Difference between revisions of "Dangerous zones"

Revision as of 23:10, 26 June 2011

The Disc contains a few areas that are dangerous to the young and unwary, as well as some hazards in otherwise safe areas. This page provides advice for new players on places and things to be wary of.

Auto-attack areas

These areas all contain an abundance of high-level NPCs which automatically attack on sight, without provokation. Note that all of these have prominent signs warning of the danger at their entrances. It is strongly recommended that new players do not enter these areas, as they can be a challenge even to higher level players.

• The Shades: This is a dark and confusing maze in western Ankh-Morpork. It is filled with various tough NPCs, who automatically attack on sight. The room exits change to numbers within the Shades, making navigation and escape difficult.

• The Medina: This is a maze in the Red Triangle district (south-eastern district) of Bes Pelargic. It is filled with very tough npcs who travel in groups and will attack unprovoked. Also, the exits with the Medina are confusing, making it difficult to escape easily. Those who are killed by npcs here will find their money taken; however, their corpse will be dragged out of the Medina.

• The Snail: This is a spiral-shaped area in northern Bes Pelargic. It is filled with a variety of tough NPCs that automatically attack on sight, including some who wait and attack from ambush. The inner sections of the Snail are a no-portal zone.

• Gloomy Forest: This is a dark and... gloomy... forest situated between Ohulan Cutash and the Sto Plains. It contains auto-attacking giant spiders and bandits. The giant spiders use poison and the bandit camp contains many bandits that can summon more allies. There are also traps in the bandit camp. The druids gang up on those killing too many of them. Best not to explore too far down in Shelox's lair either if you want to stay alive. New players can go around Gloomy Forest via the well-signposted and safe if extremely long 'Leggit Loop' (or just be careful to stay on the "safe path" within the forest - "look <direction>" before moving helps a lot during the day). The easiest way is perhaps to travel in the terrains south of Gloomy Forest (to the north you need to climb) though there can still be dangerous npcs like mooses or evil trolls at night.

• The Genua Sewers: This is a maze of grilles, doors and sludge filled tunnels, and contains crocodiles which will attack on sight and use delayed pursuit. Different doors and grilles are locked at different times.

Areas which may contain hostile NPCs

These areas are less hostile than those above, but can contain hostile NPCs in certain times or places. New players should treat these areas with caution.

• The Ephebian Desert: contains many aggressive desert lions. They do not pursue.

• The water pastures near Djelibeybi: There are groups of hippos that may auto-attack. Crocodiles in the area are aggressive.

• The Ramtops: Roads may contain brigands after dark, who are mid-level NPCs that automatically attack on sight but do not pursue. They can perform specials, however, and assist each other. The higher mountain passes beyond Brass Neck contain yetis, lynxes and evil trolls, all of whom are tough, attack on sight, and in the case of the yetis and lynxes will pursue players, making escape difficult.

• The Hub and ice land: There are hostile ice giants who pursue.

• Uberwald:
  • Forests: Packs of werewolves in the forests around Escrow are aggressive at night. (They will also attack in the daytime if considered.) They also pursue (and have a very large bonus in the skill) anything they attack.
  • Escrow: Aggressive vampires appear in Escrow at night, and inhabit a nearby castle at all times. Vampires may still be around during the daytime and are fully capable of getting in a few hits before vanishing. Corpses of humans killed by vampires will turn into a vampire of <character>. Note that while npc corpses rise as vampires at the point at which they would normally decay fully, player corpses will rise before decaying fully. (These vampire-to-be corpses can be looted normally, though not buried, and are identifiable by a line that says they're twitching and that you shouldn't get too close.) Killing or helping to kill villagers of Escrow (even if you are not the one who gave the killing blow) will have you thrown to a pack of werewolves at a later time.

• Sto Plains:
  • Bleak Prospect: comes alive with aggressive zombies at night, which use delayed pursuit. They may be there in the daytime, too.
  • Roads: The roads across the plains can be brigand infested after dark. These NPCs will not pursue, but they defend each other and can perform specials. Aggressive evil trolls have also been seen on some roads at night.
  • Skund Forest: It is wise to treat wolf trails to the south of the village with caution. It is well populated with wolf packs that will attack after a few seconds.
  • Terrains: Wild boars in the plains and cabbage fields are sometimes (though not always) aggressive.
  • Some NPCs in the Sto Lat Sewers may auto attack after waiting in the room for a while.
  • In Sto Lat there are wandering thieves, usually in groups in the northwest of the city, who appear as "<adjective> character" (suspicious character, shady character, etc). They attack after a while, not immediately, but they make it unwise to idle in Sto Lat. If one kills the player, he or she will take the money on the corpse (but not in containers). These characters assist one another.
  • Throughout the Sto Plains terrains, including Skund Forest, Boars and Bears may be aggressive immediately or after a short delay. In all forested areas, Wolves are aggressive.

Other hazards

These are other hazards to be aware of.

Guild NPCs

Guild NPCs inside guild buildings and property may have additional uses (for example the Lecturer of Recent Runes while looking the same as any other NPC is one of the main teaching NPCs for the guild) and protections that are not obviously apparent to the inexperienced observer. These may be related to the nature of the guild concerned.

Player administrators of the guild may apply additional sanctions if you attack functional guild NPCs.

Wards

Things that you find on the corpses of priests (or indeed inside living ones) may be protected with religious wards or contain items that are. Wards can do anything from damage you (up to 1500 hp), make you more susceptible to damage, transport you elsewhere, make you fumble items, etc. This may kill you outright or place you somewhere (underwater, in a mugger filled alley, etc.) that you cannot survive.

Do not loot priests. Instead, wait for the corpse to decompose so the warded items will fall to the ground where they may be picked up safely. Priests with Withering Touch can quickly and safely decompose corpses.

If you must loot warded items from a corpse, you can reduce the consequences by looting warded items one at a time (and hope you can survive with the consequences of the ward). This is not recommended unless you have over 1500 hp (to have a better chance at surviving damage wards) and have magical/religious means of transportation (to escape from being transported to dangerous areas). Take EXTREME care with containers; looting a satchel will trigger any ward on the satchel and all warded items in the satchel simultaneously.

Wards vanish once triggered, making the item(s) safe to handle.

Water room

If you go on a room filled with water with too much burden for your swimming skills (about 60 for 15-20% burden typically), you will sink to the bottom of the water. If you stay there for some time, you will drown.

You can drop everything to have a better chance to reach the surface (to do this: "unkeep all" "remove all" "drop all" and then "up" until you reach the surface). It works nearly always, but strong currents can make it harder to move around, or find dropped things.

Otherwise, if you have a blue crystal ring you can twist it to be transported to a random player which can be in a dangerous area, or you can try to godmother out but this will take a life if you are too old, or , or cast portal as it should work underwater. (Passaging does not work underwater unless you can breathe.)

Wearing inflated floaties ("wear floaties" "inflate floaties") can help you stay on surface or swim up, but will make it harder to swim around and especially down or against current.

If you died at the bottom of the water or barely managed to swim up without your inventory, you can then either try to go back down to try to take a few items back up or try to swim of the shore while remembering your steps to get back if you want someone to help retrieve your items or if you want to go back yourself. In most cases it's possible to recover your stuff a few items at a time. Be advised that terrain rooms without a corpse will unload after a few seconds of having no being in them, destroying all items in them. Rooms around rivers should be fixed not to do that, but it is best to test this with a penny than lose all your items when rescuing someone.

Assassin Guilds

Non-members will find that wandering past warning signs can provide a fatal blow to the heart. Killing students or anyone in the guild will result in assassin npcs attacking you. Stealing on guild grounds will result in an automatic sanction.

Ankh-Morpork

Theft

Stealing without a licence in (e.g. not a thief, or a thief on leave) Ankh-Morpork will get you visited by some heavies from the Thieves' Guild who will be very happy to beat you up, confiscate inventory and leave you hanging from the Brass Bridge with a single hit point. Note that it includes stealing back your own items that thieves or muggers in the outer or inner Shades can steal from you in combat, best to kill them if you can and get your items back from their corpse.

Hedgehog

A witch singing the Hedgehog song in AM will immediately attract the attention of the Musicians' Guild, who's enforcer administers instant punishments: unconsciousness, leg-breaking, contracting. (Punishments increase cumulatively.)

Quarry lane

Killing a troll can cause other trolls to appear and turn hostile.

Dangerous groups of npcs

The Ole Ron group will fight you all at once and will pursue you, Hags are witches and can do nasty things even to not-so-newbie players and small old ladies also all attack at once and are just nasty.

Alchemist's Guild

The Alchemist's Guild has been known to explode (usually after some warning) and kill newbies who didn't leave fast enough or were standing not far enough outside of it.

Assassins

Junior assassin NPCs are often accompanied by a more skilled mentor on the streets or inside guild building of Ankh-Morpork. Attacking the student may cause the mentor to respond. (The mentor can be expected to have considerable hiding abilities and thus may be unnoticed.)

Djelibeybi

Attacking cats and priests

Cats and priests are both sacred in this city. Attacking them is a ticket to the ancient and highly cultural pits full of crocodiles. ("Priests" appears to specifically mean "priests" and "priestesses", not "followers" or "madmen".)

Npcs reacting to combat

Also, warriors here will assist npcs (including scorpions) who they see you fighting. Sometimes aggressive scorpions will always sting you if you fight near them, causing stat damage (lowering constitution, thus hit points) that can be cured with antidote tea.

Assassins

Finally, Hashishim npcs (who appear as dazed, beatific, giggly, and spacey men and women) will reportedly sometimes attack in defense of other npcs.

Spies

Spy npcs in this city may assist their countrymen (particularly ambassador npcs) but have also been seen assisting players of their nationality, and may occasionally attack unprovoked (this may be related to the player's nationality) even if you aren't fighting anything. These spies always focus on the neck when attacking and may backstab and abscond.

Ramtops

The Ramtops are a mountainous region, it is possible to fall to your death by stepping off of some paths and cliff tops. These include parts of Brass Neck and Slice, an area near Razorback, the Lancre Gorge, and the path between Lancre Town and Lancre Castle.

Parts of Uberwald have been reported as having similar hazards. Rooms with such exits usually hint at it in their description, and you can "look <direction>" to get information about the height or the view.

Escrow

Crime

Attacking innocent villagers or other peaceful npcs in Escrow will at some future time get you instantly transported to a pack of very strong werewolves. If at night they will pursue and try to forcefully feast on your internal organs. This is normally fatal unless you manage to escape by flying away or with a blue ring or somehow manage to defeat them. During the day they attack if you consider them but you should be able to just leave.

Stealing is also said to get you thrown to the werewolves.

Castle

Many aspects of the nearby Magpyr castle aka "Dontgonearthe castle" are lethal and it is also populated with aggressive vampires.

Genua

Certain named npcs in this city are members of the local crime families, killing them will attract the attentions of a Coffee Nostra Hitman, these are highly dangerous aggressive backstabbing npcs sent to kill the offending player.