Ruins of Moria

The Ruins of Moria
Location	Level 16–19 of the Dungeons of Doom
Bones	No
Mappable	Yes
Teleportable	only on levels 3-6
Diggable floor	2nd level only
Diggable walls	No

The Ruins of Moria is a dungeon branch in UnNetHack, modeled after the Mines of Moria from The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien. It has six levels. In contrast to the book, player explores Moria from the bottom up, eventually reaching the West-gate of Moria (also known as Doors of Durin). During the journey, the player will find both masses of orcs, many of them equipped with enchanted gear, and vast riches. Raiding Moria is therefore quite lucrative, especially when done early, but also dangerous for the unprepared and inexperienced. On the other hand Gehennom-ready post-quest character should have little problem here.

Levels

There are six levels in the Ruins of Moria. In the following text they will be numbered from the lowest, bottom level. Every level (except the third) contains one or two cursed scrolls of teleportation named "Word of Recall"; this is Angband reference.

Level 1: Shrine to the Ruins of the Endless Stair

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The stairs into this brach are in a large, enclosed region with iron bars allowing sight of what lies outside. There is a secret door on the lower left side of the walled area, with the burned engraving “Herein lie the lower remnants of the Endless Stair” in front of it. Outside the enclosed starting area are many pools of lava, littered with 30 gems/gem piles. There are 2d8 small pieces of unrefined mithril buried in the enclosed starting area. 50% of random monsters here will be ‘o’, of which 70% will be Deep Orcs.

Level 2: The Bridge of Khazad-dûm

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This level is the place of the final desperate battle of the Fellowship of the Ring. The player appears on the left side of the level, which consists of a narrow bridge flanked by huge lava lakes that leads to the right side. The player will soon notice that in the parallel universe of UnNetHack the Fellowship failed, because in the middle of the bridge you will find remains of a wizard (along with his very burnt quarterstaff and burnt robe) and on the left side in the distance there is the victor: the towering fiery figure of Durin's Bane, a unique balrog; he is equipped with a fireproof, uncursed bullwhip, wand of speed monster, cursed potion of paralysis, and, 33% of the time, a shield of reflection. Throughout the level there are 2d4 dwarf corpses, 2d2 buried ‘’and cursed’’ dwarvish mithril-coats and 2d5 random objects. 60% of random monsters here will be ‘o’, of which 70% will be Deep Orcs.

Level 3: Moria Tribute Level

When you arrive on this level, you will be greeted with message that says: The dungeon here seems less persistent. As the message hints, the level is regenerated every time you enter it. Anything that you leave on the ground here will be irretrievably lost (engraving that has chance of appearing on this level saying "Why, oh why didn't I leave my items in the town?" alludes to this peculiar property). The only time the level will not change is if you leave a unique item in the level. This is because the unique items are required to be indestructible. The level is otherwise normal rooms and corridors level (though it used to employ Moria-style fixed-layout in previous UnNetHack versions). While on the level, flavor message You feel the dungeon suddenly center itself around you! occasionally appears, again referencing Moria, where the player is in the centre of the view and the dungeon scrolls around him. Because of the impermanence of the level, it contains no items whatsoever: even the cursed scrolls of teleport will not appear here. 70% of random monsters here will be ‘o’, of which 70% will be Deep Orcs.

Level 4: The Halls of Moria

This level has four possible fixed layouts (with the exception of randomly placed stairs), most of them in the style of cavernous halls of stone pillars. The place is completely overrun by orcs; there will be 30+1d4 deep orcs, 20+1d4 hill orcs, 10+1d4 orc captains, and 1d3 ‘T’ scattered throughout the level, and they will always be hostile, regardless of alignment and race. If you don’t have reflection by the time you reach here, you should seriously consider heading back, as the orc swarm will have a plenty of attack wands to use on you, with a non-negligible chance of one of them carrying a wand of death. In terms of loot, there are 2d4 blessed and enchanted (up to +5) dwarvish mithril-coats scattered about, which will very likely be picked up and worn by some of the orcs, along with 10+3d5 random objects and, 25% of the time, a lit oil lamp. 90% of random monsters here will be ‘o’, of which 70% will be Deep Orcs.

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• For this version, the stairs up and down are placed randomly in the many doored pillars.

Level 5: The Forest

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The center area of this level consists of a large, randomly-generated forest (each space has a 25% chance of having a tree). 75% of the time, the majority of these trees will be normal trees, and the remaining 25% of the time the majority will be dead trees. An independent 25% of the time, the forest will become a swamp, with 20% of empty tiles becoming muddy swamps and 1d4 swamp ferns will be placed throughout the leve. There will always be a peaceful iron golem that spawns with an uncursed axe, and has a 50% of holding a tin opener, a 20% chance of a can of grease, and a 15% chance of a tinning kit. Additionally, 2d4 bear traps, 2d8 %, and 2d6 random objects are placed throughout the forest, and, if it’s nighttime, two bats and 1d2 'B'. 10% of random monsters will be ‘o’, of which 70% will be Deep Orcs.

One the opposite side of the level is the upstairs, as well as two orcish barracks behind secret doors. These barracks also have dwarf prisons behind iron bars.

Level 6: Doors of Durin

The uppermost level of Moria, it can appear in two versions; an “intact” version that’s mostly well-kept, and a “ruined” version that’s been desecrated and ransacked. When the player enters the level, they’ll receive the message You hear the sound of restless waters.

Both versions have player enter the level from the corner of the map, which is connected to a small graveyard, which leads to a warehouse with 5+2d4 random objects. The warehouse is connected to the main hallway, which also has the “Twenty-First Hall“ across from the warehouse and the main gate at the end of the hallway. The twenty-first hall is also connected to an altar room and a treasure room, with the treasure room also connecting to “The Chamber of Mazarbul“, with various chests and a grave with the message “Balin, Son of Fundin, Lord of Moria“.

On the other side of the main gate is a Melon and a engraving that can only be read at night which reads "Speak, friend, and enter (“Mellon” is elvish for “friend”), as well as a lake which contains the unique Kraken called Watcher in the Water, that carries an uncursed magic lamp.

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Each version of the Doors of Durin has different loot. The first, “intact” version, has the following:

• The “Twenty-First hall” has 21 rocks, a flint, and a lembas wafer.
• The treasure room contains eight chests with 1d3 random objects each.
• The altar room contains a non-coaligned Altar, an Ice Box, two Iron Safes, and three large boxes, each with their regular contents.
• The “Chamber of Mazarbul” contains the unique grave, four dwarf statues, and six chests, which each contain one of either Scrolls, Potions, Wands, Amulets, Rings, or Spellbooks.

Additionally, 40% of random monsters will be ‘o’, of which 80% will be Deep Orcs.

Once you've cleared it out, this version serves as an excellent temporary base because it has an altar. You can easily haul loot from lower levels to b/u/c test and sort. If you successfully convert the altar and have a means of flying or water walking, the lake is safe for diluting potions once the Watcher in the Water has been killed. If you have the patience, this is also a relatively secure environment for polypiling -- the corridor outside of the altar room is exactly 8 tiles in length and has a lockable door.

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The second, “ruined” version of the Doors of Durin is less bountiful than its counterpart. It has the following differences;

• Twenty-First hall is filled with corpses instead of its normal contents.
• The eight chests in the treasure room each have independent 50% chances to not spawn.
• The altar room contains a Boulder instead of an Altar, and the Ice Box, Iron Safes, and three large boxes each have independent 25% chances to not spawn.
• The statues in the Chamber of Mazarbul are instead piles of 1d25 rocks. The chests and headstone, however, are unaffected.
• There are pools of water right outside the door, which the Watcher in the Water can use to get right next to the door.
• Non-hidden doors have a chance to be replaced with boulders.
• 10+2d5 boulders are scattered around the level; each boulder has a 10% chance to be a rock instead.
• 60% of random monsters will be ‘o’, of which 80% will be Deep Orcs.

External Links

Github Level File