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The Sleuth’s Highway

Coming from a plane where cities and other large settlements make an effort to comfortably exists within the natural world, many of his planeswalking peers from more urbanized planes assumed that he would have difficulty adapting to their world where artifice and technological sciences eclipse and surpass the magical sciences.

To some extent, they’re correct: Enigma’s powers over the mind can’t affect mere machines. However, devices that neutralize magic exist even on Crossroads. And one couldn’t rightly call themselves The Great Detective is they relied solely on magic.

Even back home, he was an expert in traversing terrain both rural and urban, using the arteries of the city to guide himself to his destination. So much so that the rooftops and back alleys of Crossroads are colloquially referred to as “the Sleuth’s Highway” by the citizenry.

And in these planes where urbanization reigns supreme, those same skills are even more useful than they ever were on Crossroads.

This piece from artist Linn_686 on FA, back in March of 2024, was perfect for a parkour artist like Enigma. And given the more urbanized setting of the piece, it made sense it invoke the Cyberpunk attire for it.

As a fun fact, the title is a reference to a specific mission in Thief 2: The Metal Age, where protagonist Garrett uses the rooftops to make it to his next target. He calls it “The Thieves’ Highway”, because thieves often use high ground to dodge authorities. It’s a trick that often works in real life too. As Valve noted in play-testing Half Life 2, most players don’t look up because in real life most people don’t look up. Thus, if you wish to remain undetected, an easy way to solve that problem is to approach your target from a higher vantage point.

“The view is always better from the rooftops.”

I was pleased when someone actually caught the reference. It’s one of those moments where you know you’re thinking on the same wavelength as another person.