Draft:Rampart Castle Vault

Omega 0.90.4

The Rampart Castle Vault is the time-locked treasury beneath Rampart Castle. Its concealed approach and alarmed treasure rooms are part of the city map, not a separate dungeon level.

City location

@ highlights this facility within its surrounding city streets.

These are spoiler maps. Coordinates are (column, row), starting at zero. Letters and highlighted symbols are article keys for sites and initial placements, not a literal game screenshot or a promise that a creature remains there.

0000000001111111111222222222

1234567890123456789012345678

51 """"""""""""""""""""""""""".

52 .####~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~####.

53 .####:#####################.

54 .###:###:#^################.

55 .##:###:#^#@#!!!!!!########.

56 ..#:##:####D#!!!!!!####c....

57 ..#^#!#####@!!!!!!!####c....

58 .###:######!!!!!!!!########.

59 .##########################.

60 .##########################.

61 .####..................####.

62 ............................

63 ############################

Map key

Key	Meaning
!	Concealed alarm and treasure
"	Hedge
#	Wall
.	Floor or open ground
:	Concealed passage
:	Concealed passage
@	Rampart Castle Vault entrance or principal site
D	Time-lock barrier, initially a wall
^	Concealed trap
c	Castle audience
~	Ordinary water

Coordinates retain their positions on the full Rampart map. The diagram shows the initial city; doors, alarms and other state can change.

Finding the treasury

Secret passages run beneath the castle, with a concealed approach from its moat. Searching is useful both for the entrance and along the passage: some tiles conceal traps as well as the route. The treasury contains piles of generated objects, rather than a fixed cash reward. Its inner treasure tiles include alarm traps that summon the attention of the city's law enforcement.

Crossing the moat also needs preparation. Body armor or a load above half your carrying capacity drags an unmounted character underwater. Breathing protection, levitation or a mount can help with ordinary water, but none of these should be confused with protection from the treasury's alarms.

The time lock

Entrance interaction	Condition	Outcome
Visit during the opening hour	23:00-23:59	Opens the time lock without a cracking attempt
Attempt to crack it outside that hour	Success chance is the square of Thieves' Guild rank, as a percentage	Success opens the lock and awards 5,000 experience
Fail a cracking attempt	Not the reigning Duke	Invokes city justice
Fail a cracking attempt	Reigning Duke	Told to stop testing the lock

Outside the opening hour, using the vault closes its entrance before offering a cracking attempt. This is an entrance interaction, not a guarantee that a previously opened door closes automatically at midnight. Dexterity, a lock pick and a weapon are not part of the cracking check.

Opening the lock does not disable the treasure-room alarms. Becoming Duke through the castle quests disables those alarms, but leaves random traps in the outer secret passages.

Strategy

The predictable 23rd-hour opening is preferable to gambling on a low thieves' rank. Leave time to reach the entrance, and search before advancing into the loot. Getting through the door is only one part of a robbery.

Shadowform is especially useful here: it permits passage through walls and bypasses the ordinary trap and vault interactions. Its duration still matters; being able to enter a dangerous area does not supply a return route after the effect expires. Becoming Duke provides a slower but more straightforward route to the alarmed treasure.

History

The older player spoiler collection describes approaching from the moat, searching along the passage, waiting for 11 p.m. and using Shadowform. Those leads agree with the corresponding 0.90.4 entrance and movement rules. Its sweeping claim that every treasury square has an alarm should not be extended to the entire castle or every secret passage.