The Fire Talisman, and the Water if you aren't playing Gold, were placed by the keepers in an place known as the Lost City. The whole thing was buried underground after some sort of disaster, and the only known entrance was sealed up. Fortunately, you have a keystone that should open that seal and let you in. Unfortunately, your map is ancient and more like a cave painting, so you'll need to explore a bit.

Objectives:

• Break the seal.
• Retrieve the Talisman of Fire (and Water, if applicable).
• (Hard/Expert) Find the remains of the lost Keeper expedition.
• Steal (Hard) 1500, or (Expert) 2000 loot.
• (Expert) Make sure that at least 500 of that loot is in gems.
• Leave.

Water arrows water arrows water arrows water arrows.

The first task is to gain entrance. The keyhole is clearly visible underwater, so use the stone and prepare yourself for a swim. There are pockets of air about to let you catch your breath, but beware that the final one is at the top of a long downward shaft. As you emerge and float with the current, mantle up onto the first bank you see and hide in the shadows. If you miss you'll fall into a deep pit and have to climb out up the ledges.

There are spiders everywhere now. Kill or run, it's up to you. When you reach the large one at a T junction, turn left. The flamethrowers hurt, so time your way past that trap. Once you reach civilisation (albeit a lost one), take refuge in the shadow and make sure you haven't been followed by anything crawly. You're now on the roof of the library.

Library

This is scary evil. Each room contains a blue crystal that lights up when there's something inside. Like you. Or the burricks that patrol the building. The only way to remain in darkness is to wait in doorways and hope nothing patrols. If you see a light come on in an adjacent room, there's a burrick on the way.

There's a little loot in a window just to the south, so take it and wait for the burrick to patrol the western room. As he's leaving, crouch and follow him out at a safe distance. When he turns a corner, go south to a stairway and down. Play another exciting game of follw-the-burrick until you reach another, more interesting stairway. If you want loot, and don't mind facing incredible danger, go down here. If not, skip the next paragraph.

Incredible Danger

Four burricks await down here, one routinely patrolling the entrance area. You want to turn left here, go through the little room, left down the long corridor and into the wonderful stash room at the end. They want to kill you. The way I use is to wait for the patrol to leave the entrance, then follow it and run to the corridor. You'll hear them wake up and by the time you reach the end all four should be at the other. One gas arrow can deal with them all now. If the bodies end up blocking the way, remember they can be clibmed over. Return to the first floor.

Houses

The next room along leads to a nice, safe exit. Go quickly and leave. In the far right corner is a gem, so make sure you don't miss it. Head to the darkened streets patrolled by a lone burrick. You have lots of opportunities to hide here, so don't panic. Climb onto the first roof for loot and a fire arrow. More loot is available in another building. Head east and in the next area, curse and swear at the engine as you try to climb onto the roof of the low grey building. Do more roof gymnastics to get over the lava and earn yourself more fire arrows.

Central

Two fire elementals lazily patrol this next area. You can hide with perfect safety on top of the northern wall, but make sure the elementals have left before you try to get there. Either water them down or distract them and head south, taking the only route available. At the end of a rocky path you'll find the central area and a broken gate. Lots of goodies lie behind this, but so does an elemental. Note that you can't fire through the gate, but it can fly through it. Two more will occasionally appear from the south, so be on guard. Wait until the lone one is "facing" the other way and quickly scale the wall and jump into the darkened building. Moss, fire and broadhead arrows can be found over here, as can a handy piece of jewelry. Leave from the highest point and pray that you aren't spotted. Land ON the wall, not past it: there's a nasty pit of lava there. Wait atop the next building for the patrol to go by, then quickly head south and find shade.

To the south is a tiny room whose wall is studded with blue gems. There's enough here to complete the Expert 500 objective. It is patrolled by fire elementals, but they won't see you if you crouch in the corners. They'll get unbearably close, but they still won't notice you. Also in this area is a bit of reading material and some precious theatre masks. Leave via the broken wall on the top floor and you'll make your way to the southeast corner of the map.

Tomb

Here is a grid network of tiny structures. As two of my personal rule of Thief are, 1) stay out of sight, and 2) don't set yourself on fire in lava, take to the rooftops and work your way to the next area. A mage patrols there so stay back until you're comfortable to move on. From your hidden vantage point, moss up the path to the mage and wait. When he's facing away, quickly run and jump to the small pile of bricks, behind which you can enjoy total shadow.

The remains of the expedition are here along with a medallion, some equipment and loot. Don't forget the gas arrow and nugget next to the lava. Pass the next guards by just ignoring them, and head down into the tomb. A mage patrols here, so hide in the alcove or quench the torches to get by. You'll need three rope arrows to get over the lava pit. There's a trapped bit of ceiling coming up, but I'm not going to tell you where it is. You'll be able to tell its approximate location by the bones, but it's one of the big shocks of Thief and I can't deny you that. Just crouch like your life depended on it. Even though I know where it is, it still caused my mouse hand to convulse so hard that I knocked over my coffee. Tip: move any coffee away from your mouse hand now.

The final area is loaded with loot and the lever, which'll come in handy later. If I recall correctly, this is also where the Water Talisman lies in original Thief. Don't bother opening the sarcophagi as they're empty. One little room contains two magi talking; after darkening the area lean in close and nab the three treasures from under their noses. With everything gathered up, leave. Retrieve your rope arrows by grabbing them just as you leap off.

I seem to recall that in non-gold Thief, raiding the tomb spawns vicious beasties at the expedition camp, but that's not something Gold players need worry about. Either way, running is the easiest way back as no one will follow you over the lava.

Coliseum

Go all the way back to the blue gem room and a little beyond, then go west and head through the tunnel to the coliseum. There are loads of water arrows ripe for the taking on the way, and no guards to stop you. Woot. Eventually you'll find the sparring area surrounded by lava. This is good. Stay in the shadows for now.

Another Gold difference arises here, that being that in the original there were Trickster monsters all over this place. Now it's mostly empty, save a few magi. Whatever your setup, explore the upper interior and get the goodies. There's a crawlspace in one of the rooms leading to a secret chamber. At this point it's possible to reach 2000 loot so this is well worth a visit. It also contains a hint to the location of the lever, but (cough) we already know.

Use the lever on the mechanism in the basement and the bridge will extend. Just before crossing it, rope up onto the wooden beam and explore the upper floor for more loot. Continue over the bridge when you're happy. Onwards and northwards to find a stash of water arrows, the other medallion and a handy hint about the Talisman. The dead end isn't dead: after exploring the buildings, go around the rim of the lava statue to find a path. Tada! You've found the tower.

Fire Talisman

Elementals patrol here, so stay in the little room until they're gone. When all is safe, run like stink into the tower. As hinted, climb out of the window when the path is no more. Snipe the stationary elementals from here, if you wish. Thanks to the engine, it can be tricky to climb the rope required to reach the top level. Make life a little easier by attaching it to the far end of the beam. That path you can see from the talisman's window is a way out, but unfortunately there's no way to reach it.

Getting out

A whole host of new fire elementals have spawned to protect the city, and they're going to be a real pain if you're short of water arrows. If not, they're quite easy as many can be sniped off from a distance. Head back the way you came (avoiding the tomb part, of course) and if necessary, break into a mad dash past tough bits. You're on the way out now and (should) have completed the other objectives, so clear a path and floor it. Three new elementals patrol the central area, so take extra care there and follow them to the perfect shade you hid in before. Another area to be wary of is the library entrance, now guarded by an elemental that may take you by surprise. Once you're through the library and on the roof, you're pretty much home and dry. Just dodge the spiders you alerted way back at the start and dive into the pool to "escape."