Vampire: the Masquerade - Redemption Part #21 - Stealth Mission in the New York Sewers

Part 21: Stealth Mission in the New York Sewers

I'm sure you all loved Dev/Null, so let's talk to him again before we go into the sewers.

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'Fiscal years bring rains of tears' is a line I'm going to use in the next poem I write.

Now it's time for this stealth mission.

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What could it be?!

Indeed.

These sewers are giant and extremely clean.

Well, this stealth mission isn't going so well.

As you probably guessed, this turns out to be another dungeon just like all the others. For whatever reason, Nihilistic made a lot of writing mistakes in the second half of the game, and this is a prime example of one. Lily called this a stealth mission, but there is no stealth involved what-so-ever.

With that monocle from the Tower of London, Samuel can see the Nosferatu even when they're cloaked. The path ahead is a dead end, and the path to the right is blocked by that wall of cement, or whatever it is.

A lot of these Nosferatu have grenade launchers. They do a lot of damage and raise our frenzy level a good amount.

It doesn't look like there's any way to progress.

We have to hit these two valves to clear a way.

This actually opens up that passage that was blocked with the cement wall. It doesn't effect what's in this room at all.

Couldn't they have ducked under the cement to progress without bothering with those valves?

There are a few of these small spiders, but they're nothing to worry about.

The explosions from the grenades do harm the other Nosferatu in the aoe.

These Nosferatu like to drop submachine clips, which we can see here in Samuel's quickslot.

New York seems to have a big problem with spiders in their sewers.

We can't just jump over those pipes. We've got to take the long way.

How exactly does this bridge in the sewers have a trap that shoots fireballs?

It turns out that Majesty is one of the best powers in the game. It makes all enemies in the aoe just stand there and stare at the caster, no matter if they're attacked by the caster or other members of the coeterie. The only drawback is that the aoe is pretty small.

There's what tongue of the asp looks like. It's just a green version of Theft of Vitae. I'm not sure if it kills humans in one shot when you've got 4 or 5 dots in it or not. That snake next to Samuel is what Christof summons when he uses Hatch the Viper.

We'll give this to Lily.

Keep those valves in mind.

Because of that malfunctioning generator, these puddles of water will damage us pretty bad.

You might think that we should use those valves to shut the power off, but it turns out there's a third valve behind the puddles. So, we have to send one coeterie member ahead.

We have to hit all three valves together.

They all say '2' above the wheels, instead of '1' '2' and '3'.

It certainly doesn't look like the power is off!

But it turns out it is, and Nihilistic just forgot to make it look like we turned the power off.

Another way to cheese enemies is to use the one-two punch of Awe and Feed. There's nothing they can do about it.

This is the other puddle of water that's now not dangerous, even though it looks like it is.

We can go up on that platform, which does have some good loot on it.

There seemed to be a lot more variation of armor models in the dark ages than now in the modern nights. This is the same as when Lily was wearing a leather jacket.

Check out Samuel's face.

A lot of forks in the road lead to these giant drops which are effectively just dead ends.

We'll be heading down there soon enough.

Ok, really? There are giant mushrooms growing in the sewers?

I can't stress this enough: combat in the game is an utter clusterfuck.

Some of the Nosferatu like to use Drawing out the Beast, which, as you can tell from Samuel's face, is very effective.

These sewers seem to have a big problem with steam coming out of everywhere it possibly could.

I found this room with a lot of rats in it, but nothing else of note.

A wooden raft in the sewer?

That certainly doesn't look like any skiff I've ever seen.

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That feral claws icon doesn't go away in cutscenes, for some reason.

This is the clearest water I have ever seen, and it's in the fucking sewer.

You might be thinking this is a mini-boss, but it isn't.

They really aren't very difficult at all. Just hit them until they die. There aren't any gimmicks that come along with them, and they don't do that much damage.

There's another one in the water, which I can't hit even with powers like Call Lightning.

Even two of them together isn't a challenge.

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Why are all those rats in a circle in the corner?

Is he supposed to be like 'Pimp Nosferatu' with the purple suit? And how does he know who Samuel is? Samuel said that he heard of the Underprince, not actually met him.

Notice that moonwalking rat in the background.

That rat will not stop moonwalking.

Normally this is a decision I would put up for vote, but both choices lead to the same thing, and neither of them change Christof's humanity in any way. Let's go with the option that screams Christof, in this case.

We can just stand here forever. Nothing happens until we try to attack the Underprice or his rats.

Boss fight!

We would have been able to take on this first wave of rats without drawing the Underprice and the second wave, but Pink decided to run ahead and draw everyone's attention.

This turns out to be a very easy boss fight.

First, we'll use a scroll of Plague Wind to get rid of all these rats.

Pink got frenzied because the Underprince likes to use Drawing out the Beast, but it's manageable.

Now it's just a matter of hitting him until he dies. Prison of Ice helps, but it's not necessary in the slightest.

For some reason, Christof thought it was necessary to use Fire Storm on the one rat that the prince summoned with Beckoning.

As soon as the Underprince dies, the passage behind him opens.

There's not much in the room that the passage leads to.

But there is this pile of cash that ends up being $2000 or so. What would the Underprince need with money?

You might notice some disparity with our health and blood levels when you compare this and the previous screen shot. It turns out that my save file corrupted and I had to redo that boss fight.

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One dot in Blood Healing, two dots in Potence, one dot in Celerity, one dot in Walk the Abyss, two dots in Awaken, two dots in Feed, 2 points in perception, 5 points in strength, 10 points in stamina, 2 points in manipulation

One dot in Potence, one dot in Fortitude, 11 points in manipulation, 5 points in strength, 3 points in dexterity, 10 points in stamina

I don't know exactly when it happened, but Lily is an elder.

Two dots in Eyes of the Beast, two dots in Feral Claws, one dot in Aura Perception, one dot in The Forgetful Mind, one dot in Fire Storm, 4 points in perception, 5 points in strength

Two dots in Mask of a Thousand Faces, which is a Nosfeatu-only power under Obfuscate, one dot in Cloak of the Gathering, three dots in Blood Healing, one dot in Blood Strength, one dot in Blood Dexterity, one dot in Blood Stamina, one dot in Awaken, three dots in Fortitude, two dots in Potence, 11 points in strength