Majang's Caster Walk-Through - Revision history

Majang: /* Finding Vehumet */

2020-05-23T14:09:26Z

‎Finding Vehumet

Derrek: fix link to monster page

2020-05-15T11:03:22Z

fix link to monster page

Majang: /* The Final */ wand stacking

2018-02-06T13:06:55Z

‎The Final: wand stacking

Majang: /* First Visit to the Elven Halls */ color coding of elves changed

2018-02-06T12:56:12Z

‎First Visit to the Elven Halls: color coding of elves changed

Majang: /* First Visit to the Elven Halls */ add recommendation to wait

2018-02-06T12:54:45Z

‎First Visit to the Elven Halls: add recommendation to wait

Majang: /* Clearing the Upper Dungeons */ adding BVC

2018-02-06T12:49:30Z

‎Clearing the Upper Dungeons: adding BVC

Majang: /* Finding Vehumet */ no more scrolls of recharge

2018-02-06T12:35:24Z

‎Finding Vehumet: no more scrolls of recharge

Majang: /* The Final */ don't really need those any more

2017-07-18T13:02:53Z

‎The Final: don't really need those any more

Majang: /* Snake Pit */ repel missiles not a spell any more

2017-07-18T12:14:56Z

‎Snake Pit: repel missiles not a spell any more

Majang: /* Subjugating the Orcs */ typos etc

2017-07-11T19:19:24Z

‎Subjugating the Orcs: typos etc

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 Wherever you are in a Crawl game, you always have a few goals to pursue. Your first real quest in the game is to become religious. For the character you want to develop, it is important that you become a worshiper of [[Vehumet]], the [[god]] who provides you with tremendous benefits for your intended play style. Worshiping Vehumet means that casting destructive spells becomes a lot easier, which is just what you want. He also increases the range of your spells, and, more importantly, may increase your mana pool when you kill any opponent. His most visible blessing, however, is his gift of spells. Every once in a while he will grant you access to increasingly powerful destructive spells. Many of those won’t fit your skill set, and you will ignore them, but his final gift of three high-end spells is usually (unfortunately not always) geared towards your skills, so that you should have a deadly arsenal by the time Vehumet is done with his gifts. In spite of all these benefits, Vehumet is incredibly easy to please – just kill monsters (you are going to do this anyway), and your [[piety]] will go all the way up and stay there. There is no training of [[invocations]] with Vehumet, which means that you can invest your [[experience]] into more important skills.
-So, you’ll want to find an [[altar]] of Vehumet as soon as possible, and your task is set. Well, in fact, you also want to find a weapon, any weapon, so you have something to kill an enemy with when your mana runs out, and to conserve stones. This is one of the peculiarities about sandblast: each time you cast it, you use up a stone from your inventory. When you run out of stones, you cannot cast the spell! Crawl will automatically pick up any stone you find and add it to your inventory. This will only change if you tell the software not do that (in the known-items screen, accessed by the \-key).
+So, you’ll want to find an [[altar]] of Vehumet as soon as possible, and your task is set. Well, in fact, you also want to find a weapon, any weapon, so you have something to kill an enemy with when your mana runs out, and to conserve stones. This is one of the peculiarities about sandblast: each time you cast it, you use up a stone from your inventory. When you run out of stones, you cannot cast the spell! Crawl will automatically pick up any stone you find and add it to your inventory. This will only change if you tell the software not to do that (in the known-items screen, accessed by the \-key).
 If you start exploring, you will soon meet your first opponent. Try to get him alone, and make him follow you into explored area. Currently, you will probably not survive more than three pursuing opponents at once. When an opponent is in range, typing z followed by a, your sandblast key, should automatically select him as a target. If there is more than one opponent, the spell will target the nearest opponent, but you can always adjust your targeting. One shot could suffice to kill a [[goblin]], but you may have a [[miscast]], or your shot misses, or is not quite damaging enough. You may need two or three shots, and sometimes even some help of your weapon to do the job; that’s why you try to avoid the attention of too many monsters at once. In the beginning you only have a mana pool of three [[MP]], and each casting reduces that by the number of levels of the spell that you cast. So with three MP you can cast three sandblasts, and then you are left with your weapon, or even your bare fists if you have not found a weapon yet. Over time, your MP will recharge on its own, but this takes a while.

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 The first level of the mines usually consist of two or three disconnected areas; the other areas you can only reach by first going to the lower level, or by some foolhardy teleporting. If you have plenty of [[wand of digging|wands of digging]], you can also shoot wastefully in all directions and see if it does not open a way to another unexplored area. This becomes a lot less wasteful by reading a scroll of magic mapping, but this is wasteful in itself. When you enter the lower level, move very carefully, exploring in circles around the upstairs. Don’t use other up-stairs before you are sure that the area you leave behind downstairs is clear; it does not do to escape a fight on level 1 to find yourself surrounded by some bullies of the level-2 crowd of the mines.
-Just like in the Lair, you may have announcements about the presence of a [[Volcano]] or [[Ice Cave]] when entering a new area here. Find it and clear it – by now you should be ready. Otherwise, there might also be a timed entrance to the [[Bailey]], a level with lots of armed monsters, usually [[goblin]]s, [[kobold]]s, orcs or [[gnoll]]s. Most of them you can defeat easily, but there will always be some high-end bosses to kill, so you might find yourself forced to retreat from the area before you have reaped the loot. This loot can be quite desirable, such as a [[potion of experience]], which is about the best shake you can quaff in this game.
+Just like in the Lair, you may have announcements about the presence of a [[Volcano]] or [[Ice Cave]] when entering a new area here. Find it and clear it – by now you should be ready. Otherwise, there might also be a timed entrance to the [[Bailey]], a level with lots of armed monsters, usually [[goblin]]s, [[Kobold_(monster)|kobold]]s, orcs or [[Gnoll_(monster)|gnoll]]s. Most of them you can defeat easily, but there will always be some high-end bosses to kill, so you might find yourself forced to retreat from the area before you have reaped the loot. This loot can be quite desirable, such as a [[potion of experience]], which is about the best shake you can quaff in this game.
 Except for what your slain enemies let fall to the floor in their death rattle, there is absolutely no loot to be found in the Mines. The appeal of this place lies in the abundance of gold lying around everywhere. If you have not squandered away a good part of it already in some shop, by the end of fighting in the Mines you should have at least 2000 gold pieces, if not more. And then you’ll have four guaranteed shops on level 2 where you can spend it all, and quite often more shops on the other level. But you should also have a look at what your enemies leave behind for you. Enchanted robes or leather armors, and maybe a well-enchanted [[morningstar]] can definitely improve your equipment.

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 * Bring along your staff of earth or fire, to boost your spells, and also as melee weapons. Bring along a staff of energy, for rapid recharging.
-* Take a wand of digging or two. This is not for the fight in Zot 5, but for the [[ascension]] with the Orb.
+* Take a well-charged wand of digging. This is not for the fight in Zot 5, but for the [[ascension]] with the Orb.
 * For the same reason, learn [[Passwall]], which may now become a very useful spell on your way up. If necessary, forget [[Stone Arrow]] to get the spell levels. You won’t need that spell anymore.

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 As already mentioned, the entrance to the [[Elven Halls]] is conveniently located on level 2 of the Mines. It is recommended that you visit this place somewhat later, but if you feel brave and still have a few inventory slots free, you might pop in for a visit right away. If you don't have three stars of magic resistance, it is indeed better to wait a bit longer to come here. In fact, you don't have to come here at all to win the game. The Elven Halls are a lot more challenging than the Orcish Mines, and for now you will only visit the first two of the three levels. Here there is lots of loot to be found, hopefully some books, or good jewelry. But you need to fight for almost every step of the way. Do it slowly and systematically, so that you always have a clear path to the way out of here.
-Elves come in lots of varieties. Almost all use some kind of spell, at least to boost themselves. Some are very proficient with a [[bow]], others are melee fighters, but quite a few are pure casters (orange robes). And a few bosses already start slinging damnation at you (red or blue robes). Kill them quickly! That is the good news about all these elves: They can’t take a lot, and since most of the layout here consists of narrow corridors and small rooms, LRD will take care of most situations for you. Killing an elf gives considerable experience, and also Vehumet restores a lot of MP for killing them.
+Elves come in lots of varieties. Almost all use some kind of spell, at least to boost themselves. Some are very proficient with a [[bow]], others are melee fighters, but quite a few are pure casters (blue-grey robes). And a few bosses already start slinging damnation at you (red or blue robes). Kill them quickly! That is the good news about all these elves: They can’t take a lot, and since most of the layout here consists of narrow corridors and small rooms, LRD will take care of most situations for you. Killing an elf gives considerable experience, and also Vehumet restores a lot of MP for killing them.
 There is a reason not to enter the Elven Halls right after clearing the Mines: Occasionally you’ll find a timed portal in the Halls, which goes down to a [[Wizard Laboratory]]. These are very challenging places, where you may find very exciting treasures after surviving insane dangers. Generally, you have a significantly better chance making it through them if you take them on with much more experience under your belt. For this walk-through, since your main goal is to win your first game, let’s assume that you are not going to try the lab, if you find it. You may have a peek, but don’t stroll too far away from the exit – or you may find your way out blocked.

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 ==First Visit to the Elven Halls==
-As already mentioned, the entrance to the [[Elven Halls]] is conveniently located on level 2 of the Mines. If you still have a few inventory slots free, you might pop in for a visit right away. The Elven Halls are a lot more challenging than the Orcish Mines, and for now you will only visit the first two of the three levels. Here there is lots of loot to be found, hopefully some books, or good jewelry. But you need to fight for almost every step of the way. Do it slowly and systematically, so that you always have a clear path to the way out of here.
+As already mentioned, the entrance to the [[Elven Halls]] is conveniently located on level 2 of the Mines. It is recommended that you visit this place somewhat later, but if you feel brave and still have a few inventory slots free, you might pop in for a visit right away. If you don't have three stars of magic resistance, it is indeed better to wait a bit longer to come here. In fact, you don't have to come here at all to win the game. The Elven Halls are a lot more challenging than the Orcish Mines, and for now you will only visit the first two of the three levels. Here there is lots of loot to be found, hopefully some books, or good jewelry. But you need to fight for almost every step of the way. Do it slowly and systematically, so that you always have a clear path to the way out of here.
 Elves come in lots of varieties. Almost all use some kind of spell, at least to boost themselves. Some are very proficient with a [[bow]], others are melee fighters, but quite a few are pure casters (orange robes). And a few bosses already start slinging damnation at you (red or blue robes). Kill them quickly! That is the good news about all these elves: They can’t take a lot, and since most of the layout here consists of narrow corridors and small rooms, LRD will take care of most situations for you. Killing an elf gives considerable experience, and also Vehumet restores a lot of MP for killing them.

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 Once you follow Vehumet, you need to change your behavior with amulets. An unidentified specimen could be an [[amulet of faith]], and you don’t want to have those. In theory, they are rather nice, of course, getting you to a high [[piety]] quite soon, but the moment you remove them (and you’ll want to soon enough), you lose a good chunk of your piety, and therefore it is just better if you never wear it. Piety with Vehumet rises pretty fast even unaided by said amulet. If he starts his spell gifts while you are not ready for them, this amulet may actually be contra-productive. From now on you need to identify each amulet before you wear it.
-Around XL 6 it is about time to learn the most difficult spell of the starting spell book: Lee's Rapid Deconstruction, in short [[LRD]]. As a level-5 spell, this comes quite expensive, as you have only about 16 MP to play with. The failure rate is still high, and the hunger cost almost prohibitive, but over time you are going to love this spell, and use it all the time. It makes you look at your environment with different eyes, always studying the positioning and the material of the dungeon walls. Basically, it allows you to use any dungeon feature or even enemy made of rock, stone, metal, ice, bone or crystal to significantly weaken or even destroy it, and create a blast area around it. With increasing spell power, this spell has an amazing destructive potential, but you need to learn how to apply it for its best benefit. Obviously, it works best if you have a group of enemies inside the blast area of an appropriate dungeon feature. Of course you should not be inside that blast radius yourself. To make things complicated, some materials, like [[rock wall]]s, have a variable blast area, so you don’t always know for sure what gets hit and what doesn’t. But LRD is your first area of effect spell, capable of hurting or even killing a good number of enemies at the same time, if you use it wisely. Unfortunately, some times you will find yourself in a situation where you cannot apply it at all, and then you need to fall back to your other attack spells. LRD can also be used to punch holes into rock walls (it takes some attempts, usually), and with higher spell power even into stone and metal walls. No need to carry around a [[wand of digging]] just for this purpose.
+Around XL 6 it is about time to learn the two most difficult spells of the starting spell book: The first is Lee's Rapid Deconstruction, in short [[LRD]]. As a level-5 spell, this comes quite expensive, as you have only about 16 MP to play with. The failure rate is still high, and the hunger cost almost prohibitive, but over time you are going to love this spell, and use it all the time. It makes you look at your environment with different eyes, always studying the positioning and the material of the dungeon walls. Basically, it allows you to use any dungeon feature or even enemy made of rock, stone, metal, ice, bone or crystal to significantly weaken or even destroy it, and create a blast area around it. With increasing spell power, this spell has an amazing destructive potential, but you need to learn how to apply it for its best benefit. Obviously, it works best if you have a group of enemies inside the blast area of an appropriate dungeon feature. Of course you should not be inside that blast radius yourself. To make things complicated, some materials, like [[rock wall]]s, have a variable blast area, so you don’t always know for sure what gets hit and what doesn’t. But LRD is your first area of effect spell, capable of hurting or even killing a good number of enemies at the same time, if you use it wisely. Unfortunately, some times you will find yourself in a situation where you cannot apply it at all, and then you need to fall back to your other attack spells. LRD can also be used to punch holes into rock walls (it takes some attempts, usually), and with higher spell power even into stone and metal walls. No need to carry around a [[wand of digging]] just for this purpose.
 While you are on XL 7, you should constantly check your spell list. When Sandblast shows up with a spell power of ####, this is a good time to branch out with your skill training. Up till now, you have only trained three skills: spellcasting, earth magic and conjurations. Now that your spell power for your attack spells has reached decent levels, it is time to do something about your defensive skills, and other critical skills you need. Go to your skills menu (m-key), and select the [[fighting]], [[maces & flails]], [[armor]], [[dodging]] and [[evocations]] skills. Now all selected skills should get 12% experience. If you have a shield or a buckler in your inventory, you may also decide to start training the [[shields]] skill, without actually wearing the shield yet. This would reduce the experience for each skill to 11%. Why these skills?

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 From level 2 downwards, you will encounter upstairs to already explored levels. Those which lead to an area on the upper floor that you have not seen yet are marked by a star, so you should check them out, just to make sure that you really have explored that area already. Occasionally the dungeon has disconnected areas, or areas that you can only access from a lower level. Particularly altars or even the entrance to the [[Temple]] may be hidden in this way. So, before moving on to the next level, always make sure that you have seen all three upstairs on the current level. If you can only see two on the map, this means that there must be another area of this level that you can only access through an unused downstairs from the previous level. Go back and find these stairs.
-Whenever you go down a set of stairs to the next level for a first time, you may be greeted with an announcement for a timed [[portal]], usually to the [[Sewer]] or to the [[Ossuary]]. These are extra levels on which you may gain more experience and find some treasure. You’ll want to find these portals before they time out, and now would be a good time to start reading your scrolls. One of them may be a [[scroll of magic mapping]], and that would show you exactly where the portal can be found. So, stay on the stairs and start reading. Quite likely one of the scrolls you read will be a [[scroll of teleportation]]. If so, then go up the stairs immediately, so that you don’t teleport into an unexplored area. Most other scrolls should be harmless or even beneficial. If you happen to read a scroll of torment (that is about the worst that can happen), just retreat upstairs again to heal up. If you also happen to find the entrance to the Temple this way, first go there to become a worshiper of Vehumet, and then go to the portal. You’ll want the kills you make there already count towards your piety with Vehumet. If you really read a scroll of magic mapping at the beginning of a level, you will have plenty of time to find a timed portal.
+Whenever you go down a set of stairs to the next level for a first time, you may be greeted with an announcement for a timed [[portal]], usually to the [[Sewer]] or to the [[Ossuary]]. These are extra levels on which you may gain more experience and find some treasure. You’ll want to find these portals before they time out, and now would be a good time to start reading your scrolls. One of them may be a [[scroll of magic mapping]], and that would show you exactly where the portal can be found. So, stay on the stairs and start reading. Quite likely one of the scrolls you read will be a [[scroll of teleportation]]. If so, then go up the stairs immediately, so that you don’t teleport into an unexplored area. Most other scrolls should be harmless or even beneficial. If you happen to read a scroll of torment (that is about the worst that can happen), just retreat upstairs again to heal up. If you also happen to find the entrance to the Temple this way, first go there to become a follower of Vehumet, and then go to the portal. You’ll want the kills you make there already count towards your piety with Vehumet. If you really read a scroll of magic mapping at the beginning of a level, you will have plenty of time to find a timed portal.
 Those early portals (Sewer and Ossuary) are usually no problem, with the single exception of one Ossuary layout where you find yourself immediately surrounded by a large circle of zombies and mummies. If you see that, get out of there at once! There doesn’t seem to be a way to safely beat this level and harvest its treasures.
-If reading through the scrolls gets you a [[scroll of identify]], use it on the potions of which you have the biggest stack. If you’re lucky, it will be a [[potion of heal wounds]], which you want to identify as soon as possible. A [[scroll of recharging]] you want to use on your best [[wand]], which would be either a [[wand of acid]], [[wand of iceblast|iceblast]], [[wand of scattershot|scattershot]], or [[wand of clouds|clouds]]. If you have none of those yet, take your best pick.
+If reading through the scrolls gets you a [[scroll of identify]], use it on the potions of which you have the biggest stack. If you’re lucky, it will be a [[potion of heal wounds]], which you want to identify as soon as possible.
-Potions are an entirely different matter. Quaffing potions blindly is a lot more risky than reading unidentified scrolls – you may get mutated badly, or receive some pretty bad status changes. In the best case you may waste an awesome potion, such as a [[potion of haste]] for nothing, and you won’t find many more of those later on when you need them. Therefore, try not to drink unidentified potions unless in the most dire circumstances. As said above, you’ll want to identify potions of heal wounds soon, so that they can get you out of trouble, and it is perfectly fine to spend a few scrolls of identification on that. If you are lucky, you may witness a monster healing itself by using a potion, which will identify it for you. Once you have identified potions of heal wounds, you don’t need to identify any others for quite some time, so you can just ignore them.
+Blindly quaffing potions is an entirely different matter – it is a lot more risky than reading unidentified scrolls. You may get mutated badly, or receive some pretty bad status changes. In the best case you may waste an awesome potion, such as a [[potion of haste]] for nothing, and you won’t find many more of those later on when you need them. Therefore, try not to drink unidentified potions unless in the most dire circumstances. As said above, you’ll want to identify potions of heal wounds soon, so that they can get you out of trouble, and it is perfectly fine to spend a few scrolls of identification on that. If you are lucky, you may witness a monster healing itself by using a potion, which will identify it for you. Once you have identified potions of heal wounds, you don’t need to identify any others for quite some time, so you can just ignore them.
 You may find an altar of Vehumet anywhere beginning from dungeon level 2. As soon as you see it, convert to him – there is no reason whatsoever to hold back. Your best chance to find an altar is the [[Temple]], which is always located between dungeons 4-7. But quite often the temple does not contain the altar you are looking for. At the latest, Vehumet’s altar should show up on level 9. In any case, as soon as you can, start worshiping Vehumet.

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 * Take all potions of heal wounds, curing, magic, brilliance, haste, and cancellation with you.
-* Take all scrolls of remove curse, blinking, teleportation, recharging, and identification with you. And at least one scroll of magic mapping. If you have, a [[scroll of holy word]] may also come in handy.
+* Take all scrolls of blinking, teleportation, and recharging with you. And at least one scroll of magic mapping. If you have, a [[scroll of holy word]] may also come in handy.
 * Bring along your staff of earth or fire, to boost your spells, and also as melee weapons. Bring along a staff of energy, for rapid recharging.

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 ===Snake Pit===
-The [[Snake Pit]] is a usually dry and very orderly place full of snakes of all kind, [[naga]]s, [[salamander]]s, and [[anaconda]]s. Anacondas and nagas will start to [[constriction|constrict]] you when you are in melee range, but your good AC gives you a lot more time to deal with it than other casters. The most dangerous regular enemies are [[naga warrior]]s (blue) and [[nagaraja]]s (red), who have lots of HP and are often well armored. Nagas are normally slow, but the guys can [[haste|hasten]] themselves and still catch you. Salamanders use ranged weapons very competently, and again [[Repel Missiles]] would be a good spell to have. [[Mana viper]]s are not dangerous as such, but they come to melee range fast with a bite that reduces your MP, so you need to prioritize them. [[Aizul]] is a unique frequently found in the Pit, and he may put you to sleep for a while. Because he is so boring. A remnant dwarf found down here is [[Jorgrun]]. He casts LRD and Shatter himself, and you are highly vulnerable to both. Kill him quick – don’t give him the few turns he needs to smash you. [[Azrael]] is a fiery [[efreet]] swinging a sword of flaming, and he comes supported by [[fire elemental]]s and a pack of [[hell hound]]s. Obviously, you will want some resistance to fire when you meet this group. A [[wand of iceblast]] is about the most efficient thing you can find to take care of this situation.
+The [[Snake Pit]] is a usually dry and very orderly place full of snakes of all kind, [[naga]]s, [[salamander]]s, and [[anaconda]]s. Anacondas and nagas will start to [[constriction|constrict]] you when you are in melee range, but your good AC gives you a lot more time to deal with it than other casters. The most dangerous regular enemies are [[naga warrior]]s (blue) and [[nagaraja]]s (red), who have lots of HP and are often well armored. Nagas are normally slow, but the guys can [[haste|hasten]] themselves and still catch you. Salamanders use ranged weapons very competently, and again [[Repel Missiles]] would be a good thing to have. [[Mana viper]]s are not dangerous as such, but they come to melee range fast with a bite that reduces your MP, so you need to prioritize them. [[Aizul]] is a unique frequently found in the Pit, and he may put you to sleep for a while. Because he is so boring. A remnant dwarf found down here is [[Jorgrun]]. He casts LRD and Shatter himself, and you are highly vulnerable to both. Kill him quick – don’t give him the few turns he needs to smash you. [[Azrael]] is a fiery [[efreet]] swinging a sword of flaming, and he comes supported by [[fire elemental]]s and a pack of [[hell hound]]s. Obviously, you will want some resistance to fire when you meet this group. A [[wand of iceblast]] is about the most efficient thing you can find to take care of this situation.
 ===Spider's Nest===

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 Up till now you will have marveled about how fast your experience grows in this game. All those Lair-monsters made you jump from one XL to another, so that you probably left the Lair with XL 14 or even 15. Here with the orcs now everything seems to slow down to a crawl. No matter how many monsters you kill, you just don’t seem to make any progress on your experience counter. This tells you that by now you have completely outclassed orcs and play in a different league. But this impression is deceptive, as these two levels contain foes which make dying in the Orcish Mines as easy as anywhere else.
-* [[Orc warlord]] – there should be at least one of these orc bosses in the mines, usually on the second leverl. They are heavily armored and hit hard. If you still have nothing beyond your Stone Arrow, you will find it very difficult to make him roll over. He also has powerful ranged options.
+* [[Orc warlord]] – there should be at least one of these orc bosses in the mines, usually on the second level. They are heavily armored and hit hard. If you still have nothing beyond your Stone Arrow, you will find it very difficult to make him roll over. He also has powerful ranged options.
 * [[Orc high priest]]s with their blue robes are found in small numbers on the lower floor, but you may encounter them occasionally upstairs. They are a lot more dangerous than regular priests, particularly because they tend to call [[demon]]s who can harass you to death. Whenever you see them, they need to be your very first priority. LRD kills them fast, if they position themselves favorably. Killing the orc high priest also makes all of his demons disappear in a puff of smoke.
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 Just like in the Lair, you may have announcements about the presence of a [[Volcano]] or [[Ice Cave]] when entering a new area here. Find it and clear it – by now you should be ready. Otherwise, there might also be a timed entrance to the [[Bailey]], a level with lots of armed monsters, usually [[goblin]]s, [[kobold]]s, orcs or [[gnoll]]s. Most of them you can defeat easily, but there will always be some high-end bosses to kill, so you might find yourself forced to retreat from the area before you have reaped the loot. This loot can be quite desirable, such as a [[potion of experience]], which is about the best shake you can quaff in this game.
-Except for what your slain enemies let fall to the floor in their death rattle, there is absolutely no loot to be found in the Mines. The appeal of this place lies in the abundance of gold lying around everywhere. If you have not squandered away a good part of it already in some shop, by the end of fighting in the Mines you should have at least 2000 gold pieces, if not more. And then you’ll have four guaranteed shops on level 2 where you can all spend it, and quite often more shops on the other level. But you should also have a look at what your enemies leave behind for you. Enchanted robes or leather armors, and maybe a well-enchanted [[morningstar]] can definitely improve your equipment.
+Except for what your slain enemies let fall to the floor in their death rattle, there is absolutely no loot to be found in the Mines. The appeal of this place lies in the abundance of gold lying around everywhere. If you have not squandered away a good part of it already in some shop, by the end of fighting in the Mines you should have at least 2000 gold pieces, if not more. And then you’ll have four guaranteed shops on level 2 where you can spend it all, and quite often more shops on the other level. But you should also have a look at what your enemies leave behind for you. Enchanted robes or leather armors, and maybe a well-enchanted [[morningstar]] can definitely improve your equipment.
 The shops on level 2 are well defended, though. Quite often all four shops are found in a vault area. High concentrations of the strongest enemies you can find in the Mines make it necessary to advance slowly, and to always retreat when you have attracted the attention of more than two or three enemies. Always know where the next stairs are, and make sure that you know what to expect up those stairs.