Elder sign
In dNetHack, notdNetHack, and notnotdNetHack, elder sign, also eye of yggdrasil when fully reinforced, is a ward which scares eldritch monsters when engraved on the floor. The elder sign can be reinforced up to 6-fold, with each level of reinforcement taking a different amount of strokes to draw. Starting with 6 strokes at 1-fold, subsequent reinforcements take 10, 8, 8 and 8 strokes to draw. With a fast engraving tool each reinforcement takes 1 turn. With a slow engraving tool, each reinforcement level takes the same number of turns as strokes required to draw it. It gains no secondary effects at higher levels of reinforcement.
Elder Sign
The following monsters are warded by the elder sign:
- m mimic
- j jelly
- p piercer
- P pudding or ooze
- ; sea monster except: ; water dolphin, ; charybdisone
- y light except: y mote of light
- b blob except: b blob of preserved organs, b flesh that hates
- t trapper or lurker above except: t metroids, t nameless gnawer, t mouth of the goat
- w worm except: w hunting horror and their tail segments, w parasitic master mind flayer, w Moon-entity tongue
- U umber hulk except: U uvuudaum, U Nameless Horror, U elder brain, U Moon's Chosen, U aspect of The Silence, U twin sibling, U veil-render
types of monsters:
- all insight merchants
- lovecraftian monsters: d hound of Tindalos, Y gug, V star vampire, B byakhee, q deep dweller, q dark young, g nightgaunt
- beings of Ib: . being of Ib, . priest of Ib
- kuo toa: h kuo toa, h kuo toa whip
- deep ones: h deep one, h deeper one
- carcosans: W flaxen starshadow, W flaxen star-phantom, n carcosan courtier,
- goat spawn: h small goat spawn, @ goat spawn, H giant goat spawn
- vegepygmy: g vegepygmy, g vegepygmy shaman, F rusty-gray mold, F gray fungal tower
- migo: F migo worker, F migo soldier, F migo philosopher, F migo queen
- all nupperibo: & strange larva, i nupperibo, i metamorphosed nupperibo, i ancient nupperibo
- parasitized monsters: ' parasitized doll, G parasitized android, G parasitized gynoid, G parasitized operator
- crucified monsters: G crucified android, G crucified gynoid
other monsters:
- h changed
- h edderkop
- h Mad Grazi
- n rage-walker
- n neverwas
- n intoner
- l lucksucker
- l ethereal filcher
- A weeping angel
- A Dracae Eladrin
- V moon flea
- C Blibdoolpoolp's mindgraven champion
- H lurking one
- e aphanactonan audient
- F fungal brain
- x bebelith
- & ancient of ice
- r witch's familiar
- s yurian
- w parasitic mind flayer
monster templates:
Eye of Yggdrasil
The following monsters are warded by eyes of Yggdrasil, the fully reinforced elder sign:
- obyriths: & Pale Night, & Dagon, & Obox-ob
- ancient demon and devil lords: & Juiblex, & Leviathan, & Verier, & Demogorgon, & Asmodeus, & Baalphegor
- mind flayers: h master mind flayer, w parasitic master mind flayer, L alhoon, H Lugribossk, . Maanzecorian, & Great Cthulhu, h star spawn
- parasitized monsters: C parasitized embraced alider, G parasitized commander
- lurking ones: H blasphemous lurker, H blasphemous hand, H lurking hand
- changed: H warrior changed, H twitching four-armed changed, h clairvoyant changed,
- Moon-entity: w Moon-entity tongue, d Moon-entity manipalp, e Moon-entity eye-cluster
- deep ones: H deepest one, H Father Dagon, H Mother Hydra
- ancients: & ancient of blessings, & ancient of vitality, & ancient of corruption, & ancient of the burning wastes, & ancient of thought, & ancient of death
- tannin: & akkabish tannin, & shalosh tannah, & nachash tannin, & khaamnun tannin, & raglayim tannin, & teraphim tannah, & sartan tannin
other monsters:
- @ Blibdoolpoolp, graven-into-flesh
- W Vechernyaya the Sun's Grave-keeper
- ; charybdisone
- U twin sibling
- a vermiurge
- e aphanactonan assessor
- q blessed
- w hunting horror
- H warrior changed
- @ elder priest
- { black flower
- S daughter of Naunet
- C parasitized embraced alider
- G parasitized commander
- U elder brain
- j chorister jelly
- U aspect of The Silence
- t nameless gnawer
- U veil-render
- U Nameless Horror
- @ Stranger
- @ Suzerain
- @ Adventuress Zaria
monster templates:
Generation
Scrolls of elder sign make up 5⁄36 (~13.8%) of all randomly generated scrolls of warding. Writing a scroll of elder sign with a magic marker costs 8 charges. Scrolls of elder sign can be wished for.
Rings have a base 1⁄12 (~8.33%) chance of being generated with a ward-engraving. 1⁄24 (~4.17%) of those rings will be generated with an elder sign ward engraving. When wishing for an elder sign engraved ring, if that ring would be generated with an engraving, it will have its engraving changed to an elder sign.
The elder sign appears in spellbooks of third level and above. The odds of a spellbook containing an elder sign ward are:
- Level 3 spellbooks: 1⁄15 chance (~6.66%)
- Level 4 spellbooks: 1⁄12 chance (~8.33%)
- Level 5 spellbooks: 1⁄14 chance (~7.14%)
- Level 6 spellbooks: 5⁄72 chance (~6.94%)
- Level 7 spellbooks: 1⁄4 chance
The elder sign, along with many other wards, can be learned from the Necronomicon's option to "Study up on ancient warding signs".
Troubadours start the game with knowledge of the elder sign.
The Star of Hypernotus, the madpeople quest artifact, is engraved with an eye of Yggdrasil.
The cerulean sign is a ward only seen while hallucinating, or by reading a scroll of warding while confused. It wards the same monsters as an unreinforced elder sign.
Description
A single elder signs appears on the floor as "an elder sign", while subsequent reinforcement levels appear as "x-armed elder sign", starting at one-armed and going up to four-armed. Fully reinforced elder signs appears as "an eye of Yggdrasil".
Messages
True rumors
- They say slimes and puddings fear the six branches.
- They say that mimics and jellies fear the six fingers.
All monsters represented by these monster classes are warded by the elder sign.
- They say that the Deep Ones fear the Elder Sign.
Both of the lesser deep ones are warded by the elder sign.
False rumors
- They say that the eaters of minds can be repelled by an ancient sign.
Not all mind flayers and intelligence-draining monsters are warded by the elder sign.
Encyclopedia entry
An strange symbol that has come down to the younger races out
of the forgotten past, the elder sign resembles a six-branched
limb: a curved stroke with three branches above and two below.
The sign is effective alone, or in groups of up to six; five
forming a star around the first: three above and two below.
A simple elder sign is composed of six strokes; however, due
to the more complex star shape of the reinforced ward,
expanding the sign requires ten strokes for the first arm,
and eight thereafter.
