Mr. Wickham the Elf Mage (long)

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  • mightbecactus
    Scout
    • Oct 2011
    • 25

    #16
    Well actually reading around the forums and thinking about Wicky has led me to play a bit more of him; only the last couple of nights but here is some more of the story. I'll see if I can get some more serious time in this weekend (have to keep the momentum going).

    --------------

    As he walked on Wickham began to feel increasingly bored with his surroundings. The dungeon around him was a carpet of corpses - humans, orcs, trolls, drakes; none of which had offered him any substantial challenge since he had found the new spellbooks and these fantastic boots. Knowing that he could not ascend upwards, he was reluctant to dive too far or fast, but every time he went downstairs he kept feeling like there was nothing but safety and cobwebs nearby.

    He realised this might be because of his now vastly augmented powers and so decided and declared to himself; "Don't get bitter - get better!". He dove 7 levels or so and arriving on level 40 detected a large group of Trolls led by Bert, the Stone Troll. "This might be interesting" he declared - a little too loudly as it appeared Bert had now woken up and was heading his way.

    Bert was a giant hulking form, and had he not been moving like a snail would have given Wickham quite a start as he rounded the corner of the corridor and entered the chamber. The elf pulled a pained, almost annoyed expression and whipped out a copy of Incantations and Illusions. "I'll make this quick Bert" he stated. Bert blinked and frowned. In real-time all he had heard was a high pitched chip-munk sounding squeak from across the room where a little blurry figure in blue was holding a red book in one hand and pointing at him with the other.

    Then, his guts spilled out. Looking down agape in terror his stony hide had been vaporised and now his whole torso was fizzing and steaming. Wickham winced at the trauma - he almost felt sorry for the poor guy. Bert summoned all the strength he could and stormed at the elf; but Wicky simply hopped back a few steps at super speed and continued the barrage as the Acid Bolt script began to glow in bold red on the page from overload.

    Bert knew he would be dissolved completely soon as his skin continued to liberate itself from his body and so stooped and retrieved a massive boulder that just happened to be there. He launched it at the elf with all his might. Wickham was busy thinking about something else while absently flinging acid bolts out of the book and so was caught and only partially dodged at the last instant - the boulder grazed passed him, flinging him to the ground and knocking about a quarter of his life off. "That's more like it!" he cried as he leapt to his nimble feet and mercilessly renewed his fire at the now desperate Troll. Bert took a final fatal acid bolt to the guts that punched through his liquifying body to spatter and sear the wall behind him. As he hit the deck his upper body washed as a smelly goo over the cracked floor leaving two stony, barefoot legs as his only remains.


    Wickham then paid a visit to Bert's friends, who were mostly still asleep. Even though he was failing the expensive but monumental Fireball spell about 20% of the time, he couldn't help but try it out on these morons. No screams could be heard over the roar that blasted out as the chamber erupted in flame. As the temperature climbed Wickham furthered the punishment, pulling off two more searing infernos which exploded out from the centre of the chamber. As the flames subsided, through the smouldering haze he could see that the gang had been comprehensively cooked where they stood. As he looted through the charcoal he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty about the contribution he'd just made to greenhouse gas emissions, and so resolved that he would plant a tree one day if he ever made it back to town.

    Comment

    • Malak Darkhunter
      Knight
      • May 2007
      • 730

      #17
      Ha Ha ! Very good!

      Comment

      • mightbecactus
        Scout
        • Oct 2011
        • 25

        #18
        Wickham descended to the next level and immediately felt that it was very dangerous - much more so than any he'd visited before. He proceeded with caution, regularly using Haste Self to grant him a powerul +17 speed. He detected a couple of reasonably tough opponents including a Minotaur. He was very well equipped to deal with this speedy melee-favouring monster and managed to acid bolt the guy downtown without risking any kind of damage. "Was that it? Was that the scary thing I was sposed to be worried about?" he wondered aloud.

        Several corridors later he detected a pack of Hell Hounds. "Well, I bet they won't like Frost Ball!". Wickham cast Haste Self, Resist Fire and then Frost Ball. Rather than freezing solid in unison as per the scenario that had played out in his mind, the hounds immediately attacked. Three of them breathed and a firestorm now rushed past Wickham. He shielded his eyes and began casting acid bolts as his resists magically mitigated the damage from the flames. However something then happened that, in his cockiness, he hadn't planned for. One of the hound breath blasts destroyed his copy of Sorcery and Evocations. "Uh oh." That was his only source of haste buff.

        He teleported and landed on the other side of the dungeon. The air here felt dank as he crept around in the darkness. He still couldn't shake the notion that there was something darker, meaner down here than what he'd seen so far. Suddenly, he was hit by something terrible. His armour crumpled at the side and his limbs froze as he dropped to just 30 hit points from his 180 total. In a daze he quaffed a cure critical potion, phased and cast 'Reveal Monster' and lo! He was almost surrounded by a gang of perhaps a dozen Dreads that were moving through the walls to devour him. These beings felt cruel, hungry, and huge. He realised he could not fight them without a See Invisible ability and so, he teleported. As he recovered his senses he realised that his only route of escape from the Dreads would now to be to find a downstair... had he seen one yet? "Ah CRAP!" he shouted to the dungeon as he realised the downstair was in the room with the Hell Hounds.

        He made his way back and was pleasantly surprised to see that the hounds had chased him around the wrong way and were nowhere near the staircase. "Phew!". He rested for a bit and then began walking the last patch of corridor - but was then hit again! A single Dread had tracked him down and had just cast something horrible at him from back down the corridor. He gulped at a Cure Critical potion and began bolting for the staircase... and... made it.


        He crashed to the floor on the next level and passed out. When he awoke a few minutes later, he got up and assessed the damage. He had lost some experience, and only had one copy of Magic for Beginners left, and no longer had Sorcery and Evocations. "Ok, well, I'm still alright" he said as he began exploring. But now, he was beginning to feel that this level... was much worse than the last one. "This level feels murderous" he whispered quietly.

        He began attacking a group of Algoriths in an east-west corridor. These guys were tough, but Wicky was up to the task of bringing them down, keeping a healthy distance. As the fight continued he detected a group of hounds approaching him from the south. What were these things - cold hounds? He concentrated harder as another Algorith face-planted in front of him. No, these were gravity hounds... He considered teleporting, but this was perhaps too dangerous as he didn't know what exactly was so murderous about the level, and he might end up showing himself to the hounds as a result.


        He ran for it and found himself in a dead end room. He had time however to craft a nook in the corner using Turn Stone to Mud where the hounds could cue up to die one by one. The hounds crashed into the room and from his hiding spot Wickham could feel the floor and walls beginning to warp. He stood ready with Acid Bolt but, no hound would approach him. "Damn you clever dogs!" he yelled. Wicky decided to continue doing some earthworks behind the scenes in the hope he could lure the hounds one by one by making some more room. He finished the network and rested.


        "Ok, let's give it a go". Wickham walked up toward the entrance of his warren, but had made a bad miscalculation. From inside the room about 6 of the hounds caught sight of him and breathed, savagely warping the reality around Wickham's body. He died instantly.


        ---------------


        I'm am a complete idiot and I want the world to know it. This actually happened a few days ago; I have been in mourning and living in shame ever since and only able to type up the last part of the story today. Talk about a YASD!

        There was no way I could manage that fight and even though teleporting and having to 'work around' the hounds for the entirety of the level would have been hard, it was WAY more favourable than trying to kill them with my +7 speed and 200 odd hit points. But apart from that I didn't even set the fight up properly - I could have tunneled to a long distance and then started the fight from there, or even better crafted a spiralling chamber to try and trap them in (gah why didn't I do that!?). Those hellhounds also had annoyingly destroyed my only banishment scroll.... (though no doubt I would have used it to remove 'G' on the previous level).

        I now simply MUST win vanilla angband in ironman mode. I'm hungry as hell to get it done now. I've gotta do it for Wickham. But I think I might wait until this 'V4' is released (any ideas when that might be?).

        Thanks to all for reading and I'm really sorry I played so stupidly at the end there.

        mbc

        Comment

        • buzzkill
          Prophet
          • May 2008
          • 2939

          #19
          RIP Mr. Wick.
          www.mediafire.com/buzzkill - Get your 32x32 tiles here. UT32 now compatible Ironband and Quickband 9/6/2012.
          My banding life on Buzzkill's ladder.

          Comment

          • Timo Pietilä
            Prophet
            • Apr 2007
            • 4096

            #20
            Originally posted by mightbecactus
            I've gotta do it for Wickham. But I think I might wait until this 'V4' is released (any ideas when that might be?).
            Never as it is now. v4 is a variant created for developers to play around and wildly test ideas, it is not a development version of vanilla angband. Very little of it will be in angband anytime soon.

            Comment

            • Magnate
              Angband Devteam member
              • May 2007
              • 5110

              #21
              Originally posted by Timo Pietilä
              Never as it is now. v4 is a variant created for developers to play around and wildly test ideas, it is not a development version of vanilla angband. Very little of it will be in angband anytime soon.
              Indeed. It will always be available, but never finished. So you can always try to honour Wickham with an ironman win in v4, and/or in V. Perhaps the ultimate would be to do it in every available version? ;-)
              "Been away so long I hardly knew the place, gee it's good to be back home" - The Beatles

              Comment

              • mightbecactus
                Scout
                • Oct 2011
                • 25

                #22
                Thanks for that advice guys.

                Can I ask a practical question then; what I really want is to play vanilla ironman, but with the difficulty a bit closer to 3.0.9b, like 80% of the way back.

                I see from your signature that 3.2 is even easier than 3.3; so which version of 3.1 should I go for? Are there any downsides RE bugs / stability (I notice they all have 'beta' in the label) - or was 3.1 even more difficult than 309?

                Cheers
                mbc

                Comment

                • Timo Pietilä
                  Prophet
                  • Apr 2007
                  • 4096

                  #23
                  Originally posted by mightbecactus
                  Thanks for that advice guys.

                  Can I ask a practical question then; what I really want is to play vanilla ironman, but with the difficulty a bit closer to 3.0.9b, like 80% of the way back.

                  I see from your signature that 3.2 is even easier than 3.3; so which version of 3.1 should I go for? Are there any downsides RE bugs / stability (I notice they all have 'beta' in the label) - or was 3.1 even more difficult than 309?
                  3.4.

                  3.4 is much better than 3.1, 3.2 or 3.3. It still is easier than 3.0.9, but it is more convenient to play without being ridiculously easy, so it is my new favorite of the versions.

                  Comment

                  • Magnate
                    Angband Devteam member
                    • May 2007
                    • 5110

                    #24
                    Originally posted by Timo Pietilä
                    3.4.

                    3.4 is much better than 3.1, 3.2 or 3.3. It still is easier than 3.0.9, but it is more convenient to play without being ridiculously easy, so it is my new favorite of the versions.
                    Excellent! Thanks for my new signature - though I'll have to wait until 3.4.0 is final before I adopt it. Good to know we are moving in the right direction.
                    "Been away so long I hardly knew the place, gee it's good to be back home" - The Beatles

                    Comment

                    • wobbly
                      Prophet
                      • May 2012
                      • 2633

                      #25
                      Originally posted by Magnate
                      Excellent! Thanks for my new signature - though I'll have to wait until 3.4.0 is final before I adopt it. Good to know we are moving in the right direction.
                      Any guess-timate when that'll be?

                      Comment

                      • Derakon
                        Prophet
                        • Dec 2009
                        • 9022

                        #26
                        Originally posted by wobbly
                        Any guess-timate when that'll be?
                        Should be shortly after the last major blocker bug found in the release candidate is fixed.

                        Comment

                        • mightbecactus
                          Scout
                          • Oct 2011
                          • 25

                          #27
                          Thanks Derakon; though can I politely ask for those of us who don't know what a blocker bug is or how much goes in to fixing one if that might be weeks? months?

                          I only ask as Wickham's heir apparent is jumping up and down with anger (and thus will prob get himself killed on lvl 5)

                          mbc

                          Comment

                          • Derakon
                            Prophet
                            • Dec 2009
                            • 9022

                            #28
                            Blocker bugs are bugs that block the release of the game. In other words, they're bugs that are serious enough that we wouldn't want to inflict them on non-beta-testers. That's all they have in common, so they can be anywhere from trivial to very difficult to fix depending on what precisely is wrong.

                            In short, I gave you a useless answer. I don't actually know when 3.4 is due to be released. I think "soon" is accurate though.

                            Comment

                            • Magnate
                              Angband Devteam member
                              • May 2007
                              • 5110

                              #29
                              Originally posted by Derakon
                              Blocker bugs are bugs that block the release of the game. In other words, they're bugs that are serious enough that we wouldn't want to inflict them on non-beta-testers. That's all they have in common, so they can be anywhere from trivial to very difficult to fix depending on what precisely is wrong.

                              In short, I gave you a useless answer. I don't actually know when 3.4 is due to be released. I think "soon" is accurate though.
                              I think I can go a little further - there are two remaining blockers in 3.4RC1, both of which cause crashes on Windows (which is still the most popular platform). I don't think they're hard to fix, but we don't have any Windows devs when Blubaron isn't around, so it's hard to estimate exactly when they'll be fixed. But RC2 is, I suspect, likely to be out as soon as they are, and all goes well with RC2 the final 3.4.0 would be out a couple of weeks later.

                              So we're looking at somewhere around a month or so, I would guess.
                              "Been away so long I hardly knew the place, gee it's good to be back home" - The Beatles

                              Comment

                              • PowerWyrm
                                Prophet
                                • Apr 2008
                                • 2987

                                #30
                                Originally posted by Magnate
                                I think I can go a little further - there are two remaining blockers in 3.4RC1, both of which cause crashes on Windows (which is still the most popular platform). I don't think they're hard to fix, but we don't have any Windows devs when Blubaron isn't around, so it's hard to estimate exactly when they'll be fixed.
                                I suppose you refer to #1654 and #1657. For #1654, I'm on Win7 and I am also able to reproduce the bug when selecting the option at splash screen (strangely this doesn't happen for my variant so maybe I already fixed that when porting the feature).

                                Maybe I could help here... setting a debug environment for Angband source code should be pretty easy. I'll try to see if I can reproduce the crashes in debug mode this weekend...
                                PWMAngband variant maintainer - check https://github.com/draconisPW/PWMAngband (or http://www.mangband.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=9) to learn more about this new variant!

                                Comment

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