ADOM Guidebook

DDL - VDDL - How to descend deeper - Final level - Assasin Prince

The Assassins' Guild

The Assassins' Guild is located in the wilderness, west of the river that divides the Drakalor Chain. The entrance is described as "A rather boring cave entrance." It consists of three levels.

2.11.1 The DDL

The first level is named the DDL and contains no unique special features, although it may contain any of the normal dungeon features: traps, herbs, rivers, etc.

2.11.2 The VDDL

Upon entering the second level, the message "This dungeon is very dusty." is generated. This level contains many, many teleportation traps and can be annoying without teleport control. It also contains one guaranteed item: a wand of teleportation. The wand is always next to the down staircase found on the level in a 1 x 2 room that is separated from the rest of the level. It can only be reached by digging or teleportation. In practice, the easiest way to find the down staircase is to zap a wand of item detection, or read a scroll of item detection. This will reveal the location of the wand, which the PC can then dig or teleport to, thus revealing the staircase. Alternatively a scroll of magic mapping will reveal the location of the down staircase. Note that it is possible for a monster to be standing on the wand, so teleportation may fail. Lucky or persistent players may even be able to teleport to the wand with a random teleport.

2.11.2.1 The hidden stairway and how to descend

The hidden down staircase in the VDDL is like no other in the game. It is itself a teleportation trap and will attempt to teleport the PC away when he tries to descend. Needless to say, this is extremely frustrating without teleport control. There is a requirement to trigger a certain number of teleportation traps on the level before the PC can descend. This can be done with either the normal teleportation traps or the staircase itself. However, it is much more efficient to use teleportation traps that are far away from the down staircase. They are up to six times faster at increasing the count of unsuccessful attempts. Just keep trying until the PC receives the message "You suddenly feel attuned to this area in a very special way." It is then possible to descend. (It requires 42 teleports of the far teleportation traps, or 250 teleports using the stairs)

2.11.3 The final level

Click here for a color map of the Assassin's Guild.

The final level of the Assassins' Guild has no proper name; it is only named with four question marks: "????". There are definite precautions necessary on this level. The PC initially descends into a 3 x 3 room containing four assassins. The assassins are not particularly dangerous opponents, although they use poison. There is a safe passage available through the level which is free of traps, otherwise the level is full of traps. The PC *must not* use missile weapons on the level. If he does, a general alarm is sounded and the Assassin Prince, who is very important to the special endings, becomes hostile and refuses to give quests later in the game. Likewise, a failed pickpocket attempt, or attempting to pickpocket the same assassin twice, will raise the general alarm. Also be careful during the melee. If an assassin panics, leave him alone. Attacking panic-stricken assassins will also make the Assassin Prince hostile. In their panicked state, they make begin attacking each other or the Assassin Prince himself. Pay no attention to them. The level contains assassins, master assasins, holy slayers, gray slayers, muggers, dopplegangers and doppleganger lords.

Teleportation is not allowed on this level.

Obviously, there are some nasty monsters here and there is no particular objective for low-level PCs, other than killing the monsters for experience. The PC may elect to skip this level until much later in the game.

2.11.3.1 The Assassin Prince

The Assassin Prince is the source of the Filk Quest, on behalf of the Mad Minstrel. This quest is only necessary for the Ultra endings. See section 4.3.1.1 for a description of this quest and its requirements. If a PC is not planning to do an Ultra ending, it may be worth killing the Assassin Prince for the artifact dagger Sting, which he carries. Note two things: the Assassin Prince has been described as the offspring of a moloch and a quickling queen - he's not quite that bad, but he is a very difficult opponent - and second, Sting is really only worth acquiring if the PC has or plans to obtain its companion dagger Needle, available from Sharad-Waador (see section 3.9).

Please note that this is an unofficial and unauthorised copy of Andy William's ADOM Guidebook. For further information on the legal and moral challenges raised against this Improved ADOM Guidebook please see rec.games.roguelike.adom.
Updated June 29th, 2009