Droyg (Iteration 1)

This page is a Diary of a Crawler, the journal of an individual character. This page probably contains spoilers.

What follows is the diary of Droyg, and his many, many lives and deaths. I created Droyg using Random Character, so he's different every time... (Note: I'm pretty new to Crawl, so please excuse my blunders.)

First Iteration: Droyg the Poker, Merfolk Fighter

Level 1

Right, let's explore this dungeon!

So I've got a trident, a scale mail, a shield and a bread ration, all of them +0s. Let's see what happens. I walk down my starting corridor. There's a crossroads up ahead, with a one-way set of stairs down just to the north. Not likely! I need more experience before I do that.

I walk north and find another staircase. Not yet... all in good time...

Down the corridor and I find a scroll of QIABOFEUPI. Unfortunately I don't have time to pick it up because ARGH THERE'S A MEGABAT. God I hate these things.

Bam! Bam! Two hit kill. No sweat. That was a lot easier than I thought. I collect the scroll and a nearby pile of coins.

I continue westward and encounter another megabat. This time I kill it in one hit. God I hate these things. I want to kill them all. Megabat genocide. That's an interesting option, but to quote Mr David Byrne, I ain't got time for that now. Further west I go. I find a room with a rat in it. Another OHK. One less rat in the world.

There's another suit of scale mail in the room and I try it on. It's exactly the same as the one I started with. I discard one of the identical suits and continue my quest. Unfortunately in pressing the D key I press the E key as well and eat my bread ration by mistake. Ah well, now I won't need food for a while.

A scroll of MNOCIQ REIRHEA! It's blocking my progress south. Ah well, could come in useful. I take it. The corridor leads me to another crossroads, with some paths branching off the western path. To this end, I take that one.

More downward stairs await in the next room, as does a kobold. It takes two hits to kill this slightly stronger monster. I decide to explore a bit more before delving further down.

I go south ARGH A GIANT COCKROACH! It dodges a few times but my trident is too much for it. God I hate these things. Giant cockroach genocide? Whoa, let's not get carried away here. I'll hold that thought. Megabats are my number one genocide priority right now.

Cool, another QIABOFEUPI scroll! That will help when I find out what the hell it is. I head south into the next room ARGH THERE'S ANOTHER MEGABAT. A one-hit kill. I'm getting good at this. Turns out the passage was a dead-end loop, so I go east and find a room with a rat. And another megabat. And as I go in deeper, yep, another megabat.

After a few dead shots at the bats I kill the rat in one blow and BAM! I'm level 2! Awesome. Now I have a better chance of killing these pesky bats. One brief skirmish later and they're dead. One leaves a corpse, but megabat flesh tastes horrible, I don't have a butchering tool (do tridents count? Must look this up) and I'm not hungry yet. In fact I'm still Very Full.

A short trip east reveals another big room with money, a NIOFEBBETTA scroll and stairs. Now I feel ready to face the perils of Level 2...

Level 2

On Level 2 I go west and find an empty room. Continuing west, I find another empty room. They sure are big on empty rooms down here... This one has no passage to the west, so I instead go south. Another room. This one has a quokka. I am instructed not to call it a rat. It proves a surprisingly difficult opponent. Due to its size it takes 20-odd thrusts of my trident to down the blighter.

Now I go east. Another empty room. Further east there's a dagger in the corridor. I don't have a chopping tool yet, so I grab it. More downward stairs! For the last time, I'm not ready yet!

Another short trip east reveals a room containing two more bloody megabats (well, they were certainly bloody by the time I'd finished with them) and a goblin, who's carrying 14 runed darts which I take. I don't have a ranged weapon yet, so I may as well, and it will be interesting to find out what the hell they do...

East to another empty room. North to another empty room. North again to, you guessed it, another empty room. North to a mercifully not-empty room which unmercifully contains a hobgoblin. Two hits are sufficient to dispatch the monster.

After a fashion, I go north again and find a giant newt which is blocking a rather promising looking pink potion. I kill the newt, which is sufficient to boost Polearms to Level 4! Neat. I try to get the potion, but just as I move onto it a worm appears. It takes surprisingly many hits to knock out the invertebrate monster, but I manage it. I grab the potion.

I head west and find a meat ration. Naturally, I grab it. I'll need it later.

I go as far west as I can, passing an unwanted sling, then south to find a dart-flinging kobold. I respond with a dart of my own, but this one's runed... and it's explosive! Sadly it overshoots, blowing up three squares behind the kobold. I keep throwing. One of my five shots lands on target, but does very little damage. Forget the darts, it's time to get up close and personal. A couple of trident thrusts are sufficient and BAM! I advance to Level 3! This gives me a statistical bonus: I choose Strength, since it's my most important attribute as a fighter.

I pick up some more gold (looted from the kobold) and, in the next room, a scroll of KLAUSO MOKO and a slimy silvery potion.

My brief explorations confirm that there's nothing else of interest here, so I return to the downward stairs I found earlier. Level 3, here I come!

Level 3

I go down and immediately encounter a goblin. Two explosive darts are enough to take it out, but I can barely pause for breath before two jackals and a blowgun-armed kobold appear. The commotion attracts another goblin. In the battle, one of the blowgun needles poisons me! Panicking somewhat, I drink the pink potion I found earlier and, mercifully, it is a potion of healing.

Pausing only to grab another scroll of MNOCIQ REIRHEA... hey, I've got two now, I may as well try one out. Detect curse! Useful. I also spot that I have two QIABOFEUPI scrolls too, and test one. It prompts me to pick an item... this is worrying. I pick the dagger I have, praying that it won't get cursed...

Identify. The dagger is +0/+0. I use the other Identify scroll on the silver potion, which turns out to be a potion of heal wounds. Rock. Now I should get moving.

I know that there are sometimes altars here, but I'll wait for the Temple to choose a god, so... off we go. I choose west as a random direction.

Ooh, an apple!

North, and I find a gnoll with a club. A few trident thrusts later, it's an ex-gnoll. I rest up to recover my health. Further north I find exactly the same thing again. The same treatment works just as well. I rest up again and continue north. Dead end. There's a side corridor heading south which leads me to a goblin with a dagger and a sling. It takes surprisingly long to kill. I pick up the sling and a few stones, figuring that I'll need a ranged attack mode when my explosive darts run out.

A little further south and then west, and I encounter a giant newt and a hobgoblin. A goblin with a dagger shows up shortly, but it's no match for old three-spikes. Brief exploration of the area reveals a bread ration and some cash. Cool. That will come in useful... somehow.

I continue north and then west, stopping to OHK a rat which is clearly out of its depth. More bread, woo! South and I find a room containing two orcs, one of which has a glowing dagger! This is important. I murder the unarmed one, which gets me up to Level 4 (rock) and then concentrate my efforts on the armed one, which promptly snuffs it. I pick up its dagger. Damn, I wish I had an identify scroll right now. Speaking of which, I decide to burn some of the scrolls I have amassed. NIOFEBBETTA does nothing to my trident and CLAUSO MOKO just does nothing at all.

I wield the dagger dropped by the orc... no, it's cursed. I won't be using my trident for a while. I explore in a loop and, presto, a gang of orcs, one unarmed, one with a club and one orc wizard. I fling three explosive darts, killing the unarmed one and seriously wounding the wizard. It takes what feels like years to kill the wizard and the armed orc, plus a giant gecko which has appeared. I keep dodging the gecko and gain Level 1 Dodging. But my hit points are getting low... wait, the potion I got earlier! That feels better. After an exchange of blows I finally kill the blighter, and rest up to recover health. I need a scroll of remove curse, soon.

Some goblins and a hobgoblin take the opportunity to gang up on me and attack! I beat them all, thankfully. Going south I find an ooze. After killing it I find that the noise has attracted yet another megabat. Sorry, what megabat? Do you mean that corpse over there? Of course you do. My dagger ineptitude and the bat's agility meant it tool ages, but there's now one less megabat in the world.

In the room I pick up plenty of gold and a runed robe. Trying on the robe, I discover it's a +1. I change back into scale mail, but keep the robe; after all, it could be sold later.

It's high time I went down a level, so to Level 4 I go...

Level 4

So I reach Level 4 and I'm immediately under attack by a hound, a hobgoblin, a giant gecko, a dart-throwing kobold and an ooze.

DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE

And I'm dead.

It was the hound that got me in the end, but I'm sure I'd have done better if I had my trident with me.

RIP Droyg the Poker

Died 8th May 2011

Killed by a hound

Final score: 188

Second Iteration: Droyg the Chiller, Troll Ice Elementalist

So after a brief period of rest, Droyg has been dragged back from the dead and reincarnated. Let's see if he does any better this time.

Level 1

I enter the dungeon carrying 2 meat rations and the Book of Frost and wearing a +0 robe. My first monster encounter is a rat, which foolishly steps on (and reveals) a dart trap, decreasing its health. Using the magic which I have at my disposal on this Crawl, I cast Freeze on the rat. It's now badly wounded and, somehow, my Ice Magic skill has been boosted to Level 2 already. The rat isn't quite dead yet, but a claw swipe rectifies that.

The room has three unexplored passages. I take the westward one and find a dead end. I take the eastward one and find another dead end. Looks like the northward one then... I hate railroading.

I meet a goblin, wielding an orcish dagger! One Freeze spell kills it. I grab the dagger, but decide I'm better off with my natural equipment for the moment. I nab a bread ration that was on the floor, too.

Next I examine my spellbook. I can't learn anything else for the moment. Oh well. Then I remember that spell slots increase with level rather than skill. D'oh!

Further north, a giant newt and a goblin are seen. Aware that Freeze works better against cold-blooded creatures, I cast it on the newt. The special effect doesn't work. So I claw the goblin a few times. I miss each time and, what do you know, the dagger it wields is poisoned. I finally kill the goblin...

You feel sick. The giant newt bites you. You die...

Well, that was quick.

Trolls make bad spellcasters. Remember this.

RIP Droyg the Chiller

Died 10th May 2011

Killed by a giant newt

Final score: 22

Third Iteration: Droyg the Skirmisher, High Elf Berserker

Now this one is going to be very interesting. Very very interesting indeed.

Level 1

My starting gear in this form consists of a bread ration, a hand axe, and an animal skin which apparently passes for armour among my type. Let's see how it goes.

My clunky explorations awaken a giant cockroach, and an ooze is seen sleeping in a corner.

It takes ages to kill the cockroach, for some reason. And it damages me quite badly, so I rest up to recover.

Now I feel ready to take on that ooze! I kill it, but it takes me down to half health in the battle. Damn. I rest up once again.

Exploring north and then west, I find a scroll labelled SAIMUHUMUGG. I recall that Trog hates magic, and remember burning a spellbook in the tutorial... could it work for scrolls too? Evidently not.

And that goblin has got a little too close for comfort. Time to put my Trog-given gifts to good use... BERSERK!

I'm seeing red, I'm attacking the goblin, I'm killing the goblin, I'm looking for more enemies, there aren't any, I pass out from exhaustion. Marvellous. Some gift.

After coming around, I go north. A kobold begins flinging darts at me. I've got no ranged attack and so I have no choice but to close with the creature... One hit kill! Than you, Trog. He accepts my kill. (He keeps doing that. It's kind of annoying.)

Further north and then west I see a goblin. It's asleep. Time to rectify that. Another OHK. Hey, I'm not as bad as the cockroach suggested. I find a suit of scale mail and, without hesitation, put it on. Now I'll be harder to kill. Which is a good thing, of course... I think. It hurts to do that. I'm not sure I like thinking. I'm a barbarian. Better at killing things than thinking. Yes.

Further west and I find a red potion and a rat. An easy kill. Then I decide to try out some of the scrolls. It's not technically spellcasting, so surely Trog won't be angry with me...

The first one asks me to pick an item. As CaptC told me, this means it's either enchant armour, recharge or identify. I cast it on the ring mail I'm wearing. I think it must have been identify or recharge because nothing happens. The second one is a scroll of blinking, which I use to speed my progress southward. Trog doesn't seem to take notice, so I'm alright on that front.

A little further south I find a blackened ivory ring. I don it and nothing appears to happen. I also find some stairs. Not much use for these at the moment... need to level up a bit more.

I locate and kill a newt. Then an ooze. Yes, level 2! Now that I've gone up a level, I feel ready to go down a level. (Apologies to Order Of The Stick readers for ruining the joke.)

Level 2

From the stairs I go south. Eek, a giant mite! A few hand axe blows reduce it to a heap of chitin. Then I go a little to the west and north, and encounter a giant newt. I kill it and it drops a corpse. I remember sacrificing corpses to Trog in the tutorial, so here goes... I stand on the corpse and pray. Trog is pleased with me. I loot 2 oily purple potions which the newt was guarding.

A little to my west is an alter of Fedhas. No way! Trog is my master now! Crossing the shallow water that surrounds the altar, I am faced with a springloaded downward hatch, a snake and a bubbling purple potion. The snake is dispatched, but I'm poisoned. Drinking my red potion, I discover that it's a potion of resistance. The poison damages me and a kobold and a giant newt approach rapidly. I drink one of my oily purple potions and it, er, makes me invisible. Right. At least nobody will see me die.

I try to grab the bubbling purple potion but the newt obstructs it and, in trying to kill the blasted reptile, I die...

Should have left that snake alone, really.

RIP Droyg the Skirmisher

Died 10th May 2011

Killed by a giant newt

Final score: 45

Fourth Iteration: Droyg the Vexing, Vampire Enchanter

This one promises to be interesting too.

Level 1

I take inventory of my inventory. I've got a Book of Maledictions, a potion of blood, sixteen +1 darts, a +1, +1 dagger, and a +1 robe. My starting spell is Corona, which makes creatures easier to hit. Cool.

I grab the pair of sedimented cyan potions that are right in front of me (who put those there?) and open the door. Another giant cockroach! It is asleep.

I wake it up. And vampires are supposed to have good stealth...

Stab stab stabbity stab. Dead. It took away two of my nine hit points. (What kind of a hit point maximum is nine? Honestly.)

I rest up. To my east, another giant cockroach! Drat, I woke it up.

Stab stab stab stab stab. Dead. I'm down to two hit points. Time to rest, I think.

So many doors... Picking one at random I am unlucky enough to find a hobgoblin in the room next door. I cast Corona! It is lit up. This time, I stab it twice. Both of them hit and it's down. A rat rushes towards me next. Same again.

Going east I find a goblin with an orcish club and... oh no.

It can't be. It isn't.

IT'S ANOTHER SODDING MEGABAT!

A few wantonly chucked darts do absolutely nothing. The goblin gets in first. It's a one hit kill. And I take out the blasted megabat in one hit. Picking up my used darts, I continue east and then north. Tough luck! Another hobgoblin, wielding a club. STAB STAB STAB STABBITY STAB! It's dead. I grab a scroll of ETSUKLE NOUGO too. That could be handy later.

I pick up a black potion from a room to my west, then go east, then south. I find a room inhabited by a sleepy hobgoblin clubman and a kobold, also asleep, with a glowing elven dagger. Cool! But I manage to wake them up, despite my high Stealth skill, and they pounce on me, along with another (unarmed) kobold which just showed up. Gah! The hobgoblin is slain and I reach Level 2. The kobolds attack me, reducing me to a perilous 3 hit points... I drink one of my cyan potions... It's a potion of might... I drink the black potion... It's a potion of confusion - the Vexing has become vexed! A few more hits and I die.

Note to self: wanton potion consumption is not a good idea. See if you can identify them first.

RIP Droyg the Vexing

Died 10th May 2011

Killed by a kobold

Final score: 37

Fifth Iteration: Droyg the Magician, Demigod Crusader

Level 1

I begin my fifth incarnation with only a spear, some leather armour, a bread ration and a book of War Chants. To my west is what looks like a massive lake of lava. I leave it and head south to get a slimy green potion which I spotted. It's a dead end from that point onward.