Thief II FM -- Calendra's Legacy: A Winter's Eve

I guess I'd better put a warning up here. This is basically my notes to myself while playing the mission. It is, therefore, SPOILER RICH! However, it is also misleading since I was in the process of figuring out things as I went along. Neither is it complete. I'm short of loot at least.

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2002, 09:13
I've just downloaded this massive, 322Mb, fan mission. Really impressive average of 253KB/sec. Only just short of five, full, successful, games of Freecell. I've decided to start up this web page and keep these working papers as I progress. Actually, I needed something to do while DarkLoader is unpacking the file. The author, Purah, says it may be Ghostable and possibly Perfect Thiefable as well but probably not without consumming some small tools. Small price to pay. DarkLoader's finished. Here goes!

Lot's of fresh, new, mood music! Decided to cycle down from 1600x to 1024x768 resolution just in case. The resource requirements are warned about. Gotta try for Ultimate Thief, of course. So, that's Garrett difficulty.

Act I: A Meeting with Basso

Objectives Be discreet -- no human kills and no failed thefts, don't get caught; meet Basso at Murkbell Gate; check into the Old Widow Inn, catch some z's; no knockouts.

Loadout Hmmm, "Word on the Street" scroll is free so sure. Gas arrow, Scouting Orb, Speed, Invisibility, Healing potions. Holy Water vial? Okay, four Moss, eight Water arrows, no Broadheads; and, a Scouting Orb. What about the Holy Water? Yes, swap out four of the Water arrows for the Holy Water vial.

Opening Scene And what story would dare start out with anything other than the "Dark and Stormy Night?" Haha. Thunder, lightning, and rain. Perfect! Footsteps! They're getting closer! Scurry! Looking for a shadow! No good! Should I jump into the waterway? Too late! A velvet clad nobel passes over the stone footbridge, turns, and returns the way he came. Nothing on his belt. He didn't react to my presence. Good! But he had to see me. An image of the boxed, grinning, gingerbreadesque Garrett flashes through my mind leaving an uncertain smirk. A "Lampfire" street sign, a footbridge over a small waterway, a gated passageway behind me.

Better check the map. The gated passageway leads south out to Lampfire Hills which is off the map. Find Murkbell. It's a twin for the town of Lampfire. The map shows a spot to meet Basso at the junction between Lampfire and Murkbell straight north of me. The ocean, docks, warehouses and Grim Fast Inn to the north and west. Murkbell, warehouses, apartments, to the north and east. "Word on the Street" is that Murkbell is on some kind of alert due to a recent theft and that I'll probably need to find a route to the Old Widow Inn thats not too direct and obvious.

A ladder down into the waterway. Check it out. No exit. There is an opening at the east end of the waterway under the water line but I can't seem to fit through it. Nothing on the map this way and I can see only another grate through the opening. There's a ladder going up the side of the building across the footbridge and to the left. Up the ladder, a chimney with a fire burning below. No ladder down the inside of the chimney. Footsteps again, coming closer. A police swordsman on his patrol crosses the footbridge and heads back into Lampfire. He doesn't notice me above him. Nothing on his belt. Well, I'm not going to fall down the inside of that chimney. That's a possibility for later if needed. Back down into the water and climb the ladder back to my starting point.

Cross the footbridge. There's a wooden door to the room with the fireplace and chimney. It's locked. Neither lockpick works. Carry on. Bearing slightly right I can see a drawbridge come down as I approach. The police are patrolling the other side. A walkway down to the left and straight through on the right. I head to the right. This is Grendel Court. The pathway leads on. The velvet clad nobel wanders around here and back and forth to the footbridge area and the drawbridge area. I go a little further on and just before I get to a tunnelled turn to the left leading to Mercedes' apartment I hear a voice. Something about "You stink!" Then footsteps coming toward me. I scurry back a bit and crouch into a dark corner. A man walks past me. He's got a purse. Grab it! Three gold loot. He doesn't see me. I'm in complete blackness anyway. He carries on.

I'd passed by a stone wall just back a bit and it looked like it was probably low enough for me to get over so I head back to it and over. This is labelled "Alley" on the map. There's some crumpled up paper on the ground. Something about three eyes. There's a door here. It's locked. Leaning into it I can hear someone. As I pick the lock some mumbling. I open the door and sneak just inside to good shadow. There's a swordsman here. With a key on his belt! He swivels facing away from me and I grab the key and quickly make it back to my dark corner just inside the door. He doesn't notice. Nothing special, just a key. There's a stairway leading up to the left past the guard. I should be able to sneak by him while he's looking the other way. Yes! Up the stairs. There's another guard at the top. He's sitting in a chair leaning back into the wall sleeping. There are some bottles and cheese on the floor beside him. "Musta been rats" from the guard downstairs. There's an oil lamp on the wall and a doorway to the right opposite the sleeping guard. A sign on the doorway reads "Flat 2A." Will he waken when I unlock the door? Should I put the oil lamp out? I have very few resources with me so I'm going to chance this. The key from the downstairs guard fits this lock. "Nobody pushes Benny around!" Haha, that's Benny downstairs. This sleeping guard doesn't react to my unlocking the door. Tiled floors. Yuck! I hear a door and footsteps inside the room.

I creep over to a very small area against the left side of the doorframe where I'm in complete darkness. I'll wait here to see what the footsteps were if they return. A bed, another oil lamp, a door opposite, a rug, a dresser with a goblet, a bottle, an apple, and a plate on it, a couple of chairs. It's not a very big rug. A corner shelf above the bed with a plant on it. I suppose I should check if there's anything else on the shelf. One of those black clad, hooded thief type swordsmen opens the door opposite, takes a few steps into the room, turns and leaves. He doesn't close the door behind him and takes up station just through the doorway facing away. Looks like a Healing potion on his belt. I notice a window just to the right of that door too. A while later he comes back in and out again. The oil lamp flickers every once in a while and brightens the bedroom. There seems a hallway past him. Since I'll have to creep over the tiled floor I don't know if there's enough time to get into this room and do anything meaningful before he turns back. And if the lamp flickers while I'm in there ... can't just stop though, gotta do something.

I turn around to check the distance over the tiles to the stairway to see about getting away and notice a stack of copper coins by the sleeping guard. When I turn back I notice the patrolling guard closes the door. But he reopens it and comes back in a few seconds later. He does come far enough into the room that I could probably snag the Healing potion off him if I lean into the room. Let's give this a try. No problem. When he leaves this time I can see he's carrying on down the cobblestoned hallway and closes the door. Actually, as I crouch here I suspect the flickering I've attributed to the oil lamp is actually lightning. And I notice this doesn't light up the corner to the right of the doorway I'm crouched in. I stand and lean into the room and around to the left and notice another window near the door and open it. The guard returns but he's been gone quit a while this time. If I could anticipate this I could likely have time to check this room out and then get out through this open window before he returns. He doesn't notice either the open door I'm crouched in or the open window. Coins first -- two gold. He enters and leaves again, closing the door. I can just hear him walking away. Stutter-step into the room, close the door behind me, and crouch in the corner. Not totally dark but probably good enough. It's hard to tell since the light gem is modified and I don't know exactly what it's telling me. Just have to chance it. He enters and leaves again without noticing me. Well, he does mumble "Hey!" and another time "Huh?" and yet another time "Hmmm." I notice a wastepaper basket on the floor beside the dresser and creep over but there's nothing in it. Back to my corner. I'd like to check out that hallway he walks down. While I'm here I use the old inventory icon shrink trick to see if there's anything to get behind a painting on the wall beside me. No. And, during one of his absences, I creep over to the bed, jump up onto it and feel around with my fingers on that ledge with the plant but there's nothing there. No, I don't think there's time to get out and down the hallway.

I make my way over toward the open window, grab the five goods plate off the dresser, and jump up onto the windowsill. Then out onto a ledge and across a few feet to another window. I open this and noticing I'm pretty well lit up out here I jump into this room into darkness. A bathroom. He enters and leaves the room across the way again. A couple of lucky gold coins on the floor beside the toilet. Looks like a marble toilet! There are a couple of doors too. The one to the right of the toilet is locked and I can't open it. I notice the key for Flat 2A is gone. The other door opens to reveal a stationary guard with a key on his belt at the end of a short hallway. I'll get that key. But I notice the flooring is a material I've not come across before. I'd better not make any footsteps just in case. Got the key, back in the bathroom, close that door. There were three other doors in that hallway but I couldn't see that they were openable. I hope this key works on this other door. Yes, and there's a brick ramp going up from here. I check and the key's gone.

Up the ramp is a small attic crawlspace with several wooden crates and a broken chair. I check around and find an Invisibility potion behind one of the crates. There are also some wooden shutters that open to a view of the Murkbell Grocery and Barn and St. Luca's church. Widow Lane runs off between the two to The Old Widow Inn and the Murkbell Police Fort. If I jump down onto that barrel below me I'll probably not be able to get back up. At least not until I find a Rope arrow. Surely Purah wouldn't make a mission with no Rope arrows? But before I do, I'm going to backtrack and check out a few things I noticed on my way here.

BTW, I cycled down to 640x when I looked out the attic window toward Murkbell. Even so my framerate is still a bit choppy. I still haven't rebooted for a couple of days as Purah suggested so that'll be next. And then I've still got Wordpad running with this note and Internet Explorer to display it and DarkLoader as well as my other usual background internet stuff. Plus all this ESCing and Alt-Tabing to pause the game while I make these notes can't be doing the Windows Memory Manager any good. Still, no crashing to desktop yet. Back up to 1024x now.

I retrace my steps back to Grendel Court and continue on the way towards Mercedes' place. I pass a barefoot women just around the corner. She looks like a pagan. A little further on a man, also a pagan. He speaks to me of my destiny in three gold stones. Or did he say "Tree gold stones?" Talks like a pagan too. The path is blocked by a gate at this end but I can see the Highwatch sign just through it were Tommyrot and his pal tried to ambush Mercedes and I yesterday. Up the ramp to Mercedes' place. Empty! She's left a note. Garrett you stinker! Hehe. Shoe's on the other foot, now, woman! She's taken almost eveything including her bed so she'll be okay. The pagan said she'd left with some dark men though. Some candles strewn about and a water arrow in the jacuzzi. Another couple of lucky coins on the floor behind the armoire. Upon leaving I notice the pagans have taken off. I stop in Grendel Court and take a look around. It looks to me like that hallway the black guard hangs out in opens onto a balcony overlooking this court. And I can see, now, some windows through into Mercedes' place. Now to check out the west side of Lampfire and then Lampfire centre where Basso should be.

I stop and crouch in a dark place just before the drawbridge. Busy! The drawbridge comes down and the pagan women passes by on her way back toward Mercedes'. The police swordswman passes by also. I see now up close that the police uniforms a darker than I've seen other places. A police archer patrols by and I snag three broadhead arrows from the quiver. The velvet clad nobel walks by. And I can see the young man I saw earlier and heard chastising the pagan woman from down towards Mercendes' on the other side of the drawbridge.

Down toward the docks. A signpost reads "Dorian" and the numbers "5188" on the side of a building. And a steel grate in the sidewalk similar to the one above the spot where I first saw the pagan woman. The same people wandering around through here too. Plus a pigtailed woman with a gold key on her belt. Some good luck for a change. I manage to sneak up behind the woman with the gold key and grab it without her noticing. It says "A Garden Gate Key." Onward down onto the docks. A drunk wobbles at the end of one of the piers. He's got a purse. A single gold piece. A sign warning of dangerous seasonal undertows. And a pagan child roams around here too. I'll have to try the water out later to see what that's all about.

There are a couple of machines down on the docks labeled "Tank" on the map. I mantle up onto the northeastern one and then onto a wall to an open area labeled "Cottage" on the map. There is also a steel hatch leading to the town's sewers and an opening in the wall behind some vegetation and blocked by a rock. I move the rock aside and proceed down into the tunnel. There's another tunnel down here with a sign that says "Arkhyn's Tomb", a vial of Holy Water, and a light that I can carry with me. But the tunnel is blocked by a large rock. I remember a reference to Arkhyn in the crumpled paper I found in the alley in Grendel Court. Something to do with the three gold stones. Sure would like to get into his tomb then. There's a stairway here also that leads back up to the Lampfire town centre and the Murkbell Gate that I could just make out from the other side of the drawbridge as I passed by earlier where Basso should be. There's a sign at the top of the stairs, "Arkhyn." And a stone pathway leading to a locked gate. Lockpicks don't work. The Garden Key does though. And it doesn't disappear so it may have another use. Continuing on looks out over the cottage area from above and further on is a small garden behind the Grim Fast Inn with a scarecrow, a Moss arrow, and a remarkable ocean view. A five gold goblet on the sea wall. The scarecrow is straw filled, has a Jack O' Lantern for a head, and is wearing a Dewdrop-like tunic.

May as well contact Basso while I'm near. He's whipped! He'll leave my stuff in the room at the Old Widow Inn. Separate entrance too, overlooking a factory. Basso runs off and over the drawbridge when we're finished our business.

Back and down and into the sewers. Trying to get into Arkhyn's Tomb through the sewers. A chamber with a hole in the floor. Whoa! Fast currents lead me back to the waterway where I started. I can fit through the hole at one end of the footbridged waterway from this side. I see now the reason I couldn't fit before was the current and not the size of the opening. This time I avoided the hole in the centre and proceeded down a long, blue tunnel and up a ramp with a grate in the roof. I moved the grate aside and mantled up into ... a cell? Looking back down the way I'd come the grate is directly underneath the opening. There's what looks like a cop sleeping, sitting in a chair just on the other side of the bars. I'll need Moss on the grate if I'm to get back to Lampfire this way or this guy'll probably wake at the noise. A keyring on the floor beside the sleeper. Yes! The keyring opens the cell. I open the rest of the cells -- one empty, one with a corpse, and another with a pagan child who thanks me and goes on her way. I turn right out of the cell area and pick the lock of a steel door at the end of a short hallway and peek outside. I can see another, similar steel door across a tunnel and with the Scouting Orb a police guard down to the right. I work my way back past the cells and find a "Fort Key" on a chair just past this cell area. There's a Murkbell Police Fort on the map due east of the Lampfire cottage area so I'm assuming, for now anyway, that this is that.

What? A guy just ran by wearing a ... barrel! Across the tunnel to a small room with a ladder leading up. A ledge here with some bottles and a cash box on it. Ten gold. Cop central up here! Back down and out following the barrel guy. Ah, the Old Widow Inn, St. Luca's, the Grocery and Barn. Yes, and up there is the window from the attic I had turned back from earlier. Full circle. That's the map pretty much covered. Well, I still need to work west from the Police Fort and see what's off that way. The barrel guy goes into the Barn and soon comes back out again and carries on with his jog. Nothing too much between the fort and the Murkbell Gate. The gate is closed but opens to let patrols through. I think I hear a lever being pulled to open it. A locked gate at the back of St. Luca's. It's pickable. A small cemetery. A grave marker that warns not to touch the plug of stone. There's a small rock at the side of the grave. When I move it the grave opens. There are several large rocks down in it. And a nugget or more crumpled paper. A ladder going into the grave. Descend and grab the nugget. Fifty gold! I can't quite make out what's at the bottom. When getting ready to descend again, I notice a green gas down there. Looks like Burrick gas to me. Let's come back to this later.

Back around to the barn. There are six pens or stalls, a wagon, a broken hammer, a ladder going up to a shuttered loft access, and a chest. The chest had five gold in it. Up the ladder. I can't open the shutters. More bizarre behaviour! While I'm up the ladder a barefoot pagan ambles in, enters the last stall on the left, and then lies down. The barrel guy trots into the same stall then leaves. Then the pagan gets up and walks out. I'm checking around the Old Widow Inn when a deja vu of the autumn leaves in The Haunted Cathedral hits me. Mightn't there be one or two lucky gold coins in the acres of these leaves I've seen so far in Lampfire? Sniffing and licking. Ugh! I'd better check out the rest of the cop shop before I head over to see what can be done about the Murkbell gate.

Back into the Murkbell Police Fort the same way I'd come out. Up the stairs behind a guard. Quick left and left. A chest. A broadhead. I'm in pretty bright light here so I scurry up the stairs to the top where's there's more shadow. A note here about Mercedes' and my escapades last night and they're still looking for us and that's why Murkbell is quarantined. There's a ladder going up to a small shelf. One of the cops patrols up but I'm able to stay out of the lightning light jumping up onto a chair in a corner. The cop leaves and I climb up the ladder onto the shelf. Nothing much here except one of those heavy bedrolls and a box. I can see another chest just down from here but there are so many cops wandering about. I'll just sit here a bit and see if I can pick up their patrol patterns. Maybe there's a way. There's always water arrows. When the patrolling cop leaves he makes a sharp right at the bottom of the stairs and continues along the path I'd used to get up here. I can see a cop archer guarding the way forward so I follow this patrol down back to the cell area.

When he comes down again I follow him up and he turns to his left this time so I go right. Right into the barracks. There are a couple of chests here. A couple of lucky gold coins in one. The other seems empty. The archer guard comes in here occasionally, pauses, and then returns back out to the spot I could see her from before. I'll try to snag her quiver next time. There are light switches here also so I've got to beware. Three more broadheads. I guess there are only the two of them up here. Seemed like more at first. The patrolling one comes through the barracks too. He turns the lights on when he enters and off when he exits. Except he's actually opening one of the chests when he thinks he's doing the lights. There's a door opposite the barracks entrance I'd used. The next time she comes in I run up and grab two more lucky coins from the chest near her post in what looks like a lunch room.

That was a close one! When I got down in front of that other door it was locked. I hurried and brought up the Fort Key and opened it and went quickly inside to darkness. But checking over my shoulder I saw another patrolling archer heading this way. I locked the door and huddled over beside a safe. It's an office I guess. The archer comes in and turns on the lights. But doesn't see me and turns the lights off and leaves. Whew! The safe is locked but I don't have the key and my lockpicks don't work on it. There's a scroll on the desk. Constable Barton is begging Cardinal Alcandor for more time to find and arrest Garrett and Mercedes. Hmmm, so Mercedes is a Keeper! The archer returns while I'm scrunched down beside the safe but I peek out and spot a key on his belt. I'll try to snag it next time. There's a statue recessed into one of the walls. There's a red handled switch behind the statue. I pull the switch and hurry back to the safety of my corner. I could hear something sliding back but I didn't notice what it was just yet. I'll wait until after the guard comes again. No, it's just another Fort Key. But he did have three more broadhead arrows. When he leaves I notice the statue has slid aside. There's a small sliver of a shelf in the wall behind the statue with a key. Probably the safe key. Yes, that key unlocks the safe. And the key disappears. Fifty gold from the safe.

Man, this is tough work. Dodging the lights is bad enough usually but working around the lightning too is touchy. I've been waiting here for the office patrol to go back into the office so I can check out his post in a storage room but he's not going again. I locked the door when I left? But I did leave the safe open. Maybe that's it. Anyhow, waited over near the other archer and went up through her area and around that way when she turned her back on me. There's another fifteen gold in a chest in the storage area. Even though I'm hiding behind barrels he remarked when he "saw" me but stood down again so I'm okay. I'm waiting for a chance to get back out of here and checking my inventory and notice I've got two scrolls. I don't know when I picked this second one up. From the safe? Or did I get the two of them off the desk? Whatever. This one is the Cardinal's response to constable Gary Barton. He's toast. This archer isn't moving! Has he gone to the office since I grabbed his Fort Key? Maybe not. And I relocked the office door when I left. Dang! I'll have to try to catch him looking away. Well, I almost got nabbed. I stood to try and see if I could see him when he went to the office. I thouht he'd left but he must have just swiveled. Anyhow, I ran and jumped onto the chest to follow him out and he was right there still looking into the room. Nothing for it but I kept on running right behind him and back into the barracks. Just a mumble. Guard myopia I guess. I unlocked the office door again to see if he would return to the office and sure enough he did.

I'd spotted an archway across the lunch room from the first archer so I made a break for it. The patrolling archer was just entering the lunchroom but he didn't spot me streak through. This arch comes out at the top of the ladder up from the level I entered on. Now there's a guard up on the ledge with the cashbox. I slid right off his shoulder and fell down to the bottom of the ladder but was uninjured. How'd he get there? Doesn't look like he's going to move either. Back through the cells to the sewers.

Oh, I forgot to mention there's another sewer hatch down near the gate. I've opened it but have not gone down. On my way back over there I run across a woman in a blue gown with a purse. I met her head on so I figured I'd follow her around for a bit before risking snatching the purse. She basically walks from the gate to the Old Widow Inn and back. Upon further thought I decide to give her more time and go down into the sewer. It's still a maze to me but I find myself back near the cells access and pick up the lamp I'd dropped there. After a bit more wandering I happen on a spot that sends me back to the beginning again. Okay, run over the drawbridge and back down to Arkhyns' Tomb and put the lamp back here for now. Still haven't figured how to get into the tomb. Let's see about the gate.

There's some ivy or other wall climbing plant growing up the wall to a walkway over the gate. I could hear a lever switching each time the gate had opened for a patrol and I figured it was probably up on top somewhere. I climb up the vine to a walkway and sure enough there's the lever. I pull the lever and can hear the gate opening. There's an archer patrolling up here with three more broadheads in her quiver. I can see she makes a turn down the way a bit each time she comes by the lever. I wait for her to walk past and run down and turn that way too. Some powderkegs, stairs going down, and a couple of chests. A Gas arrow in the first. The second is locked. Fifty gold! I went back up to the lever area and down the vine back to the street. If I could get one of these powderkegs over to Arkhyn's Tomb I may be able to blow that rock out of the tunnel entrance. I'd seen some somewhere else too but I can't remember where now. They've all been too heavy to lift so far. I'd ran into a second guard at the gate with a purse but since she'd seen me I thought I'd leave her until later. Three more broadheads and a couple of lucky coins. There are only two places I've not been to yet. The Old Widow Inn and Arkhyn's Tomb. Back into the sewers to see if this leads somehow into the tomb.

No, but I do find my way out to the docks area. I'm in the water. There's a Water arrow. Mantle out. Back into the sewers. Did a bunch of running around here. Got back to my start point a couple of times. Didn't really have time to check if there's more passages off some of those fast current routes back to the start. Take a break from this, check out the Tomb entrance again.

Aha! I see a Fire arrow up on top of one of the rocks. I can get up to the top of the rock or near it anyway but when I crouch to get over to the Fire arrow I slide off. Back out to the entrance and get the rock that was blocking it. Mantle up onto it and then I can advance up far enough to get the Fire arrow. A couple of possibilities for it's use. Of course, the rock blocking the tomb entrance. Or, there's also an unlit torch near it. Try the rock. Yes, the rock spins aside. And the torch gets lit too. Grab the lamp and head in.

Only one way to go in here. Gargoyle faces on the walls. The two in the corner at the end of this passage look different. Ah, their mouths are dark whereas the others are light. Actually, upon closer examination, their mouths are what looks like spitball traps. Whoa! A pressure plate on the floor. I can hear a door closing too. I check back to the entrance and the door has closed. There's a Lost City block on the passage floor. I put this block on the pressure plate and hear a door opening again. Yes, now the tomb entrance is open again. A little further on there's another pressure plate. Jump over it into another room. Now what? There's the Trickster's image with a large hole for a mouth straight ahead and a doorway to my right. I lean into the Trickster's mouth and there's a short tunnel with a red button at the far end. Three diamond shaped and coloured plates around the door. Blue on top, yellow lower left, and red or orange lower right. There's a fog through the doorway and some coloured mist dripping. It shows yellow on top, then red or orange, and lastly blue. Should I press the coloured plates in this sequence? Through the door transports me back just inside the tomb entrance. There was an inscription over the entrance. "Arkhyn's Tomb: The maw is wide and many fools have entered." Also while checking this inscription I see a hole of sorts in the first room inside in the ceiling. Dirt or gravel in this hole above. I can't get up to it. Well, the mouth on that Trickster image was certainly big enough to account for "the maw is wide." Maybe something has changed outside. Through the door again and back at the tomb entrance and out. Looks pretty much like it did before. Back up to the garden and take a good, close look. There's a Water arrow up on top of the rocks. Can't see anything else. I guess I'm supposed to be able to get up there. I've tried the trees and vines as ladders but nothing. I tried a bunch of things. I could mantle up on top of the cottage porch but I slid right off again. Finally, I had to go and get the box over by the Old Widow Inn and put it on top of the stone from the tunnel into the hills I was able to mantle up on top where the Water arrow was. May as well check out the rest of the area up here while I'm here. Aha! A ring on the ground worth one hundred gold. Back into the tomb I take the rock with me to place on the second pressure plate. Just in case I toss it from the second room back and at an angle. Yes, there were fire balls. Now what?

Approaching the footbridge from the other direction I notice a window near the chimney. Jumping up I can see a key on a ledge inside. Jumping again I snatch it. Does this open the door here? Yes. Inside a Keeper scroll about Mercedes, another vial of Holy Water, a Fire arrow in the fireplace, and a couple of books. Interesting reading. All about Arkhyn. There's a clue to those coloured plates on the door in the second room. Back to the tomb.

Fireballs in the first passage! Well the book said something about three times. Good thing I was hugging the wall. The colours of the setting sun -- yellow then orange then red. The ocean -- blue. Okay, so the order is yellow then orange or red then blue. Nope that doesn't work. Um, "an homage twice to the last, ..." Okay let's try the blue one twice then. That clears the mist. Now I'm in a room with four doors. "Fool in a box?" Hmmm ... ah! Nitwit-North, Witless-West, Egghead-East, and Simpleton-South. So, the east and west doors are danger. A key through the north door and the tomb through the south door with the key. A Water arrow amidst a pile of bones just in front of the east door. Does this signify that that's the door I should use? This is one of the dangerous ones. Stand to the side. Locked. Pick it. The door sprung open and an arrow or spear or some sort of "blade" shot out. The west door is also dangerous. Also locked. While picking this lock I'm transported back to the entrance of the tomb. When I get back here this door is open.

There is supposed to be a key through the north door that I need to take with me when I go south. So, north first. The passage turns right and is long. Hard to see what's at the end. Steps up, a drop down. Odd ceiling, low just after the drop. A wedge hanging from the ceiling. Carry on to the end. A skeleton, an urn on a pedestal, a "Silver Crypt Key" also on the pedestal, a couple of twinkling, tinkling stars. A Speed potion behind the pedestal. Get the urn. Twenty gold. The pedestal sinks ... the wedge back up the passage is lowering too. The passage is blocked. Will the lamp be enough to raise the pedestal? No. The Speed potion. Only way out. Stand on the pedestal to raise the wedge, drop the lamp, take the Speed potion, grab the lamp, and run for it, crouching under the lowering wedge. Just made it! I guess I could fetch another rock from the grave behind St. Luca's to weigh the pedestal. But how do I get back in there? No way.

Let's try the south door. Hug the north wall and look at the bones like the book says. Now the bones aren't going to look special unless I drop the lamp. Nothing in the first bunch but there's more at the end. The further bone is the "lever" the book talks about. The Trickster's image descends into the floor. A passageway through. However, to my left stairs going down. Something shining that way. A crown in some mist on a pedestal and some zombie parts and a skull. I pick up the debris and deposit it around the edges of the room. The book says this is a trick but can be had. The floor around the pedestal is sunk so I'll stand along the edge as well when I grab it. Well, I couldn't get it but the floor lowered and some white stuff shot in front of me. Also some more burrick gas at the bottom. The gargoyle face behind me lowered into the floor. An inscription. Here lies the "lich" with a necklace of firebolts. A sword, a necklace, and another urn on the crypt. A Healing potion on the floor beside the crypt. And another tinkling, twinkling star over the crypt. When I step in the floor sinks. Nothing happens though. Grab the Healing potion and the sword and the urn. The sword worth a single gold and the urn a single goods. I notice, now that I'm close, a mask on the lich worth another goods. Leave the necklace for now.

Back to the passage beyond the lowered Trickster image. There are bricks down the centre of the passage and marble or some other stone on the sides. The book says to stay to either side. Another gargoyle image straight ahead. Two portals at the end in opposite directions with red mist. The incriptions read "This is not the way." and "I watch the only way." The book says he does not lie. So, I'll take the one that says "the only way." A jog to the left and another passage ending at a wooden door. The wooden door is a transporter behind the door. I notice a Water arrow inside this closet as I turn to try the door/transporter again. There is also a stairway to the right leading up. The book says he who "leaps" survives. One step looks different with a skull on it too. I jump over this one. The stairs turn left. At the top a lock. The Silver Crypt Key unlocks it and the wall just past lowers. Another lock and an inscription. Dead end, go back and get the gold key from the crypts below. Hope it's not in the north passage. When I jump back over the odd step and come out into the passageway I can see a small, red spider down toward the misty arch. That's the way I want to go. I place the lamp in the closet and close the door. Spider's are sometimes almost blind. Ah, that's what the Water arrow was for. To extinguish the torch in this hallway so the spider wouldn't spot me sneaking by. Let's try without putting the torch out. Okay, if memory serves spiders are pretty much senseless from directly to their right, all the way around their front to halfway between their left and their back. As soon as I get about directly ahead of this one I'm far enough around the corner that the torch doesn't light me any more. I'm in total shadow right around the right side of the spider and into the arch. The mist doesn't light me either. I'm back in the chamber with the two arches. It's changed. The inscriptions are gone from atop the arches and there's an unlit torch on the end wall. There is an inscription along the side of the arch opposite.

Three fates await thee:
Thy Right Hand's touch will
seal thy tomb forever,
or grant the path whose
opening gifts a golden ring.
The foremost lock must be
loosed at once
But the second lock no good
thing will bring.

Okay, through the arch. A sealed room with three jewelled chests, three skulls and a couple of piles of bones. Openings in opposite sides are bricked over. There are three wide-mouthed Trickster images behind the chests. And the wall behind me has some tectured artwork. Do the right hand chest first. Unlocked. Fifty gold. And the brickwork to the right slides down into the floor and reveals the passage reached through the south of the four doored room. The other two chests are locked. Which one? The middle one is set back from the position I arrived in this room. So, the left hand one is "foremost". The Gold Crypt Key. Hightail it back to the Gold Crypt Lock.

When I use the Gold Crypt Key the wall starts sliding down. I scurry over a couple of steps down the stiarway I'd come up and wait for the wall to slide all the way down. The book says Holy Water will deal with this. Creep up close to the edge of the corner so when I lean right I'll be looking into the room. Quaff a Holy Water vial. Draw back the bow. Lean right. There it is, on the crypt. One Holy Water arrow. Here come's a firebolt. Duck back. Draw back another. Lean right. It's raised up. Aim higher and let fly. That's two. More firebolts. Duck, lean, fire. Four Holy Water arrows and the skull disappears. A bunch of large rocks come tumbling down from above the crypt. Let's go in and count the booty. A Healing potion, a blue gem on the front of the crypt, fifty gold. A blue gem on the back of the crypt, 37 gems. A jewelled sword on top of the crypt. Seventy-five gold and seventy-five gems. Three small green urns on the floor in front of the crypt. Ten goods each. A jewelled necklace on top of the crypt. Seventy-five gold and seventy-five gems. The crystal from the skull's right eye. No value. The crystal from the skull's left eye. One hundred twenty-five gems. Six tall coin stacks on top of the crypt. 25 gold each. Four small coins stacks on top of the crypt. Ten gold each. Six multi-coloured gems on top of the crypt. Twenty-five gems each. The space above the crypt has opened to reveal the St. Luca's grave. Jumping from on top of one of the rocks on top of the crypt I reached the ladder in the grave and climbed out of the tomb.

Around and check into the Old Widow Inn. I just had to take a screenshot of the lady in red and the archer "gettin' down!"The front desk clerk said it would cost twelve gold for the room but my loot was not reduced. I never leave home without it. Bethoven's Moonlight Sonata playing in the main room. Nice. Up to my room. Out the barred window I can see and hear a pagan pacing. Also a woman clearing her throat. Impatient? Mercedes? The door to the outside is inaccessible. An empty chest. An empty closet. Switches turn the oil lamp on and off. The bed lights up when I look at it so I suppose that is how I indicate I'm ready to sleep and finish the objectives for this mission. One more trot around to see if I missed any pockets or other loot. Nothing. Took some great screenshots though.

Statistics
Ultimate Thief: Failure
Ghost: Failure
Time: 1:47:55
Loot: 1,564 of 1,605
Pockets: 14 of 16
Locks: 9
Consumables: One Fire arrow to open Arkhyn's Tomb entrance
One Speed potion to escape the Silver Crypt Key shrine
One Holy Water vial and four Water arrows to kill Arkhyn's Skull

Notes Odd killing Arkhyn's Skull didn't count in the Damage Dealt statistic. Only 41 short on loot. And I've got two loot summaries showing in my inventory. One has only two hundred gems. That must be the Skull's right eye which I'd thought was no value when I picked it. That's pretty good for a first attempt for me. I guess I must have missed a pocket. Thief II always shows one more than there actually is available. I've got sixteen Broadhead, one Fire, one Moss, and one Gas arrow I didn't start out with. Also one Invisibility and three Healing potions now. And two Holy Water vials. Next time if I take a rock with me to fetch the Silver Crypt Key I'll also have a Speed potion. I wonder if Arkhyn's Skull can be Ghosted? Is there another way into the tomb? If not the Fire arrow must be used to get in. I'll see if removing those rocks in the grave will give access. I would have tried this this time too but that green, burrick-like gas down there warned me off. And the reason I had to restart was that when I checked in to the Old Widow Inn and then headed back out with less than a hundred loot the cops were all on my case and I really couldn't do anything.

Thursday, April 4th, 2002, 09:12
On a lark, I reloaded (so Ultimate Thief was abandoned you'll note) from the point just outside Arkhyn's Crypt and tried to avoid using the Holy Water on his Skull. No problem. Just stick to the walls and go slow with no footsteps until I was around behind him. Then creep up only as close as necessary to grab all the loot, including his jewelled eyes. Then creep around the side a bit to get the stuff in front of the crypt and slink back out. I saw a stone over in the corner and went over and gave it a poke but I didn't notice anything happen. So, that reduces the consumables down to just the Fire arrow and the Speed potion. I can't readily think of a way to avoid the Fire arrow but the Speed potion I can keep if I only remember to take a weight with me when I go to fetch the Silver Crypt Key. I wonder if one of the zombie body parts from the south crypts would do? That would be handy. I'm curious to see if I replay the entire thing whether I can maybe get more or even all the loot and pockets this time. I may do this before proceeding to the next part. Yes, that's what I'm going to do. Right now.

And, of course, I'll choose to do things in a more efficient sequence. The Keeper flat first, Basso, gate tower, Dorian, Docks, Cottage, Arkhyn's Tomb, Mercedes' place, and finally the Alley before proceeding to Murkbell grabbing pockets along the way. The blue gowned woman was in the Old Widow Inn when I dropped down out of the attic so I huddled and waited for her to emerge and continue her walk before sneaking up behind her and grabbing her purse. On to the Murkbell Police Fort next. This is probably the toughest Ghosting in this mission. I can pick the locks to get in so that'll be more locks.

Ghost: Success
Time: 57:28
Loot: 1,564 of 1,605
Pockets: 14 of 16
Locks: 10
Consumables: One Fire arrow to open Arkhyn's Tomb

Knocked almost an hour off! Same pockets but one more lock. However, by my reckoning, I should have two more locks since I used the Fort Key to open both cell level doors into the Murkbell Police Fort the first time and picked them both this time. As far as more loot, there are always the boxes spread around. There may be some loot inside them. The Murkbell Police Fort was tougher this time too. Both patrolling swordsmen were roaming freely. And they would turn the lights on as they passed by. I had to scurry over and turn them off again a few times. I did the archer in the storage room before I opened the office and that turned out to be a lot easier.

Saturday, April 6th, 2002, 18:00
Purah has audited my notes so far and indicated where a couple of missing loot items are. In the Murkbell Police Fort, in a small loft, where I had noted only a bedroll and box, there are a couple of the, in present days most rare, Holy Lucky Coins worth twenty gold. Also, in the balcony at the end of a hallway with a patrolling thief swordsman, off the Alley in Grendel Court, is a golden ring worth another twenty gold.

In the Fort, the coins are on the loft floor directly behind the box. In the balcony, the ring is on the railing of the balcony. I spent a while here looking without seeing it. In fact, when I did spot it I wasn't particularly looking but was moving to another spot. This is sniffing and licking at it's best! Turns out it's not really that difficult to get to this balcony. I tried a while with boxes on top of the barrel just below the balcony. When two boxes still came up short I thought I'd try Ghosting the swordsman before I went looking for more boxes. An old, tried and true, technique. When the swordsman takes up station just outside the room there's plenty of time to creep across the tile flooring to a spot just through his doorway and to the left. When he takes off down the hallway, follow him. As he turns at the end of the hallway to return back to the room, continue on around him on the side opposite his turn. Stay at his back. Then just step onto the balcony. It was while I was up on the railing, trying to find a spot where he couldn't see me, that I spotted the ring. Then jump down on top of the barrel and on about your business.

However, that still leaves me one loot unit short. I'm also one pocket short. I'll look around on my own a bit more for these and then make a plea if I can't find it. I'm wondering if the firebolt necklace on the lich may be part of this. Is this the missing pocket? Does it have a loot value? There were a couple of things I had not tried before. I've not come across any pockets on spiders before. Could they? Nothing. And the guy in the barrel could have something that wouldn't show up. Nope.

Tuesday, April 23rd, 2002, 18:00
Breaking News! element_5 of the TTLG forum has posted the location of the last piece of loot. Woot! Except now I'll have to restart Act II with the proper loadout. That extra buck may make a difference. I bet I could buy one of those ... um ... well, something I couldn't afford before. A lucky coin in the cell to the sleeping cop's right. Thanks a bunch, element_5!