Contents

  1. Parallel Gathraka
    1. Chapter 5 (redux)
      1. LoM 60 thru LoM 62
        1. Chatter (1.1)
      2. LoM 62 (take 2) thru LoM 64
        1. Chatter (1.2)
      3. LoM 65 thru LoM 67
      4. LoM 67 (take 2) thru LoM 70
        1. Chatter (1.4)
    2. Chapter 6
      1. TDG 57 thru TDG 61 (take 2)
      2. Intermission
      3. TDG 61 (take 3) thru TDG 67
        1. Chatter (2.3)

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

Parallel Gathraka

It goes against my nature to let a good character die (well, permanently, at least), so after a few marathon sessions, I've got Gathraka back to the point where we left her before. The primary differences in this pass are: 

Based on generic Orc Barbarian Unbeliever
  Used 289 of 294 points   [req. level 50]
    Combat                                         (24)  50.000 [ 0.800]
      Weaponmastery                                (24)  50.000 [ 0.850]
        Sword-mastery                             (125)  50.000 [ 0.400]
        Axe-mastery                                 (0)   0.000 [ 0.400]
        Hafted-mastery                              (0)   0.000 [ 0.400]
        Polearm-mastery                             (0)   0.000 [ 0.400]
      Archery                                      (32)  20.200 [ 0.600]
      Antimagic                                    (76)  50.000 [ 0.650]
    Sneakiness                                      (0)   1.000 [ 0.900]
      Stealth                                       (0)  -3.000 [ 0.400]
      Disarming                                     (0)   0.500 [ 0.900]
    Monster-lore                                    (0)   0.000 [ 0.500]

    Spread blows                                    (0)    (+)  [ 5]
    Tree walking                                    (0)    ( )  [ 7]
    Perfect casting                                 (0)    ( )  [ 6]
    Extra Max Blow(1)                               (0)    (+)  [ 7]
    Extra Max Blow(2)                               (0)    (+)  [ 7]
    Ammo creation                                   (8)    (*)  [ 8]
    Touch of death                                  (0)    ( )  [15]
    Artifact Creation                               (0)    ( )  [70]
    Far reaching attack                             (0)    ( )  [10]
    Trapping                                        (0)    ( )  [10]
    Undead Form                                     (0)    ( )  [15]

"Does it bother you that you're up there talking complete nonsense, Human?"

"Don't try to figure it out, orc babe. Dude pulled this stunt on me once, going on all about parallel perpendicular stuff; eventually I had to just say, like, ‘Whatever, dude.’".

"…Can I kill him for calling me ‘orc babe’?"

I'd really rather you didn't. ;)

Chapter 5 (redux)

Okay, we're going back in, Gathraka. Go get Mormegil.

"So we're gonna use it, huh?"

As a swap-in for tough monsters. We don't want to walk around wielding it with its drain effects, and particularly not with its TY curse. Cross your fingers:

LoM 60 thru LoM 62

LoM 60; "Looks like any other level."

Well, no, it looks like a 1x3 small level. Uh-oh, I remember this pattern. If LoM 61 turns to to be 3x1, I'm gonna be worried.

"Have I mentioned recently that you talk too much, Human?"

Yes, several times. ;) We enter at the south end of the level, at the end of a long north-south corridor—into which, annoyingly, Inertia hounds are charging from the other end. With my Climbing Set, though, it's just a quick hop to a nearby parallel corridor, with nothing in it more dangerous than an Iron lich.

Other than that, nothing particularly exciting. With some trepidation, we push on to:

LoM 61; "You feel strangely lucky…"

"Yeah? Do they know that?"

I think the RNG is trying to make some kind of point here: this time, our entry corridor is packed full of Nexus hounds the minute we show up. Once again, a bit of mountain-climbing along the edge of the corridor allows us to finish them off without taking too many nexus breaths to the face.

That done, the level turns out to be a 3x3 small level—not quite a match, but still a bit worrisome.

"Yeah, and cut it out up there, ‘cause I'm picking it up too now, that creepy ‘someone's walking on your grave’ feeling…"

I wonder if I should tell her why… :o :\ The early level features a pack of Time hounds to smack me around some. Fortunately I've got the restore junkart to clean up behind them.

"Rrgh!" *slash* "I must be slipping here. Something's summoning dead things at me."

Something at the far end of the corridor we just entered, I'd guess, outside the range of your anti-magic field. We resort to an increasingly common tactic and swap in the Climbing Set to duck into the walls out of line of sight of whatever it is. The offender turns out to be a Rotting Q, which, once I've got it in range, I calmly walk up to and chop to bits.

"Okay, I think I finally see the attraction of that little maneuver."

>:> After that, the most exciting thing the level can conjure up is a Hru, only Gathraka's second ever in this run (and I don't think she encountered any on her first run).

"Oh, great, another of those boulder-brains. That's all I don't need is the mountain falling on me."

It takes a bit of Phase Dooring and a sustained crossbow volley to whittle him down far enough that we can finish him off in one round of melee.

And that's pretty much the level. Moving on, then:

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

*whew* Well, I have a superb feeling about being alive at this point.

"Does that mean you're gonna calm down up there?"

A little. ;) More Time hounds early in the level, but this time they don't show up until I'm in a room with a convenient ambush point at the entry door. >:>

*hiss* "Heads up, Human. Something just lit up my Curse again."

That would be Adunaphel, your first Nazgûl this time around.

"Right, time to break out this Mormegil sword?"

No, we don't want to melee her; she can give us the Black Breath, and there's a chance Mormegil would be destroyed. Too bad we don't have that light-absorption junkart from last time…

"Light what? Never mind, I guess I'll have to do this the hard way."

Whoa, slow down; all these traps you just detected means she's probably in a vault of some kind. After a dozen or so attempts, the Star of Elendil gives us the bad news: 

^^                                                                
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 ^   ^^^^^^^   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^                                  
 ^^^^^..^^^^   ^ ^W  e   ^  ^^ ^                                  
 .....o.^^^^ ^^^^^^^'^'^^^'^'^^^                                  
^^^^^^..^^^^ ^  eG    e d^     ^                                  
     ^^'^^'^^^#^^^'^^'^^^^^^^'^^^^                                
^^^^^^ .. ^^ '^ ^ hhhhhhh'    ^' ^                                
       .^^^^^^'^^^'^' ^'^^'^'^'^^^                                
^^^^^^  ^    ^   '^     ^'^ ^  ^                                  
     ^^'^    ^^^^^^^^ '^'^^    ^                                  
      ^ ^        ^ ^|^  ^      ^                                  
      ^ ^        ^^^^ ^^^#^^^^^^                                  
      ^ ^           ^ ^^   ^                                      
      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^#^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^                         
       ^^ZZZZZZZ  d G  ^^         :     ^                         
     ^^^^Z^Z^^  b  D   ^^^'^   ^^^^ ^^^^^

Doesn't match any vault in v_info.txt, but it does mean we'll need to do a bit of dancing around.

"Leave that to me."

The southernmost bit with the Dark hounds in it doesn't appear to be easily accessible from here, so we follow the southern edge of the main bit, hoping to get past Adunaphel fast enough to get a bead on her. No such luck, alas; she's out of her little cubbyhole and after us before we can even get past the bit with the Hellblade in it. Oh well. We crank up to berzerker/running and line up on her with two squares of lead between her and us. Fortunately, she wastes several turns trying (and failing) to cast spells at us, and before she can get to us, she's fleeing—and before she can escape, she's dead. >:>

"Sheesh, you had me worried there."

Sorry, it's been too long since we've run into any Nazgûl.

"‘Since’ when? We haven't run into any of these butt-ugly things before. I'd remember a mug like that."

"Told'ja so, orc babe. Dude just gets all weird and stuff with this whole perpendicular business."

"*groan* Did I ask for commentary from the peanut gallery?"

Okay, break it up, you two. ;) After finishing off the rest of the vault-like thing, I go back and check out Adunaphel's drop, which, in addition to her ring, sports a Two-Handed Sword of Slaying (4d7) (+9,+9). Man, I'd like to find one of those in a Dark Sword… The vault also nets Gathraka's first Amulet of the Magi, which if nothing else should sell for a bit.

And the level's not done with us yet; not far south from there is an actual vault, specifically a greater vault (butterfly) containing a Great Wyrm of Thunder, a Nightwing, an Archlich, and to top it off, Gabriel and company. This could be bad.

"Oh, don't you chicken out on me, Human. Come on, we need to clear out the rest of the area first, just in case we have to make a tactical withdrawal."

Yes, of course. That goes reasonably swiftly, netting a randart Rapier from a pack of Barbazu. We also discover Quickbeam wandering around in a sealed-off corner of the level.

"Sha, can I shut this walking bird's nest up already?"

Admittedly, he is rather annoying, but it occurs to me that he might be useful as something of a sacrificial lamb against Gabriel.

"Ooh, I like the way you think sometimes, Human." >:>

Unfortunately, as I tunnel along the edge of the vault toward the west-side doors, it looks like Gabriel and the Great Wyrm of Thunder are both waiting for me, with the Archlich not far behind. This could be slightly tricky. I crank up to berzerker/running and toss back a !oSpd just before breaking through the last wall between me and the horde—and Gabriel immediately charges out and knocks me down to 985/1104hp and blinded.

"Here, tree-boy, you wanna take this guy?" [swap]

A full fifteen turns later, Quickbeam is down to one star, while Gabriel is nearly unhurt.

"Fat lot of good the walking torch did. Time for the big sword?"

Yes, Gathraka, I think it's time to see what Mormegil can do. And in the turn I spend swapping it in, Quickbeam actually manages to knock Gabriel down a star. I think I'll fire up Hammerhand's berzerk power too.

"*groan* Okay, move over, bark-face. Lemme show you how it's done."

In the turn we spend swapping with Quickbeam, Gabriel doesn't move, presumably thanks to our slight speed advantage. Here goes nothing… first round of attacks, I knock Gabriel down another star, and he wastes the turn trying to cast a spell. Second round, same as the first.

"Is that the best you've got, halo-head?"

Another round of attacks, another star down, and Gabriel doesn't even move. Oh, that's right, I forgot Mormegil's +2 speed, which means we've got even more of a speed advantage over Gabriel than I was planning for. Round five, Gabriel finally gets in an attack, smacking me down to 935/1134hp and blind.

"I'm not impressed, wing-boy."

Indeed, the next round I do two stars of damage, taking him down to three, and again he wastes his turn on a spell. Two more rounds, another wasted turn from Gabriel, and he's dead—and Mormegil jumps straight to level 23, gaining the Lightning and Chaos realms, lightning brand, slay evil, resist lightning, lightning aura, random teleportation, and most annoyingly, (+17,+7) to-hit and to-dam.

"Stow it, Human, the lizard just showed up."

And I just noticed that Great Wyrms of Thunder breath sound rather than lightning—and we're down to 859/1134hp and don't have resist sound… :\ We're gonna have to do a lot of damage fast, before it can breathe on us.

"Damage I can do. Vrasubatlat, kulkodar!"

Here we go again. Round one, we do two stars to the Wyrm and it misses the turn. Round two, we do four stars, and it knocks us down to 767/1134hp. We risk a turn quaffing a !oH, and the Wyrm attacks again, not doing much damage, leaving us at 1002/1134hp. One more turn and the Wyrm is dead, and Mormegil gains two more levels, another +1 to-hit, and the chaotic effects flag. :\ Okay, we'd better swap Mormegil back out for these Archons; with Mormegil this heavily enchanted now, we've lost our perfect anti-magic field, and I'd rather they not cast any spells on me.

"Right."

Even with Archons' resist lightning, I'm still chopping them down in two turns apiece. Well, three for some of the later ones, and after a few of those, I'm down to 785/1134hp again. We might need to go fountain-farming for more Potions of Healing after this.

"Later. We've still got incoming."

After a few more Archons, the Archlich makes his appearance. [checks notes] Hmm, 4500hp, speed +10, 120 AC, lots of nasty spells that we shouldn't have to worry about, ;) and as for melee damage, since we're not carrying anything it can drain charges from and our DEX is sustained, it looks like the worst it can do to us is drain our exp.

"Sheesh, it's a ghost with delusions of grandeur. Lemme at him, already."

In our powered-up state, and with a substantial speed advantage, the Archlich doesn't even manage to get a hit in on me in the five turns it takes to kill it. After that, the weaker members of Gabriel's entourage start trickling out; the most annoying part of this process is -more-ing through each one of them repeatedly picking up (and promptly dropping after I kill them) everything Gabriel and the Wyrm and all their erstwhile comrades have dropped on the square by this point—and eventually watching large swaths of it disappear as the game can't find anywhere to put them… :\

After fighting through them and some trolls and an Ancient white dragon, the Nightwing finally makes it out. [checks notes] Hmm, he's got some disenchantment attacks; we'd better swap Mormegil back in to cover that. Three turns and the Nightwing is dead, and Mormegil gains another level—and the earthquake flag. :( Back to my Shocking Dark Sword, then, to fight through the rest of the onslaught, including an Undead beholder which smacks my sanity around a bit.

"Ahh, that's better."

[slaps forehead] Once the primary assault is taken care of, the rest of the vault is fairly easy. It is enough, though, to push me over the top to clvl 49. With most of my skill plan completed, the last thing to push is Combat; all six points go there, leaving me one away from max. Sorting through all the loot is time-consuming, and with all the dropping and re-dropping, it's hard to tell who dropped what (and I suspect most of Gabriel's drop got disappeared), but we do net the Arkenstone of Thrain, the Amulet of Carlammas, the Lochaber Axe of Gothmog, a randart Chain Mail, and a Black Dragon Scale Mail of Defense. After a bit of pack rearranging and ditching of a few replaceable staples, we return with a bulging pack to:

Lothlorien

where we *ID*:

Let's see, the Arkenstone is a gimme to swap in over the Star of Elendil; I'll just have to pick up my Feanorian Lamp of the Ethereal Eye to cover Elendil's magic-mapping. After a quick swing by Gondolin and Bree to stow and Mathom stuff (respectively), I return to Lothlorien and finally remember to fix up Gathraka's sanity.

"Have I mentioned that you're no fun at all, Human?"

Repeatedly. ;) And let's hope next time out is slightly less exciting…

"Wimp." >:>

Chatter (1.1)

ZizzoTheInfinite: I forgot to get a character sheet from just before this segment, so I got one from just after this segment.

LoM 62 (take 2) thru LoM 64

LoM 62, take 2; "Looks like any other level."

No, it looks like a 1x5 small level. Uriel sneaks up on me almost right out of the gate. [checks notes] Hmm, 5500hp, speed +10, usual annoyingly tough melee damage, heavy fire and plasma breaths, and lots of annoying spells that I'd have to worry about if I swapped Mormegil in.

"Sheesh, can I get a speed potion down here at least?"

Coming right up—and with the prior addition of berzerker/running, my speed advantage gives me a free turn to fire up Hammerhand's berzerk power. He smacks me around a bit as I do this, knocking me down to 1073/1167hp.

"Alright, c'mere, ya walking campfire…"

Uriel falls in seven turns. The worst of it, as usual, is Uriel's fire aura, which has me smacked down to 730/1167hp by the time I kill him.

I'm tempted (or more precisely, Gathraka is ;) ) to charge on into the level at this point and take on the Barrow wights my Amulet of Telepathy is detecting to my north, but the Death drake behind them gives me enough pause that I rest up before taking him on. It drops a Potion of Self Knowledge, which reveals to my surprise that, contrary to my assumption while I was fighting the Great Wyrm of Thunder last time, I am "resistant to sonic attacks". Where could that be coming from… oh, I never did *ID* my Heavy Crossbow of Extra Might, and with the ?o*ID* the Death drake also conveniently left for me, I determine that that is indeed the source of my resist sound.

*slaps forehead* "Bumbling idiot. Anything else I don't know that I should?"

Not that I know of… ;) :o And speaking of crossbows, Uriel left us the Heavy Crossbow of Umbar. [checks notes] Urk, it aggravates. I don't think I can abide that.

"I hate to say it, but I'm with you on that. Being sneaky is just too useful sometimes."

For instance, against this Dracolisk, which we probably wouldn't have wanted breathing on us—and which, to my surprise, drops the Ring of Barahir. :)

Otherwise, the level passes without major incident, and we continue to:

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

A bit of excitement in the first room, a four-subroom pit with a couple Thunderlords (Blue and Bronze) and another Dracolisk, which drops a randart Rapier. After that the level is uneventful for a while, until I discover the source of the superb feeling: a giant pit near the southwest corner of the level. [checks visible-monsters window] Hmm, a Lesser titan and two Hru.

"Three."

Ah, true, there's another solitary Hru in another room off to the east. Well, not entirely solitary, as Saruman is in the room with him. [checks notes] Urk, 7000hp, and lots of nasty spells; only +10 speed, though, and comparatively mild melee damage, though two of his four attacks do disenchantment damage.

"I don't think he's noticed us, though. Let's worry about the giants first."

Right. The two Hru in the pit I lure out with Explor cranked all the way up, hoping to get enough of a lead to whittle them down with crossbow fire. That doesn't work out so well, and the room I lured them into ends up wrecked, though I don't take too much damage in the process. With them out of the way, I can push in to the pit with relative abandon, taking down the Lesser Titan without significant effort.

Now, then, about Saruman. It seems I was wrong about him having noticed me; he was just stuck in the corner of the room he was in. With a bit of dancing, I manage to lure the Hru out separately, and with a much longer runoff to work with, I manage to pull ahead far enough to whittle him down with crossbow bolts. Now, back for Saruman. I crank up berzerker/running and fire up Hammerhand's berzerk power. Hmm, I'm running rather low on !oSpd's; let's see if I can take him without one…

"What are you worried about? He's a wizard, which means he's powerless around me."

Well, substantially less powerful, but not entirely powerless.

*slash slash* "I don't call this particularly powerful, Human."

True, Saruman is surprisingly ineffective, wasting several of the eight turns it takes to kill him trying to cast spells. He does get in a disenchant hit on Paurnimmen, annoyingly. And notable among the swath of Tomes and Mage Staffs in his drop is a Palantir, and a ?o*ID* with which to identify it as:

More aggravating stuff. :\ To keep up the interest level, a few rooms over to the east we encounter Gathraka's first in-depth Great Wyrm, a Great Storm Wyrm. [checks notes] Hmm, only speed +10 and 4000hp, and its melee damage is about par for what I've been running into recently. The worst part will probably be its lightning aura; there's a Potion of Resistance on the floor nearby, which I toss back as it approaches.

"*snort* He doesn't look so ‘great’."

it does resist lightning, though, which rather neuters our Shocking Dark Sword. I think I'll swap in Mormegil for this one. Annoyingly, its newly gained earthquake effect kicks in during the first turn of attacks—as does its chaotic effects, apparently, as the Wyrm gets teleported away.

"This sword is turning out to be more trouble than it's worth, I think."

That's what I was afraid of. A bit of searching turns up the Storm Wyrm again, nearly fully healed. Shall we try Mormegil again?

"I don't like it, but I suppose we should…"

This time we manage two turns of attacks before the Wyrm disappears. Okay, that's it; I think we need to reserve Mormegil for monsters that resist teleportation. The next time we track him down, we stick with our Shocking Dark Sword, and manage to whittle it down from six stars to dead in three turns, netting the Amulet of Ingwe in the spoils.

"Pack's gettin’ kind of full down here, Human."

Yeah, and all those Dracolisks have beaten down your scroll supplies rather badly. I don't really want to head back, but I think I have to…

Lothlorien

Now, let's see what we've got here:

Hmm, my Ring 'Arang' I'm currently wearing as a glorified Ring of Poison Resistance, which Barahir would cover; I'd lose Arang's +5 crits and +4 net DEX, but that's barely noticeable, and the boost to CON alone nets me another 24hp. Other than that, the immune-fire armor is tempting to keep, but I'm hoping to have that covered soon, so I'll sell that and the randart Rapier and stow the rest in Gondolin (and that's that house full up; I might have to start Mathoming some stuff…).

Back in Lothlorien, we return to:

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

Well, there is an early lesser vault (nethack-style tower) sporting Gathraka's first Master mystic (who gives us a nasty cut, but falls in two turns) and netting her second Potion of Life. Other than that, the level is refreshingly calm, apart from a small sanity hit from a Beholder. I am noticing that with Barahir's searching bonus, I can actually find secret doors now without cranking down to slug-like (an ongoing annoyance for poor Gathraka, who doesn't have access to most of the usual ways around it).

Now, let's hope for another level like that to finish out the session:

LoM 64; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

Guess not. Well, if we're lucky, maybe most of the superbness is from this lesser vault (diagonal) we run into early on—especially considering that it sports Gathraka's first Beholder hive-mother. [checks notes] Urk, 4000hp and lots of nasty spells; its melee damage isn't that bad, but one of its attacks does sanity damage. Only speed +10, though. We poke a hole in the wall and patiently wait for it to come to us…

*slash slash* "*snort* I don't know what you were so worried about; that was easy."

True, without its summon-kin spell, its major point of horror is neutralized; and fortunately, it wastes most of its three turns of life trying to cast spells, never getting a chance for a sanity attack. [checks visible-monsters window] And it looks like the vault isn't done with us yet; there's a Great Ice Wyrm on the other side. [checks notes] No worse than the Storm Wyrm, and it doesn't resist lightning, so our Shocking Broad Sword will do full damage. And indeed, four turns of melee takes it down.

"I'm not terribly impressed with these ‘great’ wyrms so far."

May you be so lucky, Gathraka, as to never encounter a Great Wyrm of Power. The rest of the vault's occupants are uninteresting, as are most of its contents, with the notable exception of a Potion of Experience, which puts us within spitting distance of the next clvl.

And alas, the level's not done being 'superb', as Azriel crops up a few rooms further in. [checks notes] 6000hp, +20 speed, nasty melee damage, breathes nether (which I don't resist), and has enough annoying spells that I don't really feel safe swapping in Mormegil.

"Wait a minute, haven't I already killed this guy?"

That was your predecessor. Don't ask, or you're liable to get Bjorn back in here.

"*groan* Never mind, just lemme at him."

;) Okay, a !oSpd, berzerker/running, Hammerhand berzerk, and cross your fingers, because here he comes.

"You worry too much. I killed him once, I can kill him again."

Well, I'm not encouraged when Azriel breathes nether on his first turn of attacks, knocking us down to 641/1191hp. Fortunately, that vault on the last level had a Potion of *Healing* in it, and while I'm quaffing it, Azriel wastes a turn trying to cast a spell.

"Don't you chicken out on me up there, Human; that was just a minor setback."

Indeed, another six turns finds Azriel dead. Two or three of those he wastes on failed spells; he gets in a few drain-exp hits, but the experience for killing him pushes me all the way back through them, and almost to the next clvl. Among other uninteresting stuff, he drops Elessar.

In a somewhat more amusing turn, the level also turns up a monster pit full of snakes.

"Asps. Very dangerous. I'll go first."

Well, that's a cultural reference you shouldn't have known… ;) They manage to finally push me over the top to clvl 50; one skill points goes to maxing Combat, and the rest, for lack of anywhere better to put them, go to Archery. One more FF hit to Archery and I'll be able to activate piercing shots.

And Great Wyrms seems to be a theme of the level, as a Wyrm of Perplexity crops up nearby. [checks notes] Still no tougher than the Ice or Storm Wyrms, and once again, it's dead in four turns, netting as a matter of curiosity Gathraka's first Bluesteel Blade—merely a {good} one, so the automatizer gets to it before we do.

And after that, the level finally seems done being 'superb'. We'll leave it here, then, at the stairs down to the next level.

Chatter (1.2)

ZizzoTheInfinite: I apologize for the minor flood of character sheets, but I always grab one when my characters hit clvl 50.

LoM 65 thru LoM 67

So, when we last left our heroine–

"*groan* Can we just go already?"

Yes, ma'am: ;)

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

Not so's you'd notice, at least not in the early part of the level. Well, a swarm of Bats of Gorgoroth do leave me a nice Dwarven Shovel of Digging (+7) with which to replace my unenchanted Dwarven Shovel; that's mildly superb, I suppose. We also run into another Great Storm Wyrm, but those are starting to lose their intimidation factor. Oh, and there's another monster pit on the level—but it's full of worms…

*squish* "Okay, someone is just not trying very hard here."

Indeed. And that's pretty much the level. Frankly, I'm not seeing the superbness here. Oh well, maybe we'll have better luck on:

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

"Sheesh. Who is it that decides what these levels are supposed to 'feel' like? ‘Cause I'm developing this sudden urge to find him and smack him around some."

(shrug) That's another of the many things I've given up trying to figure out about this game. In minor good news, an early Emperor wight finally nets a !oCLIns to fix up that minor sanity hit we took last time out.

"Buzzkill."

Yes ma'am. ;) This level at least seems to have some claim to moderate superbitude, as it sports a lesser vault (octagon) with another Beholder hive-mother. This one turns out to be even less trouble than the last, spending its last three turns of life trying (and failing) to cast spells at me. One minor setback, though: I accidentally trigger a Trap of Drop Everything in the middle of the vault. I'm never in any real danger, of course, but in the process of reassembling my kit, my Ring of Damage gets destroyed by lightning, and I accidentally end up wearing cursed Bar Chain Mail instead of Thalkettoth. :o :o

[sound F/X: forehead repeatedly striking wall] "You're trying to get me killed down here, aren't you?"

I think we should pop back up topside and get this all patched up:

Lothlorien

While we're here, we *ID*:

Man, I wish I had some other source of ESP besides my Amulet of Telepathy. For now, I'll stow Elessar in my Gondolin house, where I also have an old Ring of Slaying (+17,+15). Not quite as good as what we had, but close.

"*groan* The things I put up with…"

:o Back in Lothlorien, I decide to stow one of my ammo bundles, specifically the Seeker Bolts of Frost, to make room in my pack. To make room in my house, I also ditch some of my spare (exploding) Bolts and my backup stash of non-ego Seeker Bolts, on the premise that I'm not likely to need them anymore.

Now, let's try this again:

LoM 66, take 2; "Looks like any other level."

"That's just another way of saying ‘superb’ again, isn't it?"

Probably. It's also a destroyed level, which gives us a chance to give our new Dwarven Shovel of Digging a workout. And an early Beholder gives us another small sanity hit. :\

*slash slash* "Ah, mirdautas vras. Guess I'll have to enjoy it while I can."

Well, here's something you won't enjoy: after an uneventful sweep through most of the rest of the level, a Lesser Balrog starts breathing fire at us from the far end of the corridor we're in, smacking us down to 784/1186hp. I quickly swap in my Climbing Set and duck into the mountains to let him come to me, and chop him down in two turns.

[quaffs Potion of Healing] "Skai. I need some kind of better protection against fire breathers like that."

Well, Trone should have something that can help with that, considering he spends all his time riding around on a fire-breathing eagle.

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you where these people find giant eagles that breathe fire."

I could tell you, but Anne McCaffrey's lawyers would sue me. ;) :\ What remains of the level passes without incident, and we push on to:

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

"That means, what, more wyrms?"

Looks like it; a Great Hell Wyrm turns up in the second room. [checks notes] Only a little tougher than Storm and Ice Wyrms at 5000hp. Shall we?

*slash slash slash* "I'm already fighting the thing. You spend too much time poking around in your notes up there."

Sorry. The Wyrm dies in five turns; as always with monsters like this, it's the retaliatory damage from its fire aura that does the most damage, knocking me down to 970/1216hp by the time I'm finished. After that, the Ancient white dragon that wanders in behind it is downright anticlimactic.

[stretches] "This place is turning out better than I thought. I guess I was selling Captain Pickaxe short."

Don't get your hopes up just yet; the level is kind of boring for a while. A lesser vault (Miniature Cell) provides a little excitement, in the form of a Master vampire, a Skeleton Ettin, an MMHD and two Carrion crawlers—and slightly more excitement in the form of an Iron Helm of Seeing [+12] (+2) and a Mouse Fur of Air [+13].

"You sound way too excited about this. Where are you planning on taking me that I'm gonna need air bad enough to wear mouse skins?"

Oh, I very much doubt we'll be going to the Void, but these are rare enough that I'll probably keep it as a souvenir. Oh, and I take back what I said about the level being boring; telepathy is picking up your first Grand master mystic.

"You sound worried up there. He doesn't look so tough."

One of them killed Bjorn.

"Like I said, he doesn't look so tough."

If this guy touches you, you are almost certainly dead.

"…You're winding me up."

All of his melee attacks have a very high probability of stunning you. If you get stunned too badly, you'll get knocked out—and once that happens, he'll keep hitting you and stunning you more until you're dead.

"Mm." [cocks crossbow] "Okay, we'll take him out the old-fashioned way, then."

I'm swapping in your Seeker Bolts of Lightning; they'll do a bit more damage than either of your randart Bolts (though not much, what with him resisting everything). A !oSpd, berzerker/running, and Hammerhand berzerk just as he rounds the corner into the corridor we're in.

"Heh. Glob dobat. Matubatlat narshaprokug Gath."

Let's hope so… *whew* Fortunately I had enough lead on him, and enough of a speed advantage, to hit him with twelve bolts and kill him before he gets all the way down the corridor.

"*snort* I can't believe you actually had me worried there for a minute."

Let's see what he dropped… ah, a Potion of Speed to replace the one you just used, and a Potion of Cure Serious Insanity to patch up that sanity hit.

"*sigh* Fun while it lasted, I suppose."

;) The level isn't quite done being superb at me, as a Great Wyrm of Perplexity drops the Seeker Arrow 'Bullseye' and the Shield of Thorin. :) :) :) A bit further in, a Great Swamp Wyrm nets a randart Chain Mail.

And with that my pack is absolutely full, so we return to:

Lothlorien

to *ID*:

The Iron Helm of Seeing has ESP, which might in the future allow me to swap out my Amulet of Telepathy for something else; for now, though, I don't think I want to give up Hammerhand just yet. And I can't swap in Thorin yet, either, because Anarion is my only source of resist fire. I'll stow both of those here, and the Mouse Fur of Air in Bree—after I make room in the house by Mathoming a few artifact weapons that I'm never going to use, along with Bullseye.

"‘Bout time. It mystifies me why you ever kept those things."

What can I say? I'm a packrat by nature. :o ;) We'll leave it here, then; with a bit of luck, we might even finish the Sacred Land of Mountains next time out.

LoM 67 (take 2) thru LoM 70

LoM 67, take 2; "Looks like any other level."

Well, it looks a fair bit like it did the last time we were here, in the sense that an early ad hoc monster group of 'p's includes another Grand master mystic. And we discover a small wrinkle in our long-range-artillery plan: if we're too far away from him, he's outside our anti-magic field and can cast spells at us—in this case, summoning Crypt creeps.

"Okay, this guy is getting annoying."

A bit of leading him around and picking off a few creeps gets him in the clear and in my anti-magic field, and thus dead a few Seeker Bolts of Lightning later.

And it looks like this is going to be an interesting "any other level", as not much further in, Gathraka's first Jabberwock crops up. [checks notes] Hmm, 3200hp, speed +20, and pretty bad melee damage, but nothing exotic, except for a a few spells which it won't be able to cast, and a chaos breath, which I resist. Wanna try him cold?

"Enh, gimme the helmet thing."

One Hammerhand berzerk coming up, along with berzerker/running. And in we go… well, that wasn't so bad; dead in four turns, and it only knocked me down to 907/1186hp.

Other than that, the level is pretty calm. Moving right along, then:

LoM 68; "You have an excellent feeling…"

A flock of Crebain make pests of themselves early in the level. Indeed, pests seems to be the theme of the level, as a pack of Nether hounds smack me around some a bit further in, followed by more Crebain, and then a nascent Blood Sprout infestation, luckily nipped in the proverbial bud. After that, Waldern is almost an anticlimax, falling in three turns without even any prep work.

"Bah… and this place was actually turning interesting for a while."

I can live with boring. More to the point, I can keep you alive with it. If you want excitement, though, maybe we'll get lucky on:

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

"Again?"

Well, here's something, rather superb: an Ancient black dragon in the second room of the level drops your first Ring of Speed (+4). I don't think we can spare either of your rings right now, but we'll certainly keep it for later. And good finds seems to be a theme of this level, as an Ethereal dragon drops Aeglin. No interesting fights for Gathraka, alas.

"I'm going back to my original assessment. Captain Pickaxe was seriously overselling this place."

Well, you're gonna have a fight on your hands on:

LoM 70; "You feel that you will meet your fate here. You have a superb feeling about this level."

"*hiss* My Curse just lit up again. That's Trone, isn't it?"

Uh-huh, and the level is a 1x1 small level, which means he's practically on top of us.

"Great. Got anything about him in those notes of yours?"

Yep: [checks notes] 8000hp, speed +20, nasty melee damage, and breathes fire and time.

"Urk. Okay, gimme the works."

Right: !oSpd, berzerker/running, Hammerhand berzerk… and I'm swapping in Mormegil, too.

"Here he comes."

"Well, well, look who's finally made it to the peak. That fool Balrog's been name-dropping again, it would seem. I guess I'll just have to go and teach him some discretion."

"Bit late for that, I'm afraid."

"Is that so? I suppose I should have expected no less from the infamous Dark Sword."

"Yeah, funny you should mention that. Torchface told me you could fill me in on that point. Let's start with that corpse I found that looked like me."

"Ah, yes, quite a work of art, the resemblance, wouldn't you say?"

"I'm not interested in art, I want to know why. What's the value in a dead copy of me?"

"Copy? Of you? You silly little girl, you still don't get it, do you? That body you saw was the original. You are the copy."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"No. You've disappointed me. I'll tell you no more."

"Oh, I think you will, or you won't tell anyone anything, ever again."

"How adorable, you're actually threatening me. I think you'll find I'm just a bit stronger than a silly Balrog who can't dig his way out from under a pile of rubble without some hapless Dwarves to help him."

"You gonna talk me to death, or you gonna fight?"

"O ho! The challenge is made and met, then. Have at me, if you think you can!"

"With pleasure." *slash slash*

Round one knocks Trone down two stars. And earthquakes are apparently going to be an unavoidable cost of fighting with Mormegil now; this one drops a wall where Trone was standing, pushing him back a step but not obviously doing any damage to him. It does, however, do some collateral damage in the interior of the pit-shaped room whose outer ring Trone and I are fighting in—a troll pit, according to telepathy.

We tunnel through the blockage back to Trone. "Túrin Turambar's old sword, eh? Fitting. You'll bring the mountain down on your head that way, though." As we close, he attacks, taking us down to 1111/1216hp.

"Our heads, I think you mean." *slash* Another round of attacks takes him down to five stars, and again knocks him back with the earthquake effect. And vampiric effects seems to be among the more common of Mormegil's chaotic effects; I'm back up to 1211/1216hp.

By the time we tunnel through the new blockage, Trone is back up to six stars, and Mormegil's hit point drain has us down to 1207/1216hp. "Silly girl, my trusty eagle can always fly me out of danger."

"Yeah? I don't think it's noticed you're in danger now." We wait for him to come to us this time and attack, knocking him down to three stars.

"You are better than I'd expected, I grant you that, but I will still prevail." This time the earthquake doesn't hit Trone, leaving him in place to attack and knock us down to 1176/1216hp.

"Not if that's the best you've got." *slash slash* Another round of attacks knocks Trone down to one star and pushes him back again with an earthquake hit. And this time Mormegil's vampiric chaotic effects heal me back up to full—though its hit point drain has me back down to 1212/1216hp by the time I've tunneled through the blockage again.

"You dare– No. I will not be defeated by a stupid and ugly orc!"

"That… was a mistake." One more round of attacks and Trone is down for the count.

"Now, talk. If I'm a copy, why did you make me?"

"You… foolish girl. It wasn't… me who made you. It was… the Nec…" [Trone dies]

"AAAAAGH! Every time I find a solid lead, it dies on me. Now what am I supposed to… waaait a minute, you don't think he might have been talking about–"

The Necromancer of Dol Guldur. It's the only thing he could have meant.

"Well now. I was keen to go off after him a while back, as I recall, but you said I wasn't ready."

That was then. I think you just might be able to pull it off now.

"I'll pull off his ears and make him talk, is what I'll do. C'mon, let's go."

We should at least finish up this level first. Among the vaguely interesting bits of Trone's drop is a much more interesting Indestructible Ring of Speed (+5). Oh, and his coat, for which I have a handy ?o*ID* that I picked up on the previous level:

Mormegil gained another level in killing Trone, pushing it up to level 27 and its bonuses up to (+20,+8) but not apparently gaining a power.

Other than Trone, there's not much worth noting on the level. The much-abused troll pit nets a bit of saleable kit; the only other room on the level sports, among other slightly annoying monsters, a Monastic lich that drops Nar-i-vagil.

"Hey, didn't you say something about a fate?"

[checks notes] Yes, that was that Giant grey ant you plowed through on the way to Trone.

"Oh. Color me unimpressed."

Indeed. I pick up a few bits of saleable loot and return to:

Lothlorien

to *ID*:

Those are no use to me; they'll get Mathomed. The Rings of Speed I'll stow in my Bree house for future use.

Back home in Lothlorien, I need to consider my kit. Swapping out Thalkettoth for Trone's coat costs me +3 DEX and resist shards (I'm getting resist confusion from the Arkenstone and resist acid from several other sources), in exchange for +1 net speed, fire immunity and all the other advantages of Trone's coat. Also, with that covering all my base resists plus resist nexus, I no longer need Anarion for anything (I've got sustain STR/DEX/CON from Hammerhand, and I don't really care about the rest), so I can swap in Thorin's shield for acid immunity. And all these CON boosts give me room to swap out Paurnimmen if I find any better handwear.

And next time, we go Necromancer hunting… ;)

Chatter (1.4)

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

Chapter 6

Been a while, but I think it's about time to get back to some Necromancer hunting. Now, if I could just find her… ah, there she is, over in that clearing…

"I have to do this, Hiros, you know that. No one else can do it."

"And what if you cannot? Few have even seen the Necromancer and lived to tell the tale, and none who attempted to engage him in battle. Forgive me, Angelanor, but I fear I will never see you again…"

"You worry too much. I mean, c'mon, his whole gig is lobbing spells around, what can he possibly do to me? Besides, if the frickin' Angel of Death can't take me from you, no trumped-up novice mage stands a chance."

"I'm still not entirely certain I believe that tale, you know."

"Silly." *kiss* "I promise you, Hiros, I will be back. Now, where is that stupid Human… oh, sha." [slaps forehead] "I'd ask how long you've been up there, but given how my luck runs, I'm pretty sure I can guess."

‘Angelanor’—literally ‘iron flower’. I like it, it fits.

"Yeah, and if I hear it out of your mouth again, I'm coming up there and tying your tongue around your ears by way of your thos."

Yes, ma'am. ;) ;) Now, I just have to keep your promise to Hiros… :\ (Oh, and if you're wondering who this Hiros person is, go read Gathraka's backstory and all will be revealed [well, maybe not all…].)

TDG 57 thru TDG 61 (take 2)

TDG 57; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

A mixed bag to greet me as I enter the dungeon, including a Knight Templar, with whom I close quickly to prevent him from getting off any spells.

"So, got anything about this place in those notes of yours, Human?"

Not much; few of my characters have made it this far.

"Doesn't surprise me a bit."

No respect, I tells ya. [checks notes] Let's see, it's fairly short as dungeons go, about half the depth of the Land of Mountains, and all the levels will be small, which makes sense considering that we're (theoretically, at least) inside a tower. The monster mix should be predominantly humans, giants, demons and dragons, with some orc, trolls and undead mixed in.

*sniff sniff* "Yeah, the water smells like trolls have been bathing in it."

Ah yes, the tainted water, a signature terrain type of Dol Guldur. In the meantime, this level is a 1x5 small level, whose sole notable feature is a greater vault (Roundabout Two). The only diggable entry walls are on the west side, practically on the edge of the level, with no nearby rooms or corridors anywhere close. Fortunately, a conveniently placed void jumpgate gets me in.

"Is that skull over making noises?"

Ah, that's right, you haven't seen a Skull druj before. It's trying to cast spells at you, and, to my enduring glee, failing. >:> Beyond that, the vault has some Hellhounds with which to test my newly gained fire immunity, and nets a randart Augmented Chain Mail that I'm sorely tempted to just leave behind, but don't. Pushing on, then:

TDG 58; "You have an excellent feeling…"

A 3x5 small level. Notable occupants include a Great Storm Wyrm, one of my banes from the Land of Mountains, since my Shocking Dark Sword is of substantially reduced effectiveness against it. Two lightning breaths to the face, one at near full strength, plus its lightning aura have me smacked all the way down to 478/1186hp by the time I finally finish it off.

"Right, note to self: take the big electric dragons more seriously."

No kidding… :\ At least it has the courtesy to leave behind the Ring of Flare. :) And that's pretty much it, besides some now-harmless lava. Moving right along:

TDG 59; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

A 1x3 small level—and a dark arena level, as I discover when a pack of Water hounds lurking around in telepathy range off to my west starts casting water ball spells at me. There are quite a few of them, and they manage to get off two more spells before I get close enough to get them all inside my antimagic field. And they brought friends, in the form of equally large packs of Air hounds and Dark hounds.

"Sheesh, is this Necromancer guy running a frickin' kennel or something?"

Indeed. Other nuisances on the level include a Bone golem, Gathraka's second ever (though I can't recall the first), who takes four turns to kill and smacks me down to 878/1186hp in the process. I might try Mormegil on the next one of those, especially considering its disenchantment melee attacks. Also a Maulotaur, which I Phase Door away from and fill with Seeker Bolts. At least I manage to get a randart amulet from an Ancient black dragon.

"This place is getting annoying…"

I'm almost afraid to find out what we'll run into on:

TDG 60; "You feel strangely lucky…"

A 1x1 small level, and so not terribly dangerous.

"See? You worry too much."

I suppose. Notable, if only for its amusement value, is the second Necromancer I've run into in the Tower.

"So the guy is, what, training apprentices now?"

Not really. The Necromancer, despite his name, doesn't actually practice necromancy. Hmm, my pack's getting pretty full; I think I'll go one more level…

TDG 61; "You hear someone shouting under the torture. You have a superb feeling about this level."

Which gives me the perfect excuse, after quickly sweeping the uneventful 3x1 small level, to recall to:

Wilderness

"Wait, wasn't there someone being tortured down there?"

Yeah, but we weren't going to find him that time. Quirk of game mechanics. He'll be there when we get back. In the meantime, we need to head back to:

Lothlorien

and *ID*:

Normally I'd keep an immunity armor, but I've already got a couple better randart armors with immunity to lightning. And the randart amulet doesn't have telepathy, which I was really hoping for. [checks notes] Ah, never mind, it won't have that unless it was built on an Amulet of Telepathy to start with.

Let's see, what else? Flare is tempting, but I've already got fire immunity from Trone's coat, and I can't really spare either of my current rings. And since there are no mountains in Dol Guldur, I think I can safely stow my Climbing Set too. That takes a bit of home shuffling, and leaves all my homes completely full. I'm gonna have to sell off some stuff eventually…

And back in Lothlorien, we pick up some athelas to take back to:

TDG 61, take 2; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

"I don't hear the guy screaming. If he's dead, I'm blaming you."

Not to worry; Thrain finally shows up on telepathy at the very end of the 3x3 small level, guarded by Hoarmurath and Dwar. [checks notes] Hmm, Hoarmurath is the tougher of the two, at 6000hp and +20 speed; Dwar is not much better at 4500hp and +10 speed. Both have annoying melee damage, and a raft of spells that I suppose I'll have to risk if I want to try this tactic.

"Oh, you're scheming up there. What are you getting me into, Human?"

We're going in. Okay, full power-up: berzerker/running, !oSpd, Hammerhand berzerk… and at the very last minute, we swap in Mormegil.

"Whoa, wait a minute, Human, I thought you said we didn't want to fight the uglies up close."

It's a tactical risk. The chance of Mormegil actually being destroyed is low, and we really need to disenchant it some.

"You're gonna get me killed, aren't you?"

First out of the gate is Dwar. Here goes nothing… well, this is showing some promise: in the three turns before Dwar gets teleported away, Mormegil gets enchanted down to (+15,+3)—just enough to net out against the -20 to AC and +2 pval. I'd like a buffer zone against further level-gain enchantment, though, so we'll swap it out long enough to push through the earthquaked vicinity (and a swarm of Elite uruks) to get to Hoarmurath.