Re: Going Beyond the Castle for the first time.

On 11 May 2006 20:38:27 -0700, jistanidiot@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

Jove wrote:

Alas, my J and D got there before me and the priest has
gone off for his reward/punishment before Moloch (exactly how bad is it
to #pray or #offer stuff to Molloch??).

Very bad.


<snip bunches of stuff>

Looks like you're doing fine without any more advice. If I tried to
warn you about everything that could happen on the Ascension Run I'd
never finish.


So next is to do the Wizard's tower. Get the book. Go back to the
square. apply the candles to the holder. apply the holder. ring the
bell and read the book. Find the High Priest, avoid a bunch of lava,
and the Wizard (can I get protection from the HP first?)

No protection from High Priests of any kind, I believe. (You can't
buy protection on Astral, either.)

The first
priest of Molloch had all 60k+ of gold and I was thinking of lugging
that down and using that (it's extremely heavy is the only problem).

Don't bother, unless someone authoritatively says different.


Anyway I take the amulet from the high priest and run like crazy back
up to lvl 1. As i understand it the Eye stops working once I get the
amulet right?

Sort of. As long as you haven't exited the dungeon you can always
drop the "AoYendor and use the Eye to escape. Rodney won't bother you
in person if you don't have the Amulet of Yendor. Nothing happens on a
level you're not on.

It seems extreme, but it really isn't. You'll still get malignant
auras and summoned nasties.

It's not until you exit the dungeons completely that #invoking the Eye
of Aethiopica stops working for good.

The other big difference with carrying the amulet of yendor is that it
doubles mana usage when spells are cast. There are ways to mitigate
that.



Above DL1 are the planes and this is what I've figured out from the
spoilers...

Some way to quickly find the portals saves a lot of grief. Ask if you
want to know optimum method(s). Spell of detect unseen will show portal
within 8 spaces on all of the planes.

Earth - expect another fight with the wizard. Be glad I've got the dig
spell and tons of wands of digging. The magic portal is in open space
somewhere.

Correct. Earth is the safest plane to find the portal the Hard Way.


Air - Keep that ring of leviation on!

Keep levitating by any means. Ring is just one of: ring, boots,
spell, potion. I use !oLev and +oLev to keep ring and boot slots
available.

The portal is somewhere on the level

Somewhere on the right hand side of the level, guaranteed. Stay out
of the clouds, you can get irresistibly paralyzed and killed in them.
(Hint: Spell of Magic Mapping).

Air Elementals on the Plane of Air are much nastier than they are in
the dungeons.

Spell of Charm Monster at XL 30 can give you an army of monsters.


Fire - Hope everything is fireproof. Keep that ring of levitation on!

Or fireproof water walking boots. Be sure you a method of freezing
lava and digging it out (in case of accidents.)

The poral is somewhere on the level.

This is *the* level you want to use a trick to find the portal.



Water - this sounds like a really awful level. I'm pretty sure I'm
going to need some more info before attempting this level. The portal
is in an air pocket and moves with the pocket. How do I get between
air pockets? I think once I had a ring of water breathing or
something.


Levitating will keep you above the water. (Water walking boots don't
work. Go figure.) Amulet of magical breathing keeps character alive,
but doesn't protect equipment.

Another level which needs a slightly different approach, because the
portal moves.



Astral - make sure i get the Angel pet (guess I need to #offer stuff at
the last alter before leaving the dungeon). Hope I avoid Death,
Famine, and Pestilence. I'm pretty sure I need more info on this one
too..


FoD on Famine and Pestilence from a distance. Death, OTOH, *likes* to
be death-rayed.

I use #jumping boots, light source, spell of haste self. On my first
Ascension I jumped past Pestilence twice without being touched.


So anyway here's where I stand back up on DL45 where the portal ot the
real tower is:

Jistanidio the Mage St:25 Dx:17 Co:18 In:21 Wi:21 Ch:12 Chaotic
S:1692846
Dlvl:45 $:0 HP:281(281) Pw:68(387) AC:-37 Xp:30/100083414 T:61453


AC still seems high, but I'm paranoid. As good an AC as possible
helps in almost all situations.

I'm still a male orc. And here's what a blessed potion of enlightment
tells me:

You are the Glory of Arioch.
You are piously aligned.
You are fire resistant.
You are cold resistant.
You are sleep resistant.
You are disintegration-resistant.
You are shock resistant.
You are poison resistant.
You are magic-protected.
You see invisible.
You are telepathic.
You are warned.
You have infravision.
You are stealthy.
You can teleport.
You have teleport control.
You regenerate.
You are protected.
You are very fast.
You have reflection.
You have free action.
Your life will be saved.
You are extremely lucky.
You have extra luck.
Good luck does not time out for you.
You can not safely pray.
You have been killed once.





Here are my spells (with GoP and no shield):


You'll want at least one expired spell on the Planes.


Name Level Category Fail
a - force bolt 1 attack 3%
b - magic missile 2 attack 0%

This is a beast of a spell for a Wizard at XL 30. Check its failure
rate when wearing a shield.

c - healing 1 healing 3%
d - slow monster 2* enchantment 3%

Refresh this (low priority). May work on Air Elementals.

e - detect treasure 4* divination 3%

Skip unless you want to use on all of every level to check for things
you missed.

f - stone to flesh 3 healing 3%

Useful emergency fallback spell for stoning.

g - dig 5 matter 3%

Not critical with many /oDigging.

h - extra healing 3 healing 3%

Can be useful in an emergency, for self and pets.


i - magic mapping 5 divination 3%

:)

j - knock 1* matter 3%

Let this one go, almost.

k - create monster 2 clerical 3%
l - polymorph 6 matter 3%

Fun to play with, maybe.


m - cure sickness 3* healing 3%

Refresh for Pestilence.

n - haste self 3* escape 3%

Much nicer than you realize. Refresh.

o - protection 1* clerical 3%

Much nicer than you realize. Refresh.

p - confuse monster 2* enchantment 3%

Not that great at your level, still can be entertaining.


q - cure blindness 2 healing 3%
r - levitation 4 escape 3%

Save a ring/boot slot on PLane of Air. Cast as backup for levitation
item on Plane of Water.

s - restore ability 4 healing 3%
t - wizard lock 2 matter 3%
u - identify 3 divination 3%
v - fireball 4 attack 3%

Fun to play with at Expert XL 30.

w - finger of death 7 attack 3%

Rodney who?


x - detect unseen 3 divination 3%

Oooh, good. This is very handy in the Sanctum and can be useful on
the Elemental Planes.


y - charm monster 3 enchantment 3%

Leader of a mighty army.


z - drain life 2 attack 3%
A - detect monsters 1 divination 3%

Play with this some. You'll love it.


B - sleep 1 enchantment 3%
C - cause fear 3 enchantment 3%
D - light 1 divination 3%

Hope you've learned to use this well. (Hint: Cone of cold and
fireball.)

E - detect food 2 divination 3%
F - remove curse 3 clerical 3%

This and Magicbane = laughing at malignant auras.


G - cancellation 7 matter 3%

Very nice backstop for the Ascension Run.


H - teleport away 6 escape 67%

Go ahead and enhance this up, if possible. Not as great as taking
every /oTele to the planes with you, but another great backstop spell.

I - invisibility 4 escape 3%

Zap self with wand of make invisible sometime before waking Rodney
instead of using this spell.


Magic Missle seems deadlier than finger of death.

On everyone except Rodney, Famine, and Pestilence, yes. Good job
noticing. (Magic Missile does damage based on XL.)



Important inventory:

a blessed amulet of life saving (being worn)
the blessed Eye of the Aethiopica
the blessed rustproof +3 Magicbane (weapon in hand) [Accidentally
enchanted this thing, I thought it said enchant armor not enchant
weapon. So far hasn't horribly hurt the special effect, except probing
is no longer insightful].

Since you're already above +2, you can take it to +5 without changing
special effect probabilities much.


a blessed +4 Hawaiian shirt (being worn)
a blessed fireproof +4 pair of speed boots (being worn)
a blessed rustproof +5 helm of brilliance (being worn)
a blessed +5 silver dragon scale mail (being worn)
a blessed rustproof +4 pair of gauntlets of power (being worn)
a blessed greased burnt +5 cloak of magic resistance (being worn)
a blessed +2 small shield

All looks good.

an uncursed lizard corpse
an uncursed ring of regeneration (on right hand) [Really saved me when
I fained against Balzebub]

It's hunger causing is also the reason you fainted against Baalzebub.
A ring of Slow Digestion would have reduced fainting by another large
amount.

Ring of conflict is what you want on the Ascension Run, but only if
you don't use pets.


a blessed ring of free action (on left hand)

Good. Prevents some of the most frustrating deaths in the game.

a blessed bag of holding
a +0 pick-axe (alternate weapon; not wielded)
an uncursed rusty skeleton key
an uncursed pair of lenses
an uncursed mirror
the uncursed Candelabrum of Invocation (no candles attached)

Candles are critical for the Invocation.

an uncursed magic whistle
a blessed +0 unicorn horn
the Bell of Opening (0:3)

Good. Make sure all is uncursed before invocation. One cast of
skilled+ Remove Cursed will do that.

an uncursed towel
a blessed luckstone
asorted wands including death, strking, and magic missle.

In the bag, I've got more amulets of reflection and life saving. a
small amount of food (I'm thinking of going back to the Ft or some
place with more food before going forward). Also have:

Food is not bad. k-rations are eaten in one turn.

2 uncursed scrolls of genocide (what to genocide next?)

Bless and save for emergencies. Blessed geno of ';' just after you
enter the plane of water is optimum for ';'.

A lot of blank paper from the swim in the moat.

These plus magic marker = scrolls of gold detection. Research both
ways a ?oGD can be used to find traps/portals.

18 uncursed scrolls of teleportation.

Great for the ascension run. (See one of my other posts in this
thread.)

A number of potions of healing and extra healing.

Research alchemy.

potion of gain level (shoud I drink it now?)

Nope. When cursed can be very useful on the Run.

8 holy waters
1 unholy water

Make more unholy water. curse !oGL and make some c?oGD.

rings of conflict and levitation

Conflict great if not using pets.

lots and lots of wands (mainly striking)

Bring every wand of teleport you've got when you leave the dungeons.
A few wands of digging, fire, cold, lighting, death as well.

a can of grease (0:11)
a magic marker (0:6)
a crystal ball (0:4) [Can I use this to find the porals on the planes?]

Yes. Good question. Problems: It's slow, freezes you in use, can
fail, may explode. Best used on Plane of Earth to save other resources.
It's also bloody heavy.

a magic marker (1:47)

Very nice.

an uncursed lamp

Great for jumping on plane of fire and the astral plane.

7 blessed wax candles

Apply these to the candelabrum now.

an expensive camera (0:50)

Don't there's a lot of use for this now.

a bunch of good gems.

Score is nice. Ascending is nicer.

Most importantly I have a wand of wishing with three charges.

Keep that out of the BoH! Save at least one easy wish until you
absolutely need it


So what should I do next? Am I ready for the Wizard and the High
Priest?


You've done very well on your own. I'd say yes. Big problem is
finding the portals on the Planes.




--
Welcome to Nethack.

All the best,
Jove (Joe Bednorz)
.

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