Gnome Thief, rock and hard place. What would you do?

[divij]

look i am no expert here but i can give u some advice especially for thundrarr quest.
see the following link :- http://folk.ntnu.no/houeland/adom/results/datadump
here you can find the dl of ne monster i the game. using it i found the dl of werewolf lord to be 12. that means you can only find it on d12 or below (d13 d14 etc.)
also see this link :- http://adomgb.sweb.cz/adomgb-app-L.html
here u can find dl of places.
next thing is thundrarr quest while they are not essential are pretty damn worthwhile and u shud definately have ur game revolve around completing them. here are some tips..
goto smc asap and spawn low lvl monsters there. if u dnt fear the rng 2much explore it till u find the downstairs(optional) and waterproof blanket (absolutely essential)
next if u dnt have herbalism do visit the dd and ignore the carpenter cave e1 if u dnt have healing (healing is overrated) get it and COMPLETELY IGNORE PC (its a death trap)
next goto coc and DONT EXPLORE THE ROOMS just head directly to d8 collect the sis and then goto thundrar get his quests (random monster and portal) and then u have finished ur early game and are now in the mid game.
i do this and 50% of my characters reach this point just saying!

[BoloDigby]

Postlude: Died at level 20. My first time in the Water Temple and I got subsequent criticalled by Water Grues, then ignored my 'poisoned' status and died of 'extreme blood poisoning', of all things. I have been habitually munching on Spiders and never had an issue with blood poisoning after level 6, so I was not looking... Apparently I was cursed (where'd I get that from?), which was contributing to the multiple critical hits I was taking.

Notes: Still could not see invisible at games' end. I cleared out the the 'Big Room', but the herbage was two stable 2 x 2 patches, none of which were spenseweed, and I could not 'U'se holy water to attempt to grow to a more useful direction--must need a skill I did not have.

My 'normal' game has been the following; upon generation, I would run to SMC for low-level generation and grab what ever was lying around. I try to ignore foes and just jump in, then out of the SMC. My thief's PV is a lousy 2, normally, so I am primarily looking for something to take care of the armor issue. I then go collect the Druid and Puppy quest, do a fast dive to DD7 to do what I call 'Druidgen', that is, generate the lowest-level druid I can (probably average level 4 for me). I then ascend back to the top of DD and clean out DD1 thru DD6. I then leave DD and go clear out PC, or as much as I can. That gets me to level 12, and then I go back to DD7 and collect the Druid. Things that break this pattern are lousy weapon (I don't wander far in PC2 if I don't have something that can deal with ants' PV); water on any level, (I can't swim, I hardly ever have the waterproof blanket that early), and a PV under 7 or 8.

So what you are saying, divij, is I should keep going on SMC until I get the blanket, and if I survive, ignore completely the PC? My SMC trip is embarrassing (as a thief with a short sword and a PV2) is: run run run run run run run and try not to stuck between two foes then flee!

BTW, the helm of regeneration is a nice item. Or maybe it was just the 'of regeneration' suffix. I did not miss spenseweed. And the two-handed sword of mayhem overall was more troublesome than I thought it was; I would lose 6 PVs merely equipping it, and I personally think that in the hands of a tank it is probably fine, but a thief is not a tank! (took oh so long to get this message impressed on my brain).

[divij]

well the way smc works is the monsters are approx the same lvl as u are...so it isnt hard for any race-class to survive in it till he finds the blanket and downstairs..i think wp blanket>>fp blanket.however u can micro..if u find really bad monsters u can run out and come back later with item detection and magic mapping etc.(assuming u want to do the unremarkable dungeon). and yes unless u have an op race class like troll, wizard elementalist barbarian plz ignore pc esp pc2, pc5 and pc6. if u have wp blanket or not many drencahble items and swimming skill the go str8 left on the main map..u will only have to cross 1 tile of water and u will not have to walk thru swamps and a lot of tiles so it less dangerous imo

[Maul]

To add some input of my own, I always do the SMC, with statistically zero exceptions, after completing the initial Terinyo quest of my choice. (No puppy cave. I only enter it if I need the ants to mine ores for me later on. That is the ~5% of my characters who want to do smithing.) It is a "test" for my characters. The unworthy die in the SMC or the UD - the strong persevere and catapult themselves right into the midgame, rarely encountering anything threatening up until the ACW. A matter of playstyle though - you can skip the SMC and explore it later when you can safely teleport past all threats, but I find that the UD generally powers up my characters incredibly: vaults, altars and even shops are quite common in the UD levels, all of which can help.

Oh yeah, and don't be embarrassed about running in the SMC. It's generally a good idea not to kill anything that isn't strictly blocking your way in there. Every level 1 rat you kill is a chance for a level 12 ratling warlord or dark elven priestess to replace it. (What Divij said is not quite correct. The SMC monsters are generally generated at a higher level than you - up to double your own level. In my experience the levels are higher if you're doomed. That is what makes the SMC so dangerous. Level 1 characters see level 1-2 monsters in there, which is perfectly manageable. Level 6 fighters will find that level 9-12 creatures often get the best of them in melee, though.)

[BoloDigby]

I got stuck with stabilized 2x2 patches of herbs, and was unable to 'U'se holy water on the patch to force it to grow in a better direction. Was I doing something wrong, or am in missing a skill?

[SirTheta]

You don't use holy water on the patch - you use it on a square next to it. Chance is only like 25%, though, so unless you have a lot of spare holy water, it's not always viable.

[BoloDigby]

You don't use holy water on the patch - you use it on a square next to it. Chance is only like 25%, though, so unless you have a lot of spare holy water, it's not always viable.

Re: next to it--that is what I was trying, no joy. I can't even get the holy water into my 'O' slot to 'U'se.

[Qui]

You're doing it wrong. You can 'u'se item from O slot (I don't think holy water fits there anyway), but you can 'U'se any item from inventory. So you stand on an empty square, press 'U' to use, press 'V' to view stuff, select holy water.

[BoloDigby]

Thanks for you help, all.

Quick question (on yet another GNTh) I have teleport control yet no teleport as I do not have a scroll/wand of item detection and therefore can't figure out where the teleport wand is in the DDL. I am only level 13, so I got a few levels. Should I scum DL 4 areas for a wand/scroll item detection drop? Should I spend the time systematically teleporting to every undisclosed square within DDL hoping I hit the wand? Should I make my way thru UD to HMV to check the store out for same? Should I throw caution to the wind and go attempt Rehetep without teleport? I do have Cloak of Invis this time around, so his minions may not be as problematic, yet I've gotten turffed before while Invis within the Pryamid...

[JellySlayer]

I'd just go for Rehetep if your gear is decent enough. Teleport is not necessary for Pyramid, IMHO.

If you haven't done UD yet and can safely cross the SMC, this might not be a terrible idea if you're feeling unprepared.