The Arena level is found around D: 4. As might be expected at a huge attraction like the Arena, there are vendors selling items on this level. The other guaranteed monster on the level is the Arena Master, who provides access to the Arena. Note that he will not admit invisible PCs to the Arena, whether or not they have fought in the Arena before. He responds with "Sorry, we've hired more than enough invisible stalkers. Look for a job elsewhere or come back when some of yer pals are used up."
The Arena itself is for combat practice, with the rewards for a successful fight being gold pieces. The rewards get larger as the PC wins more fights. A PC should not fight more than nineteen times in the Arena before descending to deeper levels of the CoC. This is because he will encounter an NPC later who assigns a quest to win the 20th Arena fight. The 20th fight will be against a named former champion. These opponents are more difficult than the standard Arena opponents. There are four possibilities:
Li-Hon-Kay: ogre magus, uses invisibility and Frost Bolt, alternate name Li-Han-Kay
Spardakius: minotaur, brute force
Ripclaw: troll, brute force
Bonk: hill giant, brute force
Li-Hon-Kay can be particularly annoying and dangerous. PCs without cold resistance and the ability to see invisible will probably not survive a fight with Li-Hon-Kay. Fortunately, cold immunity and the ability to see invisible are granted by the Ancient Mummy Wrapping, an artifact armor held by Rehetep, the Mummy Lord (see section 2.9). Players who want to be conservative and maximize the chances of survival in the 20th Arena fight will tackle the Pyramid first. Note also that although ogre magi are somewhat resistant to confusion, if one is successfully confused using Mindcraft, they are unable to become invisible. This works for Li-Hon-Kay as well as ordinary ogre magi. The other 20th fight Arena opponents will fall to offensive magic or simple brute force bashing.
There are a limited number of fights available after the 20th fight, but beware: anything can be generated as an opponent in such fights. It is quite possible to be faced with an emperor lich or ancient karmic dragon. The monetary rewards for such fights are about 1000 gold pieces each, not worth it if the PC has to face a difficult opponent.
2.2.1 Ratling traders
There are several ratling traders on the Arena level who sell food. The best food source is cooked lizards, which weigh only 3 stones each and are very nutritious. Also available are fried bats, which are less nutritious but still acceptable. It is not worth buying rat tails or cooked roaches. They have a negative nutrition value, even for trolls, who can eat almost anything.
2.2.2 Cats in the Arena
Cats in the Arena are a special problem. If the PC wants the Ring of the Master Cat, directly killing cats must be avoided (see section 0.9.2). There are several ways to deal with cats in the Arena. Teleportation is one, from a wand or spell. Potions of exchange thrown at a cat will turn it into another monster. Wands of trap creation create traps which a cat can be led over until it is killed or turned into a writhing mass of primal chaos. For this reason, as well as general tactical information, it is useful to know the layout of traps in the Arena when they are created. A map showing the traps produced is shown below:
###############.############### #0123456789AB0###456789AB01234# #123456789AB0123456789AB012345# #23456789AB0123456789AB0123456# #3456789AB0123456789AB01234567# ############################### 0 - fireball 6 - arrow 1 - pit 7 - acid 2 - light 8 - pit (vipers) 3 - corruption 9 - spear 4 - stone block A - teleport 5 - alarm B - water