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

[Dragofer 1043]

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.

 

Download

Google Drive
Dropbox

As well as some screenshots for anyone uploading this mission to their servers

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

Edited September 23, 2019 by Dragofer

[Amadeus 251]

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

[Spooks 650]

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 106]

Congratulations! Downloading now.

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

[krrg 66]

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 2364]

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 1924]

I added this to the in-game downloader

[Dragofer 1043]

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 22]

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

[Spooks 650]

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 106]

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 328]

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 1801]

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 1043]

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.

Edited September 14, 2019 by Dragofer

[Dragofer 1043]

@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 2]

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

[lowenz 521]

This FM is really a little jewel

[snowy 14]

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 15]

Seconded, very well done mission

[Dead Rat 9]

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 29]

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 1]

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 496]

Congratulations Dragofer on the release. Will play this tonight.

[kano 109]

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.

[Bluehawk 11]

The haunted house was interesting, but the lonely shopkeeper was creepier. 

Edited September 26, 2019 by Bluehawk