Iris

Iris, Friend from Afar is a spirit that appears in dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack.

Ritual, seal and taboo

The seal of Iris must be inside a cloud, including a poison cloud or dust cloud: the cloud does not have to be present while the hero engraves the seal, and the hero themselves is not required to be standing within the cloud.

To remain bound to Iris, the hero must not see their reflection, whether by applying a mirror or attacking a monster that has reflection—a hero that is blind can safely attack monsters with reflection.

Mark

A hero that has Iris bound will have the veins on their arms bulge and shine with rainbow iridescence: when attacking in melee, the flesh on their arms will open as part of Iris's passive powers, with the rainbows forming tentacles that lash the target. These veins and tentacles can be seen from a distance, and the tentacles cannot be hidden during the first turn an attack is made—after one turn, a worn cloak is required to hide the tentacles, while after at least five turns they can be hidden with either a worn cloak or a suit of armor.

Benefits

While Iris is bound, she grants the hero immunity to sickness along with skill in morning stars.

The active powers of Iris are as follows:

• Horrid Wilting: The hero inflicts desiccation on a single adjacent target, dealing 5 spirit dice of damage and healing themselves by an equivalent amount of HP. Monsters that are nonliving or otherwise have a body without water are immune to this attack, but monsters composed of water such as water elementals, fog clouds and Illurien of the Myriad Glimpses take doubled damage.
• Horrid Rainbow: The hero "turns" animals, humanoids (h), and human-class monsters (@) near them in a manner similar to the turn undead command, and affected monsters that are not mindless and do not succeed a roll against their MR score have a chance of becoming scared and may even be killed outright. The hero is immobilized for five turns.

Her passive powers are as follows:

• Wilting Tentacles: The hero gains an extra tentacle attack that deals 1d4 physical damage per hit, with a ¹⁄₂₀ chance (5%) of inflicting desiccation as with the Horrid Wilting active power. The hero will always make at least one tentacle attack, adding a second if they are either performing two-weapon combat or wielding a two-handed weapon, and a hero that has the extra arms of the spirit Miska active gains two more tentacle attacks. As mentioned prior, these tentacles cannot be hidden from the view of other monsters during the turn that these attacks are performed.

As a monster

h Iris (No tile)
Difficulty	31
Attacks	Weapon 4d4 physical, tentacles 3d6 rainbow

h Iris (No tile)
Difficulty	31
Attacks	Weapon 4d4 physical, tentacles 3d6 rainbow
Base level	28
Base experience	1150
Speed	14
Base AC	-5
Base MR	90
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	0 (Not randomly generated)
Genocidable	No
Weight	1450
Nutritional value	400
Size	medium
Resistances	poison resistance
Resistances conveyed	none
Iris: can fly. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. can see invisible creatures. is omnivorous. is not a valid polymorphable form. is female. is normally generated hostile. likes gold. likes gems. can pick up weapons and food. can be seen through infravision. never leaves a corpse. may turn against you when tame. cannot be tamed.

In notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, Iris, h, also appears as a monster that can be summoned by an Illithanachronounbinder. She is an omnivorous humanoid that will seek out and collect items such as gold, gems, weapons, and magical items, and she has flight, can see invisible and can be seen via infravision. Like many summoned spirits, Iris cannot be tamed, and she will turn traitor if somehow tamed.

Iris has a weapon attack, along with a tentacle attack that has the ability to inflict disease and hallucination on targets (with confusion instead of hallucination when used against monsters).

Generation

Iris is first generated when summoned from her seal by an Illithanachronounbinder. She is always created hostile, and is not a valid polymorph form or genocide target.

Iris is always generated with an uncursed +7 morning star that has the psionic object property.

Iris does not leave a corpse upon death.

Strategy

Below this point, there are major spoilers for the Illithanachronounbinder role. They can be accessed by selecting the "Role spoiler" tab.

• Strategy
• Role spoiler

Iris's speed of 14 can be dangerous when combined with her ability to inflict hallucination and sickness, but most Illithanachronounbinders will ideally have a source of speed and a means of curing both status conditions (e.g. a unicorn horn) by the time they summon her.

If Iris is killed after being summoned, he can be encountered again in the Void, a branch accessed by opening the high altar of Ilsensine the Fallen as an Illithanachronounbinder using the invoke effect of The Elder Cerebral Fluid. Iris is generated along with many other spirits of the near void on the first floor of the branch, and is generated with the "whispers" template, which makes her nonliving.

Messages

You catch a glimpse of something moving in the <cloud>....

But you can't see what it was.

You attempted to bind Iris. The word "cloud" is replaced with the specific cloud type depending on what cloud the seal is within.

Something jumps on you from behind!

"YAY! Lets play together!!"

You successfully bound Iris to yourself.

Something grabs your weapon!

"YAY! Lets play together!!"

You successfully bound Iris to yourself.

Apparently it was nothing.

You failed to bind Iris due to a lack of open slots for spirits of the Near Void.

You smell sulfur.

You performed the binding ritual incorrectly.

Encyclopedia entry

"Where is everybody?"