Updated for Version 1.2 -- Released November 10, 2000.
Version 1.2 adds lighting in dark underwater spots -- so if this is a problem, you can upgrade to Version 1.2 and keep playing since Version 1.1 "save" files will work with Version 1.2. For more info see Stuck in the Dark? -- a FAQ for those with graphics which are not bright enough.
SPOILER WARNING
Spoilers Galore (Don't say I didn't warn you!)...
THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Garrett wakes up in his bedroom where he reads a note from the mysterious Alisha saying that she's out picking up Garrett's new mechanical eye from the Hammers. Also in the flat is a scroll tossed almost into the fireplace with an ominous message from an investigator named Pinchenden, apparently repeating an earlier offer to borrow the new eye for study ...perhaps for a good price, and if not, then perhaps by force.
By now a neighbor has discovered that someone has been murdered, and upon investigation Garrett sees that it is Alisha lying dead in the street ...evidently she was carrying a scroll from the Hammers which can be found on the pavement next to her. The scroll makes it clear that the Hammers had delivered the eye to her -- but she does not have it now.
Back in his flat, Garrett can raid his stash of arrows, mines and potions, then he can head out to investigate more. He comes to gate with a gold plague saying "Solustice Industries -- Authorized Personnel Only" where the doors can be picked. On the other side is a small guard house, and lying dead in the doorway is a guard. Beside the guard is an apple (a poison apple, as you can find out if you don't mind reloading). Inside the small guard house, Garrett can see a big floor switch.
Throwing the floor switch raises a huge gate, and from there Garrett can head out across a long boardwalk leading to some sort of castle or mountaintop installation. Below the boardwalk he can hear the ocean surf pounding -- way below.
BTW: If the initial neighborhood area looks vaguely familiar, there is a reason --it is Garrett's old neighborhood lifted from The Lost City as found in the original Thief 1.
THE MOUNTAIN SIDE GUARDHOUSE
Approaching the mountain, Garrett finds a big door that doesn't budge, and next to it a scroll referring to some sort of security alert. Opposite the big door, about 40 meters East, a smaller door lurks in the shadows. This can be picked, and now he's in.
Inside seems to be another sparse guard area. In a well-lit section Garrett sees how another guard lies dead -- apparently the victim of another poison fruitl. On a desk is a trollish reprimand from his boss --Faustice, Captain of the Guards-- warning of the consequences should this guy be found absent from his post again, especially since he is in the very pathway of escape for Master Solustice (obviously being dead, this is no longer his biggest problem anymore).
THE EXECUTIVE OFFICES
A little prowling in the shadows reveals a lift shaft and buttons. It's a long way up, and when Garrett arrives at the top, the lift seems to disappear except for just the faintest shadowing of a texture on the floor in one corner. It's a secret lift. Look for lift buttons on the South end of the nearby sofa -- because at this point, this is probably his only safe retreat for the moment.
This room is Master Solustice's office. Near the lift is yet one more poisoned guard and on the huge desk there is a parchment containing a stern command from Faustice for this guy to hold his position on pain of death. His "position" is to guard a lock box attached to the desk. The lock box might be a little hard to see (and, in fact, some others are equally obscure). This one can not be picked.
Flanking this office are two smaller offices. One belongs to the Chief Council, Franticious. The other to Squintas, the Acting Treasurer. There are similar lock boxes on their desks, but only the one in Franticious' office can be picked open. Inside Franticious' safe is a purse (350 loot) and scroll from Investigator Pinchenden apparently offering his services in acquiring Garrett's new mechanical eye. Pinchenden also wonders openly why Solustice wants the eye delivered directly to himself? -- but concludes, alas, that Solustice is the Master of his mountain and can do as he pleases.
On Squintas' desk is a parchment from Inticus, a whiner in charge of Project Vision, who is complaining about the lack of facilities and how he "must work with alchemists whose ideas of high art include impaling poor souls until they confess what they do not know."
By now Garrett will have noticed that guards periodically walk down the spiral stairs into Solstice's office, and leave by way of a door in Franticious' office. This is the only part of the executive office area routinely patrolled.
BEDROOM SUITE
The spiral stairs lead up to the master bedroom suite on the second floor. A smaller bedroom to the West contains a dear-john letter from the Master's most recent wife and beside it, a gold ring (100). The guards don't routinely patrol into this room. But they do walk through the hallway just outside.
In the larger bedroom across the hall from the wife's bedroom, Garrett can find a gold plate (50), gold cup (25), and a bottle of fine wine (50). Also, there is a "Things-To-Do" list in this room as well.
In the bathroom beyond, Garrett can read a report from Squintas showing poor financial results for the Enterprise, and a parchment from Franticious which apparently accompanied the delivery of the eye to Solustice -- but once again, the eye is not here.
Behind the bathtub Garrett can also find a gold cup (25) which has fallen behind the tub. It's hard to see unless he crouches down, though (this is probably the hardest piece of loot to find in the mission).
Guards periodically patrol through the bathroom and into the Master bedroom, but there are plenty of shadows in the corners of both rooms.
THE COURTYARD / SWIMMING POOL AREA
From the master suite Garrett can move on, having found everything he can for now. Ahead is a courtyard which can be reached from a door and hallway exiting from the bathroom, or by exiting from either one of the side office doors downstairs.
In the center of the courtyard lies a swimming pool. And if you think you can drown guards in it -- watch out, because they can climb out of this one!
There are three switches clustered together in the courtyard, and above the switches is a parchment from Faustice complaining about guards jumping from the open skylight into the pool. Two switches turn off some of the lights. The third opens the skylight. On the ground below the three switches lies a rope arrow left over from previous festivities, no doubt.
At this point Garrett has two ways to go. He can find his way along the balcony level above the pool and search for a door where the guards are walking along a catwalk area -- then fight his way the whole length of the catwalk. Or he can shoot a rope arrow into the wood framing of the open skylight and explore the roof area until he finds a trap door. The trap door is at the opposite end of the catwalk -- and the much easier, though perhaps less obvious, solution.
MAIN SECURITY AREA
By traveling along the catwalk or over the roof Garrett will either way wind up in the 'guard-house' area where there is a small dining room, storage room and the locked office of Captain Faustice (pickable). Guards in this area only occasionally patrol the short hallway in front of this office. Doors to the outside world from this area are locked, although Garrett will be able to use them later.
Picking his way into Faustices' office, Garrett will discover a strange parchment addressed to the dear Captain from someone who has broken in here earlier. Evidently, the parchment author has stolen something he calls "corrupted fruit" and the contents of Faustice's private "armory" -- which, in fact, is a stash of poison apples, proximity mines --and most importantly-- the Master's Key! Another scroll in a corner of the room is from the cook, who is not keen on whatever plans Faustice had in mind for this poison fruit.
FINDING THE CAVES
Leaving the security area, Garrett discovers the main lobby. And at this point he has two or three major forks to explore. Ultimately he needs to discover a cave entrance in order to gain access to the majority of the building and all forks will leaad in the general direction of this cave entrance which, according to two outdoor scrolls on lamp posts, hint strongly about the existance of these caves near the cafeteria.
Fork 1: Here Garrett must fight his way through the main lobby and out the front doors (they are unlocked -- but guards are just on the other side), then turn right and work his way most of the way clockwise around the entire perimeter of the building. This will take him past the West entrance area, a garage, a large grassy area, and finally past the cafeteria. And a bit past this Garrett will finally come upon a big door which is unlocked -- the end of fork 2 (as described next). And a bit farther around the building he can find the cave entrance. (Garrett can explore the unlocked door, but this will only eventually take him back to the lobby area.)
Fork 2: Turn a sharp left (almost U-turn) when leaving the security area and head North down the red-carpeted hallway. Soon the hallway turns East and eventually on the right side of this hallway Garrett will discover a door to a test chamber room with a big iron pyramid in the center. A minion stands in the control room and he will run to find guards if he sees the player (this minion does unlock doors as he runs, so chasing him is a quick way through so long as you're not too unlucky with the timing of the guard's patrols). The sneaky way through is is to creep around behind the big metal pyramid and find a trap door leading into the chamber below -- and yet more pyramids. If Garrett works his way down slowly and keeps backpedaling with the "X" key he should be able to drop into the lower section unharmed.
Another trapdoor awaits him in the bottom of the chamber, and below this is one end of the "clean out tunnels." (At the outflow point of the tunnels Garrett can read a bit of what the "clean-out crew" thinks about all of this.) Farther along these tunnels, Garrett discovers a rock elevator, and riding up, he enters a very strangely quiet test chamber with an iron maiden perched in the center. A minion is working outside of this test chamber, but Garrett can sneak by. From this area, a door leads to a back room, then another room with windows, and then to the big unlocked door mentioned at the end of Fork 1 above. Leaving the building by way of this big door, Garrett can sneak past a guard (the guard is not always there). Around the corner of the building to the right is the entrance the caves.
Fork 3: A variation of Fork 1 has been discovered which involves turning left after leaving the lobby area by way of the front doors. The cave entrance is not very far around the building in that direction (counter-clockwise when viewed from above). The cliffs are nasty but it has been discovered that the player can work around the butresses which block the way.
This method has been tested -- but it was intended to be impossible, so only try this Fork if reloading a bunch of times is okay with you. For a while things are smooth -- until Garrett encounters serious crags, and below, a deadly drop. But the crags are not quite steep enough everywhere to be impassable. If Garrett jumps into the notched corners, he can actually stop his downward slide, work his way back up, and in so doing creep his way along. It doesn't look possible, but it is.
After crossing three fairly dicey points, he will find the cave entrance.
THE CAVES
Scared of heights? Well here's a chance to get over it (if you haven't already tackled the crags). A ladder takes our hero to the top of a beam. A small drop from the middle of the beam lowers him to where he can see a rope (on easier difficulties -- on Expert you'll have to place your own). Another longer drop reveals a ladder, and at the base of the ladder Garrett can either enter the cave, or fall to his demise. At any point he should feel free to shoot a rope arrow into the beam to increase his options. But it is possible to get down safely without ropes by jumping into notches in the walls.
The cave skirts the mountainside cliff for a bit with the floor angling treacherously towards the edge of the cliff. But after a bit of mantling, Garrett can turn right and head down a steep slope lit with light-mushrooms. At this right turn, high on the wall is a completely obscured tunnel opening -- which is mainly there for those who might want to climb back out of the caves. (Going in this way will shorten the overall distance, but Garrett will miss a bit of loot and some moss arrows). This shorcut can be discovered more easily later in the cave area, and it can be used to climb back out the way Garrett came in (I try to make backtracking possible at all times).
After angling down for a while, the cave eventually levels out, and ahead is an opening to a very tall vertical shaft lined with sewer brick. To the left of this opening is a silver nugget (50) -- at this point Garrett can climb back up, investigate the hidden tunnel, and only miss the moss arrows. Or he can jump into the water below the shaft. (An alternate route is to backtrack about 40 meters (125 feet) along the level portion of the cave, find a small shaft opening in the shadows and drop into the water from there -- but it is all the same area below.)
Underwater in the huge cavern, Garrett can find two lit openings in the cavern wall -- both underwater. The shallower opening to the left has a dead guy beyond and a scroll implying that the way into the bowels of the building is up the big sewer shaft. Next to the dead guy are two moss arrows. The other deeper underwater opening leads to caves which climb up sharply and eventually lead to a higher breakout in the sewer shaft. From here Garrett can jump across to a ladder on the sewer shaft wall and work his way up. A small cavern immediately adjecent to this breakout area (to the left when facing the shaft opening) contains a ladder back to the hidden shortcut tunnel (not useful now unless Garrett missed the silver nugget earlier), and also here, at the base of this ladder, sits a gold nugget (100).
Jumping to the sewer shaft ladder requires that Garret get a running start. This ladder stops short of the top, but another ladder is there. The trick for jumping to this second ladder is to climb to the very top of the first ladder and then jump at the far end of the rungs of the second one -- otherwise Garrett bounces off the wall before reaching the second ladder (a preplaced rope has been added here to make this easier starting in version 1.1).
Above the ladders Garrett can exit into the more or less level portion of the sewer line -- really a long storm drain tunnel.
THE "ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT" CHAMBER
The storm drain tunnel leads to an "attitude adjustment" chamber, and a sleeping zombie along the way can be avoided (had to put at least one undead in this mission!).
Once inside the chamber, there are two ways to get through... Garrett can either fight with Faustice who stands in the observation room (Vanguard acually snuck by this guy!). Or Garrett can work his way around to the left (clockwise) while reading the various parchments (if he wants) until he finds a nearly hidden ladder leading up to a somewhat imperfectly matched hidden door above. Either way takes him into the Iron Maiden Assembly Lab.
IRON MAIDEN ASSEMBLY LAB
Most of the lights in here can be switched off (In fact, from this point on Garrett should be on the lookout for light switches). So long as most of the lights are switched off in the lab and Garrett stays either on the beams or carpet runners, he should be able to sneak through. The minions in here can hear fairly well, and like all minions in this level, they will find guards who will come to kick his ass if they can find him. But there are lots of guard (they're looking for the missing Master's Key). Garrett must be patient now. On expert, no less than six guards will patrol into the lab at one time or another, and if he hasn't bashed Faustice, he can also find himself attacked by this mad former-Hammer wielding his deadly mace.
THE LIBRARY AREA
Inticus, our snootty Project Vision leader is hanging out in the library -- he can be ignored or bashed as Garrett sees fit. On a table is handbook very much worth reading -- especially about the origins of Master Solustice and the taboo regarding transfer of power. Also in this general area are job postings and the first of several random postings reminding everyone why they are up so damn late at night -- to find the Master's missing key!
There are tons of guards in this area, but the library is safe as long as Garrett keeps quiet and away from the doorways.
THE CAFETERIA
Another poor soul lies here having found one of the many poison apples. Evidently, Stanis was a carpenter, and though his principal duties these days had been to help in the lift (elevator) repairs, a note by him instructs him now to investigate the cold draft coming from beneath the auditorium seating area. This should be enough to tell Garrett that something is worth investigating down there, considering how such things might indicate an unplanned opening? (The 'down there' is reached by going through the ceiling of the auditorium).
At the back of the cafeteria eating area Garrett can find a sound studio and control room, and even get a peak at the auditorium itself. Thos onclided to bashing doors should find one or two which can be pounded open with a sword to gain access to the auditorium (this was unplanned -- and the intended goal was now to find a key to the auditorium). Inside the control room are light switches worth turning on, although this can be done later, too.
In a hallway in this area Garrett can read instructions to see Yolandis for access to the auditorium itself (this clue is new in version 1.1).
OPEN OFFICE AREA
Now things open up quite a bit. Garrett can explore the cafeteria and enter the cook's office to discover the details of Faustice's plans to poison "the food thieves."
Moving West past the auditorium, Garrett should look for stairs located at the North end of a hallway being patrolled by Bafford guards. A plaque in this hallway indicates how the first floor office area belongs to the Electrics Division. On the second floor above Electrics is a hallway with several small dorm rooms and footlockers in each. Among these footlockers Garrett will find two gas arrows, two flash bombs, a scroll from the wife of a guy named Sandiscauld, and gold coins (25) inside a footlocker within the largest dorm room up here. The scroll is important to the story and worth reading.
THE OFFICE AREAS
At this point, Garrett needs to explore the office areas on the first floor. Inside the office of Corbalus, Chief Alchemist for Electrics (far Southwest corner of this office area) a key can be found to a safe owned by the Chief Achemist of the Iron Maiden Division --Yolandis. This safe key sits on the floor as though it had been slid there. Also slid under the door is a parchment containing a very ominous exhortation to seek out the contents of the safe.
The same sort of key and parchment are also found on the floor of Inticus' office (Project Vision Chief Alchemist) located in the Northwest corner of the Iron Maiden Division offices -- so Garrett is not required to find both of these offices containing a copy of Yolandis' safe key.
Yolandis' office is located in the Southwest corner of the Iron Maiden Division offices directly across the drafting room area from Inticus' office. Inside Yolandis' safe is the promised scroll warning how Master Solustice intends to give away the business to a "complete idiot" and what measures should be taken. Also inside is a healing potion, and a key to the auditorium area. The lockbox to this safe is on the wall behind the desk (some people have found this hard to see).
A room just West of the auditorium contains a footlocker with two more rope arrows -- worth having -- and inside this same room is a private dorm room with a footlocker containing a scroll describing how to get safely through some tunnels (see more below).
Garrett should watch out for an old Farcus type dude checking out books in the Iron Maiden offices -- this is Corbalus, a former Hammer priest who still has a few flaming hammers up his sleeve. (So far nobody has reported such an encounter -- but it can be fun to get this guy to chase you, then have hime kill off some guards who happen to get in the way.)
While Garrett is in this general area, he might like to take a jaunt West down the main hallway in order to clean out the guards at the West entrance. Also in the West entrance area is a shipping office with silver coins (12) and across the hall inside a small office, copper coins (5) -- Or Garrett can do this later, since once he has the Master's Key he can get back to any area whenever he wants.
THE AUDITORIUM
The podium inside the auditorium contains a gold cup (25) and an another auditorium key. The key is for those rare taffers who might actually manage to get here the back way and then feel trapped (see Extra Credit Challenges for how this might be possible). But from either direction, the Auditorium is the beginning of the final stage -- so if Garrett got here by way of the cliffs, he 'll now have to retrace his path back to the cliffside then continue in this direction.
While Garrett is in the auditorium, he might want to find the control room and flip on the lights, if he didn't do this earlier. Also, there is yet another rope arrow on the floor of the auditorium seating area (didn't want anyone coming up short on rope arrows because of what lies ahead).
Perhaps in his travels Garrett has already discovered a message asking one of the carpenters to fix the cold draft of air leaking up from the floor of the auditorium. But in any event, the space beneath the floor of the seating area is his next quest. This lower area is reached by one of two ways (both involving the area above the auditorium ceiling) -- either by shooting a rope arrow into the gap in the ceiling of the auditorium, or by clearing out the crates and wooden barricades beneath the open stairway backstage -- which leads to a ladder and the same open ceiling area as reached by a rope arrow (most people miss this second way up).
TUNNELS BEYOND THE AUDITORIUM
Once above the auditorium ceiling, Garrett will find a service tunnel leading down to the space under the seating area. Some wooden boards block his way -- but these can be hacked out with his sword. If he already has read a scroll warning "Goth" about proximity mines then Garrett already knows how to avoid getting blown up ahead -- stay to the left when in the tunnels, avoid exploring the cliff-side openings and watch out for areas under posted parchments. On higher difficulties, there are more mines. On easy, most are gone except for the ones near the lookouts. If Garrett scouts carefully enough, most of these mines can be observed and taken out with broadheads (they can also be disarmed with lockpicks -- I am told -- but I've never tried myself). But it is not necessary to destroy or disable the mines so long as they are observed and avoided.
The tunnels end with a water-filled vertical shaft -- jump into the shaft, swim into the reservoir below and up the shaft opposite this tank. Climb the ladder, but be careful not to go off the top into a huge leaking freight elevator shaft.
Here you have another traveling choice -- you can try to jump into the water way down at the bottom of the elevator shaft --hopefully avoiding the floating crates (this idea is stolen from Apache in The Keep). You can mantle out of the last bit of water and try to rope around underneath a wooden lookout platform which juts out from from the end of a nearby short tunnel. (Vanguard reports that he jumped over the to hydraulic cylinder itself and worked his way down a bit before jumping into the water).
If you try to do the rope thing, make sure, once again, that you avoid walking very close the cliff edge -- but you can get close enough to place ropes (on easy, both ropes are already placed, on hard, one is there, and on expert you'll have to place both). Take a big jump to the first rope, jump to the second, then make a long clean jump into the open tunnel around the corner. (So long as this last jump is clean, Garrett will clear the proximity mine.) Now just climb down the ladders for a swim.
FLOODED TUNNELS
Perhaps Garrett has noticed how this freight lift is leaking -- and therefore why the shaft is partially flooded. The way out is under this water. Fortunately, there are no more proximity mines, but now Garrett has a long swim ahead. The exit is a small vertical flooded shaft found below the platform where some unfortunate soul has fallen victim to a fatal experience.
This vertical shaft leads into a long meandering flooded tunnel -- but there are stopping points for air. If Garrett gets confused, he should just keep swimming in one direction to find the neares air hole. The air holes come often enough. Notice how the side-wall textures are different -- one side is rougher than the other, so this can also act as a guide. The flooded tunnel jogs a bit side-to-side, and there are no dead ends -- so just keep going.
THE SECOND FREIGHT LIFT
The last air hole is actually another small vertical shaft with a ladder leading up to another huge freight elevator shaft -- this one is dry and under repair. A packet of three rope arrows can be found sitting on the light. An inspection of the upper regions of the shaft should reveal the faint flickering of a torch at the top of the wooden staging. This is a rope arrow challenge best solved by ascending the corner of the wooden staging to the immediate right of the flickering light seen up above -- although with enough rope arrows, this area can be climbed a number of ways, no doubt.
THIEF'S LAIR
At the top of the construction area Garrett finds a walkway into some sort of power room, and the sound of the ocean should guide him into the place where the "key thief" has been hiding -- beneath the power room floor.
But the thief is dead -- explained by the parchment at his feet which makes even more sense if Garrett has already read the scroll from this guy's wife.
The Master's key is there -- inside a jewelry case. Also there is a purse (300).
HEADING BACK
With the Master's key Garrett can now open the lock box in the Solustice's office and also the one in the Treasurer's office -- but how he gets back to the executive suite is completely wide open, since any door now locked can be opened with Master's key. First, though, Garrett must exit the power room, then ascend several flights of stairs which bring him up to the West main entrance area.
Guards in this area can hear very well, so moving slowly up the starirs is a good idea and a few moss arrows placed near the top as well (this wasn't suposed to be so touchy, but that's how it turned out). If the guard do here Garrett, it's pretty easy to run back into the power room to find a place to hide (but watch out for those archers).
If Garrett hasn't already raided this West area, with its shipping office and other small office across the hall, then now is the time.
RETURNING TO THE EXECUTIVE OFFICES
When returning to the executive suite, Garrett should first unlock the Treasurer's lock box -- it opens a safe much like the one in the Chief Council's office. Inside the safe is a purse worthy of a treasurer's stash (600).
Next, Garrett should open the lock box in Solustice's office -- this opens a secret door in the floor opposite the Master's desk.
END GAME
From beneath Solustices's desk a short tunnel leads to a simple bed like the one back in Garrett's own neighborhood. On the bed is a scroll. The eye is NOT very obvious in version 1.0, so look carefully. It's right next to the scroll on the bed (this has been made much easier in version 1.1 -- the eye is now inside a money box at the foot of the bed).
Read the scroll -- it begins to answer why Solustice went out of his way to obtain the eye, and then (if Garrett wants) he can press a button behind the bed and discover what it is that Solustice has to offer in detail. This button has been missed by some players. Look on the floor behind the head of the bed below the torch. It is not required, but it should not be missed by accident.
Interestingly, Garrett can actually complete the mission before pressing this button -- by simply leaving by way of the hidden lift that he first used to arrive (so long as he has his new eye and enough loot) . That is one reason why the working title for this FM was originally "Garrett's Choice."
ENJOY
frobber
A Thief 1 Mission by frobber
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