Version 1.6 ©Alex Fung, September 2020.
Up-to-date version available at my Games page.
Please consult the Copyright Notice and the Licence Agreement before reading this walkthrough.
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The walkthrough assumed that you received full loot in the previous mission. Otherwise, the loot available in this mission would be lower.
| v1.6 | (Sep 2020) |
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| v1.5 | (Aug 2020) |
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| v1.4 | (Apr 2020) |
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| v1.3 | (Nov 2002) |
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| v1.2 | (Jun 2000) |
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| v1.1 | (May 2000) |
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| v1.0 | (Feb 2000) |
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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.
The mission in Thief Gold is identical with the one in original Thief, but with a different game engine, AIs in Thief Gold behaves a little differently.
There is nothing to pick (that counts toward the pick count in the mission statistic) in this mission.
In this mission, different difficulty levels have access to very different amount of powerups. This walkthrough has included the powerups and loots for all three difficulty levels. Also, a purse is placed at different locations. Once you correctly set the difficulty level in the drop box above, the cumulative loot and pick count will be adjusted accordingly.
After your horrible encounter in RTC, you must be expecting something better. Yet the nightmare is even more frightening this time. Don’t read on until you have watched the cut scene (the video after you finished the previous mission) and the mission briefing (the video when you start this mission), I do not wish to spoil your fun. Or horror.
Non-native English speakers may, like me, have difficulty following their conversation. Reading this transcript may help.
Mr. Con has conned you.
You probably do not remember that the Keepers have been watching over what you did. They started this as soon as you left them. They came and cut your bindings loose. They left without explaining anything.
Reality is a thing of the past (a tagline from Matrix). Now you are on your own to escape.
But how can you tolerate somebody who robbed you of your Eye, your eye, and your loot? And he still owes you a hundred thousand for the job. You cannot just go away. You must find out what he is up to, and sabotage his plans.
There are lots of Huge Spiders in the mission. If you are using a Broadhead Arrow, target at the rear part of its abdomen. This applies to nearly all animals. Head shots are useless.
If you are using Constantine’s Sword, you should crouch before hitting. If it is not a surprise attack, it is better to use overhead strikes, which means you will need to time the attack properly.
Finally, notice that resting Spiders always spin around. They spend most of the time facing a primary direction, and spins to a secondary direction at regular periods. Always approach them from the opposite side of the secondary direction, even if it means you are staring at its face when it is facing the primary direction.
You cannot buy anything since you started this mission unprepared.
In this mission, you will encounter a new stuff called Healing Fruit. It is a purple colored berry and gives you two points of health. Like the Healing Potion, it is bound to the F1 key.
I thought half my screen would be black, and I am grateful that it isn’t so. You have only 5 health points, and a nearly empty inventory. You find yourself in a familiar room — the Shrine in Constantine’s Garden. The doubledoors that you used last time are now shut, but the door that stayed closed last time is now opened. The Keepers have probably locked the front door after they left.
All you have is your faithful compass. And surprisingly Constantine’s Sword is still with you. Why? You had better ask Constantine himself. Perhaps it is because he kept his words, since he gave it to you as a gift in the first place; or perhaps because it is invisible in shadow and was missed.
Find your Blackjack, two Rope Arrows and three Noisemaker Arrows behind the altar. At Normal Difficulty, get two Flash Bombs on the left side of the sarcophagus. You can only see one, but when you pick it up, you will get two in your inventory. The same happens with most items.
At Normal Difficulty, walk behind the sarcophagus to get back your . Yes! it has a value of 2126! The biggest treasure you have ever got. You have just recoverd the money taken away from you at the start of this mission (if you got less in the previous mission, you found less here), and already converted into gold.
Go to the far right (Southwest) corner of this hall to get a Gas Crystal floating in mid air surrounded by smoke. Leave via the only doorway and start descending the stairs. At Normal Difficulty, take the Fire Crystal on the banister on the right. Down at the bottom of the stairs, the path splits left and right. Either way is the same, but I prefer the left. But before you choose, Normal and Hard players have a Moss Crystal on the floor next to the small statue.
Walk down either left or right to a Balcony. The whole sub-basement is a big Lair. Two ramps go down from the Balcony, but do not follow them. Just stay up here to peek at your new friends below. Check your surroundings against my annotated screen shots to the North (left) and to the South (right). The two rats walking on their hind legs are Ape Beasts (has anybody told the developers that apes do not have tails?), and the big green mantis is an Insect Beast. She walks very slowly but is the more dangerous of the two because of her ranged attacks. She is more difficult to kill, too. All three of them travel between the Balcony North Cave and the Balcony South Cave.
The Balcony is empty at Hard and Expert. At Normal, first take a Water Crystal on the front edge of Balcony; then turn around to get a Healing Fruit at the wall; finally, get another Water Crystal from the top of the South ramp.
Shoot a Rope Arrow at ceiling (it is actually part of a tree) between the Balcony and the alcove at the East wall. When the Beasts are away, do a running jump to the rope, and then jump into the alcove. Crouch and hide in a corner, because you might have alarmed the Beasts below. Pick up everything around you: a , 6/12/20 Broadhead Arrows at Expert/Hard/Normal Difficulty, 2/1/2 Noisemaker Arrows at Expert/Hard/Normal Difficulty, 2 Gas Mines (3 when playing Normal Difficulty), a Land Mine and 2 Flash Bombs. At Normal Difficulty, there is a Healing Potion for you (the only one in the whole mission). Since there are lots of Beasts in this mission so you should conserve ammo at all times.
At the South end of the alcove opening, face South, stand up and lean right to grab the Gas Crystal that you have seen from the Balcony. Now check the Beasts down below. Your goal is to use Gas Arrow on the Insect Beast, and at the same time bring down one or two Ape Beasts. So wait till they are close together (or at least till the Insect Beast is passing near an Ape Beast), shoot a Gas Arrow at the Insect Beast. Hide, wait and check.
Incidentally, this is the only Gas Arrow that I am using in the Lair. Experts have only 4 Gas Crystals. I am reserving the remaining three for the Front Gate of the Mansion, where I recommend using at least two (and I am keeping a third for contingencies).
If all Beasts are sleeping, simply head to the Balcony North Cave (refer to the screen shot). If however one of the Ape Beasts survives, wait till he is going away to your left. Jump to the rope, climb down and rush into the small cave of the red North wall. Turn around and check on the Ape Beast.
When he is moving away again, leave the Small Cave and enter via first opening on your left into the Balcony North Cave. The light keeps flashing here (many places are like this). There is a Healing Fruit near the center of the cave: eat it. It gives you two more points of health. When playing Normal and Hard Difficulties, take also the Gas Crystal floating on your right (near the two cave openings on the South). Crawl through the first opening on your right (it is the South Entrance to Balcony North Cave in the screen shot) to return to the area under the Balcony. From the shadows, Blackjack the Ape Beast if he is still patroling. Now, time to take a breath (and save game).
The Lair is big and confusing to navigate. We’ll start with the North. After visiting the whole Lair, we’ll head to the Mansion.
Reference: North Region Map
First climb and retrieve your Rope Arrow hanging in front of the Balcony. At the base of the North Ramp (that ascends to Balcony), pick up a Moss Crystal. Also find a Fire Crystal on the banister.
We must first go to kill a Spider before visiting Upper Tunnel. Refer to the hand drawn Map of the North Region. From the North Ramp, head Northeast to return to the Balcony North Cave. Enter the opening on your left (on the North wall of Balcony North Cave). The tunnel soon forks. Ignore the Red Tunnel on the left and follow the Grey Tunnel on the right.
Move forward quietly and stop before arriving at the skeletons. A Huge Spider (Hard and Expert only) will soon walk towards you. Stay crouched in the dark. When it turns away, run behind it and slay it with your Sword. When feasible, conserve Broadhead Arrows, this is the only mission that you can run out of them.
Save game if you have not alarmed other Spiders. Reader Roman reported that sometimes the Huge Spider didn’t come. It just sit at the intersection ahead. In that case, you have to lean forward and finish it with a Broadhead Arrow.
From among the skeletons, pick up a . Return to the base of Balcony North Ramp.
Enter the Small Cave of the red North wall again. Look up through the hole of the ceiling. There is a beam that looks as if it were made of stone: remember this texture, it is supposed to be tree bark. Shoot a Rope Arrow at it and climb up. Jump from the rope to the Upper Tunnel on your North (if you jumped to the South, you would return to outside the Red North wall) and retrieve back your Rope Arrow.
Follow the Upper Tunnel. You can look down onto the Balcony North Cave through the first window. At Normal and Hard Difficulties, there is also a Moss Crystal on the window sill. Pick up the Water Arrow from in front of the second window, through which you can take a look at the Grey Tunnel where you met your first Huge Spider. If the Huge Spider was still alive, it could see you through the window and would change its patrol pattern. That is why we have to kill it before climbing up here.
Continue to the end of the Upper Tunnel and find a on the ground at the final right turn. From the opening, drop carefully down on the slopes to avoid taking damage.
There are two groups of tunnels with lots of spiders, which I called the Spider Tunnels. We are heading to the group on the North.
You are currently in the Red Tunnel that you saw a little earlier (the Red/Grey tunnel pair from the Balcony North Cave). At the East end of the Red Tunnel is a vertical pool of water. Get two Water Crystals (four for Hard Difficulty, five for Normal Difficulty) from inside the pool.
Go West and drop down to the Red/Grey tunnel junction. Enter the Grey Tunnel again, the one where you met the Huge Spider. After the tunnel bends to the right, pick up a Water Crystal. A few steps ahead is a T-junction going East and West. Continue forward to hide in a Small Niche on the South of the junction and save game. Turn around. It is not dark, but you do not need to douse the Torch because only the Huge Spider that you have killed patrolled the three paths in front of you.
On your West is a cave with another Huge Spider (Expert only). Creep into the cave: if you crouch and move slowly along the right wall, it usually cannot see you even though it is spinning in the cave. Pick up the Water Crystal on the North (two Water Crystals when playing Normal Difficulty).
Slay the Huge Spider and explore the short tunnel on the South exit of the cave. At the end of the short tunnel, look around. An Ape Beast is patrolling below, we will deal with him later. Lean and look to the West: the flashing cave ahead is Balcony North Cave, and we are looking at its East exit. Return to the Small Niche.
On the East of the Small Niche is a 4-way junction. Pick up the Moss Crystal at the junction, save game and take the tunnel in front of you (East). The tunnel goes up towards Northeast, and there is another Huge Spider (Hard and Expert only) at the top. You can either try to sniper with Broadhead Arrows, or let it follow you down the slope to fight it on level ground.
On the North side of its cave above, a tunnel leads to a second cave, which has only one big hole. This is North Drop Hole. There are three two Drop Holes in the Lair, and this one is on the far North. Pick up the Moss Crystal near the end of the tunnel. From the South side of the hole, walk North and fall into it.
You dropped to the North side of a corner. Listen. Your arrival should not have disturbed the Huge Spider beyond the corner. Unless you find that it is running around the corner at you, leave it alone and handle it on our way back.
At the North end of the tunnel, there is a hard right turn. Crouch in the shadow along the left wall to peek into the cave.
There are three Tree Houses in the Lair, and this one is located in the North. Two Insect Beasts are walking, but even more dangerous are the two tiny Frog Beasts. One of them is sitting straight ahead, between two Glowing Mushtrooms (the developers are being nice — many difficult to see stuff are placed next to Glowing Mushrooms). The other one is behind the boulders on the left.
There are two Torches in the cave. After you have used Water Arrows on them, the cave will become very dark. Therefore, study the landscape and the patrol paths before you douse. Move forward and to the right, crouching near the patrol path of the Insect Beasts. Knock each out when they move close to you. Then locate the Frog Beast near you and give it a Broadhead Arrow. There is another Frog Beast, sitting between the other pair of Glowing Mushtrooms. Locate and finish it, finally securing the cave. If playing Normal or Hard Difficulties, locate and take the Healing Fruit next to the first Frog Beast.
Shoot a Rope Arrow at the edge of the ledge above,
climb up, and retrieve your Rope Arrow.
Enter the hut to collect a Land Mine (two for Normal or Hard Difficulties),
a Rope Arrow,
three ,
a Flash Bomb (two for Hard, but only one for Normal and Expert) and
a floating Gas Arrow (two for Hard, three for Normal).
When playing Normal or Hard, you also have a Gas Mine and 5 Broadhead Arrows on the floor.
Most important, read the
Trickster Book
Draws the scribed Star, marks the Compasses. The Eye, shows the
marksey lines of power.
Marks the Compass Borning, the Compass Leaf, the Stormsie Compass, the
Flamesie Compass, the Compass Tidestream, the Compass Stone, the
Compass Darkness.
Weights each Starsie point with Elements of the Compass, with pure
truest. Weights the Center with the Eye, fed mansblood, sees the
Compasses and the bloodtrail to the trueworld.
—
Each Compass walks the Elements forth, paints to the Eye colors of
heartsmaw Chaos, for follow the Eye back to the mansie world.
Binds the Eyevisions, gathers the sights the glories, open fulls the
Eye to See forth the world, bloodcalled, compasspainted, chaosfed,
paintings on the world the image is showed.
about the ritual that Constantine is going to perform.
It is not very readable, so don’t bother about its contents,
but it fulfils your Expect objective of finding out what he planned to do.
Save game: it is easy to get hurt. Remember that on your right (now with the hut behind you) there are some boulders on the ground. Drop on them, and then to the ground. Or drop on a slope on the far left. Either way, get back to the ground and leave.
Return to the tunnel and go South. At the corner that you dropped down from North Drop Hole, remember there is a Huge Spider ahead. Peek around the corner and locate the Huge Spider in a cave on the South. Approach it while sticking to the right wall. It is OK to walk up to it from this direction and slay it with your Sword. When it turns over, continue with the cave exit on the South. It leads up to the North tunnel of the 4-way junction. We do it this way because it is impossible to ambush it from the other direction.
At the 4-way junction, take the last branch, which goes South. After a left turn, there is a side tunnel on your right. Ignore it till we come back. After a second left turn is a small cave with a Huge Spider. Again kill it with your Sword and take the it is guarding. Also pick up a Water Crystal on the ground.
From the vertical pool, continue South. You soon see a Huge Spider ahead. Finish it with your Sword.
Save game and proceed. At the end of the tunnel is a ledge where you can watch over the Altar. Ape Beasts and Fire Elements are patroling the caves below. Soon they will see you and attack you from both sides. That is why this tunnel is not included in the main route.
Notice also there is a Gas Crystal floating on your left. Remember to take it when you arrive at the Altar. Restore game to after you have killed the Huge Spider and return to the vertical pool.
From the vertical pool, turn back to the West and walk towards the cave the Ape Beast is patroling.
This is an oval-shaped cave, whose entrance is a slope with a noisy gravel surface. A big tree (which looks like a huge boulder) at the center make the remaining space of the cave look like a crescent moon. You may douse the Torches, but it is not necessary. When the Ape Beast is away, enter the cave and keep to the right to squeeze into the “horn” of the crescent moon. Crouch and you are safe here, even though it is not dark.
Turn around. There is a Healing Fruit right in front of you: eat it also. Wait till the Ape Beast come back and turn his back to you. Race forward and knock him down with the Blackjack.
Near the middle of the Crescent Moon Cave, find a Fire Crystal at the base of the tree. When playing Normal Difficulty Level, you get a second Fire Crystal, and an extra Water Crystal at the other horn of the crescent moon.
There are two more exits from the cave. The short tunnel on the South leads to the Central Tree House, which we will visit later via another route. Leave now via the tunnel on the West.
Midway in the tunnel, note a tunnel opening that is high up on your right. You have already been up there. So continue West and you find that you have arrived back at the flashing Balcony North Cave.
The paths here are not as linear as those of the North. I started to give names to lots of the places for easier reference.
Reference: Central Region Map and South Spider Tunnels Map.
Leave the Balcony North Cave by crawling through the opening on your left to return to the area under the Balcony. Go South to find the Balcony South Cave. At the entrance, there is a Moss Crystal for Normal Difficulty Level.
The Balcony South Cave has two exits. The East exit is clearly visible on your left, but the South exit is hidden behind the big tree. In front of the tree (on its North side) is another Healing Fruit, take it but Experts should not eat it since you are already at 9/10 health. Turn around and find a Water Crystal not far from the East exit. Go to the West side of the tree to access the South exit.
The tunnel starts with a horizontal section. After passing a tree, there is a Gas Crystal (Normal only) on the ground. Then the tunnel starts to slope downwards. There is flashing light ahead: stay near the top of the slope, inching down as much as the shadow allows.
Refer to the hand drawn Map of the Central Region. Two Ape Beasts are patroling between the bottom of this Flashing Slope and the Two-Ape Cave to the left. Their paths are variable, so sometimes one of them returns earlier than his partner. When you get a lone Beast, kill him with a Broadhead Arrow.
If possible, take away the corpse before the other Ape Beast returns. Hide it up the slope, so that you can shoot the remaining one. If the other Ape Beast found the corpse, he would get angry. You would need three or more Broadhead Arrows to take down an Ape Beast on alert. Thereore, wait for him to calm down before you shoot him.
Sometimes he stays in the Two-Ape Cave on the East of the junction. If he does not return after a long wait, turn left at the T-junction and peep into the cave. He may have taken up a short patrol inside the cave, which can be easily settled by a Broadhead Arrow.
When both are down, take the Moss Crystal at the bottom of the slope. Go North back to Balcony South Cave. Leave the cave via its East exit to a tunnel going gently down. When it becomes horizontal, and the ground is green instead of red, pick up a Moss Crystal midway in the green section. A T-junction is ahead: on your left is the Crescent Moon Cave, while on your right is the Central Tree House. Peek around the corner to the right.
There are plenty of AIs on the far side of the Tree House, so be careful. From your tunnel, shoot a Rope Arrow at the vertical face of the ledge of the Tree House. When the AIs are away, climb up and retrieve your arrow. After confirming that you have hidden yourself without alarming the AIs, save game. At Hard and Normal Difficulties, there is a Healing Fruit near the Glowing Mushroom on your right.
Lots of AIs are wandering between the four big connected caves of the East Region: Central Tree House, Hub Cave, Altar, and South Tree House. The team includes four Ape Beasts, one Insect Beast and two Fire Elements (only one at Normal Difficulty), plus an Ape Beast nearby who visits South Tree House from time to time. Remember how Fire Elements have helped us to kill Burricks and Craymen before? All you need is to wake them up and Fire Elements will kill everything in sight (unfortunately it seems they are incapable of entering the South Spider Tunnels). From the ledge, look Southeast to locate the other exit of your cave. Sometimes there stands an Ape Beast, whom you can easily shoot down with a Broadhead Arrow. If you don’t find any standing Ape Beasts, then aim at a wandering Ape Beast (choose one as far South as possible), because you cannot kill an Insect Beast with a single Broadhead Arrow.
Everybody is alarmed by his death cry, so you must be careful not to be seen. Enter the hut on the ledge to collect two Gas Mines (see one, get two), a Noisemaker Arrow, a Rope Arrow (two for Normal and Hard), 10 Broadhead Arrows and a Flash Bomb. When playing Normal or Hard Difficulties, you also have a Land Mine here. The killing should still be going on below, so leave the hut but stay on the ledge. Go to the South side of the hut, and on the (West) stone wall find a tunnel. Enter and follow it to the end.
You are in the Central Tree House Upper Tunnel, which ends in mid air. It overlooks the , where you shot two Ape Beasts earlier. Look at the tunnel on the West side of the junction below. A short, up going grey tunnel narrows itself and connects to a red tunnel. This is the North Entrance of the South Spider Tunnels (there is another entrance to SST further South).
The red tunnel is the SST North Entrance Tunnel. Two Huge Spiders are patroling this red tunnel and a side tunnel heading South. Save game and ready your bow. When a Huge Spider is turning from SST North Entrance Tunnel into the side tunnel, you have a clear shot at its rear. Its partner will get be infuriated by its death, but will eventually calm down. When it returns to a peaceful patrol, shoot it at the same spot.
Drop down from your tunnel, walk West up the grey tunnel. Once you arrived at the red SST North Entrance Tunnel, turn around and look up. On the grey ceiling are some glittering objects: lean to grab two . Turn around to continue.
Refer to the hand drawn Map of the South Spider Tunnels.
Go West until you can turn right to go North. At the North end, you can see a dead end on you right. So turn left to go West down the slope. At the end, locate the Huge Spider in a cave on your South.
Sneak up to it and kill it with your Sword. There is nothing else here. Look up: the ceiling has a big hole, and above that is a tree branch (the only thing of a different texture). Shoot a Rope Arrow at it to climb up. Jump to the exit on the West and retrieve the arrow.
This is West Drop Hole. Similar to the other two Drop Holes, it allows you to drop through a hole from one cave to another location. The exit on the East goes back to SST North Entrance Tunnel. We’ll use it on the return trip. If we had come here using that path (which is more direct), the Spider below would have jumped up to attack us. That’s why we need to kill it first.
Follow the tunnel to the West end. Peek around the corner. Wait till a Huge Spider is moving towards you from the South. When it turns around and walks away, catch up and slay it from behind.
Follow the tunnel to go South. After a right turn, the red tunnel ends in two connected hexagonal rooms. These two rooms have grey stone walls and metal floor. This is the Entrance to the West Basement.
Move quietly forward and let the Ape Beasts see you. Then run back to the West Drop Hole, pausing at each corner to confirm that they are following you. Initially the Ape Beasts will follow you to go North, but after you have turned East, they will turn around and go the other way. All Ape Beasts in the Basement will leave via the East Basement and head to West Drop Hole through the SST South Entrance. If you wait long enough, they will appear on the other side of the hole. For now, the whole Basement is left unguarded.
Take a preview of the Basement Map. From the two hexagonal rooms, go South and turn right. Follow the hallway and you will find the door into the Mansion.
Unfortuantely this method does not always work perfectly. At times, you would run into an Ape Beast who stayed behind. It is not easy to handle him when you are exposed in the hallways. You can try to pull the same trick again, as long as the ones who have already left have not yet arrived at the West Drop Hole via the long route.
Restore and hide in the two connected hexagonal rooms. Wait for a lone Ape Beast to enter. Knock each down, hide his body, and wait for the next.When all three are down, West Basement is secured. Collect 10 Broadhead Arrows and a Water Crystal from the Northeast side of the South hexagonal room. Time to leave, because we still have lots to do in the Lair. We came here only because it is easier to ambush them from here.
Return to West Drop Hole. Instead of dropping down, walk around the rim and leave via the East Exit. After two turns, you will arrive back at the SST North Entrance Tunnel.
From SST North Entrance Tunnel, turn right to go South. This is the side tunnel the two Huge Spiders used to be patrolling. At the South end, pick up a Moss Crystal at the corner.
After turning left at the corner, you can see three tunnels ahead. Start with the one on the left. From your corner, walk East and take the left tunnel. There is a spinning Huge Spider ahead. If you have not yet disturbed it, it is OK to simply walk towards it. Stick to the left wall, move forward until you can nearly touch it. Slay it with your Sword. Congratulations! This is the last SST Spider.
Get a from the left side of its cave and come back out. Follow the next tunnel. It goes Southeast and then South. Take a look at the cave at the end. This is East Drop Hole. It has a small hole that leads downwards. Take the Water Crystal (two when playing Normal Difficulty) from the left side of the cave. Drop into the hole.
Through the East Drop Hole, you arrived at a tiny cave with flashing light from the above. Pick up a from the ground. Leave the small grey cave to find yourself in a big red cave. At the entrace of you small grey cave, pick up a Moss Crystal.
Now that we have left the South Spider Tunnels, refer to the Map of the Central Region. The red cave is the , but you have already disposed of the two Ape Beasts from the , so the cave is now unguarded. However, you have dropped out of the Spider Tunnels, keep in mind that we may run into the Fire Elements ourselves. Or we may meet Beasts not yet killed by them (which is unlikely).
From you small grey cave, go left to (what is left of) an arm on the ground. Pick up a next to it. Players at Normal Difficulty Level will also find 9 Broadhead Arrows here.
On your North is a short red tunnel. Go to the vertical pool at the North end of it to collect two Water Crystals (three/four for Hard/Normal). Midway in this short red tunnel, there is a side exit going West. Take a brief look: it leads to the and the SST North Entrance.
Leave the via the Southeast. You soon arrive at a junction with a niche on the right. Ignore the side path on the left: we’ll come back when we are visiting the East Region caves. Continue South and you will reach a ramp going West. Stop and listen, for an Ape Beast may be ahead.
Refer to the Map of the Central Region. At the top of the gravel slope is a junction: one tunnel continues West towards the South Entrance to the South Spider Tunnels, while the other goes South towards the East Basement Entrance Hall, which is a big grey stone cave. An Ape Beast patrols between this junction, the and a side tunnel going East to the South Tree House. If he is still alive, you should be able to hear him (Ape Beasts are very noisy), and see him emerge at the junction from time to time.
Stay at the bottom of the ramp and decide. If you judge that he is dead, then you can simply walk up the ramp and look South to verify. Otherwise, peek from below to wait till he appears at the junction and leaves. It will take some time before he comes back. Move up the ramp by walking on the red cave slope next to the noisy gravel. Go past the junction and douse the two Torches next to you (that is, ignore the one back down the slope and the one ahead in a cave). Your area is now dark enough to ambush him when he returns.
When the area is secured, pick up the Moss Crystal at the junction. Head West. The tunnel narrows to a small hole, and then descends to a grey cave, the SST South Entrance. Switch back to the Map of the South Spider Tunnels. Take the Fire Crystal, and note a tunnel going up towards Northwest. When it bends, take the Water Crystal next to a Glowing Mushroom. Continue North and you return to the junction where you saw three tunnels. Take the tunnel on your left to continue North to return to . Turn right and leave the South Spider Tunnels via the North Entrance.
I must remind you again: outside the Spider Tunnels, you may run into the Fire Elements at any time, or even meet Beasts not yet killed by them.
You have returned to the bottom of the . Climb up to the (you would find it easier to do it from the South than from the West). Return to the Central Tree House.
Refer to the Central/East Region Map. The East Region consists of the four big connected caves: Central Tree House, Hub Cave, Altar, and South Tree House. When we are done with the East Region, we will leave the Lair and enter the Basement.
By the time you are back, the four big caves should be safe. Drop from the ledge. At Normal Difficulty, there is a Healing Fruit in front of the tree near a Glowing Mushroom. On the East wall is a small cave under a Torch. Pick up the on its left. Under another Torch to the South is a Healing Fruit. When playing Normal or Hard, face the tree and go to the narrow space on the left (between its trunk and the red cave wall) to find one more Healing Fruit, again next to a Glowing Mushroom.
Leave via the South exit. In the short tunnel, pick up three/one Rope Arrows at Normal/Hard Difficulties (none for Experts). The Hub Cave on the South is empty. Turn left and go Northeast to the Altar. There is a star pattern on the ground, with flames burning at its tips. Pick up a Fire Crystal at the South tip. At Normal or Hard Difficulties, get a second Fire Crystal from the West tip. At Hard Difficulty, your lost is left between the two Fire Crystals.
Go towards the small ledge on Northwest. Shoot a Rope Arrow at the ceiling so you can climb up and drop on the ledge. Collect two Water Crystals, retrieve the arrow and drop back on the ground (yes you can survive the fall). Players of Normal and Hard Difficulties should, after you have dropped down, look for a Healing Fruit at the nearby cave wall.
Again climb a Rope Arrow to collect the Gas Crystal floating near the Southeast wall. Go Southwest back to the Hub Cave and leave via the tunnel on the left (South) towards the South Tree House
Midway in the tunnel from Hub Cave going South towards South Tree House, there is a side branch on your right (West). Pick up a Water Crystal at the entrance of the side branch. Halfway in the side branch, collect a at your feet. At the end of the side branch, you should recognise the junction. The is on your right, and the gravel slope leading up to the South Entrance of the South Spider Tunnels is on your left. Turn around, leave the side branch, turn right to enter the South Tree House.
Look around: make sure no more Beasts are walking. On your right is a small cave, and in front of it is a Healing Fruit. A little further South, there is another Healing Fruit at the entrance of a tunnel (the only other exit of the South Tree House). Then at the base of the tree is a Moss Arrow near a Glowing Mushroom. If playing Normal Difficulty, face the tree and go to the far right side to collect another Healing Fruit near another Glowing Mushroom. After collecting everything, climb up to the ledge of the Tree House.
If playing Thief Dark Project, turn around and take a look at the two Torches on the cave wall. The one on the right is mounted backwards (the mount faces you instead of the wall).
Get inside the hut to collect
a Land Mine under the table (two for Normal, none for Hard),
two Noisemaker Arrows (Expert Difficulty only, others get none),
a Gas Mine and
two Flash Bombs (see one, get two).
At Normal and Hard Difficulties, take also 18 Broadhead Arrows.
Read
the Trickster Book
The world as I once knew it was a place of magic — full of mystery and
inhabited by creatures of glamour and terror. The men who lived there lit their
bonfires and wondered at what crept and lurked in the darkness outside their weak
circles of light. All their dreams, their aspirations and dreads,
come from that darkness.
Now, as the forces of “progress” cover the meadows in brick and cobblestone, as they
replace the majestic loft of tree with the blocky ponderousness of building, they also
light the world in their electric, actinic glare. With the lighting of the shadows, man
loses his ability to fear, and to dream.
The night, once the font of the unknown,
becomes only the lack of the sun. I have conceived of a plan to revive the darkness,
to bring a resurrection of the ability to fear and dream. And, once my dark project is
realized, they shall know again to fear and love their Lord.
— Constantine
by the chair about the rise of Hammers and Constantine’s project to restore Chaos.
Before I read this, it has never occured to me to wonder why the game is subtitled “The Dark Project”.
Originally, the game was only called “The Dark Project” alone,
and it was only later retitled to include the Thief prefix.
All of a sudden, we realised that the whole game is one single story about this project.
Now, time to leave the Lair. Leave via the tunnel on the West. Turn left and head towards the East Basement Entrance Hall.
Refer to the Basement Map. Three Ape Beasts patrols the East Basement, and from time to time they appear in the East Basement Entrance Hall. When the hall is clear, traverse it. There is a short dark tunnel on the other side. Before entering the tunnel, pick up the Moss Crystal on the right.
Hide on the left hand side of the tunnel. Wait for a lone Ape Beast to arrive in the tunnel, or target the last one in a group. Knock him down, hide his body, and wait for the next. At the count of three, you have secured the whole Basement. If you have waited long enough and still haven’t got three, maybe you get lucky and the Fire Elements have done part of your job.
Follow the corridor. There are several side branches but you will eventually find an up-going ramp with noisy metal floor. Above the ramp is the Central Basement.
The Central Basement basically has one lit hallway on the North and a dark corridor on the South. Enter the octagonal room on the left. It has several barrels. If you want to use the dark corridor, you will need to push the barrels out of the way. It is not easy to do (worse when the Ape Beasts were visiting this room from time to time), unless you lit up the barrels of explosive, which will attract everybody. Find the Healing Fruit from among the barrels. Since the Basement is now unguarded, don’t bother with the barrels and leave the octagonal room.
At the junction to your North, pick up a Moss Crystal on the floor. Further North is a small hexagonal hall. At Hard Difficulty, go there to pick up two Noisemaker Arrows.
From the junction, go West up a ramp (which is not metal). Around the middle of the Central Basement Hallway, there is a doorway on the right. Go out to take a look at the Outerspace. There is a platform that you can drop on to. You can see the two familiar walkways floating in Outerspace high above. The fun of Mission 6: The Sword now seems to be a distant piece memory from another life time. Climb back through the doorway into the hallway.
Further West is a short side hallway on your left, with several wooden boxes. Inside the side hallway, you find the other end of the dark corridor. If you had push away the barrels, then you could safely arrive here to ambush the Ape Beasts. All six Ape Beasts patrolled the Central Basement Hallway. You could wait for them inside the side hallway, even without dousing the Torches. That is, if you haven't already got rid of them from the two Basement Entrances.
Back to the Central Basement Hallway. Continue West up the metal ramp. After a right turn, you can see the . At the junction, turn left. Walk up another metal ramp to the West Basement.
After a right turn, you soon find a door to your right. Do not rush there yet. Continue North to the end of the hallway. Find a Healing Fruit behind the two barrels — if you crouch in front of the barrel on the right hand side, you cannot see the fruit but can take it without moving the barrels.
Open the door on the East to leave the Basement.
Only a small part of the Mansion is accessible. Basically, only the regular part of the building.
Go up the stairs and you will realise that you are at the East Staircase. You just passed through one of the doors you could not open last time. While still on the stairs below 1/F, douse the torch on the left (the higher one, the one casting light onto 1/F). Turn around. In front of you is an area (East Stairwell) with a tree. When you arrive at 1/F, take the Healing Fruit in front of you (between the tree and the stairs).
Ape Beasts very often get stuck by this tree and the barrel next to it. That’s why I’m calling it the Ape Trap. All you need to do is sneak behind a trapped Ape Beast and knock him. Carry him down to Basement, and the trap is ready for the next Ape Beast. Sooner you will have trapped all four Roaming Ape Beasts. Since their path is random, some of them may take a very long time to arrive. Do not sit waiting for them, just come back regularly to check. Also, do not just leave the Beasts in the trap. Otherwise, any noise you make outside may attract them to leave the trap.
Climb the stairs to 2/F. On your way, douse the Torch on the right (the lower one, the one shining on 1/F). What do you see at the top of the stairs? Most parts of the Mansion are now blocked like this. Anyway pick up the on the floor and return to 1/F. See if another Ape Beast has fallen into the trap. If not, save game for a short visit to Northeast.
From East Stairwell, take the North doorway into a corridor. Turn right and follow the hallway to the end. It used to lead to the Garden, but it is now blocked.
Turn around and go back to the doorway from East Stairwell. Instead of entering the doorway to return to East Stairwell, continue on the corridor to go West past the doorway, quietly. First you see the East Corridor on your left, then a tree on your right, and then the doorway to the Bar (the door is lost) on your left, and finally a shrub. A Frog Beast is hiding behind the shrub. Lean right to shoot it.
At the corner behind the shrub, players at Normal Difficulty will find a Moss Crystal. The winding corridor heads to the Kitchen. You can take a brief look; we are getting here via the Dining Room later.
Return to the East Stairwell (and check for trapped Ape Beasts). Crouch at the doorway on the Southwest to collect the Moss Arrow in the East Corridor right in front of you. A Frog Beast is on your left, behind the shrub. When the East Corridor is quiet, move forward to let the Frog Beast see you. Retreat back and prepare your Broadhead Arrows. It will follow you, but it will stop for a few seconds at the doorway. Just sufficient to shoot it.
Crouch again at the doorway, lean forward to open the Bar Room door on the opposite side of the East Corridor. Check again that the East Corridor is safe. Sneak into Bar Room, and move to the Northwest corner (ie the far right corner).
Facing West, take the right in front of you on the floor.
While hiding behind the bar, crawl towardst the South. Collect another on the rack on your right, and a Healing Fruit on the bar table on your left. Continue South to the end. Take two bottles of from the rack. Finally take the on the floor (in front of you).
Now save and check. Has another Ape Beast been trapped? If yes, go back to Ape Trap to handle him. On the other hand, some may still be patroling, you may want to knock him here.
A good ambush point is on the bar table itself. Climb on top of the bar table from the North side. Walk along the table top and crouch at the other end (Southwest). When an Ape Beast walks past you, drop to the ground to knock him down. Throw him down the stairs with others, or behind the bar table.
When you cannot find other Ape Beasts nearby, creep towards the Courtyard on the West (I hope you still remember the name and location of the places in Mission 6: The Sword). You can see an Insect Beast standing there. On the floor in front of her is a purse (expert difficulty only). Use two Water Arrows to douse the Torches in front of her. Move forward to grab the heavy . Finally even the Experts have got their money back.
Sneak behind the Insect Beast to knock her down. Climb up the 1/F -> 2/F Central Stairs behind her. Explore around: the 2/F is void of AIs as long as you do not attract them up here.
Most of the floor has been blocked. From the stairs, turn left to go to the West part. Pick up a Healing Fruit on the grass. Return to the central part (with tiles). There are two doorways on the South. A Gas Arrow is waiting for you beyond the one on the right. There is nothing else on the South part. Do not try to shoot Ape Beast downstairs, because their death cry would alert the others.
Leave the South part through either doorway. Turn right to visit the East part. The stairs at Northeast goes up to nowhere. At Hard/Normal Difficulties, go to the Southeast to find a blind alley with one/two Fire Arrows near the plants at the end.
Descend back to 1/F.
Check the Ape Trap again. It is dangerous to visit the Kitchen when the four Ape Beasts are still moving around, because there is no where to hide. The more Ape Beasts you have trapped, the safer it becomes. Save game before you proceed.
Move carefully into the Dining Room on the West side of the Courtyard. On the North of the Dining Room is the Kitchen with a resident Ape Beast (who is not roaming around), so be quiet. Douse the Torch on the East wall, and crawl past the South side of the dining table to its West side. Crouch and get a beneath the table. For Normal and Hard Difficulties, there is also a Fire Crystal on the dining table for you.
Quietly crawl to the North side of the table. Roaming Ape Beasts pass through this doorway to go to either the door on the West (to the West Corridor) or the doorway on the South (to the Courtyard). In either case, they get very close to you (and you may consider knocking them en passant). Peek via the North doorway at the Ape Beast standing in the Kitchen. Cover the ground between you and him with a Moss Arrow. When he turns around, run up, Blackjack him, and carry him away.
Take the Healing Fruit at the North wall of the Kitchen, beyond the standing Ape Beast. If playing Normal or Hard Difficulties, go to the right (East) and find a Water Crystal from each washing basin. From the West doorway of the Kitchen, you can see a side branch on the opposite side of the West Corridor. When the corridor is quiet from Ape Beast noises, move quickly into the side branch. Negotiate your way past the trees to the West end. Look down and you will find a on the floor. Return to the Dining Room via the Kitchen.
The door over the Dining Table is still there. You can open it (when no Ape Beasts are around) but the room above is blocked. Go to the Southern doorway on the West side of Dining Room. Lean and peek South. A Frog Beast is sitting in the West Corridor, next to a Glowing Mushroom. Lean out of the doorway and shoot it. Leave Dining Room and enter the West Stairwell on the opposite side of the West Corridor.
Collect the Moss Crystal (two if playing Normal or Hard) on the floor at the Northern part of the stairwell. Go upstairs. If playing Original Thief Dark Project, note that the Torches along the stairs are mounted backwards. At the top of the stairs, Experts have a healing fruit on the floor. The 2/F doors are again blocked, but behind the taller tree is a lying on the floor. Try go down to the basement, but this door would never open. If playing Original Thief Dark Project, note that the Torches along the stairs to basement are mounted sideways.
Check the Ape Trap. It is better to proceed only after you have trapped all four Roaming Ape Beasts. If some still refuse to come, you may want to track them down (for example, to ambush from the Bar Room table).
Return to West Corridor, save game before heading South. The South Corridor Ape Beasts enter and leave the West Coffin Room using both its doors. Listen, move past the West Coffin Room door (ahead and on your left) and enter the doorway on your right to hide in the darkness.
To your right are upright lockers lined along the West wall. From the third one (counting from the left), collect 6 Broadhead Arrows. Return to the shadows near the Southwest corner. Lean and peek through the South doorway to locate the Insect Beast in the next room. You do not need to douse the Torch. Just crawl quietly towards the Insect Beast and knock her down with your Blackjack.
Look up. Douse the Torch near the top of the ladder and climb up. Turn right and get a behind a plant. An Ape Beast is patroling the next room. Do not bother with the Torches (shooting them will more likely give away your position). Wait for an opportunity to Blackjack the Ape Beast. It is not easy, so consider using a Gas Mine instead, of which you have plenty (but save ammo for the South Corridor). Anyway do something quiet (that is, do not play Sword with him), or you will alarm the AIs down on South Corridor. On the floor on the other side of the room, gather two .
If all we needed is to get away alive, then we could have climbed out of the balcony and leave. If you are really doing leaving this way, either use a Rope Arrow, or mantle on the balcony railing on the South and drop first on the ledge there before dropping down to the turf.
Yet something is still waiting for us on the heavily guarded South Corridor.
Climb the ladder back downstairs. Move to the doorway facing the South Corridor (moving forward as much as the shadow permits). There are two standing Insect Beasts and three wandering Ape Beasts. Plus three Frog Beasts waiting for an ambush.
You must have lots of Land Mines and Gas Mines by now. Save game and throw some of your mines into the corridor. Do it calmly, you are quite safe here. And spread them so that they do not all sit at the same place.
The Ape Beasts usually crowd together. When the Ape Beasts are alerted, shoot a Gas Arrow at each Insect Beast (better still when a few Ape Beasts are near them). There is unlikely to be any survivors. Use your last Gas Arrow against unforseen circumstances. When everything quiets down, save game and explore. Mind the armed mines that you have planted yourself!
Enter the West Coffin Room (safer than the corridor since it does not have mines) and leave via the other door. Count the corpses to make sure. Then inch towards the Front Gate. Two Frog Beasts are waiting for you. Locate them and shoot them with a Broadhead Arrow before they can see you. Since they stand side by side, usually shooting one explodes the other as well.
Move past Front Gate and quietly forward (East) toward the doorway on your right. At the South Doorway is the last Frog Beast. Again, shoot it with Broadhead Arrow before it can see you. Get inside and find a Fire Crystal (two if playing Normal Difficulty) in the dark niche directly ahead. Turn right and get the on the steps. At Normal or Hard Difficulty, you have a Gas Crystal floating in front of you. Bit late to get these weapons now. By the time you arrive here, nothing’s left in the mission that you can attack.
There is nothing else in the Front Gate Guard Room. Go back to the South Corridor. Go East to the East Corridor and turn left. There are two rooms we have not visited: the southmost doorway on your right and the southmost door on your left. The door on the left opens to an empty East Coffin Room. The doorway on the right leads to a big and empty room, with a Gas Crystal floating in the middle if you are playing Normal Difficulty.
Back to the South Corridor, go West and leave proudly via the Front Gate. Your mission is completed successfully.
Total , and .
The user interface has been enhanced. It has much more than just the collapsible sections. Please refer to Thief walkthrough User Interface on how to interact with this walkthrough.
Onward to Mission 13: Strange Bedfellows
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