The Chaos Gate is the source of Chaos and Corruption in ADOM, and closing the gate is the main objective of the game for the majority of PCs (all those not pursuing ultra endings or the ordinary chaos god ending). As the main objective of the game, closing the Chaos Gate is naturally an involved process that involves various locations in the game. Upon his death (or resurrection), Khelevaster will impart the details of the process necessary to close the Chaos Gate to the player: acquire the four Elemental Orbs hidden in temples within the Caverns of Chaos and the one located in the Tower of Eternal Flames, and bring the orbs to the lowest levels of the Caverns of Chaos.
The Five Orbs[]
The five Orbs are found in temples at the following locations:
- Water Temple somewhere between D:20 and D:22 of the Caverns of Chaos
- Fire Temple on the fourth level of the Tower of Eternal Flames
- Air Temple somewhere between D:36 and D:39 of the Caverns of Chaos
- Earth Temple somewhere between D:42 and D:44 of the Caverns of Chaos
- Mana Temple on the lowest level of the Unreal Caves within the Caverns of Chaos
Each temple is separated from the remainder of the level and must be approached by digging, and features a highly chaotic altar, an orb guardian, and various monsters such as chaos servants, daemons, grues, or elementals. See the articles on individual temples for more details on how to complete the temples
The Elemental Anomalies[]
On D:48, the player will encounter five elemental anomalies, each protected by an elemental grue (or a chaos wizard, in the case of the mana). The PC must throw ([U]se) each of the five orbs into the appropriate anomaly, at which point, the upward pointing stairs will then change to a down staircase. This commits the player to closing the gate, or dying in the process. Note that throwing the orbs on the elemental anomalies will result in some effects on the level--most notably, throwing the Elemental Orb of Fire onto the fire anomaly will result in a blaze scouring the level; this blaze may damage the PC's inventory, aggrevate pets on the level, or kill cats. Throwing the Elemental Orb of Mana into the mana anomaly will cause the PC to lose all of their power points. Closing the water anomaly can damage PC's inventory like the "gush of water" trap. The other anomalies don't have any significant effects.
The Gate[]
The Chaos Gate is located on D:50. D:50 is a dangerous level with a high corruption rate, and a huge number of monsters, including writhing masses of primal chaos, chaos mutants, chaos servants, balors, chaos wizards, and ghost lords. Closing the gate can be accomplished by closing the two levers in the hidden passages on the North and South ends of D:50--it is not necessary to enter the main chamber. Each lever is guarded by a balor.
Once both levers are pulled, corruption on the level will cease. However, if the PC moves more than 18 spaces east from the levers, one of the balors from the main chamber will teleport to and flip any levers that are out of the PC's line of sight, reopening the gate. If both levers are flipped, the balor will be waiting on the lower lever. Since the up stairs cannot be close enough to the levers, the player must either systematically kill all of the balors on the level to keep the gate closed, or prevent the balors from accessing the levers. The latter can be done either by destroying the pulled levers with a wand of destruction (CAUTION: using a wand of destruction will drain the PC's health and open part of the wall leading to the main chamber), or by blocking the levers with a monster. Blocking the levers involves pulling the lever, then using, for example, a wand of monster creation to create a monster that will cover the lever, and surrounding the monster with closed doors, or walls created using the unpick axe. Monks and beastfighters may simply use their class powers to swap positions with all of the monsters in the tunnel, pull the lever, and then swap another monster back onto the lever. Because of the large number of monsters in the chambers, it is extremely unlikely that in a relatively short period of time, the hall will be sufficiently clear for one of the balors to access the lever.
Upon closing both levers in some permanent fashion, the player is free to exit D:50 and return to the surface. Background corruption will have halted completely, so it is possible to freely explore any remaining areas. Once the player is satisfied with the state of Ancardia, they may return to the starting position of the game and exit the Drakalor Chain to win the game.