Treasure Hunting

The information in this article is up-to-date as of version Early Access v0.8.3.

Treasure hunting is a specialization skill and determines your ability to decipher treasure maps, locate and dig buried treasures out. Higher level of that skill allows deciphering higher level maps.

It requires the use of a shovel to dig out treasure. The chest is *locked* when it spawns, but will automatically unlock after all of guardian spawn are dead. Alternatively, a player proficient in Lockpicking skill can open the chest while the guardians are still alive.

Process

Upon acquisition of a map, it can be studied (right click and choose "Study", or double click) to find the area the treasure is located and to reveal the quality of the map (see the maps section below).

Once you are in the correct area, the map can be studied again to locate the treasure precisely. You will get an on-screen message indicating which direction you should travel to find the dig area. Beware, each attempt to study a non-trivial map will slowly degrade it off until destruction.

Once you get the message reporting "treasure is nearby", you must equip a shovel and use the ability to dig (default: Q). The chest is always located at the center of the treasure area.

Once the treasure is discovered the map will be destroyed and the guardian spawn will appear. The treasure chest is locked and can be picked, however killing all the monsters will unlock the chest so Lockpicking is not a required skill for land-based treasure maps. However, the chest will disappear after a certain time so you may need a lockpicker to open the chest if you cannot kill the guardians quickly enough.

Maps

There are several levels of maps:

Map	Skill Req.	Spawned Monsters	Possible Loot
Tattered Map	0-35	1 Goblin shaman & 2 Goblin warriors	180-250 copper, 20-35 of some reagents, gems, +1 jewelry, tattered map, bandage, lesser heal potions, Ancient Idol
Frayed Map	35-55	3 Liches or 3 giant scorpions	400-500 соpper, 20-40 of some reagents, gems, frayed map, tattered map, spell scrolls
Fancy Map	55-75	2 Privateer + 2 Corsair or 2 Doom + 2 Gargoyle
Ornate Map	75-	4 Gazer
Devious Map		2 Drake + 2 Gorgon

In addition to level, there are different qualities of maps. The quality determines the size of the area you'll have to search:

• Vague: The dig area is approximately 12 by 12 tiles.
• Approximate: The dig area is approximately 8 by 8 tiles.
• Accurate: The dig area is approximately 4 by 4 tiles.
• Precise: The dig area is currently unknown.

The chest is always located at the center of the dig area.

Treasure Area

Once you get the message "the treasure is nearby" you know you are in the right area. The dig area that you'll need to search is determined by the map quality (see above).

If your map is in good condition, it is advisable to try to search for the edges of the dig area by checking the map repeatedly as you move around. Once you find the edges of the dig area, the actual treasure location is at the center (knowing the center will allow you to dig up the treasure in a few tries instead of digging over a hundred tiles.)

As you dig, there are 5 possible results:

1. "You find nothing of interest here" : This means you've completely left the treasure area.
2. "The treasure is not buried here" : This means you're currently digging within the treasure area, but haven't found the exact spot.
3. "The treasure is not located here. Keep Digging!" : You are very close to the correct spot. Continue searching very close to that location.
4. "That location has already been excavated" : You're still in the treasure area but have dug the same place before.
5. "The map disintegrates": You successfully dig up the treasure map and guarding spawn.

The blue marker in the picture are the outer edges of the treasure area for a vague map.

Tips

• If the monsters that spawn from the map are difficult to handle for you, dig and then mount on horseback so that you can quickly get away from the monsters and start luring them away. (You can not dig on horseback)

• If you take too long to kill the monsters, the treasure disappears along with the remaining monsters.

• Sometimes the treasure is located in an inaccessible area, for these you need to use the Teleport spell/scroll. Once you dig up the treasure you either need to be able to withstand all the monsters attacking you at once or you need to have high enough Manifestation to be able to teleport away quickly without fizzling. If you die in the inaccessible area, you need to use "/stuck" to get out and you most likely will not make back in time to reclaim your body and belongings.

• If you don't wish to use teleport spell to access the inaccessible maps, don't throw them away; study them repeatedly, there will be some skill gain.

• Drag the maps to your quick action (hotkey) bar, faster than right-clicking and selecting study from context menu.

• The map you are currently trying to find needs to be in your backpack, not in a pouch that is in your backpack, for treasure hunting to work. However, all other maps must be in a pouch in your backpack when you dig, otherwise you will not be able to find the chest.

• When dealing with higher level maps that you're likely to destroy, or maps that are on the verge of destruction, you can guess the location and dig to find the area where the treasure is buried. You'll lose some time on the guesses, but at least the map will not get destroyed before you find the treasure. E.g., if the map points north, then you can start going north and digging a bit every few steps to see if you found the area.
• After you find the treasure area, but before you dig the chest, you can keep deciphered the map to gain additional skill points. Continue doing this until the map is about to break. If the map does break, you can't dig up the treasure.
• When you fail to study a map it looses durability and will eventually be destroyed and disappear. (Slightly Worn -> Worn -> Damaged -> Badly damaged -> Destroyed)
• When you've reached the maximum skill requirement for a map you'll stop failing to study them and they will no longer take durability damage.

Map Location Notes

• Maps to Cast Lake (Upper Plains) may spawn on either the east or west bank of the lake and river, making the search quite tedious.
• Maps to Caravan Path (Upper Plains) may spawn in guarded areas, but tend to spawn on the Wilderness side of the wall.

Known Bugs

• Treasures can spawn under player houses. In these cases, the map will disintegrate and you will get a "That location is too far away." message and the treasure will be lost. reported 1/21/2019
• All maps in Lume Coast and Flat Wilds are bugged. Attempting to use them near the area will get them stuck on your mouse cursor. No matter what you do, the map will be lost. One player reported that the maps in his pack disappeared after relogging to clear the bug. Consider storing these maps until after the bug is fixed.