Vaults Vanquisher
Posts: 431
Joined: Friday, 30th September 2011, 01:00
Wednesday, 21st December 2016, 17:08
• Chronicle in Progress • HEWn vs INSANE pre-Lair
Hi guys! Been a while since I've posted here.
If anyone's seen this Reddit thread, they'd know about my self-set challenge of 15-rune-winning a High Elf Wanderer before the release of Crawl 0.20, since High Elves-- my original main race-- are being removed from the game at last, and I want to send my baby girl off with a truly heartfelt farewell.
So far my HEWn attempts have been... rough, understandably. I had one that made it all the way to the Hells because she was pretty much carried with insane early-game loot-- a D:4 Ring of Robustness being among them. Lost her to a poorly-managed Brimstone Fiend, simply by playing badly. Crawl has always punished complacence, after all. Almost all my other HEWns have splatted pre-Lair, several of them from me playing on tilt and trying to force an elf to Lair instead of take my time and treat each individual run with respect.
You can't force your way through Crawl, and playing while too emotionally invested tends to harm much more often than help; sure it's fine to be emotionally invested, but you want to do so with the solemness of an admiral overlooking a battlefield, sipping coffee while giving out tactics and orders to win a war with zero casualties... NOT with the passionate fury of a 90s anime hero, Crawl is the wrong genre for that specifically.
This High Elf Wanderer finally has one Rune, and her future is looking bright, despite one of the HARDEST pre-Lair games I may have EVER SEEN, complete with a survived, D:7 Red Ugly Thing and no Teleport scrolls.
We're not finished in this dungeon yet, of course, but if this run doesn't prove that tactics and a cool head are superior to a Hail Mary playstyle, then nothing does! I'm extremely proud of having come even just this far, and I'm hell-bent on seeing this run through now, and not throwing it away. I have two 15-rune wins to my name. My elf and I are capable of bagging a third.
Abridged version of the log:
ADVENTURES OF A HIGH ELF WANDERER: THE DUNGEON
Wanderers are interesting. They start with "randomized equipment and skills" and half the time this equipment or skills simply baffles you (you don't know how to use this sort of build) or goes against your racial aptitudes (a High Elf starting out with points in Axes and Armour instead of Short or Long Blades or magic).
This run, however, had a very promising start.
4.0 in Fighting and nearly 5.0 in Bows, with a very powerful early-game Shortbow! No melee weapons or skills to speak of, save a useless 1.0 in Axes. 2.0 in Armor and an un-upgraded Ring mail. 1.0 in Throwing-- not useless. I could absolutely do something with this.
D:1 proves to be rife with monsters and I hit XL3 before even clearing it. Bows are great against groups of Jackals in a one-line corridor, shooting down the line; even when the shots miss one target they frequently hit the ones behind it.
D:2 cranks things into high gear right away with a pack of Gnolls, two of them holding Halberds. I have a Short Sword by now, but challenging a Halberd Gnoll with one this early is an immediate death sentence. The Bow, however, is a glorious matchup against them, even better than spells, which can miscast and use up all your MP. My arrows took the pack down very capably-- one close scrape near the end, but I had a staircase escape next to me, switched stairs and approached the survivor from elsewhere in the stage, settling on a kill before it could run up and slice me.
D:3 gets even more amazing, with a pre-Temple altar to Okawaru. On an archer I still believe Dithmenos to be the most deadly choice, or Fedhas to be a fantastic defensive option. But Okawaru is, of course, solid, and this early in the game? You don't say no to this offer. My choice of build had become set.
Right after this a huge mob of Orcs, including three Wizards and two Priests, chase me halfway across the level and almost kill me outright. Thinking back, I think it was two mobs that had coincidentally merged and spotted me all at once. I spend some time navigating staircases and picking roving packs of Orcs down as they split off into hunting parties and dispersed through the stage's hallways. One of the Priests drops a +1 Falchion of Holy Wrath. Beautiful, now we have our early-game melee option. I start working on Long Blades alongside Bows.
D:4 immediately sends me a marvelous boon: an extremely squishy bundle of practically-free XP and Piety!
Octopode Wanderer? Sheesh, someone's an even bigger masochist than I am. Thank you, though!
D:5 wakes me back up from my easygoing swing with a nasty ambush.
I won the fight, but I was upset at myself. I had very little escape options (believe I had no potions OR scrolls of teleport for a large part of the early game) and I had put myself in a position where my only survivable choice was to pray and to kill the ogre. A smarter player would have not even tried to engage the ogre; I had constricted my options by committing to the fight, until it became a roll of the dice to win. This is a great way to lose Crawl. Decided to watch for this and to try and not let it happen a second time.
Still no Teleport scrolls as we enter D:6. And then a bomb gets dropped on me.
I legitimately yelped when I saw this. This fit my build perfectly in EVERY WAY. I immediately put that sucker on, skyrocketing my AC to almost 20, with my EV dropping to 8... not my usual build choice (I usually prefer higher EV rather than higher AC), but you don't say no when you're rocking Ring Mail on a no-spells character and this shows up!
Another thing D:6 had was a "Gadget Emporium" shop, filled with wands and rods, most of them far too expensive. The Rod of Iron and Rod of Inaccuracy both grabbed my attention thoroughly; I'd definitely come back here later for one or both of those. For now, I settled on the Wand of Enslavement, as it is a GREAT tool all the way through Lair for dousing the more heated skirmishes, making them either winnable or escapable.
I was happy now, but also nervous, because when Crawl drops loot like this it loves to follow it up with a nuke.
Lo and behold, I was not wrong.
*promptly ambushed from a corridor and hit for 2/3 of my HP from max health... still no teleport scrolls*
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
*proceeds to spend five desperate turns zapping it with a Wand of Enslavement at adjacent range... 38% success rate*
THAT DID IT. The freakazoid was Charmed, and I immediately had it attack the Ogre behind it and RAN THE FUCK AWAY FROM THAT THING with only 15 HP remaining, bolting for the only escape in sight: a blind staircase one level deeper.
Another Orc mob was waiting for me at the bottom.
Fortunately even while at 15 HP this was far more preferable to that other ridiculous encounter. Some careful navigation of the corridors lost sight of the pursuing Priest and Orc Warriors, with only the super weak normal Orcs chasing me until I found a different upstairs and enough time to rid me of threats and heal the fuck up!
I begin exploring D:8. I wouldn't even be able to reach the Temple with the Ugly Thing meandering through half the level (not that it mattered).
Some more eventful encounters go down!
Grum was no problem! My Bow, which was now upgraded to +4, combined with Heroism, struck down all of his wolves one after another, using a one-line corridor. His wolves were surprisingly strong, though, I managed the fight with 1/3 of my HP remaining.
We weren't even going to mess with Erica; I still had no SInv nor rPois at this point, and frankly I wasn't wanting a repeat of the last time I tried to attack her, which got one of my most promising elves ever splatted in three turns and three back-to-back Venom Bolts from full HP, with zero fucks given.
Huge amounts of Orcs patrol this stage as well. The bow conquers all of them, and my archery at this point is enough to one-shot Priests and Wizards half the time, and to manage Orc Warriors that aren't holding anything ridiculous. This has shaped up to be one of the highest-XP-yielding pre-Lair runs I've ever run, even with all my constant having-to-retreat.
D:9 kicks things up into yet another gear.
The Scale Mail wound up being an even better fit for me than the Chain Mail. It granted me about 2 less AC than the Chain and 2 more EV, and more importantly, it grants rF+ and rN+, which were soon going to be much more important to have. I welcomed the switch. I also had been amassing various spellbooks and was considering picking up a few low-level tricks pretty soon, especially with a much higher STR than most elves I've played and still rocking a good INT score.
Blork is notable because of the weapon he was holding: a +2 Scimitar of Holy Wrath. Same exact enchantment and brand as my Falchion, but on a Scimitar. You bet I was gonna make that switch! It was extremely worth it to use up one of my four Potions of Flight just to do battle with Blork stranded on a little island with Sif Muna's altar, and ransack his weapon.
In D:10 we hear a distant banner sound off. A Scroll of Magic Mapping later, we begin to investigate.
Player ghost: MAN those Holy Wrath weapons are effective! I very rarely use them and I have NEVER swept a melee ghost up with pure melee that quickly before.
The Bailey itself was the Crossbow Towers w/ Moat layout; four circular enclosures surrounded by deep water with Orcs and Orc Warriors filling the insides, every single one of them packing an Arbalest, and a permanent Teleport Trap in the middle of each one so that they'd slowly start bleeding into the rest of the stage once you were out of their sights. A much larger enclosure sat in the middle of the map, surrounded by a huge amount of shallow water as well as shallow water covering the entire insides of the building, save for the treasure room itself.
That being said, my shortbow had unmatched supremacy in this fight. Even against Orc Warriors, which hit HARD with those bolts, Heroism combined with my much faster shots allowed me to sweep the stage, one shooting contest against a lone Orc at a time. Carefully luring the Orcs across the deep water and dragging them into melee combat was also a pretty shrewd and effective tactic.
Okawaru constantly gifted me arrows throughout the long firefight. I had amassed over 300 arrows now and was no longer worried about running out.
The boss of the stage was an Orc Knight and three Orc Warriors, every one of them holding a Bardiche or a Glaive. The moment the door opened I was immediately down to half my HP. Still no teleport scrolls.
What I did have, though, were three more Potions of Flight, a stage filled with water, and four now-empty circular sniper-cubbies completely protected by deep water. It was only a matter of luring the troupe of elite orcs over to one of them, settling myself inside, and then there was nothing they could do as I peppered them down to zero after over 50 arrows of them just sitting there and getting gunned.
The reward for this was a Manual of Fighting AND a Manual of Armour!! "Stoked" would have been an understatement for how I felt. I gleefully picked these two books up and began training the skills up; with my powerful randart Scale Mail, the Armour skill benefited much more greatly than my usual, less-encumbering picks would have.
The Bailey run at only XL10 was an unprecedented success! Now it was time to get back to D:10.
Right away I encounter a General Store, and purchase two unidentified scrolls, for just 25 Gold each. Guess what the first one of them is?
THIS is why I always buy un-ID'd scrolls whenever I see them. You never know when you can strike a jackpot like this. Ordinarily they'd have easily been over 30 times as expensive.
Since I was doing fantastic on armor, and Okawaru would soon be gifting me weapons (hopefully!), I decided to ask for a Wand. And I get a Wand of Healing, with 3 charges. I believe the exact reaction I had was to scream at my monitor, "YES! YES!!! PERFECT ACQUIREMENT!" Immediately I spent my Scroll of Recharging on the wand and upped its charges to 6. I had been having spots of trouble constantly during this run, and this wand would definitely make some of those absolutely stressful or dice-rolling moments into something survivable!
The other scroll was brand weapon, and I used it on my now-+5 Shortbow, turning it into a +5 Shortbow of Velocity (vorpal brand). Double-perfect! Sure a Longbow would have been superior, but still having never seen Lair, a +5 Vorpal Shortbow with nearly 14 in Bows skill is FANTASTIC against pretty much anything!!
Not long after, we had precisely the sort of moment happen that I had been wary for, and if it had not been for my new wand, I would have died with no uncertainty.
Even with all my AC, GOD DAMN those things hit hard with no SInv. No corridors to hide in, either. I really should have teleported instead of trying to kill it, and I still would have been able to in time, but I also didn't want it running around the half-unexplored stage and I felt that I was strong enough in power to kill it if I could do so before getting killed myself. I shouldn't make this sort of gambit a habit-- it is a trap I'm prone to falling for.
Feeling good about my kill, though, I decided to go back and settle something I had left un-resolved.
My bow, paired with Heroism and Finesse, did all the work. Unlike before, I was able to make a dent in it just fine, as well as withstand a hit when it closed the gap (also thanks to my rF+ scale mail).
Still no sign of Lair, and I've become increasingly restless because of it. We enter D:11 and get some bad karma from playing the mutation roulette...
UGH. Poor-armor I could live with, but that slow-regen is a KILLER, one of the worst mutations in the game I could have on ANY of my characters, with my playstyle-tendency to fight in high-tension skirmishes for extended time periods! Nothing for it now except try to remove it on the next mutagenic meat or to pray for a Cure Mut potion.
I round the corner... and proceed to enter one of the most horrifying battles I've ever had in the main dungeon.
Not to mention another Ugly Thing, a Cyclops, an Orc Sorcerer and dozens of minion-sized monstrosities. All of them inhabiting a long, serpentine, winding tunnel filled with glass walls, T-shaped cubbies and treasure galore. It was a special vault for sure; Fire Dragons would not appear just anywhere in the standard dungeon! My Wand of Healing saw three uses, Heroism and Finesse both got at least four, as did my only Potion of Might and Agility, and the entire fight had me hovering between 30% and 50% HP, letting off bow shots like a madman against half of them and closing in for melee whenever Centaurs and Centaur Warriors swarmed in. Couldn't even heal at the end thanks to another Unseen Horror showing up to finish me off after everything else was dealt with, and a very scary showdown happened while pinned by it in one of the treasure-corridors. Thank you, Wand of Iceblast, you were the perfect solution. Why not counter something that dodges all your hits with an attack that never misses?
Looting the treasure vault yielded me a few more spellbooks and a lot more gold. I was still in no real position to be thinking about spellcasting... yet. But at the rate things were going, the option existed, even in scale-mail. Maybe with a little more rounding out my other skills first (hitting max delay on my weapons for example, or finishing my two Manuals), I could start gathering the needed Skill XP to cast low-level support spells in medium armor. But as an Okawaru melee/archer character, Conjurations would be off the table, as they'd just get in the way of the playstyle my elf was actually geared for.
I continue on through D:11, and one room away after the treasure hallway is the entrance to the Lair.
My exhausted elf half-collapses down the stairs and into a little pile with all her stuff at the bottom, wheezing a huge sigh of relief and a bit of a laughing fit. FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY! After ALL THAT, finally Crawl begins to feel familiar again!
ADVENTURES OF A HIGH ELF WANDERER: LAIR OF BEASTS
I performed my usual routine of hitting '* w 1' next to the Lair staircase, to set up my "stash" of all my excess items I couldn't carry around. I had three Wands of Iceblast by this point, for example! Carrying two might make sense, three is just taking up space, and I was down to only two open slots left in my bag. My books didn't need to come with me either. Stashing is standard stuff to the majority of you, just figured I'd mention it here for posterity. I also historically use this moment for a nice stretch break and a drink. Hitting Lair definitely feels like you've reached "Level 2" of the game, it is a major checkpoint and a perfect time to refresh your mind for what's ahead.
So off we go, Akari the Elf's spirits restored along with mine, to explore Lair:1!
But if you thought this session of Crawl was going to get any less-heated just for being in Lair, well, I ask you this question: why break tradition?
The ghost went down effortlessly-- being a frail Kobold Gladiator against my +2 Holy Wrath Scimitar. Joseph was a little more scary, hitting me harder than I'd have liked when three of his bullets landed; I realized my bow was the wrong weapon to challenge him with, so I brought the fight up close and personal and my Scimitar cut through his Quarterstaff of Crushing like hot butter.
The Hydra scared me even more, when it showed up way too close alongside a Spiny Frog and a Black Mamba (and still no rPois!) AND an army of Yaks, leaving my Bow unable to deal with it from afar, and my Scimitar was only going to regrow its heads. I unloaded one of my entire Wands of Iceblast on the whole group and brought the Hydra down along with all the rest. I've been pleased with myself and my ability to actually remember wands in this run, but to also not overuse them. This was a perfect use of an Iceblast wand.
Sonja was scariest of all. Curare needles AND a Distortion dagger-- and again, no rPois nor Potions of Resistance for me. But I did have one extremely unorthodox solution to this battle: my Tree-Form Potion, granting me rPois, Stasis, and a major AC boost. I equipped my Bow, became a tree, booted up Heroism and Finesse and started firing. Sonja unloaded all her Curare needles harmlessly into me, then Blinked in close and sliced out a MAJOR chunk of HP with her space-time-warping weapon. Fortunately she Blinked away again instead of pressing her attack. My Wand of Healing kept me healthy enough to finish the fight stress-free-- and Sonja even had a Potion of Healing herself, but it only took a few arrows to hit their mark on the agile, frail assassin to down her, still in tree-form.
I salvaged her Curare needles and her Blowgun, spent my saved Enchant scroll on it to make it a +1 Blowgun, then ran back to an earlier dungeon floor and grabbed the Curare needles off the floor. These babies wouldn't need a lot of Throwing skill to devastate a handful of specific threats I'd be worrying about soon! Taking out Sonja was the right decision. Onward we go.
Lair:2 is uneventful (thankfully!), but upon entering Lair:3, we hear echoes of ancient mechanical gears in the distance. A Labyrinth waits just ahead.
I love Labyrinths-- they're so much less stressful than Crawl's constant, heated combat! Solving the maze is like a short, gentle intermission from the usual craziness, then the one-on-one battle at the end is a firm-but-fair ease back into it, with a heap of treasure to come with it.
The Curare needles assisted against the Minotaur and it was down before it even landed one hit. I got a gorgeous randart ring out of the deal-- nothing I'd be wearing the whole game, but the MR+ combined with the INT bonus filled two roles that needed filling; buffering my horridly-low MR while making Scale Mail spellcasting another notch more viable. I'd definitely be needing to branch into spells soon now.
Onward we go, and on the way, we discover which two Lair Branches we'll be competing for Runes against: the Snake Pit and the Shoals. I'm quite happy with this; although Shoals is scarier to me than the Swamps, as an archer I'd be able to compete against a wide variety of the swimming threats there that actively try to stay out of melee, such as Merfolk Avatars (and with over 400 arrows from constant Okawaru gifts, losing a few to deep water is not too big a deal now), and in the Snake Pit I'd have a DRASTICALLY better time there than I would have in Spider Nest, with LOTS of corridors to fire arrows down as well as lots of very slow, patient enemies that are literally perfect for ranged combat fighters to excel against.
STILL no rPois, though. Snake Pit is winnable without rPois but I'd obviously MUCH rather have it than not have it-- if for no other reason than to avoid losing half my HP in one hit to Greater Naga Poison Arrows o_o Hopefully it'll show up in Lair or in one of the Orcish Mines' shops!
Also found on Lair:3 was a VERY welcome +3 Ring of Slaying. My weapon enchantments had been decent so far, but this find pushed them from "managing" into "relevant" status. I immediately noticed a serious improvement in my ability to kill things as we traveled onwards to Lair:4.
Curare assisted again, and Snorg's trump card (Berserk) was completely shut down before she could start it up, for a fast and flawless kill.
More trouble with mutation roulette. (Hey, it wouldn't be a roulette if it was only winners!)
Lair:6 (the bottom floor) surprised me with a layout I'd never seen before. It featured a very large pool of shallow water, partially obscured by marble walls, a Merfolk Avatar patrolling the perimeter while families of Sea Snakes, Rime Dragons, Manticores, Crocodiles, Polar Bears, and other beasts hoarded a large treasure mound in the center. I was perfectly content to boot up Heroism and Finesse while standing still in the shallow water, gunning down everything in sight as they lunged at me across the water from five different directions-- though this did require one Teleport Scroll and a second round.
The treasure they guarded yielded a Book of Air, along with some gold and various knickknacks I had no use for.
Still, I'll take it. There's a couple of FANTASTIC low-level spells in that book that would suit me perfectly, and I think with my great STR and INT scores, and the help of that randart ring, it's time we head back to our Stash and get into spellcasting!
At the time I had forgotten to get the other good one, Swiftness, but don't worry, we'll correct that soon. At the very least, now is when I begin raising Spellcasting, Charms, Summoning (by a little) and Air Magic (by a little).
For now, we're finished with the Lair.
ADVENTURES OF A HIGH ELF WANDERER: THE ORCISH MINES, THE ELVEN HALLS
Historically, after Lair comes the Orcish Mines-- and in this session of Crawl, our Orcish Mines are only a short hop away, seated on the same floor.
A gigantic horde of over three-dozen Orcs guard the entrance, and I hand them the greatest possible greeting with one of my Scrolls of Immolation paired with a Wand of Confusion on a Warrior right at the bottleneck entrance. A few steps back, a Bow-shot as a detonator, and the entrance gets a sexy redecoration that would make Vehumet give our Okawaru a flirtatious chuckle at the scene! ♥
The path to the Mines is open now... and as we set foot inside, we hear the distant crackle of a melting archway.
An Ice Cave. Normally I'd say that's "pretty cool!" But this time I'd say it's "a chilling encounter", since we have no rC+ at all going into it. At the very least, if it's a nasty enough layout, there's no harm in just peeking my head in and out and leaving with nothing... right?
The layout I immediately recognize is a narrow-ish, winding tunnel filled to bursting with Yaks, Wolves and Polar Bears, as well as occasional fits of spontaneous Freezing Cloud in isolated sections. (I did get caught in it for a few turns and BOY IT HURT.) With my lack of rC+, this is probably the best possible layout I could have hoped for. Freezing Cloud I can deal with by running past it; Golden Dragon Simulacrums or high-tier demons I CANNOT, and some of the nasiest Ice Caves have threats like those.
I can fight hordes of animals easily! However... this does mean there will be a Frost Giant at the end. Yikes.
The battle through the ice cave goes without a hitch, and sure enough, right at the end is an unbelievable herd of animals-- Death Yaks many among their number-- and a legit, fully-geared Frost Giant accenting the charge.
You know what?
I have three of those Scrolls left, and it worked pretty good last time.
I drop Heroism and Finesse and chew my way to the mouth of the room, getting as many of them in line of sight as possible, then light the fuse with a Scroll of Immolation. Then, two of the normal Yaks with the Wand of Confusion, followed by carefully maneuvering backward...
It was a beautiful sight. Nothing but explosions and flames filling my screen for the next twenty seconds, just barely out of my reach, nearly every one of those Death Yaks and every single other creature on the battlefield scattered to the earth's farthest corners, the Frost Giant brought down to less than half its HP before it could act!
From there it proceeded to chase me through the roaring flames, and as I pelted it with arrows, it got a little too close...
Turns out Giant-sized creatures explode in a two-tile radius, not just one tile! There was no dodging that. But I'd MUCH rather get hit by the one single, giant fire-explosion than ANY of the Frost Giant's actual attacks!
The Ice Cave was a complete and absolute success. I looted every treasure it had, and though most of it was useless to me... the +2 Scimitar of Electrocution was far from it. With more of those Enchant Scrolls still saved up, I think I found QUITE a suitable replacement for my Holy Wrath scimitar, as this one would do massive damage to a MUCH larger amount of things than the Holy weapon's (which still remained useful as a switch-in).
At this point I make another trip to my Stash to look over my spell options again, as I've gotten Repel Missiles castable after that battle.
Ice Beast was still 99% failure, but I had decided to go for a Summoner-support build. I had access to Summon Hydra at MUCH later levels, but even aside from that, what I'm hoping to get is Summon Demon or Monstrous Menagerie, and perhaps even better, Abjuration for the late and extended game. This elf can melee and she can gun with excellent efficiency, she doesn't need anything like Conjurations; summons, however, would directly compliment both her styles of combat, as long as she doesn't hit them of course because Okawaru hates that! (Also, unlike previous versions of Crawl, Okawaru no longer gets mad if your ally simply dies in battle-- only if you harm them yourself.)
I start slowly training up Summonings at this point. No hurry for now.
We head onward to Orc:2... and discover one of the new, coolest boss vaults I have ever seen.
An obsidian-black, diamond-shaped spiral structure sat in the center of the Orc Mines, and mid-tier demons, Orc High Priests galore AND DEMONSPAWN WARRIORS came sprawling out! A legit gateway to Pandemonium sat right in the center room, along with the shops!
It was one of the COOLEST BATTLES I could have had in the Mines-- topped probably only by the Centaur Fortress ending with the huge bridge over a lake, that one will always be the most fun, but I think this new boss-vault is my new favorite in terms of uniqueness! Also, despite it being filled with demons to fight, definitely much less scary than anything with a ton of open space and a ton of Orc High Priests all within smiting distance; at least this one had a comforting narrow-corridor ascetic to work with and dodge Smite!
The shops had almost nothing worth taking, except one filled with basic-but-helpful scrolls and another one filled with spellbooks, some of which looked worth purchasing possibly later. A Book of Battle screamed for my attention as I ADORE Spectral Weapon, but, I already had Repel Missiles and Swiftness and that was a lot of gold to spend on one spell, unless one also considers Infusion...
Nevertheless, it was time to press on into Elf:1... albeit extremely apprehensively, with only MR++... on this elf. One wrong step into a Demonologist's Banishment could mean an aborted run-- I don't feel I'm strong enough yet to survive Abyss for long periods. Not to mention even basic Elven Mages or Knights use various Hexes that I'm also quite weak against...
My venture inside, however, turns out to be worth the trouble.
I believe I screamed when I saw this. Not only is this pretty much a PERFECT POWERHOUSE weapon for me (though keeping in mind I only have the Long Blade Skill to swing it with 1.0 speed), it ALSO offers the first source of rPois in the game!!
I now have a viable weapon that will take me through the Snake Pit, long as I remember to switch to it when I see Naga Ritualists casting Radiance, or Greater Naga casting anything.
Since Elf:1's battles had been slightly scary, and there was still one looming, unopened door that looked suspiciously like a "party room" that I wanted NOTHING of, I decided to call it quits while I could, and finish exploring the rest of the main Dungeon.
But not before resolving another sidequest, with all the Orcish Mines money I'd pilfered.
A Greatsword provided worlds of burst-damage, and my arrows provided excellent sustained damage at a range... so I figured a +2 Iron Rod (12/12) would supplement my options with its wide, shotgun-like spray, providing an answer to large groups of foes, something the upcoming Snake Pit or the later-coming Vaults have no shortage of!
I also decided there'd be no reason to pursue the Rod of Inaccuracy anymore. My Velocity Shortbow could handle anything that Rod could have, only about a hundred times better. That thing will get left in the shop for the rest of the game.
ADVENTURES OF A HIGH ELF WANDERER: LOWER-DUNGEON
We're doing well enough at this point to finish the rest of the main Dungeon, I feel like, so onward we-- WAAAAAUGH
Well... that happened. Thankfully it didn't stick me next to a Lich or a bunch of Spriggan Berserkers, since that sort of thing tends to happen!
The Shaft was a surprise, but the backwards-sweep of the final three floors of the Dungeon goes by quite uneventfully, which, considering how this whole Crawl session has been, is a very welcome thing.
But then again, Crawl has ways of making sure I'm still awake at the wheel, and a responsible driver.
The log unfortunately doesn't show this one: a Titanic Slime Creature clips me during my retreat for nearly 80 DAMAGE. And what's crazier? I got LUCKY; those things can hit even harder! Never let them get that big. Period. Don't fight Slime Creatures in corridors, kite or lure them to open space and fight all the little ones at the same time-- in my case, preferably with a Bow. I'm awake now, Crawl, thank you for not killing me for my mistake.
It was at roughly the same time that this happened:
Okawaru decided to one-up the beautiful specimen I lifted from the Elven Halls with his own little present. Despite being a +8 instead of a +9, the Vorpal brand on it makes its damage superior against more types of threats that aren't affected by Draining, and this one offers rN+ as well. Seems like my two Greatswords will each fill separate roles in separate branches later; I could take this new one to Crypt or to the Hells, for example, where it would harm AND protect from undead and demons noticeably better!
With that, the main Dungeon is fully cleared... except for Erica. She's squatting on some pre-Lair floor, so there's almost no reason whatsoever to go back; her Flaming Scimitar would have helped in Lair, but I managed just fine without it, and now with these Greatswords I'd have no use for it anymore at all (my Bow can kill hydras easily now).
Sitting at my Stash now, I ponder on all the Branches available to me, and come to a decision on which one to take on first. Elven Halls I don't feel comfortable with until I improve my MR somehow, and Shoals has a bit of a MR-threat too with Sirens and Satyrs... but Snake Pit I'm totally ready for, now that I have some degree of rPois on hand.
Time to get started on our first Rune of the match.
And I've decided to spend the rest of my Orc Mines gold on a very helpful spell school for me.
High Elves have a +2 aptitude in Translocations, and I'm playing as an Archer. Spectral Weapon might have been iffy since I'd be switching weapons too frequently, but Portal Projectile is PERFECT, temporarily turning my archery into a Smite attack, countering any monsters who themselves can Smite, along with a HUGE number of threats in the Shoals later (all the while preventing my arrows from landing in deep water after missing!). Blink and Lesser Beckoning wouldn't hurt either, giving me more control over a handful of awry situations where enemies have ground over me that I don't want, and Teleport Other is on there as a novelty that I don't expect will see much use, but it's part of the same spell school anyway, and unless I need to free levels for Summons later, might as well grab it!
Alright-- so that's done! Now it's time to get started on the Rune, for real this time!
ADVENTURES OF A HIGH ELF WANDERER: SNAKE PIT
Did you know Azrael casts Hellfire and not just normal-fire? I didn't! That was a shocking close call from out of nowhere, sheesh.
Finally got a Potion of Cure Mutation and got rid of my WORST mutation! Poor-armor is still on there, but I can manage with it.
This isn't in the log, but, in Snake:2 Okawaru gifts me the +4 Robe of Augmentation {STR+4 DEX+4 INT+4}, which I have no use for at all because my +6 Scale Mail is far superior, but it is still a welcome gesture. Thank you Okawaru! If I somehow manage to get Deformed Body 3 I at least have something to switch to that can be considered good until the issue is dealt with :D
Snake:4 and the battle for the Rune is one of my most memorable yet. Another Scroll of Immolation gets put to use and it generates twice as much hype as the IceCave immolation with even more, far more dangerous targets all affected at once, and the Rod of Iron gets brought in multiple times-- not strong enough to kill, but very capable at heavily injuring over a dozen enemies at once, with Wand of Iceblast getting brought in to finish off entire crowds, and Portal Projectile Shortbow to kill whatever stragglers are left as well as pick off Ritualists and Sharpshooters from behind their armies.
Snake Pit tends to either go real smoothly or become a sheer mess of getting trapped in the nastiest situation possible. This time it went smoother than butter; every single one of my elf's abilities got a chance to shine, between her swords, her bow attacks, her evocables, her new supporting spells, as well as Okawaru's Heroism and Finesse. Every dangerous situation was carefully managed, two Teleport Scrolls were employed at proper times and not one of them was wasted nor overlooked-until-too-late; the closest things got was a 30% HP situation after an extended shootout with multiple Greater Naga + Shock Serpents, this time I remembered to teleport-scroll and then carefully retreat and manage the HP I had left, and find an upstairs to hide from them in as soon as possible.
I played at the top of my game this time.[/url] If I can handle Shoals and the rest of the journey with an equally level head, I'll definitely 15-rune this match.
♥♦ TO BE CONTINUED ♣♠
= = = = =
SO. That's where I'm taking a break. Decided to sit her down at her Stash and write all this over roughly five hours, as it is great therapy and it counters the trap of "get too caught up in my hype -> play some more, while tired -> die to an avoidable mistake and throw away the run".
Thank you so much if you followed along with my long-winded adventures!! Thank you also if you have any advice or observations or pretty much anything to say at all!
Whether I win the game in style, or die in even more style, I promise I'll be seeing this story through to the end. Stay tuned for more!
~ ~ SCHWAAKARI ♥
If anyone's seen this Reddit thread, they'd know about my self-set challenge of 15-rune-winning a High Elf Wanderer before the release of Crawl 0.20, since High Elves-- my original main race-- are being removed from the game at last, and I want to send my baby girl off with a truly heartfelt farewell.
So far my HEWn attempts have been... rough, understandably. I had one that made it all the way to the Hells because she was pretty much carried with insane early-game loot-- a D:4 Ring of Robustness being among them. Lost her to a poorly-managed Brimstone Fiend, simply by playing badly. Crawl has always punished complacence, after all. Almost all my other HEWns have splatted pre-Lair, several of them from me playing on tilt and trying to force an elf to Lair instead of take my time and treat each individual run with respect.
You can't force your way through Crawl, and playing while too emotionally invested tends to harm much more often than help; sure it's fine to be emotionally invested, but you want to do so with the solemness of an admiral overlooking a battlefield, sipping coffee while giving out tactics and orders to win a war with zero casualties... NOT with the passionate fury of a 90s anime hero, Crawl is the wrong genre for that specifically.
This High Elf Wanderer finally has one Rune, and her future is looking bright, despite one of the HARDEST pre-Lair games I may have EVER SEEN, complete with a survived, D:7 Red Ugly Thing and no Teleport scrolls.
We're not finished in this dungeon yet, of course, but if this run doesn't prove that tactics and a cool head are superior to a Hail Mary playstyle, then nothing does! I'm extremely proud of having come even just this far, and I'm hell-bent on seeing this run through now, and not throwing it away. I have two 15-rune wins to my name. My elf and I are capable of bagging a third.
Abridged version of the log:
- Code:
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.19.1 (webtiles) character file.
SchwaAkari the Markself (High Elf Wanderer) Turns: 43334, Time: 03:15:35
Health: 140/140 AC: 24 Str: 20 XL: 18 Next: 3%
Magic: 27/35 EV: 17 Int: 17 God: Okawaru [******]
Gold: 981 SH: 0 Dex: 22 Spells: 8 memorised, 11 levels left
rFire + . . SeeInvis + a - +8 great sword "Puleskuuro" {slice, +Rage rN+ MP+9 Int-3}
rCold . . . Gourm . G - +6 scale mail of Limitation {rF+ rN+}
rNeg + + . Faith . (shield currently unavailable)
rPois . Spirit . S - +2 hat {SInv}
rElec . Reflect . A - +2 cloak
rCorr . Harm . L - +0 pair of fencer's gloves {+Riposte Dex+3}
MR ++... u - +0 pair of boots
Stlth +......... p - amulet of regeneration
t - +3 ring of slaying
F - ring of Gaschub {MR+ Int+5}
@: repel missiles
A: talons 1, rugged brown scales 1, thin metallic scales 2, deformed body, dopey
1, low mp 1, strong 2
a: Heroism, Finesse, Renounce Religion, Evoke Berserk Rage
}: 1/15 runes: serpentine
Hand Weapons
a - the +8 great sword "Puleskuuro" (weapon) {slice, +Rage rN+ MP+9 Int-3}
(Okawaru gifted it to you on level 15 of the Dungeon)
b - a +5 shortbow of velocity
q - a +1 blowgun
Q - the +9 great sword "Piptih" {drain, rPois Dex+3}
(You found it on level 1 of the Elven Halls)
Skills:
- Level 16.3 Fighting
Level 3.1(12.5) Short Blades
* Level 18.0 Long Blades
Level 1.0 Axes
* Level 20.0 Bows
- Level 1.0 Throwing
- Level 12.1 Armour
- Level 9.0 Dodging
- Level 1.1 Stealth
- Level 7.0 Spellcasting
- Level 5.0 Charms
- Level 6.0 Summonings
- Level 5.0 Translocations
- Level 5.0 Ice Magic
- Level 4.0 Air Magic
- Level 6.0 Invocations
- Level 9.0 Evocations
Your Spells Type Power Failure Level Hunger
q - Repel Missiles Chrm/Air ###... 10% 2 None
w - Swiftness Chrm/Air ###..... 10% 2 None
x - Lesser Beckoning Tloc ###....... 12% 3 ##.....
z - Portal Projectile Tloc ###... 12% 3 ##.....
A - Blink Tloc N/A 6% 2 None
D - Summon Ice Beast Ice/Summ ###..... 30% 4 ####...
S - Summon Butterflies Summ ####.... 2% 1 None
Z - Teleport Other Tloc ###..... 12% 3 ##.....
ADVENTURES OF A HIGH ELF WANDERER: THE DUNGEON
Wanderers are interesting. They start with "randomized equipment and skills" and half the time this equipment or skills simply baffles you (you don't know how to use this sort of build) or goes against your racial aptitudes (a High Elf starting out with points in Axes and Armour instead of Short or Long Blades or magic).
This run, however, had a very promising start.
0 | D:1 | SchwaAkari the High Elf Wanderer began the quest for the Orb.
0 | D:1 | SchwaAkari set off with: a +2 shortbow, 26 arrows, a +0 ring mail, a potion of curing, a bread ration
4.0 in Fighting and nearly 5.0 in Bows, with a very powerful early-game Shortbow! No melee weapons or skills to speak of, save a useless 1.0 in Axes. 2.0 in Armor and an un-upgraded Ring mail. 1.0 in Throwing-- not useless. I could absolutely do something with this.
D:1 proves to be rife with monsters and I hit XL3 before even clearing it. Bows are great against groups of Jackals in a one-line corridor, shooting down the line; even when the shots miss one target they frequently hit the ones behind it.
D:2 cranks things into high gear right away with a pack of Gnolls, two of them holding Halberds. I have a Short Sword by now, but challenging a Halberd Gnoll with one this early is an immediate death sentence. The Bow, however, is a glorious matchup against them, even better than spells, which can miscast and use up all your MP. My arrows took the pack down very capably-- one close scrape near the end, but I had a staircase escape next to me, switched stairs and approached the survivor from elsewhere in the stage, settling on a kill before it could run up and slice me.
2014 | D:2 | Reached XP level 5. HP: 38/38 MP: 6/6
2016 | D:2 | Reached skill level 6 in Bows
D:3 gets even more amazing, with a pre-Temple altar to Okawaru. On an archer I still believe Dithmenos to be the most deadly choice, or Fedhas to be a fantastic defensive option. But Okawaru is, of course, solid, and this early in the game? You don't say no to this offer. My choice of build had become set.
3546 | D:3 | Found an iron altar of Okawaru.
3553 | D:3 | Became a worshipper of Warmaster Okawaru
Right after this a huge mob of Orcs, including three Wizards and two Priests, chase me halfway across the level and almost kill me outright. Thinking back, I think it was two mobs that had coincidentally merged and spotted me all at once. I spend some time navigating staircases and picking roving packs of Orcs down as they split off into hunting parties and dispersed through the stage's hallways. One of the Priests drops a +1 Falchion of Holy Wrath. Beautiful, now we have our early-game melee option. I start working on Long Blades alongside Bows.
D:4 immediately sends me a marvelous boon: an extremely squishy bundle of practically-free XP and Piety!
4088 | D:4 | Noticed fruitandgarbage's ghost (amateur OpWr)
4095 | D:4 | Killed fruitandgarbage's ghost
4095 | D:4 | Reached skill level 7 in Bows
4198 | D:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Dungeon
4347 | D:5 | Reached * piety under Okawaru
4347 | D:5 | Reached XP level 7. HP: 33/50 MP: 8/8
Octopode Wanderer? Sheesh, someone's an even bigger masochist than I am. Thank you, though!
D:5 wakes me back up from my easygoing swing with a nasty ambush.
5109 | D:5 | HP: 2/75 [ogre/giant club (4)]
5110 | D:5 | Reached skill level 5 in Long Blades
5110 | D:5 | Reached skill level 8 in Bows
I won the fight, but I was upset at myself. I had very little escape options (believe I had no potions OR scrolls of teleport for a large part of the early game) and I had put myself in a position where my only survivable choice was to pray and to kill the ogre. A smarter player would have not even tried to engage the ogre; I had constricted my options by committing to the fight, until it became a roll of the dice to win. This is a great way to lose Crawl. Decided to watch for this and to try and not let it happen a second time.
Still no Teleport scrolls as we enter D:6. And then a bomb gets dropped on me.
6875 | D:6 | Got an ichor-stained chain mail
6886 | D:6 | Identified the +7 chain mail of Panentheism {Dex+3} (You found it on level 6 of the Dungeon)
I legitimately yelped when I saw this. This fit my build perfectly in EVERY WAY. I immediately put that sucker on, skyrocketing my AC to almost 20, with my EV dropping to 8... not my usual build choice (I usually prefer higher EV rather than higher AC), but you don't say no when you're rocking Ring Mail on a no-spells character and this shows up!
Another thing D:6 had was a "Gadget Emporium" shop, filled with wands and rods, most of them far too expensive. The Rod of Iron and Rod of Inaccuracy both grabbed my attention thoroughly; I'd definitely come back here later for one or both of those. For now, I settled on the Wand of Enslavement, as it is a GREAT tool all the way through Lair for dousing the more heated skirmishes, making them either winnable or escapable.
I was happy now, but also nervous, because when Crawl drops loot like this it loves to follow it up with a nuke.
Lo and behold, I was not wrong.
7688 | D:7 | Noticed a red ugly thing
*promptly ambushed from a corridor and hit for 2/3 of my HP from max health... still no teleport scrolls*
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
*proceeds to spend five desperate turns zapping it with a Wand of Enslavement at adjacent range... 38% success rate*
THAT DID IT. The freakazoid was Charmed, and I immediately had it attack the Ogre behind it and RAN THE FUCK AWAY FROM THAT THING with only 15 HP remaining, bolting for the only escape in sight: a blind staircase one level deeper.
Another Orc mob was waiting for me at the bottom.
Fortunately even while at 15 HP this was far more preferable to that other ridiculous encounter. Some careful navigation of the corridors lost sight of the pursuing Priest and Orc Warriors, with only the super weak normal Orcs chasing me until I found a different upstairs and enough time to rid me of threats and heal the fuck up!
I begin exploring D:8. I wouldn't even be able to reach the Temple with the Ugly Thing meandering through half the level (not that it mattered).
Some more eventful encounters go down!
8200 | D:8 | Gained mutation: You tend to lose your temper in combat. [mutagenic meat]
8575 | D:8 | Noticed Grum
8587 | D:8 | Killed Grum
8692 | D:8 | Noticed Erica
Grum was no problem! My Bow, which was now upgraded to +4, combined with Heroism, struck down all of his wolves one after another, using a one-line corridor. His wolves were surprisingly strong, though, I managed the fight with 1/3 of my HP remaining.
We weren't even going to mess with Erica; I still had no SInv nor rPois at this point, and frankly I wasn't wanting a repeat of the last time I tried to attack her, which got one of my most promising elves ever splatted in three turns and three back-to-back Venom Bolts from full HP, with zero fucks given.
Huge amounts of Orcs patrol this stage as well. The bow conquers all of them, and my archery at this point is enough to one-shot Priests and Wizards half the time, and to manage Orc Warriors that aren't holding anything ridiculous. This has shaped up to be one of the highest-XP-yielding pre-Lair runs I've ever run, even with all my constant having-to-retreat.
D:9 kicks things up into yet another gear.
9997 | D:9 | Got a fine scale mail
10041 | D:9 | Identified the +6 scale mail of Limitation {rF+ rN+} (You found it on level 9 of the Dungeon)
10195 | D:9 | Gained mutation: You are mostly covered in thin metallic scales. (AC +3) [mutagenic meat]
10196 | D:9 | Gained mutation: Your mind is acute. (Int +2) [mutagenic meat]
10667 | D:9 | Noticed Blork the orc
10689 | D:9 | Killed Blork the orc
The Scale Mail wound up being an even better fit for me than the Chain Mail. It granted me about 2 less AC than the Chain and 2 more EV, and more importantly, it grants rF+ and rN+, which were soon going to be much more important to have. I welcomed the switch. I also had been amassing various spellbooks and was considering picking up a few low-level tricks pretty soon, especially with a much higher STR than most elves I've played and still rocking a good INT score.
Blork is notable because of the weapon he was holding: a +2 Scimitar of Holy Wrath. Same exact enchantment and brand as my Falchion, but on a Scimitar. You bet I was gonna make that switch! It was extremely worth it to use up one of my four Potions of Flight just to do battle with Blork stranded on a little island with Sif Muna's altar, and ransack his weapon.
In D:10 we hear a distant banner sound off. A Scroll of Magic Mapping later, we begin to investigate.
11178 | D:10 | Found a flagged portal.
11187 | Bailey | Entered a bailey
11519 | Bailey | Noticed silentsigil's ghost (journeyman GrFi)
11539 | Bailey | Killed silentsigil's ghost
11539 | Bailey | Received a gift from Okawaru
11539 | Bailey | Reached skill level 10 in Long Blades
12220 | Bailey | Received a gift from Okawaru
12452 | Bailey | Found a roughly hewn altar of Beogh.
12452 | Bailey | Noticed an orc knight
12965 | Bailey | Killed an orc knight
Player ghost: MAN those Holy Wrath weapons are effective! I very rarely use them and I have NEVER swept a melee ghost up with pure melee that quickly before.
The Bailey itself was the Crossbow Towers w/ Moat layout; four circular enclosures surrounded by deep water with Orcs and Orc Warriors filling the insides, every single one of them packing an Arbalest, and a permanent Teleport Trap in the middle of each one so that they'd slowly start bleeding into the rest of the stage once you were out of their sights. A much larger enclosure sat in the middle of the map, surrounded by a huge amount of shallow water as well as shallow water covering the entire insides of the building, save for the treasure room itself.
That being said, my shortbow had unmatched supremacy in this fight. Even against Orc Warriors, which hit HARD with those bolts, Heroism combined with my much faster shots allowed me to sweep the stage, one shooting contest against a lone Orc at a time. Carefully luring the Orcs across the deep water and dragging them into melee combat was also a pretty shrewd and effective tactic.
Okawaru constantly gifted me arrows throughout the long firefight. I had amassed over 300 arrows now and was no longer worried about running out.
The boss of the stage was an Orc Knight and three Orc Warriors, every one of them holding a Bardiche or a Glaive. The moment the door opened I was immediately down to half my HP. Still no teleport scrolls.
What I did have, though, were three more Potions of Flight, a stage filled with water, and four now-empty circular sniper-cubbies completely protected by deep water. It was only a matter of luring the troupe of elite orcs over to one of them, settling myself inside, and then there was nothing they could do as I peppered them down to zero after over 50 arrows of them just sitting there and getting gunned.
The reward for this was a Manual of Fighting AND a Manual of Armour!! "Stoked" would have been an understatement for how I felt. I gleefully picked these two books up and began training the skills up; with my powerful randart Scale Mail, the Armour skill benefited much more greatly than my usual, less-encumbering picks would have.
The Bailey run at only XL10 was an unprecedented success! Now it was time to get back to D:10.
Right away I encounter a General Store, and purchase two unidentified scrolls, for just 25 Gold each. Guess what the first one of them is?
13335 | D:10 | Identified a scroll of acquirement
THIS is why I always buy un-ID'd scrolls whenever I see them. You never know when you can strike a jackpot like this. Ordinarily they'd have easily been over 30 times as expensive.
Since I was doing fantastic on armor, and Okawaru would soon be gifting me weapons (hopefully!), I decided to ask for a Wand. And I get a Wand of Healing, with 3 charges. I believe the exact reaction I had was to scream at my monitor, "YES! YES!!! PERFECT ACQUIREMENT!" Immediately I spent my Scroll of Recharging on the wand and upped its charges to 6. I had been having spots of trouble constantly during this run, and this wand would definitely make some of those absolutely stressful or dice-rolling moments into something survivable!
The other scroll was brand weapon, and I used it on my now-+5 Shortbow, turning it into a +5 Shortbow of Velocity (vorpal brand). Double-perfect! Sure a Longbow would have been superior, but still having never seen Lair, a +5 Vorpal Shortbow with nearly 14 in Bows skill is FANTASTIC against pretty much anything!!
Not long after, we had precisely the sort of moment happen that I had been wary for, and if it had not been for my new wand, I would have died with no uncertainty.
13731 | D:10 | Killed an unseen horror
13731 | D:10 | Received a gift from Okawaru
13731 | D:10 | Reached XP level 11. HP: 18/69 MP: 15/15
Even with all my AC, GOD DAMN those things hit hard with no SInv. No corridors to hide in, either. I really should have teleported instead of trying to kill it, and I still would have been able to in time, but I also didn't want it running around the half-unexplored stage and I felt that I was strong enough in power to kill it if I could do so before getting killed myself. I shouldn't make this sort of gambit a habit-- it is a trap I'm prone to falling for.
Feeling good about my kill, though, I decided to go back and settle something I had left un-resolved.
15462 | D:7 | Killed a red ugly thing
15473 | D:7 | Lost mutation: You are frail. (-10% HP) [mutagenic meat]
15670 | Temple | Entered the Ecumenical Temple
My bow, paired with Heroism and Finesse, did all the work. Unlike before, I was able to make a dent in it just fine, as well as withstand a hit when it closed the gap (also thanks to my rF+ scale mail).
Still no sign of Lair, and I've become increasingly restless because of it. We enter D:11 and get some bad karma from playing the mutation roulette...
16169 | D:11 | Gained mutation: You regenerate slowly when monsters are visible. [mutagenic meat]
16170 | D:11 | Gained mutation: You are clumsy. (Dex -2) [mutagenic meat]
16171 | D:11 | Gained mutation: Your muscles are strong. (Str +2) [mutagenic meat]
16173 | D:11 | Gained mutation: Armour fits poorly on your strangely shaped body. [mutagenic meat]
UGH. Poor-armor I could live with, but that slow-regen is a KILLER, one of the worst mutations in the game I could have on ANY of my characters, with my playstyle-tendency to fight in high-tension skirmishes for extended time periods! Nothing for it now except try to remove it on the next mutagenic meat or to pray for a Cure Mut potion.
I round the corner... and proceed to enter one of the most horrifying battles I've ever had in the main dungeon.
16213 | D:11 | Paralysed by a hornet for 3 turns
16224 | D:11 | Noticed a centaur warrior
16247 | D:11 | Killed a centaur warrior
16247 | D:11 | Reached skill level 5 in Armour
16266 | D:11 | Noticed a hill giant
16272 | D:11 | Killed a hill giant
16277 | D:11 | Noticed a deep elf mage
16282 | D:11 | Noticed a fire dragon
16294 | D:11 | Killed a deep elf mage
16308 | D:11 | Killed a fire dragon
16308 | D:11 | Received a gift from Okawaru
16308 | D:11 | Reached skill level 14 in Bows
16419 | D:11 | Killed an unseen horror
16728 | D:11 | Noticed a centaur warrior
16749 | D:11 | Killed a centaur warrior
16749 | D:11 | Reached skill level 10 in Fighting
16753 | D:11 | Reached XP level 12. HP: 52/87 MP: 5/18
Not to mention another Ugly Thing, a Cyclops, an Orc Sorcerer and dozens of minion-sized monstrosities. All of them inhabiting a long, serpentine, winding tunnel filled with glass walls, T-shaped cubbies and treasure galore. It was a special vault for sure; Fire Dragons would not appear just anywhere in the standard dungeon! My Wand of Healing saw three uses, Heroism and Finesse both got at least four, as did my only Potion of Might and Agility, and the entire fight had me hovering between 30% and 50% HP, letting off bow shots like a madman against half of them and closing in for melee whenever Centaurs and Centaur Warriors swarmed in. Couldn't even heal at the end thanks to another Unseen Horror showing up to finish me off after everything else was dealt with, and a very scary showdown happened while pinned by it in one of the treasure-corridors. Thank you, Wand of Iceblast, you were the perfect solution. Why not counter something that dodges all your hits with an attack that never misses?
Looting the treasure vault yielded me a few more spellbooks and a lot more gold. I was still in no real position to be thinking about spellcasting... yet. But at the rate things were going, the option existed, even in scale-mail. Maybe with a little more rounding out my other skills first (hitting max delay on my weapons for example, or finishing my two Manuals), I could start gathering the needed Skill XP to cast low-level support spells in medium armor. But as an Okawaru melee/archer character, Conjurations would be off the table, as they'd just get in the way of the playstyle my elf was actually geared for.
I continue on through D:11, and one room away after the treasure hallway is the entrance to the Lair.
My exhausted elf half-collapses down the stairs and into a little pile with all her stuff at the bottom, wheezing a huge sigh of relief and a bit of a laughing fit. FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY! After ALL THAT, finally Crawl begins to feel familiar again!
ADVENTURES OF A HIGH ELF WANDERER: LAIR OF BEASTS
I performed my usual routine of hitting '* w 1' next to the Lair staircase, to set up my "stash" of all my excess items I couldn't carry around. I had three Wands of Iceblast by this point, for example! Carrying two might make sense, three is just taking up space, and I was down to only two open slots left in my bag. My books didn't need to come with me either. Stashing is standard stuff to the majority of you, just figured I'd mention it here for posterity. I also historically use this moment for a nice stretch break and a drink. Hitting Lair definitely feels like you've reached "Level 2" of the game, it is a major checkpoint and a perfect time to refresh your mind for what's ahead.
So off we go, Akari the Elf's spirits restored along with mine, to explore Lair:1!
But if you thought this session of Crawl was going to get any less-heated just for being in Lair, well, I ask you this question: why break tradition?
18078 | Lair:1 | Identified Hongythran's Handbook of Virous Snow
18151 | Lair:1 | Noticed Joseph
18197 | Lair:1 | Noticed taxman66's ghost (journeyman KoGl)
18201 | Lair:1 | Killed Joseph
18201 | Lair:1 | Received a gift from Okawaru
18201 | Lair:1 | Reached skill level 5 in Invocations
18214 | Lair:1 | Killed taxman66's ghost
18583 | Lair:1 | Noticed a seven-headed hydra
18646 | Lair:1 | Killed a seven-headed hydra
18922 | Lair:1 | Noticed Sonja
18944 | Lair:1 | Killed Sonja
19231 | Lair:1 | Reached skill level 15 in Bows
19410 | Lair:1 | Reached XP level 13. HP: 85/95 MP: 20/20
The ghost went down effortlessly-- being a frail Kobold Gladiator against my +2 Holy Wrath Scimitar. Joseph was a little more scary, hitting me harder than I'd have liked when three of his bullets landed; I realized my bow was the wrong weapon to challenge him with, so I brought the fight up close and personal and my Scimitar cut through his Quarterstaff of Crushing like hot butter.
The Hydra scared me even more, when it showed up way too close alongside a Spiny Frog and a Black Mamba (and still no rPois!) AND an army of Yaks, leaving my Bow unable to deal with it from afar, and my Scimitar was only going to regrow its heads. I unloaded one of my entire Wands of Iceblast on the whole group and brought the Hydra down along with all the rest. I've been pleased with myself and my ability to actually remember wands in this run, but to also not overuse them. This was a perfect use of an Iceblast wand.
Sonja was scariest of all. Curare needles AND a Distortion dagger-- and again, no rPois nor Potions of Resistance for me. But I did have one extremely unorthodox solution to this battle: my Tree-Form Potion, granting me rPois, Stasis, and a major AC boost. I equipped my Bow, became a tree, booted up Heroism and Finesse and started firing. Sonja unloaded all her Curare needles harmlessly into me, then Blinked in close and sliced out a MAJOR chunk of HP with her space-time-warping weapon. Fortunately she Blinked away again instead of pressing her attack. My Wand of Healing kept me healthy enough to finish the fight stress-free-- and Sonja even had a Potion of Healing herself, but it only took a few arrows to hit their mark on the agile, frail assassin to down her, still in tree-form.
I salvaged her Curare needles and her Blowgun, spent my saved Enchant scroll on it to make it a +1 Blowgun, then ran back to an earlier dungeon floor and grabbed the Curare needles off the floor. These babies wouldn't need a lot of Throwing skill to devastate a handful of specific threats I'd be worrying about soon! Taking out Sonja was the right decision. Onward we go.
Lair:2 is uneventful (thankfully!), but upon entering Lair:3, we hear echoes of ancient mechanical gears in the distance. A Labyrinth waits just ahead.
21969 | Lair:3 | Found a labyrinth entrance.
22030 | Lab | Entered a labyrinth
22835 | Lab | Noticed a minotaur
22846 | Lab | Killed a minotaur
22852 | Lab | Got a steaming turquoise ring
22869 | Lab | Identified the ring of Gaschub {MR+ Int+5} (You found it in a labyrinth)
23193 | Lair:3 | Found a staircase to the Snake Pit.
23350 | Lair:3 | Found a staircase to the Shoals.
I love Labyrinths-- they're so much less stressful than Crawl's constant, heated combat! Solving the maze is like a short, gentle intermission from the usual craziness, then the one-on-one battle at the end is a firm-but-fair ease back into it, with a heap of treasure to come with it.
The Curare needles assisted against the Minotaur and it was down before it even landed one hit. I got a gorgeous randart ring out of the deal-- nothing I'd be wearing the whole game, but the MR+ combined with the INT bonus filled two roles that needed filling; buffering my horridly-low MR while making Scale Mail spellcasting another notch more viable. I'd definitely be needing to branch into spells soon now.
Onward we go, and on the way, we discover which two Lair Branches we'll be competing for Runes against: the Snake Pit and the Shoals. I'm quite happy with this; although Shoals is scarier to me than the Swamps, as an archer I'd be able to compete against a wide variety of the swimming threats there that actively try to stay out of melee, such as Merfolk Avatars (and with over 400 arrows from constant Okawaru gifts, losing a few to deep water is not too big a deal now), and in the Snake Pit I'd have a DRASTICALLY better time there than I would have in Spider Nest, with LOTS of corridors to fire arrows down as well as lots of very slow, patient enemies that are literally perfect for ranged combat fighters to excel against.
STILL no rPois, though. Snake Pit is winnable without rPois but I'd obviously MUCH rather have it than not have it-- if for no other reason than to avoid losing half my HP in one hit to Greater Naga Poison Arrows o_o Hopefully it'll show up in Lair or in one of the Orcish Mines' shops!
Also found on Lair:3 was a VERY welcome +3 Ring of Slaying. My weapon enchantments had been decent so far, but this find pushed them from "managing" into "relevant" status. I immediately noticed a serious improvement in my ability to kill things as we traveled onwards to Lair:4.
24788 | Lair:4 | Noticed Snorg
24819 | Lair:4 | Killed Snorg
24819 | Lair:4 | Reached skill level 16 in Bows
24838 | Lair:4 | Reached skill level 5 in Dodging
25379 | Lair:1 | Lost mutation: Your muscles are strong. (Str +2) [potion of mutation]
Curare assisted again, and Snorg's trump card (Berserk) was completely shut down before she could start it up, for a fast and flawless kill.
More trouble with mutation roulette. (Hey, it wouldn't be a roulette if it was only winners!)
26433 | Lair:6 | Entered Level 6 of the Lair of Beasts
26542 | Lair:6 | Noticed qejohnson's ghost (journeyman MfTm)
26578 | Lair:6 | Killed qejohnson's ghost
Lair:6 (the bottom floor) surprised me with a layout I'd never seen before. It featured a very large pool of shallow water, partially obscured by marble walls, a Merfolk Avatar patrolling the perimeter while families of Sea Snakes, Rime Dragons, Manticores, Crocodiles, Polar Bears, and other beasts hoarded a large treasure mound in the center. I was perfectly content to boot up Heroism and Finesse while standing still in the shallow water, gunning down everything in sight as they lunged at me across the water from five different directions-- though this did require one Teleport Scroll and a second round.
The treasure they guarded yielded a Book of Air, along with some gold and various knickknacks I had no use for.
Still, I'll take it. There's a couple of FANTASTIC low-level spells in that book that would suit me perfectly, and I think with my great STR and INT scores, and the help of that randart ring, it's time we head back to our Stash and get into spellcasting!
28247 | Lair:1 | Learned a level 1 spell: Summon Butterflies (NOTE - not in Book of Air, but from a different book)
28250 | Lair:1 | Learned a level 2 spell: Repel Missiles
At the time I had forgotten to get the other good one, Swiftness, but don't worry, we'll correct that soon. At the very least, now is when I begin raising Spellcasting, Charms, Summoning (by a little) and Air Magic (by a little).
For now, we're finished with the Lair.
ADVENTURES OF A HIGH ELF WANDERER: THE ORCISH MINES, THE ELVEN HALLS
Historically, after Lair comes the Orcish Mines-- and in this session of Crawl, our Orcish Mines are only a short hop away, seated on the same floor.
A gigantic horde of over three-dozen Orcs guard the entrance, and I hand them the greatest possible greeting with one of my Scrolls of Immolation paired with a Wand of Confusion on a Warrior right at the bottleneck entrance. A few steps back, a Bow-shot as a detonator, and the entrance gets a sexy redecoration that would make Vehumet give our Okawaru a flirtatious chuckle at the scene! ♥
The path to the Mines is open now... and as we set foot inside, we hear the distant crackle of a melting archway.
29647 | Orc:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Orcish Mines
29654 | Orc:1 | Reached skill level 15 in Long Blades
29748 | Orc:1 | Found a frozen archway.
29802 | IceCv | Entered an ice cave
An Ice Cave. Normally I'd say that's "pretty cool!" But this time I'd say it's "a chilling encounter", since we have no rC+ at all going into it. At the very least, if it's a nasty enough layout, there's no harm in just peeking my head in and out and leaving with nothing... right?
29827 | IceCv | Reached XP level 15. HP: 105/117 MP: 20/20
30111 | IceCv | Received a gift from Okawaru
30117 | IceCv | Reached skill level 1 in Summonings
30324 | IceCv | Noticed a frost giant
30347 | IceCv | Killed a frost giant
30353 | IceCv | Received a gift from Okawaru
The layout I immediately recognize is a narrow-ish, winding tunnel filled to bursting with Yaks, Wolves and Polar Bears, as well as occasional fits of spontaneous Freezing Cloud in isolated sections. (I did get caught in it for a few turns and BOY IT HURT.) With my lack of rC+, this is probably the best possible layout I could have hoped for. Freezing Cloud I can deal with by running past it; Golden Dragon Simulacrums or high-tier demons I CANNOT, and some of the nasiest Ice Caves have threats like those.
I can fight hordes of animals easily! However... this does mean there will be a Frost Giant at the end. Yikes.
The battle through the ice cave goes without a hitch, and sure enough, right at the end is an unbelievable herd of animals-- Death Yaks many among their number-- and a legit, fully-geared Frost Giant accenting the charge.
You know what?
I have three of those Scrolls left, and it worked pretty good last time.
I drop Heroism and Finesse and chew my way to the mouth of the room, getting as many of them in line of sight as possible, then light the fuse with a Scroll of Immolation. Then, two of the normal Yaks with the Wand of Confusion, followed by carefully maneuvering backward...
It was a beautiful sight. Nothing but explosions and flames filling my screen for the next twenty seconds, just barely out of my reach, nearly every one of those Death Yaks and every single other creature on the battlefield scattered to the earth's farthest corners, the Frost Giant brought down to less than half its HP before it could act!
From there it proceeded to chase me through the roaring flames, and as I pelted it with arrows, it got a little too close...
Turns out Giant-sized creatures explode in a two-tile radius, not just one tile! There was no dodging that. But I'd MUCH rather get hit by the one single, giant fire-explosion than ANY of the Frost Giant's actual attacks!
The Ice Cave was a complete and absolute success. I looted every treasure it had, and though most of it was useless to me... the +2 Scimitar of Electrocution was far from it. With more of those Enchant Scrolls still saved up, I think I found QUITE a suitable replacement for my Holy Wrath scimitar, as this one would do massive damage to a MUCH larger amount of things than the Holy weapon's (which still remained useful as a switch-in).
At this point I make another trip to my Stash to look over my spell options again, as I've gotten Repel Missiles castable after that battle.
30631 | Lair:1 | Learned a level 2 spell: Swiftness
30636 | Lair:1 | Learned a level 4 spell: Summon Ice Beast
Ice Beast was still 99% failure, but I had decided to go for a Summoner-support build. I had access to Summon Hydra at MUCH later levels, but even aside from that, what I'm hoping to get is Summon Demon or Monstrous Menagerie, and perhaps even better, Abjuration for the late and extended game. This elf can melee and she can gun with excellent efficiency, she doesn't need anything like Conjurations; summons, however, would directly compliment both her styles of combat, as long as she doesn't hit them of course because Okawaru hates that! (Also, unlike previous versions of Crawl, Okawaru no longer gets mad if your ally simply dies in battle-- only if you harm them yourself.)
I start slowly training up Summonings at this point. No hurry for now.
We head onward to Orc:2... and discover one of the new, coolest boss vaults I have ever seen.
31170 | Orc:2 | Noticed acluon's ghost (journeyman MiBe)
31191 | Orc:2 | Killed acluon's ghost
31549 | Orc:2 | Found a one-way gate leading to the halls of Pandemonium.
An obsidian-black, diamond-shaped spiral structure sat in the center of the Orc Mines, and mid-tier demons, Orc High Priests galore AND DEMONSPAWN WARRIORS came sprawling out! A legit gateway to Pandemonium sat right in the center room, along with the shops!
It was one of the COOLEST BATTLES I could have had in the Mines-- topped probably only by the Centaur Fortress ending with the huge bridge over a lake, that one will always be the most fun, but I think this new boss-vault is my new favorite in terms of uniqueness! Also, despite it being filled with demons to fight, definitely much less scary than anything with a ton of open space and a ton of Orc High Priests all within smiting distance; at least this one had a comforting narrow-corridor ascetic to work with and dodge Smite!
The shops had almost nothing worth taking, except one filled with basic-but-helpful scrolls and another one filled with spellbooks, some of which looked worth purchasing possibly later. A Book of Battle screamed for my attention as I ADORE Spectral Weapon, but, I already had Repel Missiles and Swiftness and that was a lot of gold to spend on one spell, unless one also considers Infusion...
Nevertheless, it was time to press on into Elf:1... albeit extremely apprehensively, with only MR++... on this elf. One wrong step into a Demonologist's Banishment could mean an aborted run-- I don't feel I'm strong enough yet to survive Abyss for long periods. Not to mention even basic Elven Mages or Knights use various Hexes that I'm also quite weak against...
My venture inside, however, turns out to be worth the trouble.
32576 | Elf:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Elven Halls
32779 | Elf:1 | Reached ****** piety under Okawaru
33211 | Elf:1 | Got an iridescent great sword
33212 | Elf:1 | Identified the +9 great sword "Piptih" {drain, rPois Dex+3} (You found it on level 1 of the Elven Halls)
I believe I screamed when I saw this. Not only is this pretty much a PERFECT POWERHOUSE weapon for me (though keeping in mind I only have the Long Blade Skill to swing it with 1.0 speed), it ALSO offers the first source of rPois in the game!!
I now have a viable weapon that will take me through the Snake Pit, long as I remember to switch to it when I see Naga Ritualists casting Radiance, or Greater Naga casting anything.
Since Elf:1's battles had been slightly scary, and there was still one looming, unopened door that looked suspiciously like a "party room" that I wanted NOTHING of, I decided to call it quits while I could, and finish exploring the rest of the main Dungeon.
But not before resolving another sidequest, with all the Orcish Mines money I'd pilfered.
33741 | Orc:2 | Bought a scroll of recharging for 123 gold pieces
33741 | Orc:2 | Bought a scroll of recharging for 123 gold pieces
33971 | D:6 | Bought a +0 iron rod (10/10) for 750 gold pieces
A Greatsword provided worlds of burst-damage, and my arrows provided excellent sustained damage at a range... so I figured a +2 Iron Rod (12/12) would supplement my options with its wide, shotgun-like spray, providing an answer to large groups of foes, something the upcoming Snake Pit or the later-coming Vaults have no shortage of!
I also decided there'd be no reason to pursue the Rod of Inaccuracy anymore. My Velocity Shortbow could handle anything that Rod could have, only about a hundred times better. That thing will get left in the shop for the rest of the game.
ADVENTURES OF A HIGH ELF WANDERER: LOWER-DUNGEON
We're doing well enough at this point to finish the rest of the main Dungeon, I feel like, so onward we-- WAAAAAUGH
34701 | D:13 | You fall through a shaft for 2 floors!
34701 | D:15 | Entered Level 15 of the Dungeon
Well... that happened. Thankfully it didn't stick me next to a Lich or a bunch of Spriggan Berserkers, since that sort of thing tends to happen!
The Shaft was a surprise, but the backwards-sweep of the final three floors of the Dungeon goes by quite uneventfully, which, considering how this whole Crawl session has been, is a very welcome thing.
But then again, Crawl has ways of making sure I'm still awake at the wheel, and a responsible driver.
The log unfortunately doesn't show this one: a Titanic Slime Creature clips me during my retreat for nearly 80 DAMAGE. And what's crazier? I got LUCKY; those things can hit even harder! Never let them get that big. Period. Don't fight Slime Creatures in corridors, kite or lure them to open space and fight all the little ones at the same time-- in my case, preferably with a Bow. I'm awake now, Crawl, thank you for not killing me for my mistake.
It was at roughly the same time that this happened:
36727 | D:15 | Received a gift from Okawaru
36737 | D:15 | Got a fine great sword {god gift}
36738 | D:15 | Identified the +8 great sword "Puleskuuro" {slice, +Rage rN+ MP+9 Int-3} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 15 of the Dungeon)
Okawaru decided to one-up the beautiful specimen I lifted from the Elven Halls with his own little present. Despite being a +8 instead of a +9, the Vorpal brand on it makes its damage superior against more types of threats that aren't affected by Draining, and this one offers rN+ as well. Seems like my two Greatswords will each fill separate roles in separate branches later; I could take this new one to Crypt or to the Hells, for example, where it would harm AND protect from undead and demons noticeably better!
With that, the main Dungeon is fully cleared... except for Erica. She's squatting on some pre-Lair floor, so there's almost no reason whatsoever to go back; her Flaming Scimitar would have helped in Lair, but I managed just fine without it, and now with these Greatswords I'd have no use for it anymore at all (my Bow can kill hydras easily now).
Sitting at my Stash now, I ponder on all the Branches available to me, and come to a decision on which one to take on first. Elven Halls I don't feel comfortable with until I improve my MR somehow, and Shoals has a bit of a MR-threat too with Sirens and Satyrs... but Snake Pit I'm totally ready for, now that I have some degree of rPois on hand.
Time to get started on our first Rune of the match.
And I've decided to spend the rest of my Orc Mines gold on a very helpful spell school for me.
37374 | Snake:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Snake Pit
37675 | Orc:2 | Bought a book of Spatial Translocations for 975 gold pieces
37816 | Lair:1 | Learned a level 2 spell: Blink
37820 | Lair:1 | Learned a level 3 spell: Portal Projectile
37824 | Lair:1 | Learned a level 3 spell: Lesser Beckoning
37828 | Lair:1 | Learned a level 3 spell: Teleport Other
High Elves have a +2 aptitude in Translocations, and I'm playing as an Archer. Spectral Weapon might have been iffy since I'd be switching weapons too frequently, but Portal Projectile is PERFECT, temporarily turning my archery into a Smite attack, countering any monsters who themselves can Smite, along with a HUGE number of threats in the Shoals later (all the while preventing my arrows from landing in deep water after missing!). Blink and Lesser Beckoning wouldn't hurt either, giving me more control over a handful of awry situations where enemies have ground over me that I don't want, and Teleport Other is on there as a novelty that I don't expect will see much use, but it's part of the same spell school anyway, and unless I need to free levels for Summons later, might as well grab it!
Alright-- so that's done! Now it's time to get started on the Rune, for real this time!
ADVENTURES OF A HIGH ELF WANDERER: SNAKE PIT
37969 | Snake:1 | Noticed Azrael
37997 | Snake:1 | Killed Azrael
38475 | Snake:1 | Lost mutation: You are clumsy. (Dex -2) [potion of cure mutation]
38475 | Snake:1 | Lost mutation: Your mind is acute. (Int +2) [potion of cure mutation]
38475 | Snake:1 | Lost mutation: You expend magic power (3 MP) to strengthen your wands. [potion of cure mutation]
38475 | Snake:1 | Lost mutation: You regenerate slowly when monsters are visible. [potion of cure mutation]
Did you know Azrael casts Hellfire and not just normal-fire? I didn't! That was a shocking close call from out of nowhere, sheesh.
Finally got a Potion of Cure Mutation and got rid of my WORST mutation! Poor-armor is still on there, but I can manage with it.
This isn't in the log, but, in Snake:2 Okawaru gifts me the +4 Robe of Augmentation {STR+4 DEX+4 INT+4}, which I have no use for at all because my +6 Scale Mail is far superior, but it is still a welcome gesture. Thank you Okawaru! If I somehow manage to get Deformed Body 3 I at least have something to switch to that can be considered good until the issue is dealt with :D
Snake:4 and the battle for the Rune is one of my most memorable yet. Another Scroll of Immolation gets put to use and it generates twice as much hype as the IceCave immolation with even more, far more dangerous targets all affected at once, and the Rod of Iron gets brought in multiple times-- not strong enough to kill, but very capable at heavily injuring over a dozen enemies at once, with Wand of Iceblast getting brought in to finish off entire crowds, and Portal Projectile Shortbow to kill whatever stragglers are left as well as pick off Ritualists and Sharpshooters from behind their armies.
Snake Pit tends to either go real smoothly or become a sheer mess of getting trapped in the nastiest situation possible. This time it went smoother than butter; every single one of my elf's abilities got a chance to shine, between her swords, her bow attacks, her evocables, her new supporting spells, as well as Okawaru's Heroism and Finesse. Every dangerous situation was carefully managed, two Teleport Scrolls were employed at proper times and not one of them was wasted nor overlooked-until-too-late; the closest things got was a 30% HP situation after an extended shootout with multiple Greater Naga + Shock Serpents, this time I remembered to teleport-scroll and then carefully retreat and manage the HP I had left, and find an upstairs to hide from them in as soon as possible.
I played at the top of my game this time.[/url] If I can handle Shoals and the rest of the journey with an equally level head, I'll definitely 15-rune this match.
♥♦ TO BE CONTINUED ♣♠
= = = = =
SO. That's where I'm taking a break. Decided to sit her down at her Stash and write all this over roughly five hours, as it is great therapy and it counters the trap of "get too caught up in my hype -> play some more, while tired -> die to an avoidable mistake and throw away the run".
Thank you so much if you followed along with my long-winded adventures!! Thank you also if you have any advice or observations or pretty much anything to say at all!
Whether I win the game in style, or die in even more style, I promise I'll be seeing this story through to the end. Stay tuned for more!
~ ~ SCHWAAKARI ♥
--Schwa, your local muse forever and long-time High Elf fangirl ^_~
(also the master of Quadri-Birds)
TheProvocateur: I like how we're sprinting at a pile of greater mummies
(also the master of Quadri-Birds)
TheProvocateur: I like how we're sprinting at a pile of greater mummies
- For this message the author SchwaWarrior has received thanks: 3
- dracos369, mibert, Utis
