Walking on eggshells - 1st time past lvl 13

[TrBrJr]

Greetings, folks.

Would appreciate any thoughts on proceeding:

Lvl 15 Dwarven Ranger, decent specs, more artifacts and cool stuff than I've ever found. Did village quests, 1st Dwarf quest, and the portal quest. Pyramid with no trouble. No idea what my 1st kill was, so checking in with Barbarian from time to time.

Think it's too soon for Tower, not enough fireproof things on hand. Should I do Thundaar's remaining quests? I need a pickaxe. Didn't find the one in the pyramid, or it got blasted before I realized I had it.

I got Ironfist really early, and dual wielded 2 adamantium daggers, one 'of might'. Made the early game easiest I've had in a long time. Other artifacts from normal questing. Never had the opportunity for Rolf's Axe before, so is a nice treat. Still have the torc, ankh, elemental gauntlets. Couldn't dig for Sword of Nanook, so it lies there still.

No pre- or regular crowning. Just tried to keep gods happy for healing early on.

Just want some advice for the next move. I'm thinking Thundaar's quests, then maybe DF if I am leveled up. Hope for some fireproofing then Tower.

Thanks in advance.

T.

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                            Character Information
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Git    St:31  Le:10  Wi:22  Dx:14  To:30  Ch: 6  Ap: 5  Ma:16  Pe:20  L
DV/PV: 46/27   H: 217(217)   P: 46(68)   Exp: 15/250951   M: 45943



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                            Background Information
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Name: Git                 Race: male Dwarf          Class: Ranger
Eye color: brown          Hair color: brown         Complexion: ruddy
Height: 3'10"             Weight: 185 pounds
Age: 61 (grown-up)
Star sign: Tree           Birthday: 11/Tree (day 341 of the year)

YOUR HISTORY:
        Your parents belong to the lower class. They were honest
 hard-working people, who did everything to enable you to live a
 comfortable and fine life. They were not very successful.
        As a child your parents cared a lot for you. Despite all
 circumstances you enjoyed a happy and fine childhood.
        In your youth you enjoyed competition against others to the
 fullest. You were a very active kid.
        Your young adulthood was characterized by hard and long work. You
 had decided to study under a renowned master. To your great disappointment
 you had to find out, that he was a hard, unjust and tyrannic man,
 embittered by his old age. Your apprentice years were quite terrible.
        You decided to become a Ranger.


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                                  Inventory
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Total weight: 2820 stones                Carrying capacity: 6725 stones

He: metal cap [+0, +4]                                                [50s]
Ne: 'plain ol'' necklace of rapid healing                              [2s]
Bo: ancient mummy wrapping [+1, +5] {Ap-8}                            [60s]
Gi: 'plain ol'' girdle of carrying [+0, +0]                           [15s]
Cl: 'plain ol'' cloak of defense [+3, +0]                             [20s]
RH: blessed dwarven rune axe "Rolf's Companion" (+3, 3d6+6) [+4, +4] {To+3}
LH: 'plain ol'' large crystal shield [+10, +2]                       [210s]
RR: 'plain ol'' ring of damage                                         [1s]
LR: 'plain ol'' ring of fire                                           [1s]
Br: bracers of protection [+0, +2]                                    [10s]
Ga: 'plain ol'' iron gauntlets "Ironfist" (-1, +0) [+1, +3] {St+7}    [10s]
Bo: -
MW: 'plain ol'' long bow (+2, +2)                                     [30s]
Mi: bundle of 6 blessed arrows (+0, 1d6)                              [12s]
Tl: -

[timeywimey]

Bless that axe for some extra hurting power! (ee: lol silly eyes, you had it blessed already)
eee: but you might want to bless that ring of damage.

Be careful in the dwarven halls!

Try to get crowned asap. No reason not to.

e: you should be good for DF already if you can deal dmg over 35 points. There's a small risk in them golems deciding to crit you all the time, but if you take them one at a time (and drop all not needed gear at a safe spot) you should be fine :]

[Joe]

Doing Thrundarrs quests is pretty ok. Be very careful if you choose to go through the Dwarven Halls; scrolls/wands of monster detection or magic mapping is good to use here! Through the forest takes more time but is safer, especially if you have invisibility on demand. The quests after the second are quite safe to do all with little effort.
Other option that springs to mind is to go to the Tomb of the High Kings if you have a wand of cold to retrieve the ring. Don't touch the water but rather freeze it. And be ready for a tough fight there (although better than the Steel Golems imo.. I think your Axe can't damage them).

Btw, wear the Ankh standard. It's very good for all sorts of things and can save your life. Try to get some spenseweed/petals if you need faster healing.

[TrBrJr]

Thanks for the thoughts. ToHK sounds possible. I think I do have some frost wands. Here's hoping!

[sytar6]

MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT MAKE THE ICE CRACK BY STEPPING ON IT WITH MORE THAN 2000S. I've lost a really promising post-ToEF character like that.

If you go through the animated forest, don't wait on a specific spot for even a single turn more than you have to, even if it means going back. I find the forest to often be quite deadly otherwise, especially on the way back. If you have a means of teleport, it can make the forest quite a bit easier.

It sounds like you're going for an Ultra? Might consider going for a normal win the first time around.

[grobblewobble]

Bless your ring of damage, that makes it twice as effective. A necklace of rapid healing works much better blessed, too, but as Joe said the Ankh is better as your standard equipment.

Do you have teleport control? And if so, did you get the wand from the VDDL? This is one of the most important things.

Don't worry about the barbarian, courage is a crap skill. You're better off killing him for xp, to be honest.

If already have teleport control and the wand, I would definitely do the dwarf quests next. Those are easier than the high king and far more rewarding. You might even get Rolf's shield! You also get a wand of digging from the ancient sage if you talk to him (which you should, don't try to save him unless you already have what you need for it).

While you're at it, you should go for the water temple once you made it past the DH or forest. It is by far the easiest temple and the water orb is a very good artifact.

[TrBrJr]

Thanks for the extra advice. It's YASD, but wanted to say I did get the shield and Courage, Phial, and had a blast with the advanced character.

My early march down the CoC gave me easy found stairs. Muscled up with my artifacts, I went to clear the upper levels later that I didn't investigate, and stumbled into a mixed vault with a diamond golem and, "Clang", Splat went my best character to date.

Should have just been happy with a direct route to DT, but my overconfidence lost me my life.

Was fun to walk tall for a while, tho.

[Stingray1]

Darn. Diamond Golems is something no character should stand next to. I don't care how strong you think your character is, don't.

It is sad, but good lesson learned. You will see your next characters getting further and further into the game.