Hi, crawlers! This week has been simply magical, by which I mean, full of spells. New spells. Two new spells. And a bunch of other changes:

New spells: Cigotuvi’s Embrace, a L5 Necromancy spell that turns corpses into temporary AC & SH. The corpses slowly slough off over time & (sometimes) when the player is hit or blocks an attack. Found in the Book of Unlife and (sometimes) in Kikubaaqudgha’s second gift. Singularity, a L9 Translocations spell that summons an all-devouring interdimensional maw. Nearby enemies are sucked inward & damaged, moreso the closer they get. Found in the Plane Papyrus, a high-level Translocations book containing Dispersal, Controlled Blink, Malign Gateway, Disjunction, and of course Singularity. (Various other books have been adjusted slightly.)

Force Lance is now L4 Conjurations/Translocations, slightly more accurate, and better at knocking back enemies. Flying enemies are especially vulnerable.

Dispersal now affects a wider area, and has a chance of confusing affected creatures.

Twisted Resurrection has been removed.

New enemies: Robin of the Strong Arm, a hobgoblin unique appearing in the very early Dungeon. She’s stronger than your average hobgoblin, and accompanied by her own personal army of hobgoblins & goblins, the latter of which she will happily hurl at her enemies. Duck! Shard Shrikes, batty monsters that appear in Cocytus. They spit Throw Icicle, resist and attack with cold, and flock in small bands. They have 2 AC, but are only literally made of glass in certain non-canonical fanfictions.

Seraphim are now considerably more dangerous: damage doubled, speed increased by 50%, and a new spellset, including Hunting Cry, Summon Holies, Injury Bond and Cleansing Flame.

Seraphim now occasionally appear on the orb run.

Ghost crabs have scuttled sideways all the way from Crypt to Swamp.

Insubstantial wisps are now slightly more fragile & less numerous, but have Static Discharge.

Hellwings now have Cigotuvi’s Embrace, and spawn with it active.

If the player clears a ziggurat and enters another, they may occasionally find themselves in the center of the floor rather than the edge. The odds of this increase with depth and number of ziggurats cleared.

Zin’s Recite is no longer usable if no enemies with low enough HD are visible. Recite invulnerability is now mentioned in monster descriptions.

Gozag will no longer offer the player shops that are entirely useless for their race.

Ctrl-direction now always attacks, rather than sometimes opening or closing doors, or removing traps.

In Zot Defense, the player can now place traps on top of other traps.

Butchering and bottling blood now only takes a single turn.

Powered by Death now works with all corpses.

The Wild Magic card now afflicts enemies with miscast effects, rather than the player, and restores the player’s MP for each enemy affected. It’s moved from the Deck of Punishment (back to) the Deck of Wonders.

When in shadow form, the player can no longer be petrified.

Monsters can no longer block their own attacks.

Butterfly colours have been disambiguated.

The legendary weapons “Glorpy”, “Loopy”, and “Plog” may now appear.

Gozag’s shopkeepers have had their genders randomized.

Insects are no longer referred to as ‘she’.

Electric golems can no longer breathe.

Monsters no longer believe that rN+ armour allows them to see invisible.

Angels no longer have demonic powers.

Bats can now memorize spells.

Happy crawling!