It seems when Siege Perlious came out, everyone(?) liked the idea of all chests being locked and trapped, that they carried it over to every shard. What does that mean for the intrepid adventurer in search of treasure? Well, there are different classes of monster camp chests. The first class, which includes small crates and kegs, can be opened by a mage with 50 magery, or a lockpicker with 72.6 skill. These small containers are all trapped with explosion traps, which I've personally suffered anywhere from 25-80hp damage from. They generally have about 100gp and 1 gem. The 2nd class of chests are the large wooden and metal ones, and the large crates. Even my mage of 97.7 couldn't open these. Instead, I had to wait until my treasure hunter got up to 83.9 lockpicking. These chests are always deadly poisoned. I suffered from the level 5 poison that the chest inflicts... and managed to run 4 screens before I keeled over and died. These chests contain 200-250gp, and sometimes a magic item (potion, magic weapon/armor). Getting fed up with being deadly poisoned, I learned Magery, good enough to cast telekenisis. Now, I wander from camp to camp, picking chests that others leave behind. In a short time, I made 2K from loot. Too easy!

On a side note, there are still some townchests that I can't open... there is one in the Trinsic guard tower, that I can't pick yet, with 84.5 skill! The townchests I've seen are deadly poisoned, or deadly poisoned AND explosion trapped. Then you have to steal what's inside to get your loot! Yikes!

Hope this helps any prospective hunter...

- Pabo, GM Miner, Adept Cartographer, Adept Lockpicker

GETTING STARTED

Your skills:

There are 2 skills that are essential to every treasure hunter: Cartography and Lockpicking. Which other skills you decide to take depends on what kind of treasure hunter you want to be and how you want to play that character. Before you create your character, think a bit about that. If you are undecided, it is a good idea to go to a test shard and experiment with a few different skill sets. One of each level treasure map is given to you as starting equipment on test shards, and many people throw them on the ground, so you will have plenty of material to try things out with.

Here are a few popular styles and the additional skills that go with them:

• The Pure Treasure Hunter
• The "pure" treasure hunter takes all the traditional treasure hunter skills and does not use telekinesis to untrap a treasure chest. Because of the number of skills involved with this template, it is one of the most challenging to play. A pure treasure hunter will almost always hunt with a party because there is little room here for skills to kill the guardian monsters. It is a good template for a guild treasure hunter, a treasure hunter for hire, and roleplayed treasure hunters.
• Remove Traps: This is the main skill that sets a "pure" treasure hunter apart from the rest. You will need a minimum of 50 Lockpicking and 50 Detect Hidden before you can train this skill. You cannot start with it.
• Detect Hidden: You need at least 50 in this skill in order to use Remove Traps
• Mining: Mining is a useful skill since it increases the distance from which a treasure chest can be dug up as follows:
  • 0 to 50.9 mining: You can dig from 1 tile away from the treasure chest.
  • 51.0 to 80.9 mining: You can dig from 2 tiles away from the treasure chest.
  • 81.0 to 99.9 mining: You can dig from 3 tiles away from the treasure chest.
  • 100 mining: You can dig from 4 tiles away from the treasure chest.
  • Number refer to enhanced skill levels, not "real".
  The increased distance makes it much easier to locate the chest spot if you are not using a map archive. It also allows you a bit of distance between you and the guardian monsters that come up with the treasure chest.

• The Fighter Treasure Hunter
• The fighter treasure hunter takes a more active role than most others. Instead of provoking or sending a pet to fight the monsters, those choosing this style will be fighting the monsters one-on-one.
• Weapon Skill of your choice: You should decide early on if you want to use a melee weapon and a shield or take up archery. Melee fighters will be very effective on low level hunts. An archer will be effective at all levels.
• Anatomy: An essential skill for any weapons fighter, also increases your ability to heal yourself and others.
• Healing: Being able to heal yourself while you continue to fight is a great advantage.

• The Mage Treasure Hunter
• A mage treasure hunter can choose to play a supportive role; healing, curing and resurrecting the rest of the party, or step in and help kill off the monsters.
• Magery: It goes without saying that a mage will need this skill.
• Meditation: A mage is only as good as his/her mana pool.
• Evaluate Intelligence: This skill greatly increases the effectiveness of offensive spells, if you plant to kill monsters with magery it is essential.
• Resisting Spells: Many of the monsters that spawn on treasure hunts are magical. This skill is recommended for anyone using magery as their main offensive / defensive skill.
• Wrestling: Of less importance than the others. You may decide to replace this with something else and keep your distance from the monsters instead of letting them hit you. It's usually healthier that way anyhow.

• The Bard Treasure Hunter
• One of the more popular styles, a bard treasure hunter can go anywhere on his own and survive. A very powerful treasure hunter capable of handling high level hunts on his own easier than most others.
• Musicianship: Check the bard section for details on raising and using bard skills.
• Provocation: The main "tool" of the bard.
• Peacemaking: Another useful skill. Depending on how you intend to fight the monsters, you may decide to replace this skill with something else.

• The Tamer Treasure Hunter
• Like the bard, the tamer treasure hunter has a greater ability than others to handle high level hunts on his own.
• Animal Taming: Take a look at the tamer section for tips on raising a tamer.
• Animal Lore: Needed to help control your pets.
• Veterinary: Dragons can be killed very easily by ogre lords. You will want to be able to heal them.

• Other Skills to Consider
• Magery: This is a very handy skill for every treasure hunter. If you do not intend to use Detect Hidden and Remove Traps, you will be using the telekinesis spell to set off the trap on the chest after you have picked the lock. It is also very useful to be able to recall, mark runes and gate your party and/or pets around.
• Mining: this is not only for the pure treasure hunter. It has uses for all classes if you want to fit it in.
• Meditation and Evaluate Intelligence: If you plan to use magery as a backup offense, you may find this combination handy.
• Hiding: Many use hiding to help avoid instant death when the guardian monsters first spawn.
• Item Identification: ID wands are not hard to come by, but if you have extra skill points to spare this skill will save you the bother of seeking them out.

There is no right or wrong way to build a treasure hunter. As long as your character has Cartography and Lockpicking, the rest of your skills really are up to you. Talk to other treasure hunters and find out what works for them. Try it out on test, think of what your treasure hunting goals are, and go from there. Remember also that you can always change your mind about skills later on and drop one in favor of another.
Another thing to consider is teaming up with a friend and splitting the two main skills of Cartography and Lockpicking between you. That would leave each of you room to expand on other skills (not to mention only having to train one of them: they are both time consuming and difficult to GM). The biggest disadvantage to that idea is that you are dependent on each other to go treasure hunting, but for the right pair of people it can work very well and be a lot of fun.

Once you have chosen which skills you want to use, pick three to start your character with. Consider two things when choosing starting skills:

1. What equipment do you start with? Here is a list of starting equipment given with each skill. A bard will surely want a "newbie" instrument. You may decide to put one point in mining even if you plan not to use it just to get that shovel or pickaxe that will never leave your side.
2. How hard is it to raise the skill from zero to 50? Remember that you can train most skills up to about 30 or so with an NPC for a small amount of gold, and that a lot of skills, such as cartography, are relatively easy to train up to 50.

TRAINING

Now that you have chosen the skills you will have, it's time to create your character and start training. It is good to start in a city that has a mapmaker. Minoc is the only starting city that does not have one.

Cartography Check the Cartographer section for a list of mapmaker locations and notes on training the skill.

Lockpicking

• Lockpicking is affected by the anti-macro code; it is an object based skill, meaning you need plenty of targets in order to train. Movement does not affect this skill.
• Remember as a training lockpicker, tinkers are your friends. You will be going through a lot of lockpicks during your training. You will also more than likely want to buy some tinker-made lockable boxes or chests to work on. Why do I say "tinker-made" when everyone knows that carpenters make these things? Because you are concerned with the quality of the lock on the box, it is important to have it made by a tinker of appropriate skill. A carpenter can make a lockable box, yet if he/she is GM carpenter but has only 25 tinkering, you will end up with a nice box that has a very weak lock on it. Pay attention to the tinkering skill when buying boxes. If you dont know a tinker, try looking on the Stratics Tinker Forum. Chances are good you will find a tinker on your shard of the right level there.
• You will want to contact a tinker and buy some picks. Tinkers raise skill by making them and you can often get a good deal on a bulk purchase. That will end up being cheaper than buying them from a NPC tinker.
• At 0 skill get 3 or 4 boxes made by a tinker of 50 to 60 skill. You will break a lot of picks on them, but they will raise you well into your training. You can use these as you walk around town picking the boxes and crates found in shops, or you can go to Vesper bank and work on the level one boxes that spawn in the north back room there. There are 6 boxes that spawn, each box stays up for about 9 minutes and is replaced by a fresh one about a minute after it disappears. Lockpicking raises very fast here at low levels, and the advantage of having a bank right there to refresh your supply of picks from is invaluable.
• You can also train the skill with a theif guildmaster if you prefer not to start at 0.
• Once you get to the mid 50's, you will be opening the level 1 boxes pretty well and the gains will slow down some. From here, you have a few options. You can get a few more boxes made by a tinker in the mid 70's to low 80' and work on those; you can get a set of GM tinker boxes, or you can train on spawning dungeon chests. Let's examine the pros and cons of those options.
• Using boxes made by a tinker about 20 points above your current skill is great for gains with fewer lockpicks broken. However, to get around the anti-macro code, you will need a lot of them if that is all you are working with. They are good when used in conjunction with the harder town boxes and with level 2 spawn chests. You can find level 2 spawn chests in the Western Vesper bank back room, in the north chest room at Yew Crypts, and in various dungeons.
• GM boxes will take you all the way to 95 shown skill. You need a lot of them though, and for many storing them is a problem.
• Training on spawning chests is certainly more fun (and profitable) than the other methods but of course it tends to be more dangerous as well. There are a few safe locations where chests spawn, but they do tend to be popular, so training in those locations alone can be slow.
• The best bet is to combine a few techniques, if your gains stall on your GM boxes, hit the dungeons for a while until you get a gain, at which time your GM boxes will be "reset" and you can gain from them again.
• Once you have reached 95 enhanced skill, you will no longer be able to gain from the GM boxes. Some people believe that it does help to run through them a few times, even though you will not raise from them. Whether you do this or not is up to you. The only way to raise now is to hit the dungeon chests and the harder static* chests in towns and dungeons.
• * A "static" chest or box is one that is always in the same location. They do relock and retrap, and some have items in them. Usually the items are of little or no value, the exception being the semi-rares which appear in certain town boxes. A spawning chest has a very short life span, about 9 or 10 minutes. When a spawn chest disapears, it is replaced by a fresh one a minute or so later in the same general area.

Detect Hidden

Do yourself a big favor and buy this skill from an NPC to start. It is one of the few skills that you do not gain in through using it at zero skill. 300gp to a theif guildmaster will get you started nicely.

Detect Hidden is an object based skill. You will need to detect many different traps or hidden people in order to gain. If you plan to train on hidden players, you must do that in Felucca. You cannot detect hiders in Trammel.

Many boxes and chests in town are trapped. Most provisioner shops have lots of these, and they can be a good place to train. The Warriors Guild in Britain has a lot of trapped boxes as well. Don't forget about dungeons, they are a good place to train also. There are many trapped chests and also floor traps there.

You may also want to train using tinker made trapped boxes. You will need a fair number of them for this. Remember to combine them with traps around town and dungeons to defeat the anti-macro code. You can only detect the same trap a few times before you can no longer gain from it, until you have gained on a fresh target.

Remove Trap

While Detect Hidden will tell you if a chest is trapped or not, the Remove Trap skill is needed to actually remove the trap from the chest.

To train in Remove Trap there is only one path to follow: Remove Traps. You can train with a theif guildmaster to start, but remember that you need at least 50 Lockpicking and 50 Detect Hidden before you can train.

The most efficient way to train is to get a supply of tinker made trapped boxes. The tinker skill should be no more than about 20 points above your Remove Traps skill, or you will be setting the trap off more often than not, and the gains will be slower. You will need to have new traps made by a more advanced tinker as you gain. Dart traps do the least amount of damage, so they are probably the best ones to get. Some people prefer to use poison traps and train at a shrine. When they fail and poison themselves, a quick double-click on the shrine cures them. Training at a healer in town is a good idea also. One thing to note: training in this skill will kill you, many times.

You may wish to vary your training by working with trapped boxes around town and chests and floor traps in dungeons. Just be aware that there is a good chance that you will be killed while doing this, and plan accordingly. If you know a friend training healing who needs to resurrect ghosts to gain, you might want to partner up with him for a session or two.

Other Key Skills

Please refer to the sections linked above for information on training skills specific to the style of treasure hunter you want to be.

THE TREASURE HUNT

For a detailed look at treasure maps and what you can expect to find in them, check Treasure Map Quests

Eventually you can enter your profession by offering your services to other players. Banks are a good place to advertise your services. If you are in a guild, ask your guildmaster to give you a title that will let others know what you do - "Treasure Hunter" is obviously a good one. You can also write something to that effect in your profile; people do read them. You can also leave a completed map with your name on it as a "business card" near the bank. (Try not to leave too many though, no-one likes those who create extra lag for them.)

You should decide what fee you will charge before you start to advertise. Many like to dig just to gain experience or for the fun of it, but charging a modest fee is a good idea in any case. You will be treated as more of a professional for doing so.

Work out any details with your employer before you set off in search of the chest. Decide who will loot the chest, when you expect to be paid, how you will get to the site, etc.

Some tips on digging up treasure

UO Automap is an invaluable tool for the treasure hunter. You can find a link to download this free and UO Approved utility in the bar to the left. You can navigate using your overhead radar, but the area you see with it is much smaller.

The treasure hunter and anyone who is in his party are the only ones who will be able to take items from the chest in Trammel. In Felucca anyone is able to take items from the chest, but anyone not in the treasure hunter's party will be flagged criminal for the action.

Once you get the sound of sucess (you can distinctly hear digging sounds), back away from the chest and get everyone in the area. Let them get their mana up full, and then finish digging it up. Also plan a route of retreat and ask any mages to cast things like bless, reflective armor, and other protective magics on you so you can run as soon as the monsters appear and stand a chance of escaping.

Finally, after you dig up the treasure and dispatch the monsters, note down the sextant coordinates of the chest, this is because if there is ever a time warp you can at least get back to where you left off.

Once you dig up the treasure the fun begins, for the moment that chest sees the sky all heck will break loose. This is where you need friends, or at least your employer. The moment the chest is uncovered any foes that are to appear will appear right next to the digger - that being you and regretfully you are also the prime target. Hopefully there is a bard near by making peace before you have to. Ogre Lords and Dread Spiders are foes that seem to plague these chests, a level 3 map will spawn Liche Lords and worse, so a good strong team of souls is what you need. Once the monsters are dispatched or distracted, you need to open the chest. Now its time to try those lockpicks out and have at it (hopefully you have been practicing).

If you are using telekinesis to remove the trap, step away at least four paces before you cast the spell. Since you have just picked the lock on the chest, the chest is your last target. If you cannot see the chest for trees, you can always use the "last target" feature here. If you are using the Remove Trap skill, you can do that before or after picking the lock.

A few rules for those who are coming along:

1. Never be off screen while the hunter is digging. For when the monsters come, they will spawn right next to the chest so if you are out of sight of the digger you will be latefor the party.
2. You will know the treasure has been found the moment the treasure hunter starts digging more than one stroke. That's when the bards should have their hands on the peacemaking keys. Mages should have In Vas Mani on their lips, and the targeting cursor on the treasure digger. Warriors should be in combat mode and ready to fight the foes. Once they spawn, the monsters are fast and furious.
3. Treasure should be collected one item at a time by the employer or the treasure hunter. Never take anything out until the mages have regained their mana and everyone is healed back up. If no monsters spawn, keep taking until the chest is empty. You can put any item inside the chest and simply move it around in order to encourage more monsters to spawn.

Other key items that have helped in the past: Gate scrolls to a healer rune so after the treasure hunter gets squished you can get rezzed to come back and pick that lock. Mark scrolls and blank runes to mark a rune so you can come back. (Note that there are a limited number of "treasure locations." So if you build a rune/map library you can get back there if you find a map in the same vicinity.

Now that the treasure is yours, here comes the fun part. Hopefully you worked out payment before you went along for the trip, such that there are no questions involved. A good plan for people whom you think you can trust, is an even share of the treasure. But if you don't have complete faith in a fair deal ask for some coin up-front (at least 250 gold per map level) and leave it at that. Even the wussiest chest is loaded so your "partners" will not feel taken advantage of.

The code of honor for treasure seekers

1. Never take another persons map - If you can't decode it, give it back.
2. Once you open the chest let the employer pay you - that way there are no questions about was that all there was. It is also a good idea to keep your distance from the chest if you do not know your employer well. You do not wamt to be falsely accused of taking his items from it.
3. Make sure you have the time - If you offer to decode a map know that it can take upwards to a couple of hours if its in a hard to reach place and your mining skill is not up there, make sure your employer knows this as well.

Some other Hints that have come to my attention:

Watch out for conartists:Some people are trying to sell either completed treasure maps or decoded ones to other people which are useless. There is a way of telling a genuine un-decoded treasure map from clicking on it. An undecoded one will give the title 'A tattered treasure map'. A decoded but uncompleted one will give the title 'A treasure map' and a completed one will say 'A treasure map completed by so-and-so'. Nice thinking by the programmer to stop people getting conned.

ROLE PLAYING A TREASURE HUNTER

Treasure hunters typically come in as many forms as there are treasure hunters, but there tend to be several trends:

Action Man/Woman: This is the one we are all most familiar with. Think Indiana Jones or Laura Croft (of Tomb Raider fame) and you have a perfect image. They relish the conflict dealing with the guardian of the treasure as well as the treasure itself. Mastery of the combat arts is critical to them. Brave to the point of suicide, nothing will stop them from finding that treasure. This form of treasure hunter would really benefit from the team tactic where one person becomes Cartographer/ Miner the other Detect Hidden/ Lockpicker. This will free up skill points for things like combat and magic skills.

Suggested Skills: Cartography, Mining, Lockpicking, Swordsmanship/ Mace Fighting/ Fencing/ Archery (or Magery), Tactics, Hiding, Healing.

Explorer: Its the journey there that excites them. Think Lewis and Clark, Pirazzo, Columbus, and countless other explorers who set sail to find the gold but became famous for their journey. Let the muscle deal with the beast, its the trip that makes the journey worth it. Skills for them still include some combat skills but self sufficiency is important so things like mining and tracking are considered handy. They have a knack for finding that which is hidden, hence they will be masters in detecting hidden thus giving them the Ranger title.

Suggested Skills: Cartography, Mining, Detect Hidden, Remove Trap, Lockpicking, Tracking, Archery/Fencing, Tactics, Hiding.

Book reader: Its the research before and after a successful treasure hunt that thrills these hunters. These are like the many real life treasure hunters today. They poor over charts and books looking for that sunken treasure. They are familiar with the myths and legends surrounding the items they find. In the realm of UO they are masters at identifying the items found and excel in the making of maps above all others. These will more often than not be those who rely on having many friends when heading out to seek the treasure. Their mastery of Identification and Cartography will title them with Scholar.

Suggested Skills: Cartography, Mining, Detect Hidden, Remove Trap, Lockpicking, Item Identification, Magery, Hiding, Meditiation (or instead of Magery, some like bardic skills - Musicianship and Peacemaking instead of Magery and Meditation).

Pirate: While Pirates are known for burying their treasure, Pirates are also known to always be looking for other pirate's treasures. While they are rouges and fighters at heart, wearing bright colored clothing and bandannas with flair, the Pirate is the best at making a lock their best friend. The best example of this are the pirates of Treasure Island (Long John Silver) and the Beautiful Morgan Adams (Gina Davis) of Cutthroat Island (1995).

Suggested Skills: Cartography, Mining, Detect Hidden, Remove Trap, Lockpicking, Swordsmanship, Tactics, Hiding.

Artificer: Tinkerers are known for making things from the minuscule gears of a clock to the behemoth ovens upon which we bake, the artificer has made locks and traps his life. Specializing in the skills needed to both set and remove such dangers has unfortunately branded him as a rouge by his fellow man, but deep down he knows that no lock can resist his touch and no trap will scald him. Think MacGyver, or for those who missed that era of TV think a bomb squad specialist and you have this one in mind.

Suggested Skills: Cartography, Mining, Detect Hidden, Remove Trap, Lockpicking, Carpentry, Tinkering, Lumberjacking, Hiding.

A good shtick to enhance your roleplaying is to pick one thing that your treasure hunter values above all else, be it magic staves or red gem stones. Ask for these in advance as part of your payment. Once the treasure is found and the item you like is in there, oooh and ahh over it. If there isn't any of what you collect, still go about doing what you must, but feel free to look in the chest and proclaim "Its all junk!" If you are doing Action or Book style treasure hunters, have a story to go with whatever you find. My character collects all types jewelry from necklaces to earrings. One trip we found a magic gold necklace. Item identification proved it to be a necklace of blessing, so I said "Ah Ha! Tis the necklace of the Sacred Order of Compassion, last worn by the priest Shane, this necklace blessed whom ever wore it." The Basic formula is "Ah ha! Tis the (item) of the (insert some dead culture/order/tribe), last seen upon the hero (insert name here), it (insert magical effect here: made them a better fighter/allowed them to see in the darkest shadows/gave them great speed/ etc.)." If you are really a hard core Roleplayer and consistently hunt with the same group of players you might want to create a history for this dead culture/order/tribe that you talk about all the time. So that if anyone asks you about it you can give them a story as you celebrate your successful hunt over a pitcher of whatever at the nearest tavern. When Identifying Items I tend to emote things while I wait to try between failures. "Examines the material" and "Examines the ancient carvings" are favorites of mine.

So with all that I wish you luck in your venture. I know I have had a great time meeting new people and facing Britannia's toughest fiends. So keep your sextant up and charts straight and may fortune smile upon thee.

- Cassidy (Napa Valley/TC)

- with special thanks to Faceless, RuneSabre, Daedalus, Maestro, Zander, Aewin and all the crazy TC people in DC.

"Laughing all the way to the Bank"

It all began with the treasure map...

A Cyclopean Warrior lay dead on the floor, his body still smoking from the barrage of lighting blasts it suffered prior to uttering its last breath.  Here, in "The Valley" in the New Lands beyond Britannia, Cyclopean Warriors run rampant with giant Titans, wreaking havok towards any human that enter their territory.

   Elrond the Great, the Helmsman of Souls of the Knights in Brilliant Blue gazed with curiosity at the hideous body, when he noticed a peculiar piece of parchment caught under the Cyclops' arm.
   "What the heck are all these lines and scribbles?" he asked himself.
   Knowing little of the ancient art of Cartography , he turned to a good friend, Justin the Great for help.

   Justin the Great,  a Grandmaster in Cartography, Lockpicking and Detecting Hidden, not to mention a masterful knowledge of mining ore, took the map and eyed it curiously.
    "Pfff.  That's easy.  It's a MAP!  To what, I don't know.  But there's a little red pin stuck to it which means that there may be something hidden there."

PREPARATION NOTES Only bring the absolute minimum needed to get you to the map site, to kill the monsters, and then to bring you back home.  The less you bring, the less you risk losing in case you are overwhelmed by the monsters.   Your support group should also bring the minimum number of accessories:  1 rune back to a safe place in case of emergency, and about 20 of each reagent per person.  IMPORTANT FOOTNOTE Always leave the treasure map at home or in the bank when travelling to the treasure location.  That way, if you die along the way, you won't lose your precious map.  Simply mark a rune once you reach the treasure site, recall to get your map, and then recall back.

After more studying, Justin and Elrond determined the map's precise location.  They believed it to be just south of Britain and west of the bridge across The Iolo River (no one knows exactly the river's name, but "The Iolo River" sounds kinda cool).   Let's call it that for this story's sake.  =)

After packing a few lockpicks and a shovel from the local Tinker, the two men journeyed to the Iolo river. Soon enough Justin was quickly at work, digging and searching for what my be hidden.  It only took a few minutes before Justin noticed something fascinating.

"Look at this!" he cried.  "It's a chest!"

(click to see larger image)

DIGGING NOTES The pin location will always be EXACTLY where the treasure chest is... TO THE PIXEL.  If you look at the above picture, I overlayed the UO Overhead map with the treasure map, and I stood EXACTLY where the pin was stuck to the paper. The chest itself, despite what most people believe, will NOT always behind a tree.  I've dug up over 20 maps, and one was located in a clearing.  Refer to "The Treasure Hunter" by Cassidy for a great way to "sweep" an area for the treasure chest. When you arrive at the approximate treasure spot, sweep the area and look for other people.  You don't want anyone hiding out waiting for you to get the chest open, then come steal your loot while you're busy with the baddies. The person digging the treasure should carry 2 things:  the Map and a Pickaxe.  Leave all your other belongings with a friend until after you spawn the first set of monsters.  For the higher level maps, like level 3-5, there's a good chance you will die upon opening the chest.  Make sure your support group are at a safe distance, and they are HIDDEN.  That way, when the monsters spawn, they will attack one person - the digger. If he's lucky, he can run off and lead them to a wide-open space where your support can follow and battle it out.

   Using his DETECT HIDDEN skill, he determined the chest to be trapped with darts poisoned with some of the most deadly venom known in Britannia.

   "No problem," Justin muttered, easily disarming the contraption.  In an attempt to pry open the chest, he soon discovered it would not yield even to his great strength.  It was still locked from the inside.

   "Like I said, no problem," Justin said again, this time pulling out a pair of LOCKPICKS from his pack.  After a bit of twiddling, the chest soon yielded to his skill...

"Yippie!" cried Justin.  He stared into a metal chest filled to the rim with glimmering gems, gold and other magical items!
   "Elrond!  You gotta see thi..."
   Justin's gleam was shattered by a hideous laugh, so deep and disturbing he know it could not possibly have been Elrond, or even another human for that matter.

"MwahaaHaaHAA!

   Justin turned around to face a Lich, face to face, as he laughed and pointed his magical staff towards Justin.  The Lich's laugh was followed by the battle cry of an Ogre Lord, then by the screeching sounds of two Dread Spiders that appeared seemingly out of the air.
   "I'd love to stay and chat," Justin began, "but I'm getting the HELL OUTTA DODGE!"
   Justin sprinted to safety, barely escaping the Lich's flamestrike and the Dread Spiders' poisonous bites (not to mention their attribute-damaging spells.) Justin soon found solace under a big tree which he hid behind to regain his strength.

   Hearing the familiar cries of the beasts, Elrond the Great prepared his reagents, tunes his harp, and rode off towards the sounds of Justin's cries.
   On his way to the scene, he came upon a small pool of water, where he glanced at the reflection of his face.
   "In the name of Lord British, I must say. . . I look goood,"  he whispered to himself, just before winking at the  handsome image dancing within the shimmering puddle.  Without further hesitation, he looked up, smiled, and began the incantation.
   "Corp Por. .  .   .    ."

 


(click to see larger images)

THE BIG BATTLE

1. One important note:  when the monsters appear, THEY APPEAR.  FAST too.  And they begin their attack as though they were standing there for minutes waiting for their chance to kill - in other words, NO hesitation. 
   If you know for sure that you have a level 2 map or better, be prepared.  You don't need to worry too much about level 1 maps, because at worst, a Ratman or two will spawn as you open your chest.
2. The monsters seem to appear at various times.  I once opened a level 4 map with no spawn until I unlocked the chest.  Another time, the spawn occurred as soon as it was dug up from the ground.
3. Like I stated before, make sure your support group is a little bit off screen and hidden.  Why?  Because most of these chests are found in the middle of dense forests, with little or no place to run and dance around.
   The best technique would be for one person to trigger the spawn, then run immediately (if you can) to an open space nearby - usually the shore or to a clearing.  If possible, try to get a magical hat or cape of invisibility, which you can put on once you have lead the monsters to the clearing and are far enough from them.  DO NOT TRY TO FIGHT THEM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FOREST where you can easily get trapped between trees and rocks.  After you kill the first set of monsters (it sounds easy enough, eh?), repeat the process all over.  Regroup everyone, make them hide then take one person back to the chest and start to take items ONE BY ONE.  This is very important, because more monsters will spawn.

THE PRICE TO PAY

Below is the order in which the monster spawns appeared for this Level 3 map:

Justin unlocks the chest.
Spawn:  1 Lich, 1 Ogre Lord, 2 Dread Spiders
Elrond returns and removes items from chest.
Spawn:  2 Dread Spiders
Justin returns and removes one item from chest.
Spawn:  1 Ogre Lord
Elrond returns and removes almost all items from chest.
Spawn:  1 Lich, 1 Dread Spider
Elrond returns and removes almost all but 3 items from chest.
Spawn:  1 Fire Elemental.
Justin and Elrond feel another spawn is not worth the 3 scrolls left inside chest, and decide to call it a night.  =)

Despite Justin dying by the poisonous bite of a Dread Spider and the 65 minutes it took to finally clear the area of monsters and treasure, the two friends made it back to Elrond's little abode to divide the plunder.

   "Thanks for saving my butt, Elrond." said Justin, still recovering from the awful poison.

   "Hey, no need for thanks, brother.   Besides, that resurrection spell I casted gave me an extra .1 magery!   *chuckle*"

THE END

Author's Note

Justin and Elrond are professionals at what they do.   Long hours and months of preparation allows them to tackle Ogre Lords and Liches together, without the need of others (at least not for level 3 maps).  ;-)

Please, do not follow their example.  When treasure hunting, hunt in large groups, because it really is harder than it appears.   Remember, you are only going to gain some gold and magical items - and that is a small prize to be won when the hunt can be made into a fun even with lots of friends.

So when treasure hunting, invite all your friends, remember all the useful tips we have provided - and most of all, HAVE A BLAST!