Getting a Physical Body:
As you will know by now, the 3 main ways of getting into the Keep are: using "Spook" ability to possess someone, finding the automated armour, and using our own body from the chapel. Each have their own conditions and advantage. Spook gives us the biggest range of possibilities and is generally the best option unless we miss meeting all the good possible hosts (and there are quite a few that range from great to solid choices). The armour is probably the hardest to get, and I don't really think it's worth the effort compared to the other options.
First, about Spook:
Possible Hosts:
1) Captain Cador, Captain of the Castle Guards (SKILL 12 STAMINA 20).
Location: Barracks
The one character with more awesome stats than Isolde, Captain Cador is almost definitely the best option. Besides his obvious stats advantage, he'll also allow you to possess him without resistance if you speak to him before hand and convince him of your identity. He is understandably suspicious when he first sees you, and requires some convincing, but unlike Marrok he doesn't just attack you blindly.
Here's an example of the book withholding information from the player that the PC should be aware of (in fact, it's the one I made a vague reference to earlier): Cador will be convinced if you can name your beloved dog (using the A=1, B=2, etc, puzzle). Now logically, the PC should know the name of her dog in the story whether she went to the kennels first or not, but for the player, the only way we can pass this puzzle is if we visit the kennels before we visit the barracks. It doesn't make sense, and is one of the many inconsistencies in the writing for this book.
Anyway, in addition to awesome stats, Cador also has his own blessed magic sword, just like Marrok. He loses out a bit on STAMINA, as he only has 2 meals, but with his SKILL he probably won't need them.
If we didn't manage to convince him beforehand, we can still try to possess him by passing the same WILL test we used on Marrok.
Other functions: Other than serving as a host, Cador has other important functions, most importantly,
he knows the number combinations to unlocking the automated armour! Also, like Bertild, you can gain some more information by asking him about certain topics.
2) Marrok the Crusader (SKILL 11, STAMINA 22)
Location: Feast Hall
Well, we used him as our Host, so not much more I need to say about him. If you prefer having more STAMINA and meals to the extra SKILL, you may consider him to be the best option. He's certainly more than sufficient to win the game with. You will always need to pass that WILL test to take him, since you never get a chance to convince him who you are.
Other Functions: None.
3) Bertild the Blacksmith (SKILL 11, STAMINA 21)
Location: Smithy
As you can see, her stats are just about as good as Marrok's so who needs him.
Ok, so she lacks a few things compared to Marrok. She only has 3 meals, and she doesn't start with a magic weapon. However, her blacksmith's hammer has a 50% chance of doing 3 damage in normal combat, so I'd call that a good trade off. And she's certainly the easiest to convince to help us, we just have to talk to her. Theoretically, if we did not convince her before hand, the WILL test we'd have tot take is still slightly easier (2D6-1). Then again, the only we'd even know her name without convincing her is if we'd been killed by the salt barrier at the smithy's entrance, so chances are we'd be able to possess her without resistance.
Other functions: Mainly just information, and of course, she can tell us the location of the armour.
4) Father Umberto (SKILL 10, STAMINA 19)
Location: Chapel
Solid stats, and about as tough to possess as Marrok, so that sets him a notch below. He's still a solid option in terms of fighting stats. He only has 2 meals, but he also has an additional advantage: he can cast unlimited Banish Spirit spells without the homunculus' help. Also, like Bertild, he has a weapon that does 3 damage half the time.
Also much like Marrok, we never get a chance to convince him to help us: he has the same kind of trigger-happy attitude towards undead. If he'd seen us in the chapel, he'd have Banished us straight to the gates of Hell (counts as one death)
I think when Madame Zelda (the fortune teller) warned us about people who believe only in Good, she's probably referring to either Marrok or Umberto. Van Richten is another possibility.
Other Function: None, although technically you need to meet him if you want the Rest In Peace codeword.
5) Inglenook the Cook (SKILL 9, STAMINA 22)
Location: Kitchen
We've tried using him too, so we know what he has. He's a surprisingly decent option, a little lacking in SKILL, but he has more food than anyone else besides Marrok.
Other Functions: None, he will raise the alarm if we revealed ourselves to him.
6) Yorrick the Gravedigger (SKILL 9, STAMINA 17)
Location: Graveyard (of course)
We skipped the graveyard, but there were actually a few things to be gained here. Firstly we could have picked up the clue about "Man's natural lifespan:" on one of the gravestone. Then of course we get to talk to this guy. He's one of the few people in the castle who doesn't scream or attack at the sight of us. Apparently, due to his job he's used to seeing ghosts, and will be quite happy to talk to us. He will not willingly allow us to possess him, but he seems to be less resistant than average: we can take him with a 2D6-2 test on WILL.
Other functions: As mentioned, he's one of the sources of information. Nothing actually vital, but a few potentially useful stuff, such as letting us know that our Dad is haunting the Blasted Tower and has something to tell us, or about the secret tunnels to the catacombs under the chapel.
He starts with 3 meals, and he unfortunately has a crappy weapon, a spade that only does half damage 1/3 of the time.
7) Random Castle Guard (SKILL 8, STAMINA 18)
Surprisingly not the worst possible option, although one has to question why men who are employed to guard will be weaker than the fat cook. He starts with 3 meals and a normal sword, nothing remarkable. They're easier to possess than the priest and the crusader, requiring only a normal WILL test.
8) Blondel the Bard (SKILL 8, STAMINA 15)
Location: Feast Hall
Another possibility we've tried. Hos one standout feature is that he has a magic lyre. As far as I'm aware, the two-headed Fluffy is the only thing the lyre works on.
Other functions: None, if we revealed ourselves to him, he'll panic and try to use his magic lyre to banish us (we can resist via WILL test). Unfortunately we don't know how to do that even when we take over his body.
9) Falstaff the Porter (SKILL 7, STAMINA 16)
Location: Barbican
Yeah, this guy is pretty feeble physically. On top of that, he doesn't carry normal food....he uses cider as food, so every time we drink to recover STAMINA, we have to reduce our Attack Strength by a further 1 the following battle. He's easy to possess, because he's too drunk to resist us. However, the only reason we'd want to use is either 1) we missed all the best options and have REALLY crappy WILL score that we can't even pass the test to take a random castle guard; or 2) we don't have any particularly great host, so we grab him first to use as easy fodder to weaken the Golem before we take someone else!
Other functions: He's important in that he's one of your only 2 chances (and the only reliable one) to learn Spook in this book, and the other way is completely random (taught by the ghost of the wizard in the catacombs...more on that in later posts).
10) Toadstone the Castle Fool (SKILL 6, STAMINA 14)
Location: Barbican Dungeons
We missed this guy when we chose not to investigate downstairs in the Barbican. This guy was apparently driven mad by what had happened in Valsinore during our absence, so he doesn't resist us at all when we try to possess him. However, he has crappy stats, no food, and only a normal weapon (stiletto dagger), so much like Falstaff there's absolutely no reason to pick him unless you have no other choice or are looking to use him as pure fodder.
Other Function: His main function in the game is to give you the other half of the clues required to get the Automated Armour: amidst bad jokes crazy babbles when you try to talk to him, he will mention that he knows that a certain number code needs to be
reversed. So basically, you need the clues from both Cador and this guy to get the armour!
*This is taking longer than I first thought, so I'll be stopping a while and be back later. Might take me the next couple of days to cover the stuff we missed. Sorry for the wait!