Draft:Rampart Sewers
The Rampart Sewers are an 18-level dungeon beneath Rampart. They contain the Great Wyrm and its sword Defender, connecting the city's hidden exploration to both the Duke's quests and the Oracle's advice. They are not merely a short tunnel between city buildings.[1][2]
Entrance and return
Find the downward staircase in the hedge maze. Its position varies among the four maze layouts. Use the descend command, >, while on the stairs; walking onto the tile alone does not enter the dungeon.
Ascending from sewer level 1 returns to the city entrance you used, not the eastern gates. Entering the sewers dismounts a rider. Preparation for travel on horseback therefore does not automatically cover underground movement through water.[3][4][5]
Exploring the depths
The levels are generated as rooms and corridors, with a mixture of drained and flooded sections. Before the bottom level, generation has a one-in-four chance to use the ordinary room layout instead of the sewer layout. The bottom uses the sewer layout. Ordinary dungeon monsters, traps, special tiles and treasure supplement these passages.
Water can drag an unmounted character under if they wear body armor or carry more than half their weight allowance. Breathing protection and levitation are useful preparations, with the usual distinction between crossing a tile and deliberately activating what is underneath you.
The Return spell taught by the Explorers' Club shuttles between the first and deepest explored levels of the active dungeon. In the sewers it does not directly send you to the surface or to a city shop. Keep enough mana and allow for its charging delay.[6][7][8]
The Great Wyrm
The Great Wyrm is placed on level 18 until defeated. It carries Defender, the sword requested by the Duke after the Goblin King's corpse quest. The Wyrm can swim, attacks with physical and cold attacks, and is immune to cold, poison, fear and sleep. Cold-based attacks are therefore a poor answer to its own cold offense.
Killing the Wyrm completes the Oracle's sewer milestone. Merely obtaining the sword, or giving it to the Duke, is a different achievement. The corpse also has an alchemical use, so consider carrying it out as well as the sword.[6][9][10]
Strategy
Plan this as a descent with a route back, not an extension of the safe shopping district. Food, recovery and a solution to flooded corridors matter well before the boss. The nearby city can supply these, but the entrance remains separated from most services by the maze.
Keep Defender if still working toward the Duke's Knight promotion. Selling it immediately can turn a completed expedition into another search for the same quest item. Conversely, a player who wants to keep the sword as equipment should account for the fact that the Duke takes it when granting the promotion.
Background
Rampart's tourist guide admits that explorers sent into the sewers have disappeared. The dungeon's depth and Great Wyrm give that warning a concrete counterpart to the city's otherwise promotional description.
References
- ↑ city.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 507 (
mazesite). - ↑ defs.h in Omega 0.90.4, line 153.
- ↑ command2.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 546 (
downstairs). - ↑ command2.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 522 (
upstairs). - ↑ aux2.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 788 (
change_environment). - ↑ 6.0 6.1 gen1.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 452 (
sewer_level). - ↑ gen2.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 211 (
room_level). - ↑ move.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 10 (
l_water). - ↑ mon.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 134 (
m_death). - ↑ guild1.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 191 (
l_castle).