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This thread is about Combat Chronos, the Human Chaos-Warrior. He's already at depth 20, and going strong. This time around, there is a character dump available: http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=6801.
Episode 1: Levels 0-12, 12-20
Chronos found out early on that low-level Chaos-Warriors have very little in common with Warriors, despite the confusing similarity in title. Chronos attempted the quest to kill Lagduf the Orc on level 6, but was soon overwhelmed by the orcs and forced to retreat. During the fight, his chaos patron Khaine presented him with an enchanted pike, and he managed to escape with it.
On level 11, Chronos came across the tome Nature's Gifts. Excellent!
On level 12, the quest was to kill Gorbag the Orc Captain. Chronos intended to flee the level immediately, but he saw an unidentified potion lying nearby and decided to snatch it. Unfortunately, a swarm of orcs came out of nowhere and rushed at him, blocking his access to the stairs from which he had just arrived; he hacked them to pieces one by one, but when he saw Gorbag coming for him, he read his only scroll of Phase Door, landing in a nearby room. He didn't know if Gorbag would be able to reach his current location, but he couldn't take the chance; if the Orc Captain were to find him, he'd be dead meat. So Chronos did the cowardly thing and read his scroll of Word of Recall, then ran away from the battlefield so that if Gorbag was in pursuit, he'd have some extra time. Moments later, he arrived in Town, looking to sell the Gifts and buy some useful stuff with the cash.
[AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's too bad I couldn't get to depth 20 all in one dive, but this was a case where the alternative was certain death. Since Gorbag moves faster than me, and since I was out of scrolls, there would have been no escape if he'd gotten his hands on me.]
Chronos killed Lion Heart and Farmer Maggot while in Town; Lion Heart dropped some useless armor and Maggot dropped Boots of Levitation. Chronos purchased a Ring of Resist Fire and some other handy items, along with a lot of Identify, Word of Recall, Phase Door, Teleportation, Cure Critical Wounds, Heroism, and Cure Serious Wounds. Healing potions and escape scrolls are critical for dungeoneers, don't ever get caught without them!
Back in the dungeon, Chronos was given a short sword of Venom by the ever-generous Khaine. He used the sword to kill the trickster Robin Hood, whose treasure included a Trident of Westernesse. Elated with this excellent find, Chronos decided to experiment with some of the unidentified wands he'd been hoarding, using a pack of Skaven as guinea pigs. Two of the wands were uninteresting, but the third -- very difficult to activate properly -- blew away half the pack in a single blast. It was a wand of Dragon's Frost. Chronos couldn't use it reliably, but he decided to hang on to it as a last-ditch defense should the need arise.
Chronos was getting 4 blows per round with his trident, and so he felt supremely confident when he went up against Ufthak and his marauding band of Orcs on dungeon level 14. He impaled them all, one by one; and this deed pleased Khaine so greatly that the god decreed,
"THOU NEEDST A NEW FORM, MORTAL!"
Ouch.
His stats had been jumbled, and the results were not strictly favorable. Sure, he had much better constitution now, so that his hit points were excellent; his charisma was a lot higher than before; but his mana reserves had been halved due to a loss of intelligence, and his dexterity had been reduced so greatly that he only got 2 blows per turn with his trident.
Despite the setback, Chronos continued to dive. On one level, just as he descended the stairs, he came face-to-face with a Trench Wurm. He tried to fight the beast, but it was no good; he went back up the stairs and rested up. He went down the stairs a second time, but this time he didn't bother to fight the Wurm, and instead just bypassed it with a scroll of Teleportation. Chronos landed amidst a fleet of Flying Skulls, who bit him and drained him of his strength. Ducking down a nearby staircase, Chronos ran into Hobbes the Tiger and a pack of wolves. Dodging past them with a scroll of Phase Door, Chronos found a downshaft and arrived on level 20, where he read a scroll of Word of Recall.
In town, he purchased a very fine Rusty Chain Mail of Dwarven make, which increased his strength by 3, but because of his low Dexterity, he still only could get 2 blows with the trident. He'd have to make do.
[AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've been going one by one through the classes, trying each class one or two or three times. Failed attempts include Rogues, Mages, Priests, Rangers, Paladins, and a Warrior-Mage. Perhaps I'll return to these some day, but the Chaos-Warrior is the only one I brought safely to level 20. First-stair diving isn't too bad with good fighter classes, but it's harder to pull off with mages and gimpy low-level semi-warriors.]
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