Thief — an All Difficulty Level complete-loot walkthrough (Original Thief and Thief Gold)

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. Usually they are the books and scrolls you can read. Move the mouse on the words looking like theseInformation will appear as tooltips like this to see them.

Since you do not need to leave the place at Normal Difficulty, the sequence of places to visit is slightly different. When you are about to finish the last objective, I will point it out and ask the Normal players to use a different sequence to collect the loots. Otherwise, the game is identical in all three difficulty levels. Since the sequence of visit will be different, you need to set the difficulty level correctly in the drop box above, so that the cumulative loot and pick count will be adjusted accordingly.

After selling the Horn of Quintus, you got quite an amount of money and bought some good tools from Farkus. An interesting addition to your inventory are the two lock picks, plus a scroll explaining how to use them. Do you know how to pick locks in real life? Refer to The Complete Guide to Lock Picking (ISBN: 0915179067).

Not much to say about this mission. Except that it is nice to face the living again. But with your rise in fame and wealth, Ramirez sent people to send you to the dead. But even that may be preferable than being sent to the undead.

For the first time, the quotation “The ancient corruption was again contained. To do more would have
upset the balance, but we knew to remain ever vigilant lest it
resurface. Neither the Hammers nor the pagans could be trusted not
to meddle.”
— Keeper Annals at the beginning of the mission briefing seems beyond comprehesion. It talks about an important event in the past. When great evil dominated a large part of the city. The Keepers succeeded in containing it and guard over it lest the Hammerites or the Order of the Vine would try to unseal it. As you see, Keepers are concerned with Balance and never do what is more than absolutely necessary. Not unlike the Psychohistorians in Foundation (ISBN: 0553293354, a science fiction story I love, written by Issac Asimov).

Buy all Water Arrows: this is going to be a mission with torches and guards. What to do with the rest of the money? I do not know. Nothing else is really useful. Healing Potion I believe, or some weapon (such as Broadhead Arrows and Land Mines) for playing with the two Burricks (which is not necessary). Note that near the beginning of the mission you will collect lots of stuff so you may want to read that part before making a purchase decision.

Do you wonder why the name of the mission (Assassins) seems unrelated to your mission objective Now that you’ve got the finest in lockpicks, you can go after more challenging
  — and lucrative — targets. How about the local Hammer Temple?
Get at least 1,000 loot. . You will find out soon enough.

You start in Farkus’ shop. Stand still and get a good look around you (including the burrick head on the wall). As soon as you walk your first step, an arrow from outside the window kills Farkus. I suggest you to first stay put and listen to what they say, then restart the mission again. When you play the second time, ignore the arrow and ignore what they say. As soon as you are ready, move (quickly but quietly) behind the counter (where Farkus was standing).

From the shelf against the window, get two Fire Arrows, two Water Arrows and two Moss Arrows. Move behind the counter to collect a Fire Arrow and a Flash Bomb. Be careful with Flash Bombs: while arrows are safe (becuase you use them with left mouse button), you may explode the Flash Bomb on hand when you are trying to grab the remaining stuff with your right mouse button. Under the counter, collect 3 Rope Arrows, 2 Noisemaker Arrows, and 2 more Flash Bombs. You have to do it in a great hurry, or else the assassins will be gone. If you are pressed for time, forget about the Fire Arrows. All you can do with them is to roast the two Burricks. And even the Flash Bombs, which are marginally useful.

If you find that the above is too exhaustive an exercise, you may decide to collect them later. You will be following your assassins now, and after that, there is be a big City Excursion that you may join. If you join the excursion, you will visit the whole city, including this shop. You can therefore pickup the stuff at that time instead of now (I will remind you to collect the stuff when the excursion comes back here). However if you decide to skip the excursion, then you should collect the powerups before you leave.

You have a totally new set of objectives, which are now related to the name of the mission. Whoever it is must first pay back for this attempt at your life. The Hammer Temple has to wait till Mission 10: Undercover.

Among the new objectives, the most important one Evidently these assassins think they have killed you.
As long as they continue to think that,
  they should lead you right back to whoever sent them. is to follow the assassins unnoticed. It is a completely new element of game, and this is the only mission with it. Since gamers seem to really like it, there will be a similar mission in Thief 2.

You have a city map, but it is pretty useless. Remember, your objective is not to arrive at the Ramirez Residence, but to follow the guards. If you lose track of them, your mission fails even if you know the way to their home. It is OK to lose sight of them, but if they get too far away, the mission would be marked failed.

With your new objectives, the rest has become a Bafford-job like mission.

Save the game and quickly move to the entrance to listen to what the guards are talking about. When they are gone, your job begins. The city is very big, and you have only seen a small part of it in a disorienting way. When you are leaving, you do not have the chance to explore it neither. Therefore, continue with the next section for a big City Excursion. If you do not want a city tour, skip to the .

Move into the entrance arch. Be quiet because two more guards are on sentry posts above you, and will hear any noises you make. One of the talking guards will come back rather quickly, so wait for him and club him. Take him to the outside (for example, to the dark area to the Southeast of the entrance), hide him well and come back. The crimson gravel path to the left and right lead to the Yard. Many guards are patrolling the Yard (SE and SW), but you can ignore them.

Move forward to the double doors (the Front Gate). Douse the two torches if you want to play safe. Open the right door, listen and lean right to peek. A guard inside may be staring at you!

The guard inside turns around from time to time. Two other guards are patroling a left-right going corridor (the 1/F Main Corridor) ahead. When the front door guard is facing away and the two corrdior guards are not nearby (listen!), creep inside to pick the Basement Key from his belt and knock him down. Quickly take him out to his sleeping friend. Hide him in good shadows or his body would be found. Now you have access to the Front Hall of the residence.

If playing Thief Dark Project, take the opportunity to study the Torches outside the front doors. There are two immeidately outside the doors, and two more on the crimson gravel path. In TDP, their mount faces mid air instead of fastened to the wall. They are fixed in Thief Gold

The Front Hall is big and empty (other than switches that sound alarms). Move North past the 1/F Main Corridor into a short and dark corridor going North to a door. Stay away from the door and keep yourself near the 1/F Main Corridor. This Short Dark Corridor is your primary ambush point here. Wait for the two 1/F Main Corridor guards to come back. When each of them walks past you, grab the Courtyard Key on their belt, and then walk behind him to catch up and knock him down. Bring both bodies to Short Dark Corridor.

Go North and open the door. Two guards may be out there in the Central Garden. One of them will talk loudly with another guard above (on 2/F), and then enter the door you just opened. You can experience some strange effect of the Dark Engine. Crouch and stay on the East side of the Short Dark Corridor and let them walk past you. Club one of them from behind (they have nothing to pick from) and the other stops walking. You will later see another pair who behaves similarly. Anyway, knock down the second one. Note: this pair of guards may enter earlier or later. Sometimes they enter before you have handled the two 1/F Main Corridor guards. So as soon as you hear the guard’s voice behind the door, ignore the 1/F Main Corridor and get ready for them first. With four bodies here, the First Floor is a rather safe place.

Open the door to the Central Garden again, and move forward along a narrow strip of shadow to the pool. On the left corner of the pool are some food and a Papyrus Mina, dear,
It’s not as bad as it seems.
The Sir isn’t so harsh if you learn his habits.
When he’s upstairs like the library,
  cosset him with tea and cakes, and chat of the household doings.
When he’s in the cellar with his gold, though,
  don’t dare bother him ’less he rings for you,
  and then hop to it like the Trickster’s on your tail.
    — Lisse where you learnt quite a lot about the habits of Ramirez:

• Library is upstairs,
• Servants chat upstairs,
• His Counting Room is in the basement, with gold
• He is alone unless he rings for his servant.

This is about the first time Trickster is mentioned. As the context implies, Trickster is not unlike Satan. He is the arch enemy of the Master Builder (the god worshipped by the Hammerites).

From time to time, guards enter the Central Garden from the South, so watch out. Save your game and move to the door on your left (West). Unlock it with the Courtyard Key, open the door but do not enter. Two guards are on the right hand side. There is nothing useful in this Sitting Room so don’t bother to attract them for clubing. A total of four doors (one from each compass direction) open to the Sitting Room, but none of them gives you a favorable position to ambush the two guards. Just have a look at the Burrick Trophies on the opposite wall and close the door.

I used to think that there is no way to get rid of these two guards. Until a reader showed me how to. I will describe it when we visit the other two doors opening to this room at a later time.

From the Sitting Room door that you did not enter, turn right and go to the Northwest part of the Central Garden, where you will see a wooden door going back into the building. Open it with the Courtyard Key and enter the dark room. If you wish, you can stay in this Dark Room to ambush Garden guards. Many of the guards patroling the Yard outside the building enter the Central Garden from time to time. They enter from the North, walk around the pool and leave again on the North. When a guard is leaving, you can walk up to him, knock him and carry him into this Dark Room. Getting rid of guards this way will save you trouble in your trip to the Yard.

We are now going outside to the Yard. All we got from this trip are two Land Mines and a Flash Bomb. If you are not interested, you may skip to now. Note that there is a second excursion to the Yard when you are leaving the mansion. If you want to join the second one, you had better join this one as well (so that you can clean the Yard of guards now).

Save your game and leave the Central Garden via the footpath on the North. Douse the two torches here, and depending on your patience, you can ambush a number of guards from here. Many guards patrol the Yard outside. Sometimes, the guard walks into the Central Garden, where you can easily knock him. Other times, he walks straight ahead (from your left to your right or the other way round). If he is alone, then you can emerge from the (now) dark footpath to knock him. In any case, carry the body back to the Dark Room.

When you have enough of knocking, sneak out. You are on the North side of the Yard surrounding the building. Stick to the outer wall and in most places you will not be seen. First turn right (East) to go to the end. Turn right and have a look. The East side of the building has a pool, which separates the Northeast Yard (where you now are) from the Southeast Yard. It means guards will do a 180° turn here, because they cannot walk across the pool. When we leave this premise, we shall swim along this pool, which has an exit to the river you saw earlier (outside the mansion).

Go West to the end and turn left (South). This time, you probably have to stick to the inner (left) wall instead of the outer wall for shadows. Move South. Midway, you find a wooden door on your right. Unlock the door with Courtyard Key and sneak inside. Take the Flash Bomb and two Land Mines on the floor next to the ladder.

The rest of this section is purely an excursion. We will knock two more guards, but there is nothing else to collect. We will return on the same path. If you are not interested, go back to the dark room now, and skip to (again, continue with the trip if you intend to take the second Yard excursion).

Climb the ladder to the upper level. Here is an alternate way to enter the building: via the red roof and the balcony. We will use the staircases in the Mansion instead, so climb back down the ladder, listen and leave. Back in the Yard, go South to the Southwest corner. The door is not locked, just get inside. Climb the stairs up. If playing Thief Dark Project, note that the Torch is mounted incorrectly. Leave via the only door.

You are now on the guard post above the entrance. So be quiet or guards patroling below may hear you. You can see a guard standing ahead (East). He is the guard who has been coughing when you enter via the Front Gate. Don’t bother with the torches — he is a sitting duck: simply move quietly towards him and knock him down. Continue moving East into a dark room, and leave the room through the door on the other side. Another sitting duck for you to hit. You can either take the two bodies to the dark room in the center, or just leave them where they fall (sometimes in mid air).

Have a look of the Southeast side of the Yard and retrace your steps back to the Dark Room of the Central Garden.

In the Dark Room at the Northwest of the Central Garden, leave via the other door. You can see the Northwest Stairs in front of you. One set of steps goes up to 2/F, and the other down to the Upper Basement. The building has four sets of stairs near the four corners, and this one at the Northwest is the only one with a set of steps going down to the basement. Ignore the stairs and go South (left), after listening for guards.

After a right turn, there is a door on your left. This is the North door entering the Sitting Room with two guards and Burrick trophies. Open it for a look from this direction, close it and move forward past the corner to a double door on your right. This leads to Servant Dormitory. Save your game.

Consider dousing the torches around before you open the door. When you sneak inside the room, you will probably alarm the attention of the two servants, but they usually settle down very soon. Close the door, and sneak up to knock the male servant closer to you. I have to try a few times before succeeding, because sometimes the maid would notice the unconscious body and start screaming. After taking the body to a dark corner, creep along the right (North) wall to behind the maid. Move up to her and knock her down.

There is a door and a doorway on the North side of this room. Both of them go to the Kitchen. Go carefully through the doorway, because Joe is probably inside the Kitchen.

In the Kitchen, note the stairs go down to the Upper Basement. When Ramirez rings, Joe will descend the stairs and bring food to him. Your aim is to knock down Joe on his way.

If he is in the Kitchen, then you must move carefully. From the doorway, crawl to the right, staying in the shadows. Crawl along the wall towards to rim of the stairs (not go down the stairs) and drop to the stairs.

There isn’t much in the kitchen, except a Poster Scroll Lazy slobs —

If I visit with my babies and again find that
they have not been fed properly, I shall take
the horsewhip to the lot of you! The poor
dears must be given live food — their delicate
stomachs cannot abide the smell of carrion!
I am in no mood to hear of the shortages when
my babies are starving. pinned on the wall. At first I was stupid enough to think that Ramirez is really talking about his babies, until reader Michele L. Worley pointed out to me that he is referring to his pet Burricks. By the way, there is a great rumour among Thief players that Burricks have the glowing mushroom as their main diet, but from this note the rumour is perhaps unfounded.

Leave the Kitchen and move back quietly to the Servant Dormitory. Move quietly to the doorway on the South. Before entering the doorway, get the Basement Key on top of the table on your right. Peek ahead: there are three guards in the Guard Dormitory. A lone guard is on the left, and two in front.

Save your game and move quietly along the wall on your left towards the lone guard. Pick his Basement Key and knock him down. Take him to the shadow at the Southeast corner (hide him well, one more guard will arrive later). Quick save and move behind the pair of guards. They are Quince and Jacow, the two boys who killed Farkus. Unfortunately all you can do for revenge is to knock them down.

Be very careful about Quince and Jacow. They are much more alert than normal guards. If you have alarmed them, it is unlikely you can get away with it. Save game and quietly crawl behind them and give them two quick knocks. If you pause in between, the second guard may notice the first one falling and you are doomed. In general, you should always do this kind of knock-knock to pair of human. Hide them well with the other unconscious body.

Leave via the South door to the Southwest Stairs. Climb up to Second Floor.

There are very few guards left inside the building so you can relax, but do not make too much noise. You arrived in a room (W1, ie first room on the West). See the banner on your left? Break it with your Sword. You can see a secret corridor, and beyond, a fire place in the next room. Leave via the other door into 2/F West Corridor.

Turn left (North) and pick the locked door of the next room (W2). Strange isn’t it? It does not lead to the secret corridor you saw earlier, but to the room beyond the secret corridor. Even stranger, while you can see the fireplace of W2 from W1, you cannot see W1 or the secret corridor from W2! The picture on the South wall is a one-way picture: a picture when viewed from inside W2, but transparent when viewed from the other side. You see, Ramirez is a pervert. He likes to observe his guests in their rooms through small peering windows in the walls. And of course he does not want to be seen.

Back to business. Go to the table at the corner, and read the Poster Scroll Lord Ramirez —
The reinforced walls and steel door have been
duly installed about your counting room,
but I must warn you that we cannot guarantee them
against burrick tunnelling.
If you do not move the creatures out of the basement
into a more distant area, we cannot be held
responsible for the potential damages.
Tol Camrick & Sons , which leads me to wonder if the Burricks will tunnel to somewhere interesting. Unfortunately, we would be disappointed.

Leave W3 back to 2/F West Corridor. Turn left and enter the short corridor ahead on your left. Pick the door to enter Master Bedroom.

Opposite you is a double door leading to the balcony. Open the doors and have a look, you could have jumped from the guard post to the balcony (the alternate way of entry I mentioned when we were in the Yard). Back in the bedroom. There are two more doors (other than the three you have opened) in this room. The East door leads to an empty room. Enter the other door into the bathroom.

There are lots of goods on the two sides of the bathtub. Mantle on the left (East) side and drop into the tub to collect them all. From the East side, collect two and a . On the West side, take two . Mantle back to the side and leave the bathroom.

Take a moment to think about the secret corridor. You have seen it from W1, but where is the corridor? The Master Bedroom extends from the main corridor to the balcony, so anything North of here cannot enter the secret corridor, but none of the rooms on your South has an entrance neither. Moreover, Ramirez uses his secret corridor to peek at his guests, so the entrance must be in his bedroom. Look for it!

Once in the secret corridor, get the which is surprisingly cheap. Also, turn to face the entrance of the secret corridor to find a switch on its left — it also opens/closes the secret door. Most switch-operated doors in Thief are like this (is there any exception? I cannot remember any): there is always a switch on each side in case you are trapped on the wrong side. Turn around and continue to the T-junction of the secret corridor and turn left. On the far end, find a . Locate the hole on the wall looking into room W1 and note one strange thing: while you can see W2 from W1, you cannot look inside W2 from here!

Go back to the Master Bedroom. When you leave the secret corridor and just before arriving back to the Master Bedroom, find a on your left.

Leave the Master Bedroom via the way you come. Back in 2/F West Corridor, turn left and note the Northwest Stairs: it goes down the first floor (near the Dark Room on the Northwest of the Central Garden) and then further down to Upper Basement. Turn right into the 2/F North Corridor and go East.

Lean to peek ahead: two servants are standing in the middle of 2/F East Corridor (on your right). Walk straight ahead to the Northeast Stairs but do not descend the steps yet. Listen to them — they will talk about where the lord is. After they are finished, they will walk towards you. The male servant will descend the stairs, while the maid will turn left into the 2/F North Corridor. Therefore, walk down the stairs quickly but silently. At 1/F, move forward to the shadows ahead and to the right. The servant will open the wooden door so do not stand in front of it.

When the servant appears, pick the Courtyard Key from his belt and knock him down. If you let him continue, he will leave the premise through the front door, and go to the dark area to the Southeast of the entrance (that is, where you place the first two bodies). If he sees any unconscious body on his way, he will screem and may alert the other guards. Unlock the wooden door with Courtyard Key to find out where you are — this door leads to the Central Garden from the Northeast.

Go back upstairs and find the maid in the 2/F North Corridor. What is she doing? Like the pair of guards we knocked downstairs, when you knock one, the other stops moving. This is known as the EPR Paradox. When you interact with a member of an entangled pair, you may introduce spooky action at a distance and influence the partner.

Knock the maid down and take her through the doorway into the inner corridor. Actually you can do this in reverse order: hide in the inner corridor and knock the walking maid, and then go downstairs to find the standing servant. The difference is, if the servant happen to freeze at an exposed location inside the Central Garden or near the front door, you may be seen by other guards when hitting him. Therefore, it is better to club the servant first.

Leave via the North door back to the short corridor. Enter the door on your right (East) into the Library.

Go to the far left (Northeast) corner of the Library. Climb the stairs to the attic. Go to the far (South) side to find a table. Take the two . There are two books on the table. The red book Master Ramirez —

I beg your attention. While, as you say, there is
most certainly breach in the Dreckboun pit, my
subordinates inform me that this is due to the
incroach of Hammer patrols among the patrons, and
that my immediate Dreckboun comptroller, Ginny,
has been unable to deal with the problem. Should
this qualify as full breach, I must regretfully
insist that the breach is on Ginny’s part and not
mine. I am, of course, happy to furnish all
ledgers for verification,

  — Lord Bafford is a reply from Lord Bafford about the falling profits of the Dreckboun pit. From scrolls in the Mission 2: Lord Bafford’s Manor, you knew that Lord Ramirez had demanded Lord Bafford to explain this. Lord Bafford [after two pages of figures...]
What the hell is going on with Dreckboun? Even if Ginny’s
grafting, he damn well ought to be more subtle than this!
If it’s not turned around in another week, toss it up to
Ramirez as breach. sent Dominic to investigate whether Ginny is stealing money, and Dominic Lord Bafford:

Milordy Bafford —

Speaksie sel to Ginny, did you bid. Dreckboun, the Hammer-hearts
ha’ been afoot, askulk, aferreting about, grabbing many a one
to vanish in the coldstone down below their forgey-chained
cells. Tooks they your dealer Tarquis in their clutches night
past, and two patrons as well, named of Lisalle and Ryen, skupped
up as they left — and these not the first, cries Ginny.
——
Little wonder, then, if Dreckboun grows sparse-come these days.
Of course, the lack o’ blame to one hand, but I gave Ginny a
firm understandsey, blood and doom and the whole book, so he’ll
be learning himmun all he can about how to turn the Hammers off
him, never you fear.

About your Victoria, nothing yet. Walks she an inch above the
ground, for all the dirt of her footprints have I found.

  — Dominic reported that the Hammerites were to blame. So replied Lord Bafford to Lord Ramirez. Thanks Michele L. Worley for helping me understand these correspondences between them (this one isn’t bad, but the ones in Bafford aren’t exactly readable).

Enter the secret passage and walk quietly. Two guards are right below. Before you walk further into the secret passage, turn around to note the switch that opens the secret door from the other side. Follow the secret passage and after two turns you arrive at its end. Climb down the ladder very slowly. Midway on the ladder, the two guards in the Machine Room below will start talking. Stop and listen, they are talking about you.

When they finished talking, they will leave the Machine Room. It is safe to climb all the way down the ladder now.

The two guards are not coming back, so take you time. Go to the right, pass the doorway to a table. Get two Flash Bomb from the Chest next to the table. Collect six from the table, and read Ramirez’s Poster Scroll Boys —
While I appreciate your enthusiasm, I must point
out that breaking legs is, really, rather inefficient,
if we wish our clients to be able to pursue their
rather active lives in order to immediately repay
their debts. I encourage your initiative in this
area — perhaps you might take a lesson from the
gardener and his hedge clippers, who trims off one
branch while leaving the rest to grow… and most
of our clients do start with fingers to spare. to his tough boys stopping them from break the legs of his debtors. It is kind of him, right?

On the other corner (Northwest) in the other half of the room, get another from the Chest. Take a short excursion upstairs: leave via the South door and open the door at the top of the Southeast Stairs to see which room it is (it is the room where you got a Speed Potion from a locked Foot Locker). Now leave the Machine Room via the West door.

One of the guards has gone to the Guard Dormitory, together with his key on his belt. We will take this oppotunity to visit the rest of 1/F East Corridor.

Turn right and go South. Normally, the corridor is empty by now, but anything can happen to the guards wandering in the Yard so don’t be too careless (unless you have get rid of all of them). The stairs you see on your left is the Southeast Stairs going up. Ignore the stairs and continue South.

After the right turn, a door is ahead. You do not yet have the key, so pick it and notice where you are: back to 1/F Main Corridor. Go West towards the other end. After you walk past the short dark corridor on your right, you see another door on your right. Open it and enter. It is a small empty room with another door. Hide and open that door: it is the South door into the Sitting Room with Burrick Trophy. Close the door and go back to the 1/F Main Corridor. Turn right and continue to the West end. Turn right, walk past the Southwest Stairs and cautiously enter the first door into Guard Dormitory.

You have already stacked three unconscious bodies at a dark corner, hope that they have not been discovered. One of the two Machine Room guards has come here. Pick the Storage Room Key from his belt and knock him down.

Where is the Storage Room? No where. What does the key opens? The door you picked a little earlier, the one between 1/F East Corridor and 1/F Main Corridor. If you were brave enough to rush out of Machine Room and pick the Storage Room Key from one of them when they were leaving the room, then you could pick one door less (but then the guard won’t be able to open the locked door, and will be stuck in front of the it!).

Why should I want to visit Guard Dormitory twice, once near the beginning and once now? If you had let the Machine Room guard arrive before you have knocked down the other three, it would have been very difficult to ambush the four guards without raising alarms.

How about the other Machine Room guard? Where has he gone? We’ll meet him soon in the Upper Basement.

Leave the Guard Dormitory via the East door, back to 1/F West Corridor. Hide well and open the door opposite (on the other side of the corridor). It is the West door of the Sitting Room. Now you have seen the room from all four sides.

The quick way to enter is to use a Flash Bomb. Simply open the door at the north end of the room and toss a flash bomb inside. If you’re quick you can knock them both down before they recover.

To handle them without using consumables is much more difficult. Getting inside will be noisy, and therefore you should wait till you have everything under control. Close the door and go back to the 1/F Main Corridor.

At the 1/F Main Corridor, go East and turn left into Short Dark Corridor where you have piled several bodies. Check and enter the Central Garden and go to the wooden door on the Northeast (right side). Here is where you knocked the servant who talked with the maid upstairs. Here is also the West tip of the Northeast Corridor.

Starting along this U-shaped Northeast Corridor by going South. Between the Northeast Stairs and a torch you find a door on your left. It is not locked, and opens to an empty room. After the left turn, you are going East. Use the Storage Room Key to open the door on your right. Behind it is the 1/F East Corridor, with the Machine Room and other rooms you have visited. Note that the Storage Room Key opens just these two doors: one on each end of the 1/F East Corridor.

Continue East and after the left turn there is another empty room on your right. Finally near the end of the corridor is a door on your left. Open it with Courtyard Key and descend the stairs quietly to Upper Basement.

Move quietly and listen. Last time (in our Upper Basement Excursion), it was empty here, but now the second Machine Room guard has arrived. He patrols up to a few meters away from the lowest step of your stairs. If you hear him nearby, it is good news: it means you do not have to wait half a century till for his return. If it is quiet, move down the stairs and turn right through the doorway. You will find a dark area with many big barrels on your right. Find a good place for ambush and wait for the guard to arrive.

He is on a very long patrol (all the way to Northwest Stairs and up to 1/F corridors) and it may take some time. Yet it is better to sit here in the shadows than go hunting for him. When he walks past you, take his Storage Room Key and Blackjack him.

Leave your hiding place and go West to a T-junction. You have been here before in an excursion. If you were to continue forward, you will end up in the Kitchen. Instead, turn left and go down the long straight corridor.

Ignore the branch on your right (which goes to Northwest Stairs) and arrive at the metal door in front of you. Open the door with Basement Key.

If playing Thief Dark Project, take a look at the Torch at the East end of the corridor: it is mounted incorrectly. From the niche, move quietly into the doorway on your right (Northeast) into the Counting Room. Stick to the darker left wall. Ramirez is here alone. Unless you have not knocked down Joe (the boy at the Kitchen), in which case he will come here from time to time. Or unless you have alarmed the guards, in which case one of them will come here to protect Ramirez.

A reader reported that the room only has a guard when he arrived, without Ramirez. If you have similar experiences, do let me know.

Move forward pass the protruded wall into a good shadow adjacent to a table. Take the six Water Arrows and four Moss Arrows, although they are useless to you (well, you can cover the whole room with moss) unless you are taking our final excursion (Hard and Expert only).

Players at Normal Difficulty should be careful here. The Ramirez purse is your last remaining objective. Once you grab it, the mission ends. Therefore, you should save your game before proceeding. You have two options. If you are not concerned with pickpocket counts, you can just Blackjack Ramirez. Then you can explore the room as in the remaining paragraphs of this section (notice that the remaining sections do not apply to Normal Difficulty). Finally you can take the purse and complete the mission. Keep your saved game until the end because sometimes it is not easy to grab a Purse from an unconscious body.

Another method you can use at Normal Difficulty is to collect the remaining stuff without hitting Ramirez. It is challenging, but usually not impossible.

For players at Hard and Expert, grab the from Ramirez when he walks near you. Knock him down with your Blackjack. Go to the (North) end of the room and from the bench read the Hand Written Ledger Willoby Bright — Stonemarket cutpurse. Skimping
on gelt for the fifth time. Not worth the trouble — public
bounty of 200.

Garrett — South Quarter “independent” thief. Denied cut three
times. Sent Quince and Jacow out to shorten him.

Overlord’s Fancy — gambling den. Check with Raputo — is it his?
Either way, someone’s not talking to someone they should. about what Ramirez thinks of you. He also mentioned a gambling den who doesn’t pay him the proper respect. A place we’ll visit in the next mission (Thief Gold only). Next to the book collect a Flash Bomb and a Speed Potion. Most important is the key. It is the Master Key of the mansion, you can open everything with this key (that is, every thing that can be opened with a key).

Using the Master Key, open the Chest on the left of the grey book for a . On the far (right) side of the bench, get two more . Turn around and find the Chest on the floor. Open it (again using the Master Key) to read Papyrus Raputo
Warden of North Quarter, Shalebridge, Newmarket, New Quarter.
Bloodsports, moneylending, spywatching. Organization of
about 20 subsidiaries, 50 personal toughboys and
fireboys. Contact with Shemenovs.

Webster
Warden of Docks, Eastport, Dayport. Rooftop breakers,
protection and anti-protection services, smuggling,
coinfaking. 12 subsidiaries, 60 toughboys, 20-odd
solo contractors. Strong foreign contacts.
——
Viktoria
Independent fence, previously Raputo’s. Dominates
include thiefs-pawnage of exotics, medicinals. No
known organization; contact with second-tier
nobility, Grand Library, and Order of the
Vine. May have warden aspirations.

Dorcas Goodfellow
Blackbrook Underguild ambassador. Particular
(importable) dominates include magical constructs,
medicinals, and elemental crystals. about his associates in business. It is the second time Viktoria is mentioned. Last time in Mission 2: Lord Bafford’s Manor, Dominic called her Victoria in his reply to Lord Bafford, but he is probably referring to the same person. You will meet this charming lady many times in the future. She buys stolen goods from thieves, and belong to the Order of the Vine. Note that these are wardens (or potential wardens). They run organized crime in the city, control the gambling houses and other things, get paid by thieves who don’t want a friendly visit from somebody like Quince and Jacow. They in turn pay the lords like Ramirez and Bafford. In Thief II, the City Watch has a special branch called Warden Affairs Division for them.

Now, players at Normal Difficulty can grab the from Ramirez to finish the mission.

For Hard and Expert Difficulties, your remaining objective is to get away without alarming the guards. Let’s first attend some unfinished business.

As soon as you have picked the purse from Lord Ramirez, four extra Assassins appear around the building. Two of them are hidden in really dark places and you may walk into them without noticing. We’ll knock them down before actually leaving. Skip to the if you intend to leave them alone.

From the Counting Room, retrace your steps back to the ground level. Leave the U-shaped Northeast Corridor at its South side and arrive back at the 1/F East Corridor. Go South and when you pass through the door at its end, you would have heard the first assassin unless you are being careless. Peek into the foyer to locate him. He is just standing there, facing the Front Gate. So move quietly and knock him down.

Two assassins wearing same types of black cloths are outside the Front Gate, so it is a bit dangerous to leave here. Instead, turn around and move through the Short Dark Corridor to the Central Garden. Leave the garden on the other (North) side carefully. Turn right and move quietly along the wall — an assassin is ahead near the Northeast corner. Like the previous one, you will hear him long before you can see him. Again, his back is towards you, so locate him and move carefully forward to give him your Blackjack.

Now save game, drop into water and swim South. Be careful, because there is an exit on your left. If you accidentally swim there, the mission will end. Go straight South and mantle onto dry land on the other side. Move towards the Front Gate, and listen carefully — this one hides in a very good shadow, and you can hardly see him even though you are sure he is standing there. Get rid of him, and swim back to the North: do not use the Front Gate, or the remaining assassin will nearly aways spot you.

After you have mantled on to shore on the North, go counterclockwise around the mansion (remain on the grass outside the mansion) to move to the Southwest corner. Save game and pay full attention when moving across the Southwest corner (ie when you leave the West side and go to the South side). It took me quite some time to locate where he is. He will be ahead on your left, standing in a nice shadow. This time, he will be facing you. To arrive at his back, you first need to pass through a patch piece of grass that is not really dark enough. Move quickly and stop moving as soon as you get back into shadow. He will likely have noticed you, so you have to wait for him to calm down before making any further move.

I’m sure you will appreciate having four less assassins in the next section.

Do you remember the Sitting Room (the one with Burrick Trophies) that you have not yet visited? Now is the time to knock down the two guards inside. If you are not interested, skip to the .

It is tough if you have not knocked down everybody else in the Residence.

To get inside, first you go back to the 1/F West Corridor (outside the Guard Dormitory on 1/F). Use Water Arrows on all the torches here. Go South and turn left into the 1/F Main Corridor. Open the first door on your left into the small empty room. Open the other door in the small room, but be careful not to be seen. Come back out, we are just preparing the scene.

Get back to 1/F West Corridor. Go North and open the door on your left (opening into the Guard Dormitory) but do not enter. Continue North and turn right at the corner. The door on your right (South) is the North door into the Sitting Room. Save game and prepare for action.

Open door and run inside. Keep running and leave through the door on the opposite (South) side, which you have opened a moment ago. Dash through the small room and leave through the other door back to 1/F Main Corridor. Turn right and run into the dark 1/F West Corridor. Rush past the stairs and get into Guard Dormitory. Once you enter the door, hide in the shadows on your left.

Interestingly, the two guards will search for you, but would not raise the alarm. Soon they will arrive at Guard Dormitory. Knock them out when they are leaving.

Go back to the Sitting Room. It is now all yours to explore. Take a look at the Burrick Trophies. Why did Ramirez hoist the head of his pets here? May be they were the rivals of his pets. Or perhaps their parents.

Now you can really leave the mansion. When you are leaving, and if the guards have triggered an alarm during the mission, you will suddenly get a new mission objective Looks like these guys aren’t too happy about what you did to their boss.
They don’t seem to want for you to get back to your house in one piece. when you leave. Dozens of guards will appear all around the city looking for you. Better raid the mansion carefully than to face this. Yet, why should you skip this part of the game? Even if you have been careful, you should give this part a try. Save game now and leave quietly as described below. Then restore game and ring the alarm so that you can enjoy the extra mission objective, the details of which is covered in the .

To leave quietly, you can do so via the river on the East, or through the Front Gate. Since you have seen enough of the Front Gate, we will leave via the river.

The safest route (even if any guards are left) is go upstairs to 2/F. Go to Library.

Open the double doors on the East and walk to the balcony. Do a running jump to the wall on the other side of the water. You should land squarely on it without taking any damage. Enter the watch tower and descend to the Yard. Drop into water (actually you can jump directly into water from the Library, but your splash may alarm guards). Swim South and leave via the exit on your left. If all goes well, your mission has been successfully completed.

Now, time to restore, raise the alarm and continue.

So you have triggered the last objective. I hope you did it on purpose. Notice that this objective can only be triggered in Hard and Expert Difficulties.

Eleven new guards and nine new bowmen are all over the city looking for you. You need to get back to Home Turf (the lower right corner of your map).

The first part of the escape will be familiar to you if you have taken the City Excursion at the start of the mission. The path soon deviates because we did not need to avoid guards during the excursion. Refer to my city map on your way.

Unlike my usual walkthrough, I do not knock out the guards. There are so many of them, and many are in well lit places. Since we have already visited the area in the initial excursion, I will for once try to sneak past them.

If you are leaving via water, just drop down the water slope and skip to next section. Otherwise, once you are outside the mansion Front Gate, turn left and run. No guards are ahead, but those inside the mansion might chase after you. Go all the way East until you reach an arch going down a slope (with three circular bright area). A guard is frequenly down the slope, so ignore the slope and turn left into a side street. Run till near the end where a river flows away from the mansion. Jump into the river and follow it down the water slope.

When you resurface, the current is carrying you to the right, which is blocked by a gate. Turn left to swim against the current and find a ladder ahead (North) on your right (East). Listen and climb up to the Wooden Bridge. Usually, no guard is here.

Turn right and walk along the bridge. Turn right again down the wooden ramp. Be careful of the metal steps at the end of the ramp. Now instead of going left down another slope (with several guards below), find a door straight ahead (South). Open and enter the corridor. It is safe inside.

Run to the end of the corridor. You can see water flowing from you right, which is just downstream from the blocked outlet you saw earlier. Drop into the water, swim along the current. Midway, you can find a platfrom on your left with a ladder going up to a sewer opening. In the excursion, you climbed up here. This time, do not go there because there are many guards near the Sewer Cover. Save game now.

Continue along the water flow. Close to where the river arrives at another gate that blocking you, find a ladder on your right. There are lots of guards above (you are now under the Metal Bridge you crossed at the begining of the game). Listen for guards in the corridor ahead, since you are climbing into a well lit area. Climb the ladder and squeeze into the opening. It is not easy. You need to climb till you can crouch and keep on trying to press yourself in. Perhaps Garrett needs to lose some weight.

Once you get inside, turn left and move to the next window on your left (like the window you climbed through). Jump out of the window and now you are back in the water, on the other side of the gate. Dive to the bottom. Follow the water flow to the end, where you are back in shadows. Then quietly resurface and turn around. Save again.

You can see a bridge in front of you (now that you have turned around), and you need to mantle the right shore. Typically two guards are around this area. They will be looking for you even if you have not made any noise, so don’t worry. Wait till they are away (best if they go to your left) and mantle up the right shore. Move quickly but quietly forward and turn right at the corner, sticking to the right side all the time. Immediately crouch into the thin shadow along the right wall.

Two more guards are patroling a ramp on your left. Together with the two near the bridge, all four could wander around this area. When you are sure your noise have not further alerted them (all gaurds are somewhat alerted anyway), save game.

Move along the shadow of the wall to the South. When it is safe, enter the doorway on the South, turn right and go down the steps. Turn left into the open. You are safe now, for I have never seen guards so far in the South. The side branch ahead going to the left (East) leads to Down Towne Plaza. Ignore that and continue forward (South).

Later in another mission you will come back to this area. In that mission, the passages leaving this area (to the North and East) will be blocked, so that you cannot go back to Down Towne or other parts of the city.

At the end, take the wooden ramp up and turn right to follow the only path. Then there is a T-jucntion with a South-going street presenting itself on your left. Follow it to go South. At that T-junction you find a molten pot of metal on the left, and a building with stairs on the right. You should have seen them during the City Excursion. Go South past a well, and turn left into an arch. Here is the Home Turf on the map. Once you past the arch, go straight ahead and the mission soon ends.