Death by rat... at level 18.

[RndmNumGenerator]

Not sure if anyone has seen my post in the general discussion thread about me hating vampires - well, this is the same character - Lv18 Orc Ranger, dual-wielding Axes. Very powerful killing machine, I liked playing him.

After getting my Strength and Toughness drained to a pathetic amount(from 23 St and 26 To to 13 St and 16 To) by a Vampire on the CoC Graveyard, I retreated to Dwarftown. On the way up, a Fire Vortex burned all my morgia away, so I had to go back to the big room to get some more. Finding a purple worm, I started pacifying the level so I could farm in peace. In the process of killing the remaining monsters, a Wererat summoned a horde of rats. Normally these guys are no problem, but something went wrong. There were around 30 rats surrounding me, and I even had Courage, but they slowly killed me... going from 180 HP to -7.

I found the reason after I died; I was doomed somehow(my guess is accidentally killing a karmic lizard when clearing out the big room). I guess I should have paid more attention. I didn't grab the FLG, but from what I remember:

Had 2 Rings of Ice(no Fireproof Blanket, sadly) but was good for ToEF
Got a wish, used on AoLS. Saved Khelly. +6 SoCR I never used.
Got Insight/SoCR from Dwarven Mystic. Another 4 SoCR I never used.
Found Cloak of Invisibility early on, used to clear several vaults. Burned away by same Votex that destroyed my Morgia.
Did UD/VD/PC/Graveyard/Pyramid, all without a hitch.
Finished Dwarven Elder's quests.
Went through DH, killed Werewolf Lord(Yeah... I killed a Werewolf Lord but died to a Wererat.)
Never killed a cat(lot of good that did me)

[pblack]

even doomed...rats rarely kill lvl 16 PC's. You were most likely sickened by them first and didn't notice. 180 HP doesn't just vanish like that... and if you had more than 15 PV even uber giant rats shouldn't pose too much trouble. but still... that's ADOM... who knows wich wicked trick the RNG played on you.

[RndmNumGenerator]

even doomed...rats rarely kill lvl 16 PC's. You were most likely sickened by them first and didn't notice. 180 HP doesn't just vanish like that... and if you had more than 15 PV even uber giant rats shouldn't pose too much trouble. but still... that's ADOM... who knows wich wicked trick the RNG played on you.

I was not sickened, I had -Sick. I even had Curia Mancox, in case I was sickened. It wasn't like it was holding down attack and not paying attention; each round I was looking for a way out, and each round I lost ~10 HP.

[Grey]

Yeah, being surrounded whilst doomed is baaad. The chance of crits and punching through armour increases immensely, and your own attacks are much less likely to connect.

This explains why you had such trouble killing the vampire. Under normal circumstances you would have hit him easier with your missiles and not had your stats so badly raped in melee.

[RndmNumGenerator]

I don't think I was doomed when I fought the vampire. I know I was cursed, but I also had the Ankh, which balanced most of that out. I think I got doomed when I was clearing out the big room.

But I think I figured out the combination that killed me...

"Yeah, being surrounded whilst doomed is baaad. The chance of crits and punching through armour increases immensely, and your own attacks are much less likely to connect."

My armor gave something like +10 PV. If it was damaged to near 0... that would have cut my PV in half. That would explain why the rats killed me faster at the end than the beginning.