News of your attack on Ramirez has spread, and you have attracted the attention of one Viktoria. There's a new face on the block in the form of the eccentric nobleman and collector, Constantine. Little is known of him, but Viktoria has reliably informed you that he is in possession of a magical sword. A sword which she wants you to steal from his mansion.

Objectives:

• Get the sword.
• Steal (Normal) 500, (Hard) 1200, or (Expert) 1500 loot.
• (Expert) Dig up some dirt on Constantine.
• (Expert) Kill no one.
• Leave.

This sounds like another traditional breaking and entering case, just like the Bafford job or Ramirez. In many respects, it is. You'll have to sneak through a guarded mansion, extinguishing torches and mossing up marble floors, blackjacking guards and stashing them in cupboards. The major difference with this mission, however, is the layout of the mansion itself. It's comparable to a fairground haunted house, with twisted rooms and optical illusions aplenty. Navigation is made more difficult by your map only showing you what floor you're on, without telling you whereabouts on it you are.

Maps: Constantine's Mansion.

First things first, you're going to have to get in to the mansion before you can do your thing. The main entrance is, as usual, guarded all to hell - but if you sneak over in the heavy shadow you can pickpocket one of the guards to gain quick cash. Head to the balcony and raise your eyes in an upwards direction. Note the wooden beams on the roof, and prepare a rope arrow. Once you're on the balcony you can gain entry to the mansion with your lockpicks. Inside, there's a meagre coin collection and an infuriatingly locked door. Head to the right and down to a storage area on the first floor. There are a few collectibles here, too.

First floor

The corridor behind that door is heavily patrolled, but fortunately you can hide in the doorway without getting spotted. Like most of the corridors in Constantine's mansion, it's a tiled floor covered with sparse carpet, so take care when dashing between rooms and if in doubt use some moss. One guard patrols along the facing corridor, and another keeps going in and out of the rooms to the left. When the cost is clear, head over to the room opposite and shut the door. This place is nicely carpeted and never patrolled, and is also home to a secret stash hidden in one of the pillars. Your next destination will be the next room along, which has two potential guards in it at any one time. Fortunately it's nice and dark, and can be plunged into pitch blackness with a water arrow, so rush in and hide. Standing on the table is a valid and handy safe point once the light is out. Take a moment to grab the key from one of the guards, as it will come in immensely handy later on. Unless you are after cash or the Expert difficulty's added "incriminating evidence" mission, there's really little reason to remain on this floor any longer. If you are, read on...

To the north is a kitchen area whose guard can be easily felled when he enters the dining room. The big money can be found in the eastern side of the house, so go along the corridor and raid the bar that you'll find to your right. The southeast corner contains some nice expensive goodies, but remember to watch out for the guard that patrols the south corridor. Head north and you'll emerge in front of a large tree. This is the start of the annoyingly large, but sparsely guarded garden section. Head east. The greenhouse is patrolled and well-lit, but by running on the soft flowers you can rush the guard and knock him out before he even realises. There are a few things to be collected in this area, like the well-hidden pile of coins in the southern greenhouse and the pots of gold in the locked storeroom (I told you that key would come in handy). Speaking of the southern greenhouse, you might notice a pool in the ceiling. Believe me, this is not the weirdest thing you'll see in this mansion. Using a rope arrow, you can climb up and through it to nab some gold and a large collection of arrows hidden in the rafters. This done, head back to the garden entrance and continue west.

You'll reach a crossroads. To the east, there are another few garden areas with hidden gold and arrow deposits, but watch out for the guard in the second room. To the west, through a centrepiece-type area there's another entrance to the mansion, which will take you to the kitchens. Finally, to the north is a long dark corridor with a guard at the end. This is a very important bit for Expert moders. You'll see a small bridge over a small river. Cross it for some gold and a collection of fire arrows, then return to it and direct your attention to the pillars. One has a usable tongue switch, flick it and the gate in the river will rise. Swim through this long underwater tunnel (you can do it without drowning), and you'll pop out outside in Weird Area 1.

Weird bit

Unfortunately, the scale model town that you'll find yourself towering over has little of interest. There's a breath potion hidden inside the little Stonehenge, and a guard not hidden behind anything, but apart from that you'd be forgiven for getting bored with the place. But don't. Instead, head over the wall to the left and swim through the sewer pipe. You'll emerge inside... well... a sink. An enormous sink. Swim to the surface and you'll see that it's not just the sink that's big: the entire room is enormously scaled. Moving around in this room is tricky, because there's the ever-present risk of plummeting to the floor below. With that in mind, here's a rough tourist's guide to the bighouse.

• Shelves above the sink

These can be climbed with some cunning rope arrow work, and your reward is some water arrows if you can make it into the saucepan. To get from the first shelf to the second, approach the edge and lean out and you should be able to hit the side with a rope arrow.

• Stool

To get to the stool, some running leaps from the sink are required. Fire some rope arrows to latch onto just in case you fall short.

• Other shelves

These can be reached from the stool via a rope arrow, and the upper shelves can be accessed by climbing the thread. Some rope arrows (woohoo!) can be found in the pincushion and there are fire arrows inside the matchbox. That done, head back down to:

• Footbath

Is full of water arrows and can be leapt into without suffering any fall damage. There are also a few rope arrows lying around nearby.

• Table

Watch out, as there's a guard patrolling the floor and another waiting on top of the table. The massive fire won't be affected by your water arrows, so you can't hide quite as easily. Wait for the lower guard to get out of your way, then climb up a rope arrow on the sink side of the table. On top, the guard can be snuck up on and blackjacked without any fuss. Extra moss arrows can be found in the cheese.

• Sofa

Head down the back of the cushions to come across 20 gold in the form of two large coins. Garrett can carry them, apparently.

• Desk

The next room has a desk which can be accessed from another chair. On the top there are a few water arrows in the inkwell and, importantly, incriminating evidence about Constantine.

• Bed area

Next to the bed is a guard and a mousetrap. The trap is disarmed, having already sprung on an unfortunate thief. Take the speed potion he was carrying. Inside the large chest there are a few noisemaker arrows. Finally, on the bed itself are some moss arrows and a collection of spiders.

• Mousehole

The mousehole is the best exit from this crazy place. Just climb up the wall using rope arrows and you'll find yourself back in a normal-sized room.

Unfortunately, you'll be in a very very weird normal-sized rooms. A lot of the rooms on the second floor are twisted in some way, so don't be too surprised to find yourself walking on the walls. Grab the goodies and head through the doorways and you'll pop out in the northwest bit of the garden. Head south and you'll re-enter near the kitchens. To the west you can access the second floor.

Second floor

The second floor corridor has a large hole overlooking the first floor's. More specifically, it has a large hole overhearing the first, so be very careful not to make too much noise up here. It may not be patrolled, but the guards down below will still notice you. Pop north briefly to retrieve a gem from a ceiling-mounted chest, then head south. The next corridor contains a magical bolt trap. Keep your ears peeled and prepare to dodge if any come at you from the east. There are more traps in this area, so keep an eye out for floor plates and stone heads. Also watch out for small metal buttons with runic symbols, as getting close to one of those sets off a trap. Be warned that the south corridor echoes down to the first floor very well, and there's an expanse of tiled floor over a guard room, so moss up the troublesome spots to keep the noise down. Explore the area to the far east, as there's lots of loot and such therein. One point of advice: in the southeasternmost room with a chest and fireplace, crawl past the fire to find bonus cash. The middle area of the second floor is the only one with guards, so avoid it unless strictly necessary. The best way up to the third floor is on the eastern side, for which you will need the key.

Third floor

The third floor is mostly made up of corridors, either tiled or in the form of natural tunnels. The grassy areas are very poorly lit, and as such make excellent hiding and assault spots. Navigation can be a little tricky in these corridors, so keep your compass at the ready. Head south and east, and you'll come to a room that appears to be floating in space. There's 200 loot to be found in here, so make sure you grab it as you pass through. Head north and up the small grassy tunnel, and you'll come out above a tiled corridor. A guard patrols underneath, so try not to get spotted as you continue over it and further up the tunnel. This leads to a very small square corridor area patrolled by three guards. Moss it up and reduce the light as much as you can, and you can then hide in the dark tunnels and rush each guard when the time is right. This corridor overlooks the sword room, which is also guarded, so don't make too much noise. When you're ready, it's time to grab the sword. The easiest way is to leap onto the rings, grab it, then leap back off the way you came. Moss the ring and your leaving point if possible and you can do it without alerting anyone to your nefarious deed. You should have collected enough cash to fulfill your goals by now

Leaving

For a quick and easy way home, head north and climb down the rope into another dark bit. Head down to the corridor, then instantly double back and go southeast down more earth tunnels. Follow the corridor to the south and you'll end up at the exit to the space room. Go west from here and through a twisting room, then to the west some more and you'll reach the stairs to level 2. Head along the corridors, watching out for the bolt trap and tiled floors, until you reach the far southwest corner. The next door along will be the locked one that leads out to the balcony; unlock it with your key and escape to the safety of the outside. Enjoy the cutscene, because now the game is really about to start...