Come back you coward!

[Grotug]

Harowen The Blackhand ran off with some stuff Atlas the Greater Titan dropped (no easy foe). Man, I came so close to death so many times at 3000' on 9-7 level feeling. I've cleared the entire level, tho; has to be a first for a level of that depth and feeling. But other than Atlas and a Greater Dragon of Law (-600 health attack much? Yes.) and maybe a couple Dreadlords the level was quite manageable. I picked up some good boots of speed (Elvenkind, 18 acid proof AC, +2 stealth, +6 speed). Finally replaced my amulet of slow digestion with something half decent (amulet of Carlammas, +3CON, +1STR and occasional protection from evil).

BTW, I find a ring of DEX <+3> to be more useful than a ring of DAM [+14]. The added dexterity actually nearly matches the [+14] DAM and has the added benefit of completing my body protection (so many things want to lower my DEX).

Anyway, I am wondering if I should hang out on this level and hope Harowen shows up; or maybe he is afraid of me and won't?

[Grotug]

Well, Harowen the Blackhand finally came back and kept disappearing but returning again, but the last time I fought him I forgot to check for traps and down to the next level I went. I left behind a Pick of Erebor and a mushroom of vigor (which I really don't need anymore) so I guess it coulda been worse.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Can't tell you how many times that's happened to me fighting Saruman. Forget he cast traps and fall through a damned trap door before I can pick up the loot.

[Derakon]

Harowen is fast but nearly harmless. So long as you don't actually walk while fighting him, you can't trigger his traps. So rely on ranged combat and Phase Door whenever he gets close so he can't try to steal and then run away.

[Grotug]

I was fighting Kamul the Black Easterling and he was almost dead (fleeing in terror) and then I'm rising up through the ceiling! A bunch of arrows left on the ground. At least I decided *against* putting my scroll of *Acquirement* down in a safe place to pick up later (I was torn between holding onto it and having it burned up and putting it down, but experience tells me I may not get a chance to pick it up again--so experience served me well! let my fat stack of phase doors burn...). I'm at 6050' and wondering if I should store my scroll of *Acquirement* for use later. My character is pretty strong and the last time I read two scrolls of Acquirement recently on a very good treasures here level I got another longbow of power I don't need and something else lackluster. Maybe I should save it for later since my gear is pretty good right now. (I have swappable gear for Chaos but no good solution for Nexus) most of the other important resistances i have covered and have +11 speed and 400 melee damage. I assume boots of speed <+6> are preferable over good AC boots of stability?

[Grotug]

Can't tell you how many times that's happened to me fighting Saruman. Forget he cast traps and fall through a damned trap door before I can pick up the loot.

Wow, nice timing for that warning! I just entered the dungeon again and was promptly faced with Saruman.

[quarague]

I think the general recommendation is to read Acquirement scrolls right when you find them (at the lowest dungeon floor you have been up to that point, not in town). They usually give you a random ego item which when Acquirement first shows up still has a decent chance to be useful. At dungeon level 90 the chances that a random ego item is an improvement to your gear is much lower. IIRC *Acquirement is the same as a small stack of Acquirement, so the same argument should apply.

[MattB]

Yep - read on sight. Don't even pick them up!
(ymmv naturally)

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Depends on whether I'm in the middle of a deep dive (e.g., using ?Deep Descent to plunge several levels down). In that case, I'll save ?Acquirement for when I've completed the swift dive on the theory that even if its only an ego item it will be improved over the shallower depth. Otherwise, yep, I read them right away.

[Derakon]

Note that the only thing that affects the quality of the items you get from Acquirement is the depth at which you read the scroll. Level feelings, reading them in vaults, etc. don't make a difference.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Note that the only thing that affects the quality of the items you get from Acquirement is the depth at which you read the scroll. Level feelings, reading them in vaults, etc. don't make a difference.

Yes, you and Nick had to beat me over the head before I would finally accept that reading the scroll on an "8" square didn't matter.

[AnonymousHero]

Yep - read on sight. Don't even pick them up!
(ymmv naturally)

Why even waste a turn reading them?

[Grotug]

Interesting, thanks for the infos.

[Nivra]

IMO, *Acquirement* should be improved.

Maybe make it only give 1-2 items and higher quality.

I've been wanting to save up deep descent and acquirement scrolls to use together in the early/mid game. Before stat gain, if I can descend 20-30 levels, read a bunch of acquirement scrolls, then recall back with my loot, it might not be a bad strategy. Maybe I'll try that when I roll a rogue.