YACD-Balrogs leave an embarassment of artifacts

[tprice]

I'm playing Vanilla 3.2 via the Android port and trying out HE Mages recently. Only modification to the files is resetting the boot's rarity to the 20 it SHOULD be to cut back on the boot spam.

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=11219

Zot the 7th had a VERY lucky start, finding a Main Gauche of Westernesse on his first dive into the dungeon at only DL3 then an Amulet of Resistance at DL4 on his 2nd trip down! Then about DL 15 he found a helm of ESP. Those lucky finds made it _much_ easier to survive those early mage killing levels that had killed off so many of his predecessors...

In fact in about 20 years of playing rogue-likes off and on I don't ever recall getting a mage this deep or this powerful. Its been fun to finally be able to tackle the Ancient Dragons and Greater Demons without _too_ much worry as long as i can take them on one or two at a time. Feels SOOOO good to blast them to death after they killed off so many young mages over the years!

But DL55 takes the cake. 2 artifacts generated on the ground, one dropped by Adunaphel the Quiet, then half a dozen more dropped by the Balrog of Moria and his greater demon escorts. Not to mention a number of useful ego items, rings, and 4 DSMs...

It took me about 3 hours of gameplay to draw them out one at a time but I count it time well spent.

Now i just need to figure out what equipment to wear, what to store for later, and what to dump.

Suggestions and comments are welcome. I'm going to have to sleep on this one before making such a complex set of interlocking comparisons.

Thomas Price
aka The Bookworm

[tprice]

Ladder updated with a new dump.

Took a few more levels but I finally found a better amulet to replace the Amulet of Resistance I've had since DL3! The Amulet of Carlammas with it's +4con will fill in nicely and in the same vault i found TWO RoS+6.

Combined with the Scythe Avavir that was dropped a couple levels earlier and Dal-i-thalion that I have had for a while and suddenly I'm feeling pretty good about my permanent speed.

Mordenkainen's Escapes was another nice bonus from that vault.

Thomas

[Antoine]

half a dozen more dropped by the Balrog of Moria and his greater demon escorts. Not to mention a number of useful ego items, rings, and 4 DSMs...

And there came Balrogs out of the Dwarrowdelf, and they beset him and ringed him about with fire. But the swords of the Noldor were yet keen, and the Balrogs could not stand against him, and they were cast down. And from them he gathered rich treasure. There were rings of gold, and armor wrought from the scales of dragons, and many other precious things besides.

A.

[Antoine]

And there came Balrogs out of the Dwarrowdelf, and they beset him and ringed him about with fire. But the swords of the Noldor were yet keen, and the Balrogs could not stand against him, and they were cast down. And from them he gathered rich treasure. There were rings of gold, and armor wrought from the scales of dragons, and many other precious things besides.

And there he slew icky things also, and jellies, and centipedes, and many other foes of no worth. For those deeds he gained but little renown, and no stories were told of them in the days to come.

A.

[Nick]

And when news came to Sauron of the destruction of Adunaphel, he was troubled, but then laughed and said "Well, she was just made up by Iron Crown Enterprises, anyway".

[tprice]

Hahahaha. Thanks you all, that was great! I mentally heard it all in Rob Ingils'(1) warm tones which made it even funnier.

Thomas Price
Aka the bookworm

1. Master narrator that read the Hobbit and LotR in the audiobook editions I listen to on multi hour car rides.

[tprice]

"Then he shod his feet with even greater magics and tamed the fiery speed of Cubragol to his services. Running circles around his foes he smote them with fire, ice, and most foul acid!"

So on the next trip down Zot runs across both the legendary Cubragol and BoS +8. I guess the RNG is painted Red for this character because 'Red ones go Faster!' as every orc knows. ;-)

As I understand it any speed above +30 isn't much help due to diminishing returns. Therefore I've decided to swap out one of the Rings of speed for Ring of Acid so that my weapon is triple branded. Hopefully ONE of the brands will work on most medium weight opponents and let me save my mana for the bigger threats.

I tried putting on a Con ring but it didn't help my HP any, looks like a 18/200 is max useful Con for my mage.

I think it's time to start diving even deeper if I can avoid creating any more Excellent levels for a bit. I just need to remind myself that just because I'm fast and powerful HERE that those mythical beasts lurking deeper won't fry me in an instant if I'm not careful. I think those rods of probing will get a workout as I venture into uncharted territory...

Thomas Price
aka The Bookworm