Quest 3: What is in the final chest?

[SirRick]

In Quest 3: Lair of the Orc Warlord, there is a curious room behind Ulag's chamber that contains a treasure chest guarded by a pit trap. There are no notes whatsoever mentioning what is inside. Its most likely supposed to be empty, but for all we know it was supposed to contain 5 suits of Plate Mail. This is an issue that has bothered me for countless years. So what do you guys think? How have you (as the evil sorcerer) dealt with this mystery treasure chest?

[Once was Mortimer]

How odd.

The UK version has the chest trapped for one BP of damage, and than 100 gold coins. If that helps.

[SirRick]

It does help. Thank you so much. Perhaps the gold was removed in the North American version because they thought it was too much money or they simply overlooked it. I would always forget about it, but every now and then I would flip through the quest book, i would notice that chest again. Thanks again, the mystery is finally solved!

[wallydubbs]

I know the UK version says there's 100 gold in there.
You can ask the same for the chest guarded by the stone gargoyle in Quest 11, Bastion of Chaos... UK version doesn't have an answer there...

[SirRick]

I believe that chest is supposed to be empty. It does not specifically say so, but mentions that the chest IS a trap and if disarmed before opening, Zargon tells the hero the gargoyle would have come to life if the hero searched for treasure.

I think the intent is the chest is a trap, a fake chest, and not a treasure chest with a trap on it.

[lestodante]

yes, it's a mimic!!

[wallydubbs]

I believe that chest is supposed to be empty. It does not specifically say so, but mentions that the chest IS a trap and if disarmed before opening, Zargon tells the hero the gargoyle would have come to life if the hero searched for treasure.

I think the intent is the chest is a trap, a fake chest, and not a treasure chest with a trap on it.

If I'm not mistaken, there's a chest just like it in the first quest of Keller's Keep and that one's not empty.

[j_dean80]

Some chests are empty and some have treasure. Same with cupboards and weapon's racks etc. Not every piece of furniture has a note every single time. No note = empty. At that point it is just a piece of furniture to lure you into a trap.

[Kurgan]

I think it's a clear error by the one who adapted it for the NA edition. There should be a "C" there and the same reward & danger as the EU edition. In the NA edition they put a pit trap next to it, which might matter if you had to actually move up to the chest and stand next to it in order to search it, so the change was just silly and they forgot to port over the rest. Most of the time the NA seems to improve upon the original version but not so in this case... So back in the day when I played this as a kid, I would have just assumed it was empty, but now I'll include the trap and the 100 gold as that was what was intended. I'd make it an exploding lock as we didn't get many (any?) of those despite them being mentioned in the instructions.

In later expansions they got lazy and just put unmarked chests, but the GS was pretty good about actually putting a letter there and saying "the chest is empty" in the quest notes.

[wallydubbs]

In later expansions they got lazy and just put unmarked chests, but the GS was pretty good about actually putting a letter there and saying "the chest is empty" in the quest notes.

This is true for the most part, with an exception in Bastion of Chaos. In the small room with the chest guarded by the stone gargoyle, it's trapped to awaken the gargoyle, yes, that's in the notes. But there is no specification on whether anything is in the chest or not.