klatremus on 21/10/2020 at 18:18
Definitely mission 4 and definitely Byron. Anarchic Fox told me himself.
klatremus on 21/10/2020 at 19:22
Hmm...there could be a discrepancy between the original plan and what actually started to be made. I know the Nine Year Sleep was definitely mission 3 and some of it was made but nowhere near completed, but I don't know if the files are saved or recovered. Its story ends right where Switching Rails picks up. Perhaps Anarchic Fox will chime in himself.
Playing as Dante in SR makes no sense, as the protagonist talks about his disdain for the Circle (of which Dante is a member) and his need to infiltrate it.
Galaer on 21/10/2020 at 20:01
I actually thought that Mission X was final test for Dante to really enter the Circle and he was doing that in order to infiltrate the Circle. I mean everybody is calling him a newbie. That's why I suspected that in Mission 4 (this WFFF) Dante got caught, maybe he was betrayed. And that's why in Mission 5 (Switching Rails) he escapes from prison. There is really no info about Mission 4 other than the title (it's probably first letter of words of the full title). Works on it may probably never started. Maybe it was just camvator mission. Only CoSaS team knows that.
Two more thing: How Byron would appear in prison? I can expect that from Dante being betrayed, but it's hard to imagine the same with Byron. And how agent Nightfall knows where he's located so easily? If Nightfall is the one who betrayed Dante, it would be easily understandable for me.
klatremus on 21/10/2020 at 21:16
This is a quote from Anarchic Fox sent to me in a private message:
"In 9YS and SR you play as Byron, Dante's enemy and antithesis (in that he's best as a loner, while Dante is best in a team). The 9YS design document (from the same thread) gives a good overview of Byron, but SR is from an earlier plot draft, in which Byron used equipment instead of spells. 9YS is a prequel to CoSaS as a whole (don't even ask how number three became the prequel), and it concludes with the ship voyage mentioned in the MX cinematics. Byron arrives at the City, but did not account for possibility of being barraged by gas arrows. He wakes up in prison without equipment, and his first goal is to retrieve that gear; however, shortly before, one of the Circle Agents broke into prison and stole that gear in order to ascertain Byron's identity."
In the same message he also referred to Switching Rails as "mission four".
Galaer on 21/10/2020 at 21:33
If Mission 4 (WFFF) was just camvator mission, then Siwtching Rails would be real mission 4. There is also chance that CoSaS team changed their plans about Mission 4 and forgot to update their website. Anyway, thanks for info, klatremus.
Edit: Watched a bit your ghost run. I suspect that FCBT is simply First City Bank & Trust.
Edit 2: So you ignored key to the Circle that is located near noble's body on 2nd floor of Train Station. I believe this completes bonus objective.
Galaer on 25/10/2020 at 17:31
OLD BAD FELLOWS
START
Short monastery mission. First you must go to guard post and when Mechanist will turn right, run to main entrance and grab mace above it. Return to starting point and go to Kitchen. In Chef's room is chest. In Dining Room is plate, bottle and goblet. Go to Backyard via left door and steal key from Mechanist. Go through left door to Chapel.
Here you must go along left wall, quietly mantle on braziers and drop on marble. Slowly go behind Mechanist, moss floor and nudge him slightly forward. Go to holy fountain in shadow and lean for priest's key. Go upstairs.
UPSTAIRS
When Mechanist will go on terrace near stairs go towards High Priest's Room and douse gas lamp. Thanks to that sleeping priest will not wake up. Take Office key from left fake spider. In bath is ring. To get out from bath you can't mantle, you must jump. Wait for Mechanist to go right and visit Office. Here you are forced to cut banner (ghost bust), read scroll and take it with you. Also read golden plaque for new objectives notification and use lever behind victrola.
BASEMENT
Go to Basement and steal key from Mechanist. Go behind him and unlock Diving Room. Open hatch to Crypt and leave it open, because Mechanist can see through it, but you can't. In hidden room are 7 pieces of loot and 3rd Keeper Medallion. Go back to Chapel.
GROUND FLOOR
Go around Chapel again and enter Priest's Room. Take vase, unlock chest to get 3 Safe keys, another Safe key is under bed. Also read book. Leave and go to Acolytes Quarters. Douse both torches here. In 1st room on the left is 2nd purple box and 3 stacks. In 1st room on the right are 3 masks. In 3rd room on the right is Laboratory key behind banner. Behind curtain are 3 plates above fireplace. Go to Servant Quarters.
Douse 2 torches and open 2nd upper and lower chest for loot. In next room engineer has Technic Office key. On shelf is drill and lever. Woman's body has mansion key. Go to the end of passage and douse gas torch. Inquisitor can spot you through painting, so you must go along left side. Grab fire poker on the way. Strafe run to safes and unlock 2 upper safes for loot and diary.
Return to Backyard and go into Technic Office. Use Laboratory key on lock behind 1st banner. There is moneybox key near treasure chest (on the right side, it may be tricky to highlight it). Return to Echrem's Room in Acolyte Quarters and unlock 1st purple box for Lucky Dagger. Then you can go into Diving Room in Basement to finish this mission.
STATS:
Time: 0:30:50; Loot: 3081/3081
Pockets Picked: 5/7; Locks Picked: 10
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 0/0
GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE
Galaer on 25/10/2020 at 17:32
THE PLOT THICKENS
ACT 1
Short city mission in which we are forced to tail 2 thieves. First has purse, so it's good to grab it after he will stop and resume his route. Thieves are also pretty blind, so it's easy to ghost this part. Afterwards is journey to Sewers. After listening to thieves conversation, I get optional objective of killing all 6 thieves. That's impossible for ghosting, because thieves are packed and they are watching at each other. That's also the reason why supreme ghost is impossible. Afterwards you must return to shop. There are new guards, but just crouch and hug left wall to safely get to shop with only few 1st alerts.
STATS:
Time: 0:13:46; Loot: 520/580
Pockets Picked: 2/2; Locks Picked: 1
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 0/0
GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: POSSIBLE
SUPREME GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE
ACT 2
Short city highway mission. It's pretty easy to ghost. You don't need to use valve to open partcullis. Instead from wall jump to another wall and from there mantle on Aqueducts ledge.After Fortress is another problem. Ledge above street is too well lighten, so you are forced to douse torch, avoid guard, climb barrel and mantle on wooden ledge. In the end you enter room, which gets locked and alarm launches. But nobody activates it, nobody gets alerted either and you must get caught to complete the mission. So I don't count it as a ghost bust.
STATS:
Time: 0:13:46; Loot: 520/580
Pockets Picked: 2/2; Locks Picked: 1
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 0/0
GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: IMPOSSIBLE. One purse is in sewer passage behind banner.
ACT 3
This is ghosting mission. There is a lot of leeway though. At the beginning I'm going after lockpicks. Afterwards I'm starting looting this mission. The hardest to get is nugget above Stables. For it you must douse 2 torches near Front Gate. Don't douse 2 torches near thief, because Mechanist's 1st alert will put nearby thief in search mode. Next you must crouch and drop from higher stone gargoyle near golden helmet Mechanist to top of ladder and quickly climb up. Quietly descend into room on the other side of ladder. To leave just drop on doused ladder on the left.
I finished mission with 2 bonus objectives completed - I got Hand of Doom and collected all 3 followers gifts.
STATS:
Time: 0:35:12; Loot: 3080/3200
Pockets Picked: 6/6; Locks Picked: 7
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 5/5
GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: POSSIBLE
Galaer on 25/10/2020 at 17:33
RETRIBUTION
It's the same city as in Guardmen of Haddur. City itself is empty and there are only lasers to avoid. In Crypt we are forced to kill zombie, then go through tricky monster section in mine. Later we are forced to steal crystal from very sensitive ghost and escape. To avoid ghost busts I'm skipping Crypt by mantling over metal fence at the back of Cemetery. Then I avoid main entrance to Cemetery and Crypt and frob medallion near body to finish this mission earlier.
STATS:
Time: 0:04:30; Loot: 0/0
Pockets Picked: 0/1; Locks Picked: 0
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Secrets: 0/0
GHOST: SUCCESS
Galaer on 25/10/2020 at 17:38
SISTERHOOD OF AZURA 2: THE HOUSE
Save shows title: "Shadow of Her Sister". Large and very tough mansion mission. There is lots of patrollers in house. It actually reminds me Rebellion of the Builder. There are also events that spawns allies and enemies into mission, so it will be a bit chaotic mission. There will be fights. And a lot of weird stuff will happen. Also I'm not 100% sure what exactly trigger these events. There is a certain objective of raising Sarah that I will try to avoid, because Sarah is located behind icicles in Freezer and you are forced to destroy them to grab her.
PRISON
After getting freed carefully (prisoner from left cell can alert to you) go left and lean for Sewer key from body. Go right. In next room is triangle lockpick, chest with some moss arrows, Rhuben's Note, 4 water arrows and coin stack (this will trigger loot objective - 4000). Next use Sewer key and grab blackjack from engineer. While having it doesn't complete any objective, I may need it for breaking icicles. It's impossible to escape through Sewers. Too much light, metal floor combined with shallow water and Hammerites prevents going forward.
CRYPT
Return to room with equipment and use door leading to Crypt. On the right is statuette. Go twice left. Also here on my 1st attempt to ghost this mission 2 Hammerites blocked on each other. It was impossible to progress. In room with generator is panel controlling watchers and chest with flash bombs. Taking flash bombs spawns zombie impossible to avoid, so avoid it. Next go right. At the end of dark corridor is mask.
Next room is weird. I'm not entering it, because it's really optional place. It has secret lever under ramp, which gives invisibility potion. In treasure chest is holy sword. I'm not sure if this sword is necessary for triggering events. I hope not. Otherwise I will be forced to restart this mission. In room is stationary thief and room is visited by Hammerites. And taking holy sword spawns 2 skeletons.
So what's the problem? If you douse torches Hammerites will start to 1st alert to that and many times it leads to search mode. If thief will see you, then he will attack you. So I tried to quietly enter the room from the side, but then thief and Hammerites go into search mode. No matter how far they are. Thief suddenly becomes our ally and ignores us. That's why I decided to avoid this whole mess with alerts by skipping this room.
ESCAPE FROM PRISON
There is another way out via Prison't 2nd floor. Go upstairs, take rope arrow shot into wooden beam. Stay on the right side near door and wait for archer. Enter door, crouch and quickly go to teleporter room on the other side. Afterwards shoot moss arrow into switch to open gate and mantle over window. In next room is chest with rope arrow and invisibility potion. Go quietly upstairs. Mechanist has speed potion and you are forced to nudge him all the way to opposite guard post. There is light lever and bottle. Use double door to enter house.
MAKING LIFE EASIER
The first thing you will notice is objective about escaping Prison hasn't been completed. That's because this objective completes only is you use teleporter in Sewers. Don't worry, I will get there later. House has lots of patrollers, lots of light and watchers. Also I need square lockpick. So first thing for me to do will be disabling light in mansion, disabling watchers and getting lockpick.
First you need to rope up to 2nd floor and mantle on metal railing. Double door leads to Power Room. There is light panel (this also disable watchers on 1st floor) and secret switch on middle machine. It leads to some potions. Go right behind Mechanist. You are above White Hall. Grab 2 statuettes. Go to Bathroom for water arrow and press secret switch in shower. Passage with nugget inside leads to Security Office. Inside is square lockpick in safe. I decided to unlock door, then I roped up into passage.
Return to Power Room and go left. Here are stairs leading down. Also guards go through west and north doors. Go west. In 3rd room are 2 masks, behind curtain are 3 masks and chest that beside loot also gives rope arrow. Return to stairs and go north. Go to corridor on the right patrolled by guard and archer. 1st room leads to Swim Pool. I'm gonna use it soon. You need to go to 3rd room (Accounts). Inside you are safe from patrollers. Rope up to disable most of the watchers on 2nd floor. On shelf is Security Office key and 3 urns. Also 2nd safe has a lot of loot. Use other door to visit next room. Priest has a purse. Return to Swim Pool and rope down.
SWIM POOL
On the left side is secret passage. Open it, but don't use it. It will close automatically after few seconds, but there is nothing valuable there. Behind treebeast is invisibility potion. Use lever to unlock door on the right side. After 10-20 seconds treebeasts will kill archer. Wait for them to calm down. Go behind right treebeast, quickly run through light to another shadow and slowly go towards skull. Lean and grab Skull of Azura Malky.
Use door and go left. In the first room is noble with Mechanist. Noble has a purse and on fireplace is statuette. Unfortunately you can only grab purse by approaching noble's side. Statuette you can only grab with invisibility potion. Go to 2nd room and don't get spotted through windows. Grab chest and go through last door to fountain. Douse fire and grab elemental arrows, there is also skull shot here. Return to Swimpool and go to east door leading to corridor.
SOUTH PART OF FIRST FLOOR
So for now I'm gonna skip Music Hall and Bar. Instead I'm going south to Servant Quarters. In 1st room is moss arrow and ring. In 2nd room - water arrow. Ignore White Hall and go to next corridor with glasses. In 1st room is chest, in last room is coin stack. Go to corridor and go to Dining Room. Wait for conversation to end and grab 2 candlesticks and vase. You can't go to Kitchen from here.
Return to corridor and unlock stairs room at the north. From there I'm gonna try to enter Kitchen. This isn't a good spot to enter it though. Much better is to go through Swim Pool secret passage and enter through north door. Right here you will experience the big traffic going on. There is really a lot of patrollers. Kitchen can be visited by one of them and inside is old woman who walks randomly and can visit corridor. It's really annoying to enter Kitchen from east side. Luckily near door is light switch, so it will make 1st room dark.
In Kitchen is secret switch in fireplace. It just opens passage to west Robotics Control, it also spawns neutral old woman who looks identically to woman that alerts to us. Near window to Dining Room are 3 plates. In side storage is Freezer I mentioned previously and on top shelf is moss arrow. So right now I decided to visit Music Hall. To get there I'm using north door to get to corridor leading to Hall of Whispers. In 1st room on right side of desk is secret switch that opens well known passage to Swim Pool. Through it I'm going to west door of Music Hall.
MUSIC HALL
On the stage are 3 goblets and 2 bottles. Because there are 2 guards that may end fighting each other on 2nd floor blocking way to Music Hall, I decided to rope up to it's east side and mantle on metal railing. There is only 1 guard right now, but later will be patroller and archer. Chest has moss arrow, on carpet is other moss arrow and bottle. Guard has Robotics Control key, which you don't need. Despite gas torch you can sneak behind him with just 1st alert. Rope down back on stage.
You need to get to stationary red lady at the north. In this room is patrolling red lady and patrolling small bot. When they go north, quickly run to shadow under right pillar. Then grab red lady's Library key and urn in corner, then go south to door leading to Bar.
BAR
Quickly grab 2 bottles on shelf and 3 coin stacks and goblet on counter. After conversation Mechanist will attack Hammerite out of nowhere. Barkeeper will run for help. In my run Hammerite won and transformed into haunt. I hid in Music Hall and waited for everyone to calm down. I entered Bar and shot moss arrow into light switch on the other side. Then I hid bodies in shadow. Go to Barracks.
BARRACKS
Wait for conversation to end and run to fireplace. Grab fire poker. Dodge 2 patrollers and enter Training Room. Close door and use lever on right side to move target right. When guards will enter Barracks and close door, shoot broadhead arrow into middle of target for secret purse. In chest is rope arrow, on wooden beam is gas arrow. Go downstairs and use ladder to go down and finally complete "Escape from Prison" objective.
GOING TO LIBRARY
Go to Barracks stairs. There is secret passage behind banner impossible to enter without cutting it. Luckily there is just some equipment. Go to 2nd floor. You are above Bar and there should be Hammerite and Mechanist and they should start fighting. There is no one here. Grab coin stack and go to corridor. Here is weird thing. Whenever I try to get to 1st room I see Hammerite and Mechanist running and they attack me. I needed to hide quickly in left corridor. They ignored me and return to room above Bar. I guess they got scared by fight in the Bar. I went to Library. Safest path is detour west, then north through Accounts.
LIBRARY
At the beginning is thief who will run away and vanish. Go right to nobles and quickly steal bottle and key from them. After conversation friendly thief will appear and attack them. It would be good if he will kill them here, so if one of them will run away, just reload. Use key to get on 3rd floor. Here is thief standing in window. In SW corner is Mechanist Spell, which completes objective. Use double door, grab candlestick and read book. This will unlock side door and guard will come here. Hide in shadow on the side and when he go past you, quickly run to his room and climb to 4th floor.
Here is book that gives objective of raising Sarah. This objective that I don't want to trigger, so I don't read this book. Near it is Azura Bedrooms key. On 5th floor is book to read. Guard who unlocked ladder passage is standing in front of ladder, so it's impossible to use it to go down or up. So I needed to drop from 4th floor on sofa. There is also new priestess and there is new guards on 3rd floor of Library. Leave Library.
AZURA BEDROOMS
First let's return all the way to locked room near Music Hall. It has priestess walking inside. Mantle on bookcase, then upstairs. In purple box is Freezer key. On lower floor is flute on stand. Go to west stairs and go west. In 1st room is Parents Bedroom key under plant. There is book and ring near it. Friendly priestess will spawn. In 2nd room is secret switch revealing tiara under bed.
In 4th room go along left wall to grab statuette on fireplace. Go along right wall to grab Hall of Whispers key on right window. On top of bookcase is secret switch, which reveals secret room with purple box. Read book and grab Evidence. Take it to 1st room and put it on bed. In 5th room is lever turning off watchers in Hall of Whispers.
DOING RANDOM STUFF
Right now I decided to visit White Hall and see if event happened. Nope, glass cases are still closed. Also I noticed that bots and more Mechanists spawned. There is really flood of them. I went to Swim Pool, roped up and grabbed Strong Box key from new priest. I went to Security Office. Servant from here vanished, which means I can grab 2 coin stacks and dices from locked safes without nudging him.
I unlocked Freezer, grabbed water arrow and gas arrow and tried to pick Sarah's body, but it was impossible without breaking icicles. i also unlocked entrance to Hall of Whispers from 1st floor, but nothing new happened in White Hall. So looks like I am forced to trigger Sarah's objective. So I went back to Library.
I roped up to wooden ceiling. Thanks to that I could mantle to higher floor. Before reading book I backup save in case of something else triggering event in White Hall. This time dropping on sofa didn't work and I was forced to jump+mantle on floor lamp behind priestess. I went to Freezer and destroyed icicle to grab Sarah's body, then carried it to room with secret passage to Swim Pool. I left body there and went to check White Hall. Glass cases were still locked, but I noticed skeleton spawned and was killed by patrollers. And I can grab artifacts through glass. Earlier I couldn't do that.
I returned to my backup save before reading book and returned to White Hall. Earlier I didn't notice that skeleton died. So I took Eye and skull through glass. Looks like I can actually complete the mission without triggering Sarah's objective and breaking icicle. From there I went to Hall of Whispers through entrance on 1st floor.
HALL OF WHISPERS
Here are 4 torches, but you can't douse them, because both woman and Mechanist 1st alert to that, which ends with search mode. Luckily there are some areas with shadow. Your target is drop Eye on right pedestal to unlock portal. This will trigger lots of fireballs from ceiling. At the beginning I hid in dark corner near pedestal. While fireballs don't alert anyone, they can hurt you and lighten you to reveal your position. So I moved to shadow under column. When fireballs ended, I sneaked into portal.
PORTAL
First douse 2 torches: one between archers and other below them. Jump right. There is tiara on statue. Go right and use lever near. Free imprisoned girls and leave lever in down position. It also opens passage to tomb with 2 masks on both sides. Rope up under 2nd archer, because he has North Hall Gear, then drop down.
Go to west part. Here is invisible teleport to Hall of Whispers. Before going through it. crouch to avoid making noise. Sneak to elevator and go to Library. Because we didn't revive Sarah, there is no new bots patrolling corridor to Library. Locked Library door behind you.
NORTH HALL
Before unlocking North Hall make few backup saves. Also put gear on pedestal, so you will not need to go through inventory to find it. After opening door, big fight between our allies and Mechanists and guards will happen. Most of the time our enemies will win, but it's possible to win this fight. I noticed that I have better RNG if I hide in dark corner near door. After 2 thieves from Library will enter, I close door and run to shadow on the side to observe.
After 20 tries 2 thieves stayed alive and started to attack turret. Metal noise summon guard and archer from different room and they killed thieves. After calming down they left. The only thing left for me was watcher. Lever turning it off is on the other side. Near it is invisibility potion and statuette. Then I just went to exit door. Because of this fight, I have few bodies discovered in my stats.
STATS:
Time: 2:29:33; Loot: 5242/5407
Pockets Picked: 20/34; Locks Picked: 15
Back Stabs: 0; Knock Outs: 0
Damage Dealt: 0; Damage Taken: 0; Healing Taken: 0
Innocents killed: 0; Others killed: 0
Iron Beasts Destroyed: 0; Disabled: 0
Bodies Discovered: 5
Secrets: 7/9
GHOST: SUCCESS
PERFECT GHOST: CHEMICALLY POSSIBLE with at least 1 invisibility potion (for statuette in room near Swim Pool).