Toggle Background Color
Part 4 - You Have A Feeling Of Inadequacy
Welcome to Level 18. At this point, I can be pretty easily outclassed by almost everything I come across. The ring of stealth I have is going to be pulling its weight quite a bit.
I carefully pick up a scroll of identify and another scroll of confuse monster scattered by the sleeping troll.
There's also another unidentified scroll, which I'll save for later.
While walking down this tunnel, I suddenly start swinging my mace at a piece of air! This is a phantom, which is permanently invisible (represented by a P in ASCII, if you have see invisible). They are also stronger than centaurs or yetis (but not as strong as trolls and the nastier monsters) with up to 20 damage in an attack. If they catch you at a bad moment, the run is over.
I end up fighting it to avoid being cornered trying to find the staircase, and barely scrape by.
There's another unidentified scroll type up by the staircase.
As well as a potion of healing AND a potion of extra healing! That's a relief to see, just in case I get in trouble.
Finally, there's another scroll of confuse monster.
From here on, I'm mainly going to be diving for staircases if possible. I've got the next level to find another scroll of scare monster; if I don't find one there, I can no longer pull off a grinding session, since dragons start spawning at Level 20. Dragons have a ranged fire attack that lets them ignore a scare monster scroll.
Level 19 has me step on a tele trap as my first action. Random teleports aren't as scary with a ring of stealth on, since it mainly helps me find the stairs faster at this point.
I find more food and shoot this nymph to death to hopefully get it to drop scare monster.
Unfortunately, it's just another potion of gain strength/blindness. Either is useful, though, so I head on over to pick it up.
aaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH GET AWAY GET AWAY GET AWAY
I still head over on the hopes of getting another potion of blindness to take this griffin out of commission long enough for me to slip away. It's just gain strength, though, which isn't going to help.
I wait for it to get close and throw a potion of blindness at it. Next, I make the dumb mistake of trying to fight it for a MASSIVE experience boost. It corrects me for this mistake by taking over half my health away in a single hit.
While it is still confused, I loop around it to check out the southbound door for the staircase. It shakes off the confusion shortly afterwards and gives chase. Thankfully, being able to move two spaces doesn't equate to being able to move and attack, so I can still escape down a staircase safely if I find one.
No luck on that staircase 
Leading the griffin over to the corner with the gold, I make room to read a teleport scroll and leave it behind. Unfortunately, the first teleport doesn't really improve the situation.
Much better.
To mixed feelings, I fall down another trap door. On one hand, I got away from the griffin! On the other hand, I can no longer safely grind, and I'm going to have to dive to 26 with what I have. The diving will have to be quick before the RNG fucks me over for getting this far.
An unidentified wand was in the corner next to the staircase, so I grab it quick. It could prove useful.
After I identify it, however, it isn't quite that useful.
For the record, this was the first light source I found, and it was NINE levels after every single room (would have) turned dark. This is why I have NoDarkRooms turned on, because that is a bit bullshit.
Hubris takes the better of me and I decide to risk scouring the level for anything else that could prove useful. Unfortunately, it is just another ring of searching.
And now I'm paying for that greed. I get cornered by an ur-vile (represented by a U in ASCII, and used to be called a black unicorn). They hit harder than a griffin and have better defenses, only have a little less HP, with the only upside being that they don't have any special rules. Unfortunately, being cornered means that it has an advantage against me in every way.
I read a scroll of confuse monster to hopefully get it confused next turn. While confusion isn't useful for escaping in tunnels, it IS useful in making a monster only have a useful move a quarter of the time (moving away or attacking you).
I sure hope this works as well, because I'm dead next turn if I miss.
Success! Now I just have to hope that it fails the 1/8 chance of hitting me!
YES! I succeed in overcoming my damned situation (caused by my hubris)! As a reward, I get the rank of "Champion" and seven more max HP!
Instead of taking that as a hint to leave, I still keep exploring the level, and I run into a phantom. Thankfully, however, I run into it in an open room, because phantoms follow the same rules as bats (erratic movement). This is intended to make them tougher to fight/track down without see invisible, but I take it as an easy way to escape.
I jump right down the staircase to Level 21, which I should have done after grabbing the wand 
Ugh, a maze. This could prove deadly if a nasty monster spawns in the way.
It seems to be a multi room maze as well, which is even more annoying. Luckily, I find a scroll and some food halfway through.
The scroll is teleportation as well! 
Another staff in this room. Hopefully it's something useful.
And while trying to pick up a scroll in the maze, I run into the inventory limit for the first time this game!
The inventory in Rogue is limited by slots, but I forget what the exact size is. It is big enough that you are usually more likely to die over actually being able to fill it up.
The scroll I read to make space turns out to be enchant weapon! Too bad I still only have the starting mace to use it on.
The scroll on the ground also happens to be enchant weapon, but I save it on the off chance I manage to find SOMETHING useful.
Finally, the stairs!
Oh boy, that would be a vampire (represented by a V in ASCII) to welcome me to Level 22. Vampires aren't scary for their combat capabilities (they are actually weaker than centaurs). What makes vampires scary is that they have the chance to drain 1-3 MAX HP from you for every successful attack. This is the main threat for anybody who has managed to grind themselves to a point of godhood, since the only way to get more max HP past a certain point is to waste healing potions.
I will just be taking the better part of valor and avoid them if possible. No need to ruin my already small HP pool.
I try to pick up a scroll I just found, only for it to turn out to be a Xeroc (aka a renamed mimic). Xerocs take the appearance of any item until you try to pick them up, in which they revert back to their normal selves (represented by a X in ASCII) and get a free attack.
I could probably fight a Xeroc, but I don't even want to test it. I throw my remaining potion of blindness at it and run around it to the door.
I lose track of it using the maze that was conveniently outside the doorway. Even though ClassicRogue improves the monster AI, it still can't figure out complex corner pathing.
This would be the first 'loaded room' that I've encountered this game. As you can see, there is a lot of nice loot guarded by a lot of not so nice things: vampires, jabberwocks (the purple guys, represented by a J in ASCII) who are super nasty melee guys, and medusas (the green guys, represented by an M in ASCII) who can inflict confusion which can last for 20 turns. I'll just leave and hope my ring of stealth actually worked (and that the stairs aren't under any of them).
And that's a dragon. Hopefully he isn't awake either, or I'm dead two steps out the door.
Phew. Still alive. This ring of stealth is definitely worth the food cost.
Another phantom gets in the way of me hoping that the stairs aren't in either of those death rooms.
Oh please don't be awake please don't be awake 
YES! Made it to the stairs, and just as something came in the door that WAS awake to completely murder me. Cya suckers!
Alright, only three more levels to dive through to get to the Amulet of Yendor. This has currently surpassed my best depth of 20, so hopefully I make it!
NEXT TIME: The completely, absolutely terrifying home stretch!