The tenement building near the Rudshore Gate.
Creating a Safe Haven is a side quest during the mission The Flooded District, wherein Corvo Attano must help a group of plague survivors escape confinement in a Flooded District tenement house. The only means of escape is past an arc pylon, several tallboys, and other members of the City Watch, who will attack the survivors on sight if they are spotted. To complete the mission successfully, Corvo must lead all of the survivors to safety--if any are killed, it will result in mission failure.
This mission is only available in low chaos. It can be found upon entering the Rudshore Gate section of the Flooded District--specifically, upon passing Morley's warehouse, where two looters can be seen entering the tenement buildings to the right of the plague wagon.
Mission Initiation
Mace Brimsley and his wife.
Upon entering the rightmost tenement building, Corvo will meet a small party of three plague survivors discussing their current predicament and how to get past the wall of light barring re-entry into "civilization." As Corvo moves from room to room he'll discover Mace Brimsley and his wife having a similar conversation. Eavesdropping on the first group or speaking with the married couple will point Corvo to the back stairwell to locate a man named Blake.
When Corvo approaches Blake, the man will explain that he knows of Corvo and was/is a smuggler. Blake then asks Corvo to head to the courtyard behind the tenement buildings to disable an arc pylon there. Once it is gone, he claims that he and the other survivors can wait there for some "boys" coming to get Blake out.
Blake and his sister.
There is a limited amount of time for the survivors to escape: Blake, a patrolling pair of City Watch guards, and a note all separately indicate that once floodlights outside the building are equipped with whale oil tanks and powered on, patrolling tallboys will begin assaulting the apartments to eradicate survivors.
Blake offers Corvo the opportunity to get a bird's eye view of the surrounding area from the upper floors, where he can study the tallboy-littered field that is between the tenement buildings and Rudshore gate. The Tenement Key, which grants access to any locked door in the apartment complexes, is found on small table near Blake and his sister.
Walkthrough
Two active arc pylons in the courtyard.
The mission is fairly straightforward:
- Dispatch the sole guard in the rear courtyard (if present).
- Disable the two arc pylons in the neighboring courtyard.
- Alert and protect Blake and the others so they may gain entry into the courtyard.
When Corvo accepts the quest, a new marker will appear on his display called "Threat Zone." In addition, a tallboy will change its patrol route into the alley joining both tenement buildings and the stairwell to the courtyard. If it spots the survivors, it will attack them on sight. There are several strategies to protect the survivors:
- Destroy the tallboy.
- Stand on the upstairs balcony and distract the tallboy with crossbow bolts while the survivors escape.
- Run out and distract the tallboys with the aid of blink and agility.
- Obstruct the doorway with the door opened outward and Corvo in stealth mode, preventing any survivors from running past until the stilt-walker moves away. As long as Corvo remains hidden with the door open, the tallboy will not see him, as the alley is poorly lit. As Corvo moves out of the doorway, the survivors will believe the coast is clear and move one-by-one to safety until Corvo blocks the doorway again as necessary.
The others listen as Blake gives his speech.
The last survivor to exit the building will always be Blake, who moves particularly slowly. Upon reaching the courtyard, Blake announces to the group that his buddy with a boat will be coming for them soon. Further discussion with Corvo ends with Blake inviting him to either wait with the group, or fight his way past the guards. If all of the survivors are past the tallboys but the quest is still listed as incomplete on the journal, try stacking some corpses from the building on top of the stairs to block any survivors from wandering down the stairs and getting themselves killed. There does not appear to be any further reference to these survivors during the remainder of the game.
Trivia
- The floodlights can be activated manually if Corvo so chooses, but doing so automatically results in mission failure.
- Activating the floodlights after the survivors have reached safety will still result in a barrage from the tallboys, and though no one is harmed, completion credit will be reversed and the mission failed.
- When Corvo tortures Bunting during the mission House of Pleasure, Bunting alludes to the Brimsleys. These Brimsleys are most likely Mace Brimsley and his wife.
- During Lady Boyle's Last Party, several party goers can be heard gossiping about Mrs. Brimsley.
- Of the first three plague survivors encountered, two are referred to as "Magnus" and "Family Man".
- In high chaos, these characters are found as weepers, and the side mission is not accessible.
Gallery
