Gehenna
| The fires of Gehenna have burnt many a confident hero, and they will burn evermore.
Gehenna is seven levels deep and contains the obsidian rune. It can be accessed via the Vestibule of Hell. |
| A gateway to Gehenna. You can feel the heat. Gehenna seems to be made out of nothing but flames, lava and hellfire. |
Gehenna is the fire branch of Hell, accessible from the Vestibule of Hell.
Useful Info
Gehenna is 7 levels deep and populated by fire-themed monsters. You'll meet hellions, balrugs, brimstone fiends and packs of hell knights, but weaker monsters such as red devils can also be found. Beware of creeping infernos, which cast Fire Storm when they die, and the stokers that burn them. Searing wretches will also strip away at your hard-earned fire resistance. All the while a mystical Hellish force will assault you (like all Hell branches), causing multiple nasty effects.
Gehenna's layout consists of cavernous areas dotted with small round rooms and surrounded by lava streams. Like every other hell, floors 1-6 are tiny; consisting of one exit, one staircase down, and about quarter the size of an ordinary floor.
The last level of Gehenna contains the obsidian rune of Zot, guarded by Asmodeus.
Hell Effects
In addition to the universal Hell#Hell's Mystical Force forces of hell, Genhenna's smoke disables any scroll reading while in it.
Recommendations
Provided you have enough fire resistance (rF+ at the minimum), as well as a way to kill the fire-resistant monsters you meet, Gehenna's first six floors shouldn't provde amazingly difficult. Ice or Earth Magic will make your travels much smoother.
Gehenna:7, a fortress with a moat of lava, can be brutal if you manage to wake up too many enemies at once while inside Asmodeus' chambers: having several hellions all calling down damnation at you after being tormented by brimstone fiends can mean a quick end even for strong characters. Proceed with caution. Asmodeus himself is a tough customer, a weaker version of Cerebov if you will. Flying or use of translocations may be useful to traverse lava ponds quickly.
Trivia
Gehenna is a term derived from a geographical site in Jerusalem known as the Valley of Hinnom. According to parts of the Bible, the site was initially where followers of various Ba'als, including Moloch, sacrificed their children by fire. The valley later became the common wasteyard for all the refuse of Jerusalem. Here the corpses and ashes of animals and people, as well as wastes and garbage were cast and, according to legend, consumed by a constant fire. In time it became deemed to be accursed and an image of the place of destruction in Jewish folklore. Gehenna is cited in the New Testament and in early Christian writing to represent the final place where the wicked will be punished or destroyed after resurrection.
