Horn of Geryon

The horn of Geryon is a unique evocable artefact which summons sin beasts, which may come hostile. It can only be found by slaying Geryon in the Vestibule of Hell.

Useful Info

The horn of Geryon creates a loud noise (noise 15) and summons a few sin beasts. You can't use the horn while silenced, but you can use it while engulfed. The horn is considered evil, so the good gods despise its use.

The horn is guaranteed to summon a sin beast. There are 3 checks: 10 * Evocations + 1d90 > 131, 10 * Evocations + 1d90 > 181, 10 * Evocations + 1d90 > 231, for each of these checks passed, another sin beast is summoned (in addition to the guaranteed one).<ref>Template:Source ref</ref>

Sin beasts always have a chance to spawn hostile. For each summon, if 1d(10 * Evocations) > 8, it is friendly (97% at max Evocations).<ref>Template:Source ref</ref> Like most types of summons, if you attack an already friendly sin beast, it will vanish instead of going hostile. Duration of the summons is around 27 turns; it does not depend on Evocations skill.

Once used, the horn will become inert until you've earned enough experience to restore it.

Strategy

If you can confidently complete the Vestibule of Hell, have good Evocations skill, and aren't forbidden from using it, the horn of Geryon is worth having. Sin beasts are a nice ally to have: they have moderately high damage, are fast, inflict antimagic, and the horn can summon up to four at once.

Since sin beasts trample, and as the horn can summon hostile sin beasts, you may not want to use the horn when relying on stairs.

History

• Prior to 0.28, using the horn made no noise.
• Prior to 0.14, the horn served a very different purpose. Until it was used while standing inside the Vestibule of Hell, the four portals to Gehenna, Cocytus, Dis, and Tartarus were sealed shut. As such, Geryon was essentially the only monster necessary to kill in order to get a perfect 15-rune ascension. Using the horn anywhere else simply summoned a hostile hell beast to attack you (worth no XP).
• Prior to 0.9, items brought outside the Dungeon contributed towards score. The horn, worth 5000 gold, was one of the more valuable items to bring out.

Also, before the changes to experience and skills in 0.9, this item was commonly used in order to "victory dance" Fighting, Dodging, and weapon skills.

References

<references/>