I think we learned an important lesson today.

[atticus712]

Today I learned, that your mighty MuWz does not survive a Sea Snake, if there are Mennas and some Sirens ans Ilsuiw around. This Mennas-guy is incredibly annoying. My army of Ugly Things and Very Ugly Things did not survive a second. Maybe some hydra-summons would have done with him.

Don´t delve into Rune-Levels until you are sure you will beat everything that might come out. (I was sure, by the way, didn´t seem to help much...)

The Arena said, that six 5-headed hydras probably would have done with him. (4 wins out of 5). YASD!
A bunch of 4-5 greater demons stand a chance, too. YASD!

So,there were at least 3 possibilites, how I could have survived. Think, before you die.

[A spy]

Don´t delve into Rune-Levels being sure you will beat everything that might come out.

Fixed it for you.

[TwilightPhoenix]

The real trick is, if you have any reliance on spells, leave Mennas alone.

[Sphara]

So monsters can hit you with polearms even when they are fleeing. Haven't really used scroll of fear that much so guess this was a common knowledge here but for me it truly was a lesson.

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.10.0-32-gfa280cc character file.

1124 Sphara the Chiller (level 8, -11/41 HPs)
             Began as a Kobold Ice Elementalist on May 15, 2012.
             Was a Follower of Sif Muna.
             Mangled by a centaur
             ... wielding a +0,+0 trident
              (13 damage)
             ... on Level 5 of the Dungeon.
             The game lasted 00:56:08 (8585 turns).

Sphara the Chiller (Kobold Ice Elementalist)        Turns: 8585, Time: 00:56:08

HP -11/41        AC  2     Str  7      XL: 8   Next:  1%
MP  16/18        EV 15     Int 15      God: Sif Muna [*.....]
Gold 408         SH  0     Dex 17      Spells:  4 memorised,  6 levels left

Res.Fire  : . . .   See Invis. : .    F - +1 dwarf short sword
Res.Cold  : . . .   Warding    : . .  a - +0 robe
Life Prot.: . . .   Conserve   : .    (no shield)
Res.Acid. : . . .   Res.Corr.  : .    (no helmet)
Res.Poison: .       Clarity    : .    (no cloak)
Res.Elec. : .       Spirit.Shd : .    (no gloves)
Sust.Abil.: . .     Stasis     : .    (no boots)
Res.Mut.  : .       Ctrl.Telep.: .    (no amulet)
Res.Rott. : .       Levitation : .    (no ring)
Saprovore : + + .   Ctrl.Flight: .    i - +1 ring of dexterity

@: slightly resistant to hostile enchantments, stealthy
A: disease resistance, carnivore 3, saprovore 2
a: Channel Energy, Renounce Religion


You were on level 5 of the Dungeon.
You worshipped Sif Muna.
Sif Muna was most pleased with you.
You were very full.

You visited 2 branches of the dungeon, and saw 6 of its levels.
You visited 1 portal chamber: sewer.

You collected 388 gold pieces.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 o - a +2,+2 short sword
 p - a +0 blowgun
 B - a +2,+0 elven short sword
 F - a +1,+1 dwarven short sword (weapon)
Missiles
 f - 22 +4 darts
 g - 7 curare-tipped +0 needles
 k - a -2 throwing net
 w - 32 poisoned +0 needles
 C - 11 +2 darts (quivered)
Armour
 a - a +0 robe (worn)
 E - a +0 buckler
Comestibles
 c - a meat ration
 j - a beef jerky
Scrolls
 d - 2 scrolls of remove curse {unknown}
 e - 6 scrolls of identify
 h - a scroll of magic mapping
 m - a scroll of fog {unknown}
 q - a scroll of enchant armour {unknown}
 r - a scroll of recharging {unknown}
 s - a scroll of teleportation
 y - 2 scrolls of random uselessness
 z - a scroll of enchant weapon I {unknown}
 D - a scroll of amnesia {unknown}
Jewellery
 i - a +1 ring of dexterity (left hand)
Potions
 l - 6 potions of levitation
 n - a potion of restore abilities
 A - a potion of mutation
Books
 b - a book of Frost   
   
   Spells                             Type                      Level
   *Freeze                            Ice                          1
   *Throw Frost                       Conjuration/Ice              2
   *Ozocubu's Armour                  Charms/Ice                   3
   *Throw Icicle                      Conjuration/Ice              4
   Summon Ice Beast                   Ice/Summoning                4
   Condensation Shield                Ice/Transmutation            4


   Skills:
 - Level 2.0 Short Blades
 - Level 2.4 Dodging
 - Level 2.7 Stealth
 + Level 4.5 Spellcasting
 + Level 4.4 Conjurations
 + Level 6.0 Ice Magic


You had 6 spell levels left.
You knew the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
a - Freeze                Ice            ####.        1%          1    None
b - Throw Frost           Ice/Conj       ####...      3%          2    Strawberry
c - Ozocubu's Armour      Ice/Chrm       ###.......   17%         3    Choko
d - Throw Icicle          Ice/Conj       ####.....    24%         4    Honeycomb


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (5/27)             Temple (1/1) D:4         

Altars:
Elyvilon
Kikubaaqudgha
Makhleb
Okawaru
Sif Muna
The Shining One
Zin

Annotations
D:3 Terence; namelessmonk's ghost, average OpEE


                    Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You recuperate from illness quickly.
You are small and have problems with some larger weapons.
You are carnivorous and can eat meat at any time.
You can eat rotten meat.


Message History

Unknown command.
Unknown command.
Unknown command.
Unknown command.
Unknown command.
Unknown command.
Unknown command.
Unknown command.
Unknown command.
Unknown command.
Unknown command.
Unknown command.
Read which item? (? for menu, Esc to quit)
As you read the scroll of fear, it crumbles to dust.
You assume a fearsome visage. The centaur looks frightened!
The centaur closely misses you.
There is a stone staircase leading up here.
The centaur barely misses you.
The centaur hits you from afar with a trident!
You die...

             ###
             #.#
             #..
             #.#######
             #.#.....#
##############.#'###.#
#............#..@....# #
#.................c#.#.###
#....................#....
#......................#
#......................'
#..............#.......#
#............^.'.......+
#..............##......# .
#...........#####......# ..


You could see a centaur (fleeing).


[BlackSheep]

There was an update to reduce the frequency of reaching attacks from fleeing monsters. Before they'd just back off and immediately turn around and attack from afar. Now they only have a 1 in 8 chance of reaching.

[tormodpwns]

I had a DsAr with raging momentum - found a whip of venom as my first item, zapped three puffs of flame to kill Menkaure, 1 random zap bolt of cold + 1 fireball to kill Sigmund, found a PEARL DRAGON ARMOUR next to the Temple on D:6, sac'd food items and got a deck of wonders.

Then I wielded Sigmund's uncursed runed scythe for fun right before sacrificing and got the distortion brand. And it seems taht always, always, ALWAYS, no matter what, I always get banished upon unwield. Even a malign gateway or heavy glow wouldn't be that bad. I died to the first demon, a damn nexoqec.

[SinCosTan]

Banishment isn't the worst thing an Ogre Mage can do to you. LCS will eat your Deep Elf alive.

[Jabberwocky]

Apparently Ash's portal detection will also detect portal feature mimics. This can lead you to the middle of a Pan lord vault. Without the portal out you expected.

I hope you thought to bring ? or /tele.

[XuaXua]

I had a DsAr with raging momentum - found a whip of venom as my first item, zapped three puffs of flame to kill Menkaure, 1 random zap bolt of cold + 1 fireball to kill Sigmund, found a PEARL DRAGON ARMOUR next to the Temple on D:6, sac'd food items and got a deck of wonders.

Then I wielded Sigmund's uncursed runed scythe for fun right before sacrificing and got the distortion brand. And it seems taht always, always, ALWAYS, no matter what, I always get banished upon unwield. Even a malign gateway or heavy glow wouldn't be that bad. I died to the first demon, a damn nexoqec.

Apparently it is simply never worth wielding a scythe.

[crate]

Well it's certainly not worth wielding weapons you know you are never going to use (like that scythe, since you were using maces). If you are using polearms then a vampiric or artefact speed scythe can be good at high skill though.

[jejorda2]

For a summoner (or other ally build, like necromancer or death night) without another reaching weapon, a scythe can be an asset.

[mageykun]

Evocable invisibility turns out to not be useless! All you need to do is play a kobold. Your absurd diet allows you to laugh at the ridiculous success rate early on, and just spam it till it works- food costs be damned. Luckily you have good evocation apps too, so you're not going to be stuck the outside of LOS invisibility dance forever.

A second lesson, while we're on the topic of +invis. The glow you get isn't fixed. The game rolls to add glow on (some) turns while you're invisible. This means you can use more than one invs in a row without hitting yellow glow, so long as you're intelligent and cancel them as soon as you don't need them up. (Good to now if something nasty shows up right after you finished a stab fest, or more generally, if you come across a bad situation and you haven't waited / can't wait off your grey glow).

I suppose more generally this applies to any extended turn effect that glows you, but I can't think of any others you can cancel off the top of my head.

[mageykun]

Evocable invisibility turns out to not be useless! All you need to do is play a kobold. Your absurd diet allows you to laugh at the ridiculous success rate early on, and just spam it till it works- food costs be damned.

I don't think you quite understand how this works.

...you're skipping the step where you just say what you mean again. :p

[MacChris]

Dont expect to be able to tab Boris on D:22 or so after tabbing through everything including V:8 with your vampiric demon blade

[Grimm]

There is an Ice Cave entry vault - I mean the part surrounding the entrance, not inside the portal - that features an ice dragon. This vault can appear in early Lair.

[jejorda2]

Jellyfish can drain strength. How long have they been able to do that?

[Blade]

Forever; you just rarely notice it because they do barely any damage.

[Dole]

If you pacify Boris, he will still return on a later level... but he won't still be pacified.

[Grimm]

Yes, Virginia, shop mimics can appear in bazaars.

[Jabberwocky]

Yes, Virginia, shop mimics can appear in bazaars.

That's really cruel of the devs.

[Grimm]

"Cruel" next to "dev" is a strong collocation.

[MyOtheHedgeFox]

"Cruel" next to "dev" is a strong collocation.

"Cruel" to Dungeon Crawl is almost a requirement: what else would you expect from the developer team?

[Grimm]

Dungeon Cruel: Bitter Soup

[atticus712]

It is not very smart to run around corners "directly". I believe it is
good style to go around corners in a wide,wide arc. You never know the cruelties lurking just behind. (Some ill-meaning player ghost,Nikola, or perhaps both of them...)

[Jabberwocky]

Trying to destroy the diamond obelisk in kilobyte_tornado_obelisk is a bad idea. It took me about 250 arrows before a realized this. I can be stubborn some times.

[Grimm]

Trying to destroy the diamond obelisk in kilobyte_tornado_obelisk is a bad idea. It took me about 250 arrows before a realized this. I can be stubborn some times.

What are you supposed to do in that thing anyway? I haven't figured it out.

[Jabberwocky]

Trying to destroy the diamond obelisk in kilobyte_tornado_obelisk is a bad idea. It took me about 250 arrows before a realized this. I can be stubborn some times.

What are you supposed to do in that thing anyway? I haven't figured it out.

I screwed around with it in wizmode and it seems like you have to ride the tornado to get at the stuff on the far side. The problem is that even with a berserk lvl 27 fighting 27 ogre, I always die before I get to the loot and back again.

[MyOtheHedgeFox]

Do you need to satisfy your curiosity ALL THE TIME?

[Jabberwocky]

Do you need to satisfy your curiosity ALL THE TIME?

I do need to satisfy my curiosity all the time. Otherwise the stored up curiosity prevents me from doing what I should do until I find out the answer.

[nicolae]

I should never have tried to take out Khufu.

[Jabberwocky]

I should never have tried to take out Khufu.

what were you and where were you?

[nicolae]

I should never have tried to take out Khufu.

what were you and where were you?

  Code:

391394 Nicolae the Axe Maniac (level 23, -1/189 (193) HPs)
             Began as a Minotaur Berserker on May 26, 2012.
             Was an Elder of Trog.
             Killed by divine providence
             ... invoked by a greater mummy
             ... led by Khufu
              (11 damage)
             ... on Level 3 of the Crypt on May 27, 2012.
             The game lasted 05:39:27 (79891 turns).

I went berserk and killed him, but then suddenly realized he'd summoned two greater mummies, and I was dead before teleport kicked in.

[Arkhan]

Some miscast chances are in red for a reason. I lost an ice elementalist that had found an early ring of ice because I tried to cast Throw Icicle at something like ~16% red and it not only detonated in my face but immediately killed me from full HP.

Edit:
Grinder can zap wands while in a net. Nets aren't as big a cc as you think, you can also get stabbed by Sigmund from afar while he's in one.

[Grimm]

O, this is the poison of deep grief; it springs
All from her character's death. O Gertrude, Gertrude,
When uniques come, they come not single spies
But in battalions.

[galehar]

I screwed around with it in wizmode and it seems like you have to ride the tornado to get at the stuff on the far side. The problem is that even with a berserk lvl 27 fighting 27 ogre, I always die before I get to the loot and back again.

How are you doing it? I tried it in wizmode and without AC, took about 50 damage per rotation.

[Jabberwocky]

Not all that important but manticores can open doors.

[tcjsavannah]

Always autoexplore with a mummy. Freaking Orange Crystal Statues.

[silentlamb]

Skip levels with single open area. There is always bunch of centaurs wielding their mini-guns.
Quiver darts even on berserkers. This is great way to lure single enemies as well as killing fleeing cowards. You don't need to chase them and bump into tougher ones.
When playing AK don't rambo everything in FOV. Banish is single monster, not area ability. Damn, this character was getting fun to play.
Banish *does* work on invisible enemies. Life saver.

[Kerslake]

If you brave the first few Greater Mummies of the opening, onward to the Gauntlet where all good souls come to rest and the god forsaken hellhole that is populated by an army of Guardian Mummies and a few Greater Mummies, if you survive it all, you will get more gold and worthless equips than you can ever imagine in one branch.

And that if you're going to get bad mutations, they'll be ones that stack.

[TwilightPhoenix]

Guardian Spirit prevents DD from regenerating mana.

[Southpaw]

Guardian Spirit prevents DD from regenerating mana.

Yes, but Guardian Spirit + Potions of Magic are a poor dwarf's Potion of Heal Wounds

[jejorda2]

And I hear channeling still works.

[Jabberwocky]

Yes, but Guardian Spirit + Potions of Magic are a poor dwarf's Potion of Heal Wounds

Or a rich dwarf's considering how rare potions of magic are.

[Southpaw]

Yes, but Guardian Spirit + Potions of Magic are a poor dwarf's Potion of Heal Wounds

Or a rich dwarf's considering how rare potions of magic are.

Oh don't ruin the saying.

[Kerslake]

If there's a teleport trap in Zot:5, you will hit it.

[TwilightPhoenix]

If there's a teleport trap in Zot:5, you will hit it.

And if there's an Orb of Fire or an Ancient Lich, it'll be nearby wherever you appear. With company.

[Arkhan]

Don't eat a meat ration while being attacked by a hydra.

Nothing short of death's sweet embrace will stop you from eating.