I wake up feeling odd. I’m a bit curious, nervous, excited, and scared. I didn’t even feel this mix of emotions before entering the dungeon in the first place. I don’t know what this mysterious Sokoban has in store for me, but I’m going to find out.
I decide to leave my pets downstairs, along with some of my heavier items. I cautiously climb up the stairs. I immediately get a feel for the whole layout of the level. I know where the pits are, and the boulders without having to walk around and see for myself. This will definitely help.
I sit down in the dust, and start scratching away. It doesn’t take me long to work out how I can finish the level. With determination, I set out.
I start moving boulders, and quickly find some interesting items. A strange granite ring, some food including an unlabeled tin. The only monster I see is a kobold lord, which I quickly kill with Sting.
I finish off one leg of the puzzle, two left to go. I thought Spoiler had said one tunnel, this one is three, in a rough C shape.
While moving a boulder I am stopped by an unknown monster behind it. Remembering the advice I was given, I throw weapons at it. First my daggers, then darts. Finally I stop hearing my missiles hit, and I push the boulder forward.
A goddamn nymph is standing there. I immediately back away, getting ready to pelt her with more darts. She doesn’t come after me, instead she reads a scroll. It creates a new monster. A plains centaur. It looks exactly like the statues I saw at Delphi, and it wants to kill me. I know I can’t outrun it, but I try to back out of the tunnel anyway, so I can safely blast it with magic without hurting the boulder. I try to get a few hits in as I go.
It runs after me, hitting me with his strong arms, and biting me. Really? He has four hooves he could be using to kick me, and he’s using his human teeth? Fuck, I shouldn’t have thought about that, he just kicked me in the gut.
I double over, and manage to step around the corner. I can finally use my magic. I let him have it, and manage to kill him. I step over to his body and see what the spoils of battle are. He had a crossbow and bolts, and a key. I grab the key, and think about having a meal. After the nymph, I tell myself.
I walk forward, and the nymph appears. She manages to charm me, and before I realize what I’m doing I’ve taken off all my armour. She goes to town stealing stuff from me, she could open her own store with all the junk she just took. I laugh as I see a puzzled expression cross her face. She can’t teleport. With a sneer I lunge at her, wildly swinging Sting.
Score. She falls to the ground. I walk over and pick up all my stuff again. I see a mirror I don’t recognize. It clicks, that’s why I don’t want to blast a nymph with magic, it might shatter the mirror. I didn’t think luck was real, but it sounds like it’s a big thing down here, so I had better respect it.
I go to the centaur corpse and dig in. Once I’ve had my fill I go back to pushing boulders around. I see a spotted jelly, and blast it with magic. It resists the spell, so I throw a dart at it. The dart hits, and immediately corrodes. How the hell do I kill it? I go back to blasting it with magic. It might resist the spell, but I still manage to kill the bugger. I hear a jackal howling at the moon, but don’t pay any attention to it.
I continue my pushing and a jackal steps beside me. It is a bit larger than I’m used to, and it’s face has a vague human look to it. I kill it without much trouble, and walk over to the corpse. I’m surprised to see that the dead body it left behind is human. A very hairy human, but still human. I guess that explains the howling. I’ve never heard a jackal howl before. I don’t risk eating it, who knows what I would turn into. I go back to my strenuous task.
I manage to finish the area, fighting off another barrow wight, and gaining a lembas wafer for the effort. Finally some of my food. I’m itching to taste it, memories of my time before coming here, but I decide to open up the tin first and see what’s inside. I use Sting to open it, and I’m greeted by the smell of mountain centaurs. I shrug, and slurp up the contents. I’m surprised, it doesn’t taste terrible. Maybe not my favorite meal, but much better than the half cooked messes I manage to make on my own.
I still don’t feel full, but I’m not hungry, so I decide to hold off on more food for the moment. I hold Sting tight, and go up the stairs.
When I arrive I can see the layout again. I immediately cast detect monster. I don’t sense anything, but I feel threatened. I don’t know what to make of this, so I drop down to the dirt again and begin sketching.
This one is much harder, and I have to rub out what I’ve written more than once, a few times I’m forced to start all over again. This might take awhile.
I finally have a plan I’m happy with. I had to do it on the ground a second time to make sure I remembered it all, and in the right order. I remember the threatening feeling I had, and the habit monsters have of showing up in thin air. I decide to make some quick notes off to the side, so that I can come back and look at it if I end up in a fight and lose my train of thought.
I start the long job ahead of me. A few boulders plop into pits without anything interesting happening. I find a fortune cookie, and a beautiful engagement ring. I finally see some monsters. A small group of rats. I kill two of them, and see that one was carrying a scroll. I step up to it, and the third rat takes off in terror. I’m a bit confused by his behaviour, but pick the scroll up anyway. It turns to dust in my fingers. I remember a story I heard when I was young. There is a scroll that inspires fear in most living creatures, they run from it when they see it. Reading the scroll destroys it, and the Gods themselves will laugh at you for wasting such a precious resource.
I’m a bit upset at losing such a valuable asset, but it wouldn’t have done me much good on the floor here anyway. I chase down the last rat and take care of it. I eat the body it leaves behind. It turns out to be bad, and I go blind. I hope it’s not permanent. Being blind does have an advantage though. I can see monsters. There’s a baby crocodile behind the door. What? A bloody baby crocodile. I’m tempted to go back down right now, but I’m this far, and surely I can outrun a baby, right?
I continue my chore, and see another nymph in the distance. With an evil laugh I stride over to it. This one has a light blue tint to her skin that almost ripples in the light. Must be a water nymph, I think. I start attacking her with Sting. She manages to steal a few things from my pack, but when she realizes she can’t teleport she tries to run instead. I give chase, and she ends up in a dead end. With no other options, she tries acting friendly. I’m not falling for her bullshit. She grabs Sting right out of my hands. The bitch. I grab another dagger from my pack and continue my assault. I’m getting really good at using a dagger. Finally she falls to the floor. This time, there is a corpse left behind. I’m feeling a little hungry, so I dig in.
Blecch! Rotten food! The world spins and goes dark. When I regain consciousness I finish my meal, assuming that the worst of it is now over. I finish my meal, then go back to work, remembering to keep Sting out as my main weapon.
In the middle of pushing boulders around I see a tengu. It’s a tiny little demon, part bird and part man. I start hitting it with Sting, like any other monster. It pulls out a wand and zaps it. I don’t see anything happen, so I continue hitting it. It zaps the wand again, and I see a swarm of dust rise up behind it, when it settles down again, a monkey is standing there. What the fuck? A wand that creates, or summons monsters, and this little fucker is zapping it like there’s no tomorrow. I immediately switch tactics and blast it with magic. The spell hits it, and the monkey standing behind it. After a few more attempts, and a few extra monsters for me to take out, the tengu and monkey are dead. I use Sting to slay a warejackal, and a few other easy monsters. A wraith drifts by, and I start blasting it. It manages to get close enough to touch me. I lose experience five times before I manage to kill it. I get a bit back by killing it, then a bit more when I eat it’s corpse. I’m still a lot weaker than I was before meeting it. I let loose a string of swear words. Feeling better, I turn back to my task.
I’m finally finished. I made it to the door. It’s locked, so I try my new key on it, and it unlocks easily. I open it, prepared for the worst. I really should have cast detect monster before opening it.
Before I even step into the doorway I see a swarm of killer bees, and a rope golem on the other side of the door. I sigh, and I’m about to start blasting away when I get an idea. I walk back through the straight hall. I’ll line up as many of the suckers as possible, and get the most out of my spells.
My brilliant idea doesn’t work. The rope golem is hot on my heels, but everything else stays inside the room. In a last ditch effort, I blow my whistle with all my might. They still ignore me, and I’m forced to focus on the golem for now. I start hacking and slashing at it with Sting before I give up and finish it off with magic.
I manage to kill several of the bees with Sting, a human mummy takes a bit more work so I switch to magic to take care of it along with the baby croc. Some sewer rats pose no problem, and I finally enter the room properly. There’s a blue jelly and grey ooze. I don’t know what they will do, so I blast both of them to oblivion. The only creature left in the room is a friendly woodland elf. I go around collecting loot. Another engagement ring, and a fancy looking spiked wand.
I decide that it's the perfect time for a nap. I'll continue making my way upstairs tomorrow.
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