Murder Most Foul
Abandoned by Yandros on Jan 22, 2008

Notes
· There are two versions of this mission included in the Cows folder
o yandros.cow contains the last version of the mission as I worked on it. o TNT.mis and mmf.gam contain additional changes made to my .cow by TheNightTerror, which don’t exactly follow the map (the west sector is a park and greenhouse instead of the religious HQ building).
o Feel free to make use of either one you want.
· There is a JPG of the map (not Thief-ready, just to let you know the plan for the city).
· There are no custom resources as this was originally started for the SSR Contest, which didn’t allow custom resources.
· My plans for the mission are below. Feel free to use them or not.

Background Info

Robert is an illegitimate son of Bertrand Everett, the mayor of Westbridge. Robert’s mom, Everett’s former mistress, disappeared when he was a young boy, and while he never knew what happened to her, he always figured that Everett knew something (she had told him who his father was), or even had a hand in her disappearance. He grew up in an orphanage and took to the streets at a very young age, and learned the ways of the thief to survive.
Caprial is the leader of a local religious group (we should find an image in the stock textures to use for their symbol), who’ve been working to keep the Mechanists out of town to avoid losing their power. Since the town is small (thanks to the contest limits !), it hasn’t been too hard to do so far. Caprial is a powerful member of the city council, but Everett is the mayor and head of the council. Caprial used his knowledge of the mistress affair to force Everett (mayor and council leader) to agree to deny the Mechanist requests to establish a chapel/recruitment center in town (and also he demanded money for his silence, of course). Being the mayor, Everett wanted to avoid the political fallout sure to arise if the affair and getting "rid" of the woman were revealed (Caprial would try to find a way to hide his own involvement in it before exposing him). But now that he’s dying, Everett has told Caprial in no uncertain terms that the deal is off and he’ll approve the next Mech request for location in the city. This is Caprial’s motive now - fear of losing power.
The night before the mission takes place, Robert decides to use his skills to break into City Hall.
Robert went there wanting Everett to simply acknowledge him publicly. To his surprise, Everett, now dying and without an heir, agrees not only to leave his wealth to Robert, but also to go public with the affair himself, and expose Caprial’s involvement. He also reveals to Robert that he had asked Caprial to send his mother away so that she wouldn’t ruin his political career and destroy his marriage by going public with the affair, and that he had regretted doing so ever since – but that he didn’t really know what Caprial had done to get rid of her. Since he’s dying, the political consequences don’t matter, and he wants Caprial disgraced and off the council before he dies, to make sure he doesn’t become the next mayor and thus able to keep his religious power (as well as punish him for years of blackmail). Everett writes the new will, which they agree to take to the bank the next day to have witnessed and also to give Robert access to Everett’s accounts. But Caprial is waiting in the shadows ; he gasses Robert (who’s younger and stronger) first, then easily kills Everett, who’s weakened by his illness. He then runs Robert through with his own sword, killing him, and then places it in Everett’s hand to make it appear like the old man somehow managed to defend himself against the intruder although he died himself in the process. Rather than go to the police with his story, he waits for them to find both bodies and draw their own conclusions. In the Thief universe, the cops wouldn’t have the technology to be able to realize it’s a setup and would probably buy it ; even if they didn’t, they wouldn’t be able to figure out who might have done it.

Once the player finds Robert’s journal and learns the backstory, they’ll have to break into City Hall and find some evidence at the murder scene, or else find something (info or a key) to help them get into Caprial’s offices so they can find evidence there about not only what happened last night, but also what Caprial did to Robert’s mother. Then they have to leave the evidence on the Captain’s desk at the city watch station to make sure Caprial is brought to justice.

One possible alternative twist - on Expert, Robert could be wounded and in jail, instead of dead at the murder scene. Two extra objectives could be to break him out, carry him back to his sewer home, and leave him with William (his homeless friend) and also give William the evidence about his mother.

Sequence of Events

Mission starts in Garrett’s room at a local, rundown inn. He’s in the small town of Westbridge, looking for a little quiet and some easy pickings since the police presence isn’t real strong in the small town. (Captain Parker and Lt. Daley are the only non-grunts at the station.)

Initial Objectives :

Objective 0 :
Gather your gear to get ready for a little local thievery.

Objective 2(Hard)/3(Expert) :
No point in making any enemies in this town, it might prove a good place to return for future jobs. Don’t kill any unarmed people/Don’t kill anyone.

Objective 4(Expert) :
There’s a curfew at this hour so bluecoats will attack on sight – don’t be spotted or alert anyone (optional).

Once this is complete, the door becomes frobbable. As the player approaches it, there’s a knock at the door. When they open it, a letter is on the floor just outside the door and the sound of someone running away. Pick it up and read it :

“Garrett,

My name is Robert, and I am – or was – a local thief. I say that because if you are reading this, it’s because I am either rotting in jail or, more likely, dead. My fellow homeless friend William will have delivered it to you upon my failing to complete a mission last night.

Let me begin by telling you who I am : the illegitimate son of John Everett, the mayor. I was born 19 long years ago to his mistress – I only know who my father is because she told me many times – although my mother disappeared mysteriously when I was only seven years old. I grew up on the streets like you did, learned to pick pockets and slip into shadow to survive – although your skills far surpass my own. I had one kind friend who taught me to read and write as a child, but he’s long since died.

I care not for my father’s fortune – although a small portion of it to keep me from having to steal would be a welcome comfort – nor do I want him to publicly acknowledge me as his son. I only wish to know what he knows of my mother’s disappearance. I paid a week’s pilferings to obtain a map of where his office is in City Hall, on the north side of town, and a bit more to find out what nights he works late… and last night was the night I decided to break into his office and confront him. Apparently not all went as I had planned, as was my fear – and so good William has thus delivered to you this note.

If you have any interest in finding out what happened to me, and perhaps defending the honor of a fellow thief, then proceed to the “home” I share with William, found in the sewers under the eastern area of Westbridge – that’s the “nice” neighborhood, and yields the best loot for blokes like us. There you’ll find my journal which will reveal more information about me and what’s going on than I can describe in this short letter. The choice is yours, do as you will.
Robert”

Reading the letter reveals a new objective :

Objective 1 : Find your way to the sewers under the eastern part of town, and locate and read Robert’s journal.

Unfinished