Palace of the Dead

"All who enter this dungeon, abandon what little hope ye may yet have."

The Palace of the Dead, sometimes known as Ashmedai's Palace, is an ancient dungeon on the island of Exeter, in the northwest regions of the Valerian isles. The Palace is known as a prime location for the study of necromancy and dragon magic. It is custom among warriors bound for the Palace to distribute their worldly possessions among already-grieving family and friends.

Purpose

"Many are the mage who, bent on studying the evil ways of the ancients, delved into these dungeons in search of dusty spellbooks and the knowledge they contain."

The Dragon Lords are thought to be the source of magic as practiced during the era covered in Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. During the Bolsenian era, they built a civilization that covered Xytegenia and the surrounding isles. It is believed that they built the Palace of the Dead, and indeed, among the rare items found in the Palace are gears and machinery made by Daedalus, forge master of the Dragon Lords. The Palace houses a gate to the Abyss in its depths, which is the primary draw for Denam during the Coda, when he is looking for Warren Omon in the Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together DLC. The Necromancer Nybeth escapes here hoping to further his research, and when confronted in the Altar on the 100th level, claims that it was built "for people like you."

Some of the lower levels have prominent grave markers, which may indicate some kind of crypt. Other levels have features that hint at sluiceworks or other means of controlling and storing water.

Layout

Palace-of-the-dead-map — A flowchart map of the Palace of the Dead.

The dungeon is broken into a series of levels, which are accessed in a mostly, although not entirely, linear fashion. Each level of the dungeon may contain either a shop or a battle; floors with shops on them (24 and 65) do not have encounters. The levels are made available in groups of 25; when the next set of 25 is made available for exploration, the player loses access to all previous levels. Battles can be retreated from so long as they are not story battles, and winning the battle on floor 100 does not automatically expel the player from the dungeon.

The first three floors are freely accessible. In order to proceed deeper, a secret door on the third floor needs to be located during battle.

Floor 100 is the Altar of the Beyond--"The 100th level of the Palace of the Dead, this place has the feel of an ancient ceremonial space to it."

Previously thought to be 100 levels deep, levels 101 through 114 were made available in the first DLC for the PSP rerelease in Japan, and come included with the US release. Floor 98 leads to the extra floors below the 100th during Denam's search for Warren.

Story Battles (Chapter 4)

1 (The Spellbinder Falfaday)
2 (Rudlum)
3 (Xadoba)
5 (Nybeth)
22 (Georges)
41 (Beelzebuth)
74 (Beelzebuth)
100 (Nybeth)

Story Battles (Coda)

A hidden level within the Palace of the Dead, it seems to lead on to the very Abyss...

88 (leaderless undead, with a cutscene afterwards)
98 (Kandyce)
105?
114 (King Rodrick?)