Drum of earthquake
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| |
|---|---|
| Name | drum of earthquake |
| Appearance | drum |
| Base price | 25 zm |
| Weight | 25 |
| Material | leather |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
The drum of earthquake is a type of musical instrument that appears in NetHack. It is a magical atonal instrument that is made of leather, and appears as a drum when unidentified.
Contents
Generation
A drum of earthquake is generated with 4-8 charges.[1]
Description
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Numbers: minimum experience level to affect that spot.
Red: 1-9, blue 10-19, green 20-29Applying a charged drum of earthquake will create several pits around and possibly under you, wake up and unfreeze all monsters on the level, and shake loose monsters hiding on the ceiling[2][3] 447}} - this will also destroy dungeon features such as altars, fountains and thrones, and the range of its effects increases with your experience level.[4] Monsters within 23.7 Euclidean distance will flee if they don't resist, and peaceful monsters within a 4*((u.ulevel - 1) / 3 + 1)+1 wide square centered on you will become hostile. The Wizard of Yendor and other "meditating" monsters will only be awakened in that square area.
Applying a drum of earthquake with no charges has the same effects as a leather drum, though it will not render you deaf.
The pits created by a drum of earthquake can destroy altars similar to applying a wand of digging, and works even on undiggable dungeon levels. The high altars in Moloch's Sanctum and the Astral Plane are always unaffected.
Strategy
The drum of earthquake's random number and distribution of created pits makes it completely unreliable for opening a pit on a specific square. Be very careful using an unidentified drum on levels with peaceful monsters you don't want to provoke - in particular, creating an earthquake in Minetown, on the quest home level, or anywhere with a temple (especially co-aligned) is a very bad idea.
For scenarios where you do want to wake up monsters, Rogues in particular can attract the attention of their quest nemesis, the Master Assassin, by applying the drum while standing at the bottom right square of the left section of the goal level - the earthquake effect will wake him up immediately. The drum also has a niche application with levitation or flying, where it can be used while doing either to slow down pursuing monsters.
In the late game and end game, the drum of earthquake is likely the best means of awakening the Wizard of Yendor without having to climb the Wizard's Tower. It can also be somewhat useful to immobilize most non-flying monsters on a level, such as the aligned priests and player monsters on the Astral Plane.
The same strategies for a leather drum apply to a drum of earthquake with no charges. Additionally, a spare drum of earthquake is suitable polyfodder as a magical tool and especially so for pacifist conduct, since opening pits under monsters can kill them and break the conduct.
History
The drum of earthquake first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.
Messages
- You produce a heavy, thunderous rolling!
- You applied a charged drum of earthquake.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, the drum of earthquake can be used to wake up Vlad the Impaler and obtain the Candelabrum of Invocation without obtaining the alignment keys beforehand.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, Troubadours start the game with knowledge of the drum of earthquake, and The Singing Sword can learn an earthshaking chant if a drum of earthquake is applied while it is wielded.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack and SpliceHack-Rewrite, a drum of earthquake can be created at a furnace by combining a leather drum and a scroll of earth.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, Bards start the game with knowledge of the drum of earthquake as in dNetHack, and Musicians will start the game with an uncursed drum of earthquake.
Encyclopedia entry
- See the encyclopedia entry for leather drum.
