Never got Rune before; now got 3, ready for Zot? MiFi.

[UltimaRatioRegum]

So, I've been playing this game for a week. Up until this character, I hadn't acquired a single rune, but things have been going reasonably well (and I've been reasonably careful) and I've now got 3 runes. I've not explored below DL:20, the Crypt, the Slime Pits, nor the Elven Halls, and I haven't been banished once. I'm basically wondering two things.

Firstly, what should my next stage be? I don't feel ready for Zot, so I would think the Crypt would be the next logical destination to try and fill up my resistances a bit more? I'm very reluctant to go to the Elven Halls since my magic resistance isn't great, and I fear banishment greatly. What resistances *must* I realistically get for Zot? I very much intend to have everything possible before attempting it, and I'm in no rush to leap to my death without preparation. I do have a source of mutation resistance, but it's on an amulet that does nothing else, and I'm inclined to think my current amulet is better? Especially as conservation should allow me to hold onto potions of cure mutation, for example. I do have a ring of fire resistance, but again, does nothing else. If it is Crypt next, am I right in saying rN++ and rC++ are enough on those two to keep me alive? Got lots of scrolls of remove curse.

Secondly, I have about 12 scrolls of enchant armour waiting to be used, but I'm agonizing because the crystal plate armour, whilst great, has no enchantment, and there's a fair few I'm lacking. Similarly, I'm not sure when I should use them in case some other item comes along that merits them instead, especially new boots/caps given that those are totally unenchanted for me at the moment. On the other hand, given Minotaur headgear limitations, should I just be pleased I've found something I can wear? Would people recommend just pouring them into the armour now and are amazed I haven't already done so, or have I been wise to play a longer game?

Lastly, as it's my first character who has got this far, a question for future reference - based on the XP, items and what my character has thus far done and needs to do, is he overpowered, underpowered, or about right for this stage of the game, on average?

In combat, I didn't really struggle too much with Vaults:8, though that was the toughest area to date; at a few points too many yaktaur captains were firing arrows at me, but the guards were no problem, and shadow dragons aren't too tricky for my character at the moment.

EDIT: heh, only just noticed something had hit my cap and made it -1. Nevertheless, the questions stand.

  Code:

Mark the Slayer (Minotaur Fighter)                 Turns: 77378, Time: 06:44:36

HP 223/223       AC 38     Str 29      XL: 23   Next: 92%
MP  29/29        EV 17     Int 13      God: Okawaru [*****.]
Gold 2084        SH 33     Dex 15 (16) Spells:  0 memorised, 22 levels left

Res.Fire  : . . .   See Invis. : +   Y - +7,+8 eveningstar (holy) {god gift}
Res.Cold  : + + .   Warding    : .   Q - +3 crystal plate armour {god gift}
Life Prot.: + + .   Conserve   : +   c - +0 shield {rC+}
Res.Poison: .       Res.Corr.  : .   g - -1 cap {god gift}
Res.Elec. : +       Clarity    : .   m - +0 cloak of Starlight {rElec rC+ EV+4 Stlt
Sust.Abil.: . .     Spirit.Shd : .   n - +2 pair of dwarf gauntlets {Dex+3} {god gi
Res.Mut.  : .       Stasis     : .   s - +0 pair of boots
Res.Rott. : .       Ctrl.Telep.: .   u - amulet of the Median {Cons Str+4 Int+5}
Saprovore : . . .   Levitation : .   W - ring of the Salamander {rN+ Acc+2 Dam+3}
                    Ctrl.Flight: .   w - ring of Shadows {+Inv rN+ EV+4 Acc-4 SInv

@: quite resistant to hostile enchantments, extremely unstealthy
A: retaliatory headbutt, horns 2
a: Heroism, Finesse, Renounce Religion, Evoke Invisibility
}: 3/15 runes: decaying, serpentine, silver

[Psieye]

What the... eveningstar of holy and crystal plate on a 3-rune run? Damn you've been blessed by Okawaru. Pour all your enchant armour scrolls on that plate armour, you will never need to take it off. All the other armour slots that you could enchant would get corroded away in Zot (never mind Slime where that's guaranteed) because they can't be enchanted to +5 and above. Your character is about right for this point in the game (albeit you have a better weapon and body armour than minimum requirements) but we'd have to see your skills to know for sure.

Your amulet will become obsolete once you find both a wand of teleport and a wand of heal wounds. Never carry potions of cure mutation on you - put them away in a safe stash as you can still lose consumables despite conservation. If you don't wear rMut in Zot, Abyss and Slime it won't really matter how many cure mutation potions you have your genes will get horribly mangled. Since you don't have anti-magic and presumably no silver javlins/bolts... and Okawaru means you can't get allies to help out... you're going to need some rF (2~3 pips) for Zot (while wearing rMut). Crypt (but NOT Tomb) should be a breeze for you, provided you don't try to tackle curse skulls.

[nordetsa]

First, you should remove that -1 cap and find some other things to put on. I'm sure you would've find several hats lying around.

For Zot, I think rElec and ++rF works fine. There are some ice dragons there, but they aren't much threat as orb of fire or elec golems. So going to Zot, assuming you don't come across any other nice items with rF, I would wear that protection from fire ring. rN doesn't help that much in the Zot. That being said, having rMut amulet would be really nice.

With your holy eveningstar crypt shouldn't be much of a problem. Just be real aware of possible mummy priest/great mummy/curse skull and curse toes.

I think in terms of items your character looks just right for standard MiFi of Okawaru.

For the enchant scrolls, I would just use it on armor. You are unlikely to get another armor as nice as that if you're playing 3-rune game. (But I'm not so sure on this one and hopefully others can clarify on this issue).

Right now You can just go down the dungeon till you reach D:27. You will get much xp along the way.

-You can probably take Elven hall, but you gotta position yourself well, especially in elf:3 (I use wand of digging to create a narrow corridor and face one enemy at a time)
-Slime pits is a nightmare for melees, as your items can get corroded. Without rMut, clarity and stasis you can die real easy there.
-Crypt you can probably take, though if you clear the place while worshipping Okawaru it can be somewhat of an issue if you go late-game (because you'd want to switch to TSO for 15 runes, and you'd want to build piety somewhere to use TSO's abilities in hell/pan. Crypt IMO is the easiest place).

[Turgon]

Firstly, what should my next stage be? I don't feel ready for Zot, so I would think the Crypt would be the next logical destination to try and fill up my resistances a bit more?

Crypt is a good idea if you look for 15 runes. It is very common to switch to The Shining One after doing V:8. You may go to crypt afterwards and build 5 or 6* piety.

I'm very reluctant to go to the Elven Halls since my magic resistance isn't great, and I fear banishment greatly.

Although there often is nice treasure in the Elven Halls it's not necessary to go there no matter for how many runes you are looking for. With your low MR you're right to hesitate - but don't fear abyss any longer when you are that strong.

What resistances *must* I realistically get for Zot? I very much intend to have everything possible before attempting it

You *must* have at least rF+ and should have other resists. As fighter I feel comfortable for Zot with something like rF+(+) rC+ rPois rElec, at least if I can switch to the resists immediately.

I do have a source of mutation resistance, but it's on an amulet that does nothing else, and I'm inclined to think my current amulet is better?

Yes, it is - but switch to rMut when you see an OOF.

If it is Crypt next, am I right in saying rN++ and rC++ are enough on those two to keep me alive?

You don't need many resists for crypt. Having rN is nice anyway because there may be foes tormenting you. With TSO you'll built up your rN up to +++ at 6* piety.

Secondly, I have about 12 scrolls of enchant armour waiting to be used, but I'm agonizing because the crystal plate armour, whilst great, has no enchantment, and there's a fair few I'm lacking.

Well, in crawl as well as in life it's a good idea not to worry too much about the future but to think at the presence. At least I'd use some of your scrolls for your CPA. It's a good armour for a fighter although I'd like a +12 gold dragon armour more than a +14 CPA.

Lastly, as it's my first character who has got this far, a question for future reference - based on the XP, items and what my character has thus far done and needs to do, is he overpowered, underpowered, or about right for this stage of the game, on average?

Concerning gear he will be nice for most of the extended game with 15 runes. It's up to you if you want a "small" win with maybe four runes (abyssal should be doable but remember to switch to rMut if necessary) or if you're brave and go for 15. It's hard of course, and even the best players tend to have problems in Gehenna e.g.

Whatever you do - good luck

[KoboldLord]

You clipped some important bits off of your character file, unfortunately, so it's harder to give advice that is precise and definitely good at the same time. Your current skills are important, as are your available jewelry options. The list of visited branches is also useful so you don't get stupid advice to visit places you've already cleared.

For Zot, your most conspicuous resistance gap is fire resistance. It is the most important resistance for Zot, because of one specific enemy that is very rare in the first few levels but almost always shows up multiple times while progressing through the end vault of the last level. Orbs of fire are pretty nasty, capable of tossing unblockable ranged fire attacks at you that can deal triple-digit damage if you don't have any fire resistance. They're also faster than you. If they merely malmutate you, consider yourself lucky. The rest of Zot can be nasty but really it isn't anything worse than you've already seen on Vaults 8 and Dungeon 27. Don't fight melee brutes around moths of wrath; they make a nasty combo. Always treat ancient liches with respect.

For Crypt, your greatest threat will be banging your head when you pass out from boredom. Concussions are not a fun thing to carry around for a few days. Crypt is 95% melee brutes with no interesting features, and you won't actually benefit much from any particular resistances. The branch description does sound like it would be the place for rN+, but there actually aren't very many monsters there with draining attacks. On the other hand, you're not likely to find anything especially useful.

Slime probably won't be too bad, so long as you strip off any equipment that you don't want to risk damaging. The jelly-type monsters in there hit hard, but not much more so than the Vaults 8 and Dungeon 27 brutes that you've already killed. Once you've maxed out that crystal plate armour, most of your AC will be invested in that one piece, which will be immune to corrosion, so you won't even take much of a defensive hit. The biggest threats down there are the eyeballs, so pack amulets of clarity and stasis if you've got them. You might have the AC to handle acid blobs okay if you have a stairwell to retreat to, but even high AC won't save you if you're paralyzed or confuse-locked and can't do anything but watch them beat on you for six or more rounds.

If you haven't cleared Elf yet, it's likely to turn up something reasonably useful, particularly if the reason you don't have any fire resistance is because you don't have any rather than just because you're unreasonably worried about draining in Crypt. Top-end elves are quite dangerous, but really not more so than the draconians in Zot. Approach those top-end elves as if they could at any moment throw a triple-digit damage spell at you, because some of them can.

I don't know what your skills look like now, but if you haven't already developed them you should be able to get pretty good returns from fighting, armour, and dodging in a reasonable amount of time. Probably you've already developed them. On the other hand, you might not have touched training charms yet, and that would be a good idea if you intend to dip your toe into the post-endgame areas. You'll probably have to memorize a training spell after removing your crystal plate, but at that point you can power-level charms to around 20 and get access to Haste, which you will want to use in every fight forever. A little expensive, to be sure, but very much worth it.

[UltimaRatioRegum]

Just about to go to bed (2am here) but scanned responses, will give longer thoughts tomorrow (thank you all a ton for your comments). Apologies about character info, wasn't sure what counted as vital/non-vital. Here's the rest that seems useful:

  Code:

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 Y - a +7,+8 eveningstar of holy wrath (weapon) {god gift}
Armour
 c - a +0 shield of cold resistance (worn)
 g - a -1 cap (worn) {god gift}
 m - the +0 cloak of Starlight (worn) {rElec rC+ EV+4 Stlth--}
   (You found it on level 5 of the Vaults)   
   
   It affects your evasion (+4).
   It protects you from cold.
   It insulates you from electricity.
   It makes you much less stealthy.
 n - a +2 pair of dwarven gauntlets of dexterity (worn) {god gift}
 s - a +0 pair of boots (worn)
 C - a glowing cloak
 Q - a +3 crystal plate armour (worn) {god gift}
Magical devices
 f - a wand of lightning {zapped: 4}
 j - a wand of teleportation {zapped: 2}
 l - a wand of paralysis (12)
 p - a wand of heal wounds (4)
 r - a wand of disintegration {zapped: 8}
 v - a wand of slowing (6)
 y - a wand of digging {zapped: 2}
 F - a wand of frost (8)
 H - a wand of enslavement {zapped: 3}
 K - a wand of fire {empty}
 L - a wand of confusion (9)
 M - a wand of fireball {zapped: 2}
 U - a wand of frost {zapped: 9}
 X - a wand of draining (3)
Comestibles
 d - 14 bread rations
 k - 2 royal jellies
 q - 3 meat rations
 A - 2 apples
 O - 5 honeycombs
Scrolls
 a - 3 scrolls of fear
 e - 6 scrolls of remove curse
 o - 4 scrolls of teleportation
 B - 4 scrolls of magic mapping
Jewellery
 b - an uncursed ring of sustain abilities
 h - an uncursed ring of protection from fire
 i - an uncursed ring of fire
 t - a warped wooden ring
 u - the amulet of the Median (around neck) {Cons Str+4 Int+5}
   (You bought it in a shop in a bazaar)   
   
   [amulet of conservation]
   
   It affects your strength (+4).
   It affects your intelligence (+5).
 w - the ring of Shadows (left hand) {+Inv rN+ EV+4 Acc-4 SInv Stlth++}
   (You took it off a frost giant on level 8 of the Vaults)   
   
   [ring of invisibility]
   
   It affects your evasion (+4).
   It affects your accuracy (-4).
   It protects you from negative energy.
   It enhances your eyesight.
   It makes you much more stealthy.
 x - a ring of protection from cold
 G - an uncursed amulet of clarity
 J - an uncursed ring of poison resistance
 P - an uncursed ring of see invisible
 R - an uncursed triangular sapphire amulet {tried}
 T - an uncursed ring of protection from cold
 W - the ring of the Salamander (right hand) {rN+ Acc+2 Dam+3}
   (You found it on level 11 of the Dungeon)   
   
   [ring of slaying]
   It affects your accuracy (+2).
   It affects your damage-dealing abilities (+3).
   
   It protects you from negative energy.
 Z - a ring of protection from cold
Potions
 z - 2 potions of brilliance
 D - 4 potions of restore abilities
 E - a potion of speed
 I - a potion of might
 N - 9 potions of curing
 S - a potion of resistance
 V - 7 potions of heal wounds


   Skills:
 * Level 22.4 Fighting
   Level 17.2 Long Blades
 + Level 21.1 Maces & Flails
 * Level 22.0 Armour
 * Level 12.9 Dodging
 - Level 1.6 Stealth
 - Level 1.5 Stabbing
 + Level 18.7 Shields
 + Level 9.0 Traps & Doors
 + Level 9.4 Invocations
 - Level 2.2 Evocations


You have 22 spell levels left.
You don't know any spells.

Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (19/27)            Temple (1/1) D:7             Orc (4/4) D:11
    Elf (0/3) Orc:4          Lair (8/8) D:11          Swamp (5/5) Lair:3
  Snake (5/5) Lair:5       Vaults (8/8) D:14          Blade (0/1) Vaults:5
  Crypt (0/5) Vaults:3   
 Slime: Lair:6-8   

And as I say, outside that stuff, I've got an amulet of mutation resistance, an amulet of clarity, one of statis somewhere, a ring of fire (if that's the name - that rF+ rC- one), and that's everything of note not on me, I think. Annoyingly, I just realized I killed a Gold Dragon earlier, and didn't think to do anything with its hide. I think I sacrificed it (bah!). I guess there's a chance of one turning up lower in the dungeon - maybe take one scroll with me to get the armour if one turns up? Or just pour them into the crystal plate mail anyway? Anyway, as I say, thanks a ton all - will reply fully tomorrow.

Lastly, just to clarify, I'm very much going for a 3-rune run; I want to complete the game, once, and then start thinking about longer and more detailed runs (which I will absolutely be trying for).

One other thing of potential note: there's an unopened Treasure Trove requiring the Horn of Geryon.

[Psieye]

Your skills look fine for where you are. Slight pity you trained both long blades and maces but that eveningstar was definitely worth abandoning the sword skill. Seriously consider KoboldLord's advice to get some charms magic online, you can farm D:20+, Crypt and maybe even Slime for the necessary EXP. Heck, Zot:1~3 is good EXP too provided you run away from Orbs of Fire right now.

Gold dragon armour is inferior to crystla plate as far as raw AC is concerned, but you do get some nice resists out of it. Not necessary on your character I'd say, you'll probably find rF later. Elf is a good place to look for it: just remember ot bring rMut in case you get banished - there is no reason to fear the Abyss at your XL so long as you have rMut, you have ample permafood on you (you'll find more down there) and you run away from ancient liches (extremely rare).

there's an unopened Treasure Trove requiring the Horn of Geryon.

DO IT. The Vestibule of Hell isn't harder than Vaults:8, since the really scary demons (fiends) don't show up until you enter actual Hell branches. There's a chance you'll meet Murray the unique, in which case it might be prudent to give up (it's a risk, not insurmountable but a risk because Torment). Geryon isn't hard so long as you kill everything else first and leave him (and his endless summons) until last. If you have a scroll of silence somewhere, strongly consider this for when you have killed everyone else in the Vestibule welcoming party. Otherwise, for your character I'd say bring every wand of fire/cold you have left to keep hitting Geryon when he hides behind his summons.

[UltimaRatioRegum]

Well, I killed Geryon with ease, used the treasure trove, but didn't get anything too game-changing. Went down to, and cleared, DL:27 - enjoyed repeated torment at the hands of some tier-1 demons which had me down to about 1/4 health at worst, but blinked away and all was fine. Cleared Elven Halls, didn't get banished, loot at end basically worthless. My only sources of fire resistance are still a pair of rings of fire resistance! Now XL:26. Encountered some curse skulls in the mean dungeon and killed them without them even getting attacks off, so I might look in the crypt next. Got 3 potions of mutation resistance now. Also encountered two normal liches and clobbered them without problem. Saw a few summon neqoxecs around, and just decided to flee until they vanished rather than fight.

@ Psieye - I was hoping to find another Golden Dragon before I finished the dungeon, but no luck. I have found some Fire Dragon armour, though. Would it perhaps be a good idea to use that and take the rC- hit to keep my rings free of this fire resistance nonsense, but at the loss of some potential AC from the plate? I'd then have rF++ and rC+ (from my shield). Or would you say to still stick with the plate? Interesting re: amulets, got it; have found heal/teleport, so I'm now carrying rMut around with me to switch to when needed.

@ Nordetsa - found hat of the bear spirit, so that's sorted that out. Interesting re: Zot/standard character. I switched my cloak out for one of magic resistance for Elf:3, and didn't get banished, so that seemed to work well. I'm staying well away from the Slime Pits for this run, anyway!

@ Turgon - good to know I'm at Abyss-level strength (having found a ton of permafood today, got my weapon to +8/+9 and AC to 42, I'd feel pretty confident about being banished now). After a quick wiki, I see what you mean re: Gold Dragon Armour; they can spawn in Zot, I assume? Might it be worth looking there and still keeping my scrolls back, or just give up on that elusive armour? Half of me thinks Okawaru will gift it the moment I pour my scrolls into the crystal plate...

@ Koboldlord - yeah, Orbs of Fire (from what I have read) remain my primary concern, which I why I half think going for Fire Dragon Armour might be a better idea than the plate? Of course, that might be a TERRIBLE idea that no player who knows what they are doing would ever consider! Interesting re: Crypt, especially in terms of loot; might give it a miss then, as Golden Dragons won't be spawning there. The lack of fire resistance is indeed due to have nothing besides two rings that can do it (well, there's some rF+ leather armour around somewhere...) which is why I explored the Elven Halls, but cleared them out and got nothing for it. Bah. In the future, I absolutely intend to explore more and aim for (before too long, I hope) a 15-runer, but for the time being, I want a three-rune ascension on this playthrough to know what completing the game entails, then I'll be trying for more runes the next time.

@ Psieye (the second time): I trained long blades as Okawaru gave me a +9/+0 sword of electrocution early-ish in the game (clearly I ran pretty well in terms of god gifts, though since about halfway into the game he has given me nothing but garbage). Now I've failed to hunt down some more golden dragons, do you think the fire dragon armour might be a better idea, or just have the rings on standby for orbs of fire in zot? As I say, did the Trove, little of value, sadly (and no Murray to be seen).

Thanks all a ton for your comments; it's given me a much better idea of where I stand. I'm basically debating a) whether to bother with Crypt and hope for some fire resistance items, b) whether to use the Fire Dragon armour for the rF++ or just enchant the plate (I assume enchanting the plate is the correct play here?) and c) whether, with those two rings of rF or hypothetical fire dragon armour and the rMut, I could/should give Zot a try now. Apart from the demons who tormented me, who I will be more careful with next time (another reason I want to keep both my existing rings going if possible, as the rN+ on both gives me rN+++, which seemed very useful against torment), normal liches didn't prove a problem, and I... think I could try Zot now? If I use fire dragon armour, I get rF++, rC+ and rN+++ but less AC, or with the plate I'd have a higher AC, but would have to switch my rN and rF rings accordingly. I do rather feel the bigger problem on Zot is going to be resisting fire and magic, rather than melee, which is why I think the fire dragon armour might be viable so I can keep my rN rings going, but I wager I'm going to be resoundingly corrected on that one!

[nordetsa]

What plate armor do you have? For fighter you'd always want to get heavy armors. Besides, fire dragon armor can be dangerous to wear as it lowers your cold resistance. Keep in mind you can and will encounter ice dragon/lich/white draconians in the Zot who will all have ice damage. Also, plenty of the times you'll have to bear the melee damage as well.

And rN aren't really needed in the zot. Even if you meet ancient lich, the biggest threat will be his other spells (crystal spear, for example). one or two would be nice, but 3 I think is a bit excessive.

[Psieye]

I see, no convenient sources of rF and you really like your rings. Very well, hold off on using those enchant armour scrolls until you've done Zot: 1~4. That's really the home of golden dragons, aside from the occasional one you face in Vaults:8. If you meet an Orb of Fire, put on rMut and rF jewellery and run away. Things hit HARD in Zot, I'd keep the crystal plate for the time being. If after you do Zot:1~4 and you still haven't found a gold dragon hide then I'd say give up your ring slots but that's me - maybe you'd be more comfortable with less AC and more rF but AC is even more valueable than rF in Zot:5 I'd say.

Crypt is there in case you need a little bit more EXP to finish polishing off your character before doing Zot. Maybe you don't need that extra EXP. I assume your traps skill is around 10.

[cganya]

Have you found a cloak of preservation? That mixed with an amulet of resist corrosion or any other source of rAcid makes slime pits fairly trivial to a high level fighter. Take care with the royal jelly though he is pretty tough. Keep in mind that the only loot in the slime pits is at the bottom in the vaults so don't bother exploring all the other floors unless you really want the extra Xp (certainly don't go next to any walls without needing to)

Other than that, the abyss is actually not that dangerous once your in the late game. You can take on lichens and t2 demons on with ease and you only occasionally run into anything harder than that (usually a t1 demon or an ancient lich but they are rare).

[KoboldLord]

Two vanilla rings of fire resistance might not be an aesthetically pleasing way to manage orbs of fire, but they do the job okay. Keep one on and swap your other ring when you think there's an orb nearby, and remember that fire resistance is much much more important than mutation resistance for dealing with them. Never ever fight them with other monsters around, and run away at the first sign of complications. It's a shame you don't have reliable Haste for them, but you do have Finesse for offense and you can use your wand of teleportation to escape if you need to, at least on the first four floors of Zot. Burn a scroll of identify on it so you don't learn at a bad time that it has 0 charges left.

Crystal plate armour is really the most ideal sort of armor for most heavy armor characters, and it doesn't seem you've been appreciative of your most magnificent luck. Resistances are nice and all, and that first pip makes a big difference whenever it's relevant, but high AC is very strong too, and it works on almost everything. Swapping to crafted gold dragon armour would set you back around 10 points of AC after your skill multiplier, and crafted fire dragon armour would set you back even farther.

The only sources of Torment in Zot are the very rare cursed toes and (ancient) liches. Cursed toes have the spell itself, but are pretty easy to outrun, while liches can summon fiends. While summoned fiends are indeed pretty troublesome, they are not the worst threat liches can field against you. rN+ only gives a 10% reduction to Torment damage per level, unfortunately, which means that it is unlikely to prevent your death if you get swarmed.

At this point, you might as well head to Zot. The only reason to amass more xp and loot is if you're angling for Haste, which is a good idea in principle but it doesn't sound like you're interested. You can get through Zot without it, and if you're going to end the game there you might as well feed that xp into extra hit points or armor class instead.

[njvack]

IIRC, Finesse is even better than Haste for melee. The biggest thing is using the terrain to make sure the orbs aren't pelting you for a bunch of rounds (hard without haste) and making sure no one else comes up to ruin your day. KL is right -- orbs of fire really call for some quality one-on-one time. (Really, everything in Zot:5 calls for that until you've been through there a few times.)

Also: enchant that crystal plate the hell up. You aren't going to find a better armour unless Oka decides to gift a really obscene artefact, in which case you won't need the scrolls anyhow.

[UltimaRatioRegum]

Thanks all for the advice! I checked out Zot1-4, found two golden dragons but neither left a corpse. Bah. Put everything onto plate armour, then cleared out Zot:5 without a problem, and I'm now standing in front of the Orb debating whether I want an all-but-guaranteed 3-rune win (AC now 53, nothing in Zot:5 was a problem) or whether, as mad as it seems, I should actually go and find some more on my very first decent playthrough. I'm going to get some lunch and think it over!

[palin]

Thanks all for the advice! I checked out Zot1-4, found two golden dragons but neither left a corpse. Bah. Put everything onto plate armour, then cleared out Zot:5 without a problem, and I'm now standing in front of the Orb debating whether I want an all-but-guaranteed 3-rune win (AC now 53, nothing in Zot:5 was a problem) or whether, as mad as it seems, I should actually go and find some more on my very first decent playthrough. I'm going to get some lunch and think it over!

If you have the food and the time to do it, backtrack the whole dungeon and explore all the stairs you did not take. Buy all the blink scrolls you can afford and then go for the orb run.

[Psieye]

Thanks all for the advice! I checked out Zot1-4, found two golden dragons but neither left a corpse. Bah. Put everything onto plate armour, then cleared out Zot:5 without a problem, and I'm now standing in front of the Orb debating whether I want an all-but-guaranteed 3-rune win (AC now 53, nothing in Zot:5 was a problem) or whether, as mad as it seems, I should actually go and find some more on my very first decent playthrough. I'm going to get some lunch and think it over!

If you have the food and the time to do it, backtrack the whole dungeon and explore all the stairs you did not take. Buy all the blink scrolls you can afford and then go for the orb run.

Not as useful as making sure he has dig wands at hand.

[BlackSheep]

If you've never won before, I suggest doing an orb run. It can be quite exciting the first time. After experiencing that and enjoying your first win, you won't feel so bad when you die in Tomb on later runs.

[palin]

Not as useful as making sure he has dig wands at hand.

You're right. I assumed it had one.

[UltimaRatioRegum]

If you've never won before, I suggest doing an orb run. It can be quite exciting the first time. After experiencing that and enjoying your first win, you won't feel so bad when you die in Tomb on later runs.

That would undoubtedly have been the wise move, but I have instead explored Pandemonium, the Abyss, and the Tomb, and now sit with 10 runes! I am hugely enjoying the extended endgame, as Crawlers seem to call it . I'm taking stock before I start to think about the Hells; I didn't handle my potions/scrolls very sensibly in Pandemonium (over-prepared, I think, and took too many with me) and my methods of preventing things like stat drain in the hells are minimal, so I'm working on a solution to that. On the other hand, I have amulets of rMut and rCor for the slime pits, so I'm very cautiously going through them right now. I'll post some up-to-date character details later, but I've got rF++, rC++, rN+++, have switched to TSO, AC 58, EV 29, and the only thing in Pandemonium that caused me concern was Gloorx, who took me to about 30% health in a tough fight, and in the Tomb I got mobbed and reduced to even less at one point, but summoning and a lucky Blink got me to safety (definite Tomb overconfidence!).

[KoboldLord]

The solution to stat drain from Hell effects is to leave some potions of restore abilities in the Vestibule. As long as you can get to a stairwell, you can return to the Vestibule immediately through it no matter how deep you've gotten. You do not have to (or have the option to) pass through the upper levels on the way back. Royal jellies are good, too, but may not be available.

You should really be fine to get all fifteen Runes at this point, however. Watch out for eyeball monsters in slime; paralysis and confusion are much more dangerous than corrosion down there. Don't bother fully exploring Hell levels. Just run from stairwell to stairwell, and use magic mapping on the bottom level if you have it. Remember to use your Cleansing Flame invocation when you get surrounded, since you aren't ever going to run low on piety.

[Psieye]

Remember to use your Cleansing Flame invocation when you get surrounded, since you aren't ever going to run low on piety.

Also note that your angels are immune to Cleansing Flame and that their summon timers get extended whenever they get killing blows. Spam away if surrounded.

[njvack]

If you try and summon a veritable army of angels, you can actually run low on piety and then remember that a bunch of torment and hellfire takes 'em down pretty well, and need to run away and get more piety and not be stupid in your next attempt.

Not that I, y'know, did this or anything.

But yeah. Cleansing Flame is easy to forget and suuuuuuper nice.

[nordetsa]

One reason I like cleansing flame is that it quickly clears tier 3~5 demons, and deal quite a dmg to tier 1~2 demons (even fiends and balrogs).

And in Hell you'll come across situations when a tormentor is behind a dozen flying skulls. You would not want to take pesky heads while getting tormented 2~3 times. Use cleansing flame and all flying skulls would die and even that tormentor. I think it's TSO's answer to Hell deciding drop bunch of demons around you.

[UltimaRatioRegum]

The solution to stat drain from Hell effects is to leave some potions of restore abilities in the Vestibule. As long as you can get to a stairwell, you can return to the Vestibule immediately through it no matter how deep you've gotten. You do not have to (or have the option to) pass through the upper levels on the way back. Royal jellies are good, too, but may not be available.

You should really be fine to get all fifteen Runes at this point, however. Watch out for eyeball monsters in slime; paralysis and confusion are much more dangerous than corrosion down there. Don't bother fully exploring Hell levels. Just run from stairwell to stairwell, and use magic mapping on the bottom level if you have it. Remember to use your Cleansing Flame invocation when you get surrounded, since you aren't ever going to run low on piety.

A fine plan; I've also found a ring of sustain abilities, so I'm using that. I've got a few royal jellies, so thanks for reminding me they can do that! That's really useful. Slime was a pushover, just dived to the bottom, clobbered the royal jelly and got the Rune. Thanks for the advice on not bothering to explore Hells - that was an excellent idea. I've only done Dis; no problem until encountering Dispater, and had him down to 50% before two Ice Fiends showed up at range, at which point things rapidly went wrong and I teleported out, healed up, grabbed two angels to help me and then finished him off. I think I'm going to go for Tartarus next. I can max out cold/fire resistance, but at the cost of reducing the other to 0 (I have a shield/ring/ring combination for both, but sadly no useful combo items). I'm going to leave Gehenna/Cocytus until last in the hope I find some nice combo item in Tartarus. I revisited Pan in the hope of finding some combo items and went to a Ziggurat, but had to blink my way to the exit and flee on a Draconian level around Zig:16/17 or so, as I just couldn't make any headway through them. The plan was again to try and find some combo items, but again nothing presented itself. The wiki suggested Ereshkigal's issue is hordes of summons - I'm training up a few magic skills and I've got Blink, and i'm working on Haste, but I don't think I'll be able to cast Mass Abjuration or similar. Any advice about her summons, or just come in with my own summons and try and kill her quickly before too many turn up?

Remember to use your Cleansing Flame invocation when you get surrounded, since you aren't ever going to run low on piety.

Also note that your angels are immune to Cleansing Flame and that their summon timers get extended whenever they get killing blows. Spam away if surrounded.

If you try and summon a veritable army of angels, you can actually run low on piety and then remember that a bunch of torment and hellfire takes 'em down pretty well, and need to run away and get more piety and not be stupid in your next attempt.

Not that I, y'know, did this or anything.

But yeah. Cleansing Flame is easy to forget and suuuuuuper nice.

I'm finding cleansing flame very useful, and I'm being more willing to use angels. Piety regain is so quick in hells/pandemonium I should use them more often, I think. Having nearly perished to Dispater from overconfidence, when I find Ereshkigal I'm going to bring in 2-3 angels before I even start the fight. Still - now 12 Runes, have 2 scrolls of magic mapping left for three Hells (is there one Hell people would suggest is less important to map than the other two, maybe?), and I'll head into Tartarus later.

[KoboldLord]

I can max out cold/fire resistance, but at the cost of reducing the other to 0 (I have a shield/ring/ring combination for both, but sadly no useful combo items). I'm going to leave Gehenna/Cocytus until last in the hope I find some nice combo item in Tartarus. I revisited Pan in the hope of finding some combo items and went to a Ziggurat, but had to blink my way to the exit and flee on a Draconian level around Zig:16/17 or so, as I just couldn't make any headway through them. The plan was again to try and find some combo items, but again nothing presented itself.

Not only are the resistances you have plenty for the job, you aren't going to find ice in Gehenna or fire in Cocytus, barring a freak player ghost that you can just avoid. Doing them without some mythical super-artefact is going to be faster *and* easier than trying to raid Ziggurats for the perfect loot.

Plus, Gehenna mostly has hellfire, which ignores fire resistance.

The wiki suggested Ereshkigal's issue is hordes of summons - I'm training up a few magic skills and I've got Blink, and i'm working on Haste, but I don't think I'll be able to cast Mass Abjuration or similar. Any advice about her summons, or just come in with my own summons and try and kill her quickly before too many turn up?

Another helpful way to deal with summons is to kill them all. You have an AoE that is centered on yourself that does extra damage to unholy monsters, and all of Ereshkigal's summons are unholy. Unlike Mass Abjuration, it also deals damage to Ereshkigal herself, and you wouldn't need to spend any extra xp on it.

Still - now 12 Runes, have 2 scrolls of magic mapping left for three Hells (is there one Hell people would suggest is less important to map than the other two, maybe?), and I'll head into Tartarus later.

Use them on Tartarus and Cocytus. Gehenna will burn your scroll before you get all the way to the bottom.

[pikkle]

Lastly, just to clarify, I'm very much going for a 3-rune run; I want to complete the game, once, and then start thinking about longer and more detailed runs (which I will absolutely be trying for).

I'm now standing in front of the Orb debating whether I want an all-but-guaranteed 3-rune win (AC now 53, nothing in Zot:5 was a problem) or whether, as mad as it seems, I should actually go and find some more on my very first decent playthrough.

If you've never won before, I suggest doing an orb run. It can be quite exciting the first time. After experiencing that and enjoying your first win, you won't feel so bad when you die in Tomb on later runs.

That would undoubtedly have been the wise move, but I have instead explored Pandemonium, the Abyss, and the Tomb, and now sit with 10 runes!

now 12 Runes

This thread stresses me out. The tension!

[UltimaRatioRegum]

Not only are the resistances you have plenty for the job, you aren't going to find ice in Gehenna or fire in Cocytus, barring a freak player ghost that you can just avoid. Doing them without some mythical super-artefact is going to be faster *and* easier than trying to raid Ziggurats for the perfect loot.

Plus, Gehenna mostly has hellfire, which ignores fire resistance.

Sounds good - I've pushed through Tartarus now, which wasn't very tricky (though using Cleansing Flame actually caused my angels to abandon me at a bad time!) and I'm now on the bottom floor of Cocytus.

Use them on Tartarus and Cocytus. Gehenna will burn your scroll before you get all the way to the bottom.

Of course! Great advice; that makes a lot of sense.

This thread stresses me out. The tension!

Haha; only two more to go! On that note, as I say, I'm now at the bottom of Cocytus. I have a ring of levitation, and three potions of levitation. How long does the ring's evoked power last? And will I get a warning before I drop so I can quaff the potion? These two things aren't clear from the wiki. My evocations skill is 10.1 at the moment. Also, there are four different islands - unless I reuse the ring or everything takes only one potion/evocation, I can't reach them all. Should I be able to guess/know which one Antaeus & the rune are in? Or will the ring's evocation last long enough to cross the seven/eight squares between them and I can just investigate one at a time?

Lastly, rather annoyingly, I've been rotted from 277 max to around 230 as I don't have any potions of curing left, and no charges for my wand of heal wounds! Bah. However, it didn't prove an issue in Tartarus, though given that Antaeus is a melee-focuse unique, even as a melee character, I might be a little more cautious there...

[Turgon]

Gehenna will burn your scroll before you get all the way to the bottom.

I've got more luck with this, maybe because of preservation/conservation: knowing the risk, I usually take one scroll of magic mapping down to Geh:7. If I remember correctly the scroll always "survived" to the last floor. As Geh:7/Coc:7 are very hard for fighters I'm lucky to have these levels mapped.

Edit: I should mention that this is the only scroll I take with me to Geh:7!

[rchandra]

Haha; only two more to go! On that note, as I say, I'm now at the bottom of Cocytus. I have a ring of levitation, and three potions of levitation. How long does the ring's evoked power last? And will I get a warning before I drop so I can quaff the potion? These two things aren't clear from the wiki. My evocations skill is 10.1 at the moment. Also, there are four different islands - unless I reuse the ring or everything takes only one potion/evocation, I can't reach them all. Should I be able to guess/know which one Antaeus & the rune are in? Or will the ring's evocation last long enough to cross the seven/eight squares between them and I can just investigate one at a time?

Lastly, rather annoyingly, I've been rotted from 277 max to around 230 as I don't have any potions of curing left, and no charges for my wand of heal wounds! Bah. However, it didn't prove an issue in Tartarus, though given that Antaeus is a melee-focuse unique, even as a melee character, I might be a little more cautious there...

The ring's evocation should let you cross, but here is what I would do first:
use the ring while not over deep water, see how long it lasts and if you get an expiring soon message - you should.
use the ring while over deep water next to safety while not carrying much (don't do this in hell as you might even want your armour gone), see what your warning is like.
Then, when you go for real, make sure to always be aware of the levitation situation. Also, can you learn Flight? that would make things easier.

You can cure rotted HP with wands of random effects if you really want to:
drop scrolls and potions, go up/down a staircase
rest to full
evoke at yourself - I make a macro for it.
if damaged, glowing, invisible, etc. rest until normal
evoke again and repeat.

[Psieye]

Sounds like you've never used the ring of levi before. It lasts some 20~50 turns or some such, long enough that the danger is thinking you can jump across 2 islands not one. Yes you do get a warning, a very big warning if you're floating over deep water/lava, when the timer is almost up.

Also, there is always the option to switch to Ely to heal all the rot but then you'd have to farm piety again if you want to go back to TSO. Which is what pan is for.

[UltimaRatioRegum]

Gehenna will burn your scroll before you get all the way to the bottom.

I've got more luck with this, maybe because of preservation/conservation: knowing the risk, I usually take one scroll of magic mapping down to Geh:7. If I remember correctly the scroll always "survived" to the last floor. As Geh:7/Coc:7 are very hard for fighters I'm lucky to have these levels mapped.

Edit: I should mention that this is the only scroll I take with me to Geh:7!

I've managed to find two more, so I've got two with me now on the Coc:7, having just used one to map this floor. I have a cloak of preservation now, so I'll definitely try taking them towards Geh:7 and see if I can make it!

The ring's evocation should let you cross, but here is what I would do first:
use the ring while not over deep water, see how long it lasts and if you get an expiring soon message - you should.
use the ring while over deep water next to safety while not carrying much (don't do this in hell as you might even want your armour gone), see what your warning is like.
Then, when you go for real, make sure to always be aware of the levitation situation. Also, can you learn Flight? that would make things easier.

You can cure rotted HP with wands of random effects if you really want to:
drop scrolls and potions, go up/down a staircase
rest to full
evoke at yourself - I make a macro for it.
if damaged, glowing, invisible, etc. rest until normal
evoke again and repeat.

Re: levitation, I'm on the bottom floor now. I could certainly head back up and practice - do you think it's that important to do so? The longest flight I'd need from what I can see of the level is eight squares. I don't think I can learn flight, but I'll check when I next load up. Also, thanks for the random effects advice - I've generally been ditching the wands, but that's a great idea. I'll do that after I'm done with Cocytus.

Sounds like you've never used the ring of levi before. It lasts some 20~50 turns or some such, long enough that the danger is thinking you can jump across 2 islands not one. Yes you do get a warning, a very big warning if you're floating over deep water/lava, when the timer is almost up.

Also, there is always the option to switch to Ely to heal all the rot but then you'd have to farm piety again if you want to go back to TSO. Which is what pan is for.

Indeed I haven't; ah, that's good news re: warning/flight time. On the topic of pan, I'm debating another trip pre-Gehenna in the top of finding some potions of curing, or a scroll of recharging, to get my max hp back up. Indeed, I could do that before Coc:7 if that would be wise given Antaeus? The route down I found through Cocytus was very short, so I wouldn't have to endure many hell effects on the way back.

[rchandra]

my biggest concern with using a ring of levitation there is fighting ice fiends etc. over the water, so at a minimum I'd want to know how long levitation lasts.

Note that your route through hells is not guaranteed, whenever you go down you can appear in a random portal. There's a 40% chance I'm just making this up based on something I misremembered, though I think it was the case for my last Hell run in 0.11.

[KoboldLord]

Sounds good - I've pushed through Tartarus now, which wasn't very tricky (though using Cleansing Flame actually caused my angels to abandon me at a bad time!) and I'm now on the bottom floor of Cocytus.

Probably you tagged one of the non-undead and non-demon monsters while it was distracted. The minor penance goes away quickly when you're in a target-rich environment, but it can cause trouble in the very short term.

Haha; only two more to go! On that note, as I say, I'm now at the bottom of Cocytus. I have a ring of levitation, and three potions of levitation. How long does the ring's evoked power last? And will I get a warning before I drop so I can quaff the potion? These two things aren't clear from the wiki. My evocations skill is 10.1 at the moment. Also, there are four different islands - unless I reuse the ring or everything takes only one potion/evocation, I can't reach them all. Should I be able to guess/know which one Antaeus & the rune are in? Or will the ring's evocation last long enough to cross the seven/eight squares between them and I can just investigate one at a time?

The evoked levitation will last plenty long enough to cross much more than that distance, but you have to be wary about fighting over deep water. You can easily be pinned in place. You get a warning before the levitation expires, but a potion is not entirely reliable because it may be popped by cold attacks even through conservation. You get a warning if levitation is about to expire and you are over dangerous terrain, and you get a different warning asking for confirmation if you want to move out over dangerous terrain while it is about to expire. One nasty but rare possibility to watch out for is if a monster hits you with a forced movement ability while levitation is expiring. Forced movement does not ask for a prompt because it is forced. Basically, this means don't fight ice dragons on the edge of deep water while levitating if the levitation might expire, because they can trample you back. But that's rare and easily avoidable if you know it can happen.

Lastly, rather annoyingly, I've been rotted from 277 max to around 230 as I don't have any potions of curing left, and no charges for my wand of heal wounds! Bah. However, it didn't prove an issue in Tartarus, though given that Antaeus is a melee-focuse unique, even as a melee character, I might be a little more cautious there...

You probably don't want to melee Antaeus regardless whether you have 277 or 230 hit points. After a few hit-and-runs to strip off his ice fiend honor guard, send about six angels in to fight him for you. Haste them if you can.

I've got more luck with this, maybe because of preservation/conservation: knowing the risk, I usually take one scroll of magic mapping down to Geh:7. If I remember correctly the scroll always "survived" to the last floor. As Geh:7/Coc:7 are very hard for fighters I'm lucky to have these levels mapped.

Edit: I should mention that this is the only scroll I take with me to Geh:7!

Well, yeah, but he only had two scrolls at the time. I'd rather have two of three definitely mapped than one mapped and one maybe mapped.

Having only one scroll in your inventory does not make that scroll more likely to burn compared to having many scrolls. If you get hit by a fire attack, it will get a chance to burn every scroll in your inventory, diced for separately. If you have more, you lose more.

Indeed I haven't; ah, that's good news re: warning/flight time. On the topic of pan, I'm debating another trip pre-Gehenna in the top of finding some potions of curing, or a scroll of recharging, to get my max hp back up. Indeed, I could do that before Coc:7 if that would be wise given Antaeus? The route down I found through Cocytus was very short, so I wouldn't have to endure many hell effects on the way back.

I wouldn't recommend farming Pan or the Abyss for any purpose ever. You can win with slightly fewer hit points, and if you do end up dying it'll probably be because of bad positioning and bad choices, not because you were one hit short of survival. Players who rush into situations where they will be one hit short of survival wouldn't make it to this point in the game.

[UltimaRatioRegum]

The agony! I died. 14 runes. I decided to investigate a Ziggurat again to try and get my health up, got poisoned, and just had nothing to cure with. Damn, that's galling, but having cleared out Zot:5 long ago, I feel happy in myself that I could have stopped and ascended at any point, so I'm not too peeved. These things happen. I know much more about Crawl than I did when I started, and a few points where I made massive mistakes - generally involving failing to wear my rMut, or wandering through fire/ice clouds with precious potions - I won't be repeating again. Obviously it's annoying, but hey-ho. I'm going to post this in the YASD, too. I shall be rolling a new Minotaur Fighter in the very near future and getting those 15 runes. Nothing will stand in my way!

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.11.0 (tiles) character file.

1432992 Mark the Conqueror (level 27, 0/196 (249) HPs)
             Began as a Minotaur Fighter on Nov 7, 2012.
             Was the Champion of the Shining One.
             Succumbed to poison (poison gas)
             ... on Level 9 of a ziggurat on Nov 18, 2012.
             The game lasted 16:22:13 (205408 turns).

Mark the Conqueror (Minotaur Fighter)             Turns: 205408, Time: 16:22:13

HP   0/196 (249) AC 61     Str 24 (26) XL: 27
MP  45/45        EV 20     Int  5 (9)  God: the Shining One [******]
Gold 4270        SH 41     Dex 14      Spells:  1 memorised, 64 levels left

Res.Fire  : + + +   See Invis. : .   Y - +9 eveningstar (holy) {god gift}
Res.Cold  : + + +   Warding    : .   Q - +14 crystal plate armour {god gift}
Life Prot.: + + +   Conserve   : +   U - +3 shield {rF+}
Res.Poison: .       Res.Corr.  : +   j - +2 hat of the Alchemist {rElec rF+ rC+ MR}
Res.Elec. : +       Clarity    : .   E - +2 elf cloak {rCorr, Cons} {god gift}
Sust.Abil.: . .     Spirit.Shd : .   I - +0 pair of gloves of the Monkey's Uncle {r
Res.Mut.  : +       Stasis     : .   l - +2 pair of orc boots {run} {god gift}
Res.Rott. : .       Ctrl.Telep.: x   C - amulet of resist mutation
Saprovore : . . .   Levitation : .   J - ring of protection from fire
                    Ctrl.Flight: .   B - ring of Naceim {rC++ EV+2}

@: quite poisoned, very slightly contaminated, hasted, very quick, very
resistant to hostile enchantments, extremely unstealthy
A: retaliatory headbutt, horns 2, herbivore 1, -10% hp, AC +4, Dex -1
a: Divine Shield, Cleansing Flame, Summon Divine Warrior, Renounce Religion
}: 14/15 runes: decaying, serpentine, slimy, silver, golden, iron, icy, bone,
abyssal, demonic, glowing, magical, fiery, dark


You were on level 9 of a ziggurat.
You worshipped the Shining One.
the Shining One was exalted by your worship.
You were very full.

You visited 16 branches of the dungeon, and saw 102 of its levels.
You visited Pandemonium 7 times, and saw 62 of its levels.
You visited the Abyss 2 times.
You visited 3 bazaarss.
You visited 2 Ziggurats, and saw 26 of their levels (deepest: 17).
You also visited: Trove.

You collected 19731 gold pieces.
You spent 6611 gold pieces at shops.
You used 8870 gold pieces for miscellaneous purposes.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 Y - a +9,+9 eveningstar of holy wrath (weapon) {god gift}
Armour
 c - a +3 shield of cold resistance
 g - the +2 hat of the Bear Spirit {Spirit, +Rage rN+ MR}
   (You found it in a treasure trove)   
   
   It protects you from negative energy.
   It increases your resistance to enchantments.
   It lets you go berserk.
 j - the +2 hat of the Alchemist (worn) {rElec rF+ rC+ MR}
   (You found it on level 4 of a ziggurat)   
   
   It protects you from fire.
   It protects you from cold.
   It insulates you from electricity.
   It increases your resistance to enchantments.
 l - a +2 pair of orcish boots of running (worn) {god gift}
 m - the cursed +0 cloak of Starlight {rElec rC+ EV+4 Stlth--}
   (You found it on level 5 of the Vaults)   
   
   It affects your evasion (+4).
   It protects you from cold.
   It insulates you from electricity.
   It makes you much less stealthy.
   It has a curse placed upon it.
 E - a +2 elven cloak of preservation (worn) {god gift}
 I - the +0 pair of gloves of the Monkey's Uncle (worn) {rElec Str+1}
   (You found it on level 6 of the Pits of Slime)   
   
   It affects your strength (+1).
   It insulates you from electricity.
 Q - a +14 crystal plate armour (worn) {god gift}
 U - a +3 shield of fire resistance (worn)
Magical devices
 a - a wand of digging (4)
 f - a wand of fireball (3)
 p - a wand of heal wounds (0)
 r - a wand of draining (7)
 s - a wand of fire (8)
 H - a wand of digging (10)
 M - a wand of draining (7)
 N - a wand of teleportation (4)
 O - a wand of digging (11)
 R - a wand of random effects (0)
 S - a wand of digging (6)
 T - a wand of fireball (5)
 W - a wand of random effects (8)
 Z - a wand of teleportation (4)
Comestibles
 d - 20 bread rations
 k - 2 royal jellies
Scrolls
 u - 2 scrolls of fog
 v - 4 scrolls of remove curse
 y - a scroll of silence
 z - 4 scrolls of teleportation
 F - 2 scrolls of blinking
 G - a scroll of magic mapping
 K - a scroll of fear
 V - a scroll of identify
Jewellery
 b - the amulet "Thiudoel" {Stasis rC+ Int+4}
   (You bought it in a shop on level 10 of the Dungeon)   
   
   [amulet of stasis]
   
   It affects your intelligence (+4).
   It protects you from cold.
 e - an uncursed ring of levitation
 h - an uncursed ring of protection from fire
 i - a +0,+7 ring of slaying
 q - the amulet "Amooh" {unknown, Ward Str+4 Acc+2}
   (You found it on level 7 of Tartarus)   
   
   [amulet of warding]
   
   It affects your strength (+4).
   It affects your accuracy (+2).
 x - a cursed ring of protection from cold
 A - an uncursed ring of teleport control
 B - the ring of Naceim (left hand) {rC++ EV+2}
   (You found it on level 7 of Cocytus)   
   
   [ring of evasion]
   It affects your evasion (+2).
   
   It greatly protects you from cold.
 C - an amulet of resist mutation (around neck)
 J - a ring of protection from fire (right hand)
 P - an uncursed ring of sustain abilities
 X - a +0,+7 ring of slaying
Potions
 o - a potion of resistance
 D - 2 potions of brilliance
 L - a potion of might
Books
 t - a book of the Sky   
   
   Spells                             Type                      Level
   Flight                             Charms/Air                   3
   Insulation                         Charms/Air                   4
   Airstrike                          Air                          4
   Silence                            Hexes/Air                    5
   Deflect Missiles                   Charms/Air                   6
   Conjure Ball Lightning             Conjuration/Air              7
   Tornado                            Air                          9
Miscellaneous
 w - the horn of Geryon


   Skills:
 O Level 27 Fighting
   Level 17.2 Long Blades
 O Level 27 Maces & Flails
 - Level 1.8 Throwing
 O Level 27 Armour
 O Level 27 Dodging
 - Level 12.8 Stealth
 - Level 1.5 Stabbing
 O Level 27 Shields
 O Level 27 Traps & Doors
 - Level 1.0 Unarmed Combat
 - Level 20.3 Spellcasting
 - Level 19.0 Translocations
 - Level 19.4 Invocations
 * Level 20.3 Evocations


You had 64 spell levels left.
You knew the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
a - Blink                 Tloc           N/A          1%          2    None


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (27/27)            Temple (1/1) D:7             Orc (4/4) D:11
    Elf (3/3) Orc:4          Lair (8/8) D:11          Swamp (5/5) Lair:3
  Snake (5/5) Lair:5        Slime (6/6) Lair:7       Vaults (8/8) D:14
  Blade (0/1) Vaults:5      Crypt (5/5) Vaults:3       Tomb (3/3) Crypt:3
    Dis (7/7) Hell            Geh (0/7) Hell            Coc (7/7) Hell
    Tar (7/7) Hell            Zot (5/5) D:27       

Altars:
Ashenzari
Cheibriados
Elyvilon
Fedhas
Makhleb
Okawaru
Trog
Vehumet
Xom
Yredelemnul
Zin
the Shining One
Beogh
Jiyva

Shops:
D:4: [  D:8: +  D:10: =  D:16: +  D:21: [  D:27: +  Orc:4: ((/**  Elf:2: ?  Elf:3: !  Vaults:2: +  Vaults:6: *  Vaults:8: [  Abyss: ((((

Portals:
Dungeon: Abyss*
Hell: D:21 D:22 D:23 D:24 D:25 D:26 D:27 Hell
Abyss: D:22 D:25 D:26 D:27
Pandemonium: D:24 D:25 D:26

Annotations
D:4 Menkaure
D:12 Do not take bottom right stairs; titanic slime
D:13 TITANIC SLIME
D:18 BOGGARTS
D:20 kirke?


Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You reflexively headbutt those who attack you in melee.
You have a pair of horns on your head.
You are partially covered in rough black scales (AC +4, Dex -1).
You digest meat inefficiently.
You are frail (-10% HP).


Message History

* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *
You feel sick.
You feel a little better.
Zapping: R - a wand of random effects (3)
Press: ? - help, Shift-Dir - straight line, f - you
Really target yourself?
You briefly turn translucent. This wand has 2 charges left.
Zapping: R - a wand of random effects (2)
Press: ? - help, Shift-Dir - straight line, f - you
Really target yourself?
This is polymorph other only! Nothing appears to happen. This wand has 1 charge left.
* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *
You feel sick.
Zapping: R - a wand of random effects (1)
Press: ? - help, Shift-Dir - straight line, f - you
Really target yourself?
The bolt of negative energy hits you! You resist.
* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *
This wand has 0 charges left.
You die...

         ##
     #####.#####
     #.....@...##
   ##...........##
  ##.............##
 ##...............##
 #.....#.....#.....#
 #....##.....##....#
 #................|#
##...............n[##
#..n............=>[.#
##..............}n:##
 #.............%=/!#
 #....##...%%##....#



[pikkle]

The agony! I died. 14 runes. [...] Damn, that's galling, but having cleared out Zot:5 long ago, I feel happy in myself that I could have stopped and ascended at any point, so I'm not too peeved.

You're not too peeved, but I'm heartbroken .

[UltimaRatioRegum]

The agony! I died. 14 runes. [...] Damn, that's galling, but having cleared out Zot:5 long ago, I feel happy in myself that I could have stopped and ascended at any point, so I'm not too peeved.

You're not too peeved, but I'm heartbroken .

Ah, my apologies! But give it a week or two and I'm sure I'm confident of success, without the silly errors that whittled me down last time. I've got another MiFi going now - going well, approaching the Vaults, got rF+, rC+, rN+, rElec, rPoi, AC ~25, and a cold-enchanted +1/+2 demon whip. This minotaur also has a disinclination to wade through flames with his scrolls and icy clouds with his potions, and is therefore more confident of holding onto important ones of each until a much later point in the game...

[pikkle]

I've got another MiFi going now - going well, approaching the Vaults, got rF+, rC+, rN+, rElec, rPoi, AC ~25, and a cold-enchanted +1/+2 demon whip. This minotaur also has a disinclination to wade through flames with his scrolls and icy clouds with his potions, and is therefore more confident of holding onto important ones of each until a much later point in the game...

Good luck; it is fun getting better. I've only played a few months longer than you and I just ascended my first online win (had about 10 locally with the same four setups). It was a 3-rune MiBe because I just wanted to knock out the win and look at my stats on the groovy website like in Crate's signature, but I believe it was also my smoothest win by far, largely due to intelligent consumable usage (and without Preservation until late Vaults. An example: I've always save most of my ?Recharging for /Healing, /Teleport, and /Haste on Ascension, but this is the first time I trained enough Evocations to know my wand charges and had the foresight to just top off the wands beforehand instead of carrying my burnable scrolls against Orbs of Fire in the Zot lungs. Nothing was as scary when I knew exactly how many charges each wand had left (and it was a high number ).

That was probably my only win without any HP rot or mutations (probably impossible to avoid in extended), and I hate HP rot more than anything ever, even if it's really not a big deal.

[danr]

The trouble can be, after having an epic character like this, thinking your next ones will be as awesome and getting killed a lot as you keep playing as if you had that same character again.

[UltimaRatioRegum]

The trouble can be, after having an epic character like this, thinking your next ones will be as awesome and getting killed a lot as you keep playing as if you had that same character again.

You said it. Just got that promising Minotaur killed in a profoundly stupid manner...