Mr. K's Kobold Berserker(s)
I like melee characters but could never get into Crusaders, so it's been Fighters, Priests, and Berserkers mostly for me. Kobold Berserker is probably my favorite combo. This is the diary of one or more of them!
KoBe #1
D1-D5
D1: Amazing! I find an amulet and a glowing sabre in the room I start in. I wield the sabre and turn all my skills off so I can get Short Blades ASAP. Neither the sabre nor the amulet is cursed; it doesn't mean they're not bad (especially the amulet, which could be inaccuracy) but I'll take my chances. I have a couple of close calls but survive without resorting to berserk.
D2: I read some scrolls as I enter the level. A stack of three does nothing. Probably remove curse. A stack of two prompts for a target, so I select the amulet... and I identify an amulet of warding! One of the weaknesses of Berserkers is hordes of summoned monsters, so this will take care of that problem nicely, and the rN+ isn't bad either. As I turn the corner, though, I come face to face with Jessica. When I berserk to take her down, she continuously blinks around until my berserk runs out. Egads! I kill her with 2 HP remaining, score a ton of piety with Trog, and grab her embroidered robe... which turns out to be a +2 robe of positive energy. rN++ by D2? I'll take it! I spot Ijyb a little later and decide to let him be for the moment. I finally identify my sabre as a +1, +2 sabre, which all things considered isn't too shabby, though I really need to find one with a brand. When I return to Ijyb, after clearing the whole level, I pull him to a cleared area, but he starts zapping me with a wand of confusion! I wait for him to exhaust the wand's charges, then chug a blue potion in a stack of four. Succcess! It's healing. I berserk and take him down rather easily.
D3: I get my second piety start with Trog, and the ability to use Trog's Hand, as I enter D3. The level is fairly uneventful; I found two rings already, and find two more on this level. The first two turned out to be wizardry (ugh) and see invisible.
D4: At the staircase, I start reading scrolls, hoping to get detect curse and see if I can try my newfound rings safely. I first get curse armour, then recharging, blinking, curse jewellery, teleportation (I retreat to D3 so I'm safe when it kicks in)... and finally detect curse! And whaddyaknow, one of those two rings was cursed. The other one doesn't identify, sadly. Oh well. Level exploring time! Striking a rat from a blind spot nets me the Stabbing skill, which I turn off for the moment; I'll turn it back once Short Blades is high enough. Oh, a bloodstained hand axe? Yoink. Axes aren't a Kobold's forte, but you never know. Hmmm, I am missing a staircase up, though... Let's go back to D3. Yep, sure enough, the third staircase puts me in a second, separate section of D4 that has a couple of scrolls, a potion, a rat and an ooze.
D5: I have six scrolls of identify, so let's find out about that axe those rings... The cursed +10, +5 hand axe "Tuemuep" {freeze, rElec MR}. Uhm, hell yes? The ring I'm wearing (aside from see invisible) turns out to be fire, though, so I read a scroll I tried before when I had no cursed items on, and sure enough, it turns out to be remove curse. Durr, I forgot to put on that other cursed ring beforehand, though. Not a terrifying loss anyway. I set to work chopping monsters, including a hound, who falls after three axe hits. I don't even have the Axes skill yet! Fortunately my meager Maces & Flails skill will help crosstrain it for a few levels. Yikes, centaur, let's go another way since it hasn't seen me yet... Piety is at three stars by now, so I've got a reliable anti-poison mechanic (Trog's Hand) even if I don't have rPois yet. I one-shot a very unlucky imp and giggle in glee. Antique armour shop! With warped boots for 130g? Hell yes! The cursed +0 pair of boots of the New World {rElec Str +3 Acc +4 Dam +3}. Mother of an early game! Bring on the ziggurats! I clear the rest of the level no problems.
D6-D9
D6: I pick up a lead wand, turn around, and zap it at the wall. Lightning! Not bad. This axe is making monsters a joke -- jellies, worms, and other baddies all fall without any trouble. I find a cursed +0 dwarven helmet. Why are all the items I find cursed already? Before long I've killed my first ogre, another centaur, and found two more rings and the entrances to the Temple and the Orcish Mines! Since I've got decent strength I'll hold out until the Lair to create a stash. Onwards!
D7: Ugh, a wide-open level. Have to be careful not to get swarmed by monsters. I retreat when I spot an ogre and an iguana, and head off into a new direction, hopefully one with fewer tough enemies. Gah, an ice beast... the one monster my axe won't be able to freeze to death. A second ice beast? I've lost one potion but come out relatively unscathed. Which might not last very long: to continue exploring, I now have to fight either Sigmund or the ogre/iguana combo from before. Let's go see what D8 has in store for me...
D8: As it turns out, not a whole lot besides monsters. I slaughter my first band of orcs (with priest), a yellow wasp, and a third centaur. I did accumulate some more jewellery from previous levels so let's play the identify game! A small copper ring is a ring of hunger -- which means that other cursed ring I picked up earlier was probably teleportation. Ooooh, a ring of poison resistance! Now we're in business! Lair and Hive, here I come! Assuming D9 doesn't kill me.
D9: Damn good thing about that ring. I'm ambushed by a pack of killer bees as soon as I set foot into D9! That, and yet another ice beast. I retreat upstairs to fight the bees... and somehow, they kill me. Uhhh? I guess when you get hit for 10 damage a pop... Oh well. Should have berserked.
KoBe #2
Okay, so a little less hubris this time around. I guess there is such a thing as a game going too well. In hindsight, letting only one killer bee come up with me, then judging the difficulty of fighting that lone one, would have been a better idea. Here's to hoping I'm swamped in artefacts and good jewellery again!
D1: Fairly uneventful. I pick up a glowing dwarven dagger that seems to be letting me one-shot many monsters, so it's gotta be decently enchanted. I find very few scrolls and potions; I carry on. At least I've already got two piety stars.
D2: The first section of D2 I enter is small and features a cockroach as only decoration. I backtrack and try a second staircase. Funnily enough, I stumble upon an altar of Trog, which has a glowing dagger on top of it! But it's only a dagger of returning. Meh. But it's +0, +4! The glowing dwarven dagger, meanwhile, is +1, +3. Guess I'll show respect to Trog and use his gift for the moment.
D3: I've picked up a few more scrolls, so time scroll roulette! Scroll of fog, random uselessness, identify (that one ring I picked up is see invisible... again), enchant armour (+1 animal skin!), and finally recharging (though I had no wand to recharge). A decent crop. Still no detect curse or remove curse, though, but that means they'll be easy to pick out. I tiptoe away from a sleeping Terence; my dagger and Short Blades skill are nowhere near good enough to take him on, perhaps even with berserk. I also find Crazy Yiuf's abode, tucked away behind a wall of mushrooms, but it's the same Terence: not yet. Guh, but speaking of him, I accidentally wake him up when passing nearby... I am standing on stairs up, so I could run, but what the hell, let's try berserk. Trog protect me! Ooookay, I guess I could take him. If by "take him", you mean "kill in three turns". Bah screw it, let's go kill the ol' crazy gnoll too while we're at it. Three turns again! Must not let hubris take over...
D4: I find a small, cross-shaped vault almost as soon as I set foot in D4. Must remember to check it out later. I take out a large pack of humanoid monsters (kobolds, hobgoblins, orcs), but the noise of our scuffle brings out a ghost of mine, an average Mountain Dwarf Fighter. Ruh roh! And I'm at half health. I dart down a side corridor to escape its undead gaze to heal, but it follows me anyway. If I had a wand of fire I'd nuke it, but for now, I'll leave and dive to the next level.
D5: A worker ant grants me experience level 6. Eep, ogre! Stealthily get away... I do better against quokkas and their ilk. I'll come back for the ogre when I go back to that player ghost.
D6: The Temple is on this level. Along with a bunch of imps. I keep fighting those guys... thank Trog for that dagger with the bonus damage. When I manage to stab monsters with it, they pretty much implode. I'm able to corner and slay a giant frog without too much trouble for a nice chunk of XP. Yiiiikes, a room full of big kobolds? Tippity-toe away... Nope, accidentally spotted again. Damnit. Stabbing time! Aaaaaaaaand... somehow, I get sandwiched by not one but two groups of big kobolds. Sigh.
