Draft:Goblin Caves
The Goblin Caves are a ten-level dungeon south of Rampart, entered at (27, 22) on the LOCUS world map. Defeating the Goblin King advances the Oracle's sequence, while his head is the Duke's first quest trophy.[1]
Finding and exploring the caves
The entrance initially appears as mountains. Search the countryside near the marked position to reveal the hillside cleft, then enter it. Entering releases a ridden horse instead of keeping it for your return.[2]
Each dungeon level uses a 64 by 64 grid. The first nine may be caverns or rooms; level ten is a cavern and places the Goblin King unless his defeat has already been recorded. Layouts, traps, stairs and ordinary treasure are generated, so the fixed world entrance does not imply a fixed route to the king.[3]
Goblin chieftains and shamans become more prominent deeper down, alongside ordinary goblins and other randomly selected monsters. The word "Goblin" is not a guarantee that every encounter belongs to a low-level goblin family.[4]
The king and the two quest lines
| Objective | What actually satisfies it |
|---|---|
| Oracle's cave stage | Normal death of the Goblin King records cave completion; no head delivery to the Oracle is needed |
| Duke's first quest | Accept the quest, then return with the king's head; the Duke consumes it and promotes a Commoner to Esquire |
| Weapon reward | The king carries Goblins' Hewer, separate from his head |
The Duke also awards 100 experience and requests a Holy Defender next. The Oracle checks the ArchDruid conversation before the caves, then directs attention to the sewers. Neither task advances simply because you entered the dungeon.[5]
Returning and revisiting
Retrace the stairs toward the surface. Generated levels in the current dungeon can be reused, but entering a different dungeon discards the previous dungeon's saved levels. Rebuilding the caves after the king's death does not create another king through the ordinary final-level placement. Do not leave his head or the axe on a floor before abandoning that dungeon.[6]
Strategy
The nearby entrance makes the caves convenient to investigate, not automatically safe to finish. Identify a dependable weapon, carry a way to recover from the deeper encounters, and keep track of stairs before committing to the final cavern. The king has only 32 HP, but his melee damage rating is 32 and he also uses missiles; an underprotected character should not judge him by HP alone.[7]
Preserve the head for the Duke and distinguish the king's carried axe from the quest trophy. Killing him before accepting the Duke's quest does not eliminate the value of the head, but the audience still needs to progress through the quest's actual stages.
References
- ↑ lib/country.dat in Omega 0.90.4; defs.h in Omega 0.90.4, lines 154–156; mon.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 321–328; guild1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 203–236.
- ↑ country.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 27–43; aux3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 709–727; aux2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 1043–1066.
- ↑ gen1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 60–129; gen1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 394–431.
- ↑ lev.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 83–107.
- ↑ guild1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 203–236; site2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 838–851; minit.h in Omega 0.90.4, line 107; mon.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 134–203.
- ↑ gen1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 8–26; gen1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 60–129; gen1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 420–431; aux2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 1043–1152.
- ↑ minit.h in Omega 0.90.4, line 107.