I wake up nestled between Aurora and Sec. An odd pair to be sure, but it’s comforting. We travel upstairs, heading to the mines.
As we pass the area with a kitchen sink, I remember what Spoiler said. I give him a quick call, and he tells me to drop a ring into the sink. He warns me that I’ll probably lose the ring. I take a look at what I have, and there are two engagement rings. A perfect candidate.
I drop one of them down the drain. The sink glows silver for a moment. I ask Spoiler what it means, and he tells me it’s a ring of protection. I put the other, blessed ring on, and it feels like I’m wearing an extra coat of armour. I kind of wish I hadn't thrown the other one away, but it was the safest course of action.
We continue moving upwards, level by level. When we get to my stack of spellbooks, I pick them up and put them in the bag of holding. I’m starting to forget them, and I’ll need to memorize them again once they grow fuzzy. The last thing I want is to forget my basic spells in the middle of battle.
It proves to be too much for me. I shrug off the extra weight. I have everything I need, I can’t leave anything behind.
Before long, we arrive at the mines. It’s a flurry of teeth, iron, and blood. Aurora and Sec hold their own against the tides of creatures that congest upon us when we emerge. I swing Magicbane around, slicing and cancelling gnomes. I cast the odd spell, when I realize I can hit more than one enemy with a single blast. Before long, the dungeon is silent.
I walk around, collecting anything that looks helpful. A candle here, a scroll there, and a lot of various gems. I find another magic marker, and a pick axe. While looking around, I trigger a lot of traps. I get caught in two bear traps, a few dart traps, and I’m hit by water twice. I was lucky, and my helmet didn’t rust.
It doesn’t take long for us to move down to the next floor. It’s completely dark, and I realize I’m weak from hunger. I decide to pray to Anhur rather than eat my limited food supply. I need to remind him that I’m still here every now and then. I feel that he is pleased, and my stomach is content.
I pull one of the lamps I’ve found from my bag, and light it. There isn’t much around this area that gives us trouble either. A jaguar makes me pause, but Magicbane makes quick work of it. I gather up a few more supplies, and stuff them into my bulging bag of holding. Down we go again.
I find an iron grate on the wall, and I can see a rough road on the other side. It looks like a small town or something. I can see a lot of orcs walking around the town, but I don’t hear the sound of human voices.
I had heard of this town, it is supposed to be a bustling center of trade for the mines. They had guards, and even a temple. It looks like it has been taken over by orcs. I see some hill orcs, a lot of uruk-hais, and I think a shaman. I circle the town, and don’t see any doors. It appears that the iron grates were put up where doors used to be.
Finally I decide my only way in is to teleport. I pick a spot roughly in the middle, and close my eyes.
When I open them, I’m in an empty temple. There is no sign of the priest. I step behind the altar, and prepare for battle. A stream of orcs storms the temple, and I kill most of them with Magicbane, using magic only when there’s a line of uruk-hais.
Once the room is empty, I step up to the altar and begin sacrificing the heap of corpses lying there. The altar is unaligned, but after it’s soaked in the blood of the first orc it glows black. I continue, and glimpse a four leafed clover a few times.
More orcs have entered the temple now, so I back away again, and wait for them to step on the altar before I slay them. I pick up the corpse of an orc that didn’t have the good sense to die at the altar, and struggle under the weight. I make my way over to the altar. A shaman walks in, and I quickly sacrifice the body.
I hear Anhur’s voice boom through the room again, telling me to use his gift wisely, and an object appears by my feet. I pick through the pile of weapons and armour left by the dead orcs and spy a beautiful silver saber, with the name Werebane burned into the blade. I reverently pick it up.
I step back, and kill the shaman as another group of orcs wanders in. I kill them all, and sacrifice what I can. By the time I have finished, there are four leafed clovers appearing. I take a quick look around, and drop a bunch of my stuff onto the altar, to check what’s blessed or cursed.
I fill up my bag of holding with the items I won’t immediately need, then proceed to explore the ghost town. Out of nowhere, I feel sad. I know, somehow, that one of my pets has died. I feel an intense anger. And a bit of guilt. Here I am, doing my own thing, and I wasn’t out there to protect them. I will find out what killed them, and make it pay.
I find a few candles throughout the empty shops, and another lamp. I rub the lamp, but nothing happens. I find a lot of wands of striking, and magic missile, but when I try them, each and every one has been used up.
There are a pair of fountains in the middle of the town, and I decide that I’m strong enough to risk it now. I approach the first one, and drink deeply. It slows to a trickle, but there is enough water left for me to dip into. I manage to turn a number of potions into water before it dries up.
I move on to the other fountain, and start by drinking from it. I sense the presence of other monsters. Wipe out a few scrolls, like teleportation and punishment, as well as the book of wizard lock. I have a key and lock pick, I don’t need a spell to lock doors.
I move to the altar, and drop all my water. I pray to Anhur, and the potions glow blue. I now have a supply of holy water. The first thing I do is dip my bag of holding into one of them. It glows for a moment, but I’m still burdened by the weight. I thought that would have helped.
Next I dip one of my magic markers into the holy water. It glows, and I sit down and try to think of what to write. I need some way to identify all the shit in my bag. I decide to try for a spellbook instead of a scroll, I’ll get a lot more use out of it.
I begin to write, but have no idea what it is I’m writing exactly. I keep the idea of a spellbook of identify firmly in my mind though, and the book warps strangely, then turns silver. I immediately begin reading, and soon have the spell identify memorized.
I realize that I’m going to need some time, and space for this, so I move to an empty shop and lock the door behind me.
I drop all my possessions on the ground, and take out most of the stuff from my bag. I sit there, and start the long job of identifying them all.
I can get rid of some of them. A cursed amulet of strangulation, low boots are left behind in favour of the jumping boots I already have on. A ring of hunger goes on the pile. I discover that a lot of my gems are nothing more than worthless pieces of glass, and some of my wands are out of charges.
I make some interesting discoveries as well. I have a scroll of genocide, and a wand of death. I go back to the fountain to turn some more useless potions and scrolls into something useful.
Once that’s done, and I still haven’t seen any negative effects from the fountains, I decide to read my scroll of genocide. I dip it into holy water first, then read it. I hear a voice in the air ask me what class of monster I wish to genocide. I try to think of the worst monster I’ve ever heard of. I have heard rumours of an undead creature that can curse, destroy armour, and teleport. The dreaded Lich. I don’t know how to make my wish known, so I say “Lich” out loud, in a low voice.
The voice returns. “Wiped out all liches. Wiped out all demiliches. Wiped out all master liches. Wiped out all arch-liches.”
Nice. I didn’t even know about some of those. I knew about liches, and I had heard that some of them had evolved, but I had no idea there were so many types.
I’m ready to move on to the next area I think. I decide to eat a ration from my bag, and suddenly I’m not burdened by the weight anymore. Things are finally starting to go well. Except for my poor pet. I cast my spell of detect monster, and I don’t see either of them. I also can’t see anything strong enough to have killed them. I’m full of rage, and nothing to take it out on.
I sense that my memory of the spell of force bolt is fading, so I take a quick refresher before I’m ready to move on. I take another quick peek at possible monsters before I decide to head downstairs. First, I think I should have a nap though. I need to be refreshed, and clear my head. The weight of all my sins is starting to weigh heavily on my mind, especially the loss of those poor animals who thought of me as their friend.
It takes awhile, but I’m finally ready to go to sleep.
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