Plot
The plot continues some time after the events of the first game. The "Metal Age" has come, and the city has changed with new technology, like cameras and steam powered robots, brought forth by the Mechanists, the current most powerful religion in the city. The sheriff Gorman Truart rules over the city attempting to clean up the streets, including the cynical protagonist, Garrett, who wants nothing to do with saving the world. Like the original Thief, the story takes place in three "Acts"—each one "punctuated by a cutscene that will further progress the storyline", according to Thief II level designer Emil Pagliarulo. The first Act sees Garrett as a "master thief, performing classic thieving runs", while, in the second, he becomes more of a "private investigator" character. In the third Act, Garrett is cast as a "James Bond-type agent, working from a 'base' and setting out to accomplish specific missions".
In the beginning, Garrett works on separate missions, including helping his associate Basso (rescued during the second mission in Thief: The Dark Project) clear a way into a mansion, collecting quick cash at the warehouse by the Dock, framing Sheriff Gorman Truart's subordinate Lt. Hagen, as well as escaping an ambush by the City Watch. He is approached by the Keepers, including Keeper Artemus, to go to the Keeper Library to listen to a prophecy, which warns of the approaching of the Metal Age. Not feeling involved, Garrett leaves but not before Artemus giving him a letter, informing him that he can obtain information from the one who is hired to kill him by eavesdropping at a meeting, held at a Mechanist Church.
In the meeting, Garrett hears the sheriff talking to the Mechanist leader, Father Karras. Karras has transformed a person into a mechanical 'Servant', developed a kind of weapon and demonstrated the process by killing a woman. The sheriff promised to supply twenty subjects for the experiment, and his words are captured by Karras' recording device, which is then kept at the vault at First City Bank and Trust. To exert pressure on the sheriff to find out who is hired to kill him, Garrett steals the device and infiltrate the sheriff's estate, only to find that Gorman Truart has been assassinated. A keyring at the crime scene bears the emblem of Lt. Mosley of the City Watch. Garrett starts to follow Mosley and trails her one night as she is delivering a letter, which is picked up by a Pagan. The Pagan is attacked by Mechanists and disappears into a cemetery, which hides a portal linked to the Maw of Chaos. Following the trail of blood, Garrett meets the Pagan wood nymph Viktoria, who persuaded Garrett to join her in the course of opposing the Mechanists.
With information provided by Viktoria, Garrett infiltrates the new Mechanist tower Angelwatch, the Mechanists' staging area Markham's Isle, the Lost City, and a noble mask collector's mansion, and they figure out Karras' scheme: he has made 30 Servants, each equipped with a mask and an agricultural device, the Cultivator, and the Servants have been sent to the nobles, who have extensive gardens. Followed by a signal released by a guilding beacon at the Mechanist cathedral, Soulforge, the Cultivators will release a Rust Gas, which feeds and multiplies on organic matters. The gas will then consume all lives and make Karras' dream of a machinery world come true. Viktoria suggests that Garrett can get into Soulforge, activate the guilding beacon to draw the Servants to the cathedral, and release the Rust Gas inside to backfire the plan on Karras. Garrett however thinks the plan is suicide and leaves. Later, Artemus informs Garrett that Viktoria has begun an assault on Soulforge. When Garrett arrives she is being attacked by the Mechanists' mechanical beasts. Realizing that there is not enough plants to sustain the chain reaction of the Rust Gas, Viktoria sacrifices herself and fills the cathedral with vines, while Garrett carries out her plan to sabotage Karras' scheme.
As the Rust Gas is released and kills Karras, Garrett is contacted by Artemus, who tells him Viktoria's and Karass' deaths are 'all is as it was written'. When asked whether there is more, Artemus replies yes, followed by Garrett telling him to 'tell me'.
Read more about this topic: Thief II: The Metal Age
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