The long winded life of Kremlen, the High Elf Ranger.

[buzzkill]

Let it be known that I, Kremlin, will live my life without the benefit of a healthy gene pool, connected stairs or selling to stores, and will be in search of a random artifact set, should I be skilled enough to survive so long. Having inherited a spell book, a bow, leather armour, torches and food, my store bought provision for my first descent include, a cloak, a gladius for hand to hand combat, an extra bunch of 25 arrows, a few scrolls of phase door, a WoR, and a few scrolls of detect objects and treasures. I soon realized that I may need some healing too. Being out of GP, I shamefully picked off a mean looking mercenary from afar and used his GP to buy a few CLW's. Survival of the fitter, I guess.

CL1. DL1. Day 1, 00:23:42 - My high-elf dungeoneering instincts led me to detect immediately upon descent. It paid off, detecting 10 nearby items. It's the mother lode. I headed off in the direction of a cloak and dagger, but the passage turned to the north and I ended up instead finding a cloudy potion. Knocked off a harmless snake, and next came to a treasure filled room. It contained a phase door, pink potion, an unknown scroll, and a previously undetected whip. Heading south now, I killed a drunkard and a newt, before entering up the next treasure room. Finds were a CLW, sandals, some iron shots and a sling. Just to the south another pink potion and another newt, dead. Further south, I found 53 copper, now totaling 148. Now I must find my way to the elusive cloak and dagger which I first sought. This required some backtracking and I found an exit along the way. I tried clearing rubble and found it to be time consuming. Beyond the exit lie a room containing a fruit bat, a gecko, and a hazy potion, but no other passages, which I was hoping for. A quick search revealed nothing so I began another retracing of my steps. Along the way he found a diversion, which led to a down stair case and some 72 copper pieces. I found yet another way down and killed the worm mass that guarded it. Jackals then attacked me and were all destroyed and a third downward passage was revealed in their lair. My bow failed me against my first humanoid, a small kobold, but my blade took it down, and it's corpse yielded a dirty old robe. Victory over the kobold brought CL2 and an additional 6 HP, now totaling 21. I also learned my first spell, detect animal. Surely it should read detect animals, I thought to myself. Over an hour had passed since I set out on my latest quest for the cloak and dagger. I now find my fourth down stair case. Perhaps the RNG is ready for me to move on. Indeed, it seems that the cloak and dagger are unaccessible, walled off in another portion of the dungeon. If a brief search doesn't yield a secret door, then I will have no choice but to leave. Finding the door was hard. Picking the lock was easy. Killing the awaiting bat was easy. Killing the floating eye, and then the second floating eye, and then the third floating eye was hard. It seemed that every step revealed another floating eye. Thankfully, they seemed to be paralyzed, perhaps by each other, as none of them bothered to take any action against me. Let's hope that these last two treasures will be worth all the trouble. In route back to the stairs I encountered a baby brite sprite. It's light based attack was no match for my innate light resistance, and thus the outcome of the battle was quite predictable. Now standing upon the stairway, ID by use revealed the scroll to be of blessing. Wielding the iron shots and the sandals proved them to be non-cursed. My cloaks stacked, proving them identical so I ditched one of them. I refueled my torch. My pack still contains four un-ID'd weapon/armour (awaiting pseudo) and three un-ID'd potions. Not bad for DL1, now on to DL2.

DL2. CL2. Day 1, 3:44:37 - I have a powerful urge to run away? Level feelings, meh. I dropped in right next to another pink potion, my third. Nothing else catches my eye, so I decide to detect treasures, and I do, six of them. This should keep me busy for a while. I set off toward the nearest, a set of gloves, but once again my dungeon-sense is off and I end up following a twisting corridor to a room containing a different set of gloves and a partially used torch. While backtracking, my whip, sandals,and iron shots all pseudo as average, as expected. I soon reached the detected set of gloves and they stacked nicely with the first set indicating to me that they were both probably average, so I put them on, but my covered hands felt unsuitable for spell casting, so I took them off again and decided to try casting my one and only spell, which I had forgotten about. I failed, which was a 29% probability. Let's call that whole episode miscue number one. I also found and quaffed a clear potion, of water, of course. Everybody knows that. Just to the south was another room where I engaged in an archery battle with a novice archer. We were both perfect with our aim, but he fell first. He dropped 135 copper and I found 77 more on the floor, bringing my total to 432. Upon securing my next object, a filthy rag, I found that I had regained enough mana to try casting detect animal again. "Emm-one-aye", I cried out, but failed again. A crow suddenly appeared and fell to a single arrow. A ration of food lie to the south, but I headed north instead toward the two un-ID'd scrolls. I finally cast my spell successfully and found Fang to be far to the west, and a bunch of cave spiders to the north, where I would soon be heading. After picking up the first scroll I continued on. Picking an ordinary lock gained me CL3 and 15 more HP, 36 total. Scroll number two was in a column lined room along with a sad excuse for a torch, which I used for fuel, and the previously mentioned spiders, asleep. Since my current HP's had not caught up with my recent promotion, I decided to avoid the spiders for now. Finding a stairway seemed more important. I headed south, toward what should have been the center of the dungeon, and a little nearer to Fang than I would have liked. I had nothing in particular driving my exploration, save for the hope of finding stairs. Maybe I would seek out that ration of food after all. I was a little dismayed when passage south quickly dead ended and I was unable to find a secret door, maybe because there was none, or maybe because my searching ability sucks. Now, I took my first big risk, at least it felt like a big risk. Putting my stealth to the test, I crept westward past the spiders, exiting the room without waking any. Killing the whole pack would have gained me another experience level, but I didn't want to press my luck against these quick moving creatures. About 100' to the west, the corridor ended and split north and south. Detecting animals again, I found another long line of spider just to the west. Had the corridor continued, I would have walked right into them. Being surrounded by spiders isn't where I wanted to be, so I headed south, and hopefully away from all of them. After 30' I found another dead end. No sooner than I began to search did I hear a door burst open. Can spiders do that, I thought. No, they were still asleep. but Fang was on the move, approaching from due south. Fighting Fang here, among the spiders, wouldn't end well, so I tried to retreat to safer territory. While sneaking back past the first bunch of spiders, one awoke. My first arrow hit hard, as it closed on me. Then miscue number two happened. A faulty key press resulted in my next shot sailing off in the wrong direction. Then it was upon me and attacked, doing not insignificant damage, but luckily no poison from these guys. I hit it with my sword, nearly killing it, but it woke a few of it's friends, and now I was in trouble. It was 4 on 1 and I would quickly be surrounded, so I phased. Despite the room being large, I got somewhat lucky and landed just inside the recently twice explored corridor just to the west, which was good, it just wasn't the corridor I was hoping for. The corridor to the east would have been far better. By the time I retreated a few steps, to insure that I didn't get surrounded, I was one-third injured and grazed. I read WoR and then crossed my fingers and hoped that CLW and heroic battle skills would see me through. I managed to kill one spider, but then had to heal. The CLW restored a measly 4 HP, bringing my total to 14, then back down to 9 by the time the spiders had their turn. Another lucky phase landed my a little further west down the corridor. Another CLW brought my HP to 16 and out came the bow. My first shot dropped an unseen spider. Another shot, another dead spider. Three down, more to go. A miss brought one of them into view, but my next shot killed it. By now they were upon me once again. A swing and a miss and my HP's dropped to 13. A solid hit and a kill dropped their numbers further, and brought my HP's to 11. The next spider proved more difficult, and by the time I was done with him I had used a CLW, and was left with 13 HP. There seemed to be a pause in the battle, maybe the rest had not awaken. I retreated 60' further west and still no spiders. Detecting animals revealed one had awoken and was entering the long corridor to pursue me. There were two more still asleep. I fired arrows blindly down the corridor until recall kicked in a couple of minutes later. Level feelings, meh.

Town. CL3. Day 1, 5:06:36 - I purchased a WoR and a stack of arrows at the general store. Dropped my heavy iron shots and un-ID'd sling at home. Destroyed the {average} whip. The armory had nothing that I needed, and the magic shop had nothing that I could afford. At the alchemy shop, I donated one of my three pink potions (of heroism). Without any money to waste on ID, I also donated my hazy potion (of resist cold) and my cloudy potion (of slowness). I picked up a few phase doors and a couple detect objects and treasure, plus a scroll of magic mapping for those pesky hard to find stairs. I spent the rest of my GP at the temple getting some more CLW's. I then went window shopping at the black market, just to see what they had. That rod of frost bolts would be nice. I'll be taking the stairs back down. There's no sense, and no GP to waste, recalling to DL2. I had to kill an FS urchin and then decided to stop at the weapon shop and pick up a few more arrows with my last few GP as I trekked back to the stairs. Well, I'm not fully recovered from my battle with the spiders, but close enough. Down I go.

[Tiburon Silverflame]

Does he paint his armor red?

Which weapon is his favorite, hammer or sickle?

Enquiring minds want to know......

[buzzkill]

DL1. CL3. Day 1, 5:30:56 - I descended into an empty room. Detecting treasures revealed two unknown scrolls, some rounded pebbles and some copper pieces. Detect animal revealed nothing of concern. Heading due west, I quickly secured the 49 copper pieces. I would have skipped searching for the pebbles, but they were conveniently located, just to the south, so I grabbed them too. I killed a few minor annoyances in route to finding the first scroll, only wandering off in the wrong direction once. A disgusting worm briefly frightened me, but that was the worst of my battle trauma. At some point I discovered that the robe in my pack was {average} and thus disposed of it. The second scroll was exactly where I thought it would be, guarded only by a newt, now dead. The newly found scroll stacked with one already in my pack. Satisfied with my success on this level, I headed back to a previously discovered down staircase. Standing upon the stairs, I discovered my matching scrolls to be of darkness and squelched them forever. After I regained my sight, I read another unknown scroll (of summon monster). It managed to conjure forth only a pair of geckos, which I quickly dispatched. I was unable to determine any effect that my last unknown scroll may have had. Only slightly damaged (by the geckos), down the stairs I go.

DL2. CL3. Day 1, 7:06:30 - I descended in a corridor running to the north and south. At the north end, 30' away was a lit room, a novice mage standing, as if guarding the entrance. Before I could do anything (which is kind of frightening in and of itself), he moved to the west, but not quite out of line of sight. I notched an arrow, but it only grazed him. He foolishly advanced as the second and third arrows struck. Finally he fled, as mages are known to do. My final shot pierced the back of his robes. He had no possessions, but the room contained a dark green potion and an {average} pair of sandals, quickly destroyed. The room also contained no exits other than the one I entered through, so I headed back the same way I came. The passage continued south for 130' where it open into another lit room occupied by a kobold. It took four arrows to drop the kobold, and a fifth to dispose of the crow that flew in. I recovered my arrows and also a walking stick that was dropped. I obtained CL4 and 13 more HP's, bringing by total to 49. It also allowed me to learn the spell, blink, with a 34% failure rate. Within the room I found a dark blue potion, a harpy feather wand (of stinking cloud), and 68 copper pieces as well as a snake and a frog, both dead. I had just cleaned up the room when another kobold strolled in, and was destroyed. With multiple exits from this room to consider, I turned to a scroll of detect treasure to point the way. It pointed in all directions. A robe to the south and copper to the east and west. Heading east, I quickly found the first pile of 85 copper pieces. Following a different path back to the west then south, I found a stair case leading down. While trying to make my way to the detected robe, I killed off a few inconsequential enemies, and the passages took some unexpected turns, and led me to the 42 copper pieces instead bringing my total to 342. There was also a fire trap that I stumbled upon (ouch) and an up stair case which I wasn't much interested in. After some minor exploration, I couldn't find an obvious path to the robe, so I decided to leave it behind and head for the down stair case. Standing upon the stairs I refueled my torch, and I noticed the filthy rag I was carrying was worthless, so I destroyed it. Feeling somewhat confident, further down I go.

[buzzkill]

DL3. CL4. Day 1, 8:19:26 - I found myself in a twisting passage, running roughly north and south. I headed north toward the center of the dungeon. A maze of tunnels ensued and I found another dark green potion along the way. Eventually I found myself headed east and into a young novice rangers dream, a room with not one but two stacks of arrows. The first stack of 34 stacked with the ones already in my quiver. The second stack of 21 were a bit more of a mystery, and therefore not immediately wielded. Further to the south, an empty room. I turned back north, looking for virgin dungeon to detect objects on. By the time I had stopped, I had reached the northern edge of the map, and a lit room containing a naga hatchling which took nearly a dozen arrows to kill, some leather armour (destroyed) and a sling. From there I headed west into another unoccupied room. It was there that I decided to detect treasures and found there to be a staff, a potion, and a fairly useless scroll of summon monster nearby. The (beech) staff was closest, and most desirable, and quickly in my grasp. In route to the potion, a came across a priest, a novice, who quickly cursed me to no effect, then quickly died leaving behind 81 copper. Beyond the priest, a door, then a crow, and finally a lit room containing the clotted red potion. Exiting to the south, I quickly encountered Grip. He latched onto me and held tight, so I beat him to a pulp, and dropped him with an arrow as he fled. His death brought about CL5, an additional 2 HP's bringing my total to 51, and the ability to learn the spell call light (29% fail), which I chose not to learn at this particular moment. I continued south, then the passage turned west and led to room with a scroll of summon monster (squelched), and some led shots. The shots burdened me, so I ate a couple to rations of food to lighten my load, but not enough. I was then interrupted by an invisible something throwing bit of junk at me. Carefully watching where it's projectiles were coming from, I was able to hit it with a arrow once, but it wasn't deterred. I decided to flee the room, and as I opened the door I was confronted by a kobold shaman. I beat him till dead, then shut the door behind me. I was down to 26 HP's. At this point I downed a potion of heroism, and decided to learn the spell call light. Maybe my invisible enemy is light sensitive. It's then that I noticed it right next to me, something ghostly, in the door that I had just passed through. I attacked and missed. It tried to terrify me, but failed. Since I was now in a relatively confined area, I used my wand of stinking cloud and a wall. Though I never hit it directly, two charges was enough to kill it. It dropped a {tried} scroll and 116 copper. I recovered my spent arrows and continued to clean out my pack, disposing of some old leather gloves, and 32 pebbles. I used another charge from the wand of stinking cloud to kill a scruffy hobbit. He got too close and I didn't want him stealing my gold. I wandered for a bit, searching for the stairs. A goblin found me, and I killed it, securing a third dark green potion. But then suddenly, there were three more goblins, and who knows how many more after that. Discretion being the better part of valor, I let the closest take a free swing at me as I read my scroll of magic mapping. It revealed an up stair case just around the corner. It is here that the battle with the goblins would take place. I found my way to the stairs, and killed the first goblin, quaffing a heroism along the way. Another scruffy hobbit crept up behind me, so I clouded him, killing him. The third goblin dropped easily and gained my CL6 and 13 additional HP's, 64 total, 27 current. Only one goblin remained, and I really wanted to kill him, so I could safely pick up the cap and shield that had been dropped, but after another potion of heroism and two CLW's I was both injured and stunned. I abandoned the staircase and retreated until the stunning wore off, then resumed the fight, killing the last goblin who dropped 64 copper. I collected the shield and the cap and put them on, both apparently non-cursed. I cleaned up my arrows and decided to explore this level a bit more, looking for a path deeper. ID by use revealed the beech staff to be of cure light wounds. I headed south and, after a while, ran into a wasp. I killed it quickly but then there was another. Fearing a swarm, I used the stinking cloud to kill one and injure another. I cast detect animal to find that there were only three, two already dead, with Fang bringing up the rear. Fang put up a bit of a fight but died in the end. I came to a room, further south, where I dispatched a shrieker 'shroom patch, and picked up another CLW. While traversing the dungeon to get to the unexplored half, I ran into two more goblins which prompted me to use the last of my stinking clouds and destroyed the wand. One goblin died, the other escaped. I found another set of stairs, leading up. Cast call light, for the first time, to lighten a unlit room. Caught up with the cowardly goblin and killed it and destroyed the cap that it dropped. Found a green speckled potion and finally two downward stairs, right next to each other. It took me an extra hour and 45 minutes to find the down stairs. Onward downward I go.

DL4. CL6. Day 1, 11:57:29 - Dropped into a lit room containing a torch which I used for fuel. With nothing to guide me, I cast detect animals in search of thing to avoid while searching for the stairs. Now wouldn't be a terrible time to recall, but I'd like to pick up some more GP first. Jackals, spiders, and frogs detected. I'll head south away from the spiders. The passage twisted and dead ended in an empty room. It looks like I'll be heading north toward the spiders after all. My wielded shield and cap ID'd as average, as well as a dagger in my pack. After wandering for a while, I found an up staircase, a straw golem which I shot to death and also picked up a pair of gloves and an orange potion. More wandering and I eventually came back to the previously detected spiders. Killing three gained me CL7, and 10 more HP. Killing the rest was just for fun. Pelted a lactoplasm until it died. Crushed a kobold shaman for 173 copper. Whipped a wolf. Destroyed the (cursed) sling I'd been carrying and found the 21 arrows to be {good, wielded}. I found a room full of wasps, which scared me a little, but the room also contained a lantern and some copper, so I decided to risk it. I killed a few wasps before entering, and most of the others were unaware or asleep. Using the {good} arrows to kill any wasp that woke, I managed to grab all the loot and recover all my arrows, before casting 'blink' (for the first time) to safely escape. Having no further need of them, I destroyed all my torches and wielded the lantern. Wandered some more and annihilated an ant. Frogged a frog. Slaughtered my first skeleton, a kobold. Found an unknown scroll. Killed a kobold and gained 214 copper. Killed an ant and a snake and found another CLW. I found another up staircase and just then I noticed that the gloves in my pack were {splendid}. Wielding them increased my DEX(+1), and they seem to be suitable for spell casting. I destroyed the {average} walking stick and dagger that had been in my pack and ID'd by use a scroll of monster confusion. Finally, a down stair case. Happily down I go.

[buzzkill]

DL5. CL7. Day 1, 15:06:21 - Dropped into an empty well lit room. Exits to the west, east and south. No interesting animals are detected so I head south toward the center of the dungeon in search of stairs. I bumped into something invisible and killed it, revealing another dark green potion. Discovered a lemon jelly alone in a room and decided to let it be. At one point during my exploration In a long north/south corridor I was blind sided ay a magic missile. I responded by with two {good} arrows, killing the unseen offender. It was about that time that Ted Sandyman showed up and I decided to kill him. It was easier than I had anticipated thanks to the {good} arrows and that scroll of confuse monster read earlier. Pelted a novice ranger with arrows until dead. For some reason he never fired back. Tried to pick off a disenchanter eye, but it could heal itself faster than I could kill it (with average arrows), so I gave up and moved on. Found a spear and a purple potion in a room just to the south and a down stairs just outside. I had four dark green potion in my pack so I decided to try one of them. They are of speed, woo-hoo. Disco dancing deeper down I go.

DL6. CL7. Day 1, 16:03:20 - Dropped into a columned empty room. I set off to the north in search of prey, but found none before the speed faded away. The stairs came quickly, along with a cutlass. The boring level feeling combined with the apparent absence of enemies led me to descend. Clickity clack, clown the stairs I go.

DL7. CL7. Day 1, 16:12:12 - Descended into a lit room containing zombie and a spear. I destroyed the spear, along with the matching one in my pack. In a room just to the south I found a hand crossbow (which I really need to come up with a graphic for). Wandered for a bit before killing some creeping coins, getting 351 copper bringing my total to 1743. Also gained CL8, bring my HP total to 80, SP's up to 12. I lit the room to reveal a kobold, who dropped 84 silver, and a red naga. I didn't know red nagas could breathe fire. Luckily, only an arrow was destroyed. It dropped a short sword. Found a pair of boots which burdened me and prompted me to clean out my pack. I ate my last bit of food. Tried a {tried} scroll without further success. Dropped some of my un-ID'd iron shots. Killed a hobgoblin, but he dropped nothing. I had a tough time with a nighthawk which cost me a couple of phase doors and a couple of charges off my staff of CLW. Casting detect animal revealed nothing else dangerous nearby. Foolishly swapped out my hard leather cap with a {cursed} one that I found on the floor. I picked up a chimera hide wand, only the second wand I've found, and put it to the test against a dark elf. It's a wand of light, quite effect against the elf. It soon died and dropped a scroll of blessing. That same room contained some iron shots which stacked with my pack shots, and were destroyed. My trusty staff of CLW psudoed as {average}, and both the short sword and cutlass showed {good}. That revelation makes the short sword my new primary weapon, at least until I find some ID. I encountered a sleeping manes in a hallway and chose not to wake it not knowing how many more there might lined up behind it. Wandered further. The stairs are proving quite elusive. Picked up an unknown scroll. Tried my hand at mining again, but my weapon is no better, maybe worse, than the old. Krushed a kobold for 115 copper. Found a small shield and unwilling to repeat the mistake I made earlier with my cap, stuffed it in my pack. I picked a fight with a raven, who didn't seem very tough, but it pecked at my eyes, blinding me. One less CLW in my pack. I killed a dark elf, who dropped a lantern that I used for fuel then destroyed, and in the process awoke some novice warriors. There were two that I could see, but I suspected that there were more. I used phased door to gain a little space, then lit the corridor with my wand of light. They were already near. I was down a few HP's and didn't want to screw around so I used my {good} arrows. The first to die dropped a scroll. The second a CLW. The third 119 silver and then the flow stopped. I went to go see what the problem was. It turned out that there were some more, just not exactly where I expected them to be. The first of the new group fell to my sword, but not before he foolishly alerted his friends. I cast 'blink' to get some more space, and it conveniently placed me in the same place in had just moments ago, how nice. I toyed with the second and he hurt me just a little before he dropped. The third fell to my arrows and dropped a ring, my first. The warrior well had run dry again, so I went in search of yet more. The first dropped another staff of CLW, so I used all the charges in my original and destroyed it. The second fled but I caught up with him. He led me right to three priests. While cleaning up I found a smokey and my second orange potion. I finally found the down staircase but wanted to make sure that there weren't any more easy human targets wandering. Instead, I found a couple of throwing axes and a scroll of magic mapping guarded by a bloodshot eye. I needed room in my pack for these new items so I put that damn {cursed} ring on. Let's hope that it's something fun like teleportation, and not seriously bad. Back at the stairs I found my two unknown scrolls to be of light and trap detection. I probably should have done that a little earlier. There are six un-ID'd potions and five weapons/armours in my pack. Haven't found any ID yet. I must have gained CL9 at some point. HP's now 95 max. SP's 1 of 13, damn that bloodshot eye. There are no spell I'm interested in learning in my current book. Diddily deeper down I go.

[buzzkill]

DL8. CL9. Day 1, 21:33:08 - Descended, for the first time, into an unlit room. Detecting animal revealed nothing, but didn't completely alleviate my concerns. It was a little scary and prodded me, once again, to consider recalling. Read the scroll of magic mapping instead. Detected a down staircase just to the south, but without a direct path it would take me a while to get to it. Headed west, then turned south, then east and ran into a slime blob in a corridor as I neared the stairs. I hack and backed it to death, but then there was another. I dealt with it the same way, but then there were three more. It was then that I realized it was a breeder, so I slammed a door in it's face and sought another path to the stairs. I was soon back where I started a stumbled across a poison gas trap, then noticed clear worm masses breeding, slowly filling the room. I narrowly made to the opposite exit and, once again, slammed the door. being both poisoned and injured gave me a chance to test a few potions. The dark blue was resist heat. Clotted red was confusion. Green speckled remains a mystery. Purple was berserk strength. Smokey was clumsiness, doogh! Orange, my last un-ID'd potion was neutralize poison, of which I have one remaining. I rested until the resist heat, the berserk strength, and finally the confusion wore off. Moving east, I found 85 copper. My staff of CLW pseudoed as {good}. At the end of a passage heading south, I saw a lit room packed full of kobolds, and maybe a unique if I'm lucky. I dropped the first large kobold with 2 arrows. It dropped a scroll. Another small kobold fell, and I continued to pelt then with arrows, while their own archer continued to shoot his allies in the back. The bow wasn't dropping them fast enough, and they were soon upon me, so I used a potion of speed. The shield in my pack showed {good}, so I swapped it and destroyed my old one. My hand crossbow also pseudoed {good}. I dropped another with my sword, and now it appeared that a kobold mage had also joined the battle, attacking his own side with magic missiles. The ranged attack AI really needs a tweak. Killed another, and then the archer. Another died and dropped a chest under my feet, slowing me, just a bit, so I too dropped it. There were still four in LOS when the speed wore off, so I begrudgingly quaffed another speed. Picked up and tested a wyvern scale wand of wonder. Ate a slime mold off of the floor. Now, a kobold lord was upon me, but a lucky blast from the WoW killed it, and a couple of it's companions. Killed the shaman. Killed another large kobold for CL10. Max HP's 98. Max SP's 15. Picked up a steaming potion. The speed wore off, and their numbers seemed diminished of I blinked away, further away. Another charge from the WoW took out a large kobold who dropped a WoR. Grabbed a mace, some copper, some silver, my arrows. Burdened, and with two un-ID'd armours in my pack, I took off and destroyed my {average} soft leather. Made my way back to the chest, found the trap on it and disarmed it (I wonder what the odds of that were). It contained 952 mithril and gems. Downed a light brown potion of apple juice. As I finished cleaning up I found a cutlass in what was the kobolds lair. In a room further south I smashed some creeping silver coin yielding 387 pieces. As I headed west toward the stairway, I encountered a rot jelly blocking my path. Three charges from my wand of light and a couple of arrows finished it off and soon I was on the stairs. With my pack nearly full, and burdened, speed (-2), I decided to recall. So, I read recall, and down the stairs I went.

DL9. CL10. Day 1, 22:58:13 - Another unlit room. By the time I had detected animal, which revealed nothing bad, there was a stirring in the distance. I lit the room and killed the shrieker mushroom patch. Exiting to the west, I found another down stair case, so down I go.

DL10. CL10. Day 1, 23:01:46 - A lit room. Picked up a short sword just to the east of me. Yanked upward.

Town. CL10. Day 1, 23:02:26 - It's a little unusual, but I was attacked by the aimless looking merchant. Apparently 'something ghostly' hit him (and me) with something (the piece of junk must have beamed), and he must have thought that I did it. I had to kill him (which despite the fact that I was only defending myself, still cost me a few XP), and then it. It dropped a light green potion. Wielded my hard leather boots and destroyed my leather sandals. Wielded some cursed leather armour. Bought a 2 WoR (3 total), some oil for my lantern, and more arrows to fill my quiver. Destroyed an {average} leather armour. I spotted another 'something ghostly' off in the distance, but a mean looking mercenary stood between us. I used the WoW hoping for a ball spell, but confused the mercenary instead. Purchased some ID's at the magic shop and ID'd my {splendid} gloves as of agility, and my cursed ring as of aggravate monster. So, that's why the merchant attacked me, junk doesn't beam. Killed the other 'something ghostly' and it dropped another light green potion, and a robe. I donated the light green potions (of salt water) and the steaming potion of resist acid and electricity to the temple. While there I bought a scroll of remove curse and ten CSW's. Destroyed two {average} throwing axes and an {average} short sword and cutlass. Wielded a cursed mace and then read the scroll of remove curse. Squelched the ring of aggravate monster. Destroyed the {cursed} mace and leather armour and cap. Wielded some hard leather armour from my pack. ID'd the hand x-bow in my pack as (+5,+3), I'll stash that at home. Went back to the magic shop and purchased some scrolls each of enchant weapon to hit, and to damage, and used them to enchant my bow to (+2,+3). ID'd my short sword as (+4,+1,destroyed) and my cutlass as (+4,+2,wielded). Purchased five scrolls of door/stair location. I chose them over the magic mapping only so I could learn their flavor. Destroyed the {average} hard leather I just put on, and replaced it with a robe from my pack. The BM had a boat load of good stuff, but I had to settle on five potions of see invisible, and five scroll of teleport level. I donated my {tried} scroll of detect invisible. No phase door available and only two in my pack. No detect treasure. Aside from that, I feel a little better about my kit. I read WoR and waited.

DL10. CL10. Day 1, 23:47:00 - Dropped into an east/west corridor on this 'not very interesting' level. Detected doors/stairs to find a down stair case far to the north-west. Detecting animal revealed no major concerns. Headed for the stairs. The un-ID'd sling I grabbed from my home just before recalling showed {good}, the wielded robe was {average}. Found and wielded an aquamarine ring of slow digestion. Beat an orc zombie to death. Killed some non-dropping novice NPC's then found some leather armour. Found a poison gas trap, some silver, then the stairs. Quaffed neutralize poison. Going down.

DL11. CL10. Day 2, 0:43:54 - Descended into a corridor adjacent to a lit room on this boring level. Nothing in the room, but I detected stairs to the north-west again. No worrisome animals detected. Moving north I spied a sleeping baby bronze dragon. I kept on moving. Further north I picked up a potion of heroism. Moving to the west then south, I found the room containing the stairs. Down I go.

[fizzix]

just wanted to say, I always enjoy reading these type of reports. keep up the good work!

[SaThaRiel]

just wanted to say, I always enjoy reading these type of reports. keep up the good work!

Can only second this!
Maybe you can use more paragraphs in your text? Its really hard to read with a wide screen. Maybe you will put the whole stuff later together in a book/pdf

[buzzkill]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I enjoy reading these too, even reading my own providing enough time passed to make the outcome a mystery. Additionally, I think keeping the 'diary' prompts me to think about what I'm doing a little more, to avoid a truly embarrassing death. The down side is that it's kind of a pain in the butt. The more detail I provide, the bigger the pain. Just the other day my wife asked me why I was writing all that stuff. I replied that "maybe someone would read it", which it suddenly occurred to me wasn't that solid of a reason. I'm just glad it's not all about me. Thanks again.

[buzzkill]

DL12. CL10. Day 2, 1:02:17 - Uh Oh! I dropped into a double-wide corridor (or so I thought) surrounded by a blue jelly, flesh golem, dark elf, dark elf warrior, and novice mage, all unaware save for the jelly who was sleeping. "It may be difficult just to survive here...". Duh. After carefully considering my options, I cast blink (16% fail). I landed in a narrower, 10' wide passageway just to the north, a mordor orc near but unaware. Detecting doors/stairs revealed the down stairs far to the west. The mordor orc moved further from me and out of sight. I had to go east for now, away from the immediate threats but also away from the stairs. 50' to the east I found a small wooden chest, so heavy it burdened me. I didn't want to waste time searching for traps on it, so I ID'd it instead. A poison needle trap was discovered. Dropped it. Disarmed it. It contained 342 pieces of copper and silver. The passage turned south, and after just a few steps more, I realized where I was. It was one of those four-section pits. Each section with it's own door, it's own monsters, and it's own treasures. Unfortunately, I was in the moat (not really a moat, since in DaJ moats are generally filled with water) and at the map-edge, meaning that I was headed in the wrong direction and would have to walk the full length of the pit to get to safety. I retreated, and back on the north side of the pit, I lit the long corridor with my wand of light. Two unseen enemies cried out in pain. I read my scroll of blessing anticipating a battle. As I proceeded west, two injured mordor orcs came into view. One hit me with an arrow, so I let 'em have it with the WoL again. I advanced and let 'em have it again killing them both, the first dropping a staff. I had reached the first door now, the entrance to one of the smaller rooms. it was open and another orc and novice mage were visible just inside the room, the orc standing right next to me but seemingly unaware. They both followed me, right on my heels, the orc still closest and unaware as I picked up hickory staff and proceeded past the second doorway, ignoring the lure of the potion of confusion clearly visible lying on the floor. The mage blinked away and the passage turned south. I was hoping I would have found an exit from the moat by now, but no. I turned the corner and aimed my WoL south, illuminating the western end of the moat. A potion of see invisible and a hill orc came into view. As I moved south, the hill orc moved north. He noticed me about the same time that I spotted an exit, a side passage to the west. I ducked into the hallway just in front of the orc and suddenly was able to relax, just a little. I continued west, content to let the orc(s) chase me for now, but just 20' later another orc appeared in front of me. I was surrounded and too close to the damn pit to comfortably risk a phase. Expecting to be attacked, I used my next turn to ID the recently found staff. I was hoping for teleportation, but it turned out to be of identify. The orc didn't attack, instead it woke it's friends . I used the WoW, aiming west, and got a poison ball that didn't produce much damage. Again I let loose with the WoW to the west, and this time the orc fell asleep. Quaffed heroism, and struck the eastern orc without much effect. Orcs, 13d9 HP. My weapon 1 blow per round/10 per blow. Now, more came into view and the WoW strategy re-emerged. Two WoW charges didn't improve my situation any and my HP's kept dropping, now 67 of 93. I decided to phase, and if it didn't turn out well I would TL. The phase worked well, landing me further west. The stairs were visible on screen so I headed for them, and then there was another orc blocking my path. My WoW spawned it, and then there were two, with the rest approaching from the rear. "Emm-Ahy-Eee" (phase) put me in a lit room to the south, no visible exits that would do me any good. I retreated into the north-west corner of the room, tripping a poison gas trap along the way. I was trying to position myself well for an eventual phase to someplace useful. I used my staff of CLW to little effect until the first orc appeared in the doorway 40' away. I hit it with the WoW, which cut it's HP's in half. Repeated and it died. Repeated again and a hill orc fell. I achieved CL11, HP 111, SP 17. Another blast from the suddenly effective WoW and the hill orc disappeared, TO'd I hoped. A large kobold, an orc which I'd polymorphed earlier, entered and I knocked about him with a few arrows till he fled. I tried to finish him but more orcs got in the way and then the millipede, which I'd been ignoring to this point (because it was asleep), woke and was upon me. But I had a plan, and now I read my last scroll of phase door. The phase moved me to another part of the room, not outside of the room as I had hoped. I killed the millipede, but I was still suffering poison from the trap, and there were now six orcs, of various types including Ladguf, visible within the room. I pressed my luck a bit more, trying to escape without TL (but not wasting my last potion of speed either). In the end casting blink failed me, and Ladguf got a piece of me and then I HAD to go. I rose up through the ceiling. HP 23/111, SP 7/17.

[buzzkill]

DL11. CL11. Day 2, 1:17:15 - I appeared in an unlit room. Before doing anything else I burned through all the charges on my staff of CLW bringing my current HP's up to 57. In the mean time, the soft leather in my pack showed {cursed} so I destroyed it along with the empty CLW staff and the empty wand of light. I read detect doors/stairs but found only doors. Detecting animal revealed only a baby salamander nearby. I began to move to the east along the top of the map not encountering anything. By the time something interesting happened my HP's were nearly fully restored. I cast detect animal and found some sleeping energy hounds (sleeping hounds, another reason to play DaJ) off in the distance. I lit a room containing a goyley, and killed it using my last two {good} arrows. It dropped a blackthorn staff and no sooner had I grabbed it that something ghostly appeared. I killed it with a single arrow, though it took several shots to hit it. Also in this room 147 copper, two potions of neutralize poison, and an orc zombie. While I was finishing off the zombie, a koblod shaman appeared and quickly fell, dropping a pair of boots. After destroying the boots, I ID'd the recently acquired {average} staff of light. I decided to learn the spells lightening spark and slow poison just for the hell of it. Maybe they would come in handy. I lit a room containing a baby multi-hued dragon. It came after me, luckily only breathing light. I hit it with the last charge from my WoW, doing little damage. I had a plan. I was going to phase about the room while pelting it with arrows until it died. My first phase moved me near the south-west corner where I was startled to see a whole pack of lemures, with me standing directly between them and the dragon. My simple plan suddenly changed into a more complex two-part plan. Part A, I was going to grab the cap lying on the ground nearby, part B, get the hell out of there. I hadn't quite worked out the details of part B yet. A few turns later and my plan was going exactly as I had hoped. The cap was secure in my pack and my escape was going well, my phase landing me in the same corridor I used to enter. I retreated far enough to the north so that I could phase about more safely. Things went very well. The dragon breathed acid twice, damaging my inconsequential equipment, but it eventually fell to my arrows and dropped a measly 61 copper. I destroyed my cloak (-1), my hard leather boots (-1) and my empty wand of wonder. While sifting through my pack I decided to ID that {good} sling since I had plenty of ID. It turned out to be (+1,+7) yielding 14.6 per hit using rounded pebbles (1d2). That trumps my bows paltry 9.6 per hit, so the sling will fill the launcher slot, at least for a while. Without much else to occupy my time I went after the lemures, luring two or three away at a time and then killing them. Eventually they were all dead, along with some sort of lesser gargoyle who dropped 277 copper. Moving west now, along the bottom of the map, I came across a lit room, with the coveted down staircase. The room also contained a hasted tengu and a dead shrieker mushroom patch. The tengu turned invisible, which I really hate, but by this time I was close enough to the stairs to make a mad dash. I got hit a couple of time but made it to the stairs in fairly good shape. Fleeing on down.

DL12. CL11. Day 2, 3:41:34 - I arrived in the north-east corner of an unlit room. I tried to detect animal unsuccessfully. At this point something picked up 30 arrows off of the floor. Something I couldn't see and arrows I wasn't even aware of. I forgot once again about the staff of light in my pack, and cast call light, further depleting my already mediocre mana reserve. Though the large room was lit I still couldn't see my enemy so I strode boldly toward the center of the room and a novice rogue came into view. I sent it fleeing with a pebble between the eyes but then there was another and another. Each receiving a pebble, each running away. Soon I was out of pebbles and switched back to my trusty short bow. It took three shots to drop the first uninjured rogue with the bow. He gave up a slime mold. Three shots also dropped the second, dropping another ring of slow digestion. It was now that the injured rogues started to return. the first dropped 2 throwing daggers, the second nothing, the third a sapling staff. The fourth dropped some silver and gained me CL12, max HP 112, max SP 18. The next two died, leaving behind a WoR. In all, their number counted greater than ten, but were all dead now, their drops forming a large, confused pile on the arrow littered floor. While collecting all the loot, I stumbled upon a dart trap (DEX -1). I believe that a mace and the previously mentioned 30 unknown arrows rounded out all the loot that I found. ID'ing the sapling staff showed it to be of object and treasure location {cursed} so it will be used, but not wielded. Detecting objects revealed an unknown mushroom as well as some other items of limited usefulness. While heading west toward the mushrooms I destroyed the {cursed} throwing daggers and another novice rogue. I soon had the mushroom of poison in hand. I also picked up a potion of resist cold and a (used) scroll of monster confusion. Further treasure detection revealed nothing interesting but detecting doors/stairs got a hit, a down stairway to the south-west. Heading west, I encountered a wolf, he soon fled to the west and I gave chase. After a few steps, a paused a moment to detect animal and didn't like what I found. More wolves where filling the passage behind me and more animal menaces, including the boar of everholt, not far enough to the north. Turning my attention to the wolves at my back, I killed the first with a well thrown mushroom of poison. The second fell to my sword. Is was then that an orcish shaman approached from the west and I was surrounded (HP's 83/112). I successfully cat blink (10% fail) which moved me about 50' further west into a twisting passageway. The first wolf, the one I sent fleeing earlier, was upon me instantly, but didn't last long (HP's 76/112). As I moved south through a 20' wide corridor, I resisted a cursing and then was hit by a magic missile (66/112), no doubt from the approaching orc shaman. I didn't mind so much, because every turn he spent casting meant one more turn he was holding back the wolf(s). I wasn't far from the stairs now, heading west again. A harmless snake blocked my path, but as paused to destroy it, the shaman closed on me. He eventually fell to my blade (54/112). I had previously lit the last intersection of corridors so I plainly saw that a hill orc was chasing me. I proceeded to the lit room which contained the stairs. Standing upon the stairs I hit the orc with a couple of arrows but then a wolf entered, and he brought a friend. This wasn't a battle I was likely to win, so I decided not to fight it. I used my remaining time on the staircase to quaff a CLW and then exited the level (HP's 71/112).

DL13. CL12. Day 2, 4:18:28 - Dropped into a lit room on this 'interesting/rather safe' level. A dagger lie on the floor, in plain view, just to the west of me. Just beyond the dagger was 151 silver. Not a bad start. I moved to the south, into a lit room, and quickly destroyed a white worm mass before it could breed. Detecting treasure only revealed some copper and a leather armour to the west. Without any door/stair location or mapping, I have only the treasure to guide me. The 180 copper was near, so it came first. Detect animal lived up to it's (mis-) name, detecting a lone white wolf far to the north. The soft studded leather came to me quickly also. Killed off another worm mass and detected treasures again. Detected good stuff, a mushroom, a scroll, a trident, and a potion of berserk strength. Moving west, I detected animals, nothing deadly, but nothing I wished to run into either. The trident was visible (on-screen) when my recently found leather showed as {excellent}, the unknown arrows {cursed}, and a white wolf appeared before me. Four arrows dropped the wolf. The leather ID'd as of resist lightening, but before I could put it on another (white) wolf appeared, this time much closer. The second wolf fought pathetically and died without honor. I wielded the leather and destroyed the robe I was wearing. ID'd the cursed arrows (because sometimes lightly cursed arrows can still be effective, not the case with these), then destroyed them. Found, ID'd and squelched a crimson potion of sleep. I picked up a quarterstaff and a broad sword. This is proving to be an interesting level after all. Moments later, I killed a kobold shaman and he dropped a scimitar. Burdened, I decided to ID the {average} broadsword, then destroyed it. Next heaviest was the quarterstaff, so it too was ID'd and destroyed. Feeling a little lighter on my feet, I proceeded, and soon had the trident. A little retracing of my steps, and a little exploration yielded the rest of the detected items, save for the mushroom. ID showed the scroll to be holy chant. I ran into a clear eye. I didn't know it's offensive capabilities, and still don't since it died so quickly. Still pursuing the mushroom, I found a down staircase. Feeling fine, I continued on. I didn't get far before I encountered Ufthak and a power sprite in a long running east-west corridor. I retreated, trading arrows with Ufthak occasionally, while the power sprite hurled boulders at him, doing more damage to him than my arrows were. The situation seemed right, so I quaffed speed, read holy chant and the power sprite, as if sensing my plan re-doubled it boulder throwing efforts. I hack-n-backed him to the stairs, at which point he was 80% dead. One more hit sent him fleeing, and two arrows dropped him, and he dropped a {cursed,destroyed} long sword. That left just the power sprite to deal with. It packed quite a punch and quite a kick too, but luckily, I was still hasted and the sprite eventually fell. Quaffed a CLW to get my HP's back up to 60/112. I noticed the scimitar in my pack was {good}, ID'ing it showed it (+3,+5), 1 blow/14 per blow, my new primary weapon. Destroyed my old weapon, the cutlass. I finally made it to the mushroom I'd been seeking, and ID'd it as extreme irritation, possibly useful. Still low on HP and therefore not quite ready to descend I detected treasures again, and spotted a couple of items that might me worth looking into. I managed to get close to the shield I was seeking, killing a wolf and a golem along the way, but I couldn't quite reach it so I blinked and that did the trick, putting me on the other side barrier I sought to overcome. Picked up the small metal shield and as a bonus, a WoR. Just a few minutes later the {excellent} shield ID'd as of resist fire. I wielded it, replaced and destroyed my previous {good} shield. I picked up the previously detected hard leather armour and, fully healed, took the new set of down stairs which I discovered in the same room.

[buzzkill]

DL14. CL12. Day 2, 6:27:51 - Descended into a small, well lit, one exit room on this 'boring/not very threatening' level. I noticed that I was burdened once again. ID'd my hard leather as resist acid (wielded), kept my leather of resist lightning as a swap. ID'd and destroyed my {average} mace. Detected treasure, but it revealed only some gold. A nighthawk suddenly appeared right next to me, so I blinked away. I wandered a bit and managed to find it and blink away again. A few blinks, a few arrows, and a lot of HP's later it was dead and I was injured (HP's 57/112). I found some oil and refilled my lantern. By the time I had found the 319 gold, my HP's were up to 80. I tripped a trap that blinded me, so I rested until my vision returned and I was fully healed. Killed a golem. Found a scroll of blessing. Wielded my hard leather cap when it pseudoed as {good}. Detecting treasures revealed nothing special. Killed a small null to achieve CL13, max HP 120, max SP 20. Found the stairs in route to a mushroom of poison, and a scroll of ID. I even killed a mordor orc. Time to descend. Destroyed my {cursed} trident. Killed a monkey. I snuck about a bit looking for a detected silver deposit, but found another stair case and once again considered descent.

DL15. CL13. Day 2, 8:17:19 - Dropped into a twisting hallway on this 'not very interesting/rather safe' level. Detecting treasures revealed quite a few items, the most interesting of which was an unknown scroll. Picked up some copper and gold. Killed an orc shaman and got an unknown scroll for my trouble. Discovered two sets of stairs. Killed a goyley, a lone ogre, and a hapless dust bunny. I went after the last few items I detected earlier. I tried a less killing, more sneaking than usual strategy. It seemed to be paying off. I got a trident and a crossbow, which filled my pack. ID'd my two unknown scrolls as of teleportation and deep descent. I gathered up the last of the monetary treasures and switched up my tactics for the return trip. Killed a drider. a griffon, a gorilla, a dark elf warrior and a priest who summoned another dark elf warrior, who got away, at least for now. I didn't think priests could summon. ID'd and destroyed my {average} quarterstaff. I rested on the recently discovered down staircase. I killed the dark elf when he returned. HP's 97/120, going down.

DL16. CL13. Day 2, 10:29:15 - I found myself in a east/west corridor on this 'boring/rather safe' level. Detecting treasures revealed 4 weapons, a scroll of deep descent and three unknown flavored items as well as some other crap. The worst that detect animal revealed was a pack of wargs that I probably have to deal with at some point. Moving west I quickly secured the catoblepas hair wand {tried} and killed an ogre for CL14, max HP 124, max SP 21. In the same room was a broad axe and a gorgon hair wand {tried}. Destroyed a {good} dagger. I was burdened, but with only three ID's left, I continued on at (-1) speed. I encountered the wargs, as expected. I killed a few, but they were too fast and too many so I blinked, then teleported away. I lit the darkened 'plus shaped' room that I landed in revealing a sleeping black ogre. Destroyed my {average} trident, but remain at (-1) speed. Quaffed a CLW to get my HP's up to 69. Picked up a pile of iron shots (+6,+5) and re-wielded my sling (25 damage per shot). I had to ID and destroy the {cursed} broad axe in order to keep my burden manageable at speed (-1). Detecting animals carefully, I reentered the wargs territory. I never found them, instead I fell through a trap door.

DL17. CL14. Day 2, 11:38:10 - Dropped into a lit room right next to a shrieker mushroom patch. I killed it before it could shriek, which was good, because the room also contained a bunch of uruks. Detected treasures and found stuff to seek out. I used my last charge on my staff of ID (destroyed) to reveal the gorgon hair wand of STM, because I detected an identical wand and wanted to know what it was. I'm finally unburdened. I exited the room without alerting the uruks. I picked up a broad sword, which burdened me once again. So, next thing you know I hit a summoning trap and I'm surrounded on five sides, walls occupying the other three. After the first round, I'm 88/124 HP and confused. I quaffed a CSW, but got confused again. After round two, 99/124 and still confused, and grabbed (by the cave python). During round three, the bright sprite failed to confuse me, so I blinked away. I landed in a room to the north, and found that I had LOS on the troublesome sprite. Two sling shots later and it was dead. Then the orc zombie died, the novice rogue died, and finally the cave python died, leaving only the photoplasm. I wandered back to the room I started in, and an uruk was alerted to my presence. I led him quite a distance away before killing him. I secured an unknown yew staff, leaving only some detected gold and copper pieces to collect. While setting out after the gold I encountered a sleeping hobglib, a paralyzer. Having no FA, no ID, no phase and also burdened prompted me to read recall and wait.

Town. CL14. Day 2, 12:17:28 - 4893 GP to spend. My first stop was my home. I dropped short bow and arrows, my {good} crossbow and picked up some {average} shots. I'll be a slingster on my next trip down. Also dropped my leather of resist lightning. My broad sword ID'd as {average, destroyed}. Nothing want or need at the armory or general store. There was a staff of ID at the magic shop, but I'd rather carry scrolls if I can find some. Nothing at the weapon smiths. At the alchemy shop I purchased 15 ID, 5 phase door, 4 enchant weapon to-hit. ID'd my yew staff of trap detection and my gorgon hair wand of disarming. Enchanted my sling up to (+5,+7). At the temple, I picked up my second nature magic spell book 'communion with nature', and 5 CCW's, mostly just so I could learn their flavor. After exiting the shop I learned a few spells in my new spell book. That just left the BM. It had good stuff, but I lacked the GP. The staff of speed, reasonably priced at 6500, would have been nice. Instead I got a potion of healing, an amulet of resist lightning (wielded), and a scroll of TL. I walked back to my home to drop my CLW's and one of my deep descents. Destroyed my {average} leather gloves. Read my scroll of deep descent.

DL18. CL14. Day 2, 12:43:35 - Arrived in an unlit room on this 'boring/rather safe' level. Detected animal, traps, and lit the room to reveal nothing but a single exit to the north. I moved north and quickly came to a fork in the road so I detected treasures and found only a few uninteresting items, the best of which was another wand of STM. STM's are nice to have, however at this point in the game I use them primarily for mining. To make my point, STMined 275 silver pieces. Picked up a wand of stinking cloud. I reached the room containing the STM and found it also held a swarm of wasps and a black dwarf priest. The wasps fell easily to my wand of stinking cloud and the priest fell to two of my enchanted shots, dropping and amulet of alertness (+3). I'm going to wear the new amulet and use my other of resist lightning as a swap. The amulet seems to be working as just moments later I passively discovered a trap. A dark elf warrior sought me out, revealing a helpful secret door, and then died. I used a potion of see invisible to deal with a green glutton ghost. It was well worth it as he dropped over 500 GP. I found the room containing the stairs, both up and down. It also contained a long line of uruks, stretching out the western exit. I dropped the first three, but by that time they had started waking one another so I had to go leaving a few of my iron shots behind. Down stairs, ho!

[buzzkill]

My prose, if you will, seems to be devolving into what is quite possibly an un-interesting litany of kills and detailed tedious inventory management (which I guess is the heart of angband). I try to include what I'm thinking or trying to accomplish also, but I don't know how well this is coming across. If any of those of you who enjoy reading this have any suggestions for improvement, I'm willing to listen. I've considered paragraphs, but couldn't really come up with meaningful break points. If it would be helpful, and I think it may be, I'll just try throwing in a blank line every once in a while.

[fizzix]

My prose, if you will, seems to be devolving into what is quite possibly an un-interesting litany of kills and detailed tedious inventory management (which I guess is the heart of angband). I try to include what I'm thinking or trying to accomplish also, but I don't know how well this is coming across. If any of those of you who enjoy reading this have any suggestions for improvement, I'm willing to listen. I've considered paragraphs, but couldn't really come up with meaningful break points. If it would be helpful, and I think it may be, I'll just try throwing in a blank line every once in a while.

It's fine. It doesn't come across as ponderous as you seem to imply. As you descend, you will want to avoid typing out every kill and only focus on the ones that were dangerous for some reason or dropped something good. Similarly, soon you won't need to mention every useless weapon you pick up. If you feel like it should be squelched then don't bother talking about it. So you probably don't have to mention all the {cursed} or {average} weapons you find anymore. However, something like, "I was burdened so I decided to ID a bunch of weapons I picked up along the way, but they were all junk" is fine. In fact, if your note-taking is good, you can go back and put in where you picked up a good item, once you ID it. I wonder why you didn't mention which new spells you learned!

[buzzkill]

It's fine. It doesn't come across as ponderous as you seem to imply. As you descend, you will want to avoid typing out every kill and only focus on the ones that were dangerous for some reason or dropped something good. Similarly, soon you won't need to mention every useless weapon you pick up. If you feel like it should be squelched then don't bother talking about it. So you probably don't have to mention all the {cursed} or {average} weapons you find anymore. However, something like, "I was burdened so I decided to ID a bunch of weapons I picked up along the way, but they were all junk" is fine. In fact, if your note-taking is good, you can go back and put in where you picked up a good item, once you ID it. I wonder why you didn't mention which new spells you learned!

I'm already skipping some kills and other stuff. Basically, if I kill something that poses no risk, caused no significant damage or provoked no thought on my part, it's omitted. I tend to dive fast enough to keep me on my toes, so that doesn't happen a whole lot. I'll work more on trimming the inventory speak, however, at this point not mentioning all the {average,cursed} stuff would roughly equate to mentioning nothing at all. The omission of spells learned was part intentional, part laziness. None of the spells were game changing so I figured I'd let you what they were if and when I used them. Thanks for the input.