Grund the Orc King

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Grund the Orc King, o, is a unique monster that appears in SLASH'EM, SlashTHEM and Hack'EM. He is a strong orc that has infravision, can be seen via infravision, and can follow a player character to other levels if he is adjacent. Grund will seek out and pick up gold, gems, magical items, and other objects to pick up.

Grund the Orc King a single weapon attack, and possesses poison resistance.

Eating Grund the Orc King's corpse or tin is guaranteed to convey poison resistance.

Grund the Orc King cannot be made tame.

Generation

Grund the Orc King is always generated hostile, and is not a valid form for polymorph.

Grund the Orc King is always generated in his stronghold, where he occupies the throne in the large room at the west end of the level. A random wand, piece of armor, and an amulet is placed on his square.

Grund has a 12 chance of generating with an orcish helm, and a separate 12 chance of being given an orcish dagger or a scimitar, with an equal chance for each weapon.[1] As a prince to his kind, any weapons he generates with will be at least +1, and any armor he generates with will be at least +0.

Strategy

Depending on when a player chooses to tackle Grund's Stronghold, Grund himself may represent a considerable threat. While he has no special abilities and no resistances beyond poison, and is as slow as an Uruk-hai, his single weapon attack hits quite hard, especially if he picks up a high-damage weapon like a battle-axe or two-handed sword. The random items placed on his square give him the potential to be a threat as well, especially if those items or any others he comes across includes a wand of draining or even a wand of death.

A careful player should have little trouble taking him down, but an inattentive (and/or poorly-armored) player may find themselves badly mauled by him. Grund does respect Elbereth, although the high likelihood of him or any nearby hostiles generating with an attack wand somewhat reduces its effectiveness.

References