Notes on Ascension #8

Julie M. Bernstein

unread,

Feb 7, 1997, 3:00:00 AM2/7/97

to

Just ascended with my eighth character, the Samurai. Last time I tried it
the quest enemy chopped me in half with the quest artifact. This time I did
significantly better:

1 3773986 Tara-S ascended to demigoddess-hood. 226 [246]

Tara the Kuge St:18/** Dx:23 Co:18 In:14 Wi:16 Ch:11 Lawful S:1777668
Astral Plane $:0 HP:226(246) Pw:121(121) AC:-33 Xp:28/80036928 T:83273 Burdened

2654 creatures vanquished.

Some helpful notes, which I have found extremely useful in my ascensions
(of course, most of them came from spoilers on this newsgroup and
elsewhere):

- If lawful, wear a helm of opposite alignment after getting the Amulet,
until you get back to the Castle level.

Otherwise you risk randomly getting bounced down levels. This still happens
if you are chaotic, but not nearly as often. Note that in 3.2.2 the helm
will now CURSE ITSELF when you put it on if it is not cursed already, which
is a pain.

I don't know if the helm will still randomly change neutral characters to
lawful/chaotic as I haven't played a neutral character in 3.2 yet. I always
thought that kind of change was stupid anyway.

- Dig a path between the stairwells on all the "maze" levels.

Saves a lot of time, esp. since once you have the Amulet you often get
"disoriented" when trying to teleport.

- Acquire cursed scrolls of gold detection for the endgame.

Reading these will show you where the magic portals are; they will appear
as traps. Actually they are only useful on the Earth and Air levels; on the
Fire levels you'll still have to go up to every fire trap to see which one
is actually a portal, and on the Water levels, the damn portal actually
MOVES.

- Acquire wands of death to kill the Wizard.

I saved so much time in this ascension. I beat him up the first couple of
times, then thought, why waste the time. He died instantly with each zap
and I could get on with my ascension. And I only had to kill him 8 times as
opposed to the usual dozen or more (he never had a chance to do Double
Trouble either).

Well, those are the major hints, which most of you seasoned players are
probably already aware of. Now I just have to win with K, R, T, and V to
finish off the characters.

- Tara the Demigoddess

--
Julie M. Bernstein | ju...@clue.ls.berkeley.edu |
http://www.best.com/~juliemb/
GCM d- s:s a- C++ U P+ L E---- W+++$ N+ o? K? w--- !O M+$>++ !V
PS+ PE Y PGP- t+ !5 !X R>+ tv+ b++>+++ DI++++ !D-- G e++ h- r++ x+
(Version: 3.1)

Irina Rempt

unread,

Feb 8, 1997, 3:00:00 AM2/8/97

to

Julie M. Bernstein (jul...@uclink2.Berkeley.EDU) wrote:

> I don't know if the helm will still randomly change neutral characters to
> lawful/chaotic as I haven't played a neutral character in 3.2 yet. I always
> thought that kind of change was stupid anyway.

Yes :-( "Your mind oscillates briefly". And I was so unlucky already
that I went and killed myself after that.

Raisse, killed by kicking an orcish helm

--
ir...@rempt.xs4all.nl
-------------------- Lingua Latina Occasionibus Omnibus --------------------
XII. "Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brian Richardson

unread,

Feb 8, 1997, 3:00:00 AM2/8/97

to

Julie M. Bernstein (jul...@uclink2.Berkeley.EDU) wrote:

: - If lawful, wear a helm of opposite alignment after getting the Amulet,

: until you get back to the Castle level.

Not a bad idea, though I was always under the impression that you did
not get sent back at all if you were chaotic.

: - Dig a path between the stairwells on all the "maze" levels.

I know, had I done that for my ascension, I would have had far fewer
problems.

: - Acquire cursed scrolls of gold detection for the endgame.

I also find the crystal ball works well. BTW, in tile mode, this is
useful in all levels. If you wear a RoL on the water plane and just run
all over, you will find the portal in no time flat. In tile mode, the
magic portal looks different than a fire trap. Anyway, you can just
spend ten minutes identifying each and every trap with the '/' command.

: - Acquire wands of death to kill the Wizard.

Wimp! :)