor.
Shoot a Water Arrow into the fire place. Peek into the South East side, and you see a light color region. Crawl into the fire place and face the region. Yet you cannot open the secret door directly — turn around to find the switch.
When you are leaving the secret corridor, note the Gemstone on the left (West) side inside the fire place.
Leave the Master Bedroom via the way you come and back to 2/F West Corridor. Turn left and note the North West Stairs: it goes down the first floor (near the dark room on the North West of the Central Garden) and then further down to Upper Basement. Go down the stairs and come back up if you want to (there is nothing to see). Turn right into the 2/F North Corridor and go East.
Midway on the corridor, you notice a doorway on your right. Save your game for a short 2/F Central Excursion.
Enter the doorway and turn right. The inner corridor here is a big rectangle, so just keep walking until you come back to the starting point. When you are on the East or West side, you can look out of the windows to see the Central Garden below.
Lean to peek ahead: two servants are standing in the middle of 2/F East Corridor (on your right). Walk straight ahead to the North East Stairs but do not descend the steps yet. Listen to them — they will talk about where the lord is. After they are finished, they will walk towards you. The male servant will descend the stairs, while the maid will turn left into the 2/F North Corridor. Therefore, walk down the stairs quickly but silently. At 1/F, move forward to the shadows ahead and to the right. The servant will open the wooden door so do not stand in front of it.
When the servant appears, pick the Courtyard Key from his belt and knock him down. If you let him continue, he will leave the premise through the front door, and go to the dark area to the South East of the entrance (that is, where you place the first two bodies). If he sees any unconscious body on his way, he will screem and may alert the other guards. Unlock the wooden door with Courtyard Key to find out where you are — this door leads to the Central Garden from the North East.
Go back upstairs and find the maid in the 2/F North Corridor. What is she doing? Like the pair of guards we knocked downstairs, when you knock one, the others stop moving. Knock her down and take her through the doorway into the inner corridor. Actually you can do this in reverse order: hide in the inner corridor and knock the walking maid, and then go downstairs to find the standing servant. The difference is, if the servant happen to stand inside the Central Garden or near the front door, you may be seen by other guards when hitting him. Go back to the 2/F North Corridor, go East into the 2/F East Corridor
Go South and enter the first door on your left. Go to the shelf on the far right corner to collect lots of stuff: five Purple Goblets (0;0;15), two Bottles of Fine Wine (0;0;50), two Gold Goblets (25;0;0) and a Gold Plate (50;0;0). Leave via the other (South) door to a short corridor. Enter the opposite door. On the right is a Foot Locker. Pick it to get the Speed Potion inside. Time for a not-so-useful 2/F South Excursion.
Leave the room via the other door. You are back to the 2/F East Corridor. Go forward to the 2/F South Corridor. Walk quietly. On your right are two doorways leading to the inner corridors. Since you have already been there, ignore it. On your left, the central part is open and you can have a good view of the Front Hall below. Go back to the room we started the excursion.
Leave via the North door back to the short corridor. Enter the door on your right (East) into the Library.
Go to the far left (North East) corner of the Library. Climb the stairs to the attic. Go to the far (South) side to find a table. Take the two Gold Candle Sticks (50;0;0). There are two books on the table. The red book is a reply from Lord Bafford about the falling profits of the Dreckboun pit. From scrolls in the Bafford Manor, you knew that Lord Ramirez had demanded Lord Bafford to explain this. Lord Bafford sent Dominic to investigate whether Ginny is stealing money, and Dominic reported that the Hammerites were to blame. So replied Lord Bafford to Lord Ramirez. Thanks Michele L. Worley for helping me understand these correspondences between them (this one isn’t bad, but the ones in Bafford aren’t exactly readable).
The Hand Written Ledger is about the Walled section of the Old Quarter with walking evil. One day we shall be there to have a look at the untapped sources (sources of walking evil, you bet). And this is the “great corruption” that the Keepers successfully contained. Before you descend back to the Library, make sure you have found the Gem Ring (100;0;0). Click here if you give up searching.
When facing the table with the two books, look left. In the dark is a small area with a Foot Locker. Pick it to get the Gem Ring.
Thief (and Thief 2) has very many secret switches like this.
Down on the Library, there is a doubledoor. Pick the door and have a look outside. You can see the East side of the Yard, with the pool below. We shall be leaving the mansion from here via the pool. Go back to the library for another challenge: there is a secret door here. Both the door and the mechanism to open it are inside the Library. Spend several minutes to look for it. If you cannot find it, place the cursor here for a hint. If you really cannot find it, click here to see where they are.
Go to the South West corner of the Library. Look at the book shelf on the South. Try look at it from the side (from West looking East). One of the book stands out a little, and lights up when you are looking at it. Push it back (right click it). A bookshelf on the South East retreats, revealing a secret passage.
Enter the secret passage and walk quietly. Two guards are right below. Before you walk further into the secret passage, turn around to note the switch that opens the secret door from the other side. Follow the secret passage and after two turns you arrive at its end. Climb down the ladder very slowly. Midway on the ladder, the two guards in the Machine Room below will start talking. Stop and listen, they are talking about you.
When they finished talking, they will leave the Machine Room. It is safe to climb all the way down the ladder now.
The two guards are not coming back, so take you time. Go to the right, pass the doorway to a table. Take six Stacks of Gold Coins (25;0;0) from the table, and read Ramirez’s Poster Scroll to his tough boys stopping them to break the legs of his debtors. Kind of him, isn’t it? On the other corner (North West), get another Stack of Gold Coins (25;0;0) from the Chest. Take a short excursion upstairs: leave via the South door and open the door at the top of the South East Stairs to see which room it is (the room where you got a Speed Potion from a locked Foot Locker). Now leave the Machine Room via the West door.
The two guards have gone far away, and we have to track them down to pick their keys. Before we go, visit the two doors in front of you (on the opposide side of the 1/F East Corridor). Open the door on the right (right side one among the two doors opposite, not the locked door on the North side) and enter. On top of the shelf on your left, get a Gold Goblet (25;0;0) and a Bottle of Fine Wine (0;0;50). Leave via the other door to another room on your South. In the other room, find a Necklace (100;100;0). Click here if you give up looking for it.
It is on top of the shelf near the North West corner.
One of the guards has gone to the Guard Dormitory, together with his key on his belt. We will take this oppotunity to visit the rest of 1/F East Corridor.
Turn right and go South. Normally, the corridor is empty by now, but anything can happen to the guards wandering in the Yard so don’t be too careless (unless you have get rid of all of them). The stairs you see on your left is the South East Stairs going up. Ignore the stairs and continue South.
After the right turn, a door is ahead. You do not yet have the key, so pick it and notice where you are: back to 1/F Main Corridor. Go West towards the other end. After you walk past the short dark corridor on your right, you see another door on your right. Open it and enter. It is a small empty room with another door. Hide and open that door: it is the South door into the Sitting Room with Burrick Trophy. Close the door and go back to the 1/F Main Corridor. Turn right and continue to the West end. Turn right to go South, past the South West Stairs and cautiously enter the first door into Guard Dormitory.
You have already stacked three unconscious bodies at a dark corner, hope that they have not been discovered. One of the two Machine Room guards has come here. Pick the Storage Room Key from his belt and knock him down.
Where is the Storage Room? No where. What does the key opens? The door you picked a little earlier, the one between 1/F East Corridor and 1/F Main Corridor. If you were brave enough to rush out of Machine Room and pick the Storage Room Key from one of them when they were leaving the room, then you could pick one door less (but then the guard won’t be able to open the locked door!).
Why should I want to visit Guard Dormitory twice, once near the beginning and once now? If you have let the Machine Room guard arrive before you have knocked down the other three, it is very difficult to ambush the four guards without raising alarms.
Leave the Guard Dormitory via the East door, back to 1/F West Corridor. Hide well and open the door opposite (on the other side of the corridor). It is the West door of the Sitting Room. Now you have seen the room from all four sides.
The quick way to enter is to use a Flash Bomb. Simply open the door at the north end of the room and toss a flashbomb inside. If you’re quick you can knock them both down before they recover.
To handle them without using consumables is much more difficult. Getting inside will be noisy, and therefore you should wait till you have everything under control. Close the door and go back to the 1/F Main Corridor.
At the 1/F Main Corridor, go East and turn left into Short Dark Corridor where you have piled several bodies. Check and enter the Central Garden and go to the wooden door on the North East (right side). Here is where you knocked the servant who talked with the maid upstairs. Here is also the West tip of the North East Corridor.
Starting along this U-shaped North East Corridor by going South. Between the North East Stairs and a torch you find a door on your left. It is not locked, and opens to an empty room. After the left turn, you are going East. Use the Storage Room Key to open the door on your right. Behind it is the 1/F East Corridor, with the Machine Room and other rooms you have visited. Note that the Storage Room Key opens just these two doors: one on each end of the 1/F East Corridor.
Continue East and after the left turn there is another empty room on your right. Finally near the end of the corridor is a door on your left. Open it with Courtyard Key and descend the stairs quietly to Upper Basement.
Move quietly and listen. Last time (in our Upper Basement Excursion), it was empty here, but now the second Machine Room guard is patroling. He patrols up to a few meters away from the lowest step of your stairs. If you hear him nearby, it is good news: it means you do not have to wait half a century till he returns. If it is quiet, move down the stairs and turn right through the doorway. You will find a dark area with many big barrels on your right. Find a good place for ambush and wait for the guard to arrive.
He is on a very long patrol (all the way to North West Stairs and up to 1/F corridors) and it may take some time. Yet it is better to sit here in the shadows than go hunting for him. When he walks past you, take his Storage Room Key and Blackjack him.
Leave your hiding place and go West to a T-junction. You have been here before in an excursion. If you were to continue forward, you will end up in the Kitchen. Instead, turn left and go down the long straight corridor.
Ignore the branch on your right (which goes to North West Stairs) and arrive at the metal door in front of you. Open the door with Basement Key.
The Basement North Corridor is in front of you, going left and right. On the opposite side of the corridor are several niches — sneak into the one on your left. Before paying our visit to Ramirez, let us have an Basement Excursion to visit his pets.
With your back to the wall of the niche, turn left and go West. At the end, turn left again (going South), and then left again going East. On your left (North) is a big pit, and the two pets are down there. Ahead near the East end is a stairs going down to the pit. Be very careful if you want to play with them, because the room is lit and there is no place to hide. There is a short tunnel down there going South, which forked into two small dead end caves. There is nothing inside except for the pair of Burricks.
Still remember your assassins? Since you cannot kill them in Expert Difficulty, you can carry their unconscious body and throw them to the Burricks. You can also do it to Lord Ramirez whom you will soon meet. Unfortunately, nothing interesting will happen: the Burricks aren’t interested in unconscious bodies.
If you are alive, climb the steps back to the corridor. Go East to the corner, turn left and then you are back to the Basement North Corridor.
From the niche, move quietly into the doorway on your right (North East) into the Counting Room, sticking to the darker left wall. Ramirez is here alone. Unless you have not knocked down Joe (the boy at the Kitchen), in which case he will come here from time to time. Or unless you have aroused guards, in which case one of the guards will come here to accompany Ramirez.
A reader reported that the room only has a guard, without Ramirez. If you have similar experiences, do let me know.
Move forward pass the protruded wall into a good shadow adjacent to a table. Take the six Water Arrows and four Moss Arrows, although they are useless to you (well, you can cover the whole room with moss) unless you are taking our final excursion (Hard and Expert only).
Players at Normal Difficulty should be careful here. The Ramirez purse is your last remaining objective. Once you grab it, the mission ends. Therefore, you should save your game before proceeding. You have two options. If you are not concerned with pickpocket counts, you can just Blackjack Ramirez. Then you can explore the room as in the remaining paragraphs of this section (notice that the remaining sections do not apply to Normal Difficulty). Finally you can take the purse and complete the mission. Keep your saved game until the end because sometimes it is not easy to grab a Purse from an unconscious body.
Another method you can use at Normal Difficulty is to collect the remaining stuff without hitting Ramirez. It is challenging, but usually not impossible.
For players at Hard and Expert, grab the Purse (250;0;0) from Ramirez when he walks near you. Knock him down with your Blackjack. Go to the (North) end of the room and from the bench read the Hand Written Ledger about what Ramirez thinks of you. He also mentioned a gambling den who doesn’t pay him the proper respect. A place to visit soon (Thief Gold only). Next to the book collect a Flash Bomb and a Speed Potion. Most important is the key. It is the Master Key of the mansion, you can open everything with this key (that is, every thing that can be opened with a key).
Using the Master Key, open the Chest on the left of the grey book for a Stack of Gold Coins (25;0;0). On the far (right) side of the bench, get two more Stacks of Gold Coins (25;0;0). Turn around and find the Chest on the floor. Open it (again using the Master Key) to read Papyrus about his associates in business. It is the first time Viktoria is mentioned, and you will meet this charming lady several times in the future. She buys stolen goods from thieves, and belong to the Order of the Vine. Note that these are wardens (or potential wardens). They run organized crime in the city, control the gambling houses and other things, get paid by thieves who don’t want a friendly visit from somebody like Quince and Jacow. They in turn pay the lords like Ramirez and Bafford. In Thief II, the City Watch has a special branch called Warden Affairs Division to control them.
Now, players at Normal Difficulty can grab the Purse (250;0;0) from Ramirez to finish the mission.
For Hard and Expert Difficulties, your remaining objective is to get away without arousing the guards. Yet, there are two excursion here for you.
As soon as you picked the purse from Lord Ramirez, four new Assassins appear around the building. Two of them are hidden in really dark places and you may walk into them without noticing. Join the Four Extra Assassins Excursion to knock them down before leaving.
Now we are going to meet the four new assassins. From the Counting Room, retrace your steps back to the ground level. Leave the U-shaped North East Corridor at its South side and arrive back at the 1/F East Corridor. Go South and when you pass through the door at its end, you would have heard the first assassin unless you are being careless. Peek into the foyer to locate him. He is just standing there, facing the Front Gate. So move quietly and knock him down.
Two assassins wearing same types of black cloths are outside the Front Gate, so it is a bit dangerous to leave here. Instead, turn around and move through the Short Dark Corridor to the Central Garden. Leave the garden on the other (North) side carefully. Turn right and move quietly along the wall — an assassin is ahead near the North East corner. Like the previous one, you will hear him long before you can see him. Again, his back is towards you, so locate him and move carefully forward to give him you Blackjack.
Now save game, drop into water and swim South. Be careful, because there is an exit on your left. If you accidentally swim there, the mission will end. Go straight South and mantle onto dry land on the other side. Move towards the Front Gate, and listen carefully — this one hides in a very good shadow, and you can hardly see him even though you are sure he is standing there. Get rid of him, and swim back to the North: do not use the Front Gate, or the remaining assassin will nearly aways notice you.
When you mantle on shore on the North, go counterclockwise around the mansion (remain on the grass outside the mansion) to move to the South West corner. Save game and pay full attention when moving across the South West corner (ie when you leave the West side and go to the South side). It took me quite some time to locate where he is. He will be ahead on your left, standing in a nice shadow. This time, he will be facing you. To arrive at his back, you first need to pass through a small piece of grass that is not dark enough. Move quickly and stop moving as soon as you get back into shadow. He will likely have noticed you, so you have to wait for him to calm down before making any further move. After he has been taken care of, this excursion ends.
Instead of restoring your game, just continue the mission from this point. You will appreciate having four less assassins when you join the next excursion.
Do you remember the Sitting Room (the one with Burrick trophies), where you have not yet visited? Join the Sitting Room Excursion to knock down the two guards inside.
It is easier with this excursion if you have knocked down the four extra assassins in the previous excursion. If you have left the four extra assassins alone, be careful during this excusion to make sure you don’t arouse them, especially the one at the Front Gate.
To get inside, first you go back to the 1/F West Corridor (outside the Guard Dormintory on 1/F). Use Water Arrows on all the torches here. Go South and turn left into the 1/F Main Corridor. Open the first door on your left into the small empty room. Open the other door in the small room, but be careful not to be seen. Come back out, get back to 1/F West Corridor. Go North and open the door on your left (opening into the Guard Dormitory) but do not enter. Continue North and turn right at the corner. The door on your right (South) is the other door into the room. Save game and take a deep breath.
Open door and run inside. Keep running and leave through the door on the opposite (South) side, which you have opened a moment ago. Dash through the small room and leave through the other door back to 1/F Main Corridor. Turn right and run into the dark 1/F West Corridor. Rush past the stairs and into Guard Dormitory. Once you enter the door, hide in the shadows on your left.
Interestingly, the guards will search for you but not raise the alarm. Soon they will arrive at Guard Dormitory. Knock them out when they leave. Now the Sitting Room is yours to explore.
Now you can really leave the mansion. When you are leaving, and if you have triggered an alarm (or have made the guards trigger it, when there were still guards left) during the mission, you will suddenly get a new mission objective when you leave. Dozens of guards will be all around the city looking for you. Better raid the mansion carefully than to face this. Yet, why should you skip this part of the game? Even if you have been careful, you should give this part a try. Save game now and leave quietly as described below. Then restore game and ring the alarm so that you can enjoy the extra mission objective, the details of which is covered in the next section (Safety of your Neighborhood).
You can leave via the river on the East or the Front Gate. Since you have seen enough of the Front Gate, we will leave via the river.
The safest route (if any guards are left) is go upstairs to 2/F. Go to Library.
Open the double doors on the East and walk to the balcony. Do a running jump to the wall on the other side of the water. You should land squarely on it without taking any damage. Enter the watch tower and descend to the Yard. Drop into water (actually you can jump into water from the Library, but your splash may arouse guards). Swim South and leave via the exit on your left. If all goes well, your mission has been successfully completed.
Now, time to restore, trigger an alarm and continue.
So you triggered the last objective. I hope you did it on purpose. Notice that this objective can only be triggered in Hard and Expert Difficulties.
Eleven new guards and nine new bowmen are all over the city looking for you. You need to get back to Home Turf (the lower right corner of your map).
The first part of the escape will be familiar to you if you have taken the City Excursion at the start of the mission. The path soon deviates because we did not need to avoid guards during the excursion. Refer to my city map on your way.
Unlike my usual walkthrough, I do not knock out the guards. There are so many of them, and many are in well lit places. Since we have already visited the area in the initial excursion, I will for once try to sneak past them.
If you are leaving via water, just drop down the water slope and skip to next paragraph. Otherwise, once you are outside the mansion Front Gate, turn left and run. No guards are ahead, but those inside the mansion might chase after you. Go all the way East until you reach an arch going down a slope (with three circular bright area). A guard is frequenly down the slope, so ignore the slope and turn left into a side street. Run till near the end where a river flows away from the mansion. Jump into the river and follow it down the water slope.
When you resurface, the current is carrying you to the right, which is blocked by a gate. Turn left to swim against the current and find a ladder ahead (North) on your right (East). Listen and climb up to the Wooden Bridge. Usually, no guard is here.
Turn right and walk along the bridge. Turn right again down the wooden ramp. Be careful of the metal steps at the end of the ramp. Now instead of going left down another slope (with several guards below), find a door straight ahead (South). Open and enter the corridor. It is safe inside.
Run to the end of the corridor. You can see water flowing from you right, which is just downstream from the blocked outlet you saw earlier. Drop into the water (yes the deep fall, it is safe). Swim along the current. Midway, you can find a platfrom on your left with a ladder going up to a sewer opening. In the excursion, you climbed up here, but this time do not go because there are plenty guards waiting above. Save game now.
Continue the water flow and near where the river arrives at another gate (blocking you), find a ladder on your right. There are plenty guards above you (you are now under the Metal Bridge you crossed at the begining of the game). Listen for guards in the corridor ahead, since you are climbing into a well lit area. Climb the ladder and squeeze into the opening. It is not easy. You need to climb till you can crouch and keep on trying to press yourself in. Perhaps Garrett needs to lose some weight.
Once you get inside, turn left and move to the next window on your left (like the window you climbed through). Jump out of the window and now you are back in the water, on the other side of the gate. Dive to the bottom. Follow the water flow to the end, where you are back in shadows. Then quietly resurface and turn around. Save again.
You can see a bridge in front of you (now that you have turned around), and you need to mantle the right shore. Typically two guards are around this area. They will be looking for you even if you have not made any noise, so don’t worry. Wait till they are away (best if they go to your left) and mantle up the right shore. Move quickly but quietly forward and turn right at the corner, sticking to the right side all the time. Immediately crouch into the thin shadow along the right wall.
Two more guards are patroling a ramp on your left. Together with the two near the bridge, all four could wander around this area. When you are sure your noise have not further alerted them (all gaurds are somewhat alerted anyway), save game.
Move along the shadow of the wall to the South. When it is safe, enter the doorway on the South, turn right and go down the steps. Turn left into the open. You are safe now, for I have never seen guards so far in the South. The side branch ahead going to the left (East) leads to Down Towne. Ignore that and continue forward (South).
Later in another mission you will come back to this area. In that mission, the passages leaving this area (to the North and East) will be blocked, so that you cannot go back to Down Towne or other parts of the city.
At the end, take the wooden ramp up and turn right to follow the only path. Then there is a T-jucntion with a South-going street presenting itself on your left. Follow it to go South. At that T-junction you find a molten pot of metal on the left, and a building with stairs on the right. You should have seen them during the City Excursion. Go South past a well, and turn left into an arch. Here is the Home Turf on the map. Once you past the arch, go straight ahead and the mission soon ends.
Total total loot, and total.
Your success in the trade and disregard of the local powers earned you a hot welcome from Lord Ramirez. “Never give in” and “Teach them a lesson” are the hallmark of Garrett. And you succeeded.
In the Library, you learnt more about the dealings of Lord Ramirez and Lord Bafford, but you won’t see them anymore in future missions (except some references to them). Also, Ramirez and Vrinde is thinking about the vast untapped resources in the “Walled section of the Old Quarter”. I am sure that the Hammerite “crap about walking evil” is not going to stop Garrett from going there.
In the cutscene following Mission 5, you meet the mysterious Viktoria who will lead you into the main part of the Thief story.
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