RULE4

Also see Help KEYS

4. Keys:
4a.
  Do not hold onto, sacrifice, or otherwise dispose of keys in order to
  DENY other players entrance to a zone. The ONLY reason to get keys is
  to run the zone in the immediate future. If you have keys that you will NOT
  use, use UNKEY Do NOT drop it, do not sac it, do not discard of it any other
  way. You can give the key to another player in the zone if they ask for
  it, but that is the only exception. Use UNKEY anytime that you are not going
  to use a key you are carrying. (Also see HELP KEYS Bending these rules will
  be dealt with accordingly. Keep in mind, THE ONLY REASON TO GET A KEY IS TO
  USE THAT KEY IN THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE. Keys are a very touchy subject, and
  difficult to deal with. Abuse of keys will not be tolerated.

  Banking zones is part of life on Medievia but is restricted as follows:
  If you have the only copy of a key in the game, you have to either
  run the zone or give it up. You can't just unlock, wait for people to
  go in, and bank. If you have one of several copies of a key (for example,
  you have a grappling hook for condemned arena, and another player also
  has one) they can't force you to give it up so they can run "safely."
  This rule mainly has to do with keys that can be used more than once
  (once to unlock, and again to lock). Single-use keys you can either give
  up or unlock, whichever.

  A note from Ozy:
  The intent of this rule is to prevent people from doing lame things to
  make zones unrunable, like sitting in link with keys, sitting around
  the zone doing nothing for hours with keys, etc. As long as people are
  actively doing stuff in the zone, the keys are theirs to do with what
  they will. Doing stuff means killing mobs, pking, and other such. As
  usual, people will use this statement to try to justify more lame things,
  like killing little mobs repeatedly then claiming that they're "doing
  something".-As usual, they'll end up getting zonebanned, frozen, or dealt
  with as we deem appropriate.

  This rule is not intended so that lame people can sit in a door room and
  force the legal key collector to unlock it so they can rush past and steal
  whatever is inside. Noone will be forced to use a key if there are people
  waiting to bank them in that room. They must be at least one room away from
  the entry before the key holder will be forced to unlock.

  A note from Damonius on keys (05/05/09):
  Many people pray for gods to please start a timer on another player who
  is holding keys. Please be aware that there is not and has never been a
  key timer. There is not a magic 10-minute rule that we enforce. Please
  read the above note by Ozy (written years before this note) carefully
  and note how it says that as long as a player is actively running the
  zone, they have the right to the keys, even if running that part of the
  zone takes longer than 10 minutes, as is often the case.

  If you notice someone sitting around at the entrance to a zone and
  holding a key, refusing to give it up but making no effort to run the
  zone, then that would be against the spirit of this rule and could merit
  god intervention. But please do not claim that there is a 10-minute
  rule; there never has been and there likely never will be.

4b.
  Do not invis a key when dropping it. Dispel any invisible keys if you must
  drop the key (unless the key LOADS by the GAME as invisible). Again, ask a
  god for assistance if you are unsure what to do.

4c.
  Special Key Cases:

  * Den/Thanos

  For all intents and purposes, Den and Thanos are the same zone. You are
  allowed to lock yourself in Den by using the shack key in Thanos to lock the
  door.

*Multi-Day Zone Keys

  All keys from day 2 and after of any multi-day zone (Bloodstone,
  Elysium, Demonforge, Tomb of Oblivion) are exceptions to our key rules.
  This DOES NOT include any keys that are normally accessible to anyone
  who wants to run the zone (such as the iron key in Bloodstone). But keys
  that only load in the zone on day 2 and after are sole property of the
  form running that day.

  This includes Tomb of Oblivion keys from inside the maze and beyond the
  inner crypt doors. This means if someone has an inner crypt key from the
  Dark Dragon that they will not be forced to use or give up the key if they
  are inside the zone.

  This rule also covers the Hunting Ground keys as it is considered day 2 of
  Demonforge.

  Note this means that the person holding the key owns it, not the person who
  used the day key to access it. For those that argue that it should belong to
  the person that used a day key to access it, that would mean that all day 2+
  zones are unbankable as far as their keys, which isn't how the rule is
  intended.

* Bloodstone Keys

  Day 1 keys cannot be held in any manner. This includes, but is not
  limited to, the black and white spellbooks and the Guardian Demon's staff.
  In the case where one person has the white spellbook and another has the
  black one, the person holding the black one has precedence. The person with
  the white spellbook must either use the book or unkey.

  The Guardians Demon's staff cannot be purposefully disposed of. You cannot
  get rid of this staff in any way. This includes purposely dispensing of it
  by using it in the wrong room. Ignorance will not be a tolerable excuse.

  You cannot, in any way, hold the iron or other initial keys from the zone
  without actively running a day of the run. You cannot claim that you will
  open the gate for someone because you hold a possible threat of stealing
  that person's run.

  This brings upon another topic of reimbursements. There will no longer be
  reimbursements for people who just go afk and do not make an effort to use
  a non-rentable or similar key from a Day of the run. There will no longer be
  Day 1 reimburses in any way, fashion, or form. The non-rentable keys from
  Day 2 and after were designed to be used in such a way as to not be a
  possible stopping point of a run. It is not tolerable for someone to just
  hold a key and go afk with it, claiming they will get a reimburse. There are
  risks to run the zone and taking those risks, you will win some and lose
  some. Read help REIMBURSE for some information on reimbursements.

  A note on Zone Resets - Please note that if your run is banked by the zone
  full resetting during your run because you and your form left the zone then
  this will not be reimbursed.

  If you purposely die inside the zone with keys, you will be punished. Yes,
  this is a little difficult to prove, but if it is something that a person has
  done more than once, it shouldn't be happening. Suiciding inside the zone
  with iron and other keys is NOT tolerable and you will be punished if you try
  to break this rule.

  The entire island Bloodstone is on, including those parts of it that are
  technically in the Wilderness, is considered part of the Bloodstone zone
  for all rules where this comes into play. The only way to be credited
  for 'leaving the zone' is to leave the island and leave the shrine.

  * Mellorian Keys

  These keys have a special case ruling that follow the inscription in the
  beginning of the zone. It is your duty as a player to read it. These
  rules can also be found in Help MELLORIANRULES

  * DeRah Villadom

  For the purposes of key rules, zones 169 and 170 (good/day DeRah and
  night/evil DeRah) are treated as the same zone.

  * Tower of Reclasta

  The red, blue, and green parchments are treated just as if they were
  normal keys. You cannot hold them unless you are actively running the
  zone, and you cannot purposefully dispose of them. In case multiple
  people have parchments, whoever has the blue parchment has precedence.
  Whoever has the green and red parchments must give them up immediately
  to the holder of the blue parchment.

See Also: ZONERULES KEYS