Dark Messiah of Might and Magic - Walkthrough - Chapter 9

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic - Walkthrough - Chapter 9
This post discusses skills in the Dark Messiah: Might & Magic single player campaign -- PC version, regular edition, HARD Difficulty.
For an index of all our hints and walkthroughs for this game, click here.

Chapter 9 - City of Flames - +12 Skill Points

Check all doors with door handles and keyholes. A few are unlocked, others need the Burglary skill. Only some count as Secret Locations (i.e., you are notified with a special message on the screen). If you don't have the Burglary, look for other openings, windows, or doors on upper balconies that might be reachable. Use your Telekinesis skill from afar to check those to see if they can be opened.

Part 1 - Find Percy - +2 Skill Points

• When you emerge from the sewers and go up the stairs to the courtyard, there is a building with a window that has a platform in front and a wooden beam over it. Go into that window to access the attic. If you can attract the Ghouls, they will not try to climb the building to get at you on the platform.
• At the bridge across the chasm, look for a small waterfall. It splashes down onto a ledge. Drop down to the ledge to find a dead soldier.
• Near the same bridge/dead soldier, on the right side of the street, there is a half-burnt house with planks leading to the house across the street. If you are fast enough, this can let you avoid some fighting and snipe from above. Go across the planks to that house and enter by the window. Then drop down to the ground floor and go outside to find another dead soldier. Return to the house and either unbar the door to get to Percy, or use a Rope Arrow to climb back up to the second floor and go out the way you came in. 

Part 2 - Cyclops - +3 Skill Points for killing cyclops (optional)

• Percy leads you outside to a small courtyard. The neighboring building is locked but you can climb up to the balcony and enter that way. Go to the ground floor to get the key to unlock the outer door and the two rooms inside the house.
• Instead of going through the locked building, you can also enter the sewer, open the grate at the end (which lowers into a handy platform) and leap across the chasm to the sewer on the other side. Then, climb up the ladder there to emerge across the courtyard.
• Sewer grate near the wagon across the courtyard leads to a sewer dead end with a magic mushroom.

Part 3 - Sanctuary of Ylath - +2 Skill Points for entering the Citadel sewers, +3 Skill Points for bathing in the Sanctuary of Ylath (optional)

If you bathe in the Sanctuary of Ylath, you will receive a bow, staff, and dagger of DragonBone. All the melee Dragon weapons kill zombies without needing adrenaline or setting them afire; only the Bow of the Dragonhorn will not (except in ways all bows normally can). When you leave, zombies will emerge from the graveyard to attack.

• Percy leads you to a broken bridge. Once across the broken bridge, there is a building just on the right. With Burglary you can open the door. With two ropes -- One hanging from the balcony and another from the beams under the roof, you can climb up onto the balcony. The door there is static and cannot be opened, but being up there will trigger the ghoul encounter just ahead. From the balcony, you can lean over and fire at them without them being able to locate or reach you.
• You will need to go up a chain to get to the next tier in the city. As you go up the ramp, look to your right to find a tree and some mushrooms near it. Further up the ramp and winding up is the sanctuary of Ylath.
• Down the ramp, there is a mage and two soldiers who will shortly after be attacked by Ghouls. The grate on the ground can be opened by a stone button in the wall to the right. In the same coffin as the Staff of the Firelord is an Earthfire Shield which may be hard to see.
• When you continue past the mage and two soldiers, off to the right is a door that leads to the next area. Ahead, the sidewalk would normally end except the wall has been broken down. Go through and turn left, and continue into a smashed-open house. Look behind the barrel. Climb upstairs to find a potion.
• On your way to the house with the Lightning Shield and Master Thief's Outfit (area transition to a zombie alley and then meeting with Percy), climb over the right side of the stone bridge and follow a grassy ledge around a building.
• In the house with the Lightning Shield and Master Thief's Outfit, there is a ladder leading into a pitch-dark attic.
• Where you meet Percy after the zombies, there is a construction over the canal with strings of red pennants. The windows have ledges you can reach. Enter the building to find a chest.
• Where Percy talks about raising the grille, there are three straw-covered sheds to the left. Jump up and go around the fencing to explore the grassy area behind.
• Percy will enter a building. Go in and explore. The upstairs counts as a Secret Location.

Part 4 - Gatehouse - +2 Skill Points for killing the Pao Kai
You do not need the Ballista to kill the Pao Kai. Using a bow or melee if it closes to claw at you can work.
If you kill it before going up the stairs to properly trigger the Objective, you still get 2 Skill Points, but it will not be announced and you will not clear the Objective from your list.

• At the start of this area, there are stairs up. Go up the crumbled stairs toward the torch and blood stain on the wall. There is a potion nearby.
• When you exit the sewers to the wall face, follow the very narrow ledge that goes around the stairs up to the gatehouse.
• In the entrance to the gatehouse, there are two baskets on the same chain. When you empty the one on the ground, the other will slowly lower. Anchor it down with logs first or it will rise again when you remove a couple of items.

Part 5 - Necropolis Entrance - +2 Skill Points, +3 Skill Points for killing Leanna (optional)

Leanna will attack you if you rescued her in Chapter 8 and have not purged Xana in the Sanctuary.
If you don't kill Leanna, you can still proceed down to the Necropolis and into the Epilogue chapter. From there, you can double back up here. If she was hostile, she will now stand around passively and not interact with you. The game proceeds as if you had killed Leanna and kept Xana.