Gem

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Version 0.31: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.
A stone of unearthly beauty and almost immeasurable value outside the dungeon. Within its confines, it is utterly useless.

Zot hoards these gems jealously, and will spitefully smash them soon after an adventurer enters the branch of the Dungeon in which they rest. Still, a very quick-moving adventurer might seize one first and keep its precious shards. Zot cannot track gems outside their home branches, so with truly astonishing speed, it might be possible to abscond with one still intact... but such a feat is difficult to credit, and likely pointless besides.

Once the Orb of Zot is taken, Zot will be unable to smash any gems.

Gems are treasure items found at the end of most branches, which do nothing but add to your score. They expire after a certain amount of time spent in the branch. You can see collected and available gems by typing }! keys.

Useful Info

Each found gem adds 100,000 points to your score (10,000 points for non-winning games). They have no other purpose. They do not take up inventory space.

Each gem has its own timer. Like the Zot clock, the timer ticks down as you spend time in the gem's corresponding dungeon branch. The timer continues to run whether you have the gem or not. After it runs out, Zot destroys the gem. If the gem hasn't been found yet, it is permanently lost. If the gem has been found, it is still "destroyed", but you get to keep the score bonus.

The length of the gem timer depends on the branch where it originates from:

Branch Gem Time (decaAut)
Dungeon 9000
Lair 3750
Snake Pit /
Spider's Nest 		2400
Shoals /
Swamp 		1800
Slime Pits 600
Elven Halls 1800
Vaults 3750
Crypt 1800
Tomb 1800
Depths 3000
Realm of Zot 1000

Obtaining the Orb of Zot disables the gem timer permanently.

Location

Gems are found in, or near, the "end vault" of a branch:

  • In rune branches, gems can be found in the rune vault.
  • In Elven Halls and Crypt, gems appear in loot piles of the end vault.
  • The Dungeon's and Depths' gems are located on the final floor, near entrances to the Depths and Realm of Zot, respectively.
  • The Realm of Zot's gem can be easy to miss: it's not near the Orb, but in the small room before the lungs.

Strategy

Main article: Speedrun

Gems are purely for bragging rights; if you only care about winning, don't bother.

That being said, if your goal is to collect all the gems, you basically need to turn count speedrun. See that page for more tips.

List of Gems

Swirls of dark smoke seem to lurk in the depths of this gem. Countless dark deeds were done in the Dungeon even before Zot seized and remade it, and their dreadful residue now taints every hint of beauty trapped within its confines.
Unearthly energies gently flow along the surface of this gem, guided by the archmage who first built the Elven Halls. Countless generations of elves flocked to learn from her, but her foremost pursuit was always the perfection of this piece of art.
Deep within this gem, flowing leaves and swaying branches seem to lurk. And here, a bone picked clean - there, a predator's eyes, staring hungrily out..?
Though it drips with mud and muck, still a peculiar dignity attaches itself to this gem. The people of the Swamp, who first carried this stone, struggled against insurmountable odds. They failed, but there is much to admire even in the ruin of their efforts.
As clear and blue as a cloudless sky or a depthless sea, this gem holds its secrets locked within impenetrable depths.
Sigils of fire burn deep within this gem, symbol of the eternal compact between naga and salamander. Their bond is that of the poison which scourges the impure and the flame which burns away impurity.
Smooth as a spider's silk, white as the eyes of some crawling thing which has lived too long in the dark, this gem buzzes with a fearful potential. Still, to a certain eye, it possesses a strange allure...
Odd lights twinkle within the depths of this gem. From what strange stuff is it made, and from what distant land did it travel?
Many are the treasures of the Ironbound Order, but none older nor more precious than this steel-shining gem. The Vaults were first forged to hold it, and none who gazed within its depths could fault the choice.
Countless spirits swirl around this gem, shrouding it in a bone-deep chill. Unwelcome in the Good gods' afterlife, they find here a heaven of their own.
They who smote down Death herself and buried themselves in a Tomb of their own making were not shy of their ambitions. Fain to seize upon baubles and overweening proud, their Lord journeyed into their eternal unrest with this gem upon their breast.
The stoneborn brought forth this gem from the uttermost depths of the earth as a gift and a warning: beware Zot! That it lies now within Zot's power is a sure proof of the perversity of mortals and fate alike.
Shining with every colour of the rainbow and a few others besides, some consider this gem 'a bit tacky'. Preposterous!

Settings

If you want to have the remaining time for gems on the status line, add this to your rcfile: 

always_show_gems = true

The following option enables the display of remaining time even for collected gems: 

more_gem_info = true

History

  • In 0.31, gems were added. Initially, the Orcish Mines branch was supposed to have the glittering gem, but it was cut before the release.
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