marbleman on 31/7/2019 at 22:32

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The Lower Catacombs

With the four keys in hand, I was finally able to unlock the door to the Lower Catacombs. The first place I arrived at was the Tower of Runelight. Here, it makes sense to do things a little bit out of order. Avoiding the zombies around the area, first hopped over to the Tower of Silence and picked up the Eye of Knoss. Then, jumped back over and made my way to the lower levels where I got the Brain of Knoss. Finally, from the lowest level, entered the Tower of Silence again and read a scroll, triggering a whole bunch of new objectives. In addition to getting the two body parts I had already found, I also had to get Knoss's heart, liver, hand, and ashes. Dropped the scroll back right away. Of note here is another item for pick up: the Talisman of Atunement. It can be used from the inventory infinitely, and each time, it teleports the player back to the Tower of Runelight. It can be handy for backtracking, but it's not necessary to take it.

Now it's finally time to talk about the area proper. The central undercavern is a huge place with a bridge connecting a few of the towers, and an apparition patrolling it. He seems to have excellent vision, so I only moved when he was fully turned away or behind hard cover. Down below are a bunch more zombies and skeleton spiders, but they are not very good at looking up, so they were not much of an issue.

(http://www.imagebam.com/image/33f3c21289650664) http://thumbs2.imagebam.com/af/8d/9f/33f3c21289650664.jpg

First, decided to tackle the Ziggurat of Elders. Had to solve a simple puzzle in the Tower of Doors to get there and jump over a pressure plate to avoid setting off a trap going in and out. The ziggurat is one of the tougher areas. It is patrolled by a bunch of carrion children, which act like bugbeasts but are much tougher, walk even slower, and have a new voice set. It was easy to detect second alerts, but the first ones were seemingly the same sounds as the idle chatter. Thus, I had to be extra attentive and patient while getting the Stomach and Liver of Knoss. The toughest part was passing the tight corridor on the middle level while the carrion child was turning around in a side room, but I ultimately managed to avoid any busts. At least, I think so.

(http://www.imagebam.com/image/fcdddf1289650674) http://thumbs2.imagebam.com/ac/be/9d/fcdddf1289650674.jpg

The Tower of Dead Thoughts was next. No issues here: four levels patrolled by a single, easy-to-avoid haunt. Frobbing a book on each level makes them float towards the center of the tower and then collapse into a bunch of pages, revealing the chest with the Heart of Knoss. Is this property damage to the books or just a cool particle effect? I'd say that it's the latter.

(http://www.imagebam.com/image/23740b1289650684) http://thumbs2.imagebam.com/21/4e/1c/23740b1289650684.jpg

Now that I was on the lowest level, it made sense to exit into the undercavern and head through the burrick colony towards the lowest vault. First, picked up a hard-to-get tiara. It's a tricky piece since the area around it is lit, gravel-floored, and uneven, making it hard to move without noise. Going through the burrick colony, I was able to get the purse on top of the bridge, since it's much safer to approach it from this side, but had to skip a purse in the lower part of the caverns. The area is well-lit, has a stationary burrick, and is patrolled by a few more. There was simply not enough time to creep-crouch in while the patrollers were away. An easy pickup for Ghost, but a no-go for Supreme.

(http://www.imagebam.com/image/0a8c5d1289650704) http://thumbs2.imagebam.com/ca/45/ed/0a8c5d1289650704.jpg (http://www.imagebam.com/image/807bab1289650714) http://thumbs2.imagebam.com/ba/3b/29/807bab1289650714.jpg

To gain access to the lowest vault, had to cross the River of Fire. What the player is supposed to do is use the stepping stones sticking out of the lava. However, they sink into it and never resurface, so I see them as traps. Luckily a good angled jump allowed me to get over to the other side without needing to touch any of them. In the next room, the player is supposed to shoot the button to extend the bridge, but once again, a good jump circumvents the need to do that. Picked up the Ashes of Knoss and teleported back to the undercavern.

(http://www.imagebam.com/image/1a5c401289650724) http://thumbs2.imagebam.com/2c/e5/06/1a5c401289650724.jpg (http://www.imagebam.com/image/7fd8501289650734) http://thumbs2.imagebam.com/fd/e2/f0/7fd8501289650734.jpg

Entered the burrick colony once again, but this time took the opposite way and arrived at the Halls of Eternal Tranquility. Approaching them from here is by far the best option. Out of all the places in the lower Catacombs, this one is the biggest and, in my opinion, the toughest to Ghost. To gain access to the Hand of Knoss, I had to collect five golden bones and drop them into a casket on the top level. The toughest bit is the beginning. Entering the area triggers a continuous magic missile emitter similar to how it worked in the Bonehoard. While this in itself is not a bust, the missiles alert a nearby zombie to hunt mode, and he becomes quite bothersome to pass. Having waited for him to turn away long enough, plunged into the water below, which is the only way to progress. There is no telling whether I could have avoided a second alert from the splash were this zombie not already second alerted, but it's likely since the water is quite far below. To get the purse in the bone pile and not get alerts from sleeping zombies, had to begin to mantle out of the water, get the purse, and release the jump key so that Garrett would fall back in. The rest of the area went smoothly... and slowly. Along the way, there are a bunch of zombies to avoid, and the problem is that while there are a lot of dark shadows, very few of them are perfect ones, and some of the passages are pretty narrow. As a result, I had to stay away from the zombies most of the time and wait for them to pass. In the end, I got the hand and was also able to pick up the golden bones again, which now acted as loot and spawned a bonus objective.

(http://www.imagebam.com/image/9566951289650744) http://thumbs2.imagebam.com/49/af/7c/9566951289650744.jpg (http://www.imagebam.com/image/9ecdb31289650754) http://thumbs2.imagebam.com/d0/0b/1a/9ecdb31289650754.jpg

The Tomb of Knoss

Returned to the undercavern, entered the Tower of Knoss, and placed each of his body parts into the corresponding collection plate. This activated a magic elevator, which I rode up to his tomb and sent it back once I was up there. Knoss's tomb is one of the easier areas of the mission. Knoss, the floating bleeding skull, is completely silent and upon alerting starts moving around. Additionally, there are two haunts patrolling the outer circle. Getting both the Grimoire floating above and the loot in Knoss's casket is no problem with a bit of patience. Next, opened up the secret exit, which deposited me in the starting area and allowed me to finish the mission.

(http://www.imagebam.com/image/0b57df1289650764) http://thumbs2.imagebam.com/ef/1f/9a/0b57df1289650764.jpg

Alternate Route

It is possible to Ghost the mission by using an engine exploit. LostCitizen found out that the lever in the Tomb of Knoss, which opens the way back to the starting area, can be frobbed from the other side. Thus, it is possible to enter the tomb right away, circumventing the need to visit the Water Shrine. However, along with the Water Shrine, the entire Upper Catacombs section has to be skipped. As mentioned earlier, finding the key to open the door to the ossuary triggers the objective to gain access to the Lower Catacombs. The way to check it off is not to enter the area, however, but to get and use the four keys located in the Upper Catacombs, one of which is, obviously, the Water Shrine key. Therefore, to make this route work, a whopping 1602(!) loot has to be skipped, which leaves barely enough loot in the rest of the mission to fulfil the objective. From the Tomb of Knoss, it is possible to descend into the Lower Catacombs by jumping down and mantling one of the statues at the bottom to avoid taking damage. It is tricky but doable. Then, the Lower Catacombs section would go pretty much as I described above. The player would still need to collect all of Knoss's body parts to activate the magic elevator and ascend back to the tomb as well as gather enough loot.

Notes
- Triggered a trap opening the chest in the Water Shrine. A Supreme bust.
- Said trap alerted two haunts to hunt mode. Ghost bust.
- Left the Water Shrine chest open to avoid triggering the trap again. A Supreme bust.
- Took two first alerts from a sleeping zombie in the Nameless Ancients tomb. Two Supreme busts.
- Triggered two traps by opening the chest in the Nameless Ancients tomb. Two more Supreme busts.
- Left the Nameless Ancients chest open to avoid triggering the traps again. A Supreme bust.
- The ghost archers in the Hall of the Hundred Heroes spawned in hunt mode. No bust.
- The zombie in the Halls of Eternal Tranquility second alerted to the magic missile emitter. Nothing to do with me, so no bust.
- Skipped 365 loot in the Hall of the Hundred Heroes for Supreme. Opening each chest triggers a trap.
- Skipped a scepter worth 100 loot in the King of the Night Sun tomb for Supreme. It acts as a light source.
- Skipped a purse worth 100 in the burrick colony for Supreme. Could not get it without first alerts.
- Edit: It is possible to Ghost the mission by using an engine exploit. The way is described in the last section of the report. Personally though, it is not worth breaking the mission in half simply to adhere to Ghosting rules.