Looking for the Dark One on my Twentieth Day

I wake up with a sense of dread. I don’t want to do this, but I know I have to. I step in front of Neferet.

“You will know when the Eye of the Aethiopica is near,” he tells me. “Proceed with care!”

I’m a bit confused. Where do I go from here? I cast mapping, and see a set of stairs I didn’t know about. I go into the small room off to the side of the chamber, and search the wall. I find a door, which is surprisingly unlocked, and head down the stairs.

A tengu is standing at the bottom of the stairs. I start attacking it when another one shows up, the a third. Fucking teleporters. They’re not hard to kill, and I take two of them out, while the last one runs upstairs. I leave him alone, and move on to the next room.

I open a booby trapped door, and not only does it make me blind and confused, it lets every damn vampire bat and raven in the area know where I am. I’m getting sick of those things. I don’t do any damage to them while confused, so I use my unicorn horn until I’m think straight. Once my head clears, I go after them with ambition.

Once the area is cleared, I move on. I find an amulet of ESP, a ring of free action, and a book of extra healing. I make sure the coast is clear before I dive into the book. A lot more helpful than the healing spell I learned earlier.

I come across an angel. It looks just like me. I see the wicked long sword it’s holding, and decide to blast it before it can get close. My stream of magic missiles bounce off it’s shield, and come back at me. That was unexpected. I try changing tactics, and talk to it. It imitates me mockingly, then swings it’s sword at my head. I duck, but still get hit by it. It keeps up it’s relentless attack, and out of desperation I cast cone of cold. It’s too close for me to aim directly at it, I don’t want to get hit too, so I aim behind it where a vampire bat is waiting.

The bat is killed by the explosions, but the angel doesn’t seem fazed. I try again, but my mind fails to lock onto the location. I guess I have to aim it directly at a monster. The angel has me on my knees, close to death. I dig through my bag for a potion of full healing. I quaff it without thinking, and I’m completely healed. The angel continues it’s attack, and I have no choice but to swing Magicbane at it. Any spell I try will just bounce off. It pulls out a scroll of create monster and reads it. What luck. A vampire bat appears behind it, and I set off another series of cold explosions. Again, the bat dies, but the angel lives on. What will it take to kill this fucker?

I don’t let up, and after a few more hits it goes down, the body slowly fading from sight. I snatch up the shield of reflection. I proceed to clear the level of monsters, and cast mapping to make sure I haven’t missed anything.

Once I’m sure that it’s safe, I try on the shield. It’s nice and solid, but my mind immediately rebels at the presence of so much metal. I don’t think I can safely cast any of my spells while wearing this thing. It’s still useful though, at least for now, so I stash it in my bag of holding, then head downstairs.

I believe that I may invade the Tower of Darkness. I can sense that the Dark One is close. The level is covered in mist, like my tower, so it is difficult to see.

Another round of vampire bats. There are also some regular bats, and a fair number of minor demons. I try to move, but a wall of darkness stops me. I look around, and see a small path, obscured by fog. On the other side I see a large building surrounded by a moat. There are a few narrow paths through the water, and I head for the closest one. A wraith gets in my way, so I kill it, and feast on the corpse. More experience for me.

I see a book behind the building, so I head there first. It’s another book of extra healing. I grab it, knowing that it’s true value is the ability to become any book I want. I see a xorn on the other side of the moat. It can’t cross the water, and I laugh loudly at it. I shouldn’t have laughed, I end up falling into the moat, and have to teleport away. Water gets into my bag of holding, and I freak out. I look through it to assess the damage. Some of my rings and wands have rusted, but my scrolls and books all look undamaged. Thank Anhur. That could have been a disaster.

I can’t find an entrance to the building. I cast mapping to see if it helps. It doesn’t. There’s a ring of halls, with the stairs in the middle, but I can’t see any logical place for a door. I teleport into the outer ring, and go looking. I find a few nice things, a spellbook of detect monster, and a new wand. I identify it as a wand of polymorph. Sweet. I think I have a ring in my bag, yes, polymorph control. I didn’t think I would ever use it.

I’m about to polymorph myself into a xorn, and eat my collection of rings when I take a good look at them. Most of the really helpful ones I wouldn’t be able to eat, and even if I could, I don’t think it guarantees that I’ll get the positive effect from it. It’s something I keep in mind though, having permanent slow digestion, or regeneration would be great. With a sigh, I put everything back in my bag of holding, and start looking for a door, or another random teleport that will move me further inside the building.

I find a wand of digging that I had forgot about, and wonder if it will work on these walls. I had assumed that the black stone would resist digging so I hadn’t even tried my pickaxe. My head swells with joy as a hole opens up in front of me. I make it to the middle area, where a wand of cold is waiting for me.

I try to zap a hole in the wall by the stairs. The stone glows, then fades. Figures. I look around, to no avail so I head around to the other side and search there. I find a door, and try to prepare myself for what waits for me below. I decide it’s a good time for another quick nap. I don’t know what’s down there, and if it’s the Dark One already, I want to be well rested.

Returning to Neferet the Green on my nineteenth day. All is not well

I woke up to a dull buzzing, humming noise. I didn’t notice it yesterday, but it seems to be coming from the portal. I boldly step forward.

I’m suddenly in familiar surroundings. I notice what appears to be a large, squat stone structure nearby. Wait! That looks like the tower of my former teacher, Neferet the Green.

However, things are not the same as when I was last here. Mists and areas of unexplained darkness surround the tower. There is movement in the shadows.

My teacher would never allow such unaesthetic forms to surround the tower… unless something is dreadfully wrong!

I take a moment to get my bearings. The friendly warhorse decided to join me, and I decide it’s time to give her a name. I settle on Satine.

I take a step forward, and see a score of bats between me and the tower. I can see the legs of a few creatures beneath all the beating wings as well. Why did I think this would be easy?

I’m assaulted by a raven, and vampire bat. They take turns swooping in, and biting me. I don’t have any exposed skin, but their teeth sink through the leather armour, into my flesh. The raven looks at me, and my eyes meet his. Our gaze is locked for a moment, then the world around me fades into darkness. I’m blind. I can still see the creatures, in my mind.

A wraith glides over, and I ignore the bats for now, striking out at the ghostly shape. I fire off a stream of magic at the wraith, and after two spells it is gone. The bats are still swarming around me, and I notice that Satine has killed some of them already. Good horse.

I focus on the vampire bat first, and it falls with a single thrust of my weapon. Next is the raven. I wound it, and Satine finishes it off for me. A few giant bats are still flying around, and I quickly take care of them before I turn to the single hill orc, and it’s pathetic attempts at hurting me. I quickly take care of it, and my eyes start working again. I step over to where the wraith had been, and I’m in luck, there’s a corpse. I gobble it down, and feel more experienced. I feel sensitive, and more confident in my skills. I can sense monsters nearby, and a rough idea of how powerful they are. The feeling is a little disconcerting.

The break is short lived, and another wave of bats overtake me. I see a raven among the group and kill it first, but another raven had escaped my notice, and blinds me before I can get to it. The rest of this group are easy to take out. I notice some giant eels in a pool of water nearby, and figure that I should kill them, in case they become a problem later. I don’t trust them, and kill them from a distance with magic.

Exploring this area is difficult because of the fog. I can’t see very far, and I don’t trust running, so I slowly make my way around the tower. I walk behind it, looking for anything interesting. I don’t find any items, but I do see an interesting monster.

It’s a strange looking three legged beast, with three massive arms. Each arm ends in a claw. Instead of a neck and head, there is a gaping mouth with huge teeth. A single eye sits beneath the mouth. It’s skin is leathery, read in colour, with small bulges and boils. It’s a creature known as a xorn, and there is nothing they won’t eat.

I start stabbing at it, aiming for the eye, but I miss and hit the tough body instead. After a few more tries, I give up any attempt at aiming. It’s bleeding heavily, and hasn’t managed to hurt me very much. I have a sore left arm, but nothing that will hamper my abilities. I’m confident that I will beat this abomination when it surprises me. It pulls out a scroll and reads it. It’s a scroll of create monster, and suddenly there are more than a dozen vampire bats around me. I see another xorn in the distance, and decide it’s time for a strategic retreat. I teleport to a safer area, near the portal, and wait for them to come to me. Before I vanish, I see the xorn jump on Satine, and bring her down. Why can’t I ever protect the animals that mean so much to me? Am I doomed to bring death to all those that I love?

It doesn’t take long for a swarm of vampire bats to congest on me, and one of the xorns is close behind. I let out a few blasts of magic missiles at the xorn. Some of the bats fall, and I take out the rest with Magicbane.

I see the other xorn approaching, and decide it’s time to test my new spell. I zap it with cone of cold. A ball of cold explodes on it, another ball explodes beside it. More follow, and the xorn is caught in each and every one of them. Somehow, it survives, and is still coming at me. There’s also a monster I can’t see, but I see it as a red number two. Not weak, but nothing I have to run away from. The xorn disappears from view, and it’s replaced by the number two in my mind. I wonder if both of them are xorns. I fire off a blast of missiles, then turn back to the vampire bats.

I’m about to die, so I run through the portal to safety. Or what I thought was safety. Another vampire bat, and a barrow wight are waiting for me. I don’t even have the energy to blast them with magic. I ready my daggers, and start flinging them like my life depends on it. Which it does. The daggers do their job surprisingly well, killing both creatures easily.

I run around for a bit, until I feel back to full health. I decide to stick around for awhile, until I have some more energy gathered up for spells. I’m running up and down the hall, killing whatever gets in my way, when I’m approached by a nurse.

“What are you doing here?” I ask her.

“Relax,” she says. “This won’t hurt a bit.” She then hits me. It does hurt.

Something tells me that she’s a nurse, for her to do her job, I need to strip down. She hits me while I’m taking my armour off, it still hurts. She hits me as I take off my helmet, gloves, and boots. Each time it hurts. Finally I’m standing in front of her completely nude, and she’s still hitting me. I put down Magicbane, and start to yell at her. I mean, what does she think she’s doing. She ignores my verbal assault and hits me again. This time I feel better afterward. She’s actually healing me now. I’m quickly back to perfect health, but she’s still hitting me. After one strike, I actually feel a little healthier. She’s making me stronger. Wow, the nurse of my dreams.

She eventually vanishes. I knew it was too good to last. I put my armour back on, and grab my trusty Magicbane. Once I’m fully dressed again, a trio of fire giants have magically appeared. I have some trouble killing them, and I don’t want to use magic if I can help it, I’m still trying to save up my energy. I have to retreat after killing two of them, to heal before I go back for the third one.

Close by, I see a number three. I get a bit worried. Those xorns were not easy to deal with, and they are only a two. I try to run, but whatever it is, it’s fast. I come around a corner, and a large beast runs at me. It looks like a rhino, with sharp horns, but it has claws. I recognize it as a titanothere. I don’t know if I can kill it, so I look through my bag of holding for help. I see my wand of death, and my fingers brush against it, about to pick it up, when I see a scroll I had forgot about. A scroll of taming. I wonder if this will work, and pull it out.

I read it, and the neighborhood is friendlier. The monster stops it’s attack, and becomes my newest pet. I really hope it’s strong enough to look after itself, especially compared to all my previous ones.

When I’m finally ready to move on I look for my newest companion. I don’t see it anywhere, so I use some of my carefully hoarded energy, and cast detect monster. I don’t see it anywhere on the level, so I step through the portal, alone.

The vampire bats waiting for me pose no problem. There’s one monster I don’t remember being there before. A gelatinous cube. I hit it with magic, and eat the corpse. It gives me a bad case of stomach acid, but when I finish I feel full of hot air. I continue on to the tower.

I go around the other side, and see a blue jelly. Magic easily destroys it. I eat the blob it leaves behind. There are also a pair of boots. I pick them up, and identify them as fumble boots. I drop them right away.

Now that I’ve walked around the tower, and have made sure there isn’t any other surprises, I realize I don’t see a door anywhere. I remember where the door used to be though, from my previous visits, when things were normal. I immediately see through the spell that had hidden the door, and try to open it. Locked. Of course. I use my key to unlock it, then carefully pull it open.

There’s another locked door immediately behind it. I get that one open too, and step into the tower.  An invisible apprentice is waiting for me.

“Hello,” I venture.

“Ah,” He says. “The spell to create the magic portal worked. Outstanding!”

“Um,” I respond. “Yes. It did. What happened?”

“The spells of the Dark One were just too powerful for us to withstand.” He replies.

“What can I do to help?” I ask, worried.

“Would you happen to have some eye of newt in that overstuffed pack, sister?” He asks, with a greedy look at my backpack.

I don’t bother responding, and push past him. The double doors leading to the audience chamber are locked. I open the one on the left, and enter the room. A bunch of apprentices are wildly running around, and Neferet is sitting on a throne, a concerned look on his face. I walk towards him.

“Come closer, wizard, for my voice falters in my old age,” He says to me. “Yes, I see that you have come a long way since you went out into the world, leaving the safe confines of this tower. However, I must first determine if you have all of the skills required to take on the task I require of you.”

He pauses for a moment, and carefully looks me up and down, then continues with a lengthy speech.

“Yes, wizard, you truly are ready for this dire task. Listen, carefully, for what I tell you now will be of vital importance.”

“Since you left us to hone your skills in the world, we unexpectedly came under attack by the forces of the Dark One. As you know, we thought the Dark One had perished at the end of the last age, but, alas, this was not the case.”

“The Dark One sent an army of abominations against us. Among them was a minion, mindless and ensorcelled, and thus, in the confusion, it was able to penetrate our defenses. Alas, this creature has stolen the Eye of the Aethiopica and I fear has delivered it to the Dark One.”

“Over the years, I had woven most of my power into this amulet, and thus, without it, I have but a shadow of my former power, and I fear that I shall soon perish.”

“You must travel to the Tower of Darkness, and within it’s dungeons, find and overcome the Dark One, and return the Eye of the Aethiopica to me.”

“Go now, with Anhur, and complete this quest before it is too late.”

“I will have my apprentices watch for your return.”

I stood there, shocked, and felt fear building deep within me as he told his story. Why did he think I could stop the Dark One? I don’t want to let him down, but I also don’t know if I’m ready for this.

“To enter the tower you will have to pass through many traps,” He adds. “The Dark One may be vulnerable to physical attacks.”

I quickly unlock the chest, and peek inside, hoping that there will be some magic artifact to help me on my way. It is filled with worthless glass. Before I leave, on this most dangerous mission, I need to take a nap. There’s no way I’m going down into the unknown, facing the worst enemy wizards have ever known, and bringing back one of the most powerful items in the world until I’ve had a proper rest. So yeah, I’m getting some sleep.

Finding a throne room on my eighteenth day

A new day, full of opportunities. I’m really excited by the possibilities. I don’t know why I’m in such a good mood, but I’m not going to waste it. I bound down the stairs in joy, falling on my ass and sliding down to the bottom.

I get up and rub my behind. It’s a little sore, but I’m fine otherwise. I sense Neferet the Greed pleading for help.

Right away I cast detect monster. I don’t think I see this Neferet person, but there’s a room filled to the brim with monsters, and a garrison of hill orcs hanging out in another area. The large room has four trolls, a bunch of centaurs, and an assortment of gnomes and orcs.

My optimism takes a hit. I know I can’t kill off of them in one go. What do I do? I decide to start with the hill orcs, I know I can handle them.

I manage to take them all out with my skillful swordsmanship. Well, daggership really. Is that a thing? I chow down on the few bodies that are left behind until I’m satiated. At one point I hear the tones of courtly conversation.

I find another spellbook of protection. Another book I can wipe out, and create something new out of. I cast my mapping spell, and see a strange magic portal in one room, and a fountain in another. I head to the fountain, intent on clearing my new book.

I end up teleporting it to the room, and a flood of monsters comes through the door. I take out a centaur that was leading the pack, while backing up to the closed door in the corner. A troll and centaur are hot on my heels. I manage to open the door, but I’m surrounded before I can make it out. I decide to take the chance, and move to the open doorway.

A hobgoblin cuts deep into my stomach with a knife as I make my way out. At least now I’m in a position to take them on one at a time. The centaur is fast, and makes it there first. The troll is caught in a spider web, but a second troll just walked into the room. I take a breath, and get Magicbane ready for a long fight.

I manage to take out a pair of plains centaurs, and a few hobgoblins before the first troll lumbers over. Here it is, the night of the living corpses, take two. The troll starts by drinking a potion of invisibility. It doesn’t help much, I can still see it. I strike out at it, and it responds by swinging a single-edged polearm at me. Basically a knife on a stick. It cuts deep through my armour, giving me another wide open gash on my stomach. I suck back the bile that rises in my throat, and stab at it with Magicbane.

The troll is relentless in it’s attacks, swinging it’s weapon, hitting me with it’s arms, biting my arms. I sag against the wall, and teleport to the stairs heading up. I need to heal before I can continue this battle.

Once I’ve managed to get back to full health, I head back down. A warehouse runs over and starts to attack me. I pull my last carrot out, and toss it over. This is one of those times when I could really use an ally.

I head down a long hallway, and see a trail of creatures heading toward me. I fire off a blast of missiles, and half of them fall. The troll at the front of the line thrusts his polearm, and hits me from a distance. I send another wave of magic towards it, and it too falls. I rush over, and start to devour the corpse in the hopes that I can finish it before it comes back to life. I see a few gnomes coming close, and I hope that I can finish my meal before they reach me. I succeed, that’s one troll down for good. I send off another spell towards the line of enemies, and smile as half of them drop.

I move closer to the group, and when I cast my next spell, three more die from the magic. I’m starting to get confident, maybe too much. I feel a wave of psychic energy, and part of me shrivels in fear. I’m in the presence of a creature from my nightmares. I look around wildly, trying to see where it’s hiding. I don’t see it, so I cast detect monster. It’s not very close, but having it anywhere near me is too close.

It’s a mind flayer. This creature has the general shape of a human, covered with purple scales rather than skin. Tentacles sprout from around its mouth, and it has three long fingers on each hand. They are telepathic, and love to devour intelligent beings.If they hit me with a tentacle,

the mind flayer will slowly drain all my intelligence. I will become stupid, forget spells, maps, and even the items I’ve already identified will look foreign.

I check my bag of holding. I only have one blank scroll with me. What was I thinking? It’s still enough for my plan, but it will leave me rather at a loss if I need another one later. I pull it out and run for the stairs. I kill a black pudding and troll that try and follow me. I finally make it, and don’t bother waiting for my new friend. He can take care of himself for a few minutes while I take care of business.

I run up, and pull out a magic marker, and try to write a scroll of genocide. It’s too dry to write it, so I grab the other marker. I dip this one into one of my potions of holy water, and try again. This time it works, and I’m left with a blessed scroll of genocide. I read it right away, and chose the class of monster I think mind flayers belong to. I hear a static voice speak beside me.

“Wiped out all hobbits. Wiped out all dwarves. Wiped out all bugbears. Wiped out all dwarf lords. Wiped out all dwarf  kings. Wiped out all mind flayers. Wiped out all master mind flayers.”

Well, that worked better than I thought. The dwarves and hobbits seem a bit of overkill, but I’ll take it. I wonder if I should have picked Trolls instead, but I haven’t had much trouble killing them, just trying to keep them dead.

With a shrug, I head back down.

I come across a hill giant, but magic is the end of him. Another troll lumbers down the hall, and I blast it. It pulls out a wand of digging, and zaps it at the floor. He made a hole beneath him, and falls down. Great. That was the only way to get from one side of the level to the other. Why couldn’t that giant have been carrying a boulder? I remember seeing one somewhere else in the level. I’m about to go and get it when I remember that I have a pickaxe. I dig a hole through the wall so I can sidestep the hole. There’s a pile of weapons on top of the hole, mixed together they form a sort of strange metallic cover. I doubt it would hold me, but I chuckle at the thought of a monster being surprised and falling through.

I quickly cast detect monster to see what’s left for me to deal with. The worst of them are dead, and the only thing that looks like it will give me trouble is a troll. I head to the almost empty room to take out the rest of the creatures.

I step into an opulent throne room. I stand in the doorway stunned by the change. Plush royal purple carpet covers the floor. The walls are covered in intricately carved wood, a deep brown, almost black colour. I don’t recognize the type of wood. The stone ceiling is hidden by a layer of pure white plaster. There are chandeliers hanging down providing light. In the middle of one of the walls, between two doors is a solid gold throne. It has a deep red fabric covering part of the seat, and back. Two tiny carved angels sit at the corners, and the legs are carved demons.

I gently step inside the room, regretting that the carpet will soon be soaked with blood. I start with magic, trying to hit as many creatures as possible with each blast before they get close enough to use my weapon. A few gnomes fall to the ground. I face off against a gnome lord, and Magicbane proves to be too much for him. A gnome king fares no better against my superior skill, unfortunately his crown vanishes with his body. I wonder if he was the ruler responsible for this room. The rest of them quickly fall, and there is only a troll left sleeping in the corner.

I step toward it, then fire off a slew of magic missiles, knowing they will bounce off the wall and hit it twice. It wakes up and comes after me. The bugger comes back to life four times before I manage to eat all of it. By then, a centaur is just itching to fight me, so I indulge it, and quickly win the fight.

Now that the fighting is over, I look over the room again. I notice that the blood has soaked through the carpet, but didn’t stain it. For some reason that makes me happy. I see a chest off to the side, and inside I find an amulet of strangulation, a few useless scrolls, worthless glass, and a new spell book. I grab the book and scrolls.

I head over to the throne, a comfortable seat where I can sit and memorize the new spell. I drop down into the plush seat, and feel somehow out of place. The throne vanishes in a puff of logic. Oh. Well, that happened. I drop to the ground and open the book. It’s a spell of healing. Not the most useful spell I could find, but definitely helpful. I remember the extra book I have, and the fact that I never did make it to the fountain. I head over, full of determination.

I get there, and drink from it. Nothing special happens, so I dunk my extra book of protection into the water. Once the ink washes away, I take out my marker. Now it’s time for a solid attack spell. I’m conflicted, wondering if I should go for fire or ice. I decide on ice, there are too many demons and monsters that are immune to fire.

I start writing, keeping ice in mind as I write. The spellbook warps strangely, then turns copper. I read it with growing excitement. I did it again. The right book on my first try. I’m feeling really lucky. I put the book into my bag of holding, and decide to take a look at the odd portal I found earlier.

I’m about to step into it when I remember what happened in the vault. I should have a nap first. I don’t know what’s waiting for me on the other side, and I should be rested before taking it on.

Lots of excitement during my seventeenth day

I wake up and immediately head up the stairs to sokoban. I take some time sorting through everything I own, and leave large piles of books, food, potions, scrolls and food. It doesn’t help much, I’m still weighed down. With a sigh I head back downstairs.

I see a large dog at the bottom, and against my better judgment I feed him a tripe ration. I decide Fritz is a good name for a dog, even though it hasn’t helped the other poor things I’ve tried to keep with me. It’s still nice having a companion though.

Together we head for the stairs when I teleport away. I aim for the stairs, thinking Fritz will catch up with me.

While I’m waiting for him, a giant wanders by. He’s so tall that his head is scraping the ceiling. He turns his massive head to look at me. He’s almost entirely naked, a skirt of leather hangs around his waist like a kilt. He lets out a deep growl, and throws a fucking boulder at me. I run up and start stabbing his leg with Magicbane. The first strike makes him stagger to his knees. Now I can reach his chest, and I swing with all my might. I land a solid hit, and he collapses to the ground.

I go back into the room, to continue waiting for Fritz. I fight off a few more monsters than wander in the room before I decide to go looking for Fritz. I find him stuck in a corridor behind a lichen. For some reason, he’s not attacking it, so I kill it for him and he bounds over to me. Together we go back to the stairs and head down yet again.

I stop at the fountain here for a quick drink. I feel refreshed, and we move on.

We arrive at the area with the altars, and I decide to take some time here to sacrifice, and pray. I step up to the altar and raise my voice to Anhur. I feel that he is well pleased. His voice booms in through the room.

“Hark, mortal! To enter the castle, thou must play the right tune!”

I don’t quite know what that means, but it’s the voice of God, so it must mean something. I file it away, just in case. I cast the spell for detecting monsters, and don’t see anything promising, so we head downstairs instead. I stop at the fountains, to try them out. I attract a water nymph, who steals my weapon. I search her out, and blast her with missiles. We head down to the next area.

We head down the stairs, and find ourselves in a giant open room. There’s a trench of lava around parts of it. I take a close look at the array of creatures that fill the room. None of them look like too much of a threat. I mean, there’s a nasty looking troll, and a cockatrice, and a large group of mordor orcs, but it’s nothing I can’t handle, especially if I keep close to the stairs for a quick escape.

I grind my teeth, and prepare for battle. I’m quickly surrounded by monsters. I run upstairs, leaving Fritz eating the corpse of a fallen creature. The troll follows me up, and I kill it with a solid blast of magic missiles. I walk off to the corner of the room to heal when the troll rises from the dead. Not as a zombie or anything, he’s alive again. What the fuck?! I kill him with magic again and decide that the only way to keep him down is to eat his remains. I’m partway through when the corpse I’m eating stands up, reanimated and covered in bites.

I don’t know how to deal with this. I kill it again and run from the room. Maybe if I’m not near it, it won’t come back to life. I don’t know if I was right, or just lucky, but when I came back to the room I was just in time to see it rot away to nothing.

Back downstairs I go. I forgot how bad things were, and it’s all I can do to keep the creatures from overwhelming me. I manage to kill a few of them before I’m forced to crawl back upstairs to nurse my wounds.

It takes a few trips up and down the stairs, and a lot of spells before the room is clear. I go through the stuff left behind. I identify a pair of fumble gloves and leave them behind. There’s a basic cloak of displacement, which I put in my bag of holding. I get a few more scrolls and potions. Nothing especially helpful at the moment, so I put them in my bag of holding to deal with later.

I feel lucky to have survived. Things turned ugly pretty fast, and if it wasn’t for those stairs I don’t know if I would have made it. One thing is clear to me, I will need more powerful spells soon.

Together, Fritz and I walk down the stairs. We’re greeted by a barrow wight. It hits Fritz, who looks weaker. Crap. I need him at the top of his game. The wight is no problem for us, and I’m about to open the door to walk out. The door is actually a mimic. I turn to strike at it when I see a large snake come through another door. It’s roughly my height, with wings. It doesn’t slither around on the floor, it’s tail lays on the ground and it uses it’s wings to fly. A goddamn couatl. An angel, well, angelic anyway. And that means it hates chaotic people like me. Why couldn’t I have been a good little elf girl?

I fire off a stream of magic missiles. They hit the creature, bounce off the wall and hit it again. This doesn’t halt it’s progress, and it comes closer. I let loose another barrage, and this time it goes down. I’m just about to celebrate my good fortune, and chuckle at the ease I had in killing it when I see  another one come through the door.

I repeat the process for this one as well, still ignoring the small mimic that’s doing it’s best to try and hurt me. It takes another two spells to kill this one, and I’m about drained. I hope that was the last of them. I decide to use the last of my magic to cast detect monster, and I see a third one coming close. I grab Fritz and run up the stairs. I’ll come back when I have some of my energy back.

While upstairs we’re ambushed by a hoard of hill orcs. We easily dispatch them, and fill our bellies. I run around wildly, wasting time while my energy builds back up. When I’m ready, we head back down to kill the last couatl. I decide to see how it holds up against Magicbane, with the knowledge that I can kill it with magic missiles if I need to.

It comes into the room soon after we arrive, and I strike at it, leaving a large gash in it’s serpentine body. It rubs up against me, and I strike at it again. This will be easy if it doesn’t even hit back. I quickly revise my opinion when it swings itself around me, and starts to squeeze. I fire off a string of missiles and destroy it. I don’t like being crushed.

I find some stairs heading down, and pop down them, for reference sake. When I get down there I receive a faint telepathic message asking for help. I decide to ignore it for now, and head back upstairs.

I continue looking around, and find a spellbook of dig inside a locked box, and further along a book of stone to flesh. I feel a moment of sadness, and silently curse. I mentally say goodbye to Fritz the third.

I hear somebody counting gold, so once I finish exploring I cast my spell for mapping. I find a vault, and try to teleoprt in. Something happens, and I end up in a random place. That’s odd, so I try again, aiming for a different area of the vault. This time it works, and I gather up the gold.

All of a sudden I’m teleported somewhere else. I’m surrounded by hill orcs, and an alarm sounds. I feel like I’ve found my way into a high security area. Where the hell am I?

I cast a spell of detect monster, and immediately wish I was somewhere else. There’s more soldiers than I can count, a room of evil looking monsters including giants and elementals. And wandering around the dark area are a squad of dragons. I am not even close to prepared for this shit. I step back on the magic portal, and find myself back at the vault. The portal is still there, if I want to go back later. I feel like I can breath again. That was crazy.

I teleport over to the stairs, and try to prepare myself to go down again. Maybe a nap would help. Especially since there’s somebody down there who needs my help. I might not have another chance to rest for a long time.

Yes, a nap is just what I need right now.

Leaving the mines on my sixteenth day

I woke up to the sight of a giant ogre. I screamed in fright before I realized it was peaceful. It’s an ogre lord. I try talking to it, but it just grunts in response. I guess I’m not important enough for it to waste time on.

I teleport over to the two unknown grey gems. A bit of searching reveals two doors. I enter the first one and experience a wrenching sensation. I pick up the gem, and identify it as a luck stone. I go into the other room, and feel the same sensation. That stone turns out to be flint. I drop it, and head out. Before heading for the stairs I dip the luck stone in one of my potions of holy water. I’m getting low on those.

I head up, and grab another helmet from one of the piles of junk that litter the level. I don’t waste time, aiming for the stairs up.

An air elemental tries to stop me, but it only manages to piss me off. I get hurt, but nothing that won’t heal. I keep moving toward the stairs when I randomly teleport, I aim for the stairs, and head up them.

This area hasn’t been explored yet, so I resolve to check every nook and cranny. I have more than enough food. I find a cloak of protection, and I debate the virtues of strong armour and the magic protection my current cloak offers. I decide to stick it in my bag for now. Magicbane does help, but I don’t want to be left helpless if another nymph steals it.

I stop to reread some of my books, a lot of my spells are growing faint in my mind.

I come across an energy vortex. It sucks me up, and I feel my magic energy drain away. It doesn’t hurt me much, but by the time I kill it I can’t cast even a basic spell. Of course, that’s when I spy a succubus. I wasn’t sure what would happen when I saw the female version, but my question is quickly answered when she tries to kill me.

She’s the red skinned demon I saw in the incubus before he changed into my dream man, and she swipes at me with sharp claws that dig deep into my arm. I strike back with Magicbane, and cut deep into her. She hits me back, and we trade blows for a few minutes until I emerge victorious.

Nothing else of interest happens, so I make my way upstairs. Another area that I didn’t get the chance to fully map out.

Again, it’s a walk in the park, and I quickly map out the area, and move upwards. I continue on until I’m back in the ghost town. I head back to the temple to see if I can get anything else from Anhur before I continue my journey.

After scouring the area for things to sacrifice, and giving them to Anhur one at a time, I am granted another weapon. A war hammer with the name Ogresmasher engraved onto the head.

I take a good look through my bags. I bless a scroll of enchant armour, and my cloak gets a small boost. I bless my scrolls of enchant weapon, then wield my collection of 30 daggers. I read the first scroll and they get a big boost. The second one doesn’t do as much, and the third one causes them to vibrate unexpectedly. I quiver the bunch, hoping that they will come in handy. I wasn’t expecting to use all three scrolls on them, but it felt like the best use of them.

I move on to potions next. I manage to turn the useless ones into water. One of them remains cursed, and I set it aside, it may come in handy. I head to the altar to bless the rest of them. Once that’s done, I dip a potion of gain ability into holy water, then drink it. It helps with my wisdom and  charisma. Once that’s done, I figure it’s about time to use that blank spellbook I created on the bottom of the mine.

I get out my marker. I think about the spell I want to learn next. There are so many. Magic mapping would be really useful, but I could also use a good attack spell, like fire or ice. I settle on magic mapping. This will save me some scrolls that I can now put to better use.

I do the same thing as last time. I keep the image of what I want in my mind, and start writing in the empty book. The books warps strangely, then turns dark green. I read it right away, and am pleased that I got it right. I now know the spell for magic mapping.

I briefly consider blanking the book so I can write one of the others I want, but I hold back. I can do that later, if I need to. For now, I feel prepared enough to take on whatever I meet.

I decide that I’ve wasted enough time, and head upstairs. I emerge at the top of the stairs and immediately see a rust monster in the distance. I don’t take any chances, and teleport to the stairs going up. I make it back to the main dungeon without any other scares.

I decide that since I have magic mapping now, and detect monster, I can see where that guard is on the first floor.

I make it to the top floor, and cast detect monster. Nothing. I cast magic mapping, and see another small room. I take out my pickaxe and dig my way over to it.

It’s filled with gold. I grab all of it, and quickly hide it in my bag of holding.

I head downstairs, until I reach the level with the potion shop. I try to enter, but Sablja won’t let me in with a pickaxe. I drop it on the ground, and walk in. I don’t know what made me do it, maybe it was the rudeness over my choice of tools, but I decided to rob the place. I gathered up all the potions, and waited to teleport away. I didn’t want to waste magic by willingly teleporting. I didn’t know what would happen, but I thought it would be a good idea if I could cast at least a few spells.

It happens, and I aim for the stairs down. I’ve managed to get away with over four thousand zorkmids worth of merchandise. Out of nowhere, an alarm sounds. A score of Keystone Kops appear. I decide to kill a few of them before heading down. I see Sablja running up the hall. I wonder if he’ll listen to reason. I have enough money to pay him, if that’s what it takes. He gets closer and I see the red in his eyes. No, I won’t be able to talk him down. He pulls out a wand of striking and zaps it at me. It bounces harmlessly off my cloak. I retaliate with a spell of magic missile. He gets right up next to me, and keeps zapping his useless wand at me. He’s not very smart. I keep hitting him with magic missiles, and he soon falls to the ground.

Something comes out of nowhere and hits me in the face, blinding me. I lick my lips. Cream pie. Who the hell throws cream pies? Clowns? Is there a clown after me too? I wipe my face off, and see a kop in the doorway. I kill him, then head to where Sablja had been standing. He left a pile of gold behind, and a potion of healing. I leave the wand on the ground, even if there are some charges left, my spells are stronger than this measly piece of wood.

I go over to where the kop had been, and I find a rubber hose. I have no idea what use he would have for it, and I’m a little too scared to try touching it. I head back to the shop to collect my pickaxe. There’s another small garrison of kops waiting inside. I see that some of them are holding hoses in their hands. Ok. That’s one thing answered. It’s a weapon. I think. One of them hits me with it, and I laugh at the absurdity of the attack, hitting him back with Magicbane. Now that’s a real weapon, I sneer.

I kill off the rest of the kops, some of them have clubs but they are no match for my power. Once they’re gone, I head downstairs.

I remember the sound of counting money, so I cast mapping. I see another vault, and dig my way over to it, putting the money into my bag of holding.

I head further down until I reach Delphi. I decide to try out the fountains. The first one I drink from unleashes a water demon, but a few stabs with Magicbane and it’s sent back to hell, or the ocean, wherever it came from anyway. I look at the oracle, a mad gleam in my eye. I’m halfway through casting a spell before I realize what I’m doing. I send the blast off in a safe direction, and run for the stairs. I can’t believe I was about to kill the oracle. What’s happened to me?

I make it the sokoban, and decide it’s a good place to stash some of my crap. Before I go up the stairs, I see a shrieker. I kill it, and it leaves behind a corpse. I eat it and feel healthy. Finally, I don’t have to be scared of poison.

I decide to have a nap before I head up the stairs.