End of the Bloodline

Objectives: Break into Rutherford Castle. Find a clue about how to locate and open the vault. Steal the Bloodline Opal from the vault. When your other objectives are complete, leave the castle grounds the same way you came in, the front gate.

As the mission opens, a couple guards converse on the steps to your left and the lionhead torch is found in front of your current position. Mission notes explain that if you put out the lionhead torch, the castle cook will open a side entrance into Rutherford. While the guards remain to the left, use a water arrow to put out the lionhead torch. Spot the opened door above and to the left of the lionhead torch.

Turn around from your start position and spot the ladder leading up to the rampart. Ascend the ladder and go to the right. Reach the end of the rampart and turn right to face the open window just below your current position. Drop down and hop through the open window.

You've now successfully broken into Rutherford Castle. Approach the desk and extinguish the candle. Grab the loot and health potion. Read the note on the desk to discover that a new cellar portcullis protects the opal. There is a mechanism that controls it but its location is currently unknown. Reading the note provides the clue on how to locate and open the vault.

Objective: The vault is protected by a portcullis. Seach Lord Ember's chambers to figure out how to open the portcullis.

The perfect target--a guard with his back turned.

Turn around and exit into the dining room. Spot the guard with his back turned near the window. Ignore him or knock him out with your blackjack. Pick the lock on the chest to recover some loot. Read the note on the table. There's another locked door in this room. Pick its lock as you'll pass through here later in the mission. Return to the previous room and exit through the window back outside.

Observe the guard patrolling to the left and wait for him to turn away. Return to the ladder you ascended a moment ago. At the top, go to the left across the rampart. At the end of this rampart you'll find the opened side entrance into Rutherford Castle.

A torch at the top brightly illuminates the stairwell but there's no one around so move carefully down the steps to the bottom. A second torch illuminates the space just before the doorway. You can use a water arrow to extinguish this torch so you can enter the room under the cover of darkness. Grab the items off the table: a health potion and a note regarding Ember's role in the basement portcullis.

Beware of the guard patrolling down the western hall. There are two chests in these two sleeping quarters. Open them both (pick the lock if required) and snag the loot. Move north into the adjacent room. Move quietly so you don't disturb those that sleep. Find the western door out of the second room. Quietly maneuver outside and look to the left and spot a nearby guard. Instead turn right and creep into the hallway.

Descend the steps in this lit hallway to the entrance into an armory room. A single guard patrols this room. Wait for him to move away then sneak behind the crates along the eastern wall. Use the crates as cover when the guard returns along his patrol route. Be sure to grab the arrows off of the tables in the back corner.

Wait for the guard to move from north to south and away from the exit in the back western corner of the room. When the guard looks away, scamper into this exit and down the lit hall toward the shadow. Take the first right and move into the next section, the inner quarters.

Creep down the hall and take the right turn at its end. Stick along the shadows and corners. There's a guard that patrols through here. If you're in the shadow and against the wall, he won't be able to spot you. Knock him out with your blackjack if the opportunity arises. Exit to the exterior and move to the southeastern corner to find a door. Pick the lock.

Move just inside and into the shadow. A couple women share gossip to the left. Wait for their conversation to conclude. The women split up: one remains at the window and the second returns to a dining room to the left. Cross the hall into the adjacent lit passage. Douse the torch with water if you wish. Grab the candlestick look behind the boxes on the shelf.

Move east quietly so the nearby woman doesn't here you. Extinguish the candle in the corner then go south through the next hallway. A water arrow will put out the torch along the left wall. Search the table on the right for some loot in the form of a chalice. Enter the kitchen area through the first entrance on the right. Close to the oven to darken the room then grab the health potion on the adjacent table.

Return back to the hall adjacent to the woman by the window. Move to the locked door toward the west side. Pick the lock and enter the lit quarters. Extinguish the torch using a water arrow and put out the candle to your right. Snag some loot from the chest next to the bed. Beware of the cook on the southern side of this area. He may hear or see you wandering about. Knock him out with your blackjack if he moves close. Read the journal by the bedside to learn that the switch to open the portcullis is in Lord Ember's chamber.