Elder priest

@ elder priest
Difficulty	34
Attacks	Weapon 2d10 physical, Single-target (active) gaze attack 1d4 paralysis, Tentacle 2d10 Amulet theft, Tentacle 2d10 intrusion, Cast 2d8 clerical spell, Cast 2d8 clerical spell

@ elder priest
Difficulty	34
Attacks	Weapon 2d10 physical, Single-target (active) gaze attack 1d4 paralysis, Tentacle 2d10 Amulet theft, Tentacle 2d10 intrusion, Cast 2d8 clerical spell, Cast 2d8 clerical spell
Base level	25
Base experience	1170
Speed	15
Base AC	-9
Base MR	90
Alignment	-128 (chaotic)
Frequency (by normal means)	0 (Not randomly generated)
Genocidable	No
Weight	1450
Nutritional value	400
Size	medium
Resistances	fire, sleep, shock, poison, petrification
Resistances conveyed
The elder priest: can swim. can survive underwater. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. can see invisible creatures. is omnivorous. is not a valid polymorphable form. is an overlord to its kind. is neither male nor female. is nasty. is strong. can pick up weapons and food. can pick up magical items. wants the Amulet of Yendor. wants the Amulet of Yendor, the Bell of Opening, the Book of the Dead, the Candelabrum of Invocation, and your quest artifact. can be seen through infravision. cannot be tamed.

The elder priest, @, is a unique monster that appears in dNetHack and notdNetHack. The elder priest is a humanoid, human-like figure that replaces the high priest of Moloch as the guardian of the Amulet of Yendor in Moloch's Sanctum.

The elder priest is strong, amphibious, capable of swimming, can see invisible, and will pick up and collect items - they are also covetous and will try to steal the Amulet, the invocation artifacts, and your quest artifact.

The elder priest has a weapon attack, a single-target paralyzing gaze, a covetous tentacle attack that can steal the aforementioned items, a second tentacle attack that has several relatively-unique effects, and will attempt to case two clerical monster spells per round of combat. They possess fire resistance, sleep resistance, shock resistance, and poison resistance like other high priests, as well as stoning resistance.

Generation

The elder priest is always generated tending to the high altar of Moloch in his Sanctum.

The elder priest is always generated with a blessed +3 quarterstaff, a blessed +3 cloak of magic resistance, a potion of full healing, 3 potions of extra healing, a leather drum, and a wooden flute.

The elder priest is always capable of reviving from their corpse, similar to a Rider

Strategy

The Wizard of Yendor respects the elder priest as the "true owner" of the Amulet of Yendor and will not attack it, but other covetous monsters do not respect it and will try to steal the Amulet.

Origin

The elder priest is most likely based on the "High Priest Not to Be Described" that appears in H.P. Lovecraft story The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. This high priest is a mysterious but disturbing figure shrouded in yellow silk, and sits alone in a temple on the Plateau of Leng in Lovecraft's Dreamlands, communicating with visitors by playing an ivory flute. Commentators on Lovecraft's writings have speculated that this being is either a servant of Nyarlathotep or an avatar of the "crawling chaos" itself.

Encyclopedia entry

From Leng, where rocky peaks climb bleak and bare
Under cold stars obscure to human sight,
There shoots at dusk a single beam of light
Whose far blue rays make shepherds whine in prayer.
They say (though none has been there) that it comes
Out of a pharos in a tower of stone,
Where the last Elder One lives on alone,
Talking to Chaos with the beat of drums.

The Thing, they whisper, wears a silken mask
Of yellow, whose queer folds appear to hide
A face not of this earth, though none dares ask
Just what those features are, which bulge inside.
Many, in man's first youth, sought out that glow,
But what they found, no one will ever know.
[ H. P. Lovecraft, Fungi from Yuggoth XXVII. ]