NetHack [3.1]: Wish List

 

I am not going back to these mines again.

      

To start this session, I wasted a bunch of time going all the way back to the bottom level of the Gnomish Mines, only to fail to find a luckstone or whatever it was I was supposed to find there, despite searching every wall and futilely using my pick-axe at every place that looked like it might have a secret area. I guess it wasn't a complete waste, as I stopped at the temple on my way through the town, donated $6,000 to the priest, and got some intrinsic protection. I also killed and ate a wraith on the way back, bringing me to Level 15.

   

How, precisely?

      

When I reached Level 20, I discovered that at some point, somehow, about 10 of my items had become cursed, including my Ring of Regeneration, my Speed Boots, my Bell of Opening, my credit card, and my blindfold. I don't know how or where that happened. I spent about an hour sorting it out, first by casting "Remove Curse" until it was useless. Fortunately, I found a fountain, an altar, and a treasure zoo on the level. The altar was aligned lawful, but I used a tip from a commenter to sacrifice corpses on it until it changed to chaotic. I then used the fountain to turn all my potions into potions of water, had the altar bless them, and dipped the remaining cursed items into the potions. It took a while and I lost some decent potions. 

          

Kick his ass, Erevan!

      

Around this time, I decided to narrate a couple of full levels in detail, so here goes:

 

I begin in the southwest corner of Level 21. The room is dark, and I light it up with a lamp. There's nothing in it. I put on my blindfold and see three initial entities on the level: a wraith (yay!), a troll, and a human priest of Solonor Thelandira. I head for the wraith first. I ate one fairly recently, while returning from the Gnomish Mines, and it brought me to Level 15. If I play my cards right, I can get another level out of this one. I don't want him to touch me, so I grab his attention and then lead him back to the main room, where I'll have a few rounds to hit him with daggers or wands. It takes three daggers and two blasts from the Wand of Lightning, but I kill him. Fortunately, he leaves a corpse (along with a Wand of Digging). I eat it and jump to Level 16.

      

Tossing stuff at a wraith before he can reach me.

     

In the room the wraith came from, I find the steps down. There's a statue of an ogre king that comes to life when I approach, but he's friendly, so I don't attack. My "Auto Searching" senses identify a trap before I step on it. A message appears: "You hear someone counting money." I think this means that there's a hidden vault somewhere on the level, but I can't remember what vaults mean or if it's a good idea to loot them. 

I head west, and the troll moves to intercept me as I approach. I'm not really scared of him, so I just fight him in melee combat. He dies in a few hits, as does a rope golem that spontaneously generated behind me during the fight. I have to quickly eat the troll to prevent him from regenerating; I'm sure there are other ways, but I don't remember what they are. I kick open the door to the next room--I always kick doors, as it exercises strength and dexterity. Some of them are sometimes trapped, but they never do much damage.

      

Or go through the back door, it turns out. Where do you get "the right tune"?

      

On the far west side of the level, I find a room with a priest of Solomor Thelandira, a lawful deity. The altar is thus aligned lawful. I know there was some confusion about whether an altar could be converted if a priest was in the room, but I don't really need to convert it since there's another one just one level above me, so I leave it alone. A few trivial enemies spawn in the rest of the rooms. I clear them out and head down the stairs.

   

On Level 22, my blindfold shows me a throne room with a black dragon right in the middle of a bunch of orcs. Black dragons are among the most dangerous creatures in the game, with "Disintegration" breath, but eating their corpses gives you resistance to the same. I know from experience that dragons don't breathe if you're in melee range, so I kick open the door and step out of his line of fire. The next time my Teleportitis activates, I teleport to the square right next to him and engage him in melee combat. He dies in about 12 hits. I eat his corpse and gain the resistance that I'm looking for. It was a gamble, but it paid off. 

      

Preparing to jump right next to the dragon.

     

While I'm eating the dragon, by the way, the orcs and other enemies, including a fire giant, are beating away at me. They literally do no damage, or so little that my regeneration heals me in the next round. I've never felt so invulnerable playing a game of NetHack. I'm sure it's all going to come crashing down at some point. I'll make some arrogant mistake and get killed. But for now--and especially after this session--it's hard to see what's going to kill me.

   

I head to the throne room and start sitting in the throne. I get a couple of messages that I feel out of place, and I get confused for a few turns. But on my fifth or sixth try--I swear to Erevan Ilesere--I get the ability to wish for another object. Already having magic resistance from my scale mail, I decided to use this one on "Reflection." It takes a while because I thought there was an object called a Cloak of Reflection, but I guess it doesn't exist in this version. The game keeps telling me it's not a valid object (fortunately, that doesn't cancel the wish). I think Amulets and Shields of Reflection are both valid, and I spend some time debating which I'd rather have. I don't think there are Shields of Anything Else whereas there are several other potentially-useful amulet types, so I try the shield and get it.

        

I'm glad I kept trying.

      

I find a magic marker amid all the debris, which will be useful later for writing scrolls. My dexterity keeps fluctuating from 17 to 16, sometimes getting exercised from the door-kicking, sometimes getting "abused" from being over-satiated a lot of the time.

   

On Level 23, there's another killer bee hive in the northeast, which gives me another load of royal honey for both nutrition and increasing strength. 

        

I love it when my blindfold shows me this.

        

Level 25 offers a store, but without a single useful object except for (ironically) an Amulet of Reflection. I sell some gems there. There are four mimics in the place, which I think is a record. An altar room in the northwest has another chaotic altar and a friendly "Elvenking." He sounds important, but I can't find anything to do with him.

   

Level 26 has a type of room I've never seen before: a swamp in which every other square is water. I navigate this room very carefully, making sure not to blunder into the water squares while fighting various eels that live there. 

       

Threading my way through the swamp.

       

Level 27 starts out very weird. It begins in a long, rectangular room from north to south. There are a bunch of friendly monsters in the room, including gremlins, which keep falling into pools of water and multiplying, making it hard to get around. A titan attacks me with a Wand of Cold when I arrive, but I kill him in short order. My blindfold alerts me to other monsters on the level, including an angel, a couatl, a vampire lord, and Medusa. Most of them are all the way to the far east.

   

I find a secret door in the upper-left, but it just opens onto a pool of water, so I can't go that way. The walls are impervious to my pick-axe and I cannot teleport. Boulders and three pools of water prevent me from searching some of the walls in the southeast. I destroy one of the boulders with my pick-axe and shove the other into the northernmost pool, turning it into dry ground. Stepping on it, I find a secret door to the southeast. It lets me out, but only to confront me with a large lake of water blocking me from getting to the other "islands" on the level. I clearly need some sort of levitation. I don't think jumping is an option. Even if it was, it would require me to drop and leave behind more stuff than I feel comfortable dropping. Oh, and I find an Amulet of Magical Breathing under the titan's corpse, but even if it will let me walk through the water, I don't want to ruin all my stuff again.

     

Trying to figure out what to do here.

        

Disgruntled, I begin making my way back up the levels, looking for anything that will help. A giant spawns and attacks me with a Wand of Fire, which I take off his corpse after I kill him. I believe Wands of Fire can dry up pools of water, but it only has four charges. I also think Wands of Ice can freeze pools, and I come across one I left behind on Level 18, but it's dead. I break a statue and get a spellbook with "Haste," but that doesn't help. Finally, back on Level 8, I found a Potion of Levitation in a store. That would seem to be what I need, but it also means I can't get back unless I find some other means on the other side of Medusa.

    

I hesitate to tell you this next part because I don't think you're going to believe me. I promise I'm telling the truth and I've been adhering to all the NetHack rules--no scumming, no permadeath. I've backed up my character a couple of times, but I haven't reloaded. I mean, if I was going to narrate a bunch of lies, surely I'd make up something more believable than sitting in the throne on the way back down through Level 22 and getting yet another wish, right?

      

This is what I need, but is it enough?

      

But that's what happens. And now I'm in a conundrum. I can wish for a Ring of Levitation and be done with the levitation question or get another ultra-cool item for my ascension kit. Or maybe a blessed Scroll of Genocide for liches, or a special helm or pair of gloves. Ultimately, I decide to go for the Ring of Levitation, though. I don't know how many more of these situations I'm going to encounter. The throne vanishes after the wish, keeping me from trying a third time.

   

Back on the medusa level, I drink the potion before putting on the ring, and I'm glad I got the ring, as the potion only lasts a dozen or so rounds. I see a mind flayer approaching on the level. The game says several times that it "locks on to my telepathy." I don't know what that means, but it seems like a good creature not to get close to, so I destroy it with missile weapons and wands. Afterwards, I eat its corpse and get +1 intelligence. The angel also attacks me and actually manages to damage me for the first time this session, to the tune of about 20 hit points, before I kill him.

   

This whole time, I'm keeping an eye on Medusa by occasionally putting on my blindfold. Eventually, I make my way over to her room--a mirror of the entry room--on the far side of the level. A secret door opens as I approach and the vampire lord emerges. I destroy him and a lich with missile weapons. 

  

There's a wand underneath a boulder, and at first I imagine I've found yet another couple of wishes, but it turns out to be a Wand of Speed Monster.

     

Keeping an eye on Medusa and her minions.

     

Medusa's building turns out to have multiple rings of rooms, and I slowly make my way to her, killing the other enemies in the hall. I make sure to have on my blindfold when I open the final door to her chamber, which also contains a baby green dragon. No sooner do I have the door open than the game says, "You destroy Medusa!" When I take off my blindfold, she's been turned into a statue. I can only imagine that she tried her gaze attack on me, and it hit my Shield of Reflection.

   

Lest you think this session is too blessed, I realize at this point that I accidentally left my pick-axe outside the shop where I got the Potion of Levitation. (Shopkeepers make you drop them outside so you can't tunnel out of the shop without paying.) So I either have to go all the way back or move forward, hoping I find one later. I can already picture the entry in which I relate how I died in some preventable way because I didn't have a pick-axe. I sigh and go back for it.

      

@#$#% shopkeeper.

      

Half an hour later, I return to the Medusa level and gleefully shatter all her statutes. One of them has a spellbook of "Remove Curse." While trying to read it to learn the spell better, for some reason all of my gold disappears.

     

Medusa's full level.

     

I move down from the Medusa Level. Level 28 is a maze with a variety of monsters but nothing interesting. I find two Wands of Digging on the level, and since I already have two in my inventory, I just use them to blast open walls to make it easier to get around the level.

  

Level 29 is the famous castle level. As with the Medusa level, Teleportitis doesn't work. The castle is surrounded by a moat, a closed drawbridge marking the entrance. Something I heard in the game--a hint from the Oracle or maybe from a priest--indicates that I need to play music to lower the drawbridge. Having no way to do that, I put on the Ring of Levitation and circle around to the back door. The ring helps me avoid a number of trap doors in the hallway. There are several dragons guarding treasure chambers. I kill them and get the "Resist Shock" intrinsic by eating the corpse of a blue one.

     

I think that's what this means, anyway.

     

The hallway leads to a main chamber absolutely full of monsters: soldiers, elementals, nagas, and so on. The only thing that really scares me are the rust monsters, but if I just back up a few steps, they can't get to me without falling down to the next level and I can toss weapons and spells at them.

    

It's nice when they kill each other.

      

When it's all done, I spend a lot of time writing Scrolls of Identify with my marker, blessing them with my potions, and identifying stacks of items strewn all over the level. The good things I find are: a pair of Gloves of Dexterity, 6 tallow candles, a Scroll of Genocide, a Scroll of Enchant Weapon, and a Potion of Gain Ability. There are also a million C-rations and K-rations, which I stuff in a chest in case I come through this way again. You'll be happy to know that the throne disappeared the first time I tried to sit on it. 

   

There is, of course, a Wand of Wishing in a corner chamber. I identify it with a stack of other stuff; it has 2 charges. I think if I use the first on a Scroll of Recharging, I might be able to get as many as three wishes out of it. 

     

It's about time we got some wishes around here.

       

There are no stairs heading down, so I think I'll have to drop through one of the trap doors. Before I do, let me get your opinions on a) what to wish for (or whether to avoid wishing for anything just yet), b) what to genocide, and c) whether I need more levels. This is what I have, along with some notes:

    

• Amulet of Magical Breathing. I'm sure it has some uses beyond breathing underwater. Perhaps it's necessary for some of the levels coming up, or from protecting against some monsters. I feel like the slot could be better spent on a different amulet, though; I just don't know what.
• Blessed +6 long sword. I would have liked to find an artifact weapon, but this is doing just fine.
• Speed Boots +0. I remember this being vital to my ascension kits in previous NetHacks.
• Shield of Reflection +2. Ditto.
• Gray Dragon Scale Mail +2. Ditto again.
• Gauntlets of Dexterity +0. Could be persuaded to part with them if there are better gauntlets or gloves.
• Orcish Helm +2. I'm sure there must be some artifact helms that could replace this.
• Elven Cloak +4. Pretty happy with this.
• A variety of food items, not worth enumerating.
• Blessed Scroll of Identify
• 2 Scrolls of Blank Paper (I keep dipping scrolls I don't want into fountains).
• Scroll of Genocide
• Scroll of Punishment. Found recently; waiting to dip; afraid I'll accidentally hit the wrong number and read it. I should just drop it.
• Potion of Holy Water
• Ring of Fire Resistance. I have fire resistance intrinsically. I don't remember if items stack.
• Ring of Regeneration. My native regeneration is so high, I'm not sure why I'm still carrying this.
• Ring of Protection +2. This could be sacrificed for something more important.
• Ring of Levitation. Probably vital.
• Two Wands of Digging, 9 charges total.
• Wand of Death, 2 charges.
• Wand of Wishing, 2 charges.
• Wand of Teleportation, 6 charges.
• Wand of Magic Missile. I have no idea why.
• 7 Tallow Candles and 1 Wax Candle. I don't know the difference.
• Magic Marker with 8 charges left.
• Bell of Opening.
• Palantir of Westernesse.
• Pick-Axe.
• Blessed +0 Unicorn Horn.
• Blindfold.
• Magic Lamp.
• Credit Card (for unlocking).

    

I'll be happy to take advice. Next time, I'll see you in Hell!

   

Time so far: 25 hours