Spectral miner

Spectral miner Picture Level 40 Family miner family creatures Body Type Biped Undead Yes (Non-corporeal) Areas Found Shadow Valley BCS Yes HP 300 Armor [?]

Attack Attributes Physical Attacks Mining pick +271 AS Warding Attacks Curse (715) +193 CS Offensive Spells & Abilities Quake (709) AS Booster +75

Defense Attributes Melee +183 DS Ranged <N/A> DS Bolt +152 to +187 DS Unarmed <N/A> UDF Bard Base +158 TD Ranger Base <N/A> TD Sorcerer Base +143 to +166 TD Wizard Base +164 TD Cleric Base <N/A> TD Empath Base <N/A> TD Paladin Base <N/A> TD Major Elemental +159 TD Minor Elemental +163 TD Major Spiritual <N/A> TD Minor Spiritual <N/A> TD Major Mental <N/A> TD Minor Mental <N/A> TD Defensive Spells & Abilities Spirit Warding I (101) Spirit Warding II (107) Spirit Defense (103) Spirit Shield (202)

Treasure Attributes Coins Yes Gems Yes Magic Items Yes Boxes Yes Skin None Other ?

This somewhat orc-like looking humanoid creature is surrounded with an eerie white glow and appears to be transparent. An abundance of excessively wrinkled skin and long bushy grey eyebrows serve to make spectral miner appear ancient.

Hunting strategies

The best strategy for hunting spectral miners is to stance dance for all professions and hunting styles except CS-casting ones, although stance dancing may be good for them too depending on the spells use. Miners have a really low DS for their level and are always in offensive stance when genned. Many professions also have quite an easy time uphunting them if they are very cautious to not get caught in offensive stance when a miner uses its AS-boosting ability. It is worth remembering that your DS will be significantly lower in Shadow Valley than elsewhere.

Other information

• Spectral miners have the chance to drop the alchemy components: ayanad, s'ayanad, t'ayanad and n'ayanad crystals

• Spectral miners occasionally cast Quake (709).

A spectral miner gestures sharply at you!

The ground around you seems to shake violently, making it hard to stand.
You lose your balance and fall over.
Roundtime: 8 sec.

Suddenly, the ground seems steadier.

• Spectral miners have an AS booster, which doesn't happen that often, that can raise their AS much higher for one swing. Here is an example of it:

A spectral miner eyes flare with evil red light!

A spectral miner swings a mining pick at you!
  AS: +326 vs DS: +229 with AvD: +31 + d100 roll: +96 = +224
   ... and hits for 44 points of damage!
   Right hand smashed into a pulpy mass.
   You are stunned for 1 rounds!

• Spectral miners can shake off stuns upon displaying the following message:

A spectral miner wails in joyful agony!

Behind The Scenes

These are the cursed workers of Muylari's mining crew, who perished upon awakening the Terrorite demon which was dormant below ground. They are likely an allusion to the miners in "The Shadow out of Time" by H.P. Lovecraft, which is part of the background for The Graveyard and The Broken Lands. Like the Shadow Valley story its narrator suffered from amnesia and pseudo-memories, and was afflicted with "daemoniac dreams", experiencing a demon wind of the eldritch Elder Things in underground ruins. The exits of Shadow Valley are plunges into chasms of utter darkness with unknown felt horrors, returning to the waking world, reflecting the endings of both "Shadow" and "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath." It is noteworthy that they were phased into the mineshaft walls, possibly due to an isles of transfer phenomenon, reminiscent of the later Ur-Daemon of Teras Isle. The skull of one miner was clearly elven, which relates to the archaic lore of orcs originating in the transformation of cursed elves.

Like the ghostly pookas coming from Celtic mythology, whose black horse form with their chains coming from folklore rather than Rolemaster, the orc-like spectral miners may be based on the Welsh/Cornish "knockers" who were sometimes thought to be the ghosts of deceased miners. The strange sounds and the partially dematerialized mining equipment and excavators likely comes from "The Mound" ghost-written by Lovecraft. In this context the skull in the wall is relevant because that story ends with the reanimated headless body of the narrator of the older expedition.

Of special interest for interpreting the demon is the intrusion of foreign memories in the mine shaft. Consider: "Faint echoes of a strange singsong chant enter your mind without the courtesy of using your ears. Disturbed, you can find no visible source of the uninvited memories." This is also an unambiguous allusion to "The Call of Cthulhu": "Now and then the less organized ululation would cease, and from what seemed a well-drilled chorus of hoarse voices would rise in sing-song chant that hideous phrase or ritual: Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn." This is translated as: "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming." It is reminiscent of "Kadaena Throk Farok" and the Dark Shrine bas-relief.

References

• Spectral miner on Play.net bestiary

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