Ossuary

Version 0.21: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

The ossuary is a small tomb containing the remains and grave goods of some distant relatives of the pharaohs, along with the corpses of their retainers and household animals. It is undoubtedly riddled with many traps, and its undead denizens are unlikely to take kindly to looting.

You can make out a staircase leading downwards into a small tomb. Sand surrounds the staircase and is continuously pouring onto it. Before long the staircase will be gone. They say that some distant relatives of the pharaohs were entombed here.

Useful Info

The Ossuary is an optional mini-branch, accessible through a timed portal and occasionally found in the early dungeon around the same floors that the Sewers are generated on. Although its layout varies greatly, you can always expect to find undead monsters (including mummies), numerous traps, and a pile of treasure at the end. An exit should be located right by the entrance, but leaving will seal off the floor forever.

Layout

The Ossuary's layout is unpredictable. Although it's always a fairly small floor, it ranges from a wide open crypt with little cover, to a series of interconnected rooms, all separated by doors.

Monsters

Most ossuary layouts house the usual undead:

Z Zombie

Z Skeleton

M Mummy

Other monsters only appear in specific layouts and are usually more dangerous:

z Wight - Have normal speed, enchanted weapons and are capable of draining you.

W Wraith - Strong and capable of slowing you down with their attacks.

ZSimulacrum - Fragile icy constructs that deal extra cold damage.

ZSpectral thing - Slow and weak but intelligent spirits that can regenerate and have draining attacks

s Scorpion - The only living monster encountered in ossuaries. Can inflict poisoning.

M Menkaure - A unique mummy, capable of torment. Fragile, but extremely dangerous.

z Flying skull - Fast and dangerous at this point of the dungeon. Will wake up everything with their shrieking.

n Decayed bog body - Weaker than their swamp-dwelling brethren, they have Throw Frost instead of Bolt of Cold. Can be found in a partially submerged ossuary level.

For the various derived undead you'll encounter, the base types will be monsters that tend to be seen in the upper dungeon, ranging from goblins and kobolds through elves and humans up to around water moccasins.

Tips & Tricks

• The Ossuary is often found very early in the game. Ice elementalists, Venom mages and Necromancers without Dispel Undead may want to skip it if they have no means of dealing with undead enemies.
• The mummies you encounter are slow, but hit hard. Fire damage or weapons of holy wrath will make short work of them.
• Poison resistance and/or exploring while at full HP are helpful for dealing with traps.
  • Depending on the ossuary layout, you may encounter a number of net traps. These may provide you with a net apiece, if you can set them off without getting caught.
• Fast species such as spriggans or centaurs can outrun most of the inhabitants in the ossuary and grab the loot without committing to a fight. Even average-speed species can generally disengage if things begin going sour.

History

• Ossuary was added in 0.5.0 and was first called "Minitomb".