Contents

  1. Gathraka the Tribeless, the Orc Barbarian Unbeliever, Part 4
    1. Chapter 4 (cont)
      1. MoM 46 (take 2) thru MoM 48
        1. Chatter (1.1)
      2. MoM 48 (take 2) thru MoM 49
      3. MoM 50
    2. Intermission
    3. Chapter 5
      1. LoM 45 thru LoM 47
      2. LoM 47 (take 2) thru LoM 51
        1. Chatter (3.2)
      3. Intermission: Khazad-Dum Follies
      4. LoM 51 (take 2) thru LoM 57
      5. LoM 57 (take 2) thru LoM 60 (take 2)
        1. Chatter (3.5)

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Latest segment
Latest character sheet (after this segment)

Gathraka the Tribeless, the Orc Barbarian Unbeliever, Part 4

Chapter 4 (cont)

MoM 46 (take 2) thru MoM 48

Before we head back to Moria, we need to do a bit of house rearranging. My Lothlorien house doesn't have room to store Gathraka's old Dark Sword and the Amulet of Telepathy I found last time out. There's plenty of room in our Minas Anor house, though, to which I transfer the Ring of Flying from the Spiders quest, a Climbing Set I bought a while ago on a lark, assorted artifact armors I was considering as swap-ins, and the few Scrolls of Genocide I've accumulated to this point.

"I still dunno about this new sword, Human."

Well, you'll get a chance to try it out when we return to:

MoM 46, take 2; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

Quite a welcoming committee this time: Elite uruk-hai to the west and Mountain ogres and Ice trolls to the east—and, as I discover after finally getting the room lit, my first Demonic quylthulg, which fortunately got all its summoning attempts blocked.

Another Ancient multi-hued dragon greets us a few rooms in.

"Okay, this sword isn't impressing me, Human."

AMHDs unfortunately resist cold, so our extra frost brand doesn't help with it. It does help with the Ancient blue, though, allowing us to take it down in one turn.

"And what about the big ugly ghost?"

You mean the Dreadmaster that just burst into the room? [checks notes] It does, unfortunately. Fortunately, we still have enough horsepower to take it down in three turns.

"Yeah, but I think he brought friends."

You may be right; the pattern of detected traps off to our east suggests a greater vault, and some of its contents appear to be leaking out, notably including a Lesser Balrog. [checks notes] Hmm, 2000hp, speed +10, but no resist cold. >:> I think I'll toss back a !oSpd to be safe, and fire up Hammerhand's berzerker activation… okay, and let's crank Tactic up to berzerker too.

"Hey, can I frickin' attack down here?"

Yes, let's see what we've put together… and in two turns, it's down to one star and fleeing. A bit of chasing down and it falls. And now I suppose we'd better take care of that vault, which turns out to be one of those maze-full-of-traps style rooms. It doesn't manage to cough up anything, except another Dreadmaster. Oh, and our first Death drake.

"Ow! Oh, that's it, c'mere and say that to my face!"

We'd really like to have nether resistance before facing another of those. Now, we've got a lot of loot to sort through.

"Sheesh, can't we just leave it? I mean, c'mon, what are the odds of there actually being anything useful in there?"

High enough, considering this Heavy Crossbow of Extra Might (x7) (+15,+13) we just found.

*thok* "Ooh, I like this."

Indeed. The rest of the level is uneventful, at least by Moria standards. I push back through the experience loss from the Death drake's attack and hit clvl 43, with skill points going 2 to Antimagic and 3 to Sword-mastery. Hmm, when did I take this sanity hit?

"Oh, yeah, that was that floating eyeball thing with the seaweed on it."

Ah, yes, we did fight an Eye of the deep early in the level. Well, luckily the level also netted some Potions of Cure Light Insanity."

"Man, you're really no fun, you know that?"

Yes, so I'm told. ;) In the meantime, I think we're done here; let's move on:

MoM 47; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

Starts out rather boring at first, actually, until some Hill orcs drop my first Scroll of Acquirement.

"What, is this like that silly worthless skull thing?"

Better: randarts of acquirement are only guaranteed to generate {good} items, whereas scrolls are guaranteed to generate {excellent} items. This scroll, for instance, nets us… [sound F/X: drum roll] a Great Axe of Slay Dragon (+9,+5).

"Uh-huh. And I'm, what, supposed to be impressed here?"

Apparently, we haven't been having great luck with these things. And speaking of bad luck, between a Spectral Warg and a Hell knight, I've got my experience clocked back to clvl 42. Oh, and I think I've found the source of the superb feeling: a jelly pit, which I studiously avoid.

"Blech. Good call, Human."

;) One of the Acidic cytoplasms that leaks out before I can get all the way around it does drop a Potion of Restore Life Levels, which I sorely need by this point. And that's pretty much the highlight of the level, apart from finding a couple randarts. And my pack is getting full, so it's time to return to:

Lothlorien

where I *ID*:

Hmm, the genocide junkart might be useful; I'll stow it. A bit of restocking and back to:

MoM 47, take 2; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

Not that I can tell at first; the level is pretty much standard Moria fare, until Emperor Mimic shows up a few rooms in.

*thok* "Hmph, that didn't do any good. I guess it's time to get up close and personal."

Indeed, a crossbow bolt only knocks off one star, so I close to melee distance (a much easier task for an Unbeliever) and chop it to death in a mere three turns. After that, the level is kind of samey for a while; I run into Vargo and manage to kill him almost before noticing that he's not just an ordinary Fire elemental.

"Hey, Human, who's the ugly guy in the middle of those trolls?"

What, you mean that Lesser black reaver? [checks notes] Ouch, 2500hp, speed +10, disenchantment attacks (and drain-STR attacks, but Hammerhand has sustain STR), and a huge raft of nasty spells. Fortunately, it's still asleep. We might want to try some long-range artillery against this one. Try and clear out some of the trolls around it before it wakes up–

"It just woke up."

And got a disenchantment hit on our Elven Cloak of Stealth. Okay, Phase-door out of there and let's power up: toss back a !oSpd, fire up Hammerhand's berzerk power, and crank Tactic/Explor up to berzerker/running. While I'm doing this, the reaver manages to punch a nether ball through my antimagic field, knocking me down to 882/1055hp.

"Oh, that's it, you die now."

I clear out the last remaining Ice troll between me and the reaver and start filling it full of crossbow bolts. Fortunately, Lesser black reavers don't resist fire, so my randart Seeker Bolts are taking it down two and three stars at a shot—and six shots (including two misses) later, the reaver is dead. It did manage to get one more cause-wounds spell through, taking me down to 803/1055hp.

"Must've been tougher than most."

Actually, as I read the code, that shouldn't matter; it should just be a straight probability check, no matter how tough the monster is. It must just have been luckier than most. And after slogging through the inevitable five or six waves of orcs/ogres/trolls/whatever across three rooms that keep interrupting me in the middle of trying to ID the loot from the reaver and his troll entourage, I finally find myself with a Potion of Intelligence. Hmm, looks like I'm getting close to max on INT.

And after all that, the rest of the level is downright anticlimactic. A swarm of 'h' monsters, mostly Dark elven warlocks and sorcerers (and it still feels weird charging them headlong and counting on them not to be able to hurt you) nets a few Potions of Resistance, which will be handy later. And just to show how cocky I'm getting, I charge a pack of Water hounds on the way to the down stairs. Turns out they're not nearly as scary without their water ball spells.

"What, were those soggy mutts supposed to be tough or something?"

You have no idea. Anyway, I think we can maybe do one more level:

MoM 48; "You feel strangely lucky…"

This is a non-superb level? I can see some Bats of Gorgoroth in the welcoming committee, along with our first Undead beholder. [checks notes] Ouch; 2700hp, speed +10, drain-exp and insanity attacks, and a whole raft of really bad spells that we're hoping we can block.

"Sheesh, what is it with these giant floating eyeball things?"

Indeed. I'm thinking full power-up here: !oSpd, Hammerhand berzerker, and cranking up Tactic/Explor. The Undead beholder hasn't woken up after that, so I start poking it full of crossbow bolts. This reduces it to four stars by the time it gets to me; another two turns of melee and it's dead, with its only chance to attack wasted on a blocked spell.

"Oh, good grief, you had me worried there."

Well, we can try it without any power-ups next time if you want. The rest of the welcoming committee falls quickly, and the early part of the level continues without incident—well, except for the mixed pack of Hezrou and Dreads that between them drop two Potions of Intelligence and three Potions of Strength. That's enough to max my STR at 18/210 (sans Hammerhand) and bring my INT within a single point of max. And that last point comes from another potion from a pack of Half-orcs a couple rooms over, topping off my INT at 18/40 and giving me a full set of maxed stats.

Most of the rest of the level passes without incident, until another Undead beholder shows up near the end. You wanna try it cold this time?

"Way ahead of you." *thok*

This time out, we have a bit more lead range from which to pepper the beholder with crossbow bolts, and it spends an inexplicable amount of its time trying (and failing) to cast spells on us; thus, even with its speed advantage, it doesn't even get next to use before eating seven bolts and fleeing. Another two bolts and it's dead.

"See? No challenge at all."

(shrug) At any rate, the level is done, so we return to:

Lothlorien

and *ID*:

Mm, too bad Gathraka has her heart set on the crossbow… That Heavy Crossbow of Might also turns out to have resist poison, allowing me to finally swap out my Amulet of the Serpents for the Amulet of Telepathy I found a while back. This reduces my DEX to 18/200, but I think I can live with that.

A bit of restocking, then, and with luck we'll be able to finish Moria next time out.

Chatter (1.1)

ZizzoTheInfinite: I just noticed that I haven't put up an updated character sheet for Gathraka since the end of Part 2. It's a bit too late for Gathraka, but I think I'll make it a rule for Lisa and Trilogy to update the character sheet halfway through Moria. We Apologize for the Delay.™

ZizzoTheInfinite: Completing Moria ran a little longer than I was hoping, so I'm going to put it up in two pieces over the next couple days. Gathraka's character sheet, on the other hand, is already updated through the end of Moria.

MoM 48 (take 2) thru MoM 49

Let's see, we got everything we need? Hmm, only three Potions of Resistance, but with a bit of luck that should suffice.

"What are those for?"

We'll be needing them at the bottom of Moria.

"Ah, so you think the stories are true, then."

Stories?

"That that big Balrog thing that drove all the Dwarves out of Moria all those years ago is still kickin' around down there somewhere."

Well, just in case it is, I figured we should have a source of double fire resistance. Now, let's get back to it, shall we?

MoM 48, take 2; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

Not that you could tell at first. Well, at least until a Novice warrior drops Holhenneth. [checks notes] Enh, the detection activation would be handy, but Hammerhand is better all around.

The only slightly tricky part of the level comes near the end, when I have to negotiate my way into what looks like it might be a vault in the southeast corner full of Water hounds. The only direct approach to the room is down a long straight corridor with a few deep-water squares about midway, blocking the hounds so I can't lure them out into a more convenient room–

"Whoa, wait a minute, you're telling me Water hounds can't cross water?"

(shrug) I don't make the rules, I just follow ‘em. Anyway, all the other approaches just dead-end into the wall of the room (which is what makes me think it might be a vault). Finally I just go to one of those dead ends and tunnel through the wall on a diagonal and let the hounds leak out to me. That doesn't work so well; after the first couple hounds (and the odd Death knight) come out to meet me, the rest hang back in the room waiting for me.

*sniff sniff* "Hang on, Human, I smell burning in there."

[checks monsters] Say, you're right, most of these hounds are Fire hounds, not Water hounds… :o Okay, then, Gathraka, charge.

"‘Bout time. Mirdautas vras!"

>:> The room does turn out to be a vault, specifically a lesser vault (edfu). The Water hounds, it turns out, are pinned in another dead-end corridor butting into the vault from the south, trapped on the other end by those deep-water squares I mentioned; I do the same diagonal-dig trick and let them come to me. The very last butt-end of the corner apparently has some Araneas in it according to my telepathy, but I can't find a way to get to them. So unless you particularly want to try to get in there, Gathraka…?

"Nah, the spiders are annoying. Let ‘em rot."

Then let's move on… oh, wait, we missed the southwest corner—where, of course, just to be contrarian, a pack of Half-trolls drops Paurnimmen and two randart armors. :\ Anyway, now let's move on to:

MoM 49; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

No, not really; there's a Lesser black reaver, only Gathraka's second ever, just a few squares to my south, and telepathy is picking up Dark elven warlocks incoming from the north. Oh, and we're surrounded by Algroths. Okay, Gathraka, same drill as before: try to cut through the Algroths to get some distance on the reaver before it wakes up–

"It just woke up."

Wow, déjà vu all over again… Okay, same drill as before, continued: toss back a !oSpd, Phase Door out for distance, switch to berzerker/running and start the artillery barrage. Five shots takes it down, counting two I fired off before actually remembering to switch to berzerker/running… :o It drops three Tomes, including an Earth Tome. Man, I need to get Trilogy down here.

"Ooh, yeah, monsters that can shoot nether balls at me. I can't wait…"

Don't worry, Trilogy, by then you should be able to take down a Lesser black reaver with just two Fireflashes. Anyway, I appear to have gotten a bit of a reprieve; it looks like I'm in one of those round vault-esque rooms with no entrances, so the Dark elven warlocks lurking outside can't get in while I'm fighting the Lesser black reaver and clearing out the rest of the monsters in the room. They have to wait until I dig my way out. And I must say, it still feels weird charging Dark elven warlocks head-on. Weird but immensely gratifying… >:> One of them drops a Scroll of *Identify*, which I use preemptively on one of those randart armors from the previous level:

Darn, I was actually hoping it'd be useless so I could ditch it, but that acid immunity might be handy later on.

The level doesn't let up after that: in what must be a weird omen, a pack of trolls of some sort drop a chest that contains… wait for it… The Crumpled Scroll of Mass Resurrection.

"I'm almost afraid to ask. What, does it bring everything I've killed back to life?"

Not all of them, just the "unique" ones, the ones important enough to have names.

"What, the really tough ones? Why would I do a stupid thing like that?"

(shrug) Maybe you wanted a second chance at a unique with a really good drop? Anyway, I'm gonna take it back and Mathom it.

"*groan* You and your souvenirs. Say, speaking of tough ones, check out that lizard that just poked his head in the room."

That would be Smaug. [checks no–

"Don't bother. Matublat ashdautas!"

And indeed, four or five turns at berzerker/running and Smaug falls. He drops some assorted minor ego weapons and armor, and… wait for it… Lebohaum.

"You have got to be kidding me. Oh, wait, don't tell me, another souvenir, right?"

Of course—that and the Sling of the Thain, as dropped by a pack of Ogrillons just a few rooms over. Again, I really need to get Adelia down to these depths, so she can find stuff like this.

"Oi! slow down up there! Those spiders were near the death o’ me already; give us a breather at least ‘fore ya send me chasin’ off after that lot."

Yes, I know, Adelia, taking you through the Spiders quest after you'd only just finished the Downs was pushing it more than a little. I wouldn't have done it so soon, except that you're worshiping Yavanna this time out and I desperately needed the piety boost.

"Oh, good grief, you're just trying to rub my nose in it, aren't you, Human?"

"Now, don't feel too bad, luv. I ‘ad Bruce and Bruce to do most o’ me fightin’ for me—oh, and Bruce, can’t forget; picked ‘im up partway through, I did."

"Do I want to know what she's talking about, Human?"

I'll tell you the story later; right now we've got what looks like a vault ahead of us. It's one of those four-quadrant-looking rooms that doesn't seem to have a corresponding entry in v_info.txt: 

   ^T   T ^   s^          
  ^ TT hh  u ssUU         
 ^^^TThhT bUssTUUs        
^^ ^Th hh  s TTdUUU       
  ^wh Th   ^d TsU         
   T h hh  sUs s          
  ^^hhhhh  sTdLsD ##^     
 ^^Th ih   ss sssA#.^^^^^^
          ^^^^^^^^^^o.....
 ^^    U ^^..^...~..^^^^^^
  ^^ ^PUU^.......#. ^     
   ^ UUUD^....^.####^     
  ^a  PU ^^..^.."###      
 ^^^ U UU^..^^....[#      
 ^^aa^ ^d^.."^^...##      
  ^^^^ ^P^..#Z...##       
   ^^   U^.###[|##        
    ^    ^.# #Z##         
         ^ # #.####

That 'A' is an Archon, BTW. [checks notes] Yowch! 100d35hp, speed +20, nasty melee damage, nasty spells… I think we'll skip the rest of that vault. :o At least the quadrant I managed to complete netted Haradekket.

"Okay, this is getting ridiculous, Human."

I know, we're awfully full up, but we're so close to the end…

MoM 50

MoM 50; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

I enter the level with a pack of Energy hounds staring me in the face. Hardly a threat, but not exactly what I'd call superb either. Closer to superb is something I encounter in the next room, a large dark one in which Gathraka's "anti-magic field disrupts something's spell" several times before I get far enough in to discover that I've been disrupting the summonings of a Rotting Q. Now, that's what I'm talkin' ‘bout. ;)

"Yeah, every so often this Curse of mine can be a blessing in disguise."

Indeed. The level is fairly peaceful for a while, by Moria standards, netting yet another randart armor. Not much level left, in fact; I'm almost wondering whether the star attraction is gonna show–

*hiss* "We're in trouble, Human; my Curse just lit up like a fireworks show. Something's coming—something big."

Ah, there's Durin's Bane, finally, not far outside the room we just entered. [checks notes] This is gonna be a tough one: 3000hp, +20 speed, brutal melee damage, and breathes fire. Fortunately, most of his melee damage is in fire, which our double resistance will mitigate. Now we just have to lure him in… okay, he's around the corner and headed for our room. Here goes the power-up sequence, then: !oSpd, !oRes, berzerker/running, and Hammerhand berzerk. By the time I've gotten all this done, Durin's Bane has closed to melee distance.

"So, the mighty Dark Sword herself. I had heard you were coming. It is an honor to face you in battle."

"…Excuse me, are you talking to my sword, you walking bonfire?" *slash*

"You do not know, then? Even having seen the remains of the Other?"

"Other? What other– wait a minute, you mean that corpse I found that looked like me? What do you know about that?"

"Ah, it seems I have said too much. If you would know more, you must defeat me in single combat."

"‘S what I'm here for, Sparky." *slash slash*

And it turns out I was apparently overconcerned. As I found with Bjorn, Durin's Bane is apparently vastly overbilled; he falls in four turns of melee, only managing to reduce me to 1015/1070hp in the process. Clearly I need to stop underestimating Gathraka…

"Now, talk, Torchface!"

"It seems I… underestimated you. Forgive me… I know no more than I have said. Seek… the rebel in the high mountains. He can tell you more…" *thud*

"Sha!! Just when I finally had a lead!"

And he wasn't terribly useful in the more mundane sense, either; apart from a randart Two-Handed Flail, he dropped nothing but junk. Tell you what, Gathraka, I can tell you're frustrated; how about we blow off the rest of the level and take this conveniently placed down stairs to:

Khazad-dum

"You're kidding! That old Dwarven town from all the stories is still kicking too?"

And it's rather well guarded, apparently.

"That's far enough, blackguard. Ye're a right brave spawn of Morgoth to march into a town full o' Dwarves in the broad light o' day with nae so much as a by-yer-leave."

"Yeah, yeah, calm down, Captain Pickaxe. If I were here to cause trouble, you and about two dozen of your friends would be dead by now."

"That so, is it? Just because ye managed to sneak past the dread Balrog to get this far does nae mean ye can–"

"Excuse me? ‘Sneak past?’ I chopped that overgrown campfire to pieces, I'll have you know."

"So, the reports are true, then… If that be so, then there's nowt I could do to stay ye in any event. So if ye've not come to raise trouble, then, why are ye here?"

"Well, apart from partaking of your fine shopping establishments, I'm looking for information. Just before he died, the Balrog guy said something about a ‘rebel in the high mountains.’ Any idea who he might have been talking about?"

"High mountains, ye say? That'll be Trone, most like."

"Trone?"

"A Thunderlord, an Eagle-rider of Manwe. No doubt ye've heard of ‘em."

"Seen a few."

"Mm. Well, Trone was a high captain among ‘em, until he rebelled agin' the authority of Manwe and led his squadron off into hiding in the mountains by the Sea of Rhûn."

"Mountains, Sea of Rhûn, got it. Can you get me there, Human?"

If it's where I think it is. Straight shot south of Erebor, as the Eagle flies? Locals call it the Sacred Land of Mountains?

"Aye, that's the place. But ‘tis a most treacherous path that leads up those mountains. If it's true that ye've stood agin' the very Bane of Durin himself and prevailed, ye might stand a chance—but no lesser would."

"You let me worry about that. Anything else we want to check out while we're here, Human?"

Only the Mining Shop, really. We might come back here every so often and check for ego light sources; a light of Illumination would be much easier to use than the Phial, and a light of the Ethereal Eye or the Magi would give us an enormously useful magic-map power. For now, though, we return to:

MoM 50; "You feel your luck is turning…"

whence we recall immediately to:

Loth^H^H^H^HWilderness

*groan* whence we return to:

Lothlorien

where we *ID*:

So all the randart armors have an immunity; I guess I'll have to keep them for a while. I stow them in my Minas Anor house, along with Holhenneth and Haradekket; Lebohaum, the Sling of the Thain, and the Crumpled Scroll of Mass Resurrection I take to Bree to Mathom, and Paurnimmen I take back to Lothlorien to stow. Once I get another source of free action, I may swap in Paurnimmen to try to wean Gathraka off her +5-CON randart Seeker Bolts.

And that's Moria done. Next time, we'll probably be off after Trone.

Intermission

So, I assume you'll want to go find Trone next?

"You have a gift for stating the obvious, don't you, Human?"

:\ Well, would you mind a small detour?

"What now?"

Well, there's a quest nearby that we can probably manage by now, and the reward is something that might be useful in finding Trone.

"Ah. All right, fair enough, then. As long as it doesn't take too long."

It shouldn't. First we'll need to swing by Minas Anor and pick up that Climbing Set out of our house–

"Oh, of course, for climbing the mountains. You could have just said that's what you were going for, Human. But I thought you said there was gonna be a quest."

:o Um, no, you misunderstand. From here we're going to Gondolin, to do the:

Dragons quest

*whew* No ancient dragons, at least not that telepathy from my amulet is showing. One Mature multi-hued, but it doesn't survive any longer that the rest of ‘em.

"So how exactly is yet another house supposed to help me find Trone?"

It won't; we just needed to get that quest out of the way before Turgon would give use the:

Eol the Dark Elf quest

"So this guy's trying to sneak into town from the east, over the mountains? What, he's too good to use the frickin' front door like the rest of us?"

Well, that wouldn't be very sneaky, would it? ;) We come in on the west side of the quest level; Eol isn't showing up on telepathy, so we might have some wiggle room to ambush him…

"Not if that's the guy we're after over there."

Ah, yes, Eol just emerged into view from the east, out in the open. Well, we're counting on your anti-magic field to prevent him from summoning, so this shouldn't be too much of a problem. We pepper him with crossbow bolts as he approaches, taking him down to six stars by the time he reaches me, and successfully blocking at least two summoning attempts. >:> After that, three turns of melee finishes him off.

"So was this guy supposed to be carrying something useful? ‘Cause I'm not seeing it."

Indeed, Eol couldn't manage even a single {excellent} item in his drop. But no, our reward will be from Turgon.

"Uh… we've already got a light source, Human."

Yeah, but this Dwarven Lantern of the Magi gives you magic mapping ability while you're wielding it. We're going to use it as an a utility swap-in, like the Stone of Lore.

(shrug) "Yeah, okay, I can see where this could be useful. I guess I won't rearrange your face, then. This time, at least." >:>

Gee, thanks… Oh, we picked up a fate on the way to Gondolin: to find Holcolleth on level 1. [checks notes] Ooh, I'm all over that. I leave my current Elven Cloak of Stealth in my new Gondolin house and swing by Bree to pick up:

Every little bit of speed we can get helps; +5 is kind of slow for some of the things we'll be facing in the Sacred Land of Mountains.

"Hey, speaking of which, what was that climbing gear supposed to be for?"

Ah, yes, that was in case we ran into any ancient dragons in the Gondolin house quest; the Climbing Set would let us duck back into the mountains and angle for better positioning. Actually, though, now that I think about it, they'll probably be useful in the Sacred Land of Mountains, too…

Chapter 5

Speaking of which, from Bree we proceed straight cross-country to:

LoM 45 thru LoM 47

LoM 45; "You feel your luck is turning…"

A relatively uneventful level. I do get the pleasure of jamming the summoning attempts of yet another Rotting Q.

"Pfft. Captain Pickaxe was seriously overselling this place. This is no tougher than Moria."

Well, these are the early levels; it gets tougher later on. Although not having Moria's insane monster generation rate to worry about is nice… ;)

The level is relatively uneventful, except for the very end, when I do a quick ID sweep through the last few things that haven't pseudo-ID'd yet and discover that I'm carrying the Shield of Thorin. :) [checks notes] Hmm, I can't swap it in yet, because Celegorm is currently my only source of resist fire and lightning. Definitely a keeper though.

And on that positive note, we move on to:

LoM 46; "You hear the sound of a market."

"So these would be the ‘locals’ you were talking about."

Apparently so. Hmm, I should be getting close to it by now… [swaps in Dwarven Lantern of the Magi and maps area] Nothing. Must be one of the scattered towns.

"What's that mean?"

Just that we'll have to walk the level to find the stores, instead of them being all conveniently grouped together.

"Well, that's annoying…"

I agree. :\ A touch of surrealism is added to the level early on when an Ancient green dragon drops a randart Filthy Rag. Not likely to be useful, but I'm idly curious to see what it's got.

"I got'cher surreal right here, Human: I've got walls fighting me down here."

Ah, you've just discovered the joy that is Greater wall monsters. Be glad they can't pass through mountains, or we'd never get them under control. Fortunately this batch is holed up in a straight corridor dead-ending at the edge of the level, so we are eventually able to whittle them down.

"*huff* *wheeze* And where are all these stores you say are supposed to be here?"

That's what I'm wondering; we've covered nearly half the level by now, and no stores. Ah, here's one finally: a Common Shop, near the end of the level. And here's an Axe Smith, just a bit further in. Hmm, and the Water trolls I had to fight through to get to these two stores apparently dropped Vorpal Blade.

"I know what you're thinking, Human–"

No, you don't; it's not a Dark Sword, so I'm not going to make you wield it.

"Oh… well, good. ‘Cause otherwise I'd have to–"

Rearrange my face, yes, we've covered that. Ah, and here's another store, just a room over: a Speed Ring Market. :) Now, I only wish I had a ring slot to spare; I currently need both my Ring of Extra Attacks and my Ring of See Invisible. But my cash on hand is clearly adequate to the task, so we'll definitely be coming back later.

And between that and the Death Drake that smacks me down about 100Kexp, that's the end of the level. I think we can do one more this time:

LoM 47; "You feel your luck is turning…"

To set the tone of the level, a chest dropped by the first monster I encounter, a Nether wraith, nets my first Potion of Death. *shudder* Fortunately, the automatizer takes care of it for me…

"Heh. Wimp."

Yes, yes… :\ After that, the level is reminiscent of Moria for a while, to the point that I almost suspect someone has cranked up the monster generation rate. That only lasts a short while, though, after which the level calms down just enough to lure me into a false sense of security before sending a pack of Vibration hounds to smack my INT around a bit.

"Grr… stand still, ya stinkin' curs!"

Indeed. It takes a bit of searching to finally find a room to lure them into and smack them down like dominos… >:>

And that's pretty much the end of the level, and we could use some patching up, so we recall back out to:

Wilderness

and return cross-country to:

Lothlorien

That Death Drake apparently did a number on me; one !oRLL is enough to take me to clvl 44, with skill points going 1 to Antimagic and 4 to Sword-mastery. And now to *ID* some of our loot:

See, that's why I kept the randart Filthy Rag; I figured it'd turn out to be something like a triple-immunity armor.

"Riiiight…"

No respect, I tells ya… I'll stow it and Thorin in my house here and Vorpal Blade in my Minas Anor house. And this looks like a good place to leave it till next time.

LoM 47 (take 2) thru LoM 51

LoM 47, take 2; "Looks like any other level."

An arena level. Nothing challenging at first, though I do discover the joy of Traps of Filling when "the floor vibrates in a strange way".

"Talk about yer dumb luck: idiot blunders me through a thicket of traps, misses all of ‘em, and then trips over the isolated on in the middle."

Uh, no, Gathraka, the 'one in the middle' created all the others; they weren't there before.

"Ahhhh. I didn't think you were that lucky."

:\ And if you thought that was annoying, Harowen the Black Hand just showed up. [checks notes] 2500hp, speed +30, /!\ decent melee, notably including two attacks of the steal-and-teleport-away type. This could get annoying…

"Not if we fill him full of crossbow bolts first. Oi, Zaudoram! Rrau mab mos gaushat!"

*groan* Fortunately, Harowen doesn't resist fire, so my randart bolts are doing 672 average damage; he falls in four shots, getting off only one create-traps spell in the process. While this is happening, a nearby 11-headed hydra wakes up and spits plasma at me, knocking me down to 881/1057hp. Fortunately, 11-headed hydras don't resist poison, so it falls to only two bolts. >:> Among other boring stuff, Harowen's drop includes a Small Wooden Boomerang (Defender) and a Katana of Extra Attacks.

"Trouble, ten o'clock: walls."

Oh, @#$%, I do not need to lose control of a Greater wall monster infestation in an arena level… *whew* Fortunately we caught it before it got too far along; a bit of chasing around finishes them off.

The level calms down after that, netting a randart Cleaver from a MMHD. Oh, and a Scroll of *Identify*, allowing me to *ID* this on the spot:

"Pfew! Smells like cheap incense."

Yeah, but it seems relatively easy for you to activate, and it would save us stocking on scrolls. Oh, and speaking of useful things, that Climbing Set I picked up last time has been kinda fun, allowing me to effectively walk straight through the walls into the rooms. ;) And that's the level done; let's move on:

LoM 48; "You feel strangely lucky…"

I feel strangely bored. Dreads aren't really much of a threat when you have sustain STR and an anti-magic field… >:> The only real point of interest is when a Mature green dragon drops Belangil, and even that's not very interesting. My pack's getting kind of full, though, so I think it's time to recall out to:

Lothlorien

and *ID*:

I sell the Cleaver and stow Belangil in Bree, along with a Scroll of Mass Genocide I picked up somewhere.

And with that done, we return to Lothlorien, and from there to:

LoM 48, take 2; "You have an excellent feeling…"

Well, I don't know if I'd call it an 'excellent' feeling, but I'm barely off the first screen when Akhorahil shows up.

*shudder* "I take it this is bad, Human?"

Reasonably so. [checks notes] 3000hp, speed +10, decent melee damage—though we don't want to get that far, because he can give us the Black Breath, and destroy our weapon if we hit him with it. Plus he resists fire and poison, so our randart bolts will only be doing 448 average damage.

"Urk. All, right, gimme a speed potion, and fire up the helmet thing."

One Potion of Speed and one Hammerhand berzerk power activation coming up… hmm, I think that actually reduced our ranged to-hit [editor's note: I was wrong on this point; was remembering the wrong number… :o ]; I'll crank up tactic/explor to compensate. And now we back up and let him come to the corridor we're in…

"There he is!" *thok*

The first shot takes him down one star. The rest do generally better, sometimes doing two or even three stars, so that six shots is enough to take him down.

"Pfft. You had me worried there, Human."

"Well, it was our first Nazgûl; I didn't know how careful we had to be. Besides his ring, Akhorahil drops a Lochaber Axe of Slay Animal and an Iron Crown of the Magi.

The rest of the level isn't terribly exciting. I get a rather forceful reminder that my anti-magic field has a limited radius when a Lesser black reaver knocks me down to 981/1057hp with a cause-wounds spell from distance. It doesn't survive the effrontery, of course, although it does manage to slightly disenchant Celegorm and my crossbow… X-( Oh, and an Ancient green dragon drops Gondricam. And in less exciting news, a Nether wraith drops a Scroll of Acquirement that nets… a Small Leather Shield of Resist Acid. :\

"Big worm, dead ahead."

Ah, that's no ordinary Ancient white dragon; that's Scatha. Never mind; a quick crank-up to berzerker/running and he's down in four turns, dropping nothing of particular interest.

Anyway. Where were we? Ah, yes:

LoM 49; "You have an excellent feeling…"

"Great, does that mean another of those wraith things?"

Dunno; let's go find out. The early part of the level isn't interesting at all, except for a Blue Thunderlord that catches me by surprise and breathes in my face, knocking me down to 877/1057hp. I quickly teach him the error of his ways, of course. >:>

And that's apparently the height of excellence on the level, since nothing else turns up beyond Avavir from a Fallen angel.

"Well, I'm not impressed."

(shrug) Well, we did get this Lochaber Axe of Gondolin, which will sell for a bit. Maybe we'll have better luck on:

LoM 50; "You feel strangely lucky…"

There, see?

"Uh-huh…"

No respect… I have to admit, though, there's not much goin' on here. Well, there's always the next level:

LoM 51; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

A 1x5 small level. This could get uglier than I had in mind.

"Are you always this wimpy, Human?"

Only on special occasions. Like this Nycadaemon, for instance, whose fire aura reduces us to 880/1057hp by the time we kill him.

"What's your point? I shrug off worse than that before breakfast."

Well, how about the Undead beholder at the far end of the corridor we're in?

"You mean the dead one stuck full of crossbow bolts?"

The Hell knight that just emerged at the other end of the corridor?

"Dead even faster. C'mon, gimme a challenge here."

Actually, I think we need to head out; while you were killing that Hell knight, he cast a fire ball that left me with only one ?oWoR. And besides, your pack is full, and we're pretty much done with the level anyway:

Lothlorien

We ID:

Hmm, it's tempting to keep Avavir as a word-of-recall activation, but not at 25lb. I stow it and Gondricam in my Gondolin house and Mathom Akhorahil's ring.

Say, as long as we're in the neighborhood, would you mind a detour?

"*groan* What now?"

I'd like to check the Mining Supply store in Khazad-dum again, to see if they've gotten in any ego lights of Illumination. It'd be a lot easier to activate than the Phial.

"Ah, right. Enh, why not?"

And with a quick bit of recall juggling, we're on:

MoM 50; "Looks like any other level."

And it doesn't take long to find stairs down to:

Khazad-dum

where the mining store has nothing of interest beyond a Feanorian Lamp of Boldness. Oh well, back to:

MoM 50; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

Not for long, as I quickly recall to:

Wilderness

and return to:

Lothlorien

We may try that again later; next time, back to the Land of Mountains.

Chatter (3.2)

GreyCat: Is scumming a store against your religion? I can't imagine taking the time and trouble to go to Khazad-Dum only to go away empty-handed, especially now that you have unlimited food.

ZizzoTheInfinite: I considered it briefly, but somehow I don't think her patience would last that long… :o ;)

Intermission: Khazad-Dum Follies

On a lark, I pick up one of my two light-absorption junkarts, in case we run into any more Nazgûl.

"So what does this thing do, anyway?"

It absorbs the light from all perma-lit squares in a radius of six squares around you and fires it as a concentrated burst at a single target. The more lit squares, the more damage it does—and the damage also goes up as your clvl increases. And since Nazgûl are vulnerable to light, it does double damage to them.

"Ah. So why haven't we been using this before now?"

The recharge time is fairly long, I think; it's more useful as a one-shot for emergencies.

"Then why aren't we taking both?"

We'll come back for the second if the first works out well. Anyway, let's get back to it:

LoM 51, take 2; "Looks like any other level."

A boring level at first. We test our light-absorption junkart early on against a Young black dragon; maybe not the best test of how much damage it's capable of, but a good test of how easy it is for Gathraka to activate—and unless we got particularly lucky this time, I think this is going to work out well… :) And the recharge time doesn't seem to be too large. Now we just need to find a light source of Illumination so that relighting the place isn't so annoying…

The level takes a turn for the worse shortly after that, as a Blood sprout infestation takes us down to 629/1057hp.

*slash slash* "What are these disgusting things?"

Annoying is what they are. [checks notes] Only 3d5hp and AC 1, but +30 speed /!\ and a large number of high-damage melee attacks—and they can breed… :\ This looks like a job for our exploding Seeker Bolts. It takes us down to our last four, but we finally manage to root them out (so to speak). We're gonna need to forge some more of those soon.

After that, things calm down for a bit. In a convenient convergence of events, a pack of Dreads drop a Scroll of *Identify*, which allows me to immediately *ID* the junkart dropped by the Ancient bronze dragon behind them:

Enh, leave it. That's followed quickly by a Lesser black reaver, who falls to six crossbow bolts. [slaps forehead] Silly, I was in a nice large lit room; I should have tried the light-absorption junkart on it. How ‘bout this Monastic lich in the next room, then? Mm, not so good this time; four failed activation attempts later, the lich is right next to me, and I just cut it down the old-fashioned way.

"Hmph. Good call not bringing both, I guess; looks like this is a total waste."

Enh, maybe we'll give it another try later. Further in, another Monastic lich shows up, along with Quaker. [checks notes] Hmm, 2800hp, and some nasty melee attacks, including a 10d10 shatter attack; only speed +0, though. I toss back a !oSpd and fire up Hammerhand's berzerk power just in case, though. Quaker falls in five turns, and the lich in another two; he gets in one shatter hit, but not for much damage.

Nothing else exciting until near the end of the level, when Ren shows his ugly face. [checks notes] 3500hp, speed +10, and some nasty spells, including the nether bolt he just smacked me with from outside the radius of my anti-magic field. Fortunately we're in a nice large lit room with a long lead distance; I toss back a !oSpd as a precaution and give the light-absorption junkart one more shot. It takes six tries to activate, but when it finally works, it takes Ren down in a single shot. /!\ :D

"Well. Maybe this hunk o’ junk isn't so useless after all."

Indeed. And after slogging through the obligatory three waves of trolls and ogres to get to the down stairs, we continue to:

LoM^H^H^HWilderness

Huh? [slaps forehead] Oh, that's right, I never did reset my recall dungeon; that last level was MoM 50, not LoM 51.

"What?! You idiot!"

:o :o :o Well, at least this gives us another chance to check out Khazad-Dum's Mining Supply store–

"Whoa, heads up! Thunderlord, six-o'clock."

[sound F/X: forehead repeatedly striking desk] Apparently I'd taken more drain-exp hits than I realized; a !oRLL from Khazad-Dum's Temple takes me to clvl 45, and Liron, rider of Tolan pops up right on cue to whisk me off to Gondolin.

"But the–!"

We have to go, Gathraka, or Gondolin will be destroyed. And in short order we're in:

Gondolin

"Okay, am I missing something, Human? Where's this invading army everyone's so anxious about?"

It's down those stairs by the west exit. We don't have to worry about them for now.

"But that crazy bird-rider guy said–"

It's a quirk of the Maeglin quest; you have to go to Gondolin immediately, but you don't have to take the quest immediately.

"You mean we– for no–" [sound F/X: forehead repeatedly striking wall] "I wanna kill something. Find me something I can kill."

Well, at least this gives me an opportunity to restock and sell off some loot, and *ID* a few things:

I swing by Bree to Mathom Ren's ring, and then back home to:

Lothlorien

to stow some stuff and pick up a few more !oSpd's out of storage. And now we'll reset the recall dungeon–

"No. Back to dwarf-town."

Uh… why?

"Because the only upside of all the useless aggravation you just put me through was supposed to be another chance at getting one of those room-lighting things you're so keen on—and I will have satisfaction."

Are you willing to wait in Khazad-Dum for a stock roll-over if the store doesn't have what we want at first?

"Enh… we'll see how long my patience holds."

Far be it from me to argue, then:

MoM 50, take 5 (I think); "You have a superb feeling about this level."

*groan* Of all the times… actually, never mind, I think that's just a troll pit in the room south of our entry room. I fight my way through that, plus the obligatory simultaneous invasion of a pack of Hellhounds… and the Dreadmaster, who knocks me back to clvl 44… and the Ancient gold dragon…

"Skai, this place is annoying."

Indeed. Fortunately, the dragon dropped a Potion of Enlightenment to map the level, allowing us to quickly find the stairs down and push on to:

Khazad-Dum

where, to my relief, the Mining Supply store does have an ego light source of Illumination—and just for the comedy value, it's a Brass Lantern. :\ Hey, it gives me the light-area power just as effectively, and I was planning all along to use the Phial for walking light anyway…

"Can we go now? Captain Pickaxe over there is starting to finger his axe handle rather impatiently, and I'd really rather not have to kill him."

A quick check through the rest of the stores, and then we return to:

MoM 50, take 6; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

Not again… Anyway, we arrive just next to a dark room, giving us a chance to try our new light-area power, which works like a charm. It works just as well in the next couple rooms, until I find another Potion of Enlightenment on the floor to light up the entire level. Ah, there's the source of the superb feeling: a lesser vault (Miniature Cell), not too far to the south. Shall we, Gathraka?

(shrug) "Long as we're here…"

That's the spirit. ;) I swap in my Climbing Set to take a few shortcuts to the vault, whose occupants appear to be an Ancient red dragon, a Blue yeek archer, and two Novice paladins—oh, make that three; one of them was a Skeleton, and so wasn't showing up on my Amulet of Telepathy. Once they're cleared out, the vault's contents turn out to be a Scimitar of Slay Demon, a Small Metal Shield of Resist Lightning, a Dagger of Slay Giant, Elven Padded Armor, and a Dark Sword of *Slay Undead*. Enh, some of it will sell for a bit, but otherwise not really worth it. From here, then, we recall home to:

Loth^H^H^H^HWilderness

*groan* We swing by Gondolin to sell off loot (and collect some junk to try forging ammo from next time out), and then return home to:

Lothlorien

where the very first thing I do is use one of my stash of Scrolls of Reset Recall to set our recall level back to LoM 51, to which we will return next time.

LoM 51 (take 2) thru LoM 57

So, back to–

"You're certain we're going back to the mountains this time."

I just double-checked our recall settings, and LoM 51 is our current target.

(shrug) "If you say so. It's only your head if you're wrong."

*shudder* As I was saying, back to:

LoM 51, actual take 2; "You have a very good feeling…"

*whew* We arrive in the outer ring of a four-subroom pit on the north edge of the level. Hmm, I'm picking up Livingstones just on the edge of telepathy. Those things breed, we'd better take care of them first.

"Uh, everything's waking up."

*groan* A bit of a fight, firing up Hammerhand's berzerk power to fight off an AMHD, and I again head off for the Livingstones… and I can't find a path to them.

"What about this junk you wanted to try and make ammo out of?"

Oh, right… enh, just generic Seeker Bolts, not better than anything we've already got. Ah, and I never did allocate the skill points we gained at clvl 45: 2 to Antimagic and 3 to Sword-mastery. We've almost got your anti-magic field at full strength now.