YA*F*VP - Ilovepie, Gnomish Priest

[Starhawk]

Finally -- after more than five years -- I have beaten ADOM!

I managed my first victory with no cheating and NO WISHES. The closest I came was a Wand of Wishing with zero charges.

I went off my usual "beaten path" for this game, as I usually send characters through the Unremarkable Dungeon first. If they don't make it, they weren't worth playing anyway.

This gnome, instead, I sent to save a cute dog. When I arrived at the black druid's hideout, I found that the entire dungeon was blocked away from me by a very wide river (right at the stairs on level 1!!). So, I had a decision to make: skip straight to the Caverns of Chaos... or....

...head for the Infinite Dungeon! I decided to stay in the Infinite Dungeon until I found a spellbook of Nether Bolt. This took over a week of game time and brought me to level 12 or so. As well, I had a very impressive arsenal of spells learned from my stay in the ID. So I was able to return, freeze the river, and stomp the black druid.

Then, having learned Veil of the Gods in the ID, I sneaked carefully through the Small Cave and cleared the Unremarkable Dungeon. Made a pile of money in the HMV and then hightailed it through the secret exit to the Caverns. I made it to Dwarftown without a hitch, became Arena champion and checked out the animated forest. My worst mistake here was kicking a black altar and having my equipped items turn to dust -- ack! Fortunately I had a passable backup weapon and was able to recover.

It came time at last to do a lot of things back in the great outdoors: I was most of the way through level 16 and needed to hit the Pyramid. Clearing the Pyramid was easy, and I decided not to make a second trip to the surface: I also cleared the Graveyard, then skipped the ToEF and did the Tomb of the High Kings before circling back to claim the Fire Orb. By this time I was rocking a character that was several levels above the recommended range for the ToEF and was able to blast and stab my way through with no trouble at all. For the first time, I didn't lose a single piece of equipment in the ToEF (I had five resistance sources and four fireproof blankets).

Interestingly enough, my alignment didn't hit L+ until much later in the game than I am used to... maybe around D:25? But I finally got crowned. Stumbled onto an endless parade of neckwear artifacts, a couple of swords of sharpness, and battered my way through the Elemental Temples. Picked up seven levels in two greater dragon vaults (one blue, one red) and had over 600k in gold.

By this time, the corruption was starting to pile up. In addition to no wishes, this character was VERY light in the cure-corruption items. I had a total of 3 potions and 2 scrolls of CC. Fortunately for me, the RNG was *VERY* kind and gave me corruptions that were useful. I had to get rid of poison hands once, stiff muscles once, and mana battery once.

The Archmage of the Mana Temple was difficult for me; I had a lot of trouble luring him out to me. I probably carved up ~300 monsters by hand at the doorway trying to get his attention, but ended up perforating him with humanoid slaying crossbow bolts.

D:50 was terrifying. While I was high level, my equipment wasn't all *THAT* great, I felt. I could carve through chaos servants all day but was worried about standing up to a balor. As it turns out, I really couldn't. I hacked my way to the secret doors and was headed for the lever when the balors began looking for me. Unfortunately, I only had ONE stack of demonslayer xbow bolts, and that was only enough to take the balor to 'severe'. My melee was awesome... but not THAT good. And I was getting pounded with more corruption. So, I started teleporting back and forth, drawing them off. Managed to get both levers clear long enough to teleport in, throw the switch, and zap a wand of destruction. (Another RNG amusement: a potion of education on D:50 resulted in Alchemy, far too late for me to do anything with it.)

I would have loved to fight Andor Drakon, but I don't know how tough he is, and if I couldn't beat a balor handily... hm. I was even more worried about my corruption -- I had eight or nine by that point. I would cry for years if I got to D:50, cleared it, walked through the gate, and dissolved into primal chaos.

So -- a stop at the unicorn's glade on the way out of the Chain and... VICTORY! Hail to the king, baby.

Another amusing note: I could *not* keep a set of bracers more than a level or two before they got blasted away. I finished the game with bare arms.

[Starhawk]

Ilovepie      St:26  Le:29  Wi:29  Dx:45  To:32  Ch:27  Ap:19  Ma:34  Pe:24 L+
DV/PV: 79/43   H: 560(560)    P: 524(524)    Exp: 44/11383529   DrCh  Sp: 158
Blessed Satiated
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                                  Inventory
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Total weight: 4270 stones                Carrying capacity: 6275 stones

Head          : uncursed metal cap [+2, +4]                           [50s]
Neck          : uncursed sapphire amulet "Preserver" [+4, +4] {Wi+7}   [3s]
Body          : uncursed robes of resistance (-4, -4) [+3, +12] {To+5}[60s]
Girdle        : blessed girdle of carrying [+0, +0]                   [15s]
Cloak         : blessed cloak of defense [+5, +0]                     [20s]
Right Hand    : uncursed sword of sharpness (+1, 4d8+8)               [35s]
Left Hand     : uncursed tower eternium shield [+13, +4]              [70s]
Right Ring    : uncursed ring of slaying (+8 melee damage, +6 missile damage)
Left Ring     : blessed ring of the master cat [+0, +5] {Dx+16} (+16 spd)
Bracers       : -
Gauntlets     : uncursed elemental gauntlets (-1, +0) [+0, +3]        [10s]
Boots         : blessed boots of speed (+1, +1) [+5, +3] (+8 spd)     [20s]
Missile weapon: uncursed light crossbow of accuracy (+8, +0)          [70s]
Missiles      : bundle of 3 uncursed adamantium quarrels (+1, 2d6+5)   [3s]
Tool          : uncursed swift pick axe (+0, 1d6+1)                   [75s]

Damage caused with your melee weapons:
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Right hand: +99 bonus to hit, 4d8+44 damage


Damage caused with your missile weapons:
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Ammunition: , base range: 15, +71 bonus to hit, 2d6+36 damage



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                              His further life:
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After he leaves the Drakalor Chain he is welcomed by his people with great
honors. They acknowledge his noble deeds, his valor, his cunning and his
great skills that helped to prevent the complete destruction of the world he
knows. He is crowned to be the king of all gnomes and lives a long and
prosperous life full of love, happiness and pleasure.

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              His achievements during his adventures:
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Ilovepie, the gnomish priest, saved the world with his brave efforts and
became a great ruler while saving himself 10 times.
He scored 16536592 points and advanced to level 44.
He survived for 0 years, 71 days, 16 hours, 50 minutes and 49 seconds
(116812 turns).
9 companions were killed during his adventures.
Ilovepie visited 108 places.
His strength score was modified by +14 during his career.
His learning score was modified by +11 during his career.
His willpower score was modified by +5 during his career.
His dexterity score was modified by +17 during his career.
His toughness score was modified by +14 during his career.
His charisma score was modified by +10 during his career.
His appearance score was modified by +8 during his career.
His mana score was modified by +13 during his career.
His perception score was modified by +11 during his career.
He was unnaturally aged by 8 years.
He was the champion of the arena.
He brought back joy into the life of a tiny girl.
He adhered to the principles of the Cat Lord and thus rose to great fame.
He left the Drakalor Chain after completing his quest and became a great
leader and famous hero.
6953 monsters perished under his attacks.
The following 24 artifacts were generated during his adventure:
  the si
  the dwarven rune axe "Rolf's Companion"
  the scythe of corruption "Moon Sickle"
  the ring of the master cat
  the golden gladius "Death's Sting"
  the Aylas Holy Scarf
  the Chaos Orb of Elemental Water
  the Chaos Orb of Elemental Air
  the Chaos Orb of Elemental Fire
  the Chaos Orb of Elemental Earth
  the lead-filled mace "Big Punch"
  the sword of Nonnak
  the elemental gauntlets
  the ring of the High Kings
  the crown of science
  the ancient mummy wrapping
  the ankh
  the hammer of the gods // never saw this, probably skipped it on the floor of a vault
  the black torc
  the Chaos Orb of Elemental Mana
  the rune-covered sling "Whirlwind"
  the robes of resistance // i preferred my red dragon scale mail 
  the rune-covered heavy mace "Purifier"  // never saw this, i think a Chaos Warrior dropped it on D:50
  the sapphire amulet "Preserver"  // yet another neckpiece...har!
He possessed the following intrinsics:
  He was fire resistant (enhanced through items).
  He was poison resistant (enhanced through an item).
  He was cold resistant (gained through an item).
  He was acid resistant (gained through an item).
  He was lucky (enhanced through an item).
  Fate smiled upon him (gained through an item).
  He was sleep resistant.
  He was petrification resistant.
  He was able to control teleportation.  // blink dog corpse in ID
  He was paralyzation resistant (gained through an item).
  He was shock resistant (enhanced through items).
  He was able to see invisible things (gained through an item).
  He was immune to acidic attacks.
He had the following talents: Affinity with Crossbows, Affinity with Swords,
Aggressive, Alert, Careful, Charged, Defensive Fighter, Greased Lightning,
Miser, Potent Aura, Quick, Shield Expert, Shield Master, Shield Specialist,
Sixth Sense, Treasure Hunter, Very Quick.
He had a final speed score of 158 (final base speed: 139).
He was a messiah of Gnarl.
He asked for 6 divine interventions.
He was a holy champion of Order.

[Nezur]

Well done! I remember the feeling when I first finished the game!

[spectre]

Congrats on your first win!

"The closest I came was a Wand of Wishing with zero charges."
Hmm, didja know you can wrench the final charge from 0-charge wands if you try enough times

[Starhawk]

Ahhh! I thought only wizards could do that.

I'm not sure a wish would've helped me finish the game anyway; although I could have gotten more corruption-curing and tried to fight Drakon, I suppose.

Next time I try to finish the game, I want to try and do more of the "side quests" like Blup's mom, the blue dragon caves, the Bug Temple, and maybe the Quickling Tree.