[PWMAngband] A necromancer in Middle Earth

[PowerWyrm]

PowerWyrm rides a Great Eagle. And knows how to cast necromantic spells...

Name   PowerWyrm     Age             19         Self  RB  CB  EB   Best
 Sex    Male          Height      14'11"  STR:     17  +6  -3  +0  18/20
 Race   Thunderlord   Weight    16st 5lb  INT:     18  +2  +3  +0  18/50
 Class  Necromancer   Turns used:         WIS:     10  +1  +0  +0     11
 Title  Novice        Game             0  DEX:     10  +1  +0  +0     11
 HP     13/13         Player           0  CON:     10  +3  -2  +0     11
 SP     3/3           Active           0

  [Birth]

Force player descent                         : no  (birth_force_descend)
Word of Recall has no effect                 : no  (birth_no_recall)
Restrict creation of artifacts               : no  (birth_no_artifacts)
Show level feelings                          : yes (birth_feelings)
Increase gold drops but disable selling      : yes (birth_no_selling)
Start with a kit of useful gear              : no  (birth_start_kit)
Restrict the use of stores/home              : no  (birth_no_stores)
Death is permanent                           : no  (birth_no_ghost)
Play as a fruit bat                          : no  (birth_fruit_bat)

Let's do a little PWMAngband walkthrough with a Thunderlord Necromancer to test out the new 1.1.12 version. This is gonna be fun: bad melee, bad ranged, very few offensive spells, pathetic stealth... But we get access to great buffs, undead slaves and even resurrection!

Lvl: 1, HP: 13, SP: 3

Sign: "Welcome to PWMAngband 1.1.12 beta 1"

So we start our journey (almost) naked in the town of Hobbiton. First thing is to go shopping and get basic stuff to avoid being killed by the first thing we meet. We get a Bastard Sword as weapon (best dice we can afford), some Rocks (for throwing), a book "Necromancy for Beginners", a potion of Cure Light Wounds, a scroll of Phase Door and an extra torch/ration. We learn the spell of Horrify: "Calls upon the dark forces and opens a channel into the mind of a monster, stunning and scaring it." The stunning effect should help, the scaring effect not so much...

Being told there's a Training Cave in town, we go investigate it to get basic experience and refill our purse. On the way, we get a quest to kill four kobold shamans... I guess this will have to wait a bit, since the Training Cave is only two levels deep. We enter the cave and kill our first monsters: a small kobold, a white icky thing and a white worm mass. We find a Violet Potion, a Black Potion, a spare torch and a pair of average gloves that we cannot use because they hinder our spellcasting. In the next room, we find four spare potions of Cure Light Wounds, and that's quite fortunate since we manage to get poisoned by another white worm mass. We kill an out of depth salamander for 20 exp -- Thunderlords have the highest experience penalty of all races (350%), so we need a whole 38 exp to advance to level 2 (compare that with human warriors who only need 10). We find a Misty potion, kill a large brown snake, and...

Lvl: 2, HP: 15, SP: 5

Very low hp roll, as we get a d13 roll per level here... We can learn two more spells, so we learn Detect Monsters and Phase Door. We cast them, leaving 43 exp to earn until the next level. We find a magical cloak right before being assaulted by Fang, Farmer Maggot's dog. We create visions of terror, and the mutt flees away... but as soon as we move into the corridor to chase him while he's still stunned, we get backstabbed (backbitten?) by Grip, which comes to investigate the disappearance of his fellow canine friend. And in a round, we are down to 2/15 hps, as we immediately find out that Fang is no longer stunned and has come back to bite us furthermore. We decide to read our lone Phase Door scroll, as the spell is still at 19% fail rate. We land in a big room with the two dogs already in line of sight... not good. We heal up and with out last 2 sp cast Horrify on one of the dogs who flees away. Unfortunately, an insect swarm decides that it's the perfect time to come pay us a visit... probably after smelling the blood of a soon to be deceased necromancer. Grip is the first to enter melee range and we manage to kill him in two rounds. The insect swarm comes the next turn and we obliterate it immediately. Fang recovers his courage, but it's too late for him -- it's now one on one and his erratic movement won't help him against my sword. We pick up his skeleton for our necromantic uses, and hit...

Lvl: 3, HP: 21, SP: 7

Another below average hp roll. We get another spell to learn and it's Remove Fear. A cutpurse manages to "cut" 33 gold from our purse (that's a lot of out of depth monsters on this LF2-feeling level), but we manage to get our gold back, along with a scroll titled "inquer ineo". We clear the whole level... but we still didn't get a level feeling. That's odd... But we have a way to find out why.

PowerWyrm: "DarkGod?"
DarkGod: "Yes?"
PowerWyrm: "I've explored 50ft of the Training Cave completely and still didn't get a level feeling. Any idea why?"
DarkGod: "Let me check..."

Moments later...

DarkGod: "Alright, my bad. I save important dungeon flags in the savefile and forgot to add some last time I modified the list. From now on, I'll save all the flags, not only the important ones, it should prevent such errors. I guess it pays off to do beta testing for these dungeons..."
PowerWyrm: "So how do I fix the level feeling?"
DarkGod: "For the level you're on, you can't, the flag simply isn't there anymore. But take a nap, and when you wake up, it should be fixed for future dungeon levels."
PowerWyrm: "Alright let's do that."

And the next morning (or what looks like morning inside a cave)...

Sign: "Welcome to PWMAngband 1.1.12 beta 2"
PowerWyrm: "Sweet!"

Since there's nothing more to do on this level, let's take the closest staircase to 100ft. First, we quaff a few potions and id-by-use Water, Speed and Boldness. The scroll we have is ided as Life. Next level should be less dangerous, as we already neutralized two of the three vicious dogs that can be found there. Still we should be careful about parties of other adventurers...

We climb down the stairs, find a new scroll and a potion of Speed, and enter a room with a shrieker mushroom patch inside. Our stealth is horrible and the shroom is out of range for our rocks... but we still take a chance at killing it before something bad happens. And of course it wakes up, just when a wild cat and Wolf enter the room... so now we have a fast +20 kitty and doggy to deal with. We terrify Wolf, but kitty is already on us and wipes half our hps before we can do anything. That's really bad... Not many options here, we can cast something with fail rate over 10%, we could heal... and see our hps get wiped immediately, we could try a round of melee... and risk missing. I decide to go for the spell and terrify the wild cat. It works, giving time to heal up, but now a soldier has also entered the room, and this triple threat is clearly not manageable. Unfortunately there's no other way than quaffing that potion of Speed, as Wolf has recovered from stunning and fear, and is already back at us. We clear the threat and get four extra potions of Cure Light Wounds for our effort. And a third canine skeleton... While our temporary speed buff lasts, we also clear the remaining adventurers (an acolyte and two cutpurses) from the soldier's party, and...

Lvl: 4, HP: 26, SP: 9

This is really bad. We should have an average of 34 hps at this point. These three consecutive low hp rolls will make the early game miserable, especially with a hard class like necromancer. We can learn another spell: Find Traps, Doors and Stairs. Back to the previous floor (remember, we didn't start with a scroll of Word of Recall, so eventually we'll have to climb back to town), we feel there are not many treasures on the level... which still means there are some to be found. Indeed we find a Broad Sword (+4, +3) which is better than our average Bastard Sword, three more potions of Speed, more potions of Cure Light Wounds, and a scroll of Phase Door. We go back to the second floor, as I really want to be at least level 5 before leaving the Hobbiton area. We find a sling (+1, +4) in the room we land in, but we still don't have ammo for it so we keep it in the backpack. We find an out of depth poltergeist and, although we have neither infravision nor the ability to see invisible, we manage to spot him with our small telepathy range. For now, it's only a couple squares wide, but it'll improve as we increase our experience level. We find a Lavender potion, which identifies as Resist Heat. We also id two new scrolls: Summon Monster (we get a copperhead snake) and Blessing. We disarm a truckload of siren and alarm traps, find a good pile of scrolls of Phase Door, id a Metallic Blue potion as Resist Cold, kill a white jelly (and getting poisoned), and finally...

Lvl: 5, HP: 32, SP: 11

The RNG has decided we'll suffer through the early stages of the game. Oh well, it'll have to do. For our spell to learn, we get Raise Dead. Now we can get our first undead slaves from the corpses and the skeletons of the enemies we defeat. We can't really use that spell yet, as not only it has a 25% fail rate, but it costs extra SP for each undead slave it manages to raise, which we don't have yet. On the way we pick up a (+5, +4) sling, which replaces the previous one, a +5 cloak (our current cloak is only +3), a Clear potion (of Neutralize Poison), some Ceruleans potions which blind us when used, a Grey potion (of Heroism), a Yellow potion (of Slowness), we trigger a dozen more alarms and sirens, but we finally manage to get back to the stairs. We climb up, cast detect stairs, spot another up staircase, and go back to town.

Unfortunately, it's night time in town... and it's totally out of the question to travel in the wilderness at night, with zero infravision and just a torch, when hydras roam the swamps and giants can be found in the hills. We'll have to wait for the morning. We take some time to look at our current possessions and see what we could buy in the town. We currently have 523 gold pieces... that's not much. Our supply of Cure Light Wounds and Phase Door should be enough, so the only thing we really need at this point is a bunch of Iron Shots for our sling, or maybe a Magic Shot if there's one in the Black Market. There is none, so we buy some regular shots in the General Store and some enchanted ones in the Weaponsmith. While we rest up, we're told we have failed our quest... well we'll get another one when we reach another dungeon.

[PowerWyrm]

Next morning we leave Hobbiton and take the east route. We reach the Brandywine Bridge without any random encounter on the way, but as soon as we step on the bridge, we get harassed by Otho and Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, which grab our remaining 13 gold pieces and keep coming back to bitch about someone called Frodo. We leave them to their grief, as we really don't want to get caught by the night before reaching our destination, the town of Bree. East to the bridge, we find a suburb area. We kill an apprentice and rob his house, which reveals to be very profitable. We get a Nickel-Plated rod (... of Acid Balls!), a Nickel-Plated wand (of Wonder), a Light Violet potion (of Infravision), an average robe, some Elvish Waybread, a Light Blue potion (of Slime Mold Juice), some scrolls titled "aedivus lo" (of Identify, but we have nothing to identify yet), a Purple potion (of True Seeing), more Phase Door scrolls, some Moldy mushrooms (of Fast Recovery), an Amber ring (of Searching), more enchanted Iron Shots, leather boots +5, up to 12 potions of Cure Serious Wounds, and all sort of food and beverages. We spend some time eating vegetables and drinking ale and resume our journey. We kill a few adventurers on the way and reach...

Lvl: 6, HP: 36, SP: 13

And our hps are now 25% below average, with five consecutive bottom rolls. We learn the spell for this level: Confuse Monster. We go east some more and finally reach Bree. Nice little town surrounded by trees. Since we don't have any money at all, we don't stay in town and instead go south to the closest suburb area. We use our Deed of Property to buy a small cottage -- we will probably stay in the area for a while. West of our home, we find the entrance of a dungeon in the middle of some hills: the Barrow-Downs. We rush to the entrance as the night falls on the hills... it would be ill-advised to stay too long in the open, there are hill giants that inhabiting this area and we really don't want to meet one right now. We take a down staircase to 50ft under the surface...

We get another quest, which is to kill kobold archers this time. We should be able to complete this one: they're found at 200' and we have a detection spell. Since we're now basically experienced, we skip this first level by casting stair detection and taking the first stairs we find. Next level is also uneventful, so we take another staircase to 150ft. We find an average shield and almost get killed by a party of soldiers. We feel that there are only scraps of junk, so when we find another staircase, we take it immediately. Now we are at 200' and we can start finding kobold archers. There are none in the vicinity, but we spot a group of snotlings, which should give nice experience at our level. There "may not be much interesting" on this level, but that's not for sure, so we decide to explore a bit. The casual dirt and grass tiles, trees and mountain walls, make this dungeon quite lively. We paste a second group of snotlings, and...

Lvl: 7, HP: 48, SP: 15

Finally we talk. We can learn two more spells on this level, but we only have one left to learn in our first spellbook of necromancy: Frost Bolt. This will be quite handy, when we manage to reduce the fail rate lower than the current 25% fail. We find out first kobold archer and kill him, so we only have two more to kill for our quest. We find a Hawthorn staff (of Detect Evil), which is useless to us, and some scrolls (of Treasure Detection). There is not much interesting on this level indeed, so we take the stairs to 250ft. We arrive in a room with a bunch of hobbits and Bullroarer. We could use Frost Bolt on him, but just decide to use the Rod of Acid Balls instead. Poor Bullroarer... he drops a (+2, +6) short bow and a magical main gauche that does less damage than our current broad sword. And also...

Lvl: 8, HP: 50, SP: 17

Damn, more bad hp rolls! We cast Detect Monsters... and immediately see a kobold pit to our east! This should be profitable... We immediately cast Detect Traps to be sure there are no trap doors on the way to the pit... but no. Unfortunately, we don't manage to exit a room before the kobolds start pouring from the pit so we have to retreat inside another corridor, staying in line of sight to many kobolds shamans and their confusing/cursing spells. But we manage to slaughter the kobolds at the cost of our Cure Light Wounds potions. We find a Lead-Plated wand (of Stinking Cloud), a Light Purple potion (of Berserk Strength), some average arrows (we switch to the short bow we found previously), an ego short sword (the reward for killing those kobold archers), an Iron wand (of Haste Monster), some scrolls (of Detect Invisible), and a Hazy potion (of Confusion). We use one of our ID scrolls on the short sword and learn the rune of poison brand. On average, it's slightly better than our current broad sword so we equip it. We take another quest, this time for green oozes. Good, they're already at depth. And I forgot...

Lvl: 9, HP: 54, SP: 19

We're gonna be the sickliest Thunderlord necromancer ever... After clearing the kobold pit, we spot Smeagol in the distance and go kill him. As always, he only drops a few copper coins (go figure). As there's nothing interesting left on the level, we go down to 300ft. We instantly feel nervous about this place... We find some scrolls (of Magic Mapping) and detect a bunch of minor demons in a pit. Not sure if we can handle a demon pit at this stage. Most of them are tengus, which can be killed without too much trouble, we'll have to be careful with the homunculi and lure the demons one by one if possible... On the way, we find a Pewter wand (of Slow Monster) and a scroll (of Monster Confusion). Unfortunately, we miscalculate the position of the demon horde and come to line of sight to a tengu, which summons us inside the pack. We phase away, but still next to another tengu. This is bad, the rest of the demons will soon be close again. We quaff a potion of Speed to help out, heal up and move to a safer place. Let's play some table tennis with demons... and we are the ball!

Lvl: 10, HP: 66, SP: 21
Lvl: 11, HP: 68, SP: 23

Then we face our first homunculous. We take no chance at getting paralyzed and one-shot him with Acid Balls. We continue to send demons back to hell, and...

Lvl: 12, HP: 69, SP: 25

We are now definitely the worst Thunderlord ever born! Unfortunately, we have to bail out, as our supply of Cure Serious Wounds potions is now also depleted. We have accumulated over 5k au anyway, it's time to go back to town and restock. We purchase the second book of necromancy: Dark Conjurings. We can learn five more spells: Disable Traps, Resist Cold, Teleport Self, Stone To Mud, and Shadow Touch (grants a vampiric brand to the equipped weapon -- very nice, once the fail rate drops below the starting 38% fail). The Weapon shop has a sling of power +19 along with enchanted iron shots, so we buy the lot and get rid of our short bow. We also buy a lantern from the General Store. With a new stock of cure potions, we go back to the dungeon.

Our landing level is dull and boring, so we take the first staircase down to 400' inside a checkerboard with Grishnak and his escort inside. We open fire with Acid Balls, make a baby silver dragon horrified and start to pelt the orcs with shots. We are disturbed by a group of phantom warriors, which hit very hard at this point, so we have to phase away before we have a chance to finish off Grishnak. We manage to clear all the enemies, including Grishnak, and he drops an everburning lamp. Nice. And it's enough for...

Lvl: 13, HP: 74, SP: 27

The hps of a gnome... We gain a new spell: Satisfy Hunger. And find some scrolls (of Satisfy Hunger), so we're more than well fed now. Nothing interesting otherwise on the level, so we go down to 450ft. We find a Vespertine potion (of Sleep), a Cedar staff (of Darkness), dispatch some orcs and some wolves, and stumble upon Lagduf. He dies fast, but only drops an enchanted short bow. Lying on the ground, we find our first artifact: the Shovel of the Miner.

m) the Shovel of the Miner <+1>
     Found lying on the floor at 450 feet (level 9).

     +1 strength.
     +1 tunneling.
     +1 light.
     Radius 1 light.

Afterwards, we take the closest staircase to 500ft. We find a worthless cloak and ID our first curses: vulnerability and hallucination. We also find a Hemlock staff (of Cure Light Wounds), an Aluminium-Plated wand (of Magic Missile) and replacement +5 boots for our old ones that have been corroded by acid. We pick up a Hematite ring, which allows us to learn the "poly race" rune: it's a ring of Polymorphing. Unfortunately it's not automatically identifying itself, as it was before. And we don't really want to activate the ring to find out which race it is (it appears as "+52 poly race" when we inspect it), because we would take a penalty of -1 to all our stats and the 10d10 damage from the ring's explosion could potentially kill us outright. Not mentioning that we could end up polymorphed into a mold or jelly, which would end our journey immediately. I'll report to DarkGod about that problem and take a nap... maybe it'll be fixed when I wake up.

[PowerWyrm]

We wake up after a nap at 500ft in the Barrow-Downs. It seems that the problem with our ring of Polymorphing is gone during our slumber. When equipped, it now properly identifies as a "ring of Polymorphing of white harpy", and when inspected, it just says it "can be activated to polymorph into the corresponding monster." We don't find anything useful on the level, so we recall back to Bree to restock on supplies. In town, we're told to investigate the Orc Cave to the north, to put an end to the raids led by Azog's orc band. So we head north through the menacing wilderness. We kill an Easterling warrior on our way, and he drops a Gold ring (of Teleportation). We stop for a while to find some loot in a suburb area, but we find none this time... and the night falls on us. And surely, the daylight monsters and replaced by more dangerous nighttime ones. We have to flee from a sabre-tooth tiger, we kill a giant yellow scorpion, and reach...

Lvl: 14, HP: 79 (average would be 104!), SP: 29

Then we are ambushed by a giant GREY scorpion (base depth: 1700'). These things are fast and sting for massive poison damage, but we have Phase Door and a good sling. We kill it, then a killer white beetle, and Bloodfang also pays us a visit. Unfortunately for him, he's much weaker than a giant scorpion or beetle. Our dragon affinity kicks in while we are reaching the Orc Cave and we spot a MATURE blue dragon not far away. Better leave him sleep peacefully there. We have to flee the nearby mountain area, as we are immediately attacked by a STORM giant. We should definitely be sleeping peacefully in town instead of wandering at night in the wilderness... even more when after a while we still didn't manage to find the entrance to the cave. We recall back to Bree and spend the night in the tavern.

The next morning, we recall to the Orc Cave area and immediately spot the entrance to the cave. This time, the worst monster we have to kill before entering the cave is a tiger... We immeditely feel anxious about the place. Maybe it's simply because its base depth is 500ft, and not 50ft. But we have already been 500ft deep in a dungeon, so that should be manageable. We find an Indigo potion (of Resist Poison), a Locust staff (of Magic Mapping), and a Rusted Steel rod (of Light). We find out that the feeling is caused by a thief pit, and we start clearing the hordes of bandits that rush as us. We manage to kill a few of them before being surrounded and having the phase away, but it's enough for...

Lvl: 15, HP: 89, SP: 31

We learn the Guard spell this level: we can now control the will of undead monsters and order them to stay in place. The necromancer's version of the Hold Monster spell, but only for undead. We loot an unidentified scroll (we will refrain from reading it because we didn't id Deep Descent yet) and resume the killing. Frost Bolt is now effective (4% fail), and we can cast it 10 times with our mana pool. For our effort, we get Light Pink potions (of Lose Memories -- so we're back at Lvl 14 now after quaffing one for id), and another unidentified scroll. We also find a +6 small metal shield on the ground, and an Azurite ring (of Protection). Somewhere during the fight with the bandits, we lost our second book and didn't manage to retrieve it from the corpses. Since our xp is also drained, we leave the cave and recall to Bree. We read our unidentified scrolls and we get a scroll of Light and a scroll... of Wilderness Mapping??? Surely this thing was not in the scroll catalog yesterday, it must have been a new addition made during the night by the Dungeon Master. Anyway, we learn more about the area at (-17, -23). Could be useful as a jump point if we have to travel to the south (sounds like an area in South Gondor from its location on the map). In town, we buy a potion of Restore Life Levels, a few scrolls of Teleportation from the Black Market (you never know when you'll meet a monster surronded by an antimagic field), a copy of the second necromancy book, and we restock on basic supplies.

We recall back to the Orc Cave area, kill an ogre and get another ring of Protection. We enter the cave, and after a while we feel something worthwile on the level. And surely after some exploration, we find 'Paurhach'. We wear it, learn some runes, and use a scroll of Identify to learn the remaining rune (resist fire) from the gloves.

k) the Set of Gauntlets 'Paurhach' [3,+14]
     Found lying on the floor at 500 feet (level 10).

     Provides resistance to fire.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.
     Speeds regeneration. Prevents paralysis.

     When aimed, it shoots a bolt or beam of fire that inflicts 12d8 points of
     damage, which your device skill increases by 49 percent.
     Takes 9 to 16 turns to recharge.
     Your chance of success is 93.5%

We also detect Vort, the Kobold Queen in the area, so we go pay a visit and slaughter a kobold horde. She drops an ego ball-and-chain we identify as slaying orcs. The weapon does a little more damage vs orcs than our venomous short sword, and remember in which cave we're in? So we equip the ball-and-chain for now. We also find a Chromium wand (of Light). And with this, we're done with the level. We take the closest staircase to 550ft. And we feel superb treasures! That's probably an out-of-depth useless item, but we'll investigate nonetheless. We find a good unidentified maul, so we equip it and learn three new curses (poison, demon summon and treacherous weapon)... then of course leave it behind. We find an unidentified scroll, smite some snagas with our ball-and-chain, kill a forest troll, and...

Lvl: 16, HP: 92, SP: 33

Our condition is not improving much... The place is reasonable safe, so we still progress smoothly through the level. We spot a trap in our corridor and since we don't want our constitution drained, we cast Disable Traps... and nothing happens? We move forward and... trigger the trap. Sorry DarkGod, but you have something else to fix now... We try to move, but suddenly feel very sleepy...

We awake from our surprising slumber and find a sign: "Try to disable that trap now." We do so, and indeed the trap gets disabled and we can cross the stat-draining device without triggering it this time. That was a very quick fix... Unfortunetely, as foreseen, the "superb" treasure reveals to be a book of Prayers (Godly Insights). For a priest or a paladin, this would have been golden, but for us, since we cannot even sell it to shops, it is completely useless. Wormtongue is next to the book, so we'll simply clear our frustration on him. Our luck doesn't improve much, as he only drops a stack of ego bolts... No need to stay longer here, so we go down to 600ft... and immediately spot a minor demon pit. This time we may be able to clear it completely. We loot a Calcite ring (of Reckless Attacks), some Tin rods (of Treasure Location) and a Beryl ring (of Resist Fire and Cold). Nothing more on the level, so to 650ft we go. We detect a group of minor demons again... could that be another pit? It is not: using a charge of our staff of Mapping reveals an odd-shaped room filled with minor demons and... lava. We kill the demons, and reach...

Lvl: 17, HP: 93 (avg 125), SP: 35

We learn the last spell in our second book... and that is Identify! We manage to cast the spell (47% fail right now), and learn the rune of slay demons from the bolts that were dropped by Wormy. We also find another scroll of Wilderness Mapping and learn the area at (29, 3). We detect Ufthak nearby and decide to kill him. A baby water dragon breathes at us, we clear the status ailments with a potion, and find out Ufthak has also been stunned and confused by the dragon. Too bad for him... we even push the insult to killing him (and his escort) in melee with our orc slaying weapon. He drops this interesting randart hammer:

a) the Great Hammer of Elemet (8d1) (-6,-8) {cursed}
     Dropped by Ufthak of Cirith Ungol at 650 feet (level 13).

     It poisons you from time to time.
     It paralyses you every now and then.
     It occasionally summons an undead.
     It makes your weapon attack you.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.
     Grants the ability to see invisible things. Blessed by the gods. Prevents
     teleportation.

     Combat info:
     1.0 blow/round.
     With +4 STR and +0 DEX you would attack a bit faster.
     With +13 STR and +0 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +6 DEX you would attack a bit faster.
     With +4 STR and +6 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +9 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     Average damage/round: 3.

Of course we discard this atrocity, and instead pick up a Nickel wand (of Confuse Monster). Since I didn't do it till now, let's have a look at our stats and equipment before taking another nap...

  [PWMAngband 1.1.12 Character Dump]

 Name   PowerWyrm     Age             19         Self  RB  CB  EB   Best
 Sex    Male          Height      14'11"  STR:     17  +6  -3  +1  18/30
 Race   Thunderlord   Weight    16st 5lb  INT:     18  +2  +3  +0  18/50
 Class  Necromancer   Turns used:         WIS:     10  +1  +0  +0     11
 Title  Illusionist   Game          8250  DEX:     10  +1  +0  +0     11
 HP     93/93         Player       33740  CON:     10  +3  -2  +0     11
 SP     35/35         Active       33596

 Level                 17    Armor      [22,+55]    Saving Throw     56%
 Cur Exp             9619                           Stealth          Bad
 Max Exp             9619    Melee        1d7,+6    Disarm - phys.   55%
 Adv Exp            11020    To-hit        24,+6    Disarm - magic   75%
                             Blows      1.0/turn    Magic Devices     62
 Gold                8399                           Searching        40%
 Burden          140.8 lb    Shoot to-dam    +19    Infravision     0 ft
 Overweight      -15.1 lb    To-hit        16,+8    Speed         Normal
 MaxDepth      650' (L13)    Shots        1/turn

 You are one of several children of a Thunderlord. You have a Blue Eagle.

Ac :.............. Nxs:..............
El :......+....... Ntr:..............
Fi :..........+..+ Chs:..............
Co :.............+ Dsn:..............
Po :.............. FF :.............+
Lt :.............. Fe :..............
Dk :.............. Bld:..............
Snd:.............. Cnf:..............
Shr:.............. Stn:..............

Lit:............+. Tun:............+.
Rgn:..........+... Spd:..............
ESP:.............. EA :..............
SI :.............. XS :..............
FA :..........+... XM :..............
HL :.............. Dig:..............
Stl:.............. -HP:..............
Src:.............. Afr:..............
Inf:.............. Agg:..............

Rad:..............
Evi:..............
Ani:..............
Und:..............
Dem:..............
Orc:..............
Tro:..............
Gia:..............
Dra:.............+


  [Character Equipment]

a) a Short Sword of Venom (1d7) (+5,+3)
     Conjured forth by magic at 250 feet (level 5).

     Branded with poison.

     Combat info:
     1.0 blows/round.
     With +3 STR and +0 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +6 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     Average damage/round: 19.4 vs. creatures not resistant to poison, and
     10.7 vs. others.

b) a Sling of Power (x2) (+7,+19)
     Bought from a store on the surface.

c) an Azurite Ring of Protection [+12]
     Dropped by an ogre on the surface.

d) an Azurite Ring of Protection [+8]
     Found lying on the floor at 500 feet (level 10).

f) a Lamp (Everburning)
     Dropped by Grishnákh, the Hill Orc at 400 feet (level 8).

     Cannot be harmed by fire.
     Radius 3 light. No fuel required.

g) Soft Leather Armour of Resist Lightning [8,+5]
     Bought from a store on the surface.

     Provides resistance to lightning.

h) a Cloak [1,+5]
     Found lying on the floor at 100 feet (level 2).

i) a Small Metal Shield [5,+6]
     Found lying on the floor at 500 feet (level 10).

j) a Metal Cap [3,+0]
     Bought from a store on the surface.

k) the Set of Gauntlets 'Paurhach' [3,+14]
     Found lying on the floor at 500 feet (level 10).

     Provides resistance to fire.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.
     Speeds regeneration. Prevents paralysis.

     When aimed, it shoots a bolt or beam of fire that inflicts 12d8 points of
     damage, which your device skill increases by 52 percent.
     Takes 9 to 16 turns to recharge.
     Your chance of success is 93.9%

l) a Pair of Leather Boots [2,+5]
     Found lying on the floor at 450 feet (level 9).

m) the Shovel of the Miner <+1>
     Found lying on the floor at 450 feet (level 9).

     +1 strength.
     +1 tunneling.
     +1 light.
     Radius 1 light.


  [Character Quiver]

a) 20 Bolts of Slay Demon (1d5) (+9,+4)
     Dropped by Wormtongue, Agent of Saruman at 550 feet (level 11).

     Slays demons.

b) 5 Iron Shots (1d4) (+1,+4)
     Bought from a store on the surface.

     Combat info:
     1 shot/round.
     Hits targets up to 100 feet away.
     Average damage/round: 51.4.
     25% chance of breaking upon contact.

c) 14 Iron Shots (1d4) (+4,+2)
     Found lying on the floor on the surface.

     Combat info:
     1 shot/round.
     Hits targets up to 100 feet away.
     Average damage/round: 47.5.
     25% chance of breaking upon contact.

d) 20 Iron Shots (1d4) (+5,+5)
     Bought from a store on the surface.

     Combat info:
     1 shot/round.
     Hits targets up to 100 feet away.
     Average damage/round: 53.6.
     25% chance of breaking upon contact.


  [Character Inventory]

a) 2 Books of Necromancy [Necromancy for Beginners]

b) 2 Books of Necromancy [Dark Conjurings]

c) 2 Pieces of Elvish Waybread

d) 12 White Potions of Cure Serious Wounds

e) 5 Light Yellow Potions of Cure Critical Wounds

f) 5 Black Potions of Speed

g) 10 Scrolls titled "ando fabia" of Phase Door

h) 6 Scrolls titled "milemo quo" of Teleportation

i) 11 Scrolls titled "perolea in ter" of Magic Mapping

j) 2 Scrolls titled "cio dessi" of Satisfy Hunger

k) a Scroll titled "aedivus lo" of Identify

l) 4 Scrolls titled "alio fense lea" of Word of Recall {*@R-14,28}

m) a Scroll titled "salis simus"

n) 2 Tin Rods of Treasure Location

o) a Nickel-Plated Rod of Acid Balls

p) 2 Rusted Steel Rods of Light

q) a Locust Staff of Magic Mapping (3 charges)

r) a Dogwood Staff of Light (13 charges)

s) a Ball-and-Chain of Slay Orc (2d4) (+4,+4)
     Dropped by Vort the Kobold Queen at 500 feet (level 10).

     Slays orcs.

     Combat info:
     1.0 blow/round.
     With +3 STR and +0 DEX you would attack a bit faster.
     With +10 STR and +0 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +6 DEX you would attack a bit faster.
     With +3 STR and +6 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +9 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     Average damage/round: 23 vs. orcs, and 12.5 vs. others.

[PowerWyrm]

We continue our descent into the Orc Cave. At 700ft, we discard a huge pack of wolves and find a magic arrow, which will be nice if we get ourselves a nice bow. Otherwise, a dull level, so we go down to 750ft quickly. The place appears to be terribly dangerous, so we detect and map our surroundings... nothing too threatening there, except a couple dark hounds which we'll have to discard carefully without getting blinded. Oh and Golfimbul is in the area, so we'll make a quick pit stop to say hello... and goodbye. He drops an ego torch, which after learning the stealth and resist light runes reveals to be a torch of Shadows. We also find another unidentified scroll and a Jade ring (of Open Wounds). Detecting again reveals a pit full of crawling things: spiders, ticks, beetles... This should be fun to clear. On our way, we kill a wererat, and...

Lvl: 18, HP: 98 (avg 132), SP: 37

We're doomed... No spells to learn this level, and we'll need the third book for the next one anyway. We get ambushed by killer bees and lose two points of strengh. Not good since we just leveled up... and even worse, it's enough to get us burdened. We get rid of our orc slaying ball-and-chain, it's heavy and does barely any damage at this point. We approach the pit and ready our frost bolts. We slaughter a lot of insects, and quickly we reach...

Lvl: 19, HP: 107, SP: 39

Our strength is back to normal, and we have now a three digit health value! Still abysmally low, but it's improving slowly. We wipe out the remaining insects and loot the pit: we find a Gold wand (of Clone Monster), a magic bolt, a heavy armor of resist cold, another unidentified scroll (that's four of those), an ego whip (which is definitely of *Slay Undead*, but doesn't want to id itself... I'll have to talk DarkGod about that), and this Phial:

u) the Phial of Undeath <-4, +3>
     Found lying on the floor in a pit at 750 feet (level 15).

     -4 strength.
     -4 intelligence.
     -4 wisdom.
     -4 dexterity.
     -4 constitution.
     +3 light.
     Cannot be harmed by fire.
     Radius 3 light.
     Grants the ability to sense undead.

We'll thrash that in a store when we go back to town to avoid seeing it again. Since we're close to leveling up again, we explore the level more and kill some ogres. And surely...

Lvl: 20, HP: 119, SP: 41

Four spells to learn when we can. Our pack is full, so it's a good time to recall back to town. We read our unidentified scrolls and learn about Darkness, Aggravate Monster, Enchant Armour, Holy Chant... and finally Deep Descent. Since we're in town, and there's no dungeon below us, the effect gets delayed until we enter a dungeon area again. Since we don't want to get pulled at 1000ft when we enter the Orc Cave area, we go back to Hobbiton and let the effect recall us at 100ft in the Training Cave. We immediately recall to town, and buy the third book: Necromantic Incantations. We learn the spells of Frost Ball, Recharging, Reveal Monsters and Absorb Soul (another very useful buff that provides healing from the death of enemies, also very effective when Shadow touch is on). Nothing really helpful in the shops, except for a stack of four potions of Speed in the Black Market. We recall back to the Orc Cave, then back to 750ft. Since we have already cleared this place once and there's a staircase in our room, we take it immediately. The place we end up seems not risky, but we spot a big group of yeeks, with their prince and their king. We dispatch the weaklings and grab the loot: a Silver wand (of Hold Monster), an Adamant amulet (of Resist Lightning), a Corundum ring (of Feather Falling), an ego wicker shield (of Resist Acid), a magical shield (from Boldor -- Orfax didn't drop anything at all). And this horn:

q) the Horn of Rohan <+2>
     Dropped by Boldor, King of the Yeeks at 800 feet (level 16).

     +2 wisdom.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.
     Grants the ability to sense dragons.

     When activated, it awakens all nearby sleeping monsters and hastes for 25
     turns all monsters within line of sight.
     Takes 6 to 10 turns to recharge.
     Your chance of success is 93.7%

We don't need wisdom and we sense dragons naturally, so we'll keep our shovel equipped for now. Our whip finally identifies itself as *Slay Undead* (another ninja fix by our DM it seems), and we resume exploring the Orc Cave. Our next target is Gorbag, the Orc Captain. On our way, we find some Pungent potions (of Restore Mana). It takes a bit of time to browse through Gorbag's escort with frost bolts, but eventually he dies and drops... a book of sorcery (Powerful Sigils). Too bad we're not a sorceror... We only find scraps of junk on the level, so we move to the next one. We find a new scroll that does nothing when read, probably Door Destruction or something. We kill a pack of wolvers, and...

Lvl: 21, HP: 126, SP: 43

We learn the spells of Beam of Terror (same as Horrify, but as a beam) and Turn Undead. We feel anxious about the place, and that's because of an ant pit on the level. On our way to the pit, we kill Brodda who just drops a magical katana. We try to use Raise Dead on some of the ants' skeletons, but we don't manage to pull out a useful slave. Inside the pit, we only find a Molybdenum wand (of Frost Bolts) and a Withered mushroom (of Debility). That's it for 850ft, so we go down to 900ft. We find a Birch staff (of Slow Monsters), a new scroll (of Remove Curse), some Striped mushrooms (of Terror) and feel something worthwhile on the level. Maybe a new shiny artifact! Well... exploring reveals that it is in fact this horn:

s) the Horn of Boromir <+3>
     Found lying on the floor at 900 feet (level 18).

     +3 strength.
     +3 constitution.
     Provides resistance to fire.
     Provides protection from fear.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.
     Aggravates nearby creatures.

     When activated, it awakens all nearby sleeping monsters and hastes for 25
     turns all monsters within line of sight.
     Takes 6 to 10 turns to recharge.
     Your chance of success is 93.9%

Having an aggravation activation could be nice (although our stealth is so bad that stuff probably wakes up instantly anyway), but permanent aggravation is not worth it, despite the nice stat boosts. A few steps later, we kill Ulfast, which drops an interesting axe:

a) the Beaked Axe of Mahalvair (3d8) (+14,+9) [+27] <+3, +2, +1>
     Dropped by Ulfast, Son of Ulfang at 900 feet (level 18).

     +3 intelligence.
     +2 dexterity.
     +1 light.
     Provides resistance to dark, disenchantment.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.
     Slows your metabolism. Grants the ability to see invisible things.
     Radius 1 light.

     Combat info:
     This weapon should be wielded with both hands.
     1.0 blow/round.
     With +4 STR and +0 DEX you would attack a bit faster.
     With +13 STR and +0 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +4 DEX you would attack a bit faster.
     With +4 STR and +4 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +7 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     Average damage/round: 27.1.

When equipped, the intelligence boost is enough to bring our mana pool from 43 to 64. We dismember an orc with a superb hit from our new axe (for 90 damage) and proceed to clear the rest of the level. Next level is a labyrinth level, all lit and treasure detected. Fine, we'll grab the few items scattered around and go down deeper. We find a Copper wand (of Stun Monster), a Willow staff (of Detect Invisible) and this cap:

j) the Hard Leather Cap of Ciryonaed [2,+21] <+4, +1>
     Found lying on the floor of a labyrinth at 950 feet (level 19).

     +4 wisdom.
     +1 light.
     Provides immunity to fire.
     Provides resistance to acid, lightning.
     Provides protection from blindness.
     Cannot be harmed by acid.
     Prevents paralysis. Sustains your life force.
     Radius 1 light.
     Grants the ability to sense trolls.

Blindness protection and immunity to fire are great, would have been perfect if the stat increase was anything other than wisdom. On the next level, we start by finding a Cast Iron wand (of Acid Balls). Handy. The rest of the level is boring though, so we continue our descent inside the cave. We immediately detect a horde of kobolds and its lord, Mughash. Killing him and his goons is enough to reach...

Lvl: 22, HP: 133, SP: 67

We find a Diamond ring (of the Dog), a Mother-of-Pearl amulet (of Resist Acid), a Mithril-Plated rod (of Frost Bolts), a Jasper ring (of Slow Digestion), a Cast Iron rod (of Curing), a Jet ring (of Damage) and this shovel:

m) the Shovel of Fauron <+2>
     Dropped by Mughash the Kobold Lord at 1050 feet (level 21).

     +2 strength.
     +2 dexterity.
     +2 searching skill.
     Provides resistance to nexus.
     Provides protection from confusion.
     Prevents paralysis.

Very nice. We're starting to have many resistances covered, our armor class is now acceptable, and our hit points are increasing nicely. We should be able to survive the last part of the cave. Exploring more of the level, we replace our magical boots with boots of Free Action. Then climb the stairs to the penultimate level of the Orc Cave... We feel anxious about the place, and indeed the starting area is crowded with orcs, ogres and trolls. Both Ugluk and Lugdush are also here. We map the area (we're inside a room) and move to a safer place. And surely the enemies start coming at us. Lugdush falls under our frost bolts, but Ugluk resists them. We stun him and cast Shadow Touch -- our axe doesn't do much damage, but if his own damage is reduced and heals us somewhat, we should be fine. And indeed after a long fight he also dies. The drops: a magical shield and a magical quarterstaff. Well there are probably better treasures on the level. The packs of ogres and trolls are in an unusually-shaped room. And there's an out of depth grave wight inside. We splatter everything inside the room, and collect a Silver ring (of the Mouse), an ego scimitar (of Slay Dragon), a Crystal amulet (of Teleportation) and this star:

f) the Star 'Valima'
     Found lying on the floor in a vault at 1100 feet (level 22).

     Provides resistance to acid, lightning.
     Cannot be harmed by fire.
     Sustains wisdom, constitution.
     Makes you fall like a feather.

     When activated, it maps out a portion of the level around you.
     Takes 51 to 100 turns to recharge.
     Your chance of success is 92.2%

Lame, like all randart light sources. But it can replace our ego lamp and the Magic Mapping scrolls we carry. Bolg is also on the level. We'll have to take care of him, before we go for his daddy. He moves quickly, so we quaff one of our potions of Speed. He doesn't resist cold, so we frost bolt him to death. And we reach...

Lvl: 23, HP: 143, SP: 70

His drop: a scythe of *Slay Demon*. We should get ready for Azog now, so we recall from the level... to find out that it's night time outside, and a mature green dragon was waiting for us at the entrance of the cave! He breathes poison on us, leaving us with 22/143 hps and poisoned. We teleport away, luckily ending near nothing dangerous, heal up and recall immediately to Bree. We donate a few useless artifacts, and restock on supplies. And spend the night in the tavern.

[PowerWyrm]

The next morning:

Sign: "Welcome to PWMAngband 1.1.12 beta 3"

Alright, a new update from the DM. We recall back to the Orc Cave area, then to 1100ft. The level is dull, so we go down once more... to the last level of the Orc Cave. And surely Azog is there. We map the area... and it's not good. A cavern level. We find a Jewelled ring (of Flames), a Pearl ring (of Lightning), a Rosewood staff (of Teleportation), kill some trolls, and prepare for Azog. We quaff Speed, discharge Acid Balls, activate our rings and gloves, and he already flees. We finish him with frost bolts. His drops... a hard leather armor of Resistance (useless to us, but better than we have), and this iron shot:

a) the Iron Shot 'Tardin' (1d4) (+11,+0) {*@f0}
     Dropped by Azog, King of the Uruk-Hai at 1150 feet (level 23).

     Branded with acid.
     Returns when thrown.

     Combat info:
     1 shot/round.
     Hits targets up to 100 feet away.
     Average damage/round: 109.3 vs. creatures not resistant to acid, and 43.7
     vs. others.

No extra damage, but the acid brand will be handy. And with this, we have conquered the Orc Cave. We recall... and almost get splattered by a cyclops and a storm giant because it's night time again. Would be nice to have a command that tells us what time of day it is... We flee, then recall to Bree. The Black Market has boots of Mirkwood (with resist poison)... but we're 30 gold short to afford them. Bummer. We go kill a few townies, but the boots are gone from the shop when we come back. At least we manage to recharge our wand of Acid Balls with our Recharging spell. Then we go spend the night at the inn...

We wake up early, it's still night outside... but we see a sign just outside the inn.

Sign: "Press '%' for info about the current time of the day"

We try this new command... and we're told that it's the 12th hour of the night. Sweet! Since sunrise is on its way, we check the shops and prepare for our next journey: a trip to the Old Forest. The area is a bit west of the Barrow-Downs, and it only takes us two hours to reach the area (I already love the '%' command). Since we've already been to 1150ft, we can recall at that depth inside the forest. We activate our Star, and see a map full of trees and water squares. Nice. We find a Dragon Tooth amulet (of Searching), and we fill our empty neck slot. The Rat King is on this rather boring level, so we kill him before going deeper. We identify a Bamboo staff (of Starlight), a scroll (of Enchant Weapon To-Hit), kill some wererats, and hit:

Lvl: 24, HP: 150, SP: 73

We learn the spell of Dispel Undead, but I'm sure we won't be using that much. Then to the stairs we go.

[PowerWyrm]

A new level, with Khim on sight. And he's stuck behind a pool of water... We feel sorry, but we shoot him from the other side of the pool and kill him. Our reward (a magical cap) matches our lameness... We find an ego short bow (of Numenor) on the ground, which gives resistance to light and deals a little more damage against non acid resistant monsters compared to our sling/randart shot combo. I'll keep that in case we find an artifact arrow. We replace our Searching amulet with a Pewter amulet (of Wisdom), and find Forasgil on the ground.

a) the Rapier 'Forasgil' (1d6) (+12,+19) <+1>
     Found lying on the floor of a special room at 1200 feet (level 24).

     +1 light.
     Slays animals.
     Branded with cold.
     Provides resistance to cold, light.
     Cannot be harmed by acid.
     Radius 1 light.

     Combat info:
     1.3 blows/round.
     With +2 STR and +0 DEX you would get 1.6 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +4 DEX you would get 1.6 blows/round.
     Average damage/round: 44.5 vs. creatures not resistant to cold, 59 vs.
     creatures susceptible to cold, 39.7 vs. animals, and 34.8 vs. others.

We do more melee damage with it, but our axe gives us stats, resists and abilities. Before going down to the last level of the forest, we slaughter Nar, who only drops some magical arrows. At 1250ft, we rapidly detect our target, Old Man Willow. He resists acid, so our wand and shot won't do much harm to him. We stick with frost bolts and kill him. Unfortunately, his drop is just this axe:

a) the Broad Axe 'Mindor' (2d6) (-13,-10) {cursed}
     Dropped by Old Man Willow at 1250 feet (level 25).

     It poisons you from time to time.
     It occasionally summons a demon.
     Slays demons (powerfully).
     Branded with weak fire.
     Provides resistance to fire.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.
     Grants the ability to sense demons.

     Combat info:
     1.0 blow/round.
     With +2 STR and +0 DEX you would attack a bit faster.
     With +10 STR and +0 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +4 DEX you would attack a bit faster.
     With +2 STR and +4 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +7 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     Average damage/round: 7.1 vs. creatures not resistant to fire, 21.7 vs.
     creatures susceptible to fire, 29 vs. demons, and 0 vs. others.

Zero damage vs others... very funny. Since there's nothing more to find in the forest, we recall back to... wait, it is the 4th hour of the night. Better explore the forest a little bit more. We go back to 1200ft and immediately feel nervous about the place... but there seems to be excellent treasures too. We find a Tortoise Shell Amulet (of Adornment), and detect a lesser vault. Let's check that vault, the excellent treasures are probably there. There's an unbeliever inside that vault who interferes with our spells, so we stick with sling and shot to kill the residents (worse in there is some ice trolls, so shooting works nicely). We find two Cloudy potions (of Enlightenment), and quaffing one for id-by-use reveals that the "excellent" treasure is probably some adamantite plate mail that's in a little alcove. The vault also has some Red DSM, which we equip for the activation (we don't need the resists from our armor of Resistance anymore), an ego mage staff (of Power), Narthanc, two Dark Red potions (of Nimbleness), and the aforementioned (useless magical) adamantite plate mail.

a) the Dagger 'Narthanc' (2d4) (+9,+12) [+10]
     Found lying on the floor in a vault at 1200 feet (level 24).

     Branded with fire.
     Provides resistance to fire.
     Cannot be harmed by acid.

     When aimed, it shoots a bolt or beam of fire that inflicts 12d8 points of
     damage, which your device skill increases by 70 percent.
     Takes 9 to 16 turns to recharge.
     Your chance of success is 95.7%

     Combat info:
     1.3 blows/round.
     With +2 STR and +0 DEX you would get 1.6 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +4 DEX you would get 1.6 blows/round.
     Average damage/round: 40.6 vs. creatures not resistant to fire, 61.1 vs.
     creatures susceptible to fire, and 27.1 vs. others.

Same as Forasgil... our axe is better. It's now the 10th hour of the night, so we will be able to recall soon. In the meantime, there's still an unid staff on the level, might as well go see what it is. A moaning spirit drops an Opal ring (of Escaping), and we identify the staff as a Redwood staff of Curing. We recall to Bree, donate some useless artifacts, drop our Numenor bow in our house, restock on Cure Critical Wounds (we can get rid of the Serious ones now), buy a rod of Teleport Other from the Black Market (for all our money), then plan for our next destination. I'd like to get poison resistance before taking on the Sandworm Lair, so our next destination will be the Land of Rhun. We'll use the convenient jump point we learned at (29, 3) to get closer to our goal. We kill a bandit and rob his house, getting more potions of Speed, and a Firm mushroom (of Emergency). Then we go north till we find the Sea of Rhun. We'll have to go around the big lake, since we cannot swim effectively in deep water. Unfortunately the sun sets, and soon we start to meet hydras on the seashore. Time to go back to town for the night. The next morning, we can recall at (30, 11), not far from our destination. The swampy area now has frogs and nagas instead of hydras, which is much more manageable. Killing some animals makes us reach...

Lvl: 25, HP: 163, SP: 76

We can now learn the mighty Nether Bolt spell, but unfortunately it's at 50% fail. We'll have to improve our intelligence and experience level to be able to use it effectively. We enter the Land of Rhun and recall at 1250ft. A quick detection reveals a swampy dungeon full of humanoids and animals. We find a Lapis Lazuli ring (of Digging) and take the closest stairs. We should be able to survive deeper. The next level seems terribly dangerous... and we can already detect an ancient white dragon with our natural affinity with dragons. It's probably a vault on the other side of the level, may as well investigate. We find an Ivory wand (of Stone to Mud), a Gold-Plated wand (of Teleport Other)... and another lesser vault on our way. This one is smaller, we'll clear it first. We clear the monsters and collect a Platinum ring (of Constitution), an Oily Yellow potion (of Healing), a Zircon ring (of See Invisible), a Dark Green potion (of Wisdom), a Nickel rod (of Lightning Bolts), a Sea Shell amulet (of Regeneration), and an ego sling (of Extra Shots) which replaces our old sling of Power. We also disintegrate Khufu, the Mummified King, but he doesn't drop anything. The bigger vault is also nastier: along with the ancient dragon is a minotaur, all sorts of mature dragons, and Lokkak. And everything in the vault is awake, thanks to our pathetic stealth. The ancient dragon is not a problem, since we're the specialist of cold magic and we can get speed parity with potions. Lokkak is next, and has 30% hp left when he reaches melee range. We phase and finish him off with our sling. He drops an elven cloak (magical), the forgotten shoes...

l) the Pair of Ethereal Slippers That Were Forgotten [0,+0] <+4>
     Dropped by Lokkak, the Ogre Chieftain at 1300 feet (level 26).

     +4 intelligence.
     +4 wisdom.
     Provides resistance to time.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.

And this phial:

f) the Phial of Amannar <+4>
     Dropped by Lokkak, the Ogre Chieftain at 1300 feet (level 26).

     +4 intelligence.
     Provides resistance to cold, dark.
     Provides protection from fear.
     Cannot be harmed by fire.
     Sustains constitution.

     When activated, it lights up a radius-3 area, or the entire room if you
     are in one, inflicting 2d15 points of damage on any light-sensitive
     creatures within the radius.
     Takes 12 to 22 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 95.9%

We feel *much* more intelligent suddenly! Not often we get three straight upgrades from unique drops. On a negative note, we fail to recharge our wand of Acid Balls... but we more than doubled our mana pool, so anything not resistant to cold will suffer now. Back to the vault, we get rid of the minotaur, and reach:

Lvl: 26, HP: 164, SP: 183

And our mana pool is bigger than our hit points... On a side note, this is our first bad hp roll in a while (average for this race/class combination at our level would be 188, so we're still way behind). We can learn a new spell, but now we need the deeper dungeon books, so it's probably not gonna be in a while. In the vault, we paste the Umbar pirates and meet the Ripper:

d) the Iron Shot 'Ripper' (2d4) (+15,+5)
     Dropped by Sangahyando of Umbar at 1300 feet (level 26).

     Branded with cold.
     Returns when thrown.

     Combat info:
     2 shots/round.
     Hits targets up to 100 feet away.
     Average damage/round: 214.4 vs. creatures not resistant to cold, 343.2
     vs. creatures susceptible to cold, and 85.8 vs. others.

This is the cold branded counterpart to our acid branded randart, but does way more damage. So now everything not resistant to cold will truly suffer. And then I do something stupid... Feeling invulnerable, I rush into the vault, frost bolting and frost balling everything, mature red and blue dragons alike, until:

"The mature green dragon breathes poison. You die."

[Scene of Death]

         #  ##########.#####.##...## #.# #.#     #*# ###  ####.#    #*##       
         #     ###*##..#........#..###.###.#     ### # #  # ##.#    # *#  ###  
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 ###     #  ###   #.#....#.{..#....#.*#.####### #*# #    #####~####   #*#      
 ### ### #### #   #.#.......}.#....#.##.......#######    #......#     ###   ###
             ##   # ###'.#...##!'###.########.~##*#### ###.######### ### #### #
             *##  # ...#.....#..#....#      #.######~# #*#.........# #*# #*####
             # #####...#..#.##..#...##      #.#####~## ###########.#########   
             ####*###..#........#(]## #######........####        ..†.##    ####
           ..# #### ##.##########.##### ## #########...## #      ...#. #   ##*#
          ...########~.#  ###   ####*###*#######   #*#.##  ## d   ..#  #   ####
          .............####*#  ####### ##### #*#######.##   T##########    #   
 ### #####*###########.##*###  # *#   #####*#####*#  #.##    d     #       #   
            #  ###   #.####    # ###### # #########  #.##    T     #       #   
#### ########### #   # #       ### # ######  #  #    #.##         #        #   
   #  ####### ####   # #  ####  ### ##       #### ####.##     #  ## #      #   
   ## # # ## ##      # #  # *#  # ###     ###     # ##.##     #  #  #      #   
##### ### ####       ###  ####  ###       #*#     ####.*#    T#  # T#O     #   
 ##   *####          ###   # #       ###  ###       #~.##    T# ## T#      #   

1300' (L26)  LF:7-5 Full Study (1)

And so this seems to be the end of our necromancer... or is it???

[PowerWyrm]

Instead of a grave with a tombstone saying "Killed by a mature green dragon", we find ourselves as a ghost entombed in the walls of 1300ft in the Land of Rhun. As a necromancer, we are able to overcome death itself if we are smart and powerful enough. And it seems it was the case. We can move around and even kill monsters, but we can't interact with the objects on the ground. This means we'll have to leave the good treasures of the vault that killed us behind. To regain a tangible body, we'll have to go back to a town and visit the Temple. We're lucky, because less powerful necromancers would overcome death at a terrible price: leaving all their mundane possessions behind with their corpse, and resurrect as naked as a baby; luckily we were able to retain all our equipment and carried stuff. We find out rapidly that our current ghostly state drains our health (or in this case our life force) pretty quickly: one hp per step. And no life force means that we'll die completely and permanently. As a ghost, we can float up and down, so we float up to the surface instead of recalling... it's faster. Then we recall to Bree, as we watch our life force going lower and lower... but we manage to enter the Temple before we're out of juice. The process of resurrection leaves us quite weakened: we lost one point of constitution, and half our hard gained experience. This means we are back to:

Lvl: 23, HP: 142, SP: 162

Next time we'll have to be more careful. As a necromancer, we get the chance to resurrect if we die, but the number of resurrections we can go through is limited. Next time, we may die permanently. While we're in town, we drop some items we don't need right now (rings of strength and constitution, our Star) and check the shops. Nothing interesting (there's a nice torch of Presentiment with 5000 turns worth of telepathy in the Black Market, but we cannot afford it). We get rid of a Fluorite ring (of Light). We also spend the night in the inn. When the sun rises, we go back to the Land of Rhun and try this time to stay alive. We recall to 1300ft and clear a lesser vault (an eog golem gives us a hard time, as it resists everything but acid and seems to deflect our acid branded shot a lot). We find some scrolls (of Summon Undead), an Onyx ring (of Free Action), a scroll (of Protection from Evil), a Metallic Green potion (of Intellect), and regain:

Lvl: 24, HP: 149, SP: 193

Our intelligence stat is now 18/197, all our spells (except Recharging, and of course Nether Bolt which at this point is forgotten) are now at 1% fail. We also find another scroll that reveals to be Teleport Level and we rise up through the ceiling back to 1250ft. We find the closest staircase and go back to 1300ft. We kill a group of dark elven warlocks, and one of them drops this pebble:

d) the Rounded Pebble of North (1d2) (+19,+1)
     Dropped by a dark elven warlock at 1300 feet (level 26).

     Slays undead (powerfully).
     Branded with lightning, weak poison.
     Returns when thrown.

     Combat info:
     2 shots/round.
     Hits targets up to 100 feet away.
     Average damage/round: 138 vs. creatures not resistant to lightning, 110.4
     vs. creatures not resistant to poison, 193.4 vs. undead, and 55.2 vs.
     others.

Now we have a third brand for our sling, this time lightning. And a way to kill undead easily. We identify a Carnelian ring (of Accuracy), and the curse of anti-teleportation. We're finally able to go down to 1350ft... right next to an ogre pit. We'll shoot them with the Ripper. Surely, we regain:

Lvl: 25, HP: 162, SP: 201

We find ego pebbles (of Slay Giant), a Walnut staff (of Haste Monsters) and nothing else. We take the stairs to 1400ft, and since the level is boring, we climb down to 1450ft immediately. Here we detect an area packed with monsters and treasure. Mapping reveals a lesser vault, with Beorn inside. He wakes up early and gets outside of the vault first, so we quaff Speed and kill him with frost bolts/balls/shots. He drops a book of prayers (Ethereal Openings), and the two remaining phials...

s) the Phial of Nendo
     Dropped by Beorn, the Shape-Changer at 1450 feet (level 29).

     Provides resistance to dark, nether.
     Cannot be harmed by fire.

     When activated, it lights up a radius-3 area, or the entire room if you
     are in one, inflicting 2d15 points of damage on any light-sensitive
     creatures within the radius.
     Takes 12 to 22 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 96.0%

t) the Phial of Galadriel <+3>
     Dropped by Beorn, the Shape-Changer at 1450 feet (level 29).

     +3 light.
     Cannot be harmed by fire.
     Radius 3 light.

     When activated, it lights up a radius-3 area, or the entire room if you
     are in one, inflicting 2d15 points of damage on any light-sensitive
     creatures within the radius.
     Takes 12 to 22 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 96.0%

Nether resistance is nice, but the +4 to intelligence on our current phial is more valuable at this point. We clear the rest of the vault and get a Copper rod (of Probing), a Viscous Pink potion (of Brawn), a Copper-Plated wand (of Lightning Bolts), a book of sorcery (Disruptive Forces), a wooden torch of *Brightness* and a book of hunting (Killing from Afar). A young black dragon drops a Cypress staff (of Power) and a Bone amulet (of Slow Digestion). We also identify the Gold potion (of Toughness) and the Rune wand (of Scare Monster). And we finally take the stairs to 1500ft, where we can start to find stat potions more often. The first thing we find is a Bloodstone ring (of Acid), but it's cursed with cowardice. There's a scroll of Deep Descent in the room, and since at this point I'm more interested to kill Ulfang than exploring 1500ft, we read it and end up at 1700ft (bottom of the area). We kill Ibun who drops a useless glaive of Frost, and again we reach:

Lvl: 26, HP: 165, SP: 209

We see Ulfang (with his son Ulwarth) and an ogre pit (with lots of ogre shamans). We quaff Speed (we have 16 of those, so we can afford to use some) and start shooting at Ulfang, which is currently our best option. He summons a death knight which we teleport away and some other adventurers which we kill. Eventually both father and son die. Ulwarth drops Haraddeket:

v) the Scimitar 'Haradekket' (4d2) (+9,+11) <+2>
     Dropped by Ulwarth, Son of Ulfang at 1700 feet (level 34).

     +2 dexterity.
     +2 attack speed.
     Slays evil creatures, animals, undead.
     Cannot be harmed by acid.
     Grants the ability to see invisible things.

     Combat info:
     3.0 blows/round.
     With +7 STR and +0 DEX you would get 3.1 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +3 DEX you would get 3.1 blows/round.
     Average damage/round: 83.5 vs. evil creatures, 83.5 vs. animals, 103 vs.
     undead, and 64 vs. others.

We could use it to melee more stuff, but we'll have to use our axe as a swap in case we need to protect ourselves against disenchantment or see invisible stuff that cannot be detected by telepathy. Ulfang drops some pebbles of Lightning, a main gauche of Gondolin (marginally useful), and this shield:

i) the Orcish Shield of Hungorod [12,+17] <+1>
     Dropped by Ulfang the Black at 1700 feet (level 34).

     +1 strength.
     +1 constitution.
     Provides resistance to lightning, cold, dark, nexus, nether.
     Cannot be harmed by acid.
     Prevents paralysis.

Not awesome, but better than what we have. We clear the ogre pit, and get a scroll of Wilderness mapping (-28, -40), a heavy crossbow of Power and a Gloopy Green potion (of Constitution). We also gain:

Lvl: 27, HP: 177, SP: 216

We're done with the level, but it's the beginning of the night outside, so we'll explore a bit more of the area. Problem is: our pack is full. We regenerate the level, find a Quartzite ring (of Dexterity), quaff a potion of Brawn (for the full +3 strength effect at the cost of a point of wisdom), shoot Draebor to death, get Gold DSM for our effort (leaving our old red DSM behind), quaff a Blue potion (of Dexterity), eat a Slimy mushroom (of Vigor), read some scrolls (of Enchant Weapon To-Dam)... and find a permawalled vault. We left our scrolls of Mapping behind, but we still have one potion of Enlightenemnt left, so we may as well drink it here. There are three unID flavored items on the level and one deep book, but it's a book of Summoning. Hard to get the deep books of your own class when there are nine schools around... We kill a few monsters and find a Maple staff (of Confuse Monsters). The most dangerous monsters inside the vault seem to be a berserker and the Stone Troll trio. We quaff Speed, kill the berserker who comes first from the vault, then Bill (we use the lightning branded pebble since he resists cold). We cannot see Bert or Tom anymore, meaning that the berserker must have stomped over them. We clear the vault, find some scrolls (of Door Destruction), an Amethyst ring (of Ice), two Bubbling potions (of Intelligence), an ego great hammer (of Westernesse), an ego tulwar (of *Slay Evil*), a fur cloak of Lordly Resitance, Til-i-arc and a book of summoning (Summoning).

u) the Pike 'Til-i-arc' (3d7) (+10,+12) [+10] <+3, +2>
     Found lying on the floor in a vault at 1700 feet (level 34).

     +3 strength.
     +3 intelligence.
     +2 speed.
     Slays trolls, giants, demons.
     Branded with fire, cold.
     Provides resistance to fire, cold.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.
     Sustains intelligence.
     Slows your metabolism.
     Grants the ability to sense demons.
     Grants the ability to sense giants.

     Combat info:
     This weapon should be wielded with both hands.
     1.0 blows/round.
     With +2 STR and +0 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +4 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     Average damage/round: 62.2 vs. creatures not resistant to fire, 62.2 vs.
     creatures not resistant to cold, 102.6 vs. creatures susceptible to fire,
     102.6 vs. creatures susceptible to cold, 62.2 vs. trolls, 62.2 vs.
     giants, 62.2 vs. demons, and 35.3 vs. others.

Using it instead of our axe means losing disenchantment resist, but gain +2 speed. It's ok, we'll keep the axe as a swap for stuff like Mim or storms of unmagic. It's now daytime outside, so we'll hurry while clearing the rest of the level. We obliterate a horde of dragons in a gorth room, find a Tiger Eye ring, which happens to be a ring mimic, an Elm staff (of Sleep Monsters), and another Tiger Eye ring, which this time is real: a ring of Resist Poison. Finally we can go pay a visit to the Sandworm Lair. We also reach:

Lvl: 28, HP: 197, SP: 222

We recall from the Land of Rhun, and back to Bree.

[PowerWyrm]

Our house is starting to get a little small, so we invest our money into a bigger house. We drop the phial of Nendo and the heavy crossbow of Power in our new house along with our old possessions and donate the rest to the shops. We use the latest jump point we got to recall, but unfortunately it's in the middle of the sea. We try (-17,-23), and although we land on a small plain, we quickly find some water to the east and the sea to the south. We have no other choice than cross a river. A lost Easterling warrior (we're supposedly in Gondor here) drops a Silver Birch staff (of Summoning). While we're crossing the river, the night falls... and we find out that our phial doesn't give any light! I didn't spot that till now, since our axe that I switched for Til-i-arc was giving +1 light radius. A light source that doesn't provide light? Someone will have to find a good explanation to that... We get to the other side of the river, find an abandoned house and spend the night. And the next morning:

Sign: "Welcome to PWMAngband 1.1.12 beta 4"

That was quick. Unfortunately, our phial is still weightless and lightless, but the next randart light source we find will probably be fixed. We continue our journey east, crossing another river (well, mainly teleporting to the other side), until we reach some mountains. We decide to go around these mountains by going south. Since our destination is still very far away, we decide to go northeast to the nearby city of Minas Tirith. We don't manage to get there before the end of the day, so we spend another night in an abandoned house. The next morning, we arrive at Minas Tirith, check the shops, find nothing to buy, and continue our journey south. We'll make a pit stop at the town of Umbar next , so we get the location for future recalls. We cross South Ithilien to the river Poros, then South Gondor to the river Harnen. Now we are in the desert... better not get caught by the night here. We go southwest, hoping to find Umbar before the night (and its creatures) finds us. Luckily, we arrive in the evening, so we even get some time to check the shops there. Nothing much to buy, except a potion of Healing and a potion of *Healing* from the Black Market. We spend the night (literally... seems the last update also added a nice command for that), recall back to the location farthest east we know, and continue our journey to the Sandworm Lair. We meet tougher fire breathers as we progress east, but we're master of cold... and we're immune to fire. On our way, we find an ancient fighting pit: an arena. We try to enter it, but fail... something's wrong here. We take a small nap, and when we wake up we manage to enter the arena. We continue east a bit, but checking the time shows up that it's gonna be night soon, so we backtrack to the arena and spend the night inside. The next morning, we cross the Near Harad and arrive to the Sandworm Lair. Since we can, we recall to the last level. We spot the Sandworm Queen, activate our cloak for double poison resistance, quaff Speed, and attack the Queen. Our Ripper is very effective against her, and after dispatching a few summoned worms, we kill her. Unfortunately, she only drops a helm of Regeneration. The Sandworm Lair itself has no other feature (apart from sand and worms), so we recall outside, and back to Bree. We check the shops (the Expensive Black Market has a Trickery amulet... for a bit less than 700k, so instead we buy a rod of Mapping from the regular Black Market) and drop a few potions in our house. We get rid of the bugged phial of Nendo and star of Valima that we will never use, as well as a ring of Strength, and replace our ring of Lightning with a ring of Constitution. Our next destination: the bottom of the Barrow-Downs. But first let's have a look at our stats and equipment before taking another nap...

  [PWMAngband 1.1.12 Character Dump]

 Name   PowerWyrm     Age             19         Self  RB  CB  EB   Best
 Sex    Male          Height      14'11"  STR:  18/37  +6  -3  +6 18/127
 Race   Thunderlord   Weight    16st 5lb  INT:  18/55  +2  +3 +11 18/215
 Class  Necromancer   Turns used:         WIS:     10  +1  +0 +11  18/40
 Title  Evoker        Game         34046  DEX:     10  +1  +0  +2     13
 HP     225/225       Player      170238  CON:     13  +3  -2  +4     18
 SP     220/220       Active      150302

 Level                 28    Armor     [48,+103]    Saving Throw     68%
 Cur Exp           153726                           Stealth          Bad
 Max Exp           153726    Melee       3d7,+20    Disarm - phys.   68%
 Adv Exp           190000    To-hit       30,+11    Disarm - magic  100%
                             Blows      1.0/turn    Magic Devices     84
 Gold                 349                           Searching        63%
 Burden          146.5 lb    Shoot to-dam    +11    Infravision     0 ft
 Overweight      -33.4 lb    To-hit       22,+13    Speed              2
 MaxDepth     1700' (L34)    Shots        2/turn

 You are one of several children of a Thunderlord. You have a Blue Eagle.

Ac :.......+.+...+ Nxs:........+...+.
El :.......+++...+ Ntr:........+.....
Fi :+......+.*+..+ Chs:..............
Co :+....+.++....+ Dsn:..............
Po :..+........... FF :.............+
Lt :.............. Fe :.....+........
Dk :.....+..+..... Bld:.........+....
Snd:......+....... Cnf:............+.
Shr:.............. Stn:..............

Lit:.........+.... Tun:..............
Rgn:..........+... Spd:+.............
ESP:.............. EA :..............
SI :.............. XS :.+............
FA :........+++.+. XM :..............
HL :.........+.... Dig:+.............
Stl:.............. -HP:..............
Src:............+. Afr:..............
Inf:.............. Agg:..............

Rad:..............
Evi:..............
Ani:..............
Und:..............
Dem:+.............
Orc:..............
Tro:.........+....
Gia:+.............
Dra:.............+


  [Character Equipment]

a) the Pike 'Til-i-arc' (3d7) (+10,+12) [+10] <+3, +2>
     Found lying on the floor in a vault at 1700 feet (level 34).

     +3 strength.
     +3 intelligence.
     +2 speed.
     Slays trolls, giants, demons.
     Branded with fire, cold.
     Provides resistance to fire, cold.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.
     Sustains intelligence.
     Slows your metabolism.
     Grants the ability to sense demons.
     Grants the ability to sense giants.

     Combat info:
     This weapon should be wielded with both hands.
     1.0 blows/round.
     With +2 STR and +0 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +4 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     Average damage/round: 62.3 vs. creatures not resistant to fire, 62.3 vs.
     creatures not resistant to cold, 102.7 vs. creatures susceptible to fire,
     102.7 vs. creatures susceptible to cold, 62.3 vs. trolls, 62.3 vs.
     giants, 62.3 vs. demons, and 35.3 vs. others.

b) a Sling of Extra Shots (x2) (+12,+11) <+1>
     Found lying on the floor in a vault at 1300 feet (level 26).

     +1 shooting speed.

c) a Tiger Eye Ring of Resist Poison
     Dropped by a death quasit at 1700 feet (level 34).

     Provides resistance to poison.

d) a Platinum Ring of Constitution <+3>
     Found lying on the floor in a vault at 1300 feet (level 26).

     +3 constitution.
     Sustains constitution.

e) a Pewter Amulet of Wisdom <+3>
     Dropped by a black orc at 1700 feet (level 34).

     +3 wisdom.
     Sustains wisdom.

f) the Phial of Amannar <+4>
     Dropped by Lokkak, the Ogre Chieftain at 1300 feet (level 26).

     +4 intelligence.
     Provides resistance to cold, dark.
     Provides protection from fear.
     Cannot be harmed by fire.
     Sustains constitution.

     When activated, it lights up a radius-3 area, or the entire room if you
     are in one, inflicting 2d15 points of damage on any light-sensitive
     creatures within the radius.
     Takes 13 to 24 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 96.4%

g) Gold Dragon Scale Mail (-2) [28,+17]
     Dropped by Draebor, the Imp at 1700 feet (level 34).

     Provides resistance to sound.

h) a Fur Cloak of Lordly Resistance [3,+24]
     Found lying on the floor in a vault at 1700 feet (level 34).

     Provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.

     When activated, it grants temporary resistance to acid, lightning, fire,
     cold and poison for 40+1d40 turns.
     Takes 181 to 240 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 95.1%

i) the Orcish Shield of Hungorod [12,+17] <+1>
     Dropped by Ulfang the Black at 1700 feet (level 34).

     +1 strength.
     +1 constitution.
     Provides resistance to lightning, cold, dark, nexus, nether.
     Cannot be harmed by acid.
     Prevents paralysis.

j) the Hard Leather Cap of Ciryonaed [2,+21] <+4, +1>
     Found lying on the floor of a labyrinth at 950 feet (level 19).

     +4 wisdom.
     +1 light.
     Provides immunity to fire.
     Provides resistance to acid, lightning.
     Provides protection from blindness.
     Cannot be harmed by acid.
     Prevents paralysis. Sustains your life force.
     Radius 1 light.
     Grants the ability to sense trolls.

k) the Set of Gauntlets 'Paurhach' [3,+14]
     Found lying on the floor at 500 feet (level 10).

     Provides resistance to fire.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.
     Speeds regeneration. Prevents paralysis.

     When aimed, it shoots a bolt or beam of fire that inflicts 12d8 points of
     damage, which your device skill increases by 74 percent.
     Takes 10 to 19 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 96.0%

l) the Pair of Ethereal Slippers That Were Forgotten [0,+0] <+4>
     Dropped by Lokkak, the Ogre Chieftain at 1300 feet (level 26).

     +4 intelligence.
     +4 wisdom.
     Provides resistance to time.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.

m) the Shovel of Fauron <+2>
     Dropped by Mughash the Kobold Lord at 1050 feet (level 21).

     +2 strength.
     +2 dexterity.
     +2 searching skill.
     Provides resistance to nexus.
     Provides protection from confusion.
     Prevents paralysis.


  [Character Quiver]

a) 2 Magic Bolts (1d5) (+0,+0)
     Returns when thrown.

b) the Iron Shot 'Ripper' (2d4) (+15,+5) {*@f1}
     Dropped by Sangahyando of Umbar at 1300 feet (level 26).

     Branded with cold.
     Returns when thrown.

     Combat info:
     2 shots/round.
     Hits targets up to 100 feet away.
     Average damage/round: 215.2 vs. creatures not resistant to cold, 344.4
     vs. creatures susceptible to cold, and 86 vs. others.

c) 2 Magic Arrows (1d4) (+0,+0)
     Returns when thrown.

d) the Rounded Pebble of North (1d2) (+19,+1)
     Dropped by a dark elven warlock at 1300 feet (level 26).

     Slays undead (powerfully).
     Branded with lightning, weak poison.
     Returns when thrown.

     Combat info:
     2 shots/round.
     Hits targets up to 100 feet away.
     Average damage/round: 138.8 vs. creatures not resistant to lightning, 111
     vs. creatures not resistant to poison, 194.2 vs. undead, and 55.4 vs.
     others.

e) the Iron Shot 'Tardin' (1d4) (+11,+0)
     Dropped by Azog, King of the Uruk-Hai at 1150 feet (level 23).

     Branded with acid.
     Returns when thrown.

     Combat info:
     2 shots/round.
     Hits targets up to 100 feet away.
     Average damage/round: 137.8 vs. creatures not resistant to acid, and 55
     vs. others.


  [Character Inventory]

a) 2 Books of Necromancy [Necromancy for Beginners]

b) 2 Books of Necromancy [Dark Conjurings]

c) 2 Books of Necromancy [Necromantic Incantations]

d) 25 Light Yellow Potions of Cure Critical Wounds

e) 6 Pungent Potions of Restore Mana

f) a Cloudy Potion of Enlightenment

g) 4 Black Potions of Speed

h) 15 Scrolls titled "milemo quo" of Teleportation

i) 8 Scrolls titled "perolea in ter" of Magic Mapping

j) 8 Scrolls titled "alio fense lea" of Word of Recall {*@R-15,20}

k) 3 Tin Rods of Treasure Location

l) a White Gold Rod of Magic Mapping

m) a Nickel-Plated Rod of Acid Balls

n) a Zinc Rod of Teleport Other

o) a Gold-Plated Wand of Teleport Other (9 charges)

p) a Tulwar of *Slay Evil* (2d4) (+8,+8) <+1>
     Found lying on the floor in a vault at 1700 feet (level 34).

     +1 wisdom.
     Slays evil creatures.
     Provides resistance to fire.
     Blessed by the gods.
     Grants the ability to sense evil.

     Combat info:
     1.1 blows/round.
     With +4 STR and +0 DEX you would get 1.3 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +4 DEX you would get 1.3 blows/round.
     Average damage/round: 27.9 vs. evil creatures, and 21.7 vs. others.

q) the Beaked Axe of Mahalvair (3d8) (+14,+9) [+27] <+3, +2, +1>
     Dropped by Ulfast, Son of Ulfang at 900 feet (level 18).

     +3 intelligence.
     +2 dexterity.
     +1 light.
     Provides resistance to dark, disenchantment.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.
     Slows your metabolism. Grants the ability to see invisible things.
     Radius 1 light.

     Combat info:
     This weapon should be wielded with both hands.
     1.0 blows/round.
     With +7 STR and +0 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +2 DEX you would get 1.1 blows/round.
     Average damage/round: 30.7.


  [House List]

a) an Elven Cloak [6,+7] <+1>
b) a Short Bow of Numenor (x3) (+15,+13) <+1>
c) a Cypress Staff of Power (3 charges)
d) 10 Black Potions of Speed
e) a Gold Potion of Toughness
f) an Oily Yellow Potion of Healing
g) a Heavy Crossbow of Power (x4) (+15,+21)
h) 2 Dogwood Staves of Light (22 charges)
i) 2 Rosewood Staves of Teleportation (13 charges)
j) 4 Scrolls titled "phario ruma se" of Deep Descent
k) a Vermilion Potion of *Healing*

[Sky]

.....Well?

[PowerWyrm]

.....Well?

Found an area with a beach, air temperature 30C, water temperature 25C, so I bought a towel at the General Store and took three weeks vacation

[kandrc]

Found an area with a beach, air temperature 30C, water temperature 25C, so I bought a towel at the General Store and took three weeks vacation

Hey, you sass that hoopy PowerWyrm? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is.

[PowerWyrm]

We recall into the Barrow-Downs at 1700ft. Our next target is the Wight-King at 1750ft, which is sort of a glass cannon, with low health but devastating nether balls. With 225 hps, we should be fine... but not by much. We find a potion of Intelligence on the way to the next level and quaff it to reach 18/*** int with our current equipment. We feel anxious on 1750ft, but there seems to be something worthwhile. No Wight-King around, but an ancient red dragon in the distance, probably in a vault. Unfortunately, the only worthwhile item we find is Nimthanc.

p) the Dagger 'Nimthanc' (2d4) (+9,+12) [+10]
     Found lying on the floor at 1750 feet (level 35).

     Branded with cold.
     Provides resistance to cold.
     Cannot be harmed by acid.

     When aimed, it shoots a bolt or beam of frost that inflicts 6d8 points of
     damage, which your device skill increases by 84 percent.
     Takes 9 to 16 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 96.8%

     Combat info:
     2.0 blows/round.
     With +1 STR and +0 DEX you would get 2.3 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +4 DEX you would get 2.3 blows/round.
     Average damage/round: 65.6 vs. creatures not resistant to cold, 96.4 vs.
     creatures susceptible to cold, and 45 vs. others.

We go kill the ancient dragon (which is not in a vault), and we obliterate Shagrat in the process. We find a Balsa staff (of Remove Curse), a scroll (of Recharging), a Rusty Iron rod (of Recall), a potion of Constitution (+7 hps), and Hithlomir (from Shagrat's drops).

p) the Soft Leather Armour 'Hithlomir' [8,+20] <+3>
     Dropped by Shagrat, the Orc Captain at 1750 feet (level 35).

     +3 stealth.
     Provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold, dark, nether.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.

The Wight-King finally manages to find us and so we prepare to fight him. Our kill undead pebble will be the way to go. We quaff Speed and start the shooting. His first nether ball after four rounds does roughly 80 damage... so either he rolled low, or I overestimated the damage these nether balls could do. Two more rounds of shooting and he's dead. And we hit...

Lvl: 29, HP: 237, SP: 228

His drop: a randart staff.

q) the Elven Staff 'Aegil' (1d1) (+0,+0) <+2, +1>
     Dropped by The Wight-King of the Barrow-downs at 1750 feet (level 35).

     +2 intelligence.
     +2 dexterity.
     +1 light.
     Provides resistance to fire, nexus.
     Provides protection from fear.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.
     Sustains constitution.
     Speeds regeneration. Grants the ability to see invisible things.
     Radius 1 light.
     Grants telepathy.

     When activated, it grants or extends protection from evil for 87+1d25
     turns.
     Takes 58 to 64 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 88.4%

     Combat info:
     This weapon should be wielded with both hands.
     2.0 blows/round.
     With +1 STR and +0 DEX you would get 2.3 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +2 DEX you would get 2.3 blows/round.
     Average damage/round: 12.

Full telepathy, which means we can get rid of the weapon of *Slay Evil* in our inventory now. And so ends our journey in the Barrow-Downs. We recall back to Bree, donate some artifacts, restock on supplies, and head to our next destination: the Maze.

[Sky]

Wow 1d1 +0,+0

That RNG loves you.

[PowerWyrm]

Wow 1d1 +0,+0

That RNG loves you.

All magic staves are hardcoded to be 1d1 +0 +0, either normal ones or artifacts. They're not meant to be used for melee, just for spellcasters when they have stats/abilities/resists as ego or artifact.

[Sky]

that's harsh. it might as well have Escaping, since you're not going to melee anything with 12 DPS