Mist wolf (SLASH'EM)

d mist wolf
Difficulty	15
Attacks	Bite 4d6 cold, bite 2d6 physical

d mist wolf
Difficulty	15
Attacks	Bite 4d6 cold, bite 2d6 physical
Base level	12
Base experience	294
Speed	18
Base AC	4
Base MR	0
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	850
Nutritional value	350
Size	Medium
Resistances	cold resistance (Hack'EM only)
Resistances conveyed	None
A mist wolf: has no hands. is an animal. is carnivorous. is normally generated hostile. does not appear in Gehennom. normally appears in small groups. requires a +1 weapon to hit. hits creatures as a +2 weapon.
Reference	SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2 src/monst.c, line 517

For the monster in dNetHack and similar variants, see mist wolf (dNetHack).

A mist wolf, d, is a type of monster that appears in SLASH'EM, SlashTHEM and Hack'EM. The mist wolf is a carnivorous canine that is among the more dangerous non-unique canines in the variants where it can be encountered.

A mist wolf has a strong bite attack that deals cold damage and destroy potions in the target's open inventory, and a second bite attack that does normal physical damage. In SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM, mist wolves hit as +2 weapons and require a +1 weapon or better to be hit. In Hack'EM, mist wolves possess cold resistance and can also breathe clouds of mist as a defensive measure: they deal no damage, but will obscure the vision of the hero and other monsters.

Mist wolves are considered "children of the night" for the purpose of chatting to vampires in their humanoid form.

Generation

Randomly generated mist wolves are always created hostile. They appear in small groups, and are not randomly generated in Gehennom.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, mist wolves appear among the random d that are part of the first quest monster class for Samurai and make up ²⁴⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated on the Samurai quest. They also appear among the random d that are part of the second quest monster class for Yeomen and make up ⁶⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated on the Yeoman quest.

SlashTHEM

In SlashTHEM, mist wolves appear in the same capacity for Samurai and Yeomen as in SLASH'EM. They also appear among the random d that are part of the first quest monster class for Ninjas and make up ²⁴⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated on the Ninja quest.

Hack'EM

In Hack'EM, mist wolves appear in the same capacity for Samurai and Yeomen as in SLASH'EM. They also appear among the random d that are part of the first quest monster class for Infidels and make up ²⁴⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated on the Infidel quest.

Strategy

Mist wolves are essentially a stronger form of shadow wolf in SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM: they have the same bite attacks and an even higher movement speed of 18, which can make them annoying and outright dangerous, and a hero will need their non-artifact weapons to be enchanted in order to have any effect. They also appear in groups and can quickly overwhelm the hero unless they seek cover in a hallway or similar area. As with shadow wolves, cold resistance can make mist wolves less deadly. The mist wolf's ability to hit as +2 makes them somewhat decent pets for the mid-game should a hero obtain one.

History

The mist wolf first appears in SLASH 6, an ancestor of SLASH'EM. In this version, several mist wolves are randomly placed on some floors of the defunct Drow quest branch during level creation: one is randomly placed in each of the upper filler levels, two are randomly placed in each of the lower filler levels, and eight are placed on the goal level with six of them in fixed positions. Mist wolves also appear among the random d that are part of the first quest monster class for the Drow and make up ²⁴⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated there.

Origin

The encyclopedia entry comes from the Shannara series of high fantasy novels written by Terry Brooks, where it is part of an in-universe bestiary written by the character Wizard Endlebrook.

Messages

Messages associated with wolves can be found on other articles:

• For messages specific to communicating with vampires as a wolf, see the article on the vampire monster class.
• For messages printed when chatting to wolves, see the article on canines.

Encyclopedia entry

This hazy canine (_canis precipitous_) is thought to have a good
heart hiding somewhere within its green, silky hide. Unfortunately,
the beast is usually ravenous, as its diet of mist is not
very filling, at least compared to human flesh.

[ The New Bestiary, Wizard Endlebrook ]