I don't want to talk about it.
goddamnit
Showing posts with label Hilde's quest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hilde's quest. Show all posts
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Hilde transcends the rest... in AWESOME!
[Hilde's quest continues...]
Shocking experience
We explore deeper a few levels, and finding no altar, I decide to go just a few more levels down. It was easy going until I ran into a shocking vortex. It caught me at a corner and engulfed me quickly. I hit it with my hammer (which does shock damage, which the shocking vortex was probably immune to), and the shocking vortex shocked the shit out of me for a few turns before I got below half health. Shit! Screw this! I read a cursed scroll of teleport, not caring where I went, so long as it was away from here. I didn't remember that cursed scrolls of teleport, send you to a different level! Luckily, I was only sent two levels up, and made it back to Benny quickly, and dispatched that damn vortex from a distance with my daggers. Geez. Shocking hurts. Mjollnir deals shock damage, so I guess I got a taste of what I've been dishing out. I put "get shock resistance" on my list.
Feeling jumpy
On our way down I find a few boxes, and record their location in my notes, but find little else of interest. Benny is still doing most of my fighting, which is fine with me, and my orc shaman (being in way over his level) is trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. On level 11 I find my Quest magic portal, but don't go in. I think I need to be level 15 before I can start my quest, and for as much as I'm letting Benny fight for me, don't think I'll ever get there :). Further down I eat a few tengu, but still no teleport control. The teleportitis is beginning to wear on my nerves. I really got to find an altar, and get these rings identified.
She turned me into a newt!
Next level down I come across some uncursed plate mail, so I blow my whistle to see if my orc shaman wants it. He appears and greedily takes off his leather armor, and puts it on. Maybe now he'll be tough enough to actually, you know, fight. Later on the same level as soon as I exit a room with my pets in it, I get the message "You hear a thud." Uh oh. Something got dropped. I go back into the room I just left and see some plate mail on the floor that wasn't there before. Great. I think my orc shaman just turned into a newt. I walk over to the plate mail, search repeatedly, and discover a polymorph trap. Lovely. What the hell is it with me and polymorph traps??? I blow my magic whistle and Benny teleports next to me, along with my brand spanking new pet Hill Giant. Sweet! Giants kick ass! I take another step, and my Hill Giant steps on the polymorph trap again, and turns into an imp. Whoa. I thought they wouldn't step on the trap again! Curious if it'll happen again (and wanting something more powerful than an imp) I wait a few more turns, and get the message "The tame imp deliberately jumps into the polymorph trap!" I didn't know they could do that. I guess they know when they suck too :P... My imp turns into my new pet baby yellow dragon. Sweet! Still a baby, but sweet nonetheless! I quickly get far from the polymorph trap, and blow my magic whistle to keep my new baby dragon from turning into something less useful.
Git along, little doggie!
On the same level I find a saddle, something for which I have little use. You can use the saddle to ride a horse or other mountable pet, but I don't have any experience riding, so I decided not to bother with it (also, it's heavy). I leave the room and my baby yellow dragon picks up the saddle and puts it down as I leave. A few twists and turns later my dragon catches up with me and drops the saddle it was carrying. No big deal, pets pickup and put stuff down all the time, they like to bring things to you. I continue through the level and eventually lose my dragon, upon finding the stairs down, I blow my magic whistle and teleport in Benny (who wasn't too far off) and my baby yellow dragon, who... drops the saddle he was carrying. Huh. Ok. I can take a hint. I saddle up my baby dragon (which surprisingly, actually works), and hop on, expecting to fumble and fall off, or be bucked off. I successfully mount the baby dragon, and am now riding a tame baby yellow dragon. Awesome! I picture Hilde, queen of badass, atop a comically small yellow dragon. Who cares, it's still awesome. I go find a monster to attack, and find that when I attack while mounted, I do my regular attack, and then my steed attacks too. This is pretty cool! I discover, though, that I can't pick up objects on the ground, so I dismount frequently to pick stuff up. I get the message You do not have enough riding skill to do that when I try to pick stuff up while mounted, so I guess I'll be able to pick stuff up without dismounting after I ride for a bit. Since you can use an iron hook to pick up stuff on the ground while levitating, I bet you can use it to pick stuff up while riding. I'd remember finding an iron hook though, so I'll just be dismounting frequently. Which kind of bugged me since I was still unskilled at riding, and didn't like dismounting with the thought I might not be able to remount We get to the down stairs, and when I go down I get the message "Your baby yellow dragon flies along the stairs" Sweet! I can fly too! Just keeps getting better and better! On the next level I dismount to pick up some gold, and get the message, "You've been through the dungeon on a baby yellow dragon with no name." Heh. Nethack is full of jokes like this. I decide my baby dragon does need a name, and after a bit of thinking lightning strikes! I name my baby yellow dragon, Old Yeller.
Old Yeller gets put down
I blind myself with with my towel to focus on my ESP and get an idea of what's on the level, and spot a priestess! Hopefully she's in charge of a temple with an altar! I rush over there and find the temple to be cross-aligned with me. Damn Loki. Well, Benny has taken priests before, after he's done with this one, I'll just convert it for Tyr. Benny begins the beat down, and the priestess of Loki bashes him back with her mace. I wait a few turns, and the priestess is still standing. Wow. Tough girl. I wait a few more turns of fighting, and Benny disappears. What? He's not dead, is he? I wrap the towel around my head again, and spot Benny, back by the stairs we just came down. He retreated? Is she really that tough? Without a stethoscope, I can only guess how hurt the priestess is, but after a few turns she casts a spell, and heals herself. Shortly afterward, Benny teleports back and they start round two, but it ends the same as last time. Benny retreats and heals, and the priestess heals, then they go at it again! I guess they're pretty evenly matched. Whether the priestess stays or goes, this is going to be my new outpost. I head back upstairs and bring a box down to the temple, and put it in the corner. Old Yeller follows me in, and decides to pick a fight with the priestess. Uhh... She's pretty tough, be careful. I figured he'd take a few swipes at her, get konked on the head a few times, and run away. He's just a baby dragon, after all. He hits her a few times, and takes a few hits, and I'm surprised he hasn't run off yet. Priestess of Loki swings her mace. Old Yeller is killed! O_O shit! No! Old Yeller! Why didn't you run away! Fuck! My girlfriend hears my lament, and asks if I can bring him back to life. I stop. I never though of being able to bring something back to life. The only thing I can think would do something similar is a wand of undead turning, but I always though that was more like a "turn something into a zombie" type wand. I guess it would make sense that it could bring something back to life. I have a wand of undead turning, but it's way back in the mine town. There's no way I'd be able to get it back here in time. Poor Old Yeller. I dig a grave for the poor guy, and engrave the floor above him with a wand of digging, Here Lies Old Yeller. I place his saddle in the box, and start testing some uncursed rings. My teleportitis flares up, but this time, I'm asked where I want to teleport. I name the ring I was trying on at the time "Teleport Control," and happy with that find, begin my storage consolidation with Benny in tow.
Moving, wishes, and holy water
We back track to the nearest storage closet, chest, or box, and carry everything back to my new outpost at the temple. Being burdened with all that stuff makes me hungry faster, so I realize that I should just wait for my teleportitis hit, and teleport directly to the down stairs, blow my magic whistle for Benny, and go down. It doesn't take long before I've gotten all my storage areas, and all possibly useful items down to my new outpost, which I've now begun to call Loki-land. The next and final equipment gathering trip is to the mine town's haunted temple of Tyr, and my last storage closet. I'll be making some holy water for my equipment processing, so I have to carry all the useless potions down with me for watering down. All of this would be a HELL of a lot easier if I had a freaking bag of holding. Or even just a regular bag, so I wouldn't have my knapsack full! I finally make it to the mines, and pick up another potion I can do without. Diluting potions twice turns them into water, and I need water to make holy water. The difficulty comes from how to dilute your potions safely. You can't dilute them in a lake unless you are actually IN the lake (with all the armor, you sink right to the bottom, not to mention water damage on other equipment), or have boots of water walking. I don't even have access to a lake, which means I need to use fountains, which are dangerous for lower level characters. Messing with fountains is usually bad news, they have quite a number of effects, most of which are negative or dangerous. There is a tiny chance that you'll get a luck increase, and a tiny chance you'll free a peaceful water demon, and an even smaller chance that he'll grant you a wish, but the dangers of the fountain FAR outweigh the benefits. But I didn't have a choice (plus Hilde was pretty tough), so I set about diluting my four useless potions in the fountain. I'm guessing my extreme luck helped me avoid most of the dangerous consequences because for 5 turns the fountain didn't retaliate at all. The sixth time, it unleashed a water demon, who shouldn't offer too much resistance. Before I can attack I get the message "Grateful for his release, he grants you a wish!" No shit! It's good to be lucky! After considering my options, and my current equipment, I wish for a blessed greased fireproof +2 cloak of displacement. I prefer displacement to invisibility, because some of the higher level monsters can see invisible, and displacement works on all monsters. Plus I already had a ring of invisibility. As I finish diluting my last potion, the fountain dries up. I enter the haunted temple, (luckily no ghosts appeared) and place the four potions of water on the alter of Tyr, and prayed. The voice of Tyr booms: "Thou art arrogant, mortal!" Tyr knocks me down a level! Tyr apparently thinks I'm taking him for granted. Actually, it was probably all those peaceful tengu I attacked in a very un-lawful-character-like manner. Sorry! Geez. Have some sacrifices. I pick up an old wand of create monster, and a few sacrifices later I get the message Tyr seems mollified. Thanks, now can you help me out here? I pray on the altar, and am surrounded by a shimmering light. I glance down at my feet and see my 4 potions of water glow blue. Nice. I pack up everything of use, and as I'm leaving, I remember I wanted to try the wand of undead turning. I zap a nearby gecko corpse, and it comes back to life! Well, it may be too late for Old Yeller, but at least I won't lose any more pets. I head back to Loki-land without incident (wasn't even burdened).
Pimp my kit
With an altar, the protection of a strong pet, holy water, nearby fountains, blank scrolls and a magic marker; I was now in a position to do some experimenting with my mostly unidentified equipment. I started with scrolls, and grabbed some uncursed armor and an uncursed weapon that I wouldn't mind turning to dust on accident. I strip down, put away all my burnable stuff, put on the crappy armor, wield my crappy weapon, and read the first uncursed unidentified scroll. Scroll of gold detection. Useful if I read while confused for trap detection. Next blessed unidentified scroll. Blessed scroll of genocide! Sweet! Oh wait... The first thing you do with a blessed scroll of genocide is kill the entire race of Liches. Which would include Benny. I don't really want to do it. I decide I can always make more blessed scrolls of genocide if I have to, and instead take out all water monsters (jellyfish, paranahs, sharks, giant eels, electric eels, and krackens) who become very bothersome later in the game. (and fucking krackens grab you off land, and drown you!) Unsure I made the right decision, I read the next uncursed scroll. Punishment. Damn. A heavy iron ball and chain materialize on my leg, not too difficult to remove, just a bit bothersome. That was all the unidentified scrolls, now to get all this other stuff identified. I had two cursed scrolls of identify, one uncursed scroll of identify, two blessed blank scrolls, and two uncursed blank scrolls. I wanted as many blessed scrolls of identify as possible, since each one has a chance of identifying your entire inventory, instead of just 2-4 items. I dip the two cursed scrolls of identify into one potion of holy water, causing them to become uncursed. I then drop the two newly uncursed scrolls of identify, and drop the other uncursed scroll of identify, causing them to stack into one item; 3 uncursed scrolls of identify. Since the three were stacked now, it only takes one more potion of holy water to make all three blessed. With my three blessed scrolls of identify, I rummage around in my box, and pull out everything I could possibly want identified, and read the three scrolls. Each one only identifies a few. Damn. I've got a lot more stuff that I really need identified. I pull out my magic marker, and write an identify scroll on a blessed blank scroll, and read it. Yes! It identifies all my stuff, including all my wands with various numbers of charges left. Among the identified stuff, I see a ring of polymorph control! Sweet! Now I can do like I did with Olga, and make some awesome pets, and eat some rings for intrinsics! Just gotta find a scroll of charging for my polymorph wand. I store the stuff that's not immediately necessary, and set about bettering my equipment. I pull out two blessed scrolls of enchant weapon, some potions of confusion, and my 20 throwing daggers. I wield the daggers, and read the two blessed scrolls of enchant weapon, making my daggers +4. I then use my magic marker to write another scroll of enchant weapon, and drink the potion of confusion. Being confused can have positive effects when doing certain things. While confused, I read the scroll of enchant weapon, and mispronounce the words, causing my 20 +4 daggers to become rustproof. I then dip the 20 rustproof +4 daggers into one potion of holy water, causing them to become blessed. Then I name my new kick ass daggers, Deadly Daggers, and set them for throwing. I use my magic marker again to write a scroll of enchant armor, but in my haste, write a scroll of enchant weapon. Whoops. I wanted to repair and protect my damaged +4 small shield, but I guess that'll have to wait. I re-equip for exploration, choose a potent set of wands that still have enough charges to be useful, and set off with Benny.
The most awesomest evar
Next level down, we find a large dog, and being very prepared to add pets to polymorph, I have a bit of tripe for him. He devours it, and cheerily follows me back up two levels to the polymorph trap. I leave Benny one level down so he doesn't get in the way, then repeatedly blow my magic whistle while standing next to the trap, and after a few weak transformations, my new pet dog turns into a black dragon! Fucking sweet! This is just what I wanted! But it's not complete yet! I hurry down stairs and grab the saddle, being sure to keep my new dragon away from that dragon-killing priestess, and saddle up.
It was at this point that I realized that Hilde was the most awesome nethack character I'd ever created. She was decked out with awesome armor (-14), wearing her cloak of displacement, wielding Mjollnir, capable of throwing three blessed rustproof +4 deadly daggers in one turn, with a pet Arch-Lich, and RIDING A MOTHERFUCKING BLACK DRAGON!
Yes.
Hilde is awesome.
Too awesome to last
We go back downstairs, and continue deeper. After the first dismount I get the message, You've been through the dungeon on a black dragon with no name again, and ask my girlfriend what I should name him. Murderface. Perfect! With a breath attack of disintegration, it seemed like the perfect fit. After two more levels, we run into a warhorse, and after tossing an apple at it, it was happy to be my pet. I was getting a little pet-happy, with a convenient polymorph trap, and a series of awesome pets. We encountered a few ogres, and I began to get that sinking feeling when my new warhorse kept coming back for more. He died after only a few turns as my pet. Damn! Wait. Lets see if that wand of undead turning will keep it my pet! I zap my wand of undead turning at the corpse of my former warhorse, who quickly pops right back up like nothing ever happened! Sweet. We head back to the polymorph trap, and I leave Benny on the level below to keep him out of the way (Note that I have done this twice, not a good thing to do with a powerful pet) After a few turns, my warhorse has turned into the SECOND nastiest monster in the dungeon; a mind flayer. Known for their area psychic attacks, and the most hated attack in nethack, the mind suck. Mind flayers will attempt to eat your brain, and cause your character to forget things, like what ring does what, what wand does what, weapon experience, previously explored levels, and more. It's terrible. It's like you're starting over. And now, one was my pet. Cool? I attack a few more monsters, and dismount to pick up the loot, but when I try to get back on, I slip. I try again, and slip again. I try again, and fail. Shit. Murderface probably isn't liking this. I try one more time, and get the message, I think Murderface would mind. What? Why would Murderface mind? I then realize that Murderface is no longer my pet, and is instead, a peaceful, saddled, black dragon. Damnit! I guess he really wasn't liking the constant up and down. I wonder how I'm going to get the saddle off of him, and realize I might have a scroll of tame monster in my box at Loki-land. I head down with my mind flayer and Benny to check the box. No scroll of tame monster, and my mind flayer seems disinterested in trying to suck the brains out of the Priestess, even while she's preoccupied with Benny. I get an idea that will require Benny be elsewhere, and leave him upstairs. I enter a closed corridor off of the temple, lock the door behind me, leaving my mind flayer and the priestess in the temple, and put on my ring of conflict. I wait a bit as they dance around in the temple, but cant hear or see any sounds of attacking. I wait a bit longer, and see nothing happening. Maybe my mind flayer needs to level up. (Holy shit! I just realized! All that sparring with Benny, probably maxed out the Priestess's level! She's probably tougher than me! I'd better watch out for her!) I give up on my mind flayer, and head back up to meet Benny.
Mr Benedict... We meet again.
I head up the stairs and jump out of my chair as I see Benny standing next to me, but this time he has no text highlight. Benny is no longer my pet. Benedict has gone feral. Mister Benedict... We meet again. I expected this was how our relationship would end. Don't think I didn't learn from when we last fought, and don't think I've forgotten the amulet of reflection you're wearing. I was unprepared before... Now we end this. And just as I prepare to unleash a salvo of Blessed Deadly Daggers, and go invisible, I remember Murderface went peaceful, and check his status to find that Benedict the Arch-Lich, is in fact, Benny the peaceful Arch-Lich. Whew! One wrong hit would have turned him hostile! Glad I checked first!
I quit now so I could collect my thoughts, and plan my next moves. A lot had just happened. At first I really wanted Benny and Murderface back, and hoped I could find some scrolls of taming. But then I realized that beating the game without genociding Liches is EXTREMELY difficult for someone who's never even beat the game once. I've decided I'll just have to do it. I can't polymorph Benny into anything else because he's magic resistant. Well, I'll finally get my amulet of reflection back! (heh, heh... awww.) As for Murderface, I think I can still tame him, so long as I don't hit him on accident. Writing this reminded me that I don't need more charges for my polymorph wand because I can use the polymorph trap if I take off my magic resistant armor. I'm planning on doing what I did with Olga, and laying some dragon and cockatrice eggs for some awesome pets, and possibly a ridable dragon in the near future.
[Hilde's quest ends]
Shocking experience
We explore deeper a few levels, and finding no altar, I decide to go just a few more levels down. It was easy going until I ran into a shocking vortex. It caught me at a corner and engulfed me quickly. I hit it with my hammer (which does shock damage, which the shocking vortex was probably immune to), and the shocking vortex shocked the shit out of me for a few turns before I got below half health. Shit! Screw this! I read a cursed scroll of teleport, not caring where I went, so long as it was away from here. I didn't remember that cursed scrolls of teleport, send you to a different level! Luckily, I was only sent two levels up, and made it back to Benny quickly, and dispatched that damn vortex from a distance with my daggers. Geez. Shocking hurts. Mjollnir deals shock damage, so I guess I got a taste of what I've been dishing out. I put "get shock resistance" on my list.
Feeling jumpy
On our way down I find a few boxes, and record their location in my notes, but find little else of interest. Benny is still doing most of my fighting, which is fine with me, and my orc shaman (being in way over his level) is trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. On level 11 I find my Quest magic portal, but don't go in. I think I need to be level 15 before I can start my quest, and for as much as I'm letting Benny fight for me, don't think I'll ever get there :). Further down I eat a few tengu, but still no teleport control. The teleportitis is beginning to wear on my nerves. I really got to find an altar, and get these rings identified.
She turned me into a newt!
Next level down I come across some uncursed plate mail, so I blow my whistle to see if my orc shaman wants it. He appears and greedily takes off his leather armor, and puts it on. Maybe now he'll be tough enough to actually, you know, fight. Later on the same level as soon as I exit a room with my pets in it, I get the message "You hear a thud." Uh oh. Something got dropped. I go back into the room I just left and see some plate mail on the floor that wasn't there before. Great. I think my orc shaman just turned into a newt. I walk over to the plate mail, search repeatedly, and discover a polymorph trap. Lovely. What the hell is it with me and polymorph traps??? I blow my magic whistle and Benny teleports next to me, along with my brand spanking new pet Hill Giant. Sweet! Giants kick ass! I take another step, and my Hill Giant steps on the polymorph trap again, and turns into an imp. Whoa. I thought they wouldn't step on the trap again! Curious if it'll happen again (and wanting something more powerful than an imp) I wait a few more turns, and get the message "The tame imp deliberately jumps into the polymorph trap!" I didn't know they could do that. I guess they know when they suck too :P... My imp turns into my new pet baby yellow dragon. Sweet! Still a baby, but sweet nonetheless! I quickly get far from the polymorph trap, and blow my magic whistle to keep my new baby dragon from turning into something less useful.
Git along, little doggie!
On the same level I find a saddle, something for which I have little use. You can use the saddle to ride a horse or other mountable pet, but I don't have any experience riding, so I decided not to bother with it (also, it's heavy). I leave the room and my baby yellow dragon picks up the saddle and puts it down as I leave. A few twists and turns later my dragon catches up with me and drops the saddle it was carrying. No big deal, pets pickup and put stuff down all the time, they like to bring things to you. I continue through the level and eventually lose my dragon, upon finding the stairs down, I blow my magic whistle and teleport in Benny (who wasn't too far off) and my baby yellow dragon, who... drops the saddle he was carrying. Huh. Ok. I can take a hint. I saddle up my baby dragon (which surprisingly, actually works), and hop on, expecting to fumble and fall off, or be bucked off. I successfully mount the baby dragon, and am now riding a tame baby yellow dragon. Awesome! I picture Hilde, queen of badass, atop a comically small yellow dragon. Who cares, it's still awesome. I go find a monster to attack, and find that when I attack while mounted, I do my regular attack, and then my steed attacks too. This is pretty cool! I discover, though, that I can't pick up objects on the ground, so I dismount frequently to pick stuff up. I get the message You do not have enough riding skill to do that when I try to pick stuff up while mounted, so I guess I'll be able to pick stuff up without dismounting after I ride for a bit. Since you can use an iron hook to pick up stuff on the ground while levitating, I bet you can use it to pick stuff up while riding. I'd remember finding an iron hook though, so I'll just be dismounting frequently. Which kind of bugged me since I was still unskilled at riding, and didn't like dismounting with the thought I might not be able to remount We get to the down stairs, and when I go down I get the message "Your baby yellow dragon flies along the stairs" Sweet! I can fly too! Just keeps getting better and better! On the next level I dismount to pick up some gold, and get the message, "You've been through the dungeon on a baby yellow dragon with no name." Heh. Nethack is full of jokes like this. I decide my baby dragon does need a name, and after a bit of thinking lightning strikes! I name my baby yellow dragon, Old Yeller.
Old Yeller gets put down
I blind myself with with my towel to focus on my ESP and get an idea of what's on the level, and spot a priestess! Hopefully she's in charge of a temple with an altar! I rush over there and find the temple to be cross-aligned with me. Damn Loki. Well, Benny has taken priests before, after he's done with this one, I'll just convert it for Tyr. Benny begins the beat down, and the priestess of Loki bashes him back with her mace. I wait a few turns, and the priestess is still standing. Wow. Tough girl. I wait a few more turns of fighting, and Benny disappears. What? He's not dead, is he? I wrap the towel around my head again, and spot Benny, back by the stairs we just came down. He retreated? Is she really that tough? Without a stethoscope, I can only guess how hurt the priestess is, but after a few turns she casts a spell, and heals herself. Shortly afterward, Benny teleports back and they start round two, but it ends the same as last time. Benny retreats and heals, and the priestess heals, then they go at it again! I guess they're pretty evenly matched. Whether the priestess stays or goes, this is going to be my new outpost. I head back upstairs and bring a box down to the temple, and put it in the corner. Old Yeller follows me in, and decides to pick a fight with the priestess. Uhh... She's pretty tough, be careful. I figured he'd take a few swipes at her, get konked on the head a few times, and run away. He's just a baby dragon, after all. He hits her a few times, and takes a few hits, and I'm surprised he hasn't run off yet. Priestess of Loki swings her mace. Old Yeller is killed! O_O shit! No! Old Yeller! Why didn't you run away! Fuck! My girlfriend hears my lament, and asks if I can bring him back to life. I stop. I never though of being able to bring something back to life. The only thing I can think would do something similar is a wand of undead turning, but I always though that was more like a "turn something into a zombie" type wand. I guess it would make sense that it could bring something back to life. I have a wand of undead turning, but it's way back in the mine town. There's no way I'd be able to get it back here in time. Poor Old Yeller. I dig a grave for the poor guy, and engrave the floor above him with a wand of digging, Here Lies Old Yeller. I place his saddle in the box, and start testing some uncursed rings. My teleportitis flares up, but this time, I'm asked where I want to teleport. I name the ring I was trying on at the time "Teleport Control," and happy with that find, begin my storage consolidation with Benny in tow.
Moving, wishes, and holy water
We back track to the nearest storage closet, chest, or box, and carry everything back to my new outpost at the temple. Being burdened with all that stuff makes me hungry faster, so I realize that I should just wait for my teleportitis hit, and teleport directly to the down stairs, blow my magic whistle for Benny, and go down. It doesn't take long before I've gotten all my storage areas, and all possibly useful items down to my new outpost, which I've now begun to call Loki-land. The next and final equipment gathering trip is to the mine town's haunted temple of Tyr, and my last storage closet. I'll be making some holy water for my equipment processing, so I have to carry all the useless potions down with me for watering down. All of this would be a HELL of a lot easier if I had a freaking bag of holding. Or even just a regular bag, so I wouldn't have my knapsack full! I finally make it to the mines, and pick up another potion I can do without. Diluting potions twice turns them into water, and I need water to make holy water. The difficulty comes from how to dilute your potions safely. You can't dilute them in a lake unless you are actually IN the lake (with all the armor, you sink right to the bottom, not to mention water damage on other equipment), or have boots of water walking. I don't even have access to a lake, which means I need to use fountains, which are dangerous for lower level characters. Messing with fountains is usually bad news, they have quite a number of effects, most of which are negative or dangerous. There is a tiny chance that you'll get a luck increase, and a tiny chance you'll free a peaceful water demon, and an even smaller chance that he'll grant you a wish, but the dangers of the fountain FAR outweigh the benefits. But I didn't have a choice (plus Hilde was pretty tough), so I set about diluting my four useless potions in the fountain. I'm guessing my extreme luck helped me avoid most of the dangerous consequences because for 5 turns the fountain didn't retaliate at all. The sixth time, it unleashed a water demon, who shouldn't offer too much resistance. Before I can attack I get the message "Grateful for his release, he grants you a wish!" No shit! It's good to be lucky! After considering my options, and my current equipment, I wish for a blessed greased fireproof +2 cloak of displacement. I prefer displacement to invisibility, because some of the higher level monsters can see invisible, and displacement works on all monsters. Plus I already had a ring of invisibility. As I finish diluting my last potion, the fountain dries up. I enter the haunted temple, (luckily no ghosts appeared) and place the four potions of water on the alter of Tyr, and prayed. The voice of Tyr booms: "Thou art arrogant, mortal!" Tyr knocks me down a level! Tyr apparently thinks I'm taking him for granted. Actually, it was probably all those peaceful tengu I attacked in a very un-lawful-character-like manner. Sorry! Geez. Have some sacrifices. I pick up an old wand of create monster, and a few sacrifices later I get the message Tyr seems mollified. Thanks, now can you help me out here? I pray on the altar, and am surrounded by a shimmering light. I glance down at my feet and see my 4 potions of water glow blue. Nice. I pack up everything of use, and as I'm leaving, I remember I wanted to try the wand of undead turning. I zap a nearby gecko corpse, and it comes back to life! Well, it may be too late for Old Yeller, but at least I won't lose any more pets. I head back to Loki-land without incident (wasn't even burdened).
Pimp my kit
With an altar, the protection of a strong pet, holy water, nearby fountains, blank scrolls and a magic marker; I was now in a position to do some experimenting with my mostly unidentified equipment. I started with scrolls, and grabbed some uncursed armor and an uncursed weapon that I wouldn't mind turning to dust on accident. I strip down, put away all my burnable stuff, put on the crappy armor, wield my crappy weapon, and read the first uncursed unidentified scroll. Scroll of gold detection. Useful if I read while confused for trap detection. Next blessed unidentified scroll. Blessed scroll of genocide! Sweet! Oh wait... The first thing you do with a blessed scroll of genocide is kill the entire race of Liches. Which would include Benny. I don't really want to do it. I decide I can always make more blessed scrolls of genocide if I have to, and instead take out all water monsters (jellyfish, paranahs, sharks, giant eels, electric eels, and krackens) who become very bothersome later in the game. (and fucking krackens grab you off land, and drown you!) Unsure I made the right decision, I read the next uncursed scroll. Punishment. Damn. A heavy iron ball and chain materialize on my leg, not too difficult to remove, just a bit bothersome. That was all the unidentified scrolls, now to get all this other stuff identified. I had two cursed scrolls of identify, one uncursed scroll of identify, two blessed blank scrolls, and two uncursed blank scrolls. I wanted as many blessed scrolls of identify as possible, since each one has a chance of identifying your entire inventory, instead of just 2-4 items. I dip the two cursed scrolls of identify into one potion of holy water, causing them to become uncursed. I then drop the two newly uncursed scrolls of identify, and drop the other uncursed scroll of identify, causing them to stack into one item; 3 uncursed scrolls of identify. Since the three were stacked now, it only takes one more potion of holy water to make all three blessed. With my three blessed scrolls of identify, I rummage around in my box, and pull out everything I could possibly want identified, and read the three scrolls. Each one only identifies a few. Damn. I've got a lot more stuff that I really need identified. I pull out my magic marker, and write an identify scroll on a blessed blank scroll, and read it. Yes! It identifies all my stuff, including all my wands with various numbers of charges left. Among the identified stuff, I see a ring of polymorph control! Sweet! Now I can do like I did with Olga, and make some awesome pets, and eat some rings for intrinsics! Just gotta find a scroll of charging for my polymorph wand. I store the stuff that's not immediately necessary, and set about bettering my equipment. I pull out two blessed scrolls of enchant weapon, some potions of confusion, and my 20 throwing daggers. I wield the daggers, and read the two blessed scrolls of enchant weapon, making my daggers +4. I then use my magic marker to write another scroll of enchant weapon, and drink the potion of confusion. Being confused can have positive effects when doing certain things. While confused, I read the scroll of enchant weapon, and mispronounce the words, causing my 20 +4 daggers to become rustproof. I then dip the 20 rustproof +4 daggers into one potion of holy water, causing them to become blessed. Then I name my new kick ass daggers, Deadly Daggers, and set them for throwing. I use my magic marker again to write a scroll of enchant armor, but in my haste, write a scroll of enchant weapon. Whoops. I wanted to repair and protect my damaged +4 small shield, but I guess that'll have to wait. I re-equip for exploration, choose a potent set of wands that still have enough charges to be useful, and set off with Benny.
The most awesomest evar
Next level down, we find a large dog, and being very prepared to add pets to polymorph, I have a bit of tripe for him. He devours it, and cheerily follows me back up two levels to the polymorph trap. I leave Benny one level down so he doesn't get in the way, then repeatedly blow my magic whistle while standing next to the trap, and after a few weak transformations, my new pet dog turns into a black dragon! Fucking sweet! This is just what I wanted! But it's not complete yet! I hurry down stairs and grab the saddle, being sure to keep my new dragon away from that dragon-killing priestess, and saddle up.
It was at this point that I realized that Hilde was the most awesome nethack character I'd ever created. She was decked out with awesome armor (-14), wearing her cloak of displacement, wielding Mjollnir, capable of throwing three blessed rustproof +4 deadly daggers in one turn, with a pet Arch-Lich, and RIDING A MOTHERFUCKING BLACK DRAGON!
Yes.
Hilde is awesome.
Too awesome to last
We go back downstairs, and continue deeper. After the first dismount I get the message, You've been through the dungeon on a black dragon with no name again, and ask my girlfriend what I should name him. Murderface. Perfect! With a breath attack of disintegration, it seemed like the perfect fit. After two more levels, we run into a warhorse, and after tossing an apple at it, it was happy to be my pet. I was getting a little pet-happy, with a convenient polymorph trap, and a series of awesome pets. We encountered a few ogres, and I began to get that sinking feeling when my new warhorse kept coming back for more. He died after only a few turns as my pet. Damn! Wait. Lets see if that wand of undead turning will keep it my pet! I zap my wand of undead turning at the corpse of my former warhorse, who quickly pops right back up like nothing ever happened! Sweet. We head back to the polymorph trap, and I leave Benny on the level below to keep him out of the way (Note that I have done this twice, not a good thing to do with a powerful pet) After a few turns, my warhorse has turned into the SECOND nastiest monster in the dungeon; a mind flayer. Known for their area psychic attacks, and the most hated attack in nethack, the mind suck. Mind flayers will attempt to eat your brain, and cause your character to forget things, like what ring does what, what wand does what, weapon experience, previously explored levels, and more. It's terrible. It's like you're starting over. And now, one was my pet. Cool? I attack a few more monsters, and dismount to pick up the loot, but when I try to get back on, I slip. I try again, and slip again. I try again, and fail. Shit. Murderface probably isn't liking this. I try one more time, and get the message, I think Murderface would mind. What? Why would Murderface mind? I then realize that Murderface is no longer my pet, and is instead, a peaceful, saddled, black dragon. Damnit! I guess he really wasn't liking the constant up and down. I wonder how I'm going to get the saddle off of him, and realize I might have a scroll of tame monster in my box at Loki-land. I head down with my mind flayer and Benny to check the box. No scroll of tame monster, and my mind flayer seems disinterested in trying to suck the brains out of the Priestess, even while she's preoccupied with Benny. I get an idea that will require Benny be elsewhere, and leave him upstairs. I enter a closed corridor off of the temple, lock the door behind me, leaving my mind flayer and the priestess in the temple, and put on my ring of conflict. I wait a bit as they dance around in the temple, but cant hear or see any sounds of attacking. I wait a bit longer, and see nothing happening. Maybe my mind flayer needs to level up. (Holy shit! I just realized! All that sparring with Benny, probably maxed out the Priestess's level! She's probably tougher than me! I'd better watch out for her!) I give up on my mind flayer, and head back up to meet Benny.
Mr Benedict... We meet again.
I head up the stairs and jump out of my chair as I see Benny standing next to me, but this time he has no text highlight. Benny is no longer my pet. Benedict has gone feral. Mister Benedict... We meet again. I expected this was how our relationship would end. Don't think I didn't learn from when we last fought, and don't think I've forgotten the amulet of reflection you're wearing. I was unprepared before... Now we end this. And just as I prepare to unleash a salvo of Blessed Deadly Daggers, and go invisible, I remember Murderface went peaceful, and check his status to find that Benedict the Arch-Lich, is in fact, Benny the peaceful Arch-Lich. Whew! One wrong hit would have turned him hostile! Glad I checked first!
I quit now so I could collect my thoughts, and plan my next moves. A lot had just happened. At first I really wanted Benny and Murderface back, and hoped I could find some scrolls of taming. But then I realized that beating the game without genociding Liches is EXTREMELY difficult for someone who's never even beat the game once. I've decided I'll just have to do it. I can't polymorph Benny into anything else because he's magic resistant. Well, I'll finally get my amulet of reflection back! (heh, heh... awww.) As for Murderface, I think I can still tame him, so long as I don't hit him on accident. Writing this reminded me that I don't need more charges for my polymorph wand because I can use the polymorph trap if I take off my magic resistant armor. I'm planning on doing what I did with Olga, and laying some dragon and cockatrice eggs for some awesome pets, and possibly a ridable dragon in the near future.
[Hilde's quest ends]
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Statue Gardens and the Big Room
[Hilde's quest continues...]
Before I hit the treasure zoo, I make my way back to the sink and check my ring inventory. I find two of the same types of rings that I've been unable to identify by wearing, so I toss one into the sink. (as I write this, I realize I forgot to kick a ring out of the sink. I need to add that to my to do list) The sink responds by blending into the floor for a moment. That means it's a ring of stealth. Perfect! I can put on the other one, and use it in the treasure zoo! With stealth, all the monsters remain asleep (hopefully), and you are free to dispatch them one at a time. On my way to the zoo I find another ring, and after determining it to be uncursed, I put it on. My orc shaman takes a swing at Benedict, who responds by clocking him. Awesome! I found a ring of conflict! It makes everyone on the level fight eachother, and can be very useful. I quickly remove the ring before Benedict decides to break my face. I pick the lock on the door to the zoo and open it. I see a sleeping cockatrice two spaces away from me, at the edge of the group of monsters, and get a great idea.
I go back up a level with Benny and my orc shaman, and leave them there, I won't be gone long. I return to the treasure zoo, dig out a section of wall next to the corridor, and pick up a rock. I open the door, and throw the rock at the cockatrice, who promptly wakes up and takes a menacing step toward me. I slam the door, lock it, and snicker as I put on my ring of conflict. Then I wait as I hear sounds coming from the other side of the door. After a while I don't hear anything, and unlock and open the door. There stands a cockatrice among a large group of stone statues of the former monsters, with a gnome and a bugbear cowering in the corner. The cockatrice hisses at me, and I send 6 daggers his way, which drop him quickly. I note the cockatrice left a corpse, and check on the bugbear and gnome in the corner. Might as well make the set complete! I double check that I'm wearing gloves, and that I have a lizard corpse ready in case I fuck up, and pick up the cockatrice corpse. I wield it like a flail, and hit the Gnome with it, who instantly turns to stone. The bugbear falls just as easily, and now I've got a statue garden! I put the cockatrice corpse in the far corner so I don't have to worry about it until it rots away, and get ready to head back to my pets. Then I realize I've been gone longer than I thought I would be, and am not sure if Benedict could have gone feral. It seems unlikely, but I don't want to take the chance, so I bring the cockatrice corpse to the stairs with me, searching every turn to make sure I don't trip into a pit and turn myself to stone. I remove my ring of conflict, and on the previous level I'm relieved to find Benny is still happy to call me master, and we continue downward.
As we pass my new statue garden on our way to the down stairs, I remember that there should be a throne in there. I go back and find the throne under a statue of a floating eye, a few chips with my pick axe later, the throne is visible. I take a seat, and get the message that I feel out of place. I keep sitting, and it saps my strength for two points, but doesn't vanish. I weigh my options and decide to keep trying. I sit on it a few more times, and am rewarded with a free genocide. After realizing mind flayers won't be a problem for a long while, and I can't kill liches quite yet (Benny's my bud!), I choose rust monsters, who destroy my throwing daggers, and rust out my armor to uselessness. Extremely annoying. For a brief moment I remember the "feeling out of place" message and wonder if since I seem to be unaligned with this throne, if it'll teleport in a bunch of rust monsters instead of genociding them. I quiet my fear, and go for it. All Rust Monsters wiped out. Sweet! The throne, having expended its power, vanishes in a puff of logic.
We go down stairs and I see something I haven't seen in a long time. The big room. The big room is basically a large open room with no rooms, doors, or corridors to help you deal with multiple enemies. It's a bitch because you start in the middle and the ~30 monsters descend upon you from all sides, and if you're not careful, surround you completely preventing you from escaping. Every time I got the big room I backtracked and searched in vain for a ring of conflict, but this time I already had one. I brought Benny and my orc shaman upstairs, returned to the big room, and put on my ring of conflict. Then I sat back and enjoyed the show. While most of the monsters are busy beating on eachother, there were still a few gnarly ones pretty close to me, so I start walking a path to avoid most of the monsters while they beat on eachother. They get a little close, and I bash a few with Mjollnir, and make my way to a nice empty part of the big room. As I approach, the largest swarm of bees I've ever seen in nethack appears right where I'm heading. Bees are not too tough if you've got poison resistance, but they can still swarm you, and make your life very difficult. I make a bee line (yeah yeah) away, but some giants deflect me to the wall. I don't want to be pinned against the wall, but it beats being surrounded on all sides, and maybe they'll kill eachother in the extra time. I make my way to the wall, and the bees are upon me quickly, fortunately, most of them are attacking eachother, but they have poison resistance, and the swarm looks even bigger than it was before. The bees have me on one side, and begin to cusp above me like a small wave. “Bees! Bees! Bees in the car! Bees Everywhere! God, they’re huge! Your firearms are useless against them!” I'm reminded of Go strategy for some unknown reason, and move to the cusp instead of away from the large body of bees. The gamble pays off, and I manage to keep from being surrounded. I make it to a breakaway, and look around the dark areas of the room for items unmolested as the remaining monsters duke it out. I find a few more rings, wands, and an amulet, and decide it's time to let Benny take care of the rest of these guys. I remove my ring of conflict, and grab him from upstairs. Without the ring on, the remaining monsters close in on me and Benny, this is apparently exactly what Benny wanted because he goes nuts, and clears the room quickly.
I sift through the dropped items in the big room, and find a few more wands and rings. Knowing Benny is already wearing an amulet of reflection, I put the unidentified amulet on the ground for him to inspect. He picks it up, and puts it down. Well, I didn't get my amulet of reflection, but at least I know this one isn't cursed. I toss it on and see no immediate effect. Oh well. I'm sure I'll find out soon enough. I find a whistle, and with high hopes, use it. My pets teleport right next to me. Yes! Finally, a magic whistle! No more waiting for slow pets! Then I remember SlowPoke and feel a bit down. Poor guy. Oh well. We head deeper and I find that I can see a xorn through the wall. Woot! I'm got an amulet of ESP! I name the amulet and dispatch the xorn who drops two food rations. I pick up the rations and realize I'm burdened. I spot a conveniently nearby box, and begin unloading some of my less than necessary equipment into it. I continue through the level and find another leprechaun hall. After Benny has his way with the little buggers, I gather up all the gold and some more items, only to become burdened again. On the way back to the box a peaceful Tengu teleports next to Benny and I. Benny takes umberage to this, and kills him in one hit, leaving a corpse. Hmmmm... Eating a tengu corpse has a chance of conferring the teleport control intrinsic. Also, it has a chance of giving me teleportitis. I've seen a few tengu around, so if I get teleportitis, I'll just keep finding and eating until I get the intrinsic. I eat the tengu and get the message, "You feel jumpy" Bah. Teleportitis it is, oh well. Back at the box, I eye my inventory more carefully. I realize I've got a lot of unidentified rings and scrolls. Probably some good ones among them. I've only got a few scrolls of identify, what I really need is a magic marker. Instantly I remember finding one, and 3 blank scrolls... somewhere... Shit. Why don't I take more complete notes? Well, it's in one of my outposts or closets or boxes, so I'm sure I'll find it. That's what I need to do. Get some of this inventory sorted. Make some holy water, blank some scrolls, and generally futz with my stuff. That'll be a bit of fun. Unfortunately I still haven't found an altar in the regular dungeon. The only one I know of is in the mine town, and that's a long way to lug all that stuff without a bag of holding.
I decide to take a quick look a few levels down, and if there are no altars, I'll just make the long trip to the mine town with the haunted temple.
[to be continued...]
Before I hit the treasure zoo, I make my way back to the sink and check my ring inventory. I find two of the same types of rings that I've been unable to identify by wearing, so I toss one into the sink. (as I write this, I realize I forgot to kick a ring out of the sink. I need to add that to my to do list) The sink responds by blending into the floor for a moment. That means it's a ring of stealth. Perfect! I can put on the other one, and use it in the treasure zoo! With stealth, all the monsters remain asleep (hopefully), and you are free to dispatch them one at a time. On my way to the zoo I find another ring, and after determining it to be uncursed, I put it on. My orc shaman takes a swing at Benedict, who responds by clocking him. Awesome! I found a ring of conflict! It makes everyone on the level fight eachother, and can be very useful. I quickly remove the ring before Benedict decides to break my face. I pick the lock on the door to the zoo and open it. I see a sleeping cockatrice two spaces away from me, at the edge of the group of monsters, and get a great idea.
I go back up a level with Benny and my orc shaman, and leave them there, I won't be gone long. I return to the treasure zoo, dig out a section of wall next to the corridor, and pick up a rock. I open the door, and throw the rock at the cockatrice, who promptly wakes up and takes a menacing step toward me. I slam the door, lock it, and snicker as I put on my ring of conflict. Then I wait as I hear sounds coming from the other side of the door. After a while I don't hear anything, and unlock and open the door. There stands a cockatrice among a large group of stone statues of the former monsters, with a gnome and a bugbear cowering in the corner. The cockatrice hisses at me, and I send 6 daggers his way, which drop him quickly. I note the cockatrice left a corpse, and check on the bugbear and gnome in the corner. Might as well make the set complete! I double check that I'm wearing gloves, and that I have a lizard corpse ready in case I fuck up, and pick up the cockatrice corpse. I wield it like a flail, and hit the Gnome with it, who instantly turns to stone. The bugbear falls just as easily, and now I've got a statue garden! I put the cockatrice corpse in the far corner so I don't have to worry about it until it rots away, and get ready to head back to my pets. Then I realize I've been gone longer than I thought I would be, and am not sure if Benedict could have gone feral. It seems unlikely, but I don't want to take the chance, so I bring the cockatrice corpse to the stairs with me, searching every turn to make sure I don't trip into a pit and turn myself to stone. I remove my ring of conflict, and on the previous level I'm relieved to find Benny is still happy to call me master, and we continue downward.
As we pass my new statue garden on our way to the down stairs, I remember that there should be a throne in there. I go back and find the throne under a statue of a floating eye, a few chips with my pick axe later, the throne is visible. I take a seat, and get the message that I feel out of place. I keep sitting, and it saps my strength for two points, but doesn't vanish. I weigh my options and decide to keep trying. I sit on it a few more times, and am rewarded with a free genocide. After realizing mind flayers won't be a problem for a long while, and I can't kill liches quite yet (Benny's my bud!), I choose rust monsters, who destroy my throwing daggers, and rust out my armor to uselessness. Extremely annoying. For a brief moment I remember the "feeling out of place" message and wonder if since I seem to be unaligned with this throne, if it'll teleport in a bunch of rust monsters instead of genociding them. I quiet my fear, and go for it. All Rust Monsters wiped out. Sweet! The throne, having expended its power, vanishes in a puff of logic.
We go down stairs and I see something I haven't seen in a long time. The big room. The big room is basically a large open room with no rooms, doors, or corridors to help you deal with multiple enemies. It's a bitch because you start in the middle and the ~30 monsters descend upon you from all sides, and if you're not careful, surround you completely preventing you from escaping. Every time I got the big room I backtracked and searched in vain for a ring of conflict, but this time I already had one. I brought Benny and my orc shaman upstairs, returned to the big room, and put on my ring of conflict. Then I sat back and enjoyed the show. While most of the monsters are busy beating on eachother, there were still a few gnarly ones pretty close to me, so I start walking a path to avoid most of the monsters while they beat on eachother. They get a little close, and I bash a few with Mjollnir, and make my way to a nice empty part of the big room. As I approach, the largest swarm of bees I've ever seen in nethack appears right where I'm heading. Bees are not too tough if you've got poison resistance, but they can still swarm you, and make your life very difficult. I make a bee line (yeah yeah) away, but some giants deflect me to the wall. I don't want to be pinned against the wall, but it beats being surrounded on all sides, and maybe they'll kill eachother in the extra time. I make my way to the wall, and the bees are upon me quickly, fortunately, most of them are attacking eachother, but they have poison resistance, and the swarm looks even bigger than it was before. The bees have me on one side, and begin to cusp above me like a small wave. “Bees! Bees! Bees in the car! Bees Everywhere! God, they’re huge! Your firearms are useless against them!” I'm reminded of Go strategy for some unknown reason, and move to the cusp instead of away from the large body of bees. The gamble pays off, and I manage to keep from being surrounded. I make it to a breakaway, and look around the dark areas of the room for items unmolested as the remaining monsters duke it out. I find a few more rings, wands, and an amulet, and decide it's time to let Benny take care of the rest of these guys. I remove my ring of conflict, and grab him from upstairs. Without the ring on, the remaining monsters close in on me and Benny, this is apparently exactly what Benny wanted because he goes nuts, and clears the room quickly.
I sift through the dropped items in the big room, and find a few more wands and rings. Knowing Benny is already wearing an amulet of reflection, I put the unidentified amulet on the ground for him to inspect. He picks it up, and puts it down. Well, I didn't get my amulet of reflection, but at least I know this one isn't cursed. I toss it on and see no immediate effect. Oh well. I'm sure I'll find out soon enough. I find a whistle, and with high hopes, use it. My pets teleport right next to me. Yes! Finally, a magic whistle! No more waiting for slow pets! Then I remember SlowPoke and feel a bit down. Poor guy. Oh well. We head deeper and I find that I can see a xorn through the wall. Woot! I'm got an amulet of ESP! I name the amulet and dispatch the xorn who drops two food rations. I pick up the rations and realize I'm burdened. I spot a conveniently nearby box, and begin unloading some of my less than necessary equipment into it. I continue through the level and find another leprechaun hall. After Benny has his way with the little buggers, I gather up all the gold and some more items, only to become burdened again. On the way back to the box a peaceful Tengu teleports next to Benny and I. Benny takes umberage to this, and kills him in one hit, leaving a corpse. Hmmmm... Eating a tengu corpse has a chance of conferring the teleport control intrinsic. Also, it has a chance of giving me teleportitis. I've seen a few tengu around, so if I get teleportitis, I'll just keep finding and eating until I get the intrinsic. I eat the tengu and get the message, "You feel jumpy" Bah. Teleportitis it is, oh well. Back at the box, I eye my inventory more carefully. I realize I've got a lot of unidentified rings and scrolls. Probably some good ones among them. I've only got a few scrolls of identify, what I really need is a magic marker. Instantly I remember finding one, and 3 blank scrolls... somewhere... Shit. Why don't I take more complete notes? Well, it's in one of my outposts or closets or boxes, so I'm sure I'll find it. That's what I need to do. Get some of this inventory sorted. Make some holy water, blank some scrolls, and generally futz with my stuff. That'll be a bit of fun. Unfortunately I still haven't found an altar in the regular dungeon. The only one I know of is in the mine town, and that's a long way to lug all that stuff without a bag of holding.
I decide to take a quick look a few levels down, and if there are no altars, I'll just make the long trip to the mine town with the haunted temple.
[to be continued...]
Monday, March 24, 2008
Benedict and SlowPoke
[Hilde's quest continues...]
Before we make it out of the mines, my black naga managed to find YET ANOTHER polymorph trap, and turned into a baby purple worm. If he can get enough experience, he'll turn into an excellent pet, a purple worm. The great thing about purple worms is their attack is to swallow enemies whole. Unfortunately it's quite slow. I leave the mines and continue deeper with my Lich and my particularly slow baby purple worm. If I get too far from my pet worm, he loses track of me, and wanders off, so I have to stand a space away from him, and wait until he gets next to me then take another step and wait. I really need to find a magic whistle. We find the leprechaun hall, and collect so much gold that I'm becoming burdened. I decide I need to set up an outpost, and carry a large box from a few levels up down to a big room. Unfortunately, the room is pretty open, and doesn't have doors in every entrance, so I carve Elbereth using my wand of digging and put my large box on it. On the same level I find the entrance to the sokoban mazes, so I head back to my outpost and adjust my inventory for exploration.
In the sokoban mazes and I somehow manage not to kill my pets when they annoy me by getting in the way of me moving boulders. I find a few rings and an amulet which I toss on to see if there are any immediate effects. Nothing happens, but I leave them on in the hope that something will happen to reveal their effect. I make it to the third level, and accidentally fall down to the first level. I run back up to find my Arch-Lich eyeballing me menacingly. Oh shit. He teleports next to me and tries to freeze me, and attacks with a nasty spell! He's still listed as "tame", so I check his description, and see nothing wrong, I have no stethoscope, so I can't see if he has any abnormal statuses. He's pissed off or confused or something. He gives me three good hits as I try to make it to the stairs, and I've got about one hit left, and I'm frantically checking my inventory. The only thing I can find is my wand of polymorph, which doesn't work on Liches (if you'll recall), of course I didn't remember this as I was freaking out, and zapped him with it. He teleported away, and out of dagger range, but I still had two spaces to move. I took another step toward the stairs, and he teleported next to me, and hits me for the last time, and I watch my hit points drop to zero. Fuck.
But wait!
The unidentified amulet I was wearing began to glow! It was an amulet of life saving! It revived me to full health, and turned to dust. I ran downstairs to compose myself. I ran back to my outpost and checked to see if I had anything useful for taking on an arch-lich. Nothing. I was prepared to bypass sokoban until I either got strong enough to take on an arch-lich, or found a scroll of genocide. Unwilling to give up so easily, I stock up on healing potions and cautiously head back.
I appear on the level and wait till he teleports into view. He appears directly across from me, and I fired off three daggers, ready for battle. My lich just screamed at the attack, and began ambling around, like nothing happened. I waited a few more turns, and cautiously approached my questionable pet. He just wandered around. Oooookaaayyy... I guess he got confused or something, because he was fine after that. I decided he earned a name, Benedict. I found my baby purple worm and decided he deserved a name too, SlowPoke. I chuckle at the name, and then realize that SlowPoke is so slow, and Benedict is so fast that SlowPoke will likely never get a chance to make it to full grown purple worm. I decide to give him a chance at the last monster-filled room in sokoban, and if he doesn't get enough experience, I'll just polymorph him into something a bit faster.
I get to the last room, and wedge him in the doorway. SlowPoke goes to town, biting everything and doing rather well until he gets hit with a poison arrow. Apparently baby purple worms don't have poison resistance. SlowPoke is dead.
I grab the amulet of reflection (forgetting about my bag of holding), and (stupidly) decide to put it on the ground to make sure it's not cursed (of course it's not cursed, it's my prize). Benedict sees it, and puts it on. Well shit. Whatever. Damnit. I sift through the junk, and leave with Benedict (who, for some reason can still teleport in sokoban). We head a level down and find a sink, and a treasure zoo. Before we can make it there, we run into a pony, one carrot later I've got another pet pony to polymorph into something awesome. A few zaps of my wand of polymorph doesn't change the pony into anything that would make a great pet. I zap again, and find the wand to be empty. Guess I'm stuck with a pet orc shaman for now.
[to be continued...]
Before we make it out of the mines, my black naga managed to find YET ANOTHER polymorph trap, and turned into a baby purple worm. If he can get enough experience, he'll turn into an excellent pet, a purple worm. The great thing about purple worms is their attack is to swallow enemies whole. Unfortunately it's quite slow. I leave the mines and continue deeper with my Lich and my particularly slow baby purple worm. If I get too far from my pet worm, he loses track of me, and wanders off, so I have to stand a space away from him, and wait until he gets next to me then take another step and wait. I really need to find a magic whistle. We find the leprechaun hall, and collect so much gold that I'm becoming burdened. I decide I need to set up an outpost, and carry a large box from a few levels up down to a big room. Unfortunately, the room is pretty open, and doesn't have doors in every entrance, so I carve Elbereth using my wand of digging and put my large box on it. On the same level I find the entrance to the sokoban mazes, so I head back to my outpost and adjust my inventory for exploration.
In the sokoban mazes and I somehow manage not to kill my pets when they annoy me by getting in the way of me moving boulders. I find a few rings and an amulet which I toss on to see if there are any immediate effects. Nothing happens, but I leave them on in the hope that something will happen to reveal their effect. I make it to the third level, and accidentally fall down to the first level. I run back up to find my Arch-Lich eyeballing me menacingly. Oh shit. He teleports next to me and tries to freeze me, and attacks with a nasty spell! He's still listed as "tame", so I check his description, and see nothing wrong, I have no stethoscope, so I can't see if he has any abnormal statuses. He's pissed off or confused or something. He gives me three good hits as I try to make it to the stairs, and I've got about one hit left, and I'm frantically checking my inventory. The only thing I can find is my wand of polymorph, which doesn't work on Liches (if you'll recall), of course I didn't remember this as I was freaking out, and zapped him with it. He teleported away, and out of dagger range, but I still had two spaces to move. I took another step toward the stairs, and he teleported next to me, and hits me for the last time, and I watch my hit points drop to zero. Fuck.
But wait!
The unidentified amulet I was wearing began to glow! It was an amulet of life saving! It revived me to full health, and turned to dust. I ran downstairs to compose myself. I ran back to my outpost and checked to see if I had anything useful for taking on an arch-lich. Nothing. I was prepared to bypass sokoban until I either got strong enough to take on an arch-lich, or found a scroll of genocide. Unwilling to give up so easily, I stock up on healing potions and cautiously head back.
I appear on the level and wait till he teleports into view. He appears directly across from me, and I fired off three daggers, ready for battle. My lich just screamed at the attack, and began ambling around, like nothing happened. I waited a few more turns, and cautiously approached my questionable pet. He just wandered around. Oooookaaayyy... I guess he got confused or something, because he was fine after that. I decided he earned a name, Benedict. I found my baby purple worm and decided he deserved a name too, SlowPoke. I chuckle at the name, and then realize that SlowPoke is so slow, and Benedict is so fast that SlowPoke will likely never get a chance to make it to full grown purple worm. I decide to give him a chance at the last monster-filled room in sokoban, and if he doesn't get enough experience, I'll just polymorph him into something a bit faster.
I get to the last room, and wedge him in the doorway. SlowPoke goes to town, biting everything and doing rather well until he gets hit with a poison arrow. Apparently baby purple worms don't have poison resistance. SlowPoke is dead.
I grab the amulet of reflection (forgetting about my bag of holding), and (stupidly) decide to put it on the ground to make sure it's not cursed (of course it's not cursed, it's my prize). Benedict sees it, and puts it on. Well shit. Whatever. Damnit. I sift through the junk, and leave with Benedict (who, for some reason can still teleport in sokoban). We head a level down and find a sink, and a treasure zoo. Before we can make it there, we run into a pony, one carrot later I've got another pet pony to polymorph into something awesome. A few zaps of my wand of polymorph doesn't change the pony into anything that would make a great pet. I zap again, and find the wand to be empty. Guess I'm stuck with a pet orc shaman for now.
[to be continued...]
Innocuous Homunculus
Starting a game of Nethack gives you one immediate goal; don't die. After you make it through the survival phase, you can start gathering your kit for going deeper. The survival phase is made easier by selecting strong characters such as a barbarian or a Valkyrie, who start out with good strength, and good equipment. I was reminded that this character selection still doesn't make you invincible, or prevent random acts of Nethack God.
My Valkyrie was tooling around on the first few levels trying to find an altar and a box or chest when she ran into a few lower-level nasties, one of which being a Homunculus. No big deal. Homunculi are very minor foes, and I dispatch them with enough regularity that I thought nothing of the presence of one. After picking on the jackals I attacked the Homunculus, which would fall to about 2 hits. However, the Random Nethack God decided that it rather liked that particular Homunculus. I couldn't hit him for the life of me (unfortunate pun). After a few dagger swipes flew by him, he decided he should put me to sleep. I survived my unfortunate nap, though the jackals attacked as I slept, but when I awoke Mr. homunculus decided I could use some more rest.
Hilde is dead! Long live Hilde!
Deciding Hilde hadn't quite earned a name for herself, I restarted with the same name, and warily began my descent.
After a bit of exploration, my pet cat Rex fell protecting me from a werewolf. Poor little guy. It was important I find good equipment quickly, and a pet is good for making sure I don't use any cursed items. Two levels down I ran into a large dog, who was happy to join me after I fed him some tripe. Rex II did a lot of fighting for me (I wanted to keep from leveling up before I got better equipment) and always yipped happily after a battle. A few levels down I find an armor shop, and manage to distract the shopkeeper long enough for Rex II to make off with some nice plate mail. All this while I'm fighting melee with my dagger, and throwing daggers at enemies, although with Rex II as tough as he was, I wasn't really doing much fighting. I found a neutral altar (I'm lawful), but there weren't enough monsters around for me to confidently claim it for my god. Instead I lugged a chest from upstairs down to the altar room, and started my dungeon clean-up. Picking up, and checking every item before storing it in the locked chest.
I do a bit of clean up on the previous 4 levels, lugging weapons, armor, and potions down to my small base where I can make sure they're not cursed, and try them out. I add a few daggers to my throwing daggers pile, and safely add enough armor to get my armor class down to 5. I find an unidentified wand and zap a nearby newt who reacted by turning into a motherfucking black dragon! I freeze up instantly as I realize that it'll only take one blast of its disintegration ray to end my quest. I frantically check my inventory for something that'll help, but I'm not far enough along to have identified stuff I'd just be reading scrolls and hoping one is a scroll of teleport. Then I realize that what got me into this mess will get me out of it! I zap the same wand at the black dragon who (hilariously enough) turns into a lizard. Rex II is emboldened by this return to form, and quickly kills the lizard. I grab the corpse because they never go bad, and can keep me from turning to stone should I happen upon a cockatrice. I eye Rex II holding my new wand of polymorph and give him a zap! *poof* Rex II the giant ant? Nah. *poof* Rex II the garter snake? Hell no. *poof* Rex II the fire elemental? Lets go down the list... Big? Check. Tough? Check. Badass? Check. Made of fire? Double check! I wander the level looking for something for Rex II to attack, and a hapless imp crosses our path. Rex II hits the imp who bursts into flames, and quickly dies. Awesome.
We make it to the mines and (being a dwarf) the gnomes don't much mind my presence. This is good and bad. Since the gnomes are not that tough, they're good for easy experience, and usually have a few daggers (which I need for throwing). Attacking them unprovoked would cause a hit to my alignment. Lawful characters can't go around wasting peaceful monsters. Fortunately, Rex II had no such inhibitions and, with a little coaxing, took care of all the gnomes all the way down to the mine town.
The temple in town is chaotic, and I'm not even thinking about taking on the priestess. I've had far too many problems with the town temple to convert it lightly. As I walked from shop to shop checking out the goods, I wondered if Rex II was tough enough to try to take on some shopkeepers. Pets killing shopkeepers is a good way for lawful characters to get lots of stuff, and strong pets are a good way for early characters to get lots of stuff. Pets know how tough their enemies are, and choose their battles, so who they take on is a good indicator of their strength. Rex is still tough, I guess he's not just as tough as I thought. As I came to Izchak's lighting shop, I saw three lamps just begging to be rubbed. As I entered Rex II decided he was tougher than Izchak, and wasted him in a 5 turns! Killing Izchak is in bad form! I mourn Izchak for a few turns, and then check his pockets, and help myself to the three lamps and some candles. I begin rubbing the three lamps, and get lucky. A djinn pops out, and offers to grant me a wish! After some careful reflection, I decide that Blessed +2 Gray Dragon Scale Mail is a good fit for my current situation. This pushes my armor class down to -5.
We encounter a pony, and one carrot later, I've got a pet pony. Sadly, I have no experience riding, and have heard that horses are hard to feed. I realize I'm kind of enjoying letting Rex II do all my dirty work. This is my first time letting a pet do most of the work, usually I just kill everything myself. I guess this is how people play as archaeologists and tourists. I zap my wand of polymorph at my little pony, and suddenly I have a pet lich. Liches are undead wizards, and are most hated by NetHack players. It is recommended that they be genocided if you get the chance. Liches are known for doing things like destroying your armor, cursing your items, summoning monsters, teleporting away, drawing monsters to you, and in its final form, casting the instadeath spell touch of death. Now one is my pet. Huh. It's probably more more trouble than it's worth. I'd rather have a Dragon. I zap lich, who responds by shuddering. Oh. Liches have magic resistance. Well, I guess I've got a pet lich. Better make sure I don't lose track of him, otherwise he'll go feral, and attack me. (and probably win)
Lichy is a bit tougher than Rex II, and decides to kill the deli shopkeep. I mourned for a few turns, and picked up some food rations. We continued further down the mines with little problem, it was a bit tougher to keep track of two pets without a magic whistle, but I managed. Somewhere along the way Rex II discovered a polymorph trap, and turned into a Black Naga. Pretty strong monster, but not as good as a fire elemental. We made it to the bottom of the mines, and I set about searching for the luckstone, and a few fakes later I found it. On my way back up to the mining town Rex II must have found a level teleport trap, because he disappeared. Back in town I realized I had two wands of create monster, and wanted Mjollnir, so I entered the now haunted temple, and a few zaps and offerings later, I had some godly luck, and Mjollnir. I didn't care about the haunted temple because I didn't intend on using it as a base very much. Lichy had grown into an Arch Lich, and could now teleport at will. Cool. I won't have to worry about him keeping up when I navigate levels. Maybe a Lich makes a better pet than I thought.
[to be continued...]
My Valkyrie was tooling around on the first few levels trying to find an altar and a box or chest when she ran into a few lower-level nasties, one of which being a Homunculus. No big deal. Homunculi are very minor foes, and I dispatch them with enough regularity that I thought nothing of the presence of one. After picking on the jackals I attacked the Homunculus, which would fall to about 2 hits. However, the Random Nethack God decided that it rather liked that particular Homunculus. I couldn't hit him for the life of me (unfortunate pun). After a few dagger swipes flew by him, he decided he should put me to sleep. I survived my unfortunate nap, though the jackals attacked as I slept, but when I awoke Mr. homunculus decided I could use some more rest.
Hilde is dead! Long live Hilde!
Deciding Hilde hadn't quite earned a name for herself, I restarted with the same name, and warily began my descent.
After a bit of exploration, my pet cat Rex fell protecting me from a werewolf. Poor little guy. It was important I find good equipment quickly, and a pet is good for making sure I don't use any cursed items. Two levels down I ran into a large dog, who was happy to join me after I fed him some tripe. Rex II did a lot of fighting for me (I wanted to keep from leveling up before I got better equipment) and always yipped happily after a battle. A few levels down I find an armor shop, and manage to distract the shopkeeper long enough for Rex II to make off with some nice plate mail. All this while I'm fighting melee with my dagger, and throwing daggers at enemies, although with Rex II as tough as he was, I wasn't really doing much fighting. I found a neutral altar (I'm lawful), but there weren't enough monsters around for me to confidently claim it for my god. Instead I lugged a chest from upstairs down to the altar room, and started my dungeon clean-up. Picking up, and checking every item before storing it in the locked chest.
I do a bit of clean up on the previous 4 levels, lugging weapons, armor, and potions down to my small base where I can make sure they're not cursed, and try them out. I add a few daggers to my throwing daggers pile, and safely add enough armor to get my armor class down to 5. I find an unidentified wand and zap a nearby newt who reacted by turning into a motherfucking black dragon! I freeze up instantly as I realize that it'll only take one blast of its disintegration ray to end my quest. I frantically check my inventory for something that'll help, but I'm not far enough along to have identified stuff I'd just be reading scrolls and hoping one is a scroll of teleport. Then I realize that what got me into this mess will get me out of it! I zap the same wand at the black dragon who (hilariously enough) turns into a lizard. Rex II is emboldened by this return to form, and quickly kills the lizard. I grab the corpse because they never go bad, and can keep me from turning to stone should I happen upon a cockatrice. I eye Rex II holding my new wand of polymorph and give him a zap! *poof* Rex II the giant ant? Nah. *poof* Rex II the garter snake? Hell no. *poof* Rex II the fire elemental? Lets go down the list... Big? Check. Tough? Check. Badass? Check. Made of fire? Double check! I wander the level looking for something for Rex II to attack, and a hapless imp crosses our path. Rex II hits the imp who bursts into flames, and quickly dies. Awesome.
We make it to the mines and (being a dwarf) the gnomes don't much mind my presence. This is good and bad. Since the gnomes are not that tough, they're good for easy experience, and usually have a few daggers (which I need for throwing). Attacking them unprovoked would cause a hit to my alignment. Lawful characters can't go around wasting peaceful monsters. Fortunately, Rex II had no such inhibitions and, with a little coaxing, took care of all the gnomes all the way down to the mine town.
The temple in town is chaotic, and I'm not even thinking about taking on the priestess. I've had far too many problems with the town temple to convert it lightly. As I walked from shop to shop checking out the goods, I wondered if Rex II was tough enough to try to take on some shopkeepers. Pets killing shopkeepers is a good way for lawful characters to get lots of stuff, and strong pets are a good way for early characters to get lots of stuff. Pets know how tough their enemies are, and choose their battles, so who they take on is a good indicator of their strength. Rex is still tough, I guess he's not just as tough as I thought. As I came to Izchak's lighting shop, I saw three lamps just begging to be rubbed. As I entered Rex II decided he was tougher than Izchak, and wasted him in a 5 turns! Killing Izchak is in bad form! I mourn Izchak for a few turns, and then check his pockets, and help myself to the three lamps and some candles. I begin rubbing the three lamps, and get lucky. A djinn pops out, and offers to grant me a wish! After some careful reflection, I decide that Blessed +2 Gray Dragon Scale Mail is a good fit for my current situation. This pushes my armor class down to -5.
We encounter a pony, and one carrot later, I've got a pet pony. Sadly, I have no experience riding, and have heard that horses are hard to feed. I realize I'm kind of enjoying letting Rex II do all my dirty work. This is my first time letting a pet do most of the work, usually I just kill everything myself. I guess this is how people play as archaeologists and tourists. I zap my wand of polymorph at my little pony, and suddenly I have a pet lich. Liches are undead wizards, and are most hated by NetHack players. It is recommended that they be genocided if you get the chance. Liches are known for doing things like destroying your armor, cursing your items, summoning monsters, teleporting away, drawing monsters to you, and in its final form, casting the instadeath spell touch of death. Now one is my pet. Huh. It's probably more more trouble than it's worth. I'd rather have a Dragon. I zap lich, who responds by shuddering. Oh. Liches have magic resistance. Well, I guess I've got a pet lich. Better make sure I don't lose track of him, otherwise he'll go feral, and attack me. (and probably win)
Lichy is a bit tougher than Rex II, and decides to kill the deli shopkeep. I mourned for a few turns, and picked up some food rations. We continued further down the mines with little problem, it was a bit tougher to keep track of two pets without a magic whistle, but I managed. Somewhere along the way Rex II discovered a polymorph trap, and turned into a Black Naga. Pretty strong monster, but not as good as a fire elemental. We made it to the bottom of the mines, and I set about searching for the luckstone, and a few fakes later I found it. On my way back up to the mining town Rex II must have found a level teleport trap, because he disappeared. Back in town I realized I had two wands of create monster, and wanted Mjollnir, so I entered the now haunted temple, and a few zaps and offerings later, I had some godly luck, and Mjollnir. I didn't care about the haunted temple because I didn't intend on using it as a base very much. Lichy had grown into an Arch Lich, and could now teleport at will. Cool. I won't have to worry about him keeping up when I navigate levels. Maybe a Lich makes a better pet than I thought.
[to be continued...]
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