Chepstow Castle
Notes
All mobs see invis and are aggro. Repop policy: everyone leaves zone +40 minutes. When you get to the zone enter it and then check to see if keys have loaded. c loc worn and c loc diamond. Warrior should have worn down iron key, soldier should have Large Black Diamond Larenev should have Large Yellow Diamond. If these aren't here you can't do the zone.
Walkthrough
From entrance, go N to first intersection, west to campground, then look for warrior Items: worn down iron key. Opens doors East and West of portcullis.
Search campground for a random soldier with a large black diamond. Diamond is one of two keys necessary to open CPK. Larenev has the other diamond. Kill mob w/ diamond, get diamond then go to open portcullis. To Open portcullis: open door e, all E, U, S, U, W, pick door w and west to a room called "Atop the Gatehouse". Type "use winch", sneaking by anti-paladins to open the portcullis. Then go back down. N to first intersection, E and search for commander. dispel, kill him and get key. Items: Shiny steel key. Opens oak door to passage N of portcullis.
Go north to intersection with closed doors E, N, W, shield room, pick door e, dispel and kill grey commander. Items: heavy brass key.
From Grey commander, go W, 3 ?2? S and search for hidden dorways East and west. You may have to trap mobs. From hidden East-west doors, go west and search for Red Commander. Unlike other commanders he casts shockwave and colour spray. He Can't be bs'd either. Kill him and get his key. Items: Cloak, key, war helmet. War helmet tweaks to 5 dam anti-good -hp I think.
Optional mob: Skrethlechten, level 41 mage. Go back to intersection where you found hidden East-west doors. This time go east to kill Skrethlechten, level 41 mage. He'll chase, colour spray, shockwave and dispel, so you have to draw him out and trap him, but you can't bs him. He is in room E U from intersection of hiddens. Watch out north is fire room and east is poison room. Hidden hallway leads west, which is a good place to set traps. Obviously, don't trap Skrethlechten such that you will flee into a fire room. Skrethlechten items: Skrethlechten's sword, key, ?. Note: you don't need to kill Skrethlechten to do the rest of the zone.
Chepstow Castle, Part II.
Larenev, level 41 cleric: Go back to intersection where you found the hidden East-west doors. This time all W, 3 N and search for hidden door D. He may be at the end of a short hallway. Larenev isn't aggro and has good aligned eq. He'll dispell, so keep him down. Larenev has a large yellow diamond, the second of two needed to open CPK Larenev can be BS'd. Larenev items: Large Yellow Diamond.
Open Paneled Hallway: Once you have both the large black and large yellow diamonds, you can open CPK. Proceed to the hidden East-West hallway intersection. This time go E U W W W. Look for a room along this hallway where the room description talks about a large statue with two eye sockets. This hallway is deceiving because it looks like it ends when it does not. Type "put diamond socket". This will unlock door to paneled hallway, which is how you get to Noegerat and CPK. Then go back down to the East-West interesection where you killed the Grey Commander, then W N N E. Now you can open the Up door that had no key hole.
Noegerat, AKA master-at-arms: Level 40 Mage. From the Up Exit opened by the Eye sockets, go up, west S until you find master, Noegerat. Trap, dispel her and keep her bashed. Get her key, which opens CPK. Go back to the Paneled hallway, this time go east and take first north. The west exit is entrance to CPK. Set traps along hallway and unlock CPK. Have somebody go into major HP/SS mode and go in to find Terroien and get her chasing. Then draw her out of CPK to trap her. Note: don't trap the room right next to entrance to CPK.
Terroien: level 41 multi-class. She's tough cause she bs's, casts demonic flames and is really good at dispelling. Trap her, blind her and bash her. I don't recommend bs'ing her, although it is possible. Best to just keep her down. Terroien. Has 9d4 8HIT, 2 DEX anti-good, anti-cle, anti-mage bser. Plus some kind of light.
Brunwald: Mob level 42 multiclass. He will cast and bash. From entrance to CPK, go W N W S D all E all N w all S d S E unlock slab, open slab, down. Note that once you take your first down you will be walking through fire rooms, with aggro mobs, so do it quick. Once inside close the slab. Brunwald will be nearby along the hallway. Clear out some of the littler mobs so you can flee. Trap Brunwald, keep him bashed. He loads: whip made of braided leather: Lev(25) Loc(wield) 9d5 hit(+3) dam(+1) !C !W AG also titanium shinguards, titatium armguards, Titanium key (Chepstow's cell), cape made of soft, gray leather.
One person splits off and doesn't leave zone. Have them walk back up inside through CPK and down to portcullis.
From there N all E all N to kitchen, and start shielding rooms south. His only job is to clear rooms and to keep Shield rooms up for when you bring Chepstow through. Have rest of form to W, N, and search for an UP exit, that will take you to outside the castle walls near the army campground. Go back into the zone and up to the gatehouse, Kill Paladin Guards, open Chepstow's cell. He'll tell you a tale and join your form. He's wimpy, 374 HP, with no eq, so you have to put him in the back of the form and protect him. Don't kill him. Here's what he'll tell you:
Lord Chepstow tells the formation, 'I am the Lord of this Keep, all the lands around are mine to govern.'. 'It is a rich land, and for that, I have enemies that wish to posses them.'. 'They were able to hire a small army of mercenaries to assault me in my own castle, and they proved to be more than adequate at the task'. 'My only hope now is to fly from the castle, and save my wife and childeren, to this end, I need your help'. 'for I cannot survive on my own in my current state. I will reward you with what treasure I have been able to'. 'hide in the halls under the keep itself, but only one of the bloodline of my family may gain entrance to the chamber in which it is sealed….. gain'. 'that room, and I will open it for you, and you may take what you wish, it is no longer of any value to me….'.
Now, you have to take him to the kitchen. Have people split off from form leader and clear mobs, shield rooms all the way to the Kitchen. Search at kitchen and go D and follow corridor west to entrance to CPK. Enter CPK and immediately down (fire room). Then go all S and 1 W. It is easier said than done. You have to clear out the mobs from the rooms. Trapped mobs will attack and kill Chepstow. One good tactic is to have one person unform and engage mobs while you walk by with him.
There he will say: Lord Chepstow tells the formation, 'The seal is now broken, search the west wall, and you should find the door.'. 'Again, I thank you all for saving me.'.
Then he will disappear. Search room to find hidden down door. Take it, and go down and along the cramped corridor and into CPK. Enter CPK west and D through fire room, west to under the keep. Go west to the Vault of the lord and search that room. The following will happen:
Room Description: Vault of the Lord The dim light from the hallway to the east does not give much detail to the room before you. Other than the spartan chests lining the walls, not much else is in the room. This is the most secure room in the Keep which all the Lords throughout the history of the castle have used in times of war to store their most precious items, whether they be weapons, gold, or loved ones. A large pack lies here.
Get pack;open pack;get all pack A biting cold rips through your body, freezing your blood and muscles!
You get the griffon helm from a griffon-hide pack. You get a heavy platinum ring from a griffon-hide pack. You get a spiked belt from a griffon-hide pack. You get a silver breastplate embossed with a griffon from a griffon-hide pack. All Anti-Evil war stuff, generally decent HP tweaks.
Alternate Walkthrough
Chepstow Castle Chepstow is a relatively easy equipment zone that one can do with just a form of three heroes. The main run is done inside a locked area so that part is unbankable. The goal of the zone is to free Lord Chepstow from his cell and take him to his hidden stash of equipment. There are two ways to approach this last part. One way is quicker but requires the form to go through open cpk and the possibility of a bank. The other way requires a key from an extra mob and Lord Chepstow has to be taken through a more difficult route. However the second method is unbankable. Both methods are shown below.
The valuable equipment is at the end where Chepstow opens his vault. The griffon pack gives about 300 eq points and contains a heavy platinum ring. The ring is invisible so it is not locatable. It loads almost all the time. The zone does not repop with people inside. Extra info - Mobs will engage Lord Chepstow if you are too slow. Either kill them or shield room and lure mobs out of your way. Chepstow will go through shielded rooms. Take your time during the final part, it sucks to lose Chepstow to a big room of mobs after all the work. Good luck!
To start, fly chepstow.
Warrior (a worn-down iron key) - from @, n, all w, n, 3w, s, w, s Soldier (a large black diamond) - 6n, w Go back to @, all n, unlock door e, 2e, u, s, u, w, pick door w, kill guards, use winch The commander (a shiny steel key) - go back down to room before door to tower, close/lock door e, n, 2e, n, 2e, 2n, dis and kill commander Grey commander (a heavy brass key) - all s, all w, s, 2w, n, unl door n, go through and lock it after. all n, pick door e, kill Larenev [!dis, mage] (a large yellow diamond) - w, 2s, search, all w, 2n, search, d, find larenev, trap it, plague and kill Go back up, 2s, e, u, put diamonds socket Noegerat [!dis, warrior] (a dull grey key) - 3e, d, w, 2n, w, n, o door u, u, follow path south to find him [Watch out for Balcony rooms, fleeing from one might put you before oak doors. Then you will have to waste key charges to reopen/lock to get back in. If you are unsure about finishing Noegerat in one pass then use elementals.] Terroien [!dis, cleric] (a large hooked metal bar) - go back to staircase, 2e, n, trap, unl door w, solo in and find terroien, lure it out. Terroien will dispel your spells. Brunwald [!dis, mage] (a titanium key) - go back in and follow path down to slab, unlock slab, d, find and trap Brunwald down here, kill it Go back to slab and clear/sr it, do the same for the room under slab and all three rooms south of that, and finally the room west From under slab, s, all w, n, u, follow path e to {Gates of Chepstow}, 2n, unl door e, 2e, u, s, u, 2w, unl/open cell, wait for Lord Chepstow to join form Take form back down the tower and to west of unlocked door, n, 2e, n, all e, all n, search, d, follow path to lock door, unlock, west, d, all s, w, wait for chepstow to disappear, search, w, get all
You get the griffon helm from a griffon-hide pack.
You get a heavy platinum ring from a griffon-hide pack.
You get a spiked belt from a griffon-hide pack.
You get a silver breastplate embossed with a griffon from a griffon-hide pack.
Locked route involves killing Skrethlechten for his key which opens a door out of the castle to the tower area. This area is locked to the outside if you followed step 4 from above. Lord Chepstow's cell can be reached using this method; however, Chepstow will need to be taken to his vault from the castle instead of the kitchen. This method is definitely more difficult because it is longer so there are more mobs in between with fire/gas rooms.
To take this route, do Skrethlechten after step 7 from above then continue with the rest of walkthrough. Of course, ignore steps 12 and 13. Instead, take Chepstow back the way you came out of the castle, up the panel hallway (Noegerat area) and to slab. Skrethlechten [dispelable, cleric] (a cast iron key) - from {Shadowy Hall} all e, all s, w, engage Skrethlechten, lure & trap it in a safe room and kill.
Equipment
a cape made of a soft gray leather - Lev(20) Loc(about) AG hps(25) armor(-15) a fossilized eye of a wyvern - Lev(25) Loc(hold) AM AT AG hps(25) a necklace of black beads and scales - Lev(24) Loc(neck) AE hps(38) ss(0) a moth-eaten shirt - Lev(21) Loc(body) AT AW AE fragile mana(60) wis(0) an intricately ornamented silver bracelet - Lev(23) Loc(wrist) AE mana(32) armor(-9) a smoke-colored crystal - Lev(23) Loc(light) AG hps(26) a titanium mesh armband - Lev(21) Loc(wrist) AG hr(2) ss(-3) the dagger of Terroien - Lev(24) Loc(wield) AM AC DAG BSER 9d4 AG hr(6) dex(2) a heavy platinum ring - Lev(26) Loc(fing) AE AN hr(2) dr(3) a black crested warhelm - Lev(24) Loc(head) AM AC AC-ap(8) AG AN hps(-7) dr(3) a silver breastplate embossed with a griffon - Lev(29) Loc(body) AM AC AC-ap(6) AE mana(-13) hps(36) a spiked belt - Lev(27) Loc(waist) AM AC AT NoBits dr(3) dex(-3) the griffon helm - Lev(26) Loc(head) AM AC AC-ap(7) AE hps(40) a griffon-hide pack - Lev(0) Loc(about) NoBits con(4)
