# Valley of the Dead

Valley of the Dead

Location

Level 1 of Gehennom

Bones

Yes

Mappable

No

Teleportable

No

Diggable floor

No

Diggable walls

No

The Valley of the Dead is the first level of Gehennom, located immediately below the Castle. There is no downstairs on the castle level; you must either drop in via one of the trap doors in the Castle, or teleport in with controlled level teleport. Level teleporting down from above, trying to skip the Valley, will land you in it instead, though level teleport from the Valley itself will work. Somewhere near the lower right is an up staircase; walking up these stairs will place you in a random location in the maze to the right of the Castle. The mysterious force no longer affects you as you go up from the Valley.
The level layout is always the same. It contains several graveyards and a temple of Moloch, with attending priest. The entrance to the rest of Gehennom is behind a secret door, accessible through the temple. As the Valley of the Dead is part of Gehennom, prayer will anger your deity.

Contents

1 Map
2 Description
3 Variants

3.1 SLASH'EM
3.2 UnNetHack

3.2.1 External Sources

Map
The layout of the Valley is almost fixed:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------|&gt;.^S.|..|.....|&nbsp;&nbsp;|.....-|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|................|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|......^........|&nbsp;|...||---|^|.--.---.|&nbsp;&nbsp;|......---&nbsp;----..........-----.-----....---........---.-.||&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|.|.|..|&nbsp;|.|&nbsp;--........BBB.............|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|.......---|&nbsp;|-...........--||&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|...S..|&nbsp;|.|&nbsp;|.grave.-----.......------|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|--------..---......-------&nbsp;||-----------&nbsp;|^|&nbsp;|-......|&nbsp;|....|...--&nbsp;|...-----................----&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;||.....S....---.|&nbsp;|.......|&nbsp;|....|...|&nbsp;&nbsp;|..............-----------&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;||.....|.|......|&nbsp;|.....---&nbsp;|......---&nbsp;&nbsp;|....---.......|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;||.....|.|------|&nbsp;|....--&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--....--&nbsp;|---AAAA-&nbsp;----aaaa---------------&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;||.....|--......---...-|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|...--&nbsp;&nbsp;|.......|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|..................|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;||.._.......||...c....-|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--...|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|.......|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|...||.............|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;||.....|...-||-..c.....------....|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|.grave.----&nbsp;|...||.............--&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;||.....|--......---...^.....b.--------..........|&nbsp;|.......---------...--&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;||.....|&nbsp;|CCCCCC|&nbsp;|--.......--|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|.........-----&nbsp;-----....|&nbsp;|.|&nbsp;&nbsp;|....---&nbsp;&nbsp;||.....|&nbsp;|......--|&nbsp;------..|&nbsp;|----.........|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|.--------.--&nbsp;|-.....---||------&nbsp;|.grave..|&nbsp;&nbsp;|.|....|&nbsp;|.....----....---------...........---.........||&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|........|&nbsp;&nbsp;|...|..|&nbsp;|.....|&nbsp;&nbsp;|-.............--------...........---||&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;--.....-----------^|&nbsp;|....-----.....----------&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|......&lt;..----&nbsp;&nbsp;||&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|..|..............|&nbsp;|.|..........|.|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|.|........|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;|----------------------------------------------------------------------------
In NetHack 3.6.0 and later, for each of the pairs Aa, Bb, and Cc, one character is randomly replaced with solid walls, and the other is replaced with floor tiles: this results in a 50% chance of having to pass through each graveyard. (In previous versions of NetHack, and in many variants, the map is fixed: ABC are always walls and abc are always floors, making all graveyards on the level optional.)

Description
If you arrive by falling or jumping through a Castle trapdoor, you will land within a few squares of the upstair. The unaligned temple on the left is attended by a peaceful priest of Moloch. In addition to the inhabitants of the three marked graveyards, the level also contains six ghosts, three vampire bats, four random mummies, four random zombies, three random vampires, and a random lich. In addition to the boxes in the graveyards, there are four random pieces of armor, four random weapons, three random potions, three random scrolls, two random wands, two random rings, two random spellbooks, three random tools, a ruby, and two other random gems. In addition to the corpses in the graveyards, there are two other corpses of each character class save Monks and Priests. As you go from the temple to the downstair, in the top left corridor are two spiked pits and a sleeping gas trap, the trap in the center-left is a squeaky board, the other two are dart traps, and there are a further two magic traps, two anti-magic traps and one more squeaky board randomly located.
The entire level has undiggable walls and floor. Attempting to cast a spell of magic mapping ("Your head spins as something blocks the spell.") or reading a scroll of magic mapping ("Your mind is filled with crazy lines. Your head spins in bewilderment.") will result in confusion.

Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, the level is magic mappable, and teleport is allowed.
The priest of Moloch is hostile and cannot be pacified, protection therefore can not be bought.

UnNetHack
UnNetHack has an alternate version of the Valley of the Dead originally taken from the Lethe patch. Much like the original, it has a lit temple, the same traps and monsters, a lot of player corpses, and similar loot lying around. Unlike the original, though, the upstairs are in a different position, a river cuts through the valley, and portals to Vlad’s tower, The Dragon caves, and Sheol are at the marked positions.

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External Sources
GitHub level file

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