| “ | I'd rather not have to do this job, but Cutty's a reliable fence, and I don't appreciate the Hammerites abducting him. And he owes me money for the Bafford job. | ” |
Break from Cragscleft Prison is the third mission in Thief: The Dark Project and Thief Gold. Garrett must work his way up through the mines and factory to Cragscleft Prison to rescue Cutty, and on expert difficulty, Basso the Boxman as well.
This is the first mission in the game to introduce both the Hammerites and the undead.
Mission Background[]
Garrett returns from the Bafford job to find that Cutty has been arrested by The Order of the Hammer. Angered by this, he sets out to free Cutty from their penitentiary in Cragscleft so he can be properly compensated for getting the sceptre. In addition to the prison and barracks, the Cragscleft complex includes a factory and mines. As the lower levels of the mines are flooded and reputedly haunted, they offer a good way in.
Garrett eventually makes it to the prison and locates Cutty, who dies from apparent pneumonia shortly after, his only offering being some information which was confiscated and placed in the prison's evidence locker, located in the top floor barracks. The information concerns a fellow thief named Felix and the details of his plan to go grave robbing in the Bonehoard in search of the fabled Horn of Quintus.
When Garrett reaches the evidence locker he finds to his dismay that the evidence has been stolen by an escaped convict thought to be still in the complex somewhere. On 'easy' difficulty finding the missing evidence is enough to end the mission, but on higher difficulty several other things must be done including leaving the complex and even finding Garrett's friend Basso and carrying him out through the mines.
The mission comprises several levels of the mines plus the factory, prison and barracks, introducing the undead as well as the Hammerites to the game.
Objectives[]
- Your map doesn't show the way through the mines, so you're going to have to scout around to make your way to where they hold the prisoners.
- Cutty still owes you for the Bafford job. Break him out, and you'll get your cash.
- Issyt the Beggar borrowed your lucky hand of glory and, knowing him, probably hid it from the Hammers' body search in ways you'd rather not think about. Get it back! (Hard/Expert)
- Escape from the Prison with Cutty. (Hard)
- There's bound to be some pricy religious icons in any Hammer complex. Try to come out with at least 500 worth of their stuff. (Hard)
- There's bound to be some pricy religious icons in any Hammer complex. Try to come out with at least 1000 worth of their stuff. (Expert)
- You've had your eye on Basso the Boxman's sister for a while now. If you break him out of Cragscleft, she'll probably be VERY grateful. (Expert)
- Escape from the Prison with Cutty and Basso the Boxman (Expert)
- A true professional doesn't leave a mess. Don't kill anyone! (Expert)
Later Objectives
- Cutty said the Hammers put the Bonehoard map in their evidence locker. You'll have to locate it if you want the map. (After Cutty dies)
- Looks like you're not getting Cutty out after all. You'll still need to get out yourself, though. (After Cutty dies on Hard)
- Well, even if you can't rescue Cutty, perhaps you can still get Basso out. (After Cutty dies on Expert)
Gear[]
Starting Gear[]
Normal[]
- 15 Water Arrows
- 20 Broadhead Arrows
- a Healing Potion
- 4 Moss Arrows
- 4 Noisemaker Arrows
Hard[]
- 10 Water Arrows
- 20 Broadhead Arrows
- 2 Moss Arrows
- 2 Noisemaker Arrows
Expert[]
- 5 Water Arrows
- 20 Broadhead Arrows
- 1 Noisemaker Arrow
Shop[]
- 20 Broadhead Arrows
- 15 Water Arrows
- 2 Moss Arrows
- 2 Healing Potions
- 3 Speed Potions
- 2 tips - 1 x Hot Tip (Which tells the location of Cutty) and 1 x Tip (Which reveals that the Hammerites are considering recovering the top level of the mines)
Note: on Expert, the shop only offers two Speed Potions which is irrelevant, since the cost to buy three is more than the maximum loot from the previous mission.
Characters present in the Mission[]
| Type | Count | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | Hard | Expert | ||
| Hammerite Guard | 20 | 23 | 23 | 2 less stationary in the Prison and 1 less patrolling in the Factory on Normal. |
| Hammerite Priest | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 more in the Barracks area on Expert. |
| Hammerite Novice | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Prisoners | 12 | 12 | 12 | |
| Green Spider | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Zombie | 7 (4 Dormant) | 10 (6 Dormant) | 10 (6 Dormant) | 2 less sleeping on the 2nd level of the Mines and 1 less active on the 4th. |
Storyline Characters[]
The following characters appear in this mission...
- Cutty
- Basso the Boxman
- Tarquis
- Issyt the Beggar (Dead)
- Nammon (Dead)
Difficulty Alterations[]
There are significant changes in the level's structure depending on the difficulty setting, with players normal difficulty providing the player with more options. There is an extra Holy Water Font on the second level of the mines on normal, which is not available on hard and expert. Also on those difficulties, the mine Elevator won't be able to go from the second to the fourth level of the mines, making it more difficult to ascend. The secret passage in the barracks, which makes the escape from Cragscleft easier, is not there on expert. In addition, the evidence box key changes its location around the office in the barracks on normal and hard, and it is completely missing on expert. A duplicate key can still be acquired from the guard patrolling outside or from Nammon's dead body.
There are also some changes in the terms of AI characters. The Zombies are easier to evade on normal, especially as there is one less active zombie (the one with the bug cloud around it) on the fourth level of the mines. There are two additional stationary Hammer guards in the prison area on hard and expert, making moving between the cell blocks a bit more difficult. The guard who patrols the corridors behind the furnaces in the factory on hard and expert is missing in normal, which makes it slightly easier to access the factory from the staircase connecting the factory with the mines. On expert, an additional Hammerite Priest will guard the entrance to the barracks.
There are a large number of small changes to the mission including: one extra Holy Water Vial in the chapel in the mines (fourth level) on normal; 5 on hard and 10 extra Broadhead Arrows on normal in the mines (fourth level); one of the silver nuggets in the mines on hard and expert is a golden nugget on normal, but is worth the same amount; one extra on hard and two extra nuggets on normal (worth 50 and 100) in the mines (fourth level); the Healing Potion on the belt of one of the guards having the conversation at the staircase in the mines is missing on expert; one of the guards patrolling in the barracks will have a healing potion on his belt on normal but not on hard and expert; one extra on hard and two extra holy water vials on normal on the table near the chatting priest and novice in the barracks; the table with the 3 golden bottles behind the banner in the barracks is gone on normal and hard; the evidence box in the same room will not have a healing potion on expert.
Thief: The Dark Project vs Thief Gold[]
The only difference between the editions for this mission is the slightly modified paths of the guards in the prison area, making sneaking there a bit tougher.
Walkthrough[]
Video Tutorial by JohnnyFox
Loot List[]
On Normal and Hard difficulties, there is a total of 1939 loot where 1554 is in gold, 385 is in gems and 0 is in goods.
On Expert, there is a total of 1688 loot in this mission where 1153 is in gold, 385 is in gems and 150 is in goods. Note: There are two silver nuggets and one gold nugget totaling 150 in loot that are not present in the expert level. These were the ones in the river on the 4th level.
Secrets[]
- To the lower right side of the guards post for cell blocks 3 and 4, there is a low passage that leads to Nammon's body and some coin stacks.
- On the top level of the barracks, in the south room, there is a Hammerite banner. Cutting it down will reveal 3 gold bottles. Playing on normal or hard will provide an alternative way out of the prison here through a narrow passage, but it is not there on expert.
Some Tips[]
- Try making the zombies on level 4 of the mines chase you all the way to the chapel. In that way they will be stacked up ready to be smashed to bits by your Water Arrows.
- There is a way to make the last zombie, on level four of the mines (present only on Expert difficulty), fight the Hammerite Guards near the factory entrances. Wake him up and lead him to the Hammerites, but carefully as it is a dangerous endeavor.
- Use the yard linking all the four cell blocks to gain quick access from one cell block to another and avoid the camera checkpoints, but be aware that it is a high traffic area.
- You can bring zombies to the water just before entering to the factory. They will follow you in the water and just die. This tactic is applicable to Hammerites as well, and considering that the environment is taking their lives in this situation, you are not penalized for their deaths.
Trivia[]
- If prisoners are released and not stopped or killed, they will flee to the bottom of the stairs leading from the mines to the factory.
- The prisoners have low health on higher difficulty settings so blackjacking them will kill them resulting in mission failure.
- If Cutty is blackjacked during the conversation, he won't die, but gets knocked unconscious. It is possible to take him anywhere, but the mission objective won't be ticked, even if he is taken to the starting point of the mission (in this case, it is impossible to complete the mission if played on expert level, since objectives change only after Cutty's death because of the no-killing rule).
- Strangely enough the game states that Nammon is dead when his body is picked up but when his body is tossed in water it will cause the mission to fail on Hard and Expert due to drowning.
- Unlike other unconscious people, Nammon will remain silent while drowning so mission failure can be quite unexpected.
- The developers forgot to add the entrance to Cragscleft.
- One area on the topmost floor (the barracks) is called "exit" in the editor but no door can be found there that can lead to an exit.