Results 1 to 3 of 3

Thread: The little priestess that could (twice)

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Posts
    5

    Default The little priestess that could (twice)

    Aicanthe was a HE Priest who had a very good run, yet died on D:15 from being sandwiched between two monsters and critted by both at once.
    I liked the combo enough to try again, rolling a duplicate, and being cheeky I named her Aicanne.

    Aicanne started with Le around 20, getting obscene cast counts from every spellbook. Still, Aicanne had a rough start. My attempts to change the main weapon during the descent through SMC and UD were thwarted by the fact that she couldn't punch through any monster's PV with anything other than the starting mace. Thus I gave in and kept using it to survive. UD was rough on every level; gnoll vault, ogre magus and a threat room of chaos sisters were more than our little elf signed up for. With a combination of tactics, prayer and the help of a decent flail picked up along the way, I pulled through. Better yet, I got worn boots from some rando in upper D.

    After clearing the pyramid, fishy king, emo druid (altar on DD3 was a nice find, but I wasn't feeling greedy to scum it) and Griff (pouring the water on the gauntlets' spot by mistake, resulting in a cute little bush of herbs popping up), the only issue was time. The random monster quest took weeks off the clock, the search for the amulet would take even more; what's worse, it was fruitless; weeks of running back between ID 7-9 and cavernous levels yielded no amulet and no ring, and if they did, they must have been destroyed by an acid trap before I could ID them. I did build up a nice cache of spells, though. While Identify eluded me, I had a lifetime supply of On-Demand-Controlled-Teleportation, Remove Curse, and a few casts of Invoked Friggin' Devastation.

    Way past the infamous day 90, I put the sage out of his misery and carried on.
    Despite its reputation as ratling food, I used Punch as my main weapon when I got it. At that point, Aicanne was no longer the little elf trying to scrape by, but an invisible, merciless splattering machine.
    Being L, the mystic gave me no scrolls, and I got none from the sage. Black druid was worth one potion (Remove Curse helped), HIVI had one scroll. My corruptions; about 3 or 4 at that point. Corruption would be a problem here. I had no choice but adapt; minimize my time below DL9, turn in every guardian corpse. I went for the long, grindy game, doing each temple in a short, surgical excursion. I somehow managed not to kill any cats; kitty lord was pleased and so was I.
    Did not gamble in the casino, correctly guessing that background corruption was patched, even though the big guy glitched out and followed me downstairs, only to end up walking continuously up and right on the level below, looking for his home, until something ate him. Poor guy. I was rich enough to afford whatever garbage I wanted from the shoppe anyway, and also cursed, so slots were of no use to me.

    I lucked out with a greater giant vault before Yulgash, the tasty, tasty vault that bumped my St by at least 4, and taught me to carry stomacemptia on me at all times. Thankfully, Ash got somewhat nerfed since 1.1.1; he no longer summons through the walls of his little jail, and seems to run out of PP quickly enough. Some improved fireballs and scorching later, he was dead; a first for me as none of my PCs have made it this far. Somewhere along the way I picked up acid blood; liked it enough that I made sure not to remove it until the very end.

    The very light corruption somewhat eased my chaos worries; I could now partake in some rifty foolishness (also a first for me), and earn myself a bunch of books and precious, precious SoCRs. Sadly, the library itself was a disappointment; priests get 50/50 scrolls and books there, most of them were worthless. Still, I would read every book I came upon and made no exception here; the Le training from it paid off, worth it just for the silliness of having 12 skill increases per level and not knowing what to do with them.
    Waiting for the librarian to stop being fussy was somewhat tense, there were some nasty things on the level and that locked door I made could not protect me forever. Indeed, after enough turns spent waiting, the door broke down with a whole horde of very nasty things behind it. Using my last turn before I'd be eaten alive by quickling queens, karmic dragons and diamond golems, I stood on the stairs, talked the tome out of the old man and booked it.

    The late game was quite grindy and uneventful. After obtaining a long bow and arrows of hunting, I'd spend hours snacking on quicklings and trading black unicorns for the good stuff. I trained all of my missile skills to a decent level, to take advantage of slaying ammo. (which, like carrying a stack of digestive herbs, became a new habit of mine) Had a stack of PoCCs shattered by a stone block in the earth temple. I drank every pool hoping to wish myself acid ball, got the wish, got three spellbooks of Acid Bolt because I forgot to use the clerical name while wishing. Got the ball spell "naturally" later, anyway. Wrote some education scrolls, got bugger all from them. Had the wand of destruction break on the way to D50. Oh well.

    The other greater vault along the way was undead, and here I decided to make use of my thousands of castings of Dispel Undead; against all common sense and warnings, I partially cleared the vault, cutting my way towards the artifact amulet I'd seen through item detection (correctly guessing that it was Ayla). I would've kept going if not for the Emperor starting to summon cats, not sure if taking off the kitty ring would be enough, I yielded and left. (The other artifact was Wyrmlance, so nothing of vaule was lost)

    D49 reward was Grod, worthless. I closed the gate with the unintelligent monster and doors trick, teleported out, cashed in the win.

    https://pastebin.com/F0HffRFM


    And then I decided to check for updates, since it's been some years. Yup, everyone's on 3.x and here I am, gloating about my half-assed, cheesy 1.2.0 win.
    So, *ahem*...

    ...Erithia was a HE Priest, rolled in 3.0.6.
    Book-born with 22 initial Le, starting spells CLW and Remove Curse.
    Generated the safest possible SMC, immediate exit with a locked door protecting it. Killed a goblin rockthrower. I just want to win this, and I might as well get courage.
    But oh, what's this? A new dungeon next to the PC?
    Thus Erithia cleared UCa to launch self to level 6, plundered some okay gear there.
    Went to the puppy cave next, feeling strong and lucky enough. Out of habit, I check the clock... oh my, doggie dies in 12 hours. Well, what kinda L+ hero are you if you can't even save a damn puppy from becoming orc food?
    PC6 generated with a river cutting the whole dungeon through, including the orc vault. At first I was stumped... leave my gear and risk 3 tiles of drowning towards hostile orcs? Oh wait, dummy, you've got frost bolt. But what to do with the dog? If I clear the orcs, something will kill the dog in the meantime. Take the dog out and come back? Nah. I clear the vault with the dog in tow. Soft boots, nice. Okay, let's take the dog out of here. Thus follows a heroic gauntlet through PC5, utilizing every turn, every missile and every point of PP to keep the dog safe. We get back to PC2, and oh crap, it's a vortex, and there's a dwarf behind it. And I heard that dwarves are the new cats... Fine, let's lure it... oh no, dog, what are you doing, DOG! And so Erithia leaped and pushed the dog out of the way in the last second, barely surviving the explosion herself. But it was done. Cute dog safely back in town, I make my way into UD, being better prepared than last time.
    UD yielded some easy herbs (stoma, petal, morgia), and an adamantium spear. At this point I accumulated 4 scrolls of to-hit and one to-damage. Had one holy water, used it on the 4-scroll stack. This yielded a +8, 1d8+7 spear.
    Orc vault on UD7 gave me worn boots and an invitation from Ry the Dry Guy.
    Notable spells at this point: CSW, Uncurse, Disarm, Tele, Dig, BH, Acid/ Cold/, Petr, CureD, CureP
    Stone giant lord in HIVI... Friendly, phew. Leggot had "Invi and "Atlas.
    I get to the new shiny village (enough with the itching already, I know where to go!), and notice that I have 3 potions of St. Thus I hiked St from 15 to 21 in one go.
    Big room, I tame a blink dog and he turns traitor, so I cannibalize him and his friends, alignment be damned. Try to pacify the room for giggles, nope, doesn't work 100% anymore. (Good enough for farming, but no longer works as a stash, use ogre cave.)
    Thrundarr's random monster of the day: the 7LB-eating lizard. Ow. That happened in the sinister dungeon. Then I found out that I killed a dwarf somewhere without noticing, and thus my map pieces were good for nothing.
    Arena has some nasty level scaling, I noticed. Entering it on level 18ish, every monster was a very experienced damage sponge. And then I get the magus... nope, bolted him to death out of LOS.
    But I got a wish ring in one of the RDs, and this time, I was able to save the coughing sage and get the scrolls.
    Disposed of Griff, boiled the big bad snake alive and turned it in, decided to pay Shyssie a visit with fish rings.
    Went to fetch the king ring, and oh my, three natural quad spenseweed patches on level 3. Grabbed myself a stack of 150, corruption be damned.
    The last cavern level had two shadow wyrms and an ultidoppel... ow. But hey, that's what On-Demand-Controlled-Teleportation is for.
    The king must have been tired of sitting in his box and waiting for me, because he was already outside by the time I got there. The ring was sitting on a pile of sticks. Did he just blast himself with a rune trap?

    Alright, let's pay this new Ice B... Hag a visit. Invi is handy, so is freezing water in the wind stage. A quest... go slay some giant in his cave. Uneventful except for the greater vault full of red dragons, yielding me a phase dagger. Did not use it yet, content with my spear, but aye, its time would come... soon. The vault had bugger all otherwise, even the ancient red corpses gave me nothing.
    The rest of the game went like the previous, but with less grind and less corruption troubles. (and sadly, less quickling snacks)
    Tower was easy, Ash was easy (this time, acid bolts). Kitty was pleased just like last time. No gambling. Some levels below, I find a second phase dagger, and a decent slaying ring. I've never used phases before, so I wanted to see how it's like, and it was good enough to stick. Stone beast was fun to poke with those.
    Generated another GUV, this time with a less convenient layout. Skipped.
    Killed the archmage with a bow. Missiles can turn this temple from very nasty into the most pathetic one.
    A glowing wand drops on D47, sure enough, it's a wishing wand with 2+1 casts. Three wishes, just like they always say. Okay... give me back my sevens, give me rain of sorrow, and uh, find weakness I guess?
    So, being worryingly underleveled but cocky enough, with a destruction wand in tow, I go down to the anomaly.
    D49 gives me Sun's Messenger; not the best thing but not entirely useless. Okay, time to end this. I descend to D50...

    Code:
    You sense a certain tension.
    Code:
    You hear a grinding sound.
    Code:
    *THUMB*
    Code:
    *THUMB* *THUMB*
    Code:
    *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB*
    *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB*
    You see something crushing rock to dust!
    *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB*
    *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB*
    Oh my. Need I say what this is? *THUMB* Let's get this over with, quickly. *THUMB* I charge and bless my destruction wand. *THUMB* Zap it for a try... oh, what's this? *THUMB* *THUMB* I don't know what just happened, but I don't feel safe using this here now at all! *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB*
    So what do I *THUMB* do? Alright, let's try to clear this *THUMB* mess before it gets out of hand. Gulp all the boosters, and let's roll. *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB*

    Code:
    The greater moloch regenerates. *THUMB*
    You hit the greater moloch (easily cutting through its armor with the blessed rustproof phase dagger(+5, 1d4+1)) and severely wound it. You miss the greater moloch. You slow down somewhat. *THUMB* *THUMB*
    So I kill one, kiting it with obscenely boosted speed and phase daggers. The rest, I don't have enough demon ammo for, bolts rarely get through. Okay, screw this. *THUMB* Let's clear the lever rooms while our friends are busy here. *THUMB* *THUMB* Some molochs make it into the dig-ways, I can bolt them with great, great difficulty. *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* Kiting at 150 speed does not work; I almost die trying. For all intents and purposes, I am screwed. I keep clearing the chaos scum, hoping that the destruction wands still work despite the odd effects... *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB*

    Code:
    You hit the greater chaos servant and slightly injure him. A water elemental suddenly streams out of some cracks in the ground.
    The water elemental roars: "Here'ssss yer rewaaarrrd forr being niccce to Blup. Enjoy." The water elemental drops a blessed trident in front of you. Then it disappears. *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* 
    The chaos wizard picks up the bundle of 10 uc arrows (+0,1d6).
    You pick up the blessed trident. You hear a grinding sound in the distance.
    *THUMB* *THUMB* The greater chaos servant regenerates.
    *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB*
    Well it's about time. *THUMB* *THUMB* Damn right I'll enjoy it.

    Code:
    You exactly hit the greater moloch and critically injure it. The blessed rune-covered trident (+6, 3d12+6) [+4, +4] {Dx+12} returns! You manage to catch it. *THUMB* *THUMB*
    You exactly hit the greater moloch and critically injure it. The blessed rune-covered trident (+6, 3d12+6) [+4, +4] {Dx+12} returns! You manage to catch it. *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* The greater moloch regenerates. *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB*
    You exactly hit the greater moloch and kill it. [+141242xp] You improve your skill with the 'Thrown spears' weapon category to level 1. The blessed rune-covered trident (+6, 3d12+6) [+4, +4] {Dx+12} returns! You manage to catch it. Congratulations! You advance to level 39.
    You gain the talent 'Very Pious'.
    You feel more in touch with the world. *THUMB*
    *THUMB* *THUMB*
    Thrown spears take very few marks to train, it appears. But what do I do when it doesn't return?

    Code:
    You pick up the uc ring of djinni summoning. *THUMB* The greater chaos servant regenerates. *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* The greater chaos servant regenerates.
    You dip the uc ring of djinni summoning into the potion of holy water. *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* *THUMB* The greater chaos servant regenerates. *THUMB*
    You rub the ring... and a huge white djinni appears enveloped by a large cloud.
    The djinni booms: "Being a ring djinni I will grant you one wish for freeing me! Choose wisely, mortal."
    willpower
    Your will seems inflexible!
    Why? For the acid ball range, of course! I did not need the wand of destruction, after all. This little elf took no prisoners.


    The gate slammed shut, and the invasion bombed.

    Not with a bang,



    but with a






    *THUMB*
    Attached Images Attached Images

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Posts
    18

    Default

    "Way past the infamous day 90, I put the sage out of his misery and carried on" - you mean you didn't pass the portal until after day 90? (shocked smiley)

    Anyway, late comment: nice read. And congratulations.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Posts
    1

    Default

    Could've been greater titans. Congratulations, dude. Such a nice read.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •