Monday, June 11, 2007

Nethack: Post Mortem

[Hildegarde's quest continues...]

I guess I probably owe you an explanation as to what happened between here and here...

Well, after fleeing the mines I continued down the regular dungeon to find something to deal with the problem of that damn priestess... Mjollnir was proving to be too much for most of the monsters I encountered. I went a few levels lower than I had been before and found the Sokoban mazes. Ah, the prefect way to get my mind off that damn priestess, and pick up some good loot. After the uneventful completion of the Sokoban puzzles, I returned to the main dungeon and continued down making notes of what to find on each level. Damnit. Still no altars. I found a wand shop on level 9 and ambled around checking prices on the wands. 1000 zorkmids?! A wand that expensive had to be either wishing or death! I buy it quickly and head to an open area where I can do a quick test (without being in danger of a ricochet). Zap! Blue lines fly from the wand, hit the wall and bounce back for a few spaces. Expensive AND blue?! I've got me a wand of death right here! My Lawful character's face curls into an evil smile. I return to the wand shop to pick up a few more wands, but find myself eyeing the plethora of powerful wands greedily...

Greetings Hildegarde, welcome to my shop!
Oh! Uh, yeah; hi.
...is there anything-
Oh, no... No. Nope. I'm, uh, I'm just, uh, looking...
...
Uh, how much is this platinum wand?
350 Zorkmids, finest quality.
Ah, yes... yessir. yessirrie bob. Finest quality...
...
Soooo......

bzzzzzzZZZAAAOOO!!!


*WHUMP*
............ yyyeahhhhh...

Tyr is a lawful god, and he'll be a bit upset with me, (what with my slaying of an innocent, and all) but the three wands of create monster I just came into recent ownership of, I'll be able to sacrifice tons of nasties to him to get back in his good graces. I gather the wands up and begin identifying them by using them or engraving with them. There's some great stuff here! I need to get this all sorted out! I spend about half an hour sorting my backpack and moving things around into different piles so I know where to go when I need something. I update my notes and repack my backpack for light traveling because I've got a destination in mind... As I leave my new shop I lock up, pause, then go back in and retrieve the wand of fire. I think of something pithy, but decide to keep it short to save on the wand charges. I use the fire wand to burn the message GO AWAY on my doorstep. Heh.

On my way back to the mine town I run into some higher level monsters and handle them more easily than I thought I would. Man, Hildegarde is getting pretty tough! I gather some more equipment, but nothing worth mentioning. When I make it back to the mine town I realize that I lost my telekinesis! Damn gremlins, stealing my intrinsics! And I JUST passed up a floating eye corpse! But it didn't matter, because knew she was on her way to the stairs when I left, and that with my Infravision I'd be able to see her easily in the dark corridor. I set myself an appropriate distance from where she should appear. I try to get as close as possible so she could be hit on a ricochet in case she dodges the beam the first time. POW BIATCH! She didn't. I find little on her corpse, but my mind's on my new home, and reconciling with Tyr.

I find the west side of the town in shambles. Apparently an overzealous Dwarf lord has been digging for treasure all over town. Most of the walls are missing, but my temple retains its integrity. I enter and am frozen by the gaze of a ghost. This is what happens when a temple priest(ess) is killed, even if the ownership of the temple shifts. The ghost was not big concern, sometimes they freeze me for a few turns, but it wasn't something I was very concerned about since I had work to do. I zap my wand of create monster a few times and sacrifice to Tyr (unfortunately they were mostly small monsters) when I get a message about an unexpected draft. This message means some monster on the level is digging through walls. Damnit! You gotta go. It's only a matter of time before you destroy my temple! I head to the peaceful dwarf lord and give him a good whack.
Dwarf lord gets angry!
Yeah, yeah... *WHAM* There. Wait; a dwarf lord is a large monster... I pick him up, and drag him to the temple, and offer him on the altar.
Tyr seems mollified
Sweet! *CRASH* DAMNIT! Another frickin' dwarf just dug through my temple wall! *WHAM*
Dwarf king gets angry! yeah, yeah, what are you going to do about it?
Dwarf king zaps wand of death! --more--

!!!!!!


You dodge the death ray! The ray bounces! The ray is absorbed by the door!
SHIT! DAMNIT that was lucky! I can't hit him with my wand of death, I'll get hit on the ricochet! I'm gonna have to try to beat him! *WHAM* He's down! Damnit! What the hell! ... Well, now I have TWO wands of death! *OFFER*
You glimpse a four-leaf clover at your feet!
Nice, more luck. But how am I going to fix that wall... Wait, I nailed a giant a bit ago, and they have boulders; I can use that to plug the hole. I head out and spot a leocrotta. These are very fast, and pretty tough, but not as tough as me! I head out to fight it, and it hits me very quickly, Wait, why kill him out here, and lug him back, when I can kill him closer to the temple? I'm almost to the temple when he lands a good series of hits. Ouch, I've got to be more careful, well, I'm only one move away so he's about to get a pounding. I step into my temple and a ghost appears, paralyzing me for a few turns. Uh oh.
Leocrotta hits! Leocrotta hits! Leocrotta hits! --more--
Leocrotta hits! Leocrotta hits! Leocrotta hits! --more--
Leocrotta hits! Leocrotta hits! Leocrotta hits! --more--
Leocrotta hits! Leocrotta hits! Leocrotta hits! --more--

7 health!!! I sure hope the next message is the ghost touching me, and my turn starts, or I'm fucked. I slowly tap the space bar.
Leocrotta hits! Leocrotta hits! You die... --more--

...

Goddamnit! I had TWO wands of death, and was MORE than capable of taking that thing out, but I was fucking around instead of taking every threat seriously! DAMNIT! iiiiii'm dumb. I still can't believe myself.