Game #77

834    Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 7, -6/88 HPs)
       Mangled by Bill's ghost on Level 6 of the Dungeon.

Wow. Wow. Triple Wow. That ghost was extremely strong, as I was dead before I even realized what happened. I popped down to level 6, saw the ghost, went berserk (with full hitpoints) and was dead after five attacks. I've never been hit that hard by a ghost before.

I forgot that ghosts are stuck to their level, as I should have went back to the stairs the moment my hitpoints hit the red. However, I also had the ghost's hitpoints in the red and foolishly continued to attack. Must remember to always escape when I have the chance.

Game #76

5758   Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 10, -4/123 (125) HPs)
       Slain by an orc warrior on Level 10 of the Dungeon.

I was in constant trouble this entire game, and I'm really not certain why. Level 9 was open, with lakes filled with eels, and I spent a bunch of time suddenly realizing I was low on hit points and escaping up a level to rest. Finally, I decided to skip level 9 and move on to level 10, but it did not get any better. I was berserked almost all the time, primarily because I still had not found a decent weapon, and at level 10, you need something more powerful than a +0,+2 mace.

Anyway, I encountered a group of orcs, berserked and was slowly killed by them, even though I had a ton of hitpoints. I guess I should have tried to escape, but I really didn't want to, given how sucky this game had gone to this point.

Game #75

906    Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 7, -4/60 HPs)
       Slain by an ogre on Level 6 of the Dungeon.

This one was all my fault. I was in a crooked hallway and I kept moving and stopping where multiple enemies could attack me. I also did not bother to use any escape or healing options when my hitpoints got low. I know how to play better than this.

Game #74

115    Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 2, -5/25 HPs)
       Slain by a gnoll on Level 3 of the Dungeon.

Stupid game.

I found a sling on level 1 and at the end of the level, I wielded it. It was cursed and I did not have a scroll of remove curse. I could not even kill a rat with it wielded, so I was basically dead if I could not find a scroll. I tried dragging enemies over a dart trap, but it was far too slow a method to kill them. I eventually explored the levels trying to find a scroll of remove curse, but I quickly picked up a large number of monsters following me. whenever I had to turn around, I would take a whole bunch of hits and finally, they managed to defeat me.

Stupid game.

Game #73

110    Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 2, 0/23 HPs)
       Slain by Sigmund on Level 2 of the Dungeon.

Damn Sigmund. I had not encountered him in a long time, so I completely forgot that he could appear at this depth. I only saw him for a single turn before he turned invisible, and as there were three other monsters around, it was easy to miss him as I was moving and attacking. After defeating two of the creatures, I started fighting an invisible creature and it took me far too long to realize who I was fighting - I was already below 10 hitpoints before I clued in.

Unfortunately, I was also hungry, so berserking was out of the question. I drank both my unidentified points, one of which was a potion of heal wounds, which helped, but not enough.

Stupid game.

Game #72

3331   Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 9, 0/75 (77) HPs)
       Killed from afar by an electrical eel on Level 9 of the Dungeon.

I found a potion of mutation early on in this game that gave my character the berserk mutation, which meant that I randomly went berserk while fighting. This made the game extremely frustrating, as I was constantly running out of food and getting into trouble because I was berserking at very bad times. However, I fought through and made it all the way to level 9 of the Dungeon.

Level 9 was a big open area with a multitude of small lakes and each lake had one or two electrical eels. Without proper resistance, such a level is very dangerous, as you can quickly find yourself in range of 3 or 4 eels and take 3-4 lightning bolt hits with every step you take. That is what happened to me. I really should have just skipped the level, as there was no need to clear it out.

Lessons Learned
1. Avoid electrical eels when you do not have the proper resistances.

Game #71

11691  Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 11, 0/100 HPs)
       Slain by a slime creature on Level 12 of the Dungeon.

This game was simply an exercise in frustration and I once I got annoyed, I played poorly. I normally carry everything with me until I find the Lair, and then I quickly pop down to Level 2 and drop everything off. Well, the Lair did not turn up until Level 12 and I kept having inventory problems until I eventually got mad and ran back to the temple to drop off a bunch of stuff for later.

Now, Level 12 was a complete nightmare. It was overpopulated with monsters, including an entire room full of orc warriors and orcs. One of the stupid warriors had a war axe of distortion and I just could not defeat him. I would hit him a few times and then he would teleport me away. Similarly, the level was full of Slime Creatures that worked the same way. Hit them until they flee and then encounter them again, hit them until they flee and then encounter them again and so on and so on and so on. I must have fought the same five creatures 40 times and my finger started hurting from all the attacks I was making.

The entrance to the Lair was surrounded by water that was filled with Jellyfish and Goldfish, both of which work the same way - attack until they retreat, find them again and then attack until they retreat. I was so sick of it, that I was trying to use summoned creatures to clear the water, but the stupid things wouldn't fight the monsters right beside them - instead they kept trying to find a way to the Slime Creatures outside the water. After a bunch of time in the water, my hitpoints were low, my patience was thin and I let a Slime Creature kill me.

Annoying level.

Game #70 Finished

171115 Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 17, -16/225 HPs)
       Killed from afar by a shadow dragon on Level 5 of the Vaults.

Got the Swamp rune and then easily cleared the first four levels of the Snake Pit. Level 5 was a problem, as all three down staircases led to the same spot - an open room surrounded by all the biggest and baddest Nagas in the game. I summoned three helpers and went down, but that was not a resounding success - I defeated a number of the enemies but was hit pretty hard before I could retreat. The second time worked the same way and then the third got me in real trouble. I summoned three helpers and went down. Once I was on level 5, I berserked and started swinging. Unfortunately, there were a lot of tough Nagas and I was quickly super poisoned. I fled back to level 4 and then discovered a problem with my plan. While berserked, I was unable to drink any potions, which meant that I had no way to deal with the poison. My only solution was to fight through all the Nagas that came upstairs with me, run away from them until my berserk wore off and then drink a potion of healing, all before the poison killed me. I did that and somehow it actually worked, though that left me slow, with 30 hitpoints and facing four scary creatures. Luckily a summoning actually worked and a black bear from Trog took out the monsters for me.

With my piety very low, I moved on to the Hive and cleared it out. I then returned to the Snake Pit, summoned help and went down one last time. There weren't many enemies left by this point, and my summoned help quickly defeated them, which was good, as I immediately stepped upon a teleportation trap and was moved away from the battle. I found the room with the rune in it and used summoned trolls to defeat most of the enemies guarding the rune.

With two runes, I took the time to scour the shops for anything that would be useful. Of course, that meant that I ran out of money, so I quickly cleaned out the Orcish Mines.

My next stop was the Vaults. Nothing was too difficult until level 5, where I encountered a group of dragons and some other creatures I had never encountered before. There were two golden dragons, a shadow dragon, a titan and a few other creatures. I had no idea who I should fight first, or what I should do and ended up dying, as all those creatures can cause a LOT of damage in a short period of time.

So, once again, I died as soon as I encountered some creatures I had never encountered before. Stupid game.

Lessons Learned
1. Life protection is pretty much required in the Vaults.

Game #70

This game started out by annoying me with poison. I was poisoned on every level from the first all the way until the 10th, and there were a couple of times that the poison took me down to single digit hitpoints. Somehow I managed to survive and cleared the first 15 levels of the dungeon. Around the time I started clearing the Lair, I discovered my first scroll of acquirement, and managed to obtain a ring of poison resistance, so I easily finished off the Lair.

Before I ran out of time, I made it to the 5th level of the Swamp. I have not obtained the rune yet, but I have managed to defeat most of the hydras and swamp dragons that are guarding it. Tomorrow I will get the rune out of the Swamp and then try to get the rune out of the Snake Pit.

Game #69

2304   Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 9, 0/109 HPs)
       Slain by a killer bee on Level 8 of the Dungeon.

Stupid open levels and my stupid non-thinking game play. I encountered two small creatures and a manticore in an open level with no hallways. I took out the small creatures, but struggled against the manticore, primarily because I was trying to identify an artifact mace I discovered, and I did not have any skill in Maces & Flails. While fighting the manticore, a killer bee arrived and my hitpoints rapidly dropped. I went berserk, but it was too late.

Game #68

148    Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 3, 0/27 HPs)
       Succumbed to poison on Level 2 of the Dungeon.

My stupid fingers were the direct cause of this death. I entered a room and discovered a snake. I tried to move back into a hallway, but my fingers were on the wrong keys and I instead made two steps deeper into the room. This allowed the snake a couple of free hits (one of which poisoned me) and brought a second snake into view. I had no choice but to stand and fight, unfortunately the second step had trigged my hunger, so I was unable to berserk. I started swinging and took out the first snake. With very few hitpoints, I quaffed the only potion I had, hoping it was a potion of healing. No such luck.

That liquid tasted very nasty...
You are more poisoned.
You die...

Game #67

469    Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 6, -2/46 HPs)
       Slain by a phantom on Level 4 of the Dungeon.

This turned out to be a fairly crappy game. I encountered a phantom on Level 4 and just could not do any damage to it. It took me down to red on my hitpoints, so I went berserk and managed to defeat it. I was then hungry and slow, with almost no hitpoints. I ate and started resting, when a beetle of some sort appeared. I used my wands to finish it off and started resting again. I was immediately set upon by a rat, a cockroach and an orc, but managed to defeat them all, still with my hitpoints very low. For the third time I started resting and this time a second phantom appeared. Still unable to hurt it, I went berserk, but it kept teleporting away, and my berserk quickly wore off, allowing the phantom to easily defeat me.

Lessons Learned
1. Retreat away from any unexplored areas when resting to regain hitpoints.

Game #66 Finished

159613 Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 17, -30/245 (248) HPs)
       Killed from afar by a shadow dragon on Level 8 of the vaults.

I abandoned the Snake Pits, due to the presence of Boris, and dove deeper into the dungeon in order to search for the Vaults. I found the entrance on the 18th level of the dungeon, and started clearing the levels. The Vaults are not super easy to fight through, due to the large open areas and the presence of large numbers of foes. I managed to stay alive and ended up with a bunch of different types of dragon armour by the time I cleared level 7.

Now, I had never been this deep in the Vaults before, so arriving at level 8 was a new experience, and one that I was woefully unprepared for. All three down staircases arrive in the middle of a circle of 24 Vault Guards. Surrounding the guards were various other powerful monsters, including two Shadow Dragons. The only plan I had was to pull up the guards (8 at a time, taking 8 hits on the staircase), summon help and berserk. That worked, though not perfectly, as I was pretty lucky not to die from all the hits I was taking. I managed to defeat all the guards, one of the Shadow Dragons and a swarm of yaktaurs that attacked me from the "cleared" level 7.

It was at that point that I got a little overconfident. I went down to level 8, and all that remained was a single Shadow Dragon, a spider type creature (that turned out to be a shapeshifter) and a yaktaur captain. I foolishly thought I could fight the three at once, but I quickly got into trouble. I was very low on hitpoints after a couple of bolts and draining attacks, but I had stepped away from the staircase, so retreat wasn't even an option. I ended up berserking and trying desperately to survive, but it did not happen.

I don't know if that is what the entrance to the 8th level of the Vaults always looks like, but if it is, I need to figure out a better way to deal with the creatures there.

Lessons Learned
1. How not to clear the 8th level of the Vaults.

Game #66 Continued

So, when we last left our intrepid hero, he had just finished clearing level 15 of the dungeon and I was planning on moving on to the Lair. I easily completed all 10 levels of the lair, despite the fact that I have been unable to find a good artifact axe. The two I have suck, in that they have negative or very small bonuses and the recurse special rule, which means that they aren't the greatest for a main weapon.

Once the Lair was cleared, I moved on to the Swamp. Nothing interest occurred on the first four levels, but I really struggled on the last level. Even with my summoned help, there were times where I was down to around 25 hitpoints and facing two hydras. Luckily, I managed to survive, though it took a lot of my favour with Trog, and I made it back to the Lair with the rune.

Next up was the Snake Pit, as I figured I could use the first few levels to regain my favour with Trog, prior to using it all up on the final level. Level 1 was a breeze, but Level 2 featured a unique I had never encountered before - a lich named Boris. He appears to be obscenely powerful, as his spells hit hard, he is immune to most everything and he can turn invisible. Upon encoutering him, I shot a wand of fireball, as what undead creature is immune to fire? I guess liches are. I then summoned help, but I only get wimpy ogres after a couple of attempts, due to my lack of favour. Boris quickly killed my Ogre, turned on me and turned invisible. I had to switch helmets in order to gain the ability to see invisible, but by the time I took off my one helmet, Boris had me down to 30 hitpoints. I immediately teleported and was lucky enough to get away.

Unfortunately, I only teleported a short distance and as I started walking, Boris appeared again. I tried to summon more help and managed to get two Ogres after six or seven attempts and used them to block Boris while I ran down a different hallway, helped out by a potion of speed. While I did that, a couple of snakes started chasing me and I encountered a naga warrior and three nagas at the end of the hallway. With my hitpoints in the mid-50s, I started swinging and somehow managed to defeat the nagas and get out of the hallway to a staircase down.

I explored level 3 and found all the up staircases. With some trepidation, I went up to level 2 and slowly explored until I found an up staircase that allowed me to leave. (I guess I should mention that the staircase I originally came down was not a great option, as it was sitting behind a trap of Zot.)

Tomorrow, I guess I will continue exploring the dungeon.

Game #66

Despite my busy schedule, I actually managed to start a second game this week. I have not finished it yet. Currently, my character is on level 15 of the Dungeon with a decent set of resistances and a couple of artifact items. I haven't explored the Lair yet, but that is where I am heading next.

Unfortunately, that will have to wait until after Easter is over.

Game #65

1123   Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 7, -1/81 HPs)
       Slain by an orc warrior on Level 6 of the Dungeon.

I have been super busy at work, which has meant that I have not had the time or energy to play any games of Crawl. Unfortunately, not playing means that you fall back into making old mistakes. This game was fairly uneventful until level 7 of the Dungeon, where I encountered a room packed full of orcs. I went berserk and immediately realized that was a mistake. There were far too many enemies and I was guaranteed to lose my berserk status before defeating them all. I killed as many orcs as I could and then teleported away, which worked fine as an escape option. Unfortunately, I did not rest to regain all my hitpoints and when I next encountered an orc warrior, he was able to quickly defeat me, as he had a magical weapon.

I must try to play regularily in order to maintain my skill in the game.