The Shadow Crypt/Instance Paths

Overview
Each instance has 14 rooms: an entrance room, 12 regular rooms with gear and finally a lever room. Rooms have a color and a type. For each color, two out of five types are always out of play. Thus, 4 colors * 3 types = 12 rooms.

Definition of Room Types
You cannot tell this by map due to overlapping floors (although can possibly know where you are by height from /loc command). There are various ways to name these rooms.
 * Attic, or Columns, or Pillars
 * The room with the stone pillars and a central chest.
 * You fight Umbral Gargoyles
 * Maze, or Gate, or Jail
 * The maze-like room with the lattice-walls. chest is placed randomly in four coners.
 * You fight Spectres and Shadows
 * Once the chest has been looted (and and all characters have left the room), the gates may change, limiting access/exits. The room changes again before the end fight, with all paths opening for easy transit.
 * Pyramid, or Altar, or Dais
 * The room with the stairs ascending to a central chest.
 * You fight Phase Spiders
 * Torch, or Fountain, or Puzzle
 * The room with the four torches, each torch has pair of fountains on its back wall (high, above the exit), and the fountains indicate correct order to light torches in binary format. (Note - these are not the fountains in the corners!)
 * You fight Shadows and Umbral Wolves
 * Water, or Underwater
 * The room you have to go through underwater maze.
 * No enemies in these rooms

Instance Variations
There are three different versions for an instance of this dungeon.

In order to figure out which version you are in, after you've cleared the first entrance room and picked up the Death's Door clicky (2 charges Dimension Door), go east.
 * If you are in a  red  room, you are in what will be referred to as Instance 1.
 * Otherwise, you will either be in a  green  room - Instance 2
 * Or a  blue  room - Instance 3

Graphical Walkthroughs for 8 and 12 Gears Runs
Solution #1 (the room east of the starting room is a  red room  with columns/gargoyles) Solution #2 (the room east of the starting room is a  green room  with columns/gargoyles) Solution #3 (the room east of the starting room is a  blue room  with torches (fountains)/shadows and umbral wolves) 3 Solutions in 1 graphic for 8 gears

12 Gears Walkthrough
If you want to be walked through the dungeon using the shortest possible route, collecting all 12 gears along the way and enabling you to open the extra chest at the end, then follow this guide, otherwise refer to the Maze directions in the next section.

Quick reference:

 Red Pattern  : EEEESSNWN(DD)SESSW

 Green Pattern  : EEENNNNNNN(DD)WSWSEW

 Blue Pattern  : (DD)NWWWWNNNSSNWWEE


 * Go east and get to  red  attic - Instance 1
 * East to blue maze
 * East to red pyramid
 * East to red underwater
 * East to yellow torch (lighting order: north, west, south)
 * South to blue underwater
 * South to green attic
 * North to green maze (if you can't get to the gear from here, just proceed to next room)
 * West to green pyramid
 * North to green maze (you should be able to get the gear from this direction now if you couldn't before)
 * Dimension Door to start. Shrine now if necessary - you won't be coming back to this room again.
 * South to yellow maze
 * East to yellow pyramid
 * South to blue attic
 * South to red pyramid
 * West to end game


 * Go east and get to  green  attic - Instance 2
 * East to green maze (if you can't get to the gear from here, just proceed to next room)
 * East to red maze
 * East to yellow pyramid
 * North to blue maze
 * North to red underwater
 * North to red torch (lighting order: east, north, west)
 * North to green torch (lighting order: north, south, west)
 * North to blue pyramid
 * North to blue attic
 * North to green maze (you should be able to get the gear from this direction now if you couldn't before)
 * Dimension Door to start
 * West to blue attic (yes you have already been here)
 * South to yellow torch (lighting order: north, west, south)
 * West to start. Shrine now if necessary - you won't be coming back to this room again.
 * South to red torch (yes you have already been here)
 * East to yellow underwater
 * West to end game


 * Go east and get to  blue  torch - Instance 3
 * Dimension Door to the beginning
 * from the start:
 * North to green underwater
 * West to blue maze
 * West to blue torch (lighting order: south, east, north)
 * West to blue underwater
 * West to red pyramid
 * North to yellow underwater
 * North to yellow attic
 * North to yellow maze
 * South to start. Shrine now if necessary - you won't be coming back to this room again.
 * South to red torch (lighting order: east, north, west)
 * North to green pyramid
 * West to red torch (yes you have already been here)
 * West to red attic
 * East to green torch (lighting order: north, south, west)
 * East to end game

8 Gears Duo Walkthrough
This path is designed for two groups working separately to obtain the necessary 8 gears in the shortest time possible while having both end at the final room at nearly the same time. 

Group 1 breaks the east door and goes east to determine the instance while group 2 finishes the beginning fight.

 RED 

Group 1: (E)NNSEW

Group 2: WWEWW

 GREEN 

Group 1: (E)WWNEW

Group 2: WENEW

BLUE 

Group 1: (E)SNSEE

Group 2: WSEEE

Verbose:


 * Instance 1 / red attic
 * Group 1:
 * East is  red  attic - Instance 1
 * North to blue attic
 * North to green pyramid
 * South to blue maze
 * East to red pyramid
 * West to the end
 * Group 2:
 * West to green attic
 * West to yellow maze
 * East to yellow pyramid
 * West to red pyramid
 * West to end


 * Instance 2 / green attic
 * Group 1:
 * East is  green  attic - Instance 2
 * West to yellow pyramid
 * West to green torches
 * North to blue pyramid
 * East to yellow water
 * West to the end
 * Group 2:
 * West to blue attic
 * East to red water
 * North to red torches
 * East to yellow water
 * West to end


 * Instance 3 / blue torches
 * Group 1:
 * East is  blue  torches - Instance 3
 * South to yellow maze
 * North to green water
 * South to red pyramid
 * East to green torches
 * East to the end
 * Group 2:
 * West to yellow water
 * South to blue maze
 * East to red attic
 * East to green torches
 * East to end

Alternate 8 Gears Solution
Red solution is: E-SWEEEEW(EW) center to banner:[EEE]

Green solution is: E-NESSNNE(W) center to banner:[SEW]

Blue solution is: E-WSNWEWE(EE) center to banner:[SWE]

Alternate 8 Gears Duo Solution
RED Group 1: (E)NNSEW Group 2: WWEWW

GREEN Group 1: (E)WWNEW Group 2: WENEW

BLUE Group 1: (E)SNSEE Group 2: WSEEE

Maze
How to read this "map":
 * For the 2- and 3-letter abbreviations:
 * the first letter is the color: Red, Yellow, Green, Blue
 * the second letter is the type of room: Columns, Dais (aka "pyramid"), Maze (aka "gates"), Puzzle (aka "torch"/"fountain"), or Underwater.
 * the third letter (if present) is one of the four doorways of that room: North, South, East, West.

So, YMS represents the Yellow Maze room (south doorway), and YC represents the Yellow Column room itself (no doorway specified). "Start" (obviously) represents the first room, where you speak with the injured Dame Calla.

Off each 2-letter room on this map are 3 spaces containing either 3-letter designations or some grey areas to make up 3 possibilities, for the 3 variations of the quest map. These are the possible destinations off that room, depending which of the 3 variations of the map you are exploring (top, middle, or bottom are all consistent). Grey bars mean there that room does not exist* on that variation of the map (hence no rooms known from that room).


 * (* Remember - there are only 3 gears max of each of 4 colors, with no empty rooms, so at 1 room/gear that's only 12 rooms total per map variation.)

Example:
 * So, if you look at the first room listed below (top left), "YC" ("Yellow Column" room), you may immediately notice that the first and second rows are all greyed out and blank - so that room only exists in the third variation. From that room, YC, exiting west leads to "YUN", or the northern doorway of the Yellow Underwater room. Exiting north from YC leads to "YMS", the southern doorway of the Yellow Maze room. Going east leads back to the Start, and going south from YC leads... back to the Yellow Column room, the east entry! Do not expect the quest map to be rational!

You can use this map to know what rooms you can enter from the room you are currently in. If you get lost, it is suggested that, knowing which version you are in, you combine this with one of the "flow charts", above, to find a path to return to the start and/or your party.

Exits highlighted in aqua aqua represent banner exits that (eventually) lead to the ramp up to the end fight.
 * (Taken from http://www.themacguild.com/forums/showthread.php?t=533)



You can also figure out which version you are in by using the map. For example, from the Start (lower right on the "map"), if you make your first jump west instead of east, you can take note of which color and type of room you are in. If you went to the West for your first door/teleporter, you can only end up in 1 of 3 places:
 * GCW/Green Columns room (West doorway) = version #1
 * BCW/Blue Columns room (West doorway) - version #2
 * YUW/Yellow Underwater room (West doorway) = version #3

If you had not intended to go west, you could look up the room you are in, see what room(s) lead off the one you are currently in, and plan your escape/run/fight back to where you want to be.