Guilding the Lily, by Yandros
Mission 1: Downtowne Funk

Entry for the Thief 1 20th Anniversary Contest
Game: Thief Gold, NewDark v1.25 or higher

v1.0 - Nov 30, 2018


"Guilding The Lily" takes place a few days after the events of the "Thieves' Guild" OM in Thief Gold, and before "The Sword".  Its story draws heavily upon details of the two OMs "Assassins" and "Thieves' Guild", so it is advised that if you are not very familiar with the details of those two missions, you either replay them before playing this FM, or at least read their synopses at the Thief Wiki to refresh your memory:

"Assassins": http://thief.wikia.com/wiki/OM_T1_Assassins#Mission_Background
"Thieves' Guild": http://thief.wikia.com/wiki/OM_TG_Thieves%27_Guild#Mission_Background


BRIEFING:

That night a week ago when Ramirez' creeps tried to kill me, and took out poor Farkus instead - and I got inside his mansion and stole the purse right off his belt - the old warden later wound up dead. Killed in the night, a red smile grinning at his throat. Since I fenced a few valuables from the job, including his prized fire poker, naturally my name reached the Baron's ears.  Whoever did it either got really lucky with their timing, or executed the perfect frame-up job on me.  Either way, I now have the highest bounty in The City on my head for murdering its most prominent Warden, and I'm being hunted by both the Baron's watchmen and Ramirez' rough boys.

The stylistic wet work made me think of the Downwinders, who I infiltrated a few nights ago and pinched a nice sapphire vase, for which my fence got a hefty sum.  I called in a favor with an old associate on the inside, who said that Reuben took exception to my acquiring that vase, and decided to take out Ramirez and pin it on me to teach me a lesson. I may have underestimated Reuben - guess I need to get back inside his mansion and find something incriminating that I can get into the hands of the Baron's bulldogs.  Going back through the sewers again is a bad idea, as they've surely redoubled their patrols down there - I'll need to stick to the streets and find another way in.


CREDITS:

Inspiration and Guidance - skacky, Melan, the Darksmoke District
Testers - Tannar, Nightwalker, ffox, Random_Taffer, Peter Smith, marbleman, JustMax
Contest-friendly resources - skacky, Squadafroinx, DrK, marbleman (all else made from stock resources by Yandros)
Translations - Zappenduster (DE), Athalle (FR), Piesel (IT), MoroseTroll (RU)