Ruins of Moria

The Ruins of Moria
Location	Level 16–19 of the Dungeons of Doom
Bones	No
Mappable	Yes
Teleportable	only on levels 3-6
Diggable floor	2nd level only
Diggable walls	No

The Ruins of Moria is a dungeon branch in UnNetHack, modeled after the Mines of Moria from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It has six levels.

In contrast to the book, the player explores Moria from the bottom up, eventually reaching the West-gate of Moria (also known as the Doors of Durin). During the journey, the player will find both masses of orcs (often with enchanted gear) and vast riches.

There are six levels in the Ruins of Moria, numbered from the bottom-most one up. Minus the third, every level contains one or two cursed scrolls of teleportation named "Word of Recall"; this is an Angband reference.

General strategy

Raiding Moria is quite lucrative, especially when done early, but is also dangerous for the unprepared and inexperienced. On the other hand, a Gehennom-ready post-quest character should have few problems.

Level 1: Shrine to the Ruins of the Endless Stair

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The downstairs is in a large enclosed area with iron bars; there is a secret door on the lowest tile of the left wall, with the burned engraving “Herein lie the lower remnants of the Endless Stair” in front of it. 2d8 small pieces of unrefined mithril are buried in the enclosed area; outside the enclosed area are many pools of lava, littered with 30 piles of gems. Half of the monsters randomly generated while in this level will be of the orc monster class; 70% of those orcs will be Deep orcs.

Level 2: The Bridge of Khazad-dûm

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This level recreates the location of the final battle from The Fellowship of the Ring. The downstair and upstair are on the leftmost and rightmost ends of the level, respectively; between them is a narrow bridge flanked by huge lakes of lava. In the middle of the bridge is the corpse of a wizard along with a very burnt quarterstaff and burnt robe; there are also 2d4 dwarf corpses scattered around the level, as well as 2d2 cursed dwarvish mithril-coats that are buried underground, and 2d5 random objects. These corpses are intended to represent the fallen Fellowship.

At the rightmost end of the bridge is Durin's Bane, a unique balrog; he is equipped with: a fireproof, uncursed bullwhip; a wand of speed monster; a cursed potion of paralysis; and, 33% of the time, a shield of reflection. 60% of monsters randomly generated after level creation will be orcs, and 70% of those will be Deep orcs.

Level 3: Moria Tribute Level

Unlike the other levels, the third floor is more of a "filler" rooms-and-corridors level. However, it is designed to resemble an actual level from the game Moria (even employing a similar style of fixed layout in previous versions), and as such is not a persistent level - you will get a hint regarding this upon arriving, where you are greeted with this message:

"The dungeon here seems less persistent."

This means that the level will be re-generated every time you enter it, with any items left on the ground being permanently lost; an engraving that has chance of appearing on this level reads "Why, oh why didn't I leave my items in the town?", alluding to this. As such, the level does not contain any randomly generated items, barring those included in the inventory of randomly generated monsters. If a unique item is left on the level, however, it will not change upon leaving and re-entering, since the unique items are required to be indestructible.

While on the level, the flavor message "You feel the dungeon suddenly center itself around you!" occasionally appears - in Moria, the player is always in the center of the screen, with the dungeon "scrolling" around them.

70% of all monsters generated after level creation will be orcs, and 70% of those will be Deep orcs.

Level 4: The Halls of Moria

The fourth level is the Halls of Moria, which has four possible fixed layouts; most of them are in the style of cavernous halls of stone pillars with randomly placed stairs.

The place is completely overrun by orcs, with 30+1d4 Deep orcs, 20+1d4 hill orcs, and 10+1d4 orc captains, in addition to 1d3 trolls, generated in locations scattered throughout the level at its creation; these monsters will always be generated hostile. There are 2d4 blessed dwarvish mithril-coats scattered about (which have positive enchantments up to +5), along with 10+3d5 random objects; 25% of the time, a lit oil lamp will be present. 90% of monsters randomly generated after level creation will be orcs, and 70% of those will be Deep orcs.

If you don’t have reflection by the time you reach here, you should seriously consider heading back, as the orc swarm will have plenty of attack wands to use on you, with a non-negligible chance of one of them carrying a wand of death.

moria4-1

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moria4-2

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moria4-3

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moria4-4

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• For this version, the stairs up and down are placed randomly in the many doored pillars.

Level 5: The Forest

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The fifth level consists of a large, randomly-generated forest in the center, with each space having a 25% chance of containing a tree. 75% of the time, the forest will be composed of a majority regular trees; the remaining 25% of the time, the forest will be mostly full of dead trees. There is an independent 25% chance that the forest will also be a swamp, with 20% of the empty tiles converted to muddy swamp, and 1d4 swamp ferns placed throughout the level.

There will always be an iron golem that generates with an uncursed axe; it also has a 50% of generating with a tin opener, a 20% chance of a can of grease, and a 15% chance of a tinning kit. 2d4 bear traps, 2d8 comestibles, and 2d6 random objects are placed throughout the forest. If the level is created at night, two bats and 1d2 B are additionally generated. 10% of monsters randomly generated after level creation orcs, and 70% of those will be Deep Orcs.

On the rightmost side of the level is the upstairs, as well as two orcish barracks behind secret doors. These barracks also have dwarf prisoners behind iron bars.

Level 6: Doors of Durin

A user has suggested improving this page or section as follows:

"What is the chance of each appearing? 50/50? It is not stated in the .des file."

The sixth and uppermost level of Moria has two variants: an "intact" version and a "ruined" version. When the player enters this level, they are greeted with the message:

You hear the sound of restless waters.

Each version of the Doors of Durin has different loot. Both versions place the downstair in the corner of the map, which is connected to a small graveyard, which in turn leads to a warehouse with 5+2d4 random objects. The warehouse is connected to the main hallway, which also has the “Twenty-First Hall“ across from the warehouse and the main gate at the end of the hallway. The twenty-first hall is also connected to an altar room and a treasure room, with the treasure room also connecting to “The Chamber of Mazarbul“. This has various chests and a grave with the message “Balin, Son of Fundin, Lord of Moria“.

On the other side of the main gate is a Melon and a engraving that can only be read at night which reads "Speak, friend, and enter (“Mellon” is elvish for “friend”), as well as a lake that contains the unique Kraken called the Watcher in the Water (which carries an uncursed magic lamp).

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The first, “intact” version, has the following:

• The “Twenty-First hall” has 21 rocks, a flint, and a lembas wafer.
• The treasure room contains eight chests with 1d3 random objects each.
• The altar room contains a non-coaligned Altar, an Ice Box, two Iron Safes, and three large boxes, each with their regular contents.
• The “Chamber of Mazarbul” contains the unique grave, four dwarf statues, and six chests, which each contain one of either Scrolls, Potions, Wands, Amulets, Rings, or Spellbooks.

Additionally, 40% of random monsters will be ‘o’, of which 80% will be Deep Orcs.

Once you've cleared it out, this version serves as an excellent temporary base because it has an altar. You can easily haul loot from lower levels to b/u/c test and sort. If you successfully convert the altar and have a means of flying or water walking, the lake is safe for diluting potions once the Watcher in the Water has been killed. If you have the patience, this is also a relatively secure environment for polypiling -- the corridor outside of the altar room is exactly 8 tiles in length and has a lockable door.

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The second, “ruined” version of the Doors of Durin is less bountiful than its counterpart. It has the following differences;

• The Twenty-First Hall is filled with corpses instead of its normal contents.
• The eight chests in the treasure room each have an independent 50% chances to not spawn.
• The altar room contains a Boulder instead of an Altar, and the Ice Box, Iron Safes, and three large boxes each have independent 25% chances to not spawn.
• The statues in the Chamber of Mazarbul are instead piles of 1d25 rocks. The chests and headstone, however, are unaffected.
• There are pools of water right outside the door, which the Watcher in the Water can use to get right next to the door.
• Non-hidden doors have a chance to be replaced with boulders.
• 10+2d5 boulders are scattered around the level; each boulder has a 10% chance to be a rock instead.
• 60% of random monsters will be ‘o’, of which 80% will be Deep Orcs.

External Links

Github Level File