Passage of Golubria

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Passage of Golubria
Level	4
School1	Translocation
Source(s)	Great Wizards, Vol. VII Book of the Moon
Casting noise	3
Spell noise	8
Power Cap	100
Range	2-7
Flags	Escape, Neutral, Selfench, Target

Opens two gateways (one always near the caster), which allow instantaneous transport to random other open gateways to any creature entering them. There is no limit to the number of gateways that can be open at one time, but a gateway will close when entered, or after a moderate amount of time.

Passage of Golubria is a level 4 Translocations spell which creates a wormhole, allowing instantaneous passage between two points.

Useful Info

When cast, you select a target tile within range. Two portals are immediately created: one within 2 tiles of your location, one within 2 tiles of the targeted tile. Portals can only form on ground tiles; shallow or deep water, lava, stairs, altars, doors (closed or open), or any other dungeon feature are ineligible. There must be at least one valid spot for both portals to spawn.

Entering a portal's tile (if on top of one, use < or >) will immediately teleport you to another portal, noisily destroying the entry portal in the process. The destination portal remains - it can be used if there are other portals. Since each casting creates two additional portals, casting PoG multiple times will leave you with 3+ portals. In this case, the destination tile is randomly chosen. Monsters can enter portals, if the portal is in their path; they won't explicitly try to enter portals.

Portals last for 30-49 turns; this does not depend on spell power. Portals also expire if you leave the floor.

On any level of the Realm of Zot, or while holding the Orb of Zot, the Passage will be less accurate (spawns within 4 tiles of target) and portals will expire quicker (in 10-19 turns). It is completely unusable in the Gauntlet. However, Passage of Golubria is not considered a teleport, so Formicids can use portals normally.

Strategy

A great escape spell, if you have decent power, and if you use it proactively. You get to control the direction of the portals, even if the exact location isn't precise. Getting 5 tiles of distance can make it much easier to escape. However, it isn't perfect. Monsters may step in a portal, and sometimes either the entry or destination portal won't be in a great location (monsters in the way of the entry portal, for instance). Use it early in a fight; it can give you an escape option without as much risk.

The destination portal lasts after you use a passage, so watch out if you're casting it more than once. An immediate second cast has a 50% chance of delivering you to the entry portal. Thankfully, you can use > to enter the portal you're on, so this just means you lose a turn. You can also use this property to your advantage:

• You can "juke" enemies; cast Passage once, run away for a bit, then cast it again to go back to the first portal. Since enemies will be traveling towards the second location, going back to the original location can let you get away. Not bad if you ran 20 tiles or so.
• You can mess with teleports. Cast a passage, then teleport. If you want to go back, cast it again, and you'll likely end up at the pre-teleport destination.

Tips & Tricks

Other than escape, Passage of Golubria can be used for these purposes:

• Kiting. Each cast of PoG gives you a couple tiles of distance. With a large enough MP pool, you can shoot at melee enemies without ever getting in melee range. Using the destination portals, as mentioned above, is very helpful.
• Stabbing. You make a soft noise on cast, and the portals are noisy when destroyed. However, the creation of the portals is silent. Passages can be used to approach an enemy using fewer turns. Don't cast when in line of sight of the victim, since the destroyed portal can wake them up.
• Lowering your turncount. During exploration, you can cast a passage in a direction, regenerate MP (while walking), then have the MP to cast it again. Mostly relevant to turncount speedruns that use magic (e.g. high score runs).

Wormhole tile

History

• Prior to 0.28, this spell could create passages from full LOS, regardless of spell power.
• Prior to 0.26, this spell did not function at all in the Realm of Zot or while holding the Orb.
• Prior to 0.19, this spell functioned normally in the Realm of Zot.
• Prior to 0.17, you couldn't enter portals while standing on them.
• Prior to 0.11, portals didn't make a noise when they timed out.
• Prior to 0.10, only one set of gateways could exist at one time.