I was hoping that the second mission from this author would address the issues I've had with the first one, and it partly did. I've had one glaring issue with it but that's something I'll bring up in detail later, in the spoiler section.

There's a map now! Though this time around it's not one huge building with a large courtyard, but instead you're thrown into part of the city with a couple of medium-sized buildings, most of them related to your main objectives. Good stuff, but the verticality feels a bit tacked on without much thought compared to some other missions, but it's still solid for its age. One noticable issue I've had with it though is that some windows are frobbable without any clear indication, and while some of them lead to secrets, some of them are pretty much required to find, if only for the loot objective.

Speaking of the loot objective, this has been something I criticized in 'Forbidden Rites'. The percentage of loot needed to complete the objective has been lowered as far as I can tell, but that doesn't mean that you'll be able to complete it easily, as large chunks of loot are hidden fairly well, and sometimes not in the most intuitive spots. This time I've even had to consult a walkthrough to find the last hundred pieces I was missing which is something I don't enjoy doing. It's a weird combination of vertical exploration sometimes going unrewarded and having to frob a window which looks like every other damn to reach your goal. Just be aware of that and you'll probably be fine, but it caused me some frustration.

One aspect I really enjoyed in the previous mission was the writing, and while I do acknowledge that this mission's writing should be judged on its own merits rather than comparing it to the author's previous mission, comparing it is exactly what I'm going to do because I feel it's a pretty large step down. I will however mention that this mission actually has an in-game briefing through a conversation with a lady and I was pleasently surprised by the rather competent voice acting, so that was pretty nice and made up for the much shorter text-based briefing. The writing style is pretty much on par with that of the previous mission, but what really took me out of the experience was the name of the warding you're robbing, that being 'Lord BlackFyre', full name 'Daemon BlackFyre'. While I wouldn't mind a reference if it was being done with any semblance of subtlety, the capitalization of the 'F' in 'Fyre' made the character seem like some teenage FanFiction.net creation.

All in all, still a good mission so far. The part which made me want to tear my hair out can't be touched upon without spoilers, so be warned.

SPOILERS
Alright, the final part ruined the mission for me. After completing your main objectives of stealing the statue and providing the hammerite priest with the three pieces of evidence, you return to your starting position. At this point I was ready for this mission to be over, especially after the rather tedious loot objective. But in a slightly predictable twist, your lady gets kidnapped. This might've been surprising, but having the objective of not letting any harm come to her made me speculate why it exists.

Anyway, you need to head back into the mansion from which you've stolen the statue and rescue Jeanette (or at least I believe that's what she's called) by carrying her unconcious body back to where you've started, despite her being kidnapped from there? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I digress. As far as I'm aware, there's nothing new while you're walking to the spot, but after you've lockpicked the door about 20 damn Hammerites spawn in the courtyard which connects the mansion to the rest of the map which split up into groups to ruin your day.

This segment was absolutely atrocious for me and I didn't even manage to complete it despite some rather powerful hidden tools I've collected beforehand. Again, the mission had already overstayed its welcome, and for me this was the straw that broke the camel's back. After trying for 20 minutes I decided to call it quits. Without this miserable ending I would've already rated this mission lower than the author's previous one, but I had to detract another point. I'd guess that the mission is over after carrying her back, so I hope I didn't miss a whole lot. If this had happened earlier, it probably would've dragged my rating down even further, but this way you can at least quit after completing your initial objectives. I'm sure being converted into a mechanical servant isn't the most enjoyable experience, but you'll have to deal with it, sorry Jeanette!