ToME WikiContents
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
Latest segment (in Part 7)
Latest character sheet (after this segment in Part 6)
Lisa Alexander, the Human Mindcrafter, Part 2
Chapter 3: Points of Departure
(stretches) "Ahhh, that Orc Cave was a good workout. Think I'm ready to take on Morgoth yet?"
Not even close. We'll be hitting Mirkwood next.
"Aw, poo. So, where is this Mirkwood place?"
Over on the far side of the mountains. We're gonna have to relocate to a nearer town.
"Oh, great. And I don't suppose they've invented moving trucks in Arda yet."
‘Sokay, you won't be carrying much; we'll be leaving a lot of stuff here, in storage.
"Ah. So we can afford the rent on two houses at once?"
Rent? Have you been paying rent? ‘Coz I certainly haven't.
"Yeah, okay, never mind. So how far are we going?"
Oh, I'd estimate it's about a day's travel to:
Lothlorien
"Hey, isn't that the Elf lady from before?"
"Indeed it is. Welcome to Lothlorien, Lisa. I have been following your deeds from here; your progress in skill and power is astounding."
"Yeah, kinda runs in the family. So, is there an inn around here, or someplace I could bed down for the night?"
I've got that covered; we're going to do the:
Wolves quest
Being invisible certainly gives this quest a different feel: you can actually walk up next to the Wolves and Wargs and attack them while they're blundering around trying to find you.
"You'd think they'd be able to smell you or something."
They probably could, actually, but smell is a less directional sense than sight, so they still had to figure out where you were. Anyway, a quick tour of the shops reveals a Potion of Constitution in the black market, on which I splurge. And on another small positive note, the weapon store has a 30Kgp cap, which will make selling weapons for money easier. And speaking of which, let's move on:
Mkw 11 thru Mkw 14
Mkw 11; "You feel your luck is turning…"
*shudder* "This forest isn't by any chance haunted, is it?"
Not haunted per se, but some say the presence of the Necromancer in the nearby Tower of Dol Guldur has corrupted the forest.
"Well, I'm picking up some kind of weird vibe in here, that's all I know."
Indeed. The level itself is relatively boring, as is to be expected; notable moments include killing Bloodfang the Wolf and Narthanc gaining level 15 and access to the Lightning realm.
"Ooh, shocking."
*groan* Yes, yes. Anyway, let's move on:
Mkw 12, Fumblefingers quest for 16 Black orcs; "What a boring place…"
"Again?! This guy is following me or something."
It's just a random quest thing, Lisa; I'm sure there's no nefarious intent. Anyway, one of those Black orcs is nearby; let's see how viable a pure-melee strategy is going to be for them.
"*groan* And the slow transformation to Xena the Psychic Princess continues…" *slash* *slash* "There, how was that?"
Two turns, with Tulkas prayer on. Doable, I think. Wait, where did you pick up the Xena reference?
"Oh. Heh. Yeah, that's kind of a guilty pleasure of mine: I'm a fan of some of the old sci-fi and fantasy vids from the late 20th and early 21st century. Some of them were pretty corny, I can tell ya."
Indeed. 
As usual, I have to search the entire level to chase down the last elusive Black orc. Quest reward choices are Divination, Monster-lore, Stealth and Archery. Feh. All utterly useless. I choose Stealth, just for giggles.
"Well, well! The plot thickens."
What?
"Did you see that pin he was wearing on his chest?"
The one he had hidden under his cloak? I only got a glimpse of it; it looked like it had two faces facing away from each other.
"Yep, a human face and a Minbari face—an isil'zha. That guy is a Ranger."
[checks notes] Actually, Rangers don't start showing up until level 20.
"No, no, not one of your silly bow-and-arrow-shooting forest guys, a Ranger, an Anla-shok. But what's he doing here? I don't think he was in the same vortex I was in; I'm pretty sure I'd have sensed his mind. He must have been picked up by another vortex—which could mean there are other people from my world here. I wonder why he wouldn't reveal himself to me, though. Maybe he doesn't realize I'm not from around here."
I suppose you could ask him next time you see him. Which reminds me, we should move on:
Mkw 13; "What a boring place…"
A 3x5 small level, which probably contributes to its boringness. The only point of interest is my piety breaking the 10000 barrier, thus getting another point of CON boost and my first point of STR boost, which should help a bit with inventory weight. Otherwise, totally boring; fast forward to:
Mkw 14, Princess quest for Sangahyando of Umbar; "You have a superb feeling about this level."
"Oh, good grief, is that the same damsel-in-distress lady again?"
Yep. And here's Sangahyando already, coming in from the north, not far from where we entered the level.
"Yeah, frag him for a minute, I gotta see this princess again."
Um… okay… Lisa uses a Minor Displacement void tunnel to skip past Sangahyando and push into the quest room itself.
"You're right, that is the same princess. What are you doing here?"
"Brave warrior? It is you! Gracious Fate it is that brings you back once again to rescue me."
"Yeah, whatever. Okay, I'm gonna lure Generic Badguy #37 back into the room, so I can fight him here."
Why?
"You'll see."
(shrug) Whatever. This time, I think a straight-up melee is inadvisable; I Pulverize him down to one star, and then finish him off with Narthanc while he's stunned to give it the experience. Quest reward choices are a Small Metal Boomerang, a Cutlass and a Katana. Hmm, a (Defender) boomerang would be really handy; I think I'll try for that.
"There! Did you see that? Tell me that wasn't a hyperspace jump point she just got sucked into."
(shrug) I wouldn't know, really; I don't have that much experience with them. It did look a lot like one, I agree.
"I wonder if this has anything to do with that Ranger guy… wait, what was I doing again?"
Yes, that's the annoying bit; Sangahyando managed to blank our memory before we killed him. Anyway, my quest reward gamble doesn't pay off, netting only a Small Metal Boomerang of Slay Orc (+7,+6); Sangahyando didn't manage much better, dropping a Dark Sword (+5,+6) and a Mage Staff of Spell (+6,+1).
Fortunately, since we caught Sangahyando early, we didn't lose much of the map to his mind-blank attack. A quick walk through the level yields nothing of interest; and since my pack is getting a bit heavy, we return to:
Loth^H^H^H^HWilderness
I keep forgetting that… Anyway, we return to:
Lothlorien
to sell off loot. The runespells on the Mage Staff of Spell turn out to be Mind/Self/22 and Acid/Armageddon/35. The first would actually have given me temporary telepathy, I think, which is redundant with Precognition; the second would be nice for area damage, but not terribly powerful, and way too much recharge time. Fitting it only sold for 720gp. And after a bit of restocking, we're ready to try this again next time out.
Mkw 14 (take 2) to Mkw 20
Mkw 14, take 2; "What a boring place…"
As advertised. And as always when I come back to Lisa, I keep forgetting to pray to Tulkas while killing evil monsters. Ah well, I'll try to do better about that on:
Mkw 15; "What a boring place…"
"Man, is it gonna be like this all the way down?"
(shrug) The top of Mirkwood is easier than the bottom of the Orc Cave; it should even out about halfway through.
"So can we go ahead and go there, then?"
We are, eventually. I'm something of a completist; I try to completely walk every level as I come to it. Besides, you're still accumulating experience; more exposure should help you with that.
*groan* "Yeah, whatever, sensei, let's just go."
Patience, grasshopper… In fairness to Lisa, though, this level is just as boring as the last one. Maybe the next one will be better:
Mkw 16, Princess quest for 12 Quylthulgs; "You have an excellent feeling…"
"Kwithl-whats?"
Quylthulgs. That's right, I don't think you've run into those yet. You'll see.
"Ooh, that doesn't sound encouraging…"
An overall boring level; I finally find the quest room at the very end. (Annoyingly, it appears that if I'd gone right instead of left from the entry stairs, I'd have run into it almost immediately.)
"That's a quthl-whatever? Dear lord, that would put even a Pak'ma'ra off his lunch."
Indeed. From my approach vector up a north-south corridor into the room, I manage to pick off four of them with Pulverize before coming into line of sight of the rest. A second approach from the east nets me four more in the same manner, and a third shot from the west bags three of the last four, with one escaping.
"Hey, where'd he go?"
It teleported away. Probably didn't get too far; we need to go find it.
"Yeah, in a minute, I wanna check something." Lisa wades across the water to the Princess's prison.
"No, brave warrior, the glass is magical, you cannot–"
*tap tap* "Magical, my Centauri sixth. This is hull armor glass."
What?
"The stuff they make Starfury cockpit windows out of. All right, lady, what is going on here?"
"Please, brave warrior, I do not understand, I know nothing of these furious stars of which you speak."
"Grr… never mind." [squints off into distance] "Okay, the last of the blobby things is over there. Eat teek, freak." *WHUMP*
Indeed, the last Quylthulg has teleported into the west exit corridor, and one Pulverize shot takes it down—though not before it could summon a Paladin. The quest reward choices are a Battle Axe, a Hatchet and a Long Bow. Hmm, I don't anticipate needing to employ archery, and the axe would probably sell for the most; it turns out to be a Chaotic Battle Axe (+1,+8).
"Okay, there's definitely something fishy going on with that princess…"
(shrug) I try not to worry about it. Let's move on, shall we?
Mkw 17; "What a boring place…"
A 3x3 small level, and an arena level to boot. The least uninteresting part of the level is chasing down blindly wandering packs of Wolves and Mirkwood spiders trying to kill them all melee.
"Sheesh. Ya know, I could take care of all these things with a single mind blast." *slash* "This stupid dagger better be worth it…"
We shall see, I suppose. Anyway, with that done, we proceed to:
Mkw 18, Princess quest for Ibun, Son of Mim; "You feel your luck is turning…"
"Y'see? We weren't on that last level long enough for her to get captured again. Something fishy is going on here."
"That's what I keep saying. I figure it's some kind of bondage fetish thing—she must get off on being captured and held prisoner."
*groan* Did I mention, Gathraka, that we're trying to keep this at a PG rating?
"Yeah, what of it?"
*sigh* Anyway, let's move on, Lisa. The level is another small level, 3x5 this time, so it doesn't take as long to find the quest room. We're in a room to the north of the quest room and Ibun is awake and after us, so we lure him into a short connecting corridor and do as we did with Sangahyando: repeatedly Pulverize him (with a couple intermixed Psychic Drains) until he's weak enough to be quickly killed with Narthanc. The quest reward choices are Soft Studded Leather, a Bolt Trap Set (?), or a Lucerne Hammer. Again, the weapon is probably our best bet; it turns out to be a Lucerne Hammer of Slay Troll (+5,+6). Ibun drops a couple {good} weapons that I don't bother identifying.
And my pack is getting kinda heavy, so after a quick sweep through the rest of the level, we return to:
Lothlorien
On a lark, I decide to do a quick inter-city tour looking for Potions of Enlightenment (and other useful stuff) in black markets.
"Amazing. I'd have thought our home in Bree would have been completely ransacked by now."
Nah, these are good folk in Bree. Our shopping tour comes up mostly a bust, though I did pick up a Spellbook of Stone Prison in Minas Anor for possible future use. Back home, we restock and return to:
Mkw 18, take 2; "This level can't be all bad…"
There's a pack of Clear hounds and Cold hounds lined up in the corridor leading away from the entry stair, just to set the tone for the level. ![:\](/wiki/classic/img/ohwell.png ":\"){kind=small}
To set a better tone for the level, killing the hounds finally pushes Narthanc up to level 17 and gains it access to the Acid realm. [checks notes] And from the Acid realm we can pick up the earthquakes flag. Back to tone setting…
"Earthquakes? Wait, that's one of ‘annoying powers’ you said this crazy dagger could get, isn't it. What does it do?"
With luck, you won't have to find out. The rest of the level proceeds without incident, and we continue to:
Mkw 19; "This level can't be all bad…"
Bit more excitement than usual on this level, as I run into Ugluk and company in a checkerboard pit. His entourage I chop up in melee, to keep training Narthanc up; for Ugluk himself, I follow the by now standard strategy of Pulverizing him down to size and chopping him down in one swing.
The rest of the level is relatively uneventful, so we proceed to:
Mkw 20, Princess quest for 12 Giant silver ants; "You have a very good feeling…"
A boring level for the most part. Narthanc gains level 18, but doesn't gain a power.
Near the quest room itself, things get a bit more interesting. The quest room is directly abutted against the room to its north, which is my approach vector—and Mirkwood's small-tree inner walls means that those abutted walls are just a wide causeway between the rooms. And the ants appear to have had some company: I'm running into Novice mages and Elite uruks mixed in with them. Fortunately, there don't appear to be too many of the latter, and the quest goes off without a hitch, leaving me with a choice of a Mace, a Sling, or an Iron Helm. Hmm, I think I'm okay for money for the near term; maybe I'll get lucky with the helm. You seem perturbed, Lisa; you disagree with my choice?
"Huh? Oh, no, not that. I was trying to scan the princess before she left."
Ah. Isn't that technically illegal without her permission?
"Desperate times. Thing is, I couldn't do it; there was something right in the area of the prison that was screwing up my teep—and it vanished right after the princess did. Still think there's nothing fishy about her?"
Now, I never said that… And my gamble on the helm paid off, as it turns out to be Holhenneth. 
[checks notes] Yep, it covers everything my Cap of Seeing does, except for a lower searching bonus, which I think I can live with. And on that happy note, after a quick and uneventful sweep of the rest of the level, we return to:
Lothlorien
where I finally remember to stow the Spellbook of Stone Prison I bought last time we were topside.
"I was wondering why we were lugging that book around."
We also uncurse some loot and identify:
- The Iron Helm 'Holhenneth' [+10] (+2), which activates for detection every 55+d55 turns and has +2 INT, WIS and searching, resist blindness and see invisible
- Raal's Tome of Unconventional Warfare, which activates for cure cuts
- Tenser's Torch of Spontaneous Combustion, which activates for stun
A bit of restocking, and we're ready to try this again next time out.
Mkw 20 (take 2) to Mkw 24
Once more unto the proverbial breach, then:
Mkw 20, take 2; "What a boring place…"
As advertised. The only moments of note were a couple fights in which I relented and fell back on Mindcraft powers instead of melee. One was a Xorn, which for obvious reasons I didn't want anywhere near me; the other was a small swarm of Bronze dragon worms on the far end of a rather large room, which were hitting me with confusion breaths just often enough to be annoying, so I Mind Wave'd them instead of trying to make it across the room without using up all my !oCCW's.
Otherwise, dead boring; let's move on:
Mkw 21; "This level can't be all bad…"
About as boring as the last level. I'm starting to notice, though that there are fewer monsters that I can kill quickly. The squad of Elite uruks I ran into near the southwest corner of the level, for instance, took three or four hits each…and remember that I'm only getting one attack per turn. Without Narthanc's invisibility, I'd have been dead meat trying to fight them in melee. Oh, speaking of which, Narthanc hits level 19, but doesn't gain a power. Wait, when did I lose a point of STR? [checks message log] Oh, frost breath from a Cold hound. Not worth going back to fix at this point.
Oh well; maybe the next level will be more interesting:
Mkw 22, Princess quest for 14 Frost giants; "You have an excellent feeling…"
[checks notes] 256hp on average; I'm gonna have to soften them up quite a bit before meleeing them if I expect to kill them with Narthanc.
"Ya know, I'm all for just teeping them to death if it's gonna be that bad."
That will be our emergency fallback. Most of the level is relatively boring; on a small up note, I find my first Mushroom of Restore Strength, to take care of that STR hit from the previous level.
We hit the quest room about two-thirds of the way through the level. The battle isn't quite as bad as I'd feared; I keep underestimating the advantage of being invisible. Mostly I use Pulverize to stun them and keep them still while I chop them up. Actually, now that I think about it, the Frost giants didn't seem to be quite as flummoxed by my invisibility; that's to be expected, I suppose, since they're higher level than most of what I've fought so far.
"What, you mean the really tough monsters will be able to see me anyway?"
More frequently than the less tough monsters, yes; we're hoping that Narthanc will have gained some substantially more useful powers by then. Speaking of Narthanc, it gains level 20 with the very last Frost giant; still no new powers, though. The quest reward choices are a Main Gauche, a Dark Sword or a Sickle. Enh, six of one; I take the Dark Sword just for giggles, and it turns out to be a Dark Sword of *Slay Giant* (+5,+7) (+1).
"Paging Alanis Morrisette…"
What, a fan of 20th-century music as well?
"Nah, I heard that joke on an old comedy vid, I think. Took me half an hour of internet searching to get the reference."
Some jokes never get old; alas, this probably isn't one of them.
"Everyone's a critic."
Any-way… A quick sweep through the rest of the level yields a Frozen Lead-Filled Mace (+8,+4) from a Brigand. Hmm, pack's getting a bit heavy, but I think we can go a few more levels:
Mkw 23; "This level can't be all bad….
Well, that was boring… Let's try this again:
Mkw 24, Fumblefingers quest for 9 Mind flayers; "This level can't be all bad…"
"Ha! ‘Bout time that guy showed up again."
[checks notes] Just watch your step here, Lisa; Mind flayers have some nasty spells, and they can also do sanity damage.
"Oh, that's all I need is to go crazy in this place. I bet they treat insanity with leeches."
It's not quite that bad… And on top of everything else, the level is a 1x3 small level, which means we'll have to be doubly on our toes. Let's see, I enter at the south end of a long north-south corridor; there's some rubble blocking the corridor a bit further north, and immediately behind that is one of the Mind flayers—and two more are approaching rapidly behind him.
[squints north] "Great, so once we dig through this rubble, all three of ‘em will be able to brain-fry me at once, right?"
That's why we're not going to remove the rubble. After firing up Adrenaline Channeling, we dig out the trees to the right of the rubble. The Mind flayers don't move this turn, which gives me a chance to take a step south and gain even more advantage—now, as the Mind flayers come around the rubble, they'll be at a knight's move to me, giving me at least two turns to attack them before they have any chance to respond. And I think that should be plenty… 
"I like your plan better than mine."
Behind the Mind flayers is a pack of Energy hounds, which I Mind Wave out of the way.
"What, no blood sacrifices to the dagger?"
Under the circumstances, I think we need to stay focused on quick kills; besides, I don't want any of the Mind flayers sneaking up on me while I'm toying with the hounds. Speaking of which, there are two more north-south corridors to my immediate west parallel to the one I'm in, and three more Mind flayers are in them:
# # # # # #####################^#
# # # # # # Z.~ #
# # # # # # ######### #### ######
# # ######## # #### # ## ## # #
# # #_ ######## # #~#
#:# # W - #:# #"#####################
# # # ?^ ###### ### # # .Z Z , >#
# # # # # # # # #~#####################
# # ##### ######## ## # # # # #-#
# # # z $ # # # # * #-#
# # # ########## # # #h# #;#
# # # # # # # # #@##
# # # # # # #h# #:.#
# # # # # # # # # ##
# # #### #######F##O # # # # # #
# # # OO # # # # # #
# # # O # # #$# # #
# # ### h# # # # # # #
#### ######### + h #p# # # # #
#> : ########_#_#\### #h# # # # #
################ ### # # # # # #
# # # # # #
As you can see, one of the two parallel corridors is blocked by rubble before it intersects mine; that should make things a bit easier. Hmm, I'm only detecting five Mind flayers, and I've killed three; where's the ninth? Keep a sharp eye out for him, Lisa.
"Right."
We push forward carefully. Ah, there's the last Mind flayer, in the room with the Forest wight. He's awake and headed for me, so I let him approach and pick him off as he rounds the corner. The next easiest hit looks like the two in the next room to the south; unfortunately, they've got Black ogres mixed in with them, so I'll have to be careful. I use the same strategy as before, ambushing them around the corner with Mind Waves. The sixth Mind flayer pushes me over the top to clvl 31, with skill points going 1 to Mindcraft, 1 to Magic, 1 to Weaponmastery and 2 to Prayer.
"That reminds me, didn't that Tulkas guy want us to go get another of those relics for him?"
Later; stay focused on this quest. Okay, the two Mind flayers stuck in the middle corridor are awake and champing at the proverbial bit to get to me. I use the same strategy as with the first three, after a bit of terraforming to give me some runoff room.
"One more, right?"
Yes, and annoyingly, he's pinned near the south end of the leftmost of the three corridors by a sleeping Novice mage. I approach down the middle corridor… oh, good, that seems to have woken him up. Now it's just a matter of luring him up the corridor and Mind Waving him.
"And here comes our Ranger, right on schedule."
"Ah, my sword! Thank you for retrieving it."
"Yeah, on that subject, why the sword? Don't you guys usually use that Minbari fighting pike thing?"
"How– um, I, I don't know what you mean, I have no Pike."
"It's okay, I recognized your isil'zha, I know who you are."
"Um, no, um, I'm afraid you have me mistaken for someone else."
"Look, it's all right, I come from the same place–"
«I cannot speak freely now! Please!»
"Oh… right, sorry, I guess you weren't who I thought you were after all. Silly me, must be getting homesick."
Before departing, the mysterious swordsman offers us a choice of Thaumaturgy, Summoning, Combat and Barehand-combat. Hmm, I don't have any spare skill points to push Thaumaturgy or Summoning, and I've spent too many points in Weaponmastery already to switch to Barehand-combat now—and I can always use a Combat boost.
«We will speak more later, if I can.»
"Yeah, thanks again. Oh, that was Minbari the Ranger guy was speaking, by the way; he said–"
Yeah, I caught it.
"Wonder what he means, ‘can't speak freely’. You think he's being watched?"
Don't ask me; this is far more complicated than the random quests usually get. A quick sweep through the rest of the level nets a couple bundles of {excellent} arrows dropped by the Mind flayers and a Wand of Teleport Away that I might keep for emergencies, plus an Amulet of Anti-Teleportation that might sell for a bit after it's uncursed. In fact, let's go find out:
Lothlorien
Indeed, it goes for 13500gp. Between that and all the weapons, I'm doing pretty well for money in the near term. My Staff of Identify's getting low on charges, though, and the magic shop doesn't have any. Sounds like the perfect excuse for a shopping tour… Before I go, though, let's ID this junkart:
- Mordekainen's Sneaking Eye, which activates for decrease CON
Feh. On to shopping. The Minas Anor black market has a randart Hard Studded Leather with immunity to lightning; I'd lose Thalkettoth's +3 speed, though. Enh, I can always pick up immunities later, and lightning immunity isn't one of the higher-priority ones anyway; pass. The Bree black market has a Wolf Pelt of Electricity… nah, I prefer my Cloak of Stealth, and besides, I'd really rather not have monsters hitting me anyway.
"I wholeheartedly endorse that position."
Their magic shop does finally have some Staffs of Identify; I buy several. As long as I'm in the neighborhood, I swing by Gondolin, where the black market has a Potion of Intelligence that I splurge on. Back home to Lothlorien, then, where the black market has a Potion of Healing for my stockpile. Hmm, at this rate, I don't think we'll finish off Mirkwood next time out; might take us two more pushes.
Mkw 24 (take 2) thru Mkw 27
Mkw 24, take 2; "You feel your luck is turning…"
A 1x5 small level, thus fairly quick and mostly boring. It does manage to cough up a few useful items, though: a Potion of Charisma, a Mage Staff of Mana (+6,+4)(20%), and The Light War Axe 'Limbslicer'. I also receive yet another reminder that I really need to find some magical means of disarming traps.
"Hey, what for? I mean, I enjoy having stuff blow up in my face, don't you?"
In the first place, young lady, sarcasm does not become you; and in the second place, the Explosive Device trap isn't even close to the worst kind of trap we're going to encounter.
"Yeah, just wait till you hit your first Trap of Neutrality…"
Shoo, Gathraka, back to your own DitL. Nothing else of interest here, so we move on to:
Mkw 25; "You have a good feeling…"
A full-sized level this time; I feel at least reasonably good about that.
"Hey, look over there. There's a set of stairs going down into the ground, way out here in the middle of the forest."
Yes, those lead to the Heart of the Earth.
"You're kidding, right? Journey to the Center of the Earth? ‘A.S.’ and all?"
(shrug) I've never done that side dungeon before, and I don't really see any particular reason to do it now. You did want to focus on staying alive, yes?
"Point taken."
The rest of the level is fairly straightforward. I do get surprised by a Quylthulg in a dark room at one point, but fortunately it doesn't summon anything more challenging than a Dark elven druid and some assorted spiders.
"Euch, another of those transparent blobby things. Are we gonna start running into those again now?"
Not in such concentrations as in that Princess quest earlier, but yes, we will be seeing them from time to time. And there are stronger forms of Quylthulg that we'll encounter much later.
"Ulk. Exactly the image I needed in my head right before lunch…"
Sorry. Hmm, I notice that I'm beginning to run into more monsters that require the 'Pulverize-and-melee-while-stunned' strategy; so far on this level, that includes a 4-headed hydra and two Hill giants. For other monsters, like this pack of Elite uruks near the west side of the level, I go for the more active strategy of Adrenaline Channeling and praying to Tulkas.
"Ow!" *slash* "Can I suggest a change in strategy down here? This one isn't working."
Indeed, I find I'm down to 93/223hp. Hmm, how about a modified strategy of softening them up with Pulverizes as they approach?
"Um… okay… that's not really working either."
Indeed, after a brief and hopeful upswing, I'm back down to 53/223hp. Okay, let's retreat to a nearby room and rest up. Let's see, I managed to pick up some of their loot as I left, including a Bastard Sword of Slay Animal and a Ball-and-Chain of Slay Demon… enh, they won't really sell for that much, and they're annoyingly heavy. Maybe I'll come back and pick them up before I leave the level. Oh yes, Narthanc gained level 21 while fighting those Elite uruks. [examines Narthanc] Hmm, it must have picked up slay evil earlier without my noticing; this level, though, the power it gained was from the Poison realm…and it's +5 CHA.
"Cool! You mean this crazy dagger is actually making me look cuter?"
What we really want is the extra-blows flag from the Earth realm; then that +5 will apply to your attack speed too.
"Mm. I'm beginning to see the appeal here. As long as it doesn't start talking to me…"
Don't worry, that's Durandil. Anyway, let's try those Elite uruks again. Mind Wave, it turns out, is too powerful to soften them up with; dead is a bit softer than I had in mind… Precognition is picking up quite a lot of them—enough, in fact, to earn back the cost of casting Divine Aim.
*slash slash* "Ooh, yeah, I remember this. C'mere, ugly."
That last me through quite a few of them; after that I fall back to the Pulverize strategy for a while. [sound F/X: casts Precognition] Good grief, more of them? That entire pit room must have been full of ‘em. In fact, I think I can afford to bring Divine Aim back up again.
"Ha! You punks don't look so ‘elite’ to me."
Oh dear, I think the spell is starting to go to her head… At any rate, the remainder of the uruks are dispatched without further incident, and the rest of the level is straightforward.
"Hey, there's another of those stairways to the center of the world or wherever. You sure you don't wanna give it a spin?"
Maybe later. For now, we continue to:
Mkw 26, Princess quest for 11 Mages; "You feel strangely lucky…"
Mm. Eleven means the lava-lake form of the quest room, which is mildly annoying. The level itself is mostly boring, except for the Potion of Constitution I find halfway through.
"Hey, cool, I thought they just sold these in stores."
Nah, they can be found in the dungeons too—and we're getting close to the levels where they start becoming more common.
"Well, let's go, then."
That's the spirit. And it looks like the quest room is nearby, because here come some of the Mages.
"Bring ‘em on."
Heh. Four of them make up the advance group; the rest, as revealed by Precognition, are pinned behind various corners trying to get at me. That makes them very easy to lure into ambushes. The princess offers us a Phial, a Cleaver, or a Metal Boomerang.
"A phial? A little bottle of liquid? What kind of treasure is that?"
A very good one or a very bad one, depending on which one it is. Feeling lucky?
[scratches head] "Once again, in English?"
I take the Phial, and sort through the Mages' loot, which includes a Potion of Enlightenment. [checks notes] Hmm, these are native to level 25, which means we might find a few more of these. Good; we're gonna need these when we eventually do that relic quest.
"Oh yeah, when are we gonna get back to that?"
Probably not before we finish Mirkwood. And speaking of finishing things, let's finish the level.
"What about the Phial thing?"
We'll pick that up on the way out. In the meantime, Narthanc gains level 22 from a pack of Ogres, but doesn't gain a new power. The rest of the level passes quickly, and it's time to move on.
"Ooh, I hate this part… Ow ow ow ow ow!"
A quick dash across the lava and we claim… The Phial of Galadriel. 
"Uh… this water is glowing. You're sure it's not radioactive or something?"
It's fine, trust me.
"Uh-huh…"
I tell ya, I get no respect around here. Let's see, I think I can put in another level or two this time out:
Mkw 27; "You have a good feeling…"
Mostly boring. I take what I think is Lisa's first sanity hit from a Mindcrafter.
"No, really, I'm fine. Just tell that drunk Drazi over there to stop fraggin' singing so loud."
Yyyyyyeah… Fortunately I find a Potion of Cure Serious Insanity near the end of the level. But I still think I'll take this as a sign that it's time to take a break:
Lothlorien
I sell off loot and *ID*:
- The Phial of Galadriel (+4), which activates for light (2d15) every 10+d10 turns and has radius-3 light and +4 searching and luck
- The Light War Axe 'Limbslicer' (+12,+15) (+4), with +4 DEX, vorpal effects and wounding
See? I told you the Phial was a good thing.
"So the Elf lady made this, huh? Remind me to thank her some time."
Indeed. Hmm, we're not advancing very quickly through Mirkwood; it may take us another two trips from here. We'll see next time.
Mkw 27 (take 2) thru Mkw 29
And speaking of next time:
Mkw 27, take 2; "You have a good feeling…
I enter on the north edge of the level; Mim is on screen to my south, and an orc pit is onscreen to my east. I take Mim first; he's annoyingly tough, taking a dozen or more Pulverizes intermixed with Psychic Drains to soften him up enough to take down with Narthanc. [And I think I need to start being more careful about backsplash from those Pulverizes; early in the battle with Mim, I suddenly found myself at 165/238hp, with no other apparent source of damage other than standing too close to Mim while Pulverizing him.]
"Sheesh, even I could've told you that. What, don't they teach basic physics in Arda?"
By this time the orc pit has started leaking out at me, so I go to clear that out. As before, a full pit of orcs should buy me back the piety cost of casting Divine Aim to take out the heavier-hitting Uruks and Elite uruks; between that and Adrenaline Channeling, the pit isn't much of a challenge. Between them all, they net a Light War Axe of Aman (+7,+9) [+1] (+2) and an Amulet of Spell that I might put something on later, my neck slot currently being unoccupied. Which reminds me, I need to check Mim's drop: a Two-Handed Sword (+3,+5), 30 Sheaf Arrows (exploding) (+4,+7), and Hard Studded Leather [+3]. Enh.
The rest of the level is boring for the most part. The first bad sign is running into a Plasma Bolt Trap, cleverly hidden by being the same color and symbol as the small trees I was walking through. I take a small INT and WIS hit from that.
"Ow! Hey, watch it up there! Remember, I'm a telepath; my brain is my most valuable asset."
Don't worry, we can fix this up good as new next time we're topside. What worries me more is the next ominous sign, when a Hardened warrior drops Camlost.
*shudder* "Call me crazy, but something is very wrong with these gauntlets."
Very wrong indeed. Whatever you do, don't wear them. In fact, here, let me inscribe them with !w!w!w!w!w!w just for protection. The third bad sign is a Fumbling Fingers Trap further in that I fail to disarm. These traps normally only cause temporary stat drain, yes? Well, this time it hit for permanent damage.
"Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Isn't there some teek trick I can use to disable these traps from a distance or something?"
Alas, no, Mindcraft doesn't have any disarm power; we desperately need to find a Rod Tip of Disarming for you. On a slight uptick, a Werebear not far from that trap drops my first Potion of Strength.
"Ooh, not bad. Wait, this isn't some kind of steroid thing that's gonna make me end up looking like a guy, is it?"
Nope, no harmful side effects.
"You wanna talk about looking like a guy? Have I got a story for you, Mindreader."
Shoo, go ‘way, Gathraka, we've got Flying skulls incoming. And predictably, they knock my STR back down to 15, where it was before the Potion of Strength.
"Okay, this level is turning out to be really annoying…"
You'll get no argument from me. On the rebound, a few rooms over I find a Ring of Damage two points higher than the one I'm wearing. Soon after that, Narthanc gains level 23 from a Master rogue, picking up the Fire realm.
"Fire, huh? We wanted Earth, right?"
[sound F/X: source diving] Yeah, but given the way sentient weapons level up, we pretty much had to gain Fire before Earth. And if I'm doing this figuring right, it'll be a while before we even have a shot at gaining Earth.
"Well, that sucks."
I agree. The rest of the level proceeds without incident, and we move on to:
Mkw 28, Princess quest for 11 Killer slicer beetles; "You have a good feeling…"
"Hey, what about the blow to my head, and those flying skull things, and the stupid trap?"
None of your stats are damaged severely; we can go a few more levels before fixing them. Anyway, there's another orc pit immediately to our east as we enter the level. Hmm… ya know, it just occurred to me, I don't think I've been using Tactic settings when we take on things like this, have I? I crank it up to berzerker this time and hack down the whole pit without having to retreat once, without having to use Divine Aim, and going no lower than 172/238hp. Shoulda' thought of this earlier.
"Sheesh, any other bright ideas like this you haven't thought of yet?"
Oh, I'm sure I'll think of them eventually.
"*groan*"
The pit nets nothing more exciting that a Sling of Accuracy (+9,+9). The rest of the level is boring for a while. Khim shows up and takes about as many Pulverizes as his daddy; eventually, though, he drops a Lead-Filled Mace (+4,+3) and a Metal Cap of Seeing [+7] (+1). Hmm, if that has telepathy, it might be worth swapping out Holhenneth…
The quest room finally turns up near the end of the level—and I discover, as I suppose I should have expected, that Killer slicer beetles can fly. [checks notes] Hmm, 25d10hp, speed +0, AC 60, pretty rough melee damage, but no spells… enh, I think we can take them with the old Pulverize-n-slice trick, especially if we let them come to us one at a time. We get five of them that way; the other six require a bit more explicit luring to draw them out. With those taken care of, the princess offers us a choice of Arrows, a Fumes Trap Set (?) or Hard Studded Leather. I doubt the armor will be better than Thalkettoth, and the Arrows will sell for more.
"Oh great, more lava. I really hate this part… ow ow ow ow ow!"
The Arrows turn out to be 28 Arrows of Acid (+7,+6). And my Staff of Identify has run out of charges, so it's time to head home:
Lothlorien
The Arrows go for a tidy 38640gp—more than enough to spring for the Potion of Dexterity {50% off} in the black market. I *ID*:
- The Gauntlets 'Camlost' (-11,-12) [+0] (-3), with -3 STR and DEX, immunity to fire and cold, free action, resist poison, nether and disenchantment, drain mana, random teleportation, aggravation, heavy curse and TY curse
*shudder* I think we'll be Mathoming those.
"What's a TY curse?"
Also known as an "ancient foul curse". Every so often it'll do really nasty things like paralyze you through your free action and summon lots of really tough monsters around you.
"Yuck! Yeah, get rid of those."
Indeed. And the Cap of Seeing does turn out to have telepathy. Do I swap it in… nah, I can get temporary telepathy with Precognition, and I'll get it permanently at Mindcraft skill level 40. This just means it'll sell for more. On the way to Bree to Mathom Camlost, I pick up a fate to find Colluin on dlvl 4. Hmm, as long as I'm here, I suppose I should pick that up. And in short order I'm the proud owner of:
- The Cloak 'Colluin' [+20], which activates for resistance (20+d20) every 111 turns and has resist acid, lightning, fire, cold and poison and sense good
Ooh, not bad; I'd lose +3 stealth from my current cloak, but my Stealth is Bad anyway, and double resist on command would be amazingly handy. Plus this lets me swap out my Ring of Fire Resistance and wear both Rings of Damage at once.
Back in Lothlorien, I copy Stone Skin onto the Amulet of Spell as a further combat enhancement. Let's see, I think we have room for a bit more this time out:
Mkw 28, take 2; "You feel your luck is turning…"
I enter at the southeast corner, and there's a swarm of Flying skulls not far away. I wonder which way that means my luck is turning…
"Well, considering not one of them laid a tooth on me, I'd say for the better."
Well, it's good to have an optimist on board. Apart from that early encounter, the level is mostly boring, and we move on to:
Mkw 29; "You like the look of this place…"
Mostly boring. I get a chance to try out my Stone Skin spell on a pack of Mountain ogres, with some success; they push my piety up above 15000, netting me another +1 to STR and CON. And the next level is a Princess quest level, which I don't think we'll have room for this time out, so we'll leave it here at the down-stairs to Mkw 30.
Mkw 30 to Mkw 33
Mkw 30, Princess quest for 14 Young red dragons; "You have a superb feeling about this level."
I enter at the southwest corner, and the quest room is not far to the north. Okay, let's see, Adrenaline Channeling, praying to Tulkas, Tactic to berzerker… am I forgetting something? Oh yes, Stone Skin. Should I add Divine Aim? Nah, let's see how far we can get without it.
"Uh, this isn't far enough. Add it."
Indeed; four of the dragons have already leaked out of the quest room and are attempting to gang up on me, and with only one of them down, I'm at 175/254hp. And between the fourteen of them, I think I'll earn enough piety to pay it off. One Divine Aim spell later, together with some Pulverizes to make them stand still, and the dragons are falling much faster. The seven dragons on the west side are down in short order, along with a swarm of Mongbats. Narthanc gains level 25 during all this, but doesn't gain a power—which, I think, means it gains another 'realm point' toward gaining the Earth realm, which is good.
"I'll say. All this putting myself in danger better have some kind of payoff."
And speaking of putting oneself in danger, my hit points are still down in the 170 range, so I stop to rest. Now for the seven on the east side. I fire everything back up and lay into them. I run out of critical hits from Divine Aim about halfway through them, but everything seems relatively under control (and the dragons seem suitably stunned), so I soldier on. And soon enough, the newly free princess is offering me Hard Studded Leather, a Katana, or a Trifurcate Spear. The armor is unlikely to be useful, but which of the weapons to choose? Enh, I'll take the katana, which turns out to be a Frozen Katana of *Slay Giant* (+8,+9) (+2). Enh, it'll sell for a bit. I also find Small Wooden Boomerang of *Slay Troll* (+5,+10) (+1) to increase my loot value.
To the north of that, I run into a pack of Araneas. I'm in the middle of a long corridor with no cubbyholes to hide in, and one of them just got a cause-wounds spell off on me. Time to retreat, I think, so I cast Major Displacement—and land right next to a troll pit. Hence the 'superb' feeling, I suppose. Not that I'm feeling particularly superb right now. Especially since in Mirkwood, the inner wall of a pit is small trees, which means I'm immediately swamped.
"Right, get us out of here again."
No, I think it's time for some old-school Mindcrafting here. I fire up Adrenaline Channeling and then Mind Wave away the immediate rabble and step through into the pit proper to lay down some serious carnage. In short order, everything is dead except an Olog and an Ice troll Priest (and some Phantom warriors on the side who were immune to the Mind Waves in the first place), which I chop down with Narthanc just on principle.
"Now, that's what I'm talkin' ‘bout."
Heh. The troll pit brings me close to another level cutoff, and sure enough, a Mithril golem not far north nets me clvl 32, with skill points going 1 to Mindcraft, 1 to Magic, 2 to Weaponmastery and 1 to Prayer.
Swinging back east brings me back into the Araneas' territory. This time I have time to duck into a nearby room and fire up all my combat enhancers. Even so, it's not easy; with Narthanc's invisibility, it's hard to lure them out one at a time, so I end up facing several at once. It takes both of the Potions of Healing I'd accumulated up to this point, but the dread spiders do eventually fall.
"‘Dread spiders’? What, did I sign up for Shakespeare in the Wood or something?"
Everyone's a critic… After that, the level is pretty uneventful. My load is getting a bit heavy, and I'm running low on identifies, so I think it's time to return home to:
Lothlorien
where I *ID*:
- The Bag of Tricks, which activates for stun.
Feh. On a lark, I take a quick shopping tour. Not terribly productive, but Bree's temple does yield a Spellbook of Whirlwind, and Lothlorien's black market has a Ring of Damage (+16) by the time I get home.
"‘Whirlwind’, huh? What, does this spell make tornadoes or something?"
No, it lets you do a "spinning" attack; you get one attack on every monster next to you. And since you're currently only getting one attack per round anyway, this may actually be useful. Bit expensive in piety, though. I just noticed, though, that I already had a Spellbook of Whirlwind that I bought way back in Bree…
[slaps forehead] "How does a girl check out of this chicken outfit again?"
*ahem* Hey, let's go try out your new spell in the dungeon:
Mkw 30, take 2; "This level can't be all bad…"
Not with a Potion of Charisma in the second room, it can't… I get an early chance to try out Whirlwind when I get surrounded by Clear hounds.
"Cool! Maybe I can do this whole Xena thing…"
That's the spirit. The level turns out to be a 3x3 small level, and so is over quickly. It does manage to throw Khufu at me, though; he quite cooperatively stays stunned after I Pulverize him, allowing me to chop him up with Narthanc at my leisure. He drops Orcrist for my troubles.
Onward, then:
Mkw 31; "You have a good feeling…"
A 1x5 small level, just to continue the trend. It gets a bit tricky near the north end, where I run into three Mountain ogres, six Araneas and a 5-headed hydra all in adjacent rooms, and all converging on my location. Fortunately I had already fired up Adrenaline Channeling when I saw the ogres. I Pulverize the hydra to give myself a chance to start up Divine Aim, then lay into the hydra, who falls in four turns.
After the hydra falls, the ogres aren't too tough with Divine Aim up; it's the Araneas I'm worried about. Fortunately, they can only approach via a single connecting corridor between the rooms, so I can take them on one at a time; unfortunately, the first one takes two turns to kill, giving it a chance to cast its cause-wounds spell and take me to 142/259hp in one fell swoop.
"Uh, can we not use the word ‘fell’ at this point?"
Sorry. Fortunately I have a Potion of Healing I found earlier on the level; but with no more of those, a couple unlucky turns could kill me. Well, in case of emergency, we fall back on old standby tricks: I use Pulverize to get the blighters to stand still long enough for me to chop them up.
After that, the level passes fairly quickly, netting a Potion of Dexterity, a Long Sword of Westernesse (+12,+5) (+1), and an Iron Helm of Water Breathing [+15].
"Lets you breathe underwater, huh? Any underwater dungeons I should be worried about now?"
(shrug) Enh, I might get a bug up my proverbial to go down to the submerged ruins of Numenor and try taking on Ar-Pharazon. Probably not, but we'll keep the helm just in case.
"Terrific…"
That's distant future in any event; for now, we should focus on finishing Mirkwood:
Mkw 32, Princess quest for 5 Cave trolls; "You feel your luck is turning…"
A full-sized level for a change. I enter at the northeast corner from the north side, and the quest trolls are on me before I even make it off the screen to the south. They're not a challenge, fortunately; I don't even have to cast Divine Aim to chop through them. The Princess, from somewhere in the distance to my south, offers me a Small Sword, a Leather Jacket, or a Lead-Filled Mace. I'm getting kind of loaded down, so I choose the sword for weight reasons. And after fighting through a pack of Mountain ogres to get to it, I'm the proud owner of… a Small Sword of Slay Demon (+9,+4). Enh, it won't sell for enough to bother with; I leave it.
I walk the rest of the level for completeness; I get a Potion of Intelligence from a Grave wight, and Narthanc gains level 26 from a pack of Ghouls. Hmm, my pack is awfully full, but I've only got one more level to go…
Mkw 33; "This level can't be all bad…"
As a 1x1 small level, it can't be much of anything, except over quickly. Back home, then, to:
Lothlorien
to sell off loot and *ID*:
- The Broad Sword 'Orcrist' (+10,+15) (+3), with radius-1 light, +3 searching, frost brand, slay dragon, orc and evil, resist cold, dark and sound, sense orc and dragon, and slow digestion
- The Deck of Wild Magic, which activates for ruination
- The Box of Many Wonders, which activates for stat loss
Enh. None of the stores have any ?oWoR's—the perfect excuse for another shopping tour. This time, the Minas Anor black market nets a Potion of Experience.
"…So? Are we gonna drink it?"
Not yet; I want to do the relic quest first…
Chatter (1.7)
ZizzoTheInfinite: And an updated character sheet is up, or should be by the time you read this.
Intermission: And The Sky Full Of Stars
"Ah! I was wondering when we were gonna go back and take care of that relic quest back from I forget how long ago. This Tulkas guy isn't gonna be mad at us for leaving it so long, is he?"
Nah, no penalties for putting it off, except that we might not have enough time to receive the last two quests.
(shrug) "Well, that's his fault. If he wants his precious relics back, he's gotta tell me where to look for them. Besides, it wouldn't be that bad if we didn't get the last two, would it?"
Not disastrous; it would just mean your Prayer skill wouldn't be as high as I was hoping.
"I think I can live with that. So, are we going?"
Yeah, we can do a quick exploratory first.
"Huh?"
You'll see.
Third relic quest
I apparently failed to note that at some earlier point I did a bit of exploring and found the entrance to the third quest temple, on the banks of the Brandywine and not far east of Ered Luin. We only have two Potions of Enlightenment, so we're hoping for some luck here:
LTm 19, take 1; "You feel your luck is turning…"
"We've got company."
Indeed, there a pack of Hill orcs at the other end of the room to our west, with an Umber hulk mixed in for maximum annoyance. But we've got a couple turns before they reach us, time enough to quaff a Potion of Enlightenment.
"Are you out of your–?" *glug glug glug*
Hmm, the relic's not here.
"My god… it's full of stars…"
Lisa? We need to go.
"Wha…? Oh, right."
Wilderness
[shakes head to clear it] "Okay, what was that?"
A Potion of Enlightenment. Lets you see the whole level, including all objects on the floor.
"Are you sure it's legal? ‘Cause you could make a killing selling this stuff on the black market back on Earth or Mars Colony. Seriously, this stuff makes Dust look like aspirin."
Actually, you'll be able to produce the same effect yourself when your Mindcraft skill gets high enough.
"Whoa…"
Anyway, in the present, we've only got one more potion, so we're hoping for better luck on:
LTm 19, take 2; "Looks like any other level."
There's a level-38 Owlbear right next to me as I enter the level. I fire up Adrenaline Channeling just for safety, then quaff the !oEnl.