Lawful Quest

Not to be confused with Law quest (dNetHack).

The Lawful Quest is one of the alignment-based quests in SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM. It sees you fighting Nightmare for the Key of Law and the Nighthorn.

The quest level is divided into four main sections, from left to right: Nightmare's forest, a cloud bank, the Chambers of Deception, and a maze. You enter in one of the Chambers of Deception, and must make your way through each section to reach Nightmare.

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Generation

The magic portal to the Lawful Quest can be found anywhere from levels 15 and 19, excluding levels already containing a portal to your role's Quest or another alignment quest.

Map

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In addition to the monsters generated in each section of the map, the Lawful Quest places the following at random positions:

• eight to sixteen black lights
• four to eight shadows
• eight to twelve sleeping gas traps
• two to four anti-magic traps
• the engravings "You can feel eyes on your back." and "I can see you..."

The Chambers of Deception

The portal leads out into a set of seven 3x3 chambers, with a hidden set of doors leading to a pair of corridors. Each chamber has a different "challenge" theme - while some may contain potentially valuable items (such as dragon corpses), many of them also contain monsters and other objects designed to merely resemble useful items. The portal will always place you in the Chamber of Sloth; the other chambers are randomly arranged within the layout shown above.

The Chamber of Sloth

On the square with the portal (marked 'x') is an engraving reading "Beware of Dreams come true!" The room contains a hostile imp, and four spaces next to the portal (marked with '^' symbols) each have a 60% chance of containing a sleeping gas trap. There are also sleeping gas traps scattered throughout the rest of the floor, making it likely that you will always have to cross them to enter or leave some of the other chambers.

Sleep resistance is an ideal method to handle these traps: player Vampires start with the resistance, as do all Monks, and player elves gain it at experience level 4. In SlashTHEM, player Ghouls also start with sleep resistance, as well as Bards and Geeks.

Controlled polymorph into a sleep-resistant or breathless creature can also suffice - Doppelgangers can polymorph at will and should have reliable access to some applicable monster forms by the time they find the Lawful Quest; they gain polymorph control at experience level 9 in SLASH'EM, and at 25 in SlashTHEM. You can also obtain intrinsic sleep resistance from The Chamber of Dragon Meat, though see that section for why this may prove difficult.

If you have non-sleep resistant pets you cannot guide through with a magic whistle, or you have no resistance and do not want to rely on hoping you have enough hit points and AC, you can destroy the doors in order to move diagonally around the traps - note that kicking them down, or else using a force bolt or wand of striking, will almost certainly wake the sleeping monsters in the other chambers. You can also remove the traps by digging a pit on their squares and filling them with boulders, or else use levitation to bypass them.

The Chamber of Greed

This room contains one to three large piles of killer coins, and may also include up to three piles of killer coins and up to three huge piles of killer coins, as well as up to three worthless pieces of white glass. New players may not have encountered killer coins before; be warned that they can dish out significant amounts of damage, although a sufficiently armed and armored player should be able to defeat them easily. Elbereth will work in a pinch.

The Chamber of Gluttony

This room contains one to five killer food rations and a giant louse egg; it may also include a killer tripe ration (80% chance), up to three bad eggs, a 40% chance giant flea egg, 20% chance of a cursed mushroom, 50% chance of a tin of asphynx meat, and a 50% chance of a tin of green slime meat. Like the killer coins, the killer food rations and killer tripe rations can quickly cut down an unprepared dungeoneer. The giant flea and giant louse can make good sacrifice fodder if they hatch hostile, as they will randomly multiply.

The Chamber of Junk

This chamber is filled with anywhere from two to nine random @ monsters: at least two and up to five of them may generate as hostile and awake, up to three are generated peaceful; one may be generated asleep, and will be hostile or peaceful as normal depending on your race. Beware if any of the hostile @ are werecreatures or even a gypsy - the latter is quite dangerous even if you are high level, as they can cast summon nasties, touch of death and curse items, and can also steal intrinsics like gremlins.

The room may contain any of the following "treasure", with a 40% probability of each unless otherwise noted:

• two cursed potions of sickness
• a cursed potion of sleeping
• a cursed potion of confusion
• a cursed potion of hallucination
• a cursed potion of blindness
• two cursed potions of polymorph
• a cursed potion of acid
• a cursed potion of paralysis
• a cursed wand of draining
• a cursed wand of opening with 0 charges (60% chance)
• a cursed wand of nothing with 0 charges (80% chance)
• a cursed wand of secret door detection with 0 charges (60% chance)
• a cursed -2 pair of fumble boots
• a cursed -4 pair of gauntlets of fumbling
• a cursed -1 poisonous cloak
• a cursed +0 robe of weakness
• a cursed -2 fly swatter named Bugshmasher (sic)
• a cursed -4 worm tooth named Storm Brand
• a cursed -3 short sword named Chaosbane
• a cursed amulet of strangulation named life saving
• a cursed ring of sleeping named slow digestion
• a cursed ring of hunger named free action
• a blessed -9 ring of increase accuracy named polymorph control
• a cursed oil lamp

While these items are dangerous for a completely unwary player to randomly use, many of these items also have useful application outside of their "gotcha" qualities - some of the other items can be charged and uncursed, or in some cases even cancelled, in order to be made useful. Many players that make it to the Lawful Quest should not only catch on to the ruse, but also have at least a few of the listed items identified.

The Chamber of Dragon Meat

This chamber contains one dragon corpse of every type available in SLASH'EM except silver, along with a tinning kit, six to eight maggots and a 50% chance of a carrion crawler; the corpses generated are unchanged in SlashTHEM. While this looks like a great opportunity to get any missing intrinsics, there is naturally a catch as well - just one corpse alone will render you satiated, and the others will likely rot away before you can get to them unless you are interrupted eating that first one; the tinning kit provided is also cursed and has 0 charges.

The best way to get the most out of the corpses is to either bring your own tinning kit, or else be able to uncurse and charge the one provided. If you are only concerned about specific intrinsics or else cannot tin all the corpses, being breathless or casting spells may allow you to become unsatiated and possibly eat several.

The Snake Pit

This chamber contains a spiked pit, two to four random snakes, and one or two random s. There may also be a king cobra and up to two pit vipers, with a 90% probability of each.

The False Temple

This chamber contains a coaligned altar and peaceful aligned priest. However, the room is not a temple: the priest is not tending to the altar and will instead wander randomly about the level. Chatting will make the priest hostile, and killing them is considered murder for non-chaotic characters.

The altar itself can be used normally, and is one of two guaranteed altars that is coaligned or can be made coaligned safely; the other can be found in the Temple of Moloch. This is important for SLASH'EM players who do not want to risk angering the Minetown priest by converting that altar, as they are the only guaranteed source for buying protection since the variant also makes the priest in the Valley of the Dead hostile.

The Boulder Path

A secret set of doors in the chamber on the upper right leads to a corridor with a boulder at the '`' mark and rolling boulder traps at each of the '^' marks. Each of the two spaces marked 'G' in the corridor has a 60% chance of a hostile ghost. The one-tile room at the end of the corridor contains a cursed runesword and an uncursed wand of striking with two charges - there is a ~5% chance that it will be Stormbringer, and since runeswords are not randomly generated, this is the only way to find Stormbringer outside bones.

The Maze

One of the chambers has a hidden corridor that leads into the maze to the right. The maze is randomly generated and the walls are made of solid rock, which has the same appearance as a darkened area, so you will not "remember" the shape of the maze automatically unless you permanently light up the corridors (using the light spell, a wand of light, scrolls of light, or the Holy Spear of Light). Each of the spaces marked 'w' in the maze has a 60% chance of having a rot worm generated on it, and each of the two spaces in the upper left and lower right has a 50% chance of a shade.

The swamp in the center contains a statue trap of an arch-lich (!) and a cursed -9 set of gray dragon scales in the same space. The arch-lich is created with wands of fireball, create horde, speed monster and make invisible (the latter three all have one charge each), a cockatrice corpse, and a cursed -1 pair of leather gloves. Note that the arch-lich cannot actually use the cockatrice corpse, since it lacks a weapon attack. The swamp also contains between four and six electric eels at the spaces marked with ';'. The exit from the maze to the cloud bank is at the lower left.

You will want to have a unicorn horn or sickness resistance in order to deal with the rot worms. Most characters would do best to avoid the electric eels and arch-lich in the middle of the maze, unless you desperately need the dragon scales for armor and have a means of cancellation (to remove the -9 penalty). Remember that electric eels not only have a drowning attack that can kill you instantly (in addition to the usual defenses, in SLASH'EM this can be prevented with free action), they can also break apart rings and wands if they hit you.

They are various ways of dealing with the trap without having to fight the arch-lich:

• Zap the statue with a wand of teleportation, and then find the loot with a blessed potion of object detection. This can be done from outside the swamp, and is probably the easiest and safest method.
• Pull the arch-lich statue towards you with a fishing pole.
• Genocide arch-liches (or L if you have a blessed scroll).
• Throw a statue of a weaker monster onto the square before stepping on it.
• Have a super-strong pet such as an Archon, Planetar, or Solar fight the arch-lich.
• Lure a monster to pick up the dragon scales, which will not set off the trap. A cursed figurine (e.g. any orc) and Elbereth can be handy here. Most pets cannot be used for this: they will try to pick up the arch-lich statue before anything else in the stack, and few monsters smaller than giants will be able to lift it. Pets will also be reluctant to step over the cursed dragon scales and will not pick them up until the scales have been uncursed.

Bad ideas:

• Even at expert, the grappling hook has a chance of pulling you to the statue, instead of pulling the statue.
• A wand of polymorph will not trigger the trap, but it will polymorph the dragon scales into something worse or destroy them outright.
• Using a wand of striking or the spell of force bolt will trigger the trap instead of crumbling the statue.

The Cloud Bank

The maze leads out south of the chambers and into a bank of clouds with a river of lava running through and an isolated "island" room in the middle - the exit from the cloud bank to Nightmare's forest is at the lower left. Within the clouds are one or two elementals of each type, including one or two stalkers, as well as up to four other random E; on level creation, they will be generated at the locations marked above. A gremlin named Clown is generated at the position marked 'g'. There is an 80% chance of a ring of fire resistance being generated at the end of the lava river's branches - but only one of the possible spots it can appear in is outside of the lava (marked yellow), while the other spots will require you to free the lava over and around it and then dig the ring out.

The locked chamber in the middle of the cloud bank houses the "Spice Girls" - a group of up to three mind flayers named Ginger, Victoria, and Emma - at the positions marked 'h'; only Ginger is guaranteed, and the other two have a 80% chances of existing. The chamber may also contain up to two master mind flayers named Mel B. and Mel C. at the positions marked 'M'; each has a 60% chance of being generated. If either monster species is genocided, the missing monsters will be replaced by random ones with the same names. A fountain and a chest sit at the center, with the chest containing a wand of cold with 16 charges - the chest may also contain an amulet of flying (70% chance) and a wand of digging (80% chance). The wand of cold is an ideal tool for retrieving the aforementioned ring of fire resistance.

For a moderately tough player, it may be worth going after the Spice Girls' treasure, especially if you plan to cross the lava river and/or hunt down the ring of fire resistance. Speed, powerful ranged attacks and a greased helm are among your best tools to have - remember that in SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM, a ring of free action or another source of the property will protect you from brain-sucking attacks. If you already have a means to cross (e.g., flying, levitation, fireproof water walking boots, etc.), then you may opt to skip them unless you desire telepathy and/or a chance to boost intelligence.

Nightmare's Forest

Nightmare, the main monster of the quest, is located on the throne in the forest on the far left, along with four to eight pixies, two to four quicklings, a unicorn of each color (the only place where you will meet a hostile unicorn of your own color), a wood nymph, and a brownie. Killing Nightmare will generate the Key of Law, and killing her without petrifying or disintegrating her will also leave behind the artifact unicorn horn Nighthorn.

The 'n's will be generated sleeping, and the player is advised not to disturb them as they may steal important items and become hard to kill. You will probably want to have telepathy or see invisible to get through this section. It is also best to avoid killing your co-aligned unicorn to avoid the alignment penalty; throwing an un-ID'd gem at it will always pacify it.

Nightmare does a surprising amount of damage, but respects Elbereth and can otherwise be dealt with as any fast monster.

Remember that Nighthorn and the Key of Law will both blast non-lawfuls, and Nighthorn will be generated cursed, so it is advised not to wield it until you have uncursed it.

Spooky messages

The Lawful Quest is the only level in the game to have the 'spooky' flag, and hence the following messages are printed randomly while you're on the level:

You hear screaming in the distance!
You hear a faint whisper: "Please leave your measurements for your custom-made coffin."
You hear a door creak ominously.
You hear hard breathing just a few steps behind you!
You hear dragging footsteps coming closer!
You hear anguished moaning and groaning coming out of the walls!
You hear mad giggling directly behind you!
You smell rotting corpses.
You smell chloroform!
You feel ice cold fingers stroking your neck.
You feel a ghostly touch caressing your face.
You feel somebody dancing on your grave.
You feel something breathing down your neck.
You feel as if the walls were closing in on you.
You just stepped on something squishy.

These messages only appear when you're hallucinating:

You hear a strong voice pronouncing: "There can only be one!"
You hear a voice booming all around you: "Warning: self-destruction sequence activated!"
You smell your mother-in-law's cooking!
You smell horse dung.
You hear someone shouting: "Who ordered the burger?"
You can faintly hear the Twilight Zone theme.
You hear an outraged customer complaining: "I'll be back!"
You hear someone praising your valor!
You hear someone singing: "Jingle bells, jingle bells..."

Variants

SlashTHEM

In SlashTHEM, be prepared with scare monster scrolls for the mind flayer room, because you can't engrave on the floor of the cloud bank any more.

With all of the new monsters that have been added, corpses that grant intrinsics like telepathy and the various resistances are harder to find, so the guaranteed mind flayers and dragon corpses in this area are even more valuable than in SLASH'EM. Sleep and disintegration resistance are also more important to have, because of new monsters that use these attacks. More care will be needed to keep all of the corpses you need. It may be a good idea to look for a charged tinning kit, a source of charging for the guaranteed spent tinning kit, or even an icebox, before you embark on this quest. Avoid trying to eat the corpses whole, because of the risk of choking, and the chance that the others will rot away before you can get to them.

If you are desperate about the cursed dragon scale mails, here it's a bit easier to obtain them.

See also

• Special level (SLASH'EM)
• Neutral Quest
• Chaotic Quest