YASD - TeWz Spider Nest

[Psieye]

Lesson the first: tarantellas confuse when they bite you. Not what killed me, but I really really should have taken the hint given the RNG decided not to give me a lot of !curing.

Lesson the second: while most things are vulnerable to poison in Spider, they also have a lot of EV. Don't rely on curare with 0 throwing skill.

Lesson the third: Norris confuses too and is still competent at blocking even if he spawned with a buckler. His fat HP can tank a lot of poison and sticky flame.

Lesson the fourth: Don't hope the poison arrow will one-shot the redback you didn't see coming until range 2 when you have a ?fear.


I should have done Elf:1~4 instead, with its narrow corridors (conjure flame + poisonous/freezing cloud = off-screen snipes). I even had the =inv and training to go on a stab spree as the lesser elves can't see invis. Actually I'm sure D:14 onwards would have been a better deal for farming EXP and piety to get some summons up. Still, I'm new to Spider so it was a good learning journey. Hard to gauge threats with a MiFi with vampiric battleaxe and +10 storm dragon armour.

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.11-a0-1142-ge65fe5e (tiles) character file.

69610 Fujin the Eclecticist (level 15, -2/75 HPs)
             Began as a Tengu Wizard on Apr 15, 2012.
             Was a High Priest of Vehumet.
             Slain by a redback (8 damage)
             ... on Level 2 of the Spider Nest on Apr 16, 2012.
             The game lasted 03:58:19 (36660 turns).

Fujin the Eclecticist (Tengu Wizard)               Turns: 36660, Time: 03:58:19

HP  -2/75        AC  5     Str 10      XL: 15   Next:  3%
MP   8/38        EV 18     Int 29 (30) God: Vehumet [*****.]
Gold 1377        SH  0     Dex 17      Spells: 14 memorised,  3 levels left

Res.Fire  : . . .   See Invis. : .   a - +1 sabre (venom)
Res.Cold  : . . .   Warding    : .   h - +0 troll leather armour
Life Prot.: . . .   Conserve   : .   (no shield)
Res.Acid. : . . .   Res.Corr.  : .   C - -2 wizard hat "Wijaruc" {Str+2 Int+3}
Res.Poison: +       Clarity    : .   k - +0 cloak
Res.Elec. : .       Spirit.Shd : .   y - +1 pair of gauntlets
Sust.Abil.: . .     Stasis     : .   (boots unavailable)
Res.Mut.  : .       Ctrl.Telep.: .   A - amulet of faith
Res.Rott. : .       Levitation : .   P - ring "Joamiuri" {+Lev Dex+3 Int+3 Stlth++}
Saprovore : . . .   Ctrl.Flight: +   Q - ring of poison resistance

@: hasted, very quick, somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments, very stealthy
A: able to fly continuously, beak, talons 3, Int +1
a: Fly, Renounce Religion, Evoke Levitation


You were on level 2 of the Spider Nest.
You worshipped Vehumet.
Vehumet was exalted by your worship.
You were very hungry.

You visited 6 branches of the dungeon, and saw 30 of its levels.

You collected 1747 gold pieces.
You spent 390 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 a - a +1,+1 sabre of venom (weapon)
 b - a +1,+1 bow
 c - a +0 blowgun
 d - a +0,+3 orcish short sword of freezing
 s - a -1,+1 orcish dagger (quivered)
Missiles
 g - 17 +1 arrows
 l - 16 poisoned +0 arrows
 H - 20 curare-tipped +0 needles
 R - 17 +4 arrows
Armour
 h - a +0 troll leather armour (worn)
 k - a +0 cloak (worn)
 y - a +1 pair of gauntlets (worn)
 C - the -2 wizard hat "Wijaruc" (worn) {Str+2 Int+3}
   (You acquired it on level 4 of the Lair of Beasts)   
   
   It affects your strength (+2).
   It affects your intelligence (+3).
Magical devices
 e - a wand of digging (9)
 o - a wand of flame (15)
 t - a wand of disintegration (4)
 u - a wand of flame (17)
 M - a wand of digging (4)
Comestibles
 f - 2 meat rations
 D - 2 apples
Scrolls
 i - 2 scrolls of remove curse
 q - a scroll of detect curse
 r - 3 scrolls of fog
 x - 2 scrolls of identify
 z - a scroll of fear
Jewellery
 j - an uncursed ring of ice
 A - an amulet of faith (around neck)
 G - an uncursed ring of invisibility
 P - the ring "Joamiuri" (right hand) {+Lev Dex+3 Int+3 Stlth++}
   (You found it on level 7 of the Dungeon)   
   
   [ring of intelligence]
   It affects your intelligence (+3).
   
   It affects your dexterity (+3).
   It lets you levitate.
   It makes you much more stealthy.
 Q - a ring of poison resistance (left hand)
Books
 L - a book of Annihilations {god gift}   
   WARNING: If you fail in an attempt to memorise a spell from this book, the
   book will lash out at you.
   
   Spells                             Type                      Level
   *Poison Arrow                      Conjuration/Poison           6
   Orb of Destruction                 Conjuration                  7
   Chain Lightning                    Conjuration/Air              8
   Lehudib's Crystal Spear            Conjuration/Earth            8
   Ice Storm                          Conjuration/Ice              9
   Fire Storm                         Conjuration/Fire             9


   Skills:
 - Level 3.2 Fighting
 - Level 4.3 Short Blades
 - Level 3.1 Bows
 - Level 9.7 Dodging
 - Level 3.6 Stealth
 - Level 6.5 Stabbing
 - Level 7.0 Traps & Doors
 + Level 17.6 Spellcasting
 - Level 12.5 Conjurations
 - Level 2.0 Charms
 - Level 1.2 Summonings
 - Level 3.5 Necromancy
 - Level 2.0 Translocations
 - Level 1.8 Fire Magic
 - Level 9.5 Air Magic
 - Level 2.1 Poison Magic
 - Level 5.2 Evocations


You had 3 spell levels left.
You knew the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
a - Magic Dart            Conj           #####        0%          1    None
b - Poison Arrow          Conj/Pois      #######...   4%          6    Strawberry
c - Mephitic Cloud        Conj/Pois/Air  #######..    1%          3    None
d - Iskenderun's Mystic   Conj           #######..    1%          4    None
e - Fireball              Conj/Fire      #######...   1%          5    None
f - Conjure Flame         Conj/Fire      #######..    1%          3    None
g - Regeneration          Chrm/Necr      ######....   1%          3    None
i - Call Imp              Summ           #####.....   1%          2    None
k - Blink                 Tloc           N/A          1%          2    None
p - Poisonous Cloud       Conj/Pois/Air  #######...   4%          6    Strawberry
r - Repel Missiles        Chrm/Air       #######...   1%          2    None
t - Throw Frost           Conj/Ice       #######      1%          2    None
y - Sticky Flame          Conj/Fire      #######..    1%          4    None
I - Inner Flame           Hex/Fire       #####....    1%          3    None


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (14/27)            Temple (1/1) D:7             Orc (4/4) D:8
    Elf (1/5) Orc:4          Lair (8/8) D:11         Shoals (0/5) Lair:6
 Spider (2/5) Lair:6     
 Slime: Lair:6-8     Vault: D:14-19     

Altars:
Ashenzari
Cheibriados
Elyvilon
Fedhas
Makhleb
Nemelex Xobeh
Okawaru
Sif Muna
Trog
Vehumet
Xom
Yredelemnul
Zin
the Shining One
Lugonu

Shops:
D:7: =  D:9: *

Portals:
Trove: D:13 (give 4 scrolls of blinking)

Annotations
D:4 Sigmund
D:5 1 exclusion
D:6 Blork the orc
D:8 exclusion: orc priest
D:10 exclusion: shadow imp
Orc:3 Cyclops, exclusion: two-headed ogre
Orc:4 exclusion: upstairs
Lair:4 Rupert
Lair:6 exclusions: 3 brown oozes and giant amoeba
Lair:7 exclusions: door and elephant slug
Lair:8 exclusion: elephant slug
Spider:2 Arachne


                    Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You can fly continuously.
You have a beak for a mouth.
You have claws for feet.
Your mind is acute (Int +1).


Message History

You found a web trap!
You feel less confused.
Casting: Sticky Flame
Confirm with . or Enter, or press ? or * to list all spells.
Aiming: Poisonous Cloud
Press: ? - help, Dir - move target cursor
The spider is engulfed in poison gas. The spider is poisoned.
The spider is engulfed in poison gas. The spider looks even sicker.
The spider is engulfed in poison gas. The spider looks even sicker.
The spider is engulfed in poison gas. The spider looks even sicker.
You kill the spider!
Vehumet accepts your kill.
The spider is engulfed in poison gas. The spider is poisoned.
Casting: Poisonous Cloud
Confirm with . or Enter, or press ? or * to list all spells.
Aiming: Poison Arrow
Press: ? - help, Shift-Dir - straight line, f - redback
Aim: a redback (clinging)
The poison arrow misses the redback. The redback bites you!
You die...

         ###^.#..#......
#        #.......##.....
#        #..ｧ#.....^....
###      ##.sｧ###.......
..##     ##ｧｧｧｧ####.....
.s.##  ###.)ｧｧ##  #.....
.#^.## #..ｧｧｧｧｧ#  #...#.
.....###..ｧｧｧ..# ###..##
.....^.##ｧ....####....##
......%##.ｧ.....###^..#.
.........#..@....##....?
...........s....(.##..^#
...........#.#...###^...
..........^#>^..## #..##
#.......s......##  ##...
.............^##    #...
.%.........^.##     #%##
.............#      #^..
..##....#....#     ###.#
..####......f#######.%..
### #.#........##..#^...


You could see 2 redbacks and a spider.

[Stormfox]

EV doesn't protect against Poisonous Cloud. That and Mephitic kept me alive in the spider nest portal vaults, and while I haven't hit the Spider branch yet, I imagine things won't be a whole lot different. (I may well be proven wrong.)

[Psieye]

EV doesn't protect against Poisonous Cloud. That and Mephitic kept me alive in the spider nest portal vaults, and while I haven't hit the Spider branch yet, I imagine things won't be a whole lot different. (I may well be proven wrong.)

True, but I ran out of MP and just about everything is fast (and leaves contaminated+poisoned corpses) down there. Curare was meant to be my backup plan when I ran out of MP but it proved useless. Mephitic can be resisted with HD and as far as that stat is concerned, redback = orc knight and wolf spider = deep elf knight. In other words, definitely not guaranteed to work and they can get out of blast radius in 1 turn.

[XuaXua]

EV doesn't protect against Poisonous Cloud.

Heck, not breathing doesn't protect against Poisonous Cloud.

[Stormfox]

but I ran out of MP and just about everything is fast (and leaves contaminated+poisoned corpses) down there.

Gotcha, and of course the branch is much more densely populated than the portal vault ever was. Plus respawning. So without a quick way to recover MP you've got issues if you're depending on something like Poisonous Cloud.