Holy Mountain

A Holy Mountain is a Biome found between each of the main areas of the game, separating the levels. They are always composed of Brickwork, which is very resilient to most digging methods, and their tops are decorated with portals which lead to the central shop area within the biome. The portals are linked to the eye structures beneath them which are normally filled with Teleportatium; if an eye is emptied or enough of another material is introduced, the corresponding portal can be deactivated.

Though there are many portals at the end of each area, they all lead to the same location, as there is only one shop zone per Holy Mountain. Entering a different portal from the same floor will not refresh the pickups or shop inventory. On occasion, the entire basin containing a portal may be submerged in Blood, Water, Toxic Sludge, Oil or Lava.



Contents
Each Holy Mountain contains the following:


 * A Full Health Regeneration
 * A Spell Refresher
 * Two pools of water, which can be used for washing off your cape or refilling Water potions
 * A shop area where you can purchase Spells or Wands
 * A small enclosed room containing a Worm Crystal below the shop area, which deters Worms from venturing too close to the shop zone
 * An altar with a handful of Perks to choose from, alongside a Perk Reroll machine
 * Two statues that serve as training dummies, which show damage dealt when hit with a spell. The statues in the Holy Mountain after the Temple of the Art are inert and don't show damage.

Collapse
On the right side is a tunnel leading to the next area. Upon passing through the slanted section of the exit tunnel, the ceiling above the perk altar will collapse and physically block the passage. Red particles will appear which deal significant damage to the player if they try to re-enter the room, though these fade away after a handful of seconds. Trying to enter the Holy Mountain by any means while the curse is active will swiftly result in a death attributed to the "Holy Mountain curse".

Additionally, once the ceiling of a Holy Mountain collapses, it stops granting the ability to edit wands within.

Avoiding Collapse


The collapse of the Holy Mountain is only triggered when the player crosses into the upper section of the exit tunnel. It can be avoided by bypassing the trigger, which can be done in any one of a few ways:


 * Destroying brickwork to make a passage (though this will anger the gods and trigger Stevari to spawn)
 * Polymorphing yourself with any Polymorphine variant and passing through the trigger in another form
 * Teleporting past it using Teleportatium or a Teleport Bolt or Return spell

Adding a Long Distance Cast spell to a teleport wand makes exiting and entering the Holy Mountain trivial, as you can simply teleport through the dividing wall of the exit tunnel, or directly out from the bottom of one of the ponds. Exactly 3 Long Distance Cast spells and a Teleport Bolt can also be used to teleport directly into the eye above the entrance of the shop area. Utilizing the Teleportatium inside of the eye, this allows traveling upwards to the previous biome.

Using any of these methods, it is possible to leave the Holy Mountain and return later to edit or store spells and wands.

If you choose to use the polymorph method, note that using Unstable or Chaotic Polymorphine can be dangerous, as some of the possible forms can easily kill themselves their own attacks or destroy the temple brick (especially Worm forms), thus unintentionally angering the gods. Be cautious of enemies waiting just below the exit passage, especially when using regular Polymorphine as it leaves you completely defenseless. It is possible to wait at the topmost perch in the exit tunnel until the polymorph expires, but be sure you are not within the trigger zone when the polymorph expires.

Angering the Gods
The Holy Mountain area is made of brickwork, which is resistant to explosives but can be destroyed by other means such as Acid or Worms. If the walls surrounding the inside area are damaged, the player will receive a message saying and a hostile Stevari will spawn above the perk altar inside the damaged Holy Mountain. Once the gods are angered, a Stevari will spawn in every future Mountain in the current run. Note that this only occurs if the brickwork surroundings of the main Holy Mountain / shop area is damaged; it's still possible to tunnel completely through the Holy Mountain layer as long as you give the main shop area a wide berth and avoid damaging brickwork anywhere near the normal Holy Mountain passage.

Once the gods are angered, the only way to stop future Stevari spawning is to pick up the Peace with Gods perk, which will also make any already-spawned Stevari friendly. Alternatively, a few stacks of the More Love perk will cause the spawned Stevari to be passive towards the player.

Trivia

 * Clearing the previous biome without killing anything causes a Chest to spawn in the alcove above the perk altar, opposite the reroll machine.
 * When the player picks up a perk from the perk altar, blood will flow from the glyphs adorning the altar. However, if the player didn't kill anything in the previous biome, water will flow from the glyphs instead.
 * According to the files for the default translation mod, the name "Holy Mountain" is a reference to the film Holy Mountain by Alejandro Jodorowsky.

Glyphs
The glyphs under the Portals read:

The glyphs under the Health and Spell Pickups read:

The glyphs under the Perk altar read:

Soundtrack
Track 9 of Noita Official Soundtrack vol. 1 is titled "Holy Mountain Theme".