This is my second ascension, the first was back in November with a
Valkyrie.
Starting equipment
==================
I started the game with a spellbook of detect food, a ring of
regeneration and a wand of magic missile. Not the best things I could
get I thought at first. The ring was indeed crucial for my survival, I
didn't take it off upto the Castle after which I had a decent AC.
Schopenhau the Evoker St:13 Dx:12 Co:14 In:20 Wi:10 Ch:9 Chaotic
Dlvl:1 $:0 HP:11(11) Pw:7(7) AC:9 Xp:1/0 T:1
Sokoban and Gnomish Mines
=========================
I got lucky in the beginning as there was a general store on dlvl 2
where I bought a skeleton key, a magic whistle and two magic
marker. The marker were spared until I know what spellbooks I was
missing. The statues on the Oracle level didn't have any spellbooks. I
did Sokoban without any problem and got a bag of holding.
The RNG was teasing me as I found a spellbooks of magic missile on
dlvl6 lying around and a throne on dlvl 8 which granted me a wish. So
I got a +2 SDSM which I was wearing until the end.
Minetown had a co-aligned altar, but without any scrolls or wands of
create monster I couldn't take advantage of it.
The wine cellar was interesting. I found a blindfold (I had telepathy
since dlvl 4) and a polymorph trap. Kelly II got beefed up into a
silver dragon. I accidently picked up a loadstone although I didn't
know there is one where one finds the luckstone. Was it randomly
generated or are my spoilers outdated?
Fort Ludios and Quest
=====================
On dlvl 12, the same level with the portal to the Quest, I've eaten
quantum mechanic which gave me speed. I think this is the longest time
I've ever been without speed. Usually I would have found long ago
speed boots or a wand of speed monster. A little while later Anhur
gave me MagicBane which increased my survival possibility
enormously. Now I had a reliable and fast way to engrave Elbereth to
keep monsters separated in different rooms. Call them private zoos if
you like.
At about T:30000 I've entered Fort Ludios. As usual it was lots of
whacking without any great danger. Croesus was killed by several magic
missiles and left me his accumulated wealth of 46k zorkmids. I've
found some good armor to improve my AC: a blessed +2 pair of leather
gloves, a uncursed +3 helmet and a blessed +3 small shield. After
Ludios my AC was -35 (including protection points).
The throne was very generous. It let me genocide arch-liches,
identified my complete inventory and reduced my charisma to 4. Up
until this moment I was thinking about a genocideless ascension, but
when offered this opportunity I couldn't resist.
Then I had to gain experience to be allowed to the Quest. I killed
Medusa and ventured deeper until I got exp lvl 14 and quickly
completed the Quest.
The Castle
==========
The armor room had a helm of telepathy and of opposite alignment which
cost me my protection points. I learn something new every game. The
dragons (three green ones and a black one didn't interest me, I
already had my SDSM. The wand of wishing at the Castle was (0:1). I
wished for two scrolls of charging, got em and then wished for +2
blessed boots of speed, got em, too. The throne on the other hand
vanished immediately without any effect.
At T:49000 I wrote a spellbook of create monster and got into a
sacrifice frenzy that lasted almost 9000 turns. I got several
protection points, several artifacts and almost every spellbook I
wanted.
Gehennom
========
Then I considered myself to be ready to go to hell. The named demons
(Juiblex, Baalzebub, Ascension, Vlad, Orcus) were no
problem. Baalzebub was kind of annoying. He escaped with a scrolls of
teleportation. I had to track him down on dlvl 12 to kill him.
Although I recently had an unfortunate incident with an cockatrice
corpse, I couldn't resist to use a cockatrice that Orcus summoned to
kill him. I don't know if he appreciated the irony but I did.
Compared to my first ascension Gehennom wasn't as boring this time. I
could walk through quickly thanks to my knowledge of the spell of
magic mapping and a lot of potions of object detection.
On dlvl 48 I found the vibrating square and made my final preparations
for the Ascension run. I made a stupid mistake as I sacrificed a
former pet. All protection points gone again and my AC at -25. I got
me a stronger pet, let it kill the priest in mine town and took the
money (ca 110k) to the only other priest I've found so far. Then I
continued my preparations.
At 70820: I was ready.
Schopenhau the Sorcerer St:18 Dx:22 Co:16 In:20 Wi:19 Ch:14 Chaotic
Dlvl:42 $:0 HP:300(300) Pw:285(295) AC:-34 Exp:21 T:70820 Satiated
Ascension run
=============
In the Wizard's tower, I found a ring of conflict that I only used on
the Plane of Earth and the Wizard's zoo.
At T:71090 I nearly died a stupid death. I choked over a killer bee
corpse, but luckily I was wearing one of three amulet of life
saving. That'll teach me to check if I'm satiated or not.
The finger of death took care of Rodney. At the three occasions we
met, he never had a chance. Every time my finger of death worked. At
T:73477 I took the Amulet of Yendor into my possession.
On my way up, the mysterious force kicked in annoyingly often. He took
me back to seven times to the level I was trying to leave and five
times to the level below.
The Planes
==========
At T:75303 I left the Dungeons of Doom. The Plane of Earth was a
little tedious. I thought I need cursed scrolls of gold detection to
find the portal. So I thought I hadn't any means to find the portal
and had to dig the level out completely.
But I consulted my spoilers and learned that uncursed scrolls and
being confused also works. I already had two scrolls and the other two
were quickly written and then Earth was left in no time.
Air was easy, only the Air Elements gave me a little bit of a hard
time. As I was near the portal an Archon wielding Sunsword
appeared. He was beating me heavily and followed me to the Plane of
Fire. He summoned several monsters among them a master mind flayer
which ate a part of my brain. I had to quaff two potions of full
healing before realizing that blinding myself protected me from the
stunning radiance of the Archon. Then it was much easier to kill him.
Astral Plane
============
At T:76227 I arrived on the astral plane. Quickly applying my
blindfold showed Death on the left, Pestilence at room in the middle
and Famine on the right. After putting on my ring of regeneration and
slow digestion I try the left one.
In my first ascension twoweaponing a +6 Demonbane and a +6 silver
saber I hit the riders so hard that they almost didn't touch me at
all. This time wielding "only" a +7 Frost Brand Death brought my
max HP from 303 down to 266. Extensively casting charm monster made it
a little bit easier, but the power drain from the Amulet of Yendor
worried me a litte bit. The first time my Valkyrie never came in any
bad situation and it was pretty clear that she would ascend. This time
on the Astral Plane was much more exciting. Until I stood on the right
altar I wasn't sure I would make it.
Great. The temple was Thoth's. I had a helm of opposite alignment but
that couldn't make me neutral. So I rested, restored my low power and
considered my options. With telepathy I saw too many liches around so
I bless genocided L. Then I stood beside the door and let them coming,
taking one priest at time. As Death appears I again I kill him with
several blows and make a dash to the middle room.
Pestilence was annoying but no real threat. I had to kill him twice
and the rest of the time my pets kept him away from me.
I entered the temple, closed the door, stood on the altar and it was
the right one. I double checked that I have the right amulet, summoned
as many pets as I could with my magic whistle, lit the Candelabrum and
offered the Amulet to Anhur...--More--
An invisible choir sings, and you are bathed in radiance...--More--
The voice of Anhur thunders: "Congratulations, mortal!"--More--
"In return for thy service, I grant thee the gift of Immortality!"--More--
You ascend to the status of Demigod...--More--
Lessons learned
===============
1. Having the spell of remove curse and confused reading of scrolls of
remove curse is an easy way to bless your inventory if you're short
of (un)holy water.
2. Using Elbereth to confine monsters to certain rooms is nice.
3. If you have a cool pet (master lich), you can you can lose it if it
grows in experience (arch liches genocided)
Conclusion
==========
Playing as a wizard is a completely different experience than playing
a wizard. It took quite a time to get used to the differences in these
two classes but I had to do almost as many Wizards as I had to do
Valkyries to ascend. It took 70 Valkyries and 77 Wizards before I
could ascend. I think I'll try next a pacificist or a Tourist.
Dump
====
started: 14 Jun 2004 17:13
ended: 22 Jun 2004 19:10
Schopenhauer, chaotic male elven Wizard
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Schopenhau the Necromancer St:18 Dx:22 Co:16 In:20 Wi:19 Ch:14 Chaotic
Astral Plane $:2 HP:282(282) Pw:169(320) AC:-39
...
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