In the corrupted forest of Malas, east of the Necromancer city of Umbra, lies the entrance to the terrible dungeon of Doom. The dungeon is a dangerous place filled with all manner of traps and monsters more vicious than most, but as with most places of evil, Dungeon Doom also holds great riches for those adventurers who dare to enter.

The entrance itself is an immense dark stone structure littered with the remains of previous visitors to the dungeon, some human and some definitely not human. Stairs descending down under the structure lead only to a small underground room containing nothing of interest, nothing except a hole in the ground that is.

The only way forward from there is to jump. Down the hole, down to your Doom...
 

Escaping from Doom

Once you're inside the dungeon of Doom the grim reality dawns upon you.. The hole where you entered is far above and out of your reach, there is no way you're going to get out the same way as you got in.

So what do you do if you need to get out of there and you just used your last reagents or runebook charges? Or even worse, if you're dead?

The answer is simple: You walk to the moongate, which is in the far northeastern corner of the dungeon, past the countless monsters that roam the hallways. The moongate will take you outside to the corrupted forest.

 

However, if you are in the Gauntlet area of the dungeon you won't be able to get to this exit. Have no fear though, because there is an identical moongate on the beach just next to the ferry.

Stealable Artifacts

Scattered around the entire dungeon one can find strange items known as artifacts. Although these artifacts seem to just be laying there for the taking, that unfortunately isn't possible because they a magically locked to the ground.

The only way to obtain these artifacts are by being an exceptionally good thief, with at least Grandmaster status in the Stealing skill. The skilled thief can simply try to steal the items from the ground, the higher skill he has, the better are his chances of succeeding.

The artifacts are divided in a number of levels, level 1 being the lowest and level 12 the highest. For each level the artifact has, the time it takes for it to re-spawn increases, so while a level one only takes around 90 minutes, a level 3 may take around 6 hours or more.

The following is a list of all the known stealable artifacts and their level.

The Respawn times listed are only approximate numbers, they may vary by +/- 20%. It is measured from when the item last spawned, not when it was stolen.

While most of the stealable artifacts are strictly decorative items, there are a few of them that are weapons or armor imbued with powerful magical properties. Descriptions of those can be found here.

The Lever Puzzle & Lamp Room

In the northern end of the large hall west of the entrance to the dungeon stands four tall statues. Between the statues are 5 pressure pads and 4 levers, these are all part of a devious and lethal puzzle.

To solve the puzzle you have to be in a group of at least 5 people. Each person will have to stand on one of the pressure pads, and then the trick is to figure out which order the levers have to be pulled. Unfortunately this will have to be done by trial and error at first and error usually means death to a few of the people present.

When all four levers have been pulled one of two things will happen. If they were pulled in the wrong order, large boulders will fall from above and hit everyone in the area for a great deal of damage. In addition the that the statues will give you a little clue about what you did wrong. If the levers were pulled in the correct order, the person standing on the green pressure pad in the center of the statues, will be teleported to a small room with no doors, a room commonly known as the lamp room.

Inside the lamp room there can be three things of interest. The first is the level 3 stealable artifact Lamp Post. The second is the level 10 stealable artifact gauntlets "The Inquisitor's Resolution". The third is a small golden box placed on the table in the center of the room.
The golden box turns out to be a cleverly concealed trap when opened though, as a strange creature, known as the Wanderer of the Void, will appear when the lid is lifted.

As if one trap wasn't enough in this small room, once you enter the room a lethal gas will start to seep in though cracks in the walls. At first the gas will merely make you a bit nauseous, but over time it grows more concentrated and if you do not escape quickly you will surely collapse in there and die.

The Dark Guardians

In the far northern end of the dungeon, behind 3 sets of double doors, lies room which is one of the most deadly traps known. From the doorway you immediately notice the large piles of human remains just a few steps into the room, but the cause of their death isn't apparent from there. Other things of interest in the room are two large statues near the door, a stone pentagram in the center of the room and a few chests hiding untold riches.

Once you step a few steps into the room, the cause for all the skeletal remains becomes clear though. The massive doors will slam shut and become impossible to open, from out of nowhere a number of Dark Guardians, a creature closely related to the Lich, will appear on the pentagram and deadly poison will slowly start to fill the room, making it increasingly harder to breathe in there.

For each creature in the room two Dark Guardians will appear and now only one thing remains... Kill or be killed. If you manage to kill all the guardians the poison will clear the air, the doors will unlock and you are free to leave. If the guardians manage to kill you, they will disappear and the same things will happen, although when your ghost tries to leaves the room it will be transported to a location in the other end of the dungeon along with your remains.

The Bone Daemon

One of the main reasons to enter Dungeon Doom can be found in a room to the southeast of the entrance. In the corner of that room lives an ancient sorceress by the name of Victoria, who has been cursed to wander the unholy halls for all eternity.

Victoria has an interesting tale to tell about a creature she calls the Dark Father and also someone called Chyloth the Ferryman. Apparently she once tried to kill the Dark Father, but failed and became cursed instead. To get her revenge for that she will offer to help you get across the lake to the area known as the Gauntlet, where the Dark Father can be summoned.

To receive her help you will however first need to collect 1000 Daemon Bones, which can be found on all creatures in the dungeon. The more powerful the creature, the more bones it will have.

Once you have given the 1000 Daemon Bones to Victoria she will summon a powerful Bone Daemon for you to defeat. If you manage to dispose of the Daemon, searching its corpse will yield a strange golden skull, which will be your ticket across the lake.

If you at any point leave the dungeon, after the Daemon has been summoned for you, and you haven't received a skull, the 1000 bones will be returned to you.

The Gauntlet

Now that you have a golden skull, head for the beach at the lake in the southern end of the dungeon. When you get there you should find a dark platform with a large bell hanging above it. This is the Bell of the Dead and once rung it will summon a mysterious figure known as Chyloth the Ferryman.

Chyloth will yell at you a bit at first, something about only the dead may cross, but if you hand him the golden skull, he suddenly changes his mind and lets you and everyone in your party hop aboard his ferry and sail across the lake.

Summoning Chyloth without giving him a skull is not something that is advisable, as Chyloth has a very dangerous pet at his disposal. If you do so anyway, running away would be the best advice, because otherwise you might find yourself in the belly of a Skeletal Dragon.

Finally you are at the infamous Gauntlet of Doom. A place of untold riches and an untold number of dead adventurers.

The first thing you should do once you get here, is familiarize yourself with Nix the Variety Dealer. Nix can be found by walking through a wall in the eastern side of the hallway leading south from the beach, there he has made a small shop where he sells all manner of supplies, that could be useful to the brave adventurer.

Further down the hallway you will reach a large hall with six pentagrams on the floor, this is the center of the Gauntlet. The Gauntlet is made of a five rooms, each with a some very powerful creatures in them, the number of which depends on the number of people in there. The rooms will have to be defeated in a clockwise direction from the entrance and once you enter an active one you can only leave by death, either yours or the monsters in the room, as the doors to the room will be locked.

If you should happen to die in the Gauntlet, and you most likely will, all hope isn't lost. In the northwestern room lives a kind healer, who will help you find your path back to life for the small fee of 5.000 gold pieces.

Now that you know the place a bit better, let's get on with business... The first room, which is the eastern one, is inhabited by creatures know as Darknight Creepers, strange creatures that seem to have several torsos stacked upon each other. You will have to get rid of all of them if you want to get out again in one piece.

Once the first room is cleared, you can proceed to the next one, the one to the southeast. This one is inhabited by Flesh Renderers, a type of giant insect that moves at an amazing speed and has the ability to knock you off your mount. You will have to move fast to get out of this one.

The third room is not for people who fear long sharp objects, it is inhabited by Impalers, who instead of hands have long sharp and pointy spikes at the end of their arms. A strong armor or a lot of running around is required here.

The fourth room is by many considered the easiest one, it is inhabited by Shadow Knights, a group of undead warriors who have the ability to hide and stealth around. Once they are revealed they shouldn't pose much of a threat to the experienced fighter.

Finally the fifth and final room is now open to you. In there the Abyssmal Horrors await with their powerful magic skills ready to fry you. The key to surviving this room is plenty of resistance and a lot of physical damage.

With the fifth room defeated, you should head out into the center of the Gauntlet again. Here you will find the fruit of your hard labour, the Dark Fathers. The Dark Fathers will be a battle to remember, since they are as strong as all the other creatures in the Gauntlet together and also because they have the power to summon large numbers of undead creatures to their aid.

Now that you're all done you might ask what the point of all this Gauntlet stuff is. Well isn't it obvious? Wealth beyond you wildest dreams of course. Well maybe not quite that much, but each of the Gauntlet monsters has a chance of dropping a powerful magical artifact in the backpack of one of its killers. These artifacts should make it well worth your trouble to go through all this, if you are lucky enough to get one.

Only one thing remains now and that is to leave this accursed place. Recalling or gating is out of the question since the evil of the place blocks that kind of magic, but luckily there is a moongate on the beach right next to the ferry. This moongate will take you to outside the entrance in the corrupted forest.

Use it and you have escaped your Doom.