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A Benevolent Master
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14/12/2025
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Title            : A Benevolent Master
Filename         : miss19.mis, 5.gam
Author           : val990
Game             : Thief 2
Contact info     : valentin.julliard@free.fr
Date of release  : 14/12/2025
Version          : 1.0

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Story
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I hope this letter finds you well, if at all.

The man I gave it to said that you owe him a favor, as he owes one to me. By concluding this affair
I can assure you the only debt remaining will be the one I owe you, that shall be repaid handsomely.
I'm afraid you are my last resort.

My request is simple: Find my daughter, Valeria, and her beloved, Travik, and bring them to me if
they are alive. I am fully convinced that they have been abducted by a powerful mage named Tolud.
I cannot prove it, and his influence would prevent any meaningful action if I could, hence my
decision to call for unconventional help. For the longest time, Tolud has been an upstanding member
of the nobility, a devout hammerite and a trusted friend of mine. The man built a mansion lost in
the woods a few years back to 'pursue forgotten knowledge', and has become very reclusive. The
passing of his wife soon after made him even more unhinged. Only a fool would not make the
connection between the deranged obsession he expressed for the couple during his last visit and
their vanishing the following evening.

I do not know what he wants from them. I tried to get information from his servants, but no one that
works or worked for him spilled any information. But I will not send you in completely blind. There
was an open position for Tolud's security detail and I sent an informant. He was guided to the
mansion, surveyed the place and confirmed Tolud's presence. The map he managed to draw is crude and
incomplete, but will hopefully be useful. They expect him to return for his first shift, but they
won't expect you.

One last piece of advice: do not attack Tolud directly. He is believed to be untouchable by most of
his peers, even the less impressionable ones. It might be wise to try finding a way to neutralize
or distract him before taking any other action, as he will surely notice anything done to his preys.

In the desperate hope that you will take my offer into consideration,
I wish you the best of luck.

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Versions
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0.1: Fixed lighting, some texture missing, a sassy door that didn't know its place, readable and
     frobbable objects that shouldn't be that way, a pool and added rope arrows to the inventory.
     Added some lights to make a hidden passage more noticeable. 

0.2: Fixed more pools, an objective that didn't stay accomplished, the ropes arrows should not allow
     the player to exit the map any longer, objects shall not go into walls any more when you bump
     into them, some floating objects learned to respect gravity.

0.3: Fixed a patrol routes, some collisions and arrow issues. Modified the room where the nobleman
     is the that the player is no longer able to take the body without opening the door.

0.4: Fixed some oddly behaving torches and gravity defying boxes. Key colors have been modified for
     clarity, fixed one visual glitch in a pool. 

0.5: Eliminating the mage becomes an objective only if you reach the secret room on the 4th floor.
     Opening the glass door no longer triggers the mage to go on a never ending search (but still
     triggers the beastmen to come to life). Made a guard less static. 

0.6: Fixed objectives that would trigger the end of the mission if completed in a certain order.
     Light fixes in patrols and textures. 

0.7: Fixed some room brushes, some switches, made some visual adjustments. 

0.8: Fixed objectives that wouldn't get cancelled at the end of the mission if not completed. 

0.9: Introduced different guard presence depending on difficulty. Expert mode has the original
     amount of guards. Adjustments to the secret room: the ladder has been lowered, making falling
     down of it easier, and the player is no longer allowed to access it with a rope arrow.

1.0: Changed the mages projectiles. Small final adjustments.  

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Play Information
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Game                    : Thief 2
File names              : miss19.mis, 5.gam
Difficulty Settings     : Normal/Hard/Expert
Equipment store         : No
Map/Automap             : Yes/No
New graphics            : Yes 
New sounds              : No
New conversations       : No
New models              : Yes 
Multi language support  : No
Briefing                : No

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Construction
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Base                    : None.
Build Time              : About a year, learning Dromed in the process.

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Credits
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Many thanks to:
- The Beta testers for their patience, advice and help. Thanks to:
  - Mat99 for his thorough testing, suggestions and huge technical help (with the maps, menu screen,
    file optimization,...).
  - Ripped_Phreak for his thorough testing, suggestions, technical help and letting me join his
    discord test server which proved invaluable in releasing this mission in a good state.
  - lordhern for his very dedicated testing that made sure the mission couldn't be broken.
  - Aemanyl, marsupial, Dale and Yandros for their testing, great suggestions and help.

- Nicked, louve, Kubiac, Lionel, Amelico, Charlybegood, Lynx, Sledge, Spitter, A little Mouse and
  many other for the tutorial they created over the years. 

- The people that created and shared assets and textures, listed below.  

My beginnings with Dromed have been a bit chaotic when it comes to organization. From gamesys
mistakenly coming from other FMs to ressources I picked up a where I could find them, it is possible
that some work might go uncredited. If you recognize your work and want it credited if it isn't or
removed, please let me know, I'll be happy to do so. 

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Resources:
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Texture families: 

nature, ruins- Nicked
concastle - Thief 1
WaterHW   - Eshaktaar

Objects:

Mages               - Thief 1 models
Trees & bushes      - Daraan
Footlocker          - Daraan
Bones               - LarryG
Chairs              - Christine
Tables              - Christine
Desk                - Christine    
Bed                 - Christine & Soul Tear
Armoire             - Soul Tear
Bunk Bed            - Soul Tear
Bed                 - Soul Tear
Carpenter's Table   - Soul Tear
Cthulhu Statue      - Soul Tear      
Candle              - R Soul
Chests              - Vigil
Banner              - OttoJ55
Hammer              - Dale                                                                                                                       

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