Contents

  1. Trilogy, the Half-Elf Geomancer, Part 5
    1. Chapter 5 (continued)
      1. Mdr 53 (take 2) thru Mdr 57 (take 2)
      2. Intermission: Maeglin quest
      3. Mdr 57 (take 3) thru Mdr 61
      4. Mdr 61 (take 2) thru Mdr 64
      5. Mdr 65 thru Mdr 66
        1. Chatter (1.5)
    2. Chapter 6
      1. TDG 57 thru TDG 62
      2. TDG 62 (take 2) thru TDG 67
      3. TDG 67 (take 2) thru TDG 70
        1. Chatter (2.3)

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 5

Chapter 5 (continued)

Mdr 53 (take 2) thru Mdr 57 (take 2)

Hmm, I just noticed that the Ring of Flare is cursed, and the temple is out of ?oRC's.

"Not really expecting to need to take it off any time soon, actually."

Principle of the matter. You're right, though, we can let it slide for now and return to:

Mdr 53, take 2; "Looks like any other level."

As a minor wake-up call, my initial Globe of Light spell to light up the entry room rakes a Greater wall monster lurking out in the lava cutting through said entry room, who I probably wouldn't have noticed otherwise. One Manathrust cuts it down before it starts breeding.

"Still not a concept I really want to think about."

As you say. Following the lava streamer east and north, we discover that it also cuts through what looks like the remains of a lesser vault (temple of sety), wherein a Fallen angel casts a nether bolt at us and docks our exp a bit. Other than that, not really exciting.

"‘Other than that’… *groan*"

Well, the only thing of interest it coughs up is a ?o*RC* with which to fix up Flare. Other than that, the level pretty much does look like any other level. As a minor point of interest, I cast Elemental Minion on lava for the first time (well, first time for the purpose of actually creating a minion…), generating a level-149 Fire elemental to fight off a Seraph for me. Doesn't work out so well, as Seraphs resist fire, so I move to a nearby wall and conjure up a level-149 Xorn to finish the job.

That done, we push on to:

Mdr 54, Princess quest for 5 Hru; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

No, I don't; I don't think you've faced any Hru outside Nirnaeth Arnoediad, and I doubt the multiple-Tidal-Wave strategy will work particularly well here. And we've also got The Phoenix in our entry room. [checks notes] 3600hp, +10 speed, nasty melee damage that's all in fire and thus can't hurt us—but in addition to all its fire-based spells and breaths, it also has a plasma bolt spell and light and plasma breaths, so it can still hurt us.

"Can it move through walls?"

[checks] Doesn't look like it.

"No problem, then. Azarath metrion ZINTHOS!"

One emPrisoned Phoenix coming right up. After clearing up the rest of the entry room occupants, we go back and release it by turning one of its Prison walls into a level-149 Earth elemental, who promptly beats it down to one star for us to kill. Ah, good, that also pushed us back through our exp drain from the previous level.

"So what's the big deal about these Hru?"

Mainly their shatter attacks. We shouldn't get the earthquake effect, since this is a quest level, but they still do a lot of melee damage. Fortunately they're evil, but they still have 4000hp, so they'll take quite a few Fireflashes apiece.

"Speed? Distance attacks?"

[checks] +10, and no.

"Piece of cake, then. Let's go find ‘em."

O-kaaay… ;) Just for a bit of surrealism, right next to the entry room is a monster pit full of… Bandits.

"House of thieves, indeed."

;) It does net a randart shield, which may be of interest. And to keep the interest level up, a bit further in we encounter a lesser vault (Cross). It's not particularly interesting in itself, but it does contain a Demilich who drops a Mage Staff of Power (-17,+3) (+9)—two points higher than the one we're currently packing.

"Nice."

Indeed, among other useful advances, this pushes Identify just high enough to increase its floor-identify radius to 2.

It takes most of the level to find the quest room, and by the time we do, four of the five Hru have slipped their bounds and are headed for us through the walls. Hmm, we're going to be fighting in a fairly large room; the multiple-Tidal-Wave trick might actually be our best strategy after all.

"*groan* We are so doomed…"

The first Wave pushes back the first three Hru, but not far enough, and the second Wave hasn't gotten far enough to help as they approach me. A quick Phase Door gets me out of harm's way—well, sort of; it lands me closer to the quest room, and thereby to the other two Hru, which I cast a third Wave to slow down. In the meantime, I discover an interesting thing: Tidal Wave's knock-back effect works based on where I am right now, not based on where the Wave started. And I just noticed that Phase Door is high enough level to leave void gates behind… >:> >:>

"Can I please just Fireflash them now?"

You don't have enough mana to finish them all off with Fireflashes, at least not without softening them up some first. With the fourth Hru approaching my new position, I hop the void gate back to my starting position and start up a fourth Wave behind the second. One of the first three Hru still makes it through to get next me, so I hop back and start Wave five inside Wave three, and when that becomes an untenable position, I bounce back again and start Wave six inside Wave four. That sets up an amusing chain reaction of Hru getting knocked back through multiple Waves at once and generally getting severely smacked around, and in short order all five Hru are dead and the grateful princess is offering me a Two-Handed Sword, a Scythe or a Katana. Enh, six of one; I take the katana, which turns out to be a Katana of Slay Dragon (+1,+4).

"You had far too much fun doing that."

Sorry. ;) The rest of the level is over swiftly, and we continue to:

Mdr 55; "You have a very good feeling…"

Some Manes and Rotting corpses to greet me (briefly >:> ) in the entry room. Otherwise the level is mostly boring—which, ironically, I actually do feel very good about. ;) Highlights include Trilogy's first Maulotaur, which falls to two Fireflashes and a couple Manathrusts, and a Skeleton Knight Templar which drops a randart Robe. Also Trilogy's first Master mystic, which I let a Xorn minion deal with.

That done, let's see what's awaiting us on:

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

"Uh… what happened to level 56?"

That must have been a shaft we took instead of a down staircase. Odd, I didn't think shafts could skip quest levels. In fact, let's light up the level with See the Music and hop the first up staircase we can get to back up to:

Mdr 56, Fumblefingers quest for 16 Ethereal hounds; "You have a very good feeling…"

"Is that bad?"

They probably would be in packs, considering that they can pass through walls, but as FF quest monsters they'll be scattered. [checks notes] And they're only 60d15hp and speed +10, so we should be good.

"Piece of cake."

Indeed, the hounds seem fairly easy to pick off as I encounter them. In the meantime, I learn that Tidal Waves are also fun in treasure pits. >:>

"*groan* Boys and their toys…"

;) The rest of the Ethereal hounds find me before I find them, and only one gets off a nether breath before dying. In short order, then, Mr. F. Fingers is offering us Antimagic, Combat, Thaumaturgy or Summoning.

"You were hoping for Magic, yes?"

Yes, and this bunch looks utterly useless. I guess I'll take that Combat boost after all… :\ The rest of the level passes without incident, beyond an Ethereal dragon that drops a randart ring. And I think we've got room in this segment for one more level:

Mdr 57, take 2; "You have a good feeling…"

"Uh, pack kind of full down here…"

Yeah, but a lot of it is junkarts that we can ditch in a pinch. Besides, the level has basically nothing to throw at us anyway.

"That means you're gonna go another level, doesn't it?"

Nah, we won't get that lucky twice.

"*whew* Thank Eru for small favors."

No respect, I tells ya:

Lothlorien

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

Hmm, the robe would be amazingly nice if we didn't already have Flare's ring; the shield will be nice until we find Thorin's shield, although we'll lose resist dark from Celegorm. We'll stow Celegorm here for now, relocating a few things to Minas Anor to make room.

Say, now that I think of it, Flare's ring was pretty much what I was waiting for before taking on the Maeglin quest; maybe we'll go try that next time out.

"*groan* I am so dead…"

You see what I have to put up with. ;)

Intermission: Maeglin quest

Okay, I've decided: we're going to face Maeglin this time out.

"You're worried."

Me? Why do you say that?

"You've never broken out the industrial-strength healing potions before."

What, the 8 Potions of *Healing* I've managed to stockpile up till now? Actually, those are for use with the mass-genocide junkarts and the Staff of Genocide that we're going to go pick up from Minas Anor.

"Uh… hit points?"

Of which you currently have 968, enough to survive a genocide of at least 200 monsters at a stroke, and there won't be that many on the quest.

"No? So, not much of an invading army, then…"

Oh, it'll be plenty enough to take out Gondolin if it gets through, which is why it's our job to stop it. To that end, we proceed to:

Gondolin

Let's see, have we got everything? Potions of Healing, Potions of *Healing*, Potions of Restore Mana, Ring of Flare… yep, we should be good to go. We even activate the Boots of Feanor for a little extra speed (after seven tries…) before diving into the:

Invasion of Gondolin quest

"So, besides us, Turgon and Maeglin, no one else knows this secret way through the Echoriath to Gondolin." [stops] "I turn left here, yes?"

Right, actually, I think… [checks notes] No, left, you're right.

"Was… that left or right?"

Left.

"Right." [turns left]

[slaps forehead] So, all we have to do is take out Maeglin to thwart the invasion, since the rest of the army won't be able to get to Gondolin without him.

"How tough is he?"

Pretty tough. [checks notes] 6000hp, speed +20, nasty melee damage, and lots of summoning spells, including a summon-wraith spell that at this depth is likely to snag a Nazgûl.

"*groan* Please tell me you have a plan."

The plan is to handle him much the same way we handled his father: seal ourselves in a Stone Prison and let an Elemental Minion or two beat him down for us.

"We have to get to him first. Knowing Maeglin, he's probably hiding at the back of his army."

That's what the Ring of Flare is for: to swap our way past his hordes. Speaking of which…

"Orcs. With explosives."

Snaga sappers. We need to get out of there before they explode. Okay, Flare-swap with that Lesser Balrog.

"Right." *bamf* "I… think he brought friends."

Yes, telepathy from our amulet is picking up five more Lesser Balrogs. At least that saves us the step of casting Sense Monsters to find the next target. Hit the Balrog furthest to the northeast.

"Already on it." *bamf*

That gets us close enough to detect Maeglin, and another Lesser Balrog near him. Hit that one, just to buy us a little more lead time.

"What about the dragon next to it?"

It's an Ancient black; you've been going through those like popcorn.

"Point." *bamf* "He's on to us."

Yep, Maeglin just moved. And the dragon woke up and got a few claws on us. Okay, Fireflash the dragon and let's seal ourselves in.

"Right. Azarath metrion ZINTHOS! Uh… small flaw with this plan."

Oh, @#$%, that's right, Stone Prison won't create a wall on a floor square with treasure on it, and we just filled all the adjacent floor squares with treasure… :o Okay, plan B: hit one of our mass-genocide junkarts to clear out the immediate vicinity.

"I am so dead… Oof!"

That took us down to 847/968hp, not nearly as bad as I was expecting.

"Riiight. Barely felt that one."

After that, the layout is: 

##############                  
....###..h..<#                  
###.....#....#                  
..####$#####.#                  
 ...##$h$....#                  
.##..#=|]##..#                  
.###.#####..##                  
..##..#....###                  
#..##...######

Okay, Minion the wall to your north.

"Right."

Maeglin (the northernmost 'h', in case you couldn't tell) takes a step west while I'm doing this, coming nicely into my new level-150 Earth elemental's line of sight. Okay, go east a step and let those two fight it out.

"Here goes nothing…"

My minion is invisible to telepathy, so I can't see him, but I can hear that he's joined the fray. I cast Stone Prison to re-form the wall I just Minioned and make another Minion out of it, a level-150 Xorn. Hmm, Maeglin's still going west, now poking into one of the walls on the north edge of the level—and from his new location, we're in his line of sight.

"Get us out of here."

Okay, Dig northeast to give us a path to duck through. *whew* Maeglin doesn't summon in that turn, and our Xorn closes for battle—and Maeglin is down a star.

"This could take a while."

Maeglin, interestingly, is still headed southwest, apparently not even engaging my Minions in combat. We may need to get ahead of him and put some more Minions in his path.

"How? You just genocided all my swapping targets."

All the ones in range of telepathy. Sense Monsters reveals some viable targets off to our west. It also reveals that Maeglin apparently is actually outrunning my Minions: he gets another step west, and they haven't followed.

"You didn't really think this plan through, did you?"

Later. Swap with that Ettin Chieftain to our west.

"Right." *bamf* "Uh… Maeglin just called in reinforcements."

Oh dear. Looks like Maeglin just cast his summon-uniques spell on my Minions, netting Marda, Pazuzu, The Mouth of Sauron, and the Lernaean Hydra. O-kaaay, I think it's time for plan C: direct frontal assault.

"We're dead, aren't we?"

First order of business, I Fireflash a Master mindcrafter that just stepped into summoning position behind me. Maeglin goes down another star while I'm doing this, at least in part apparently due to a fire breath from the Lernaean Hydra at one of my Minions. 

################################                  
..#..o.....###........##Ep....<#                  
.D..#...#..##..#..###.hXMB#....#                  
##....##... ...##...####$.#T##.#                  
######.........#.. ...##U .#...#                  
...##]-.h##..####..##..#=|]##..#                  
##...!?####...####.###.#####..##                  
####...#..##...###..##..#....###                  
##.DT..#...##..####..##...######

The 'X' and 'E' are the presumed location of my Minions, who are invisible to telepathy. Okay, next we need a !oRM to top off our mana; Maeglin takes another step southwest, and from the sound of it, my Minions are busy fighting the rest of his goon patrol. Fine, at least that'll be a distraction. We step northeast, Maeglin steps west, and the Lernaean Hydra summons hydras.

"This is all going according to plan, I assume."

[slaps forehead] We'll need a Stone Prison to block any Maeglin summons; Maeglin steps southwest. We Dig east out of the Prison; Maeglin doesn't move. We Dig east through the last wall between him and us, and Maeglin summons wraiths, including Ren—at my Minions.

"*whew* How did I let you talk me into this? Azarath metrion ZINTHOS!"

The first Fireflash knocks Maeglin down two more stars—and angers my Xorn, who must have gotten knocked next to Maeglin by the water ball I heard the Mouth of Sauron cast.

"So much for distractions. Azarath metrion ZINTHOS!"

The second Fireflash knocks Maeglin down another two stars to four, and he summons uniques again, apparently still aiming at my Earth elemental; he nets The Cat Lord (with Displacer beast entourage in tow), Shadowfax, Omarax and Cantoras. [checks notes] Ooh, this could be bad: The Cat Lord is in line of sight, and he has a teleport-to spell.

"At least if he drags us into that mess, no one will have room to summon anything else at us. Again?"

Until I tell you to stop. The third Fireflash takes Maeglin down to one star and sends him fleeing northeast, out of my line of sight. He's next to Pazuzu, though, who I can still target, and the splash from one last Fireflash is enough to finish Maeglin.

"Okay, you've had your fun, get us out of here."

You think this was fun for me? *groan* Never mind; Flare-swap with that Ettin due southwest, the one next to the Snaga sapper.

"Just what I need, an explosion to the face…" *bamf*

Oh, that's not the worst of it: the Snaga sappers we passed on the way in are still there around the exit, along with the first Lesser Balrog we swapped with. Okay the Snaga sapper in the very corner is right on the stairs; swap with him.

"Here goes nothing." *bamf* "*whew* Well, that was a relaxing afternoon. I'm outta here." [exit stage left to:]

Gondolin

Ah, cool, I'd forgotten the reward for the Maeglin quest was a hit point boost—and with our hit-point-multiplying armor, it takes us all the way up to 1178hp. :D :D

"…Could've used this going in, actually."

"Rock on! Totally excellent, cute goth chick! Man, that Mangled dude gave you a lot more trouble than he gave me."

Now that you mention it, Bjorn, I think you're right; I don't recall Maeglin summoning anything at us when we did this quest. On reflection, maybe the Minions weren't such a great idea, as they gave Maeglin a target to summon at.

[slaps forehead] "Now he thinks of this…"

Well, as long as we're in Gondolin, let's check on another quest reward, the Royal Jewelry Shop. Nothing of interest there, so we swing by:

Minas Anor

to stow our genocide stuff, and then return home to:

Lothlorien

to stow everything else. Hmm, the black market is stocking a Moonstone Rod of the Istari and a Rod Tip of Speed; the combination might be easier to activate than Feanor's boots, and would let us stow the Potions of Speed… or maybe not; it takes fourteen tries to successfully activate, worse than the boots. Oh well.

Next time, then, back to the comparative safety of Mordor. ;)

"*groan*…"

Mdr 57 (take 3) thru Mdr 61

"Oh, good, so you haven't forgotten me, then."

Sorry. As with Lisa, I didn't want to run you while I was tired.

"Thank Eru for small favors…"

No respect, I tells ya:

Mdr 57, take 3; "Looks like any other level."

"Don't they all?"

Well, this one's a little different, as Fundin Bluecloak puts in an early cameo.

"Oops… uh, sorry about splashing you with my light spell."

"Mm. I should take offense at being assaulted thus by an Elf, I suppose; but I judge from thy countenance that thou art only partly of that blood, and the damage was minimal in any event, so I shall let the offense pass."

"Yyyyeah. I'll just go over here out of your way, then." [I dismiss Fundin] "Dwarf. Figures."

Well, to be fair, Fundin's old-school; he probably hasn't caught up with the more tolerant younger generation.

"‘Younger’ being a relative term in this case."

As you say. ;) After that, early excitement comes from a Rotting Q, which summons a Demilich at us, among other things; said Demilich pushes us to clvl 49, with skill points going 1 to Water, 2 to Air and 2 to Earth, maxing all three.

"That leaves, what, Magic? You're still waiting on the sword guy for that, right?"

Right, I need another hit of Magic from Mr. F. Fingers to be able to max your Magic skill. In the meantime, I discover what appears to be a greater vault (Hellpit) in the middle of the level, sporting, among other annoying monster, Azriel, the Cat Lord, a Great Wyrm of Perplexity and a Lesser black reaver. I think we'll be avoiding that one…

"Too late."

Ah, @#$%, the reaver dug out through the exit point and is heading for us, trailing at least a Master lich and an Elite uruk behind him. Let's see, on its current approach vector, there's a small chain of mountains that will force it into our line of sight, from which point it falls to two Fireflashes.

"Angel. Big."

And here comes Azriel. [checks notes] Yuck: 6000hp, speed +20, nasty melee damage, and lots of nasty spells, including summon angel.

"I refuse to comment on the irony of being killed by the Angel of Death."

I don't think we're in trouble yet; he can't see us from his current position, and he can't tunnel, so a Stone Prison should keep us safe. And since he can only summon one angel at a time, I don't think the Elemental Minion strategy will be as dangerous as it was with Maeglin.

"*groan* How did I let you talk me into this?"

The first pass doesn't go so well: Azriel summons angels around my Xorn minion. They fall quickly, to its credit, but they apparently whittled it down enough for Azriel's nether breath to finish it off. The next Minion (which I never actually see) manages to close with Azriel and knock him down two stars before dying. The third falls to another nether breath after taking him down another star.

"Can we please just get out of here?"

Patience, Grasshopper. Fourth time turns out to be the charm; Azriel is whittled down to a single star, allowing me to Dig out of my Prison, dismiss my Xorn, and Geyser Azriel and the Archon he summoned. The Fallen angel he also summoned takes an additional Fireflash.

"*sigh* You see what I have to put up with down here…"

Hey, that's my line. ;) Sorting through all the loot yields nothing of interest besides a Zweihander of Aman, which probably isn't worth taking back up and selling considering how much money I already have.

After that, I carefully stay away from the middle of the level as much as possible. :o ;) In fact, when a down staircase presents itself, I decide to punt the level and push on to:

Mdr 58, Princess quest for 11 Plasma hounds; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

A lit arena level (remember, Trilogy's still back in 2.2.7). We enter near the southwest corner; the quest room is near the east edge of the level.

"How bad are Plasma hounds?"

[checks notes] Not too bad: 60d10hp, speed +10, and plasma breath, which I'm not certain Flare's fire immunity will cover. We may have worse problems nearby, though, in the form of a lesser vault (Miniature Cell) off to our west containing, among other things, a Greater Demonic Q and a Greater Balrog. [checks notes again] Ouch: 7500hp, speed +20, nasty melee damage, a whole raft of nasty spells, and fire and plasma breaths. I think I'm going to try and sneak away without waking him up…

"*whew* Had me worried there."

;) A bit of sneaking gets us to the quest room, where the Plasma hounds turn out to be quite amenable to a good old-fashioned Noxious Cloud. One of them does get a plasma breath off at me, but it only does 50hp damage, so I think the fire immunity helped some. In short order, then, the newly freed princess is offering us Blue Dragon Scale Mail, Augmented Chain Mail, or Sheaf Arrows.

"Kinda like the armor I'm wearing, actually."

So do I, but the DSM will probably sell for the most; it turns out to be Blue Dragon Scale Mail of Defense [+24]. And rather than try going back for the Balrog, I once again push on to:

Mdr 59; "Looks like any other level."

Odd, I though I was on Mdr 58 longer than that… I guess Trilogy's enormous speed boost figures into that. The level is a 3x5 small level, and is mostly boring, beyond netting Til-i-arc from a pack of Half-trolls. Oh, and Trilogy's first Lesser titan. [checks notes] Hmm, 2400hp, speed +10, melee damage is in confusion, which we resist, and some annoying spells, including teleport-to and summon monsters. Evil, though, so two Fireflashes are enough to finish it off.

"Was he supposed to be particularly tough?"

(shrug) Some of my characters have had trouble with them. Otherwise, not much of note, beyond getting my first Amulet of Reflection from a Nycadaemon.

"Kinda like this amulet too."

Oh, I'm not about to swap out your randart amulet with telepathy; again, this is just to sell. In the meantime, though, we continue to:

Mdr 60, Princess quest for Harowen the Black Hand; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

"Noticing a pattern here…"

I'm sure it's just a coincidence that this is another lit arena level, just like the last quest level.

"Uh-huh. So how bad is this Harowen guy?"

[checks notes] Well, he's faster than us at +30 speed, but otherwise not too bad: 2500hp, moderate melee damage, and teleport-to and create-traps spells. He's not evil, though; we may try the Minion trick again.

"*groan*…"

Oh, ye of little faith ;) Annoyingly, the quest room is in the northeast corner of the level, which doesn't give much room to gain distance on him… ah, never mind, the outer wall of the quest room has a door on the south side, so I can just lure him east out of the inner quest room and then fall back a bit before luring him the rest of the way out. A !oSpd to match his speed, and Harowen falls to five Geysers.

"Enh, that wasn't so bad."

Indeed. The princess offers us a Fumes Trap Set, <!> a Ball-and-Chain or a Lead-Filled Mace; I take the Mace, which turns out to be a Lead-Filled Mace of Slay Giant (+9,+11). Harowen, unsurprisingly, betters this, with the Lochaber Axe of the Dwarves and an Indestructible Amulet of Reflection, with which I replace the earlier destructible one.

And I think we have room for one more level, if it's uneventful:

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

"So much for that plan…"

Actually, those are pretty common around these depths anyway… okay, I take that back: judging from the pattern of traps we just detected, one of those vault-esque maze rooms is nearby, and Sense Monsters is picking up a Great Ice Wyrm in it, Trilogy's first in-depth wyrm.

"You're gonna take it on, aren't you?"

It's not too bad, actually: [checks notes] 4000hp, speed +10, and evil, so three Fireflashes should take care of it.

"Famous last words…"

Hmm, you might be right, actually: pushing into the maze reveals a Great Wyrm of Thunder also in it. [checks notes again] 5000hp, so it'll take four Fireflashes, and still only speed +10. Enh, let's try it.

"*groan* Can we go home now?"

Well, it'll take some wandering through the maze to get to it. In the meantime, a Mindcrafter gives us a sanity hit.

"Okay, do we have to have the Yeek choir?"

:\ ;) The maze takes us to the Great Ice Wyrm first, and affords us a nice corner ambush position. The Wyrm falls as quickly as expected, and drops The Metal Brigandine Armour of the Rohirrim.

"Getting kind of loaded down here…"

We'll be heading back up after this level, don't worry. A bit more maze navigation gets us to a similarly good ambush position for the Great Wyrm of Thunder. After that, the rest of the maze isn't much of a problem—especially after I remember about two-thirds of the way through that I'm wielding a Climbing Set, so I can actually walk over the mountainous inner maze walls… :o

[slaps forehead] "And just when I was beginning to lose confidence in you."

Well, among other loot, the maze also nets the Seeker Arrow 'Bullseye' and the Demonshield of Gothmog from a chest, <!> as well as a Potion of *Healing* and two of Healing.

After that, the level is mercifully calm for a while, other than coughing up the Crown of Beruthiel. That is, until telepathy picks up Uriel.

"*groan* Not again…"

Ya know what? I think I'm gonna punt on this:

Lothlorien

Two of my stash of !oCLIns fix up Trilogy's sanity hit.

"Oh, thank Eru. I never want to hear another chorus of ‘I Left My Nose in Minas Tirith’…"

;) Okay, let's see what we've got here:

Man, where am I gonna put all this… [checks character sheet] I can't put any of it in the Mathom-house if I want a full collection of Nazgûl rings. Ah, I've got some room in Minas Anor—not anymore, though, after that offload. A swing by Gondolin to sell off the Blue DSM from the princess quest, and then back home to settle in for next time.

Mdr 61 (take 2) thru Mdr 64

"So, how much further?"

We're pretty close to the end of Mordor, actually; it bottoms out at Mdr 66, and we're about to return to:

Mdr 61, take 2; "Looks like any other level."

A Great crystal drake in the entry room falls to a Fireflash and a few Manathrusts. And telepathy is picking up a treasure pit to the south, with a Barrow wight garnish.

"Seen it. Taped it."

Well, here's something you haven't seen: The Mouth of Sauron. [checks notes] Urk: 9000hp, speed +20, disenchant and drain-charges attacks, and a whole raft of nasty spells. I think we'll go the other way for a while… :o

"Not very far, we won't."

Indeed, the level turns out to be a 1x3 small level. And after a cursory bit of exploring at the north end, a pack of Barbazu have already cropped up in the treasure pit room. They at least manage to net a randart Trifurcate Spear.

And I don't really feel up to taking on His Mouthness right now, so we push on to:

Mdr 62, Fumblefingers quest for 20 Demiliches; "You feel your luck is turning…"

"That's right, you're still hoping to learn a bit of Magic from this guy."

Right. [checks notes] Demiliches are better than The Mouth of Sauron, at least: 3500hp and lots of nasty spells, but only speed +10.

"Still three Fireflashes each, though."

I never said it would be easy—especially considering that quite a few of them seem to be nearby.

"This could be bad."

The first few I manage to lure out one at a time with a bit of clever dancing. And while I'm resting up from those, a Hellblade and a Creeping adamantite coins leak out from a corridor to the north, suggesting… [casts Sense Monsters] yup, another treasure pit.

"Been there, done that."

Indeed. For the sake of variety, I shoot a Firewall up the corridor ahead of me, which just happens to line up with the door into the inner pit room, allowing me to pick off the advance guard as I push into the room and Tidal Wave it to death. >:>

"*groan* Boys and their toys…"

Yes ma'am. ;) After that, the Demilich hunting goes fairly smoothly, until one of them summons a Bile Demon at me. I duck back around the corner I just rounded to get back out of the Demilich's line of sight, Fireflash the demon to death point-blank, then duck into a nearby room to regain my mana before going back and giving that Demilich what for. >:>

Further Demilich hunting nets a a Mage Staff of Wizardry (+1,-12)(60%) (+3), which beats the one I have back at home—and, more to the point, a Mage Staff of Power (-20,-6) (+11), which beats the one I'm currently wielding. :) :)

"Nice."

Indeed. The nineteenth Demilich finally pushes me to clvl 50, with all five skill points going to Magic, my last un-maxed skill. And as I predicted, one more Magic hit will top that off too.

"Speaking of which…"

And the last Demilich turns up after just a bit more wandering. With it dispatched, Mr. F. Fingers offers us Symbiosis, Disarming, Thaumaturgy or Monster-lore.

"So much for that plan."

What a spectacularly useless set of choices. I guess I'll take Thaumaturgy as the least useless. :\ Ah well, a quick sweep through the last few rooms of the level and we push on to:

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

"Just for a change…"

Indeed. Nothing obviously superb in the early level. The mid-level does manage to cough up a few potentially threatening monsters, like a Hell knight and an Eye druj, positioned near the edge of the room I'm about to enter, allowing me to hang back in the corridor and splash it to death with some carefully targeted Fireflashes.

"So, not very threatening, then."

Well, how about your first Great Storm Wyrm and your first Nightwing in fairly close proximity in the next room?

"Any tougher than those wyrms in that maze a couple levels back?"

[checks notes] Not really: the Storm Wyrm's about as tough as an Ice Wyrm, and the Nightwing's slightly less so at 3600hp and +10 speed, though it does have some nasty spells like nether ball and mana bolt.

"Enh, I'll give ‘em a try."

That's the spirit. ;) A total of five Fireflashes finishes off the two of them; the Wyrm in particular drops a randart Scythe and, of all things, Elessar.

"Is this good?"

Definitely good; dunno if it's good enough to be worth swapping out your randart amulet with telepathy. In the meantime, another Nightwing approaches from the southeast, the advance wing, it turns out, of an ad hoc monster group of 'W's. Between them, they manage to net a Potion of *Healing* and a Fireproof Tome of Translocation, which I decide to pick up for possible future use.

"Why? All the spells I can cast out of it I've already got in other books."

True, but you're only one FF Conveyance hit away from being able to cast Teleportation; that's the eventuality I have in mind.

(shrug) "Whatever."

;) It does mean our pack is getting pretty full, though, so after sweeping the rest of the level and finding nothing else particularly superb, we return to:

Lothlorien

and ID:

[fires up equipment optimizer] Hmm, none of the equipment I have stashed gives telepathy, except the Crown of Beruthiel, which is not an appealing choice. I guess I'll stow Elessar for now. A quick swing by Gondolin to sell off the randart weapons, and I think I've got room in this segment for one more level:

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

Well, no, it looks like a destroyed level, which is vaguely annoying. Also vaguely boring. At least we know we'll find a little excitement on:

Mdr 64, Princess quest for Saruman of Many Colors; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

"This is bad, isn't it?"

[checks notes] It could certainly be better: 7000hp, speed +10, fairly bad melee damage, and a whole raft of nasty spells. Hmm, actually, he's slower than us, which means we might have a chance.

"You've got one of your ‘plans,’ don't you?"

A better one than my Maeglin plan.

"That's an awfully low hurdle to jump…"

No respect, I tells ya. In the meantime, we find a Scroll of Mass Genocide, and successfully take on Trilogy's first Great Wyrm of Perplexity.

"So, not particularly great, these Wyrms."

Oh, don't worry, they get worse. The quest room eventually turns up near the southeast corner of the level. Let's get the lay of the land here… [casts See the Music] okay, we've got an approach from the west, which will keep him pinned until we can get the terrain set up the way we want it.

"I'm almost afraid to ask."

We're going to pillar-dance him.

"Yyyyyeah."

"Uh-oh. Dude, I hope you've gotten better at that trick than when we tried it on that Largo dude."

This time should be much easier, Bjorn. We were +15 speed versus Lorgan's +10, so I didn't know the right rhythm immediately; Trilogy, by contrast, is +20 speed to Saruman's +10, which should work out to a simple dodge-dodge-fight rhythm.

"My confidence is soaring…"

That's quite enough of that, young lady. We Dig out our pillar just south of the southeast corner of the room and lure Saruman out. A bit of preliminary dancing confirms the rhythm, and five Fireflashes later, Saruman is dead and the newly freed princess is offering us a Cutlass, a Fur Cloak or Silver Arrows. Hmm, the cloak is unlikely to beat Holcolleth, and the arrows would sell for the most… on the other hand, it's not like we particularly need more money, and I definitely can't use the weapon or the arrows, so let's see if we get lucky with the cloak.

"I'm thinking no."

Not for a Fur Cloak of Stealth [+12] (+1). Saruman, as per usual, drops lots of fireproof spellbooks, all of which we either already have or don't need.

And we're out of room for this segment, but there's no compelling reason for us to head back topside at this point, so we'll just leave it here at the down stairs. Barring disasters, we should finish Mordor next time out.

"Finally."

You see what I have to put up with…

Mdr 65 thru Mdr 66

"Oh, good, so you haven't forgotten me."

Sorry, been busy.

"Wish I could say the same…"

Well, let's get busy, then:

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

"Just for a change…"

Well, for a change, the level is a 3x5 small level, with a treasure pit and a Rotting Q in range of Sense Monsters as we enter.

"Is it me, or is there a lot of heat coming up from some of these stairs?"

Yes, those lead to Mount Doom.

"Mount Doom? As in Orodruin? Where Sauron forged his Ring of Power?"

The same. We'll be coming back this way eventually to destroy that ring.

"Ooh, sounds like a fun afternoon…"

Fortunately you already have fire immunity from the Ring of Flare for that eventuality. In the meantime, the early level coughs up Belangil from a Dark elven lord. A bit further in, we face two Great Wyrms in the same room, Ice and Bile, along with an Ancient green dragon and a squad of Olog-hai.

"Enh, I think I can take 'em."

Well, I'm less worried about the Bile Wyrm, what with acid immunity from our randart shield; my main concern is having enough mana to Fireflash both of them to death. I fire off a Tidal Wave to take out the Ologs and soften up the Wyrms a bit. Not enough, though, as the Ice Wyrm wakes up and breathes at me, knocking me down to 836/1218hp.

"Ow."

Right, Fireflashes it is, then. At least the Bile Wyrm leaves behind the Ring of Barahir to make up for it, along with a ?o*ID* to *ID* it:

Resist dark would be nice, but I can't really spare either of my current rings. And that seems to be about all the level can throw at me. Well, cross your fingers:

Mdr 66, Princess quest for 12 Bone golems; "You have a superb feeling about this level."

Darn.

"What? Oh, you were hoping for the sword guy."

Yeah, I still need one last Magic hit to finish off my skill point plan, and this was our last chance to get a Fumblefingers quest before Angband—and I'm in no particular hurry to get there… :o

Not that our current quest is particularly good either: [checks notes] Bone golems have 3500hp, +10 speed, nasty melee damage doing disenchant and drain-STR damage, and lots of nasty spells, including summon greater undead. This is going to be tricky…

In the meantime, the level starts with packs of Cold and Light hounds coming at me, and a sleeping Dracolisk to Fireflash. Not far beyond that, Sense Monsters picks up Castamir. [checks notes] Oh, never mind, he only has 880hp, and he's evil.

"One Fireflash. Piece of cake."

We've got to get to him first. One of these corridors has got to lead to him–

Oh, great, not now. I Phase Door out of the swarm of undead, and land right next to the Bone golem that summoned them.

"Please tell me you have a plan."

For now, my plan is to emPrison this Bone golem—which will also seal off the corridor connecting to the quest room, which should keep the rest of them out for a while.

"Um… small problem with this plan."

Oops, Stone Prison won't put a wall on top of the void gate my Phase Door generated. At least the Bone golem missed this turn; we can lead him out of the Prison and drop another around him.

"Behind us."

Looks like two got out; the other one is rounding our first Prison. Not a problem; our speed advantage gives us time to emPrison them both. Now, then, those summoned undead, notably two Vampire lords, are getting pesky with their cause-wounds spells; I think they could use a few Fireflashes to the head… >:> One of them even left us a Potion of Restore Mana, which we may need in this fight.

"Now what?"

Well, let's see; the void gate from our last Phase Door will take us back into the Prison where the first Bone golem is stuck; three Fireflashes to the face takes care of him. From there, we can poke through to the second Bone golem's prison and finish him off the same way.

"Okay, what about the other ten?"

We need a way to lure them out one at a time… ah, this might have some potential: 

                                        
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As you can see, most of the Bone golems have pushed into what looks like a side corridor trying to get to me; but one of them appears to have gotten stuck just below the first two Prisons. Let's see if we can exploit this… hop through the gate, Manathrust the Mummified troll, Dig southwest to let the Bone golem in, step back northeast for cover, three Fireflashes to the face and he's down. Let's see, do we have time to patch the hole?

"I'm thinking no."

Oops, I should've cast Stone Prison right away instead of Sense Monsters; that gave the next Bone golem time to move in. And by the time I finish that one off, the next one has moved in right behind him.

"We're dead, aren't we?"

We don't have enough mana to finish off this one, and there's probably another one behind him. We can't leave the wall open, though, or more of them will leak out. I'll gamble that he'll miss this turn and drop a Stone Prison… *whew* Now we'll duck out and rest up.

"So that didn't work, then."

On the contrary, this can work; we just need to time it better. Sense Monsters reveals that the fifth Bone golem is still where we dropped the wall on him, and another one is right behind him. Okay, let's try it this way: first we duck back in, kill #5, and duck back out (this takes five Fireflashes instead of the expected three, presumably because the wall it's in is blocking the brunt of it). Hop back out and check with Sense Monsters, and #6 is still there. Now we hop back in, poke open a hole, let #6 in, and kill it—and this time, we re-close the hole immediately with Stone Prison and duck back out.

"Well. Maybe we actually can make this work."

We repeat this trick for the last six Bone golems, and the plan goes without a hitch.

"Uh… small hitch here."

Ouch, apparently the last one just gave us the Black Breath. I didn't know Bone golems could do that. In the meantime, the Princess offers us a Titanium Rod Tip, a Shield of Deflection or a Small Leather Shield. Ooh, a rod tip we haven't seen yet? I'll take it; it turns out to be a Rod Tip of Healing.

And I suppose we'll have to stand Castamir up; we need to get your Black Breath taken care of. Since we're in the quest room already, we'll take the express route back to:

Lothlorien

"…Okay, how did you do that?"

Quirk of game mechanics. Fortunately I've got a decent stash of Athelas by now. Now, let's see what we got out with:

Hmm, I've got an Adamantite Rod that I could put the Rod Tip of Healing on… nah, I think I'll hold out for better. A quick swing through Gondolin and Bree to stow the leftover artifacts, and we settle in in Lothlorien for next time.

"Speaking of which, now that Moria's done, where are we going next time?"

I haven't decided yet…

Chatter (1.5)

ZizzoTheInfinite: An updated character sheet through the end of Mordor is also up.

NeilStevens: Advice for your Recall items: Instead of inscribing them with half the alphabet puncutated by exclamation points, you might try what I do: !*!*

Oh, and are you aware that Chaos resist gives Confusion resist? (Not necessarily applicable to this part, sorry... I just read through the whole thing today to catch back up).

ZizzoTheInfinite: Yes, I did. Why, did I miss something somewhere?

Chapter 6

"Ah, there you are. Gimme a second, I'm almost ready."

Um… what are you doing with all that climbing gear?

"We're headed for that Sacred Land of Mountains place next, yes?"

Ah, you've been talking to Lisa again, eh? Actually, I think we're gonna skip the mountains; its main draw is Trone's coat, and the main attractions of the coat are fire immunity, which you've already got from Flare, and some extra speed, for which you're already fairly well-stocked, and which wouldn't be worth the loss of your current randart armor's hit-point boost anyway.

"Mm. So where are we headed, then?"

I'm thinking we might as well just skip ahead to Dol Guldur.

"Ah, you've been talking to Galadriel, eh?"

Hm?

"Scuttlebutt around town is that Elrond and some of the other Elvish higher-ups are getting worried about the Necromancer—some of them think he's actually Sauron in disguise. Apparently there's talk of sending someone in to find out. Hence my question: did Galadriel ask us to go, or are we volunteering?"

Actually, this was all on my own initiative. I guess it'll save them the trouble of sending someone else, though, eh? ;)

"*groan* This cannot possibly end well, can it?"

That's quite enough of that, young lady:

TDG 57 thru TDG 62

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

A 3x3 small level, and a lit arena level (remember, we're still back in v2.2.7…).

"Entry foyer, huh?" *sniff sniff* "Plumbing's out, apparently."

That would be tainted water, Dol Guldur's signature terrain type. I didn't think they had plumbing in Arda, though… :\

And for all its claims of 'superbness', the level is entirely uneventful, apart from a couple long-since-useless stat potions dropped by a pack of Ghouls. Let's see what the Necromancer can throw at us on:

TDG 58; "You feel strangely lucky…"

"Should… I be worried?"

I wouldn't be; the level is a 1x3 small level, and if this Zombie Druid in our entry corridor is the worst the level has in store for us, this should be a piece of cake.

[casts Sense Monsters] "I think I can beat that…"

Yeah, okay, a Lesser black reaver, but we faced off against a dozen of those in one of the princess quests back in Mordor; this shouldn't be a problem. It doesn't even wake up as we approach. [casts Globe of Light] Of course, that's probably because it's sealed up inside one of those single-grid closet things in the middle of a smallish room, but still, a mere two Fireflashes finishes it off.

And beyond a pack of Novice priests just for the surrealism, that's it.

"I thought you were gonna tell Galadriel we had the Tower covered."

I doubt they were her doing; she'd know better then to send Novice priests into Dol Guldur. The Knight Templar behind them, unfortunately, resists confusion, so Charm won't take on him, and we have to kill him.

"Could've used Stone Prison on him, you know."

True, I forgot that angle… :o *ahem* Mov-ing right along:

TDG 59; "You like the look of this place…"

"So, not particularly dangerous, this tower."

Enh, we're at about mid-Mordor difficulty levels at this point. It also helps that all the levels are small. This level in particular, for instance, is another 1x3 small level, with an Undead beholder and some Hezrou at the south end and a pack of Gargoyles at the north end—and in between, a Ranger chieftain that drops a Scroll of Genocide.

"*groan* Boys and their toys…"

>:> At this rate, we might even make it to the top of the tower this run. And to that end, we push on to:

TDG 60; "You have a very good feeling…"

A 3x1 small level this time, just for the variety. Notable events include a randart Light Crossbow with +3 speed dropped by a Dracolisk in our entry room. Also a Knight Templar, who I remember to emPrison this time. :o

"Hru."

Yes, in the next room past the Knight. And this time, since there's just the one of them, I let Trilogy Fireflash it instead of using Tidal Wave. ;)

[slaps forehead] "You see what I have to put up with down here…"

Hey, that's my line. Other than that, nothing of note, so we continue to:

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

"That can't be good."