YAAP - My second in a less than 2 weeks!
JMonkey
2 weeks and my third overall. Here's my other ascensions:
Nov. 20, 1998 on Nethack 3.2 as Kid Jane the Neutral Human Valkyrie:
http://bit.ly/5BoOsZ
And Dec. 17, 2009 on 3.4.3 as Iolo the Male Neutral Human Wizard:
http://bit.ly/87iydm
This ascension of a chaotic female human ranger was particularly
sweet, due entirely to the character’s name: Polero. When I played
Ultima as a 12-year-old boy, all of my characters were named Polero.
Ever since, I’ve named a number of my (now dead) Nethack characters
after him. This is the first to ascend.
Polero’s greatest enemy was not her quest nemesis, an Archon, a master
mind flayer, or even the high priest of Moloch. No, her most dangerous
enemy was me. This was a game in which Polero somehow, miraculously,
overcame a number of very stupid mistakes that I made throughout the
game.
Firstly, playing a Ranger is fun and playing chaotic is even more fun.
True, the artifact weapons that your god gives you generally suck
pretty hard. My first gift was Orchrist and my second was Ogresmasher
(woot.). But once I finally got crowned, Stormbringer rocked on
toast. And sacrificing your own race was very fun, indeed. Polero was
lucky enough to find a lawful altar on level 2, which was quickly
converted. And once she found a couple of bags of tricks, several
sacrificed weres summoned the peaceful Jubilex, Yeenoghu and an
Incubus, which made Jubilex' swamp particularly easy. I never did see
Demogorgon, and the Incubus, in particular, was helpful late in the
game.
What’s more, on level 4, I found a shop that was selling 4 scrolls of
identify, an amulet of poison resistance a wand of cancellation and a
magic lamp. Once I returned to the altar, I quickly made a substantial
pile of holy water, blessed the magic lamp, and converted that wish
into +2 GDSM.
My first big blunder came after completing Sokoban. In the midst of
transferring loot from my stash to my newly minted bag of holding, I
inadvertently placed a bag of tricks in the said Bag of Holding. Poof!
The Bag of Holding disappeared along with all my original +2 cloak of
displacement, potions, holy water, 2 magic markers, almost all of my
scrolls, Orcrist (not a big deal, really) and all of my food.
It was time to descend into the Gnomish mines.
On level three of the mines I had quite a scare. Turns out, it was a
bones level that had killed two former characters. A gnome or a dwarf
with a wand of polymorph had transformed itself into a master mind
flayer. Luckily, I had a wand of fire, and so was able to kill it in a
couple of blasts. The bones items had little of note (the cloak of
magic resistance was unnecessary with GDSM) aside from a ring of
conflict and plenty of fodder to cancel for blank scrolls and holy
water.
Food was not a problem in the Gnomish mines. I feasted on dwarves and
gnomes, and happened upon a luckstone on the floor of the mine. All
the same, I decided to descend all the way, hoping to find another
magic marker. Alas, the magic marker was not to be found. I did,
however, get very lucky in the armor I found. Every item, from a
dwarvish roundshield, to iron shoes, was enchanted to +1, giving me a
nice -9 class. Minetown had little of note, aside from a co-aligned
altar, where I sacrificed ad infinitum, only to receive Ogre Smasher.
Woot. I returned to the main dungeon, with two luckstones and created
more holy water from my junk potions.
Here’s where the RNG was, not for the last time, very kind to me. I’d
killed a couple of unicorns and so had an extra horn. One zap of the
wand of polymorph that I got from the Master Mind Flayer transformed
the unicorn horn into a bag of holding!
Downward into the dungeons of doom I descended, passing up the quest
in hopes of finding a magic marker with which to enchant my weapons
and armor. But, finally, upon achieving experience level 17, I decided
it was high time to get the bow of Diana, come hell or high water.
On the first level of the Quest, however, I blundered into a Minotaur
which nearly kicked my ass. I was down to 30 hps, and the beast was
blasting me for 20-40 HP per turn. Luckily, I had a wand of slow
monster, which slowed it down enough so that I could gain two squares
on it. A few rounds of blessed +2 arrows later and the Minotaur was
dead. This experience, however, convinced me that a trip to the co-
aligned altar in the mines to convert the 15k+ gold I had into
protection was a worthwhile venture. So I turned around and, halfway
to the portal, killed a plains centaur that was carrying a wand of
wishing with 2 wishes on it.
Despite my good fortune, I decided a trip to the co-aligned altar was
still a good move and so, once I returned to the quest from my trip,
not only did I have 6 points of protection, but also a complete set of
ascension kit armor: speed boots, shield of reflection, helm of
brilliance and gauntlets of power (probably should have gone for
gauntlets of dexterity, but I hate being burdened and figured the
extra damage was worthwhile, since I already had a dex of 18). I
burned the very last wish on a ring of levitation, knowing that
Medusa’s island would be the next challenge.
Scorpius was a pushover and, soon after, I found myself crowned at a
converted altar, Stormbringer in hand. Along with the magic marker I’d
wished for, I was halfway on my way to full enchantment and,
basically, was a complete badass.
Medusa’s isle was easy-peasy and the castle was a cakewalk. I even
tamed a purple worm who gulped down a number of soldiers before
succumbing to the breath of a red dragon. The icing on the cake was
finding a +1 cloak of displacement to replace the one I’d destroyed
earlier in my bout of stupidity with the bag of tricks and the Sokoban
bag of holding.
Downward into Gehennom.
I had already learned the Magic Mapping and Identify spells, but
hadn’t yet found a spellbook of light so that I could advance in the
divination school. After crowning, Mars was kind enough to grant me a
spellbook of light while I was making holy water prior to my descent
into hell. By the time I entered the Valley of the Dead I was at
skilled for divination spells and so, able to cast both spells at an
acceptable failure rate, so long as I removed my shield of reflection
and gauntlets of power.
Gehennom proved to be fairly easy, especially after having genocided
master liches. I hadn’t planned on genociding anything, but I was
reading unidentified scrolls after having BUC testing them (I had a
couple of scrolls of remove curse and was fire resistant, so I figured
what the hell) and one came up genocide. Getting rid of master liches
was too tempting to pass up.
My second big blunder came in Orcus Town. I’d just cleared out an
abandoned shop full of monsters and had removed my gauntlets and
shield to identify an unfamiliar ring (turned out it was slow
digestion – cool). After I id’d the ring, I realized, “Hey, that’s a
cockatrice corpse in the corner. That sure would come in handy when I
go to take care of Orcus.” Of course, I neglected to put my gauntlets
back on. Luckily, I was wearing an amulet of protection against
stupidity (AoLS).
One less AoLS later, I put my gloves on, took the cockatrice corpse,
and stoned Orcus.
Orcus had the only WoD in the game and, for some reason, I couldn’t
hit the broadside of a barn with the damned thing when it came to
Rodney. He doubled troubled me twice and I had to expend 3 charges
before I could kill just one of them. Finally, I resorted to beating
them to death with the +7 Stormbringer or eliminating him with a
volley of +7 arrows. Eight times I had to get rid of him. Ugh.
Once I got the AoY, I had the pleasure of experiencing the joy of a
very lenient mysterious force, thanks to my chaotic alignment. So
sweet. Alas, I killed a black unicorn in one blow by accident, thanks
to my bloodthirsty blade, but chaotic gods are pretty easy going about
that kind of thing. No biggie.
Stupidly, I’d burned my last blessed scroll of charging on my wand of
death, but, luckily, on the way up, an Elvenking donated a magic
marker, so I was able to charge up my WoW, write 4 scrolls of gold
detection and also a cursed scroll of genocide plus a scroll of
taming. I’d thought I’d try the purple worm strategy for the astral
plane.
The plane of earth was the only plane to give me any trouble at all,
and it wasn’t serious. Rodney double troubled me and summoned a horde
of nasties that included an Archon, who, in turn, summoned a Titan.
Thankfully, the Bow of Diana took out both the Archon and the Titan,
and Stormbringer handled the rest of the bunch.
Once I got to the astral plane, I summoned my purple worms and tamed
three of them. I teleported them hither and yon to take care of
business and high tailed it to the right hand altar. Death got in a
couple of good blows before the Bow of Diana took him out, bringing my
max HP down from 201 to 149, but Famine went down with one zap of the
wand of death. The first altar was mine. What a nice gift for Boxing
Day.
Polero the Arbalester (from my notes -- not a dump)
St: 25
Dx: 18
Co: 18
Int: 20
Wi: 18
Ch: 13
HP: 149 (140) (Was max of 201 before an encounter with Death)
AC: -42
Exp: 19
Possessions
Amulets
Uncursed amulet of life saving (being worn)
Uncursed amulet of magical breathing
Weapons
The blessed +6 Longbow of Diana
80 blessed poisoned rustproof +7 arrows (in quiver)
The blessed rustproof +7 Stormbringer
Armor
An uncursed +5 shield of reflection (being worn)
A blessed fireproof +5 pair of speed boots (being worn)
A blessed fireproof +4 cloak of displacement (being worn)
A blessed fireproof +5 helm of brilliance (being worn)
An uncursed rustproof +5 pair of gauntlets of power (being worn)
A cursed +5 gray dragon scale mail (being worn)
Comestibles
An uncursed lizard corpse
4 uncused lumps of royal jelly
An uncursed food ration
An uncursed partly eaten food ration
Spellbooks
The uncursed Book of the Dead
Rings
An uncursed ring of polymorph control
An uncursed +4 increase accuracy (on left hand)
An uncursed ring of levitation
An uncrused thoroughly rusty ring of free action
An uncrused ring of conflict (on right hand)
Wands
A wand of lighting (0:6)
A wand of digging (0:5)
A wand of secret door detection (0:5)
A wand of death (2:7)
A thoroughly rusty wand of cold (0:6)
A wand of digging (0:1)
A wand of teleportation (0:2)
A wand of create monster (0:11)
A thoroughly rusty wand of fire (1:5)
A thoroughly rust wand of slow monster (0:4)
Tools
An uncursed towel
The uncursed Candelabrum of Invocation (7 candles attached)
An uncrused magic lamp (lit)
A blessed oilskin sack
The cursed Bell of Opening (0:2)
An uncursed thoroughly rusty lock pick
An uncursed sack named DO NOT PUT IN BAG OF HOLDING
A blessed bag of holding named MAIN BAG
A +0 unicorn horn
Gems
A blessed luckstone
Highlights of the bag of holding
An uncursed rustproof +3 Sunsword
An uncursed amulet of life saving
A blessed luckstone
Attributes:
You were the Glory of Arioch
You were piously aligned
You were sleep resistant
You were cold resistant
You were fire resistant
You were shock resistant
You were poison resistant
You were level drain resistant
You were magic-protected
You saw invisible
You were telepathic
You had automatic searching
You were invisible to others
You were displaced
You were stealthy
You could teleport
You had teleport control
You had +4 bonus to hit
You were protected
You were very fast
You had reflection
Your life would have been saved
You were very lucky
You had extra luck
Good luck did not time out for you
You survived after being killed once
Vanquished creatures (highlights):
Asmodeus
Baalzebub
Orcus
The Wizard of Yendor (8 times)
Death
Famine
2 arch-liches
A high priest
Medusa
7 krakens
An Archon
2 iron golems
4 storm giants
A titan
2 Glass golems
8 purple worms
2 gray dragons
2 silver dragons
3 red dragons
2 white dragons
A black dragon
3 green dragons
A yellow dragon
16 minotaurs
2 jabberwocks
Scorpius
9 baluchitheria
10 Angels
A demilich
Vlad the Impaler
2 Master mind flayers
26 Vampire Lords
2 mind flayers
93 soldiers
43 wraiths
18 cockatrices
2260 craeatures vanquished.
Genocided species:
Master liches
1 species genocided.
Voluntary challenges:
You genocided 1 type of monster.
You used 12 wishes.
You did not wish for any artifacts.
Goodbye Polero the Demigoddess…
You and the purple worm and the purple worm and the purple worm went
to your reward with 2,536,585 points
The Candelabrum of Invoacation (12,500 points)
The Longbow of Diana (10,000 points)
The Bell of Opening (12,500 points)
The Book of the Dead (25,000 points)
Sunsword (worth 3750 points)
Stormbringer (20,000 points)
7 aquamarine stones (10,500 zorkmids)
3 jet stones (2550 zorkmids)
2 sapphires (6,000 zorkmids)
2 garnet stones (1,400 zorkmids)
2 jade stones (600 zorkmids)
1 ruby (3,500 zorkmids)
1 citrine stone (1,500 zorkmids)
1 amethyst stone (600 zorkmids)
1 obsidian stone (200 zorkmids)
2 amulets of lifesaving (300 zorkmids)
1 amulet of magical breathing (150 zorkmids)
And 272 pieces of gold, after 55,442 moves.
You were level 19 with a maximum of 149 hit points when you ascended.
James Of Tucson
> This was not a pretty ascension, though it was my second in less than
> 2 weeks and my third overall. Here's my other ascensions:
>
> Nov. 20, 1998 on Nethack 3.2 as Kid Jane the Neutral Human Valkyrie:http://bit.ly/5BoOsZ
> And Dec. 17, 2009 on 3.4.3 as Iolo the Male Neutral Human Wizard:http://bit.ly/87iydm
>
> This ascension of a chaotic female human ranger was particularly
> sweet, due entirely to the character’s name: Polero. When I played
> Ultima as a 12-year-old boy, all of my characters were named Polero.
> Ever since, I’ve named a number of my (now dead) Nethack characters
> after him. This is the first to ascend.
Congrats. And I'm glad to read a post from someone else who likes
Stormy !
It's by far my favorite weapon in the game, even more than Frost
Brand.
> Scorpius was a pushover and, soon after, I found myself crowned at a
> converted altar, Stormbringer in hand. Along with the magic marker I’d
> wished for, I was halfway on my way to full enchantment and,
> basically, was a complete badass.
It's because of Stormy that crowning isn't so bad for my characters
(always chaotic, usually elves.)
> I removed my shield of reflection
> and gauntlets of power.
and. ....
> “Hey, that’s a
> cockatrice corpse in the corner.
Is a combination that has killed many a veteran player.
> 2260 craeatures vanquished.
...
> You were level 19 with a maximum of 149 hit points when you ascended.
Fast. And bold to ascend with only 149 hp!
JMonkey
> > Scorpius was a pushover and, soon after, I found myself crowned at a
> > converted altar, Stormbringer in hand. Along with the magic marker I’d
> > wished for, I was halfway on my way to full enchantment and,
> > basically, was a complete badass.
>
> It's because of Stormy that crowning isn't so bad for my characters
> (always chaotic, usually elves.)
Yeah -- Stormy's fun, though I imagine if you like pets, it's probably
a different story altogether. I was always careful to switch to the
Bow of Diana anytime I got within 4 squares of a shopkeeper, temple
priest or quest folks.
> > I removed my shield of reflection
> > and gauntlets of power.
>
> and. ....
>
> > “Hey, that’s a
> > cockatrice corpse in the corner.
>
> Is a combination that has killed many a veteran player.
>
So lucky I was wearing the AoLS.
>
> > 2260 craeatures vanquished.
> ...
> > You were level 19 with a maximum of 149 hit points when you ascended.
>
> Fast. And bold to ascend with only 149 hp!
Well, I had 201 before my rendezvous with Death. :-)
Thanks!
James Of Tucson
> Yeah -- Stormy's fun, though I imagine if you like pets, it's probably
> a different story altogether. I was always careful to switch to the
> Bow of Diana anytime I got within 4 squares of a shopkeeper, temple
> priest or quest folks.
Nothing will teach you to be careful better than Stormbringer,
although it may take a few grievous incidents.