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Ancehl Castle

ancehl_castle.png

Ancehl Castle (pronounced "ann-chell") is a major dungeon located in northwestern Akhlo'Rohma. This extravagant, vividly colored castle often serves as the first significant combat challenge in a Drehmal playthrough, and is packed with rewards to match its difficulty.

The regional seat of power in Akhlo'Rohma for over 2000 years, Ancehl Castle stands today as the lone surviving structure of what used to be a prominent city.

Location

Approximate Coordinates: 1510, 144, -2012

Ancehl Castle is home to the following loot:

Entering Ancehl Castle for the first time grants the "Upper-Upper Class" advancement.

Mobs

Ancehl Castle is filled with custom enemies, mainly of the following 4 categories:

  • Royal Archers, named skeletons with strong bows. These mobs are positioned along the walls of the castle, and will begin shooting at the player as soon as they step out onto the main pathway.
  • Royal Guards, custom textured piglins wielding axes. These mobs are moderately strong melee enemies, found mostly inside the palace complex.
  • Elite Royal Guards, custom textured piglin brutes. These mobs are very strong melee enemies, found in only a few spots within the palace complex.
  • Royal Alchemists, named witches. They do not appear to have any new textures or attributes, but are placed in specific places in the castle.

One Grafted Mihkmari (ravager) is also found in the sewer beneath the castle, and other vanilla mobs can spawn here as well.

Throughout the palace, there are also Nobles, named Nitwit villagers. These are passive and have no notable attributes besides their names.

Layout

Ancehl Castle's main entrance is located to the north, at the end of a path which leads up from the fields to the east. Players enter through an open trellis and a winding staircase up to the main gate, where a few small brightly colored buildings can be found. The orange building to the left holds a Runic Blacksmith, who sells two artisan items.

The path to the right leads to a large, onion-domed white/blue building. This building, containing the The Strength of Will book, seems to have been the castle's chapel devoted to worship of Virtuo prior to her departure. A custom evoker named "Disgraced Priest" is found in the central pool of this building.

The path to the left leads to a drawbridge, where the player can access the main castle structure. From here, the layout becomes much more complex, so this page will only focus on the major points of interest within the castle.

Many doors must be broken through.

Throne Room

Through the first door to the right after entering the castle is a purple and red throne room, decorated with a large chandelier. A Runic Catalyst sits at the top of the throne below, and a block of serpent scales can be taken from the throne.

Tower

Climbing a spiral staircase from the second floor of the throne room, one can reach the top of the tallest tower in Ancehl Castle, in the center west of the area. At the top of this tower is a chest containing Drehn's Peace, an artifact shield.

Duchess Cerice's Room

High above the throne room, a room is locked behind double iron doors, with a single baby villager named "Duchess Cerice" inside. This room contains the Duchess's Diary book, but more importantly, the structure's Fervor Stone is located somewhere in this room.

Fervor Stone Location

The Ancehl Fervor Stone, a Stone of Agony, is located behind the 2x2 painting over a ladder in this room.

Crypts

The crypts beneath Ancehl Castle can be accessed in a number of ways, including several separate staircases. One long spiral staircase is located in the south-central portion of the castle, which leads all the way to the bottom of the crypts. This is the location of the Orchidaceae legendary.

How to Reach Orchidaceae

From the aforementioned spiral staircase, break through the iron bars at y=94 facing north. Follow this hallway to its end, then turn left and go up the stairs. Turn left again to find yourself in a room with two mob spawners. Break the tomb structure in the center of the room to claim the legendary weapon, and either return the way you came or break out through the chiseled stone brick to the outside.

Memo Puzzles

Throughout Ancehl Castle, there are four pieces of paper named "[Adjective] Memo", with puzzles in their item descriptions. When solved, these memos reward the player with one part of the Cryptkeeper's Set, a diamond armor set which adds +8% attack damage per piece worn.

The solutions to these puzzles are always found in the same room as the memo, and rely on conventional redstone mechanics rather than datapack functions.

Flowery Memo

The Flowery Memo is located in a chest at (1507, 160, -1948), accessed from the balcony over the throne room. It reads:

Left of those with flashing swords,
strike down a crimson star.
Go beyond the fool's embrace to
find a furtive scar.

Puzzle Hint

This puzzle relies on a simple, tried and true Minecraft method of hiding secrets. Consider what in the room might match up with the "crimson star" description, and also be advised that the swords may not necessarily be "flashing" on some versions.

Solution

Left (east) of the two armor stands that brandish stone swords in this room, a redstone torch sits on the wall. Break it to deactivate an iron trapdoor behind the nearby painting, and you will be able to jump through the painting to find the reward hidden in a small alcove.

Solving this puzzle rewards the player with the Cryptkeeper's Helmet.

Dank Memo

The Dank Memo is located in a chest at (1539, 145, -1948), in a cistern room. It reads:

Someone should probably empty and clean that ancient sink in the cistern room. It looks like it's been overfilling, so maybe that'll help fix the water system a bit.

Puzzle Hint

This puzzle relies on a specific redstone mechanic relating to the "sink", the cauldron in this room. The necessary item(s) to solve this puzzle are located in this room, if you do not have any on your person. You may also need to wait a few moments for the solution to register.

Solution

Using a glass bottle, lower the fill level of the cauldron to 2/3 (take one bottle out). This will trigger a piston to move, opening a gap in the wall next to the larger pool nearby.

Solving this puzzle rewards the player with the Cryptkeeper's Chestplate.

Dusty Memo

The Dusty Memo is found in a library room underground in northern Ancehl, at (1540, 144, -1975). It reads:

"Profit and power"
"From far northern"
"Schools of magic"

Puzzle Hint

Look around this room, and carefully consider the way that the item's description is provided (the syntax of the hint). Within this room, what could these three quotes pertain to?

Solution

This is a lectern combination lock puzzle, drawing from the fact that lecterns, when books are placed on them, emit a different redstone signal based on the page the book is turned to. The three books in this room, from left to right, contain the three quoted passages. Avsohm's Ruse on the left contains "profit and power" on page 3 of 4, Torn History Tome in the center contains "from far northern" on page 6 of 7, and On Alchemy on the right contains "schools of magic" on page 2 of 7.

When all three correct selections are made, the reward drops from the ceiling next to the "On Alchemy" lectern.

Solving this puzzle rewards the player with the Cryptkeeper's Leggings.

Stained Memo

The Stained Memo is located in Ancehl Castle's wine cellar, at (1516, 137, -1942). It reads:

While great food alone can make a delicious meal, the secret to a truly memorable feast lies in the drinks. If you make sure to take your time and carefully consider each option when opening the wine chest, inspiration will surely strike!

Puzzle Hint

The solution to this puzzle may not be readily apparent even if you have figured out part of the memo, and it is time-sensitive. Keep the following in mind: 1) There is only one wine chest in the cellar. 2) Simple vanilla redstone mechanics cannot detect which specific items you remove from/add to a chest. 3) The chests in this area are trapped chests—not in the sense that they will harm you, but in the sense that they emit redstone signals when open, regardless of their contents. 4) You may need to listen carefully to claim the reward for completing this puzzle.

Solution

Towards the back of this room, there is a singular trapped chest filled with "Aged Wine", while no other chests have wine. Opening this chest for about six seconds will trigger a different piston elsewhere in the room, which will remain open for about 6 more seconds, on the same timer. Keep the wine chest open until you hear the second piston, then backtrack to a new hole in the floor along the southern wall between two barrels.

Solving this puzzle rewards the player with the Cryptkeeper's Boots.

Lore

Since the early-mid Second Avihm, Ancehl Castle has been the seat of political power in Akhlo'Rohma, and it is theorized (1) to have been the birthplace of modern alchemy as well. Ancehl began as a city-state, and rose to power in the Deity War, accumulating wealth and remaining neutral in the conflict. Ancehl grew into a massive city surrounding the castle.

  1. Source: see The Crypts of Akhlo'Rohma.

During the age of Avsohm, Akhlo'Rohma was a part of the empire, and the crypts beneath the castle were utilized as one of the empire's most secure prisons. Following the Fall of Avsohm, Ancehl returned to its previous role as the head of a mostly independent Akhlo'Rohma. In the years following the Dune Wars, massive amounts of Casain migrants arrived in Akhlo'Rohma, moving a new racial tension to the forefront of Akhlo'Rohman politics. These tensions would eventually boil over in the Dohval Civil War, in which the entirety of the city of Ancehl was burned down, sparing only Ancehl Castle.

Ancehl would remain the regional seat of power, but since this event, the major political entity in Akhlo'Rohma has been the Kingdom of Dusps, centered in the Painted City. The Kingdom of Dusps joined Insohm, and since then, Ancehl has been somewhat sidelined in large-scale politics.

The most recent ruler of Ancehl was Duke Duruis (pronounced "doo-roo-ee"). Duruis served as Akhlo'Rohma's Grand Councillor to the Insohmic Coalition, but is dead by the time the player finds the castle. In his reflections, the Duke writes about his friendship with Ehzar Gohman. He writes that he first found Ehzar in the catacombs beneath the castle, but the man quickly rose to become his most trusted advisor and even friend. Ehzar, seemingly an alchemist, showered the young Duchess with impressive gifts, including a doll that may have been partially alive.

However, when the player finds Ancehl Castle, Duke Duruis is not present—of the noble line, only his child daughter, Duchess Cerice, remains. The lord regent of the castle, as shown by the Regent's Planner, is Ehzar, ruling in place of the young Duchess. It is heavily implied that Ehzar, a former Red Dawn alchemist, is responsible for the Duke's death, and is attempting to harness the power of the noble bloodline to complete a twisted Great Work. Ehzar, claiming to have extremely low potentia, is secretly consuming small parts of the Duchess' body such as discarded fingernails and strands of hair, seemingly with the goal of absorbing her innate power and eventually growing massive by eating entire towns.

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