Human Monk UCG attempt #934

[Covenant]

This may not be to anyone's interest, but I really enjoy reading about others' games in progress, so I thought I'd do one of my own, as already within the first 1000 turns this game's proven to be an exciting one. If anyone has any suggestions about what to include/not to include, or how to change my writing style, please feel free, honestly.

Also, I don't know how to create flg/vlg's I can access on the server (I'm playing online under 'Covenant', so anyone who wants to watch is free to do so), so my descriptions will have to do for now.


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Covenant the Human Monk
Candle-Born

Entering Terinyo with high hopes, due to good starting stats including 21 Learning, I spoke to the Sheriff and the Little Girl to receive my preferred two starting quests. This done, I continued on my way to Lawenilothehl (Which will henceforth be referred to as Bandit Town, as this is really an awful name) to get a Bandit for my first kill, as I always do, and to examine the contents of the shop.

I attempted the SMC to get the Water Blanket, but was overwhelmed by a plethora of tough monsters (Berserkers, Ogres, etc), so I had to retreat. Thankfully my level-ups provided a great help due to the high Learning score, and upon exiting I quickly found Kranach the Raider Lord. A few hairy moments resulted in the need to use both my starting prayers, but he went down in the end. My only complaint was that I didn't get a corpse for him, but you can't have everything. Stopping only briefly to buy some supplies and collect my blood money from the Sheriff at Terinyo, I continued to the Puppy Cave.

I entered into a small room with only one visible exit, which to my delight I discovered led to an 'Exotic Extravaganza' containing a ring of damage, a scroll of familiar summoning, and an orcish spear of devastation! My danger sense kicked in, however, and I turned to Coward mode before entering - a wise choice, it turned out, as a mimic was lurking at the back. At my level I had no way to kill the thing, though thankfully my DV was high enough to avoid getting chain-paralysed. I didn't want to abandon the puppy though, so I spent nearly every last penny I had on that spear of devastation. Thankfully even on Coward mode it was enough to kill the mimic.

And more besides, it turned out. The ants on the second level were crushed like - well, ants. A nearby dark sage netted me a cure poison potion (identified thanks to its early appearance in the Bandit Town shop), handy for one of my frequent causes of early player death. A necromancer on the floor below provided a bit of a scare - I hate ghuls - but they too were dispatched with relative ease. The fourth floor netted me some elven chain mail some hobbit had carelessly just left lying around, which I quickly put on replacing my +1 PV robe. A minotaur showed up on the cavernous level, which surprised me a smidge, but my orcish spear of devastation was far too devastating for him. He died too. I also found another ring of damage, but decided I'd wait to try it until I was sure it wasn't cursed (would that mean it would reduce my damage? I've been playing too much Elona, I'm afraid).

I got a bit nervous as I approached the final set of stairs. I really, really wanted to save that damn puppy. And I knew he had a propensity for dying before I'd even laid eyes on him. I'd arrived with hours to spare before the deadline, but there was no way to know if a hostile monster would be generated in the room with him. The turns before I found him moved agonisingly slowly, but when I eventually found him he was alive and well - in the same room as a non-hostile chaos brother, of all things. I quickly slaughtered the unsuspecting chaos brother (in the name of peace and righteousness) before beginning my escape with the puppy in tow.

The ascent was nerve-wracking, but successful - I exited the Puppy Cave with its eponymous inhabitant intact. Once it had been safely returned to its mistress, I decided to take a break for a while, planning to return to the Puppy Cave and plunder its treasures later that night.

[_Ln_]

Oh, an orkish spear of devastation, found by a monk =) there is no justice in the world..)

As for the story, nice style)

Considering your amount of luck I think RNG is likely planning something extremely evil, like wicked stone block of slaughtering or smth. Watch out!

[Sradac]

nah, the RNG is a bit more cruel than that. I see you being ambushed a couple times by jackal packs.

lol j/k I wouldnt wish that upon ANYONE. how come kranach? I hate that quest half the time looking for him I get attacked by barbarians.

[Covenant]

I don't think I was THAT lucky (apart from being able to find Kranach quickly enough to also do the Puppy quest, and also the elven chain mail) - that spear of devastation was necessary to kill that damn Mimic :P

As for why Kranach - I always do the Kranach and Puppy quests. Restart if I miss one of them. I'm a completionist.

Anyway, my Monk is bravely continuing on!

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One of those damn cats was wandering around the cavernous level of the Puppy Cave when I came back, so I'll have to remember to watch out for that.

Cats. I hate cats.

The lesser vault was one of those mixed ones - a Skeleton Warrior came out soon after I opened it and started chasing me around the level. It took big chunks off my hp, but with some hit & run tactics I managed to take it down. Other enemies of note encountered in the Puppy cave included 4 cats (it's like a cat orgy!), a mummy and a karmic lizard, which I bow'd to death from right next to him (I'm always surprised this doesn't curse me). I also found a nice crystal shield (+2) [+9, +4], but while I was use-IDing my shields I equipped a cursed one that was rather crappy by comparison. Oh well, it'll do until I find a way to uncurse. Similarly, I'm now wearing some cursed white gauntlets.

A gibbering mouther took me to level 10 while I was down there. A tempting 3d4 modifier is standing next to my Athletics skill, but I'm trying to keep speed low so as to raise in level faster. In my playstyle, I typically have so much speed that gaining levels is near-impossible for me. So instead I raise Food Preservation and Alertness. Both are nearly 100 now, so hopefully some nice corpses will start to drop.

On the way out I discovered the shop now stocked some identify scrolls, and one was priced significantly higher than the others, so I bought it planning to identify my already-packed inventory (Strained, even with the Porter talent) once I'd added just a little more to it.

I paused at Terinyo to get my next quest (Guth'Alak's), stocked up on food, and headed for the Druid's Dungeon.

'This room seems tainted by evil'. Not a promising start. Thankfully, the monsters are even easier than the ones in the Puppy Cave, and their insides are quickly tainted by my spear, bringing me to level 11. I also get a spider corpse, which provides some very useful poison resistance.

After wandering around Strained! for a while and courting starvation, I eventually find a set of ring mail on level 6 that takes me to Overburdened! Sufficiently thrifty, I finally read my scroll of identify. And it was blessed! Perusing my inventory, I don't have much of note that I didn't already know about (nothing replaces my devastation spear or my elven chain mail, and my white gauntlets were only white leather), though I am pleased to see one of my potions is a blessed Potion of Gain Attributes! I also have a wand of magic missiles and one of far slaying, which might come in handy.

These in hand, I ascend back to the surface. If I find some early fortunate herb patches, I might go for a pre-crowning, so I won't generate the Druid just yet. I find a climbing set and a mysterious blanket on the way up.

Visited Yergius to gain Pick Pockets, and check the Bandit Town shop. Nothing interesting.

Now's the time when I'd normally try to descend the UD, but I can't quite remember where the stairs are. If they're far from the entrance, I'll wait until I have invisibility. I head over to the SMC to pop my head in and have a look. Prepare to see 'RIP Covenant'...

Hmm. They're not at the opposite side of the level, but they're not close either. One unfortunate bit of monster generation and I'd be a goner. I decide to risk it anyway... But in the second room there's a cat! Best not to tempt fate. Loathe as I am to ruin my impressive speed (not even day 9!), I'll have to walk to the CoC.

I arrive shortly before Day 12. Not terrible. There's a pool on the second level, but I'll wait until I have a way to undoom myself first. I seem to have a propensity for getting Pool-doomed. The room is of some use to me, though, as shortly afterward I find a few blink-dogs here and slaughter them for a corpse, which I eat.

A ghul almost gets me on the arena level - Strained! and on Berserk, my DV is only 14 - but thankfully my PV of 7 stops its attacks. Below that, though, my prayers are answered - or will be. A Neutral altar! I quickly dump all my unidentified items. Use IDing some of my non-cursed equipment, I discover I have a robe of protection [0, +4]. I've got a back-up to my elven chain-mail, at least, to use if I'm worried about it getting damaged. A nearby small tension room takes me to inner peace, so I take the opportunity to bless some water. Around this time I also foolishly stand on the altar while a hobgoblin's in the room with me, but I don't get sacrificed, so I assume that only neutral creatures can sacrifice on a neutral altar. Phew!

The next level is a river-level, which is impassable (I'm trapped on a rocky outcrop with no place to go), but not otherwise note-worthy. I attempt to use the opportunity to swim in the river until my cursed shield rusts (for some reason this utterly fails, despite the fact that it can rust as it's at 'rusty'), before returning to the upper levels to pass time until I'm level 13 and can kick my way through the walls.

I'll continue on until I reach more exciting fare, and then post a summary update, as I think I'm waffling on a bit too much.

P.S.

Couldn't resist adding this last bit - I went to visit the Old Barbarian, then stopped at Darkforge just to get a look at the upper level. In the first room was a friendly rust monster and a very unfriendly steel zombie. The two fought - and the zombie won! Does anyone else think there's a missed opportunity there?

[Covenant]

Well the last hour or so has been extremely exciting! Let me try make sure I get it all in.

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Firstly, that river was an absolute pain in the ass to cross. It turned out that all the time I'd been using to try rust my shield/gain swimming skill was a mistake, as when I finally did swim to the nearest outcroppings I discovered that some claw bugs had been breeding and had taken over the entire level. Lacking a way to kill all of them while swimming/drowning, I was screwed. So I went back to the level above, where there was an altar, to sacrifice my way to level 13. Which took quite a while. I did reach Very Close though, which was handy.

When I finally gained the kick stone ability, I was able to make short work of the bugs and proceed down all the way to Dwarf Town. The Big Room wasn't really a problem, although a werewolf decided to summon around 200 wolves at me before finally getting exhausted, so they took a while to kill - particularly because at some point during the confusion my spear became broken as well as rusted, so my damage output was negligible. I saved a lot of the herb patches though, so was happy when I finally reached Dwarftown.

My quest was simply for an orc, so that was completed without problem. Exploring below Dwarftown I found several more levels with herbs, so once I get herbalism from the druid I'll have quite the supply. Other nice discoveries included some boots of speed in the shop (which I haven't bought yet, though I plan to), a lesser vault (spiders - didn't get anything from it, but I do like the variety) and a few random rings. Also, the Dwarven Halls were very easy to pass because the stairs were so close to each other.

One strange thing about them, though, is a door trap. I kicked open a door (bad, I know, but I had no keys, and I forgot about wall-kicking) and got blinded and stunned. I staggered around (doubly bad - I hope I didn't kill any cats without realising!) for at least 100 turns before eventually getting fed up, praying, and having my blindness removed. 'Stunned' took another few turns to wear off. Is condition length linked to danger level, or something? It was very strange.

Once I'd gotten past there, I decided to return to Dwarf Town (noting a potion shop generated on D:10, right below Dwarf Town, along with a forge and an altar!), killing a few miscellaneous enemies on the way and pocketing more random items. I noticed a fair few obscure rings - things like 'Jade' and such, which I'm not used to finding early on (which turned out to be of Fire - I have two of those now. Honestly, what's the point? Grr).

Best of all, however, is this. When I got back to Dwarf Town and started on the Ogre Quest, I decided to take a break after clearing the first room (as it felt a waste not eating any corpses, I was hoping to find some cursed curaria mancox herbs or something to get sick with, to help in training strength). But when I identified my new acquisitions (using my second ID scroll out of the three I've encountered in the whole game. I really need to find some more soon), I discovered along with a Ring of Speed +5, I'd picked up... A Ring of Weakness!

I've never had one of these in a game before. And at the perfect time, too! The only question now is how exactly to use it. I'm petrified of crushing myself to death. Also, I don't want to 'cheat' - I've read comments on here before that imply their use is a bit scummy. I didn't wish for one or scum for it though, it just popped up. So, what are peoples' thoughts? And does anyone know how much I can safely carry without being squashed?

Thank God for that Elven Chain Mail, that's all I'll say.

Also, while I'm here - is there any reason no one seems to ever be playing online? I'm loving it, but every time I go to spectate there's just the same 8 Idlers. What's up with that?

[gut]

I say don't bother with the ring. If you want to scum your St
stat, just use starvation. It's a lot safer and handy enough if
you have some stomachemtia. Sickness also seems a waste
of time to me.

[Covenant]

I say don't bother with the ring. If you want to scum your St
stat, just use starvation. It's a lot safer and handy enough if
you have some stomachemtia. Sickness also seems a waste
of time to me.

I haven't any stomaceptia at all, I'm afraid. Hopefully I'll find some soon, but I'm waiting for one more level-up (to raise Herbalism) before I do any serious picking.

I gave the ring a go - it wasn't as dramatic as I was afraid of, I still had 600 stones worth of carrying capacity to play around with. I gained 2 or 3 points of strength from the Ogre Cave; certainly helpful! More to come later.

Having hit a bit of a wall (not wanting to kill Khelevaster), I decided to give pre-crowning a go. After much herb-farming, I got precrowned - with Hammerhead. Joy. Is there any use for this at all? I suppose it's Ratling fodder, at least. While I was gathering herbs I got the 'tough skin' corruption. This didn't particularly phase me, as I had a ready supply of Moss. I am a bit concerned though; so far, my only anti-corruption equipment is a single potion of cure corruption, from the Druid's corpse. If I should get something particularly nasty, like poison hands, I'd be in a bit of trouble right now. Hmm.

Anyway, that pre-crowning disappointment under my belt, I decided to go to the pyramid. Found a Potion of Gain Attributes lying around, which was nice. Rehetep went down easily to my spear. With the Ancient Mummy wrapping, I decided to take on the arena, no longer fearing Li Hon Kay's icy wrath. In the end, Bonk was my opponent, and he died without any trouble.

That done, I decided to give Darkforge a go. Not having any great intrinsics at the moment, and my piety being high, I believed my situation could only improve from pool drinking. Sadly, though, I was unable to get past the steel golems - I'm just not buff enough right now, it seems.

So the Dwarven Graveyard was my next target - I got a lot of pickpocketing and general slaying done here. My DV must be high for my level, because I didn't get stat-drained once (despite my cavalier, 'always on very aggressive' tactics). Nonnak was no problem whatsoever, and I unremorsefully dug up Griff's grave to get the Sword (purely for the Rattling).

While I was on this side of the map, I decided to attempt the SMC once more; this time with the benefit of invisibility. There were a couple of tense moments when the potions wore off, but I got through in the end. The Unremarkable Dungeon was remarkable for one main reason, other than the amount of dark rooms - I found a blessed ring of Djinni summoning just laying on the seventh floor (when I saw 'Ordinary ring' I couldn't resist the urge to immediately greater identify it - identify scrolls are still incredibly rare in my game).

Not much else happened for a while - I sorted through my equipment, raised my stats a little through herbs, and lost the only free action amulet I had (and bow! Grr) in a fireball trap. Nuts. I also bashed my way down to Khelevaster (finding another spider lesser vault on the way, but like the other one, it didn't have anything in it), but I decided to wait before using my ring on an amulet of lifesaving - I'd kick myself if one turned up in the Tomb of the High King, or the Gremlin Cave. And my luck seems to be holding - I also found a set of Bone Bracers, +6 Toughness and a set of Black Dragon Scale Mail! Perhaps with those and the Ankh, I should give Darkforge a go... Hmm.

So I'm unsure where to go next. Tomb of the High Kings? Possibly. My wishlist is: Seven League Boots, Amulet of Life-Saving, a Ring of Ice, Giant Slug corpse, Wyrmlance. Hmm. I'm going to take a break for now.

Thanks, everyone who's reading. Oh, and here's a slg.
http://ancardia.ath.cx/adom_users/covenant/covenant.slg

It doesn't take into account things in my stash, which is pretty much my potions of Gain Attribute and a couple of spellbooks, but most of it's there.

[nathrakh]

You can't wish for Wyrmlance. It's an artifact.


edit: +an.

[Laukku]

I'm pretty sure you can't wish for corpses either.

[Ars]

Wishing for a corpse gives the said creature, but alive.