Breaking and entering the old camp before chapter 4
Before delivering the last focus stone, you can go to the old camp and murder everyone but Scorpio. Or at least take their weapons. You don't have to, but this will make your life significantly easier later on. Note that some guards near the gates, Stone, Thorus, Gomez (and some others) are immortal. If you can, at least take down any unnamed guards and shadows who aren't immortal.
There are a few possible strategies depending on your abilities. Whichever you pick, you will probably need to leave a few times to replenish your health and stop everyone from attacking you.
- If you joined the old camp, use a melee weapon and beat everyone up without killing them. Take their weapons. Guards who run around like idiots trying to jump-kick you are much less of a threat than arrows!
- Summon skeletons.
- Lure orcs into the old camp.
- Go at night. Enter every hut and kill the inhabitant with a powerful (cross)bow and one or two arrows at point-blank range, real hitman style. Training helps, more dexterity than needed for your bow does not. This is much quicker than dramatically killing them with a melee weapon. Since you're killing them, you don't actually need to take their weapons. (unless you need the money) Jackal has a heavy crossbow, Scar has the [[Crossbow of War.
Breaking and entering the old camp in chapter 4
If you attempt to break into the Old Camp after this quest (chapter 4) has been triggered, for any reason, RESIST. You will be going into the Old Camp and cleaning the place out later. Focus on a single goal only - looting the Magicians of Fires's corpses and looting Gomez's stash, if you hadn't done that before - then teleport out of there. The only means available to you are Transform into Meatbug scrolls to get past the gates and simply dashing past Thorus into the castle (Potions of Sprint will help). Another avenue will open for you later as part of the main quest.
Banishment
When you head to the Old Camp to deliver the rune and the message to the Mages of the Circle of Fire you'll see a strange sight: both gates are shut and heavily guarded. If you approach they'll say you can't come in, and, if you were a member of the Old Camp (regardless of whether you were a Guard or a Magician of Fire) they denounce you as a traitor and chase after you.
It isn't too difficult to outrun them. Go around to the rear gate until you see Diego. He explains the situation: the Old Mine collapsed when water got in. Gomez, desperate to maintain the constant supply of ore to the outside world that is crucial to his easygoing life, decided to launch an attack on the Free Mine and seized it, killing everyone there. When the Magicians of Fire opposed this plan they were executed.
Diego wants you to track down three others to have what he calls "the meeting", which takes place in an undisclosed location. This quest is optional, so it doesn't matter if you can't find all three.
All you can do is head back to the Magicians of Water and tell them the bad news. They'll let you join their camp (if you were a Guard, join the Mercenaries. If you were a Magician of Fire, join the Magicians of Water). With no other choice available, Saturas will send you to find Xardas the Necromancer.