Found Medusa and the castle on my Twenty-Fifth day

I wake up, and don’t remember going to sleep. Last thing I remember, I was typing out my last message to you. I can’t explain it. I’m supposed to be resistant to sleep.

I mull over it while walking over to the stairs. I still don’t have an answer, as I descend further into the black depths.

I fall down the stairs, and wind up in a mess at the bottom of the stairs. I look around, the room is filled with water. There are a few trees around, and a couple monsters, but not many. I can sense something strong nearby, so I immediately cast detect monster.

There’s a number of snakes, nagas, and dragons. Nothing I can’t handle, but there’s also a human. I decide it’s time to try calling Spoiler again.

“Hello, Spoiler speaking,” He answers.

“Hi Spoiler,” I say. “How are things?”

“The usual,” he says. “Not much changes up here. What do you need help with this time?”

“Well,” I start. “I’m on a level almost completely covered in water.”

“Ah,” He says. “That could be a few things. You know detect monster, right? Is there a human nearby?”

“How did you know?” I ask.

“It’s Medusa,” He says in a quiet voice. “Don’t go near her without a blindfold. She can instantly turn you to stone if you gaze upon her face.”

“I don’t have a blindfold,” I say.

“Do you have a towel?” He asks.

“Of course I do,” I say. “I’m a hoopy frood.”

“That will do,” he says. “Wrap it around your head and face, so you can’t see. Also make sure you can float over the water, don’t try to swim across.”

“Ok. What do I do when I get to her?” I ask.

“You still have your silver dragon mail, right?” He says. “That will act like a mirror, and she will turn to stone instead.”

“That sounds almost too easy,” I reply. “All I have to do is make it to her, and she automatically turns to stone?”

“That’s it, kid,” he replies. “You can do this, now go out there and do it. I’ve got cows to chop up.”

With that, I hear a click and the line goes dead. Spoiler really isn’t much for small talk. I pull out my bag of holding, and pull out my boots of levetation. I slip them on, and float over the water, toward the buildings on the far side. I try to avoid the eels, and kill snakes when I can hit them with magic.

I take care of the nagas with my spell of death, when they get close enough to hit. I pass some broken down walls, and small rooms, before finally arriving at the main building. It’s built of solid rock, with barred windows in a few places. I move carefully, wearing the towel over my eyes.

I find a door, locked, but my key easily unlocks it. A kraken inside is no match for my death spell. There’s another door, and five dragons await me on the other side. I cautiously open it, and start firing death.

I get to the room Medusa is hiding in, and slowly open the door. Nothing happens, she’s still standing there. I fire a bolt of magic, thinking she might be a statue, but she’s not. Spoiler lied to me. I hit her with a ray of death, and see her image fade from my mind. Time to take off the blindfold.

I go through the rest of her stronghold, destroying statues as I go. There’s a few scrolls I grab, a can of grease, and an empty sack, but otherwise it’s not a very promising haul.

I head down the stairs with a heavy heart. I’m starting to feel unprepared for the dangers that still lurk ahead.

I come out in a twisting hallway, rather than a room. The walls and floor are black stone rather than grey. It has a very ominous feel, and I decide to play it safe by putting my bag of holding inside the empty sack I found. I use the grease on my armour, and sack, until it’s empty. I keep the empty can, just in case.

I cast magic mapping,and start exploring. It’s a giant maze, but I don’t want to miss a good item by going straight to the stairs. I slowly go through the area, killing the few monsters I encounter until I fall down a trap door.

This time I don’t cast mapping, it’s easier to keep track of where I’ve been this way. It doesn’t take long to go through the maze and find the stairs down. Still nothing good. Maybe I should just skip through. But no, I still need supplies, I have to explore.

I find a spellbook of cancellation, but it’s much to difficult for me to cast. I go down another few floors without anything interesting happening.

I get to an area full of monsters. The maze is just a small area, and it open up to a huge castle, surrounded by a moat. I stand outside, casting my cone of cold inside the walls. The spell freezes part of the moat in front of the massive door. I hide around the corner until I build my magic energy back up, then I break it down with a blast of magic.

The room beyond is fairly boring, and I quickly move on. There’s a narrow hallway, with barracks on either side. I use my cold spell to kill them all without having to go inside the rooms. At the end of the hallway is another throne room.

This isn’t the usual room I’m used to seeing. The carpet is still purple, but the walls are adorned with hundreds of skulls, and the throne is made up of a mixture of gems and bones. I sit on the throne, not sure what to expect. It vanishes, like usual.

I explore a bit more, there are four rooms in the corners, and one of them has a large locked chest. Inside it I find an iridium wand, which I identify as a wand of wishing, with three charges.

I don’t waste any time in deciding what to wish for. I get a pair of gauntlets of power, a robe, and a new weapon, a silver saber named Grayswandir. I have heard it’s one of the most powerful weapons I can get.

I’m still burdened, so I go through my pack. With a deep sigh I let go of my dagger collection, and all my books. When I can finally move freely, I use my magic marker to write a blessed scroll of charging, and charge my wand of wishing. I put my recharged wand into my bag of holding.

I find a secret door, and put on my levitation boots, expecting water. It’s a long hall, with a few dragons waiting behind what I assume will be secret doors. I start down the hall, and a trap door opens beneath me. Good thing I was floating in the air.

I continue to where the dragons are. Two on either side. I find the secret doors, kill the dragons, and go in. Four secret doors later and I’ve found stashes of food, weapons, gems, and armour. I get a few precious gems, and a helm of brilliance.

I go to one of the corner rooms and lock myself in. It’s time to enchant my weapon and armour. After blessing the scrolls I do have, and enchanting everything as much as I can, I feel protected, and dangerous. I’m ready to move on, but I can’t find the stairs. I remember the trap doors, and decide to jump down one of them.

First though, I need my usual nap. I have the feeling that things are going to get dangerous really quickly after this point.

At last a temple on my Twenty-Fourth day

I wake up feeling lucky. Somehow, I know there’s a full moon out there, far above me. I don’t want to lose this good feeling, I head down the stairs with a spring in my step.

I had forgot how far away I was from the last area I explored. By the time I got back, I was out of breath, and already lost the good feeling I had when I woke up.

While exploring the newest level, I heard somebody beseeching Ptah, and later somebody praising Ptah. Not long after, I find a room with an altar. I walk in and a priest turns to look at me.

“Pilgrim, you enter a sacred place.” She says.

I have a forbidding feeling. This is a Lawful temple. I’m not unwelcome here, but I can’t pray or make a sacrifice. I look around, amazed. The room is lined with light wood panels along the walls and ceiling. There are various scenes painted on some of the panels, pictures of knights helping the poor, scenes of bravery and sacrifice. There are some white marble pillars along the sides of the room, carved into majestic white unicorns, holding up the artificial ceiling with their horns. The floor is stone, but well swept and there is a long red carpet, edged in gold, leading from the door to the altar. Another entrance sits off to the side, plain and almost hidden in the shadows. The only light comes from a few standing candelabras.

The room grates on my skin, it represents everything I stand against. Still, it is a holy place, and I will honor it. It does not do good to have a God angry at you. Any God.

I step over to the priestess of Ptah, to speak with her. She asks for a contribution for the temple. I realize that I don’t have a use for money anymore. I can kill any shopkeepers I come across, and steal what I want. I pull out some money and hand it over.

“Thy devotion has been rewarded.” She says.

I feel my skin toughen up, and get stronger. It’s like I put on a extra suit of armour. I like this feeling. I pull out another handful of coins and hand it over. I get the same feeling again, but not quite as strongly as the first time. I continue doing this, one handful at a time, until I run out of money. I don’t always get rewarded, but she always thanks me for my contribution, at least. I try to hand her a gem, but she doesn’t accept it.

Broke, I decide it’s time to move on. I really hope I don’t need that money for anything else. This seems like the best way to spend it though, paying for strength, the ability to withstand more damage, live longer, maybe I can succeed in my quest for the Amulet.

I cast magic mapping, and quickly clear out the level. There was a team of hill giants that tried to stop me in one of the passageways, but a single bolt of death and all three of them fell.

I find a scroll of enchant weapon, and decide it’s time to upgrade my saber, Werebane. I take out all the scrolls of enchant weapon I have, and dip them into holy water. I keep reading until my sword vibrates unexpectedly. Satisfied, I put the remainder back into my bag, and head for the stairs.

I start walking around the new area, and see another room full of enemies. Before I can put on my ring of stealth, they wake up and start moving as one toward me. I head for the stairs, just in case. The first one to get to me is a troll with light blue skin. I hack at it with Werebane, and it doesn’t take long to die. I just hope it stays dead.

I quickly, and easily take out a handful of other monsters before the troll rises up again. I deal with it, and see an Ice dragon coming towards me. I fire off a ray of death and laugh as it falls to the ground, shaking the walls around us. The troll rises up yet again. I sigh, and lead it towards the stairs, hoping it will follow me up, where I can eat it in peace.

It doesn’t oblige, so I chase it down, but before I can kill it, it zaps a wand of digging at the floor and falls down. Well, at least I’ll be able to kill and eat it in peace down there.

I make my way to the room the creatures had been sleeping, and find another throne room. The chest has a number of treasures. A spellbook of sleep, a wand of probing, and a few scrolls. I sit in the throne, but it vanishes, like all the others.

I continue exploring, and come across a yellow light. I’m not scared of it, and swing my saber. It explodes, blinding me. I’m not worried, and step forward. Into a hole. I fall heavily to the ground on the level below, where a voices comes at me from the darkness.

“Pilgrim, you enter a sacred place!” It says.

I have the same forbidding feeling. I don’t want to risk tripping over the altar, so I use my unicorn horn to cure the blindness. I look up, and see that I’m in a neutral temple, a priest of Thoth is walking around.

The room looks almost identical to the one above. The white marble is a light grey, and the scenes on the walls are not self sacrifice, but pictures of Thoth in various acts. Some helpful, others vengeful.

I mumble an apology, and quickly leave. Further along, I smash a statue and find a spellboook of detect food. I find the ice troll, and fire off a death spell before it can make another hole. I quickly eat it before it manages to come back to life.

When I think I’ve completely explored the area, I cast mapping, and see a vault tucked off in the corner. I teleport in, grab the money, and leave. I head back to the temple and make a donation. The priest thanks me, but I’m not rewarded.

I take a quick run back upstairs to finish exploring the previous floor, then come back down and look through the last few rooms. Before I know it, I’m ready to move on again.

I get downstairs, and start moving. I come across another throne room, still asleep. This time I have the chance to put on my ring of stealth first, and creep around undetected. This could be a bad one. There’s three trolls, five dragons, and a lot of smaller monsters. I take out a hobgoblin, and move beside one of the trolls. I’m hoping that I can kill, and eat it without anything else waking up.

I manage it, with the troll only coming back to life once. I move on to the next troll, and again it’s fairly easy, but I have trouble finishing it. I decide to leave the room for now, and come back when I’m not so full.

I run around, exploring. I kill off a team of mordor orcs, a group of snakes, a cluster of killer bees and a single black naga before I’m done. By now I’m not full, so I head back to the throne room. It’s easy enough to clear out with my death spell, and even the troll didn’t come back to life.

The chest gave me another new spell, this time detect unseen, and a wand of polymorph. I walk up to the throne, and give it a solid kick. “You better give me something good this time, fucking thrones.” I say to the inanimate chair.

Some of the ornamental coins and gems come loose, and fall to the ground. I pick them up, before sitting down. My abuse didn’t do anything to help the situation. I merely feel out of place, and get dumped on the ground when it puffs away.

Looting Fort Ludios on my twenty-third day

I wake up with the feeling of power running through my veins. I stride downstairs, full of confidence. At the bottom is a spellbook of teleport away. I add it to my growing list of magic. It doesn’t seem very useful, I already have the ability to teleport, but this works on monster too. I won’t complain about more knowledge.

I notice a group of numbers nearby, and I’m worried that it might be a room full of them again, so I cast detect monsters. It looks like I was right. The only monsters on the entire floor, and they’re all grouped together. Crap. I take the ring of stealth from my bag, and put it on, then cautiously approach. None of them look dangerous, but I’m not taking chances.

I consider using my ring of conflict, but keep it as a backup plan. I get to the room, and there’s a hidden door. I open it, and decide to cast death and destruction at the convenient line of enemies. It works like a charm, and half a dozen various creatures fall dead. I step in, and it’s another throne room, identical to the last one I saw. The rest of the monsters are still sleeping, and I creep around the room, carefully sending out a ray of death where it will do the most damage. In minutes the room is nothing more than dead bodies, a few miscellaneous items, chest and of course, the throne.

I go through the room, picking up gold, nothing else interests me. There’s a score of pointless scrolls but I don’t want to be weighed down by them all. The chest has a tripe ration inside, and I slam the lid with a snort of disgust. Finally, I move to the throne. I sit down, and a voice comes out of the air, granting me a wish.

What do I want? I could use gloves that make me stronger. I’m tired of being burdened. I could also get some dragon armour, especially if it’s silver, to reflect spells, beams, and Medusa’s gaze when I meet her. I decide on the armour. I’ll feel a lot better about heading back up to Fort Ludios with that armour.

I wish for blessed +3 silver dragon scale mail, and it appears in my knapsack. I take off my robe, and sweaty leather armour, and step into the cold new armour. It’s breathtakingly beautiful, made of overlapping scales from a silver dragon. It’s like a hundred tiny mirrors. I’m almost ashamed to cover it with a cloak, but I do. I feel twice as protected now as with my old armour.

I sit in the throne again, hoping my good luck holds, but I just feel out of place, and it vanishes. I fly through the rest of the area, and pop down to stairs for reference.

I invoke my amulet, and get transported back to Fort Ludios. Again the alarm sounds, and I can sense a lot of enemies around. I’m terrified, but I can do this. I have reflection, a spell of death, and I can always teleport away if I need to.

I decide to try something different. I remember that I have a spell of ice, and even though I have to cast it directly on a monster, I wonder if I have to see the monster directly or if telepathy works too. The room I’m in is safe. There’s not even a door yet. I settle down and try to blast a creature I can see on the other side of the wall.

It works. I hear a series of explosions, and by the time they’re finished a number of monsters have died. I continue my spellcasting until the room looks empty. Rather than leave, I start aiming at the fifty soldiers waiting for me in another area. True, they would easily fall to a spell of death, but this is so much safer.

Once my energy is drained I hop through the portal, to get it back. Thanks to my amazing amulet, it doesn’t take any time at all before I’m restored, and back to blasting these fuckers from inside my safe room.

When I’ve got all of the soldiers I can sense, I cast detect monster. They remain in my mind, so I try to aim for them, but the distance is too great, and the spell dissipates before it reaches them. Oh well. I’m still more than happy with what I’ve accomplished. I take a look at what’s left. Four dragons, a few soldiers, and a room full of nasties in the middle. I spot a troll, a giant, and a human. The rest of them shouldn’t be a problem. I decide I’m ready to test my luck, and after resting for a bit to get my energy back, I look for the secret door and move on.

The first room I enter is David’s treasure zoo. I find a lot of nice treasure. Some gems, a lot of gold, a few good enchantment scrolls, and best of all, a wand of death. Not that I need it, but it will be handy in emergencies.

I move on, and face the dragons. A grey dragon begins the onslaught, and he seems to be immune to my death ray. I switch to magic missiles, and finally finish the job with Magicbane. A giant mummy proves to be more difficult than I thought, but I win out in the end. A red and green dragon fall to my finger of death spell, and I’m left alone again. For the moment.

While looting the corpses, I come across a bag. I pick it up, and open it up to look inside and a horse jumps out. What the fuck was that? I kill the horse, and identify the bag. A bag of tricks. Yeah, I guess you could say that.

I also find wands of fire, lightning, and polymorph. My face breaks out in a massive grin. There’s a shit ton of armour here, I have to create something good out of all the crap, right? I try to gather it up into a nice little line, but give up. There’s enough here for now. I take a breath, and zap away.

Some leather objects meld, and a leather golem arises from the pile. I feel shuddering vibrations. I blast the golem with missiles, and go over to see what my spoils are. The only thing of interest is a Hawaiian shirt. I strip down, and take off my sweatshirt. For some reason, the clothing I brought in can’t be enchanted, but this shirt should work. I slip it on over my bra, then replace my armour and cloak. I step back, and try zapping again.

This time I find a T-shirt that says “FREE HUGS” on the front of it. I keep it for a laugh, and try again. After a few more tries, I have an oilskin cloak, a cloak of invisibility, and another T-shirt, this one reads “Madame Elvira’s House O’ Succubi Employee of the Month” I also find an uncursed pair of levitation boots. I take off my cloak of magic resistance, and put on invisibility. I toss the other cloaks and boots into my bag of holding, and move on to the large building in the middle. It’s surrounded by a moat, but thanks to my new boots, I’m not worried.

I get close enough to sense the monsters inside, and start blasting away with my cone of cold again. Once everything except the troll has died, I move on and discover a barracks at the far end. It’s full of chests and boxes, which I dutifully empty. I move on to the main fortress, using my wand of dig to open a hole in the wall, and glide over the water.

The first room has a throne in it. I’ll sit in it later. For now, I examine the walls, and find two rooms full of valuable gems. Another wall has a door leading to a massive treasure room. There’s traps almost everywhere I step, but it’s worth it. I come out with over 45,000 gold pieces. There’s also two more small rooms full of gems. I try the throne, and it vanishes in a puff of logic. Confident that I’ve stolen everything possible, and killed as much as I can, I teleport to the portal, and head back to the main dungeon.

I decide to go through the portal first, and have a nap on the other side.

Ultimate power on my twenty-second day

I wake up feeling refreshed. I head down the stairs, and immediately cast a spell of mapping, and detect monsters. I feel like the Eye of the Aethiopica is helping me get my energy back faster, so I don’t feel like I need to watch my spells as much anymore. And I have those potions of gain energy, as a last resort.

An air elemental gives me a bit of trouble, but nothing I can’t handle. A troll escapes by zapping a hole in the ground before I can kill it. I find a new spellbook, which turns out to be confuse monster.

The rest of the area is pretty boring, so it doesn’t take me long to head down.

I get to the bottom of the stairs, and enter what seems to be an older, more primitive world. Everything looks different. The walls, and floor I’m used to seeing are a different colour. The walls are a brownish stone, rather than drab grey. The floor is green, completely covered in a thin layer of moss. I try to engrave in the floor with Magicbane, to make sure I still can. I’m relieved when the word Elbereth shines dimly through the growth.

I make it through the area rather easily, and head down yet again. I’m quite relieved to see the familiar dungeon when I get to the bottom.  There was something about that other area that gave me chills.

Another area with nothing interesting, and before i know it I’m downstairs. There’s a fountain waiting for me, and I take a careful sip. I manage to summon a water demon, and it’s not happy. I hit it, and it pulls out a strange wand. I turn to run but it’s too late, a bolt of lightning flashes, blinding me, and hits the middle of my back. I’m thrown forward, and the electric charge shatters one of my rings. Damn. I quickly fire off a slew of magic missiles before I flee from the room. I find a good spot, where my magic will bounce, and wait. When it finally comes around the corner I give it everything I’ve got. I get blasted by lightning a few more times, thankfully my robe helps keep me alive, and soon I’m victorious. I’m rewarded with a new wand, and there’s two charges left in it. Nice bonus.

Now that the danger is over, I can hear the sound of a register. Another shop, I can’t wait. I cast mapping, and decide to save the shop for last. There’s also a vault, and I immediately teleport in, and grab all the gold I can. I’m hungry, so I stop to eat.

I’m interrupted when a guard slides the wall open. It’s not even a door, the whole section of the wall just sank into the ground. He walks in.

“Hello stranger, who are you?” He asks.

“Faylen,” I reply truthfully.

“I don’t know you,” He says. “Most likely all your gold was stolen from this vault. Please drop that gold and follow me.”

Well, that’s not fair. I had gold of my own before I got here. I drop the majority of the gold in the far corner, and turn back to the guard.

“I repeat, drop that money and follow me!” He says, his voice with an edge to it now.

I try to explain the situation to him, but he refuses to listen. I head over to the gold I previously dropped, and pick it up. I put it all into the bag of holding, and the guard enter the room, the wall sliding up behind him, trapping us.

“You’ve been warned, knave!” He shouts, as he pulls out a dagger. His eyes have turned red, with a now familiar glow.

I fire off some magic missiles, and he dies. His body fades away, leaving a pile of armour. I teleport out of the room. I’m immediately regret my choice in landing areas. There’s a yeti on one side. A massive golem stands at the door, his body made up of bloody chunks of meat. He leaves a trail of drippings as he moves.

I focus on the yeti first, it’s the only thing close enough to hit with my dagger, and it quickly falls. The flesh golem takes a few spells to kill, but the fight gets interrupted when a beast smashes through the wall of the room.

It’s the size of a troll, but the head of an insect, including massive mandibles that look strong enough to crush rock. That’s not the only thing that looks strong though. It’s arms are thick, and covered by a curved plate of insect like armour. I can’t help but stare at it, I’ve never seen such a disgusting, hideous creature in my life. I slowly come to realize that I’m confused. I can’t think straight, and there’s no way I can safely cast a spell. I wonder if this is an umber hulk. One of the only creatures I’ve heard of that causes confusion just by looking at you.

I rush at the new creature, swaying unsteadily, and swinging Magicbane like it’s a sling. I manage to kill it without too much trouble. I use my unicorn to clear my head, and turn back to the nasty looking golem. I fire off another blast of magic, and it falls to the ground.

I walk over, and look down at the corpse, wondering what exactly it was made of. I decide to try eating it. I’m immune to poison, and there are so many creatures that are helpful if you eat them, it seems like a valid risk to take. I finish eating, and don’t feel any different. Oh well

I pick up a spellbook, and try to read it. I feel a wrenching sensation, and it tries to teleport me. I identify it, and see that it’s a cursed book of create monster. I use a potion of holy water to uncurse it, and try again. I now have create monster memorized, and just in time. I come across a lawful altar I didn’t notice before. I cast the new spell, and a warhorse materializes beside me. I move over, so the horse is standing above the altar, and quickly kill it. I sacrifice the body it leaves behind, and after a struggle between the Gods, the altar glows black.

I repeat the process a few times, and summon a few friendly monster like an ogre lord, before a nurse appears. Without thinking, I strip down and put away Magicbane. I let her heal me, and increase my life. When she finally leaves, I get dressed again, and get a firm grip on my dagger. I cast the spell again, and a horde of hill orcs pop into being.

They are no problem to kill, but it’s killing me dragging their body back to the altar to sacrifice. And the only result of my hard work is a deep feeling of inadequacy.

I continue the routine, eating as needed. Once I start seeing clovers, I kneel down to pray. Anhur’s voice booms out.

“Thou art chosen to steal souls for My Glory!”

A spellbook appears at my feet. I reverently pick up the light blue book, and slowly read through it. It is the fabled book of the finger of death spell. I didn’t believe it was real.

Now that the rest of the level is clear, I head for the shop. Echourgnac, the shopkeeper demands that I leave my pickaxe outside. I don’t know what came over me. Bloodlust, or just the raw power of having death at my fingertips. I cast my new spell, and watched as the ray of pure death instantly turned his body to ash.

The shop was small, and only held a few weapons. It was time to move on to the next floor. After a nap, of course.

Defeating the Dark One on my twenty-first day

I woke up feeling anxious. I don’t know what today will bring, but I can only hope that I come out victorious. I head down the stairs, into the darkness below.

It’s not as bad as I thought. There is a xorn in the room, but he is no match for me. I continue on, and other than a few vampire bats, nothing hinders my progress. I see some stairs leading down, and I decide to pop down to have a quick look.

I get to the bottom and I feel my mentor’s presence; perhaps the Eye of the Aethiopica is nearby. I don’t want to find out, not yet, so I duck back upstairs.

I clear out the level, a few xorns and a wraith were no trouble, the latter giving me another boost in experience. A few other small annoyances but nothing I couldn’t handle. I find some useless scrolls and potions, and gather them up.

Finally I’m ready to descend. There’s a few vampire bats flying around, and a group of minor demons, mostly homunculus, and a tengu. The tengu zaps away with a wand of sleep, but it doesn’t hit anything that’s susceptible to sleep. I quickly clear the room, and walk around picking up the spoils.

There is the wand of sleep, a cursed pair of gauntlets of dexterity, a scroll of genocide, some plate mail I’ll never wear, and a booby trapped tin of food. I grab everything but the mail. Even the gloves can come in handy if I enchant them.

The door leading from the room is locked, I easily unlock it, and walk through. There’s a long hallway, will jail cells lining both sides. I walk down the hall, letting the prisoners free as I go.

Most of the prisoners are human, but there’s also an elf and a gnome. All of them are friendly, happy to be free. I kill the vampire bats flying around, and a xorn walks through the wall but dies at my hand.

At the end of the hall is another locked door. I unlock it, and get ready to open it. I can sense a bunch of bats on the other side, just waiting for the chance to come at me.

I start by taking a step back, and blasting with magic missile. After a few shots, I have no trouble clearing out the rest of the room. I cast mapping and see two smaller rooms. I sense the Dark One in one of them, so I start by searching for the door to the other one first. There’s nothing of interest inside, so I wait to teleport into the other room. I don’t want to leave a door for the Dark One to run out of.

I teleport behind him, and before he has a chance to act, I zap my wand of polymorph, thinking that I can change him into some puny little newt or something. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

He is unaffected, but the two vampire bats behind him start to change. One of them grows larger, more reptilian, until an orange dragon is standing flying in the air. The other bat falls to the ground. It’s wings turn into arms, and it’s legs grow. It quickly grows into a relative of the rust monster. It’s a disenchanter. Fuck, why did I do something so stupid? I teleport to the stairs so I have an exit strategy. The Dark One follows right behind me, and speaks.

“Ah, I recognize you, wizard. So, Neferet the Green has sent you to steal the Eye of the Aethiopica from me, hmmm? Well, she is a fool to send such a mental weakling against me. Your destruction, however, should make for good sport. In the end, you shall beg me to kill you!”

Well, the asshole talks a good game, but let’s see how strong he really is. He hits me, but it doesn’t hurt much. I can tell that Magicbane is doing a lot more damage to him than he’s doing to me. It doesn’t take long for me to kill him.

His body begins to shrivel up, and he croaks out. “I shall haunt your progress until the end of time. A thousand curses on you and Neferet the Green.”

Then, the body bursts into a cloud of choking dust, and blows away.

I step over, and pick up the sacred amulet. There is also a silver bell lying on the floor. I decide to grab it as well.

As I touch the Eye of the Aethiopica, it’s comforting power infuses me with new energy. I feel as if I can detect others’ thoughts flowing through it. Although I yearn to wear the Eye of the Aethiopica and attack the Wizard of Yendor, I know I must return it to it’s rightful owner, Neferet the Green.

I run up the stairs, thankful that I didn’t open a door to the room that now houses a dragon and disenchanter.

I make it back to Neferet without any issues. I approach him, and humbly kneel in front of him.

Neferet the Green notices the Eye of Aethiopica in my possession, beams at me and says:

“I knew you could defeat the Dark One and retrieve the Eye of the Aethiopica. We shall never forget this brave service. Take it with you in your quest for the Amulet of Yendor. I can sense that it has attuned itself to you already. May Anhur guide you in your quest, and keep you from harm.”

When she has finished speaking, she gets up from her throne. She is already looking much stronger than before I went down for the amulet. I take it as an invitation, and sit in the throne. I feel out of place, and it vanishes in a puff of logic. I shrug, and leave, hoping the Neferet doesn’t notice that her throne is missing until after I’ve left.

I make it to the portal, and step through. Neferet didn’t mention it, but I’m sure he hid some ofther magic in this powerful amulet. I invoke it, and it asks which dungeon I want to open a portal to. I’m starting to forget a number of spells, so I decide to head to sokoban for a refresher.

I’m surrounded by a shimmering sphere, and once the glow fades I find myself at the top of sokoban. I quickly make my way down to the first floor. I go through the books, memorizing the spells that I’m starting to forget. I take a quick look through my knapsack, and bag of holding, and drop off a bunch of things that I probably won’t need any time soon.

I decide to try and polymorph my spare spellbooks, and see what I can get. Better than wasting my magic marker. I also toss my rings in a pile, useless potions, and a bunch of scrolls that I already have spells for.

I take a step back, and pull out my wand of polymorph. I decide to play it safe, and bless it with a potion of holy water first. Next, I point it at the pile, and zap.

I feel shuddering vibrations. It worked. It looks like things have changed, and I walk over to see if any of it was for the better. The only thing that was beneficial were the rings. At least, I hope it was. I don’t recognize any of them. The books, scrolls and potions are still just as useless as the ones I dropped in the first place.

I greedily identify them, along with the rest of my pack. There are a few helpful pieces that I put into my bag of holding. Stealth, and conflict. The strange silver bell I found with the Dark One is known as the Bell of Opening. I try to put it in my bag of holding, but it can’t be confined. I’m going to have to ask Spoiler what it’s for.

I decide to try polymorph one last time. I don’t want to drain my wand for nothing but junk. I get a scroll of enchant armour and weapon, and some helpful potions like healing, and gain energy. I decide it’s time to change into the gloves of dexterity I found. I strip down, until I’m only wearing the gloves, then read the scroll to enchant armour. They glow silver for awhile, and I’m satisfied. I get dressed again, and leave my old leather gloves behind.

I grab the spellbook, I don’t know what happened to the other one. I didn’t know things could get lost while polymorphing. That magic suddenly makes me nervous. Can I just vanish like that? I’m left questioning while go down the stairs.

I had thought about invoking the amulet, to try and make it back to where I had been, but thought I could use another trip to the altar. Along the way I blank out the spellbook I’m carrying, but decide to wait before trying to write a new one.

I encounter a group of rothes. They are easy to kill, and I sacrifice the lot of them. One of them had a bag of holding, with an obsidian stone inside. I wonder if I can put my other bag of holding into this one, and make it even lighter, but something tells me that would be tempting fate. I don’t know what to do with it, but keep it anyway. I never know what might end up being useful down the road.

I continue hunting, and sacrificing, until I feel like it’s safe. I make sure I’m well fed, and nothing cursed in my bag. Finally, I kneel at the altar and pray. I feel that Anhur is displeased. Well, that didn’t go so well. I decide it’s time to move on.

I invoke the amulet, and head to the scary place. I discover it’s known as Fort Ludios. I immediately jump through the portal, and make my way downstairs.

When I get to the floor where Neferet’s portal is, I stop at the stairs and settle down for a nice peaceful nap.