YAAP: Triktana-Wiz-Hum-Fem-Neu Atheist
Catherine Darrow
ever. Certainly my most noteworthy, though!
About a week or so ago, I found myself at the castle with a promising
knight, wanting to fill out stats a bit before Gehennom, so I went to
do what I always have done. I went to spend tens of thousands of
turns at the nearest altar. After six hours or so of this, I said to
myself, "Catherine, you're in a rut. You can't play without an altar,
and you spend half of every game at one. That's got to change. Your
next ascention is going to be an atheist, come hell or high water."
Well, this had the unforseen effect of returning my characters to
pre-spoiler fatality rates. For a week or so, if I made Sokoban at
all, I was doing very, very well. But eventually I picked things up,
and my characters started living to the quest, on average.
My world began to revolve around atheism. I've always played petless,
and so I began to develop clever ways of dealing with
curse-identification. Scrolls of destroy armor gained new value. I
ID'd potions of water by dipping other waters into them. Blessed
confused remove curse was the holy grail of every midgame. I hoarded
spellbooks. I ate until I choked. I learned all about barehanding
Elbereth. The conduct had become an obsession.
Finally, finally I had a character who could make it. Alanna had some
lucky throne wishes which gave her early SDSM--which made all the
difference. Wishing for a cornuthaum and her favorite spells, she
genocided all the difficult critters and shot through Gehennom and
back up again like a rocket. She made it all the way to the astral
plane, stood on the final altar, and prepared to bathe in the glory of
her atheist ascention.
#of--
"Hey, you should drink those potions of full healing, so you'll have
higher hit points in the score list," commented my husband. "Hmm," I
thought. That wasn't my style, but I supposed it couldn't do any
harm. I pulled out some holy water to bless them, and then noticed
they aren't stacking--oh, one was unidentified. No problem, let's zap
some identify. I dropped the amulet, so the spell wouldn't cost so
much mana, and suddenly my hair stood up on end.
"The Amulet of Yendor lands on the altar."
Right there, on the final altar, I'd blown the atheism! I ascended
anyway, but the conduct was gone. My husband tried to console me--it
counted, really it did! I'd come all the way through the game, and
the amulet had been uncursed anyway, and already identified, it's not
like I gained anything by using the altar. And I entirely agreed.
And yet, that empty conducts window bothered me. Haunted me. The
victory felt hallow, as though I hadn't *really* done it!
Alanna had come close. Triktana was sent to do better. And better
she did! After one atheist ascention, I was truly comfortable with
the conduct, and Triktana held to it easily.
She started with a spellbook of remove curse--not useful early game,
but essential late. I was glad to not have to look for it. There
wasn't too much to tell about the early game--there was much gorging
on corpses to try to stay ahead of the food situation. The worst part
about it was that poison resistance was so hard to come by--I finally
got it eating a white unicorn, 17000 turns into the game, in the
bigroom! That made for a very, very nervous early game. The early
breaking point came when I got magic missile out of an oracle statue.
As always, that transformed my fragile, powerless wizard into a
fragile, powerful wizard. I don't know why, but force bolt simply
doesn't seem to be able to hit as often as magic missile does--and
assured hits on insects are crucial at that point of the game.
Sokoban gave me the bag, and Minetown was a ghost of one of my past
lives--unfortunately, without much useful for me in the bones pile.
But I did get a magic lamp from Izchak's. A lucky stroke came when I
found speed boots simply lying on the ground, around level 16 of the
dungeon.
The first major dilemma of the game came just around the rogue level.
I had gone on my quest, and done all but the Dark One. At only 83 hp,
AC -4, I had force bolt and magic missile as my sole offensive spells.
I was wielding a +1 crysknife. I had wiz-moded it, and I knew I
couldn't handle him. I resolved to head deeper into the main dungeon,
looking for more spells and hit points. Down I went, but I was
unlucky--plenty of spellbooks, but none that I didn't already know.
And then on level 20, as I threw on my blindfold, I saw a black
dragon. With no reflection, I headed back up the stairs.
I considered my options. I had a quest nemesis to face, with no
effective attacks, and even less in the way of physical vitality. Or
I had a black dragon to face, with no reflection. I had a pair of
genocide scrolls, but as of yet, no way to determine the curse status.
My first course of action was to go through the game and kill all the
peaceful priests, looking for options. No good--they gave me no
spells I didn't already have. I had a few spellbooks too high level
to read--but of them were two level six spellbooks, and one a level
seven--finger was a possibility for the dragon, cancellation for
making water for holy water for scrolls, and polymorph, of course, is
full of possibilities. While none of that was directly applicable to
the quest, it might provide interesting other options. I had a magic
marker at (0:38). I could write the badly needed attack spells, but
then I would still have to face the black dragon--it wouldn't be
enough. My solution to the dragon problem would most likely be
genocide-based, and if that were the case, I *had* to have a way to
determine the curse-status of that scroll. I decided to write the
badly-needed spellbook of identify, and consider my options from
there. Rushing back to the box where I'd kept the high level
spellbooks, I found create familiar (bah!), cancellation (hey!),
and... polymorph. POLYMORPH! My pride and joy! But the terrible
part was, I couldn't read it, and wouldn't be able to until level 20.
There was no way I'd live that long, locked in a few levels, on half a
dozen rations. And as an atheist, I just didn't have the time to be
waiting around--if my spellbooks ran out, they were very, very
expensive to replace.
What it all came down to was that I needed holy water, to bless the
spellbook, to polypile for other necessaries, right now. This meant I
needed a blessed scroll of remove curse--which I didn't have. But I
did have a blessed scroll of light. This, together with ten garbage
potions, I dipped into the water, until I had a blessed blank scroll
and ten potions of water. Carefully distributing them throughout my
inventory, I wrote myself a blessed scroll of remove curse, and
confused myself. This netted me... 5 potions of unholy water, and no
holies. I could have screamed! Ultimately, I recharged my ailing
magic marker, repeated the process--this time with 12 waters!--and
wound up with a holy one or two. This in turn blessed the spellbook
of polymorph, which in turn let me polypile for fireball, which in
turn beat the Dark One. Ahhh, what fun!
The reflection was comparatively easier to come by--a cursed genocide
of silver dragons netted me four dragons. None of whom left scales.
My (0:7) wand of undead turning was (0:2) by the time I got them, and
I was resurrecting the dragons in pairs, as best I could!
The polymorph really made the game for me. Most of my spellbooks came
from there, though finger of death resolutely refused to show up. My
character couldn't handle a bad summon nasties, at only 120ish hp.
But at the castle, there were only generic liches, and I decided to
try my luck at it. The castle proved fairly easy to clear, and a bit
more buffing and polypiling saw Triktana very nearly kitted out. She
lacked an oilskin sack and magical breathing for the plane of water,
finger of death, and some miscellaneous pieces of armor.
I stood on the Elberethed chest in the castle for a very long time,
pondering. Thus far, I'd used no wishes, and genocided nothing.
Could I finish the game without the finger, with live liches running
around? They'd be summoning mind flayers on my left and right,
disenchanters popping around corners--could I do it? It seemed like
I'd surely be killed--but the combination of the conducts was a very
tempting prize. At 350ish hit points and -25ish AC, I was fairly
fragile for my own comfort, but I decided to take on the valley of the
dead, and think further about solutions once I really had to head into
Gehennom. Really, if I was to do this, I'd need something to take
care of mind flayers and possibly krakens at close range. I could
handle everything else--except possibly the worse summon nasties, and
I'd figure out how to handle that. Entering the altar in the valley
of the dead, I assaulted the priest, hoping vainly for finger, but he
gave me sleep, force bolt, and magic missile, if I recall correctly.
Interestingly enough, though, right outside his temple sat an
alternate to finger of death--a spell I could use in all the same
situations: teleport away. That closed the deal for me--I was going
wishless, genoless, and still atheist.
The next few thousand turns were very boring--I created monsters for
polyfodder, raised my hp to 600, lowered my AC to -41, and gained a
few spells. I hoarded holy water, and poly-piled for the few missing
pieces of my ascention kit (all of which I found, though I did have to
decide I'd just live without a cornuthaum, and without that wonderful
finger of death.) One of the wonderful things about not having an
artifact weapon--as long as you've got the scrolls to burn (and a
dozen more worm teeth waiting in the wings), why *not* overenchant
your crysknife? I was absurdly lucky--I wound up with a +9 main
crysknife and a +8 backup, and I only vaporized three more or so in
the process. (For comparison, Alanna had vaporized well over half a
dozen crysknives, and never did better than +8). But much more
effective than that, I stood over my collection of 5 +2 and +3 rings
of increase damage, and decided that while polyself was a noble
conduct to keep, there was simply too much fun to be had eating those
yummy rings. Mmm mmm, +5 intrinsic damage bonus. I tell you, what's
effectively a +14 crysknife isn't going to bow its head in shame to
any artifacts! :D
I went through Gehennom very quickly, convinced that I had no time to
press my luck with bad summon nasties, and that I especially had no
time to wait for my spells to run out. Half of them had been
poly-piled for, and the spellbooks were likely no good. Magic map,
dig, dig, descend, and repeat. Probably a lot of treasure went by
that I never saw, but it didn't matter to me--my kit was pretty full,
and I simply didn't have the time to investigate! I did stop for one
thing, though--to bait all the named demons. A delightful passtime.
Asmodeus summoned Geryon in the first half dozen turns, and then
Baalzebub a little later. I nearly fell asleep waiting for him to
summon Dispater, but eventually he pulled it off. I found Orcus-town
a bit later, and while I was certain I could handle the big D, I was
very *uncertain* I could handle Orcus swinging at me for a couple
hundred turns. More precisely, I was fairly certain I couldn't handle
it. I took out Juiblex, rested and poly-piled in the main dungeon for
a bit, but resigned myself to the possibility that I wouldn't get all
the big demons. However, as I was crossing Juiblex's level on the way
down to Orcus town a second time, one of the bone devils, I think,
summoned Yeenoghu. A lucky thing! I took him downstairs with me, and
caught Demogorgon easily (cure sickness at 0% works wonders!) I
proceeded to Orcus, and what happened there surprised me--I woke him,
he teleported out to me, and I cast cone of cold. And he disappeared.
I called out to my husband, "Hah, that spell scared him so bad, he
dropped his wand of death." Then I investigated the messages more
closely. He hadn't dropped the wand. He'd died. In one shot.
Goodness, I hadn't known that spell could do that much damage! (Yet I
verified something just as impressive later--144 damage on Rodney in a
single shot! So it could be done.) I'm still unsure if that was the
+5 damage bonus kicking in, or if I just got lucky on all my rolls
there.
The vibrating square was quick to find--I'd explored perhaps a quarter
of the level when I found it. By this point it was 2 AM, and I
commented to my husband that I'd be taking out Rodney and doing the
ascention run. "You sure you want to do that at 2 AM?" he asked. A
valid question, but I was feeling downright giddy. Of COURSE I was
going to finish this game, and I wasn't going to sleep until I had!
(It's now 6:49 AM and I've just about got the ascention post done...
:D)
I teleported a few krakens onto dry ground, out of pure spite. The
spell was working very well for handling close-range master mind
flayers. I ran through Rodney's tower easily enough, cone of colded
him in a couple blasts, took the book, and began my charge. And then
something happened on the way out of the tower that surprised me. I
was mugged by an arch-lich--that wasn't a surprise--but upon his
death, he left me the +1 rustproof... Magicbane. I didn't think they
could spawn in with Magicbane! To tell the truth, I was a little
crestfallen--the game had been entirely artifactless up to that point,
and it almost felt like a let-down to have one. I was madly in love
with my +9 crysknife, and I had half a mind to leave the shiny
artifact in the dust. Eventually, I threw it in my bag for the
points--I never wielded, engraved with, or touched it.
The ascention run went smoothly enough. Rodney harassed me in the
sanctum, only to find I didn't have the amulet yet. He then went and
harassed the person who *did* have the amulet--fairly ineffectively.
He'd double troubled by the time I got there, and I left them to scrap
for many, many turns--ultimately, though, *I* had to take them out.
After some preliminary softening up on Rodney, all three went down in
one cone of cold blast. What a great spell.
I ran back up, and the mysterious forces were a pain as always, but
not too bad this game. I went through the castle--where I had most of
a poly-stash, and up all the way to level 1. I stood on the up-stairs
and ran through my pre-ascention checklist. Amulet? Check.
Waterproofing? Check. Levitation, backup levitation, unihorn, backup
unihorn, it was all there. Method for finding the portals... was in
my poly-stash in the castle, along with the 10 or so scrolls of
genocide I was going to take for the sole purpose of not using. Nuts.
I sat for nearly ten minutes trying to decide whether to go after the
scrolls in the castle, or tough it out on the planes. I had one
scroll of gold detection--that would go to water. I didn't have time
to be waiting for my spells to run out--would I waste more time going
down to the castle, or fumbling about in the planes? I eventually
decided that I'd go to the castle--it was close, but I'd probably be
all right. I went to invoke the eye, and was blocked. Aww nuts, you
can't level teleport even if you're going *down*? *sigh* I pressed
on to the planes. Probably what I should have done--and probably
would have done had my clever husband been watching and advising
me--would have been to *drop* the amulet and teleport down and back in
two eye-winks. I'm not that clever, though. I toughed it out on the
planes with one scroll of gold detection. (I eventually poly-piled
for another on earth).
Earth was a nightmare. There were peaceful umber-hulks loose, digging
tunnels everywhere--which made it very, very difficult to find the
bubble the portal was in. I had to use a scroll. Air was easy. I
had been invisible ever since I bought my candles and finished using
shops--and the air elementals seemed to bumble around and trip,
heading in my general direction rather than mobbing me all at once.
Invisibility is a gift to wizards! A monster I didn't see found the
air portal for me, and a steam vortex found my fire portal. I donned
magical breathing, slipped oilskin over most of my possessions, and
dove into the plane of water. I love swimming :) I read my last
scroll there, hoping to be able to recognize the portal at a distance,
but I eventually simply stumbled onto it.
I made a point of clearing all the monsters on astral, as I always do.
I wish I'd had the scrolls to clear out the riders too, filling the
plane with acid blobs from confused create monster--I like to make a
point of that as well. But alas, by the end I was feeding enchant
armors and genocides into the poly machine, looking for chargings to
make those yummy rings of increase damage. There simply weren't the
scrolls to be had for completely clearing astral, but I left few alive
but the riders and the priests. I was paranoid about the atheist
conduct this time around, and in fact, I very nearly blew it once in
the same way as last time--a last minute remove curse on the altar
almost cost me the conduct. But I caught myself and all was well.
I suppose it must be hard to remain an atheist after hearing the voice
of Thoth boom out something or other, while I make a sacrifice to him.
But I was an atheist all the way up until I ascended ;)
You offer the Amulet of Yendor to Thoth... An invisible choir sings,
and you are bathed in radiance... The voice of Thoth booms:
"Congratulations, mortal!"
"In return for thy service, I grant thee the gift of Immortality!"
You ascend to the status of Demigoddess...
+-------------+
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+-------------+
Triktana the Mage St:18/** Dx:18 Co:18 In:18 Wi:18 Ch:14
Neutral
Astral Plane $:0 HP:623(623) Pw:453(469) AC:-43 Xp:30/109020241
T:78204
Do you want your possessions identified? [ynq] (n) y
c - the blessed Eye of the Aethiopica
p - an uncursed amulet of life saving (being worn)
U - an uncursed amulet of magical breathing
z - a blessed fixed +9 crysknife (weapon in hand) // I've never had
*anything* above +8 before!
b - an uncursed fireproof +5 cloak of magic resistance (being worn)
t - an uncursed +5 silver dragon scale mail (being worn) // homemade,
of course
A - a blessed fireproof +7 elven leather helm (being worn) // found
at +2
N - a blessed fireproof +5 Hawaiian shirt (being worn) // polypiled
P - an uncursed fireproof +5 small shield (being worn)
W - a blessed fireproof +5 pair of leather gloves (being worn)
Z - a blessed fireproof +5 pair of speed boots (being worn) // found
two pairs of these
i - a blessed lizard corpse named Wally
m - an uncursed lizard corpse named Lizzy
y - the uncursed Book of the Dead
s - an uncursed ring of slow digestion
V - an uncursed +2 ring of protection (on right hand)
X - an uncursed ring of free action (on left hand)
q - a rusty wand of digging (0:6)
r - a wand of death (0:2) // never used these
v - a wand of death (0:8)
J - a wand of lightning (0:2)
L - a wand of lightning (0:7)
M - a wand of lightning (0:4)
R - a wans of cold (0:6)
d - the Bell of Opening (0:2)
g - the uncursed Candelabrum of Invocation (no candles attached)
l - an uncursed stethoscope
n - an uncursed blindfold
o - an uncursed magic lamp (lit)
u - a blessed +0 unicorn horn
B - an uncursed thoroughly rusty skeleton key
Q - an uncursed oil sack // curse insurance
j - an uncursed opal
k - an uncursed obsidian stone
O - a blessed luckstone
Contents of the oilskin sack:
2 uncursed obsidian stones
an uncursed turquoise stone
an uncursed agate stone
2 uncursed fluorite stones
an uncursed jasper stone
an uncursed black opal
an uncursed chrysoberyl stone
an uncursed potion of gain energy
an uncursed scroll of genocide
a blessed greased bag of holding
a +0 unicorn horn // backup
Contents of the bag of holding:
an uncursed spellbook of fireball
an uncursed spellbook of remove curse
a blessed spellbook of polymorph // pride and joy
an uncursed spellbook of magic missile
2 uncursed potions of water
an uncursed spellbook of identify
an uncursed potion of extra healing
an uncursed potion of full healing
2 uncursed K-rations
an uncursed amulet of life saving
an uncursed sprig of wolfsbane
an uncursed amulet of unchanging
the rustproof +1 Magicbane // Only artifact weapon in the whole game,
from an arch-lich
an uncursed spellbook of cone of cold
5 uncursed lumps of royal jelly
7 uncursed chrysoberyl stones
a wand of death (0:4)
an uncursed +2 ring of protection
2 uncursed potions of speed
an uncursed spellbook of cancellation
an uncursed scroll of remove curse
4 uncursed emeralds
3 uncursed diamonds
4 uncursed agate stones
an uncursed potion of blindness
an uncursed amulet of life saving
an uncursed amulet of magical breathing
an uncursed potion of full healing
an uncursed amulet of ESP
an uncursed dilithium crystal
2 uncursed rubies
2 uncursed amber stones
an uncursed amulet of life saving
an uncursed amulet of life saving
12 uncursed citrine stones
4 uncursed opals
an uncursed spellbook of magic missile
an uncursed spellbook of remove curse
an uncursed black opal
4 uncursed fluorite stones
a blessed spellbook of force bolt
5 uncursed turquoise stones
a blessed fixed +8 crysknife // backup
an uncursed +0 ring of increase damage
an uncursed magic lamp
an uncursed magic lamp
12 uncursed scrolls of enchant armor
2 uncursed jasper stones
2 cursed scrolls of enchant armor
3 blessed scrolls of enchant armor
9 potions of holy water
an uncursed lump of royal jelly
an uncursed dilithium crystal
an uncursed potion of enlightenment
an uncursed worthless piece of orange glass
11 uncursed citrine stones
2 blessed potions of speed
an uncursed spellbook of identify
a blessed scroll of genocide
2 uncursed topaz stones
a blessed wand of fire (2:12)
a thoroughly rusty wand of enlightenment (0:7)
a wand of lightning (3:7)
a thoroughly rusty wand of teleportation (0:2)
a fireproof wand of lightning (0:8)
a blessed ring of polymorph control
5 blessed scrolls of enchant weapon
an uncursed +0 ring of increase damage // I planned to charge and eat
this, eventually
an uncursed spellbook of cure sickness
an uncursed spellbook of levitation
2 potions of unholy water
an uncursed spellbook of teleport away
an uncursed +0 ring of protection
an uncursed +0 ring of protection
an uncursed +0 ring of protection
an uncursed scroll of genocide
an uncursed scroll of scare monster
3 uncursed amber stones
5 uncursed jacinth stones
2 uncursed wax candles
an uncursed scroll of earth
5 uncursed lembas wafers
an uncursed amulet of life saving
an uncursed amulet of life saving
an uncursed ring of conflict
18 uncursed jet stones
15 uncursed diamonds
a cursed chrysoberyl stone
3 uncursed emeralds
3 uncursed rubies
a wand of cold (0:5)
a wand of teleportation (0:6)
6 uncursed turquoise stones
6 uncursed aquamarine stones
an uncursed sapphire
17 uncursed chrysoberyl stones
13 uncursed fluorite stones
10 uncursed jade stones
11 uncursed opals
an uncursed ring of polymorph
a wand of wishing (0:2) // this is untouched :)
6 uncursed garnet stones
5 uncursed obsidian stones
9 uncursed agate stones
8 uncursed amethyst stones
an uncursed spellbook of sleep
an uncursed spellbook of extra healing
12 uncursed black opals
2 cursed scrolls of genocide
2 cursed scrolls of blank paper
a blessed scroll of blank paper
a cursed thoroughly rusty ring of protection from shape changers
a magic marker (1:37)
Final Attributes:
You were piously aligned.
You were fire resistant.
You were cold resistant.
You were sleep resistant.
You were disintegration-resistant.
You were shock resistant.
You were poison resistant.
You were magic-protected.
You saw invisible.
You were telepathic.
You were warned.
You were invisible to others.
You could teleport.
You had teleport control.
You had a +5 damage bonus. // This was just too much fun.
You were protected.
You had polymorph control. // As was this.
You were very fast.
You had reflection.
You had free action.
Your life would have been saved.
You were very lucky.
You had extra luck.
Good luck did not time out for you.
You survived.
Vanquished creatures:
Demogorgon //
Asmodeus //
Baalzebub //
Dispater //
Geryon //
Orcus //
Yeenoghu //
Juiblex // Full collection
The Wizard of Yendor (13 times)
Death (4 times)
Pestilence (9 times)
Famine (12 times)
6 arch-liches
a high priest
4 mastodons
Medusa
16 krakens
2 Archons
4 master liches
6 gray dragons
22 silver dragons
15 red dragons
3 white dragons
9 orange dragons
18 black dragons
10 blue dragons
16 green dragons
11 yellow dragons
The Dark One
14 demiliches
Vlad the Impaler
8 master mind flayers
8 Nazguls // DOH!
9 mind flayers
3 erinyes
121 killer bees
a brown mold
3924 creatures vanquished.
Voluntary challenges:
You were an atheist.
You never genocided any monsters.
You used no wishes.
Goodbye Triktana the Demigoddess...
You went to your reward with 7935886 points,
The Eye of the Aethiopica (worth 4000 zorkmids and 10000 points)
The Bell of Opening (worth 5000 zorkmids and 12500 points)
The Candelabrum of Invocation (worth 5000 zorkmids and 12500 points)
The Book of the Dead (worth 10000 zorkmids and 25000 points)
Magicbane (worth 3500 zorkmids and 8750 points)
26 chrysoberyl stones (worth 18200 zorkmids),
23 citrine stones (worth 34500 zorkmids),
19 fluorite stones (worth 7600 zorkmids),
18 diamonds (worth 72000 zorkmids),
18 jet stones (worth 15300 zorkmids),
16 opals (worth 12800 zorkmids),
14 black opals (worth 35000 zorkmids),
14 agate stones (worth 2800 zorkmids),
12 turquoise stones (worth 24000 zorkmids),
10 jade stones (worth 3000 zorkmids),
8 amethyst stones (worth 4800 zorkmids),
8 obsidian stones (worth 1600 zorkmids),
7 emeralds (worth 17500 zorkmids),
6 aquamarine stones (worth 9000 zorkmids),
6 garnet stones (worth 4200 zorkmids),
5 rubies (worth 17500 zorkmids),
5 jacinth stones (worth 16250 zorkmids),
5 amber stones (worth 5000 zorkmids),
3 jasper stones (worth 1500 zorkmids),
2 dilithium crystals (worth 9000 zorkmids),
2 topaz stones (worth 1800 zorkmids),
1 sapphire (worth 3000 zorkmids),
1 worthless piece of colored glass,
7 amulets of life saving (worth 1050 zorkmids),
2 amulets of magical breathing (worth 300 zorkmids),
1 amulet of ESP (worth 150 zorkmids),
1 amulet of unchanging (worth 150 zorkmids),
and 0 pieces of gold, after 78204 moves.
You were level 30 with a maximum of 623 hit points when you ascended.
1 7935886 Triktana-Wiz-Hum-Fem-Neu ascended to demigoddess-hood.
623 [623]
That's the top score on this system, but I installed Nethack on this
system only a couple weeks ago, and I'm the only one who's played on
it. It'd probably make top five in this household, at best. There's
no competing with the extinctionist!
Chaos Master
> This is my first ascention post here, but hardly my first ascention
> ever. Certainly my most noteworthy, though!
Congratulations! After seeing some "anti-atheist" ascensions (i.e.
sacrificing as much as you can, then get crowned), this one is
interesting.
BTW, how did you get Magicbane, as you were atheist wishless? Bones
file?
CM, killed by the wrath of <your favorite god>.
--
"As useful as a two-handed shield."
E-mail address is fake. Please reply to the group!
Jens Schmalzing
Chaos Master writes:
> BTW, how did you get Magicbane, as you were atheist wishless?
She said she got it from an arch-lich. This was discussed here a few
days ago; both arch-liches and master liches may be generated with an
athame, but only arch-liches have a - very small - chance of this
athame being Magicbane.
Regards, Jens.
--
J'qbpbe, le m'en fquz pe j'qbpbe!
Le veux aimeb et mqubib panz je pezqbpbe je djuz tqtaj!
Chaos Master
> Hi,
>
> Chaos Master writes:
>
> > BTW, how did you get Magicbane, as you were atheist wishless?
>
> She said she got it from an arch-lich. This was discussed here a few
> days ago; both arch-liches and master liches may be generated with an
> athame, but only arch-liches have a - very small - chance of this
> athame being Magicbane.
All right.
CM, killed by an arch-lich
--
Erik Hesselink
<snip previous atheist>
> "Hey, you should drink those potions of full healing, so you'll have
> higher hit points in the score list," commented my husband. "Hmm," I
> thought. That wasn't my style, but I supposed it couldn't do any
> harm. I pulled out some holy water to bless them, and then noticed
> they aren't stacking--oh, one was unidentified. No problem, let's zap
> some identify. I dropped the amulet, so the spell wouldn't cost so
> much mana, and suddenly my hair stood up on end.
>
> "The Amulet of Yendor lands on the altar."
Ouch! That must have been a rough moment for you, as well as your husband ;)
> She started with a spellbook of remove curse--not useful early game,
> but essential late. I was glad to not have to look for it. There
I like remove curse early game as well, since you can easily try on all
armor, essential for a wizard trying to find the good enchanted leather
armor, and as you were going atheist _and_ petless, probably a life-saver.
> The ascention run went smoothly enough. Rodney harassed me in the
> sanctum, only to find I didn't have the amulet yet. He then went and
> harassed the person who *did* have the amulet--fairly ineffectively.
> He'd double troubled by the time I got there, and I left them to scrap
> for many, many turns--ultimately, though, *I* had to take them out.
> After some preliminary softening up on Rodney, all three went down in
> one cone of cold blast. What a great spell.
It is, though I was scared by it a bit when I played a wizard. You can't
use it to monsters that are closer than, say, two squares, since the
spell might hit you, costing you hitpoints, and exploding potions. It
also gives you less potions from monsters, though at your point in the
game, that didn't matter much.
<snip forgetting scrolls of gold detection>
> I sat for nearly ten minutes trying to decide whether to go after the
> scrolls in the castle, or tough it out on the planes. I had one
> scroll of gold detection--that would go to water. I didn't have time
> to be waiting for my spells to run out--would I waste more time going
> down to the castle, or fumbling about in the planes? I eventually
> decided that I'd go to the castle--it was close, but I'd probably be
> all right. I went to invoke the eye, and was blocked. Aww nuts, you
> can't level teleport even if you're going *down*? *sigh* I pressed
> on to the planes. Probably what I should have done--and probably
> would have done had my clever husband been watching and advising
> me--would have been to *drop* the amulet and teleport down and back in
> two eye-winks. I'm not that clever, though. I toughed it out on the
> planes with one scroll of gold detection. (I eventually poly-piled
> for another on earth).
Dropping the amulet was the first thing I thought of. :) When playing a
wizard with the amulet, I found myself dropping the amulet all the time,
to conserve my spell points.
> I suppose it must be hard to remain an atheist after hearing the voice
> of Thoth boom out something or other, while I make a sacrifice to him.
> But I was an atheist all the way up until I ascended ;)
That's the big question of an atheist: why go through all that trouble
to get the amulet? It isn't for your god, since you don't believe there
is one. But I guess Triktana believes now...
> z - a blessed fixed +9 crysknife (weapon in hand) // I've never had
> *anything* above +8 before!
Wow! That's really nice...
> Vanquished creatures:
>
> Demogorgon //
> Asmodeus //
> Baalzebub //
> Dispater //
> Geryon //
> Orcus //
> Yeenoghu //
> Juiblex // Full collection
Another wow!
> Voluntary challenges:
>
> You were an atheist.
> You never genocided any monsters.
> You used no wishes.
And very impressive conducts!
> 1 7935886 Triktana-Wiz-Hum-Fem-Neu ascended to demigoddess-hood.
> 623 [623]
>
> That's the top score on this system, but I installed Nethack on this
> system only a couple weeks ago, and I'm the only one who's played on
> it. It'd probably make top five in this household, at best. There's
> no competing with the extinctionist!
I think lower scores are harder...
Congratulations!
Erik
Dr. Richard E. Hawkins
Erik Hesselink <sel4yix...@SPAMsneakemail.com> wrote:
>Catherine Darrow wrote:
>> "Hey, you should drink those potions of full healing, so you'll have
>> higher hit points in the score list," commented my husband. "Hmm," I
>> thought. That wasn't my style, but I supposed it couldn't do any
>> harm. I pulled out some holy water to bless them, and then noticed
>> they aren't stacking--oh, one was unidentified. No problem, let's zap
>> some identify. I dropped the amulet, so the spell wouldn't cost so
>> much mana, and suddenly my hair stood up on end.
>> "The Amulet of Yendor lands on the altar."
>Ouch! That must have been a rough moment for you, as well as your husband ;)
That must hurt more than forgetting to pick it bac up when you leave the
dungeon.
>Dropping the amulet was the first thing I thought of. :) When playing a
>wizard with the amulet, I found myself dropping the amulet all the time,
>to conserve my spell points.
Yeah, but it can lead to . . .
And I really wasn't having a problem regenerating power even *with* the
extra drain.
hawk
--
Richard E. Hawkins, Asst. Prof. of Economics /"\ ASCII ribbon campaign
doc...@psu.edu Smeal 178 (814) 375-4700 \ / against HTML mail
These opinions will not be those of X and postings.
Penn State until it pays my retainer. / \
Erik Hesselink
<snip poor hawk's comments on escaping the dungeon because he dropped
the amulet>
Yes, that must have been even worse. You poor little boy, I'm sorry for
not replying before, even though I did think 'ouch'. Did I hurt your
feelings? ;)
Erik
Dr. Richard E. Hawkins
Nah, I already got them myself :)
hawk, supposed genius with two doctorates who can't remember to bring
the amulet with him after going through all that trouble to
get it . . . .
nyra
>
> Erik Hesselink <sel4yix...@SPAMsneakemail.com> writes:
> > Catherine Darrow wrote:
>
> > > I suppose it must be hard to remain an atheist after hearing the voice
> > > of Thoth boom out something or other, while I make a sacrifice to him.
> > > But I was an atheist all the way up until I ascended ;)
>
> > That's the big question of an atheist: why go through all that trouble
> > to get the amulet? It isn't for your god, since you don't believe there
> > is one. But I guess Triktana believes now...
>
> The character doesn't really believe in the god, but is curious enough to
> get the Amulet and sacrifice it to find out if one exists after all.
It'd be easier to check on this by simply #praying on turn one.
I think that "atheism" as far as it applies to NetHack conducts isn't
about belief but rather about restraining from calling upon deities in
any way - in the real world, spending a lifetime without ever
performing a sacrifice, giving donations and praying doesn't make a
person an atheist (mind, in real life, i've broken my atheism
"conduct" long ago; but i think i might just about be able to finish
wishless and genocideless, even if i don't ascend).
> Or maybe the atheist just took the mission of fetching the Amulet and
> putting it on the altar, without recognizing the god as a god, just
> thinking about him as any employer?
It could be put this way. Basically, i'd say NetHack atheism is
spurning religion, not the (evidently present) gods themselves.
By the way, congratulations on the win, Catherine! Must've been a
pretty fun game.
--
Das Mittel dieser Schrift / Macht, dass dich kein' Kugel trifft.
Asa vitom rahoremarhi ahe menalem renah oremi nasiore ene nahores ore
eldit ita ardes inabe ine nie nei alomade sas ani ita ahe elime arnam
asa locre rahel nei vivet aroseli ditan Veloselas Herodan ebi menises
asa elitira eve harsari erida sacer elachimai nei elerisa.
- H.J.C.v.Grimmelshausen, Simplicissimus Teutsch
David R. Throop
Catherine Darrow <Drako...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>This is my first ascention post here, but hardly my first ascention
>ever. Certainly my most noteworthy, though!
>The next few thousand turns were very boring--I created
>monsters for polyfodder, raised my hp to 600, lowered my AC
>to -41, and gained a few spells.
Curious - what method did you use for raising your hps so?
Nurse dancing? Alchemy? Foocubi?
David Throop