Thief - The Dark Project - part 4

@~Concluded from Issue 76

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

The Destroyed Temple

You begin in the same place where you began the Undercover
mission, out in the streets near the Hammer temple.  Everything
seems to have changed.  Death and destruction are everywhere.
Bodies litter the streets, and everything appears to be destroyed.
The doors of the Hammer temple have been ripped off the hinges,
and no other living soul seems to be in the area.

Enter the temple, and explore the two rooms to the side.  Grab the
broad head arrows on the floor.  You'll notice that your
objectives change as soon as you enter the temple.  Rather than
finding someone in charge, you must now find whether the Hammers
have survived the assault at all.

Open the door into the temple proper and look in. A few enemies
are patrolling the area beyond. Step carefully into the corridor
and grab the arrows, then head right and open the door at the end
of the corridor. Grab some more arrows and move through the door
across from where you entered, back to the balcony.

Now walk through the ruined Reliquary and move carefully into the
hall beyond. You'll have to pick the lock on the door here, so
keep a watch for the patrolling bugbeast in the room with the
large stairs leading down. Enter the chapel area and again grab
the arrows from the floor. Walk up to the remains of the altar and
climb down the ladder into the sub- basement of the temple.

Finding the Hammers

The sub-basement is heavily patrolled by ratmen.  You can kill
them if you want to, but with care and patience, you can just
avoid them all. If you stick to the shadows and move quickly
across the brightly lit areas, you should have no trouble picking
your way past them.  The carnage in the sub-basement is almost
total.  The bodies of dead Hammers and ratmen, and even an
occasional bugbeast, litter the floors. To get to where you need
to go, you'll be taking left passages for the most part. When
there are no ratmen in the area, move away from the ladder and
through the opening ahead of you and into the tunnel beyond. The
Hammers have carved out a few rooms in this tunnel complex, but
you don't have the luxury of hiding behind closed doors. A few
barrels here can serve as an impromptu hiding place, and you'll
often find a good number of deep shadows behind the columns
holding up the ceiling.

Take every left-most passage until you find the dead Hammer under
a cloud of insects. If you look beyond him, you'll see a fountain
of holy water that has been toppled. There's nothing of value in
that room, and a spider is lurking there, so avoid it.  Instead,
take the next passage to the right from there and continue moving
forward. As you exit the room and look down the tunnel, you'll see
a set of stairs leading down in the distance.

Again, wait for the ratmen to finish their patrols in the area,
then make a run for the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs,
you'll emerge into a large, circular area with three levels.
You'll be on the top level along with the bodies of two dead
Hammers.  The next level down has a cross-shaped wooden walkway
spanning the center. All the way at the bottom, you can see a
couple of creatures, including another bugbeast, walking about.

Around to the right of where you entered this area is a locked
door.  You can't open this door with your lock- picks, so you'll
have to get the key. Walk around the upper walkway to the opening
on the other side and go through. This leads to a ramp heading
down to the next level.

You emerge on the middle level in a small alcove with two tiny
rooms off from it. In the right one, you can get a few moss
arrows, while the one on the left holds some fire arrows.  Get
them, then lean out so that you can look at the walkway.  The
ratman patrolling the walkway must be dealt with.  When he is
dead, walk straight across the walkway, avoiding both the left and
right crosspieces.  On the far side is another alcove with two
rooms.

The right room is a water area. Jump in and get the water arrows
in the central dry area. The left room looks much like the void
room back in the mission to retrieve Constantine's sword.  Don't
worry about entering, the floor is simply invisible.  Snag the gas
arrows here and leave, going through the tunnel that leads to a
long spiral staircase heading down.

At the bottom of the stairs, you'll find yourself face-to-face
with a Hammer guard. He recognizes you and tells you of the
current plight of the temple. The high priest has been captured by
the Trickster's creatures.

The Hammers dare not risk an attack because the ratmen would kill
the priest as soon as they were threatened.  However, someone with
your talents seems well suited to the task of rescuing the man.
The guard will give you a key and a map and send you on your way.

Finding the Priest

After you have the key and the map, you need to get back to the
top level of the circular area. Re-trace your steps all the way up
to the locked door at the top and use your new key to open it.  As
soon as you do, back up just in case a ratman is patrolling in the
area.  This next area is quite dangerous and requires a lot of
precision, timing, and patience.

Walk forward through the door and then through the opening ahead.
Take an immediate left into the corridor beyond.  A number of
ratmen and bugbeasts are shuffling around in this area, so you
must move carefully. When there is nothing in the immediate
vicinity, shoot a water arrow to douse the torch on the left wall,
and put the bow away. You're going to stick to the corridor here,
avoiding the rooms in the middle so you don't have to worry about
the bulk of the creatures. Each time you approach a torch, use one
of your water arrows to douse it and darken the area.  As you
walk, you'll frequently run across the patrolling ratmen.  You can
get into a fight with them if you wish, but there is no need.
Fortunately, there are a number of privies along the left side of
the corridor where you can hide when one of the ratmen gets close.
Follow this corridor all the way to the end.  Take the ramp down.

The Priest

There are three exits from the room at the bottom of the ramp.  Go
through the exit on the left. This room holds two ratmen.
Fortunately, they are currently standing with their backs to you,
facing a fire. Move in and hug the left wall, going as slowly as
you can to make as little noise as possible. Keep going all the
way to the opposite side of the room and go through the exit here.
The next room also contains a pair of ratmen.  You want the exit
to the immediate right as you enter the room.  You'll be heading
into a room that has a cloud of insects in it.

The room to the right here, through the insects, has a bugbeast in
it.  Avoid an encounter by going straight through the room to the
exit directly across from where you entered.  You'll walk into a
room with a skeleton on the floor. Turn left and go through the
doorway in front of you again. This room, like many of the others,
holds two ratmen around a fire. They're over in the left corner.
You need to go all the way to the back and out the doorway on the
right.

You're now on the opposite side of the room with the priest.  Duck
in and hug the left wall. Slide around until you get up close to
the priest. Crouch down next to him and keep your eyes on the
closest ratman. He'll regularly turn and face the fire, then turn
back and look toward you. When he turns away, arm a gas arrow and
drop him with it.  Immediately start readying another gas arrow
and aim for the area between the other two ratmen. They'll be
alerted to your presence, but they won't know where you are. As
they start searching for you, they'll get close to each other.
When they are near each other, launch your second gas arrow and
take them both out.

With the ratmen out of the way, pick up the priest and walk
through the exit opposite the one you entered. This puts you back
into the first room on this level.  Rather than going across the
room to the long ramp up, take an immediate left and go up the
ramp here.  You'll emerge in a room that has a sort of makeshift
dock area.  Drop the priest on the raft here and climb aboard.
When you're ready, hit the lever, and the raft will launch and
start floating downstream with the current. Pick up the
unconscious priest again and wait.

The raft will follow the stream along, eventually dropping down a
very gentle waterfall. Let it carry you and the priest all the way
to shore, then disembark and carry the priest over to the
hammer-shaped window slit.  Drop him here, and the mission will
end successfully.

INTO THE MAW OF CHAOS

Down the Slope

Start running down the paved path in front of you, and follow the
stairs down. When the floor turns from the lighter colored paving
to the stone of the cave walls, take a sharp left turn and keep
running past your enemies. Eventually, you'll come to what looks
like a room carved out of the rock. Go through the doorway on the
left and into the next area. Run to the left and drop down to the
lower platform immediately below. Follow the platforms down to the
next opening and go through.

Keep going forward, but don't move too fast.  There's a sudden
drop-off ahead of you that leads straight into a lava pit. You'll
want to skirt this along the ledge to the right. Move ahead until
you start seeing the large blue crystals sticking up from the
floor.

The Ice Fields

The blue crystals that jut from the rocks here are nasty.  Just
touching them will strip away your hit points.  Worse, you'll
often need to negotiate your way around them while walking on
slippery ice.  Your first test here isn't very difficult.  Step
carefully onto the ice and collect the water arrows near the
crystals. Follow the ice field down until you get your feet on
solid ground again, then go forward.  The next area is quite
daunting.  You're confronted by a large, steep slope of ice with
blue crystals jutting from it. Step lightly onto the ice and
immediately start back-pedalling. You'll shoot down this ramp at
high speed, and the narrow strip of rock at the bottom is covered
with the deadly blue ice crystals.  Only by running backwards as
fast as possible can you prevent yourself from getting impaled. At
the bottom, turn to the right.

Arm yourself with a water crystal. There is a fire elemental in
the next room, and there aren't many good places to hide.  Move in
carefully and stand in a shadowy area, then dowse the elemental
when it gets within range. Check the fire for some fire arrows,
and walk carefully over the lava bridge. Past the bridge, head
right through the next cave, then left down a very steep ramp.
Keep going until the path appears to vanish.  When you're ready,
drop down.

This ramp is effectively a slalom course.  The first part is
stone, but it quickly changes to ice.  Use your left and right
movement to skid out of the way of the blue ice crystals, and run
backwards to control your speed as best you can.  At the bottom,
turn right and move forward.

Entering Constantine's Lair

Walk over to the backward waterfall and jump in.  After a few
seconds, you'll break the surface and will be moving along at a
fair clip.  The current is very swift through most of this area,
so you'll have to be quick to get where you need to go.  Continue
swimming forward, ducking down into the water when you run out of
head room.  Again, break the surface as quickly as possible and
let the current carry you.

The next part of this is the most dangerous.  You'll be forced
underwater again, and the current will carry you up and around a
large bend. You must rotate around so that you're facing in the
right direction. Let the current carry you, and swim forward as
well.  Around a couple more tight bends, keep your eyes to the
left.  You should be just about out of air, when there appears to
be a break in the water to the left side. Move carefully out of
the current into this small alcove.  When you get your breath
back, jump back into the current and let it carry you along.

After a few seconds, the waterway will deposit you in a large pool
of water that is somehow suspended above the ground.  If you look
down, you'll see the top of the blue ice pedestal. Position
yourself directly over the center and swim down. You'll fall out
of the pool, directly into the top of the pedestal and into the
water below.  Let the current carry you up to the surface, and get
back onto dry land.

The Tree and the Gorge

Go forward into the large area dominated by the biggest tree
you've ever seen.  Go around to the right, being as cautious as
possible.  You'll need to deal with a couple of ratmen here. Take
them down, and continue walking around the tree until you come to
the large, gaping entrance leading into the trunk.

There are several spiders here. Run around them and mantle up onto
the ledge, then mantle up to the next higher ledge. Fire a rope
arrow into the ledge across from you and jump over to it, climbing
up. You'll have to mantle and climb up the ledges above you to get
to the top. It's sometimes helpful to fire a rope arrow into the
next higher ledge and use that to pull yourself up rather than
trying to jump and mantle.  At the top, climb through the opening
and keep walking.

You'll come to a large, long room with purple lights along the
sides.  These purple lights fire purple magic missiles at you when
you step in front of them, so you'll need to move quickly through
this next area.  Start running, and take out the ratman standing
guard at the end.  Stopping for too long here is fatal, so be very
careful about where you take a break to kill the ratman.

Across the Lava Fields

On the other side of the large room, you'll come to a series of
caves.  All or most of these caves are large, and the floors are
filled with deadly lava.  You'll need to stick to the ledges that
run along the left walls to avoid falling to your death. This path
is also guarded by a number of ratmen. Take them out as you see
them, preferably with arrows or fire arrows. Move carefully,
because early in this series of ledges and tunnels there is a
sudden drop-off where you'll need to jump across the lava to reach
the other side.

There really is only one way to go through these caves.  The
general rule is to move swiftly after the jump and when there are
no ratmen in the vicinity.  Move slowly only when your path is
blocked by a ratman.  Around one corner, you'll glimpse some blue
crystals on a distant platform. Be careful here because that
platform holds a bugbeast. Get by the bugbeast without being
spotted, and continue on.  You'll come to what looks like a dead
end, with a high rock wall in front of you. Look up. Some vines
are hanging down here.  Climb up one and jump over to the wall.
From here, leap to a vine on the other side and climb down. This
will put you just outside the area where Constantine is.

Replacing The Eye

Ahead of you is a massive seven-pointed star drawn on the ground.
Constantine, in his form as the Trickster, is currently casting
spells on each of the pedestals at the points of the star.

The Eye stands on an eighth pedestal in the center of the
platform.  You must get to The Eye and swap it with the false gem
you carry before Constantine has finished his enchanting.

Watch Constantine. When he starts walking to a pedestal that is
turned away from you, you'll have a minute to get to The Eye.

Walk carefully because the sound here will carry.  You may want to
use a few moss arrows to help you move more silently.

Once at The Eye, switch it with the false gem, and carefully get
back to cover. Hide in the shadows so that Constantine can't see
you, and wait.

The Trickster's Demise

All you need to do is wait. When Constantine finishes his spell,
he'll realize that he has been tricked, the false gem will lash
out and kill him, and the mission will end.

The End












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