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Last time: I cleared the Water Temple, took the orb, had an epic battle with a quickling lord and then the game crashed! This time: I load up the backup save and start again from where the last update started! Woo!
I turn in the portal quest and clear the graveyard again. This time despite eating several undead corpses I don't get any extra Toughness but I do get my alignment back down to C. I clear the Water Temple again and score a rare point of Strength from a hill giant corpse as I leave. I also find some eternium boots [+0,+5] which replace my old adamantium boots as my backup for my 7LB, and an eternium spear (+2, 2d8+8) which I hold on to as a backup one-hander. On my way back down after dropping the snake's corpse off to Waldenbrook, I get another quickling lord corpse which I eat for two more Speed.
On the Banshee's level I find and eat the corpse of a white baby dragon, which grants me cold resist.
The next couple of levels are uneventful. D:24 for some reason skips to D:28 and then starts going upwards for a few levels. I run into a moloch on D:28. Molochs are very slow (this one has 64 Speed) but hit like trucks and regenerate. They are counted as demons so I keep my distance and drop him with my demon slaying ammo, which nets me 10000 experience. Very nice. For comparison, the steel golems in Darkforge were worth 5000, and the grues, demons and elementals in the Water Temple about 1000-2500 each. The level also contains a demonic lesser vault full of scrub-tier demons which I kill without breaking a sweat. Much easier than the mixed vault I got last time - mixed vaults tend to spawn a few out-of-depth monsters such as the shadow wyrm and high-exp quickling lord I fought. I clear D:27, which is uneventful except for an annoying river and a -Strength +Learning room. I get the Strength back soon after form another giant corpse.
The stairs up on D:27 are blocked by a wall of flame. To pass this, I'll need to obtain the Fire Orb from the Tower of Eternal Flames, a wilderness location. Time to head back up. Before I do, I read a blessed ID scroll to check the loot I've picked up on my way down. I find two rings of speed and again replace my clear mind ring with one. Two other rings I find are a ring of fire and a ring of ice. When worn, these protect worn gear from the opposite elemental damage. These differ from blankets in that they protect worn gear rather than general inventory. They will come in handy. I also find a blessed potion of quickling blood, which as you might guess, increases Speed permanently. I drink it and get the max increase of 6 Speed. Sweeeeeeeet. Checking my new scrolls, I find a scroll of danger. If read, these increase the danger level of the dungeon floor you are currently on. Useless, except they're one of the items Gaab Baay wants. This means I now have everything I want before going to talk to her. Great timing, as I was on my way up to the world map anyway. I make it up without incident, grabbing my wand of wishing and dragon slaying ammo from my stash along the way. First stop is the High Mountain Village.
"Ah, your coming has been foretold.
Bring me the skull of a giant boar and we'll see."
As I mentioned in an earlier update, giant boars are a very rare wilderness encounter and given that they seldom drop skulls, the quest can take weeks or months of game time to complete, even with 7LB... not to mention the tedium factor.
Fuck that shit. One wish left.
"Now I would like to get a potion of cure corruption."
I grabbed mine from my stash on my way through Dwarftown. As I mentioned last update, I could get one from the druid in Terinyo in exchange for the Snake From Beyond corpse, except it only works for non-Chaotic characters. It'll have to wait until I'm lawful again. I hand in the potion.
"This time ye shall find the corpse of a farmer.
This one I didn't come with one prepared. This is because farmers often won't leave a corpse, unless you have this quest, in which case they usually do. Killing farmers is a chaotic act, so I only want to have to kill the one.
I head back to Terinyo and lure a farmer off the map. If I kill him in the town, all the NPCs will turn hostile, something I want to avoid. I murder him in the wilderness and take his corpse, blessing it to make sure it makes it back to the HMV with me.
While I'm in the Terinyo area I drop in to talk to Blup, the baby water dragon.
Blup, the baby water dragon, squeaks: "Hast ye seen me mommy?".
After talking to Blup, you can seach water tiles on the world map to find a hidden stairway leading to an underwater dungeon where Blup's mother can be found. I won't enter yet as I don't have a means of water breathing. I found one last update but lost it in the crash.
I return to the HMV and hand in the corpse, along with the scroll of danger and wand of monster creation which she asks for next.
"Fine.
Thou hast done everything I asked ye to.
Ye shall be rewarded for yer perseverance."
Gaab'Baay, the old crone, puts down a strange medal.
Suddenly she is gone.
Someone seems to be cackling in the distance...
My reward is an artifact amulet, the Medal of Chaos [+12,+3] {Ap+12}. In addition to the very nice defensive stats and Appearance, it grants petrification resistance, stun resistance, see invisible and water breathing. However, it is also auto-cursing, dooms the wearer, and corrupts over time just by being in your inventory. It is also part of the Chaos trinity, one of three artifacts required for an ultra ending. I want to spend as little time carrying it as possible, so I kick it across the map to the hidden stairway. Here I pick it up and carry it across the wilderness map to the Caverns of Chaos where I drop it again and kick it all the way back to my Ogre Cave stash, using my pickaxe where necessary to dig out wall tiles to get the right angle to kick it.
Apologies for another short update, but I'm gonna have to call it here for tonight. I spent quite a bit of time getting back to where I was which I glossed over pretty quickly in the update. Next time: I go after the Orb of Fire and do some tomb raiding!