The main antagonist of Dishonored is, undoubtedly, the Lord Regent, the man who took the throne after Empress Jessamine’s death at the hands of the assassin Daud. Daud himself does not play a major role in the main game itself, though hero Corvo Attano does come face to face with him and will have to decide his fate eventually.

In the main game, you get to choose whether to kill the assassin or spare his life. Truthfully, why you would want to spare him was beyond me before I played the story DLCs The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches. Now, whenever I play the main game, I always let him live. Here is why.

Expect major spoilers for both the main game Dishonored, the story-DLCs and Dishonored 2 in this review/walkthrough (PS4).

Prologue: Everything’s changed and Delilah is in for a surprise
The first story DLC The Knife of Dunwall ended with a bang: The headquarters of the Whalers, Daud’s band of assassins, was under attack from the Overseers of the Order of the Everyman. They moved into the Flooded District in force, hellbent on putting an end to Daud, once and for all.

Though the seasoned assassin leader managed to save his men and defeat the Overseers, he found himself betrayed to Delilah, of all people, by his second, Billie Lurk. Now, depending on your choices, she either attacked Daud or begged his forgiveness. And, depending on what you chose to do as Daud, kill or spare her, your assassins will react in different ways.

Moving through the headquarters in the aftermath of the attack, Daud will listen to the chatter of his band. Some will doubt, some will fear and some will loathe him. None of that matters, though, because Delilah will not sit idle and Emily, heiress to the throne, is still in grave danger. Daud’s plan? Find a ship downriver and waltz right into the witches’ den in Brigmore.

Mission 1: Spring captain Lizzy Stride from jail
Dishonored: The Brigmore Witches offers three missions. The first one will have Daud break into the now even better-protected Coldridge prison to free one Lizzy Stride. She owns a ship and, for a small favor, will take Daud to his ultimate destination, the Brigmore Witches’ headquarters in the swamps downriver. The second mission puts the assassin smack in the middle of a gang-war and into a factory rigged with deadly traps. The third mission, then, is a lesson in stealth, as Daud infiltrates Brigmore Mansion to find and eliminate Delilah while evading witches and cursed hounds alike.

How to get into Coldridge Prison
Coldridge prison has been upgraded after Corvo Attano escaped and in the yard outside Overseer music is being played over loudspeakers, suppressing all use of magic. This is, of course, unfortunate. I have detailed my favorite way of tackling this mission in this post here. But apart from buying a favor and thus an Overseer disguise, you could also sneak into the prison from the river, which is incredibly hard, since you cannot use powers until you are inside, and have to be very, very careful indeed. Dressed as the Overseer you will be tolerated only in a certain part of the prison, which you absolutely need to explore. But Lizzy is found elsewhere and there are plenty of guards around, so be quick and stealthy when moving about.

How to find Lizzy Stride and open her cell door
There is a control room in the middle of the prison, where you will find a ledger that contains Lizzy’s cell number as well as instructions on how to open the cell door. That is the easy part. The not so easy part is carrying an unconscious Lizzy out of the prison unnoticed. I usually use sleep darts to get the guards out of my way before grabbing Lizzy. Carry her to the sewer entrance and you are done.

This prison break is, actually, quite a short mission, but very intense, if played stealthily.

Mission 2: Gang-warfare and sabotage
The second mission sees Daud in Draper’s Ward, where two gangs, the Hatters and the Dead Eeels, battle it out after Lizzy was replaced by her second, Edgar Wakefield. Yep, that’s what could have happened to Daud, too. Which I thought a nice nod to the first story-DLC. Your first objective is getting rid of the traitor so Lizzy can take over her gang again.

Get rid of Edgar Wakefield
As in all of the Dishonored-franchise, keeping to the rooftops is the best strategy, yet beware, there are a number of traps placed all over the district. As you explore, you will find traces of Emily and Delilah, and plenty of opposition.

There is a door in the back of the district that will lead you to the harbor, where Lizzy’s ship is moored. Since there are a lot of enemies between you and your target, I’d highly recommend a stealthy approach. Use the pipes to move past the ship and to the other side of the harbor. You will have to dive into the water and below the ship, where you will find a hatch that brings you face to face with your prey. Kill Wakefield and you are done with this part.

Yet there is a problem delaying your departure. A vital part of the ship has been stolen by the rival gang, the Hatters, and brought into their stronghold, a textile mill. You need a password to gain access, there is no other way to do it. Luckily, you get that after you finished this mission.

How to liberate the transformer coil and end Mortimer Hat’s suffering
This mission has so much drama, it is one of my absolute favorites in the story DLCs and the main game. Once Daud enters the textile mill’s yard, one of his assassins appears to tell him the building is rigged and deadly gas will be released once Mr. Hat dies. He advises Daud to speak to the man instead.

Now, to get inside the textile mill, you can either enter via the roof-top to the left of the main building (there are broken windows there) or grab the key from the guard inside a smallish building right to the left of the entrance (Daud can pull things towards him, you can use that Power here). Drop in from the roof behind the guard, Bend Time and grab the key then teleport back up onto the roof or kill the man. Either way, to use the key, move to the right side of the building where you will find a window boarded up with wooden planks. Use your sword to destroy them. You will find the door in the room beyond.

The fastest way to get to Mr. Hat is to teleport atop the roof of the building left of the main one, then throw a grenade into the boarded up window on the second floor and wait until the commotion has died down again. Teleport up, then sneak across the room to the far right corner, where you will find Mr. Hat and his caregiver, Mr. Trimble.

Trimble will offer Daud a deal: fix the problem with the mill’s water supply and get the coil in exchange. If you accept the deal, the Hatters will no longer be an issue as you move about the textile mill’s grounds. If you choose to explore a little further, you will come across Trimble’s laboratory and a hidden compartment. This unlocks the second way to approaching this mission. You need an audiograph to open the compartment. You will find it underneath a red pillow in the back of the laboratory.

Now, if you choose to honor the deal made with Trimble, you will need to get into the sewers and defeat some nasty witches. They are no easy prey, let me tell you. Alternately, if you can find a mechanic lost and now dead in the sewers, you get a hint leading to the combination (837) to the machine room off of his dead body and can just go and steal the coil. That’s what I usually do.

If you choose to take out Trimble before all of this happens, you will find out that Mr. Hat is no longer in charge. Trimble is (was), and the former leader of the Hatters just wants to die. All you have to do is to remove a tank of whale oil from the machine that is keeping him alive. But that will trigger the deadly gas, so Daud needs an antidote and the ingredients to go with it. Once Daud has taken the antidote and removed the whale oil tank, Mr. Hat will reveal another little secret…

Either way is fun to play and, as mentioned, this is the best mission in this DLC.

Bring back the coil and defeat the witches
Once you’ve acquired the coil, head back to the harbor. Beware, though, once the ship’s motor is repaired, the witches of Brigmore will attack in numbers. Try to keep the Dead Eels and Lizzy alive or you will have to steer the ship yourself (and kill every surviving member of the Dead Eeels).

This is an intense fight and I for one had a hard time defeating all the witches without accidentally killing one of my allies. But once you have, you are free to leave.

Mission 3: Into the lioness’s den
Lizzy’s ship, the Undine, takes Daud into the swamps of Brigmore. The mansion is afloat with water, witches and cursed wolfhounds. The latters’ skulls can be found strewn all around the mansion’s grounds and the mansion proper, so be aware of those.

Sneack around the right side of the mansion, keeping out of sight of the witches and hounds, and make your way all the way to the back of the property, where you will come across a waterfall, a body and the key to the main entrance. Sneak back towards the front of the property, using the trail leading up and employ Bend Time to evade/kill the witch appearing ahead of you. Yes, the witches can teleport, too, so be very careful. Using Bend Time and Blink will be key in getting to the front entrance unnoticed to unlock it.

Once inside the mansion, turn right and look up. There is a hole in the ceiling. Get up there and then keep going left and up. You will come across a magical lamp surrounded by traps eventually. Take the lamp and discover Delilah’s devious plan.

Then go back the way you came to find the gallery. Be very careful and try to evade or subdue the witches you come across. Once the painting is in sight, Bend Time again to get close and use the lamp to get inside the painting and enter the Void.

Eliminating Delilah
If you have played Dishonored 2, this will be very familiar to you. Apart from Delilah herself you will find statues of her overlooking the painting she is currently working on. You have to evade them as you move in on the witch herself. Be wary, you will not be able to use all of your powers!

Now, again there are two ways to ending this: kill Delilah or find another way. So you either kill her or switch the paintings, trapping her inside the Void. Which is exactly what you do in the finale of Dishonored 2.

Once you are done, you will have learned that one, big secret that changed everything for me: The assassin Daud saved Emily’s life, which was in grave danger from Delilah all the time, unbeknownst to either Corvo or Sokolov. And so, the assassin who started it all becomes the hero in the end.

Epilogue: Who’s a good assassin?
Now, Corvo is unaware of Daud’s actions to save Emily when they come face to face in the main game. That encounter, then, is the epilogue of this excellent DLC. The awesome twist: only if you managed to play on Low Chaos in both the main game and both DLCs will Daud be spared. If not, Corvo will kill him and there is no chance of your changing Daud’s fate. Awesome!

I simply love this franchise! More of Daud can be found in the equally excellent game Dishonored – Death of the Ousider. If you haven’t played it yet, go ahead! It is certainly worth it and an awesome tribute to both Daud and Billie Lurk.

Until then, keep on playing!

Cheers
Vanessa