Moloch's Sanctum

Moloch's Sanctum is a special dungeon level. It is always the lowest dungeon level; to enter it you must perform the invocation. This is the level that contains the real Amulet of Yendor. The map looks like:

               --------------
               |............|             -------
         -------............-----         |.....|
         |......................|         --.....|            ---------
      ----....^^^^^^^^^^^.......---------|......----         |.......|
      |.......^---------^.........|......+.........|     ------+---..|
    ---.......^|.......|^.........--+----|....A....|     |........|..|
    |.........^|..._...|^............|   |.........------|..----------
    |.........^|...B...|^.........----   |..........|....|..|......|
    |.........^|.......|^.........|      --.......----+-------+--..|
    |.........^---------^.........|       |.......|.............|..|
    ---.......^^^^^^^^^^^.........|       -----+-------+---------+---
      |...........................|          |...| |......|   |....---
      ----.....................----          |...---....---  ---......|
         |.....................|             |..........|    |..<..----
         -------...........-----             --...-------    |.....|
               |...........|                  |...|          |.....|
               -------------                  -----          -------

The room marked with an A is a graveyard. The room marked with a B is the temple housing the high priest of Moloch carrying the Amulet of Yendor. The entrance to the temple is a secret door randomly placed on one of the four walls (but never a corner). The traps surrounding the temple are fire traps.

Strategy

Typical methodology

Because of the fire traps surrounding the temple it is desirable not to have to pace along each wall searching for the door. If you have any charges remaining in the Bell of Opening, applying it on each wall will identify the door, as will a wand of secret door detection. In a pinch you could also use a stethoscope, as a single use does not take a turn.

Once inside the temple, the goal is to kill the high priest(ess) as fast as possible and get out. Once the priest(ess) is killed, attacking monsters (except for the Wizard of Yendor, should he appear) is no longer a priority. For this reason it is handy to have thinned out the crowd in the graveyard before entering the temple.

The priest(ess) will always drop the Amulet of Yendor. The first thing you want to do upon picking it up is #name it "Real" or similar, to distinguish it from the fake amulets that may appear with the return of the Wizard.

The Sanctum done quick

The Sanctum is a non-teleport level, but that doesn't prevent you from levelporting (either in or out). As soon as you finish the invocation you can levelport into the Sanctum (you do not even need to have entered it previously); you'll land somewhere randomly in the level (perhaps even in the temple!). Once you grab the Amulet of Yendor you will not be able to levelport. However, if you quaff a cursed potion of gain level you can leave the level as quickly as you came into it.

If you must traverse any part of the Sanctum, you should consider jumping. Using a light source of some kind is nearly mandatory because most of the level is unlit.

The high priest is initially peaceful

Player about to kill the high priest.

Using ranged attacks to kill the high priest can be a good idea, but a pitfall waits for the unwary. If you attack the high priest without first entering the temple, it is considered an attack on a peaceful human, and killing him will then incur the penalty for murder. Be sure, then, that you have entered the temple and that the high priest has said:

Infidel, you have entered Moloch's Sanctum!  Be gone!

At that point the high priest is reset to hostile and becomes fair game.