FMs - Ghost/Perfect Thief Results (Part 9) [SPOILERS]

[Galaer]

SINFUL OPPORTUNITIES

Very short and easy mission to ghost. Unfortunately to progress you are forced to explode wall with powder keg and fire arrow (ghost bust #1). This alerts also thief in basement.

STATS:

Time: 0:10:42; Loot: 1017/1017
Pockets Picked: 1/1; Locks Picked: 9
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 0/0

GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE

[Galaer]

DOUBLE - CROSSED!

MISSION 1 - STRANGE MESSAGE

Introduction mission. For supreme ghost you need to quickly return candlestick on table and close door before mission will end.

STATS:

Time: 0:00:53; Loot: 0/0
Pockets Picked: 0/0; Locks Picked: 0
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 0/0

SUPREME GHOST: SUCCESS

MISSION 2 - DOUBLE - CROSSED!

BANK

At the beginning is scripted conversation with cops. They will stay neutral for now. This is a time to loot this part of city, then go to City Watch and turn off lights. From roof you can get to window where 1st secret is located. Then go to Bank by shooting vine arrow into balcony. Here is code for vault and desk with loot. One more thing, you will need in this mission a lot of potions for stack (I bought extra 4 potions, but it's not necessary as you can substitute couple of potions with flare). Go to vault and open it. Alarm will sound and your objective will change. Front guards will walk to vault. One of them has purse. Some guards will sound like they are in search mode, but I think I excuse that as some of guards don't react to alarm and it's explained by objectives and the story. So just climb ladder, moss vent and enter it. Your objectives will change. Moss other part of vent and strafe run past hole. Drop on the side of toilet and exit through window. On 2nd floor of City Watch is now key. Go to armory and prison to get green purse, which is also a secret and read 2 readables. Vine up to Bank's balcony and go along metal ledge to roof.

CITY

First strafe jump and mantle to balcony. There are 6 masks to grab. Return to roof and go through window to Banker's House. On top of bookcase is book and 2nd green purse. On 2nd floor of this house is kitchen with woman trying to cook frogbeast. This will end with explosion, so quickly close door, so nobody will hear it. Loot the whole house.

2nd part of city has very sensitive cops and Mechanists. When you are walking through well lighten areas you can't have anyone look in your direction even if he's very far away. If he's walking away from you, he must be far away if you want cross well lighten area without alerting him. Also crouch run through city.

First I go west and rope up to Accountant's attic for book under table. To drop safely I fall on patroller. Read plaque in front of Mechanist Temple to get new objective. Then I'm going south while looking out for priestess and through abandoned shop I'm going to Laundry. Then I'm going east. Here is vent on floor that I decided to moss as it's easy to accidentally drop on it and make huge noise. Next is loot on table and another sensitive Mechanist with key. Climb up to Warehouse and then vine down to 2nd floor for loot. Drop down and douse all torches. During conversation enter 2 rooms to grab one piece of loot in each. Return upstairs and cine up to top of hanging wagon and when patroller is far away, jump into water and go for secret chest from pirate cave. Swim to ladder near drunkard and return to Banker's House.

Go north and douse all torches in front of Furniture Shop. Go to wall near Banker's Garden. Climb to roof and while avoiding gaze from patrolling below Mechanist go to secret bottle on window. Drop on Park's wall and douse brazier. Patrolling cop has key and there is coin on tray near flowers. Climb up to window and moss cabinet inside. Take upstairs key and metal box from 1st floor. Go through door and go right and left. You are near Mechanist Temple. Go right and through hole to house. Here is trapdoor leading upstairs. Go outside and climb vine to Mechanist Temple.

MECHANIST TEMPLE

Mechanist Temple is patrolled by 3 robots. They are very easy to avoid. On 3rd floor are Mall key in wardrobe and golden gear under bed, which gives you bonus objective. On 2nd floor read book in conference room. Go to factory, press switch, then lever and go check wax. Mechanist objective will complete. In hatch are neutral prisoners. One of them has loot gear. Behind generators is vent, which lead to Hammerite Monastery.

HAMMERITE MONASTERY

Monastery is mostly empty. There are 3 secrets here. One of them is Monastery key in one of tombstones at inner cemetery. Other 2 secrets must be skipped. First is in kitchen and requires cutting banner. On it's other side is crate with 4 statuettes, but you must break crate to spawn them. They are worth 85 loot and since it's created by spawning, it means that it increase max loot from 3915 to 4000. Second secret to avoid is in temple. With fire arrow you need to destroy wall to room with poison water and 10 pieces of loot (worth 285 loot together). Another thing you must avoid is putting candle in front of Santa Chiquita's statue at inner cemetery. This will spawn Santa Chiquita who will destroy undead in gravedigger's area and is equivalent of initializing fight. Undead are easy to avoid, so it's unnecessary to spawn AI to fight them. These 2 secrets have statuettes of Saint Chiquita in them. This means that it's impossible to complete bonus objective of getting the whole collection. It's possible to get bonus objective by taking chalice from roof of temple. It spawns enemies and to exit I just strafe jump and mantle from top of tower to below wall.

THIEVES AREA + MALL

After looting Monastery return to Mechanist Temple and exit through front door, then go to abandoned shop and through it to Thieves Area. To enter Thieves Warehouse you need to shoot water arrow into switch at the bottom of roof above portcullis. Here there are 2 wooden stairs that are very noisy, but have loot on upper floor. Go to lower floor, time thief and mantle on table to avoid being seen by stationary thief. Go to post and turn off light in casino, then loot it. Go right, read book and loot this place, then ride table to Fantomas. He has Warehouse key, which you don't need. Also near bed is paper, which will complete objective of finding mastermind. Use hook to get secret gem and go outside. Exit through portcullis when fast turning thief looks away.

Go to Mall through vent. Behind shooting target is secret purse. Turn off light and loot this place. Loot other floors. In bookshop is secret purple box on top of bookcase. You may also see basement guard running to mens toilet on 2nd floor. Also there is alchemist shop with a lot of potions. Open front door, vine up to metal balcony and return to Banker's Garden.

LAST GREEN PURSE + EXIT

Last green purse (necessary for objective) is in Warehouse, but room is full of explosives and they will explode when you will try climb up. This is damage property and explosion will alert nearby patrollers. Luckily green purse is on window and this window is located above Banker's Garden. There is patrolling guard here, but also a lot of shadow. So all you need to do is to make stack from 14 potions and jump to grab this purse. You can substitute potions with flare at the end, but it will not allow you to climb more potions and jump. So leave flare for very end when potions will end. In the end return to City Watch and vine down into latrine to finish this mission.

STATS:

Time: 1:34:56; Loot: 3545/4000
Pockets Picked: 8/9; Locks Picked: 16
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 8/10

GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE. I must skip secret 4 statuettes (worth 85 loot) from kitchen, because it requires cutting banner and breaking crate. I also must skip secret 10 pieces of loot (worth 285 loot) from under Hammerite Temple, because it requires exploding wall.

[zappenduster]

DOUBLE-CROSSED!

[...]

Luckily green purse is on window and this window is located above Banker's Garden. There is patrolling guard here, but also a lot of shadow. So all you need to do is to make stack from 14 potions and jump to grab this purse.

Oh no, how laborious! With good reason I advised "Remember the OMs, don't forget that vine arrows work not just on wooden surfaces!" in the readme ...



Anyway, thanx for the report ...

[klatremus]

Game: Thief 1
FM: Whispers Below the Cobblestone

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Success
Supreme Ghost - Success
Perfect Supreme - Failed
Time - 2:11:36
Loot - 4400/4400 (Supreme: 4360)
Pockets Picked - 4/4
Locks Picked - 14
Backstabs - 0, Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0, Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0, Other Kills - 0, Bodies Discovered - 0
Consumables - None

See the entire report with screenshots here!
Loot list here.
YouTube let's play here!

Comments:
This is the last unreported mission for Thief 1 as of writing. Quite the milestone! An excellent hidden gem by Korthak. This is my first mission of his and I was very pleasantly surprised. It reminds me a lot of Skacky or Melan’s cities, perhaps mostly reminiscent of The Sound of a Burrick In a Room. It’s a bit rough around the edges when it comes to lighting or readables, but still plenty good enough to come highly recommended.

I was tasked to find three items: a panting from Guldenberg’s, an ancient relic from some underground ruins, and Lord Ravenhurst’s tanzanite gemstone. The latter was not in his possession, so I’d have to search for it somewhere else. I also had to acquire 3,000 worth of valuables, plus end the mission towards Auldale in the northwest. I was confined to the southern part of the city at first, then the northern half would open up once I emerged from underground.

Southern Streets
The streets were bright and heavily patrolled. I quickly ascended to the balconies and rooftops just southwest of Ravenhurst’s. I could traverse between most buildings in the city’s southern part without hindrance. No loot was found in the streets except for one item; a goblet on a sill west of Guldenberg’s (see image below). The safest way to approach it was with a rope arrow from the roof just west of here. The corner by the window was dark, so I just had to time the guards climbing the rope.



The rest of this part of town was easy. The way to progress was along a ledge in the southeast, leading to Leveilleur’s estate (see image below). I could pick the lock on the front door, but it couldn’t be relocked, so I went in through the balcony entrance instead. Lock-blocked the basement key and returned it to the top floor immediately. The rest of the building was easy.



Underground
To get into the undercity, I dropped from the janitor’s balcony and mantled up the street lamp below (see image below). I had to time the patrolling archer and another thief on a plateau across the canal. The top of the lamp was dark, so it was a safe method. Entering this way made me able to skip one of the two pickable doors going through the intended room further west.



The biggest problem in the undercity was getting past a stationary thief on a wooden plateau close to the hideout’s basement entrance. Everything else was standard sneaking. The thief faced west and south, pivoting randomly. I tried first coming from the stairs to the south. This was possible to do without a first alert, but it required perfect timing of the other patrolling guard, plus a fair bit of luck with the thief facing west for a long time. In the end this was a tedious and undesirable method. A better tactic was roping down from the above walkway (see image below). I found I could retrieve the arrow and drop silently onto the chair without alerts. From here, with a bit of luck I could sneak into the building to the west undetected.



The thieves’ establishment was a bit tense at times, but there were so many perfect shadows it was just a matter of waiting for the patrols to line up. The bartender and the patrolling lady with the club was a bit tricky, but nothing too hard. Grimar’s chambers was also much easier than anticipated. Grabbed the tanzanite and the needed vault key from his secret compartment.

In the basement I realized the vault door was sliding and could not be lock-blocked. I didn’t have any scrolls or potions to block it with, so I kept going and would look for something else. I had to use something from this side of the door, as it would have to be returned for Supreme. Finally, in the ruins I found a skull right below the Shaman Hand that worked. I brought it back and locked the door by blocking it with the skull (see image below). Then I returned the vault key. When I grabbed the skull again, the door locked shut behind me. Perfect! The burrick caves were easy as pie. I returned the skull and the ruins key and headed up to the hammerite temple.



Northern Streets
Most of this part of the city was very straight forward. Just like in the south, the biggest problem was finding an efficient way around. The toughest area was Guldenberg palace, especially getting into the treasury. The foyer had no shade, and 2-3 guards plus the sir himself patrolled close by. It was just a matter of waiting for the right time.

West of the palace I had to skip a loot item for Supreme. It was in a building with a patrolling tenant carrying a club. A small, pickable footlocker in the western room held a purse (see image below). I tried picking the lock when he was farthest away, and although he didn’t always alert, it was only because he stopped at the end of his route for a little while. In those scenarios, they don’t verbally first alert while being stopped, although they might still give a settling remark later. I waited out of sight for a few minutes, and sure enough, he eventually uttered a “Guess it was nothing”. Perfect Supreme busted, but oh well.



The other buildings were easy, and I ended towards Auldale in the northwest. This was truly a gem of a mission! I will be sure to check out more of Korthak’s releases in the future.

Notes:
- Skipped a purse worth 40 in a building west of Guldenberg’s. The tenant heard the lockpicks and gave a first alert.

[Galaer]

MURDER IN FEATHERSTONE (AGAIN)

Previously when I played this mission I failed it, because in order to get Cemetery key you must break crate. Later I read Username's post that he managed to climb on top of walls and get that way to Cemetery. I didn't think about that. And I knew about climbing on walls - I did that in order to break crate silently. I was so close to succeed as it's very easy to drop into Cemetery without getting hurt. Another optimization is to avoid shooting switch in Guardhouse, which makes AI alert to you. Instead I just climb from tree on walls. And since I don't need Cemetery key, I can skip Sewers in 1st part of city.

STATS:

Time: 0:33:23; Loot: 6494/6494
Pockets Picked: 9/9; Locks Picked: 9
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Bodies Discovered by Enemies: 1

GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: SUCCESS

[Galaer]

RANSTALL KEEP (THIEF 1 VERSION)

Thief 2 version of this mission has been reported by Hexameron. He mentioned 3 causes of failure:

1. Cannot acquire lock picks without breaking glass skylight of weapon shop.

2. Cannot infiltrate abandoned house without breaking a glass window, which alerts three tiny spiders.

3. Cannot reach thief friend in crypt below church without destroying floorboards, which alerts multiple Hissie's in the vicinity.

In original Thief 1 version there is only one ghost bust - last one. Destruction of floorboards is unavoidable and like mentioned in Hexameron's report it alerts patroller and possibly archers on wall. As for windows - they are frobbable, so there is no need to break them. I have no idea why author decided to force players to break these windows in rerelease of this mission. This version doesn't have 2nd area of city and some building in 1st area. Also there is no stationary Hissy near Weapon Shop.

To enter spider house don't try to mantle inside. Instead run towards window and jump through it. Inside I can grab almost every piece of loot through glass except golden nugget worth 100. To grab it you need to break 3 glass doors. On 1st floor of Keep is switch near oven activating secret wall in one of cells. If you walk along wall you will not step on pressure tile closing wall. In next cell is disfigured zombie with 2 nuggets. You must quickly run in and out while avoiding patrollers walking through prison. You can't stay in cell as zombie will wake up and 2nd alert to you. You need to hide in next cell. In next room is elevator with 2 nuggets on top of it. You can hide behind elevator from patrollers. To get nuggets you need to mantle on pole with switches and for 2nd nugget you need to jump from table.

2nd floor has very sensitive patroller. You must go behind him, but you don't want to see him. Go to stationary haunt and douse torch. Steal his Tower key. Now you need to quickly run to door, open it and enter without 2nd alerting haunt and zombie from cell. 3rd floor has stairs leading to wall above city. Here I was forced to douse torch as one of archers fell from wall on roof and stopped moving. To progress I fell down to street and mantled on Inn's roof, then went to door. 4th floor has 2 training rooms and I noticed that one of Hissies in archer's training room decided to charge towards wall with sword. I have no idea why. Unlike Hexameron I didn't go through any of the training rooms.

Next area is small canyon with scepter in cage. You can grab it without going through frogbeasts area by mantling on top of cage, but there is loot there, so put boulder on pressure tile and use lever to bring elevator down. Go behind lower frog without getting spot by mid level frog and take 2 nuggets. Be careful, jumping frogs may suddenly change direction of hopping. Return to 1st lever. There is nothing on mid level, but frog can operate lever triggering ledge. Highest frog is stationary and face towards elevator. You can't use elevator, because you will clip through it. Plus you can get spotted by mid level frog. You can mantle directly on higher level, but stationary frog will probable spot you. But there is way to progress. After mantling on highest level immediately jump forward. This way you will ghost stationary frog. Use lever to send elevator down and when it will hit ground, drop on it. Don't ride this elevator, because you will keep loudly drop on it.

I had some problem figuring out how to get Magic Rock without losing health. Hexameron didn't mention anything how to get it. Eventually I noticed that small pole on ceiling above Magic Rock is made out of wood. In foyer there is apparition in front of book and there is switch under it. Hexameron mentioned that he nudged apparition forward. I was unable to do it. You don't need to read book as you can mantle through window, but there is some extra loot in lord's rooms. Luckily I noticed that 2 candles can be doused. Fountain room was also easy. I went along shadow, mantled on narrow ledge on NW side of fountain under angle, so I will not fall immediately on the other side.

There is no ladders in this version, so you must jump and mantle upstairs in lava room. In lord's rooms I used the rest of my water arrows. Reading book will open hole, but sight what's below will be cover by black texture. Simply save and load to know where to drop. Lastly there are some nuggets at the bottom of river and you can end this mission.

STATS:

Time: 0:54:00; Loot: 5523/5798
Pockets Picked: 2/2; Locks Picked: 6
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0

GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE

[klatremus]

Game: Thief 2
FM: Feast of Pilgrims [TMA 20th Anniversary Contest]

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Success
Supreme Ghost - Success
Perfect Supreme - Failed
Time - 2:54:10
Loot - 5938/5938 (Supreme: 5853)
Pockets Picked - 8/8
Secrets - 12/12
Locks Picked - 9
Backstabs - 0, Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0, Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0, Other Kills - 0, Bodies Discovered - 0
Consumables - 1 Holy Water Vial, 1 Water Arrow

See the entire report with screenshots here!
Loot list here.
YouTube let's play here!

Comments:
The winner of The Metal Age 20th Anniversary Contest, and for good reason. By many coined as one of the best thieves’ highway missions of all time, Random Taffer and Marbleman has made something very special. Although I put Into the Odd just a tad higher for innovation, Feast of Pilgrims is classic Thief 2, obviously inspired by the game’s best mission, Life of the Party. If you still haven’t played this one, do yourself a favor and get to it.

My initial task was fairly straight forward: Get to St. Ives Cathedral to steal a chalice and some maps. I also needed to grab 3,500 worth of valuables along the way. The free contract gave me three more optional objectives. Although free items at the loadout screen are now deemed allowed for Supreme (since they are not “purchases”), I didn’t actually read it until I knew the objectives could be completed. Remember, all objectives are required for that mode, even those that are termed optional in-game. I also had a fourth optional objective that could be triggered later on. I planned on getting the items for that objective on my way to the cathedral, in case it could be finished ghost-clean.

Eastern Streets
I decided to cover the east part of town first, mainly since the dispersal concoction had to be made in the west tower, and the required items were spread across town. Covered most of the buildings here without issues. I entered Rothchild’s from Talford Manor’s balcony, as the archer was very difficult to dodge coming from the south. Not sure what was up with the thief and the unconscious guard north of Rothchild’s. The thief stared straight into a sealed window, and the guard didn’t make sleeping noises, but would still wake up if alerted. Passed through Balle Estate and reached the soap factory. Got the cray egg from here and moved on.



Only looted the northern half of Silvershade Apartments, as the doors connecting towards the south were pickable, but unnecessary. I instead headed into the cathedral grounds and looted the cemetery. A hidden hammer was located behind one of the mausoleums (image above). The intended way to get out was to ring the bell, spawning Murus who opened the door. However, he would also open the door to two other crypts, releasing hammerite zombie patrols (image below). This eventually ended up in a fight between one of the zombies and a thief that occasionally appeared from the crypt double doors. Since the scenario was instigated by me, I felt this wasn’t in the spirit of Supreme. However, I eventually found I could mantle back onto the mausoleum roof without ever summoning Murus. I just had to stand on top of the skull and leap a bit towards the right. Not sure if this was deliberate or not.



Cathedral
Went up to get the ruby objective and the reliquary key. Decided to go ahead and loot most of the cathedral while I was here. It felt more logical to get the potion recipe before starting to gather the ingredients also. I didn’t need to turn off the reliquary cameras. I could monitor the nearest camera from the library doorway (first image below). I had to unlock the door, then run back to the doorway; otherwise I got caught. The cameras just stopped if spotting me, but didn’t utter a sound. I thus had to make sure they continued pivoting until I was fully out of view. The pilgrimage maps in the study required good timing of the two hammerites. The priest made three stops. When in the northeast corner of the room, I was safe to go in. Upon entry, the best method was to mantle up the nearest bookshelf as soon as possible (second image below). From here I could grab the candlestick and better time my descent and exit. Downstairs I cleaned the main library and Devan’s office. I really liked how I could use the bookshelf ladders to reach the upper walkway.





One problematic loot item was a holy hammer behind a banner in the northwest corner of the compound, just above the staircase to the aforementioned office. The intended technique was to slash the banner, which of course is disallowed for all Ghost modes. Even then it was difficult to reach. I had to jump from the upper railing and land in a mantle to get to it. When trying this method again, I realized you can also grab the hammer through the banner, without ever slashing it! This was impossible to do from above without taking damage, however, so I’d have to think of something else. There were no rope attachable surfaces nearby. Neither were there anywhere to land directly in a mantle, breaking the fall. The only option would be a stack. A hammerite guard patrolled nearby, but not exactly where the stack would have to be. In addition, I would probably be able to make the stack, grab the hammer, and retrieve the items in between his rounds, which made it even less rule violating. After some experimentation with one of the saves from my blackjack run, I discovered I needed 6 potions to successfully reach the hammer. Of course, all those items would also have to be returned for Supreme. I was making another trip through town anyway, so I would pick up what I could then. Interesting problem this. It had been a good while since my last proper stack, and this solution really excited me. More on this later.

While I was in the library, I opened the door in the southwest corner to trigger the hammerite-novice conversation in the courtyard. This was important, since when I’d approach the cathedral from the west later, they would actually first alert to the nearby door opening. They wouldn’t actually give a verbal remark since their conversation triggered, but they would be in a first alert state and give settling remarks later. This meant there were now two extra patrollers, but that I would simply have to deal with.

Back Through Town
Returned to Balle’s and skipped west to Maximillian Estate. Had to use one of the two northernmost statues, otherwise the thief on the balcony further south commented (image below). Once I was on the statues along the wall, I was hidden by hardcover. Cleaned this house and the southern of the Silvershade apartments easily.





Looted my way southwest. Grabbed a tough to reach candlestick on the upper sill of a wooden ledge here, before entering this house through a window on the lower level (image above). Clever design in this part of town; probably my favorite so far. This was sort of the central hub of the city, with multiple paths in all directions. I needed the magma crystal from Al’Darude’s estate, but I couldn’t drop into the courtyard coming from the east (first image below). Even if I had been able to, getting into the actual building was equally impossible for Supreme. Unfortunately, this meant the wine bottle on the table and the green vase from the courtyard apartment had to be skipped for that mode. For regular Ghost I could take them, but it was quite tough without dousing any torches. I had to use the shadow cast by the staircase and approach the stationary guests from the side. There were four mages in this area also.



What this meant was I had to move south and instead wrap around through Fort Romero, then plan to approach Al’Darude’s from the west. This strategy quickly fell to pieces, however, when I realized I couldn’t leave through the window of Knobb & Job (image below). The balcony was simply too lit-up, and the patrolling archer always caught me. If he had stopped during his patrol, then I might have been able to reach the smuggler’s hideout in the southwest, but it was not to be. Thus, I was forced back to the central hub and this time wrap around to the north, through Butcher Bill’s.



From here I could approach the warehouses via the balcony to the north. There was a lone, stationary archer on the western plateau that was just plain frustrating. It took a long time for me to realize he occasionally pivoted northwest (image below). It seemed, however, that he only first alerted in this position. Facing northeast he never said anything. He only stayed in the northwest position for about 10-15 seconds though, so most of the time he didn’t alert at all. Knowing this, I found I couldn’t reach the loot on the table without a first alert. Although taking it without any utterances was possible, it didn’t feel right knowing that something was wrong with his voice cues. It was only worth 10 gold combined anyhow.



The entire warehouse district was fairly straight forward. I could now get the magma crystal at Al’Darude’s without ever needing to enter the courtyard. I gave it a real shot trying to leave the doorway and get down the stairs into the shade for Supreme, but the male guest (marbleman, or Andy J) always commented. He did have a conversation with the female guest, but there was no time to get the vase from the nearby bedroom and get back inside before the conversation ended. There was just too much activity with the patrolling mages around. The bottle on the table was even worse, as the stationary mages further west also commented.

The balcony outside Knobb & Hob could now be reached from the ladder in the northwest corner (image below). This was dark and I could sneak a bit further east and approach the gambling table directly from the north. Could take all the loot without problems like this. The smuggler objective nearby posed no issues. Headed back through the northern warehouse and approached the northwestern part of town.



This was the easiest portion of the city. Quite the contrast to the heavily patrolled central hub. Luckily, making the monker mash didn’t actually make any sound, though it sounded like it would alert the whole neighborhood. The building northeast of Tuttleshank had two apartments, both with pickable entry doors. I actually managed to avoid picking either of them. After getting the purse from the guard, I headed back to the wizard’s tower and jumped out of the northeast window. Then I could access the eastern apartment and use the secret vent to get to the western one (image below). There was a small patch of shadow behind a wall outcropping in this apartment that kept me hidden from the tenant.



Finally headed to the cathedral to get the remaining loot. I managed to reach the holy hammer behind the banner using 3 holy water vials, 1 fruit, 1 healing potion and 1 speed potion (image below). There was plenty of time before the hammerite patroller returned. Awesome! Got the hellfire ruby from the belltower next. Although shooting the bucket with a holy water arrow killed the demon, it was clearly a scripted event. No kill or damage showed up in the stats, the demon never alerted to me like a normal enemy, plus I only ever interacted with the bucket. Additionally, if I didn’t use a holy water arrow, I automatically failed the objective. I think most players would say this is ok. If you feel it isn’t, then it is no problem to skip this objective and never bother with any of the required items. That would certainly make your trip through the city a lot easier. I even checked with the mission creators and got a confirmation that the demon isn’t technically killed, which confirms my previous assessment.



Took the east route back home, dropping off the 5 remaining items used in my stack along the way. The last item was the holy water vial that I used in the belltower. This is definitely up there among the very best thieves’ highway missions I have ever played. Thank you Random Taffer and marbleman!

Notes:
- Had to skip a wine bottle worth 25 and a vase worth another 50 in Al’Darude’s courtyard and adjacent apartment for Supreme. It was impossible to get into the courtyard without first alerts from at least one of the guests.
- Had to skip the coins worth 10 on the balcony north of the warehouses for Supreme. The balcony archer pivoted too frequently for me to grab them unseen.
- I didn’t count “killing” the demon a Ghost bust. It is a scripted event, part of a puzzle, and no damage or kill count shows up in the stats.

[klatremus]

Hey Galaer, if you are looking to do more Thief 1 versions, Ruins of Originia mission 1, Mines of Margroth was released as a standalone T1 version before the T2 campaign. From what I've heard, it's quite different. I didn't include it in the unreported list, but nobody has ghosted that to my knowledge.

[Galaer]

Hey Galaer, if you are looking to do more Thief 1 versions, Ruins of Originia mission 1, Mines of Margroth was released as a standalone T1 version before the T2 campaign. From what I've heard, it's quite different. I didn't include it in the unreported list, but nobody has ghosted that to my knowledge.

Are you sure about that? I played this version in 2017, but didn't notice any difference. True, I didn't beat it back then. I ended at headless zombies zone right after blue crystal cave and couldn't find passage forward. I gave up, which is weird, because in the past I beat Ruins of Originia. Somehow I had more motivation back in the past. So I have no plans to report this version. As for my plans, I plan to report already reported missions. Originally I wanted to deal with missions reported by Vanguard usually because ghosting was aborted for various reasons (lighting or difficulty). Then I noticed that his interpretation of kill objective is a bit different than now, so I added more missions. And then I read other people reports and I decided to try to ghost them too. So I'm gonna do reports in style of my last report. I have a whole list of missions (mostly Vanguard's and Deadfall's), but I'm going to do it at much slower rate than before.

Also while reading old reports I noticed some mistakes on Reported Missions list. Lord Matt and Lucrative Opportunity have bolded names even though report states failed ghost run. Crom's Blade and Search for Crom's Blade are the same mission, but reports are in 2 different places. The same goes with reports of Keep and Apache Mission Pack 4: The Keep. It's pretty much the same mission.

[klatremus]

You might be right about Mines of Margoth. I only ever played the miners town of the T1 version and that was similar. I just heard from others.

Thanks for those corrections. I will take a look and update the list.

Just out of curiosity, how exactly did Vanguard interpret the kill objective?

[Galaer]

Just out of curiosity, how exactly did Vanguard interpret the kill objective?

From what I read in his reports he excused alerting victim, because of killing objective. For example in Assassin at Lord Ganrish he lured out guard. This situation later has been ghosted quietly by RiCh, so I'm not going to report this mission. Another point is excusing fight head on just because of kill objective or killing harder enemies in more than one hit when they are alerted from first hit. That's why I'm going to try Benny is Dead and Inverted Manse.

[klatremus]

Aah, yes some early players assumed you could alert enemies that you were required to kill, but that has later been deemed disallowed. Nice finds those. The Inverted Manse I played way back in the day and is known for being one of the best from that time period, so is Benny's Dead. I think Manse has 3 very different experiences on the different difficulty levels, so you might want to ghost that one 3 times. I did that for A Weekend Getaway, due to the way the mission was structured.

[Galaer]

Thanks for info, I didn't think that rules in the past could be so much different than now. As for Inverted Manse - I actually watched Nexus Letum's video and he mentioned exclusive areas on all difficulties.

Also another thing I noticed on reported mission list - looks like Katharsis has been ghosted by Katharsis. I wonder who is that guy.

[klatremus]

Lol, he must be a new ghoster!

*fixed*

[Galaer]

VIRTUAL ASYLUM

Reported by Vanguard as a success, but incomplete. So what does that mean? It means that he couldn't figure out how to progress to the next area. And not only he, many others have problem with this area too. It's possible that back in the past mission was broken and it was fixed in the update, but I think that Vanguard just missed correct solution. So now question: should this mission be reported as successful ghost if there was no way to know what this mission has in store for player? I don't think so.

Start of mission is quite easy. You get 20 water arrows from chest, which you need to use in next room to douse fire at the middle. Before progressing I want you to notice higher ledges above. This is farther part of mission and climbing on these high ledges would allow me 2 ghost busts. Unfortunately I have no items to stack and unlike Thief 2 torches, it's impossible to mantle on Thief 1 torches. Next room has patroller and another fire at the middle to douse. Next is archers area. Just run and then crouch run to left tower. Climb ladder and use lever. You can nudge left archer a bit and descend to black tile in tunnel. It will teleport archers on grass, which makes a bit easier to go to next area. There go right under stationary guard, douse 2 torches, climb upstairs, wait for servant to descend and douse 3rd torch.

Next area is where Vanguard abandoned this mission. You can go to lever, use it and quickly back off under stairs. Lever doesn't open gate, it opens passage in wall, which was noticed by Vanguard, but he couldn't mantle up there. In Newdark it's possible. In Olddark though you needed to return to previous area, douse last torch, which makes room pitch black, climb wooden beam and blindly go to another opened wall. Alternatively you could shoot tiny switch with water arrow, which is visible in last room above barrels. Pressing switch will open gate, but this is where ghost run ends. There is no way to run behind 2 stationary guards standing in front of gate without alerting at least one of them. There is just too much light. I tried to mantle on top of passage I came in, but it was impossible. And I don't have any moss arrows to use jump acceleration to quickly get to corner near right guard. So I just ran to gate and it closed behind me (ghost bust #1).

In next room you can descend to chest with rope arrows, but it's optional. With new mantle you can mantle to gate, which opens when you touch it. Hide in shadow in passageway. Below are 2 burricks and right burricks is watching towards broken bridge we need to walk forward. There is no way to descend quickly enough to nudge this burrick away without alerting him. There is no way to walk on bridge without getting spotted by him. So I just ran forward (ghost bust #2) to high ledges mentioned before.

Next is pool room with marble floor and one patroller. Dousing left torch reveals lever, which to be honest I have no idea what it does. Dousing fire on holy fountain will open trapdoor in floor. Go there. Here is side passage with patroller and switch opening shortcut to ladder, which is pointless. Lever opening gate is protected by stationary guard. He watches tunnel. For a split of second he turns right and quickly return to his original position. Because of that it's impossible to ghost him. I don't want to use flash bomb to stun him as it may alert upstairs patroller. Instead I just ran to guard trying to make him back off, crouched and used lever, then I quickly ran to ladder (ghost bust #3).

Next is bugbeast arena. To progress you must 2nd alert bugbeast behind door. It will use switch and open door. Bugbeast emits light, so it's hard to avoid being spotted even in full darkness. It has key, but because it's alerted you can't steal it. You need to kill it, but in this mission you don't really have any weapons, so you must use traps activating fire arrows. They make you more visible and alert bugbeast even more, so you need to hide from it behind pillar. In my run bugbeast spot me and it backed off on another trap, which killed it. This way I could get key to next area.. In other words, this whole arena is huge ghost bust #4.

Drop on torch and then on floor. Next room is flooded and very well lighted. There are 2 guards stuck in water and they will immediately spot you (ghost bust #5). It's impossible to avoid that. Use panel to open trapdoor. There is switch opening wooden door and activating fire arrow trap. Looks like 2 guards will never calm down. Swim to last room. Here are 2 people looking like Ramirez. They are pretty blind and deaf. You must go over fence, but gate can be only opened by inside Ramirez. You can get there by shooting 2 rope arrows on fence and on ceiling. You can also mantle on cistern and mantle on top of fence. Get your blackjack from chest and mission will end.

STATS:

Time: 0:17:53; Loot: 0/0
Locks Picked: 0
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0

GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE

[klatremus]

Nice work. I changed Vanguard's original report to be unsuccessful. I don't know why I marked it as successful in the first place, which I shouldn't have done. He clearly didn't finish even half of it. If you find other reports like that, please let me know. It's different if it was abandoned at the very end using ctrl-shift-alt-end if the end trigger is broken.

[klatremus]

Game: Thief 2
FM: A Keeper of the Prophecies 4: Oracle of the Prophets

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Success
Supreme Ghost - Failed
Perfect Supreme - Failed
Time - 1:25:37
Loot - 1000/1000
Pockets Picked - None
Secrets - None
Locks Picked - None
Backstabs - 0, Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0, Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0, Other Kills - 0, Bodies Discovered - 0
Consumables - None

See the entire report with screenshots here!
Loot list here.
YouTube let's play here!

Comments:
The strangest mission in the campaign by far, and also among the oddest creations for Thief period. Although it definitely isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, it emits a sense of dread and isolation above most other missions I’ve played. Honestly, it depicts space beyond time in a very interesting, almost nightmarish manner. It links together the first trilogy with the missions to follow in an effective yet frightening way. A truly underrated gem this, in my opinion.

The only thing I had to do was find an antidote for my poisoned condition, while I had no information on how to accomplish that. I also couldn’t kill any of the lost hammerites, though I’m not sure how exactly one can do this, as all the hammerites I encountered were already dead. An additional optional objective triggered from a readable close to the starting location. This objective cannot be completed though, as it gets canceled later on and replaced by a required one. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hidden, optional, unachievable objective before. Strange stuff, but it went with the territory I guess.

Luckily, I never needed to interact with the monsters atop the asteroid. They were already in severe hunt mode from hearing the initial guy getting blown to pieces. If you manage to catch a viewing of it, get ready to be amused. Arcelious’ journal wasn’t strictly speaking necessary, but I was able to get it while hiding behind hardcover. The outer edge of the asteroid had four different colored orbs that teleported me to different cave systems. It doesn’t matter what order you do them in, but story wise the red one makes sense to do first.



Red/Green Caves
Each cave system had loot on the top floor which was devoid of enemies, then a middle floor with patrollers, and a bottom floor with an orb I had to frob. The latter is what makes the mission a Supreme failure, as unavoidable traps start firing once the orb gets frobbed. Luckily, no enemy hears the impacts of the traps. The only way they would get alerted was if they saw me or got hit by the traps and furthermore alerted nearby enemies. In most of the caves I could simply wait for all the enemies to wander off to nearby caves and then frob the orb. A small orb had to be clicked first, in order to extend a magical bridge on which to travel. This was timed and the bridge went back after not too long. Most of the orb caves were dark along the side walls, but on top of the lava pool I was brightly lit. The red cave was a bit special, as there was a big charaka monster (I take that name from The Black Frog campaign) in the southeast corner guarding a particle wall (image above). Conveniently, it was directly behind a pillar, which made me able to angle my run and not get spotted.



Another issue in the red cave was Kelvin’s body and journal hidden behind the aforementioned monster (image above). Reading the journal canceled the optional tablet objective, but there was no way of getting past the guardian without at least a first alert. Instead, I had to use an alternate tunnel on the floor above and descend through a hole to the east (image below). I could get back up with a rope arrow, which means for Supreme (if you want to complete this objective) you have to pick up the rope arrows at the start of the mission. If you are real strict and only want to grab a single rope arrow (in place of a set of 2), then do the white or blue cave first, then pick up the lone rope arrow from the transporter room before you go to the red/green caves. From the same cave as the entrance to the room with Kelvin was also another exit up to the top level of the green cave system. As far as I know, this is the only place in the entire mission where two separate cave systems are interconnected. This meant I didn’t have to go down to the teleporter in the big lava cave in order to get to the green cave system. The orb in the green caves was easier, because there was no stationary enemy around. I just had to wait for the patrollers to go over towards the exit in the west and then frob the orb (see image).



Big Lava Cave
There was no need to venture near the top of the big lava rock, plus the fire elementals couldn’t see me dropping from the colored caves anyway. The only problem in this cave was entering the teleportation room (image below). This was the only way to reach the remaining two cave systems (white and blue). I made a healthy attempt at leaping up to the ledges from atop the central rock, but there was no way. With a speed potion I’d reckon I could do it, but that is against Supreme rules, so what’s the point. Entering the teleport room required frobbing a white button to raise the particle door. This triggered spitfire traps inside and outside the hallway. After experimenting, I think the outside trap triggers from touching the floor anywhere on the stairs or in the first ¾ of the hallway. Since I had to frob the door and wait for it to open, there was no way to reach the inner room without touching the floor, so that trap always got set off. With the reduced gravity, I could leap from below the stairs and frob the door open in mid-air, but I always landed before being able to continue. The hallway traps I believe triggered from the amount of time spent in there, so they didn’t always go off if I was quick. After the particle wall was raised, I could get in there without triggering any further traps by leaping, so it just ended up being the one bust. The door couldn’t be closed back up.



White/Blue Caves
The white cave system was the hardest. There seemed to be more enemies than in the other caves. The middle floor was short, but difficult. The exit hole was in the same cave as where I entered, but two light orbs made the room difficult to navigate (image below). Three patrollers made it tough to gauge the descent from the top level, so I had to wait a bit and just hope for the best. I had to sneak across the entrance to the east tunnel and make it to the northern end, but this was slow as there was usually at least one patroller facing me. The jellyfishes I still have a hard time detecting alert levels from. There was also a stationary charaka down the east tunnel that could spot me crossing its line of sight.



Once on the lower level, it didn’t get much easier. The orb room was very lit, and I again had to wait for enemies to wander off, which meant down the western tunnel towards the exit. The biggest problem was the different speeds of the enemies. The jellyfishes (especially the smaller ones) were so slow they would take forever to circle the orb, but then the instant they had their backs turned, the fast club zombie would come pacing back out. Eventually it worked out to my benefit and I got the orb frobbed unseen. Next I had to make my way down the same tunnel all the enemies had congregated in (image below). This was the only way to the exit and another very difficult task. A light orb shone right in the middle of it, so patrollers either had to be gone or have their backs turned. Not only that, but there was another charaka positioned at the end of the tunnel to the right. Luckily there was some shade towards the end on the left hand side, so I snuck over the lip and found my way to the exit. Tight one that.



Teleported over to the blue cave last. This one was easy apart from the orb situation. The types of traps were different in each cave, and this one had fireballs, which deals a lot of splash damage. Furthermore, some of the shots after the first batch were sent outside the main lava pool, standing the risk of damaging nearby enemies (image below). This would alert them, even if they were only in the outer fringe of the splash damage. I thus had to make sure they were all down the east passage, and far enough away to avoid any damage at that. This meant a lot of save scumming to get the right RNG situation. Tedious, but it was the only way to avoid the Ghost bust. Following, I had to wait for them all to leave that very cave so that I could sneak down. Another charaka at the end here, but a nice patch of shade covered his vision.



Flipped all the stars and headed to the end. A long camvator sequence now took place, a good 8 minutes long. I was spotted by the asteroid dudes at the start of the sequence, but such busts don’t count, as I wasn’t able to move. Really looking forward to the rest of this series.

Notes:
- Triggered traps in each of the four colored caves when frobbing the respective orbs. This didn’t alert any enemies, but you’re not allowed to trigger traps for Supreme.
- Triggered another trap when opening the particle wall to the transporter room in the big lava cave. Additional Supreme bust.

[klatremus]

Game: Thief 2
FM: The Builder's Paradise [TMA 20th Anniversary Contest]

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Success
Supreme Ghost - Success
Perfect Supreme - Success
Time - 2:11:53
Loot - 4771/4771
Pockets Picked - None
Secrets - 9/9
Locks Picked - 8
Backstabs - 0, Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0, Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0, Other Kills - 0, Bodies Discovered - 0
Consumables - 1 Water Arrow

See the entire report with screenshots here!
Loot list here.
YouTube let's play here!

Comments:
I have very mixed feelings about this mission. My first playthrough reached severe frustration levels, while the ghost run was surprisingly fun. Although it’s difficult, with some clever tweaking, it can actually be Perfect Supreme Ghosted. Heavily inspired by Sabotage at Soulforge, many players have called this the ending Thief 2 should’ve had. I’m not sure I agree with that statement.

I had to make my way to Karras’ utopia, The Builder’s Paradise, in order to stop his evil plans. This involved using his security machines in some way. I also had to shut down the production assembly in his factory. Furthermore, I need to find and steal the artifact that controlled his robotic children, before finally exiting the compound. The good thing was that fewer enemies were roaming about until I chose to start messing with Karras’ plans. This meant I could choose a route that prevented unnecessary robots from spawning early.

Basement
The control panel for the air shaft door couldn’t be operated once I was on the other side, so I had to leave it open. There was a hidden duct to the top floor which made me able to get the armory key early (image below). I thought I would be able to find a way to lower the crane or raise the floor and thus close the air shaft coming from above, but none of those seemed to be operational. I also tried to mantle up to the top floor from below, but I couldn’t find a way to do it. Only later would I realize that you can return to the starting location to end the mission, not just by using the nave’s main entrance. That fixed the whole issue, as I could just close the air shaft then. Problem solved.



Once aboveground, there was another set of doors that couldn’t be reclosed. Those were sliding doors, so I guess I could’ve blocked them with something, but I found it easier to mantle up from one of the big crates in this area (image below). It was a tight mantle, but repeatable. Using items to block doors requires returning them for Supreme anyway, so this method was definitely cleaner.



West Wing
The biggest problem in the museum area was Kernel. He was a zombified robot that would spawn when crossing specific borders. He would always walk straight towards where I was, whether he had detected me or not. Then he would just stop and stare a few feet away (image below). As far as I know, only the secret gear arrows from the aboveground ruins can kill him. A few times he would just disappear, but that was always after being fully alerted. Once I realized what triggered his appearance, he got easier to deal with, but in general he was a huge pain in the arse. First, he would trigger when I entered the eastern storage room, so I skipped that at first. Next, he would trigger once you got close to the lab with the heads in the sink. Luckily, he appeared way back in the museum, so it would take a while for him to get to me. I had time to get the eye from the communications room in the meantime, then rush to the western storage room. Kernel appeared before not too long, but then I could just use the pipes to skip over to the east side and he would have to take the long trek around to reach me. Keep in mind that during all this time he never spotted me, it was just scripted for him to always know where I was and go straight there. Now I could easily head down to the engineer’s quarter, where Kernel couldn’t get to. Nothing to report from this section.



The nave was easier than I thought. Mainly because the top of the stairs was too far away for the watcher to notice (see image). The robot’s patrol route was also long enough to easily dodge. Used the vent to reach the barracks and cleaned this area easily.

East Wing
The biggest discovery in ghosting this mission came upon entering the assembling section. On my first playthrough, Karras gave his first monologue when crossing the doorway threshold. This time, he didn’t. Additionally, several of the upstairs doors that were locked last time were now wide open. The instant I got caught by an enemy or a camera however, all these doors locked up and Karras started talking. If I didn’t get caught, the doors would still lock up after a certain amount a time, about 1-2 minutes, but this was enough for me to exploit this gap in security. Most importantly was the double doors on the walkway just above the factory entrance (first image below). They yielded access to a whole section vital to my progress, not to mention the control room for Karras’ emergency doors (second image below). This was huge! Although the lever for the bay door in here was broken, I could open both doors on the south side. This meant I didn’t have to use the large elevator down the ramp to the east.





I could now get to the break room and library area without having to go through Karras’ floor. This was hugely beneficial, as I could get the factory key, the museum key and the cold room key without triggering extra enemies. None of these areas were difficult. There was only one patrolling enemy, a robot in the council room area. I couldn’t leave via the council room’s main entrance, as the outside watcher hardly even pivoted. I could turn off any of the watchers in the security room, but that isn’t allowed for Supreme. Kernel would spawn again once I read Irina’s journal, so I skipped that part for now. It wasn’t necessary to progress, and I’d have to come back to return the factory key later anyway.

I double-checked that I could now enter Karras’ quarters and top floor without having to use the throne room elevator. That worked fine, so I started to plan proceedings. I knew I needed to close the emergency exit doors fully, and the only way to do that and still leave was to descend by way of the aforementioned elevator. However, at the end of the stairs was a worker bot (first image below). Normally, these robots can be snuck past as their periscope isn’t operational until alerted, but this one was different. It was already active and could both see and hear. I was a bit puzzled, as one time I had seen it in the same location facing south. I reloaded and did some experimenting, only to come to a startling discovery. Once Karras finished his first monologue, this robot is supposed to walk out of the big sliding doors with Karras’ face on it that opens up. It is supposed to stop in the middle of the large foyer. However, if you aren’t looking at this part of the factory just then, it instead remains stationary. It’s like an animation that only plays out if visible on screen. Furthermore, the robot’s end-of-animation direction was determined by where Garrett was relative to the robot. Thus, I could manipulate its facing angle by being in a certain location when it stopped its patrol. This was excellent news! I went back to a previous save and replayed my entrance to the factory. After opening the south emergency exit doors, I ran up to get the factory key. This forced Karras’ monologue to begin. Next, I headed down to the assembly area and watched the robot come out from the top walkway. I made sure to be towards its northwest, which is the direction it ended up facing (second image below). Excellent! The stage was now set to mess up Karras’ plans.





Extraction Section
This part of the factory was mostly about listening for alerts. Everything was metal, plus the machines muffled the sound of potential alerts. Two mechanist guards and one of the cyborgs roamed here, but they weren’t tough to dodge. I found a predictable way to get down from the manager’s office to the bottom floor by jumping from the roof (first image below). Mantling up the control panel next to the melting pot was the best method. Once I got the memory crystal, two angels were let loose. One in the factory and one in the staircases above. Atop each staircase was a small patch of shade perfect for hiding. I’m not sure if it was intended, but I could open the sliding gate from the inside, as the lever was easily reachable (second image below). Definitely not an exploit. Flipped Karras’ valve and switched out the crystals. All the angels would die from this, but that was an automatic consequence of completing the objective, so no bust.





Returned both the manager’s key and the rare ores key next. Got the vibrating dust by dropping the boulder into the grinding machine. I used the explosive charge from the armory to stop Karras’ production. You can use mines also, but they get armed and can blow up later if anyone walks too close.

Exited through a vent in the extraction section’s northwest corner on the upper level. This took me to a ledge above the nave and furthermore to a back entrance to the engineer’s quarters. This required the factory key, which I had. I could now return the control room key and also get the special mask from the museum with the key from the break room. Next I cleaned the workers quarters, which was no issue. I could get the chaos egg from the cold room now, which is why I had waited to go here.



When returning to the factory, a cyborg had spawned just inside the entrance (image above). It pivoted, but there was no way to get through the hallway quickly enough. I was thus forced to go back and head through the vent system from the engineer’s quarters again (image below). It was a bit tricky getting down unscathed and retrieve the arrow. I ended up hopping onto the nearest light fixture, then furthermore onto the wall pipe below.



Endgame
I headed up to see Karras’ death, in order to check off that objective. The remaining pieces of loot was on this floor also. I could now close all the emergency doors from up here and take the big elevator down. All the angels had fallen, so I was safe to leave. The outside robot was still facing northwest, so I snuck out on its left side.

Headed all the way up to the break room in order to return the museum key and the cold room key. I spent a long time figuring out how to reset the elevator to the middle level. I couldn’t leave via the hallway, as the council room watcher covered that area. The elevator buttons did not respond to any arrows or items thrown at it. I also couldn’t click the button and rush out before the gate slid shut. It seemed to seal off the doorway the instant the closing animation started, unlike regular sliding doors. I honestly thought I would be stuck and forced to bust this late in the mission, until I realized I could mantle out the small window in the hallway. If getting onto the sill fully, I could lean out the window and look up. Jumping would now enable me to mantle up to the level between the two floors (image below). The same method once again took me into the top floor window. Voila!



Lastly I returned the factory key. Irina’s ledger was not even necessary to take if done in this order. All it did was spawn Kernel, which I happily skipped. I had previously lock-blocked the doors to the generator floor, so I headed down there next. Got the last two elemental powers in this area. Had to use a water arrow on the weird spider bot in the fixing room to get the nymph seed. Left via the warehouse and could now finally close the air shaft from the start of the mission. Awesome!

Notes:
- The bodies discovered is as a result of the angels dying. It follows naturally from the main objective, so no bust. Nobody saw me in the process.

[Galaer]

I noticed another mistake on reported list. It states that it was me who reported Reverse Robbery. It was actually lordhern.

[klatremus]

*fixed*

I will get A Better Tomorrow, Lost In the Far Edges, and Cinder Notes done in the next few weeks. Two of them are all ready to be recorded. However, Heartcliff Islands I will probably not get to until August, as we are going away for the summer. So if anyone wants to give that a go and post a report, be my guest.

[Galaer]

SHADOW BUSINESS

Mission abandoned by Vanguard. He mentioned 3 causes of failure:

- Too many torches, way too few water arrows, none to be found.
- Dousing any torch makes that area pitch black. Can't see.
- Mission won't end.

All these are actually incorrect. First of all in his report Vanguard mentions lack of water arrows, which isn't true. Other than starting 8 water arrows there is chest with 4 water arrows and another chest with 1 gas arrow. And that's barely enough to ghost this mission. Second of all even though dousing all torches makes rooms pitch black, you aren't forced to do that. There are 2 optional rooms that you can make partially pitch black, but you can still see well in this mission. And lastly mission ends normally after going to street. This isn't starting point though. But this last statement illustrate pretty well that Vanguard wasn't making any test run, he was immediately making ghost run and report it.That's pretty crazy, but also a reason for some mistakes happening in his reports.

First 2 torches to douse are in foyer near stationary guard. Then I'm going to kitchen. Here is neutral female servant. This way I'm going to dining room on 2nd floor and then loot library. Afterwards I'm falling down to foyer and use right door on opposite side. Here are 2 corridors: forward and right. I'm going forward to loot 2 bedrooms and treasure room with Horn of Quintus. Right corridor leads outside. Here I squeeze behind guard and rope up to window. There I need to quickly douse torch to make room partially pitch black. Guard will make comment, but will not go into search mode. In next room is chest with 1 gas arrow and money. To get back just drop on guard below. Run to tower and douse another torch there, because upstairs is more money. Go to 2nd floor.

There is shadow on wooden floor near locked door. You can hide there from patroller. Also there is outside patroller who will not see you if you don't move while under door. Go to garden and drop on grass. Go behind patroller and take 4 water arrows from chest. Return on grass and open door to barracks. Here you must douse 2 torches and make room partially pitch black. You can still see where bunks and guards are thanks to some light at the middle of room. Just mantle on bunk and drop on the other side to grab money from table. Return to 2nd floor and unlock locked door.

Go through small dining room to stairs leading outside. Here I doused 2 torches near stairs. You must get to chest in guard room. And for that you must douse right torch inside, but guards are sensitive and will go into search mode whenever they will hear water arrow hitting wall. So just walk on grass until they will 1st alert, then quickly douse right torch. Barrel in corner isn't solid, so just slowly walk around right wall and mantle on bunk. You can't crouch yet. Luckily strafe running to next bunk allows you crouch. Drop on floor and slowly go to chest with grey key. Even though your light gem is yellow, enemies will not spot you. Return to corridor.

You must go to bedroom with guard standing in front of it. To do it you must douse 3 torches in corridor and left torch near guard without being seen by guard when holding bow. I'm using gas arrow on floor between 2 torches to douse them. Then slowly gon into room with guard and slowly go along left wall and behind guard. In bedroom is hidden chest behind banner. You can unlock it with grey key through banner and get Hand of Glory, but you don't see nor hear when chest gets opened. Afterwards mantle on balcony and jump on wall. Go to it's right side and mission will end.

STATS:

Time: 0:25:25; Loot: 2125/2125
Pockets Picked: 2/2; Locks Picked: 5
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0

GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: SUCCESS

[klatremus]

Vanguard's report is over 20 years old, how crazy is that! And it was just the 11th fm ever to be reported. Funny to think that nobody else attempted a ghost run of it in all those years until now. This is really cool that you're going through those that are abandoned. I never thought about that when making the unreported list, but it makes sense. How many such missions do you have on your list? Or are you just reading the old reports in order and picking as you go along?

[Galaer]

I usually read causes of failure first and when I see that maybe there is possibility to avoid these failures, I read the rest of the report. How many I have mission with aborted ghost runs? Couple. I didn't just chose abandoned missions, but also there are other reasons. For example next old mission I want to report will be connected to Vanguard's report of Circle of Strain 1 and his ghost run was finished and successful.

[klatremus]

Game: Thief 2
FM: Greenbay

Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Success
Supreme Ghost - Failed
Perfect Supreme - Failed
Time - 45:40
Loot - 5159/5159 (Supreme: 4976)
Pockets Picked - 9/9
Secrets - 1/1
Locks Picked - 9
Backstabs - 0, Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0, Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0, Other Kills - 0, Bodies Discovered - 0
Consumables - None

See the entire report with screenshots here!
Loot list here.
YouTube let's play here!

Comments:
A short mission from 2008 by DrK. It has a nice, tight street layout crammed full of detail, typical of his other missions. By modern standards it is a bit bare boned, but offers an entertaining hour or so of gameplay. A Better Tomorrow uses this map as a base, which was the real reason for my playthrough.

My main task was to locate and silence a man about to testify against me, but who he was and where was yet unknown. I also had to obtain a golden skull found somewhere in the Greenbay quarter, in addition to 2,500 worth of valuables. That was it.

I wanted to hit the mechanist library early, so I headed to the southeast corner of the map. There was a pickable door to the library’s western courtyard, but a nearby guard heard the lockpicks, so this wasn’t a possible method for Supreme. I wanted to avoid as many lockpicks as possible anyway, and this one was most definitely avoidable. Another door by the southeast gate was also pickable, but yet again a nearby guard was too close to avoid the comment (image below). This house had 4 coin stacks which thus had to be skipped for Supreme. I could hop the fence to the library courtyard from a wooden pole nearby without the aforementioned guard seeing me.



The inside of the library wasn’t that tough. I had to go slow due to the marble, but it was standard sneaking mostly. The tiara and necklace on top of the large bookshelf I took by using a rope arrow into the ceiling. I could just drop down to the floor unscathed and unnoticed. Got the yellow key from the top floor civilian. It was needed for the golden skull objective. Experimenting with how to return it, I found I could put it on top of the nearby book (image below). It was a few feet away from at his feet, but I figured that was ok. Borderline, but acceptable.



Navigating the streets wasn’t that difficult due to the number of alternate routes. Some areas had tight patrols, but it was just a matter of waiting. I could now enter the nobleman’s house in the west and get the storeroom key. I could not, however, take the shop key from the stationary guard in the northwest for Supreme (image below). Returning it was not possible without alerts. The 135 loot from the armory was thus skipped for that mode.



Over 2,200 loot was in the Easter Egg location. Obviously this got me to the loot goal. In Quince’s apartment I needed two more keys; the workshop key and the toolbox key. Neither of these could be returned without waking him up (image below). This was the ultimate bust to Supreme, as there was no way to finish the mission without them. The rest of the mission was easy. Returned the three remaining keys and ended back at the start.



Notes:
- Skipped the coin stacks (48) in the house by the southeast gate for Supreme. Picking the lock alerted the nearby guard.
- Skipped the gold worth 135 in the armory for Supreme. The shop key couldn’t be returned without severe alerts.
- Couldn’t return Quince’s workshop key or toolbox key to their proper locations. Supreme busts.

[downwinder]

i seen your greenbay on you tube today good stuff,cant wait till you do other version in black and white with those hell hounds on map way scarier

also cool to know green bay is part of the map in next conell series