ADOM Guidebook

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Dungeon - Ratling dealer - Library - Ghost Librarian

The Rift

The Rift is a wilderness location found in the northwestern mountains, southeast of the dungeon containing the Tomb of the High Kings. The PC must meet several requirements in order to enter it. A climbing set is required (although ADOM 1.0.0 and g16p2, at least, have a bug which causes this to be ignored) and the Climbing skill must be at 100. The PC must be at least experience level 18. If the experience level requirement is not met, the game responds with: "You do not feel experienced enough for this daunting task." Willpower must be at least 20 OR Perception must be less than six.

If all these requirements are met, the PC will still most likely fall on the way down the Rift, destroying some equipment in the process. Falling can be avoided by having the extremely thin and nimble AND the very light corruptions. This needs further testing. It may be that only the very light corruption is required, as per the fortune cookie message "Being light as a feather makes you very rifty." Alternatively, it may be that only Hurthlings can avoid falling with only one of these corruptions, similar to the entrance requirements for the Quickling Tree.

To be able to descend the rift at all, you need to:

  1. be at least exp level 18
  2. have either Willpower>19 or Perception<6
  3. have the Climbing skill at 100

There are 27 checks. You have a chance to fall at each check and you always fall at least once. Chances not to fall:

If you fail all these checks, a counter is incremented. That counter is directly proportional to the health (1d8+2) and inventory damage done.

You can approximate this counter by the messages generated:

Always You slip...
  You fall...
x>5 ...for a long time...
x>10 ...a very long time...
x>18 ...almost an eternity...
Always *BLAMMMM!!!* (or "Blam!" if you have the little weight corruption).

It is not possible to bring artifacts only into the Rift, since a climbing set (and probably food, although enough *might* be found) is required. Therefore, it is a good idea to store the PC's extremely valuable items, such as scrolls of chaos resistance, in a safe place before entering the Rift. It is also a good idea to bring every bit of junk, such as missiles that do not stack, low quality armor and weapons, scrolls of ill fate, cure blindness and the like, low quality amulets, etc. along. These items are fodder for the RNG, which hopefully will destroy them rather than valuable equipment. Do not be too conservative and leave *all* good equipment behind, because the monsters in the Rift dungeon and especially the Sinister Library of Niltrias can be *very* nasty. Hopefully by this point, the PC has some decent artifact armor and weapons. A corollary is not to rush into the Rift too soon.

It is not necessary to visit the Rift dungeon or the Sinister Library of Niltrias to complete the game, and many who play non-spellcasters completely ignore it.

The whole point of entering the Rift is to gain access to the Sinister Library of Niltrias - see below.

2.22.1 The Rift dungeon

After the PC climbs (falls) down the Rift, he arrives in the Rift dungeon on RL3. The dungeon consists of nine levels, which are numbered in the opposite sense compared to every other dungeon in the game (the Tower of Eternal Flames is an exception) - RL1 is the bottom, while RL9 is the top. There is a guaranteed source of water-breathing at the bottom of the rift. An amulet/helm of water breathing is generated somewhere in a corridor. The item is always generated cursed. This dungeon features dangerous monsters - greater chaos servants, chaos mutants, elementals, greater elementals and higher level quicklings are not uncommon. Two up staircases will be found on RL5 or RL6. One leads to the higher Rift dungeon level, the other leads into the wilderness in a pass inside the unclimbable mountains. A short journey, which again requires a climbing set, leads to the entrance to the Sinister Library of Niltrias.

2.22.1.1 The ratling dealer

If the PC was unlucky enough to have his climbing set destroyed during the descent through the Rift, another is available from a unique ratling dealer on the bottom level of the Rift dungeon. This NPC is nonhostile in an otherwise rather hostile environment. As a consequence, it is quite possible for him to be killed by other monsters. If the PC needs a climbing set from him, find him quickly and be prepared to pay 50,000 gold pieces for it.

2.22.2 The Sinister Library of Niltrias

Click here for a color map of the Library.

The layout of the Library is as follows:

         #########################################        #######
         #..............................##......"#      ###.....###
         #..............................##.##....#     ##...#.#...##
      ####.................................##....# #####...........#####
      #.................................#####".."# #"....#."...".#...."#
      #.##..............................#   ###### #####...........#####
#######.##.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#..#          #"....#."...".#...."#
#...G##.##..............................#          #####...........#####
#.<.....###.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#          #"....#."...".#...."#
#....#### #.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#          #####...........#####
###.##    #"#"#"#"#"#"#"#"#"#"#"#"#"#"#"#          #"....#."...".#...."#
  #.#     ###############################          #####...........#####
  #.####################################################..."..."...#
  #........................................................#...#...#
  #################################################1#####.........##
   #.."##"......"##"......"##"............##"."####.#   ##.......##
   #]...1...##".......##"......"##"."##"............#    #########
   ##################################################
The numeral 1 represents secret doors.

The ghost librarian 'G' is nonhostile (see the section below).

There is a certain amount of variation in the items found in the Library; this map was generated with a Wizard PC. The items in the eastern chamber and the large main room will be scrolls rather than spellbooks for non-wizards. This is a good thing, since scrolls are useful for all classes, while non-spellcasters are often unable to read spellbooks efficiently or at all. Note the ] in the southwest corner. It is a climbing set, which is required to get back into the Rift dungeon. Equipment may be destroyed while in the Library, so it is prudent to leave the climbing set where it is until the PC is finished with the rest of the Library. There will be monster guardians found on top of every spellbook or scroll. These monsters can be anything and are uniformly dangerous. On a recent trip through the Library, a master lich, ancient dragons, a quickling lord, a frost giant jarl, a stone giant lord, a moloch and a mimic hivemind were found among others. It is wise to bring dragon slaying ammo in case an ancient karmic dragon is generated. Likewise, demon slaying ammo or phase daggers are very nice to have in case a (greater) moloch is generated.

Wizards who visit the Library will find every spellbook available in the game, including Wish. Necromancers, for instance, will not. Necromancers find scrolls in the two large rooms and spellbooks in the small northeast room and the hidden passageway. The exact details of what class finds spellbooks vs scrolls is being investigated. Spellbooks can be destroyed while in the Library (by blue dragons, for example), so be careful with rare spellbooks.

2.22.2.1 The Ghost Librarian

The Ghost Librarian will bless the PC for 2000 turns if given a scroll or book.

The Ghost Librarian is the source of an important artifact, the Weird Tome. In order to obtain the Weird Tome the PC must have Stealth at 100 and spend at least 2000 turns in the Library without 'C'hatting to monsters. Currently, Wizards, for instance, can cast spells throughout their combat in the Library and, after vanquishing the monsters, read some spellbooks to pass time before 'C'hatting to the Ghost Librarian. At that point the Ghost Librarian will reward the PC with the Weird Tome, which can be exchanged for five cursed scrolls of chaos resistance courtesy of the Mad Minstrel. Getting the Weird Tome sets Literacy to 100. If the PC 'C'hats with the Ghost Librarian too soon, he responds with "Respect the Silence!" and the 2000 turn counter is reset. If 2000 more turns pass in silence, the Weird Tome can still be obtained. It is impossible to read the Weird Tome. The message generated is: 

This book is filled with strange texts written in weird
letters. You have difficulties concentrating on the text. After a while 
you manage to focus your sight on the text. The text contains a strange 
collection of tunes, songs and instrumental pieces. It seems to be some 
kind of code, hinting at some ancient powerful magic, a scroll or 
something like that... You fail to decipher it.
Most characters who attempt to read the Weird Tome are Confused for a considerable length of time (20d100 turns). Do not try it in a potentially dangerous location! You can only read the Weird Tome if you are Bard, have both Literacy and Music at 100, have 50+ Willpower and 60+ Learning.

The 2000 figure for the turns spent without 'C'hatting may not be an absolute. There may be a die roll for a very small chance that a PC will be unable to get the Weird Tome no matter the length of the wait.

Research on the Weird Tome is far from complete. See section 5.5 for details.

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 July 12th, 2009