Contents

  1. Lisa Alexander, the Human Mindcrafter, Part 6
    1. Chapter 6 (cont.)
      1. LoM 58 (take 2) thru LoM 63
        1. Chatter (1.1)
      2. Intermission: Maeglin quest
      3. LoM 63 (take 2) thru LoM 67
        1. Chatter (1.3)
      4. LoM 67 (take 2) thru LoM 70
        1. Chatter (1.4)
    2. Chapter 7: The Coming of Shadows
      1. TDG 57 thru TDG 63
      2. TDG 63 (take 2) thru TDG 66 (take 3)
      3. TDG 66 (take 4) thru TDG 70
        1. Chatter (2.3)

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6
Latest segment
Latest character sheet (after this segment)

Lisa Alexander, the Human Mindcrafter, Part 6

Chapter 6 (cont.)

LoM 58 (take 2) thru LoM 63

So, where were we?

[looks around] "Lothlorien, last I checked."

*groan* Everyone's a comedian… ;)

LoM 58, take 2; "You have an excellent feeling…"

Doesn't look too bad. Vrocks nearby, in a room that turns out to be disconnected from the rest of the level; they drop the Shield of the Haradrim. And even as long as I've had it, Narthanc's invisibility is still disconcerting when I come back to Lisa.

"Which reminds me, when is this crazy soul-sucking dagger going to do anything again?"

[checks] It needs 274Kexp for the next level. And it was at 323K when we entered the level, so it might not take too long. And since we seem to have run out of level, let's try pushing it further on:

LoM 59; "You hear the sound of a market."

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me. Who hikes halfway up a mountain through all these dragons and demons to buy stuff?

People who were already hiking up the mountain through all the dragons and demons for other reasons, presumably. This one turns out to be a scattered-form town, which is not so bad in a 1x5 small level; Precognition reveals an Axe Smith, a Polearm Smith, a Scribe, a Potion Store, a Library, a Forbidden Library and a Recaller.

"And what do any of these stores have that would be of any use to anyone hiking up this mountain for any reason?"

(shrug) Just one more of the many things I don't claim to understand about this game. None of the stores are stocking anything particularly interesting, and the level passes quickly since it's so small. Moving on, then:

LoM 60; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

"Just for a change…"

Yes, you've made that point, Lisa. The superbness of this level in particular appears to originate from a greater vault (nethack building) up near the north edge of the level, whose worst occupants appear to be a Skull druj and a Lesser black reaver. We'll save that for last. In the meantime, a Demilich drops our first Rod Tip of Enlightenment, which is redundant with Precognition, and an Adamantite Rod of Simplicity. Hmm, I think I've got a Rod Tip of Disarming topside that I saved against just such an exigency… ;)

The rest of the level passes without significant incident, so we return to the vault. The initial assault of Dreads at the entry point is not too difficult; the large alcove at the west end, though, reveals another potentially problematic monster that I hadn't noticed before: Blood Sprouts. Fortunately they were trapped in a swarm of Vampiric mists, limiting their ability to multiply, so that one well-targeted Pulverize takes care of the lot of ‘em.

[squints eastward] "Careful, that druj thing is in the next room."

Yes, the Skull druj is in one of the eastern rooms. It's not ideally positioned for an ambush, but with a bit of creative use of Stone Prison, I manage to position myself outside the north door, just out of its line of sight but with it just in mine, and the standard barrage of Pulverizes wins the day. It, or one of its late roommates, drops a Rod Tip of Disarming, which gives us an early upgrade on our current rod. :)

"So what does this buy me over the rod I've got?"

More mana; this one can fire off four shots in a row from a full charge. And in a vault like this, at our speed, that's very handy. And here comes the reaver out of its cubbyhole in the southeast corner of the vault. [checks notes] Hmm, his attacks do disenchantment and drain-STR damage; we resist the former, and we've got the restore junkart for the latter. I think I'll add Divine Aim, though.

"Oh, don't put yourself out on my account or anything…"

That's quite enough of that, young lady. ;) With that plus everything else I've got up, the reaver falls in three turns, dropping a long-since-useless Potion of Augmentation and the Ring of Flare. :)

"Uh-oh, Trilogy warned me about this ring. We're going off after that invasion thing back in Gondolin now, right?"

Well, soon. No point leaving the mountains in the middle of a run. After that, the rest of the vault is straightforward, netting a randart Flamberge and a ?o*ID* to use on it:

We'd have to ditch Thorin's shield to wield it, and with our current bankroll, it's probably not worth hauling back topside to sell, so we leave it.

And that's pretty much the level. Let's see what kind of trouble we can find on:

LoM 61; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

[stretches] "I think I'm getting the hang of these mountains."

Yeah, nothing too bad so far this time out. No vaults on this level, and no obvious source of superbness… ah, this troll pit in the northwest corner is probably it.

"You're kidding. C'mon, by this point, what's so superb about a bunch of trolls?"

True, it's probably not even worth the time to try training up Narthanc on them. One Mind Wave finishes off the lot of ‘em. They net a Staff of Genocide and another ?o*ID* to use on a junkart I found a few levels back:

Just for giggles, I fire it off once, getting Hard Studded Leather [+3]. :\ ‘Bout as useless as I remember, then; it stays here.

Otherwise, the level is about as boring as most 'superb' levels around this depth. Pushing on, then:

LoM 62; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

A 1x5 small level. I shudder to think what must be here for it to register as 'superb'.

"*snort* After that last level? A kobold convention would probably do it."

Well, there is a Dracolich, but that falls in four turns with Divine Aim up and doesn't drop anything of note. Ah, maybe this, your first Bronze Thunderlord. [checks notes] Hmm, 80d80hp, speed +20, decent melee damage for this depth, breathes fire and time.

"That's not much worse than the ones we've seen so far… is it?"

I think I'll fire Divine Aim back up again for this one. With that, it goes fairly quickly, falling in four turns.

"See? You worry too much."

Wanna take the next one without Divine Aim, then?

"There's another one?" [looks around]

Not here. ;) Nothing else of note on the level, besides a cursed randart ring, so we continue to:

LoM 63; "You have a very good feeling…"

"Okay, now I'm worried all of a sudden. What does this mean, a big ugly demon convention?"

[casts Precognition] Well, there is a lesser vault (arena) near the northwest corner; nothing else obviously dangerous. Another Staff of Genocide turns up early, which could be part of it. Also a randart ring with +4 speed disgorged from a chest, which probably isn't. ;) And the Hru, which is more annoying than 'very good'… :\

The vault turns up at this point, sporting an Osyluth as its worst occupant. [checks notes] Mmph, 4000hp, speed +20, and pretty decent melee damage; I think Divine Aim again.

"Ooh, not quite so stingy with the good stuff anymore, eh?" *bamf* "Uh-oh, looks like he brought friends."

Yes, we'll have to deal with the summoned Nycadaemon next… or maybe after the other summoned Osyluth… X-(

*slash slash* "See? Big ugly demon convention. I told you this would happen."

Yes, ma'am. ;) Once I finish plowing through that lot, the rest of the vault is anti-climactic, netting little of interest except another ?o*ID* to use on:

Hmm, that might be good to swap in against the randart ring that's our current source of resist nether; we'd lose its +2 CON, though. Tough call.

And that's pretty much the level, apart from an Ancient white dragon dropping Rilia, which is far past its point of utility by now. ;) And I don't think we have room to do another level in this segment, so we recall to:

Lothlorien

and *ID*:

Selling off my now superfluous stored Rod Tip of Disarming makes room for Flare's ring. Replacing Hudhol with Ereneglan loses me 50 max hp, which I don't think is worth the extra speed for now; I'll stow Ereneglan in Gondolin until I can find some more CON boosts to make up the difference. Rilia and the Shield of the Haradrim go there too, along with a couple things I pulled out of Minas Anor to make room for the Staffs of Genocide there.

"So now we're doing the invasion thing?"

Next time, maybe.

Chatter (1.1)

JackLohman: Enjoying this and all your other DiTLs. Keep it up, can't wait to read what happens next.

Intermission: Maeglin quest

"There you are. I was beginning to think you'd forgotten me."

Nope. I just figured it wasn't a good idea to try the Maeglin quest until the painkillers had worn off.

"Painkillers." [slaps forehead] "Look, be straight with me here, chief, do I have any realistic chance of getting out of this crazy place alive?"

Oh, I'm just fine, thanks for the sympathy. :\ And if you're so bored, the quest should make for some excitement.

"So we're finally gonna do this invasion thing, huh? You're sure you're good to drive up there?"

I'm good. ;) We pull Flare's ring out of storage, along with my stash of Potions of *Healing* and some of my Potions of Restore Mana… and I'm gonna break down and take Vorpal Blade with us to use on Maeglin.

"Ooh, finally giving up on the soul-sucking dagger, eh?"

Not yet, but for this quest we're going to need to do a lot of damage fast, and we'll need to take every advantage we can get, and of the Narthanc replacement candidates we've collected so far, Vorpal Blade does the most damage against evil creatures.

*swish swish* "Been a while since I swung something this big. I hope I remember how."

It's like riding a bike. ;) Once we hit Gondolin, we'll swap in Flare's ring and power up before we dive in: Adrenaline Channeling, Character Armor, berzerker/running, Tulkas prayer and Divine Aim. And here goes nothin':

Invasion of Gondolin quest

"Seriously, chief, I've got the Dig spell down here. Let me punch through these walls and get us out of here already."

That would ruin Gondolin's defenses, of which this maze is an important part. Maeglin, you see, is the only one who knows his way through the maze; if we kill him, the rest of the invading army won't be able to get to Gondolin.

"Sounds awfully convenient…"

Hey, you take your advantages where you can find them. ;) And we just cleared the maze.

"Oh, great, they're leading with the kamikazes."

Snaga sappers. We need to get past them. Swap with the Lesser Balrog to the northeast.

"Right, so how do you work this crazy ring… ah, I think that's got it:" *bamf* "Ooh, that was fun." [squints in various directions] "Oh, frag, what've you gotten me into here?"

We need to get through it, not into it. Hit the Lesser Balrog at two-o'clock.

"Right." *bamf* "Is that our Maeglin guy over there in the corner?"

That's him. Hmm, there's another Lesser Balrog in the vicinity of him that could cause problems if it crashes the proverbial party; swap with it to get it out of the way."

"Done and done." *bamf* "And next I hit the not-quite-as-good-as-me mindcrafter guy, right?"

No, the Master mindcrafter is right next to Maeglin; we'll need a couple turns to set up. Swap with the Ettin Chieftain three squares west of Maeglin, and then cast a Stone Prison.

"Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling about this?" *bamf* "Hey! Get outta the way!"

The Master mindcrafter moves next to us as we swap in, and Maeglin is right behind him. The Prison, of course, lands right on top of the poor mindcrafter, and Maeglin punches through below him, to our southeast.

"Oh, brilliant plan, chief."

The Prison wasn't to keep Maeglin out, just to limit his ability to summon.

"What, he can summon? Frag, what have you gotten me into here?"

Not now, Lisa. We swap our Ring of Damage back in; the mindcrafter blinks away, and Maeglin gets in a single hit, taking us to 977/1013hp (which isn't as bad as it looks; 40 of that 1013hp is the Adrenaline Channeling boost, which I didn't wait to top off).

"Hey, can we get back to this crazy fight down here?"

Right, we swap in Vorpal Blade, while Maeglin gets in a couple more hits, knocking us down to 957/1013hp.

"Well, if that's the worst this guy can do, this might not be so bad."

I don't think that's his worst. One round of attacks knocks Maeglin down a single star, and he replies by taking us down another 50hp.

"Oof! Okay, this is gonna hurt. Wonder if I can teek him to a standstill?" *WHUMP* "Ooh, this could work."

One Pulverize hit holds Maeglin still for the turn it takes to cast it, giving us an opening to attack and knock Maeglin down another three stars; he wakes up after that, though, and knocks us down to 880/1013hp.

"Couple more of those and I'm golden." *WHUMP*

Doesn't look like it; the next Pulverize doesn't even stop Maeglin for a single turn, and he knocks us down another 22hp.

"Okay, we do this the hard way, then."

Another round of attacks knocks Maeglin down to three stars, and he misses us.

"Pfft! What was that supposed to be?"

We don't get quite so lucky next turn; we only do one star of damage, and Maeglin knocks us down to 845/1013hp. That's enough to let us finish him off next turn, though.

"All right! Who's yer daddy?" [squints southwest] "Uh-oh, heads up, chief, those demons are back."

Yes, the Lesser Balrogs are only a few squares away, and they'll punch through our Prison as easily as Maeglin did. Hmm, I don't think I've ever tried leaving the quest via the stairs at the northeast corner; let's make a run for it, scooping up some of Maeglin's drop on the way… oh, good, it worked. I should do that more often. ;)

"Wait, now it occurs to Turgon to give me this ‘extra life’? I swear, doesn't anyone have their priorities straight in this crazy place?"

Just be glad you've got it now; it bumps us up to 1163hp (including the affects of Adrenaline Channeling). Now, let's see what we managed to get out with… enh, nothing particularly impressive, just some loot to sell off.

"Come on, I cannot possibly need more money at this point."

You never know. Gondolin's black market has another !oRM that I pick up on the way back to:

Lothlorien

where I stow Flare's ring and Vorpal Blade.

"Aw, do we have to go back to the soul-sucking dagger?"

Well, Narthanc is very close to gaining another level; I'd like to at least see what that does. We'll take that up next time.

"Back to the mountains, then?"

Back to the mountains.

LoM 63 (take 2) thru LoM 67

"‘Bout time you showed up again."

Sorry, I sort of got sucked into other projects.

"Yeah? Myself, I've been sucked into a fraggin' Tolkien novel down here. Kinda like to go home eventually."

Well, let's get back to that, then–

"Wait a minute, did you just call me a fraggin' project?"

*ahem* Mov-ing right along…:

LoM 63, take 2; "Looks like any other level."

"Yeah, I've been saying that since we started hiking up this thing. Why again are we doing this?"

There's someone at the top who has something you'll find useful.

"Uh-huh."

I tell ya, I get no respect around here–

"Heads up, chief, big dragon."

A Great Swamp Wyrm, Lisa's first. And we're right in the middle of a corridor, with nowhere to dodge.

"This is gonna hurt, isn't it?"

Don't Panic™. We'll seal him up in a Stone Prison while we power up: Adrenaline Channeling, Character Armor, and Tulkas prayer should be good enough for now.

"You're holding out on me again."

Gotta save something for the real heavy hitters, after all.

"‘Heavy hitters’? What do you call this guy?"

I call him dead after six turns of attacks. Apparently I had some Divine Aim critical hits left over from the assault on Maeglin. And on cue, Narthanc hits level 41, gaining no powers.

"I still don't get what you see in this crazy soul-sucking dagger."

Well, I've never levelled one of the sentient weapons all the way up; I want to see what it's capable of.

"*groan…*"

;) Of note among the Wyrm's drop is Lisa's first two Amulets of Trickery. [checks notes] Enh, they don't beat Elessar, but they should sell for a bit. Nothing else of note on the level, so we continue to:

LoM 64; "You have an excellent feeling…"

No, I don't; Lisa's first Beholder hive-mother is showing up on telepathy nearby, in the middle of a small ad hoc monster group of 'e's.

"That doesn't sound good."

You don't know the half of it. In fact, I'm not even gonna bother trying to fight it; I just seal it up in a Stone Prison as it approaches.

"Ooh, can we do that to all the monsters up here?"

Sadly, no. In the meantime, the excellent feeling appears to have come from Thunderfist, which I find lying on the floor in the very first room. At least, I assume that's what it was, ‘coz there's nothin' else going on here. Maybe we'll have better luck on:

LoM 65; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

"So, is that a yes or a no?"

Well, considering we're on a 3x1 small level with what looks like a lesser vault (Major Boss Vault) at the west end, I'm gonna go with a definite 'maybe'.

[slaps forehead] "You're no help. Now c'mon, looks like we've got company."

Yes, there is quite a crowd in the room just to our east, mostly Air hounds and Vampiric mists, but there is a Death drake that drops a randart amulet. And, to my surprise, Uldor, desperately out of depth.

"Ha! You stinkin' dungeon crawlers are always getting the best of me. Well, no more! I'll get to the top of this mountain before you, and I'll get Trone's coat, and with its power, I will–"

*slash slash* "Wait, were you saying something? Sorry."

Poor guy falls in a single turn. >:> The vault, similarly, is a total washout, mostly populated with Water hounds and containing a single Catapult Trap Set that doesn't survive the automatizer.

"So, who is this Trone guy, and what's the deal with his coat? Is that what we're going up the mountain after?"

Yep. It's not as powerful as Uldor made it out to be, but it will be useful to you.

"And Trone?"

I'm sure you can take him.

"*groan* I knew I shouldn't have asked."

;) Anyway, let's move on:

LoM 66; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

"What, another small level?"

[checks] Nope. We do have another Great Swamp Wyrm showing up nearby, though, in, as it turns out, a lesser vault (bank). Shall we take it out first?

"Right, sure. What could possibly go wrong?"

;) Also in the vault with the Wyrm are a Demonologist and an Experienced possessor (soul) who make pests of themselves summoning stuff at me (notably a Spectre who blanks my memory; nothing that another Precognition can't patch up, but still…) until I manage to get to them and finish them off. The Wyrm's drop, amusingly, includes an Amulet of Telepathy, which would be quite useful if we didn't already have the real thing.

For all its supposed 'superbness', the level is overall boring, apart from getting Belangil from an early White wraith, and even that's not particularly interesting. Oh, and finding a Yellow light raw meat about midway through the level.

"O-kay, you wanna explain to me how this works, chief?"

Can I get back to you on that, actually? The level just got interesting, with an ad hoc monster group of 'A's, including three Archons. For this I think I'll add Divine Aim and berzerker/running on top of Adrenaline Channeling and Tulkas prayer.

"Oh, don't go out of your way on my account or anything…"

;) After powering through the angels, and the annoying pack of Water hounds behind them, I sift through the surprisingly copious loot… enh, nothing of note. And that appears to be all the excitement for this level. Hmm, I think we have room for one or two more:

LoM 67; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

"Okay, this is getting ridiculous."

It's probably to be expected at these depths.

"Heights. We're climbing a mountain, remember?"

Details. An early room turns up a sleeping Uriel, who I decide not to tangle with.

"I wholeheartedly endorse this new strategy of yours."

Enh, I'd rather have fire immunity for Uriel. Overall, apart from that early scare, the level is generally uneventful, except for a sanity hit from a Phantom early on.

"Yeah, and you make one crack about these new Centauri ‘appendages’ I just grew and I'm coming up there and decking you."

Riiiight… I'm gonna take that as a sign that it's time to head back topside:

Lothlorien

and *ID*:

Two !oCLIns patches up the sanity hit.

"*whew* I don't ever want to go through that again. I mean, one would be weird enough, but six…"

;) Let's see, this being v2.2.7, we can't just stick Thunderfist and Belangil in the Mathom-house. [checks notes] Ah, we still have room in our Gondolin house. And as long as I'm out and about, I poke my head briefly into the tops of Mirkwood and Mordor to pick off a couple accumulated minor fates.

"So it looked like we were getting pretty close to the top of that mountain."

Yeah, one more push like that should get us to the top…

Chatter (1.3)

EwanMcNay Yay, more Lisa :). Your public were getting restless, y'know... ;)

LoM 67 (take 2) thru LoM 70

"C'mon, let's go. I wanna get to the top and see this Trone guy you've got me so worried about."

Seriously, I think you can take him. But if you're in such a hurry, then as you say, let's go:

LoM 67, take 2; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

"Oh, good grief, is there anything up here I'm not supposed to feel ‘superb’ about?"

(shrug) Don't look at me. Notable off to our south as we enter is a lesser vault (Mini Maze); not much, but it does have a !oH in it, so I swing by and pick it up just for completeness—after punching through a Death drake between us and it that drops a {cursed} randart Hard Leather Armor, that I leave where it fell.

"All right, how did these guys make it all the way up here in one piece?"

What, the Novices mages that are (or were) the sole occupants of said vault? Beats me. You have bigger problems at the moment, though, in the form of a Maulotaur that gets off no fewer than three plasma bolts at me before I finally twig that it's not a White harpy. :o

[slaps forehead] "Ya know what? You stay here; I'd probably have a better chance against Trone going solo."

No worries; we'll just emPrison him while we rest up, and then use the same strategy we used against the last one: fall back and Pulverize him to death from a distance. And to make up for it, I'll fire up Divine Aim for you to use against your first Great Storm Wyrm, who turns up not much further in.

"Oh, you don't get off that easy. Get me home in one piece and I might forgive you."

That's what I'm trying to do… And I can see that Wyrms are going to starting becoming more common, as Lisa's first Great Wyrm of Perplexity shows up another few rooms to the east. This one at least drops a Ring of Speed (+9), along with a randart Metal Cap, for which I happen to have picked up a ?o*ID* earlier:

Enh, it doesn't beat Holhenneth; leave it. And speaking of leaving, I think we'll dodge this Grand master mystic we're sensing to the north and push on to:

LoM 68; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

"I wholeheartedly endorse this new strategy. Can we dodge more monsters?"

Not as many as you'd probably like, alas. ;) This level sports a lesser vault (Cross) with Lisa's first Great Wyrm of Thunder.

"Another one? Frag, how many different kinds of these things are there?"

Pray, Lisa, that you never have to face off against a Great Wyrm of Power. :\ This one, though, isn't much tougher than the ones we've faced so far, so it dies in a fairly orderly fashion. >:> Otherwise, the vault is unremarkable, except for a randart Scimitar dropped by a pack of Hill trolls therein. Of somewhat more interest immediately to the south of the vault is The Cat Lord.

"Cat lord? ‘Scuse me, I have a cat, and they don't take orders from nobody."

[checks notes] Hmm, he doesn't look too tough: 4800hp, speed +20, and his attacks do confusion, drain DEX, blindness and paralyze, all of which we resist. I'll give you Divine Aim, though, just to be safe.

"Okay, now you're just patronizing me."

Sorry. ;) And as predicted, the eponymous feline magistrate falls in six turns with little fuss, except that we don't in fact have sustain DEX. :o Not to worry, though, that's why we're packing a restore junkart. ;) His drop is generally uninteresting. As is the rest of the level, frankly, beyond finding the Lance of Eorlingas on the floor near the end.

"You're kidding. What is this, high-altitude jousting as a spectator sport?"

You laugh, but I've got a Yeek Polearmmaster who'd kill for this thing.

"Mm, stellar plan there, guv. Suppose it comes package with the two dozen or so Potions of Strength I'd need to even pick the blighter up, then, yeah?"

Yeesh, you and Gathraka need to get together and swap sarcasm technique tips or something.

"I heard that, Human." X-(

*chuckle* "Man, where do you find these people, chief?"

Just don't even ask: :\

LoM 69; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

"Does that line even mean anything anymore?"

Prob'ly not. There doesn't even seem to be anything particularly interesting on the level, apart from three Wyrms in fairly close proximity (Storm, Bile [first] and Thunder), and even those are starting to become commonplace.

*slash slash slash* "Oh, yeah, I fight gigantic fifty-foot dragons with crazy soul-sucking daggers every fraggin' day ‘round these parts. Just for the amusement of putting my fraggin' life in mortal peril, you understand."

What is this, a sarcasm convention or something? :\ Well, the Wyrm of Thunder dropped another Ring of Speed (+9), so that's something. Oh, and this other ring I picked up earlier seems to be a randart. Okay, and this Fireproof Scroll of Acquirement, but all it nets is a Magic Trap Set that the automatizer gets to before I can even ID it.

"See what I mean about these ‘superb’ levels?" [looks around] "Hey, I think we're almost at the peak."

We just arrived, in fact:

LoM 70; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

"Well, I feel pretty ‘superb’ about finally getting up this far. So where's this Trone guy you've been going on about?"

He's here somewhere. Hmm, and Precognition is picking up not one but two vaults: a lesser vault (Minor Boss Vault) off to the northwest, and something larger and unidentifiable off to the east.

"Vaults later, Trone now."

Well, it's nice to have a character with some enthusiasm for a change.

"Enthusiasm nothing, I wanna get rid of Trone and go back down to ground level. It's fraggin' cold up here."

Sorry. ;) Well, while we're looking for Trone, we'll try the east vault—which works out well, since that's where he is.

"All right, ‘fess up, chief, you planned that."

Not me. He's kind of back in a cubbyhole of the vault-ish room, so we'll have to fight through most of the rest of its occupants to get to him. The only one of note, really, is a Great Swamp Wyrm, and even that is only somewhat noteworthy.

"He's on to us."

And Trone is moving. I think we'll hang here on the south side of the outer 'ring' of the vault and let him come to us.

"So you gonna tell me anything about this guy, or do I get to be surprised?"

[checks notes] Let's see, 8000hp, speed +20, breathes fire and time, mana bolt and summon-Thunderlord spell, and pretty nasty melee damage.

"That's bad, isn't it?"

Well, I'm definitely gonna go full suite on this one: on top of Adrenaline Channeling and Tulkas prayer, which were already up, I add berzerker/running and Divine Aim, just as he rounds the corner and moves next to me.

"So, you made it to the top after all." First round of attacks, I don't even take a star off him; on the other hand, he only knocks me down to 1028/1163hp. "I was hoping you would. It's been so long since someone has." Second round knocks him down two stars, and he summons… Marda. "I even invited a guest for the special occasion."

"Uh… chief?"

@#$%, I knew I should've laid down some kind of anti-summoning cover. I try using Minor Displacement to make a void jumpgate to a better position in the vault, but it fails; Trone and Marda take the opportunity to smack me down to 835/1163hp, after which Marda mercifully blinks away into a room to the south.

"Aww, I guess she thought two on one wasn't sporting." Third turn, I don't even manage another star against him, and he knocks me down to 698/1163hp. Urk. I think I'll toss back a !oH, leaving me at 990/1163hp after his attacks.

"Yeah, and I guess you thought you couldn't take me on solo." Round four, I smack him down another two stars—and he breathes fire, knocking me down to 439/1163hp. :\

"You were saying?" >:>

Uh… ‘scuse us. [casts Major Displacement] Okay, note to self: 'full suite' also includes Character Armor. :o

[sound F/X: forehead repeatedly striking wall] "Did you think I was kidding when I told you to let me take him solo?"

We can still take him. [re-reads messages] Okay, he didn't get teleported away by your Major Displacement, so he'll still be back in the vault. We, by contrast, are now near the west edge of the level, so we've got some backtracking to do to get back.

"Heads up, chief, we've got demons incoming."

Vrocks, coming out of the vault on the western exit that we're coming in on. And Trone's not in telepathy range yet… there he is, on the south side where we left him, and rested back up to full health. We've got time to clear out the Vrocks, then, to make sure they don't cause trouble. Now, then: 

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We'll make our stand at the point marked '1', with Trone positioned at the point marked '2'. First we cast Stone Prison at point '2' to block off the square south of it, so that he can't dog-leg us from there. We'll have to Dig out an access diagonal for him through the square southeast of point '2', and then we move into position, lay down another Prison around us, and wait patiently for him to make it past the Black harpy that's blocking his approach. >:> As he approaches, we power back up again, this time remembering Character Armor. :o

"Aww, I'm disappointed." First round, he's down a star, we're down to 1063/1163hp. "You're not nearly as tough as your advance billing made you out to be."

"Yeah, blame my stupid narrator for that." Round two, he's down another star, and he breathes time, knocking us down to 913/1163hp. "*oof!* Whoa, wait a minute, I have advance billing?"

"Slayer of Durin's Bane? Defeater of Maeglin? Those are not mean feats, good lady." Round three, he's down another star, and we're down to 867/1163hp. "And that's not even to speak of the… other rumors."

"Rumors? Who's spreading rumors about li'l ol' me?" We toss back another !oH just for safety, taking us back up to full; Trone wastes the turn casting an ineffectual fear spell at me.

"They say you're not from Arda, not part of Eru's Great Song." Round four knocks Trone down to five stars, and he misses this turn thanks to our slight speed advantage over him. "They say you're from… elsewhere—the same ‘elsewhere’ as Morgoth's mysterious ‘guests’"

"What, the Drakh?" Round five, Trone's down another star, and he breathes time again, but for much less damage, leaving us at 1016/1163hp. "What do you know about them?"

"Less than you, it would seem." Round six, Trone's down to three stars, and he wanders southwest out of position. [re-reads messages] Hmm, it doesn't say he's fleeing. We splash him with a couple Pulverizes and knock him down to two stars before he returns to position. "Do tell."

"All I know is I've gotta get past ‘em to get home." Round seven brings Trone down to one star and fleeing. Well, sort of fleeing; he casts another useless fear spell. "If you know why Morgoth brought them here, though, that might help."

"Alas, no; I was hoping you might. And it seems I underestimated you." Round eight finishes the job. "Tell Marda… I love her…"

"You are outta your gourd, cowboy. That Marda lady of yours looked downright psychotic; I ain't goin' anywhere near her."

Hmm, actually, Marda's a rare event. [checks notes] I've only run into her twice in all my years of playing, and only Lil has killed her. It's tempting to go fight her just for–

"For what? What on earth would I want to fight her for? Especially after I just got through with this time-breathing psycho. I mean, he breathed fraggin' time at me. How does that even work?"

(shrug) You're right, I suppose; we'll leave Marda standing. A quick sweep through the loot reveals Isildur and Beruthiel along with Trone's coat, which is what we were after anyway. Let's head back, then, to:

Lothlorien

and *ID*:

*shudder* Good thing I didn't fat-finger that junkart…

"So what's so great about this coat of Trone's?"

Well, fire immunity's nothing to sneeze at. You know that fire breath of Trone's that hurt so bad? With this coat on, you wouldn't even have felt it.

"Ah, so once again, perfect timing: I get something useful right after I could've most used it. Ah well, I'll take it anyway."

Plus we don't need Colluin anymore for base resists, so we can swap in this Fur Cloak of the Magi for another +3 speed.

"Ah. Yeah, okay, I think I can live with that."

I thought you might. ;) We swing by Gondolin, our last house with any space left, to stow the artifacts. Hmm, the black market has a Rod Tip of Healing, and I've got an Adamantite Rod of the Istari back home taking up space… :)

"Ooh, so this is something you won't be as stingy with as the potions?"

Hmm, I dunno; it takes no fewer than seven times to successfully activate the rod once we've assembled it. Dumping my last five skill points into Magic-Device seem to help, though, as I get the next three shots off in a row. :)

"So, apparently this Morgoth/Drakh thing is big news around these parts."

Yes, and I'm thinking it's time we started taking the proverbial fight to Morgoth.

"‘Bout time. So we're off to Morgoth's place next?"

We can't go to Morgoth directly yet; we'll have to fight our way up the chain of command. First stop is Dol Guldur and the Necromancer.

Chatter (1.4)

ZizzoTheInfinite: And an updated character sheet through the Land of Mountains.

Chapter 7: The Coming of Shadows

"Hey, yeah, I heard the Elf lady talking about some Necromancer guy. Haven't we already killed some of those, though?"

Those were actual Necromancers; the Necromancer of Dol Guldur isn't.

"So he's, what, just some kind of poseur?"

Well, the Elven leaders believe he may actually be Sauron the Sorcerer, one of Morgoth's lieutenants. We'll need to take him out first.

"Right, ‘chain of command’, like you said." *snort* "Sounds like those old videogames where you had to kill all the boss monsters on all the other levels before getting to the final badguy at the end."

I'm not goin' anywhere near that one… ;) And I think we're ready to start:

TDG 57 thru TDG 63

TDG 57; "You have a very good feeling…"

*shudder* "Okay, I'm getting that same weird vibe I had back in Mirkwood."

Must've been from the Necromancer after all, then. In the meantime, the entry room is annoyingly crowded; I think I'll duck through out this conveniently placed door and let them come to me.

[pokes head back through door] "I think they're asleep, chief."

Indeed they are. Well, Trone's coat and the Cloak of the Magi you just recently started wearing both boost your Stealth, which I see is now up to Superb.

"Cool. Any chance we could just sneak off and let them be?"

Too risky; they could wake up and take us from behind. With Divine Aim and Tulkas prayer, they're pretty quick to pick off anyway.

In the meantime, the level is a 1x3 small level, with Fundin Bluecloak putting in an early cameo.

"Hey, Reverend, what's up? I thought you weren't going after Morgoth."

"Ah, thou seekest the mysterious Necromancer, eh? To make test of the rumors of his true identity, and his link to the Lord of Darkness? Nay, my quest is a more personal one: I seek my kinsman, Thrain, King of old Under the Mountain, whom rumor tells was taken by the Necromancer and imprisoned in this very tower."

"Yeah? Well, I'm headed up the tower anyway after the Necromancer; I'll keep an eye out for Thrain, then."

"I am grateful for thy aid, noble stranger. With two pairs of eyes, mayhap we shall find him all the faster!" [I dismiss Fundin at this point]

"So this Necromancer guy gets around, huh?"

Apparently. Anyway, the level is over quickly, netting a randart Great Axe from an early Death quasit. Moving on, then:

TDG 58; "You have a very good feeling…"

*sniff sniff* "So is there a particular reason this tower was built on the site of a toxic waste dump?"

Hm? Oh, that's just tainted water, Dol Guldur's signature terrain type. This level's larger at 3x5, but no more challenging. Though there is the mild amusement of taking an Ancient red dragon breath full in the face and not even flinching. ;)

"So this isn't so bad, then."

We're at about mid-Land-of-Mountains difficulty levels here; it'll get harder as we go up.

"I knew I shouldn't have asked…"

;) We do find a ?o*ID* that I can use on that randart axe:

Decent damage, but I'd have to swap out Thorin's shield; leave it. And on we go to:

TDG 59; "You feel strangely lucky…"

Another 3x5 small level, and a lit arena level, one of the fringe benefits of still being in v2.2.7. Not that it would have mattered with Precognition anyway, but still. And man, Lisa's stealth is amazing—almost nothing wakes up before we get to it, and very few monsters can survive even a single round of attacks. Well, okay, except for this Demilich, who blinks away to a safe distance only a single star down and summons nasty undead around me, notably including another Demilich… :o

[slaps forehead] "I should've known it couldn't last. Now what, Chief?"

Now we Phase-door away, drop a Stone Prison around ourselves, fire up Adrenaline Channeling, Divine Aim and Character Armor, crank up to berzerker/running, and let them come to us. Much carnage later, everything is dead and we're only down to 991/1133hp. See? That wasn't so bad.

*groan* "Remind me again how a girl checks out of this chicken outfit."

;) Nothing else puts up any fight, so we continue to:

TDG 60; "You have a good feeling…"

A 1x1 small level, so not much to see, apart from a nascent Blood Sprout infestation in the entry room that I Pulverize before it can get away from me. Oh, and a smallish room full of Vrocks, who all die in their sleep. >:> Hopefully we'll have that kind of luck on:

TDG 61; "Looks like any other level."

Which is more true than usual, since it turns out to be another 3x5 lit arena level.

[looks around] "Okay, where's the Demilich?"

I do try to avoid making the same mistake twice in rapid succession… :o The toughest monster on this level appears to be a Dracolisk, only Lisa's second. [checks notes] They're not so bad at 3500hp and +10 speed; I'll fire up Adrenaline Channeling and Divine Aim for it, though.

"Oh, don't put yourself out on my account or anything…"

That's quite enough of that, young lady. ;) The Dracolisk falls in four turns, and drops a randart Ribbed Plate Armor. Hmm, looks like I spoke too soon; here's Lisa's first Great Ice Wyrm in a checkerboard pit. [checks notes] Not much worse, 4000hp and +10 speed. It breathes cold, though, so we'll add Character Armor along with everything else… not bad, another four turns. It drops a randart Broad Sword.

"No, that was from those Uruks a couple rooms back."

It was? [re-(I)nspects sword] So it was. Ah, but these Cesti did come from the Wyrm, and they're Fingolfin's—and if I'm not mistaken, they're a strict superset of the Gauntlets of Agility we're currently wearing, so they'll go on immediately. :)

Nothing else of interest on the level, so we push on to:

TDG 62; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

*groan* "Back to these again?"

And it's already looking pretty 'superb', with two Death drakes and an Enchantress showing up on telepathy to our south. The level is a 3x3 small level, so maybe there won't be too much of that.

"Oh, this is more than enough, thanks."

Indeed. Adrenaline Channeling on to sneak up and take down the Enchantress quickly before she can summon anything. Now for the–

"Hey, is that one of those moving wall things?"

A Lesser wall monster, hiding in a corridor. We'd better go pick that off before it wakes up and starts breeding. And now for the Death drakes… three turns each, without Divine Aim. *whew* I think we can do this.

"Just don't get cocky on me up there again."

No, ma'am. :o After that rather tense start, a comparatively uneventful level. A Knight Templar drops a randart Dagger with +3 attacks, but that's about it. And I think we've got room for one more level, if it's a quiet one:

TDG 63; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

"So much for that plan."

Indeed; monsters in telepathy range include a Great Swamp Wyrm, a Great Wyrm of Perplexity, a Hand druj, and another Demilich—and monsters in visual range include an Ethereal dragon right in the entry room. And the level is 3x5, with a vaultish-looking room in the northeast corner.

*groan* "This is gonna hurt. All right, power me up, Chief, let's do this."

That's the spirit. ;) That's Adrenaline Channeling, Character Armor, Tulkas prayer and berzerker/running; we'll save Divine Aim for the really heavy hitters.

"‘Heavy hitters’? What do you call that?"

The Ethereal dragon? I call it dead in three turns. >:> Hmm, the Demilich is awake to our north; I think he'll get Divine Aim. He's down in another three turns. Now we head south, where most of the nearby monsters are lurking in a four-subroom pit. The Swamp Wyrm in the southeast subroom wakes up as we approach; he gets the last dregs of Divine Aim, and falls in five turns.

"Wanna fire that up again?"

Let's swing around to the northwest subroom and use it on the Wyrm of Perplexity. Four turns for him, and another four for the Dracolich behind him. And that's enough to push Narthanc up to level 42; it gains a power from the Air realm, namely… [checks notes] levitation. For all the good it does us, considering we're getting flight from Trone's coat. :\

[slaps forehead] "Well, that was certainly worth all the effort. And that means it's not going to get all the extra attacks we wanted, right?"

Not necessarily, but we will have to wait for it to gain another level for another chance at the Earth realm and the extra-attacks flag therein. In the meantime, let's see how much more damage we can do down here. >:> The Hand druj is in the southwest subroom, next to the outer wall on the south; we let the rest of the subroom's occupants drain out, then Dig through the wall on a dog-leg and Pulverize the druj to death.

*whew* "I think that's the worst of ‘em. Man, what a mess."

Lotta loot to sort through. Notably a Ring of Speed (+7) from the Swamp Wyrm; we've got better topside, though. Also the Seeker Arrow 'Bullseye' from the Wyrm of Perplexity and a randart Rhino Hide Armor from the Dracolich.

Now, let's go see what's in that other vaultish room–

"Heads up, chief, we've got incoming."

Two Hru. That probably means… [casts Precognition] a giant pit nearby. Which probably means more Hru. And ya know what? I don't really feel like fighting them. Let's see where this nearby void jumpgate will take us.

"I wholeheartedly approve of this strategy."

;) Ah, pooh, it just takes us back to the four-subroom pit. Okay, not a problem, we can circumnavigate the Hru to the south and get to the vault… ah. It's got a nice pack of Barbazu in it. And Tselakus. That's more effort than I really feel like going to right now.

"Ooh, I'm liking this new line of thinking of yours. How long can we keep going with this plan?"

No more today; it's time to head back up to:

Loth^H^H^H^HWilderness

[slaps forehead] And from there to:

Lothlorien

where we *ID*:

Neither of the weapons beats what I've already got stowed, and the armors are pretty much a wash, so they all get sold. [checks notes] Hmm, I don't have enough room left in the old limited v2.2 Mathom-house for a full Nazgûl ring collection; I think I'll skip that and use the rest of the room for stuff like Bullseye here.

"So how far'd we get up the tower?"

About halfway. Dunno if we can match that next time, but at this rate it shouldn't take us more than another two runs.

"Good. I wanna clear this level boss and move on."

*groan…*

TDG 63 (take 2) thru TDG 66 (take 3)

"C'mon, let's go. I wanna get to the top of the tower this time out."

We'll certainly try:

TDG 63, take 2; "Looks like any other level."

In particular, looks like a 3x3 small level, and a dark arena level, which is rare in v2.2. Nothing that Precognition can't handle, though. ;)

[squints in various directions] "I'm not seein' anything of interest here. Can we go?"

Well, there is a Potion of Life in this room to our east. Oh, and a Potion of *Healing* dropped by a Forest wight that got in our way. Other than that, you're right, no point walking the level; we hop the first down stairs to:

TDG 64; "Looks like any other level."

Another 3x3 small level, this one with a lesser vault (temple at abydos) containing, among other nasties, a Great Storm Wyrm, a Dracolisk, a Hru and a Knight Templar.

"Yeah, but we're skipping these now, right?"

What makes you think that?

"We skipped the last one."

That was just because it was at the end of the session and I was tired. Now I'm rested and ready.

[slaps forehead] "I knew I shouldn't have asked…"

;) Now, the Hru worries me most of the lot, so we're gonna get rid of him first. And since I really don't want to melee him, we'll use Mind Wave ping-pong, letting him dig his own ping-pong tunnel: 

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"He's off the lineup, Chief."