Hack Tutorial, Part 03/03
Pete Granger
Since the complete tutorial is about 92k, apparently some sites won't
let it through. Here is the third part. Strip out this description and
the signature from all parts, and concatenate them together (preferably
in the correct order).
------------- Remove this line and all above -----------------------------
In fact, the hardest thing about ghost levels is that usually whatever
killed the old character is powerful enough to kill the new character as
well. There can be multiple ghost on one level. I recall one level
which had three cockatrices and five ghosts.
Fortunately, ghost levels are eventually cleared by the program after
a certain period of time, so the user does not have to worry to much about
them in general.
WISHING FOR OBJECTS:
Near the end of the game, the user will find wands of wishing. When
these are zapped, the user is asked to wish for an item. One of the most
frustrating things in hack is when a beginning player can not figure out
what the exact name of the item he wants to wish for is. Here is how wishing
is accomplished.
In the previous item list, the name of the object is the name the user
gives hack to wish for that item, not including the number wished for, and
the plus of the item (when wishing for weapons or armor). The general
format is:
<# wished for><plus of item><name of item>
The user can NEVER wish for more than 3 of any item, or for an item with
magical plus greater than +3.
Example: To wish for 3 potions of gain level, the user would type
"3 potions of gain level"
To wish for a +3 elven cloak,
"+3 elven cloak"
[Note that if the program can't understand what you want, it will make
a random selection. -PG]
THE CHARACTERS OF HACK:
ARCHAEOLOGIST: (or Spelunker)
This character has a passion for the exploration of the unknown. But
don't let those spectacle deceive you. believe that mild mannered exterior
lies a character as tough as the Sahara. The Archaeologist begins with a
pick axe, and a large box for storing his lunch.
Favorite dog names : Caesar, Rama Tut, Troy
Special abilities : Speed
Special items : pick axe, large box
TOURIST:
Always cheerful, the tourist has always wanted to see the sights
in the Dungeon of Doom. Although the weakest of the characters, he is ready
ready to have a ball. He has his picnic lunch, his wallet, his ever ready
camera and his custom made darts (just in case there's a pub down there.)
The camera also has the Fisso-Blast Nuclear Flash Bulb, making night into
solar flare and blinding any creature to stupid enough to let its picture
be taken. Let's hope you remembered the leash.
The tourist: He may not be strong, but he sure isn't hungry.
Favorite dog names : Spot, Rover, Fluffy
Special abilities : None
Special items : expensive camera, leash
FIGHTER: [Changed to BARBARIAN with NetHack 2.2 -PG]
You heard that the Dungeon was a real challenge, but you heard that
kind of talk before. Before you whip out your sword that is. It's not that
accurate, but if it hits, you can kiss that baby goodbye. Rough and tough,
with a sword the size of the Sears building, this character is a foe to be
reckoned with.
Favorite dog names : Spartan, Killer, Fluffy (don't laugh)
Special abilities : None
Special items : None
KNIGHT:
Some people have called you a coward and a wimp because you wear so
much armor, and you're not very strong. But then again, they're dead and
you're not. After all, as long as you've got the armor available, why not
use all at once. Plus you know a few tricks when it comes to turning undead.
When it comes right down to it, a fellow can't be too careful.
Favorite dog names : Arthur, Lancelot, Sir Robin
Special abilities : Turn undead
Special items : None
CAVE-MAN:
FOOD! It is the way of life. Food is good. Raw. The big cave has much
food. Has funny trinket too. You kill food with bow and club. You kill food
with bare hands. You kill food with mean glance. Smash anything in your way.
You may be hungry, but you sure are strong.
Favorite dog names : DOG, WOOF, FOOD
Special abilities : None
Special items : None
SAMURAI:
Your honor is at stake. You must recover the sacred amulet, or die
trying. The ancient fighting skills of all your warlord ancestors are yours
to command, as is your mighty katana. You are quicker than your foes, and
strong, and will defeat the evil creatures in your path.
Favorite dog names : Sun-Tzu, Rising Sun, Tsunami
Special abilities : Speed
Special items : None
NINJA:
None can hear you come, and none can warn your passing. Silent as the
night and deadly as a cobra, you stalk your prize in the fabled dungeon. Your
katana can dispatch the weak, and your stealth will allow you to pass the
strong. Quicker than your foes, the prize is as good as yours. The ninja
never fails.
Favorite dog names : Swift-wind, Night blade, Sushi
Special abilities : Speed, Stealth
Special items : None [Blindfold, as of NetHack 2.2 -PG]
PRIEST:
You are on a holy quest to recover the sacred relic from the hands
of the evil in the Dungeon. With the power of God, you will turn the undead
monstrosities, and venture into the bowels of the earth. You know a little
magic as well. If only you had remembered the holy hand grenade.
Favorite dog names : Jonah, Samson, Gabriel
Special Abilities : Turn undead
Special items : None
VALKYRIE:
Fabled warrior of Norse legend, you enter the halls to do battle with
the creatures of the dungeon. You wield your mighty spear, and use your
quickness and fighting skills to defeat your terrible foes. You are tough,
and are used to the frigid winters of Frygia. Glory in the battle to come!
Favorite dog names : Thor, Odin's Blood, Balder
Special Abilities : Cold resistance
Special items : None
ELF:
How silly to take something like the Dungeon so seriously. After all,
how can any of those nasty creatures catch you, let alone escape your bow?
Besides, you're pretty sneaky, and have really good eyesight.You may as well
get the amulet, and then think of something else that would be fun to do.
Favorite dog names : Happy, Hee-Hee, Keebler
Special Abilities : Stealth, Speed
Special Items : None
HEALER:
As a doctor, you live to heal those in need. You also wouldn't mind
making a lot of money. Stethoscope in hand, you venture bravely into the
darkness of the dungeon. You were vaccinated, just in case, and have your
poison antidotes ready. You may be a healer, but you wouldn't mind kicking
some butt down here.
Favorite dog names : Casey, Kildare, Quincy
Special Abilities : Poison resistance
Special Items : Stethoscope
WIZARD:
The mighty one, who wields the forces few can guess at. With your
powerful magical items, magical spells and good teleportational potential,
the denizens of this dungeon will bow before you power. Either the weakest
or most powerful of characters, the wizard is in a class by himself.
Favorite dog names : Gandalf, Merlin, Skeeve
Special Abilities : Better with spells, teleport and magic whistles
Special Items : None [Possibly Magic Marker and Blindfold, as of
NetHack 2.2 -PG]
POLYMORPHING YOURSELF AND YOUR ITEMS (and other masochistic pastimes):
NOTE: The following only applies to nethack, and certain updated versions
of hack.
The user should be aware that he is able in some versions to cast
polymorph on himself and on objects, as well as on monsters.
To polymorph yourself (and, in fact, to cast any spell on yourself), you
type "." for the spell's direction. Polymorphing yourself results in the
character becoming some type of monster. The character's hit points will be
reduced to conform with the monster type, and the character will gain all
abilities of the monster he is.
Be forewarned, however, that any armor you are wearing when you polymorph
may be destroyed, and that non-humanoid monsters can not wear armor or wield
weapons, in addition to there more limited hit points. Polymorphing is not
for everyone.
To polymorph an object, simply drop the object, and polymorph in the
direction of the object, as if it were a monster. Objects are polymorphed
into random objects of the same type. For instance, a food ration can be
polymorphed into a carrot, a tripe ration, or any other comestible. The
only exception is that rocks are polymorphed into gems.
The uses for this become quite clear after some thought on the readers part.
For instance, useless items can be transformed into more powerful ones. In
particular, polymorphing wands has its own special side effects.
THE LEVELS BEYOND 26 (not for hack v1.0)
Once the user has reached level 26, he should be prepared to win the game.
However, finding the amulet is by no means easy, if you don't know where to
look. Rather than tell the user how to find the amulet and wands of wishing,
we will only give the following advice.
Through the halls
the dungeon calls
for the hero to check the walls.
For not in sight
is the wand of might,
but instead in a spot quite tight.
Blast asunder
to receive the plunder
by pushing once, and looking under.
The last you seek
in a place quite bleak
and of brimstone it does reek.
Your quest now nigh
Beware, or fry,
If from fire you can die.
Give not a care
to lack of stair
but go directly to His lair.
To His home
you must now roam,
though surrounded by brine and foam.
A protective coat
is his moat
above this trap you must float.
And then you run
up towards the sun
and claim victory with a prize well won.
STRATEGIES OF HACK:
The following is is a discussion of the various strategies used by
hack players, and some helpful advice from Erik Lauer, our resident hack
expert.
OVERALL STRATEGIES
The blitz strategy:
This strategy is to blitz down as far as possible, taking only enough
time to find the items on the level and collect them. This particular
strategy is usually used by more inexperienced players who want to see how
far they can get in a certain amount of time. In fact, it is surprisingly
easy to go down levels, at least to the 26th level, even with a character
who is not very powerful. It is equally easy, however, to go to a level
with creatures far beyond your ability to reckon with, so care must be
taken to ensure this does not happen.
The "snail's pace" strategy:
Here the player will only go down when he is running low on food. This
allows the player to develop as much as possible before encountering the
harder creatures on the next level. This strategy has a few intrinsic problems.
One is that it is extremely easy to run too low on food if the player is not
careful. Another is that this takes a very long time, and so is only for the
truly patient. Finally, there is a point of diminishing returns, sometime
around when the cockatrices first appear, that it is no longer profitable to
fudge around on the upper levels.
The best overall strategy is somewhere in between the two, and is based
primarily on what you find available.
Although overall strategy is important, the most important thing in hack
is based on a simple idea:
Hack is a game for opportunists.
That is, as hack has grown, and more options become available to the
player, every little detail presents a potential tool for the observant
player. This has become increasingly true as hack expanded into nethack.
Try to find a use for everything you find. I read an article once in
which the writer denounced the destroy armor scroll as totally worthless.
He had never thought that he could use it to destroy cursed armor also,
and so made his game that much harder.
If you can do this, then you can win the game.
SPECIFIC HINTS ON VARIOUS PARTS OF HACK:
Stores:
This section presents probably the most useful thing in hack : the
store. The secret to stores does not lie in the buying of items, however.
The real secret lies in robbing them blind.
There are probably as many ways to steal from shops as there are
shopkeepers. The most common is to acquire teleportation, on a scroll, wand,
or intrinsically, pick up everything you can in the shop, and teleport out.
Another method is to polymorph the shopkeeper. He may become more powerful,
but it is not very likely. You can then walk past him. Another possibility
is to kill the shopkeeper. This is recommended only if you are powerful
(shopkeepers are not wimps), and either desperate or just plain sadistic.
Finally, you can steal individual items by having your dog go into the shop
and bring them out. [Reward your dog after he brings you the first item,
and he will continue bringing you items. Note that any item on the space
directly in front of the door is a freebie. -PG]
Teleportation is the best method by far. Since it is very to find a
leprechaun on the first and second levels, it is highly recommended that
you eat one, and thereby gain intrinsic teleportation. The same in fact goes
for finding floating eyes to gain telepathy. [Having intrinsic teleportation
isn't always a good thing, unless you can control it -PG]
Kops:
The Keystone Kops were an addition to nethack, originally intended to
hinder people who rob shops. When a shop is robbed, a number of "K"'s appear.
The Kops attack by throwing cream pies at you, and regenerate when they are
killed.
However, the Kops in fact represent yet another aspect of hack which
the observant player can make excellent use of. The Kops are very easy to
kill, and do very little damage. Although you can be blinded by a cream pie,
since it is very easy to acquire telepathy, this is definitely not a
hindrance. Most importantly, since every Kop carries a large number of
cream pies, they also create an abundance of readily available food. Finally,
since Kops sometimes carry magic items, killing them gives the user hoards
of treasure. Regeneration is, therefore, just a bonus, because it means
your supplies of food, treasure and experience points will not run out.
There is only one way the Kops can hurt a player who is even moderately
powerful, but it should not be taken lightly. If the Kops throw a cream pie
at you, but miss and hit the shopkeeper, the shopkeeper will get mad and
attack you. This means that you must trap the shopkeeper if you do not
want him getting in the way. The best way is to trap yourself and the
shopkeeper with a boulder in the shop. Then, when you teleport out, the
shopkeeper is alive, but trapped.
Food:
Once you have mastered combat, you will find that food becomes the
main problem. If you do not continually eat food, you will eventually begin
to faint and starve. Fainting is often enough to kill a character by itself.
The key is to hunt down food constantly. Hunt, kill and eat all the
edible creatures you can find. ALWAYS search for monsters which can give
you special abilities. In particular, before continuing below the second
level you should find and eat, if possible, a leprechaun and a floating
eye. [See my earlier comment on eating leprechauns. -PG]
However, do not eat so much that you could not eat any more. The
reason is that if you are on the verge of choking, and kill, for example,
a wraith, you would not be able to eat the cadaver for a long time, and so
it might spoil before you get the chance.
Unidentified items:
Yet another key point is to find out as quickly as possible which
items have which powers. This does not mean, however, that you should
try every item out the instant you get it.
We will deal with the different items separately.
Potions :
You should almost never test out potions until you are at least seventh
level, at full hit points and are on a cleared level. If you are not
seventh level, you run the risk of wasting a potion of gain level. If you
are not at full hit points, then should you quaff a healing potion, it will
not affect your maximum hit points. If there are creatures nearby, you run
the risk of being paralyzed or confused, and unable to defend yourself.
Lastly, always test your duplicate potions first.
Scrolls :
You should only test out scrolls when you are wearing a spare set of
armor and are wielding a spare weapon. This allows you to not risk your good
equipment on determining which scrolls are the destroy armor and damage
weapon scrolls. Of course, once one of these have been found, you no longer
have to take precautions against it. You also should wait until you have
something to identify, in case it is an identify scroll. You won't have to
wait long. And, as with potions, check the duplicate scrolls first.
Rings :
Rings should be identified first, since they are the hardest thing
to identify, aside from gems. Trying on unidentified rings is not encouraged,
as one cursed ring can ruin the game. If you have a scroll of remove curse,
it is safe to try on the ring. You can check it out if there is a Nymph on
the level. That is dealt with later. [If you have several unidentified
rings, (or armor or weapons) try them all until you have on as many
cursed items as possible. This will allow you to de-curse as many as
possible with one scroll. -PG]
Wands :
ALWAYS test out wands as soon as there is a weak monster in your area
to zap them at. Since wand might shoot out a ray or a bolt, which bounce,
it is vitally important to shoot the wand diagnolly in such a way that
should the bolt bounce, it will not hit the character. [The bolt is of a
finite length, so in a large room it may be safely zapped in a straight
line. -PG]
Usually, the wand's function is now apparent. For wands, however, this
may not be sufficient to identify the wand. After zapping such a wand, and
observing the target, call the wand something such as "tested1". This shows
you that, although its purpose is not known, the wand has been used.
Spellbooks :
Do not read spellbooks until you are at least eighth level and have
identified a scroll of amnesia. This is because transcribing spells is hard
for characters less than eighth level, and the amnesia scroll remove all the
spells you know. In either case, the user loses valuable spellbooks. [If
you know any spells, but don't know which scroll is amnesia, don't read
any scroll without identifying it. Also, just because you can learn a
spell, doesn't mean you can cast it. Since spellbooks have a limited
number of castings, be careful not to waste them. -PG]
Vaults:
Eventually, the player will encounter what is known as a treasure
vault. The vault is a 2x2 room, with four "$" spaces, and no doors. There
is always a secret door somewhere on a vault level which leads to a space
which teleports the user to the vault. There is always an engraving which
says "ad ?ae??um." If you find this engraving, search for the secret door
next to it.
To get out of a vault with all the money, you have to either teleport
or use a wand of digging. If you have neither, eventually a guard will
enter the vault. He is harmless, but will lead you out of the vault if you
are carrying NO money. Should you discover the answer to his question, he
will leave by yourself in the vault. (In other words, knowing the answer
does not help). [My luckiest move was zapping a guard with a wand of
polymorph. He turned into a Quantum Mechanic, hit me, and teleported me
out! -PG]
Nymphs:
Although Nymphs can be annoying, they can do one extremely useful
thing: they can steal cursed items. Therefore, if a Nymph is found, you
can use her to remove your cursed items. The way this is done is demonstrated
in the following example of how to check unidentified rings with a Nymph on
the level.
1) Clear out the level the Nymph is on.
2) Go down to the next level, and clear it.
3) Try putting on your unidentified rings. If a ring is not cursed,
name it something such as "uncursed1" to mark that this
type of ring is not cursed.
4) Upon finding a cursed ring, remove ALL of your equipment, and drop
it on that space. Then go up the stairs, find the Nymph, and
let her steal an item. The item she steals then has to be
the cursed item. Go back down, equip yourself, and continue.
Not using the dog:
Although the dog seems to be a useful ally, in fact he presents a good
player with a handicap. This is for a number of reasons.
1) Anything the dog kills, the character does not get experience for.
This means that it takes longer to go up levels while using the dog.
2) The dog will eat edible monsters and other Comestibles that the
character needs. Hence, there is less food for the character.
3) Perhaps the worst thing about the dog is that the user can NOT enter
the dog's space. This means that the dog can actually trap the user
in a corridor, and prevent the user's escape from a powerful monster.
For these reasons, unless you have the uncontrollable urge to experiment with
the dog, it is best to leave the dog behind on the first level. [Don't
do it. If I remember my hack folklore correctly, you take the same
penalty for abandoning a dog as for killing him. -PG]
Carry extra items, but don't carry gold:
The user should always carry as many items as he possibly can through
the dungeon. This is because even worthless items can be polymorphed or sold
in the shops for gold. On the other hand, you should NEVER carry gold. The
gold weighs a non-negligible amount, and is not used unless the person is
buying an item in a shop. Since buying items is very rare, it is best to
pile all the gold from a level next to the stairs going up. That way, on the
way back up, the winning player can collect all the money he left behind.
One useful technique of bringing more items than you can carry along
is to shuffle them down. Carry your items in two (or more) piles. Leave one
pile by the stairs, while carrying the other items. When you find the stairs
going down, drop the surplus items, go get the other pile, and bring it down
to the next level. Drop that pile, go back up, and get the other items.
Fighting floating eyes:
Many beginning players fight floating eyes by killing them in hand
to hand combat. This is not a very good method, since it lets the eye get a
chance to paralyze you. Instead, it is far preferable to attack floating eyes
by throwing weapons at them. If you have your dog, you can always let the dog
kill it, and then step in to eat the eye before the dog gets a chance.
Killing Leprechauns:
The leprechaun is yet another reason not to carry any gold at all. If
you are hit by a leprechaun while you have gold, not only do you lose the
gold (temporarily), but the trickster also teleports away, and so you have
to hunt him down. If you do not have any gold, however, he is a very weak
monster worth gold and experience. Before you fight one, drop your gold in a
place he can not get to, and then kill him. Also be careful about letting
the leprechaun run away, since he is faster than you are.
Dealing with Shapechangers:
Once you begin to encounter shapechangers, you should already be able
to deal with all the other creatures. The shape-changers, however, are the
most potentially dangerous creatures in the game, because
1) They can not be genocided, and can turn into previously genocided
creatures.
2) They can kill the user instantly in more than one way.
Do not believe that the only way a shapechanger can kill you is by
turning into a cockatrice and stoning you. They also have the unique ability
to swallow you, as a purple worm for instance, and then kill you by changing
into a different creature. There is no defense against this attack other than
to wear a ring of protection against shape changers. DO NOT take them lightly.
[I've never encountered either a shapechanger or a ring to protect against
them. I wouldn't worry all that much. -PG]
REAL SPOILERS:
The following are spoilers which go beyond (in my opinion) helpful hints.
Some of these spoilers (in fact most of them) can be figured out in the
course of play, but they also dramatically change how the game works.
Read this only if you are truly stuck.
ELBERETH:
Any version which has engraving has the secret word Elbereth in it.
If the user etches the word "Elbereth" on the ground, and does not smudge
the word by moving (you may type "."), monster will flee in terror upon
moving adjacent to the user, so long as the user stands on that space. It
works much like a scare monster scroll, except that the user can not attack
off of it and preserve its abilities.
Using Elbereth allows a competent player to win at will, but it is
basically cheating. It is possible to guess about the word Elbereth, however.
Use it only when no one is watching. [Elbereth has been weakened as of
release 2.2 of NetHack. I'm not sure exactly how. But it is definitely
cheating. My one win was accomplished without using it. -PG]
EXCALIBUR:
In nethack, there is a fairly good chance that any long sword named
"Excalibur" will become +5 after being dipped in a fountain. This gives a
very powerful weapon to anyone who can get a long sword; in particular a
knight. [This has been eliminated in NetHack 2.2. There is still a way
to get it, but I don't know what it is. -PG]
CROESUS:
Croesus is the name that the vault guard is expecting. This does not
help you win the game, but is listed for the curious.
The rubber chicken attack:
If the user is wearing gloves, he may pick up and wield a dead
cockatrice. Any creature struck by the bird is automatically turned to
stone. Unfortunately, the cockatrice disintigrates after a period of time,
but in the mean time it can wreak vast devastation. Be careful! Should
you fall down while carrying a dead cockatrice, it may accidentally
touch you!
Polymorphing wands:
One really big spoiler is that should you collect a large number of
wands (from a wand shop, for example), and put them in a pile, you may
polymorph the wands, and try to get wands of wishing. With enough wands and
charges in your polymorph wand, you can eventually get at least one wand of
wishing. By wishing for more polymorph wands, you can continue the process,
acquiring a truly disgusting number of wishes. The best part is that the
charges are the charges the old wand had, so that one wand may have up
to 15 wishes!! Clearly this presents a simple, yet powerful (and cheap)
method of winning. [This is also the only use I have found for the
fabled "wand of nothing." They have a lot of charges. -PG]
[Polymorphing your dog:
If you want a real powerful pet, you can polymorph your dog, and he
will remain loyal to you. However, if you have a large dog, he's
probably just as good without being polymorphed. One warning, though. If
your dog turns into a dragon, he may still kill you with his breath
weapon, if you get in his way. -PG]
Praying for food:
One fairly common effect of praying is that the character is surrounded
by a strong aura. This aura not only heals damage and restores strength, but
it also raises the user's maximum hp. by 5 AND restores the user's hunger to
its initial value of 900 turns. This means that, by praying every 300+ turns,
even if this result only occurs once out of every four tries, the amount
of food that needs to be eaten is better than halved. Use the time option
to keep track of when it is time to pray.
Canceling wands of wishing:
It is an interesting fact that a wand with zero charges CAN be zapped
after a long number of tries, after which it can no longer be zapped, and
has -1 charges. This works for wands of wishing as well. But, a wand of
cancellation used on another wand makes the wand have 0 charges. Hence, by
zapping a wand of wishing with a wand of cancellation after the wand is at
-1 charges gives the user another wish. The user can continue this process
indefinitely, but it takes a VERY long time. This is really an alternative
to the polymorphing technique mentioned previously, but can be used by
earlier versions of hack. [Another "feature" written out of NetHack 2.2.
When a wand reaches -1 charges, it disintegrates. -PG]
Iron Balls:
The punishment scroll gives you an extremely powerful weapon: the
Iron Ball. Although the cockatrice is more powerful, it has the disadvantages
of disintegrating and of destroying all edible monster. The iron ball,
although very heavy, can kill many monsters in one swing, and almost every
monster in two. Try wielding it some time. [The authors neglect to
mention that you have to get the thing off your ankle. I believe this
can be done via remove curse, or by praying. I know it can be done by
polymorphing yourself into a Nymph and using the #remove command. -PG]
Nurses and the spell of extra-healing:
Both of these allow the user to gain an enormous number of hp. The
spell grants the user hit points each time it is cast, so the user can
with this spell increase his maximum hit points as many times as he has the
mana to do it. [No longer true, since the spell has a finite number of
uses. -PG]
Nurses will cast extra healing on any character they "attack" which
is not wearing any armor. This means that by letting a nurse attack you for
a long period of time, you can gain literally hundreds of hit points.
Finding the wands of wishing on the 26th level and below:
Each level below the 25th has a wand of wishing on it. The wands are
located beneath a large boulder ("`") which is adjacent to 3 walls. To get
one of the wands, use a wand of digging to create a hole next to the boulder
and push the boulder away. Using a wand of striking will work also. [You
can also remove most of your goodies, and move toward the rock again.
This will let you crawl under it to get the wand. -PG]
[The Medusa:
A new creature, the medusa, has been added as of NetHack 2.2. She is
a unique monster, shown by the symbol "8". She guards the lower levels,
and can be tough to defeat, since looking at her will instantly turn you
to stone. Two items have been added to help you: the mirror, and the
blindfold. Using these is the most popular method of destroying the medusa,
but there are others. -PG]
Going below the 26th level:
To go below the 26th level, you must be confused and read a teleport
scroll with a ring of teleport control on. This allows you to teleport to a
lower level. The dungeon goes down to the 40th level, and none of the levels
beyond the 26th have stairs going down. [40 is no longer the lowest
level, and the Wizard isn't always there. -PG]
Surviving the 40th level.
You MUST have fire resistance to enter the 40th level and live. The
amulet is guarded by a powerful wizard and his hell hound. They are located
in the center of the level, surrounded by a moat, and an inner wall.
It looks like this:
~~~~~~
~----~
~|..|~
~----~
~~~~~~
The wizard is located in the center. You can levitate over the water, or you
can destroy a space of water with a wand of fire. Once over the water, use
a wand of digging to blast open the wall, fight the wizard and retrieve the
amulet. Now leave the dungeon, and collect as much money as you can.
You also get bonus points for leaving with a pet. These points are directly
related to the pet's experience level.
--
Pete Granger ...!{ulowell,ginosko,decvax,ism780c,ima}!cg-atla!granger
"Love is like pork rinds. At first, it seems disgusting. Then, you try it,
and it seems okay. Then you find out what goes into it, and you realize
that you were right the first time. Except love isn't crunchy." - Me