Strange corpse
| M strange corpse (No tile) | |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 2 |
| Attacks |
none |
| Base level | 0 |
| Base experience | 125 |
| Speed | 0 |
| Base AC | -55 |
| Base MR | 125 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 0 (Not randomly generated) |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | medium |
| Resistances | poison resistance, stoning resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | none |
|
The strange corpse:
| |
The strange corpse, M, is the Binder quest leader in dNetHack, notdNetHack, and notnotdNetHack. It is a mummified corpse belonging to a human man.
The strange corpse is unique among quest leaders: it is completely sessile, has no attacks and can always revive from its corpse, similar to a Rider. The strange corpse will not speak to a hero directly if they chat with it: it instead acts as a mouthpiece through which something unnamed and unknown informs the hero of Acererak, the Binder quest nemesis, once they fully qualify for the quest—they are given access to the down staircase afterward.
Once a Binder hero gains entry to the quest, speaking to the strange corpse does not produce any further messages, including in situations where other quest leaders would have a specific response.
The strange corpse has 65 points of natural AC and possesses poison resistance and stoning resistance.
Generation
The strange corpse is not a valid polymorph form or genocide target.
The strange corpse is always generated on the home level of the Binder quest, and it is placed on the square directly southeast of the down staircase in the center of the lost library during level creation.
The strange corpse always leaves his corpse behind upon death.
Strategy
As it is immobile and has no attacks, the strange corpse is unable to defend itself, but its very powerful natural AC and impossibly high MR score make it incredibly difficult to fight. This is mostly relevant for the case of hostile monsters generated on the home level, which have a mutual grudge against most quest leaders and guardians (with some exceptions), and makes it highly unlikely that any such monster will be able to "destroy" the strange corpse to begin with—in such an unlikely case, it will always leave behind a corpse that it eventually revives from.
As a spirit
A Binder that speaks to the strange corpse when they fully qualify for the Quest will learn that it belongs to Dahlver-Nar, the First Binder, who became a binding spirit himself. Dahlver-Nar can naturally only be bound by a Binder: chatting to the strange corpse upon qualifying for the Binder's quest automatically binds his spirit and teaches the hero his seal, at the same time they are given access to the down staircase—there is no message given when this occurs.
Binding Acererak expels Dahlver-Nar if the hero has him bound, which does not drain a level as with other broken taboos, though the timeout still applies should they wish to re-bind Dahlver-Nar. Binding Dahlver-Nar will in turn expel Acererak, with the same conditions.
A hero with Dahlver-Nar bound has teeth under their skin—taking damage renders these teeth visible, and they can be seen from a distance. The hero can conceal these teeth by healing their wounds and wearing concealing clothing.
Benefits
While bound, Dahlver-Nar grants the sustain ability property.
Dahlver-Nar's active power works as follows:
Dahlver-Nar's passive power works as follows:
- Teeth of the Devoured: The hero gains increased AC and unarmed attack damage as they lose HP.
Encyclopedia entry
[...] Binder scholars know a different story—that Dahlver-Nar was a powerful cleric who forsook his deity to pursue the power of pact magic. The fabled teeth of Dahlver-Nar, to which all the legends attribute miraculous powers, were neither his own nor those of the dragon he battled. They were the teeth of beings that became vestiges after death, and they could grant abilities similar to those that the vestiges themselves imparted. Pact magic treatises relate that Dahlver-Nar pulled out his own teeth and replaced them with those of the vestiges, but that using them all drove him mad. What happened thereafter is a matter of debate, but the texts maintain that Dahlver-Nar eventually died, and the teeth were lost, divided up among the squabbling followers he had managed to gain and then spread across the world. Today, Dahlver-Nar exists as a vestige in his own right—perhaps brought to that state through his close association with so many others.
Thirty-two horses on a red hill,
First they champ,
Then they stamp,
Then they stand still.
