Thief II complete walkthrough

The walkthrough of this mission is co-authored by Michele L. Worley and myself. Michele wrote the first draft and I did the subsequent processing. She always gets all the loot with minimal violence, minimal evidence. This Ghosting way to play the game is usually much more difficult than my brute force knock-them-all. A drawback of this approach is that there are often places you won’t be able to visit with guards roaming around. So I need to point out ways to get rid of AIs, so that you can have a good look at the place.

I should also like to thank Dafydd ab Hugh, a science-fiction writer, who helped in the preparation and checking of this walkthrough. Dafydd play-tested the walkthrough and added information on how to knockout people (unlike Michele, he loves to use the Blackjack to KO people) and for excursions.

You don’t know Dafydd ab Hugh? Have a look at two of his biographies at Dragon*Con and Fantasic Fiction. Look up the books he wrote, in particular “Knee-Deep in the Dead”, which is based on the classic game Doom.

This walkthrough is written with the assistance of material prepared by Odyseeos. Odyseeos conducted experiments with ways to handle various AIs at different Difficulty Levels and Game Versions. He is a Cleaner like me. Whenever it is possible, we KO every human and kill other types of AIs. Moreover, Odyseeos is determined to avoid using consumables in tackling problems. He and I also explored many interesting ideas, and pieced together the subplots and stories behind the mission.

This mission uses a version number (starting with 1.0) independent of the main document.

At several places, additional information is available as tool tips. Move the mouse on the words looking like theseInformation will appear as tips like this to see them. Please refer to T2 walkthrough User Interface on how to interact with this walkthrough.

A few places are worth visiting, but are not needed to achieve your objectives. They do not even get you any powerups, so it is up to you whether to follow them. I describe the main route like other walkthroughs. Then I mark certain points as excursion routes. At these points, if you want to have a look (and you should), save your game and follow the route. Click the Details of the excursion are shown when you click the excursion heading. After the excursion, just reload the game you saved at the Excursion starting point to continue the main route (note that excursions may not bring you back to the starting point). For those who don’t bother to go (I do not understand why anybody should want to skip the excursions), just ignore the milestone and continue straight on.

The walkthrough uses advanced features of IE5 (Dynamic HTML Behaviors, XML) in addition to the regular features (CSS, dHTML, js) you have seen in my earlier walkthroughs. Follow this link to see exactly what features are used.

After paying a visit to The Prophecy, you must have come back with more questions than answers. Anyway, now you know why Thief 2 is subtitled “The Metal Age”.

Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Metal Age is. You have to see it for yourself.
[adapted from Matrix quote]

I headed back to my safehouse and kept thinking about the letter. I know they’re trying to manipulate me, but Keepers never alter the truth… just keep it in the shadows. Besides, it’s not like I’ve got a lot of leads anyway.

Looks like I have something useful to learn from a seminary, for a change. There are two open Towers, and some back doors which might be helpful for getting in. The Catacombs below the church could be another way in, but I’d rather not tread where the dead sleep.

The meeting will most likely take place in some sort of conference hall. Heh. There’s no guarantee that I’ll even be able to get inside, but all I need to do is get close enough to listen at the door. I’d better pull this off quickly and find a new hideout before the bulldogs get my scent. This situation does have one advantage — things can’t get any worse.

Who could hire someone like the sheriff to kill me?

• The Keeper’s tips are your best lead… so you’d better be at the door to overhear the Sheriff’s conversation. It should start when the church bells toll midnight. You’ll need to stay close to the door to ensure you hear every word.
• The Mechanist Seminary was once a Hammerite cathedral, so there’s bound to be plenty of trinkets lying about — steal at least 800 (Diff N), 1000 (Diff H) or 1200 (Diff E) in loot.
• Killing is the mark of an amateur. Don’t kill any innocent bystanders (Diff H) anyone (Diff E).
• Once you’re done, get back out by heading to the front gate.

While the Keeper told you to overhear a meeting to learn about Sheriff Truart, the Objectives further elaborated that the Sheriff will take part in the conversation himself. You already knew that Truart is acquainted with Karras (from the Schedule in his office in Framed), but why should Truart want to meet Karras in the middle of the night? Let’s find out.

Like Ambush!, some objectives will not appear until later. We’ll further develop our plans after listening to the Conversation.

OK, we’re going to collect some harshly guarded treasures of knowledge. You’ll have close encounters with Father Karras, about whom you have heard since many missions ago, whom Uriel the Hammerite in Shipping… and Receiving referred to as the “false prophet”.

Our primary objective is to go to the Meeting Hall to eavesdrop the Karras-Truart Conversation. Since most people are gathered at the Meeting Hall, we will get there unhindered. We’ll develop our plans after listening to the Conversation.

You will meet your first active Worker Bot and Combat Bot. We’ll read more about them.

To the thrill of Thief Dark Project veterans, your skully friend, the Hammer Haunts, will make their first appearances. Refer to General Information for T2 Walkthrough for background information about them. According to Thief Deadly Shadows, Hammer Haunts are dead Hammerites whose tomb has been desecrated, perhaps because Karras has refurnished the Hammerite Cathedral into this Seminary.

You will also meet Servants and Mechanist Archers. All Mechanist Archers are women. They use Crossbows to shoot Darts. Compared with the Bow Guards, they are faster, deadlier. Their quivers are always empty, so don’t bother to trying to look for arrows to pick.

I’ll talk more about Servants when we meet them.

Despite what the statistics page says, there are only 1 pick irrespective of Difficulty Level and game version.. In the patched game, two of the missing picks are caused by your taking a key and a purse from two corpses, which are not counted as picks. I have no idea where the last missing pick comes from.

If you know why so many missions have incorrect pick statistics, please let me know.

If you are playing v1.07, you may find yourself 75 short in loot. It is not an error in the game statistics. Refer to the described below.

Three conversations were recorded for this mission but are never played out:

• Demands: revealing the relationship between the Mechanists and other people.
  Mechanist 1:

  Hail, Friend!

  Mechanist 2:

  How go thy works?

  Mechanist 1:

  As always there are those who wish blessings had no cost to themselves, but mose see the wisdom of Karras, and grant the demands we make of them.

  Mechanist 2:

  The blind are always with us, dragging down our efforts and prattling of natural things, but the light of the Builder shall sear open their eyes someday, would that it pains them more even then they pain us now.
• Sleepy Karras: who is reforging the forest despite complaints.
  Mechanist 1:

  Hast thou seen our Father today? He seemed tired to mine eyes.

  Mechanist 2:

  ’Tis not surprising. The weight of all that the Builder has gifted us rests upon his shoulders, and the ’plaints of smaller men are always squeaking in his ears, keeping him from rest.

  Mechanist 1:

  Truly, truly. We must praise the Builder to have wrought Karras with such well forged strength.

  Mechanist 2:

  Aye, Karras is the tool in the hand of the Builder, that shall reforge the rot of forest and field into clean machinery.
• Hammerites: Hammerites were harsh while Mechanists are friendly.
  Mechanist 1:

  Hast thou been back to our old haunts, Friend?

  Mechanist 2:

  The Temple of the Hammer? Nay, not since I joined with Karras.

  Mechanist 1:

  Yester-eve I visited to speak to mine, once Brothers. It struck my eye how bare and shabby wert the rooms.

  Mechanist 2:

  I do remember, now thou dost mention. They sought only to punish and threaten, and it gained them naught but fear. Karras seeks the friendship of the rich, blessing them with his works of invention, and in return, they do gift us well.

  Mechanist 1:

  I must approve, for it makes mine surroundings much more fair.

  Mechanist 2:

  If our old Brothers suffer that so many have left for our order, ’tis but their own fault for standing in opposition to progress.

I have developed a patch for v1.07. A Gold Hammer is not visible in v1.07. This walkthrough will pin point where you can grab it; with the fix applied, the hammer will be visible. This patch can be downloaded from http://game.alexfung.info/t206hammer.zip. For instructions, refer to the HTML document inside.

We start at the North of the Eastport Seminary, which was converted from a former Hammerite Cathedral. We’ll head directly to the .

This is the first (and only) Mechanist (or Hammerite) building we know of that opens to the North. All other religious buildings open to the South. Most of the churches of Western Europe were oriented, that is the architectural choir of these churches was built towards the Orient (the East), from which Christ was to come at the end of time.

Study your map. You begin in a dark area facing the Front Gates of the Eastport Seminary (near the word Front Gates are written). The is on the South East, so we’ll start by going left (East).

The two Towers are guarded. High up at the Corbelled Bartizan of the East Tower on your left is an Archer (all Archers here are Female Mechanist Archers). Where as, at the Corbelled Bartizan of the West Tower on your right is another Archer (Diff E, v1.18 only). You must move quietly or they will summon guards to get you.

In case you are not familiar with the jargons for parts of a fortified building, refer to this Dictionary of Military Architecture or this Castle Terminology page.

Around the Seminary is a metal pavement. When moving around, stay on the wood surface and avoid the metal pavement (yes the outside is mostly wood, not grass — shoot a Broadhead Arrow on it to see). Follow the wall to turn South and then pass through an arch.

As usual, the map is confusing. You are on the Chapel East, about at the character “y” of the “To Acolytes Quarters”. In this dark quiet area, you can make out a metal door directly ahead at the South end of the metal pavement. The door opens to the , with access to the on the West, and the (between the and the ) on the East. Do not open that door: we’ll continue to follow the perimeter instead of entering the building.

On your left (East), there are two forks on the metal pavement, one leading to a metal door, the other an arch. If you want to, you can save game and do a running jump to mantle on top of the door frame. From there, you can have a better look at the on your South (the roof of the ), and the Archer up there. Since you probably made quite some noise during your jump, I suggest restoring the game afterwards.

Follow the second fork of the metal pavement. Move East to pass through the arch next to the door frame.

You arrived at the North Courtyard. It is a piece of quiet place North of the . On your map, it is the region at the word “Quarters” of the “To Acolytes Quarters”.

Notice another door frame on your left, similar to (and aligned with) the one you climbed on a moment ago. This one is easier to climb because it has a machine nearby. If you want to, take another look at the and the Archer up there.

The whole building complex is surrounded by Walls. You are not expected to go outside the Walls. In other words, you should definitely try to do so. The North Courtyard is my favorite place to climb outside. Later in the mission, bring ten crates here to build a 4-level pyramid staircase to climb over the Wall on the North. You can climb with much fewer crates, but there are plenty of them in the mission, and this method is less taxing on your patience.

Look around the empty area. Enter the Northeast Crypt at the East side of the courtyard.

The door ahead looks familiar, doesn’t it? This is a Hammerite building not yet redecorated with the Mechanists logos. Open the door and walk inside. From the chest on the left, get a . Inside the other chest is an Ancient Hammer — take a look at it but it cannot go into your inventory (to free your hands you have to drop it).

Go out of the door and turn left. After two quick turns is the East Courtyard, which is just next to the . A guard may be ahead. Creep South, following the building wall on your right. Peek around the corner. When safe, ascend the metal stairs on your right.

The stairs lead to the East Door of the Meeting Hall. When you make it to the top, the bell will ring twelve. Save game and listen to them at the door.

Here is a good test of whether you received a proper training. To listen clearly to sound behind a door, you should lean into the door. This is also important when listening for any guards before open a door. Here, leaning makes the conversations inside the Meeting Hall much more audible.

[A door opens.]

[The machinery noises stop.]

[Some footsteps.]

[Footsteps, receding.]

[A door opens, then closes again.]

[A machine starts up.]

This has been a very long section. Save game, or else any accident will force you to listen to the whole meeting a second time.

There are 10 keys in this mission. Originally, all of them are called “Key” when placed in your inventory. After Karras has specified a key, that one is renamed as the “Safety-Deposit Box Key”.

In case you have already got the key before the Meeting, the key in your inventory will suddenly change its name to Safety-Deposit Box Key when he talks about it.

In v1.18, the keys fall into three groups:

Key Group	Location where keys of this set are found	Door that keys of this set can open	What Garrett says when picking up the key
#1	, , ,	Two doors to the	Hey, wrong key.
#2	, ,	Two doors to the	Nope!
#3	of the , of the , on top the		That wasn’t the right key.

The key that has become Safety-Deposit Box Key loses its normal function. It can no longer open the doors listed above.

The two doors to the and the two doors to the can be picked. There is little use in carrying keys of Group #1 and Group #2. Keys of Group #3 are different: they open the , which cannot be opened otherwise. We’ll collect and use these keys in v1.18.

In v1.07, the only useable key is the one in the , which opens the pickable doors of the . All other keys carry no function. Therefore, you can ignore all keys except the Safety-Deposit Box Key and a key that we will pick (v1.07 only) from a belt.

I’ll bring you to find all the keys. Since I cannot know which is your Safety-Deposit Box Key, I won’t remind you to pick up yours. Take a key if:

• It is your Safety-Deposit Box Key,
• It is your first Group #3 Key (v1.18 only), or
• You are picking a key (v1.07 only).

Don’t bother to take other keys. Once in your inventory, the three Groups are indistinguishable and you end up having to test all three Groups to open the .

Karras has already named the location of the Safety-Deposit Box Key. But instead of going there in a beeline, we will visit everywhere to collect all the loot.

On the Southeast of the is a Graveyard. If you have been looking around, you would notice that a Mace Guard walks past the bottom of the stairs from time to time. He patrols the 1/F of both the and the , but also leaves the and walks a bit into the Graveyard.

When the Mace Guard has re-entered the , go to the Graveyard. Hear the eerie sound? Invokes some memory from those who have played Mission 11: Return To Cathedral of Thief Dark Project. They should remember what kinds of treasures to look for in such an area.

There are two sounds you can hear, the hair raising ambiant sound, and the metal-chain noise of the Haunts. The Haunts are in the under the ground, so don’t worry: the Graveyard is not haunted. In v1.07 the Graveyard does not offer anything useful, but in v1.18, there are , which are much easier to find than the ones in Return To Cathedral. If you cannot find them, click here to see their location.

Both are sitting on top of headstones. One of the headstones is on the back row on the South (third one, counting from the West), the other on the back row on the East (first one, counting from the North).

Wait in the shadows for the Mace Guard. When he comes and turns back (at about where the metal pavement turns North), run after him (while avoiding the metal pavement) to knock him out (Cleaners only). You can hide bodies in the Graveyard or at the East Door of the .

If you want to climb outside the Walls surrounding the Seminary, do it now as an excursion. After you have replaced the Key, the mission ends as soon as you go to the North.

If the Key was from the Workshop, just place it back on the table. If the Key was from the , go back to replace it. It does not need to be at the same position (you cannot place it back on the belt after all). Just drop it into and verify that your objective has been checked.

Leave the Workshop via the stairs on the Southwest. Look under the stairs to find your last piece of treasure: an .

Take the stairs and ascend to . If the Key was from the or the , get inside to replace the Key while avoiding the Mace Guard.

Cleaners have a score to settle: continue with . For Ghosters, if you have already replaced the Key, just move to , , , , back to the starting area to finish the mission. Otherwise, skip to to replace the Key.

If you have replaced the Key, be careful not to go to the North side, or else the mission will finish before you can meet the Bot.

Leave the using the door on the Southeast to go back to the . Move West along the South of the building until you reach the Southwest corner of the Main Building. Peek North around the corner into the passageway.

The Combat Bot enters the passageway from the and marches North. Quick save. When he is not here, move to the shadows South of the .

When he arrives and is going North, shoot 2 Water Arrows at his furnace. He stops walking at the first impact, and is disabled by the second (you may remember that Worker Bots only need a Water Arrow to disable). If you only shoot a Water Arrow at a Combat Bot, he will freeze for a few seconds, and then restart walking as if nothing has happened.

Even if you haven’t killed the Worker Bot in the , you now realize the problems with disabled Bots. You cannot hide a disabled Bot. You do not really need to hide it now, because there is nobody else to notice the body. Anyway, study the Mini Guide to learn how to dispose of a disabled Bot.

Besides using water as suggested by Karras, there are other ways to disable a Combat Bot.

Basically, all you need to do is to keep hitting him with your Blackjack. Hit him 16 times (approximately) and he is disabled. The same applies to Worker Bots, who only require 8 hits.

Yet, it is simpler said than done. Do it yourself and you will find the catch. You are very likely dead before you can make the second hit.

Let’s first have a quick course on the defensive manoeuvers: Survival Guide: what to do when a Combat Bot is staring at you.

Odyseeos spent a lot of time experimenting with the Combat Bots. He finally discovered the method to properly handle them bare handed (well, with a Blackjack). The discovery is quite a surprise. Try to do it yourself before studying the Mini Guide on how to do it. The same method works for Worker Bots.

Since the whole Seminary is under control, just move directly to replace the Key (if you have not already done so). Now, Brother Feegan can use it to deposit the wax cylinder tomorrow. Go North to the starting area and finish the mission.

These two sections are for Ghosters only. If you have already replaced the Key, skip to the .

If your key is from the or the , move through the into the , watching out for the Female Mace Guard, Male Mace Guard and the Combat Bot from . Of course, you still have two Mace Guards standing still inside (one at the on the North, one at the on the Southwest). Both the and the should be easy to access. Just remember that you only need to replace the key somewhere in the described area. It does not need to be exactly the original location. Check your objectives screen, and you are ready to skip to the .

If you are still with me, your key came from the upper floors of the Main Building. Repeat what you have done before. Get out to the , and move West along the South walls to find the ladder going up to the . While the area was empty last time, now it is patrolled by the Female Guard from the . From the , you can go back to where the Key was and climb back down.

Now, Brother Feegan can use the Key to deposit the wax cylinder tomorrow.

Leave the Seminary in the clockwise direction. If you are inside the (Key at or ), leave via the . In the , you may meet the Female Guard from the . Go North to finish.

Otherwise, go West from the along the South walls. This area is now patrolled by the Female Guard from the . Turn into , where you may also find the Female Mace Guard, Male Mace Guard and the Combat Bot from . Go North to finish.