You caitiff! How dare you defend yourself

[Jistan Idiot]

so I'm playing a knight.

I was confronted by a deadly dwarf zombie. I applied my lance a
couple of times and then it moved in too close. So I switched to
Excalibur and when I attacked it this time I was told "You caitiff!"

What happened here and what am I doing wrong?

[James]

Nothing reallhy. You get the message when you attack a peaceful
monster, or one which is fleeing. Probably, the preceding
attack had caused the dwarf zombie to flee (since it obviously
wasn't peaceful). It costs a little in alignment, but generally
speaking, you've got enough alignment (or can get it) that it
doesn't matter. You might want to kill a hostile or two before
praying, but other than that, I wouldn't worry about it.

--
James Kanze