hmmm, what next

[Jonas]

well, I am playing a lvl 18 dark elven barbarian going for the lawful ultimate win, and I currently have to give 2 more artifacts to the ratling (one of them most likely will be caladriel) but I currently am somewhat stuck trying to save kelly, I have drained all the pools I could find in hopes of a wish, but no luck. I have gotten the rothk but not done the ToEF yet. what should I do, I dont really wanna do a gremlin bomb, but it looks like I may have to.

other notables:
- have not gotten healing or courage yet ( I could, I just need to get to NC first)
- precrowning is out unles I get a bunch of levels
- tp control
- most of the stuff needed for gaab-bay (no farmer corpse or PoCC)
- wand shop on UL 5 (could I scum it for a WoWi?)

so what should I do, should I get a few more levels in darkforge, then head over and do the maze ( for both the artifact and the PoCC)?

this would let me finish up the ratling and hopefully the gaab-bay quest (if that farmer is nice)

right now my PV/DV is 64/36, and I have about 28 WI and 32 TO and 21 St and Dx.

I probably could also do the ToEF as the golems do about 1 damage with the fire breath.

any suggestions?

recap: I want a RoDS or a WoWi or a AoLS, and a ring of ice would be nice too. but I would rather not do the gremlin bomb.

[Grey]

Dark Forge for levels wouldn't hurt. Not so sure on the Minotaur Maze though - I hate that place. You can get PoCC later from giving chaotic corpses to the druid in Terinyo (you must be N or L though). Farmers corpses are easily attained by getting a pet to kill farmers in Terinyo, or finding farmers to kill in the HMV (they're sometimes randomly generated there).

As for the AoLS... The wand shop's no good to you, since it's not in a deep enough area for wands of wishing. Are there any other pools you've found in other dungeons you can drink? Otherwise I'd maybe suggest killing and pickpocketing loads of monsters in the cavern levels of the High Kings tomb till you get a RoDS or AoLS. ID is also an option, though you'd neever to go down to I24.

Level 18 is a bit early for the Tower, and it's usually preferable to clear the CoC down to the wall of fire before taking it on. What's your HP like? And what form of offence do you have for taking the ACW down? Your DV is a bit low overall I'd say - what sort of weapon and shield are you using?

[Silfir]

Check out the water dragon cave, if not already done. Otherwise, have fun in the cavernous levels of the High King dungeon as Darren proposed. Pick Pockets optional (IMHO, if you pickpocket, you might just as well do the gremlin bomb. No difference between the two, really, only that doing both might be even more scummy than doing either on its own, but scummy it is nonetheless).

For the tower, you need the resistance to fire, HP for the shock rays, DV, PV and damage for the many dangerous monsters, and an efficient strategy for killing ancient chaos wyrms. If you have enough dragon slaying, you can risk using it without any ring of ice, but prepare the wyrm well beforehand, optimally with a wand of paralyzation, but the good old potion of blindness or confusion will also do.

[Jonas]

I guess I could check out the water dragon caves too

currently my hp is around 300, and am using a blessed rustproof orchish spear of mahem with a tower adamantium shield, though if I did the tower I probably would switch to my eternium halberd of slaughtering

ya, I hate the maze too but it does look useful to me right now. I guess I dont really need the elemental guantlets either, I am just used to having a ring of ice by now and being crowned, so I might just give them to the ratling

so I suppose it is either ID or gremlin bomb, so I guess I will do the latter even though I would rather not

[Silfir]

Those melee weapons won't do. Sorry. Train yourself some l33t m1551l3 sk1llz, and use dragon slaying ammo.

You need four more levels before you may enter the Maze anyway, or at least that's what I remember at the moment.

[Jonas]

ya, the best I have right now is the eternium halberd of slaughtering and a eternium 2 handed sword

so it looks like it is gremlin caves for me in a few levels (going to try to get rid of a few traps for easier gremlin control)

[Starhawk]

The melee weapons will probably get you to the top level of the tower -- but you do NOT want to melee the ACW. Trust me on this, I lost a very, very promising troll melee character a couple of weeks ago.

[Jonas]

well, most of my winners (I cant think of any that havent) have meleed the ACW, and my last one had paralyzed him first so it was rather easy.

[Silfir]

You can melee the wyrm, if you have enough punch. It's not that a dark elven barbarian couldn't kill the wyrm with the weapons above - there's always tremendous blow - but you should be able to do it quick, and disable the wyrm with Cheap Little Tricks beforehand.

If you're reasonably well armoured, having the wyrm attack you in melee is actually preferable to getting hit with Shock Attacks of Healing Potion Depletion.

It's not a good idea to do a gremlin bomb in the Gremlin Caves. They corrupt and have a low danger level. Far preferable is it to just grab a couple of fluff balls and create a water trap on D:8 or the dwarven graveyard.

[Shadow_2014]

I resurrected this thread because the subject fits the content. Hope that's cool. A couple of n00b questions first: One, how do you get precrown? I've usually just played atheists, and even when I do start saccing things at an altar, and feel close to my deity, I don't know what to do next. Do you just keep saccing crits until your deity randomly announces, "Good job believer, here's an artifact!" or do you have certain restrictions, based upon level or location?

Second, I've never been past the mountains in any direction. I'd like to check out those areas but I don't know which dungeons are which, and I don't want to toast my current character just out of stupidity. I prefer badass deaths involving Holy Avengers and some kind of plague.

I'm currently playing a level 14 Fighter and I have a Climbing Set but I don't know where a good spot to explore would be now. I've got no spells, I've done all the dwarf quests (except the portal), ratling still needs 3 more artifacts, I'm at C- but I've never even seen a Chaotic altar, so I doubt I'm eligible for any cool deity-related stuff. I haven't done the pyramid because I'm a total melee character and I'd just end up getting aged to death, and in the CoC I only went deep enough to satisfy the dwarf quest, and even then the stairs were close together. Once I got to the bottom I opened a door and Chaos Servants came out, which I think is the level where you need the AoLS, and I fled in terror.

Also, Is it possible to convert the altar in Dwarftown? The Priest was killed by the rampant daemon (I even got to eat his corpse), so I don't have to worry about turning him hostile, but I do fear for my equipment...

Oh, and last thing: How do you make that little post within a post where you can copy your vlg file?

[Silfir]

Okay, here we go.

A precrown can only be gotten if your god thinks "Oh, this humble believer has had so few artifacts generated despite having achieved such a high level, I think I feel generous even though he is not fit for crowning yet".

This means, first of all, that your level must be 8 + (artifacts generated times three) at least. All artifacts count: The si, Moon Sickle, the potion of Literacy, all of them. You have generated the si, that puts you at at least 11, and as you have done all the dwarf quests and achieved D:16, I guess Big Punch, the golden gladius and Moon Sickle have also been generated, putting the level requirement at 20. You also have fed three artifacts to the ratling, so it must be at least 23 since the ratling won't eat sis, and giving him the golden gladius is a move dumb beyond recognition. So a precrowning is out of the question.

But keeping on the explaining, if the prior condition has been met, you still have to meet the alignment requirement. To get a PREcrowning - instead of a regular crowning - you must not have the alignment required for crowning. This means it must not be C-, N=, or L+. C and CN work for chaotics, NC, N-, N+ and NL work for neutrals, and LN and L work for lawfuls.

The last thing you have to get is the required piety, obtained through sacrifices. If you meet the above prerequisites, you will eventually achieve "extremely close" connection to your deity, at least if it's your first time trying to get precrowned or crowned. If you achieve "absolutely close" connection to your deity, you're eligible for a REGULAR crowning - since you fed the ratling, my guess is you don't want that to happen. The REGULAR crowning does not have any artifact creation prerequisites - it's only about alignment and piety, and it's a one-time thing.

You become crowned - or precrowned - by praying with "_" if you meet the requirements. Note that the prayer will fail if you are cursed or doomed or wear items that curse or doom you. The intrinsics are usually no problem - getting the piety required for any kind of crowning through sacrifices removes them. The items are more problematic since you oftentimes don't notice they're the reason your crowning or precrowning fails.

How are you level 14 having done all the dwarf quests? Are you a troll or something? About the pyramid - there's hardly any ghosts in there, only lots of mummies, and they only have sickness attacks. Can be bad if you don't have curaria, but otherwise nothing to write home about if you managed to make your way through the dwarf quests and large parts of the CoC.

I'd do the pyramid, then explore the Tomb of the High Kings. And just out of curiosity: Why are you bothering with the dumb ratling? I mean, I satisfied him once (missed the ancient stone circle by a couple of hours, and died before my next chance), but even if I were not ruling out an ultra, I'd not give him anything if not the full six artifacts, and if I wouldn't recommend an ultra to anyone who hasn't even done the regular win.

[Shadow_2014]

I just do whatever quests I've been assigned, really. I mean, I got a few artifacts that were crap, the ratling wants to be fed, so I figured, "let's find out what happens when he's full..." I'm a human, but none of the dwarf quests really pump up the exp that much, aside from clearing out the Ogres, which was pretty challenging (thank the gods for construct slaying ammo). Plus, I pretty much went from elder's quest to Hotzenplotz's two quests to the CoC, so I was pretty low level when I got there.

Also, I do have an amulet of rabies resistance, but no decent uncursed herbs. I assume mummies will still be able to make me sick despite the amulet. I only went into the pyramid once, I was perma-invis, so I kind of just walked to the top, but I think I got my ass handed to me once I got there.

I think the only reason I've survived this long is that I have a shiat load of ammo and lots of marks in Slings and Bows. Oh, and I have 2 weapon combat pumped and am using a vamp polearm and a phase dagger.

I'm still wondering about how to make that little box in a post where you can show your equipment and whatnot. Oh, and what notable areas lie beyond the mountains? Thanks for the crowning info, though. I've had characters get to extremely close many times, but I never pray, so I didn't find out about precrowning. What a shame.

[Silfir]

Not sure how to display the box with the flags and whatnot, but CODE tags
will get you this. Might be helpful.

Behind the mountains in northwest part are the Tomb of the High Kings, the Minotaur Maze, and the rift. The Tomb of the High Kings might be an interesting location for you.

You don't need uncursed herbs, cursed ones work fine if you have several of them. Really, the sickness rarely scares me.

Not sure whether two weapon combat is worth it, but vampirism and phase dagger really does rock.