Dragons in the Healer Quest
Janis Papanagnou
though, has 3 black dragons, an orange dragon, and another one that
I don't recall. Seems not to be a good idea to try to get the dragon
scales at the moment.
Janis
hept...@gmail.com
wrote:
Max your luck and go on a fountain quaffing spree and sitting on every
possible throne? Leave the quest for later and go for the castle.
Janis Papanagnou
> On Oct 27, 1:13 pm, Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanag...@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>> My healer is still lacking reflection and sleep resistance. His quest,
>> though, has 3 black dragons, an orange dragon, and another one that
>> I don't recall. Seems not to be a good idea to try to get the dragon
>> scales at the moment.
>
> possible throne? Leave the quest for later and go for the castle.
Don't recall my luck at that time, but actually I've done the Castle first.
Having eaten a black dragon at the Castle and worn the black scales, those
quest dragons were not that bad any more.
Later, having been sloppy, I lost two experience levels due to attacks of
the Quest nemesis with the Staff of Aesulapius and got just one level back.
Not a real problem, though.
Meanwhile my biggest fear is that my nourished and cherished purple worm
will swallow some green slime or a doppelganger/chamaeleon and turns into
something wimpy.
Status of the vampire lord (chaotic): Level 18 HP 144(144) AC -11, tame.
Status of the purple worm (neutral): Level 49 HP 400(400) AC 6, tame, fast.
Level at max! 8-)
Janis
Beachdude67
>
> Meanwhile my biggest fear is that my nourished and cherished purple worm
> will swallow some green slime or a doppelganger/chamaeleon and turns into
> something wimpy.
>
> Status of the vampire lord (chaotic): Level 18 HP 144(144) AC -11,
> tame.
> Status of the purple worm (neutral): Level 49 HP 400(400) AC 6, tame,
> fast.
>
> Level at max! 8-)
>
> Janis
Beware of the greatest killer of Nethack characters: hubris.
Jack
Janis Papanagnou
>
> Beware of the greatest killer of Nethack characters: hubris.
Or, as occasionally in my case, having some inspiration how to
solve a standard situation in a different way and dying because
it was actually a stupid idea. I think I've killed three or four
otherwise invincible characters that way. 8-}
Janis
JoaoSantos
wrote:
[...]
> Having eaten a black dragon at the Castle and worn the black scales, those
> quest dragons were not that bad any more.
Why bother wearing the scales? Unless you didn't finish eating the
corpse, you must have gotten a "You feel very firm".
Also, did you kill or cancel the D before attacking it?
solidsnail
Doug Freyburger
> Janis Papanagnou wrote:
>
>> Having eaten a black dragon at the Castle and worn the black scales, those
>> quest dragons were not that bad any more.
>
> corpse, you must have gotten a "You feel very firm".
I've worn red and black dragon scales before even though I had those
resistances. The AC boost does not suck. I will switch to a gray or
silver scales if they come available. I might switch to a yellow
scales if they come available, but a scales of a color where I already
have that resistance? I'll wear it for the AC until a better color
comes along.
Not that it fits this example but I've eaten a red dragon then worn
white scales because I was too stuffed from eating the first dragon.
When facing more than one dragon it generally makes sense to kill them
all before trying to eat them one by one. ;^)
Janis Papanagnou
> On Oct 28, 6:28 pm, Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanag...@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
> [...]
>> Having eaten a black dragon at the Castle and worn the black scales, those
>> quest dragons were not that bad any more.
>
At that point I had only dwarven mithril, and that armor has far too
many disadvantages for a healer, so I enchanted the scales; that way
I've got a better AC, could effectively use spells, had better weight.
Later I've exchanged it for gray scales, and my pet vampire lord put
on the black armor, so nothing got wasted. :-)
Janis
John Gregory
> Beware of the greatest killer of Nethack characters: hubris.
Maybe I should post this in the thread I started a few weeks ago about
being "too old to play NetHack". Then, I was griping about my elderly
eyes, unable to distinguish dark blue monsters versus blank/unexplored
squares (even though with slower play the ambiguity is not usually
severe). Today I'll share a humorous death last night, due to
forgetfulness, that I'll chalk up to age once again.
I opted for a hack'n'slash Valk, and was doing fine, having located the
vibrating square and now conducting some preparatory housecleaning before
the serious part of the run. This was played an hour at a time over
several days. Two nights ago, I screwed up and stepped on a polymorph
trap without correct protection on (so, maybe stupidity ultimately is the
cause of death, as usual). I merged with my scaly armor, and became a
black dragon. "Oh bother," said Pooh, and trudged up the levels toward
a stash contining some more dragon scales, for after reverting to human
form.
Along the way I encountered a small swarm of chickatrices. Without
thinking, I attacked the first, and instantly got "You turn to stone".
However my AoLS kicked in, and I got a reprieve. "Time to put the game
away and go to bed, I'm getting careless," I told myself. And I did,
not succumbing in this case to my typical "just one more level"-itis.
And then last night, I sat down before bedtime to a nice relaxing
session with our favorite game, remembered my plan to continue back
up to the armor stash, and promptly bit the puny chickatrice standing
in my way.
Hubris? Maybe. Stupidity? More likely. An inability to remember
important details for longer than overnight? My wife will attest
to that.
--
John Gregory ashbury at skypoint.com http://www.skypoint.com/ tilde ashbury
Today's palindrome:
Lewd did I live & evil I did dwel.
Janis Papanagnou
>> Meanwhile my biggest fear is that my nourished and cherished purple worm
>> will swallow some green slime or a doppelganger/chamaeleon and turns into
>> something wimpy.
Solved the issue by genociding green slimes (the only genocide, BTW),
wearing a ring of PFSC, and being careful with appearing doppelgangers,
sandestins, and chameleons.
>> Status of the purple worm (neutral): Level 49 HP 400(400) AC 6, tame,
>> fast.
This one, after a couple resurrections, made it even to the demogod bar.
> Beware of the greatest killer of Nethack characters: hubris.
I was careful[*] but inattentive, nonetheless; after retrieving the three
invocation items, I noticed that I forgot to take the seven candles with
me from my dlvl 1 stash, so I decided to spend another wish on candles.
[*] But lacking reflection[**] I lost one of my two wands of death and
a couple more wands from my inventory, unfortunately. The wand of death
was unnecessary, though, a cockatrice corpse helped on Earth, and the
full-grown purple worm took care of quite every threat, specifically on
Astral, so that I could focus my attention on the Rider (Pestilence).
[**] Got a shield from a critter very late in the game; but it interfered
with my spellcasting (to heal my pet purple worms) and with two-weaponing
the Staff of Aesculapius, so I mostly abstained from wearing that shield.
Janis
Sean
wrote:
> Beachdude67 wrote:
> >> Meanwhile my biggest fear is that my nourished and cherished purple worm
> >> will swallow some green slime or a doppelganger/chamaeleon and turns into
> >> something wimpy.
>
> Solved the issue by genociding green slimes (the only genocide, BTW),
I'm curious: How big of a threat is green slime, anyway? Though I'm
far from being an expert player, I do have seven ascensions under my
belt, and in all of my games I've never been slimed, nor witnessed any
other creature get slimed, as best I can recall. I encounter slime in
Gehennom from time to time, but a quick whack or two has always made
quick work of it.
Janis Papanagnou
Purple worms swallow green slimes in a single turn and turn into slime;
which was the reason for the genocide. Green slimes have the disadvantage
that you cannot spot them with ESP, so it's just a matter of time when
your powerful pet purple worm gets "lost"[*] that way. That was the usual
end for my pet purple worms in quite all of my games where I rely on them
in the late game.
[*] Not really lost, actually, but it turns into a much less useful pet.
For the player green slimes are less of a threat, especially if you are
prepared. I've got just once a critical incident; was bitten on the first
turn, zapped one or two *empty* (unidentified) wands of fire. Close call.
Janis
Derek Ray
> On Nov 2, 5:37 pm, Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanag...@hotmail.com>
>> >> Meanwhile my biggest fear is that my nourished and cherished purple worm
>> >> will swallow some green slime or a doppelganger/chamaeleon and turns into
>> >> something wimpy.
>>
>> Solved the issue by genociding green slimes (the only genocide, BTW),
>
> I'm curious: How big of a threat is green slime, anyway? Though I'm
> far from being an expert player, I do have seven ascensions under my
> belt, and in all of my games I've never been slimed, nor witnessed any
> other creature get slimed, as best I can recall. I encounter slime in
> Gehennom from time to time, but a quick whack or two has always made
> quick work of it.
Green slime is much more of a threat to your pet purple worm than you.
Its attack respects MC3 and they are not very quick movers, so the odds
of your actually getting slimed in straight up melee are effectively
very small.
--
Derek
Game info and change log: http://sporkhack.com
Beta Server: telnet://sporkhack.com
IRC: irc.freenode.net, #sporkhack
RjY
>Sean wrote:
>> I'm curious: How big of a threat is green slime, anyway?
>prepared.
Indeed, sliming respects magic cancellation[1] so it could be argued
it's not much of a threat at all. But I think as it's a form of delayed
instadeath like stoning, it's talked up a lot in spoilers and so on.
Janis Papanagnou
> Janis Papanagnou posted:
>> Sean wrote:
>>> I'm curious: How big of a threat is green slime, anyway?
>> For the player green slimes are less of a threat, especially if you are
>> prepared.
>
> Indeed, sliming respects magic cancellation[1] so it could be argued
> it's not much of a threat at all.
Yes, but sh**, erm, slime happens; and incidentally, in the mentioned
case, I was struck before I saw that protoplasma, and its first attack
got through my MC, which, of course, could have been MC:2, don't recall.
So I'd not just rely on MC but rather on an identified wand of fire with
charges.
> But I think as it's a form of delayed
> instadeath like stoning, it's talked up a lot in spoilers and so on.
Yes, and fortunately it takes a couple more turns than stoning.
Janis
David Damerell
>several days. Two nights ago, I screwed up and stepped on a polymorph
>trap without correct protection on (so, maybe stupidity ultimately is the
>cause of death, as usual). I merged with my scaly armor, and became a
>black dragon. "Oh bother," said Pooh, and trudged up the levels toward
>a stash contining some more dragon scales, for after reverting to human
>form.
I'm pretty sure that was pointless - the scales or DSM will unmerge with
you when you rehumanise. You'd have been best just to suicide in draconic
form.
--
David Damerell <dame...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> Oil is for sissies
Today is Chedday, October.
Tomorrow will be Stilday, October - a weekend.