1.)   The Caves

Before you enter the sewers and the caves, get the first pickpocket from the Archer in the tower ahead of you. Since the door to his tower is locked and not pickable in Expert difficulty, you need to reach the roof next to him either with the help of some crates or with some roof-hopping. Try not to alert him too much, and get his key and his arrows.

Then enter the sewers (the portal right of the starting position). The right gate inside is locked and not pickable, and I have no clue if there may be something useful behind. Ignore it, or mess around with it a bit, and then open the left gate and hop in (or, even better, hop at the ladder and climb down).

The area marked with two Spiders on your map is the place where you will encounter Giry - or, what is left of him. Get his stuff, and follow the tunnel in the S. There are two tiny Spiders. Jump over them and into the water, and you are safe.

If you take a left just behind the Spiders, you will reach immediately an area where 3 blocks will fall into the water when you approach the area. There is also a water arrow in this area, so avoid getting a rock on your head, and get the water arrow.

There is nothing more of value in this area, so head E until you find a grey tunnel. Dive in. This tunnel will lead you to the Crayman caves.

In the Crayman caves are several Craymen on patrol, or stationary infront of some further water tunnels. Explore this area carefully, or just run through it, and enjoy the fact that you are faster than Craymen, and that the Craymen won't follow you into the water tunnels. If you are in a water tunnel system that has 3 openings back into the Crayman cave, then don't bother exploring it too much. Leave it in one of the southern exits, and head to the way into another water tunnel system in the central S, in the cave with grey stone walls, and next to a rotten skeleton. This is, basically, the way out.

There is also a dead Keeper in a cave that can only be reached via the water tunnels. He has a book and an air potion with him; in other words: Nothing of value, but he adds some spice because of his diary.

Keep diving right in this water tunnel system, and you should reach the Keepers' Shrine after a while (take the 3rd opening that you find right of the entrance to these tunnels and you are at the stairs).

To get the silver nugget without alerting the Crayman, it is best, though, to dive even farther and through the seemingly huge brown area. Get the nugget at best without leaving the water, and hurry back out. If you were lucky and didn't produce too many sounds, he hasn't noticed you.

Douze the torch at the top of the stairs infront of you, and hurry up. It is safer in this area, when you don't stand (compare the intro, your map, and the grey stone inscription); so, crouch around. Mess around a bit with the empty chest, get the arrows out of the corpse, and read his letter. When you have had enough of this, take the exit of the shrine to the NE.

Yet another water tunnel awaits. Hop in, and follow it. Mantle out, and approach that singing lunatic. Don't blackjack him, though, since he will provide you with some hints, a key, and a map. So, sit down and listen to what he has to say.

What exactly he sings, is not too important. Basically, he tells you that once he was the owner of the opera that lies just over these caves, until Lady Valerius took over. He wants you to deal his revenge to her, and he thinks that the loss of the water talisman (that the Captain of her watch discovered a short while ago) would "make her soooo sad" - but because he is such a lawful&good man, he can't just take it from her... you, on the other hand, seem to be the perfect man for this job. And that is a good thing, since you want to steal the talisman anyway. However, he will provide you with a good map (the secret passages are marked with red "X"s on it), with a grey key, and with the advice to take a left at the sewers. A very good hint, and we will follow this strategy in the following walkthrough.

As soon as you are climbing up the rope (Raoul has nothing of value in his hut, so don't bother to try to get in), the objectives will change.

Follow the tunnel into the sewers, and take a left. This leads you directly into the basement, N.

2.)   The Basement

You are now in the central N of the Basement. I recommend that you clean now firstly the W.

The first door to your right is pickable, and behind it are several helpful items. Unlock it, and get the items. In the hallway directly infront of the door, it seems, are no Guards on patrol. Grab the equipment, and follow the opening to the S - this leads to a room with a huge fireplace, a Servant who walks around permanentely between this and the next room. Use a moss arrow on the inside of the fireplace, and hurry into it when the Servant is on his way to the other room. Another moss arrow on the metal floor infront of the fireplace is also helpful, since you don't want to waste time with sneaking here.

Climb up the ladder, and jump at the other ladder once you have reached the top of the first one, and continue climbing until you reach the secret room of Raoul in the 2nd floor. Slash the tapestry to get in, read the book and grab his valuables, but don't pull the switch that would lead you to the rooms in the W of this floor, because there's a Guard on patrol out there. So, just climb back down the ladders.

If you listen carefully while you are still on the ladder, you can make out when you can hurry back out without running into the Servant.

Now head to the SW of the basement, because you want to rob the fine wine at this time. In the hallway N of the Winebasement is a Guard with a key. Steal the key. The stairs in the NW lead to the door in the Ticket Office, but they are guarded - so just avoid these stairs. There are better ways up.

The Winebasement is frequented by a Servant who walks around in an anti-clockwise direction. Trail him, and get the valuable wine with the help of a crate when the Servant is out of view. The FineWine is quite evil hidden... so look around for it in every tunnel, shadow, and wine compartment.

Head to the center of the Basement, and get the water arrows from the bath. Leave the bath again as silently as possible, and head back to the N of the basement.

Follow the hallway to the E. This area is guarded by a Guard who patrols in a clockwise direction. Trail him nicely until you have reached the very NE. The NE is easy to recognize: There is a stationary Guard next to an explosive barrell (in a lower difficulty, this is a situation where one would shoot a fire arrow at the barrell, right? ;) ) at an elevator, and a horde of Opera gals (plus a guy) are in the room in the S. Avoid the stationary Guard, and trail the patroling one through the room to the S. In the chest in the S of the training room is a healing potion.

If you enjoy having to deal with more patroling opponents, head up the stairs one level until you trigger the conversation of the Guards. If you don't enjoy that, just don't trigger the conversation and head directly into the area marked as "Food".

In the kitchen is one Servant on permanent patrol, and here and then another one will appear and walk up the stairs in the S rotunda. Avoid getting seen, and hop into the fireplace in the kitchen. Climb up the ladder, and you will reach the S of the 1rst floor.

3.)   The 1rst floor

To the E is a room with two Operapeople. Wait until they have finished their dialogue, and then enter the room through the "secret" door to steal their loot.

Before you start exploring the E of the 1rst floor now, I recommend that you loot the SW of the floor. Hop back to where you entered this floor, and leave through the fireplace in the W now. When you stand in the doorframe of the door of this room, the Guard on patrol won't notice you. Snatch his key when he passes by, and follow him silently to the W, once he has his back turned. Wait in the next shadow until he has his back turned again, and continue exploring this hallway and the rooms next to it in this slow and careful fashion until you have reached the very SW (where the "Garderobiere" loiters around with her face towards your direction.) Ignore her room for now, and head back to the E.

If you're a really unlucky person, the Servant who patrols on a long way between the stage, to the basement via the kitchen, will appear while you are sneaking around. This is quite unlikely, though, because he has a really long way to go.

Head back to the area behind the stage. In the shadows between the middle paintings, you are safe from the patroling Guards. The Archer who basically patrols from N to S has a key: make it yours.

Proceed to the N, and loot the rooms in the hallway N of the stage. Then proceed to the W. In this corridor, you will also encounter a Guard on patrol. Snatch his key, and avoid him as you avoided his counterpart in the equivalent corridor in the S. The first two doors to the right are not somewhere where you really want to be. One is a closet, one are the barracks. Even though the equipment in the barracks is a good argument to try to sneak in, this is as good as impossible when you don't want to knock out anyone. Get the loot from the first room to the left, and then proceed into the Ticket Office.

When you move, once again, slowly and silently, no one will notice you at all. Get the loot from the box, ignore the metal door in the W (this door leads only back to the western stairs in the basement), and leave the Ticket Office i.e. via the window that is most distant to the Servant. Now head into the entrance rooms of the Opera.

The most interesting of the 3 entrance rooms is the central one. There is a piece of loot, and there are water arrows in the fountain. Use a moss arrow, so that you can hurry around in this room whenever the Guard on patrol has his back turned. Once you have what you wanted, head through the door to the central stairs (the door to the E in the central room).

4.)   The 2nd floor

The central stairs, same as the entrance rooms in the 1rst floor, are much easier when you move close to the wall on the different surface. Follow them up to the 2nd floor, N.

Now head W, and enter the room with the two Noblepeople. They have valuable items at their belts, and you want to steal these items. Because there is a Guard on patrol in these rooms, you want to wait in the shadow next to the entrance of this room, and to wait that he has his back turned. While you are at it, snatch also his speed potion. Then approach the Noblepeople - when you hug the right wall and move silently and nevertheless as fast as possible without making any noise, they won't get really much alerted. Snatch the looking glass of the Lady, and head back out - the southern two rooms contain nothing of value.

Because the way into the hallways of this floor from the N end of the central stairs is in bright light and in plain sight of several Guards, I recommend that you explore now the E part of the central stairs. In the niche with the statue in the SE is a gold nugget. Take it, and approach the door to the hallways in the S.

Even though this S door to the hallways is also in plain light, I prefer this way out of the staircases. Maybe just paranoia and belief in dark magic, but it also leads directly to the room of Lady Valerius - and that's where you want to go now.

5.)   The Talisman of Water

Head to the W, and empty the rooms in the S from their loot. Then head back to the hallway. Then head back to the E, until you find a hallway that leads to the S. Follow it into the S rotunda. Sneak into the rotunda and grab the loot. In the central pillar, you will find a "secret" door. Open it, and head up into the 3rd floor - Lady Valerius' private room. If you were previously so careful that no one had ever seen you or reached a relatively high attention level, this room will be empty now. If not, there will be two Guards.

Lets hope that you were careful enough before and that you have now an empty room. Just open the small box in the shelf to get the key to the chest with the water talisman. It is also highly recommendable that you search around in the room even closer, and that you get the key of Cribs' private safe from the table. Get your talisman, and leave.

If you are facing two Guards in the room, you also need to get the key. It will be a desperate attempt to sneak around as long as you can, and whenever they see you, you have to run back to the secret passage. Because the way into the secret passage is half-high, they won't be able to follow you in.

Now head back down to the 2nd floor through the secret passage to loot that floor, and to get the silver flute.

6.)   The 2nd floor II - The Silver Flute

Behind the door E of your position is a Guard with a key - this will be your last pickpocket in this mission. But because accessing his room through this door is not quite easy, lets ignore him for now. Instead, follow the corridor back to the W and to the N, until you reach the next crossing. Take a right (to the E) here, and then enter the southern entrance of the theater boxes of this floor.

Sit down in the shadow of the hallway, and wait that the footsteps of the patroling Archer in the theater box area indicate that he has his back turned. Then sneak in. Avoid him, and rob everything of value - if you are not too clumsily, no one will ever be alerted more than an occasional "huh?". When you are done, leave this area to the northern hallway.

First of, follow this hallway directly to the W. Be careful, because there is a Guard on patrol in this hallway. Approach the very NW corner of the opera house, and steal the necklace from "Lord B." You can ignore the further entrance area, there is nothing of value - if you aren't keen on trying to test if you are able to sneak through this marble area without alerting anyone. ;)

However, now head back to the hallway N of the central stairs. Head N at the crossing of it, and you will find the northern rotunda. This northern rotunda is IMHO the best way into the 3rd floor - but for now, you are searching for the silver flute. So, ignore the rotunda, and head E.

In the grey hallway behind the next door is Cribs' room. Things are easier for you, when you open the safe and get the flute before the two have finished their argument - because the Operasinger will walk around quite nervously in this part of the room after the debate. Get the flute and head back out into the grey corridor.

This is now the perfect time to try to get the key from the Guard in the S grey corridor. Head E until you have reached the area behind the stage, cross it towards the S, and climb up the ladder to the 2nd floor. Get the loot from the storage rooms, douze the second torch, and pick the lock of the wooden door. When you douze the torch just behind the Guard, you can sneak in and get his key without even alerting him. After that, head back out and back to the N corridors, northern rotunda.

Head up the ladder, and read the freakish manuscript. Then open the door to access the 3rd floor.

7.)   The 3nd floor

This floor doesn't contain much, but there are several Guards on patrol and the gaps between the carpets are too wide for a jump. This means, that you have to wait until the Guards have their backs turned, and to sneak behind their back from shadow to shadow.

Avoid the central stairs as well as you can, and concentrate on the E of this floor - this is the area where the last few pieces of loot lie around. Also have an eye on the patroling Guards; some of them carry valuable items at their belts.

Once you have cleansed the theater boxes, head to the SW corner of this floor. Behind the tapestry, you will find a secret passage to the garderobe in the 1rst floor. This is the way out.

8.)   Getting out

Slash the tapesty, and head down the ladders. In one of the compartments in the next room, you will find a purse. Grab it, and leave through the door. When there is no Guard very close, just hop through the window (ignore the panicking garderobiere), run straight into the next room, open the first door to the left, and run out. When you survive long enough, once outside, the mission will end.