Tuesday, June 28, 2005
A New Valkyrie
I decided to start a cycle of characters, the first being a valkyrie. Hence Juneval. I'll play every other character this month. I walked my way down to the shop level in the mines, but no magic lamps. Also no good armor. OK, go to the Sokoban. I pick up a bag and it is holding. Yes! OK, at the Oracle I dip my longsword and get Excalibur. Sooner or later I'll replace it with Mjollnor. I work my way through the Sokoban and get an amulet of reflection. Next step is to get the luckstone at the bottom of the mines. On the way down I turn into a baby purple worm, destroying the armor I have. I'll need to work on that. I kill a tengu, and get all jumpy. Well, that's the risk of eating tengus. None of my rings are teleport control. But I do have conflict, heh heh heh. I make it all the way to the bottom, and get the luckstone. And I find another tengu. I feel in control of myself.
OK, this isn't a bad start. I could use some speed boots and some very good body armor. Sooner or later I'll replace Excalibur with the only better weapon. I should get a magic whistle. On the other hand, a Valkyrie with teleport control should be able to kick some major ass. Any valkyrie past the luckstone has at least a 33% chance of winning. Let's see if I can pull this one off.
Well, I've continued down the dungeon. Still no speed boots. But I've made a decision. After over 20 years of playing this game I think I need to win the hard way at least once. How do you win the hard way? No wishes. No genociding. No polymorphing crap into cool toys. I guess after winning with a monk (never hit with a wielded weapon) made me want to really challenge myself.
So let's think about what this means. No wishing isn't that big a deal. Sooner or later I will run into a dragon and I'll get good armor, and sooner or later I'll get a set of speed boots. I already have a ring of conflict, a way of levitating, and teleport control. And a rocking weapon. No polymorph means no chemistry for mega-hitpoints. It also means no easy scrolls of enchant armor or enchant weapon. On the other hand, it also means I'll be playing with lots of Holy Water. Finally, no genociding is going to be the tough one. It means mindflayers, giant eels and liches galore. I think I've played long enough where I can pull this off - the death here will either be a true learning experience or something really stupid.
I've passed Medusa (no shield of reflection) but haven't made it to the castle yet. Not yet level 14 so I cannot try out the quest.
Cleared the castle, haven't seen Hell. Well, I guess I haven't really cleared the castle as I haven't dealt with the dragons in the back rooms. Did the quest. I went up the dungeon to an altar, but was polymorphed into a cockatrice. An elf lord took this opportunity to steal all of the stuff I left on the altar, and he burned a lot of my good magic. Bastard! Well, I can now throw the hammer. What else? I guess I still need good magic protection, as well as speed boots.
Never found the speed boots. Here's how I died. I hit a polymorph trap and turned into a blue dragon (I made some blue dragon scale mail in the castle. Too bad I didn't have a wand of undead turning, no scales from the grey). OK, not so bad, except I got hungry in Hell. No problem, I've got food in my bag. Dragons have no hands, can't get food. I can't pray either I'm in Hell (crap, should have used the Orb of Fate to level teleport to where I could pray). I faint and I am killed. Damn.
Well, there's going to be one Hell of a bones file waiting for somebody...
I decided to start a cycle of characters, the first being a valkyrie. Hence Juneval. I'll play every other character this month. I walked my way down to the shop level in the mines, but no magic lamps. Also no good armor. OK, go to the Sokoban. I pick up a bag and it is holding. Yes! OK, at the Oracle I dip my longsword and get Excalibur. Sooner or later I'll replace it with Mjollnor. I work my way through the Sokoban and get an amulet of reflection. Next step is to get the luckstone at the bottom of the mines. On the way down I turn into a baby purple worm, destroying the armor I have. I'll need to work on that. I kill a tengu, and get all jumpy. Well, that's the risk of eating tengus. None of my rings are teleport control. But I do have conflict, heh heh heh. I make it all the way to the bottom, and get the luckstone. And I find another tengu. I feel in control of myself.
OK, this isn't a bad start. I could use some speed boots and some very good body armor. Sooner or later I'll replace Excalibur with the only better weapon. I should get a magic whistle. On the other hand, a Valkyrie with teleport control should be able to kick some major ass. Any valkyrie past the luckstone has at least a 33% chance of winning. Let's see if I can pull this one off.
Well, I've continued down the dungeon. Still no speed boots. But I've made a decision. After over 20 years of playing this game I think I need to win the hard way at least once. How do you win the hard way? No wishes. No genociding. No polymorphing crap into cool toys. I guess after winning with a monk (never hit with a wielded weapon) made me want to really challenge myself.
So let's think about what this means. No wishing isn't that big a deal. Sooner or later I will run into a dragon and I'll get good armor, and sooner or later I'll get a set of speed boots. I already have a ring of conflict, a way of levitating, and teleport control. And a rocking weapon. No polymorph means no chemistry for mega-hitpoints. It also means no easy scrolls of enchant armor or enchant weapon. On the other hand, it also means I'll be playing with lots of Holy Water. Finally, no genociding is going to be the tough one. It means mindflayers, giant eels and liches galore. I think I've played long enough where I can pull this off - the death here will either be a true learning experience or something really stupid.
I've passed Medusa (no shield of reflection) but haven't made it to the castle yet. Not yet level 14 so I cannot try out the quest.
Cleared the castle, haven't seen Hell. Well, I guess I haven't really cleared the castle as I haven't dealt with the dragons in the back rooms. Did the quest. I went up the dungeon to an altar, but was polymorphed into a cockatrice. An elf lord took this opportunity to steal all of the stuff I left on the altar, and he burned a lot of my good magic. Bastard! Well, I can now throw the hammer. What else? I guess I still need good magic protection, as well as speed boots.
Never found the speed boots. Here's how I died. I hit a polymorph trap and turned into a blue dragon (I made some blue dragon scale mail in the castle. Too bad I didn't have a wand of undead turning, no scales from the grey). OK, not so bad, except I got hungry in Hell. No problem, I've got food in my bag. Dragons have no hands, can't get food. I can't pray either I'm in Hell (crap, should have used the Orb of Fate to level teleport to where I could pray). I faint and I am killed. Damn.
Well, there's going to be one Hell of a bones file waiting for somebody...
