Ahazu
Ahazu, the Seizer is a spirit that appears in dNetHack and notdNetHack.
Contents
Ritual, seal and taboo
Ahazu's seal must be drawn in a square containing a pit. An Illithanachronounbinder begins the game with knowledge of Ahazu's seal.
To remain bound to Ahazu, you must not become weak from hunger.
Mark
A character that has Ahazu bound will have a starry void in the back of their throat. This mark can only be seen up close, and can be hidden by wearing a mask or R'lyehian faceplate.
Benefits
While bound, Ahazu confers immunity to engulfing attacks of any kind, and grants skill in flails, including heavy iron balls as with Convicts.
Ahazu's active powers are as follows:
- Abduction: This targets a single adjacent monster that you have injured with a melee attack, or a thrown or fired projectile, and removes it from the game along with its inventory - the only exceptions to this unique items and indestructible artifacts (i.e. the alignment keys, The Annulus, The Silver Key, and The Pen of the Void).
- This does not kill the monster: you do not receive any experience, it is not counted as killed for the purposes of quests or other objects (including the Temple of Chaos artifacts), and there is no way to bring it back.
- Prayer timeout is decreased as though you had sacrificed the victim; if your god is angry, it is similarly reduced by the value of the "sacrifice". You also gain any beneficial effects as though you ate that monster's corpse, avoiding any harmful effects, but you do not gain any nutrition.
Ahazu's passive powers are as follows:
- Engulf: Monsters you attack in melee that are at 1⁄10 HP or less are automatically abducted as above. This is meant to be as much a hindrance as a help.
- Shadow Well: Monsters you attack in melee have a 1⁄5 chance of losing their next move.
- Swallow: You can eat any meal in 1 turn, with the effects that meal would cause occurring as normal.
- Hunger: You lose nutrition at a rate of 1 extra point per 10 turns.
As a monster
| & Ahazu File:Ahazu.png | |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 13 |
| Attacks |
touch 4d4 causes hunger, engulf 4d4 digests |
| Base level | 10 |
| Base experience | 327 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 8 |
| Base MR | 3 |
| Alignment | -1 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 0 (Not randomly generated) |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | medium |
| Resistances | fire, poison |
| Resistances conveyed | |
|
Ahazu:
| |
In notdNetHack, Ahazu, &, also appears as a monster that can be summoned by an Illithanachronounbinder. He is an amorphous, amphibious, strong, and unbreathing demon that can be seen via infravision, can pick up and collect items, and can follow you to other levels.
Ahazu has a hunger-inducing touch similar to that of Famine and a digestion attack, and possesses fire resistance, poison resistance and death resistance. Like all spirits, he cannot be tamed and will turn traitor if somehow made tame.
Generation
Ahazu can only be summoned from his seal by an Illithanachronounbinder. He is always created hostile, and is not a valid form for normal polymorph.
Ahazu is generated with 4 to 5 food rations.
Ahazu does not leave a corpse upon death.
Strategy
Ahazu moves as fast as an unburdened unhasted character, and his melee attacks are very dangerous to an early Illithanachronounbinder, both for the nutrition drain and the engulfing. Ranged attacks are the best option against him.
Encyclopedia entry
All shall feed the Shattered Night.
