Ancient Domains Of Mystery, forum overview / Spoilers / Attempting Second Win
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Chester B. Twisted Registered user Bong Scorcher Last page view: 4839 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds ago. |
Hello everybody! I'm more or less new in the forums, though I've been lurking around for juicy reading for a long time, and I've had a win before a good while ago... That was a wizard of some race I can't remember. Closed the chaos gate. I've played much since then, on and off, but now I'm determined to pick something and stick with it till I win my second time... I've decided that for my second win, I'd like to be a gnomish necromancer. I've got some ambitions this time... And a plan. I'll start with what I've done so far with my current char and go on to what I plan to do... Excuse the use of decimals. :P 0.5 Born in the Sword. Good enough. Necros can get some niiiice precrowning weapons so I've been using melee a lot anyways... 1. Killed a beggar. Who knows, I might try for an ultra ending, 'cause that trident sounds pretty awesome... And to prove to myself that I can do it. I don't THINK I'll need booze, but... I could use slaves to kill beggars couldn't I? 1.25 Killed a greater claw bug... Gained to level 5... Remembered the SMC! Shouldn't be too bad spawned at L5. Got the heck out of there and went back to the east end of the map. 1.5 Spent a short time in the SMC to generate easy monsters for the trip through. Didn't even bother with the blanket or the stairs. 2. Did some ID wandering for books and water and such. Not enough patience (or food) to gather craploads of spells, but I came across corpses to eat: blink dog, spider, ankheg, fire beetle. Nice start... 3. Did the healer quest and ransacked the puppy caves, found more spells in the process. Notably, I have Strength of Atlas, Teleportation, Improved Fireball, some other balls and bolts and Burning Hands, Calm Monster, Magic Lock and Knock. Plus some others, including a healing spell. Decent selection anyways! No more going around strained, and it's trivial to lock up a breeder in a room if I need to get things under control somewhere... Still haven't collected the healing skill. When I get into N or L alignment I'll go do it the "good" way. Question, will healing a skeleton slave (left one in there) with bones impress the healer? I think I read that I can get lots of nice potions for doing that... 3.5 Got my bridge building book drenched... Doh! I actually wanted to play with that skill. I know it's unnecessary, but there's a masochistic kind of fun involved, and I should be able to carry many many logs with SoA... Besides, I hate dropping my hoards of equipment to cross some ice. Maybe if I have a spare wish to waste (assuming I've saved Khelly or already let him croak) I'll use it on that. Just a matter of taste... And pride! Darn water trap. Should have picked up that blanket right? 4. Made my way through the SMC into the UD. But not before joining the thief's guild. 5. Woot! Found herbs on UD:2.. Alraunia, Curaria, Stoma!, Pepper Petal, Morgia. Niiiice. That fits right in with the next parts of my plan... Oh, and I used that magic lock to fill up a room with breeders and an elven priestess that happened to be in there with them... No more starving! I came close to having to eat the cute puppy corpse... 5.5 Somewhere along the line, I got... cloak of protection [+0, +3] adamantium broadsword (+0, 1d7+7) medium adamantium shield [+7, +2] and some other stuff. At normal tactics, DV/PV: 29/8. Just noticed a scroll of identify separate from the other 7... turned out to be blessed, not cursed, for now I know all my stuff! including: cursed mithril cap [+0, +2] uncursed bracers of protection [+0, +2] bundle of 7 uncursed unerring arrows of slaying (+0, 1d6) lots of wands of door creation a couple charges on a wand of trap creation one random holy water and 8 normal water a scroll or two of uncursing a scroll of education a crystal of fire 17000-ish gold... and a couple girdles of greed :P So far these are my stats: St:16 Le:18 Wi:12 Dx:14 To:20 Ch: 4 Ap: 9 Ma:23 Pe:11 C DV/PV: 29/8 H: 119(119) P: 104(104) Exp: 14/99245 UD: 2 Sp: 105 Got teleport control, level 1 fire resistance, acid resistance, and poison resistance. 6. (Here's where the future starts...) Wait for monster generation to stop... Drop my stuff organized in piles, pick up what I intend to bring with me. This will be my stash zone till I establish another. 6.5 Maybe go back up and get that darned waterproof blanket. I think I can handle a little bit of trouble in there. Only level 14 right now, and I can teleport and I've already locked some doors in there... 7. Load up on stomafillia/cemptia, morgia, alraunia, curaria (and devil's rose ;), and heck, might as well bring along some pepper petals... 8. Finish going through the UD, sell some junk at the HMV, and head on down to the BUGWIL. 9. Gain some experience and some... speed and dexterity. ;) Who needs moss of mareilon when you've got bugs to eat?... Okay so maybe this is where it gets a little scummy! 10. Once I've got something like 140/150 speed... I don't think I'll use Slow Monster to push it farther than that... I'll train up the willpower again. Will probably do some sickness training since I've got curaria and its opposite. 11. Hopefully I've found an altar by now, or hopefully I find one before I get to the si... In any case, I'll farm the stoma to the limits of my patience which may be 2 or 3 precrownings... Maybe I'll even try for a fourth. Might have to gather up several hundred stoma... To make it less boring I'll waste some holy water planting at least another block with stoma on it. Only gonna get precrownings if I can help it. Then I can put off crowning as long as I have to if I wanna go for a special ending. 12. Then what? Might teleport raid Darkforge to supplement whatever my god gives me. But maybe first it would be best to go do some dwarf quests and such, something of normal difficulty, but stay out of the DH... Don't wanna meet a balor in there first thing like last time! After that point, I'm a little unsure what I'll do. Maybe go back to the ID for some more books and such. I have yet to come up with any kind of mid-late game plan. But at some point, I'd like to resurrect and train some kind of upper-rank quickling slave. If I'm gonna have all that speed, that's the only thing I'd have the patience to let follow me. I think. How fast are they? I have no confidence that I'll get things done before day 90, but I plan to be buff enough to avoid spending too much time in the lower levels... I have never met Andy... Or the Emperor Moloch. And I have never killed Blup's mom. Never met the quickling bard. Never met Malakai either. Never got the kitty ring. I've never got any use out of smithing but this is a gnome so it should be fairly possible... I guess these are things I MAY want to try doing. No dead cats yet (not killed by me anyways;). Ventriloquism made sure of that till I got Calm Monster and Teleportation. Any ideas? Anyone see anything wrong with this little plan? Any suggestions for mid to late game strategy? (I'm not averse to some level of scumming if it hasn't become obvious already... But I shant be using dragon gold doubling or wish engines, not till some later character for some other purpose anyways.) Thanks in advance for any advice and/or entertainment your responses may provide. :P You scorch the bong. You feel very hungry. |
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Darren Grey Registered user Last page view: 4237 days, 17 hours, 40 minutes and 25 seconds ago. |
Forget the SMC - you don't need the blanket, and you'll likely die. Forget the bugs - you don't need the dex and speed, and you do need the willpower. You want to get willpower as high as possible for ball spells later on, and ruining it with bug corpses can sap your desires to scum it that high. Get to Dwarftown before you consider taking down Andy. You don't even know yet if you'll find an AoLS (though DarkForge often provides). Do the DF quests (teleport and invis should make the forest easy) and the pyramid and graveyard, then raid DarkForge, get the high king ring, and then think about Khelly. After that you can plan your game much better (well, plan for the ToEF at least). Waldenbrook, the dwarven shopkeeper, mumbles: "I'd offer 9 gold pieces for yer dwarven child corpse." |
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Chester B. Twisted Registered user Bong Scorcher Last page view: 4839 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds ago. |
Hey Darren! In all my lurking I've come to respect your opinions, and I'm honored to get a first response from you of all people, so don't take it badly if I disagree about a few things... But here goes: I agree that I might as well forget Andy if the AoLS doesn't jump into my lap. I'm no fan of sitting around picking gremlin pockets for hours when I could be doing something FUN like LOSING. ;) Or winning, okay, that's fun too, just less likely... However, I think this time through, a quick visit to the SMC again shouldn't be a problem. It's full of level 10 monsters from my level 5 visit (I waited around a bit reading the scrolls), which I didn't kill, just locked them behind some doors. I'm only L14 now so I won't run into anything TOO monstrous if I'm quick about it... I've got a scroll of magic mapping I can use to find the corner room where the blanket is certain to be, I can blast away anything that's likely to have picked it up, and I can teleport back out. If I run into trouble, I can teleport out without the blanket. The exit rooms (upstair and downstair) are both locked and empty. So this time around, it's not a problem, and I'll only be in there for a handful of turns... Mind you, I WOULD generally avoid it. :P The SMC is a source of many character deaths. I'll tell you if I totally get my arse whooped by not following your advice. And the bugs! Actually, I'm gonna do it anyways because I've got the morgia and I like herb-scumming for stats, and I also like blasting the bugs with spells. I know I don't NEED to do it, but I like being fast when I'm bloated... The dex is just a bonus for the effort. And the bugs are easy for a spellcaster (and heck, sometimes they drop spellbooks!)... Last necro I played killed about 300 of them out in the BUGWIL. I just gotta NOT take the downstair. ;) Not till my char's a demi-god at least. I've never liked being dead center (pun intended) in the middle of a bunch of greater claw bugs (after killing 300 of them)... In an anti-teleport level... How high do you recommend getting willpower? I know I can get about 30 no problem. IIRC one of those ball-spell radius levels comes at 36 or something... I guess starvation scumming (on top of the usual sickness scumming that comes with curaria mancox) would get it higher than 30 wouldn't it? I just don't like stepping that close to death, and then trying to stay there for a while. How long do you have to starve for it to train your stats effectively? Eventually you gotta eat or die, but then the starvation goes away. Ohhhh, I guess eating one of the lesser ratling trader foods would keep my satiation relatively low so I could starve more easily. Would that make sense? I used bones the other time, but bones are of limited supply... And I don't like screwing around with stomacemptia. I guess the Dwarftown quests should come before the DarkForge, but I've got teleport and tele-control, so I could sneak in and steal the stuff quickly nice and early... couldn't I? Anyways, I plan to do some precrowns, and depending on my patience (for stoma scumming) I might level up past the point of closing the pyramid just to get as many precrowns as I can. If my patience is low enough (and if I find an altar before the si), I'll still be able to enter the pyramid AFTER the precrowns and pick up those two artifacts... and the tools. We'll see. If I end up with preserver, I won't even bother with the pyramid, or I'll just feed the ankh and wrappings to the demented ratling. Ah, the ToEF. I haven't had a chance to take on the orb-bearers in a while... I look forward to taking on that ACW, but I guess I'll wanna be prepared. I'll probably wanna get some confusion resistance. Hopefully I'll pick up a book of stun ray by then too... Got some stun wands already... But I've got an easy recipe for potions of blindness. ;) I guess I could just blind him and unload a bunch of ice balls... But yeah, in the end, there's not much point planning TOO much till I get that far. That's what keeps this game interesting, you can't predict what you're going to find. You scorch the bong. You feel very hungry. |
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Chester B. Twisted Registered user Bong Scorcher Last page view: 4839 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds ago. |
Got the blanket. ;) Not going back in there again! Not till I feel like summoning some powerful companions... You scorch the bong. You feel very hungry. |
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Chester B. Twisted Registered user Bong Scorcher Last page view: 4839 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds ago. |
Oh yeah, and I noticed I've got 3 uncursed fireproof blankets. Wasn't paying attention last time I looked through the inventory I guess... I think I'll stash two of those away for now! I hate losing a whole pile of something in one blast... You scorch the bong. You feel very hungry. |
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Chester B. Twisted Registered user Bong Scorcher Last page view: 4839 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds ago. |
Picked up a magical writing set... Found two more pools for a total of three available before DarkForge... And found spenseweed too... All in a few UD levels. You scorch the bong. You feel very hungry. |
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Chester B. Twisted Registered user Bong Scorcher Last page view: 4839 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds ago. |
Pickpocketed another writing set.... Jeeeeeez. You scorch the bong. You feel very hungry. |
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Chester B. Twisted Registered user Bong Scorcher Last page view: 4839 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds ago. |
Aaaand I found an altar on UD:7! Looks like I'll be precrowning before I find any artifacts. ;) I think if I get up to L15 I that would make for 3 precrownings. I looked through Soirana's thread about saccing stoma for precrowns. I'll be using mostly uncursed, with a few blessed stoma in there (low herbalism). First precrown should be about 130ish, second should be another 250ish, and the third should be maybe 600ish. I guessed the third value comparing the gold saccing numbers to the herb saccing numbers. Just a rough estimate. But that would be about 1000 herbs wouldn't it? Ouch, that's boredom! Maybe I'll go find loads of holy water before I go through with that... If I'm lucky I might get four or five 2x2s with stoma in them so I can cut the farming time down. It's gonna be boring, but it's in the name of science. ;) I'll post some numbers on Soirana's thread when I get a third precrown... In any case, I guess I'll be doing the pyramid after all. There's no way I'm gonna push for a fourth precrowning. What would that be, another 1000 herbs to gather? You scorch the bong. You feel very hungry. |
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Taz Registered user Registered user Last page view: 5023 days, 20 hours, 37 minutes and 18 seconds ago. |
concerning starving to train stats, i tried it with my latest character earlier today (and won the game for the first time without save scumming, yay!) and it's really good for spellcasters. once you start starving, you still have a long way to go before you die. you lose some strength first, then some of your other stats gradually go down. i never let those other stats (i used willpower as my guideline) drop to half, and i didnt die from starvation. that gave me pretty decent willpower, and if you add the orb of water and nonak's sword, you can do real damage with ball spells. extra range with ice ball should be useful against the big bad purple wyrm. about herbs, if you have a stable 2x2 in a large room, it's easy to turn it into a shape that will explode and give lots and lots of herbs. that could help with your precrowns (though i find precrowns very boring. i used to try to get at least one every game too, but it was too much trouble). Taz: A potion of gain attributes (4s) is lying here. Suddenly a stone block hits your head! Something on the ground is smashed to pieces! PeanutGod: Awwww no! How harsh is that! This is where you need the artefact 'mop and bucket'. |
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Chester B. Twisted Registered user Bong Scorcher Last page view: 4839 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds ago. |
Interesting... Never thought of herb growth explosions, and the algorithm from that stuff confuses me, but maybe some day I'll try to get that going. Anyways, I already gathered 1000+ herbs. Wasn't as boring or as slow as I expected. When I get home from work I'll sac them and precrown and take account of how many herbs it took each precrown and all that. Only had two 2x2s with stoma in them, but they were close together and the faster you press "ws" the faster you get your herbs. :P After I get my precrowns, I'm going straight to the pyramid 'cause I'm only a few thousand XP away from L17. Might as well get a couple more artifacts... And THEN I'll go back into the BUGWIL for a bug-eating extravaganza, and then I'll use a bunch of morgia to replace the lost willpower. The orbs don't corrupt unless you 'U'se them do they? That's a lot of extra willpower... I usually don't bother with precrowns either, but after realizing I could do a good few of them with herbs (infinite supply of "wealth" on a non-corrupting dungeon level) I decided it might be a good idea. I can put off the full crowning till later so I can leave open the possibility of an ultra ending, but still get some artifact gifts to play with. I can't wait to see what artifacts I get. :P But I must get ready for work... *GROAN* You scorch the bong. You feel very hungry. |
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nathrakh Registered user Last page view: 4617 days, 20 hours, 30 minutes and 31 seconds ago. |
You have a fair chance of getting only useless artifacts even with three precrownings, but hey. Atleast you get some ratling fodder. Be happy if you get even one "useful" one. :-) I have only once done two precrownings and that was enough pain in the ass already for my taste. Nowadays I rarely bother even with one precrown... Herbs follow Conway's game of life.. google for more info.. and download "Golly"-program if you want to simulate their growth.. extremely useful for generating incredible herb farms. Have fun! |
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Taz Registered user Registered user Last page view: 5023 days, 20 hours, 37 minutes and 18 seconds ago. |
i just got this in my current game: "The air of this level is filled with a strange smell. You feel a surge of power. (more)" that completely killed any considerations of getting a precrown for me :-D Taz: A potion of gain attributes (4s) is lying here. Suddenly a stone block hits your head! Something on the ground is smashed to pieces! PeanutGod: Awwww no! How harsh is that! This is where you need the artefact 'mop and bucket'. |
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Taz Registered user Registered user Last page view: 5023 days, 20 hours, 37 minutes and 18 seconds ago. |
boohoo, i just died. barely managed to escape the experienced green hag guarding serpent's bite (pretty decent for my ranger), but died to an exploding door on the floor below :( Taz: A potion of gain attributes (4s) is lying here. Suddenly a stone block hits your head! Something on the ground is smashed to pieces! PeanutGod: Awwww no! How harsh is that! This is where you need the artefact 'mop and bucket'. |
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Chester B. Twisted Registered user Bong Scorcher Last page view: 4839 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds ago. |
I picked necromancers this time around partly because they've got a decent selection of artifacts... If I do get junk though, yeah, ratling fodder it is! I know herbs follow that conway's game of life pattern, but I just don't have the patience to, you know, try to understand it to a practical extent... If I can get stable 2x2's with the right spacing between them, that's enough for me... At least for now. I'll see if I can take advantage of the game of life mechanics some other time. Only time I ever got a surge of power was way back in my newbie days, the instant I stepped into the SMC. And the guardian of the artifact was a giant spider. :P I don't remember which artifact it was, that was many years ago... Anyways, now it's time to do these precrownings, now that I'm back from work... You scorch the bong. You feel very hungry. |
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Chester B. Twisted Registered user Bong Scorcher Last page view: 4839 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds ago. |
First precrowning: 130 uncursed stoma Got Long Sting. Second precrowning: 250 uncursed stoma (I didn't even go step by step that time, so it could have been less... I'm tired from work so I'm lazy... :P) Got Hammer of the Gods... I guess that goes straight to the missile slot! Third precrowning: 421 uncursed stoma, 139 blessed stoma (this time I went roughly in tens) Got Ironfist... Huh... So you don't even get gifts out of the crowning gift list unless you're doing your CROWNING? Precrownings only get you random artifacts??... Jesus Christmas. Oh well, can't complain about getting artifacts... At least now I've got paralyze res, confuse res, extra strength, perception, and speed... And a returning artifact missle weapon! Do I get shock immunity from the missle slot or would I have to wield? Hmmm. And the long sting will give me pole arm practice for the trident incase I try for an ultra... And I've got 190 blessed stoma left over for myself. :) You scorch the bong. You feel very hungry. |
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Chester B. Twisted Registered user Bong Scorcher Last page view: 4839 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds ago. |
And now I'm reaping those greater claw bugs like wheat... But mainly because of my fire bolts and burning hands... :P And soon they may taste my improved fire ball! You scorch the bong. You feel very hungry. |
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Chester B. Twisted Registered user Bong Scorcher Last page view: 4839 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds ago. |
Now I've got 144 speed without the Long Sting... :P Good enough for me! 150 when equipped. 33 Dexterity.. Time for some willpower gains. Back to my subterranean garden... I think I'll pick up and move my whole item stash and move it somewhere else, like the CoC. Nice havin' Strength of Atlas. Oh, and I have the Ankh and the Mummy Wrappings. Goes well with the rest of my artifacts... :P I admit, I don't regret having them. You scorch the bong. You feel very hungry. |
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Chester B. Twisted Registered user Bong Scorcher Last page view: 4839 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds ago. |
"You have become very light" corruption. More speed??? Looted the following from darkforge: uncursed white dragon scale mail (-2, -4) [-2, +11] uncursed blue dragon scale mail (-1, -4) [-1, +10] cursed mithril broadsword of hunting (+0, 1d7+4) uncursed quicksilver quarterstaff (+6, 5d3+5) [+3, +0] (+20 spd) Even MORE speed? :P I'll just keep using the Long Sting... And of course the crown of science... Ratling fodder? Fetched the phial for the ratling. And picked up some fluff balls... I've got the RotHK and now my gnomish necromancer is in a polygamous marriage with two gay berserker kings. Just left them in my pacified Big Room incase I wanna train them up or something silly like that. Big Room is full of herbs... There was an explosion of herb growth and I took advantage of that. It's probably the pattern Taz was talking about. So now I've got two loaded gardens... Working on willpower while I do other stuff. That's all for now. Gotta catch some Z's. You scorch the bong. You feel very hungry. |
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MightyChaos Registered user ADoM Veteran Last page view: 5059 days, 4 hours, 27 minutes and 47 seconds ago. |
i read in the other forum, Phial when thrown at humanoids only has chance to blind **<i love this game?** |
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Chester B. Twisted Registered user Bong Scorcher Last page view: 4839 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds ago. |
Really? Would you expect a violent explosion throwing a flashlight at someone? :P Heeey, James Bond could carry a maglite that's ACTUALLY a grenade if you twist off the end and pull a pin... :P But James Bond doesn't roam the Drakalor Chain, sadly enough. Damn, I'd like to see a movie of that. I'd like to see the look on his face as he steps into the Drakalor Chain. It might be something like this: @ Anyways, I accidentally got all my inventory cursed converting back and forth between alignments at an altar... Shoulda got buck naked and dropped my stuff somewhere... Then I forgot to pick up my 13 holy water (after buying enough favour to bless it in the first place) when I left to go pick up my scrolls and that damn priest took them! Doh! Good thing I forgot to drop 4 of my potions of water the first time... The other 13 of them will be sorely missed, but at least I can uncurse my equipment and dip a couple important things. You scorch the bong. You feel very hungry. |
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Chester B. Twisted Registered user Bong Scorcher Last page view: 4839 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds ago. |
Oh, and I ate an invisible stalker corpse. :P Woot. You scorch the bong. You feel very hungry. |
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Chester B. Twisted Registered user Bong Scorcher Last page view: 4839 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes and 53 seconds ago. |
Oops. It seems I've given away artifacts to the ratling while I was neutral... Those don't count do they? Daaaamn. That was a stupid thing to do. Shoulda just saved up all 6 artifacts and done some evil deeds. 3 of the 5 I gave him were wasted at the wrong alignment. 4 more to go it says. Sooo, I guess I'll be getting the cow axe. Ratling ate phial. Ratling ate crown of science. Ratling ate elemental gauntlets. Ratling ate ancient scythe. Ratling ate lead-filled mace. And three of those didn't count. Still have yet to find an AoLS or RoDS so I shouldn't have given the ratling any artifacts in the first place. That won't stop me from hopefully winning though. :P And then... The giant dragon turtle breathes water at you! You are washed away! You die... Doh! H: -166(191) Garthelious, the gnomish necromancer, was drowned by a giant dragon turtle. He scored 316274 points and advanced to level 20. Didn't have any teleport spells left. ;) Soooo.... Yeaaaah... Back to square one! I'll keep trying and post when I win my second game. Except this time I don't want to be a necromancer. Char did good till I killed him, but I didn't have much fun with his abilities. Haven't played a mindcrafter in AGES. That's what I'll be this time around. If not that, a healer, or a monk, or a farmer. Or something else, who knows? I'll try a mindcrafter first though, for sure. You scorch the bong. You feel very hungry. |
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Darren Grey Registered user Last page view: 4237 days, 17 hours, 40 minutes and 26 seconds ago. |
Giant dragon turtles don't see invis :( Waldenbrook, the dwarven shopkeeper, mumbles: "I'd offer 9 gold pieces for yer dwarven child corpse." |