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Last time: I got pantsed by a god and retrieved the Mana Orb. This time: I go to meet an ancient karmic wyrm.

I head back down the dungeon and stop at the casino to buy a cursed blue dragon scale mail for 384,000 gold. That's a shitload of gold but I have nothing better to do with it at this point. Blue dragon scale grants lightning immunity, which will come in handy soon. I bless it and continue down to the stairs next to Sharad-Waador on UL:4.



"You look as if you are busy right now.
Maybe you want to finish the more important business first.
Or do you really want to do something extremely difficult right now?"
Do you want to agree?
"This stairway here leads to the lair of an old enemy of mine.
Alone he wouldn't be a danger, but his children are too many...
I have heard about your reputation and you might be the right person to do it.
Enter the lair and try to slay my mortal enemy.
Recognizing him won't be difficult.
If you succeed I will honor your greatly and reward you.
If you fail...
...well... hopefully you by then have softened up his defenses so that I can finish him.
Now go!
*IMMEDIATELY!*"


Having accepted his quest, Sharad-Waador will attack me if I step off the stairs. I equip Wyrmlance and my new blue dragon scale and fill the rest of my slots (except the rings which are safe under artifact gauntlets) with either eternium gear, artifacts, or disposable junk. I drop almost everything else on the stairs. I hold on to Robes of Resistance as backup armour, Vanquisher, a couple of pairs of thick gauntlets in case I get poison hands while I'm doing the quest, some dragon-slaying ammo, and some food.



My loadout for this quest. I head down the stairs.



The stairs lead to the Blue Dragon Caves, designated DL, a series of cavernous maps five levels deep. The caves are populated with a variety of monsters, including many of the dangerous ones encountered in other deep levels, and a large number of blue dragons of varying types. The upper caves tend to have baby blue dragons, whereas later levels feature more and more adults and ancient blues. The number of lighting-breathing dragons is why I left my valuables behind on the stairs. Sharad-Waador will let me head back up to access them so long as I do not step off the stairs. I finish exploring DL:1 surrounded by a horde of monsters and head down. I really only fully explored it to make a pretty screenshot, I'll be diving through the rest as soon as I can find the stairs.



On DL:3 I start to encounter a lot of ancient blue dragons. I make a point to kill them as I can do so quickly with Wyrmlance and they give good experience. I also kill my first Balor (a strong demonic enemy with a corrupting touch, worth 150k exp) and hit level 33. I take the Greased Lightning talent for +4 Speed and gain a point of Toughness.



I reach DL:5 and find myself surrounded by many blue and ancient blue dragons, as well as a great blue wyrm. Despite being named, as great wyrms are, this isn't the boss. Many great blue wyrms are found on DL:5.



I drop the great blue wyrm and many more dragons close in on me. Two more great blue wyrms appear on the edges of my field of view. I stand my ground and kill dragons as they move into melee range. Fortunately they are stupid and keep breathing lightning at me despite my immunity. The damage I take from melee attacks is healed by my ring of regeneration. Eventually they're all dead and I proceed to the next cavernous room to find more of the same.



As I kill them, the boss approaches - Srraxxarrakex, the ancient blue wyrm. Srrax regenerates and has a healing spell.



It's not enough to save him from a volley of dragon-slaying ammo fired at 163 Speed though. He dies and I hit level 34. He was worth 369,000 experience. Among the loot are potions of strength and extra healing. I head back up to Sharad Waador.



"Very well done.
You indeed are powerful.
Ye shall be rewarded!"
Sharad-Waador, the ancient karmic wyrm, drops a huge head of items in front of you.


Most of the stuff he gives me is junk, but there is this:



On its own it is crap, but when if wielded with its twin Sting (which I can find later) they become extremely powerful. While identifying the loot however, I notice something else I picked up earlier but didn't ID right away:



I think this was a random drop - I got really lucky. Although the defensive stats aren't huge, they are very good for the cloak slot. The resists I don't need but invisibility is great. Although many powerful monsters can see invisible, against those that can't I can backstab with impunity and will generally be untouchable. On top of that, it's nice to have something indestructible in the cloak slot, especially since I'm heading straight back into the Blue Dragon Caves.

The next ultra-ending quest requires me to be level 45 before I can get it, so I'm heading back to DL:4 to farm the shit out of ancient blue dragons and other random high level monsters. I'd farm DL:5 except it doesn't spawn new monsters, so I clear out what's there and stick to DL:4. At level 36 I take the Careful talent for +1 DV. As I'm farming towards 37, I get a special message:

A water elemental suddenly streams out of some cracks in the gound.
The water elemental roars "Here'ssss yer rewaaarrrd forr being niccce to Blup. Enjoy." The water elemental drops a trident in front of you. Then it disappears.




This is a really nice artifact polearm with great damage, nice defensive stats, slaying vs two nasty enemy types, and other helpful properties. It beats Vanquisher for raw damage, so it's my new go-to weapon against undead and demons. As I grind I find a shitload of loot - enough water potions to last the rest of the game, a lot of different attribute potions including five of gain attributes, a potion of quickling blood (for another 6 Speed), many potions of extra/ultra healing, a helmet with 2 more PV, several gear stat scrolls, two new pairs of seven league boots, and this:



Although it says "returns when thrown", Thunderstroke also returns when fired. You need to make some kind of check (probably dexterity) to catch it, which my character has no problem doing. Before the new version, Thunderstroke lacked the returning property, which made it worthless as you'd only get one shot before reloading. Now you can fire it repeatedly and it's pretty awesome.

At 39 I pick Defensive Fighter for +2 DV, and at 42 Dodger for another +2. Somewhere along the way I reach grand mastery (level 15) in Polearms. This is as high as it goes. I also pick up a bunch of tolerable mutations as I level, along with one good one:



I also got poison hands again, and another awful one that drains the charges from wands when you try to use them. I get rid of both with potions. As I grind towards level 44, I find a ring of djinni summoning. When blessed, this will summon a genie who will grant me a wish. I still have another wish on the wand in my stash in case I need extra scrolls of remove corruption, so I go ahead and use this on something I've wanted for a while:



I wish for the Find Weakness skill. This skill increases my chance to score critical hits. In retrospect, it might not have been the best choice - with my selection of artifact weapons and ammo I have slaying vs just about everything anyway, which gives me auto crits. On the other hand, there's not much else I really need at this point. I'm geared and ready for the endgame, I just need level 45. Maybe I should have wished for greater molochs to kill instead. Never mind!

On that note, I hit 44 and decide fuck it, I've still got about 1 million experience to go and ancient blues are down to less than 2k each. I could keep hanging out waiting for titan and moloch spawns but... I should have enough corruption removal, I'm just gonna go ahead and blow my last wish on some experience pinatas. I fetch the wand from my stash and head to the surface, where I enter a plains tile. I've never done this before, let's hope it works out!



A voice in your head whispers hateful words...
"*You'll have to come!*
Maybe my friends can get you moving!"




Suddenly several figures appear out of nowhere!



Those guys are all greater molochs. According to the guidebook, wishing for an emperor moloch (a unique boss I'll face soon) summons around 35 of them. As buff as my dude is, I'm not crazy about the idea of standing around in the middle of 35 greater molochs. They can see invisible, so there's no sneaking off. I may not be able to hide, but I can run like a motherfucker. I read a teleport scroll and jump to the other side of the screen.



From there I use the triple range arrows of slaying I got from the bug temple to kill the first one. For the others I'll have to get a little closer, but I'm in no danger of being caught. Molochs are crazy slow and I'm running around at 171 Speed while my movement energy cost is 584. Compared with molochs, I'm basically a quickling. After a few die, I hit level 45 and pick Immune to Pain for my talent. Immune to Pain reduces all damage taken by 1 - like a point of PV that applies to spells, poison etc too. Shortly after leveling I run out of demon-slaying ammo and switch to Thunderstroke. Thunderstroke is really good to have for this, it's effectively infinite ammo with high enough damage to hurt these guys - ammo without slaying just bounces off them. Thunderstroke doesn't hit them as hard as slaying ammo does, but it's enough to wear them down. After finishing the first wave and hitting 46, I run over and recover most of my demon-slaying ammo. This repeat repeats a while longer and I'm a couple of hundred thousand exp off 48 by the time they're all dead. Well that was a whole lot faster than the dragon caves, although the caves were great for the first few levels too and even once the exp dropped off they coughed up a shitload of nice loot. Speaking of loot, I'm almost tempted to equip this:



I can actually afford to lose the Speed. 50 PV is insane - eternium and dragon scale are about 15-16 at the top end. Monsters can still punch through PV sometimes though, so losing 30 DV is a bad idea, especially with the huge Dex penalty on top of that. Also it weighs 15000s, enough to almost burden me on its own even with 62 Strength and a blessed girdle of carrying. A class that can cast spells could use the Strength of Atlas spell to boost their capacity high enough, but it's still not worth it.

Anyway, I can finally continue my quest. I head east past the Pyramid.



The first level is indeed boring, just a normal dungeon level populated with weak monsters. I head down to the second level.

This dungeon is very dusty.

This level contains a hidden entrance to the next level. I read a scroll of magic mapping.



The entrance is in a room that is separate from the rest of the level and must be dug or teleported into. Next to it is a guaranteed wand of teleportation. I zap mine and teleport in to grab the spare. However, when I try to go down the stairs I get a special message:

Before you manage to descend some invisible force tries to carry you away!

I'm teleported away from the stairs. To get down them I have to be teleported a number of times by the teleport traps which spawn around the level. As you can imagine, doing this without teleport control is very annoying. With it it's just a bit annoying. I stand on one and mash the keys to trigger it on purpose and land back on it and trigger it again until I receive another message:

You suddenly feel attuned to this area in a very special way.

I teleport back to the stairs and head down.

The walls of this level are covered with black silk, the floor is made from obsidian. There are almost no lights and except for some whispers emanating from the shadows and dark corners of this area deadly silence is ruling here.

This is the Assassins' Guild. I'm here to talk to the boss. The level is filled with many traps and assassins. If I use a missile weapon at all, fail a pickpocket attempt or try to pickpocket the same assassin twice, or attack a panicked assassin, the boss will go hostile. I try to skip all that by just teleporting, but the teleport fails. Turns out this is one of the levels you can't teleport on. Well it was worth a try. I'm invisible, so I won't need to fight through anyway. I unequip my ammo anyway to be sure.



I make my way through a series of secret passages, ignoring other routes which just lead to lots of traps, and reach the Assassin Prince.



"You are dangerous indeed...
Would you like to take a job?"
Do you want to agree to take the job?
"That strange Minstrel was here.
Wants someone killed.
Strange job.
I don't quite get the details but maybe you do...
He said the following...
Find the meaningful depth of your first slaughtering in the reaches of infinity.
Find the lightning named 'Filk' and end the song.
That's it.
He's already paid our guild in a most handsome manner.
You will receive your reward directly from him.
Do not disappoint me."


I could kill him now that I have the quest. He drops the other half of the Needle & Sting combo, which add +50 to hit and damage when dual wielded. That's the highest raw damage in the game, but slaying damage is at least as good. Besides, there's another weapon I'll be getting my hands on soon.

Anyway, the "strange Minstrel" is the Mad Minstrel, an NPC who lives in the north of the wilderness map. He conveys hints about game mechanics and ultra-endings through rhymes and riddles but has no use to anyone using spoilers, at least until you get this quest. The riddle in the quest means that I have to find the level of the Infinite Dungeon that corresponds to the number of kills I have of the monster that was my first kill. As noted in my character's name, that was an outlaw.



I use the monster memory function to check how many I've killed: 15. I head east to the Infinite Dungeon and descend to level 15.



I spot my target: Filk, the quickling bard. He has 1588 Speed and 500 DV. He's peaceful, so I'm going to have to commit the chaotic act of attacking him. I equip a blessed amulet of balance. This will reduce the effect attacking him has on my alignment. I probably don't need it, but I'm playing it safe. If I change from neutral alignment I'll lose champion status and won't be able to complete the ultra ending. I zap a wand of fireballs and one-shot him with it. Ball spells are totally unaffected by DV and unlike bolt spells will never be "shrugged off" by the target.



I return to the surface and head northwest to the Mad Minstrel's Man Pad.



"A truly formidable deed you've done.
That surely was a lot of fun!
If you are looking for a certain trident...
...some help I will lend.
Below the lake with the nasty fish you should be seeking...
...geographically speaking.
In a dark cave...
...where dwarves rarely shave...
...you will find the target of your quest.
Hopefully you will like it best!"


The lake with the nasty fish refers to the piranha moat around the Tomb of the High King. Before I go though, I head back to the HMV.



I teleport into the walled-off room where I find a cursed scroll of corruption removal and a strange message referring to "the Scroll of Omnipotence". The Scroll of Omnipotence exists in the game files and apparently can be read by crowned champions to further increase their abilities. At least as of the latest pre-crowdfunding version, there is no way to actually get the scroll. As far as I know it's not implemented in the newer versions either, but maybe Biskup plans to add it later. Or maybe not, who knows. I teleport back to the stairs and leave to find the cave the minstrel was talking about.



The Scintillating Cave has nine levels, the first eight of which are cavernous and spawn high-level enemies, similar to the Blue Dragon Caves. They have a high level of background corruption so I move through as quickly as I can. I hit level 48 as I descend and for my final talent pick Good Shot for +1 to hit and damage with ranged weapons.



I reach the final level of the Scintillating Cave and am treated to a special message and fun multi-coloured walls. Disappointingly, the level doesn't get a unique tileset.





It doesn't take long to find my target, the Emperor Moloch. I commence kiting with demon-slaying ammo and immediately get the stiff muscles mutation yet again. This level has an extra-extra-high rate of background corruption. Thankfully it's still only day 83 do it's not doubled on top of that. I drink a potion and cure the mutation. He's fast for a moloch at 90 Speed, but still trivial to kite and gives me 408k exp when he dies. He drops a crumpled scroll which I read:

The scroll depicts a trident made from gleaming black steel.
The background depicts an elaborate red rooster.


I head back up the stairs and teleport myself back up through the cavernous levels to the surface, then return to Dwarftown where I pick up the orb guardian corpses I left in the shop. I then travel to Terinyo where I turn in the corpses for four potions of cure corruption. Khelavaster is now hanging out in Terinyo too. I give him the crumpled scroll.

Khelavaster, the ancient sage, suddenly seems to be very excited.
Khelavaster, the ancient sage, starts to move his hands according to ancient arcane rituals you never before have witnessed.
You feel Mana collecting around you. Magic seems to be drawn from everywhere to center upon this place.
A gleaming weapon pulsing with power appears in the hands of Khelavaster, the ancient sage!
"Ye should probably be able to make use of this.
Given the right combination of magical words one is able to extract this fine item from its hidden prison.
An enormous amount of magical power is required for that.
Some folks confused the function of this scroll and created foolish legends about it.
Use it wisely.
Be prepared and follow the path of Order to reap the reward.
You must not stray from that path lest ye will not succeed."
The crumpled scroll turns to ashes.


I pick up the red trident Khelavaster summoned for me and ID it:



The Trident of the Red Rooster is the ultimate weapon in ADOM. It has the highest base damage of any weapon in the game (apart from dual wielded Needle + Sting), slays the only enemy type that matters any more (demons), has insane defensive stats, three immunties, and death ray resistance (needed for the final ultra-ending boss). Then it also has water breathing, see invisible and +24 Mana because why not. Oh and it is of course a polearm. Perfect. It is also the final part of the Chaos Trinity. I'm almost ready to make the final descent, but there's a little more optional content to show off first. I travel southwest.



You immediate feel at peace in this beautiful clearing.

This is the Old Barbarian's hut.



"Well met!"
A true warrior ye art.
Slay a score of da monster dat wuzz yer first kill.
If ya manage dat, come back and I'll teach ye sumthing."


He gives me a quest to kill 20 of my first kill, ie. outlaws. Along with Filk's level in the Infinite Dungeon, this is the other thing that your fist kill affects. If you're not going for an ultra-ending, it's better to get a common first kill to make this quest easier. I head into the CoC and stash my breakable valuables on the stairs then continue back to the northwest area of the map. I stash a spare climbing set on the stairs of the Scintillating Cave. Where I'm going next can break a lot of my stuff, and I need a climbing set to get back out of this part of the map.



The rift is really deep. Do you want to climb down?
You reach the bottom of the enormous rift after a very long descent.


Well okay, scratch that about the equipment destruction. There's a very high chance to fall and break a lot of stuff. To make it down without falling, you have to pass 27 checks. The chance to pass each depends on Climbing skill, Willpower and the Courage skill, which I don't have. According to the guidebook, luck (as in lucky/fate smiles) and the "very light" and "thin and nimble" mutations are supposed to help, but it suggests they actually don't. Maybe this has been fixed now, it would explain how I made it down safely - high Will and Climbing aren't usually enough. If I'm understanding the guidebook correctly, I should have had a 1 in 16 chance of failing each of the 27 checks. Maybe I just lucked out, who knows. Whatever, I'm safely at the bottom.

Unusual entrance aside, the Rift is a pretty standard dungeon. I head up a couple of levels until I find one with two up staircases. One of them leads to a hidden path in the high mountains.



At the end of the path is the Sinister Library of Niltrias.

You enter the halls of an ancient library. Everything is dead silent. The air is musty and stale.

In the entrance room is the Ghost Librarian. If I go 2000 turns without talking to any monsters he'll have something for me. I set about exploring. The library is populated by a variety of monsters, including some high level ones, and contains a number of scrolls and spellbooks. Wizard and Necromancer characters won't find scrolls, but will instead find one of each spellbook in the game, including Wish. I finish exploring and wait out the rest of the turns.



"Ye hast been a very cautious visitor.
Thanks for keeping silence.
Blessed be ye on thee ways.
Wouldst ye want to do me a service?"
Do you want to do it?
"Bring this tome to the mindless musician.
He ordered it a long time ago and probably wants it badly by now."


He gives me a tome to give to the Mad Minstrel. Trying to read it will just confuse me. I head back to the rift and climb out by ascending through the dungeon. I head back to the Caverns of Chaos and collect my stuff. I was hoping to run into an outlaw wilderness encounter for the Old Barbarian's quest, but it doesn't pop. I'm at day 87 now, so I don't want to waste time running around looking for them. The reward is the Courage skill, which reduces the penalties for being surrounded by enemies. Nice to have but not essential, especially not when I can dictate all my engagements with my high Speed. I go back to the Minstrel and give him the tome.

The Mad Minstrel grasps the weird tome hastily. "*Finally!
Now it's time for some foolishness!
Since my personal library is pretty filled you might be able to make use of this stuff."
The Mad Minstrel drops some scrolls.


My reward is five scrolls of corruption removal. I return to my stash in Dwarftown where I grab the potions of uselessness and the Crown and Medal of Chaos.

Next time: The final descent!