The Sewers

Version 0.28: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Every inhabited place needs to dispose of its waste products. The Dungeon too has its stinking sewers and drains, full of filthy water and ignored by most but used as hideaways by the disgusting and the desperate. Old tales speak of dangerous creatures stalking through the foul-smelling green water, preying on each other without mercy. The tales also allude to valuable items accidentally washed into the drainage tunnels, forgotten and left to grow mouldy in the damp caverns.

Useful Info

The Sewers is an optional mini-branch, located somewhere between floors 3 and 6 of the Dungeon (though it does not generate in all games). Although its layout varies dramatically from instance to instance, it's usually filled with regions of shallow and deep water, a variety of (mostly) weak early game opponents, and some useful potions, scrolls, and occasionally equipment to help you on your way.

The entrance to the Sewers is a timed portal, which will close forever if you take too long reaching it. Once you reach a floor with a Sewers portal, you'll receive a message about hearing "the sound of rushing water". When you get close, you'll usually see patches of dirty green and blue water, as well as a large number of rats, roaches, snakes, and other vermin guarding the entrance. If you have one available, a scroll of magic mapping can help you find the entrance much faster.

Monsters

The exact inhabitants of the sewers vary from layout to layout, but many monsters are common to most possible layouts:

b Bat	r Rat	r River rat	h Jackal
l Frilled lizard	l Leopard gecko	S Ball python	S Adder
B Giant cockroach	K Kobold	J Endoplasm	w Worm

Other monsters only appear in specific layouts, usually as the "boss" defending the loot at the end:

F Bullfrog - These can be found at the end of certain vaults. Surprisingly dangerous in melee at the point when the Sewer appears.

S Water moccasin - Venomous, faster and hardier than an adder, this snake sometimes appears as the final boss instead of Pargi.

K Kobold brigand - Dangerous, and often armed with curare darts or a crossbow.

m Siren - Sickly or malarious merfolk capable of mesmerizing you. A lot weaker than their counterparts in the Shoals, but still extremely dangerous. Found in one particular layout.

T Pargi - Even though he's weaker than regular trolls, he's very dangerous at this point of the dungeon.

5 Grinder - Can appear in a certain layout along with shadow imps, quasits, and zombies. Extremely dangerous if you're lacking willpower.

r Hell rat - Another fast and suprisingly dangerous foe -- though initally locked behind a door.

Loot

Loot only appears at the ending, in small chambers along the path, or in kobold rooms. Most of the time you can expect to find potions and scrolls, sometimes armour.

There are always readily accessible exit gates near the entrance in case you're quickly overwhelmed, but once you leave the Sewers, you can never return.

Tips & Tricks

• Remember that enemies that are not amphibious are easier to defeat if you face them while they're standing in shallow water. This is very useful for taking out kobold brigands (assuming they don't simply kill you at range with darts).

History

• In 0.28, two Sewers layouts were added, and many layouts were rebalanced.