Portal: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:27, 12 April 2018

Version 0.21: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

This page is about the dungeon feature. For the obsolete card or spell, see Portal card or Portal (spell) respectively.

A portal is a (generally) temporary gateway to a special level. Each such level has multiple possibilities for its exact layout and inhabitants, but always follows a specific theme. You will almost certainly encounter some of these in every game, but it is extremely rare to ever find all of them in a single run-through. In the console version of Crawl, portals are represented by the ∩ glyph.

Portals are either silent or announced. Silent portals will exist until you enter them, even if you leave the level. Announced portals are timed, and will eventually close if you do not get to them fast enough.

When a portal times out somewhere out of sight, you may get a message such as: "The floor vibrates strangely!" Treasure troves and Ziggurats won't ever time out, but after they are used once, they may never be entered again.

The following comprises all portal levels, with their in-game description and a brief explanation:

Early Game

Ossuary: A sand-covered staircase; Zombies and mummies and traps, oh my!
The Sewers: A glowing drain; Wade through rat- and snake-infested waters. Mind the kobolds.

Mid Game

Bailey: A flagged portal; A shooting match and/or slugfest with orcs, gnolls, goblins, and sometimes elves.
Labyrinth: A labyrinth entrance; Find the exit, beat the minotaur guarding it. Bring extra food.
Ice Cave: A frozen archway; Assorted frigid monsters and ice statues abound. Bring cold resistance.
Volcano: A dark tunnel; Everything is on fire. Including you, if you forget your fire resistance.

Late Game

Desolation of Salt: A ruined gateway; An open expanse of salt containing some heavily guarded treasure.
Wizard Laboratory: A magic portal; The private laboratory of any one of several strange characters.

Anywhere

Bazaar: A gateway to a bazaar; Shopping trip! Hope you have some gold saved up.
Treasure trove: A portal to a secret trove of treasure; A collection of treasure customized for your character... at a specific, peculiar price. (No portal timer.)
Ziggurat: A gateway to a ziggurat; The ultimate challenge: a gauntlet of 27 floors of increasing madness. If you survive to the end, you can do it again, but harder. (No portal timer.)
Malign Gateway: A portal to somewhere; Not a true portal, but the short-lived result of a spell: eldritch tentacle imminent. Walk into it to blink and take some damage, if you really want to.

History

Desolation of Salt was added in 0.19
Prior to 0.14, a shorter timer would be started upon first seeing the timed portal.
Prior to 0.13, many timed portals were not announced.
The Spider's Nest was upgraded from a portal level to a full-fledged dungeon branch in 0.11.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{version017}}
+{{version021}}
 ''This page is about the dungeon feature. For the obsolete card or spell, see [[Portal card]] or [[Portal (spell)]] respectively.''
 A '''portal''' is a (generally) temporary gateway to a special level. Each such level has multiple possibilities for its exact layout and inhabitants, but always follows a specific theme. You will almost certainly encounter some of these in every game, but it is extremely rare to ever find all of them in a single run-through. In the console version of ''Crawl'', portals are represented by the {{White|∩}} glyph.
@@ Line 14: / Line 13: @@
 ; [[Ossuary]]
 : [[File:Ossuary portal.png]] '''''A sand-covered staircase'''''
-: Zombies and mummies and traps, oh my!
+: [[Zombie]]s and [[mummy (monster)|mummies]] and [[trap]]s, oh my!
 ; [[The Sewers]]
 : [[File:Sewer portal.png]] '''''A glowing drain'''''
@@ Line 22: / Line 21: @@
 ;[[Bailey]]
 : [[File:Bailey portal.png]] '''''A flagged portal'''''
-: Ranged weapons and/or a slugfest with orcs, gnolls, elves, and goblins.
+: A shooting match and/or slugfest with orcs, gnolls, goblins, and sometimes elves.
+; [[Labyrinth]]
+: [[File:Labyrinth portal.png]] '''''A labyrinth entrance'''''
+: Find the exit, beat the [[minotaur (monster)|minotaur]] guarding it. Bring extra food.
 ; [[Ice Cave]]
 : [[File:Ice cave portal.png]] '''''A frozen archway'''''
 : Assorted frigid monsters and [[ice statue]]s abound. Bring cold resistance.
-; [[Labyrinth]]
-: [[File:Labyrinth portal.png]] '''''A labyrinth entrance'''''
-: Find the exit, beat the [[minotaur (monster)|minotaur]] guarding it. Bring extra food.
 ; [[Volcano]]
 : [[File:Volcano portal.png]] '''''A dark tunnel'''''
@@ Line 34: / Line 33: @@
 ==Late Game==
+; [[Desolation of Salt]]
+: [[File:Desolation portal.png]] '''''A ruined gateway'''''
+: An open expanse of salt containing some heavily guarded treasure.
 ; [[Wizard Laboratory]]
 : [[File:Wizlab portal.png]] '''''A magic portal'''''
-: The private laboratories of any one of several strange characters.
+: The private laboratory of any one of several strange characters.
-; [[Desolation of Salt]]
-: An expanse of salt containing some heavily guarded treasure.
 ==Anywhere==
 ; [[Bazaar]]
 : [[File:Bazaar portal.png]] '''''A gateway to a bazaar'''''
-: Shopping trip!
+: Shopping trip! Hope you have some gold saved up.
-; [[Malign Gateway]]
+; [[Treasure trove]]
-: '''''A portal to somewhere'''''
-: Not a true portal, but the short-lived result of a spell: [[eldritch tentacle]] imminent. Walk into it to [[blink]] and take some damage, if you really want to.
-'''[[Treasure trove]]'''
 : [[File:Treasure trove portal.png]] '''''A portal to a secret trove of treasure'''''
 : A collection of treasure customized for your character... at a specific, peculiar price. (No portal timer.)
-'''[[Ziggurat]]'''
+; [[Ziggurat]]
 : [[File:Ziggurat portal.png]] '''''A gateway to a ziggurat'''''
-:  The ultimate challenge. (No portal timer.)
+:  The ultimate challenge: a gauntlet of [[27]] floors of increasing madness. If you survive to the end, you can do it again, but ''harder''. (No portal timer.)
+; [[Malign Gateway]]
+: [[File:Starry portal.png]] '''''A portal to somewhere'''''
+: Not a true portal, but the short-lived result of a [[Malign Gateway|spell]]: [[eldritch tentacle]] imminent. Walk into it to [[blink]] and take some damage, if you really want to.
 ==History==