Aglaope
| n Aglaope (No tile) | |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 20 (dNetHack) 22 (SlashTHEM) |
| Attacks |
Claw 4d4 quest-artifact-stealing, Claw 0d0 seduction, Singing (dNetHack) |
| Base level | 17 |
| Base experience | 532 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Base AC | -4 |
| Base MR | 90 |
| Alignment | -15 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 0 (Not randomly generated) |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 600 |
| Nutritional value | 300 |
| Size | medium |
| Resistances | sleep, petrification |
| Resistances conveyed | none |
|
Aglaope:
| |
Aglaope, n, is the Bard quest nemesis in dNetHack and SlashTHEM. She is a nymph that guards the Bell of Opening and the Bard quest artifact, The Lyre of Orpheus. Her behavior and attack patterns depend on the variant - in both variants, Aglaope is capable of "countersinging" that decreases the effectiveness of any musicalize spells you cast around her.
Generation
Aglaope is generated meditating in the center of the ruins on the Bard quest goal level, with The Lyre of Orpheus and a pair of water walking boots on her square.
dNetHack
Aglaope possesses a claw attack that can steal The Lyre or the Amulet of Yendor from you if you possess either item. She also has the nymph's standard seduction attack that lets her steal one or more items, possibly causing you to disrobe as well, before warping away. In dNetHack, Aglaope will sing one of the following songs before each of her attacks:
- Encouragement: Increases damage from hostile monsters by
1+level/3, wherelevelis Aglaope's current monster level. - Good health: Cures paralysis, blindness, laughing, berserk, stun, confusion, and scared statuses for all hostile monsters on the current level.
- Haste: Increases the speed of hostile monsters on the current level by 12.
- Dirge: Decreases damage from pets by
-1-level/3, wherelevelis Aglaope's current monster level. - Slowness: Decreases the speed of pets by 12.
All of these songs have a covetous-warping effect that brings you to her, rather than the other way around: this also cancels the effects of your current song, and ignores teleport control and no-teleport conditions.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, Aglaope instead has two spell-casting attacks, with her seduction theft attack in-between them.
Strategy
A player with stealth and a wand of death may be able to kill Aglaope before she can pick up The Lyre of Orpheus.
dNetHack
Defeating Aglaope in a straight fight can be surprisingly difficult even by the standard. A magic whistle is recommended to keep pets nearby after she forcibly warps you, and a worn engagement ring will block any nymph-style seduction attacks. A horde of high-level pets such as dragons, ancient nagas or master mind flayers can make extremely short work of her if whistled to her position.
Origin
In Greek mythology, Aglaope (Ancient Greek: Ἀγλαόπη, "with lambent voice"), also called Aglaopheme (Ἀγλαοφήμη) and Aglaophonos (Ἀγλαόφωνος), is one of the Sirens, a group of humanlike beings with alluring voices. There are a varying number of Sirens named, ranging from two to as many as eight or even ten; they are generally attested as daughters of the river-god Achelous.
The Sirens first appear in a scene in Homer's Odyssey, where Odysseus orders his men to leave him tied to his ship's mast so that he can hear their hypnotic song; all of his sailors plugged their ears with beeswax as well. When he heard the Sirens' beautiful song, he ordered the sailors to untie him, but they bound him tighter until they had passed out of earshot. The Sirens are often described as beautiful women with bird-like or mermaid-like features, with Aglaope in dNetHack patterned after the former type (though the Sirens of the Odyssey are not described in the text).
