[Crawl] Book covered in black hieroglyphics

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Currently I've no ?oID and I'm not sure whether just reading it could
be dangerous or a terrible waste. When trying to read it says:

"The book opens to a page covered in black hieroglyphics.
Read it?"

Oviously this neither seems to be a normal spellbook nor a manual (as
the latter use to ID themselves AFAIK). What is it or what can it be?

So far I've found something in misc.cc in the weird_writing section.
Doesn't help much, though.

Rubinstein
 
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Rubinstein wrote:
> Currently I've no ?oID and I'm not sure whether just reading it could
> be dangerous or a terrible waste. When trying to read it says:
>
> "The book opens to a page covered in black hieroglyphics.
> Read it?"
>
> [...]

It's becoming spoily now:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

Further digging into the code seems to reveal it (if I got this
correctly) as a 'Tome of Power', defined in it_use3.cc which is a little
too complex for me to understand entirely. Looks like it provides some
random spells and a certain probability of more or less nasty
side-effects. Invocation skill seems also involved, though I don't
understand whether it determines the power of the spells, the
probability of their success or both.
Someone knows a little more in detail (about the probability of
success and how evocation skill effects all this)?

Rubinstein
 
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bork bork bork Rubinstein bork 7:26:10 PM bork 1/26/2005 bork bork:

> Rubinstein wrote:
> > Currently I've no ?oID and I'm not sure whether just reading it could
> > be dangerous or a terrible waste. When trying to read it says:
> >
> > "The book opens to a page covered in black hieroglyphics.
> > Read it?"
> >
> > [...]
>
> It's becoming spoily now:
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
> *
>
> Further digging into the code seems to reveal it (if I got this
> correctly) as a 'Tome of Power', defined in it_use3.cc which is a little
> too complex for me to understand entirely. Looks like it provides some
> random spells and a certain probability of more or less nasty
> side-effects. Invocation skill seems also involved, though I don't
> understand whether it determines the power of the spells, the
> probability of their success or both.
> Someone knows a little more in detail (about the probability of
> success and how evocation skill effects all this)?
>
> Rubinstein

IDHTSCIFOM, but I'd say that's EITHER a Tome of Destruction (the thing you're
describing above) or one of several "ordinary" spellbooks that have special
conditions in order to read them. That's already spoily enough; to give a
little extra context I'll need to spoil a bit more, though. The spellbooks in
question are:

- tough
- are easier to read with supernatural help of the types you'd expect

Erik
 
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Erik Piper wrote:
> bork bork bork Rubinstein bork 7:26:10 PM bork 1/26/2005 bork bork:
>
>> Rubinstein wrote:
>> > Currently I've no ?oID and I'm not sure whether just reading it
>> > could be dangerous or a terrible waste. When trying to read it
>> > says:
>> >
>> > "The book opens to a page covered in black hieroglyphics.
>> > Read it?"
>> >
>> > [...]
>>
>> It's becoming spoily now:
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>> *
>>
>> Further digging into the code seems to reveal it (if I got this
>> correctly) as a 'Tome of Power'...
>> [...]
>
> IDHTSCIFOM,
Somehow I guess you're expecting me asking wtf is that? ;-)

> but I'd say that's EITHER a Tome of Destruction (the thing you're
> describing above)

That's what it actually is, definitely. To bad, because this:

> or one of several "ordinary" spellbooks that have special conditions
> in order to read them. That's already spoily enough; to give a little
> extra context I'll need to spoil a bit more, though. The spellbooks in
> question are:
>
> - tough
> - are easier to read with supernatural help of the types you'd expect

makes me *really* curious now! Don't want to be completely spoiled, but
please just tell me one thing: are any of those books mentioned on the
following spoiler page in the spellbooks section?
http://www.swallowtail.org/crawl/hints.shtml

Rubinstein
 
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bork bork bork Rubinstein bork 11:28:23 PM bork 1/31/2005 bork bork:

> Erik Piper wrote:
> > bork bork bork Rubinstein bork 7:26:10 PM bork 1/26/2005 bork bork:
> >
> >> Rubinstein wrote:
> >> > Currently I've no ?oID and I'm not sure whether just reading it
> >> > could be dangerous or a terrible waste. When trying to read it
> >> > says:
> >> >
> >> > "The book opens to a page covered in black hieroglyphics.
> >> > Read it?"
> >> >
> >> > [...]
> >>
> >> It's becoming spoily now:
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >> *
> >>
> >> Further digging into the code seems to reveal it (if I got this
> >> correctly) as a 'Tome of Power'...
> >> [...]
> >
> > IDHTSCIFOM,
> Somehow I guess you're expecting me asking wtf is that? ;-)

Sorry, I thought you'd run into that one before. "I don't have the source
code in front of me." Nethackers use it a lot (at least compared to normal
human beings). Please don't think, however, that I've started playing Nethack!

> > but I'd say that's EITHER a Tome of Destruction (the thing you're
> > describing above)
>
> That's what it actually is, definitely. To bad, because this:

Actually, I was wrong -- there were a couple of traits of how it behaved and
of your own situation that guaranteeed it could only be a Tome of
Destruction. However, the other "strange reading behavior" is similar enough
(to my poor little brain) to the ToD's behavior that it's easy to get
confused.

> > or one of several "ordinary" spellbooks that have special conditions
> > in order to read them. That's already spoily enough; to give a little
> > extra context I'll need to spoil a bit more, though. The spellbooks in
> > question are:
> >
> > - tough
> > - are easier to read with supernatural help of the types you'd expect
>
> makes me really curious now! Don't want to be completely spoiled, but
> please just tell me one thing: are any of those books mentioned on the
> following spoiler page in the spellbooks section?
> http://www.swallowtail.org/crawl/hints.shtml

Yep.

Erik