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Part 5 - Bottom Of The Ninth, Bases Loaded


Alright, last three levels to dive! Let's do this!



I continue to restock my mini-refrigerator.



While backtracking in the other direction to find the stairs, I run into a medusa in the corridor.



Bye scroll of teleport

Medusas hit like trucks in addition to being dangerous for confusion, so I'm not even going to risk getting into a confuse monster fight over it.





Well, here's the stairs, but it's blocked off by a sleeping vampire. I really don't want to lose my max HP, so I'm just going to have to burn a scroll of confuse monster to get by.



I land the confusing hit, it moves away on the next turn, and I slip onto the staircase.



A quick inventory check is performed to see what I have left for taking out tough monsters. The only identified item is a single scroll of confuse monster.

Let's give the staff an identify to see if it is something useful.



Noooooope. There is no use for this other than being another identify trap.



Level 24 spawns me in a room with an asleep jabberwock.



But it quickly takes me elsewhere.



Another scroll of identify, which could come in handy if I can find something else that really needs identifying.



Over here is another scroll of teleportation! I have panic buttons again!









I haven't felt this tense in a while playing a roguelike. I really, REALLY hope the game doesn't fuck me over at the last second.





I've got one more scroll of confuse monster left, so I hope it does the trick. If the jabberwock gets lucky and swings at me, it could one shot me.



YES!

I'll beat it up now while I wait for it to move enough for me to get to the staircase.



Or I could somehow manage to kill it

Jabberwocks are the second best source of experience in the game (first being dragons, third being griffins). As a comparison, that ur-vile I killed earlier is worth over 10x less than this one jabberwock. I really struck it big here.



Of course, struck it big still only means one experience level (to Warlord), but I'll take six more max HP any day!

It also drops a ring! Let's see what it is.



I give it an identify, then drop it immediately. This is the biggest reason why it is always important to identify your rings before putting them on. A ring of aggravate monster acts like a scroll of aggravate monster, except it activates every turn and is cursed. Don't wear ID your rings unless you are already a god.



Alright, one more level until Yendorville! I don't have any more confuse monster sources, so I'm going to have to get lucky with teleport if I stumble upon anything big.



The staircase doesn't appear to be in any of these starting rooms, so I'm going to have to search carefully for some hidden doors.



I start searching OUTSIDE the jabberwock's room first, just in case.



Alright, alright, it's probably asleep, just be very very quiet...







I loot the wand in the corner. Unfortunately, I have no more identify scrolls, so I'll need to be careful about using it.



I check for hidden doors here as well, and what do you know?



It's nothing!



I start heading back and OH SHIT IT WOKE UP



Welp, there goes my last escape/big monster solution. Come on, staircase!



Oh no, it's still coming! I know the hidden door is branching out of the jabberwock's room (since I searched the others already, including the small griffin room while it was still sleeping), but this griffin's double movement means I will have to take a hit for every time I search, which will almost certainly kill me.



I decide to give blind zapping this tin wand a shot before I drastically attempt to fight it in melee. Come on, be useful!



IT'S A WAND OF TELEPORT AWAY

Teleport away is the best wand in the game, because you just point it at something you don't like and worry about it later! I distinguish it as teleport away, since there is another wand type called teleport to, which teleports any monster zapped directly to you (not completely bad, since sometimes you would prefer a monster to be next to you rather than far away, like a weak monster acting as a barrier to a tougher monster fighting you).

I should theoretically have enough zaps in this for anything else I stumble upon to get me to Level 26!



With the jabberwock still asleep, I manage to find the hidden door.



YES



YES



YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

NEXT TIME: YES YES YES YES YES YES YES