A
horrible item that plagues
NetHack players
everywhere. A loadstone resembles a
luckstone or
flint, but instead of conferring
luck, it confers an
encumbrance of
500, equivalent to carrying 500
gems, 50000
zorkmids, a suit of
plate mail, or a
chest with some
junk in it. Loadstones are difficult to get rid of, because they are almost always
cursed -- popular methods include getting a
nymph to steal it,
praying, casting
remove curse (or reading the
scroll) or (
not recommended) a
wand of cancellation.
Note that loadstones auto-curse, that is, they move towards a cursed state every time they are dropped. If you manage to drop a loadstone, you were darned lucky.
A better idea is to avoid picking them up in the first place. Kick every gray stone you come across -- if it is a loadstone, a loud "THUMP" will result. Otherwise, it'll go flying, and it's probably a flint stone but could be a luckstone.