Game #111 Finished

215579 Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 19, 0/256 HPs)
       Killed from afar by a storm dragon on Level 25 of the Dungeon.

After escaping from the Snake Pit, I easily obtained the rune at the bottom of the Swamp. Some more dungeon exploration occurred, before I cleared the first seven levels of the Vault. My character was quite powerful and none of the levels were too difficult. However, I was scared of going down to the last level, as in previous attempts, shadow dragons were a problem, and I did not have anything that provided resistance to negative energy. I took the time to buy all the artifact armour and weapons in the shop (including a quick run through the Orcish Mines to raise money) before deciding to continue on into the dungeon. Things were going fine until I encountered a storm dragon on Level 25. We were in a short hallway and it kept attacking me with lightning bolts, which would bounce off the walls and hit me up to three times each attack. It did not take long before I was dead. I did not even have time to think about what was going on.

I think I found my first non-random artifact in this game - the +4 robe of the Night. It has a description, which random artifacts do not, and the game would not let me autodescribe it. Unfortunately for me, a stealth set of armour does not help a heavily armoured dwarf warrior.

Lessons Learned
1. Do not fight lightning wielding creatures in a hallway (or anywhere where a bounce attack can occur).

Game #111

My current game is going very well. I have cleared the Lair and retrieved the rune from the bottom of the Snake Pit. I got into trouble on the last level of the Snake Pit, but managed to escape. I got surrounded by the rune guards in a hallway near the open area - I berserked and took a bunch of them out, but there were far too many and I found myself slow and surrounded. I read a scroll of teleport, which dropped me three steps away from the rune. I quaffed a potion of speed and grabbed the rune, before reading another scroll of teleport as more nagas were arriving. Unfortunately, this teleport only took me to the other side of the open area. I just wanted to escape, so I read 3 scrolls of blinking (interspersed with 3 potions of healing, due to the poison arrows spells that were cast at me) in order to get to the far side of the hallway with all the guards. I was hasted by that point, so I just ran to the nearest staircase, taking at least one orb of energy hit that knocked my hitpoints down dangerously low.

Game #110

663    Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 6, -2/73 HPs)
       Killed from afar by an orc priest on Level 6 of the Dungeon.

Wow. Level 6 contained large open areas and a lot of enemies. I had popped down all the staircases, so I knew there would be issues, but I was unprepared for the huge number of monsters standing right beside what had been an empty staircase. My arrival was greeted by an ogre, two hounds, a jackal and a giant ant. Those were just the monsters standing next to me. In the distance were a rat, a scorpion, a giant eyeball, an orc priest and an orc warrior. I berserked, took out the ogre and tried to take out the other creatures when the orc priest succeeded in blasting me. I'm really not sure what I should have done. Going back up the stairs would have killed me. I guess I could have blindly teleported and hoped for the best. Stupid game.

Game #109

651    Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 6, 0/45 HPs)
       Succumbed to poison on Level 7 of the Dungeon.

I am developing a strong dislike for shaft traps, as they compound the out of depth issues in the game, by dumping you down two levels deeper than you are ready for. I had just started exploring level 6 when I fell down a shaft and arrived on level 8. I immediately encountered an orc and an ogre that I had to berserk to defeat. While resting, I encountered a large group of orcs, which required the use of summoned help. With no obvious way up, I started exploring, only to encounter a killer bee, which ended up being the death of me. However, I did manage to stay alive for some time. I caused the killer bee to flee from me twice and was able to get my hitpoints up to around 70%, which allowed me to start exploring for a way out of level 8.

I found a staircase, but the damn killer bee arrived at the same time. I probably should have fought it off at that point, but instead I made a run for the staircase and drug the bee up to level 7. Of course there was a zombie of something on level 7, and I was in the middle of a room, so I summoned help and fled. Somehow I managed to survive - I had 1 hitpoint while the zombie swung at me for a couple of turns. After that, my summoned bear went off down a hallway to deal with some orcs, while I rested. I ended up dying, even though I was pretty sure I was no longer poisoned. Oh well - I had no potions anyway, so there was nothing I could have done.

Lessons Learned
1. Don't bring a monster with you up (or down) and unknown staircase.

Game #108

199    Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 4, -2/38 HPs)
       Slain by Jessica on Level 2 of the Dungeon.

Argh! Stupid Jessica on an early level! I berserked to fight her, but she kept blinking away from me, which caused my berserk to quickly wear off, after which she blasted me to death with magic and wands. I was reduced to quaffing unknown potions in a vain attempt at staying alive.

Game #107

75     Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 3, -1/30 HPs)
       Slain by a worm on Level 1 of the Dungeon.

The starting area of this game included a room with glass walls full of oozes, worms, rats and jackals. I briefly considered berserking and immediately attacking, but I figured it would be wiser to explore the level, make to level 2 or 3 and then take out the room when I had more hitpoints. I did exactly that, except somehow the monsters managed to open the door on their own - are they like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park? Anyway, I encountered a bunch of them in an open area and ended up berserking in order to survive. After my berserk wore off, a worm walked up to me and pummelled me, since I was slow and had not found anything to help me in a dangerous situation.

I really despise the goofy starting levels in Crawl. I am pretty sure you can turn them off, and I think I am going to do that.

Game #106

51     Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 1, 0/16 HPs)
       Slain by a goblin on Level 1 of the Dungeon.

Stupid game. Encountered a hobgoblin - had to berserk to avoid dying. Rested until I was no longer slow, went into the next room and encountered a goblin that killed me with a single blow.

Game #105

2815   Bill the Mountain Dwarf Berserker (level 9, -1/105 HPs)
       Slain by an orc warrior on Level 8 of the Dungeon.

I'm really not sure what happened here. I encountered a group of orcs when I was just below half my hitpoints. I berserked, took a couple of swings at the orc warrior and then died. He must have hit me a lot and I just wasn't paying attention, which is entirely my fault.

Lessons Learned
1. Pay attention to your hitpoints after every move.