Scroll of stinking cloud

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? Scroll.png
Name stinking cloud
Appearance random
Base price 300 zm
Weight 5
Ink to write 10-19
Monster use Will not be used by monsters.
"Stinking cloud" redirects here. For the vortex monster form in dNetHack, see yochlol.

A scroll of stinking cloud, which costs 300 zorkmids, allows you to center a cloud of poison gas around a point of your choice on the dungeon map. This point must be visible and within a range of 5.6 tiles, but the actual cloud need not.[1] Blessed scrolls give a larger cloud and do more damage; cursed scrolls give a smaller cloud and do less damage.

.............
....CCCCC....
...CCCCCCC...
..CCCCCCCCC..
.CCCCCCCCCCC.
.CCCCCCCCCCC.
.CCCCC@CCCCC.
.CCCCCCCCCCC.
.CCCCCCCCCCC.
..CCCCCCCCC..
...CCCCCCC...
....CCCCC....
.............

Spots you can center a stinking cloud on

...........
...........
.....#.....
....###....
...#####...
..###C###..
...#####...
....###....
.....#.....
...........
...........

cursed#/uncursed#/blessed# cloud size

Effects

The stinking cloud causes damage and angers monsters, save those that are nonliving or unbreathing. Poison resistant monsters do not take damage, but are still angered. Monsters with eyes are blinded.[2]

The lifespan of the cloud is dependent upon the BUC status of the scroll; after 4–6 turns, a cloud created by a cursed scroll will disappear, while a cloud created by a non-cursed scroll will undergo a first dissipation, after which it will cause less damage. Then, after two more turns, a cloud created by an uncursed scroll will disappear, while a cloud created by a blessed scroll will undergo a second dissipation, after which it will cause even less damage. Then the cloud will disappear. Thus, the total lifespan of the cloud is 4–6 turns for a cursed scroll, 6–8 turns for an uncursed scroll and 8–10 turns for a blessed scroll.

The amount of damage done by the cloud and the size of the cloud are also dependent upon the BUC status of the scroll, as summarized by the following table:

Scroll BUC Damage before dissipation (for 4–6 turns) Damage after 1st dissipation (for 2 turns) Damage after 2nd dissipation (for 2 turns) Cloud size
Blessed 6–17 6–11 6–8 4×4
Uncursed 6–13 6–9 (cloud gone) 3×3
Cursed 6–9 (cloud gone) (cloud gone) 2×2

The area covered by a stinking cloud is represented by #Cloud.png, which is the symbol also used for the dungeon feature cloud. It can be readily seen that these are quite different however: Clouds remain visible on-screen when the hero is blind; stinking clouds are only displayed when actually seen by the hero.

Strategy

Players who are unbreathing or poison resistant can use stinking cloud to wipe out an entire crowd of surrounding monsters.

A stinking cloud can also be used to kill a shopkeeper from a safe distance, provided you are magic-resistant—the cloud should kill the shopkeeper before they drain their wands and come after you physically. The shopkeeper seems to stand still inside the cloud as long as he cannot see you. The shopkeeper's healing potions will unblind them.

Players can use the cloud in packed rooms like treasure zoos and throne rooms to wipe out many monsters from a distance, most of them being unable to move away from the cloud. This works well in Fort Ludios's throne room.

Messages

You smell rotten eggs.
You selected a spot too far away or not visible.
Something is burning your <lungs>! You cough and spit blood!
You are affected by a stinking cloud and don't have poison resistance
You cough.
You are poison resistant and have no ill effects from the stinking cloud.
<monster> coughs!
A breathing, living, non-poison resistant monster is affected by the stinking cloud.

Variants

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, reading this scroll while confused will instead create a large number of gas spores. A confused reading of the blessed scroll instead creates 1, 2, or 3 fern spores - these spores can grow into any of the 4 varieties of dungeon ferns depending on the type of terrain.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, demons known as yochlols can transform into a vortex monster also called a stinking cloud; being engulfed by the vortex has the same effects as being caught in a stinking cloud created by this scroll.

There are also permanent stinking clouds on Lolth's level in Gehennom. These permanent stinking cloud squares lack gravity and a floor; a character that enters them will be subject to the same movement rules as on the Plane of Air.

xNetHack

In xNetHack, stinking clouds no longer use a predefined rhombus shape; instead, they expand from their origin point to fit the terrain. Be cautious about using them in closed spaces.

References

This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.

It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.4.3. Information on this page may be out of date.

Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-343}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.