Thief Chapter 3: The Forgotten Ruins

This last part of chapter 3 isn't as hard as it seems. The only problem is a minor "puzzle" that involves more back-and-forth interaction than thought.

To start off, crotch down grab the treasure, and move on. The passage way is very limited in scope, so you can't get lost. There is a narrow space at the end to look for, Hit "X" to enter, and start tapping "X" again when you need to lift the debris out of your way. At the end, there's another small opening that you need to crotch through.

Use focus to reveal a trap here. The button isn't far away. Just follow the red wires to find it. Open the door, and enter "The Forgotten Ruins." There shouldn't be any guards until after you get the book that you came here for, so just relax and enjoy the game for now.

Go down the stairs, and look around a little. You'll see that there is a single, small treasure on the ground next to a wall. Use focus to reveal a switch close to the treasure. Press it, then move on. It doesn't matter if you grab the loot before or after pressing the switch.

 The chest in the next room has some rotting books in it. Just go through the broken window to your right, and move on. Even though there aren't any guards (YET), familiarize yourself with the general area. You will be heading back through parts of it, and you'll want to know the best hiding places, regardless of whether you want to snipe or sneak past the upcoming guards.

Either take the path, or enter the top of the next room, and slide down the rope. As long as you get to the bottom floor, it doesn't matter. Loot what you can, leave, and look for another small opening to crotch through. Follow the ledge to a climbing wall and hop over. I didn't find a reason to shoot the rope holding up the chandelier, so I left it alone. There is a creature in the area, but I didn't have to deal with it.

You are now in the Scriptorium. Drop down to the bottom level, and look for a bookcase. There's a section of books that's hiding a hidden switch. Feel around for it, and go through the door. Turn to your left, and use focus. Stare at the symbol on the wall, and you get a new focus point. Turn off focus, and head back out, by using the hidden switch.

Go around the larger room that you were in before finding the focus point, and climb up the wall with the white markings. Turn right, and climb up. Face the wall, and climb back into the building. Look for the window that has the cross beams outside it. Hop onto the beams, and follow them to the end. Drop down, and grab the treasure.

Search the bookcase for another hidden switch. Use it, and head through the hidden door. Welcome to the Library Towers. When you see the green beacon light, Garrett tells you that it's time to head toward the Central Tower. As you move on, there's a peep hole to your left. Turn right, get a running start, and jump the gap in the road. You are now in what I like to call, the Land of the Pointless Stairs. Yes, the puzzle that I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

Go through the next room, exit through the broken window, and heads towards your first wheel. Press "X" to access it, then move the left analog controller (joystick to us older folks), and turn it. If it doesn't move, turn it the other way. You will now see a very large, double sided stair case move towards you. Once it's in place, cross over to the next area.

At the bottom of the stairs, head right, crotch, and get the item from the top of the barrel. Head back out, and ignore the wheel that's on the other side of a planked walkway.  You have to come back this way, so save it for later.

Head up to the top of the new building/room, enter through the doorway, and hop down the center. Grab the poppy, and head out the door. Use the wheel, and you get a small cut scene involving the creature that I mentioned earlier. He can't reach you right now, so relax, and enjoy the scene.

Head back through the room, climb up to the next floor, and head back to the wheel I told you to ignore earlier. NOW go turn the wheel, and head up those stairs.  Follow the pathway to an opening in the railings, then jump to the stairs across the gap. Trust me, you'l make it.

Maybe.

Keep heading up until you reach a room with a chest in it. There's more rotting books in it. I honestly thought I made it back to the first chest somehow when this happened to me the first time (I played the game through chapter 3 before. After this chapter, I', in new territory, due to a glitch in chapter 4).

Head out the next doorway, and you see the green light. Go up the stairs, and jump across. Save first if it makes you feel better. I did. Of course, a cut scene starts as soon as you jump, so I doubt you can slip and fall, even if you try.

Now it's time to gt the book. Use focus, and reveal some books that can be used as a switch. Grab all of the loot from the statues. The one statue that doesn't rotate can be reached from outside of the room. Just exit, follow the path, and grab the treasure. Then double back to return. There are a few jumps involved. I think I slipped the first time around, so saving can save you some replay time.

Now face the table, and look for some carvings. Yep. The same kinds of symbols that are on your "key." Use focus, then align the rings on your dial and insert it into the podium. The book is all yours! Now, all you have to do is escape with it. Remember, there's a strange, ferocious creature in the ruins!

Climb onto the table, grab the rope, and head up. Head outside, cross to the next tower, and head down the center. There's a rope to grab if you need it. Head out, and jump the gap (I hate jumping in FPS games, by the way). Check out the peephole from before. And yes, it's the same one from before. You're almost out. Almost.

Now it's time to deal with the guards I mentioned near the beginning of the post. Use the bookcase to exit, and sneak up, or past, the first guard. There's some treasure to be found, so grab what you can. We still need to buy the wire cutting tool at some point, and the other supplies cost money, too.

Keep working your way back to where you entered the ruins, until you find a very well lit area. There's some more guards, so be careful. The light make it hard to sneak around, and some of them have a torch as well.  There's one walking around in the first lit area.

After him, there's a staircase with two more guards that stick fairly close together. You can hide, and sneak attack the first one, but the second will most likely attack you before you can drop the body. I don't know why, but I can't get Garrett to drop a body as soon as he's attacked. The guard always has to get one or two good hits in before I'm allowed to drop him.

No matter how you deal with the guards, you have to get up the stairs. There's a room at the top, that happens to have a guard with a torch. He's blocking your exit, so deal with him however you can. You now have to climb the crates, grab a rope, climb up, do a Tarzan jump to the next rope, and climb a bit higher. Now hop onto the platform, and you're almost home free.

Run out the door, go up the stairs, and jump across the gap to a wall with hand holds. Shimmy across the wall, jumping from one hand hold to another as needed. Finally, you reach a small climbing wall. Go up, and you reached your cut scene.

And remember that creature? I have no idea what that was about at this point. You never have to deal with it.