R'lyeh kit

A R'lyeh kit is an unofficial name given to a collection of items and properties that are useful for traversing the sunken city of R'lyeh safely, either by remaining undetected or by minimizing time spent on the level. Many of the entries listed below may be swapped out for artifacts and items a character obtains during the game. While a sufficiently powerful hero may take on every monster in R'lyeh, including Great Cthulhu with ease, the objective of this page is to lay out the set of conditions that will minimize exposure to dangerous monsters on the level while still allowing them to amass useful loot if they so wish.

Properties

The following properties are recommended when going to R'lyeh:

• Flying. While levitation may substitute for it, flying is preferable
• Free action
• Magic resistance, ideally from a source that isn't a cloak of magic resistance

While not strictly necessary, gaze resistance, sustain ability, displacement, half physical damage, and half spell damage are also very useful.

Silent approach

The following additional properties are critical to remaining undetected:

• Stealth, ideally from a source that isn't an elven cloak. Beware that, while wielding a khakkhara, your stealth is blocked!
• Telepathy. Note that killing any of the insight merchants as a non-chaotic hero counts as murder

Loud approach

The following additional properties are critical to traversing R'lyeh quickly:

• Very-fast speed or better (such as when polymorphed into a faster monster)
• Invisibility

Common items

An AC around -12 and DR around 4 is recommended when going to R'lyeh, since fighting some monsters may be unavoidable.

The following items are highly recommended to have when going to R'lyeh:

• A potion of object detection or the corresponding spell for locating The Silver Key
• A worn greased cloak, or an oilskin cloak. All mind flayers and master mind flayers on R'lyeh will generate with an oilskin cloak that can be looted off of them
• A blessed scroll of genocide, to wipe out all mind flayers and master mind flayers on the level. If a scroll of genocide cannot be procured, a faceless helm or ring of sustain ability may substitute for it, though the latter still runs the risk of amnesia
• A source of flying for roles and races that don't gain it intrinsically. Flying boots, red dragon scale mail, and the first word of creation are common sources of flying
• A blessed unicorn horn
• A blindfold, which should ideally be worn throughout the whole sequence
• An escape item, such as a cursed scroll of teleportation or cursed potion of gain level, though branchporting is ideal here
• Some wands of teleportation
• Some potions of full healing

There are a number of optional items that will make R'lyeh significantly safer to traverse:

• A strong ranged weapon like a stack of highly enchanted thrown weapons or powerful spells such as magic missile and cone of cold. Loud ranged weapons and spells, like firearms and the fireball spell, should be avoided when attempting to sneak through
• An amulet versus evil eyes, preventing the harmful gazes from star spawn and Great Cthulhu, though it won't fully prevent sanity loss
• Some potions of sleeping for restoring sanity afterwards, and in case Great Cthulhu's gaze drains sanity to zero
• Some wages of Sloth
• A corpse or potions of blood from a petrifying monster. Many of the most dangerous monsters in R'lyeh, such as Mother Hydra, Father Dagon, and the star spawns, aren't resistant to stoning.
• A faceless helm, such as crystal helms and silverknight helms, which will block the intelligence drain attacks of regular mind flayers. Beware that these won't prevent the intelligence drain from star spawn!
• The apotheosis veil artifact fully blocks all the intelligence-draining attacks from all monsters that can generate on R'lyeh
• A ring of polymorph control and a source of polymorph, to polymorph into a monster that can phase. R'lyeh is much more easily traversed when phasing, as most of the level's walls can be phased through
• A can of grease to untrap squeaky boards

Silent approach

The following additional items are essential when attempting to sneak through R'lyeh:

• For roles and races that don't obtain it as they level up, a source of stealth, such as elven boots, an elven cloak, or a ring of stealth
• A wand of opening, the corresponding spell, or the blessed bell of opening. An uncursed or cursed bell of opening is unsuitable and will awaken nearby monsters when rung!

Strategy

Madmen will find R'lyeh substantially easier, as they have access to clear thoughts, completely negating the effects of temporary and permanent madnesses. Lawful Undead Hunters who have claimed the reanimation upgrade revealing the insubstantial world will want to make use of their phasing to bypass as many obstacles as possible, and can avoid coming into contact with any monsters at all. Vampires cannot sense Great Cthulhu with their bloodsense, though they should still avoid stepping next to it.

A hero that wishes to loot the many potions and other heavy items from R'lyeh should bring as few items as possible, and may wish to temporarily stash all of their heavy items on the level above to avoid becoming burdened. Pets should also be left there if they do not wish to awaken monsters, since they are unpredictable and cannot reliably remain silent. Before entering the level through the hole on the fourth level of N'kai, it is important to restore sanity back to 100, especially after interacting with any of the three cults, as claiming any boons reduces sanity.

Silent approach

It is important to avoid temporary madnesses in R'lyeh, as there is a ¹⁄₅ chance of the hero starting to babble, waking monsters in a CON-13 radius, effectively in a range between 0 and 7. Another possible effect with a ¹⁄₅ chance is that the hero will start screaming, waking all monsters on the level. Seeing Great Cthulhu and star spawn, even with gaze resistance, drains sanity. It is also best to avoid seeing or stepping next to a monster that drains sanity if the hero hasn't previously encountered one, which includes all monsters on R'lyeh.

Kensei and Monks will want to disable their fighting moves through the Ctrl + B "abilities" menu. A hero that has obtained the tentacle-valves Black Mother mutation can disable all automatic attacks and will want to do so before entering R'lyeh. The following common sources of automatic attacks must be accounted for:

• Wearing The Scorpion Carapace with either of the stinger upgrades
• Wearing barnacle armor
• Wielding a weapon with the living object property
• Wielding a bloodthirsty weapon
• Having the goat-ridden madness
• Having the chanting tentacles Yog-Sothoth mutation

If the objective is to obtain The Silver Key, it is best to enter the level with the blindfold on and immediately detect objects to find where the key is located, and then genocide all humanoids, wiping out all mind flayers and master mind flayers. This won't affect the star spawn on the level, which can be avoided by teleporting them away. If The Silver Key is located in either the north-eastern temple or the south-eastern temple, it is best to already put on your greased cloak or oilskin cloak now. If all monsters on the level do wake up, it is important to avoid stepping next to Great Cthulhu when it teleports next to you, as this is likely fatal and, even if it is not, will still confer the spiraling madness, as well as heavily damaging the hero's wisdom, even if the hero is blinded. In this case, the best course of action is to follow the loud approach and to either leave immediately, or to take the shortest route to The Silver Key and then leave.

When approaching the fourth level of N'kai, monsters may flee down holes into R'lyeh, and should be eliminated before they may step on a squeaky board. In R'lyeh, monsters will generate awake inside the room containing the upstairs, and may end up alerting the whole level if they step on a squeaky board. While the doors to the room can be locked, many of the monsters that generate can bust through doors. The safest solution is to completely block off the doors with a scroll of earth, which cannot be bypassed. Squeaky boards can also generate inside of the starting room, which monsters that generate later on may end up triggering, though this won't wake the whole level. So long as the monsters surrounding the starting room are dead, this won't pose a significant risk.

A hero should ideally have flying when going through R'lyeh. However, if they do not, they can still traverse the level by using a wand of secret door detection to avoid stepping on the squeaky boards. Beware that, when attempting to untrap a squeaky board, there is a chance of stepping into it instead! If engaging the sleeping monsters just outside the room, it is important to eliminate them quickly and avoid having them flee into the traps, especially Mother Hydra and Father Dagon, who are especially durable monsters.

Leading away from the starting room, the drawbridge will be guarded by Mother Hydra and Father Dagon, both of which generate with huge corrodeproof +9 bronze shields of reflection, and as such cannot be killed with wands or most spells, but do not resist stoning.

Opening the drawbridge allows access to the main hall of the temple complex and the six branching rooms, which will be guarded by a number of mind flayers and master mind flayers, if they haven't been genocided. Both the mind flayers and master mind flayers will generate with at least one attack wand and three potions, which have a ¹⁄₆ chance of being a potion of paralysis each.

If The Silver Key is located in the north-eastern temple, the hero must pass through a room containing a sleeping star spawn. It is important to be blinded before entering the room, as they will otherwise become confused by the star spawn's passive gaze and lose sanity. Star spawn can safely be engaged with a strong ranged weapon, or with a high-damage melee weapon that can kill them in a single turn. As they have a very high MR score of 90 and an AC of -20, it is unwise to engage them without a means of quickly killing them. They may either be stoned or teleported away, which does not run the risk of them triggering a squeaky board since they fly. The genocided mind flayers will have left behind many useful potions they may wish to collect, and up to 12 potions of space mead may be generated in the various rooms branching off of the main hall, each with a ¹⁄₁₀ chance of being created.

If The Silver Key is located in neither the north-eastern nor the south-eastern temples, the hero must either take northern or southern doors in the room containing the kraken filled moats to reach the other temples. There is a decent chance that the two star spawns who are generated awake, or Great Cthulhu, will be guarding the way to the temple with The Silver Key. Both should be avoided if possible. It is very rare for The Silver Key to generate on an altar adjacent to Great Cthulhu. In these cases, stepping next to Great Cthulhu is unavoidable without waking it up. Note that, while being blind protects the hero from Great Cthulhu's gaze at a distance, stepping next to it supersedes blindness. Only gaze resistance will fully nullify the gaze, though it does not fully prevent loss of sanity.

Once the temple with The Silver Key is reached, it should either be immediately invoked on the altar where it generates to learn Yog-Sothoth's seal and levelport out, or instead invoked while not standing on the altar to simply branchport out. If the objective is to learn Yog-Sothoth's seal, it is important to have a cursed scroll of teleportation or other source of levelporting on hand, as waiting for The Silver Key's invoke to recharge is unwise.

Loud approach

It is important to have your route well defined before entering the level, and it should be taken for granted that all monsters will wake up. Like with the silent approach, R'lyeh should be approached with a light load, and with all important items on hand. Before entering the level, the blindfold should be put on and should ideally remain worn throughout the whole sequence. After descending down the hole, detect objects for the key's location and genocide all h if possible.

The ideal way to traverse R'lyeh when monsters are awake is to avoid confrontation with as many monsters as possible, since time lost fighting them runs the risk of encountering Great Cthulhu, and to teleport them out of your way when needed. After exiting the starting room, if you lack stealth, open the drawbridge and simply take the shortest route to the altar, ignoring all monsters in your path. After opening the drawbridge, beware of the star spawn blocking the route to the north-eastern temple.

Once monsters are awake, it is important to watch out for Great Cthulhu, as stepping next to it is likely fatal. If Great Cthulhu teleports to a spot that blocks off your way forward, it is important to not attempt to teleport it away, as with a ¹²⁄₁₃ chance this will instead teleport it to directly beside you! If the situation calls for it, zapping Great Cthulhu with a wand of death or with a cast finger of death spell is effective in killing it, though somewhat difficult due to its AC of -15.

After reaching the temple with The Silver Key, it should either immediately be used to learn Yog-Sothoth's seal and levelport out, or instead invoked while not standing on the altar to simply branchport out.

This page is a stub. Should you wish to do so, you can contribute by expanding this page.