Game #20

125    Bob the Mountain Dwarf Hunter (level 3, -1/26 HPs)
       Slain by a snake on Level 2 of the Dungeon.

Oh how I hate snakes. I encountered three on this level and the first two almost defeated me before the third one actually did. In fact, the second one poisoned me, and while I had a potion of healing, I decided to save it and see if I would recover from the poison naturally. I did, but that took me below 10 hitpoints. While resting to regain those hitpoints, the third snake arrived and took me out.

Stupid game.

Lessons RELearned
1. Use your items if you have them, for you will never have another chance.

Game #12

65     Bob the Mountain Dwarf Hunter (level 2 0/20 HPs)
       Slain by a snake on Level 2 of the Dungeon.

Snakes are one of the scariest monsters to encounter early on in the dungeon. I managed to get off two crossbow shots before this one was beside me, and its first set of attacks poisoned me twice. With no identified scrolls or potions, I had to just quaff a potion and hope for the best. After I died, I discovered I did not even have a potion of healing on me.

There are no lessons learned from this game. Crawl is extremely unfair at times and this was one of those times.

Game #5

103    Bob the Mountain Dwarf Hunter (level 2, -1/19 HPs)
       Slain by a snake on Level 2 of the Dungeon.

I really want to blame the game on this one, as snakes can be difficult opponents early on in the game. They are faster than you, which means you cannot outrun them and they are poisonous, which increases the damage they do. This snake quickly poisoned me and all I had were three unidentified potions. I drank the first one, which turned out to be a potion of paralysis and Bob stood there while the snake devoured him.

However, it was my fault that I was in that situation. I had walked into a large open area with a snake, a goblin and a rat. I opened fire with my crossbow, but as the goblin was closest, it was the default target, so I killed it first. I should have identified the snake as a more dangerous foe and shot it before it could close to hand to hand combat range. That may not have resulted in my survival, but it would have given me a better chance.

Pity. I actually obeyed some of my lessons learned this game, such as the goblin on level 1 with a runed dagger who took me down to 6 hitpoints. I danced around a pillar until I was able to defeat him, rather than standing around and dying.

Lessons Learned
1. Shoot the most dangerous monster first.