The great adventures of Nimlorn

[Sky]

i wanted to detail a slow build, how to grind the dungeon by only going through what's harmless, regardless of how long it takes.

Randarts is easier, although it has a less linear progression of power. Standart does have the early *thanc find, and a guaranteed Arkenstone, but you'll be more likely to find something OP in randarts than in standarts.

I know i am strong enough to take on already most uniques, but i'm trying on purpose to get my character to where he can just crush them without worrying.

Diving might be fun, but it's hard, and a mistake can cost you all your effort.

(speaking of which, there really needs to be some change to the code where you cannot press a command before you have completed all your commands..)

32nd recall:

i gear up to kill some uniques. i still do not resist shards, so Huan and Carcharoth are out of the question. I also do not resist Nexus .. and have no pFear, but one artifact i own activates for Hero, so that should do.

DL77:

mini vault, level feeling 6-$. My first find is a ring +4 Spd, which makes me afraid of melee and worse at casting spells .. well that's just great.

second mini vault, with Saruman inside it. while i'm preping the battlefield with tons of Rune, Kamul, The Black Easterling, decides to pay me a visit.

I eat a bolt of mana and have to retreat once, but i'm carrying two full stacks of CCW so i'm not worried.

I then overdo it and cover half the vault in Runes, but Saruman doesn't manage to break a single one.

The only notable drop is a ring of speed +8. I find a 6d7 short sword with only slay dragon, and a 6d4 battle axe that doesn't slay anything useful, although it does have imm.fire, which is always good.

i need to recall .. i can't bear to leave these artifacts unsold, it breaks my heart.

There is a Ball & Chain that is really good, it gives rNether, and all the basic utilities (FA, Invis, Regen, etc) but it has a horrible damage.

[Sky]

33rd recall:

looks like i found my first rod of healing. i'm really hoping for a nice big vault with a good shooter and a artifact armour, as i'm still rocking a dwarven chain mail +2 STR, +2 CON, +2 Infr, but no resists.

DL77:

level 5-6, nothing worth killing or looting.

DL78:

level 5-5, although i do pick up a potion of *Heal.

DL79:

Glaurung in an open room... As in "Glaurung, the guy who will summon two dozen Great Wyrms" .. no tnx.

I KEEP FAILING at least half my castings of a 21% fail spell ..

I tele Self out of Glaurung's reach and walk around to get a level feeling, which comes back as .. Cantoras??

Cantoras is like Glaurung, but worse. And still no level feeling .. i quietly sneak away, find some stairs, finally the level feeling comes to 6-5.

DL80:

two micro vaults, one next to the other. The second has Arowen, The Black Hand in it.
Harowen likes to come close to you and steal something, then disappear... as in "you will never see him again".

But he is a sucker for blink and acid bolt .. or Rend Soul ..

the artifact winds up being some silly zweihander that does 190 dps ..

DL81:

Feagwath, with some undeads. I MBan the undeads, and tentatively start setting up some runes, but he wakes up and mana bolts me .. i save this fight for another day.
Level feeling 5-6. i fail 2 out of 3 castings (no, not stunned) of a 27% spell.

DL82:

i fail 2 of 3 castings of a 27% spell. something which has a 0.25% chance of happening.
I find Omarax, The Eye Tyrant, and since he isn't particularly difficult, i set up 3 runes in a corridor and try my +2 Shots ring.

He doesn't drop anything, but i find a Mace that is almost identical to the Flail i'm using now... but less damage.

Level feeling 6-$ ..

i fail another casting of two of MBan, and then magically do not fail the third .. wth?

I find another demi vault, and a sleeping Radagast, The Brown in it. I manage to lay down 6 full Runes, and rest too, when he wakes. However, he is a tough guy, and despite being stunned 2 times, he keeps fighting. I also have to quaff a mana, because he keeps summoning Maiar and Blue Wizards.
Finally, he makes a mistake .. he sends me away, i rest, he shows up. i lay down a single rune, refresh my haste, refresh his slow .. and while he summons some dangerous aether hounds, i manage to kill him and MBan the hounds.
He drops NOTHING.

DL83:

I see Arien, and i dont have any fire immunity, and my rod of healing is recharging.

I TS and i see the Lernean Hydra in a demi-vault .. it's a 5-$ feeling, so i need to go there. After all, she's just a big lizard.
And to my surprise, she doesn't put up much of a fight, and only sumons a pathetic 3 hydras to the game.

I find an artifact trident that is only worth for selling, but i do not have an Elightment potion, so i need to look at other areas of the dungeon before i recall.

I fail another casting of two of MBan ..

Ok, i'm headed back to town.

[Sky]

34th recall:

i decide to slot in a ring of speed +12 instead of what is essentially now a ring of damage +8. i dont need the +5 STR, +3 CON +3 DEX as i'm already maxed out.

DL83:

i recall in the Cat Lord's lap, and i decide it's time to take down this fool. I rune up and buff, and stun him twice as he charges me. Less fortunate is a Maia pit right next to the battle, that starts vomiting out Maia at an allarming rate.

My rune holds fast for most of the fight, and i have 75 mana left for a MBan. He doesn't drop anything, but one of the two maia i killed drops a useless spear.

I rest, and halfway through i see Maeglin, Traitor of Gondolin passwall on his way to me. So be it.

Maeglin is never an easy fight, and he starts by summoning two Nazgul. I TO one of the two, and quaff a mana potion.
I stun Maeglin after 4 tries, and TO the second Nazgul. Man these guys are slow..
He breaks my rune, i blink, re-rune, and he summons .. Ungoliant.
I immediately blink, move to face Ungoliant, and TO her away.

Finally he bolts. I kill a 5 hp mob that stands in the way, and he summons Pit Fiends .. great.
i TO the pit fiend in my way, and strike dead Maeglin. I then TS as i have no more mana, because i failed two of four castings of MBan ...
and i find myself in a room with some ogres. Ok, i'm not in danger .. i just rest, and FAIL AGAIN A 25% FAIL SPELL.

i keep teleporting to find a safe spot, and when finally i do, i rest, but i am disturbed. I TO the offending unique, but then i see a Nazgul with some summons, and i FAIL TWO CASTINGS OUT OF TWO of a 25% fail spell.

I'm out of mana. i TS again.

Finally i get to a corner of the dungeon and the only mob that keeps finding me is Akorahil The Blind. I Rune up and smite him into final death. Akorahil puts me over the limit for CL41, 759 HP, 314 SP.

I could leave now and call it a day, but i decide the Witch King of Angmar can join his buddy in the after-afterlife.

Rune, Shield, Resistance, Slow, Haste. And the first thing he does is summon a Balrog and Pazuzu. My answer is to TO them, as i have 80 mana left and he might call out a swarm of undead. Instead he summons two ridiculous red dragons that look panicked when they see me, and i maul him .. and he send me away. Unfortunately, he sends me to a room with a rune i dropped earlier, and i nuke him with Chaos Blast.

I go back to the scene of the crime and look at Maeglin's drops. There is a obscene Plate Mail [80,+9] for when you need to stop anti-tank missiles, that resists disenchantment and chaos. I would lose a ton of SP by wearing this though ..

I move to se one last item on the map, and Pazuzu spots me and summons Balrogs, including The Balrog Of Moria.

I decide to quit this level, there is nothing else to find.

DL84:

still a lot of dangerous uniques around.

Honestly the best thing, for an easy win, is to keep grinding until a vault with locked rooms shows up. The one that says, "here, i'm gonna hold this unique for you, so you can beat him up".

I walk around for a while to find some stairs, and decide to see if i can kill a Wyrm Of Many Colours.

I can.

But it's no walk in the park, she takes 500 hp from me, even stunned and slowed.

DL85:

level feeling 6-6.

DL86:

level feeling 6-7

DL87:

we start with level feeling 4- .. not a good sign.
I'm 45 Lbs overweight. i decide to recall.

[Sky]

35th recall.

i swap out armors. i do some tinkering with my gear, lose some damage, but i now resist nexus. i'm missing rSound, rShards, pStun and still miss Fear ..
i manage to drop 2 weapons and 1 helm i will never need.

DL87:

i start next to a skull vault, with The Balrog Of Moria on the outside, and Lungorthin, The White Fire on the inside. I TO the first, and drop some runes.

I did mention that i lost some damage in the swap, what i didnt mention is that now i'm using The Scythe Of Slicing Of Naeth, (8d4) (+7,+12) that *Slays demons and undead. 575 damage/round. Also two lucky stuns out of three castings. He dies in a cowardly manner, running for his life.

I don't find any artifacts, but i do find two Longbows of Lothlorien, one of which is a x5 (+21,+24). However, the x4 i am using now is my only HLife, so i will keep both.

I walk around and get a level feeling of 6-$ .. yummy. I see a vault and a few items scattered around.


The Balrog Of Moria tries to stop me. Ha. Alone. HA.

I have plenty of time to rune up and stun him. He tries a last ditch effort to summon some undead but i swat them away with MBan.

I make my way to the vault, and just like that i have added rSound and Fear to my gear. Jewel Encrusted Crown 'Isirin', [0,+15], rSound, pFear, pBling, ESP, Invis, +5 INT, +4 WIS. Truly a crown for kings.


I kill a dreadlord for fun, then see Baphomet in the next room, and prep for battle.

Now, i used to remember him as much stronger. He can cast bolts of Force, and bolts of Mana, both of which hurt massively. But this time he is just content to break one of my runes, knowing full well it will cost him his life.
He doesn't drop anything.

DL88:

Gothmog, The Guy Who Summons a Conga-Line Of Balrogs, is sleeping in a demi-vault.

He wakes as i do my preparations, but my first stun lands, and i start bashing him. He summons two Horned Reapers, and i TO one of them, while he pushes another around the corner. Out of sight, out of mind.
And then he summons Pazuzu.. I DO NOT WANT TO FIGHT YOU PAZUZU, CAPISC'?

Level feeling comes to 7-6, and i want to go drop some stuff home.

[Sky]

36th recall ..

you know what would be good, now? some ridiculous uber-OP weapon.

DL88:

ding!, CL41. 775 HP, 319 SP.

i recall next to a blue dragon pit, and prep to murder them all.

i find a scroll of *Acquirement*, which i turn becomes the Cutlass of Girri, a weapon so overachieving i need to list everything now.

*Slay undea, *Slay dragon, *Slay demon, slay giant, slay trolls, slay orcs, slay animals, slay evil.
Branded with lighting AND poison.
Immunity to lightinig and resist sound.
protect fear, blindness.
slow metabolism, see invisible, blessed.

+1 STR, +3 DEX, +4 Tunnel, unfortunately it's 2d8 +5,+22 so it maxes at 280 dmg. oh well.

DL89:

i see Thuringwethil, The Vampire Messanger, and i try to lay down a ton of runes, but she wakes up.
I fight him, she breaks all 3 of my runes, and i blink and lay down my last rune. She charges at me, i MM her for all i got, but when i run out of mana i remember i have some arrows of Holy Might .. and that's the end of Thuringwethil's story.

No drops. i rest but Ungoliant shows up.

Ungoliant doesn't hurt nearly as much as she used to in older Angband, but she will still make for a long fight and i only have 1 zap of 500 healing.

DL90:

maze level. and guess who i find, that wakes up and chases me to the stairs? Huan. that's right.

DL91:

i clear a demi vault with MBan, and find my first !Life. Well, except the one that i quaffed to ID.

DL92: level feeling 8-$. i will spare you how many times in a row i fail 12% Mban.

Big vault. Balrog Pit. And i see Vecna in the vault.

And Kronos. And Polyophemus. And The Mouth of Sauron. And Atlas.

ok, change of plans. I MBan the vault, TO everything, grab a pretty decent shield, a potion of Experience, and recall.

right, i'm done for the day.

[Pete Mack]

I love the idea of pBling. I'm just trying to figure out what it does. Maybe it's a curse, and prevents use of rings and amulets? Or keeps you from picking up gold (but not other money types?)

[Pete Mack]

Huan is a pretty easy kill for a high level mage. Just keep your distance, and blast away with chaos or nether(!) bolt. Breath attacks just don't do much damage above 100' away.

[Sky]

pBling means you cannot wear Amulets of Adornment.

37th recall. i decide to drop HLife and wear the x5 bow, i need the room at home to stash my !Life.

DL92:

i recall in a solid granite wall. i'm pretty sure this isn't meant to happen, i can dig granite easily, but it would suck if i couldn't.

this is the second this this happens to me, and both times it was in the "fortress" level, where it's one giant room with small rooms in it, like a fortress with garrisons.
Inside, it's full of undead. i just MBan everything. No Artifacts, but i might as well take the consumables. A second rod of healing, two rings of damage +13, 2 new wands.

DL93:

my first rod of restoration, which means i can drop the !RLL. I also find lying around the Light Crossbow of Irmonim, x4, +3 INT, +3 CON, +4 WIS, +1 Shots, rChaos.
For now, the bow of Lothlorien is better, with +5 DEX.

Big vault, Pazuzu in it.

I lay down a ton of runes, break the wall, Pazuzu sees the runes, and he immidiately understands he is done for. He takes the stun and doesn't put up a fight, doesn't even summon. Ding!, CL42, 793 HP, 327 SP.

I find some nice Alchemist's Gloves of Earegolor, +1 STR, +3 CON, FA, Regen, imm.cold, rNether, giving me a second rNether. I can now swap my pendant.

I need to make some room at home, to manage my swaps.

[Sky]

38th recall

i drop +3 Spd in exchange for STR 18/*** and pStun. i now resist everything except Shards and Life Drain.
I muse whether it's better to have 600 DPS vs demons and undead, but 320 vs evil, or 400 DPS vs acid.

DL93:

level feeling 5-7, i'm heading for the stairs when i see Arien, Maiar of the Sun. I decide to give it a go, see how it ends.

Not the easiest fight, even with Resistance she casts some evil bolts of plasma, but after 2 rods of healing and a potion of heal, she crumbles, and drops The Leather Scale Mail 'Brennon', [20,+11], +8 Speed. I can't use this unless i find a swap for rChaos and rNexus.

I keep looking for some stairs, and run into Huan, still sleeping. I move away, rest, and then decide it's better to not, you know, die. I need me some shard resistance first.

DL94:

almost there. Level feeling 4-5, of course.

I take that as fact, and TS around to wind up in a room with Ungoliant, The Tarrasque, and Glaurung. Totally feeling 4 mobs.

Ungoliant it is.

I lay down some runes, The Tarrasque wakes up and breathes fire, and breaks two of them, then gets TO away. Ungoliant follows and i attack her.

I'm rather lucky with the stuns, but even so, the fight takes forever, with me needing to slow her down several times. Glaurung, who had been sitting there all along, wakes up.
I blink and wind up next to him, so i TO. Ungoliant's summons are pathetic but they do block the way when casting. I use the occasion to quaff a !mana, rebuff, and drown a dozen CCW.

She puts up a real fight, down to the last HP. i finally mana storm her and she dissipates.

This fight has taken forever, and i decide to go see if there is anything new in the BM.

[Sky]

39th recall .. still no greater vaults.

i try my swaps but i cannot fit the +8 Spd in, as that would mean losing rNexus, rDark, rPois, rChos. really.

DL94:

the whole family is here, and i decide to end it.

Polyphemus is the first to bite the dust. I TO Chronos as he tries to join his brother.
Atlas wakes up when i'm done with Polyphemus, but he barely manages to break a single rune.

I TS around to find Chronos.

I wind up in a circular room, one of those with the square room inside it, and i'm standing RIGHT. NEXT.TO. Qlzqqlzupp, The Emperor Quylthulg. Oh Joy.

I drop one rune, and cast haste + slow, and start to maul him..

It goes well, i ignore his summons, but then something pushes me away. Drats.

The problem, fighting this guy, is making your way to him, otherwise he's easy. I blink, heal, and walk into the small room, then dig a hole through the granite and i'm in melee range again.

A Greater Balrog brings me down to 70 HP, i quaff a !Life, and something summons me away. I quaff a !mana, walk back, and finally kill it. I'm down to 200 hp again. Time Hounds, Great Wyrms, Pit Fiends ..

I TS to rest, and wind up next to a graveyard. i TS again, and finally i'm in an empty room.

I decide to Banish some U and some D for good measure, and then go clean up the dungeon.

I zip around and find Chronos. Did you know he can breathe Shards ?

I dont like shards. Nobody likes shards.

I dink a nearly two dozen CCW in a protracted battle, and finally kill him.

I walk to the stairs and find another friend of Qlzqqlzupp, being Feagwath, The Undead Sorcerer. Since i'm already in melee range, why not? I drop a rune and test the waters, and the fight goes so well i decide to stick around and finish it.

[Sky]

40th recall .. probably my last or second to last.

DL94:

i'm starting to think this greater vault thing will not happen. I fight Ulmo and get my XP drained, i zap my rod of restoration and when he's down to 1 star he manages to drain me again. i kill him but make no XP.

DL95:

i fail 3 out of 5 castings of a 9% fail spell.

DL96:

Balrog Pit. Huan jumps me as i rest from the MBan, and i start a terrible fight, involving all my Heal, both rods, and about 10 CCW. No drops.

I head to the Sainsbury to buy some coffee.

[Pete Mack]

I repeat: Huan is not that hard an opponent in current V. Fight him from at least 10 squares away. Even 5 squares makes a significant difference. Use TO, Rune, and Rift to keep your distance.

[Sky]

41st recall: i foolishly head down with only two Heal ...

DL96:

The Mouth Of Sauron. Caught in a vault without a lot of space, i slow him three times and melee him from inside a rune, blink twice, cast 2 more runes, and he finally dies, having summoned a single Black Reaver.

No drops.

DL97:

i descend right in the Tarrasque's face, and Tele Self. There are still a bunch of uniques alive that i don't feel like taking on just now.

DL98:

level feeling 4-6, just passing through.


INTERMISSION


see, normally i would just keep recalling until i find most of the artifacts, through greater vaults, or until i find enough uniques stuck in greater vaults. It's much easier to kill, say, ancalong, when he's got impassable walls all around him.

For this occasion only, i will risk it and go for the kill.

DL99:

a decently sized vault, which i can see because i blow a !Enlight because i dont want to waste time when Sauron is around.

And sure enough, he shows up, but i teleport him away.

I get to the vault, MBan, and Glaurung shows up. I Haste and then walk past him (he's awake and chasing me), hide into a recess, so i dont have to fight his summons, and rune down.
I land a stun with my first Shock Wave, and maul him good. He breaks my run, i re-stun him and lay another one.

He starts doing the dance, every other step moving out of sight, and i quaff a CCW every time. I land two more stuns, and he still hasn't summoned anything.
And while i'm fighting him, Ancalong (who was sleeping in the vault) joins his .. dad?

I melee him once more, and lay a third rune, which costs me a !mana. I TO Ancalong when i have a chance, and finally "The Father of Dragons" dies, having summoned 1 great wyrm, 1 ancient dragon, and 1 ethereal dragon.

I start going through the items in the vault, when Carcharoth shows up. I lay a rune, fight him a little, when he breathes first fire, which breaks my rune with a pool of fire, and then he breathes a massive breath which forces me to TO him.

Ok, whatever i needed to do here, it's done. I recall and prep for the last two fights.

I dont need to kill these guys .. Huan, i don't know how it went so easy. generally, he rips me apart. But Tarrasque, Carcharot, Vecna, are all morgoth-level fights. Sauron is much easier than any of these.

[Sky]

42nd recall ...

i'm still missing something. I want to get my dangerous resists covered, but can't because my pieces do not fit together.

I also have no weapon over 400 dmg for Sauron, and even worse, 290 dmg vs Morgoth.

I make an epic decision, swap out my bow of lothlorien for the crossbow, and i bring in the ring of archery pwng i found earlier. My DEX drops to 150 but everything else is fairly high.

Also, i have no bolts at all ..

i recall, and it's a cave level. No bolts at all. No mobs.

i chicken out and recall again.

43rd recall:

i just pray and return to the dungeon.

DL99:

i find THE ARTIFACT i have been waiting for. A scale mail with two major resists that i need .. i might be able to do this, after all.

but no bolts ...

44th recall. really, i need some bolts. is it too much to ask for? not like Holy Might or anything, just some plain old bolts ..

DL99:

finally a nice big vault. i find some bolts, and realize my ring of +2 Shots does not do much with my 4x crossbow.
i swap back to my bow.

last recall for sauron.

DL99: two vaults, i plan to raid them both before i take on The Sorceror.

The first vault, isn't a vault, but a graveyard. i MBan it, but nothing there.

I make my way to the greater vault, and find Cantoras, The Skeletal Lord, sleeping.
I lay down 4 runes, and prepare to rest and wake him, but Sauron shows up .. i TO Sauron, and test my 700 dmg/ round bow on him. It goes decently well.

I have to TO out The Phoenix and Vecna, but eventually i clear the vault .. nothing much in it.

Well, i find a Balrog pit, MBan it, and Sauron shows up .. no time like today, uh?

I lay down 4 runes and buff myself, then quaff a !mana. Here we go.

First good news, Sauron CAN be stunned. pfft, weakling. He fights me for a short while, then blinks.

Vecna, seeing his buddy in trouble, join in and stays behind. I find that my bow works very well and i nuke him.

I move around the dungeon and Suron shows up again. He has an uncanny healing speed, and on top of that, when he's down to 80% he summons. Now, Sauron knows how to summon, not like Glaurung or whatnot. He summons The Tarrasque and Huan. i TO the Tarrasque, but Huan breathes fire (i am immune) and .. they get stuck. I blink, but they do not follow me.

I lay down more runes than it's reasonable, and dig a hole to them.

He fights me for a while, i dump a ton of arrows into him, and he finally blinks.

Huan realizes he's supposed to be fighting, and tries to attack me, but i say no and teleport him away.

i walk around to entice Sauron, and he comes at me in a corridor .. i think maybe this is a good time. i dump all my arrows of Holy Might in him, and finally, with my LAST arrow, he screams an unearthly scream, and explodes in a million fragments.

[Sky]

DL100:

As soon as i touch the ground, Morgoth, The Enemy, show up. I bully him twice with my Teleport Other spell, as i want to see if there is anything around i can use to my advantage.

I see two vaults, one is a HUGE greater vault, completely open on the inside. Not a good idea.

The second seems smaller, and probably has a place where i can hide.

My gear for the final fight.

The Mace Of Disruption 'Kelthunth' (5d8)(+8,+12). +3 DEX, +12 Speed. Thank you Sauron.

a stack of CCW
15 Heal
18 *Heal
4 Life
25 Mana

i am at +47 base speed. 824 HP and 329 SP. CL45.

I make my way to the smaller vault and it's perfect. 8 small rooms of impassable walls, perfect for me to hide in.

I clean it, and i need to TO Morgoth many, many times. I can't imagine the state of the dungeon, after all his pass-wall.

i prep, put down 3 runes, and buff.


He doesn't show up after one too many TO, and i lay down EVEN MORE runes. I hold him back at 1-rune distance, and shoot my 700+ damage arrows. Keeping the best for last.

omg, this fight lasts forever.

i really did not have enough ammo, i finally ditch the idea of hiding in a corner and lay down a corridor of runes. i TO him whenever he shows up.

I then stay back, and shoot whatever arrows i have at him. 1110 damage / round vs evil.
i swap to bolts and crossbow when i run out of arrows.

i then TO him, go out .. and gather my ammo.

finally i have him down to 1 star, i break out my Rend Soul, and i nuke him like no mob has been nuked before. Morgoth tries his best, dishing out ridiculous mana storms, and massive summons, but finally, after an exausting battle, a scream erupts from his dark form, as the hand of Iluvatar himself tears his immortal soul from his body, and forever unmakes him.

Morgoth ceases to exist.