A Tangled Web

A Tangled Web is the fifth episode of Band of Thieves. It was set at the Contessa's castle estate in Prague, and the main antagonist was once again the Contessa.

Plot[]

The Setup[]

Now that the Cooper Gang is reunited, it is time for a little payback. They learn that the Contessa, having escaped from them at the prison, is now hiding at her well-fortified gothic nightmare castle estate that can make thieves run in terror. Whether it is terrible or not, that is where the trio is heading. They found out that the Contessa is not only recently a secret Klaww Gang member, but also in possession of the Clockwerk eyes to sweeten the deal. The Thievius Raccoonus describes the eyes stopping opponents dead in their tracks, transfixed in their gaze. It is quite obvious what a powerful hypnotist like the Contessa could do with such powerful artifacts.

The Contessa's corruption news has spread to INTERPOL and the only one being closet the case is Constable Neyla, who is granted a cash allowance to hire an army of local mercenaries and wage war against the corrupt spider. Though the gang is entering a warzone, they have to act right away before things were to go from bad to worse.

Know Your Enemy[]

Once the gang arrived at the Contessa's castle, Sly's first task, as usual, was to snap some recon photos in the field, which include the following: Neyla's headquarters, a boat, the Contessa's getaway blimp and one of her tanks. After that, Sly climbed his way up to the Contessa's "re-education" tower. With the front door locked, Sly climbed further up and reached a window that led him inside. There, he found Carmelita Fox being restrained by the Contessa, who was using the Clockwerk eyes to slowly brainwash her.

The Contessa controls the hypnosis from her machine.

Though Carmelita tried explaining to the Contessa that she is an honest cop who had been set up by Neyla, it was why the Contessa was doing this to her, as Carmelita would have learned too much about the Klaww Gang and its spice operation, and also would have found out that the Contessa was a secret member. The Contessa then explained her plan to hypnotize Carmelita into becoming the "best of friends" with her in order to make Carmelita take the fall for her at INTERPOL.

After overhearing this, Bentley ordered Sly to take the photos and leave before he would be spotted. However, Sly refused to leave Carmelita behind to be brainwashed, but since nothing could be done at the moment, Bentley ordered him to finish the mission but promised that they would rescue her.

The next set of photos to be taken were of an old terminal, Carmelita, the Clockwerk eyes, a mind shuffler and one of the Contessa's elite Shadow Guards. With these photos taken, Sly returned to the safe house so the gang could form a plan.

Ghost Capture[]

Sly ventured into a nearby crypt to disturb the tomb of the Evil Wolf Priestess. Breaking off its lid, he freed a handful of ghosts that were trapped inside. Once back outside, Bentley briefed him on the next task of the job: capturing each ghost on film. With the modifications Bentley made to Sly's binocucom, the latter was able to capture each ghost by taking snapshots of them. Upon capturing all nine ghosts, Sly went over to Neyla's headquarters to set them free down the chimney. As expected, Neyla was spooked by the paranormal activity and forced outside. Believing it to be the work of the Contessa, she began making plans to pummel her with some extra firepower.

Mojo Trap Action[]

Bentley ventures into a crypt and stumbles upon a bad mojo collector, which is a semi-magical device that absorbs bad mojo. He needs to use this to gather mojo that runs off from the spouts on the ceiling. If he gathers a full tank of bad mojo, it should be enough to destroy the mind shuffler. Murray, who is on the line, finds it quite simple, but Bentley disagrees, saying that it can be quite dangerous, as bad mojo is powerfully dark force. If Bentley takes one hit while carrying the collector, not only will it be ruined, but Bentley would be done for. Hearing this, Murray now agrees that it's not so simple after all.

There are four crypts Bentley needs to access in order to gather bad mojo. There are traps in each one that he must use against the guards that attack him. After collecting enough bad mojo, Bentley will now be able to destroy the Mind Shuffler.

Kidnap the General[]

Murray watched an old bat, by the name of General Clawfoot, walking up a nearby ramp. Bentley described him as one of the toughest soldiers he would ever see and head of castle security.

Murray was concerned about getting him to come with Clawfoot, as he did not want to harm him. Fortunately, Bentley explained that the General is only afraid of two things: fire and water. He would come in handy along the way, as a projectile against any guards that would get in his way.

Once Murray grabbed hold of the General, he carried him out of the castle and to the gang's safe house, where Bentley was waiting with a white feather. Bentley began to tickle info out of Clawfoot (offscreen), including the security codes to the castle gates.

Stealing Voices[]

Bentley instructs Sly to steal a wiretap and a voice modulator from The Contessa, whom she's planning to use to change her voice and control Neyla's mercenaries, so they can do that instead.

Sly steals the keys from the two guards, which allows him to unlock the guard room, get past the guards, then steal the wiretap. He then goes back out and steals two more keys from the guards that are patrolling on the edge of the castle.

Sly then enters the castle's front door and tricks the guards that are watching the inside, sneaking past them and stealing the voice modulator. After leaving the castle, he steals the keys from the two guards that are circling a guillotine, which allow him to enter the sewers. Inside are several guards, as well as a giant squid. Sly gets past them all and installs the wiretap and voice modulator.

Bentley then turns them on and tries out the system, which works, changing his voice from his own to Neyla's.

Tank Showdown[]

Since Neyla's recent purchase of the bombers had made her army over-enthusiastic, the gang needs to intimidate them a little bit, to ensure they do not interfere with the heist.

Murray must hot-wire one tank from the Contessa and shoot down 6 of Neyla's. He hops inside it and begins shooting down the mercenaries. Once done, it is sure to cool down her mercenaries for a while and prevent any future complications.

Crypt Hack[]

Bentley needed to return to the crypts beneath the Contessa's castle and power up the old terminal in the re-education tower, that way the gang could rescue Carmelita.

Once Bentley entered the trap-filled crypts, Sly expressed his concern over the lack of power in the building and how Bentley would be able to hack the computers. Fortunately, General Clawfoot explained earlier that a mobile power source would be stored at the end of the hallway. By harnessing it, Bentley could get the local computers online.

Said power source was an acid battery, which Bentley held on his back while he ventured back the way he came, hacking the three computers one-by-one. Once done, the old terminal in the re-education tower was fully powered up and ready to be hacked.

Operation: High Road[]

Murray starts off by shutting down the spotlights on the main bridge using the codes provided by General Clawfoot. Next, Bentley orders Neyla's forces to attack the castle, while he and Sly head inside the castle to free Carmelita. Bentley hacks the terminal to free her, allowing her to chase out the Contessa. They blow the Clockwerk Eyes off of the mind shuffler. Neyla shows up and takes one of the eyes. Sly chases after her, while Bentley escapes on the blimp with the other one.

After Sly chases Neyla down and grabs the eye, it is now Bentley's turn to clear the skies of Neyla's bombers. Once done, he heads for the rendezvous, but Carmelita, who is still chasing the Contessa, shoots down the blimp, sending it crashing down onto the side of a wall.

Sly then attempts to fight the Contessa. He successfully defeats her, but she gets up, pushes Sly out of the way, and takes the eye. Carmelita also steals Bentley's eye and tries to escape in one of the Contessa's tanks. It is up to Murray to shoot down her tank and steal the eye back before she crosses the main bridge.

After that, all that is left is for Sly to defeat the Contessa in one more round to get the other eye back, but this time he must also avoid her hypnosis. Once he successfully defeats her, he takes the eye and the heist is complete.

The Getaway[]

The gang escapes the cops with Carmelita.

The gang still manages to defeat the Contessa, free Carmelita, and retrieve Clockwerk's eyes while their heist does not exactly happen according to plan. The Contessa is arrested and brought to trial for her crimes she committed while she was working for INTERPOL.

INTERPOL's PR damage control goes one step further by promoting Neyla from Prague's "hero" to Captain rank. Still on the outs with INTERPOL, Carmelita reluctantly turns to the Cooper Gang (much to Sly's surprise and delight) for help in escaping the police. Sly tries to put it out of his mind. At this point, the gang realizes that the Klaww Gang's business is spiraling out of control and that they are at the center of it. They decide to lie low for a while before making their next move.

Map[]

The vault is located in the tower directly opposite the re-education tower, where Sly obtained the wire tap. The vault's combination is 9-6-9, and upon opening it, Sly receives the Rage Bomb.

Trophies[]

PS3/PS Vita[]

Image	Name	Requirement
	Big Spender	Purchase the Paraglider from ThiefNet.
	Pink Fire Flop	Purchase the Raging Inferno Flop from ThiefNet.
	Jail Bird	Break out Carmelita from the Contessa.
	Creepy Crawly	Defeat the Contessa.
	More Creepy Crawlies	Defeat the Contessa a second time.

PS4/PS5[]

Image	Name	Requirement
	You're Not You When You're Angry	Open the vault in this episode.
	Blind with Rage	As Sly, with the help of the Rage Bomb, defeat all 5 guards in the vault room without being detected.
	Eye on the Prize	Complete all jobs in this episode.
	Gone but Not Forgotten	Pay respect to a ghost of the past.