Pandemonium

Version 0.13: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Pandemonium is an infinite realm of pain and suffering. While you can find a good deal of loot there, all these treasures are guarded by demons and even crueller demon lords. Many a hero, confusing confidence with megalomania, has died screaming in the barrage of torment and hellfire. Pandemonium is endless. Portals there are found abundantly in the deeper parts of the main dungeon. Note that getting back might be more difficult. No fewer than five runes can be found in Pandemonium: • a fiery rune in the well-heated realm of Cerebov • a glowing rune in the contaminated domain of Mnoleg • a magical rune guarded by the arcane powers of Lom Lobon and his minions • a dark rune in the shadowy abode of Gloorx Vloq • demonic runes exist in multiple copies, owned by less famous lords

This gate leads to the endless halls of Pandemonium. Tales about successful lootings of these netherworlds are rare. Even the strongest and most experienced characters can die there. On the other hand, these halls contain several runes and lots of valuable items. It is much easier to get in than to get out.

Pandemonium is a vast wasteland of demonic corruption. There are no set levels, and it's impossible to return to a level once you've left it. Pandemonium contains all types of demons, and most levels will contain a Pandemonium lord, possibly guarding a small vault with treasure or the demonic rune of Zot. There are also 4 levels that have a unique Pan lord and a guaranteed rune. Multiple portals to Pandemonium may be found on Dungeon: 20 or lower.

Like the Abyss, random loot and food is scattered throughout Pandemonium, though with a much better likelihood of being high-quality. If you are strong enough (and possibly wear a ring of sustenance, are undead, or are permanently in lich form), it is possible to wander around Pandemonium indefinitely, eventually finding any desired item. Note, however, that by the time you are ready to enter Pandemonium, you will likely already have everything you need to ascend with the Orb. Still, journeying through Pandemonium can be useful if you've run out of potions of cure mutation or scrolls of identify and remove curse, or as a stepping stone to Ziggurats, which can be even more difficult.

Pandemonium is hard to escape from, with a small chance that a gateway leading out will be generated on any given floor (often within a Pandemonium lord's treasure vault), so it's important to be fully prepared before entering. The best way to escape is often to find a portal to the Abyss, which is comparatively easy to escape from. Note that self-banishing via a distortion weapon is not an actual way out: after banishment, using the Abyssal escape portal simply returns you to the Pan level on which you were banished.

Warning: Since you cannot return to a specific Pandemonium floor once you've left it, you should enter Pandemonium only if you are prepared to deal with any of the four named Pandemonium lords, unless you are willing to never find the rune in question. When you enter a floor with one of the four named Pan lords, you will receive a warning that a mighty Pandemonium lord is on the level, and you must grab the rune before leaving if you don't want to miss it.

Preparation

It is strongly recommended you bring at least the following:

• Mutation resistance, for neqoxecs and Mnoleg
• Electricity resistance, for Lom Lobon
• Cold resistance, for Lom Lobon
• Maximum fire resistance, for Cerebov
• Poison resistance, for Gloorx Vloq
• Ways to heal and teleport/blink, in case you get overwhelmed
• Enough free inventory slots for Cerebov's loot, as well as anything else cool you find during exploration
• Optional: a method of digging, or you might get stuck in this: [1]

Of course, you don't necessarily have to conquer all preset levels of Pandemonium in one trip. However, when you do find yourself on a level with a demon lord, you will only have this one chance at his rune. Thus, you need to carry items and memorize spells that have the versatility to conquer any particular preset level. It bears mentioning that it isn't absolutely necessary to kill the Pan lords to obtain their runes. You can lure them away from the rune then circle back, or grab the rune with Apportation and flee.

Pandemonium Levels

All gates on Pandemonium that don't lead to the Abyss or back to the Dungeon lead to "another region of Pandemonium." There are four preset floors of Pandemonium (identifiable by the table below), each containing a unique, named Pandemonium lord and his corresponding rune. Non-preset floors may have a Pandemonium lord with a random name, possibly guarding the demonic rune of Zot. The demonic rune will continually have the possibility of appearing with a Pan lord on a non-preset level, but only until you pick one up. If you do arrive at a level with a named Pan lord, you will receive the message:

The air here is shimmering with an eerie glow. The mighty Pandemonium lord Mnoleg resides here.

You sense a powerful magical presence. It is not pleased. The mighty Pandemonium lord Lom Lobon resides here.

Searing heat pours from the floors and walls of this place. The mighty Pandemonium lord Cerebov resides here.

Shadowy figures dance across your vision. The mighty Pandemonium lord Gloorx Vloq resides here.

Floor/Wall colors of the preset levels may vary depending on the terminal palette. The palette used here is the "official" one included in the tiles version. Walls on left are for the ASCII charset, and walls on right for the Unicode charset. The walls and floors for the unique Pan lord levels are random in the tiles charset. Note that if you worship The Shining One your halo can hide the floor color except at the edges of LOS.

Unique	Rune	Color	Floor	Walls	Notes
Mnoleg	glowing rune	##..▒▒	yellow	dark red	Will try to mutate you and has lots of neqoxec buddies.
Lom Lobon	magical rune	##..▒▒	grey	white	Spellcaster with wizard buddies. Also summons ball lightnings which will hit you with electricity.
Cerebov	fiery rune	##..▒▒	dark red	dark red	Attacks with the Sword of Cerebov, negating one level of fire resistance.
Gloorx Vloq	dark rune	##..▒▒	dark grey	dark grey	Poisons you and has Executioner buddies. Casts Dispel Undead.

Warning: it is possible to enter a new Pandemonium level next to a Pandemonium lord [2].

History

In 0.14, each Pandemonium rune you pick up increases your odds of finding an exit. Pandemonium will also feature a new set of demonspawn monsters.

The named Pan lord warning message was introduced in 0.6. Magic mapping and Lugonu's self-banishment functioning in Pandemonium were introduced in 0.7. Before 0.9, there were limitless demonic runes of Zot, with the record collected being over 250.

Prior to 0.10, self-banishing via a distortion weapon was an effective way to escape, equivalent to using a portal to the Abyss.