Teeming dens
A teeming den is a special room full of sleeping creatures lying among their hoard. Creep past and they sleep on. Wake one and the whole den may be up.
A den comes only on a level with a danger (see Dungeons and danger), in a room of 16 floor cells or more. Its sleepers are the level’s own kind of creatures. Each is drawn just as the level’s other creatures are: by the level’s danger and how rare each kind is, with now and then a weaker stray or one from deeper down. They are always hostile to you and never unique. Sometimes the whole den is of one kind (a warren, such as a nest of rats) or of one faction (a tribe, such as a goblin camp). Their hoard is a few items a little better than the level’s own.
A beast den holds only animals and fen things. Its sleepers are drawn the same way, but only among the wildlife, the vermin, and the marsh things, whether they are hostile to you or not. A dungeon with none of these among its creatures never has one. Its hoard is no treasure, only what the beasts dragged in: piles of bones and fresh corpses of the level’s creatures. These are good to eat when you first come to the level, and rot from then on.
| Den | Sleepers | Of | Wakes at | Cry | Hoard | Warren | Tribe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armoury | one per 6 floor cells, 2 to 8 | its own: animated armour, animated blade, animated panoply; drawn 4 dangers deeper than the level | 200% of the hearing threshold | 40 | one item per 4 sleepers (at least 1), item level +1 | 20% | 0% |
| Beast den | one per 4 floor cells, 4 to 16 | wildlife, vermin, marsh things, hostile or not | 200% of the hearing threshold | 60 | per 4 sleepers (at least 1), a pile of bones and a fresh corpse of a creature of the branch | 10% | 20% |
| Teeming den | one per 4 floor cells, 4 to 16 | any type hostile to you | 200% of the hearing threshold | 60 | one item per 4 sleepers (at least 1), item level +1 | 10% | 20% |
| Workshop | one per 5 floor cells, 3 to 10 | its own: animated bellows, animated broom, animated bucket, animated chair, animated coat stand, animated cooking pot, animated kettle, animated ladle, animated stool, animated warming pan | 200% of the hearing threshold | 30 | one item per 4 sleepers (at least 1), item level +0 | 20% | 0% |
“Wakes at” is how loud a noise must be where a sleeper lies, in percent of the loudness it can just hear (see Hearing). Sleepers hear a whisper but wake only to twice that. They never wake by themselves, however long you wait or rest nearby. They wake when:
- a noise is loud enough where they lie: your footsteps, a door, a fight, a kick, digging;
- something hurts them: a blow, a missile, a spell, even poison;
- a neighbour wakes. Every sleeper that wakes cries out at once (“Cry” is its loudness). The cry may wake those near it, and their cries the next, until the whole den is up.
Light does not wake them, so carrying your lantern in is safe. Your plain footsteps (60) wake a kobold, which hears 15 and so wakes at 30, up to three cells away. With some Stealth you can walk right past.
A sleeper has seen no one, so sneak attacks land on it every time. But every blow is noise, and a kill is a fight its neighbours may hear. A sleeper you see shows as “asleep” in look mode, and you are told when one wakes.
Sleepers count among the level’s creatures. While the den is full, fewer newcomers find their way to the level. Killing a sleeper is like killing any other foe.
Homes of animated things
Two dens have creatures of their own, whatever the dungeon:
- An armoury sleeps animated blades, hollow
armour, and panoplies among weapon racks (
‡) along its walls. They are drawn as if the level were four dangers deeper. - A workshop sleeps the things of a house’s work among
workbenches (
π): bellows, brooms, buckets, chairs, coat stands, cooking pots, kettles, ladles, stools, and warming pans.
You can see over racks and benches but not walk through them. They never stand beside a door or block the way across the room. Each room comes only where its creatures can be met at the level’s danger: an armoury from danger 1, a workshop no deeper than danger 16. Animated things never stray, so outside the dungeons that keep them these rooms are where you find them (see Animated objects).
See also: Surprise and sneak attacks and Hearing.