Medusa (EvilHack)
@ Medusa 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 28 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 4d4 physical, tentacle 2d6 poison (strength), gaze 0d0 stoning, bite 4d4 stoning |
| Base level | 24 |
| Base experience | 984 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | -8 |
| Base MR | 50 |
| Alignment | -15 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Large |
| Resistances | poison resistance, stoning resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | poison resistance (100%) |
|
Medusa:
| |
| Reference | EvilHack 0.9.0 - src/monst.c, line 3406 |
In EvilHack and Hack'EM, Medusa is made significantly stronger from her appearance in NetHack. She cannot be tamed or even pacified, and retains all of her other traits from NetHack.
Medusa has a passive attack-like gaze that activates once per round and can turn victims to stone. Her weapon attack is made stronger, and her claw attack is replaced with two attacks tied to her snake-filled hair: a "tentacle" attack that can poison victims and drain strength, and a bite attack that can induce gradual stoning. She (or rather the snakes making up her hair) will also emit a hiss when biting not unlike a cockatrice or chickatrice. Cancellation will nullify all the stoning effects of Medusa's attacks.
Medusa possesses poison resistance, and also has stoning resistance except against her own gaze: a mirror or a source of reflection can reflect Medusa's gaze back at her and turn her to stone, unless she also has a source of reflection or else cannot see the hero or monster that is reflecting it. Unlike NetHack, Medusa will attempt to avert her eyes from her reflected gaze where possible: this requires a hero or monster with reflection or a mirror to move closer to her, and there is a low chance each turn that she will not avert her eyes in time—the chance is 1⁄12 with a source of a reflection, and is 1⁄25 with an applied mirror. See the combat strategy section for further details on the gaze attack and how to handle it.
Medusa is poisonous to eat, and biting into her corpse or attempting a digestion attack will also turn the eater to stone. A hero or monster that eats her corpse or tin while they have stoning resistance gains 1⁄6 (+16%) additional poison resistance.
Generation
Medusa is always generated hostile, and is not a valid genocide target or polymorph form.
Medusa is always found in the Dungeons of Doom on her special level, which is located between the level containing the magic portal to the Quest and the Castle. She is always generated asleep, and her exact location depends on the map used for the levels:
- The first variant will place her on the down stair within the central room of the middle island's structure, along with a statue of Perseus.
- The second variant will place her on the down stair within the central room of the eastern island's structure, along with a statue of Perseus.
- The third raven-populated variant has 3 eligible squares spread across the islands and their structures for Medusa and the downstairs to both be generated on.
- The snake-populated fourth variant will place her within the structure on the largest western island, with four eligible squares inside for Medusa and the downstairs to both be generated on.
As a result of the level appearing in every game, Medusa will never directly appear in a bones file.
Medusa is always generated with an orcish bow and 25-40 poisoned orcish arrows.
Strategy
While it is still possible to reflect Medusa's gaze and instantly turn her to stone, doing so is more difficult: Medusa can use her bow and arrows to damage players trying to stay out of melee range, and the stoning bite ensures that the risk of stoning remains a danger even for a hero with reflection.
Since cancellation prevents all stoning effects from Medusa, a wand of cancellation can be an even more valuable aid against her than in NetHack (where it largely behaves the same, but Medusa herself is less threatening).
Origin
In classical folklore, Medusa was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human women with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Medusa was the only mortal among the trio—a later version of her origin written in Ovid's Metamorphoses asserted that she was originally a mortal human maiden, transformed into her current state by Athena as a punishment. While the Bulfinch variant of the tale asserts that this was a result of Medusa's own hubris regarding her beauty (as quoted by the encyclopedia entry), other versions have this occur after Poseidon and Medusa lay together in one of Athena's temples, desecrating it—the original Latin Metamorphoses and other interpretations indicate Medusa did so against her will.
In the tale of Perseus, he is sent to fetch Medusa's head by King Polydectes of Seriphus, who wanted to marry Perseus's mother Danaë and get rid of Perseus under the guise of having him fetch a gift. The gods were well aware of this, and gave Perseus divine assistance in the form of a mirrored shield (from Athena), gold winged sandals (from Hermes), a sword forged by Hephaestus, and Hades's helm of darkness (both given by Zeus). These items were entrusted to the Hesperides, who also gave him a knapsack to safely contain Medusa's head.
Perseus viewed Medusa safely using her reflection on the mirrored shield, then used it to guide his sword and behead her. As she was beheaded while pregnant with Poseidon's children, those children sprang from the neck of her headless body: Pegasus, the winged horse, and Chrysaor, named for the golden blade he was born wielding. Perseus then bagged Medusa's head and used the helm of darkness to escape the other two Gorgons; upon returning to Seriphus and discovering that his mother was taking refuge from Polydectes's violent advances, Perseus saved her by revealing the head of Medusa, which turned Polydectes and his attendant nobles to stone. In popular culture, Medusa's "weakness" to reflection is often made more direct, with games such as NetHack making her vulnerable to her own reflected gaze—EvilHack in particular makes Medusa a tougher opponent with the ability for her to avert her own gaze from the source of reflection.
Messages
- Medusa doesn't look all that ugly.
- YAFM when Medusa attempts to use her gaze while she is cancelled.
- Medusa shields her eyes from her reflected gaze just in time!
- Medusa's gaze was blocked by reflection or reflected by a mirror, but did not kill Medusa in the process.
- The venomous snakes on Medusa's head lash out at you!
- You were attacked by the snakes in Medusa's hair.
- Medusa's snake bite was poisoned!
- The poison from the snakes took effect.
Encyclopedia entry
Medusa, one of the three Gorgons or Graeae, is the only one
of her sisters to have assumed mortal form and inhabited the
dungeon world.
When Perseus was grown up Polydectes sent him to attempt the
conquest of Medusa, a terrible monster who had laid waste the
country. She was once a beautiful maiden whose hair was her
chief glory, but as she dared to vie in beauty with Minerva,
the goddess deprived her of her charms and changed her
beautiful ringlets into hissing serpents. She became a cruel
monster of so frightful an aspect that no living thing could
behold her without being turned into stone. All around the
cavern where she dwelt might be seen the stony figures of men
and animals which had chanced to catch a glimpse of her and
had been petrified with the sight. Perseus, favoured by
Minerva and Mercury, the former of whom lent him her shield
and the latter his winged shoes, approached Medusa while she
slept and taking care not to look directly at her, but guided
by her image reflected in the bright shield which he bore, he
cut off her head and gave it to Minerva, who fixed it in the
middle of her Aegis.
