Draft:Rampart Castle Vault
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.[1][2]
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.
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.[1][4][2]
The time lock
| Entrance interaction | Condition | Outcome[5] |
|---|---|---|
| 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.[6]
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.[7][8][2]
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.[5][7][9]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 city.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 9 (
load_city). - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 site2.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 445 (
l_vault). - ↑ lib/city.dat in Omega 0.90.4; city.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 9–285; city.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 303–447.
- ↑ move.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 10 (
l_water). - ↑ 5.0 5.1 site2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 445–478.
- ↑ guild1.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 191 (
l_castle). - ↑ 7.0 7.1 movef.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 9 (
p_movefunction). - ↑ aux1.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 146 (
p_moveable). - ↑ A. Light (editor), Omega Spoilers, version 1.10, updated 3 May 1994, reposted 19 April 1995; mixed older game versions. Robbery, lines 562-578. Preserved locally as
omega-0.75-spoilers.txt.