Yet Another Foodless, Polyless, Atheist Ascension Post

After deciding that ascending a foodless atheist was nigh-impossible (and
the frustrating YASD last week), I decided to try a less strenuous
challenge, that is, ascending in as few turns as possible. So, I name my
character "Swift", as appropriate, and play an orcish wizard (I figured
the starting poison resistance and extra CON would help me go faster in
the beginning), with whatever starting inventory I got (more fun and more
honest than rolling for =RoSD's). One of these attempts would turn into
something much more...

I start the game and take a look at my starting inventory ... and, lo and
behold, there was not only a =RoSD, but a blessed ?SoEW, a
?SoEA, a /WoFire, and some water. Sheesh, the RNG loves to mock me
... tempt me to try again, even though it will only end in horrible
frustration ... the rational mind told me not to let it draw me in to its
trap, to preservere and just keep crazy #conduct out of the
picture... unforutnately, the irrational mind won out and I decided to go
for it, one last time... nevermind trying and failing on and off for five
months.

The irrational mind, it seems, is a better nethack player than I.

Since I was an orc, I only had 16 Int. Which meant that I
didn't have hungerless spellcasting. Which meant I had to use magic very,
very sparingly. I was able to enchant up my quarterstaff with the starting
?SoEW, so I had a decent weapon for the early game. I relied on this for
quite a long time, actually -- although the quarterstaff is an awful
weapon, it was better than anything else I could find...

The big breakthrough came when I found a /WoW on level 7 -- It was at
(0:2), and it gave me most of the usual suspects -- scrolls of charging,
boots of speed, SDSM, helm of brilliance (yes! I can cast spells
hungerless now!), Bag of Holding (I hate wishing for those, but I didn't
have -any- bags, and that was starting to make me nervous), and I wrested
the last wish to get a blessed book of identify. Ok, that last one might
not have been the wisest wish in the world, but Identify is -so-
convenient, and I probably wouldn't be able to get it any other way...

En route to medusa's level, I came across a blessed scroll of blank
paper. -Well-, now ... blessed blank paper -> blessed remove curse + 8
poitions of water + potion of booze -> holy water! (thanks to rgrn for
this trick) This allowed me to bless quite a few critical pieces of
equipment, and save plenty for scrolls n' such later.

Things started getting interesting at the castle. I used a ?SoEarth to
fill in the moat and blasted down the drawbridge; I fought off the castle
occupants from afar and cruised through without any particular trouble
... although, mind flayers still stalked the halls, so I didn't feel very
safe. I'd determined the location of the wand by elimination when I got
surprised by a MMF (I think it was actually a chamelon or other
shapeshifter, 'cause I hadn't seen it before) -- my helm of brilliance
blocked the attacks and I killed it with one of the -three- wands of death
I'd found on the castle level.

Castle wand was at 0:2 -- I got a pair of AoLS for the inevitable
starvation, a magic marker, a ring of levitation (I hate wishing for that,
too), and I saved the other wishes for later.

Well, it was about time to go on the quest, but first, I went to
minetown. Izchack only had 6 candles, but I did find two more cursed magic
lamps; one of them got me a magic marker, the other one decided to hang
around for permalight. I got to experience level 16 with the help of
experience to 14, a potion to 15, and a dishwasher to 16.

The quest was easy. I starved on the way there, but I had the AoLS for
that. The first starvation came on turn 17170 -- I'd expected to have a
bit longer than that, but I suppose casting spells in the early game had
sapped more nutrition than I'd thought ...

I found a 7th candle in the temple to moloch in the Valley of the
Dead. Sheesh, I never thought -Moloch- would do me any favors, athiest or
no. I used the wish I would have lost to that to get a potion of gain
level -- I wished for three, but didn't get them.

Gehennom was pretty methodical. I used /WoDig (later the spell of dig,
after I found the book) and the Magic Mapping spell to get through in
record time; Asmodeus escaped with a potion of gain level and I let him
go; the other major demons fell easily to the up/down trick or the /WoDig
in Jubilex's case. Finally used a wish for a cure sickness book (the
unihorn handled Juiblex, but I didn't feel safe without the spell...), got
my third AoLS from Vlad's Tower, and mapped to the VS level, which was 45.

I did the bell, book, and candle routine on turn 22295. Not bad time,
although I'd hoped for better...

22634 -- Picked up the AoY off of the charred remains of the high priest
of moloch. Sweeet. Now I just need to get out of here.

The dark force didn't interefere much. It kept me on the same level a few
times, but this didn't make things much harder. The wizard left me alone
for most of the ascent (after being a major pain en route to the sanctum)
too.

Asmodeus, however, did not. I'd completely forgotten that I'd left him
there. I was hungry again when I ran into him, so I was wearing an
AoLS, thankfully. I had -no- idea his frost attack could do -that- much
damage if you weren't cold resistant. He killed me faster than I could
blink, and I found myself at 42 hit points, hovering over the down-stairs
(darn! I can't go back down!) and without an equipped AoLS. I paused, look
around the room, and forced myself to breathe. I slipped a second AoLS
around my neck, realized I got a free move, and took off the ring of
levitation. More frost, but I survived. I engraved elbereth, dropped a
scroll of scare monster down the stairs, waited to heal a bit, and then
stepped down. Darn, I thought, the scroll didn't land on the stairs, I'll
just go kick it back over...

I got covered with more frost and killed before I realized my
mistake. Doh. There went the last AoLS. I hurried over to the scroll and
finally finished off Asmo. Note to self: find a ring of cold resistance
next time.

After that nightmare, I got back to the surface level without much
trouble. I stood on the lev. 1 stairs on turn 24467. I shuffled my
inventory around, realized I could get one last AoLS from my magic lamp,
which I no longer needed, and double checked to make sure I still had
Fred, the True Amulet of Yendor.

Earth was easy; air was hideous, drawing more charges of death ray than
I'd hoped. I got engulfed once and came close several more times, but no
near-death experiences thanks to my liberal use of finger of death and
/WoDeath (which I'd regret later). Fire was pathetic -- the portal was
only six or seven steps from where I started, and I didn't even see any
archons. Water was tedious -- it took an inordinately long amount of time
to find the portal.

And Astral was just wicked. With no telepathy, I didn't know ahead of time
which rider guarded which altar, so I had to charge blindly to glory and
hope I didn't meet famine. I did. Pestilence, too, although, not in that
order. By the time I made it to the second altar (also wrong), I'd
encountered a nigh-unhittable player-monster with frostbrand -- I was
getting awfully tired of cold attacks. I ran for it, nearly out of charges
of /WoTele and completely out of /WoDeath, bowled over death (he hurt me,
too, amazingly), and prepared for the trip to the last altar.

I managed to get down to just a few remaining
creatures, but got blinded, accidentally angered an Angel of Anhur by
attacking it whilst blind (it didn't show up on the warning meter), and
then angered the High Priest of Anhur with a poorly placed teleportation
strike ... I stumbled to the altar as the high priest slammed me for all
he was worth, blinded me, and dropped me to 27 hit points (I came so close
to dying -on the high altar to my god- that is wasn't funny); and I
#offered the amulet over protests of the high priest, angel, and assorted
clergy who were all trying to kill me on the very next turn. I don't think
you can get more atheistic than that ...

So:

Swift the Enchanter       St:25 Dx:18 Co:18 In:21 Wi:19 Ch:16  Chaotic
Astral Plane $:0  HP:27(168) Pw:108(190) AC:-25 Xp:17/1089715 T:25205
Blind

 Amulets
 a - an uncursed amulet of reflection
 l - the blessed Eye of the Aethiopica
 Weapons
 i - a +0 silver saber
 n - a cursed +7 silver saber (weapon in hand)
 x - a +6 elven dagger (wielded in other hand)
 Armor
/*I forgot to wish for fooproof stuff and lived to regret it...*/
 b - a blessed thoroughly burnt +3 cloak of magic resistance (being worn)
 w - an uncursed +5 Hawaiian shirt (being worn)
 D - a blessed thoroughly burnt +4 pair of speed boots (being worn)
 E - an uncursed +5 silver dragon scale mail (being worn)
 F - a blessed thoroughly rusty corroded +5 helm of brilliance (being
worn)
 Y - a blessed thoroughly rusty +4 pair of gauntlets of power (being worn)
 Spellbooks
 L - the cursed Book of the Dead
 Rings
 e - a cursed ring of slow digestion (on right hand)
 O - an uncursed ring of levitation
 Wands
 d - a wand of enlightenment (0:2) /*incredibly useful!*/
    <snip many wands>
 u - a wand of teleportation (0:0)
 C - a wand of death (1:0)
 M - a wand of teleportation (0:2)
 N - a cursed wand of death (1:0)
 P - a wand of teleportation (0:1)
 Q - a wand of death (0:0)
 Tools
 g - a blessed magic marker (1:5)
 k - an uncursed blindfold
 p - the cursed Bell of Opening (0:2)
 q - a magic marker (1:7)
 s - a blessed +0 unicorn horn
 v - the uncursed Candelabrum of Invocation (no candles attached)
 I - a blessed bag of holding
 X - an uncursed skeleton key
 Z - a blessed oil lamp

(selected) Contents of the bag of holding:

an uncursed +3 ring of protection
a blessed spellbook of finger of death
an uncursed scroll of genocide /*just in case...*/
a blessed magic marker (1:0)
a cursed scroll of blank paper
a blessed scroll of genocide
a cursed wand of death (0:5) /*darn, I had overlooked this one...*/
a blessed +5 quarterstaff /*it served me well, so it deserved to come
along*/
an uncursed lizard corpse /*for good luck*/
a blessed spellbook of identify
an uncursed ring of teleportation /*never got to use it...*/
a potion of unholy water /*last one...*/

Final Attributes:

/*the list sure looks ... short, yes? This is really all of it.*/

You were piously aligned.
You were poison resistant. /*instead of sleep resistant ... I think poison
     res saved me more than sleep res would have*/
You were magic-protected.
You were blinded.
You saw invisible.
You were warned.
You had infravision.
You were invisible to others.
You had teleport control.
You had slower digestion.
You were very fast.
You had reflection.
You were wielding two weapons at once.
You survived after being killed 4 times. /*starvation, asmo, asmo, and the
astral*/

(Selected) Vanquished creatures:

Asmodeus /*bring a ring of cold resistance!*/
Baalzebub
Orcus
Juiblex
The Wizard of Yendor (7 times)  /*I hate him ... */
Death
Pestilence (5 times) /*which is about six times too many*/
Famine /*thank goodness he didn't touch me...*/
a high priest /*of moloch, of course.*/
Medusa
3 storm giants
a titan
The Dark One
13 Angels
Vlad the Impaler
3 Nazguls /*I killed them before I discovered whether or not you
             can reflect their sleep attack.*/
30 aligned priests /*mostly on the astral*/
2 cavewomen
a knight
a priestess
a mind flayer /*so it really was a mind flayer?*/
39 wraiths /*and about 30 corpses, it seemed like. Sheesh, only when
you're playing foodless...*/
61 soldiers
2 gray unicorns /*only saw 3 uni's the whole game. Didn't get a horn until
after I'd been to the castle.*/
a black unicorn
a grid bug /*yes, just -one- grid bug! lowest single kill.*/
2 newts /*almost! Dang it ... I'll make newts the LSK one day!*/

1598 creatures vanquished.

Genocided species:

chickatrices
cockatrices /*didn't want to have to eat a lizard if I got whacked...*/
pyrolisks /*no fire resistance ... */
hobbits
dwarves
bugbears
dwarf lords
dwarf kings
mind flayers
master mind flayers
liches
demiliches
master liches /*asmodeus was enough!*/
arch-liches
jellyfish
piranhas
sharks
giant eels
electric eels
krakens

Voluntary challenges:

 You went without food.
 You were an atheist.    /*boo-yah! It -is- possible! */
 You genocided 20 types of monsters.
 You never polymorphed an object.
 You never changed form. /*hadn't actually planned on polyless...*/
 You used 15 wishes. /*ok, that's embarassingly high...*/
 You did not wish for any artifacts. /*...but at least I retained a shred
of wishing dignity*/

Goodbye Swift the Demigod...
/*needless to say, I didn't once think of score the whole game.*/

You went to your reward with 4363192 points,
The Eye of the Aethiopica (worth 15000 zorkmids and 37500 points)
Bell of Opening (worth 100000 zorkmids and 250000 points)
Candelabrum of Invocation (worth 300000 zorkmids and 750000 points)
Book of the Dead (worth 350000 zorkmids and 875000 points)
       1 amulet of ESP (worth 150 zorkmids),
       1 amulet of reflection (worth 150 zorkmids),
and 0 pieces of gold, after 25205 moves.
You were level 17 with a maximum of 168 hit points when you ascended.