ODed on cursed luck pills.
Rob Ellwood
I was eager to try out the new minetowns from
elpu...@my-deja.com (available at:
http://eagle.cc.ukans.edu/~ktb/mines/
...so I started up the barbarian SeeNewMine, under
the theory that barbarians were most likely to survive that
long. (The minetown I saw was very well done indeed. DOS
and Windows players: use the "quick and dirty" download;
put the file in your NH directory; play.) I kept playing
the character, since I was rolling.
Level 24: SeeNewMine was experience level 18,
AC -16, about 250 HP, but without reflection or magic
resistance. I saw a fire giant. I'm greedy for strength
boosts, so I made a beeline for him. The giant was greedy
for ascension kit gear, so he fired a wand of death at me.
The beam bounced several times, but never hit me.
I had no WoD defense and no fast way to take out the giant.
Brilliant plan 1, part 1: flee screaming. I read
my cursed scroll of teleport, and ended up at level 4.
Brilliant plan 1, part 2: stay fled (screaming
optional). Skip level 24 for now. With any luck, the Medusa
level would have a shield of reflection.
At my main supply dump, I cranked my AC up to -26 and
IDed a bunch of jewels. On my way back down, I sold jewels
to buy out everything of value in several different shops.
___________
When I returned to level 24, I stepped away from
the stairs, zapped a wand of digging downward, and jumped.
Safe!
A minute later, I'm grubbing around level 25, and I
hit a titan. More accurately, he's hitting me. It would
take several rounds to kill him. If he uses the Touch of
Death, I'm gone.
Brilliant plan 2, part 1: flee screaming. The
stairs are off thataway.
I'm (foolishly) unwilling to unburden myself by
dropping my heavy bag of holding, so I can't outrun him.
At the first patch of open ground, he summons a swarm of
monsters. The only good news is that the mind flayer isn't
adjacent to me... yet.
Brilliant plan 2, part 1 (backup): flee scream-
ing, only faster. I read my cursed scroll of teleport.
I read it. I only shudder. I guess the RNG saw
this trick before.
Brilliant plan 2, part 1 (emergency backup):
scream louder and flee harder. I read my spare cursed
scroll of teleport.
I read it. I only shudder.
Brilliant plan 2, part 1 (spare emergency backup):
read my... what do you mean, out of cursed scrolls of TP?
(I believe that the odds of this double failure
is only 1 in (25+3)^2 = 784. ICHTSIFOMBIGL (I Could Have
The Source In Front Of Me, But It's Getting Late.))
Brilliant plan 2, part 1 (alternate emergency
backup): go into acute hysterics and flee, flee, flee!
I zap a wand of digging downwards. So long, suckers.
Brilliant plan 2, part 2: stay fled. Don't go up;
both levels 24 and 25 are murder. Go down to the castle.
Bust in. I play wishless, so the WoW is worthless, but the
armory might have something.
______________
I get past Medusa and pick up a shield of reflection.
The giant's wand of death is no longer a threat. Unfortunately,
titans have a Magic Resistance of 70%. IIRC, this helps against
death rays. My own MR against Touch of Death is 0%. I want
magic resistance bad.
A bit later, I finally get dragon scales, but not of
the Good Sort. I don't bother returning to my main supply
dump: I would only gain 3 points of armor. I don't bother
going back for the giant and his wand of death.
I don't have a one-handed weapon, so I leave the
shield of reflection in my bag for now.
I continue to the castle. I stand on the stairs for a
few turns (just in case a Master Liche is on the level), then
start taking out eels.
I use my standard procedure: pick up rocks. Move the
rocks into inventory slot "t" for ease of throwing. Pickax
out the wall closest to the front entrance. Get unburdened
by dropping my daggers and bag. Start bouncing rocks off eel
and xorn skulls.
I'm happily kicking ass (well, rocking skulls) when
a master lich shows up. Based on experience with master
lichs, the stairs are too far away: I will be mired in
monsters very soon, then eventually fall victim to the
Touch of Death.
Brilliant plan 3, part 1: flee screaming. I read
my... oops, still out of cursed scrolls.
Jump straight to brilliant plan 3, part 1 (alternate
emergency backup): I zap my... wait; the castle is a "no
dig" zone.
Brilliant plan 3, part 1 (spare alternate emergency
backup): confuse myself and read a standard scroll of TP.
This will take two turns: the lich will get a shot in, even
if I don't just shudder.
I escape to level 1.
Brilliant plan 3, part 2: stay fled. Don't go down;
level 24 is Wand of Death, level 25 is Touch of Death (with
mind flaying on the side and a generous seasoning of mundane
attackers), and the castle is a New and Improved level 25.
_____________
Unfortunately, this leaves my shield of reflection
back with the master lich. I can have it back any time I'm
willing to play patty-cake with him. His MR is even better
than the titan's, so the wand of death is pretty pointless.
...not that I can safely GET the wand of death
without reflection....
Back to square 1, only I'm now cut off from the
castle and everything below.
As of this moment, brilliant plan 4 is: go to level
23. Collect loot for 50,000 turns or so. Hope for re-
flection, magic resistance, or a merciful death.
Alternate brilliant plan 4: hope for a ring of tele-
port control. I could skip ahead to the Valley of the Dead,
or go head-to-head with the giant: wand of sleep versus
wand of death. That's dumb; gaining a wand of death wouldn't
help with my other two problems. But, after 50,000 turns of
waiting, facing a WoD will start to look a lot better.
--
Rob Ellwood
To reply, delete the anti-spam stuff in the address.
Kimmo Kasila
Rob Ellwood wrote:
>
> Brilliant plan 2, part 2: stay fled. Don't go up;
> both levels 24 and 25 are murder. Go down to the castle.
> Bust in. I play wishless, so the WoW is worthless, but the
> armory might have something.
Hehe, I enjoyed reading about those brilliant plans :)
You are in a familiar situation to me, you lack magic
resistance, have reached the levels with insta-death
monsters and try to play wishless. So you can't wish
for magic resistance, but can't survive without it
easily.
I would propably use 1 wish to get the magic resistance,
and leave it at that one. But, only if there was no
easy way of obtaining magic resistance. Of course, you
need cursed scroll(s) of genocide for this, to reverse
genocide gray dragons. Any magic markers?
Or you could try to polypile for a cloak of magic
resistance. This is really difficult, I have never
managed to do that. Actually, I think I never managed
to play wishless because of reverse-genociding gray
dragons. Which reminds me, if you have a magicbane,
wielding that will give you magic resistance -> use
it as your primary weapon until you get magic
resistance from something else.
Good luck!
--
KK
Michael Clarke
Hmmm. Got a Ring of Polymorph control? Someone tells me that master
Lichs are immune to instant death effects...
Mik
elpu...@my-deja.com
rob.e...@home.com wrote:
> I was eager to try out the new minetowns from
> elpu...@my-deja.com (available at:
> http://eagle.cc.ukans.edu/~ktb/mines/
>
> ...so I started up the barbarian SeeNewMine, under
> the theory that barbarians were most likely to survive that
> long. (The minetown I saw was very well done indeed. DOS
Yay! I'm glad you enjoyed it; I'm guessing you got one of
the full-screen ones.
> Level 24: SeeNewMine was experience level 18,
It sounds like you should have gone with 'SeeAstralPlane.'
--
ktb
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