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[Angel Of Death]

I used to always play as a paladin then abbandon TSO and pick another god. Ahh... Good times.

Nemelex is awesome, he's much MUCH better than Trog in my opinion.

[G-Flex]

TSO is a lot more useful late-game, though, because his powers (and the weapon brand he gives you) are much more useful at that point, when you're fighting lots of demons and undead.

[Dr.Feelgood]

Welcome back to Let's Play Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We gained TSO's 1st power pretty quickly, due to monster spawning. TSO sometimes restore a bit of your HP/MP for killing evil, demonic, or undead beings. How much you get healed depends on their HD. The post-endgame content (Pan, Hell, Abyss, and Tomb) is made up almost entirely of demons and the undead.



Finally, the Vaults! The Vaults is a 8 level deep branch with a rune at the bottom. Each level has wide open spaces and few monsters, except the bottom floor. This (and all the unoccupied rooms) makes the Vaults seem largely empty. The monsters aren't different from what you can find very deep down in the dungeon, so this place isn't very interesting either.

The last level, Vaults:8, is filled with a lot of monsters. At least 20 vault guards ambush you when you enter the last level! It also has a lot of loot. There are 4 large treasure vaults on the bottom level and one of them has the silver rune.



Oh Fu--!

Agnes

A tall (for her kind) and beautiful warrior, as vain as she is quick. You can't help but notice both her exotic weapon and graceful movements. She searches the dungeon for aesthetically pleasing objects to surround herself with.

Agnes is a ridiculously fast (almost double our speed!) spriggan warrior who carries a lajatang (sometimes with a elec or speed brand!) and hits like a truck. She will kill us very quickly if we stay and fight. I can't use curare, because TSO hates it.



I'll return to the Vaults to kill her later. We're going to the Abyss! Portals to the Abyss appear near the bottom of the dungeon, so that's why we're on D:23.



I forgot to mention that I learned a few spells after ditching Trog. You can see them above the inventory (next to the blue star). From left to right: Blink, Levitation, Repel Missiles (protection against projectiles), Swiftness (increases our moving speed), and Control Teleport. I can't use any of them, at all.



This place is giving me more trouble than I expected. I created a tunnel and used berserk to kill most of the monsters following me.



I had to use a few dispersal darts and sling bullets to deal with the skeleton.



I stopped by a shop to buy a ring of regeneration and a ring of see invisible.



We found the portal!

A one-way gate to a demon-haunted realm, riven by chaos, its very substance impermanent and whimsical, filled with creatures out of nightmare.

The Abyss is an infinite branch ruled by the fallen goddess, Lugonu. What do I mean by "infinite"? Monsters and loot never stop spawning, and this place doesn't have an end. The level wraps around; once you hit the border of the level, you cross over to the opposite side.

As you can see, there's no map. The Abyss can't be mapped and you'll forget where you were as soon as you leave an area. You also can't use auto-explore. Teleporting here takes longer than usual to work, and when you do teleport it has a 20% chance of resetting the level.

The monsters here are a mix of demons, abominations, and other creatures. If you spend enough time here you'll eventually find the Abyssal rune.



Let's soak in the atmosphere.



We gained TSO's 2nd ability! Divine shield acts like a normal shield, except you don't have to hold it, and it doesn't suck like Condensation Shield. Its duration and blocking value (SH) depends on your Invocations and Shields skills. And it's cumulative with other shields.



That was quick...



We now have all the runes needed to enter the Realm of Zot! 



Soon we find a gate leading out of here.



I decided to stay and grind piety for awhile. We don't get any new abilities at *** piety. I identified a potion of blood, just to piss off TSO without getting in trouble. Blood potions are useful for vampires and transmuters. Obviously, we have no use for them.



I started getting overwhelmed by demons, so I left.

[YouR_DooM]

need moar of these awesome updates!

[BishopX]

Wow, a rune and an exit in less than 500 turns in the abyss, that was fast!

[Antioch]

The Abyss is awsome with TSO as killing demons heals you

[Miggy]

Is that... A pair of angel-wings, gotten from worshipping TSO?

[Burnt Pies]

Nah, it's his Righteous Aura, gained from worshipping TSO.

[Angel Of Death]

What does the Righteous Aura do? I've noticed that in older versions, monsters have it as well as you.

[Dakk]

Monsters don't have the aura itself, they're just being iluminated by it. I think this gives you a bonus to accuracy, and reveals invisible creatures? Dont remember.
The only monsters that have a natural righteous aura are angels and daevas I think.

[tomas1297]

Monsters don't have the aura itself, they're just being iluminated by it. I think this gives you a bonus to accuracy, and reveals invisible creatures? Dont remember.
The only monsters that have a natural righteous aura are angels and daevas I think.

It's pretty much passive corona on everything in melee distance from you. Yeah, easier to hit.

[Mr.Person]

Burning corpses and glowing shapeshifters have self-coronas, which is the same effect but only on themselves.

[Dr.Feelgood]

Welcome back to Let's Play Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I went back into the Abyss for some more demon slaying. If you're powerful enough to go for all the runes, the Abyss is the easiest post-endgame branch (followed by Pandemonium). Inexperienced players have trouble surviving in this place at a low level, so here are some tips:

* Always keep moving and ignore the items on the ground.
* You may want to run at a slight angle, instead of straight on, to reach the edge of the level quicker.
* While running keep scanning your LOS for major threats, like greater demons, liches, etc.
* If you can't find the exit and you're getting tired of running, then it may be a good idea to worship Lugonu.

Some useful items to bring with you are:

* Ring of levitation: There are some terrifying monsters that cannot follow you over lava and deep water, such as executioners.
* Ring of teleportation: An infinite source of teleporting is useful for getting away from the hordes of demons that will be following you. Make sure to cancel any active teleports and remove the ring when you find the exit!
* Ring of regeneration: Heal faster while running.
* Boots of running: Anything that increases your movement speed is incredibly useful in the Abyss.



A tormentor. They like to torment you. That's bad.  Seriously, unless you're immune to torment you should kill them ASAP!



TSO provides passive negative energy resistance (a.k.a life protection), which increases with piety gain (to rN+++). Max life protection offers slight protection (around 15% ?) against torment and immunity to draining attacks. Other passive powers include a halo that grows in size the more righteous you are, and life-saving.

The halo is basically the corona spell (increased accuracy and reveals invisible monsters) that also reveals submerged monsters. If you have high enough piety TSO might save your life by preventing a killing blow from dealing damage to you.



Death drakes breathe miasma clouds (like curare with added rotting!). You've seen how badly curare debilitates  unique monsters, so kill these guys with extreme prejudice or flee! I killed it and reached level 22!



We gained our 3rd ability for TSO: Cleansing Flame. It fires a large radius blast of holy energy centered on the player, which does significant damage to undead and demons, but doesn't harm the player or friendly monsters.



After constant victory dancing we finally gained translocations skill! Hopefully, I'll be able to cast my spells soon.



TSO finally recognizes our demon-slaying prowess and gives us an appropriate title.  Oh, and we gained our finally ability from TSO: Summon Daeva. You can summon a servant of TSO. They're protected from Abjuration, and TSO keeps them around longer if you keep killing evil beings.



I skipped on showing a lot of (weak) monsters, but I'll show them off eventually. I don't want this LP to be bogged down with nothing but descriptions of monsters. Anyway, I've never seen an eidolon before... It looks like a wraith with a crown. I wonder if it's dangerous.



I guess not.




After some more grinding I gained two more skills! I still can't cast my spells though. Orange demons have poisonous monsters who aren't immune to poison, for some reason.



We finally maxed out our piety. The bottom of religion screen says we can bless our weapon now. 

Weapon blessing replaces a weapon's brand with holy wrath and enchants it (like a scroll of enchant weapon iii). You can't bless artifacts. If the weapon is a long blade or demonic, its base stats will be enhanced and receive a name change. Long blades become a "Blessed Blade", and demonic weapons (whip and trident) become "Holy Scourge" or "Blessed Trishula".

The best candidates for weapon blessing are:

* demon whip
* katana
* demon trident



Green Deaths are greater demons. Demons come in tiers: 1-5. 5s are the least dangerous demons and 1s (a.k.a greater demons) are the most dangerous demons outside of named demon guardians. Green Deaths can cast poison arrow, poisonous cloud, bolt of venom, and blink. I don't have rPois, so I ran away.



Here's an altar to Lugonu. I have no reason to worship her, so let's go back to the dungeon.



Don't worry. I don't plan on returning to the Abyss any time soon.




Oh yeah! 

[Korbac]

Kick ass.

[breadbocks]

That is one kickass weapon. But why is holy-ifying a katana better than holy-ifying any other long blade?