| “ | When I get paid for this job, I'm gonna retire in style. | ” |
Return to the Cathedral is the tenth mission in Thief: The Dark Project and the thirteenth in Thief Gold. In this mission, Garrett returns to The Haunted Cathedral with the four Talismans to break the Elemental Wards and retrieve The Eye.
Mission Background
Garrett returns to the abandoned Hammerite cathedral with all four talismans in hand, ready to face retrieving The Eye from atop the sanctuary altar in the midst of wandering undead. After placing the talismans and entering the building the doors close behind him, sealing him in. Retrieving the Eye from a nave filled with all kinds of horrors is now only the first part of the challenge.
The mission consists of the cathedral itself, including some upper rooms, towers and cellar, and its outer cloister and monastic buildings. These include St. Yora's (dormitories), St Tennor's (a factory), St Jenel's (observatory and other functions), St. Vale's (a library and scriptorium), and a cemetery. As the front doors have been resealed, players must exit via the back door of the cathedral, and meet the rather friendly ghost of Brother Murus who offers to help you get out. The remaining objectives chiefly involve helping Brother Murus have his grave consecrated so that he can rest in peace, with other objectives added according to the difficulty level. Although not a large mission in area, Return to the Cathedral is crawling with dangerous undead and not straightforward.
Objectives
- Grab the Eye.
- Leave the Cathedral area.
Later Objectives:
- Aid the ghost of Brother Murus in order to escape. (After Garrett discovers brother Murus)
- Specifics (not listed in objectives menu):
- find his rosary
- find a holy object
- find his prayer book
- find a candle
- perform his burial ritual
- bury brother Martello
- bury brother Renault
- Kill all Haunts
- Specifics (not listed in objectives menu):
Gear
Starting Gear
Normal
- 20 Broadhead Arrows
- 5 Water Arrows
- 5 Moss Arrows
- 2 Fire Arrows
- 3 Rope Arrows
- 3 Noisemaker Arrows
- 3 Flash Bombs
- 2 Holy Water Vials
- 1 Speed Potion
- 4 Talismans
Hard
- 20 Broadhead Arrows
- 5 Water Arrows
- 5 Moss Arrows
- 2 Fire Arrows
- 3 Rope Arrows
- 3 Noisemaker Arrows
- 2 Mines
- 1 Holy Water Vial
- 1 Speed Potion
- 4 Talismans
Expert
- 20 Broadhead Arrows
- 2 Water Arrows
- 3 Moss Arrows
- 3 Rope Arrows
- 3 Noisemaker Arrows
- 1 Mine
- 1 Flash Bomb
- 1 Speed Potion
- 1 Healing Potion
- 4 Talismans
Shop
- 40 Broadhead Arrows
- 5 Water Arrows
- 5 Moss Arrows
- 4 Fire Arrows
- 3 Rope Arrows
- 5 Noisemaker Arrows
- 3 Flash Bombs on Normal and Expert, 5 on Hard
- 3 Mines on Normal, 2 on Hard and Expert
- 2 Speed Potions
- 2 Healing Potions
Characters present in the Mission
| Type | Count | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | Hard | Expert | ||
| Apparition | 2 | 3 | 4 | These do not include the storyline characters. |
| Haunt | 7 | 7 | 9 | 2 more in the cloister area on Expert. |
| Zombie | 18 | 22 | 21 | |
Storyline Characters
Difficulty Alterations
In general there are fewer Undead around the map on lower difficulty setting, making your undead fighting gear go further. There are two Zombies around the cloister area, called “hard zombies” in DromEd, that appear only on the Hard difficulty. Also there are fewer zombies in the graveyard on the lower settings. Smaller changes include: a Healing Potion, in the garden, missing on Expert; a Water Arrow, next to the Healing Font, missing on Expert; a stack of two Fire Arrows, near Brother Martello's body, missing on Hard and Expert; 1 Fire Arrow, in St. Tenor's Factory, missing on Hard and Expert; one less on Hard and two less Fire Arrows on Expert, in St. Yora's (hidden on a ceiling beam); one less Mine on Hard and Expert, and one less Holy Water Vial on Expert, in the winter tunnels.
Thief: The Dark Project vs Thief Gold
Sneaking Out
In The Dark Project version of the game, it is possible to avoid Brother Murus's quests, by blocking the front doors with a skull, then grabbing the eye and leaving quickly. However in the Gold version that doesn't work. The door was modified to have a mass of about one thousand.
Instead of that, sneak unseen past brother Murus by turning left (over the ledge) behind the cathedral back door, then use crates (five of them in the Cathedral attic will be enough) to get over the wall.
There are several ways to skip Brother Murus as explained in this video:
Thief Gold Return to the Cathedral
CybeargPlays walkthrough for the return to the cathedral skipping brother murus
There is an easier variation of this technique which the player obtains at least 2 crates from the attic (See pic below; area encircled in red), mantle on the tree found in the garden and jump(may need to mantle again) on the roof and place two crates then mantle again on the other roof.
Location of where to obtain the 5 crates
Walkthrough
Loot List
There is a total of 2326 loot in this mission where 1611 is in gold, 300 in gems and 415 in goods.
Secrets
Some Tips
- This mission is an "Undead Kingdom". There are no living creatures in the cathedral. Fire and Water Arrows, Mines and Flash Bombs are essential here especially on Expert, unless you are planning on ghosting through the mission.
- On Expert, you can't get a Holy Water Vial prior the mission and there will be few places in the map where you can find one. Keep that in mind and save your vials for enemies that can't be backstabbed like the Zombies.