Author

Briefing

Prologue:

When - Several months before the first event of Thief 2. Garret is confronted one morning by a messenger boy who has a letter for him.

"Dear Garrett,

It has in truth been years since we last met, yet sometimes when I cast my mind back to those days, it seems only minutes have passed when as children we played on those dirty streets and lightened the pockets of passer-bys. Although we have seldom crossed paths since your joining the keepers, I have often thought
and asked after you. Though it with much unexpected pain that I seek an audience with you now.
As you may already know, I have been wed to Master Greaves, a successful trader for some years now and have borne him a daughter, Merimee, who will turn eight this year. So, as you can see, my life has indeed taken a more rewarding turn than what I ever envisioned in my youth. That is, until recently. When my mother became widowed all those years ago, she found herself without money enough to support me and sent me as a child to the city where I could work in one of the many factories there. And yet, poverty was not the only reason that I was sent away, it seems. Following the death of my Father, my mother turned to a cult group there for support, whose beliefs and identity were kept a closely guarded secret. Heather Downs, having such a strong history of Hammer loyalists, was no place to start joining other religions, and yet in those dark times she felt that she had nowhere else to turn. As my mother found herself becoming further and further entangled in the Druizalites ways (as they were known), they started demanding that I should be inducted into their group. They claimed that a birthmark that I wore was a sign of Baphomane, their god, and that by sacrificing me to him was part of their destiny.
Since then, I had heard nothing of my Mother until last week when travelling to Heather Downs, I learned that she died several years ago. It was during this visit that my daughter Merimee vanished. She also bears the same birthmark as I. I am beside myself to know what to do. The Sheriff there seems to have little time for one such as myself. Even so I have a modest amount of wealth now, my low social standing seems to work against me. I believe that you're the only one who can help me now. I bid thee Garrett to travel those miles to my old home, Heather Downs, and seek what information that you can find. According to Greaves, there is a historian there known as Marius Saltimer, who claims that he knows something about the Druizalites and that she will slain in one of their ceremonies tomorrow.

Please go with Abby the messenger boy to my house now, where we will discuss your payment.

Yours faithfully,

- Marina"

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Further Background:

During the journey to Heather Downs, the coach gets stopped by guards who start searching for weapons, as people have been disappearing in the area. Garrett is forced to jettison all but only the most essential items. Perhaps the famous combat expert, Luthor De Snel, who is said to reside in Heather Downs, will have a weapon or two.