Elynae, Ogre Wanderer

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

Hi! In this diary, I will describe my attempt of ascending an Ogre Wanderer in the 0.8 version on crawl.develz.org. I hope you have as much fun reading this as I hope to have writing this. Without further ado, let's begin!

Early dungeon, pre-Temple

We begin with the following:

a + Fighting 7

b + Maces & Flails 2

c + Polearms 1

d + Stealth 1

e + Shields 1

Nice Fighting there! Sadly, I don't have a mace to match the M&F skill, only a spear. I switch Polearms off none the less, and Stealth as well. D:1 is D:1 as ever. I impale the wimps that populate it, stealing a club off the first hobgoblin I find. Soon, I come across a mace and a +1 robe. Nothing else of note happens, and I finish D:1 at experience level 3. I increased my Intelligence because I plan to play with Kikubaaqudgha.

D:2. I find a Trog altar. Despite my plans, I'll be flexible as this is a real bonus. One lost attribute, especially since Str and Dex are more or less useless for OgWn, doesn't mean much. I kneel at the altar and devote my service to him.

7 javelins on the floor! This will aid my fragility a bit.

On D:3, three orcs await me. I retreat to a corridor and start dishing out, falling to 4 HP in the course. Quaffing a potion of healing, I retreat, put some space between me and the last orc, throw a javelin and then crush him to pulp. Whew. That was close. Lesson learnt: Chuck your javelins before melee, stupid.

"You can now go berserk at will." Well, this is good. Time to buttonmash through early game! Terence assaults me, but dies after a long-drawn brawl. The fact that wimps like him can hit me down to 11 HP speaks against any optimistic statements I planned to make. Thanks for the flail, anyway!

D:4, our beloved elf-twins Dowan and Duvessa! I hit the berserk button and kill him, her, a snake, a gecko, and, last and least, a megabat. Mmm, XP! I grab the wand of slowing Duwessa was carrying. Maybe it'll be handy some time soon.

Next unique! Edmund! The bright side is, he's carrying a spiked flail, offering me another weapon upgrade if I succeed in killing him. Which I do. I check my scrolls, read 4 of my 7 ?identify and thus identify all my consumables. Nothing special except a potion of invisibility (potentially useful) and a potion of resistance (ditto).

And, next on the list, Grinder. Edmund's spiked flail and Berserk make short work of him. I pick up a goblin's throwing net. Grinder was carrying a bone wand (wonder why he never used it) and it is revealed as disintegration. Awesome! This character is shaping up nicely.

Did I mention that this level is absolutely filled with uniques? Pikel is next! I'm on experience level 8 after killing him, a nice amount. What's more, he had a whip of electrocution.

Unique #6. I'm not even going to note any uniques from now on, since they're more common than normal monsters. Anyway, said unique _was_ Eustachio. A kobold pelts me with poisoned needles. As I move in to make my kill, an ogre attacks me from around a corner. Time to berserk, I don't want to risk my life, after all. To take care of anything nasty, I net the blowgun, needles, and the 29 needles that were lying about the floor next to all the carnage. Trog's second power! Gifts are not that far away now.

Time for D:5! Thanks to that D:4, I'm nicely overpowered for ogre standards. Oneshotting enemy ogres and all that, thanks electrocution. A couple centaurs, one with poisoned needles, the other dispersing, required "advanced tactics" - anything that exceeds aatabtabtab - corners.

Another centaur, a couple zombies, and a sand-covered staircase! I walk down the steps.

Portal vault: The Ossuary

It's the scorpion one. Bad news: It's dangerous. Good news: Trog piety. I slay the first few rooms with no problem, and gain some loot. A few potions and a ring of slaying... sadly, only +1, +1. More scrolls and potions as I proceed, and finish the ossuary with no dangerous situations occurred. Sadly, I didn't manage to train and Traps&Doors in there, but that's no big deal.

Early dungeon, pre-Temple

Round the corner, I find the Temple.

The Ecumenical Temple

I take care of my scrolls and potions. Then, while quaff-IDing - There is a nasty taste in your mouth for a moment. You feel stupid. You feel frail.

Argh, no. HP is all that keeps me alive with my 6/10/0 defences. Otherwise, I identify !paralysis (great!) and !speed (good as well). The downside is, I put on my amulet immediately afterwards, a big mistake... Now I'm glowing terribly!

Phew: I actually didn't gain any mutations, which would have been bad with a very high probability.

Early game, pre-Lair

I find 5 runed javelins. Even though I probably won't even need them, since I'm all set in melee, I'll take them with me.

I proceeed to D:7. A second wand of distintegration and Ijyb. Sad, really. And a wand of draining! A gnoll pack, marching through a corridor, quickly falls victim to me. I didn't even have to berserk. This character is developing!

Menkaure. Yawn.

Trog piety is now ****. Almost there with gifts! I can see that shiny demon whip of electrocution or randart vampiric Giant Spiked Club in front of me! I find a scroll of enchant weapon III and drop it on the floor. Don't want to lose that!

And now D:8. Level 10 almost immediately. After a hard fight during which I zerked, and ogre and a centaur appear! I, in my slowed and tired state, blow the centaur up with a wand, moderately wound the ogre with it, electrocute him. Whew.

Jellies are scum! I only have 4 AC and a +0, +1 whip now!

In a Cheibriados altar vault, I encounter a robust and hard-hitting iron golem. Wielding my spiked flail due to its rElec+++, knock it down. Nice 915 XP! I identify a couple of my rings, protection from fire and +2 strength. I wear the latter (not that it will help much) and keep the former.

Uttag's Magical Wand Shoppe! A wand of teleportation (12) - 370 gold! Mine! Only 184 GP left, so I can't buy anything else, but hey, this is fine.

D:9, XL 10, Fighting 10, Maces&Flails 13! Going well! I find a shimmering golden amulet. And it's - M - the cursed amulet of Bliasipt {Inacc Dam+2} - aww. The wand of fire in the same room is way nicer. Argh! MORE JELLIES! I melee them with my dagger to prevent them corroding more of my gear. No damage done. Didn't even corrode the dagger.

• • • • • piety! Come on, Trog!

There is a staircase to the Lair here. Down we go! Survived the earliest bit of the game!

The Lair of Beasts

I can melee crocodiles and giant toads with no problem, it seems. I hope none of the nastier creatures of the Lair turn up too early. Some green rat / sheep / yak packs for piety would be nice.

On Lair:2, I face a blink frog pack! Argh! I decide to risk the berserk, but only on the upstairs. I manage to kill all five frogs, though. The rest of the level is no problem. Trog's exalted!

7 curare-tipped needles! Nice, these will be useful against any potential nasty uniques (Rupert...). And, the best part: a wand of hasting!

Argh! A griffo, and I'm Very Hungry. I run down stairs, eat a choke, then a ghost appears. I dash upstairs and zerk. The beast hits me down to 18 life. I run, while berserk and double speeded. Summon a Brother, and quaff Heal Wounds. Do it again. 16 life, the griffon still lives. One more - only two left - and it's dead.

I return to Lair:4 and confront the ghost. It's melmothX the High Elf Wizard. Should be a pushover. But he blinks, surviving my zerk at "severely damaged". So I haste myself and bludgeon him to death.

And then, on Lair:5, finally: Trog accepts your kill. Something appears at your feet! Trog grants you a gift! g - a shimmering giant spiked club {god gift} Whee! But it's "only" +2, +10, pierce, MR, Dex+3. Still, I can oneshot komodo dragons with luck.

A guardian serpent, spiny frog, and elephant slug bring me into a dire situation again. Closely, I send the frog hopping, kill the serpent, and flee from the slug. On the top of the stairs... An eight-headed hydra. I run up stairs, rest, wield my giant spiked club, moderately wound it with a wandzap, and bludgeon the monster to death. One hit is enough. I wear an amulet of guardian spirit. This will compensate my frailty. Next hydra (only four heads) I take in pure melee.

Argh! Bee room! 21 killer bees is too much for me to handle, so I thin them down with multiple wand zaps, then zerk. I manage a lot - but not enough. 8 bees survived. To teleport or not to teleport? To disintegrate. Since I have 28 total chares. Finally, I'm done. Aaaand: t - the 0+, +7 giant spiked club of Sudden Death (weapon) {god gift, antimagic, rElec rN+}. Nice. Still, I want speed or vampiric brands! And my other GSC is better in the Lair.

On Lair:7, after nothing special happened, I encounter Gastronok and crush him like a grape, reducing him to skins and juice. A +2 wizard hat raises my defenses to the overwhelming 9/11/0.

Soon after, I receive another god gift. A triple sword of holy wrath. Um... thanks, Trog.

Next blink frog pack on Lair:7. This time, I won't risk zerking, and easily win without... Wow. I may be a glass cannon, but the cannon certainly is big enough.

Eight-headed hydra! Well, I attack with almost double of its speed while berserk and can reliably kill it in two hits, so I take it on (Of course, the same goes for the hydra). Yet again successful. The HP gained while berserk and my amulet protect me well, didn't even bring me close to the danger zone. This is going well!

In a slowed and exhausted state, a hydra and a polar bear come from two sides. I prepare to teleport, but then my slowness is over. Running past the polar bear, I pillardance till my exhaustion vanishes - but I'm at 67 HP, and the hydra is right next to me. Teleport! Whew. It's like I had no HP with all the damage I'm taking.

Lair:8! I'm greeted by a death yak pack and a hydra. Berserk! I kill the hydra and one death yak, then go back up the stairs for safety. The other, sheep-filled entrance is much safer. I even receive another gift. But it's only a dire flail of draining.

I kill everything on Lair:8, then suddenly a dire elephant appears! I find a convenient space, then beserk. Since I deal trememdous amounts of damage, it bites the dust after only trampling and trunk-slapping me twice. Next dangerous enemy on the list is a lindwurm. Luckily, I have my ring of fire resistance. allowing me to potentially easily slay it without berserking. But then a hydra appears behind it (how many of these am I supposed to kill today?) so I'm forced to.

Next time I encounter the death yak pack, I try to take them on, but I picked an inconvenient spot. They quickly bring me down to 60 HP. Here, a brother would help... I use my remaining double speed to escape, summon a fellow berserker and use him as a meatshield. Soon after, I' victorious.

Oops. I just realised why I lost the fight. I was unarmed, not wielding my big friend the vorpal +10 GSC. Well...

Next gift is a flail with +Rage. Ugh. I'll only note gifts that are actually of use from now on, I think. I encounter another dire elephant. He ends the same way as his comrade.

Level's fully explored! I beat the Lair!

The Orcish Mines

I need to delve deeper in the dungeon, clearing D:10 and D:11, before I find the Orcish Mines. Over the course of that short trip, I killed the uniques Psyche, Jozef, Erica, Joseph - all pushovers for me and my club, and identified my curare needles as +4. Feeling well-prepared, but still anxious because I can still get swarmed by the hordes of orcs I'll face in here, I enter.

Orc:1 is filled with orcs as usual, but I also encounter Josephine. She drains me before I crush her. Bah. I buy a wand of fire(8) in a shop to aid my offense in dangerous situations.

Oklob plant! I berserk and rush at it. No problem whatsoever.

Orc:2 - Erolcha! And she's guarded by a troll and an orc warrior, forcing me to berserk. The ogre-witch turns invisible. This is actually a good thing, even though I can't swap my rings right now (which I forgot before), for the spellset that contains Invisibility does not contain her two worst spells, Banishment (abyssing) and Lehudib's Crystal Spear (horrendous damage). So I make short work of all foes in my sight.

Then, right on time: the +0, +2 great mace of Ygo Sheun (weapon) {god gift, slay orc, rF++}. The delay will be smaller, the damage dealt larger as long as I'm in the Mines, so I wield it. I also find a wand of cold (5). Nice, now I have draining, fire, and cold, the three strongest conjuration wands.

There's Sonja! She deals a lot of damage, blinks and has great EV, but only 6(!) MR. So three zaps from my wand of disintegration deals with that threat. I claim her curare for my own.

Then, suddely... You fall through a shaft! And bang, I'm on Orc:4! Luckily, only a small bit of the level, and what's more, I promptly find a staircase up. Whew. Before I return, I'll clear Orc:3 and Orc:2.

Argh! Stone giant! I flee, wielding my giant spiked club and resting. It seems that the great mace's damage isn't that great even against orcs (due to the bad plusses). I sock the giant a few times and emerge as the victor. Even with my GSC, my attack speed is above average now! This means I can wield it with a much lesser degree of risk.

For 16 gold, I buy an unidentfied glowing robe. +1, cold resistance - Nice! Now I resist both elements.

Orc:2 and Orc:3 cleared! Time to tackle that branch end!

I land righht next to the vault. First, to delay my death, I'll explore the rest of the level. A large army of priests, warriors and a high priest! I lure a few away and engage them in combat, sending them flying.

Then I accidentally teleport right into the vault, not wanting to fight a knight and warrior post-berserk, faced with a warlord and a high priest, and many minions, while slowed. I instantly teleport again for obvious reasons.

Argh! I keep forgetting that I'm not using my GSC sometimes! I inscribe the pesky dagger with !a. This way, I will be notified when I'm about to attack with it.

Orc:4 has many more tough moments. Berserk is simply too risky in here. But finally, I clear the level. It has a book shop, a general store from which I buy a potion of healing (I'm low on these) and an armour shop! A randart robe, a glowing cloak and a randart swamp dragon armour are now mine.

But the armour is only the cursed -3 swamp dragon armour of the Earth {rC+ Str+3}. What? I spent 1200 gold on that piece of rubbish? Bah. At least the cloak is great: A +2 rPois one. And the robe is cool: +3, Dex +1, Dam +3. I return to the Lair of Beasts and stash away some of my gear.

Interlude: Early game's done!

Well, so far, so good. My character has a really strong weapon, decent armour (+2 rPois cloak, randart robe with 3 damage slaying, +2 wizard hat), a wand of hasting(5), a wand of teleportation(9), nicely charged wands of fire, cold, disintegration. Also, 2 potions of speed, 4 potions of resistance, 3 potions of invisibility (good against centaur/yaktaur packs!) 11 enchanted curare needles. 14 meat rations, 16 honeycombs. Potential resistance to fire, cold and electricity. Now the downsides: 3 potions of healing. No potions of heal wounds. No scrolls of blinking. I'll really need to watch my step.

Skills are going well. Fighting 14, Maces&Flails 20. No reason to train Armour right now, since I don't have any good armour. I still don't think I'll pick up Throwing. Maxing M&F and Fighting before the Vaults (sounds doable) is my goal. Time to brave midgame!

Midgame: The Dungeon

D:12! My first slime creature pack. Considering that they all died in two hits, I don't need to fear these (usual) horrors right now. A second scroll of enchant weapon III, which I drop.

I proceed to D:13. I encounter a pack of about a dozen white imps. They were guarding frozen archway! I change to my rC robe and march through...

Portal vault: The Ice Cave

I am tossed into the midst of 7 ice beasts and the ghost of soldroz. He's a powerful Naga Wizard of Ashenzari. Hmm... good that nagas lack EV. I berserk and charge! Hell, he has Freezing Cloud! Even rC will not save me here if I'm not careful. Berserk! Despite his high HP, soldroz dies. I toss the ice beasts about the room - wimps - and loot the cave. 5 curare-tipped needles, a twisted gold wand which I can't indentify right now and a meat ration. Decent.

Midgame: The Dungeon

Back to my old robe, and I crawl on. The wand is only a wand of confusion. Bah. I'm hoping for healing soon. Whee! Scroll of blinking! I'm down to two potions of healing, though, since these ice beasts shattered a few of my precious potions. At least I find a new !heal wounds.

Maces&Flails: 21! The attack speed is steadily increasing. According to my calculations, it will max out at 26, so there's no real point in ever turning the skill off. I find an armour shop, but it doesn't have any dragon armours (not that I would have any gold for them due to the wastage on Orc:4). D:14 time!

A large centaur pack, in the open! Time to turn invisible. They don't notice me till I crush their leader's skull, and then their arrows fail to hit me even once. I find a staircase to the Hive. But the Hive has hardly no XP, and I don't need food or piety right now. D:15 awaits me.

Yawn. D:16. Snorg. No Snorg any more. A troll hide {Snorg}. Why not? I'd like some regeneration, and it will train Armour. But I don't have the scroll of enchant armour I need right now. Oh well.

Aizul's next to die.

Level 16! This is my new Ogre Wanderer highscore. Still going strong, and I have 2 scrolls of blinking and two potions of heal wounds now.

D:17. A scroll of enchant armour! Damn, I dropped the hide to save inventory space. So I'll just enchant my robe of cold resistance for lack of anything else. Stone giant, and a shapeshifter who turns into a dragon! This is hard. I speedily equip my rF ring and attack. The room also holds an orc knight, a cyclops and a goblin. Moments later, it's empty - they hit me for 50 in total. I find a hardcover manual (wonder what it is), a box of beasts and another scroll of enchant armour. Now, Snorg, I'll need your hide! Your troll hide {Snorg} glows purple and changes! Nice. My defences are 10/10/0 with this. Uh... at least I can dish out. Having hardly no XP in my pool right now, I decide to test the manual.

You read about Invocations. The manual looks somewhat more worn. Whee! This is one of the best manuals I could have wished for. Sure, Invocations are useless with Trog, but I'll switch to The Shining One in due time, and training Invocations with him is a bit of a pain. I drop it for now. Onwards, to D:18!

Oh no! I have blundered into a Zot trap! A ball of electricity appears! Quickly, I wield my GSC of rElec. This way, it only hits me for 4 damage. Whew. Back to my old weapon. Watched over by a large number of vault guards, I find the staircase to said Vaults.

Some dangerous zombies, force me to teleport... in an exhausted (but not slowed) state, at 45 HP, next to a hill giant. Boo. I haste myself and kill him. These two encounters ate two potions of heal wounds, leaving me at only one left. Also, one potion of healing left (I used them to cure rot, which I shouldn't have done. Heal Wounds is more effecient.

Argh! Boggarts! Teleport time! I should have blown them up when I still had the time. D:19 now. D:20. Hell-o, Margery! I equip my ring of protection from fire and my antimagic GSC with rN+, then retreat to a corridor and wait. Margery's magic leaks into the air many times... and I win, losing 7 HP in the process. I then kill off his gang. No demon whip, pity. I'm probably better off with GSCs anyway, considering my skill with Maces&Flails.

I pick up a lantern of shadows. Maybe, if I get abyssed...

Suddenly, I fall down a shaft and find myself on 'D:23! This could get iffy. I slay them all! Stone giants, yaktaurs captains... and then, Boris appears. I quickly retreat round a corner. Let's see how he likes my antimagic! As a matter of fact, he doesn't at all. I crush his dusty old bones.

A centaur pack and Wiglaf await me in the open. I send them flying. Finally, I have completed the dangerous level and climb up to D:22. Aaargh. It's the spriggan level. It kills people, it's annoying, it's the last thing you want 1) when you need to find a staircase to return to where you came from and 2) when you have a weapon that is very inaccurate.

Carefully, I annihilate the first few spriggans. Then, I open a door and... two spriggan berserkers. One immediately goes berserk. I have a bad feeling about this... so I berserk. Both die in one hit, hitting them at all was the larger problem. Argh! Spriggan druid! He awakens the forest, the forest hits me. I need to kill him quickly! And burn down the forest! Which I do. And - absolution, blissful absolution - a staircase up! It's a hard decision, because I'm really scared of this level, but I'll brave the rest. Mighty ogre knows no fear!

The next druid is less of a hassle, despite his meatshields. What's more, I find another wand of hasting. Healing, please! I enter a room with some yaks and two spriggans tending them. And another pesky druid! Argh, I hate these guys.

But two druids assault me after I berserked, so I have to teleport. I found more scrolls, and my wand is still fully charged, so I'm not running out of any consumables if I do this frequently.

A big dragon! Xtahua! Last thing I need here. Please don't ignite all the forest, pleeeease... And then, not Xtahua, but a spriggan air mage ignites it. The fire spreads and roars around me! I quickly equip myself up to rF+++ and put on an amulet of conservation.

Aaargh! A spriggan druid brings me down to 13 HP! I run, run, run... And teleport. And heal. And invoke Trog's Hand. And pray that I teleport to the right spot. I was right to fear the sprig's forest! Phew. I crush the next druid's skull and proceed. I really am scared about the Enchantress!

A spriggan defender with a glowing quick blade. This guy is surely enough to kill me alone, so I berserk before even engaging him. And then, in the midst of my berserk - the Enchantress! Noo... She dodges my whole onslaught (40 EV). My berserk runs out. I teleport. Too late...

Epilouge

I should have read a scroll of blinking instead of quaffing heal wounds. But that won't help me now...

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