Goblin Town
Goblin Town is a dungeon branch that appears in EvilHack. Within it resides the Goblin King, who must be defeated to gain physical access to Minetown and Mines' End.
Contents
Generation
Goblin Town is accessible via magic portal, which always appears on dungeon level 2 or 3.
Description
The dungeon branch consists of two floors: the cavern that makes up the actual "town", and a subterranean lake. The first floor will be one of two maps.
Goblin Town 1
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Goblin Town 2
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On the second map, either the lines of squares marked 'D' or those marked 'H' will be replaced with open floor tiles, with equal probability. The singular 'D' and 'H' squares mark where the magic portal is placed, depending on whether the 'D' or 'H' squares are replaced.
The entire level is non-diggable, no-teleport and surrounded by solid rock, and phasing is blocked; the level is unlit, with the exception of the prison cell interiors, the Goblin King's dwelling and the interior of the shop, if it exists. The level is dotted with dead trees, and there is a forge in front of the first cell.
There are nine traps: three squeaky boards, two arrow traps,, two bolt traps, one bear trap, and a trap door. The first eight traps are randomly placed in eight of the ten locations marked ^ on the maps. The trap door is placed at one of the five locations marked ^ on the maps, and falling down it leads to the second floor of the branch.
The 5x3 storeroom has a 1⁄2 chance of containing a shop with an orcish shopkeeper, with equal chances of being a general store or a used armor dealership. Each jail cell generates a set of prisoners with no inventory at the marked positions, along with a locked door in the middle of each wall of iron bars that has a chance of being replaced by additional bars - the cell nearest to the forge on each map has a 7⁄20 chance of the door being replaced, and the other cells have a 1⁄2 chance. The cell by the forge also has a chest containing a novel named The Blacksmith's Cookbook - it has a 13⁄20 chance of also containing a war hammer, and an independent 1⁄2 chance of containing a potion of acid.
The Goblin King is generated alone atop a throne in his lair, with a locked chest nearby that has 100 gold pieces, a random ring, and three random gem objects; the chest also has a 1⁄10 chance of containing a rare magic marker. Fourteen goblins, four hobgoblins, a goblin shaman and a bugbear are placed around the level - all these monsters are generated hostile.
Gollum's Cave
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The floor is unlit and non-diggable, and phasing is blocked. Dead trees are sparsely placed around the level, and paths of shallow water lead to an 'island' in the center of the map. The trap door will drop you somewhere in the middle area of dry land - depending on its location, you may also see any prisoners that fell through the trap door. Taking the up stair present in the level will lead you back to the first floor, placing you somewhere in the opening containing the magic portal.
Two piranha, two jellyfish, five bats, and two giant bats are placed randomly around the floor at level creation, all hostile. Corpses of elves, goblins, hobgoblins and piranha are placed at the marked locations around the level - The One Ring is also placed randomly on the level, and may be on a square of shallow water. Gollum will generate at one of the squares marked with a G: he is capable of swimming and will move through the level to seek out the ring and other items, eating the various corpses if they are still fresh enough.
The chest on the larger island contains two random gems and a potion, and has a 13⁄20 chance of containing a pair of goggles. The chest on the smaller island contains 200 gold pieces, a magic key and three random gems, and has a 7⁄20 chance of containing elven chain mail, as well as a 1⁄2 chance of containing an elven cloak. There is a 1⁄3 chance of shallow water squares generating in place of certain deep water squares between the large island and small island, with a much smaller chance of enough squares generating to form a path that can be crossed by jumping.
Strategy
Even if the hero is not yet powerful enough to defeat the Goblin King, Goblin Town is still worth exploring. The plentiful corpses provide a helpful early game nutrition boost, the arrow traps can be disarmed for forging fodder, and the goblin shaman is an easy chance at telepathy. However, iron-hating characters (i.e. drow and elves) will want to approach with more caution, due to the abundance of arrows and orcish daggers.
In the event the trap door to the second floor is within a prison cell, the iron bars can be destroyed with a wand of striking, a force bolt or acid.
Origin
Both floors of Goblin Town are based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien: the 'town' itself and the cavern lake are locations set within the Misty Mountains.
Gollum was originally a Stoorish hobbit named Sméagol that lived during the middle periods of the Third Age. After killing Déagol over a mysterious gold ring and being banished from his family and hobbit-hole, Gollum wandered his way to the Misty Mountains, where he holed up on a small island in a subterranean lake, feasting upon raw fish he caught from his small raft as well as goblins from the nearby Goblin-town. Gollum eventually became disfigured and grotesque in appearance and mentality over four hundred years, with his lifespan extended by the Ring: by the time of The Hobbit, which details Bilbo Baggins's encounter with Gollum and subsequent theft of the Ring, he was afflicted with almost complete madness.
The Hobbit also details the travels of Thorin and company, who rested in a cave during their journey to Lonely Mountain and were captured by orcs; the orcs brought them before the Great Goblin, the ruler of a orc dwelling under the Misty Mountains (who the Goblin King is directly based on). He accused Thorin's group of spying, and was enraged to find that Thorin was carrying Orcrist: the goblins knew the sword well as the "Biter" that had felled many of their number during the orcs' attack on Gondolin. As the Great Goblin neared Thorin, a great fire that lit the large cavern went out - the Great Goblin was then quickly slain through the intervention of Gandalf and Orcrist's "sibling" sword Glamdring, allowing the group to escape.
