Contents

  1. Trilogy, the Half-Elf Geomancer, Part 4
    1. Chapter 4 (continued)
      1. MoM 43 (take 2) to MoM 44 (take 2)
      2. MoM 44 (take 3) to MoM 46
      3. MoM 47 to MoM 50
        1. Chatter (1.3)
    2. Intermission
    3. Chapter 5
      1. Mdr 34 thru Mdr 40
      2. Mdr 40 (take 2) thru Mdr 46
      3. Mdr 46 (take 2) thru Mdr 50
        1. Chatter (3.3)
      4. Mdr 51 thru Mdr 53
        1. Chatter (3.4)

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

Trilogy, the Half-Elf Geomancer, Part 4

Chapter 4 (continued)

MoM 43 (take 2) to MoM 44 (take 2)

And after that nice rest, we return to:

MoM 43, take 2; "Looks like any other level."

That's odd; why–

"Forget that for now; trolls."

Indeed, we arrive smack in the middle of a pack of Algroths, all asleep. Feeling exceptionally cheeky, I cast a Tidal Wave to clear them out.

"He's getting cocky up there. We are so doomed…"

Okay, okay, I'll be good… ;) The level is mostly boring until about the halfway point, when I push into a dark room to cast Noxious Cloud on a pack of Half-trolls. That goes as efficiently as expected, until:

And suddenly I'm surrounded by Algroths and other assorted nasties. I risk taking a turn lighting up the room to see what I'm up against… ah, there it is, a Silent watcher on the west wall. [checks notes] Let's see, speed +0, 80d25hp, which averages to 1040, and evil, which means my Fireflash will do double its normal 586 damage… [sound F/X: calculator] standard deviation on that is about 64.5 if I'm figuring this right, which means we've got a 95 percent chance of killing him in one shot.

"Okay, you're a math major, we're all duly impressed. Now step aside. Azarath metrion ZINTHOS!"

I tell ya, I get no respect around here… Anyway, the Silent watcher does indeed fall in one shot. Now, some of those other assorted nasties I mentioned above are an Eldrak and a Spirit troll, both of which just moved right next to me in this swarm of Algroths. I think I'm gonna Phase Door out of the middle of this party and let my Noxious Cloud do my talking for me. >:>

With that bit of excitement out of the way, the rest of the level passes without significant incident (other than a couple Potions of Wisdom) until the very last room of the level, which is a lesser vault (spiral checkers). Sense Monsters detects quite the array of mid-level nasties, most notably a Nalfeshnee, an Ancient white dragon, and a pair of Greater basilisks.

"Enh, I think we can manage this crowd if we're careful."

'Careful' being our watchword. Nothing presents much of a challenge until we arrive just outside the cell with one of the Greater basilisks. Hmm, I don't think you've faced one of these before… [checks notes] 20d100hp, averaging 1010, speed +10, evil, nasty melee attacks, breathes poison, darkness and nexus… and we don't have resist darkness. Your call, Trilogy; you want to take it?

"What's the chance of him breathing?"

[checks] One in eight.

"And two out of three of those will be things I resist… these boots activate for speed, right?"

In theory, yes, but after fifteen attempts, I can't get Feanor's activation to succeed. We do still have Potions of Speed, though.

"And one Fireflash should be enough… okay, let's do it."

That's the spirit. ;) Okay, I pull back as far as I can, toss back a !oSpd, cast Ent's Potion for that extra little hit-point boost just in case, cross my fingers, cast Dig… and it spends its last turn alive moving toward me. *whew*

Now, the other Greater basilisk is in the other spiral, which isn't connected to the one I'm in—which means I have to Dig my way all the way around the granite edge of the vault to get to the other entrance on the other side. On this side, though, the Greater basilisk and the Nalfeshnee are just around a corner of the spiral, allowing me to ambush them as they come into view. The rest of the vault presents no challenge; net overall is some randart gloves and a randart Ribbed Plate Armor, along with a few pieces of saleable kit.

Let's see, I think I've got enough room in my pack to go another level or two:

MoM 44; "You feel your luck is turning…"

Pretty boring to start; a pack of Half-trolls drops the Beaked Axe of Hurin, but that's not terribly exciting for us. The only point of interest in the early level is a room sporting a mix of Vrocks and Novice paladins—and even then, the only challenge is picking around the Vrocks with our Charm spells and not hitting any of the Novice paladins with our Fireflashes.

"Strange bedfellows…"

Indeed. The Vrocks did net Potions of Wisdom and Constitution, though. The rest of the level isn't much better, beyond finding Limbslicer on the floor. Oh, and running into Shadowfax in a room at the northwest corner of the level; he's asleep as we enter the room, and with a bit of artful dodging, we manage to pick off the rest of the room's occupants, light the room and leave without waking him up.

"Nice horse."

Indeed. The very tail end of the level coughs up a Scroll of *Identify*, which allows us to check:

Oh, good, I was hoping it would be this useless; now I can shed 38lb of load by ditching it. For the rest, I think I'll take it back up at this point:

Lothlorien

I *ID*:

Hmm, Elennilme would buy me resist chaos, but Cammithrim is my only source of free action currently. We'll stow Elennilme here for possible future use, and Hurin and Limbslicer in our Minas Anor home. Gondolin still has the best weapon store cap in this game, so we go there to sell off loot, and buy a Climbing Set from the black market on a lark, since we're not packing a shovel. Back home, then, to:

Lothlorien

whence we return to:

MoM 44, take 2; "Looks like any other level."

A boring early level, beyond running into (and quickly killing) Emperor Mimic.

"Sprightly for a mimic, that one."

Yep, the only mimic in the game that can actually move. Ah, here's something of interest: Trilogy's first Ancient multi-hued dragon.

"Enh, another giant forty-foot dragon. Kinda cliché by now."

This one's tougher than the ones you've seen so far: [checks notes] 2100hp, +10 speed, and breathes acid, fire, cold, lightning and poison.

"But we resist all of those. And it's evil, so two Fireflashes will kill it. As long as I get off the first shot, it won't be able to do enough damage with its breaths to kill me."

*blink* Clearly you've thought this through. Okay, then, lead the way.

"I'm already in position; you were too busy checking your notes. Azarath metrion ZINTHOS!"

And indeed, that knocks the AMHD down five stars, and it flees. She flubs the second Fireflash, but that's the turn that the dragon misses, and the third kills it.

"See?"

Okay, I'm sorry I doubted you. Too bad it didn't drop anything of note. No, for our noteworthy drops we turn to the troll pit just north of the corridor the AMHD was occupying; the trolls therein manage to drop an Iron Helm of Water Breathing (which we don't even need thanks to Trilogy's high Water skill) and… wait for it… Narsil.

"Whoa… getting that creepy ‘destiny’ feeling again…"

You and me both. After that, killing Khufu on the other side of the level is downright anti-climactic. Vargo, on the other hand, is less so. [checks notes] 2400hp, speed +10, annoying melee damage (all fire, of course), casts plasma bolt and fire ball spells, and not evil, which means none of our heavy-hitters will affect it. Unless… interesting; it doesn't say Vargo is non-living.

"Then let's suffocate him. Azarath metrion ZINTHOS!"

We drop a Noxious Cloud on him and start backing off, carpeting his approach as he follows us. Fortunately his movements are slightly random, which nets us a little lead room. That and a barrage of Manathrusts finally takes him down.

"I think I saw Vargo crush some of Khufu's drop."

Well, he missed this Large Leather Shield [+4], for what it's worth. Now, let's see about the rest of the level–

Eek. Between them, those take me down to 166/309hp. And indeed, the room I was about to enter is full of red Z's, with a blue e leading the way.

"Oh, we're dead now."

Oh ye of little faith. I duck back around a corner in the corridor to get out of line of sight of the Water hounds and smack the Eye of the deep with a Fireflash when it follows me. That takes me up to clvl 42, with skill points going one each to Geomancy, Spell-power, Fire, Water and Air. As I'm resting up, the hounds and some Elite uruks that were with them start leaking around the corner; I drop a Noxious Cloud there to shut them up while I'm sleeping.

"Good thing, too; looks like one of them was packing."

Indeed, one of the uruks drops a Rapier (*Defender*). That'll sell for a bit. ;) The rest of the level passes without incident, and we're kind of running long for this segment, so let's return to:

Lothlorien

After buying and quaffing a Potion of Experience from the black market, ;) we immediately proceed to Minas Anor to get Narsil turned into:

"Whoa…"

'Whoa' indeed. Too bad we can't use it. We'll stow it here, and buy the Potion of Constitution in Minas Anor's black market. Back home, then, to:

Lothlorien

to prepare for more Moria next time out.

MoM 44 (take 3) to MoM 46

Once more unto ye olde proverbial breach, then:

MoM 44, take 3; "Looks like any other level."

No, not really; there's a Dark elven sorcerer next to me as I enter the level, with an ordinary Sorcerer and an Ancient black dragon not too far away in the same room.

"Hang on, this could get tricky. Azarath metrion ZINTHOS!"

One Fireflash takes out the Dark elven sorcerer, hits the dragon, and apparently just misses the Sorcerer, who's still asleep; another Fireflash takes out the Sorcerer and further softens up the dragon, which then falls to two Manathrusts.

"Sound sleeper, that Sorcerer."

Indeed. After that moment of tension, the level settles down into the usual Moria routine of seemingly endless waves of monsters and the occasional glut of artifacts, including the Demonhorn of Gothmog and this randart arrow that I *ID* with a stray scroll:

which really isn't even worth carrying up and Mathoming.

"So this Demonblade guy gets around, I take it."

There's still a Demonshield and a Lochaber Axe to come, in fact. And my poor Demonologist never finds any of these things… :( On the other hand, neither has she found a Ring of Speed, unlike Trilogy, who just found her first Ring of Speed (+8) in a chest dropped by an Ancient black dragon…

"Certainly not complaining or anything here, but… isn't this kind of overkill?"

Indeed, I don't think I'm going to swap out either of your randart rings for this one. Though I am starting to get one of those "those whom the gods would destroy" feelings…

Anyway, the rest of the level is unremarkable from there, other than my discovery of another use for Elemental Minion besides mopping up pesky lava squares: generating "handlers" to take care of good monsters that resist confusion and thus cannot be charmed (like this Cherub Trilogy just encountered). With that new useful fact under our belt, we move on to:

MoM 45; "You have a good feeling…"

No excitement in the early level–

"Hm. Herd of dead horses."

Well, no, I can't say as I've heard of–

"…"

Oh, you mean those five Night mares showing up on telepathy out in the corridor north of the room we're in. :o ;) Odd, I didn't think Night mares traveled in herds.

"My point."

Ah, of course. [checks notes] 1500hp, so they'll need two Fireflashes each.

"Way ahead of you. Azarath metrion ZINTHOS!"

Once those are cleared out, we push north to one of those octagonal rooms, wherein we find the answer to our mystery: the Night mares were just the advance scouts from an ad hoc monster group of 'q' monsters. The rest of the group are mostly War bears and Catoblepases (Catoblepi?), which are easily cleared out by Noxious Clouds; one Seraph in the back we have to lure back in to the last room, where we Minion up a level-136 Xorn to finish him off. >:>

An unmeasured length of uneventful wandering later, we get another wakeup call as we are about to enter a dark room from a west-side corridor, when (what turns out to be) a Demonic Q summons Trilogy's first Lesser Balrog.

"Oh, great. Find it and seal it up, fast."

As you say. A quick Phase Door takes us into the room, and one Globe of Light and one Stone Prison later, the Q is out of our misery for the moment. Now, about that Balrog… [checks notes] 2000hp, speed +10, nasty melee damage, really nasty fire breath, and some annoying spells, including summon demon.

"Two Fireflashes. Piece of cake."

And indeed, the Balrog falls quickly, dropping some nice saleable loot, including a randart Trident. That done, we turn our attention back to the Demonic Q, who lives just long enough to regret messing with us. >:>

And with the Balrog's loot, my pack is now full. Fortunately we're almost done with the level, and soon we can return to:

Lothlorien

where we *ID*:

We Mathom Gothmog in Bree, sell off loot in Gondolin, and swing by Minas Anor to stow Nimloth and some other stuff that was cluttering up my Lothlorien house. Back home in Lothlorien, we stow the Ring of Speed and return to:

MoM 45, take 2; "Looks like any other level."

Actually, it looks more boring than most levels of Moria. The only really noteworthy point was the discovery, to my consternation, that Ethereal dragons, unlike their younger siblings Ethereal drakes, are not evil, and thus don't take a heck of a lot of damage from Fireflash. Bug or intentional? Either way, it takes me several turns of dancing on a Phase Door void gate to whittle the dragon down with Geysers after that.

"That was a nice break, actually. Any chance we could have a few more levels like that?"

Well, let's see:

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

"That would be a ‘no’, then."

Pretty much. :\ The first part of the level is calm enough, netting a randart Steel Helm from a Mature red dragon. Still nothing exciting by the halfway point, besides a Dwarven Metal Cap of Intelligence [+8] (+4), which I'd really like to swap in, but Thengel is currently my only source of resist confusion.

Ah, that's probably the source of the superb feeling there: a troll pit in the southeast area of the map.

"Hmph. Figures."

And to add to the annoyance, there's a Cherub mixed in with the trolls along our approach path. [checks notes] We're up above 60K piety anyway, so I don't really mind taking the hit, but the thing has 1000hp, +10 speed, and some annoying spells, including summon monster. I drop a Stone Prison behind me to limit its effectiveness and then begin my attack: 

   ^^^                                                            
     ^ ^                                                          
^^^^'^                               T                            
   ' ' ^       #############         T                            
^^^^ ^^^       #+..........#         T TTTTT   T                  
^^^^'^^^^^^^^^^#........~".#^^       T TTTTT                      
   '.'.....[.'......./.....#h:TTTTTTTATTTTTT    T                 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^'#..._.=\.~.|#^^       T TTTTT   d                  
             ^ #.......|...#         T TTTTT  T                   
             ^:#.###########         T                            
               ^.^                   T

The Cherub takes four Geysers to kill thanks to its healing spell; the rest of the pit falls as usual to a few Noxious Clouds, netting Avavir and clvl 43, with skill points going 2 to Geomancy, 2 to Spell-power and 1 to Earth.

And that's pretty much it. The rest of the level nets nothing but two Potions of Constitution (from a pack of Hezrou and a Ghoulking, respectively). And I don't think we've quite got enough room in this outing to go another level, but there's no pressing need to go back home either, so we'll leave it here, at the stairs down to MoM 47, and press on from there next time.

MoM 47 to MoM 50

And off we go:

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

"Back to normal, eh?"

For Moria, yes. Not that you'd know it was a superb level for the first several rooms or so. Well, we do find Trilogy's second ever AMHD sleeping peacefully in a corridor, and Fireflash it to ashes… >:> It drops a chest with a randart ring in it, to my surprise.

"Wall monsters."

And these are Greater wall monsters. And they appear to be leaking out of the same room in which your telepathy is detecting Vrocks.

"Not good."

As you say. The GWMs turn out to be part of an ad hoc group of '#' monsters. The Vrocks fall quickly to a couple Fireflashes; the GWMs require some strategically aimed Geysers. It takes practically all my mana to stem the tide, leaving me just enough to Phase Door out and rest up before going back to finish off the Vampiric mists and the Roper that had been making a pest of itself in the corner.

"Vortex. Big one."

That would be Ariel, who just entered the room via a door a few squares away from the door by which we just entered. A Manathrust to the face doesn't even take her down a single star, and then she's next to us. [checks notes] Ugh, 2700hp, speed +20, decent melee damage (all in confusion, though, which we resist), non-evil. Like Vargo, though, she doesn't appear to be flagged as non-living.

"Suffocate an air elemental, eh? I like the irony. Azarath metrion ZINTHOS!"

A Phase Door takes us back out into the corridor, into which she dutifully follows us; a few Noxious Clouds and a Manathrust barrage later, she's dead.

After that, the level is boring for a while, until:

"Uh… help?"

Right, one Scroll of Teleportation to the rescue, throwing us to the far side of the level, into a room with a Nether wraith and some Half-trolls which are easily dispatched.

"And just when I was beginning to lose confidence in you…"

Okay, okay… :o At least the Nether wraith drops a Scroll of *Identify*, which we can use on that ring from the AMHD:

Hmm, if I swapped Lebreth out for this, I'd lose sustain CHA, resist blindness, levitation and slow digestion… nah, not for just +1 CON.

Another few rooms down from there, I get my memories wiped by a Beholder. After rather forcefully teaching it the depths of its mistake, >:> I decide to just punt and light up the level with See the Music. Hmm, looks like we've done most of the level anyway; shall we move on?

"What about that Ethereal dragon?"

It's not evil, unlike most dragons, which means we don't have Fireflash to fall back on; killing it would be really annoying. Unless you particularly want to go back for it–

"No! It's just out of character for you."

I'll take that as a compliment. ;) Moving on, then:

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

"Which reminds me, what was so ‘superb’ about that last one?"

(shrug) Beats me. Nothing obviously superb about the first part of this level, either. Ah, here's a troll pit about halfway through; that's probably it.

"*groan* I suppose I should be relieved it wasn't something really nasty…"

That remains to be seen, actually. The pit clears out neatly with just a few Noxious Clouds, netting nothing of interest. And "nothing of interest" covers the level for a while, until Gorlim appears. [checks notes] 1600hp, speed +10, pretty bad melee damage, water bolt and mana bolt spells—and to top it all off, he's not even evil.

"Not good."

Fortunately he doesn't do anything beyond approaching us across the large cavern in which we find him. A Manathrust barrage takes care of him, leaving no loot of interest.

"Ethereal dragon."

I see it, entering the cavern from the south. All the same problems as Gorlim, and even more hit points… :\ Fortunately, this one doesn't breathe while I'm Manathrusting it to death.

The rest of the level is mercifully uneventful, except for the Black ogres that drop the Harp of Daeron for us as we're on our way to the stairs to:

MoM 49; "You have a good feeling…"

"Beats ‘superb’, I guess."

Indeed. The Nexus hounds lined up in our entry corridor to greet us receive a nice Geyser in return. >:> And for the most part, the level is blissfully boring, notable only for a few interesting drops: Trilogy's first Scroll of Genocide from a summoned Marilith, a Mage Staff of Mana (-8,-4)(40%) from a lowly Quasit, a randart Chain Mail from a pack of Algroths at the very end of the level, and a few Potions of Wisdom from assorted monsters. I'd estimate two more potions to max WIS. My CON, alas, is lagging behind a bit…

Now, I did say "mostly"; there is one notable encounter: Quaker, about halfway through the level.

"Noticing a theme here. Who does that leave, the water guy?"

Waldern, yes. [checks notes] Quaker in the meantime, has 2800hp and tougher melee than Ariel, notably a 10d10 shatter attack; on the other hand, he's only speed +0 and has only acid bolt and acid ball spells.

"Sounds easy enough."

Indeed, the now-traditional barrage of Manathrusts does the trick.

Other than that, a nice, calm level for a change. And my pack is nearly full, but we're so close to the end…

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

And guess who's charging toward our entry room almost immediately.

"Whaddaya know? Kinda thought he was a myth, actually."

So why did you think the Dwarves left Moria?

(shrug) "Mithril veins played out?"

Well, anyway, we've got a fight on our hands here: [checks notes] 3000hp, speed +20, heavy melee damage, and breathes fire.

"But he's evil, right? Three Fireflashes, no problem."

Well, now that you mention it, he was easier for Gathraka to take down than I was anticipating. You wanna take the lead, then?

"Don't I always? Azarath metrion ZINTHOS!"

And indeed, a mere three turns later, Durin's Bane is dead and Trilogy is clvl 44, with skill points going one each to Geomancy, Spell-power, Fire, Water and Air. And among his drop is the Mithril Plate Mail of Celeborn and a randart amulet.

"So, was that all the excitement on this level?"

So it would seem. It does manage to cough up Turmil from a pack of Cave trolls. Also two Potions of Constitution and one more of Wisdom, and a Scroll of *Identify*, which I use on the randart chain mail from the previous level:

Darn, I was hoping it'd be useless so I could ditch it; but that just might be a useful swap-in at some future point.

Anyway, we've got one more stop to make before heading back: down the stairs to:

Wilderness

and a quick hop from there to:

Khazad-dum

"Interesting. Thought this was a myth, too."

You don't hang around Dwarves much, do you?

"Uh… Elf? Dwarves don't like us much?"

Right, sorry. ;) Khazad-dum's black market has a Potion of Experience that actually takes me a third of the way to the next clvl, and an Adamantite Rod of the Istari of Nothing that I wish I could buy, but I've got absolutely no room left in my pack. A couple Scrolls of *Identify* from the alchemy shop allow me to ID a few more randarts:

And that looks like all it has to offer; time to go home, then.

[shuffles pack] "Finally…"

No respect, I tells ya. A quick wilderness hop back to:

MoM 50, take 2; "Looks like any other level."

"I… thought we were going home."

We are; we have to recall from here to:

Loth^H^H^H^HWilderness

[slaps forehead] Well, first we'll swing by Gondolin and *ID* the rest of our haul:

I stow most of my loot in my Bree house, after selling a few things; the few I think I might use in the near term I take back with me to:

Lothlorien

I'd really like to swap in that Dwarven Metal Cap of Intelligence, but I can't find an equipment combination around it that doesn't lose me something important. Ah well, we'll save it for later, then.

Chatter (1.3)

ZizzoTheInfinite: D'oh! I keep forgetting to mention (for those who haven't already checked) that Trilogy's character sheet has been updated through the end of Moria. Now I just have to decide where to go next. I'm actually tempted to go off Ar-Pharazon for Toris (yeah, I know I'd be losing a potential Ring-bearer, but the utter cheekiness of being able to do it with no special equipment is awfully tempting… ;) ).

Intermission

"So, we've done Moria; what's next?"

Actually, I'm in the mood to do a few quests.

"I should be worried, shouldn't I?"

Not really.

"Then why are you bringing all of our Potions of Healing and Restore Mana?"

I'm not bringing all of our Potions of Healing, just ten of them.

"Of course. Not at all worried now…"

Sarcasm does not become you, young lady. I also take a few Potions of Resistance, since our first stop is in Gondolin, to do the:

Dragons quest

"Lotta dragons…"

Indeed. No Ancient dragons, so far as Sense Monsters can detect, just four MMHDs. I toss back a Potion of Resistance, then light up the level with See the Music, just for convenience.

The quest turns out to be depressingly routine. I pretty much drop a Noxious Cloud on anything I can target, and dragons spontaneously explode in treasure around me. >:> Only two dragons breathed on me, both acid, and between my double resistance and their obviously weakened states, neither did any damage to me. I end the level at 34/710 mana, almost needing one of those Potions of Restore Mana. The drop is disappointing—nothing better than a Broad Sword of Slay Giant.

"So, did we particularly need yet another house?"

Not immediately, but we had to do it first before Turgon would give us any other quests. For instance, this next one:

Eol the Dark Elf quest

"I've got a bad feeling about this."

How do you mean?

"You saw the look on Turgon's face. He doesn't expect Eöl to cooperate. I get the feeling we're gonna have to kill him."

Mm. [checks notes] Well, if it comes to that, it may not be easy. He's speed +20, 2400hp, and has some nasty spells, including nether ball, mana bolt, teleport to, and lots of summon spells. Plus he's not evil, which means we lose our heavy-hitter spell, Fireflash. And we only have 379hp to our name. All of a sudden I'm not feeling so good about this quest anymore…

"Now this occurs to him…"

Well, we do have our Climbing Set, which will let us hide in the mountains if need be.

"Uh… what mountains?"

Now, I was certain the walls of the cavern were mountains; turns out they're stone. And the cavern must be very small, because Eöl is in plain sight about four squares away.

"We're dead."

Don't Panic™. Eöl can't tunnel through walls, so a Stone Prison will keep us safe for a while. And that gives me the idea for how we're gonna do this: a quick Elemental Minion spell gives us a level-143 Earth elemental to do most of our fighting for us. With it in the fray, I take the opportunity to toss back a Potion of Speed just in case, and light up the level with See the Music. And darn if it isn't a single tiny cavern, about six squares wide by six high.

Our mighty elemental minion is knocking Eöl down about one star per (our-speed) turn, so in short order he's in a bad way. So naturally, I ever-so-casually Dig myself a line of sight to him and drop him with a single Manathrust. >:>

"*groan* He's getting cocky. We are so doomed…"

;) Eöl's drop notably includes a Phial—and since we've already found the bad one… :) :) I think the Star's hold life is more important for now, so I'll stow the Phial. He also nets a Spectral Dagger and Multi-Hued Dragon Scale Mail [+13]. :)

"Shame it had to end this way."

So it is. The reward Dwarven Lantern of the Magi has resist blindness and invisibility, but can't store a spell; no particular reason to wield it, except maybe much later for the stat boosts. Oh, and for the record:

"So we're done with the quests now, right?"

Nope, next up is the one I've really been looking forward to.

"Oh, no…"

Oh, yes: ;)

Nirnaeth Arnoediad quest

"Lotta trolls…"

That's fine; the closer packed they are, the more they'll get smacked into each other by my Tidal Waves. ;)

"*groan* He's got a new toy. This will not end well."

Oh, ye of little faith. There is a rather tense moment in the beginning, though, when a War troll Chieftain punches through our initial Wave onslaught and gets right up in my face.

"I hate being right sometimes. Azarath metrion ZINTHOS!"

Fortunately, a point-blank Fireflash takes care of him. Meanwhile, my first wave of Waves has taken out the first row of Ologs and Cave trolls and most of the second row of War trolls, even at distances where I can't see the Wave. [slaps forehead] Oh, right, the quest level is dark; a quick See the Music takes care of that.

The horizon of my first wave of Waves stops just short of the first Hru I can see. Time to push that forward. I pack my Waves as close as I think I can get away with, actually stepping forward to just behind the last Wave before casting the next—which set up the amusing sight of watching an Eldrak push through a Wave and then get knocked right back through it by the Wave immediately behind it. >:>

My onslaught is so fierce that, apart from that one early exception, nothing gets near me. Even Ulik can't manage to get within ten squares of me. I make clvl 45 in the process, with skill points going one each to Geomancy, Spell-power, Earth, Fire and Water.

"Okay, that was just overkill."

Yes, it was; what of it? ;)

"Whoa! Totally righteous, cute goth chick! Dude, how come we didn't do Ninnith Arnold this way? I coulda' surfed the trolls while I was nerfin' ‘em!"

Because, Bjorn, you never learned any spells from the Water school. And between the Temporal, Conveyance and Divination schools you did learn, plus Bearform-combat and Spell-power, you probably didn't have enough skill points left over to learn Tidal Wave even if we'd tried.

"Oh. Bummer, dude."

Bummer indeed. The trolls, at least, manage a higher class of loot than the dragons did, netting two randart weapons and two Rings of Nether Resistance.

And I bet you can guess who's at the top of the stairs to greet me. ;)

"Milady! Gondolin is in danger. Turgon has sent me to fetch you and bring you back to help. Will you come with me?"

"But… I'm in Gondolin. I could walk to Turgon's throne room in, like, five minutes."

"Forgive me, Milady, but the regulations are inflexible on that point; I have been assigned the task of bringing you to Turgon, and I am required to carry out that task, no matter the circumstances."

(shrug) "Whatever. Let's just go."

And so we hop aboard Tolan behind Liron and fly the hundred or so yards to the castle, where Turgon gives us the news.

"*groan* One invasion right on the heels of the other. Okay, let's go do this."

No, you're not ready for the Maeglin quest yet. We'll come back for it later.

"Uh… I don't think Maeglin and his army are going to just hang around waiting indefinitely for you to decide that I'm ‘ready’."

Actually, they will. See, they got wind that Liron had gone to fetch a mighty champion to defend the Echoriath, so they've pulled back to reassess their attack plans. And since they don't know that you're the champion, we can go about our merry way while Turgon keeps up the premise that the champion is still here.

"…You have got to be kidding me."

(shrug) Okay, it's a quirk of game mechanics. I just figured my explanation sounded better.

"I'd have stuck with the quirk explanation, frankly."

No respect, I tells ya… Anyway, we sell off:

Oh, almost forgot to get our reward for Nirnaeth Arnoediad. The Rare^H^H^H^HRoyal Jewelry Shop doesn't have anything terribly tempting, so I head back home to:

Lothlorien

to prepare for our next outing.

Chapter 5

"I'm almost afraid to ask what quest we're doing next."

We aren't. From here, we're going to Mordor.

"Okay… why?"

Well, I still need another hit of Magic from Mr. F. Fingers to make your skill point plan work, and Mordor is the next place we can find him.

"Figured it'd be something like that."

You see what I have to put up with:

Mdr 34 thru Mdr 40

Mdr 34, Princess quest for 10 Ancient gold dragons; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

"Princess is back too, huh? Joy…"

Now, be nice. The quest room isn't too far east from our entry point, in fact. Now, let's see, how to approach this…

"*groan* Move. Azarath metrion ZINTHOS!"

And indeed, a simple barrage of Fireflashes wins the day. The quest reward choices are Lance, Arrows or Bolts. Enh, let's take the bolts, which turn out to be 30 Bolts of Frost (+7,+4). And the dragons between them net the Helm of Gorlim.

"Well, that's pleasant."

Just don't wear it.

"Not a problem. We done here?"

In the quest room, yes, but we still have to walk the level.

"Why?"

Because there might be something interesting on it.

"Riiiight…"

Alas, Trilogy's cynicism is borne out, and the level passes without further incident. Maybe we'll have better luck on:

Mdr 35; "You have an excellent feeling…"

Not considering there's a Green Thunderlord right next to me as I enter the level. Annoyingly, he teleports me across the level before I can finish him off.

"Well, that was annoying. Can I kill it?"

We've gotta find him again first. That chase takes us across half the level, and ends up anti-climactic, since we'd almost finished him off the first time. The surprise attack by a swarm of Araneas immediately afterward is much more interesting, when the first Aranea's fire bolt takes me straight down to 202/384hp.

"Ow. That… was a mistake. Azarath metrion ZINTHOS!"

One Fireflash takes out the leaders and softens up the rest enough to be taken out with Manathrusts as they emerge into the room.

And that's all the excitement the level can conjure up. Moving right along:

Mdr 36, Princess quest for 14 Black puddings; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

"‘Superb’? For moving slime blobs? You're kidding."

(shrug) Must be something else interesting on the level. [casts Sense Monsters] Might be that cluster of Angels over there. We'll probably want to avoid those.

"‘Fraid not."

Hmm, yeah, looks like we'll have to go through them to get through the rest of the level. So much for your piety.

"Enh, wasn't using it anyway."

With a bit of dancing, I manage to lure them out one at a time to Manathrust them. Man, I'm not used to having this much mana to play with.

"Um… I've had this level of mana for most of the last dungeon."

Sorry. Too many characters, too little time… :o At least they net some stat potions; my WIS is now maxed, and CON, my last unmaxed stat, looks to be only one potion away. Ah, and there's the quest room; with this kind of firepower at our disposal, we should be able to do this in a head-on assault.

"No sweat. Azarath metrion ZINTHOS!"

The quest is easy as expected, and the quest reward choices are Lucerne Hammer, Small Leather Shield or Spear. Enh, maybe I'll get lucky with the shield… or not: it's a Small Leather Shield of Resist Lightning [+12]

And that turns out to be pretty much the end of the level. Pushing on, then:

Mdr 37; "You feel that you will meet your fate here. You like the look of this place…"

"Fate?"

Hang on… [checks notes] You're fated to meet a Killer stag beetle.

"Oh. Must've been that big bug I shot while you were checking your notes."

Probably. And that appears to have been the high point of the level, too. Well, that and finding Haradekket.

"Well, that certainly makes it all worthwhile…"

Heh. Fast-forward to:

Mdr 38, Fumblefingers quest for 20 Storm giants; "This level can't be all bad…"

"There's your Magic hit."

If we're lucky. Three of the Storm giants are in the entry room with me, and a fourth is in telepathy range; this could go quick.

"Doubt it."

True, this sort of thing usually takes most of the level. Well, this should cheer you up in the meantime: a Potion of Constitution from a pack of Dark elven warlocks finally maxes my CON at 18/70, for another 22hp. Hmm, we should probably look into some CON-boosting equipment for you down the line…

And Trilogy's right again; the last Storm giant is in the very last room of the level. Mr. F. Fingers offers us Conveyance, Thaumaturgy, Summoning or Magic-Device.

"So much for that plan."

Heh. Of the choices, I'll go with Conveyance; maybe we'll get it high enough to cast Teleport. Now, where were we:

Mdr 39; "You have an excellent feeling…"

Not sure why; the level is a 1x5 small level and doesn't turn up anything even remotely interesting. Fast-forward to:

Mdr 40, Princess quest for 5 11-headed hydras; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

"Suddenly I have a bad feeling about this…"

‘Sokay, I think the 'superb' feeling is just this troll pit your ESP is picking up nearby to the east.

"Actually, more worried about the hydras."

Mm, true, some extra fire resistance would be handy against them. In the meantime we have fun clobbering huge lava streamers with Call the Elements–

"Speak for yourself."

*ahem* And we find a junkart;

And here's the quest room. Let's toss back a Potion of Speed just for safety and see how bad this is gonna be.

"Here goes nothing. Azarath metrion ZINTHOS!"

All in all, not so bad; four Manathrusts apiece, and only one gets off a fire bolt at me. Quest reward choices are Hard Leather Armor, Metal Brigandine Armor, or Arrows. And since I doubt you'd be inclined to wear the heavy armor…

"Got that right."

So we take the arrows, which are 30 Arrows of Slay Animal (+6,+2). Enh, not worth hauling back up. Speaking of which, we are running out of space for this segment, so after a bit more desultory exploring, we recall back to:

Wilderness

and return from there to:

Lothlorien

where we ID:

We Mathom Gorlim and stow Haradekket in our Gondolin house.

"And… Maeglin's still on hold."

Yup. He'll be there till we come back and take the quest.

"Weird place…"

Back to the slightly less weird Lothlorien, then, to stock up for our next outing.

Mdr 40 (take 2) thru Mdr 46

So, shall we, Trilogy?

"Why do you even ask? We're going anyway, aren't we?"

You see what I have to put up with:

Mdr 40, take 2; "Looks like any other level."

Odd. Wonder what brought this on. (shrug) Whatever. Nothing interesting on the level, so we push on:

Mdr 41; "You have an excellent feeling…"

"Heard that before…"

Indeed; maybe it wasn't just Moria that was bad about that. :\ Well, it does net our first Scroll of Mass Genocide (from a chest) early in, which is at least slightly excellent.

"Uhh… not a lot of hit points down here, remember? Not so good for genocide.

406hp is a lot more than you used to have, actually. But you're right, we do still need to find you some CON-boosting equipment. Oh, and this orc pit is probably another part of the 'excellent' feeling.

"Vastly overrated, then. Azarath metrion ZINTHOS!"

Well, yes, a few Noxious Clouds clears it out quickly and it doesn't net anything interesting in the way of treasure, but still… A randart Heavy Crossbow rounds out the debatable 'excellentness' of the level. Moving right along, then:

Mdr 42, Princess quest for 5 Water hounds; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

"You look worried. We've faced Water hounds before."

And they came annoyingly close to killing us, as I recall.

"‘Us’?"

You know what I mean. The level turns out to be a 3x3 small level, and the hounds are already in range of telepathy to the south of our entry room.

"Good. Let them come to us."

As you say. One Noxious Cloud at their entry point takes care of the lot of ‘em, with a bit of dancing required to get the last past a sticking point. The grateful princess offers us from the next room over a Tome of the Eternal Flame, a Whip, or a Bolt Trap Set.

"Now she offers this. Any chance we need a spare?"

I don't think this one can be destroyed. We take the whip, then, and it turns out to be a Whip of Slay Giant (+11,+10). Enh.

A bit more exploring discovers a jelly pit, which is presumably the actual source of the 'superb' feeling—and which we studiously avoid. And speaking of CON boosts, we also find an Indestructible Ring of Constitution (+3). Hmm… [checks equipment] all we're currently getting from the Ring of Lebreth that we aren't getting from anything else is resist blindness, levitation and free action.

"I kind of like resist blindness, thanks. Rather fond of free action, too."

I know, I know, I'm just thinking ahead. And speaking of thinking ahead, a Mature red dragon just dropped a randart Cord Armor with +40% life. And with Feanor's boots, we could actually afford to lose Thalkettoth's +3 speed. We'll have to see what else it's got. In the meantime, we push on to:

Mdr 43; "You feel your luck is turning…"

Not for the better; Shadowfax is a mere few squares away as we enter the level.

"Gandalf's gonna be annoyed if we kill him, isn't he?"

Fortunately, it looks like we won't have to; he's asleep, and thanks to your Superb Stealth, he remains that way as we tiptoe out of the room. *whew*

Otherwise, much the same. An Iron lich pushes me over the top to clvl 46, with skill points going one each to Geomancy, Spell-power, Fire, Air and Earth.

"So, kind of running out of opportunities for the sword guy."

We still have time, I think. In fact, since we're pretty much done here, let's go see if he's on:

Mdr 44, Princess quest for 12 Lesser black reavers; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

"That'd be a ‘no’, then."

Both on Mr. F. Fingers and the 'superb' feeling. [checks notes] I don't think you've faced Lesser black reavers before: 2500hp, speed +10, tunnel through walls, lots of nasty spells.

"Joy."

And they just showed up at the very edge of Sense Monster range. Okay, we're gonna try luring them out a few at a time. The first one gets hooked easily, and falls neatly to two Fireflashes. The second one goes just as smoothly, but the third gets off a nether ball at me before dying, knocking me down to 265/413hp.

"*groan* This is going to hurt, isn't it?"

Actually, it doesn't turn out so bad. After luring out five more in the same manner, I have to push in after the last four, who I manage to finish off with a bit of dancing to stay out of their line of sight. Fortunately, the princess is immune to Fireflashes, and doesn't seem to have minded the repeated assault, as she offers us a Dark Sword, Bolts or a Robe. Hmm, we don't really need money so much anymore, and neither the Dark Sword nor the Bolts would be of use to us; let's see what kind of robe she's got. That Scroll of Mass Genocide from earlier doesn't survive the trip across the lava to check all the reavers' drops, alas.

"No loss."

Heh. We do net a Mage Staff of Wizardry (-34,-14)(40%) (+2), which would be nice, but we aren't really hurting for mana now, and it'd be a big spell-power hit to absorb. We'll keep it for later. The robe turns out to be a measly Robe of Resist Fire [+10].

"Sucks being the goodguys sometimes, I guess."

Especially when Vampire lords shoot nether bolts at you and knock your exp back. It's not a big hit, though, so I think we can leave it for a while and push on to:

Mdr 45; "You have a very good feeling…"

Not with a pack of Wolves immediately to my north and Cold hounds not far to the south.

"Actually, I feel pretty good about this. Azarath metrion ZINTHOS!"

Well, yes, a couple Noxious Clouds takes care of the problem, but it's the principle of the matter… The 'very good' feeling turns out to be another jelly pit, which I feel very good about avoiding. ;) Otherwise, nothing of note, so we push on:

Mdr 46, Princess quest for 11 Death molds; "You have a good feeling…"

"Not saying a word…"

Good, then I won't have to not tell Xyqj what you didn't say. ;)

"Was… that a triple or a quadruple negative?"

[rereads transcript] Can I get back to you on that? At any rate, the quest room turns up fairly early, and represents no challenge whatsoever. The quest reward choices are a Pike, a Small Wooden Boomerang, or a Whip. Enh, six of one; we take the whip, which turns out to be a Whip of Slay Animal (+11,+15).

"I think they must be running out of reward material…"

I wouldn't venture to guess. The rest of the level is about as challenging. And we're getting pretty full up, so I think it's time to head back to:

Lothlorien

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

Ooh, all kinds of interesting equipment choices… [fires up equipment optimizer] Let's see, replacing Beor with Fuinama would buy +3 WIS and CON at the cost of a net -1 to DEX and speed and the loss of resist cold and lightning. Replacing Thalkettoth with Durth would get the resist lightning back, along with the hit-point boost, at the cost of another -3 DEX and speed. Resist cold I could get back from the Helm of Felebrith, along with resist chaos, at the cost of Thengel's +3 WIS (which would cancel out Fuinama's bonus), CHR and luck.

"…I lost count at the armor."

Total net for the swap is -4 DEX and speed and -3 CHA and luck, in exchange for +3 CON, +40% hit points, resist chaos, and sustain STR and INT.

"And I can spare some of my speed… okay, let's do it."

Done and done. And with the swap done, we now have a whopping 674hp. :D :D We'll want to stow our newly swapped-out kit here, in case you change your mind, which means we'll have to shuffle some stuff to our Minas Anor house to make room. And while we're at it, we can sell off the Mage Staff of Mana (40%) that I had in storage, since it's a strict subset of the Mage Staff of Wizardry we found this time out. Minas Anor's black market even has 2 Potions of *Healing* with which to build up our stockpile.

And on that note, we'll settle in back at Lothlorien and prepare for next time.

Mdr 46 (take 2) thru Mdr 50

Now, let's see how well our new equipment serves us on:

Mdr 46, take 2; "Looks like any other level."

"Getting kind of samey down here…"

Gotta pay attention here; I've been playing some of my lower-level characters recently, and gotten used to much weaker monsters. [sound F/X: typing] Which is also why I keep reaching for my Necromancy-power macro keys by mistake… :o

"*groan* I'm doomed, aren't I?"

Well, these Water hounds seem to be falling to the old Noxious-Cloud ambush trick, at least. >:> Nothing of note on this level, apart from an Ethereal dragon, on which I decide to sic an Elemental-Minioned level-149 Xorn.