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[Korbac]

Trog seems okay for a bit longer... Then again, looks like BiA usefulness will top out soon as monsters overpower your hill giants, trolls etc. And the 'zerk and plentiful gifts must be somewhat good... 

Well... I'd say either stick with him, or switch to Lugonu. 

[Angel Of Death]

Nemelex. In my opinion, when you get enough piety, he is the best god for melee character.

[breadbocks]

Yeah. If you get enough legendary decks of wonder or escape, the sky will crumble beneath your might. And stacking a deck is so op...

[Dr.Feelgood]

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

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We just got our 2nd rune, so let's continue exploring the dungeon! While heading to D:16, I ran into a sleeping centaur warrior. These guys are about 3x more dangerous than regular centaurs. Their shots frequently deal around 30 damage. Centaur warriors are usually accompanied by a group of centaurs. I'm a coward, so I decided to sneak away and go down to D:16.



There's a huge water section at the bottom of the level. I decided to leave that area for last and explore the rest of the level. While killing a fleeing hydra I stumbled across Rupert.

A mighty crusader, far less interested in converting heathens than killing them.

I managed to duck behind cover and rest without waking him up. Rupert is a nasty unique who likes to get enraged and pummel you with a big, 2-handed weapon. Rupert also has an annoying habit of recovering from exhaustion very quickly. The most dangerous thing about him is that he can paralyze you, so be careful.



I drank a potion of agility and shot Rupert with 2 curare needles. The 1st needle was to cancel out his speed boost (he went berserk) and the 2nd one was to actually slow him down. A bunch of ugly things suddenly appeared, so I summoned a troll to deal with them. Afterward, I went berserk and killed Rupert.

Rupert was the 1st unique to damage dik-dik after I acquired curare needles. Too bad. I wanted to continue my perfect streak.  Trog rewarded me with a gift for my victory (flaming bullets).



I found an artifact lajatang and a potion shop. I must be lucky. 



I brought everything, except the potion of magic and potion of restore abilities.



That brown and green bug is a giant firefly. I rarely ever see them. The only things notable about them are 1. They're hard to hit. 2. If they appear I think spriggans might be close by.



I killed the firefly with my sling and it turned out to be a shapeshifter. A shapeshifter is a very dangerous creature that can change into almost any monster in the game. Kill them ASAP!



I wasted an identify scroll on the lajatang. I threw it away.



We reached level 19! 18 more than I expected!



Trog gave me needles of sleeping, which isn't useful to me. I guess I should talk about needles. There are several types of needles: poison, sleeping, paralysis, curare, confusion, slow, sickness, and frenzy. Most are self-explanatory, except frenzy and sickness. Frenzy is kinda like berserk, except it makes you hostile towards everyone. Sickness just prevents a monster from healing over time.

Most needles, except poison and curare, rely on throwing skill and blowgun accuracy to be effective. Really high throwing skill basically makes needles irresistible. Needles (particularly paralysis and sleeping) are good for folks who wanna stab demon lords in the post-endgame.



After clearing the rest of the level I returned to the watery area. There are several small vaults linked together by shallow water. Each vault has a little bit of loot (I found an artifact ring) and ice statues.




Let's see what's behind this large door.



Ice statues and some decent loot. I summoned an iron troll to clear the vault.



Hey, there was an ice dragon in here too. Butchering its corpse may leave an ice dragon hide, which can be enchanted into ice dragon armour (AC 9, EV -3, rCold++, rFire-). I'm not going to wear heavy armor, so I just sacrificed the corpse.



I didn't fully explore this place, because I decided to go back to my stash and get some silver bullets. I'll show you why soon. Before I left I used a few recharging scrolls on my rod.



Ooh! I like this ring. I think I'll wear it.



These monsters are the reason I went back to my stash. I dislike them. Skeletal warriors have high MR and AC, carry good weapons, hit hard, and travel in packs. They can also reanimate corpses, so don't kill your food in view of them.



Silver does double damage against them, so they're easy experience. 



While curbstomping these skeletons Trog gave me an artifact demon blade!



It seems like a decent weapon. I think I'll use it for now.

[Dr.Feelgood]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I start off D:17 by getting attacked by a door. 



I forgot to mention that if you butcher a troll's corpse you may get a leather hide, which can be enchanted into troll leather armor (regular leather armor with regen, I think).



Saint Roka!

A mighty warlord. Some orcs even say he is the Chosen One of Beogh.

I guess Roka is looking for the Orb to prove that he's the Orcish Messiah. Too bad he's going to die to a kobold! Anyway, Roka isn't difficult. Roka is similar to an orc warlord, except he can smite you. He travels with a band of orcs and sometimes he has a crossbow, which is a lot more painful than smiting. In general, you're better off fighting him from afar.



I killed the orc warrior in my way and slowed Roka down with a curare needle.



Then, I drained him to death with my demon blade.



Deep elf knights are basically squishy reavers with a variety of potential spells. They're kinda tough when hasted or slowing you down, but not too tough otherwise. Elves usually appear in the Elven Halls.



I <3 silver bullets.



Trog gave me another demon blade, because Trog loves me!



It was a demon blade of vampirism.  Vampiric weapons heal you slightly 80% of the time when you hit a living creature. You must be at least 'full' to wield a vampiric weapon. Wielding it will reduce your satiation level.

Anyway, there's a wizard on the edge of my screen. Wizards are spell casters with the same spell sets as Erolcha. You know, banishment, paralysis, crystal spear, etc.



Now, to go to D:18!



More silver bullets! I just might stick with Trog, until the end.



Ogre mages are slightly more dangerous than Erolcha and travel in packs with other ogres.




Trog gave me a useless gift.



I ran into another ogre pack at the top of the level. This time I decided to confuse one of them.



The ogre did a nice job of hitting his buddies. I only had to finish them off.



Snorg was that close to the ogres? I'm surprised the commotion didn't wake him up.

Snorg

A hairy troll, angry and mean.

Snorg has twice as much health and MR as a regular troll, and his berserk rage will outlast yours.



It's nothing a few curare needles couldn't handle.



A shop!



Damn mimics! 



Clay golems are omni-resistant non-threats, just beat them to death with a weapon.

[Dr.Feelgood]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Lots of monsters in this area, but it's nothing I can't handle.



Oh boy. I ran into Louise at the northwestern corner of the map.

Louise

An unusually heavily armoured spellcaster.

Louise likes to banish people and heal herself. It's the only notable thing about her.



A curare needle and raging iron troll deftly took care of her. I finished up the level and went downstairs.



I finally found the entrance to the Vaults!



I don't feel comfortable with all these monsters around, so I left and used a different staircase to enter this level. I also dropped by my stash to store away my silver bullets.



A shop! Hopefully, it's not another mimic.



Nothing useful in here.



Level 20! We still level up quickly despite using a weapon of draining.



Another shop and a very annoying creature.



It died in one hit. Boggarts are incredibly weak (around 11 HP, 0 AC, barely any MR, and only 2 HD), but are potentially extremely dangerous. They like to turn invisible and cast "Shadow Creatures", which summons level-appropriate monsters (including other boggarts!). I'm close to the bottom of the dungeon, so I really don't want them to summon anything.

Zapping boggarts with a wand is a good idea. Kill them with extreme prejudice!



I brought the cursed ring. I'll probably return to buy something else.



I'm done with D:19. I don't think I'll enter the Vaults yet.



Deep elf fighters are similar to elven knights, but weaker.



Trog gave me a weak anti-magic weapon. That was pointless. Anti-magic is a new weapon brand in v0.8 that causes a monster to miscast a spell (lose a turn when they try casting a spell). Wielding it reduces your max MP by a lot, and getting hit by it depletes MP (for you, monsters have infinite MP).

Anti-magic works on anything that cast spells. The chance of the miscast effect working on monsters increases based on damage dealt with the weapon, decreasing every turn. This means it's best on weapons with high base damage.



Ugh. This is gonna suck. 



Yaktaur captains are upgraded yaktaurs. Steel bolts are very painful. I should have used berserk.



A book shop. Too bad we can't cast spells.



Still, there's no harm in checking it out, right?
 


Hell hounds are demonic dogs that breathe flames. They're not much of a threat.



Hell knights are very well equipped battle mages. They often carry a demonic weapon, and sometimes a speed branded weapon! They also cast spells. Either pain, bolt of fire, and blink (for fleeing) OR pain, throw flame, and haste. Margery usually travels with hell knights, so I summoned a stone giant to help me.



I like watching my berserker allies go to work on monsters. Sadly, allies are more effective when your enemy is not in your LOS.

[Dr.Feelgood]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Thank you, Trog! 



Meh. Minor setback.



...Oh crap.



I read a blink scroll and started running for my life. I ran past a gateway to Hell while fleeing the level.

This gateway leads to the Vestibule of Hell. Few would go there voluntarily.

The Vestibule is the entrance to the four other branches of Hell. I'll talk more about it if we ever decide to go there.



After running around most of D:21 I finally found a staircase!



Let's finish up this level.



I really can't say anything more about how awesome it is to get tons of gifts.



This deck of escape might come in handy in the future.



More loot!



A small ebony casket is a "Box of Beasts" when identified. When successfully evoked it releases an animal. If you fail to evoke it nothing happens, and there's a 16% chance that the box will become unusable. I don't ever use it.

Anyway, we're done exploring D:20, so let's move on.



We're near the end of the dungeon. Gateways to other, harder branches start appearing frequently the further we go. This gateway leads to Pandemonium.

This gate leads to the endless halls of Pandemonium. Tales about successful lootings of these netherworlds are rare. Even the strongest and most experienced characters can die there. On the other hand, these halls contain several runes and lots of valuable items. It is much easier to get in than to get out.

Pandemonium is an infinite branch, like the Abyss. There are no set levels, and it's impossible to return to a level once you have left it. Pan is filled with all types of demons and has 5 unique runes (4 are guarded by unique demon lords).



More curares, because you can never have enough!



At this rate I'm never going to run out of sling bullets. Not that I'm complaining. 



Regular dragons are powerful cousins of hydras. They can breathe fire, which does up to 72 damage without fire resistance. Their breath isn't too bad when you have 2 rings of fire protection on.



I eventually encountered Margery's knights, while clearing the level. Curare and haste are enough to deal with them.



Finally, we face off against Margery!

A lithe spellcaster.

Margery is a surprisingly dangerous unique, despite only having fire spells. She has fireball and bolt of fire. Both can deal a lot of damage, so don't fight her without fire resistance. Margery also hits hard in melee and travels with 3-4 hell knight, who are also dangerous.

I summoned a troll to distract her.



While she was distracted I shot Margery with a curare needle and joined the fight.



Margery didn't last long in a 2 on 1 fight.  And everything else in the area died soon afterward.



My inventory is almost full, so I dropped some stuff at my stash and proceeded to D:22.



All 3 stone staircases lead to this room.



Lava fishes and lava snakes are basically regular fishes and snakes recycled in lava! Both are fiery, and both are harmless to us. Remember to drop your scrolls before fighting them.

[Dr.Feelgood]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I decided to ignore the lava monsters and kill these eels first.



I found a frost giant and a fire giant sleeping next to each other. I'm almost tempted to make a joke. Almost.

These giants are very similar to each other, so I'm not going to bother talking about them in-depth.  They're both dangerous, if you lack resistances.



They're not so bad.



Fire crabs are new monsters. They breathe fire clouds everywhere. Other than burning scrolls, they aren't too tough.



I almost forgot that exploding bullets existed.



Dik-Dik is never going to run out of bullets. Anyway, I'm not going to waste my time searching for a secret door in that gigantic vault, so I'll explore everywhere else.



Blowing up fishes is fun!



There are a lot of enemies in the last section of this level, so I summoned an iron troll.



Level 21! I picked dexterity.



My troll stopped attacking monsters for some reason and I had to retreat. 



Trog's weapon gifts aren't as good as his ammo gifts in this play through. Oh well.



I levitated across the river again to reach this final area. There's a sphinx guarding a room, so maybe there's something valuable inside! Sphinxes are VERY dangerous monsters. They can cast confuse, paralysis, minor healing, smite, and slow. If you have low MR and AC you should stay away. Sphinxes can deal close to 50 damage per turn, so you'll die fast if it manages to paralyze you.

Heck, getting paralyzed around any powerful monster is almost guaranteed instant death, so carry an amulet of stasis around if you can.



I rested in this room before killing the rest of the monsters in this area. They were guarding a wand of fire.  I'm going to try teleporting into the large vault.



Welp. This isn't good.  Shadow dragons are unholy beasts that breathe bolts of draining, which can lower your level. If you have full life protection/negative energy resistance, shadow dragons' breath does nothing to you.

They do leave a corpse (filled with hydrochloric acid, yuck!), but they don't leave a hide. Which means there's no shadow dragon armor.

Deep trolls are weaker than brown and iron trolls, but come in packs. I should definitely leave before they wake up.



Nope. I got blasted by the shadow dragon before my teleport kicked in. Now, I'm surrounded by monsters. I desperately summoned help and drank a few healing potions.



Crawl is cruel. Never forget it.



I don't know why I keep picking up artifacts that I know I won't keep. I have a problem.



Tentacled monstrosities are omni-resistant and have a lot of health, but are slightly slower than most PCs. They can be summoned from "Summon Horrible Things" (most powerful summoning spell).



I had to use berserk to kill it and a yaktaur captain appeared to harass me, while I was still recovering. I had enough of this place, so I blew up the yaktaur and left. I think I'll go to the Vaults now.

[Miggy]

Holy update batman!

P.S. Dr. Feelgood you are awesome.

[Korbac]

Holy update batman!

P.S. Dr. Feelgood you are awesome.

I concur!!!

[Antioch]

Doesn't using a draining brand all the time reduce your xp gain too much?

Also, you ARE going into pandemonium right? I never came out of there alive, I actually once melee'd my way through the tomb and slime and taking the 15th rune from cerebov's dead body, only to be volleyed by a horde of hellion's. But that was in a rather old version.

[Angel Of Death]

I'm pretty sure I once recruited Saint Roka as an orc. Ahhh... Fun times.

[YouR_DooM]

w00t for updates!

[Dr.Feelgood]

Doesn't using a draining brand all the time reduce your xp gain too much?

Also, you ARE going into pandemonium right? I never came out of there alive, I actually once melee'd my way through the tomb and slime and taking the 15th rune from cerebov's dead body, only to be volleyed by a horde of hellion's. But that was in a rather old version.

Yeah, the experience loss is noticeable. It's still a lot less than if I played a summoner. For example, Roka has 8385 xp and draining him to death reduces it to 7692. I lose a chuck of xp in exchange for killing him very quickly. There's so much xp in the dungeon that using the draining brand doesn't bother me.

Pandemonium is an odd place. It's the easiest demonic branch in general, but every once in awhile there's a big danger pike, like Hellion island (there's a guaranteed rune there now!) or a pan lord who blasts you with ice storm repeatedly before you can even make your move.

I'll go for all 15 runes if that's what you guys want.

[Dr.Feelgood]

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

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Goodbye, Trog. It was fun.



Yes, I'm sure.



I was expecting a more... brutal response for betraying him. Anyway, it's time for:

Dr. Feelgood's Heretic Corner!

Gods will punish you if you abandon them, except the good gods (TSO, Zin, and Elyvilon). The good gods will only punish you if you switch to an evil god (Lugonu, Beogh, Kiku, Yred, and Makhleb). For some reason, Trog isn't considered evil, despite being a violently bloodthirsty god of rage who demands sacrifices. 

You can renounce your faith anytime you want, but you better be prepared before doing so. Once you abandon a god your penance counter is set to a number (depending on your ex-god) and every few thousand turns your god will decide whether or not to punish you. Every time you get punished your penance counter is reduced, until either you're dead or your ex-god is mollified.

How to survive a god's retribution? There are plenty of ways to survive. Most gods' wrath aren't too dangerous. If you happen to piss off every single god in the game there's a way to survive that too! I've tried this before, so I know it works:

Step 1 - Banish yourself to the Abyss.
Step 2 - Draw a Tomb card out in the open.
Step 3 - Wear an amulet of stasis.
Step 4 - Cast Necromutation.
Step 5 - Automate the process of resting and re-casting lich form.

There. Now, you're invincible. I didn't do step 5, which caused be to go temporarily insane and leave the Tomb, while most of the gods were still angry at me. I still somehow managed to win that game. *shrug*

Whew! I'll talk about Trog's wrath later.



I think I'm ready. 



A Tomb card is the ultimate defensive power in Crawl. It used to be a spell, but it was removed from the game due to being grossly overpowered. It's still overpowered in card form, but you can't cast it whenever you want. Tomb surrounds you with rock walls, which completely prevents monsters from interacting with you.

Combined with a Vitrification card and you'll get a translucent rock barrier. Great for annihilating enemies with fire storm, while being protected against 99% of all attacks. 



Yeah. Sure, Trog.

Trog's wrath is simple. He'll either try to surround you with hostile Brothers in Arms, weaken you (decay, STR loss, paralysis, or slowing), or use a fire miscast effect. If you're unlucky, Trog will send berserkers after you while you're eating. 

I'm using an amulet of faith (causes Trog to punish me more often) and a Tomb card to wait out his wrath, but you can use a different method to survive (like using controlled blinks or creating a teleport trap).



It's finally over. Time to pick a new god!



I'm going to use my katana from now on.



Say hello to the Shining One, our new god! Don't worry, TSO is temporary. Most of you guys voted for Nemelex, so I'll join him after getting my katana blessed.



TSO is one of the most powerful gods in the game. You'll see why later.



Unfortunately, TSO likes honorable people and I'm as dishonorable as they get. 



I have a lot of money, so I decided to buy an amulet of resist mutation (self-explanatory)and conservation (protects against item destruction). Next time, we'll go to the Vaults. I promise!