Dishonored Pre-mission: High Overseer Campbell (Part 1)

DEAR READERS, THE FOLLOWING TEXT CONTAINS SPOILERS, AND SPOILERS CAN RUIN A GAME. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO GET SPOILED ON THE PLOT DETAILS OF THIS GAME, IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU READ SOMETHING ELSE.

Hey people. Before we begin this post, I first need to say, i owe all you faithful readers out there an apology. It's already been a few months ever since I've updated my Dishonored blog, and I'm very soory about that. There's just been so much work I had to catch up on, and hopefully you can forgive me for that. I'm going to try to do my best to stay updated from now on.

Now, where were we when we left off? Oh yeah, Good ol' Samuel the Boatman just picked me up following my spectacular breakout from Coldridge Prison. Now I'm about to meet my saviors and find out why they helped me escape that hellhole in the first place. So without futher ado, why don't we just see what happens?

The Hound Pits Pub
As you may have known, I've just escaped Coldridge and now sitting on a boat with my savior Samuel the Boatman. In the distance, I see a group of large buildings that the boat is heading towards. A few seconds later Samuel enlightens me about the place. "This is the Hound Pits pub. Closed for business, with half the district marked off dead from the plague. We're right under the Lord Regent's nose and he don't know a thing," Ah, yes. Have I mentioned that Hiram Burrows (AKA the ex-Royal Spymaster) is now officially the Lord Regent of Dunwall (that's basically the equivalent of a country's supreme ruler)? Following the death of Empress Jessamine Kaldwin, Hiram Burrows has ascended from Royal Spymaster to the almighty Lord Regent. Anyway, on with Samuel's dialogue.

"Of course, if anyone finds out what we're up to, the Watch (the City Watch, that is) will break in with swords drawn," Samuel continued. As we pulled up alongside a small "harbor", he enlightened me more about the cause that saved me."I'll take you to meet the Admiral," he said. "The Admiral's a man to be reckoned with. If there's someone who can find that missing girl, Emily, and clear your name, he can." he explained. Shortly after I got off my boat, I strolled up to a pub, where I would find my two friends (I later found out that they were the leaders of this whole cause that saved me) who would brief me on some important stuff.Anyway, i should really introduce you to this place:

The Hound Pits

A picture of the Hound Pits Pub (or at least part of it)

Batman's Batcave, Superman's Fortress of Solitude, SHIELD's Helicarrier (what's with all the superhero references?). What do all these places have in common (never mind, I'm not going to wait for your answer)? That's right; they're all headquarters for these Earth-saviors to reside, to plan their next move and all those heroic stuff. Now that's what the Hound Pits are to Corvo; his place to rest in, upgrade his awesome weapons and gadgets and such. Between every mission, Corvo stops by here to plan his next move, to take a rest from all the $#!+ he encountered during his previous mission, upgrade his gear and all that stuff.

It's also a place where he can hang around and chat with his fellow Loyalists, rob them of their food and money (often found in the form of scavengable items), read their diaries and listen to their audiographs about the happenings in the Hound Pits, and even until the point of throwing glasses and bottles at them, jumping on their heads, sliding into them and generally pissing them off (there's a limit, however. Killing them, incapacitating them and using "offensive" supernatural abilities such as Possession and Devouring Swarm will all trigger you to reload at your last save file).

Somebody's about to get trolled...

The Leaders
As I entered the pub, I heard my two "friends" that I talked about earlier talking about their finally awaited beginning of their cause (I forgot the dialogue at that part). As I walked towards them, they stopped their conversation and turned their attention towards me. "We can continue this later (regarding the conversation they had earlier), Lord Pendleton. The man of the hour is here," the man who was (supposedly) Admiral Havelock said. Just in case you were wondering how he looked, here's a portrait of the guy:

Anyway, back to the conversation. "Corvo, I'm Admiral Havelock, a true servant to the Empire, like you. Until the Lord Regent purged those of us who wouldn't recognize his claim on the throne," Havelock continued. "And I'm Lord Treavor Pendleton. I represent the nobility in our little group, but we all act as equals here at the Hound Pits Pub." the man beside Havelock said. Here's HIS portrait so you can get a better look at him:

"This is a momentous occasion, Corvo," Havelock explained. "We've been building a coalition of "loyalists", aimed at ending the Lord Regent's tyranny and restoring the throne,"
"At risk of execution, we're commited to finding young Lady Emily and seeing her crowned as Empress,"
"We've got big plans, but we can't do any of it without you. We need your skills, your ability in a fight. And in helping us, we're going to help you destroy the men who murdered the Empress,"
"Sorry. You must be exhausted. We can discuss this further after you've recovered. But before you retire, you should introduce yourself to Piero. He's challenging at times, but his industrious mind buys him that right." Pendleton then walked away, leaving me to my business. Havelock however, stayed to give me a few more words of advice.

The Equipment Supplier
"Yes, Piero's as much an artist as a technician. He's going to be crafting the gear you'll need. Go talk to him and then get some sleep. We can talk more when you're rested." Havelock finished. So basically, Piero is the "weapons shop" of this game, as it seems. Something tells me that he's going to be a very good friend of mine during the length of this game... So anyway, I was then tasked with visiting Piero. But before I did, I decided to waltz around the Pub and see if there was anything worth scavenging for some extra coins for my much-needed upgraded gear later on. And boy, I found a ton of stuff lying around the map, from the typical coin (which has a value of, surprise, surprise, one coin) until valuable map of the "Cape of Teeth" (I'm guessing it's some sort of area in the ocean, but whatever. It's still worth a whopping 75 coins, and that's all I care about). After sticking around collecting plenty of money (or at least stuff that can be converted into money), I finally decided to focus on the task at hand; pay our good friend Piero a visit.

Just in case you were wondering how much loot I collect over the course of these posts, here is a small guide to how valuable an item I collect in Dishonored can be. And before you advance any further in this post, here's a portrait of Piero just to show you how the dude looks like:

I found Piero in a building near the pub (that was apparently altered by him to look like some kind of workshop) constructing something with a drill powered with whale oil (technology was pretty advanced for the era this game takes place in). "I'll be crafting your weapons and gear. All custom work. For you, I will create the tools of a master assassin," he explained. So I was right! This guy was kind of like the blacksmith in most of those RPG games and the weapon shop in games like Grand Theft Auto. This was the go-to guy if you wanted guns, bombs, and generally crazy new weapons of total kickassness. Oh wait, something's wrong with Piero's drill...

"No! This cannot happen now! The tank of whale oil has run out," Piero exclaimed, hitting the malfunctioning drill with his hand. "Will you get a new tank from upstairs, please, while I hold this (the drill, that is) in place? Be careful, the oil is unstable. When it explodes there is a terrible mess," he ordered me. Okay dude, it's not like I have any other choice. Before I went up and picked up the tank of oil, I searched the workshop for some items that were worth some coins (let's just call these things "scavengable stuff/items"). To make a long scavenging trip short, I found quite a lot (ranging from the tiny bundle of 10-coin Kingsparrow (apparently some kind of bird) feathers to yet ANOTHER expensive 75-coin map, this time star chart) of scavengeable items.

I also managed to procure many excerpts from the many books I found in the workshop. One book was full of Havelock's complaints about the insane items we can sell for coins ("Powdered Crystal? Kingsparrow Feathers? If you want feathers go sacrifice your own pillow.") and that if we were to sell such common items, Havelock would rather prefer us to scavenge for those materials by taking them from those areas out there in Dunwall and not by robbing the Hound Pits of these items (of course, this hasn't stopped me from turning the Pub upside down to get these stuff).

Then I found another book about Piero's own anti-plague remedy that he created. In the book he says that his remedy (also known as Piero's Spiritual Remedy, which I will enlighten you about in a short while), unlike Sokolov's Health Elixir (remember that elixir I introduced to you at the prologue? Yes, that was the exact same elixir I'm talking about right now), which only heals the physical body of injuries, Piero's Remedy instead focuses on the mind of its user, since instead of healing the body of its pain, it cures the mind, calms the spirit and heals all those bodily functions relating to the mind and spirit. This way (at least according to Piero), his remedy is more effective than Sokolov's elixir. Here's a fact file I made to fill you in with the details about this interesting potion...

Piero's Spiritual Remedy

Piero's Spiritual Remedy is one of the two bestselling (considering those two are the only ones I know) anti-plague potions available in Dunwall. As stated in the paragraph above, this remedy heals bodily functions more focused on the mind and the spirit rather than the condition of the raw body. To get an idea of what bodily functions they heal, take a look at this advertisement poster about the Remedy:

According to the poster (at least from my assumption), the Remedy cures chest colds and torpid liver, which are apparently "spiritual" sicknesses. It also cures the emotional energy of women, which is obviously a "spiritual" thing. Sokolov's elixir cures injuries done to the body, but if the drinker of the elixir was stressed out, for example, the elixir will only cure his injuries and pain, but the drinker will probably remain stressed out. If the victim consumes the Remedy, his stressful state will degrade, making him more calm, which is probably essential given the mental condition of elixir drinkers in this dreadful times of the plague. Honestly, I don't know which one is better; the elixir or the remedy. Both have their own strengths and weaknesses.

I saw a few more books in the workshop. One was about the responsibilities of the City Watch in the disposal of dead bodies (which are in high amount due to the plague), another about the impact of using whale oil as a power source in Dunwall (the usage of whale oil is also the reason behind all those futuristic devices), one which explains about Piero's failed experiments he had attempted in the past and his opinion about his inventions (compared to Sokolov's). I found many books in the workshop full of the interesting lore of Dishonored, and not to mention an audiograph about Piero's speculation on the spirit. Anyway, moving on to the main quest.

After I turned Piero's workshop upside-down for scavengeable items and books about Dishonored lore, I finally decided to unplug the full whale oil tank that has been practically BEGGING to be unplugged from its receptacle minutes ago. After I took the tank and placed it in the power socket of Piero's drill (the socket was magnetized, so I didn't have to manually insert the whale oil tank into it). "Thank you, Corvo," Piero said. He then proceeded constructing whatever he was for a few seconds. After he completed building this "something", I found out that this "thing" was actually a mask.

"Here. See? The assassin's mask," Piero enlightened me about the thing he was building. "You're a wanted man, so everyone in the city knows your face, but this mask will mean terror to them," Piero then lifted the mask, MY mask, for me to see. Apparently Piero didn't design the mask to be flawless, with a perfect, smooth metal surface and all those designs that make a mask look like your typical "neat and tidy" mask. To give you an idea of what mask is in mind, this is a mask I call "neat" (it's basically just the simple mask, really).

Get what I mean? Neat, no bumps whatsoever that would spoil its neatness. Now MY mask, however, had some intentional design flaws. It was designed to look like the face of evil itself, full of corruption, terror, and all those representations of evil. I loved it (I may not be very good at dramatizing the features of something, but I hope that the previous sentences sufficed in giving you a mental image of the picture below). Here's what it looked like:

Get the idea of how I pictured it?

Piero then decided to make some finishing touches to the mask by fitting it on my face and seeing if there was anything to improve. "(Piero moves toward me, mask in hand) If you'll just hold still, the fit must be precise (puts mask on my face). Can you see normally? (notices something wrong with the optic lens on the mask) Mmm... center lens out of alignment. (uses a screwdriver to adjust the lens' magnification) There. Better now?" (sees that my vision isn't clear enough yet and continues to adjust the lens with his screwdriver)

As Piero adjusted my lens magnification, he told me about how the "money system" went in the game. "I could create more (items) for you," he explained. "Upgrades for your gear, weapons, munitions. But our situation here is desperate. Scavenge the city for valuables and I will resell them on the black market. That should give us the money to craft the things you need (finally finishes adjusting my lens)," After hearing this, I finally saw why there was a book I found in Piero's workshop about him selling Powdered Crystal and Kingsparrow Feathers.

Piero wasn't like those blacksmiths/shopkeepers/equipment sellers like that you find in other games. All those people have one thing in common: They all demand money for the equipment you buy. Piero was different. He would've gladly given us state-of-the-art gadgets and weapons, but he didn't have the sufficient amount of money to buy the resources he required to build the gear in the first place, being the kind of guy who stayed inside the Hound Pits day and night working on some newfangled invention (plus, the game would've been way too easy to finish if we had all the badass weapons from the beginning of the game).

Instead, he uses the scavengeable items we gather not for his own needs, but to sell them on the black market and purchase the resources he required to build MY gear, MY weapon upgrades and awesome gadgets and not for HIS own, personal needs (note: my beliefs about Piero and his "money system" may not be 100%, as other sources may say otherwise, but that's just how I think it goes). What a morally upstanding guy! "Tell me what I can make for you," Piero asked. Shortly after he said this, up popped a shop menu of what gadgets I could construct, and boy, there was a LOT.

Now I won't waste a what's probably a few more pages worth of typing on all those sick weapon upgrades I saw in Piero's workshop, so I'll be doing a separate post on that subject. And I promise you, it's definitely (actually, come to think of it, it I can't really promise you how good it will be, but I sure will try my best) going to kick ass. For now, let's focus on the story.

Bedtime!
After buying what I needed from Piero, he apparently saw the exhaustion in my face (mind you, I obviously couldn't see Corvo's face at all, since I'm looking through his very eyes. Remember, Dishonored is played in the "first-person" point of view). "You must be exhausted," he said. "I advise that you get some sleep. Your life will get even more difficult soon (yeah, no $#!+. I'll be sneaking through the city, through patrols of the City Watch and other enemies... Yep. You're right. My life will definitely get much difficult. Like, at least 5 times more than it already is), you should rest while you can," I said that I'd rather stay up a bit. "Very well. You know best." Piero replied.

I decided that I should roam around the Hound Pits for a little bit longer in search of scavengeable items, any books, notes or audiographs about Dishonored lore, and opportunities to mingle (and not to mention harass) with the residents of the Hound Pits. After turning the Hound Pits upside-down (like I did to Piero's workshop) for lore and scavengeable items, I finally decided to go to bed before I start my very first "real" mission.

This is quite a cheap bed for a dude who used to be the Royal Protector, don't you think?

And that was the end of my introduction to the Hound Pits Pub, the group of Loyalists I was saved by. Tomorrow I will continue being enlightened about this whole cause and its purpose. I'll be back with more Dishonored posts, don't worry. But for now, that's the end of this long post. See you until the next one!

Dishonored Mission 2: Run For the Sewers (Part 2)

DEAR READERS, THE FOLLOWING TEXT CONTAINS SPOILERS, AND SPOILERS CAN RUIN A GAME. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO GET SPOILED ON THE PLOT DETAILS OF THIS GAME, IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU READ SOMETHING ELSE.

Welcome back people! Today we are going to continue Corvo's journey through Coldridge Prison. So after his epic escape from Coldridge, what will happen to him in the sewers? Will he get riddled by rats? Gutted by guards? Well, let's find out!

Dunwall Sewers
As I made my way through the sewers, after a short while I found a locked door, and a few crates stacked on top of each other. One of these crates had a note stuck onto it. It said that if I read this note, that means I've reached the sewers. It said that I would find some useful gear stashed up ahead, and that outside of the sewers, I would meet a guy named Samuel, who would ferry me in a boat to these anonymous helpers. After reading the note, my path was then blocked by a locked door and a swarm of rats. And in the room that this locked door leads to, there was a swarm of rats, and the only thing blocking the way between me and them was the locked door.

There was no key whatsoever that would unlock the door, and the only way forward was through the room's ceiling (there was a small gap big enough for me to fit in). The ceiling was "holed" big enough for me to both walk through it and see what was happening in the room at the same time (so basically the room's ceiling was made of jail cell bars). And so I was just strolling along the ceiling, peering at the rats (that also scurried along the room as I sneaked across the ceiling) as I did so. Then I heard a few guards speaking. It went something like this; "Look out. There are rats down here," a guard said.
"Good. Then maybe some of them will get Corvo," the other guy said.
"You're afraid of him? He's from Serkonos. It's all merchants and %#0&=$ down there,"
I forgot the rest of the conversation, but then something awesome (and somewhat disgusting at the same time) happened.

You know those moments in movies that the characters are introduced to a new threat, right? Then the characters will look at the threat and say, "C'mon, seriously, what's so bad about that?" and then suddenly something passes by, alerting this new threat. The threat sees this "something" and totally destroys the "something". For example, in the movie The Croods, there is this swarm of beautiful, presumably harmless red birds that are revealed to be carnivores and are seen devouring a whale in a matter of seconds, leaving nothing but the whale's skeleton behind.

Same case here with the rats. As rats and guards come face to face, the rats quickly munch the guards' bodies tp death, giving them only a few seconds to scream their last words before their gruesome fates. And after the guards have been put out of their misery, the rats strip their uniforms and their skin off, leaving a skin-less body behind. And AFTER THAT (yes, the cycle's not done yet), the rats finish off the whole body. Limb by limb, the body is ripped apart until there is nothing but a puddle of blood left in the place where the corpse used to be.

To help rid you of that gruesome mental image, here's a picture of a cute puppy. If you want to see the actual gory activity, feel free to search it yourself.

So by now you should know that rats are actually flesh-eating beasts that will seriously #^(* up anything that gets in their way. I made a mental note to myself never to meet a group of these tiny, scurrying critters. After that display of flesh-eating, I dropped down from the ceiling and down to the floor, where there was a door waiting to be opened. By the way, here's a small profile to give you a bit more insight to these unpleasant little animals:

Pandyssian Bull Rats (as The Academy of Natural Philosophy names them) or just "rats" for short

These really nasty creatures that feast on flesh are also the carriers of the Rat Plague. Therefore making them responsible for the Rat Plague that is currently destroying Dunwall. These rats hail from the Pandyssian Continent, hence the name. They are aggresive in swarms, but are harmless in small numbers. They are usually found in dark and isolated places or where corpses are present. These rats can sometimes be a problem for me, blocking my way or prohibiting me to explore an area freely. Fortunately, I have found a few methods to remedy these pesky pests, although my personal favorite (and effective as well) is to chuck a grenade into the swarm and watch 'em explode. They are pretty powerful, capable of taking down a watchman in a matter of seconds (groups take longer to take care of and have a better chance of neutralizing the critters before they get eaten).

Deeper into the Sewers

After I opened the door, I instantly came face-to-face with (surprise, surprise) ANOTHER rat swarm. Fortunately there was a river of sewage water separating me and the animals (although there was a bridge that the rats and I could use to cross to the other side) and I didn't want to take any chances. Fortunately the river was short, allowing me to dive into the water and ascend from the water to the other side without suffering so much as a scratch from the rats. Then I proceeded to the next section of the area, and that's when things got a little more complicated.

As I went into an open area of the sewers, I found a swarm of rats blocking my way to a crank wheel, which I had to turn in order to open a door leading to my destination. I was bamboozled on how I was supposed to get to the crank wheel and turn it with all the rats guarding it. Suddenly, as if on cue, the answer fell out of the sky (literally) in the form of corpses. Up above, I heard some dialogue from the guards (off-screen) who were dumping the bodies. "Aren't we supposed to dump these bodies off at the Flooded District?" one said.

"Yeah. But screw that. That's too far. Let's just dump 'em here and hope the rats eat 'em." his pal replied.

Well, thanks guys, you just provided the perfect bait for my little friends here. There were quite a few corpses lying around, so it wasn't much of a problem dumping them on the ground, where the rats would eat them. Now while they were occupied, I was free to turn the crank wheel! YES!!! Unfortunately, my plan didn't work out so well. Even AFTER occupying the rats with some crunchy corpses to eat, they saw a living guy trying to turn the crank wheel blocking his way. They gave in to their natural instinct, which was, of course, to feast on the living guy. I ended up dicing a few ten rats and losing some health. But nonetheless, I managed to render the rats harmless (killing most of them so the rest would be scared off) and move on. After grabbing some loot in the area, I quickly jumped up a chain that led to a higher level of the sewers (good luck catching me HERE rats :P).

This part of the sewer was practically riddled with traps, which took some time to bypass. The "traps" in this game are simple but deadly; a launcher that is triggered by a tripwire. The launcher contains an incendiary bolt, which is shot when the tripwire is triggered. I try to avoid these bolts, as they take away about half of my health. On the bright side, if you can bypass it without triggering the tripwire, you can disarm the launcher, taking the incendiary bolt in the process (and this bolt is pretty amazing; it sets people on fire, creating a handy distraction whilst taking care of the target). I didn't even know why I collected these stuff since I was going for a non-lethal playthrough anyway. Oh well, maybe this stuff will come in handy in some point of the game...

So anyway, after taking as much loot and incendiary bolts as I could from the area, I focused on the main objective, which was to get my gear, which was in a chest lying in front of a locked door. There was a note on the chest, which told me about the gear and whatnot. So without even glancing at the note, I instantly swung the chest open and found a crossbow and Corvo's sword inside. I also found the key to open the locked door ahead.

After taking my badass gear and the key, I opened the door, and and saw a tripwire standing in my way. There was no gap I could go through to avoid it, and that was when the game showed me the sliding tutorial. I wasn't in the mood for sliding under tripwires, so instead I smashed a wooden barricade (that was standing in the way of me and jumping over the railing) with my sword. Then I proceeded to disarm the launcher. That's when I saw my very first locked safe. There was a note beside the safe wrote by some unknown dude. It went something like this: "Jelly, if you're too daft to remember, look at the whiskey, OK? Whiskey." I saw a shelf which contained some empty whiskey bottles. And there were three numbers written on the shelf: "451". When I used it to open the safe, it worked. Hooray! In the safe there were a few items worth 50+ coins. Great.

Oh yeah, by the way, did I mention that the sewers were literally LITTERED with corpses? Some bodies of women, men, and people in overalls. Apparently they're plague victims. Poor guys. In fact, I found a man and a woman who died hugging each other. I found a note beside their bodies. It was written by the husband, who wrote about their current condition. He and his wife had just caught the Plague, and they didn't have enough coins to buy the required supply of elixir in order to stave off the effects of the Plague. So they decided to spend their final moments together. I have to admit, I was quite moved.

Anyway, after cracking open Jelly's safe, I advanced and heard a few guards talking. They were in a level below me. Their conversation went something like this: "He won't get past me, sir," a guard said.

"You know who we're hunting here? Don't try to take him on alone," Another guy said.

"What if he catches me, sir?"

"Then make a lot of noise when you die. Knock something over if you can,"

"&@$+@%] (looks around the sewers). Smells like a dead weeper in here,"

This was when I started to take action. After saving the game in case of any failures, I collected the loot in the area before descending down to the lower level. This was one part of the game where I found myself in a bit of a muddle.

After dropping down, I landed on a tall rock. On this rock, I had three options:

1. Drop down on a guard below to use him as a cushion for an air assassination, making a sound-less landing but killing the guard, which I'm trying to avoid.

2. Drop down on the same floor as the guard. However this will make a loud sound and alert the guard, sending his friends to my position (I found this out the hard way). Also a bad option.

3. Shoot the guard with a sleep dart. This way he will be rendered unconscious, allowing me to proceed without killing the poor guy,

4. After a few save reloads and failures, I finally found the best way to eliminate the guard non-lethally without using up any of my sleep darts. There was a descending "staircase" of rocks that I could silently descend upon, choking out the guard below, saving my sleep darts for later.

Needless to say, I picked option 4. After eliminating all the guards in the sewer with sleep darts (I was too lazy and it was too hard to choke out the guys one by one), I collected as much loot as possible in the area and moved on. I met Samuel, who introduced himself as my boatman, and would ferry me to my mission locations. When he asked me if I was ready to go ye, I said not yet, mainly because I wanted to see if there were any hidden treasures I could find.

I started my search in the river the boat was parked to find any hidden treasures. I went around the river for a while. I glanced at the center of the river and... HOLY $#!+!!! The river was SWARMING with a ton of fishes that looked like a cross between a moray eel and a piranha. I leapt out of the river like a guy with his butt on fire. After I leapt out of the river, Samuel dropped this little bomb on me: "Corvo, are you OK? Mind the hagfish!". Right. Thank you SO much for telling me that now, Mister boatman. It's time I introduced you guys to a little dude who will act like the underwater rat swarm of the game...

Hagfish

Say hello to my little friend.

Enter the hagfish; the creature in Dishonored that will make swimming in the water a living hell. For me, one hagfish is as annoying as a swarm of rats, maybe worse. You can slash at rats, while underwater, you are defenseless since you can only swim. So it's like encountering an underwater swarm of rats. When I saw these terrible fishes swimming in the river, there were at least ten of them about to realize that a human has swam into their territory. This animal usually roams in open, unguarded waters such as rivers, limiting travel in the water. On the bright side, they make good possession hosts, and can be possessed to access certain areas that cannot be reached by Corvo (e.g. a hole in a grate).

Like rats, they eat corpses that are tossed into their rivers. Unlike rats, though, they do not have to be in a group in order to be deadly; they are a pest even when encountered individually (and believe me, encountering a group of these fishes are even worse). Oddly, Dunwall citizens use these carnivorous fish as food sources. In fact, it is common enough for me to find a few tins of brined hagfish lying around.

So anyway, after jumping out of those hagfish-infested waters, I dived into a deeper region of the lake again in order to continue my exploration and at the same time get away from those man-eating fishes. And voila, guess what I found at the bottom right of the lake? A TREASURE CHEST! It contained a war medal (worth 50 coins) and some powdered crystal (worth 30 coins). Jackpot! Afterward, after staking out the river for any more treasures (sadly, I found none) and consuming a few health potions while exploring (hagfish, remember), I left the river disappointed and missing a few potions. Oh well, at least I managed to get the treasure. I spoke to Samuel and we went on our way.

What happened next? Well, for sure Samuel is tasked with transporting me to whoever saved my butt, and that's what he did. If you want to know the full story, read the next post. Goodbye for now!

Dishonored Mission 2: Escape from Coldridge (Part 1)

DEAR READERS, THE FOLLOWING TEXT CONTAINS SPOILERS, AND SPOILERS CAN RUIN A GAME. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO GET SPOILED ON THE PLOT DETAILS OF THIS GAME, IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU READ SOMETHING ELSE.

Hey people, it's been a long time since I've updated this blog. So I thought that it was probably time that I made the next part of the blog. So maybe you were wondering what happened after Corvo got framed for murdering Dunwall's beloved Empress? Maybe he got executed (that would be a bit ridiculous at such an early time in the game)? Maybe he's in solitary confinement? Let's find out...

Coldridge Prison (a few months after Corvo's arrest)
Corvo woke up (I mean, I woke up) strapped in a chair in an interrogation room. I saw the Royal Spymaster, (you know what? Call him Hiram Burrows, or just Burrows. That's his real name, and by the way, I'm tired of using the name "Royal Spymaster") Thaddeus Campbell and, well, how should I describe this one last guy? He's wearing overalls, almost completely bald, and holding a red-hot iron stick (the ones that have extremely hot edges). I think he's a torturer or interrogator. Here's a picture of the guy:

Anyway, let's get on with what happened next. "This is your final chance, Corvo. Sign the confession and let me give you the rites to put your spirit at ease," Campbell suggested. After he said this, the torturer used his heated iron stick to assure me that signing the confession was probably a good choice (in other words, he fried my chest. Ouch). Burrows decided to interfere. "Now, now, get out," he ordered the torturer. "Let's give the man some time to think," he said as he moved towards me (for the next part, I didn't remember what he said, but it was something like this). Then he said,
"Corvo, the Empress is dead. Her daughter Emily is hidden away, and no one will ever know the truth,"
(Campbell) "Yes, tomorrow you'll be executed, but it's for a good cause. This city needs strong leadership now, someone to guide the weak. And that's where we come in,"
"Yes, and even though you almost sank our plans, it turned out well. After all, somebody has to take the fall. Goodbye, Corvo,"
Burrows then turned to the guards (who were offscreen, so you couldn't see them). "Guards! Take him back to his cell."

Corvo's Cell
Left to rot in a prison cell, framed for killing the Empress, this is outrageous as hell. Now it all started to make sense. Those assassins (read the previous post) were sent by Burrows to kill the Empress and frame me! And now he had the required evidence to lock me up in Coldridge and execute me. Now, with no one left to stop Burrows, his allies and their plan to rule Dunwall, those corruptors will be free to do anything they want to the city. I have to admit, that IS quite smart.

Back in my cell, I wonder when the game will REALLY start? When I'm about to get beheaded tomorrow? Wait, there's a Watch Officer at the cell door... "You should eat, Corvo. This meal comes from a friend." the Officer said. Then he closed the door behind me, only leaving a food tray with a hunk of bread on it. Oh well, might as well have one last meal before my execution tomorrow, I've looked around the cell and there's nothing else to do anyway, so I took the bread.

Strangely, I found a note under the bread. Curious, I read it. It was a note wrote by "A Friend". This "friend" said that under the note, there will be a key to unlock my cell door (there will also be a sword on a table outside the cell). Then I was instructed to take an explosive from a safe in the interrogation room, and make my way to a gate, where I would plant said explosive and make a run for the sewers. After reading the note, I snatched the key from the food tray and unlocked the door. FREEDOM! Now to kill EVERYBODY who was involved in this coup against me (including every single guard who stands in my path)! YAAARGH!!!

After grabbing the sword that the guard left on the table (along with a few coins, which hopefully could be used to upgrade my gear later on in the game), I entered stealth mode and got ready to slit some necks. However, as I got ready to chop up my first victim, this tutorial appeared:

In other words, putting a guy to sleep will result in less weepers (AKA zombies), man-eating rats (seriously), more friendly reactions from allies, and a happier ending.

I suddenly held the thought of slicing the poor guard's neck open. After all, when you think of it, this dude is just an underpayed guard with a crappy uniform and a hat for armor. He's just trying to survive in this plague-ridden city. He didn't deserve to die just for standing in my path to escaping the prison. So instead, I strangled him and carried his snoring body (yes, unconscious bodies snore in this game) to the bed in my prison cell. As for the two other guards in the same room as he was, they suffered the same fate. Who knows when they wake up, they'll be scolded by their bosses for sleeping on the job :). By the way, here's a bit of info about the enemies I've encountered so far in the game:

Watch Lower Guards and City Watch Guards

These are the first classes of enemies that you encounter in the game. The Lower Guards are the weakest in the game, armed with a sword, a hat and the standard Watch uniform. In battle, they can only swing their sword in a predictable manner, making it easy to block or parry their incoming attacks. They are also cowardly, running like little girls to the nearest alarm (or, if there is no alarm, flee) in order to call for backup after they witness their friend's neck get sliced open.

City Watch Guards are more formidable than their lesser Watch friends. Equipped with body armor, a helmet and a sword, they have the ability to kick Corvo away and block most of his incoming sword attacks. However, their attacks are easily predicted and can be blocked/parried with ease. It is said that the only thing separating them with the common criminal is their uniform and their skill with their swords. It is also said that under Burrows's rule, they are grateful to follow the city's new, unjust rules, the more unfair the better.

Top left: City Watch Guard

Bottom left: Watch Lower Guard

 Interrogation Room

After making my way through the rooms of the prison (choking out guards along the way), I made it to the interrogation room, the exact same place where I got tortured. There I found the safe containing the explosive (strangely, there was no combination for the safe) and an audiograph about Burrows's plan to make my interrogation as miserable as possible and a hint of his heinous plans. I then made my way to the gate where I was supposed to plant the explosive.

Bomb Planting Site

It took a few save reloads, but in the end I managed to make it to the bomb planting site without killing so much as a rat. After I planted the bomb on the designated area, I took cover in a nearby steel crate, where I could quickly make a run for the sewers after the explosion (actually, when I say "make a run for the sewers", I actually had to dive into the water below AND THEN run for the sewers instead of fleeing to the sewers straight from the gate). Finally I escaped to the sewers. But what would I do next? Well, find out in the next post! See ya for now!

Dishonored Mission 1: Back Home

DEAR READERS, THE FOLLOWING TEXT CONTAINS SPOILERS, AND SPOILERS CAN RUIN A GAME. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO GET SPOILED ON THE PLOT DETAILS OF THIS GAME, IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU READ SOMETHING ELSE.

Hello people, and welcome to the very first part of my Dishonored gameplay. In this post, we will learn about Corvo's previous life before becoming an awesome supernatural assassin. What (or who) got him accused for murdering the Empress, and how he started that life in the first place. So without further ado, let's get straight to it!

The game starts off with the Empress's speech. She says that she wished that there was somebody else to count on for an assignment. But there is no one else, and "The Royal Spymaster" agreed that Corvo should be sent. Then she said that "Emily and I would count the days to your return". And with that the game starts.

Wrenhaven River
"Steady hand now, watch it!" a City Watch Officer said. "Casting off, we're away!". Wrenhaven River. I have returned from my long journey, studying about a plague. Today I return from my lengthy journey, eager to tell the Empress news about the plague. On a boat in the river, I am escorted with two City Watch Officers. It's not such a long trip to Dunwall Tower, but I look around while I have the chance. "A long way to bring bad news. The sailors say there's a curse on us. Black magic," one officer said. "Superstition. For all we know there's a cure for the plague by now," said the other.
"Maybe. We live in strange times. Sending the Empress's bodyguard away for a couple of months, THAT'S unusual."
That's me. Corvo Attano, the Empress's bodyguard, also known as her Royal Protector. And it's true; there is a cure for the plague by now. Sort of.

Sokolov's Health Elixir and the Rat Plague

The Rat Plague (above) and Sokolov's Health Elixir (below)

The elixir is vital for the citizens of Dunwall, as there is a very nasty plague going on. This is the plague I talked about earlier, the one that turns plague victims into zombies. Everyday the people of Dunwall are to consume a few doses of elixir in order to keep the plague at bay. NOT consuming your doses of elixir, however, will result in (surprise, surprise) plague. This plague is something serious. It'll kill the victim after a few weeks, and even worse, turn them into a type of zombie. The plague is highly contagious and can spread easily between uninfected hosts. Amazingly, Corvo is somewhat immune to the plague, being able to trudge through the sewers and get bitten by zombies without catching the plague. He only uses the elixir as a health potion.

Dunwall Tower
After the boat went up the tower's waterlock (a device that fills a container up with water so boats could ascend up the tower), I was told to meet an Empress. As I crossed the bridge, I was greeted by Lady Emily Kaldwin, the Empress's daughter, who was apparently very close to Corvo. After asking me if I saw any whales on my long journey, she asked if I could spare a bit of time to play hide-and-seek. "Oh well," I thought. Emily said that the Empress was "busy talking to that nasty old Spymaster", so why not play spend a little time with the royal family?

Campbell's painting

Turns out it was a right choice to play with the young girl. Turns out the game of hide-and-seek was a stealth tutorial of the game. It showed me how to enter "stealth mode" and make reduced sounds. Then it also showed me how to lean from corners. Amazingly when leaning, enemies can't see the part of your body that is leaning no matter how close you are to them (as long as you stay behind cover). Needless to say, after picking my hiding spot (behind a tree a few ten metres away from Emily's counting spot), Emily gave up after a few searches.

Emily and I then met with Anton Sokolov, a genius that had given his talent to provide Dunwall with superb security systems and the vital Sokolov Health Elixir, which the townspeople use to stave off the effects of the plague. He was painting a potrait of the High Overseer, Thaddeus Campbell. "I'm not sure that painting looks like Campbell." Emily remarked. ARE YOU SERIOUS? THIS PAINTING DOESN'T LOOK LIKE CAMPBELL???

Empress's Gazebo

The actual Campbell 

Afterwards I made my way to the Empress's gazebo. I also talked with one of the City Watch Officers in the boat earlier. He talked about his niece, Callista (remember this name, it will come in handy later). When I got to the gazebo, I saw the Empress still talking to the Royal Spymaster. "They're sick people, not criminals," the Empress started. "We've gone beyond that question, your Majesty. They're-"
"They're my people. And we will save them from the plague if we can,"
"Very well,"
"We will not speak of this again." the Empress said to the Spymaster coldly.

Shortly after saying this, Emily tells her mother about my arrival. "Mother, look! Corvo is back!". "Thank you, Emily (turns to the Spymaster). Leave us, please," the Empress said. And so the Royal Spymaster left. Then he turned to me. "Corvo!" he said cheerfully. "Two days early. Full of surprises. As usual." He then left. As he departed from the gazebo, he told the guard who was protecting us to leave us alone. I don't have a good feeling about this guy...

Now, where was I before I got suspicious? Oh yes, I was about to speak to the Empress. "It's a fair wind that brings you here. What news have you brought?". So I gave her a letter regarding the Rat Plague. "I hope the other cities have dealt with this before. Knew of some cure," the Empress said shortly after reading the letter. "Cowards! They're going to blockade us. See if the plague turns this city into a graveyard." she hung her head, depressed of her city's potential fate. "Are you OK, mother? You seem sad," Emily said. "Yes, don't worry darling. Mother is fine," the Empress replied.

"Wait, where are the guards? Who sent them away?" The Empress asked. Wait a minute, the SPYMASTER sent the guards away! He said that we needed some time ourselves. I think that the Spymaster had- "Mother, look! What are they doing on the rooftop?" Emily asked. Wait, WHAT??? "they" (in this case, people) and "rooftops" are two words that don't mix. Unless of course, you're talking about assassins. "What? Emily, get behind me!" the Empress ordered Emily.

You can't hit me :P
The people on the rooftops teleported (yes, teleported. Another word that doesn't mix with "people") to our location. These people wore black coats with hoods and used gas masks to cover their faces. They had multiple pouches on their coat and wore long gloves. Each person was armed with a sword. To get a better idea of what they look like, here's an image of one:

Note: This dude isn't holding a sword. Sorry :(

With clothing and weaponry like this, these guys were definitely assassins. So I unsheathed my sword, drew my pistol, and got ready for combat. I was then given a combat tutorial about attacking with my weapons/gadgets. Action time. Or was it? I was given two choices to deal with the assassins: Attack (lethal) or defend (non-lethal). I chose non-lethal for some reason. After a brief tutorial on blocking enemy attacks, I managed to hold off the assailants and save the Empress and Emily. "Who were they, mother?" a frightened Emily asked her mother. "I don't know, darling." an equally frightened Empress said. Emily then hugged me, showing gratefulness for my actions. "Thank you Corvo," the Empress said. "If you hadn't been here-" (the next part may not be narrated that precisely, so don't blame me if it isn't exactly how it went)

NOOOO!!!
Suddenly another assassin appeared as if out of nowhere and (OK, there's a bit of BS coming up, brace yourselves) suspended me in the air. Then two more assassins appeared, one of them without a mask. One of the assailants attempted to grab Emily. As the Empress tried to repel the attackers from her daughter, the mask-less assassin slapped and grabbed her (meanwhile, the other assassin grabbed Emily and teleported to God knows where). The mask-less assassin then brought the Empress to a corner of the gazebo and STABBED HER IN THE CHEST. I was in disbelief as her body fell helplessly to the floor (and at the fact that she only had around three minutes of screen time) and the assassins vanished from the scene as if nothing had happened (with the exception of Emily's abduction and the Empress's death).

"He's killed the Empress!"
At this point, I was no longer hanging helplessly in the air. However, I was pretty injured, so I had to crawl to the Empress's dying body. As I held her body, she uttered her final words. "Corvo... It's all coming apart. Find Emily... Protect her. You're the only one. You'll know what to do. Won't you? Corvo..." then she died. When I got up, I saw Campbell, the Royal Spymaster and two City Watch Officers looking at me in disbelief. "Ward us all, look at what he's done," Campbell commented as the two Watch officers held me at gun (and sword) point. "Yes! HE'S killed the Empress!" the Spymaster exclaimed.

Campbell, Burrows and the two officers holding me at gun (and sword) point

Ex-CUSE me, I killed the Empress? Well, too bad you guys weren't here before. There were these guys in gas masks that had swords. THEY attacked and killed the Empress. THEY teleported in here and abducted Emily, not ME. Ah, never mind. After all, I was the one that was holding the sword and was holding the Empress in my hands. It's evident that I'm the perpetrator, no one's going to believe in magic. Carry on with the false accusations that I murdered our fair ruler. And anyway, if I was the bad guy, what WOULD I have done with Emily? Killed her? No body. Abducted her? No accomplice to carry her away. Did anything bad to her? NO EMILY. Take THAT!!!

"What did you do to young Lady Emily, traitor?" The Spymaster demanded (I would have loved to tell them, but as I said before, first they wouldn't have believed me and second, I didn't do crap to Emily (except protect her from a group of deranged assassins), so nya-nya-nya-nya-nya to you guys). "Her own bodyguard. Ironic," Campbell remarked. "I'll have you beheaded for this, Corvo!" the Spymaster threatened. He then turned to the officers. "Take him." he commanded. And with that, the officer to my left swung his sword hilt at my face. Then everyhting went black and thus, the game officially started.

Introduction

DEAR READERS, THE FOLLOWING TEXT CONTAINS SPOILERS, AND SPOILERS CAN RUIN A GAME. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO GET SPOILED ON THE PLOT DETAILS OF THIS GAME, IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU READ SOMETHING ELSE.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have decided to create a new blog. This time I want to make a blog about playing games, one of my favorite activities in the world. I thought, "well, if you're having so much fun playing games, why don't you just tell your story to the public? It's better than shutting your secrets inside yourself, no?". And that's how this blog about gaming came to be in the first place.

This is my first EVER blog about games, and this blog is going to be about this great game named Dishonored. It's about a disgraced former bodyguard named Corvo Attano who was framed for killing the very important empress he was assigned to protect. After escaping the prison, he is now free to take revenge on those who have wrongfully accused him of the crimes he didn't do.

Dishonored is a first-person stealth game which in my opinion, is really special. It's different compared to most games nowadays, where the objective of the game is pretty straightforward: kill the main bad guy, and kill everyone you meet along the way as well. That isn't how Dishonored works; in this game you are given more freedom. You can either become a ruthless killer who murders anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path, or you can be a sneaky ninja, who kills as little people as possible, leaving no evidence behind.

The game has a chaos system, which is used to decide how the game will go. Killing more enemies will result in high chaos. In turn, high chaos will result in more guards, zombies and flesh-eating rats (seriously. In this city, there is a plague that turns its victims into zombies and is spread by man-eating rats). High chaos will also influence your allies' reactions toward you (civilians will rat you out to the guards, and your allies will react more coldly to you, etc), and ultimately give the game a darker ending and more story-related deaths along the way.

Playing all stealthy and rendering enemies unconscious however, will result in a lower rat and zombie population in the game. The quantities of guards in the missions will also decrease, and civilians will act neutrally towards you. Your allies will also be more friendly and there will be less story-related deaths along the way and the ending will be less dark.

Dishonored takes place in the steampunk-style city of Dunwall, where all the technology is quite modern (and sometimes even more advanced than today's machines). In this city, a rat plague has struck and the city is struggling to cope with it. Corvo is supposed to do his missions in this cursed city, accompanied by all the rats and zombies. But will he succeed?

Fortunately, Corvo doesn't have to face the dangers of Dunwall with flesh and steel alone; he is also given an arsenal of various superpowers by a mysterious entity. His superpowers start from giving him more health and improve his agility until being able to freeze time and possess animals and human beings. He gains and upgrades these superpowers by collecting "runes". Check out the awesome array of supernatural abilities Corvo can use:

You know what? There's just so much lore in Dishonored, I couldn't tell you all about the game in this very post. I'll tell you more about the lore as we go along the game, shall we? For now, see you until the next update!