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.
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