At certain stages in the game several characters (not just Valeria) offer blue key quests. In the first instances they are part of the main quest. With the Destiny Keys (blue keys) you can craft the Keys of Fate. With them you can open the Ghostly Chest in the Dark Tower. If you get more keys you can open the chest again without being send to it as the chest is the only way to get the four exclusive pets.

At later stages these side quests appear again for a short time. Some players like to do them for gifting keys or for getting ZZ items (especially during castle challenges or for Trina's quests). Others ignore them once they have all the pets.

what are the exclusive pets, in the ghostly chest?

Go here and start with Msg 158 to read all the info regarding the Ghostly Chest.

http://forums.delphiforums.com/midnightcastle/messages/109/152

Do you have any suggestions as to any of the avatars that seem to have better odds while playing dice?  I've been using Zena the Zombie avatar and lately I hardly ever win at dice.  The 3 tries usually take 4-5, because I end up with Deuce once or twice almost every time I play now, and I quite regularly end up losing all three times.  Maybe you're right about the avatar not doing well...  I definitely used to have much better odds when I played.

I’ve only had good results with 2 avatars - the Dryad has brought me more wins than all the others combined, & the Spring Fairy does fairly well against Anabel. 

Good luck! 

I am not sure, it seems to work differently for players and at times and depending on your opponent.

Annabel seems to be more generous to the Knight and vice versa. The dragon is more susceptible to a female character, against the chamberlain the wizard of lightning did very well for me, I think the black pirate was rather good against Salty.

During an event the new characters tend to do better. Last Halloween I used the Demoness, for over two weeks I won at least 2 out of three. Stopped working one day after the event.

When an avatar fails me twice in a row he or she is replaced.

During a castle challenge I test avatars in advance, so that I have a good one on start.

While some people subscribe to using a particular avatar for better luck (and I admit to the same practice on occasion), in reality...the avatar makes no difference.

You will end up winning at dice about 43% of the time regardless of what avatar is used. 

My theory is this ...

In any game where the chances are random, I believe the outcome has already been set BEFORE you do the first thing. And this doesn't just pertain to MC.

I tend to agree. The moderators confirmed on the BF forum site that when you open an HOS, the item received is selected at that time. It matters not how fast you complete the room.