“Some people in this City are too rich for their own good, lucky they have me to give them a hand.”
V. First City Bank and Trust
As insurance against possible betrayal, the Mechanist leader Karras recorded his secret meetings with Sheriff Truart on a wax cylinder. If Garrett can obtain it, he will finally have the means of getting the Sheriff off his back for good, and hopefully find out why the Mechanists want him dead in the process. Having already acquired a copy of the safety deposit box key all Garrett needs do now is break into the vault of the largest and most secure bank in the city and escape with the recording. All in a night’s work.
Though Truart’s ultimate fate is still unknown, once Garrett has obtained the recording something is going to change. The plot seeds have been sown, though the exact nature of how they will develop remains muddy.
Another closed level with a single location to infiltrate, the sixth mission of The Metal Age is a sprawling puzzle box. Though Shipping and Receiving might have taken place over a larger, area a lot of that level was empty warehouse space. First City Bank and Trust is a warren of offices and corridors, guarded by both human and mechanical security. Mentioned in the introductory briefing, these Mechanist security devices will become a near constant presence in each level from here on; as the Mechanists themselves shift from the periphery to the forefront of the plot.
Despite being tasked with infiltrating a bank there is no specific loot requirement for this level, the objectives are focused exclusively on stealing the recording. Gaining leverage over Truart is the most important thing right now, until that’s done Garrett can’t get back to a normal life.
You might have the key but you don’t know which safety deposit box it opens, so the first task is to find the Hall of Records and determine which box the Mechanists are using. Only then should you risk making the attempt on the vault itself.
A pebbled path runs around the outside of the bank, between it and the tall perimeter wall that isolates the building from the rest of the city. Electric lights dot the path. Placed for utility rather than security, they have created various large patches of shadow that you can use to hide in. To your east a trio of guards are patrolling around this side of the bank, their route will eventually be blocked by a wall across the path, forcing them to double back. Should you choose to sneak past them a basement widow can be found. Picking the lock will provide one of the quickest routes into the building.
Around the bank in the other direction, a stack of crates and a stone archway will allow you to reach the roof. There are two ways inside from here. You can either drop off the roof onto a balcony to the north, or use a Rope Arrow to descent to the floor of the Meeting Hall. The latter will get you closer to the Hall of Records. The former leads to an office space between the Great Hall and the Guard Room; also, to be found here is a metal grate beneath which is the entrance to the ventilation system. Crawling through these vents will deposit you in a corridor in the middle of the offices to the east of the lobby.
Though it would be unsubtle to enter through them, the doors to the lobby can be picked. They open into a circular space in front of the teller’s counter. Unsurprisingly security is heavy, the space overlooked by balconies to either side, as well as several Mechanist security cameras. Garrett himself advices against attempting to approach through here. Should you be detected in the lobby security gates will drop over the exits sealing you in while bank security forces, both human and mechanical, are directed to your position.
From the vault in the north-west corner to this lobby, the bank interior is divided along a diagonal line between a larger eastern section and a smaller but more secure western section. Everything to the east is the public face of the bank, all opulence and grandeur. The employees have their offices here but there are also meeting halls and even a bar. Throughout are polished floors topped with rich carpets, the walls frequently adorned with artworks. Compared to these public facing areas the western portion of the bank is functional and utilitarian; more wood, less marble and a reliance on torches over electrical lights.
Movement between the two sides of the bank is restricted, with metal portcullises blocking the connecting doorways; the locks next to them are unpickable, the keys carried by the patrolling guards won’t unlock them either. These gates – along with other locked doors that lead from the western section to the outside – can be opened with a master key found in a first-floor office in the south-west corner of the bank. Sealed off behind a gate of its own, the only way into this section is to jump from a stair way through an oval aperture in the wall. This small sub-section of the bank is deserted. Once you have obtained the rust red master key you will be able to open up some shortcuts; including one that will let you go straight from the vault to the outside once you have obtained the Mechanist recording.
With the Hall of Records in one corner, and the vault in another, you need to gain access to both sides of the bank to complete your objectives. There are only two routes through the interior of the bank that aren’t blocked. One is to go through the heavily patrolled guard room, the other is via the lobby.
In-Security.
Looking at the Mechanist security devices in the lobby a golden wire can be seen entering from the east before branching out to each mechanical face. Following this cable back to its origin will allow you to disable the security devices in the lobby. Unfortunately, its origin is the bank’s security office.
At the very top of the bank the security office is accessible only by passing through either a heavily guarded corridor, or the Hall of Statues. Brightly lit, and constructed entirely from hard stone crossing the latter without being detected will require either patience or an abundance of Moss Arrows. The challenge of traversing this space is exacerbated by pressure plates in the floor, which force you to move directly down the centre of the room lest you set off the mechanical cannon concealed behind a wall panel overlooking the hall.
Moving through the east side of the bank is to make your way through a myriad of interconnected rooms and corridors punctuated by the occasional open space. Around each corner might be a guard or Mechanist security device; there are even some civilian staff still at work. At several points throughout these public facing spaces, are balconies and raised walkways overlooking the rooms below. These are usually patrolled by red shirted bank security armed with bows. Unlike the previous levels, here Garrett will need to be mindful of what is both above and below him. Fortunately, most of these interior balconies have been constructed from wood, and provide useful anchor points for Rope Arrows that allow rapid traversal between floors, avoiding the heavily patrolled stairs.
Throughout the bank, inside locked safes and even left on desks and shelves, are stacks of coins. Individually they don’t account for much gold, but together with the assorted objets d’art on display there’s more loot available to steal inside First City Bank and Trust than in any of the previous levels; though not by as much as you might think for a bank.
Having explored the Hall of Records in the north-east corner, and found the list of safety deposit box owners, it’s time to return to the more secure section of the bank and enter the vault. A Mechanist security camera monitors the vault door. Following the cables extending from it leads to a small locked room under the stairs from which the camera can be disabled. Finally, a metal bar extends from a grate in the floor preventing you opening the vault door. To remove this bar and access the vault you must find the room below the grating. You need to explore the basement.
You may have entered the building via the basement window, which eventually leads to a ramp up to the ground floor of the bank. Otherwise, the basement is accessible from a trap door within the offices to the east of the lobby.
All long corridors and poorly lit square rooms, the initial parts of the basement are unpatrolled and apparently used for storage. Rounding a corner in one of the larger corridors you will have to cross a metal plate on the floor. There are several of these between the basement entrance and the vault controls under the far side of the bank. Care should be taken while crossing these. While the basement may not see any human patrols, it is heavily trafficked by Mechanist Worker Bots; who will react to any sounds you make.
You can either move through the wider, and better illuminated central corridors, dotted with frequent wall-to-wall metal plates, or move into the side rooms and find the much narrower passageways used by the Worker Bots. The choice is up to you, the side passages are more challenging as there’s barely enough room for two Worker Bot to pass each other. Carefully timing your movements to match their somewhat erratic patrol schedule should allow you to get past them. The central corridors are not much safer, the Worker Bots move through them from one side to the other and with the noise of so many around you it can be difficult to pick out where they are until one is right on top of you. Blind they may be when unalerted, but colliding with one will send them scurrying to raise the alarm, and there is at least one larger Combat Bot waiting deeper inside the basement.
The basement corridors terminate in a low roofed space off which is a small room within which a Combat Bot patrols back and forth. You don’t need to get past this Combat Bot, though there are pressure plates on the floor outside that will force you to approach the doorway lest you trigger the hidden Mechanist security cannon. On the far side of these pressure plates are two final rooms, sealed behind switch operated gates, watched over by a security camera. The electric light next to this camera can be turned off by a switch in the room to the left (as seen by following the wire running from the light), while the controls for the bar locking the vault can be found in the room to the right.
Removing the bar requires you to press the six buttons on the control panel in the correct order, turning them all green and causing the bar to lower; opening the way to the vault itself.
“Don’t Bank on it…”
Where the proceeding level randomised the location of the key you needed to duplicate, here a similar system is used to modify the actual encounters within the bank. With some specific exceptions, the locations of guard patrols and Mechanist cameras are not fixed. This means certain routes through the interior can become more or less risky depending on the way the level is set up at runtime. You won’t notice during your first attempt but it does mean that you can’t rely on existing knowledge when playing through this level again.
Three stories high, made entirely of metal and watched over by a pair of Mechanist security cameras, the vault is more imposing than it is dangerous. Keeping the pillars between you and the security cameras is tricky, but doable. An elevator and then a ladder will take you up to the top floor where the Mechanists have their safety deposit box. Once you’ve obtained the wax cylinder recording it’s time to escape. If you’ve found the master key this is as easy as unlocking one of the many exterior doors in the secured western side of the bank and reading the outside.
A labyrinthine puzzle box, the bank is bureaucracy weaponised as architecture. Rooms, connects to corridors, to rooms, with no purpose other than to fill space or show off the opulence of the bank to its patrons. There are people and security devices everywhere, electric and gas lights are prevalent and only in those areas furthest away from public view will you ever fire a standard fire burning torch. One beneficial side-effect of this sprawl of rooms and corridors is that very few spaces have only one entrance or exit. If you are at risk of detection there’s usually at least two ways out of the area you are in, constantly moving forward will get you out of tricky situations you find yourself in, though there’s little guarantee that where you find yourself will be much safer. This need to keep moving, to improvise your way out of problems evokes the interior spaces of Shipping and Receiving.
At the end of each little warren of corridors and offices, is a large room used for more public displays of the bank’s wealth. There is usually an area of concealment available upon entering these spaces. From here you can observe the security measures and layout within and plan your route.
Though the bank’s owners are clearly invested in their Mechanist security devices, unlike the Sheriff they don’t have a strong a grasp of the subtleties of good placement. Golden yellow cables running from security devices to their control switches might fit the overriding aesthetic of wealth and success, but they provide any potential thief with a clear trail to follow.
Below ground the bureaucratic nightmare takes on a distinctly artificial bent, rigid formality taking over from the organic sprawl of the bank itself. Mechanist Worker Bots march ceaselessly through unlit corridors, metal and stone slammed together with little sense for the aesthetic qualities of either. While Garrett has a map of the above ground floors of the bank, there is no such guide for the basement. This combined with its relative starkness suggests that maybe these subterranean spaces are a recent addition, added to facilitate the additional security that appears to have been a requirement of the Mechanist’s patronage.
Resplendent with tiled floors and electric lights, First City Bank and Trust puts Garrett’s ability to obtain mastery over his environment to the test, and the random nature of some of the security elements allows it to provide a consistent challenge for players already familiar with the space. It’s unlikely you will have enough resources to make every space within the bank interior safe, there are simply too many hard floors, and the electric lights too numerous. The need to traverse space from the Hall of Records, to the vault, to the basement – and possibly back again – mean any rooms that are modified to benefit your traversal will likely see use more than once, granting a longer-term utility to any changes you do make to your environment.
For anybody else a theft from the largest bank in the entire City would be a climatic act, a once in a lifetime job that could see them retire. Unfortunately for Garrett he still needs to use the blackmail evidence he has obtained. To do that he will have to infiltrate the home of Sheriff Gorman Truart, the most dangerous man in the City; at least as far as Garrett knows…