Buzzy's Halls of Mist Campaign Notes

[Mikko Lehtinen]

I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that Templar is a harder class than Warrior. It's hard to balance because it plays so differently.

I'm considering adding a new special ability, Scroll Mastery: "When Templar reads a scroll and makes a Magic Device skill check, the scroll is not used up."

Or perhaps a flat 50% chance in place of the skill check? (I can't use an Alchemy skill check because it's possible for a Templar to raise it to 100%, and that would break the game.)

[buzzkill]

The return trip to Toune is uneventful, as always. I make my usual rounds and knock off the usual suspects. I end up purchasing 50 arrows, a potion of CSW, 4 scrolls of phase door and a hatchet. A hatchet I didn't even want. Apparently, the shopkeeps literally don't take no for an answer. I horde my non-useful gear at home, in my little trophy room. I shine it up and place it carefully upon the shelves that I made of the crates that I found discarded behind the black market. I'm planning on a phase and shoot strategy this time down, but mostly we'll just play it by ear.

A Rattikin map from the staircase kiosk shows me the layout of level nine, at least in part. I'm in a large brightly lit room, no enemies in sight. To the north a passage leads to a similar room. South of me, another passage leads to another room. There's a huge table in there. There's also an eastern exit that eventually leads to greenery and a fountain. Of course, I go to check out the table first. The room has been long abandoned, but a ghostly presence remains. A single arrow dissipates the harmless little guy, to my great surprise, it drops a wad of gold and a wand. I've no idea what the wand does but am happy to have it.

From here, south is the easy choice. It's the only other exit, but instead I back up and go trekking toward the fountain. Along the way I find a functional leather shield just lying on the floor. That's never happened before. Neither has this. There's a tree blocking the entrance to the fountain area. There may be another way in, but it will take considerable effort to find it. I attempt to Topple the tree with my sword, but nothing happens. I could try to phase into the room, but that seems kinda risky not knowing whats in there and all. I'll call that Plan B, and save it for later.

I was just beginning to wonder where the inhabitants of the place were when a pack of white wolves burst into the room. Without a doubt this was the most down and dirty, intense battle of my exploration of the Hall of Mist thus far. I was doing decent damage with my bow, but the wolves were too fast. In no time I was surrounded, fighting two or three at a time. Retreating into the corridor (my plan A) became non-viable when I realized it was a double wide. Who designed this dungeon, Louie Anderson? Then, as quickly as I was mobbed, the pack broke and fled in all directions. I picked off a few, but some got away. I continue on, battered but at the same time eager for more.

I follow the wolves paw prints back to their origin to the east, filling in the blanks spots on my map as I go. Their den is a greenish room. I find a old parchment here but don't know what ability it holds. There's a shimmering portal not far to the south from here so I head that way. Following the advice a wise man once gave me, I read the scroll from upon the portal. Several enemies suddenly blink into existence all about me. They don't look happy to be here, nor am I. Had I been healthier I might have survived, oh wait, I did survive. I portaled the heck out of there. I landed safely in the dining hall, still unoccupied.

I head back to the portal. Though it rubs my beard the wrong way, I rested for a few moments along the way. I don't anticipate much of a fight, none the less, at the last moment I change my mind. I don't want to fight in a dark corridor. I want a lit room. I try to pass close enough to the portal area to get their attention and continue on hoping they'll pick up my trail, and hoping that this bit of 'too clever for my own good' doesn't backfire on me. A few seconds later and I have my answer. The white dragon bat pops into the wolves's den and pops off into the afterlife just as quickly. I move south into a large lit room, some trees to the east but otherwise empty. No one else seems to be following, or so I thought.

As I move east toward the trees, I hear rustling coming from the den. A heavy footed troglodyte soon tries to enter my room, but I have been waiting. My first arrows pierces his body before he even knows what happened. He stumbles forward, but never reaches his destination as more arrows occupy his flesh at non-linear angles. It's now that I realize that I've forgotten my primary mission. I turn and trek a long path back across the dungeon and try once again to establish a path to the fountain. So far, two different paths have been blocked. Yeah, I forgot to mention, the corridor south of the portal was blocked with rubble, else it seems to connect too.

South of the dining hall I light a previously unlit room. It contains nothing more than a cursed cleaver and some silver. There are no exits and I'm beginning to wonder if the fountain is accessible at all. I circumnavigate half the dungeon once again, this time heading further east that ever before. Ahead of me I see a room densely packed with inhabitants. This is where everybody has been hiding. I notch an arrow and take aim at the yeti. He fades into the darkness of the corridor as he approaches, so I test fire my wand in his direction. A magic missile shoots forth. Neato. If there's one thing I have, it's arrows, so I let 'em fly into the darkness. With each release of the bow string, I hear a cry of anguish report back. Soon, the scream is followed by a heavy thud coupled with the cracking sound of skull on granite. The yeti is dead, and quite quickly. My new bow is really sweet.

I dispose of a zombie, an icky thing and a duergar as I fight my way into the room. All that remains is a motionless jelly and a more troubling mirkwood spider, but it's way over there in the back. I destroy the jelly and pick up the mushrooms nearby. A cave painting on the south wall appears to be just that, a painting. I rest until the spider wakes. My first arrows missed, but the next three made up for it, my sword dealing the fatal blow. I snatched a scroll of unknown properties from near it's webs. I move back to the west to explore an earlier ignored southern passage, but it dead ends in a pile of rubble.

Now, east of the painted room another southern passage ends in rubble. What the heck? I'm now well east of the fountain so even if I do find a traversable route south, I'll have to come back west quite a bit to even come close. Further east are the stairs leading deeper. Just past the stairs is a troglodyte (soon dead), then another. I assemble their corpses in a loving embrace and tuck them into a corner under a blanket. Hopefully their friends get a good laugh out of it, ya know, to ease their grieving. They appear to have been guarding a room just to the south. In short order I dispose of a tick, a beetle and a dark hound. The battle leaves me weak, so I retreat to the stairs for a quickie.

I return to the scene of the crime, gathering my spent arrows as I go. As soon as I enter, I see Ulfast. Our eyes lock onto one another. I've a boatload of arrows and 6 scrolls of phase door in my pack. I think I might be able to take him, but I not sure of his abilities, his casting abilities in particular. I retreat, certain he will follow. This is planned. Hmmm, if he knows any spells, he's not using them. I reach the stairs and let the first arrow fly. I soon find that Ulfast is hard to hit. On the other hand, I am very easy to hit. Will I ever find any substantial armour? I phase away, farther than I anticipated, back into Ulfast's male-easterling cave. A green naga awaits my arrival, point blank. We clash and then a zombified orc appears also. Ulfast has some funky friends. I need to get away. I opt for phase door.

I couldn't have picked a better spot to land. I'm about 60' from where the naga will be when she turns the corner into my field of vision, and theres a staircase at my back. I summon my health reserves (I'm still weak, but better) and wait. Two shots and the naga dies, the zombie just coming into range, Ulfast just behind it. I concentrate my fire on Rob Z, but he's not taking a dive. Soon they are both nearly upon me and I must make a decision, bail or not. I take a step back on the stairs mulling over my options. I can't kill Ulfast (95% sure). The zombie is just going to complicate things (+4%). Before I descend, I read the unknown scroll from my pack. Darkness suddenly surrounds me (and Ulfast, thought he doesn't seem to mind). I call upon my powers of lore and surmise that my mushrooms are likely to cause blindness. I flip Ulfast the bird as I descend. I'm sure we'll meet again. I want him to remember me.

Here's a little bug for ya. Pressing 'n' is response to the to buying dialog still results in a sale.

[Mikko Lehtinen]

I attempt to Topple the tree with my sword, but nothing happens.

Ctrl + direction works in 1.2.0. I'd recommend updating to 1.2.2, you just need to move your save file and maybe scores. Tunnel/Topple is a good description for the command, thanks for that.

Though it rubs my beard the wrong way, I rested for a few moments along the way.

Did you know that Resting recovers HP at double speed? I'm thinking of removing that rule based on your comments on resting.

Here's a little bug for ya. Pressing 'n' is response to the to buying dialog still results in a sale.

Noted.

[buzzkill]

Level 10. I descend into a room lush with growth. I can't help but notice Wormy, slumped against the side of the stairs, napping. There's also a mold so hideous it actually seems to be growing its own hair. Wormy's head lies so close to it that he almost appears to be using the mold as a pillow. I wonder how long it's been there. Perhaps it's his pet.

I move south, abandoning my happy place in search of treasure. I'm nearly across the room by the time Wormy awakes. A few more steps and I'm safely in a corridor and standing upon a faery portal. There's an energy hound nearby, so I fire arrows at it until both enemies are upon me. I was hoping to kill the hound just for the sake of having one less nuisance about, but it didn't work out. I portal away to the east, hoping that I'll be able to work my way back to my happy place from there.

Hmmm, not what I was expecting. I find myself in the corner of a room surrounded by trees and bushes. A moment's exploration indicates that I am indeed trapped here, fully surrounded by trees and solid granite. A scroll of phase door trades my second predicament for a third. Outside the confines of the trees, but still in the same room. I see a four-pack of lemure and a night lizard, unmoving. There's only one exit, to the north, back to my initial problem. Still, north seems to be the better bet.

I take out the weakened energy hound with more arrows, those same arrows I now see Wormy collecting as he moves toward me. I hit the Worm with two arrows without much effect. I step toward him as a lemure stirs awake behind me. I need to get past Worm and I'm hoping a phase will do the trick, but instead fate steps in. Wormy feints some martial arts and steals some coins from me in the process. Now he's gone in a puff of smoke. While the loss of gold is regrettable, I'm satisfied with the trade off.

I head back to my happy room, the lemure in pursuit. I riddle a pink ant with arrows until it lies dead. My iron tipped arrows make short work of the first lemure and weaken the second before Wormy reappears. I phase to gain distance to aid my bow. Now, I concentrate fire at the lemure. It dies. By this time, Wormy has already hit me with two frost bolts and I've used my lore of recovery. With my resources running thin, I make a run for the stairs. Wormy's pet mold perplexes me as I place my foot upon the first step, but no matter, I'm already gone.

Without much gold to spend, my time in town was short. Kill all of the Duke's agents in town, check. Buy lots of arrows, check. Return to stairs and rest. Descend. Double check.

Minor bug, mushrooms of CLW are vulnerable to cold according to their description.

Yes, I know I can tunnel (now).

[buzzkill]

In this and future installments I'm going to use the scale of 1 grid = 4 ft (rather than 10 ft), or 1 grid = 1 meter if you're into that kind of thing. It makes the tables and the room sizes more reasonable. Though they are still large, they are not ridiculously so.

Since my last attempt was abbreviated, I choose to return to the tenth level of the Halls of Mist. I manage to correctly map myself a way the hell out of here. Given that I have a happy place, I throw caution to the wind and dispel the blackness of the room I find myself in. It's empty with one exit. Cautiously, I head south.

I take no more than a step or two when a screeching harpy, her skin blood red, rushes forth from the mists just ahead of me. My fingers release an arrow with lightening speed and it strikes her squarely. A moment later she's upon me, biting and clawing, moving at a speed I find hard to fathom. I phase door away to avoid getting pecked to pieces. I land just east of my previous position, a north-south granite wall acting as a divider between the two. I suspect it won't take long for Her Harpiness to find me, so I head north in search of a lit area.

I see a door. I pick the lock. I step onto the threshold. I hear the beast behind me. I don't have time to close the door, so instead I let loose another arrow. Another hit. She's weak now, but that doesn't deter her. I quickly finish the fight, with a tremendous blow from my long sword. I enter the room and lock the door behind me, not that it will make much of a difference since theres another exit about 20' down. There's mural upon the opposite wall, wrapping the corner of the room. Carefully embedded within it I find two runes, one of slumber which I master and one of terror which I can't quite figure out. The artwork also concealed a secret door, conveniently open from within by an icky thing, leading to an unguarded, abandoned vault.

I wish I could recall terrain info by looking at. I have no idea, other than suppositions based on their titles, what the runes do.

This whole area is a dead end, so I head back toward my happy place. I discover an empty room with exits in all directions (and then some) along the way. This room will serve as my new jumping off point, my base of operations. I shoot down a cold hound who dares to enter my lair. The second cold hound was more effective than the first, but not a serious threat. The next encounter is with a swordsman, who's genre I have learned to respect. I have time to focus on my blade before the battle ensues. It turns out to be a bloodbath for both of us, but only I walk away from it. I head to the stairs to rest, taking note of the scarry black orc in pursuit.

My archery proved to be both on target and at the same time ineffective. The orc was upon me and in much too good of health... and he brought a friend. I was weak going in, and even weaker now. I can't abandon this level. The town folk will laugh at me, or worse. I concentrate on another place, a unknown place to the west of here, I shift through the faery realm and back again. I find myself in the mural room. It's safe. It's large. If the orcs do manage to find me here, they will probably regret it. I curl up in a corner a close one eye. Next thing I know, much time has passed and I feel grrrreat.

My only path leads my back to the orcs. Even with my fully renewed stamina, the battle, once I found them, was hairy. In the end the orcs both lie dead.

I fear my time here in the Halls might be coming to an end, so lets review. I have achieved status level 14 and hold ten times that many hit points. Though I've upgraded my bow, my other equipment is very much the same as when I started my quest. My pack holds but a few unknown mushrooms, a single scroll of phase door, a single potion of CSW, a wand of magic missiles which I can't seem to find a use for, my staff of light and a plethora of arrows. I must remember to test those mushrooms and learn of their effect.

I follow a western passage from my lair and when it branches I head north. It eventually dead ends in an empty room. Breadcrumbs, fork in the road, west. What the heck is that? It's a hippogriff. My arrow bounced off of it. I'm not even sure if it noticed them or not. I ran for the stairs with it on my heels. Every once in a while it would get close enough to land a blow. It was a long run and as we passed through my lair saw that there was also a skeleton chasing after the both of us. I reach my happy place. I turn to fight but this thing is way tougher than most of the things I choose not to fight. I run back to town, unsure of what the future holds.

Once again, with only 25 gold to spend, shopping is short and sweet. A silly spy aid my cause with an additional 15 gold. I was looking to buy a scroll of phase door, but none are available, so instead a get a pair of leather gloves, boosting my armour class to 10, and a CSW.

That makes two short dives back to back. I don't like where this is leading.

[buzzkill]

Level 11 - For Whom the Bell Tolls.

I reluctantly descend, once again, into the mists. Along the way I find a crudely drawn map, probably the artwork of a drunken orc. Aside from a path to the surface, it shows me little more than I can see myself as I squint to maximize my vision. I move south 20' and secure the stairs leading deeper. I continue south, swapping my dying torch for a new one along the way. It's not long before I see that this passage has suffered a cave in. It's completely blocked with rubble. My dwarven instincts are to tunnel, but I resist the temptation.

I'm moving north now, past an empty room. There's a locked door, but I can't open it. A short distance further and I can see that this tunnel too has caved in. I walk back to the empty room, my sword heavy in my hand, my footsteps echoing quietly throughout the cavern. Further south still, a long passage leads east and west, an empty room at either end. This this whole level is eerily devoid of life. My exploration had led me to be opposite of the first cave in I discovered. I clear the tunnel of debris as it will shorten my route back to my know staircase. I take a moment to erase the rubble from my map.

From the eastern branch, I head north. I'm victorious versus a fast moving rat-thing and a white dragon bat. A pink ant interrupts my rest, but only momentarily. Fully rested now, I head a few steps north and enter a room. Though I can't see it, I know that there is a rune of blood here, probably hidden in the cave painting in the northern alcove, as evidenced by the rooms bloody occupants, a rattlesnake and a hippogriff. The hippogriff deeply saddens me. It haunted me last level and I still have no way to deal with it.

I flee to the west, past the rattlesnake, suffering a poisonous bite in the process. The snake, though erratic, eventually follows me and, if my calculations are correct, should hinder the progress of Griffy. I move through winding passages, my accelerated pace making my torch reflect wildly off the damp walls. By the time I see Griffy again, I can tell he has lost a lot of blood. I'm surprised at his condition , but it's still not enough. A second later the Griff stops bleeding just as I recover my last HP. It's now or never.

Weighing my options, I choose the wand of magic missiles as my opening attack. I don't want to risk missing with an arrow. The missiles hit and are marginally effective, so are my blows. I've killed a hippogriff all by my self (kind of). I can hardly believe it. I return to the hippogriff's lair that I earlier fled from, killing the unusually tough rattlesnake along the way. I manage to master the rune of blood, but not before I'm given a severe cut. Now I realize why the griff was in such a weak state. This run of blood, it doesn't mess around. I try a mushroom, hoping it will halt the bleeding, but cannot discern any noticeable effects.

The cave painting also houses a secret door. I pick the lock and move through the door but instead of a small vault, I find a large empty room on the other side. My bleeding has still not abated, and I must quaff a CSW in order to help ease the pain and blood flow. It helps but a little. I return to the room of the blood rune to gather a tunic and check another door locked door. It's only then that I suddenly feel an evil eye upon me. A black aura tries to invade my being. I resit it's power and am surprised to see that it emanating from another rune, cleverly woven into the cave art. I must have missed it earlier. I rush to it, eager to disarm it before it can strike again, but I'm too slow and this time I cannot resist it's power.

A darkness descends upon my equipment. I can feel my armour turn cold upon my skin, my bow weaker in my hand. Worse yet, I cannot for the life of me make heads or tails of this dastardly rune. Instead I run to the door, pick the lock, and see that it's nothing more than a closet. I turn and traverse the runed room once again, heading north once again. I am cursed again, but my gear sufferers no further. I wonder briefly of what evil second curse bestowed. Once again I move north, this time past the large empty room into a darkened room. I have but one charge left in my staff of light so I explore the old fashioned way. I feel a table, and then a troll.

He follows me back to the table. I try and try and eventually manage to take a position on top of the table, but that time would have been better spent landing blows. No matter, the forest troll soon dies. The room leads nowhere. This whole area is dead. I backtrack and explore a couple of more predominately empty rooms using the last of my staff of light charges, find just a few silver pieces. I now must go all the way back to the east-west passage, and further west from there.

As I proceed the passage widens a bit and a cold hound dies to my blade. With it's death I feel more experienced and happily note that in addition to gaining a status level, I've also gained a second lore based escape. I see a room before me now, I few overgrown insects occupy it. As I sprinkle a beetle with arrows, I hear a familiar sound. The sound of footsteps heavily upon cheap veneer. I finish the bug, quickly cross the room and gather the two potions of CSW near it's corpse. Still, no one approaches.

The room's other occupant, an ant has awoken, and I use it for target practice while I wait and rest. Just as the ant is about to keel over, a troglodyte enters from the north. I fire a non-stop barrage of arrows, dropping both the ant and two trogs. I can see another in the next room, but can't draw a bead on him through the narrow connecting corridor. I move west and collect some mushrooms of blindness. I know they're useless, but they're great in an omelet.

My mushroom gathering moves me further from the passage and give the two remaining trogs time to enter the room. Another barrage of arrows, this time my seldom used flight arrows, and both lie dead. They have nothing of value on them, but when I search their home, I find a mithril wand of unknown enchantment. I'm moving quickly now, almost recklessly as I explore this area of the dungeon. The crude orcish map I started with is taking form, over half the paper filled with cubic rooms and narrow passes. I find another empty room to the north and a set of stairs leading deeper. I feel confident. Let's see where that takes me.

I soon find an unusually tough forest troll. He quickly turns coward, his last vision, a arrow shaft, it's tip dripping his own blood, protruding from the front of his chest, piercing shoddy leather armour. I attempt to rest a bit, but Ole' Stony, or maybe his twin, startles me. I retreat to a lit area to better deal him. Just as I draw my bow string and take aim at the golem, I notice something furry behind him, an owlbear. Defeating them both costs me some time and about ten arrows due to breakage, but Stoney seemed easier this time round. Maybe I've gotten better with my bow despite it's disenchantment.

I enter a green room to the north. I see a leprechaun and know I must kill him. My thoughts race at the prospect of acquiring his gold. As it turns out, he has no gold at all. His blinking about was magically annoying, thankfully it didn't last long. My second arrow pinned him down and the wand of magic missiles finished him off. Then came the horde of giant brown bats which I fell two at a time. A received a donation from some much missed, as of late, creeping gold coins and a scary blast end skewert gave it up with out much ado. As I tidy up the scene of the battle a bit, kicking bat corpses under bushes, making a souvenir money pouch from the leprechauns hat, I hear rustling sounds from the north. I envision bi-peds moving through bushes. I take position behind the lush natural cover and wait.

Two mages soon enter the room. I kill the first with arrows. The second, my guinea pig, becomes a victim of my previously unknown wand of stun burst. Throughout the fight they did manage to hurl a few elements in my direction, but I'm not that bad off. On the plus side, I piked up five powder vial of confusing. As I continue north, I drop a priest at range. It turns out he was a rich SOB. What, no vow of poverty? Shame on you. I find some red mushroom growing under a bush. I wonder what they do? In the course of my extensive time on this level I noted that there must be something in the mist that prevent monsters form spawning as areas I've cleared stay that way.

I march across the dungeon with ease and comfort now. I own much of this level and have to study my map to find new nooks to explore. The Duke will not be happy when he hears of this, if he hears of this. Finally I come to a door. I pick the lock and am accosted my a harmless skeleton and a pink frog. This was not unexpected. I imagine they've been waiting to die for quite a while. The battle went well and having but a flesh wound gave me an opportunity to test my new red mushrooms. They're tasty, but I can't tell their purpose. I end my time on the level cleaning out a series of small rooms, each containing a few gold pieces, one held some shiny gemstones. That's a first.

As beat I can recall, this is the first time I've entirely cleared a level. I'm feeling good about my progress but am just starting to run a little low on arrows. I call upon my knowledge of lore to identify my red mushrooms as of cure confusion. I still don't know what the verdant mushrooms do. I burned through almost an entire torch on this level. I'm looking forward to the next.

BTW, It Tolls not for Me.

[buzzkill]

I follow the stairs to level 12, a found dwarven map, the best type of map, reveals to me much of the dungeon near to the stairs. An orc legionnaire shares my space. He's obviously here to guard the staircase, but he naps in the corner behind the a bush. I try to find a some cover from which to fire my bow. I've yet to deal with a orc of this stature and am unsure of how I'll fare against him. At the same time, I see that my map indicates what appears to be a chain of small treasure rooms just to the south. Distracted by the lure of gold, I pick the locks and collect three separate bounties. As I reemerge, I can see that nothing has changed. This orc is a in deeper slumber than I anticipated. I move on, supremely confident that if he awakes, I'll hear him coming.

I proceed northwest through a jagged passage. I pick some garnets from the floor and discover another tiny vault. I hold over 150 gold pieces now. The passage turns now and heads due east. I see a disembodied eye, stationary in the room before me. The tunnel is so narrow that I must approach it before I can fire, but before I can secure a firing position a mirkwood spider scuttles toward me with great speed. I'm bitten several times before I lay it to rest. I retreat to my tiny vault and lock myself in. I rest.

Oh shit! I thought I'd be safe in here, but that's not the case. Sometime after the poison subsided but before I was really well rested, something splintered the door. Luckily this vault has two exits, and I've already mastered both. I unlock the other door and step through, fully prepared to slam it closed, but my pursuer is too fast. It's another damn spider and it's already upon me. I try to hit it with a vial of confusing, but to no avail. I'm forced to fight with my sword and do manage to send it scurrying away. I shut and lock the door and focus on my recovery.

I find myself in a small secondary vault. Not what I expected, but entirely predictable given hindsight. I'm contemplating quaffing a CSW to ease the poison, and as I mull over the items in my pack I see the verdant mushrooms. I try one and am delighted to see that I am immediately poison free. I swap my torch for a fresh one and await the return of the spider. It's not until I'm fully recovered that I open the door. Damn it! There's two of them now.

With no wiggle room, I pull a heavy iron tipped arrow from my quiver. It solidly pierces one of the beasts. I drop one with my sword but the other is strong and soon I must phase away. I land near the floating eye. I quickly quaff a CSW and destroy the eye with arrows. Already white wolves are filing into the room and it won't be long before I'll have the spider to deal with as well. I drop the first wolf at range but a second is upon me and I can see at least 4 more. I am very weak and can't win this fight.

I shift through the faery realm and this time I land where I intend to, near my happy place. At about this time the legionnaire whom I left napping earlier awakes. I riddle him with arrows. As tough as he is, I only manage to turn him seconds before he reaches me, and that's just about when the first wolf arrives. I try to fight it, but I am still too weak, and to make matters worse theres something I can't see, something invisible. It's attacks me and poisons me as well.

Very near death, I attempt another escape, a shift through the faery realm. I visualize my happy place, my staircase. It's so close I can see it without even peering through the realms. Because I'm already in the room as my intended destination, I'm not sure how well this will work, but I have no choice. I re-materialize just 10' or so from the stairs. I can see that the wolves are already aware of my new location. I make it to the stairs and quaff a CSW. The nearest wolf now just a step away. I fire an arrow and miss. I swing and miss. My arrows are everywhere. They litter the room like midget elves at the north pole. I want to collect them, especially the iron tipped ones, but can stay no longer. I ascend the stairs and find my way back to town.

My arrival in town is shockingly hostile. I'm surrounded by not one, not two, but three evil inhabitants. No sooner do I take a step than a number four appears from around a corner. Now as if on cue, they all move toward me. I quaff another CSW and focus on my fencing thankful that I'm still able to do so. My first arrow only grazes the priest, but my sword drops him in short order. Another arrow drops the second attacker, a spellsword, and my blade makes short work of the third, a mystic. It's one on one now and though I decimated his friends, he's not afraid. I notch a arrow and it penetrates my final attacker. He bleeds out a moment later. I collect my arrows and an oily yellow potion for my troubles.

I head to the temple first to buy a greatly needed scroll of remove curse. By simply removing and discarding my cursed armour I feel as though I am better protected. I'm also now able to shed the cursed amulet of infravision. By the time I'm done shopping, I've not a copper to my name. In replenishing my armour, I grab a spare pair of boots from my home, but had to buy a new cloak. My purchases consist of two potions of CSW, three scrolls of phase door, a wooden torch (the only one for sale), a potion of cure disease (on sale) and about 50 arrows.

[buzzkill]

Level 13. I arrive in good spirits, having mapped myself a way back out of here. A nearby treasure rooms yield 14 gold, at least that's the portion that I'm allowed to keep. Just to the south, there are stairs leading deeper. A jagged passage leads northeast. An encounter with a rattle snake turns perilous when an earth hound and then a stegocentipede join the fray. A powder vial of confusing buys me all the time I need with the stego, but the hound is relentless. As my situation worsens, I'm forced to shift back toward my happy place.

I draw upon my health reserves and heal some of my wounds. It's no surprise when the wounded earth hound tracks me down, but there's now time and space to use my bow, and the hound dies predictably. Since I have no other option, I head back toward the area guarded by the stego. When I get a chance I turn and head west, and just when I think that I'm in the clear a tengu summons me. My new location is east of where I was, the very area I was trying to avoid, and the stego is now just a few feet away. It was foolish to even try to fight, but I did. When events turned against me, I once again shifted away. I was hoping for my happy place again, but it was not to be.

I landed in a lit room due west of the stairs. A wide swath of granite separates the two. There seems to be no way to get back to the stairs now., and even if I could, they'll remain guarded by both of my adversaries. Those stairs are dead to me . I try to rest, but a light hound enters the room, followed by another, then a cold hound, and another. I drop the first with by bow and the second with my blade, but they keep coming. When it gets to the point that I can take no more, I read a scroll of phase door and run toward the northern exit and into unknown territory. With limited hit points remaining, the marginal breath attacks of the hounds are now becoming a serious issue. My situation is fast becoming deadly.

My luck gets even worse, if that's possible, when the route I choose leads me south, back to the hounds. I'm surrounded. I have to phase again. I reappear, still within the room. I'm no longer surrounded and can flee to the south, just barely. The hounds are tight on my heels as I exit the room and continue straight down a corridor. I'm amazed at my continuing bad luck. A hippogriff now looms before me, blocking the narrow passage. With my health in the single digits, I see no real way out. In desperation, I hit the hippogriff with my wand of stun burst. A moment later I lose consciousness briefly, brought about by a gaping wound to the head.

As I somehow wake from what was surely a brief visit to the afterlife, I spring to my feet. I find myself still surrounded, but ready, willing and able to fight...so I do. With no means of escape, I'm now possessed by a rage no man nor dwarf has ever known. I lay into the stunned hippogriff relentlessly with my sword, beating it into the ground, my sword swinging frenzy killing off a hound or two in the process. With the passage ahead of me finally clear, I rush forth into a pitch black room. As I traverse the darkness, I silently curse the hounds at my back. Moving west across the room, my torch illuminates something reflective upon the ground, not gold or silver, but a wand.

I grab it and aim the wand at the first hound, not knowing what will happen. A lightening bolt, instantly spreads the gap between us and severely burns it. Again and again I unleash the powers bound within the wand. Hound after hound dies, but my skill with this wand is far from perfect and soon the last of the hounds is upon me. It's a light hound, bloodied but still hungry. It's now that I, sensing imminent victory when none was previously possible, place my life, my complete faith in the steel of my longsword. I swing mightily. I miss. My sword has failed me. The hound retaliates, tearing into me, leaving me at deaths door.

I have no reserves to call upon. I have no faith, no reason to live. Subconsciously I point the wand at the hound. It has carried the battle and finding it when I did was nothing short of divine intervention. Without even realizing it, I activate the wand at point blank range. Lightening crackles, a renewed, stronger scent of singed hair permeates the air, but the hound doesn't lie still. Instead it flees. Although I don't recall exactly, I must have, at this point, fired an arrow at the limping hound. How I missed, I'll never know.

Had I not been all but dead already, I would have laughed off the light hound's feeble breath. However, I could take no more. The weak yellowish light, hardly bright enough to cast a shadow upon the nearby wall, washed over my body like a nearly imperceptible wave of force, draining my last ounce of resolve. A tiny finger of light prods. It's gentle nudge, I cannot resist. That's all it takes. My body, no longer able to sustain it's own weight, drops to one knee, then lists forward. Dazed, I hear the sound of my sword echoing against the dungeon floor unaware that it has even left my grip. My arms fall limp at my sides. They make no effort to break my fall. My skull smacks the stone floor with a depressing thud.