Fan Mission: Perilous Refuge by Dragofer (2019/09/10)

[Dragofer]

There isn't much that draws an honest man to a place like Wrecker's Reach. Once a well-known port under a name no one remembers, it was a hub for lucrative trade in colonial wares and a warm shelter for those crossing the great oceans. Now it's just another stinking hole, like all the others I've been scratching out a living in. The ale is poor, a knife awaits you down every dark alley, and the rich folk have long since abandoned their crumbling residences to petty barons.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I saw a grand merchant ship arriving in the dark of night. It's anyone's guess what brought it here, and more importantly what lies in its cargo hold, but I intend to be the first to find out. Not that this will be easy, though: a vessel like this will be sure to draw plenty of attention, and I've made something of a name for myself around here, so I'll have to be cautious the moment I step out into the open. Well then, it seems holing up at these wretched docks is finally paying off.

Notes

This is a standalone harbour mission set in Wrecker's Reach, taking a smaller section of a former Crucible campaign map as its starting point. My stated aim with this one was to create something a little simpler than what I did previously, with most of the weight on exploration and looting. Simply an unexpected nighttime excursion in a locale that hasn't been visited before.

 

Changelog - v2.1

Spoiler

- reimplemented scripting for the true dowry chest
- dropped visual acuity for all outdoor AIs
- added small steam particle to a certain food bowl in a secret area to show it's still warm
- fixed grammar issue in one of the readables in the dilapidated house
- one of the ship lamps was swinging around an incorrect pivot
- added health potion to the apartment above the shop
- black bottles in a warehouse chest
- 2.08 set as requirement because of new undead assets employed in v2

Changelog - v2

Spoiler

Overall, this update contains many adjustments to improve playability, ranging from light radius adjustments to physically extending the ship to give the AI an easier time maneuvering onboard. The mission also takes advantage of 2.08 changes, such as restoring the ability of projected lights (like moonlight through windows) to cast shadows and much better visportal diagnostics.

There is also some new content to round off this update. If you've been to the dilapidated house in the previous version, you'll find that there is... more, which shall not be named in a changelog. In any case, here's the full changelog:

General:
- Light radius of many lamps, mainly oil lamps, has been reduced or adjusted
- Shadowcasting for projected lights now re-enabled, thanks to an engine fix in 2.08
- Loot goals have been lowered on all levels, and total loot has been increased slightly.
- Replaced fonts on several readables that showed up blurry ingame
- Exchanged "noclipmodel 1" for "solid 0", to prevent AIs from seeing the player through objects
- Used new visportal diagnostics to find & fix broken visportals for better performance
- Briefing mentions the possibility of stealing from the houses
- Decreased water fog density

Ship:
- The ship has grown in length, allowing almost all narrow ship stairs to be widened for better AI maneuvering
- Ship's internal cargo stairs are now useable, replacing a narrow staircase nearby which has become a gallery
- The player can now climb the first level of the ship's rigging
- Both exterior ship doors are less brightly illuminated for easier entry to the ship
- Ship's log shortened and with more emphasis on the clue for the dowry chest
- Lady Anna is no longer aboard the ship at the time of this mission (non-combatant fleeing AIs have a hard time with getting out of cramped spaces)
- Real dowry is unlocked and has more frob distance. Loot is only frobable when the lid is fully open
- Real dowry's hiding location made a little more visible
- The navigator didn't enter combat even though he was armed
- Can now get closer to the wall when standing on the bottom bunks in the posh cabins, for full darkness
- Put locks on the posh cabin doors
- Moonlight glow in the captain's cabin has been dimmed down
- Ship's surgeon now has enough space in case the door to his infirmary is open
- Navigator now patrols the bottom deck instead of overlapping the captain's patrol
- Stuff on crew mess table now casts shadows
- Drawers in the captain's cabin move faster
- Captain should no longer cycle between the same activities in his cabin
- Nonfrobable purse replaced with lootable purse in captain's chest
- Navigator log, which lies in a bright area, can now be put into the inv
- Extinguished one of the lamps in the bottom cargo hold
- Ship's food storage now lit by a candle instead of a ceiling-mounted oil lamp for easier escape

Ruined House:
- [New content]
- No longer possible to glitch through the ruined house attic hatch by frobbing incessantly
- Spooks' novel excerpts have been spread out across the ruined house
- Ruined house top window now starts open
- Missing pipe on a stove

Other:
- New rope connection between the main warehouse and an accessory storage house
- Warehouse bouncer was standing at map start after 2.08's sitting changes ("too far from sit node")
- Replaced covered furniture with my fixed version
- Replaced bullseye lantern and brig models with updated versions
- Fixed black skin on bullseye lantern
- Could get stuck on the 3 sacks on the table in the warehouse ground floor
- Player hideout door is no longer pickable, must now use the key hanging next to it
- Pier ladders in the west half of the map didn't reach low enough to get out of the water
- All mini-warehouses now have only unlit windows
- Hard to walk onto the ladder leading to the hideout from above
- Frank's shop front has received a facelift
- Cliffs' texture scale slightly shaper
- Collision issues behind the bouncer's chair in the warehouse

 

Download

Google Drive

Simply place the mission archive in your darkmod/fms folder and start TDM. The new mission will appear.

Credits

Beta testers - Amadeus, Cambridge Spy, lowenz, VanishedOne, Boiler's_hiss, acolyte6
Harbour building exteriors - bikerdude as part of the Crucible Campaign Team
Editorial consulting - Amadeus
Custom environmental ambients - AugustSandberg, jimsin, deku, kangaroovindaloo, all of Freesound, dario
Custom wooden floor texture - judith <dr.judym81@gmail.com>
Prescott Stahl's writings - Spooks
Painting in splashscreen and briefing - John Atkinson Grimshaw
Painting in briefing - Ivan Aivazovsky
Boiling water sound - Kyyrma
Improved animated flag - Arcturus
Improved nautical models - Xendrox

[Amadeus]

Congrats on release!!! I'm looking forward to checking out the final version

[Spooks]

Congratulations on the release! What an opportune time to check on the forums! I've been itching to get back to playing some TDM, I'll put a pin on this and give it a go tomorrow.

[joebarnin]

Congratulations! Downloading now.

When it rains, it pours: I'm about to release my mission too.

[krrg]

Just played this through: brilliant job!  The mission was more extensive than what I presumed originally;

Spoiler

Just based on the objectives alone, I didn't realize there would be so much to explore on land as well as in the ship!  I only realized that I should start poking around the buildings after I couldn't get enough loot out of the ship itself.

Somehow I did manage to get myself stuck on top of the table downstairs in the shop and had to noclip my way out. Not sure how that happened; I need to kick my bad habit of trying to walk on tables.

And of course, at the beginning, I promptly fell into the harbor after exiting my hideout, not realizing that murky blackness down there was in fact...water and not land!

 

[Goldwell]

Another fantastic mission Dragofer, it was fun, creepy and very atmospheric. Bravo!

 

There was something I wanted clarification on, i'll put it in spoilers

Spoiler

The haunted house was so well done and incredibly creepy! I loved following the bread crumbs leading up to that top room. But I was wondering was it intended to be more than atmospheric?

 

Because how I got in there was I stacked boxes up and entered on the balcony, I explored around the interior (which was beautifully done) and then I tried to get into the attic bit but it was blocked.. so I went outside and saw the connecting rope in that tower, went up that way and then inside.

 

I jumped up to the rafters and explored the rooms, expecting something creepy to be in there (when that window closed I nearly shat myself). But unless I missed something there was no actual monster there.. just a lot of tension.

 

I figured out that yeah the thief made that his new hideout, but what killed him? did I miss a readable or something? In the tower the guy mentioned how inside the house he saw a flames and activity but that was about it for what happened. OH and the thieves journal near the window ledge, but that only mentioned how he made that place his hideout.

 

I was left wondering what or who killed him? Just wanted to see if that was your intention?

This was my favorite of your releases so far! Thank you for all of your hardwork

 

P.s. how much gold do I need to bribe you with to convince you to make a zeppelin FM?

[nbohr1more]

I added this to the in-game downloader

[Dragofer]

Thanks krrg and Goldwell, I'm really glad to hear you enjoyed the mission as much as you did!

Quote

The mission was more extensive than what I presumed originally

Hehe, it looks like my missions have a tendency of playing out that way, even if it's not intentional.

Quote

There was something I wanted clarification on, i'll put it in spoilers

The haunted house was indeed only for atmosphere and tension. It did cross my mind to add some subtle scripted events, or even a hostile AI that always vaguely knows where the player is, but in the end I was content just to let the ambience and the readables do their work.

The last entry in the thief's desk readable was about him hearing strange footsteps in the house at night. This was ambiguous, as it could either be another human or something haunting the house. Personally I had an apparition in mind, the clue being that the thief's body obstructed what seems to be the only way to get in or out of the top floor. So whatever killed him may still be somewhere on that top floor.

Really don't think you'd need to bribe me to make a zeppelin mission, though around 5000 gold would certainly oil the gears. Really enjoyed the T2 FM campaign The Flying Age. I can definitely see the appeal in a posh luxury establishment high up in the skies (with an industrial underbelly to make it all work).

Edited September 11, 2019 by Dragofer

[Kerry000]

Holy sh*t Dragofer, this mission was fantastic for so many reasons:

Spoiler

• Atmosphere - Incredibly well done. Right from the get go the environment feels unique and foreboding, as though you're definitely a thousand miles away from law and order out here in Wrecker's Reach. 
• Audio - Everything from the ropes/sheets flapping against the masts in the wind to the gurgling water for the ship's interior ambiance. Really draws the player in.
• Attention to detail - So many little things that added to the immersion, like the lamps swaying in time with the ship, the moving/dynamic shadows in the sitting room of the first haunted house, the dagger behind the Captain's pillow (like he doesn't trust anyone, not even his own crew). Really great. 

This is easily one of the best FM's I've played in a long time. 

Could you clarify something for me? 

Spoiler

Maybe I missed it, but what was the story with the body in the chest and the hand in the lady's cabin? It seems like there's a deeper story going on that isn't quite clear. Were the two frigates that were chasing the ship meant to be ghost ships that were somehow related to that body? And what were the bright lights the navigator kept seeing in the water?

One thing to consider:

Spoiler

Maybe it should be clearer that there's no secret room between the cook's larder and the cargo hold (behind the sealed door). What I mean is that it seemed to me that those were two doors on either side of an impenetrable room. I spent forever trying to find a way in there - trying the shutters on the ship's exterior, swimming underneath the ship for a hidden underwater entrance like the ship in the warehouse district in Thief 2: The Metal Age). 

When I eventually discovered that the real dowry's just under a floorboard in the larder, I wished I'd realized earlier that the sealed door in the larder and the sealed door in the cargo hold are actually the same door. 

But hey, maybe it's just me being dumb. Happens often enough 

Thank you very much for this great mission. I thoroughly enjoyed it and, as a result, have got no work done today!

EDIT: I found 3264 loot and all the hidden areas. A fun map to explore and hunt for treasure.

Edited September 11, 2019 by Kerry000

[JackFarmer]

This is extremisticst (a word that I created myself due to the insufficiency of the English language)  good looking.

After 80 minutes I only found 500 loot and I am not even close to the ship...

With AI settings "hardcore" this turns into a nerve-racking challenge for a ghost walkers in a league of their own.

Thank you very much for this mission!

Jack

Edited September 11, 2019 by JackFarmer

[Spooks]

What a nice mission! I can say with certainty that that it's a must-play now that I've finished it. I liked the pacing a lot, with how you can presumably just swim to the ship or work up to a logical crescendo by going through all the neighbourhood in order. I think my favorite part was how you did the broken ceilings with moonlight streaming through them, it's so evocative . It's that type of visual synecdoche that really essentializes the atmosphere you were going for. I also liked the custom stuff in the captain's quarters and the cramped stair/balcony interiors, those still feel in-scale unlike in some other missions.

I was playing on Expert and I couldn't figure out if I was supposed to get the Secure Key from somewhere or not (suffice it to say I had to fly about to find it with noclip, curious after I'd done all my other objectives).

[joebarnin]

Excellent mission. Worth exploring to find all of the details. You've created a satisfying vignette of that location. I second Kerry000's comments, the atmosphere, sound, and details are superb.

I love some of the little touches, like

the way the hanging pots and pans in the ship gently sway with the rocking ship. Or, the crooked door that won't open because it is hanging off its hinges, in the deserted building connected to Frank's shop. I really appreciate that level of detail.

Thank you!

Edit: forgot to mention, I loved

way that that the ship was jam-packed with cargo. Felt so real. Again, a little thing, but added to the verisimilitude.

.

Edited September 11, 2019 by joebarnin

[Bienie]

Just finished the mission this evening. Great stuff! Quite the challenge trying to get all the loot with no knockouts, which is how I prefer to play. I really enjoyed

the deeper backstory of the lady, and how spacious the ship felt despite looking small from the outside. But most of all I think I enjoyed the city area with the dilapidated buildings and overall gritty atmosphere and story.

Overall I think this is a must play, at least for experienced taffers. There were very few problems with the mission aside from a bit of performance struggles when overlooking the ship and inside the shipping company (strangely).

Excellent work!

[Melan]

This has been a cool mission to get reacquainted with TDM after a long pause. Challenging, consistently well written and atmospheric, and always top notch in appearance. An excellent continuation of the nautical themes in your previous missions. Good to finally see Wrecker's Reach put to use, too. I hope the other side of town (which was not featured in this FM) also sees the light of day some time.

[Dragofer]

Thanks guys for your kind words!

@Kerry000regarding the aspect you wanted clarification on:

 

 

The lady is a source of bad luck, owing to a family curse that can't be escaped, hence the arm's note. I didn't go into any details, but with the corpse in the dowry chest I was implying that their fortune was built on violent deeds (inspired by a saying I once heard, that behind every great fortune there lies a crime).

This ill fortune affected the whole ship, when they found their destination to be taken over by the Menoans. After a narrow escape they were forced to cross the ocean back, but with too few supplies to make it anywhere else than Wrecker's Reach, a dubious haven.

The navigator's lights were a reference to a mission I intend to make in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe it should be clearer that there's no secret room between the cook's larder and the cargo hold (behind the sealed door). What I mean is that it seemed to me that those were two doors on either side of an impenetrable room. I spent forever trying to find a way in there - trying the shutters on the ship's exterior, swimming underneath the ship for a hidden underwater entrance like the ship in the warehouse district in Thief 2: The Metal Age).

 

 

Damn, that was something I wanted to avoid when that door came up in beta-testing. Will have to think on that again.

 

[Dragofer]

@Spooks I'm glad to see you say that it's worked out for me to capture that mood. 

That secure key is obtained after reading the ship's log found in one of the drawers in the captain's desk. That readable detailed what brought the ship here.

@Bienie Didn't think I'd ever see someone call this ship spacious, especially with this much cargo lying around. Well, I did spend quite some time with the clipper and vertex drag tools to get every last bit of internal space. And yep, no knockouts is my preferred style too for the challenge it brings.

@Melanthere's still plenty of Wrecker's Reach left, and it's a place I'd like to see more of. My aim with this one was to make a more focused adventure, based around my new ship asset, that could be released within a moderate timeframe. Also my first city mission and adopted map, so I was looking to make experiences with that. Let's see where things go from here.

[Spyrano]

Very tight mission. Lots to do in what seems at first to be a small space. Thank you!

[lowenz]

This FM is really a little jewel

[snowy]

This is a great mission! It looks great, sounds great and was really fun to explore. Thank you, Dragofer!

Spoiler

I like how there are many places to explore and each place feels unique. It felt like multiple smaller distinct mission types woven into one mission.

 

[peispud]

Seconded, very well done mission

[Dead Rat]

I'm going to enjoy this one, thanks Dragofer. Haven't properly delved into it yet, I've just been wandering around the harbour soaking up the atmosphere. It really captures the feel of a small, decayed port at night. And it's good to see another fine Atkinson Grimshaw painting at the start.

[Tarhiel]

On 9/14/2019 at 10:44 PM, Melan said:

This has been a cool mission to get reacquainted with TDM after a long pause. Challenging, consistently well written and atmospheric, and always top notch in appearance. An excellent continuation of the nautical themes in your previous missions. Good to finally see Wrecker's Reach put to use, too. I hope the other side of town (which was not featured in this FM) also sees the light of day some time.

I concur, Doragofer, would not have said it better myself

I have only 1 question: 

Spoiler

That lady on the boat, is she a cannibal or something? Is the threatening message on her table, held by severed hand, which disappears after reading, something which will be more developed in the upcoming missions or is it just some mystery never to be explained?

 

[MrMunkeepants]

echoing all the sentiments, this is a great one!

I cheated a bit (between tips here and noclip) and still didn't find everything - a sign of a densely packed area that rewards careful observation. looking forward to your next fm

[NeonsStyle]

Congratulations Dragofer on the release. Will play this tonight.

[kano]

Haven't played this yet, but it sounds pretty cool, like the ship mission from Thief 3, (one of the highlights from that game). Also something we haven't seen a lot of in TDM.