Wucad Mu's Monastery
| Though a thousand feet may have trod these floors, they appear solid and indestructible. |
The monastery of famed mystic Wucad Mu is a quiet, seemingly empty place locked in perpetual autumn. It is filled with shadowy figures which take on the form of various monks that once trained and meditated there.
Unlike most Wizlabs, there are very few monsters to fight in the monastery. The only combat you will see is when the shadows coalesce into hostile monks. These count as summoned creatures, however, so they can be abjured with ease. An amulet of warding will also help protect you from them, as they only ever attack in melee. If you lack any other means to deal with the monks, simply run away from them until they despawn (though more will eventually spawn to take their place). Even if you defeat them, you will gain no experience for doing so.
As you explore the silent hallways, shadowy apparitions will occasionally recreate scenes from ages past. Each of these numbered events takes place in the areas marked on the map:
| 1. Strange, shadowy figures dance through the air in front of you. 2. This room is filled with shadowy figures, quietly meditating. |
The central hall of the monastery contains an orange crystal statue depicting Wucad Mu himself. It isn't any more dangerous than an average statue, though, and it can be easily disintegrated. Destroying the statue also destroys the shadows inhabiting the place, including any monks that are attacking you. (The shadows inhabiting this place fade forever.)
What little treasure is present is guarded by the statue and stored in a nearby room. What the treasure lacks in quantity, it often makes up for in quality; you can generally find a couple of manuals and potions of experience or beneficial mutation, along with a couple of spellbooks and maybe a nice magical staff.
Monsters
| It seems a flimsy representation of a monk; nothing more than a half-formed memory. |
Shadowy monks will occasionally form themselves out of the shadows in the monastery. They aren't any stronger than their base monsters (the human monks in particular should be laughably weak by this point), so if you can handle a standard iron troll, you can probably handle yourself here. Summoners or other casters can clear them out quickly with Abjuration; other characters can take them on in one of the monastery's few choke-points or just outrun them long enough for them to despawn.
Statue of Wucad Mu
| This statue, made from a fine glassy orange crystal, depicts a mystic known as Wucad Mu, who mastered the matters of the mind. Beware of the statue's powers, as you have no chance in mental combat against it. |
Source of the shadows inhabiting the place, the Statue of Wucad Mu guards the central room of the monastery. As stated above, one shot from a wand of disintegration will make short work of it; the tricky bit can be getting that one zap off, as the statue will be spamming Divinations miscasts at you, causing confusion, MP loss, and intelligence damage. If you don't have a wand, you can partially protect yourself with an amulet of clarity and a ring of sustain abilities and try nailing it with powerful non-elemental spells like Orb of Destruction, Iron Shot, or Lee's Rapid Deconstruction.
Melee-oriented characters without any of these options should buff themselves as much as possible, then rush in with the heaviest weapon they have; if you're not confident you can smash the statue in time, you may wish to give this level a miss. Once you've gotten rid of the statue, though, you're completely safe for the remainder of your stay in the monastery (though you'll probably want to quaff a potion of restore abilities before you leave).
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