The Life and Death of Aialdar

[buzzkill]

I hate replying to my own post, but...
I always assumed that that 'uncomfortable feeling' only affected my 'to hit' and 'spell failure'. Also though that 'holy' characters could only wield 'blunt' or 'blessed' weapons. Recently searched the forum and found that they can also wield '*slay evil*' (but not 'slay evil' without the asterisks) regardless of sharp edges or pointy points.
Is there more that I don't know??? Can someone thoroughly explain the effects and avoidance of that 'uncomfortable feeling'.

[buzzkill]

Recalled to Menegroth. Sold stuff and bought stuff.

Recalled to Amon Rudh DL17 CL21 231HP. Day 17, 3:49 AM. Wandered around with a ‘good’ feeling. Killed some Light Hounds and a Druid. I just love killing Druids. Killed more stuff and found more stuff, nothing that great.

On to Amon Rudh DL18 CL21 231HP. Day 18, 10:28 AM. Found a CCW.

On to Amon Rudh DL20 CL21 231HP. Day 18, 10:59 AM. The stairs went down another level. Detected evil. Detected 75 creatures off screen. 6 smaller groups and and 1 army, mostly orcs and trolls. They had me surrounded. Headed north and encountered a group of Black Orcs. I prayed Chant. The Orcs are dropping with just 1 or 2 blows from my Long Sword of Slay Evil. Slayed a few of them and retreated back to the stairs, just as a second group of Black Orcs was sneaking up behind me, along with some Forest Trolls. Luckily, I made it back to the stairway, in a dead end and only have to take them on one at a time. I Quaffed Heroism and Speed. After dropping six or so, the Uruk’s had arrived. Quaffed a CCW. Prayed Protection from Evil. Killed some more. Picked up and equipped a Small Metal Shield [5,+2]. Quaffed a CCW and killed even more. My speed and heroism wore off, but that’s not stopping me. Killed another bunch before my protection from evil had worn off. Killed another ten or so and quaffed another CCW. Killed some more and had another CCW. Killed more than I can count and downed a couple more CCW then fought some more. Even though I was on the stairs, I decided to Teleport with only 32HP left. I landed in a room full of Forest Trolls and Half Orcs. I guess this is one of those themed levels I’ve heard so much about. I probably killed a dozen here, in this open area, before teleporting again. This time I landed in a safe spot and fully rested. This is a chamber with only 1 exit, a long winding corridor. I’ve found Wolves! I got so excited about chasing and killing something other than Orcs, that I missed a secret door behind me. It bust open and Forest Trolls streamed through. Luckily I wasn’t that far away, so I hacked my way back to my ‘safety corridor’. I’m fighting atop a pile of rubble now, so I should fare better than before. Now come the Half Orcs and Black Ogres. Dozens died so far, still dozens left on screen. Picked up and equipped Leather Scale Male [11,+6]. I’ve beaten back the initial onslaught so that I can now move out of the corridor and take on the various remaining groups where they lie sleeping. Took out some Forest Trolls and Black Orcs in their lair. I can wander freely now, mostly just killing off stragglers and looking for more lairs. Oh crap. I found an un-ID’d scroll and, since I had no Identifys, I read it, and it was Teleport Level. I sank through the floor. This was a boring place anyhow, but I was having lots of fun slaughtering the masses. I improved my AC quite a bit here and have a pack full of item to sell back in town. I figure I killed about 200 evil beings here.

On to Amon Rudh DL21 CL23 253HP. Day 18, 5:27 AM. Detected a gang of Forest Trolls nearby couldn’t resist. Next were the cave Orges. They died too. Leaving here despite a very good feeling.

On to Amon Rudh DL22 CL23 253HP. Day 19, 1:26 AM. I ran into a gang of Petty Dwarf Mages. They’re as bad as the freakin Druids, with their stinking clouds. At least they have low AC, so I picked them apart with my less than trusty long bow. Joy, they gave up a Staff of Perception. ID’d a Ring of Protection (+16) which replaces my Ring of Resist Cold (+34%). Then a Petty Dwarf Rogue attacked/died. I ‘still uncertain’, so I’m leaving.

On to Amon Rudh DL23 CL23 253HP. Day 19, 6:51 PM. Hmmm.

On to Amon Rudh DL24 CL23 253HP. Day 19, 11:02 PM. Ran into a pack of Saber Tooth Tigers, so read WoR, then teleported. Landed in a forested area and was almost immediately set upon by many different monsters. Teleported again and landed in a room full of Black Puddings. I was yanked…homeward.

Recalled to Menegroth. Sold a Potion of Infra-Vision, Hard Studded Leather (+2), Hard Leather Armour (+6), Hard Leather Boots (+1), a Ring of Resist Cold (+34%), A Staff of Detect Evil, a Long Bow (+8,+3), a Beaked Axe (+8,+5), a Thrusting Spear (+3,+4), a Scimitar of Slay Evil (+4,+6). Bought a Potion of Restore Dexterity, Hard Leather Boots of Stealth (+2)(+2), 3 CCW’s, Scrolls of Teleportation (x6), Enchant Weapon Skill (x3), Recharging and Enchant Armour. I’ve got 8500GP, nothing to else buy.

[Pete Mack]

Priests can wield any 'blessed' weapon, which includes Holy Avenger as well as *Slay Evil*. It also includes quite a number of artifacts.

[buzzkill]

Recalled to Amon Rudh DL24 CL23 253HP. Day 20, 7:02 AM. I almost died several times here. First, I ran into a horde of White Worms. I sent a few fleeing, but couldn’t kill any and had to eventually teleport away. And then there were the Phase Spiders with a Sasquatch companion. Before that there were Uruks and a Griffon. I picked up a Morning Star (+7+5) and a Staff of Object Location. Call me crazy, but I’m going deeper. The stairs continue down.

On to Amon Rudh DL26 CL24 260HP. Day 20, 3:35 AM. Killed a few creatures here, the most interesting of which was a Giant Bronze Dragon Fly. It kept confusing me while it’s companions (a Giant Red Tick, Earth Hound, Fire Hound, Werewolf, Giant Yellow Scorpion) attacked. I found a Thrusting Spear, but no other objects detected nearby, so I’m headed deeper. The stairs continue down… again.

HEY NICK… Just for the sake of simplicity/reality why not have the day count increment at 12 AM rather than 6 AM. I assume that the game starts at 6 AM (rather than midnight) so you begin your quest with daylight (not that it really matters), but why not just start day 2 and all subsequent days at 12AM. I just get slightly annoyed when it’s 7:02 am, day 20…. and then, several hours later, it’s 3:35 am, day 20 (3 1/2 hours earlier). You don't need to change when the sun rises or sets, just when the day count actually changes. Or, optionally, scrap the concept of 'calander/clock' timing DD HH:MM (currently) and switch to 'timer' timing HHHH:MM (something like, 1742 Hours 17 Minutes have passed).

On to Amon Rudh DL28 CL24 260HP. Day 20, 5:04 AM. Once again, didn’t detect any objects nearby except for 2 Rods of Light. I made it to the stairs, no problem.

On to Amon Rudh DL29 CL24 260HP. Day 21, 6:49 AM. Encountered a Hardened Warrior and Priest at the bottom of the stairs. Immediately, a Elven Thrall Mage, Brigand, Gaveronian Necromancer, Novice Rogue join the party, and the necro summons a Mummified Orc. Great, now the necro transforms into a Nurling and the Brigand steals my Potion of Heroism. I killed a Hobbit Slinger who decided to join the fray. The Nurling appeared behind me and lashed at me with his whip of fire destroying my Mace (+7,+5). I had to retreat back up the stairs when I was blinded by the mage. Picked up a Rod of Door/Stair Location and rested up on DL28 before heading back down the stairs again.

On to Amon Rudh DL29 CL24 260HP. Day 21, 9:04 AM. Killed a Stone Giant and found the stairs. Detected nothing but a ration of food, so… bye bye.

On to Amon Rudh DL30 CL24 260HP. Day 21, 9:15 AM. I don’t really know what I’m doing here. It’s a boring place, I’m not detecting any objects and I don’t think that I’m prepared to fight Mim. I killed a couple of Quasits and gained a War Hammer and another Wand of Polymorph. I ran into a Giant Black Scorpion who kept poisoning and blinding me, so I eventually teleported away, and landed just 30’ from Mim, luckily sleeping. Read WoR. I killed the Dark Naga who kept attempting to confuse me in Mim’s presence.

[buzzkill]

The death of aialdar

Recalled to Menegroth. Joy!, It turns out that an un-ID’d ring I found on DL30 is Free Action. It will replace my Ring of Resist Fire (+42&#37. Bought Pot of Restore Constitution, Scroll of recharging (x2, used one on Staff of Perception). Sold a Mage Spell Book, 2 War Hammers (+3,+6, average), Wand of Stinking Cloud (empty), Ring of Resist Fire, a Thrusting Spear (average), 53 Arrows (1d8, average). In preparation for Mim, got 6 Pot of Speed from home, CCW (x8), Pot of Boldness (x10), Rod of Illumination (x2) from home, Phase Door (x20), Enchant Weapon (x3), Wands of Teleport Away (x2), WoR (x2). I’m not as prepared as I’d like to be (no heals). If I don’t take him on this trip, I’ll check out the forest to the north when I get back, assuming I survive.

Recalled to Amon Rudh DL30 CL24 272HP. Day 21, 4:48 PM. I ran into some Nurlings which are giving me a hard time, destroying my inventory and such. Cool!, the Nurlings lair, once I finally reached it, contained a suit of Dwarven Leather Scale Mail, which provides immunity to paralyasis. I detected a Abyss Worm Mass, you know, a breeder that can eat through wall, a real pain in the ass. The thing is, that this mass was sequestered in a little room with no doors, no tunnels, no way to get to it (until it starts breeding and finds you). That’s just down right evil dungeon creation. Ran into a Sabre Tooth Tiger, and during battle an Anamist appeared. He summon Phase Spiders and I had no choice but to teleport away. Tracked down Baldor, King of the Yeeks, and sent him fleeing twice before he teleported away. Now there are Vampires and Grave Wights. I’m killing them but not gaining XP as fast as I’m losing it. Well I never did find Mim. An Evlen Thrall Lord confused and blinded me, then destroyed most of my swag (and my 1st spell book, no more detect evil) with fire bolts. I teleported away from him, and landed near a stairway. While I was resting I was set upon by Dogs and Wolves and eventually a Wolf Cheftian. I took the stairs.

Retreat to Amon Rudh DL29 CL24 260HP. Day 22, 8:32 PM. Some Wolves, an Umber Hulk, and Pukelman came to greet me. While I was fighting the later a Carrion Crawler showed up and got in line. I decided to go back down. Things couldn’t be any worse.

Retreat to Amon Rudh DL30 CL24 260HP. Day 22, 11:11 PM. Something magically summoned help and suddenly I was surrounded by Othrod, Lord of the Orcs and 15 of his closest friends. I read Phase Door and found myself in a nearby hallway just 30’ for the closest Orc. I tried to cast Bless (M,A,B) but I forgot that that spell book had been destroyed and cast blink instead. I now found myself in a chamber next to a Corvid of Shadow, He died almost instantly, but not before he shrieked. I illuminated the chamber and found Min just 40’ away. Quaffed speed. The battle raged on for a dozen or more rounds and I had him down to 40%, but I was out of CCW and low on HP so I teleported away. I landed in a room, near a Hashisnin. I detected traps and tried to back away but was soon blind and poisoned from arrow or dart strikes. Quaffed another speed in an effort to get away even faster (+20), but found out that Potions of speed don’t work that way. I used my Staff of Dungeon Mapping to navigate my blind getaway. I was down to 5HP and 3 mana when I regained my vision. I tried to cast Cure Poison, even though I lacked the mana. ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!

> You feel yourself slow down.
> You feel yourself moving faster!
> You have 2 Umber Potions of Speed (d).
> You have an Umber Potion of Speed (d).
> You can see again.
> You do not have enough mana to pray this prayer.
> You lost your concentration!
> You faint from the effort!
> You are paralyzed!
> The Hashishin whips a poisoned dart at you.
> You are hit.
> You die.

Maybe a should have teleported first, and then tried to cure the poison???

But going back even further, it’s that first mistake I made, when I accidentally cast Blink that led to the chain of events that led to my death. I could have handled the Orcs, or at the very least, been able to escape from them. This is my second highest CL and score ever, yea for me!

[Pete Mack]

Two points


The real error was fighting Mim when he was hasted, then running out of mana when facing the assassin. A bad phase can happen at any time.

Also, carrying !rAcid+Elec makes a big difference vs Mim.
So does carrying plenty of ?teleportation, which also would have saved you.

It's also worth car

[buzzkill]

The real error was fighting Mim when he was hasted, then running out of mana when facing the assassin. A bad phase can happen at any time.

Also, carrying !rAcid+Elec makes a big difference vs Mim.
So does carrying plenty of ?teleportation, which also would have saved you.

It's also worth car

I believe Mim moves quickly by defauly. I hasted myself to equal his speed. I'm suprised I did as well as I did against him. If a lot out my supplies hadn'y been destroyed on my earlier trip to DL30 I may have had him.

I'm not sure why I was so low on mana. But, if a hadn't tried to cure the poison I think it would have killed me in a few turns. I had a Scorll of Teleportation, I just thought that since I had a free turn, (no ememy in line of sight) I'd try to cure the poison before teleporting. I didn't know, and still don't know exactly, what the penalty is for casting with low mana.

I had resist acid, and never found any resist electricity. Having only fought Mim once before, I didn't have very good info on him. I brought the Pot of Boldness because I knew he could terrify, but that's about all I knew that I could actually defend against.

Having thought about it some more, I should have bailed earlier on Mim. I was hanging onto hope that I could beat him, but I knew much earlier that it wasn't likley to happen, (I also knew he could, and probably would, heal himself, which would end all hope of defeating him). I should have bailed earlier before I used last CCW on a lost cause. I guess that's what I learned this time around.

What did you mean by "It's also worth car"???

[Pete Mack]

it was a cut-and-paste error on a handheld (iPod). What I meant was to carry a potion of resist acid and electricity, which would reduce Mim's magical attacks. And yes Mim is fast at speed +10, but the shriek gives h speed +20. You are better off stepping upstairs for a moment to give yourself an easier situation.

[buzzkill]

it was a cut-and-paste error on a handheld (iPod). What I meant was to carry a potion of resist acid and electricity, which would reduce Mim's magical attacks. And yes Mim is fast at speed +10, but the shriek gives h speed +20. You are better off stepping upstairs for a moment to give yourself an easier situation.

Now that's useful information. I thought that it caused aggravation/alertness but had no idea that the shriek hasted my enemies.

I checked my monster memory, it say (corvid of shadow)...may shriek for help, cast spells to terrify, push past other monsters, wail to terrify, bite to attack, claw to attack.

Does shrieking (from any monster) always haste enemies, or is that exclusive to the Corvid of Shadow.

[Pete Mack]

shrieking for help is the same code ass a scroll of aggravation. Wake up and haste all monsters in LOS. In a few variants (NPP) it's a timed effect, but usually it's not.

[Psi]

I think it is detection range (at least) rather than LoS and I am not convinced that it hastes in FA (unless it is LoS for that effect and I just haven't seen it happen).

[Pete Mack]

Whoops, my bad--I didn't read the code carefully enough. The haste only applies to aggravation of the entire level(!) That makes shriek/aggravate a much less dangerous action. Normally, I'm scared of a flock of Crebains, if it's anywhere near something remotely dangerous.

[Psi]

Normally, I'm scared of a flock of Crebains, if it's anywhere near something remotely dangerous.

I assume you mean the Crows of Durthang in FA and I quite agree! It is not just the shriek though, they have a terrifying spell too which combined with the former has been the death of several of my ironman characters. Usually by the time I hit the desert bird vaults I have no source of rFear and I find myself unable to attack and surrounded by whatever the horrid things have woken up!

[Psi]

Having followed this thread, I decided to try an Ent Paladin too. I've never played Paladins past the first few CLs before, so I don't really know the best way to play them. Here are my early thoughts:

- it is really tough to choose a good early weapon. With most chars a sabre is a good option because of its lightness and the number of sides on the die. However the PPP prevents this (how much of an effect does this really have - I think I need to source dive...). The starting mace is pretty dire, so I traded in for a whip which should net me more damage, but is still pretty awful. I was then fortunate enough to find a whip of burning, but am longing for something better.

- disarming is pathetic. I lost a good chest when first it summoned vortices (including nexus and shimmering at DL24!) and then demons which destroyed it. One of the demons was 30 levels OoD and the others were both 20+ - seems a little unfair! I've just found a couple of rods of disarming which I hope will make things easier. Which brings me on to...

- magic device use is really tough too! Takes many attempts to use/aim/activate anything. At least my _perception is becoming reliable.

- Pseudo takes forever. Now that I have Thingol from Ulfast, I just id everything and then recharge my staff as otherwise I have a full inventory of unId'd junk.

- They also feel worse at melee than my rogues, but this is probably because of the lower dex and the worse weapon due to PPP.

- Archery is awful. I guess that is expected from both this race and class though.

At the moment they feel like a very poor cousin to assassins and rogues - I'm not sure how this changes at higher levels yet.

[Seany C]

Having followed this thread, I decided to try an Ent Paladin too. I've never played Paladins past the first few CLs before, so I don't really know the best way to play them. Here are my early thoughts:

Weaponry: The starting Mace isn't great but I've usually got enough cash to pick up a War Hammer by the time I get to Ossiriand or Belegost - 4d3 isn't bad for an early character. Once I get to Menegroth (CL15-20), I'd look for a Lead-filled Mace and enchant that up a bit, until a decent blunt ego weapon turns up...

Disarming & Magic-Device: These are both a bit grim, initially - I tended to avoid concentrate on detecting traps and didn't go to great lengths to collect chests, given the problems with opening them... Later on, I wore Gloves of Magic Mastery for a long time..

Melee & Archery: Archery is horrible - I only carried a bow for the stat boosts and didn't bother filling the quiver at all. I got on fine with melee though, once I had a half-decent weapon (finding Turmil relatively early helped a lot.

I suspect levelling a non-Ent Paladin would be tricky early on, due to a lack of stealth that isn't fully offset by other strengths early on. Once the character's levelled up a fair bit (HPs > 250, etc), I just played her as a HM-type character but with spells on the side...