“What a Terrible Accident” Let’s Play Dishonored: Part 2: The Escape Artist

As it turns out, I have friends on the outside who are willing to help me out. Enclosed in my daily bread was a key to my cell and a note, giving me instructions on how I can break myself out of this god-forsaken prison. Since I’d rather not get hanged tomorrow morning, I decided to do the obvious and make my escape. Outside my cell, a guard left his sword on the table, exactly as the note said he would. In my present condition, a sword may be too heavy and weigh me down too much, so ultimately a decide not to bring it with me, though I take the money left next to it. I turn to the exit and see three guards out on patrol. None of them have seen me yet, so I take the opportunity to grab one in a choke hold, incapacitating him. After dumping him in a safe place, I use some deft maneuvering and stealth to move passed the other two and head upwards. It appears that I somehow located the armory, so I take the time to pilfer a few coins and doses of Sokolov’s “amazing” healing tonic/plague elixir.

Before leaving, I hear a few voices outside, so I peep through the keyhole to get a better view. Sure enough, more guards are right there. The gleam of a key radiates from the pocket of one of them, so it seems my next course of action has already been determined. My intuition works in my favor, as the door forward just so happened to be locked. Passing through the yard’s walkway, I choke out another poor guardsman on patrol, and proceed to the interrogator’s room. As per my instructions, a bomb should be the safe in the back room. If I didn’t suspect that Baldy and the Mole weren’t evil enough already, an audiograph and note they appear to have left behind that implicate them in their crime. I’ll stash them in my prison garbs for later, as they might come in handy.

For whatever reason (presumably because my outside friends set it up), the safe containing a highly volatile explosive compound was left completely unlocked and unguarded. Note to self: After clearing my name and reclaiming my status, remember to lecture the guard about the merits of not keeping explosives out for prisoners to obtain! Oh well, I suppose it makes my job easier in the long run. Luckily, the gate to the yard is unlocked and only two guards are on patrol. Sneaking passed them is trivial, and now I am only a few rooms from freedom. Unfortunately for me, the gate is sealed and the only way passed is to sneak behind the booth to press the switch. Worse, the controls are guarded by on patrol on the outside on the booth and two inside. It may be tricky, but I think I can do it. As I had hoped, Dunwall guards are as clueless as they’ve ever been. The ease of which I managed to sneak around and choke the guards was surprising. All I had to do was wait for one to walk off and then go for the other, dealing, with his partner in the booth afterward. In only a few moments, the lever is pulled and the gate opened. The next room has only two more guardsman separating me from the taste of fresh air. My training kicks in, and I remember not to be too hasty in my escape. After knocking out the guards and sealing the door back up so that more of them won’t come rushing in, I plant the bomb and dive into the river below.

Swimming to dry land isn’t a big challenge, as the shore is close by. Prison garbs clinging to my skin, I follow the path set before me in the instructions received and make my way to the city’s sewer system. The way forward is blocked, and shit! I hear voices coming from the other side of the door. Thinking quickly, I climb up to the top of a nearby stack of crates and into the crawlspace above. Listening in on their conversation, it becomes clear the one of these two fears me, and the other has no idea what I’m capable of at full strength. Sadly, neither of them will ever live to find out, since as I was moving above them, the rats swarmed in from below. I had figured the plague was getting bad during my “vacation” at Coldridge, but there’s no way I could imagine that the rats could become so aggressive so quickly.

Pressing forward, I see a valve that opens a nearby gate, corpse attached to it. Poor man must have also tried to escape through here. It appears I have arrived at a pit that guards have been dumping plague victims into. Fittingly enough, the rats are gnawing at a corpse next to the valve of the next gate, blocking my way. To avoid becoming food for the rats like the gossiping guards back at the entrance, I’ll need to use my head. Those corpses look like tasty distractions for the rats, so I pepper them around, away from the valve, and take off. Fortune seems to be on my side this day, as this next room only contains a few, easily disarmed traps. Deftly, I disable them, using a platform above me to navigate around the tripwires, before they spell heartache for me, and make my way to the drop off point indicated in the note from my cell.

There I find a container with gear that will prove most useful. A lightweight, retractable sword, crossbow, and new garments with which to adorn myself. After taking a few moments to change I use the enclosed key to open a nearby door, and spot a safe on the other side. The note next to the safe indicates that to find the code I need to “look to whiskey for the answer.” Since I doubt getting drunk will give me some sort of epiphany, I decide to look around. I spot a shelf of whiskey behind the safe. Behind the numerous bottles of alcohol, there appears to be a combination: 451. Sure enough, the safe unlocks and I obtain a spot of coin and a healing elixir.

As I progress, I find myself above another group of guards. I can see at least two of them, and doubtless there are more. There’s not much more I can do besides wait for one of the guards to turn their back so I can choke hold the other. Fortunately, there appears to be path above the guards via the sewer pipes, so I do not have to confront these guys head on. I prepare my sword and crossbow, just to be safe, but as it turns out I have no reason to worry. Daylight quickly reaches across my face, and I breath a sigh of relief as the man I encounter calls my name and tells me he’s a friend. The way he acts doesn’t give off any obvious discrepancies, so I decide to trust him. Samuel, as he tells me his name is, works for the people who assisted my prison break. His job is to send me to them so that I might meet them in person. Since I’ve nothing else to do with my time, I tell him I’m ready and we head out.

The boatman takes me to an old dive in the city, calling it “The Hounds Pit Pub”. From what Samuel tells me, this place doubles as the HQ for the organization who lent me their aid. Since they no doubt spent many resources bringing me here, the very least I can do is hear them out. Docking ashore, the old man escorts me to the bar, where I encounter two individuals and stand back for a minute, listening in on their conversation. One of them is clearly nobility, judging by his outfit. The other is in uniform, and has the look of experience in his eyes. My gut tells me he’s the leader of this little outfit, likely a navy man. Anyway, they talk about needing me to perform wet-work assignments for their cause. So, they’re too chicken shit to get their own hands dirty. It’s just as well, I suppose. After all, I need to do some legwork in order to win back my reputation and save Emily. I don’t enjoy the thought, but I’ll have to steel myself for the trials ahead.

Approaching them, the two introduce themselves as Admiral Farley Havelock and Lord Trevor Pendleton, so my preliminary suppositions were right on the nose. Odds are I’ve seen them before at the royal court, but Jessy has always been the center of my attention, as more than just her bodyguard. If we did meet I’m having trouble remembering it. They tell me that the Mole has crowned himself “Lord Regent” in the absence of a true heir to the throne, and uses this title to oppress the people of Dunwall. Since my skills and common sense are legendary in this city, they want me to assist their little group of resistance fighters by killing the Lord Regent’s allies and ending his reign of tyranny. If it wasn’t for the fact that Emily is missing, I’d never even consider the deal. However, I do not have much in the way of options.

Before I get a chance to mingle with the others, my new employers tell me to meet with Piero Joplin, their inventor. This name I am familiar with, if only because Sokolov droned on and on about how it was so unfair that Piero graduated the academy at a younger age than he. If he’s an enemy of Sokolov, he’s a friend of mine, so I enter his office as politely as possible. As I walk in, he tells me that he’s prepared to spend a large portion of his time crafting for me all the tools that I would need. As he prepares to finish his latest work, a tank drops from his machine. I quickly move up the stairs to fetch a replacement, and place it in the receptacle. The little project he’s working on just so happens to be a mask which I can use to hide my face from the public. Like it or not, I’m a wanted man, so it’s best to be prepared.

Piero explains that this isn’t all he can build. Weapons, upgrades, supplies are all covered under his expertise. I politely nod, but deep down I know that I will not need his services as much as he suspects. Dunwall’s police force may be stupid, but it’s detectives are not. If I’m to succeed in my new life as an assassin, I’ll need to make sure that I leave as little trace as possible. They can’t even know that there was an intruder. I trained many of the Dunwall Bureau of Investigation myself, I know they have the skill to find me and the professionalism to do it despite their personal feelings of the Mole… I mean Lord Regent. However, since I trained them, I know what they’ll be looking for and can use that to keep my mark on the world as concealed as possible. This will take skill, more than I might have even in my best shape.

I look at the list of wears Piero says he’ll be able to craft and hand him the money he needs to improve the optics in my mask. Apparently now I’ll be able to use it to spy on people from a distance. It even comes with a built in sound amplifier so that I can eavesdrop from further away. For my purposes, this should prove incredibly useful. While I am there, I ask him to drill an extra hole in my belt. Since my stint in Coldridge, I appear to have lost some weight. After he finishes with his work, I smile to Piero and we part ways.

While he recommends I go straight to bed, I feel that exploring the place and getting to know the other residents will be a good use of my time. Overhearing some of the staff, it appears that I’ve already made impressions, some positive and some negative. Pendleton’s servant Wallace seems like asshole. A bit too stuck up for my personal tastes. On the other hand, Havelock’s bartender, Cecelia, gives me the impression of someone who is quite kind, if timid. Lastly, the maid Lydia gives off the same aura Cecelia does, but there’s clearly a fire in her. Audiographs laden around from Havelock, Pendleton, and Piero indicate that these guys all clearly have their own separate interests in partaking of this conspiracy. Let’s only hope that this doesn’t interfere with my rescuing Emily. I end my day scavenging the area for this Piero can sell, and then head to bed wondering how exactly I’m going to pull off any assignments without leaving behind enough trace to get caught….