Contents

  1. Parallel Bjorn, part 3
    1. CHAPTER 8: In the Land of Mordor Where, Like, There's Lots of Shadows and Stuff...
      1. Part 1 of 8
      2. Part 2 of 8
      3. Part 3 of 8
      4. Part 4 of 8
      5. Part 5 of 8
      6. Part 6 of 8
      7. Part 7 of 8

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Character sheet

Parallel Bjorn, part 3

CHAPTER 8: In the Land of Mordor Where, Like, There's Lots of Shadows and Stuff...

Part 1 of 8

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

"So what's Mortar like?"

Kind of like Moria, except with lava instead of water—which is why fire immunity is important. And the early levels are going to be significantly easier than the low levels of the Sacred Land of Mountains.

"Excellent, I could use some slack-off time. Let's do it."

Hmm, it feels like I'm forgetting to mention something…

Mdr 34: Princess quest for Draebor the Imp

/!\ "Dude, you have got to be kidding me."

Ah, yes, that was it: Mordor is one of the main-line dungeons, so we'll be getting random quests again.

"What, so the badguys just, like, took a break from kidnapping princesses while we were in the Righteous Mountains, and now they've started up again, just in time for use to arrive here in Mortar?"

(shrug) Well, we don't know how long she's actually been held here.

"Whoa, good point. We better go find her, then."

As predicted, the level is little challenge. The most interesting bit is finally taking on a jelly pit with Bjorn, an assault made much easier with a high-powered Noxious Cloud.

"Dude, that was disgusting. I've got slimy stuff all in my fur now."

I'm sure it'll wash out. I finally find the quest room in the northeast corner of the level.

"Oh, brave hero, save me!"

"That's what I'm here for, Princess Lady." *slash slash* *thud* "Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

"That matters not, brave warrior, now that you have rescued me."

"So, like, just for reference, are you Zoot, Clarice, or Officer Jenny?"

"I am Princess Vespa of Castle Druidia. But Zoot and Clarice have told me of your great bravery in rescuing them."

"Well, I don't wanna brag or nothin'…"

Oh dear gods, he's really starting to sound like Zizzo now…

"Hmph. True adventurers are never respected in their time. (zizz)"

|) Draebor falls in two turns, and drops a Small Wooden Boomerang (+7,+2) and a Dagger (+4,+6). The reward choices are a Ball-and-Chain, a Dagger or a Beaked Axe. Not much to distinguish them; I take the axe. Just on principle, I walk across the lava moat to get to the reward, rather than going around the back way. Fire immunity is fun… ;) The quest reward turns out to be:

Heh, at this rate my Gondolin house will be full before long; I'm not sure I want to try for the Khazad-dum house…

A quick sweep over the rest of the level, and then on to:

Mdr 35

"You have a superb feeling about this level."

Not again… :\ Hmm, actually, the superb feeling appears to be connected to a nearby vault; we'll come back and explore that.

Further exploration reveals a second, smaller vault to the north of the first, one of those strange, vault-esque rooms that don't show up in v_info.txt: 

#######################
^##########^##########^
#######....^....######^
#######..q.^....#######
^#######...^.=.#######^
^#######...^..,########
^#####^#%^^^^^%#*######
^#-.###^=\.^...^###..##
^#...|%....^....%=...##
##-_..^..(.^.|.{^..?=##
#%....^.=.^^^...^...?%#
%^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^_
^%....^.-^^^^.>.^....%^
##...=^.--.^....^....#^
##{...%|?\!^.......\.#^
##..###^..!^...^###..#^
######^#%^^^^^.#.######
########/!!^...#######^
^#######.\.^...########
#######....^....#######
#######...{^//..######^
##########%^%#########^

This is after clearing out the room. The '%' squares are where I had to punch through with Thrain's wand; I think the walls in the middle were meant to be diggable, but in Mordor they came out as undiggable mountains. The vault nets nothing of interest, except a Scroll of Acquirement—which, alas, nets a Device Trap Set that the automatizer gets to before I do. :\

The other vault is immediately below it; it's one of those maze-like rooms. Its most notable occupant is the Lernaean Hydra. [check notes] Hmm, 4500hp, speed +10, 140 AC, nasty melee attacks with fire and poison damage, fire and poison breaths, assorted fire- and poison-based spells, and summon hydra and summon kin spells (wait, isn't that redundant?). Hmm, I've got fire covered with Trone's coat; for poison, I'll fire up Poison Blood, and of course Manwe's Blessing for close combat. On reflection, of course, I prob'ly should have done all this before luring it out, as all my spellcasting gives it time to summon hydras. [checks visible monsters window] A 5-headed, a 7-headed, two 9-headeds and an 11-headed. Fire and poison. Perfect.

"Halt, you snake-headed evildoer! Your hoarded minions will availify you not!"

[slaps forehead] The Lernaean Hydra falls in four turns, without even getting in a hit; the other hydras (hydrae?) take a single turn each.

[dusts off armor] "Man, you were right, dude. This is easy."

Nothing else of great interest in the maze, so we move on to:

Mdr 36: Fumblefingers quest for 13 Giant rocs

"So, Crazy Sword Guy's back too, huh?"

Yeah, that's one of the downsides of my strategy; with almost all our skill points used up, there's not much he can give us that will be useful. Oh, watch that Giant roc, it's practically on top of you.

"No prob', dude." *slash slash slash* *thump* "See? Even that annoying little demon midget dude Grape-or was tougher than that."

Nothing of interest this level, except:

Not bad, but I can't afford to swap out either of my rings. The reward choices for the Fumblefingers quest are Monster-lore, Weaponmastery, Combat and Divination. Hmm, more Divination wouldn't do me any good, Weaponmastery is useless, and even Monster-lore wouldn't let me get experience from my eagles' kill; Combat it is, then.

And that finishes the level; on to:

Mdr 37

"This level can't be all bad…" A 3x3 small level, over quickly. Hmm, odd thing; I just noticed that my CON somehow got docked five "percentile" points. I was sure I had that maxed… oh well, here's a Potion of Constitution, which gets it back up to 18/218; looks like I'll need two more to top it back off.

Anyway, let's move on:

Mdr 38: Fumblefingers quest for 16 Master liches (lichi? leece?)

"You have a good feeling…" No, not really, because this time I am carrying a wand they can drain. Well, it's not irreplaceable; I'll drop it in a corner over here and come back for it later. Don't let me forget, Bjorn.

"‘Kay."

Two of the Master liches are in the entry room with me; the second pushes me over the top to… (drum roll) clvl 50, with all skill points going to Prayer. My unhasted speed in bear form finally bottoms out at -15, reducing my top speed to +34. Darn… ;) The liches also dropped another Potion of Constitution, leaving me one point from max. The third lich drops:

Hmm, I am missing resist sound, and another +3 speed is nothing to sneeze at, but I don't like that anti-teleportation. Enh, maybe it'll sell for a bit.

The rest of the 3x5 small level proceeds relatively uneventfully. A pack of assorted monsters near the southwest corner drops:

The quest reward choices are Magic, Necromancy, Mindcraft and Monster-lore; pretty much a no-brainer for Magic. And my pack is getting kinda full, so it's time to head back:

Wilderness

"Oh! Dude, don't forget–"

Ah, @#$%, I did forget the Wand of Stone Prison, didn't I? Ah well, as I said, it's not irreplaceable. As long as I'm in the neighborhood, I stop by:

Minas Anor

and sell off the randart boomerangs… oh, wait, I have to uncurse Glimdrir before I can sell it, and the Temple doesn't have any ?oRC in stock. Ah well, let's try again in:

Bree

All they have here is Scrolls of *Remove Curse*, but I'll make it back in proceeds from the boomerang. And speaking of profligacy, the Black Market has a Potion of Augmentation that I buy to top off my CON again. Next stop:

Gondolin

to stow the rest of the artifacts and pick up one of my spare Wands of Stone Prison. Finally back home to:

Lothlorien

where the Black Market, amusingly, is selling a Portable hole for a mere 17600gp. A bargain at half the price, I believe the saying is… ;) Back to the dungeon next time, then.

Part 2 of 8

Hmm, anything I need to do before heading back in?

"Hey, dude, what're we gonna do with all these leftover bottles?"

(shrug) Try any fountains we happen to find, I suppose. They're not too heavy considering your STR, and we can always ditch them if we really need inventory space.

"‘Kay."

Okay, then, let's return to:

Mdr 38, take 2

"Looks like any other level." Any other destroyed level, to be more precise. I've got 74 charges left on Thrain's wand, so we should be okay for now.

The level is uneventful, and mercifully brief; we proceed to:

Mdr 39

"You feel your luck is turning…" Still nothing of interest.

"Dude, this is getting boring, like those Barrel Downs."

It'll get better eventually. Let's try:

Mdr 40: Princess quest for 12 Ancient red dragons

"You have a very good feeling…" There, see?

"Uh, dude, those are fire breathers; they can't hurt me in this new coat, ‘member?"

Not all their attacks are fire-based.

(shrug) "‘Kay, let's see what they've got."

That's the spirit. And here they come, just a few rooms into the level.

"All righty, then. Halt, you evil lizards! Your hot will avail you not!"

:\ Um…

"Gotta intimidate ‘em, dude. Psychographical warfare and all that."

:\ Bjorn may have been right, though; the dragons are a pushover. I don't even bother luring them into ambushes or taking them on one at a time; I just charge. The Gnome mages on the far side of the room were more of a hassle. The quest reward choices are Arrows, a Lucerne Hammer, or a Tulwar; I go with the Arrows, which turn out to be 24 Arrows of Slay Undead (+9,+4). Enh, that might sell for a bit. The only loot of interest is a Scroll of Genocide dropped by one of the dragons. Hmm, I take that back, the Gnomes dropped a Scroll of Acquirement, which nets a Small Metal Boomerang of *Slay Orc* (+9,+4) (+2). Enh, again, more cash.

No point in finishing off the level, I think; onward to:

Mdr 41

"You like the look of this place…" A lot more lava on this level; going for Trone's coat was apparently the right move. Not much else of interest, though, except for a fountain of Healing that nets me 8 potions. Moving on, then:

Mdr 42: Princess quest for 5 Ancient multi-hued dragons

"You have a superb feeling about this level." There, that should be a challenge.

"Better, but still needs work. Let's go find ‘em."

Again, the dragons aren't very far in; they approach single file, punching through a pack of Ghouls. I think I'd better fire up Manwe's Blessing for this…

"Dude, you worry too much."

These guys I'd rather not face two at once, if it's okay with you.

"Whatever, dude."

The dragons aren't too much trouble; I can see via Sense Monsters, though, that I'm gonna have punch through a few more packs of monsters to get to the quest reward. Speaking of which, the choices are a Small Metal Shield, a Bastard Sword, or a Lead-Filled Mace. Enh; I go with the sword.

With the dragons out of the way, I charge out of my ambush corner into the Ghouls, then punch through a pack of Cold hounds and some Water trolls to get to the quest room and retrieve my reward: a Chaotic Bastard Sword (+10,+12). Enh, let's see if the dragons did better… well, this Whip of Extra Attacks (+11,+3) (+1) should fetch a good price. Hmm, the pack is getting kinda full, but I think I can go another level at least:

Mdr 43

"You have a very good feeling…" Nothing of note happens, except for a Cherub that gets a few summons in before I can conjure up an eagle to take him down with. Eventually I just scatter him and all his hordes to the winds with Teleport Away and track him down individually. That done, we move on to:

Mdr 44: Princess quest for 14 Ethereal dragons

"You have a superb feeling about this level." Well, that should keep us busy for a bit.

"Nah, Ephemeral dragons aren't so tough."

But fourteen of them at once?

"Mm, good point."

Sense Monsters picks up a pack of Water hounds in a nearby room to the southeast—and the quest room due north, on the far side of the level. Enh, the hounds can rot.

Nothing worse than a swarm of Killer bees stands between me and the quest room. As expected, two of the dragons have leaked out ahead of the pack. Fire up Manwe's Blessing and let's take it in.

"Right. Halt, you evil dragon-shaped clouds of gassy stuff!"

Two more approach as I finish off the first two; the rest seem to be still stuck in the quest room. With a little artful dancing, I manage to lure the rest out one at a time to polish them off. The quest reward choices are White Dragon Scale Mail, Chain Mail and Metal Scale Mail.

"I'm sensing a theme here, dude."

Heh. The dragon armor will probably sell for the most, so I choose it; it turns out to be White Dragon Scale Mail of Defense [+25], with sustain WIS. Now, we've got a lot of dragon loot to go through here… hmm, a Great Axe of Westernesse and a Quarterstaff of Extra Attacks; those should fetch decent change. Say, what's this over in the corner… a Gas spore raw meat. /!\ O-kaaay.

:\ "Uh… dude? How do you, like, get meat out of a blob of gas?"

Don't look at me. At any rate, that's my pack full; back to:

Lothlorien

where I stow the Potions of Healing from the fountain. Hmm, the armor store has a 25Kgp cap; I think I can do better in:

Bree

Ah, yes, that's better. I sell off my loot and stow the Scroll of Genocide in my house here, selling off some old Elven armor to make room. On the way back home to:

Lothlorien

I acquire a fate to find a Potion of Water on dlvl 15. Be still my heart. |) Back down the proverbial rabbit hole, then, to:

Mdr 44, take 2

"Looks like any other level." Some Water hounds give me a bit of trouble near the start, but nothing serious. Fast forward to:

Mdr 45

"You have a good feeling…" We start the level off with another jelly pit to punch through. Not much further in, Sense Monsters picks up Adunaphel. [checks notes] Hmm, she's not one of the tougher Nazgul; 2700hp and speed +10.

"Yeah, but she's got that make-sick touch like all the other Nose ghouls, right?"

Yes, but Elessar activates to cure Black breath, so we don't have to worry about that.

"Excellent! Let's rock her bones, then. Halt, you very quiet evildoer!"

;) And indeed she's not so tough; she falls in two turns, without laying a hand on me. She drops nothing of note, besides:

Another first Nazgul ring; this one will go to the Mathom house.

From there we return to more mundane problems—like a Ranger chieftain who makes a nuisance of himself by summoning lots of monsters. This is annoying for a while, before I remember that I can just use Recall to jump past his swarm of summons and smack him upside the head really hard for being such a pest. ;)

And that seems to be all the excitement the level has to scare up for me; let's see what they've got on:

Mdr 46: Fumblefingers quest for 17 Death molds

"What a boring place…" No, not with a Death mold right next to me as I enter the level—and a pack of Olog-hai blocking every escape route. Thinking quickly, I Recall-swap further back into the pack and plow through the trolls and some Black puddings.

Surprisingly, seven of the Death molds are in the starting room with me. I wonder… yep, a quick check confirms my suspicion: this is a 1x1 small level. (shrug) At least it'll go quickly. [checks notes] Oh, and I have resist disenchantment now, so I suppose I could just walk up and smack ‘em instead of having to pelt them to death from a distance with Manathrust. That'll make my life easier.

"Okay, sword guy, you've gotta explain this to me: how do you, like, get your sword stolen by a bunch of molds that can't move?"

"Oh, Death molds are tricky; they can reach out with telekinetic powers and take things from you. Indeed, legend speaks of a very rare few Death molds that have actually achieved sentience and can move about magically on errands of their own, beyond our understanding."

:\ "Riiiight, whatever, dude."

*Do not mock what you do not understand, mobile.*

Ack! *wince* You know, you're in a humanoid body now, Qbmgzxjvwm; you can speak aloud instead of using telepathy.

*Bah, you mobiles and your noise-making orifices. This is the last of my native gifts that still remains to me in this bizarre form; I will not forsake it solely because it discomforts you.*

Okay, okay, could you just tone it down a little, at least?

*Hmph. I know not why I bother with such weak-minded fools as these.*

Ooh, I bet the shopkeepers just love you…

*This is that strange custom you mobiles call "sarcasm," yes?*

|)

"Wait, what did you say that guy's name was? Kwidge-mizzle-flip?"

Qbmgzxjvwm. It's pronounced "Bob."

:\ "Dude, you just made that up."

Yes, I did. What of it?

"Never mind. So, sword guy, you said you could teach me something for getting your sword back?"

The quest reward choices are Thaumaturgy, Symbiosis, Conveyance and Monster-lore. Hmm, Monster-lore is useless for me, and it's too late to try pumping Thaumaturgy; how would you feel about Symbiosis, Bjorn?

"Simba-what?"

Symbiosis, the ability to commune with non-moving monsters like those Death molds. You can even let them live on your body, and they'll use their attacks and their powers to help you.

"What?! You mean have one of those slimy moldy things stuck on my body, getting all in my fur and sucking the life out of me? Eww, no thanks, dude."

(shrug) Conveyance it is, then. Hmm, one more of those and I'll pick up Probability Travel for free. One last sweep over the level to pick off a couple dragons that spawned while I was hunting down all the molds, and next time out we'll continue pushing on through Mordor.

Part 3 of 8

As we return, Bjorn is about to descend to:

Mdr 47

"You have a good feeling…" Another 1x1 small level; only notable occupant is Medusa. [checks notes] Hmm, 2400hp, speed +10, annoying damage, and a smattering of bad spells, including a 10d15 cause-wounds spell and a couple summon spells. Enh, not too tough.

"Yeah, let's rock her snakes, dude."

Medusa is sitting in the middle of a pack of Half-orcs for no obvious reason. Hmm, I think I can use that to my advantage—use the Half-orcs to fill up space so she can't summon. Okay, let's take this fight to her…

Medusa wakes up as I approach, and gets in an acid-ball spell and a summon-kin spell as I'm punching through the Half-orcs. Fortunately, I was still in the corridor entering the room when she summoned, so only two nagas got generated. Once I reach her, she falls in two turns. After Noxious-Clouding away the rest of the Half-orcs, I dig through the loot to find Medusa's drop: nothing of note, besides some Elven Rhino Hide Armor [+21] with resist blindness. Enh, that might sell for a bit.

The rest of the level is quickly cleared, netting:

Enh. I think I'll pass. Moving right along to:

Mdr 48: Fumblefingers quest for 20 Master mystics

"This level can't be all bad…" Oh, yes it can; two of the Master mystics are in the room as I enter, one right next to me and another just a square away. Even worse, the level is a 3x1 small level, which means if one of these twerps summons Araneas, I've got essentially nowhere to run. A Stone Prison would be handy right about now, but I've got a 65% fail rate on that wand, so it's a definite risk. Well, here goes nothing…

*whew* The Stone Prison, luckily, takes on the first shot. The Master mystic next to me takes the opportunity to smack me around some, taking me down to 1085/1160hp and giving me a Severe cut.

"Oh yeah? Well, take this, kung fu guy!"

The first Master mystic falls in two turns. Now I just have to figure out how to take on the rest… I toss back a !oCCW to heal the cut, then light up the level with Vision and cast Sense Monsters to find the rest of the Master mystics: 

################################################################## 
#^##########^#####^^#^#^#^^^^##^^####^############.#.###^#^....^^#
#^^^##################^^^^^##^^^###^^^#####.#####..$+..####....#^#
#^^###^^#####.p......#^^....#######^^^##^#>.#......`...#.#..+p.^^#
%#%##^^^########...h.###.##.#######^^^##^^#..................^^###
......p.p...=#q#h........##.####..##........+............^^.#^####
##%^^^#^^^^^####.....###^##.####..#..###..#.#............^^^.#####
%%%%^%%#^^#%%?*......#^###^.####>.#.######<.#+..w..-....p..#####^#
%%%%%%%%%###%=?......#^###^.####..#.#####.###.?-..........#####^^#
%#%%^^#%%%%#%%########^^##^.###^.E#.#^....######.......p.######^^#
%#^^%%%%%##%##########^^#pp.###^..^...^^.#.####..^^...#######^^^^#
%%%%%%%#%#%###########^^^#.p...#..^.^^^F###^##...^^..^^#######^#^#
%%############^^########^^..#.#*......^.....^^...^^^##^#########^#
%%%#%%^^####^^^#^#######^.#.##..^.#.#^^...^^^....^^^##^#######^#^#
%%^%##^^####^##^^^##^^#^^^..^^^.^...##....^^^..p..^^##^#######^###
%^#%#^^########^^##^^#^#^^#^.##.^.^.^.#G.d..^...###^##^##^^###^^^#
.............:...Wppp.............^.^^GG..##^#p.##########^###^^^#
%##%%%%#%######^####^^^^##..#.^^.....GGG.^####^#######^^#######^^#
%##^^%%#^###########^###.#.^^^^^.....GGG^^^###^#######^########^^#
###^^^%%^%#%#^^^###^^^###:..^^^#^^^.^G#^^#^^^##^#####^^^###^######
%##^^##%#%#%^^^^########^^.^^###^^^^^^#^^##^^##^^###^^###^^#######
##################################################################

There are three more Master mystics in a room at the other end of the corridor to my west. Counting the fourteen on screen, that's a total of seventeen, and I've killed one; the last two must be at the other end of the level. Oh, and those h's are Malicious leprechauns. They could get annoying quickly.

Okay, to start, I'll open the northwest corner of the Stone Prison. And of course, Essence of Speed chooses that turn to expire, so the nearest Master mystic has time to move in and get a hit on me. It takes me two turns to get Essence of Speed started again, in which time he attacks again; I'm down to 1082/1160hp and stunned. [slaps forehead] That's right, I was gonna start Manwe's Blessing before letting him in, wasn't I? He gets in another hit while I bring that up. It was clearly worth it, though; he falls in a single turn.

The five Master mystics to my west have been approaching during all this, and one of them steps into place just as I'm finishing off the last one. I take him down to one star and he flees, and the next one is about to step into his place. On a lark, I toss a Noxious Cloud into the corner, killing the flee-er with the splash and softening up the next one. He falls in a single turn, as do the next three.

That takes care of the immediate problem. I step out of the Stone Prison and Cloud the (now) three Malicious leprechauns. The next contenders are the three Master mystics around the dog-leg corridor to my east, and two of them are already heading north to meet me. I catch them at the corner just outside the room and ambush them. That leaves one of them stuck in an alcove; the three to his southwest next to the Grey wraith are also awake now and look to be approaching along the same vector.

I advance part of the way around the dog-leg to get the next Master mystic out of the alcove; he falls quickly, and one of the next three falls right behind him. Hmm, some of those Dreads have woken up; I'll let them come to me before luring up the next two Master mystics. Never mind, here they come anyway; looks like that Grey wraith pushed them around the corner to me. I pick them off, intermixed with the Dreads.

Hmm, the next five are in that big patch of lava off to my east. It looks like I've got cover for my approach; the only access to the part they're in is near that door, and I think I can lure them out of that. All five of them seem to be awake as I approach, picking off the last of the Dreads as I pass. One of them makes it past the door and meets me halfway—and doesn't survive the approach, of course. ;)

Disaster nearly strikes as I continue my approach; I fail to notice I'm outside of my trap-detected range, and a Gravity Bolt Trap kicks me out of my careful approach—not too far, but it does give the next Master mystic line of sight on me for a moment. Foolishly, he doesn't summon, but moves in for an attack. And if he wants an attack, who am I to deny him? >:> That leaves three more in the lava area, and after disarming that stupid trap, they're easy to lure out.

*whew* "Is that all of ‘em, dude?"

Nope, two more at the other end of the level. First we pick off the rest of the nearby monsters and do a quick sweep through the loot, which includes a Scroll of Mass Genocide and a Silver Rod of the Istari on which I might just stick that Rod Tip of Restoration I've been saving. Oh, and a Portable Hole, which I leave behind. Now, about those Master mystics…

I proceed west along the southern corridor, picking off a pack of Cave orcs in a room just offscreen from the above screenshot. The last two Master mystics are in one last room at the west end of the level, and one of them is already approaching, with a Grand master thief fronting for him. Hmm, this looks like a good corner to ambush them around… >:> The first Master mystic falls, and the second one isn't far behind. And of course, Manwe's Blessing chooses that moment to expire; fortunately, the last Master Mystic got stuck in line behind a much slower Mind flayer, giving me just enough time to restart it and finish them off.

"Now, that was fun, going all, like, commando tactics and stuff."

I thought you wanted some slack-off time.

"Nah, I'm done slacking off; now I want some action!"

Ah, to be young and ursine again… ;) The quest reward choices are Monster-lore, Weaponmastery, Spirituality and Disarming. Bleh. I guess I'll take Spirituailty for a small boost to saving throw.

That last Master mystic dropped:

Ooh, thrilling. Hmm, I wonder what gave me a CHA hit? Must've been a cut attack from one of those Master mystics. Oh well, that's what the restoration junkart is for. My pack is getting close to full, but I think I can do another level or so. A quick sweep of the last of the level, then, and on to:

Mdr 49

"You have a good feeling…" I'd feel better without that pack of Vrocks lurking nearby, actually. Luckily, either my stealth is improving or Vrocks are very heavy sleepers; only one of them wakes up as I pick them off.

Further in, I run into Waldern, completely by accident; I thought he was just a Water elemental. Doesn't matter, though; he falls in three turns without touching me.

The rest of the level proceeds without incident. Well, okay, with one minor, annoying incident: a Master lich was approaching, and I dropped my Wand of Stone Prison to prevent him from draining it, and an offscreen Blue dragon bat chose that moment to breathe on me. X-( Well, I've got one left; I'd better start looking for more spares. On that note, we return to:

Lothlorien

to stow a few things and pick up that Rod Tip of Restoration. Then the usual town tour: first to:

Bree

where I Mathom Adunaphel's ring, stow the Scroll of Mass Genocide, and sell off loot; next to:

Gondolin

to pick up my last Wand of Stone Prison; and finally back home to:

Lothlorien

where I check the fate I picked up on the way: to find Nimthanc on dlvl 1. <!> Just for giggles, I think I'll go back to:

Bree

and pick that off:

I'll stow it in my home in:

Gondolin

where I'm rapidly running out of room. Okay, let's try this again, shall we?

Lothlorien

The Black Market has a Potion of *Healing* for my stockpile. Hmm, I forgot to pump Thrain's wand back up after that last destroyed level; a quick trip to the Wizard's Spire takes care of that. And that should cover everything; back to Mordor next time out.

Part 4 of 8

Moving right along, we return to:

Mdr 49, take 2

"Looks like any other level." I respectfully disagree; Thranduil's sense-evil is picking up a ghost pit in a room immediately to my south, with six Dreadmasters and eleven Dreads among other nasties. I drop a Noxious Cloud on the Hill orcs clustered around my entry position and prepare to beat a hasty tactical retreat.

"Wait, dude, hear that?"

Indeed there's fighting going on nearby. Sense Monsters does pick up a Mature spirit in the ghost pit, but it doesn't look like it's gonna last long. And a few of the ghosts have starting leaking up out of the pit. Hmm, as long as they're only coming a few at once, I think we can take them—and we can always teleport out in an emergency.

"Right. Halt, you dead evildoers!"

Actually, the assault isn't nearly as bad as I'd feared. The inner walls of the pit are mountains (as I find out later when I push in to finish off the last stragglers), which ghosts can't phase through, so they could only leak out through the door in the north side of the inner room; if the door had been on one of the other sides, they might not have been able to get at me at all. The worst part is the mind blasts from some of the ghosts, which did a number on my sanity, but between all the ghosts they drop more than enough potions to fix that up.

"See? You worry too much, dude."

Whatever. Nothing else of much interest on the level, so we fast-forward to:

Mdr 50: Princess quest for 11 Elder vampires

"You have a superb feeling about this level." And the quest room is almost directly south of the east-west corridor I'm in. [checks notes] Hmm, these guys are gonna be tough: 3400hp, speed +10, not too bad melee damage, but some nasty spells. We've only ever faced six of them, and those were probably one at a time.

"Nah, no problem, dude. Let's rock their fangs."

As you say. I don't expect to spend too much time on the level, so I'll go ahead and light it up with Vision to get the immediate layout. Hmm, could be worse; we've got a straight entrance on the north side. I'd rather have more of an ambush corner to work with, but… hmm, actually, maybe I can lure them up out of the quest room to where their exit corridor intersects with the one I'm in.

"It worked, dude, they're coming! Halt, you evil Dracula wannabes!"

|) And the assault proceeds without serious incident. The quest reward choices are an Iron Crown, Bolts or a Fumes Trap Set (?); the Bolts'll probably sell for the most, so I go with them. Those vampires also dropped a huge load of loot, but none of it was of much interest. The Bolts turn out to be 19 Bolts of Venom (+13,+12).

"Uh, dude, is that a potion fountain, like, right in the middle of that boiling hot lava?"

Yes, I was just thinking that that was an odd juxtaposition. It turns out to be a fountain of Restore Mana, from which I net 7 potions. There doesn't appear to be much else of interest on the level, so we move on to:

Mdr 51

"Looks like any other level." A boring level overall, notable only for some of the loot I found: another spare Tome of the Time, which reopens the possiblity of testing the Banishment trick, and these little trinkets:

Both have potential as swap-ins for Imaguinon, but neither are particularly appealing: I'd lose the +3 attack bonus with Alcarin, and invisibility is vaguely annoying for a melee type (though at this level, most monsters would probably be able to see me anyway). My pack is full anyway, so I'll head back up and stow them:

Lothlorien

(digs through house) Ya know, I think we should sell this Ring of Speed (+9); we've already got plenty of speed, and we can't swap out either of our current rings without losing something important.

"‘Kay."

We pick up that and one of the older randart rings I haven't gotten rid of yet to make room for Alcarin and Aladanian here, then move on to:

Bree

to sell everything off. I'm not quite ready to give up on this randart ring, though; fortunately, there's another randart ring in my Bree house that's starting to look kind of anemic, so I sell that one off to make room (and as a confirmation of my judgement, it sells for a mere 8172gp). Back home from there to:

Lothlorien

and back into the dungeon:

Mdr 51, take 2

"Looks like any other level." There's a pack of Multi-hued hounds next to me as I enter the level. Have I mentioned recently that Noxious Cloud is fun? >:>

After that, the only reall point of interest on the level is a greater vault (nethack building) near the southwest corner: 

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That W is Ren again; I've already got his first ring in the Mathom-house, so I'll probably be leaving his on the ground.

"Whoa. I had a feeling I was gonna see him again."

Yep, and we're gonna keep seeing him until the One Ring is destroyed.

"Heinous, dude. Well, it's a dirty job, but at least it's a fun one, eh? Halt, you very unclean evildoer! I've already beaten you once; you won't get away this time!"

|) Most of that inner north wall is permanent, so we have to dig a long way around to get into the vault. There are a couple charge-drainers in the vault, so I drop the Wand of Stone Prison in a corner—and this time, I inscribe my bottles with "^>" so I can't leave the wand behind.

The assault is straightforward at first, just killing the Death mold at the entrance and punching tediously past the traps. As I come around to the far side of the first subroom, I find myself facing a Demonic Q and a Sorceror who summons a Monastic lich. I duck back out of their line of sight, kill the lich, and let the Sorceror come to me; then I step back out and drop Noxious Clouds on the Q until it dies.

The assault on the first subroom is fairly easy; a carpet-bombing of Noxious Clouds takes out most of the monsters before they even get within striking distance of me. One Crypt thing teleports out into a nearby room, where I'll probably leave him.

As I start taking out the rest of the subrooms, Ren wakes up and starts appraoching. I lure him into the north door of one of the subrooms and ambush him there. He falls in three turns, without laying a hand on me. The Lesser Balrog tailing him falls in two turns.

After that, the rest of the vault is rather anticlimactic. The Crypt thing that ran away has found his way back into the vault, which all in all was a very poor strategy on his part… >:> I make a point of picking up the Wand of Stone Prison as early as possible. A sweep through the loot yields some interesting stuff:

Well, mildly interesting, at least. I think I'm gonna leave all of it here—well, except Ren's ring, since there doesn't seem to be a Scroll of *Remove Curse* on the level. I also just noticed that the Tome of the Time I found earlier is Fireproof, so I can use it as the master copy and get rid of the spare back at home.

With that done, we take one of the conveniently placed stairs to:

Mdr 52: Princess quest for 14 Nether hounds

"You feel your luck is turning…" Unpleasant, but surviveable. The level is a 3x3 small level, and the quest room is more or less a straight shot to my west, in the middle of the northern edge of the level. The assault is over swiftly, and the reward choices are Green Dragon Scale Mail, a Fumes Trap Set (?), and a Fumes Trap Set (?!). |) Gee, Bjorn, which one do you think we should take?

"I dunno, dude, what's a fumey trap sit?"

[slaps forehead] We take the DSM, of course, which turns out to be Polished Green Dragon Scale Mail [+17]. Hmm, I think I've got room in the pack to do one more level, but we'll leave that for next time.

Part 5 of 8

Pushing on one more level, as promised:

Mdr 53

"Looks like any other level." Hmm, apparently that last level was smaller than I thought. And apparently my stealth really is improving; in the second room of the level, I sneak up on and kill a Greater wall monster before it can even wake up and start breeding. :)

Further in, a Rotting Q catches me around a corner and summons a bunch of 'z's around me. Not to worry, though; some of them are fairly close to the Q itself, so I Recall-swap with one of them and get the jump on the Q before it can summon anything else.

Nothing else of interest happens, beyond finding a Scroll of Mass Genocide which might be useful later. And that is kind of the limit of my pack space, so it's time to return to:

Lothlorien

Ren's second ring, finally uncursed, I drop in the lake around Galadriel's place, just for giggles. To my surprise, the Black Market has Power Dragon Scale Mail of Defense in stock. Man, if my armor weren't my only source of fire immunity… Ah well, on to:

Bree

to sell off loot and stow the Scroll of Mass Genocide, then back to:

Lothlorien

to return to the dungeon:

Mdr 53, take 2

"Looks like any other level". A 3x5 small level, with nothing of note on it; fast-forward to:

Mdr 54: Princess quest for 12 Bile Demons

"You have a superb feeling about this level." [checks notes] I respectfully disagree: 3500hp, +10 speed, annoyingly high melee damage, high-powered poison and acid breaths, not to mention the ever-present summon demon spell. And they're non-living, which means Noxious Cloud won't affect them. And twelve of them means the lake form of the quest room, which doesn't give me much opportunity to herd them effectively.

A troll pit near the entry room gives me something to vent my frustrations on for a bit. As I'm finishing going through the loot, though, Thranduil's sense evil picks up the first of the Bile Demon approaching through a room to my north. Sense Monsters picks up seven more of them apparently clustered in another room further north, next to a pack of Barrow wights. Hmm, from this position I might be able to lure them out one at a time, which would be much better on my nerves.

The lead Bile Demon does indeed obligingly fall in three turns. I push north into the next room, and four of the Bile Demons are still stuck in their corner; the other three seem to have wandered west looking for another approach.

"Hey, dude, you're gonna leave the level after rescuing the princess lady, right?"

I'd planned to.

"Maybe we should go ahead and light up the level, then, so we can see where those demons are headed."

Great minds think alike, apparently. One Vision spell later, we can see that the demons really are stuck in a corner in a room immediately to our north; the quest room is two rooms further north, on the northern edge of the level. Hmm, from here, we should be ideally positioned to lure out the demons a few at a time, and two more of them obligingly fall in this manner.

Hmm, I take that back; looks like the last three demons in the quest room have woken up and are headed down a straight shot south to my ambush corner. Hmm, this could potentially cramp my style if all these demons get bunched too close to each other. Let's see how the next few turns play out…

The next three come out three in a row, with only one square between them. That seems to be enough, though, as I manage to take each one down before the next comes into line of sight. The next two, though, appear to have gotten bunched up in the Barrow wights, and are coming down the pike on each other's heels. No, false alarm; once I pick off the Barrow wight in front of them, the demons spread out a square. The first of them summons a Nalfeshnee before I can finish him off, but thanks to the spacing (and my incredible speed… ;) ), I have time to take the Nalfeshnee out too before the second Bile Demon rounds the corner.

That leaves four Bile Demons: three in the corner of the room to my north, intermixed with Barrow wights, and one more stuck in another corner in a corridor to the west of that room. Waiting for the Barrow wights to percolate out at +0 speed is agonizing, but I manage to lure out two of the first three demons that way. The third one will need a bit more coaxing… I push forward around the ambush corridor a few squares north into the corridor enough to get the third demon around the hump; fortunately, he's stuck behind another Barrow wight, because Essence of Speed ran out in the process.

And then there was one. I push north to the next room and west across it to where the last demon will emerge, just making it to an ambush corner in time to smack him down. The quest reward choices are Ribbed Plate Armor, Chain Mail or a Flamberge; I go with the weapon.

"Dude, wait, how is she talking to us when we're in a completely different room from her?"

What, you're just now noticing this? That's happened to us several times by now.

"Has it? Wait, yeah, I remember, the one with the big ugly things…"

Yeah, anyway, it's just game convenience. If you want an explanation… well, maybe it's an extension of the same magic that's used to imprison her.

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense."

A quick sweep through the Bile Demons' drop yields a bit of saleable loot. The quest reward turns out to be a Sharp Flamberge (+12,+2), which doesn't look like it's worth taking. We push on, then, to:

Mdr 55

"You have a good feeling." Nothing of note on this level besides a fountain of Augmentation that nets five potions.

"Man, these would really have been handy two or three dungeons ago."

Yeah, well, they'll still sell for a bit. Anyway, let's move on:

Mdr 56: Princess quest for 10 Skull druj

"You have a superb feeling about this level." Oh, no I don't; ten means they're in the trap-filled quest room with only one entrance from the east—from which I'll probably be in line of signt of all of them at once. All in all, I've got a really bad feeling about this…

In the near term, though, I've got a giant pit immediately to my south to take on, with a Lesser titan in the middle. [checks notes] Hmm, 2400hp, speed +10, pretty good melee damage (all of damage type confusion), and a summon monsters spell. Enh, we've seen worse.

"Yeah, he sounds like a wuss. Hey, come on out here and clash with me, ya wimp!"

|) The Lesser titan makes the mistake of not summoning anything, and falls quickly under the Noxious Cloud carpet. No loot of interest from this pit.

The quest room is near the east edge of the level. [check notes] Only 1400hp, but speed +20, so I'm not going to get many free moves. I could try Recall-swapping in, but the room is mostly convex and there's really nowhere I could land that wouldn't leave me in line of sight of at least half of them. Amusingly, there's a Shadow in the room who appears to be attacking the princess.

"Hey, that is totally disrespectful. I'm gonna go in there and smack him around for that."

We need to deal with the druj first, Bjorn. And here's an interesting possibility: a Mature red dragon in the room just broke through the doors, relieving me from having to open them—and from the far end of the entry tunnel, I'm only in line of sight of two of the druj, which might give me something to work with.

I clear out the dragon and step gingerly into position—and one of the druj summons a Mummified troll. I get in a couple Manathrusts, doing embarrassingly little damage (and reflect a couple plasma bolts) before one of them summons an Eye druj next to me. *groan* Okay, I'll risk taking out the Eye druj this turn. I don't quite manage it, and they took advantage of the free turn to summon a Forest wight and another Skull druj. Okay, this isn't working; I Phase Door out, counting on the assumption that the game doesn't allow the normal forms of teleportation to put you inside a quest room. I end up in another room to the east of the quest room.

"Now what, dude?"

First we need to take care of the summons. We use Thrain's wand to poke back into the quest room at a strategic angle, aiming for the summoned Skull druj—and find ourselves staring Time hounds in the face. :\ We retreat to the east room to lure in the hounds and smack them around really hard for distracting us, then go back in and ambush the summoned Skull druj. After that, the Eje druj only takes only one Manathrust to finish off, since I'd almost finished it off that first turn.

Okay, now what?

"That's what I said, dude."

Yeah, yeah. I could Recall-swap out those two druj, but that would put me in line of sight of almost all the rest of the druj at once. I could try casting Manwe's Call and sending in a Great eagle… [sound F/X: pitched battle] and he lasts all of three turns. So much for that plan… :\ Let's try the ranged assault again… well, that didn't work; I got another Skull druj summoned right in front of me, which has me down to 980/1200hp by the time I back out of line of sight of the other two and take it out.

Okay, this isn't working; we need to come back with heavier firepower.

"Hey, what about those exploding potion things we left back at home?"

Exactly what I was thinking… >:>

Lothlorien

A quick pass to:

Bree

to sell off loot, and then back to:

Khazad-Dum

to pick up a generous ten Potions of Detonations. On the way in thru MoM 50, I stumbled across:

Enh, not terribly impressive; I'll sell it off on the way back out, at:

Bree

where, to justify my impressions, it only goes for 13421gp. Back home to:

Lothlorien

"And next time, dudes and dudettes, those drudgy things are goin' down…"

Um… yeah.

Part 6 of 8

We're back, for Skull druj take 2. My last trip to Khazad-dum leaves me with 27 Potions of Detonations; I'm taking 20 with me. That side-trip to Khazad-dum left me with some recall-juggling to do; I'm in a hurry, though, and I've got plenty of Scrolls of Reset Recall stockpiled, so just this once I think I'll splurge and go straight back to:

Mdr 56: Princess quest for 10 Skull druj, take 2

"You have an excellent feeling…" Well, I'm not sure you'd call it excellent, but I've definitely got a feeling… >:> I immediately light up the level with Vision.

"Wait, aren't you gonna, like, explore the level or anything?"

This time it's personal, Bjorn; I'm only here to take down those druj.

"Whoa, fearsome. Let's do it, then."

Vision detects the quest room due north, a straight shot; the approach is uneventful. Annoyingly, there's no monster inside the quest room to open the doors for us, and when we open that second door, we'll be in line of sight of four, maybe six of them. Oh well, here goes nothing…

As I open the door, I get a cause-cuts spell and a summoned Dreadmaster. Not as bad as I'd feared. I duck back out of the entry passage and clear that out, then move back in for the main event. From this position, I should only be in line of sight of two of them. Skull druj have 1400hp, and !oDet's do on average 650 damage if they hit, so I'm hoping I'll need two or three for the first and two for the second (after it gets softened up by blast damage from the first).

I throw the first potion… and it stops two squares sort of the druj I was aiming for. /!\ X-( What is this, some kind of sick joke? I get two more summons for my troubles, nothing of note; I back out and clear them up. [sound F/X: source diving] Yup, apparently the maximum range of a thrown object is 10 squares, with no way to increase it (except for boulders, which doesn't do me any good…). And I can't get within ten squares of those two druj without coming into line of sight of all ten of them. @#$%.

"Totally bogus, dude. So now what?"

Well, there is one other thing we can try… I step back into position and cast a Teleport Away spell. *whew* And it works; fully half of them go flying, including one of the two at the far end; the other summons a Dreadlord. Well, that's a start. I take care of the Dreadlord, and then head off in search of the five that got away.

One I find near the south edge of the level, near a lava lake, perfectly positioned for an ambush. The next I find near an orc pit, in one of two parallel east-west corridors, allowing me to drill through from the clean one and get a perfect ambush. I do a quick carpet-bombing of the orc pit, then tunnel northeast toward the third druj, who's positioned rather awkwardly in the middle of a corridor.

The fourth is to my northwest, near the middle of an empty room. I'll just have to charge it, I guess. I tunnel in via the nearest wall, adding a bit of a dog-leg at the end of the tunnel so that I'm not in its line of sight until I actually enter the room. It has two turns as I move into attack position, and luckily for me it manages to waste both of them.

The fifth is against the west wall of another room immediately to my north; a bit of creative tunneling, it's ripe for the ambush. Of course, I don't notice that Essence of Speed has expired until I move in for the attack and it gets two spells on me, one to summon a Shade perfectly positioned to block my escape; fortunately, I manage to prevaily anyway.

"*whew* I was getting kind of clusterphobhic in all those tunnels."

It's not over yet; now we've got to go back and do the same to the other five.

"Aw man, that's heinous…"

The quest room isn't far east from where I took on the fifth druj, and I'm quickly back in position. This time, one of them hits me with a water ball, stunning me enough that I fail to get the Teleport Away spell off. Fortunately, that was apparently the turn they all missed, and the next casting got two of the druj, including the last one that could hit me from my vantage point. Back off into the dungeon to find them…

A bit of searching finds both of them near the northwest corner of the level, in rooms I'd been through looking for the first five. Neither are next to a wall, which means I'll just have to charge them. The first is only one square off the nearest wall, and conveniently positioned near an entrance to the room, so it's not much of a problem—except for the Undead beholder it summons right in my way…

The second druj is positioned two squares off the nearest wall, and a bit awkward to approach; I have to do a bit more tunnelling. It manages to be more annoying, though, by summoning a Bone golem. Terrific, here I am in the middle of a room with a monster that can summon greater undead. Keep your fingers crossed… *whew* Fortunately it doesn't summon before I manage to kill it.

And then there were three. None have line of sight to me from my vantage point just outside the entry passage, but I've got line of sight on one of them; since I'm in no danger, I take my time whittling it down with Manathrusts. A step forward brings another into my line of sight—and brings me into its line of sight. With the herd thus thinned, though, I think I can now take the risk of using the Recall-swap trick to draw that one out into a more convenient position—for instance, this small side corridor off the quest room…

As I swap out one of the druj, the other one manages to try and fail a summoning spell before I Phase Door out and loop back around to pick off its repositioned friend. And that last druj is positioned just inside the entry passage, perfectly positioned to be leisurely Manathrusted to a well-deserved death. >:>

"Oh, thank you brave warrior! I feared you had forsaken me earlier."

"Nah, I just had to, like, go get some heavier firepower. Not that it did any good or anything, but hey, I would never forsaken a princess lady in distressitude."

"Um… yes. Let me reward you, then, with one of these three magical items."

The choices are Augmen