Castle

The Castle is a special level just above The Valley Of The Dead. The stairs up are always on the left side of the level, where there's a small maze. The middle part of the level contains the castle, surrounded by a moat. One of the four corner rooms contains a chest containing a wand of wishing. The floor and the walls are undiggable, and the only way down is through the trap doors in the castle. If you fill the trap doors, you need to level teleport down.

The map of the castle (with the random mazes removed) looks like:

-----------------------------------------------------------------
|}}}}}}}}}.............................................}}}}}}}}}|
|}-------}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}-------}|
|}|.....|-----------------------------------------------|.....|}|
|}|.....+...............................................+.....|}|
|}-------------------------------+-----------------------------}|
|}}}}}}|........|..........+...........|.......S.S.......|}}}}}}|
|.....}|........|.barracks.|...........|.store.|.|.store.|}......
|.....}|........------------...........---------S---------}.....|
|.....}#...{....+..........+.........\.+.^...^...^...^..^+......|
|.....}|........------------...........---------S---------}.....|
......}|........|.barracks.|...........|.store.|.|.store.|}.....|
|}}}}}}|........|..........+...........|.......S.S.......|}}}}}}|
|}-------------------------------+-----------------------------}|
|}|.....+...............................................+.....|}|
|}|.....|-----------------------------------------------|.....|}|
|}-------}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}-------}|
|}}}}}}}}}.............................................}}}}}}}}}|
-----------------------------------------------------------------

The # at the front of the castle is the drawbridge. One way to open it is to play a game of "mastermind" with it. The hero must use an instrument and be standing a knight's move from the drawbridge. Applying the insturment, the player must guess the 5 note combination to open the drawbridge. The different notes you can play are A, B, C, D E, F, and G. Once you get the right combination, the drawbridge opens and you can cross the moat. You may close the drawbridge by playing the passtune again, to crush any monster that happens to be on it. Zapping the open drawbridge with a wand of striking will smash it to pieces, also tearing apart any monster - or player - currently standing on it.

Another way inside the castle is through the back door. It is accessible by crossing the moat via levitation (preferably ring) or freezing the water (with Wand of Cold or Cone of Cold spell). Another way is level teleporting down to the Valley of the Dead, and taking the stairs up, which will bring you to the other side of the castle.

This page is based on a spoiler by Dylan O'Donnell. The original license is:

Redistribution, copying, and editing of these spoilers, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

1. The original contributors to any spoiler must continue to be credited.
2. Any modifications to the spoiler must be acknowledged and credited.

Tools

Lazy players may find the automated Mastermind solver at http://www.gridbug.de/mm.html useful.

Drawbridge

The drawbridge has been a source of many deaths. Here are a few things you can do to avoid YASD:

• Do not zap the drawbridge with a wand of striking while standing directly in front of it.
• Do not open it while standing on either of the two spaces directly in front of it.
• Do not linger near it when other monsters have wands of striking.

History

The original Castle appears in NetHack 3.0.0. The wand of wishing appears in one of the corner turrets, as in the current version; but it lies exposed on the floor instead of being protected by a chest and Elbereth. Furthermore, the Castle has empty rooms where the barracks are now. The next level is the beginning of Hell, and so the trap doors can lead to instadeath.

NetHack 3.1.0 adds the barracks and engraves Elbereth under the wand of wishing. Gehennom replaces Hell and so an adventurer without fire resistance no longer risks instadeath, though rashly dropping through the trap doors is still not a good idea.

NetHack 3.2.0 places the wand of wishing in a chest for the first time.