                Suddenly, a map coalesces in your mind!
               =========================================

               by Robert DeLoura (deloura@noaapmel.gov),
                           with additions by
             David "Mishael" Green (mishael@teleport.com),
               and Boudewijn Wayers (kroisos@win.tue.nl).
Quoted from the "dungeon" and "endgame" files for NetHack 3.1.3 as written 
by the above contributors, and amended by Jonathan Ellis to include new 
forms of some levels. Collected into one file also by Jonathan Ellis, with 
some new explanations as well - notably for bones levels, Magic Memory vaults, 
and more detailed explanations of the special levels in the main dungeon.
Valid for NetHack 3.2.3.


The Dungeons of Doom are 25-30 levels deep.
- An extra down-stairwell on a level from 2 to 5 leads to the Gnomish
  Mines. (see below for description.)
- The Oracle level appears between levels 5 and 10.
- The Bigroom occurs 15% of the time, between levels 10 and 13.
- The Rogue level appears between levels 15 and 19.
- A magic portal to the Quest appears 6-8 levels below the Oracle level
  (effectively anywhere between levels 11 and 18).
- A magic portal to Fort Ludios may appear between levels 10 and the
  Medusa level (the portal will be inside a "Magic Memory Vault", which is
  one of those little 2x2 rooms with loads of coins in.)
- The Medusa level appears no more than 5 levels from the bottom
  (effectively anywhere from 20 to 29).
- The Castle is the bottom level of the main dungeon (effectively
  anywhere from 25 to 30).

In the Dungeons of Doom, special rooms can appear. These include shops,
court rooms, zoos, temples, beehives, morgues, barracks, swamps and
"Magic Memory" vaults. 

 - Of these, the vaults are generated completely at random: one (but no more) 
may or may not be present on any level, whatever else it has on it. A Magic 
Memory Vault is a small 2x2 room with lots of coins in and no exit: there may
be a single-use teleport portal to it somewhere on the level, into which the 
character may inadvertently or knowingly stumble. (So may any other monster.)
   If you can teleport out after grabbing the loot, there is no problem. If 
you dig your way into the vault, you can use the same passage out: if you 
have not dug your way into the vault but teleported there, you will need to 
have some means of digging or teleporting out, otherwise you will have to 
wait for the guard.
   Any time you are in there, one of the vault's guards may turn up and ask 
your identity. You may pretend to be the owner of the vault and its gold 
(though this will not work if the owner in question is dead.) See the Fort 
Ludios spoiler for who owns all the gold in the dungeon... If you do this, 
the guard will go away, leaving you free to dig your way out. If you have no 
means of digging your way out, or give the wrong name, you will have to drop 
*all* your gold in the vault and follow him out through a secret passage 
which closes permanently behind you. (If you do not do this, he will get 
angry and fight you. The same will happen if you teleport away while he is
there: if he isn't there when you teleport, you will get away with it.)

 - The levels below Medusa may be normal dungeon levels or maze levels: 
all levels in Gehennom are mazes if they are not special levels. A maze
level consists entirely of corridors and walls, with no rooms, and is 
usually patrolled by a minotaur who often carries a wand of digging.

 - And finally, if your character dies in the dungeon, a "bones" file may 
be created. The chance of a bones file being created is greater the 
deeper you go into the dungeon (it is impossible in levels 1-3 of the 
main dungeon, but is possible on any other level - including level 1 of 
the Gnomish Mines, even if this is at the same level as dungeon level 3.) 
Bones files can be created out of special levels, but must occur on that 
special level again - a character who dies in the Mine Town and leaves a 
bones file will come back in the Mine Town again, even if the Mine Town 
where he died was level 3 in the mines and the one where the bones pile 
appears is level 5 in the mines. Certain special levels may not have 
bones piles - notably, Fort Ludios and the Elemental and Astral Planes.
   If you reach a level for which a bones file has been created, there is 
a chance that the bones file in question will be used - that you will 
return to the same level, the pile of objects that your character was 
carrying at the time of his death will be placed on the ground on the 
spot where he died (they may be picked up and used by monsters), and each 
item in that pile has a high chance (4/5) of being cursed, and the 
monster that killed your character will also be present on the level 
unless it is the Wizard of Yendor (so beware of any bones pile generated 
from the death of a character to an out-of-depth monster, such as purple 
worms summoned by a shrieker, mind flayers generated by an early 
polymorph trap, or *anything* on the way back out with the Amulet.) There 
will also be a statue of the dead character if he was turned to stone, 
and the spirit of the dead character will walk the level - as a wraith, 
vampire or mummy if he was killed by a monster of the letters W, V or M, 
as a ghost otherwise.
   Invocation artifacts and the Amulet of Yendor will *not* be present in 
a bones pile, being replaced by normal objects (spellbook of cursed blank 
paper, cursed normal silver bell, pile of cursed candles, cheap plastic 
imitation cursed Amulet of Yendor), nor will the Quest Artifact appear if 
it is the artifact for your own class. Quest Artifacts of other classes 
than the current (living) player may be present - for instance, a Wizard 
may find the Platinum Yendorian Express Card among the remains of a dead 
Tourist, or a Rogue get the Palantir of Westerness from an Elf bones pile.
   If a character dies on a level which is already a bones level, a new 
bones file may or may not be created, with exactly the same chance as for 
the creation of the old bones level. Both ghosts will be present, if the 
first one had not already been killed. If no bones file is generated, 
tough luck: but the old bones file is deleted from the computer's memory 
as soon as it is generated.

- Shops can appear anywhere from level 2 to Medusa. The closer to the
  surface you are, the higher the chance of one being generated.

(For the rooms below, you need not be above Medusa.)

- If no shop was created, and you're on level 5 of deeper, there's a
  1/4 chance of a throne room, containing one throne, one chest and 
  a veritable army of monsters commanded by a gnome, dwarf, ogre or
  elven king.
- If you don't get a throne room, there's a 1/6 chance of a zoo, if
  you're on level 7 or deeper. This contains a lot of monsters and gold.
- If you don't get a zoo, there's a 1/5 chance of a temple, if your're
  on level 9 or deeper. The temple should have a priest, aligned to the 
  altar, and trying to kill that priest inside his own temple will anger
  the god of the altar. (This is different from normal rooms which 
  happen to contain unattended altars.) Kill the priest by shooting him 
  from outside his temple, or leave well alone. You may also meet a 
  ghost and be paralyzed for a few turns when entering a temple whose
  priest is dead.
- If you don't get a temple, there's a 1/5 chance of a beehive, if
  you're on level 10 or deeper (and if killer bees haven't been
  genocided). This will be full of killer bees, one queen bee, and lots
  of lumps of royal jelly.
- If you don't get a beehive, there's a 1/6 chance of a graveyard, if
  you're on level 12 or deeper. This contains lots of undead, and many
  boxes and chests, possibly filled with useful objects. Monsters have 
  a lower chance of leaving corpses if killed on these levels.
- If you don't get a graveyard, there's a 1/4 chance of a barracks, if
  you're on level 7 15 or deeper (if you have soldiers in your game
  and they haven't been genocided). It will be full of soldiers, 
  commanded by a captain and/or a couple of lieutenants/sergeants, 
  and will contain boxes and chests which may or may not be full of 
  useful or useless stuff.
- Finally, if you don't get a barracks, there's a 1/6 chance of a swamp,
  if your're on level 19 or deeper. A swamp room will be full of pools 
  of water, and populated by eels and fungi (; and F) if these monsters 
  have not been genocided.

The Gnomish Mines are 8-10 levels deep (top level is M1).
- The Mine Town (sometimes called the Mall) appears between levels M3
  and M5. It will have a candle shop, and there is 90% chance each of a
  tool shop, food shop, and one general store. There are two variant 
  forms of the town (the lit central area), both with the same shops and 
  a City Watch consisting of 4 watchmen and 1 watch captain. Rooms off 
  either side are random, and will contain the stairs up and down.
- The bottom of the mine appears between levels M8 and M10 (according to
  the depth of the mine, of course) and has *no down staircase*. A secret
  alcove contains 2 diamonds, 3 emeralds, 2 rubies, 2 amethysts, a
  luckstone, and 7 other random gem-types. There are two variant forms of
  this level: one of them also has a wine cellar, with six potions of 
  booze and three other random potions in. (The main use of the booze is 
  to #dip twice into water to get normal water, and then make holy water 
  out of it. But the other potions may be useful or useless.)

The Oracle has one large central room with a door on the right and left 
sides: there are a few random rooms on either side, in which are located 
the up and down staircases. The large central room contains a small 
enclosed area in which you may consult the Oracle of Delphi: she will 
provide a small hint for a small amount of money, or a larger hint for a 
much greater sum. (#chat to her to achieve this.) There are also several 
statues scattered about, plus the usual assortment of random traps, 
monsters and objects in the side rooms.

The Bigroom is, as its name implies, just one big lit room that fills the 
whole level. Beware especially of monsters with ranged attacks... All 
monsters, objects and traps generated on this level are random.

The "Rogue" level is a homage to Nethack's predecessor, the game of Rogue.
 - The graphics used here are the original crude ones used for Rogue
 - There will be no fountains, sinks, containers, altars, statues or 
thrones here (they did not exist in the earlier game), nor will there be 
any special rooms such as beehives, throne rooms, barracks etc.
 - Monsters created on this level can only be those with capital letters, 
and will never carry any objects but may drop some when they die.
 - and the level will include a "ghost" of a past Rogue player, whose 
possessions may include any or all of: 1 bow and 10-25 arrows, a mace or 
two-handed sword, a ring mail or plate mail, a food ration, a cheap 
plastic imitation Amulet of Yendor.

The Quest is 5-7 levels high.
- You receive your assignment on Q1 - provided you are of character level 
  14 or higher, and piously aligned in your original alignment (otherwise 
  you will be teleported back to the main dungeon immediately upon meeting 
  your Quest Leader.) 
- A special level appears on Q3 - the level where you enter the lair of 
  your quest nemesis, known as the "quest location" level.
- Your nemesis is at the bottom, Q5-Q7, carrying is the Bell of Opening
  and your Quest artifact. To return to the main dungeon, you must go 
  back up to level Q1 and through the magic portal. Be sure to chat to
  your Quest Leader on the way back.
- The other levels are just "filler", and usually look like a plain
  dungeon level.

Fort Ludios is only one level in size. Its corners contain 12 valuable gems 
(3 diamonds, 3 emeralds, 3 rubies, and 3 amethysts), and its central area 
contains *LOADS* of gold. And it is guarded by the legendary King Croesus
the Rich of Lydia, the richest king of the ancient world, who learned (the 
hard way) that money cannot buy happiness. There are many other monsters, 
and he also employs soldiers to guard his treasure. The Fort does not exist 
in every dungeon (its entrance has a chance but not a certainty of being in 
any Magic Memory vault generated between level 10 and Medusa - and there are
no guaranteed vaults.) The only way out is the magic portal through which 
you entered.

The Medusa level contains no totally reliable treasures of significance, 
though there is a 50% chance of a shield of reflection in the possession of 
one of the many statues dotted around the level - provided that you can kill 
Medusa first. Those who look upon her turn to stone, and the level is, 
unsurprisingly, littered with statues - which will not get up and move, 
apart from those few which are actually stone golems...

The Castle has a wand of wishing (not necessarily with the full 3 
charges, though it will have at least 1 and be rechargeable exactly once, 
just like all other such wands in the game), and four rooms filled with 
various equipment (armor, weapons, gems, and food). And loads of monsters, 
plus a barracks or two... Note that there is *no down staircase*. You will 
have to either (1) level-teleport, or (2) go through a trapdoor (there are 
several in the Castle's back entrance) to go deeper.

Gehennom (Hell) starts on the level below the Castle, and goes down
25-30 levels, just like the main dungeon. Henceforth, this level is
called G1, for 'Gehennom 1st'.
- The Valley of the Dead is the first level of Gehennom (G1). Level
  teleportation cannot pass this level: you cannot level-teleport
  into other levels of Gehennom from the normal dungeon, nor into
  the normal dungeon from other levels of Gehennom. It is a graveyard 
  level with several rooms full of undead (not surprisingly.)
- Asmodeus' level appears between G2 and G8 - his tower is always the 
  same shape, the rest of the level is random maze.
- Juiblex' level appears between G6 and G10 - it is a swamp that fills the 
  entire screen, full of jellies, slimes and oozes.
- Baalzebub's level appears between G9 and G13 - like Asmodeus, his tower 
  is fixed and the rest of his level is a random maze.
- An extra up-ladder leads to Vlad's Tower, between levels G13 and G18.
     Vlad's Tower is 3 levels high (it goes up, not down; bottom is V1).
   - Level V1 has a long sword, a lock pick, an elven cloak, and a
     blindfold.
   - There's an amulet of life saving on V2. There are also an amulet of
     strangulation, water walking boots, a crystal plate mail, and a
     spellbook of invisibility.
   - Vlad the Impaler is on V3, carrying the Candelabrum of Invocation.
- Orcus' level appears between G15 and G20. It is a ghost town, with 
  several deserted shops and a graveyard: an area to the left of this is,
  as usual for Gehennom, a maze. Orcus carries a wand of death.
- The top (1st) level of the Wizard's Tower appears between G15 and G21
  (the 2nd and 3rd levels of the Wizard's Tower are immediately below).
  The Wizard of Yendor is here, carrying the Book of the Dead. The middle
  level of the tower has a zoo in. Teleportation to any area within the 
  tower is impossible.
- Two fake Wizard levels appear, 1-5 levels from the bottom of Gehennom.
  The completely worthless one will have a random amulet in the centre.
  The other one has a portal to the Wizard's Tower (3rd level) in the
  centre (effectively between G20 and G29): this is the only way to  
  enter the real Wizard's Tower.
- A vibrating square (you must walk over it to find it, at which point 
  you will feel the vibrations underfoot) to enter Moloch's Sanctum is 
  on the next-to-last level of Gehennom (effectively G24 to G29). You 
will need to have the Bell of Opening, Candelabrum of Invocation with 
7 candles, and Book of the Dead to proceed further than here (see 
artifact.txt for further information.) If you apply the items in the 
correct order and in the correct way, a stairway down will appear, 
with a moat of water and fire traps surrounding it, in a nifty display 
of ASCII graphic art. If you fail, you summon lots of hostile undead.

- Moloch's Sanctum is the bottom level of Gehennom (effectively anywhere
  from G25 to G30). The High Priest of Moloch is here, carrying the
  Amulet of Yendor (note that Moloch will get angry when you harm his 
  high priest - especially if you do it inside his temple), and there are 
  several lesser priests of Moloch and a lot of other nasty monsters here. 
  Teleporting is impossible on this level.
 
The Elemental Planes can only be accessed after you've found the Amulet
of Yendor: then you reach them by going up the up staircase from dungeon 
level 1. Each has a magic portal to the next plane - it is a ^ symbol, 
and is easiest to find by (1) using a crystal ball, or (2) watching as 
some other creature blunders into it. If all else fails, wear the Amulet 
of Yendor - it will occasionally provide clues as to how close you are to
the portal. The Water plane is the hardest to get through, as the portal 
moves (always in the centre of an air bubble, but it is hard to find the
correct bubble.) Each of the four Elemental Planes is heavily infested 
with elementals of the native type, and other native creatures... You 
pass through them in the order: Earth, Air, Fire, Water. (You need to be
able to dig through Earth, levitation is a great help in Air, and Water 
is much easier with magical breathing even though this is not vital.)

   Eventually, once you find the way out of the Plane of Water, you reach 
the Astral Plane, where you must offer the Amulet of Yendor to your god. 
Make sure you find the right altar: there are 3 of them to the 3 different
alignments, and they all look alike apart from which priest attends which 
altar. If you offer the Amulet on the wrong altar, your alignment will 
suffer extremely badly. (The same is true if you offer a fake Amulet by
mistake. You will also be facing three of the Four Horsemen of the 
Apocalypse (Death, Famine and Pestilence), and they will not stay dead 
after you kill them. Nor may you tin them (unlike trolls, which also
resurrect themselves periodically.) You will get a pet guardian angel when 
you enter the plane, but you will be facing loads of other angels, and 
priests and high priests of all the gods as well.
   But offer the Amulet on the right altar, and you win the game, become 
a Demigod, tell everyone within shouting distance (and watch to see how 
many of them go "what the hell are you talking about?") and reward yourself 
with a beer or ten. 
   And then you can finally give up playing this game. Except you won't, 
because nobody ever escapes from NetHack permanently... Mwhahahahahahaha!!!

Here's an indication of what the dungeon looks like:

     the Astral Plane *
             |
    the Elemental Planes (Earth, Air, Fire, Water in that order)*
             |
     Starting Level (1)
             |
    the Dungeons of Doom ---> stairs down ----> the Gnomish Mines
             |
    the Dungeons of Doom ---> magic portal ---> the Quest *
             |
    the Dungeons of Doom ---> magic portal ---> Fort Ludios
             |
    the Dungeons of Doom
             |
      Medusa's Island
             |
the Dungeons of Doom or Maze
             |
         The Castle
             |
   The Valley of the Dead (Gehennom 1st level)
             |
         Gehennom
             |
(Special levels of the Demon Lords)
             |
         Gehennom ----------> ladder up ------> Vlad's Tower *
             |
   the Wizard's Tower * <---------------------+
             |                                |
         Gehennom ----------> magic portal ---+
             |
Gehennom level with vibrating 
square and no down staircase
(apply candle, bell and book
 to reach the bottom level)
             |
    Moloch's Sanctum *

Side-branches and the Planes are not a part of the main dungeon. All
other special levels are (Gehennom is considered part of the main
dungeon here). Dead ends marked with an asterisk (*) are places that
you must visit in order to win. Gehennom consists of Mazes entirely,
except for the special levels with named demons (in which you may
not teleport), namely the levels belonging to Asmodeus, Juiblex, 
Baalzebub and Orcus: and you may not teleport into the Wizard's
Tower or on the Vlad levels. Note that you may bribe the demon lords to
let you pass: otherwise you will have to fight and kill them. (Juiblex 
is easier than he should be, if you know the trick and can cure sickness
in one turn with a 100% chance of success. The rest are not immune to 
beheading with Vorpal Blade, or stoning with a cockatrice corpse, for
instance...)

