Contents

  1. Bjorn, the Beorning Warper, part 3
    1. CHAPTER 6: You Shall Not Pass, Dude!
      1. Part 1 of 6
      2. Part 2 of 6
      3. Part 3 of 6
      4. Part 4 of 6
      5. Part 5 of 6
      6. Part 6 of 6

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Character sheet

Bjorn, the Beorning Warper, part 3

CHAPTER 6: You Shall Not Pass, Dude!

Part 1 of 6

As promised, this time we'll be taking on Moria.

(shuffles pack) "Dude, this is a lot of spellbooks to be lugging around…"

I know, that's why I keep looking for Tomes to consolidate some of them. According to my notes, Moria can have dungeon towns in it; maybe we'll get lucky and find one with a Library.

"‘Kay. So what's Moria like?"

Kind of like the Orc Cave, but tougher; mostly orcs, trolls, giants and demons. I'm hoping to reclaim some of my lost piety there. Oh, and it has ordinary dungeon rooms instead of caverns.

"Sounds excellent. Let's go for it, dude."

That's the spirit. After dropping some coin at the Wizards Spire to pump Thrain's wand up to 100 charges, we proceed to:

MoM 30

"What a boring place…" Not with a pack of Vibration hounds staring down the corridor at me, it ain't. A couple breaths stun me and knock me down to 167/224hp, but there aren't too many of them, so I prevail. In the room at the end of the corridor, there are some Ice trolls for me to vent my frustrations on, and boost my piety with. >:> By the time I'm done with that, some Clear hounds have found me.

"Now, these are proper See-through hounds, dude." *slash* [thump]

Bears are so easy to please… ;) A little further in, a pack of Half-orcs drops a Potion of Charisma that takes me from 6 CHA to 10. <!> It'll be interesting to see what that maps to outside bear form.

A few more rooms in, I meet my first Thunderlord (a Green one). Ooh, these guys are nasty; I think I'll need Manwe's Blessing with this one…. Hmm. Okay, maybe these guys aren't so tough; she (my notes say they're female) falls in five turns and only gets a few hits in on me.

You hear noise

"Dude, what's that?"

Monsters fighting nearby, I think. I cast Sense Monsters and… well, look who's busting heads to the north: Beorn.

"Excellent! Now I can really show Grampa Beorn what I'm made of!"

Beorn is in one of the pit-type rooms with three pillars in it. As we enter the inner room on the east side, Beorn has just finished slaying a Fire giant; he's down to four stars, though. There's another Fire giant at the west end of the room, and a Clairvoyant and some White wolves milling around on the north side, and some Half-orcs are approaching from the northeast.

"Hey, Gramps, what's up?"

"Huh? Bjorn? What're ya doing down here, cub? This is a dangerous place; go find whatever stairs you fell down and get out of here."

"No way, Gramps; I'm here to fight. Check this out." We zap the already weakened Clairvoyant with a Manathrust, and he falls.

"Bah. I already had him down to one star. If that's the best you've got, you'd better get out of here fast. Now move, I've got to take care of these orcs." Said Half-orcs have just reached the door to the inner room.

We push past Beorn into the entryway. "No, Gramps, I'll take care of the orcs. I am faster than you, after all."

"No, you're not!" Beorn turns to take on the White wolves instead. "You're just using your fancy-schmancy speed spells to cover up the fact that you still haven't learned how to move properly in bear form. You don't see me using artificial speed magic, and I can still run circles around these wolves. You've got to learn that, boy, if you expect to survive in Moria."

"Oh yeah? Well, watch this!" The other Fire giant has woken up and is heading for us; we meet him halfway and smack him down in a single turn. "See?"

"Hmph. Beginners' luck. It might last all the way back to the stairs, but I wouldn't count on it."

"Argh! That's it, I'm not talking to you, like, forever!" We storm out of the room.

Family's always embarrassing, isn't it?

"Don't I know it, dude."

We leave Beorn in the room and head further east, where we find a pack of Novice priests in need of charming, and some Wargs in need of slaying. A few Dark elven warlocks wander in as I'm doing this; sense-evil from Thranduil is picking up a few more still asleep further north. I pick off the approaching warlocks at the door, then head off to catch the last few sleepers–

The Dark elven warlock casts a mana bolt.

Ah, crap, I missed some of them off screen to the north. Phase door fails, and another of them fires off a magic missile, taking me down to 99/224hp. Next time, though, I Phase Door back into the room I was in, and just barely beat them back to the door, positioning myself again to pick them off as they enter. That done, I proceed with more caution this time, picking off the next approachers at a convenient intersection. And this time that does indeed appear to be the last of them, except for the two sleepers, who wake up as I approach and die in short order.

The level passes without incident after that, beyond my first use of Noxious Cloud against a pack of Energy hounds. We proceed, then, to:

MoM 31

"You have a superb feeling about this level."

"Uh, should I be worried, dude?"

Nah, I think this time the superb feeling is coming from this troll pit we just landed in. Fresh, piping hot piety to go… >:> Only the Eldrak in the middle gives me any trouble; I fire up Manwe's Blessing for him. The pit pushes me over the top to clvl 33, with skill points going 1 to Bearform-combat, 1 to Temporal, 1 to Spell-power and 2 to Conveyance, which means I can finally cast the Recall spell.

"Aw, man, does this mean another spellbook to lug around?"

We'll worry about that later. Loot from the pit nets Travak. Further in, a pack of Forest trolls drops Orchast.

Near the end of the level, I run into Uldor, who spends most of the fight stunned; he drops Double Ring Mail [+7] and a Light Crossbow (+2,+5). Enh, I've seen better. Like the Great Wyrm of Thunder I can see in this vault off to the west, for instance… /!\ Hmm, I think I'll leave him alone for now.

By the time I finish the level, my piety is up to 10983, and I'm getting +2 speed from Manwe prayer. My pack is getting kind of full, though, so I recall out to:

Wilderness

and head to:

Gondolin

to sell off some loot and *ID*:

The Black Market, just to mock me, has a Tome of the Everrunning Wave in stock. :\ In:

Bree

I Mathom Orchast and Travak. Hmm, I don't think I ever *ID*'d Haradekket, did I? No *ID* scrolls in the stores; never mind, I'll do it later. Home, then, to:

Lothlorien

where the Black Market has a Potion of Strength that takes me from 18/50 STR to 18/61. After stowing a few things, I recall back to:

MoM 31, take 2

"You feel strangely lucky…" I enter into a round room with Cave ogres and Black orcs to play with. Further in, a pack of Cave trolls drops The Double Chain Mail of Niendur (+1) [+6] {cursed}. Bleh. I'll take it back out and *ID* it, just out of curiosity. Wait, that reminds me, I forgot to pick up the Spellbook of Recall from Bree. Oh well, I'll get it next time.

Nothing much of note happens, until:

It breathes fire. Your Spellbook of Noxious Cloud {@b8!d!k!v!s} (f) was destroyed! Your Spellbook of Identify {@b4!d!k!v!s} (d) was destroyed!

@#$%. A Red dragon bat in a side corridor breathed at me. Fortunately, I still have my Manathrust spell, so I can teach it the error of its ways. >:> I'm close enough to finishing the level that I go ahead and push through it, but I have to leave a lot of stuff unidentified on the floor when I recall to:

Lothlorien

where I acquire a 'may' fate to find a Potion of Restore Dexterity on level 28. On to:

Gondolin

to sell off stuff.

"Hey, weren't we, like, in Lorien a minute ago? Why'd we come out in the mountains?"

It's a bug. Something to do with Moria having two entry points. Nothing to worry about.

(shrug) "‘Kay."

While in Gondolin, I *ID* a few things:

I'd Mathom the armor were it not for the limited size of the Mathom-house; as it is, I ditch it. In:

Bree

the stores don't have either of the books I need, but the Black Market has a Potion of Wisdom that takes me from 18/74 WIS to 18/97. :) On the way back to:

Lothlorien

I acquire two fates: to find an Everburning Torch on level 12, and to meet an Agent of the Black Market on level 1.

"Man, who makes up these lame fates?"

Beats me. The book store has a Spellbook of Noxious Cloud, but not one of Identify. Well, in case of emergency… back to:

Bree

to get the Ring of Spell with Identify copied onto it; for now, it'll have to do as a spellbook. I also pick up the Spellbooks of Recall and Greater Identify that I had stowed there. Home again to:

Lothlorien

where I copy Identify onto another Ring of Spell just in case this one gets zapped, then restock and stow the extra spellbooks. Next time out, we'll be trying again to get past MoM 31… |)

Part 2 of 6

MoM 31, take 3

"You feel your luck is turning…" I certainly hope so. Lots of monsters nearby to vent my frustrations on, though… >:>

The rest of the level proceeds more or less without incident. Having to swap in the Ring of Spell every time I want to cast Identify is mildly annoying, but bearable. A pack of Black orcs pushes me up to 15029 piety, which means +3 speed from Manwe prayer. A pack of Stone trolls further in drops Limbslicer. That taken care of, we continue to:

MoM 32

"What a boring place…" And so it is for a while, until Sense Monsters picks up a pack of Araneas off to my southwest. Urk. I hate these guys.

"Why? They're just, like, big spiders, right?"

Big fast spiders with nasty spells. I once had a Swordmaster spelled to death by a pack of those things in a record two turns.

"Mm, story-man speaks truth. Graagh remember, big ugly red spiders speak strange words, give Graagh many wounds."

That was one of your predecessors, actually. What are you doing here, anyway?

(shrug) "Story-man tells tale of mighty warrior; Graagh listen."

"Whoa, 'mighty warrior'? That's awfully honorific of you to say so, dude. Moochus grashus."

:\ "Graagh not understand bear-man talk…"

"Nice guy, that Graagh dude, but he talks kinda funny."

[bites tongue] I'm in the middle of dealing with some Snagas and Mountain ogres when I detect the Araneas; fortunately, they appear to be stuck in a corridor beyind a sleeping Fire giant, so I won't have to deal with them just yet. By the time I've finished with my current assault, though, they've found another corridor and are swarming toward me. Fortunately, I'm near the entrance to the current room, so I can catch them as they come in.

The level continues uneventfully for a while, beyond find a Potion of Constitution in a room that takes me from 16 CON to 18. :) All the orcs and trolls and ogres are swamping me with loot to identify, not much of it of any value—which just serves to magnify the mild annoyance of the Ring-of-Spell thing. And Moria must have some amazingly high monster generation rate; practically every time I turn around, there's another pack of orcs/trolls/ogres coming at me, even from territory I've been over twice already. Not that it isn't doing wonders for my piety, though… ;)

I finally complete the level, and continue to:

MoM 33

"You have an excellent feeling…" Hmm, nothing nearby as we enter the level bears that out; we'll see. Well, I do find a Potion of Dexterity a few rooms in that takes me from 14 DEX to 15; that's reasonably excellent, I suppose… ;)

Further in, I run into Mim. Hmm, I'm not wearing very much that he can disenchant, so I think I'll risk a straight-up knock-down fight. I will need Manwe's Blessing for this one, though… enh, not a bad fight; he falls in four rounds and drops Double Chain Mail [+5], a Two-Handed Sword (+3,+8), and 31 Sheaf Arrows (+5,+4). Enh. I'm not impressed.

Angamaite is on the other side of the level; he falls even faster than Mim, and drops a Bastard Sword (+4,+2) and a Long Bow (+6,+5). Bleh. Nothing much of note after that, until a Novice paladin curses my Ring 'Galon' before I can charm him. My Ring of Free Action got cursed a couple levels back, which means I can no longer wield my Ring of Spell to cast Identify. That clinches it; time to recall back to:

Lothlorien

and get those uncursed. Annoyingly, the Temple doesn't have any Remove Curse scrolls in stock, so I take a shopping trip to:

Bree

to take care of that. To my relief, the magic shop also has a Spellbook of Identify, so I can stow the Ring of Spell back in my Bree house. The Black Market, just to be annoying, has a Tome of the Eternal Flame in stock. :\ Well, as long as I'm here, I could try my luck in:

Gondolin

Nope, nothing. I do remember to *ID*:

I Mathom this back in:

Bree

and return home to:

Lothlorien

where I restock and recall back to:

MoM 33, take 2

"You feel strangely lucky…" I might be luckier if I could remember to switch back into combat mode before getting into a fight… :o No worries, though, Ogrillons aren't much of a danger by this point.

Nothing much of interesting happens for a while, until my first Mystic charges onto the scene. Hmm, he's entering on the other side of the room, which means he might get a chance or two to summon. Let's see where Phase Door drops me… ah, in the next room to the north. Excellent, I can catch him as he comes in. I fire up Manwe's Blessing as he gets next to me and lay into him… and he falls in a single turn.

"Dude, was he supposed to be, like, tough or something?"

(shrug) I dunno, maybe it was Master mystics or Grand master mystics I was thinking of… The rest of the level passes without further event, beyond a pack of Ice trolls pushing me up to 20026 piety, thereby increasing my Manwe-prayer speed boost to +4. Oh, and two Potions of Charisma, which increase my CHR from 10 to 13. Onward, then, to:

MoM 34

"This level can't be all bad…" Yes it can, if those Crebains get a chance to haste everything in the immediate vicinity. Thank Manwe for Noxious Cloud…

"‘Kay. 'Oh, mighty–'"

Bjorn!

"But you said–"

Figure of speech.

"Oh. Sorry, dude."

|) Off to the east of the initial room, there's a small pack of Multi-hued hounds. Ugh. They're in a pillar-grid room, which I try to use to my advantage to stay out of their line of sight—unsuccessfully, alas, as I lose a !oCCW to a frost breath. They still ended up just as dead, though… >:>

Further in, a Master Vampire drops a Potion of Dexterity—after knocking me back about 25,000xp X-( ‘Sokay, though, my DEX jumped from 16 to 18. :) The level proceeds without incident for a while, beyond a Bandit dropping Elvagil. Well, that and a Spectator blanking my memory, so I have to walk the entire level again… X-( And another Potion of Intelligence down in the southeast corner, that pushes my INT from 18/170 to 18/182. :D

Then it gets interesting again, when a Mystic at the back of a pack of Algroths conjures up a long line of Araneas in the corridor behind me, who in turn knock me down to 36/268hp before I even have a chance to move. /!\ X-( I immediately cast Teleportation, tossing me to the far side of the level.

"*gasp* Whoa… I seen what you mean about those Araneas, dude."

Indeed. I toss back two !oCCW as an emergency buffer just in case there are any monsters around, then sit myself in a corner and rest. And now, of course, the Araneas have to die… >:>

I cross the level again, until I find myself in an east-west corridor passing to the south of the room with the Mystic and the corridor with the Araneas. The latter are, of course, headed for me; I duck into a nearby intersection and wait. Annoyingly, they won't come around the corner to me; they must have the same AI as hounds. I push further into the intersection, looking for a back route, and sure enough, after a bit of searching, I find a room just south of the Araneas with an entrance I can sit at to pick them off. >:>

Which brings us back to the Algroths and the Mystic who started the whole mess. This time, I wait in the corridor for him to come to me (after all the Algroths), and patiently explain to him (by way of repeated claw slashing) why he should never, ever do that to me again… >:> That's followed up by some Bats of Gorgoroth, just to keep me on my toes.

And that pretty much finishes this level. Hmm, next level is Orc Town; do I push on or recall out?

"Dude, what's Orc Town?"

Well… why don't I show you?

Part 3 of 6

Orc Town

"You hear orc warcries." Okay, cast Noxious Cloud targeted on yourself, now.

"But–"

Now.

"‘Kay." *FOOM!* "Now, why did we– oh, the very loud annoying fungus things."

Yeah, there are a lot of Shrieker mushroom patches on this level, very annoyingly positioned. Hopefully, with our speed advantage, we'll be able to get most of them before they can wake up the level. Okay, take the north door out of here, and we'll take the side rooms as we come to them.

"Right. Beware, all you evil orcs! There's a new sheriff in town, and his name is Bjorn! (Get it? Orc? Town? Orc Town?)"

|) Just go. I do okay for a bit, picking off Shriekers via strategic use of Noxious Cloud around corners. But then I step into line of sight of one I forgot about, and it wakes up the whole level. So much for strategy; now we switch to using Clouds to soften up approachers and slashing them to pieces if they actually reach me.

The northern half of the level goes well; I manage to catch most of the Shriekers but a few get ahead of me. Not a problem, though; even hasted, they're still slower than me… >:>

Unfortunately, to get the southern section of the level, I'll have to cross lava. For efficiency's sake, I cross at a point on the east side where an orc dropped some gold. Just cross your fingers and hope we don't lose any spellbooks, Bjorn.

"‘Kay." [deep breath] "Go! Ow ow ow ow ow ow!"

Sorry. The orcs in the southeast chamber charge dutifully out to be slaughtered. There's an Ancient white dragon and an Ancient gold dragon in the next corridor over; I'd better take them out before the Shriekers do bad things to them. With them clear, I step through the illusion wall and take the Shriekers completely by surprise. >:>

The rest of the level proceeds without incident; in addition to the Stone of Lore, net includes Arvedui, Forasgil, and The Basillard of Siladaind (-1,+1) {cursed}, |), plus a Potion of Constitution that takes me from 18 CON to 18/10. Bolg's drop was assorted {good} armor not worth listing here. My piety is up to 25837, which means I'm now getting +5 speed when praying to Manwe. :D And my pack is really bursting at the seams now, so I recall forthwith to:

Lothlorien

and *ID* the following:

I suppose I should go Mathom these…

"Dude, what's a TY curse?"

Very bad. Also known as an 'ancient foul curse'. It does really nasty things like randomly summoning powerful monsters and paralyzing you.

"Whoa, heinous. You gonna put that in the Mathom-place?"

Not with the space limitations; and being cursed, it probably won't sell. Guess I'll just ditch it. After pumping Thrain's wand back up to 104 charges, I head to:

Bree

to stick the rest of the artifacts in the Mathom-house. Actually, I think I'll keep Arvedui in my house here just in case I decide to wear it later, but the weapons and the Stone go. Back in:

Lothlorien

I buy a Potion of Strength from the Black Market, which takes me from 18/61 STR to 18/77. A bit of restocking, and I return to:

Orc 35, take 2

"You have a good feeling…"

"Uh, dude, it still says 'Orc Town'…"

Yeah, but it's an ordinary dungeon level now. There's an Archangel in the room where I enter, who fortunately stays asleep as I leave.

"So, who's got bad stealth now, dude?" ;)

Yeah, whatever. I left Orc Town less then 2000xp from the next level, and sure enough, a pack of Ice trolls in the next room pushes me over the top to clvl 34—and I get another relic quest, northeast of Bree and northeast of Minas Anor. The temple dungeon will be dlvls 22-26, and the monsters will be level 44 at the top and 52 at the bottom.

"Dude, we're not taking that one, right?"

Not any time soon, certainly.

"Uh…"

Don't worry about it for now. I allocate skill points 1 to Bearform-combat and 4 to Spell-power. Essence of Speed is up to spell effect level 38, which brings my top speed in bear form up to +16 sans Manwe prayer. And speaking of Manwe, Manwe's Blessing is up to spell effect level 20, picking up the super-heroism effect; my to-hit bonus with the spell in effect is now +44. :D Oh, and the trolls drop Isildur.

The rest of the level proceeds mostly without incident. A pack of Half-trolls dorps The Ring of Hilweth (+1). Further in, I encounter Fasolt; he falls in four turns and drops a Spectral Great Axe (+10,+8) and a Battle Axe (+2,+4). We proceed to:

Orc 36

"You feel your luck is turning…" The level proceeds without major incident until the very end, when:

It magically summons its minions.

and I'm suddenly surrounded by molds and mimics. Hmm, a unique mold? It caught me in a corridor headed north, so it must be in the room ahead of me; I Phase Door out and take another route north, and sure enough, it's Emperor Mimic.

"Don't you mean, like, The Emperor Mimic, dude?"

Hey, I just read what it says on the screen. It summons a Lich behind me as I entered the room—which luckily didn't get in a drain-charges attack. It does have a really nasty cause-wounds spell, though, and between that and Emperor Mimic's ball spells, I'm soon down to 113/329hp.

"Dude, get us out of here!"

Right. I teleport out, rest up and return to the scene of the crime. As I approach, I realize that I can see Emperor Mimic in his room, as though by telepathy—and he's moving. :\ Weird. I don't think he matches any of the sense-stuff from Thranduil.

"Totally bizarre, dude."

(shrug) At least it gives me the option of luring him around a corner and getting the drop on him like I do with most tough monsters. After that I Manathrust the Lich from a distance and clean up the other assorted summons.

Other events of note before this are minimal: Potions of Charisma and Dexterity (one each), and The Ring Mail of Nimrain [+10] {cursed} dropped by a pack of Black orcs. Oh, and my piety is up to 30022, for +6 speed from Manwe prayer. My pack is starting to get stuffed again, so I recall back out to:

Lothlorien

where I *ID*:

Hmm, both Isildur and Hilweth have potential as future swap-ins; I stow them in for now. Nimrain is a lost cause, even with the immunity to acid. :( Oh well. We restock and return to:

Part 4 of 6

MoM 36, take 2

"You have a very good feeling…" Nothing of interest happens for a while, beyond a Potion of Wisdom from a Dread that takes me from 18/127 WIS to 18/143. A pack of Ogrillons drops Barukkheled, and Ulfast falls in a single turn (the wimp… >:> ) and drops a Wooden Boomerang (+6,+2). Net from the next onslaught of monsters includes two Westernesse weapons and The Small Metal Boomerang of Tunim (+10,+3).

Further in, I run into Sangahyando; he falls in two thrns and drops Hard Studded Leather [+6] and an Espadon of Slay Orc (+4,+12). Not far from there, I find Nimloth just lying on the floor. Man, too bad I can't use any of these…

Sense evil from Thranduil picks up a pack of Dark elven warlocks in the distance, which gives me pause for a moment, until I discover that they're safely inside a pit-shaped room with a pack of Vibration hounds. They drop a Potion of Charisma, taking me from 14 CHA to… 14 (must be close to maxed in non-bear form), my first Potion of Restore Mana, and… wait for it… a Tome of the Tree. |) I figure my luck's gotta turn around eventually…

Near the end of the level, I run into Fire Phantom, who–

"Don't you mean The–"

Look, all I've got to work with is what it says on the screen.

"Hmm. Weird."

Anyway, Fire Phantom falls in three turns and drops a Silver Rod of Simplicity of Nothing… and a Rod Tip of Recall. :) I call that a sign.

"Dude, I thought we were gonna be, like, using that spell for this sort of thing."

I'm holding off on that until I can find a Tome of Translocation and fireproof it. And I'll prob'ly still keep this as a backup. Well, then, with that level done, we continue to:

MoM 37

"You have a superb feeling about this level." Urk. There's plenty of monsters in the immediate vicinity, including a pack of Half-trolls right next to me.

Hmm, I think part of the superb feeling might be this pack of Liches approaching from the west. <!> [checks notes] Hmm, Monastic liches and Iron liches don't have a drain charges attack, but there's a Master lich and two Crypt things at the back of the pack, and they do. And all of them have nasty cause-wounds spells. Annoyingly, they're pinned behind a sleeping Hill giant Priest in a corridor, and I can't wake him up without stepping into line of sight of a half dozen liches. Unless… 

                                 ###    
                 ############    ^>^    
                 #.\........#^^^^^ ^    
                 #|\}........  <   ^^^^ 
                 #..q.......#^^^^^      
   LLLLLLLLLP    ...........#    ^\{^^^ 
   L       ^^^  ^#.........a#    ^[|^   
                 #..........#    ^^^^   
                 #..........#           
                 ######.#####

From this position, I can target Noxious Cloud in just far enough to hit the giant. That done, I drop Thrain's wand in the corner, fire up Manwe's Blessing, and wait for them to come to me…

"Dude, these guys are tough…"

So I discover; Monastic liches, it seems, have 1200hp, and Iron liches have 2200. <!> I don't have time to take one down before the next comes around the corner, and soon I'm facing several at once. And when an Iron lich casts a fire ball and takes me down to 207/329hp, I have to make a tough choice and teleport out.

"But, dude, the wall-blaster thing!"

We'll have to come back for it. I do belatedly discover, though, that those Half-trolls dropped Holhenneth. From my new position, I start looking for a path back to the liches, being very careful to detect traps and keeping a sharp lookout for Nexus hounds or anything that can cast teleport level—which, according to my notes, includes Crypt things… X-(

I'm getting close now. I manage to lure out an Iron lich and a Monastic Lich separately; the latter is considerat enough to drop a Potion of Constitution for my troubles, taking me from 18/10 CON to 18/30. :D The Crypt things are next, and I've got to be careful not to let them get line of sight on me. They only have 800hp, so I think I can take them down fast enough… I hope.

I lure one of them in, and he falls in two turns. Back for the other one… and he falls just as quickly. *whew* All that's left now is the Lich and the Master lich—and the Master lich seems to have left. Oh well, the Lich takes me to clvl 35, with skill points going 1 to Bearform-combat, 2 to Temporal, and 2 to Divination. My unhasted speed in bear form falls to -12, but with Essence of Speed up to spell effect level 40, my top speed is still +16 sans Manwe prayer.

Ah, I was wrong, Sense Monsters does detect the Master lich nearby—along with one last Crypt thing I'd forgotten about… <!> I lure out the Master lich, and discover that on this approach, the liches will have line of sight on me for a turn or two. Not good. The Master lich takes my DEX down to 14, but courteously drops a Potion of Dexterity to bring it back up to 18/10. ;) Now I've gotta find a better approach for that Crypt thing…

About halfway around the loop to my destination, something offscreen summons Nexus hounds. /!\ Fortunately I manage to Phase Door away before they move. Normally I wouldn't be quite so worried, since at clvl 35 I gained resist nexus in bear form; but that Master lich knocked me back down to clvl 34, so I'm not safe. I make it to a room just south of the one shown above and fight off its inhabitants, making it back to clvl 35. From here, I can lure the Crypt thing around the corner down into this room, and… he's dead. *whew* I immediately make a beeline back to where I dropped Thrain's wand.

"*huff* Dude, can we, like, not do that again?"

I'm all for it, but I can't think of any other way to deal with charge drainers. That taken care of, I go pick off the Nexus hounds and whatever summoned them (it fell to one Manathrust, so I didn't see what it was; prob'ly a Q).

The rest of the level proceed blissfully without incident. After that stress, though, I think I need a break, so I go back to pick up the small junkart collection the liches dropped and give my new Rod of Recall its trial run…

Lothlorien

Selling off the Westernesse weapons takes my gold up to 527,630gp; I think I can slow down on collecting loot for sale… ;) At Galadriel's place I *ID*:

Hmm, the genocide junkarts could be useful in the future; I think I'll go stow them in my Bree house for now. As for the artifacts, I think I'll stow Holhenneth, sell the boomerang, and Mathom the rest. Just before I head out to Bree, I acquire a fate to find a Village idiot on dlvl 44. [slaps forehead] Anyway, in:

Bree

the Black Market has a Holy Tome of Manwe Sulimo. Mmh, getting there; I will actually be able to use a couple spells in this when I start putting skill points into Prayer. It's not fireproof, though, so I'll stow it when I get back home to:

Lothlorien

After which, I restock and return to:

MoM 37, take 2

"You have a superb feeling about this level." Not again… Well, Sense Monsters isn't detecting anything particulary superbe in the immediate vicinity, so off we go.

Nothing particularly interesting happens for a while, other than a close call with a Vampire lord and his particularly nasty cause-wounds spell. I teleport out, naturally, and return to exact my revenge… and it turns out he has company. Just in range of sense-evil, I'm detecting five Vampire lords and three Master vampires. /!\ Urk. Those Vampire lords have 2000hp each, and have some really nasty spells. I could try teleporting them away and facing them one on one, I suppose… except that they resist teleportation. :\ Still, they're level 42, which gives me a 54% chance per attempt; I'll give it a try.

"I don't really feel particularly superb about this place, dude."

Nor I. The first teleport-away works. Hmm, I could sit here and do them all similarly, but then there'd be Vampire lords scattered across the level, and I'd probably run into one trying to teleport away from another… hmm, I'll do one more and then go hunt them down.

A bit of wandering later, and I find one of the Vampire lords, who goes down without too much fuss. After punching through some Stone trolls (who drop a randart Light Crossbow) and Araneas, I also find the second one, who isn't much more trouble (and who drops a Potion of Strength, taking me from 18/97 STR to 18/118 :D ). Hmm, so maybe I can take these Vampire lords, as long as I can arrange one-on-one fights.

I repeat the same trick for the last three Vampire lords, and they all fall without great trouble, beyond knocking me back down to clvl 34 again. Nothing else on the level seems particularly superb, so we continue to:

MoM 38

"You feel strangely lucky…" Not really; there's a Crypt thing practically on top of me. For reference, they're the ones with a drain-charges attack and a teleport-level spell. :\ Hmm, maybe if the drain-charges attack just sucks it down to zero charges and doesn't do something nasty like turn it into a Wand of Nothing, I might risk it. [sound F/X: source diving] Waaaaaitaminit… if I'm reading this right, artifact wands and staffs aren't affected at all by drain-charges attacks! >:> >:> >:> Come here, you ugly bag of bones, you… *SMACK!* Ah, that felt good.

"So that means we don't have to, like, do the whole dropping-the-wall-blaster thing anymore, right?"

Indeed it does.

"Excellent!"

:) Nothing much of interest happens for a while. A small pack of Hezrou summoned by a Death quasit gets me back up to clvl 35; the Death quasit graciously drops a Potion of Dexterity to undo the damage it did and push my DEX up to 18/20. :) A Young blue dragon drops my first Ring of Speed—and it's (-9). |) Some Olog-hai drop a {cursed} randart Chain Mail which I decide not to even bother to bring topside, and a pack of Ice trolls drops Osondir. Further in, a Black ooze drops a Potion of Constitution, bringing my CON up to 18/40. :) Onward to:

MoM 39

"You have an excellent feeling…" I'm thinging more like "harrowed", actually, considering that I'm surrounded by the Queen Ant's entourage as I enter the level. Most of them are asleep, allowing me to push through to the Queen and kill her in four turns; the rest fall to Noxious Cloud. Her drop includes a Broad Axe of the Thunderlords (+6,+13) (+2). <!> :)

The level proceeds without incident for a while, beyond a Potion of Dexterity which takes me to 18/39 DEX. Hmm, I see I'm now above 40000 piety; according to my notes, at my current WIS, my piety is decreasing by 2 per 300 game turns when I'm not praying, and 3 if I am—and at +23 speed, 300 game turns is about 100 player turn. At this threshold, I don't think I'm gonna bother turning off Manwe prayer anymore.

Further in I pick up Elven Ring Mail (-2) [+13] (+1) from some Elite uruks and an Indestructible Amulet of Trickery (+3) from the floor. Both could be potentially useful, especially the Amulet of Trickery if I can find some way to swap out my current Amulet of Spell [Essence of Speed].

A Snaga drops a Scroll of *Identify*, allowing me to *ID*:

Mm, would be nice, but all my base resists are coming from the Drum of Power. I'll stow it for future use.

The rest of the level proceeds without incident, beyond a Potion of Charisma from some Halfling slingers that takes me from 14 CHA to 15. My pack is getting kind of cramped, so we return to:

Lothlorien

where I *ID*:

The Elven armor has resist base plus resist nexus, which isn't as good as Isildur which I've already got, so I sell it in:

Bree

where I also stow Harwe and Mathom Osondir. The Black Market has a Potion of Wisdom which takes me to 18/120 WIS, and a Mithril Rod of the Istari of Nothing, which I buy and stow for possible future use. Back in:

Lothlorien

I restock and return to:

Part 5 of 6

MoM 39, take 2

"You have a superb feeling about this level." Not again… :\ Nothing particulary superb in Sense Monster range; let's see what's out there… Well, a Shade drops a Potion of Dexterity right off the bat, taking me up to 18/70 DEX. :D That's good, but not really superb…

Further in, I find a Tome of the Mind on the floor. :\ I think the RNG is running out of useless Tomes it can throw at me. And that's pretty much the entire level, except for a brief run-in with Draebor, who drops a Halberd of Slay Dragon (+6,+8) and a Light War Axe (+5,+2). Don't tell me that Tome was the entirety of the superb feeling. |) |) Oh well, let's move on to:

MoM 40

"You have a superb feeling." Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I arrive on the level surrounded by Crypt creeps, and right next to a stair to the Small Water Cave, which I think I will pass by for now. A pack of Dark elven warlocks off the entry room drop a Potion of Charisma, which doesn't change my CHA noticeably (I think I'm getting close to the max); further in, I find the Demonblade of Gothmog in a chest. /!\

A Mature bronze dragon drops a randart ring, which, according to a conveniently placed Scroll of *Identify* from a nearby pack of Ghouls, turns out to be:

Argh, if only I had a spare ring slot. I'm becoming sorely tempted to ditch the Ring of Free Action and start depending on the free action from bear form.

And beyond another Potion of Constitution and a Potion of Intelligence, that's it. I don't see what was so superb about the level. Anyway, let's move on to:

MoM 41

"You have a superb feeling about this level."

"Dude, this is getting monogamous."

Monotonous.

"Isn't that what I said?

Never mind. There's a Colossus and some Mountain ogres in my immediate vicinity that I'd better take care of first… or maybe not; Sense Monsters detects an Ethereal dragon in the far corner of the room, which should probably be my first priority. Fortunately, he spends most of the fight stunned.

That taken care of, I push further in, and encounter a pack of High-elven rangers, who apparently just got through cleaning out a room of monsters. I don't need the aggravation, though, so I dismiss them. An Oriental vampire comes in behind them, dropping a Potion of Intelligence. I think I'm getting close to max on that, since the potion only took me from 18/188 INT to 18/192.

Hmm, this must be where ancient dragons start getting common; there's an Ancient green pushing through a pack of Stone trolls. Between them, they drop another Potion of Intelligence and Pauraegen. |) An Ancient black dragon shows up further in, to continue the theme; he drops nothing of interest. Nor does another Ancient green further in.

Near the end of the level, I run into Rogrog and company. His entourage drops Orcrist and take me to clvl 36, with skill points going 1 to Bearform-combat, 1 to Temporal, and 3 to Divination. Rogrog himself gets stuck in the inner room of a pit-like room trying to get around his entourage to me, which gives me a chance to lure him back and forth long enough to get the hack-n-back rhythm for him down pat. >:> He drops nothing of interested, besides… wait for it… The Phial of Galadriel. :D :D

And that's the level.

"Uh, did I miss, like, the superb part of the level, dude?"

You and me both. :\ A few notes before I head back up: with Bearform-combat up to 40, I now have ten hits per turn, with a theoretical maximum damage per turn of 1000, not counting my +38 total to-damage bonus. Also, Identify is up to spell effect level 30, so it gained radius-1 floor-ID a couple levels back. Finally, I've noticed that for some reason I am capable of passing over rubble, despite to my knowledge having neither levitation nor flight. Anyway, back to:

Lothlorien

where I *ID*:

I also brought back three Elven armors, but none of them have a high resist worth swapping out Thaklettoth for; I think I'm gonna stop doing that. I head over to:

Bree

to sell off the Elven armors and Mathom Gothmog and the rest. I'm probably gonna have to stop doing that soon, too, as the Mathom-house is more than half full. On the way back to:

Lothlorien

I gain a fate to find a Potion of Apple Juice on dlvl 7. Ah, what a wondrous life I'm fated to lead. |) Just to mock me, the Black Market has a Tome of the Tree and a Fireproof Tome of the Blowing Wind. |) |) On that note, we return to:

MoM 41, take 2

"You have a superb feeling about this level." Like I was expecting otherwise. |) My entry room, annoyingly, is full of Black ogres, Cave trolls, Vrocks, and a Q.

The level is boring for a while. A pack of Elite uruks drop Aglarang, and my first Draconic Q summons a Mature blue dragon that drops Angrist. I acquire a Potion of Constitution from a Mage and a Potion of Strength from some Ghouls, taking my CON from 18/55 to 18/75 and my STR from 18/118 to 18/141.

Then a Blue Thunderlord shows up and knocks me down to 148/364hp with a single fire breath. This, presumably, is the superb part of the level. |) I teleport out and head back to take him on my terms—which, as usual, means luring him around a corner and ambushing him. >:> He stays stunned for the entire fight, and drops nothing of interest.

And "nothing of interest" pretty much describes the rest of the level. Fast forward, then, to:

MoM 42

Wait for it… "You have a superb feeling about this level. I find a Climbing Set in a room near my entry point; if only I could use it… :\ I'm almost afraid to find out what the "superb" part of this level is gonna be.

Ah, that's probably it: a rather large vault that looks to be a greater vault (chambers), north of the room in which I just killed Vargo. Sense Monsters is picking up a Hell knight, an Emperor wight, a Vampire lord, a Monastic lich, a Dark elven druid, and two ancient dragons, among the more ordinary dungeon denizens. We'll come back for this after we've finished the rest of the level. Well, actually, there isn't much of the level left that I can get to without going through the vault—enough, though, to get the Anchor of Space-Time from a Master vampire, and a Potion of Dexterity from the Ghoulking that summoned him. ;)

As I'm returning to the vault, I detect a group of four ancient dragons: a Bronze, two Greens, and a Multi-hued. They're in a room to my south, with no direct route to it; I have to loop around east a bit, and in the process, I manage to lure the Bronze out alone and take him down. One of the Greens is not far behind him as I start back west, and is also easy to lure out alone and take down. The other Green and the Multi-hued are a bit further on, and might be too close to separate—oh, no, I was wrong, the Multi-hued gets caught in the corner of a room as I approach, so I can take on the Green alone. After that, the lone remaining Multi-hued is not much trouble. Between them, though, not one of them dropped anything interesting.

Back to the vault, then. I enter from the east side, where the Hell knight and Emperor wight have positioned themselves. The Hell knight is the first through the breach; after a rather unbalanced round of combat, it occurs to me to check whether I'd remembered to activate Manwe's Blessing before going in—and of course, I hadn't. [sound F/X: forehead striking desk] By the time I get that taken care of, the Hell knight has me down to 276/400hp; fortunately, he falls fairly quickly after that, and pushes me over the top to clvl 37, with skill points going 1 to Bearform-combat and 4 to Divination.

The Emperor wight and the Dark elven druid are next out, intermixed with Half-orcs. One of them drops a very welcome Potion of Healing. I slog through swarms of Ogrillons and Uruk-hai to get to the Monastic lich next; he sucks me back down to clvl 36, but killing him next turn puts me back over the top to clvl 37.

"Uh, dude, you said there were, like, two Really old dragons in here, right?"

Yes, a Gold and a Bronze.

"What about that one, then?"

Hm? Oh, it seems there's also an Ancient white dragon in the middle of this pack of Half-ogres. Not a problem, though, it falls fairly quickly. Behind it and the rest of the Half-ogres is the Vamplre lord. I duck back into the previous subroom and hide around a corner to stay out of his line of sight. Annoyingly, he knocks me back down to clvl 36 before I can kill him.

I continue pushing through subrooms of the vault, and–

The Hand druj casts a fearful illusion. You refuse to be frightened.

Another one I missed. Hmm, from his current position, I can't get to him without being in his line of sight the whole time, an approach I probably wouldn't survive. Well, when in doubt, teleport him away. ;) It takes a couple tries, since it apparently resists teleportation, but eventually it's gone. From there I–

The Time hound breathes time. You're not as wise as you used to be…

"Ack! Dude, you did, like, scan this place for monsters before coming in, didn't you?"

[slaps forehead] Alright, alright, I'm on it. While I'm resting up from taking out the Time hound, Nexus hounds and Water trolls start approaching, and push me back to clvl 37. There's one more Time hound further in, stuck behind the last of the Water trolls; I approach cautiously and catch it coming around a corner.

The last two Ancient dragons are in the centermost subroom, with the last of the Nexus hounds, which I lure out first. I restart Manwe's Blessing and, with a bit of dancing, manage to lure out the Bronze alone; once he's down, I push all the way in and take out the Gold.

And that's the vault done. A quick identify sweep yields nothing of interest but a Potion of Strength. That's good enough, though… ;) My STR is now 18/155.

Off to the west of the vault, Thranduil's sense evil is picking up Dark elven warlocks and Ogrillons; Sense Monsters further reveals some Acid hounds intermixed with them. I poke a hole in the wall with Thrain's wand and let them come to me. Between them, they net my first Amulet of Anti-magic, which should sell for a bit.

By the time I get back out, a dozen more monsters have been generated, including Akhorahil. Mm, I think I'll pass this time, and continue to:

MoM 43

"You feel your luck is turning…" *whew* A non-crazy level for a change. Nothing happens for a while, until Shadowfax shows up. Yikes, 3000hp, +20 speed, and he's good. Ya know what? Teleport him away. ;) Further in, a pack of Ghouls drops Narthanc. |)

Behind them is a pack of Gargoyles—and Gargoyles breathe fire, as I'm rudely reminded when one smokes my Spellbook of Noxious Cloud. X-( Oh well, I was kind of planning to recall after this level anyway… After they're duly pounded into the ground, an Enchantress drops a Tome of the Blowing Wind. Oh, for crying out loud, not this again–

"Dude, hold on, doesn't that one have the Smelly Cloud spell in it too? The one we just, like, lost?"

[browses tome] Oh yeah, this does have Noxious Cloud in it. Hey, works for me… ;) And upon identification, it turns out to be Fireproof, even. :D

The rest of the level proceeds without incident, beyond getting Gilletar from a pack of Mountain ogres. And now my pack is really full; time to return to:

Lothlorien

and *ID*:

and searching, acid and poison brand, slay orc, troll and evil, sustain DEX, free action, resist dark and see invisible

bolt (9d8) every 8+d8 turns, and has radius-1 light, fire brand, and resist fear and fire

resist disenchantment, see invisible, slow digestion and regeneration

speed and sustain DEX

10+d10 turns

Hmm, the Anchor could be useful in the future; I'll stow that here and the rest in:

Bree

I decide to Mathom Narthanc and stow the rest. On the way there, I pick up a fate to find a Potion of Neutralize Poison on dlvl 1. |) As long as I'm here, I might as well clear it, along with the Agent-of-the-black-market fate. On a lark, I swing by:

Gondolin

to see what's in their Black Market; they have a Potion of Intelligence that brings my INT up to 18/169, and an Indestructable Ring of Speed (+10) that I can't nearly afford. :\ Back in:

Lothlorien

it occurs to me that now that I've got Manwe prayer on full time, I can count all the benefits of Manwe prayer as permanent effects. Let's see, what are the benefits… [checks notes] levitation at 2000 piety, free action at 7000, and flight at 15000. Well, that explains how I've been flying over rubble, at least. That means I can also stow my Ring of Free Action and wear something else. Hmm, what should I wear… I know. I return to:

Bree

(taking Dal-i-thalion with me to Mathom) and copy Essence of Speed from my Amulet of Spell to one of my unused Rings of Spell. Back in:

Lothlorien

I sell the Ring of Free Action (Indestructable, so it goes for a bit) and wear the Amulet of Trickery. Now I've finally got resist poison covered, and my top speed is up to +26. On that positive note, we restock and return to:

Part 6 of 6

MoM 43, take 2

"You have an excellent feeling…" I panic when I see the swath of red down the corridor, thinking 'aaah, Araneas!'—but it's just a bunch of Novice mages… :o Sense Monsters detects Air hounds to the north—and lemme tell ya, it was satisfying to be able to just wade into ‘em and lay the proverbial smack down on their snouts. ;)

The level proceeds without incident after that, beyond maxing my INT at 18/200 with a potion from the floor. That's enough to bring the fail rate on all the spells I can currently cast to 0%. :D We push on, then, to:

MoM 44

"You feel that you will meet your fate here. You have a superb feeling about this level." Hmm, which fate was that? Oh yeah, to meet a Village idiot. I'm underwhelmed. |) There's a pack of Mongbats next to me as I enter the level; with Manwe's Blessing up, these guys aren't nearly as hard as they used to be. ;) And there's the promised idiot, just outside the room to the south. Whee.

There's a jelly pit in the middle of the level that's presumably the source of the superb feeling; naturally, I leave it alone. Nothing else of interest happens on the level, except for the Drolem near the very end. It doesn't