Originally planned for FireMage’s “Words” contest

Version: Release 1.0
Release Date:  January 26th 2017
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Whass’at? Who goes?! No…never mind, must’ve been rats. Or one’a them grubbers again. ALWAYS with the grubbers in this city…

Wait, what?! I knew it! It’s not rodents or whatever grubbers are (Mollusks? Cephalopods?), but a taffin’ pack of treacherous, skulking thieves! 

Well I’m Guard Captain The Mike, letting you know that you’ll not be going an inch further! You probably wanted to see what was inside the mansion of the Dennison family, didn’t’cha?! Well, your black little thieving hearts will grieve to hear that his famous jeweled scepter has already been stolen by Conall, the notorious Master Thief. Not my fault, by the way! Not every man can be alert 100-percent of the time! Plus, at the moment of the theft, me an’ Benny were locked in an intense thumb war, and that’s not something a prideful man can just walk away from!

As for Conall…well, forgive my villainous laughter and mustache twirling (seriously though, I can’t help it—it’s a condition), but the guy is just as doomed as all of you! 

What? Were you planning on nicking one of his old maps and following him to the likes of Nilbog? As if you could survive those murky waters, where venomous snakes and poisonous man-eating plants are two of your LEAST pressing concerns. Hell, I have a two year Associates Degree in Advanced Guarding with a minor in Rat Noise Recognition and even I wouldn’t last one Builder-damned second in that haunted place!

Or maybe you wanted to follow him to the Shadepool district of the City? Scale its interconnected rooftops, hop from window to window uncovering one horrifying buried secret after another—an that’s before you even got to the towering Hammerite cathedral or the hideout of the mage assassins! Yar, I did indeed say “mage assassins,” and I’m aware how taffin’ incredible that sounds, but my Guard Captain training has taught me to resist the urge to throw up my hands in the Trickster horns—the universal symbol of all things most Metal.

But…no, I know your type! You were planning on just sticking around here and robbing our poor dancing hobos of their deer legs, weren’t you?! You’re all even more depraved than I thought!

Well, I’m afraid there’ll be no perilous adventuring for you lot on this night! You’re all headed to a nice cozy jail cell, where you’ll have naught to do but lean back and think about the incredible adventure you’re all most certainly NOT about to partake in.

Only…the local jailer likes to lean against the bars with his key ring dangling perilously close to the openings, so no swiping them! We’re on the honor system here!

-The Mike, Captain of the Guard

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IMPORTANT PLAYING NOTES:
THIS FAN MISSION REQUIRES THIEF 2 v1.24 or higher!
If you installed Thief 2 using Tafferpatcher v1.05 or earlier, it is recommended that you reinstall with the latest version to avoid multiple issues with this mission (and probably other missions).
TURN WEATHER AND FOG ON!
The swamp just doesn’t look the same without it.

ENABLE NEW MANTLE!
To do this, find cam_ext.cfg in your Thief directory and open it in notepad. Find the line “;new mantle” and remove the “;”.

WARNING: To those with a snake phobia, mission 2 (Impious Pilgrimage) contains snakes. If they prevent you from playing, you can play this mission on normal, where I have replaced them with other AI. You will not miss any bonus quests or story by changing the difficulty.

Known Bugs:
If you alt + tab out of the game, your health shields and light gem may vanish. To fix, simply save, quit, and load it up again. They should be back now.
Strange things can happen if you try to save and load during conversations. It’s best to wait until conversations are finished to save and continue on in your adventure.
Sometimes guards will randomly scream “EVERYBODY DANCE NOW” and proceed to do so. (Ok, I made that up but it would be awesome.)

When a man doth steal from the market, ‘tis a crime.
When the market doth steal from a man, ‘tis but commerce.

Look thou not to men for justice, nor to the market for truth.

For here doth every merchant be a liar,
And every man worship himself alone.

-- Brother Embry, Memoirs of the City

Story
(The following text is in the briefing video, so feel free to just play now. If you downloaded the no videos version, you can stream them on youtube. See links below.)

As a thief with a reputation for success, it's easy to bite off more than I can chew. Over the years I've received more job offers than I could possibly complete and, as age has become less shy in its steady creep, I've had to decline more and more of them. I've come to understand that my energy is a fleeting investment and I shouldn't take every job that comes my way. Unfortunately this didn't deter me from my latest blunder.
I'd been hired to steal a jeweled scepter from one of the city's newer nobles- Lord Dennison. Normally I wouldn't take a job without familiarizing myself with the victim, but I was beginning to feel my age and it reminded me of old jobs from my younger days.
And I thought tired old cynics never got nostalgic...
I was able to get in and out with my prize without any difficulty, but I took a little time to learn about Dennison from his journal and snatches of conversation I caught from the household staff. To put it mildly, the guy's got issues. Growing up in the noble's court of Blackbrook would take its toll on anybody, but I've now learned that the Dennison family is renowned even there for their pride and vicious temper.
Apparently Dennison had once caught a household servant stealing the family silverware back in Blackbrook. After days of torture, the servant finally died. Dennison complained that the screams were not loud enough and had his torturer flogged. To make matters worse, he's already cranky about being pressured by his father to move here and gain influence in the City. Being robbed makes him look weak to the other nobles. I guess I kicked the hornet's nest because I found my fence dead in his shop tonight. My name must have crossed the poor bastard's lips because I've suddenly found myself...entertaining. 
I managed to slip out before things got messy, but I couldn't get to my stash. These guys look experienced, so it's only a matter of time before they find it. Most of my things can be replaced, but I've amassed a rather large collection of potentially lucrative maps that I'd rather not lose.
I've got to get in, get my stuff, and hightail it to another hideout to catch my breath. 
Things are heating up around here, so I'd better duck out of town for a while.

Briefing Videos:
Mission 1 – Slipping Away: https://youtu.be/fmzrGTizFPQ
Mission 2 – Impious Pilgrimage: https://youtu.be/CAWPpacTTZo
Mission 3 – The Trickster’s Tail: https://youtu.be/qVch89fKaqs
Mission 4 – The Final Thread: (No Briefing)
Outro & Credits: https://youtu.be/JIVgH6S9CGQ
Credits
The Build Team
This campaign was built over a period of…well, a long time. The first two missions were built over two years and the last mission I have been working on since 2009. It was originally intended for Memento Mori 3, which is now sadly abandoned. 99% of the Brushwork was done by myself, but Yandros may have polished it up a bit here and there. Virtually all of the fancy scripting was done by Yandros. The maps and menu art were done by Tannar. I guess you could say this is a YanRanTan mission, but I’m driving the car with everyone else tied up in the backseat. 
 Testers
Brethren, Masterthief3, Marbleman, Nightwalker, Nickie, Yandros, Tannar
Translations
Objects & AI
Asgaroth, Christine, Dale, Dark Arrow, Dark Engineering Guild, Dark Shadow, Drk, Elvis, Eshaktaar, Fidcal, FireMage, Gamophyte, GORT, Greenhorn, Lady Rowena, LarryG, Nameless Voice, nicked, Ottoj55, Purgator, R Soul, Schwaa, Sliptip, Sluggs, Soul Tear, Tannar, Team Cosas, Vigil, von.Eins, Yandros
Menu art created by Tannar.
All maps created by Tannar, except from Slipping Away, which was created by Yandros.
Light gem created by Masterthief 3, health shields by Yandros using the lantern model by Eshaktaar.
Terrain Textures
Dave Guerrea, DEDx (Rob Hicks), Drk, Eshaktaar, Necrobob, Polygon, Vigil, Wille, Yandros
Many Ancient Near Eastern textures used, including Persian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Akkadian, and Babylonian. Also one Roman texture. Props to the magnificent artists who created them thousands of years ago. I understand that these are all different cultures, but I couldn't resist putting them all together.

Other custom textures by Random_Taffer, taken from the following places:
sbark1 - 123rf.com
sbark2, sbark3, sbark4, mudgrass1, srock2, swood1, swood2 - cgtextures.com
sgrass1 - http://hhh316.deviantart.com/art/Seamless-grass-texture-163548160
srock1 - http://hhh316.deviantart.com/art/Seamless-Rock-Face-Texture-271675185
smud2, alsfloor2, blckslm1, gryslm1, brnslm1 - filterforge.com
srock3 - http://www.polygonblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/seamless-texture-high-res.jpg
crmud1 - https://goo.gl/pFApCP
smud3 - spiralgraphics.biz
ffloor1, ffloor3 - texturemax.com
smud2, cobwall1 - fileforge.com
sdirt1 - land8.com
sthatch1 - turbosquid.com
mswall - polycount.com/
alswall1 - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Limestone_wall_tileable.jpg
stump1, 2, alsfloor1 - http://www.mb3d.co.uk/
apsfloor1 - http://www.art.eonworks.com/free/textures/
Crystal textures from - http://www.spiralgraphics.biz/
Animated Duckweed surface - Gort (NOT Yandros)
Smoldering Coals - https://www.colourbox.com/image/a-firey-background-texture-image-2395069

Yes, you may use any of the textures you’d like.

Music
Brian Eno – Lantern Marsh, The Wilds, Suspended Motion, Suspicious
Akira Yamoka – Insecticide, A Stray Child
Masterthief3 – A Stray Child (Remix), City Sleeps, Credits music
In Slaughter Natives – Behind My Walls
Saxon – Crusader
David Wise – Bayou Boogie
Λinλin – Dark forest
Koji Kondo – Song of Storms (Performed by Tom Winter), Stone Tower Temple (Performed by Isac Saleh)
Cities Last Broadcast – Static
Wojciech Kilar – Agnus Dei

All ambient loops created by Random_Taffer and Yandros, but credit goes to original artists above.

Voices
Masterthief3 –  Conall
FenPhoenix – Brother Merek
Mr. Duck – Sir Eldin
Mrs. Random_Taffer – Cypress, Clara, Chloe, Lucinda
Random_Taffer – Drunk Hobo, Grimroot, Lost Soldiers, Moths, Roland, Patchy the Prisoner, Hammerite, Watch Station Guard, Eldin’s Knights
Yandros – Hawthorne, Brother Embry, Hammerite, Thug, Boris Davidov, Eldin's Knights
Thief: Deadly Shadows – Additional voice sets
 
Scripting
Custom Scripts: Nameless Voice, Telliamed
All scripts needed to play the mission are included.
 
These missions are © 2017 by Random_Taffer.
It is not supported by Eidos or Looking Glass (R.I.P.) so don’t go crying to them if you have problems.
Should you need technical or gameplay assistance, search for a relevant thread at the TTLG Thief FM Forum: http://www.ttlg.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=100