Medusa
@ Medusa 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 25 |
| Attacks | |
| Base level | 20 |
| Base experience | 634 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 2 |
| Base MR | 50 |
| Alignment | -15 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Large |
| Resistances | Poison, Stoning |
| Resistances conveyed |
Poison (100%) (but see warning about being turned to stone) |
|
Medusa:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line2286 |
Medusa is a dangerous unique monster in NetHack, with her own level in the Dungeons of Doom that appears between the level containing the magic portal to the Quest and the Castle. Beware—as in Greek mythology, her gaze can turn people to stone. Additionally, eating the corpse of Medusa is a similarly bad idea that will also turn you to stone.[1]
Contents
Bones
Medusa will never appear in a bones file.[2] However, her statue can; this is bug C342-54. As this will not prevent generation of an ordinary Medusa in the game loading the bones until the statue is unstoned, this can be used to have two or more Medusas in a single game.
Any corpses of unique monsters can be left in bones files, allowing you to use undead turning to get multiple Medusas.
Strategy
- See also: Medusa's Island
The most difficult part of reaching Medusa is crossing the sea monster-infested waters. Levitation or water walking boots are the most common ways to cross the water. Using a wand of cold, a frost horn or the cone of cold spell to freeze a path across the water is another option, as is filling the water with boulders, or some means of jumping.
If you are trying to reach the island with boulders, you can push them to the stairs of the previous level and throw items to make them roll down. Alternatively, you can read (preferably uncursed) scrolls of earth if not enough boulders are available. 8 boulders are needed for the first version and 16 for the second; this can be reduced to 7 and 14 respectively if you are willing to jump into water and crawl out.
An amulet of magical breathing may also be used to traverse the level underwater, attendant effects.
If crossing the water is not an option, you may also opt to dig a hole to the next level and then come back up by using the staircase. The stairs to the next level are in the same room as Medusa, so make sure that you are ready for her before going up the stairs!
Combat
The quickest way to deal with Medusa is to have reflection; she will look at you, have her gaze reflected, and turn to stone; this is an obvious allusion to the Greek myth, where Perseus instead looked in his mirrored shield to defeat her. This can also be achieved by applying a mirror on her. If you are invisible, she will be protected from her own (reflected) gaze.
Otherwise, you may blind yourself or polymorph into a stoning-resistant creature to protect yourself from her gaze. You can also try to bank on the speed system to kill her in one turn, e.g. with a spell or wand of death; do not rely on the sleep spell to neutralize her gaze. As of NetHack 3.6.0, hallucination will protect against all gaze attacks 75% of the time,[3] but this should not be relied upon.
If you cancel Medusa, you render her gaze ineffective, and get YAFM: "Medusa doesn't look all that ugly."[4]
You lose pacifist conduct if you reflect Medusa's gaze to kill her; pacifists may instead find it useful either to simply blind her and let pets deal with her "peacefully", or blind themselves and give Medusa some powerful attack wands so she can kill herself with her own rebound.
Medusa can escape to the stairs and travel up/down them; if you lost track of her (i.e. entered her level blind and then she disappeared from the telepathy map, but you don't see a corpse), beware of her around her lair and on the levels immediately above and below.
Those without reflection might like to investigate the statue of Perseus after killing Medusa.
History
Medusa first appears in NetHack 2.2a. Her lair first appears in NetHack 3.1.0. Before that version, she appeared in an ordinary room-type level. It seems likely that many an adventurer met an untimely end from not knowing he would soon see Medusa. NetHack 3.0.0 adds a number of statues to her room, but this is an ambiguous clue. The use of telepathy or a potion of monster detection is advisable.
Nethack 3.6.0 added two new possible layouts for Medusa's Island.
Variants
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, hallucination protects you from the stoning gaze.
Encyclopedia entry
Medusa, one of the three Gorgons or Graeae, is the only one
of her sisters to have assumed mortal form and inhabited the
dungeon world.
When Perseus was grown up Polydectes sent him to attempt the
conquest of Medusa, a terrible monster who had laid waste the
country. She was once a beautiful maiden whose hair was her
chief glory, but as she dared to vie in beauty with Minerva,
the goddess deprived her of her charms and changed her
beautiful ringlets into hissing serpents. She became a cruel
monster of so frightful an aspect that no living thing could
behold her without being turned into stone. All around the
cavern where she dwelt might be seen the stony figures of men
and animals which had chanced to catch a glimpse of her and
had been petrified with the sight. Perseus, favoured by
Minerva and Mercury, the former of whom lent him her shield
and the latter his winged shoes, approached Medusa while she
slept and taking care not to look directly at her, but guided
by her image reflected in the bright shield which he bore, he
cut off her head and gave it to Minerva, who fixed it in the
middle of her Aegis.
