10/19/07
Grunt made a stash for his stuff engraving Elbereth in the ground using four uncursed emeralds. Elbereth is a word that keeps all monsters away from a square. It would have been better to actually burn Elbereth into the ground with his wand of lightning yet that uses up a charge that could be used later on in the game. Engraving eventually wears away but it's more sturdy than simply writing in the dust.

Dungeon level nine is the oracle level. Grunt killed a werejackal and acquired a pair of high boots which provide more protection than low boots. Also Grunt stepped on a magic trap that decided it would be funny to shuffle the letters for his inventory items around so his unicorn horn was now in slot a rather than slot q.

Dungeon level ten didn't have a big room. The big room is a level which is a single large room rather than corridors and rooms making a traditional dungeon. The big room usually has really good combat and some good items.

Things aren't so bad since dungeon level ten had a temple to Set which will prove useful later on in the game. In fact he inscribed Elbereth with his wand of lightning before both doorways into the temple. If Grunt is beset upon by monsters and Grunt retreats to the temple, first monsters have to get past Elbereth and then they have to cope with the power of Set which protects Grunt. All temples have an aura which protects their faithful from attacks. Now if Grunt was lawful and honored Mitra then the temple of Set would not do shit.

Grunt enchanted his rustproof battle-axe to +5 enchantment. His asskickery has increased exponentially and I'm afraid the game may not be very interesting because combat is laughable to him. He just needs one more blessed scroll of enchant weapon to top off at +7 enchantment. Uncursed scrolls of enchant weapon will increase the enchantment by +1 yet blessed scrolls have the potential to increase enchantment by more than one. Of course there will be blessed scrolls that will only give a single extra level of enchantment.

Why stop at +7? A weapon becomes unstable at +7 enchantment and has a strong change of evaporating into nothing. This is a Bad Thing ^(tm).

At the moment I am considering pursuing the remaining conducts which are actually quite important conducts to break. Currently Grunt has used no wishes. This isn't for a lack of trying because he was quaffing smoky potions hoping to get a djinn. Nor has Grunt genocided any monsters. Tradition calls for the genocide of liches and mind-flayers with some attention paid to disenchanters and sea creatures. Liches are powerful spellcasters, mind-flayers eat one's brains causing death and stupidity which manifests as forgetting items (for example that scroll of identify returns to being a scroll labelled ANDOVA BEGARIN and potions of levitation revert to being brilliant blue potions), the maps of levels and spells. This may not be an issue considering the way Grunt's saga is being chronicled with screenshots and notes. Grunt hasn't polymorphed himself yet which can be useful if he is able to say "I want to be a gray dragon" rather than randomly becoming something like a newt or grid bug.

In the meantime Grunt read his two scrolls of create monster. A white unicorn was created, slain and sacrificed to Set reaffirming that he is thoroughly on the right path. A gnome lord also appeared but swiftly died leaving no corpse since nothing was left considering the immense damage dealt by Grunt's battle-axe of asskicking.

Anyway Grunt's stashes in Minetown and from dungeon level nine have been moved into the temple and he intends to pursue Sokoban. The stairway is in the upper right hand corner.

My first appointment.