Kuresu the Samurai grew up in a tiny village and always wanted to be a bushi ever since he could wield a shinai and spar with his father. His youth was dedicated to improving his mind and body. On his thirteenth birthday he received a vision from Amaterasu Okami saying that one day he would perform a great deed in her name.

A young Lord Sato took notice of the bold warrior and accepted him as his personal servant. One day Kuresu was called into the lord's chambers and was told he was honored with a mission from the emperor and Amaterasu Okami!

Kuresu was promptly slain by a swarm of soldier ants. The cycle of rebirth was merciful to Kuresu-sama many times, more than six hundred according to the ancient scroll known as the logfile. Each time he started out on the quest for an increasingly older Lord Sato and eventually Lord Sato's descendants, he would suffer the ignominy of choking all over his food, seppuku out of frustration at the hands of a mind flayer, slain by falling rocks only moments after entering the dungeons, tumbling through a hole wielding a stone bird, and many others too embarassing to mention.

Not all of his attempts were futile. Many times he labored through the Dungeons of Doom, Medusa had always fallen quickly, the final reward of the castle being hard won after hundreds of battles with other honorable bushi of an unknown lord. The sights and smells of Gehennom were no mystery to him for he had visited those forsaken lands on many occasions and he remained grateful that Amaterasu Okami never saw fit to condemn him to its depths.

On October 11th, early in the evening, Kuresu struck out once again to retrieve the Amulet of Yendor. Already he had misgivings about the quest but his faith remained steadfast in his lady and his lord. His humble katana had tasted the blood of savage minor races, unclean and undead denizens of the shadowlands in addition to mighty beasts of natural and unnatural origin. He was surprised to discover a wand of wishing when he acquired the title of ninja. Quickly he was outfitted in shining armor made from the skin of a dragon, became blessed with increased speed and the strength of a typhoon from enchanted boots and yugake and finally protected himself with a mystical tattered cape that became the bane of every spellcaster who deigned to vent their wrath upon him.

A humble shopkeeper sold him a gaijin katana which became something far greater once it was washed in the waters of the dungeon's many springs. He fell into a steady rhythm of killing and eating that only bolstered his abilities, imbuing him with many intrinsics that are only attributed to legendary kami and heroes of the past. Soon he acquired a simple ring that made eating almost unnecessary for the rest of his journey.

The gorgon fell speedily upon seeing her reflection in his armor and much deeper he came upon the fabled castle where he slew every last man and creature only to find another wand of wishing. Several wishes later, he had wiped out all undead sorcerors, all the creatures which once lived in the damnable waters of these depths, bizarre creatures that ate metal and drained the mystical ability of his weapons. He had many encounters with the squid-men and despite their tastes he still remembered how dangerous they could be and that they too must follow the others to the grave wholesale lest he fail and forget what he was seeking in the first place.

Yet another castle awaited him deep in the walls of the dungeon, a foreigner with dark hair and eyes sat upon a heap of gold commanding abominations to slay the thief. Infuriated at the insult, Kuresu regained his honor, washing away the insult with the blood of Croesus. The gold was then donated to the priest of Raijin in the underground village of the tiny people with enormous noses. Kuresu was truly protected from anything that may dare assail him.

Now he turned his eyes homeward, remembering his promise to slay Lord Sato the LXXVIII's mortal enemy Ashikaga Takauji the LXXVII who had stole the Tsurugi of Muramasa many years ago and passed it along to his bastard kin. Now a Kokushu, he was sent on his way to the unknown lands that contained only wolves and invisible assassins along with the pitiful ronin who claimed Takauji as their lord.

The Tsurugi of Muramasa did not dull in the intervening decades and remained as sharp and deadly as its weilder's mind. Several close calls later, nightmares of Kuresu laying in two pieces flashing before his eyes, Ashikaga's head was thrown to the crows and his body to the waves.

Being a forward thinking samurai, he realized the potential for using the original mystical sword given unto him by the amphibious kami. Sure it was a gaijin's toy but a formidable toy, especially after imbuing it with mystical blue light. The tsurugi, along with Orcrist and Sting and a ninja-to named Dragonbane and Snickersnee, was left atop the lone altar to Amaterasu Okami he discovered during his quest.

If only he could remember why the bell was so important.

Brilliant blue potions and the remains of souls increased his power until he became a shogun. Soon he cut a swath through the Valley of the Dead then entered Gehennom. That's where he discovered that he was just as flammable as he was when he was a humble ronin. After all those hours, after all those fire ants and red nagas he never acquired fire resistance. He wrested the final charge from his wand of wishing for a sapphire ring that protected him from the fires of Gehennom. A dark lord bore a golden device made to hold candles and granted him the very first amulet of life saving. Many oni fell, hundreds of bakemono and goblins pricked at him like swarms of mosquitos but he never succumbed or showed pain in their presence. He slew a red dragon and ate its heart then realized he would never need that sapphire ring again. Soon Kuresu found the very bottom of the festering pit of hell. An industrious soul, he dug out the entire level until the floor shook under his feet. After much consideration he sought out the Wizard of Yendor.

When he finally touched the ancient foreign tome borne with frightening runes and images, he realized he did not want this to be carried with his gear. It wouldn't fit into his magical bag so he decided to only pick up the book for brief periods then kick it towards the ladders and stairs.

Soon he made his way to the vibrating square, it was surrounded by gold pieces so he wouldn't have to search once again. It was very dark so he put some candles into the golden branch then he rang the bell since he figured it must do something followed by attempting to read the blasphemous text. A moat rose from the floor, fiery pits surrounded him ready to burst forth pillars of flame and stairs descended ever deeper into the bowels of the earth.

The Priest of Moloch died noisily and dishonorably, leaving the final prize for him.

What seemed like hours later, he finally reached his point of origin and remembered he owned two magic lanterns. Figuring one more wish wouldn't hurt, he rubbed the blessed one and was greeted by a vast saracen from the west who thundered "It's about time!"

Annoyed but far from dejected, he ascended to the elemental planes. Feeling cocky, he removed the amulet of life saving and wore the Amulet of Yendor. The planes were far from frightful despite the horror stories and visions of his past incarnations. Fortunately the amulet led him towards each portal. Earth had him crashing through dirt and stone until he stumbled upon the portal to the plane of air. Fearsome air elementals relentlessly battered him requiring him to use only one of his potions of full healing. Soon he was surrounded by fire in the plane of, well, fire. He blinded himself to prevent being blinded and distracted by the foibles of salamanders, fire giants and vortices. The plane of water was quiet and very simple as long as he remained patient and followed the bubble's seemingly aimless wanderings.

A flash of light and disorientation.

He fell hard onto the ground of the astral plane, an angel appeared beside him and granted him fealty as protector in this final endeavor. Angels of bastard gods, swarms of insects and ruthless gaijin who also sought the Amulet of Yendor set upon him. By pure chance he decided he would turn left and head in that direction.

Ron the Tourist fell quickly as did the Angels of Moloch and Susanowo. He spied the priestess and ran inside followed by a skeletal man bearing a scale in his hand. His valiant Angel of Amaterasu Okami, Corky, was surrounded by fiends. Honor required him to protect his newfound vassal but he quickly realized it would be far worse to die when so close to his goal. The angel looked at him and urged him onward.

He offered the Amulet of Yendor upon the altar of Amaterasu Okami and heard an invisible choir sing as he was bathed in radiance.

The voice of Amaterasu Okami rang out, "Congratulations, Mortal! In return for thy service, I grant thee the gift of Immortality!"

Kuresu ascended to demigodhood, escaping the cycle of rebirth forevermore.

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I was using the Enhanced Artifacts patch but never used any of the artifacts which were enhanced by the patch.

Amulets
x - a cursed amulet of life saving
Weapons
a - the blessed rustproof +7 Excalibur (weapon in hand)
b - a rustproof +7 katana (wielded in other hand)
Armor
d- a blessed fireproof +4 Hawaiian shirt (being worn)
e - a blessed +4 silver dragon scale mail (being worn)
f - an uncursed rustproof +2 orcish helm (being worn)
g - a blessed rustproof +3 pair of gauntlets of power (being worn)
h - a blessed fireproof +3 pair of speed boots (being worn)
i - a blessed fireproof +4 cloak of magic resistance (being worn)
Rings
o - an uncursed ring of levitation
w - an uncursed +5 ring of increase damage (on right hand)
y - an uncursed ring of slow digestion (on left hand)
Wands
c - a wand of death (0:0)
X - a wand of death (0:7)
Y - a wand of death (0:4)
Tools
k - a blessed bag of holding
l - an uncursed magic lamp (lit)
q - a blessed unicorn horn
t - an uncursed towel
z - an uncursed skeleton key
Gems
J - a blessed luckstone

(SPARING YOU THE CONTENTS OF THE BoH)

Final Attributes
You were piously aligned.
You were fire resistant.
You were cold resistant.
You were sleep resistant.
You were disintegration-resistant.
You were shock resistant.
You were poison resistant.
You were magic-protected.
You saw invisible.
You were telepathic.
You had automatic searching.
You were stealthy.
You had a +5 damage bonus.
You had slower digestion.
You were protected (naked 0 AC)
You were very fast.
You had reflection.
You were wielding two weapons at once.
you were extremely lucky.
You had extra luck.
Good luck did not time out for you.
You survived (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Voluntary Challenges:
You genocided 14 types of monsters.
You never polymorphed an object. (never got a /oPoly)
You never changed form.
You used 13 wishes. (geez)
You did not wish for any artifacts. (and I never will)

I saved the monsters I killed as screenshots but Paint Shop Pro screwed up the first two screens. I killed Orcus, Asmodeus, Geryon, Juiblex and most of the named baddies. I was hoping to get Demogorgon since I got a bigroom and Ludios.

From the remaining files, looks like the most kills were 121 soldiers. The fewest were a tengu, a red and black naga hatchling, a baby crocodile, a baby crocodile, a brown and a red mold. Only 61 gnomes were murdered in the quest for the Amulet of Yendor. I promise to do better next time.

Total kills: 2936

Genocided species:
mind flayers
master mind flayers
liches
demiliches
master liches
arch-liches
rust monsters
disenchanters
jellyfish
piranhas
sharks
giant eels
electric eels
krakens

Whoops, I just found the right file for the big monsters

Asmodeus
Baalzebub
Geryon
Orcus
Juiblex
The Wizard of Yendor (4 times)
Death
Famine (twice)
an arch-lich
a high priest
a mastodon
Medusa
Croesus
a master lich
....
Ashikaga Takauji
....
Vlad the Impaler

You get the idea. I finally ascended after playing Nethack for the past five years! My life has been wasted in the most wonderful way!!! Yeah it's just an ascension but it's my very first. Nothing very interesting about it.