YA Flaming First VP for DEFE of Vehumet

[thevogonpoet]

I am much further than I have ever been before with this current character.

I have cleared the Dungeon (and seen the entrance to Zot, wow, scary), cleared down to Vault 7, and have just finished Elf. I have not entered Crypt, Hall of Blades, or Slime.

Questions:

1. Should I clear Crypt before attempting Vaults 8? Just how bad can Vaults 8 be? Will swiftness, haste, semi-controlled blinks, deflect missiles and firestorm spam be enough? Frankly, I am scared .

2. *If* I survive Vaults 8, how do I clear Zot? Seems my fire magics will be sad there. I have IOODestruction and shadow creatures. Are there some other spells I should consider?

3. Channeling - should I wield the staff of channelling, or continue to pump my Evo to uset the crystal ball?

4. Does a wizard hat actually do anything wizardly?

I have boring jewellery and not so awesome armour . For Zot I am thinking 'resist mut' amulet, 'rElec and rC++' robe, learn and use ring of flames, ring of fire protection, and ring of fire. Maybe try to acquire some jewellery.

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.10-a0-1495-gd58520b character file.

vogonpoet the Archmage (DEFE)                      Turns: 98012, Time: 17:23:03

HP 136/136       AC  9     Str  7      XL: 24   Next: 25%
MP  49/49        EV 20     Int 32      God: Vehumet [******]
Gold 3161        SH 23     Dex 16      Spells: 15 memorised, 10 levels left

Res.Fire  : + + .   See Invis. : +    (no weapon)
Res.Cold  : + + .   Warding    : . .  M - +2 robe {rC+ rF+}
Life Prot.: . . .   Conserve   : .    V - +1 shield {rPois}
Res.Acid. : . . .   Res.Corr.  : .    Z - +2 wizard hat
Res.Poison: +       Clarity    : .    l - +0 cloak {darkness}
Res.Elec. : .       Spirit.Shd : .    v - +0 pair of dwarf gauntlets
Sust.Abil.: . .     Stasis     : .    R - +0 pair of boots "Cloc" {rC+ MR Stlth++}
Res.Mut.  : .       Ctrl.Telep.: .    d - amulet of the gourmand
Res.Rott. : .       Levitation : .    m - ring of protection from fire
Gourmand  : +       Ctrl.Flight: .    C - ring of see invisible

@: extremely resistant to hostile enchantments, extremely stealthy
A: berserk 1, Int +1, Dex +1
a: Renounce Religion, Evoke Invisibility
}: 2/15 runes: decaying, serpentine


You are on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts.
You worship Vehumet.
Vehumet is exalted by your worship.
You are very full.

You have visited 8 branches of the dungeon, and seen 62 of its levels.
You have visited 1 Labyrinth.
You have visited 3 portal chambers: sewer, ice_cave, wizlab.

You have collected 6797 gold pieces.
You have spent 3656 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 
 X - the cursed +2 robe "Fraer" {+Blink rElec rC++}
   (You took it off a deep elf death mage on level 5 of the Elven Halls)   
   
   It greatly protects you from cold.
   It insulates you from electricity.
   It lets you blink.
   It has a curse placed upon it.
 
Jewellery
 a - an uncursed amulet of resist mutation
 d - an amulet of the gourmand (around neck)
 e - an uncursed ring of wizardry
 m - a ring of protection from fire (right hand)
 C - a ring of see invisible (left hand)
 G - an uncursed ring of fire
 U - an uncursed amulet of conservation
 W - the ring of the Republic {Hunger- Int+2 Dam-1}
   (You found it on level 19 of the Dungeon)   
   
   [ring of sustenance]
   
   It affects your intelligence (+2).
   It affects your damage-dealing abilities (-1).

Magical staves
 o - a staff of channeling
 p - a staff of energy
 y - a staff of wizardry
 E - a staff of power


   Skills:
 * Level 10 Fighting
 - Level 2 Short Blades
 - Level 1 Staves
 * Level 13 Dodging
 * Level 8 Stealth
 - Level 10 Shields
 * Level 9 Traps & Doors
 O Level 27 Spellcasting
 - Level 19 Conjurations
 - Level 13 Charms
 - Level 7 Summonings
 - Level 6 Translocations
 + Level 19 Fire Magic
 - Level 3 Ice Magic
 - Level 6 Air Magic
 * Level 4 Evocations


You have 10 spell levels left.
You know the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Success   Level  Hunger
a - Flame Tongue          Fire/Conj      ######       Perfect     1    None
b - Blink                 Tloc           N/A          Excellent   2    None
c - Sticky Flame          Fire/Conj      #########    Perfect     4    None
d - Deflect Missiles      Air/Chrm       ########..   Excellent   6    None
e - Fireball              Fire/Conj      #########.   Perfect     5    None
f - Flight                Air/Chrm       ########..   Excellent   3    None
g - Freezing Cloud        Ice/Air/Conj   ########..   Excellent   6    None
h - Haste                 Chrm           ########.    Excellent   6    None
i - Airstrike             Air            #######...   Excellent   4    None
j - Fire Storm            Fire/Conj      #########.   Great       9    Honeycomb
k - Abjuration            Summ           #######...   Excellent   3    None
o - Orb of Destruction    Conj           #########.   Excellent   7    None
s - Swiftness             Air/Chrm       ########..   Excellent   2    None
t - Control Teleport      Chrm/Tloc      ########..   Excellent   4    None
w - Shadow Creatures      Summ           N/A          Excellent   5    None

You are agile (Dex +1).
You tend to lose your temper in combat.
Your mind is acute (Int +1).


I am so going to be burning through food once I remove the gourmand amulet, although obviously, staff and ring of wizardry should help a bit.

[lazorexplosion]

I would look for iron shot for irresistible damage, OoD is a bit too unreliable for my tastes, but other than that you have pretty much all the tools you need to destroy Vaults 8, Crypt and Zot, they should fear you not the other way around. I would definitely get more evocations, high evocations does wonders with the crystal ball but it always helps to have the staff handy as well. Wizard hats... well they look wizardly. That's about it.

[hxy]

Crypt should be fine with your character.
For Vaults 8 you can c-blink down one corridor and Fire Storm the welcome party just be careful of the crowd that it will attract. Of course the safer (but less fun) way will be to clear the guards a few at a time...

You need some way to handle fire-resistant enemies. Maybe use Shadow Creatures to hold them up while you Airstrike them from far.

[Galefury]

No staff of fire or conjurations? You should keep training fire and conj, great is not good enough for fire storm. High level spells can have very nasty miscasts, and even harmless miscasts can screw you. Losing 9 mana when you expected a firestorm is not good.

Casting ring of flames and wearing a ring of fire is somewhat redundant, but an extra enhancer wont hurt. Especially with your "low" fire/conj levels.

Also you should probably train shields to 15 if you want to use that shield of rP.

Don't expect that staff of channeling to be of much use. At 4 Evo you have about a 40% chance to requipre 1d3 MP. It can save you in a pinch, but it's nothing to rely on. I probably wouldn't go for the crystal ball either in a 3 rune game. Just make do with the mana you have. The staff can be good to recharge your mana after casting a bunch of buffs, but even that takes quite some time. Especially at low Evo.

Vault:8 is pretty okay with firestorm and cblink. Vehumet will provide mana. As long as you're careful you should be okay. Use DMsl, there's a lot of ranged threats. Also expect everyone to join the party once you start causing explosions. Retreat if your mana gets low. Don't retreat into uncleared vault quadrants if you can help it.

Also, firestorm is your way to handle fire resistant enemies. In the open IOOD will be better, but firestorm kills most things just fine. Orbs of fire might take 5, but almost everything else will die soon enough.

[thevogonpoet]

Also, firestorm is your way to handle fire resistant enemies. In the open IOOD will be better, but firestorm kills most things just fine. Orbs of fire might take 5, but almost everything else will die soon enough.

This was awesome info, thanks Galefury, and indeed everyone else for their advice.

Pretty much the first monster I encountered on Crypt 1 was some badass unique called Khufu, who had greater mummy friends. I think I might have got him, but I was getting my ass tormented or smitten or something, and ended up beating a hasty retreat. Guess I will avoid Crypt in general from now on.

Vaults 8 on the other hand, was fun, with some scary moments, but nothing too hairy. I went down, blinked to a corridor, fire stormed and laughed. Unfortunately that attracted lots of extra mobs, and it took me a while to realise that running round the block to then go back up the stairs was a good idea. Once I had that rather expanded pillar dance in mind, things went more smoothly - met some scary-ass monsters though, including an ancient lich I think, a quicksilver dragon, and some tentacular monstrosities or whatever they are called, which really are beasts to take down. Anyway, got myself a third rune, and a spellbook with controlled blink.

After some deliberation, decided to forget orb of destruction (I just don't seem very good at using it) and learn controlled blink, fiddled with my gear, and headed down to Zot. First I did is confirm I can come and go whenever I want, and the third thing I did was run around a corner straight into an orb of fire, without my mut resisitance amulet, without ring of fire cast, without any fire resitance at all in fact. Oops. Luckily I was very close to a second exit from Zot, and beat a hasty retreat to heal up, calm down and start planning.

It did indeed take 5 fire storms to kill my first orb of fire. Which along with ring of flames and swiftness, is pretty much all my mana, so they are a bit scary - not sure how I will cope if I see lots of them further down.

Am currently on Zot 3, with plans tomorrow to clear 3 and 4 then pause again to take stock of the situation.

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.10-a0-1495-gd58520b character file.

vogonpoet the Archmage (DEFE)                     Turns: 111405, Time: 20:17:07

HP 151/151 (157) AC 15     Str  7 (8)  XL: 27
MP  52/56        EV 22     Int 41 (42) God: Vehumet [******]
Gold 4849        SH 26     Dex 16      Spells: 16 memorised,  6 levels left

Res.Fire  : . . .   See Invis. : +    E - staff of power
Res.Cold  : + + .   Warding    : . .  X - +2 robe "Fraer" {+Blink rElec rC++}
Life Prot.: . . .   Conserve   : +    V - +3 shield {rPois}
Res.Acid. : + . .   Res.Corr.  : +    b - +2 helmet {Int+3}
Res.Poison: +       Clarity    : .    F - +1 cloak {rCorr, Cons}
Res.Elec. : +       Spirit.Shd : .    v - +2 pair of dwarf gauntlets
Sust.Abil.: . .     Stasis     : .    Z - +2 pair of boots {run}
Res.Mut.  : +       Ctrl.Telep.: .    a - amulet of resist mutation
Res.Rott. : .       Levitation : .    f - +6 ring of intelligence
Saprovore : . . .   Ctrl.Flight: .    C - ring of see invisible

@: deflect missiles, very quick, very resistant to hostile enchantments,
stealthy
A: berserk 1, deterioration 1, Str +1, Int +1, Dex +1
a: Renounce Religion, Evoke Blink
}: 3/15 runes: decaying, serpentine, silver


You are on level 3 of the Realm of Zot.
You worship Vehumet.
Vehumet is exalted by your worship.
You are not hungry.

You have visited 10 branches of the dungeon, and seen 67 of its levels.
You have visited 1 Labyrinth.
You have visited 3 portal chambers: sewer, ice_cave, wizlab.

You have collected 8955 gold pieces.
You have spent 4126 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 i - the +3,+5 short sword of Deflation {slice, rF+ MR}
   (You took it off a yaktaur on level 8 of the Vaults)   
   
   It inflicts extra damage upon your enemies.
   
   
   It protects you from fire.
   It increases your resistance to enchantments.
Armour
 b - a +2 helmet of intelligence (worn)
 l - a +2 cloak of darkness
 v - a +2 pair of dwarven gauntlets (worn)
 F - a +1 cloak of preservation (worn)
 R - the +0 pair of boots "Cloc" {rC+ MR Stlth++}
   (You found it in a Labyrinth)   
   
   
   It protects you from cold.
   It increases your resistance to enchantments.
   It makes you much more stealthy.
 V - a +3 shield of poison resistance (worn)
 X - the +2 robe "Fraer" (worn) {+Blink rElec rC++}
   (You took it off a deep elf death mage on level 5 of the Elven Halls)   
   
   
   It greatly protects you from cold.
   It insulates you from electricity.
   It lets you blink.
 Z - a +2 pair of boots of running (worn)
Magical devices
 p - a wand of disintegration (6)
 w - a wand of heal wounds (6)
 A - a wand of hasting (5)
 D - a wand of digging
 K - a wand of teleportation (6)
Comestibles
 n - a pear
 y - a bread ration
 G - a meat ration
 Y - 2 royal jellies
Scrolls
 c - 3 scrolls of teleportation
 g - 2 scrolls of fear
 o - a scroll of recharging
 r - a scroll of identify
 t - a scroll of remove curse
 u - a scroll of blinking
 J - 3 scrolls of fog
 M - a scroll of magic mapping
Jewellery
 a - an amulet of resist mutation (around neck)
 d - an uncursed amulet of the gourmand
 e - an uncursed ring of wizardry
 f - a +6 ring of intelligence (right hand)
 h - an uncursed ring of life protection
 m - an uncursed ring of protection from fire
 C - a ring of see invisible (left hand)
 H - an uncursed ring of protection from cold
Potions
 j - 3 potions of heal wounds
 k - 4 potions of curing
 q - a potion of speed
 s - 2 potions of resistance
 x - 4 potions of agility
 z - a potion of brilliance
 B - 2 potions of restore abilities
Magical staves
 E - a staff of power (weapon)


   Skills:
 * Level 12 Fighting
 - Level 2 Short Blades
 - Level 1 Staves
 * Level 15 Dodging
 - Level 11 Stealth
 * Level 10 Shields
 - Level 10 Traps & Doors
 O Level 27 Spellcasting
 + Level 20 Conjurations
 - Level 13 Charms
 - Level 7 Summonings
 - Level 7 Translocations
 * Level 24 Fire Magic
 - Level 3 Ice Magic
 - Level 6 Air Magic
 - Level 7 Evocations


You have 6 spell levels left.
You know the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Success   Level  Hunger
a - Flame Tongue          Fire/Conj      ######       Perfect     1    None
b - Blink                 Tloc           N/A          Excellent   2    None
c - Sticky Flame          Fire/Conj      #########    Perfect     4    None
d - Deflect Missiles      Air/Chrm       ########..   Excellent   6    None
e - Fireball              Fire/Conj      #########.   Perfect     5    None
f - Flight                Air/Chrm       ########..   Excellent   3    None
g - Freezing Cloud        Ice/Air/Conj   ########..   Excellent   6    None
h - Haste                 Chrm           #########    Excellent   6    None
i - Airstrike             Air            ########..   Excellent   4    None
j - Fire Storm            Fire/Conj      #########.   Excellent   9    None
k - Abjuration            Summ           ########..   Excellent   3    None
l - Controlled Blink      Tloc           N/A          Very Good   7    None
r - Ring of Flames        Fire/Chrm      #########.   Excellent   7    None
s - Swiftness             Air/Chrm       ########..   Perfect     2    None
t - Control Teleport      Chrm/Tloc      ########..   Excellent   4    None
w - Shadow Creatures      Summ           N/A          Excellent   5    None



You are agile (Dex +1).
You tend to lose your temper in combat.
Your mind is acute (Int +1).
Your body is slowly deteriorating.
Your muscles are strong (Str +1).

######################
................@....#
####################.#          *
             ***** *,*          *
             *,,,* *,*          *
             *,,,* *,*          *
**************,,,* *,*          *
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,* *,*          *
*############*,*** *,*          *
 #.y....<..!#*,*****,************


There are no monsters in sight!

 98764 | Crypt:1  | Entered Level 1 of the Crypt
 98776 | Crypt:1  | Noticed Khufu
 98785 | Crypt:1  | Defeated Khufu  //looks like I got him :)
 99569 | Vault:8  | Defeated an ancient lich
100794 | Vault:8  | Defeated a quicksilver dragon
101950 | Vault:8  | Defeated a golden dragon
102473 | Vault:8  | Defeated a golden dragon
104815 | Zot:1    | Entered Level 1 of the Realm of Zot
106233 | Zot:1    | Noticed an orb of fire
106233 | Zot:1    | Gained mutation: Your body is slowly deteriorating.
106532 | Zot:1    | Defeated an orb of fire
107387 | Zot:1    | Gained mutation: Your muscles are strong (Str +1).
108851 | Zot:2    | flamoot: no
108852 | Zot:2    | no?
108853 | Zot:2    | flamoot: "no"
108854 | Zot:2    | flamoot: i never make it this far
108855 | Zot:2    | flamoot: i always die
108855 | Zot:2    | flamoot: i die by the vaults
108855 | Zot:2    | stupid keyboard. I always die before the vaults
108855 | Zot:2    | this is the first time I ever got third rune
108855 | Zot:2    | and first magic using char to get any rune
108855 | Zot:2    | flamoot: nice
108855 | Zot:2    | yeah its been kinda scary
108855 | Zot:2    | saw my first orb of fire on Zot 1, was bit of a shock
109227 | Zot:2    | flamoot: you can walk on found shafts but monsters cant
109227 | Zot:2    | flamoot: they'll fall
109227 | Zot:2    | I know that in theory, just cant bring myself to trust them :)
109227 | Zot:2    | flamoot: collapsingthe shaft
109229 | Zot:2    | I dont wanna get shafted on 1st visit to zot at all
109236 | Zot:2    | nother infamous monster I never saw before
109236 | Zot:2    | flamoot: word
109239 | Zot:2    | ha ha I love fire storm, its brutal
109240 | Zot:2    | flamoot: lol it makes vortexes
109261 | Zot:2    | shadow creatures is also hilarious :)
109753 | Zot:2    | ha ha ha
109781 | Zot:2    | Reached XP level 27. HP: 136/150 MP: 45/50
109804 | Zot:2    | Noticed an orb of fire
109839 | Zot:1    | flamoot: fuck
109840 | Zot:1    | na, fire ball is really ridiculous, storm moreso
110088 | Zot:2    | Defeated an orb of fire
110403 | Zot:1    | Reached skill level 15 in Dodging
110651 | D:27     | Identified a +1 cloak of preservation (You took it off a grey draconian on level 1 of the Realm of Zot)



I shall try to keep Ring of Flames up most of the time I guess, to avoid blundering unprotected into any more orbs...

[o_O]

With firestorm you will take that place apart, although it can be dangerous no matter what you are packing. I have done vault:8 with controlled blink, haste and freezing cloud before. It was a kindof iffy for a while though, I ended up having to stand at the edge of my ice clouds hacking vault guards with my "escape item" sword. Try and bring some mana potions and blink scrolls, because when you need mana you need it NOW.

Firestorm is something like half fire and half unresistable conjurational damage, so when in doubt you can always just throw more firestorms. Ood does just incredible damage, but it needs open space so isn't always useful. Buy all the magic or randart gloves/cloaks/hats/whatever you can find in shops, you would be surprised what sort of awesome stuff you can buy for 60 gold.

Keep in mind that as long as you have haste and controlled blinks, nothing is really necessary for anything.

edit: ninjad

[cerebovssquire]

It did indeed take 5 fire storms to kill my first orb of fire. Which along with ring of flames and swiftness, is pretty much all my mana, so they are a bit scary - not sure how I will cope if I see lots of them further down.

Gosh, this combo is both popular and successful right now.

If they are attacking you simultaneously you will usually be able to hit them all at once anyway. Otherwise attacking and then retreating is often vital for clearing Zot:5, you would need some very good form of restoring your MP (e.g. the Staff of Wucad Mu) to simply blast your way through in one go.
Also, Orb of Destruction does take them down in two or three hits if they're in an open space... otherwise I wouldn't suggest using it.

[thevogonpoet]

Gosh, this combo is both popular and successful right now

I was getting sick with my inability to get a rune with Wizards - getting a decent nuke online was proving painful, and yeah, Blade and your good self convinced me to try a FE after a few failed conjurers.

Now I am panicking slightly:

  Code:

As you read the scroll of magic mapping, it crumbles to dust.
You feel aware of your surroundings.
An iron grate slams shut!
Unknown command.

,,,,,,,,,,*****,,,, ,*,*    *,*
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*,******,***
*,,,,,8,,,*****,,,,,,*,**,,,,,,,*
*,,,,,,,,,*   *,,,,,,*, *,,,,,,,*
*,,,,,,,,,*   **,*****,**,,,, ,,*
*,,,,,,,,,*    ###    ,**,,,,,,,*
*,,,,,,,,, ****#<#   *,********,*
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,###    ,*    ,,,,,
*,,,,,,,,,*****#@#   *,*   *,,,,,
*,*********   #..#   *,*   *,,,,,
*,*           #.##   *,*   *,,,,,
*,************#.****** *****,,,,,
*,,,,,,,,,,,,,..,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
*************###******,*****,,,,,
****************** ***,*   ******
,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,*
*************,,,,,,,,,,*


There are no monsters in sight!


I carefully cleared out Zots 1-4, and decided to poke my head into Zot 5, magic map it, tiptoe around, and see what's what, and do lots of running away and MP recharging upstairs if necessary. Two steps into the level, and an iron gate now separates me from the stairs . Fuuuu....

Is this normal? Will all the exits from Zot 5 get blocked? My current plan is now to head to nearest upstairs, and hope not to encounter anything too nasty, but I kinda wondered what else is in store for me on Zot 5 which I don't know about and which might get me killed. Getting trapped on Zot 5 was not part of my initial exploration plans

[Galefury]

You can dig your way back to the stairs. And no, this is not what usually happens. The other staircases will most likely not have grates.

Half of Zot:5 is not very different from Zot:4, except -cTele. The other half is the orb hall, which has a lot of very hard random monsters (ancient liches, killer klowns, electric golems and orbs of fire are very common) and a bunch of orb guardians (fast brutes). Also lots of traps. Note that teleporting will probably land you in the orb hall because it makes up most of the open spaces on the level. So only teleport if you have no other options. Cblink will be semicontrolled, scrolls of blinking uncontrolled. Just be careful, always be swifthasted, and retreat if you get into trouble. Note that you only have to clear half of the hall to get to the orb. Ninjaing the orb got a lot harder by it giving you -cTele and resisting apportation, and I wouldn't really recommend it for a firestorming DEFE anyway.

You need to get to D:1 pronto after picking up the orb, because demons and even panlords will constantly spawn near you once you pick it up. So make sure you have everything you need. Also note that the orb weighs 60 aum.

[lazorexplosion]

It did indeed take 5 fire storms to kill my first orb of fire. Which along with ring of flames and swiftness, is pretty much all my mana, so they are a bit scary - not sure how I will cope if I see lots of them further down.

That's pretty dangerous, firestorms will wake up tons of monsters on zot 5 and you will easily bring down more monsters than you can handle with almost all your mana spent. Be really careful.

[thevogonpoet]

I knew there was a reason for lugging my wand of digging all over the place.

Yeah, fire-storming the orb chamber will be interesting - in Vaults 8, the first 3 or 4 blasts were net MP gains thanks to Vehumet, but I don't suppose the mobs in Zot 5 will be so easy. On other hand, I have boots of running now, fully intend to keep swiftness and haste up, and have a wand of hasting for emergencies, so once I have secured my paths to the stairs, some extended stair dancing will be possible.

Plus, if I die, it will be glorious

Edit: The calm after the storm

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..........#..#.....#..#..........
...).........#..0..#.............
..........#).#.....#..#..........
..........##..##.##..##..........
..........###.).@...###.....)....
..........# ######### #..........
.........##           ##.........
.......###             ###.......
....####                 ####....
#####                       #####


There are no monsters in sight!



Well there you go. I walked right round the chamber, and can't find any more monsters, so it looks like I am safe. Fire ball, firestorm, swiftness, deflect missiles, haste and ring of flames all got some use, and by running away to regen MP a lot, no scary moments were had. At all. Sweet.

What to do now?

• Pick up Orb, run away, keep running, win.
• Head to stash, make sure I have optimum running away equipment (including what, cure mutation pots, more wands of teleport and digging, recharge my healing and haste wands, anything else?) just in case, then go to choice 1.
• Go hunt down Mennas who is on a later dungeon level, use 'boots of running + swiftness + haste' to fry his ass (will I be fast enough?), then do choice 2. This might be sensible, to avoid finding him on my Orb run.
• Something else.

Tempted to just skip the last one.

[Galefury]

You will probably be fine just doing choice 1. The orb run is usually not that bad, you're powerful, and you can randomly teleport at the first sign of trouble. Resting is pretty hard on the orb run, so if you want to bring something bring teleport, !hw and !magic. Getting stuff from your stash and killing Mennas wont hurt, but may not be necessary. With Haste you will be faster than Mennas, and he will quickly fall to firestorm.

[lazorexplosion]

Woohoo, running + swiftness + haste is so sweet.

You can just get the win, the orb run is plenty easy and especially with that insane speed it will be a cakewalk.

[thevogonpoet]

Escaped! Mennas had of course fallen asleep, which made dropping 3 firestorms on his ass a lot simpler. After that, I did indeed drop by my stash, then I had an almost trouble free orb run. Almost. In fact, I almost died on D2, which would have been sad - a pit fiend got me down to 40ish HP before I ducked around a corner. Wow, tense.

Seems like I overdid things a little bit in terms of teleport options, but ok.

The entire morgue file is here.

I feel like I should get drunk now.

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.10-a0-1530-gcf848d1 character file.

1366560 vogonpoet the Archmage (level 27, 146/156 (161) HPs)
             Began as a Deep Elf Fire Elementalist on Oct 19, 2011.
             Was the Champion of Vehumet.
             Escaped with the Orb
             ... and 3 runes on Oct 26, 2011!
             
             The game lasted 22:41:05 (124634 turns).

vogonpoet the Archmage (DEFE)                     Turns: 124634, Time: 22:41:06

HP 146/156 (161) AC 16     Str  8      XL: 27
MP  56/56        EV 24     Int 42 (43) God: Vehumet [******]
Gold 2510        SH 27     Dex 16      Spells: 18 memorised,  1 level left

Res.Fire  : + . .   See Invis. : .    E - staff of power
Res.Cold  : + + .   Warding    : . .  X - +2 robe "Fraer" {+Blink rElec rC++}
Life Prot.: . . .   Conserve   : +    V - +3 shield {rPois}
Res.Acid. : + . .   Res.Corr.  : +    b - +2 helmet {Int+3}
Res.Poison: +       Clarity    : .    F - +2 cloak {rCorr, Cons}
Res.Elec. : +       Spirit.Shd : .    v - +2 pair of dwarf gauntlets
Sust.Abil.: . .     Stasis     : .    Z - +2 pair of boots {run}
Res.Mut.  : +       Ctrl.Telep.: x    a - amulet of resist mutation
Res.Rott. : .       Levitation : +    f - +6 ring of intelligence
Saprovore : . . .   Ctrl.Flight: +    m - ring of protection from fire

@: flying, very quick, very resistant to hostile enchantments, stealthy
A: berserk 1, deterioration 1, Str +1, Int +2, Dex +1
a: Renounce Religion, Evoke Blink
}: 3/15 runes: decaying, serpentine, silver


You escaped.
You worshipped Vehumet.
Vehumet was exalted by your worship.
You were very full.

You visited 10 branches of the dungeon, and saw 69 of its levels.
You visited 1 Labyrinth.
You visited 3 portal chambers: sewer, ice_cave, wizlab.

You collected 9315 gold pieces.
You spent 6825 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Armour
 b - a +2 helmet of intelligence (worn)
 v - a +2 pair of dwarven gauntlets (worn)
 F - a +2 cloak of preservation (worn)
 V - a +3 shield of poison resistance (worn)
 X - the +2 robe "Fraer" (worn) {+Blink rElec rC++}
   (You took it off a deep elf death mage on level 5 of the Elven Halls)   
   
   
   It greatly protects you from cold.
   It insulates you from electricity.
   It lets you blink.
 Z - a +2 pair of boots of running (worn)
Magical devices
 e - a wand of teleportation (7)
 i - a wand of teleportation (9)
 w - a wand of heal wounds (5)
 A - a wand of hasting (5)
 P - a wand of digging (5)
Comestibles
 Y - 2 royal jellies
Scrolls
 c - 9 scrolls of teleportation
 g - 2 scrolls of fear
 o - 2 scrolls of recharging
 u - 2 scrolls of blinking
 J - 6 scrolls of fog
Jewellery
 a - an amulet of resist mutation (around neck)
 d - an uncursed amulet of the gourmand
 f - a +6 ring of intelligence (right hand)
 h - an uncursed ring of life protection
 m - a ring of protection from fire (left hand)
 r - an uncursed amulet of warding
Potions
 j - 11 potions of heal wounds
 k - 5 potions of curing
 q - 4 potions of speed
 s - 3 potions of resistance
 x - 4 potions of agility
 z - a potion of magic
 B - a potion of restore abilities
 Q - 4 potions of cure mutation
 U - 2 potions of might
Magical staves
 E - a staff of power (weapon)
Orbs of Power
 l - the Orb of Zot


   Skills:
 * Level 13 Fighting
 - Level 2 Short Blades
 - Level 1 Staves
 * Level 17 Dodging
 - Level 11 Stealth
 * Level 12 Shields
 * Level 12 Traps & Doors
 O Level 27 Spellcasting
 * Level 22 Conjurations
 - Level 13 Charms
 - Level 7 Summonings
 - Level 7 Translocations
 O Level 27 Fire Magic
 - Level 3 Ice Magic
 - Level 6 Air Magic
 + Level 7 Evocations


You had one spell level left.
You knew the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Success   Level  Hunger
a - Flame Tongue          Fire/Conj      ######       Perfect     1    None
b - Controlled Blink      Tloc           N/A          Very Good   7    None
c - Sticky Flame          Fire/Conj      #########    Perfect     4    None
d - Deflect Missiles      Air/Chrm       ########..   Excellent   6    None
e - Fireball              Fire/Conj      #########.   Perfect     5    None
f - Flight                Air/Chrm       ########..   Perfect     3    None
g - Freezing Cloud        Ice/Air/Conj   ########..   Excellent   6    None
h - Haste                 Chrm           #########    Excellent   6    None
i - Airstrike             Air            ########..   Excellent   4    None
j - Fire Storm            Fire/Conj      #########.   Excellent   9    None
k - Abjuration            Summ           ########..   Excellent   3    None
l - Blink                 Tloc           N/A          Excellent   2    None
m - See Invisible         Chrm           #########.   Perfect     4    None
n - Apportation           Tloc           ########..   Perfect     1    None
r - Ring of Flames        Fire/Chrm      #########.   Excellent   7    None
s - Swiftness             Air/Chrm       ########..   Perfect     2    None
t - Control Teleport      Chrm/Tloc      ########..   Excellent   4    None
w - Shadow Creatures      Summ           N/A          Excellent   5    None


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (27/27)            Temple (1/1) D:4             Orc (4/4) D:8
    Elf (5/5) Orc:3          Lair (8/8) D:8           Swamp (5/5) Lair:4
  Slime (0/6) Lair:7        Snake (5/5) Lair:5        Vault (8/8) D:15
  Blade (0/1) Vault:6       Crypt (1/5) Vault:2         Zot (5/5) D:27

You are agile (Dex +1).
You tend to lose your temper in combat.
Your mind is acute (Int +2).
Your body is slowly deteriorating.
Your muscles are strong (Str +1).


Message History

Confirm with . or Enter, or press ? or * to list all spells.
You feel quick.
Evoke which item? (* to show all) (? for menu, Esc to quit)
Zapping: w - a wand of heal wounds (6)
Press: ? - help, Shift-Dir - straight line, f - you
You feel much better. This wand has 5 charges left.
Drink which item? (? for menu, Esc to quit)
You feel much better.
There is a stone staircase leading up here.
You fly upwards.
You sense a powerful magical force warping space.
There is a stone staircase leading down here.
Drink which item? (? for menu, Esc to quit)
You feel much better.
Drink which item? (? for menu, Esc to quit)
You feel much better.
There is a dart trap here.
There is a staircase leading out of the dungeon here.
Are you sure you want to win?
You have escaped!

   #.##.....#
   #.##.....#
   #.##.....#
   #.##.....#
   #.##.....#############
   #.##...............(..
   #.##.....#############
   #.##.....#
   #.##.@...#
   #.##.....#
   #.###.####
   #.# #.#
   #.# #.#
####.# #.#
#....# #^#
#....# #.#
#....# #.#


There were no monsters in sight!

116078 | Zot:5    | Entered Level 5 of the Realm of Zot
117238 | Zot:5    | Noticed an ancient lich
117377 | Zot:5    | Noticed an ancient lich
117380 | Zot:5    | Defeated an ancient lich
117617 | Zot:5    | Noticed an orb of fire
117788 | Zot:5    | Defeated an orb of fire
118052 | Zot:5    | Noticed an ancient lich
118181 | Zot:5    | Defeated an ancient lich
118362 | Zot:5    | Noticed an ancient lich
118365 | Zot:5    | Defeated an ancient lich
118677 | Zot:5    | Defeated an ancient lich
118701 | Zot:5    | Noticed an orb of fire
118719 | Zot:5    | Defeated an orb of fire
118929 | Zot:5    | Noticed an orb of fire
118952 | Zot:5    | Defeated an orb of fire
119311 | Zot:5    | Noticed an orb of fire
119340 | Zot:5    | Defeated an orb of fire
119663 | Zot:5    | Reached skill level 27 in Fire Magic
120711 | D:21     | Defeated Mennas
121224 | Lair:2   | Learned a level 1 spell: Apportation
121248 | Lair:2   | Gained mutation: Your mind is acute (Int +2).
121449 | Orc:4    | Bought a wand of teleportation (7) for 462 gold pieces
121449 | Orc:4    | Bought a wand of teleportation (9) for 546 gold pieces
121468 | Orc:4    | Bought an encrusted scale mail for 399 gold pieces
121471 | Orc:4    | Identified the +3 scale mail of Joamih (You bought it in a shop on level 4 of the Orcish Mines)
122080 | D:14     | Bought a shimmering war axe for 342 gold pieces
122080 | D:14     | Bought a crystal sword for 950 gold pieces
122082 | D:14     | Identified the war axe "Quph" {drain, Int-1} (You bought it in a shop on level 14 of the Dungeon)
122083 | D:14     | Identified the sword of Jihad {holy, *Rage rN+ MR EV+3 Stlth--} (You bought it in a shop on level 14 of the Dungeon)
123394 | Zot:5    | Got the Orb of Zot
124485 | D:6      | Noticed Imorez the pandemonium lord
124549 | D:3      | Noticed Kleenox the pandemonium lord
124549 | D:3      | Noticed a lich
124634 | D:$      | Escaped with the Orb!
             



[Galefury]

Congratulations! Pit fiends can be a problem for firestormers (or anyone, really). Good thing you got away, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory would have sucked.